Bennett Books

This is a great book for anyone who contributes to charities. I don't think that all charities are bad, but you do have to think about where you contribute.

An interesting point brought up in this book is that any organization considered "charitable" is immune from careful scrutiny - questioning their activities is akin to an attack on the poor sick or needy themselves. So for congress or the public to investigate any kind of wrongdoing or excess is difficult.

The book also details how the big charities use guilt and emotion to get people to contribute money, how some such as the American Cancer Society try to suppress alternative research, and how much of the "profits" go to the execs who work there, as there is a lack of accountability at these types of organizations.

That being said, it reinforced my belief that charities such as Heifer International are the way to spend my charitable dollars since they focus much more on the underlying cause to a problem than on chasing a "cure". Give money to them and it will buy an animal for an impoverished family, who can then use it's milk for food as well as income, and give away it's offspring to other families in need. It's self-perpetuating and lasts virtually a lifetime.

On the other hand, give money to the American Cancer Society, and it will likely be spent on a needy executive to fly around the country and tell us that a cure is "just around the corner".

"Unhealthy Charities: Hazardous to Your Health and Wealth" is a damning indictment on America's most "prestigious" health charities. While these charities are quick to award themselves with glowing accolades, the authors document numerous examples of inefficiency, inappropriate and improper spending, suppressing or ignoring promising research into "unconventional" modes of disease treatment, and an incestuous, tightly-knit network of executives and researchers who direct funds towards research and projects that support the charities' own preconceived ideologies and goals.

The book focuses on the "Big Three" charities--the American Heart Association, the American Cancer Society and the American Lung Association. It describes how these and other health charities spend much time and money on things that have nothing to do with research and aid to disease victims--like crying poor and pleading for donations when they are in fact hoarding hundreds of millions in money, real estate, cars, stocks & bonds, paying their top staff 6-figure salaries, holding 'conferences' at luxurious hotels, exaggerating the benefits of their programs, exaggerating the amount spent on research and public education, enlisting government support to drive out smaller competing charities, using donations to fund further education for medical professionals even though they are amongst the highest income earners in the US and are more than capable of funding their own further eduction (as most other professions must do)--and on and on.

The only flaw is that the authors seriously seem to believe that all these flaws occur despite charities having the "best of intentions". The very real possibilty that these charities are just another arm of our corrupt, profit-obsessed, drug-centered sickness industry does not seem to occur to them.

Nonetheless, it still reveals much that health charities would prefer we did not know...

Excellent story. Can't wait to read more by this author.

The Masquerade from Whitewolf is a dark creation of horror, a role playing game set in the universe where magic is real, people do turn into animals with the coming of the full moon and vampires hide in the shadows, running the government, helping themselves to our wealth and our blood. This graphic novel, with a foreword by Christopher Golden, tells three tales of three of the Clans.
The Toreador, the artists of the night, always trying to defeat final death by making that perfect painting, that great movie, that song nobody will forget. They seem weak but they rule the night life as much as any other Clan. Victoria Ash even makes an appearance.
The Nosferatu, the most ugly yet most stable of all the vampires, they suck up information and facts like most suck up blood. They move among us like shadows and we never hear a thing. But they hear everything.
The Ventrue, powerful, noble, this suits with fangs are as likely to take you to court as bite you. Lawyers, money and guns, they run the Clans. At least those who allow them to.
The Kindred are here to stay, in the printed pages, on the small television screen and now in the pages of this graphic novel. Do you dare open the cover and feast on what is inside?

This is a superb biography for anyone interested in Queen Victoria's children; 19th century German royalty, or anyone just looking for an excellent book. In so many ways, Vicky's life was tragic, but she was one remarkable person! Daphne Bennett is an excellent writer with real sympathy for her subject. This is one of my favorite biographies. I first read a library copy when I was 15 (so many years ago) and I never forgot it; thanks to Amazon I now own a copy.

Vicky: Princess Royal of England and German Empress is the best biography of the Empress Fredderick that I have read so far. Daphne Bennett is sympathetic to and interested in her subject. She set out to learn why the earlier biographical accounts of the character of the Empress Frederick differ so widely from her character as shown in her published letters. She points out that the Empress Frederick was a woman ahead of her time.

Charles Bennett's Volunteering: The Selfish Benefits, Achieve Deep-Down Satisfaction and Create That Desire In Others is a motivational manual to doing lasting good works and reaping the emotional and self-esteem rewards. Filled with snappy quotes and upbeat wisdom, chapters of Volunteering: The Selfish Benefits cover how volunteer work can bring personal rewards in terms of increased satisfaction and happiness which in turn contribute to better physical and psychological health. a persuasive, highly charged and energetic book and highly recommended for personal, public service organization, private philanthropic society, and public library collections.

This slender, easy-to-read softback explains "How To Achieve Deep-Down Satisfaction and Create That Desire in Other." The book is dedicate "to the individual and organizations that demonstrate daily what Americanism is all about." This book relates that self-help and individual action are qualities that made this country. They are also the qualities that will save it, Bennett believes.
"Our biggest challenge today is to discover and explore deep-down satisfaction. We must be properly grounded," the author says. We must learn to share; not be so self-centered Words on paper can start an idea but "it will always be the group meeting face-to-face that gets things done."
The idea, prevalent today in our materialistic society, is that if one donates money that is all that's necessary; that it solves problems. The solution to problems is the same as it's always been, this book says - people helping other people. You cannot become successful without sharing with others.
This is a most interesting book to read. First, it talks about "you." And everyone loves to hear about himself. But it also stresses "you" in conjunction with others. That is what makes the difference, Bennett says, in one's being happy and successful and satisfied..
Everyone who cares about this country should read this book and think on the propositions it sets forth. In the very beginning of the book, Robert W. Miller, President of the Freedoms Foundation, is quoted. He says, "America was built into the greatest country the world has ever known, not through government control, regulation and handouts, bot rather through individual imagination and initiative. It has been the individual and not government that built this nation, and it will be the individual that will save it for future generations."

"Virginia's Bookshelf" by Virginia Sink

This ia a truly masterful work on a person British Columbians recently selected as their person of the century.

Mitchell has done a top notch job in recounting the life and times of W.A.C., using the medium of a biography to relate the growth and development of a region. This is even more remarkable given the disfavour that biographies of white, male politicians have fallen into in the past few decades as a historical means of recounting the past.

Mitchell relies heavily on personal interviews he conducted with Bennett in the last years of his life, along with those of the many individuals involved with this first Socred regime. The only fault I can personally site with this book is that it might be too sympathetic, a point Mitchell even alludes too!

There is not much that this book misses out on. It starts literally at the beginning with W.A.C.'s start in New Brunswick, the move to Alberta and the starting of the first hradware strore, and then the final move to the Okanagan where Bennett was to become involved in politics, leading a rather obscure existence (with a few failures along the way) before he finally bolted from the coalition government to start Social Credit in the early 1950s - a move which was decidely different than the grassroots movement of Social Credit in Alberta. Social Credit in B.C. would always be a top-down movement.

Regardless, this is an excellent piece of work and does much to shed some light on the political history of a province whose historiography has been woefully inadaquete in this area.

With the ascention of the technocrat Bill Bennett to the premier's office, one may indeed wonder if the age of populism in B.C. and across Canada is over. David Mitchell provides a masterful picture of one of Canada's great politicans; a man in the exclusive company of past politicans like Bill Aberhart, Diefenbaker, Mitch Hepburn, and Joey Smallwood. The difference between Bennett and these others is the amount of success in their political careers. Mitchell also guides readers through the time of expansion, "The Rise of BC," accomplishments that were largly due to the efforts of it's premier. Mitchell states that when Bennett finally passed away in 1978, BC was, for the first time in a quarter of a century, on it's own. He's right. BC has always lacked strong premiers to lead the province since Bennett. The book is a beautiful journey through Bennett's life, his times, and the province he moulded in his image. Anyone wishing to understand BC politics and BC in general need to first understand the man who defined both, and Mitchell does an exceptionally good job of doing so.

My copy of this book is now fragile - it's pages well worn. I have turned to this book countless times and passed the information on to my child now nearly full-grown. It is a testament to the value of the information it contains.

As the forward states (written by another medical doctor, clinical faculty member of University of California School of Medicine at San Francisco-William B. Goodheart, M.D.):
"It is exactly what its title states and more...it is inviting and often leading you before you are aware of it into some very tranquil spaces within your own consciousness and your own body...ot de-mystifies the practice of medicine and the drugs used but also pays respect and reverence...to the body as its own three million year old healer, to the individual's capacity to assume responsibility for the care and preventive medicine of his own body's health and well-being...to those areas of medicine that truly are miraculous and helpful and requires no "mystique" to be recognized and sought after....It is a readable, practical, reliable handbook of diagnosis and treatment for the layman, a workbook towards well-being and the prevention of disease (covering suggestions about diet, clothing, meditation, sleep, muscle relaxation, massage, image-control and non control. A life style book".

I found the medical information in this book to be worthwhile especially the sections on preventive medicine, relaxation techniques, meditation, and visualization, diagnosis, treatment, doctor as a resource, drugs as helpers, rare diseases are rare.

Most important to me was (and is) the idea of the body helping itself. The concept of not allowing problems to fester. Visualizing the mind/body connection which over many decades I have come to understand and verify first hand.

Without one's health/wellness, there is nothing. One cannot work or care for family or have a happy marriage. Eternal vigilance of self and children is the prescription. Health is not a pill or a resolution. It is a daily responsibility to eat with consciousness, maintain physical activity and mental stimulation. Cultivation of an attitude of gratitude also helps.

There's so much truth here. So much so that in many ways the medical profession has finally wedded traditional healing arts, eastern medicine, alternative medicine and western medicine. What was once seen as "far out", "hippie" stuff is now mainstream in many places. Major hospitals have mind/body connection classes, referrals to alternative medical providers in addition to typical doctors.

My own child had the gift of a holistic peditrician practicing in his converted barn with birds in the waiting area and antiques all around. A place mixing the usual paraphernalia in a doctor's office with the unusual.
A doctor practicing a mix of approaches including restraint (one doesn't always get a drug), humor, and a holistic approach infused with modern medicine and ancient understandings now verified by science.

The child is now a very healthy young man nearly six feet tall, a member of his school's wrestling team. He is a beneficiary of the information contained in this book!

At first glance, there doesn't seem to be much medical info here. This is because this book mixes eastern and western thought, ancient meanings of rebirth and spiritual (not religious) enlightenment. Actually, it is chock full of vital knowledge.

You are your own healer! You are the master of the machine. You have the power to guide your own path to wellness with some guidance, knowledge, practice, experience, and intuition. By and large, this strategy works!

While there is no guarantee against problems, by following the advice in this book, you will tip the odds of wellness in your favor.

To your health and wellness!

Even if the health information in this book was not valuable, the historic nature of what the authors accomplished is valuable and noteworthy. It is too much to say that The Well Body Book founded the alternative medicine movement but it blasted the awe in which the general public beheld the medical profession up until that time. It also was a necessary resource for a generation that rejected the wisdom of its parents and grandparents, in the process throwing away the accumulated folk knowledge of medicines and health practices that had worked for centuries. Iconoclastic, The Well Body Book did lay the foundation for the health self-help movement that today exists as physican/patient partnerships for health and well-being in which the "health partners" are equal participants in staying healthy and recovering from illness. This 31-year old book is not out-of-date.

I checked this book out of the library today and am already halfway through the book. The material is presented in such a lucid manner that reading sections over again is not necessary. It is also thoroughly engaging in its step-by-step approach to solving a problem via hardware and software.

This is a nice companion to a weightier book like Patterson & Hennessy's; especially since it is based on Motorola's 6800 series chip. I will no doubt be adding a copy to my personal library soon.

WHAT EVERY ENGINEER SHOULD KNOW ABOUT MICRO-COMPUTERS is the book that solved a very serious dilemma for me, namely, where to begin a technical education of computers. In very simple but technical language this book teaches the basics of how the computer uses its innards to accomplish the tasks assigned to it by the user, be he a mathematical person, a verbal person, a gaming person, a commercial person, .... Well, you get the picture. Reading W E E S K About Micro-Computers has peaked my interest so much in the series of books WHAT EVERY ENGINEER SHOULD KNOW ABOUT ..., that I immediately upon finishing it looked up the publisher to find to my delight that there are many more in the series, in which I intend to invest as my interests lead me. I HIGHLY recommend this book, only the third in the list, as a starting point for anyone with only the slightest rationality in him and wanting to know more to get himself started on his own personal voyage into the information world that is upon us to stay. Kudos toe the autors, editors, publishers, and anyone involved in the series, but especially to the authors William S. Bennett and Carl F. Evert, Jr. for their most excellent book for the beginning student, parent, child, teacher, and whoever may need to know just a little more than where the on-off button is. Ronald Darden

In the early 1970's my friend bought a house. Several books were left in a built-in bookcase, most were paper back novels that she tossed. This one she decided to keep but didn't read until about 10 years later. She was enthralled. She shared it with some other friends who had big problems putting the book down. I finally got to borrow it and read two chapters. It was time for me to fix dinner and take care of family. When my husband and young daughters went to bed, I continued reading. When midnight came I told myself I should go to bed but before I knew it it was 2:00 a.m. After that, I didn't care--I knew I had to finish it. The story of these twin back sisters captivated me. I am a white woman opposed to racial prejudice of any kind but this book gave me a completely different perspective. The White Mother helped the girls by teaching them to be self-reliant. She did not rob them of their pride by just giving them charity. She found ways to help them in ways other than taking them as her own daughters, yet she was the only mother figure they had. Their White Mother was able to do this despite living in a society that had turned their backs on these two young girls....amazing. I have been able to apply these same principles to people I meet who need to know how to accomplish things one their own. They need help but not a handout. I could give them a fish or I could teach them to fish.... I recommend this book to everyone, men, women, anyone who would like to learn some life lessons that are ageless.

My grandmother had this book, which she left to me, and I first read it when I was about 8, the same age as the twin girls. It really made an impact on me, and opened my eyes to the fact that not everyone had the kind or quality of life that I did. If you ever get a chance to read it, I highly recommend it.

i love this series i can't wait to read the fourth book. This book shows you how the real world works and what can go wrong. it makes it seem like you are actually there. later

I love this series. I read it when I was younger and even though I'm 20 years old I still read these books when I'm home over break. It's a great book for teenage and young girls to read. I would recommend this series to anyone.

We bought these tapes in the 1980's when my oldest children were little boys. They listened to them then with pleasure, and I was completely enthralled on a different level. Now we listen to them still on our long road trips, and my sons are enjoying them now on the same level I enjoyed them as their young mom. Alan Bennett is a perfect and insightful interpreter of Pooh. These should be available on CD or as digital files. They will never go out of fashion, and the performance will not likely be surpassed.

This is a great story. There are great voices on the tape so if your not sure whether to buy it because of they voies don't worry. In this tape you will experince Pooh geeting honey with a balloon, Eyore having a birthday party, Piglet meeting a heffulump, and MUCH MUCH more!