O Books

I really enjoyed this book, just as I have enjoyed all the Torie books. Rhett MacPherson really has a talent for bringing her characters to life, warts and all, and keeping me waiting for the next book. I highly reocmmend this series to mystery fans, and even non-mystery fans who like interesting characters.

The only problem I had with my copy is that something went wrong, apparently in the binding process. Near the end, right when the murderer was being disclosed, every other page or two was not the page it was supposed to be. Instead there were pages from an entirely different book in an entirely different style--it seemed like some kind of victorian romance--sprinkled in where the real pages should have been. I could still figure out who did it, but I wish all the pages had been there. I wonder if that other book had Rhett MacPherson's pages?? It was very weird. Has anybody else encountered this?

GREAT READ AS ARE ALL HER BOOKS! CAN'T WAIT FOR THE NEXT ONE.

Torie O'Shea is the central character in Rett MacPherson's series and to say the least, she is a hoot. Entertaining is an inadequate word. Torie is a genologist who has lived in the small Missouri town all her life and knows not only every citizen but their entire family history. And she uses that knowledge to solve the current mystery.

More than the process of solving crimes to the reader are the bumps along the road of Torie's antics and sometimes outrageous derring-do activites. She has a unique and loving relationship with her hubby, who understands and wrote the book on the word patience, and her children are challenging to put it midly. A totally entertaining read watching Torie navigate between the current family crisis, the need to move to an audacious adventure to solve the crime, and the guts and grits it takes to maintain her livlihood of museum curator and geneologist.

Torie is a busy lady and following her around while she navigates her daily non-routine existance is fun, fun, fun. You might want to go back and start at the beginning - or at least read a few earlier books to get the gist of the main character and her encounters, but any book you read you will laugh and muse, and when completed, the smile will still be there. You cannot help it, I promise.

As in the past, I am always appreciative with the Torie O'Shea mysteries. Can't put the book down and usually read the whole book in a couple of days. Rett is one of my favorite authors because of the wit that is introduced into the story and making it so entertaining.

Torie O'Shea, the resident historian of New Kassel, Missouri, learns that the old Kendall house is up for sale. According to local myth, three Kendall siblings committed suicide on that property in the 1920s. Torie would like to buy the house and preserve it for historical purposes; and at the same time, she wants to find out what REALLY happened to Rupert, Whalen, and Glory Anne Kendall. Readers are eager to go along for the ride, now that Torie's obnoxious stepfather is no longer the sheriff and therefore no longer a stumbling block to her investigations. By checking church records and newspaper obituaries, Torie begins to piece the information together. But does Glory still haunt the house? Whose blood is splattered on one of the bedroom walls? Can what Torie unearths and adds to the old police files really provide the full story on the Kendalls? Is it better to know or NOT to know?

Kudos to Rett MacPherson for giving us such a compelling mystery to follow! This episode is one of the best in the series, and any genealogist or historian will be fascinated with analyzing the details first-hand as they are uncovered. Surely further installments will follow Torie as she restores the Kendall house and makes it into the textile museum she dreams of. Can we even hope that Glory's ghost will make a personal appearance from time to time?

This book has enriched my life. I have bought several copies to gift to friends and loved ones. It contains an empowering message of what we can be and accomplish with and through God in our lives.

For any Christian who is stuck in a rut, this is a good book to read. It gives some spiritual and practical advice about finding your own niche. Doing the written exercises will give you a great starting off point to make changes in your life.

This book rises above all those other "get what you want in life" books because it is Biblically sound. It is a well-organized, easily understood and practical guide for identifying the passions in one's life and how to channel them the right way. Read it and be motivated! The only problem? Something outside the book: like the old adage says, "you can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink," so with this book you need to read it and then take action.

I have to agree with Marc from Pennsylvania below. This is one of the most important books ever written for Christians--it deserves a much wider reputation than it has thus far.

In 1997, I turned 40. My father had just lost his final battle with cancer, and I was questioning my career direction. I'd read Kathy Peel's "Do Plastic Surgeons Take Visa?" and loved how she combined humor with practical suggestions for coping with everyday life--and I especially loved her story about how she went from being a housewife to a woman with a speaking and writing ministry. That story is repeated in "Discover Your Destiny" and it alone would be worth the price of the book. But there's MUCH more. Chapter by chapter, they talk about everything from discovering your dreams and passions, to preparing yourself physically, spiritually, and practically to embark on your next step. There are three great lists that I used not only with myself, but now with my students: "Spotting a Dream from God," "Preparing for Your Dream (this one is great--very practical and powerful at the same time) and the Growth Op for discovering what you're passionate about (For example, what issues make you pound the table and say, "Someone's got to do something about this?")

It was through doing the work in this book that I realized what was missing in my own everyday work--the career counseling component. These last five years I've attended professional meetings, bought books, gone out of my way to work on things related to what I wanted to do. And. . .oh, yes. . .I prayed. OFTEN. It took time. . .but when I finally helped create a position last year that combined academic advising with career counseling, it was the RIGHT time. I was truly ready to do the work. Even a year ago, I wouldn't have been ready.

This WORKS. Though I cannot proselytize on the job, I can certainly use the principles outlined by the Peels as the foundation for how I live and how I help others do what their book did for me.

This one is another one of my desert island books. Five stars are NOT enough!

It's revolutionized the way I live from day to day. The Peels have masterfuuly written a book that catapults the dreams in your heart while showing you how to practically live them out each and every day. Besides, it's loaded with quotes from major players in history who have reached their maximum, God-given potential. I recommend this book those who are worthy of it!

In A Doctor's Life: Unique Stories, Dr. William Close draws upon his many years of practice to present the reader with invaluable insights into compassionate care giving in today's high-tech world of medicine. A medical memoir sharing cameos drawn from fifty years as a practicing physician and surgeon in New York's "Hell's Kitchen", sixteen years in Africa's brutal and chaotic Congo, and as a country doctor in rural Wyoming, these vignettes and observations include a broad spectrum of patients and notable characters ranging from African leaders to oil field roustabouts, casualties of civil war in the Congo to older people in rural Wyoming reaching the end of their lives at home. A Doctor's Life is highly recommended reading as both an autobiography and as a persuasive testament that compassion and courtesy are as important as scientific excellent when working for the benefit of patients and the advancement of the medical profession.

An elephant in the maternity ward? A carpenter's brace and bit to drill a hole in the cranium? The "Urine Man" at the Presbyterian Home for Women? Oh, and much more! Here is the story of a doctor who, using the most primitive of equipment, performed a host of procedures in this African outback so far removed from high tech medicine as most of us know it today. From the often violent, always political machinations of civil authorities in the African Congo to the quiet complacency of a small Wyoming community . . . from the hectic internship in New York to the broad expanse of the western plains . . . it's all there. A Doctor's Life is the embodiment of the tragic, the hilarious, the truly compassionate. This is a trilogy in one book: New York, Africa, Wyoming -- an exciting, wonderfully human account of Dr. William Close and his keen insight into, not just the world of medicine, but the human condition -- witty, inspiring and stunningly true to life.

My main complaint with "A Doctor's Life: Unique Stories" is that I wish there was more. In this book Dr. Close shares many unique and moving stories from his medical practice in New York, Congo/Zaire, and Wyoming. His stories from his time in Africa are especially interesting to me. In the pre-independence Belgian Congo he worked first as a hospital surgeon in Kinshasa, then in independent Zaire, as President Mobutu's personal physician. From his perspective as a physician he sees the end of colonialism in central Africa, and the beginning of the chaos of independent Zaire. One very touching story is that of his domestic security guard, an elderly veteran of WWII, whose wish is for a doctor to see his dying wife, just so he can tell his grandchildren that she was seen by a doctor before she died. The chapters about Mobutu depict a man very different than is typically seen in print; apparently even dictators have their good side. This book is recommended to anyone who is interested in medicine or Africa. [Note: most of this book is the same as the out-of-print "A Doctor's Story"; the newer version has two new chapters and photographs.]

If you aspire to be a physician--not just any physician, but a good one--these memoirs should be required reading. I first read these stories in manuscript form as a medical student, and they became the template for my professional life. As Doc told me in my last year of medical school: "Let med school teach you the science of medicine; I'll show you the art." And he did, through his life and through these very stories. For as physicians, we are trained to guard our professional boundaries, to not get involved in the lives of patients, and to equate curing with healing. Dr. Close's encounters, chronicled in this very readable first-person account, prove that's not always the best medicine. In "Tata Felix," he exposes with candor, warmth, and humility the foibles of his own humanity and demonstrates how powerful (and often overlooked)a simple act de presence can be. In his Wyoming anecdotes, he convincingly shows that while knowledge without compassion may cure, it doesn't always heal. The stories are well-written, the real-life characters vivid in your mind's eye, and you feel like you are there with him in Africa and in Big Piney. Most of the stories leave you with the distinct impression that here was one of those sublime moments in life when you learned something profound about what it really means to be a doctor. This book is, in essence, an impassioned plea to physicians everywhere to not assume the mantle of medicine lightly nor haughtily, but to wear it in humility and reverence, even perhaps with awe, remembering that they are called not to be served, but to serve.

"A Doctor's Life; Unique Stories" is a gripping, funny and touching real life depiction of the odyssey of Dr. William T. Close, with a description of his career as a surgeon and physician in New York, Africa and a small Wyoming town called Big Piney. His experiences speak humbly of an individual who is a humanitarian and a practical idealist, who exhibits a deep commitment to his fellow human beings, regardless of their circumstance.

But there's more! This book goes well beyond a collection of stories about a remarkable man's life. The messages illustrated in the descriptions of the patients Dr. Close encounters refocus attention on the human side of medicine. Dr. Close effectively reminds individuals working in the medical field that it is the patient whose health crisis brings the medical team together with the multiple goals of understanding the pathophysiology of disease, the delivery of optimal expert treatment and compassionate care. The patient, Dr. Close teaches us, is more than a disease, more than `a case to be plugged into a treatment protocol'.

This respect for human life is evident in the stories of his practice of rural medicine in Big Piney, Wyoming. Dr. Close describes spending the time necessary for good care and seeing many patients in their homes, especially at the end of their lives.

The messages in this book will inspire many who practice nursing and medicine to approach the care of their patients with expertise and compassion, for the sake of the patient, and for the optimum experience as a healer. Potential patients will yearn for the kind of patient/doctor relationship that Dr. Close's patients enjoy.

"A Doctor's Life; Unique Stories" is a celebration of an approach to life and fellow humans that is dedicated, passionate and honorable. Everyone who reads this book will be inspired and entertained.

Umberto Cassuto's series of eight lectures were delivered before a Hebrew speaking audience and were designed with the intent of defending the "integrity" of the first five books of the Bible, otherwise known as the Torah and the Pentateuch. From the very start Cassuto's bias and subjectivity are more than obvious: Berman's introduction unequivocally asserts Cassuto's lifelong adherence to Zionism. This aspect of Cassuto's background makes his work on the subject of the Documentary Hypothesis little more than a defense of geo-political land claims, ie., the State of Israel. It is rabid jingoism rather than an intellectually honest desire for truth that is Cassuto's motivation.

From page to page Cassuto's elitism and bias shows through. At first he says that the subject must be approached with no presuppositions and then goes on to presuppose the "exactness" of the Hebrew literature, the very thing that is in question. Cassuto is quick to admit that the Documentary Hypothesis contains many "varied aspects" but just as quickly dismisses the need to examine them. He also dismisses wholesale the necessity of employing the modern analytical method which he simultaneously claims has been perfected. Cassuto writes off all modern scholarship (except his own of course) with little to no argument as support for his cavalier dismissals. Based on these logically fallacious tactics a case could be made in the defense of any claim regardless of how ridiculous it may be.

Cassuto also fails immediately by making the false case that the foundation of the Documentary Hypothesis is the divergence in the names of God used throughout the course of the Torah. He was correct to assert that the divergence of the names of God was the first evidence of multiple sources to be discovered. But his assertion that the divine names divergence is "the ultimate foundation of the documentary hypothesis" is quite inaccurate. It is a facet yes, but not the foundation upon which all else rests as though all else would crumble if the divergence were to give way. Cassuto also attempts to assault the Documentary Hypothesis by asserting it's relevence to Homeric criticism. What he accomplishes is not much more than creating a red herring. The similarities between Higher Criticism and Homeric criticism in research, scholars and era reveal not much more than the zeitgeist from which they sprang. Such straw-men and shoddy scholarship abound throughout the course of Cassuto's tiny volume.

And the basis upon which his eight lectures rests is upon a much larger volume of work that is linguistically inaccessible to most readers. To assert that his tiny summation is somehow capable of destroying the "edifice" of the Documentary Hypothesis is not much more than sophomoric posturing.

As it stands the Documentary Hypothesis is as strong today as it has ever been. The work of Richard Friedman on the subject has been consistent and is summated in depth in his comprehensive and definitive work on the subject called Who Wrote the Bible. If Cassuto were alive today he would find that the conclusions of the megalithic edifice of the Documentary Hypothesis are also supported by archaeological evidence such as the wealth provided by Israel Finkelstein his book The Bible Unearthed.

In the end Cassuto's work is a fine, antiquated example of one man's desperate attempt to defend the alleged integrity of the traditions of the Torah's authorship. The attempt is predicated upon the desire to find legitimacy for the geo-political land claims of a nationalistic movement. The attempt is also predicated upon red herrings, straw-men and the elite and casual dismissal of centuries of objective scholarship. As an obsolete antique the book is fine, but as an objective search for truth it is quite useless.

This review is based on the Magnes Press edition of this book which is difficult to find; I hope there is little change in this new edition. In any case, it's wonderful that this treasure is now easily available.
In a series of eight lectures Cassuto destroys the Documentary Hypothesis, the theory that the text of the Pentateuch was edited from four independent source-documents.
Cassuto describes the development of the theory, and the evidence on which it is based: the use of different names for God in the Pentateuch, variations of its language and style, apparent contradictions and divergences, duplications and repetitions and signs of composite structure in the text.
Cassuto argues that these pieces of evidence, individually and cumulatively, do not render the Documentary Hypothesis probable. Cassuto provides simpler explanations of the evidence. These explanations also fit in better with our background knowledge, including knowledge of the style of ancient near eastern texts.
For example, Cassuto points out that the different divine names are used consistently in different contexts. This is best explained by the divine names having different meanings (but the same reference). Further literature of the ancient near east evinces similar context-sensitive usage of different divine names. If the Documentary Hypothesis is not true, we would find precisely the usage of divine names that we do find.
Cassuto defends his claims with numerous sources, his extensive knowledge of ancient literature and Biblical Hebrew. In contrast, the proponents of the Documentary Hypothesis resort to circular reasoning and outlandish explanations of the text, as Cassuto shows.
Cassuto's understanding of the details and rules of Biblical Hebrew is profound, and there is much to learn here that I have not found elsewhere. This includes five rules used in the Bible to determine which first person pronoun is to be used, how the Bible decides to use descending or ascending order in compound numerals, and the difference between expressions such as "karath berith" and "heqim berith".
The beauty of Cassuto's style of writing is matched only by the clarity of his exposition.
Cassuto's opinion on the origin of the text does not appear to be religious. Rather, he believes that the Pentateuch selected and refined ancient traditions; Cassuto compares this to Dante who transforms material derived from many sources into a unique harmony. Whether or not one believes in the divine origin of the Pentateuch, however, Cassuto's book is an unanswerable attack on the Documentary Hypothesis and a powerful defense of the unity of the text.
I strongly recommend Cassuto's book along with Kitchen's "On the Reliability of the Old Testament".

A short series of lectures to teachers, given over 50 years ago, the book crystallises Cassuto's scholarly work on Genesis.

Mildly and politely he butchers the documentary hypothesis. His exposure of parallel historical developments in studies on Homer is telling, the simple but potent critiques of overreading Hebrew idiom are especially revealing, given that the lectures were themselves given in Hebrew, and he displays the hollow unravelling of 'composite passages' by showing the nonsensical narratives that result from a strict dissection by 'author'.

Critics who think the hypothesis retains any credibility who haven't read at least this popular introduction really have their heads in the sand.

Yet it would be a mistake to consider this a critical or negative book. Whilst he doesn't here formulate an alternative, his affection for the warmth and captivating charm of Genesis is infectious. Despite his mistrust in a Mosaic authorship, his awe for its majesty and distinctive characteristics from contemporary literature is also evident.

A highly recommended and surprisingly easy read.

I used this work in a paper a couple of years ago but I had to borrow it from a university library. I got my copy of the new reprint last week and read it in one sitting yesterday. It reminded me of things I forgot after turning in the paper.

When I read the part about how the supporters of the hypothesis falsified their data, I was flabbergasted. Since I wrote my paper two scientists have had to withdraw major papers because they falsified their data. In one case women died because of the scientist's lies.

Luckily the hypothesis is not a matter of life and death. It's also incompatible with scientific method. Fuhgeddaboudit.

This series of lectures was originally published as "Torath HaTeudoth" by Magnes Press (The Hebrew University, Jerusalem) in 1941. The first English edition, a translation by Israel Abraham, was published in 1961. This edition, published 2006, is a reissue of the first English translation by Israel Abraham (1961), together with a new introduction by Joshua Berman.

These lectures, delivered by Rabbi Umberto Cassuto (1883-1951), summarize his indepth research, spanning no less than 25 years, into the Graf-Wellhausen "documentary hypothesis". Unfortunately, Cassuto died before he could see all his major commentaries through to completion and publication. The unfinished nature of Cassuto's work makes this makes the present series of lectures all the more crucial in understanding his thinking.

According to the "documentary hypothesis", the 5 Books of Moses were compiled from 5 independent source documents, each independently presenting its own version of the entire history of Israel from the Creation to Moses. This hypothesis suggests that each document was characterized by its own theology, politics, language, and style.

The "documentary hypothesis" rests on 5 pillars:

1. the use of different names for the Deity;
2. variations of language and style;
3. contradictions and divergences of view;
4. duplications and repetitions;
5. signs of composite structure in the sections. (p.17)

In these lectures, Cassuto systematically and with precision demolished these five pillars. For this reason, it is hard to see why scholars cited in the media still trot out the alleged findings of this unscientific and fallacious speculation dubbed in grandiose fashion "the documentary hypothesis", when in reality it is has no more substance than "the emperor's new clothes".

How can you not love a dog that drives, speaks French, and makes a mean macaroni and cheese? Once again, Fergus and his human Mel engage in a battle of wits and will. Naturally, Fergus comes out on top. (Don't blame Mel though -- he's only human.) This volume is actually my favorite of the three, mainly because it contains a sequence of strips en Francais. It's truly classic. (I think I still have the original newspaper strips somewhere.) There's also a good bit about Cuddles the Cat exploring his inner tomcat, leather jacket and all. All in all, I say buy this book and Vive les Weenies!

Searching the net for dogs in cartoons and comics, I stumbled on Fergus and Mel - and fell in love with them immediately. So I rushed to Amazon and bought the 3 "Citizen Dog" available books, and boy -- what a joy!

Fergus and company do entertain, with clever writing and appealing characters. Mel *is* dog's best friend; he and pal Fergus always are having fun together, like two children in a toy store. At the same time, they have their fights with each other. All in all, it always make you smile.

And although being a dog person, I cannot help from saying that Cuddles (AKA Claws, the culturally ambiguous cat) has become one of my favorite comic characters ever. Maybe because he is a little bit naive, and not so egoistical and mean like cats use to be... (sorry for that!). I also like Arlo and Bruno.

Forgot Snoopy and Garfield, folks; it's "Citizen Dog" time now. Way to go, Mark O'Hare!

Funnier than the first book? I found it hard to believe, but it's absolutely true! And while these books hold a special place for pet owners, everyone can relate to the humourous insights on everyday life.

Citizen Dog is one of THE best comic strip of the 90's. It's clever, witty, and downright funny. A great book.

The "Citizen Dog" comic strip was one of the best ever. Mark O'Hare has a delightfully wicked sense of humor and he brings such life and animation to his characters. You don't have to be a dog lover to appreciate Fergus, the smart-mouthed dog in this series ... or the lovable antics of his owner, Mel. Get a taste for the comic strip at: http://www.ucomics.com/citizendog/.

Unfortunately, Mark O'Hare is no longer creating new Citizen Dog strips, so all we have left is these fabulous books. There are three in the series:
1) Citizen Dog: The First Collection [ISBN: 0836251865]
2) Dog's Best Friend: More Citizen Dog Reflections [ISBN: 0836267516]
3) D is for Dog [ISBN: 0740704575]

Buy two of each ... because someone's gonna want your copy!
Happy reading!

This is an excellent travel/ food book- A great gift for anyone traveling in the Northeast.

Guides like this can often give too little detail or too much, but in this book, the author gives the perfect amount of information about every location. Each ice cream parlor's individual style, history and unique offerings are expressed succinctly, but so well that you feel you really know the place.

The descriptions of the ice cream flavors make you want to try every one mentioned (except maybe the horseradish). You can tell the author has personally visited and sampled the wares and her descriptions make it easy for you to decide if it is a place you would enjoy.

I am planning a trip North in two weeks and I am definitely visiting several of the places mentioned. The book is well-organized and well-written. Location, hours, directions, etc. are at the top of each page. There are interesting bits of ice cream trivia interspersed.

Great choice for food and travel lovers!

This book is so fun and full of great information. It is an excellent gift idea for ice-cream loving friends and family.

The author has done her homework, detailing and distinguishing the nature of the scoop at supreme shops in the East. What elevates this read to something beyond mere (if yummy and useful) information is the elan' of the writing. The author has a knack for language and a very good ear for fresh prose to describe those fresh ingredients. A congenial and well done mix of sleuthing, road trip, and encyclopedia of blissful frozen treats. An enjoyable read!

I love having a happy belly and "East Coast Scoops" sure tickled my tummy! Each entry is imformative and unique. My belly concurs with Ms. Steintrager's assesment of Christina's in Cambridge. I was lucky enough to sample their fares twice during a cold and snowy winter trip (that should tell you something)! A trip to New York is in my future and I can't wait to try the lychee ice cream at the China Town Ice Cream factory, the Meyer lemon at Otto Enoteca Pizzeria, Lola's mint chocolate lace at Ronnybrook Farm Dairy, the concrete jungle at the Shake Shack, and the vanilla chocolate chunk at the Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory - to start with. I guess I better plan a longer trip and lots of walking! Please send Ms. Steintrager down to the deep South next. We could use a Deep South Scoops!

"EAST COAST SCOOPS" is a beautiful publication in every way. The text is especially well written, the photography, quality layout and information combine to make "Scoops" a real gem.
It is a FIRST CLASS publication, and for those of us who try to move through life delighting in "a scoop of this and a scoop of that" it's both a treasure and a pleasure to enjoy reading (and dreaming) as well as to frequent the sites that are included.
I'll be visiting in NYC (Chelsea)in late summer, and I already fantasize about "ginger creme brule'" at Ronnybrook Farm Dairy at the Chelsea Market.

In vivid, engaging prose uncommon among attorney authors, Clive Stafford Smith offers a startling first-hand account of America's most well-known gulag: the prison camps at Guantanamo Bay. Smith's volume places the U.S. Government's hypocrisy in the Bush II era on full display, with the prisoners there -- very few of whom, it appears, guilty of any crime at all (let alone legitimate involvement in Islamist terrorism) -- tragic protagonists in a prolonged tour through hell. Despite assiduous compliance with strict military classification and censorship requirements, Smith gives a stark account of torture, rendition, legal tricks, and a relentless war on due process -- by the same folks supposedly spreading "democracy" to the Middle East. With new precision details and personal prisoner histories, Smith's book is shocking even to those who never believed the news coverage. Read it with anger; the outrage is still going on.

This is not an anti-American book. What it is against is torture, injustice, false imprisonment, inhumanity, and the betrayal of American core values and fundamental beliefs.

This book (previously published in the UK as "Bad Men") discloses that a considerable number of the prisoners at Guantánamo Bay were at the time of their capture, and of course still are, totally innocent, but being in the wrong place at the wrong time were sold into captivity by locals greedy for the bounty offered by the US. Amnesty International has published a finding that "hundreds of people" were arbitrarily detained, after the US offered cash payments, in leaflets dropped by American aircraft, for information on Taliban and al-Qaeda fighters. This "rewards programme" resulted in a frenetic market in abductees. It is the reason for the false imprisonment of uncounted men and boys in American secret prisons, in secret locations around the world, and at Guantánamo Bay. In an earlier article [in Index on Censorship, "The Archipelago of Gulags," February 2006] Stafford Smith wrote: "The majority of prisoners I represent were not seized in Afghanistan, but purchased in Pakistan for the bounties offered by the US - starting at $5,000." In Pakistan, the per capita annual income is $720.

Torture by US proxies, the book shows, was carried out to obtain confirmation of the alleged status of these purchased captives as terrorists or enemy combatants. One victim of rendition was the 16-years-old Hassan bin Attash, who was rendered to Jordan "for sixteen months of torture" because the US government wanted information about his older brother. He is still imprisoned at Guantánamo.

On the basis of the evidence in this book, when Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice denied, in December 2005, that the US had sent so-called enemy combatants to countries where they would be interrogated under torture, she was lying - a lie to which Prime Minister Tony Blair and the British Foreign Secretary of the day repeatedly lent their support at the time.

Guantánamo is "the mother of all mistakes." Fifty-five per cent of those in captivity at Guantánamo Bay are not even alleged to have ever taken part in hostilities; 95 per cent of them were not taken into custody by US troops, but were turned over by Pakistanis or Afghans - usually in exchange for cash; 92 per cent were not even accused of being al-Qaeda fighters. In answer to the question, why are patently innocent non-combatants still being held as prisoners by the Bush administration? it seems the answer is, in effect, moral cowardice. No one wants, or is able, to take responsibility for making the decision and signing the release order.

There are quite a few prisoners in US mainland prisons being held in solitary for life, and their being driven insane as a result of prolonged confinement is an expected outcome. Whether such cruel punishment is constitutional is a good question. Indefinite imprisonment in solitary confinement is undeniably cruel, and in Guantánamo, according to Stafford Smith, it is driving prisoners insane.

Guantánamo Bay is a prison where the US has disallowed constitutional rights (to which non-US citizens are, under US law, not entitled) and infringed or withheld habeas corpus and other fundamental human rights without fear of judicial oversight - but it is not the only one. There are secret prisons in scattered locations worldwide, and there are fourteen thousand prisoners of the US in them - the largest number in Iraq. Locations have been deliberately selected so that there can be no recourse to judicial process for those incarcerated without limit of time. Meanwhile, the US is still taking prisoners. If the Guantánamo Bay prison is ever closed, Clive Stafford Smith will have done more than anyone to achieve that result. The secret prisons around the world are a more difficult and sinister matter.

Stafford Smith writes well and with humour, but his narrative is consistently depressing. The bravery and spirit shown by some of the wronged prisoners in the face of adversity is an occasional upbeat note. The charges against the US now amount to an overwhelming tally of incompetence, arrogance and overkill. The British government, too, is guilty of having betrayed important principles, and of callously abandoning individuals entitled to government help. "Bush and Blair", the author believes, "have contrived to make the lives of every person on this planet vastly less secure."

As a consequence of the War on Terror, and to give itself a free hand, the US decided to put aside the rule of law in dealings with its supposed enemies. Thereby, arguably, it forfeited its claim to stand as the world's primary upholder of freedom and justice. This policy decision must go some way to explaining the significant growth of anti-Americanism during the presidency of George W Bush, as the administration over-reacted to the events of 9/11.

This book is more than a chronicle of fantastic injustice. Its final inference is that the War on Terror has resulted in a defeat for traditional western values. "We ceded our claim to the moral high ground," Stafford Smith concludes. Led by people deficient in good sense and decency, the US and Britain have betrayed the standards of justice and freedom which enabled our nations to occupy the moral heights as defenders of humanity's claim to believe in its own goodness.

Imagine that you have been swept away to a prison, kept in solitary confinement and when taken out for questioning you are continually asked about the tomatoes you were carrying ( the translators don't always have a full command of dialects )and you have no idea what your interrogators want or if they are totally insane. Because this book is written from a lawyer's point of view and lays out only the facts ( only what he has been able to ascertain and what he is allowed to make known ) it takes some reflection and imagination to put yourself in the place of the detainees and savour the experience that they have had and continue to have.
In other words this isn't "Midnight Express", but a look at guantanamo, its rules, the U.S. military, the stories of a few of the detainees and the constitutional and humanitarian issues involved.

If you haven't read Robert Conquest's seminal work The Great Terror about the purges, the show trials, law, and justice under Stalin, you might want to consider reading that first. Perhaps visit the Amazon site which has a quote from Harrison Salisbury saying the book is "an odyssey of madness, tragedy, and sadism". Then read Smith's eloquent book. Much is different, of course, but there is a lot that seems eerily similar. In Russia it was a crime to be suspected of anti-Soviet activities. This did not mean that you were actually guilty of such activities--it just meant that someone thought you might possibly be guilty, and being thought possibly guilty was a crime in itself, worthy of torture, a one-way trip to the cellars, or death in the labor camps. Evidence of guilt seemed to take a back seat to suspicion of guilt. Then read Smith's book.

The Russian show trials were carefully scripted, and designed to give the mostly leftist press in attendance and the rest of the world through media coverage the impression that the rules of law were being followed and that justice was indeed being carried out. Much of the world wanted to believe that the deviationist wreckers were truly guilty and deserved the ultimate punishment for trying to sabotage the workers' paradise. Reading Smith's book will show that the Stalinists were not the only ones who loved carefully scripted show trials before handpicked judges.

There is, as I've said, much that is different. In Russia, a popular sentence was "exile, without right of communication", a hypocritical euphemism for being shot in the cellars. In Guantanamo, as you'll see in the book, "detention, without right of communication", is not a sentence from a judge at a two-minute hearing, as in Russia. The criminal isn't taken to the cellars and shot, at least not at Guantanamo. Prior to some Supreme Court decisions, a prisoner could be held without right of communication for the duration of the war on terror, and since terrorism has been going on for thousands of years, there is no reason to think that many of the prisoners would have ever had a hearing or seen a lawyer for the rest of their life.

In Russia, family members could wait in long lines outside the Butyrka and other prisons with packages of food and clothing for their loved ones: if the package was accepted, it meant the spouse, brother, etc, was still alive there. If refused, they had been taken to the cellars or sent to a labor camp. No such bleeding-heart tenderness at Guantanamo.

Smith's book shows that there are some truly dangerous prisoners at Guantanamo--but there are too many who were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. 11-year-old boys, 93-year-old men, goatherders (how do you prove that while herding goats you didn't meet with Bin Laden?),etc. Pakistan was happy to show it was doing its part in the war on terror by turning in Arabs and collecting nice bounties no questions asked. Kafka's novel The Trial is appropriate reading here. In Russia, the populace, as a whole, heartily endorsed Stalin's war on the wrecker saboteurs: someone, after all, must be to blame for all the problems, and an alternative obvious source to blame was not conducive to good health and long life. The people were not concerned about the rights of the accused, or legal niceties. In America, there is not widespread concern about legal niceties for a bunch of Moslems in Guantanamo and other places of detention. So if you read Smith's book, you'll find it quite depressing, especially if you've read The Great Terror. There's too much in Smith's book that most of us would prefer not to hear about or think about: we'd rather turn on the TV and see Happy News or a nice patriotic CSI TV show or something. It's a fine book, but not a fun one.

From various newspaper articles, I had heard that many of the people in Guantanamo Bay were innocent and that torture happens there. But all of that seemed very abstract until I read this book. I was frequently upset by the things I read in this book. It is difficult to read about torture, as well as your own goverment's ability to waste time, tax-payer money and other people's lives for information that bears no fruit, or worse, fruit that meets their pre-conceived notions. I think that is the saddest aspect of reading this book. Why is the government still detaining people for which there is hard evidence of their innocence? How can we be spending bllions of $$ on the war on terror, yet not get the detainees' ages and names correct?

Highlights of the book:

- How politically-charged the words 'terror' and 'torture' are.
- The account of Binyam Mohamed's 18-month torture abroad and his military trial.
- The discussion of the 'ticking time bomb' scenario, which is often used to justify torture, and why the detention and torture of people held longer than a day, let alone 3+ years, will likely give obsolete or false information.
- The discussion of how the US has given far more dangerous enemies of the past the benefit of a public trial, and our part in ensuring fair trials for Nazi war crime criminals.
- Portraits of people in Guantanamo, both detainess and Americans stationed there.
- Arguments for fair trials and open society versus the current policy of secrecy, torture and secret prisons, even for the baddest of the bad.

The last chapter, where Mr. Smith talks about the effect of the US's decisions on terrorism recruitment, reads more like political rant. I am sympathetic to the argument, but it is speculation. And frankly, not needed. The preceding chapters are powerful on their own. I would encourage people to read this book.

The reflections in this book are of the nature that they may bring comfort for a long time. Sometimes I read many of them, sometimes just one or two. Sometimes the reflections and Bible passages help me to grieve, sometimes they help me to rejoice that my son is with our Lord.

Of the 8 or 10 books I bought or was given after the death of our son, this is one of the two that I find the most helpful (the other being - When Hello Means Goodbye, which is more for right away).

We have lost 3 babies in our family. Our dreams of great futures were gone with them. We were desperate to find comfort. This book is healing and helpful to ease the pain.
I am grateful that I discovered this book. I also recommend Write From Your Heart, A Healing Grief Journal.
It really is necessary to "work" through grief.
May you all find peace and comfort.

This is a very good book to give comfort to the grieving after the loss of a pregnancy or baby. The agonized reflections of grieving parents are coupled with scriptural references (some from the Catholic bible). The pages of the bible have much comfort for the afflicted, and the references here are coupled beautifully with the reflections of parents who have suffered. This book offers hope, comfort and encouragement for the bereaved.

As grieving parents, both my husband and I found these reflections very timely. It's the kind of book you can pick up and read for one minute or one hour, depending on your mood and current needs. It is definitely a Christian-based book...each reflection is followed by a scripture pertaining to the idea presented in the reflection. However, as non-Christians, we loved the stories themselves. They put so eloquently into words the many conflicting feelings we are having after the death of our son. I highly recommend this book to others who have suffered a similar loss.

I lost my son 3 years ago and I can still open this book and find peace. I would buy this book for anyone who has lost their baby. The emotions felt are placed side by side with words of scripture. It is as if God is helping you through your emotions. My husband's Aunt got this for us right after our son died. It helped me then and it continues to help me now.

Steve Taylor manages to come up with a seemingly obvious but until now neglected theory about human nature and the development of civilisation. He analyses not only where we went wrong historically but also where we are still going wrong today. Our intensified sense of ego distorts the way we behave, as does the establishment of a culture that rewards selfishness, aggressiveness and the whole me-me-me I-want-it-now childishness that embodies the modern world. He says what a lot of people (including me) have been thinking for a while. If there is war, oppression and hunger in the world - how did it get here? And can we ever change? Steve Taylor suggests some fascinating answers to these questions. I was impressed enough to give up my job and house and go and live in a field growing my own vegetables... well, maybe not yet.

The Fall contains many intriguing ideas about why humnanity is in the situation in which we find ourselves. Taylor reminds us, thankfully, that all the misery encountered by so many people in the course of their lives is just plan wrong. It does not have to be.

I would suspect that many of his ideas would be challenged by other scholars and a discussion of his theories would be most interesting.

The Fall is quite repetitive in places. I would have liked to have read how Taylor thinks we can have a more compassionate peaceful society on a global scale with more than 6 billion people alive today.

I loved Steve Taylor's lucid account of why he thinks the world is in such a bad way, how we got to be in this sorry state and how we can get out of it. It skillfully blends history, psychology, sociology and spirituality to produce a book that is not only thought provoking and enlightening but also enjoyable to read. Despite the potentially depressing nature of the issues covered, Steve Taylor manages to remain positive and provide solutions for a way forward to a better world. This is an uplifting book and recommended to anyone searching for answers to difficult questions.

This book had me riveted. If we'd read books like this in high school history class, I would have been a lot more interested. The author does a great job of combining history, anthropology, gender studies, and spirituality (among other things) into a fascinating account of the past 6,000 years of human history.

I know that, after reading this book, I'll never look at the world the same way again. The premise behind the work makes so much sense, and helps to explain why things (good and bad) are the way they are.

Typos and grammar issues bother me, and there were some really horrendous ones in this book. However, I am willing to overlook them in this case and give this book five stars because I believe it is so important to our understanding of ourselves.

This is one of the best books I read in 2007. I highly recommend it.

I bought this book after reading Eckhart Tolle's endorsement: "A fascinating and important book on the origin, development and the imminent demise of the ego...Highly readable and enlightening, as the author's acute mind is imbued with the higher faculty of spiritual awareness." Eckhart Tolle's books have changed my life so I was sure this book would be important for me too, and haven't been wrong. I've read it through over the last three days and feel also though my whole outlook on the world has been altered. This book is a complete revisioning of human history from a spiritual point of view, seeing human history in terms of the development of the ego, looking at how the ego has given rise to thousands of years of violence and oppression. Taylor looks in turn at warfare, male domination, social inequality, alienation from the body, abuse of the natural world and so on, showing how the over-developed sense of ego produces these problems.

The book makes the important point - using a massive range of research - that earlier human beings and many of the world's native peoples - did not have our strong sense of self or ego and so were free from all of this disorder. The book's depiction of how the insanity of so much human behaviour is produced by the ego is riveting and extremely impressive. After reading this there is no way you can look at "normal" human behaviour in the same way. Taylor makes it absolutely clear that what we consider as normal is, in many ways, insane. And just as impressively, Taylor puts together an extremely good case for the idea that we are beginning to transcend the insanity of the ego and moving into a new era. This is one of those books which makes you look at the world in a new light, and gives you inspiration and hope for the future. Somehow it gives me the inspiration to try to fight for a better world, to contribute to the collective change which is taking place, and rekindle the state of harmony which the human race has lost.

This is now by far my favorite cookbook. Every recipe has turned out with two thumbs up from the family. I wish I had this book when My children were babies so many good ideas for them. I had the carrot cake for my birthday and it was the best darn carrot cake in the world. This alone was worth the price of the book but on top of that there is so much information on eating whole foods. This is one cookbook I read from start to finish and couldn't put down. Hope she writes more :)

I have had this book on my wish list for ages but couldn't justify another whole foods cookbook. I decided to try it after it was updated and after reading the authors essay on how we create picky eaters, I am glad I did. The recipes I have tried have been simple to make and taste delicious.The ingredients called for are easily found. I especially liked the lunch section as I struggle with packing my son a lunch. The book also has a nice section on nutrition that is helpful and informative for those new to whole foods cooking. I recommend this book to anyone looking for delicious meals for their families.

This is a fantastic book for every family! Not only is the book full of information to grow on, it's packed full of recipes that are wonderful. I could not imagine not having this book on my shelf! It's a mst!

I have the first edition of this cookbook and it rates up there with my 5 most used cookbooks. I have bought multiple copies and given them as gifts to friends and family members. I cook primarily whole foods for my family, which in common terms means that I cook from scratch about 18-20 of our 21 weekly meals. Many of these recipes can be made quickly (30 minutes) with some planning.

The author gives wonderful advice for cooking beans, basic recipes for various grains and family favorite sauces. Most of the soup recipes are staples in our house. The introduction of 'new' and different grains...millet, quinoa, buckwheat...is a great way to add variety to your family's diet and most are quick and easy to make. Our culture eats far too much wheat and making some wheat-free meals is a welcome change in most families.

If I had just 1 box of books I could keep, this would be one of the books I would be sure made its way into the box.

Feeding the Whole Family: Cooking with Whole Foods I like this book! As a lover of all foods collard, I was browsing on U Tube when I ran into Cynthia Lair's presentation of her method of cooking collards. Her style is fresh like her food. I'm talking about fresh in the nice sense. She balances convenience with common sense. And she presents the information we need in a light pleasant way. Now I am the delighted owner of her cookbook.

Starting with the cover, it is neat and informative. The picture shows a lively little fellow bringing flowers to his mother or grandmother while she is chopping some fresh greens. The title and the subtitle yield much information and manage to do so with continuity: FEEDING THE WHOLE FAMILY; RECIPES FOR BABIES, YOUNG CHILDREN, AND THEIR PARENTS; COOKING WITH WHOLE FOODS.

Cynthia Lair, a wise and practical nutritionist, gives us the facts about food we need. She emphasizes the value of eating food in the setting of family or friends. She shows that wholesome does not mean dull. In fact she demonstrates quite the opposite.

She shows how to determine whether a food is whole by answering the
following questions:


Can I imagine it growing?
How many ingredients does it have?
What's been done to the food since it was harvested?
Is this product "part" of a food or the "whole" entity?
How long has this food been known to nourish human beings?

The section entitled "A Well-Balanced Whole Foods Diet" contains a simple but sensible illustraton of a wise method of eating. Following the illustration are explanations of the diet concept.

Cynthia is a brilliant dietician who knows her greens and beans. This book is one to be studied and followed. Every mother of a baby needs to read "Including Baby" and keep going through the book to learn about rearing healthy children and feeding a family appropriately.

There are endless intriguing recipes. Two of my favorite foods are basmati rice and chickpeas. She has included curry-like flavors in a recipe called Golden Spice Rice with Chickpeas. My mouth waters at the thought.