Anthony Books

Dr. Evans does a masterful job at giving his readers a picture of the character and nature of God. This resource includes such topics as the holiness of God, the sovereignty of God, the glory of God, the wisdom of God, and much, much more. At the end of each chapter he has a page on "Responding Points" that summarizes key points in the chapter. Very good!

I highly recommend this book. I have used it many times for Bible studies and sermon material.

I was thoroughly impressed with Our God is Awesome. Dr. Evans once again, clearly and accurately illuminates upon God's Word, and adds his own uniques style and warmth to help you not only know God better, but to also know how to use that knowledge in your everyday life. This book not only glorifies God, but it does as good a job as any words can do to describe how wonderful and awesome God truly is, His love, and grace, and what He has done for all in Jesus Christ. It also explains deeply God's attributes such as His glory, wisdom, holiness, sovereignty, omniscience, omnipresence, omnipotence, wrath, Love, Grace, His Word, and much more. I recommend this book to all, for ALL should know the truth about WHO God is, and what He has done for us ALL.

Why? Because it takes great courage, the kind that only comes from God, to stand these days in and for the truth of God. Many false prophets are not happy with Dr. Evans; thank God he does not let that stop him from staying focused on God's plan.

I recommend that everyone reads this book. Dr.Evans' depiction of our loving and all knowing GOD will establish an immediate realtionship between you and our GOD. If you get to know a person or attributes of an individual you know enough for the basis of a relationship to be formed. When I looked at all the different angles from which GOD has covered my complete being. I immediately wanted to reciprocate it back to him. A loving father/son relationship was born. Before reading this book, I did not know how much he loved me. So how could I love him back.

This is the most wonderful book I've ever read. It is clear and concise. Biblical topics that I have been uncertain about for years were made clear in this book. Even a child could understand it. I've read it several times and I use it as a reference guide. I've given away at least 10 copies as gifts. Each person I've given it to also thinks that it's an excellent read. Tony Evans is totally anointed and a gifted writer.

I've listened to a lot of different motivational, inspiration, and self-improvement audio files, including others by Tony Robbins. This is one of the few that I found very powerful and applicable. Instead of just getting you pumped up, Tony teaches you how to methodically deconstruct your mind and link pain to things you don't want to do and pleasure to things you do want to do. He seems to really have hit his stride with this product. He crafts his delivery very effectively so that the medium is the message. He uses his voice and knowledge of nlp to train your mind while simultaneously teaching you how to do so yourself. If you've got the desire to make personal change, but you're not sure how to go about it effectively, I would highly reccommend this product.

Many years ago when this first came out I was skeptical because it was the time of the great motivational speaker guru's they were everywere. I bought the cds back then and was so afraid that it would actually work in fear of change I GAVE the cds(they were tapes then)away to another colledge student and now years later I am REBUYING them again to KEEP them this thime. YOu never know what you got till you loose it. Those were valuable tapes and the student told me they were cool! Later I found out they were really cool to him but he down played it to me so I wouldnt want them back. Learn from my mistake. IF you get them KEEP THEM!!!

Tony Robbins is full of good information. He teaches you how to take a normal life, and make it an extraordinary life. I give this book 5 stars!

I could write an entire book on how much this cd series helped me out in life. I went from being a very introverted loner to now having everything i could ever dream of in life. I know it's cheesy to thank a self help program for all of that but it's never been more true for me. I realize now that the power to change or enhance is within and Tony gets it out of you. One thing, you HAVE to follow through with the exercises. If you cheat you're only hurting yourself.

I purchased this CD set after I watched an informercial in 2000. It is a great tool for beginners who want to be a positive force in people's lives and teaches very good psychological strategies to empower people. This should be listened to every day so that the mental muscles build gradually until you reach a momentum which you can continue by attending his seminars.

Robbins is a force for good and highly recommend his CDs and seminars. But remember, just reading or listening is not enough. It is up to you to keep up the momentum through constant implementation.

Hasan Ali Imam
Ex-Parliamentary Candidate
Conservative Party
UK

How on earth I ever managed to enjoy Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey-Maturin novels before reading Anthony Gary Brown's wonderful dictionary is a mystery. Brown's book is a must have for all those who wish to get the most out of reading O'Brian's excellent naval stories.

This book is an invaluable resource for the O'Brian fan. Knowing the allusion to real people and the historical background tremendously enhances my enjoyment of the O'Brian series - well worth re-reading all nineteen books with this reference in hand, looking up the name of each character, animal, ship and cannon for the delicious humor of knowing WHY O'Brian named each entity as he did. A five-star book!

This book is an astonishing piece of research, a listing and historical analysis of thousands of items--well, characters, animals, ships, and cannons--from Patrick O'Brian's series of novels. I cannot imagine how he did it, but what a delightful treat for the rest of us. This book is not just an indispensible companion to the Aubrey-Maturin novels; it's also a great pleasure just to leaf through and read. If you like the O'Brian's books you need to have this one too.

Anthony Gary Brown's "Persons, Animals, Ships and Cannon in the Aubrey-Maturin Sea Novels" is a wonderful resource for anyone who loves the nautical fiction of Patrick O'Brian. The depth and breadth of research evident in this companion volume to the Aubrey-Maturin series is truly awe-inspiring. Every "proper name" reference -- no matter how slight or obscure -- has been diligently tracked and, where ever possible the historical reality behind the fictional is revealed. Characters I had assumed to be merely creations of Patrick O'Brian's imagination are shown by Gary Brown to be based in actual persons. Whenever Stephen Maturin speaks of an obscure botanist or philosopher, Brown has explained who he or she was and what was the significance of their work. There are many, many hours of delightful browsing in this volume for any Patrick O'Brian fan.

I've been sampling this book for a couple of weeks and I can't tell you how much I've been enjoying it! For a fan of the Aubrey/Maturin books its almost as good as having a new POB come out! I think of someone I want to look up, then by the time I've read that entry I've been led to another, and then another and I keep stumbling on the most amazing facts and interesting historical stories.While just keeping track of all the names in the books is useful enough, the "enhanced" information - all the details about "real" people and ships and historical events - is the most exciting treasure for me.I can not begin to imagine the hours and hours invested in this masterpiece, though the careful attention to details and proofreading suggest it was a labor of love. All I can say is that I'm very grateful to the author for having written it. It will make reading and re-reading the Aubrey/Maturin books an even greater delight, and for me at least, it will lead deeper into the historical literature behind the series.Every bookstore in the country should stock this on the shelves next to the Aubrey/Maturin books so new converts will have it in hand right from the start.

Barbara Quinn and Anthony Malone really wrote a book for the average parent to understand. The book is not bogged down with medical terms that are difficult to comprehend but rather uses terms an average parent can understand. Thank you so much for helping parents help their special needs child.

Full disclosure: my nephew's "story" is in this book, as told by my brother-in-law. When my sister gave me this book I was moved to tears as I read it, because she wants all of us who know and love her son "Robby" to understand his Asperger's Syndrome, and its treatments.

AS is a perplexing syndrome, and the spectrum of PDDs is confusing and multi-focal. For parents, families and friends, this book is a wonderful starting point. The book lays it out in easy-to-digest chunks, most useful for anyone seeking to understand the PDD continuum and its manifestations in children and young adults.

It is clear, concise and (except for the parents' stories) unemotional. It will help anyone affected by a PDD to understand the background, the symptoms, the diagnosis and possible intervention techniques. I am delighted that Ms. Malone and Dr. Quinn are part of my nephew's diagnostic team, and that they have produced this excellent book. And I'm glad my sister & brother-in-law have shared it with our family. Without communication, there can be no understanding.

Excellent book!!! I read this book in one night! It was so easy to read and understand pervasive developmental disorder. I would recommend this book to those who have a loved one recently diagnosed. The autism spectrum is wide. It gave great detail on both ends of the spectrum. Lots of information. Had a hard time putting this book down. If you need a book about PDD, this is the one to get first.

As the parent of a child recently diagnosed with PDD-NOS, this book is fantastic and explains a lot in terms for the everyday person. It's also great for educators and people that are do not have very much experience working with chilren within this spectrum. Our son is also very lucky to be a patient of one of the Doctor's that is in Dr. Malone's practice and he will meet Barbara Quinn this fall.

This book explains PDD-NOS and the other autism spectrum disorders in clear, concise language. I recommend it to anyone going down this road, particularly PDD-NOS parents or those whose toddlers aren't hitting their dev. milestones.

This story relates the unhappy life of Kim Sakkat, "Kim who wears a bamboo hat".This talented poet composed a poem which dishonored his grandfather who allegedly aided rebels fighting the Choson dynasty.This lack of filial piety cost him his peace of mind. He took to a life of wandering about Korea. At one point, however, he learns that his grandfather was perceived as a hero by the local peasantry. This helps to mend the broken spirit which cursed him most of his life.The tale is interesting in that it mirrors Yi moon-yol's own life- his father defected to the North. The tension of divided loyalites is portrayed through a graceful, balanced writing style

Poet is a very exciting and interesting book. Among all the books that I've read, this would be the number one book that I would recommend to everyone.

I chanced to find this book at London when I was traveling there, and was very happy to find it on the shelve though it was placed too deep to find it out. Anyway, it really reminded me the discrepancy between what we believe right and what really happened several centuries ago. We are still believing that any forms of discrimination no matter what color we are, wher we live, how much we earn. But discrimination was there where the story goes. This book does not only mirror the emotional flows of Kim Sat-kat, but tries to argue about the twisted social structure. And this attempt beautifully melted into the poem, Korean traditional 4 line poem which Kim wrote.

this story is about family, art and history. the poet's self-exiled journey is still too realistic for many koreans even today. the ideology that an individual cannot be freed from, distorts individual life into empty cynicism and self-hatred, especially in the circle of "artists." the traditional connection of writers with intellectuals, and intellectuals with conscience, is in the root of (in)famous debates between "pure literature" and "engagement." the writer suffers in the middle, but still he has to deal with his family history first. anyway, it turns out to be not so different from the collective history, in terms that it situates the weak and (maybe therefore) suffering conscience of today. and lastly, the poet was nothing but the prisoner of his poems (language).

Poetry is the highest level of language subtlety and complexity. It takes work to comprehend and understand. Korean poetry in translation is next to impossible to access, grasp, or appreciate, especially for readers steeped in Western traditions. Fortunately, this novel is not so much about poetry, even though some very nice explanations abound; it is about the poet. When a tradition mandates that the political miscalculations of a person must be visited upon the `third and fourth generation' by society, most Westerners are unable to grasp the gravity and finality of such social behavior. Their ideology of individualism cannot comprehend such group power. Yi Mun-yol, and his translator, Chong-Wha Chung, bridge some of these cultural divides by simply looking at the poetry we call life. Thus, we are all poets, and when the suffering poet, Kim, of this novel wanders into the countryside, we walk with him. Life can be cold and cruel, full of inner turmoil and pain. Our lives may be different, but many of the elements of life's poetry are universal. We live in times that are harried and hurried. If there is a need to pause and reflect, contemplate and feed the soul, walking with Yi Mun-yol's THE POET may provide some food for thought.

I HIGHLY recommend this text as a supplement for any pharm class. It's condensed enough so that it's not overwhelming, very well organized, and it covers the fundamental pathophys associated with each type of drug. It filled in the gaps left by my pharm class, and I think it'll prove to be useful in clinic as well.

Exceptional for learning the basics. I had a few all-important concepts that I just couldn't get: G-proteins, the anterior pituitary hormones, and the alpha/beta/cholinergic agonists and antagonists. After struggling to learn each of these several times from lecture notes and other books, I turned to this book. It worked well for me because it teaches in a conceptual way and helps develop your understanding of the material. It will take a little more time, but if this is the way you learn, it will really help.

I went back to this book many times when I ran into difficult questions reviewing for Step 1 and realized that I didn't really understand the basic concepts.

Not the book to use the night before your pharm exam: for that, I'd use the small Katzung and Trevor.

Professor Golan used his copy notes for this book in our class this year, so we basically had the book without the cover or index, but otherwise it was all intact. Almost everyone in our class really loved the book--it gives a basic overview of each area of physiology and pathophysiology and then described the therapies used to treat the pathology. The book was mostly written by students, and it shows b/c everything is super easy to understand and is really geared towards a medical student. Also, this seems to be the only comprehensive textbook of pharmacology that divides the drugs by pathophysiology on the market, as everything else (Katzung, etc.) are laundry lists of drugs, albeit providing more information on each separate drugs. I think I would supplement this book with Katzung (or vice versa.) In any case, I recommend it!

The second edition is usually better than the first one, and the first one was simply excellent! A great book, with a problem-based learning approach in mind, updated and with many new and important chapters (Protein Therapies, Drug Delivery Advances, Pharmacogenetics, among others). The good thing with this book is that any chapter deals with the necessary coverage of anatomy, physiology, pathology and so on before coming to the drugs facts. With the early med student in mind, the book will be useful for any health related career. The book is clear, is concise -notwithstanding comprehensive-, and with a complete set of drug facts tables at the end of most chapters. Simply said, the kind of book I'd liked to write myself.

One more thing: The book is brilliantly complemented by its companion book, "Principles of Pharmacology Workbook", by S. Farrell, a great account of more than 100 clinical cases regarding each chapter of the main book, with no less than five questions -and their corresponding answers- for every one of the cases. The ideal complement to make this couple of books the best pharmacology books in the scene today. I work very actively with both of them in teaching my own pharmacology courses.

Armen(Tashjian) and others have invented a unique type of pharmacology textbook in collaboration with Harvard Med Stud! Each chapter begins with the short introduction of a case report, relevant to each drug. This may give an easy undestanding of clinical significance of the drug to med stud, interns, pharmacologists and even clinicians. I believe that it will evolve into the classic of pharmaocolgy textbook!!

Review of "REBELS of MINDANAO" by Tom Anthony, Beaufort Books, $24.95
This is a contemporary work of fiction by a 1964 graduate of West Point using fictional friends, classmates from West Point to set the stage for an Islamic revolutionary takeover and the interdiction thereof on the island of Mindanao in the Philippines.

It is a well written `page turner' built around an attempt by al Qaeda to move five million US dollars in cash from the Middle East into Mindanao, an island unique unto itself for having been a colony used by the Spanish as a handy place to send their troublemakers - akin to the British sending the Irish to Australia - in an effort to unite all of the guerilla resistance groups, some of which have been in rebellion for generations, so they can take over the Island and turn it into an Islamic Republic.

They almost succeed!

In the opinion of the reviewer, a book such as this, where the story, the action takes place in a continually, ever changing geographical environment, a map of the general area should be a basic requirement; here that requirement is fulfilled. I was able to constantly refer back to the geography of the Island of Mindanao with its relationship to the rest of the Philippine archipelago, containing more than 7,000 islands, and the surrounding seas which enabled me to relate the on-the-ground action to the proper geographical setting just by flipping back to the map page in the front of the book.

The plot revolves around a semi-official US Embassy clandestine group led by a West Point Grad and comprised of a former Army Sgt and several Filipino family members. The group is charged with thwarting the use of the five million dollars, which they can keep if they find it, while they play `tag' with the legitimate Philippine Army who are also trying to eliminate the Abu Sayaf insurgents through military force and capture the money in the process.

The action is straightforward, logical, beginning with a terrorist bombing during a Holiday celebration, the escape of the terrorist group, their trek throughout the southern portion of Mindanao to a central point where numerous rebel groups gather to unite in the ultimate goal of creating an Islamic empire in the South Pacific. As the rebel forces unite they become increasingly visible to the Philippine Army which in the end manages to destroy them as an effective military force, but is still unable to unite all of the splinter factions under the established government. Along the way several sub plots are introduced, kept alive to retain the reader's interest, to his credit the author does not let the reader presume the ultimate outcome until the very end.

The reviewer, Thomas W. Leo, CPP, is a 1959 graduate of the U S Military Academy at West Point.

Rebels of Mindanao is an action adventure "fiction" novel wrapped around what is a very serious present day situation in the Philippines. The recent kidnapping in Mindanao is testament to this author's insight. Looking forward to Tom Anthony's next book?

Anthony tells an absorbing story with excellent attention to dialogue and description. As a person who has studied the subject and traveled to the areas described in the book I would have to say that I am very impressed with the research and the insight Anthony provides. This is a must read for anyone wants edge of their seat entertainment while also being informed.

A fast-paced page turner, I could not put it down. Great character developement. Tom Anthony sure knows his stuff when it comes to the Philippines, I learned so much. Is there perhaps going to be a sequel? Mr. Anthony has written an excelent book. Be sure to read it.

The story line is simple: try to grab the funds,suppress the insurgency, and keep the change. And along the way see if there is a way to make the Turkish warrior disapear. It is the implimentation of the story that is great. Anthony knows the Philippines and uses this knowledge to build a moasic of threads of history, culture, and geography that provides a rich background for the story. Read it to learn about one of those other parts of the world where budding terroristts are establishing relations with Al Quaida, or read it because it reminds us of the long term partnership between the US and the Philippines, or read it because it is just a good story. But read it. Dick Puckett

Throughout my entire time as a pilot, I have been concerned with the huge gap that exists between the safety record of professionally managed commercial and military flight operations and those of general aviation pilots like me.

I am a 1,000-hour instrument-rated private pilot. I have been flying for about 12 years. Together with a partner, I own and operate my own single-engine airplane that I use frequently in the course of my business and daily life. I live in operate primarily within the Upper Midwest where the environment serves up daily challenges.

Over time, I have observed that most GA pilots seem to gravitate toward one or the other of the polar extremes. I think of them as the can-do achievers at one end of the spectrum and the pocket-protector types at the other end. The achievers are those successful people who seem to be able to do anything. They love a challenge and are risk takers. The pocket protector types love figuring things out and have an infinite willingness to wrestle with a question and figure it out. While there is obviously a broad spectrum in between, this has always aided me in sizing a guy up and figuring out how he approached flying. The best pilots I know posses the attributes of both.

My own personality has always been a source of concern in this regard. I find myself consistently falling short of the best flyers. I can claim neither the innate talent nor the tremendous focus and long attention span that these folks all seem to have. I was always a C student. And I do not have the benefit of a large resource-rich organization to support me. Early in my experience as a pilot, I gave it up - actually twice - because I felt so overwhelmed by the sheer volume of knowledge and tasks that had to be integrated successfully in order to achieve an acceptable level of proficiency.

I am pretty sure that I can get by being a lousy fly caster and poor wing shot and still enjoy a pretty good life. I know that being anything other than an excellent pilot is unacceptable. I think that it is why this endeavor so absorbs me.

I have read everything that I could find on the subject. I attend seminars. I seek specialized training. I spend a lot of time talking with other pilots about issues of safety and competence.

Recently, I have asked the military, airline and other professional pilots that I meet how they (and their organizations) approach the subject. Their responses vary. Some of them adhere to the notion that it is simply a matter of having the Right Stuff. Others indicate that it requires the resources of the US government or a major public company. Many have actually been generous and helpful.

Finally, Tony Kern has given us all a model to work with that is both comprehensive and systematic. He has illustrated it with clear real-life examples make each of the component concepts vivid. This book is a real treasure. It is at once a clear description of the destination and it is the map and the compass that we can all employ along on the way.

A rare resource for insite into avaitions most critical element: The Pilot. No where else in aviation literature has someone captured the standards for professional airmanship. Kern gives the route to complete airmanship, whether you fly a Cub, or an SR-71. A valuable resource and asset for all training department libraries.

How important is this book? It is as important for pilots to read and re-read as Wolfgang Langewiesche's "Stick & Rudder". Than this, there is no higher praise.

Dr. Kern proposes herein a simple but profound model to help us understand airmanship and he proceeds to support, explicate and instantiate that model using clear and well-chosen case material.

This is good stuff! The author draws on his own experience as an Air Force pilot and on his academic background as a human factors expert to summarize elegantly a vast area of knowledge vital to every aviator -- whether military, commercial or GA. As an instrument rated private pilot, I found all of the material in this book very relevent to the issues I deal with when I fly.

The way of thinking about airmanship that Dr. Kern lays out is important to all pilots -- but I believe that it is overwhelmingly important to pilots who are not engaged in either formal training or in the pursuit of advanced ratings. Taking this thinking to heart will keep you growing as a pilot, and will ultimately keep you alive.

For pilots embarked on a professional career path, Dr. Kern identifies goals, exposes pitfalls and outlines methods that will complement and enhance any training program and any intended progression through the ratings.

Please, read, study and reflect on this work. It is outstanding!

Tony Kern has managed to pull together the wisdom and experience of "the best" pilots around. His use of case studies of real pilots and real situations includes examples from the military, commercial, and geneal aviation communities. In short, the book is useful for any pilot whether they are working toward their private pilot license or are employed as a senior airline captain. For many pilots, it will reinforce what they already know and practice but for many, it will provide the opportunity to become "old" pilots. If you fly, read the book.

Tony Kern has written a detailed, yet compelling, story for airmanship in the 21st century. His research is thorough, his examples are vivid, and his personal experience ties them together. As a safety professional, I was amazed to see that almost all of his "lessons learned" could be applied to ground operations, as well as flight. Wish I'd written the book!

I thought that characterizing hope as a weed was thoughtful and apt. That comment came from a book that was written about fifteen years ago on the frightful history. Now we have a splendid cookbook where weeds of hope persist.

The book itself is a wide format with heavy paper that handles the photographs and the expansive pages well. This book is not made for the kitchen shelf. Rather it is for exposition and enjoyment of the ample text. So for the cook, the book is not efficiently organized. This book is for a reader who will put it to kitchen use at will.

If you had to classify the book, you would call it middle-eastern. But Lebanon is highly developed on its own terms including their history of contact with many cultures. Chard, crisp-fried onion, lemon and all sorts of pickles and preserves await your inspection.

Try your hand at the yogurt cheese and be impressed with your results. Make Dijon feta dressing.

Beyond Lebanon, there is Syria, which has the oldest yeast cultures known. Damascus is the oldest continually inhabited city. I was heartened to see that Armenia is included because we forget how they were almost exterminated even before the word "genocide" was coined.

So with all the bounty, there persists the bitter twinge. Read, cook and grow.

WOW, being from the region and living in the US, this book took me back to all the great places in Lebanon and Syria to eat! Having the recepies too made it even all the more mouthwatering.

The photography put me right there in the middle of it all too.

Even if you never have been or are not sure about going. I highly recommend this book.

K

This book is a treat! The author shares so many wonderful descriptions of delightful details about the place and the food. The photographs add a lot of interest and last, but certainly not least... wonderful recipes... it has the personal touch.

This book was great, some traditional recipes, and some not so traditional twists on them as well. The one thing that bothered me was the chapter on breads. They talk and talk of Arabic Bread in the chapter, yet there is no recipe for it in the book..., anywhere. Still worth the purchase though, lots of good info and background history.

Excellent for chef's. Easy to follow, and great results. So far I have used five recipes, and all have had great results.

When Robert Ellsberg's All Saints was reviewed on the campus of Adrian Dominican Sisters, book orders flowed from our well-seasoned readers in the spiritual life. Now with The Saints' Guide to Happiness our community was ready for more substance from Ellsberg, and we have it.

This latest work translates the lives of the saints in ways that are helpful, and most importantly, believable to our everyday experience. The eight 'Learning to' chapters offer something for everyone whether we are content with our lives, or living with boredom, or even find ourselves suffering and burdened by doubt.

Half the book is taken up with two chapters-Learning to Suffer and Learning to Die- addressing some of the most urgent questions of today in how to put together happiness with suffering and death. After reading those two chapters, one of our members whose illness once took her to the edge of death said, "After coping with a life-threatening illness ...you get a clarity of vision and you don't waste time on small things.... The Chapters on suffering and dying in The Saints' Guide to Happiness speaks much to me... I love this book and will keep it with me and read it from time to time so that I get some more encouragement in the 'hard parts' of life."

The Saints' Guide heightens our sensitivity "to the way God is present in our lives.... The path to happiness is rooted in the place where we are, and not just some holy place somewhere else." Ellsberg's words have found a warm home here in Adrian as he has preached to the preachers a good word!

Robert Ellsberg's ALL SAINTS was well received by many Catholic readers and deservedly so. The biographies found in the first book are well researched and his selection of famous and not so famous Christians (and in a few cases non-Christians) is interesting. Ellsberg once again turns to the well known figures in Christian history in his newest work THE SAINTS' GUIDE TO HAPPINESS.

In Billy Joel's song "Only the Good Die Young" he has the famous line `I'd rather laugh with the sinners than cry with the saints; the sinners have much more fun.' Joel's assessment is a somewhat popular misconception of the saints. In many cases we view saints as long suffering men and women who hardly see the joy in life. Ellsberg would not agree with this misconception. Using the writings of many of the traditional saints of Christian history, as well as leading religious figures who are not officially recognized as saints, Ellsberg shows that many of the saints strove to love full and vital lives while on earth and were not simply concerned with enduring life on earth to merit the joys of everlasting life. Ellsberg uses Aristotle's definition of happiness as a springboard, that happiness is not merely a feeling of joy, but rather the fullness of life. Saints lived lives to the full, whether it was through their ministry, their interactions with others, the ways in which they endured hardship and suffering, or the way that they died. Throughout the book the reader sees that Ellsberg has great admiration for his subjects and sees their lives as examples of how we can live our lives.

The book appears to be a self help book, but it is not a book that gives the reader answers. Rather, it presents the significant aspects of our lives: being alive, work, loving others, suffering, and death, and presents the saints as guides who can assist us as we navigate our own lives.

The book is a rather easy read. Ellsberg's writing has a nice flow to it and the book is well organized. Readers can easily sit and read an entire chapter, or read the book slowly in a reflective manner. The hardcover edition of the book has a ribbon which serves as a bookmark, which makes it easy to use as a devotional tool.

I couldn't wait for this one because Robert Ellsberg's "All Saints" has been my favorite daily reading ever since it came out. "The Saints Guide to Happiness" is even better than I expected. It helps that Robert Ellsberg was personal friends with at least two of the stars in this book, Henri Nouwen and Dorothy Day. For those mourning the loss of the great Catholic spiritual writers in these harsh days, they can look to Robert Ellsberg. I want many more books from him. He keeps getting better and better. The positive editorial reviews above have it right. This book will make an incomparable Christmas gift. I am right now rereading it from the beginning. There aren't many books I own which I can read over and over and this is one of them.

It is not so much the great amount of interesting information about some very special (but also very normal) people that makes this book worthwhile, but rather the slow and patient vision of true happiness that it weaves. The chapters of the book are structured as lessons to be learned not in order to reach some eventual place of happiness but to lay hold of it now: Learning to Be Still; Learning to Relinquish; Learning to Work; Learning to Suffer; Learning to Die... What is so life affirming about this book is the overwhelming assent to happiness and to its pursuit embodied in persons whom we usually take to be super human in their efforts at self-renunciation. Yes, these were disciplined men and women, but they were also driven by and in pursuit of a Joy that they discovered as the true essence of their human lot. I like the way the book slowly and engagingly transforms our usual, narrow, paltry, notion of a happiness dependent on comfort to one founded on that inner certitude (which can exist even amidst suffering) that we are traveling, slowly but surely, on the path we were meant to travel. And along the way we meet some pretty inspiring fellow travelers not as different from you or me as you would first think.

Robert Ellsberg deserves sainthood himself, for putting this wonderful material within easy reach of the lay public -- without losing the depth and nobility of his subject. This is GOOD reading -- inspiring as well as educational. What a delightful surprise to find a book that gives us a new spin on some very old names, and a fresh look at what it means to live a life of depth, devotion, and reverence. I really could NOT put it down until finished it.