Free Books

A heady treatise on altered states of being and how free will plays a role in our time space continuum. I highly recommend this book.

Bergson's works are always inspirational and the remarkable thing is that he doesn't assume anything he always explains what is needed (almost always) unlike the standard treatises on philosophy by other philosophers. It is never that much of an effort to read Bergson and as such it makes his works far more accessible than usual for a philosopher, probably one of the reasons he was all the rage in the early 20th Century, people can actually understand what he was talking about. What is the reason for this ? I think much of it has to do with his unwillingness to separate his insights into distinct pieces as is the norm in philosophy. His essays tend to flow along nicely without being stuck in difficult terminology which must be remembered as you progress, anything such as the word duration which has a special significance in Bergson work becomes part of the flow of the essay rather than being in any way special it is always reinforced through the dialogue. Another interesting aspect is his lack of references to others, possibly a result of the French way of Education which encourages self reliance and expression as much as possible.

In this work, one of his earliest (1887), Bergson introduces his concept of duration which is less of a concept than a real lived sense that is happening in your life right at this moment. But first he introduces the reader to the intensities of psychic states such as beauty, grace, joy, sorrow, pain etc and how a misinterpretation of real lived experience gives rise to a way of philosophy which separates real duration as it is experienced into space-like time, this is also evident in feelings which are modified through the space-like construction of experience. Although this first chapter fails to convince once you proceed onto the construction of the idea of duration you feel on much safer ground, one feels Bergson has seriously studied this phenomenon, not of course just in thought or conceptualisation but, in his own lived experience present at every moment. He goes on to explain the falseness of the spacialisation of time which inevitably leads to the paradoxes of Zeno in ancient days and determinism with its lack of human freedom. He overcomes the usual arguments of determinism by simply just not defining freedom or its prior conditions since this would once again introduce determinism and spacialise duration.

Bergson's work is simply highly insightful of the human condition far more than any dry attempt at it through the usual approaches such as Descarte's or Kant's. He literally lives his work using his own experience to enliven it, I mean literally enliven it, Bergson's work is living in a sense. It is less an argument than a movement through your own feelings and intuitions which then allow you to understand what he is saying, it isn't difficult concepts you can't wrap yourself round. It does occasionally suffer from a lack of clarity wich is an advantage other philosophers have over him but a careful reading will help.

Superb as always.

Bergson, all the rage in the early 1900's, has now been rediscovered,thanks in part to the work of Deleuze et al. Time and Free Will is a great exemplar of Bergson's work and his idea of the duree and the spatialization of time. Bergson presents to the reader an energetic flux which is the precondition of our more vulgar concept of time. With this flux, the past is pulled along by the future and presented to consciousness in the present as a heterogeneous conglomeration, inseperable and uncategorizable. It is this work which inspired the stream of consciousness novelists, especially Proust. But the most remarkable element of Time and Free Will is its demand on the reader to live the duree, to return to the duree and forget oneself in it. The goal is freedom and authenticity and this can only be achieved when letting oneself go, flying like a bird, and despatializing time. This book does not only open the door to phenomenology, but it also contributes in a significant way to french existentialist thought.

Aged 80, already ill, Henri Bergson (1859-1941) went downstairs to the street (in his slippers and a sleep skirt) to underwrite a Nazi-registration-form, that he was one of the so called unworthy living creatures, a Jew, having no rights, being discharged, honourless, defenseless, unprotected. When in the "Etat Francais" also a Jew statute had been announced, the French government had offered an exception treatment to Bergson, that famous citizen of Jewish birth. However professor Bergson refused receiving such a gift from such hand. 1920, on the occasion of the establishment of the United Nations, Henri Bergson had been a first president of the commission for mental co-operation (when times were to be called still worthy to human beings). 1927 he had received the Nobelprize of literature regarding to his main-publication "Creative Evolution". At the end of his life the public ethic level had been fallen down immeasurably deep. Commissions for "mental co-operation" (1920) evidently had disappeared and instead had been replaced by tanks, execution committees, gasification camps and other genocide methods. The esteem of an human being you cannot measure exactly via empiric sciences (i.e. Nazi biological race sciences). An anthropology of such a bedeviled horizon of course fails his subject. The risk of every empiric, specialized science (i.e. psychology, social and political sciences) is to underestimate human beings via shortened views, operating with the handicap of false subtle ideologies, conceptions, definitions - and the practice to analyze only a small section of time. To seize the "life melody" of a human being, it is not sufficient to emerge ridiculously only one or two notes. The entire "SPAN", if possible from the birth to the end of a biography, - only such a span (the complete melody, not a single note) is able to illuminate the secret of a human personality to a sympathizing viewer. Only via this method you can discover the dynamics, movements, changing spirals, the will to carry through, the persistent believe at the own worth of a person - even if the social associates have lost such a horizon long time ago. Bergson's father had been a music teacher and a composer - considering this fact, the idea of talking metaphorically about "single notes" and a complete "life-melody" touches the heart. The upcoming of the psychoanalytic theory of Sigmund Freud surely inspired Bergson - and though there are some mad, too punctual views in this Vienna theories: this specialized science delivered a plenty of hypotheses better than the usual biological ones. Otherwise Bergson inspired a lot of novelists: Marcel Proust or James Joyce, Sartre (his writings about Flaubert) or Nikos Kazantzakis' movie "Alexis Sorbas" (featuring Anthony Quinn as the pure embodiment of "elan vital"). Erik H. Erikson with his innovative book "Identity and life cycle" also is one of the innumerable researchers, who developed knowledge into this advanced direction: the concept of duration, of showing a complete life-melody. A quotation out of a lecture held 1911 by Bergson at the university of Oxford: "Via philosophy we can get accustomed, never to isolate the present from the past. Via philosophy all things gain a depth of field, something like a fourth dimension, which permits to associate the earlier perceptions with the present." In the title of Bergson's book "Creative Evolution" the nature of this unusual human is as crystallizing as in that delivered gesture, underwriting the Nazi-registration-form, just as the inhumanity of German occupiers required. Surely none of them understood the nonchalant irony of this doing (in the spirit of a mind, which never loses a sort of a "BIRDS VIEW"). I like to compare this scene with a fragment of Emile Cioran, another French author; he wrote: "Did you see, how the birds, at first hunting in the roads, suddenly did ascend high above the roofs: to regard Paris in a distance?" This is a remarkable metaphor: visually strong - alike the "LIFE-MELODY", giving a hint to the long time memory of ears ...

Great product and shipped quickly. Just what the doctor ordered (for low sodium diet recipes).

I bought this book because someone close to me needed to get his sodium down immediately. I've made several recipes from the book: turkey chilli, chicken tagine, coq au vin, chicken paprika, and several appetizers and desserts. Generally, the recipes are quite good-- guests at your table will not be able to tell the difference. I haven't had as much luck with the desserts, but if you are looking for really good recipes that don't taste like wallpaper paste, this is the book. I really like the extensive appendices of information on how to locate low sodium products and adapt your own recipes. I definitely recommend this. I did have to buy quite a collection of spices and cooking wines to flavor food, but now that I have all that, most recipes are easy to put together. Warning: when she says spicy, she means it! She has a tongue of steel. I've learned to back off the cayenne and Tabasco in her recipes.

Most Americans simply use to much salt in their foods. For some, excess sodium is putting their health into serious jeopardy. For anyone who must be "salt conscious" about what they eat or serve, The Hasty Gourmet Low Salt Favorites is a compendium of three hundred "kitchen cook friendly" recipes that will offer a cornucopia of quick and delicious dishes that will reduce salt intake while enhancing flavorful dining. In addition to savory dishes ranging from Curried Yam and Apple Bisque; Asparagus Turkey with Cream Sauce; and Onion Casserole; to Celery with Pimento-Walnut Cheese; Potato Crusted Breakfast Pizza; and Pecan Pie with Bourbon Creme, The Hasty Gourmet Low Salt Favorites also provides such useful advice regarding what to stock in the low-salt pantry, low-salt shopping tips (including which brands to by and which to avoid), limiting sodium without sacrificing flavor, and the fine culinary art of substituting ingredients when adapting favorite recipes.

This a no-nonsense approach to reducing your sodium intake, even suggesting brands that offer low and no sodium products. After having a high blood pressure reading recently, I started looking for ways to reduce my sodium intake. This book was much better than others I looked at. The recipes are easy to follow and the food that you make with them is very good. What more do you want?

An interesting book for a discusson group.

I agree with the previous reviewer. This book taught me so many things about how hanging on to past losses, failures, relationships, concepts and beliefs can be so unhealthy for us as human beings. Douty relates her own personal experiences as a way to help people feel they are not alone in these struggles. This book is very brave, honest account of how hanging on to the past can greatly impede our potential for peace and serenity in the present. This book was difficult for me to read at first because of the emotions involved and the extent to which I need to let go of so many things. But Douty comes out on the other side with lessons learned and a personal sense of inner peace that I aspire to every day. I highly recommend this book to anyone who is committed to travelling the sometimes frightening path to wholeness. This book will fill you with hope.

Our church book study group has read and discussed a large number of books in the last several years and this book provided the material to spark the deepest and most soul searching reading and discussion we have ever experienced. None of us being perfect, we found that all of the areas that the author explored were painful to many of us also. We appreciated that the end of the book gave concise guidelines on how to let go, and that the author was so painfully honest about the areas of her life she needed to let go.

Tremendous, compelling writing. I couldn't put it down. I could relate to so many of the stories in this book. It talks a lot about bettering your relationship with God, but it is about so much more than that. There's something in this book for virtually everyone.

~A Humane Economy~ is an astute treatise and insightful look at the social and political framework of the market economy. Wilhelm Röpke is a brilliant German-born economic, social and political thinker, and perhaps my favorite amongst the so called "Austrian school." He stands apart from his colleagues in that he thinks on a more humane level rejecting crude utilitarian calculations in favor of sound and prudent empirical reasoning. This brilliant German economist of the "Austrian school" stood up to the centralising and dehumanising policies of the Nazis. Röpke recognised that collectivist ideologies lay waste to civil society-destroying the intermediary institutions between individual and state. When the State acts to supplant the natural civil associations with state institutions to empower and enhance the state, it destroys the moral fabric of communities, saps the nation's economic vitality and usually leads to twin perils of centralisation and atomisation. Röpke recognized that allocating resources by the free play of supply and demand is the most humane system and as such he was champion of the market economy. He was influential over German economist Ludwig Erhard, who architected the Federal Republic of Germany's postwar economic plan, which emphasized free enterprise while effectively curtailing state controls (i.e. price fixing, rationing, and state enterprises.)

Röpke would attest that mammon is not the measure of all things. In Röpke's eyes, the intangibles-that is to say faith, family and tradition-are the things that animate life and give it meaning. Röpke recognised the limitations of the market economy. Röpke possessed a remarkable sense of prudence and conservative sobriety in his thinking as it relates to the political economy. He rejected the idea of making economists into social engineers whether in the interests of "efficiency" or "social justice." And amongst his "Austrian" colleagues like F.A. Hayek and Ludwig von Mises, he brought economics to a more humane level, rejecting crude utilitarian logic in favor of more sound empirical reasoning to defend the market economy. Furthermore, he refrains from the market idolatry that is so common to libertarian apologists for the free-market these days. Libertarians frequently espouse an ideology that can be summed up as "everything in the market, nothing outside the market." (This, of course, turns Mussolini's statist mantra on its nose.) Röpke recognised something that libertarians miss with their penchant for crude utilitarian calculations and their amoral neutrality that often makes being an avowed "libertarian" indistinguishable from being a "libertine." Many libertarians content themselves writing diatribes defending the "robber barrons" of the yesteryears while praising the colossal (i.e. Wal-Mart and oil cartels.) In their efforts to defend any and everything related to "the private sector," these reductionists forget that the apparently sporadic interventions of the state often come at the behest of big business. Many capitalists" content themselves with cozy public-private partnerships that translate to steady, predictable profits and a regulated environment that drowns small business competition. Big business typically possesses a considerable advantage over their smaller competitors, because they can absorb the regulatory costs much easier and they can influence the regulators and regulations. Röpke, however, scorns the "cult of the colossal" not in demagogic rhetoric, but in the rhetoric of an economist. He likewise sees "big business" as a concomitant pillar of "big government" and its regulatory state. Röpke possessed some peculiarities in his lexicon that set in him apart from his colleagues, but his motive for such peculiarities was principled. Röpke rejected characterising socialism as a "planned economy" and he recognised that the market economy facilitated economic activity "planned" by entrepreneurs as opposed to state planners. He preferred the delineation of "market economy" to "capitalism" since what often passed for capitalism in the early twentieth century was a large interventionist welfare state in a cozy lockstep relationship with big business monopolists. This was state corporatism not capitalism. Moreover, "capitalism" was, of course, coined by its chief critic Karl Marx and while the term captures the importance of capital to the market economy, it remains rather sterile and ideological. What is more, "capitalism" typically delineates a materialistic consumerist ideology or images of big business rather than a social framework based on the market economy.

Unlike libertarians and some classical economists who too often dwell in the realm of abstract theory, Röpke possessed a gritty realism: first, he recognised that there is interplay between between political and economic processes; and he recognised the value of state intervention in prosecuting acts of force and fraud, enforcing contracts and upholding private property rights. As an economist, he could offer prescriptive wisdom on the proper and limited role of the state in the economy while elaborating upon the causes and consequences imprudent state interventions (i.e. price-fixing, inflation, production quotas, monopolies, cartels, overtaxation and overregulation.) Röpke essentially favored economic laissez-faire overseen by a night-watchmen state that exercised profound restraint in its interventionism least it hinder or even cripple a nation's potential for prosperity. Underlying Röpke's humane economy is the idea that a market economy needs a prudent civil framework, widespread distribution of property, a strong entrepreneurial middle class and emphasis on parochial traditionalism. Anyway, Röpke itinerates the need for sound monetary and fiscal policy on the part of the state. He holds that the gold standard is the only real safeguard against the vicious boom-and-bust cycles of modern capitalist society. Röpke recognised that a market economy flourishes when tradition and community guard against the centralising depredations of both the state and big business. Röpke further emphasised the principle of subsidiarity, which in Europe today seems to survive only in that beautiful alpine island of parochialism, namely Switzerland. Though, Switzerland may be losing its vitality as it is straddled by the colossal and cosmopolitan EU super-state as if it is ready to be cansumed.

In the Humane Economy, Röpke surmised that: "The market economy, and with social and political freedom, can thrive only as part and under the protection of a bourgeois system. This implies the existence of a society in which certain fundamentals are respected and color the whole network of social relationships: individual effort and responsibility, absolute norms and values, independence based on ownership, prudence and daring, calculating and saving, responsibility for planning one's own life, proper coherence with the community, family feeling, a sense of tradition and the succession of generations combined with an open-minded view of the present and the future, proper tension between individual and community, firm moral discipline, respect for the value of money, the courage to grapple on one's own with life and its uncertainties, a sense of the natural order of things, and a firm scale of values." To answer those who might sneer at this, Röpke nimbly replies, "Whoever turns his nose up at these things... suspects them of being 'reactionary'... may in all seriousness be asked what ideals he intends to defend against Communism without having to borrow from it."

John Zmirak does a wonderful job profiling the life and work of a very brilliant man. Bravo! Röpke's ideas are remarkably original, but even so are analogous to that of conservative sociologist Robert Nisbet, Anglo-Catholic distributists like Chesterton and Belloc, and the Southern agrarians. You might check out their works as well if Wilhelm Röpke interests you.

One of the great errors prevalent in economics is the assumption that an economy is a kind of endogenous entity which can be understood entirely on its own terms, without reference to social, political, and psychological factors. This error is especially prevalent among those ideologues who believe that, while politics affects economics, economics never affects politics. But this is clearly not how things stand in social reality. Politics and economics exist within a complex web of causal interdependence. No attempt to impose through politics a specific brand of economics can ever hope to be successful, since waves of causation from the economic realm will ricochet back into the political realm, thus altering the original economic program.

The political right, especially in its libertarian and pro-market incarnations, has never properly understood this insight into social reality. In their polemic economic tracts, they implicitly assume that "society" or the "government" could choose at any time to adopt any economic principle it liked, regardless of the likely social or political consequences of that principle. Libertarians tend to support any economy policy which they believe will bring about greater freedom and efficiency, ignoring all the while the disastrous consequences the policy might have in the political and social realms. The great merit of Wilhelm Roepke's "Humane Economy" is that he sedulously avoids this error. Roepke is one of the few pro-market who understands that the free market does not exist in vacuo and that the market cannot be defended as a good-in-itself. In the "Humane Economy," Roepke points out that free enterprise depends on sociological, moral, and cultural factors for its maintenance and survival. The "sphere of the market, of competition, of the system where supply and demand move prices and thereby govern production, may be regarded and defended only as part of a wider general order encompassing ethics, law, the natural conditions of life and happiness, the state, politics, and power," writes Roepke. "Individuals who compete on the market and there pursue their own advantage stand all the more in need of the social and moral bonds of community, without which competition degenerates most grievously." Roepke's defense of the market rests firmly on time-tested conservative principles. He dissects the corrosive effects of mass society and social rationalism and warns against those two "slowly spreading cancers of our Western economy," "the irresistible advance of the welfare state and the erosion of the value of money, which is called creeping inflation." There are few books which detail the crisis of modern civilization in the West better than this one; and none which offer a more convincing vision of a genuinely "humane" economy.

Guillermo Röpke, que nace casi con el siglo XX, es uno de los representantes más acreditados del verdadero pensamiento económico, reconciliado con la reflexión ética y política. Lejos de él la tajante separación entre la economía y la política instituida por los representantes del neoliberalismo economicista. Röpke, amigo de Alexander Rüstow, cuya obra también conocía en profundidad, constituye en ejemplo superior de la manera de pensar en órdenes concretos ("Ordnungsdenken"). Ello explica, justamente, la importancia del libro cuya traducción al inglés registra el título "A Humane Economy", y cuya traducción al español, mucho más fiel al título alemán, se rotuló "Más allá de la oferta y la demanda". En efecto, ese título resume perfectamente la intención del autor, pues Röpke consideraba que la economía de mercado no lo es todo. En su opinión, esta necesita ser sostenida por un recio entramado de creencias y valores. En este sentido, resulta insólito descubrir la preocupación social de Röpke en una profesión, la de economista, demasiado preocupada por las grandes categorías científicas.

If you want a bracing look at how society should run, pick up this book. Ropke, a German who resisted Hitler during WWII and was an architect of Germany's post-war economic resurgance, writes beautifully about the value of the market economy, and about the need to undergird this economy with strong social and political institutions.

A chief value of the book is that it was first written back in 1960, and is therefore outside of the current, rather small, debate. Although some of his topics seem a little dated (communism chief among them), the underlying battle is timeless and this book is well-worth the read.

"I Have Heard The Mermaids Singing" is a truly remarkable book about a character who works as a psychoanalyst. We are allowed to follow his life both from behind the couch and in his private life, which is a surprising and pleasant way of meeting with Bollas' profound and creative thinking.

This book made me both laugh in recognition about what it is like to be a human being and think for a long time afterwards about the profoundness in the character's thoughts. Beautifully written, the richness of the thoughts in the book has made me return to this book several times, and also to read out passages from it aloud, both to psychoanalysts and people not working in the field, and they could all share the joy of Bollas' outstanding writing.

Above all, this book is another excellent example of Bollas' creative ways of living with independent psychoanalytic thinking, something I find fundamentally important in these times of psychoanalysis in crisis.
X

Like a dream, Mermaid weaves an unpredictable course along the fuzzy border between psychic reality and the powerful pressures of group life. Anyone who reads this book encounters Bollas's song, a song which, if allowed, will disrupt the reader's internal sea. Those who listen will find that unlike most investigations into the troubled waters of psychoanalysis, this book introduces corruption within psychoanalytic institutions, psychoanalytic technique, and the practices of even the most well meaning practitioners, using the medium of fiction rather than the hard hitting and ostensibly straight forward style of theoretical writing. By using this medium, Bollas offers readers a new way of grappling with the dark regions of psychotherapy, group existence, and private corruption. Through the voice of characters and use of humor, Bollas shakes and loosens our unconscious, inviting the reader to dream one's own solutions and insights into traumatic areas of the human condition. For those interested in developing new dimensions of social consciousness and contact with unconscious life, I highly recommend this book.

Anyone concerned about the relentless attacks on psychoanalysis as a mode of thinking will learn a great deal from I Have Heard the Mermaids Sing. In using the form of a novella, Christopher Bollas gives us a glimpse of what it feels like to be a psychoanalyst at the dawn of the twenty first century. He effectively punctures the myth of the analyst as arbitor of reality or member of a cult.
Because we experience the world from the perspective of "the psychoanalyst," we get a glimpse of the inner workings of an active mind as the analyst attempts to find the unconscious meaning of his patient's discourse. Most readers will find I Have Heard The Mermaids Singing funny, thoughtful, provocative and challenging. Bollas's psychoanalyst speaks forcefully about depression, the aftermath of the "catastrophe [9/11?]" and the unremitttting attack on imagination and the inner life that defines the contemporary ethos. While these are serious topics, the adventures and misadventures of the psychoanalyst provide comic relief. This novella is a pleasure to read -it defends psychoanalysis, develops a complex and rich theory of depression but never takes itself too seriously even as it deals with the most vexing problems of our era.

Christopher Bollas's second very personal, fictionalized account of the current state of psychoanalysis and of the deadly elements inherent in mass movements (following "Dark at the End of the Tunnel") cooks up a complex brew of laughter, sympathy, and unease: laughter, because the novella portrays a character who, despite his wisdom and seriousness, can spy the antic in the midst of tragedy; sympathy because any reader familiar with contemporary psychoanalytic controversies, world events, and the capacity for self questioning, can place himself in the protagonist's shoes; and unease because the book captures a prevailing fantasy of impending (and current) worldwide catastrophe. But set against the elements of darkness is Bollas's faith that individual men and women, while being hijacked by social and cultural forces beyond their control, are at the same time creators of their own destinies.
While some readers may be made uncomfortable by Bollas's srikingly expressed views of the psychoanalytic profession, all readers will be confronted by a fertile, intelligent, and funny mind at work.

Genre: Fiction
Title: I'll Never Be Free: The Fires of Love and Hate Volume 1
AUTHOR: Sky Alexander
Young Hattie Morran has not had an easy life. With a violent and morally corrupt father, her mother and siblings struggled to keep the family farm running, gaining a strong bond between them through hard labor. But when her father blackmails Hattie into marrying an equally corrupt man, it feels as if her future is all but lost.

Fortunately, her fiancés mother, aware of her son's lack of ethics, devises a plan in which Hattie will end up as the soul heir to her mother-in-law's vast fortune, without the necessity of consummating the unholy union. But with great wealth, comes great responsibility, and great danger, as Hattie's ex-husband and usurped heir swears revenge.

"I'll Never Be Free" is the saga of a young girl from Missouri who is blessed with a warm, wise and giving heart, as well as a fierce and righteous spirit. With her newfound wealth, she helps her large family and dear friends, despite the obstacle of being a woman with power in the late 1800's, a rare and often disrespected position. Her own life, however, is filled with tragedy, from the death of loved ones, to the ever-present threat to herself.

Sky Alexander has written "The Fires of Love and Hate" as a tribute to his great-grandmother. Though young, Alexander shows great promise here as a writer, with deep devotion to his character's, and an obvious respect for their moral fortitude. The book is large, but filled with action and packed with individual characters, giving ample opportunity for the impressive heroine to perform her good works. The final chapters reveal an intriguing mystery, and offer an enticing hint into the next installment of the story of Hattie Morran.

Alex Skyler Alexander is a very spiritual young man, and has taken up the task to write this series with the help of his late father, Shayne Alexander.

An exciting read, particularly for those with a strong Christian morality. I look forward to the adventures to be found in Volume 2!
Reviewer: Nancy Morris, Allbooks Reviews.

I really loved this book it is now one of my favorits and I am telling everyone I know about it. The story kept me so intrested I just couldn't put it down.

This was one of the best books I have read in a long time. The story is compelling. There are so many things going on right from the begining it just hooks you and keeps you going right to the end. I also love the fact that I heard this book is a mix of truth and fiction and how the author has real world events mixed into the story as well. I would recommend this to anyone who wants to read a heart-wrenching story that makes you crave the next book.

I love books that have a bit of mystery and intrigue and also contain a love story. This book has all three. I like the way events in history are included throughout the story. The characters are believable and have a lot of depth. I thoroughly enjoyed it!

Joseph lewis himself an atheist has wriiten this book. It is a pleasure to read it. All Atheists will feel goosebumps about Ingersoll's accomplishments in those days of us where minds were free and politicians were not pork barelling greedy selfrighteous bastards.

This is one of the best books I have read. Ingersoll was one of the most courageous and eloquent spokesmen for Reason. He honored nature, science and liberty and condemned superstition, bigotry, slavery, religious intolerance and worthless ritual in a time when it took great courage to be outspoken. His words have even greater meaning today when the evils of religious fundamentalism and fanaticism have again reared their ugly head. This book condenses much of his writings in an organised and eloquent way. If it were required reading I think it would seriously undermine the religious convictions of many Americans. I urge everyone to familiarize themselves with Ingersoll, the magnificent!

I had finally sat down to read the Bible when I picked up a copy of Ingersoll the Magnificent. I can tell you the latter was the only book I finished. The Bible shocked me with its ignorance and cruelty. Ingersoll impressed me with his wit and principles (charity, respect, intellectual integrity, hope, and honesty.) There are so many gems of wisdom. Here are but a few: "I admit that reason is a small and feeble flame, a flickering torch by stumblers carried in the starless night, -- blown and flared by passion's storm, -- and yet it is the only light. Extinguish that and nought remains." "All that is necessary, as it seems to me, to convince any reasonable person that the bible is simply and purely of human invention -- of barbarian invention -- is to read it." "It is a great pleasure to drive the fiend of fear out of the hearts of men, women and children. It is a positive joy to put out the fires of hell." "Honest men do not pretend to know...they admit their ignorance, and they say, 'We don't know.'" Reading Ingersoll made me want to meet people like him and directly to meeting Madalyn Murray O'Hair. They certainly had their differences, but both stood for high ideals and wanted humankind to be better.

It's funny that in the 21st century most Americans have forgotten the lost American tradition of Free Thinking. Robert G. Ingersoll was one the greatest free thinkers and one of the greatest Americans in our history. This is a tremendous collections of his thoughts on the nonsense on christianity and the seperation of church and state. You have to love a politician who had the guts to stand up and say "Christianity has made more lunatics than it ever provided asylums for." Here is the opposing view to those who believe this is a "christian nation."

As a Karate Instructor, I wish that I had bought this book many years ago. Luckily, I've been taught the correct methods by my own Sensei's and have therefore taught the same correct techniques to my students.

Although the book is dated (1992), there are plenty of clear pictures & diagrams to enable you to understand exactly what is being demonstrated.
The book deals with correct form & technique in stances, blocks, strikes, punches & kicks. It goes into detail about how a certain move would be executed correctly and explains both good & bad posture and the consequences and damage to muscles, bones & ligaments of bad or incorrect body alignment.

The author trained with Sensei Kanazawa and also trained & represented the SKI for many years. There Forward by Kanazawa at the beginning is a glowing testimony to Paul.

I highly recommend this book to any karate instructor (Shotokan) or any karate-ka that has ambitions to go beyond Shodan and wants to reach retirement without being a cripple.

There are a couple of "tiny" mistakes in the photo's where occasionally the performer has his toes curled forward or his head dipped forward (as in mai geri), but if you're an instructor yourself, these inaccuracies will be instantly apparent.

I have read this book because Sensei Perry is my sensei. The book is fantastic and gives martial artists an insight into body mechanics and how their art can be improved. Sensei Perry is beyond the beyond when it comes to his knowledge and understanding of how to use the body as well as karate and its applications. Perry Sensei is not only a karate master but also a tai chi master, yoga master and chi kung master and he is accessable to anyone wanting to improve their art. With all these credentials this book is a must read for everyone in the world of martial arts.

Unfortunately, anatomy and physiology is not commonly taught in martial arts classes. The need for some knowledge of these fields becomes more apparent the older the age of the student. Not only does the older student take longer to heal from injuries, but repetitive stress injury becomes a real possibility.

This book addresses these issues in a forthright, helpful manner. Perry Sensei has put together a collection of text, diagrams and photographs that illustrate the common ways that even seemingly simple moves can be executed in a fashion that can cause injury.

This information is totally applicable across the divisional lines of modern martial arts. His Shotokan background speaks as strongly to my Tae Kwon Do training as to his own discipline. I highly recommend this work.

This book have many features. First: It make you realize the wrong way to move, and demonstrate how to keep out from injure yourself. Second: It teaches you how karate can be a healing excercise when correctly perform. Third: It teach those particular movements that are not frequently teach in class.

Never, never substitude a class with a book, but this kind of book can be an excelent complement to martial art instruction.

I have only near 4 years in the art, and I started old (25), but I got this book from the beginning and it prepare me to withstand and follow the class in a very good rate.

I not only recommend this book to students, I recommend it to Teachers, 'cause it will get them in the correct perspective of the movements.

This book has helped me recognize several factors holding me back in my job position. It is an easy read, with heplful useful information that is practical. I feel I have been able to excel and optimize my skills at my job position by implementing the recommendations outlined in the book. If you are at all doubting your abilities as a manager, and you are a women, this book is a must.

This book, although marketed to women, has many things that men can also use as they climb the organizational ladder. Becky Shambaugh stresses the importance of first knowing yourself and then deciding what it is that you want. She peppers the book with many effective personal and professional anecdotes and stories to punctuate her points. This is more than a book. It is a manual for turning your professional life around. The "Sticky Floor" metaphor is a powerful reframe that changes the context of what it is that prevents us from moving up. Barriers are not imposed by anyone except us. Shambaugh does a masterful job of guiding us to put on a new pair of Teflon shoes - non-stick shoes that only we can create for ourselves.

For a change, practical insight with action steps to take to "un-stick" oneself. It's about time we take a hard look at what holds us back (usually ourselves). Shambaugh's style makes this a read a breeze. Shambaugh takes time to provide excellent examples from real life. If you don't read any other business book this year (or next)...You should read this one. Rare to find a book centered on leadership development that focuses on action women can take to make a big difference; not just restating the obvious.

It's Not a Glass Ceiling, It's a Sticky Floor: Free Yourself From the Hidden Behaviors Sabotaging Your Career Success

Awesome toolbox, particularly for women who find themselves trying to figure out how to break into the "C-suite" and truly be corporate leaders. Easy to read and very accessible for many future references. Successful leaders will find a dog-eared version of "Sticky Floor" in their continuous reading pile!

This series teaches skills that all of us should learn. It helps me as a parent to reinforce principles that I feel my child needs to understand. It's also great that given the choice between the Get Along books and classics such as Hercules...my four year old boy will choose to read the Get Along Series books.

--Mike (Father of three)

I would highly recommend any of the books in this series by Cheri Meiners. Join In and Play is a great book for parents whose children are shy or may avoid social interactions. It offers a variety of ways they can be included and have fun with their classmates and friends, even illustrating how to ask to join a game or play quietly beside another child. It also would be helpful in helping a more confident, popular child to reach out to quieter, less engaged peers.
These books caught my eye because the writing level is just right for pre-K and kindergarten children. Truthful without being preachy or overly wordy, the series shows children and family members from many different ethnic groups in the colorful illustrations, and each book addresses issues which are developmentally critical to this particular age group: sharing, taking turns, being afraid, listening, respecting others, helping out at home, etc. These books have given us a starting point to discuss problems at school or interacting with others, and have helped my son to have more empathy for his peers....I am hopeful that this quality will serve him well as he continues on to kindergarten and elementary school. It is exciting to hear him use ideas from this series to problem solve.

I have all the books from the Learning to Get Along series. They are wonderfully illustrated and written. These are great social story books to help kids. I use them for my son and for the kids I work with at school. My son (5) will just sit and read this books on his own. I absolutely recommend Cheri J Meiners books. (I even have a link on my website for her books)

This is such a wonderful book. It is very thoughtful, respectful and kid friendly. The book spells out very clearly how to "join in and play." There is a wonderful teacher/parent guide in the back with activities for children to practice on how to make friends. The book is very well written and the illustrations are so dynamic. You can really tell how the children are feeling in the book by their facial expressions. (My only caveat is that the illustrator wasn't given credit on the byline. I don't know how the publisher go away with this but it is an egregious error in my perspective.) All the books in the series are wonderful! My daughter reads them over and over again.