Journals Books

After almost 45 years playing golf I finally learned how to practice, thanks to this nice little book. You'd think I'd know by now but no, I usually just set up the ball and swing away. No harm in that, but Lisa has now shown me the way, and I intend (read "good intentions") to follow her lead. This journal is a great gift for any golfer.

Golf Journal is a great way for any golfer to keep track of important golf tips and scores. Was a great gift!

I just started learning golf and this is a great journal to record everythng. It even jokes about the 19th hole. I bought a copy for my husband first then I bought one for my girlfriend and myself .My husband who is a golfer enjoyed it. Very well made.

This is a very nice journal with a beautiful leather cover and organized golf sections for notes. It was given as a birthday gift to a golf fanatic and she loved it! I was very glad I had purchased one for myself, too!

Wow!! What a treasure trove of information this handy book has inside. Even if you're not yet a golfer yet, The Ultimate Golf Journal might persuade you to become one....if only to be able to carry it around. The journal just feels good in your hand. Plus it's the perfect size to tote around when you're on the course. Inside it's packed with all kinds of golf trivia, beautiful illustrations and nifty ways to organize all of your golfing needs. This makes the perfect gift for the serious golf addict or even for someone stepping onto the green for the first time. Definitely a hole in one!!!

I was truly amazed by this one man's journey. He shares his thoughts in a very down to Earth fashion. Having Randall share his story gave me great hope. I am sharing this book with others joyfully! His efforts are a wonderful contribution to our world! Spread the word! A must read for anyone searching for answers to the creation of possibilities in their lives.

Wow. Just wow. This is a great read. Niles put a lot of research into this book and tells his story from an objectionable perspective, which is often hard for most people to do. It throws a lot of information at the reader (I'll reread it) without coming off as preachy or trying to beat anything into his audience. Fantastic and highly recommended.

This was a pleasurable read. The author presents some potentially dry material in a low key style which allows easy digestion. The amount of research this gentlemen did was quite astounding. His journey marks the trail, making the path for all who follow much smoother and easier to travel. The author seems to have turned over every stone in his search. If anyone is interested enough in finding truth regarding the science/religion conflict, this is a must not miss publication.

Great insight is stuffed in this book laid out through a transparent and humble look at his own life. He makes no attempt to hide sore spots of his life or build himself up to make himself the hero. Well worth the read (also reads very quick and easily).

"What Happened to Me?" is, in my opinion, the most important book of the young third millennium, A.D. Mr. Niles presents a case for the existence of God, the integrity of the Bible, and the deity of Christ Jesus in a readable, concise, compelling book.

I was most impressed by the book's "everyday" style, that moves the reader along. The author makes friends with us early and is fun, transparent and believable. As an attorney, this former atheist took on the challenge of reading 100 books - a journey which immersed him in seeking answers to the essential questions for the human mind.

I suggest that every learned leader, every homeschool library, and, especially all who would aspire to the offices of apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor, and/or teacher have an oft-referred-to copy of this powerful book near at hand.

With the advent of industrialism, most of us don't follow the footsteps of our fathers and don't work in the same field. Also we leave our fathers' houses as soon as we are off to college.

This has led to the demise of the tradition of learning from your father where a child would learn from his father as they both worked on the family business.

On a personal side, when my own father was visiting me, he found this book on my bookshelf and liked it a lot. Now he is about to pass away and I am reading this book to get a handle on this situation.

I own this book. I bought it in 99 when they did the first printing. Since then I have given out over 50 copies to my friends families and new fathers I know. I am 30 now, it is 2008 and I just gave out another copy to my new father in law.

This book is still the best book I have read by far and will continue to be until I pass. Joe Kita was an amazing writer for Mens Health but this book is his best work I believe. The insights are amazing and the writing top notch. This book is a must buy.. for fathers, sons, and men in general.

Joe Kita's book is an oyster overflowing with pearls. I harvested this one slowly, because it is clear how precious each one of them is. Wisdom of Our Father's does what other books try to do: it delivers on the promise of its title. Kita's essays about heroic men, deeply personal insights about his own father, and his courageous claims about what he knows team up with beautifully edited and organized information from fathers of all walks of life. And the true beauty of it is that the messages are universal. If you don't get this for your own dad for Father's Day, get it for yourself. Or your mom, wife, friends... Wisdom of our Fathers succeeds. It is a pleasure to read from endpaper to endpaper.

~~ Mark Clement, Author of The Carpenter's Notebook

All around great book. I highly recommed it. I lost my first copy and had to buy another. This and Jimmy the bartenders book and a great combination.

Every once in a while you read something that has a profound inpact on your life's perspective. This has got to be one of those reads. The questions here are those that you never ask but wished you had. I bought this for my father and many other men in my life, because after I read this I realized that, These are the questions that you should ask but few ever do. It's well worth the price.

I actually had the extreme fortune of working with Hollie at the local grocery store in Madison, MS in the early 90's and I found out about her death when I was at home visiting from college in ATL. I was mortified to find out that she was killed and even more so that anybody would do that to her. She was THE most caring, honest and funniest person I've ever known. She was amazing! I can only imagine the pain it is for Mr. Calhoun father to write such an in-depth account on the loss of not only his daughter, but Hollie, as a person. I didn't believe it was about her until I saw her picture on the inside flap cover. This book doesn't even convey how good a person Hollie really was and its even more heartbreaking for me because I really knew her. A phrase that Hollie would say everytime she was right about something, "Thank you for playing!" I still use it today.

I found 400 Hours to be an extremely poignant and gut wrenching story.The authors pain was horrific.I came away feeling that I knew the entire family and had somehow gone through the entire grieving process with them.It's all there.The author made it easy to read by weaving in and out of the various family members and how they each came to grips with the loss of Hollie.I highly recommend this book.

With this book you really feel the pain of Hollies family and the agony they went through during her disapearance and eventual recovery.I really felt like I got to know who Holly really was.

A couraageous writing by a father concerning the life and death of his daughter. He writes of the heart-wrenching path and details of finding out about her kidnap and murder. Through an enlighting look at the process involved in this personal case he gives us all an upclose view of police investigating. The reader acutely experiences the process and shares in the Calhouns nightmare, while also having the privelege of getting to know Hollie.

I lost my brother in an accidental gunshot incident many years ago. That was horrific enough but couple that with murder and abduction and hours of not knowing and you have a true nightmare. This is a rare man who is able to reveal his innermost private feelings about the loss of his daughter. One reels as he describes the numbness, disorientation, and "inappropriate" acting out behaviors which run the gamut of emotions which he experienced. This book inevitably triggers one's own feelings about the out-of-body fog that accompanies the loss of a loved one. He knows correctly that it will never be over, his pain merely gradually muted a little more as each year passes. The sense of disbelief and wondering what might have been will never go away. Rather than being a downer, this book refreshes with its honesty.

This journal format works fine. Somewhat
helps/reminds you of what to write, etc.

I am a study abroad advisor & travel addict. I recommend this journal to all of my students, as it contains much of the information we cover in our pre-departure orientation. I love the stylish way in which it sparks your creative side. The rubber cover makes it practically indestructible. (Obviously designed by a real vagabond.)

I bought this right before a 10 day trip to Mediterranean France 2 years ago, I bought again for a week in Aruba last year and I've ordered another for my dream trip to Maui coming up in December. It's a lot of fun writing in this thing and makes you that much more excited to travel or just plan your travel actually. You can start with no destination in mind and read the little blurbs about promising itineraries...practically speaking it very functional too. Rubber cover (great for the surf splash, spilled coffee, wine at the cafe), plastic pockets on front and back cover to hold receipts, & all those little pieces of paper you collect as memorabilia, and the content: list of what to bring --I scribble and edit all over this page because I hate to forget anything, yet I'm a one suitcase girl...) Address pages, contact pages so I don't forget phone numbers and I also keep my credit card numbers passport numbers in this journal (I write it in code for would be identity theives, however). BEST of ALL, the budget page. I can easily calculate my per diem and track my spending. I pack a lot into my vacations and I am always under or right on budget, very important for single female traveler. There are at least 100 pages, plenty blank space to write your thoughts during an extended trip. There's a elastic band to hold the whole shebang together. I like that I can keep everything in one place with this book: budget info, train/bus/air tickets, journal section, memorabilia. The profile is small, thin enough to fit into an inside pocket. I find myself going through my old Abroad journals and reliving my vacation. For modern nomads like me, This journal helps me enjoy my precious time off and get me geeked for my next vacation.

I bought this travel journal several years ago. I went to Mexico with it and it made my trip so much easier. It has a waterproof rubbery front and back with an elastic to hold in important papers. It also has inside pockets that helped me keep up with boarding passes, itineries, receipts, passports, etc.. There are also lots of great travel suggestions and tips inside and places where you can write down your own thoughts during quiet moments wherever you may be. It's very well made and quite durable and expandable. I even pressed some flowers between some of the pages. I loved this journal so much I ordered 3 more so that I would have one on hand for my next journey. They acutally wouldn't look bad lined up together on a bookshelf as a collection grows and the world is explored.

this is the only travel journal someone needs to take over seas. it gives great journaling suggestions and is in a fantastic format. i've used these on 4 overseas ventures. (it's great to collect ticket stubs, napkins, business cards from favotite places to decorate the pages as well...)

makes a great gift as well!

There's a wealth of knowledge in this book. What illustrates the effectiveness of the book are the pictures, as well as the words. It's one thing to say that there are black people in India, who were the founders of civilization, there. It's another thing to actually show the descendents of those people, clearly black people, living in India. The book is impressive.

Dr. Rashidi and Dr. Van Sertima are esteemed scholars who have changed my life for the better. They have given me a wealth of knowledge about my Afrikan heritage, which spans worldwide.

THIS BOOK IS AMAZING IT PROVIDES INFORMATION THAT IS BOTH TRUE AND OF EXTREME VALUE. THE AFRICAN PRESENCE IN EARLY ASIA COVERS MIGRATION FROM AFRICA TO ASIA DATING BACK FROM OVER 100,000 YEARS AGO. IT ALSO COVERS THE REVOLT OF THE ZANJ, WERE EAST AFRICAN SLAVES REVOLTED IN IRAQ AND IRAN. CAUSING NUMEROUS DEFEATS UPON THEIR OPPRESSORS AND SERIOUS ECONOMIC DAMAGE TO THE EMPIRE OF THEIR OPPESSORS. IT ALSO COVERS NUMEROUS AMOUNTS OF AFRICAN PERSONALITIES AND PEOPLE IN ASIA. SUCH AS UTHMAN IBN BAHR AL-JAHIZ, MALIK AMBAR, LOKMAN, BILAL, ANTARA: THE LION AND MANY OTHERS. THE AFRICAN DIASPORA IN ASIA WAS MAINLY BY MIGRATION, BUT SLAVERY WAS ALSO AN EXAMPLE OF THESE MASSIVE AFRICAN POPULATIONS THROUGHOUT SOUTHERN ARABIA, YEMEN, SOUTHERN IRAQ, KUWATI, SOUTHERN IRAN, AND SOME PARTS OF INDIA. HISTORICAL MIGRATIONS INCLUDED SAUDI ARABIA AND YEMEN ALSO. AS WELL AS INDIA HAS AN EXTREMLY LARGE AFRICOID POPULATION KNOWN AS THE "THE BLACK UNTOUCHABLES OF INDIA" WHO ARE THE INDIGENOUS INHABITERS OF INDIA AND THE CREATORS OF THE INDUS RIVER VALLEY CIVILIZATION. THERE ARE ALSO AFRICAN POPULATIONS IN MALAYSIA, SOUTHERN CHINA, ANDAMEN ISLANDS, SRI LANKA AND THE SOUTH PACIFIC ISLANDS. THIS BOOK IS OF GREAT SIGNIFIGANCE ON THE UNEXPLORED HISTORY OF AFRICAN PEOPLE IN ASIA. OTHER BOOKS RECOMENDED IS AFRICANS AT THE CROSSROAD: NOTES ON AN AFRICAN WORLD REVOLUTION, INTRODUCTION TO AFRICAN CIVILIZATIONS, THE DESTRUCTION OF A BLACK CIVILIZATION, AND THE AFRICAN ORIGIN OF CIVILIZATION

This book has made it clear that the inhabitant of this earth is GOD in all forms. There is nothing else to be said on this subject. This book and others like it, has opened the door for many to become what they truly are...GOD.

This is best book for true information of early "African Presence" Lots of reserches and essays are included.

Rashidi and Van Sertima are shaping the world of future scholarship with this book. To realize that the Sumerians, Elamites, Dravidians, Harrapans, and the Sabaeans were all black, adds more honor to the "misplaced" History of the African people. This affects those rascist who try and make the beggining dates of Egypt, closer to those of the Tigres, and the Euphrates. Still even by doing so, the beggining of each were "Christmas Coal Black". This book provides much evidence of this fact! Also interesting, and something most unknown, is the images of Buddah, and Krishna, at first had African features. For those who haven't read Kersey Graves "16 Crucified Saviors" the myths of Buddah, Krishna, Christ, as well many others is almost exactly the same. What is even more interesting is Buddah , Krishna, and Christ, all have a 600 year split between their virgin births, and all there first graven images had African features, before they were tampered with. In the end this is a book that should be read by all, scholars, and common people a like, because it helps you to understand, and appreciate the role of the African people throughout history. This book has intense evidence, regardless if you choose to accept it or not.

Great book, i've read most of the bio/autobio's about the old guys, Bob Capa, HCB ect and this is a whole new game. These guys were in my opinion, better than their older counterparts, the risks seem higher and with less payoff.

Much more than simply a book about photojournalists, The Bang Bang Club tells a haunting tale about several young men growing up in a rapidly changing and often hostile world. The friendships that form and are later ripped apart by bullets and suicide comprise the bulk of this well-told history. That South Africa's most important history is taking place as a background only mkaes it that much more of an interesting and enjoyable read. Yes, there is some violence, but that violence defines the world these photographers live and work in.

Not for the weak, The Bang Bang Club takes readers directly to the violence and brutality depicted in the four prize-winning photographs scattered throughout the pages. The writing is down and dirty, like the photographers themselves. But it works because of the subject. Get in click the photo and try not to throw up while you're doing it. Like most Yanks living a cozy life, I didn't know many details about the famous struggles in SA in the early 1990s. And I wouldn't have chosen to read a straight history. But the combination of first-person accounts of tragedy together with terrifically vivid and horrible photos and a gripping tale of danger lurking around every corner makes for an ideal way to learn something about that fascinating and difficult time in world history.

This is a disturbing book. After the first three chapters I put it down and only picked it up again two months later. Perhaps I was just emotionally at low ebb the first time, but the brutal honesty of the descriptions in those first chapters got to me. Even though I am a South African and lived through that eventful period, I was unprepared for the honesty of the authors. At the second attempt I finished the book and am glad that I did as it is really well worth the read.

The book describes the experiences of four well-known South African press photographers, at the peak of the political transition period of the country. Of the four, only two survived. Most South Africans as well as international readers interested in photojournalism, will remember the killing of Ken Oosterbroek by a stray bullet while covering an unrest situation in the townships. And the whole world was shocked by the brilliant photograph of a starving Sudanese child with a vulture patiently waiting in the background. Kevin Carter committed suicide not long after winning a Pulitzer Prize for that image. Although the book deals mainly with their work experiences, it also provides insight in the personal lives of photojournalists. It focuses mainly on events in South Africa, especially during those eventful years in the early nineties. However, there are also references to other African countries. A few months before I read this book, I also read Out of America: A Black Man Confronts Africa by Keith Richburg. This was another excellent and very honest book by a black American journalist who was assigned to the African Desk of the Washington Post. The combination of these two books gives an excellent perspective on the Dark Continent and scares the hell out of you.

I can strongly recommend both these books. It is a must-read for anyone interested in photojournalism and for people interested in the political transition period of SA. People who enjoy biographies will also appreciate the book.

This is an exciting account of South Africa, as observed through the lenses of four "conflict photojournalists", roughly between the time of Mandela's release to South Africa's first non-racial elections. There is a gripping, raw and ultimately, compassionate, quality about the writing, and the photos powerfully convey the horrors that this country went through. Equally enlightening are the insights into conflict photography, and the moral issues that arise by being a witness (and recorder) of human suffering. This book would interest anyone who's ever wondered how conflict photographers get into those crazy situations, the risks they took (sometimes fatal), and the adrenaline-laced thoughts that rush through their minds.

DuMar's encouraging, well-considered advice for parents or other caring adults on preserving children's stories for them, not in a demanding literary manner, but in a personal, from-the-heart diary form written with a child's perspective in mind, expands on the usual babybook to record all the "firsts" and also do much more.

Beyond bare-bones developmental record books, or family histories, the immediacy and therapeutic nature of keeping diaries for children helps process the difficult things that happen and bring out joy and wonder for both adults and children. DuMar shows how the writing itself helps us examine roles, allows exploration of feelings, clarifies understanding, and enhances efforts to make needed changes.

Her examples show how parental awareness and reflection required for capturing family experiences in writing improve positive parenting, while the entries themselves strengthen family connections and record the special, individual experiences and accomplishments that help sustain children's healthy self-concepts, world views and values. She even demonstrates creative ways diarykeeping can help problemsolve and reduce sibling rivalry- really- not by playing analyst, but in a real- life, natural way.

Besides demonstrating the benefits of creating such living legacies, she explains how to go about creating them. With her only firm rule being to date the entries, her practical, nontechnical instruction about writing uses examples, discusses appropriate coverage of family skeletons and other difficult topics, and offers starter ideas and tips for overcoming blocks. Excluding use of computers or sound recordings in creating diaries, she includes interesting, valuable information about every other aspect imaginable, and admirably conveys her passion and knowledge with a caring attitude. Her simple, brilliant ideas provide powerful inspiration. They're helpful and doable.

Kelly DuMar's "Before you Forget" is a must for parents wishing to capture today for tomorrow. Kelly's book is beautifully crafted snippets of the lives of her children, interwoven with the challenges that accompany parenting: fostering self-esteem, supporting creativity, soothing rivalries and more.

Her examples capture interesting moments in her children's lives, thus supporting the book's message. The text envelops these nuggets, placing them in perspective while advising us on how to accomplish the same for our own children.

Before You Forget is a must-have reference book for anyone who has a child in his or her life. Using herself and her family as examples, Kelly Du Mar describes techniques and processes for capturing the precious and transitory memories (beauty marks, warts and all) of our youngsters as they journey through life. She has created a way to add flesh to the bare bones of factual data found in most family histories and genealogies. Imagine a child of the future discovering a treasure of stories and anecdotes written by and about ancestors many years earlier. This book presents a way for parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and friends to creat a gift that keeps on giving for generations to come.

Before You Forget is a must-have reference book for anyone who has a child in his or her life. Using herself and her family as examples, Kelly Du Mar describes techniques and processes for capturing the precious and transitory memories (beauty marks, warts, and all) of our youngsters as they journey through life. She has created a way to add flesh to the bare bones of factual data found in most family hstories and genealogies. Imagine a child of the future discovering a treasure of stories and anecdoes written by and about ancestors many eyars earlier. This book presents a way for parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and friends to create a gift that keeps giving for generations to come.

Kelly DuMar's book has been a gentle stimulous into a new media of communicating with my children. Now, through this new genre of diary writing, I feel I have a place to take my experiences with my children, whether they are conflicts or compromises or simply shared fun, and I can explain how I am feeling about these experiences in real time, knowing that my words will be read and better understood in the future. Kelly has a way of encouraging her readers at every step to see this as a truly fun and rewarding experience, and she gives you lots of excellent suggestions to get you started. I feel I have been given a gift in this book, and that I am creating a gift for my daughters as I learn how to walk through her diary door.

On the first page of her memoir, Ellen Frankel takes us to the moment at an arts festival when her eyes meet another "member of the club": someone whose eyes are on a level with hers, someone who "knows" what it's like to be always looking up at others. Frankel, at four feet eight inches, is one of the shortest in any crowd. This book is the story of her journey to overcome the heartache caused by our culture literally and emotionally "looking down on" short people.

Frankel has appeared on CNN, Fox News and in the Associated Press, speaking about her mission to expose size discrimination: the unequal treatment of people because of their height or weight. She is particularly passionate about government approval of hormone shots for healthy children, just because they fall below the curve of what is "normal" height for their age.

The book cites numerous articles and studies on the ways people try to "fit in" by altering their body image. Besides the emotional damage done to short children through unthinking jokes and pats on the head, there is the health risk of synthetic hormone injections which increase height by only an inch or two at most.

Interspersed with the scientific data is the personal. As a girl, Frankel thinks about being a rabbi, but her rabbi laughs at her, saying she is too short and would never reach the pulpit. She is drawn to study Buddhism and integrates that philosophy with her Jewish identity in a graceful manner.

Her sense of humor and self-acceptance are evident in the title of chapter eight: Life is Short and So Am I. She tries to be a bubbly, cute (and short) female but does not feel her own power until she sheds that persona.

"I knew my Achilles heel and how it craved a stiletto," says Frankel. She fells into relationships with tall, important men to feel seen, "special" and powerful. But she knows deep inside that only by speaking her truth and engaging in activities that nourish her will she grow strong.

The journey that is central to the book begins when Frankel and her husband watch the Everest IMAX movie. At first, her husband is reluctant to leave his job for two weeks and go to Nepal, but she convinces him there is never a better time than now. They visit Kathmandu and the Himalayas, Buddhist shrines and death-defying roads alongside cliffs.

Frankel's vivid descriptions of the people and the villages of Nepal are my favorite part of the book. A year later, she returns, this time to climb Everest with a group of fifteen people.

She takes us along as she listens to the soundtrack CD from the Everest film while climbing to a Buddhist monastery at 13,000 feet up the highest peak in the world.

On this return trip, she travels with a married woman who is having an affair and also has an eating disorder. Overly focused on her thinness, the woman uses laxatives frequently to combat "bloating." During the trek, she confides that she is sleeping with their married Sherpa guide.

Frankel spent ten years as a counselor in practice for eating disorders, treating "Women who fought with their bodies because the culture told them their bodies were their enemies--unless their bodies were tall and thin, then they were their best friends."

"You don't have to have an affair with someone who climbed Mount Everest", she tells her traveling companion. "...you can climb yourself. You don't have to live vicariously, offering your body to a man living out your own dreams."

Frankel knows these words are meant for her, too. "I grew into myself" on the trek, she tells us. She realizes she can be strong and confident while short, that these qualities are not determined by one's physical size, because, "We are all both dwarfed by Everest and beyond measure."

This book reminded me of why it's so much more fulfilling to follow our hearts and go after our dreams. I've known too many women who "could have" been and done things but let their fears and other people's expectations discourage them.

Frankel's children have learned by her example to be who they are without reservation. Her book can teach us all to do the same.

[...].

Ellen Frankel's Beyond Measure is an engaging and informative book about confronting narrow societal definitions regarding acceptable body size and body image. At the book's onset, Frankel writes about being a short woman in a culture that values tall as the preferred norm. She cites research and delineates how societal prejudices work to dismantle self-esteem in short children and to undermine the confidence and self-worth of short adults. She connects the dots between height-ism and fat-phobia in a culture that denigrates difference. Ultimately Frankel's message is that the truest measure of one's worth lies not in one's outer stature but in one's inner strength. She implores each of us to take up space in the world in spite of society's narrow definitions of what is `right' and `true' and `normal.' And to celebrate human diversity--in all its shapes, sizes, and permutations--without apology.

Ellen Frankel answers this question by opening herself up for all to see - her strengths, her misgivings, her intense passion to live outside the tidy box people have tried to pressure her into and her emergence as a strong, centered woman who has powerfully conquered both the internal and external conflicts each of us battle daily. Ellen teaches us to be true to and believe in ourselves and our dreams regardless of how others may view them. Everyone can take a page from Ellen's book and learn to trust themselves and their visions and make their dreams a reality. You will find yourself asking - who am I? What so-called societal norms am I allowing myself to be held back by? What can I do to realize my passions and live without regret? Ellen, thank you for helping me look inside myself for these answers and hopefully allowing me to live Beyond Measure.

Our world can be cruel and confusing to those look a little different, and it was somewhat difficult for the author growing up. But Ellen Frankel has learned how to adapt and live confidently in her body despite the taunting words of those who are taller. In this touching and informative memoir, Ellen Frankel skillfully illustrates the pressures on so many people who will go to any length simply to "fit in." She reveals her opposition to the unnatural and dangerous attempts to expand height through the use of growth hormones, offering hard scientific data about their negative impact. Ellen explains how "innocent" remarks about height can be hurtful and even takes readers with her on an exciting spiritual trek to Mount Everest. "Beyond Measure" is an excellent book, sure to make us think about the stuff that really matters...that which resides within us.

Jordan Rich
WBZ Radio Boston

Thanks for sending me an advanced copy of your book, "Beyond Measure." I just finished reading it today. Words cannot adequately express how happy I am to see the issue of heightism addressed in this way. In your book you clearly explain the realities of this social prejudice. You provide painful examples from your own life, which even the harshest of our critics cannot deny or trivialize. Most importantly, you provide words of inspiration. Words to wake the souls of all who have the good fortune to read it. I am so impressed by your strength and your courage. I will recommend this book to anyone. Thank you for writing "Beyond Measure." You have done not only short statured people, but humanity as a whole, a great service.

Matthew Campisi
Chair/President
NOSSA - National Organization Of Short Statured Adults
[...]

This book and Jonathan Trouern-Trend blog inspired me during a difficult time and was an inspiration for my own project.

I remember a few years ago listening to Public Radio and hearing him speak for the first time. I was driving down the road listening to him speak on the radio, crying and profoundly inspired all at the same time!

During this time in our dark history his work has been an inspiration and a comfort for many. There is something incredible in a person when they can rise above such trauma and destruction to produce something so beautiful.

I am also impressed with how he describes the resilience and potential of nature to serve us with healing under any circumstance. I look forwards to more of the same from this author!

[...]

This started out as a soldiers blog, and has more of a travelogue feel, rather than a war correspondent feel of it. The author is most interesting when presenting his walks around the camp, and finding birds in back of the laundry camp and travels. And exotic birds they are: such as Squacco heron, Greater spotted eagle, Egyptian Vulture, purple swamphen, whiskered tern, and blue-checked bee-eater. What is missing however any introspection about the war, Sadam's effect on the environment, or contrast of being in a war zone and observing nature.

Being a bird enthusiast, AND having a son in the US Army inspired me to buy (and read) this book. I had originally bought it to give to my son (who enjoyed watching birds...mostly raptors....as a child), I decided to read it myself and was amazed at the species of birds this soldier was seeing over there. Sounds like (in addition to his mission) he did have some downtime and had some positive things to say about the region, which was nice. It has to be hard to be away from your family and friends for so long....and Jonathan found a way to stay busy and keep upbeat. Kudos to him, and God Bless our military!

This is a small, beautiful book. The natural phenonomena and bird-life that Jonathan Trouern-Trend desribes with such simple elegance in Birding Babylon is both comforting and poignent as it all takes place in Iraq near the beginning of our most recent conflict there.

I salute Mr. Trouern-Trend, both as a fellow "birder" as well as a poet. His writing is spare and unembelished, yet the warm sentiment he awakens in the naturalist' heart is undeniable. Here, again, poignance was the feeling he inspired, as well as admiration for a job well-done.

I love this little book. I bought 3 more copies as soon as I read it to give to friends.

Thank you, Sergeant Trouern-Trend. I salute you! Beth Hall, San Diego, CA

Because I am a birder, a friend bought me this book. It is perfectly aimed, not a pure birding, and no ranting about the war. Shows the power of nature and appreciation of nature to put a lovely perspective on even the most ugliest of wars. I wanted to know what the birds he referred to looked like so am ordering the birds of the middle east. one might wish photos or more realistic drawing of the birds, but I think that would detract from the journal-like nature of this cute little book.