Reliant Reviews

This book cuts through all of the conventional public discussions on the economy and society to make a clear, convincing case for reviving local communities. Pundits, politicians, and intellectuals are always bemoaning the collapse of "community," but their analyses are usually coiled around morality, or the need for "better education," or some equally superficial issue. But as Shuman points out, all the civic involvement and moral uprightness in the world is useless if our towns and cities are being held hostage by globe-trotting corporations and ultra-mobile capital. "Community" is only possible if people control their own lives; and this is possible only when there are thriving, viable local economies. This is not a book that calls for a complete retreat from the global forces that are shaping our world -- that option is impossible with the current levels of technology. But what Shuman does outline is a way for communities to reestablish a balance between the local and the national/global, in the areas of production, finance, and government. And unlike many other books, which never get past the critique to make any positive prescriptions, this one is brimming with concrete proposals. It also has the most extensive list of groups, organizations, and resources that I have seen in the area of decentralized economics and community self-reliance. This is a must-read.

Every year on the anniversary of Walt Disney Worlds settling in Orlando, Fla., its a sure bet some newspaper will carry a story about my late uncle, Paul Pickett, and his opposition to the project. As a county commissioner when Disney first proposed bringing its giant entertainment complex to the city, he argued that the project would unleash a monster that would forever change the quality of life for residents. Tell the mouse to stay in California, he snapped.

As a person who embraces -- make that relishes -- change, Im not sure I fully agree with his assessment. But as a person who has lived for most of my adult life in an area that was decimated in the 1980s when the all-important steel industry fell on hard times and today struggles with the threat of losing still another industry on which we have become economically dependent -- car production at the General Motors plant in Lordstown, Ohio -- I understand the point my uncle was trying to make.

So does Michael H. Shuman, attorney and author of Going Local: Creating Self-Reliant Communities in a Global Age. In his book, he advocates that local communities must regain control over their own economies by a variety of means including investing not in outsiders, but in locally owned businesses like credit unions, municipally owned utilities and community development corporations and focusing on import-replacing rather than export-led development. Doing so, he maintains, will reduce or eliminate the need to offer excessive tax abatements and other incentives to entice huge corporations upon which the communities stand to become dependent. The growing power and will of corporations to move without notice or warning has presented many communities with a terrible dilemma: Either cut wages and benefits, gut environmental standards and offer tax breaks to attract and retain corporations or become a ghost town, Shuman writes. Almost every U.S. town or city has learned that capital flight is not just a hypothetical danger.

Urging cities to be just as friendly with rootless corporations as with its home-grown businesses, Shuman says, is like telling a loyal wife to accept the inevitability of philandering by her husband and to appease him by buying more sexy lingerie and cooking nicer dinners. If a community is reduced to a link in a global chain, it will be dragged wherever the corporation controlling the chain wants.

As long as corporations are free to move from place to place, the author argues, No jurisdictions efforts to target production toward basic needs, or protect its work force or environment, can succeed. Once regulations become onerous, a profit-maximizing firm will move on.

This does not mean, however, that communities should circle the wagons and lock the gates. It means nurturing locally owned businesses which use local resources sustainably, employ local workers at decent wages and serve primarily local consumers, Shuman writes. It means becoming more self-sufficient and less dependent on imports. Control moves from the boardrooms of distant corporations and back to the community where it belongs.

All things considered, Shuman offers a point of view thats worth considering by government and economic development leaders throughout the country.

This is an essential guide for anyone who relies on one of these cars to "get there" and who doesn't have the trunk stuffed full of money to afford professional mechanics. The manual has an abundance of great step-by-step photos that enable you to get all the pieces back in the car in the order they came out! I have successfully used the book as a guide to change the brake shoes and pads, rebuild the cooling system, remove/replace the alternator, adjust the carburetor and much more. And all without so much as a highschool shop background. I conservatively estimate the book has saved me several hundred dollars that would have otherwise gone to the local mechanic. Even if you don't do the wrench turning yourself this manual will give you a good idea of what may be wrong with the car before you take it in.

I received this book as a gift from my parents during a time when I was struggling with my almost 4 year old daughter. She was behaving so out of character, whining and throwing tantrums. I sent my mom an email saying "Please Help Me" and was answered with my dad sending this book that is already changing our lives. It points out the obvious problems and offers simple solutions. Reinforcing the things that you do right, pointing out what you do wrong, acknowledging that everyone makes mistakes but just try harder- Because it's not that complicated! There are only 12 rules to follow, and 3 lessons to teach - It's an afternoon easy read, and worth a million times what you'll pay for it.

Good resource for anyone wanting to be less dependent on our increasingly vulnerable supply infrastructure. Locating land in the country, gardening, homesteading skills, orchards, animals, water and sewage, etc. Also has a chapter on self-reliance while still in the city. 420 pages and includes a 75 page appendix that contains resources w/addresses and phone numbers.

Almost impossible to find. This book tells how to build everything you need to set up a pottery studio including detailed plans for a treadle wheel and kilns. It tells how to make your equipment on a budget -- an important consideration these days.

I checked this book out of the library years ago. Since then, someone has stolen the library's copy. I have been looking for a copy for years. If you find a copy, I strongly urge you to buy it.

The bottom line on this book is that you should stop doing everything for your children. Coddling can cripple a child for life. That's a pretty easy premise to accept. However, some of the promises made by this book are not so easy to accept. The authors seem to imply that parents who follow their time-tested strategies can bring all children around. They act as if all children are cut from the same mold and will behave reasonably when treated reasonably. Unfortunately, this isn't necessarily so. On the other hand, regular family dinners and meetings probably won't hurt, either.

My daughter is currently 16 and my son is 13. I first discovered Stephen Glenn and Jane Nelson just before my son was born in 1988. I was very impressed with their ideas and have consistently used them ever since, with excellent results.

Glenn & Nelson state that self-reliance and self-responsibility will never stop being crucial, in any society, at any time in history. But, unfortunately for parents today, we receive very little help from the society at large (especially the public schools) in teaching these values to our children. This means that modern parenting is far more complicated than simply enjoying and loving our children. There are essential attitudes and skills they need to know in order to grow into decent, self-reliant adults which no one is likely to teach them if we don't. But in order to do this, we first need to know what these attitudes and skills are and what techniques work for teaching them, and then apply those techniques regularly by spending frequent one-on-one time with our children.

I believe that though many parents will find the ideas in this book inspiring, a big barrier stands in the way of them actually following its advice--they are already strongly established in the convenient, no-thinking-required, typical tradition of parenting in the U.S.: (1) eating dinner together as a family group as many nights a week as possible; (2) nagging the kids daily to clean their rooms, do their homework and chores; (3) going on family outings, such as a fast food place or a movie, several times a month; (4) telling the kids if they complain about bullying from siblings or schoolmates to "stop tattling and work it out yourselves;" (5) ignoring each other the rest of the time as much as possible.

When parents are used to an uncomplicated pattern like this, implementing Glenn & Nelson's time-consuming and thought-involving ideas will require a huge lifestyle change, which may be very uncomfortable. Here are some examples of these ideas, which I have found extremely helpful, but are anything but simple or easy to apply: (1) Stay calm. When you get upset at the kids, Glenn & Nelsen suggest getting out your anger and frustration by yelling, privately, at the mirror in the bathroom, and after the worst is over and you are not so upset, only then go talk with your child and discuss what went wrong and what can be done differently next time. (2) Treating children with dignity and respect. Philosophically, many people these days believe it's a good idea to treat all human beings with dignity and respect, but in practice, even people to whom these beliefs are sacred frequently instinctively speak disrespectfully to family members, especially their children. When people hold no such belief, then the odds are it is only an accident of a fleeting good mood that will cause them to speak with respect to their children. (3) Planning ahead. Glenn & Nelson suggest discussing important situations in the child's life ahead of time and coming up with an agreement that spells out meaningful consequences if the child does not live up to the agreement.

Glenn & Nelsen openly admit in this book that positive, assertive (vs. oppressive or permissive) parenting is top-heavy on the work involved when you are first starting it, because it is never easy to learn new habits. However, without this effort, early on and consistently, our children all too often drift away from us over the years, some to the point of becoming almost totally emotionally disconnected during the dangerous teen years. At that point, to start the work of positive, assertive parenting can be a nightmare of endless, painfully frustrating work, with no guaranteed outcome, no matter how hard we try. For this reason, I recommend this book most strongly to people who are expecting their first child, or to parents with small children. These ideas will still work for parents of teenagers, but it is far better to head off future bad outcomes by preventing them.

You never realize just how wrong you've been raised up until you read this book. Glenn and Nelsen touch on some of the simplest, yet biggest aspects plaguing our society today. This book covers everything on how to fix social barriers and generally become a better person while allowing others the same opportunity. I honestly believe that everyone should read this book. Even if you don't have children of your own, the principals it teaches can be applied universally. You'll realize now the right and wrong ways to associate with people. Must... read... book...

I have recently discovered a book entitledThe integrated technology classroom: Building self-reliant learners, by Joan Riedl, published by Allyn & Bacon in 1995. You may already be familiar with it. I discovered it searching for a textbook to use with an educational technology class. It presents a structure for integrating technology into a classroom that is designed to promote active learning. It also provides a way to think about the activities students do, with or without technology. Riedl begins with the skills and competencies identified by the U.S. Department of Labor as necessary for success in the workplace. These include: knowledge of how to allocate resources; ability to work well in teams; ability to acquire and evaluate data; understanding of systems and the ability to use technology appropriately and effectively. Moreover all workers need basic skills (reading, writing, mathematics, speaking and listening), thinking skills (reasoning, decision making, problem solving and creative thinking) and personal qualities (responsibility, self-esteem, sociability and integrity).She then identifies three steps in the learning process: building a knowledge base; practicing skills and putting it all together (pages 14-15). She then applies all this to the design of learning stations in a classroom, and this is where it gets really interesting for me. Riedl provides a systematic way to think about each activity, so as to be clear about what students are doing and what can be accomplished at each learning station. When you design an activity at a learning station, try this process. Begin by specifying what step in the learning process is occurring at the learning station. For instance, CD-ROM research on computer is about building a knowledge base. Drill-and-practice math software is about practicing skills. Publishing a piece of writing, including spell-checking, grammar-checking and illustrating, is about putting it all together. Know where in the learning process your activity is situated. If the activity is about putting it all together, ask yourself whether students have the knowledge base to complete the activity. If the activity is about acquiring a knowledge base, ask yourself what students will be expected to do with that knowledge base. You can also identify the skills involved in each of these activities - basic skills, thinking skills and personal qualities. You can design activities to demand the work skills you want students to acquire. Perhaps your students seem to need practice in critical thinking or decision making. The assignment at the learning station should be designed to engage them in that practice. Riedl goes one step further in her description of learning stations. She names six different learning stations, each distinguished by a specific learning tool or primary function. These include: a broadcast news station, to build communications skills; a "how's it going" station in which students typically work with a teacher; a computer station; a multimedia station; an experiential station and a multipurpose station. The content may vary, but the structure does not. The value of the book, it seems to me, is in its systematic approach to the design of a classroom environment. For us, in one-computer classrooms, it demonstrates how to be clear about where in the learning process a computer activity is situated, and what skills we intend our students to practice. This clarity will help us and our students find our way through the variety of activities presented on- and off-computer.

This is not actually a review, but I was a student of hers while she was writing this book. Ever since those years, I have always looked up to her as one of the greatest role-models in my life. She was an excellent teacher, and I am sure that you will enjoy this book if you do buy it.

Wendy Mogel is a very honest, down-to-earth parent. She writes about how parents can reclaim the control in their family, and create a loving home based on Jewish values. This book is worthwhile for not just Jews, but any parent who wants to raise independent and loving children with values of repect, and integrity, while still maintaining parental sanity. Mogel does not give step-by-step advice, or a one size fits all formula. Rather, she explains Jewish values of parenting, and shows through example how these values can be applied in any home. She shows how to find strengths in any child, and how to use these strengths to everyone's advantage. The chapter on discipline is also very well written, especially for parents who want to practice and teach Jewish values, but may be unsure of how. She is also very in touch with 21st century families.

I was brought(in the European orthodox Jewish tradition ) up to respect my elders, as well as others. How refreshing to read a guide that lets us be parents (as opposed to buddies) with our kids. I enjoyed telling my 'old fashioned' parents that a up to date psychologist agrees with their way of parenting!! This book helps you see that you can be a good friend and guide to your kids without letting them become the boss. While I would not use this book as a source for Jewish theology (or law), Mogel does a beautiful job of using Jewish sources to help all parents with universal parenting issues. Thank you Dr Mogel!!

This book is a blessing for the thousands of parents and educators who will read it. Mogel is refreshingly frank about the struggles of parents to "tame" their children and is able to gracefully match Jewish text with challenges to create a readable, informative and useful parenting book. I know that this book will be a meaningful read for many parents, but it should be on the reading list for educators as well, who work with and support parents making these choices.

This book is a bible for anyone seeking to live in a community without contributing to the growing crisis in infrastructure provision. It shows in practical terms, illustrated with easily understood sketches and diagrams,and supported by easily read and understood tables, ways to live more independently of, and offer less of a burden to our city. First published in 1974, it was a quarter century ahead of its time. Its time has come.

This book is a collection of recipes, down-home-isms, and basic common-sense stuff. If you already have your feet on the ground, save your money. On the other hand, if you're flighty, insecure, and fearful, this book may be just the thing for you.

This collection of recipes, down-home-isms, and basic common-sense stuff is great to have if you're not acquainted with rural living and lack essential knowledge to relocate outside a high population area in emergencies. It's well organized with sound advice for the beginner.

I found Basic Preparedness to do just that. It covered the basics of getting prepared for most any emergency and also had the charts and graphs to guide me for longer term storage programs. Besides covering the four basics of survival - food, water, medical, shelter - it also went into how to use food storage, make your own soap, butcher game, split fire wood and how to buy your land in the country. In these times of earth changes and strange weather it really is a good Idea to "Be Prepared"