McLaren Reviews

Do you know what bloomers are? Well, if you don't, read the book YOU FORGOT YOUR SKIRT, AMELIA BLOOMER! Amelia is a girl who hates dresses! Amelia was not a proper lady! Amelia thought proper ladies were silly. She thought it was silly that ladies could not work! So she started her own newspaper. She thought it was even sillier that ladies had to wear big, heavy dresses. So she did something about it! My favorite part is when she made the bloomers and wore them. She sort of looked silly and sort of looked cool. I really liked this book because I learned a lot about Women's History. I learned what bloomers are too! And if you want to know what bloomers are...then read this book! - By Danielle S. Age 7

Back in the 19th century, "proper ladies" were not allowed to vote, were not supposed to work and worst of all dressed in enormous hooped dresses that were hot, heavy (20 to 40 pounds) and very impractical. They wore corsets that were so tight it was hard to breathe or even digest and their skirts were so wide they were always getting stuck in doorways and chairs. "What in the world was proper about that?" Amelia Bloomer was definitely not a proper lady. She tried to change the law so that women could vote. She started her own women's newspaper named, The Lily, and hired other women to work with her. But best of all, she started a fashion craze that changed women's clothing forever..... Shana Corey and illustrator, Chesley McLaren have authored an amusing and delightful story, based on historical fact, that traces the beginnings of practical, comfortable and easy to wear clothing for women. Ms Corey's easy to read text is humorous and chock full of fun facts and complemented by Ms McLaren's charming, colorful fashion artwork. An author's note at the end fleshes out the story even more with additional fascinating information about the beginnings of the women's rights movement and fashion reform. Perfect for youngsters 5-9, You Forgot Your Skirt, Amelia Bloomer! is a treasure and a little piece of history that shouldn't be missed.

Amelia Bloomer was not a proper lady. All the other ladies thought she was ridiculous. she would protest, start her own buisnesses with other women. Amelia Bloomer was always looking for a way to fight for womens rights, and to change the way women had to dress. But the world just wan't ready for Amelia Bloomer yet. Until one day when her friends cousin brought somthing amazing into Amelias life. It was a different type of dress . It had pants. Amelia was amazed by this outfit. right away she made her own. Pretty soon women all over the world wanted to wear (what Amelia called) Bloomers. They made then in plaid, blue, pink, and many other designs and colors. Amelia Bloomer made a big differenc for women. to find out what else dhe did for women read this book. i think you'll love it

Toby Tobias' adorable book takes the questioning element out of my daily clothing puzzle. This morning, Edith Sitwell told me to 'be myself'! The in-put from great minds of the past is a radiant rainbow of fun, humor, delight and wit. Ballerina@Large.Dash-Dot

Tobi Tobias' new book, Obsessed by Dress, brings delight far beyond the sensual pleasure of holding a book that is exactly the right hand heft for the object itself. It corroborates ones joy of personal adornment through quotes from those who have the wit and style through the ages to say what you have been thinking and feeling all along about why have arrived a this particular persona. You become marvelous in your own eyes.

One doesn't have to be a clothing aficionado to have a rewarding time with Tobi Tobias's "Obsessed By Dress." A small-size book with a biggness of content, "Obsessed" is alive with famous-person clothing quotes, meticulously researched by Tobias, reflecting her passion for Dress and great writing. Dickens, Proust, Virgil, Keats, Dior, Dorothy Parker, and RuPaul are among those quoted.

This book is a delight! It is an entertaining tale of a stray cat who owns the town of Paris. The cat gets into mischief when he jumps into a window of a building and tears dresses (for a fasion show) to pieces. However, the ripped pieces are a succes and the "Rage de Paris!" This book is wonderful! It combines French words into the story and is a neat tool for those who want a little culture in their children's books. I reccommend it to anyone!

"He was born a fine cat in the heart of Paree, the youngest of six in his petite family. But his mischievous ways led him astray. Now he roams about town, down the Champs Elysees, and when the mood strikes him, he dines au cafe..." Oh Zat Cat! He owns Paris, from the Louvre, to Jardin Luxembourg. And when he ventures into Le Grand Salon du Grand Couturier, Monsieur Pierre, an unexpected mishap creates havoc, and poor Monsieur's entire collection is completely ruined. "Before he can even meow or blink, he's whisked off his feet by a sash in pink! He flies through the air, clawing hats and hair. Ball gowns of satin are shredded to bits. Laces and ribbons totally ripped..." But the show must go on, and as the disheveled models in ripped dresses take to the runway..."Whispers of wonder turn to roars of delight, as our four-legged friend struts into the light. So original, exotic, and free. These ingenious designs C'est la "Rage" de Paree!" Chesley McLaren's lively, rhyming text is rich in clever wordplay, both French and English, energy, and puns, and includes phonetic help and translations tucked quietly at the bottom of each page. But it's Ms McLaren's marvelously vibrant, busy, and innovative artwork, swirling boldly around the pages, that really makes this picture book sparkle. Together word and art create an engaging feast for both the ears and eyes that begs to be read aloud and shared. Perfect for youngsters 4-8, Zat Cat! is a masterpiece of humor and wit, and one of the new, stand-out children's books of 2002 that shouldn't be missed.

I happen to know the amazing author/artist of "Zat Cat" & I just wanna say:"Way ta go, Chesley!!!!!"

This gem of a book will be a favorite library edition and you will read it over and over again (5 times already!). In this day and age that an Author of Kaya's intuitiveness and spirituality is uplifting and such a positive affirmation of our life. Kaya's characters come to life with a belief and caring for each one. As I am of the older generation, I particularly loved Edith and Earl and their love story. Keep on writing, Kaya and thank you for this Angelic gift!!!

Kaya McLaren is a fabulous author. I found myself hurrying home to read more of "Church of the Dog". I wasn't ready for it to end. This book gave me insight into new ways to love and be loved. I will never chain up my gaurdian soul dog because of Kaya!

My book discussion group was very priviliged and delighted to have Ms McLaren at our last meeting. She is the very essence of her characters and gives off an 'aura' of such inner tranquility and her sense of humor knows no bounds. We all had the highest praise for her work,the development of her wonderful characters, and the subtle messages that she gently gives us. This is a must read, you will be happily satisfied. This book glows.

This book is awesome! I was reluctant to start it at first, but I loved it!! My favorite stories are Psyche's and Andromeada [not to sure if thats the right spelling]. Atalanta's was good though. I recommend this book if you love rOmance !

This was the best book! I especially love Atlanta's story. I didn't like Phyche's story that much at first, but it got better as it went on and now I love that one too. I also loved Andromeda's story. They were all great and I read it again and again.

Greek myths are fun to read, but they're even cooler when written in first person. I loved the perspective of the women in this book and found each story to be extremely romantic and engaging. After I read it, I went out and bought two other books by the same author!

This book is a "must read" for every church leader and Bible College student. If you are struggling with how to understand and communicate with those steeped in Postmodern thought this book has many answers. Its not just another mega-church "how to" book. Reinventing Your Church goes much farther. This book is a refreshing and practical look at what it will take to communicate Jesus to the world in the next generation. The chapter on missions is especially insightful.

Brian gives us a book that actually tackles the postmodern subject without losing the reader with philosophical jargon. I found that his approach is so practical because he is living it out. He writes out of experience and gives us a framework to enter this bold new world with a sense of optimism rather than fear, excitement rather than dread.

His writings on leadership and missions are a must read for every church practitioner.

REINVENTING YOUR CHURCH

By Brian D. McLaren

There are many books being written these days on the need for change in the church. This book certainly should be included among the better in this category. It is remarkable for its clarity of thought and its balance in venturing into this somewhat controversial area. The author does not hesitate to suggest bold and radical departures from "tradition", but not without good reason.

For example, he distinguishes between renewed, restored and reinvented churches. "The renewed church is an old church that, after having lost touch with its own people, goes through a process of change in order to relate to them and better meet their needs again." (p. 20).

The restored church is the result of a sincere effort to establish a "New Testament Church". Often this involves resurrecting some detail of New Testament church life, and making it the litmus test of faithfulness to the Biblical pattern. For this reason, McLaren suggests that the restored church often becomes "The Church of the Lost Detail". The "lost detail" can be almost any form that is found in the book of Acts, such as speaking in tongues, elder rule, house churches, one church per city or whatever. McLaren is not nasty about it, but he does conclude that eventually this lost detail assumes a significance beyond all sane proportions.

"By contrast, the reinvented church not only changes its style, but it changes its attitude. Change is accepted as an unchanging fact of life. The reinvented church not only catches up to the present but also corrects those tendencies that would make it keep falling behind. It removes the anti-change bias." (p. 21)

The reinvented church is characterized by "paradigm pliancy". Paradigm pliancy requires a strategy of maximizing discontinuity, "which means not trying to fix up the horse to get a few more miles out of it, but burying it and looking for a new one. The journey is the important thing, not the horse that you take to get there." (p.23)

Perhaps the most significant aspect of this book is the fact that the author has actually gone through the trauma of "re-inventing" his church. In 1982, he planted a church that grew from 11 to about a hundred in three years. He was dismayed, however, that practically all the growth had come by transfer from other churches. He therefore proposed to his church that they "maximize discontinuity" by disbanding it for a period of ten months, after which they would launch a new church with a new name in a new location with a new mission of reaching secular people. Those who like lists, especially long lists, will love this book. The chapter titles are a list of 13 strategies for reinventing your church. In addition, many of the individual strategies consist of long lists as well. For example, he lists:

a) 14 observations on system thinking

b) 6 traditions to trade up for Tradition

c) 5 characteristics of an ineffectual apologetic and 5 new apologetic themes

d) 5 hunches on learning a new rhetoric

e) 16 conclusions on abandoning structures as they are outgrown

f) 7 characteristics of the new breed of leaders

g) A long (21!) list of problems in missions and a short (6) list of solutions

h) 5 core values of postmodernism

i) 15 ways of engaging postmodernism

A major thrust of this book has to do with better equipping Christians to engage meaningfully with unbelievers. He decries the "Christian nation" myth, which breeds an "us and them" mentality and makes us hostile to those to whom we should show compassion. For example, in his second strategy of redefining our mission, he insists that we need both more Christians and better Christians. By this, he means that the key to reaching unbelievers is to be better Christians, that is Christians who better incarnate the Gospel of Him Who was a "friend of publicans and sinners". Even more than seeker-sensitive churches, we need seeker-sensitive Christians. Instead, we often find Christians that are "seeker-hostile", as parodied in a Moody Monthly cover story entitled "Sinners in the Hands of Angry Christians".

McLaren has several excellent thoughts on leadership as well. The title of the chapter on leadership: "Save the Leaders" suggests the many perils that leaders face, and he expresses his regret that many qualified leaders have left, or are considering leaving, the ministry. Perhaps his most helpful insight on leadership is a list of reasons why imitating success in leadership can guarantee failure:

He also gives some very helpful guidelines for understanding and engaging postmodernism, which he sees as a reality with which we must come to terms. He writes: "Opposing postmodernism is as futile as opposing the English language. It's here. It's reality. It's the future." (p. 69)

McLaren questions the assertion that post-moderns don't believe in absolute truth. He suggests that the real issue may be one of absolute certainty. He further argues that post-moderns may care so much about truth that they are skeptical of the ability of fallible human beings to apprehend it or communicate it accurately. Seen from this point of view, it is easy to see how our certainty about knowing absolute truth can come across not as faith but arrogance. Furthermore, many post-moderns probably question our commitment to absolute truth because we seem to have such a hard time agreeing on what it is. He writes: "We have to distinguish between genuine Christianity and our (individual and various culture-encoded) versions of it." (p. 178)

There are several other very helpful chapters on topics such as leadership, church structure, apologetics, theology, and missions that make this book well worth the reading. It will be especially enlightening and helpful for those who are seeking to "go to" the lost and engaging them with the Gospel.

John Ed Robertson

November 27, 1998

This book is very impressive in that it uses high quality materials, and is expertly put together. I was disappointed in the writing of the book. It spends a great deal of time talking about how they were planning on making this car, how they went about obtaining production space, how they hired certain people, and myriad, pre-production facts. Then there is a very short space on the actual technical facts of what the car has in it, and what it feels like to drive it. Then there is a very lenghty history of the car being used as a racer (Le Mans, etc.). I wish the book had more detail about the physical components in the car, and descriptions of the visceral experience of driving it. It's like, let's keep them in suspense with a build-up, and then wrap it up in a hurry with no real meat of the story. If racing interests you, this book is your calling. If road cars are what you like, it falls short.

Driving Ambition "The Official Story of The McLaren F1" is a great book because it explains many things about the McLaren F1, from the thought of the car to the winning of the famous LeMans race. The book is 272 pages long, it has over 600 photographes and illustrations (the pictures in the book are great), it is hard covered and jacketed, and the book comes with a McLaren poster. Buy the book if you like McLarens, besides all you have to do is get a credit card type some numbers and wait a little while. Its worth it.

"Driving Ambition: The Official Inside Story of the McLaren F1" is an absolutely delightful book, especially from an engineer's perspective. It thoroughly and entertainingly tells the story of how an engineer and his team can achieve their creative dreams if allowed maximum latitude.

The overall quality of the text, diagrams and photographs is excellent. And it won't disappoint motorsport fans, either! This book would be well worth twice the asking price.

The book "More Ready than you Realize" is a compact, case-oriented introduction to doing evangelism or making disciples in a postmodern world. The book critiques modern approaches to evangelism, which modeled sharing the message of Christ after arguments and sales techniques. Through such an approach the message of Christ was distorted as a marketing tool for the church and evangelism gained a bad reputation. McLaren believes that the transition from the modern to the postmodern world allows evangelism to be approached from a fresh perspective, because the world still needs more than anything to hear the message of Christ.

The remarkable thing about the beginnings of the 21st century is that the world has not closed their minds to God and is interested to discuss, not argue about, faith and spirituality. McLaren presents evangelism as everyday conversation in the context of a spiritual friendship. He does so by revealing a series of e-mails he received from a woman referred to as Alice whom he met after she became interested in one of his books called "Finding Faith".

Alice's roadblocks to finding faith in Christ and church involvement came not as much from her issues on the truth of Christianity but over its presentation. Many people like Alice, have a fear that becoming a Christian may have a negative affect on their lives, luring them to become brain-washed, bigoted, and judgmental. McLaren claims that Jesus did not have this affect on people, yet the modern version of Christianity has seemed to create this suspicion in the postmodern world.

The postmodern world allows Christians an opportunity to not only rediscover the message of Christ without its modern trappings but also to share the message of Christ in a safe and authentic spiritual friendship. In this context, according to McLaren, you as a reader are "more ready than you realize."

still sharing your faith using the four spiritual laws? still trying to "convert" the lost? still sharpening your knowledge of apologetics so that you can "win" arguments? Brian McLaren, in More Ready Than You Realize, proposes that the most effective way to share your faith is become a spiritual friend who asks more questions than providing concrete answers. Get others to tell their stories, and really listen. Tell your own story of finding faith, finding grace, finding love. This book's main proposition is that people will continue to seek and find Christ if we give them space and if we remain "safe" friends to talk to.

If you are struggling with the way the Christian world says that you should evangelize to others, then read this book.

THis book should be a text book for all parents and children in school. Its a manual for how to handle our and other people emotions. It takes the stigma out of all those emotions we try to suppress and hide for social reasons and for fear we are mentally sick. I wish I had read this book a long time ago, it could have saved me a lot of suffering. Thankyou Karla!

Karla McLaren's work is simply superb. I have been an avid consumer of metaphysical works for many years. Although I've found many of the works I've read intellectually and spiritually inspiring, few have offered helpful advice and guidance on integrating spiritual principles into your real life experiences. Karla starts from the premise that unless you can apply spritual principles and practices to your daily life, it is mainly an exercise for you mind, not your spirit. She explains the spiritual purpose behind EVERY human emotion (even those we often feel obliged to repress because they are "not spiritual") and gives specific instruction on how to channel these emotions positively, healing yourself and others. I can't say enough about this book. It is truly one of the best books on emotions I've ever read...

I've read so many non-fiction books that this past year when I was searching for a fiction book, I had to ask a clerk what section they were in! (Literature, how was I to know?!)

This is THE best book from every angle. It is sequenced just right, you feel like you're covering the material without feeling lost or bored. It's written in laymen's terms, like your best friend is describing the confusing world of emotions. I was so impressed with this book that I flew to Colorado to attend her workshop, and no I've never done that before! (especially two months after 9-11)

Now I can't wait for Karla to come to the East Coast. Karla is just like your friend next door. She will not allow you to put her on a pedestal and she truly shares her 'emotional genius' like a best friend. Thank You, Karla! I hope I get to more of your workshops before Oprah gets ahold of you!

A most interesting pictorial collection of forlorn sadness.
I find the images both beautiful and emensly contemplative, images that conjure ghosts and spirits real or perhaps imagined, yet provacative none the less. One ponders how these phantoms shall apear in a thousand years, and rue the thought how long they may have lasted would they not been murdred by circumstances. The text that accompanies the images an important, interesting, and informative heuristic. This book ostensibly one any Artist, Architectae, or student of history should have in his Librarié.

Left me wishing the book was twice as long.

A wonderful book full of haunting images of the castles and houses of Ireland that have now fallen into ruin and decay. Excellent subjects for infrared photography.

The photographs are on the whole well composed and the overall effect can be quite disturbing. An explanation of the fate of the various buildings is included. A book which sits on the shelf ready to show visitors instantly the nature and feel of infrared photography.

There is an excellent supporting article by Pete Schermerhorn in the Official Infrared FAQ describing his visits to the places photographed in the book together with map grid references.