Gordon Shepherd – författare

In his new book, Gordon M. Shepherd expands on the startling discovery that the brain creates the taste of wine. This approach to understanding wine's sensory experience draws on findings in neuroscience, biomechanics, human physiology, and traditional enology. Shepherd shows, just as he did in Neurogastronomy: How the Brain Creates Flavor and Why It Matters, that creating the taste of wine engages more of the brain than does any other human behavior. He clearly illustrates the scientific underpinnings of this process, along the way enhancing our enjoyment of wine. Neuroenology is the first book on wine tasting by a neuroscientist. It begins with the movements of wine through the mouth and then consults recent research to explain the function of retronasal smell and its extraordinary power in creating wine taste. Shepherd comprehensively explains how the specific sensory pathways in the cerebral cortex create the memory of wine and how language is used to identify and imprint wine characteristics.Intended for a broad audience of readers-from amateur wine drinkers to sommeliers, from casual foodies to seasoned chefs-Neuroenology shows how the emotion of pleasure is the final judge of the wine experience. It includes practical tips for a scientifically informed wine tasting and closes with a delightful account of Shepherd's experience tasting classic Bordeaux vintages with French winemaker Jean-Claude Berrouet of the Chateau Petrus and Dominus Estate.

Grounded in direct, systematic observation by neutral observers, Talking with the Children of God is a unique study of the radical religious movement now known as The Family International. The book draws on extraordinarily candid interviews with the group''s leaders and administrative staff. In revealing new information about the organization''s history, beliefs, and use of prophecy, Gordon Shepherd and Gary Shepherd offer a highly detailed case study that is both an antidote to sensationalized coverage of the group and a means for understanding the transformational practices of new religious movements in general.

One of the most controversial groups emerging from the Jesus People movement of the 1960s, the Family originally was known as The Children of God. Under leader David Berg, members proclaimed an apocalyptic "Endtime," shunned secular occupations, lived communally, and adopted unusual sexual practices that led to abuse scandals in the 1970s and 1980s. Following Berg''s death in 1994, the organization began to dramatically alter its evangelization efforts and decision-making processes.

Talking with the Children of God builds a picture of a complex organization with ten thousand core members worldwide, including details on the lives, careers, and responsibilities of the second generation and their efforts to defend their faith. The authors summarize the Family''s history and beliefs as well as its controversial past. In particular, they analyze the organization''s use of prophecy--or channeled revelations from Jesus and other spiritual beings--for making decisions and setting policy, revealing how this essentially democratic process works and how it shapes Family life and culture.

These remarkable insights are the result of sixteen years of surveys and field observations conducted in Family member homes in sixteen countries, plus four days of face-to-face interviews with Family leaders and organizational staff. The volume also includes condensed transcripts of the interviews with analysis by Shepherd and Shepherd.

In Binding Earth and Heaven, Gary Shepherd and Gordon Shepherd use early nineteenth-century Mormonism as a case study to examine questions about how new religious movements may, as rare exceptions, survive and even eventually become successful in spite of intense opposition. Initial scorn and contempt for Mormonism—the fledgling creation of the young Joseph Smith—quickly elevated to mob violence as both Smith’s innovative teachings and converted followers proliferated, resulting in the widely held perception that the Mormons constituted a social menace. This book examines how Mormonism attracted and maintained the loyalty of increasing numbers of people despite mounting hostilities and severe hardships. The book focuses on the unique Mormon ritual (and accompanying doctrinal underpinnings) of “patriarchal blessings.” Patriarchal blessings were an innovative adaptation of the Old Testament practice of fathers making quasi-legal pronouncements over the heads of their sons—a way of verbally conferring rights, promises, admonition, and guidance to heirs. Binding Earth and Heaven shows how the organizational complexities of this practice contributed to strengthening and sustaining member faith and fealty, thereby bolstering the continuity and development of Mormonism.

This book consists of over 40 memoir vignettes that capture significant learning experiences of identical twin brothers-Gary and Gordon Shepherd-as they grow up in Mormon Salt Lake City during the 1950s and 1960s. Their stories in the first part of the book feature shared adventures with a wide range of friends, family, and adult models who shape the brothers' appreciation for basic American ideals of democracy, equality, diversity, cooperation, and tolerance-especially as taught and modeled in the public schools they attended. Vignette stories in the second part of the book highlight later periods of time in the brothers' lives as they mature and assume adult responsibilities while maintaining and strengthening friendship ties and their youthful core values. Their stories in both parts of the book are peppered with humor, good will, indignation, sadness, and even tragedy but also with rays of hope for the preservation of American ideals in today's troubling times. While the twins' early lives were shaped by the Mormon culture in which they were raised, their memoir writings in this book are far from being devoted exclusively to Mormon or LDS Church topics. A broad audience of readers who enjoy incisively written memoir accounts -even if they grew up elsewhere and in different eras than the Shepherds did-will encounter universal coming of age experiences that resonate with their own.

To survive in an often disapproving society, the LDS Church has made adaptive changes in belief, practice, and organization over time. Gordon and Gary Shepherd elucidate these changes through statistical analyses of the rhetoric found in proceedings of the church’s semiannual General Conference. The first edition of A Kingdom Transformed covered the years 1830 to 1979. This new edition revises that work and adds to it by examining the subsequent thirty years of conference talks, revealing what new trends have emerged. Every chapter has been rewritten and updated with theoretical and empirical support from contemporary sources and a new conceptual framework for interpreting findings.Early twentieth-century LDS leaders mainstreamed church doctrines, but by the mid-twentieth century, church authorities began emphasizing a more conservative theology that coincided with an increasingly conservative political orientation. This new edition adds such current issues as the roles of women in the church and of international growth versus member retention.

This is a collection of stories for sports fans and lovers of historical fiction. The stories feature different sports idols from the twentieth century, like Babe Ruth, Jim Thorpe, Jack Dempsey, and Mickey Mantle. Others showcased in these stories - Smoky Joe Wood, Tony Lazzeri, Pancho Gonzáles, and Larry Doby - are no longer household names, but continue to be esteemed by aficionados of their sports and eras of play. Some of the book''s erstwhile stars - John Meyers, Charles Bender, George Von Elm, and Carl Mulleneaux - are scarcely remembered by anyone at all. In their day, all were deliriously cheered and idolized by American sports fans. While the book''s fictional stories include descriptions of games, contests, or sporting events, they also humanize their characters to appeal to literate readers of every kind, even those who are not knowledgeable sports fans. The stories'' narratives focus primarily on mentors, friendships, and the connection of sports to both the aspirational ideals and discriminatory contradictions of American culture.

In ''Lost Conversations with Abraham Lincoln,'' Gordon Shepherd transports readers back to the formative years of one of America''s most iconic figures. This thought-provoking volume consists of five compelling historical fiction stories that revolve around plausible lost conversations during selected moments in the life of Abraham Lincoln, spanning from 1831 to 1861, just before his ascendancy to the White House on the eve of the Civil War.Shepherd skillfully weaves a tapestry of narratives, drawing from the rich historical tapestry of Lincoln''s life. These stories delve into conversations that Lincoln might have had with various individuals, including family members, friends, political colleagues, adversaries, and acquaintances. Through these dialogues, readers gain insight into Lincoln''s complex emotions about his family of origin, his marriage, religion, politics, American vigilante violence, and the moral disgrace of American slavery.The stories'' titles, ranging from ''Thomas Lincoln''s Son Encounters the World Beyond Pigeon Creek'' to ''Father Abraham and the Ghosts of Nauvoo,'' provide a captivating glimpse into key moments in Lincoln''s life that often go overlooked in mainstream history. Shepherd deftly explores the lesser-known aspects of Lincoln''s character and beliefs, shedding light on his virtues rather than his shortcomings.A unique aspect of this collection is the inclusion of three stories that touch on early Mormonism, placing Lincoln in hypothetical conversations concerning the doctrinal peculiarities and contentious expansion of this controversial new religion in New York, Ohio, Missouri, and Illinois.