Butler Books

Im a new student of the Occult. I purchased some rather lengthy and overwhelming texts that seemed impossible to understand. I was unsure how to even approach or begin studying these texts. So much was unfamiliar to me, that I was unsure If I could even gain a comprehension of what they were trying to teach.

I read Butler's short text, and feel like I can actually move on to those larger works with a better understanding of what's going on. I highly recommend for anyone just starting out like myself.

I love this book. It is about time it is republished. It teaches that our mind creates our reality, and the methods to 'shapen' our mind power and concentration. One theme this book is telling the reader is this - mind is creative, and mind is influenced by the vitality(energy) of the body and spirit. EVen our moods are dictated by our level of vitality. THink back now a time you were stressed and fatigued, were you able to feel good enough and to get yourself to think positively? Now think of a time when your vitality is at the peak, how good did that feel mentally and emotionally?
This book teaches a secret that builds up man's vitality and mind. The power of breath and generative fluid.
Read it.

A little forgotten treasure I added to my small collection. There is something uplifting in this strange version of romance. The descriptive paragraphs I usually skip over in other books seem to be the whole point in understanding Prue Sarn. I love the strange long gone culture and the too real darkness defeated. The outcome may seem simple but to me the characters and the writing are not.
Additional note: If you are not a spiritual person this book may not touch you, I can't say for sure. It seems to have a quiet song.

This a great nonfiction book about the presidency. It first covers who can qualify for being president, the job of a president, the executive branch, and the first president. It also covers some of the most important jobs and crisises the presidents have faced over the years and how they performed their jobs. The book is very imformative and accessible.

Ten years ago I stopped reading books on Yeats because they just weren't adding anything new. But a friend recommended this book (the title intrigued me as well). And I ended up reading this one through to the end. What a fresh voice, what a fresh reading of Yeats! The theory is here, but it is made real and useful. The scholarship is here (no one I have ever read knows Yeats' complex mystical world better), but it is shaped into a captivating and human reading of his poetry. The interest in gender is here, but it is not turned into the battlecry or the chauvenism of the feminists. Above all, the close reading of Yeats texts (plays and poems) is here, but it is always new, clear, well grounded, and sensible. The book applies a wealth of new material from George and Georgie's spiritual seances, and it is unexpected and astonishing how it changes--for the better!--our reading of classic Yeats works. This is what literary criticism should be.

This collection of essays (with a few poems) covers a variety of subjects dealing with W.B. Yeats's father, family, and friends. Some of the best Yeats scholars in the world have work in this book, including the Curator of the Yeats Museum in Dublin (Hilary Pyle), the author of J.B. Yeats's biography (William M. Murphy), the authors of Jeanne Foster's biography (Richard and Janis Londraville), the editor of NEST magazine (Paul B. Franklin)--and many others. I liked the variety--some short, some long, some light, some challenging. I learned many new things.

This work picks apart and refutes the charges that Ellen G. White "borrowed" the health message, and other revelations found in her books. Examining the works of Ronald Numbers "Prophetess of Health," Walter Rea "The White Lie" and others, we arrive at this puzzling question? If she were merely "borrowing" from the works of, let's say the leading health reformers of the 19th century: Sylvester Graham, William A. Alcott, Horace Mann, Dio (Diocletian) Lewis, Larkin B. Coles, Russell T. Trall, Joel Shew, James C. Jackson and John Harvey Kellogg, then how on earth could she possibly have distinguished between those things to avoid for healthy living, now verified by medical science, that she advocated in her writings, from the unverified and seemingly ridiculous advice found in the writings of the other leading reformers of the day? The very ones she's accused of borrowing from. Remember, very little of what she advocated in her writings was considered medically sound until years later.

Things to avoid found in the writings of Ellen G. White, now proven to be medically sound by science: Drugs, Patent medicines, Secondhand tobacco Smoke, Smoking, Alcohol, Hard Drugs, Meat, Animal Fat, Overeating, Idleness, Hypnotism, Phrenology, Caffeinated Tea, Coffee, Pork, Spices, Wet house-building sites.

Things to restrict or use in moderation: Salt, Butter, Milk, Outdoors.

Things recommended for daily healthy living: Good lifestyle, Ventilation, Clean environment, Sunlight, Recreation, Excercise, Vegetables, Whole-wheat flour, Variety of foods, Clean water, Plenty of water, Clean person, Clean house, Clean clothes, Sanitation, Trust in God, Cheerfulness, Willpower, Simple foods, Soft water.

The following lists are from other health reformers of recommendations never advocated by Ellen G. White, or verified by science.

Sylvester Graham: Don't heat your house, Go naked, Don't shave, Don't cut your hair, Don't use perfumes, Avoid strong odors--even pleasant ones, like the scent of flowers, Don't rock a baby to sleep, Don't use salt, If you must eat meat, eat it raw, Don't drink water--get your liquids only from fruit, Avoid activity that cause you to perspire.

William A. Alcott: Venesection (bleeding) has validity--e.g., for heart disease, Wear very little clothing, even when it's cold, Avoid excessive application of your mind, Reading light literature injures your health, Don't use eyeglasses, Children shouldn't drop their voices in the midst of a sentence, Don't comfort children; crying is good for them, Don't protect your face or neck from subzero air, Avoid sweating in hot weather, Keep no plants in your bedroom, Don't nap during the day, Don't sleep in the same bed with someone else, Avoid excess pleasure or mental activity, Don't eat most vegetables other than potatoes, When eating meat eat mostly the fat, Don't let children eat fruit, Overweight people are healthy people, Avoid eating breakfast, You needn't drink much, food provides nearly all the liquid you need, Wear coarse, rough clothing; it cleans the skin and reduces the need for bathing, Don't bath early in the day.

Larkin B. Coles: Know your own phrenology, Avoid excessive spitting, Don't rock a child in a cradle, Don't eat cucumbers or some other vegetables, Don't talk while eating, Don't nurse babies at night, Avoid mental activity for an hour after eating, Sugar is good food, If you exercise, reduce the amount you eat, Drink little water, Bathe, preferably, in seawater, You needn't bathe more than once or twice a week.

James C. Jackson: A good lifestyle eliminates the need for vaccination, Don't wear black, Wear your hair long enough to cover your neck(advice for both sexes), Marital sexual activity is dangerous to health, Phrenology is scientific, Children should avoid eating potatoes, You can live exclusively on bread, The best diet consists of grains and fruits alone, Don't eat salt, Rubbing the body with the hands will substitute for a bath, Bathe at midday, Don't use soap.

John H. Kellogg(the one-time Seventh-day Adventist doctor Ronald Numbers credits as Mrs. Whites main source of health information): Don't indulge in sex more than once per month, Women younger than 20 and men older than 50 shouldn't have sex, Surgical circumcision performed before puberty will increase a girl's health, Don't squint or roll your eyes, Wear flannel neck-to-ankle underclothes year-round, Avoid developing your muscles, Bathe at 10 or 11 AM, Don't bathe when you're sweating.

Still believe Ellen White simply "borrowed" from all the other reformers, by simply picking and choosing from their various publications? Yet the now confirmed medically proven counsels listed above found in her writings, were considered groundless when they first appeared over one hundred years ago. And as you've just read, even if she were "borrowing" from others, who told her which would be proven sound, and which would continue to border on the ridiculous; which she never advocated mind you? On page 79 of "The Prophet and Her Critics," we do find a list of counsels taken from Mrs. White's "The Ministry of Healing" still unverified by science, but read for yourself whether that's just a matter-of-time.

Who wouldn't fall in love with the chubby, flightless night parrot of New Zealand! The many wonderful pictures in this book show what a charming little critter the Kakapo is. The excellent text tells about the parrot's history, our knowledge of its life style and how humans are working to bring the Kakapo back from the edge of extinction.

As I write this, there are only 62 Kakapo left on earth. Can they be saved?

I was lucky to come across this book on a trip to New Zealand. Although it's out of print, try to find it and satisfy your Kakapo curiosity. We'll never see them in the wild, we'll never see them in a zoo, but this book is the next best thing.

Live long and prosper.

This is a brilliant book. It's the first time I've read about the politics of Irish literature written in this way, and I've read a lot of books about Yeats and Joyce, as well as some theory. However, here, the fusion of both creates a work which is part of a new way of looking at Irishness along the lines of Gibbons, Kearney and Lloyd, though O'Brien would not be in complete agreement with some of their ideas. His discourse, however, is parallel to that of these writers. It's a different, more challenging, kind of Irish studies.
It's a difficult argument with a lot of complex theory coming at you from every angle. He makes use of Derrida, Levinas and Adorno to create the structure through which he views the writings of Yeats and Joyce, and their constructions of Irishness. In some ways, this is really two books, with an analysis of the theoretical difficulties of the creation of structures of identity as well as an application of this model to the work of Yeats and Joyce.

But, O'Brien writes clearly and some of the more arcane practitioners of critical and literary theory could take lessons from his style and argument. He discusses Joyce and Yeats in the context of their time, and then shows how they transcend that context through a placement of identity within an imaginary European context. He makes connections between Yeats and joyce (who are often seen as being at two different ends of the spectrum) and sees both as offering different but related perspectives on identity.
His close readings are acute and there is plenty of quotation.
It's a scholarly book, very good for postgraduates and people working in the field. perhaps only the brighter undergrads should attempt it.
Irish studies has needed this theoretical input for some time and it's good to see what we might call "high theory" being applied to such canonical figures.
It's a first book (I gather from the acknowledgments, and as such, is a stunning debut. I look forward to reading more, and from the Amazon search, it seems there are more on the way!

Colorful pictures help you understand what the animals look like and the descriptions are good.