Works Books

Phil Bolsta has done his homework and the interviews that he has collected gives to the reader many different ways of looking at life's meaning.

In the same genre as the "Chicken Soup Series", Chicken Soup for the Soul "Sixty Seconds" gives us glimpses of the afterlife, the unconscious, the NOW and most importantly the sacredness of the world we live in and the sacredness of all the persons in our lives, starting with oneself.

Phil doesn't leave us dangling. After each story the author gives us information to further our search about the author and his/her way of life. Most have websites and you can find a wealth of spirituality and comfort in these pages.

Most of the interviews are from prominent figures, which have been courageous to share their stories with the readers. One of the most touching stories is from disabled triathlete Jim McLaren. Jim gives us the courage to change the things in our lives that need changing and not look back.

Hopefully in the future Phil will keep on collecting stories and share them with us.

Phil Bolsta's SIXTY SECONDS: ONE MOMENT CHANGES EVERYTHING, with a Foreword by Caroline Myss, is a wonderful companion to take along on anyone's spirit journey. The book's greatest virtues are its crackling brevity and exhilarating inspiration. It's designed for the breakneck pace of everyday life in western culture, and its design is agreeable and friendly.

But what makes the book a stand-out, and star, are the 45 stories of spiritual focusing and awakening by prominent authors, healers, teachers, and business people. Reading the account of Dr. Janis Amatuzio's life after death encounter during her hospital internship, or the incredible perseverance of Jim MacLaren and Dannion Brinkley, or the poignant, radiant accounts of living with imperiled children by James Autry and Sally Pederson, Frank Deford, and Mike Veeck, made me feel humble, reconnected to all of life, and grateful for my blessings and opportunities to be of service to others in this amazing life.

My personal favorites among these incandescent stories also include Donald Schnell's relationship with a young African-American fellow soldier and Zen practitioner, Toltec teacher Don José Luis's account of his blindness and restored eyesight, Jean Houston's effervescent mini-memoir of an awakening in childhood, Caroline Myss's fascinating relationship with an Indian mystic, and Deepak Chopra's uplifting revelations during his father's sacred cremation ritual. And, of course, I'm especially pleased to see the critical role that poetry plays in a healing revelation experienced by Dr. Wayne W. Dyer.

All of these stories remind us that we are all connected and not alone, that we need never fear death because where we're going is beautiful and, well, inevitable! Many stories share common visions, centered peace, and stillness. They are also brimming with companionship and community building. I'm grateful, for instance, to learn about the Twilight Brigade, which assists dying veterans, and the Trent Tucker Non-Profit Organization, which works with young people to shape more positive futures.

In every way, Phil Bolsta has put together a great soul-gift! I'm enjoying reading and re-reading it. I'm sharing these stories with friends, and I'm reading them to my children. I cannot recommend the experience of this beautiful book highly enough!


Robert McDowell, The Poetry Mentor, Bestselling author of POETRY AS SPIRITUAL PRACTICE: Reading, Writing, and Using Poetry in Your Daily Rituals, Aspirations, and Intentions (Free Press, July 2008), www.robertmcdowell.net

In this book, author Phil Bolsta has assembled an amazing collection of people--from well-known names such as spiritual medium James Van Praagh, bestselling author Dr. Dean Ornish, and alternative medicine guru Dr. Deepak Chopra to lesser-known mystics, sports figures, authors, and entertainers--to share stories of moments that changed their lives. The idea behind Sixty Seconds is that these moments, which may consume only mere seconds of our lives, are not only sacred but often transformative. In his introduction, Bolsta suggests that these transformative experiences lead to dramatic changes in how people view themselves, the world, and the meaning and purpose of life.

Bolsta has organized the book into three parts. Part I, Glimpses into the the Unknown, includes both "Life-and-Death Moments" and "Mysterious Moments." This section contains some of the most "out there" stories of the book, as it includes tales of visions, spirits, and angels. Part II is entitled Living Life, and it is broken down into "Heartbreaking Moments" and "Sacred Moments." As the title of the first subsection would suggest, these are some of the saddest stories of the book, but they are also some of the most moving; much of the second subsection involves transitions between life and death. The final part of the book is Insightful Incidents, which includes "Life-Altering Moments" and "Moments of Enlightenment."

I definitely found these stories to be both interesting and thought-provoking. Most are short, from only 2-3 pages to a bit longer. However, the title "Sixty Seconds" is a bit misleading, as some of the transformative "moments" actually took place over the course of days or weeks. Still, this is definitely a worthwhile read, especially for someone who is exploring personal/spiritual growth and who enjoys reading about the journeys of others.

Very simply "Sixty Seconds" is an excellent book and a must read. Why? Read it and find out.

60 Seconds: One Moment Changes Everything by Phil Bolsta is a wonderful book. It is an easy read if you have only a few minutes or a few hours. Everyone has a story and sharing them benefits both the reader as well as the story teller. Each story is unique and inspirational. Thank you Phil Bolsta.

This journal is wonderful! It is not only filled with beautiful images, but it is filled with inspiring messages.
Each page has a starting sentence to act as a guide and posses questions one might not have thought to ask themselves. The questions really get you thinking and they cause you to be honest with yourself.
It has really helped me greatly. Getting my thoughts down on paper has really helped me go after goals that prior I was too scared to go after.

I really love this journal. It is very timely, and will save me hundreds of dollars in the long run, and hundreds of wasted minutes debating about my life. It is reflective, and deeply moving. Self discovery is the name of this game.

Beautiful book to work in. Thought-provoking topics, questions and messages keep you working in a positive manner.

I love this book! It has been very helpful in getting in touch with my feelings. I highly recommend it to anyone. It's set up nicely with nice pictures and helpful inspirational writing.

This was a gift for a friend who needed to pause and do some self-reflection. She loved it!

As a Physician I can personally vouch for the toll "time poverty" has on health and happiness. I don't believe a day goes by where I don't see someone stressed to the max. Time is the ultimate commodity: With enough time virtually every other limitation of life can be surmounted.

It was with this in mind that I eagerly approached this book, hoping to find some wisdom to pass on to my patients (and to absorb myself). Unfortunately, instead of useful tips on priortizing, frugality and responsibility, what I found was a collection of Marxist propaganda regarding the evils of capitalism.

According to this book, a young boy is a murderer because his welfare mother was forced to work for a living for a change. Pehaps if The State (productive members of society) had been less cruel in asking that she pull her weight and provide for those she brought into this world, her son may not have committed murder, at least until he was an adult. Then we would have to find someone else to blame (just not the murderer).

Perhaps if we all lived in a communtist utopia where citizens are imprisoned for speaking out against the People (government) such as modern day communist China or the recently deceased Soviet Union, we would all be perfectly happy. That is unless you want something better for you or your family. Shame on you for working harder because you want to take care of your family.

Apparently I only struggled through years of brutal schooling and worked over hundred hours per week to learn to care for others (at far less than minimum wage and mostly at my expense) out of pure capitalist greed. I guess I went over six months without a day off simply to oppress the poor. This sort of polemic makes me sick. Please don't be poisoned by this garbage.

This book is not about helping you to spend your time on what is important or effective time or life management. It is simply a Marxist polemic angainst capitalism. It is unfortunate that one can't find a reasonable critique and review of the shortcomings our current system without a subversive agenda. I guess I'll keep searching.

I would love to give this one back to Amazon, but I think I will keep it in the "Know Your Enemy" section of my bookshelf.

This book really illustrates the problem we have in this country. Most people are busy paying on 300K + houses, paying SUV bills and are starved for time to live life the way it is to be lived. My hope is that people will use this book to fight corporate greed and gain a real life.

This book is not repetitive like others book in genres similar. This has many wonderfully written topics on time and our lack there of it in the United States. Different issues can arise due to lack of time. Some others also cross compare other countries who have more time and leisure, yet still have a great economy with more relaxed workers. Defienntly worth the time to read and may give you ideas on starting a movement to bring about more time for us.

This is something that needs to be forwarded around. We need to spread the word.

MSNBC had the nerve to do a news story saying people in the US have the lowest productivity in the first world, but as this book points out, people in the US work an average of 9 more weeks than other first world countries. People who put in 10 and 12 hour work days as we do and don't take vacations are exhausted, and have terrible health and productivity as a result of it.

European countries such as the United Kingdom where they eat more sugar and fat than we do, are thinner and in better health because they are not working themselves to death as we are.

One of my favorite quotes from this book, is "Time is a family value."

The Mother Manifesto is is a co production of Take Back Your Time and MomsRising
The Motherhood Manifesto: What America's Moms Want - and What To Do About It

With this book, John de Graaf provides an opportunity to sit down with talented writers and perceptive thinkers, and hear their views on one of society's most pressing problems - time poverty. As we race to produce more stuff - stuff that is poisoning our environment - we lose the time we need to take care of ourselves and our families, particularly those most in need of care, the very young, the very old, and even our pets. As this book shows, Americans' single-minded focus on production comes at the expense of other areas of life that desperately need our time and attention. Children growing up in institutionalized care, pets being dumped at shelters, citizens relinquishing their right to vote, obesity becoming epidemic as fast food replaces home cooking, landfills overflowing with the items we frenetically produce; the list goes on. In addition to viewing the problem from several interesting and diverse perspectives, the book includes essays on possible solutions and provides ways for readers to get involved. Everyone should find the time to read this important and engaging book.

Simply stated, I purchased the book for helping my grandson who is on the autism spectrum and has difficulty pronouncing certain sounds. Time will tell how effective Dougherty's manuscript will be.

Also, I can share the book with parents whose children have articulation problems. In my last years of teaching before retirement, I perceived that many more children have distorted speech patterns than when I began teaching in 1962. Early intervention seems the most successful approach in forming habits of speech and expression.

As a speech-language pathologist, I am often asked for suggestions for activities for encouraging speech and language skills. This book certainly provides that, plus many other important aspects of communication development. My favorite section is "encouraging your child's interest in the printed word." It presents a variety of ideas for parents to expose children to letters and sounds in a natural way, within the environment. A key area mentioned is to not stop reading to a child just because she can read.

This book is a great "new baby" gift. It is not difficult to read and would be valuable to new parents, just in terms of developmental awareness.

This book has a lot of good ideas and suggestions. It has helped me alot in being able understand my child's speech problem. With understanding and knowledge we are on a right track now!

Thanks to this book, I realized that my daughter is right on track with her speech development. (We had thought that she was behind.) This book also has some great exercises to do to help them learn to say the sounds right. Since we got this book, my daughter has learned three new sounds...f,r and v. I would recommend this for anyone who is concerned about their child's speech development.

As a speech language pathologist, I would recommend this book to parents because it is full of useful information about your child's speech and language, as well as activity ideas to promote progress and improvement. I frequently refer my clients' parents to this book because it is easy to read and provides specifics about many common speech and language issues young children experience.

"The Art of Effortless Living" by Ingrid Bacci is a quest for personal empowerment and transformation through meditation and yoga.

Ingrid Bacci provides well developed practical approaches to creating an 'effortless' lifestyle.

Connection to the Higher Self is important along with various practices to develop physical and emotional awareness.

Also read:

Nexus: A Neo Novel

Change Your Thoughts - Change Your Life: Living the Wisdom of the Tao

a must read for dealing with your own health and finding your true pleasure in life.

Ingrid's book is about learning to live your life from an inner place. A place that allows you to access your inner wisdom and get in touch with feelings and feeling your body. She talks about how we have gotten to a place of stress in our lives and informs us on how to let go of that. She mentions the fact that not only are our minds, thought and actions so stiff and so frozen, but it also effects our health.

I highly recommend this book it is a jewel and will guide you on a new path of effortless living that brings joy and well being into each moment. I hope that she writes another book, her input and the way she writes is like listening to a dear friend who has your best interest in mind. Awesome book, I have highlighted it and will treasure it and go back to it for inspiration many times.

This book was suggested by a friend and it was exactly what I needed at this time. It is a great resource for making work and life transitions with ease. I have always been looking for a book like this one, and I finally found it. It is a truly wonderful book.

This is a book that everyone should read. It teaches you to realize how we spend a great deal of effort on many areas in our lives. It makes you understand how to simplify your life by easy steps to take daily. Through this book, I learned how to breath properly and how not to let little things in life stress me out. That is all wasteful and useless. Think "effortlessly" and your life will flow gracefully as you start to realize the wonderful things in your life that you were too filled with effort to notice before. This is one of the best books I've read this year and recommend it to everyone. It's easy to read and understand and it will teach you to live effortlessly and allow you more time to enjoy yourself. Buy it!!!

I was diagnosed with type one this year and in order to help me, my doctor gave me some of his medical book's to read however, this was quite challenging for me putting all the medical terminology together in order to understand my diabetes. This book takes the medical language and translates it into everyday practical advice. I am on my second reading of this book and every time I read it I learn something new. This is a good book to mark up or highlight because of the information that is present. I would recommend this book for any body with type 1 who wants to improve there control or who have just been diagnosed.

This book is a very practical guide to insulin use that is a must-read for anybody trying to maximize their blood sugar control. We got it from the library first, but then realized we'd be coming back to it repeatedly and needed to have our own copy. Highly recommended!

I was recently diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes. I thought I understood all there was to know about it. After reading this book, I truly understood not only HOW to improve my glucose readings, but why it worked. This book is just as helpful as an physician.

This book was recommended by my diabetes doctor. It has given me insights into my diabetes and is well worth the read.

I ordered this book after reading the good reviews on it and I found it to be an excellent read. My 5 year old daughter is Type 1 diagnosed a year ago. I read as much as I can on diabetes and found this book answered those little nagging questions I have always had. We have a great endo but they can only give you so much information at each appointment. I think alot of learning about handling ones diabetes is trial and error and Gary Scheiner brought that up in the book along with ways to try to figure out what works for you. I highly recommend this book!

Great discussion of the self and grace, and of what constitutes healthy Christian spirituality. Good for the spiritually tired...His other book about family is very good too...Highly recommend his writings.

I am a Christian counselor and I originally bought this book so I could recommend it to clients...but wow has it impacted the entire way I view reality. I now understand my own and others problems in an entirely different light. So much of therapy is dealing with low self esteem, performance orientation, etc. This book made me realize why....beucase we're asking the wrong questions..and thereby looking in the wrong places for answers. It isn't about what I can DO to get better or feel better about myself or live up to expectations...it's about WHO I am IN CHRIST.
So much of the New Testament makes sense to me in a deeper way now.
I cannot recommend this book highly enough! I believe that it will be a book that I continually return to.

If you are tired of trying to please all of the people all of the time and discovering that it is never enough... this is your book. Be free of shame.

I heard about this book at a time when I was being overwhelmed by the pain of my past. At first, I didn't think I had shame. But as I read this book for the second time, it changed my life.Through Jeff's honesty and compassion (having walked this road himself) I was finally able to feel that someone understood what was raging inside of me and he gave me permission to rest.......what I needed most He told me it was OK to feel what I was feeling...at last someone could identify what I couldn't seem to verbalize.
I have been and still am in therapy, but this book was a catalyst in my understanding of who I am, how I got this way, and how to get better. If you are struggling emotionally, even if you think that this book won't help you, take the chance. Don't deprive yourself of something that could be the best $10 you ever spent.......your emotional well being is priceless.

How can the book's description say that you do not have to be a Christian, yet: "discover the liberation of the gospel of grace in Jesus Christ and the rest that comes through what Christ has done on the cross"?

I do not get it. I bought it and was very disapppointed. I do not believe in anyone's divinity. How can I relate to the book's teachings?

Yet, I am glad many Christian readers did. BUT AMAZON, PLEASE GET THESE DESCRIPTIONS MORE ACCURATE. I LOST TIME AND MONEY.

"If those signs match your experience, this book is for you. The author is not trying to get you to behave in a "Christian" manner. If trying hard were the key to the victorious Christian life, you'd probably be in the hall of fame by now, don't you think? This is a message to help you unmask the lies that keep you on a works-righteousness treadmill, to help you discover the liberation of the gospel of grace in Jesus Christ and the rest that comes through what Christ has done on the cross."

Byron Barton's Trains has become an unlikely favorite for our 2-year old. I say unlikely because it's so different from what most of his favorites (which are heavy on Sandra Boynton, Jez Alborogh, and the Spot series) are like. The art is extremely simple, using lots of bold colors, and the story doesn't rhyme or feature any noticeable repetition. It's not really even a story at all, but rather a descriptive sentence on each page highlighting the kind of train or activity shown.

I don't know whether it's the bold colors or just the subject matter (my son is absolutely fascinated by all kinds of vehicles), but this little board book went straight into his bedtime "top 5" and shows no sign of leaving! I may not get it, but I'm confident enough after seeing my son's reaction to this book to recommend Trains to the parents of any toddler interested in trains.

My son loved this book from the time he was about 15 months old. The words and the illustrations are simple and catchy. I'm not sure if this one comes in paperback but I highly suggest getting all of the Barton books in the board book style. They are sure to be read over and over!!

This story was kind of boring, not as melodic as some of the other books (Cars is our favorite) but kind of cute. Graphics are somewhat boring too (compared to the others)

My kids love this very cute little book.. They want me to read it to them over and over again. A great book for your little one. Must have!!

I was a teacher in early childhood and I love to find new books for my grandson, who is almost 3. At the early level they need simple books both in text and pictures. The Barton books have a very simple text and great pictures and my grandson loves all of them. I always let him choose what books to read and Barton is his favorite since he was 1 1/2. I would recommend all of his books for young children ages 1 to 4. We have read Trucks, Trains, Men at Work, Planes, Airport & Dinosaurs.

Truth or Bare is a classic walk down mean streets, full of gritty detail and dark alley dialogue. Speed, the central character is not only a lawyer who hates lawyers; he also detest cops, judges, his client list and sometimes himself as well. Stuck with a client whom no one else wants to defend, he has to break out of his comfort zone of defending pimps and girlie joints and reenter the field of criminal law where he finds that his opponents there make his sleazeball clients look like saints.

I wish my life as an attorney was this much fun...the characters were brilliant and alive. The intense use of words kept you coming back for more. I am looking forward to more from this wonderful, new author. Thanks for the great ride.

TRUTH OR BARE is book full of tough-talking guys (and girls) and a serpentine plot that writhes unpredictably through the fleshpots of Southern California until the very last page.

Truth or Bare is a great read with compelling characters and an unpredictable plot. The author's wit and style keeps the reader engaged to the very end. Great blend of humor and mystery, with a lead character that is truly unique.

Highly recommended!

"Speed" McKeon is one of the band of damaged romantics that we meet in detective fiction these days. He's a gentile cousin of William Lashner's Victor Carl inFalls the Shadow A bounder and a drunk with lousy taste in booze, Speed specializes in the defense of folks in the sex trade-hookers, dancers, pimps and porn shop owners. But he has a bad side too: He's got ethics problems with the local bar association and a toxic relationship with his ex-wife and (almost) ex-son.
The action gets hot when speed takes the court-appointed lawyering job for Angle Pissaro, a sex-worker who's accused of killing her lover, Evie. In a series of tiny ticks and turns, the case which is air-tight leads to a set of new conclusions that are so horrific that they make everything around it seem downright wholesome.

The conclusion is in the style of an Inspector Montalbano The Shape of Water (Inspector Montalbano, Book 1)mystery: witty, shocking, brilliantly crafted and stomach-turning. I hope that, by the time I recover from reading it, there'll be another one.


--Lynn Hoffman, author of bang BANG

I am still digesting "Ulysses." I read it while walking around Dublin a few years ago. It was marvelous to trace the steps of Leopold and Molly, and to see what they "saw," but the novel remains a distant pleasure to the reader. I must admit it is not the most accessible book ever written, but it gets four stars for its intent ... and that it is better than "Finnegan's Wake." Be warned: This book is not for the casual reader. But this annotated edition makes it all worthwhile. You'll get genuine, comprehensible guidance. If you must read "Ulysses," this edition might be most helpful.

This book was a shock to me. It's not just a book of annotations, it's also a history of Ireland, literature, language, and nearly everything else Joyce decided to allude to in his masterpiece. I never would have guessed that just reading the annotations (without the source text) would make good reading, but that is certainly the case here. You do not by any means need this book to enjoy Ulysses, but it does give remarkable insight into the mind behind it

Gifford's book offers fascinating glosses and contextual annotations for Ulysses, but was not quite what I was looking for to help me with my first attempt at the book. The annotations are mostly disjoint explanations of specific allusions and references.

There are other guides to Ulysses that are better suited for the novice Joyce reader, helping the reader to keep track of the plot, the progress of the Odyssey and Hamlet corelations and explaining the shifts in style through the book. This kind of hand-holding may be unnecessary for more sophisticated readers, but for my first read, it was essential!

Just a heads up that this is NOT an annotated edition of Ulysses (as I mistakenly thought in purchasing)(duh). It is 600-some pages of notes only and does not include the text of the novel.

When I first tucked James Joyce's ULYSSES under my arm, Don Gifford's ULYSSES ANNOTATED was tucked under the other. (My biceps became very well developed because of this.) It took me an entire summer to read the books side by side but how worthwhile it was. Gifford's essential line by line, almost word by word, guidance made ULYSSES less overwhelming than if I had tried to tackle it alone. Once I got through ULYSSES the second time (the following spring) I was able to go to the more overarching analyses of Joyce's masterpiece. Stuart Gilbert's ULYSSES and Richard Ellmann's ULYSSES ON THE LIFFEY were particularly helpful.