Biographies Books

This memoir is not just Barbara's, but is the story of everyone who has grown up in an alcoholic family. I could empathise with her trials, fears, anger and perceptions, and would often find myself nodding subconsciously as I read along. I felt I knew her well. Thank you so much for courageously sharing your story.

I could not put this book down! I got so caught up in this memoir, I couldn't wait to finish it. Then, when it was done I wished I hadn't read it in 4 days! It is filled with gut wrenching stories, sometimes so incredible it seems they can't be real. The part that takes place at Christmas was especially moving to me.

I can't recommend this book highly enough.

a heart-wrenching true memoir that is almost unbelievable to imagine. how children can cope with the harshest

abuse,emotionally and physically, with a mother standing by silently shows what resilience the human spirit can endure. looking forward to the sequel"fierce"

I didn't know much about about this part of the United States..I have been reading more memoirs set there since I read this book.

Change Me Into Zeus's Daughter is a powerful and poignant story of impoverished life as experienced by Barbara Moss.

Surrounded by poverty, alcoholism, abuse, malnutrition and facial deformities, Moss could easily have allowed herself to be trapped in that negative world. Instead, through determination and the kindness of a few strangers along the way, she rose above adversity and has been able to escape the clutches of childhood demons.

In 1996, Moss won the Gold Medal for Personal Essay in the William Faulkner Creative Writing Contest. Her winning essay became the first chapter of Change Me Into Zeus's Daughter. Her life, her determination, and her writing acheivements serve as an inspiration to the aspiring writer in me.

When I first read this book, I was working through the emotional impact of having undergone facial surgery to remove a malignant melanoma and recreate a nose. At the time of that first reading, I was more tuned into the parts of Moss's story which dealt so poignantly with the emotional effects of her deformed face and people's unkind reactions to that deformity. Her drive to find a way to resolve the situation was nothing less than admirable. Now that I am a few years beyond my surgery and have re-read her story, I find her desire to become Zeus's daughter (the goddess of beauty) pales in comparison to the beautiful person who writes this remarkable story.

With grace and insight, Moss takes us back in time to a place where life seemed to surely be waging war against her. In what she calls an effort to heal wounds and reclaim her family, she writes of both the challenges and the triumphs of childhood, adolesence and adulthood. Throughout the story, Moss interjects memories of a humorous nature - proving that even in the most desparate of situations, it is possible to find joy.

In what can only be described as a "wise beyond her years" approach, the ninth grade Moss wrote a list of eight things she wanted to do to improve herself. At the top of the list were "1. Remove moles on face, 2. Get braces on teeth, 3. Fix face." It is incredible that one so young would seize such determination and not let go until she had accomplished these seemingly insurmountable goals. Shortly after writing these goals, she began to act upon them. Her book reveals the ways she accomplished them. With remarkable insight, Moss writes about how each achieved goal created both negative and positive issues for her.

Moss's writing talent is evident in this deeply personal and moving story. Her gift to her readers is the lesson of redemption and grace in the midst of life's biggest hurdles.

by Lee Ambrose
for Story Circle Book Reviews
reviewing books by, for, and about women

An absolute delight.
If you're looking for a great book for you or a friend, this is it.
This book is so lovable I can't imagine anyone who wouldn't love it, quote it, and beg everyone they know to read it so they could compare notes.
"Hats and Eyeglasses" is my new FAVORITE phrase and favorite book to recommend.

I don't think I've loved a book character this much since I read "Eloise". If they made a movie of this book, Bette Midler would have to play Martha. This is a woman that anyone would fall in love with. She's open and smart and funny and warm and loving. And nutty. For a poker player (like me), reading it was wonderful (and even instructive!) and exactly described my own experience in loving the game. But it's really about Martha, and getting to know her is a fabulous treat.

Once you start, you will not put it down and then find yourself recommending to everyone you know!

I first met Martha Frankel in the summer of '66. She came along with a "cousin" who, eventually, I would marry. It was on Jones Beach (L.I.). Her cousin was beautiful, Martha was funny and brutally honest (still is) but sorely lacked beach etiquette. I forgave her.
When reading Hats & Eyeglasses I revisited a place that brought back fond memories.
Martha's family was my family...for a while. I know of what she writes. She remembers details and nuances with precision. She also retains that self deprecating humor (after having become quite accomplished in her life). Her gambling came naturally from her family, like another family might foster atheletes or scholars. It was not a problem until it became a problem.
I highly recommend this book be read by anyone wanting a look into a highly personal account, revealed to all...with clarity, perception and, most of all, brutally honest humor.

Grimes
West Palm Beach

I loved this book and I really don't care about gambling or poker. This book made me sad and happy, made me laugh and cry. I read it on the beach in Miami and was so captured by the story that I got a sun burn. This book made me believe in family.

Although this book was written in the 1960s, it is, still, very relevant today. This book was recommended to me back in 1983 or 1984 when I was in the military. I bought it with a number of other books. It took me twenty years to read it. I should have read it alot sooner; but, the rigors of life and the fact that a good many other books I bought kept pushing this one further back on the reading list. I grew up in the streets of NYC and saw his life being played out in a number of guys and gals I hung out with at that time. I didn't get caught up in the drug scene nor in the gangsta scene but, like the author, there was a lot going on outside the walls of the house to keep me outside nearly all day. Yeah this world was much newer for me then rather than now but I had to see what was going on within and without my neighborhood. As a parent looking at my kid, I know this world is new to them, which I can't shelter them from. As my kids look at me as their parent, they are constantly telling me to get out of their way. I want to see what is going out there. This only helps me to keep life real for them with a dose of non-reality here and there. Fortunately for Claude Brown, the street made him wise and through his book some of us can reminesce about those days and explain to others what urban life was like for us and how it made us what we are today. For others who have not experienced this urban lifestyle, take the book for what it is and re-evaluate your own experiences in hopes of passing on a reality check of your own life to your children.

This is an awesome book that I highly recommend to all young men trying to find their "way". It can be a little harsh, but it is about life in the inner city and a young man becoming a man.

I can't believe I didn't write a review for a book I read 10 years ago. This is one of my favorite books. It was this one book that drew me into reading books and becoming a book lover. One of the best books I ever read. Highly Recommended!!

Claude Brown's slightly fictionalized autobiography recounts his childhood and early adulthood throughout the 1940s and 1950s. Manchild in the Promised Land also documents the changing atmosphere of Harlem and the people it affected. Brown tells stories of himself as a hell-raiser, involved in theft and drug dealing, and spending time in juvenile detention centers like Wiltwyck and Warwick. He was able to establish a feared and respected name for himself both among the streetwalkers of Harlem and the inmates of the reform schools. Lacking formal education (resulting from years of playing hooky) and idolizing the criminal elements around him, he seemed to be heading down a short road of vice and danger.

Only after Brown moved to Greenwich Village shortly before turning twenty was he able to begin viewing Harlem with a more objective eye, and see the factors that led him down the downward spiral he had been traveling. One of the main reasons Brown believes he and his friends were wrought with such violence and recklessness is due to the mentality imported by their parents from the South. The thing that mattered most to them was fighting: for one's money, girl/family, and manhood (Brown 260). He feels that that rural mentality had been brought to a crowded city life that was not only incompatible with the setting, but also destructive. He laments, "it seems as though if I had stayed in Harlem all my life, I might have never known that there was anything else to life other than sex, religion, liquor, and violence" (Brown 281).

As a youth, Brown excelled in these very base attributes. It wasn't until the introduction of heroine, or "horse," as it was first introduced in the early 1950s, that he feels Harlem truly became unable to cope with their values. Instead of young men fighting for honor, they were killing and robbing for money to sustain their overwhelming addictions, introducing more guns into the neighborhood with desperate people wielding them. He witnessed his friends begin to fade away into scratching, nodding junkies. However, by this time Brown was able to leave and slowly break away from the crumbling Harlem he once knew, watching from afar many of the individuals he once hustled with fall victim to the crimes they themselves would perpetrate.

Many opted instead to stay in Harlem and live the street life. He attributes this to the attitudes of whites outside Harlem and the racism they encountered. To live a "clean" life usually meant to work for a white man who underpaid, referred to them in a racially derogatory manner, and made them perform the most labor intensive tasks. When it came to these prospects, most understandably chose the life of a self-employed drug dealer in Harlem over the self-effacing menial work elsewhere, despite the danger (Brown 287).

Where some people turned to drugs or religion to deal with these problems, Brown found his calling through more established and secular means. Education and music became outlets for him to express himself, gain a self-pride through non-criminal means, and eventually lead to a promising career as a lawyer and author.

One of the things that make this autobiography interesting is its use of language. Brown writes in a notable street dialect, however, the language itself evolves with the character. For instance, "cat" slowly comes into use around page 67 and is used throughout, though it receives less use towards the end. More notably, on page 109 the young Claude begins idolizing a street pimp named Johnny: "To Johnny, every chick was a b*tch. Even mothers were b*tches." And so on page 114 Brown writes "Jackie was a beautiful black b*tch." From then on women are regularly referred to as "b*tches" until the character matures enough to treat women with more respect, and Johnny's spell seems to have completely worn off by the time Brown falls in love with a fellow student. Likewise, the sentence structures become less erratic and grow in sophistication as the book goes on, using less slang chapter by chapter when he begins to change. This seems to be by design.

Claude Brown's personal accounts are no doubt fictionalized to some degree, for his characters go on exhaustive speeches several times, and he certainly didn't tape record them for every word. However, Brown's intentions are to present Harlem and its difficulties in approachable and creative ways. To allow readers (such as white-suburban-me) an inside look into the ways of urban life it invites an understanding and, hopefully, sympathy for the situations of the junkies, prostitutes, and drug dealers that we pass on the street. He shows them in a way that cannot be easily neglected, in intimate, personal relationships that reveal the influences and regrets that have placed them in those situations. These factors were not unique to the 1940s and 1950s. They existed before and do so today. Brown allows insight into the hardships while telling an encouraging tale of one who made it out. By personal drive and education, through art and self-expression (as this book is), he shows that the situation is not dire, but attitudes must change before the world will follow.

I was able to find this book relatively easy, based on a few keywords. My boyfriend started reading it several years ago and was unable to complete it. The storyline stuck in his memory and I bought it as a surprise for him, because over the years he mentioned it occasionally. Thanks for making the lookup so easy!

AUTOBIOGRAPHY ON ANGELINE JOLIE AND A LOG OF HER TRAVELS FOR THE UNITED NATION. VERY INTERESTING. JM

These extracts from Angelina's journal provide a unique insight into the plight of refugees all over the world. It is heart-wrenching to read about the terrible ordeals these people have faced during war & continue to face even after the fighting is over. The courage they show during such adversity is humbling & inspiring to the last page. A must-read book if you have any interest in the plight of your fellow man.

Angelina Jolie has a very personal connection with those who are in hard circumstances like the poor in Africa, one can speculate why but cannot realistically claim it is not sincere. She spends a lot of her time and money there and writes with warmth and humility. She expresses appreciation for those things in other areas that help keep poverty and related problems at bay. A good read as a eyewitness account of what people are going through but also a meaningful social commentary, most of all I find this book an inspiring example of how to bravely contribute whatever one can.

One of the most treasured books in my home library, Angie's courage and compassion for those less fortunate comes alive in every page of this book. This book is very inspiring and very humbling at the same time. My respect for Angelina has increased a thousand fold from reading this gem...plus she is donating all her proceeds to the UNHCR! I hope she writes more books!

This was a great book, i am soo glad i bought it. It really made things real and showed you the reality of what goes on in the world outside the bubble of your own perspective and own country. I would recommend this for everyone, even if your not an angelina fan because everyone should know about these living conditions that are how a large portion of the world are subjected too and it really makes you appreciate what you have. I wish that the book was longer i loved it so much!.

This is an amazing story and testament to Bazhe's indomitable spirit. I don't believe that any child, any human being should ever have to endure the sorrows and abuse that he did. That he emerged from that quagmire and found peace and happiness is quite miraculous.

Hi Bazhe I just finished reading your book it was amazing, and it brought me such inspiration. I thought I had it rough growing up; however your story made me realized the damages you had to overcome. It gives me strength to conquer and overcome my own damages. These were my favorites quotes from your book. I wish you knew the effect your story has on me.

Pg 40
"Why would God want us to suffer like Jesus? Why would people believe in such an evil, selfish bastard of a God?" Bazhe

I ask my self the same question

Pg 80
"Capitalism, baby! Time is money. In money, we trust. The profit is God."

That is the reality

Pg 121
"It's been said that the root of hell is in all of us. Some of us let it grow into a tree. Those who can't cut the tree are predestined to be evil."


Pg 163
"God has nothing to do with this. Keep him out of it. Keep him where he belongs, in a museum, along with the people who created him." Bazhe

The way I look at it. "The point is succeed whether god want to or not." Richard G Sam

After meeting Bazhe in Costa Rica and visiting with him was when I found out about his book. I came back to the states and purchased two books from him. When I finally picked it up to start reading it, I was so drawn into the book that I felt as if I was there living Bazhe's life with him. It was an amazing story and I do hope that a movie comes out about his life. What a story to tell. This is a must read for everyone. Once you start reading you will not want to put the book down.
As you are reading, you can smell the streets in Turkey and fell the fear and sadness as he is telling his story. Again, A GREAT BOOK

DAMAGES is a memoir of a brave young poet, artist, performer and writer whose life story holds as many elements of a richly detailed fictional novel as well as moments of eloquent poetry, philosophical views gained from living through the rise and fall of communist Yugoslavia and the subsequent fracture of that country into the parcels we now know, observations of the surface and the core needs of the people at the battled intersection of Christianity, Muslim faith, and atheism, and experiences of identity crisis that haunt many adopted children/adults.

To make this vast amount of information work for the reader, author Bazhe has wisely elected to tell his story as bifurcated between the realities of the present in relating to his adoptive mother on her deathbed and his at times lurid past to his birth mother, conveniently placed just up the stairs from his dying mother. It works as a gimmick or technique that allows the reader to understand the present Bazhe by allowing him to very gradually escort us through the damages of his early childhood through his bumpy road to manhood.

The crises here are from two vantages: Bazhe was reluctantly given up for adoption by his 15-year-old birth mother Mila (his very beginning was the result of a brutal rape), his adoptive parents were wealthy and privileged due, oddly enough, to the high communist government position of the father. His early years were frosted with gifts and advantage, but his childhood was damaged by his position of wealth in a country (Macedonia) struggling under dictatorship and inequality. Bazhe, a beautiful and bright child, drew attention beacuse of his androgynous appearance - a factor that would provide problems for him throughout his life. His father was highly respected by the people, but feared by his abused wife and child. Entering school, Bazhe gradually became aware of his same sex orientation and began to dress 'inappropriately' and attract male lovers in a community that would not tolerate homosexuality. His adventures in escaping to Turkey resulted in his being courted by a wealthy man into the world of cross-dressing and the eventual rejected demand that he undergo sex reassignment surgery. Returning home, his confession of his lifestyle brought the expected conflict from his parents and he fled to Belgrade where he became a Madam for the unwanted gay population of 'aunties'.

While undergoing this seemingly endless series of life changes, Bazhe searched for his birth mother without success. After a final life threatening incident that underscored the bitter and vicious collapse of his country's belief systems in the person of a brutish, abusive, conflicted anti-communist, Bazhe fled to America, only to return to comfort his mother at the time of his father's death. Upon arriving in Macedonia his mother's devotion is focused on her beloved adopted son and Bazhe discovers that his mother has progressive cancer: he spends his time as a nurse to his mother's increasing needs while finally making contact with Mila, his birth mother. The story of his life is related to the birth mother while Bazhe attends to his adoptive mother, and it is this dichotomy of allegiance that forms the true conflict of the book.

The story of Bazhe's life is fascinating and horrifying, and were that all that this book had to offer it would be enough. But DAMAGES goes far beyond that: this is one of the better insights into the history of Yugoslavia, Macedonia, Croatia, Serbia, Montenegro - all places that we understand so poorly but all places that hold the keys to the discord between the religious seeds that lie at the center of the constant conflict we still are experiencing. Bazhe's comments on governments and religions are harsh, both in his evaluation of his native country and his adopted country of America. 'Anyway, it's we who are to blame. Everything about [God] is a myth. We're the creatures of our beliefs. We're the source of good and evil. Our big mistake was creating Him and all these evil religions, so we can be divided and hate each other to death as enemies. Whether Muslim, Buddhist, Christian, Jewish, or whatever, we stress the 'other'-ness of others when true differences between us don't exist. We are all humans. We're a grown-up race. We should see that religions are superfluous. In the past, religions made some sense: to give young nations identities and a reason to fight for survival. Now, we need a new identity. We need global unity. We need a new order and a new progressive faith of peace and love. It's time to put the holy books where they belong, on the shelves of museums'. Powerful words from a man who has survived a life few of us could tolerate. Perhaps we should listen. What on the surface is a fascinating autobiography by a very unique writer gains importance as the observations of a damaged philosopher! Grady Harp, July 08

"Damages," a brutally honest and poetically eloquent memoir by Yugoslavian-born Bazhe, is nothing short of brilliant! This first time book author (he's written and has published several poems and short prose pieces) is as self-assured and self-examining as anything by Didion, the biographical Gordon Parks, and Maya Angelou's "I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings."

An orphan adopted from a Macedonian orphanage by an important and staunch Communist Official and his beautiful but barren wife, the infant Bazhe is reared in comfort, privilege, and under the iron-thumb of a wife- and child-abuser. A talented and strikingly beautiful little boy, after giving public performances for scores of spectators on several occasions, bets are taken on whether Bazhe is a boy or a girl. The child is then made to drop his pants and reveal his male genitalia.

Labeled `sissy' and often beaten in school because of his privilege and beauty, he even suffers a harrowing abuse at the hands of his father when his mother is away. Upon refusing to eat fatty meat during a meal, seven-year-old Bazhe is beaten by his father who then stuff's his member in the boy's mouth, choking him with the fluids of his ejaculation.

But most of the horrors and heartbreaks of this ultimately brave and resilient young man's life come later in this well-written, often brutal, but never gratuitous autobiography of a beautiful young man growing up gay and effeminate in a culture where such nature and appearance is illegal and met with great physical and verbal abuse.

Bazhe is a legal immigrant living in New Jersey when he gets the call from his mother Kostadina that his father has died. Feeling free of the iron fist of the man she hated most of the years she was married to him, Kostadina encourages Bazhe not to come for the funeral.

But a month later Bazhe returns to Macedonia to help his mother with family affairs, only to realize that she has been hiding her own serious illness from him.

With admirable devotion and against his mother's protestations, he stays to nurse her through her illness, which turns out to be colon cancer. The first half of the book is Bazhe's almost too-painful-to-read detailing of his caring for his mother and his guilt over his obsessive thirty-year search for his birth mother.

He actually finds his biological mother, the still beautiful and statuesque Mila who gave birth to him when she was fifteen years old after being raped by a government official in her native Croatia and, pressured by her family, turned the new born over to an orphanage.

Bitterness and regret clash uneasily as Mila and Bazhe meet. While Kostadina lays dying in her downstairs bedroom (but never unattended by her devoted son), Bazhe, not wanting her to feel that her position as his true mother is questioned, hides Mila upstairs where, over several days, he tells her the story of the life he lived and the life she missed.

And what a story it is indeed. Starting with his lonely childhood and adolescence, he reveals to her his first gay experience in the army, the scandal that he caused at the College of National Security, resulting in his expulsion, and his escape to Turkey.

There he was abducted, robbed, beaten, and raped by a pair of nefarious locals, and reduced to near starvation and homelessness before being rescued by Genghis, a wealthy Turkish bon vivant. Genghis falls madly in love and transforms Bazhe into a stunningly beautiful and high-class transvestite, replete with the requisite high-end jewelry, designer wardrobe, exclusive spa treatments, and plenty of spending money.

But sudden revelations about, and unexpected demands from Genghis send Bazhe fleeing back to his homeland, a country on the verge of great change and turmoil as the Bosnian-Serbian conflict begins to boil over.

No longer a transvestite but decidedly androgynous, Bazhe wanders into the underworld gay scene where `Aunts' (self-identified, usually flamboyant homosexual men) entertained `trade' in bushes, public parks, and public restrooms, often resulting in unspeakable violence from both policemen and sadistic partners.

After nearly losing his life at the hands of a sadist pick-up, Bazhe immigrates to the United States where he lives until he gets the call from his mother regarding his father's death.

Bazhe's birth mother is moved by this fantastical tale not told totally to anyone else. But a certain closure is attained here, and the young man reaffirms what he has always known: blood does not necessarily make a mother.

His devotion to his adoptive mother, his `real' mother, is the power that fuels this terrific book. His caring for her on her deathbed is so completely loved-filled, that by the time she dies in his arms, our tears flow as uncontrollably as his.

Indeed, this is the story of one individual damaged by so much of life's cruelties and injustices, but it is ultimately a tale of survival and the triumph of the spirit.

In spite of everything he was made to endure, Bazhe proves to be a person of great conviction and resilience. His story is a lesson for us all on when we fall down (or get knocked down) how to damn well get back up. Highly recommend.Looker: A Novel

I read this book in my teens and LOVED it then. I thought of it often in the years that followed. This book can renew your love for the whole human race. It is heart-warming in the best sense of the word. The conversational tone makes it a quick read, but you will want to read it again and again.
It tells the true story of a couple who are unable to conceive and set about to adopt children. The standard policy of the time (1940's - 1950's) was to place children in homes with parents of the same race. When the couple learns of this policy, they are surprised and vehemently object, promising the adoption agencies that the race of the child would make no difference to them. In time, they break down the objections of the agencies and nurture a growing family of children of many races and backgrounds - - providing a lesson in love and equality to the people around them.

My mom read this book when she was young, and it inspired her to later have 15 children (9 of them adopted, from different races/cultural backgrounds). This book is so warm, heartfelt and inspiring (especially when you consider the decade in which it was written). The author is a great story-teller, using her family's up's/down's, sad moments, comedic moments for the basis of her story. I only wish that the "preface"/family update (new to this edition) was longer and more specific.... However, after years of being out of print, I am so happy to see that it is being published again. A must read!!!

I read this book in junior high and fell in love with the idea of a family created from so many orphaned children. At the time I read it I decided that even if I did have biological children I'd try and convince my husband to adopt at least one child. As fate would have it, I haven't ever gotten married but three and a half years ago I adopted a beautiful baby girl from Russia. This book was the real beginning of that journey for me. What a blessing!

This book was received in excellent condition as it was listed on Amazon. Also, the book was received in a quick manor. Thanks!

I was VERY disappointed and, at first, pretty confused when I discovered the haphazard way this edition of the book is put together. Less than one quarter into the book, approximately 20 pages come up missing. Upon searching for them, I found other pages printed twice (some 20 pages), but the missing pages were NOT there. It was early into the story, and I was disappointed not to be able to get the whole story on such an admirable, loving, Christian family. The binding is new; pages were NOT torn out. It was actually bound this way!

A very readable & enjoyable book. I especially enjoyed the chapter on autism & the origin of language. Fritjof Capra's book "Hidden Connections" referenced this informative & amusing text including the link between brain function involved with hand gesture, signing, & tongue movements that unexpectedly led to the promotion the uptake of speech in autistic.
There are many insights into the shared psychology of humans & other primates. Despite the physiological and genetic similarities of all primates that have made chimps attractive model organisms for research,it was interesting to read about the reluctance of biological scientists to accept the anthropomorphic traits of chimps. There can be little room for a claim to "value-free" objectivity by biomedical researchers who can apparently dismiss the psychological effects of enforced confinement & sensory deprivation, on the effectiveness of anti-viral medications, or a range of other pharmaceuticals. The author has shown considerable bravery & commitment to expanding this area of learning, despite the threats against his personal career by people with vested interests in ignoring or denying the contradictions to their implicit or explicit values.

A must-read for any animal lover. Roger Fouts and the recently deceased chimpanzee Washoe are my heroes.

At age 62, I still look for writers who will change and deepen my sense of our human nature and our place in the natural world. More than writers about religion per se, I think these writers are able to help us advance our moral and spiritual understanding and reconcile our human/animal natures. For some years I've been reading Goodall and others on primates, but Next of Kin was, for me, a pinnacle illumination. Even if you aren't interested in these types of questions, I think this book will move you deeply. If you ARE interested, may I also suggest the recent Mycelium Running by Paul Stamets.Take Me With You When You Go

Although this book was written some time ago, it is exceptionally timely because the relevance of chimp behavior to our own continues to unfold. The devotion the author invests in his charges and the passion he feels about the atrocities visited on chimps both in the laboratory and in the wild drive his story. This abuse is reinforced by the backward and ignorant thinking that stems from bible thumpers who fear the truth about evolution and man's close relationship to apes. Roger Fouts and his wife have provided an invaluable service to our understanding of chimps, and their research related to sign language is truly stunning. They have succeeded in accomplishing their observation and reporting against considerable odds. All these aspects, and the Fouts' fully rounded examination of their subjects make for a gripping and emotional tale well told.

"Next of Kin: My Conversations with Chimpanzees" is one of the most amazing, heartbreaking, and inspirational books I've ever read. The book is written by Roger Fouts, a primatologist who devoted his life to studying the language patterns of chimpanzees. While in graduate school, Roger was introduced to Washoe, a precocious young chimp who became fluent in American Sign Language. Eventually "Project Washoe" expanded to include many chimpanzees, all who learned to communicate with humans using ASL and demonstrated unique personalities, complex emotions, and astounding intelligence.

I've always been a big animal lover, but reading this book taught me so many things that I never knew before. Anyone who questions an animal's ability to think or feel will get a sharp reality check after reading this book. Chimpanzees are people, too, just as much as human beings are. Unfortunately, the majority if humans in this world don't agree with that logic, and thousands of animals, including chimpanzees, are routinely kidnapped from their natural habitats and bred in captivity for the sole purpose of participating in biomedical research. In many cases, medical laboratories house animals in appalling conditions and literally torture them to death. "Next of Kin" details the horrors that go on behind closed doors at biomedical laboratories, and chronicles the steps Fouts and other animal activists have taken to protect chimpanzees from being treated inhumanely.

I absolutely loved this book. Reading it made me feel close to Washoe and her chimpanzee friends, even though I never met any of them before. (Sadly, Washoe passed away last fall at the age of 42, but I hope to visit members of her family at the Chimpanzee and Human Communication Institute in Washington someday.) Parts of this book are incredibly depressing and difficult to read, but hopefully learning about the terrible ways animals are treated will inspire people to take action. I admire everything that Fouts, his family, and his colleagues have done to protect chimpanzees, who are our next of kin on the great evolutionary scale. I hope other readers get as much out of this book as I did.

Rich's life was like my life, and finding someone who was like me, a ragamuffin, was an indescribable comfort on a lonely path from helpless addiction to freedom. Note: I am still on that path today. One day I will be able to thank Rich in person for what a gift his life was to so many of us. This book is a testament to that life. It is a treasure.

Being a long time Rich Mullins fan, I wanted anything and everything Rich Mullins I could get my hands on. This book, "An Arrow", by James Bryan Smith, gave me a whole side of Rich Mullins I never knew. But even more importantly than the man himself, this book points to a deeper walk with Jesus, and the struggles involved in obtaining that walk. This book is so inspirational. I've read it twice, and am now reading it a third time. I bought an extra copy to give away.

I was not able to put down the book until I finished it.

The reading I'd done on Rich Mullins previously taught me that he was an incredible person, but the book confirmed his devotion to Jesus Christ as well as his struggles to live faithfully. I was encouraged, amused, saddened, yet most of all inspired to keep contending for the faith.

The author's friendship with Rich Mullins came through - I only wish that it went into more detail and told me more.

I loaned the book to a friend, also a fan of Rich Mullins, and she said that it encouraged her greatly.

i highly recommend it to anyone whether your a fan of rich mullins music or just a christian who longs to have a deeper walk with God. Great book, inspiring, not shallow, deep, thought provoking, convicting. trust me if you ever buy a book buy this one. . you wont regret it.

The Book Arrow Pointing to Heaven is the most inspiring book I have ever read. I could not help but write "Amen," "Praise the Lord," "I need to read this again" or some other comment in the margins as I read the book. Having known Rich Mullins briefly early in his musical career, I knew he was someone different, someone closer to God than I could imagine, yet I had no idea just how close to the Awesome God he really was. This book, so well written by Smith, is a must for anyone that believes in God. It will take you to really knowing God in much the same way as Rich Mullins knew HIM - intimately. Perfect gift for graduation presents. I have given several with notes made in the margins of the gift books. Thank you for having such an all-inspiring-book! It is a MUST for persons seeking a better relationship with God.

This book is a great gift for anyone.
It's beautiful poetry, art, and amazing story will inspire anyone.
I have seen her interviews and her work is intriguing and her attitude is beautiful.
The book is a must have!

This book is a good introduction into the girl behind these amazing paintings and poetry. Her insightful artwork is reproduced well. This girl's visions and understanding of who God is and His heart of love for people of the world is astounding. (Especially when you consider her mom USED to be an atheist) The poetry is a little beyond me, but the art work speaks volumes.
Lovely. Keep up the great work Akiane.. your goal is being reached!

Akiane's story has always inspired me. I directed a friend of mine to her website recently to show her the amazing art, and she told me after surfing it that it restored her faith in God. When I read this book, it only accentuated my love and admiration for Akiane. You don't have to be religious to appreciate this girl. Her story is still a powerful message of how faith can change your life. If you're an art lover, you'll be inspired by the reproductions of her paintings and be stunned by her use of color and imagination. Her art is so realistic, but so mystical too. If you prefer the written word, read dozens of Akiane's poems. They are guaranteed to blow you away.

All in all, this book helps you remember that there is goodness in the world.

Very inspirational and faith building book. Akiane has not chosen this path, she's only following where God leads her. There are always going to be nay sayers about anything, specially in this world of instant information. I choose to believe that she is what she says she is, and does what she says she does, because with God anything is possible.

The first time I saw this book, I was on a cross country plane ride and had the fortunate experience of sitting next to a kindred soul. She shared this book with me to pass the time. And the time passed quickly. After looking at the paintings of this young artist, Akiane, I had a kink in my neck because I couldn't turn away. But it was worth it. I ordered the book immediately and have enjoyed sharing it with my daughters and displaying it on our coffee table.

Akiane is an artist and a poet and an inspiration. She believes she's been touched by God, and one look at her work will make you a believer as well.

Michele Cozzens, Author of A Line Between Friends and The Things I Wish I'd Said.

Luke Jackson, the thirteen-year-old author of this book, says he wrote it because "so many books are written about us, but none are written directly to adolescents with Asperger Syndrome. I thought I would write one in the hope that we could all learn together." And he does an amazing job of appealing to his peers in a colloquial manner. Jackson's style is almost precocious at times, but effective. He tackles many topics, includinging sensory perception, physiology, and sleep, listing some helpful tips. For example, Jackson suggests to look at people's mouths when they're talking, which is close enough to making eye contact.The section on physiology discussed, among other things, the GF/CF diet.

Next Jackson writes about language difficulties, dealing with slang and idioms, and suggests to parents that they write out steps to complete a task and give clear and specific instructions. The next chapters cover school problems and bullying, with some tips for dealing with bullies, stressing that it's important to tell someone. Jackson then mentions Taekwondo for self-defense, as well as the many other benefits it provides. The following three chapters deal with friendships, dating, and morals and principles. The "morals and principles" chapter also is beneficial in that it stresses not to let people entice you to do something that is wrong, that you don't need friends like that.

The end of the book has a nice positive note about AS people being amazing in their own ways, even if not savants (after a discussion about the movie Rainman). It is certainly amazing for a thirteen-year-old to write such an organized, insightful book. I found it to be very helpful, including the appendices on idioms (with definitions of being "on cloud nine" and "don't cry over spilled milk") and references for further information (books, websites, and organizations). All in all, a worthwhile book for parents and kids alike.

I read it, my Dad read it in 2 days. Very practical, humorous.When my son, with Asperger's, gets a little older, I will give this book to him. I want to meet Luke Jackson. What a great personality!

This book is a keeper. Luke speaks from experience and shares his experience and suggestions for kids with aspergers, parents, friends and physicians on how a an AS kid can handle real-life situations by sharing what has worked for him. This book is an easy read and would be good for teens and adults to read whether they have AS themselves or are related to or know someone who does.

This was a great resource for us as parents of an Asperger son to get an idea of how the adolescent with Asperger thinks and relates to others. It will eventually be a great book to let our son read. The adolescent author of this book feels very strongly that all Asperger children should be told what they have (by name) so that they won't feel like something is wrong with them, but will come to understand that they are the way they are because of Aspergers.

This book is intended for a person with Asperger's however, it can also be used by a child being bullied.