The Best of All Possible Worlds: Mathematics and Destiny

The Best of All Possible Worlds: Mathematics and Destiny
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Lucid and enchanting

The Best of All Possible Worlds: Mathematics and Destiny
Ivar Ekeland
Manufacturer: University Of Chicago Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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The Poincare Conjecture: In Search of the Shape of the Universe

ASIN: 0226199940

Book Description

Optimists believe this is the best of all possible worlds. And pessimists fear that might really be the case. But what is the best of all possible worlds? How do we define it? Is it the world that operates the most efficiently? Or the one in which most people are comfortable and content? Questions such as these have preoccupied philosophers and theologians for ages, but there was a time, during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, when scientists and mathematicians felt they could provide the answer.

This book is their story. Ivar Ekeland here takes the reader on a journey through scientific attempts to envision the best of all possible worlds. He begins with the French physicist Maupertuis, whose least action principle asserted that everything in nature occurs in the way that requires the least possible action. This idea, Ekeland shows, was a pivotal breakthrough in mathematics, because it was the first expression of the concept of optimization, or the creation of systems that are the most efficient or functional. Although the least action principle was later elaborated on and overshadowed by the theories of Leonhard Euler and Gottfried Leibniz, the concept of optimization that emerged from it is an important one that touches virtually every scientific discipline today.

Tracing the profound impact of optimization and the unexpected ways in which it has influenced the study of mathematics, biology, economics, and even politics, Ekeland reveals throughout how the idea of optimization has driven some of our greatest intellectual breakthroughs. The result is a dazzling display of erudition—one that will be essential reading for popular-science buffs and historians of science alike.

Customer Reviews:

Lucid and enchanting.......2007-01-20

Ivar Ekland is one of those people who make you glad to be part of the human race. He writes easily and eloquently and his exposition is direct and without unnecessary embellishment. He proceeds from simple beginnings and then takes the reader on a multi-century tour of the evolution of mathematics as seen through the prism of man's quest to demonstrate the presence of a deus ex machina. The quest, of course, is ultimately futile and it is mathematics that first exposes and then elaborates on that futility. The marvel of Ekland's book is that the necessary fundamental mathematical concepts are presented in such a way as to be intelligible to anyone, and the endeavor itself is presented in an historical context rich with anecdote and unexpected treasures. For example, most people know that Voltaire had Liebnitz in his sights when he created the character of Pangloss in his novel Candide; but how many know (as I did not, before reading Ekland's book) that Leibnitz had been so influenced by Maupertuis' ideas concerning optimization of action? And who would have thought that the development of the calculus of variations necessary to elucidate this supposed god-driven optimisation would in time lead to the inescapable relativity of the Lorenz transformations and hence to Einstein's Special Theory? Thus the irony that the tools developed by man to show god's working in the universe ultimately reveal that there cannot be, in fact, any ghost in the cosmic machine.

So much, so good. The first seven chapters are a wonderful romp through the history of philosophy, metaphysics and mathematics. But it's in the last three chapters that Ekland really excels. Having demonstrated that there is no "best of all possible worlds" driven by the logic of an optimizing deity, he goes on to ask the critical question: how shall societies be organized if there is no super-principle we can count on? The evident absence of a divine guiding hand forces us to concentrate our minds on the urgent issue of human governance, and Ekland explores the resulting complexity with as much aplomb as he elaborated on the history of metaphysics in the book's preceding chapters. Taking in game theory alongside quotations from Guicciardini and moving through Borda to Rawls, Ekland ends on an optimistic note. His message is that if we abandon the false and empty lures of superstition and instead look clearly on what is, not on what people have so often wished would be, we can begin to take steps to design and organize societies that are more equitable and less prone to being dominated by special interest groups than those in which we generally live. Ekland is no Utopian: he knows that people everywhere tend to work to further their own best interests and very often this is necessarily at the expense of others. His optimism results from the awareness that self interest and general good are not inevitably incompatible qualities but can be, under certain social arrangements, made to be mutually advantageous. The last few pages of the book contain Ekland's personal statement of optimism regarding the utility of reason, which is essentially that the alternative is arbitrary superstition. Reason has been highly successful in enabling us to fashion a wide variety of technologies that have made us the dominant animal on Earth; his hope is that a similar application of reason will enable us to see ourselves more clearly for what we are, and thereby become better at designing social institutions that will provide more adequate ways of ensuring general well-being than those we have at present. This optimistic outlook does stand a little uncomfortably in contrast with Ekland's earlier analysis of why social optimization is essentially an impossible task; nevertheless one can't help but admire his humanity and agree that "if not reason, then what?"

The interested reader should perhaps finish Ekland and move immediately to Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations and from there to Hayek's The Constitution of Liberty. After these magnificent flowerings of the human intellect, the dusty and semi-literate ramblings contained in the holy books of long-ago cults can be clearly seen to be the tedious flip-side of human endeavor and worthy of nothing more than benign neglect.

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A chronicle of the events that turned the rebellious Jimmy Kirk into Captain James T. Kirk
Best Destiny = Boring!
Star Trek: Best Destiny
Best Destiny Rules@@@
A good read, James T. as in teenager...

Star Trek Best Destiny
Diane Carey
Manufacturer: Audioworks
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Audio Cassette

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The Lost Years (Star Trek)
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STAR TREK PROBE (Star Trek: The Original Series)
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ASIN: 0671791036

Book Description

As James T. Kirk prepares to retire from a long and illustrious Starfleet career, events in a distant part of the Federation draw him back to a part of the galaxy he had last visited as a young man, a mysterious world called Faramond whose name takes Kirk on a journey back to his youth.

At sixteen, Kirk is troubled, estranged from his father, and has a bleak future. However, a trip into space with Kirk's father George and Starfleet legend Captain Robert April changes James Kirk's life forever, when a simple voyage becomes a deadly trap. Soon Kirk and his father find themselves fighting for their lives against a vicious and powerful enemy.

Before the voyage ends, father and son will face life and death together, and James T. Kirk will get a glimpse of the future and his own best destiny.

Customer Reviews:

A chronicle of the events that turned the rebellious Jimmy Kirk into Captain James T. Kirk.......2007-06-17

Like so many of the greatest commanders in history, James T. Kirk was a rebellious teenager, driving his Star Fleet father George Kirk to the brink of frustrated parental defeat. In his first attempt to show his son what Star Fleet was all about, Jimmy Kirk experienced the brutality of Kodos' own brand of survival techniques. When Jimmy leads his gang in an attempt to run away on an ocean ship, George tries one last time to alter his son's life course.
Although the mission is designed to be a "milk-run", it turns out to be much more than that. George Kirk, Captain Robert April, Jimmy Kirk and several other Star Fleet members are observing a unique star formation in a small craft when a pirate ship attacks them. They put up a good fight but when they think that they are about to be destroyed, they put Jimmy in a makeshift survival pod and try to send him out of danger. However, Jimmy has other ideas and proceeds to attack the pirate ship and disable them long enough for his father and shipmates to join in the fight. They manage to defeat their opponents, one of which is a boy genius who has somehow managed to develop a new and revolutionary shield technology.
There is a later story intertwined with this one. Years later Kirk is an admiral and the time frame is right after "The Undiscovered Country." The Enterprise is about to be decommissioned when it is forced to answer a distress call from one of the newest models of starships. When they arrive, Kirk finds himself confronting an old nemesis with delusions of godhood.
This book is an excellent glimpse into the troubled teen years of the strong-willed Jimmy Kirk and the circumstances that turned a potential sociopath into one of the finest commanders Star Fleet ever produced.

Best Destiny = Boring!.......2005-07-28

Ok so here we have a book that shows James T. Kirk as a punk kid being a belligerant goof who turns his life around with one dramatic moment. It would be great if it were more believable. There's too much melodrama in this. Yeah he's James T. Kirk but he's not the most influential force in the history of the genre. I thought the action was good but at times dragged out. His interactions with Engsign Veronica Hall were the worst. It's an ok story with some good background. It glosses over his relation with siblings and mother as well.

Star Trek: Best Destiny.......2002-12-06

Star Trek: Best Destiny written by Diane Carey is a flashback novel of James T. Kirk. This book mixes the past with the present in the Trek genre.

James T. Kirk is seen as a teenager wanting to show his father that he can and will be worthy of wearing the Starfleet uniform someday. This is the first adventure we get to read about where James T. Kirk plays a sugnificant role. There is personal danger, self-discovery, and unparalleled adventure.

We read about James T. Kirk about to retire from his long tenure with the fleet. Now, events draw him back to a youthful adventue with his father George and Captain Robert April. A part of the galaxy only left in James Kirk's memory, a world called Faramond, mysterious in nature Kirk takes us back when he was sixteen years old.

Although he was estranged from his father he admired what his father did for him, but Captain Robert April changes James Kirk's life forever. This is a good Father-Father image/ son book. The adventure now only in James' memory they face life or death... but a glimpse of the future sets James T. Kirk on a Trek of his own... best destiny.

Best Destiny Rules@@@.......2002-04-21

Rarely do authors dig into the past of major series characters, but Diane Carey does a magnificent job here! I've read this book dozens of times, and I find something new that I'd missed the time before! The skill with which Carey uses flashbacks to tell the entire story of Kirk's last mission is amazing, and we get one of the best glimces into Kirk's younger years than had ever been presented in print, small, or large screen formats. We also are introduced to several new people that molded Kirk into the best captain in Starfleet, his in-and-out father, Commander George Kirk, and Captain Robert April, the first captain of the U.S.S. Enterprise. Anyone calling themselves a Trekker should buy this book and read it often!!!!

A good read, James T. as in teenager..........2000-08-08

In all the Star Trek lore that's been written over 30 plus years, it's rare to see books that delve into the past of the primary characters in anything other than alternate realities or brief flashbacks. More of this book takes place in Kirk's teenage years than in the "present" (Kirk's last voyage before the Enterprise "A" gets mothballed). I hate reviews that ruin good books by giving away major plot points, so I'll resist. Overall, the flashback scenes really make the story while the current events are less interesting. The end of the "present" events are anticlimactic compared the the end of the flashback events, but kudos to the Authors for further fleshing out characters from earlier books: Captain Robert April (first Captian of the original Enterprise), Commander George Kirk (Jimmy's father), and Kirk's right hand man Drake (great comic relief). McCoy & Spock sadly are reduced to small roles, but the book is, after all, a story about a young Jimmy Kirk, and in that respect it does an admerable job.

Discover Your Destiny with the Monk Who Sold His Ferrari: A Blueprint for Living Your Best Life

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More of the same
Discover Your Destiny by Robin Sharma
It's a fable, but it's also a lesson on life's values which will reach into many hearts
A Great Life-Changer
Your own private guru

Discover Your Destiny with the Monk Who Sold His Ferrari: A Blueprint for Living Your Best Life
Robin Sharma
Manufacturer: HarperSanFrancisco
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Self-Help | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books

Happiness | Self-Help | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books

Personal Transformation | Self-Help | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books
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The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari: A Fable About Fulfilling Your Dreams & Reaching Your Destiny
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The Greatness Guide: Powerful Secrets for Getting to World Class
Leadership Wisdom from the Monk Who Sold His Ferrari

ASIN: 0060756691
Release Date: 2005-04-05

Customer Reviews:

More of the same.......2007-08-10

It was okay but really more of the same, pretty contrived and a bit on the "cheesey" side.

Discover Your Destiny by Robin Sharma.......2007-01-04

Great tale that can open your eyes to achieving your best life. Robin Sharma is amazing and I would not be surprised to find out that maybe he is the Monk who sold his Ferrari. This book can enlighten you to strive for the best life that God planned for you. It can better your life at any age. Follow his advice, it is solid and can enrich not only your life but those around you.
I an now on my path to my best life, and I am 50. Get this book.

It's a fable, but it's also a lesson on life's values which will reach into many hearts.......2006-06-21

DISCOVER YOUR DESTINY: BIG IDEAS TO LIVE YOUR BEST LIFE comes from an international best-selling author and is a sequel to THE MONK WHO SOLD HIS FERRARI, so it already has a guaranteed audience of prior fans. Here the focus is on one Dar Sanderson, a 40-something HR manager who has it all in the job and home departments --but is deeply unhappy and wants an even better life. An encounter with a monk sends him on a six-month journey to reclaim life's values and spiritual promises. It's a fable, but it's also a lesson on life's values which will reach into many hearts.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

A Great Life-Changer.......2006-05-04

I am already in the habit of reading self-improvement books. But when I finished up this one, I found myself naturally, effortlessly having made a decision to change my life. Such was the impact of mere reading this book. When you read this book you do not simply read this book but automatically undergo a very powerful process. Because the very act of reading this book takes you through a process of transformation and the beginning of a new life.

Having finished this book I decided to cultivate the habit of getting up early in the morning at 5 a.m. and I am still at it. I find that this simple habit of getting up at 5 a. m. and spending an holy hour is so powerful that it aligns you with natural rhythm. It gives me so much in terms of my inner growth which I was missing earlier. The book is packed with wonderful advice on life changing philosophy in a story form. I thank Lord for creating such individuals as the Author of this book.

Your own private guru.......2005-10-24

I have loved Robin Sharma's work since I first read The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari. His latest installment - Discover Your Destiny delivers and then some! In contemporary yet timeless writing style, Robin delivers you the answers to life's toughest and most meaningful questions. A book worth reading over and over again during those early morning "holy hours" (if you don't know what that is -- read the book :-)).

Living Your Best Life : Work, Home, Balance, Destiny: Ten Strategies for Getting from Where You Are to Where You're Meant to Be

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THIS WOMAN IS DOING A GREAT JOB!!!!!
Not particularly realistic or helpful
Wise questions help you arrive at your own wise answers
Living your life is a discovery
Worked for me!!!!!!!!

Living Your Best Life : Work, Home, Balance, Destiny: Ten Strategies for Getting from Where You Are to Where You're Meant to Be
Laura Berman Fortgang
Manufacturer: Tarcher
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Guides | Job Hunting & Careers | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

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Now What?: 90 Days to a New Life Direction
Coach Yourself to Success : 101 Tips from a Personal Coach for Reaching Your Goals at Work and in Life
The Portable Coach: 28 Sure Fire Strategies For Business And Personal Success
Take Time for Your Life
Taming Your Gremlin (Revised Edition): A Surprisingly Simple Method for Getting Out of Your Own Way

ASIN: 1585420921
Release Date: 2001-05-03

Book Description

A prominent personal coach describes how we can attain our "best life" at home and at work-one in which we are more flexible, feel more in control, communicate more effectively, and work less hard but more productively.

"The insights she shares will help you reach the success and fulfillment you are destined for."
-Ken Blanchard

A founding member of the International Coach Federation and the president and owner of InterCoach, Laura Berman Fortgang is at the forefront of one of the fastest-growing consulting disciplines in the world. Teaching advanced communication and living skills, Fortgang has helped thousands of clients find more rewarding careers, make more money, and exchange a stressful daily treadmill of endless goal-seeking for a life in which gains come easily.

In Living Your Best Life, Fortgang shares her secrets of personal and professional satisfaction. She offers ten tried-and-true strategies to lead readers to what she calls a "best life"-one in which we've learned to honor our true desires and work with our individual talents rather than exhausting our energy on a traditional model of achievement. Instead of frenetically trying to have it all, she suggests we focus on asking ourselves what we really want. Her techniques teach us to ask questions that move us forward, not backward, to discover our own unique "lucrative purpose," and to design a "magnet" life plan that draws to us the more fulfilling existence we deserve. Notes.

Customer Reviews:

THIS WOMAN IS DOING A GREAT JOB!!!!!.......2007-01-13

I read this book at a time when I didn't know if I was coming or going! Although it didn't get me the ideal job, help me lose 30 pounds in 3 weeks or buy real estate no-money-down, it did help get me in touch with an old friend : my own inner voice!!!

Not particularly realistic or helpful.......2006-02-10

According to the author everyone has a built-in "blueprint for life." Her job and the reader's job is to discover what that is. But the discovery process is decidedly non analytical; trying to understand the past - the why's of this world - is non constructive, if not negative, in this venture. The reader, patient, or client ( the author runs a life coaching business ) must be future oriented, focusing on "wants" and not "shoulds." One should rely upon intuition and feelings far more so than "information." Furthermore, all areas of life are equally open to this approach: career, relationships, etc. Details on a micro level are irrelevant or get in the way.

Like virtually every so-called "self-help" book, the author maintains that the person in need of help is the primary obstacle to success. It is up to him or her to make the life-changing transformation, with of course the possible help of a life coach. The author gives the example of deciding on the day on which she was to be admitted to a mental facility, after five years of depression and therapy, to suddenly change her life. Apparently, multi-year depression is some sort of superficial malady that can be cast aside in a heartbeat, if only properly motivated. Also in keeping with the genre, the author admits to no social or economic structures or conditions that can and do present very real obstacles in attaining success in life. Issues like class, vastly unequal resources, or power dynamics apparently do not exist in the author's world. Being down-sized from a thirty year career is just another "opportunity" in life-coach speak, not a devastating blow that can be extremely difficult to overcome for many realistic reasons.

Granted it is possible to think one's situation to death. Analysis can be paralysis. But is success in life merely identifying wants, adopting the right attitudes, and getting out of the way to let it all happen? At one point, the author suggests that the "best life cannot help but find you." For many, life is just a bit more complicated despite efforts made that are least equal to any detailed in her book.

The target audience is not particularly clear. In one example, the author describes a supervisor becoming more effective by asking an employee "what" questions as opposed to "why" questions. That sounds like Mgt 101, not life transformation. In another case, a manager has "negative" guilt over firing an employee. When he realizes that he is helping the firm, apparently that constitutes "living your best life." And then there is the other extreme of the author going from admittance to a hospital to life coach and successful author in a matter of a few years.

The book is just overly simplistic. It makes both unreal, exaggerated claims and does not realistically examine life's complexities and the difficulties in assessing and solving problems. In that regard, it may actually perform a disservice. The book offers mostly life cheerleading, which may be exactly what some are looking for.

Wise questions help you arrive at your own wise answers.......2005-10-15

This book is a different kettle of fish from many other self-help books, and it deserves a read.

A lot of books shame you about current life choices (you're dependent; lazy; immature; in denial; codependent; not actualized, etc.) and lecture you about how you must change in order to FULFILL your DESTINY*! "...You're right," you might say, sighing. "So if I should do something else instead, why don't I just DO it?"

Fortgang says you need reinforcement and continuity to bridge the change. Her strongest suite is helping you recognize how your life purpose is already being enacted, to understand how your essential nature already infuses your life, and build from there. For example: My nature is that of an observer and analyst (duh). My purpose is not To Be A [drum roll] """WRITER""", but to communicate information effectively through my strongest means--which happens to be writing.

The cool thing about Fortgang is that she doesn't lecture you; she leads you to teach yourself and create the kind of continuity that works for you.

*Anyone else notice irony in that message?

Living your life is a discovery.......2005-03-20

Laura Berman Fortgang derives both wise women brilliance through intellect blended with intution to uncover your true life. Fortgang's extensive excercises combines and connect head with heart to emerge from our own cocoon.

Worked for me!!!!!!!!.......2004-10-29

This book walked me through the process of completely transforming my life. It is full of useful exercises that really really work. If you're unhappy with your life, don't run blindly to the next thing. Take the time, do the work, and figure out what it is your really desire, in order to find true happiness. I went from a point in my life where I was unhappy with my career, relationship, home, location, and general quality of life. Over the process of a year and a half, I now have my dream job in an incredibly beautiful location along with wonderful home, relationship, and lifestyle. If you believe you can do it and that you deserve nothing but the best, you CAN make it happen. So do it!

Beyond Your Best: Develop Your Relationships, Fulfill Your Destiny

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Finding "Beyond our Best" entirely possible!
Toward personal fulfillment and significant influence
An Intriguing Roadmap for the Life You've Always Wanted
A Truly Life-Changing Journey
Beyond Your Best? It is Possible!

Beyond Your Best: Develop Your Relationships, Fulfill Your Destiny
Bill Thrall , Bruce McNicol , Ken McElrath , and Bruce R. McNicol
Manufacturer: Leadership Catalyst, Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Self-Help | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books

Motivational | Self-Help | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books

Success | Self-Help | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books

General | Psychology & Counseling | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books

General | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books

TrueFaced
The Ascent of a Leader: How Ordinary Relationships Develop Extraordinary Character and Influence
Leading Change
Re-imagine!
A Work of Heart : Understanding How God Shapes Spiritual Leaders

ASIN: 0787967629

Book Description

"Beyond Your Best takes us on an incredible journey beyond our own minds and imaginations, and leaves us astounded by grace. I recommend this book for anyone who is sincerely attracted to the challenge of letting God take them to places they've never been before."
â Janet Hagberg, director, Silent Witness National Initiative; author, RealPower The Critical Journey

"There is so much more to peak performance than just talent and hard work. Beyond Your Best is a gift because it helps you explore that part of success that most people don't talk or even think about. Exploring your own character and being open to the positive influence of those around you can help you to exceed your own expectations."
â Misty Hyman, Olympic gold medalist

"Beyond Your Best is a beautifully honest, deeply caring, and positively uplifting book. Bill Thrall, Bruce McNicol, and Ken McElrath show us with their compelling stories and inspiring message how magic happens when leaders of character nurture an environment filled with grace. This book embraces you, and once you've read it you won't ever forget it. In a world filled with so much cynicism and fear, this is one book that definitely will fill your heart and soul with hope and joy."
â Jim Kouzes, coauthor, The Leadership Challenge, and chairman emeritus, Tom Peters Company

"Beyond Your Best is the self-help book for the twenty-first century because it reiterates a truth that is timeless: 'No man is an island.' Through well-chosen parables and real-life examples, Thrall, McNicol, and McElrath offer valuable lessons in interdependence, and show us how to engender 'trust, creativity, hope'â in ourselves and others."
â Jon Kyl, U.S. senator from Arizona

"Beyond Your Best is a fascinating journey about personal relationships and the importance of character, integrity, and faith, which prepares one to step up the ladder in leadership."
â Jerry Colangelo, chief executive officer and chairman, Phoenix Suns and Arizona Diamondbacks

Customer Reviews:

Finding "Beyond our Best" entirely possible!.......2003-12-09

Bunyan in his immortal epic, "The Pilgrim's Progress," shows us the danagers of the "half-way" philosophy. I believe most of us have fallen sooner or later into that trap. Here is a book that challenges us to go beyond ourselves, as Star Trek fans would define "where no man has gone before." The good news about this book is that it is not fantasy! It shows the goal and it shows the way. Life is built on relationships, and relationships are built on trust. Those relationships flourish in an environment of grace described in this book.

The two ladders described are the capacity ladder which focuses on "what I can do," and the character ladder, which focuses on discovering what God can do. On the character ladder we awaken to our destiny under God. Integrity is built into us as we align ourselves with God's truth - what HE says about us. This character ladder takes us rung by rung to authentic living and fulfilling our deepest longings. In fact, it takes us beyond success to becoming a person of influence in other's lives.

This is a book about leadership - leading from the heart. We have lived the principles taught in this book and have enjoyed a loving, accepting relationship in our marriage like never before. We are teaching these "grace principles" to students in our school and are discovering that this environment of grace can be created in any home, institution, organization, and church. They MAKE A DIFFERENCE in the way we live and relate to one another. The result is refreshing and life changing!

Make no mistake about it; there will be a price to pay when we choose to climb the character ladder to the point of aligning with truth. "To say we have chosen to align our lives with truth while remaining isolated and invulnerable from the guidance and love of others puts our destiny in jeopardy." Forming character involves coming under the influence of other people and acting on the wisdom and truth of their counsel.

In our personal experience these principles of grace have made us more aware of God's forgiveness and of the need to keep forgiving each other as God forgave us in Christ. It makes us keenly aware of the strengths God has given us which we can use to help others in their journeys through life. It also makes us aware of our weaknesses which are protected in this kind of environment. I feel safe, secure, nurtured, loved, creative, released, and real! Finally!

TEN POINTS for these 3 musketeers of the faith who give us such treasure in a nutshell!

Toward personal fulfillment and significant influence.......2003-11-21

BEYOND YOUR BEST speaks to the longing that is within us for authentic living, meaningful relationships, and personal fulfillment. The ideas presented will challenge you, create longing in you, and fill you with hope that it is possible to live an authentic life and to have significant influence.

In BEYOND YOUR BEST, as in their previous book THE ASCENT OF A LEADER the authors, in an even more concise and clear manner, compare climbs to success and personal fulfillment on the `capacity ladder' and the `character ladder'.

The `capacity ladder' leads to the fulfillment of our individual potential through the development and exercising of our capacity. While we may accomplish a lot and enjoy success, the climb up this ladder alone does not lead to the fulfillment of our deepest longing.

The climb up the `character ladder' however, takes one beyond success and accomplishment to authentic living and significant influence. The authors describe the steps up the character ladder and the kind of environment and relationships that are necessary to support the climb.

BEYOND YOUR BEST is packed with profound truths that stir longing in your heart and hope for the personal freedom, fulfillment, and depth of relationships described. The authors' use of personal life stories, poignant quotes, and humor brings clarity to the principles stated and added enjoyment to the reading of this book. Each chapter ends with thought provoking questions that serve to help you think though the principles presented within the context of your present situation.

While the authors are writing from a Christian framework their choice of words and supporting material makes the book palatable to a variety of faith backgrounds.

BEYOND YOUR BEST can be your guide on a journey where you find the ability to become the person you were created to be. It will leave you desirous and determined to find and create an environment in which each person can reach their full potential and enjoy authentic relationships. It will leave you hopeful that you indeed have a significant role to play and a life-changing legacy to leave in the lives of those you influence.

An Intriguing Roadmap for the Life You've Always Wanted.......2003-06-05

There is no silver bullet for learning how to live our "best" lives. It's a lifelong process. But every once in a while along the path an important flag gets raised that says, "Stop here! Pay attention. This juncture is important." BEYOND YOUR BEST is one of those stops.

I was first exposed to the authors' basic premise in their previous book, THE ASCENT OF A LEADER. I confess I was a tough sell. When I thought about the rough and tumble corporate world I live in, I wasn't sure it was possible to build "relationships of trust and environments of grace." But the delicious possibilities could not be ignored. What IF building and climbing the "Character Ladder" was the best way to discover our destiny and enjoy the kind of lasting influence we long for? What IF there was a way to face our "junk" and gain-not lose-ground. It was too tantalizing to dismiss.

Then BEYOND YOUR BEST came along. It streamlines and makes more accessible the authors' original bold blueprint for building lives of character and influence. The new breezy format helps the truth leap off the page unencumbered. The reader comes away with the unmistakable feeling: "I can do this! I MUST do this."

I will. So should you.

A Truly Life-Changing Journey.......2003-06-04

Beyond Your Best is filled with principles that have transformed my life and my paradigms of leadership for the better. The authors have their feet firmly planted in reality as they call us to a personal journey that leads to higher ground. I have read much concerning the need for character development in leadership, but nothing comes close to the principles in this book in regards to offering a time tested path that leads to integrity. This book is most welcome in a world in which we have all been disappointed time and again by leaders we trusted. It renews hope that things don't have to be this way. It's a book that needs to be on every leader's bookshelf, and one that you will want to encourage those within your realm of influence to read.

Beyond Your Best? It is Possible!.......2003-05-22

Beyond Your Best:
Develop Your Relationships, Fulfill Your Destiny

Beyond Your Best is the finest basic book I have read on developing leaders for life. It is a Christian book, but it is not just for Christians! This concise and cogent work updates Leadership Catalyst's best-selling book Ascent of A Leader in a refreshing revision that is even more helpful than its trusty forerunner.

This is a book for new, old, or aspiring leaders. But it is especially a book for those who may be gaining ground in their career but losing ground in their character and relationships.

Authors Bill Thrall, Bruce McNicol and Ken McElrath share their stories and point to the principles in them that can help the reader find hope-filled answers to life-searching questions like these:

"How do I let my spouse love me?"

"How may I best communicate to my children that they are secure in my love?"

"How can I become a trusted leader to those in my organization?"

Beyond Your Best in effect asks the question, "Which ladder are you climbing in life? Where are you headed as you climb it?" The authors compare progress in life, work, and relationships to the task of climbing two different ladders. These two ladders contrast competing yet complementary ways of achieving success in life and work.

Those on the first ladder, the shorter "capacity" ladder, seek to fulfill their potential, earn promotions, and gain prominent positions in order to achieve independence. Those on the second, longer "character" ladder will develop their capacities, but they will do far more. They also will develop their relationships and fulfill their destiny. They do this by learning the interdependence found within relationships of trust built in environments of grace. The authors correctly conclude, I believe, that only the second ladder can lead us to become the people God intended us to be.

"So how can I develop my relationships and fulfill my destiny?" you may ask. That is for you to discover as you struggle with Beyond Your Best! The work is most enjoyable, because this well-written book is a delightful mix of true stories and classic literature, valuable life-lessons and challenging questions. By these means readers may learn how to face their own fears and flaws before God and others with great hope for growth and change.

Three years ago I began to put this book's principles to the test. As a result, I have come increasingly to trust this leader development process. The principles were originally set forth in The Ascent of A Leader; they are now made clearer and even more compelling in this new book. Under God's blessing, this process has helped me trust Him and others more, and has led to a measured and steady growth of my character and capacities as husband, father, chaplain, and citizen. My goal? I want to develop each of my relationships and fulfill my destiny, by God's grace.

Beyond your best- it is possible. Find out how!

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