Journals Books

This Baby Journal is a must for any Mom & Dad who just had a little one come into their lives. The journal allows you to write down your family tree, birth notes and weight & height information. This beautiful book contains the most precious
illustrations by Becky Kelly alongside lovely quotes. Furthermore,this book allows you plenty of space to journal so many important milestones during your baby's growth & development.

An adorable little book. Soft, whimiscal art, perfect for the expectant mother. I would recommend it as an excellent shower gift, or for yourself if expecting. A++

As a proud mother of a child born in my heart I love this baby book & journal. With a few little changes,I've made a book I know my daughter will one day treasure! On the page that says
"the big day" I just added at the Visa & US Consulate exam and added the time of the appointment, her weight and a name of one of the doctors there. On the family tree page, I just added another branch above my daughter's name to acknowledge her birth parents in China. On the "How Much you Grew" pages I chose to use this as how much she has grown since she's been home. Each page has a soft watercolor drawings and there is lots of room, for photographs, and to write down all of your child's wonderful 1st times, holidays celebrated, 1st artwork, a page about mom, dad and siblings. Toward the back there are pages for " Our Hopes" & "Our Dreams", as well as 10 double sided pages to record memories of you on this day.... If I could talk to Beck Kelly and ask her to change 1 thing, it would be to have the last page to say " The Begining" not " The End". Definately one of the best books published!

I have been so impressed by the art and subjects in Becky Kelly's "My Little One". I would describe it as a baby book and journal. There are beautiful quotes throughout the intricately detailed pages. The subjects given for you to remember your baby's happenings are fresh and interesting without distracting you from the purpose of the book. I bought this book only after falling in love with other Becky Kelly creations, starting with greeting cards then seeking her out online and recently I started to invest in 3 of her books and 2004 Calendar. I love the words her writer uses and how the art and words dance together to pull us into this beautiful world they created. I know you will all love it too.

I have been so impressed by the art and subjects in Becky Kelly's "My Little One". I would describe it as a baby album and journal. Becky's ability to use her art of children, animals, insects and nature to take you away to a simpler time and innocence sometimes forgotten is remarkable. There are beautiful quotes throughout the intricately detailed pages. You are encouraged to write your own feelings as you anticipate your new arrival. The subjects given for you to remember your baby's happenings are fresh and interesting, enhanced by watercolor without distracting you from the purpose of the album. I bought this book only after falling in love with other Becky Kelly creations, starting with greeting cards then sought her out online. I love the words her writer uses and how the art and words dance together to pull us into this beautiful world they created. Recently I invested in 3 of her other books and her 2004 Calendar. Anything Becky Kelly has become the perfect gift for myself and to friends or family. I can't wait to see what's next...

One of the things I love about this series is the newspaper at the end. In "Nabbed!" there's a 1925 edition of "The INspector" newspaper that puts the events of the book into context. There are articles about Al Capone, the Scopes trial, Houdini, and even some 1920s lingo. Even as an adult, I found it really entertaining! And the book itself is fantastic - how could a story about a ghost plane and a scary mansion with hidden passages NOT be?!?

We purchased Nabbed! and Swindled! for our nephews based on some glowing recommendations from friends. The boys loved the taunt mystery and suspense doled out in equal portions and actually learned a little history in the process. The author appears to be an up-and-coming writer with young adult sensibilities and knows what his target audience is looking for. Tell your kids to put down Harry Potter and pick up Swindled and Nabbed!

It was very adventurous! I don't want to give away the ending, but it was a surprise to me! I loved it!

My 5th grade class and I read this very engaging selection as part of our genre study. I was uncertain of what to expect of my students in the way of interest and motivation to read mysteries. They absolutely LOVED this book! They are begging for more Bill Doyle books!

Wow! My daughter's whole class is enthralled with "Nabbed!" -- she picked it out to bring in and now the teacher reads them a chapter a day after lunch. The kids appreciate that the narrator is a kid, too and speaks their language -- it's not just another adult lecturing them. It's exciting for the kids and they like the adventure. The plots have enough twists to be interesting, but not TOO many as to be confusing. As a parent, I love it because she is enjoying reading and isn't watching TV or sighing that she's bored. I also love that she's learning some history, too. Highly recommended from a mom of three!

In the title essay of this collection Joseph Epstein takes a cruel, if comical look at what he sees when he emerges from the pool. He looks at his own aging body, and shows sympathy for his wife who has to sleep next to such a body, rather than to merely be 'in it' as he himself is. Age has not been kind, and relatively clean - living has not prevented the various saggings and shiftings of weight which are before him. As with his body so with many other aspects of life Epstein sees with a clear and tough eye many other aspects of reality. The focus in most of these essays is himself, his heart- bypass, his reactions to the for him less than wonderful change in the character of popular - music, the ins and outs of nap-taking, his disenchantment with much modern sport, his way of reading a book to the end now should it be at his age his last crack at reading it. Epstein is both a Bellow- like Chicago tough guy close to the sounds and sights of American life, and an intellectual of the first rank whose moral insights and musings have most often a foundation in solid good sense. He is one of those writers who I find it simply a great joy to read. And he is one of those essayists who like Montaigne in holding a mirror up to himself holds a mirror to mankind in general.
Just the best.

I couldn't agree more with the reviewer from Texas, so let me repeat the Texan: a formal indictment should be brought against Phi Beta Kappa for firing Joseph Epstein. The end of the American Scholar as we knew it was the first publishing loss of my young life; now I fully appreciate how lifetime 'New Yorker 'readers felt when William Shawn was dismissed. Anyway, I'm supposed to stick to the book. These essays, originally American Scholar columns, are a great pleasure. Thank you, Mr. Epstein.

Loved it. Have converted all my friends to Epstein enthusiasts

The melancholy title of this book alone is enough to bring back memories of that bleak afternoon when I read in the pages of my newly arrived copy of the American Scholar that my longtime never-met friend Joseph Epstein would no longer pay his quarterly visit to my home. For months, I could not bring myself to finish the originally published Aristides essay in which he announces his leaving of the Scholar. I felt as though I had been told of the death of a long time boon companion. I later came to realize that Mr. Epstein had, in fact, not resigned but had been pushed out. Curses! Curses I proclaimed upon the American Scholar (those curses, by the way, still remain in effect; I vigorously renew them every change I get). Yet Mr. Epstein, gentleman scholar that he is, has to my knowledge, handled the insult with all the dignity that Mr. Emerson would have wished for in the last true editor of this now ill named journal. He wrote one of the most eloquent and distinctive essays of his career. The entire book resonates with the feeling of this one essay. Perhaps this was not intentional, perhaps it was. Certainly the coming storm was visible on the horizon. One could even say that Mr. Epstein was steeling himself against the opposing armies surrounding his outpost on a literary Masada. Such things can be seen in the distance and the soul can do nothing else but to arm and defend. Mr. Epstein was killed, in the literary sense. His editorial armor was stripped and his body was left for the academic carrion feeders. Yet he survives. Perhaps he will not regain an editorial position; quality does not seem to be in demand in these days of Miss Brown and her ilk. The fact that books of this sublimity, wit, and style are yet published truly astonishes one when the weekly best-seller lists are examined. We can only thank God that Mr. Epstein is still alive, writing, and occasionally published in such journals as the New Criterion, Commentary, and other publications of like erudition and taste. Read "Narcissus Leaves the Pool." Read it with the understanding that it is the last chapter in the life story of a once great journal. Read it with the knowledge that it is not "With My Trousers Rolled" or "A Line Out for a Walk," it more complex than either of those fine collections. Read it with the hope that you will be allowed into the thoughts, both idle and collected, of one of the last great essayists left in the world. You will not be disappointed.

Joseph Epstein is out of step with the times; so much the worse for the times. But you wouldn't expect one of our best essayists to share the hyperkinetic spirit of our quick-cut, crisis-of-the-week, information overload age, malnourished as it is on fast food and fast thought. Epstein's readers, used to his erudite and soothing literary voice, will conclude that he's, square peg or no, comfortable in the world. Epstein is a clear, deliberate thinker and graceful writer who won't be rushed. He knows his way around an idea, an anecdote, a philosophical question. He creates intimacy, interest, and assent without being the least polemical or didactic (see above re one of our best essayists), and demonstrates that as well as being useful, intelligence can also be a sheer joy. Narcissus Leaves the Pool -- the sixth essay collection of Epstein's 13 books - will only add to his reputation. The 16 pieces here repay the serious and the playful mind (if the same mind, so much the better). In his surefooted style -- serious but not solemn, humorous but never trivial, deep but always accessible. Epstein ponders what distinguishes a point of view from a grab-bag of opinions; shows how the role of popular music has changed in our lives; counts the ways professional sports offend these days, ("Watching Monica Seles play Arantxa Vicario, two players who grunt with every stroke, I feel that I am inside a hernia testing center.") and laments how hard it is for one who's loved the games to chuck the increasingly hard to justify habit; praises napping and disparages name dropping. He comes to terms with turning 60 in "Will You Still Feed Me." The title of the book and of the lead essay means to suggest the writer has reached an age where the preening and overreaching are done, where possibilities are relinquished. He's not exactly asking what to make of a diminished thing, but conceding that the future, while still pleasing at 61, is contracted. He's reached the age where when reading a good book he feels obligated to do a good job of it as it's unlikely he'll read that book again. An age where every trip to the doctor's office carries the real threat that the doctor will find what he has been poking around looking for these many years. Epstein admits squeamishness, but denies being a hypochondriac, "..only your normal thanatophobe." He ponders the question of how to maintain dignity in the physician's office. "While respecting what they do and realizing the need for them, I have tried to the best of my ability to steer clear of physicians. I find that, given a chance, they discover things I would rather not know about." Once such discovery led to one of life's experiences Epstein would have as soon skipped, heart surgery. He describes it in "Taking the Bypass." Epstein might not think to label himself a conservative. In part because the breathless clamors that fill political journals -- elections, legislative maneuvering, the routine changes of government -- do not interest him much. He's aware of the overall seriousness of politics, especially where it's very bad. He is friends with people who lost family in Hitler's death camps. But his principle concern is the with the workings of the human heart, not with the routine insolences of office. His skepticism regarding all Big Ideas and his rejection of all causes that individuals must be sacrificed in the name of put him, literary temperament and all, on the right side of the angels. A conservative in all but registration. Not one to diminish literature by hitching it to any ideological wagon, Epstein has no patience with tenured Philistines who flog their agendas with the literary masters. In "The Pleasures of Reading," he nails these villains. "What wide reading teaches is the richness, the complexity, the mystery of life.I have come to believe there is something deeply apolitical something above politics in literature, despite what feminist, Marxist, and other politicized literature critics might think. If at the end of a long life of reading the chief message you bring away is that women have had it lousy, or that capitalism stinks, or that attention must above all be paid to victims, then I'd say you just might have missed something." Epstein takes his reading seriously (though not solemnly, as you'll see). He's amused by profiles of people who list reading as a hobby. "I should as readily list under my hobbies, tennis, travel, and breathing." Epstein notices how few grownups there are these days and parses this matter in "Grow Up Why Dontcha." No accident that Seinfeld and Friends became so popular in the land of the perpetual adolescent. Role models in arrested development come with the substantial tuitions at America's colleges in the person of paunchy professors, certifiably past fifty, wearing blue jeans, hiking shoes, and even in some cases, God help us, backpacks. "In our own day one still sees what are essentially sixties characters in their fifties, walking the streets, tie-dyed, long-haired, sadly sandaled, neither grateful nor dead, waiting for the magic bus to the past." Epstein manages to combine literary insights of the literature professor (Northwestern) that he is -- you'll encounter Proust, Montaigne, T.S. Eliot, and Solzhenitsyn in these pages -- with the acute observations of the street smart Chicago boy he also is. You'll also run across Joe Montana, Mike Ditka ( I did say Chicago), Floyd Patterson, and former welter weight Carmen Basilio. Epstein delights in all precincts of Vanity Fair. Epstein, like your average French desert, is pretty rich stuff and probably is better read an essay or two at a time. Those who've read A Line Out For a Walk, Once More Around the Block, With My Trousers Rolled, or The Middle of My Tether know this already. It probably wouldn't do anyone actual harm to read an entire book of Epstein essays at one sitting. But why take a chance? Larry Thornberry - Tampa LTBerrywtr@aol.com

I bought this for my best friend. It's a pretty, organized book that will help new moms remember their pregnancies, newborn moments and special baby moments. It's thoughtful and intelligent. My friend and I both like it.

What a beautiful book! I wish I had this book when I was a new mother. Linda is a talented and inspirational writer who shares her thoughts, joys and reflections on becoming a mother. It is a touching book that helps the reader appreciate the treasures we mothers are entrusted with. I highly recommend this book and plan to buy several copies and give them as gifts.

I love this journal and I am sure my one-year-old daughter will love it also when she is old enough to read it. It is a must have for every mother. I want her to know how important God is in her life, and how much she brings into my life. This journal lets you provide both.

This Keepsake Journal is a spiritual gift to women who are expecting new life, and to all who cherish the miracle of life. I was very moved by the author's honesty, acknowledging the fears and doubts that pregnancy can present us with: "Why do I feel so bad--when our news is so good?" One of the deepest reflections in this book is found in "My Prayer for the World's Children." Here, Mrs. Olson writes beautifully about how the love that parents feel for their own children extends to all of the world's children, and unites parents in creating a better world for all. This book combines great writing and reflection--and well-chosen Scripture quotes--with an interactive quality. It provides space in which the reader can write down her own thoughts and concerns, offering an opportunity for catharsis. It also gives the reader a means to create a lasting momento. This is a gem! I recommend it highly. It is a perfect gift, and I will give it as often as I can.

I bought this book for a baby shower gift for a friend. When I received it, I was really surprised at the quality of the book. It has a ribbon bookmark, a very attractive cover, and beautiful pages with illustrations and quotes. Though it's a thought-provoking journal with plenty of room for the new mom to write about her experiences, dreams, and concerns, it also has a surprising amount of substance. Linda Ann Olson has written about motherhood and God's plan for a woman and her child in a touching way that isn't over-sentimental. What a lovely gift, and I'm thrilled to send it.

Judy Stone is disarmingly engaging, a trait and quality that has endeared her to many of her fascinating subjects for attention in this thoroughly embracing and terrific journey of conversations and commentary with (incredibly!) 120 filmmakers, writers, and artists from every continent and culture. Reading the stories I felt an unusual intimacy, often forced or lacking in standard interview formats, with stilted questions or stock inquiries, which Stone adeptly avoids. She enables the person to reveal themselves without it seeming intrusive. Her remarkable, incisive curiosity and talent spans generations (from pre-WW2 to the present) and genres, revealing not only what we previously didn't know about the artist or subject, but also illustrating how a creative life is imperative. It is Stone's life that is the real revelation, however. As she writes about the playwright Jon Robin Baitz, he says "Ideas live. Ideas vibrate." So does this book! Get it to discover the astounding array of humanity inside its covers, get it to curl up with this national treasure, Judy Stone!
Not Quite a Memoir: Of Films, Books, the World

Judy Stone's Not Quite a Memoir is the printed equivalent of one of those late-night pub conversations in which the world's great thinkers get together and come up with viable solutions for all the world's problems. And right there in the middle is Stone's unflappable voice, asking the hard questions.

Judy Stone (the sister of I.F. Stone) has been writing these indispensable articles (now collected in an omnibus edition) of both American and international movies for the past three decades.

In between, she has conducted revealing and intelligent interviews (also in this book) with a startling array of directors, actors, and writers from every corner of the world, often traveling to do so. Stone's impressive body of work has actually been collected in two volumes, "Eye on the World" (1997) and this brand new book, "Not Quite a Memoir."

Stone modestly prefers to call herself a reviewer, not a critic, but if any film reviewer has a knowledge of the world as deep as hers and manages to show how films function in that world, I believe Judy Stone has earned the right to be called a critic.

Keep this book around, and you'll find yourself reading it each day, just because it's so much fun and remains so imformative about our world today.

For anyone who has enjoyed Judy Stone's perceptive articles over the years, this book is a feast: a look back at several decades of writing and filmmaking. The only problem is that it reminds you of all the books you wish you had read and the films you wish you had seen. But still, in a world where there is more culture than we can possibly take in, it's nice to have this kind of guidebook to the highlights.

"Not Quite a Memoir" flies around the world from the U.S's Gus Van Sant to Iran's Abbas Kiarostami, Israel's Amos Gitai,Spain's Carlos Saura, Chile's Isabel Allende, India's Satyajit Ray...At every landing, Stone creates a portrait of the artist as a force for social change. Intriguingly, the author backs up her portrait in words by capturing - with unassuming genius--astonishingly insightful photographs of her interview subjects...For medical reasons, Kiarostami never takes off those enigmatic sunglasses. Yet Stone's camera flash cleverly shines right through the artist's dark glasses to give us the first glimpse of eyes that revolutionized filmmaking with how they saw the world. Judy Stone's short interviews, like that camera flash, are just as clever and penetrating."
Ari Siletz, author "The Mullah with No Legs and other stories."

After I read the book "Diary of Mary Berg" I was so intrigued that I looked up some of the other books that are referenced in the "Diary of Mary Berg". I bought 3 more books from different authors that lived in the Warsaw Ghetto and I have been very pleased with these books because they deal more with the uprising in the ghetto then the diary does. The stories are very emotional and heartfelt. I am not Jewish but I was just as eager to learn from these books about the history of that time. I encourage everyone who may be interested to read this book or others like it to get a better understanding of what life was like in the Warsaw Ghetto during WWII.

As we each sit in our little world each day perhaps having pity on ourselves. This book should be a guideline to keep us from self-pity. The author fairly reports from diaries gathered throughout the Holocaust Horror. He does not only blame Nazi Germans but Jewish Police. This is a bold, honest reflection into the eyes of children, adolescents, parents, as they were waiting for their fate. This book made me smile about humanitarism even when they truly did not have alot to share. This book made me scared for what the power of humans can do to weaken spirits. It made me cry to realize the horror they felt. I cheered hoping the author would go unharmed. I wept when I realized a man and his family perish because of a cause they firmly defended. True heroism.

Unquestionably, this is one of the best written books I have read pertaining to the tragic historic event. It is an easy reading book however, it is hard to put down once you start.

I will cherish my book always.

It is many years since I've read "Notes From the Warsaw Ghetto" but it remains fixed in my memory along with Emannuel Ringelblum, who emodies for me the human ideal. In a time and place where death and destruction reigned, a simple teacher, father and husband bore witness to the inhumanity surrounding him. Ringelblum and a few other brave souls, ojectively recorded the daily lives of the inhabitants in the Warsaw Ghetto in considerable detail; describing the planned and enacted starvation, disease (rampant typhoid), the demands of the Germans on the Jewish Council for more and more Jews to be handed over for "deportation" and "resettlement in the East" (in truth the freight cars would carry the deported Jews to death camps of Treblinka and Auschwitz).

His unearthed notes bore witness to the end of Jewish life in Poland and the attempts to maintain the vibrant society that once existed. Ringelblum's notes relate to us that despite the madness that had become their world, and the unknown future they faced, the Jews of the ghetto played music, sat in cafes (without food or drink), educated their children, worshipped, held political debates, prepared young zionist to make aliyah to eretz yisroel, collected arms and prepared to fight back. When the age old question arises; what does it mean to be a human being, I think one need look carefully at the Jews of the Warsaw ghetto to see how humanity can and does flourish despite the evil surrounding it.

This book presents a factual chronological statement on the conditions, daily tribulations, and perils of the Warsaw Ghetto. It is written in a documentary style rather than an emotional diary, thus providing a basis to compare and contrast against other "diaries". THIS SAID, it is a moving statement on Warsaw Jewry and their ability to overcome impossible odds, eventhough the overwhelming majority perished. The plethora of historical revisionists that now claim the Holocaust was a hoax must FIRST contend with "Notes"( aginst which they will lose). A truly powerful work.

It is a little-known fact that, during the first two or more years of the German occupation of Poland, Jews were treated better by the Germans than the Poles. Emmanuel Ringelblum alludes to this (March 25, 1940; pp. 24-25), when Poles felt safer masquerading as Jews! Also (August 6, 1940, p. 45): "True, they [Jews] were beaten; but Poles were shot. True, Jews are impressed into work; but Poles are sent out of the country to work...Jews were deported from Cracow in the course of several weeks, Poles in a few hours." (p. 45). Also (January 22, 1942): "The question of who is worse off now, the Jews or the Poles, is often discussed." (p. 248).

Many Holocaust films exhibit a simplistic hagiography of Jews and demonization of Poles. In contrast, Ringelblum appreciates the diversity in the conduct of members of both groups, which can be summarized as follows (April 26, 1941): "[I] heard the opinion expressed that war reveals the best and the worst in people. It's like a high fever, in which everything is clarified. On the one hand, some Christians offer to help the Jews; on the other hand, bestial anti-Semitism; on the one hand stony hearts [among the Jews]; on the other, devoted self-sacrifice to aid those suffering from hunger." (p. 157). As Jews were being ghettoized, Poles showed sympathy in some locations and not in others (p. 45). The same holds for exploiting vs. helping Jews with regards to post-Jewish properties (pp. 51-52).

Polish hoodlums' attacks were not limited to Jewish victims: (February 27, 1941): "On the other side of the Jewish graveyard, young Poles have formed bands that attack Christians as well as Jews." (p. 127). Sometimes Poles came to the defense of Jews under attack by Polish hoodlums.

Ringelblum mentions positive Polish attitudes and helpful Polish actions towards Jews many times (p. 21, pp. 51-52, p. 64, 66, 91, 137, 152, 199, 216-217, 322-323). In terms of generalizations, at least some Jews believed that most local Poles were good to the Jews (May 15, 1941): "The Catholics displayed a far-reaching tolerance...Mr. Isaac estimates the percentage of saintly gentiles in Starograd at 95 per cent." (p. 170). Polish organizations are credited with doing away with Polish blackmailers (October 15, 1942; p. 322).

Ringelblum alludes to the Germans' torching of a synagogue in Lodz and then blaming the Poles for it in an attempt to divide Poles and Jews (p. 39). He also never loses sight of the fact that Poles were also victims of the Germans. He discusses the privations and mass murders of Poles, notably of the Polish intelligentsia, numerous times (p. 21, 26, p. 30, pp. 38-39, 137, 145, 154, 169, 259, 288). The Poles realized that they were "next" when they saw the Jews ghettoized (p. 91).

All illegal acts had to be conducted away from the prying eyes of the Germans and their informers of various nationalities. Ringelblum spoke of Jewish informers (p. 251, 339-340), Jewish Gestapo agents (p. 182, pp. 280-281), and the search for Jews hiding within the ghetto (December 14, 1942): "In 90 percent of the cases it was the Jewish police who uncovered the hideouts. First they found out where the hideouts were; then they passed the information along to the Ukrainians and Germans." (pp. 340-341). Ringelblum doesn't mention the fact that Jewish agents, specially trained for the unmasking of hideouts, were also sent to Polish urban areas, and into fields and forests, in order to uncover Jews hidden by Poles.

A recurrent theme in Ringelblum's diary is the avariciousness of both the Polish Blue Police (Policja Granatowa) as well as the Jewish ghetto police (e. g., p. 145, pp. 154-155). Also (May 25, 1942): "As a result, a smuggler has to buy off four parties: Polish, Jewish, and German policemen, and now civilian agents as well." (p. 278).

In common with other chroniclers, Ringelblum's harshest criticisms are directed against fellow Jews (September 22, 1942): "The Jewish police had a very bad name even before the resettlement. The Polish police didn't take part in the forced-work press gangs, but the Jewish police engaged in that ugly business. Jewish policemen also distinguished themselves with their fearful corruption and immorality. But they reached the height of viciousness during the resettlement...And now people are wracking their brains to understand how Jews, most of them men of culture, former lawyers (most of the police officers were lawyers before the war) could have done away with their brothers with their own hands...Very often, the cruelty of the Jewish police exceeded that of the Germans, Ukrainians, and Letts...For the most part, the Jewish police showed an incomprehensible brutality." (pp. 329-331).

Owing to the actions of the Jewish ghetto police, a relatively small number of Germans and their Ukrainian and Baltic collaborators sufficed to send over 300,000 Warsaw Jews to their deaths at Treblinka (October 15, 1942): "Why could 50 S. S. [SS] men (some people say even fewer), with the help of a division of some 200 Ukrainian guards and an equal number of Letts, carry out the operation out so smoothly?" (p. 310).

During the actual extermination process, there was the Jewish outcry over the fact that the world was not doing anything to stop it. But even what later became known as the Holocaust was at first contextualized by Ringelblum (June 25, 1942): "Why should the world be shaken by our suffering when rivers of blood are spilled daily on every battlefield? In what respect is our Jewish blood more precious than that of the Russian, Chinese, English soldiers?" (p. 296). Ringelblum concluded with several proposals for stopping the extermination of the Jews (pp. 297-298).

No wonder Mr. Greene won Japan's highest award for Haiku written in English. He is a most original thinker.

The pages of this original book are filled with very simple, yet very profound insights. You will want to read and reread The Open Gate.
It is a valuable road map to life's many ups and downs. A very thoughtful gift for people going through different stages of life -- from graduation to retirement.

Wonderful, inspiring book, which you'll want to read and reread. I bought it at San Francisco's Japanese Tea Gardens and am recommending it to friends of all ages and backgrounds.

If you're interested in philosophy, poetry, history and revealing insights into culture, The Open Gate is for you. This gem of simplicity contains some of the deepest observations into life and death, war and peace that you'll ever read. Everyone with a loved one in the army, and every veteran should read it.

The smallest literary form--haiku -- is at its best in this powerful book. If you've ever wanted to improve your writing or understanding of life, read The Open Gate. This haiku journal presents amazing imagery drawn from intensely careful observations. The poems evoke an enormous range of moods and emotions -- from compassion to awareness of temporality. Some reveal a sense of mystery, others reflect a Zen Buddhist influence. Some are witty or sarcastic, others, achingly sad. Haiku of this quality in English are very rare. J. C. Greene is a modern master. Reading his poems is like Basho's famous leaping frog, plunging into water, each brief poem expanding in ever-widening ripples.

The haiku in this wonderful book are profound. They made me think, cry, laugh and above all, feel. They go right to the heart. it is packed with brilliant, original observations about life.

The author is a wise philosopher. He sees and thinks clearly and feels a lot. Just 3 lines of his haiku contain observations that could take a 300 page book.

I'm going give The Open Gate to my friends and relatives. I haven't felt so touched by words since I first read Walden Pond or poems of Frost and Emily Dickinson.

Whether or not you've heard of haiku -- this witty little book is loaded with wisdom. It's spiritual, uplifting and timeless. Should be on every bookshelf.

I read this haiku to my yoga teacher:

"While each mind
Hosts a universe
Each soul waits alone."

When I answer my rebellious teenager, I think of this haiku:

"Saying no
By describing the limitations
On Yes."

Whenever I visit my ill friend, I remember this:

"Pain is the screen
Through which truth
Can be seen."

This book is wonderful and easy reading for the just average person. It is filled with information about the inner healing we experience when we journal our most inner thoughts. Thank you for sharing this information.

Many people believe that it is easier to hold in their feelings, but nothing could be further from the truth. In ancient Greece, Hippocrates, the father of medicine, stressed that emotional factors could be a contributing cause in disease as well as a factor in recovery. In more recent times, research psychologist James Pennebaker and others have found a mountain of evidence that demonstrates that disclosing our pain when we're suffering through a major upheaval can greatly improve our physical and mental health. Conversely, holding it in can lead to recurrent health problems as serious as colds, flu, high blood pressure, ulcers, and even cancer.

So this self-help book which explains how opening up and confiding in others actually improves your physical health as well as your mental well-being. This can happen in a support group or through journaling. If you are not already in a support group, you will want to join one after you read this fascinating account of the author's life work. If groups aren't for you, then you may be inspired to start journaling.

--Robert A. Naseef, Ph.D., author of Special Children, Challenged Parents and co-editor Voices from the Spectrum.
Special Children, Challenged Parents: The Struggles and Rewards of Raising a Child With a Disability

Pennebaker's studies of people who wrote about their deepest traumas and hurts demonstrate that expressing feelings is helpful and healing. People who participated in the studies showed improved immune function as measured by doctor visits compared to controls groups who didn't journal or who journaled about daily events and omitted their feelings.

If you've kept a journal and written about what troubles you, you know how much this unloading can improve your mood. It's nice to have someone listen to you, or to have the compassionate attention of a paid therapist who can help you see your patterns. But it's also comforting to know that science has shown that journaling can be a way for you to be your own therapist. In this book, the author shares stories of people and their writing. This is a good book to point to if anyone thinks journaling is just narcissistic scribbling.

~~Joan Mazza, psychotherapist and author of DREAM BACK YOUR LIFE; DREAMING YOUR REAL SELF; WHO'S CRAZY ANYWAY? and 3 books in The Guided Journal Series with Writer's Digest Books/Walking Stick Press.

If you are a scientist you may enjoy the story of how James Pennebaker pieced together his theories as much as you enjoy the theories themselves. Once he validated the worth of writing about emotional events that you had not previously talked about, he explored many other variations of disclosure. Two big surprises I found: 1) we need to write about happy things, too, and 2) by writing about an emotion, you diminish its passion -- as in love letters.

In Opening Up Dr. Pennebaker discusses his research into the mind-body connection, and about how mental and physical health can be affected by how people express their deepest feelings about important life experiences. He describes the many studies he has taken part in and the case histories of individuals he has observed in the course of his career.

The bulk of Opening Up deals with the way in which writing (or verbalizing) the details of and emotions surrounding people's most traumatic (and occasionally most positive) life experiences can affect well-being. It is fascinating to learn how interconnected the mind and body actually are, and how effective the act of putting one's experiences into words can improve people's quality of life, or conversely how expressing the wrong kinds of feelings or expressing them inappropriately can do just the opposite. This book makes a quick yet intriguing read as Dr. Pennebaker expresses his observations in a way easy for the layperson follow and confines his notes to the end of the book so the reader is not distracted from the flow of the text.

That said, I have to add that the final chapter, "Beyond Traumas: Writing and Well-Being", seems superfluous. Diverse topics such as the use of in-class writing, note-taking, and the teaching of reading and writing to pre-school children are brought into the discussion and seem to have nothing but a tenuous connection to the rest of the book. These topics may have been better left out rather than brought up at the last minute and not really discussed at enough length to warrant their inclusion.

While the conclusion takes away from the book, I would still encourage anyone who is interested in psychology in general or the mind-body connection in particular to pick this book up.

I do have one caveat to make and it is directed to those who are under the impression that this book is a self-help book. While the subtitle, The Healing Power of Expressing Emotions, leads to potential reader to think that this book will show them how to use writing to heal themselves, this is not the case. If you are looking for a book to direct you I would recommend something like Louise deSalvo's Writing as a Way of Healing as a companion to this volume. deSalvo's book is largely based on Dr. Pennebaker's research but offers concrete advice on how someone looking to begin a writing practice could start out, providing exercises and checklists to ensure that the writing experience is beneficial to the writer.

I think this book is fabulous and it's the first thing I buy all my friends when they get engaged. The prompts and questions are easy to fill in and really create a fabulous keepsake. On pages that I didn't use I actually glued down paper of my own for pictures or journaling. Most of all I think that it's the easiest way to create a beautiful "scrapbook" of the beginning of your life together without excessive effort.
Most of all, it's a great way to beat the stress of wedding planning as it has you document all the wonderful thing that have brought you to this moment.

I love this book, I did a pretty good research before obtaining it. It has lots of pages to fill up, beautiful designs, spaces to stick pictures, questions easy to respond and it's very fun to read. I got married an year ago and I love going back to the book reading what I wrote before. I truly recommend it.

I received this book at my engagement, and I found it a beautiful way to keep track of memorable events throughout the process of planning my wedding. It's not a "to-do" list, but rather a way to remember all of the sweet and sentimental things that happen during this time. I just celebrated my first anniversary, and found myself flipping through the pages and remembering that time! The drawings are artfully rendered, and the quotes throughout the book bring to mind different aspects of marriage. Overall, this book was a treasure to have!

I received this journal 3 years ago as an engament gift. Today I have been married for two years and I can say is the best gift I received for my wedding. In this journal I have a record of all the details of my engament,wedding, bridal shower, rehersal dinner and honeymoon. Today I am buying for my best friend, so she can have a journal where to save all the special memories of such a beautiful time in her life.

This book is perfect for any bride-to-be. Amidst all the wedding planners, articles, and "how-to's", no other book allows you to expand your thoughts on the person you love and the events surrounding your special day. It's a great way to document your courtship, engagement, and wedding day all rolled up into one place. We look fondly to ours often!

I am a 10 year old and I like this book because it teaches me about Pedro's journey with Christopher Columbus. Pedro tells us what he did while sailing with Christopher Columbus. Take for example the time he tricked someone else into swabbing the deck while he sat back and watched. Also, the prayers written in the book gave me a mind movie. I can imagine myself there with Pedro on the wooden bed on the ship with my hands together, saying a prayer. I would recommend this book to other 10 year olds. They'll find it interesting.

A enjoyable book for my 9 year old. A story that captures and keeps the attention thoughout the book.

Pedro's Journal, written by Pam Conrad, is about a boy who loved the sea. He went out to sea with Christopher Columbus to find the new land. The captain thought he would be useful because he can read and write. He goes back and forth from ship to ship each day. The weather is terrible. The storms are on and off. Finally they get there. They find that the Indians are very useful. So they bring some Indians aboard. It took them longer to get back to Spain. Finally they get back to Spain. The last place Pedro is seen is when he is walking up toward his mother's house. I would recommend this
book to a friend.

Pedro's Journal by Pam Conrad is a heartwarming story about trust. Pam really brought out the characters by using lot's of detail.

Pedro is a boy who went sailing with Christopher Columbus. He's the only person on the ship who knew how to read and write.

Pam kept you reading by her creative chapter endings. She changed font and size when writing about what the characters were saying and thinking.

Anyone who reads this book will say it's hard to put down. Don't miss this good chance to read this outstanding book.

Pedro's Journal was read by my 5th grade classes to learn more about Christopher Columbus and his journey. It was perfect for a class of mixed ability readers, it's history was well researched, and it engaged the students. We used it for a Literary Circle book. I highly recommend it for Social Studies, Language Arts, or an example of journal writing.