MOS Study Guide by Joan Lambert and Joyce Cox

Book description:

Demonstrate your expertise with Microsoft Office 2010! This all-in-one guide is designed to help you practice and prepare for the four core Microsoft Office Specialist (MOS) exams.
With the MOS 2010 Study Guide, you get full, objective-by-objective coverage for:

• Exam 77-881: Microsoft Word 2010
• Exam 77-882: Microsoft Excel 2010
• Exam 77-883: Microsoft PowerPoint 2010
• Exam 77-884: Microsoft Outlook 2010

Use the book’s easy-to-follow procedures and illustrations to review the essential skills measured by the MOS exams. And you can apply what you’ve learned hands-on—using the downloadable files for all the book’s practice tasks.

This book provides valuable information for someone who aiming to obtain a Microsoft Office Specialist certification.  I downloaded this in order to study for the Excel exam.  While a textbook is almost impossible to "enjoy" while reading, I would have to say that this book proved to be very taxing to read.

All in all, it did give the promised information.

I would rate this book 3 stars.

Disclosure:  I received this book for free from O'Reilly Books through their blog book review program.  These opinions are my own.

The Skin Map by Stephen Lawhead

Book preview:

"ANYTHING BUT ORDINARY Kit Livingstone has led a terribly humdrum life. Even his girlfriend is dull. But soon all that changes when, with the help of his deceased great-grandfather, Kit is catapulted into worlds unknown in The Skin Map, the first book of the Bright Empires series by prolific writer Stephen R. Lawhead. Dynamic settings are mixed with unpredictable adventures as we follow Kit through his new life, which includes parallel worlds and time travel. Most interesting is the lost map many are battling to find, the map that is crucial to traveling the cosmos and, more importantly, getting back to Earth. And yes, it's tattooed on the mapmaker. But soon the reader discovers that, as intriguing as the map is, that's not the real prize. It's only square one."

Sound interesting?  Too bad I never made it out of the first chapter.  I tried.  I really did. But try as I might, I could not seem to make it out of the gate with this book.  I'm a bit ADD when it comes to books, so if the book fails to grab me early on, I move on to the next one that does. 

This may be a great book.  Who knows?  Certianly not me...

Disclosure: I received this book free of charge from Book Sneeze. All thoughts and opinions are my own. 

Radical by David Platt

 

From the back of the book:

"It's easy for American Christians to forget how Jesus said his followers would actually live, what their new lifestyle would actually look like.  They would, he said, leave behind security, money, convenience, even family for him.  They would abandon everything for the gospel.  They would take up their crosses daily...

BUT WHO DO YOU KNOW THAT LIVES LIKE THAT?  DO YOU?"

Platt challenges our American way of life as we know it by thematically asking this one question:
Have we created Jesus in our image?

When we account for the lifestyles we lead as Christians, how does it measure up with how Jesus commanded us to live?  We work hard, we lead our families, we go to church, we try to be responsible with our finances, and we even give like we're supposed to.  But we also wake up each morning in our nice houses, drive our nice cars, go to jobs that pay us more than what 90% of the world makes, sit in cushioned seats in our comfortable, air-conditioned sanctuaries, and worship God.  And we can do so freely, without fear of losing our lives. 

But how easy is it to worship God when He's given us so many blessings, and so many comforts?  Let's face it, our lives are comfortable.  Now Platt's not saying that it's wrong for us to have comforts in life, because God has blessed us with them.  He's challenging the fact that we've molded Christianity and the American Dream into one by striving for a life of comforts. 

Comforts that this world offers, but with Jesus thrown into the mix as well. 

• That we can have a house full of expensive things as long as we buy some Christian books and Bibles to cancel it out.
• That we can have our big houses, nice cars, and huge savings accounts as long as we throw our scraps and loose change to the poor.

But Jesus didn't command us to live comfortably.  In fact, He told us that when we follow Him, our lives will become uncomfortable by worldly standards.

So this poses a question:

WHAT IS JESUS WORTH TO YOU?

I would highly recommend this book to everyone. 

***I received a complimentary copy of this book, courtesy of Waterbrook Multnomah, as a member of their Blogging For Books program. All opinions expressed are my own and I have not been compensated in any other manner***