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OK, we all are inundated with spam. These guys are doing something about it by not getting mad, but rather getting even. They target the "opportunity" types, who promise you can "make money fast" on the Internet by participating in some scheme or fraud. Thus their charter: "Putting an end to online scammers or at least laughing at them mercilessly." The former is nigh impossible, so the latter will have to do. From This is True for 8 April 2007 Suggestions for further reading:
 By: Rhonda Byrne List Price: $23.95 Amazon Price: $14.37 Editorial Review: Fragments of a Great Secret have been found in the oral traditions, in literature, in religions and philosophies throughout the centuries. For the first time, all the pieces of The Secret come together in an incredible revelation that will be life-transforming for all who experience it. In this book, you'll learn how to use The Secret in every aspect of your life -- money, health, relationships, happiness, and in every interaction you have in the world. You'll begin to understand the hidden, untapped power that's within you, and this revelation can bring joy to every aspect of your life. The Secret contains wisdom from modern-day teachers -- men and women who have used it to achieve health, wealth, and happiness. By applying the knowledge of The Secret, they bring to light compelling stories of eradicating disease, acquiring massive wealth, overcoming obstacles, and achieving what many would regard as impossible.  By: Tucker Max List Price: $12.95 Amazon Price: $10.36 Editorial Review: My name is Tucker Max, and I am an asshole. I get excessively drunk at inappropriate times, disregard social norms, indulge every whim, ignore the consequences of my actions, mock idiots and posers, sleep with more women than is safe or reasonable, and just generally act like a raging dickhead. But, I do contribute to humanity in one very important way: I share my adventures with the world. —from the Introduction Actual reader feedback: "I am completely baffled as to how you can congratulate yourself for being a womanizer and a raging drunk, or think anyone cares about an idiot like you. Do you really think that exploiting the insecurities of others while getting wasted is a legitimate thing to offer?" "Thank you, thank you, thank you—for sharing with us your wonderful tales of drunken revelry, for teaching me what it means to be a man, for just existing so I know that there is another option; I too can say `screw the system' and be myself and have fun. My life truly began when I finished reading your stories. Now, when faced with a quandary about what course of action I should take, I just ask myself, `What Would Tucker Do?'—and I do it, and I am a better man for it." "I find it truly appalling that there are people in the world like you. You are a disgusting, vile, repulsive, repugnant, foul creature. Because of you, I don't believe in God anymore. No just God would allow someone like you to exist." "I'll stay with God as my lord, but you are my savior. I just finished reading your brilliant stories, and I laughed so hard I almost vomited. I want to bring that kind of joy to people. You're an artist of the highest order and a true humanitarian to boot. I'm in both shock and awe at how much I want to be you." "You are the coolest person I can even imagine existing. If you slept with my girlfriend, it'd make me love her more."  By: Joel Osteen List Price: $25.00 Amazon Price: $16.50 Editorial Review: Book Description Joel Osteen reaches one of the largest audiences in the U.S. and across the globe--more than 42,000 people attend his church every week, and millions more tune in by television to hear his words of inspiration and wisdom. His first book, Your Best Life Now, has sold over 4 million copies and is available worldwide in 17 languages. His message of hope is helping people find a closer connection with God by learning to apply the principles of Scripture to their everyday lives. In this new book, Become a Better You, Joel Osteen offers seven simple yet profound action steps that will help readers discover the better things they were born for... their individual purpose and destiny. As charming and passionate on the page as he is in person, Osteen incorporates key biblical principles, devotions, and personal testimonies that will uplift and enlighten readers. He speaks directly to the hearts and concerns of people from every walk of life. People love Joel Osteen--they love to be in his presence, to hear him speak, and to read what he's written--they just can't get enough of him. Become a Better You will encourage and inspire readers to reach their full, unique and God given potential. A Word from Joel Osteen Dear Amazon Customer, I am very excited to be working with Amazon.com as an online bookseller and partner for the publication of my new book, Become a Better You. As a leader in e-commerce, Amazon.com is an informative and innovative online resource. Get ready to embark on a remarkable journey. One that will help you break free from the past and realize your full potential as a spouse, parent, or friend. Whether you realize it or not, miracles are happening all around you. I'm confident that reading this book will lead you to accept the gift of who you were meant to be and live a life filled with more hope, joy, and victory. Believing for God's Best, Joel Osteen
An Interview with Joel Osteen Q: Do you have a hero? A: Of course, my greatest hero is Jesus Christ. He should be everyone's greatest hero. However, among men, I have two real heroes. My father, John Osteen, was not only the best father anyone could ever have, but was my best friend as well. He was a man of great integrity, and he taught me how important it was to incorporate Jesus Christ into every part of my life. Another of my heroes is Billy Graham who throughout the years has remained true to that which God called him to do and has done so with the utmost dedication, humility, and integrity. Q: In today's conflicted world, how do you encourage people to maintain their faith? A: As believers we should be assured that Jesus said He would never leave us nor forsake us. We should adopt a mindset that God wants to be involved in our everyday lives, through good times and difficult times. We should communicate with God throughout our day (to pray without ceasing), not just when we are in crisis. He cares about our lives even in the small things. There is no part of our lives that are insignificant to Him. Q: What did working behind the scenes at Lakewood during your father's ministry inform how you preach today? A: Really it all started for me when I was born. Our family never missed church; Sunday morning, Sunday night and Wednesday night, week in and week out. However, for 17 years I did produce and edit my father's sermons for television. I often joke that I attended one year of college and 17 years of seminary. For those 17 years, I would have to study my father's weekly sermons and then cut them down to a 28-minute TV program while maintaining the message. I guess I've listened to at least 1,500 of my father's messages. Q: Your ministry reaches millions each week through television and the Internet. How has technology changed how people worship today? A: Through telecommunications technology, especially the web, more Christian programming is available than ever before. Not only do people have more choices in Christian programming, but they can get as much as they want whenever they want it. I think that our use of technology results in people spending more of their time thinking about the things of God. However, I don't see technology replacing worship in the traditional sense--that is worshipping with other believers in a church. Everyone should belong to a good Bible-based church. Q: In our busy lives, what is your advice for how we can slow things down and find peaceful moments? A: Personally, I take time each morning to spend with God. I have a quiet place in my home or I find a quiet place if I am traveling where I pray and seek guidance from God. I think that is the best way for anyone to start their day; it really sets the tone for each day. Q: As a father, what advice would you share with parents struggling with our fast-paced culture? A: Victoria and I decided a long time ago that our family takes priority over most everything else. I tell people all the time that their families should be their first mission field. Today, it takes a great deal of our time and energy to make a living. We need to make sure our families don't get the short end of the stick and we need to make time for them. And, I am talking about "quality time"; no cell phones, no business calls, no outside distractions, just family. More to Explore
Become a Better You [Abridged Audio CD] Scriptures and Meditations for Your Best Life Now  By: James Frey List Price: $15.95 Amazon Price: $10.85 Editorial Review: News from Doubleday & Anchor Books The controversy over James Frey's A Million Little Pieces has caused serious concern at Doubleday and Anchor Books. Recent interpretations of our previous statement notwithstanding, it is not the policy or stance of this company that it doesn't matter whether a book sold as nonfiction is true. A nonfiction book should adhere to the facts as the author knows them. It is, however, Doubleday and Anchor's policy to stand with our authors when accusations are initially leveled against their work, and we continue to believe this is right and proper. A publisher's relationship with an author is based to an extent on trust. Mr. Frey's repeated representations of the book's accuracy, throughout publication and promotion, assured us that everything in it was true to his recollections. When the Smoking Gun report appeared, our first response, given that we were still learning the facts of the matter, was to support our author. Since then, we have questioned him about the allegations and have sadly come to the realization that a number of facts have been altered and incidents embellished. We bear a responsibility for what we publish, and apologize to the reading public for any unintentional confusion surrounding the publication of A Million Little Pieces. We are immediately taking the following actions: We are issuing a publisher's note to be included in all future printings of the book.* James Frey has written an author's note that will appear in all future printings of the book.* Read the author's note. The jacket for all future editions will carry the line "With new notes from the publisher and from the author." Note: The following editorial reviews were written before the recent revelations by James Frey and the publisher. Amazon.com The electrifying opening of James Frey's debut memoir, A Million Little Pieces, smash-cuts to the then 23-year-old author on a Chicago-bound plane "covered with a colorful mixture of spit, snot, urine, vomit and blood." Wanted by authorities in three states, without ID or any money, his face mangled and missing four front teeth, Frey is on a steep descent from a dark marathon of drug abuse. His stunned family checks him into a famed Minnesota drug treatment center where a doctor promises "he will be dead within a few days" if he starts to use again, and where Frey spends two agonizing months of detox confronting "The Fury" head on: I want a drink. I want fifty drinks. I want a bottle of the purest, strongest, most destructive, most poisonous alcohol on Earth. I want fifty bottles of it. I want crack, dirty and yellow and filled with formaldehyde. I want a pile of powder meth, five hundred hits of acid, a garbage bag filled with mushrooms, a tube of glue bigger than a truck, a pool of gas large enough to drown in. I want something anything whatever however as much as I can. One of the more harrowing sections is when Frey submits to major dental surgery without the benefit of anesthesia or painkillers (he fights the mind-blowing waves of "bayonet" pain by digging his fingers into two old tennis balls until his nails crack). His fellow patients include a damaged crack addict with whom Frey wades into an ill-fated relationship, a federal judge, a former championship boxer, and a mobster (who, upon his release, throws a hilarious surf-and-turf bacchanal, complete with pay-per-view boxing). In the book's epilogue, when Frey ticks off a terse update on everyone, you can almost hear the Jim Carroll Band's brutal survivor's lament "People Who Died" kicking in on the soundtrack of the inevitable film adaptation. The rage-fueled memoir is kept in check by Frey's cool, minimalist style. Like his steady mantra, "I am an Alcoholic and I am a drug Addict and I am a Criminal," Frey's use of repetition takes on a crisp, lyrical quality which lends itself to the surreal experience. The book could have benefited from being a bit leaner. Nearly 400 pages is a long time to spend under Frey's influence, and the stylistic acrobatics (no quotation marks, random capitalization, left-aligned text, wild paragraph breaks) may seem too self-conscious for some readers, but beyond the literary fireworks lurks a fierce debut. --Brad Thomas Parsons “The most lacerating tale of drug addiction since William S. Burroughs’ Junky.” —The Boston Globe At the age of twenty-three, James Frey woke up on a plane to find his four front teeth had been knocked out. His nose was broken and there was a hole through his cheek. He had no idea where the plane was headed or what had happened over the preceding two weeks. He had been an alcoholic for ten years and a crack addict for three. When he checked into a treatment facility shortly thereafter, he was told he could either stop using or die before he reached twenty-four. A Million Little Pieces is Frey's acclaimed account of his six weeks in rehab; fiercely honest and deeply affecting, it is one of the most graphic and immediate books ever to be written about addiction and recovery. "James Frey has written the War and Peace of addiction. It lends new meaning to the word 'harrowing' and one sometimes shudders to read it. But deep down, beneath all the layers and the masks, there lives something unconquerable in Frey's hurt spirit... And the writing, the writing, the writing." "A Million Little Pieces is as intense and perfectly detailed an account of a human quitting his drug and alcohol dependency as you are likely to read. And James Frey is horribly honest and funny in a young-guard Eggers and Wallace sort of way, but perhaps more contained and measured. He is unerring in his descent into a world where the characters need help in such extremely desperate ways. Read this immediately." "A Million Little Pieces is this generation's most comprehensive book about addiction: a heartbreaking memoir defined by its youthful tone and poetic honesty. Beneath the brutality of James Frey's painful process of growing up, there are simple gestures of kindness that will reduce even the most jaded to tears. Very few books earn those tears—this one does. It will have you sobbing, laughing, angry, frustrated, and most importantly, hopeful. A Million Little Pieces is inspirational and essential. A remarkable performance."  By: Lawrence Solomon List Price: $27.95 Amazon Price: $18.45 Editorial Review: Is The "Scientific Consensus" on Global Warming a Myth? Yes, says internationally renowned environmentalist author Lawrence Solomon who highlights the brave scientists--all leaders in their fields-- who dispute the conventional wisdom of climate change alarmists (despite the threat to their careers) Al Gore and his media allies claim the only scientists who dispute the alarmist view on global warming are corrupt crackpots and "deniers", comparable to neo-Nazis who deny the Holocaust. Solomon calmly and methodically debunks Gore's outrageous charges, showing in on 'headline' case after another that the scientists who dispute Gore's doomsday scenarios have far more credibility than those who support Gore's theories. These men who expose Gore's claims as absurd hold top positions at the most prestigious scientific institutes in the world. Their work is cited and acclaimed throughout the scientific community. No wonder Gore and his allies want to pretend they don't exist. This is the one book that PROVES the science is NOT settled. The scientists profiled are too eminent and their research too devastating to allow simplistic views of global warming--like Al Gore's--to survive. |
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