Cultural Books

I know the book and it's very good like all the books of carol beckwith,it's the only one i didn't got ,but i am still waiting for the delivery....

If you're considering a trip to the Motherland, definitely buy this book! The pictoral essay translates a million cultural norms and customs for the Westerner/Asian. These images are "provocatively considerate" of the ancient peoples of Eastern Africa, which is unusual. These images also transport you back to a time when (in my opinion) Mankind lived simpler, easier lives.

I really enjoyed the images of the Christian influences including the rock churches of Ethiopia.

If you are interested in Ethiopia, this book provides a pictured guide to the country, its history and its sites. The photography is amazing.

A land now wracked by famine and war, the region of Ethiopia and the surrounding countries which make up the Horn of Africa, have a rich and diverse cultural history. The coastal areas have been in close contact with the outside world for centuries, linked by trade with Arabia, China and India. Ethiopia itself is situated in more remote highlands and has enjoyed protection from foreign influences, for an even longer time. The are archaic forms of Christianity and Judaism, pastoralist groups, hunter-gatherers and farmers and they have lived undisturbed for hundreds of years. Until the twentieth century, Ethiopia was the only African country to have successfully avoided Western imperialism.

And here is a book of superb photographs of the land and its different peoples by Carol Beckwith and Angela Fisher. The text by Graham Hancock is unusually helpful giving the historical background so necessary to take in these startling photos. A wonderful book, beautifully designed, published by Abrams, it is well worth its published price of $75.00 to anyone interested in Africa.

As a repeat visitor to beautiful Ethiopia, and a pretty darn good photographer, the last thing I want my friends to do is to pick up this book before they see MY pictures. My best ones are drab next to this fabulous work of Fisher and Beckwith. So many books on Ethiopia cover either just the north, with it's religious architecture and history, or just the south with its beautiful tribal people only recently touched by the encroachment of modernity. But this book covers it all, and stunningly so. If you can afford only one book of glorious photography on tribal Africa, make it this one. There is a reason for the consistent 5-star ratings.

(Later note: two newer books by different authors/photographers focus just on the tribal areas of the Omo Valley in southern Ethiopia. If that's your interest, then also check out Gianni Giansanti's "Vanishing Africa" and Hans Silvester's "Ethiopia - Peoples of the Omo Valley.")

Excellent, informative history of the rave scene in England... everything is in here: how influential Ibiza was to the scene, MDMA and its history, smiley faces, baggy pants, all the main players and djs... it brought back a lot of happy memories of my raver days in NYC in the early 90s. A must read for those interested in this scene especially the beginning which shows that it all started in America: Larry Levan and the Paradise Garage, Frankie Knuckles's Warehouse parties, Dr. Shulgin and his MDMA studies... Britian took it to the next level in the 80s beginning with the Summer of Love and raves and was then past back to the US in the early 90s: Frankie Bones and the Storm raves, NASA, and the rest. This book tells you all about it!

This book is truely entertaining, it covers music, culture, politics, drugs, ect... It was hard to put this book down, I was sucked into it and learned a great deal about the scene in Eroupe. I recommend this book to people who are looking for answers to questions they didn't know they were asking...

This book is well written from start to finish and is hard to put down. It provides a real inside viewpoint of not only the music put the politics of ecstasy culture. To those who seek alternatives to corporate-consumer-culture this book is very inspiring. In particular the stories of how groups like Spiral Tribe live(d) their lives.

To me this book really captures a lot of the emotion that those inside the 'rave movement' feel. Even though the book is centered on the London scene it seems to capture the universal essence of the culture. Reading the book felt like reliving the rave experience all over again. It's like a trip taking you from a ravers first mind-opening dose of MDMA to the realizations that come after continued exposure to underground dance culture and politics.

This book also provided a great account of the actions taken by the opponents of youth dance culture; the ignorance of the politicians and police using scare tactics to try and control what they clearly don't understand, the attempts by the alcohol industry to take the culture away from the underground and commodify it into regular bars for their profit, and the problems created in the culture by organized crime.

Altered State also delves into the issues of prohibition and harm reduction. This is another area where the book's message transcends the London setting it describes. These topics will resonate with anyone familiar with the current political climate in the USA. With the 2002 RAVE (Reducing Americans Vulnerability to Ecstasy) club owners can now be held responsible for what their patrons ingest. Meanwhile organizations like DanceSafe.org offer harm reduction strategies to the millions of ecstasy users who defy prohibition.

I couldn't recommend this book more highly.

As someone who "came of age" in the club culture of Austin, Texas in the mid-1980s (Halls, Stephanie's, 606), I have been quite surprised that the Dallas (Starck) and Austin dance subculture has not been fully explored in many books as "ground zero" for the ecstasy-fueled rave movement that developed in Europe during the late-80s and early 90s. Although MDMA had been around for a while, if it wasn't for a chance meeting between a certain Austin DJ and one of Britain's top new wave bands after an Austin concert, England's 1988 "summer of love" might not have happened (or at least it would have been delayed for a few years). That "three days of love" on Lake Travis had a tremendous influence on the social history of youth over the next twenty years! The book mainly focuses on Britain's experience with the rave and dance subculture. However, it is the first few chapters that I find so fascinating . . . the development of MDMA and its infusion into the mainstream population through unassuming college students who had no idea they were guinea pigs for the multitudes to follow. Well worth the read, especially for those of us who experienced the phenomenon first hand.

Garage, House, Acid House, Techno, Balearic, Drum & Bass, Jungle, whatever you call it: this is the book about the real history. Sometime in the past fifteen or twenty years rock died finally, amd weren't you glad? I was happy but I was on E and my vote doesn't count. I was taking alot of smart drugs too and I wrote a few novels on those so-called "pep pills." But I wasn't hanging out in Ibiza with Danny Rampling of Claire Manumission, or even Larry Levin at the Paradise Garage. I was still listening to Wire and Gary Numan. Like most people, at first I didn't care for most techno or house, but you know what? It's all I listen to now (I am still living in 1999). How did that happen? Before I used to listen to a lot of punk, ska and reggae, and then dropped out of the music scene for a while. I liked punk music especially since there were no rock stars, and anyone with long hair (or even looked remotely like Evan Dando) was immediately uncool and we used to beat them up. Boy, we were thugs back then, eh? But sometime in the late 1980s, someone slipped me a hit of E, and this disco record came on and it sounded like the best record I ever heard, and I was in love with everyone and I dove in the middle of the groping room. A few years later, I got serious and became the literary insider, and read Joyce, Proust, Beckett, Pynchon, Irvine Welsh, back to back, you know the story.... Well, what I'm saying is this book is a wonderful read, and adds a little narrative to the no-narrative techno policy. It also documents the most profound youth movement of the last ten or fifteen years. That's what I like about Techno: no rock stars!

Antipodes is a major milestone in the scholarly and scientific theory and methodology of visionary plants, entheogens, and the phenomena of the dissociative cognitive state, in the tradition of William James. Nitrous showed James the ordinary state of consciousness isn't enough for a full account of the mind.

Shanon critiques previous approaches to cognitive psychology, entheogens, and the mystic state and surpasses previous coverage of drug-induced mysticism. He presents and calls for a sophisticated, well-informed phenomenological Cognitive Psychology approach to the mind and to the dissociative cognitive state and primary religious experiencing.

He presents a research methodology, framework, and paradigm of extensive first-hand experience and training in the dissociative visionary cognitive state, with extensive comparison of experiential observations with many other experienced observers or trained practitioners, per Ken Wilber's Eye to Eye. He demonstrates how the altered, dissociative cognitive state informs the scientific study of the mind, and how a phenomenological cognitive psychology perspective informs the scientific, systematic study of the states induced by visionary plants.

He approaches cognitive psychology as a concern with overall dynamic mental activity and phenomena, rather than underlying-level mental representation. He critiques the established Psychology models of mystic-state experiencing, emphasizing that the visionary altered state affects and works comprehensively and non-specifically upon the entirety of experiencing and cognitive activity, including movement and performance, neither centered in uncovering hidden layer of already-ongoing sub-cognitive activity nor being restricted to merely the isolated faculty of imagination.

Antipodes opens a new era in research and theory on visionary plants and mythic metaphor. Myths were discovered through the use of substance-induced altered states of consciousness; the world of myth is the world of entheogens. Ayahuasca drinkers tend toward the universal metaphysical conclusion, of idealist monism: only interconnected thoughts exist.

Although noting Ancient Jewish mysticism used a Ayahuasca mixture such as Rue and Acacia or Mimosa, he emphasizes myths as metaphorical description of dissociative cognitive experiencing induced by visionary plants, not of the plants themselves like previous entheogen scholars. Myth describes dissociative experiencing through small-scale mythemes and larger-scale structures, and represents mental transformation over multiple sessions.

Shanon's coverage of mystical phenomena is less developed and coherent than of imagery. His categories of experiential phenomena and visionary metaphor don't cover the specifically religious-experiencing realm such as a willing sacrificing of kingship; he covers temples as merely a visual object, not really explaining why kings and temples are seen. He covers control-instability, personal autonomy issues, and fear as though separate from religious/spiritual divine-encounter aspects.

Practitioners fearfully cross themselves and pray for mercy before taking the Eucharistic potion. Cognitive dissociation brings thought-control crisis in which reliance on one's own powers and resources is of no avail; to combat fear and restabilize mental control, trust is needed in something beyond one's local autonomous self.

He advises mastering fearful thoughts and remembering you're an autonomous self who can influence thoughts -- yet asserts Ayahuasca drinkers feel the source and master of which thoughts happen isn't themselves, but external forces; it's scientifically unknown how thoughts originate; and the source of thoughts, control, and what happens in one's mind is not oneself, but a hidden, transcendent source.

Metaphorical descriptions of dissociative phenomena are also covered in Metzner's Unfolding Self; Culiano's Out of this World; Collins' Death, Ecstasy, and Other Worldly Journeys; Arbel's Beholders of Divine Secrets; and Thorne's Marihuana: Mysticism & Cannabis Experience. Antipodes is a must-have for consciousness and entheogen researchers.

Antipodes of the Mind: Charting the Phenomenology of the Ayahuasca Experience by Prof. Benny Shanon, Oxford University Press, 2002

This is a difficult review for me to write. There is only one word I can think of to describe how I feel regarding the level of scholarship Prof. Shanon has put forth in this book: flabbergasted.

Beyond this single word description, the rest I'll try to elaborate, however inefficiently.

I have read, I would guess, some one hundred plus publications regarding ethnopharmacology and botany surrounding the likes of what is generically called "shamanism" - not to mention authoring my own book. I can honestly say, without solicitation or hesitation, that this book stands out on its own as hands down the best book I have ever read. I don't say this meaning within these certain parameters of study, i.e. ethnopharmacology or psychology. I mean - Period.

How could a book be the best I've ever read? That's a good question and one I'm somewhat startled over, but I'll try to elaborate:

For starters, the unbiased presentation. Prof. Shanon not only studied ayahuasca, but took it himself 120 (now 160) times for his study, something that is rare in most clinical investigations. Unlike other publications on ayahuasca (see Metzner, 1999), this book is thankfully not new agey, and it does reference indigenous reports, as well as reports from people from all walks of life who've partaken in the Ayahuasca ceremony.

As someone who has many years of my own psychonautical exploration, including with ayahuasca, I was awestruck at the literary composition and presentation of the ayahuasca experiences that Shanon has provided his readers, so many of which I have myself experienced. I've never thought that this level of description of the experience was possible.

I've read Huxley's Doors of Perception, from which Shanon's book is aptly named, but Huxley did not deliver us near the understanding and clarity that Shanon has here.

Furthermore, during Shanon's investigation of the Ayahuasca experience, he destroyed old prejudiced paradigms of psychological beliefs systems and created new standards by which researchers may continue further study.

Beyond these points, to which I'm here admittedly overly vague, Shanon also brings the metaphysical toe to toe with science - staring each other eye to eye into the great dance of wisdom - of opposites. I can not think of another book (at least that I've read) where this has ever been accomplished - except, maybe, The Fairy Faith in Celtic Countries by Dr. Evans-Wentz.

As for my negative contentions regarding this book? I have none - except for maybe it's price - which is worth it regardless. I've never before read a book that I did not have some reservation or hesitation regarding some piece of evidence, presentation or conclusion. Not so here. At this point, I have no contentions against Shanon's work. He has raised the bar.

Antipodes of the Mind is the first book I've ever read that I whole heartedly endorse. Maybe this is due to my own level of ignorance in regards to the field of psychology, but I don't think so. I rather think Shanon has written one of the strongest arguments regarding any topic I've yet come across - much less the entheogenic experience.

This is THE BOOK to refer to when people ask about or question the authenticity of the entheogenic experience. This is THE BOOK to refer to when someone doesn't get it. Now the question is: will they read it? So, therefore, I guess I do have one real contention: That I had read it sooner myself.

Simply immense! You simply MUST read this book! 5 Stars!

To this date this book is the best analytical physiological examination and charting of the ayahusca experience that I have ever before seen. It is an exceptional book and a must read for any one interested in Psychology, Visionary substances, Ayahusca, spirituality, religion or the mind. Benny is going through the book charting cataloging and grouping the various Ayahuasca phenomena and experiences into the first ever-scientific exploration into the visionary state. He is very loyal to the scientific western model and I respect this as well as many of his ideas and personal views on the visionary experience as well as his deep admiration for Platonic thought. Although I would like to say that I feel it is quite a shame on his part that he discounts the Spiritual dimension so. I feel that in his attempt to categorize the ayahusca phenomena has allowed him to miss the Forest through the trees if you will. I think it is very presumptuous to assume the entire shamanism history of the world as well as the entire visionary and Ayahusca community is largely in fault to believe in the reality, how ever large or small it may be, to the spiritual dimension. But then again he is not a Physicist and the idea of Other physical realitys as noted in quontom theory is not something he belives in at all, I know I have talked with him personaly on this matter in Peru. But in benny's own words from the book " Ayahusca brings us to the very limits of what rational western psychology can comfortably know or answer he then delvs with the conclusions of his book with a examination of Platonic thought wich I fing beutiful and a perfect intalectial match to the tone of this amazing work. I give this astounding book 5 stars, and a must have for any personal Library.

INTRODUCTION
What happens when a worldly Israeli cognitive psychologist goes to the Amazon Basin where he ingests the famed psychotropic concoction Ayahuasca (the `vine of the dead') again and again and again? Our intrepid philosophical psychologist is no longer a sprightly youth, maddened for adventure. He is instead an accomplished theoretician with widely published articles (several in this journal) and a noted book (*The Representational and the Presentational*, 1993) that speak the from the perspective of cognitive (or phenomenological, for Shanon) psychology against the reductive tendency to view the mind's activities as created by the the brain's activities. Even before his Amazonian quest, he placed himself in the Gibsonian camp seeing the mind as dynamic intermediary between organism and environment and active participant in both. What did happen is this extraordinary book, a scientific analysis of his own visions and the education of both Shanon's views and, perhaps, his soul.

Benny Shanon's accomplishment in this unique and carefully written treatise is nonpareil. In his landmark attempt to chart and classify the experiences that follow ingesting the Amazonian brew, Ayahuasca (always capitalized by Shanon), he demonstrates a will to observe and explain as relentless as carbon steel, but his seeing and experiencing also require him to be as flexible as tungsten when he must shape his interpretations within experiences that have all but overthrown the pretense of objective observation. Indeed, as he becomes `educated' through his journeys with this brewed plant compound, apparently beginning his own shamanic initiation, his will, his very self must capitulate to experiences beyond words. Later, back at his desk, Shanon will use his notes and memory to go discover the order of things. This breakthrough study will achieve the respect and renown it deserves, but it is currently causing a stir in certain circles and amongst the openminded international intelligentsia.

Shanon has written a slow-rising classic that should stay aloft for the duration of our era, not just as cognitive psychology or even as another narrative of the psychedelic experience, but as the revelation of the boundless potentials within the human journey itself. Since its release, it appears to have received universal praise from other critics and readers. However, word has not filtered out into the hungry minds of the general public or surely *Antipodes*(1) would be on a bestseller list. Either its subject matter - pharmaceutically induced altered states of consciousness - is still considered too politically threatening or Benny Shanon needs to hit the talk show circuit. His book enters deep waters yet never loses its way. It may be a challenge for some to wade through his classifications but in doing so may find their thinking clarified. Shanon's writing is clear as a mountain brook. He wastes no words for grand effect but always goes straight and true for the point of the topic he had begun. This makes for a very satisfying read, which is helped immensely by the greater story lurking within it to do with one man's awakening from the sleep from self consciousness. *Antipodes* is neither obscure nor excessive, so it might make a good selection for a book-of-the-month for educated readers. Oprah, are you listening?

Nothing exactly like this has ever been written before(2), beautifully rendered and incisively analysed yet finally superseding its own analytic. The reader joins a dedicated scientist on a journey that most would consider well beyond the possibility of scientific data gathering, except in terms of chemistry or anthropology. This journey is a phenomenological analysis, Shanon's close observation his own experience. He wastes no pages speculating on what the neural correlates of his visionary experiences might be, not even taking much time to explain the active ingredients of the `brew' or how it changes the brain. Within this work (but not always within his own experience), the phenomenological-analytical approach seldom wavers. Such an approach still requires a certain distance, so when the object of study is his own earthshaking visions or emotional tsunamis rising up to lay bare every suppressed anxiety, guilt, or self delusion - not even to mention the digestive trauma often encountered(3), one finds oneself in mute admiration for this stalwart scholar who steadily perseveres, refusing to be swept away from his purpose. He admits to making wrong choices in his early Ayahuasca journeys, lingering at banquet or resisting the lure of jaguar metamorphosis when he should have continued his quest, but he learns and begins again. As new worlds open before him, sometimes terrifying, he never retreats in a desperate attempt to turn the experience off. But he also learns when to surrender. Song pours from him amongst strangers, but he knew he must allow the joy to have voice. Though only briefly alluded to, it seems his perseverance and purity of purpose allowed him to finally transcend the limits of knowledge altogether by surrendering his cognition and his very self in a metanoia beyond the realm of words, memory, or interpretation. Needless to say, this experience is not described.

It is in this sense that *Antipodes* may find itself attacked (or ignored) from two opposed positions at once. Most hard science does not consider phenomenology a respectable undertaking since one's subjective experiences can neither be observed by anyone else nor shown to produce repeatable effects. One attempting to draw up analytical structures for drug-induced visions is likely to be dismissed out of hand as delusional, taking hallucinations for reality(4). On the other hand, true believers - religious followers, mystic esotericists, New Agers - will be annoyed for though Shanon puts the stamp of `reality' upon his altered-state journeys, he continues to be skeptical about the existence of supernatural deities behind the metaphysical curtain. In his captivating Prologue he states: `For years I characterized myself as a "devout atheist". When I left South America I was no longer one' (p. 9), but he later explains that his `theism' is more related to a Spinozan pantheism grounded in creative dynamics than to anybody's pantheon or hierarchy of static divinities. He also rejects as unlikely the many reports of enhanced psi powers during the Ayahuasca intoxication (noting that increased perceptual sensitivity and interpersonal attunement can explain the `mind reading' he has experienced and heard reported). He remains open, however, expressing the wish that reports like that involving the remote viewing of an actual European city by an Amazonian native who had neither seen pictures nor heard stories of such a place should be objectively investigated.

Others will argue, and have done so, that immersion in the vision quest involves the suspension of the judgmental, cognitive faculty. Shanon seems to have learned the right steps to his dance between reception and cognition. When the moment presents itself, he allows the imagery or ambiance to take over; but when he returns he makes note of all that can circumscribed. Such imagistic encouragement is similar to Spinoza's intuitive mode of knowing, as Shanon notes (p. 205), but he also stands by the need for subsequent careful analysis in the same way elucidated by Whitehead (1978): `The true method of discovery is like the flight of an aeroplane. It starts from the ground of particular observation; it makes a flight in the thin air of imaginative generalization; and it again lands for renewed observation rendered acute by rational interpretation' (p. 5). Whether this `rational interpretation' infects that which is so interpreted, thus standing on the primary ontological ground beyond that of visionary experience remains an open question, to be asked again below.

In what follows, I will attempt the briefest of summaries though such is an injustice to this groundbreaking psychological cartography of what is terra incognita to most of us. I will then share my perplexities and a personal response, before concluding.

SUMMARY
As a reader, I was hooked immediately by the dramatic Prologue as well as the few selected illustrations, all details from the artwork Planos by Brazilian `shaman-turned-artist' Céu. Each detail is a picture unto itself - a `frame of reference' - yet `the big picture' reveals them all as aspects of a greater dynamic spiralling out from or in towards a core of light that no doubt `passeth all understanding'. The plates seemed to be metaphor for *The Antipodes of the Mind*, frame of reference within frames of reference, each part structured by the whole, while the whole is changed by the activity of the parts.

In the Prologue, Shanon tells the story of his first encounters with the Ayahuasca brew and the questions that brought him to begin his mammoth research project. In his first experience of any consequence he had visions that included jaguars and snakes. He learned later that this was commonplace for Ayahuasca drinkers and his professional curiosity as a cognitive psychologist was roused: `Snakes and jaguars seem to be just too specific to define cognitive universals' (p. 7). But he also underwent horrible visions of human cruelty throughout history, including what must have been especially wrenching, the Jewish Holocaust. But rather than back away or fall into bitter cynicism, he countered it with contemplation of the beauty that humans had brought into the world: `However evil and petty human beings are, I thought, they are also the creators of some of the most beautiful things that exist in the universe. With culture and art, as well as with religion and spirituality, humankind can be redeemed' (p. 5). The anguish or fear evoked by unexpected and shocking presentations of evil must be the gate that has turned away many other first time drinkers from further pursuing this course. Through his faith in life and the human journey, Shanon himself emerged beyond the gates in a centre of serenity within which it seemed the world and himself was born anew: `It seemed this was the first day of creation' (p. 6).

After these first world-changing experiences with the Santo Daime Church (daime=Ayahuasca), he was thrown into a period of critical self-analysis. He knew he had to further study this vine and its power, but how? It seems he first had to accept who he already was, an accomplished cognitive psychologist; he confirmed this identity by ending his self-analysis and beginning his journey to other realities found through Ayahuasca and then a long critical, objective, and categorical analysis of the Ayahuasca experience. This book is the fruit of his labours. It is clear, however, that he had also personal motivations to discover a way to confront the human dilemma of good and evil, as well as facing (or `being faced by') the everpresent questions of a spiritual nature.

Shanon set the time aside, returned to the Amazon, underwent prescribed purifications, and became a dedicated student of the School of Ayahuasca, a mystes into its mysteries. He knew from the first he would never `graduate' as the result of a handful of Ayahuasca sessions, so he took his work seriously indeed. He travelled to gatherings among the three churches (two Christian inspired, one an offshoot of the Umbanda movement) in Brazil that use Ayahuasca as their sacrament and participated in their organized sessions. He sat with Amazonian tribespeople under the jungle canopy, often with the guidance of a ayahuasquero, the `specialist of the sacred', a shaman. Later, as he began to master his visions, he journeyed with few others among accomplished shaman-healers. He shared the brew with experienced users in urban settings, and, when he felt ready, flew solo. At the time of publication, he had gone on over 130 Ayahuasca journeys, though the `core corpus' of his phenomenological research work is his first 67 sessions. Each session was summarized at its conclusion. Beyond that, he read everything he could find on the brew, from early reports of missionaries or explorers to current extended scientific analyses. None combined scholarly analysis with extended personal experience. Finally, he set out in good cognitive psychological fashion and interviewed others who had just concluded their own sessions or anyone in general who also had extensive experience with the brew: `My estimate is that, all told, the data discussed here are based on about 2,500 Ayahuasca sessions' (p. 410).

Then Shanon got back to his desk to reveal the structure of the world (perhaps that should be `worlds'). The bulk of the book consists of prolonged exegeses, enumeration and elaboration of steps, systems and subsystems, categories of subcategories within supercategories, and lists of effects and affects. His point of departure is the phenomenology of his `core corpus'. I will not summarize here his structural program, central to his topic as he deems it to be. Strange to say, I rarely found this approach tedious. For one thing, as noted above, the objects of his classifications are confrontations and participation with other realities, so there is a veritable tale of wonders interwoven within the data. Running through the exposition like an unruly stream upon well-manicured fields is the underlying narrative of the paradigmatic hero's journey into meaning. Furthermore, Shanon's mind, as expressed in his writing, is so refreshingly clear and organized that one feels perfectly secure in boarding his `aeroplane' to survey mysteries of terror and delight well beyond most of our experience or comprehension. It may be, however, that Shanon needed this comprehensive organization as a grounding for his more ultimate revelations. Perhaps it was necessary for him `systematically to chart the various phenomena that Ayahuasca may induce and *to establish order in them*' (p. 48, my italics), so he could at least recall the pathway back toward the Source, the `still point of the turning world'.

Shanon learns there are stages of advancement into these mysteries: The novitiate begins passively watching wonders unfold as on a screen, but with experience and courage, learns to enter the vision and explore its reality from within. Then there comes a stage where a certain degree of control over the unfolding reality is possible, though such `control' is always partial and participatory - Shanon often uses the metaphor of playing an instrument or being played as such: `Thus, I say that the Ayahuasca experience is like music played on an instrument which is the soul and that this music is a perfect mirroring of one's entire being' (p. 380). Indeed, the final stage seems to involve gaining the power to engage many worlds (or realities) simultaneously, but also the power to act in this world in ways never previously attained or attempted, such as the expressive arts or guidance and healing. The `grades' of the School of Ayahuasca are summarized thus:

`First there was an exposition. ...the second course was discipline. ... The third course of my schooling was primarily concerned with healing and disease. ... The grades that followed focused on the sacred and involved powerful spiritual experiences. Then I had a long period-coupled with my partaking of Ayahuasca with traditional Amazonian healers-that focused on shamanism. ... The subsequent course ... focused on a variety of more specific issues' (pp. 302-3).

To get this far, the novitiate or mystes has endured many trials and temptations, yet s/he must be bold enough to know when to surrender to the reality that presents itself and wise enough to know when to actively alter it. One must have overcome the narcissistic limitations of one's fears while not inflating vanity over one's piloting control or expanding knowledge. Such hubris, as myths have taught us, may lead to the pride that goes before a fall.

Shanon found the pure heart and `empty centre' to be accepted amongst the healers of the Amazon rain forest. He mentions that now he feels his role has become more performative than explorative as guide, hierophant, and something of an ayahuasquero himself. In terms of powers, Benny Shanon emerges as `Benny Shaman' (though I doubt he would admit this or appreciate the wordplay). In terms of wisdom, he states his conviction that the most expressive gesture of ontological truth is found simply in songs of praise for all creation, in the 'Hallelujah' of his ancestors. As to the ontological question of what exactly is being so praised, Shanon avers it is not anything at all but the joy of the eternal dynamic process - neither God as an entity (or any other form of the supernatural), nor is it humanity or nature, as such. Creation is what the name implies, an ongoing unfolding of the infinitely potent creative core of all things, including ourselves.

Obviously, such `knowledge' cannot be attained either through phenomenological or analytic reduction. It is everpresent beyond the edge of the `known world', that is, beyond the conscious mind `Wherefrom words turn back,/Together with the mind not having attained...' (*Tattirïya Upanishad* 2.9). It is at this point that Shanon the scientist must give up on science and even knowledge in any usual sense and admit that such direct communion exceeds communication: `Yet, there were occasions that it was clear to me that I had to make a choice-if I really wished to undergo the experience presenting itself to me, I would have to forgo my future recollection of it and give up any thought of ever talking about it' (p. 355). Furthermore, even the path to the edge of this unspeakable awakening is one not of ordered signposts and structured roads but of intuitive knowledge, well beyond categorical reasoning. After all his phenomenological analysis, Shanon at last confesses that

`very poignantly, I realized how limited the scientific approach is. It was evident to me that [in] pursuing this stance, there are realms of knowledge that can never be attained. I further comprehended that there are levels of knowledge that demand one to let go and relinquish all critical, distanced analysis. ... In this respect, despite all its limitations in terms of sociological power and cultural permanence, the indigenous stance has the upper hand' (p. 356).

PERPLEXITIES
I continue to be perplexed about several things hinted at in this tome but not fully explained and I outline them here. These mainly result from my own application of traditional reasoning to that which eludes it or from Shanon's expressed reticence to reveal more personal detail or delve into metaphysics. My perplexities are mainly to do with the world of light and truth revealed to the author and apparently to other experienced Ayahuasca drinkers. Either the dark side is less real or it plays a smaller role than I had imagined.

Unlike with LSD, there are said to be no `bad trips' with Ayahuasca. Shanon admits he interviewed no one who drank the turbid brew but once, which would surely be the result if anyone `freaked out' or was just turned off by the whole experience. The nausea, gastritis, and vomiting, emphasized in other first person accounts, may be enough to cause one to avoid the substance next time, but actual `mind-blowing' has not been reported, to my knowledge. Shanon makes it clear that when faced with a personal crisis under the intoxication one must soldier on, dealing with fear and related negative emotions in as grounded and unperturbed manner as possible. Still, crises occur: `Quite commonly,' he states matter-of-factly, `people feel that they are about to die' (p. 57). Elsewhere he notes that a mental breakdown is real possibility. Yet not in Antipodes or anything else I have read to do with Ayahuasca experiences is such a breakdown recorded. Is it bad-trip free?

Along these same lines, my all-too-human binary thinking gets skewed in Shanon's brief discussion of the ontological status of good and evil. On the same page he reports that `Ayahuasca leads people to the conclusion that the world contains both good and evil, that the two are intertwined, and that the ultimate reality is beyond good and evil', but that, `Finally, there are visions in which one feels one is encountering the Supreme Good' (p. 174). I realize I'm probably not getting the mystical paradox here, but elsewhere it's said that Ayahuasca has a cosmic sense of humor (not always benign), that it lies or hides as much as it reveals. Is the Supreme Light without shadow, or what?

I wonder also about the dark side of the initiatory process, especially shamanic initiation. In the pattern of the ritual death-rebirth cycle, there must be a dark night of the soul before the dawn of revelation. Shamanic lore especially emphasizes the almost universal experience of death and dismemberment(5) - apparently the death of the everyday self - before the shaman returns, being one with death yet remaining alive. Shanon modestly and perhaps wisely downplays the significance, but he acted as shamanic healer and guide for others and was accepted at least among one ayahuasquero guild. The fact of this exceptional book's existence is enough to convince me of Shanon's shamanic metamorphosis. No ordinary insight could have carried it through to the end. What I want to know is what sort of ritual or visionary death did our author have to endure? Or did he achieve his dawn without a dusk? Admittedly, he states such an autobiographical confessional was not his purpose here and may have to await a future literary venture.

And one wonders about the whole question of the existence or creation of orderly categories from the data resulting from his phenomenological and statistical analysis. What sort of lists, tables, categories, and structures are being brought forth here, and why? On the one hand he notes commonalities in his visions and those of many others as well as intriguing parallel reactions to these visions, especially amongst the Ayahuasca cognoscenti. As noted, it was in fact these inexplicable similarities that set him on his quest in the first place, professionally speaking at least. Does he then think his structural analyses is revealing the universal latticework of creation, or at least of the Ayahuasca experience? Or is he himself creating such a latticework to place over the chaos of creation? Neither, it seems, or both. Shanon is well aware of the ambiguities of his project and how boundaries in the realms of visionary experience seem to shift or even, with a wink and smile, disappear altogether. In a universe in which the only constant is creative dynamism itself, it is impossible to distinguish between that which one discovers and that which one projects. He states that `there is no clear-cut differentiation between interpretation and creation. ... In essence, all is interpretive, all is creative' (p. 351). If it is so that all phenomena are simultaneously the product of interpretation and creation then - aside from the author's need, personal or professional, `to establish order in them' (p. 48) - it feels like such cartographic detail is mapped onto shifting tides that will change with the phases of the moon.

This is a slippery metaphysics with which we are left. Shanon lays his detailed phenomenological analysis upon the creative essence with some ambiguity, it seems to me, like placing the picnic blanket on the lake. If our acts participate in the unfolding of reality then categories, maps, structures, laws of science, and what have you achieve their substance over millennia of cultural or even transcultural `use', which results in the reality of habitual consensus. They are as real as anything else that seems to just be there, in one place, here and now. Does this leave his categories and structures and patterns with a ground on which to stand? Probably - at least temporarily. In fact, his studies prove beyond much question that certain visionary and experiential patterns reoccur across cultures and in times far apart.

Several times Shanon asserts that his purpose is not to explore ontological questions, but he takes enough steps in that direction that the reader understands that when Shanon finally states that `the view put forth here is that the Ayahuasca experience is one of generation and creation' (p. 383), he is tantalizingly close to claiming this for our usual experience too.

He even briefly discusses the source of these patterns of creation, which brings me to my last perplexity, the uncertainty over the terms `creativity' and `imagination'. Early on, Shanon assures us that `Ayahuasca visions [exhibit] a beauty that is beyond imagination' (p. 17)', referring to our usual notion of the imagination as a post-language faculty activated by the self from other images already stored in memory. In speculating on the source of such beauty, he denies that such creative imagining comes either from a `world of forms', already `out there' in their own ultimate reality or from psychology, that is, the unconscious `in here'. So, in his interpretation, neither Platonic ideas nor Jungian archetypes will do.

To account for the reality of Ayahuasca experiences (and by implication, all experience), he posits a creational reality in which our own creativity participates but which ultimately exceeds our personhood or existence. So, `the notions of "human creativity" or "power of imagination" turn out to be much more fantastic then they are usually thought to be" (p. 396). Yes, indeed, but the originality of this position is where perplexity arises. In the first place, isn't this the core of the Romantics' apotheosis of the transpersonal imagination? Creativity as the core can also be found in some form in both Bergson and Whitehead.

In the second place, I think Shanon is too dismissive of Jung's concept of the collective unconscious by reducing it to residing `in here', but this may be mistaken assumption based on Jung's misuse of Freud's original term, the unconscious. In his later years, Jung wrote a good deal about the *objective psyche*, meaning that the collective or transpersonal unconscious is the very world with which we engage and which is our source. Shanon refers approvingly several times to the somewhat similar notion of the *anima mundi* (`world-soul') as source of the real, both subjective and objective. Then again, as a result of his experiences of communion he would likely disagree that the world or world-soul should be understood as `unconscious' (even if Jung meant `unconscious from the perspective of our self-contained conscious').

The Jung-inspired archetypal psychologist James Hillman (1975) brings us to the point where Jung meets Shanon when he proclaims that every perception, cognition, or memory is fantasy-laden and not possible without such imaginative elaboration. Fantasies, in this sense, are not individual: `The revelation of fantasies exposes the divine, which implies that our fantasies are alien because they are not ours' (p. 184). This may add some flesh to the ontological skeletal frame of Shanon's `generation and creation' pantheism, though he adds the last note that in the `dance' of creator and created it is impossible to tell who is leading.

Allow me to reemphasize that my above `perplexities' are not in the way of criticism. These are questions I would love to sit and discuss with the author; no doubt the inadequacy of my understanding would soon be made plain. I should even apologize for critiquing the few hints of ultimate matters which he deigned to mention, for he himself admits they have not yet been fully thought through. However, feeling perplexed by Shanon's extraordinary encounters and the great work of his phenomenological analysis, I couldn't help but wonder, `What does it all mean?' Perhaps in his next book Shanon will explore an answer to that question.

PERSONAL REACTION
After reading Antipodes with great pleasure and new discovery each time over several careful readings, I retain two reactions that are probably mine alone. One is that I am now sure I will never seek an opportunity to drink the brew of the `vine of the dead'. Put simply, I doubt that I have the strength of character it took for Shanon to advance from audience member to conductor of the orchestra. In part, my reticence arises from my tendency to wander off and become thoroughly lost in the aforementioned psychedelic era, sidetrack to sidetracks. It is my understanding - faith, if you will - that cognition, rationality, and analysis are themselves particular cultural fantasies. When one give intuition primacy, one tends to wander as way leads on to way. Shanon could absorb his incredible experiences and then later at his desk, `establish order in them'. In fact, to the extent that it is possible, he has done just that. However, I fear I would become an Ayahuasca drifter, lost in other realities, but with no wish to return and nothing in order at all.

The second reaction was not one I had expected. *The Antipodes of the Mind* gave me, first dimly then with increasing illumination, *hope*, suffusing me generously with that unfamiliar but uplifting emotion. By reminding me, `There is more here than meets the eye and you know it!', a flood channel of forgotten memories opened and I was able to recall the moments I had found myself elsewhen or elsewhere (and not always as the result of substance ingestion). In the need to `get real' as I grew older, I had simply suppressed such experiences of wonder and awe because they were not `useful'. I had pushed aside visions or encounters that threw into doubt the solid finality of day-to-day reality so I could join the grim march through the lifespan toward dusty death. I'm no fatalist, but I felt as though this book fell into my hands at just the right time. It is not just poetic license but a fact of consciousness-limited awareness that we walk about in worlds unrealized. So I wish to end this book review with appreciation rather than criticism: Thanks, Benny. You've done wonders. Hallelujah to you and your important book.

NOTES
1. There is no singular form of `antipodes'. From my 1938 Funk 'n Wagnalls *New Standard Dictionary*: `antipodes, n. sing. & pl. 1. A place or region on the opposite side of the earth; also, any two places or regions so opposed; as, australia is the antipodes (or at the antipodes) of England. 2. Those who live on the diametrically opposite sides of the earth; as, our antipodes sleep while we wake; the two nations are antipodes.'

2. The only comparable work I know of may be John Horgan's (2003) recent study. Former senior writer at *Scientific American* and noted science writer, Horgan takes a similarly skeptical show-me approach, even to his own ayahuasca experience. In Horgan's Amazon.com review, he puts *Antipodes* on a par with classics on the further reaches of conscious experience by such as William James and Aldous Huxley. He errs, however, when he states that, after his journeys, Shanon remained an atheist, except in the most narrow definition of the term.

3. Shanon downplays the extreme digestive tract disturbances that have been widely reported, occasionally resulting in projectile vomiting. With experience, Shanon found he could avoid bringing forth such unpleasantness by bringing forth spontaneous song instead!

4. Benny cogently argues that such visions are more `other realities' than fictional hallucinations (also see Shanon, 2003).

5. `The shaman learns to know death in the course of his initiation, when he goes for the first time into the underworld and is tortured by spirits and demons,' declares Mircea Eliade (1990, undated entry 1952). Such universality (all universality for that matter!) remains highly controversial in academic circles.

6. It would be most intriguing for Shanon write a phenomenological cartography after experimentation on LSD trips. Knowing the differences and similarities would tell us much about the status of visions. Do they arise from specific drug, personal idiosyncrasy, or have they a transpersonal status?

Dr. Shannon has made an exceptional study of the ayahuasca experience. After reading such a very well written text,it was hard for me to immediately read other studies of entheogens currently in print, his thinking, use of vocabulary and general quality of argument were that muscular in a print world of terribly sophmoric writers, one-time experience experts, their oohs and ahhs fleshed out by flabby 1 and 2 syllable words in pages and pages of loose whipped-cream text.
He treats his subject with respect and breaks certain idea associations as "psychosis" as defining the ayahuasca state (bravo)and argues with evidence that indigenous cultural exposure alone does not necessarily condition visualizations content during the ayahuasca experience. For any individual looking for a serious, highly disciplined, ga-ga-lite approach to what could be a pretty slippery, "feeelings" driven topic, you must read this honest, unpretentious text.
Not easy, bouncy and full of New Age PC spirit-jargon. Despite this relieving manque, it is nevertheless a most inspiring read, personal enough at the right times to keep the mortal odour of subject clinician or pedantic social-anthropologist out of the air. Really a "right on" experiential read, built upon years of studied personal experience with the brew within and outside of the associated cultural settings and hence, rare indeed.
It is an award winning piece of work on an international scale.
Dr. Shannon is Professor of Psychology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel.

My son had to pick two books off of a large list to read over the summer for school. After reading the other reviews of this book, we picked it. It was a wonderful choice. The book was very interesting, fast paced, well written and easy to read. I read it in 3 hours, and my son was able to read in in a few nights without any complaints of boredom.

If any literary giant needs to have his work adapted to film, it is Myers. As one of the premier writers of fiction for juveniles, the author has added another significant piece to his long line of classics. This one tells the story of a little-known African princess who comes under the wing of England's legendary Queen Victoria.

Not only does the book reveal the horrors of the African slave trade, the atrocities that some tyrants inflict on their enemies, and the class system that pervades much of a "civilized" society, it is a marvelous tale of a girl who overcomes such obstacles and becomes the darling of English society.

Although Sarah's life is brief, it is a memorable one as the character grows from frightened child to a loving mother.
I am recommending that all my students read this book as well as others by Myers. Now, if only someone in "Tinsel Town" would discover this fine author.

I'd much rather see his stories on the big screen than any about a teenaged wizard.

"At Her Majesty's Request: An African Princess in Victorian England" tells the life story of Sarah Forbes Bonetta, who was born an African Egbado princess, captured by rival Dohamans and taken to Dahomey to be murdered in a ritual sacrifice, rescued and adopted by a British naval captain, taken to England and presented to Queen Victoria, and raised under the Queen's protection in England and Sierra Leone. This handsome book is a very fine biography for young readers; it includes many excerpts from Sarah's letters and the Queen's diaries, as well as historic illustrations. Relevant information about 19th century West Africa and Britain (e.g., the Dahomey empire, the slave trade and British actions to end it, Christian missions in Africa, Sierra Leone, the British class system, women's place in society, etc.) is well presented. Although Sarah's story is interesting because of its uniqueness, much about the lives of ordinary 19th century West Africans and Europeans can be learned here. Despite the fact that there is little material concerning Sarah's life, the author has done a fine job and readers interested in Africa should be glad he did. The book contains a useful bibliography which includes "Dahomey and the Dahomans" (1851) by Frederick E. Forbes (the captain who rescued and adopted Sarah).

19th century Dahomey is also the setting of "The Viceroy of Ouidah" by Bruce Chatwin.

I think this is a very well written book. I think that Walter Dean Myers is an amazing writer and that it is great he found this fantastic girl that many have never heard of.

The book, At Her Majesty's Request was the most wonderful book I've read because it tells the story of how Sarah Bonetta overcomed so many problems. First w/ the horror of watching her parents being killed, and then almost being sacrificed by the slave holders because of who she was and where she lived.Then when she was saved by a white man whom she couldn't even understand becase she spoke a different language.And then soon after that she learned how to speak english and then she became friends w/ the Queen of England, Queen Victoria.So the book to me was very heart-warming and I hope you love the book too! Go Wells Wolverines!

Through the years I've read heaps of marketing books, some great, and some not so great. This book falls into the category of great books!
As always Jack Trout makes tough and complicated things easy and comprehendable. As all of his books this is a great read, but if you haven't read 'positioning' and 'marketing warfare' I would highly recommend you to read them first.

Since you are not tasting an apple I can Not Help you to feel it, have one and you will see the result, THIS BOOK IS A MUST FOR ANY ONE WHO IS LIVING ON THE PLANET OF EARTH, In this Book You can learn either LIFE lessons OR Business Lessons, So if you are looking for others idea like ME, Invest on it, IT IS WORTH 10,000,000,000 MORE than its price, God bless JACK TROUT!

Few marketing books has the enjoyable read character. it is safe to say that Big Brands...Big trouble leads the pack. Concise yet informative, the book focus on the notion that marketing is about winning your customers' minds and hearts.

By going through ample examples of famous brands, Mr. Trout dispel some of the conventinoal strategies most companies blindly undertake. Line extention according to him, has done nothing but damage to At&T and Miller Brewing. The giant P&G has lost big on the toothpaste line becasue they forgot what made their brand a hit. Fashionable outlets such as Levi' and M&S needs to rise out from the past and look more into the future by developing their own unique "brand lifestyle".

On the dark side, the book is relatively redundant and by the end of it, it looses out. Also, the recurring negative remarks on another business guru "Michel Porter" was needless and hence lost the book the full the mark.

¡§Big Brands Big trouble¡¨ is a very interesting and comprehensive book. This book have a clear organization which comprise several types of popular mistakes with different big brand cases, how to select a board of directors and how to be a good CEO. I think this book is suitable for anyone who is interested in Marketing or Branding because you could gain a lot of insight from it. After reading this book, you will understand why some brands cannot be established well even they have spent a lot money on advertising, introducing many new products.

This book impress me the most is that Jack Trout illustrated all mistakes clearly by showing how the big brands, like Levis, Burger King, AT&T and Marks and Spencer made in the past. Then you may discover that some of the existing well-known brands are actually making mistakes for their marketing strategies. Moreover, you may get surprise that some of the popular marketing strategies, like line extension, benchmarking cannot promote your product, conversely, they will hurt your company seriously. So you must read this book if you want to surpass your competitors by using appropriate marketing strategies for your company.

Overall speaking, this book is easy to read and understand because Jack Trout delivered a concise and important message in the book ¡V ¡§Marketing is a battle of perception, not product¡¨

¡§Big Brands Big trouble¡¨ is a very interesting and comprehensive book. This book explains several types of popular mistakes with different big brand cases, how to select a board of directors and how to be a good CEO. I think this book is suitable for anyone who is interested in Marketing or Branding because you could gain a lot of insight from it. After reading this book, you will understand why some brands cannot be established well even they have spent a lot money on advertising, introducing many new products.

This book impress me the most is that Jack Trout illustrated all mistakes clearly by showing how the big brands, like Levis, Burger King, AT&T and Marks and Spencer made in the past. Then you may discover that some of the existing well-known brands are actually making mistakes for their marketing strategies. Moreover, you may get surprise that some of the popular marketing strategies, like line extension, benchmarking cannot promote your product, conversely, they will hurt your company seriously. So you must read this book if you want to surpass your competitors by using appropriate marketing strategies for your company.

Overall speaking, this book is easy to read and understand because Jack Trout delivered a concise and important message in the book ¡V ¡§Marketing is a battle of perception, not product¡¨

Black Pain, the new book by Terrie Williams, is a crucial read for the Black community. Terrie has been criss-crossing the country for the last few years, telling her personal story of clinical depression and helping countless others recognize their own pain and begin the healing process. In Black Pain, she discusses how so many of our community's "visible" ills - crime/violence, obesity, abuse, coupling/relationship issues, anger - are tied to individual and cultural depression, but no one has called it what it was.

This book is so necessary and important - I've been giving it as a gift since winter, and everyone who received it has shown nothing but gratitude. Buy it, read it, gift it, then read it again.

LiRon K. Anderson-Bell
President | Crisis Contingency Partners [...]

Mental health issues are a source of embarrasment,and of a desire to stay under the radar in the Black American community. Williams's book may help families and individuals come to grips, and realize that there are sources of help and save lives and communities. Frequently, the sense of isolation that many people with a mental illness have is exacerbated due to a feeling that these illnesses will be viewed as less tolerable in found in a people still viewed by some in America as genetically, and socially inferior. If it helps people exhale and get help it will be valuable. I recommend it highly for families dealing with a mental illness who feel isolated and ashamed.

Black Pain: It Just Looks Like We're Not Hurting

When I was in medicla school I was told that black people did not get depressed very often. But i knew better. I watched as others tried to spread the word but only ended up talking to other professionals. In a readable very personal book she has exposed to the world that there is a people with deep pain that was never expressed or treated. Terri Williams have done what professionals want ted to do she ahs succeeded. She has gotten the word out, that we do become depressed and we have our own way of showing it. She shows that this unrecognized pain may account for much of the anger, hostility, community violence and and suffering that has led to the disparities that have puzzled many providers. She has given a voice for all of those that have suffered in silence.

William B. Lawson, MD, PhD, DFAPA
Professor and Chair
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
Howard University College of Medicine and Hospital

I found black pain was a breath of fresh air, when I first jumped into this book I didn't know what to expect, as I read further into the book it touched my soul and helped me understand depression and what I was going through, all in all this book is a great help to anyone looking to get a further outlook on mental illness and how to deal with it in general.

I too suffered from depression and I could relate to everything written in this book. So many African Americans are suffering from depression, yet they do not recognize the signs. Thank you Terrie Williams for writing a book on a subject much needed to be discussed in our community. This book was very thorough and well written and I applaud Ms. Williams for her courage in bringing this taboo subject to light.

Hey all!:

My name's Ang and I'm Maria Salvitti Brodeur's cousin. I'm related to her from my Mom's side of the family. One of my mother's uncles' daughter's gave birth to Maria. Maria is such a beautiful person and I hope that God will keep her in His care. I've only met Maria twice (her remarkable story tells you how she had found her Mom (my Mom's cousin) and how she had brilliantly discovered her past). I'm soo glad that I know Maria and that she's in my family. I just wish that I had known her for a longer period of time. I do wish her the best of luck in life and that the Lord, above, will guide her and her family to peace and happiness for they all deserve it.:-) Keep up the great job, Cousin Maria, and keep in-touch! God bless and take care, always.

Sincerely,

Ang

This book is well written, easy to read and addresses a problem that troubles many in today's world. It tells the story of an adopted woman's search for her birth parents and her need to put to rest a life long feeling that her life was not quite complete without knowing about them. Her effort to identify and find them reads like a detective story except the plot is overlaid with the author's constant concern that her efforts would impose on the lives and relationships of the characters in the story.

The way the author handled situations requiring sensitivity yet boldness shows her to be a person of great determination and moral strength. Reading this book should be inspiring to persons who embark on a hunt for their unknown birth parents or to anyone seeking to solve a seemingly hopeless task.

The Chosen One by Maria Brodeur is both poignant and inspiring. It is the story of the search for her roots. I found her book to be an excellent read--one that touches every emotional fiber. It portrays her resoluteness to overcome obstacle after obstacle in her great search. Finally, her accomplishments leave the reader with great satisfaction, and happieness for her.

I could not put this book down from when I picked it up! It is an amazing story of Maria's journey to find her natural past. It is an inspiring account of a woman's determination and strength to dig into the unknown, combined with the unfaultering love and support of her family and faith. It not only delights with a happy ending but is proof of what can be achieved with courage and persistance. Loved it!

I very much enjoyed Ms. Brodeurs' inspiring story of her struggle to find her birth parents.
Her journey was filled with many challenges, dead end streets, and the luck of the draw, but the enormous support she received from her family carried her through, enabling her to come full circle.

Rick was something else. While I enjoyed his music, his writing was concise and entertaining all the way thru and I really enjoyed the pics.
Great insight into a musical genius the likes we may never see again.
DJ
Stockbridge, GA

After doing some (in-store and online) price comparison, Amazon's prices are definitely the better bargain "hands-down".

If you like Rick James this book is highly recommended. It is a book you will not be able to put down.

THE BOOK IS ON FIRE. RICK WAS ONE TALENTED DUDE. UNFORTUNATELY ALL MOST OF US KNOW ABOUT HIM IS THAT HE LIVED A CRAZY LIFE. RICK WAS MUCH MORE THAN THAT AND THIS BOOK IS A MUST READ FOR THOSE WHO WANT TO KNOW WHAT MADE THE MAN TICK.

Very entertaining and informative I could not put it down I purchased 3 for gifts

This book was introduced to me through a friend - they were so passionate in explaining the book I knew I had to read it, and I did...in one sitting. It is a great book full of a variety of knowledge and information written well enough to read in one sitting. Learned so much about the people of Bahia, non gov groups, the work involved in setting up non-profits, not just in the U.S. - and on top of that the amazing story of the woman who made Bahia Street actually happen and all those along the way who have been affected...

This book provides amazing insight into what it is to be human in this world. You will put down the book having a real sense of faith in humanity after reading the work, thoughts and experiences that Margret has so unselfishly put down on paper. You feel you are in Bahia experiencing the people, food and culture all the while. This is a must read for anyone traveling, especially, to Brazil.

This book reads like a great novel, written from the heart by an anthropologist nicknamed "Danger" in the capoeira martial arts world of Salvador, Bahia, Brazil. True. If you made up Margaret Willson, tall, blonde, brave and beautiful, the writer might be scoffed at. And yet here she is, writing an extraordinarily honest account of her feelings and vulnerabilities, her dreams and successes; as she and her amazing Bahian friend, photographer and rare child of the favelas who found her way out, Rita Cassis dos Santos de Conceicao, start with a single young girl and create from nothing a vibrant school for girls from the shantytowns, with 61 students at last count. If you are someone who loves a great story and cares about human beings, this is the book for you.

I picked up this book as a big fan of Bahia Street, and this story really amazed me by the ideas that went into creating and sustaining it. The combination of the understanding of Salvadoran and non-profit cultures was compelling. The writing is open and honest.

Dance Lest We Fall Down, is a must read for anyone considering international non-governmental work. There is so much international work being done, without the depth of understanding that Margaret Wilson convey's in this book. I was impressed that Wilson questions the motives of "do gooders" and admired her insight into how such can be detrimental to those who live in oppressed situations. I also thought it courageous that she demonstrated how "charity" work is another act of oppression; when "first world" people see themselves as the answer to impoverished people around the world. Wilson demonstrates that people in impoverished communities know what needs to be done to make change, it is simply a lack of resources that inhibits them. Her book is courageous, and many could benefit from the author's integrity.

Also, anyone interested in Paulo Freire's work would appreciate this book as a modern-day example of how his theories can be put into practice.

Once I picked it up I could not stop reading. Excellent.

It's been a while since I've read another Willie-Morris related book but I was drawn to this one by frequent references to Celia Morris in a recent biography of the Harpers editor by Larry King, not the talk show host but a Texas based writer and anecdotalist. I've read the biography of Willie, but it seems that Larry King, who knew both Willie and Celia, didn't really care for Celia because his book is clearly biased in favor of Willie's second wife, the editor JoAnne Pritchard. I decided to go to the source and find out more about the woman herself, Celia Morris, by reading her account of her own life, and in FINDING CELIA'S PLACE I struck the motherlode! She tells it exactly as she found it.

It was a challenge for Celia to overcome to orejudices of her place and time, while still remaining true to her roots as a Texan and a woman. She had strong female relatives, older crones in the family, women she learned from, their struggles and their achievements, and also, how frustrating it was trying to be the perfect wife in the 1950s. It's not all tears, though, there are many amusing tales, including the first penis she saw! Belonged to a neighbor boy who could do tricks with it, wiggle it a bit, and Celia was singularly unimpressed!

Eventually adultery and alcoholism deter her from her path, and she winds up with not one, but two "liberal folk heroes" as she calls them. In a 12 step program, a fellow drinker confides in the group that if he were to take another drink, he would die. She comes right back with, if she were to take another drink, she'd marry a third liberal folk hero.

The glamor and the excitement that Willie Morris brought to his book NEW YORK DAYS, and the adoration of the lab Skip, in MY DOG SKIP, she sees from another angle, for often enough thoughtless Willie would bring home twelve men from Harpers and order her to make dinner, when she was completely worn out from dealing with little David all day, his skinned knees, his need for adventure. Plus, they were trying to survive in the jet set on a very limited budget. Finding her own place in the sun meant shedding the excess baggage of husband and traditional domestic cares. Good for her.

I was surprised to see, after an initial flurry of reviews in the months immediately following publication, that no one has apparently written about FINDING CELIA'S PLACE on this Amazon site in four or five years! A tragic lack of recognition, when this book should be required reading in all college classrooms. Perhaps people got tired of the title, it sounds whiny, when the book itself is anything but!

Quite by lucky accident we stayed a Celia's Place for a few days. Thanks to the book, when she came to the door we felt that we already knew her. A wonderful book about a remarkable woman.

Finding Celia's Place is an enthralling, absorbing tale of one woman's ability to and struggle to rise above and go far beyond the confines of Texas. From most adored woman on campus to the lodestar of Americans at Oxford, Celia really did find a succession of strong places in the minds and hearts of her men and her many other friends. She did make a magnificent difference to her contemporaries well beyond those Texas bounds. An uplifting as well as a great read.

I've read lots of memoirs by women and written one. Let me tell you, Celia Morris' "Finding Celia's Place" is in a class all its own. For starters, it is beautifully written and hard to put down. More importantly, she pushes the envelope for honesty among women on the subjects of sex, motherhood, marriage, and politics. I can think of hardly any books that go as far as she does in depicting a woman's sexual maturation beyond youth and into late middle age. She stands almost alone among women who have written well about their intellectual roots and maturation. Simone de Beauvoir's "She Came to Stay" is the only book I can think of to compare to this one.

judith paterson

Celia Morris' memoir should be a permanent fixture on the syllabus of any Women's Studies course - or American History, for that matter. Morris' wrenching account of a woman struggling to keep up appearances at the same time that she is developing intellectually, emotionally, and psychologically throws into high relief the relative comfort in which the daughters of her generation (like me)are able to move through life. Were it not for the faith - and occasional lapses of it - and courage of women like Celia Morris, women of my generation would have no hope but to fall victim to the same myths of femininity and womanly duty.

American women of all ages owe Celia Morris a debt of gratitude for giving us her story.