George Foreman has reached a level of success that most Americans can only dream about, both as a boxer and an entrepreneur. As a two-time Heavyweight Champion of the World and one of the most succesful businessmen of the modern era, this man has clearly demonstrated that he has the will, determination and “smarts” to succeed at most anything he tries to do.

When I first saw Knockout Entrepreneur on display in my local bookstore, my first thought was “Will anyone realy take a former boxing champ seriously as a business guru?” But after thinking about it for a moment, I realized that he has been just as successful in his long business career as he was as a fighter. That’s when I decided to read the book and review it for the Thomas Nelson “Book Review Blogger” program.

As a sports fan, I could go on and on about the stories Mr. Foreman tells about some of his biggest boxing matches (they alone are worth the price of this book), but it’s the way he relates these stories to the principles of business success that make the book such an engaging and valuable read. In a nutshell, he explains how his drive to excel combined with his firm foundation in Christian principles helped him achieve all of his goals, and more.

I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in pursuing a successful career in business, especially self-starters who have a burning desire to work for themselves. Sports enthusiast or not, you’re sure to benefit from Mr. Foreman’s many wonderful tips and insights into living a successful life and succeeding in the business world.

Click here to read more about Knockout Entrepreneur on Amazon.

I have been building websites using the WordPress blog platform for some time now, and I have always been quite impressed with its amazing combination of power and simplicity. Since there are numerous resources for helping build and maintain WordPress based blogs and websites available on the Internet for free, it never occurred to me that there would be a market for an actual printed book on the topic. Well, it turns out that I was wrong.

While browsing the aisles of my local bookstore, I happened to see a book entitled WordPress For Dummies, and since I have always found the “For Dummies” series of books to be easy to read and understand, I picked it up and read a couple of chapters right there in the store! Then I took it home with me and read the rest of it. I found it not only to be an interesting read, but also a comprehensive resource for every aspect of planning, building and maintaining a blog or website using the WordPress platform.

As expected, the book starts off with an explanation of blogging in general, then it quickly gets into the nuts and bolts of the WordPress software. Topics discussed include the differences between the hosted version of WordPress and the self-hosted WordPress scripts, installing the WordPress files on your server, setting up the database, personalizing your new blog with a theme, finding and using plugins, backing up and restoring your WordPress installation and many, many more. In a nutshell, WordPress For Dummies is a wonderful collection of much of the information you’ll find about installing and using WordPress scattered around the Internet all in one well-organized, easy to understand printed book.

Could you get by without ever seeing a copy of WordPress for Dummies? Sure you could. After all, everything found in the book can also be found for free on the web. But nowhere else will you find so much critical information in one place, neatly organized and indexed, ready to use exactly when you need it! If you use WordPress now, or have plans to use it in the future, this book deserves a prominent spot on your desk.

Click here to read more about WordPress for Dummies on Amazon.

The Holy Bible is replete with words of wisdom, advice and directives for living a good Christian life, and author Sarah Young brings many of these resources vividly to life in her wonderful gift book entitled Jesus Lives.

The pages of Jesus Lives contain almost 200 inspirational devotions, each of which are delivered as if God is talking directly to the reader on the left-hand page while listing the applicable scripture references on the right. I really like the concept, and for the most part it is quite effective. There are a few devotionals however where the connection between the left-page narrative doesn’t mesh that well with the listed scriptures.

The topics covered in the devotions are relevant to every aspect of Christian life, but the ones I found the most interesting and useful deal with building Christian faith, the power of prayer, the importance of pleasing Him and the absolute importance of believing in Him. As Christians we all struggle from day to day to live the kind of lives we need to live according to God’s Word, and the pages of Jesus Lives are packed with powerful resources to help us achieve that goal.

All in all, Jesus Lives is a very good book, and I highly recommend it. I believe it would make a very nice gift for anyone on your list!

Note: I would like to thank Thomas Nelson Publishers for providing a copy of this book for review.

Ever since the fall of man in the Garden of Eden, we humans have had to endure pain of various types and intensities over the course of our lifetimes. Of course none of us look forward to pain or enjoy dealing with it when we have it, but we can take comfort in the knowledge that God never inflicts it upon us on a whim. Everything our loving Creator does has a purpose in keeping with His master plan for our lives, and if we can learn to appreciate it in the proper context, pain can be a powerful force for good.

In Finding Purpose Beyond Our Pain, Drs. Paul Meier and David L. Henderson teach us how to accept the pain that comes our way and use it to seek out the meaning and fulfillment that God has in store for us. In this book, Drs. Meier and Henderson use their training and skills as Christian psychiatrists to help us deal with the pain and heartbreak that accompany seven of life’s most common and profound challenges: Injustice, rejection, loneliness, loss, discipline, failure and death. Each of these challenges has the power to weaken our Christian resolve and make our lives quite miserable, but if we can learn to appreciate how they fit into God’s master plan for us just the opposite will happen. That’s where this book and the powerful message it conveys come in.

If you sometimes find yourself struggling with pain and heartbreak (and as a human being you surely do), then you need to read Finding Purpose Beyond Our Pain because it will provide you with the tools you’ll need when dealing with life’s inevitable setbacks.

Note: I would like to thank Thomas Nelson Publishers for providing a copy of this book for review.

The Power of Respect

In The Power of Respect, veteran journalist and author Deborah Norville confirms what many of us have known for quite some time: Our society has lost much of the mutual respect that we Americans had for one another in previous generations. Many of our nation’s current ills can be traced directly back to that loss of respect, and in this fine book Mrs. Norville gives a number of examples and explanations about the negative effects it has on our lives. But more importantly, she explains exactly how to get it back again.

The first chapter of the book introduces us to the importance of respect in everyday life and explains how finding it helped a number of people change their own lives and the lives of those around them for the better. The ensuing chapters cover in detail the importance of respect in our home lives and relationships as well as success in our schooling and careers. Each chapter thoroughly examines the way that success or failure is in large part determined by the respect others have for us in tandem with the respect we have for ourselves. Then, after each example she explains in detail the steps that need to be taken in order to make things better.

The Power of Respect is a lively, entertaining read that will have you on the verge of tears as you read about the struggles that some of the folks Mrs. Norville interviewed had to deal with, followed by a warming of the heart when you learn how gaining the respect they deserve made a huge difference in their lives. I highly recommend that you read The Power of Respect and put the principles you glean from its pages to use in your own life.

Note: I would like to thank Thomas Nelson Publishers for providing a copy of this book for review.