Books about Hotline from Amazon.com

John Varley's first book-repackaged and hotter than ever.

In 2050, the Invaders came to Earth, destroyed every evidence of technology, then peacefully departed. Humanity struggled to survive, but help was coming-via the Ophiuchi Hotline..
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HereÕs the first book to show todayÕs first-time trainers how to prepare, deliver, evaluate, and fine-tune presentations that will keep trainees riveted and leave them smarter and more capable Designed to transform readers into skilled instructors in as little time as possible, no matter what size group or what kind of subject matter they address, it combines the coauthorsÕ 35 years of training experience. Highlighted by a casual and informative question-and-answer format, The Instant Trainer offers a bounty of practical, easy-to-absorb tips, techniques, and strategies that help novice trainers deal with an extraordinary range of issues Ñ from overcoming stage fright to energizing apathetic audiences to reaching diverse group members. Featuring checklists, sample forms, and lists of essential training resources, The Instant Trainer is so complete it even provides a coauthor hotline if readers have specific questions that are not answered in the book! Thorough, quick, and easy to read, this book is a rich resource of ideas, techniques, and practical tips on how to teach others what you know..
Price: $9.99 [Notify me when price goes down.]

B: Hello, is this Jeff? J: Yeah, Who's this? B: It's not important I'm just a messenger I've been asked to inform you that Viv doesn't want to go with you anymore At all. Welcome to Barb and Dingbat's Crybaby Hotline. Jeff can hardly believe it when he gets the second-hand news that his girlfriend is dropping him. And what's with Barb anyway-why does she keep calling him, and why does he get the feeling she's not telling him the whole truth? Much like Barb, this warm and clever novel written entirely in phone calls has more than a few tricks up its sleeve..
Price: $2.48 [Notify me when price goes down.]

Learn blues comping patterns from the master! Robben Ford reveals the chords and driving rhythm patterns he uses to create great blues backups: Funky, shuffle, and slow blues rhythms; Two- and three-note moveable shapes; 'Sliding sixths' patterns; Intro/ending licks; Seven different 7th chord voicings; and more. 60-minute audio accompaniment..
Price: $11.76 [Notify me when price goes down.]

In this collection of eleven linked stories, Gerald Vizenor brings back one of his most popular characters, Almost Browne, in full trickster force. Born in the back of a hatchback, almost on the White Earth Reservation, this crossblood storyteller sells blank books -- some autographed (by him) with such names as Isaac Singer, Geoffrey Chaucer, N. Scott Momaday, and Jesus Christ; projects laser demons over the reservation; lectures in the Transethnic Situations Department at the University of California; is crowned Indian Princess of the University of Oklahoma by posing as the "mature" senior Penny Birdwind (who majors in native animations and simulations) and delivering a heartstopping, lip-synched rendition of Peggy Lee's "Fever"; and much more. The stories feature many members of the Browne family, including Grandmother Wink, who can drop an insect in flight with a single puff of her poison breath, and great-uncle Gesture, the acudenturist who creates false teeth with tricky smiles from the Naanabozho Express, the free railroad train he runs on the reservation.

Vizenor's work, drawing upon the trickster tradition in Native American culture, is among the most radical in Native American writing today. Academics of all stripes, but particularly anthropologists, champions of victimry, Richard Nixon, and many others come under the lash of Vizenor's satiric tongue in this hilarious, often surreal work..
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Diane Ackerman has generally turned her unusual sensitivity to consideration of the natural world and the human experience of it. In A Slender Thread, she journeys down a vastly different road, describing her involvement with a telephone crisis center in the college town where she lives. The callers want her to talk them out of suicide, and their fear and sadness is a weight she at first has trouble bearing gracefully.

"It's no bother. That's why we're here," I say, trying not to sound dutiful or perfunctory. I want him to stay calm, but I also want him to feel comfortable about calling. As usual, I wish I had more control over my voice, wish I could sculpt its nuances so that, regardless of the exact words I used, the tone would tell a caller like this one, You're not alone. We're here to help you, or, if help is impossible, at least to understand. I think it's possible to insinuate your emotions into your voice wholeheartedly like that, to speak sentences charged with pure emotion, as if they were part of an opera in which indecipherable words float on waves of heart-stirring and meaningful music. I just can't figure out how best to do it.

Ackerman explores human despair as she would a magnificent cavern, always moving toward the light of understanding. Highly recommended..
Price: $6.77 [Notify me when price goes down.]

This extensively revised second edition provides a practical framework for providing immediate problem-solving assistance by telephone to persons in crisis. The text offers specific techniques to deal with out-of-control situations with the highly important initial steps to protect the caller, the crisis worker, and the community. The scope of the book includes an overview of counseling by telephone, how to effectively manage crises, how to be supportive verbally and nonverbally, how to accurately assess situations, and how to help create a sense of stability. Part I discusses the varieties of telephone services, while Part II covers crisis intervention and counseling, including telephone therapy, active listening, cognitive therapy approaches, transactional analysis and learned helplessness approaches, as well as Gestalt therapy approaches. Part III discusses a variety of problem callers: the obscene caller, the chronic caller, the silent caller, the nuisance caller, and the "one counselor" caller. Part IV offers a look at contact beyond the telephone, including crisis intervention by e-mail and letter. Part V views the roles of telephone counselors, such as the mental health professional, the nonprofessional crisis worker, selecting telephone counselors, and training crisis workers. Finally, Part VI summarizes and evaluates today's telephone counseling services. This unique and up-to-date book serves as a comprehensive tool for those setting up telephone counseling services and those in charge of centers already operating, especially in training and supervising those on the front lines, the crisis interveners..
Price: $69.95 [Notify me when price goes down.]

Challenging the view that telephone counseling is a poor way to counsel patients, Counseling by Telephone contends that for certain clients this may be the therapeutic medium of choice. This supportive, instructive, and highly practical volume explores the essential skills needed to carry out effective telephone counseling--how to welcome and establish a relationship with the client, listening and responding, understanding silences, working with transference and fantasy, and recognizing and reacting to feelingsùwhich are often very distinct from those involved in face-to-face counseling. Author Maxine Rosenfield goes on to examine the benefits to both client and counselor of working by telephone, and highlights the technical and practical issues that are important for the counselor to be aware of when engaging in telephone counseling. Other chapters address issues such as group counseling by phone and counseling by other media, such as by e-mail and by letter. Clearly written, informative, and practical, Counseling by Telephone will be extremely useful for trainees, practicing counselors, and for those in the helping professions who want to work with the telephone and want to understand the difference between counseling skills and counseling on the phone..
Price: $37.16 [Notify me when price goes down.]

What do you do with Doggy-Doo? Can I put corks in my compost bin? Do worms have lungs? Why is my compost full of thousands of tiny white flies?

Vital questions such as these are the lot of a Compost Hotline Operator, as Spring Gillard knows only too well. That really is her job description, and she fields calls like this all day long. She also meets a cast of characters curiously crazed by the gardening bug, like Ellen, who wears worm earrings and belts out the "Compost Rap" to unsuspecting participants in her vermicomposting class. Or Laurel, worm bin mural artist, West Coast Wes the Scarecrow, Scissor-happy Sally, and Mike their fearless leader, prone to tai-chi fits . . .

The Diary of a Compost Hotline Operator began in 1996 as a series of entries on the website of City Farmer, Vancouver's nonprofit urban agriculture group that has been thriving for twenty-five years. It is packed with barely credible real-life tales from the trenches of the urban horticulture avant-garde, dealing with all manner of gardening lore-such as:

the essentials of composting
alternatives to pesticides
organic and edible landscapes
garden tours and compost teas
green buildings and drug-free lawns
rainwater harvesting, and even
urban ag in New York and Cuba.

It is also a mine of useful resources-perfect reading for garden fanatics, gift-givers, ag-academics and environmentalists, and all who like to laugh while they learn.

Spring Gillard abandoned a successful advertising career twelve years ago, and stumbled into City Farmer's garden in Vancouver. She never left. Her diary entries have been published widely, and-as editor of the Compost Hotline News-she does widespread research into urban agriculture worldwide. An avid storyteller, she believes in the power of humor to convey serious messages.

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