Books about Rethink from Amazon.com

Even geniuses change their minds sometimes

Edge (www.edge.org), the influential online intellectual salon, recently asked 150 high-powered thinkers to discuss their most telling missteps and reconsiderations: What have you changed your mind about? The answers were brilliant, eye-opening, fascinating, sometimes shocking, and certain to kick-start countless passionate debates.

Read Steven Pinker on the future of human evolution • Richard Dawkins on the mysteries of courtship • Sam Harris on the indifference of Mother Nature • Nassim Nicholas Taleb on the irrelevance of probability • Chris Anderson on the reality of global warming • Alan Alda on the existence of God • Lisa Randall on the secrets of the Sun • Ray Kurzweil on the possibility of extraterrestrial life • Brian Eno on what it means to be a "revolutionary" • Helen Fisher on love, fidelity, and the viability of marriage • Irene Pepperberg on learning from parrots. . . and many others.

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Is celibacy the only moral alternative to marriage? Should the widowed be allowed to form intimate relationships without remarrying? Should the church receive homosexuals into its community and support committed gay and lesbian relationships? Should congregations publicly and liturgically witness and affirm divorces? Should the church's moral standards continue to be set by patriarchal males? Should women be consecrated bishops? Bishop Spong proposes a pastoral response based on scripture and history to the changing realities of the modern world. He calls for a moral vision to empower the church with inclusive teaching about equal, loving, nonexploitative relationships.

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Is student ministry accomplishing what we think it is? Roughly two-thirds of students leave the church after graduation Baptisms are down. Student pastors are walking away from ministry at startling rates. It s time to rethink student ministry. This book pairs the most up-to-date research available with an overview of a Biblical framework for ministry. It will arm you with facts, Scripture, and real-life ideas that will help you find new ways to involve parents back into the equation and help you escape the busy, bigger-and-better, number-driven model of student ministry..
Price: $11.45 [Notify me when price goes down.]

Is celibacy the only moral alternative to marriage? Should the widowed be allowed to form intimate relationships without remarrying? Should the church receive homosexuals into its community and support committed gay and lesbian relationships? Should congregations publicly and liturgically witness and affirm divorces? Should the church's moral standards continue to be set by patriarchal males? Should women be consecrated bishops? Bishop Spong proposes a pastoral response based on scripture and history to the changing realities of the modern world. He calls for a moral vision to empower the church with inclusive teaching about equal, loving, nonexploitative relationships.

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What happens in education today will affect the lives of individuals and the health of whole communities for decades to come. Yet educational decision-making is mostly about dealing with pressing immediate issues or seeking more efficient ways of maintaining established practice, rather than about shaping the long term. How to redress the balance? Scenario methods offer one highly promising answer. This latest volume in the Schooling for Tomorrow series goes beyond the OECD's own set of educational futures already published. It discusses how to develop scenarios and use them to address the challenges confronting policy and practice. Its chapters give both authoritative scholarly overviews and very practical lessons to be applied, including from Jay Ogilvy, a prominent exponent of scenario thinking for the business world, and school change expert Michael Fullan. Educational readers will benefit from the detailed coverage of scenario approaches from other sectors. They will be able to relate to examples of educational "futures thinking in action" initiatives in England, the Netherlands, New Zealand and Ontario, Canada. These initiatives, with OECD active involvement, have brought together leading stakeholders in fresh ways to inject long-term thinking into educational agendas. This book is relevant for the many - policy makers, school leaders and teachers - concerned with the long-term future of education..
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The banner in Rafe Esquith’s classroom at Hobart Elementary School reads: “There are no shortcuts ” And his students are a testament to the power of that philosophy These are kids who speak English as a second language, fourth--and fifth--graders who go to school in a part of Los Angeles where violence and despair are the norms of the neighborhood.

But the statistics are not what you’d expect: Esquith’s students score in the country’s top 10 percent on standardized tests and go on to colleges such as Harvard, Princeton, University of Chicago, Swarthmore, Stanford, and UCLA. How do they do it?

Esquith’s view—that learning isn’t easy and that it shouldn’t be—is an increasingly unusual take among educators. Success, he believes, comes from a strong work ethic and from dedication and perseverance on the part of children, teachers, and parents alike. But such ideas prove to be a hard sell to those who believe that hard work and fun must be mutually exclusive. On the other hand, visitors from all over the world have made a pilgrimage to this astonishing classroom.

Esquith’s students work hard. They are in the classroom at 6:30 a.m. and stay until 5:00 p.m. They come to school during their vacations. Each year the Hobart Shakespeareans, as Esquith’s students are known, perform one of the Bard’s plays—Sir Ian McKellen and Hal Holbrook are passionate patrons. These Renaissance children are outstanding mathematicians and scientists; they read Steinbeck and Malcolm X; they are artists; they play classical music and blistering rock 'n' roll. Above all, they are recognized for their impeccable manners, which serve them well as Esquith accompanies them all over the United States. They are, as many observers have commented, the gold standard in American education.

His former students in middle and high school return on Saturdays, where they read Ibsen, Chekhov, and eight Shakespeare plays a year. In their “Wake Up with Will” program, these eager youngsters travel the world with Esquith and his wife, from London to Paris to colleges all over the country. It’s a classroom where the American Dream really does come true.

There have been no shortcuts for Rafe Esquith, either. He had to learn the hard way: dealing with bureaucratic administrators, antagonistic colleagues, and his own impetuous and occasionally tactless, even confrontational, nature. But his history, peppered with funny and painful incidents, and a gallery of incisive portraits--Miss Mothball, Miss Busy-As-a-Bee, Mr. Incompetent--explains his extraordinary success as a teacher.

His scathing yet loving view from the front lines is the most trenchant look at American education to appear
in many years. It’s a full-alert warning signal, an inspiration, and a guide for teachers, parents, and all the rest of us who care about our country’s children..
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This book is a powerful reminder that there's more than one solution to every creative problem. Author Mark Wasserman has created a unique experiment in design that is much like the process of remixing music. Top designers were given the source files to one of 37 original designs and asked to reinterpret the original art into new creations. Ultimately, the project was not about making a design better, but about different visual approaches. Besides being a visual treat, these remixes can also serve as a creative jolt for those inevitable times when designers need a little extra inspiration.

Each section starts with an original design and detailed Q&A-style captions that explain the concept and process behind the design. The following redesigns--ranging from wild freeform creations to more subtle changes--are paired with insightful interviews that give readers a rare glimpse into the creative thought process.

In all, the book features 160 designers, from 20 countries around the world. Designers involved include such notables as Stefan Sagmeister, Dave Eggers, eBoy, KINSEYvisual, Joshua Davis (PrayStation), Modern Dog, The Heads of State, WeWorkForThem, Jemma Gura, UPSO, Aesthetic Apparatus, Brent Rollins (Ego Trip), Plinko, Deanne Cheuk (neomu), 2Advanced, Nonconceptual, Jon Santos, HONEST, kozyndan, Milky Elephant, Patent Pending (SubPop), Mr. Jago, and many many more.

With page after page full of never-before-seen artwork, this book is equally at home in a designer's bookshelf, and a non-designer's coffee table..
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Seeking to re-imagine the meaning and significance of the international border, Opening the Floodgates makes a case for eliminating the border as a legal construct that impedes the movement of people into this country.

Open migration policies deserve fuller analysis, particularly on the eve of a presidential election. Kevin R. Johnson offers an alternative vision of how U.S. borders might be reconfigured, grounded in moral, economic, and policy arguments for open borders. Importantly, liberalizing migration through an open borders policy would recognize that the enforcement of closed borders cannot stifle the strong, perhaps irresistible, economic, social, and political pressures that fuel international migration.

Controversially, Johnson suggests that open borders are entirely consistent with efforts to prevent terrorism that have dominated immigration enforcement since the events of September 11, 2001. More liberal migration, he suggests, would allow for full attention to be paid to the true dangers to public safety and national security.

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One third of adults in the United States some 71 million people are currently dieting to make positive changes in their health.

Yet physical fitness is only one aspect of living a Total Quality Life. Even if we get our bodies in shape through physical diets, we still do not have total health if our thought-life is not in proper balance.

The way we think determines the way we act. Thoughts become actions and actions become habits, so gaining control of our thoughts is the critical first step in making positive life changes.

The Apostle Paul knew that when he urged us to bring all of our thoughts into captivity and to abandon the practice of conforming the way we think to the low level of the world around us. Instead, we should be trans-formed by the renewing of our minds! Our thoughts are the key to maintaining healthy and productive lives.

In ReThink Your Life, best-selling author and leadership mentor Stan Toler outlines the practical steps anyone can take to discover purpose, focus, decision-making, and improve their quality of life by renewing the mind. This helpful book will lead readers to genuine life change through the most basic Christian discipline renewing the mind..
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In this bold critique of modern ideas about sex, marriage, and contraception, Sam and Bethany Torode set forth a vision that is fresh for our times yet rooted in centuries of Christian tradition. Weaving together a sound theology of spousal love with honest information and personal insight, Open Embrace offers a compelling alternative to the unquestioned use of contraception. The Torodes challenge modern lifestyles and popular wisdom about how soon to have children, how many are desirable, and how to prevent them, while still recognizing that the number of children each family can best support will vary. Open Embrace is far more than a case against contraception - it is a positive affirmation of fertility, childbearing, and prudent self-control. Couples who practice Natural Family Planning, as advocated in this book, cooperate with God's design for their bodies, making wise decisions about family size without losing respect for the mystery and meaning of sex. Whether one agrees or disagrees with its conclusions, Open Embrace is a rewarding read for all engaged and married couples seeking to sharpen their moral discernment..
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