Francis Books


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Francis Books sorted by Average customer review: high to low .

Francis
Numerical Heat Transfer and Fluid Flow (Hemisphere Series on Computational Methods in Mechanics and Thermal Science)
Published in Hardcover by Taylor & Francis (1980-01-01)
Author: Suhas Patankar
List price: $181.00
New price: $132.13
Used price: $99.95

Average review score:

Goob book
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-02-17
The book is useful for those who begin studying CFD methods in heat transfer and fluid flows. It has been a standard for several years.

Excellent Introductory CFD Text
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2007-02-12
This book is a wonderful way to understand the fundamental concepts behind techniques such as the SIMPLE algorithm. Patankar begins in one dimension, expands his approach, and presents the results very clearly. His physical insights are very well presented, and his narrative style is easy to read. One may much more profitably read the recent literature in this area after having examined Patankar's text.

best fundamental CFD book, must have
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2006-03-05
This is the best CFD book I ever read !! And it should be your first CFD book too. It's easy, short, concise and correct.

It doesn't have extensive coverage or any advanced topic like most of recent CFD book get. But the way it shines is that the author (one of the founders of recent CFD field) spent that much time discussing how to discritizing and evaluating the simplest form of commonly used pde eqations and boundary conditions. No advanced math involved, it's all simple algebra.

Everytime when I start a new problem and write down the discritized eqation, I double checked it using what I learned from the book before I input it into the computer. It just worked.

There's no magic in CFD, but this book is like a magic to me.


If you want to code heat/mass transfer/fluid flow, buy this
Helpful Votes: 2 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2002-12-17
This is extraordinarily well-written for anyone who knows a little bit about heat transfer, mass transfer, or fluid flow and wants to write a mathematical model to perform calculations in 1D, 2D or 3D. (Also works for electromagnetic equations of the same form--used it for my doctoral thesis.) It's very practically oriented, with clear explanations and good diagrams showing how the grid layout translates into code.

A fundamental book on CFD
Helpful Votes: 8 out of 8 total.
Review Date: 2000-04-26
This is one of the ground breaking texts. I purchased a copy on the recommendation of a collegue (who has worked in the field for a while) when I started in Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD).

I found the book a little bit difficult to get into. Having spent more time working through CFD problems, it all now makes sense - although I would recommend beginners to find something else more recent (such as An introduction to Computational Fluid Dynamics: The finite volume method by Versteeg & Malalasekera) that has some of the more recent developments in the field.

It is still an invaluable reference to have on your bookshelf as it covers the fundamentals of CFD.

Francis
Politics of Ecstasy
Published in Paperback by Anglophone (1990-07)
Author: Timothy (Francis) Leary
List price: $9.95
Used price: $39.99
Collectible price: $49.95

Average review score:

The original.
Helpful Votes: 11 out of 11 total.
Review Date: 1998-10-20
Dr. Leary maintains a high ground in his defense of the value of the psychedelic. This is the early work and a must have.

Expanding Consciousness Beyond the Mind's Homocentric Limits
Helpful Votes: 12 out of 13 total.
Review Date: 2004-09-21
Wow! What a book! Leary is a real psychedelic guru, not in the orthodox sense, but really a man ahead of his time, a Galileo in the charter exploration of the mind and consciousness. He started off as a conservative Harvard professor, yet not so conservative, as he had his own ideas. But after his religious experience, and that's what psychedelics do - the expanding of your consciousness to a religious experience - he became aware of the societal and cultural chessboards - the games - and here became outspoken apart from the Harvard rationalistic mindset which rests on only one static frame of a multi-dimensional, dynamic existence.

I read this book smiling, over and over again. I walked down the street with a smile, mostly for Leary's optimism, then his frank and bold statements, which in most part I agree with. His style sometimes just makes you laugh and smile and say to yourself "I wish I had the guts enough say this." And although his predictions did not come true, you can't help but subjectively comprehend the 60's atmosphere, enveloped with the baby boomers in their youth taking up the majority of the population and their experiential drug use in psychedelics, which in turn, brought forth all the femininity of creativeness, patience, tolerance, peacefulness and artistic development that was permeating the entire American culture and spreading around the world and thus brought on the male dominated aggression of control and police power. So Leary's optimism and predictions were really a good assessment of the time despite their failure to come true. And nothing makes me sadder than to see his predictions fail from the creative mind expanding youth to our current male power, controlling and agressive society.

You can write Leary off as a kook from the conservative's point of view, the rationalist who never "experienced," and that's the KEY here - never experienced a trip under favorable circumstances and environment. Leary is the same as other heretics and kooks of history, a Galileo of mind exploration and conscious expansion, a Guttenberg of exoteric enlightenment, as in this book as well as one who clearly recognizes the need for new symbols that relate the esoteric experience of LSD, of cellular memories, of DNA language outside the mind, of experiential journeys that can only be told under a new language, as the microscope discovered new world had brought forth, as quantum physics brought forth and every other new fields of exploration that can only be described outside the current symbols we currently use.

Leary on page 141: The lesson I have learned from over 300 sessions, and which I have been passing on to others, can be stated in 6 syllables: Turn on, tune in, drop out. "Turn on" means to contact the ancient energies and wisdoms that are built into your nervous system. They provide unspeakable pleasure and revelation. "Tune in" means to harness and communicate these new perspectives in a harmonious dance with the external world. "Drop out' means to detach yourself from the tribal game. Current models of social adjustment - mechanized, computerized, socialized, intellectualized, televised, Sanforized - make no sense to the new LSD generation, who see clearly that American society is becoming an air-conditioned anthill. In every generation of human history, thoughtful men have turned on and dropped out of the tribal game and thus stimulated the larger society to lurch ahead. Every historical advance has resulted from the stern pressure of visionary men who have declared their independence from the game.

On page 196: My philosophy of life has been tremendously influenced by my study of oriental philosophy and religion. Of course, what the American, regardless of his religious belief, doesn't understand is that the aim of oriental religious is to get high, to have an ecstasy, to tune in, to turn on, to contact incredible diversity, beauty, living, pulsating meaning of the sense organs, and the much more complicated and pleasurable and revelatory messages of cellular energy. To a Hindu, the spiritual quest is internal.

Different sects of oriental religion use different methods and different body organs to find God. The Shivites use the senses; the followers of Vishnu are concerned with cellular wisdom, contacting the endless flow of reincarnation wisdom which biochemists would call protein wisdom of the DNA code; Buddhist manuals on consciousness expansion are concerned with the flash, the white light of the void, the ecstatic union that comes when you're completely turned on, beyond the senses, beyond the body.

On page 202-203: What we're doing for the mind is what the microbiologists did for the external science 300 years ago when they discovered the microscope. And they made this incredible discovery that life, health, growth, every form of organic life, is based on the cell, which is invisible.

You've never seen a cell; what do you think of that? Yet it's the key to everything that happens to a living creature. I'm simply saying that same thing from the mental, psychological standpoint, that there are wisdoms, lawful units inside the nervous system, invisible to the symbolic mind, which determine almost everything.

And I don't consider myself that mystical - unless you'd call someone who looks through a microscope a mystic, because he's telling you about something for which you don't have the symbols. Or the astronomer who detects a quasar and speculates about it.

On page 208: Every time you take LSD you completely suspend - you step outside of - the symbolic chessboard which you have built up over the long years of social conditioning. And you whirl through different levels of neurological and cellular energy, continually flowing and changing.

Your symbolic mind is flashing in and out. You never love your mind during and LSD session. It's always there, but it's one of a thousand cameras that are flashing away. Of course, the LSD freak-out, or paranoia, is where the symbolic mind freezes any aspect of the LSD session and defines a new reality, which can be positive or negative.

Read this book.

Changed my life
Helpful Votes: 12 out of 13 total.
Review Date: 2004-01-25
This is the single most influential book I have ever read. Completely legitmizes and encourages religious experiences through psychedelic means. Anyone currently using psychedelic drugs or interested in them should read this to gain greater understanding of their power. Learn why LSD and other are really illegal, the government knows they free minds!

DO NOT READ THIS BOOK...
Helpful Votes: 35 out of 36 total.
Review Date: 2005-09-28
...if you wish to stay the same because believe me, once you read it, you never will be. I got this book when I was about 26-27 years old when I felt as though I was just passing through life and not really living it. I felt like everything was "ho-hum". All of my senses were set to dull. Inside of me there was just this gnawing ache that there has got to be something more...not just "out there"...but "in here"...in my heart, in my soul, in my mind...

And then along comes Timothy.

Irreverent, Rebellious,Smart-Ass Timothy Leary espousing the Truth that all advancement in life is already in our very DNA. It dwells deep within the very marrow of our bones because we, as a species, were not meant to stand still...we were not meant to live lives of quiet desperation...we were meant to behold a world that burns and sparkles with Light.

People tend to think one is hallucinating when one sees vibrant colors, when everyday things seem to shine with a new brilliance, when even the song from a songbird feels like a musical triumph, but this is how life really is, boys and girls! We are hallucinating when we think that the world is dull and thick and leaden...we are hallucinating when we think that we are just these heavy clods of biodegradble clay that stalk the earth. We are here to discover...or should I say, uncover the paradise that is already within the invisible realms of the ancient mind that dwells within us and we in it.

Does this mean you have to take LSD in order to experience the jewelike radiance that all of life is made in and out of? Not neccessarily and I am not advocating that you do. What I am advocating is that you allow yourself to get enthused about life. Enthusiasm literally means to be filled with God. God wants to know Itself as you...as me...in each and every moment of creation.

Read Timothy Leary. Marvel at his excitement for life, join him in the mind & soul rebellion against flaccid governments and soul controlling religions and their warped politics and dissapointing creeds both of which are more than happy to think and decide for you, laugh in joyful relief that you are not a body with a soul, but you are a soul with a body,and be willing to stray from the pack of lemmings that's headed for the edge of the cliff only to drown in the shallow seas of mediocrity.

Open your eyes.
Open your mind.
Open your soul.
Open your heart.
Open this book and let the tingling in each of your 40 trillion cells remind you are here to do more than exist, you are here to LIVE and to LIVE WELL.

Peace & Blessings to this this place we call the world.

Let freedom reign
Helpful Votes: 8 out of 11 total.
Review Date: 2002-01-31
This work is a hallmark for questioning authority, pursuing individual freedom and happiness, and working to build a more enjoyable and enriched world. Lovers of liberty would be well-advised to study this work thoroughly, and then pass it along to the nearest religious extremist. It will surely get a reaction.

Francis
Practical Guide to HIPAA Privacy and Security Compliance
Published in Kindle Edition by Taylor & Francis (2007-04-16)
Author: Rebecca Herold
List price: $99.95
New price: $79.96

Average review score:

Excellent resource everyone involved in HIPAA should have
Helpful Votes: 19 out of 19 total.
Review Date: 2004-06-02
Rebecca and Kevin have created an excellent resource for HIPAA Security Practictioners. They provide practical guidance for interpreting the HIPAA security rule, in terms that the non-security professional can understand. Especially of value are the ideas on how to "implement" the security rule, broken down by the relevant HIPAA security standard. I agree with the practical approach that they take within the book, as it is consistent with the HIPAA message that I have also been communicating over the past several years. There are also useful lists of items needed to maintain security compliance after implementation. This is a good book for the novice and experienced privacy/security professional. It is nice to see that someone has compiled this much useful information into one book. Nice job ! This is a must have book if you are a Security of Privacy Officer.

Very solid and practical guide.
Helpful Votes: 4 out of 4 total.
Review Date: 2006-11-07
The guide layout is very easy to follow and provides the reader with a clear and concise roadmap for beginning or maintaining HIPAA compliance.

Very well done.

A must have for all Information Security Professionals!
Helpful Votes: 4 out of 4 total.
Review Date: 2004-05-20
As the title states, the book provides a very practical guide to HIPAA Privacy and Security. I used this book as a key reference to understanding the HIPAA privacy and security rule and in building a comprehensive roadmap (project plan) for compliance -- nicely done!

I strongly recommend the book to all Security Professionals that are working to build an environment based on standards of good practice -- including HIPAA compliance.

An Achievable Security Rule Remediation Plan Road Map
Helpful Votes: 4 out of 5 total.
Review Date: 2004-04-05
For all the people out there looking for a comprehensive and thorough, plain-language explanation of the HIPAA security rule, who then complain about not having a clue about what next steps should be taken, the complaints should cease and the excuses should disappear after reading this book. "The Practical Guide to HIPAA Privacy and Security Compliance" not only "talks the talk" but the authors allow the reader to "walk the talk" as well, The appendices are invaluable resource. As a healthcare compliance consultant, I definitely will be recommending this book to my clients as well as apply some of the implemmentation suggestions with my clients during my own engagements.

Well done Beaver and Herold!!!

Barry Fergus Jones, CISM CISSP
Helpful Votes: 9 out of 9 total.
Review Date: 2004-07-29
This is the best single reference that I've seen on the subject. Kevin and Rebecca have assembled a guide that is eminently practical, superbly organized, and tremendously helpful. I reach for it every time I have a question on HIPPA. In fact, it's the only HIPPA reference I've used since I got it.

Francis
The Practice of Emotionally Focused Couple Therapy: Creating Connection, Second Edition
Published in Kindle Edition by Taylor & Francis (2007-03-16)
Author: Susan M. Johnson
List price: $34.95
New price: $27.96

Average review score:

Excellent overview of approach
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-06-11
Ms. Johnson offer a clear and concise overview of this approach for couples. Well worth the reading.

Easy to read and understand
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2008-03-02
This is my first book by Johnson and I found it to be easy to read and understand. Johnson's approach is based on attachment theory which I have found to be a good anchor in working with couples that want to resolve conflict and/or strengthen their bond.

Great Theory and Practice
Helpful Votes: 12 out of 15 total.
Review Date: 2006-07-03
This is an excellent presention of EFT for couple therapy. The theoretical underpinnings are presented in a way that does not detract from the aim of the book to help one learn how this work is done. There are lots of clear examples and explanations that give one the feeling they are ready to apply what they have learned in their next session. Written in a clear style free of jargon.

A Seminal Work in Couples' Therapy
Helpful Votes: 3 out of 3 total.
Review Date: 2008-01-24
Susan Johnson's work through Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT) is a great asset to the world of relationship therapies. Her work is in the new direction in therapy - calculated integration versus muddle-headed eclecticism.

Johnson's work carefully integrate structural family therapy (Minuchin) with attachment theory (Bowlby) and the experiential therapies. While mainly citing Rogers, this a misnomer. EFT is more Satir and Whitaker than Rogers as the therapist is active and directive as well as short-term to brief in her or his interventions. Rogers is a long-term personality-altering insight therapy, which offers little for today's reality of shorter time constraints whether through managed-care or government stipulations.

Better yet, EFT is an EBT (evidence-based treatment)! I believe it has a 70-73% efficacy rate for couple improvement and therefore is more ameniable to third-party reimbursement. EFT is also a great approach for PTSD (see Johnson, 2002) as in 33-38 sessions a full-blown PTSD sufferer can have significant improvement. This is because the partner, not the therapist, becomes the soother for the traumatized person and is much more available in the long-term for the PTSD sufferer. I believe the Department of Veteran's Affairs needs to "perk-up" and "pony-up" for EFT as the treatment of choice for our soon-to-be onslaught of Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom veterans come home.

We are so not prepared for this avalanche of need!

Good EFT book
Helpful Votes: 5 out of 5 total.
Review Date: 2007-01-09
This book is very good for people who want to learn more about EFT. it is easy to read and has lots of case examples.

Francis
Riemannian Geometry
Published in Hardcover by Birkhäuser Boston (1992-01-01)
Author: Manfredo Perdigao do Carmo
List price: $49.95
New price: $37.85
Used price: $32.45

Average review score:

Definitely a good start
Helpful Votes: 11 out of 13 total.
Review Date: 2005-11-30
This book is definitely a solid way to start in Riemannian geometry. The topics chosen give a glimpse of more advanced topics that the reader can venture to next, and the order covered leaves little confusion. The book is to the point, with little conversation about the concepts except at the very beginning of each chapter.

I only have two complaints, but neither would cause me to lower the rating to 4 stars.

1. There could be more "deep" exercises that allow the reader to explore more of the subtleties of the subject. And for what exercises there are, the author sometimes gives far too much away in "hints."

2. The book does not take a unified approach to the subject that fits nicely with the full generality of the theory. This is probably what makes the book good to start with, but there is still going to be a somewhat difficult transition from this book to a typical differential/riemannian geometry book. Namely, the basic language of vector bundles, pull backs/push forwards, tensors and tensor fields are either covered in a very specific framework or not at all.

Probably the best introduction to the subject.
Helpful Votes: 11 out of 13 total.
Review Date: 2005-03-26
I had the pleasure of taking a course in Riemannian Geometry from the author himself, using the Portuguese version of this book. Do Carmo managed to cover the whole thing in one semester without breaking a sweat; I don't know how he managed, or how we did. The fact is that the book is extremely well-written. It provides geometric insight but doesn't avoid computations. Also, the choice of topics is great, and they are ordered in a way that enhances the logical unity of the whole. The English translation seems to be every bit as good as the original. For a first course in Riemannian Geometry, this book might make a geometer out of you.

Concise and clear
Helpful Votes: 2 out of 3 total.
Review Date: 2006-11-14
This is really a very good book to start Riemannian Geometry (RG). Exposition of key concepts of RG (affine connection, riemannian connection,geodesics, parallelism and sectional curvature, ...) are well motivated and concisely explained with numerous motivating and not so difficult execises. The book is self contained convenient for self study. It contains an introductory chapter on mathematical background explaining basic concepts as differentiable manifolds, immersion, embedding and so on, which are necessary to deal with RG. I have essentially one basic remark about this book. Formulation of RG as presented in it, is a little bit dated. Now, with the development of geometric algebra and Geometric calculus most, if not all, mathematical concepts needed to study RG like covariant derivative, curvature, and general tensors can be formulated without ressort to coordinates and in a manner to highlight their essential geometric features. Moreover derivation of certain formulae can be much easier and natural. For example the author defines the formula for |x^y| as sqrt(sqr(|x|).sqr(|y|)-sqr(inner product(x,y))). Then explains that it is the area of two dimensional parallelogram determined by the pair of vectors x and y. The reader might be puzzled as to how this formula is obtained. In the context of geometric algebra this is derived very naturally from basic concepts. Anyway, this remark does not diminish the value of this book.

Needs a table of symbols
Helpful Votes: 3 out of 4 total.
Review Date: 2007-02-04
This is another well-written text by Do Carmo. I browsed through it and found I could not understand several passages because I did not know what the special symbols meant and there was no table of symbols. I plead with the publisher to add such a table to the next edition or printing.

Best 1st semester Riemannian Geometry book after 1 semester DG
Helpful Votes: 3 out of 3 total.
Review Date: 2006-10-27
This is the best Riemannian Geometry book after students have finished a semester of differential geometry. It gives geometric intuition, has plenty of exercises and
is excellent preparation for more advanced books like Cheeger-Ebin.

Students should already know differential geometry (Spivak "Calculus on manifolds" and Spivak "Differential Geometry Volume I" might be used there)

Warning: the curvature tensor is defined backwards as compared to Cheeger-Ebin.

Francis
Steve Yzerman: Heart of a Champion: Heart of a Champion
Published in Hardcover by North Star Visions (1997-02)
Author: Detroit News Sports
List price: $24.95
New price: $49.89
Used price: $0.65

Average review score:

It's about time!
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 1998-05-06
This book is great! Steve Yzerman has been the heart and soul of the Detroit Red Wings for so long. It's nice to finally get the chance to learn all about him. Some of us were just 9 years old when he came to the Wings and don't remember how small, akward, and young he was. Also, great pictures! But, one warning, the book was written before the 96-97 season so you won't see a Stanley Cup chapter in it and you'll hear lots of mentions of how Stevie still hasn't raised the chalice.

I loved It
Helpful Votes: 2 out of 3 total.
Review Date: 1998-07-18
i think this book is the best. Stevie finally got what he deserved. 2 stanley cup rings, a book and now he need to get into the hall of fame!

Steve Rulz and "Believe"

Will bring tears to your eyes
Helpful Votes: 3 out of 4 total.
Review Date: 1998-11-24
I know this is so sappy, but I think the book is so sweet! I've read it many times since I bought it and it brings tears to my eyes to read the heartbreak Stevie Y suffered b/c he couldn't get achieve his goal of hoisting the Cup.

It's a MUST have for all true Steve Yzerman fans and has some really nice pictures in it. :)

Steve Yzerman is the GREATEST hockey player of all times!
Helpful Votes: 5 out of 5 total.
Review Date: 1999-03-05
When I got the book the first night I could not put it down. To see what he has gone through in his carree, that was amazing. He is the greatest hockey player who ever lived, and now because of the chapionships that the team has won under his leadership, other are now FINALLY realizing it. He has done everything for this team and city, he has given us his heart, and in return we give him ours. He has captured our hearts and through this boook you can get an indepth look at the making of a SUPERSTAR!

If you're not a Stevie Y fan, this book will make you one.
Helpful Votes: 8 out of 8 total.
Review Date: 1999-03-15
I highly reccomend this book to any fan of the Red Wings and their Captain. Some parts will make you smile while other parts will make you teary-eyed, but all of it will make you very proud to be a Red Wings fan. And if you're not already a fan, this book just might make you into one. If you think all modern athletes are selfish and just in it for the money, this book will show you that there are still exceptions. Unfortunately, it was published before the Wings won their latest Cups, so you can't read about that in here, but that just makes you realize how special it is to win the Cup.

Francis
The Story of an African Farm
Published in Hardcover by Kessinger Publishing, LLC (2007-07-25)
Author: Olive Schreiner
List price: $48.95
New price: $32.77
Used price: $34.68

Average review score:

Spectacular
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 3 total.
Review Date: 2006-07-01
True to the topic, it transports you right there. Historical and old, but still current.

Much more than a feminist novel, novel for every one
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 6 total.
Review Date: 2003-09-04
I thought this book was one of the best books Ive ever read it describes how people feel and view the world from inside themselves but can never express this externally or even realise they are thinking these things themselves.

For me It depicts how inadequate we all are men and women, when it comes to Love, and expressing it and sharing it. it flumoxes us all, Its too big for us, "the chickens had more sense"....pass the worms please.

Picture of South African Victorian Culture
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 5 total.
Review Date: 2000-07-12
Written about a South African farm. this book depicts the story of a family and how they interact throughout the book. The most striking dynamic in the book is the relationships of the women in it. It portrays female existence in a realistic light even for today. The story has a lot of character to it, and I would recommend it highly for teachers who want to teach about feminism.

Incredible
Helpful Votes: 2 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2007-12-01
Although I had to read this book for a college class, I would read it again in a second, I feel that I can only gain more and more from this book through rereadings. Its plot is at times disjointed to the style of the author and the message she is attempting to convey, so for those who are looking for a strongly Dickensian or "feel good" read, this is most likely not the book for you right now. But for me, from an analytical and heartfelt standpoint, the subtlety of the book and its beauty and its truth made me tear up a little bit. I'm currently writing a paper on Waldo and his artistic and personal growth throughout the novel, so maybe I'm a little biased, but although Lyndall is an incredibly interesting and advanced character, I think Waldo is often glossed over as merely suffering from a religious crisis of faith, and, being a man, not deserving of attention in this novel of the "New Woman". But Waldo ultimately reaches a place of amazing peace and understanding, and the lives of Waldo and Lyndall intertwined together is truly beautiful.

Complex, Deep and Moving
Helpful Votes: 6 out of 6 total.
Review Date: 2005-06-15
"Story of an African Farm" is a difficult work to describe. It must be read several times, and carefully pondered before all of its secrets are unlocked.

Ostensibly, the book revolves around the lives of three children (and, later, adults) who live in the Karroo plains of South Africa. The main focus, however, is on two of the characters - Waldo, the earnest and deeply curious son of the German farmkeeper, and Lyndall, the beautiful, outspoken and rebellious orphan who suffers all her life for her ideals.

The book itself is semi-autobiographical. Waldo represents Schreiner's journey from fanatical, childlike faith to bitter skepticism, who reaches a watershed of sorts when he hisses to Lyndall 'There is no God - none!'. Lyndall, on the other hand, embodies Schreiner's frustation with her station as a woman - barred from the upper echelons of society, and her inability to find a mate who is both her intellectual match and willing to accept her as an equal. "I want to love", she whispers to the grave of Waldo's father, "I want something great and pure to lift me to itself."

There are many other themes that flesh out the subtext of this extraordinary book - the tragedy of solitude, that ultimately, all humans are alone in the cosmos. "Dear eyes", the dying Lyndall whispers to her mirror, "they will never part us."

Readers who expect a narrative will be dissapointed. What narrative there is serves only to undersore the book's many themes. Often, the flow of the story is out of sequence, or devoid of context, and deliberately so. Roughly, the book is divided into three sections - the first introduces us to the characters as children, and reveals their innermost thoughts. The second, and shortest section is entitled "Times and Seasons". It is somewhat of a summary of what has gone before, dealing mostly with Waldo's journey from Christian fanaticism to dispairing atheism, and foreshadows some of what is to come. The third, and longest section, covers the lives of the characters as adults, and is by far the most powerful, and moving piece of the book.

The reader who is looking for mindless action is advised to pick up the latest Tom Clancy novel, or whatever passes for literature these days. Those who are willing to put aside all preconceived notions, and have their cherished beliefs challenged are invited to read this book. The search for truth is endless. But this book is a perfect place to begin.

Francis
The Stronghold of God
Published in Paperback by Charisma House (1998-06)
Author: Francis Frangipane
List price: $12.99
New price: $6.79
Used price: $3.03

Average review score:

A new level...
Helpful Votes: 12 out of 14 total.
Review Date: 2006-08-29
I just finished the book. I don't know what to say but I will try. I have been asking God to bring me a new level of Him and I just happened to find this book at my library and what I have asked for has come to pass. I know it is God and not the book but we recieve answers in many ways. The spiritual aspects of this book are mind boggling and amazing but now I have to put them into my heart through prayer and obedience. I am ready for this breakthrough and I am amazed by my Lord and Savior, the King of Kings, Jehovah God!

The Stronghold of G_d
Helpful Votes: 2 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2007-09-06
Well written simple logic reveals the how not-complex knowing our Lord really is. I feel this book was written by the Holy Spirit for those who believe. For those who do not have that much faith yet...it was surely written with the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Whatever you personal convictions are this book will deeply touch anyone who reads it at thier very core.

Excellent Author
Helpful Votes: 3 out of 3 total.
Review Date: 2007-05-13
I have read many of Francis' books and have enjoyed them all. This one is the same. It reminds you of what is important in a relationship with God. Easy to read and follow.

Proving God's truths in the testing bed of tough times
Helpful Votes: 32 out of 33 total.
Review Date: 2002-08-20
Any review of this book that starts from the premise that Francis Frangipane glosses over how hard life can be has missed the point of the book. Francis' view is that when we get into an intimate relationship with God that everything else springs from there. So if you are in a hard place in life, however tough, the Word of God and - more than that - God himself are both still true. God does not choose sin, people do that - even if it means that we are sometimes on the receiving end of some very tough stuff from other people - and have committed serious sins ourselves. We are not robots, God gives us free choice. We can, as Francis points out in the book, always do as we see in Revelation Chapter 12, go into the presence of God. Even when we've failed. There is the place that we find healing and not just the reality of what needs healing, but the truth - because truth and reality are not the same. The reality is that God created each one of us to be able to have a relationship with Him and not as sinful people. But we can come to Him even when we have failed in major ways. We don't have to earn it or prove we've changed in any way. The Prodigal Son parable and the saving of the thief on the cross demonstrate that we need not live having to prove we're different before God will step in - if we invite Him and do so when we have reached the very end of ourselves and stop trying to measure up. When we submit to Him, he changes us bit by bit so that we are healed and permanently changed. And in the book, Francis does reveal he had a very tough time in his marriage when it seemed they could not find compatibility between themselves, but they looked to God who changed them. If that isn't a hard place to come through and find the truths in this book, it is hard to see just how hard it needs to get before Francis shows he has lived and learned these truths and proven God to be faithful even when life is really tough.

MIDWEST BOOK REVIEW
Helpful Votes: 51 out of 51 total.
Review Date: 2003-05-28
I loved the author's introduction and I quote, "Has God provided for us a Christian equivalent to the ark He provided Noah?" Ah! Now that caught my attention, could it be so, I wanted to know and I wanted to know where this stronghold of protection was. I was interested!

Francis Frangipane takes you out of pretense into reality at the onset of this work; explaining our walk to Horeb, where we are allowed to be real with God and our feelings about what is happening to us. We breath a sigh of relief knowing we can release our frustrations and fears and we breath in a breath of hope as the author assures us that God has a place of safety from all we are experiencing.

The author takes you on a journey, using men of old from the Bible as examples to bring you out of the many negative emotions that are trying to cripple you and leads you to a knowledge of knowing how to run under the shelter of God's stronghold of protection during trials and tribulations that life brings upon us all.

I would do this book an injustice to try and review the countless helps Mr. Frangipane gives the reader to obtain this desired result, but believe me he
definitely gives you all the information you need to run into God's Stronghold.

If you are a Christian that is feeling overwhelmed by the world that we are living in; if you are seeking the promises of a God who loves you,and the protection His Word speaks of, then this book is for you.

We all need a safe harbor, and for those that are His, there is no safer place than the Stronghold of God. This book will show you the way. It is a journey you will want to take.

Francis
We Came in Peace for All Mankind: The Untold Story of the Apollo 11 Silicon Disc
Published in Hardcover by Leathers Publishing (2008-01-15)
Author: Tahir Rahman
List price: $39.50
New price: $23.00
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We Came in Peace
Helpful Votes: 13 out of 13 total.
Review Date: 2007-12-22
This is a unique and delightful book. Unlike so many publications about the early space program, which typically rehash many of the same old stories, this one actually reveals something fresh and heretofore unexamined. Dr. Rahman avoids overuse of technologic talk, keeping the book very accessible for the casual reader; yet manages to unearth something genuinely different for those of us who avidly read all things space.

For those who care naught about exploration of the moon, readers will still find a wonderful message of peace on earth. In fact, the mounbound messages (nearly four decades old now) contained herein, penned by leaders from around the world, seem remarkably timely for our age and any age. It is touching to read such sentiments from world leaders who have often been considered enemies rather than friends.

Ultimately, this is not a book about a super-power's technologic feats in space; but about a planet uniting for a single moment in its history and longing to return to that unity.

Beautifully presented and documented
Helpful Votes: 15 out of 15 total.
Review Date: 2007-12-16
I was just 7 when men first set foot on the moon and I can still remember the excitement as my parents explained what was going on and tried to impart to me the significance of what I was witnessing on our old black and white TV. Until I read this book I had no idea that over 70 nations sent unique messages of goodwill to be left on the moon forever. Tahir has done a wonderful job in collecting these messages together, as well as giving us many rare and beautiful photographs which pictorially document that time almost 40 years ago. I can heartily recommend this book for anyone with an interest in the space programme. However, it is far more than merely another book about Apollo, Neil Armstrong etc; it gives us a rare insight into how other nations apart from America perceived the significance of this monumental effort and event. In the turbulent times of the late 1960s, it is heart-warming to learn that so many countries which might, in many ways, be at odds with one another, genuinely wished the best for the men who landed on the moon and wanted to feel a part of the whole enterprise. That is the true message of this book and is perhaps a lesson that nations might learn from today.

A snapshot of our world in 1969.
Helpful Votes: 21 out of 21 total.
Review Date: 2007-12-26
I enjoyed this book as, instead of being too narrowly focused (as a story about one little object might sound at first), it tells the story of this tiny disc as just one symbolic element of the first mission to the lunar surface. Not just for the committed space-geek, this book does a good job of conveying some of the wonder of the first lunar landing mission, both in words and in beautiful full-page images. As a snapshot of the world of 1969, it is fascinating.

The disc, intended as a symbolic gesture, turns out to tell many more stories than its original intention, and in many ways summarize the whole venture. As the book describes the rush to add last-minute messages to the disc, hurriedly collecting messages from world leaders, so we come to understand the tensions between science, engineering, PR and politics that were taking place in the busy runup to launch. Some arguments, such as whether to include religious wording to symbolic statements, sound very familiar to some current political debates.

The political reasonings behind some of the messages, and also why some nations declined involvement, give an interesting insight into late-1960s global politics. It's very interesting to read all of the messages themselves as a reflection of the times. Some of the blandest statements come from the major powers on the world stage, with smaller countries such as Liberia, Guyana, the Ivory Coast, Trinidad and Tobago providing some of the most thought-provoking words as they decide how to claim their own little intellectual corner of the mission. The messages come from countries which in many cases no longer exist or have been renamed, from leaders long gone, long deposed and in many cases long discredited. Very few, such as Queen Elizabeth, are still around.

Without any commentary, the end of the book is nevertheless perhaps the most powerful part. Giving a brief biography of each of the leaders whose words appear on the disc, in many cases we are treated to a rogue's gallery of dictators, coup winners, corrupt tyrants and those who went on to murky and inglorious ends. A good portion of the leaders are people who, today, we may view as the last names we'd want representing humankind in a message to the future. While aiming for a high purpose, the disc therefore also inadvertently summarizes what a messy and imperfect world we lived in in 1969. Perhaps, in doing so, it gives extra luster to the Apollo 11 mission itself, which managed to reach above its Cold War origins and achieve something for all humankind.

A very interesting work, presented in beautiful form.

For the space historian's and enthusiast's libraries
Helpful Votes: 8 out of 8 total.
Review Date: 2008-01-08
Given an accomplishment as large as landing the first men on the Moon, it is easy to understand why the smaller details of the Apollo 11 mission might be forgotten to the passage of time. It is therefore a delight to see author Tahir Rahman return the spotlight (and microscope) to the flight's goodwill silicon disc. What some may have seen as a trinket, Rahman saw as the treasure it really it is. "We Came In Peace For All Mankind" will fit as well in a space historian's library as it will the space enthusiast's.

Also left on the Moon
Helpful Votes: 8 out of 8 total.
Review Date: 2008-01-08
The story of the least-remembered memento Neil Armstrong & Buzz Aldrin left on the Moon in 1969.

Almost forty years ago we were glued to our tvs watching NASA's greatest show yet: humans encased in silver space suits cavorting on the Moon, our one & only orbital companion which has inspired us to lunacy & romance & poetry for countless generations. No, Virginia, there is no Man in the Moon, only astronauts upon it.

Above all other images we remember the one of Earthrise as our big blue marble hove into view beyond the curve of Moon's horizon. Then there was the planting of a floppy Stars & Stripes & the reading of the plaque below. What none of us remember, & the astronauts themselves almost forgot to do, was the placing of a cloth pouch in which reposed elegant powder compact-like cases of various materials which protected a silicon disc the size of a half-dollar, etched with goodwill messages from nation states around our world.

When I opened Tahir Rahman's beautiful coffee-table tome called WE CAME IN PEACE FOR ALL MANKIND: The Untold Story of the Apollo 11 Silicon Disc, I was hooked from page one, & not only by the multitude of glorious color photos.

The silicon disc was intended to tell who/whatever opens it upon landing on the Moon how diverse the inhabitants of the planet they see on the horizon are, & hopefully dissuade the reader/s from violent invasion. What we left was an engraved invitation to come visit, & WE CAME IN PEACE FOR ALL MANKIND is your invitation, too.

In the beginning there are awe-inspiring photos of Earthrise, a footprint & the silicon disc coupled with quips & quotes from Moonwalkers & prime ministers, & then Tahir Rahman's story starts: "Neil Armstrong peered through one of the small windows of the lunar module, Eagle..." He was preparing to step outside his safety zone into the unknown. Six-hundred-million people watched him, & "we laughed & cried & lit up cigars." It was a different time, folks, B4PC = personal computers & political correctness both! "Our world was united in a unique way while the astronauts walked on a surreal world for the first time in {our] history."

I enjoyed learning of the planning committee's conclusions, especially #2: "The activities should be in good taste from a world perspective." Naturally, like Columbus did, we thought to plant a flag, & a whole host of them was packed on board to be brought back as souvenirs for important supporters. Then someone thought up the commemorative plaque & we see its genesis.

Soon we're briefly meeting the Apollo 11 Crew, reading about how slivers of wood from the Orville brother's Kitty Hawk would be in the baggage. Some attention is devoted to how it was decided to use a US flag instead of another one, & how to make & hang such a flag in Moon's gravity-deficient atmosphere, as well as other Moonly scientific considerations.

& then we get to NASA's invitation to world leaders to add their 2 cents, & while we wait for them to reply, we learn who made the silicon disc & how. It becomes quite evident that Sprague Electric Company had a nightmare of a deadline. Then we're on to launch preparations, & soon they're off to the Moon.

The Library of Goodwill Messages makes up most of the rest of this volume: who & how the leaders of the world responded. I like that there's a map to each nation's reply so we can learn where on Earth they are/were. Plus a whole slew of Americans who backed the endeavor. It all sounds so dry, until you read it & realize how much was etched in gold into that little disc.

Tahir Rahman, a physician fascinated by the Apollo Program, was given a duplicate of the silicon disc by Neil Armstrong. What he found, upon magnification, on that little piece of plastic (sic!) so astonished him that he just had to investigate further, rousing NASA historians to dust off their memories & unearthing storage boxes in the warrens of the Library of Congress that had gathered decades of dust.

WE CAME IN PEACE FOR ALL MANKIND is a superb addition to your library. To be oohed & aahed over by all the generations of your family. Very well done!

Francis
Wizardry 101- Awakening The Wizard Within You
Published in Paperback by Mary Francis Abbamonte (2006-09-01)
Author: Mary, F. Abbamonte
List price: $18.95
New price: $14.87
Used price: $14.87

Average review score:

Position To Receive Feedback
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 4 total.
Review Date: 2007-03-23
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A must read for all "Potterheads"
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2006-11-10
If you really want to learn to be a wizard like Harry or Hermione - this unique "how-to" book is a must. It is for the seekers of the wisdom of the wizard. You will actual learn with this step-by-step extraordinary easy to grasp,well-structured, thought provoking book. There is a tremendous amount of vital information here that teaches you how unlock your own power and apply it to your own life. The spellbinding methods found in this book will take you on a journey beyond your wildest dreams by awakening the wizard in you.

I just love it and gave it to my son to read and to use as a tool in his everyday life.

it delivers
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2007-08-31
Although I didn't realize it when I ordered it, this book is aimed at young people, that is, approx. 5th grade through high school. I caught on when she used the phrase, "Ask your mom..." Still, it's a great book for anyone who's interested in learning how to have some control over what we manifest in our lives. It's sensible, wise, and very sound spiritual advice, not just tricks. I'd recommend it to anyone.

Intuitive and Informative
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 3 total.
Review Date: 2006-11-20
Wizardry 101 is for everyone and anyone who has had any curiosity about the occult and spirituality. The author is contagiously passionate about sharing her wealth of information. I have finally found a complete resource that answers all my questions in one book.

Wonderfully Enlightening!
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 3 total.
Review Date: 2006-11-11
While this book opens ones mind to the ancient arts of transformation, it also modernizes the subject in a way that one can use this wisdom in everyday life. Ms. Abbamonte gives a perplexing subject a simplicity that redefines its use as a oneness with the universe. This book should be in everyone's library who lives outside the lines and who wants to find one's inner spiritual self.


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