Book Review: Google Power Search by Stephan Spencer

Google Power Search is a brief but direct book(let) on how to exploit Google's various search engine features. Although the things discussed in the first two chapters may be readily available in various blogs and forums, the contents of the rest of the book are very valuable. Some advanced and not-so-well-known features are also introduced.

I am glad to have found the book as the section on common operators help me immediately in avoiding frustration in looking for what I really want. Finding what I need on the first page of results rather than on the third page is really great.

Highly recommended for those who do a lot of searching on the internet, especially those who want to find them quickly.

About the author:
Stephan Spencer is an author of The Art of SEO published in October 2009 by O'Reilly and co-authored by Eric Enge, Rand Fishkin and Jessie Stricchiola.

Stephan is the founder of Netconcepts. Netconcepts started out as a web design and marketing agency, but over time morphed into a leading SEO firm. Stephan, and Netconcepts, had been heavy into the science of SEO since 1999.

Netconcepts was acquired in January 2010 by paid and organic search software/services agency Covario. Covario is one of those rare companies to have made it onto the Inc 500 list two years in a row -- in 2009 and again in 2010.

Stephan is the inventor of the automated pay-for-performance natural search technology platform GravityStream, now re-branded as Organic Search Optimizer.

He is a Senior Contributor to Practical Ecommerce and to MarketingProfs.com, and a columnist for Search Engine Land and Multichannel Merchant. He's also contributed to DM News, Catalog Age, Catalog Success, Building Online Business, Unlimited, and NZ Marketing magazine, among others.

Stephan is a frequent conference speaker on SEO and other online marketing topics for the Direct Marketing Association (DMA), American Marketing Association (AMA), Shop.org, Internet Retailer, SMX, IncisiveMedia (Search Engine Strategies), O'Reilly/TechWeb, PubCon, ECMOD, IQPC and IIR. His hundreds of speaking gigs have taken him around the globe -- everywhere from Berlin, London, Toronto, Santiago, and Auckland, to New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and places in between.

Stephan is an avid blogger. He blogs at Stephan Spencer's Scatterings, Natural Search Blog, Business Blog Consulting, Changes For Good, and Google, I Suggest... He's also been a contributor for the following group blogs: Searchlight (part of the CNET Blog Network), Shop.org Blog, and MarketingProfs Daily Fix.

Stephan is on the advisory board of CrowdGather.

He holds an M.S. in Biochemistry from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

[Disclaimer: I got this book for free as part of the Oreilly blogger review program I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255 : "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising."]

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Book Review: A Place Called Blessing: Where Hurting Ends and Love Begins by Dr. John Trent and Annette Smith

I decided to read A Place Called Blessing: Where Hurting Ends and Love Begins after I read The Blessing by John Trent and Gary Smalley. I was hoping that this would be a companion book or more like a fictionalization of the latter. I was in for a wonderful surprise!

The book is a wonderfully-written story of an orphan and his brothers and the journey that most orphan kids go through from one foster home to another and after they are 'released' when they have come of age.

I particularly like the plot overall and the honesty that is one every page. I have not only been reading a story about an orphaned boy and his journey into adulthood but it was as if I was looking at myself in a mirror with all the experiences I went through. Orphaned or not, every person has gone through experiences that would put us where the main character is and we make our own agreements with ourselves and begin looking at the world with colored lenses. 


The book is a short read and I am really glad to have read it.

I highly recommend this book to anyone looking for a book with a strong spiritual message but does not read like a church material. Also recommended for those working or engaging with 'troubled' kids.

About the authors:
Dr. John Trent is president of StrongFamilies.com and founder of The Institute for the Blessing at Barclay College. John is a sought-after speaker and an award-winning author of more than twenty books, including six books for children. He has been a featured guest on numerous radio and television programs across the country and leads The Blessing Challenge, a joint partnership with Focus on the Family and StrongFamilies.com. John and his wife, Cindy, have been married for more than thirty years and have two grown daughters, Kari and Laura.


Annette Smith is a novelist, nurse, and a master storyteller. Her first book of short stories, The Whispers of Angels, sold more than 100,000 copies. Annette has written four additional volumes of original short stories, two parenting books, and five novels, all set in small towns. Her fourth novel, A Bigger Life, was named by Library Journal as one of the best novels of 2007 and was a finalist in the American Christian Fiction Book Awards.

A life-long Texan, Annette lives in Tyler, Texas with Randy, her husband of thirty-one years, and an affectionate, shaggy mutt named Wally. Annette has worked as a registered nurse in a variety of settings. Her current home-hospice position gives her a unique position in the lives of relative strangers, and she often finds herself bearing solitary witness to intimate, behind-the-scenes situations full of grace and meaning.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Book Review: The Blessing by John Trent and Gary Smalley

I found the book a very engaging read. The authors skillfully shares the five elements of Biblical blessing and how it applies in daily life. For most of us who might have felt that we have missed out on the blessing, the book has also provided hope on how to be able to receive the once elusive blessing.

One thing I particularly liked about the book is the way the authors masterfully weaved stories of real people - thereby making the principles more real. The authors have also shared their own experiences of missing out and receiving blessing.

As I was reading the book, there were moments of clarity and some tearful moments as I realized where some aspects of my life and those around me that were results of both experiences of receiving and not receiving the blessing.

Overall, the book has encouraged me to live out the principles and be intentional in blessing others.

Highly recommended for parents. Also recommended for those who feel that they have 'missed out' on something and would want to know how to be blessed.

About the authors:
Gary Smalley is one of he country's best-known authors and speakers on family relationships. He is the award-winning, best-selling author or coauthor of sixteen books, as well as several popular films and videos. The Blessing and The Two Sides of Love have won Gold Medallions, The Language of Love won the Angel Award as the best contribution to family life, and his other titles have received Silver Medallions. His national infomercial Hidden Keys to Loving Relationships has been viewed by television audiences all over the world. Gary and his wife, Norma, have been married for over thirty years and live in Branson, Missouri.

Dr. John Trent is the President of The Center for StrongFamilies and StrongFamilies.com (registered as a 501(c)(3) under the name of "Encouraging Words"). He is a nationally known speaker and award winning author. His recent books include the recently revised and updated million selling book, The Blessing, (An ECPA Gold Medallion Winner) The 2 Degree Difference, The Treasure Tree (a children's book that is also a Gold Medallion Winner)and Chasing Skinny Rabbits.

Dr. Trent released two... Read more at Amazon's John Trent Page 
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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255 : "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising."

Book Review: The Waiting Place: Learning to Appreciate Life's Little Delays by Eileen Button

I found Eileen Button's The Waiting Place to be a very beautifully written collection of essays. At first, I thought that this would be a collection of essays that will show the beauty of 'waiting places' through light-hearted stories about waiting or perhaps something that would show me how to make better use of my time while waiting. I was expecting a formula similar to: I wanted something-I prayed about it-God says wait-I wait-God delivers.

Instead, I am presented with various experiences from her own life, from childhood to the present, when she was in a 'waiting place'. Although some stories are funny, most stories are very intimate. I have felt my heartstrings pulled a lot of times while reading this book and it got me thinking about similar waiting places in my life. I admit choking up at times when she narrates of experiences that I had experienced too.

The book is loosely arranged beginning with experiences from her childhood until the recent past. Although most of the essays are stand-alone, some bigger events called for more than one essay. While all the essays take place chronologically, there is a bigger waiting place behind it, which comes to an end at the last chapter.

Highly recommended to those who feel lost or those who just feel stuck in one of life's many waiting places.

About the author:
Eileen Button is a weekly columnist for The Flint Journal. Her commentaries have also appeared in multiple online and print publications, including Newsweek and Christianity Today. In addition, she is an adjunct professor of Communication at Mott Community College. She lives with her family in Davison, Michigan - a town where she is often stuck in waiting places such as doctors' offices, athletic fields, school auditoriums, and carpool loops. Regardless of the waiting place, she usually has a good book in one hand and a strong cup of coffee in the other.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”