UK Books

"Searching for Peace: the Road to TRANSCEND" is an indispensable guide for "peaceworkers". It combines theory (e.g. "on the psychology of the TRANSCEND Approach") with concrete examples of 40 conflicts from around the world, based on 40 years of practical experience in helping conflict parties find nonviolent solutions. Instead of seeking to bring the conflict parties to the negotiating table from the beginning, which can often result in a stream of mutual accusations that exacerbates the conflict, this approach first holds extensive dialogues separately with each conflict party, to gain their trust and understand their grievances and fears, needs and desires. By presenting the parties with a richer repertoire of possible approaches, and by showing them how similar conflicts have been successfully solved elsewhere, this often helps them see a way out of a seemingly intractable situation in which they feel themselves trapped. Johan Galtung, who founded the academic discipline of peace research, and has always applied his insights to help people suffering from conflict, like a good doctor, has joined forces with Carl Jacobsen, Finn Tschudi and Kai Frithjof Brand-Jacobsen to share with us his rich experience. This book ought to be required reading for all international relations scholars, practitioners, policy-makers and peace activists.

"Searching for Peace: the Road to TRANSCEND" is an indispensable guide for "peaceworkers". It combines theory (e.g. "on the psychology of the TRANSCEND Approach") with concrete examples of 40 conflicts from around the world, based on 40 years of practical experience in helping conflict parties find nonviolent solutions. Instead of seeking to bring the conflict parties to the negotiating table from the beginning, which can often result in a stream of mutual accusations that exacerbates the conflict, this approach first holds extensive dialogues separately with each conflict party, to gain their trust and understand their grievances and fears, needs and desires. By presenting the parties with a richer repertoire of possible approaches, and by showing them how similar conflicts have been successfully solved elsewhere, this often helps them see a way out of a seemingly intractable situation in which they feel themselves trapped. Johan Galtung, who founded the academic discipline of peace research, and has always applied his insights to help people suffering from conflict, like a good doctor, has joined forces with Carl Jacobsen, Finn Tschudi and Kai Frithjof Brand-Jacobsen to share with us his rich experience. This book ought to be required reading for all international relations scholars, practitioners, policy-makers and peace activists.

Even though he never made it to Lhasa, which was off-limits to outsiders when this book was written, Secret Tibet is the most informative & insightful book on Tibet's history, culture & religions I have ever read, a rich & rewarding experience, the best of all books I've read on Tibet (& I believe I've read them all). Fosco Maraini was an exceptional human being, compassionate, highly intelligent, & he wrote with poetic elegance. He was a top ethnologist, a skilled photographer, an expert mountain climber and above all, an extraordinary human being with an amazing understanding of human behavior at all levels. All of his books should be in print & read. He wrote extraordinary books on Mountain Climbing, Pearl Divers in Japan, & above all, on Japan: Meeting With Japan, one of the most amazing books I have ever read. I recommend him to anyone & everyone. You'll never regret reading him.

I have read a lot of books about the old days in Tibet, and this is the best, despite the fact that Maraini never went to Lhasa, the holy grail of most adventurers in those days. But Mariani made no attempt to accompany his employer, the famous Tibetologist Giuseppi Tucci. Tucci claimed to be a Buddhist in order to be allowed to visit Lhasa, and Maraini wasn't a Buddhist (and suggests that Tucci wasn't either) and so chose not to try to trick or bully his way in to the capital. That alone makes him more admirable, in my book, than most of the arrogant Europeans who took it for granted that it was their God-given right to poke their noses into other people's cultures any way they could.

Maraini actually travelled in Tibet on two different occasions, 1939 and 1948, and telescopes both visits in this book, although most of it is based in the 1948 trip. As an Italian, and a highly cultured European, he has a somewhat more sympathetic view of Tibet than English and American writers. He compares Tibet not to Nebraska but to Florence, the Italian Alps, Italian Catholicism, and the Vatican. While Tibet was medieval, in many ways Catholicism in the 30s and 40s could also be called medieval. Maraini thinks like a man of science, but he knows the mind of Italian peasants as well, and an old woman repeating a mantra is not so different from an old woman in Italy saying her own rosary. So there is a lot of sympathy in his view.

He is also clear-sighted. He does not like dirt and smells, for example, and when he describes the Tibetans, he doesn't pretend not to notice the level of filth. He admires Buddhism, but not so much that he loses objectivity. Underground chapels which contain animal carcasses stuffed with straw and rotting away and artwork filled with skulls, human bones and bloody images horrify him, and he says so.

He also conveys a wonderful sense of the beauty, the air, the silence, the scale and scope of the Tibetan land. His book is about people and events, which he describes with piercing insight and analysis. He describes faces and bodies in terms of the character they reveal. He doesn't fill pages with descriptions of ornery porters and bad trails. Instead he takes the hardships of travel for granted and describes the personality and character of every person, mountain, monastery, dance, and meal. The fact that he was not hell-bent for Lhasa allows him to be present in each place that he visits.

Because he is along on the trip as a photographer, he observes the art intensely. His writing is vivid, poetic but not pretentious, and the translation from the Italian is flawless, at least as English style goes. You would never imagine that you are reading a translation.

Maraini also had another advantage that makes him the perfect travel companion--he lived and taught in Japan in the years between his first and second trips to Tibet (because WW2 had broken out and he got stranded there) so he can see Tibet not only as it appears to a European but also in the greater context of Asia.

The updates that contrast the Tibet he saw and the Tibet of 1998 are saddening but give even richer context to the story. He intersperses these at the end of each chapter, so you don't have to try remember which monastery or city he is talking about. The book is skillfully edited so that the three time periods involved flow smoothly into one fascinating narrative.

I am eager to read Maraini's other works, because he is a man of great insight, an open heart and a clear mind.

I loved this book! It goes into great detail about how to study effectively. It covers multiple choice, true/false, and essay questions and gives you great clues on how to answer these questions correctly, i.e., see through some of the tricks professors use to fool you! The best part of this book was the practice tests. It provides a practice civil service test, a practice standardized test, and a pracice classroom test which allows you to interact and apply what you have learned (and it provides the answers). The tests cover recall, math, language mechanics, reading comprehension, grammar, spelling, judgement, etc. I would recommend this book to anyone who would like to have an upper hand in test taking! I especially liked the book because I will be returning to school after an eight year absence and feel a little nervous about it. Now I feel like I have some tools to help me get those As!

This was one of the books I used to train students to increase their grades on exams. The book was useful in that and students were able to get higher grades. The proof is in the pudding.
Jason Alster- author- BEING IN CONTROL:Natural Techniques for Increasing Your Potential And Creativity For Success In School.

Mr. Williams presentation is clear and easy to follow. The text is well thought out and organized into separate chapters covering major design topics. He has taken the time to ferret out all the pertinent footnotes and includes them in the appropriate sections. His summaries and tables are worth the price of admission alone. If you are taking the SE Exam .... Get this book.

ANALISIS Y DISEÑO SISMICO DE ESTRIBOS DE PUENTES SOBRE PILOTES SOBRE ROCAS Y/O SUELOS BLANDOS, METODOS DE CALCULO ACEPTADO POR LA NORMA ASSHTO 1996-REVISION 1998. INTERACCICIÓN DEL RELLENO TRAS DEL ESTRIBO CON RESPECTO AL EFECTO SISMICO;EJEMPLOS DE CALCULO Y DISEÑOS PASO A PASO, TABLAS DE PARAMETROS DE RESISTENCIA, ANGULOS DE FRICCIÓN INTERNA.

This book is a great read. It has everything that a good thriller should have, fast paced, good characteristion, locations from all around the world and a very big theme. I won't mention the ending as it is most unexpected but on reflection I thought it was very profound. The basic plotline is that an artifical intelligence is accidentally created by an autistic computer programmer based in the Noraid American military complex in Arizona. Through the linking of various sub plots the three main protagonists, a guard from the miliary complex who was at its creation; the daughter of the original creator of the programmes and an Irish archaeologist, join together to try and defeat it. The book follows their progress up through France and over to Ireland for the final confrontation. Looking forward to reading other reviews; especially about the ending.

i like new writers that are not boring and i have to say that tony o reilly had me beleiving in his writing and with his first published book i hope that he writes another as he has my vote as a best new comer.

who knew that the bard could be funny? i laughed so hrad that i was starting to scare myself. ROMEO AND JULIET has never been my favorite play but now seeing it from juliet's nurses point of view, i love it! TWELFTH NIGHT is positively hilarious with toby belch's drunken ramblings in his letters. and my personal favorite, MACBETH is great written in a detective style. one can practically see Macbeth leaning back in a chair smoking a cigarette, in the streotypical style of detectives. i was actually mad at myself for finishing this book, i loved it so much! and bottoms drunken account of A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM is what laughing is all about. so i advise you, shakespeare fans and those that just love parodies, to buy or at least read this book.

This audio book is absolutely a riot. I have read all the plays which were rewritten and I thought that Carpenter did an outstanding job of accurately recreating these stories. Each story had its own special twist to it and though some were taken out of its historical time, they still fit the original story. I highly recommend this to anyone who has longed to become aquainted with Shakespeare's works, but couldn't understand what wasw going on.

This book is the BEST players guide EVER!!!!! Everyone who doesn't have this game and doesn't have the book, MUST BUY IT!!!MUST BUY IT!!!MUST BUY IT!!!MUST BUY IT!!!MUST BUY IT!!! I have sooooo much experience now!!

I have SimThemePark and so does my friend. He has the Strategy Guide though. I have seen it! No wonder his park is so much better than mine! This book gives you everything! The tips are easy and you will simply have a wonderful park when you're finished. This book helped my friend get an amazing park. It has the best roller-coaster I have ever seen! He also has other cool rides. Everyone who has this game should get this book. Or it just wouldn't be any fun!

This book is a compilation of several books, so it has a lot of different styles and techniques: Polymer clay, painted glass, mother of pearl, leather cord etc. I myself come from a polymer clay background and this book gave me a lot of new ideas both of polymer clay jewlery and how to combine different mediums to get stunning looking jewlery.

The book includes step-by-step instructions with pictures only for the general instructions. The different projects have a picture with text instructions, but they are quite well written and easy to follow, even for beginners.

I warmly recommend this book to anyone interested in making jewlery. Lots of eye candy!

This book is a compilation of several books, so it has a lot of different styles and techniques: Polymer clay, painted glass, mother of pearl, leather cord etc. I myself come from a polymer clay background and this book gave me a lot of new ideas both of polymer clay jewlery and how to combine different mediums to get stunning looking jewlery.

The book includes step-by-step instructions with pictures only for the general instructions. The different projects have a picture with text instructions, but they are quite well written and easy to follow, even for beginners.

I warmly recommend this book to anyone interested in making jewlery. Lots of eye candy!

The greatest murder mystery in a long while!! Fun to read with plenty of twists and a generous serving of good old fashioned humour! A fantastic read!

My book was originally published in the UK, with many excellent reviews. It is set in the US and unlike most other murder mysteries, it contains more than a touch of humor, enough to make every reviewer agree that it's a "fun read". There is no humor in murder, but there is humor in the relationship of the characters set on solving such murders. I've written the book for readers to enjoy. But don't take my word for it, read it for yourself.

Have fun!Sleeping WitnessSleeping Witness

Fiona Robyn's "stones" aren't poems, exactly -- some are, but others clearly are not. Each one represents a moment of quiet, focused attention, part of a daily practice which Robyn began three years ago to try and revitalize her own interest in writing. Blogging was integral to the project, it seems: from the beginning she wanted a space where she could collect and share the literary equivalent of small stones picked up on a walk and carried home in a pocket. "They might be a snatch of overheard conversation, the sun moving behind the cloud, or a cat jumping on the lawn," Robyn writes in the introduction. "They set off a quiet 'ah!' inside me, like a toddler saying 'look!' They are nothing special and something special all at once. As time went on, I got better at remembering to notice the world around me. Not just to notice it but to scrutinize it, engage with it, love it."

When Robyn announced that she was publishing a book of selections from the first three years of the blog, I had my doubts about how well it work. But in fact they make a surprisingly satisfying collection. Like insects trapped in amber, the very delicacy and ephemerality of Robyn's "stones" invite closer examination. As fragments of concentrated attention, many of them engage the reader in an active search for additional images and ramifications, in the same way that a modern translation of Sappho challenges one to fill in the lacunae.

What I love most about Fiona Robyn's "small stones: a year of moments" is the intimacy of it. We travel through time with the author--with chapters/stones organized by month--and splash in and out of moments lit by imagery that wakes up our senses.

Each stone is a place marker for that day--a little glimpse into the wonder of life--a fragment of poetry that offers a palpable moment of carefully observed grace. From the glittering to the bruised, the mundane to the magnificent, I savor each small stone as I would a visit from a dear friend or the taste of a rare dessert.

Consider this small stone from January:

"The sun sags in the sky. Half a lemon sits face down in a puddle, scenting the water with citrus. Everything tightens against the cold."

I can see, taste and feel the weight of early winter in this small stone. And from April, this light kiss of sound and image:

"a digger tips its scoop: the sand slides out as if from a cupped palm"

July's full-body invitation awakened me to my own full-blooming truths this month:

"Lie on your back on the grass, become quiet. One by one, they step forward. The chopped circle of the moon. Honeysuckle scent edging the breeze. Swallows weaving counterpoint, and above them and aeroplane in poor imitation. And next door's roses, punching holes into the evening, as red as the reddest lipstick."

In each moment, Robyn gives us something deeply perceived and fully felt. It's as if we are offered again and again a cup of fresh sustenance from the source that is language itself. Robyn concludes her introduction with an observation about how collecting small stones has impacted her:

"As time went on, I got better at remembering to notice the world around me. Not just to notice it but to scrutinize it, engage with it, love it. My eyes, ears, nose, mouth and hands opened up."

I experience her book very similarly. It is both an invitation and a meditation...to enter my own depths and pay attention. To express my love of language through use...to receive each small stone as a holy, ordinary thing. And to live my life in humble service to the words that lead the way.

I'd highly recommend that you keep "small stones: a year of moments" close at hand and refer to it often. You just may find your whole body opening up a little more fully to the mysteries of our world.