I highly recommend Black Students and School Failure (BSASF) to all serious educators and parents of black students. I also highly recommend re-reading it to anyone who has read this book some time ago. Simply put, this book makes the reader think.

I first read BSASF in 1991. Over the years, I have re-read sections of the book a number of times. For me, the vital and brilliantly communicated points of BSASF are these:

1. [Contrary to "Bell Curve" thinking,]Black children's capacity and potential for learning is equal to that of other ethnic groups.

2. Black children's learning potential is systematically not being realized in America's school systems. Reasons or this include but are not limited to: low expectations and self-fulfilling prophecies; lack of cultural synchronization; lack of national, strategic focus on effectively educating poor, minority children.

In other words, black student failure in school does not point to an inherent inability to learn. Rather, it points to clearly ineffective - perhaps even racist - policies and practices on a classroom, school, school system, and national level.

3. The problem of black student school failure is significantly correlated with the problem of black poverty - and the salient issues of drug abuse, violence, teen pregnancy, etc. These problems persist and will continue to persist until there is an active commitment address them with not just short-lived interventions, but long-term strategic focus on improving educational outcomes for black students.

Being a first-year teacher of math at a 90+% black high school in South Florida, I am an everyday witness of low teacher expectations and self-fulfilling prophecies for black students. This book convinces me that there would be significantly less black poverty if significantly more teachers had high expectations for their black students. Moreover, it makes me wonder if perhaps there would even be a cure for cancer!

Patrick Harper

Coconut Creek, Florida
April 20, 2003

That book is difficult, but I made my way through it, because it’s the truth. And it is good stuff. And it’s worth it. She tells the truth. She explains why black children and students have such problems with Western education. Her answer is that Western education was designed and made by whites. This may be OK for Asians, who are closer to whites, but it can’t work for Africans, our race is too different, the “racial distance”(and the culture that stems from each race) is too big. I don’t mean to be racist, man, but that’s how it is, we are no whites, and whites are no blacks, and that’s fine. Seems to come close to a book I haven’t read, The White Architects of Black Education: Ideology and Power. AND, even worst, she proves, reveals that the aim of this white education that is imposed unto blacks is enslave them by conditioning them to respect white authority, to be docile, subordinate and dependent on white, and by predestinating them to the inferior lowest jobs whites need for their free-market economy. Put it clearly, man : it is still white slavery and exploitation of Africans, but it is hidden. And worst, because you don’t see it and you won’t revolt and shake off the white yoke. It’s deception. And I would had that this white schooling hurts terribly, breaks our African soul, identity , and that’s why many of us fail, our African soul can’t work out with a white identity that is unnatural to us and that enslaves us. But she has the (obvious) solution: we need our own separate schools, but not just so before the segregation, not compulsory, and above all not designed by whites for white children, but designed by Africans for black children. That’s it. The whole point is about designing black school. It should be done by Africans who have rediscovered their roots, I mean their own African cultures, religions, races and languages. Here in South Africa we got a seminal book, P. C. Luthuli’s The Philosophical foundations of Black education in South Africa. Luthuli saw that “While throughout their history Black people have borrowed quite generously in order to construct their school curriculum, the time has come for this to be done within the dictates of their basic needs” and that our schools “must be governed by the fundamental collective philosophy of life”, that is by our own African soul, not the thinking, the soul of the white race, which is alien to us. Irvine, working with the African diaspora in America has come exactly to the same conclusion. What a good book, man, that’s real black studies, black university, and it’s not baloney like some of those white racists say who would like to abolish black studies. Quite the contrary, read her book, she proves we need our own “Afrocentric independent schools”.

This is THE handbook for integrating Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy, Brief Therapy, and Hypnosis into a highly effective model for beginning and experienced therapists.
As a psychologist with 25 years of experience and some training with Dr. Milton Erickson I can still learn from the clever and expert "reframing" and protocols offered by these two distinguished clinicans.
I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in learning how to change dysfunctional habits.

We wrote this book for therapists and other health professionals who are either new to the use of hypnosis as a clinical tool or who have experience with hypnosis and want to refine their skills. It is based on over forty years of the clinical experience of the senior author, Jordan I. Zarren, M.S.W., DAHB, and over twenty years of the clinical experience of the second author, Bruce N. Eimer, Ph.D., ABPP.

Our book teaches basic prnciples for inducing waking hypnosis and hynotic trance. We explain how hypnosis can enhance therapeutic communication and therapy outcomes. We explain the basics of effective hypnotic suggestion and provide numerous scripts containing explicit verbalizations of suggestions and treatment strategies for a wide range of psychological and medical problems (e.g., anxiety disorders, harmful habits, depression, chronic anger, problem drinking and eating, chronic pain, preparation for surgery). A whole section is devoted to Jordan Zarren's highly effective, original one-visit approach for helping people stop smoking.

Hypnosis can be used to shorten treatment time and improve the effectiveness of other interventions. It is very applicable for psychotherapists of any orientation, as well as for psychologists, physicians, dentists, nurses, psychiatrists, mental health and substance abuse counselors, clinical social workers, and pastoral counselors.

Our book will help you as a health clinician, change what you do so that your work is more effective and satisfying, or it will help you to continue to do what you are doing better.

If you are a seriously curious layperson who is interested in learning more about hypnosis and dispelling many of the myths and misconceptions surrounding hypnosis, or if you are considering seeking the services of a qualified hypnosis clinician, this book will be very informative, useful and helpful.

Bruce N. Eimer, Ph.D., ABPP
Board Certified Licensed Clinical Psychologist

This book as an amazingly helpful guide. Filled with practical, real world experience, it provided signficant insight into the "real" process of selling a business. As a management consulting I occasionally encounter M&A deals. This book is the kind of resource that I need, and can recommend to my clients.

Great resource! Add it to your library!

After reading this book, I now have a clear understanding as to the steps involved in selling a company - it is far more complex than I imagined.

I am always fascinated by creativity. Whenever I come across a creativity book, irrespective of whether it is intended for the business or academic world, I will always scan it first and if it appears "intriguing" judging from the front/back covers, table of contents and index page, I will often peruse - and reflect on - it. I will often adapt the ideas to my consulting work. In this case, this book did not disappoint me.

In a nut shell, this is a book about practical strategies for teaching and learning creative thinking skills. Although it has been written primarily for teachers and students, I find that many of the information on theory, strategies and assessment covered by the book are applicable and useful for anyone who is interested in exploring creativity, even in non-academic areas.

The main bulk of the book pertains to approaches to teaching the basic curriculum - mathematics, science, social studies, language - that encourage creative problem solving, and information on how research on motivation and creativity applies to decisions about classroom management, organisation and assessment.

The book is divided into two parts: "Understanding Creative People & Processes" and "Creativity & Classroom Life.". The first part gives an excellent grounding in creativity fundamentals. The second part gives practical suggestions for creativity design, development & assessment in a classroom setting. For teachers, this part, especially the assessment tools, is a real gem.

Very fortunately, the author's fluid writing style, coupled with her interesting case studies and numerous applications, makes the book easy-to-follow.

The author has very masterfully organised practical activities, such as "Thinking about the Classroom" and "Journeying and Journalling" in every chapter. For readers, there are a lot of points to ponder, several questions to ask and many things to do. This is the part I enjoyed "playing" with them the most.

At the end of each chapter, and also in the bibliography, the author has listed many useful references for further exploration. For research purposes, this is a gold mine.

For parents, who are looking for simple ideas and practical strategies to develop creative activities for their children, I dare say this book is definitely a very helpful guide.

As a matter of fact, if you are just looking for creative opportunities in your own life, this book (particularly chapter 6) can be a valuable source of curious delight.

I am sorry,I am not writing review about the book. I would like to ask you to e-mail the contents of the book to me as soon as possible. Thank you

Although the storyline is somewhat tragic, the storytelling was exceptional, and the theme was clearly communicated across characters and timeperiods. As a psychologist, I thought the author did a fine job of characterizing the psychological impact of slavery and racism on family dynamics across generations.

I thought this was a good book to read. It gave a lot of insight into the troubles african american women of past generations faced through the life of Story. She was scared to love and be loved. Only through Story's death was her daughter Hermine able to break through her mothers wall and love her.

The gift of letter-writing unfortunately is becoming a lost art-but not so for author Rebecca
Barlow Jordon. Because she understands that "letters mingle souls," she has structured her
new devotional, Daily in Your Presence, as a series of 365 little love letters from God's heart
to yours. Imagine the joy of opening a personal love note from God every day for a year, that
draws you deeper into His presence, nearer to His heart. Divine love and Scriptural truth are
folded into each missive, hopefully to be tucked deep inside your heart forever. Each letter is
sealed with a meaningful short reflection called "Simple Truth" that captures the essence of
each reading for easy recall. Daily in Your Presence is guaranteed to take you daily to the
Throne of God where your soul and His will someday mingle eternally.
-Lynn D. Morrissey, author of Seasons of a Woman's Heart & speaker

As the sun inched it's way over the dark hills on the East side of the Sea of Galilee, I sat on the balcony of my hotel room in Tiberius, Israel. I had a camera sitting ready in my lap, waiting for the exact moment deemed perfect for shooting the burst of the sun's rays once they made their grand appearance. In my hands, secured by my fingers, I held Rebecca Barlow Jordan's new book, Daily in Your Presence...and I read from page 19, "My child, sit down in the boat...I made the wind and the sea; they listen and obey My voice. I walk on the clouds, and they thunder their praise. I blink My eyes, and lightning reflects My power. I hold out My hand, and the storms are stilled. So, take My hand, sit down, and relax."

Does it get any better than that? To sit looking out on the water where Jesus walked toward His disciples during a raging storm...the place where He called them to service...the place where He pulled Peter from the water and his own momentary lack of faith? To sit and look out on all that and to read words from the Father's heart, a grateful response, and a simple truth?

Rebecca Barlow Jordan's work will sit next to such classics as God Calling and When I'm On My Knees. Her heartfelt words will remain a part of one of the fondest memories of my life, The Sea of Galilee, Summer 2002.

I loved this book so much because it never let you dry for suspense. I was always wanting to read more and more. I couldn't stop. This book had a fantastic main charcters that seemed like I could meet them down the street. I love these books and I have already read a couple of the "Danger.com". Each story almost seemed to almost happen on the internet. The charters in this book made a mistake to tell online that he wanted illegal cigars. This is why it left me in suspense because I never knew what was going to happen to them.

This was a sequal to Shadow man. This is a MUST have if you have read that one. It takes you on differnt twists and turns, but it always leads you back one way or another. If you like the internet, you'll love this!

I ordered this book solely for the information regarding some of my ancestors. Since my family was on the wrong side of the law I didn't know the whole truth until this book. Mr.Jordan does an excellent job on recounting the facts and events related to Fayette County. I highly reccommend this book.

I could not put this book down.My husband and I enjoyed learning the History on his Ancestors.The book included so, much information we were not aware of.

Discovering The Natural Laws That Govern The Universe really gave me a clear understanding of how the universe works. This is a book I will turn to again and again for answers to my metaphysical questions.

This is truly a remarkable and worthwhile book to read. Reading about these natural laws has given me much greater insight into the workings of these unseen energy forces and how to apply them in my daily life. "Discovering the natural laws that govern the Universe" has provided me with another very valuable tool to assist myself and to understand my fellow men. I really recommend it.

Can you give me some information on how to purchase the book titled:East Jordan Remembers:A Collection of Stories about East Jordan's Past

i want to know more about this book. Where can do that? im from brazil and i want to buy this book hellen