Adamson Books

This is an easy to read get fit book geared to men over 50. Written in a conversational style but with plenty of hard science to back it up, the book informs and motivates. The program is easy to do so it's hard to find excuses for not feeling better next year. Who wouldn't want that?
Mark S. Weinstein, DMD

I bought this for my 73 year old father. He really enjoyed it and it has helped him make some needed dietary and exercise changes in his life. I have recommended this to other friends and family.

It is clearly written with a striaght-forward style. It is great for someone who hasn't had a lot of nutrition and exercise guidance over the years.

My father understand mechanics, and the descripotions of the heart's function was perfect for him.

I highly recommend this for the men in your life. I purcashed 3 books and the CD as gifts.

I love this book. It provides motivation and acts as a reference. Chris Crowley is funny, sincere, and pushy (in a good way), while Henry Lodge provides insight into the mechanisms of how our bodies work; and you don't have to be 50 years old to read it. Actually, you shouldn't wait until you're 50. The longer you delay in understanding how your body works and making these life changes, the more critical it is when you finally do.

This book is written by a doctor and lawyer but is one of the best books I have seen written on the anti-aging subject. Not too technical yet just enough facts to know where their basis lies. Buy the hardback book because the paperback book came apart before you get to the end. I had to replace it twice. It was interesting enough that even after I had read the paperback and had to return it because of the loose pages, I still bought the hardback so I could re-read and use as a reference.

Yes, I enjoyed this book. It helped me look at questions about getting older and what to do about them. And, to be more precise, what was normal to expect. I would recommend it highly to others.

Being an avid fan of chess, David Shenk provides an engaging book on a difficult and dry topic. Even if you barely understand the game, masterful storytelling (suspense, even) make the book difficult to put down.

Shenk takes us through the history of chess, how an obscure board game in ancient India, Persia, and Egypt was used to train nobles before it arrived in Europe for the very same purpose. There's a fascinating bit how Muslims, Christians, and Jews have understood chess at different moments in history, how chess may have inspired Western philosophers to grant us free speech and liberty, and possibly even used chess as an occult gateway into the divine! It's not just a game, and the alternating chapters on analyzing one of the earliest modern games of chess lets you appreciate the BEAUTY of the game.

Finally, It's a great read on the Kindle, the pictures remarkably don't get in the way (other chess books are awful on the Kindle, with chess diagrams frustratingly cut in half across two pages).

Despite the subtitle, this is less a "history of chess" than a survey of its subtitular impacts upon "art, science, and the human brain." It works better as a series of interconnected chapters on chronologically arranged topics rather than as a comprehensive study. Shenk argues that the game encouraged medieval acceptance of free will over fate, and skill over chance. He tries to trace this admittedly ambitious thesis through the spread of the game from sixth century Persia to the West and then globally.

He's at his best with metaphors, as these illuminate the game for newcomers like me. Shenk delves into the symbolic nature of chess, and his own images assist our understanding. He uses Jenny Adams' research from the Middle Ages in her book "Power Play," examining the formative period for the game, to emphasize how pieces could be seen as a miniaturization of society, from peasants to royals. Shenk agrees with Adams about how this conception paralled the creation of an individual self related to the community, moving about in a pattern that left nothing to caprice and all to control.

Speaking of images, Shenk deploys them well. The spread of chess was as if "the game had been shot out of Arabia like a shotgun shell, scattering similar but distinct fragments all across the Continent." (57) He compares water molecules changing from water to ice with one movement of a pawn affecting a game's outcome. He thinks about how near-death experiences allow one to glimpse the beyond in a fashion resembling chess players who can skim "close enough to infinity" for them "to peer over the ledge and envision the fall." (70) The middlegame seems like you're away from the beach, finally enjoying the "high, crashing, erratic ocean waves. Is that a life raft headed your way, or a saw-toothed shark?" (105) Developing one's pieces may be as crucial as vaccinating a youngster, for while if you neglect this action, fatality "isn't certain," one "can expect to face serious trouble."

He explains that he wrote this book after taking up chess as an adult after a brief stint as a youngster, but he still lacks the requisite ambition that, he tells us, makes a chess "genius," rather than any innate brilliance. Practice 20,000 hours at anything, Shenk reasons, and you will achieve success! "It wasn't so much that I minded losing; I just got tired of my own mediocrity, and realized that I preferred to stay up nights trying to write a better book about chess than studying to be a better player. For whatever reason, my drive was to understand the relentless drive of others to play masterful chess." (135)

He sums it up as a combination of a battle between two forces, each socially stratified, competing to dominate a "finite piece of geography," interacting dynamically and in complex manner, as "each army manipulated by a player," with "wits rather than brawn," and using short-term tactics along with long-term strategy, "in a game that could never truly be mastered." (73) The alliance of tactics with strategy, Shenk finds, separates-- at least for now-- Kasparov from Deep Blue. Humans still, if tenously, thrive in unpredictable variations on strategy that a processing intelligence system appears not yet to have mastered.

Near the conclusion, Shenk has an epiphany in a NYC classroom as he watches a master coach a school team. Shenk wonders if teaching chess could help us respond to the blasts of consumer-driven manipulation, political chicanery, and ideological rhetoric we're subjected to daily. Instead of retreating back to comforting beliefs, he muses, we should nourish our enlightened sense of skepticism. Chess makes us think for ourselves. We learn to deal with abstraction, navigate complexity, and expand our mental horizons.

While this narrative lacks the personal touch and the extended travelogue with its byways and idiosyncracies featured in J.C. Hallman's engaging "The Chess Artist" (also reviewed by me recently on Amazon as is the rather too-similar later work by Paul Hoffman, "The King's Gambit"), "The Immortal Game" succeeds by brevity. Shenk, nevertheless, may prove too rapidly paced a guide into the realms he glimpses. For a longer entry into the tournament world, you may want to try Paul Hoffman's book, partially about his relationship with his father as analyzed through the filter of high-level competition.

Intriguingly, Shenk's own great-great grandfather. Samuel Rosenthal, was one of the best French masters of the later 19c. I'd have wished for more about him; the hurried, two-page coda, both in the German visit and the brief encounter with his ggg-father's portrait in a London chess pub, does not satisfy the reader finishing this work. You want to learn more about the German town, his ancestor, and his European talk that appears to have condensed his book's thesis.

Often in this book, Shenk moves too quickly. I can see why he favors the Romantic game with its parries and attacks. Complex ideas rush past you as they intersect with chess, although such a format, usually with terse chapters, does seem suited more to a quick scan than any in-depth study of the many subjects he necessarily touches upon.

I liked the interspersion of the "The Immortal Game" between Anderssen & Kieseritzky on June 21, 1851, as this helps beginners follow the pieces, learn notation in an entertaining manner, and comprehend a bit of Romantic strategy at its best. However, the subsequent shifts of chess theory into the positional or scientific, the hypermodern, and the New Synthesis in turn earn only cursory attention. Likewise, I did not fully figure out why he includes the Kasparov vs. Deep Junior moves that he's diagrammed, as these two moves gain only momentary attention and insufficient elaboration.

He does recapitulate the Immortal Game at the end, along with a few other legendary games, with some comments of his own. The appendices helpfully list his print and electronic sources, although a spot check revealed an endnote slightly off from its pagination; his final excerpt, from an article in Tikkun magazine, even though it inspired him to write this book, is not cited in the documentation.

Still, it's an instructive introduction, suited for novices like me, and doubtless more advanced devotees of this 1400-year-old pursuit. There's a need for a popular introduction such as this to explain chess to those who may not want to learn how to play so much as how to appreciate how the game's evolved, represented, and influenced. Certainly, finishing this short and accessible overview, one will want to find out much more about chess.

The Immortal Game (330 pps)
by David Shenk

"Think of a virus so advanced it infects not the blood, but the thoughts. But of its human host. Liver and spleen are spared; instead this bug infiltrates the frontal lobes of the brain, domination such prime cognitive functions as problem solving, abstract reasoning, time motor skills and, most notably, agenda setting. It directs thoughts, actions, and even dreams. This virus comes to dominate not only the body, but the mind."

So begins David Shenk's The Immortal Game. The game of course is chess. If you have never played, never wanted to and have no interest in it; then neither this review nor the volume itself will hold any interest for you. Good bye - see you next time.

However, if you are intrigued by the game, and the fact that after four moves there are 10 to the power of 120 possible moves (that is one with 120 zeros or one thousand trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion), then this slim volume will captivate you. Certainly the information about the trillion, trillion stuff, made me feel better about my own game; now I know why my computer keeps thrashing me with morbid regularity.

Shenk's book is supported on two planks. One is the fact that his great grandfather, Samuel Rosenthal was a `legendary chess master', and two, the friendly game between the German Adolf Anderssen and the Estonian Lionel Kieseritzky in London on June 21st 1851 known as the Immortal Game.

Samuel Rosenthal was born at Suwtki, Poland 7 September 1837, and died, almost exactly 65 years later at Neuilly-sur-Seine, France. He became a law student and moved from Warsaw to Paris during the Polish revolution in 1864. He settled in Paris as a chess professional and writer.

The actual immortal game between Anderssen and Kieseritsky, was a `warm-up' for the London International Tournament. Anderssen won; and walked away with the tournament, clutching the equivalent of half a million dollars in today's money. The tournament was propitious for Anderssen in another sense: he went on to be the leading player in the world until 1866 (save for a couple of years when he wasn't trying).

Kieseritsky's life by contrast, ended two years later in a Paris mental hospital: very dead and very broke. It is said that not a single person attended the interring.

Subtitling the chapters as move numbers in the Anderssen/Kieseritsky game, Shenk takes the reader on an extravaganza of chess history. From its origins in Persia in the fifth century, to an aid to education in today's America, Shenk misses nothing. There are answers here to all our "...I always wondered about that".

Shenk's sources and notes are comprehensive and copious, as are his appendices. However, I thought Appendix I, pointless. If a reader didn't know the rules of chess, I doubt they would stay with Shenk for 244 pages. That said, appendix II and III are worth the purchase price of the book alone.

If you love chess, you must buy this book. If you only know the moves - but enjoy the game, you must buy it. For everyone else - you should buy it too. Who knows, there could be a Grand Master lurking within you just waiting to come out.
End

For anyone that enjoys, likes, or loves the game of Chess, THIS IS A MUST READ. It provide a full history and evolution of Chess while walking you through one of the most famous games of Chess.

This book was excellent in detailing the development of the ancient game of chess. It begins with ancient Persian roots as a Islamic game which traveled throughout the known world influencing kings and countries. The book is more than a history lesson, it is a lesson into the dynamic effect of chess on culture, science, and human reasoning. The history is told through interesting anecdotes. Throughout the book, the author details the moves of the "immortal game." This is one of the most famous games in history. It was a 1800's century battle of tactics. It was the romantic style of chess perfected. The book details the four historic periods of chess and the style of play in each. Also, the book quickly highlights some of the movement changing players throughout history. This book was an excellent read for those who love this "game of kings."

I LOVE this book. The whole series is amazing!!! It is very crude which I love. If love the BDSM scene and can handle strong scenes then i completely recommend this book! My (not sure if i can mention on this site) and i have the whole series and fine it such a joy and enhances our play time 10 fold.

I enjoyed the first book in this series, The Marketplace, so I had to look for the second.

The Slave focuses on one slave, Robin, as she undergoes training by the enigmatic Chris Parker, experiences her first sale in the Marketplace, and her life as a slave.

The training includes intensive interviews, in which we learn how Robin learned that she was submissive and her attempts to find a true master.

This is erotica, so it's obviously full of sex, but the sex is almost secondary to Robin's emotional journey. The flashbacks in the interviews provide the emotional background of the early disappointments and confusion, but what's most affecting is the training. By agreeing to the training and formally entering the Marketplace, she has to be certain it's what she wants, and that's challenged quite a bit initially. And she has to decide whether she's after submission or kinky sex--a decision that's brought home to her by the fact that her trainer never has sex with her, and the fact that her first sale is into a household of gay men, where she basically continues her career as an art buyer.

Then there's the emotional journey of settling in to life as a slave, and what happens when things go bad--which they do, quite dramatically.

The sex is unquestionably hot and exciting and creative, but what really sets this book (well, the whole Marketplace series) apart is that it's all plot-driven. It's not just a string-of-pearls (heh) plot, describing one sexual escapade after another--every sex scene marks an emotional milestone or turning point.

I'm doing a poor job of explaining. Suffice to say that it would be a fascinating book even without the sex scenes. The characters are real and intriguing, and I was thrilled to discover that Chris Parker plays a prominent role in the next book in the series, The Trainer.

You really get into this one. Excellent writting, can almost feel it. Well worth the read... or two... or three.

Having read the first book, The Marketplace, I was keen to get stuck into The slave and I was not disapointed in anyway. The writing style of Laura is very easy to read and of course as the subject is of great interest the chance to get some more insight into this part of the lifestyle was invaluable. Fiction? yes, Fantacy? maybe, but lots of valuable gems for future reference. I would highly recomended the two books I have read so far. The Trainer is about to be opened.
SJB

With The Slave Laura Antoniou establishes herself at the top of the erotic heap. This book is an excellent example of the MS genre of BDSM, Ds etc. Truly excellent and if you have been disappointed with books in this sub genre then this may change your mind. Robin has wanted to be a slave for years and had two semi successful SM relationships when Chris (from The Marketplace) agrees to train her for auction as a slave in two weeks. Chris and Robin are two of the main characters of the series which is notable for well drawn and compelling characters. The plot is good and there is notable humor as when Robin dates Greg in college and after all but writing "blindfold me tie up and be a pirate" he, being thick as a brick and about as sensitive, just brings condoms! The scene where Chris turns up to start her training is also good--he's wearing black jeans, engineering boots, motorcycle jacket with a dress shirt and tie--Robin thinks Ivy-league Angels their motto is, Think Yiddish, Dress British, and Ride American. There are a lot of humorous monuments as when Robin finds out who she is sold to. Lots of well written erotic scenes including same sex.

This is written nonlinearly and Laura Antoniou is very successful in pulling it off and making the stile aid telling the story instead of being a cutesy pooh gimmick.

Very well done and overall excellent, even if you have been turned off by some of the material this bock could change your mind.

However, lionized Washington was as a military leader, he was far more wishy-washy where slavery was concerned. His path to enlightenment regarding race was something other than a hero's journey. This book measures the slow growth of Washington's willingness to change. But about the bigger picture, this much is clear - Washington did change. And the force of his moral and intellectual progress can now be understood more deeply than before.

Excellent book for anyone that wants to know what really happened between George and his slaves.

I bought this book at a used book store for a great price of $4.98 (hardbound) otherwise I think I would have skipped it. When I checked out the clerk commented that he'd heard it was a great book, which certainly piqued my interest and raised it in my queue of books to read.


The story is very well told, and I really tore through this book pretty quickly considering the type of book. I enjoy historical non-fiction quite a bit, but in general, I can't sit for hours reading them like I can other types of books. I tend to read these kinds of books 30-40 pages at a time and slowly digest them over a few weeks.

I found the book and topic very interesting, it showed you another side of Washington that you wouldn't normally see. It's so easy to forget that like us, he was only human, and was far from perfect, even sometimes cruel to his slaves (he sent one away to the sugar plantations in the carribean knowing full well he was sending the man to his death).

What I found most interesting was that Washington clearly analyzed his own life over time and recognized both his strengths and weaknesses and took action near the end of his life to do what he felt was the right path, even when that path was one no one else would take with him, even his wife. In many ways, reading this book, gave me more respect for him getting a glimpse into the man from a subjective viewpoint, not an idolized one.

A well written book, done in a casual style that really brings the issue and the man to life. Not a ringing endorsement of Martha!

This book details the change in G. Washington's attitude toward the institution of black slavery and his efforts to free the slaves under his control and the many reasons why he could not just free them all in his life time. (Many were not 100% his. But the property of his wife and her children (his adopted children and grandchildren). The author gives insight how slaves could earn money by which they could purchase their freedom. That slave owners used various tools to motivate their slaves , from the whip to rewards as incentives. This book also reveals the hard hearted attitude many slave holders developed even toward slaves who would today be recognized as half sisters having the same father but different mothers . An excellent book on the nature and early history of black slavery in the Colonies . Slavery as we understand it today as a birth to death existence only developed about the late 1730s - 1865 in the 13 colonies and later the U.S. Prior to this people of every race could be sold into indenturement which was a limited servitude of a set term usually 7-9 years after which they were free to pursue their own interests . The poor in England often would sell themselves into indenturement as a way to get to America . Another source of indentured servants was the English prisons. As these sources dried up land owners looked to African slavers to provide them with laborers. These too were originally treated in a similar way as the British laborers gaining their freedom after 7-9 years of labor.(This is the origin of many the early free American Negros by the time of the American Revolution.) As greed took over, owners of the indentured began took look for ways and reasons to keep their servants longer thus between 1720-1740 a view that blacks were not really fully human but more like animals was developed by those in power. This allowed a false morality to developed that said Negros and their offspring could be kept, bought and sold into slavery not indenturement Thus if only Negros could be kept in a lifetime of slavery Greed (follow the money) led to owners to define that to be negro only required that they be as little as 1/8 some as little as 1/16 negro to be bought and sold in slavery. .It is a great book in explaining slavery historically and how Washington opinions about slavery evolved over his life. Another good book on this early period that is out of print is "America at 1750: A Social Portrait" by Richard Hofstadter. But Can now be found Amazon new/used books.

This was a cute book, but not very helpful. I didn't find anything too dachsund specific on here that I hadn't already read on the internet. Most of the content could relate to any breed. Too bad.

I learnt alot about my puppy through reading this book. But I still feel there is a lot more to learn as she grows up and I don't think any book can do that .

This is an excellent choice for the first time Dachsy owner as well as a veteran owner. Lots of good information and tips on how to make life easier with your Dachshund. One of the best books I have read on the subject.

Not very helpful. Could be talking about any dog. Recipes in the back of the book are dangerous for dogs. Some of the ingredients are toxic to dogs and could make them sick or kill them. Not happy about that. This book should know helpful and healthy lifestyles for animals. This is the second dog for dummies book I've bought. Won't buy any more.

Bought for a friend with a new Dachyl - she loves both!

The Secret by Ken Blanchard and Mark Miller will provide an excellent basis for understanding and applying a servant leadership model in your organization.

Another outstanding quick read by Ken Blanchard. I usually listen to audiobooks due to time contraints. This book was actually given to me as a gift.

I began to read it and had a hard time putting it down. I just ordered five copies to share with others, including my children. Although they are not in the business world yet, I believe there is invaluable information they can benefit from and apply immediately. It also highlights the importance of character in leadership.

I recommend ordering more than one...this will make a great gift - it was for me!

We have given this book to all of our management team. It is simple and sound. Buy and enjoy!

Learned nothing new! The characters are comical, unreal, and unbelievable. Save your money and read your bible instead.

Wow this is such a good audio book, I listen to it many times; and began to apply it rapidly; it is very simple and applicable!

This is the type of yoga book that brings yoga into ill repute among scientifically-minded people. It discusses chakras and yogic nutrition (based on balancing two "energies") as if they were facts. Yoga can be great for one's body and one's mind, but this book does not present it at its best.

i read this book for my book club, and the meeting of the club included a yoga class. It is VERY thorough. I liked the "ouch" boxes, which remind the reader that the goal is not to hurt oneself, or to push beyond one's limits. There is perhaps more of the philosophy than I might have wanted, but this would be a reader's personal preference. Photos very helpful.

I recently got the urge to try yoga and figured a good place to start would be this book. I was right! It's written for anyone, it's instructions are easy to read and follow and the illustrations are great. They also sprinkle it with a little humor to lighten things up. They make learning yoga less intimidating and make it more likely for you to actually try it and keep doing it. If you're wondering about yoga and don't know where to start, then this is for you.

I picked up this book with great expectations. The book does not necessarily shatter all that, but must say am not much impressed. Some breathing techniques appeared to be inaccurate while most yoga postures are not for real starters. Also, step-by-step posture with better and more pictures would be really good. In general, I think this deserves average rating.

Where to begin? This is the most comprehensive guide to Yoga for beginners I've ever seen. It delves into background, history, breathwork, meditation, spirituality (not religion--it explains the difference), and, of course, the asanas, or poses. The information is interesting and lively, striking a nice balance between depth and simplicity. It's straightforward and clear, but with a playful tone.

Key to any good yoga book is a wide variety of asanas, or poses, to keep you interested. This book has several chapters including standing poses, balance poses, bends, inversions, and more. The information it provides is extensive and impressive.

Each posture includes at least one drawing of the properly-performed posture, and sometimes more than one showing it from different sides or angles. Often there are illustrations of posture variations, and sometimes there are ones showing you what not to do.

The asanas include warnings about things to watch out for and contra-indicated conditions, as well as variations for easing into the postures, or simpler/less stressful variations in case you simply can't do the full asana. Many of them also include more challenging variations as well, for once you've mastered the standard pose.

The authors' vinyasanas include a warming series, a high-energy series, and a mild/calming series. There are also several series for workouts of a particular length, including three five-minute sessions for when you only have a few minutes here or there, three 15-minute sessions, and a 30-minute and one hour session. Even better, the book includes instructions to help you construct your own vinyasanas!

All in all I'd say this is the perfect book for the beginner, or for someone who wants a full and thorough introduction to the world of yoga.

The artwork is done in stunning colors, silhouette style on black. Each of the mice (each a different color) takes a day during the week to examine the THING by their pond. As they describe it, we see a picture of what they thought they felt (a fan, a column, a snake), in their color.

The seventh finally understands that the THING is an elephant, by running all over the entire body instead of just a little bit.

I love the artwork. Gorgeous isn't too strong a word.

Aseops Fables arent the only books with lessons. I got this book for my two nephews and they loved it. It taught them to see all sides of a person/situation. IT IS GREAT!

Ed Young brings simple truths to preschoolders and young children as he retells a favorite story about the Blind Man and the Elephant using 7 blind mice to show that each point of view, just like all the colors of the rainbow, come together to make the "whole" of the elephant and also equals white light, which is what all colors of the rainbow equal. Many teaching moments such as primary colors equal white when combined and looking at things from many points of view brings about a different understanding, can be shared with children as they are able to understand. Enjoy the simple story or the depths of the wonderful ideals illustrated simply and beautifully.

This is a beautiful book. I bought it for my children, who enjoyed it immensely. I also used it in a classroom of first graders. They were delighted with the book, and we all had fun with the illustrations and the story. I think it is a wonderful book, with beautiful illustrations and a great story.

This book is great for both of my kids and also as an introduction to mothers in Bible Study. I love it.

. . . . it is instructive and corrective to have a glimpse of
what was: a lyrical, medeivalist tradition that saw the denial
of the self as a path to union with the infinite.

Just as it's important to be aware of the gently lascivious
Omar Khayyam as an antidote to today's puritanism, it's also
worthwhile to remember Farid ud-Din Attar a cosmopolitan skeptic
whose tolerance of human frailty is in service of lofty
spiritual aims.
The Conference of the Birds is an allegory of the search for
the divine. The hoopoe who was the messenger of King Solomon
serves as the Cicero on the quest. The allegory is told in
short snippets, stories of doubt, fear and faith. One can imagine
each of them forming miniature tales and sermons.

Long, spiritual allegories can make pretty tough reading,
but the episodic nature of Conference makes it a book to
be enjoyed in snippets. Keep it at the bedside or wherever
you enjoy a literary nibble.

It's interesting to note that worldly, human Attar came to a
bad end. He was accused of heresy, his goods were plundered
and he was forced into exile. Can we hope for a better outcome
this time?

--Lynn Hoffman, author of THE NEW SHORT COURSE IN WINE and
the forthcoming novel bang BANG from Kunati Books.ISBN 9781601640005

I can't compare this poem to the original Farsi as I don't read that language, but this translation is amazingly readable. The reader gets enough notes and extra information to understand a bit of the context, but it never interferes with immersing oneself in this allegory of the journey toward union with the divine beloved. The individual birds on this journey come to life for the reader and the 13th century narrative literally takes off!

Dick Davis's translation is more than extraordinary -- it is truly a miracle to see the beauty, eloquence and flow of this masterpiece richly rendered into the English language with rhyme and meter. A must in the collection of any sincere seeker of the Creator.

This book is a masterpiece on spirituality, self-search, self-identity and self-realization. It provides an unparallel and wonderful guide for reaching to oneself and God. The wonderful philosophy of Attar has the potential to change the world from greed, violence and chaos to self-discipline, love and peace. The book has the capacity to transform the mindsets of fidels and infidels alike to become the master of one's own persona. The book is a must read for anyone interested to know oneself and the world.

The writings of the Sufis are, without a doubt, some of the most beautiful and challenging spiritual works in existence. Rumi's works are currently undergoing something of a renaissance in the Western world but the name of Farid Ud-Din Attar is not as well known. This is unfortunate, since The Conference of the Birds provides, in my opinion, a much better insight into Sufi philosophy than the bits and pieces of Rumi floating about the New Age universe.

Attar's beautiful descpriptions, exqisite metaphors and delightful parables describe the stages on the soul's journey to union with God. An extended metaphor for the soul, the birds gather and travel through various valleys to reach the Simorgh - a state of ectstatic oneness with deity. The Hoopoe acts as the guide and provides answers to the bird's questions and doubts about the journey - usually with short illustrative tales. These tales are each tiny drops of gold, the longest being only a few hundred lines. The overarching theme is the denial of the self to gain ultimate bliss. This is no intellectual exercise and much of the advice given is shocking and revolutionary. In the extended tale of Sheik Sam'an, the Sheik leaves his faith and becomes a Christian for the love of a woman who ultimately spurns him. His apostasy and depravity astound his followers who swiftly abandon him. A Sufi teacher chastises them for their lack of faith and eventually they return to his side. Sam'an then reconverts and his love is converted too. The message would seem to be that to find God it may be necessary to abandon conventional notions of behaviour and faith and plunge forward with wild abandon, losing the self. Some of the stories may shock our sensibilities, and no doubt had the same effect on Attar's medieval audiences. A kind of counter-culture attitude is displayed in the book, with tales of romantic love between men and other "un-Islamic" behaviours challenging accepted norms.

As to the book itself, the translation is done in "heroic couplets" which according to the introduction, best suits the style of the arabic original. It at first seems a little stilted but soon lends a beauty of its own to the work. A fairly substantial introduction helps put the book in context and describes what is known of Attar's life and times. A biographical index is included which provides details on the many characters - often historical - who people the pages of the poem. This book is a beautiful little gem, filled with a lot of wisdom. It is definitely worth the read for members of any faith, even those who aren't practicing Sufis.

This is the third book in the Marketplace series of BDSM erotica, following The Marketplace and The Slave.

The focus this time is on Michael, who was introduced to the world of the Marketplace through his uncle, who owns a couple of slaves. Michael doesn't have the wherewithal to purchase a slave of his own, but thinks he's found a shortcut by becoming a trainer. After a disastrous attempt to train a sex partner as a slave and introduce her to the Marketplace, he convinces everyone he wants to do better and secures a place with Anderson, the trainer of trainers.

This is actually all stuff we learn later on in the book--it opens with Michael arriving at Anderson's house and screwing up almost immediately, setting the stage for the rest of his stay there. Not only is Michael not the star pupil he imagined himself, but he's upstaged continuously by Anderson's houseguest, the enigmatic trainer Chris Parker. Even worse, nobody will tell him what to do, or what he's doing wrong.

Normally, I'm not a fan of stories that start in the middle and have flashbacks along the way, but in this case, it starts in the right place, and those flashbacks make a nice contrast with Michael's present journey.

Michael is a very unlikeable character--he's spoiled and impatient, and The Trainer is as much about him learning a few hard lessons as it is about the Marketplace. Most importantly, he learns to value the slaves, the value of servitude, and the true meaning of being a master--not simply someone who gets sex on demand, but someone who's also responsible for the slaves' wellbeing. The implications of his lessons stretch beyond kinky sex into everyday life--parent/child relationships, employer/employee, even general respect due between people of different socioeconomic stations.

Anderson's theory of training likewise applies to parents and bosses--that you must first be able to do before you can teach, as well as the concept that the better you know someone under your command, the better you'll be able to train them. It also has implications for even vanilla sex lives, focusing on respect, caring, and knowing your partner well.

The sex scenes (this is erotica after all) are integral parts of the story--they're not just inventive titillating scenes, but demonstrate turning points in Michael's journey, as he goes from focusing solely on himself to also caring about his partner.

And of course we get a couple more fascinating tidbits of information about Chris Parker. I peeked enough to know that he figures prominently in the next book in the series, The Academy. I'm looking forward to it.

Though I did enjoy this book, it was a little disappointing when compared to the first two books in the series. I am not sure I would have paid as much for this book as I did if I had known it was going to be this predictable...

The third in the series is as good as the previous two, fiction and fantacy but with a good dollop of reality. I have ordered the remaining two in this series so we'll see if Laura can live up to what has been so far some very enjoyable reading.
SJB

When I frist start reading this book, I thought that I would be reading another Master and Sub book. This was not so. I found this book looking into another site of hold a Real Master have what it take to be a Real Master. I enjoy this series, due to the factor it takes it from our time not years ago in a far way place.

The main character here, Michael is a egocentric Californiacated yuppie with a lack of observation of others that is truly remarkable in someone over the age of 16. He has been rated as a trainer by Hegel who runs his training house more like a dating service than anything else and Michaels lack of training eventually leads to Chris' proposal in The Archenemy. It is also our first sight of Anderson another of the series major players. I find Michael's character rather off-putting but this is still a good read. I would give it 3.5 but the system doesn't allow for that.

Unlike some standard erotic fiction these books by Laura Antoniou have plots, humor and good character development with interesting characters.