California Books

You don't have to be in the wine business to have noticed the rise of Fetzer Vineyards over the last decade or so. As a Californian and a long time devotee of the vintner's art (as well as a consumer!) I can tell you that Fetzer makes six and seven dollar bottles of wine with the best of them, and their more expensive labels are outstanding. And maybe this has always been the case, but before Paul Dolan was picked to head up the company in 1992 most of us didn't know much about Fetzer Vineyards.

In this candid memoir (and frankly, part manifesto) about corporate culture and responsibility, Dolan gives us some insight into how he was able to grow the company by more than fifteen percent a year as he shares with us his ideas about how businesses should be run in a time of dwindling and strained natural resources. Fundamentally he believes that "it's time for business, one of the most powerful forces on Earth, to become a positive force for change. We already know that we can create tremendous wealth and technological progress. The new possibility...is to preserve that progress and wealth for the generations to come." (p. 8) This is the mantra of "sustainability" which rewards employees as well as shareholders, customers as well as executives. For someone involved in viticulture this means sustaining the land as well, and for Dolan this means organic agriculture.

But Dolan also wants to make a difference in a larger sense. He wants to win awards for environmental excellence (and he has) by filtering the winery's wastewater and using renewable energy for the winery. He especially wants to show the world how Fetzer is both an economic success and a leader in environment-friendly practices and community and worker relationships. His "green" credentials might be judged from this statement: "The true cost of a gallon of gas is not the price you pay at the pump. The true cost" includes "what it costs the earth when oil is extracted and the cost when some of its byproducts return to the atmosphere..." (p. 17)

He also recognizes that "Nonrenewable resources are running out," and that "Nothing takes place in isolation." (p. 18) Would that more business leaders recognized these facts and acted appropriately.

This is also a book about how to become an effective manager. Dolan describes how he learned to listen, to his employees, to his son, and how he learned to put aside preconceived ideas and realized that sometimes the problem was himself. He tells a story about an annoying person (to him) named Tracey and the clay model they were trying to make (pp. 81-83) and how his change in attitude (inspired by his competitive nature!) allowed them to be successful in their project, and how that led him to stop regarding his son as "My Son The Jerk" (p. 84). This impressed me because it is not easy being that honest in public and in print. Later he even tells of a boldfaced lie he told and of an environmental mistake he made.

But Dolan can afford to reveal his shortcomings because when you read the chapter devoted to his third principle: "The soul of a business is found in the hearts of its people" it easy to see that he not only respects and appreciates the efforts of others, but that he knows that such respect and appreciation allows them to do their best work. He sees this as part of our "inner psychology engine...that gets us to put our heart and soul into something." (p. 101)

Another part of the book is actually about the wine making business, about how he grew the business by acquisition and branding, and how Fetzer committed, for example, to making a lot of Merlot and why (see especially pages 143-146). And there is an Afterword on how wine is made. The book ends with a Fetzer history time line and Resources for future study including books on sustainability.

This is an inspirational book by a man who is proud of his achievements and wants to share that pride with the world. And it is a story about growth, not just the growth of Fetzer, but the growth of Paul Dolan. I should add that this is a beautifully produced book, clearly written (wine writer Thom Elkjer had something to do with that) and meticulously edited.

True to Our Roots is a combination of one man's evolution as a leader and a case history of how to engage business in serving its stakeholders in more ways. This is one of the rare books I have read where a company has used environmentally friendly policies and practices to enhance its business performance on a sustained basis while influencing its industry to make the same kind of improvements. Any business leader can learn helpful lessons from this book.

Mr. Dolan came to Fetzer as a winemaker and helped the company make great strides in that role. One day he had an epiphany. Tasting grapes to see if they were ready for harvest, he noted that the flavors were much richer in one section than in the next. They were the same type of grapes, grown in the same microclimate. What could be the difference? Then, he remembered that the better tasting grapes had been tended with organic farming practices while the less good tasting grapes at received conventional chemical fertilizers and pesticides. His conclusion: His customers deserved the better tasting grapes. From that epiphany, he began a life journey that has led him to becoming a new type of leader and one who hopes to influence everyone in the world.

As a young man, Mr. Dolan was like many young people -- anxious to prove his worth. Working like a maniac, he wanted everyone to cater to his decisions and purpose. That kept people from becoming close to him, and led to the break-up of his first marriage. He later remarried one of the Fetzer daughters, and tried to cure his over-controlling nature. Eventually, he learned that he should listen to, encourage, and inspire other people to do what they thought was right . . . rather than expect blind compliance to his ideas. That shift made all the difference in his personal life, and to the business.

One of the surprising things about this story is that Mr. Dolan made most of these changes after Fetzer had been acquired by Brown-Forman, the alcoholic beverages giant. It's even rarer to find such industry leadership innovations coming from the heart in a small division of a large public company. But Brown-Forman has encouraged the changes. No doubt the support was enhanced by the Fetzer company's extraordinary success . . . growing earnings by 15 percent a year -- a remarkable feat in the wine business.

One of the interesting lessons of the change to environmentally friendly practices (called "sustainability" in the book) is that it drew on the preferences of employees to do the right thing, and provide higher quality.

Most of the book is devoted to explaining the six principles of the company's management style (with one chapter for each).

Your Business Is Part of a Much Larger System -- The focus here is to see the linkages between what you do and the effects on your stakeholders and those who are connected to them. For more on this kind of systems thinking, see The Fifth Discipline.

Your Company's Culture Is Determined by the Context You Create for It -- By setting appropriate goals that inspire people, you establish a way of thinking to creates the changes that you seek to make. For more on this thought, see Peter Drucker's The Effective Executive.

The Soul of Your Business Is Found in the Hearts of Its People -- Letting people know that more than profits count leads to innovation by everyone in taking responsibility for the rest of the company's relationships. For more examples, see any of Millard Fuller's books about Habitat for Humanity International.

True Power Is Living What You Know -- Living with integrity creates great personal and organizational power and effectiveness. See Tony Robbins for more examples of personal and organizational power.

You Can't Predict the Future, but You Can Create It -- Your vision of what's missing to create a better future liberates the process of making the changes that are needed. The example of establishing leadership in the Merlot category is a very good one here.

There Is a Way to Make an Idea's Time Come -- Set a good example to ease the process of change makes good ideas become real.

The book has many good qualities, but I have to note what seems like a potential deficiency in the case history. While all of us like to think that alcohol is harmless, it actually destroys many lives and harms the families and friends of those whose lives it destroys. Alcoholics drink fine table wine just as much as they drink anything else. Although there is one brief mention of standing for wine consumption in moderation, the Fetzer story doesn't include any ideas for making itself more sustainable by dealing with alcoholism. It's a startling omission. I also wondered how much of the company's efforts to be "green" and respectful to stakeholders and stakeholders' stakeholders are related to residual guilt over the harm created by alcoholic beverages. For example, if you grow consumption of wine in the United States by increasing overall alcohol consumption, have you just created more alcoholics? Is that sustainable progress?

I graded the book down one star for failing to adequately address this issue.

Be sustainable in every way you can!

What could be more fitting than a recommendation for Paul Dolan's book, "True to Our Roots: Fermenting a Business Revolution"? Through this book, I became aware of Fetzer's attempt to reengineer the entire American wine industry along sustainable principles.

A few quotes:

"Fetzer Vineyards increased earnings an average of 15 percent a year through the 1990s, while keeping its environmental and social responsibilities as top priorities. Our experience proves that operating on a more sustainable basis is not an economic liability. If anything, we see sustainability as an economic asset and a competitive advantage."

"A successful sustainable business... reaches out beyond the next four quarters, beyond the next five years, to consider what's ahead for the next generation. I is prosperous without being wasteful. It grows without mortgaging its future. It shares its discoveries without giving up its leadership. A successful business lives by its principles, and each new challenge is an opportunity to express those principles more fully, not abandon them conveniently."

Taking a stand is different from taking a position. Gandhi did not take a position that the British salt laws were bad, or unfair, or illegal. They may have been all that, but he was not interested in taking a position about them. He wanted to end them. So he took a stand. There is a huge difference."

(I wish I had space to reprint Dolan's vision of a sustainable society based on sustainable business. If you get the book, it's on pages 150-151.)

Paul shows how a big business can have a much bigger and healthier effect on society not just the company's bottom line. The integrity of Paul Dolan and Fetzer vineyards in their goal to be sustainable should inspire everyone.

Paul Dolan's book is different from many of the other leadership books on the market in that he develops the "context" for leadership. His description of his own experiences allowed me to understand more about how great leadership is developed individually. This is not a recipe or formulaic book, but a well written, heart-felt attempt to appeal to our humanity while those of us charged with leadership lead.

Captures very well a particular time and place. The central character, Twylla, has an appealing sweetness, an innocence, just right for the time. She is all the more compelling when corruption and violence erupt around her. Twylla is a fast, fun read.

I cried for this young girl. I thought she showed a lot of courage to finally face the ghosts of her past. Although the story centers around a mystery, with a fair amount of violence, the book is really about people and making the good choices in life. I recommend Twylla to anyone who wants an unforgettable journey in to the real world of both joy and pain.

As well-conceived mystery thrillers go, this one has terrific character mosaics and a bittersweet if not surreal romance going for it. I see this gal as your typical high school sweetheart trying to run from her past only to get swarmed by really evil people trying to do her in. She brings out the hero in all us home-boys.

I cried for this young girl. I think she showed a lot of courage to finally face the ghosts of her past. And I loved the ending. Although the story centers around a mystery, with a fair amount of violence, the book is really about people and making the good choices in life. I recommend Twylla to anyone who wants an unforgettable trip in to the real world of both joy and pain.

As well-conceived mystery thrillers go, this one has terrific character mosaics and a bittersweet if not surreal romance going for it. I see this girl as your typical high school sweetheart trying to run from her past only to get swarmed by really evil people trying to do her in. She brings out the hero in all us home-boys.

This book was really good, I liked the humor that was in the book

Tervalon grew up in South Central LA and taught high school in Watts, so it should come as no surprise that his 1994 debut novel set in the same milieu is a gripping polyphonic work that rings with authenticity. Eight different narrators alternate over fifteen chapters to bring to life the problems of growing up in the 'hood in story bookended by shootings. The book starts with teenage football player Francois tossing a football in the street with his old friend turned dealer Doug, who is promptly gunned down by his girlfriend Rika. The first three chapters follow Francois and his tough-as-nails, straight-talking girlfriend Margot, as he struggles to deal with the murder and avoid Doug's brother Ollie, who's intent on revenge.

Chapter four shifts to Francois and Margot's English teacher Michaels, a figure who appears to be modeled on Tervalon and provides the first adult view on these struggling kids. Next chapter is Ollie, whose efforts to step into his big brother's shoes as player/dealer are quickly squashed. Francois's mother Ann steps in to provide the perspective of a long-despairing mother trying to keep her kids on the right path, but without a too much conviction. Crackhead Rika appears next, and is shown to have quickly shed her privileged background to become be a hardened femme fatale figure. Unfortunately, her backstory feels rather incomplete, and as she's a pivotal figure in the narrative, it's a pity Tervalon didn't devote a little more time to her story.

The story then shifts back to Francois and Margot, whose stormy relationship appears to be destined to wreck upon the imminent shores of Margot's departure for college at UC-Santa Cruz. She details a one-week orientation trip up there that might as well be to a foreign country for its strangeness. Meanwhile, Francois dabbles in the drug trade up in Santa Barbara with his shady friend Tommy, who narrates the next chapter. Tommy isn't a particularly distinctive figure, and his voice feels somewhat similar to the braggadocio of Ollie. Francois returns to Los Angeles, where Ann picks up the story again, having decided to move to Atlanta. She struggles with Francois' inexplicable (to her) depression and refusal to go to school and graduate.

Ann calls in Michaels, who half-heartedly tries to convince Francois to finish school up in the subsequent chapter. in the latter part of this, Michales meets up with Margot and shares an awkward dinner with her. He has a weird, uneasy attraction to Margot the whole book which is never fully articulated and feels kind of forced. Francois returns to explain his new setup as the manager of a check-cashing store for another dealer and his final date with Margot, escorting her to Michaels' wedding. Things take a turn for the melodramatic when Ollie's sister Sally appears to reveal the discovery of Rika as a pregnant homeless woman. Sally is a fierce Christian who doesn't take any backtalk from Ollie and comes across as a younger, firmer version of Ann. She and Ann attempt to help Rika out, until a final climactic shooting. The coda is provided six months later by Michaels, who has left to go to law school, but returns to meet up with Margot after her first semester of college.

Overall this is a very impressive debut, although it might have been strengthened by sticking with fewer narrators. Michaels could have been fleshed out a bit more too--as the former insider, now an outside observer, he could have offered a more interesting perspective. Still, for the most part, the dialogue sparkles with reality as we see these kids struggling to operate within their highly constrained environment. A strong start for Tervalon, who has since moved into period fiction about New Orleans and is now embroiled in legal problems with his publisher.

This novel does what the writer Tom Wolfe says a novel should do: it goes deeply into a world that most of us don't know and brings back a lively and intelligent report that is well rendered and ultimately unforgettable. The story is tragic and hopeful and insightful and sad all at once. Good book.

Tervalon can write. There's not a sentence that doesn't fit. Every word is in exactly the right place and contributes to the whole, and yet the writing is so restrained and understated that you have no sense of the author's presence, but only of his many, extraordinarily vivid characters. The plot is the least interesting part of the book, but still it hooks you. The book, like life, has its melodramatic moments, but also moments of humor and lots of sympathetic insight into a host of interesting people trying, with varying degrees of success, to make the best of their lives. The abiding feeling left by the book is not the cliched angst of urban hopelessless, etc. etc., but something far more positive and difficult to describe, because the world of this book is far too complex and finely-drawn to be summarized in any string of adjectives. A terrific book.

UNDERSTAND THIS is a classic book for the 90's, a thoroughly modern re-telling of ROMEO AND JULIET. But this time, instead of the Montagues and the Capulets, we've got rival gangs in south central, unwed moms, and some damn good dialogue. Tervalon has a strong voice and his characters shine with the kind of authentic alive-ness that many writers strive for, but few realize. UNDERSTAND THIS sets a tone for inner-city romance. It's not enough to chronicle, one must create art. Tervalon does this, and does it well. We don't feel sorry for anyone in this novel, we don't patronize, and we don't pity. What we do by the end of the novel,as we turn the last page, is what Tervalon hoped, and he succeeds brilliantly. We understand - this. Just a little bit better.

A good history of Guatemala's civil war that is not boring to read. While the viewpoint seems to be that the communist rebels had a just cause, they are given as much blame for the violence that ensued.

Victor Perera is a native guatemalan who took the better part of 6 years to write this book. This book is chock full of great information gathered from hundreds of interviews. Perera doesn't waste time trying to interpret the events he writes about, instead he let's the participants and witnesses speak for themselves. He interviews everybody for this book from wealthy landowners, government officials, military personel, catholic and evangelical clergy and mostly the mayan people who have suffered from 30 years of civil war. He then fills in the cracks with historical background. His writing is very precise and specific, his descriptions paint a very vivid picture of the oppression and genocide that continues to take place.

The book begins with his visits to the garbage dump slums of guatemala city and proceeds to other hot spots of violence. The core of the book is those chapters about the ixil triangle area where as many as one third of the local mayan population was killed, disappeared or forced to flee the country.

..............socks

The terrible situation that happened to this Central America nation is very well documented in this book.The author, Mr Perera, writes with a lot of insight and first hand knowledge since he lived in Guatemala for several years.The book is full with interviews the author did with local people such as soldiers,politicians,ladinos,mayas and just the average person in the street.The author is not afraid to let the reader see what is the real situation in Guatemala and is not afraid to point fingers to the real culprits.This book is a very good work that identifies the problems of not only the mayans as a people but also the problems and corruption that politicians have brought on its own people.Great work!

AND I BELIEVE That everything that this "people" have done to the poor of the world, is going to come back at them to bite them right in their behind!.

"THIRD WORLD COUNTRY" STANDS FOR MIND, BODY AND SPIRIT.

This wide-ranging book, written beautifully and knowledgeably, is a pleasure to read and a must for anyone interested in Guatemalan (or Central American) history and/or Mayan culture. Mr. Perera does not take particular pains to hide his sympathies (clearly pro-environmental protection, pro-indigenous people's rights) but the intelligence of his writing and the mastery and breadth of the subject matter make this the most articulate, beautiful, informative statement of those views I've read. What a disappointment to learn that this powerful voice was silenced not long after this book by a stroke and his subsequent death. Read this book!

Needed book for a class. I received it early and fast. I would buy from this seller again.

An incredibly thorough examination, making hundreds of original interpretations of the individual works of Duchamp as well as his body of work as a whole. Throughout I was charmed by Judovitz'sense of humor and punnery which reflects that of Duchamp. A real treat for readers, writers and artists like myself.

Dalia Judovitz has written a challenging, stimulating and exhaustively researched book on Duchamp. Her take on many aspects of Duchamp's career is fresh and imaginative, as for example in her close reading of his word play and ready-mades. After the comprehensive studies of Duchamp's ready-mades by Antin, Bauer, Caws, Compton, de Duve, James et al this is very impressive.

A key chapter on Art and Economics, cultural and economic value, as one Duchamp scholar observes, "opens up a whole new area of investigation. Her discussion of the Monte-Carlo Bond and the less well known Drain Stopper which she cleverly compares to Renaissance Art Medals will intrigue all those who are seriously interested in Duchamp.

This is a book to be read and re-read.

Unpacking Duchamp is a highly innovative and breakthrough investigation into Duchamp's transformations of the conditions and status of twentieth-century art, art making, and art viewing. Judovitz approaches Duchamp's "oeuvre" from many interrelated angles, offering detailed and illuminating analyses of individual works, all the while contextualizing her discussions through considerable research and erudition. Her mode of inquiry is at once historical and philosophical -- perfect for the study of Duchamp. Intellectually refined, the book is clear, well-written, with many dashes of humor.

Unpacking Duchamp will appeal to culture critics, historians, and theoreticians, as well as to artists and writers. It is a must read for anyone interested in the contemporary conditions of art.

With so much of the literature available on Marcel Duchamp offering accounts that neither seem to fully resonate with the evidence of the work or with the spirit of the artist himself, I find Unpacking Duchamp to be a refreshing exception. Not only does this book live up to its title's promise of showing us how to "unpack" the master's enigmatic thinking, it does so with such wit and grace that I suspect even he would tip his hat to its author. Taking a body of his work that often appears overly difficult and elusive to enter into, Ms. Judovitz does the nearly impossible, gently prying it open in ways that are beautifully lucid, accessible, and free of jargon, yet, entirely up to the challenge of her ever-moving subject. She constructs readings of the work that go beyond analysis and interpretation to become aesthetic acts in their own right --- reciprocating one that generously enable her readers to enter into and perform their own Duchampian thinking, in ways that genuinely illuminate and bring it to life. This is potentially Duchamp's most important legacy to us but an aspect of his work that often seems poorly understood by many specialists.

In short, I'm extremely glad to finally have a book like this, and I look forward to rereading it in the future. If you are considering it, I would say that it's a challenging read, but one I would strongly recommend if you are at all interested in Duchamp or just interested in exploring an extraordinary mode of thought and creativity. While I do have some knowledge of twentieth-century art, this was not really essential to my appreciation of the book. Its interest and appeal should be broad-based and not limited to either an art audience or one of largely academic interests.

"Untangling the World-knot" systematically explores an approach to the mind-body problem that mainstream scientists and philosophers alike are too scared to touch. The doctrine in question is the idea that, at a fundamental level, all matter may have a mental aspect. Even scholars whose discussion of consciousness leads them to this idea, like Chalmers (in "The Conscious Mind"), allude to it briefly and then hurry on to other matters lest they be taken too seriously.

Griffin reviews the problems with the two traditional approaches to the mind-body problem: dualism and materialism. From his perspective, both of these alternatives make the same error that leads to intractable problems: that is, both theories postulate that matter has no mental aspect. The proposed solution is so conceptually simple as to seem trivial: allow the fundamental material units to carry a mental aspect.

Griffin takes pains to develop a plausible "panexperientialist" model and to distinguish it from "straw man" panpsychist models. For example, his scheme is not just "parallelism" between a mental and a physical aspect of matter. Such parallelism would deny causal efficacy to the mental, if the system's dynamics are completely determined by the physical. Similarly, he revives a crucial distinction (from Leibneiz and Whitehead) between "mere aggregates" and "genuine individuals" to form a model in which "rocks do NOT have feelings," in accord with our intuition. In general, Griffin does a good job of countering the knee-jerk reasons for dismissing panpsychism.

One potential source of confusion in Griffin's argument, however, stems from his non-standard usage of the terms "experience" and "consciousness" in which "consciousness" is a relatively high-level construct, so that the "awareness" of "experience" can be "unconscious." This led at least one reviewer to conclude that Griffin's analysis is useless because the "hard problem" of generating consciousness from unconsious matter (in traditional theories) is simply replaced with another "hard problem" of generating consciousness from "unconscious experience." I don't think this criticism does justice to Griffin's proposal. I think the distinction between the panpsychist theory and the materialistic theory can be recovered, or clarified, by reading "low-level consciousness" for "experience," and "high-level consciousness" for "consciousness" in Griffin's exposition.

Griffin's book is refreshing in its open-mindedness and relative fearlessness. He takes seriously several possibilities that most scientists would not seriously consider, such as human free will and parapsychological effects like telepathy or telekinesis--thus he will probably be dismissed by scientific experts who read him cursorilly. Moreover, to address two problems that do NOT get automatically solved by adopting a panpsychist model (the binding or "combination" problem, and the problem of a causally efficacious free will), Griffin resorts to principles of quantum physics. Quantum physics is another from the short list of the most annoying topics to mainstream scientists studying consciousness. This is probably why Griffin does not emphasize his apparent conclusion (in a footnote!) that a quantum coherent state is the only candidate for a neural substrate of a unified consciousness. (Were he to emphasize the role of quantum physics, he would have to stray far from his main topic of panpsychism, to respond to the list of knee-jerk reasons people dismiss the possibility of macroscopic quantum effects in the brain, which is not his area of expertise. The number one objection, as quantified and published by Tegmark, is that the brain is too hot to sustain a macroscopic quantum coherent state. That calculation assumes the brain is at thermodynamic equilibrium, which it is not. A rigorous model by Frohlich shows how quantum coherence can emerge at high temperatures when (metabolic) energy is pumped through a system--it was not considered by Tegmark. A regular laser-pointer shows that by pumping energy through a system quantum coherence can be achieved at room temperature.)

Readers new to the subject may be put off by his extensive discussion of other authors in the initial chapters, but overall this is an excellent, thoughtful book on the mind-body problem from a non-traditional perspective. Of the many recent books about consciousness, most describe variants of functionalism. If you've read one book about functionalism you've pretty much read them all. Griffin's book is clear treatment of a genuinely different alternative.

Books like this don't come along too often. I've been reading about consciousness and physics for about twenty years as an adult and this work was life-changing for me. This is the case because it presents the most thoughtful, non-paradoxical and commonsensical approach to the "hard problem" of consciousness that I have yet to encounter. It also inspired me to start work on my own book on similar (but broader) topics, with the panexperientialism paradigm as my foundation.

David Chalmers' own wonderful work, The Conscious Mind, first introduced me to the notion of panpsychism. Yet, as another reviewer points out, Chalmers does not focus on this discussion and I am not aware of him having returned to it since.

Griffin's work is, while fairly difficult itself, a great introduction to the staggering works by Alfred North Whitehead, which are generally extremely difficult to read and comprehend. Whitehead famously did not spend much time editing or re-working his own drafts and it shows. While he has a knack for one-liners at times, he was certainly not writing for easy comprehension. Griffin and his colleagues in the "process philosophy" school of thought have done much over the last 80 years to make Whitehead's ideas more accessible.

With Griffin's own body of work growing quite large, I am at a loss to explain why he is not better known. He certainly deserves more recognition and I am very happy to see this new paperback of a book that was heretofore practically impossible to find since its original 1997 publication.

For anyone with a serious interest in the philosophy of mind and ontology (metaphysics), this book is a must-read. And I hope others are inspired enough to put pen to paper and start spreading the panexperientialist worldview because it is a much grander, welcoming and compassionate worldview than the current physicalist/scientistic worldview.

UNSNARLING THE WORLD-KNOT by David Ray Griffin is a superb, path-breaking book on the mind-body problem, one of the central and most intractable issues in modern philosophy. Called the "world-knot" by Arthur Schopenhauer, the mind-body problem has defied unsnarling from its inception in the 17th Century as a result of the work of Descartes. In essence, the mind-body problem is the question of the relationship between the mind or the mental, and the body or the physical. Is mind as "real" as body, or is it an "epiphenomenon?" Descartes proposed that mind and body are both real, but composed of fundamentally different "stuffs." His dualism, however, creates the difficult problem of explaining how the two different types of stuff can interact with or influence each other. The other major approach is that of the "materialists" (sometimes called "physicalists"), who argue that there is only one stuff, matter. Their view leads to insoluble difficulties by denying the reality of the mind or reducing it to some kind of unexplained "epiphenomenon."

Exponents of these two dominant approaches, modern materialism and modern dualism, have succeeded in spotlighting fatal flaws in each other's attempts but have failed to defend themselves against these critiques. Recently they have begun to admit that mainstream modern philosophy has reached an impasse. Griffin takes advantage of this admission to propose that a solution to the problem can be found with a third version of realism, called panexperientialism. Building on and developing the radical insights of the process philosopher Alfred North Whitehead, Griffin approaches the mind-body problem from a new direction and with new tools of thought, and blazes a new way forward.

Griffin's subtitle indicates his focus on the two major domains of significance of the problem, for consciousness and freedom. His book systematically identifies the weaknesses of the dualist and materialist approaches and then builds a substantive alternative to them. In the first seven chapters he lays out seven separate problems which have comprised the "snarls" of the world-knot, and untangles them one by one, so that he can then in the last three chapters provide his panexperientialist solution.

In Chapter 1 Griffin shows that one major snarl has been insufficient clarity about exactly what problem is being addressed. Discussants have often treated two or more of six related problems without sufficiently careful distinction between them, leading to confusion. The most serious impediment to clarity has been the prevailing metaphysical assumption that experience (whether conscious or not) arises out of non-experiencing things.

In Chapter 2 Griffin shows that tendencies in human thought, even philosophical thought, which he terms "paradigmatic" and "wishful-and-fearful" thinking, have influenced the discussion of the mind-body problem because they have not been sufficiently attended to and corrected for. Griffin sketches the origins of both the dualistic and the materialistic paradigms in wishful-and-fearful thinking about the ideas advanced by various schools of "Renaissance naturalism" which held that all entities in nature are "self-moving." For different reasons both the dualist and the materialist camps preferred a view of nature in which matter is essentially inert. Their modern descendants have maintained this metaphysical view without consideration of alternatives, such as panexperientialism.

In Chapter 3 Griffin explicates the failure of modern philosophy to distinguish between two kinds of common sense, "soft core" and "hard core". Soft-core (or weak) commonsense ideas are those held to consciously by some people, which are often shown by science to be false. Hard-core (or strong) commonsense notions are those that all people assume in practice, even if they may deny them consciously. Science cannot show hard-core commonsense notions to be false, for they underlie all human activity, including science. Whitehead, Griffin shows, pioneered a rigorous distinction between the two types of common sense in his "metaphysical rule of evidence", which he defined as the imperative "that we must bow to those presumptions which, in despite of criticism, we still employ for the regulation of our lives." Griffin argues that this means "that the ultimate criteria for theoretical thought [including science] are those notions that all human beings inevitably presuppose in practice, even if and when they deny them verbally" (p. 18). Among the hardcore commonsense notions denied by scientists and philosophers in the debate over the mind-body problem are "freedom and the reality and efficacy of conscious experience." He concludes that "soft-core common sense should never be allowed to trump the hard-core variety" (p. 21).

In Chapter 4 Griffin argues that discussants of the mind-body problem have not achieved sufficient clarity about the formal and substantive "regulative principles" that should be exemplified if a theory is to be considered a serious candidate for acceptance. An example of a "formal" regulative principle is adherence to the distinction between hard-core and soft-core common sense. An example of a substantive regulative principle is "that a theory should be compatible with the evolutionary origin of human beings" (p. 22). Because most of the debate has centered on details of proposed theories, rather than on the regulative principles underlying them, much confusion has resulted and there has been a general failure to make progress. To correct this serious situation Griffin, in the bulk of the chapter, proposes eleven formal and six substantive regulative principles that should govern the discussion of the mind-body problem.

In Chapter 5 Griffin argues that there has been insufficient clarity about the data to which an adequate theory must do justice. "One reason that contemporary theories of mind vary so greatly is that different theorists are presupposing greatly different ideas about the kinds of data to which a theory must be adequate. Data that one theorist considers fundamental, perhaps devoting a hundred pages to defending, will be dismissed in a sentence by other theorists, if mentioned at all. ... But the formal principle of adequacy [introduced in Chapter 4] should lead us to resist systematizing until we have tried to assemble the various kinds of data that need to be unified" (p. 33).

Griffin then lays out the types of data that need to be assembled before adequate theory construction can begin: I. Hard-core commonsense notions, which include: 1. The reality of "the external world"; 2. The reality of efficient causation understood as the real influence of one thing (or many things) on another; 3. The reality of the past and the future and therefore of time; 4. The reality of our conscious experience with its emotions, pains, pleasures, perceptions, purposes, decisions, memories, anticipations; 5. Bodily influence on conscious experience; 6. The unity of our experience; 7. The efficacy of conscious experience for bodily behavior; 8. Freedom, in the sense of self-determination; 9. Our awareness of norms. II. Evidence for the evolution of life in general and of human beings, especially the human brain, in particular. III. Evidence for the dependence of (at least some) conscious states on brain states. IV. The apparent capacity of the mind for nonsensory perception, including perception of mathematical and logical entities, values, norms, principles, forms, counter-factual possibilities, memories, transcendent religious experiences, telepathy, and clairvoyance. V. Altered states of consciousness. VI. The apparent capacity of human experience to exert extraordinary causal efficacy, including placebo effects and the power of mental attitudes to contribute to physical illnesses, hypnotic impacts on the body, faith healing, stigmata, effects of meditation and biofeedback, and psychokinesis.

In Chapter 6, Griffin argues that it is seldom realized that the mind-body problem is rooted even more deeply in the "Cartesian intuition" about the body than in that about the mind. According to Descartes, "matter is completely different in kind form mind. Matter is spatially extended, mind is not. Mind has temporal duration, matter does not (in the sense that it can exist at an `instant', not requiring any temporal duration to be what it is). Mind has an `inside,' consisting of thoughts, desires, feelings and volitions, and thereby has intrinsic value; it is something for itself. Matter is all `outside' and is therefore devoid of any value for itself; ... Matter exerts causal efficacy only by efficient causation ... mind exercises final causation or self-determination" (p. 46-7). Although they differ over Descartes' ideas of mind, both dualists and materialists in the mind-body debate accept these Cartesian characterizations of matter. They assume that most physical things are not also mental. "It is precisely this assumption ... that creates the insuperable problems of the various dualisms and materialisms alike" (p. 47).

In Griffin's usage, the term "dualism" refers to ontological dualism. "This doctrine contains a double thesis: (1) that the mind is an actuality numerically distinct from the brain ... and (2) that it is ontologically different in kind from the entities of which the brain consists." By "materialism", Griffin refers to materialistic monism, "which contains the double thesis (1) that all actual things are material and (2) there is no mind or soul in the sense of an actuality numerically distinct from brain. In fact, it is a threefold thesis, because the statement that `all actual things are material' must be specified to mean that at least most actual things, certainly the fundamental ones, are devoid of any experience" (p. 47-8).

On the basis of these careful distinctions Griffin then proceeds in the bulk of Chapter 6 to lay out in detail the problems inherent in the two approaches which have confounded a solution. In this exceptionally incisive overview of all the relevant literature from both camps he identifies three problems unique to dualism, seven problems unique to materialism, and four further problems both approaches share. Griffin's trenchant critique cuts through masses of confusion and questionable assumptions, notably loosening the world-knot.

In Chapter 7 Griffin begins to present his case for panexperientialism, a third form of realism or naturalism which has been ignored or dismissed without substantive discussion by most modern philosophers. "In spite of widespread agreement (especially by nondualists) that `mind should be naturalized,' the two fundamental features of mind, experience and self-determination, have generally not been taken to be fully natural. This has led to the false conclusion that dualism and materialism provide the only realistic options (with `realism' understood as the view that the physical universe really exists, independently of human perception and thought)" (p. 7). Griffin calls the long debate between dualists and materialists a "family quarrel. It is a squabble, apparently interminable, among those who have accepted early modernity's absolute exclusion of all experiential features from the basic units of nature. ... [T]he way forward ... would seem to be obvious: Let's try out the version of realism that is excluded from the family, ... panexperientialism." (p. 77-8). Panexperientialism is "the only form of realism that truly regards the mind as natural" (p. 79).

After documenting the systematic exclusion of this robust form of realism from the modern debate, Griffin presents nine reasons for philosophers to consider it more seriously, and then surveys common objections to the doctrine which have caused it to be summarily dismissed. The concluding section of the chapter, "Are We Incapable of Radical Conceptual Innovation?", addresses the widespread modern position which has resulted from the failure to unsnarl the world-knot, which is that the human mind is simply incapable of providing a constructive solution to the problem. Griffin locates the roots of this intellectual demoralization in modern philosophy's restriction of all perception to sensory perception. This restriction is arguably false because it ignores proprioception (perception originating in internal receptor cells) and nonsensory perception (obvious, well-attested examples of which are telepathy and clairvoyance). Griffin's detailed discussion of perception shows that it is has been premature to deny that there is a way to unsnarl the world-knot. "[I]n fact ... Whitehead has already blazed the trail" (p. 115).

Having loosened all the tangled strands of the problem, Griffin is ready to move forward along the promising path provided by panexperientialism. In Chapter 8, the key chapter of the book, he presents an exposition of Whitehead's thought, which he views as "an extended solution to the mind-body problem" (p. 119). He begins with Whitehead's "fallacy of misplaced concreteness," that is, the "error of mistaking the abstract for the concrete." This error occurs in the dominant modern view of nature as "simply located" matter (i.e., without essential reference to other regions of space-time), that can exist at an instant (i.e., without duration), and with no intrinsic value. The fundamental units of nature, in this modern view, are "vacuous actualities," completely devoid of experience. They are, therefore, "totally different from our conscious experience as we know it immediately" (p. 120). The primary paradox of the mind-body problem, how our experience could arise out of such fundamental natural units, only arises because of the fallacy of misplaced concreteness.

Griffin then goes on to demonstrate that just as it is necessary to overcome this fallacious view of matter to understand the mind, it is also essential to have a correct understanding of mind, especially the status of sensory perception and consciousness, to overcome the fallacious view of matter. Whitehead contended that, in Griffin's words, "we can generalize from our own experience to understand what matter is in itself" (p. 124). Griffin lays out six dimensions to this task of generalization: 1) the status of human experience in nature; 2) the status of consciousness in human experience; 3) the status of sensory perception in human experience; 4) the spatializing nature of sensory perception's presentational immediacy; 5) implications of the bodily origin of sensory perception; and 6) information about nature derived from direct "prehension" of our bodies.

Griffin then elaborates a series of nine "subjective universals" utilized by Whitehead's analysis, which are meant to apply to all subjects, "understood as momentary occasions of experience, from the human level to the actualities studied by physics" (p. 151). The subjective universals only apply to genuine individuals (whether simple, as a subatomic particle, or compound, as a human being), not aggregational entities without subjective unity, like rocks or computers.

He then reverses the direction of generalization, from the entities studied by physics to our minds. Here he discusses Whitehead's understanding of the world studied by physics as composed of spatio-temporal events, with inherent duration (there is no such thing as "nature at an instant"). Apparently enduring things are really temporally ordered societies of events. Whitehead generalizes this physical insight to, in Griffin's words, "our own stream of experience, concluding that the apparently continuous stream actually comes in drops, or occasions, of experience" (p. 157).

This understanding allows a solution to the fundamental philosophical question of how efficient and final causation are related. Thus the "vicious dualism" of two sundered stuffs dissolves; the only valid dualism is that which distinguishes between the subjective and objective modes of existence of each actual occasion. "Qua subject, an actual occasion enjoys duration; qua object for later subjects, it is purely spatial, with no duration left. We know ourselves from within, as having duration, and other things from without, hence as devoid of duration. To translate this epistemic duality into an ontological dualism between two different kinds of actualities ... is to commit a category mistake" (p. 161).

In Chapter 9 Griffin takes up the hard-core commonsense notion that is most often denied, freedom. He lays out five principles that are presupposed in the standard denial of freedom by materialists, and then argues in detail why they should be rejected, utilizing Whitehead's concept of the compound individual, "in which there are experiences of a higher and more inclusive type that give ... experiential unity. ... The idea that human behavior must, against all appearances, be as determined as that of a billiard ball has arisen because of the assumption that their respective organizations are analogous. Given a panexperientialist ontology, however, in which more complex experiences can be emergent out of myriad less complex ones, we can develop a position consistent with those principles we presuppose in practice", specifically, the hard-core commonsense notion of freedom (p. 186-7).

Griffin then examines the question of whether there is a higher-level form of compound individual than the human being. Is there a "cosmic mind?" Is the universe actually one compound individual? One of the questions answered by the notion of a cosmic mind is how abstract entities or possibilities, revealed by nonsensory perceptions, such as logical, mathematical, ethical and esthetic forms, could exist. The influence of the mind of the universe would be a fully natural part of the normal causal processes of nature. "This is a broader naturalism than that of materialism, to be sure, but it is a naturalism. As a broader naturalism, it can be more empirical, because it can accommodate types of data that from a materialist standpoint would require either supernaturalism or a priori denial" (p. 206). Panexperientialism's broader naturalism can also accommodate nonsensory perceptions such as telepathy and clairvoiyance. Griffin concludes the chapter with a defense of his claim that moral responsibility implies metaphysical freedom.

In the last chapter, Griffin makes the nature and adequacy of the panexperientialist position clearer by means of a detailed critique of "materialistic physicalism," as articulated in Jaegwon Kim's influential Supervenience and Mind.

David Ray Griffin's UNSNARLING THE WORLD-KNOT is a magisterial contribution to philosophy, written with verve and style. This already-lengthy review has only been able to touch on some of the highlights of this rich, epoch-making book. Deep insights and delights await the reader on virtually every page. All serious seekers of an understanding of reality should read it.

The "mind/body problem" is a perennial debate among scientists and philosophers alike, demarcating thinkers into two camps: the "dualists" who conceive of the mind and body as separate things (concerned with determining how they interact), and the "materialists" who believe that the body is all there is (concerned with determining what/how consciousness arises from inert matter.)

The book takes a fresh approach by pointing out that the "either/or" dichotomy results from Descartes' conceptualization of the mind and body as made of different "substances." Materialists, zealous to avoid unscientific "supernatural" notions, postulate that matter is all there is, but then must describe how matter can produce consciousness which we all obviously have - it is an undeniable primary fact of our awareness. To the extent that they deny the reality of something that obviously exists, just to remain faithful to their worldview, the materialialists' paradigm is necessarily incomplete.

The author points out that part of the problem is rooted in the fact that our study of the mind and of matter occur in separate ways - the study of matter is done by physical manipulation of the world around us, while the study of our consciousness is done primarily by introspection of our own mental states. The "bridge" between these two modes of analysis must be developed.

The author presents his own philosophical synthesis that perhaps all aggregations of matter have varying degrees of "experience," with more complex living beings' "experience" (stored information) attaining the status of self-awareness, (animal consciousness, etc.), all the way up to human sentience.

This is a very dense, thickly-written book, which is why I gave it four stars - I think it could have been edited to explain the ideas a bit more clearly. However, it contains an interesting new perspective for future deliberations regarding this fundamental aspect of our existence, and anyone who is interested in the scientific analysis of consciousness would do well to read it.

We live in a world where common sense often is at odds with contemporary theories about mind, body, spirit, consciousness, and freedom. In addition, there are many who feel that our fragmented ideas about the nature of reality underlie the psychological fragmentation which produces incredible psychic distress in a vast number of psychotherapy clients.

Our current conceptual architecture has created a house where the mind, the body, and the spirit each has a separate room without adjoining doors or even widows. Yet our common sense tells us that these are simply different facets of the same reality. What is needed is a new conceptual architecture which can support this deeply felt sense of the unity of reality.

Griffin's latest book goes a long ways toward articulating this new conceptual architecture in a manner that is generally clear and persuasive. Citing both empirical research and numerous contemporary and historical philosophers, he offers up a number of compe! lling arguments which aim at resolving once and for all times the paradox of how mind emerges from a seemingly material or physical universe.

Drawing from his extensive background in the process philosophy of Alfred North Whitehead's, Griffin makes it clear any number of times that the process cosmology is able to bring physical dynamics and mental dynamics together into each and every core unit of reality.

This is a radical idea which works its way into the reader's consciousness from any number of points of view. For example, most scientific analyses of reality, and the philosophies which build upon them, exclude anything to do with mentality. This means that mental elaborations of direct physical experience are banished from consideration. This, in turn, makes it impossible to clearly understand how mind is in any way connected to the natural world. Whitehead's Process Philosophy, however, understands the physical and the mental as integral aspects of every component of! reality. This alone, if at least tolerated, makes it much ! easier to have an appreciation of how mind can be a part of nature.

Secondly, by reversing the emphasis of the above, Griffin shows how mind also can influence the body built by nature. This challenges the complementary assumption of most scientific analyses of reality, namely that mentality either does not exist, or if it does, it is at best an epiphenomenon without efficacy in the real world. Whitehead's perspective is that all of the events which constitute what we call mind have a physical component and therefore are capable of being causally efficacious in the real world, just as all of the so-called physical world has at least a low-grade mental elaboration of the physical experience.

Thirdly, Griffin shows how the idea of a presiding mentality of the level of the human mind is foreshadowed for many millions of years in the kind of organization to be found in cells, organelles within those cells, and even down to macromolecules, ordinary molecules, and atoms. Whereve! r there is "behavior [which] seems to require a central agent with an element of spontaneity or self-determination," one has the potential for a presiding event which has emerged in response to the necessity of providing organizational unity and flexibility of response (even if very minute). The human mind, while unique in some very important respects, is not at all discontinuous with the natural world.

If there is any significant criticism of this book, it might be that the issues and dynamics of spirituality are not as vigorously developed as the other major themes. The Whiteheadian perspective supports this fully integrated discussion. However, for purposes of this book and its primary audience, a fuller discussion of spirituality could well have been an unnecessary impediment to an already challenging work.

Overall, Griffin's arguments are numerous, varied, both complex and direct. Even the most committed materialist or dualist will find something disturbing ! in this work, will encounter some argument or appeal to dat! a which cannot be easily dismissed. For those of us wishing to be systematically persuaded that we live in a single reality that includes atoms, consciousness, and spirit, his systematically developed book is very helpful.

this book was AWSOME i had to read it for class but i loved it. plot was twisting and turning and had me hooked till the last word

I recently met Marcos M. Villatoro, the author of this series, and was compelled to read A Venom Beneath the Skin after hearing him speak. I was not disappointed, in either the book or the author. This book grabbed me on page one and kept me hostage until the very last word. The story and the writing are hard hitting yet compassionate, and the look into the multi-cultural layers of Los Angeles fascinating. Romilia Chacón is a true masterpiece as a protagonist. She is tough yet vulnerable, and her emotional and intellectual relationship with drug lord Tekún Umán is both titillating and bone chilling.

I love this series. After hearing a profile of this book and author on public radio, I read Home Killings, followed quickly by Minos, and now this book. Each one is better than the last. Readers of the first two books should particularly enjoy the focus on Romilia's relationship with Tekun, the compelling villain/hero/love interest in this novel. I don't read a lot of "genre" fiction, but this book demonstrates that crime fiction can have all the complexity and character development usually associated with literary fiction.

From first page to last, Marcos M. Villatoro's A Venom Beneath the Skin is a suspenseful page-turner, but more importantly this fun book is also an intelligent feminist multi-cultural literary intervention.

Looking at the book from a feminist perspective, first, Romilia Chacon is a strong, yet realistic woman. For example, she is sexy (and there are sex scenes!) but her sexuality is truthful. She's both "hot" and matter-of-fact. Second, several other multifaceted females support Romilia's story. Detective Chacon is not presented as a female superhero anomaly. Finally, the males' stories may be secondary, but they too are diverse and sensitively portrayed in often surprising and nontraditional ways. This description may sound vague, but if I give details as to how these characters are multifaceted and nontraditional, it would give away some of the shocking twists!

As a multi-cultural story Villatoro's book is extremely effective. It teaches histories and cultures without being heavy-handed or didactic. I learned more about Tijuana Mexicans, Mexican-Americans, Guatemalans, various cities and political histories, and yet it never felt like I was being taught. Whiteness is also deconstructed and explained (through a here unnamed female character!) and African American and Asian American women make appearances that may be brief, but they're not tokens.

A Venom Beneath the Skin is excellent for anyone to read for a good time however what makes it a truly excellent read are the sensitive character portrayals and the socio-political framework. I'm a picky and easily offended reader, but I do love to read. I'm choosey with my recommendations, but I sincerely recommend Villatoro's book for pleasure, in the college classroom, and for reading groups.

After taking down Minos, Romilia Chacon, a Nashville Police Department detective is offered a job with the FBI in Los Angeles, which she accepts. In LA she has an affair with Special Agent Samuel "Chip" Pierce. The relationship ends when he wants more from her than she can give; they go their separate ways until one night he calls her to see if they can start anew since he is retiring. As much as she cares for him, she can not marry a man she doesn't love.

That night a man breaks into Chip's home and murders him. The evidence, markings on his chest and a poisoned dart injecting venom into his system, suggests that drug trafficker Tekun Uman, killed him because of the former agent's involvement with the woman he loves. After reviewing Chip's files and other evidence Romilia concludes that Tekun Uman isn't Chip's killer, but made to look like he did it. She has no idea who would kill Chip and why and how Tekun Uman fits into the scenario.

Who is behind Chip's death and the murders of several drug traffickers and why he wants them dead is the core of one of the most exciting storylines in a police procedural in the past year. It is hard to tell the heroes from the villains in A VENOM BENEATH THE SKIN because all wear masks to hide their true faces. Marcus M. Villatoro is a talented writer who hopefully will createmore Romilia Chacon novels.

Harriet Klausner

Being a native Californian, I was immediately attracted to this book. When I opened it, I fell in love with the wonderful little watercolor illustrations and personal journal format. I agree with a previous reviewer who made the comment that this is a nice little souvenir book. It's definitely a worthy addition to the bookshelf of any Californian or someone who just loves California.

I live in California and I am often asked how I can stand the crowds, traffic, smog, whatever? The fact is California is a very nice place to live and visit, and Ms Gessler catches the essence of this perfectly. You can easly read the book in about an hour, but will find yourself going back again and again to enjoy the little watercolors of plants and wildlife and special places that caught her fancy, it is a fun read.

This book is very cute and an inspiration to anyone who loves to sketch or watercolor. The artwork is well done and the accompanying notes that the author wrote are humorous. Hollingsworth Gessler's trip from north to south in California and her journaling of the trip made me want to go visit towns that I've never seen before. I really enjoyed this book, so much so that I decided to buy the other book by Diana Hollingsworth Gessler called "Very Charleston". Perhaps it is because I'm a Californian that I think this book is better than the "Very Charleston" version, the watercolors in this book seemed more appealing.

A delightful read. Not a serious word in this little book of California - absolutely adorable. The illustrations are whimsical, the text is full of humor. I was right beside her experiencing everything and that which wasn't familiar I long to visit.

Diane Gessler has written (and painted) the perfect travelogue of her trip through California. It won't serve well as a guide book, even with the maps included, but her watercolors and anecdotes capture perfectly the mood and the spirit of the places she and her husband have visited. If you have been to California, this should make a much nicer souvenir than the standard-issue t-shirt with the cable car picture, and if you live here, it's the perfect reminder why one might be willing to endure the rolling black-outs or the excessive housing costs. Aside from that, the watercolor illustrations are very, very nice and made me think of taking out again my own watercolor set. Highly recommended!

I can confidently echo for you the praise the other reviewers on this page have granted The Virgin of Flames. It is the lyrical, grotesque, ecstatic, outcast story of a Los Angeles that simmers unknown to many of it's own citizens-migrants and natives alike. Chris Abani's imagery of Black, Iggy, Sweet Girl, Bomboy, Ray-Ray, Rio L.A. and East L.A., among others is quite reverential and even more than the pictures and qualities he conjures, they are brave.
As a resident of L.A. and it's environs I enjoyed those references to neighborhoods (yes, L.A. has neighborhoods), bridges, restaurants (Thai Palms-Thai Elvis) and the like that told me Mr. Abani walks these places and sees the faces and grafitti, decay and sublime magnetism that propels many of us here. He captures the mystery and possibility of Los Angeles in the radical expressionism of Black's identity experimentation, Iggy's underground venues and physical risk, Sweet Girl's bold sexuality and paralyzing trans/pro-gression. As well, the Catholic blood that run through the dusty past of Los Angeles and California, the WEST, in all it's harrowing, piercing pain. Abani's vision of a modern martyr, his many attempts at acceptance and expression reminded me of Leonard Cohen's Beautiful Losers. The artist living his life as a work of art, challenging the dominate modes through as many of his avenues of existence as possible.
Some favorite passages:
"It seemed, though, that those with a clear sense of the past, of identity, were always so eager to bury it and move on, to reinvent themselves. What a luxury, he thought, what a thing, to choose your own obsession, to choose your own suffering. Him, he was trying to reinvent an origin to bury so he could finally come into this thing he wanted to be, and he knew that if he didn't find it soon, it would destroy him, burn him up." (pgs. 123-24)
"This River was alive, this River was here before anyone knew this was a River, before anyone saw it and said, River. And its personality shaped this city. Was this city." (pg. 135)
Referring to the L.A. Mission, downtown: "It had long since lost out to Six Flags fun parks and Universal Studio's theme park. It looked sad, not in the way of a rejected wallflower, but more in the commonplace shame of a community center. A place kept open by a grudging love." (pg. 155)
Mr. Abani expresses one of the prime enigma's of Los Angeles life: "In LA we are always becoming, and any idea of a solid past, as an anchor, is soon lost here. And I mean any, that's why there is no common mythology here, that's why people come here, to get lost or to be discovered, makes no difference. It's the same coin. Other cities, like New York, have an overwhelming myth, and there is no you, as it were, without this-shall we say-New York state of mind. But here, there is none of that bulls**t, there is just you and what you see and imagine this place and your life in it to be, moment by moment. If you can't change, if you don't embrace it, you destroy yourself. The only landscape in this city is in your mind. It's very Zen..." (pg. 207)
"Ambivalence is the heart of this town. Not in spite of, but because of." (pg. 207)

I look forward to reading more of Mr. Abani's works.

This was a great read, start to finish. Daring and unexpected. Highly recommended.

I can't begin to tell you how much I enjoyed this book. Abani's characters leap from the page. It's a stunning book and I can't wait to go back and read some of Abani's earlier novels.

The Virgin of Flames is odd, complex, and accomplished. We find many of Abani's earlier themes: lost, found, and created identities, violent acts and defered release and the consequences of both, surreal consciousness, sublime sexuality and abhorent flesh, choices, imperatives, the absence in the human condition of objectivity - all ignited on the page into an escalated blaze that can keep you up nights. Abani's writing is not for those invested in happy endings. The suicides of his protagonists speed up the inevitability of a death most of us strain to delay. Yet, this is fiction, and, if you give youself over to it, The Virgin of Flames reads as a unique, disquieting voice, an extended prosepoem which will leave you changed. What other is the purpose of art?

In the Virgin of Flames Abani gives us a lyrical, daring portrait of a city and its inhabitants struggling to find their place between darkness and the sublime. Black, a mural artist, is a modern-day Hamlet searching for answers to the riddle of his past, fighting to create a whole from its fragments. This conflict is mirrored in the topography of Los Angeles, where the holy and grotesque combine in a city that reflects the struggles of post-9/11 America. Abani does not provide easy answers to any of this. Instead, he shows us characters that navigate violence and despair but retain the ability to truly care about one another and a city where, despite its urban malaise and constant veil of smoke and ash, people sing joyously in the streets. From its vivid dreamscapes to its gritty realism, Abani's novel will leave the reader breathless at the beauties and complexities of life.

I have been looking for many years for something that helps me improve and solve problems in life -- finally I found something in my hands that really tackles problems at their root causes.
It is amazing how effective the proposed solutions are. Simple, but -- and this is of utmost importance -- they WORK!! It is the first time I found a self-improvement book that helps achieving sustainable results. This book delivers what it promises if one follows each step exactly the way it is stated. If only I had had this book earlier. This Mr Hubbard must have been an amazing man -- I do not understand what his critics complain about; I am sure they never tried the solutions he proposes! In summary: A must read!

This book is simply written so that it is easy to understand. I have used many of the principles in this book and found them quite workable. A must-read for anyone who wants to learn more about several areas of "life".

There is plenty of information in here which loads of vested interests do not want you to have. And these are answers you can understand, legal and ethical ways to get on top of life's hard problems. This is rubber meets the road stuff. I've read, understood and used it all.

I found many things in this book of use to me. What I found the most helpful was the section on assists which give several simple exercises to do if someone is ill or injured. I used the assist on my husband and my daughter and it worked well both times. Each section is relatively short and easy to read. There are exercises in the back of each section to help you learn the procedures. You learn things to help people in a variety of situations. If you like to help people, whether you are a social worker or just as a good neighbor or a parent and want to learn some new things to help, I highly recommend this book.

Over the years I have refered back to the essays and solutions compiled in this volume many times. I've used it to resolve problems with my family, improve my relationship with my wife and keep me focused on my goals. It's amazing how L. Ron Hubbard wrote so many common-sense solutions that no one else though of.