Books about Affliction from Amazon.com

You loved the comic strip; now read the business advice.

Or should that be anti-business advice? Scott Adams provides the hapless victim of re-engineering, rightsizing and Total Quality Management some strategies for fighting back, er, coping. Forced to work long hours, with no hope of a raise? Adams offers tips on maintaining parity in compensation. Along the way, Adams explains what ISO 9000 really is and assesses the irresistibility of female engineers.

The breath-taking cynicism of the strip should prepare readers for the author's no-holds-barred attack on management fads, large organizations, pointless bureaucracy and sadistic rule-makers who glory in control of office supplies. Readers of the on-line Dilbert Newsletter are familiar with the kind of e-mail Adams receives from his readers -- and may even have sent a few of those missives themselves. Along with illustrative strips, e-mail messages provide excruciating examples of corporate behavior which compel the reader to agree with Adams when he insists that "People are idiots".

The final chapter offers a model for would-be successful businesses to follow: the OA5 model. It's introduced with little fanfare, no outrageous promises and just the right amount of self-deprecation..
Price: $2.00 [Notify me when price goes down.]

Bunyan • Cowper • Brainerd

John Bunyan suffered long-term imprisonment, even when a simple promise to cease preaching would have freed him, and he was moved to rely on God even more… Despite month after month of debilitating depression, William Cowper’s poetry reflected the sustaining character of God and led him to worship more deeply… David Brainerd so desired to honor God that through the loneliness of wilderness ministry and the agony of tuberculosis, he pressed on, transforming world missions forever.

When Augustine handed over the leadership of his church in A.D. 426, his successor was so overwhelmed by a sense of inadequacy that he declared, “The swan is silent,” fearing the spiritual giant’s voice would be lost in time. But for 1,600 years Augustine has not been silent—and neither have the men who faithfully trumpeted the cause of Christ after him. Their lives have inspired every generation of believers and should compel us to a greater passion for God.

In this noteworthy Swans Are Not Silent book, John Piper invites you into the lives of John Bunyan, William Cowper, and David Brainerd to discover how God takes the privilege of faith and strengthens it with trials so that we experience a greater hunger for him. The perseverance of these godly servants exemplifies the essential fruit that affliction can produce in your own life. Their enduring faith will fortify you in your suffering, reminding you that “behind a frowning providence, God hides a smiling face.” And their stories and witness will inspire in you a similar passion for the supremacy of God in your life.

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Price: $8.94 [Notify me when price goes down.]

A dark, twisted, existential manifesto posing as a book of daily inspiration Revolutionizing the best-selling genre, this thinking man's parody hijacks the format of daily affirmations but offers a different message: only in paradox, truth; only in darkness, light; only in affliction, affirmation. These "daily afflictions" offer readers inspiration, practical advice, and food for thought, as they navigate the jungle of existential terror that begins anew each day. We follow the fictional Brother Void on a spiritual journey, both profound and hilarious, into self, family, love, career, death—and, ultimately, Enlightenment. We learn to "listen to our inner critic," appreciate "the nurturing power of dysfunctional families," "love the wrong person," "succeed at failure," "embrace our inner corpse," and, finally, withstand the "agony of being connected to everything in the Universe." Part spiritual autobiography, part ironic meditation, this tragicomic guide to life's sublime predicaments will elevate and educate the spirit. The truth will set you free, Brother Void reminds us, but first it will hurt like hell..
Price: $6.68 [Notify me when price goes down.]

The long twentieth century in China and Taiwan has seen both a dramatic process of state-driven secularization and modernization and a vigorous revival of contemporary religious life. Chinese Religiosities explores the often vexed relationship between the modern Chinese state and religious practice. The essays in this comprehensive, multidisciplinary collection cover a wide range of traditions, including Buddhism (Mahayana and Vajrayana), Daoism, Islam, Confucianism, Protestantism, Falungong, popular religion, and redemptive societies..
Price: $19.77 [Notify me when price goes down.]

To answer the troubling question, Why? Edith stresses Gods empathy and applies Job and other Scripture in a personal, caring approach to physical, emotional, and spiritual suffering..
Price: $11.94 [Notify me when price goes down.]

In patience, the Lord prolonged the day of our countrys repentance but now, that time has passed. America has toppled in a day without weapons of war. Through the works of secret combinations, the government is broken up like a potters vessel as the Saints learn there is Justice in Affliction. Reaching deep, the Rogers family find potential that has been buried within. Now, they are learning how to be sanctified. Their glory is growing. ...Time is ticking. Christ cometh soon!
Braun is protectively catapulted to the deadliest, northernmost region of the world to hide from the mastermind behind America s destruction. At the same time, Dane, now a soldier in the National Police, is caught on the East Coast of America. The nation begins a melt-down that has been carefully planned and executed by that same mastermind and his secret, international associates. Dane must use all his resources and knowledge if he s going to avoid the violent and hungry mobs that rampage over the land. His goal is to make it home alive! Brea is condemned to a life of loneliness in her last term of pregnancy as Matt divorces her to appease his father. Young Carea is ripped from the ones she loves and taken to the prison camps in response to violence. She is targeted as a high-risk to the nation s security because of the chip that remains in her forehead. Bos heart is ripped from his chest in mourning as Corrynne tries to comfort him. His family is falling apart! Did God forget them? Is he forsaking them? Life is full of affliction! Where is their justice?.
Price: $13.30 [Notify me when price goes down.]

Among the developed countries it is not the richest societies which have the best health, but those which have the smallest income differences between rich and poor. Inequality and relative poverty have absolute effects: they increase death rates. But why? How can smaller income differences raise average life expectancy?
Using examples from the USA, Britain, Japan and Eastern Europe, and bringing together evidence from the social and medical sciences, Unhealthy Socities provides the explanation. Healthy, egalitarian societies are more socially cohesive. They have a stronger community life and suffer fewer of the corrosive effects of inequality. As well as inequality weakening the social fabric, damaging health and increasing crime rates, Unhealthy Societies shows that social cohesion is crucial to the quality of life.
The contrast between the material success and social failure of modern societies marks an imbalance which needs attention. The relationship between health and equality suggests that important social needs will go unmet without a larger measure of social and distributive justice. This path-breaking book is essential reading for health psychologists, sociologists, welfare economists, social policy analysts and all those concerned with the future of developed societies..
Price: $39.77 [Notify me when price goes down.]