Publications Books

If you are a learning (or even trained) dancer,, you should definitely buy this book. Teachers- you should keep a copy in your studio library. My old dance teacher introduced me to this dictionary, and I continued to use it in my college dance classes and when I taught dance on my own.

It's small enough to slip inside your dance bag, so you can take it with you to class. It's a fabulous resource for terminology, which is priceless to learning dancers. Because, there's nothing worse than going to a class when the teacher is of a different methodology. This one features several, including the more popular methods, like Cechetti. There are also some drawings to help you understand more clearly.

This book will help you learn all your arabesques, positions, and more.
A great tool!

It helped me visualize my eight body positions in order to put them in practice. It also helped me with spelling of different positions.

The information is invaluable and an excellent reference at an incredibly low price. But a beginner reading this book would be like reading about myocardial infarctions for someone not knowledgeable in medical terminology (that's a heart attack). It makes sense if you have a grasp on ballet already, but should not be bought as a guide from which to learn ballet. If you are looking for a place to quickly look up a step, and already have a good deal of training, then this is the book for you.

I was reaquired to purchase this book many years ago for a college level ballet class I took. I still have my copy. It's an outstanding reference for terminology.

This book best serves those who have had enough experience with ballet to be able to understand the terms within the definitions themselves. Almost all ballet terms in this book contain other ballet terms within the definitions, and pictures are minimal (positions of the feet/arms, body in space, head, stage terms). If the dancer is not familiar enough with ballet terms, technique, and form, then this book can be overwhelming. I recommend this book to all teachers as well as teenagers who are serious about ballet (it's a must have). For younger students (9 years old and up), I recommend any ballet book that contains basic terms as well as pictures showing proper form/execution of these terms (pictures will also include proper alignment and proper turn-out as well as a clear explaination on how to work toward both).

Excelleng book on modular origami. Very well detailed and good explanations. It is not necessary, but it helps to be comfortable with basic and intermediate folding techniques.

looks good sounds good read well but ive seen better, i do recommend to the high commited

Tomoko Fuse is one of the best known names in origami, and modular forms seems to be the hottest current area. She takes her work seriously, she states, always trying to create the most perfect folds. I am a beginner with a casual interest in moderately complex figures, so this book is way above my interest, commitment and skill level. The large number of black-and-white photos and diagrams also index this as a book for the serious origami hobbyist.

I have had this book for about 5-6 years now and IT'S A MESS! By that I mean, dog-eared, folded, written in, you get the idea. This is absolutely my favorite of the many origami books I have. It introduced me to modular origami back when I was just making boxes and cranes. The instructions are excellent and I have made so many models for gifts, decorations, you name it! Fuse's models decorate my bookshelf and have delighted many of my friends and family members. This book is definitely for more experienced folders, however I do have a friend that borrowed the book and had never done origami before, and he used some of Fuse's methods to build an amazing bridge of his own creation. You can use the methods to create models in the book as well as your own pieces of art. I HIGHLY recommend this book and any other written by Tomoko Fuse.

I appreciate Tomoko Fuse's work because her designs are simple, yet elegant, and they are very clearly explained and diagrammed. She approaches her subject in such a manner than she manages to demystify it so that the reader isn't too intimidated to attempt a project. Hers is the first name I turn to when I'm ready to move on to other techniques, designs, or styles. This book was no different in that regard. It is, as the name implies, instruction on creating multiple UNITS that will then be assembled into different shapes and designs. For that reason, I would say it is defintely for a dedicated enthusiast, as it definitely takes some patience to connect some of these units in a way that will leave the final model smooth and unblemished. However, this is the case with any modular or unit style origami, and not specific to Tomoko's work. If anything, she manages to take some of the mystery out of it in the process and even include encouragement where necessary. I enjoyed her little snippets of insight into her method and approach, as well as her deep admiration and reverence for the craft in general, which comes through in these writings. I fold paper because it gives me a sense of peace and satisfaction through accomplishment. Each new project is a tiny little victory when completed, and works as well for me as meditation. These many different units and connecting them in fun and different ways is certainly fulfilling for those who have that constant inner urge to fold, and then not knowing what to do with tons of cranes, birds, and boxes, etc., that you've created. I just fold different kinds of units over and over, then when I'm ready, I can attempt to connect them later on. There are enough different units and ways to connect them that I am stimulated for hours on end with no end in sight yet. If you are just beginning to fold, I would hold off on this book until you get used to something simpler, like her book "Origami Boxes."

This book offers the very information people really need at the most difficult time in their life. Talking to other people about someone dying is usually a frustrating experience - they just don't understand. This writer does, and addresses issues only someone who has been through it understands. It's a great resource and a real lifeline for the living to the dying.

As an oncology chaplain at UCLA Medical Center, I am always looking for practical, helpful, and meaningful resources that I can use to help patients, their caregivers, and other health care professionals deal with the overwhelming challenges that serious illness can present. "Where Souls Meet" is one of the best resources I have read on this subject. It serves as a deeply moving and personal guide that will lead the reader through the journey that all of us, in one way or another, will someday travel.

AT A TIME WHEN PEOPLE CAN FEEL THERE IS NO HOPE, COMES A BEAUTIFUL RAY OF SUNSHINE. DILLON'S INSITE AND DIRECTION IS A BREATH OF FRESH AIR. AS A HOSPICE VOLUNTEER COORDINATOR, THIS BOOK HAS PUT NEW INSPIRATION INTO MY JOB. I HAVE A MUCH BETTER UNDERSTANDING AND INSITE INTO HOW TO HELP OUR VOLUNTEERS, OUR PATIENT'S AND FAMILIES DEAL WITH THE MOST DIFFICULT TIME OF THEIR LIFE. HAVING LOST CLOSE FAMILY AND FRIENDS PERSONALLY, WHERE SOLES MEET HAS HELPED ME RESOLVE PERSONAL ISSUES AND HAS GIVEN ME A PEACE IN MY HEART I HAVE NOT HAD BEFORE. I PLAN TO INCORPORATE THIS BOOK INTO OUR TRAINING CLASSES AND HAVE COPIES AVAILABLE FOR OUR PATIENTS. I HAD THE GREAT HONOR OF MEETING DILLON EARLIER THIS MONTH, AND I ENCOURAGE EVERYONE WHO HAS A CHANCE TO HEAR HIM IN CONCERT OR AT A SPEAKING ENGAGEMENT TO DO SO WITHOUT HESITATION.

This is a most excellant handbook that provides guidance and direction for family and caregivers of terminally ill people. It is the best and most thorough study that I have found on this subject. It clearly defines how to relate to a person who has been diagnosed with such an illness on the spiritual, emotional, and cognitive levels. It should be made a requirement for every hospice and healthcare worker who relates to terminally ill patients on a regular basis. Families with a terminally ill member will find the book most helpful. It will answer many of their questions and allow them to have a better informed understanding of the patient's emotional needs. It should be made available to all families who are caring for a terminally ill person. Besides focusing on our relational and vberbal behavior when relating to the terminally ill, it gives very practical suggestions. For example, appendice C gives suggestions on what to look for when hiring helpers for patient care. Appendice D has ideas and examples of how to make lists and charts for everyday monitoring.

Many times caregivers think only in terms of what they can offer the terminally ill patient. One chapter gives important lessons that the caregivers can learn from the terminally ill patient.

As a Certified Hospice Nurse and Hospice Administrator I have access to many tools to help both staff and loved ones through the grief journey. Where Souls Meet is both compelling and insightful. From introduction to appendix this book provides each reader with guidance and support through the most difficult time most of us will experience - the loss of a loved one. As we anticipate death, like life, we are faced with many challenges and obstacles. This book offers both inspiration and suggestions to help ease the fear. Dillon writes and shares with a level of emotion and realism that will help both caregivers and professionals alike. Share this book with a friend!

Capitalism is a system in crisis. We, the middle classes should know that by now. What we don't know is the history of abuse behind capitalism, what we fail to acknowledge is that not only third nations are being pillaged, but also the people of developed nations. Not long ago families with 6 or 7 kids were easily supported with the money one of the parents earned working 40 hours a week. Now both parents need to work to support two kids, what is going on? Is this progress? According to the media, it is.
We must inform ourselves about what is really going on and you won't find that watching TV. After Capitalism is a book for the layman to understand the most important flaws in Capitalism and why it can't be fixed. It also describes an alternative system based on local economies run by the people and for the people.
But it's not a book about the future, it's a book about the present. It's about our current alternatives as a society and as individuals. There IS a better way, and it starts today. It starts with every individual reading about reality and about what can be done.

All about "Progressive Utility Theory". Best appreciated and understood after reading economics texts by Dr. Ravi Batra. It is an outstanding example of clear and purposeful thinking through and out of the present world dilemna.
Provides working examples and provides hope in an era of otherwise short supply. It cannot be recommended too highly. If only politicians could read (and read this book and those of Dr. Ravi Batra) the world outlook could be hopeful.

Reading After Capitalism, I'm reminded of E.F. Schumachers (not the F1 driver!) wonderful book "Small is Beautiful". It just makes wonderful sense, but this is not a utopian story. The propositions about how we should manage societies wealth are not only compassionate, they are quite achievable and practical.

I find the idea of a socio-economic theory based on the ancient wisdom of yoga fascinating. This also makes a lot of sense. Millions of people are finding that yoga practice can solve their personal health problems, both physical and mental. Yoga includes the oldest system of human psychology in the world. It can help us understand a great deal about human behaviour, and economic systems and societies are all products of human behaviour. It seems that yoga philosophy also has something very useful to teach us about how we manage our society, our economy and our environment.

This new socio-economic theory of Prout, described so clearly in Dada's book, gives me a real hope for the future. I think these ideas will make a real difference to the world.

Possibly centuries from now when the world has overcome hunger and war and has established a far more humane economic and social order than what we have, people will look back in the past and painfully regret that they did not have the opportunity to be born at the time of Prabhat Rainjain Sarkar, much less get the opportunity to speak to and meet him.

Sarkar's lofty genius, while relatively unheralded in our time, will be looked back upon in awe at such distant time when his ideas will become the basis of that future society's peace and progress.

Dada Maheshvarananda, as a disciple of PR Sarkar and as a reading light in the worldwide PROUT movement, is letting us now that it is not necessary to wait fot the future to unfold. We can implement PROUT ideas now and the book describes how this already being done in some parts of the world by smart people in search of something better.

This is a 'must read' book for those who see no future in global capitalism and sincerely desire a better world.

The most important contribution of this book is that it presents an alternative to the free market economy we have taken for granted.

Especially after the fall of communism, most people have taken capitalism as the given order of life instead of seeing it for what it really is: An economic system that is dominant at a given point of time. 'After Capitalism' shows us that there are alternative ideas out there, and presents those ideas with force and power, backed up by support of some of the most powerful alternative thinkers of our age, such as Noam Chomsky, P.R. Sarkar and Johan Galtung.

Whether you are a staunch free market supporter or a member of the anti-globalisation movement, this book is important for any person who seriously wants to analyse the issues at hand.

If you are a free market supporter, you will find that 'the other' view is actually based on well founded facts and rational ideas, and not just on thoughtless rebellion without a proper ideology. If you do not understand people of different views, it is hard to argue with them!

If you are already critical to the current economic system, you will find here a wealth of information and theories to shape your thoughts and ideas and discover alternatives to the present system.

In either case, it is an important book that I strongly recommend that everyone interested in the current state of the world should read.

"Autumn Lightning" by Dave Lowry appeared to me as a combination of biographical sketch mixed generously with Japanese History, and Spirituality.

The book (for me) was in itself, a "Fair Read," but not necessarily one that will become part of my spirit. Much of this could however, be due to my age. While reading this book, I was often reminded of the movie; "The Karate Kid." In that movie; "Daniel Larusso" becomes "Miyagi-fied" and is turned into a great Marshal Artist. Likewise, Dave Lowry in this book becomes "Kotaro-fied" and emerges as a great Occidental swordsman.

I own one other book by Mr. Lowry on the "Art of Kendo" complete with photographic examples, and many teaching comments that have been very helpful to me.

Mr. Lowry writes and teaches out of sheer devotion and love of the subject, and for this; I truly applaud and respect him! I believe this to be a worthy book but, probably for a younger individual looking for a mentor of desciplines that help to develope spirit and physical attributes.

Dave Lowry offers a perspective in his books not often available to the Western martial arts practitioner - a considered interpretation of modern martial arts in the context of traditional (koryu) arts.

Written in a exceptionally approachable style, Lowry tells the story of his introduction to martial arts, interspersed with anecdotes from Japanese martial history.

Lowry's books provide me with insights into my own training and have helped me grow as a martial artist. Rather than the simple discussion of technique, his essays delve into the "-do" of the arts

One of my all-time favorites, it's recommended reading for all of my students. Mr. Lowry's story is similar to my own. He tells his tale with crisp and humorous writing that has you on the edge of your seat and then lets you sit back and chuckle. A wonderful classic.
If you don't have a copy, you're really missing out.

This is a great read for anyone interested in learning about the history of the Yagyu Shinkage Ryu of swordmanship. Woven into this history are the events that lead Lowry into studying this Ryu and his dynamic interaction with his Sensei.

I've recently reread all the books I have on martial arts, Japan, Japanese culture and history. When I find a passage that really strikes me, I underline it and dog-ear the page. After finishing the handful of books I already have, I came to Amazon to find more. Dave Lowry's book seemed interesting from reading the first few pages available online. Little did I know I would be underlining and dog-earing most of the pages in the rest of the book! An excellent read for new or experienced readers in Japanese history, culture and/or martial arts. I highly recommend it!

This book gives me hope that my marriage can survive my husbands affair. It's a very easy read but yet so insightful. I even wrote the Author thanking her for writing this book and she actually responded..

Here is what the acronym HEDGES stands for...

Hearing
Encouraging
Dating
Guarding
Educating
Satisfying

The author uses these topics as an outline for her tips on how to keep your marriage healthy so your spouse doesn't stray. Even for couples who are doing well, there are invaluable tips in this book. Some of them may seem obvious, but at the same time it's amazing how the absence of those things in marriage make Christian couples vulnerable to straying. I've known many people in this situation over the years and the practical advice the author gives would do wonders for most relationships if applied.

The vignettes the author uses are illustrations from her own life experience. She uses them to bring the point she is trying to make to the forefront. Each section ends with highlights from the chapter and practical things to apply, plus some questions to consider about your marital relationship. This book would make a great tool for a couples Bible study or self-help support group. I highly recommend this resource to every married couple. I found it incredibly interesting, well-written, and not complex or overly-wordy. In fact, I read it in just a few hours.

Honest and insightful, this book not only reveals how easy it was for the author to be deceived, but also shares practical steps we can take to affair-proof our own marriages. Her now-successful marriage offers hope for those who have experienced the heartache of adultery. A must-read for every couple who wants to protect their marriage.

This book is excellent reading for any couple who has had to deal with an affair. It is told by someone who has had to live the experience. I would recommend highly. My husband and I both thought it was useful. It is full of suggestions on how to avoid falling into old patterns.

very easy to read, and understand.

I thought this book was really a great overview of dog agility training. The author does a really nice job of describing the kind of dog that works best with a agillity along with exact training exercies and other helpful books, clubs, and web sites. I felt this book was a fantastic source for dog lovers whether you want to train for fun or train for competition.

We bought this book on the suggestion of an agility dog trainer that we met at an agility trial. This book gives you all the ins and outs to dog agility as well as great training tips. I also loved all the color pictures showing dogs in action. I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in getting into dog agility.

This is a great first book for people who want to learn how to do agility with their dogs. It is insightful, thoughtful and thorough. The author writes as though she is talking to a real person. You can tell she really enjoys working with her dogs and sharing the world of agility with others.

A very easy to understand book for the beginner written in plain english. Plenty of highlighted boxes and tables to explain key points.

The book gives you information on each obstacle as well as how events are run and what to do if you want to enter an event.

There is also a chapter on etiquette that a lot more people need to read!

I have a little toy poodle who seems to fit the bill for an agility dog. Even his caveat about poodles having a sense of humor and doing the unexpected in the show ring is right on the mark.

We bought this book just for something to have fun with our poodle with. We're going to set up a little agility ring in the backyard to channel some of this pup's energy.

Cow Crimes and the Mustang Menace is a great read! Sharon's colorful characters and crazy plot make this book a page turner! Even without reading Sharon's previous books, I was able to jump right into the story and get involved. Sharon has spun another tale of fun, excitement and drama, all wrapped up with a ribbon of laughter! I can't wait to read other books by Sharon Dunn.

The feed and supply store where Ruby Taylor works has been robbed several times. So, Ruby and Georgia, the owner, decide to hide in the darkened store and catch the thief, or thieves. But the women are caught by surprise anyway, and the strangest thing stolen that night is Her Majesty, Georgia's cantankerous Siamese cat.

Ruby's sometime boyfriend Wesley is missing. She's found his pickup abandoned not far from an ostentatious house built by new arrivals in town, and there is blood on the seat of the cab. In typical Ruby fashion, she decides to launch her own investigation because local authorities are less than cooperative.

First thing is to meet the new folks in town who own that house and the Ruby way to accomplish this is to climb through a window. Elementary. Meet Lance Kinkaid and his wife Starlight. Lance? Starlight? You've gotta be kidding.

Now a prize bull has disappeared, Her Majesty is still missing, a drugstore is robbed and somehow Ruby is tangled up in the middle of it. An ancient family dispute brings more questions than answers, but Ruby believes there's a clue in there somewhere.

It is time for the Potato Queen competition and Ruby and Starlight concoct an interesting recipe for potato chips and decide to enter. They arrive at the fair but before the judging, Ruby is kidnapped.

This is a rollicking, fun read. But don't be fooled . . . there is mystery and tension here, too. You may be able to connect the Cow Crimes part of the title with the aforementioned missing bull, but I'll leave the Mustang Menace part for your discovery.

Our Ruby is an irrepressible spirit endowed with a natural instinct that too often leads her beyond common sense and straight into danger. Her tenuous, newborn faith is tested time and again, and her romantic relationship with Wesley and his reluctance to commit drives her crazy.

Sharon Dunn has a knack for telling a good story filled with surprising insight and lots of just plain fun. I really like Ruby.

Ruby Taylor is one of those unforgettable people I love knowing. In this entertaining tale, the self-proclaimed "domestically challenged" heroine takes on a thief, a murderer, a tribe of lively children and the Potato Festival cooking contest. With a wit that matches her fiery red hair, Ruby kept me hooked from the first page all the way to the end. As long as Ms. Dunn wants to write `em, I'll keep reading `em - and recommending `em!

Ruby's world involves stolen property, from a beloved cat to a pet steer, from farm equipment to a belt buckle and a vintage Mustang. Wesley, her deputy-love interest vanishes, blood appears in his pick-up and a trailer home burns down.

Whether seeking purloined Pernicious the steer or a prize in a potato recipe contest, Ruby Taylor is up to it. Or maybe not:

"You get to ride in a parade," she enticed.

My mother is about as subtle as an ice cream headache. ... "Mom, don't push. I know I'm domestically challenged."....

"Domestically challenged? Ruby, you wrote 'over-achiever' in red ink a hundred times by Proverbs 31."...

"That commentary was for God's eyes. We're working on it."

"She tried so hard. What a curse to have me as a daughter. She needed someone who could turn old socks and fabric scraps into a duvet cover. I had only a faint notion what a duvet cover was.... "

God comes through and Ruby, as real and flawed as you or I, does, too.

But where's Wesley???

With her dry wit, Sharon Dunn weaves a tight mystery around eclectic characters and escalating problems, much tension for Ruby and many chuckles for the reader, to reach a satisfying ending.

Ruby Taylor is at it again. In her third book, as she and Wesley are trying to figure out their relationship, Ruby stumbles across a string of robberies targeting her work. This leads to her finding out a town's shady history involving a murder. Amid a missing bull and a county fair involving potato recipes, Ruby tries to find out who is committing all the robberies and how it somehow connect to that story from yesteryear. Her attempts at sleuthing lead to comical and scary situations.

This was such a great book. I like Ruby more and more with each book in the series. I liked her friendship with Starlight and I was glad that Ruby kept trying to point out to Wes that he needed to stop suspecting them just because they were new in town. The whole scentless hairspray made me curious as well as to how it works. I don't want to spoil the ending but the reasons for all the "activities" happening in the area had a sad story behind it. You almost feel sorry for the perpetrators. It's intersting to think how much a father's acknowledgment means to someone.

I am glad that Ruby had realistic reactions to the way Wesley reacted in the beginning of the story. He doesn't tell her where he's gone so of course she's worried and angry when she does find him. I also want to know if they ever have a talk about the letter that Ruby found. If Wesley feels that he has to be a perfect Christian, this might hinder their relationship. I was also glad that Ruby found the Proverbs 31 woman slightly frustrating as well. As good of a role model as that passage is, sometimes I think some Christian women strive too much to attain that status. While Ruby's faith is tested many times, she doesn't lose it instead it helps her to grow. I hoping there's another Ruby Taylor mystery in the future.

Mary Stewart is a great writer. I'm glad that I discovered her again. This book keeps you guessing until the end. I really enjoyed this book.

Back when I was in high school, my bookshelves were filled with the Gothic romances of Mary Stewart, Victoria Holt and Phyllis A. Whitney. In my mind's eye (especially on a dark and stormy night!), I liked to cast myself as one of the the intrepid governesses who finds employment at the manor house of a devastatingly handsome but brooding lord with a plethora of mysterious, murderous relatives and eavesdropping servants. While I always questioned why these young women used to traipse out at midnight into the fog-shrouded moors - wearing only a diaphanous nightgown - to investgate a spooky noise, I was nonetheless captivated by the way all three of these authors could spin such breathtaking ambiance and make a reader feel as if they were right in the scene. I was, thus, delighted when an associate sent me a paperback copy of the newly re-released "The Ivy Tree" by Mary Stewart. Her heroine is a plucky lady of mystery who or may not be who she really says she is, and the scintillating underscore of sexual tension throughout the chapters makes this the kind of read that should be enjoyed with a pot of herbal tea, a fire in the fireplace, a cozy comforter, and a storm outside one's windows. Even with the passage of 40 years since I originally read this title, it's a cleverly orchestrated mystery that still feels timeless.

Christina Hamlett
Author of "Movie Girl" and "Screenwriting for Teens"

First Sentence: I might have been alone in a painted landscape.

Annabel Winslow has been dead for four years. Mary Grey, over from Canada, looks enough like Annabel to be her twin. When Conner, foreman at Whitescar, stumbles upon her, it takes a bit of convincing that she is Mary. Con, and his half-sister, Lisa, work up a plan for Mary to pretend to be the missing Annabel long enough to ensure her grandfather passes the ownership of Whitescar to Con in his will. Annabel Winslow has been dead for four years. Or has she?

This is Mary Stewart at her very best. With lovely nods to Josephine Tey's "Brat Farrar," which I also loved, "The Ivy Tree" is a more complex, layered book, although the clues are there for us to find. Stewart's characters come alive and even have reader questioning just who is Mary? There is that constant threat of danger. Her descriptions and use of imagery make me go back and re-read passages for the pure pleasure of her words. It is a story of love, loss, and hope is wonderfully timeless. Stewart is always such a pleasure to read and this is one of, if not the, best of her works.

This book is wordy and descriptive--half of our book club really appreciated her use of words, and half found it tedious. The beginning is a little slow and hard to engage in, but stick with it because the plot thickens enormously in the middle and the twist is so much fun! It has a dramatic conclusion that made for some fun conversation at book club.

All of Mary Stewart's works are good. This is one of her best mysteries.

At last I found someone who knows what he's talking about, at last I found a book concerning Islam written by a western writer that's really worth being read, at last I found the sound of reason that should be listened very carefully by the west as a whole, at last I found the book that must be read by the western people specially the Americans, at last I found the writer who can face the anti-Islamic propaganda with logic and by stating the facts about Islam.

This book that's called "Even Angels Ask: A Journey to Islam in America" is a book that's really worth being read specially by the new converters to Islam because this book is really able to strengthen the faith of any new converter who is still confused and have many questions need to be answered, this book answers many of the critical questions that new converters have about Islam, the writer of this book "Jeffrey Lang" is one of the best writers I ever read to, he has a special way of discussing and explaining the critical issues wisely and calmly and indeed he has a convincing way of writing.

A wise man said "There's always a light in the end of the tunnel", and I can consider this book a way to lighten the darkness in most of the western minds.

Even Angels Ask presents Islam from a modern perspective, to Americans as the audience. It explores some of the questions that usually concerns people who approach religion intellectually and answers them with impressive explanation not lacking spirituality itself. It's a balanced combination of faith and reason. Lang tries to address some questions considered taboos in the traditional Muslim minds, and discusses them according to his understanding. Compelling.

The book explains about the fundamentals of Islam and how the very basic of the tenets work together to provide a comprehensive guidance to the believers. Understanding the concepts and the virtues makes them more meaningful to practising Muslims. Very interesting. He stresses on the need to approach the Islamic practices for their universal values while adhering to the path, instead of taking everything literally without considering the applicability in the current context and situation. Pretty thought-provoking.

Lang talks about some of the things he found prevalent in Muslim communities, which either weaken themselves or even contradict the teachings of Islam. He suggests some actions to take in order to put Islam as the moving forces to the existing communities as well as the truthful way to be projected to new converts and to the non-Muslims.

I'm born Muslim, and indeed it is a humbling read. Although I'm not an American nor am I a resident, I lived in Ann Arbor in mid-90s. Some of the things he speaks of can be applied elsewhere too.

All in all, I'm very satisfied reading it. It's a gem.

This book is one of the most interesting books I have read in a long time. It is on par with 'Struggling to Surrender' (Dr. Lang's previous book). I could not let the book down. The logical approach to all arguments augmented with personal experiences that most can relate to but do not think about much simply makes this a book worth reading over and over again. Thank you Dr. Lang for two excellent books

Recently, I was dating a Muslim girl who informed me that in order to continue the relationship with her, I had to convert to Islam. Because I was completely in love with this girl I actually gave this serious thought and read this book and "Struggling to Surrender" by the same author. I can only assume that the author was very honest and upfront in his feelings. Unfortunately, Lang's arguments justifying Islamic practices and beliefs were very weak and, after reading his interpretations of Islam and rationalizations for certain troubling tenets of the faith, )particularly regarding the status of women and the role of Islam in politics along with Islamic concepts of religious tolerance), I was left much more troubled about converting than I was before reading his books. I am very happy for Prof. Lang that he has found contentment in Islam but I am not as ready as he is to spin everything in the Quran and the hadith in order to make it more palatable to American society at large. My intellectual and moral problems with Islam were not answered or assuaged after reading the book. On the contrary, reading the book as well as reading the Quran and biographies of Muhammed convinced me that Islam is incompatible with western concepts of democracy and fall very short of contemporary ideas of equality and tolerance. Being tolerant by the standards' of 7th century Arabia doesn't mean it is tolerant according to contemporary concepts of "toleranc." Also, Lang's anti-Semitism is obvious and troubling. Equally troubling is how his political views and ideology are totally determined by his religion, not be any objective analysis. Also, I am not a Christian but was raised Catholic. After reading Lang's arguments, I actually started to realize the philosophical superiority of Christian social thought, even if Christians and Christian societies fail to live up to it. He almost made me want to become Christian again! (almost!) Far from convincing me that Islam is a peaceful, wonderful religion, he convinced me (a person who actually wanted to convert!) that Islam is fundamentally intolerant of other faiths, irrational, and incompatible with progressive social thought.

If you want to read a book by an apologist for Islam who fails to make any convincing arguments to justify Islamic practices, this is the book for you. If you actually want rationally argued justifications for Muslim practices that might satisfy your intellectual curiosity about the religion, go somewhere else.

This is without a doubt a must read book for anyone raised in the West, specifically in America, who is intrigued by Islam as a viable spiritual path. In spite of the stereotypes and media bashing that takes place regarding Islam and Muslims there are many in the West who are converting. Mr. Lang is one of them.

The story of his journey is told humbly, cautiously, even reservedly. And this is the merit of the book. Strangely enough, his perspective allows for great conversation on the distinction between Islam's claims of absolute truth in a religious sense and those of the cultural edifice that surrounds Islam, often confused with the religious claims of Islam.

Mr. Lang is thus in a unique position to provide just critique from within the fold of Islam to goad Muslims to what is real and true within Islam. And his views are well articulated and crystal clear.

The story of his reversion to Islam is told in a heartfelt manner and is very touching. I have corresponded with him and he is a genuine seeker, one who is not satisfied with the status quo and the formal and ritualistic. This book expresses his longings both before and after is reversion. It is told in a very human and very heartfelt manner.

It is a must read for Westerners to understand the difficulty in understanding Islam and for Muslims outside of the West toward realizing what is and is not cultural when it comes to Islam's claims at universal truth.