Works Books

'Chicken Soup for the Volunteer's Soul' was well received by our volunteers, and it has also touch many people's hearts.
Marion Jones
The Connecticut Institute for the Blind/Oak Hill

I am a volunteer my self at the my cities animal shelter. And I am going to let the president of the volunteers borrow it after I am done. I hope they make more about volunteering.

I just finished "Chicken Soup for the Volunteer Soul," which is an excellent and inspirational book. Also, a few weeks ago, I went on a Social and Service Justice Retreat. Since reading this book, making the retreat, and other inevitable signs, I feel inspired to find a place to volunteer.

Sarah

Gurnee, Illinois

I would recommend reading "Chicken Soup for the Volunteer's Soul" to anyone who has a sincere interest in his fellowmen and possesses the capacity to relate to the needs, sorrows, and joys of others. I was impressed by the work's intent, format, and content. The selections are comprehensive and meaningful, offering a wide range of volunteer experiences for the information, delight, compassion, and consideration to the book's readers. Hopefully, this publication will encourage countless individuals to find the necessary reason and desire to give of their own time, talents, and hearts to those in need in our society. For others, it will provide an understanding of the wonderful gifts of volunteering for the volunteer.

I contributed a story to this book about my daughter's tender heart for others. I have always been proud of her desire to help others and Chicken Soup gave me the opportunity to share it with the world. This book made me proud to be an American and to be allowed to live in this wonderful country that cares about it's neighbors. This collection of stories will enlighten anyone to give unselfishly to the needy or to those who have less. What a great feeling inside to be a part of it all!

Denise Peebles

Everything in this book, which basically explains the "clear skin" regimen, is available on Dan Kern's website (acne.org) for FREE, making this book a pointless purchase in itself.

That said, I have had some results with the "clear skin" regimen explained in the book, just not as good as others. Some things I've noticed after using the regimen:

PROS:

1) If you have never used benzoyl peroxide (2.5%) before, you will most likely get good results overall. You might even end up with a clear face, back, wherever.

2) You will appreciate Kern's empathy to the cause of acne elimination. Acne is very much an emotionally painful affliction, and empathy (not belittling) is sometimes the most important thing an acne sufferer needs.

3) When you are ready to begin the regimen, you can opt to visit Kern's website, which offers the regimen products (2.5% benzoyl peroxide, cleanser, moisturizer) at reasonable prices.

CONS:

1) Contrary to Kern's opinion, I personally have experienced my acne grow resistant to benzoyl peroxide (both 2.5% and 5% variations - 10% is too harsh). In my experience, the effectiveness of benzoyl peroxide waned after a few months, no matter how much of it I used.

2) Your skin can get seriously dried out by daily benzoyl peroxide use even with the "mild" 2.5% variation, especially since Kern eventually wants you to use about an ounce of it on your face. I used adequate-moderately heavy amounts of moisturizer after the benzoyl peroxide application, but personally there was just no escaping the dryness and peeling despite me having oily skin. Using less of the 2.5% treatment didn't help either.

3) Lastly, your clothes will bleach through benzoyl peroxide use, period. It's nice to have less acne, but when you notice your favourite clothes getting discoloured (ruined) in the process, it's almost not worth it in the end. Also, wouldn't you want to have clearer skin while wearing your favourite clothes? Sure, you could wear something under your clothes, but I personally found this to be an extra discomfort on top of my dried out face.

---

Still, I urge those who haven't used 2.5% benzoyl peroxide to try out the "clear skin" regimen. But instead of buying this book, I think you're better off buying the regimen treatment products on Amazon, or on Kern's website.

I urge you though to have realistic expectations with the regimen, as it may work at first but disappoint you afterwards.

Dan's skin care regimen is the only thing that has worked for my acne - I tried everything from Proactiv to oral medications like Acutane. I've been caking on makeup for most of my life, since age 13, but now I finally can leave the house without it. Yes, I still break out a little before my monthly period, but otherwise, I'm all clear.
Dan Kern should win an award for his method, he is truly helping people, and not one of these Guthy Renker infomercial companies out for money. No celebrity endorsements needed; the clear skin regimen just works. I wish I had found it years ago.

Happily, Dan Kern is not a corporation looking for profit: he's just a guy who had bad skin and found a way to manage it. [...] I bought the book as a small thank you to Kern for being nice enough to provide the info for free. If you buy products thru his site, he gets a kick-back -- and if you don't, that's ok, too. For this reason, he deserves the support. Kind of like shareware for books. And his easy if not always fun regimen has been working so far, so kudos.

Dan's info is the only thing that has helped me get rid of my acne. Nothing else, incl. Proactiv, worked except the info in this book and it is very simple and easy to do what he suggests. But the previous reveiwer was write you can get all the info in this book on his website.

I didn't read the whole book. I just went to web site acne.org and followed the program. Acne is now gone. I suffered from Acne for over 20 years and tried many treatment programs from Accutane, Retin-A, Microdermabrasion and a few others. Dan Kern's treatment program was the first treatment program that actually work for me in the long run.

The cheapest and fastest way I know how to check out the program is to order 1 tube of the 2.5% Benzoyl Peroxide (from Dan's Web Site) and try it for 1 week following Dan's instructions. Yes, if you goto the web site, Dan also wants you to get a Cleanser and a Moisturizer. All products are needed but I believe the key product is 2.5% benzoyl peroxide gel from his web site Acne.org.

I strongly believe if you have Ance, using the 2.5% benzoyl peroxide gel with Dan's instruction, you will have a 95% chance of seeing improvement in less than a week.

This book is not terrible. I found it to be cliche at times, and it definitely contained a number of gender stereotypes, which the author would include and apologize for, which I found to be somewhat annoying. It's a quick read, so at least I didn't feel like I was wasting a lot of time. I have read a lot of books on women in corporations, and I didn't think this one was particularly new or innovative, and at times, the writing was poor. At the end of every chapter, there were exercises, and I did think those were helpful. For example, one suggestion was to write one hand written thank you note per week - not particularly innovative, but it is a good practice, I think, and a good reminder to do that.

In all, I think Lois Frankel's books are much better written, with much better advice.

It was a pleasure having Kathleen Archambeau host a recent Bank of America Diversity Brown Bag event in Concord, California that featured "Climbing the Corporate Ladder in High Heels". The buzz continues among male and female associates about Kathleen's book because it is not only a practical educational reference but an actionable guide for dealing with work/life balance. The book supports a core value we have taken to make our workplace a family friendly environment through inclusive meritocracy.

"Climbing the Corporate Ladder..." is a practical guide to career success. Extremely well-written. Inspires lots of "ah-ha" moments. Helps young and seasoned professionals remember to find a better work and life balance. Encourages readers to consider success from all angles. I loved it!

Not just for women. Kathleen provides important tips that all men can use to further their own careers. Provided in an easy to read and use format.

Full of insight and inspiring stories that will make any woman, regardless of her chosen field or career path, search her heart for the answers she needs to live a rewarding and fulfilling life. This book brings light and awareness to the often difficult and confusing choices we make along our journey through life. With humor and wit, Kathleen challenges us to look into the deeper parts of ourselves to identify what our true hearts desire is and then guides and empowers us with tools to achieve it.

The only thing wrong with this book is that there should be more of it.
Roethke represents a watershed in American letters, a watershed we kids slobbered down the wrong side of, the side not his. For delicacy of daring the difficult to bear, even to notice, he can hardly be surpassed, and this almost without ever choking up the voice -- his or ours.

"A late rose ravages the casual eye," writes Roethke in A Walk in Late Summer, "a blaze of being on a central stem." In such images we see the symbols of nature fully tapped in modern poetry -- and tapped in American English, in fresh, vivid language that overpowers the reader with its grace and presence. The poetry of Theodore Roethke is written by a man profoundly alive -- skirting the edge of suicide, losing his voice in the awe of love, reeling wildly in the throes of "the pure fury," and looking at last with calm eyes into infinity and his own undoing in the Far Field. Roethke was a true descendent of Whitman where the latter wrote "This is no book / Who touches this touches a man." But Roethke's poetry moves us as much by its lyrical language as by the power and wisdom of its experience. Roethke himself was, as represented by his art alone, a "blaze of being."

Among Roethke's contributions to literature are his poems that treat depression. Far from letting his manic episodes paralyze him, he used them to write some his most intense poetry. "In a Dark Time" is one of the immortal poems of the 20th century, worthy to be set aside a Van Gogh painting. Roethke was not alone in treating these subjects: two other Pulitzer Prize-winning poets of his time, Sylvia Plath and Anne Sexton, learned from him and wrote about similar themes. But Roethke's writing stands out in two ways from these poets and other poets the 50's and 60's.

One is the unity of his work and vision -- this Collected Poems traces a single spiritual journey beginning with his childhood memories of the greenhouse, and ending somewhere among "the windy cliffs of forever", last visions tragically cut short by his early death. Between those points are rendered all of the experiences of his life -- as he wrote in his first poem, "my heart keeps open-house." But he never fails to interpret these experiences and understand their significance in the larger picture of his life and poetry. Unlike so much of the poetry of Sylvia Plath and other Confessional poets, Roethke never demands that you read his biography to understand his symbolism. Rather, his symbols develop among his poems to form a kind of mythology: his recurring symbols include stones, fire, light, "the small," and the spirit.

The other difference between Roethke and other poets of his time is his technique. Roethke is never obscure; he always writes in fresh language, avoiding cliches, although his symbols are indeed personal and take time to understand. Roethke's craft is "strict and pure," such that even the staunchest defenders of Sylvia Plath have confessed that Roethke's writing is more disciplined. The Deep Image movement of poets like Robert Bly and James Wright is influenced by the kind of symbolism found throughout Roethke's poetry, and those writers have acknowledged their debt to him. Roethke retained rhyme and meter in a time when all the conventions of poetry were being ripped apart; and he did so with a consummate technical skill not to be found in the Beatniks or in the Black Mountain poets. Roethke's ear for poetry is much more sensitive than that of other poets of his time. We are gagged by the lyricism in lines like

"She came toward me in the flowing air,
A shape of change, encircled by its fire."
("The Dream")

"When all
My waterfall
Fancies sway away
From me, in the sea's silence..."
("Her Time")

"O love, you who hear
The slow tick of time
In your sea-buried ear..."
("Song")


The most exhilarating of all these are Roethke's love poems in "Words for the Wind", which justly won the Bollingen Prize and the National Book Award. These poems are unmatched for eloquence and spiritual intensity -- and it's a damn shame that modern anthologies do not reprint them, aside from the famous "I Knew a Woman." For it is in these love poems that Roethke's soul soars, and his poetic power is fully realized.

"She knew the grammar of least motion."
("The Dream")

"Light listened when she sang."
("Light Listened")

"I measure time by how a body sways."
("I Knew a Woman").


Theodore Roethke achieved greatness in art by having the courage to confront the most intense human experiences and the skill to craft them into some of the most eloquent poems of his time. If there is ONE modern poet you will read, let it be Roethke. His "Collected Poems" is a must for every poet and every lover of poetry.

I relished Roethke when I first read him in high school, along with Hart Crane, e.e. cummings, and the Beats. I still admired him in college, when I wrote poetry myself, and regarded most other "living" poets with suspicious disdain. Many poets I loved then have lost some of their charm for me (my loss, not theirs) but, forty five years later, I still read Roethke. Does that speak to you?

To My Sister; The Heron; No Bird; Elegy for Jane; She; Her Reticence; The Meadow Mouse; and of course, My Papa's Waltz--these are all some of the great poems that Theodore Roethke wrote. Roethke is one of our American masters. I found that when he was on his game (as he was in the poems above, among others) his poetry was phenomenal, but when he wasn't, his poetry could be awful. His earlier work is better than his later work, though he seems to have gotten most of his recognition for his later work. Still, for the poetry lover this is pretty much a required volume for your shelves.

At first, I was heitant to delve into this author's work simply because I'd never heard of him in all my wide readings of poetry, both modern and old.

Don't make the same mistake I did. Roethke WILL NOT disappoint you. "The Lost Son" has become my new favourite poem, and this book goes with me perpetually, and will until I finish every line in it.

Exquisite.

I just bought this book the other day and it is amazing. It gives you the facts you need for survival. If I get caught in a situation from the book and I don't know what to do, I will be suprized.

This great book teaches you how to survive. It has so many detailed descriptions with graphs. It is so compact that I even carry it everyday in my backpack. It might be really useful when the war starts or an earthquake takes place.

One of my friends bought the big version that had a little more information in it. I read it and when I saw that you could buy a pocket version I was thrilled! Wisemen gives an informative description of everything you need to survive almost anywhere. I'm confident that if I were in a survival situation I would be able to survive.

I've had this book for a few years now and have read it over and over again. The information is amazing. There's not a topic that Wiseman doesn't cover or at least touch on.
Not only is it small, it's tough too. It's been on every camping trip, hike, deployment and just about every other trip with me for the past three years and it's still in great shape.
Friends of mine that could have cared less about a suvival book have read mine on airplane rides and afterwards went and bought thier own.
You can't go wrong

With store shelves overloaded by "SAS" books it's unfortunate that this little, uh, Gem can be lost in that crowd. The original format was more like a coffee table book, but for practical purposes this chunky, compact edition is not only the most convenient of those available, it is also arguably the best on the market.
The manual itself is comprehensive, clearly written and with clear (if sometimes limited) illustrations, including a useful colour section; and here the colour is used for more than mere decoration as it provides essential additional information in identifying plants and animals. There is no philosophical description here, little room for the romance of the wild or the ethics of surviving. Instead, "Lofty" Wiseman's guide is a direct parcel of solid information aimed solely at keeping you alive in the worst of situations. Campers and outdoorsmen will find some interesting and useful sections here, but it requires a degree of knowledge and experience to sift them from those which simply must not be used outside of an emergency. This is a fascinating book to dip into, and doubtless most purchasers treat it as such, but it is also an exceptionally effective, reliable and well-crafted source of possibly vital information.

I just wanted to tell you how much I enjoyed The Complete Idiot's Guide to Weight Loss. I believe that your book makes so much sense! I have already lost 10 pounds in a month's time by adopting many of the principles found in the book--eating 0-5, avoiding artifical sweetners and fake fat, and incorporating
more protien and less carbs into meals. I enjoy a small amount of dark chocolate every day or so...and I do not feel deprived at all! I am also exercising more, mostly cardio and yoga. Like many others, this has been a longtime struggle for me. I have tried Weight Watchers several times and found that I was more obsessed with food than when not on the program. In any case, I could go on and on like so many of your readers probably do. I just wanted to thank you and let you know that I loved your book, completely agree with your sensible approach, and will recommend it highly to others. Thanks!

I know everyone else is raving about this book, but I just don't see the big deal. In that it's one of the "complete idiot's" series, I was expecting something a little less "gimicky." However, these authors' diet recommendations remind me so much of The Zone, i.e., protein/carb/fat combo meals where the carbs are in the form of fruits & veggies. They note that our ancient ancestors didn't eat grains and suggest that we limit our consumption. I agree on the limits and like the new food pyramid where the grains are not the foundation; however, I do think eating whole grains shouldn't be discouraged to the extent that the authors discourage it. After all, barring those ancient ancestors, our more recent ancestors (i.e., those in the last few hundred years) have been eating grains, and America's obesity problem is just getting out of hand in the past 30 years, so we can't blame it on grains. The authors do have some common sense advice in the part of the plan that advises readers only to eat when hungry and to eat only until satisfied, not full (e.g., a portion about the size of your fist). The authors say that this is the way thin people eat, and we should emulate that if we want to be thin. I agree with that part. However, I was annoyed at the contradictions in the book. The authors continually suggest that we act and think "thin," but then they make suggestions for eating in a way that I've never seen any of my thin friends do. For example, the authors say that you can eat those cheeseburgers and that pizza, but when you do, eat the burger without the bun and the pizza without the crust. I've never seen a thin person do that unless for some odd reason that person didn't like bread (I don't know anyone who doesn't like bread). I think that suggestions like these perpetuate the dieting mentality. I would have prefered them to suggest eating a smaller burger or just one piece of pizza.

All in all, I don't think the book is harmful, but it didn't measure up to my expectations of books in the "complete idiot's" series. For those who like the concept of eating only when hungry (a concept I highly recommend), I suggest Seven Secrets of Slim People. This book advocates that type of eating, but doesn't suggest any food restrictions. The only aspect of the COMPLETE IDIOT'S guide that I prefer to Seven Secrets is their recommendation to eat breakfast even if you're not hungry. I believe this is necessary to get your metabolism moving in the morning.

I have been doing Weight Watchers off and on for about three years. I have gained and lost the same 10 pounds, and I have gotten nowhere near my "goal weight". Why not? No one mentioned the common sense guidelines that I got from this book in the first five minutes of reading it: eat according to your appetite and eat balanced meals that satify (rather than stuff) you. FINALLY! Very very great information about nutrition (with no hocus-pocus studies or extreme recommendations) and about how each meal should be balanced for maximum satisfaction and metabolism, and how to increase your physical activity (moderately) to support your weight loss. After only a few days I feel, for the first time in my life, a) satisfied after every meal, b) the excess weight coming off (already!), and c) completely confident that I can meet my goal weight without completely disrupting my life or suffering at the hands of the dreaded "WW points". I can do this for the rest of my life. Buy this book!

This book is really terrific! After over two years of living a "controlled carb" lifestyle, my husband and I began to get concerned about our health. Even though we lost loads of weight and kept it off all that time, we felt we may be doing our bodies long-term damage. So we tried low-fat for a bit, but started gaining weight and so we went back to low carb. Desperate to find a way to lose weight and eat healthy, we bought this book. In a nutshell, it shows you how to balance it all out. Through educating you about metabolism and even how to "get in tune" with your own body, this book puts it all in perspective. No fad dieting ideas, no gimmicks, just REAL answers to why we eat the way we do and how to eat right for the rest of your life! Exercise and stop being afraid of food! Eat when you're hungry! Enjoy real ice cream, butter and mayonnaise! Just do it right. This book shows you how.

This book is excellent. Written in easy-to-get language it manages to be both simple and yet detailed enough to go into a wide range of weight-management topics in significant depth.

I think books like this should be at least tax-free if not entirely free, as they are beyond being just self-help in the sense that they can potentially help relieve the burden that overweight/obese/unhealthy people have on our society. don't get me wrong - I mean no judgements there - I've been overweight and unhealthy myself and it's a problem which is still very much on the increase, both sides of the pond.

It's very educational and based on sound science yet you will hardly ever feel that you're 'in class' or studying; that said your knowledge of biology and the human body will definitely increase as a result of reading this book.

The real question - will it help me lose weight? Well, the answer is perhaps obvious - the book itself won't help you lose weight: your choices and behaviour will help you lose weight, but this book will definitely help you to understand how to lose weight (and why).

Buy it if

- you need to lose weight (duh)
- if you've lost weight with fad/crash-diets but know you're going to put it back on again
- want to learn more about the human body and basic nutrition
- want to teach and guide others in the subject (e.g. if studying nutrition/health on a medium level course)
- want to support someone who you know wants to lose weight effectively, safety and for good.

This, no doubt, is one of the best works on prayer in the English language, if not the best. A book to be read slowly, quietly and with much concentration. Every line has good rich teaching for us all. Thanks to Baker Book House for compiling this complete printing.

This book has challenged me and helped mold my understanding and practice of prayer. It calls the believer to stretch and reach further in prayer, putting faith into practice. Bounds' emphasis is on scripture and dependence on Christ.

About 11 years ago God drew me into an greater understanding and deeper practice of prayer than ever before in my life. I inquired concerning some of the leading "Prayer Ministries" around the world and wrote several of them and asked this question: "What are the top 25 best books ever written on prayer?" Six replied. Many of the same books were recommended, but 1st Place and 2nd Place were the same on all 6 lists. Andrew Murray's book: With Christ In The School Of Prayer was either #1 or #2 on each list. E. M. Bounds writings on "prayer" was also either #1 or #2 on each list.
No book, not even Murray's, has ever been written on "prayer" that can hold a candle to The Complete Works of E.M. Bounds on Prayer. In fact, if you read this book (actually 8 little books) and it doesn't revolutionize your prayer life, then you need to re-read it until it does. If you read this book and think that it is "mediocre", that will be more of a statement about you than about this book. Seldom is any book hailed as the unquestioned "Greatest Book" on a particular subject by ALL the specialists on that subject, but this one is. And the experts are right. So bless yourself or someone today and buy this book. Then get ready for the revolution! God bless. Mike

Its one of those books that you could close your eyes, flip it open to any page, run your finger down the page to any point, open your eyes and it'll be a quote that you want to put in your sermon on prayer. Get it. Read it...daily.

For almost a century Edward McKendree Bounds' (1835-1913) books on prayer have been classic works, stimulating and inspiring Christians to develop a fuller prayer life and become prayer warriors. A forceful writer and deep thinker, Bounds spent the last nineteen years of his life reading, writing, and praying. He rose at 4 a.m. daily for many years, and was indefatigable in his study of the Bible.

As breathing is a physical reality to us, so prayer was a reality for Bounds. He took the biblical command "pray without ceasing" almost as literally as animate nature takes the law of the reflex nervous system, which controls our breathing.

Because Bounds so diligently practiced what he preached, we was able to capture the essence of prayer, and his works live on to call today's Christians to higher discipleship and an energetic, God-devoted prayer life.

This book makes a complicated machine like computer very easy to understand

The best thing I love about this book is the writing style of Prof. Freedman and how easily and clearly it can crystallize, the otherwise complex computer terminology, components and concepts. The explanations used here are vivid. I have owned a copy since 1997 and I have never been disappointed with anything that I needed to look up, for instance 'kludge' is described here as - "Also spelled 'kluge' and pronounced 'klooj'. A crude, inelegant system, component or program. It may refer to a makeshift, temporary solution to a problem as well as to any product that is poorly designed or that becomes unwieldy over time."

It will be hard to obtain better explanations than they are written in here.

There are several other similar Encyclopedias around which I have never looked at, because I had no need to look for another Encyclopedia.

Unlike most other computer dictionaries/encyclopaedias in its class, the inclusion of a companion CD-ROM gave this "Computer Desktop Encyclopedia" a comfortable jump-start in the superiority contest.
The book (and its attached CD-ROM) covered, in the most definitive way, all the important terms and acronyms that apply to today's computer and networking technologies. Hardware, software, and allied peripherals were adequately represented.
It is descriptive and well-illustrated, and included all the commonly used file extensions. With over ten-thousand terms and definitions, its scope is rich: in comparison to what exist now.
This computer encyclopedia ranks among the best currently on sale. However, potential buyers may be frustrated (at the moment) by its limited availability.

And too bad it's out of print. While this book will not teach you how to use a PC, it will define every computer related (and often electronics) term you can imagine. I was surprised on some of the really obsecure terms this book contained that I didn't expect it to mention. I got this book used and after reading over some of it, I'd say this is a must have on any nerd's desk as the it compares up there with as good as an internet search for explanations of PC related terms.

I work people whose computer knowledge varies from very little to a serious computer user. This reference manual is one book that all levels can benefit from. This book is the perfect manual to answer the questions in an easy to understand format without all that technical jargon.

The book is over 1100 pages and is loaded with pictures and figures to give a visual representation of the definition which makes is easier to understand some of the concepts covered. There is computer definitions, vendor breakdowns, and certification analysis and application definitions.

Some of the topics covered are networking, computers, MACs and applications. Some of the technologies included are CISCO, CompTIA, ATM, FDDI, Ethernet and token ring. Also included is a cd-rom which has over 5000 more definitions not included in the book. Overall a great addition to my technical library.

No doubt a prophetic genius, one has to wonder ,though, if Guenon was not also a bit of a fanatical lunatic. His assertions about the tremendous flaws in Western civilization are etched in such clear-cut shades of black and white that they leave no room for argument or compromise. In short, these are revelations that brook no opposition. However, I must admit I felt a powerful sympathy with his description of how unsane our modern world has become. But I am very cautious and skeptical about his proposal of a return to a more "traditional" culture run by an intellectual elite. This sounds like a recipe for another totalitarian system of rule. As always, who is to decide which are the "elite" worthy to rule? Bracing and stimulating, this work seems inspired, but one might wonder by whom or what.

In perhaps his most important work, _The Crisis of the Modern World_, traditionalist thinker Rene Guenon outlines his philosophy and shows how the traditional outlook is opposed by modern developments. Guenon begins by noting that the modern world has brought about a crisis, conceived by many in terms of apocalypse and the "end times" (the coming dark age of the Kali Yuga in terms of Hindu cyclical cosmology), which can only be resolved by a return of the West to the traditional outlook. Taking off from what he had written earlier in a book entitled _East and West_, Guenon notes that the worldviews of West and East are profoundly different from each other, the East maintaining its traditions, while the West creeps towards degeneracy in the form of modernism and materialism. Much of this book is spent contrasting East and West, attempting to demonstrate exactly where the West has gone astray (both in its attempts to colonize the East and in its rampant materialism and modernism). In the East, three great traditions remain corresponding to the Near, Middle, and Far East respectively. These are the traditions of Islam, the traditions of India (especially Hinduism), and the traditions of the Chinese civilization. Guenon believes that only one possible source for traditional renewal remains in the West, and that is the Catholic (meaning "universal") Church, which he opposes to Protestant Christianity or modern day "rationalism", for example. Tranditionalism places an emphasis on both "primordialism" and universality, in line with its Vedantist roots. Guenon also notes several contrasting distinctions between the traditional viewpoint and that of the modern day (the Western materialist/"rationalist" outlook). Part of this involves the contrast between sacred and profane science. Modernists emphasize profane science, attempting to desacralize nature, and place their priority in both pragmatism and the material world. Such a view has come even to relegate metaphysical notions of truth to the realm of the purely pragmatic and utilitarian. Guenon also notes how the modern day world is dominated by a mass democratic levelling brought about by what he terms "individualism". It is this form of "individualism" which has led to materialism and an emphasis on pure pragmatics (quantity as opposed to quality), although he contrasts this to the more genuine view of the traditional man which remains opposed to the encroaching influences of force, through the state for example. Guenon sees much to criticize in the democratic development of the West, seeing in democracy a form of mass levelling. Opposing these developments within the modern world, Guenon calls for a new intellectual elite, who will serve to revive tradition where it is to be found. This revival also centers around the schism between East and West. In this sense, those among the "intellectual elite" must either opt to integrate the traditions of the East (which remain viable) into the West or attempt to restore genuine Western tradition (such as that which exists in a form of decline within the Catholic Church). Guenon remains a champion of the East and notes the Western bias and attempt to dominate the traditional East, citing several sources of this problematic, where he means by the West the modern materialist-driven West and not the traditional West. This book serves as an important introduction to the thinking of Rene Guenon, who is the father of the traditionalist school which also includes Ananda Coomaraswamy, Frithjof Schuon, Julius Evola, and Mircea Eliade, among others. It serves to highlight many of the contrasts which exist between the modern world (undergoing crisis) and the traditional outlook. Guenon notes that while there is a tendency for those among the traditional camp to despair, given the bleak outlook presented by the modern world (which may be destroyed in catastrophe given its false foundations), that this tendency should be overcome, particularly by those among his chosen elite. Guenon quotes several important passages from the Gospel accounts to illustrate his point. Truly the modern world represents the traditional Kali Yuga of the Hindu cycle, a dark age of rampant materialism, and a decline from the once golden age of spiritual tradition.

In this short book, the supremely intelligent Rene Guenon manages to crystallize some of the most fundamental ailments of modern society. He is neither afraid to examine from a traditionalist viewpoint all recent intellectual "developments" in science along with the callow, bigoted perceptions of modern philosophy, nor does he shy away from criticizing democracy and the notions of socio-political "progress," or the diluted and comical nature of modern religion. Consistency and holistic understanding are Guenon's hallmarks, and he demonstrates it well with this succinct volume.

This work is genuine treasure for all those capable of fully comprehending reality and naturally find themselves alone and at odds with contemporary civilization. Serves as a good introduction to the general orientations of authentic traditionalist thought. Guenon expands on this work significantly in its companion volume, The Reign of Quantity.

The scholarly world is never too short of what is in vogue as `critiques of modernity' that another addition to this stock would have been redundant. Guénon's The Crisis of the Modern World however, is not simply `another' of this but is distinguished by its profound wisdom, transcending conventional approaches that either diagnosed the symptoms and not the real disease or carried from an exclusively `philosophical' viewpoint, oblivious to the fact that `philosophy' itself is among modernity's offspring. Guénon's theme is sophia perennis, or primordial Wisdom, which seeks to resurrect the sacred metaphysics that lies at the root of the world's major religions.

Guénon begins with the premise that the modern world as we know it corresponds exactly to the period of Kali Yuga (or Dark Age) in Hindu cosmology, similar to the Iron Age in Western traditional doctrine, a time when the forces of matter reign supreme and spirituality has been thoroughly eclipsed. In fact, history itself is a gradual process of declining spirituality and "progressive materialization", so that at the last phase of the human cycle (or the darkest of the Dark Age), mankind shall witness the abundance of material prosperity as has never been witnessed before, while simultaneously impoverished spiritually and utterly divorced from true intellectuality and hence truth itself.

Intellectually, this decline is especially evident in science and philosophy. Philosophy - `love' of wisdom - became wisdom unto itself; `physics' - the science of `nature' in its totality - became a science that deals with only a portion of nature; astrology degraded into astronomy; alchemy degenerated into chemistry; and all that was once meaningful and bound to truth transcending the domain of matter and the world of sensible experience is reduced to bare facts bereft of truth, meaning and purpose. It is no wonder that the modern man today feels alienated from the world, from each other and from himself. The ancient sciences were invariably bound to metaphysical principles found in the world's great religions, made possible by the eminently religious and theocentric character of the earlier people. Truth for them is one, just as God is One. The different orders and aspects of Reality are but reflections of this same, single and universal truth. Whichever angle the truth is approached, contradictions only appear at the surface so that `specialization' would eventually lead to the convergence of the various disciplines, which explains why the ancients were so adept at mastering several different branches of knowledge at the same time, insofar as mastery of certain basic laws underlying all of reality permits their application to many different domains.

Modernity by contrast, is built upon the spirit of opposition to religion (think of the Renaissance, Reformation and the Enlightenment) and therefore hostility to metaphysics and truth. Once the ultimate Truth is denied, the ground is cleared for the manufacture of many different "truths", tending naturally towards relativism and nihilism that are so prevalent in today's world. Indeed, relativism is the logical outcome of rationalism, this in turn being the result of humanism and individualism, which of course, is the "determining cause of the present decline of the West." Descartes' rationalism, instead of raising man to transcend himself towards truth, seeks to drag truth down to the "purely relative and human faculty" of rational thought. The mental outlook that made this possible is materialism, "a conception according to which nothing else exists but matter and its derivatives." Now this is significant even symbolically, for matter is essentially multiplicity and division, hence the source of strife and conflict.

This decadence even manifests itself in the social order - from the separation of religion from the state, the triumph of mediocrity over the wise (democracy), the spread of `mass education' (which compromises the uniqueness of each individual) to the rise of the cult of `originality' in the intellectual domain, for whom it is better to create a new error than repeat an old truth. All this are but manifestations of the same catastrophe - neglect of spirituality, hence the loss of unity.

Materialism is also tied to Western domination. The East has been traditionally religious, but in the face of (material) challenge and encroachment by the modern West, is now compelled to adopt the materialistic worldview to compete in this profane realm and in this regard, its religious past is certainly no guide. Where else would they seek guidance and `light', if not from the very civilization in which materialism organically springed forth? This is in fact how the present age fits neatly into that last phase of Kali Yuga as Guénon understands it, namely that the darkness of materialism will ultimately bring the whole world into its dominion (long before `globalization' and `end of history' became common lingo), marking finally the end of an era, i.e. the end of a human cycle, or Manvantara, where `the wheel stops turning.' This is when chaos, conflict and strife will erupt as never before, a time known in Christianity as the reign of the Antichrist and in Islam as the era of Dajjal.

There is a way out - for the establishment of a spiritual elite to lead the masses out of this darkness. This elite necessarily has to operate covertly, like a secret puppeteer when others could not see the strings, for the masses have become deeply entrenched in their materialism, which continuously creates in them more artificial needs for materiality than it can satisfy. In the West, the only institution capable of bringing about this change is the Catholic Church, which alone is in possession of the sacred traditional doctrine of Christianity. Yet even then, Guenon remains skeptical and calls for the Western world to summon aid from what modicum of true spirituality is left in the East, unadulterated by the `modernized' outlook that is fast making headways throughout the Orient.

This book show us the roots of our modern world. This book is for those that, unsatisfied with the course os the modern world and it?s oppressive materialism, are looking for convincing explanations, out of the common political and economical vision. The author examines the deep factors that conducted our world to it?s present unbalance, demonstrating that, since the Middle Age, the Occident went further and further away, with increasing velocity, from the principles that ruled all the humanity until that momment. Principles that presume an hierarchy of values, from the highest (spiritual) ones to the basic (material) ones; principles that are within the essence of the traditional civilizations, that harmonize man and nature. We find examples of traditional civilizations with the north-american native tribes (as the Hopi and Sioux, among others); the Tibet, before the chinese invasion; the medieval Japan... Ren? Gu?non (1886-1951), with this book that is at once masterly and accessible, don?t give us illusions about the future of our civilization. Instead he provides us with new and wide horizons, with tools that enables us to evaluate and stand up to the great challenges of the modern world crisis. It's the best way to make a first contact with Ren? Gu?non and the traditional view.

Luiz Pontual (irget@reneguenon.net), director of Ren? Gu?non's Institute, April 9, 1999. See our site irget@reneguenon.net and buy our book at Amazon.com

It is VERY nice book. Especially for medical students and residents.
You can understand from detail to basic of diseases. With this book, you know how to approach and make your list of differential diagnosis.
I worked for infectious disease patients for a while, and this book was very useful because you can get the general knowledge not only about infectious diseases but also general internal medicine, skin lesions, bone diseases, and so on. I especially recommend the chart of antibiotics(Chart 37). I like this book because we can also get the update etiology of diseases. So nice.

This book packs in all the important aspects of client treatment into each section. The headings are a little hard to see when skimming, but the information is excellent. A must have for Nurse Practitioner school!

Very concise, covering a large number of conditions with information about clinical features, diagnosis and treatment... just the best medical book for students, residents and general prationers.

Everyone has a few books they constantly refer to in their library. This is one of mine. The whole CURRENT series is excellent & I update every new issue as soon as it is available. Ideal reference with clear concise text & pictures throughout the book

It is a very good and useful book. It has everything you'd want in it plus more. It includes the signs and syptoms, what you can do to treat the problem, etc. I just wish that it had pictures in it so you could have more to go off of.