My favorites books

Fashion essentials 2012

2012-01-27T09:11:00.001-08:00

The Revolution

2009-06-16T04:26:00.001-07:00

Dr. Ron Paul's THE REVOLUTION: A MANIFESTO is a concise (167 pages) and convincing argument for a return to America's libertarian principles. During his campaign for president, Dr. Paul established a very diverse following: Republicans, Democrats, Greens, and "even some anarchists," he would joke. In truth, many people were drawn to him due his obvious sincerity -- a breath of fresh air! -- even if they did not fully agree with or understand his ideology. Now they will understand and become Austro-Jeffersonians, one and all!

The first chapter, "The False Choices of American Politics," demonstrates why those Ron Paul supporters who do understand his message cannot bring themselves to vote for either McCain or Hillary/Obama, or even to really care who among them wins: There is very little (if any) substantive difference between them. They may disagree about when and where to use foreign intervention, but never over whether it should be used at all. They may disagree over how fast interest rates should be cut by the Fed, but never over whether the Fed should exist. You get the idea.

Chapters 2 and 3 are titled "The Foreign Policy of the Founding Fathers" and "The Constitution," respectively. Here Dr. Paul challenges his neocon and liberal opponents to openly condemn the wisdom of the founding fathers, which they do with their actions, or else follow it. The framers of the Constitution were far from unanimous -- there were bitter disputes among so-called "Federalists" (Hamiltonian nationalists) and "republicans" (Jeffersonian decentralists) -- but today's neocon/liberals reject the wisdom of both parties, taking an expansive view of their powers that even Hamilton himself would have seen as excessive.

Chapter 4, "Economic Freedom," may be an eye-opening one for many readers. First, there are the liberals who were attracted to Dr. Paul's campaign, who may for the first time be presented with a contrast between the true Austro-Jeffersonian libertarian brand of capitalism and the inflationist, Kudlow & Company / Forbes magazine variety. Secondly there are many "paleoconservatives" I met who supported Dr. Paul but were under the mistaken impression that he was against free trade -- nothing could be further from the truth! In fact, as Dr. Paul points out here, he is 100% in favor of unilateral, unconditional free trade and 100% against quotas, sanctions, embargoes, duties, and protective tariffs. He does oppose phony "free-trade" deals like NAFTA and the WTO (joining many liberal Democrats in doing so, but for different reasons) not because they "steal American jobs" (they don't), but because they limit trade too greatly. Furthermore, they erode constitutional sovereignty and work for the benefit of politically connected elites, something with which libertarians, paleocons, and liberals can all agree.

All three constituencies will also cheer Chapter 5, "Civil Liberties and Personal Freedom." Here the contrast between Jeffersonian libertarianism (once considered "liberalism" before that philosophy was given a bad name in the early twentieth century) and the so-called "conservatism" of the neocons and post-WWII New Rightists is perhaps at its greatest. Ron Paul supports the Constitution and the limits it places on government -- which makes him a "blame America" leftist among the neocon punditry, all apologists for the liberal Wilson/FDR/Truman/LBJ foreign policy, by the way.

But the best and most important chapter, without a doubt, is Chapter 6, "Money: The Forbidden Issue in American Politics." Here Dr. Paul expertly details the operations of the Federal Reserve System in stunning clarity -- no conspiracy theories or half-truths that often further obfuscate discussion of the secretive monetary authority. The Austrian (and true) perspective on the Fed is not to be horrified that the Fed isn't a government agency (it is, even if indirectly), but to be outraged that all banks are essentially arms of the government. We don't need the government to have even more control over the money supply, we need it to have no control whatsoever (the exact opposite of what movies like FREEDOM TO FASCISM seem to suggest). What's more, Dr. Paul doesn't spread the myth that the Fed somehow profits as an entity when it creates money (its profits go to the Treasury), but instead, politically connected individuals and businesses profit at the expense of working-class and poor families. You see, the effects of inflation are not uniform -- the Fed System works as a wealth redistribution system from poor and middle-class to the rich and politically connected. How so? Buy this book and find out!

Finally, the book ends with the self-titled seventh chapter in which Dr. Paul lays out a moderate and realistic course that could be accomplished over one or two presidential terms. I'm tempted to share this blueprint for you here but I don't want to discourage anyone from buying the book. Instead, I'll use the last few words of this review to lament the fact that this blueprint will certainly not be implemented by the next president. Perhaps a young man or woman who volunteered for Ron Paul's campaign in 2008 will work his or her way up through the political establishment and be swept into office, with a like-minded Paulian Congress, sixteen years from now (just as Reagan followed sixteen years after Goldwater -- not that either of these two are to be looked at as heroes. . .). We can only hope that the Republic can endure that long!

Crash Proof

2009-06-16T04:20:00.001-07:00

I read this book around early summer after hearing about it on a financial webcast I stumbled accross. Thank heavens I did. I read the author's explanations of what has happened and what will and I have to say that it makes sense to me. I had macroeconomics 25 years ago and barely paid attention but after reading this it all came back to me. Schiff doesn't just preach gloom and doom. He lays out a good case for his predictions. I didn't just trust this book. I read two others that basically say the same things. What I liked was that it validated thoughts and questions I'd had for years.

"how can we all be so wealthy yet save nothing?" "How can we have had such a run up in home prices even though we haven't added that many people to the nation?" "How can inflation be officially low even though so many things have gone way up in price (food, fuel, insurance, education, health care, and even home prices till recently)". "How can we manufacture relatively little and sell each other services and still become more wealthy?" If that was possible I'd stay home and cook my wife meals while she mowed the lawn for me and we'd just get rich that way.

Maybe I just like how Schiff shares my natural pessimism and distrust of politicians being put in charge of our national statistics. But I used a simplified form of his advice, bought gold via ETFs, an international bond fund, with the balance in a treasury money market fund, and in just a few short months I've made quite a bit more than I did in any single year since I've been investing. And unlike in past years, I feel very confident that the trend in my investments is going to be up. The underlying economic picture simply demands that these products will do well. I realize that 3 months of good results (up 20%) does not prove anything, but I read this book way before I heard anything in the news about the dollar decline or housing bubble. Now that I've read the book, I tune in daily and the news just confirms the book's premise.

We have had a debt based too-good-to-be-true affluence. Like a drunken college kid on a spending spree, it will end eventually. The housing bubble alone might not sink us. The consumer credit crunch alone might be something we could work with. But add in the astronomical federal govn't obligations ($50 trillion unfunded?) and it's just a matter of time before the ride gets wild.

I would like to thank Mr Schiff for writing this book. I honestly feel that it has saved my financial future. I am in a business where one cannot work into old age, and instead of seeing my traditional stock investments knocked back down in value, I may actually be able to make a nice profit that will help us get through the hard times ahead.

I'm no expert, just a small business owner, but I looked hard to find an honest rebuttal to this book before investing my money in gold (I dont' want to lose money!) , but all I have been able to find were cheerleading tomes to the stock market that were short on logic and long on boasts and how great things were and still are. I find those to be total BS and so I can't trust their theories. Post a comment here if you know of one who actually makes a good argument for staying in the US stock market.

The Gone Fishin' Portfolio

2009-06-16T04:17:00.001-07:00

Mr. Green has boiled profitable long-term investing down to a 20-minute annual exercise. And his recommended portfolio beats the market in good AND bad times. (The proof is all there.) The portfolio will not only diversify you into stocks and bonds, it will diversify you among all the major asset classes - gold, U.S. stocks, Treasuries, foreign stocks, etc. - which, as he explains, is where the magic is. He'll show you how much (in percentage terms) of your nest egg to put in each asset... as well as the specific investment to buy to get exposure to each one. (You'll also cut your investment costs by a wide margin, which really adds up.)

I've read Graham's Intelligent Investor and Security Analysis - both classics, and incredible guides on managing risk. But The Gone Fishin' Portfolio, which also, incredibly, minimizes your risk and increases your total return, tells you specifically what to buy - something you just can't get out of the classics. (Green's investments will still work 40 years from now - a true "set and forget" portfolio.) I've ordered a copy for my God daughter AND my parents... and I'm recommending it to all of my friends who still think they can beat the market willy nilly. A must read, for sure.

The Secret of Shelter Island

2009-06-16T04:16:00.001-07:00

Really good insight and thoughtfulness, truely inspirational. Alex Green explains why we all need to stop and "smell to roses," but not only that. He reminds us that smelling the roses isn't just a waste of time or something to do on our way to something else, it's a way to make our life a little better, more fulfilling. It's the little things. Really well done book, I loved it.

The Adobe Photoshop CS3 Book for Digital Photographers

2009-05-29T08:56:00.000-07:00

This is neither the biggest book on Photoshop, nor the most comprehensive. The author makes no pretense of covering every feature contained in the massive program known as Photoshop CS3. What he does attempt to do is identify tasks useful to digital photographers (and this includes film shooters who scan) and give step-by-step explanations to get them done. Most of the information is presented in a very task-oriented approach. The emphasis is squarely placed on giving you the tools to get things done quickly and efficiently. As such, I find it a highly useful reference book often as I edit photos.

For those who own the prior version for CS2, this is much more than a rehash of the same material with a few odds and ends added to cover the new CS3 features. I was surprised to see that most or all of the example photos appear to be new for this edition and the author has reorganized the material within each chapter. I applaud Mr. Kelby for what looks like an earnest attempt to earn our money rather than just cash in on the sales a new version of Photoshop automatically generate.

On the negative side, I do wish that the author would tone down his attempts to be funny throughout the book. Humor has gone from being unknown in how-to books to being painfully overused and this book is a prime example. It goes from being mildly cute for the first couple of pages to just getting in the way and slowing down the flow of information as you continue reading.

Overall, I highly recommend this book. Mr. Kelby has done an excellent job organizing and presenting a useful guide to Photoshop CS3 and I commend him for that. If he prunes 90% of his attempts at humor, I'll give his next book 5 stars instead of 4.

Layers

2009-05-29T08:55:00.000-07:00

No photographer can unleash the full power of Photoshop to make an image look like the photographer's vision without understanding the power of layers. (At the very least layers allow the Photoshop user to make selective adjustments to an image, without actually changing the underlying data.) Yet many Photoshop books treat layers in bits and pieces rather than as an integrated whole so that the photographer has a hard time grasping the overall concept. That's where a book aimed solely at layers comes in.

Matt Kloskowski's book deals with all the major applications of layers. The subjects include the nature of layers, blending layers, adjustment layers, layer masks, type and shape layers, enhancing and adjusting photos with layers, layer styles and smart layers. It's all here, but in a short simple quick form. (I'm sure there are more esoteric things to learn about layers; at least one pair of authors has a book on layers that is over 750 pages long!) Most photographers will find that this book has all they need to know about the subject.

The author's text takes the form of tutorials. One can either download files for these tutorials or work with one's own pictures. The tutorials are short, well illustrated and have plenty of white space. If you make a mistake at an early step you won't have to backtrack through twenty or thirty steps to find out where you went wrong. Even if you work out each tutorial, this book will not take more than ten or twenty hours to complete, and it will teach you almost everything you need to know about the subject. Along the way, Kloskowski teaches the reader about other Photoshop tools, as when he integrates a discussion of gradients into a lesson on blend modes, or deals with selections in a tutorial on layer masks.

The author has an easy-going, breezy, humorous style, but those put off by the style of his mentor, Scott Kelby, probably will not be offended here.

Normally, as I go through a book, I make notes in the margin when I discover an error. I'm happy to report that I made no notes in the margin of this book.

For experienced Photoshop users this book will contain nothing new. Perhaps they'll have to look at the 750 page tomes. However, for the photographer who doesn't have a firm grip on the use of layers in Photoshop, this book will help him or her to master the subject.

The Moment It Clicks

2009-05-29T08:53:00.001-07:00

Picture this. You meet one of the world's great photographers in a bar. He has a stack of pictures with him from his portfolio. As you go through the pictures, he talks about them, about the people in the photographs, and how he made each of them. About a third of the way through you realize that when he talks about the technical details he talks mostly about the lighting, and you are sorry you didn't pick up on that right from the beginning, but now you listen avidly to try to learn his lighting techniques.

Then, about two-thirds of the way through, he stops talking about the lighting, and starts meandering about the photo editors he knew, and how he may have sacrificed some of his family life to be a photographer, and how he came up through the ranks, and that's interesting too.

When Joe McNally talks about lighting a picture of James Brown, or Sophia Loren, or Larry Tisch, the techniques he uses seem to be ones you could use. But when he talks about getting a bunch of masks from the Smithsonian to shoot Michelle Pfeiffer, or five full length mirrors set up on the field for a picture of shortstop Ozzie Smith, or using 10 or 15 2400 watt lights to light fielder Eric Davis, you may hope that you can at least get inspiration because you are never going to have that kind of equipment, or if you are, then to quote McNally, "you don't need my advice". And don't take a peek at McNally's equipment until you come to that page in normal reading or you may decide the book is not for you.

If you are looking for instruction, it's here amongst the stories, even if it's delivered in a non-structured sort of way. I haven't invested in a dozen Speedotrons, but after reading this book, I did decide to upgrade my umbrella to a couple of softboxes. On the other hand if you are interested in looking at a portfolio of great pictures, McNally has them. And if you like to listen to photographers tell stories about photography, often at their own expense, you'll probably love this book.

Other then the lighting there is little of a technical nature here. There's nothing about exposure, or depth of field or Photoshop. I am certain that the people that talked the author into writing this book loved the stories and the way they were told and how they related back occasionally to transforming a vision into an image by using equipment. McNally's personality comes through. Whether this is the way for you to learn some lighting tricks will depend on what you feel about winnowing them out of the stories and pictures. On the other hand, Joe McNally is a great guy to have a drink with.

Learning to See Creatively

2009-05-29T08:52:00.000-07:00

Learning to be a photographer is about more than focusing and exposure. One of the most important and difficult things is learning what to take a picture of, and then designing an image that expresses something about its subject. Many authors of photography books talk about teaching the photographer to see. I think of that as being the process of selecting a subject and then deciding how it should look to capture the photographer's vision of it. Bryan Patterson promises to teach that in the revised edition of "Learning to See Creatively". Unfortunately, he doesn't keep his promise.

It's not that this is a poor book. The author talks about the elements of photographic design like line, shape, form, texture, pattern and color. Unfortunately he doesn't link these elements to the photographer's vision. It's as if one knew nothing about tools, had a plumbing problem, and was presented with a wrench. It would be nice to be told how to use the wrench to solve the problem. If you know how to relate the tools to the problem, you don't need this book.

He also talks about composition and guidelines like the rule of thirds, or frame within a frame. But even here, he doesn't make the connection to vision. Even the chapter called "Expanding Your Vision" turns out to be a discussion of the characteristics of lenses of different focal lengths.

There are chapters on digital photography and photographic careers but they look like they were added on to the work because somebody thought that was what would help the book sell.

Peterson's photographs are good. When he explains why he made the design and composition choices for a particular picture you can see some relationship of technique to vision. It's also interesting to occasionally see a comparison of the same subject handled two different ways. But unfortunately the author doesn't take the opportunity to relate similar pictures to photographic vision.

This might be a good enough book for the intermediate photographer who isn't really ready to work on his or her vision, although I much prefer Brenda Tharp's "Creative Nature & Outdoor Photography" which covers the same ground in a more concise way.

One might think that you can't teach someone to see creatively. That may be true, but Freeman Patterson's old standby, "Photography & the art of seeing" comes a lot closer than this volume. And books like those by Galen Rowell or Tony Sweet do a much better job of relating technique to the visions of their authors.

Understanding Exposure

2009-05-29T08:51:00.000-07:00

If you are trying to learn more about how to properly use exposure (i.e. aperture, shutter speed, and ISO) this is a fantastic book to begin with. It informs for the film and digital photographer. I have been taking photos for many years, but it has only been over the past couple of years that I became more of a professional. Despite this, I still struggled to understand some of the concepts such as the difference between a good exposure and a "creatively correct exposure" and what options I had.

You learn how to expose for front-lit, back-lit, side-lit scenes, overcast skys, macro photography, motion, stationery objects, how to expose for bright scenes such as snow (grey card & 18% grey) and dark scenes such as night photography...you name it. Then Bryan Peterson tops it off with a sections on metering, special techniques and filters, and an analysis of film vs digital cameras.

Understanding Exposure not only explained the basics in a conversational manner, but is also informed me of how the pros work and how to step up my photography to a higher level.

This book has hands-on exercises that anyone can go through so that the reader has experience of all of the methods explained. Along with this, the book is FULL of color photos that show exactly what the end result could be. Where applicable, there are comparisons of before and after exposure adjustments so the reader may understand WHY they should make such changes.

Where there is a difference between adjustments for digital versus film cameras, Bryan Peterson gives you the specifics of the difference and haw to adjust for it.

It is a book every photographer should have!

My Sister's Keeper

2009-05-27T02:27:00.001-07:00

Jodi Picoult has masterfully covered yet another controversial topic in her novel "My Sister's Keeper." This time, young Kate is diagnosed with a severe form of leukemia. Her parents then have a baby, Anna, who is genetically selected to be a close donor match for Kate. From her birth onward into her early teens, Anna is called upon to undergo increasingly invasive and dangerous procedures to provide blood, bone marrow, and other tissues to sustain her older sister's life. Now, a kidney is needed, and Anna brings a lawsuit against her parents, claiming the right to her make own decision about what medical procedures can be performed on her. Anna's mother Sara, an attorney, decides to represent her own daughter Kate at the trial.
There are some very difficult questions raised in this story. Does Anna have the obligation to risk her own health to save her sister? Do her parents have the right to make the medical decisions about Anna's donor role, and where should their loyalties lie? Where is the fine line between what is legal and what is ethical in a situation like this? There seem to be no right or wrong answers here, and the ensuing trial recounts all the physical, moral, psychological, and familial struggles that are brought to bear on the issue. Picoult paints a powerfully emotional picture of a family in turmoil. She adds additional tension to the story through brother Jesse, whose drug taking and criminal tendencies add even more burdens to an already overwrought situation. The story also includes the love/hate relationship between Anna's lawyer and her legal guardian.

The narrative switches from character to character so that the reader hears the voices of each family member, as well as that of Anna's lawyer and of the legal guardian appointed to watch out for her interests. Sara's narrative includes flashbacks on the history of Kate's illness, Anna's role in providing medical support, and the toll that the constant threat of Kate's death takes on the family. There are several shocking twists to the plot that make the story even more riveting. This is Picoult's best book yet!

Nineteen Minutes

2009-05-27T02:26:00.001-07:00

This time around, Picoult finally lived up to my hopes and she did so by tackling a difficult subject, one that has been in many novels thus far...a school shooting, a look at both the victims' world and that of the shooter (who is also a victim, in his own way), the alienation of kids who are on the outside and the interconnection between the popular kids and those who aren't. Although the novel is graphic, it would certainly provoke plenty of discussion and understanding between parents and teens, although parents may want to consider how ready their teen is to read a book so detailed and so complex and with graphic sexuality (including rough sex).

As a long-time reader of her books, my one disappointment with Picoult has always been how often her endings seemed to fall apart into stereotypical or "pat" solutions, when the rest of her writing, up to that point, would be so very, very strong. And yet, I KEPT buying her books, because she did everything else so well - solid, compelling characters, great plots (until those endings), riveting events. I kept rooting for her. I knew she had the chops to produce a solid book, from start to finish, without those letdowns at the end (and I'm sure others will disagree with me about the endings, as she IS a popular writer).

This time,with Nineteen Minutes, she pulls it off, does everything right...and I'm delighted to be able to say so. I wasn't able to stop reading, except for short periods when I had to stop and think about WHAT I was reading. I have raised three teenagers and her portrayal of teenage life, the cruelties of the bullies, the fears and insecurities suffered by even the most popular kids, was eerily accurate.

Buy this one, savor every word and take time to think about how you'd feel in a similar situation. This is the kind of book that can be life-changing and motivate readers to change things and make the world better for our children. How and why readers do that is up to them, of course but, at the least, they'll be haunted by this book long after they finish it.

As for me, I'm going to reread it - and soon. It is simply that good.

The Wedding

2009-05-27T02:25:00.000-07:00

I'm a big Nicholas Sparks fan, so I may be somewhat biased as I review this book. THE WEDDING is the sequel to THE NOTEBOOK, the love story of Noah and Allie: a love that almost didn't happen. Now, in THE WEDDING, we meet the next two generations of family members, and a somewhat complex story is told.

Noah is now living at Creekside, where he and Allie had moved toward the end of her life. He spends his time feeding a lone female swan, distinguished by a dark patch of color on her chest. Noah feels that this is Allie come back to him, and his children feel that he's lost touch with the world. Noah, however, never gives up on his theory and insists that it is his dear beloved wife.

Noah and Allie's oldest daughter, Jane, is married to Wilson Lewis. They've been married for nearly 30 years and have raised three children, all of whom are now adults. Jane and Wilson's story is told in flashbacks, as Wilson remembers what brought him and Jane together all those years ago. The reason for his reflections, though, is that he knows Jane is very unhappy with their marriage. So unhappy, that she leaves town for a few weeks to spend with their son Joseph. She doesn't say exactly why she left, but Wilson knows she needs to get away to think things over.

In the meantime, their oldest daughter Anna has announced that she and her boyfriend Keith plan to be married in a few weeks. She doesn't want anything fancy, and plans to marry at the justice of the peace. However, this is not what Jane wants for her daughter. Suddenly, Jane shows a new interest in life, and with the help of Wilson the two of them proceed to organize the best wedding any daughter ever had.

As the wedding plans take shape, Wilson keeps Noah up to date. During their visits, Wilson notes how Noah dotes on the swan, talking to her and sharing his thoughts with her. A few odd events almost convince Wilson that maybe this is indeed Allie reborn, but he always keeps these thoughts to himself. And all through these visits, Noah reminisces about his wife, while Wilson remembers his own first love Jane.

The title THE WEDDING is misleading, but this was Sparks' intention. Yes, the entire book is about the family getting ready for the big wedding, but the reader will realize by the end of the book that the story is much more than just THE WEDDING. The ending will surprise you, as it surprised some of the characters in the book. The story of the swan helps round out this tale of eternal love and may turn even the most cynical of persons into a romantic.

A Walk to Remember

2009-05-27T02:23:00.001-07:00

This is a beautiful, romantic, heartwarming story that will sure to leave you crying at the end. But as the author states in his preface - "you have been forewarned". I don't read many fiction books, yet when I do, I tend to stick to favorite authors and Nicholas Sparks is one of my favorites. I was hooked after reading Message In A Bottle - another tearjerker.
I am a hopeless romantic and I usually don't read romance books, but this book is superb for all of you other hopeless romantics. This book will tear at your heartstrings and will linger with you for days. I could not put this book down and read it in two days. I was immediately captivated and transported into Landon Carter's world in the late 1950's. Landon does an incredible amount of "growing up" during his seventeenth year of life. The minister's daughter, Jamie Sullivan, helps him to transform from a selfish, self-absorbed "kid", to a young adult on the verge of manhood. Landon conveys traits of tenderness, and compassion, and learns about love and faith and how to forgive, while his love blossoms for Jamie. Jamie is able to bring out all that is pure and good from Landon. It is this innocent love that is all consuming that helps to foster Landon's growth and wisdom.

Jamie may be portrayed in the book as a "goodie two-shoes", but her innocence, her unnerving faith and trying to live her life as God wanted us all to live, endears her to the reader.

The book may be predictable in parts, but that does not deter from the beauty of this story. In the conclusion, Landon realizes what love is and what it really means to love another by helping your love's dream become a reality. Landon's heart softens when he lets his true nature come through and shine - and shine it does. Epitome of true love - most definitely! With Landon's transformation complete, the reader is completely absorbed with these two main characters. You can't help but fall in love with them.

Nicholas Sparks - I congratulate you on another most tender and endearing story.

I absolutely love this book and recommend it heartily. This is a must read kind of book that can't help but uplift you as well. Just keep your kleenex handy!

The Notebook

2009-05-27T02:22:00.000-07:00

Nicholas Sparks has become famous for writing the sweet and tender love story that appeals to the romantic in all of us. He doesn't disappoint with "The Notebook" as he weaves the tale of two teenagers, Noah and Allie, who meet one fateful summer and fall in love. Since the course of true love is never smooth, it should come as no surprise that Allie's parents do not approve of her relationship with Noah. He does not have the education, money, or social prominence they wish for their daughter. Allie and her parents move away and Noah writes to her for years, but after never receiving an answer gives up. WWII comes, lives change, but one thing remains constant---neither Allie nor Noah can forget the other. As Noah's friend Gus tells him, first love changes your life forever and no matter what else happens in your life, the memory of it stays with you. And so it is that fourteen years later and three weeks before her wedding, Allie finds herself driving to New Bern to find Noah for reasons she herself does not fully understand. Their reunion proves once again that they are true soulmates, but it that enough? Can Allie forsake the "perfect mate" who has not only her love but also the approval of her parents? Can she walk out on Noah for a second time? Will Noah let her go? The story then skips to the nursing home where an 80-year old Noah resides and spends his time reading poetry to his fellow residents. But down the hall is a very special woman. The reader will be overcome with emotion as this relationship unfolds and the missing pieces of Noah and Allie's story are revealed in the notebook he carries with him. Intensely romantic and a tribute to the power of true love, "The Notebook" will leave you emotionally spent and thankful to be so.

Message in a Bottle

2009-05-27T02:21:00.000-07:00

Message in a Bottle is one incredible book. The plot of the story is whimsical and will have you dreaming that maybe someday you'll find a love as strong as these two characters in this novel.
Basically this is one sad book, and the people who rate it low, are only doing so because this book doesn't have a cheerful "happily ever after" ending. While I read the book, especially the end, tears slowly streamed down my face as I tried to understand why the story went the way it did. The fact that Garrett was able to love his wife with so much emotion, just shakes you to the core because it comes to the point of obession.

Message in a Bottle is a story about a woman named Theresa Osborne, a newspaper columnist, who finds a bottle washed up shore one day. She proceeds to read the letter inside and there a history of unforgotten love unfolds. Garrett Blake, trying to cope with the lose of his deceased wife, Catherine, writes letters to her and send them out to sea, hoping that one day they'll reach Europe.

As the story progresses, Theresa finds Garrett and they give into the emotions that are growing between them and fall in love with each other. But Garrett isn't ready to let go of his deceased wife yet, so the problem is introduced... read the story and you'll be crying but still happy at the same time.

This book teaches us about the aspect of love and how it's possible to love once more even though you think that you'll never be able to love again. And the fact that love is solid, and so much stronger than simple lust. Recommended.

The Rescue

2009-05-27T02:20:00.000-07:00

Taylor McAden is a volunteer fireman with a death wish. His life's direction is in response to an incident that took place in his childhood. The author alludes to it but it is not till the end that it all comes together and we find out that Taylor isn't the only one doing the rescuing.
The book starts with Kyle, a missing four year old that has limited language skills and understanding. After a car wreck where his mother, Denise Holten is knocked unconscious, he has wandered away and is now lost somewhere in the swamp on a stormy night. With limited resources, a child that won't answer if called, and the temperature dropping we are off to an interesting beginning. Sparks molds his characters with such deference and intimacy. He grants us insight into the undaunting trials and tribulations of a mother faced with what appears to be an impossible task, the love and strength of heart of a little boy and Taylor who steps in and is eventually saved from himself.

This is an excellent book that will leave you in tears as well as make you smile. I've read all of Spark's books and I must admit I liked this one the best. He just keeps getting better...

Dear John

2009-05-27T02:19:00.000-07:00

John Tyree is a soldier first, a man second. Or so he thinks until he meets Savannah Lynn Curtis. While on leave, he falls desperately in love with Savannah, the proverbial girl of his dreams. Sweet, intelligent, and giving, John knows he'll always carry her torch.

When September 11 changes the world, John is no exception. Moved by patriotic loyalty, he chooses to "re-up" in the army, adding time to his service and breaking his promise to return to Savannah. More promises are broken when he must attending to his ailing father.

This is the story of how an ideal love can falter, despite its purity and strength. Not every romance results in a happy ending, but with a great deal of luck, those who don't survive will find meaning from the experience. Love, loyalty, friendship--all those sentiments are great, but to what cost? And how does this make a good man great? This is John's journey to that understanding.

It goes without saying that Nicholas Sparks is one of today's "master" storytellers. Part of what makes him so successful is that he has the ability to create moving stories without pulling punches or painful twists. Such is the case in DEAR JOHN. Sparks offers a love story that has all the requisite components--well-crafted setting, high emotion, obstacles, resolution--then breaks it. It is from the sadness that hope emerges, and John Tyree, although still quite young, gains wisdom that will last a lifetime. Sorrow will be a large part of this, yes, but there is room for something more, something that will reach beyond the pages and touch John's tomorrow in a way only he will see.

While this works, there is something lacking. It is one of those hard-to-define qualities that marks the difference between a good book and one that is outstanding. Maybe it's the heavy reliance on John's soldiering as an excuse for certain behaviors. Or perhaps it has more to do with aspects relating to John's relationship with his father, who appears to have Asperger's syndrome.

I'm giving DEAR JOHN 4-Books for a beautiful story, but not five because of that indefinable element that was lost between idea and paper.

The Choice

2009-05-27T02:18:00.000-07:00

In a small coastal town, Travis Parker has almost everything he could wish. He loves his job, he gets to hang with long-time friends, and he enjoys water sports, motorcycling, and travel. All in all, it's a good life.

Everything he knows is thrown off-kilter when he meets his new neighbor, Gabby Holland, who happens to be in a relationship with another man. For her part, Gabby is excited, scared, and confused by the things she feels around Travis. She's been dedicated to her golf-crazy boyfriend for a long while, but Travis makes her feel new things. At some point, she'll have to make a decision.

Famous for his take on the sensitive hero and tender love, Nicholas Sparks latest offering is THE CHOICE, in which unexpected feelings lead to unexpected things. As the fun-loving guy with a big heart, Travis is easy to like from the beginning. Gabby, on the other hand, is a very mixed bag.

On the surface, Gabby seems to be kind hearted, but she comes across as someone who is easily upset, has doormat tendencies, and can't quite control her emotions. Travis sees her as sweet and having a great sense of humor. Readers are likely to see her as lacking a sense of humor until later, and even then it's sketchy. Characters are supposed to grow throughout a story, and Gabby does, but her introduction makes it difficult to sympathize with her from the beginning, especially in regards to her relationship with family and, well, her steady boyfriend.

A tragedy in the last hundred pages of the novel almost redeems all that went before. It's hinted at in the prologue, but Sparks elects to play a trick on the read, leading them to expect something quite different from what actually happens. It'd difficult to explain without giving it away, other than to say that it straddles the fence of cheap versus clever.

THE CHOICE is an average read for an average day. Sparks fans are likely to feel a bit let down, but there are far worse things a person could read.

Playing for Pizza

2009-05-27T02:17:00.000-07:00

John Grisham spent a lot of time in Italy writing his legal thriller THE BROKER, and I guess he liked the country so much, he decided to write another novel based in Italy, and the result is PLAYING FOR PIZZA. In PLAYING FOR PIZZA, Rick Dockery is a 3rd string NFL quarterback for the Cleveland Browns. In the AFC championship game, the Browns are winning 20-0 when the top two quarterbacks are injured. Dockery enters the game and engineers an epic collapse and the Browns lose. Dockery is hated in Cleveland and laughed at everywhere else. His agent finds a team that might actually want him, the Parma Panthers. The Panthers play American football in Italy, where the crowds are sparse, the fields are rough, and the players play for the love of the game and the pizza and beer afterwards.

Rick joins the team in Italy, hoping for a new start in life, trying to avoid a paternity suit, and wanting to hook up with the team cheerleaders. His new teammates embrace him and Rick is given a tutorial in Itialian culture, including the long four hour meals. The description Grisham gives of the meal was enough to convince me that I must go to Italy just for the food. The team's goal is to win the Italian Super Bowl and the face a lot of hurdles during their quest. They lose players to injuries or apathy, and they get sidetracked by women and partying.

Overall, I enjoyed this novel because Grisham is a good writer. But while I enjoyed Rick and his escapades, I didn't really care for Rick because Rick didn't care for anything. Sure, he wanted to put the horrible Cleveland performance behind him, but he is still a shallow, horny, irresponsible person. The romance toward the end of the book seemed without substance.

I've always enjoyed Grisham's work, even if some of his latest novels have been a bit disappointing. For some reason, I think Grisham knows exactly what he's doing. In Playing for Pizza, he created a novel about an American idol (football) in an Italian culture. That was the story. The characters were secondary. The book excels at covering Italy and even gets the football stuff right. Grisham is still a great writer, his plot choices just are sometimes boring. I recommend this book to Grisham fans, but you should probably get it from the library.

The Chamber

2009-05-27T02:16:00.000-07:00

While reading The Chamber i cried many times. Sometimes this book will make you smile, other times it will make you cry, and other times it will make you cry out in anger. Sam Cayhall is on deathrow because in the sixties he was in the KKK and bombed a jewish lawyer's building. But something went wrong when he bombed the building;instead of it going off at 5 in the morning when it was vacant, it went off at 8. Unfortunately, it the lawyer's two five-year old sons were in the building and the bomb killed them. Now, his only chance is his 26-year old grandson lawyer who will try everything to help him, and to keep him from getting gassed in the Gas Chamber.
Before reading this book, I was stongly opposed to the death row, but after reading it, well, it makes you think about that. I highly recommend this book.

The Firm

2009-05-27T02:15:00.000-07:00

The Firm was published in 1991, and almost overnight John Grisham became a household name and a force to be reckoned with in the realm of fiction. There must be something in the water down in Oxford, Mississippi; while Grisham is certainly no Faulkner, he is a man who knows how to make a novel come alive and ensnare any reader who comes along. I really do not care for lawyer-type novels as a general rule, and the fact that Grisham makes such stories so gripping and fascinating has me quite in awe of his talents. Mitch McDeere (whom many may still envision as Tom Cruise, since he played in the role in the movie based on this novel) is a highly intelligent yet monetarily challenged law student finishing up his degree with high honors at Harvard. Holding serious offers from prestigious Chicago and Wall Street law firms for his services, he decides to go ahead and hear the pitch from a smaller law firm in Memphis. What he hears is an offer he cannot believe and cannot refuse. A starting salary significantly higher than he would make elsewhere, promises of large bonuses for passing the bar exam and succeeding on the job, an ascension to partner in as short a time as a decade, a new house with a miniscule mortgage rate, a brand new BMW, and other perks soon have Mitch and his wife Abby settling down in Memphis to enjoy a life of luxury (albeit with hard work on his part). The firm really seems to care about Mitch and his family, wanting happy marriages with several children, to a degree that has Abby a little suspicious. Mitch passes the bar exam, and life is great, despite the fact he is working eighty hours or more a week. Then an FBI agent comes to see him, dropping hints of nefarious dealings at the law firm, asking him for help. Thus begins a journey in which Mitch must first decide whether to risk the lives of himself and his wife to violate his legal oaths and sell out the Mafia-controlled law firm, or take his chances, make his millions, and hope the feds dont find enough evidence to eventually land him and all of his coworkers in prison. It is really an exciting story, as the McDeeres have to deal with and evade both the feds and the Mafia in their efforts to somehow bring down the firm without sacrificing their own lives.

A Time to Kill

2009-05-27T02:14:00.000-07:00

"A Time to Kill" is John Grisham's first novel, but unless you read the foreword, it's not readily apparent. His fluid, detailed storytelling is unlike the choppy first attempts of many modern authors. (At times it may seem he pays *too* much attention to details, but after all, he *is* a lawyer.)
In a small town in the Deep South, two redneck hooligans rape and maim a ten-year-old black girl. Enraged, the girl's father, Carl Lee Hailey, takes justice into his own hands, killing the two rapists in a courthouse shooting. He seeks the help of defense lawyer Jake Brigance to save him from the gas chamber. Brigance, a young but sharp lawyer, has to find a way to win an impossible case: a black man is on trial for killing two white men, and his case is being heard by an all-white jury. Adding to the mix are violence between the Ku Klux Klan and the black community, and the fact that, during the shooting, Carl Lee had injured a sheriff's deputy (who later had to have part of his leg amputated).

Throughout the book, the odds stack against Brigance and his client, and the novel will definitely keep you turning the pages. No matter what your personal opinions on the death penalty or vigilante justice are, you won't be disappointed. As Jake's mentor, disbarred lawyer Lucien Wilbanks, says, "If you win this case, justice will prevail, but if you lose it, justice will also prevail."

The Runaway Jury

2009-05-27T02:13:00.000-07:00

The Runaway Jury by John Grisham is a very well written courtroom drama about a fictitious tobacco litigation case with an interesting plot twist with the plots of Nicholas Easter and Marlee. I won't go more into it so as not to spoil the fun of reading this plot for those who have not read the book as of yet. The thing I liked most about the plot is that no one seemed to be a "good guy" in all of this despite the fact that on the bad guy side there were the tobacco companies. Because of the way the characters were set, no one came off as a good guy and everyone came off kind of scummy. This is an interesting way for an author to approach a story and one that makes a reader more captivated than they otherwise would be in my opinion.
Characters on the whole were well developed, though he seemed to come right out and say what the characteristics of the characters were rather than inferring their nature through conversations and actions. However, it seemed that Grisham was aiming for a straight forward, easy read so in that respect he accomplished what he was going for. Overall, there may have been too many characters that made it a little hard to follow at times, but given the nature of the plot, a large cast of characters was necessary.

Overall, I felt that this story was fairly well told and is one of the better books put out there by Grisham having read some of his others. The language of the book is clear and concise with very little unnecessary embellishment of his prose to provide for a quick read. At the same time, some issues could have been improved in the same area because it seemed a little too clear cut.

The Client

2009-05-27T02:12:00.000-07:00

Mark Sway, age 11 but years wiser thanks to a drunken dad who abused his mom, is out in the woods behind his Memphis trailer park teaching his kid brother, Ricky, how to smoke Virginia Slims heisted from Mom's purse. He's a pretty upright kid--he's determined to protect his brother from drugs, and he once defended his mom with a baseball bat.
The dangers of smoking rapidly escalate when Mark glimpses a guy trying to commit suicide by carbon monoxide in his car nearby and tries to stop him. The guy is Jerome, a lawyer who tells Mark that his Mafia client has murdered Senator Boyd Boyette and buried him in the concrete under his garage in New Orleans. Then Jerome puts a bullet in his own head. Little Ricky flips out, and so does Barry the Blade Muldanno, who doesn't want blustery U.S. attorney Reverend Roy Foltrigg to find the corpse and bust him. Caught in a ruthless game between the Mob and the amoral authorities, Mark's family has no defense in the world except Reggie Love, a 50ish divorcée who has just turned her life around by becoming a lawyer. Does she have what it takes to help Mark beat the system? The life-or-death chase is on!

Mark has seen a lot of movies, and he sees life in cinematic terms. So does Grisham. Even if this novel had never been filmed, it would still be a really good, fast-paced movie. Its literary limitation is also its filmlike virtue: The Client is a rush.

The Pelican Brief

2009-05-27T02:11:00.000-07:00

"The Pelican Brief" by John Grisham is an exciting novel with an amazing plot. It begins by introducing the character Khamel, a crazed killer who is paid to murder two Supreme Court Justices, named Rosenberg and Jensen, both who have received many death threats but refuse to let the FBI protect them.
In New Orleans at Tulane University, Darby Shaw, an attractive second year law student, was trying to sove the mystery behing the killings. Darby had a thirteen page brief on who she thought killed the justices. The brief was passed on to many people and it finally came to the President, who after reading the report became very scared. The FBI wanted to pursue the lead, but after a phone call from the President that told them to back off it, they decided to look at other suspects.

In the meantime, reporter Gray Grantham received a call in the middle of the night from "Garcia" who said that he might know something about the case.

Darby was on a date with her lover/professor when he got a little too drunk to drive. Darby insisted that she drive or walk, and to her surprise, he told her to walk. When the professor got into his car and started the engine, the car exploded, killing him on the spot. Darby called a friend of the professor, Gavin, and told him what happened because he was the first to see the brief which was later named "The Pelican Brief".

Through all of this chaos, Darby managed to stay alive and found time to meet Gray Grantham in Washington D.C. He learned her entire story and in order to confirm it all, they had to find "Garcia". They knew that he was a lwyer at a small firm in Washington D.C., so they asked the many interns there if they recognized a picture of him. One out of seven did, so they go to meet him. To their surprise, "Garcia" was mugged and killed on the streets.

"The Pelican Brief" is a wonderful book that contains a variety of charaters and twists that I think everyone should read. This book has just about every element that makes up a good book; suspense, mystery, murder, law, and love all put together in a perfect mixture that will make your head spin. John Grisham is an awesome writer and I look forward to reading more of his fantastic novels.

Skipping Christmas

2009-05-27T02:09:00.000-07:00

Who *hasn't* felt the way Luther and Nora Krank feel when they decide to sit this Christmas out? Identification with that feeling immediately connects you to the main characters of this charming, outrageously funny book. The societal pressures the Kranks have to face in their quest for a non-holiday holiday are those that, while made larger for the sake of fiction, we all face when deviating from the norm. More subtly, I imagine Grisham has illuminated what it must feel like to be one of the small groups of Americans who don't celebrate Christmas *any* year.
I dare not say more lest I give away any of the plot of this absolutely terrific book. Just read it, you'll love it -- as long as you're looking for something fun. This book is not meant to be great literary fiction. It is a light-hearted Christmas tale with a sappy ending. (Would you really want anything different for a Christmas story?) It's a quick read (I read it in two hours) and laugh-out-loud funny. I actually laughed myself to tears reading this book -- a first for me!

I highly recommend this tale as a respite from the stresses of the holidays -- perhaps while waiting to get on a plane to your holiday destination!

A Painted House

2009-05-27T02:08:00.000-07:00

No, it is not the typical John Grisham suspense novel, but this book gave me a greater appreciation for Grisham and his writing abilities. A PAINTED HOUSE is a work of literary fiction that shows Grisham has a command of more than the tried and true lawyer/suspense formula and is darn good at it. I have read some of the unfavorable reviews and have to guess that these are people who rarely venture out of the "reading comfort zone" of popular fiction. Grisham in suspense mode is great, as is Baldacci, Patterson and others. But, there is a whole other world of great writing and Grisham has dared to venture into the serious world of true-blue literary fiction.
The story is narrated by seven year-old Luke Chandler, the son of an Arkansas family renting and farming in 1952 Arkansas. To say Luke "grows up" between the covers would be an understatement. Luke tells us a story of cotton pickers that will have you feeling every possible emotion, right along with young Luke. No, there are no slick lawyers or beautiful law students in A PAINTED HOUSE, but there ARE plenty of wonderful characters that come to life on the pages of this Grisham classic. To stay away from this John Grisham novel because it is not "typical" Grisham, would not be giving yourself enough credit for being able to appreciate a great author, and his work, because he is not writing something that is ready-for-the-screen. Trust the man who brought us THE FIRM, THE PELICAN BRIEF and others to keep you entertained in a different genre, to be sure, but entertained and mesmerized nonetheless. Do yourself a favor -- suspend your judgement about "literary fiction" -- and don't miss this one!!

The King of Torts

2009-05-27T02:07:00.000-07:00

John Grisham began his writing career with a bang, publishing one great legal thriller after the next, a feat that brought him to the top of the publishing world very quickly. But in the last few years, his legal thrillers have been less than steller. Aside from his sweet, heartwarming A Painted House (which, ironically enough, was not a legal thriller), Grisham's novels have been on the boring side. Now, he returns with his yearly offering, a fun little novel called The King of Torts, a novel that brings him once step closer to regaining his title of King of the legal thriller.
In the book, we find a young public defendent named Clay, who is given the opportunity to earn 15 million dollars with just a few months's work. Soon enough, he is thrown into the world of mass litigation, where lawyers sue big corportations with thousands of claims. The millions start pouring in and Clay soon finds himself at the top of his game.

But what goes up must come down, a thing Clay does not seem to know. Halfway through the story, Clay realizes that he's in way over his head.

In Clay, Grisham creates a character you will both love and hate. His rise to success his fun to watch, but his downfall is much more interesting. It's the part in between that's problematic. Because, while Clay is on top, he becomes so obssessed with money and fame that he becomes a character you will despise. It's hard to like someone who's complaining about life when they own a yacht, a million dollar house, a penthouse in the south, and their own 45$ million jet. So when his downfall arrives, it's hard to feel sympathy for Clay.

The story is predictable, yet fun to read. Maybe the book would have been better had Clay been faced with harder, more problematic challenges and situations. As it is now, The King of Torts is a fund read that doesn't require much involvement from its readers. A good beach novel, but not much more than that.

The Summons

2009-05-27T02:06:00.000-07:00

What would you do if you suddenly found three million dollars? And what if that money came from a deceased parent's home? This is the dilemna at the heart of this book.
If you're expecting another Grisham legal thriller, don't buy this one. This one is far less about legal battles than moral ones. Unfortunately, the plot just doesn't hold together all that well and even the moral struggles, as described here, aren't all that engaging. Grisham isn't in top form here.
For one thing, Ray Atlee, the dead judge's son who finds the money, isn't even that riveting or likeable a guy. Secondly, there are plenty of plot holes and illogical moves. Ray, for instance, discloses the whereabouts of the money to people who are almost complete strangers. Why would he do this? Made no sense to me.
Still, this book did make me wonder what I would do with a sudden windfall of three million plus change. But I've read a much better book about this, A Simple Plan, a book about three men who find a fortune in a crashed plane. A Simple Plan is wonderfully written, suspenseful and darkly realistic. But save your bucks and avoid The Summons.

The Last Juror

2009-05-27T02:04:00.000-07:00

After the travesty that was "King of Torts," John Grisham returns with a novel that appears, on the cover, to be another legal thriller but is, in fact, something else entirely. This is not about courtroom theatrics or terrible murders or greedy, corrupt lawyers seeking justice that will benefit their pocketbooks. No, "The Last Juror" is much, much different than your typical Grisham fare.
It is a story of humanity. John Grisham has entered a new field while treading on familiar territory. He has written something that touches the pulse of the 1970's in Ford County. This is the story of Willie Traynor, newspaper editor, and his friendship with Callie Ruffin, a black woman and mother of eight, and a fledgling newspaper founded on obituaries. Danny Padgitt's actions are known fairly early on, and there truly is no question as to his guilt.
There are some courtroom theatrics here, but they are secondary to the relationship between Willie and Miss Callie; indeed, the courtroom scenes are secondary to the character development and onset of desegregation that the denizens of Ford County are faced with. If anything, "The Last Juror" is the sort of novel one would expect to read in a 20th Century literature class. There is a fair amount of suspense, and there is some criticism of the legal system (70's and current) and of course a bit of preaching, but it all works.

Grisham has crafted one of his best novels and given us a slew of memorable characters; the Ruffin family will stay with you long after completing the novel. As will Willie and the eclectic bunch of "old folks" who dominate the town. Social criticism is also a bit heavy, with the arrival of Bargain City and the Padgitt clan's unsavory vocations. I would hesitate to compare this to such literary giants as "To Kill a Mockingbird" and "Huckleberry Finn," the major theme in "The Last Juror" is similar to that found in both the aforementioned novels, that of racial tolerance and the transendance of boundaries.

But, when the jurors start to fall, you will believe that Danny Padgitt is indeed guilty of fulfilling his promise...but then Grisham wants you to believe it, which makes the ending all the more impactful.

Be wary, diehards and casual fans--this is not your typical John Grisham. It's something better.

The Brethren

2009-05-27T02:03:00.000-07:00

John Grisham's novels have all been so systematically successful that it is easy to forget he is just one man toiling away silently with a pen, experimenting and improving with each book. While not as gifted a prose stylist as Scott Turow, Grisham is among the best plotters in the thriller business, and he infuses his books with a moral valence and creative vision that set them apart from their peers.
The Brethren is in many respects his most daring book yet. The novel grows from two separate subplots. In the first, three imprisoned ex-judges (the "brethren" in the title), frustrated by their loss of power and influence, concoct an elaborate blackmail scheme that preys on wealthy, closeted gay men. The second story traces the rise of presidential candidate Aaron Lake, a puppet essentially created by CIA director Teddy Maynard to fulfill Maynard's plans for restoring the power of his beleaguered agency.

Grisham's tight control of the two meandering threads leaves the reader guessing through most of the opening chapters how and when these two worlds will collide. Also impressive is Grisham's careful portraiture. Justice Hatlee Beech in particular is a fascinating, tragic anti-hero: a millionaire judge with an appointment for life who was rendered divorced, bankrupt, and friendless after his conviction for a drunk-driving homicide.

The book's cynical view of presidential politics and criminal justice casts a somewhat gloomy shadow over the tale. CIA director Teddy Maynard is an all-powerful demon with absolute knowledge and control of the public will and public funds. Even his candidate, Congressman Lake, is a pawn in Maynard's egomaniacal game of ad campaigns, illicit contributions, and international intrigue. In the end, The Brethren marks a transition in Grisham's career toward a more thoughtful narrative style with less interest in the big-payoff blockbuster ending. But that's not to say that the last 50 pages won't keep your reading light turned on late.

The Street Lawyer

2009-05-27T02:02:00.000-07:00

My first Grisham novel was The Testament, so I walked into this novel, expecting more of the same. Unfortunately that expectation was mis-placed.

The concept was good, and the topic was riveting. The problem, however, lay in the narrative. The character of Michael Brock was almost wishy-washy. I couldn't identify with him - in fact I related and liked far better the character of Mordecai Green, Director of the 14th Street Legal Clinic which Brock starts working for.

The novel is billed, essentially, as a thriller. However it didn't have the feel of a thriller. Sure, I was intrigued by the developments, however I wasn't feverishly turning the pages at 3am to finish it.

In a way, I'm disappointed. The topic is hot, and one deserving of much attention in this, the richest nation of the world. I often wonder how many millions are given to foreign nations, while thousands of its citizens sleep on our streets, including children? A disturbing thought.

I'm glad that Grisham brought it to our attention, but felt that he could have done so much more with the material. It's an enjoyable read, don't get me wrong, but not Grisham at his best.

The Testament

2009-05-27T02:01:00.000-07:00

I liked this book about greed, manipulation, serenity and redemption.
Grisham's first chapter sucks the reader into the story like few beginnings I have encountered. The first person perspective of a bitter and lonely billionaire who plots his revenge on his children even as he has plotted his own death is riviting.

When the story moves to inland Brazil, Grisham's narrative excels at explaining a remote yet beautiful land that few are aware exists. His characters likewise are well developed and beleivable in their roles. His portrayal of the several amoral lawyers borders on the hilarious and will serve to confirm many people's stereotypes of members of the bar.

What separates this novel from othe works of Grisham is the presence of God in the life of several of the characters. Religion is a positive influence on those it touches in the story and serves as the fulcrum upon which the plot turns.

This is the first fiction book I can recall reading where the strong faith of several major characters is treated as a positive defining aspect of their lives. In my experience, when I have encountered religion at all in fiction, it usually is presented as a character defect or held up to demonstrate the hypocrisy of those who do not practice what they preach. Grisham's treatment of faith as a central aspect of character and motivational force is refreshing and much more representative of how it affects most religious people.

I read the book quickly over several days. Great opening, well developed and interesting characters, enough greed and money on the line to titilate and a good juxtaposition of faith and redemption. A winner.

The innocent man

2009-05-27T02:00:00.001-07:00

The phrase "Grisham book" and word "important" aren't often found in the same sentence, but John Grisham's 2006 non-fiction book, "The Innocent Man", allows me to state that Grisham has now written the most important book of his mega-successful career, and one of the most important I've read by any author.

The book recounts two murders in the small town of Ada, Oklahoma. Both victims are young women. In both cases, the local and state police investigating the case are stumped. But with a toxic blend of extremely circumstantial "evidence", shocking crime scene photos, junk science, inexpert experts, jailhouse snitches and critical "dream confessions" induced by near-torture tactics, the police pin the murders on four young men of the area, two per murder.

The "innocent man" of the title is 30-something ne'er-do-well Ron Williamson, a schoolboy baseball star whose dreams of playing in Yankee Stadium dissolve in the low minors in a mix of arm injuries, booze and the onset of mental illness. By the time of the murder that consumes most of Grisham's tale, Williamson has washed up back home in Ada, and deservedly earned a reputation as a loudmouth loose cannon of sorts. Still his worst crime is passing a $300 phony check.

Skipping forward quickly, Williamson becomes the focus of the police's investigation and ultimately finds himself on death row in an Oklahoma criminal justice system whose aim seems to be to continuously reduce the amount of respect shown to death row inmates until it reaches zero. Shrewd detectives that they are, the police "know" that there's a second killer because of a misspelled warning message written in catsup at the scene, "dont chase us or ealse." Enter suspect two, single father Dennis Fritz, whose main crime is to be a friend of Williamson.

I'll stop here regarding the "plot", even though this is a news story and you could look it up. While novelistic in format, "The Innocent Man" reads more like a newspaper report, or like a lawyer dispassionately recounting the facts of a case. (Well after awhile not so dispassionately, as the injustices against the accused and then convicted men pile up.) The issues raised by the case and brought to light by Grisham cover the gamut of criminal justice - abuse of police power, single-minded focus on particular suspects and deliberate ignorance of others, near-torture-induced confessions, prosecutorial arrogance, lack of resources provided to defendants, mishandling of evidence, coercion of expert witnesses, use of junk science to dazzle a jury, the general and mistaken belief by the community that the police only arrest guilty parties, and most compellingly in Williamson's case, the inability of the criminal justice system to recognize and deal humanely with mentally ill prisoners.

My wife read the almost 450-page paperback version in one day. She then bugged me to read it for several days until I interrupted my second attempt at Barbara Kingsolver's Prodigal Summer: A Novel and dove in. Even while sick, I finished it in a day-and-a-half. After his disappointing novella "Bleachers", I'd pretty much written off Grisham (never have considered him much better an airplane read in the first place), but I'm deeply grateful to him to recognizing the power of this story and bringing to the attention of so many people with this fine book. I also salute him for sticking to the non-fiction format, resisting the novelist's urge to fictionalize the story and embellish it with tie-ins to the Oklahoma City bombing, 9/11 and the like. "The Innocent Man" may not stand up as literature to recently-deceased Norman Mailer's The Executioner's Song, but it's still a great book--the best true-crime story I've read with the most important messages about America's criminal justice system and its generally unrecognized threat to innocent men and women everywhere (and especially in Ada, OK where the DA that prosecuted the cases is still in office).

The Appeal

2009-05-27T01:59:00.000-07:00

John Grisham will be ending his absence from the New York Times Best Seller's List (fiction) with the arrival "The Appeal." Grisham's first legal thriller since the Broker (2005) is a gripping and compelling read that will be hard to put down. It is also timely since it highlights the underbelly of today's election politics.

The story centers on a small Mississippi law firm who wins a big verdict over a chemical giant, Krane, that has spread carcinogenic pollutants. Krane, fearful that this verdict, if not overturned, would set a precedent that would eventually destroy it, goes into action. It files an appeal that will find its way to the state supreme court, and hires a "dirty tricks" firm to unseat a sitting justice believe to be unfriendly. This is a viable strategy since Mississippi elects their Supreme Court justices and 69% of its voters know little about the court's candidates.

The "Appeal" provides a believable primer on how to rig an election - pick a victim; promote an unknown candidate with no visible record; and ambush the victim by painting him/her as a extreme ideologue (this liberal judge will destroy the family). Done well...and the election process is subverted.

This is Grisham's thirteenth legal thriller since "A Time to Kill" which was published in 1989. He has been a master at putting urgent moral issues on center stage for all to consider. He has succeeded again in "The Appeal."

The Associate

2009-05-27T01:58:00.001-07:00

Mr. Grisham is padding his billing sheet with The Associate, which seems almost to have been ghost-written. It reflects little of the talent behind The Partner, my favorite Grisham novel and, frankly, it made me somewhat upset to have spent 27 bucks. I would have been disappointed to buy this one in paperback. Time was that you started a Grisham novel and couldn't put it down. Had I not been stuck in an airport en route from a deposition I would not have had the patience to finish.

This book was like my sixth grade term paper; we all had them, you would count the words until you got to the end. Likewise, although there was some great potential in this story it was not realized. Sure, there were half-hearted attempts to bring other characters to life, but they were all just that, half-hearted. The ending was among the most disappointing that I have ever come across--in any genre.

Nobody learns anything. There is no character progression--just a slow moving train wreck from which nobody emerges having been enlightened. In fact, the reader feels much like our protagonist--forced to endure a journey that was expected to be something completely different and not entirely sure how to escape. Heavens, big law firms are such a deliciously evil mix of stunningly warped personalities and distorted goals that any number of excellent thrillers could be drawn from facts known to just about any lawyer.

I do hope that Mr. Grisham rediscovers the joy of telling a story--he is very good at it; however, I cannot recommend this book.

First Family

2009-05-27T01:57:00.001-07:00

First Family is David Baldacci's follow-up to Simple Genius. Sean King and Michelle Maxwell are summoned by Pam Dutton to instruct them on their next case. Before they can meet with her, however, they notice two men running from the scene firing their guns. As they investigate the house they notice Pam is dead, but, Willa, her eldest daughter, is missing. Subplots are plenty as Michelle, who is still struggling to come to terms about her mother's death, returns home to be with her father. First Family is a beefy book with twists and turns reminiscent of a roller coaster. Its politics and scandals are so complex that the reader stays in tune with the book from page one, and doesn't blink until the book ends. David Baldacci has once again delivered a novel that will captivate its readers.

I would highly recommend reading Clarence Cage's epic novel Ashes Divide--Ashes Divide simply amazing.

Long Lost

2009-05-27T01:55:00.001-07:00

For those of you who have not read the Myron Bolitar books, they are exceptionally well written, full of humor, intense action and surprise twists and turns.

The long awaited and eagerly anticipated "Long Lost" installment of the series is one of the best. It is simply Harlan Coben at his best! (As I side note, I was surprised and disturbed by the reviews of 1 star that complained about the price or the purchase method. Reviews are meant for the books! And this book was great!)

Ten years ago, Myron Bolitar, sports agent, retired FBI agent, mystery solver and attorney, had dated TV personality Terese Collins. It didn't work out. Now she's returned, calling Myron from Paris because her ex-husband has been murdered and, of course, she is the primary suspect.

Worse, there is DNA at the scene and it belongs to her dead daughter. The twists and turns in this international search for the truth brings up truths that may have been better left buried (so to speak).

Forget the 1 star reviews here - this is an excellent book and Harlan Coben at his absolute best! You'll rediscover the rich psychopathic but ultimately loveable Windsor Lockwood the third, the ex-wrestling champ turned attorney and gorgeous Esperanza, and the writing style that has made Harlan a best selling author.

The Scarecrow

2009-05-27T01:54:00.001-07:00

Michael Connelly once worked as a reporter for the Los Angeles Times but it's nothing more than speculation on my part that the central character of this novel (Jack McEvoy) is loosely based on Connelly himself and his personal working experiences in the newspaper industry. It's the second time McEvoy has fronted a Connelly thriller, the first being The Poet, and once again Jack's involved in the hunt for a highly intelligent and organised serial killer. I so nearly gave this one 5 stars but reluctantly trimmed it by one because, good as it is, it doesn't quite have that special feel to it that many of the Harry Bosch tales provide.

It could easily be one of the best thrillers of 2009, though. Connelly's a far more accomplished author these days and I would say that this is actually a better-told story than The Poet, even if The Scarecrow himself isn't as esoteric or as enigmatic as the earlier creation. Instead we are given a well-structured, pacey thriller that might defy credibility on more than one occasion but it entertains at all times and for that we get our money's worth. As a character Jack McEvoy lacks the magnetic draw of Connelly's main man Harry Bosch but his 'ordinary guy' personality will appeal to many. He teams up with FBI agent Rachel Walling who also featured in The Poet and who has had a relationship with Bosch in the past, although, tantalisingly, this is only hinted at in the dialogue here and Bosch's name is never actually mentioned. The backgrounds to the story are very topical - company downsizing, redundancy, difficulties in selling a property and on-line invasion and identity theft. It's Jack who faces the door as his newspaper faces the inevitable slide towards surrender to on-line news reporting, so he wants to go out with a bang and write a story to remember. What he doesn't realise is that he will be very much part of the story itself.

The reader knows who the killer is from the outset, and this has been a recipe for low levels of suspense in the past (from all crime fiction writers) but there are no such problems here as Connelly is one of the best at putting together a rivetting story that just keeps you turning the pages. I must say though that the one big question that I was asking from an early stage was never resolved, and I suspect that Connelly tried to come up with answers but ultimately decided not to offer any. I won't go into any detail but he does address this question in a kind of epilogue, so it was a relief that he showed an awareness of it, but still slightly disappointing that he couldn't create a solution. Instead I suppose the reader has to draw their own conclusion.

It's been a busy year for Michael Connelly, with The Brass Verdict still fresh in our minds and the eagerly-awaited Bosch outing Nine Dragons later this year; perhaps another topical sign of the times is that even the writers at the top of the tree are finding the going tough in this recession and they find themselves having to publish two novels a year rather than the usual one! Or perhaps Connelly's publishers are under the knife, who knows. But the fact is, The Scarecrow is most definitely not a 'filler' in between two proper Haller & Bosch escapades, no it's a very good crime thriller on its own and more than up to the author's expectedly high standards. If you're a Connelly fan, you'll have this already. If you're wondering if he's as good as you've heard, then buy this with confidence because chances are you'll want more of the same - and there's a treasure chest of a back-catalogue to enjoy. I have read every single one and he continues to rank as one of the very best in the world of crime fiction.

A Walk in the Woods

2009-05-27T01:50:00.001-07:00

Bill Bryson has a great sense of humor and an excellent, precise way of expressing it. My husband had just had heart surgery when I started reading this book. I was concerned that my LOL while reading A Walk in the Woods might disturb him as I sat next to his hospital bed. However, on the other hand, I thought it might expedite the healing process. He told me later he heard me laughing and it made him feel better. So, there you go, Bill, your book is good for heart patients!!

Bill and buddy, Stephen Katz, the only person to take Bill up on the offer to join him as he hiked the Appalachian Trail in 1997?, began their odyssey on March 9 (this just happened to be the day I began reading the book...2007). The laughs came early and continued throughout, though parts of the book are more history and information than comedy. I took notes in these sections.

Both Bryson and Katz were out of shape when they hit the AT, but Bill noticed his body slimming and becoming more svelte right away (one thing I looked for, but never found, was word on how the adventure affected Katz's weight and figure. I would've been interested in knowing that). The men hiked the AT in two segments and, incidentally, did not hike the entire trail, which they decided was okay. I agree. At any rate, they hiked a few weeks in pre- and early spring and again in the heat of August. While they were off the trail, Bryson took day trips to walk parts of the AT between where he and Katz left off and the Hundred Mile Wilderness in Maine they planned to hike in August. This book not only tells the tale of two men attempting to walk the 2,200 miles of the AT, but is full of history lessons, geological and geographical information, stories of lost/doomed hikers, and social intercourse (i.e., the more than rude, self-centered, and boorish hikers the boys meet on their next to last day on the trail the first time).

This book is a good companion so read it slowly, digest it thoroughly, and you will enjoy it immensely.

Founding Brothers

2009-05-26T00:59:00.000-07:00

In Founding Brothers, Joseph Ellis offers an excellent portrayal of the primary players of post-revolutionary America. The book is extremely readable which makes it appealing to a wide range of readers, yet provides the serious scholar with insightful historical analysis. Ellis establishes his thesis and develops it throughout the book, though , arguably, some chapters are more successful than others.
The book is by design not chronological, but does include detailed analysis of each founding father. Yet the book is not patriotic flag waving. Ellis' style is reminiscent of the consensus historians of the 1950s but with a modern approach. His portrayal shows the founding fathers separated by personalities and differences of opinion, but with the unique ability to set ambitions aside (more or less) to accomplish the nation's business. For instance, Alexander Hamilton and John Adams were both Federalists yet they hated one another, Ben Franklin drew criticism for anti-slavery beliefs, Thomas Jefferson ceased correspondence with George Washington (forever) and Adams (for fifteen years), James Madison and Hamilton divided the government, and Aaron Burr eventually killed Hamilton. But with the exception of this final example all were able to deal with these differences for the good of the country. Ellis illustrates his chapters with masterful synthesis.

There are times when Ellis' theory appears to wander, as with the case of slavery and the official "silence" that governed the subject. In this case the problem did not go away but instead exploded seventy years later in civil war. He also meanders throughout the chapter on Jefferson and Adams to the point that reading becomes tedious, but his overall effort is not adversely impacted.

It is Ellis' ability to synthesize that makes Founding Brothers so appealing. Political rivalries are not the product of recent history. Indeed, they are endemic to every generation of politicians. But Ellis' point is that these differences do not have to permanently scar the nation as a whole. Though he does not say it, this book ought to be required reading for anyone who enters Congress. The message is simple: check individual ambition at the Capitol door and perform the duties they were elected to do. In fact the first paragraph of "The Collaborators" should be the required method for determining presidential races.

Practically anyone who picks up this volume will not be disappointed. Ellis takes a complex period of history with an extremely complicated set of characters, and puts it into a concise, enjoyable format that amuses as well as teaches the reader.

American Creation

2009-05-26T00:58:00.000-07:00

Countless historians have written about the accidental or noninevitable nature of the American Revolution. The story bears repeating for Americans have enough trouble remembering what happened in their own lifetimes let alone 225 years ago. In the capable hands of Joseph Ellis the miracle of the founding is once again brought to life. As he did in Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation, Ellis takes another look at the achievements and the failures of the founding of the republic.

Ellis admits that his version of the founding is not very au courant with academic history departments. Here the founders have been reduced to dead white males who were "racists, classists, and sexists, a kind of rogues gallery of greats." Nor does he subscribe to the other extreme view, that the founders were demigods who created the republic through some masterstroke of divine inspiration.

The reality was that the founders were exceptional, but not without their flaws. Rather than one continuous narrative, Ellis has written seven essays dealing with certain pivotal events between the formative years of 1775 and 1803.

In the tradition of the "great man" school of history, Ellis chronicles certain key moments in American history as they were being acted out by famous individuals. Very different from, say, Howard Zinn's People's History of the United States: 1492 to Present (P.S.), a victim's history of America. We have Washington and the Continental army at Valley Forge; John Adams during the writing of the Declaration of Independence; James Madison and Patrick Henry at the Constitutional Convention, etc. The triumphs are well-known even to a forgetful country.

The tragedies that Ellis speaks of (to which Zinn devoted his entire book) were the failure to abolish slavery and to come up with a "truly just Indian policy."

The issue of slavery was never resolved because the Southerners at the Constitutional Convention threatened not to ratify unless slave-holding rights remained intact. Looking the other way was the only way the founders could get the new charter ratified. The issue festered for many years until it was abolished by the belated and bloody Civil War.

Ellis also has an excellent chapter on the negotiations between War Secretary Henry Knox and the charismatic Indian leader Alexander McGillvray. They were unable to consumate a peace treaty because their respective constituencies rejected the terms of the agreement.

Both tragedies were the product of the newly created and imperfect democracy. Southerners did not want to end slavery and Westerners did not want to allow the Indians any land. It was the tragedy of a democracy in which not every person had the right to vote.

If 1775 to 1803 was the time of American Creation, the years 1786 to 1788 were the most consequential. The debate between James Madison and Patrick Henry during the Virginia Ratifying Convention on federal and state's rights left open the question of which would have supremacy. The question is still open and the debate is still going on. The tension between state and federal government remains one of the most distinctive virtues of American government. Madison argued that government should not have the answers, but provide a forum for the debate. Now that's revolutionary.

American Gospel

2009-05-26T00:57:00.000-07:00

It is a well researched book about the influence of religion in American government. His premise is that the Founding Fathers created a kind of "public religion" in the words of Benjamin Franklin. The public religion was not specifically Christian, but broad enough to cover the Christian, the Jew, and the Deist. The Founding Fathers were classically educated as well. Annuit Coeptus is a paraphrase from Virgil. The Founding Fathers had a greater variety of religious beliefs than we realize. I find much truth in some of the ideas of Jefferson and Franklin, neither of which would be considered orthodox Christians in their time or ours. I think Thomas Payne offers some good ideas, too.

Christianity was more divided at the time of the revolution than it is today, and the importance of the differences was considered greater. One thing that is hard to recognize today is that not only was there a certain animosity toward Jews, or even Catholics, but the Protestant sects considered their differences important. In 1774, there was opposition to prayer in the Continental Congress, inspired in part by the Episcopalians' fear that having everyone join in a prayer would tend to treat all the religious traditions as equal.

Many of the quotes we usually hear in debates whether the United States is a "Christian" nation are given here, but what is particularly useful is that they are put in context. It does little good to say Washington said this and Jefferson said that in the abstract, without knowing what they were talking about.

Frequently there are references to people who worship twenty gods, or no gods being treated equally. In fact there were few who worshipped no gods then, and probably fewer who worshipped twenty. The point was made, however. There were also references to the ideal that the Muslim would be just as free to worship as anyone else (I think an amazingly impressive foresight in a country that had few if any Muslims).

It's hard to pick and choose from the book. In a way, it's so objective that more will find fault with it than do not. That's probably a sign of a good objective overview.

The main problem I see with the book is there's too little perspective of what it has meant to be pluralistic or secular in the context of the rest of the world. At the time of the American Revolution, a state without an official religion was a strange concept. The way of the world had always been that the government was run by a King who ruled by the grace of God, and in return protected God's true religion from heretics and blasphemers. Now in large parts of the world democracies in which people are more or less free to worship as they please are at least the aspiration, if not the reality, in most of the world. America was unique in creating and sustaining a state without an official link to a particular religious tradition.

Today, I think much of the world has passed us up. Today, Franklin's public religion has been replaced by a generic Judeo-Christianity where we are lucky, and a doctrinaire narrow fundamentalist Christianity where we are not. The doctrinaire Christianity does not seem to me to have much to do with the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth, but I've ranted about that before. It is true, however, that it is always hard work to maintain freedom, including freedom of religion. Preserving that freedom is a job that will never end.

This book may not be the definitive word on the subject, but it's balanced and well-researched. It's something that one should take into account before asserting that America is either a Christian nation or a godless one.

American Lion Review

2009-05-26T00:55:00.001-07:00

As he says, Meacham has "attempted to paint a biographical portrait of Jackson and of many... who lived and worked with him in his tumultuous years in power." The book concentrates almost entirely on the presidential years, with only enough on Jackson's earlier career to give the reader some idea of the man's personality, of how he rose to prominence and of his political views. Meacham provides an equally short coda on Jackson's post-presidential years until his death (1845). The book is not a "life and times" but is centered on Jackson's experiences in his political battles. The politics are Meacham's chief concern because he believes that Jackson's presidency transformed American political culture.

Jackson was the first president who was not from the pre-Revolutionary elite and was the first to be voted into office by a newly expanded electorate. Meacham views Jackson as the first to see the president as representing the entirety of the people and as the equal of Congress, entitled to shape policy and legislation without the traditional deference to Congressional views. Jackson thought that the people shared his beliefs and that he was fighting for their interests in everything he did. This vision sustained Jackson as he relentlessly expanded the powers of the president. Meacham believes that Jackson was a master politician who happily allowed opponents to think that he was entirely a creature of emotion and passion while coolly outmaneuvering them politically.

Meacham's approach has three main features: First, it is chronological, seldom deviating from a straight drive down the time line of the two administrations; Second, Meacham tells the story mainly through the principal political battles of Jackson's administrations (the major exception to this is Meacham's close look at Jackson's domestic life, but even this was affected by politics, particularly the Eaton affair) and Third, the book is a narrative throughout, not without editorial comments but with little in-depth analysis.

The counterpoint to the focus on political wars is provided, as Meacham states, by "previously unavailable documents, chiefly letters of Jackson's intimate circle that have largely been in private hands for the past 175 years...." These provide many vignettes regarding the prominent figures of the time (especially Jackson, of course) as well as glimpses of Jackson's private life among kin and friends. These allow the reader an unusually intimate share in the lives of many of the chief figures in the book and are Meacham's chief claim to an original contribution to Jackson studies.

I wanted to like this book but found it disappointing overall. The chronological approach does give the reader a sort of virtual experience of the need to address utterly different political problems at the same time; but it causes the narrative approach to be disjointed with one "story line" being interrupted by another after only a few paragraphs or pages with the usurping story itself being displaced in its turn soon after. Continuity and coherence become problematic, especially since the book is intended for general readers many of whom may know little or nothing about Jackson.

The relative lack of analysis was also a disappointment. While many issues of the Jackson presidency have been thoroughly analyzed by other historians (especially academic historians), readers would have profited from Meacham's personal political acumen in discussing the significance of Jackson's triumphs and defeats in changing American politics. His discussion of how Jackson's use of the veto, unprecedented in American history and instrumental in the expansion of presidential power, was very insightful and illuminated an unfamiliar area for me. It's beautiful work because it shows how an obscure and technical "procedural" issue can have major long-term implications. It also allows any thoughtful reader, even one who is a novice in the subject, to perceive how Jackson's innovation shifted the balance between president and Congress forever and eventually became the major element of presidential power that it is today. I wish Meacham had done more of this. While the "previously unavailable documents" provide valuable information about Jackson's private life and views, it does not make up for useful political analysis and insights.

I also think that Meacham's handling of Jackson's record on slavery and on the mistreatment of Native Americans does his readers a disservice. On slavery Jackson evidenced no awareness whatever of the ultimate injustice of slavery and particularly of racially based slavery. We can all agree today that slavery is unjust and racially based slavery even more so; but most in Jackson's day did not share this view. Slavery had been abolished in Britain only in 1833, when Jackson was already in his second administration; and the infant abolition movement in the US had almost no adherents in Jackson's time and for years afterward. The complete assumption of inherent white superiority was, of course, widely accepted in society until quite recently and is still held by a few. While Jackson would have been a morally superior person had he possessed a better appreciation of the injustice of slavery, he also would have been amazingly ahead of his time. To criticize him for this failing may be accurate but it is also ahistorical.

The same analysis applies in part to Jackson's treatment of Native Americans. While most white Americans favored pushing Native Americans aside whenever they were inconvenient to whites, Jackson's contempt for Native Americans seems to have been more extreme than usual. His treatment of them was certainly without moral or legal foundation and was unnecessarily cruel. For these latter failings Jackson can be justifiably and severely censured, but not for more.

Overall the book is a good general introduction to Jackson's life and the significance of his presidency, but it has major drawbacks.

From Colony to Superpower

2009-05-26T00:54:00.001-07:00

This new volume of the Oxford History of the United States tells the story of the foreign relations of the United States from its inception in 1776 to the present day. The author, George C Herring, is the Alumni Professor of History Emeritus at the University of Kentucky. He is the author of many books on United States foreign affairs, centering upon the War in Vietnam. Herring's study is nearly 1000 pages in length, but it is not a word too long. In its scope, learning, wisdom, and attempt to be even-handed, it is a joy to read.

Herring tells a long story of a subject with many unexpected turns and changes of perspective over the years. I enjoyed the sense of continuity that this large history brings to its subject. Herring shows how leading ideas and tensions in American foreign policy developed from the beginning of the new nation and both persisted and were transformed as the nation developed. His book encourages the reader to see how United States policy developed in particular parts of the world over time, such as in Latin America, Canada, the Middle East, and Vietnam. This encourages a depth of understanding that cannot be provided from reading the newspapers or even from specialized scholarly accounts of a single period.

The book begins with the Revolutionary era, and the first two of Herring's chapter titles state themes of American history that are repeated many times throughout the study: America's perceived mission "To Begin the World Over Again" and the need to keep the nation strong and prepared so that there are "None who Can Make us Afraid." The theme of mission is tied, broadly, to American idealism and exceptionalism. The theme of strength is tied, again generally, to realism. Herring identifies a combination of these broad traits in, among other ways, the "practical idealism" of Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln.

From the Revolution, the book proceeds through the War of 1812, American expansionism and "Manifest Destiny" in the Mexican War, foreign relationships during the Civil War, the Spanish-American War and American Empire, World War I and II, the Cold War and its aftermath, Vietnam, and our nation's current situation in Iraq, among many other recurring themes. The final section of the book on the war in Iraq seems to me rushed. It is difficult to bring a historical perspective to bear upon ongoing, changing events.

Herring pays close attention to transitional periods that are sometimes overlooked, including foreign policy in the Gilded Age and foreign policy in the years between the two world wars, that helped me to understand the larger, better-known aspects of the United States's foreign relations. Commendably, Herring also considers the United States's relationships with the Indian tribes as within the purview of foreign affairs during the time in which the United States expanded across the continent.

In general, Herring writes non-dogmatically and non-polemically. He makes his opinions known but frequently points out other interpretations and ways of trying to understand the history. He seems to admire greatly Woodrow Wilson and his efforts before, during, and after WW I to bring a just peace to a troubled world. Herring also finds much to praise, as well as to question, in figures such as Washington, Hamilton, Adams, and Jefferson, John Quincy Adams, Elihu Root, and Franklin Roosevelt. He offers qualified praise for George H.W. Bush, for "the strategic vision of Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger" and for the "ability to adapt and adjust displayed by Ronald Reagan."

In the introduction to his study, Herring develops themes such as the relationship between realism and idealism in informing United States foreign policy, expansionism, and the tensions between the Executive Branch, Congress, lobbying groups, and the electorate in the conduct of foreign affairs. Herring is critical of what he perceives as the current unilateralist tendency in American foreign relations and he recommends a course that disclaims American exceptionalism or arrogance. He concludes that "the United States cannot dictate the shape of a new world order, but the way it responds to future foreign policy challenges can help ensure its security and well-being and exert a powerful influence for good or ill."

Herring has written an outstanding addition to the Oxford History of the United States. It taught me a great deal about American history and the American experience.

The Glorious Cause

2009-05-26T00:51:00.001-07:00

The inaugural volume of the highly honored but still unfinished "Oxford History Of The United States" series is "The Glorious Cause: The American Revolution, 1763-1789," a superbly written, scholarly, and highly literate account of the America's War for Independence. Written by Robert L. Middlekauff, Professor of History... this is the finest account of the Revolutionary War I've found to date... even better than Benson Bobrick's "Angel in the Whirlwind," which I've already reviewed.
"The Glorious Cause" is a comprehensive account of the American Revolution designed to give readers a well rounded overview of not only the causes of the war, but also of how the war was fought. The book succeeds admirably at its task. After finishing "The Glorious Cause," I felt a much greater appreciation for the men and women whose struggle for freedom brought forth on the North American continent a new and independent nation - the United States of America.

"The Glorious Cause" begins by examining the causes of the American Revolution. In one of the book's earliest chapters, entitled "The Children of the Twice Born," Middlekauff carefully lays out his closely reasoned and well argued thesis: that the seeds of revolution were planted long before the war was actually fought. Those seeds, embodied in the economic, social, political, and religious fabric of American society, made the evolution to democracy on the North American continent almost inevitable.

The earliest settlers came to the New World because of their disenchantment with authoritarian English laws and what they viewed as centralized, overly ritualistic, dogmatic Anglican religion. When the settlers arrived with their ideals of political and congregationalist religious democracy, they found land cheap and plentiful. Whereas only about 20 percent of all Englishmen were landowners, and hence were eligible to participate in England's parliamentary democracy, over 50 percent of American colonists owned land and therefore could take part in colonial parliamentary government. The result: provincial representative assemblies tended to do the bidding of their constituents rather than the royal governors. After the Seven Years' War, tension between American political and economic interests and the interests of the British government was exacerbated by Parliament's intent to restore Britsh prerogatives in America.

Tension was bound to lead to conflict, and that conflict wasn't long in coming. The American colonies were left pretty much to their own economic and political devices during the Seven Years' War, so long as they provided support for Britain's war against the French. The colonists bore the brunt of the fighting during the war against the French in North America; at war's end, they expected to be permitted to return to some semblance of self-government. It was not to be, however. Under Britain's new King and a Parliament with a new-found awareness of the American colonies' potential to enrich their colonial masters, Parliament began enacting a series of laws (Stamp Act, Townshend Acts, Sugar Act, etc.) designed to bring the colonies to heel. The colonists, thoroughly imbued with the ideals of democracy and liberty, rebelled, first through political means, and finally, inevitably, through violence.

Once "The Glorious Cause" completes its assessment of the causes of the war, it takes the reader on a fascinating journey through the war itself. The way the American Revolution was fought is frequently shrouded in the mists of legend, with great American heroes standing tall against the overwhelming might of the British and Hessian armies. There are strong elements of historical truth to that legend, but Middlekauff does an excellent job of portraying the war exactly as it was: a very closely contested fight between colonial masters and those who wished to throw off the yoke of colonialism.

There's really almost nothing to criticize in "The Glorious Cause." It is, in nearly every respect, an outstanding work of history. It's comprehensive in its scope; thorough in its approach; obviously very well researched; and imbued with careful, thoughtful, and incisive historical analysis. Middlekauff's descriptions of Revolutionary War battles are first-rate. The author completely captures the flavor of eighteenth century warfare in general, and of the battles of the American Revolution in particular. When I finished reading "The Glorious Cause," I felt as if I had actually been there at some of the great battles of the war.

One very minor caveat: because "The Glorious Cause" takes a fairly academic approach to studying the American Revolution, the book's somewhat lofty and scholarly sounding language may not appeal to readers with only a passing interest in history in general, and the American Revolution in particular. That's not to say the book has only a narrow appeal to academics and history scholars, however; it is definitely written for the general reader with a love of American history. It will, in my view, prove a most satisfying experience for the vast majority of history lovers who decide to read it.

"The Glorious Cause" is a winner of a book in every respect. With a dearth of excellent books about the American Revolution currently in print, this volume fills a crucial need for those who wish to learn about America's struggle for independence. As the inaugural volume of the "Oxford History Of The United States," "The Glorious Cause" also sets the tone for the whole series... highly readable, thoroughly imbued with first-rate scholarship and a polished, eloquent writing style; and simply a pleasure to read.

Freedom from Fear

2009-05-26T00:50:00.001-07:00

David Kennedy's book, "Freedom From Fear" is a monumental achievement of historical writing.
Covering the years from just before outbreak The Great Depression to the end of World War II and the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the author focuses on the impact which Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) had on America during this seminal period of our history, and how his influence still impacts on our country today.

"Freedom From Fear" is an extremely long book--over 900 pages in length--and the early chapters, detailing various aspects of The "New Deal" and the many agencies under the "New Deal" which F.D.R. helped establish, are a bit too detailed and not quite as interesting as the rest of the book. But none of the wealth of information which Kennedy gives is dull or uninteresting--and when Kennedy starts to write about the events that occurred in Europe and the Pacific during World WarII, his book becomes as enthralling as any novel.

A previous Amazon Reviewer faults Kennedy for being anti-Rosevelt and says that Kennedy feels "nothing Roosevelt did seems right." I wonder if we have read the same book! Kennedy is an obvious admirer of F.D.R. and does not hesitate to point out his many accomplishments and praise his ability as a politician and "visionary" in helping to draw so many conflicting elements in Congress and the country as a whole, together.

Kennedy DOES point out that Roosevelt kept many of his thoughts and motives to himself--and that even his closest friends didn't know always exactly what he was THINKING. But the fact remains that F.D.R. accomplished wonders in drawing our country together and restoring a "Faith in ourselves" as a nation, that was woefully lacking until he became president. Kennedy gives more than ample credit to Rosevelt's accomplishments, and is an impartial enough as a historian to also mention his weaknesses and faults. Fortunately for our country, his accomplishments far outweigh his weaknesses!

A further observation about this book, which I think should attract a wide readership and make his book appealing to all organization is superb! His writing is extremely clear and free of "pedanticism." His chapters, describing the various battles fought during World War II (i.e. The Battle of Midway; Guadalcanal, Iwo Jima, etc.), are as riveting as any novel.Written as a historian, Kennedy still has a novelist's flair for bringing what he writes about to life on the printed page. The "facts" he presents are totally free from "colorization"--but the WAY he presents them is dramatic and thoroughly engrossing.

One of the most appealing aspects of his book is his "organization" of material. His accounts of the personalities of many of the world leaders described in his book are seemlessly interspersed with the history he is describing. His "profiles" of various leaders are gems of cogent brevity.

"Freedom From Fear" is historical writing at its best--detailed, always interesting--and dramatic in in impact. It amply deserves to win a Pulitzer Prize--which I hope it does!

Battle Cry of Freedom

2009-05-26T00:49:00.001-07:00

I read this book after having read two other books on the Battle of Gettysburg. I found that I wanted to know more about the circumstances surrounding that battle, the situation of the two armies, the generals, the politicians, and the state of the economies of the two sides engaged. But I was daunted by the plethora of information on the American Civil War. I had no desire to immerse myself in some three or four volume 2000-page work because, aside from believing myself unable to keep everything in perspective and not to get bogged down in minutiae, I reasoned that plain laziness and attention span problems would keep me from ever finishing anything like that. Plus I had to admit that it was the battles that interested me the most, and I despaired of having to read a separate book or two on each of the dozens of battles that are considered "major" during those four years.

Then I found this book: a single volume that encompasses the entire conflict from its military and political antecedents to the economic and sociological ingredients that forced the Union to enter into a war that would change forever the face of democracy. And this book did not give short shrift to the battles. To the contrary, the battles remain central and are accompanied by helpful maps.

I took a chance on this book and now that I have finished it I have to say that it is all that I could have hoped for.

Battle Cry of Freedom does what would appear to be the impossible: it includes virtually everything of consequence about the war and continues to hold the reader's interest. There are periods, especially when delving into some of the voting and politicking, the changes of party affiliations, voting data, etc., that get somewhat tedious. But if the reader is willing to work his way through these chapters he finds that he will come out the wiser, and that the next chapter, perhaps one on the next military campaign, will be better understood in itself because the larger context has been appreciated.

How James McPherson (no relation to the Union general of that name) was able to do this is nothing short of astonishing, a kind of scholarly and artistic legerdemain that allows so much to be packed into so short a space. If you want to know as much as your head can comfortably hold, and you do not want to read an entire shelf of your local library to do it, then this book is a must. My wife and I read large portions of this book out loud to one another (heartily recommended) and had our own discussions about it. We also read, concurrently, a shorter book, "Decisive Battles of the Civil War" as a companion piece to get another concise overview of the military engagements themselves.

McPherson has a definite Northern bias, but he is always fair about giving the other side its time in court. It is, after all, the North that won, and our country is what it is today because of that. The South's many disadvantages were built into its culture and ideology. Nonetheless, we intend to read Shelby Foote's three volumes to get a Southern perspective. I would not have had the gumption to go further if McPerson had not made the whole terrible period more understandable in the first place.

Do not be afraid to take the plunge.

Lincoln

2009-05-26T00:48:00.001-07:00

"Lincoln" is a remarkable look at Abraham Lincoln as he advanced from extremely poor, rural roots, in what was then the western United States, into both the Illinois legislature and the U.S. Congress for one term, through a career as a self-taught lawyer, and finally to the presidency. The author has extensively researched Lincoln's movements, first-hand accounts of his utterances, his formal speeches and writings, as well as official records kept in the discharge of his various duties and offices.
It is a fascinating look at the evolution of the character and personality of a man of meager origins and virtually no formal education. Lincoln was driven to make something of himself; this is best seen in his insatiable desire to educate himself. Beyond self-development, Lincoln had an inherent ability to relate to others. He combined humility with a great ability to tell stories. This ease among his fellow citizens led to his being elected to the Illinois legislature at a fairly young age and to a reasonably successful career as a lawyer.

Lincoln was a Whig and devotee of Henry Clay and his American system of internal improvements. But it would be completely wrong to regard Lincoln as mostly an opportunistic politician. He was principled, if anything. Manipulating a political view to get elected would have never occurred to Lincoln. Furthermore, Lincoln was a man of his word. When elected to Congress in 1846, he returned home after one term as he promised, though undoubtedly he could have been re-elected. However, the author shows that Lincoln became very astute politically with a substantial network of political friends both at the state and national levels.

Early in Lincoln's career, slavery was seldom an issue. But by the mid-1850s, slavery came to dominate the political and social life of the country. Lincoln, though clearly antislavery, was not an abolitionist. In his debates with Stephen Douglas in 1858 and on his way to being elected president in 1860, Lincoln articulated, often eloquently, a moderate position on slavery that resonated with a large segment of Northern voters. The extension of slavery to new territories became the foremost issue of the day as compared to eradication.

Lincoln was probably not technically qualified to be president; he had never held an administrative post of any importance. Nor did hundreds of high-level administrative assistants perform most of his duties, as is the case in the modern era. In addition, Lincoln faced perhaps the greatest challenge that any president in our history ever has. The secession of the South exacerbated political divides in the country. Not only did Lincoln have to deal with radical and moderate Republicans and War and Peace Democrats, but also his own cabinet, populated with some of his political rivals, exhibited the same sort of splits. Militarily, the U.S. was totally unprepared to put down a rebellion, as Lincoln called it, of the size that the Confederacy represented. He was often driven to the edge of his patience in dealing with a series of incompetent generals that cost the Northern armies defeat after defeat in the early years of the War.

The author captures the immense pressures on Lincoln during his presidency. His ungainliness was fodder for the various political factions that publicly labeled Lincoln as an "imbecile" or a "baboon." Though the presidency took a tremendous toll on Lincoln, he retained his generally good humor, even seeing countless numbers of nameless citizens straight from the streets in his office. He functioned at a high level of awareness, navigating the political minefields of the day, in making difficult decisions. The Emancipation Proclamation of 1863 was just such a decision. It was a typically moderate Lincoln response to the antislavery and unionist extremists. When Lincoln was shot at the beginning of his second term, he had prevailed and brought the country through a terrible experience through the sheer strength and flexibility of his intellect and personality. One doubts whether there existed another individual in the country at that time, who could have dealt with all of the issues that Lincoln did with the same degree of success.

Though the author is favorably deposed towards Lincoln, he does not push Lincoln on the reader - he does not have to. He does a great job of letting the reader closely watch Lincoln in action for about forty years. It is an incredible story.

Team of Rivals

2009-05-26T00:47:00.000-07:00

I feel I'm being somewhat presumptuous adding this, the 246th review to date of Doris Kearns Goodwin's "Team of Rivals" but I have my two cents and aim to chuck it in. My perspective is not only that of an avid reader and student of US History, but as a teacher of it. From any standpoint I can most unequivocally add my endorsement of this masterful work.
I did not feel so much as I read about Abraham Lincoln as hung out with him and to a slightly lesser extent his cabinet. For one thing the book is long ( I was glad for every page and could have gladly read several dozen more) and for another it is rich with details of the time, events and mostly the people -- particularly, of course old Honest Abe himself.
I recently heard a professor of U.S. history with 20 years of service at a leading university and several books to her credit, assert that it is a misnomer to credit Lincoln with freeing the slaves. Granted, Lincoln did not walk unto plantations and swing open the gates, but his contributions to full emancipation are second to no other single person. Likewise it is he to whom the overwhelming credit must be granted for keeping the country whole in the face of secession and civil war.
And while there is little argument in my mind as to Lincoln's accomplishments as 16th president, there is absolutely no arguing about the manner in which he went about his duties. Finding a president who was more thoughtful or articulate a writer, more persuasive or eloquent a speaker or more compassionate a human being would be a futile task.
Rising from humble origins with nothing much to speak of in the way of a formal education, Lincoln managed to become a successful lawyer and a passionate well-regarded opponent of slavery. That he parlayed his speaking talents and a single brief term in public office to become the first successful Republican president is a remarkable story best told by Goodwin. Speaking of stories...Lincoln was a master at regaling audiences both large and small and Goodwin herself is superb at relating to the reader Lincoln's gift. This is a crucial gift in understanding Lincoln and his talent at governing.
In addition to a thorough Lincoln introduction, Goodwin presents for our consideration his rivals for the presidency who would, not coincidentally, later form his cabinet. William Seward of New York who became Lincoln's Secretary of State, was my personal favorite, while Ohio's Salmon Chase, Treasury Secretary, was someone I never warmed up to as he continued machinations against Lincoln until the end of his term. Readers will also become acquainted with secretaries Edwin Stanton and Edward Bates, along with other important government officials, various generals, Lincoln's family and friends.
The hook on which Goodwin hangs her account of the Lincoln presidency is his eager use of those rivals and how shrewd politically he was to make them the center of his governing circle. But this was not merely politically adroit, Lincoln also recognized he had brought in the most able minds of the time to serve him and thus the country at its most vulnerable point I (a far cry from recent political leaders who surround themselves with like-minded loyalists).
Readers can expect to have their understanding of Lincoln greatly enriched whether they agree or not with all aspects of Goodwin's interpretation of the man. They will also develop a keener appreciation for the era prior to the Civil War and the war itself. Mostly they will have the great pleasure of spending time in Lincoln's Springfield home and the White House of his tenure.
As a history teacher reading "Team of Rivals" has left me feeling better equipped to tell my students Lincoln's story and thus the story of our country at it's most decisive moments.

Means of Ascent

2009-05-26T00:46:00.000-07:00

I loved "The Path to Power" but I held off on reading this volume because I could not understand why Caro would devote an entire volume to seven years in LBJ's life. After I read this book, I have no doubt that this decision was a good one. These years--particularly the 1948 Democratic Senatorial Primary--were some of the most historically significant events on the last hundred years. It was this election that perhaps more than any other lay the foundation for politics as we know it. Without the eventual win in this election, Caro argues that LBJ's political career would have been finished. If that were true, he never would have gone on to be president. And if that did not happen, one most ask would Vietnam or "The Great Society" ever have happened quite the way they did. Caro is very convincing in arguing that this dramatic election is one of the most important in U.S. History.

Aside from the significance of the year, I would like to emphasize what a truly exciting read this volume is. I was utterly enthralled to read about what unfolded next in the battle for the democratic candidacy for Texas' senatorial seat. This in spite of the fact that everyone reading the book already knows the outcome. Many have said that this is a hatchet job on LBJ. While this is not a positive portrait of LBJ as a moral figure, it praises him highly as a calculating politician--possibly one of the greatest of all times. The other thing to remember is that Caro is highlighting an election in 1940s Texas, which has always been notorious for corruption in politics (witness the cartoonish and stranger-than-fiction Pappy O'Daniel). The difference in this case was that Coke Stevenson was not as willing to accept that corruption as LBJ was. It is also a lament for the loss of politicians like Stevenson, who one feels Caro holds in much higher regard than LBJ, as will most readers--despite political leanings--once they complete this volume.

This volume is--hands down--one of the most exciting books I have read in a long time. I found it fascinating and could not put it down. I look forward to moving on to the third volume (The Master of the Senate) but I fear how long I will have to wait for the next volume after that.

The Power Broker

2009-05-26T00:45:00.000-07:00

I first picked up The Power Broker when it was published 25 years ago. Since then I've re-read it three or four times over the years. It is a true monument to Caro that this book has remained in print in both hc and pb over these years.
This massive work is at the same time a biography of Robert Moses and the metropolitan New York City area. Moses, originally a reformer and a true public servant, somehow became tainted by the power entrusted to him. It was his way or no way -- and once he became firmly entrenched there was no "no way." A typical Moses tactic: design a great public work (bridge, for example) and underestimate the budget. A bargain sure to be approved and funded by the politicians! Then run out of money halfway through construction. The rest of the money will surely be forthcoming because no politician wants to be associated with a half-finished and very visibile "failure" -- it's much better to take credit for an "against the odds" success.

I grew up in NYC at the tail end of Moses' influence and I remember the 1964 Worlds Fair in NYC vividly, especially a "guidebook" that lionized Moses' construction prowess. In school, Moses' contribution was also taught (always positively) when we had units covering NYC history. If nothing else, Moses understood the power of good publicity, and used tactics later adopted by the current mayor (King Rudy) to control the press and public opinion. This book brings Moses back to human scale and deconstructs (no pun intended) his impact on the city.

The book is long, detailed, and compelling. Great beach reading -- especially at Jones Beach! Now that it is celebrating its 25th anniversary, a new retrospective afterword from the author would be appreciated (perhaps a reprint of the article he wrote for the New Yorker a few years ago on how he wrote the book).

An interesting counterpoint to this biography of Moses is The Great Bridge by David McCollough. This story of a great public works project is also a biography of the Roeblings, the family of engineers who designed and built it. They shared Moses' singlemindedness, but the methods and results had far less negative results.

Gotham

2009-05-26T00:43:00.001-07:00

This is the definitive book on New York City history and is a remarkable accomplishment for it's authors. You'll find in Gotham not only a history of New York City (and an exhaustive one at that) but by default, a companion to the study of the foundations of this nation. Gotham is remarkably colorful in it's portrayal of the many characters that make up the history of this great city but doesn't skimp on poignant, and sometimes sobering, detail. An ambitious read, but worth every word. This is the kind of book that spawns the reading of ten more!
A sure cure for the unfortunate predisposition of the popular media to portray the history of New York as beginning with the first immigrant who set foot on Ellis Island (the book terminates prior to 1900). Read Gotham and become immersed in the richness of the mostly untold New York story.

The Island at the Center of the World

2009-05-26T00:42:00.001-07:00

Russell Shorto's The Island at the Center of the World is a chronicle of the early years of Manhattan, when it was known as New Amsterdam and was a relatively short-lived Dutch colony. According to Shorto, this period in New York history has not only been given short shift by historians, but also is crucial to understanding the development and character of New York City and the United States. Shorto believes that most students of United States history have assumed that New York City's history only really got underway when the English took over and instilled some order.

This is due in part to the disdain that the British held for the Dutch, and to the fact that the subsequent histories of the United States were told from their biased perspective. However, Shorto demonstrates that New Amsterdam was a viable society of its own, and that its unique character among the early American colonies had a remarkable impact on the future United States. For Shorto, as the first "multi-ethnic, upwardly mobile society on America's shores ... Manhattan is where America began."

Shorto is not a professional historian, but rather a professional writer, and he is writing for a popular audience. As a result his work flows in a novelistic manner, with vivid descriptions, imaginative poetic license, interesting asides, informal language and even bawdy humor used to liven things up. His acknowledged inspiration is the late Barbara Tuchman, whose meticulously researched books set a standard for bridging the gap between dense scholarship and popular appeal. Indeed, she managed to make a bestseller out of a 800+ page book about the 14th century, among other subjects, and Shorto emulates her with a knack for a compelling narrative drawn from myriad primary sources.

In this case, the primary sources are comprised of diaries, court documents, letters and municipal records found all over the world, principally in New York and the Netherlands, which are only recently being given the scholarly attention that they deserve. Shorto describes a sort of renaissance in colonial studies, spurned by a new interest in the Dutch period, and he is admittedly standing on the shoulders of giants, i.e., the professional historians who have let this popular writer have a look at their on-going research. At the center of this scholarship is a 12,000-page trove of documents relating to New Amsterdam, now residing in the New York State Library in Albany after narrowly escaping several brushes with destruction.

Written in dense 17th century Dutch, they are still in the midst of being translated by Dr. Charles Gehring, a specialist in that narrow field. The story of the documents' survival and Dr. Gehring's research is itself very entertaining, and is told breathlessly by Shorto as if he can't quite believe his good fortune at being privy to the them. That Dr. Gehring's work figures so prominently throughout the book is testament both to his importance to the project, and Shorto's debt to him.

Shorto traces New Amsterdam's character, naturally, to Amsterdam and Dutch society. He points out that Dutch society was the most tolerant in Europe at the time, a place where dissidents and controversial thinkers could come to escape persecution. The book is filled with examples of this enlightened atmosphere, from philosophers like Descartes and Spinoza to the interesting fact that one-half of all books in Europe were published in the Netherlands. Fresh from the highly resented imperial rule of the Spanish, the Dutch were particularly sensitive to liberal notions of free-speech and self-determination. Furthermore, Shorto suggests that because New Amsterdam was a company town, and never intended to be a settlement colony, attitudes toward religious and national differences were put aside to a remarkable degree. Business is business, after all, and distractions were unwelcome in this market society.

New Amsterdam was not entirely a reflection of Dutch society, however. Indeed, Shorto points out that because Amsterdam was a pleasant place even for the poor, only the very lowest order of society could be convinced to populate the far-away outpost of New Amsterdam, and thus the city became populated with a particularly rough-and-tumble crowd. Through court records he brings to life some of these figures, and this time spent with various average residents is one of the more delightful aspects of the book. He recounts a lively atmosphere full of drunkenness, casual violence, and casual sex, all of which help to make the book entertaining to a popular audience. He even mixes in a fair amount of humor, such as when he writes of a record concerning a woman who, as her husband sleeps off a drunken stupor, "'dishonorably manipulated the male member' of a certain Irishman while two other men looked on." Shorto can't help himself, and remarks, "Excessive rigidity (of the moral kind) was not the sin of New Amsterdam's residents."

As interesting as it is to read about these forgotten average people, the backbone of the book rests with two more important figures. One is Pieter Stuyvesant, an early governor of the colony, who is well known to modern New York residents due to the fact that streets, squares and apartment complexes have been named for him. His statue can be seen in Stuyvesant Square, and his tombstone is built into the side of St. Mark's-in-the-Bowery church in the East Village. Running in front of that church is Stuyvesant St., still running today in true East-West (at odds with the surrounding grid) as it did in Stuyvesant's time. The other figure is Adriaen van der Donck, an attorney trained in Europe who, for mysterious reasons, turned his back on a prosperous and comfortable life in Holland and took a position in New Netherland.

For Shorto, van der Donck is the true "hero of the story" who has been unjustifiably forgotten by American history; Shorto makes clear that he aims to rectify this lack of recognition.
Both characters are vividly drawn. Stuyvesant is a no-nonsense, autocratic governor hardened by the loss of a leg to a Spanish round in the Caribbean. The pages detailing 17th century amputation techniques, and Stuyvesant's wound festering for nine years in a tropical climate, are quite harrowing, and one is left with no doubt as to why his personality may have developed as it did.

Shorto's narrative structure sets van der Donck in opposition to Stuyvesant; van der Donck is a believer in liberal notions of tolerance, human rights, free speech and representative government who found himself at odds with Stuyvesant's world of absolute rule. Their struggle comprises the central conflict of the book, and Shorto credits van der Donck's (sort of) victory as setting the stage for modern America's recognition of liberal values.

In pursuit of this premise, despite a little bit of hyperbole that pops up in his zeal to "close the deal", Shorto has written a very engaging book with a convincing argument. The modern reader has been deliberately and skillfully engaged by utilizing anachronistic notions like "geopolitical landscape" and even "bar scene." It works: the reader is taken back and asked to imagine New Amsterdam via Shorto's vibrant descriptive ability, and in the process comes to appreciate the binds that tie a long-past society to our own.

Mannahatta

2009-05-26T00:41:00.001-07:00

This is a heavy and substantial tome (inevitably printed in China - where else?) which details the author's amazing work in reconstructing the stunningly-beautiful natural environment of Manhattan Island in 1609, when the Dutch explorer Henry Hudson and his crew first laid eyes on it.

This much I already knew before purchasing the book, but frankly, I was disappointed when I actually got it. In part this is because the book seems to struggle to decide what it wants to be. A major portion does indeed deal with Manhattan Island in 1609. There are a number of amazing images put together with the latest computer-generated image technology after painstaking field research and with the 18th century British headquarters map. They depict a Manhattan so beautiful it brings tears to the eyes, particularly when you consider how totally the natural environment of the island has been destroyed. Still, I was left only half-satisfied, and would love to have seen something other than simulated aerial views, i.e. some neighborhood by neighborhood ground-level close-ups with descriptions (maybe they exist somewhere, but the link to the [...] website printed on the book's jacket didn't work; perhaps it's not up yet). But apart from reprints of historical paintings and drawings, there is less detail than I would have expected. Nor is there much discussion (apart from references to the laying-out of the grid street-plan and the grading involved) of the Manhattan archeological record, or of the massive and traumatic process of changing the primitive woodland paradise of 1609 into an unrecognizable agricultural and then urban environment. Since the earliest Dutch prints of New Amsterdam in the book already show a treeless tip of southern Manhattan, the colonists clearly wasted no time in proceeding with an aggressive program of land-clearing and filling. Perhaps few records exist, but it would have been interesting to learn more about how this happened, and how the deforestation progressed over the decades. For that matter, the calculated rapaciousness with which the natural environment of Manhattan was destroyed over 3 centuries also gets short shrift; to anyone acquainted with the degraded environment of NY City today & the meager environmental consciousness of its citizenry, Sanderson is oddly optimistic as he compares the 'natural biosphere' of the virgin landscape of 1609 to the 'human biosphere' of Times Square in 2009, and talks enthusiastically about a green NY which sounds more like Portland, Oregon.

Dr. Sanderson also digresses with lengthy chapters best described as philosophical ruminations on the nature of environmental research, the composition of biospheres, and the super-green Manhattan of 2409 (a wildly-optimistic scenario which combines elements of agriculture and a Disney 'city of tomorrow') only indirectly related to recreating Manhattan's lush original environment. The chapter on Manhattan's original inhabitants, the Lenni Lenape indians is fascinating, but only emphasizes how utterly the historical record of these people, who dwelt on Manhattan for hundreds of generations, has been erased.

Fully the last quarter of the book is a series of appendices, some of which are fascinating (catalog of the brooks, streams, and ponds of Manhattan), though one wonders whether so many lists were really needed.

Dr. Sanderson's enthusiasm for his topic comes through loud and clear. I just wish a bit more of it had been translated into the concrete and included in this book.

Quantum Success

2009-05-25T01:41:00.000-07:00

Well, Ms. Taylor has done it again...or, rather, outdone herself! In Secrets of Attraction, the author shows us how we not only set the stage for our life-performance but inadvertently instruct other "players" to treat us well or badly, based on how we think about and treat ourselves. In her latest book,Quantum Success, we are taken several steps further into the quantum realm (layman's terms, thankyou!) for a step-by-step lesson on how, precisely, to put these universal laws to work for ourselves in the areas of money and personal fulfillment. An easy, riveting read with many "aha" moments along the way. We've all heard it before...we've all read it before...some of us might even be able to "teach the class" so to say; but never before has any one book put these sound and viable principles into words that actually worked their way into my consciousness where I believe they will stay forever. Thank you, Sandra Anne Taylor, Hay House, and Amazon.Com. A must-read for anyone on the verge of financial ruin (or great good fortune) who is totally ready for an extra nudge or great leap of faith into a new way of thinking about and using MONEY. This is not just another "self help" blog - this is a highly interactive and effective tool for those who are willing to give up the notion that there is "only so much to go around" and let go of all guilt surrounding the idea of "having it ALL". The good news is, "Having it ALL" IS an option and everyone deserves to manifest their fondest wishes and fulfill their desire for financial freedom. This book will show you how to do it, quickly and easily. 5 stars...two thumbs up...buy the book! The principles in this book literally saved my business and helped me to start a new one, in addition. I recently had the opportunity to hear Ms. Taylor speak at a conference in Orlando. What a presence! I am a confirmed fan of this author and her skillful contributions have, in my opinion, put heretofore obscure ideas into language that the average person can understand and utilize. Here's hoping there is a third book underway!

The Intention Experiment

2009-05-25T01:39:00.001-07:00

"We can no longer view ourselves as isolated from our environment and our thoughts the private, self-contained workings of an individual brain. Dozens of scientists have produced thousands of papers in the scientific literature offering sound evidence that thoughts are capable of profoundly affecting all aspects of our lives. As observers and creators, we are constantly remaking our world at every instant. Every thought we have, every judgment we hold, however, unconscious, is having an effect. With every moment that it notices, the conscious mind is sending an intention." - From the book

What if eggs registered a cry of alarm, then resignation, when one of their number was dropped in boiling water? What if you could change the shape of your bicep muscle simply by sitting on a couch and using your brain? What if plants could learn to differentiate between true and artificial human intent--a plant "learning curve"--such as a researcher *thinking* about lighting a match under one of its leaves, but not intending to actually do it? What if directed thoughts produce demonstrable physical energy, even over a remote distance--perhaps altering the very molecular structure of the object of intention? Can praying for 4,000 patients with hospital-acquired infections affect their healing and recovery--when prayed for *4-10 years after their hospitalization*?

Do these questions sound like plots out of a sci-fi novel to you--or perhaps ridiculous notions from New Age space cadets? What if these concepts were actually the quantifiable results of rigorous scientific studies?

Like her previous book The Field, author Lynne McTaggart explores the edges of frontier science, boldly going where ingrained Newtonian paradigms have never gone before: the realm of pioneering consciousness experiments. In her newest book The Intention Experiment, McTaggart not only recounts dozens of extraordinary scientific studies on the power of human intention on machines, plants, animals and other humans, but also explains how to harness this power individually and collectively for specific results.

In fact, McTaggart, in conjunction with Dr. Gary Schwartz of Center for Frontier Medicine in Biofield Science at the University of Arizona, now endeavors to undertake the world's largest scientific mind-over-matter experiment in history, inviting readers to participate in online research on massive group intention. In addition, McTaggart encourages participants to use her blueprint of exercises and recommendations for "powering up"--based on the results of extensive research--to formulate their own personal goals, especially unlikely ones, and report the results to her website.

Some of the fascinating studies and research findings detailed in The Intention Experiment include:

* "...although the activity of the REGs was normal in the days leading up to 9/11, the machines became increasingly correlated a few hours *before* the first tower was hit, as though there had been a mass premonition... The world had felt a collective shudder several hours before the first plane crash, and every REG machine had heard and duly recorded it."

* "Volunteers between 20 and 35 years old imagined flexing one of their biceps as hard as they could during daily training sessions carried out five times a week. After ensuring that the participants were not doing any actual exercise, including tensing their muscles, the researches discovered an astonishing 13.5 percent increase in muscle size and strength after just a few weeks, an advantage that remained for three months after the mental training stopped."

* Clearly, during an altered state, roughly corresponding to the hyperalert state of intense meditation, conscious thoughts can convince the body to endure pain, cure many serious diseases, and change virtually any condition.

* Water treated by healers underwent a fundamental change in its molecular makeup.

* "...Helmut Schmidt successfully employed a similar study design to change his own prerecorded breathing rate, demonstrating that it is possible to retroactively change your own physical state as well...intention is capable of reaching back down the time line to influence past events, or emotional or physical responses, at the point when they originally occurred. Physicists no longer consider retrocausation inconsistent with the laws of the universe. More than one hundred articles in the scientific literature propose ways in which laws of physics can account for time displacement."

A recent article in Rolling Stone magazine mentioned that well-intentioned, heartfelt prayer might inadvertently harm or kill patients--an article that no doubt deflated the beliefs and hopes of some people...not to mention seeming to contradict the many studies showing the efficacy of prayer. With uncanny prescience, McTaggart addresses this study in depth, concluding, "When we are consciously attempting to affect someone else with our thoughts, we may want to search our hearts about our true feelings to ensure that we are not sending tainted love."

The Intention Experiment also explores why Reiki, energy healing and voodoo works, as well as the science behind visualization, entrainment between loving couples, psychic ability, retrocausation, biofeedback, remote viewing, and manifestation. If you're intrigued by the ideas presented in The Secret, What the Bleep Do We Know?!, Ramtha material, and the Abraham material (Law of Attraction)--but crave scientific proof and a more globally connected, compassionate paradigm--The Intention Experiment by Lynne McTaggart abundantly delivers. Proving what mystics, shamans, and spiritual teachers have demonstrated and shared for centuries--that all is connected in the web of life--I'm thrilled that there's *finally* a book that integrates volumes of hard scientific data with idea that thoughts are "things" that solidify, and influence, matter itself.

Instead of merely offering up an incredible amount of detailed research findings (the notes/citations and Bibliography are well over 30 pages)--which is a feat in itself--The Intention Experiment does what many books do not: translates the implications of these findings for everyday folks, and provides a simple model to follow for personal experimentation and manifestation. Bravo to Ms. McTaggart for this book, and for providing the opportunity for readers to participate in the largest, grandest experiment on group intention in human history. (http://www.theintentionexperiment.com/)

THE FIELD

2009-05-25T01:38:00.001-07:00

With an ear for human interest and eye for detail, Lynne McTaggart masterfully tells the true story in THE FIELD of how pioneers in science and consciousness research are working to achieve a more complete understanding of the true nature of reality -- an understanding which includes (rather than ignores) consciousness.

THE FIELD describes how scientists have gradually become aware of what appears to be a unifying energy structure in our universe. This "Zero Point Field" provides us with a simpler explanation for how things work than previous overly-complex ideas require. Simplicity in science is a good thing, because it generally indicates which theories will win out as time goes by. The Zero Point Field theory demonstrates it's elegant simplicity by allowing physicists to derive the famous equation F=ma (rather than take it as a starting assumption), and by helping medical practitioners understand the underlying scientific basis for homeopathy.

Our scientific conceptualization of this universe has changed considerably over the last few centuries and now faces one of the biggest overhauls ever -- and THE FIELD demonstrates why the Zero Point Field is likely to be the last frontier for us to explore. THE FIELD is packed with detailed descriptions of some of the most exciting experiments recently conducted by leading researchers in the field of consciousness such as: Cleve Backster, Jacques Benveniste, William Braud, Bob Jahn, Edgar Mitchell, Fritz-Albert Popp, Hal Puthoff, Rupert Sheldrake, Russell Targ, Elisabeth Targ, and Charles Tart.

I give this book my highest recommendation.

(Cynthia Sue Larson has a degree in physics from UC Berkeley and is author of the book "AURA ADVANTAGE: How the Colors in Your Aura Can Help You Attain What You Desire & Attact Success")

The Biology of Belief

2009-05-25T01:36:00.001-07:00

This book will sit alongside my most valued resources in my collection. The reasoning is straightforward - conventional medicine is predicated on the Primacy of Matter - that molecules are the basic building blocks of life and the most important. But conventional health solutions are becoming less effective in the provision of long term health, and more expensive. Dr. Lipton's work is admirable by focusing on the wider interconnections between the energy of our beliefs, and the amazing behaviour of cells and now epigenetics.

From changing the central biological dogma of the Primacy of DNA, to outlining the quantum nature of information flows and the astounding benefits of conscious parenting, and the failure of the genome project to find enough proteins, this book is packed full of gems sure to benefit everybody. Lipton addresses energy as purportedly 100 times more powerful than molecules. It simply makes sense we invest our 'energy' in modelling a health system geared towards both chemical AND energy based solutions - vibrations meeting vibrations. Dr. Lipton's work asks us to consider the possibility our primary source of energy comes from our internal and external environments, and our unconscious perceptions have a major influence on the health of this exchange.

Obviously contentious, this book is worth 5 stars simply for the pioneering and unique message it brings.

With modern technology we can repeatedly 'perceive' energy in ways we couldn't before. Science is about improving our technology, and as we are now well and truly in the ascending Dwapara Yuga (Age of Energy) we are being asked to embrace the beginnings of the wisdom and knowledge technology wave.

I recommend this book to anyone who is interested in furthering their study and knowledge of biology beyond what is conventionally proselytised and thought energy or consciousness based healing practices such as energy medicine, homeopathy, reiki, energy psychology or huna had a "flaky" foundation. As an adult child of an alcoholic and abuse I know how ineffective drugs are to heal without treatment of beliefs and emotions. Perceptions very easily select actions from which we make assumptions about people and lifestyle decisions that block energy and create pathology.

In regards to the critical nature of some commentators - Perhaps there is truth to the saying, "A prophet is never known in their home town." I was fortunate to meet Dr Lipton at one of his seminars in Australia and I was blown away by his grasp of biology and the inspirational hope he brings to this knowledge. Thank you.

This work stands on its own, you don't have to know anything about Psych-K to get real value from it.

The Divine Matrix

2009-05-25T01:35:00.001-07:00

I've followed with interest Gregg Braden's pioneering work over the years, on the Zero Point, the Science of Compassion, the Isaiah Effect, and the God Code. This latest text by him is presented in three parts:

Part I, "Discovering the Divine Matrix: The Mystery That Connects All Things,"
Part II, "The Bridge Between Imagination and Reality: How the Divine Matrix Works,"
Part III, "Messages from the Divine Matrix: Living, Loving, and Healing in Quantum Awareness,"

Initially I was skeptical that The Divine Matrix was more likely a commercialized repeat of those earlier works since his joining the Hay House Club. However, I was delighted to be proven wrong, and found myself uplifted by his blend of personal story telling and how the latest findings in the quantum science world contribute to his own personal self-realizations. Although I felt aspects of the scientific connections he made in The God Code were drawing a long bow, this is less the case in the Divine Matrix, as the scientific references he makes are to more readily accessible mainstream, published works done by others. The Divine Matrix is an "educated hypothesis" co-related to his life experience, based on some key scientific experiments and findings from sacred manuscripts, rather than a pure work of science. Those readers looking for a pure science text are likely to be disappointed.

Yes - the Divine Matrix includes 20 Keys summarizing the more important concepts of the Divine Matrix and how to consciously create within it. Personally, I found this approach slightly over-complicated. Life is much simpler, and every time we create a so called Key or rule, we create belief systems and conditions, which vested interests then spend precious energy arguing about who's experience of these is right or wrong. For me, we are One Being; Many Realities, rather than Many Beings; One Reality. It's fruitless to argue anyone's reality is "the rule" or more right than anyone else's. I would have felt more comfortable if he had prefaced these concepts by stating "Gregg's Perception of the 20 Keys" rather than the "Absolute Keys of the Divine Matrix."

A wise person once said, "God has no need for rules, only Humans do".

Overall, I found the Divine Matrix a delight and easy to read. I recommend it to those who might be familiar with the general gist of the findings from the Quantum World, and might be wondering, what difference does this really make to our daily lives, without the hype or jargon. For more experienced readers this is really a synopsis of his previous work, videos and lectures. For me, it's his personal stories that provide the enrichment. Still great value.

Your Immortal Reality

2009-05-25T01:34:00.000-07:00

Some things just ring true when you read or hear them. A deeper aspect of yourself, or that intuitive place inside sometimes just knows that this is the real deal. This is most especially the case with Gary Renard's books. I am talking about the radical teachings on forgiveness themselves, not necessarily what one makes of the ascended masters, Arten and Pursah, who are said to have conversed with the author in his living room. Make no mistake about it; this is not some New Age channeled hooey designed to simpy make you feel good about yourself or the world at large. This IS the real deal, and as far as I can tell, so are Arten and Pursah, but that doesn't really matter.

The subtitle of the book is "How to Break the Cycle of Birth and Death." Now some people might ask why they would necessarily even want to break this cycle, although such a query would be a stretch today given the mess the illusory world seems to be in at this time. But let's face it. Life isn't all bad, and in fact, can sometimes seem downright fun and rewarding. It also, of course, depends on who you are and what kind of shape your life is currently in. But the best analogy I have ever heard in this regard came from a book I read by a Tibetan Buddhist who was imprisoned for many years following the Chinese invasion of Tibet in 1959. His captor and personal guard would take one day of every week, Tuesday, to spend most of that day torturing him. On one particular Tuesday, the captor had a note sent to the Buddhist monk that the captor would not be able to torture him that day because he had fallen ill. But the guard assured the Buddhist that he would torture him again on the following Tuesday. Even though the monk's dismal and degrading surroundings were unchanged, even though he was still literally given garbage to eat in filthy and inhumane conditions, that Tuesday was one beautiful day. Enough said.

If you have not already done so, I would recommend reading "The Disappearance of the Universe" before reading "Your Immortal Reality." I think you'll get much more out of each book that way. The most refreshing thing about Gary Renard is that he is a straight shooter with a good sense of humor. He doesn't appear to be a person who takes himself too seriously, yet the teachings themselves could not be more important. A Course in Miracles is, as others have noted, a Christianized version of Advaita Vedanta. I can think of no higher teaching, nor a more direct route to the ultimate goal of full realization of our oneness with God. Don't be surprised or in the least discouraged, then, if you find your ego resisting your efforts to practice real forgiveness as described in the Course. This is not easy stuff, and anyone who suggests that it is, must either be a fully enlightened master or someone who has completely deluded themselves. Still, is there anything in life more important than our efforts in this regard? After all, isn't today Tuesday?

A Course in Miracles

2009-05-25T01:32:00.001-07:00

Some people simply won't find this conducive to their beliefs, and that's okay. But for those who are willing to give it a try, let me divulge a little about my experience with it. I'm spiritual but also extremely skeptical, so I'd never been able to stick with any one religion or philosophical doctrine beyond Taoism in its ambiguous glory. The virtue of the Course is that it doesn't matter whether the contents are credible to you enough that you can invest in it your lifelong faith, because when you start reading it seriously and practicing the workbook, you will soon be faced with evidence that this path is real and one worth taking. It calls for your faith, but not because you'll be damned to hell otherwise. Your faith in the Course is required just as therapy would require you to have faith that you can be treated.

Having been schooled in a wretched fundamentalist Christian parochial, I try but fail time and again to fathom a loving God, and I recognize this fact more clearly and painfully now that I've been studying the Course. So I approach the Course from a secular and/ or psychotherapeutic perspective when I can't handle all the spiritual overtones, and it works. Take, for instance, Newton's third law, "for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction." We also know (esp if you're familiar with magick and witchcraft) that by some fuzzy logic "what goes around comes around," but the Course defines this in exact terms; whether it's God or our fellow men, if we put up a defense against Him/ them, we're doing the same to ourselves. By judging others, we judge ourselves, and as a child, by learning to hate myself as a sinful creature, I also learnt to hate God, even though on the surface I thought I was a devout 'God-fearing' Christian. The bottom line is that the Course allows you to bring along your doubts and to let go of them gradually as you become ready to do so.

But most of all, A Course in Miracles is a source of healing for everyone. If you're depressed or otherwise mentally unstable, suffering in some way from your past, or just stuck in some 'unlucky' life predicament, this book is a way out. Like several reviewers mentioned above, I never believed that one book could change my life. But it did. And I want it to do the same for anyone else who still wants to believe that there has to be more to this broken-down world than eating and working and sleeping and breeding and dying and then just maybe a Big Mean Judge waiting at the end. It's not easy, it's not instant gratification, but it's a solution and a permanent one, and it doesn't involve a bullet or fast train.

Return to Love

2009-05-25T01:28:00.000-07:00

I first discovered this book 2 ½ years ago. I specifically say discovered, for it's like unearthing a treasure. I can't begin to express the impact this book made upon my life & continues to do so. Williamson explains in vivid detail how thoughts & perception can literally alter your life. Happiness isn't something we're innately in contact with, it requires cultivation, something we actively choose every moment of everyday. Anguish & suffering is a part of the human condition, but it doesn't have to consume your life. Oftentimes modern society is so consumed with success, competition, and acquiring material things, we forget the concept of joy is also a part of the human condition. We have a right to anticipate it, but it doesn't just saunter up & plop in your lap. It's labor intensive. I found concrete steps on how to redirect my energies & thoughts, and eventually my reality. What value does life hold if we can not love, permit ourselves to be loved, & be joyful? This book is the ultimate "how to" improve your consciousness book. I refer to it every time I feel a bit blue. It's really my blueprint of reaffirming or correcting my thought patterns. I've highlighted points crucial for my life & refer when necessary. Most importantly it works without fail. That is indeed the true litmus test. I also strongly recommend Williamson's various cassette lecture series.

If you're weary because of some negative things you may have read about Williamson I urge the reader to disregard them. Truthfully I don't care if she has some inconsistencies in her life, don't all humans? You're not moving into her home, you just want to benefit from some profoundly wise & inspiration advice. The basic truth is, the principles she details quite simply work. I am forever grateful to her & have purchased this book for my friends. If you desire to live & not just exist, this is a great gift for yourself & loved ones. Enjoy.

The Age of Miracles

2009-05-25T01:26:00.001-07:00

The Age of Miracles: Embracing the New Midlife describes a refreshing way to approach midlife, not viewing midlife through glasses emphasizing decline and loss, but through a framework of endless possibility, wisdom, an embracing of and creation of new meaning, a turning towards life, a realization of the limitlessness of God, a forgiving of the past, a reimagination of relationships, and being one with the world around us.

Although this book is grounded in A Course in Miracles (as are all of Marianne Williamson's books), it is spiritual rather than religious and appropriate for readers of all spiritual and religious backgrounds. The book is not about ACIM per se, but about aging; there indeed are other books that can be read to find out more about ACIM. This work consists of Marianne Williamson's thoughtful musings on how to age well from a practical and spiritual point of view.

The book is peppered throughout with beautiful short prayers written by the author. The chapters cover the author's thoughts on the losses versus the gains of aging, family of origin issues, healing from childhood wounds, coping with regret, emotional baggage and more. The book describes how to fan into flames our passions, dreams, and inner fire that may seem to be ashes and cinders but is buried under "accumulated burdens and disappointments" by the time we hit midlife---and can be revived. How do we re-enchant ourselves with a new vision at this time of our lives?

Here is a quote that sums up the theme of this book: "Midlife today is a second puberty of sorts. The experience, including its length, is being redefined. It is a period distinctly unlike youth, yet distinctly unlike old age. It doesn't feel like a cruise to the end of our lives so much as a cruise, at last, to the meaning of our lives."

If reading the above excites you and sounds intriguing, you'll love the book as I did.

Highly recommended.

Happy for No Reason

2009-05-25T01:25:00.001-07:00

I thought it would be namby-pamby or filled with fluff until I read this paragraph in the introduction:

"My first major discovery was that scientists have found that we each have a `happiness set-point,' the genetic and learned tendency to remain at a certain level of happiness, similar to a thermostat setting on a furnace. Fortunately for those of us not born on the sunny side of the street, it's been shown that we can change our happiness set-points. I'll discuss this more in the next chapter and offer you specific exercises throughout the book to raise your happiness set-point."

As I read the book I was surprised at most every turn. I was delighted that she included Mark McKergow's Solution Focus Technique--a longtime favorite of mine that keeps you focused on what's working in your life instead of on what's not working.

...And that she actually tells how to do one of Chunyi Lin's Spring Forest Qigong techniques that energizes the body and literally brings you feelings of happiness and joy.

Part of her process in studying happiness was to interview 100 truly happy people. Another surprise was finding a link where I could actually listen to highlights of the interviews online.

So...I'd get the book.

Sara, Book 3

2009-05-25T01:22:00.000-07:00

“Do you believe in ghosts?” Annette just sort of blurted out.
Sara and Seth both looked up with surprise. “Well,” Sara stalled, “I guess I do.” She remembered the night Solomon had visited her in her bedroom after Jason and Jimmy had shot him, but she hadn’t really thought about him being a ghost that night; she’d just been so glad to see her beloved feathered friend.
Sara and Seth looked at each other. Both of them knew that if anything would fall into the category of ghosts, Solomon would most likely be it, but they didn’t say anything, uncertain about telling their new friend their special secret.
“Well, do you believe in ghosts?” Seth asked, looking intently at Annette’s serious face.
Annette looked at Seth and then at Sara, who both sat quietly, each waiting to hear the answer.
“No, I just wondered if you did,” Annette answered abruptly. “Hey, let’s swing.” And without taking the time to execute a perfectly calculated leap from the platform as she usually did, Annette grabbed the swinging rope and jumped off as if she couldn’t do so fast enough. . . .

Sara, Book 2

2009-05-25T01:20:00.001-07:00

What can i say? Ask and its given! I was only saying to myself the other day how good it would be to find a book on a "fictional" basis that would give me same teachings on the Law of attraction as do the all the other books on the market. i walked into our local department store and there it was, "Sara Book 2" staring at me.I felt compelled to buy it even though i don't like reading a book if i havn't read the first to the sequel.It took me one day to read it and i was so grateful to the universe and E & J Hicks and Abraham for bringing me the book i asked for. Even though i have read so many books and watched so many dvds on the subject, this book was the most profound because its so real and obvious when you read it in a real life context. Everyone can relate to it and no matter what age you are. i've just ordered 3 copies of "sara book 1' as i'm certain it will be just as brilliant,inspiring, and wonderful as "sara book 2".Do yourself a favour and read it and give it your children. If i had a book like this to read when i was growing up, my life would have been SO different.

Sara, Book 1

2009-05-25T01:19:00.000-07:00

"Wow! Sara pondered. That's amazing. I can actually see that the way I feel has only to do with what I'm giving my attention to. The conditions didn't change, but my attention did!" - From the book

In essence, the whole craze about the Law of Attraction or "the secret" started with a group of evolved entities known as Abraham. Channeled by Esther Hicks, these astute teachers, along with Esther and her husband Jerry, have imparted hundreds of messages to humanity via live workshops, audio, books and inspirational decks.

Each of these media has their own strengths, but perhaps the most engaging and accessible source for the crux of the Law of Attraction is the fictional Sara Series. In Sara, Book 1: Sara Learns the Law of Attraction, a wise owl named Solomon appears to a girl named Sara, becoming her confidante and mentor.

In Sara, Book 1, young Sara faces many challenges at home, school and within her community--experiencing boredom, frustration, confusion and anger. One day, her brother and his friend tell Sara about an owl they encountered on Thacker's Trail who they name Solomon.

Sara decides to look for Solomon among the snow-covered pastures--but finds that the once familiar trails and landmarks look quite different covered in snow. When she tries to cross a frozen river, the ice crackles under her weight. She hears a voice saying, "Have you forgotten that you cannot drown?"--and so begins Sara's journey with the large bird.

Solomon counsels Sara that there is a stream of well-being available to everyone--but the trick to receiving its benefits is allowing her "valve" to stay open. Sara: Book 1 answers important questions often asked by those curious about the Law of Attraction, as well as those frustrated and disappointed about the results of trying to apply this metaphysical principle.

For example, why does focusing on someone's "unhappiness" or "hardships" close the valve? How does one respond in the face of challenges or unmet expectations? Most importantly, how does one disconnect from the "chain of pain" and instead hook up to the stream of well-being?

On a personal note, I found this book to be incredibly insightful and timely. I happened to be reading it in my backyard, which is unremarkable in itself--except that my husband and I have been dealing with some peripheral difficulties involving new neighbors.

I began to read Chapter 20, which was incredibly appropriate. In this chapter, Sara sees old Aunt Zoie. She wants to help her--shower her with the stream of joy. But for some reason, it wasn't working for Sara, despite her best efforts.

Solomon explains to Sara that she cannot enter that "feeling place" while still in the "chain of pain". That is, Sara could not offer Aunt Zoie good feelings when Sara was feeling sorry for her Aunt--pitying her because she is "old", "crippled" and "alone". Solomon teaches Sara that everyone in the world wants different things--and we cannot truly know if someone is happy, or what is best for them.

But what we can do, he encourages, is stay hooked up to the faucet of well-being--which not only draws "birds of a feather" to us, but also widens our access to the constant flow that is always there...enabling to give more to others and ourselves.

I decided to look for things to appreciate--including my surroundings and my neighbors (who, in my mind, weren't half as bad as the previous ones!). The more I did this silently as I read, the better I felt. Eventually, one of the neighbors ventured into his back yard and I looked up, feeling such warmth and joy. I gave him a big smile and a cheerful wave and, although he ignored me as usual, I was still able to see him--and my living situation--with gratitude.

Things got better and better for us that day...and I am so very grateful for the transformative reminders found in this delightful book. I especially love how Solomon often concludes his visit with Sara with "have fun with this". It doesn't have to be arduous!

Sara, Book 1, Solomon demonstrates higher perspectives on various situations--and how what we behold and appreciate can not only transform how we feel, but also reality itself.

If you're looking to learn more about the Law of Attraction (especially from a down-to-Earth, nuts-and-bolts perspective), this is a fantastic book. If you already know some (or all) of the principles...but seem to have a hard time "getting" some of the nuances, especially in terms of observing and unhooking from the "chain of pain", then you'll find important reminders and immediately-useful approaches to joining the ever-flowing stream of well-being.

Money, and the Law of Attraction

2009-05-25T01:17:00.001-07:00

Money, and the Law of Attraction: Learning to Attract Wealth, Health, and Happiness by Ester and Jerry Hicks, takes manifesting your life's desires to a new level.

I recently read and reviewed MANIFEST YOUR DESIRES: 365 Ways to Make Your Dreams a Reality, and my only complaint was that the book was less a how-to than a collection of inspiring affirmations. Money, and the Law of Attraction is just the opposite--it is filled with practical advice from the non-physical entity Abraham that guide you to manifest money and physical well-being.

In the introduction, Jerry Hicks writes: "Life is supposed to feel good and that overall Well-Being is what is natural." That improving our lives is within our control.

According to Abraham, when we feel good physically, we naturally feel joy and well being and have a good attitude in life. This fills us with the positive energy that makes manifesting easy.

"Learn to guide your thoughts in the direction of things that feel good, and discover the power that only comes from vibrational alignment with Source."

"The way you feel is always about the degree in which you are in alignment or out of alignment with your source. No exceptions.

What I like best is that the book is a guide to more than attracting money. In the section, "careers as profitable sources of pleasure," we are encouraged to earn by doing what we love. Our life's experiences and our inner knowing will guide us to the right careers if we allow ourselves to follow the flow.

"We encourage you to decide as early in life as possible to live happily ever after." The "career" is living a happy life. When feeling happy is of paramount importance for you--and what you do 'for a living' makes you happy--you have found the best of all combinations."

The reader is advised to find work that is in alignment with our Source.

I also like the section, "perspectives of healthy, weight and mind," as so many of us are negative and unrealistic about our bodies. The Law of Attraction helps us to feel good about our bodies and see our bodies realistically.

I have been practicing the law of attraction for years for myself and have helped numerous clients of mine manifest their desires. I highly recommend the award winning book,HARMONIOUS ENVIRONMENT: BEAUTIFY, DETOXIFY & ENERGIZE YOUR LIFE, YOUR HOME & YOUR PLANET along with Money, and the Law of Attraction, as Harmonious Environment includes numerous ways to boost positive, life affirming energy into the home which helps support you to manifest your desires. Finally, the original THE LAW OF ATTRACTION: The Basics of the Teachings of Abraham is still a terrific primer.

Ester and Jerry Hicks have written a clear and easy to follow guide to help you manifest wealth, health and happiness...highly recommend!

BTW, this is the second book in a series of four books. Number three will be: Relationships, and the Law of Attraction and number four will be: Spirituality, and the Law of Attraction.

The Amazing Power of Deliberate Intent

2009-05-25T01:09:00.000-07:00

I've spent a big chunk of the last 5 years of my life reading, researching and applying the things I've learned from a host of books and audio/visual programs all aimed at helping people live happier and more fulfilling lives. And like so many of the resources I've used during this time, "The Amazing Power of Deliberate Intent" (TAPoDI)focuses on tapping into the unrealized potential that lives within all of us, but simply isn't used because we a) don't know about it and b) don't understand how to use it.

As someone who's studied a large volume of material on this general topic, I tend to look at such works from the viewpoint of "how is this material similar to other works I've studied" and "what does it have to offer that's new, original and, especially, useful. Here's my take on TAPoDI:

Like many other "New Age" authors, Esther and Jerry Hicks present to us a view of life in which WE, ourselves, are both the biggest limiting factor in our lives and the key to unleashing the utterly unlimited potential that is the human "spirit". WE create our own life experience. Period. If our lives aren't what we want them to be, aren't enjoyable and don't consist of the things we love most, we have only ourselves to look to for change. If we are living limited and unsatisfying lives, it is we who have (often unwittingly) CHOSEN to do so ... nothing or no one else is to "blame" ... it is we who create our own eperience of life.

But, never fear. As beings whose true nature is that of unlimited spirit with the power to create all that we dream of, it is only our lack of understanding of our true potential and our unwillingness to explore that potential and use it that has kept us locked in lives we don't enjoy completely. Esther and Jerry clearly believe, as do many authors I've studied, that the practical potential of humanity is truly unlimited. In this sense they seem to be adding their voices to the growing number of people whose experience of life is teaching them that we have within us ALREADY the power to create whatever life we want for ourselves.

For me, what differentiated the Hicks' book from others I've read on this general topic was their understanding of the role of human emotions and our response to them in navigating the "HOW" of unleashing our unlimited potential for joy and satisfaction. I mean, it's one thing to declare that human beings have truly unlimited potential ... it's quite another to figure out how to EXPERIENCE that unlimited potential in our day to day lives. What Esther and Jerry have to show us in this book is incredibly useful. What they seem to understand in a way I've not seen presented elsewhere is nothing less than "what human emotions are for and how we can use them to help us navigate our way to a better and better life". What's the scoop?

As unlimited beings of spirit, energy, vibration ... call it what you will ... we are constantly creating our own experience of life. The question is ... are we creating the the experiences we WANT ... or the experiences we DON'T WANT? And how can we tell? Along these lines, I've often heard people jokingly say "wouldn't it be nice if our lives came with a little dash board full of dials and idiot lights that told us when we were doing something stupid and when we were doing something smart" ... well, according to Esther and Jerry ... that's precisely what our emotions are!

From their point of view, negative emotions like frustration, anger, resentment, fear, doubt and the rest are indications that we're looking at life from a point of view which is NOT in harmony with our truly unlimited potential. In short, if you feel bad, you're looking at life from a direction that is NOT an accurate reflection of who and what you really are or what you're capable of creating. IN that moment, you're creating precisely what you DON'T WANT. Your negative feelings are trying to tell you "stop looking at life this way ... if you keep it up, you're not going to create the kind of experiences you want for yourself."

On the other hand, when you're feeling happy, peaceful, kind, cheerful, relaxed, satisfied, joyful and free ... it's an indication that the way you're looking at life is in harmony with the "real you", who is fully capable of creating exactly what you want in life. In those moments, you're creating the life you DO want for yourself.

According to the Hicks, our emotions are the most useful, immediate and relevant indicators of whether or not we're creating the life we want for ourselves or creating it's opposite. So ... when you feel bad ... learn to understand this as a warning to change your outlook and move it in the direction of "I am the unlimited creator of my own experience ... what do I want to create here? What do I really want?". And keep moving your thoughts in this direction until you start to feel good ... the indicator that you're now creating what you DO want.

Much of the New Age message is "stop looking to the world around you to tell you whether or not you're living your life as you should ... rather ... look inside yourself and pay attention to what you find there ... follow it ... trust it ... and find yourself living a life that works better, feels better and IS better." What the Hicks do in TAPoDI is give us an INCREDIBLY useful tool for figuring out HOW to do that. Let your emotions be your guide as to whether or not your living in harmony with your "best self" ... that's what they're FOR.

READING NOTE - The Hicks use the words vibration and vibrational a lot in their book, and to those who aren't used to this language, it can be a bit like reading a foreign language ... you see the word, but you're not sure what it means. The first time I read this book, I found their use of these words very challenging, as I was never quite sure what they were trying to say with them. But something drew me back to this book recently, and I had an insight. I started reading the book and jotting down on the page the word I would use in place of vibration or vibrational, depending on the context of the sentence. I re-read the entire book this way, and it made a huge difference.

In my common language, I found that "vibration" or "vibrational" could mean a wide range of things like spirit, spiritual, desire, the combination of a desire and my attitude about that desire, etc. The way it felt to me ... when I wasn't quite ready to hear what the Hicks had to say, their use of these words was very challenging to me. When I finally felt ready to listen, what they meant became perfectly clear to me. What do I mean?

What the Hicks are really saying in their book is quite simple. Human beings create their own experience of life ... we come equipped with emotions that tell us when we're creating experiences we'll enjoy and when we're not. If we take full responsibility for listening to the guidance of our emotions and using our unlimited spiritual power to create what we want ... we'll be unbelievably happy and fulfilled ... if we don't, we'll continue to live lives of mediocrity and frustration. The up side of this message is ... you can be as happy as you decide you want to be. The down side ... ONLY you can make you happy. My experience of life has taught me that MOST of us are NOT quite ready to take full personal responsibility for our happiness. MOST of us would rather belive it's someone or something else's fault that we're not completely happy. Someone or something else is keeping us from living the life we want to live. What the Hicks are saying is "it's all us, baby" ... "if you're happy ... you did it. If you're not happy ... you did it."

When I first read this book ... or tried to read it ... I wasn't ready to take that level of responsibility for my happiness. I still wanted to believe, at least in part, that someone else should fix my broken life. When I finally got past that ... suddenly understanding their words was not just easy ... it was joyful.

To get an even more "effective" presentation of the ideas the Hicks and Abraham are offering, try their audio CD's (recordings of their workshops). I find them REALLY helpful. In the workshops, the ideas presented in this book are explored from more different angles, with a broader and more flexible vocabulary, and with a wider variety of examples of using these ideas to address real life, every day "problems" of people from the audience. The CD's really helped me form a much more gut level, intuitive understanding of how we truly create our own experiences, how we get in the way of experiencing many of the things we want most and how we can practically and effectively change that, so that what we want becomes what we experience MUCH more quickly. The CD's helped me really understand that the biggest challenge to utilizing the material presented by the Hicks is that it's SO easy, it takes most of us a long time to get to the point where we believe that life really can be this good. But it can. My fiance and I have seen what seemed to be hurdle after hurdle just fall away as we've learned to truly and practically ALLOW our lives to be enjoyable and effortless. Things that used to feel like dreams to us are happening at a much more rapid pace and we have a very strong sense of the connection between the choices we're making with our emotional state and the results we're achieving in the "real world". Check out the CD's if you enjoyed the books. I don't think you'll be disappointed.

Ask and It Is Given

2009-05-25T01:07:00.001-07:00

The Hicks along with Abraham put it all together in this book. Most books (on any given topic, not just abundance) give you ideas and inspiration, but are not easy to figure out how to implement. In other words, many how-to books don't truly show you how-to.

This one does. It gives you IMMEDIATELY USABLE and USEFUL INSTRUCTIONS. The last part of the book lists 22 processes that you can use to attract what you want, explaining EXACTLY when to use them, and how. There's something for any situation you may find yourself in.

I would trade ALL of the other manifestation books in my library for just this one. It's that good, that easy, and that useful!

The Secret

2009-05-25T01:06:00.000-07:00

Please allow me to share with you how "The Secret" changed my life and in a very real and substantive way allowed me to overcome a severe crisis in my personal life. It is well known that the premise of "The Secret" is the science of attracting the things in life that you desire and need and in removing from your life those things that you don't want. Before finding this book, I knew nothing of these principles, the process of positive visualization, and had actually engaged in reckless behaviors to the point of endangering my own life and wellbeing.
At age 36, I found myself in a medium security prison serving 3-5 years for destruction of government property and public intoxication. This was stiff punishment for drunkenly defecating in a mailbox but as the judge pointed out, this was my third conviction for the exact same crime. I obviously had an alcohol problem and a deep and intense disrespect for the postal system, but even more importantly I was ignoring the very fabric of our metaphysical reality and inviting destructive influences into my life.
My fourth day in prison was the first day that I was allowed in general population and while in the recreation yard I was approached by a prisoner named Marcus who calmly informed me that as a new prisoner I had been purchased by him for three packs of Winston cigarettes and 8 ounces of Pruno (prison wine). Marcus elaborated further that I could expect to be raped by him on a daily basis and that I had pretty eyes.
Needless to say, I was deeply shocked that my life had sunk to this level. Although I've never been homophobic I was discovering that I was very rape phobic and dismayed by my overall personal street value of roughly $15. I returned to my cell and sat very quietly, searching myself for answers on how I could improve my life and distance myself from harmful outside influences. At that point, in what I consider to be a miraculous moment, my cell mate Jim Norton informed me that he knew about the Marcus situation and that he had something that could solve my problems. He handed me a copy of "The Secret". Normally I wouldn't have turned to a self help book to resolve such a severe and immediate threat but I literally didn't have any other available alternatives. I immediately opened the book and began to read.
The first few chapters deal with the essence of something called the "Law of Attraction" in which a primal universal force is available to us and can be harnessed for the betterment of our lives. The theoretical nature of the first few chapters wasn't exactly putting me at peace. In fact, I had never meditated and had great difficulty with closing out the chaotic noises of the prison and visualizing the positive changes that I so dearly needed. It was when I reached Chapter 6 "The Secret to Relationships" that I realized how this book could help me distance myself from Marcus and his negative intentions. Starting with chapter six there was a cavity carved into the book and in that cavity was a prison shiv. This particular shiv was a toothbrush with a handle that had been repeatedly melted and ground into a razor sharp point.
The next day in the exercise yard I carried "The Secret" with me and when Marcus approached me I opened the book and stabbed him in the neck. The next eight weeks in solitary confinement provided ample time to practice positive visualization and the 16 hours per day of absolute darkness made visualization about the only thing that I actually could do. I'm not sure that everybody's life will be changed in such a dramatic way by this book but I'm very thankful to have found it and will continue to recommend it heartily.

The Law of Attraction

2009-05-25T01:04:00.000-07:00

"The best scenario is to desire something and to bring yourself into the belief or expectation of achieving it...If you have a strong desire for something but you doubt your ability to achieve it, it cannot come, at least not right now, for you must bring your thought of desire and your thought of belief into alignment." - From the book

For several decades, a group of advanced spiritual teachers known as Abraham has channeled messages through Esther Hicks. What began as a series of audios has now been compiled in book and deck form, with Esther and her husband, Jerry, disseminating three major laws advocated by Abraham: The Law of Attraction, the Law of Deliberate Intent, and the Law of Allowing.

In The Law of Attraction: The Basic Teachings of Abraham, the Hicks' convey the fundamentals of the "Creative Workshop" which is the place that we enter, every day, as we ponder what we want--and don't want--out of life. They assert that individuals are always creating and attracting, regardless of ignorance of the three Universal Laws. We create by default, they say, just by thinking and speaking along certain lines--believing in the likelihood of a result and gathering confirming data from our environment. Here's an example of this creation from the book:

"The steady offering of details of illness is very influential in the increasing sickness in your society. If you allow yourself to focus upon the constant barrage of unpleasant statistics regarding the never-ending stream of possible physical maladies, it cannot help but affect your personal point of attraction."

Here are a few more snippets of Abraham's wisdom as conveyed in The Law of Attraction, as channeled by Esther:

"Your negative emotion is your indication that you hold beliefs that are contrary to your own desire."

"The more you think of what you want, the more the Law of Attraction will bring the evidence of it to you, until you *will* believe it."

"If there are others who see something in you that they do not approve of, most often you see their disapproval reflected back through their eyes, and you feel that you have gone wrong in some way. And we say unto you, it is not *your* lack, it is *theirs*. It is *their* inability to be the *Allower* that brings forth their negative emotion; it is not *your* imperfection."

"When you consider many subjects at the same time, you generally do not move forward strongly toward any of them, for your focus and your power is diffused, whereas if you are focusing upon that which is most important in any point of time, you move forward more powerfully toward that."

Now, let me share a bit of my impressions and experience. As a teaching, I was first introduced to the Law of Attraction by Michael Losier. In my opinion, his book of the same name is far superior to this title by the Hicks'. I had experience with manifesting what I desired before I read Michael's book, so I was familiar with the law of attraction. However, I have some misgivings about a portion of it, and here
is my reasoning:

Most times I read something on the Law of Attraction, I feel sick to my stomach. I was totally turned off by Lynn Grabhorn's Excuse Me! Your Life is Waiting, but found Michael Losier's book Law of Attraction pretty darn sensible.

Yet, I can't help but feel the Law of Attraction is a bit simplistic--offering only a portion of the big picture. I'm especially troubled that the Law of Attraction seems to fly in the face of the wisdom of avatars like Jesus. For example, the Bible encourages compassion with passages like "weep with those who weep". Yet, books like the Hicks' pretty much advocate turning away from anything unpleasant and instead focusing on "feeling good". After all, those poor souls are only attracting what matches their vibration--so let them suffer with their miserable magnetism.

I agree with Abraham that being joyful is the best gift we can offer to the world, but I can't see how burying heads in the sand will add good vibes to the planet. Yes, what you focus on increases--I agree with that, too. But to run away from those who are hurting and suffering merely because we don't want to taint our precious vibration field... It smacks of "fiddling while Rome burns".

While I appreciate the wisdom of the Law of Deliberate Intent, the Law of Allowing and even much of the Law of Attraction-- I can't help but feel something is missing from this picture. (Perhaps...heart?) I'm very big on "over thinking" to my detriment. And even Abraham advises that it's best to "follow good feelings" rather than monitor our thoughts 24/7. But for one such as I who is a "mental type", it's not so easy to turn off the constant evaluation of thoughts when buying into the Law of Attraction. It can create a cycle of fear, in my opinion.

To be fair Abraham *does* address this very thing in The Law of Attraction:

"...some of you feel uncomfortable with what seems like the overwhelming task of monitoring thoughts, sorting them out, and offering only those that will yield things that you *do* want. We do not encourage a monitoring of thoughts, for we agree that would be incredibly time-consuming and cumbersome, but instead recommend a conscious utilization of your Emotional Guidance System."

I totally concur with this idea, but the rub is that in order to be aware of how we create by default, we need to educate ourselves, in part, as to how our thought patterns, expectations, and emotional state contributes to manifestation. And that involves a degree of thinking/monitoring--at least in the beginning stages--which can be a bit frustrating.

I love the information on Segment Intending and the Art of Allowing, and know them to be very helpful in deliberate creation. I just feel that the way in which Abraham's wisdom is offered is a bit "top heavy". If you're just beginning your journey towards Deliberate (conscious) Creation, I recommend that you get Michael Losier's book, as well as two decks from the Hicks' (also published by Hay House): the Ask and It Is Given Cards and The Teachings of Abraham: Well-Being Cards.

However, if you want thorough information straight from Abraham's mouth, then you'll no doubt want to get this book. The Law of Attraction is quite readable, but the way some of the wisdom is presented may give you a bit of a headache--especially as you juggle some of the ideas on attracting undesired situations.

http://www.abraham-hicks.com/lawofattractionsource/index.php

The Astonishing Power of Emotions

2009-05-25T01:01:00.001-07:00

In the book, "The Astonishing Power of Emotions," Esther Hicks and Jerry Hicks illustrates the life-changing teachings of Abraham - the wise and visionary group of nonphysical teachers from outside of our realm--back in 1987.

In their first book, "Ask and It Is Given," they demonstrate how we are the creator of our own experience and that we can deliberately create with our every thought. In their second book, "The Amazing Power of Deliberate Intent," the author emphasizes how we, as human beings can in fact gently guide our thoughts in the general direction of the things that we desire by the art of "allowing." In their third book, "The Law of Attraction," Hicks revisit Abraham's basic teachings to learn how we can attract all that we want by the most powerful law of the Universe.

NOW, in their latest and NEWEST book, "The Astonishing Power of Emotions," Abraham lovingly combines all of the Universal laws and shows us how we can gain conscious awareness of our emotions, so we can use our own feelings to deliberately bring into our life only the things we want. Hicks, in other words, believes that we can use the Laws of the Universe to solve all of our challenges and help us "go with the flow" of our natural Well-Being.

This is an AMAZING book for those who like to discover more about ourselves. I believe you do NOT need to have read the first three of their books in order to enjoy their latest book on the power of emotions. Overall, this is a HIGHLY RECOMMENDED book of the year. A+

The Disappearance of the Universe

2009-05-24T00:43:00.000-07:00

The Disappearance of the Universe is a must read for every modern day disciple of A Course In Miracles. The reader's passion for the Course is completely revitalized, and his or her practice of forgiveness is turbo-charged to a new and all-encompassing level. "Sooner or later, it always comes down to some kind of forgiveness and how willing you are to do it. How willing are you to accept that it's all your dream? How willing are you to release your dream and choose God?"
With over 400 pages, The Disappearance of the Universe is a fairly long book, but author Gary Renard has an honest and irreverant way of expressing himself, which makes it enjoyable and interesting to read. Renard doesn't hide behind the pretense of always getting everything just right along the spiritual path. Many examples of his own petty thoughts are fearlessly shared. Renard also has the welcome and rare ability to smartly restate some of the more complicated Course ideas in plain language that everyone can understand and apply. No mumbo jumbo. No compromising of spiritual principles to conform to popular psychology. No spiritualizing of money or sex. It's all so refreshing.

But I've saved the best for last. Gary Renard simply cannot resist wisecracking his way to God. Here are a couple of my personal favorites: "Love is letting go of beer," and "...it's possible to have both an erection and a resurrection." Maybe one of the best reasons to read this book is simply because it makes you smile.

A Course in Miracles

2009-05-24T00:36:00.000-07:00

With all the other well-stated reviews out there, it may not be important for me to add my two cents, but in case there's someone out there who stumbles on this... First of all, I'm not writing this to persuade anyone about the Course. Some people simply won't find this conducive to their beliefs, and that's okay. But for those who are willing to give it a try, let me divulge a little about my experience with it. I'm spiritual but also extremely skeptical, so I'd never been able to stick with any one religion or philosophical doctrine beyond Taoism in its ambiguous glory. The virtue of the Course is that it doesn't matter whether the contents are credible to you enough that you can invest in it your lifelong faith, because when you start reading it seriously and practicing the workbook, you will soon be faced with evidence that this path is real and one worth taking. It calls for your faith, but not because you'll be damned to hell otherwise. Your faith in the Course is required just as therapy would require you to have faith that you can be treated.

Having been schooled in a wretched fundamentalist Christian parochial, I try but fail time and again to fathom a loving God, and I recognize this fact more clearly and painfully now that I've been studying the Course. So I approach the Course from a secular and/ or psychotherapeutic perspective when I can't handle all the spiritual overtones, and it works. Take, for instance, Newton's third law, "for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction." We also know (esp if you're familiar with magick and witchcraft) that by some fuzzy logic "what goes around comes around," but the Course defines this in exact terms; whether it's God or our fellow men, if we put up a defense against Him/ them, we're doing the same to ourselves. By judging others, we judge ourselves, and as a child, by learning to hate myself as a sinful creature, I also learnt to hate God, even though on the surface I thought I was a devout 'God-fearing' Christian. The bottom line is that the Course allows you to bring along your doubts and to let go of them gradually as you become ready to do so.

But most of all, A Course in Miracles is a source of healing for everyone. If you're depressed or otherwise mentally unstable, suffering in some way from your past, or just stuck in some 'unlucky' life predicament, this book is a way out. Like several reviewers mentioned above, I never believed that one book could change my life. But it did. And I want it to do the same for anyone else who still wants to believe that there has to be more to this broken-down world than eating and working and sleeping and breeding and dying and then just maybe a Big Mean Judge waiting at the end. It's not easy, it's not instant gratification, but it's a solution and a permanent one, and it doesn't involve a bullet or fast train.

Practicing the Power of Now

2009-05-24T00:23:00.000-07:00

Since the content of Tolle's books has been covered well elsewhere, I'd like to address the person new to Tolle and wondering where to begin.
In my personal experience, if I could only afford to purchase one book, I'd start with PRACTICING THE POWER OF NOW. I feel that it essentially restates the material found in the original POWER OF NOW but in a format I found easier to digest. I don't see much point in owning both books (which I currently do.)

If you connect with PRACTICING and want more, then I'd recommend the audio book/retreat Realizing the Power of Now: An In-Depth Retreat With Eckhart Tolle. (It's less than $10 if you purchase the audio file from Audible.) I'm only half way through listening yet I constantly find myself thinking "Ah...now I understand what he meant." It truly is an excellent supplement.

There is one more Tolle book here, STILLNESS SPEAKS. I borrowed this from the library. It's basically just out-takes from the other books, sort of a quotable quotes book that restates things in a nutshell. It would make a nice gift to a Tolle fan, but again, doesn't offer anything more than the other books. I suppose my message is: everything you need to know is in the original POWER OF NOW, stated perhaps more clearly in PRACTICING and excerpted in STILLNESS but supported well in audio format by the retreat CD.

I find Tolle's basic message very powerful, enlightening and simple. As he himself constantly repeats, he's not saying anything new...be here now. But he explains it in a way which finally connects the dots for me. Unfortunately, this simple message seems to be getting constantly repackaged and I hope it doesn't turn into a "Chicken Soup for the Enlightened Soul" series. (I should probably go make sure that's not the title of an actual book!

http://www.eckharttolle.com/eckharttolle

Stillness Speaks

2009-05-24T00:17:00.001-07:00

Eckhart Tolle's second book has been awaited for a while by those who found the wisdom and grace of the first to be an extraordinary experience. This book is smaller on content and perhaps more complex in profundity. The Power of Now operated at all levels; it was one of those rare books which could actually get people to begin a spiritual practice with some seriousness, while those already in the swim found it to be a valuable guide. Stillness Speaks tilts a bit towards the already serious spiritual practitioner. Not that a beginner would not profit from it but my guess is that people who have done their processes and transformed themselves are likely to extract the most from this tight little spiritual classic.
Stillness Speaks has some of the feel of an Upanishad. A master discourses on important spiritual issues and you access the level you are capable of. When you come back to it, you find that the book has changed too, speaking to you at a depth you might not have suspected even existed - in you! Tolle is evolving towards an aphoristic style of communication; anything longer would tend to be false to the essence of being in the Now which is his difficult/simple message. It is a book that triggers rumination in you even more powerfully than The Power of Now. My personal favorite, something that set off a liberating snort of laughter, is the conclusion to Chapter Six -"Leave Life alone. Let it be."

I feel that not learning from this book would be a blunder.

A New Earth

2009-05-24T00:15:00.000-07:00

If you got the concepts in the Power of Now, and love the simple, easy-to-understand message of that book, you will find a "going deeper" happening with this one.

I've always been one to disagree with spiritual teachers about the ego - that it's basically all bad. If it's bad, why did God create it? My feeling is if it is here on Earth, it belongs, even though we may not understand why.

That said, Eckhart clearly defines, with excellent examples, how our identification with the ego (and not the ego itself, mind you) keeps us from simply being in the present and instead tied to thoughts, concepts, mind-stuff, endless identification with people, places, and things. He shows us the many forms and faces that the ego takes up, and shows us the fallacy of identifying with forms in the first place.

To identify so completely with form is to identify with that which is doomed to extinction, causing us loss and sadness. Wouldn't it be better if we simply observed things from an aware state, and not get so caught up in them? This is Eckhart's goal, to get us to a place where we can see the benefits of raising our awareness, and actually wanting to do so.

Ah, easier said than done, I hear you say. Within the pages of A New Earth, Eckhart gives us precisely the tools we need to recognize and become aware of own folly. From that higher state of awareness, the flowers of enlightenment can bloom. And voila, a New Earth is born.

I find this book a great comfort.

How to Love Yourself

2009-05-24T00:12:00.001-07:00

Iread most of L.Hays books in the early ninty's,they were a knight in shining armour for me,my ex husband left me for an older woman,i was left with 2 children,after 14yrs marriage and been with this man since I was 17,and then been 32 I headed for a nervous b/down,with support from my family and counselling,I read Louise's book,and found that the negetivity and guilt I was shouldering was his guilt placed on my shoulders all the years we were together,I didn't know me anymore,so her books were a Godsend at that time,with Meditations and Prayer and guidance, I was able to lift myself up,and find my own identity,and feel worthy.Now in the Year 2000,I have found peace,I attend a Spiritual church,teach Meditation and Personal deavelopment and share my stories with others.Since my breakup I have gone thru Cancer,but my faith now is so strong am able to cope,I believe in nurturing myself,I have 5 yrs clear since Cancer struck and I feel I can conquer most anything. Louise Hay has been able to share her gift with many and feel she has reached millions of people,turning their negetivity into positive healing.

Stress-Free

2009-05-24T00:11:00.000-07:00

This CD has 2 parts- 1st, audible affirmations spoken by Louise. 2nd, subliminal affirmations with relaxing music that is audible. Affirmations work only if you WORK them. Louise's premise is our thoughts create our life. If we want to change our lives, we must intentionally change our thoughts. Stress, she says, and I agree 100%, is a result of fear. Affirmations on this CD include

-I am safe when I express my feelings.
-I have a great relationship with my boss.
-I flow easily and effortlessly with life.
-I am comfortable with my finances
-I can be serene in any situation

Louise says we must conciously make this work, we use affimrations all the time, we must chose to to use positive affirmations, they are what change our lives in the direction we want them to go.

I have expirienced huge changes including confidence and peace. Awareness is critical. I pay attention to how I feel and when I notice negative affirmations coming up I tell myself "I am totally adequate for all situations" or "I can be serene in any situation" over and over and over... As I said, this works if YOU work it! I never would've believed if I didn't expirience it for myself.

Highly reccomend, it will change your life if you let it!

Overcoming Fears

2009-05-24T00:09:00.000-07:00

You have the power within you to help create the kind of world we want all of us to live in. ~Louise L. Hay

Louise L. Hay has a comforting voice which tends to take you away from any stressful environment. She provides a space where you can feel relaxed, safe and peaceful. She is a metaphysical lecturer and teacher and her books have been translated into 29 different language.

In "Overcoming Fears," Louise invites us all to explore our inner worlds and asks us to imagine ourselves in various life stages where we felt safe and happy and loved without fear. Through this meditation, you visualize the way your world could be and the way you want it to be. Self-esteem, safety, security and the power of thought are all discussed in a meditative way.

The focus of "Overcoming Fear" is visualization and by changing the way you think about your life, you can actually start to become a more powerful force in your own life. Even after listening to this CD once, I found myself awakening the next day with much more positive thoughts.

While this meditation does not draw on any particular religion, there are a few items people of various faiths will need to consider on their own. By imagining the world as a more peaceful place, you can in fact start to make the world more peaceful through your own positive actions.

If you find this CD to be inspirational and healing, you may also want to find the givingloveaway.com CD which is a beautiful spoken-word gift to the world. This CD might also inspire you to give a donation to World Vision or to reach out to your own community.

I listened to this CD twice last night and woke up feeling healed, refreshed and much more rested than I had in weeks. My first thoughts were quickly replaced by more positive ones and I started my day with a much more positive attitude.

I think Louise's voice has a mesmerizing quality which can be especially healing when you are feeling stressed. You may want to make yourself a comforting place to listen to this meditation. Candles, your favorite essential oil and a quiet setting will enhance your acceptance of the ideas Louise presents. Music plays in the background as Louise speaks from her heart. You can hear flute, water (a waterfall or river) and birds chirping. There are two sections. The second section is filled with more affirmations and the focus is on changing thoughts of fear to thoughts of safety. For anyone experiencing panic attacks, distrust of their environment or general anxiety, this section can help you let go of fear and accept the nurturing environment of safety and trust. Forgiveness of others and yourself is discussed.

"Overcoming Fears" is a healing, beautiful spoken-word CD that will empower you and help you to find an inner world that is safe and caring. As you move into the world in a more peaceful state, you may notice your environment changing and others reacting to you in a more loving way.

I Can Do It

2009-05-23T23:58:00.001-07:00

"I've written these cards as a way to help you create joy in every area of your life. You can experience wealth, health, romance, self-esteem, job success, creativity, and a life released from resentment and pain." ~Louise L. Hay, author of You Can Heal Your Life

If you are looking for a way to create more happiness in your life, these cards can inspire you on a daily basis. The beautiful tiny box holds 60 affirmation cards a variety of subjects. You can read about romance, wealth, health, forgiveness, creativity, overcoming stress, job success and self-esteem.

Lately I've started to believe that you truly do hold the keys to your future. You can literally dream your future into life. Although, I am also convinced that you need a lot of encouraging books and encouraging people in your life to overcome life's immense and at times overwhelming hurdles. If you can find just one person who believes in you and a few books that bring an encouraging message into your life, you really can heal your world.

Louise Hay shows this positive philosophy in her "I Can Do It Cards." There are immediate and essential things you must do to heal your life. One of them is to encourage yourself daily. You can't give up and let yourself fall back into negative patterns that are defeating and harmful to your life. These cards encourage you to look at your life in a more positive way.

The first card says: "Love is all there is!"
Then, on the back: "Love is powerful - your love and my love. Love brings us peace on Earth."

I adore this card:

"I love myself exactly as I am. I no longer wait to be perfect in order to love myself."
Back of Card: "The greatest gift I can give myself is unconditional love."

While we often hear that we should love others "unconditionally," but how many times do we hear that we should love "ourselves unconditionally?" These cards are a wonderful reminder. The colors (lavender, blue, pink, yellow, green and orange) on these cards are beautiful and there are pictures on both sides. There are pictures of steaming cups of tea, sandy beaches, butterflies, angels, lots of hearts, treasure chests, flowers, birds, stars and I even found a picture of Louise's book: "You Can Heal Your Life."

The "I now do work I love, and I am well paid for it" card sounds just wonderful and I hope that reading this card will make some of my dreams come true in 2004.

Louise L. Hay is a metaphysical lecturer and the best-selling author of 27 books. Her works have been translated into 25 languages.

The "I Can Do It Cards" may just be what you need to move to a higher level in your awareness of life. There are so many beautiful places we can go. Sometimes we just need a little motivation. You can put these cards on your refrigerator, in your pocket, on a bulletin board, leave one on a co-workers desk or even slip them into a card for a friend. In that case, you might need two boxes. :)

Receiving Prosperity

2009-05-23T23:56:00.001-07:00

Louise Hay has her very own special style. This CD is wonderfully helpful. It helps you understand how prosperity is directly related to a person's thoughts. This prosperity consciousness is a whole new way of thinking for many of us. It encompasses more than prosperity alone. Louise helps you grasp this. She's a wonderful spiritual teacher and guide, showing you how to use this in your everyday life. I listened to this CD just last night before going to sleep. I find it extemely helpful to listen to this repeatedly, and I highly recommend it.

Self-Esteem Affirmations

2009-05-23T23:55:00.000-07:00

When I first listened to Hay's affirmations (tape A as spoken words and tape B as subliminal with soothing music) in this recording, I said to myself 'Oh, my God... I don't want anyone to know I owe it...I am NOT THAT SAD', as I found them awfully embarassing (3 years ago). But then, recently I had experienced a really depressing phase of my life, a sort of middle-age crisis, feeling my confidence was totally destroyed. So I have played it while I was working (for only half a day for 2 days). Miraculously enough, not only didn't I find it embarasssing, but also I felt so poised and calmed that the panic crisis seems to be almost over now!! I am glad that I didn't have to rely on Valium.
Her guidance at the very beginning clearly said that the purpose is for ONE'S SUBCONSCIOUS MIND TO ABSORB THE MESSAGES which conscious mind would reject, which one should bear in mind. No wonder that such affirmations like "I am lovable because I exist" or "I am good enough just as I am" or "I love myself more and more evey day" sound too awkward to listen to when you are 'SOBER'. I doubt it's that useful if you CONSCIOUSLY try to remember the phrases as some of the reviewers suggest. However, I cannot deny this tape actually rescued me at subconscious level. Perhaps it may be the affirmations' power, or may be just the relaxing Hay's voice and the music that really helped me, who knows.

Anger Releasing

2009-05-23T23:54:00.000-07:00

Louise L. Hay amazed me and shocked me once again with this tape. She created a way to truly release anger though a guided meditation by inviting you to confront five people in your life. Hay gives you permisson to say to these people,in your mind, everything that you always wanted to say but did not dare. She incourages you to let EVERYTHING go! Then she shows you have to use that anger and release it so it does not hurt anyone anymore. This tape is not for the timid, I have to admit I threw it across the room once because it made me so mad! But, it does work. By someone finally showing me I could give myself permission to be mad I also learned how to give myself permisson to let go of the anger!

Love Yourself, Heal Your Life

2009-05-23T23:51:00.001-07:00

"These exercises will give you new information about yourself. You will be able to make new choices. If you are willing, then you can definitely create the kind of life you say you want." ~Louse L. Hay

Louise delves into health, fears, phobias, sex, self-esteem, money, friendship, addictions, work and intimacy issues. In her loving, caring way, she guides you through fifteen work"fun" chapters. I think this book is more fun than work. You will learn about:

1. Basic Techniques - Changing thoughts and releasing old beliefs about yourself.
2. Who Are You? What Do You Believe?
3. Health Checklist
4. Feeling Good
5. Fears and Phobias
6. Anger
7. Criticism and Judgment
8. Addictions
9. Forgiveness
10. Work
11. Money and Prosperity
12. Friends
13. Sexuality
14. Love and Intimacy
15. Your New Picture

You will find questions like: "What do you want that you are not having?" At the end of the first chapter there is a "Deservability Treatment" where you can read affirmations and perhaps extract one or two sentences for daily reflection like: "I am willing to create new thoughts about myself and about my life. My new thinking becomes new experiences."

There are many places where you can record your own thoughts about various topics like love, sex, work, money, success, failure and God. There is a place to write a story of your life and to draw a picture of your inner child.

The chapter on health might jumpstart a new healthy journey into nutrition and wellness.

If you want to pass this book along to a friend, you could also buy a small journal and make notes in the journal instead of on the pages. This book could also be used as inspiration for journal writing. This book gave me a great idea - to create an entire book just of affirmations. A lot of our self-talk can make us miserable or enlightened.

Louise L. Hay also focuses on reflection, meditation, visualization and relaxation. She presents a pathway to a more positive and fulfilling life that is filled with daily discoveries of beauty and nurturing elements. It is time to start loving ourselves more and time to heal our lives.

"Criticism breaks down the inner spirit, and never changes a thing. Praise builds up the spirit and can bring positive changes." ~Louise L. Hay

Heal Your Body

2009-05-23T23:49:00.000-07:00

Author Louise Hay is a teacher, lecturer, and founder of Hay House Publishing. She contends that disease is caused by mental thought patterns, especially patterns of criticism, anger, resentment, and guilt. Festering resentments eat away at the self and can ultimately lead to tumors and cancers. Anger turns into things that burn, boil, or infect the body. A pattern of criticism can turn into diseases like arthritis, and guilt seeks punishment and leads to pain. In this book, Ms. Hay outlines hundreds of diseases and conditions, alphabetically, and the mental patterns that are associated with them, including each vertebrae of the spine. She has discovered these patterns through many years of study, her own work with clients, and her lectures and workshops.
She knows the power of healing by changing mental thought patterns firsthand: she was diagnosed as having cancer of the vagina several years ago. She was already a teacher of healing for several years, and saw it as an opportunity to practice what she preached. Despite knowing the power of replacing negative thought patterns with positive and affirming beliefs, she felt panic like most would at this kind of diagnosis. However, she felt that if she allowed the doctor to operate without changing the mental pattern that created it, the cancer would just come back. In fact, she believes that when cancer comes back, it's not because the doctor "didn't get it all", but because the individual never addressed the mental patterns that created the dis-ease in the first place.

In Ms. Hay's case, she had never acknowledged the deep resentment she carried for being raped when she was 5 years old and being battered as a child. As she says, we are often blind to our own patterns--even if we're healers or teachers.

Ms. Hay bargained with her doctor and asked for 3 months to work on the deep resentments and thought patterns that created her cancer. He grudgingly agreed, warning her that she was putting her life in danger. She began working immediately with a teacher to clear up her patterns of resentment, as well as working with a nutritionist to detoxify her body. Six months later, the medical profession agreed with what she already knew: she was completely free from any form of cancer.

She still keeps the original lab report as a reminder of how negatively creative she could be.

I have to admit, I never thought I would recommend this book to anyone. My first husband was a Charismatic minister who believed that words were powerful and creative, and taught this concept to his congregation. However, he contracted leukemia at age 28, and despite a lot of positive thinking and affirmations, he suffered physically and died. Entertaining the theory that he created his suffering, especially after believing in God, healing, and the power of words, made me mad. Very mad. I scorned Ms. Hay and her theories of blame.

So what changed my mind? I had a series of physical symptoms that I knew were connected to my beliefs and thought patterns. As a former Charismatic minister, I used to teach the same thing as my deceased husband. However, deep down, I don't think I really believed in co-creation, but just wished it were true--especially in the area of prosperity and "name it and claim it." After following a different spiritual path from the one in which I was raised and upon further metaphysical study and reading while working on my own thought patterns, I began to realize, deep down, that my thoughts were powerful and that there were mental and emotional correlations to my physical symptoms. It was then that I felt to give Louise Hay another try.

First off, let me say that Ms. Hay believes in taking full responsibility for your health without self-reproach of feeling guilty. The means NO BLAME. But if you're anything like me, especially one that struggles with guilt from being brought up in a fear-based religion, it's hard not to feel blame when exploring the ideas of metaphysical causation. Some people blame God or an evil entity for dis-ease, and others blame it on the environment, poor lifestyle choices or genetics. Ms. Hay doesn't believe in participating in self-loathing and self-blame when you get ill; this is yet another destructive thought pattern.

I bought Heal Your Body a few months ago, and I have to tell you, it's really helped me pinpoint issues I needed to acknowledge and work though. I was suffering sinus trouble, and sinus trouble supposedly correlates to being irritated by one person--someone close. I began to look at the fact that I held unacknowledged resentment towards my Autistic son because of the arduousness of dealing with his behaviors, as well as wishing my situation was other than it was. What mother wants to acknowledge she may resent her son on some level--especially a precious 4 year old with Autism? Yet, this is what becoming responsible for myself and my health entails: ruthless self-examination without self-judgment and self-blame. Then, it's possible to actually work on the root of the resentment, see where I was resisting reality and wishing it to be other than it is, and changing my mind and negative thought processes.

Needless to say, after a few months of working on it, the sinus trouble disappeared. (And it was plaguing me for many months.) I've had this work for me with other ailments, as well.

If anything, this book is a great starting point for examining our beliefs and thought patterns and observe if there is truth to Ms. Hay's correlations. If it doesn't seem to fit, sit with it awhile. Be honest with yourself. Allow yourself to explore the idea that it's possible. You may find some surprising insights into your health and your life, and begin on a path to a level of health that you never imagined possible.

http://www.louisehay.com/

You Can Heal Your Life

2009-05-23T23:45:00.000-07:00

You Can Heal Your Life is all about using your thoughts to fix the problems in your life. What kind of problems? Well, the book specifically looks into healing some pretty major life areas: relationships, work, success, prosperity, and your body. But wait a minute, did I say the book is using thoughts to heal your body? What's up with that? Is that even possible? Well, after reading this book, I think in many cases, yes, it is possible.

While I think it is the way to go to treat things such as an acute appendicitis with surgery, fractures with a cast, and pneumonia with antibiotics, there are many conditions where conventional medicine blatently falls short. Of course I'm talking about health problems such as migraines, backaches, or stomach ulcers- you know, those kinds of nagging disorders where we all know that stress/mental processes DO play a role. But while few would argue that psychological factors can cause an ulcer, what about more serious conditions such as, say, arthritis?

Well it may not be too far fetched. Consider this. One study of 1,198 subjects found that only 56% of men with SEVERE knee arthritis had any pain (Lawrence 1966). Another study X-rayed 84 seventy-nine year-olds and 76 eighty-five year-olds and found that only 43% of them with SEVERE knee arthritis had any pain complaints (Bagge 1991). There are plenty more examples in the scientific literature, but obviously there two alone show us that there is NO clear-cut association between severe knee arthritis and pain.

ON THE OTHER HAND, when one looks at the relationship between psychological variables and knee arthritis, one does see a clear association. For instance, one study looked at 65 patients (ages 55 to 87) with hip and/or knee arthritis. X-rays, pain, depression levels, anxiety levels, coping styles, and functional impairment were all assessed. The findings? Researchers discovered that the severity of one's arthritis showed little relationship to pain, BUT, psychological variables were strong predictors of who had pain and how impaired they were (Summers 1988).

Along the same lines, Salaffi examined 61 women (ages 51-79) with knee arthritis. Here again, results showed that how disabled someone was, was more related to psychological variables than how bad their knee looked on an X-ray film. Interestingly, both anxiety and depression WERE important predictors of pain (Salaffi 1991). Any one conducting a literature review on Medline will find more such examples IF you're looking for them. While I used knee arthritis as an example, there are MANY more studies on other health problems with similar findings.

All of this should be causing us to raise an eyebrow. The literature is telling us that it is far from being clear cut that things like bad knee arthritis ALWAYS mean pain. And the research is also giving us clues that the mind and our thought processes definitely play a role. So the question now becomes, if bad thought patterns can play a role in health problems such as arthritis, why not in other diseases such as cancer, as the book suggests?

You be the judge. I found that the main value in this book was getting me to look at how our thinking does influence the functioning of our bodies- as well as our life in general. Note that I'm NOT saying that you can think yourself well all the time either.

Remember that while Louise Hay did change her thought patterns and was cured of cancer, she has also written that she used other alternative treatments as well, such as foot reflexology and colon therapy (Chapter 16). Therefore, my advice is to look at ALL the options when dealing with a health problem, one MAJOR one being changing your mental patterns (which is the what the book does a nice job of addressing). And for this reason, I can recommend this book to anyone who needs physical healing or otherwise. Other alternative healing books of interest include The Divided Mind: The Epidemic of Mindbody Disorders and The 5-Minute Plantar Fasciitis Solution. Thank you Louise Hay!

It's Not What You've Got

2009-05-23T23:40:00.000-07:00

I had thought this was going to be a storybook but the book has a poetry type feel rather than that of a story taking place. The book is written in rhyme and addresses a new concept on each page. With each turn of the page, there is a new poem addressing a new value to teach your child. I found the illustrations very helpful for discussions with children, for example: the big house pictured by and apartment building on the page "It Doesn't Matter What They Have."

This book has the potential to be used across ages as young readers will most likely just enjoy the rhymes, but as children get older, parents can use the examples and concepts for discussions related to real life. There will always be someone with more... and always someone with less than what you have. Teaching children to be positive at all income levels will build their self-esteem, pride, and confidence through life.

Unstoppable Me

2009-05-23T23:38:00.001-07:00

The book discusses 10 ways to soar through life:
1. You're great--no matter what!
2. Persistance pays off!
3. Welcome to the Unknown
4. You have a choice
5. Farewell to worry
6. Peace begins with you
7. Enjoy the Here-and-now
8. Healthy me!
9. Creativity is the key!
10. What can you give.

These principles are each explained on one side of the page. On the other side a situational example of how a child applied it in his or her own way.

The thing my child and I liked most about the book was the section at the end where it asks questions about how the child has or could use each of the 10 principles. I was a bit amazed and delighted by what my daughter shared with me--thing I didn't know about her her life away from me. Her eyes really lit up during this part and she talked a mile a minute.

I'm very pleased with the book written by Wayne Dyer and Kristina Tracy. I have been a fan of Dyer's CD's (based on his books) for some time now which are geared to adults. The illustrations by Stacy Heller Budnick are very eye appealing and cheerful.

I love these positive messages that I can share with my daughter as she grows up and I want to add the first book Dyer wrote for children to her library. Now if only Deepak Chopra would write a few children's books--I'd love that too.

Being In Balance

2009-05-23T23:36:00.001-07:00

A great little book, small enough to keep on your desktop at work, so you can read snippits frequently and stay in-balance. Looks at life from a "road less traveled" perspective, more of a bigger-picture/real meaning-of-life perspective, such as how to really align your thinking with what you want, so that you can actually achieve what you want--getting rid of negativity and the "I can't" mentality, and related subject matter. I keep this booklet and "10 Secrets for Success & Inner Peace" on top of my desk at work at all times and read pieces of them frequently. I also invite co-workers to read them.

One example from the booklet would be that you cannot give away what you don't have to give. So, if you have no love in your heart for others, you cannot give it away, nor can you attract it. Of course, I cannot explain it like Dr Dyer can, but, basically, if you don't feel and demonstrate love toward others, they won't see it or feel it within you. This little book is also loaded with quotes, which reinforce the concepts explained in the book.

The principles of the Law of Attraction is mentioned throughout the book. Basically, this equates to you get what you put out. Again, you DO most certainly get what you give out. For example, if you go around hating people, then you also create an expectation of hate feelings in everyone, and you will attract that very hatred to you. Lots of people don't believe this but I've seen it happen too many times to not believe it. It is easy to watch anger-attracting-anger in action. Just sit back and watch the dynamics of 2 people getting into an argument. Fear attracts fear, and so on. Also sit back and watch the dynamics of joy and laughter. See how others join in the laughter. If you also have the ability to feel energy, then you will feel the change in the type of energy that surrounds that joy and laughter versus the type of energy that surrounds the anger.
One of the chapters in this little booklet talks about things you tell yourself which affect your ability to proceed forward in your life--a list of "out-of-balance" verbiage--the "unmagnificent seven": 1) It's Not God's Will; 2) There's a Limited Supply; 3)I Don't Deserve It; 4) I Have Limited Abilities and Talents; 5) I've Never Been Lucky; 6) It's Always Been This Way; and 7) I Don't Know How to Think "Abundance" for Myself. Hopefully, you can see from the "seven" how this limited thinking capacity would directly affect your ability to achieve optimal benefits in your life. (It's out of my control or I can't so I won't try.) If not, Dr. Dyer explains it all in his little booklet.
I have already read through the booklet, highlighted and tabbed certain spots. Now, frequently, I pick this booklet up and let it fall open to a place. Then I read that page.

After reading this and another Dyer book, I was inspired to write a very profound "poem", which I re-read every day to remind myself of how I will remain in balance, and guess what? It works!

Dr. Dyer has a great deal of wisdom, which he shares in all his writings, CDs, and DVDs. I highly recommend this and any of his material.

One thing to note: No one book, or even group of books, is enough. If you want to make significant changes in your life, your input and output must be in balance. You need to input good material, incorporate it into your inner consciousness, believe it and live it, and put good things out to others. Significant high-quality life-style changes are made by deliberately realigning yourself in a positive manner and for the good of all, at least in my opinion. I look at it as working in partnership with God. It takes work in the form of a life commitment, but this book is a good beginning and will assist you in remembering how to be in balance, and what it looks like when you're out of balance.

Getting in the Gap

2009-05-23T23:34:00.001-07:00

"For the raindrop, joy is in entering the river..." ~Mirza Ghalib

Have you ever wished you could escape to a place of peace? "The Gap" is a place between your thoughts. It is the place where you can be still and release yourself from the 60,000 thoughts hurtling through your mind during the course of a day.

Meditation can encourage physical healing, reduce stress, eliminate fatigue, make you feel younger, brighten your eyes and complexion, keep you focused on your spiritual connection, alleviate depression, and improve your memory. Meditation also allows you to find some of the secrets of peace. When you are thinking about God, how can you think of problems? How can your heart be anxious when it is freed from pain and sorrow and is resting in an ocean of love.

Once you have experienced this "place of peace/the gap," you can go there again. I first experienced this "space between my thoughts" during the end of a yoga workout. I had no idea you could escape the pain of life in this manner. I felt good for two days after doing the meditation section of the workout.

In this book, there is a CD that allows you to quickly enter the silence without the yoga workout, although I still like putting a fluffy down comforter on the floor as I do when I do yoga workouts. I was encouraged to learn that there is no "correct posture" or place for meditating. I actually meditate better when lying flat on my back. You could be sitting in your chair at work with your eyes closed during a 10-minute break, you could be at home, on a plane, or you could be out in nature.

The book has six chapters explaining Japa Meditation and shows how this form of meditation can affect your life in a positive way. The meditation CD is in a little envelope at the back of the book. There are two meditations on the 40-minute CD. The first 10 minutes explains the CD. You can listen to this each time or forward to one of the meditation sections.

The second section on the CD is a 10-minute meditation. The third section is a 20-minute meditation. In the first guided meditation, you say the name of God twice each time between the words you are visualizing on the screen of your mind. Then, in the longer 20-minute meditation you say the name of God four times between the visualization. It is very calming.

You visualize a word and then a second word. Then you "slip back to the space" between the words and I noticed that I was taking a deep breath each time. It was as if I was giving myself permission to relax. The further you go into the CD, the more relaxed you become.

The first time I tried this CD, I was in total emotional conflict. I was crying when I started listening and in 20 minutes, my mind had totally become refocused and I felt like I could again enter the world. I was amazed at how quickly my focus changed from feeling very emotional to feeling very strong, loving and peaceful. It was as if I'd slept 8 hours and awoken without the past nights conflicts haunting me. I was amazed at how rested I felt.

The feeling this CD evokes is similar to floating on an ocean of subtle vibrations that penetrate every part of your entire body making you become one with the ocean. It is like being unconditionally loved. If you have never said: "Ahhhhhh" along with a spiritual teacher, I highly recommend it. The beauty of this meditation is that you don't have to belong to any specific religion. Japa meditation is the Yoga of the Mind. It is actually practiced by all of the religions of the world but under different names.

While this book has examples of how meditating even brought financial wealth, the greatest wealth is in the peace you will experience while meditating on the name of God.

"Wisdom of the Ages" was my first introduction to Wayne Dyer. I love the quotes he finds, the passages he presents and how he weaves the past and present together to encourage a more peaceful future. His words have always captured my attention and had a profound effect on my life. I highly recommend this book and CD as an introduction to meditation. You can journey from stress to peace in as little as 10 minutes. "Getting in the Gap" is a true soul escape!

10 Secrets for Success and Inner Peace

2009-05-23T23:33:00.001-07:00

Somehow, I missed reading Dr. Wayne Dyer's TEN SECRETS
FOR SUCCESS when it first came out a few years ago . . . however, I'm glad I was able to find it now because
it contained many powerful ideas for changing my life--and yours, too, in most likelihood) . . . though a mere 158 pages with a lot of white space, I'd still give it my highest recommendation for either personal reading or gift giving.
The ideas may seem pretty basic, but if you read the accompanying
explanation in the book, you'll see that they take on a lot more
significance when Dyer gives his unique spin on each one:

The First Secret:
Have a mind that is open to everything and attached to nothing.

The Second Secret:
Don't die with your music still in you.

The Third Secret:
You can't give away what you don't have.

The Fourth Secret:
Embrace silence.

The Fifth Secret:
Give up your personal history.

The Sixth Secret:
You can't solve a problem with the same mind that created it.

The Seventh Secret:
There are no justified resentments.

The Eighth Secret:
Treat yourself as if you already are what you'd like to be.

The Ninth Secret:
Treasure your divinity.

The Tenth Secret:
Wisdom is avoiding all thoughts that weaken you.

I also liked how Dyer used a relatively popular technique of
introducing each chapter with quotes . . . yet what made these
interesting was that I had not seen many of them reviously . . . forinstance:

Any path is only a path, and there is no affront to oneself
or to others, in dropping it if that is what your heart tells
you.--Carlos Castaneda

Any man can make mistakes, but only an idiot persists
in his error.--Cicero

The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts. Take care that you entertain no notions unsuitable to virtue and reasonable nature.--Marcus Aurelius

God does not command that we do great things, only little things
with great love.--Mother Teresa

Also, there were many other memorable passages in the
book . . . among them:

In all of your relationships, if you can love someone enough to allow them to be exactly what they choose to be--without any expectations or attachments from you--you'll know true peace in your lifetime. True love means you love a person for what they are, not for what you think they should be. This is an open mind-and an absence of attachment.

What is your passion? What stirs your soul and makes you feel like you're totally in harmony with why you showed up here in the first place? Know this for certain: Whatever it may be, you can make a living doing it and simultaneously provide a service for others. I guarantee it.

The willingness and ability to live fully in the now eludes many
people. While eating your appetizer, don't be concerned with
dessert. While reading a book, notice where your thoughts are.
While on vacation, be there instead of thinking about what should
have been done and what has to be done when returning home.
Don't let the elusive present moment get used up by thoughts
that aren't in the here and now.

Manifest Your Destiny

2009-05-23T23:32:00.001-07:00

Anthony Robbins the famous motivational speaker states that people have a thermostat setting in their minds which is set at a specific success level. Anything lower and they scramble to get back to their setting, anything higher, and they tend to sabotage it.
Dr Dyer in this book takes a different approach. He mentions that people choose a path to enlightenment that is either suffering, goal setting, and the highest order, living on purpose. We overcome obstacles through our general approach to life through one of these approaches. Some through suffering realize enlightenment. Others approach life with goal setting. Hard work, climbing the tower, and they finally arrive. Finally the people who realize that their is a greater purpose for our lives, and get in touch with that reality. By living on purpose all things are added unto you. It is the ideal solution to our lives.
I remember seeing a bumble bee one summer, trying to escape to the outside world. Repeatedly hitting his head against the glass window. Flying toward the glass, hitting his head, staggering, recomposing, and heading toward the glass once again. Again and again, banging his head into the glass. I sat back from across the room and wished I could speak to the bee and share with him the information that only a few feet from the window was a wide open door. Through continual trying the bee could possibly exhaust himself to the floor, and maybe then see the opening to the door. Others may call upon their greater sense, or rely on their intuitive sense, or greater guidance, and find the simple solution without the suffering or goal achieving.
Are we living on purpose? Achieving our destiny? It may be time to stop and ask ourselves that question, and that is what this book is about.
I find Dr Dyer to an enlightened person. He draws upon the teachings of many spiritual masters. Transcending the standards that are often dictated to us by others. I have learned more lifetime truths from him, than from most any other author. I highly recommend this book to anyone who is steering their way through life. (Which is all of us.) I have never read a book by Dr. Dyer that was not an enlightening experience.
Highly recommended.

Meditations for Manifesting

2009-05-23T23:31:00.000-07:00

To be honest, I heard Dr. Dyer's Meditations for Manifesting last year - and was not all that impressed. Then, about a month ago my friend Cindy mentioned to me that she was using it and was finding it very effective, so I dug it out of the storage box. It is amazing, effective and magical. Apparently you have to be ready for this one...you have to believe that through the sacred sound you can manifest your heart's desire. And you can with these sound meditations! I have created a successful civil law suit settlement, a venture capital investor for my business, and an overall feeling of accomplishment and harmony in my life that I have not experienced for years!

Dr. Dyer is a true renaissance man, sharing this meditation which he received from his teacher, with those of us who are open to receiving lavish goodness from all directions of God. Another thing: I am the author of Shalom my Love... and the evening meditation ends with the word Shalom. It amazed me when I realized that the Sha of shalom is the 'ah' sound of creation Dr. Dyer takes us through in the morning meditation, and the Om part of the word Shal -om is the Om sound for gratitude which comprises the nightime meditation. I highly recommend this tape to anyone who is really committed to manifesting shalom and abundance into his or her life.

http://www.drwaynedyer.com/

The Power of Intention

2009-05-23T23:29:00.001-07:00

This is a wonderful book that will teach you how to align intention and focus, along with your energy to manifest what you desire to create in your life. By using the tools in this book, you WILL receive that which you place your focus on.

This book will teach you how to become A 'Connector' by working in harmony with those around you. It gives you examples to raise your energy above the negativity of 'competition' and shows you how to align yourself in harmony no matter what your outer conditions are. When you are attuned to this field of alignment, you will radiate and attract to you exactly what is within the field of energy you are in harmony with.

Connecting to the filed of intention is a conscious, daily, moment by moment inner experience to connect you to the highest that exists within you. As a result you WILL bring about EXACTLY what you harmonize with on all levels. This book is a wonderful tool to help you consciously bring about the best in your life from the inside out.

Barbara Rose, Ph.D. author of If God Was Like Man, Stop Being the String Along, and Know Yourself

http://www.drwaynedyer.com/

Your Erroneous Zones

2009-05-23T23:28:00.000-07:00

This book is one of the best books, perhaps even the best book I've ever read in terms of gaining control over one's life. It is truly empowering in the best sense of the idea. It comes down to the fact that you are a "choice making individual". No matter what the situation is that comes up you can still choose how to react to it.
To illustrate... I used to believe that I had certain tendencies (like "worrying" about all the "what ifs" for example) that were somehow out of my control. The idea of buying into the idea that some things were just "family traits" that I was helplessly born into, that "we come from a family of neurotic people who worry".

I have a particular favorite story which is on the audio tape version of the book (I can't remember if it's in the printed version of the book.... the audio seems pretty much like he's extemporizing on the principles outlined in the book). He tells of how he was in a restaurant and the manager/owner of the restaurant is getting very upset and emotional at an employee. Dr. Dyer says to the guy something like "Look at yourself, you're going to give your self a heart attack by the time your fifty" to which the gentleman replies "I am fifty two and I had a heart attack two years ago" to which Dr. Dyer says something like "Then why do you do this to yourself ? " to which the fellow says "What do you want from me.... I'm Italian !" ..... as if that was an explanation for why he was getting himself all worked up.

Wayne really helps one realize that they don't have to "buy into" feeling like they are helpless victims of their cultural background, family dynamics and, Genetic tendencies etc. While these may all seem to be the same thing there are in fact subtle differences between them.

I have recommended this book and it's audio version for countless people who have felt "out of control" of their emotions.

The ideas in this book really work if you are willing to finally let go of the mental crap in your life that is holding you back from being happier and healthier in every way. This is not to put on Rose Colored glasses, but to be able to "catch yourself" before you go into reacting the way you "always do" and really asking yourself if it is necessary.

Of course there are things in life where "worry" (for example if a loved one is ill) might be an unavoidable and compassionate emotion. But I'm talking about the sort of "worry" that is about things that "might happen". How many people spin endless tales of woe that will never come to pass.

Regarding Waynes other work, much of it has gone the way of the worst sort of New Age thought.

While I personally think that there is much New Age thinking that can be beneficial (especially in terms of having people more accepting of others rather than being narrow minded and bigotted), often it seems to be used to avoid having compassion (as in the idea that "Everything is perfect" so why help starving people).

This being said, "Erroneous Zones" is still one of those books I will always recommend and re-read (or listen to) when I find myself slipping into old mental habit patterns.

Another book along these lines that I also highly recommend is "Full Catastrophe Living" by Jon Kabot Zinn.

http://www.drwaynedyer.com/

Change Your Thoughts - Change Your Life

2009-05-23T23:25:00.000-07:00

We're all so busy these days. And distracted. Who has time to pause and ponder on much of anything beyond what we're grabbing for dinner after school or work? That is, if we even have time for dinner. So at first glance this almost-400 page book with its obvious philosophical leanings appears a little daunting. But dig in and you'll quickly see that it is not a book to be read in one concentrated time period, but rather taken a step at a time as a meditative process.

Each chapter is based on one of the 81 verses of the ancient Chinese wisdom and philosophy of the Tao Te Ching and beckons the reader to stop and think before moving on with his/her busy life. Dr. Dyer studied numerous translations of the Tao, meditated on his own interpretations, and observed how each verse influenced his thinking (and life) for the day. Each chapter begins with the actual verse from the Tao, followed by a title which summarizes the chief learning, followed by Dr. Dyer's comments and interpretations. Each chapter ends with a short instruction on a way to "Do the Tao Now." The instructions are deceptively simple ranging from thoughts to hold in your mind to actions you can take. Some actions can take all day (such as a suggested fast for a day); others can be done in minutes, such as expressing kindness toward another.

The notion that changing your thinking can change your life is found in almost all cultures and writings since early civilizations. This philosophy is at the heart of the most successful psychological treatments for depression, anxiety, and other disorders. The Tao provides one more example of this powerful philosophy, and Dr. Dyer nicely walks us through it.

If I had to summarize this book in one word it would be "peace." There is something about the writing which demands that you slow down, focus for a moment on the present, and take just a few minutes to detach from the chaos of your life into a true "moment of Zen." Keep it by your bed, read a chapter before going to sleep or when you first wake up and notice what begins to change in your life.

REVIEW UPDATE: As I continue to spend time with this book, I continue to be impressed. Because each chapter is only 4-6 pages long, my initial impression was that one could read a chapter a night. And you can- but the thoughts in each chapter are so intriguing and interesting that I find I wanted to linger over them for several days. This book deserves to be savored. There's also an interesting mystery in the epilogue. Dr. Dyer closes with a brief discussion of a personal incident that very much challenged his beliefs and work with the Tao. He writes, "I was presented with the greatest personal challenge of my life." He goes on to describe his great hurt and pain. I assume he had his reasons for not explaining the event in greater detail, but it leaves the reader wanting to know more- and specifically how he applied to Tao to overcome his feelings. Perhaps he will enlighten us in a future book or CD.