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Our Books

Richard and Linda Eyre may be the most prominent and popular writers and speakers in the world on the topics of family and parenting. Among their three dozen books are Teaching your Children Values, the first book in 50 years (since Dr. Spock’s Baby and Child Card) to hit #1 on the New York Times Bestseller list, and How to Talk to Your Child about Sex, which has become the standard resource for parents around the world in teaching their children about intimacy.

About as far removed from ivory tower theories as you can get, the Eyres’ work is based on the real-life experience of raising 9 children, founding and running 3 businesses, and trying to keep up with high-level involvement in politics, church, music, and sports.

Rather than being called “experts,” the Eyres would rather be known as “fellow-strugglers” who have been lucky enough to reflect and write on what they have learned–both from experience and from presenting to and interacting with parents in all 50 states and in more than 50 countries around the globe.

Because the topics of their books are parenting, perspectives, and priorities, things that never change, the Eyres’ books, new or old, are as relevant and revealing today as on the day they were written. In fact…they think you will agree…several of their earlier works have actually grown in their relevance, and are even more timely now than when they were first published!

At Eyres’ Free Books, you can download many of their books for free. In addition to the free books offered here, you can now order each of the Eyres’ 10 newest books for half-price with free shipping by using the access code EYREFRIEND at our publisher’s website.

Few authors in the world have published with Random House, Simon and Schuster, McGraw Hill, St. Martin’s Press, and Penguin Publishers as have the Eyres, but despite their long and successful establishment publishing history, they feel that in today’s world with everything at our fingertips, ideas should be free, as should be the books that contain them. It is the Eyres’ goal to offer all of their books online free of charge once they are out of print. The list below is all of their books they have published since 1972 and indicates which ones are available for free. Watch this list as more and more of their books are converted into this free format.

Below is a list of all books we have published to date. Click on book titles to read descriptions.

#1
I Challenge You…I Promise You
by Richard M. Eyre and Paul H. Dunn
(1972)
Category: Perspective
#2
Relationships: Self, Family, God
by Richard M. Eyre and Paul H. Dunn
(1974)
Category: Relationships
#3
The Discovery of Joy
by Richard Eyre
(1975)
Category: Perspective
#4
Goals
by Richard M. Eyre and Paul H. Dunn
(1975)
Category: Perspective
#5
The Birth That We Call Death
by Richard M. Eyre and Paul H. Dunn
(1976)
Category: Comfort
#6
What Manner of Man
by Richard M. Eyre
(1979)
Category: Spiritual
#7
Lifeplanning
by Richard M. Eyre and Paul H. Dunn
(1979)
Category: Self-Help
#8
Teaching Children Joy
by Linda and Richard Eyre
(1980)
Category: Parenting
Category: Fatherhood
#10
I Challenge You, Vol II
by Richard M. Eyre and Paul H. Dunn
(1980)
Category: Perspective
#11
The Awakening
by Richard M. Eyre
(1980)
Category: Novel
#12
Your Eternal Choice
by Richard M. Eyre and Paul H. Dunn
(1981)
Category: Marriage
#13
Teaching Children Responsibility
by Linda and Richard Eyre
(1982)
Category: Parenting
#14
The Secret of the Sabbath
by Richard M. Eyre
(1982)
Category: Spiritual
#15
Success Is…
by Richard M. Eyre
(1983)
Category: Perspective
#16
A Joyful Mother of Children
by Linda J. Eyre
(1983)
Category: Parenting
#17
Free to be Free
by Richard M. Eyre
(1983)
Category: Perspective
#18
Five Children’s Stories on Joy
by Linda and Richard Eyre
(1984)
Category: Parenting
#19
The Change That We Call Birth
by Linda and Richard Eyre
(1984)
Category: Parenting
#20
Mother, Father and the Family That Worked
by Linda and Richard Eyre
(1984)
Category: Parenting
#21
Twelve Children’s Stories on Joy
by Linda and Richard Eyre
(1985)
Category: Parenting
#22
Teaching Children Charity
by Linda and Richard Eyre
(1986)
Category: Parenting
#23
Teaching Children Sensitivity
by Linda and Richard Eyre
(1987)
Category: Parenting
#24
LifeBalance
by Linda and Richard Eyre
(1987)
Category: Balance
#25
Children’s Stories for Teaching Children Joy
by Linda and Richard Eyre
(1988)
Category: Parenting
#26
I Didn’t Plan to be a Witch
by Linda Eyre
(1988)
Category: Motherhood
#27
Serendipity of the Spirit
by Richard M. Eyre
(1988)
Category: Spiritual
#28
Stewardship of the Heart
by Richard M. Eyre
(1990)
Category: Spiritual
#29
Utah in the Year 2000
by Richard M. Eyre
(1991)
Category: Political
#30
Teaching Your Children Values
by Linda and Richard Eyre
(1993)
Category: Parenting
#31
Three Steps to a Strong Family
by Linda and Richard Eyre
(1994)
Category: Parenting
Category: Perspective
#33
The Wrappings and the Gifts
by Richard Eyre
(1996)
Category: Religion
#34
Spiritual Serendipity
by Richard Eyre
(1997)
Category: Perspective
#35
Spiritual Stewardship
by Richard M. Eyre
(1997)
Category: Perspective
Category: Motherhood
#37
How to Talk to your Child About Sex
by Linda and Richard Eyre
(1998)
Category: Parenting
#38
Life Before Life
by Richard Eyre
(2000)
Category: Spiritual
#39
The Happy Family
by Linda and Richard Eyre
(2001)
Category: Parenting
#40
Empty Nest Parenting
by Richard and Linda Eyre, with Saren Eyre Loosli
(2002)
Category: Parenting
#41
The Book of Nurturing
by Linda and Richard Eyre
(2003)
Category: Parenting
#42
Dr. Bridell’s Rational Diet
by Dr. Bridell
(2007)
Category: Diet
#43
The Three Deceivers
by Richard M. Eyre
(2008)
Category: Perspective
#44
A Mother’s Book of Secrets
by Linda Eyre and Shawni Eyre Pothier
(2010)
Category: Motherhood
#45
Five Spiritual Solutions
by Richard and Linda Eyre
(2011)
Category: Parenting
#46
The Entitlement Trap
by Richard and Linda Eyre
(2011)
Category: Parenting
#47
On The Homefront
(favorite columns)

by Richard and Linda Eyre
(2012)
Category: Family
#48
The Thankful Heart
by Richard and Linda Eyre
(2014)
Category: Perspective
#49
The Turning
by Richard and Linda Eyre
(2014)
Category: Family
#50
Life in Full
by Richard and Linda Eyre
(2015)
Category: Aging
#51
The Half Diet Diet
by Richard Eyre
(2016)
Category: Diet
#52
Tennis and Life
by Richard Eyre
(2016)
Category: Metaphor
#53
Poems About Family and Favorites
by Richard Eyre
(2017)
Category: Poetry
#54
Being a Proactive Grandfather
by Richard Eyre
(2017)
Category: Grandparenting
#55
Grandmothering
by Linda Eyre
(2018)
Category: Grandparenting
Category: Perspective
#57
The 8 Myths of Marriaging
by Richard and Linda Eyre
(2019)
Category: Marriage
#58
Joy School
by Richard and Linda Eyre
(2020)
Category: Parenting
#59
Daily Thanks
by Richard and Linda Eyre
(2020)
Category: Perspective
#60
Opening the Door to Family Revelation
by Richard and Linda Eyre, with Saydi Eyre Shumway
(2021)
Category: Spirituality
#61
No Division Among You
Edited by Richard Eyre
(2023)
Category: Unity and Diversity
#62
Prayerful Parenting
by Richard and Linda Eyre
(2024)
Category: Spiritual Parenting
#63
Love More
by Richard Eyre
(2024)
Category: Spirituality
#64
Our Parental God
by Richard Eyre
(2025)
Category: Divine Parenthood

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I Challenge You/I Promise You

Richard’s first book, written just out of Harvard Business School and co-authored with Paul H. Dunn. 35 live-challenges, each answered by turning book over to read the corresponding promise. Or, you can read the promises first and turn the book upside down to read the challenge that leads to each promise. One of the 10 best-selling LDS books of all time.

Relationships/Self, God, Family

As Richard overworked himself, co-founding a Washington DC political consulting firm, he began to understand that Relationships are always more important than Achievements, and that in fact, everything we do in life should be a means, leading to the end of a better relationship with someone that matters.

The Discovery of Joy

More than mere happiness, JOY, to the Eyres is the very purpose of life and encompasses the heavy, hard times as well as the light and lifting ones. In fact, Joy comes in four levels, and each one can be cultivated to lead to the next.

Goals

Goals, in their highest form, amount to the same kind of Spiritual Creation that God is said to do prior to Physical and Mental Work. Goals can, in fact, allow us to write our diaries in advance.

The Birth That We Call Death

Great minds throughout history have viewed death as a beginning and as a birth into the eternity that is our natural home. A staple gift for funerals and the grief-stricken for decades, this book is a collection and a communication of the most comforting and insightful statements ever made about death and about what happens next.

What Manner of Man

While serving three years in London as a voluntary "Mission President" for his Church, Richard developed a personal objective of helping the 600 missionaries who served under his direction to develop deeper and more personal relationships with Christ. He wrote 48 short vignettes, each about one facet of Jesus’s character or personality and challenged his missionaries to ponder a separate aspect each Sunday of the year.

Lifeplanning

Richard returned from England convinced that people can literally "write their diaries in advance" by perfecting their ability to set clear and visualized goals and to develop progressive personal plans leading to those objectives. With hindsight, he feels that this book was too proactive and relied too little on serendipity and guidance-thus he recommends that it be read in conjunction with his later book LifeBalance (#24, below).

Teaching Children Joy

The book that launched the Eyres into their career as full time writers and speakers, "TCJ" is a brilliant challenge to the idea of pushy, early academic education and makes the case that while children are at their most impressionable age they should be taught life’s most important subject which is JOY on all its most basic levels. The book became the basis for JOY SCHOOLS, a social and emotional skills building curriculum that has been taught to hundreds of thousands of preschoolers around the globe.

Simplified Husbandship & Fathership

In his management consulting practice, Richard would often ask his clients what their goals were for their businesses or their professions and he found that most had clear and ready answers. When asked what their goals and plans were for their families, however, most men could come up only with very vague answers. To fill the void, this book lays out the basic steps of succeeding inside the home as well as outside it.

I Challenge You, Vol. II

When I Challenge You/I Promise You became one of the top 10 bestselling LDS books of all time, it seemed like a good idea to do a second volume.

This follow up book has been called "better than the first one" by many, and it expands the thinking of the first by going into some of the less obvious challenges
and less predictable promises of Gospel Living.

The Awakening

Richard’s one and only novel is the story of an amnesiac who, in search who he is, finds his spiritual identity before he discovers his name and develops his future priorities before he relocates his past history.

Your Eternal Choice

There is no more important decision in life than marriage, and the decision is more than the big question of "Who?"...there are also the questions of "When?" and "Where?" begging to be considered. It has been well said that if the biggest decision of life is made correctly, all other decisions will be easier--and if the biggest decision is not well made, no other decision will really matter. This book is a guide and a manual for making the decision right! A great gift for dating individuals and a wonderful overview of how the Lord can be brought into both the decision and its aftermath.

Teaching Children Responsibility

As the elementary age sequel to the preschool oriented Teaching Children Joy, this book is an innovative collection of methods for helping children to become accountable and to accept the consequences of their actions. From being responsible for their things and their behavior to being accountable for their choices and their relationships, this book has become a worldwide classic on helping kids to transition into responsible adults.

The Secret of the Sabbath

Richard believes that dedicated, devoted, disciplined observance of the Sabbath Day brings remarkable physical, mental, and spiritual blessings. But real Sabbath observance is much more than a list of things "not to do." It involves a weekly spiritual "re-creation" of worship and planning that serves as an invitation to inspiration and a regular course correction of one’s life. In stunning, clear language, he lays out a set of challenges for how to make Sundays the most important (and the most joyful) day of the week.

Success Is…

How do you define success? The world’s definition centers on achievement and competition and comparisons with others. Richard, in this small volume, defines success in completely different terms that orient more to relationships than to accomplishments and more to the spiritual than the temporal.

Still better, it lays out practical suggestions for going beyond a better definition of success to a better realization of it.

A Joyful Mother of Children

A veritable treasure trove of great advice for moms! Linda’s intimate and personal insights into the roller coaster adventure of motherhood will tickle your funny bone even as it opens and explains ideas that you will want to try as soon as you have read them. The phrase "Joyful Mother of Children," taken from the Psalms, is a good description of the perspective of seeing our kids as our treasures, and this is both the attitude and the goal of all of Linda’s writing.

Free to be Free

We all love and give lip service to a wonderful thing called "Freedom." But do we know the deeper meanings of what freedom really is? Is it one of the trappings of democratic political systems or something won in war...or is it a gift of God that accompanied our entrance into mortality? In this short but remarkably "pithy" volume, originally written by Richard with inputs from Paul Dunn, readers are led to a new definition and a new perspective on the "agency" or spiritual freedom that makes life on this earth the greatest of all eternal adventures.

5 Children’s Stories on Joy

When the Eyre’s book Teaching Your Children Joy became a bestseller, there was a lot of demand from parents to have children’s stories or read aloud books that would teach the same joys listed in the book directly to children. Not finding enough stories directly taking aim at teaching kids joy, Richard and Linda decided to write stories of their own on each of the 15 different Joys advocated by their parenting book. This volume, the first of two, was the result. Delightfully illustrated by a bevy of wonderful artists, this collection will become the favorite bedtime story book of your preschoolers and even of many younger elementary age children.

The Change That We Call Birth

The Change That We Call Birth. Having written the best seller The Birth that we Call Death, Richard had begun to think in great depth about the major transitions of the eternities, and it seemed compelling to write another volume about the other great transition, the one that takes us from the premortal world into this life. And, as it turns out, The Change that we Call Birth is also a parenting book of sorts because it reminds us beautifully and powerfully that these children that we call "ours" actually belong to God and are co-eternal and equal in spiritual age to ourselves. This perspective may impact our parenting more than anything else in life.

Mother, Father and the Family That Worked

The Eyres have always liked fables, allegories, and metaphors, and this little volume is all three. In fable-like language, it tells the story of a family fraught with problems until they hit on some parenting and home-organizing ideas that changed everything and made their parenting and their family begin to really "work."

12 Children’s Stories on Joy

It turned out that 5 Children’s stories on Joy (see #18 above) were not enough, so the Eyres wrote (and found favorite artists to illustrate) this larger volume containing 12 stories related to the "Joys" in Joy School and the Teaching Children Joy parenting book. Kids love both to have these stories read aloud to them and then as elementary age kids to read them themselves. What could be better than stories that allow children to experience different kinds of joy vicariously so that they can then go out and find the same joys in the way they live their lives!

Teaching Children Charity

With Teaching Children Joy established as a mainstay for parents of preschoolers and Teaching Children Responsibility as a best seller in homes with elementary age kids, parents began asking the Eyres what they had to offer them if they had adolescents and teenagers. Should there, in other works, be a third "Teaching Children" book in the series. The answer was a resounding "Yes." Richard and Linda’s theory is that most all of the problems teens have center around their propensity to always be "looking in mirrors" and seeing everything and everyone in terms of how it will impact them. The Eyres thought that if adolescents could start seeing through "windows" instead of into "mirrors" and really get interested in other people, many of their problems would be replaced with friendships and empathy. They felt that the best name for this new and healthier and happier outlook was "Charity" and the third book in the series, filled with practical methods and ideas, was born.

Teaching Children Sensitivity

With Teaching Children Charity written to a mainly LDS or Mormon audience of parents, there was demand for a more secular version, so the Eyre’s wrote Teaching Children Sensitivity containing the same techniques to help kids get their minds off of themselves, but in less religious language.

LifeBalance

Perhaps one of Richard’s true classics, this book tackles the society-wide problem of work/family balance. But rather than rehashing all the old time-management ideas, it takes the perspective that balance is really a mental and spiritual challenge and one of establishing and living by true priorities which put family and relationships above everything else. The book also introduces the concept that "inner balance" is possible only when a person’s structure and spontaneity coexist and feed each other. The solution of "spiritual serendipity" is introduced here and then runs through many of Richard’s subsequent books.

Children’s Stories for Teaching Children Joy

The third volume of stories for preschool and elementary age kids-a collection of read-aloud stories that teach the various "Joys" of the joy school preschool program. Similar to the first volume (see # 18 above) but with stories for the other Joys not covered in the first two volumes.

I Didn't Plan to be a Witch

One of the best known and best loved "motherhood" books in the world, this captivating volume is short on parenting advice but long on parenting experience. Praised by mothers everywhere as the book that "really gets it" and that tells "every mother’s" story and predicament with candor and honesty as well as humor, this may be Linda’s most popular and perennial book. Read it and laugh, read it and weep, and read it to realize that you are not the first mom to feel the panic and frustration as well as the joy.

Serendipity of the Spirit

The concept of "Spiritual Serendipity," first mentioned in LifeBalance (see #24) got attention and brought appreciation from all over the globe to the degree that Richard felt it needed to become the full topic of a new book rather than just a support topic of another book. His research led him to Sri Lanka (originally called Serendip) and to the British Museum in London where he found an ancient Persian fable called The Three Princes of Serendip which had been the inspiration for the coining of the word Serendipity by Horace Walpole in 18th century England. More importantly, Richard found a concept and a perspective that can allow us to "Frequently find something better than that which we are seeking."

Stewardship of the Heart

Both Richard and Linda Eyre have embraced two favorite "word concepts" that have guided and influenced how they have lived their lives. Interestingly, both words have eleven letters and start with "S". The first word is "Serendipity" which inspired Serendipity of the Spirit (see above) and the second is "Stewardship" which is the subject matter for Stewardship of the Heart. Stewardship, Richard believes, is the humble and out-turning alternative to the proud and inward attitude of Ownership. Stewardship, in the spiritual sense, is the belief that God owns all and that each of us is given charge of many unique blessings which we are to care for and magnify. Whereas the perception of Ownership breeds envy, jealousy, condescension and enmity, a paradigm of Stewardship generates gratitude, empathy, and teamwork. More than just describing an attitude or a belief, this book tells us how to reorient our lives based on a mega-principle.

Utah in the Year 2000

Though it is not known to most of his readers, at one stage of his life Richard was highly oriented to and committed to politics. He was, for many years, a principal in the renowned Washington DC political consulting firm of Bailey, Deardourff and Eyre and helped plan and manage campaigns for a host of US Senators, Congressmen and Governors in addition to working on the Presidential Campaign staffs of George Romney and Nelson Rockefeller. He moved to Utah to run the Jake Garn US Senate campaign and was on the verge of running for Congress when he and Linda were called to preside over the LDS Church’s mission in London. He also used his political skills to run successful Utah referendum and bond elections to build Symphony Hall, to restore the Capitol Theater, to expand the Salt Palace, to save the Hogle Zoo, and to expand the Central Utah Project. A few years later, Richard ran for Governor of Utah, winning the Republican Convention but eventually losing the race to Michael Leavitt. Prior to his run for Governor, Richard spent nearly two years developing public policy ideas on how Utah could be governed in a more family-and-education-centric way. He put his ideas into Utah in the Year 2000, a book that continues to influence politicians today.

Teaching Your Children Values

After acquiring Teaching Children Joy and Teaching Children Responsibility, Random House Publishers asked the Eyres to write a third book in their series called Teaching Children Values. Richard and Linda did so, outlining 12 universal values that they felt all parents wanted to teach to their children and creating a book with 12 "months" rather than chapters, and with the suggestion that parents focus their attention on one value each month of the year. Random House took issue with one of the 12 values, the one on "fidelity and chastity" arguing that it sounded old fashioned and would put many parents on a guilt trip.

The Eyres refused to take the chapter out, and ended up parting company with Random house over the disagreement. Simon and Schuster saw the book, offered the Eyres a substantial advance, and enjoyed watching the book become a New York Times #1 bestseller with the disputed chapter becoming arguably its most popular and most discussed section. Oprah loved the book and put the whole Eyre family on her show for a full hour, causing the book to zoom up the bestseller charts. Teaching Your Children Values has been translated into a dozen languages and continues to be a classic guide for parents throughout the world.

Three Steps to a Strong Family

What makes families strong and lasting and cohesive and loving? The Eyres believe that there are three primary things that all successful families share-well established family traditions or rituals, clear family laws or rules, and some kind of a family economy that shares responsibilities and rewards their accomplishments. These become the three sections of this volume which suggests literally hundreds of ideas to help parents take the "three steps to a strong family."

Don’t Just Do Something, Sit There

Are we sure we want to accept all of the old clichés that our mothers taught us...like "If a thing’s worth doing, it’s worth doing well." Or, "Don’t just sit there, do something." Maybe there are replacement maxims that actually are better fitted to today’s world, like "If a thing is just barely worth doing, just barely do it." Or, "Don’t just do something, sit there"-sit there and think about it and decide what you really want and find the best way to get it. This delightful little volume calls into question dozens of old clichés that may not work too well anymore and replaces them with "today’s maxims." Guaranteed to make you think, the book draws heavily from Richard’s rich experience and draws readers into "a whole set of new paradigms."

The Wrappings and The Gifts

During their Mission Presidency in London, and throughout another year spent in England ten years later, Richard and Linda became close friends with a Member of the British Parliament who asked a highly thoughtful and interesting question: "I know about Joseph Smith and the Gold Plates and the Book of Mormon and the fact that you believe your Church was restored by God" he said, "but what I want to know is exactly what it was that was restored. What doctrines or teachings of Christ do you claim were lost and had to be replaced or put back on earth." Then to make his question more graphic, he added "To me all the visions and gold plates are just the wrappings. I want to know what gifts are inside-what actual doctrines are in the package." Richard wrote an 84-page letter to answer the man’s question, and later put it into this book.

Spiritual Serendipity

The earlier book Serendipity of the Spirit (see no. 27 above) was written primarily for LDS readers, but by word of mouth and book-sharing, its concepts spread far beyond Church members and there began to be a demand for a "less religious but not less spiritual" edition. Spiritual Serendipity was Richard’s response.

Spiritual Stewardship

Seven years after the publication of Stewardship of the Heart, the Eyres wanted to do a second edition that both expands the definition and application of an attitude of Stewardship over Ownership and that makes the concept available to all, whether "religious" or not. When Ownership is the trunk of our lives, the limbs that grow are pride, envy, covetousness, condescension, and greed. When we change our trunks to Stewardship, the limbs are replaced by humility, sensitivity, extra-centeredness, spirituality, and a win-win attitude. Learn how to apply a Stewardship attitude to everything, from parenting to career.

An Emotional First Aid Kit for Mothers

For many years, Linda was involved in a "mother’s group" that got together regularly to discuss their parenting, their children, and their choice to stay at home with them during their most formative years. Linda came to greatly respect and admire these women, and finally suggested that they write a book together sharing some of their discussions and solutions. Margaret Archibald, Anne Orton, Erlene Blaser and Barbara Timothy Bowen teamed up with Linda to write this wise and enduring book of perspectives and tips for mothers.

How to Talk to your Child about Sex

Over the years, the Eyres have come to feel that earlier and earlier recreational and experimental sex is the biggest emotional, physical and spiritual danger that kids face today. Many parents do a pretty good job of discussing the dangers of drugs and violence and bullying to their children, yet often do not even dare to attempt the "big talk" with their kids about sex. Yet study after study shows that the earlier and more thorough this big talk from parents is, the later their kids will experiment or become sexually active. Richard and Linda decided to tackle the problem (and the discomfort and embarrassment parents feel in addressing it) head on in this candid and straight forward book. At its core is a big talk dialogue that reads like a play...You say this...child will say this...you say this...child will say this, or this...in each of the cases, you will say this or this. Parents throughout the world have depended on this book not only for the big talk (which the Eyres say should come around age 8) but for the follow-up family discussions covering everything from pornography to homosexuality and from modesty to how to say "no."

Life Before Life

Always troubled by theology that contemplates a "one-way eternity" with beliefs in a forever forward but no forever backward, Richard has written this defense of the premise that we did not flare into existence at birth but rather came to earth as individual spirits and spirit children of God who were sent here as another chapter in our eternal growth and perfection. Having this perspective, Richard believes, gives whole new meaning to things that we call coincidences and allows us to see the bigger picture about where we came from, why we are here, and where we are going.

The Happy Family

Tolstoy begins his book Anna Karenna with an intriguing statement, "All happy families are the same; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own unique way." During their extensive and worldwide travel and speaking to parents and families, the Eyres have observed certain "best practices" that seem to always be used in some form by relatively happy and successful families. They have collected and editorialized about these in this book which will stimulate you to include or adapt things into your family that really "work."

Empty Nest Parenting

The first time one of the Eyres’ children turned 18 and left for college, Richard and Linda began realizing that "you are never done with parenting, you just shift into a new phase of it, and parenting problems do not go away, they just get bigger and more expensive." Responding to their own situation, and interviewing and holding discussions with groups of other "emptying nesters" they began to see certain patterns that worked and others that definitely did not. They concluded that while there was no single "right way" to do things like financial help or regular communication or ongoing advice, parents who had a plan and had thought these issues through were doing much better than parents who were just letting things happen and responding to one need or problem at a time without any thought-out strategy or set of policies to guide them. With the subtitle "adjusting your stewardship as your kids leave home" this book will help you get through the difficult emotions of having kids leave and will give you methods and techniques to continue to be in close touch even as you respect the emerging independence.

The Book of Nurturing

One day the Eyres’ editors and publishers at St. Martins Press in New York made a very interesting suggestion. "Most parenting books are highly prescriptive" they said, "telling parents just what they should do and why; and there is usually an analytical, left-brain tone. How about a more artistic, right-brain parenting book that operates off of stories and metaphors rather than step-by-step do this or don’t do that advice?" Linda and Richard loved the idea and set off to produce "the most beautiful and creative parenting book ever." What they came up with was nine quite wonderful animal and nature metaphors that let stories and pictures and a "secret code" influence kids behavior where commands and discipline couldn’t do it. From the hump back whales that teach us about communication to the feisty crabs that teach us how dangerous criticism and bickering can be, this book is a joy for parents and children alike.

Dr. Bridell’s Rational Diet

While no one is quite 100% sure just who the mysterious Dr. Bridell is, but he does seem to have quite a bit in common with the Eyres, both in terms of his writing style and his deeply and passionately held beliefs. While thousands swear by this book as a diet book that has helped them collectively lose literally tons of weight, it is actually a broader book on appetites and their conscious control and embraces a whole new philosophy of life where things are used with grateful discipline and slowly savored. Eating, and every other Human passion is broken down into two alternatives, "Appetite Eating" where the appetite controls you, or "Joy Eating" where you control your appetite(s). This book is filled with thought-provoking perspectives like "A mile, delicious hunger is a wonderful companion." It will entertain you, motivate you, and make you more curious about the intriguing and mystical Dr. Bridell. More than that, it will help you reshape and redefine your physical body and your spiritual awareness.

The Three Deceivers

At about this point in their lives, Richard and Linda discovered that they needed a third "favorite word" to go with "Serendipity" and "Stewardship." They felt the need for a word-concept that would explain or at least represent their growing belief that their most important identity was not either of them as individuals but both of them combined into a married "oneness." They also wanted the word to express that timing was everything and that God knows infinitely more about the timing and sequence of our lives’ events than we do. Combining "synergy" with "synchronicity" they came up with their third 11 letter "S" favorite word: "Synergicity." With the three words in hand, Richard was set to write his most complete "life philosophy" book, called, on one of its two front covers, "The Three Deceivers" and on the other cover "The Three Alternatives." The three deceivers (and Richard says the three greatest distracters and diminishers off our happiness are "Control," "Ownership," and "Independence." Our obsessions with these three spiritually-false concepts shoots us off in directions that cause us to make bad trade-offs and use up our energy seeking things we can never have. Richard argues that we really control and own nothing but our own will, that everything else is God’s, and that we are all interdependent with each other and dependent on God. The Alternative to Control is an attitude of Serendipity. The Alternative to Ownership is the perception of Stewardship. And the Alternative to Independence is Synergicity.

After reading about the destructive forces of the three Deceivers from one side of the book, one can flip the volume over and be converted to the other side by shifting orientation to the three 11 letter "S" Alternatives.

A Mother's Book of Secrets

When you combine the elegant and anecdotal writing skills of bestselling author Linda Eyre with the amazing photography and humorous storytelling of Shawni Eyre Pothier you have a mother-daughter team with the power to change how you view motherhood and give you the new perspectives and fresh ideas that can add joy to your family! This book is so beautiful that many use it as a coffee table display book, but the real value is in its pages, and in its secrets.

Five Spiritual Solutions

In all their experience with parents globally and in their own experience with their own children, the Eyres have become convinced that the only real and lasting solutions to parenting problems and the challenges children face are spiritual. In a nutshell, the five spiritual solutions are 1. Remembering our children's true identity, 2. Remembering and following God’s parenting example and patterns, 3. Remembering and availing ourselves of our direct channel of inspiration from God, 4. Remembering and using the "scaffolding" of the church, and 5. Remembering the Savior's power. Taken together, these five spiritual perspectives on family can change everything from how your household works to how your mind works.

The Entitlement Trap

We used to call this problem "spoiled kids" or "selfish little brats" but today there is a better term to describe what is happening to kids who think they deserve to have everything they want, everything their friends have, and all without any work or effort on their part. The word is "Entitlement" and it is becoming a Trap in our society that catches kids in its clutches and squeezes the motivation and incentive right out of them. The entitlement attitude that infests our youth today robs them of gratitude and strips them of any work ethic. If we as parents don’t do something about it, we will send our kids out into the world ill equipped to compete and to succeed and even to live responsibly. On the other hand, if we can recognize that chosen, earned Ownership is the antidote to Entitlement and the prerequisite of Responsibility...and if we can find ways to help kids perceive real ownership of everything from their things to their money and from their grades to their choices...then we can give our children the kind of pride of ownership that will motivate them to do their best, to make good decisions, and to take responsibility for everything they have.

On The Homefront (favorite columns)

In 2012, Richard and Linda began writing two weekly newspaper columns, one called "Why the Family" for the Deseret News and the other called "Mormon Marriage and Parenting" for Mormon Times. In 2012, 75 favorite columns were picked from the 150 written to date, and put in this one volume for old readers to revisit and enjoy and for new readers to discover. With a nice balance between the perspective and the practical, this book will consistently remind parents and marriage partners both of their priorities and of ideas for how to be and do better at them.

The Thankful Heart

For forty years, Richard and Linda have sent out a Thanksgiving Card to friends and family at the holiday season rather than a Christmas Card. The traditional and original cards that go out every November contain the latest family picture and a poem written by Richard that tries to express the main focal points of their gratitude for the year past. "Linda", Richard likes to say, "expresses herself best and writes our family history through her blogs (eyrealm.blogspot.com and valuesparenting.blogspot.com) while I do best with a little poem each year." Taken together, these 40 poems and some additional poetry to lead into them, give a wonderfully in depth picture of what awareness, appreciation, gratitude, and thanks-giving can be, and give us a harbinger to the rest of the holidays.

The Turning: Why the State of the Family Matters

Despite the success of the Eyre's "how-to" parenting books, they felt that it was time for something different--for a "why-to" book on what is happening to families around the world and why family decline is a problem that affects everyone in the world. Here Richard and Linda explore what has happened to families and trace the causes and forces that are threatening families everywhere. The first half of the book is a realistic and somewhat painful look at family decline throughout the world and at the economic and social problems that result. The second half is about solutions, and the Eyres chart an imaginative and bold course that leaders in the business, political, religious and media sectors could and should take in order to save themselves by saving families.

Life in Full

What will the "Autumn" of your life be like? Will the golden years really be golden? With more than 80 million baby boomers all now in their 50s or 60s or early 70s, and with most of them able to expect to live close to or into their 90s, the questions of how to live these Autumn years is more relevant than it has ever been before. In their typical, clear-headed style, Richard and Linda talk candidly about their own aging and make a host of practical suggestions about how we all can create fuller lives and maximize our longevity and our legacies.

The Half Diet Diet

When Dr, Bridell's Rational Diet (see book 42 above) was serialized in Meridian Magazine and drew comments and commendations from thousands of readers, it was decided to reveal the identity of the mysterious Dr. Bridell who turned out to be none other than Richard Eyre. Richard had used the pen name because he wanted the revolutionary half-diet to stand on its own merits, but after the amazing results reported by users (literally tons of weight lost), it was time for Richard to come out of hiding. This unique and logical approach to dieting is also a study in other kinds of appetites and a set of spiritual insights about how to win in our struggle against each of them.

Tennis and Life

Tennis scholarships paid Richard’s way through college and today, he says, the game keeps him from "going to pot". As a nationally ranked senior player, he cherishes tennis as the one game he can still beat his kids at and also as "the best metaphor of any sport for the game of life."(The only game where the score starts over every few minutes, the game where you have to get to "advantage" before you can win, and the game that keeps score with words like "love" and "deuce" and "serve" and "receive.") Over the years, he has collected various lessons that the game of tennis has taught him that can be applied with equal relevance to life at large. They are presented here with a split page format where each lesson is applied to tennis on the left-hand page and to life on the right. Whether you play both the game of tennis and the game of life or only play one of them, this book will stimulate your desire to get better.

Poems of Family and Favorites

While Richard Eyre's profession over the last 30 years has been the writing of prose, his true love over that timespan has been the writing of poetry. As his readers know, poetry has crept briefly into many of his previous books, but now, for the first time, a full book of Richard's poetry is available. "Poetry comes from a different part of the brain," Richard says, "and it enters a different part of the brain when it is read." Poetry is the language of emotion, and these poems, mostly about family and about favorites, will draw emotions from you in ways that will surprise and delight.

Being a Proactive Grandfather

Despite the fact that most Grandparents say that their grandkids are the best part of their lives, very little has been written on how to be a better, more influential grandparent. And most of what has been written is by Grandmothers to Grandmothers. But that all changes with this new book by Richard Eyre--a man-to-man book, a grandfather to grandfather book that draws us in through its stories, its logic and it's practicality. If you (or someone you love) wants to take grandfathering seriously (and joyfully) this is the book for you!

GRANDmothering

Available on Mothers' Day 2018, Linda Eyre's long-awaited book on GRANDmothering will warm the cockles of every Grandma's heart, opening up a treasure trove of new and practical ideas to create a love affair with grandkids and to become relevant and involved and influential in their lives even as you work on building your own greatest legacy.

The Happiness Paradox/The Happiness Paradigm

The most complete treatment of Richard's Paradigm Shift from CO&I--Control, Ownership, and Independence to SS&S--Serendipity, Stewardship, and Synerticity. This is a unique two sided, two cover book with one side outlining the shortcomings and frustrations of a life devoted to CO&I. When it is flipped over, the other side takes us on a deep exploration of the ways SS&S can add happiness to our lives.

The 8 Myths of Marriaging

Marriaging is an active, grow-and-improve word like parenting, and this book explores and exposes 8 myths or misconceptions about the world's oldest institution of marriage and how false paradigms and unrealistic expectations of these myths can undermine a relationship. Most importantly, each myth is replaced with an "implementable" truth.

Joy School

There is fun, there is even happiness, but then there is joy! In Joy School, New York Times #1 bestselling parenting authors Richard and Linda Eyre teach the very best kind of character-building, freewheeling joy to kids with twenty-two colorfully illustrated stories. Each story in the anthology teaches one of ten essential values that are critical for healthy, happy children: Joy of the Body, Joy of the Earth, Joy of Honesty and Communication, Joy of Sharing and Service, Joy of Goals and Order, Joy of Confidence, Joy of Wonder, Joy of Imagination and Creativity, Joy of Family, and the Joy of Uniqueness.

Daily Thanks

The Eyres' earlier book The Thankful Heart, has been re-published as a daily gratitude journal. It will help you to become more appreciative on a daily basis and to develop a deep-seeded attitude of gratitude.

Opening the Door to Family Revelation

If there is one thing where we all need divine help or inspiration from an intelligence higher than our own, it is our families! Every marriage is different, every child is unique, and every family has its own set of joys, challenges, and needs. We can look to mentors and experts for ideas and advice, but ultimately there is no instruction book for your family. But there is a way to tap into a higher source and to get the guidance, nudges, promptings, and answers we need, and the Eyres call it Family Revelation. This is a book on how to seek, recognize, and implement that Divine Guidance. Co-authored with their daughter Saydi Eyre Shumway, this is a not a self-help book, but a Help-from-higher-than-self book. The first and only access to this book is here on EyresFreeBooks, and it is called a "Netboox edition" because you can get it free, bypass any publisher, and you can help write its future editions with your suggestions.

No Division Among You

Prophets of all ages have amplified the same message: unity is of God and division is of Satan. Yet we see division on every hand—politically, culturally, socially, doctrinally.

As a people, we often fall short of the admonitions of the Lord and His servants to avoid contention and to earnestly seek unity—even oneness. Christ Himself was blunt in stating, “He that hath the spirit of contention is not of me, but is of the devil, who is the father of contention” (3 Nephi 11:29). His rebuke in our modern dispensation makes it clear that still we have not reached unity: “Cease to contend one with another” (D&C 136:23).

How can we achieve unity when we come from such a broad range of experiences, perspectives, and unique traits? In this collection of essays, you will learn how fourteen faithful and diverse thinkers address the problem of unity and division in the Church. Some of the essays focus on examining the issue, while others suggest possible solutions. All, however, invite us to view those with whom we disagree not as enemies or problems, but as additional perspectives and as our spiritual siblings. They remind us that in celebrating diversity and working for unity within diversity, we mirror the mind of God. Only through such efforts will we truly be able to live according to the words of Paul: “Be like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind” (Philippians 2:2).