George Books

"Stress: Living and Working in a Changing World" provides you with the techniques and the inspiration to take control of the stress in your life and make it work for you. The book takes time - it is not a how-to-eliminate-stress in five easy steps, which makes it all the more valuable. We didn't get "dis-stressed" in five easy steps; we will not get "de-stressed" in five easy steps. All the steps are here, plus a wealth of background information to understand the physiology and psychology involved. Read the parts you are ready for, but if you are stressed - and who isn't--you owe it to yourself to read this book.

Manning, Curtis, and McMillen have created in STRESS: Living and Working in a Changing World, a resource that combines a unique blend of theory and practical application that deals with a subject that nearly everyone can relate to. The book contains numerous tools that can be utilized to further one's knowledge and ability to deal with this potentially hazardous phenomenon. With all the "self-help" resources available in the marketplace, it is unusual to find one that is so theoretically based and yet so practically presented. It is certainly going to be part of my office/home library.

James L. Besier, Assistant Director of Pharmacy/ Adjunct Assistant Professor

In the academic arena, some books offer sound intellectual insights; a few present a nuts and bolts approach to a problem. Dr. George Manning's newest book on stress is one of the rare volumes that offers both.

A seasoned and respected psychologist, George Manning has the credentials that demand respect. He also has a way of relating sophisticated truths to the real world of the workplace.

I highly recommend this book for company executives, for teachers, for clergypeople and for anyone else who must work with people who are in the state of "becoming."

John McCollister, Ph.D.

"Stress: Living and Working in a Changing World" is not just another book on stress. It is the only stress book you will ever need. This book is written for everyone caught up in the stress of living and working in a rapidly changing world. It provides insight and wisdom, techniques and strategy, and common sense approaches for dealing with the stress of daily living. Written in down-to-earth language and using real-life examples, complex concepts are easily understood. It is a small price for such a wealth of help - and all at your finger tips - in one volumn.

I found the best time to read this book was whilst on holiday (vacation) and as far away as my normal stress levels as possible. My wife, son and I took an RV to West Virginia and did a little white water rafting, walking and cooking on camp fires. We actually read the book together and I emphasise, not in any particular order. I would read the titles from the table of contents and someone would pick one. The most enjoyable part was taking the many tests together, as a family. Strangely enough, we did not necessarily complete all the tests or even analyse all the results, the biggest benefit was how it got us talking to each other. Often the test was forgotten until a long time later, when we would then go back and finish it. It almost seemed like it was easier to understand the results after following the diverse directions our conversation tooks us.

I spent one evening talking to my son (14) over a blazing and eventually dying campfire for several hours. I know the book inspired us to do this, or at least put us in the right frame of mind. After I had returned from this most relaxing of holidays, I realised that the best form of stress relief was what I had just experienced. Sharing, listening and talking to the family and getting to know them even better. Also reaffirming a long held belief that they are the most important things in life, not my job or house or the other trappings of our materialistic society. I am a great fan of George Manning's, I loved his book 'Building Community, the human side of work'. It defines so clearly the things I really hold to be true and essential for a GREAT working existence. This book(Stress.....) really helped me understand more about the topic and even more importantly, how to manage it. I still haven't read the whole book, but I am looking forward to our next trip together, so we can tackle some more of its' contents, and see where it takes us this time.

A young boy wanders from one vivid experience to another to another, just like kids do. His childhood had unique exposures to Nazi terror and horror, to be sure. But throughout those grim days, there remained that irrepressible insouciance of youth. There was even hero worship when he became involved with the French underground. He brings us right along with him as he becomes a man.

This author described what was, more than anything else, a normal, adventuresome boyhood. Although I was expecting something more like "The Diary of Anne Frank", this book was more reminiscent of "Huckleberry Finn".

Seeped into the depths of war and dispair of mankind, Dr. Burnell takes us on a journey through Nazi-occupied France during WWII. As opposed to the atrocities of holocaust victims in that same era, we are instead introduced into the lives of the common citizenry as they struggle through each day not knowing who is friend or foe. Dr. Burnell's family must decide when to run and when to stay; while knowing their decisions set them at risk to lose everything, including their lives. Balanced with historical facts, Dr. Burnell tells a tale that has us turning the pages, immersing us into the joys and sorrows of a family that in the end prevails despite their losses and succeeds in spite of the tragedy brought by war.

Dr. Burnell tells a story of fear, brutality, resourcefulness, courage, and sensitivity. These emotions are the backdrop to his autobiographical tale of growing from just-past-childhood to near-adulthood in Nazi-occupied France during WW 2. Burnell describes how he and his mother survived the relentless threat of the Nazis as they fled from city to city in France just barely ahead of the Nazi persecution. From Strasbourg in the eastern part of the country to Paris to Bordeaux and finally to Lyon in the south. Along the way his stepfather was consumed by the Holocaust and by the end Burnell was fighting back by working for the French Resistance. The writing is clear, personal, and carries the read along swiftly. I could barely put it down- thus I read it in just a few nights.

This is a well written, interesting memoir of a Holocaust survivor in France. The sections on political events are well placed and provide appropriate historic background to contents of the book.
Myself a Holocaust survivor, I learned from it a lot about life in France during those years and enjoyed reading it.

"Beating the Odds" by George Burnell is the exciting autobiography of a youngster growing up in Nazi-occupied France during WWII. In 369 action packed pages, the author traces his journey from Strasbourg, France in 1939 until the end of WWII in May, 1945. "Beating the Odds" is a real page turner that reads like a novel full of twists and turns. As an adolescent French Jew, George with his family lived in constant fear of discovery by the Nazis and moved frequently to ellude them. Despite these risks, he manages to join his Uncle David, a Dentist, and others in the French Resistance and narrowly escapes with his life. This fascinating memoir gives the reader an interesting and unique perspective on WWII in France and I highly recommend it to you.

James Qwilleran stayed the compulsory five years in Pickax to complete the requirements placed on his inheritance. He is now officially a billionaire. Now it is time to decide what to do with the rest of his life. He intends to go somewhere--a quiet island with a beach or a mountain hideaway--someplace where he can have seclusion and quiet to sort out his options and make plans.

Qwill (as his friends call him) decides on a whim to spend three months in Spudsboro, a small town in the Potato Mountains. It was recommended highly by some friends who camped there recently. Finding a house to rent is always difficult with two Siamese cats as roommates. The only thing he can find is a huge house on the very top of Big Potato Mountain. It was originally built as an exclusive lodge for well-to-do tourists. More recently it was the home of the area's most influential businessman--owner of the local newspaper. It didn't take long for Qwill to discover the house he rented had been the scene of a ghastly murder a year earlier.

I do admire Jim Qwilleran's ability to converse with everyone he meets. He is well practiced, of course, since he made his living for years as an investigative reporter for various newspapers. He knows just how to steer the conversation and just the right questions to ask. He makes people so comfortable that they usually tell him anything he wants to know. Of course, he has an uncanny ability to read people and know when he is being lied to. Within two days of arriving in town, he is sure that the wrong man is in prison for the murder.

The author does an amazing job of making us empathize with Qwill's frustration with the situation he has gotten himself into. He came to the mountains for solitude and a time of reflection. He had no desire to get mixed up in the politics of the region--environmentalists vs. developers. He really had no desire to get mixed up in the mystery surrounding the murder. But...being a reporter for so many years (and truly caring about the innocent man in prison), he just could not resist finding the truth. It doesn't take long. Qwill has learned to trust his instincts--and the instincts of his cat Koko. Together they follow the clues and confront the real murder.

I highly recommend that you get acquainted with Jim Qwilleran through the "Cat Who..." mystery series. You will like him.

This is a great book about a man and his to crime finding clue cat Koko and YumYum. There is a mystery on potatoe mountain on a death of a local well known man. Was the wrong person framed. This book is fantastic except kind of has a dissapointing end. But i loved it anyway. I hope you enjoy this book and look for my other reviews

The Cat Who is the best serries ever full of humor wit and complexity,
James Macentosh Qwilerin is a off beat repoter/Billion air with his 2 cats Koko and Yumyum who are no shorter than extra ordinary.
This is the best book serries I have ever read and would recomend it to any one over 10.
[...]

In an earlier book in this series Jim Qwilleran inherited a pot full of money but there was a stipulation. He had to live in Moose County for five years or he forfeited his windfall. As this book begins, Qwilleran has just completed his five years and is contemplating his future. He has come to love Moose County and it's quirky residents but he was born and raised a city boy and sometimes he longs for more action. The former reporter decides that he needs some time in a quiet atmosphere to think through his options and one of his friends suggests that he spend some time in the Potato Mountains.

In order to find a summer retreat that will accept pets, Qwilleran has to rent a huge former mountain inn that sets on the peak of Big Potato Mountain. It turns out that the last owner of the home was murdered and as normal, Koko immediately begins to exhibit strange behavior. Yum Yum on the other hand starts to tear out bits of her own fur, a behavior that has Qwilleran very upset until the veterinarian tells him that this is not unusual in a spayed female. It is a trait that I have witnessed in my own spayed female cat and this little sidebar makes it very clear that Mrs. Braun most assuredly knows her cats.

Qwilleran for his part has all kinds of trouble in the unfamiliar mountain setting. He has learned some things about rural life during his sojourn in Moose County but the mountains provide an entirely different set of challenges. He gets lost on the mountain roads, almost falls over a waterfall, gets lost while hiking in the woods and gets trapped on the mountain after a dam break. What's a poor city slicker to do?

Despite all of his trials, Qwilleran still manages to get involved in local politics. More specifically he gets involved in a fight between the Spuds (people who live in town and support development) and the Taters (mountain people who oppose development) and he finds that a serious injustice has been done to one of the Tater families. With the help of Koko, Qwilleran wades through the evidence (and a mudslide) and discovers the truth, which once again puts his life in danger and requires a cat to save the day.

The mystery itself, as is often the case in this series, plays a decidedly secondary role in a plot that is laced with humor and oddball characters, including an old mountain man who builds Qwilleran a gazebo that has no door. This book is also a warm fuzzy mystery with a conscience as Mrs. Braun goes to great lengths to point out what happens when humans try to bend mother nature to their own ends. As usual, the writing style is engaging, fun and entertaining. This author's characters are always unpredictable and unforgettable and the cats are fascinating. Mrs. Braun even throws a few witches into this book, just to keep things interesting. This is one of the best books in the series so far and it was a real pleasure to read.

In "'The Cat Who Moved a Mountain', Jim Qwilleran took a vacation to the Potato Mountains to have a much-needed rest away from it all. It was here he found he had rented a hotel that had been the site of a year old murder. The locals tell him that the man is now in jail. But Qwill finds out that they have the wrong guy! Then, with the help of Koko, he finds the real murderer and lures him into addmitting it was him. Then Qwill has a near-fatal run-in with the murderer. What will happen? I'll let you see for yourself! Enjoy the book!

I love fairy tales, and this story is a most excellent example of the genre. It follows two children on their journeys through Fairyland and their interactions with various fantastic people and creatures. I loved the pure innocence of the story and found it very captivating. The narration was also very excellent and energetic, making this story a very good listen.

While The Golden Key may not be my all-time favorite book, it certainly has a strong connection to the book that I treasure most of all (well, second to the Bible). You see, George MacDonald, author of The Golden Key, was in fact the mentor of Lewis Carroll, who wrote my favorite non-Biblical book, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. That's a very powerful and indeed shocking connection if you ask me. But you can kind of see it if you look closely. I mean, the kids in the Golden Key grow both old and young. Alice in Wonderland grows big and small. Kinda similar there.

Yet, I did not know about the relationship between the two books until AFTER I had finished The Golden Key and decided to do some research on its origin. I simply read The Golden Key like I would any other book, and developed some commentary on the work as a whole that I would now like to communicate:

First, the book is very short. I finished it in two days. And because its so short, events move incredibly fast to make room for heavy amounts of whimsical feeling and fantastical description.

But again I have to go back to the Alice thing. I noticed how SO many sentences in the story turned the reader upside down and made him say, "huh?" It was as if the Fairy World did everything it could to stay all out of whack. Whether it was to make speech that could be heard without ears, or to make the oldest people in the world look like little kids, the topsy-turvy nature of everything couldn't help but instill an amazing sense of awe. Truly, The Golden Key opens eyes to such incredible abstract possibilities of the imagination, and perhaps even life itself.

The out of whack sense of awe, while wonderful in this book, developed into full maturity in the Alice books. While The Golden Key merely mentions things that make no sense, the Alice books actually attempt to explain the senselessness of senseless things.

I hope I will always have a special place in my heart for MacDonald's prototype of Alice in Wonderland. Oh, if we only knew how much the imagination behind The Golden Key has really changed the world. I think we would all be very surprised.

I purchased this book as a Christmas gift for my 20-year-old daughter. It was one of her favorite books as a child and she frequently checked it out of our local library until it disappeared from the shelf there, never to be seen again. She was very excited when she saw that she had her own copy and she took the book back to college with her after Christmas break. Although I haven't actually read the book myself, I can tell you that my daughter thinks it is great!

This book is like a drink of the freshest, clearest water on the brightest, bluest spring day you can imagine. It was lovely every step of the way, somehow beautifully sad and wonderful at the same time. With the aid of the creatures of fairyland, mistreated Tangle and adventuresome Mossy go on an enchanting journey which takes them straight through to a wisdom and sense of wonderment that is somehow greater than that found in adulthood (or childhood). George MacDonald truly had an eye for the worlds of fairy, and an unsurpassed talent for expressing beauty in all things. The stories are not always meant to be understood, but deep in that inner place in one's heart, they make sense.

An earlier reviewer mentioned the difficulty of understanding the imagery of the story and another suggested (perhaps rightly) that the golden key represents Christ. C.S. Lewis believed it represented "the talent for loving", and having read the book numerous times, especially to nephews and nieces, I agree. Without giving away too much, notice the differences between Mossy's and Tangle's journey after their separation (physical death), especially how they saw the Old Man of the Sea. One might need to have read more of MacDonald's works (especially Unspoken Sermons) to get at his view of how love affects our ability to "see". His "At the Back of the North Wind" contains another wonderful example when North Wind explains to Diamond why she had to appear as a dreadful wolf to an old woman.

THANK YOU FOR THE PROMPT DELIVERY OF THE BOOK: HANA'S SUITCASE. IT WAS IN EXCELLENT CONDITION. THE BOOK ITSELF WAS WONDERFUL, AND THE PICTURES ADDED SO VERY MUCH TO THE BOOK. I SHALL NEVER FORGET READING THIS LITTLE BOOK. I SENT IT ON TO MY GRANDCHILDREN. THANK YOU.

This was a wonderful book. Hana's Suitcase allowed children to connect the events of the Holocaust with the experiences of a person about their own age who actually was affected by these events. Although sad by definition, the tale ends on a high note, as Hana's older brother travels to Japan to meet with young visitors at a Holocaust Museum. He is able to tell of his young sister who actually carried the suitcase in one of the museum's exibits and who later died while imprisoned by the Nazis.

Hana's Suitcase, by Karen Levine, published in 2007, is the true story of a young girl named Hana Brady, who was taken away by the Nazis as a small child along with her older brother George, and her suitcase, which through a chain of events ended up in Japan. It is also the story of a Japanese woman's efforts to find out about Hana- who she was and what happened to her. The book is incredibly moving. Illustrated with photographs of Hana and her family as well as the Holocaust center in Japan where her suitcase is found, Levine tells Hana's story in parallel with the story of the efforts to learn about her. This structure sets up two crushing waves of emotion that left me in tears by the end. It's bittersweet tragedy, told with beauty and sensitivity.

I have read this book to my fourth grade class for the past two years. They are instantly drawn to Hana, Fumiko, and the story of the Holocaust. The minute they see the picture of Hana's Suitcase, they begin to ask all the questions that the children in Japan asked of Fumiko. They always want me to continue reading and they are so eager to find out about her story. This book has inspired so many deep and thoughtful discussions with my students. They really connect to Hana and her story and the book helps them understand what happened with the Jewish people in WW2 and why it got so out of control. The chapters switch between Hana's story and the story of the children in Japan who are learning about Hana, so it kind of breaks up some of the more difficult parts of the story with the more happier, hopeful parts. I highly recommend this book for anyone- kids and adults.

This is a very different account of the holocaust than I have ever read before. It is a living account of the holocaust and how it still affects our lives today. This book brings the holocaust into the present by telling the story of a Japanese woman searching for a girl who was lost nearly 60 years ago. I loved this story and wonder how many more stories of survival, hope and faith we can find if we just dig a little deeper to unbury a past that is not always pleasant but that we can always learn from.

First, this book is easy to read. Second, it is written with much respect to other religions; tantra is a way of life that will greatly compliment anyone's belief system.

This is a very good book for learning what Tantra is and what tantric practices and visualizations are, but it should be understood - and probably is by many or most - that this is not a substitute for real study under a qualified teacher. Lama Yeshe makes this clear from chapter to chapter. My only caution is that readers should not expect to read this book and feel as though they are completing some kind of introductory-level "training" in Tantra, or that they will accomplish "Transformation of Desire." It is an introduction and overview for outsiders looking in (taught by a highly qualified and respected insider), not a "manual" for beginning practitioners to achieve readiness for intermediate or advanced tantric instruction. Insofar as this is understood, Lama Yeshe does a very good job describing and explaining Tantra and its practices, and I learned quite a lot about it.

I've read two and a half chapters in this book and it's given me so much vital information.

I highly suggest it to anyone looking into buddhism.

I recently started to learn Tantra and my teacher recommended me to buy this book and start reading and learning from it. I'm about 1/2 way thru the book and it is well written and has a great wisdom in it. I would recommend this book to get inner look on what is Tantra about!

Tibetan Buddhism is a very complex and difficult topic to explain to anyone, especially people from the West. Lama Yeshe had a rare gift to take difficult concepts, present them logically and concisely, in a way that brings the essence of tantra to life.

What this book is not about, is "tantric sexual practices" as they are so often presented out of contex in the West. Rather, it is about the tantrayana (resultant) path of harnessing all of your energies and realizing your true nature in the present moment, which is love, compassion and wisdom. This is in contrast to the sutrayana (causal) path, which is the more gradual path of cleansing the mind and replacing conditioned responses in a slow and systematic way with more beneficial responses characterized by love and wisdom.

In a nutshell, tantrayana is the fast path. This book explains this complicated system very well in approximately 168 pages. For people looking for more in-depth explanations and lots of history, try "Secret of the Vajra World" by Reginald Ray. However, I would still get Lama Yeshe's book as a roadmap or excellent short summary presented in a different style.

Lastly, Lama Yeshe has a gift for words. While the many of the concepts of tantra are presented in other reputable works, there is something about Lama Yeshe's presentation that carries a combination of depth and simplicity that sinks in deeply and touches the heart.

You can almost hear the "Rocky" theme as you read the final pages as these Yuupik kids do the impossible!

Although these kids are from a remote sub-arctic island most will never travel to, anyone who has worked with youth as a teacher or other group leader will, or should, recognize them. Turned-off kids, trapped in an alien (to them) school system, who need someone who believes in them--we can find them anywhere. Suffering teachers trying to find themselves while unwilling to give up on impossible assignments--we probably know a few of them too. In my case, I have visited that community several times and even know some of the families involved. This is an authentic telling; the kids' victories, with Guthridge's unique facilitation, actually happened.
As a former high school teacher myself, I couldn't put the story down. Guthridge's remarkable honesty about the task he took on, his sometimes desperate struggle, his empathy, sometimes remorse, for the situation he had put his own children in, and how he painfully learned day-by-day along with the students made it for me. His tragi-comic relations with the other faculty are priceless. Although I have never felt quite that alone, I, like him, have gotten ill over teaching at times, and laughed myself sick over it too. The book made me wish I could go back and give teaching another run. George is a master story teller as well as a master teacher.

This book was well worth it's read. It is realistic to Alaska, heartfelt, inspiring and humbling for all of us who believe in kids and want to make a difference in their lives. The stories are great in their depth of emotion and in bizarreness, and for those who know Alaska Education, you know that they can be true.

As for the author, I met George out in Dillingham, AK while he hosted me at his B&B, the Thai House. We had some great discussions about language development, reading, writing and all the perils of teaching and/or being an itinerant in Alaska. As a person, he reminded me that countless people have felt the same stresses in education even though time and place separate our experiences. He inspired me to read his book as he spoke of his journey through the education system. From the moment I picked this book up, I wanted to read more and more just because it was real to me, and in very simple language.

This is a true story, but reads like a novel and is very engrossing. Certainly a must for teachers (which I am not), for anyone who likes stories of human spirit, without it being sugary sweet or like Lifetime TV. Though frankly, the story would make a good movie.

In the 1980s an amazing thing happened. Siberian Yupik kids, who lived on a remote island in the Bering Sea and who spoke English as a second language, won national academic competitions. Their teacher was a writer who took the teaching job in order to support his young family and writing, but the experience turned him into a dedicated teacher as well as award-winning author. The Kids from Nowhere is his story of teaching junior high and high school students in Gambell, Alaska.

George Guthridge went to Gambell to teach in 1982. His students were Siberian Yupiks, who called themselves Eskimos, who got their water from the village's tank, and who missed school to participate in the subsistence activities of their families and community. Located on the northwest corner of St. Lawrence Island, Gambell has a view of nearby Russia on the rare clear day. When he arrived, the Gambell schools had discipline as well as academic problems, and teacher turnover was very high. The school district was considering closing the high school.

Coming from the "outside"--outside of Alaska, Guthridge had much to learn. He learned about Eskimo culture, teaching methods, public school politics, and academic success. His story is also the story of the kids he coached. These kids had the typical Eskimo shyness. Guthridge learned to read the raised eye brow that meant yes, and the lowered brow that meant no. He learned to listen to the silence exchanges among the students--and the discussions in Yupik.

Guthridge was assigned to coach Future Problem Solving at the elementary, junior high, and high school levels. Initially, he did not know what Future Problem Solving was. It is a method of solving a problem set in the future, and a program to teach youth problem-solving skills. Given an assigned topic, the students were to identify at least 20 problems that could go wrong, chose one of the problems, solve it at least 20 ways, develop criteria for evaluating the solutions and then evaluate their solutions, identify the best solution, and write an essay about the solution. In competition, all this had to be done in two hours.

Guthridge's challenge was to teach assigned Future Problem Solving topics like nuclear waste and genetic engineering to students who had seen neither a tree nor an escalator. At times teaching was frustrating, very frustrating. Gradually, Guthridge began to apply the tools of writing to teaching. He developed the "what because why" format to focus on the relationships inherent in any topic. He kept repeating to the students, "Original thinking is precise thinking," and he placed emphasis on research. He ignored grade-level complexity, and he borrowed techniques from Superlearning and educational philosophers. He also had to teach competitive strategies to kids in a cooperative culture.

He also remembered that he was coaching and teaching kids for life. He sent a smelly sock home with any student who insulted another student. The kids were to participate as a team and support each other. In the end, both the junior high and high school teams won national championships.

Guthridge tells his story with grace, modesty, cultural sensitivity, and skill. He stayed in Gambell for six years. He now teaches through the University of Alaska's campus in Dillingham, Alaska, and he continues to write short stories and novels. With full respect for cultural differences, Guthridge reminds us that kids can learn--even "the kids from nowhere."

I happened to find this paperback version on the bargain shelf at Borders for $5, and I made the decision to buy it just on looking at the first photograph alone. Impulsive? Yeah, but I don't regret it at all. I just bought this book tonight, so I haven't actually read it yet. However, just looking at the photographs was mesmerizing. There are some really incredible trees out there in the world and I think the author has done a great job of capturing some of them. If you don't come across this book on a bargain shelf somewhere don't worry, it is well worth the price that Amazon is asking.

As I recall it, I first saw this book in 1996 or 1997 at the Midnight Special Bookstore in Santa Monica before they closed. The photographs of the trees were the most breathtaking photographs of trees I had ever encountered. I didn't buy the book then, but I remembered it for a long time afterward, and then my husband gave me a copy of it for Christmas a few years ago.

What I particularly like about this book - beside the photographs - is that it contains a Gazetteer at the back which tells the reader where the trees are located, what page they are pictured on, what kind of tree they are and whether they are accessible to the public, whether they are part of the Forest Enterprise or whether they are part of the National Trust. It also gives the reader a designation for Champion trees with full measurements. This is very handy and has saved me from having to pull all this information together myself.

My husband and I are going to be in Surrey this summer and we are looking forward to paying a visit to several of the trees mentioned - in particular - the Crowhurst Yew (pp. 120-21) and the Tandridge Yew (pp. 22-23) located in the churchyard at Tandridge in Surrey. These are probably the most spectacular. There are also several others at Kew Gardens which we are hoping to visit (tulip tree p. 61, hybrid strawberry p. 67, chestnut-leaved oak p. 71, maidenhair (Ginko), p. 83, Chinese wisteria p. 151, as well as the Knap Hill weeping beech p. 155, at the Knapp Hill Nursery in Surrey).

The introduction is very poignant. Pakenham recalls his encounters with trees which prompted him to create this book. He recalls a severe storm in Ireland in January, 1991, which toppled 12 out of 19, of his 200 year old, 100 foot high beech trees which once inhabited his garden - "all had been good friends to five generations of our family." "Why had I not looked at them more carefully before?" he asks.

This is an amazing book from the stunning photographs to the detailed stories about each remarkable tree. It is also scattered with beautifull 18thC etching of illustrated trees that refer to the tree being discussed.I found this book quite beautiful. I would definately recommend this book to anyone who is passionate about trees. Or to anyone who is looking for great photograhic reference as I was.

Pakenham's Meetings with Remarkable Trees and his Remarkable Trees of the World are portraits, not just pictures, each book documenting the impressive presence of sixty venerable trees from around the world. Pakenham groups them by their histories: Natives, Travelers, Shrines, Fantasies and Survivors. Each is a testimony to the majesty of Nature's creativity, diversity and adaptability.

Pakenham shares the unique history of each of these outstanding personalities, in the context of its species and its struggles for survival - ever threatened by man's over-cutting and under-husbandry of these irreplaceable resources.

Inspirational!

If you need a gift for a nature lover or photographer that you really like, this is the book for them. And get yourself a copy while you're at it.

Briefly, the author takes wonderful photographs of trees that affect and inspire him in Great Britain. Included with each tree is a history of the tree and facts and vignettes associated with the tree. His camera-work is impeccable and if you've ever tried to photograph a whole tree you will recognize the talent and work that have gone into this book.

The writing that accompanies the pictures is compelling and interesting. The author has obviously done his homework.

You can lose yourself for an hour at a time, or you can put this on your coffee table and get compliments from your guests, but have one in your library where you can get inspired and calm at the same time.

This is a book for all the pug lovers out there...I enjoyed all the pictures and stories about people just as obsessed with pugs as I am. Highly Recommended.

Pugs are a unique breed and if you like Pugs or know someone who does they will LOVE this book! It is gorgeous with many great pictures of Pugs all over New York. It doesn't have much information on the breed but that is not the point of it, its a small coffee table book with some lovely anecdotes about Pugs. I am away from home at uni so when I miss my Pug I flip through this book!
I definitely recommend it!

I purchased this book few weeks ago and it is already one of favorite pug books in my personal collection. I am a friend (instead of being called a master or an owner) of several pugs since I was about 8 years old. Now two of them are living with me. Pug is an amazing creature and I have been trying to make others understand why I feel what I feel about pugs. This book is a wonderful way to show others the amazing Pug world!

This book contains pics of pugs. Pugs are perfect. Need I say more??

Nice book about and for people who pamper their Pugs. Not intended to be a "useful training tool" (I don't know where the reviewer below got the impression that it was supposed to be..!) but just a cute fluffy book about a select group of upscale NYC pugs and their eccentric owners. Photos and more info of "Pug Hill" in Central Park would have been nice (but perhaps too common?). Makes a good mini-coffee table book or x-mas gift for your uppity Pug pals.

The Success System That Never Fails is the golden key to a glittering future and I wanted it in my collection.

I highly recommend the AUDIO MP3 version of Success System That Never Fails The Success System That Never Fails

I seen W. Clement Stone referenced in other motivational books by Zig Ziglar, Earl Nightingale etc, but had never read any of his writings. I have found The Success System That Never Fails to be inspirational and very enjoyable reading. Mr. Stone wrote in a very conversational manner and consistently urges readers to put the ideas gleaned from his writings into action and do it now. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in trying to get the most out of life.

It's a good book, but I mainly wanted the audio-book that came with it. It is a very poor recording, with the narrator seeming as if he thinks he is on a stage and feels the need to project. I felt as if I was being yelled at and was unable to listen to the recording for more than a few minutes.

When I was about 14 years old my dad a self made successful real estate broker in Inkster Michigan insisted I read this book. This book has been etched in my mind ever since. 43 years later, I've found an original copy of this book to give to my dad as a gift. That's how important this book is. If you do a you tube video search you can hear Stone in his own words give you the first 8 segments of the book. After hearing him, I know you'll want to buy this book. I like this book because 1) he gives you practical, useful stories of how he developed a success system which never failed for him in business. He gives concrete ideas on what to say and do to develop a success system. The most important thing you will take from this book is a perspective and behaviorally specific tips on how to become successful. What this book shows you is the key to your own wealth: you will learn that you need to track all of your activities, behaviors and goals and do a critical analysis, and apply that which works in every step of your processes. What you will discover combined with the principles he's sharing, is your own success system which never fails. Sometimes we forget when involved in our daily activities is the necessity to look at what works and discard what doesn't. We need to fine tune our approach to tasks and develop systems which can be duplicated over and over again. If you're one of those type of people who yearn to understand how "self help" works and how it can be applied in "your" life then this book is for you. There is no fluff; at the time Stone wrote this book I think people were less enamored with manipulation and more focused on helping people.