United States Books

What it comes to Christian mothering help (with the right touch of humor) Jean Stockdale is by far the BEST! Biblical principals, much needed empathy, and large doses of humor make her entire teachning series a hit with me. I'm on my 2nd teaching book and I actually enjoy & look forward to doing my homework. I have learned so much.

There is so much advice on how to be a good mother. Jean Stockdale teaches that it is impossible to be a good mom without being a godly mom. What our children need are mommas who are walking in the Spirit, submitted and obedient to the Lord. How do we do that? Jean makes it clear - become a faithful student of the Word of God. There is no other way! God used this book to radically change the way I study and apply God's Word to my role as a wife and mother.

Jean Stockdale has truly changed my life and the way that I mother my two girls. She has so much wisdom and provides so much insight on how to raise Godly children. She is also very practical on how to handle such things as sibling rivalry, discipline, and releasing your children one day to go into the real world. I have learned so much from her. I recommend this book VERY much. You will be blessed.

Jean Stockdale is such a Godly example of what a mom should be. I love how Jean incorporates her own life experiences as a mom as well as God's word to teach. I recommend this to any mom or expectant mom. It is very insightful and uplifting.

The author's sense of humor from her own experiences as a mom mixed with truths from God's Word make it an easy read. She shows how relevant and applicable the Word is to our every day lives as moms. She teaches how important it is to be a student of God's Word and how to pass that on to your "built-in disciples". Even those times you feel exhausted as a mother, she shows you how to run your race well and to finish strong. Excellent study! Would highly recommend to all moms!!!

I have been visiting sanibel for many years and still got a lot out of this book. It gave me ideas of new things to do while on the island, and the candid restaurant reviews were spot on. Great Book.

This is by far one of the best travel books I have ever used. It kept us busy the whole time- beaches, nature preserves , shelling, accomodations, great great restaurants. everything!!!!! If you go to Sanibel/Captiva this is a must buy!!

Wow! This is a really great book. We're going to Sanibel Island for the first time and couldn't find any travel books that would give us the lowdown on where to go and what to do - until this book! It gives you a "must do" intinerary if you are planning on staying 3 days, 4 days, etc. It also includes tips for shelling: when to go, where to go and a comprehensive guide to help you identify what you find. I really enjoyed this book and it's now packed in my suitcase ready for the trip.

We had the best vacation EVER thanks to this book! Even when our flight was postponed, this book gave us a few options of activities in Fort Myers on the way to the airport. Who would have thought Sanibel/Captiva had so much to offer. The authors share ever bit of important info and more. Have Fun!

This is indeed a great guide book for Captiva and Sanibel Islands. We stayed on Captiva in a private house and used this book for dining and shopping recommendations. (Didn't need it for the recreation -- who needs anything more than beach, pool, shells, ocean??!) Weren't disappointed once! We referred to the shell guide more than once.

I usually devour multiple guide books before we go on a trip because it always enhances our vacations immeasurably. For Captiva, the typical (Fodors, Frommers) books were a little sterile. This one felt very local and authentic. I definitely recommend it for anyone lucky enough to visit these beautiful islands! Toast the sunset for me!

Daughter of a full-blooded Navajo father and white mother, Lori Arviso Alvord grew up on a New Mexico reservation in a family that took pride in its native heritage, but followed few of the traditional ways. She attended Navajo schools but never learned the language; she knew her clan relationships and enjoyed the security of tribal connections but seldom attended ceremonies or understood the depth of meaning in the Navajo concept "Walk In Beauty."

Such a person might expect to shed the remnants of tribal culture on leaving the reservation to become a high-powered surgeon, a career that by its very nature flies in the face of Navajo precepts like privacy and self-effacement.

Indeed, throughout her memoir, co-authored by Elizabeth Cohen Van Pelt, Alvord seems to straddle two worlds separated by an uncomfortable gulf. She first looked upon the deepness of that gulf at Dartmouth.

"For a girl who had never been far from Crownpoint, New Mexico, the green felt incredibly juicy, lush, beautiful and threatening." Unable to see the horizon, she felt claustrophobic. But the culture shock was worse. "I thought people talked too much, laughed too loud, asked too many personal questions, and had no respect for privacy." Navajos do not put themselves forward and cooperation is valued over competition. Not a good prescription for success at an Ivy League school.

At Dartmouth she began to feel her tribal identity more strongly and wonder if a kinaalda ceremony (a celebration of womanhood) would have helped empower her in such alien surroundings. But not until after medical school at Stanford, where she was forced to break numerous taboos (Navajo never touch the dead, for instance) and joined a profession where it is essential to ask prying, intimate questions and invade another's personal space at will, did Alvord really begin to explore the philosophical grounding of Navajo culture.

Becoming a surgeon at the Gallup Indian Medical Center, close to the reservation, Alvord notices that her patients do better when they are calm and relaxed, that harmony - even in the operating room when the patient is unconscious - is important for recovery.

She grows more interested in the Navajo philosophy that "everything in life is connected and influences everything else." To "Walk in Beauty" a person strives to live in balance, symmetry and harmony with everything and everyone else.

While this is an ancient precept, held in common with many other cultures and enjoying something of a renaissance in American medicine today, Alvord comes up with a particularly striking example. One of her surgery patients, a young woman, was the first to die of a strange illness that swept through the Navajo nation, killing 11.

A doctor working for the Centers for Disease Control, Ben Muneta, visited a medicine man, a hataalii, who told him "the illness was caused by an excess of rainfall, which had caused the pinon trees to bear too much fruit." There was "a significant deviation from the natural harmony of the world."

The medicine man showed a sand painting of a mouse and said that twice before in years of excess rainfall a similar disease had struck. " `Look to the mouse,' " he said. Weeks later the CDC determined that the Hantavirus was contracted from the droppings of infected deer mice. The deer mouse population had surged due to an excess of pinon nuts. "It was the rain."

Alvord's tone is quiet, reserved. It does not seem easy for her to describe the alcoholism of her charming father or the difficulties and generosity of her (married at 16) mother. Though she takes us to a nightlong ceremony for the sick and celebrates the strength her patients draw from medicine-man visits, she never explains why it takes her so long to visit a hitaalii during her own pregnancy. Or why she never approaches a medicine man to discuss cross-cultural treatments despite her growing conviction of the efficacy of the "whole body" approach.

While most of the book concentrates on her work and her struggle to reconcile cultures, she provides a wide, sad look at reservation life, beset by poverty and "white mans'" diseases. The long grief of history resides in the alcoholism and the self-loathing of so many - a balance that can never be put right.

At last Alvord leaves. Seeing it as the next natural step in her own "life trail", she returns to Dartmouth as a surgeon and a dean of minority and student affairs. At Dartmouth, she hopes, she can teach the Navajo "Walk In Beauty" principles to new doctors as well as working within the established system to bring better care to her own people.

I am full-blooded Navajo, I was taught to believe in my traditonal ways and it disappoints me that she has talked about very scared ceremonies.

Lori Arviso Alvord walks in two worlds. Raised on the Navajo reservation in New Mexico -- "the rez" -- she is the daughter of a Navajo man and a white woman. Carrying this dichotomy into her education and career, she went from the reservation high school to Dartmouth College, then found her path to Stanford University School of Medicine and a surgical residency in New Mexico.

As the first Navajo woman surgeon, she learned to integrate the science-based world of medicine and the spirit-based Native American culture. The importance of the singing cures, native healing practices, and other spiritual traditions was brought home to her when she observed her patients' outcomes. Surgical skill was often not enough when delivered without respect for the language, culture and spirituality of the Navajo patients.

The main focus of this memoir is Dr. Alvord's path to acceptance of the first Navajo principles: balance, harmony and wholeness, known as "Walking in Beauty." Along the way we learn a great deal about Native American history and culture, sensitively presented.

Dr. Alvord speaks of the cultural bases for Native American alcoholism and the prevalence of gang culture, monumental threats to the health and well-being of her people. The healing of these ills will never be achieved in the operating room alone, and many patients' stories illustrate this lesson effectively.

The outcome of Dr. Alvord's journey is signaled from the beginning, as is often the case with a memoir. While this may dilute the dramatic tension of her story, we're rewarded with a thoughtful and inspiring look at one woman's life and work, in all its contexts. I recommend this book to readers young and old who have an interest in the cultural aspects of medical care.

Linda Bulger, 2008

I picked up this book and I could NOT put it down. What a wonderful journey described here....how she interlocks traditional medicine with Navajo, how harmony and positive spirit is such a process in the healing world. You will not be disappointed with this read. I have shared this with all those close to me. Make it part of your list

--Dr Alvord writes about her journeys as a Native American student and physician. The book seems clearly designed for non-technical readers rather than the professional medical community, and there's little medical jargon. She uses her own difficult pregnancy and the death of a beloved grandmother as case studies in integrating Western medicine and Navajo ideas.
--On the one hand, it's worth reading this book just to hear such an inspirational story from such a role model. Dr Alvord tells her story with dignity and courage and she has many good ideas about listening to patients and integrating Balance and Harmony in our profession (although these ideas don't seem as radical or as rare within the medical community as she seems to imply, and I don't think she does anyone a great service by implying they are).
--On the other hand, the authors remained disappointingly abstract, even given the limitations of confidentiality and space. The stories of Navajo healing barely scratched the surface and the book was pretty scanty with practical advice that would help non-Native healers understand Native American patients. I'd love to have heard her perspectives on the magnitude of Native American health problems, how she handled the constant pressures of time and funding, or how she successfully used traditional Native American methods to help manage serious medical-social problems (i.e. alcohol use, diabetogenic diets, family pressures, basic compliance and responsibility issues, etc). In short, I'd like to have heard more about her successes.
--The book's perspective gives a good counterpoint to those who criticize Western medicine as too impersonal/sterile/uncaring/whatever, while they fail to demonstrate how to predictably improve things and still efficiently deliver technically competent health care to people with different levels of motivation and understanding. Western medicine works beautifully in its own niche, but it will be made to work less efficiently if we mess around with the wrong things. Perhaps medicine will improve if we balance the responsibilities of patients to live a healthy lifestyle with the responsibilities of healers to carefully listen to patients and then help them heal.
--This book did not practically help me to do this, so I cannot give it five stars despite my respect for her credentials. I do look forward to a sequel.
--Other books which may be of interest include Blessings (by Dr. A. Organick), The Dancing Healers, and Primary Care of Native American Patients.

This book seems to cover many great hiking areas in Sedona. It is quite explicit re: directions and information about the hiking trails. Great book for a person new to the area or even people who have been around awhile. Very informative!

I used this book for planning a 2 day visit to Sedona. I was extremely happy with the format. It has 2 pages per hike, with a high quality photo of what to expect for views, driving/hiking distance/time, as well as selections of their favorites. We didn't visit long enough to do a lot of the hikes, but we truly felt that we were able to select 3 hikes that were perfectly suited to our tastes and with nice variety. Overall, I don't think you could go wrong in Sedona, but I felt like this guide was well worth the price and only wish I could find similar guides for other locations. The Magnum's have done a great job, deserving of 5 stars.

The only shortcoming you may find is that their maps are very general and mostly help you find the trailhead (which was flawless). But, I prefer to have a quality map as well and I purchased the Emmitt Barks Cartography - Sedona Trails Map (not sure if it was on Amazon), and was very happy with it. Personally, I don't think you can create a detailed map inside the book for each hike, so I don't consider this a flaw to the book - just a bit of advice if you are planning a trip.

This book was very helpful in deciding which hikes to do. We were not dissappointed by any of the hikes. It was good that we knew about the pink jeaps ahead of time.

I have read five books about the Sedona hikes, all written approximately across the same time period, and this is why Iknow what I am talking about.I have also been to Sedona twice and know about it in a general sence. Short and sweet...this is the best all around Sedona hiking book filled with lots of bits about popular and unheard of hikes. This book is good because it is created by a Husband and Wife writer and photographer team who have lived in the area for years. The book includes maps of how to get to the trail heads and where the trails go from there. Also, descriptions of weather related to time of year and level of exertion required to do the hikes. The hikes that include VORTEXES are clearly marked. The photography is great. The five other books are best described by one or several of the following phrases: sickening and homespun; the writer as spiritual guru who is grandiose; might as well not bother; information repeated elsewhere ad nauseum. GET THIS BOOK

This book is good you want to look up a specific trail by name. I am more interested in researching trails in a specific area and found the layout of this book VERY frustrating. This book NEEDS a trail map overview where one can see where a specific trail is in relationship to the other trails. If you purchase this book make sure to purchase a Sedona Trail Map as well.

my son never let the dentist perform the full cleaning until after we read this book together. kids who like dora will most likely respond well on their next dental visit when they see dora acting like a big girl and letting the dentist examine and clean her teeth. i convinced my son that the dentist will make his teeth white and shiny like dora's - he fell for it like a champ! thanks Dora!! :-)

It's a good idea to start early so when that time comes to go the the dentist, your toddler will be willing to sit there just long enough to complete the checkup. Dora rocks when it comes to getting kids to do things like say words, jump up and down, whatever. A must have.

We started reading it every day 2 weeks before her first dentist appointment. Great book! Worked like a charm!

My 3 yr old was already comfortable going to the dentist but this helps just before an appointment to let her know what will happen and to talk about any worries she has. Great bedtime reading.

I'm a school nurse always looking for entertaining ways to teach my elementary school children how to take good care of their teeth. Dora was a huge hit with the Pre-school children. They followed the book along eagerly page by page as I read it to the class and their excitement brought out my enthusiasm for teaching! Way to go Dora!

This is a very inspirational book. Great for in-service teachers. I loved their dedication and devotion to their students' success and belief that they are "human."
Wonderful.

a wonderful read... a triumph of heart, mind and human spirit. great job mike, robynn and students. The movie will be a must see on my list.
maj. davie a megahan, usa-ret, huntsville al.

a wonderful read... a triumph of heart, mind and human spirit. great job mike, robynn and students. The movie will be a must see on my list.
maj. davie a megahan, usa-ret, huntsville al.

I usually prefer fiction books, however, this true story of a teacher so dedicated to his students was too hard to resist. It is uplifting and motivating to see that there are others in education who will put their heart and soul into helping their students succeed! So many children need teachers like Mike and Robynn.

A Smile as Big as the Moon, by Mike Kersjes, is a very inspiring and encouraging book. Personally, I was happy to see a teacher who took risks to make those children with disabilities feel proud of themslves. Personally, as an employee at a school with disabled children, I know what it takes to make those children happy. I can call Kersjes a gifted teacher who devoted his time, energy, and money to help those children in special education. Based on a true story, it is very interesting and keeps the reader eager to know what happened next. I would reommed this book to teachers, parents and older children.

I have used this book for everything from looking up recipes to researching diets, cleanses, learning about vitamins, minerals and diseases. Every household should have this book!

Delivery was immediate and product was in the condition as described. I would buy from this vendor again!

This is exactly the book I've been looking for! Objective, to-the-point facts on nutrition, vitamins, eating habits, and other topics such as preservatives, toxins, etc. I've seen too many "fad" nutritional books that are biased toward either vegan/vegetarian, low carb, low fat, high fat-low carb, etc. This book seems to be objective enough to allow the readers to decide on their own what diet path to take. This book, a good diet, and exercise can stand on their own and I feel this book can last a long time as a good reference book. Personally, I prefer a well-rounded diet (including some red meat), chicken, fish, fruits, vegetables, nuts. I lean toward organic or natural foods. Should readers decide to focus on another particular diet, they can supplement this book with one that follows their philosophy. I highly recommend this book as a stand alone or as a starting point to other diets.

This is an awesome book for anyone interested in nutrition. Very indepth text book style reading but worth every miniute!

I use this book as a desk reference. As a wellness coach with a specialty in nutrition I refer to this book as well as others, like Paul Pitchford's Healing with Whole Foods and The New Optimum Nutrition Bible by Patrick Holford. I like the scientific and integrative nature of this book. When I quote information from this book I can say this is by an MD. This book is the most comprehensive among the other ones I use. I have yet to use it more to suggest any area of improvement. So far I am very happy with it.

I read this by book by some chance but page after page it became like a mirror to me. And it was really a great shock. I agree totally with the others comments and Temple Grandin give us a more deeper view about autistic continuum. Before I believed I was a total social idiot. But every words she use are incredibly close to my way of thinking and my own history as we say in medical terms. And this book became an open door to another level in my life.
This book is helpful for a lot of people especially for parents and teachers who to confront to childs in autistic continuum. And I will be always grateful to Temple Grandin for this book. The worst thing for an high functioning autist is to be closed in his world. Knowing why you are different won't cure you but the balance of your mind is restored.

A friend recommendeded this book for me. I hesitated for a while before buying it - but once picked up I can't put it down. The book brings me to scope of thinkings that is beyond my imagination. I can't wait to recommend this book to my friends even before I have finished it for the first time. I've now re-read this for two to three times, and each time my mind was further enlightened. Sometimes I give away books after reading but this will be a copy I will keep and read over and over again.

Fascinating insight into the autistic mind and the different ways of being human. Also provides insights into how more "normal" minds work by contrast. Highly recommended.

Excellent book and tool for those dealing with adult Asperger's. Until reading this book, there was no pragmatic connection with my brother, 53 years old, who has been isolated from family all his life due to his inability to see cause and effect. Visiting with psychologists in his early years did nothing to help parents understand his lack of emotional ties or connectivity to anything. He was labeled as very intelligent in certain fields (science, telecommunications, automotive knowledge)but had no common sense and kept repeating same mistakes over and over.

He was incarcerated for 17 years for sexual abuse of a female girlfriend and we could not understand how he failed to get parole or help while in prison while some of those serving time for far worse crimes, including murder, were paroled after only half the time. We now know that sensory problems and being able to "go with the flow" in the prison system kept him incarcerated to serve his entire sentence.

Luckily, family was able to run across articles about Asperger's and did research on it concluding that so many adults such as my brother had not been identified with this symptom. We are much more successful with dealing with him after reading Temple Grandin's book and have pegged her thinking to be very similar to my brother's--he also thinks in pictures but could not describe it and frequently did not know what we were talking about since he was unable to feel emotions as related by Ms. Grandin. He has read her book also and is reading it a second time. It has given the family insight into our brother's condition for the first time in 53 years and we are so very thankful for this book.

Dr. Grandin lectures on animal husbandry as well as autism. I've seen her speak in person. She's a very interesting individual. Her way of speaking comes through in the book. She writes very well for the layman.

She covers her career, her interests, and her autism. If you are interested in animal husbandry, interesting women, autism, then this is a good book. If you have autistic kids and feel really under it, its very reassuring to see how this one autistic person has done very well for herself, thanks to early intervention by her parents as well as determination and intelligence on her part.

I also like her personally, because I have had mixed feelings about being an omnivore and am glad she's out there making the experience of animals in our food production a lot less harrowing.

This is a wonderful, well written, book about a heroic figure who has endured much intimidation by anti-choice thugs who want to control women's bodies. It's a book I would recommend especially to young woman as they have a 50% chance of finding themselves in need of a save and legal abortion sometime in their life and if things keep going the way they are, they may be unable to obtain one. The stories Dr. Wicklund relates about herself and her patients would be unheard of in other developed Western nations so you get an indication of how out of step the U.S. is with respect to women's health. The book contained interesting medical facts about abortion procedures so you'll get factual information about an issue that has been clouded by a great deal of misinformation courtesy of the anti-choice folks. I was surprised not to see more endorsements on the book jacket from well known feminists other than Barbara Erenreich but that may be an indication of their own fear of being targeted. This is an inspiring story of a courageous woman who followed her passion and sacrificed much to serve women in need.

This is a remarkable story about a courageous woman who - despite ongoing threats to her self, family, practice, and property- vigilantly protects a woman's right to choose.

Dr. Wicklund's stories about her patients are both inspirational and heartbreaking; her interactions with abortion stalkers/protesters - who violated her privacy and terrorized her family - are absolutely chilling. Before I read this book, I thought I understood the risks that doctors assumed when they worked at a facility that performed abortions. I didn't have a clue.

God bless you, Dr. Wicklund, for your eloquence, grace, and devotion to woman's health. You are an inspiration.

This is a brave book by a courageous woman. As an Australian, I am not surprised by what she describes as I have become aware of the shameless and gutless tactics used by anti-abortion activists in the US. If it is their faith which drives them to make Susan's life hell, then they are certainly not Christians. The very encouraging thing about this book is Susan's determination not to be cowed by them and the little ways in which she discovers the latent support for her around her eg the man on the plane. As a man I find the over the top zealousness by the male anti-abortion activists almost laughable as they can have no concept of the pressures that may make a woman undertake an abortion.

I was engrossed with reading this book. It is well written and the story is powerful. Also, the details match the details of my life when I worked at an abortion clinic; it is accurate.

Many thanks to Susan Wicklund for telling the world how her life was effected by her work.

This book is simply excellent. No matter your feelings on the subject matter, the memoir is well-written, with a compelling story. Dr. Wicklund makes an excellent heroine for the 21st century--we see her plodding on with resolve, even in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds. But we also see moments of doubt, of reflection, that let us know that she is human. This is a very good book.

Dr. Wicklund focuses her memoir on herself, but also on her patients. The many, many women that she has served over the years play a huge role in this book. However, what was most interesting and eye-opening to me was her recounting of various tactics used by anti-choice protesters, and what she had to do to keep herself safe and to keep working. I had heard of doctors being killed, but I truly had no clue about the everyday lengths to which the "antis" would go in their self-righteousness.


Dr. Wicklund, I don't know if you read your book reviews on Amazon.com, but thank you. Thank you for writing this book, and for doing what you have done and what you do. Thank you for never giving up. You are an inspiration, as is your daughter, and everyone who supported you.

I grew up in Idaho, and in school there we learned a slightly different version... I found it in a Google search for Lyrics and it said that the verse we sung as the second verse was found in the Canadian version:
"I followed your low hills
And I followed your cliff rims,
Your marble canyons
And sunny bright waters.
As the fog was lifting,
A voice was saying
This land was made for you and me."

Only we sang it as:
" I travelled low hills
I travelled cliff rims,
Great marble canyons,
and sunny waters,
A voice came calling,
as the fog was lifting,
This land was made for you and me.

In the first verse we had a difference also... instead of "from California to New York Island" it was " from California to the Bedloe's Island. Later I thought I must have heard wrong because I never saw that in print and wondered WHAT was Bedloe's Island. Yesterday I saw on History Channel that Bedloe's Island was the name of Liberty Island at the time that the Statue of Liberty was built there, and it wasn't until years later that it was changed to Liberty Island. It makes me wonder, was Bedloe's Island in the original verse or did Woody Guthrie write it as New York Island ... which really doesn't make sence because there was Ellis Island, Bedloe's Island, Manhattan, Staten and Long Island, more than three dozen islands... so if the song said "from California to THE NEW YORK ISLAND" not islands, then WHICH island??? Ok, while writing this I found the words from the original manuscript, it was Staten Island. All I know is we learned to sing about the Bedloe's Island. Oh yeah, I'm 51, born in 1956 which was the year that the name Bedloe's was officially changed to Liberty Island. Woody Guthrie wrote his song in 1940 but the first known professionally printed publication was in 1956 by Ludlow Music. By then it was THE NEW YORK ISLAND. Maybe the people from New York knew which one he meant.

into the little sayings and tidbits of trivia littered throughout. Still, nice art (a little busy at times) and a quick read with sheet music and bio at the end.

I gave this book and the Woody Guthrie CD to a friend who had just become an American citizen. She was thrilled with the lyrics and the photos about her new country. I think they do a good job of telling America's story.

My kids LOVE this book! And the CD is one of the best I've heard for kids. My two (ages 4 & 7) are singing the songs, especially the title song (w/all its verses) constantly. The illustrations in this book are also amazing. This book would make a really nice gift.

The art in this book is phenomenal and draw young and old into the book. I think that every time one looks at any of the paintings one will find something new to see. The lyrics, of course, are pure poetry. I am pleased that the original verses are restored. The only thing I did not like was that the song of This Land is Your Land does not match the order the lyrics are written in the book, so you can't enjoy both at the same time. However, it is not important enough to make me give this book a lower rating. The other songs included on the CD are also masterful and are extremely popular at the preschool I work in.