I purchased this book based on the preview pages available online, having never heard any of the complete arrangements. I also considered other books in the Alfred series of a comparable level that I did know of, and then decided buy this one.

This is a nice book, and basically the entire thing was sight-readable (not exactly my gift) for the most part - they're all very straight forward and not difficult. I enjoy "the beauty of simplicity", but I found that the more colourful alternative harmonies that I was hoping for were largely absent from this book, and that it was a bit "too easy". There are still a few definite keepers in this collection that make for a lovely offertory or prelude when you need to whip one up with little or no notice in the busy Christmas season. Another nice thing is how the titles really are a good fit for those Oct - Dec services, which helps in the planning process.

I purchased this after hearing a music-director friend of mine play from it a service I recently attended. The arrangments were lovely to listen to, but were clearly not overly technically demanding by any stretch, and therefore could be prepared in a reasonable amount of prep time (rather than taking weeks and weeks or even months to polish up for use).

They lend themselves very well for service playing, and make great preludes, offertories, postludes, or music for communion. There are contrasting styles (such as the quasi-jazz arrangment of "Wonderful Words of Life" and the contemplative "Oh the Deep Deep Love of Jesus"). I have receieved plenty of postive feedback from people in our congregation when I used this book - I would recommend it as one you could add to your collection if you're looking for a book that's practical, and very easily accesible.

This is mostly just financial common sense, but for those who live the "paycheck to paycheck, rent an apartment, eat out every meal, and finance everything on credit cards that are $1000's of dollars over the limit" type lifestyle, then they should read it... it's pretty short at approx 200 pgs, plus there's lots of charts & diagrams, so you can practically read the whole thing in a sitting or two.

His main message is basically "be disciplined, live within your means, and pay yourself first" (i.e. homeownership & RRSP's).

The most interesting parts are where they actually do the math to show you the breakdown for investments & mortgages over the long-term, etc. they show you what the difference actually costs with the amortization over 25 yrs vs 15 yrs... or how much just a bit more in your RRSP works to your favour over the long-haul, etc. Kinda interesting, but outside of some of the mathematical specifics, there's nothing in this book most of those who manage their money reasonably couldn't have written. Like some others, I'd love to know how anyone can average the kind of interest rates he uses for his stats...