Bradford Books

When the MacDonald family is kicked out of the States because they are not patriots, they must set out on an adventurous journey to Johnstown, Quebec, to build a home there. Many things happpen to them:
-Baby Margaret dies
-Mary makes a new friend, Hannah, with whom she attends school with
-Jamie gets a pet dog, Laddie
-Mary's brother comes back from the war with a friend, Duncan
-They settle in a NEW HOMELAND!

Mary MacDonald is a 12 - year - old girl living in the states at the end of the 1700's; with her parents, grandmother, 5 - year - old Brother, and her infant sister, Margret (only for a bit of the book) .

Her family is forced to leave after several of their neighbours (and former friends) invade their home, smashing everything, and telling them to leave their 'home'.

Mary and her family are devestated. They leave as soon as they can, carrying what they can in their small farm wagon.

They plan to travel to Quebec`, Canada, where they will build a cabin for themselves and settle there.

Before they go there, they stop at a small camp, with a small, dark home for them. Just before winter comes, Margret dies.

Interesting parts in this book:

- When they are building their homestead in Quebec`.

sad parts in this book:

- When Margret dies.


There is not alot to say about this book, but it is absolutly fantastic, and i do recomend it, if you like books like this.

This book is one of the Dear Canada series, which are historical novels, written in diary format, about fictional girls during different periods of Canadian history.

Mary MacDonald is a young girl who lives with her family in Albany, New York. But in 1783, after the American Revolution, the family is forced to leave their home just because they supported the British in the war. They decide to head for Quebec, in British Canada. The journey is long, difficult, and dangerous, and the family faces many hardships along the way. Their troubles do not end when they reach their new home and must build a new life in the wilderness from almost nothing. Mary describes her life in her diary as she makes new friends, finds romance, and suffers through hardship and tragedy.

This book is one of my favorites in the Dear Canada series. As an American, I also found it interesting to read about the other side in the Revolutionary War. Most of the Loyalists were just ordinary families who happened to support the side that lost, and as a result their lives were turned upside down. Mary was a sympathetic character who came alive in her diary, just an ordinary girl whose family happened to be on the "wrong side." I highly recommend this book to readers who enjoy historical diary fiction.

For those of us down in the States who were raised on one view of the American Revolution, this is a great way to introduce "the rest of the story". As a homeschool Mom, I've been trying to help my children understand the many differnt viewpoints of the war, and this book was an eye opener for my 11 year old. She read it in one sitting and came away with a deeper appreciation of what all the colonists had gone through during those troubled times.

Hooray for the Dear Canada series! We'll be reading the rest of them, as well!

This is my favorite book in the Dear Canada series. The diary is written by Mary MacDonald. She and her family are mistreated by the Patriots and are forced to move to Canada and start a new home. On the way, Mary describes the long, hard and lonely journey of traveling. Once they get to their destination, they build a new cabin and meet up with Mary's brother, who was fighting against the Patriots. Will Mary's family ever consider their new place as home? If you are a fan of historical fiction, I would definitely recommend this.

Good, however, the Amazon.com listing did not say that this text was geared for Ph.D.'s in Mathematics.

I am learning by myself the topic of Genetic Algorithms (GA) for my PhD dissertation. Even though this book is written for John H. Holland considered the father of Genetics Algorithms, this is not a basic or easy reading book. The book does not contain any source code and even though it contains some kind of pseudocode, it will not give you a clear idea about how to implement a GA. If you want an introduction book maybe you should look for the Mitchell Melanie's book "An Introduction to Genetic Algorithms" , Fogel's book "Evolutionary Computation vol. 1" or Chamber's book "The Practical Handbook of Genetic Algorithms".
The way the author approaches the development of the framework is sometimes overwhelming because the author does not concentrate in one specific case or concept but he mentions all the different possibilities almost at the same time. I think it is worthwhile to buy the book to have it for advanced understanding of the concepts involved in the study of Complex Adaptive System. My approach to learn GA will be reading the above mentioned books and then study this book in a very detailed and slowly way to digest the huge amount of concepts and information provided by it.

This is a wonderful time. We can read about information theory in Shannon's own words, fuzzy logic in Zadeh's, relativity in Einstein's, and genetic programming in Holland's. He created evolutionary algorithms, and shares his thoughts in this brief work.

1975, when he first published this work, was a long time ago. Since then, computing has advanced, computing demands have advanced, and biology has advanced. Biology, because it functions at all the levels from atoms to worlds, has bottomless potential for insight. Because the atoms, the worlds, and everything between are all unfriendly, biology has many problems to solve. It doesn't matter whether you are an oak tree, a virus, or a whale, the solution (at the species level) is the same: evolve. Holland was the first to harness that incredible problem-solving power to computational use.

A huge literature has built up from Holland's founding thoughts. Those thoughts are here, in their original and purest form. It is hardly surprising that Holland anticipated so many elaborations of his work. One, in particular, struck me: the idea of 'hot spots' for genetic crossover. Or rather the opposite: 'cold spots' where crossover is inhibited. As a computer scientist, Holland's first thoughts were written in binary. When you allow points where crossover can not occur, you allow coherent multibit values - maybe even floating point. It's easy to laugh at Holland's initial naivete now, but he was talking about the foundations, not the structure built up from it.

If you have ever programmed genetic algorithms, you have been stunned by their effectiveness in creating good solutions. 'Good' doesn't mean precisely optimal, but pretty damm good anyway.

If you were a hard core creationist to start with, you still are. But now you know that evolutionary problem solving is powerful, broad, subtle, and effective - so much, that it's hard to believe it could ever have arisen by chance.

//wiredweird

This book presents an inspirational synthesis from mathematics, computer science and systems theory addressing genetic algorithms and their role in intelligent engineering/business systems.

Topics include: background, a formal framework, illustrations (genetics, economics, game playing, searches, pattern recognition and statistical inference, control and function optimization, and central-nervous system), schemata, the optimal allocation of trials, reproductive plans and genetic operators, the robustness of genetic plans, adaptation of coding and representations, and overview, interim and prospectus.

Inclusion of a disk of spreadsheet-based examples would have increased user-friendliness to the sometimes moderately-complex mathematics. Otherwise, this book is a well presented, and useful classic for researchers and software vendors seeking to develop more innovative intelligent products.

This book is a veritable dictionary of the civil war. It holds everything one ever wished to know about the war and its leaders. I recommend it!

This book is a veritable dictionary of the civil war. It holds everything one ever wished to know about the war and its leaders. I recommend it!

This compendium of battle studies and reports was written by commanders of all levels: Grant, Sherman, Lee and Longstreet down to lieutenants commanding companies for points of clarification on minor skirmishes or segments of the battlefield.The accounts were set down when the war was still fresh in their memories, yet when enough time had passed for reflection.

The fact that several viewpoints, some conflicting, are given for each major battle and campaign adds immeasurably to the value of this work. Of course recent "scholarship" has eclipsed and corrected many of these accounts. However, you get the immediacy and vigor of the post-war controversies and the finger-pointing --- the first early exposition of the rift between Longstreet and the Jubal Early faction for example.

Battles and Leaders was for a long time THE source for the early critical historians of the war such as John Codman Ropes, W. Henderson (the pre-eminent biographer of Stonewall Jackson) as well as the generals themselves who wanted to cross-check their accounts. This was the case until well after the release of the Offical Records some ten years later.

There were inevitable lapses of style and critical ability in the original multi-volume edition; these for the most part have been weeded out from this accessible one-volume version.

The great part about this book for me is that one can get the flavor of the passions still raging, even though the writers attempted a detached and clinical tone for credibility's sake.

Johnson and Buell made a concerted effort to elicit a well-rounded picture for battles and episodes which were the subject of intense debate.

If you have any interest in the Civil War, and lack the time to sift through the voluminous post-war memoirs of the commanders, you'll want to keep Battles and Leaders handy.

Be careful what edition of this book you get. The original edition was a large, useful collection of primary sources. However, another edition was put out which, while still a collection of primary documents, was much shorter and could not be considered definitive at all. The latter was the one I wound up with, and I didn't get much use out of it.

i served in the 1st special construction and steverdoring batt. on the canal guadacanal and made 2 trips and ended in sasebo in sept of 45 as soon as the peace treaty was signed. this book has pictures and stories by the men who were there. book was a job well done

Huie, editor of the American Mercury and author of two books (Mud on the Stars and The Fight for Air Power) before joining the Seabees, presents the Seabee story, often in their own words. He introduced the concept of the "five roads to victory," so often seen in World War II Seabee writings. Appendices include lists of awards and casualties and an introduction to Seabee poetry. Like a skilled sports commentator, Huie provides color commentary to the official Navy account. The introduction is written by Admiral Ben Moreell.

As a son of a submariner from WWII, I grew up hearing all the navy stories and meeting the naval pals of my father. This garnered me a more than casual interest in things Naval regarding WWII. I also grew up with the John Wayne version of the Seabees. I like Huie's version better. Written during the war, it carries all the flavors of patriotism it was written to impart to the American public. I found it a "page turner" once I got past the first few preliminary chapters as he was setting the story line us. Well worth the money. I am looking forward to reading his sequel: From Omaha to Okinawa.

This book is surprisingly interesting and contains a bunch of good "first person" stories complete with unique and numerous photos. The atmosphere is real WWII since the book was written in 1943. Makes you want to find out what happened next.

It's really very interesting and useful book for corporate finance and you can find many good and usful things in this book!

I am new to Finance aspects. This book very well served the purpose. Thank you

"Fundamentals of Corporate Finance" is a recommended textbook of finance which is simple to read and follow. I am a Senior Engineering manager and wanted to have a good grasp of financial principles and concepts. I found the book to be very user friendly. As I go up the corporate ladder, I need a good grasp of financial concepts and their practical implementation in the real corporate world. This book provided me with most the information I needed.

The book will enable the reader to use the theory underlying corporate financial decisions to assess advanced corporate issues and decisions. The major topics covered in the book include financial statements, valuation of cash flows, capital structure and budgeting, risk and return, use of debt and equity, cash and credit management and international corporate finance, among other topics.

The book has a wide range of learning tools that should facilitate the learning process. Reference to several website reinforces the concepts being presented in the book. Whether one is a student wishing to learn the important subject of finance or a manager wishing to manage the company finances more effectively, this is a good choice of book.

The only limitation I found in the book is its main focus on US systems only with few examples on what is happening in Europe and elsewhere. To learn about the City Institutions (London) or European Stock Exchanges, for example, you have to search for your information elsewhere. Notwithstanding this, I enjoyed reading the book, particularly self-assessing my understanding by attempting the exercises in the CD-ROM which comes with the book.

Wow! Great! Excellent! Amazing etc.., the list can continue.This is one book that any starter in finance area will want to learn from. Its a power-packed source of information for any student who is just starting to learn finance, however if you are already a pro in finance, then don't even considering this book because you'll finish reading the entire book in a couple of weeks.

I used this book for my exams preparation along with brealey myers text and the combination simply pushed my rank into the outstanding bracket.

This book is particularly useful for the following chapters:
5. Introductio to valuation: time value of money
6. Discounted cash flow - Interesting chapter opening
7. Interest Rates and Bond Valuation - Great Derivations
8. Stock Valuation - Once again great derivation on formula's
9-11: Capital budgeting - will be useful to only absolute starters. I liked the material in Brealey Myers text, it is more advanced
12. Some lessons from corporate market history
13. Return,Risk and Security Market Line
15. Cost of Capital
19-21: Short Term Finance - Best coverage, though not complete in all respects.

Finally one honest note, I didn't know how to produce PV/FV/Annuity tables by myself before I bought this book. Now I able to produce them all by myself.

I you want to dig deeper in finance, just like I am doing, then I suggest you buy this book and principles of corporate finance by brealey myers.This book will provide you with the base that is needed to cover the other book that I mentioned.

In the final years of WWII German industry produced a number of tanks and AFVs. Some were awesome killing machines that could have prolonged the war; others were dead-end projects. Noted tank author and illustrator George Bradford offers up a collection of scale drawings of 65 of these metal monsters in this 2007 volume, #4 in Stackpole Book's 'World War II AFV Plans' series.

Some of the vehicles illustrated in Bradford's book are well known: the Sturmgeschutz 40, Tiger Ausf. E, the ponderous 'Ferdinand' and compact 'Hetzer' tank destroyers, the 'Ostwind' flakpanzer, the Schwimmwagen, the StuG.IV and others all saw combat. AFVs such as the Panzerbeobachtungswagen Panther, 5.5cm PlakPz. Panther and 'Katzchen' APC, however, saw limited production or were paper projects only. Many were effective fighting vehicles, others were so impractical you wonder why Germany wasted the time and money on them.

Usually each machine gets a four-view plan; some smaller machines allow for five or more. Bradford's excellent illustrations are good for picking out the many small details on AFVs that most photos could never capture. Some machines get sidebars with information on that tank/AFV; others have only the item's model designation. I would have liked a bit more info across-the-board.

While Bradford's book will appeal mostly to tank enthusiasts, wargamers and modellers, its does present a fascinating visual record of some awesome war machines.

I knew about the drawings of George Bradford (he has is own website) and I had a free image to study. I think he does a great job. As I am interested in Russian armor I bought this book, it's great, nice line art, fine details, together with some good pictures of these items every modeller will have great results building models from scratch. Well worth it's price.

When I received notice from Amazon for pre-publication orders on several George Bradford books, I jumped on it. I'd seen many of his drawings previously and the individual drawings are available online. This collection fits the salient illustrations together under one cover.

There are several prototype or paper vehicles included as well as familiar production types. Collected here are tanks, self-propelled guns, prime movers, APCs and reconnaissance vehicles from the latter half of the German war effort. Some of the larger vehicles are reproduced in 1/48 or 1/76 scale but most are in 1/35 so copy making is kept at a minimum.

A must-have for any modeler or military vehicle enthusiast. There are also titles available on U.S., Soviet and early war German vehicles. I hope that Mr. Bradford will be able to publish his drawings of more modern vehicles.

This is not a book for the WWII armored vehicle newcomer and knowledge of overall German armor is a plus, or at least a few other books on the subject.

As advertised this book has "AFV Plans" and not much else -- but this is its strength. It is a straight forward book of line drawings of German armored vechicles from the mid-war period to the end of the war. It has the well known and the obscure; tanks, armored cars, self-propelled guns, etc. Also of note is that all are drawn to scale (either 1:35 or 1:48) and the book includes a chart for how much to reduce or enlarge the drawings for other scales. At the same time there are at least four drawings per vechicle; straight-on front and rear, a top view, and a side view.

This is a niche book for the specialist. There is very little in the way of explanation for the vechicles in the book. In fact, most of the drawn vechicles don't have any kind of written explanation or history; and the book doesn't list the technical specs. You'll need other books on German armored vehicles to flesh out the information presented here.

Why do I recommend the book? It is probably the most complete book available on the many and varied armored vehicles used by the Germans from mid- to late-war. Many times when I'm reading WWII histories, or playing WWII wargames, I find references to various armored vehicles and I was looking for a simple to use, yet complete reference, so I could visualize what I was reading about. The vast majority of books out there address the famous and common vehicles (Panther, Tiger) but this book has drawings of the more obscure to include Germany's remote controlled tanks.

Addy Walker, a former slave girl, lives in Philadelphia with her parents, though still missing two members of her family. The Civil War is winding to a close but prejudice against Blacks--slave or free--is rampant in the streets and stores of the City which was founded on the concept of Brotherly Love. Her father can't find work as a carpenter because of his skin color, so all he can do is deliver ice--a waste of his training and natural talent.

When Addy and her friend, Sarah, try to ride the streetcars to a drug store in another section of the city, they encounter shocking prejudice and nearly get trampled. Addy faces two challenges in this 4th book in her series: to acquire the skills to jump rope double-dutch style and to chose a nearly perfect day to become her very own birthday. She gains some valuable life philosophy from blind M'Dear in the boarding house, who can See in very special ways.

This book continues Addy Walker's adventures after successfully escaping her plantation for freedom up North.

Addy continues to be amazed by the opportunities that are so much more broader than those on the old plantation, but also realizes that even "free" states have racial segregation and discrimination. She is no longer the property of slaveowners, but still cannot travel certain places or excercise privlleges that whites in Philadephia are able to use.

With her friend Sarah's encouragement, Addy picks out a birthday. While such an action might seem mundane by today's standards, Addy (like others during slavery) never had a day that was uniquely hers. Taking her time with the big decision, Addy ultimately picks a day that has meaning for her and indeed, the entire nation.

This is another in the American Girls series about Addy Walker, a ten-year-old African-American girl living in the America of 1865. In this story, Addy makes a new friend in the form of M'dear, a kindly old African-American woman whose blind eyes see more than most. Sadly, as Addy learns more about her new life of freedom, she learns more about the racial discrimination that pervades the world around her. It's up to Addy, with M'dear's insights, to see the way forward in such a dark world.

The final chapter is a look at what it growing up was like for African-American children in the America of 1864. Once again, I must praise American Girls for producing such a wonderful book. This story sets out race relations in a no-nonsense way, but without recrimination-it is a true lesson in healing. My eleven-year-old daughter loved this book, with its realistic history and gentle lessons, and I loved it too!

Addy, an escaped slave, makes a friend, and worries about segregation. When is Addy's birthday? What can she do about prejudice between blacks and whites? How can she make this birthday a happy one? And can her new friend help her? Find out in this lovely tale.

This book is divided into seven sections:

The first section deals with history and clinical examination. This is probably only of interest to veterinary students who have not yet entered clinical rotations.

The second section is sorted by clinical signs. It might be my approach to cases, but I have found this section the least useful and rarely refer to it.

The third section is of diseases and management of the neonate. This section is sketchy and lacks detail. For the equine neonate, it is not as comprehensive as Koterba's Equine Clinical Neonatology, which although published in 1990, still contains the best information on the subject.

The fourth section on collection and interpretation of laboratory samples is extremely useful. The textboxes, a great layout feature throughout the book, are of particular use in this section. Some detail is lacking in this section (for example there is no explanation of the difference between BEecf and BEb), but overall it is the section I refer to most often. The table for conversion from 'American' units to SI units is especially useful for reading the international literature.

The fifth section considers diseases of each organ system separately. This leads to some repetition between this and the first section and between different organ chapters, but overall is a good approach. The different organ chapters reflect the authors and editors, and are variable in quality. The cardiovascular and hepatobiliary sections are particularly good. The bones and renal chapters are generally poor.

The sixth section is a missed opportunity. Treatment options are not covered in sufficient detail throughout the book and should be gathered in this section. Some sections, such as the fluid therapy which is found in the alimentary chapter, should be expanded and moved to the therapeutics section. Principles of treating shock, endotoxemia, pain and inflammatory conditions should have been covered in this section. Instead they are scatterd throughout the text in variable detail.

The seventh section regards congenital, hereditary, immunologic and toxic disorders. Only the toxicology chapter is well written.

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Overall the layout and indexing of this book make it very accessible. However, the content is of variable quality and needs updating. I would recommend this to Food Animal Veterinarians. For Equine veterinarians, Reed and Bayly is probably a better buy.

This book is an extremely thorough account of basic large animal medicine. Equine lameness and other medical orthopedic issues are not a part of this book. I have also used this book when dealing with exotic species, relying on the thoroughness of its basic medical approach to make educated extrapolations.

I had the first edition of this book while I was in Vet school and could never figure out how to use it. I really appreciate the new edition -it looks better, is a bit easier to use and has a surprising wealth of information. I hope the binding holds up better than the last edition's.

Need to know something about large animal medicine? This book almost certainly covers it and in great detail. I relied on this book as practically my sole large animal source in veterinary school. My only regret? That I didn't buy it sooner. The only area it may be lacking in is equine lameness.

This book really set the agenda in thinking about cognitive architecture for many approaches in thinking about the mind during the late 80s and 90s. In some ways, it is philosophical synthesis of concrete gains from research science in linguistics and cognitive psychology. But it also articulates the path down which much recent thinking has gone. The issue of modularity is getting hot now, especially with the business about evolutionary psychology. This and Fodor's _Psychosemantics_ are *the* texts of recent theoretical cognitive science (if you ask me). Oh, and it doesn't have too many obscurely humorous bits designed to confuse you, as some other of his books do.

This classic in cognitive science has a great deal to say, but an awkward way of saying it. Author Jerry A. Fodor's style is academic and dense, a potential barrier to all but the most determined, well-prepared reader. Arcane and brilliant, Fodor intersperses colloquial jests with jargon-burdened exposition, leading one to believe that he could have written a book more accessible to the lay reader had he wished to do so. We find, however, that the book repays the persistent, dedicated reader. The reward is a fascinating exploration of the mind, drawing on the literature of epistemology and psychology, with occasional detours down the rarely explored byways of phrenology.

Fodor usually writes the most arcane books in the cog sci set. The Language of Thought was so opaque that even Hilary Putnam couldn't understand it (circa Language and Learning by Piatelli-Palmarini, ed). This book is written in such a way that even lunkheads such as myself can get it. What he's saying in Psychosemantics I don't know either. But it's nice that he's written one popular philosophy book. When you take this book, together with Stephen Wolfram, you probably get the Language of Thought. When you add Richard Dawkins you get Steven Pinker. Not a bad piece of work.

Fodor's short book made "faculty psychology" respectable again and has generated a large literature in psychology, philosophy, and linguistics. Fodor offers brilliant arguments that the mind has special-purpose perceptual and linguistic modules. A central thesis of Fodor's book is that these modules are "informationally encapsulated" -- that is, the modules do their work without being able to access the beliefs that the person has. Thus in an important sense perception is theory-neutral, because what you believe will not affect what you see, hear, etc. For a contrasting view, read chapter two of Paul Churchland's Scientific Realism and the Plasticity of Perception. By the way, Fodor's book is brilliant, but don't look for the entertainingly malicious flashes of humor that typify many of his essays.

For anyone who enjoyed reading the author's first book on shaking titled Bushman Shaman, Shaking Medicine gives the reader a more in-depth look on the shake itself. Amongst other things Keeney talks in length on what the shake means to different societies and how it has evolved or became suppressed over time. How the shake relates to our society and/or religion. And he also discusses how anyone can learn to shake.

Quite a fascinating book that I would highly recommend. I would also highly recommend Keeney's other book, Bushman Shaman.

I am conflicted about this book.

There is no doubt in my mind that shaking is good for us. At its minimum, rhythmic movement of the body connects body systems into an organic whole. Shaking restores the flexibility of the connective tissue and eases communication between ligaments, bones, fascia, blood and lymph vessels and the endings of afferent/efferent nerves. Furthermore, when done with a proper attitude and surrender, dancing propels the dancer into the transpersonal.

Here is where it gets a little shakey for me. What Keeney promotes as "shaking medicine" may not have that much to do with the !Kung (Bushmen). Here is an interiew with a !Kung recorded by the anthropologist Richard Lee: "Trance medicine really hurts. As you begin to trance the power (n/om) slowly heats inside and pulls at your insides. Your mind and your senses leave and youdon't think clearly. You can't listen to people and understand what they say. In !kia (trance) your heart stops, you're dead, your thoughts are nothing, you breathe with difficulty. You see ghosts killing people, you smell burning, rotten flesh. Then you heal and you pull sickness out." During the trance, the shaman (according to the anthropologist) "trembles violently, sweats profusely, staggers, lower his head, bleeds from the nose, froths at the mouth and finally crashes to the ground."

How many people at Keeney's workshops bleed from their nose (a result of dehydration), dance the whole night into exhaustion, exorcise ghosts or fall unconscious to the ground? How many will "journey" into the sky where they learn from the ancestors in a village in the sky, animal totems (giraffe and eland especially) and the "Big God"? My guess is: zero, and that includes Keeney himself. In other words, Keeney's "shaking medicine" is, in my mind, an invitation to innocuous social feel-good dancing. No problem with that, i enjoy shaking booties as much as any other guy... but this has little to do with the !Kung.

Keeney is never detracted from name-dropping... he has studied with this Zulu, that Bushman, this cybernetic specialist, that African-American church all of whom have had (according to K.) the wisdom to recognize the importance of this holy man. Unfortunately, in this day and age name-dropping is at the very core of the definition of a spiritual charlatan. What has the man actually learned? Real spiritual message should stand on its own - yet when dissociated from these 'credentials", there seems to be little to Keeney's insights. I kept asking myself, what is this man's ACTUAL contribution to spirituality? The fact that we need to shake our bodies?

I would be more impressed if Keeney actually learned from the Bushmen how to "ascend the ropes to the Sky God". This does not seem to be the case, at least it is not mentioned in the text. I am inclined to think that, if anything, this book reveal a man who is the quintessential opportunist and trickster. As for the CD, "arrhythmic cacophony" is what comes to mind.

If you are drawn to movement as a therapy, this book is a must. I have been interested in energy medicine and practicing as a homeopath since 1996. For years I have studied shamanism and have walked the path of a shaman. More recently I became fascinated with the idea of movement. I felt it from the inside out. This book was able to give me historical and practical information about "shaking medicine" that i have always known on a gut level. I also liked that the book explained the relationship between "sitting still" meditation and "movement" meditation. In my practice there are many clients who struggle with beign able to sit still yet they have a desire to meditate. In Shaking Medicine, I have found a tool to help them. This book has been of great help to me. The CD is also excellent quality.

I've always loved watching documentaries that show traditional African or North American Native dancing. The participants seem so deeply focused into the action that their bodies are doing the movements without conscious thought. That many of these individuals have deep spiritual experiences during these sessions doesn't surprise me at all. The dance is simply another form of mediation, much more active but still so all focused that nothingness is achieved so that the spirit self is given its freedom.

Shaking Medicine is a wonderful introduction to ecstatic movement. The author himself is an experienced shaker. He is also a life-long learner who is extremely interested in finding out why people choose to shake, how they shake, and what they experience during and after the experience. Much of this book resembles a memoir of his experiences and his explorations of shaking in various cultures around the world, past and present.

I found this book fascinating. I came to realize that there is no real right or wrong way to shake. Being with others who have traveled that path will certainly be a good resources but ultimately every person needs to find that something inside themselves. Reading Shaking Medicine and using the included CD of ecstatic drumming is certainly a good place to start.