Day Books

La'Kesha's devotional has been a Godsend - there truly are angels in our midst if we open up to them. There has not been one day when the devotional hasn't hit on subjects of hurt or pain that I'm dealing with and in a lot of cases issues that the Lord is dealing with me about - changes that really need to be made.

But the blessing in La'Kesha's book is that no matter what subject it's about whether pain, hurt, depression, or areas of change - it's written not only to us - but to herself to and she uses her life experiences as examples ---never once accusing or demeaning anyone - and always giving God the glory.

And you don't have to read it just in the morning. There are many times I come home from work and it's sitting on my dining room table and I just flip it open and it just happens to open up to the subject that's on my mind that day - so don't let the title fool you - it's a devotional for any time of the day or night.

La'Kesha has truly been gifted by God and I only pray that this book become a bestseller - I mean in the top 5 - I can't wait for volume 2.

God Bless you La'Kesha and thank you for being an open vessel for God.

La'Kesha Calhoun really out did herself with this book, It is Awesome!
I started reading it and I couldn't wait for the next day to hear what God was speaking thru this Woman of God.This book helped me to find out what my purpose in God was and to be bold and not let the devil steal what God was assigning me to do in the Kingdom Of God. La'Kesha is a great author in how she writes and explain biblical principles that can help in everday life. I can't wait for her next book or even movie/play hey God is really going to use this Woman Of God to help people find and develop their gifts, because has done that for me, Praise God!

La'Kesha is an excellent writer who humbles herself and listens to God's direction to reach others through her writings. Her writings are inspiring, encouraging and uplifting. Her daily devotions are for all to enjoy, be lead by God and strengthened through God's word and his divine plan for all of our lives. I was/am truly blessed by this book and also bought one for my mother and her daily walk with God. Thanks La'Kesha. Keep be a blessing to all those who read what God has put into your spirit to share with others.

This book is awesome. I find it hard to put down. So much of it speaks to me personally.

This book of devotionals is truly awesome! It gives great inspiration and hope to Christians during our daily walk with The Lord. There are so many things that take place in our everyday lives and this book helps us to meditate on God's Word, in order to make it through those times. It truly blessed me and my family!

I learned of Dawn Thurston's life story writing classes through a flyer posted at my local genealogy society. Now, wherever you live, you, too, have access to this superb teacher's encouraging and practical ideas. In Breathe Life into Your Life Story, Dawn gives suggestions of topics to write, where to begin, specific methods to create a scene, how to let your feelings show, and how to write with a focus. She provides examples of effective writing from her students and recommends a reading list of published memoirs.

For me, the Thurston book is a resourceful writing companion and a reminder of the value of putting my life on paper. My mother didn't have a copy of this new book to inspire her to leave us her stories. How I would love to have her recorded memories now. For the holidays, I will send copies of Breathe Life to my sister, her daughters, and at least one cousin. If we don't write our stories, who will?

I've purchased a few books in the personal history genre as gifts for friends and family. When I decided to start writing my own story, I reviewed what was available and then choose Morris Thurston's book. I'm glad I did. I'm rating this five stars even though I'm less than half way through the book so far. I do this in good conscience because I've already gained far more than I expected from the entire volume.

If taken seriously, Thurston's book is not light reading because he gives assignments that take time. I have found these assignments interesting and beneficial. This is a book one must work through rather than simply read. The benefits received will be directly proportional to the effort expended.

There are a number of products available to help people remember and record their past. While Thurston touches on the subject of recalling memories, his emphasis goes beyond that. He maintains is that it is not enough to recount memories, rehash facts, or preach wisdom. Rather, Thurston says authors will not make an impact unless they hold their readers' interest. And in order to do so, Thurston recommends understanding and employing effective story telling techniques as used by good, professional writers. In doing so, Thurston does not suggest fabricating experiences. He simply encourages and shows authors how to tell their own experiences in an interesting way.

You don't have to be a professional writer to benefit from Thurston's book. I'm no pro, and I have no ambition of sharing my (ordinary) story with anyone other than my descendents. But I didn't want to risk the effort of writing a life history without it having much impact on anyone. So I am taking his recommendations to heart.

I believe Mark Twain once said something like, "Of course, truth is stranger than fiction -- fiction has to make sense." Thurston shows authors how to tell their life stories in a way that makes sense.

Writing teacher Dawn Thurston and award-winning ancestral biographer Morris Thurston present Breathe Life Into Your Life Story: How to Write a Story People Will Want to Read, a no-nonsense guide to crafting an engaging autobiography. memoir or personal history. Chapters cover how to write at the gut level and reveal one's feelings, what to do and not do when writing about specific places, connecting the events of one's life to history, using suspense and conflict to draw the reader further in, and much more. A wealth of "learn-by-doing" exercises round out this excellent self-improvement guide highly recommended for would-be biographers, and also packed with valuable tips, trips and techniques for aspiring writers of fields.

Far more than just a resource book, "Breathe Life Into Your Life Story..." is entertaining enough to read in just one sitting, cover to cover. In fact, the first time I read it, I did just that.

But make no mistake about it... you will want to revisit the book several more times, as this book is also packed with a wealth of practical insight. In fact, if my copy of this book were misplaced or stolen, I would definitely have to go buy myself another copy.

This is easily the best book on the subject of memoir writing.

Breathe Life into your Life Story...What a lifeline for writers at all levels and stages, from wannabes to struggling to practicing.

Easy reading, the Thurstons' book is inviting, encouraging and full of
examples from the writing of their classroom students, many since published.

Excellent handbook for writers to master their craft.

J.B.Ferris,
Author, Claiming Our Pioneer Legacy

Powerful and insightful reading for daily living.
And it can be put into action.
Thank you, President Ikeda!
Diane E. Williams

Love it! Intelligent; insightful, inspiring...and current. It's also very light and easy to carry. Worth its weight in gold.

This book is great!!! Recently, we had a very very tragic loss in our family. My 21 yr old brother, all American college football player with absolutely no enemies, was randomly attacked and beaten to death one night while leaving a store by a group of 6 guys. It was a gang initiation beating. I turn to this book everyday for support. It seems like every single teaching, applies to me personally so it's helped me a lot through these past couple of weeks! Especially during this struggle I have with losing my younger brother so suddenly and in such a cruel manner.

This is such an encouraging book by Daisaku Ikeda. We are giving them to
our fellow friends and members as birthday gifts. It seems that each birthday for each friend has a perfect quote that is meaniful to them.

I'm also planning to give this book to my friends that are not members
as they are "life truths" as a dear Christian friend said to me after she
read some quotes by Daisaku Ikeda.

Anna L in Lodi, CA

This is a book of Daily Encouragement, written by Soka Gakkai International(A world wide Buddhist organization) President, Daisaku Ikeda. However, it doesn't tell you to chant or meditate everyday but it teaches you how to live your life best way possible. Live your life with hope, courage and never give up spirit.

I was desperate for something to follow novels by Lauren Haney and Lynda S. Robinson. Geagley creates an engaging character but Semerket goes through the book mostly alone (no sidekick). That means most of the dialog is internal and, to me, that slows down the plot.

Geagley does a great job of capturing the culture of 20th Dynasty Egypt but much less so in Babylon, Mesopotamia where Semerket spends most of his time.

Much like the first one, I read this book in a few days not wanting to put it down. I handed off to my wife and she handed it to our daughter with much the same result. It is very important to read the first book in the series to have context.

I loved Brad Geagley's first book in this series about Semerket, the pharoah's "detective" and couldn't wait for the this one.
It is unique to have a mystery novel set in ancient Egypt. Geagley's knowledge of ancient politics is awesome.
I am equally eager for the next installment of Semerket's life.

The second installment in this series, which follows the adventures of Semerket, Egyptian Clerk of Investigations and Secrets, in 20th Dynasty Egypt, does not disappoint. Semerket's ex-wife Naia and Rami, a young boy whom he befriended in Year of the Hyenas, have been sent as slaves to Babylon, and Semerket receives a fragment of a note indicating that they are in danger. Upon appealing to Rameses IV, the new Pharaoh, who owes Semerket his life and his throne, he is given permission to seek them and bring them back to Egypt, as well as a sensitive diplomatic mission to the ruler of Babylon. (Oops - I originally put "king" but when reading this over remembered that one very strong point made in the book was that Babylon, unlike Egypt, didn't have a king.)

In Babylon, which is seething under foreign occupation (shades of modern day Iraq?) Sermerket quickly learns that he can trust no one, not even his own country's ambassador. The raid on the plantation where Naia was a maid is rumored to have been undertaken by resistance fighters, but evidence points to Egyptian involvement. A remarkably clever and sophisticated slave, a seductive transvestite, and a pair of spies who stick to Sermerket like glue even after they're called off are only a few of the many colorful characters who help him solve the several mysteries he faces and find out what happened to Naia and Rami.

One of the risks of writing about a hard-bitten and embittered character such as Semerket is that he will either become totally unsympathetic or, if his life improves sufficiently, lose the "edge" that makes him so interesting in the first place. Moving him to a different culture was a brilliant move for Geagley, since Semerket is thrown slightly off balance by the strangeness and is forced to show some of his vulnerabilities. It remains to be seen whether he will continue to maintain the balancing act.

The book also provides some fascinating insights into the Babylonian politics of the time, some quotations from The Lament for Ur (which appears to have similarities to the biblical book of Lamentations, if only because the emotions felt by the survivors of a devastated city probably don't differ much), and ancient medical practice. I only wish that, on his website if not in the book, Geagley would provide some information about his sources and recommended reading for those who would like to learn more.

In this sequel to Year of the Hyenas, Semerket, the Clerk of Investigations and Secrets, is sent by Pharaoh to Babylon to arrange for the visit of a statue with miraculous healing powers to Egypt. And, as an added inducement, Pharaoh gives Semerket letters of manumission for his wife and son, who are lost somewhere around Babylon. However, in the land between the rivers, nothing is what it seems, and there are schemes within schemes in this strange land. Can Semerket get to the bottom of what is going on? And, is there any chance of finding his loved ones alive?

Overall, I found this to be a very interesting book. The characters and the situation are quite interesting - colorful and yet thoroughly believable. Also, I found the mysteries to be quite interesting. My one complaint against the book is that the author did little to capture the fascinating culture that Mesopotamia enjoyed at the time. (Indeed, Nidaba's view of Ishtar as containing dualisms of male/female-war/love is very Greek (and subsequently Western), but would have made no sense to the ancient Mesopotamians. Inanna/Ishtar exemplified and ruled the passions - love and hate, lust and disdain, haughty pride and craven cowardice.)

But, that said, this was a fascinating book, one that I am very glad that I read.

Lisa Johnson has managed to make this book a fun read while encouraging moms who are in "the trenches". Her stories are ones all moms can relate to, appreciate, and laugh over! No one else understands moms like other moms do - All moms will relish that feeling of being understood; Johnson shows us she possesss that great understanding through all her hilarious experiences. At the end of the book I felt disappointed there were no more stories! I look forward to a sequel.

I didn't get far in Espinoza's book before I laughed out loud. She has a knack for taking a mom's everyday challenges and turning them into fodder for hilarious, uplifting stories. I especially like her comment about the mountains of clothes that moms encounter daily: "It dawned on me at some point that the only way I'll ever get my laundry caught up is if my family spends two days in the nude." Her deft, light touch with both spiritual application and scriptures make this a good book to give to "seekers" and other moms who might not venture in a Christian bookstore.

I got my copy of The Days of Whine and Noses and gave up precious mommy sleep to finish it all into the wee hours of the morning. I laughed, snorted out loud in hysteria and nodded in such sympathetic understanding. Knee deep in my own days of whine and noses,this was a bridge over the Barbie shoes, dirty baby wipes and animal cracker crumbs. Keep it up, Lisa!

I relate to Lisa! I wish I had this book before my boys turned two ~~ then I would have grabbed it every chance I needed a good laugh! Now that my twin boys are almost three, I can have a good chuckle out of Lisa's stories ~~ I've been there!

This book is a slim volume of laughs, inspiration and encouragements. It's a realistic look at life of being a mom ~~ but it's not depressing. It's not a depressing look at motherhood or life with kids ~~ it's an uplifting book with the author's stories meant to let you know that you're not alone in the midst of all the messy messes that your children hands you. Lisa shares some frank stories about toddlerhood and a few stories about teenage years. She urges you to laugh at life ~~ it's all in how you look at it. =0)

If you know that someone is expecting a baby or someone is right smack in the middle of kiddie crisis ~~ I recommend you give this book for that mom. She'll sit there and laugh and cry and know that she's not alone. There are some passages on Johnson's faith ~~ but it's done in a loving way ~~ to encourage us moms to look outside of ourselves and count our miracles.

I am forever grateful for my friend who lent me her copy ~~ I actually had a chance to sit down and laugh at the absurdity of child-raising and it gave me more strength to go on another day with my lovable boys. This is one of the best gifts anyone can give to a mom!

5-15-05

If you are a mom to anyone in the under-ten bunch, YOU NEED THIS BOOK.

Lisa Espinoza Johnson has captured the essence of motherhood with her irreverently funny style and belly-laughter producing wit. With titles like "On Oozing Poop," you know at a glance that Mrs. Espinoza Johnson is not sugar-coating a thing. You will relate -- you will nod your head -- you will groan with empathy.

Masterfully woven into each true-to-life, chuckle-producing tale, is a golden nugget of encouragement to overcome the struggles and challenges of life in general. Who'd have thought that there was a correlation between potty training and finding yourself?

As a parenting humor author, I am delighted to endorse and to recommend this charming, perfectly-sized, read-a-story-when-you-have-a-minute book for moms who need a quick pep talk.

You will not be disappointed in this gem of a book. KUDOS to the author!

---
Jill Schafer Boehme
Author, MY LIMA BEANS ARE ALLERGIC TO MY SPOON

Editor, MOMMY! The Internet Lifeline for At-home Moms

This book contains a lot of information on ways you can make a difference. It is great for parents to consider if they are looking for family activities that teach their children about the world around them. As a single person, this has given me some great ideas of ways I can help others and feel like I am making more of an impact in the world.

For some, compassionate feelings can overwhelm spare time and energy: readers with such a problem should consider The Difference a Day Makes : 365 Ways to Change Your World in Just 24 Hours a kind of recipe collection for doing good. Turn good intentions into powerful action with a guide which provides vast lists of good things which can be done in a few simple minutes or hours; from providing a resource list for a neighborhood to encouraging workplace and home use of the arts, and assisting an elder who has a pet.

What a refreshing read - both thought provoking and resourceful, In today's "information overload" society, it's nice to have a handy resource to help me accomplish many of my personal volunteer goals without it being so much work. In fact, I'm going to buy copies for all my nieces and nephews as they are all charged with doing community service projects and, in my opinion, need to experience that "giving back," among other things, makes you feel good about yourself!

This is a nice book. It shows how simple everyday deeds can have a positive impact upon the world. Too often people who genuinely want to do something good for society honestly don't know how to go about achieving anything. This book gives great suggestions and points would-be philanthropists in the right direction.

"The Difference a Day Makes" is a terrific book. Karen has done a great job in communicating the importance of giving back every day. There were several new ways to give that I learned through reading this book. It is easy to read, understand and implement in your daily life. I would recommend it to anyone that wants to make a difference (and that should be everyone).

If you only read one book about the Donner Party, make it this one! The Donner Chronicles tells the story of doomed pioneers and their struggle to survive. It keeps the reader at the edge of his seat and provides great detail of the period and the people. Highly recommended for history buffs who want to read history as though it's a novel instead of a dry textbook. Great photos, maps and graphics add to the text.

Frank Mullen has added an important book to the history of Donner Party. The tragedy has been the focus of writing since the spring of 1847, but Mullen has found a fresh way to make the story understandable and, perhaps more importantly, human.

The book is a daily chronolgy of the year that it took the party to travel from Illinois to California, and each two-page spread of this large book is carefully laid out and presents a mix of graphics and text. It is rewarding if read straight through, yet very accessible if your reading style is more "grazing" than linear.

Mullen clearly has done his homework. The sheer volume of detail and complexity in the story can be overwhelming, and Mullen includes the details that are needed to clarify and develop the people in the story. He includes wonderful quotes from diaries and supporting material, and drawings of interesting side issues such as an analysis of the probable shape of the "Pioneer Palace Car." Additionally, Marilyn Newton's photographs of the trail as seen today make it real for a modern reader.

When I have given this book as a gift to anyone with an interest in American History, it has been very well received. A truly great book.

What a great account of a tragic historical event. I felt like i was right there with them. The day -by-day account made for easy reading and let you understand the exact timeline of what the Donner party went through. Frank Mullen and the Reno-Gazette did a great job and should be very proud to keep this history alive.

The full-color, glossy photographs of major landmarks and points of interest along the Emigrant Trail from Springfield, MO to Johnson's Ranch in Bear Valley are stunning. The color photos, all taken by Marilyn Newton, are grouped together in the beginning of the book, comprising 20 slick pages of almost 50 photos. It's hard to believe that wagon ruts from over 150 years ago still exist in places; happily, our continuous farming, building and paving haven't obliterated all traces of the route that so many people rode--and walked--in order to reach California.

Portraits, maps, drawings and sketches from the period are interspersed with sepia-toned contemporary photographs, some taken by Newton and some by other photographers, and appear on every page of the book. "The Donner Party Chronicles" is visually rich and stimulating. The area around Donner Lake and the route the relief parties followed are depicted in all seasons of the year. Even in black-and-white, the photos of Donner Lake and the surrounding mountains demonstrate the ruggedness of the terrain and deeply impress upon the reader the hopelessness the members of the Donner Party must have felt upon being snowed-in at the lake.

The book reads like a journal that would have been kept by one of the emigrants traveling with the Donner Party. The text is reprinted from installments journalist Frank Mullen, Jr. published in the weekly newspaper "The Reno Gazette-Journal" over the course of an entire year. The daily routine followed, problems encountered, and decisions made by the Donner Party are chronicled in a concise manner. The entries are short, most three or four paragraphs in length.

One very interesting feature of "The Donner Party Chronicles" is the map of the Emigrant Trail that appears on every left-hand page of the book, with the progress of the doomed emigrants clearly marked with a red dot. As you read along through the book, you see on every other page exactly where the emigrants were as the day's events took place. I found this map extremely helpful and fascinating. Watching the movement of the Donner Party as they traveled on foot at the pace of slow, plodding oxen made me better able to understand how great an undertaking their overland journey was. I shared this book with my husband, my Dad and my father-in-law, and they enjoyed it almost as much as I did!

This book is well worth the price, for the interesting text as well as the terrific photos; you can easily find what you're looking for in the pages, as each page is dated and the day's entry fairly short.

Yesterday I flew to California from Charlotte,NC. I spent my time in a jetliner, sipping a cool beverage, watching a movie on my laptop and towards the end of my journey, occasionally pertaking the beauty of snow-capped jagged mountain tops of the Sierra Nevada.

But, it was so different a mere 150 years ago. One had to travel in animal driven wagons carrying enough food and other necessities for the long and perilous journey, which could be brutally and tragically cut short by wild animals, unfriendly Indians or any natural calamity. No maps, no rest areas or highways or motels. Luck was the chief ingredient of success those days. This book tells the story of one such journey, where the travellers ran out of luck when they chose to use a shortcut and got snowbound in the Sierra Nevadas. What followed was a struggle for survival with human emotions running raw.

This book narrates this story on a day by day basis and is adorned with a lavish collection of color as well as black and white photographs of the trail and artifacts from those days. It takes one back all those years when one almost feels like a member of the doomed party. I recommend it highly for anyone with or without any interest in the events described!

On a personal note, I found one photograph especially poignant where the proven and the shortcut trails clearly branched. I could feel the indecision in the minds of the emigrants which sealed their fate.

The characters in this book are so well-written that I had a hard time remembering that this is fiction! The author was obviously paying attention during her time in Ireland as the dialogue rings true. It is a lovely mix of romance and friendship. I was truly regretful when the book ended, and couldn't wait to return to Killarmon.

A charming, comical view of an ex-pats culture clash with the eccentric and at times certifiable residents of an Irish village.Enjoy a bumpy ride through pubs, fish and chips, laundry and love-Celtic Style.

Absolutely wonderful book. The author make us laugh, cry, all different emotions are inside this book. Samantha let us see trough her eyes the life in Killarmon. An amazing work of fiction truly.

Read this book now! Dyke Duffy and the Dog Days of Killarmon is one of the best, if not the best book I have read in a long time. It is a book that you will not want to put down until you have read it from cover to cover. Miss Coffman's style of writing is easy to read, and the characters she portrays spring from the page. The town and characters are colourfully depicted which only heightens the magnificent story of an American in a small Irish community. The story is romantic and funny, and very true to life.

Well worth reading, tell all your friends about it.

After reading this book I wanted to share a pint with Sam and Dan and the rest of the townspeople that was vividly described. Then I wanted to hop a plane a take the same adventure Sam took except won't do laundry. I just couldn't put this book down.

After I read this book, I could feel much closer to my god.
From the very beginning there was something going on in myself I could not describe with words.
Something very positive. After 6 month now I look back and can say my life took a better direction. More calmness,
a feeling of security and guidance which I cannot imagine
to life without anymore.
I wish everybody this direct communion and this book is a wonderful guidance for everybody.
I speaks honest from daily life of us and our God !

After I read this book, I could feel much closer to my god.
From the very beginning there was something going on in myself I could not describe with words.
Something very positive. After 6 month now I look back and can say my life took a better direction. More calmness,a feeling of security and guidance which I cannot imagine, that I have lifed
so long without of it.
I wish everybody this direct communion and this book is a wonderful guidance in finding what is in all of us.
It speaks very honest from our daily life and how much our God
desires to be a part of.

When I speak of the word "Dialog," I am speaking of my own on-going personal travelling search for communication with Diety. This book is written in such a way that it can either be an introduction to God for those who are not familiar with the critical fundamental relationship which resides within the heart, because all their efforts have been invested in an external religion...but also for those of us who are familiar with The Dialog and wish confirmation, continued connectivity and reaffirmation of our internal established relationship with God independent of an external world framework. The "Message" is always the same, no matter the avenue, when it is original and proceeds, from The Source. That message is, We Are ONE. Indeed, any kind of separation from God is of our own making.This book uses familiar Christian concepts such as "The Fall" to describe the external world mental separation we have created as a barrier to our Key Fundamental Relationship. So long as we look for God "Out There" instead of "In Here," we will continue to reinforce the barriers which have prempted our rightful and inherent relationship with God. The fundamental principle that God resides WITHIN US and that is where we must look to renew our relationship...not within the confines of external doctrines or frameworks...is central to the thesis in this book and is a continued fundamental principle of every book I have read which I know proceeds out of the Spirit. This book says...do not abandon your current religious framework if it serves you...but build within yourself, your relationship with Me, I am always HERE WITHIN YOU...and if that religious framework no longer serves you...I am always HERE WITHIN YOU STILL. It also says, if you have a religious framework as your context for relationship with Me, Our relationship is NOT complete, if you are only seeking Me OUT THERE. Establish a DIRECT relationship and DIRECT communication within YOU to ME...(Thus the analogy of the "phone."). He has said, this journey is "delicious" in more than one book! It is "time" to give up being a mindless follower to the Messengers and instead...establish a direct relationship with Me. This is indeed, a tough thing to do, when all your life you have been told by established religion, you cannot get to God unless...you do this and this and this and do not do that and that and that...and especially if you do anything without US or our permission or our consent. Yes, it takes a brave soul to realize, you do not need anyone's permission to have a direct relationship with God and no one has any real authority to limit or deny your ability to do so. If you have your eyes OPEN and your mind OPEN when you read this book, you will come out SEEING and THINKING with your heart. And that my friends, is going to get you in a lot of trouble with the world...and its going to establish a relationship which will make the world's permissions...irrelevant. Are you bold enough to take this book and really "read" it? Even if the message of this book remains unheard in you...there will come another chance, another time and place, when you ARE ready for it. I hope, the message in this book, is for you now. For me, it is a re-confirmation of what I have come to understand thru many other such texts. The message is always ONE.

Reading the book and close it, reading it again and close it again. The things I experience are eventualy not in this book but it "goes and exists" inside each one of us. Everybody knows that any spoken language is many times a poor substitute for the living energy that exists within the very core of our heart and soul. Real communication is not easy at all. So what I want to say is that beyond the words written down in this book, there is an everyday-feeling which will bring us all to understandable Common Grounds. It is a TRUE book.

This is a very challenging book. As a Christian I had what I believed to be a safe and good understanding of what/who God is. It challenged my own concepts and has revealled not a God but a parent. It made me realise how intimate this new found parent is in a simple, honest, straight forward way but with a depth I had never experienced before. It helped me understand what our relationship should be like and gave me a renewed desire to get there. There are very few books that have had this kind of impact in my life. It is written in easy to understand everyday language. Would I recommend it? Most certainly yes.

In Athens, during the fifth century B.C., the Sophists were wise men. They were not philosophers, or scientists, they were itinerant teachers. Socrates was a moralist and a religious man. Plato was forty years younger than Socrates. THE APOLOGY and the CRITO are founded on fact, shaped by Plato's artistry, (he was a poet, also).

Socrates was indicted for impiety. A public action was brought against him as a menace to society. Orators and poets disliked Socrates's influence on the young. He asserted in THE APOLOGY that the true champion of justice must confine himself to private life. Socrates received the death penalty. He did not think he should stoop to servility because he was in danger.

Death is either annihilation or migration of the soul. Crito visited Socrates in prison. Crito urged him to escape. He claimed that Socrates was throwing away his life when he might save it. Socrates argued with Crito that he had no problem with the laws and, thus, he had a duty to be law-biding. Aiding Socrates's escape would be a breach of faith.

PHAEDO is the last conversation. Socrates believed a man should be cheerful in the face of death. A love of wisdom, not the body, makes a person cheerful. Soul resembles the divine, body resembles what is mortal. No soul which has not practiced philosophy may attain the divine nature. Pythagoreans have a theory of the soul. The soul is imperishable. Friends were admonished by Socrates to just be themselves. The philosopher faced death handily.

Amazing and wonderful, the three titles are a compelling work.

...a 2400 year old work of philosophy? The question, itself, is not without philosophic interest.

Rather than presume to judge Plato, or Socrates, or Plato-as-Socrates, I will simply add my own voice to the chorus of general opinion and say: TLDoS is as resonant and, in its way, relevant, today as it was so many aeons ago. Though hardly a work of unassailable logic it is, nonetheless, a deeply thoughtful, imaginative, and passionately argued one. As I made my way through it, I had to remind myself, from time to time, that what I had before me was a work of ancient literature. Tredennick and Tarrant are to be commended for their eminently readable translation. As I am not a classicist, I cannot speak to the quality of the translation, but if the quality of the endnotes serves as any indication, I would venture to guess that the translation is first-rate.

A very complex Socrates -- as remembered, as imagined, and perhaps also as invented -- emerges from the four dialogues in TSDoS. That this same Socrates still has power to reach across the ages to confound, inspire, frustrate, entertain, and teach is as sure a testament to his legacy, and to the legacy of classical Greek philosophy, as any.

Read and learn.

THE DEATH OF SOCRATES is a very inspiring book to read, especially now, when many of us may be facing the same situation he faced--though with a crucial difference. Whatever distortion of the real Socrates may have been introduced by Plato or other writers, enough comes through to paint a portrait of the first true individual in history-- the first person to be guided by his own individual conscience to do what is right, regardless of the consequences. Reading the Apology, one thrills to Socrates intransigence in the face of the Athenian jury which sentenced him to death. CRITO presents the best argument for government under law ever offered, and thus the beginning of the tradition of civil disobedience later taken up by Thoreau, Gandhi, and Martin Luther King Jr. When Socrates' friend Crito urges him to flee, saying that most people will think he was really guilty if he does not, Socrates says, "Why should we pay so much attention to what most people think?" Then he engages in a symbolic dialogue with the Law of Athens, which can be thought of as comparable to the US Constitution. It is clear that he is grateful to the Laws for having given him the opportunity to be a dissenter. The crucial fact is that they have permitted him the right to attempt to persuade his fellow citizens by permitting him free speech. Even when he was arrested for his teachings, he was allowed to speak in his own defense. Although the verdict was unjust, he was a victim not of the Laws but of his fellow men. (p. 95)

However, the tradition of civil disobedience which Socrates founded is only meaningful in a democracy, where people have the right to dissent and to have a fair and public trial. And it is rapidly becoming obsolete. For on October 17, 2006, President Bush signed into law the Military Commissions Act, initiating the gravest crisis in US history, not excepting the Civil War, Pearl Harbor, and 9/11 itself. Congress has had over a year to repeal or amend that act but has failed to do so. Now it is up for review by the Supreme Court. If that body, now nearly half-filled with "rubber stamp" justices, fails to strike down the law as unconstitutional we shall have to resort to a very different tradition than that of Socrates, one which has its roots in medieval England, and was transformed in the 17th century into John Locke's social contract theory. Jefferson expressed it in the immortal words of the Declaration of Independence: speaking of the American colonists, he wrote, "But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object, evinces a design to reduce them to absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government and provide new guards for their future security." Faced with the prospect of living in a society which would have made his dissenting individualism impossible, I'm sure Socrates would have agreed.

In this simply-organized compilation of Socratic Dialogues, I would offer that the way Penguin Classics presents them cannot be outdone. The playfully loquacious dialogues are pure-gold bricks of logic, and should therefore be cherished greatly. This book is easy to understand because there are endnotes on every page. Spanning the entirety of over 200 juicy pages, Harold Tarrant and Hugh Tredennick present The Last Days of Socrates to the reader in an easy to follow pattern of notes. These final works of Plato should not be thought of as poor entertainment, but rather highly intense and compelling Greek discussions. It is very well-done and should be read over and over again.



Although every Socratic dialogue is absolutely riddled with complacent people for Socrates to question, this collection actually reveals the largest variety of listeners. From crazy commoners to cynical and court-goers, a critical criminal and the crowd of conflicting friends, Socrates caught every category and class of character off guard. At first, the evidence that hints at Socrates' trial is a mere conviction and nothing more. He had been free then. He had boldly questioned commoners at the very steps to the courthouse that he would defend himself in later. This penniless philosopher inquired of many people during his spare time.



In this collection, the second and third dialogues are the ones that depict the powerful defense of Socrates using logic to its full extent. In brilliantly defending himself, Socrates caressed, persuaded, and rallied only just under half of the jury. Unfortunately, he had failed to win the jury over completely, but he had come so close. Sleeping in the cell that was later constructed for him, Socrates was aroused by Crito, a man who had been a believer in Socrates. The extent of the discussion is contained in the third dialogue titled Crito. Anyhow, the general public hated Socrates so much that only death would avenge their flaming lust for revenge. The second and third dialogues depict Socrates' infamous apologetics and must be read. That is not all, however.



In Phaedo, Socrates calmly awaited his own death by hemlock, in a full chamber of the courthouse. He first addressed his followers and comrades alike concerning the meaning of life. He wanted to reassure them that there was indeed life after death, and that he would be going to a better place. Before he drank the poison, however, Socrates spurred a discussion of the soul and its immortality, or at least as logic had presented it to him. (Of course he had to argue it.) When two of his followers timidly provided Socrates with their opposing views, he only smiled and destroyed each argument consecutively. This he did because he wanted to share his hopes with his friends and did not want them to doubt his reincarnation. Nobody could fight back tears as he took the poison and perished. Socrates' legend now carries from there on. In Phaedo, the philosopher convinced his pals that his soul had not been dying, but had rather been transcending.



I love how Penguin has organized these significant conversations. Socrates is much easier to comprehend because of this book. Socrates had been last heard saying, "Crito, we ought to offer a cock to Asclepius. (This is because Asclepius had been the god of pleasure.) See to it and don't forget." Buy this book. See to it and do not forget. When I purchased this book, which was in a used condition, it only cost two cents and has not disappointed me. Since it is known that Socrates is always welcome to thinkers, the price feels reduced even further for those who love logic. You will deprive yourself if you miss out on this intellectual classic of the Father of Greek philosophy.

Although many accounts of Socrates' trial are known to have existed for some time after the actual events described by Plato, only Plato's and Xenophon's accounts survive. Both writers were sympathetic to Socrates, and so are somewhat suspect as to whether they adequately and accurately describe the full nature of the charges against Socrates. Plato, a 27-year-old admirer of Socrates at the time of the trial, describes the charges as being impiety (questioning the state sanctioned [poly]theology) and, thereby supposedly corrupting the minds of Athens' youth. A similar charge had, years earlier, driven Anaxagoras from Athens, but many scholars believe there were probably other factors involved in the case against Socrates. Here we find an intractable mystery (and some unwarranted speculations that are merely libelous)*.

Plato's telling of Socrates' last days consists in four parts:
(1.) Euthyphro: Socrates in Action. (2.) The Apology: Socrates on Trial. (3.) Crito: Socrates in Prison. (4.) Phaedo: The Last Conversation.

Euthyphro, The Apology, and Crito are better paced and more interesting than Phaedo, which is a long Socratic argument that the soul must possess some extra-material existence, which continues, or is somehow renewed, beyond corporeal death. I suspect that most readers will enjoy the first three sections of this text, but find the last (and longest) more of a chore; at least that is my opinion. Throughout the text, Plato presents Socrates as a man of both relentless curiosity and an admirable ethical heroism.

* As to the rather facile side bar discussion that seems to have been present in earlier reviews in this forum (while noting the forensic evidence indicating that the worst of these comments was deleted): Given the full weight of the available evidence, Socrates' supposed bisexuality can add up to nothing more than idle speculation. As to his relationships with young men, it cannot be confirmed that they involved males that were considered to be below an age at which they could accountably assent--and even more importantly, IF any such relationships were of a sexual nature at all. Given the available accounts, arguments that these were NOT sexual relationships seem clearly more defensible than (slanderous?) accusations that they were. In other words, as regards this charge, we simply enter an arena of irresolvable facts and potential slander. Why go there?! What we CAN glean from the only extant accounts of Socrates' character is that he considered himself to be one who strove to consistently abide by the highest ethical standards, and that this is consistent with Plato's account here. As cited in Phaedo, these comments of Socrates' seem particularly relevant to this [particular slander]: ". . . true philosophers abstain from all bodily desires and withstand them and do not yield to them. . . those who care about their souls and do not subordinate them to the body dissociate themselves firmly from these others and refuse to accompany them on their haphazard journey; and, believing that it is wrong to oppose philosophy with her offer of liberation and purification, they turn and follow her wherever she leads."