Horse Soldiers is a big-hearted and thrilling read, with an epic story that reaches not just across the cold mounta ins of Afghanistan but into the homes of small-town America, and confirms Doug Stanton as one of our country's preeminent storytellers

Horse soldiers : the extraordinary story of a band of U.S. soldiers who rode to victory in Afghanistan    New York : Scribner, 2009  Doug Stanton Afghan War, 2001- , Cavalry operations, American Hardcover. 1st ed. and printing. xvi, 393 p., [8] p. of plates : ill., map ; 24 cm. Includes bibliographical references (p. 383-393).  Clean, tight and strong binding with clean dust jacket. No highlighting, underlining or marginalia in text. VG/VG

From the New York Times-bestselling author of In Harm’s Way comes a true-life story of American soldiers overcoming great odds to achieve a stunning military victory.

Horse Soldiers is the dramatic account of a small band of Special Forces soldiers who secretly entered Afghanistan following 9/11 and rode to war on horses against the Taliban. Outnumbered forty to one, they pursued the enemy across mountainous terrain and, after a series of intense battles, captured the city of Mazar-i-Sharif, which was strategically essential if they were to defeat the Taliban.

The bone-weary American soldiers were welcomed as liberators, and overjoyed Afghans thronged the streets. Then the action took a wholly unexpected turn. During a surrender of six hundred Taliban troops, the Horse Soldiers were ambushed. Dangerously outnumbered, they fought for their lives in the city’s immense fortress, Qala-i-Janghi, or the House of War. At risk were the military gains of the entire campaign: if the soldiers perished or were captured, the effort to defeat the Taliban might be doomed.

As the Americans struggled to hold the fortress, they faced some of the most intense urban warfare of our time. But until now the full story of the Horse Soldiers has never been told. Doug Stanton received unprecedented cooperation from the U.S. Army’s Special Forces soldiers and Special Operations helicopter pilots, as well as access to voluminous after-battle reports. In addition, he interviewed more than one hundred participants and walked every inch of the climactic battleground.

This exciting story is filled with unforgettable characters: brave Special Forces soldiers, tough CIA operatives, cunning Afghan warlords, anxious stateside soldiers’ wives who do not know where their husbands have gone, and humble Afghan boys spying on the Taliban.

Deeply researched and beautifully written, Stanton’s account of America’s quest to liberate an oppressed people touches the mythic. The Horse Soldiers combined ancient strategies of cavalry warfare with twenty-first-century aerial bombardment technology to perform a seemingly impossible feat. Moreover, their careful effort to win the hearts of local townspeople and avoid civilian casualties proved a valuable lesson for America’s ongoing efforts in Afghanistan.

Horse Soldiers is a big-hearted and thrilling read, with an epic story that reaches not just across the cold mountains of Afghanistan but into the homes of small-town America, and confirms Doug Stanton as one of our country’s preeminent storytellers.

[Via http://oldsaltbooks.wordpress.com]

Tibetan Tales from the Top of the World by Naomi C. Rose

 

Come experience the world of Tibet through the simple, yet charming tales told in Tibetan Tales from the Top of the World by Naomi C. Rose.  

This delightful collection includes three ancient tales that offer simple wisdom and show us how to live in peace and kindness. In “Prince Jampa’s Surprise”, children read of Prince Jampa, a brave young man who has been misled about the Varasi by years and years of stories telling of their bloodthirsty ways. Thinking the Varasi are out to destroy his people, Prince Jampa leads a war party into battle, only to discover that things might not be as they seem.

“Sonam and the Stolen Cow” shares the the story of Sonam, a young nun who is falsely accused of stealing a cow. Treated poorly by her accusers, when Sonam sees a chance to escape, she runs off. Very hungry, she meets up with a monkey in the woods, who reminds her of a time her cousin was falsely accused for something she did, which leads her on  a path to finally make things right.

The last story in this collection is “Tashi’s Gold”. Tashi is a lazy worker, who spends much of his time napping. When he overhears two men talking about the magical lake loaded with gold, Tashi decides to go to the lake. If he were rich, he wouldn’t need to work on the farm anymore. He meets with the guardian of the lake, who tells him that riches never come from gold, but the greedy Tashi takes some anyway. But Tashi and his family soon discover the meaning behind the guardian’s words.

Each of these tales is told in a lyrical, flowing prose that draws the reader in.  The author has studied Tibetan culture and wisdom since 1994, and her knowledge and passion to share this wisdom is evident right from the very beginning. Rose also provided the stunning illustrations for this book, making Tibetan Tales from the Top of the World a beautiful piece of work. The stories are told in English and Tibetan. There is a Preface from actor Richard Gere and the Dalai Lama provides the Foreword.  Rose’s previous book, Tibetan Tales for Little Buddhas, won a Nautilus Book Award. It will not surprise me if Tibetan Tales from the Top of the World garners her more accolades.

A truly inspirational reading experience awaits you and your child in Tibetan Tales from the Top of the World!

You can find a trailer for this book at the author’s website.

Rating: 

Publisher: Clear Light Publishing

Language: English, Tibetan

ISBN-10: 1574160893

ISBN-13: 978-1574160895

SRP: $19.95

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[Via http://childrensandteensbookconnection.wordpress.com]

The Pint Man (book review)

The Pint Man: A Novel
by Steve Rushin
Doubleday, February 2009 $24.95 259 pages

Reading The Pint Man is an invitation into Rodney Poole’s thoughts. 34, unemployed and aimless, Rodney spends most evenings at Boyle’s, his local, as he drinks one pint after another “of Guinness, with its clerical collar of foam,” filling out crossword puzzles, and having meandering, trivia laden conversations with the bar’s other patrons, in the dim cave of Boyle’s, an Irish pub in Manhattan.  I have a feeling I’ve been in this bar. Or somewhere enough like it to wonder whether The Pint Man is too New York to be read anywhere else. It’s a meandering, poetic sprawl of a novel, littered with odd facts and side notes.

Rodney’s a wordsmith, a pun and trivia collector, a crossword puzzle fiend. Shy, and deeply averse to change or conflict, he likes the ritual of an after-work pint, even though he’s at the loose ends of being downsized from a job he never liked. His best friend, Keith, is getting married, which nudges Rodney to wonder what he should be doing about moving forward. That thought, like the entire novel, has more of a tentative, wandering dreaminess than any real heft.

Reading this is like sitting in Boyle’s with Rodney, drinking pints poured by Armen the Barman, and having a far-flung ramble of a conversation: the kind of conversation that only happens in bars, preferably late at night and well lubricated by Guinness. I feel like I’ve met Rodney, at a pub quiz somewhere. There were some passages where I wondered if I’d dated Rodney… or at least the author’s inspiration for him. What keeps Rodney’s aimlessness from being annoying is his bibliophile’s appetite for punctuating the narrative with goofy facts and musings. Quoting Benjamin Franklin “Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy” one minute, and odd advertising slogans the next- Rodney’s cluttered mind is endearing, at least to a fellow Guinness drinking trivia hound.

Even the emergence of a love interest, in the person of career girl Mairead, feels tentative and muted. Rodney is a man of comforts and rituals, who is more accustomed to the risks of having a pun fall flat or his odd sense of humor misunderstood, than a man of any grand passions.  That said, I love the unfolding of his and Mairead’s relationship- from a first date, to a few nights talking in bars, to a good wander through The Strand bookstore. The sweet, chaste shyness and banter is a very welcome relief from the usual rom-com trope where Boy Meets Girl, Sparks Fly and they wind up in bed at top speed. Diverting from the expected romantic cliches forces you to slow down and pay attention.

I wound up getting this from the Star-Ledger, not to review officially in print, but because Debbie the office manager at the editorial department sent it over with a note “This made me think of you.” Maybe what I liked was the recognition of such a strong sense of New York, and a trivia-obsessed mind certain of literary quotes but uncertain of the big details of being a grownup. Or maybe what I liked was the language and metaphor itself- sensory and thick about everything from a pint of Guinness to a walk in New York in August to a fetid bar men’s room, calling for the reader to pause, and really pay attention.

[Via http://elizabethwillse.com]

God Against the Gods:The History of War Between Monotheism and Polytheism by Jonathan Kirsch

God Against the Gods begins at the very beginning of monotheism, not with Judaism but with the Sun God Aton. Not a lot of people know that monotheism began with an Egyptian Pharaoh, called Akhenaton, who decided that everyone should just worship one god which was Aton, the Sun god. Kirsch then moves on to Judaism and Christianity and along the way we learn many new and perhaps to some surprising things like the fact that martyrdom began with the Jews, and that the monotheistic condemnation of polytheism doesn’t come from the practices and rituals of these groups but from the fact that they worship more than one god and not the ONE TRUE GOD. Stripped to the basics what rituals pagans did/do is not so different from what the monotheists do.

The book is divided into two sections.

Book one is all about the God that failed and it has four chapters. Chapter one discusses Akhenaton and his monotheistic experiment and why it failed, chapter two discusses what pagans do and how that is similar to what monotheists do. It also takes about why the monotheists condemn the polytheists. Chapter three talks about the Jews and how they invented and reinvented themselves and how they dealt with other Jews whom they felt were not pious enough, as well as how the Roman empire dealt with them. Chapter four discusses how Christianity came to be and the things it went through with Rome before the time of Constantine.

Book two is all about the war of the God against the Gods and it has seven chapters. Chapter five discusses how Constantine was born and how his rise to power came about and how his name became linked to Christianity, causing it to rise to power with him. Chapter six talks about how after Constantine’s victory over his father – in – law, he and the emperor of the east repealed the Great Persecution law against the Christians. This however, didn’t make the Christians go out and spread the word, instead they now were persecuting each other. The chapter ended with the Christians bringing their case to Constantine. Chapter seven recounts the life of Constantine after he became emperor and what he did and didn’t do for Christianity and ends with his death. At the end of the chapter the author tells us that Constantine died with paganism still the religion of Rome but that he set in motion a Christian revolution that his sons late took up. Chapters eight and nine go on to describe what happened after Constantine’s death with his sons taking over and how Julian (the last pagan emperor) come to the throne. Chapter ten talks about the eighteen months of Julian’s reign and how he tried to turn back the clock in favor of paganism. In the Epilogue the author brings us to the present day.

The book also has at the end a time line of the events discussed in the book and a list of the historical figures discussed in it.

The book was a short order look at the interaction between polytheism and monotheism and mostly that of Judaism and Christianity. It showed just how each began and how much they took from polytheism, and why they fought it once you take away the propaganda. At times it was a little boring but it was overall a good read.

[Via http://celticscholar.wordpress.com]

Mommies Who Get It

I have been DELIGHTED to get so many amazing responses to the Parenting, Inc. book review from mommies who are sick and tired of light-up toys and Barbie merchandise (and how about light-up Barbie merchandise?!).  You guys give me hope that when I have kids, I’ll be able to find mom-friends who have the same values I do, and who respect their kids and know what’s best for their development.  Hats off to all of you, and A BIG THANK YOU for sending me links! I’m working on a follow-up post as soon as I recover from this majorly insane week (more on that later, but it involves temper tantrums, peeing on carpets, head-banging and shoe-flinging).

[Via http://montessorimatters.wordpress.com]

The ACEP Pocket First Aid Book

This book is the second choice I made for a go pack library. Small in stature, but packed with a wealth of information. Well worth the $7.00 I paid for it at a local bookstore.

The book is primarily a pocket sized version of the American College of Emergency Physicians larger version, the complete first aid book, if you will. At 128 pages long and small enough to slip into your pants pocket it will fit very nicely into most first aid kits or a easy access pocket on your own go packs. The illustrations are actual photographs of various procedures and steps, which I found refreshing after pouring through pages and pages of crudely done line drawings that didn’t show things as clearly as this little gem of a book does.

Divided into nine sections, you can easily find a chapter for whatever types of medical emergency you may encounter.

Section 1, Techniques and Equipment talks about some of the basic medical supplies you should have and how to use them. It also goes into the way you should apply bandages and slings, which will be some of the more common things you may have to address in the moments after an accident. Especially if blood is present.

Section 2,Life Saving Procedures, addresses various ways to deal with resuscitation of a victim, life saving priorities and choking incidents. There are some interesting flow charts that take you step by step through some of the situations. It even includes a chart on the usage of a portable defibrillator. Not that we all carry one in our first aid kit, but it’s good information to have available. Many businesses now keep and emergency defibrillator on hand for just such emergencies. The prices keep coming down as the technology and demand for the units increase, so I would expect there to be a growing availability of these units as time goes by.

Section 3, Circulatory and Respiratory Problems deals with things like shock, heart attacks and problems, fainting, asthma, drowning and penetrating wounds to the chest. In a disaster, any one of these situation can come upon a member of your party with absolutely no prior warning, so it is important to familiarize yourself with this information. One of the points you should keep in mind that when it comes to heart problems, giving the victim a 325mg aspirin helps to thin the blood and may be the key a rapid recovery, or at the very least provide the victim some time until professional help and an ambulance arrives. Make sure you keep a small bottle in your medical kits, and keep the date current on the bottle.

Section 4 deals with Wounds and Bleeding, and covers everything from a simple nosebleed up to severe bleeding. A couple of points to remember here is that wounds should be cleaned with clean running water or a non-alcohol cleaning wipe. Objects that may have become embedded in the wound may need to be removed as well, to prevent infection and further irritation.

Bone, Joint, and Muscle injuries are covered in section 5. This is a head to toe look at possible bone injuries, as well as muscular sprains and other problems related to the two. The first couple of pages describe some of the different types of fractures as well as muscle, tendon, and ligament injuries. The section also goes into some splinting procedures.

Section 6 goes into Disorders of Consciousness. These disorders deal with concussion, cerebral compression, skull fractures for starters. The section also covers hypo- and hyperglycemia, various seizures, strokes and diabetes.

Environmental Injuries are covered in section 7. These include incidents such as burns and scalding, electrical and chemical burns, heatstroke and exhaustion and cold related emergencies such as frostbite and hypothermia.

Section 8 considers Foreign Objects, such as splinters and fishhooks, inhaled and swallowed objects, and things that get stuck in your eye, ear and nose. Probably should be a must read section if you have little ones along, from what I have heard about the kiddies.

Lastly, section 9 deals with Poisoning, Bites and Stings. It’s amazing at how many things exist in this world that can harm you, especially from unseen sources, such as little bugs and the neighbor’s dog. Like the rest of the book, this section also covers a great deal in a small space, and is also important info you need. As a bonus, I would suggest you photocopy the last page of the book, make several copies and have them on hand in your medical kit for emergencies. It will help you through the incident and provide some much needed information to any first responders that may be called.

The ISBN for this book is 978-0-7894-9265-4 and can be purchased at leading booksellers. Many will have them in stock in their medical section, and can also be ordered from many sources as well. I find it to be a great companion book to the Collins Gem version of the SAS Pocket Survival Guide, and I keep both of them in my go-pack or bug out bag. Pick up a copy and read it thoroughly. Just remember that this book, or any other book for that matter is no substitute for proper first aid training. I would also recommend that you get a full featured first aid manual as well, just to have an even greater collection of knowledge on hand.

[Via http://dlsoucy.wordpress.com]

Book Review: Money Matters in the Church

Book Review. Money Matters in Church: A Practical Guide for Leaders, by Aubrey Malphurs and Steve Stroope. (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2007). 215 Pages.

High praises for this book. This practical guide covers dozens of considerations that I wish were specifically addressed in Seminary. One of the rarely stated facts that many pastors face is the lack of exposure to some of the practical aspects of “overseeing” a ministry. Truthfully, most of us pastors are self-trained in areas of finance, campaigns, and budgeting as we work through the challenges of ministry on our own. Unfortunately, though I learned many great things in Seminary from an incredible faculty, some things like these were rarely discussed.

The authors walk a reader through a well-rounded approach to financial management (stewardship) in the church. From requiring the pastor to develop and articulate his own theology of stewardship, to structure of committees, boards, budgets, and planning for capital expenditures. Particularly helpful were the subjects that are on many leaders’ minds but are difficult to bring up in conversation without sounding “ungrateful” or “self-serving,” like compensation, budgeting, management of day-to-day ministry expenditures and so forth.

I intend to provide a copy of this book to my key leaders and take my own finance team through a study of these principles. In many ways, I think it will prove to be affirming to our current practices while also providing opportunity to consider areas for improvement and implementation.

I would strongly recommend it to every pastor and key staff leader who are involved with finances. Some might criticize the focus on such subjects while proclaiming that if we all just “love Jesus” everything else will work out. While dependence on God’s guidance through the Holy Spirit and His Word are of primary importance, I believe that God can use this book to aid pastors in developing a culture of stewardship among God’s people.

You can purchase a copy of this book from Amazon HERE.

[Via http://chrisaiken.wordpress.com]