Bennett Books

As a naturopathic student I found the book riveting. Not only do the authors open one's eyes to a whole new way of looking at disease, but they also make one aware of how toxic our lives truly are. The book is very well written with a lot of scientific and medical information that also allows the reader to understand the way in which our bodies work. I would not say it is a cure-all for everyone, even the authors don't lay claim to that title, but I would recommend this book to anyone who lives in an urban environment and feels the strains of everyday life weighing heavily on their health. This book can just save you from that permanent "hung over" feeling every morning.

If you go on this week long starve your supplements alone are going to run you $100. Then you have to take 5 handfuls of pills every day. I think the author must have stock in the "Twin Lab" corporation because they are the only ones who carry some of the weirder things you have to take. Also, you have to go without food for 48 hours. Doesn't sound hard but if you have a family it is almost impossible. You also have to take cold/boiling showers and do something called "dry skin brushing". I tried it with an open mind and it did nothing for me. The friend who recommended the book tried it with the thought it was going to solve all her problems, and it helped a great deal. So why not skip the complicated starvation and stuff and just believe that you are going to be helped by something simple?

The book was recommended to me by my yoga teacher and I have to say I had my reservations. I read the book once and then delved back into it as the science of it began to sink in and make sense to me. I was unsure about a two day fast, fearing I would faint away after the first missed meal. Not so! I didn't feel a single pang of hunger throughout. Having completed my week of de-tox successfully I feel great. I'm sleeping deeply and feel refreshed and rejuvenated upon waking in the morning. An added bonus of this whole de-tox week is that I've lost an inch around my hips and my waist! I would recommend this book to anyone seeking better all-round health and an understanding of how the digestive system works.

In the summer of 1999 I was feeling very sluggish. I could tell that my body was not functioning properly. I have always been "health conscience" and done my best to eat well and take proper supplements. When I would get massages the muscles and the attachements felt like they were on fire. Plus I had a continous ache in my elbow from being a massage therpist and using my arms repeatively over the years. I went to the store looking for something to help me become educated on these symptoms. By chance I picked up this book and immediately saw some encouraging words. I was willing to make the "sacrifice" for seven days. Within two days my elbow eased up in pain. After finishing the program I could tell a tremendous differance. My muscles feel much better, I have more energy and don't have as many urges for poor choices in foods to eat. I did the program again after Christmas and again noticed an improvement. I look forward to doing this program again. Thanks for all your efforts in bringing forth a quality book.

I admit, I did not take all the supplements and did not fully do the hot and cold showers part, but i did stick with the diet and the fasting. The fasting was hard especially the first day but it actually was a great experience, it is almost like a meditation, you are so concerned with hunger that you actually forget everyhting else in life. My skin improved significantly, acne cleared, and the bagginess under my eyese dissapeared. I did loose around 3 lbs in week, which was definitely a big plus. I had more energy but did not start until the middle of the program. I recommend this program and if you cant follow it all the way, at least stick with the diet and the fasting, since that is all I did and i still had great results.

This novel deals with racial issues and must be approached with an open mind. It is presented from the viewpoint of a black investigator, Easy Rawlins. The setting is the Los Angeles area in the early 1960s. Civil rights are just getting into motion.

Easy is a wannabe real estate mogul who is short on cash. He needs to support himself and two children that he has taken in (unofficially adopted). He needs money, and has been approached to find Black Betty - the nickname of a woman whom he knew in Texas when he was a child. He has a reputation for being able to find people.

It is a complex case. There are questions about just why people are looking for Black Betty. A number of people are killed along the way, and relationships are established as the story moves along. There are some very ugly people, including racist police officers. This was well before the time of Rodney King when events could be picked up on video.

Things do not necessarily end well. You will get a good view of some of the underside of society and people's social attitudes. There are some side plots. Some guilty people are punished, sometimes in ways they would not have expected.

Mosley's Easy Rawlins series of crime novels are collectively a great read. Novel by novel Mosley takes us from the optimistic, sunny post-war LA toward a bleaker, jaded experience - so by the time we get to Black Betty in the early 1960s, Rawlins has worked for 15 hard year trying to better his family, and yet still he keeps getting dragged back into his past - this time to earn a couple of hundred dollars to find the whereabouts of a housemaid whom he once knew as Black Betty.

This time the tension is ratcheted up a notch because of the risk to Rawlins' family of adopted kids, and because of the return of his violent friend Mouse, just out of jail and eager to blow the heads off the people who put him there.

But where Mosley scores is in his faithful recall of the events of the early 1960s - there is mounting Black Anger, the gap between the haves and have-nots is widening and the news bulletins feature a fiery Martin Luther King and...later in the novel, the death of JFK. I've seen many noverls where history is wheeled in to lend gravitas to the narrative, but nobody does it better than Mosley. Seen from the tired, indignant viewpoint of Ezekiel Rawlins, our modern history weighs heavily. I loved this novel and this next summer I'm going to re-read the Rawlins series once more. Five stars? Not enough. Mosley is a literary treasure and Black Betty rates as one of his finest.

I don't generally like crime fiction. There's a sentence to alienate most of the people reading this review! However for some writers - the great ones - the genre they write in is irrelevent. It cannot be denied that Mosley is a great writer, who has shown equal facility in tough but politically and socially literate crime writing and also in witty and wise post-modern science-fiction.

Black Betty is a fine demonstration of his craft. His particular skill is in weaving the world into his tales. The mystery is well-constructed and satisfyingly tangled, featuring multiple murders, corruption and racial and class divisions. However the central plot is framed both by the atmosphere of early 1960s America with the rise of the civil rights movement confronting old prejudices, and by the dense web of family and social life within the families of ordinary, mainly (but not entirely) black, working class Americans.

In theory Easy Rawlins' role in the investigations in which he is involved is limited to where white men fear to tread - the black community. However the networks of corruption and deceit he uncovers inevitably take him outside this world, in this case into the bizarre and emtionally-stunted world of white land-owners and their complicated relationships with their black and latino servants, as well as a corrupt and racist police force and legal system.

Easy is also personally involved - Elizabeth Eady AKA Black Betty - the woman whose disappearance he is hired to investigate was a teenage crush of his, a woman who inspires obsession in many, which turns out to be her tragedy. At the same time, Easy has to contend with several other difficulties: the release of his psychotic - but often useful - friend, Mouse, from prison, bristling with anger and the need to revenge himself on the man who sent him down; the ongoing silence of his eldest adopted child Jesus, who has chosen not to speak as a result of the trauma and abuse from which Easy rescued him; the suspicious collapse of the real estate businesses in which he has invested his occasional earnings; and various other ongoing personal and social difficulties. Easy Rawlins has a well described and believable, if unconventional, family and a life beyond the crimes he is occasionally employed to solve. He is a fascinating character who has grown with successive novels; full of desire and anger but compassionate, wise and often painfully self-aware.

I would rate Black Betty as the best of the Easy Rawlins tales. What is particularly great about it is Easy's story of personal survival and compromise in an unfair world where a black man cannot sit back and enjoy what he has without someone trying to destroy it. Easy does get to the bottom of things, but it is at immense cost to all those involved including himself, and in the case of Mouse - well, as those who know the character will be aware that there is very little in the world that will stop him doing what he has set his mind on.

This is ultimately a tale cut about with sadness and rage, and a mighty fine and and jolting read it is too.

Walter Mosley doesn't just write mysteries. He creates a historical landscape peopled with vibrant and authentic characters who like most of us are flawed and lacking in some way. "Black Betty" is Mosley at his best. The mystery is enthralling and many layered, the atmosphere electric, and the villains exquisitely evil.

The time is 1961 the era of Martin Luther King, John Kennedy, and the beginning of The Civil rights movement. Easy Rawlings is raising two adopted children on his own, and his secret real-estate empire is sinking. He has no idea how to solve his financial problems until a sleazy private eye Saul Lynx approaches him with a job. Lynx offers Easy $200 to track down a former acquaintance of his, Elizabeth Eady, aka Black Betty. Betty a beautiful and sensual woman has vanished from her wealthy employer's home in Beverly Hills.

Easy's search for Betty will uncover a trail of chaos and murder. To make matters worse, Easy's psychopathic best friend Mouse is also out of prison determined to find and execute the man who betrayed him. However, this book is much more than a murder mystery; it is a journey into the heart of racial bigotry and the paradox that is the human race. The language is vibrant and moving:

On the bus there were mainly old people and young mothers and teenagers coming in late to school. Most of them were black people. Dark-skinned with generous features. Women with eyes so deep that most men can never know them. Women like Betty who'd lost too much to be silly or kind. And there were the children, like Spider and Terry T once were, with futures so bleak it could make you cry just to hear them laugh. Because behind the music of their laughing you knew there was the rattle of chains. Chains we wore for no crime; chains we wore for so long that they melded with our bones. We all carry them but nobody can see it-not even most of us. All the way home I thought about freedom coming for us at last. But what about all those centuries in chains? Where do they go when you get free?

This is not merely a fast paced and gripping mystery but a powerful story of one of the saddest aspects of American life. Mosley does not preach nor condemn, he merely presents us with a historically accurate account of an era in which this mystery story unfolds. I highly recommend this story.

Raymond Chandler made the definitive statement about L.A.'s Santa Ana Winds at the beginning of his short story "Red Wind." In Easy Rawlins' L.A., the hot, dry winds that fill the lungs with cactus dust and make the skin peel around the fingernails never seem to stop.

Easy is in search of an erotic dream woman from his childhood who is being sought by one of those rich white families who have more skeletons than clothes in their closets. Around the same time, the very dangerous Raymond "Mouse" Alexander is released from the pen; and Easy's attempt to make a killing in the real estate market run up against a brick wall.

There are plot threads aplenty, and enough characters to fill a passenger liner. Mosley is too good a writer to leave any threads untied, but I do get lost at times with some of the characters. One bad dude is not heard from for a hundred pages when he commits a particularly heinous murder at the very end. "Oh, yeah, wasn't he the guy that ...?" Sometimes, I would have welcomed the list of characters, complete with nicknames, that occasionally accompanies an 800-page Russian novel.

What makes this a minor complaint is that Mosley has such a great sense of place and so much feeling for his characters. We don't meet the character he calls "Black Betty" until the end of the novel, but we keep seeing vignettes from Easy's past that keep building up the suspense, and any expectations are more than fulfilled by an ending that is bloodier than the last act of Hamlet.

In "The Four Witnesses," author Rob Bennett lets the early Christian church speak for itself through the writings of the Apostolic Fathers - Clement of Rome, Ignatius of Antioch, Justin Martyr and Ireneus of Lyons, the first and second generations in the Church subsequent to the Apostles - to see where the Church's journey begins in history. Included with these writings are epitaphs from Christian tombs, doctrinal statements, Bible commentary, and sermons which together provide an accurate portrait of the character, teachings, and practices of the very earliest Christians.

Like many other Evangelical Christians who converted to Roman Catholicism, Bennett eventually began to study these Church fathers and made painful discovery that Christianity of history was not Protestantism...the early church was Catholic. "I looked for something at least similar to the distinctives and practices of my own church and found only Catholicism."

Bennett's first witness, Clement of Rome, was a follower of St. Paul and a contemporary of St. John. In his letter to the Corinthians, Clement demonstrates the first exercise of the Roman primacy after St Peter's death. The Letter also underlined that the Church's structure was sacramental and not political. With regard to community leaders, Clement clearly explains the doctrine of Apostolic Succession (Tradition). The norms that regulate it derive ultimately from God himself. The Father sent Jesus Christ, who in turn sent the Apostles. They then sent the first heads of communities and established that they would be succeeded by other worthy men.

The story of Clement along with the other three witnesses shows that the early Christian Church was a well organized body with rituals and tradition - the same rituals and traditions practiced in today's Roman Catholic Church. And the early Church was not built on beliefs from the bible since the bible did not exist. Scripture was a collection of writings that the early Church, based on the Apostolic Tradition, vouched for, preserved, compiled, and passed down through the ages. The Bible itself was something the world received from this Church.

Rob Bennett has done an admirable job in making these four witnesses more accessible to all who have an interest in early Church history or in the Apostolic Tradition. "Four Witnesses," while well written, is not nighttime reading.

I found myself highlighting to the extent nearly the entire book was in yellow. This is an excellent researched book which offers a clear and understandable picture of our early church fathers. It is recommended for anyone searching for a clear and valid explanation of the early church beyond Scripture.

This book is typical Catholic propaganda. This man was duped into exalting the word of man over the word of God, pretending the word of man is superior to the witnesses of the Christians in the Bible.

Satan won yet another another soul.

This book was so exciting! It read more like a novel or a scene from GLADIATOR. We had just watched the series ROME on HBO (also on DVD now) and it really put the book in perspective for me. I highly recommend this book to Catholics, non-Catholics and hisory buffs.

This book did what it set out to do. I was a little disappointed with the long narrative style, but I understand why Mr. Bennett wrote it that way. I was looking for a litany of quotes to use as ammunition against heretics (is that too "brusk."). I have recommended this book to non-Catholics who are anti-Catholic. The narrative interjected between the citations can be can be frustrating for those who are more "get to-the-point" thinkers. However, it is satisfying once finished because it met the objectives with ample evidence that is an unmovable mountain for the non-Catholics who think they have the pure, unadulterated truth.

The color photos are excellent, but I expected more substance in the test. Don't expect to learn anything, just light and fluffy.

If you like, or know someone who likes llamas and alpacas, this is a good book with cute pictures on every other page. The other pages are text which is also cute at times, but basically filled with strange and new-age flakiness.

I purchased this book with my daughter in mind. She adores llamas and I am unable to find appropriate books for her age group. I thought we could enjoy this together but it is too "deep" for an eight year old, although she does love browsing through and looking at the fabulous pictures. I, on the other hand, loved the book and made many connections. How true the title is!!!!!! Animal lovers should read this book. It is an easy read and will make you laugh and ponder your own life's happenings.

This is a wonderful book, for all ages. If you are a llama owner, it is a very nice book to introduce them as animals to friends and family, who just might be puzzled as to why you find them as fun companions. It is chock full of great photos, and is written in an interesting manner. Since it is so full of pictures, it is a good one to have out on the coffee table for visitors to pick up and enjoy. Even though I have way too many books, this one will stay with me!

I great insight into a very interesting Group of independent Animals.

The Pictures were great

These tales were collected from virtually every corner of the globe and some go far back into the reaches of antiquity. Bennett and his collaborators did a fine job of finding stories of universal, fairly non-controversial appeal that we can all cite without worrying about the inherent differences in religion or politics that might otherwise divide us. Segregated according to the principles being celebrated (Honesty, Courage, etc.) these fables and true life stories demonstrate virtues of conduct far too often left unstressed in our morally-undermined society.

I had this book when I was a little kid. I honestly think that by reading it, it changed how I viewed things as a child. Partially because of this book, when I was little I had strong feelings about responsiblity, kindness, courage, perserverance, and many of the other subjects illustrated in The Children's Book of Virtues. I loved reading it and the stories affected me greatly.

As a homeschool mother I am always looking for great stories for my almost 7 yo and my 2.5 yo. This book is part of the curriculum for Sonlight and it is fabulous. My daughter's favorite is about two brothers, one who doesn't let his "please" out of his mouth so the "please" jumps into the other brothers' mouth (which makes him say all his "pleases" twice). Eventually though, the "please-less" mouth wants his please back and his "please" is thrilled to be at home and allowed to get some fresh air. The stories are grouped by moral or attribute (compassion, courage, etc.). Both male and female main characters throughout the stories and the poems makes this book appropriate for both boys and girls. I highly, highly recommend this book, no qualms about it.

My children and I just adore this book. What a lovely collection of stories all heavily demonstrating solid virtues that are Biblically rooted, not worldly. My children, ages 5 and 4, request that several stories be read time and time again. This book will grow with us through the years; they are no where near growing out of it.

Bennett compiles the stories and poems in 4 categories: courage/perseverance, responsibility/work/self-discipline, compassion/faith, and honesty/loyalty/friendship. There is a nice selection in each category of 1 paged poems, to several paged stories. There is a solid virtue to be taken from every single work.

I recommend this book highly. Fill those little minds with things that are good, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable. Also recommended by the same author are The Children's Book of Faith and The Children's Book of Heroes. Both also have wonderful collections and wonderful illustrations.

I purchased this book and a few others in the series for my 4 ½ year old. My son is very intelligent for his age, yet some of the stories were a bit long and beyond his attention span and/or understanding. However, I am not disappointment as I am confident that in time, all the stories will be appropriate. I would recommend this book!

It is my privilege to have read Robin Rose Bennett's book, Healing Magic: A Green Witch Guidebook , cover to cover several times and in snippets more often than I can count. I feel compelled to encourage others to share the magic as it would be a travesty for me to keep this jewel of a book a secret. Robin Rose has many gifts which she generously shares through this vehicle, but what I feel is the most valuable is her willingness to share these gifts in a way that exposes herself and leaves her vulnerable.
Robin shares her alternative journey through the adventure of life..She allows those of us who respect this lifestyle but who have little or no experience to walk by her side, to experience nature and the world of spirit in a sensitive, enlightened way. She encourages us to be able to feel, perhaps for the first time, the heartbeat of the earth, the life force of air, the warmth and energy of fire and the flow and encompassing embrace of water. She helps us understand how these forces nourish, protect and challenge us, and permit us to be in an environment where we are safe.
Robin has expressed this in a personal way through her own experiences which she shares with us through stories-She teaches us ways to center ourselves-ways to communicate with spirit, practical ways to perform rituals. She helps us to allow ourselves to be the best, most authentic selves we can be and what could be better than that?
In single word adjectives her effort can be described as, magical, joyful, positive, warm, thoughtful, clean, clever, intelligent, articulate, simple and pure. It was my privilege, as it will be yours, to read this book. Make reading this book a priority. You will be giving yourself a priceless gift.

I guess I didn't realize it until now, but I've been a Green Witch most of my adult life. Thanks, Robin Rose Bennett - for bringing that to light. I love this book! I loved its earthiness, I loved its magic! Unlike one of the other reviewers, I really enjoyed the personal stories. Reading them, added deeper meaning to my own experiences - and urged me to reacquainted myself with the moon. I had been taking it for granted and now have a renewed respect for it. It is back in my life, and welcomed me. This book, this message came into my life, just when I needed it most. Mo' magic!

Robin really expresses the concept of magic and relationship to energy in ways that speak deeply and inspiringly to me who have been praticing this for years, and also in ways I can see would also speak to someone completely new to these ideas.
I've been using the book for my morning meditations, reading a passage and letting it really sink in, to excellent effect.

This is a perfect book for anyone who is searching for heartfelt and loving guidance in green witch magic. Robin Rose Bennett guides the reader into an awareness of healing magic with an easygoing, gentle style into which she weaves personal stories and wisdom to illustrate the rituals and spells.

I highly recommend this book to everyone but especially to those who are just beginning their journey.

This book worked for me on many levels. It provided practical applications for working with plants as well as helping me attune to nature and my own intuition. When all these concepts are in synch, it is magic indeed! The book also delves deeply into emotional connections that allow the reader to find resonance in a very personal way as the author's voice is nurturing and sincere. It is obvious to me that this book comes from a heartfelt and experienced healer who truly wants to share her knowledge with those who seek. Highly recommended!

This book was astoundingly, and sometimes embarassingly, accurate. Her research is phenominal and original, the organization of the chapters could have been a touch better, but all-in-all, I think that every person into astrology, or married to someone who is, should own this book.

If you like this book, you might also like: Linda Goodman's Love Signs: A New Approach to the Human Heart (a classic!), or Ex Files: A Zodiac Guide to His Former Flames (a wonderful new find).

This book was dead on for my sign which is Gemini. I read things about me that I sorta knew was true but in denial. A true gem!

This book describes how I feel so accurately it's scary!! Judith Bennett obviously knew exactly what she was talking about when she wrote this book. Bennett goes into meticulous detail and is usually right on!! This book answers a lot of questions you may have about yourself and reveals things about yourself you may have not even thought about or you've felt you couldn't put into words--a must for all women! I have given it to all my friends and they all agree this book tells the truth in detail. This should be required reading for men if they want to truly understand their women.

This book is so good I have already brought 4 copies for various friends and relatives! It is so accurate that my sister swear it is a woman's bible to understanding herself. It is truly a interesting read and I read it every 4 to 5 months to reinforce my own understanding about myself. Read it if you are open minded.

I enjoyed Ms. Bennett's writing style and I was very impressed with her ability to concisely describe the behaviors of each sign. Truthfully, I found the book very difficult to put down. However, her brand of psychology was less than inspiring.

I was also extremely disappointed when she wrote, "the Leo woman is almost always divorced as a result of failed expectations or of an incomplete awareness of her own behavior and needs. A seperation or divorce can teach her most of what she needs to know in order to build another, happier relationship." I found that to be a great example of what goes wrong when astrology is mixed with psychology. The perpective ends up being that if the female is just readjusted her relationships will work out. If she had replaced Leo with people she would have ended up with a statement that was just as likely to be true as most people are divorced because of a lack of self knownledge an inability to get their needs met with their partner.

In my own experiance I have not seen this as a the cause for the Leo females relationship problems. In fact, I know many examples of Leo women (and no I am not a Leo) who suffered or are suffering badly in their relationships because they are uncomfortable expressing their own qualities for fear that are unacceptable in a woman. I can think of one case of a Sun/Moon/Ascendent in Leo female who refuses to leave her husband after his repeated beatings because she thinks it is too selfish.

I think in the end she makes certain types of women feel guilty for expressing their own characterists. Leo women have a vivaciousness that is extremely attractive, and they are not more at fault for failures in their marriage than the females of any other sign whom Ms. Bennett seems to have had more compassion for. I would recommend A Knot In Time along with this book because by itself it does not suffice as a good source of female psychology.

Another problem with this book is that the author's explaination for all female sexual problems is that they are repressing their anger. Women maybe experiancing an inablity to orgasm for any number of reasons least of all repressed anger. Many medical conditions can cause problems with orgasming, not to mention that many women enjoy sex thoroughly and never orgasm. They are not all angry.

Alan Bennett's style is like eating a box of candy ... every page has a wonderful surprise. The story about the Lady in the Van was so compassionate, funny, and sad all at once. I loved both stories.

Alan Bennett is fantastic. The writing is funny and smart, and the characters stay in your head.

The author's introduction clarifies that 'The Lady in the Van', Miss Shepherd, saw herself as a member of the middle class, no matter what she wore and had. This calls to mind the upper class designation of the Big and Little Edies Bouvier, the women in GREY GARDENS.

THE CLOTHES THEY STOOD UP IN, the first piece of the volume, concerns a couple, Rosemary and Maurice Ransome, victimized by burglars, remaining together through his love of Mozart. In replacing household items, Mrs. Ransome developed a zest for shopping. An interesting point is that the Ransomes are provided with the services of a burglary counselor. Events take an unanticipated turn. Really, details pile up and an absurd scenario is disclosed to the reader. Marriage is a sort of parenthesis it is stated. This is droll in the extreme.

'The Lady in the Van' presents another sort of mystery wherein the writer befriends a near bag lady. This tale covers a span of twenty years. Miss Shepherd, the lady, claimed she had always been in the transport line. Giving Miss Shepherd sanctuary in his garden, Bennett's arrangement for the storage of her van and domicile lasted for fifteen years. Cables ran from Bennett's house to give Miss Shepherd light and heating. She was not part of the desperate poor by her own estimation. When she had the flu. Bennett shopped for her. Being parked in Bennett's garden, Miss Shepherd could qualify for full social security payments since she had an address. The account is very funny and very sad. Near the end, suffering from illness and quite aged, Miss Shepherd attended a day center. Following her death, the author visited her brother.

Alan Bennett's text causes the reader to think of a novel by Doris Lessing describing an elderly charity case. In addition there are similarities between Bennett's work and the stories of Joseph Mitchell detailing the lives of eccentric characters encountered by him in New York City that appeared in THE NEW YORKER. The comparisons here are meant to cast Bennett's work in a positive light. It is hard to imagine that anyone would not enjoy Bennett's sparkling pieces.

Everything I have ever read by Alan Bennett is wonderful and this book is no exception.

There are two stories in this slim package, both dealing with people’s relationships with their possessions.

In the first, Mr. and Mrs. Ransome return from the opera to find their flat totally empty. The casserole has disappeared along with the oven, and even the toilet paper’s gone. Mr. Ransome mostly misses his stereo equipment (and of course the toilet paper) but cheers up when he remembers that he can upgrade his technology with the insurance refund.

Mrs. Ransome quickly gets over her shock, and begins shopping for the bare essentials to tide them over until the insurance cheque arrives. During this exercise, she rediscovers the simple things and learns that life without all her accumulated baggage isn’t that bad after all.

When the mystery is revealed, Mrs. Ransome has a whole new outlook on life, and although her husband has also changed, he hasn’t evolved as much as she has. This is a story with some very funny bits, but also with some important messages for all of us.

The other (shorter) story is about an eccentric woman who makes her home in a van, surrounded by everything she owns. Also very funny, it is so rich in description that your nose turns up whenever the author takes you inside the van.

If you’re looking for an entertaining read, and don’t feel like tackling a whole book, this one is highly recommended.


Amanda Richards, April 1, 2006

The Klutz Book of Magic (Klutz)

Klutz makes great products an this is no exception. My son has gotten hours of enjoyment so far A+

This is for an 8 yr. old. His birthday is not until Nov. This is a special surprise for him. He loves watching magic tricks. Now he can do his own! Thank you,the book is easy to read and good tricks for him to do!

This book was very helpful. It contains a total of 31 tricks, 10 or 11 of which are actually worth it. This book however does come with one of the best gaggets you need as a magician, this gagget will help you dissapear hankercheifs and etc. when you show themm to an audience. A good book for the begining magician.

This is a great book for anyone that wants to learn magic. It comes with a ring that you can use for many magic tricks (It is my favorite prop). It comes with easy tricks, and very hard tricks. And one more thing...Don't use the orange string for the "Cut & Restored Rope" trick, you lose a bit of rope with that trick. Five stars well earned, with great illustraions and well worded tricks this is the best!

I just became interested in doing magic and this book was absolutely fabulous. Some really great basics and some cool stuff that is unique and very appropriate for beginning magicians. The explanations were clear and I love that it came with the props I needed. I would highly recommend it to anyone who loves magic. I have friends who have been doing magic for years and still find this book fun.

This well-told, interesting, robust summary of Pakistan's 55 year old history is more than just the usual "run-of-the-mill country study." The author has talked to real Pakistanis, sampled their opinions, and mapped the nation's temperament and volatility back into its own desires, hopes and fears. It is a rich and dense biography of a much-troubled ally and nation.

Strategically situated at the crossroads of some of the most important of international sensitivities, and beset with enough internal problems to place it at the very top of any objective list of the world's most unstable countries, Pakistan continues to muddle through, lurching from one deep-rooted crisis to another.

Now that it has become "the first Islamic nuclear power," all of the stakes have been raised immeasurably to a whole new level. As a U.S. ally in the war on terror, it is a sobering thought that like Israel, Saudi Arabia, and even Iraq, Pakistan too could conceivably turn from our number one ally into our number one enemy almost over night. It is just a roll of the dice that keeps this troubled nation afloat and upright for the moment.

It is this volatility and unpredictability that makes a deeper study of Pakistan essential for international relation watchers. Jones, a journalist who spent several years "on station" in Pakistan, brings a fresh but very "un-journalistic" approach to this national biography: It is not just another computer dump of a journalist log, but a well-told story, that unfolds chronologically and thematically; one that is linked to internal opinions as well as to the larger international picture.

This is a very impressive book. Five stars

This book is without a doubt the best ever book one can find on Pakistani politics. It covers every aspect in detail from the 1999 Coup, the Kashmir Crisis-Kargil, Democracy in Pakistan as well as other internal issues.

The author obviously through his decade long experience has got a great deal of insight knowledge from his experiences for reporting for the BBC for which he made the wise choice for publishing his thoughts in this book.

If you're a student or even a curious reader liking books on Asian or especially Pakistani related politics, then look no further than this book as it is the best one out there. I read it all in 3 days and still do repeatedly as I've used it for reference for many university related projects.

Pakistan's turbulent history and military rule is treated to a scholarly and in-depth analysis which describes many of the problems of modern Pakistan with an eye to probing their historical roots. Jones assesses regional conflict and influence within the country and provides an important, scholarly assessment of Pakistan's underlying foundations. College-level readers will find it involving.

Owen Bennet Jones was BBC's correspondent in Pakistan for three years till 2001.

His book is a wonderful way to understand Pakistan. It is not a typical chronological list of facts. It is a set of nicely grouped perspectives on the issues in Pakistan's politics: the power players - army, politicians, feudal lords; the public opinion issues - Kashmir, Bomb, Bangladesh, Muhajirs; and their impact on Pakistan so far.

The reader can pick any chapter and start with it.

It is difficult to write a book about Pakistan (or India) without leaving in the reader's mind a sense of disappointment at a biased perspective. Was partition the right thing to do? Different views may emerge based on who you ask.

It is even more difficult for a British author to keep a balanced perspective on the history of the sub-continent given the influence in his own ambience. Is Winston Churchill a wise statesman or an arrogant imperialist? Different views may emerge based on where you ask.

The author seems to have struck a fine balance between multiple views.

However, in a few instances, the author disappoints:

Pakistan does feel insecure about India's intentions. The religious divide is a thin argument since India has more Muslims than Pakistan; and they are not raring to quit India. The divide stems from a public opinion that got shaped by the shameful violence during partition; that got nurtured after the partition by the army and politicians in Pakistan as a pet hate agenda for self serving reasons. Today, no politician or general in Pakistan can take a softer friendly stand towards India and survive in Pakistan. This is true to a lesser extent for politicians in India too. Feeding a public opinon for political convenience and in turn being fed by it is the vicious cycle that Pakistan has gotten into. The author misses this point and suggests that Pakistan's insecurity stems from India responding to Pakistan's invasion in 1965 by crossing the border and coming to occupy Lahore; and from India's role in liberation of Bangaldesh. This world-view befits a public relations spin master and not a political journalist.

Pakistan's view is that Mujahideens causing mass deaths in Kashmir are "freedom fighters" and not "terrorists". This view suffers from several fallacies:
(a) Pakistan's claim as homeland to the sub continent's Muslims is not valid any more. Not after 180 million in East Pakistan walked away. Not after 200 million Muslims have stayed back in India and have played a big role in India's growth.
Pakistan has lesser Muslims, 150 million, today than either India or Bangladesh.
(b) The Mujahideen are trained and equipped by the State of Pakistan. This is low intensity proxy war. Not freedom fighting. Not terrorism.
(c) The Mujaihideen are not citizens of Kashmir. They are "outsiders" coming in for a shared religion. They sincerely believe they are fighting for the noble cause of their religion. They believe religion prevails over the State. This view raises challenges to several States. In the end this may prove to be a bigger challenge to Islamic States than other States.
The author's sympathetic description of the events in Kashmir as "tribesmen crossing the border to fight for their muslim brethren" reflects one view reasonably well; but ignores an opposite view that may have a greater dosage of wisdom.

Pakistan's army, in the words of Benazir Bhutto, has a better track record in fighting its own citizens than fighting other armies. The army's response to this potential for doubt is made up of: (a) a signature tactic of proxy war - in defeat there is a cover of deniability; and in success there is glory and (b) lack of transparency on events during the war and a "spin" that could obfuscate truth. The author is willing to be a facilitator. Did Pakistan's army lose its positions in Kargil? Or, did they walk out because Nawaz Sharif ceded to pressure from the US? The author says that Indians claim Pakistan army was dislodged in 80% of the positions before Sharif met Clinton; but "neutral" observers, relying on Pakistan sources, believe that India had dislodged Pakistan in just 12 of the 132 positions implying that the army won it and politicians lost it. Neutral observers relying on Pakistan sources? There are better neutral analyses like Arthur J Tellis' book "Limited Conflicts Under the Nuclear Umbrella".

The author parrots a view he heard in Pakistan army: that Pakistan army uses tribesmen in its engagement with India because the Indian army is more afraid of the tribesmen than Pakistan's regular army. Steve Coll in "Ghost wars" has a different story. Officers in Pakistan army preferred to get posted to the Western front than the Eastern front where they need to meet the tough professional army from India.

Aside from these minor biases, the author has done a very good job in portraying Pakistan's history and the issues this young nation faces.

I bought this book some three years ago and took it on a trip, finishing it over six days. The book is written very well, and journalist in Owen Bennet Jones certainly needs to be commended.

Jones starts the book with President Musharraf, and moves back to the 1999 coup which installed him. He then picks up some of the key issues which drive Pakistan's foreign policy: Kashmir, The Bomb, The Army, among others. His writing syle is such that you immediately fall in with him and start thinking alongside. This makes the book an easy read. His style leans more towards description than analysis. Though the analysis is there, it is more journalistic than professorial (such as Stephen Cohen's: The Idea of Pakistan). There are also some good illustrations and cartoons.

However, he also leaves out important aspects of Pakistan (this is perhaps justified considering the title of the book). For instance, the entire book is written from the perspective of an outsider or a diplomat who would like to deal the Pakistan state. There is little analysis of Pakistan's domestic policies or problems, except to the extent that these influence its foreign policies. There is little information on Pakistan's economy or social institutions. Relatively little space has been given to Islam, which is strange considering that many of Pakistan's policies are supposed to be derived from the religious nature of the State. This is unfortunate because Pakistan's future may be determined largely by how it interfaces with Islam and how its economy shapes up.

And there are very few insights. What drives Pakistan, what holds it toegether, what may make it fail, these are all dealt with from a foreign policy perspective, but in an analytical style. Though Jones does make some very good connections between events and identifies patterns, the insights are simply not there. Perhaps one has to turn to an Asian mind such as V. S. Naipaul for that. However, Naipaul is somewhat hostile to the subject, and therefore may merely end up reinforcing some stereotypes.

All in all, an enjoyable book, but one that you may not be able to hold for long in your mind.