Review - How to Read a Person Like a Book - By Nierenberg, Calero, Grayson


Anil Levi
How to read a person like a book
- by Gerard I. Nierenberg (Author), Henry H. Calero (Author), Gabriel Grayson (Author)

If you are interested in adding another facet to your skills on the art of negotiation, this book will help you in doing exactly that.

Human Kinetics has been around for a while and has a lot of  study and research to back its claims.  The authors have used that research and knowledge in their business and consulting relationships to "read" the person(s) at the other end of the negotiating table. This book is a result, tried and true gestures and attitudes that help you read a person.

This book is not just for business negotiators. I find it very valuable to use even when I talk to persons one or one, in a social gathering, etc. It makes my life a bit easier if I can "read" a person and see if they are really interested in what I have to say, Vice versa, if they "seem" to be genuine in their speech, etc.

This book goes through various gestures and how those relate to certain attitudes. Facial gestures, hand gestures, feet gestures and how you carry your self as a whole.

I've thoroughly enjoyed this book, now I have to make sure to try and memorize/remember what the myriad of gestures mean!
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A new chapter - My Time & Books


Anil Levi
There has been a quiet frustration in my bones for the past few years. Seemed like I was fighting for time, fighting to do what I liked, enjoyed, cherished to do. I seem to have an avid desire to read books. And I have realized that when am not doing what I love that frustration grows and gnaws at me.

At the start of this year I resolved to systematically read a book a week. I was skeptical knowing what I know about me but thankfully I have gotten to a stage where I am doing exactly that (or very close to that).

It got me thinking, I need to capitalize on this new found surge and give it more structure and legs so I can maintain this and sustain it. I need to keep on top of it so I dont fall of the proverbial wagon. A burning sensation in my wallet drove me to research if there was a way to get the latest books at discounted price.

Long story short, yes there is! .. and that's one of the reasons why I resurrected my super old blog. Oddly enough this was the intent of my blog all along but I started saving my notes somewhere along the way in different cloud based services.

I revert now and will be posting reviews of the books that I read here, on amazon and elsewhere.


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How Should We Then Live


Anil Levi
How Should We Then Live - by Francis Schaeffer.


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Notes - Still Bored in a Culture of Entertainment


Anil Levi
Bored - "To bore" means to weary "by being dull, uninteresting or monotonous". Boredom is often accompanied by feelings of lethargy, irritation and anger.  A link exists between the increase of narcissism and selfcenteredness with the concurrent increase in boredom.

(1) Remember the Bigger Picture - What is the bigger picture that gives meaning and framework for the smaller sometimes boring details? Everything around you is God-given.
(2) Delight in the simple and the ordinary (Stop and smell the roses) - Ecclesiastes concludes that the simple, ordinary everyday routines of eating drinking and work seen in the bigger framework of living in relationship to God - bring the deepest enjoyment and satisfaction. "A man can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in his work. This too I see is from the hand of God, for without him, who can eat or find enjoyment?" - Ecclesiastes 2:24-25.
(3) Cultivating Wonder - Wonder meaning intense intellectual interest - Wonder is a capacity which we, by effort, must keep alive as a part of the way we are made.
(4) Developing a Passion - Develop habits of self discipline and delayed gratification. Involves relationships.
(5) Active Engagement not just Passive Expectation - Finding interest and joy in life involves active engagement with the world. Need to be fully engaged and engrossed in some activity. The prerequisite for happiness is the ability to get fully involved in life.
(6) The Experience of "Flow" - An integration and harmony of the mind, body and emotions. The most rewarding activities are those that are not passive but active, those in which our minds and often our bodies are stretched to the limit. To be highly fulfilling - (a) Intense Concentration (b) Clear goals (c) immediate feedback.  Intense Involvement, so involved, totally absorbed. The key is being actively involved and using highly developed abilities. The flow experience that results from the use of skills leads to growth. In God's creation we can find so much to take an interest in, but it takes effort and self-discipline for us to stop long enough to look and marvel ...

Earth's crammed with heaven,
And every common bush afire with God;
But only he who sees, takes off his shoes --
The rest sit around and pluck blackberries.
- Elizabeth Barrett Browning. (Aurora Leigh, Seventh book)

- Unless we gain the art of silence and insight, the ability for non-activity, unless we substitute true leisure for our hectic amusements, we will destroy our culture - and ourselves.  Leisure is a time of withdrawal from our ordinary routines to renew our priorities and our perspective on life. - Josef Pieper.

- Pursue friendship, art, literature, natural beauty, religion and philosophy.

- Reflect on and reflect the character of God. - If we are to reflect his character we cannot remain unmoved, untouched and bored with him or his creation. Often we have a very underdeveloped sense of his glory and our sinfulness. We are to be people of deep feeling and passion, aware that our feelings need to be redeemed from their distortion and deadness and given full rein in the service of their Maker.

- Christian Maturity involves learning to delay gratification, to groan, to rejoice in hope and to wait eagerly and patiently for the fulfillment of God's many promises of restoration and renewal.
- God wants us to develop our gifts and capacities and use them to the full.
- We are to work against sin in every area of our life. In any part of life where the destructive power of sin has taken hold, it will take effort and prayer to reverse the trend.

- When you hear someone saying, with a yawn, 'What am I to do - I'm no longer interested in anything?" - Kierkegaard's response - take any Christian commandment and try to practice it in his life. - "For it is clear that in effort, if it be sincere, will reintroduce you into reality, where the true conflicts manifest themselves, where the lines of the force of the spiritual and moral life appear, where the drama of a calling instantly sharpens: not even a second of boredom becomes possible any longer. And your complaint will be that you have only one life to lead."

- We are called to be faithful in every small task that God gives us.

- Summary - 
(1) To contemplate the character of God and his creation.
(2) Confess getting our priorities wrong and pursuing of false god.
(3) To creatively counteract some of the tedious and boring tasks of life.
(4) To find the help and companionship we need from those in our community.

- As we see more and more things from God's point of view, we find that there is rarely any time to be bored!


- Gleaned from Still Bored in a Culture of Entertainment by Richard Winters
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The God Who Is There


Anil Levi
D.A. Carson's - The God Who Is There 

 In February 2009, Don Carson presented a 14-part seminar entitled “The God Who Is There” at Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis. This series will serve the church well because it simultaneously evangelizes non-Christians and edifies Christians by explaining the Bible’s storyline in a non-reductionistic way. The series is geared toward “seekers” and articulates Christianity in a way that causes hearers either to reject or embrace the gospel. It’s one thing to know the Bible’s storyline, but it’s another to know one’s role in God’s ongoing story of redemption. “The God Who Is There” engages people at the worldview-level.

 See all the videos for The God Who is There at The Gospel Coalition
Click here if you are interested in the accompanying book.

  
The God Who Is There - Part 1. The God Who Made Everything from The Gospel Coalition on Vimeo.
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God in America - PBS


Anil Levi
Inside the tumultuous 400-year history of the intersection of religion and public life in America -- from AMERICAN EXPERIENCE and FRONTLINE. This six-hour series examines how religious dissidents helped shape the American concept of religious liberty and the controversial evolution of that ideal in the nation's courts and political arena; how religious freedom and waves of new immigrants and religious revivals fueled competition in the religious marketplace; how movements for social reform -- from abolition to civil rights -- galvanized men and women to put their faith into political action; and how religious faith influenced conflicts from the American Revolution to the Cold War.

See all the episodes here: http://www.pbs.org/godinamerica/view/


Watch the full episode. See more FRONTLINE.
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Leonard Ravenhill


Anil Levi
Ravi Zacharias has said this about Leonard Ravenhill:
The truth is, even though I am known now as an apologist for the Christian faith, dealing with the intellectual issues of Christianity, I really owe an passion for God, for prayer and for true revival that initially began in me, to Leonard Ravenhill. He, by God’s grace, was the catalyst that has caused the passion to know God to continue to this day.


via Denny Burk's Blog

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Books Daniel Read


Anil Levi
So Daniel sees my "Books Read" post and now he wants to have a page of his own. Here we go ...

2011

01/04/11 - Captain Underpants and the Perilious Plot of Professor Poopypants.
01/09/11 - Junie B Jones - Cheater Pants
01/28/11 - Magic Tree House - Viking Ships At Sunrise.
01/30/11 - The Bald Bandit (A to Z mysteries)
02/01/11 - Dragonbreath

(Didnt keep up here)


Daniel's Summer Reading - 2011
5/26/2011 - Big Nate: In  a class by himself
5/27/2011 - CU: The attack of the talking toilets
5/28/2011 - Stink and the incredible super-galactic jawbreaker
5/29/2011 - MTH: Monday with a mad genious
5/31/2011 - MTH: Dragon of the red dawn
5/31/2011 - CU: The Perilous Plot of Professor Poopypants
6/1/2011 - FKS: Attack of the 50-ft cupid
6/1/2011 - MTH: Season of the Sandstorms
6/2/2011 - TBC: The Mystery at snowflake Inn
6/17/2011 - Iron Man - The Junior Novel
6/11/2011 - CU: Big Bad Battle of the Bionic Booger Boy - Part1
6/13/2011 - MTH: A Ghost Tale for Christmas Time
6/10/2011 - FKS: Lunch walks among us
6/11/2011 - Tinkle Digest No 28 (Comic)
6/12/2011 - Tinkle Digest No 106 (Comic)
6/24/2011 - CU: The Preposterous Plight of the Purple Potty People
6/25/2011 - FKS: The Fran with four Brains
6/25/2011 - FKS: The Frandidate
6/24/2011 - FKS: The Fran that time forgot
7/1/2011 - A2Z: The Yellow Yatcht
6/25/2011 - MTH: Christmas in Camelot
7/4/2011 - MTH: Haunted Castle on Hallows Eve
6/24/2011 - Superman Daily Planet (Comic) - 16 Stories
6/24/2011 - Eek & Ack - Oose Slinglers from Outer Space (Comic)
6/24/2011 - Eek & Ack - Vs the Wolfman (Comic)
7/1/2011 - CU: Captain Underpants
7/1/2011 - Superman - The Deadly Dream Machine
7/1/2011 - JBJ: The Stupid Smelly Bus
7/2/2011 - JBJ: First Grader - Aloha-ha-ha!
7/3/2011 - JBJ: Is a Graduation Girl
7/7/2011 - A2Z: The Panda Puzzle
7/10/2011 - A2Z: The Vampire's Vacation
7/8/2011 - A2Z: The Deadly Dungeon
7/19/2011 - RS: The Big Blueberry Barkoff - R.L. Stein
7/18/2011 - CU: Invasion of the incredibly naughty cafeteria ladies
7/22/2011 - A2Z: The Lucky Lottery
7/20/2011 - RRR: Never Glue your friends to chairs
7/25/2011 - Stanley in Space - Jeff Brown
8/2/2011 - MTH: Moonlight on the Magic Flute
7/18/2011 - Missle Mouse - Rescue on Tankium3
7/22/2011 - The Blackbelt Club - Seven Wheels of Power
7/26/2011 - Judy Moody goes to college
8/2/2011 - A2Z: The Runaway Racehorse
7/25/2011 - MTH: A Crazy Day with Cobras
7/29/2011 - RS: The Great Smelling Bee - R.L. Stein
7/27/2011 - FKS: The Invisible Fran
8/2/2011 - A2Z: The Invisible Island
8/2/2011 - A2Z: The Talking T-Rex
8/4/2011 - MTH: A good night for ghosts
8/3/2011 - RS: The Good bad and the very slimy
8/3/2011 - Ricky Ricottas Mighty Robot
8/4/2011 - RRMR - vs The Uranium Unicorn from Uranus
8/4/2011 - A2Z: The Falcon's Feathers
8/5/2011 - HDB:Surprisingly Sloberry Attack of DogWash Doggies
8/4/2011 - FKS: Frantastic Voyage
8/6/2011 - MTH: Dark Day in the Deep Sea

This post will be edited every time Daniel reads a book.
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Vegas, Life, World and Covenant.


Anil Levi
... we can see his hand crafting connections behind the scenes. Nothing in the modern life encourages us to see the invisible links binding together all of life. We have no sense that we live in the presence of a loving Father and are accountable for all we do. The marketing slogan of Las Vegas - "What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas" - describes how our secular world views life. You can come to Vegas, have sex anonymously, and return home to your spouse as if nothing happened. There is no link between Vegas and the rest of your life. You have unlimited freedom to pursue feeling good about yourself.

Baloney. This is my Fathers World! Everything you do in Vegas is connected to the rest of your life. Everything you do is connected to who you are as a person and, in turn, creates the person you are becoming. Everything you do affects those who love you. All of life is covenant!

- Excerpt from A Praying Life - Paul Miller.
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Dieting - What works for me!


Anil Levi
Everyone's different and what works for one doesn't for the other. This is a list of what works for me!

- Drink lots of water - 8 cups a day at least.
- Just one coffee in the morning. Teas only later on.
- Count every calorie! - Even the snacks and little bites.
- Limit Calories to 1500 a day. (7 days a week). Track it!
- Breakfast - A tortilla and an egg starts you off good.
- Before you start eating, make sure your plate has only what you intend to eat. The rest goes in your doggie bag before you start eating.
- Lay of rice as much as you can.

- Measure your weight everyday - first thing in the morning.

(Will update this post later on after I figure out a exercise regimen that works for me.)
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