Senses Books

My 10 month old received this book as a gift and he LOVES it. The images are all raised from the pages making it great fun to touch. It's fun for babies who are just learning to explore their world to play with, but I can see how it would be wonderful for a visually impaired child. The web site suggests pairing the book with the actual objects portrayed in the book (socks, beans, beads, etc) which I think is a wonderful idea.

In short, this is a wonderful book for both visual and visually impaired children. A must feel!

Sadie Can Count is an excellent children's book. Explore Sadies's world and count the things she finds. The tactile images are very well done.

This book is a MUST for parents who want an insiders view on how to help their children through the maze of the school system.
Although written from an inside view of the LAUSD most of the matieral is applicable to any school system anywhere in this country! So-o very helpful, and easily readable !

My child and I have already begun to reap the benefits from this insightful and accessible book. By following Dr. Chin's recommendations, I've been able to become a better tutor to my son. My improvement in this area has been reflected in his grades and our relationship. Thank you for writing such a helpful book, I owe you one!

This book has a lot of strengths.
The writing is exceptionally clear and straightforward.
The central ideas of physics are convincingly stated.
Mysticism (spirituality) is wonderfully summarized.
It makes sense of so many religious and New Age ideas, which are pulled together into a single scheme.
Every paragraph has an interesting idea.
I began to see how physics, brain research, and spirituality fit together.

My only complaint is that you can't read it quickly.

Being an artist rather than a physicist I am in no position to refute Donald Cooley's criticism of Casey's view of quantum mechanics but I can say that careful reading of his book was most rewarding to me as a seeker. Casey's lucid prose leads the reader into an understanding of the ways of the mystic that I found notable for its linking of science, sense & soul. This is a book that I'd want to have on a desert island to read over and over again - a real keeper.

This is one of the most clearly written and well organized textbooks in the field of psychology. In an intelligently concise manner, Prof. Schiffman captures his readers with his insightful invitations to explore the human senses. Full of well presented color diagrams, fascinating illusions and interesting pictures, this text enahnces your senses while explaining how they work. This text is a must read for any psychologist, biologist, physician or individual who is interested in learning how humans sense and perceive the environment.

This is one of the most clearly written and well organized textbooks in the field of psychology. In an intelligently concise manner, Prof. Schiffman captures his readers with his insightful invitations to explore the human senses. Full of well presented color diagrams, fascinating illusions and interesting pictures, this text enahnces your senses while explaining how they work. This text is a must read for any psychologist, biologist, physician or individual who is interested in learning how humans sense and perceive the environment.

I've just finished re-reading Frank Kermode's THE SENSE OF AN ENDING, a series of lectures he gave at Bryn Mawr College in 1965. (The version I have does not have the new epilogue.) The basic theme of his lectures is how and the extent to which fiction is ordered and oriented to beginnings and, in particular, endings. In the course of these lectures, Kermode examines concepts such as chronos, kairos, aevum, and apocalypse, and extends his discussions beyond the realm of literature to make observations on history and the way we experience time. In this area, he is particularly influenced by the work of the French art historian, Henri Focillon. Kermode was also influenced by the times in which he presented these lectures: the threat of a nuclear apocalypse had been louring on the horizon for several years, and the end of the twentieth century was rapidly approaching.

This slender volume is both challenging and illuminating. Kermode presupposes that the listener/reader is well versed in English and French literature, particularly that of the early twentieth century. His audience is definitely his erudite peers; he does not condescend to pull up others with less of a grasp of his subject. But even this poor student has found great inspiration in his words. His analysis of endings, in literature as well as life, has informed my own studies. Kermode's lectures are well worth reading and re-reading.

Apocalyptic literature is one area of novels that is permanent fixed with the ending of a time period, and by nature it has to be. When authors attempt through their literature to prophecy how the future will end up because of social beliefs or actions today or to predict the timing of future events based on oftentimes religious beliefs, they are wrong much of the time. Their reactions, as Kermode describes, are typical. They assume that their belief is still correct but that they were flawed in their analysis of the information, which propels them to reinterpret the facts and try again. It is self-perpetuating.

Kermode's topic, that things of this life require a sense that a beginning and an ending exist, feels on first glance absolutely correct all the time. But his claim that we need definitive endpoints to feel a sense of purpose works for novels (the genre he discusses most frequently) does not necessarily show itself true in the short story genre. In short stories, the imitated reality is more like a snapshot of life than a part of life that starts and finishes. Many short stories, like Edgar Allen Poe's "The Cask of Amontillado," Andrea Barrett's "Servants of the Map," and T. Coraghessan Boyle's "The Love of My Life," do follow the tick-tock chronos phenomenon most present in novels, but many short story authors like Raymond Carver in "Kindling" and "Cathedral" leave the reader with a sense that although there may be a beginning and end to the conflict in the story there is not an end to that character's life, even though the book itself has to come to a close. The character's life continues on after the reader leaves the story, and oftentimes the conflict also remains unresolved.

That said, Kermode's theoretical approach to endings in literature is foundational to the study of novels and writing in general. It is a work worth reading.

Reviewed by Jonathan Stephens

I purchased this book after a recent visit to the Santuario de Chimayo near Taos, New Mexico, which is one of the churches it features. The photos are absolutely gorgeous and provide an excellent feel for the incredible beauty of these wonderful, historical buildings. The book covers everything from each church's unique architecture to the fascinating folk art that can be found within.

This book features superb photography of the historic Catholic missions built in the southwest states and California. The beautiful photographs, many of them full-page, are of exterior and interior views of the missions, as well as closeups of architectural and artistic details. A short written history accompanies each featured mission, and although there are some mentions of the historical personages and events connected with the missions, most of the histories refer to the physical aspects of the missions such as their construction, remodeling, etc. This is a great coffee-table or armchair traveler book, but one will need to look elsewhere for a serious study about mission history.

A great reference when teaching children about a subject they must value into the 21st century.

This book opens your eyes to the wonders of the world through picture books. It gives easy to deliver effective lessons to go along with them. If you are an elementary educator or an outdoor educator it should be in your library and worn with use.

Are we our brother's keepers? What is true responsibility? What is true service?

These topics and more are explained in the gentle little book called "The Sense of Responsibility in Society" by Torkom Saraydarian. Published in 1989, it still holds its position in the ranks of the most solid and practical spiritual guidelines.

In this day and age , every part of society is faced with issues and problems that arise due to the lack of the sense of responsibility by some small group of people. Note for example the rampant destruction of our natural resources by over-development and toxic waste dumping by a handful of irresponsible business people. And how about parents who give no guidance to their children and all of society pays the price of their irresponsibility in increased crime, vandalism, teenage pregnancy, and drug use? Or, the utter carelessness with which some people regard their fellow human beings- be it their spouses, their friends, their brothers and sisters, even their co-workers.

According to the author, crucial to the development of a more responsible society is the recognition that "Life on this planet is a school from which we must graduate with honors.... On this road toward liberation or emancipation, our sense of responsibility grows and becomes the guiding principle in our life. The idea of graduation from this school with honors can change our life and mobilize our thinking, feeling, and actions in such a way that we ready ourselves for the final exam."

In order to be creative, thriving, and growing disciples, the authors tells us that it is necessary to make a great shift in our consciousness, to change the paradigms on which we based our lives. Ethnocentrism must be replaced by a recognition that the world is full of beautiful cultures and societies. Separatism and asocial individualism must be replaced by broad participation in the betterment of life for all citizens. Crystallization and fanaticism must be left behind for the recognition that that the Cosmos is now open for us to explore.

At the core of this shift and outward expansion is the sense of Responsibility. This is an innate sense that keeps us going in the right direction, dealing with life and its issues in a way that takes into consideration the benefit of all- and not just limited to one's own benefit.

This is an exceptional book for any individual to read and reread. Along with its companion book, The Psychology of Cooperation and Group Consciousness, Saraydarian puts us on the path to true global citizenship. The shift comes from the inside of the individual.

This book challenges the reader to take a wider look at life than most people do. To think in "wholes" rather than in terms of "this is mine" and "that is yours." The author stresses that there is only "ours" - everything in Reality belongs to everyone. And we are responsible to everyone in the highest sense. We are, in truth, one humanity. What affects one, affects all.

Torkom Saraydarian thoroughly explains what a true sense of responsibility is; not only to one's family, friends, business and nation, but to the entire world. How important this concept is! ALL for ONE, and ONE for ALL.

In view of all the atrocities being perpetrated daily, still the author wisely points out that "even one person can make a difference;" that we CAN change things in the world. He begins by advising that we must- first be a good example in ALL we think, speak and do. Next, our goals must be for the Common Good, not for ourselves alone. He teaches how to combat the forces of darkness by using the words of power given to humanity by Christ, "let your light shine out-" There are powerful but simple meditations given in the book to help people unfold their Inner Light and "shine It out" dispersing the darkness in the world. He states, "But we say, "I can't do it-" Why not? At your level you can write, at your level you can speak; at your level you can gather ten people and speak with them. You can shine your light at your own level" What a challenge!

This is a challenge we must take seriously, if we care at all about our brothers and the world. For the author further says, "If we do not educate our youth, other forces will get the upper hand and we will be their slaves. Our national power increases when our national light in- creases. A nation becomes a light to humanity, if all parts of that nation work to increase the light in each other-"

In the chapter on service, the author says, "Our service must be rooted in a sense of responsibility. The sense of responsibility is the ONLY psychic device within a person which guides his thoughts, words, and actions in harmony with the Higher Worlds." He further speaks of ser- vice to the One Self. "When-we serve the Self within others, we are serving God ... We must not be in a vanity that we are serving others. We are serving God within them." This is a most wonderful thought to contemplate because it should eliminate a lot of ego, personality reactions. And other problems encountered in the service of humanity.

Do not be fooled by the simplicity of this book. It is VERY profound. It would be wise to take the counsel, the helpful suggestions and the meditations given very seriously to heart, for they will lead one to His Inner Light, the One Self, and therefore, to a more intense sense of responsibility to -ALL mankind and to the world.

It was a delight to return to John Berger's writings through this collection of essays. A few are previously unpublished and the rest date from 1960 to 1984. Old stuff? No. Some of the essays are timeless, those on art in particular. Some offer haunting pictures of a vanished world, travel pieces in Yugoslavia for example. And some are disturbing and dismaying for their current relevance. "On the Bosphorus" was written in 1979, just after the government of Turkey had declared martial law, again. Berger sets this story of modern Turkey, its people, and its politics, on a ferry across the Bosphorus carrying Anatolian, commuting workers, truck drivers and Kurdish porters. The impact of US intervention on Turkish politics appears in the details of lives situated in history and written on the bodies of Berger's fellow passengers and remembered friends. The essay that follows, "Manhattan," is eery for the juxtaposition, and the two engage the reader in a post-September 11th dialogue.
John Berger is an art critic who taught us another way of seeing 40 years ago, but his strength is in the relation between the visual and the verbal. He writes of the the stories told by works of art and fills his essays with pictures of particular. He is the story teller.

Sense of Sight is possibly the best place to start with the impressive breadth and depth of Berger's essay writing. For anyone new to Berger, this is clearly the place to start. Even though "Selected Essays" features a longer time frame and over 600 pages of writing, "Sense of Sight" contains many of the works that make "Selected" such a powerful collection.

Berger's subjects in "Sense", as Lloyd Spencer says in his intro, fall into a number categories: "travel and emigration, dreaming, love and passion, death, art as activity and artifact, and the relation between work in language and the physical labour which produces and reproduces the world." Berger's confidence in tackling this array of stories is buoyed by his abilities. Few writers today would even tackle such a variety of areas because few command Berger's ability to weave stories and ideas together in the same cloth with the same commitment to both threads.

Highlights include:

- "The Moment of Cubism": a powerful and accessible study of one of the most profound developments in painting
- "Leopardi": an introduction to a man Nietzsche considered the greatest prose writer of the 19th century
- "The Eaters and the Eaten": an intriguing study of food, class, and feasts
- "The Production of the World": Van Gogh's compulsion to bring his canvas and reality ever closer together, "so close that the stars in the night became maelstroms of light"
- "Dürer: a Portrait of the Artist": what two self-portraits of an unrivalled artist reveal about art, independence, and religion on the cusp of the modern era
- "Ernst Fischer: a Philosopher and Death": a moving recollection of the writer's passions, insights, and final days

David Hopes, in this sensitive and breathtaking book, reaches the highest goal of any good writing--to touch the spirit and raise it up. These essays are about nature, yes, and about its beauty--but more than that: they are about the interfaces between the human world and the natural world. Or, more even than that, they are about how the human and natural world are one, fabric of the same universe. The nature that is our nature. And, it is this knowledge that has the power to save us. I urge you to read this book and treasure it-- for its beauty and its spiritual searching and its wisdom.

There are no words to express the magnificence of Mr. Hopes' prose. I came upon a copy accidently and have read and enjoyed it more than any other book in my vast library. This is a book that truly should be re-issued. David Brendan Hopes is a literary gift to be treasured.