Phillips Books

I was looking for more specific information on plants, this is truly a "gardening" book, helping with layout, soil, etc. Good value, though

checked this out from the library, but had to purchase it! first of all, i knew NOTHING about gardening, so this gave me a starting point and help with the basics. i am slowly learning ... and have started my first vegetable garden! while there are very FEW pictures, the info itself was valuable to me. i have a book that is chock-full of pics, but the text is designed for a more advanced gardener. i love to look at that (other) book, but i needed something very basic to begin with- and this is it! good price for all the info you get. a must for those just starting out from scratch! good luck & have fun with your hands in the dirt!

Great book. Wonderful service and fast delivery. Thank you.

A must read to all those new to gardening. It is a simple, easy to read and will give you a general understand of all aspects of gardening.

This book is written in the typical style and format of all the Dummy books and is great!

Normally I wouldn't call non-fiction "entertaining," but Phillip Wolf does a great job telling of the struggles facing a home that welcomes in a child with congential heart disease. I laughed in many places at the antics of Phil and his friends, and I cried in many others. Even knowing how things had to end ahead of time, I still kept hoping for a miracle. An outstanding performance by this author.

Guaranteed to make you want to hold your kids a little tighter. Told with raw emotion and an unblinking eye. Should be very helpful to any parent whose child has this complication, and a portion of the proceeds from the sale of the book go to the Loma Linda University Children's Hospital Fund.

I am pleased to share my thoughts with you about this heartwarming book about love and how complete love is. I recently read "God Gave Us a Promise". I was incredibly moved by the love and dedication that Jeremiah, Patience and Phil Wolf shared for life. Their story is an awesome story that reminds each and every one who reads it just how precious and short life truly is.

There were many tears and many smiles as I made my way through this book. You will laugh at the cute and cunning ways that Jeremiah got what he wanted. You will laugh at the times that Patience and Phil bounced off of each other, much like "who's on first". It warms your heart to see the teamwork that this marriage truly possesses. You will cry as you feel the pain in their hearts as they pray that God will carry them and Jeremiah to a safe place where there is no more pain.

"God Gave Us a Promise" is one of the best books that I have read. It reminded me that I have so much to be grateful for. It also made me realize that the love a parent feels for a child knows no boundaries. God always works all things for his good. Jeremiah has touched many lives that only God could have known he would. Jeremiah will live in many hearts forever. He certainly is in mine.

God Gave Us A Promise: The Story of a Little Fighter by Phillip Wolf is the candid and intimate testimony of his own family when an infant son was born with hypoplastic left heart syndrome. Their son's diagnosis changed their lives as the cruel realities of this devastating condition forced them to trust in love, God's faith, and the essence of human compassion to survive the difficult choices ahead. A powerful and profoundly moving remembrance, God Gave Us A Promise is remarkable and recommended reading.

OK, I'm not into woodworking or wood collecting; I'm just interested in, fascinated by all those wonderful woods out there. Enter this book. Anything I want to know about a particular wood?? Well, here it is in this book--or at least a good start on it. The only thing I can compare it to is the Peattie books Natural history of Western Trees and Natural History of Eastern Trees. Those too I would just sit down and read--just because they were interesting. This is just a WAY cool book for anyone interested in wood.

279 woods each on 2 pages with ample information, 2 x 3.25 inch photos of the wood, a 1.25 x 2 inch micrographs for identification, and line drawings of leaves and any fruit. I don't see what else a person could want with the exception of more woods covered. Is there ever enough wood? This book is also blessed by the International Wood Collectors Society, a meticulous bunch. This volume is a good size, not too big or too heavy (yet). Maybe there will be a second volume. Hope so.

As far as I could tell the only other book that competes with this book is "World Woods in Color". I had the chance to compare the two side by side and here is my take:

The two books are very similar in many ways. They both include about the same number of woods (around 280) and they both have roughly the same sort of information about the woods. Of course 280 is a tiny number compared to the number of woods in the world, but as far as I can tell these books seem to be about the best there is in print on the subject, and these books do probably cover most the woods one can get on the retail market here in the US.

In any case, the small distinctions I noticed between theset two books were:

"Useful Woods" is organized by scientific name, which means that for most of us to find a particular wood we have to start at the index. "World Woods" is alphabetical by common name, which is easier unless you know the wood by a name other than what the authors considered to be the most common name.

"Useful Woods" is published by the International Wood Collectors Society and this orientation is apparent in the text. There is information such as the origins of the scientific names, and the sources for small samples, which most woodworkers are not likely to care much about, although it is interesting on occasion to read this information.

The color pictures of the woods in "World Woods" are larger but the pictures in "Useful Woods" are plenty large enough for me (2" x 3"). "Useful Woods" includes black and white end-grain pictures, which are useful for identification of an unknown sample. Single pictures are always hard when one is trying to capture something as variable as wood and so it's not surprising that some pictures are better than others. For example, the pictures of Lacewood in both books completely fail to capture the amazing grain of that wood, however, I thought that most of the pictures where pretty good in both books overall.

On average "World Woods" probably includes just a little bit more information on the working qualities of most woods but both books are somewhat thin in this area, at least from a woodworker's perspective.

"Useful Woods" was written in the US where "World Woods" was written in England. This shows in a number of areas, the most important of which are the woods included and the availability information about the woods. This was the final deciding point for me. I figured that everything else being about equal, which I judged it to be, it made more sense for me to get a book that focused on the woods I can get here in the US and that gives me availability information that is focused on the US Market.

So, I went ahead and bought "A Guide to Useful Woods of the World" and so far I'm happy with my choice.

After listening to me grumble that I couldn't always tell what exotic aw lumber looks like when finished, the shop manager told me to get a copy of this book. Actually, he ordered me to get the book, since, like most novices, I pestered him incessantly. As usual, he was right.

The meat of this book is a set of 279 two-page descriptions of each wood. The information inclides scientific name, family, distribution, a description of the tree, a description of the lumber, seasoning information, durability, workability, possible uses, supply availability, a photomicrograph, and a photo of the naturally finished wood. Quite a lot more than the average craftsperson might need, but enough to make this a useful volume to a wide audience.

Indexes are provided by common names, family name, and scientific name. I wish their were a few more permutations (I would have liked a listing by geographical sources, having once wanted to know what the native Japanese wodds were. But really, the book has proved most useful as a reference when I am wondering through an exotic wood stash, or evaluating a particular wood for one purpose or another.

It's a very plain spoken volume - just a presentation of the facts in an easily accessible format. An appendix I found particularly interesting discussed wood toxicity (walnut dust drives me crazy). Unfortunately it really only brushes the surface. If you stick to only a few known woods, this book isn't for you, but if you like to explore possibilities than you will indeed find this a useful volume.

Dr. Phillips combines practical steps to preparing for birth with scientific knowledge, testimonials, trust in the human body's innate intelligence, and common sense.

Appropriate for lay persons and professionals (midwives, doulas, chiropractors, etc.) dealing with childbirth. We use this book in our practice, and our patients love borrowing it!

This is the one to buy. I have read extensively as an expectant mother and this book is phenomenal. It is also an excellent resource for family members who have questions about the process.

If you are pregnant or planning to get pregnant, read this book!
I have read many many pregnancy and birth related books and Hands of Love is up there with the best of books. With wonderful, intimate photos and birth stories, Dr. Phillips outlines a lot of the choices parents have to make today . She does so in a gentle and informative way.
The book includes simple exercises to alleviate common complaints of pregnancy that can make a huge difference in birth outcome- including a really simple way to deal with preterm labor. I didn't realize how having everything your body in the right place can make such a difference in birth...
Check out this book!!

In an age when the allopathic medical doctor's word is no longer gospel and the general public is turning to alternative (complimentary) medicine for a second opinion, Dr. Phillips poses an approach to pregnancy and childbirth that is revolutionary. The book clearly advocates a holistic "humanistic" model without discounting the value of the traditional medical community. The birth stories used as examples are told through the passionate voices of the parents themselves as well as their children, friends and family. I laughed and cried and kept turning the pages. It is intuitively written and illustrated with fabulous pictures. The stories are interspersed with valuable information on the roles of chiropractors, doulas, midwives, birth teams and good birth plans, based on 15 years of qualitative research. I am predisposed as the author is my mother but it is one of the best books I have ever read, both on an educational and a personal level.

Written for HR Professionals, this book will help you to measure the results of HR initiatives and communicate them effectively to executives. In the world of Human Resources, this book is well organized and useful. This book is practical and tactical, and contains interesting case studies and useful templates. Phillips adapts his ROI methodology for corporate training and applies it more generally to all Human Resources initiatives. Measuring so called "soft" subjects like training and HR has been a difficult and ongoing issue for practitioners who need to convince executives that their work contributes to the bottom line and adds value to the organization. Phillips provides a framework for measurement which, while not perfect, will give you results that executives can understand and help you build the case for why money spent on developing employees is not money thrown away.

This is a comprehensive guide for evaluating any type of Human Resource Development (HRD) program. Even if you do not have a background in measurement and evaluation, you would be able to pick up this book and begin to understand the important aspects to consider in evaluation and how to plan and conduct an effective evaluation. The case studies in this book are valuable because they go into detail - you feel you have been a part of the program described. The authors are experienced practitioners who have alot to share and they do a terrific job providing the reader with the benefits of their experience.

Super reference guide. Case studies are well organized and meaningful.

As a former director or vice president of human resources in three different large companies over 14 years, I can't remember the number of times my bosses and peers challenged me to provide the business case for one hr program or another, either when developing a budget for the coming fiscal year, or defending a budget during hard times. For years, I lost more of those arguments than I won because I didn't always hold myself accountable to the same standards to which other functions were held, nor was I expected to. Over time, my staffs and I got better at measuring the impact of our strategies on various measures of organizational performance, and with that came budgetary "victories" and greater respect as business partners. That's what The Human Resources Scorecard is all about, and by reading and using the wisdom it contains, newcomers to the hr function and late adapters of hr measurement, can enjoy in relatively short order success and respect, which are the "price of admission" to the "executive suite". Having achieved that credibility, we then have the challenge of elevating our conversations with our bosses, peers and clients regarding the intangible dimensions of human and organizational soul, but that's another book in this series.

Immortal Captives: The Story of 600 Confederate Officers and the United States Prisoner of War Policy draws upon authentic primary sources - personal letters, diaries, and written testimonies of Confederate veterans - to reveal a shocking, largely untold true story of the North's inhumanity toward Confederate prisoners of war. In 1864, President Lincoln and his war council canceled the prisoner exchange program, and the Union army refused to release hundreds of captures Confederate soldiers. In retaliation to the horror stories they heard of the treatment of Union soldiers, they made examples of six hundred Confederates by keeping them in horrific conditions. Subject to starvation, torture, disease, and even use as human shields, these brave Americans suffered unthinkable cruelty at the hands other Americans. Not for the faint of heart, Immortal Captives grounds itself heavily in meticulous and thorough research. A handful of black-and-white photographs illustrate this somber testimony that the Union was by no means innocent in the American Civil War.

If you want to buy just one book about American POW camps during the Civil War, this would be an excellent one.
Using primary sources, the Federal Official Records ( O.R), 60 pages of footnotes and bibliographies, the mountain of evidence is overwhelming.
Why did the Union force the Confederate POWs to slowly die from staravation, is found in this book.
Why did Lincoln allow the Union to use these 600 Confederate POW officers to be used as HUMAN SHIELDS is also answered.
No this book isn't fiction; it is part of Americas shameful past it tries to keep hidden.
The truth will always come to the surface.
Mauriel Joslyn has done an excellet job with this book.

As a collateral descendant of one of the Immortal 600, Captain Harris Kollock Harrison, I am pleased to see this shameful episode of American history documented. Mauriel Phillips Joslyn has performed a very scholarly investigation not only into the treatment of the Immortal 600 but also into the fanatical thinking that was responsible for Federal prisoner policies during the war. Given the increasingly plastic and shallow views of the war being fed by the mainstream media and academia to the public about the war, "Immortal Captives" is a badly needed tonic, and, moreover, a reminder that Lincoln's war to preserve the Union by force was no altruistic exercise in human rights.

Any book that casts Southerners in a favorable light and especially any book that criticizes the Yankee victors is immediately suspect. As a Southerner, even one whose great grandfather served under one of the Immortal 600, I must confess to having held this book suspect. The book is not great literature as Ms. Joscelyn's connective prose is oftimes laborious. That said, the quotes from the officers' diaries and letters are powerful and evocative. I consider myself a thorough student and hardened reader of War Between the States literature and must confess to having failed to supress a tear from time to time. It is inconceivable to the modern American that the United States would have willfully and maliciously treated fellow human beings the way these men were treated The book will never be a best seller, but should be a must read for the student of the formative event of modern America.

War may be hell, but waiting for it in a sweltering dockside warehouse or in the mosquito-infested desert is its own form of infernal torment. Thompson, who was among the first U.S. troops sent to protect the Saudi border after Iraq's August 1990 invasion of Kuwait, vividly describes the confusion, ennui, anger, fear, and occasional satisfactions of a Marine artillery captain caught up in the biggest military campaign since Vietnam. Mixing extensive quotes from his field journals with passages written with a decade's hindsight, Thompson puts the reader into the world of a combat soldier, a universe that shrinks at times to what can be seen with the eyes, heard through the rumor mill, or evoked by letters from home. Here, too, are tales of the fog of war: orders made and countermanded, improvisations brilliant and foolhardy. No one with a historical interest in the Marine Corps' Persian Gulf operations or a personal one in its troops should miss this book.

War may be hell, but waiting for it in a sweltering dockside warehouse or in the mosquito-infested desert is its own form of infernal torment. Thompson, who was among the first U.S. troops sent to protect the Saudi border after Iraq's August 1990 invasion of Kuwait, vividly describes the confusion, ennui, anger, fear, and occasional satisfactions of a Marine artillery captain caught up in the biggest military campaign since Vietnam. Mixing extensive quotes from his field journals with passages written with a decade's hindsight, Thompson puts the reader into the world of a combat soldier, a universe that shrinks at times to what can be seen with the eyes, heard through the rumor mill, or evoked by letters from home. Here, too, are tales of the fog of war: orders made and countermanded, improvisations brilliant and foolhardy. No one with a historical interest in the Marine Corps' Persian Gulf operations or a personal one in its troops should miss this book.

Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm were a blend of frustration, depression, anxiety and adrenaline rushes. Phillip Thompson captures, with stellar accuracy, the build-up to and conduct of the Persian Gulf War. The reader sees through his eyes how a company grade Marine Corps officer faced family separation, debated the "politicalness" of this conflict, and ultimately served with distinction and courage on the frontlines. The reader can feel the heat of the 120-degree desert, smell the smoke of the burning oil fires and sense the frustration of waiting interminably for the war to begin. This book captured the essence of "my" war better than any other that I've read.

War may be hell, but waiting for it in a sweltering dockside warehouse or in the mosquito-infested desert is its own form of infernal torment. Thompson, who was among the first U.S. troops sent to protect the Saudi border after Iraq's August 1990 invasion of Kuwait, vividly describes the confusion, ennui, anger, fear, and occasional satisfactions of a Marine artillery captain caught up in the biggest military campaign since Vietnam. Mixing extensive quotes from his field journals with passages written with a decade's hindsight, Thompson puts the reader into the world of a combat soldier, a universe that shrinks at times to what can be seen with the eyes, heard through the rumor mill, or evoked by letters from home. Here, too, are tales of the fog of war: orders made and countermanded, improvisations brilliant and foolhardy. No one with a historical interest in the Marine Corps' Persian Gulf operations or a personal one in its troops should miss this book.

A tense, tightly-packed ride through a richly-developed setting full of complex and intriguing characters, all struggling in the wake of horrific serial killings.

It always amazes me how Phillip can take basic genre plots and etch into them such intricate and originally realistic layers. Johnny Blade is a perfect example: take your usual serial-killer plot with the prostitute in danger and her devoted but wary suitor, and develop it so richly into a multi-leveled tale where all the characters, even the secondary individuals like the vastly interesting diner patrons or the off-kilter detectives, create a seamless, living, breathing cast of players we love to meet and follow. These down-to-earth characters are each the true strengths of this story. I quickly loved the cast of vagabonds, thugs, call-girls and others at the diner where Michael works, and felt that the we as readers, along with the undercover journalist, were experiencing the thrill of meeting interesting local personalities and searching for those individual story gems. And best of all, rather than have a faceless, remorseless, killer driven only by lust and power, we are introduced right off the bat to a villain with detailed flaws and run-of-the mill troubles-again, breathing fresh new life into an old plot in a surprising and enjoyable way. The book moves at a quick, crisp pace, building on many aspects of tension, not the least of which is the protagonist-driven struggles of his personal life-always hinting that by enduring and overcoming these issues, he will be strengthened down the road for the greater test, and the showdown with Johnny Blade.

This is a fantastic story and the author should be commended for his true-to-life realization of facts and characters. As a retired police officer, I felt that Mr. Tomasso had a law enforcement background because of his depth of police knowledge. Whether he has or not, he has certainly done his homework in fact finding to give this book reality. This is cleverly written and displays a true writing artist.

This author writes a riveting story about several characters, from the lead protagonist, Michael (a reporter/waiter trying to become more then an obituary columnist), to a serial killer. These conglomerations of characters all come together in one local establishment called Jacks. Tomasso allows the reader to get into the minds of these characters so vividly that one can almost visualize each character and personally get to know each one and what makes them tick.

With a serial killer on the loose, dubbed Johnny Blade by the local newspaper, Michael, the lead protagonist in the book, sets out to find the real identity of Johnny Blade. Since Michael is one of the lead suspects in the case, but with the evidence uncovered by the police was subsequently cleared. Along the way to discovering the real serial killer, the reader is led on a suspenseful and intriguing journey with Michael.

This book should easily fall into the classification of �Best Seller.�

Reviewed by award-winning author, Bobby Ruble, author of Have No Mercy, and co-author with wife, Kam, of Black Rosebud: Have No Mercy II.

Martin Wringer punched his supervisor in the face and lost his job, but he doesn't fault himself, he blames his boss. He has sex with a prostitute and contacts venereal disease, but he doesn't impute himself, he accuses the hooker. When his wife finds out and throws him out of the house, he goes to Jack's Joint where the hooker hangs out and kills her. He finds he likes killing prostitutes so much that he keeps going to the area round Jack's Joint where the whores hang out and stars killing them one by one.

Michael Buzzelli works for the Rochester Chronicle writing obituaries and doing research but he wants to scribe some juicy stories so he takes a job at Jack' joint as a bartender hoping to write a human-interest story about the dead prostitute. As he gets to know the people on the fringe who hang out at Jack's Joint, he begins to like them especially Felicia who seems to reciprocate his feelings. As the killer dubbed JOHNNY BLADE by the press keeps on killing prostitutes, Michael is determined to be first on the scene to get the scoop or die trying.

Almost every person who hangs out at Jack's Joint has an interesting story to tell and readers will find themselves wanting to hear it. The two lead police officers on the case are fascinating characters and should be featured in future books by Phillip Tomasso III. The villain is three dimensional, totally believable and pure evil. The romance between the reporter and the prostitute is sweet and charming. On a scale of one to ten, the plot scores an eleven.

Harriet Klausner

After midnight, until dawn, there is a whole other subculture out there. Out there on the streets, standing on the corners, in the all night coffee shops. You can find them in just about any city, large, or small. It's a culture that most of us avoid. But not Michael Buzzelli. He sought them out.

Michael works Monday through Friday at the Rochester City Chronicle typing out obituaries and doing leg work for the journalists. He wants to become a crime reporter, and figures the only way to do so would be to write a story that no one else could possibly get.

There is a killer out there on the streets. Someone who has killed a prostitute. He not only killed her, but he killed her in a most horrendous way, leaving her mutilated body behind. The police have no clue as to who this person is. Only that he is brutal and sadistic, and that he has to be found.

Michael needs money to make ends meet. He also figures that if he can get a job at Jacks, he might be able to pick up some clues as to who killed the prostitute. A story like that would get him out of obituaries, and onto the crime desk where he wanted to be. And so Michael applies for a job, and gets the midnight till dawn shift.

His first night on the job, Michael meets some very interesting individuals. There is Fatso, a retired postal worker, who is alone, and lonely. Fatso comes into Jacks every night, and knows everything about everyone. He takes an instant liking to Michael and clues him in on the people that frequent Jacks, much to the chagrin of Marcus. Marcus comes into Jacks and just sits, says nothing, reads his paper, and watches. He doesn't like others to know who, or what he is. There is rumor he was linked to the mob, but no one really knows the truth.

Then there is Speed. Now there is a character for you. He is a petty thief, or as Fatso says, in the merchandise business. Speed seems to live his life in constant high gear, thus his name. He never slows down, and is always on the lookout for that next deal.

Then there are the girls. Every night they work the street in front of Jacks. Venus, a young black girl who loved to make Michael uncomfortable at their first and only meeting, Sandy a young woman who seems to have more common sense than beauty, and then there is Felicia. Felicia is a burgundy-red haired girl, with the largest gray-blue eyes that Michael has ever seen. It wasn't love at first sight, but it sure is heading that way.

Soon after Michael starts working at Jacks, Venus comes up missing. She is later found dead. Mutilated like the first hooker, and Michael was the last to see her alive. After finally convincing the two detectives on the case that he had nothing to do with it, Michael thinks that perhaps a story about the people that hang around Jacks would be more interesting than a story on the prostitute killer. If he happens to find the killer, and gets a story about that along with the other story, more power to him.

JOHNNY BLADE is a fantastic serial killer novel. But it is much more than that. Although Mr. Tomasso keeps you on the edge of your seat from the first page on with the story of Johnny The Blade and his sadistic, insane motives, and actions, the background story concerning the people of Jack's Place is just as interesting. The characters grab you and won't let go. They become real, living, breathing people with emotions, dislikes and likes of their own. Even the police detectives become familiar friends. In fact I would like to see more of Detectives Cocuzzi and Cage.

Mr. Tomasso has managed to incorporate two winning stories in one book without any gap between. A story of a horrific, insane, killer, and a story of some misunderstood, caring, feeling people who live lives in a culture that most of society looks down upon. I am not sure which story I liked better in JOHNNY BLADE. While reading about the insane, alcoholic, sadistic killer I was completely glued to the pages. But when the story slid into the lives of the patrons of Jacks, or into the lives of the detectives, I became completely immersed in that part of the story.

I found myself looking forward to Michael's nights when he was on duty at Jacks. I wanted to find out what happened to Speed, where did Marcus go, are the girls all right. Each one had their own story, and quality that had wormed their way into my heart. I had to find out what was going on with them. JOHNNY BLADE keeps your attention, and your emotions completely hostage until that last page.

JOHNNY BLADE is a winner, and I hope that this will be just the beginning of a long relationship with some of the characters that Mr. Tomasso has brought to life. I certainly recommend that you read JOHNNY BLADE. It is absolutely fantastic, and I know that this group of characters will find a home in you heart and mind, as they have mine.

Having read more than 300 spiritual/metaphysical books over the past 10 years, I have would have to rate this one in the top 10, perhaps even in the top five. Author Berman is an excellent writer and is both objective and analytical in his search. The near-death experiences are only a part of the evidence he explores.

This is a nice book. I can't claim familiarity with the entire literature on near-death experiences, but Phillip Berman's work seems to me to stand out in several respects.

First of all, a good deal of the book is devoted simply to describing NDEs as reported by the people who had them. In preparation for this volume, Berman interviewed literally hundreds of people -- and, moreover, scoured the world's religious literature looking for further historical examples. The results are not all included here; in fact he has probably had to leave out many more than he was able to put in. But his selections are well-chosen. (For example, he devotes an entire chapter to the neglected topic of "hellish" NDEs, notably the experience of one Howard Storm.) And he spends most of his time on straightforward reporting rather than rushing to conclusions.

Second, he ties all this NDE stuff to mystical tradition and "perennial philosophy" (which he prefers to call "eternal theology"). Himself Jewish, Berman also competently discusses the mystical traditions of e.g. Christianity and Buddhism without attempting either to adjudicate among their theologies or to reduce these religions to their strictly mystical portions. His conclusion, in a nutshell, is that NDEs and mysticism teach us essentially the same things about the nature of God and reality.

Third, his conclusions are presented with thoroughness and proper caution. Berman does not attempt to minimize or paper over the genuine differences among the various types of NDE and mystical experience; he does not proclaim that his work has "finally proven" something that was hitherto only suspected and that he has thereby settled all the important questions; he deals sensitively and compassionately with the losses of loved ones (including his own) without relying in any way on maudlin sentiment at the expense of empirical reportage and theological argumentation. Generally speaking, he knows the difference between conclusions and speculations, offering some of each and claiming for his work just what it deserves. This is a sober and responsible work of theology, not an extended piece of tabloid journalism.

Fourth, his topic is precisely what his subtitle indicates: he is interested in what NDEs and mystical experiences _teach us_, not in telling us how to go about _having_ such experiences ourselves (nor even in urging the importance of having them). He has what I regard as a healthy sense (based firmly in all of the religious traditions with which he deals) that there is something unsound about seeking such experiences for oneself, and for that matter about (mis)taking the purpose of religion to be the bringing about of such experiences. This is, again, a work of theology, not a how-to handbook.

This seems to me to be a standout work, then. Again, I do not claim to have read the whole NDE literature, but of the handful of books I _have_ read, this one is unique. I highly recommend it to anyone interested in these topics.

I only give this stars because while it is interesting, I didn't think the book was well organized. If it was, it would be five-star material. The chapter on hell is my favorite. Berman really pulls together some fascinating stories from each chapter. It will remove your fear of death, and strengthen your faith.

I have just finished reading THE JOURNEY HOME by Philip L.Berman and I want to shout from the housetops: Read this book!

A Jewish scholar has interviewed people of various (or no) religious persuasions who have had NDE...Near Death Experiences. As one who has had such an experience, I have read every book I can find on the subject, and Berman's impressed me the most, probably because he is so objective.

In a fine writing style (I truly read this book in one sitting...or I should say, lying down!...) and wept with joy when I finished it, for it offers such faith, hope and love for all of us, whatever our beliefs. The similarity of the experiences are in themselves miraculous, yet it is the differences that make them believeable.

For example, in my own NDE experience I did not look down and see my body on the hospital gurney...but that is not surprising. I have never been one to look back, and I was so enthralled with the experience I had no interest in the world I had left. Nor did I see "my life flash before me"...maybe it did, but I wasn't watching. I was so drawn to the Light, the Sounds, the aurae, the people, all I wanted to do was stay there, forever. I didn't associate this with a DNE until years later when I read of similar experiences. Truly such an experience does change your life.

Just reading Berman's book can change your life. I defy anyone to read it through and still question the existance of an afterlife. I have recommended it for hospice reading, as well as family reading. No longer will the reader fear death.

Teresa Bloomingdale

My boyfriend contacted Bonnie Norton awhile back and told her he was taking me on a suprise trip to Washington and the Puget Sound area. I wanted to thank you, Bonnie, so much for the copy of Keiko Speaks you sent to me. It means so much to know his story in his own words. After reading the book, I went out and bought Communicating with Whales: An Orca's Perspective by Mary Getten and read it straight throughout the night (here's to Lolita!).

Thank you for caring the way you do, and thank you from the bottom of my heart for being such a wonderful friend and shoulder to cry on for Keiko when he was losing so much.

I hope this book touches thousands as it has touched me. I hope one day I could help the whales to be understood as you have done :) The orcas have always been my life ever since I was a child, sometimes it feels like they're my soul.

I know Keiko appreciated every second of help and love you gave to him.

Thank you for being his voice.

Thanks for everything,
~Lisa

Keiko is the orca whale that starred in the movie "Free Willy". Keiko Speaks is a true story based upon Keiko's communications with Bonnie Norton, beginning with their first meeting at the Oregon Coast Aquarium in 1997. Their's was a relationship that continued for the next four years as Keiko's trainers and aquarium personnel tried repeatedly to return him to the ocean. Here related are Keiko's four years in Iceland, his incredible swim to Norway, through to his last communication in 2003 when he again repeated an often expressed desire to remain with people. Keiko Speaks is especially recommended reading for animal rights activists, fans of Keiko from his film aquarium appearances, and non-specialist general readers with an interest in animal/human communications.

I have read the book and it was very emotional for me. With all of Keiko's own body language and behavior it was VERY apparent what he wanted...to be with people. Keiko was a true free spirit with a purpose to HELP us understand his world. I could feel his frustration after every attempt to get his desires fulfilled failed. Keiko's human bonding was of our own doing and we should have honored his desire to stay with us. He asked so little. The fact that he died alone breaks my heart. The book touched me in so many ways and was very inspirational.

I believe this book is an important read for anyone who ever loved or cared about Keiko. So many people wanted him to be free, but it was quite clear that he wanted to be with people. I only wish his care-takers would have honored his wishes. For those of you who are skeptics about animal communication, please open your mind and your heart. Animals are not underlings...they are equals and MUST be respected. They are not our property! They give so much of themselves to us and it's time we give back. I love Keiko very much and this book absolutely broke my heart and made me cry. Even though the book filled me with devastation for what we did to Keiko, I am very glad I read it. Now I know his true story and he has such a beautiful, important message to share with the world. He was such a special, loving, and beautiful creature who deserved everything good we could give to him. I believe now that the mission to set him free bordered on cruelty. He died of a broken heart...alone! How could we treat such a wonderful creature in such an apalling way. All he wanted to do was give his love to the world...and we denied him everything he wanted. I love you forever, Keiko. Rest in peace knowing that your story is being shared with the world. It's not too late!