Bach Books

I think all women should read this book and share it with others (family and children). Not only does Mr. Bach discuss how saving a little here and there can help with retirement, but he also gives women inspiration to live out (and especially to finance) their dreams. A wonderful book.

I bought this book because I heard so many positive things about it. I am in my 50's, five years ago I went from having the wonderful life that all women dream of. I had the beautiful home in the suburbs, 2 beautiful children, friends, you name it I had it. Then I lost it all in the blink of an eye. I had relied on my husband to handle all the finances I couldn't tell you the balance in the check book. All I knew was he made the money and I spent it. Thank the Lord I was a RN, but I hadn't worked in quite a few years. I am not going to go into detail what happened but when I said I had nothing but the clothes on my back I mean just that. I have been working two jobs for the past five years making good money but I have NOTHING to show for it. By reading Suze book I was able to identify myself, it is so easy to understand that someone like myself with NO understanding of finance can take her suggestions and work them into my present life. It is going to take discipline on my part and learning to say NO to my children is going to be the hardest. But, I need to take care of myself. This book was just what I needed to read. I highlighted areas, I keep going back and re-reading certain sections. I keep it next to my bed. Buying this book was one of the best things I have done for myself.

You don't have to be a rocket scientist to become wealthy and this book details how easy it can be. If you're looking for glitz and glamour and "get rich quick" this isn't it. There's no such thing as an overnight success. Read David's book and get going on the road to wealth.

Love all his books - bought this, gave it someone and had to buy it again. It all depends what level you are on. Not too much non-common sense, but good for women to read.

Smart Women Finish Rich is a bit different from other financial books I've read. I have to admit I was surprised with how well David Bach addressed both the emotional and intellectual relationship women have with money. His grandmother taught him well.

I am going to say that Smart Women Finish Rich is more for a financial beginner than a woman with financial savvy. It's a well thought out system of gaining and keeping control of your financial self-sufficiency. Bach has filled this book with definitions, resources, quizzes, systems, exercises and tables. I was impressed and give it a must read if you're serious about becoming more financially organized.

David Bach addresses both the heart and the head in Smart Women Finish Rich. He used the lessons he learned from his grandmother, and his mother, as inspiration. After growing up with two such powerful role models, he was surprised by the number of financially uniformed women. Many of the women who came to him for financial advice, had no clue about building financial security.

Smart Women Finish Rich is easy to understand. I read it and "got it." This is a "how to" book that involves a commitment on your part to read, work and put the assignments and lessons into daily practice. Bach has carefully given us valuable financial keys, now it's up to us to follow through.

What you'll get out of this book is going to depend on what you're willing to put into it. It's a book that has the potential to give you a great foundation for financial self-sufficiency.

Here are some of the areas I found particularly useful:

1.The first exercise, "Financial Knowledge Quiz" is a great practical place to start. I found it to be thoughtful and quite an eye-opener. I learned about how well (and sometimes not so well) I understood the role money played in my life.

2. David Bach is adamant about pinpointing the reason money is important to you. To find this out, you'll need to examine your money values and ask yourself if your financial behavior matches those values. He provides a simple but thoughtful exercise called the "Values Ladder."

3. Smart Women Finish Rich is a great blend of exercises, systems, quizzes and practical "real world" information. For example, the "Finish Rich File Folder System" is a simple, easy-to-follow and yet an organizational time saver.

I definitely give Smart Women Finish Rich five stars! If you're ready and serious about getting your financial house and monetary priorities in order, this is the book for you!

When people ask why I love flying so much, I'm always tempted to give them a copy of A Gift of Wings. My father gave me this book on my 16th birthday along with vouchers for my first flying lessons. Nearly twenty years later, I value this book nearly as much as the memories I have of learning to fly. In this collection of short stories from the sixties and seventies, Richard Bach manages to capture the allure of aviation with an extremely rare talent. I have now read this book at least a dozen times and it never fails to rekindle my passion for flight. Before any student pilot is taught anything about the practicalities of flying a plane, they should first be required to read this book. If you're a pilot, you'll immeadiately love this book and if you aren't a pilot, it will make you want to become one.

One of the greatest books written for people who love flying, or to inspire someone to pursue learning to fly.

Richard Bach has a gift of using metaphore to write his experience.... You don't have to be a Pilot nor a Seagull to get caught in his web.... His uinque way of enfolding one into his story, is most delightful...

IF your ready for a very unique experience, in reading, be careful.... You'll have a hard time putting the book down, and not wanting to read more of him,and in the process, you just might learn something about yourself.....

I've been hooked,(as you will) for years on his books...

If you love flying, or the feeling of freedom that comes with flight (and who doesn't?), then you will absolutely adore this Richard Bach amazing creation. Beautifully written, it will expand your horizons and touch your soul!
Arlene Millman
author of BOOMERANG - A MIRACLE TRILOGY

I'll paraphrase the intro from the front of this book: "This book consists of a bunch of short essays written for magazines like AOPA and other amateur pilot publications. Some of the stories were written a long time ago and are not well-written but I have not updated them."

In many respects, that sums up my take on this book. Many poorly written stories about how smart amateur pilots feel after doing something stupid and not getting killed. I guess you have to be a pilot to buy into this. I am not a pilot.

Reading this book is like being on a Greyhound bus for 9 hours next to a Cessna salesman. It's all about "clear air", and "God's skies", etc. You're not alive if you're not flying. Gimme a break.

I recommend you go read Ernest K. Gann's "Fate is the Hunter", about professional pilots who spend their whole lives in the air and still get killed, or nearly so, because of circumstances they have no control over.

Just drop this book off at the General Aviation office at your local airport and give those guys something to read till the weather clears.

It is quite likely that the hardest question I've ever been asked is, "What's that book about?" This book manages to discuss, coherently, cohesively, and interestingly, everything from molecular biology to quantum physics to computer science to music theory to philosophy to advanced mathematics to Elizabethan literature and beyond. Reading this will definitely change the way you see the world, and if you read one book this entire year, this should probably be it. VERY highly recommended.

As far as the layout and design of the book go, I find this piece to be particularly structured in a way that one studying abstract and modern mathematics might find appealing. It gives specific axioms for use with each topic and in doing so defines more than just what the topic might imply. As the content goes, for those taking an introduction course in abstract algebra, this book may be slightly heavy and unwieldy, however, for those well-learned in some of its background material, this book is enjoyable and pleasurable to read. The author even makes use of antecdotes to enforce his topics. Overall, this book has been one of the most pleasurable assigned readings I have endured.

The Atlanta Journal Constitution describes Gödel, Escher, Bach (GEB) as "A huge, sprawling literary marvel, a philosophy book, disguised as a book of entertainment, disguised as a book of instruction." That is the best one line description of this book that anybody could give. GEB is without a doubt the most interesting mathematical book that I have ever read, quickly making its place into the Top 5 books I have ever read.
The introduction of the book, "Introduction: A Musico-Logical Offering" begins by quickly discussing the three main participants in the book, Gödel, Escher, and Bach. Gödel was a mathematician who founded Gödel's Incompleteness Theorem, which states, as Hofstadter paraphrases, "All consistent axiomatic formulations of number theory include undecidable propositions." This is what Hofstadter calls the pearl. This is one example of one of the recurring themes in GEB, strange loops.
Strange loops occur when you move up or down in a hierarchical manner and eventually end up exactly where you started. The first example of a strange loop comes from Bach's Endlessly rising canon. This is a musical piece that continues to rise in key, modulating through the entire chromatic scale, ending at the same key with which he began. To emphasize the loop Bach wrote in the margin, "As the modulation rises, so may the King's Glory."
The third loop in the introduction comes from an artist, Escher. Escher is famous for his paintings of paradoxes. A good example is his Waterfall; Hofstadter gives many examples of Escher's work, which truly exemplify the strange loop phenomenon.
One feature of GEB, which I was particularly fond of, is the `little stories' in between each chapter of the book. These stories which star Achilles and the Tortoise of Lewis Carroll fame, are illustrations of the points which Hofstadter brings out in the chapters. They also serve as a guidepost to the careful reader who finds clues buried inside of these sections. Hofstadter introduces these stories by reproducing "What the Tortoise Said to Achilles" by Lewis Carroll. This illustrates Zeno's paradox, another example of a strange loop.
In GEB Hofstadter comments on the trouble author's have with people skipping to the end of the book and reading the ending. He suggests that a solution to this would be to print a series of blank pages at the end, but then the reader would turn through the blank pages and find the last one with text on it. So he says to print gibberish throughout those blank pages, again a human would be smart enough to find the end of the gibberish and read there. He finally suggests that authors need to write many pages more of text than the book requires just fooling the reader into having to read the entire book. Perhaps Hofstadter employs this technique.
GEB is in itself a strange loop. It talks about the interconnectedness of things always getting more and more in depth about the topic at hand. However you are frequently brought back to the same point, similarly to Escher's paintings, Bach's rising canon, and Gödel's Incompleteness theorem. A book, which is filled with puzzles and riddles for the reader to find and answer, GEB, is a magnificently captivating book.

Douglas Hofstadter uses the art of M.C. Escher, the music of J.S. Bach, and Kurt Goedel's mathematics as the centerpieces for a magnificent inquiry into the nature of the mind. Along the way you will encounter Bertrand Russel, Carroll Lewis, particle physics, molecular biology, Magritte's paintings, and Zen koans. These are all used to probe recursion and the mystery of how we form thoughts. But the list of topics alone is not what makes this book great, it's the playful, joyful sense that characterize's Hofstadter's treatment of this. This sense of wonder is critical, as without it this highly challenging book would be very frustrating. The book's style itself is based on Bach's canons, and the chapters are interspersed with dialogues between the Tortois and the Hare, in the style of Carroll's Alice in Wonderland. The result is an artistic as well as scientific or philisophical masterpiece. I am currently a triple-major in molecular biology, physics, and philosophy, and much of my curriculum has been influenced by the beauty of Hofstadter's book. This will go down as one of the 20th Century's bests books.

This book is a must for math majors (as well as many logic and philosophy majors). Anyone else in the hard sciences should also read this book, at least to be enlightened. Initially, it is easy reading, then becomes slightly foggy, but pushing through is rewarding. Of the three, my favorite is Godel and I always mention his Incompleteness Theorem whenever his name comes up. It his probably actually best mentioned by Rudy Rucker in his book "Infinity and the Mind". I think it is significant enough to mention here:

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The proof of Gödel's Incompleteness Theorem is so simple, and so sneaky, that it is almost embarassing to relate. His basic procedure is as follows:

1. Someone introduces Gödel to a UTM, a machine that is supposed to be a Universal Truth Machine, capable of correctly answering any question at all.

2. Gödel asks for the program and the circuit design of the UTM. The program may be complicated, but it can only be finitely long. Call the program P(UTM) for Program of the Universal Truth Machine.

3. Smiling a little, Gödel writes out the following sentence: "The machine constructed on the basis of the program P(UTM) will never say that this sentence is true." Call this sentence G for Gödel. Note that G is equivalent to: "UTM will never say G is true."

4. Now Gödel laughs his high laugh and asks UTM whether G is true or not.

5. If UTM says G is true, then "UTM will never say G is true" is false. If "UTM will never say G is true" is false, then G is false (since G = "UTM will never say G is true"). So if UTM says G is true, then G is in fact false, and UTM has made a false statement. So UTM will never say that G is true, since UTM makes only true statements.

6. We have established that UTM will never say G is true. So "UTM will never say G is true" is in fact a true statement. So G is true (since G = "UTM will never say G is true").

7. "I know a truth that UTM can never utter," Gödel says. "I know that G is true. UTM is not truly universal."

Think about it - it grows on you ...

With his great mathematical and logical genius, Gödel was able to find a way (for any given P(UTM)) actually to write down a complicated polynomial equation that has a solution if and only if G is true. So G is not at all some vague or non-mathematical sentence. G is a specific mathematical problem that we know the answer to, even though UTM does not! So UTM does not, and cannot, embody a best and final theory of mathematics ...

Although this theorem can be stated and proved in a rigorously mathematical way, what it seems to say is that rational thought can never penetrate to the final ultimate truth ... But, paradoxically, to understand Gödel's proof is to find a sort of liberation. For many logic students, the final breakthrough to full understanding of the Incompleteness Theorem is practically a conversion experience. This is partly a by-product of the potent mystique Gödel's name carries. But, more profoundly, to understand the essentially labyrinthine nature of the castle is, somehow, to be free of it.
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This is the kind of mental freedom you will gain by reading this book. Highly recommended.

A pleasure to read this book. I listen to a classical music station which includes interesting facts about the musicians' private lives. One day a guest mentioned that she knew where the host was obtaining these interesting facts. So it is a secret no longer; it's this book. Lives of the Musicians is light reading with approx. 2 pages of facts per musician, so it is not an in-depth look at their private lives; however put it on your "Fun" reading list. It is a highly amusing book and a great source of dinner conversation. Also Check out Lives of the Artists:Good Times, Bad Times (and What the Neigbors Thought)

My daughter has been studying piano for two years and she is fascinated by the people who score the compositions she learns to play. In school she learns about a different composer each month and always wants to know more when she comes home. She also has a love for anything historical. This book was a great addition to our reference collection because it reaches her on several levels. We happened to come across it at the library and, after reading a few entries, we decided we'd like to buy it. Lots of bookstores stocked the paperback edition, but only Amazon had the hardcover in stock. This is the kind of book you really want in hardcover so that young children can more easily flip through the pages and study the humorous illustrations.

The book includes entries on 20 musicians from a wide range of styles, backgrounds, and historical periods. The entries are engaging for adult readers, yet accessible for a younger audience. My daughter is six and was totally engrossed in the stories of Chopin, Mozart, Clara Schumann and others. I know we will come back to this book again and again.

This is a great book! My piano teacher checked it out from the library and loved it so much I had to buy her a copy! The illustrations are adorable and the bio's are so interesting. A lot of interesting stories that really give the great masters a very human quality! I love reading about the musicians that I'm currently playing! If you are into music and want to know just how human they really were this is a great book!

I got this book for my daughter who is a music teacher. I thought it would be a good reference and teaching tool for her.

My daughter's piano teacher gave her the assignment to read about Mozart as she started her first Mozart Minuet. My daughter was 7 at the time, and although she was reading at above 3rd grade level, I was shocked to find that there was NOTHING available on the internet or in her school library that give her information on composers at HER level. I finally found "Lives of the Musicians" and have actually purchased the book. It's just that good. She is able to read about each composer (for the most part the language is about her level, although she DOES need help with some of the words), and each section is engaging enough to keep her attention.

This book is a must for anyone with a child that wants or is assigned to learn about the great composers.

My discovery of Edward Bach's Flower Therapy came on me suddenly. In the midst of writing a novel, my lead character decided to enhance her floral shoppe inventory with self-sewn natural plants and seeds. Within twenty-four hours of beginning my search for herbal practices, I ran into Bach's 38 key plants employed for prevention and cure of a multitude of ailments. This book is a beautiful reference and has been an endless reference for me while developing plant and human characters. I'd absolutely recommend it to anyone who wishes to discover how your personality quirks might be tamed by God's wildflowers.

I am a Reiki person, A massage person, An Herb person, A Gardner, So Bach just seem to be the next natural course of events. This is a good Starter book. It talks about each indiviuial flower. The basics. The foundation. This will be a reference book for the future. I am intending on buying other books about Bach.

This book truly is an "encyclopedia."
Everything you could want or need about the Bach Flower Therapy system.

This is an excellent companion for anyone who uses bach flower therapy. It is very informative providing in depth information on each flower, history, photos, the negative as well as positive side aspects the particular flower is used for and what I find particularly helpful are the focus ideas at the end of each chapter for refocusing your thoughts. Extensive questionairre, index, glossary.

It may be a bit more than a person needs if you are just curious or have not begun using bach flowers.

I found this a difficult read. There was never anything to really get excited about and no new amazing insights. It simply repeated the accepted wisdom on Bach flowers. Her description of each flower remedy was a long discussion of the negative state given in the Bach Flower brochure. It's her opinion that it is the separation from the higher self and not listening to your inner voice that causes this negative state.

For instance, when it comes to Chestnut Bud she focuses on the fact that they make repetitive mistakes. Chestnut Bud people have laser like focus, and can obsess on a tiny area of the universe. This makes them brilliant, but they miss many things outside of their field of interest, hence the mistakes. They are like the classic "absent minded professor". They have extreme talent in one area, but very little common sense. Many people with Asperger's will benefit from this remedy.

If you ask a Chestnut Bud if he makes repetitive mistakes, he will answer with an emphatic "No!" because if he makes a mistake in his area of focus, he learns from it, and does not make the same mistake twice. Where he makes repeated mistakes is outside his area of focus, which he doesn't see, and often doesn't care about. But if you ask him "Can you focus intensely on something you're interested in, finding answers that no one else can think of?" He will answer, "Absolutely!" So yes, he makes repeated mistakes, but that's not how you need to approach him. Instead focus on his intelligence and problem solving capabilities, and show him how to balance it.

She is very picky about how many drops to use, what kind of alcohol, and how to drink the water. They are flower remedies. They're an energy medicine. Finding the right remedy is much more important than how many drops to use.

When it comes to selecting the correct remedy she treats it like a homeopathic consultation, with a long interview process, and questionnaires that once again focus on the simplistic negative states given in the brochure. She off handedly dismisses any type of energy testing, saying that people new to Bach Flowers use this approach. I have used Bach Flower remedies for years, and I find energy testing to be quite important. Just because somebody has Asperger's does not mean they need Chestnut Bud. Contrary to popular belief, a flower remedy can be wrong, and can stress a person.

Frequently energy testing will point to a remedy that I dismissed, and when I look at it more closely I think, "Oh, I hadn't thought of it that way." Energy testing has actually taught me more about the remedies because I've learned what types of people can benefit from certain remedies outside of the simple issues in the brochure. It's fun to meet a client for the first time, with basically no knowledge of their personality, and be able to describe their most pressing issue. They say "Wow, how did you know that?" It also increases their faith in your ability to help them.

The focus on the negative aspects also felt over emphasized. Natural leaders will often test for Vine, which does not mean they are tyrants. It means they are natural leaders and it strengthens those qualities.

If you are interested in the Bach Flowers, I recommend Advanced Bach Flower Therapy: A Scientific Approach to Diagnosis and Treatment. I also really like Practical Uses and Applications of the Bach Flower Emotional Remedies.

I have a hardcover of this book - first edition - and where my kids have long since destroyed the dust jacket, the book sits amongst other treasured stories of my youth. I loved this book so much, I 'borrowed' this copy from a friend and never returned it -- another story in and of itself. But the book haunted me, as did the transgression, and when I finally offered to return the book to her some 30 years later, she told me to enjoy the book and give it to my children! Few books today capture a child's love of time travel like this one. Read and enjoy Susan's journey.

I read and re-read this book as a kid. Recently a student of mine ased abotu books on time traveling and I thought of this one and another book, "The Root Cellar" that could be of interest.
I loved Time At The Top, Susan was a great character and I truly loved to read about her comprehension of her situation and her strong decisisons to help the family she comes to know...

I never thought I'd find it again! Lovely plot, great characterization, a heroine you feel strongly for, and an unforgettable ending. By mere chance I found this title on a recommendation list and knew it was the book I'd half-forgotten. Now I get to recommend it to my nieces, nephews and someday my daughter!

I purchased this book to pre-read for my 8 1/2 year old advanced reader. I couldn't put the book down! The book was very well written with several fun twists and turns. Books with age appropriate content that are challenging to read are often hard to find for her age group. I can't wait for her to read this one.

This book was one of my favorites when I was a kid...too many years ago to mention. Oh, all right then...40 years ago. I loved Susan Shaw and was so thrilled with her adventures. It is wonderful that this book is back in print so that more kids can run away to the past with Susan.

For a basic course in music theory, this is the compilation which will teach you everything you need to know about tonality, cadences, voice leading, nonharmonic tones, and harmony.

Bach's Chorales are the stuff of legend. The sheer wealth of invention is staggering. The Reimenschneider version has been around for decades and it is difficult to see how it could be improved. The layout is excellent with useful and insightful notes from a true Bach scholar.

For any piano player, music theorist, composer, or music enthusiast, this is the book for you. Excellent for daily piano study or for a better understanding of common practice tonal harmony. Great notes in the back for reference. The basis of tonality lies within these pages.

This is nearly indispensable for the serious music student. Used in most first-year theory courses, the Bach Chorales illustrate what the master did and why our Western music theory is based on the chorales he wrote.

First bought 18 years ago, I found that I'd somehow lost my copy along the way. I bought another copy since I'm taking further music theory courses and though it isn't required in this particular course, it helps immensely to have a copy on hand.

The book is very well laid out but the music is smaller than would be preferred. If the scores were printed larger it would be more enjoyable.

Itamar Moses has written a fantastic play in BACH AT LEIPZIG. Some knowledge of music history and theory is required to get all the jokes and understand the form of the first act (it is a fugue), but it is a highly accessible introduction to the history of J. S. Bach at a pivotal moment in his life. Recommended for all music students and enthusiasts. Great for a college seminar or music history class!

This play is a very clever work of art in that it combines the silly and the profound in an entertaining mix. Humor and word play keep the interest of the viewer sustained throughout the acts. Yet, in some ways the play is about characters not on the stage and ideas that are only implicitly introduced in the play. Let me explain. This is a tightly written fast moving drama of 6 competitors for a valued music post at the Thomaskirsche in Leipzig Germany in 1722. It is very entertaining and witty as we see these 6 men express their inner ambitions and agendas as they make deals, create hidden agendas, conduct clandestine negotiation, engage in bribery and resort to blackmail. These actions are situated in a context of religious conflict between Lutheranism and Catholicism and the theological underpinnings for the Lutheran approach.

Yet there is much that is brilliantly unsaid in the text, such as the fact that Bach is never seen on stage and is tangential to the manipulations yet is central to the final selection. Further, the great artist rises above the manipulations whereas those of lesser talent are then put in the position of plots and schemes to obtain the desired position. Itmar Moses points out the distinction between the artist and careerism and self promotion. Thoughtful and funny.

A must for all Stoppard fans, or anyone who loves language and word play.

I would never have guessed that German dudes in the 1700's could be so flippin' funny. Or that a play so silly could be so smart. It is tremendously clever. I gotta read it again to see what I missed the first time. I can't wait to see what Moses writes next!

Gathered to replace the highly respected organist of the Thomaskirsche in Leipzig, Germany in 1722, a select group of composers aspire to this coveted position. Patronage is the key to survival in an era when good fortune and fame are the products of such an esteemed recommendation. As the six composers assemble, awaiting a decision, religion, politics and occupation are inextricable, Leipzig a Lutheran stronghold against the advances of Catholicism. One by one, each composer expresses his convictions and beliefs, assured that his is the righteous path. Introducing the characters, each act is prefaced by a composer penning a letter outlining his desire for to be organist, the missives then flown by carrier pigeon to the addressees.

Various characters gather for clandestine meetings, making deals to diminish the competition, revealing their personal agendas. When the entire group is together, the conversation is laced with double entendres and a purposeful manipulation of facts, their apparent bonhomie a façade for the negotiations in play. Since the Reformation, religion is integral to such affair, as is politics, the competing factions proffering a variety of beliefs on Predestination, Lutheran traditionalism challenged by the Calvinist's "standards" for achieving heaven, while Pietists "embrace an individual spirituality that frees them from all limits", pure joy available to everyone, divorced from God..

Based on real persons and events, this ingenious play reveals the farcical manipulations and skullduggery behind the scenes, as the musicians resort to bribery and blackmail, religious concerns set aside in a bid for the coveted position. The humor is pervasive, the contestants revealing their very human flaws and willingness to negotiate in the pursuit of success. Both politics and religion converge as the play evolves, a drawing room farce that reaches beyond the secluded world of this appointment, contretemps exposed in an intimate exchange of broad humor, a subtle reminder that "politics is only war by other means", proving once more that nothing is what it seems. Murder and mayhem aside, the composers are faced with an age-old conundrum, "People... have little interest in music or religion. I don't know what they will call this age... its chief characteristic is a profound lack of enlightenment." Luan Gaines/ 2005.

Othello Bach has written one of the most heart-rendering memoirs in existence. Home for her and her six siblings was the back of a truck, a trench in the field, or if they were lucky - a shack with no running water or electricity. For much of the time the family is without shoes, heat or food. Food, if there was any, was on most occasions "greens and vinegar." Othello's mother loves her children dearly, but Dad is an alcoholic who comes and goes like the wind. When Othello brought a school friend home for lunch, she was so appalled by the disgusting greens and patchwork newspapers covering the walls, she ran from the shack never to speak to Othello again. It was not uncommon for Othello and her family to be referred to by others as "white trash." What Othello really wanted in life was something to eat other than greens, a pair of shiny black shoes and a rubber doll. Her mother told her she might as well, "cry into the wind" because the possibility of getting any of those was next to none - hence the name of the book.

When Othello's mother dies as a result of burns from a fire, the situation takes a turn for the worse, if that is possible. The book makes one take a look at their own surroundings and count their blessings, no matter how great or humble the conditions may be. "Cry into the Wind" is comparable to other books like "Angela's Ashes" by Frank McCourt, "Change Me into Zeus's Daughter" by Barbara Robinette Moss and "The Glass Castle" by Jeannette Walls - all of which are a testimony to the strength of the human spirit. Just make sure you have some tissues handy because all of these books are about survival in a world that has not been kind, compassionate or fair. "Cry into the Wind" is no exception. Othello's strength is an inspiration to anyone who has survived insurmountable odds.

Othello Bach has been amazingly honest in Cry Into The Wind. This courageous woman needs to be commended for her honesty about such personal and heart touching subjects. Othello's story will make most of us count our blessing and marvel at the road traveled by Othello to become the person that she is today. What an example Ohtello has been for humanity. I recommend everybody read Cry Into The Wind.

When I first got "Cry Into the Wind" I wasn't sure how quick I was going to get to it. I had a lot of other books I was wanting to start. But my wife pick it up off my night stand and she had it read in two days. She just kept saying WOW. So I thought I better start this one soon and I did. I do have to say once you start Othello's Book "Cry Into the Wind" it is hard to put it down. This is no fluff book and it is a real heart breaker. I think knowing Othello is OK and safe made this book easier to read. So if you read this one and you see no hope for her don't worry she is OK and she has turned out to be a very special lady. The nice thing about reading "Cry Into the Wind" was that my wife and I talked about the book as I was reading it and that made the book more enjoyable to read. This book really floored me and I think it will have an affect all that read this book. I wish I could write a better review on "Cry Into the Wind" I can't do it justice. Read it you will not regret it.

All though this book, I kept thinking what a special person the author was (is), all her life. And what a hard-scrabble life she had! I was so pleased to learn that she had the fortitude and courage to get out when she was able, and it appears she has led a good life since then, which was the young age of 16. The story of her and her family is inspiring, and I feel like I want to say I am so sorry she had to go through all that she endured, even though it may have inspired her to be the wonderful person she appears to be today. If you liked The Glass House and other recent memoirs, you will love this book.

This is by far the most riveting book I have ever read. From the moment I saw the first words, I could not put it down. But beware - you cannot read this book and not cry! However, although Ms. Bach's life story is often heart-wrenching, her message is full of hope and comfort for us all: there is nothing in this life, no hardship so great, no suffering so deep, that it cannot be overcome.

Everyone, regardless of background or circumstance, should read this book.

Full of exciting tales of the road and the adventures that food can bring to the journey. This book is an absolute must! What is travel without food? Each story in this exceptional selection brings to the reader an intriguing fascination with the world and all it has to offer. Culture after culture you will be astounded by the discoveries each traveler brings to the table. This book is truly a treat for the hungry traveler and by books end, you will be satisfyingly full and content! Buy it and feast your way through the world with each turn of the page.

If you love food and travel, and who doesn't, you'll enjoy this book. I loved the compilation of stories, and how they illustrate how food adds to the experience of different places and different people. Just one warning: it will make you want to go someplace...and eat.

I love this book. I often pick up books from the Travelers Tales series and this one delivered even better than most! The articles were varied and delicious - it made me hungry to travel to far off places with these women and share a meal!

I loved the stories in Lisa Bach's book. Evocative passages that will have you reaching for your travel agent's number to experience it yourself...Or be an armchair traveler & chef, while your travel the globe, kitchen by kitchen, food stand to food stand.

This is such a wonderful book! I stumbled upon it at the bookstore and thought it had just the perfect concept. Food and travel--what else do you need? The selections here are amazing, and each piece really delivers. This is a must-have for any lover of food and adventure. Remember it the next time you need that special and unique gift for someone.