So the New Year’s resolution to lose weight and hit the gym is now just a fading memory to good intentions. How about tackling a new diet that eliminates excess e-mail pounds and a training program that can turn you into the Schwarzenneger of cyberspace!

Martin A. Siegel, executive associate dean of the School of Informatics at Indiana University, and Steven E. Clapp of Fort Wayne, Indiana, have a recipe to help computer users keep their in-boxes toned and empower them to use e-mail to achieve personal and professional goals. The E-Mail Diet Book is a slim 121-page book that gives weighty and practical tips.

According to the authors, a recent survey estimates that 55 billion e-mail messages will be sent daily in 2007.

"The book began over a Sunday brunch conversation with Steve and his wife," recalls Siegel. "We realized that we were overwhelmed, as were many of our friends were, with the sheer volume of e-mail we deal with in our daily lives. We came to the conclusion we would develop some strategies that would benefit ourselves and others."

Among the healthy servings of advice Clapp and Siegel offer in their book are ways to help users avoid becoming victims of spamming, identity theft and discourteous messages; explore ways to use e-mail to streamline work and improve productivity; discuss approaches to use e-mail to better connect users with their families and the world at large; and the future of e-mail as it becomes more a part of global communications.

Steve Clapp says, "Marty and I have been close friends since we were roommates at the University of Illinois, and Marty has always been on the cutting edge where technology is concerned. We both learned a great deal researching how people use e-mail and determining the best and the worst practices with this powerful medium."

The authors use comparisons, strategies, and the successes and failures of nutritional dieting to illustrate to readers how they can achieve and maintain a healthy balance in the e-mails they send and receive. The book contains an insert card summarizing core strategies that can be placed by your computer as a reminder.

"Our intention was to have fun using the diet analogy but at the same time make it clear we are serious about the importance of the strategies we suggest," says Siegel, an expert in human-computer interaction design.

Oh – and about that chocolate information. Many of the book’s nine chapters close with a dessert recipe using chocolate.

This book has its own website if you’d like further information or chocolate recipes: EMailDietBook.com.

Discounts are available for quantities of fifty or more. Call us for details (1-800-774-3360) or e-mail us at info@churchstuff.com

Larry Hayes was for a quarter century the editorial page editor and columnist for The Journal Gazette in Fort Wayne, Indiana. During that time, he won more than 50 state and national awards. In 1986 he was a Pulitzer Prize finalist. While a self-professed liberal, Hayes had the ability to make friends and enlist supporters from all sides of the political and social spectrum.

Hayes never took the role of an impartial journalist, sitting on the sidelines. He got involved in the pressing issues of his community, state, and nation, and he persuaded others to work with him and make a difference.

Nowhere was that more evident than in his efforts to bring about full integration of the schools in Fort Wayne. When Hayes writes about that, he says, "I saw a powerful connection between our neglect of black children and the city's well-being. The refusal to desegregate the elementary schools, I argued in one editorial, was a stain on the city's reputation. In my zeal, I wasn't always fair or even nice. I offended some people that I didn't need to, although I never explicitly accused anybody of racism." Hayes took his activism from the editorial page into the community and involved Ian Rolland, the CEO of Lincoln National Corporation, in the struggle, as well as hundreds of other people.

Monday I'll Save the World gives the full story of the integration of Fort Wayne's schools and tells how ordinary people and civic leaders can make a difference. William Barton, Professor of Social Work at Indiana University, writes: "The list of causes Hayes has championed is nearly unprecedented: promoting school desegregation, ending corporal punishment, advocating for the rights of children in the juvenile justice system, fighting against the death penalty, and perhaps most passionately raising awareness of society's stigmatization and oppression of persons with mental illness." Senator Lugar and Hayes especially connected with each other in their mutual concern for persons with mental illness.

The book is a memoir but it is also a "how to" book for people who want to make a difference in their communities. Hayes describes with passion and detail how a small group of people can make an enormous difference in the quality of life.

No one would call U.S. Senator Dick Lugar a liberal, but this Republican Senator has written the Foreword to Monday I'll Save the World, a memoir by journalist Larry Hayes. In the Foreword, Lugar writes, "Larry Hayes not only had views, he had missions. By doggedly pursuing them, he changed lives and made extraordinary contributions to Indiana. Larry's own story and the others he tells are an inspiration for all seeking to find their place and work in life."

Copies ordered directly from Christian Community/LifeQuest come with a free study guide for congregational or community reading group use.