Powell Books

These obituaries of the ladies who defied convention in the last century is truly a revelation. Most of the women, with a few notable exceptions, were previously unknown to me, and I ended up filling my bedside notebook with names to research further. Others, like Patricia Highsmith, Barbara Cartland and Eva Gabor, were more familiar, but even they had secrets to divulge in this last big story of their lives.

The only problem I had with Chin Up, Girls is that reading it in one go, as I did, the people started to run together and I lost track of who was who. This is a book meant to be savored over a long period of time, but unfortunately some of us have to get our copies back to the library!

This very small book lists verses of the gospel of Thomas on each page and then gives the authors comments about what he believes they mean. The authors opinion is that in the gospel of Thomas Jesus is teaching nonduality and how to discover the true Self and over come the illusion of separation and individual ego by living truly in the eternal Now.I agree with the authors opinion completely and believe this book is closer to the true esoteric teachings of Jesus than the Bible. This is a perfect book for beginners that are searching for truth or studing Zen.

Its hard to find an academic philosopher in the UK today who actually makes the big bad Roger Scruton look like a chilled out hippy, but Anthony O'Hear almost manages it. In this collection of chapter long grumbles, each on a seperate theme of decaying Britain, O'Hear tries to dissect the contemporary left's enforced vision of moral progress by means of an ingenious comparison with Plato's story of the Cave (and its popular updating in the Matrix film franchise).

This is an excellent idea, and enables O'Hear to get to the heart of the corrupt and superficial soul of New Labour and the shallow 'progressive' philosophy behind it. The citizens of 21st century Britiain are indeed like the prisoners in Plato's cave. Content to see flickering shadows on the walls of their limited lives as the only reality and reacting with righteous fury to anyone who dares to show them anything that is different and (at first) more painful to behold. The Enlightenment ideal of truth and reason leading man into a nobler and better world has been hijacked by the the moral elites and the progressive left and perverted into a shadow of its original goals. Now, all that matters is the feeling of being morally better, the pretence that you care about things and people other than your widescreen tv or expensive gym membership. Attending a 'Cancel Third World Debt' rock concert, O'Hear observes, is easier and feels better, than actually addressing any awkward and complex realities of African poverty. Showing you 'care' in a superficial manner to the rest of your middle-class tribe whilst doing nothing concrete is the 'third way' now, the 21st century secular version of religious indulgences, the easy fix for inconvenient priviliged guilt and moral vacousness.

O'Hear has much to play with here and has the politcally incorrect character to tackle it without fear. Despite this, its still not a brilliant book. Each chapter rambles on a bit and despite the easy prey adroitly located in his cross hairs, O'Hear seems to fall just short of the kill on each chosen topic. For example, the chapter on 'Stalinist Speech' could have been a demolition of the psychology behind the culture of PC and the contemporary thought police. Instead, O'Hear rambles on too long about the vapidity of school performance targets and comparisons with Stalin's five year plans. He mentions several times the appalling and disastrous retirement rate of headmasters and the virtual dissapearance of the male teacher from our schools yet seems content to pin all this down to the pressures of living up to those neo-Stalinist performance targets. How about the anti-male hysteria that our culture promotes being a rather larger factor? A hysteria that O'Hear unfortunately perpetuates himself rather too often with his ill-judged essays for the Daily Mail, a newspaper that now only speaks for conservative values when they happen to coincide with the primitive reproductive needs of it's suburban housewife readership.

To sum up : a slightly dissapointing execution of an excellent idea for what could have been a devastating expose of what really is wrong with contemporary Britain.

Review of
Clouds and Sunshine

I found this book very easy to read and got hooked straight away. Wanted to find out more. The stories and histories of places and people are interesting even though the reader doesn't know the area.

Perfect book for those who have an association with the villages and families in these parts.

Excellent as an historical document of the war years, how people lived, told by someone who lived through it, especially as he has informed us about the lives of other people as well - a description of what makes up a small community

I can't wait for the next one.

Sue Davis.

A must own for every laser shop. Excellent source of information on a varaiety of different materials. It give the layman an understanding of the operations of a laser, what occurs when cutting, and knowledge to make suitable changes in conditions. When in doubt, this is one of the first places I turn.

Using the tenures of the highest ranking African Americans in the history of the U. S. State Department as points of reference, Colin Powell and Condoleeza Rice examines the relevance of race in the formation of U.S. foreign policy under the direction of George W. Bush. Lusane presents a necessarily incisive critique of the Bush regime's continuing thrust for U.S. hegemony under the guise of the "war on terror." I highly recommend this book for everyone to understand how the nuances of race impact the U.S.'s international dealings. This work is a must-read for African Americans to become more conscious and committed to developing an international policy.

-- Shawn L. Williams, author of I'm a Bad Man: African American Vernacular Culture and the Making of Muhammad Ali

It is easy to follow and gives a great deal of information that is best delivered in illustrations.The painting samples could be better but the content is useful and easy to access.

I am a very stressed/anxieous person and needed something to calm me down. The author immediately has you in a crystal, then breathing in certain colors to heal, calm, etc. There is not a lot of talking before hand to get to the meditation (which i like).

I wanted to DO something. The imagery had me feel "colors" and "light" relax my sore neck muscles, or whereever i wanted to direct the "light/colors" each time i played the tape. She has you deep breathing "in & out" the colors.
This tape is great as just the right amount of time: about 20 minutes to be in a quiet place.

The other side is ocean waves with subliminal messages you can also read on a card. I have not heard many relaxation tapes to compare this with but it's great as a starter tape or something different. The mantra's would be the colors. I feel everyone can visualize color and i find it soothing: orange, violet, yellow gold and pink (each does different things). The author suggests one can direct the healing to anything (part of your body/mind) or anyone which allows for great versitility. It's you that brings the breathing and color healing to you. She supplies the directions. The subliminals were all positive statements. I feel positive after each session; so feel the subliminals work along with the verbal repetitions of the sayings on the card. Its a short tape but effective. (short and to the point)

What a delight to discover Dawn Powell! This collection offers a selection of novels and short stories that bristle with well-observed details and uncanny insights. She writes with ascerbic humor about the "wanna-bes" and the "haves" in flapper society with sometimes chilling clarity. Like so many of her contemporaries, she was brave enough to make heroes of very flawed creatures indeed--and do it very well. I wanted to know more about her and read more. Discovering her makes me wonder why Dorothy Parker and Edna Ferber got all the breaks.

If you are an educator or caregiver who wants to teach young children about disability, Jillian Powell's "Talking about Disability" is a good place to start. Written in simple language and enriched throughout with excellent full-color photographs, this book should appeal both to beginning readers and to children who still need to have books read aloud to them.

Powell covers many important topics. She explains different types of physical disabilities, explains the need for wheelchair-accessible public accommodations, discusses guide dogs and other aids, and discusses sporting activities in a disabled context. Throughout the book the outstanding photography depicts disabled people as dynamic, positive individuals who are an important part of the general population. Also commendable is the fact that disabled people of many different ages and races are pictured.

The book has only a couple of minor drawbacks. Powell's prose, while very positive and considerate, speaks about the disabled without actually letting any disabled individual's voice be heard. I would have liked to have seen a quote or two from an actual disabled individual incorporated into the text. Also, although the notes for parents and teachers at the end of the book mention such disabled role models as Helen Keller and Christy Brown, such well-known individuals are neither mentioned nor pictured in the main body of the text.

These drawbacks aside, "Talking about Disability" is an intelligent and sensitive introduction to an important issue. I recommend this book with enthusiasm.