Richards Books

One family's fight to reform the medical system is documented in this excellent, but gut-wrenching book. The author, Dorothy Cancilla, a bright and feisty woman, who learned the hard way how callous and incompetent some medical providers can be. Death by HMO documents her daughter Jennifer's eight years of painful illness that eventually led to a premature and avoidable death. Jennifer died four days before her 30th birthday.

I'm amazed at how much information and detail is compiled into this 132-page book. The reader gets an education on the human body, and the tragic errors made by doctors at every turn become very clear.

Jennifer's problems began with frequent abdominal pain and vomiting. While doctors debated about the cause of her suffering, she trusted her doctor who literally butchered her by removing her pancreas, instead of her gallbladder. Jennifer, who was somebody's mother, wife, daughter and sister, tried to live a normal life around many hospital stays and surgeries. Cancilla portrays her youngest daughter as heroic. Anyone reading this book will fall in love with Jennifer, but what pulls at my heart is Cancilla's loss--a mother's loss--that never goes away. She honors her daughter and family by writing this book.

People need to know what can happen to any of us once we put ourselves in someone else's hands. We must advocate for ourselves and our loved ones. We cannot assume that the doctor is always right. We have to keep in mind that the only body we have has to last us a lifetime. We are the ones who are affected by wrong decisions. Ultimately we must consider the medical professionals as part of our team. They are expert consultants and sometimes gifted surgeons. But even the most dedicated doctors are imperfect, not God-like. Even decent medical people may be cajoled into betraying their patients by the HMO who pays their salary.

Death by HMO will surprise and dismay you. But you will be inspired by the courage of Dorothy Cancilla and her family. This story has all the elements for a great movie.

> This is a very well written and documented story of a family trying to get professional medical care for their daughter (Jenny) at Kaiser Hospital...

> Jenny's family took it for granted that all Hospitals were "100% Dedicated at Maintaining a Very High Standard and keeping all of their patients in Excellent Health"...

> Without going into detail their daughter who was in her early 20's had a medical condition that seemed to be getting worse...

> This family was in for a Rude Awakening when they took Jenny to Kaiser Hospital to be diagnosed and treated...

> What they found out is that Kaiser Hospital did not want acknowledge or admit anything was wrong with "Jenny" and Refused to provide the Correct Diagnostic Tests that "would or would not" verify that she had medical condition that needed treated ASAP...

> Jenny's family spent the next "8" years trying to have their daughter Correctly Diagnosed and Treated at Kaiser Hospital with the end result being that the only thing "this hospital" had to offer them were Lies, Deception and Denial by repeatedly telling them that their daughter "did not" have any medical problems at all...

> What was found out later in Court by Professional Medical Experts and Doctors was that Jenny was provided with "100% Extreme Sub-Standard Medical Care" at "this HMO" starting with her very first visit...

> To put it simply: This young lady could have been Diagnosed - Treated and Cured by the Lowest 10% of the Graduates fresh out of Medical School because as it turned out Jenny had an Elementary Medical Condition that could have been Easily Diagnosed and Cured with Proper Professional Treatment...

> After Eight Years of "Extreme Sub-Standard Medical Care" at Kaiser Hospital and combined with Six Un-Needed Operations: Jenny Died a Horrible Death at the young age of "29 Years Old"...

***** THE FOLLOWING IS WHAT "YOU WILL LEARN FROM THIS EXCELLENT BOOK":

#1 The Red Flags that will tell You to change Doctors or Staff and get an Outside Second Opinion...

#2 To be able to Locate the "Many Great Doctors" that are available at Kaiser Hospital...

#3 To Understand the Fact that you have Zero-Support from some HMO's...

#4 I know that it is a "Known Fact" that there are some "Doctors and Staff" at "This Hospital" who Do Not care at all if you Die or Severely Damaged by their Major or Minor Medical Malpractice Mistakes and they will do nothing at all to save you - Rather than admit they made a Serious
Mistake and Save You - They will keep this a Complete Secret...

#5 Also Keep in Mind that there are "Many Great Doctors and Staff" at Kaiser who have Perfomed Miracles and saved patients who had almost no chance at all of Surviving and / or perfomed Incredibly Complicated Operations or Treatments with Fantastic Results...

#6 It is a "Known Fact" that some very "Unqualified Doctors or Staff" at Kaiser who will: Lie, Destroy and / or Lose Critical Medical Records, XRAYS, Radiology Reports, Dr's & Nurse's Notes, and any Info. that would Show or Prove they Commited a Major or Minor Malpractice Mistake that Killed or Severely Injured You...

#7 You may think so but you WILL NOT get any Support from "Some" Outside Medical "Watchdog" groups that you are told watches out for Sub-Standard Medical Care - This gives some people a Job to get Paid to Do Nothing and they are paid by you the tax-payer...

#8 The Exception to #7 is MEDICARE - "They do an EXCEPTIONAL JOB" at making sure you are OK... >>> BUT YOU HAVE TO LOOK OUT FOR THE RED FLAGS
YOURSELF BEFORE IT IS TO LATE...

#9 Before it is to late this HMO will have to Re-Evaluate their Game-Plan and put their Members & Patients in Priority Position #1... Income and Profits should be Priority Position #2... And #3 Should be to Weed-Out Any and All Unqualified Employees and Staff and hire Only Qualified and Professional Employee's who Desire to be the "Best of th Best" in the Kaiser Hospital System...

#10 If I had to make an Evaluation of the Kaiser Hospital HMO at this time after reading this excellent book and also being a past member of this this HMO - The Words that Clearly come to Mind Are:
***** THIS HAS TO BE THE MEDICAL SCAM of the CENTURY *****...

If Denzel Washington Touched Your Heart in The New Movie "John Q" Than read.....Jennifer's Story...DEATH BY HMO...A Real Life Tragedy.

This book is much much more than one which relays the horrible medical treatment that Jennifer received "While In The Hands of Kaiser" which resulted in her death.

This book is also about an organization that is more concerned about profit and image than the lives of any of it's patients. They will lie, they will trick, they will deny care in any manner possible until it is too late to save the patient if a patient is no longer profitable to them in the long run.

President Nixon when he was considering allowing the creation of the HMO Act was advised by Mr. John D. Ehrlichman who had received information on how Kaiser is run from the then CEO of Kaiser - Edgar Kaiser. Mr. Erlichman stated "...the less care they give them, the more money they make" and that just about sums up everything about this company.

Jennifer was tortured and abused by this corporation and like countless others she and her family found the inconceivable taking place right before their eyes. Medical personnel were not performing their prescribed duties in a professional nor competent manner. The medical staff with their conduct appeared to be a bunch of bumbling fools.

The Kaiser system is intentionally set up so that the patient and their family will choose to believe that a series of errors or incomptent events is taking place. These are really premeditated actions by a corporation that has put in place a system intentionlly fraught with systemic problems to delay treatment until the patient goes away one way or another.

For anyone that would question that statement how else can you explain how a doctor that goes to school for a decade to learn to be a physician and then passes a test to get a license could be so clueless over and over again.

It simply costs Kaiser less to settle an arbitration than it would to provide proper medical care in the long run.

Jennifer's family should be praised. They had the courage, the fortitude and the belief in themselves to put aside their pain and to focus their thoughts so that the public would have the opportunity to learn and avoid the never ending nightmare that they were all forced to endure by Kaiser and the for profit Permanente Medical Group.

This book is must reading for all people. If you must do business with Kaiser then at least be aware of what their business practices are so you can avoid the eternal suffering that Jennifers family must go through.

Jennifer's death was not in vain. She has lived on in this book to tell the story of what happened and to light the way for those that will listen.

This is a very disturbing indictment of modern health care. Dorothy Cancilla exhibits an extraordinary amount of restraint in recalling the preventable death of her daughter at the hands of inept doctors and an unforgiving system.

It's ironic that a organization whose charter is to maintain people's health can actually compromise their lives when the bottom line might be in jeopardy.

Kudos to Mrs. Cancilla for having the courage to face her demons by sharing them with others.

This book was recommended to me by a friend from Seattle (I used to live there). She said it was a "must read". I asked what it was about and she said it was kind of sci-fi/horror. I told her that I didn't read that genre, but she insisted, saying that it wasn't really like that. So I ordered the book. I am glad that I did! It is one of the best books I have ever read (and I read a lot). I don't know how I would classify the book, but neither sci-fi nor horror describes it accurately. It's really about how mankind reacts to a global catastrophe. It's exceptionally well-written with rich descriptions of Western Washington---it makes me miss my old stomping grounds.

If you want to get much sleep! A friend gave me a copy of "Deathstroke" It sat on there for a few days until I picked it up at about 9:00 PM. Big mistake if you have to get up and get to work the next day. Scary, intense and almost impossible to put down.

Deathstroke is a great book, a very exciting read with some new takes and ideas. Underlying this is the very topical subject of global warming and what man is doing to the Planet Earth. It will make a great film and is certainly a blockbuster of the future!

You'll be hooked from the opening scenes to the climactic ending, as if a Gorgoth were stalking you throughout the book! This is sci-fi at its best, with plenty of plot twists and turns as the reader descends into the nightmare apocalypse which the author has so well woven. But it's not just all monsters and mayhem. The characters are well developed and believable, and the larger themes at play are sobering indeed. I highly recommend this book, but with one qualification: don't start reading it by the campfire late at night! Kudos to Mr Kelley on his first book, and may there be a sequel!

I just read Deathstroke and I finished this amazing book in record time given the fact I just couldn't put the book down! It was unlike any other story I have read in memory, given the in-depth description of the characters and local surroundings where the story takes place in North West Washington. It is also a call to recognize the destruction of our planet through over population and use of carbon based fuels that is destroying our environment. Can mankind survive the dreaded Gorgoth that is sent from an alien race to wipe out everyone living on our planet or do we have the Gorgoth to actually thank in the end from saving ourselves from our own destruction? It is questions like these that Richard Kelly proposes that is sure to make this the next great story or possible movie of our time! One things is for sure, camping in the wilderness might never be the same after reading Deathstroke!

Apologetics Concerning the Nature of Religion

Apologetics or is it antiapologetics, I have read Hodges arguments about cause and effect, primary and secondary causes in his work on systematic theology which was written a hundred years after this work. RC Sproulamong others discuss similar issues today with a contrary conclusion. David Hume's dialogue about the existence of God and the attributes of God does form some of the frame work for further philosophic and theological discussion. Some seems quite aimless like his discussion whether God is wholly other. Some theologians may make this statement and argument, but this certainly is not fundamentalist or scriptural perspective of God. What I found most interesting in this work is his discussion of causality. Mr. Hume's focus was on Natural theology or the idea that God could be perceived or not perceived through nature. But also included was knowing God through rationalization. To this he compared three notions:

{1} That there is a self existent Being who always existed, never created, and is the ultimate Cause of the whole universe. Something that never was caused, but is the cause of all else.

{2}That there is no ultimate cause. History is an infinite amount of causes and effects that has no starts or ends. Matter in some form has always existed and matter has always been in motion. Universe or galaxy may have a point of beginning, but not what it is composed of.

{3}At a point in time there was no matter, then at another point of time there was matter. The matter move in motion to develop things as we know it.

David Hume does not discuss the concept that simply nothing really exists. I would guess in an earlier work he had dismissed it in some form. It is my conclusion Mr. Hume found point one as absurd as point 2 or 3.

The other major focus of discussion in this work how an all knowing creator, who has all power, and has the capacity to perceive every thing that is going on can create a world that has the highest being of creation suffer pain and evil among each other. The argument is made in this work that the universe does not function in a rational manner, therefore such all knowing, all powerful and all powerful God does not seem to exist. Some reviewers consider it a complete debunk of intelligent design and it certainly a source of comfort for those who do desire.

With the possible exception of his incalculably influential A Treatise of Human Nature, this, I think, is Hume's finest work. The Dialogues is a paradigm of sustained philosophical argumentation on a single subject, and I can't think of a more inspiring work of philosophy. Another reason to read this book is that Hume is one of the few philosophical figures whose work is worth reading as literature. His prose is, of course, lovely and clear as can be; and the Dialogues is packed with the sort of evocative passages that readers of Hume except to find in his work. Furthermore, he's clearly mastered the dialogue format as a way of writing philosophy. He never turns his interlocutors into ciphers spouting the details of their respective positions. Each character has a forceful and distinct personality, and each of them comes to the debate with a well-defined position and adequate means of defending it. In short, I can't recommend this book highly enough.

Most of the Dialogues is devoted to discussion of a posteriori arguments for the existence of God. The main argument considered here is the classical argument from design, which Hume seems to understand as an analogical argument of the following sort: the complexity and order of the universe show that it is similar to artifacts created by human intelligences; similar causes have similar effects; therefore, the universe must have been created by a being with something like a human intelligence; therefore, the universe must have been created by God.

Hume's objections to this argument are legion, and many of the individual objections are both ingenious and forceful. He provides reasons for thinking that the universe isn't all that similar to artifacts created by human beings. He argues, for instance, that at least in some respects, the universe resembles animal or vegetable life more than it resembles artifacts created by human beings. Hume also provides for thinking that, even if we think the universe is similar to a human artifact, we ought to think the universe was created by a being quite unlike God. The relevant empirical evidence, he argues, provides us with no good reason to think that the universe wasn't created by multiple beings (large human artifacts are usually created by multiple beings), or that the being(s) who created it are still alive (human creators die), or that the being(s) who created it were infinite (it's not clear that creating the finite universe would have required infinite power), or that the being(s) who created it were morally perfect (the universe, with all its misery and despair, certainly isn't what one would expect from a perfect being). Furthermore, he proposes certain alternative naturalistic explanations of the existence and nature of the universe; and he claims that it's unclear why an appeal to divine creation is to be preferred to these speculative naturalistic stories of the universe's creation.

As I hope this all-too-brief synopsis suggests, Hume's cumulative case against the argument from design is quite impressive. It is, of course, possible to avoid some of these criticisms in various ways, and his speculative naturalistic explanations leave quite a bit to be desired. But the total case is a philosophical demolition par excellence. Indeed, I'm pretty sure that Hume has shown that the argument from design is more or less worthless as support for anything resembling traditional theism. So, if you're enamored of that argument, I suggest you pick up book and wrestle with the criticisms found here.

Now, this isn't all Hume discusses in the Dialogues. There's a section discussing a priori arguments for the existence of God; it focuses on arguments against a version of the cosmological (i.e. first cause) argument. And Hume's arguments concerning the cosmological argument also rule out any sort of ontological argument, as he claims that no sense can be made of the idea of a necessarily existing being. The book also includes a few some brief discussion of particular issues concerning religion.

Where, in the end, does Hume come down on the issue of theism? It's hard to tell, as it's not clear that any of the particular characters speaks for him. Philo, the character who often appears to be speaking for him, never denies the existence of a deity; he simply denies the ability of human reason to discover anything substantial about what such a being is like. That Hume agrees with this is, I think, the most we can glean from this text about Hume's own religious views. It seems clear that he has no sympathy for organized religion, or for any religious views that purport to describe the nature of God, His intentions, or how and why He created the universe as He did. And the only positive religious claim that is given respectful treatment here is the bare claim that we have reason to think that the cause of the universe as a whole is somewhat similar to a human intelligence.

But does acceptance of this minimal thesis amount to his being a theist? Again, it's very hard to tell. First, of course, one might wonder whether this fairly vague positive view is enough to amount to some form of theism. But let's put that issue to one side. Even if it is enough to support some form of theism, it's often difficult to tell whether Hume means to be advocating such a position here. The problem is that it often seems Hume's explicit advocation of this position amounts to little more than a description of what he thinks is an inevitable human tendency to think this way. Given how our minds actually work, he seems to think, we're bound to think something like this about the origin of the universe. Yet it's somewhat unclear that he thinks forming beliefs in this way is reliable. It may simply be that we have a brute instinct to think in a way that insures we'll see the world as resulting from some human-like intelligence, and it's at least not clear that that isn't a debunking account of the plausibility of theism. (For more support that this is a debunking explanation, see his The Natural History of Religion, where the explanations of various religious beliefs certainly seem to be one's that suggest those beliefs simply aren't plausible.)

David Hume made a reputation by writing on reason and its limits. The main thrust of the Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion is to question whether theological arguments for God that assign Him positive attributes (omniscient, omnipotent, omnibenevolent, etc.) go beyond reason's limits in assigning these attributes. We watch Cleanthes (believer in theological arguments), Demea (believer more on faith) and Philo (disbeliever in theology's efficacy) hash out whether reason and experience alone give us reason to say anything whatever about God.

Hume explores all of the major arguments for God's existence. First, the a posteriori argument is explored; the argument that just as seeing a house gives us reason to assume an architect and builder, seeing the world should give us reason to infer a designer. Hume (through the skeptical voice of Philo) sees much wrong with this argument. Why? Because the reason we infer a builder for a house is because experience has shown us that houses have builders, thus when we see a house, we assume that, like other houses we've seen, this one too has a builder. But experience does not tell us that where there is a world, there is a designer. The leap is extra-experiential. Further, even if we DID infer a designer, why infer just one? Houses have construction crews of multiple people; if we analogize between the house and the world, then why not infer that the world, too, might have infinite creators? (And why infer that the world's creator is omnipotent, if all that is needed to create something is to be more powerful than the thing created - no more, no less?)

Next, we go through the a priori argument - the argument from first cause. Hume (Philo) is quick to point out the obvious flaw with this. If everything needs a cause, then what caused God? If God is said to be eternally existing, then why couldn't the natural world - rather than God - be thought eternal instead? And further, why is a infinite chain of causes and effects so unimaginable, anyhow? (Isn't it just as sensical as an eternal God itself not caused?)

Lastly, Philo brings up the argument from evil. In a nutshell, Philo suggests that while theology sees all the perfections of the world, proclaiming them clear evidence of remarkable design, theologians dismiss or downplay the imperfections. If God is said to all-good Himself, then why did he create humans with such flaws? (one assumes that an all-powerful, all-good God could have avoided those errors).

Still, the main thrust of this book is that Philo, far from challenging whether God exists, challenges theologies capacity to assign ANY characteristics to God by reason and experience alone. Hume does a good job not only in outlaying arguments as to why reason is not capable of knowing a thing about God, but also in making believable dialogues (compared to Plato, whose characters are all made to be one-dimensional foils for "Socrates.") As in so many other areas, Hume was a pioneer in the realm of the philosophy of God. This book furnishes strong proof of that!

David Hume, a philosopher of the period often classified as British Empiricism, is the intellectual associate of philosophers John Locke and George Berkeley. Born in Edinburgh in 1711, he attended the University of Edinburgh but did not graduate. He went to France during his 20s, and spent time there working on what would become his most famous work, 'An Enquiry into Human Understanding', first published under the title 'Treatise of Human Nature'. However, Hume was a prolific writer, and dealt with many areas of philosophy, including politics and ethics, epistemology, and metaphysics. He wrote in the area of history as well, and had a politic career as British ambassador to France and a post as a minister in the government for a few years. His final work, 'Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion', was published posthumously in 1779, although work had begun on it as early as the 1750s.

Hume was very concerned about rationality. Hume was never publicly and explicitly an atheist, but his rational mind, concerned about sensory and intelligible evidence, led him to question and doubt most major systems of religion, including the more general philosophical sense of religion and proofs of the existence of God. The primary arguments in his 'Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion' deal with the Argument from Design, and the Cosmological Argument. There is an assumed distinction here between natural religion and revealed religion, an especially important distinction in the Enlightenment and post-Enlightenment philosophical structure.

- Natural Religion and Revealed Religion -
Natural religion is the idea that we come to know and understand God (and, consequently, what God wants or expects of us, if anything) simply from nature and our sensory perceptions, as well as our interpretations (emotion and rational) of this kind of understanding. From very early in his writing career, Hume attacked the idea of natural religion and most of its conclusions, drawing a sharp line between what we can actually know and what ends up being fanciful extrapolations based on other-than-rational ideas and evidence. Revealed religion is primary what most religions base themselves upon - the burning bush to Moses, the resurrection and post-resurrection appearances to the Apostles, the Buddha's enlightenment under the tree - these are examples of revelation. While Hume does take on the idea of revealed religion in his other works, this particular text does not concern itself with that topic, and stays in the domain of addressing natural religion.

- The Argument from Design -
Arguments from Design have always had a strong appeal to believers within religious frameworks; they have often been used as tools of evangelism, as attempts to show that beyond the revealed doctrines, the very nature of things points to a creator. In very short order, the Argument from Design in Hume's newly-industrial time might have read like this:

- Machines are designed by beings with intelligence.
- The world and the universe it is in resembles a machine.
- Therefore, the world must have been created by means of intelligent design.

This is an argument by analogy, and is convincing to some, but often more convincing to those already inclined to believe in the existence of God.

- The Cosmological Argument -
The Cosmological Argument is at once both more subtle and more simple. The most simple way of stating it would be that God is the 'first cause' of everything. If everything has to have a cause (even the whole universe), then that first cause must be God. In the twentieth century era of thinking of a universe that began with a Big Bang, it seemed to some that the Cosmological Argument was confirmed.

Hume would have been familiar with Leibniz's more subtle form of the Cosmological Argument, which argues for a world of infinite contingent causes. However, there has to be something outside of this system of infinite causes that produced the series - thus, even in a universe with no set beginning or ending, there would still need to be an overarching cause.

- Hume's Arguments -
Hume argues on many levels. His first criticism of the Argument from Design is that this analogy (as are most arguments from analogy) is faulty and not exact; we have no idea if the universe is like a machine. Even if it was, machines are often designed and built by several designers - why argue for one God rather than several? How do we know that matter and the universe don't have their own, internal self-organising principles?

With regard to the Cosmological Argument, the argument is a little more strained. Hume argues that, in any series of causality, once one knows about each cause, it makes no sense to inquire beyond the sequence of causes to some other effect. This is a very Empirical argument, to be sure, and while perhaps not entirely satisfying, it still has merit in philosophy to this day.

- Hume's Structure -
This is a dialogue, set up in the classical way of people talking with each other about the subjects. Hume draws primarily from Cicero, whose work 'On the Nature of the Gods' uses characters of the same names. However, whereas Cicero was concerned about the nature of the Gods (their attributes, powers, etc.) and not their existence, it is the very existence of God that occupies Hume's thoughts.

Hume, despite many years of work on this text, probably never quite thought it was finished. He left the work to Adam Smith (the noted economist, and friend of Hume in Edinburgh), who also thought the arguments against the existence of God were too strong, and likely too damaging to Hume's overall reputation. The tug-of-war over the publication makes for interesting reading in and of itself.

These are important arguments, worthy of discussion and dialogue in philosophy classes, theology classes, and among others who ponder the existence of God.

This short and artfully written book was published after Hume's death. Hume did not wish to experience the controversy engendered by the arguments advanced in the book. It is likely as well that Hume was concerned also with offending some of the moderate Presbyterian clergy who were his personal friends and had been his partisans in other controversies. This book is primarily an attack on the idea that the exercise of reason and logic provides support for religion, and particularly that application of reason leads to strong evidence for the existence of a beneficient God. This line of thought had become particularly popular among liberal theologians in the first half of the 18th century and was a widely held notion among Enlightenment intellectuals across Europe and North America. This idea is still widely held today and can be seen in the writings of the so-called 'intelligent design' advocates of creationism. Hume's criticisms, then, are not only of historic interest but continue to have relevance to our contemporary lives.

The Dialogues are constructed as a 3 cornered argument between three friends. Demea, a man upholding revealed religion against the idea that reason provides support for the existence of God. Cleanthes, an advocate of natural religion. Philo, a skeptical reasoner who attacks the positions held by Demea and Cleanthes. For those who like Hume's sprightly 18th century style, this is a fun book to read. Hume artfully divides some of his strongest arguments between Cleanthes and Philo, and gives the Dialogues the real sense of a dispute among 3 intelligent friends. Philo is generally taken to represent Hume's positions but Cleanthes articulates some strong arguments and provides some of the best criticisms of Demea's fideism. Much of the book is devoted to attacking the argument from design, which Cleanthes attempts to defend against assaults from Philo and Demea. In many ways, the argument from design is the major idea of those supporting the natural religion approach to existence of God. Hume's critique is thorough and powerful. It even includes an anticipation of Darwin's idea's of selection, though the basis for Hume's critique is primarily epistemological. In the later parts of the book, Hume attacks also the comsological argument for the existence of God, though this discussion is relatively brief and a bit confusing. Hume's analysis is consistent broadly with much of his philosophical work. In many ways, his great theme was the limitations of reason, and this book is an example of his preoccupation with the relatively limited role of reason in establishing certain facts about the universe. He finishes with short criticisms of the idea that religion is needed for a stable and well ordered society and defends the usefullness of skeptical reasoning.

It is important to view the Dialogues as part of a critique of religion that Hume sustained in several works. His Natural History of Religion, the On Miracles section of the Enquiry Concerning Human Understacing, and other essays comprise a broad criticism of religion. Other pillars of religion, such as the existence of miracles and revelation, are criticized in his other work. While Hume denied being an atheist and was apparently disturbed by the dogmatic atheism of French philosophes he met in Paris, he was certainly not religous in any conventional sense.

This is a short and very readable book but the power of its arguments are totally out of proportion to its length.

This book is very informative and has already come in very handy for a remote location in Alaska where fresh quality commercial vegetables are hard to come by. Now, we're able to substitute fresh quality wild plants for wilted commercial produce.

Living in Alaska, I must say this is one of the finest books out there to help not only identify but work with wild plants in so many ways. The photos are excellent, the descriptions thorough and elaborate, the only negative is that it is too short, and yet too large to take out in the field! GREAT book, highly recommend.

This a great book for the outdoors person & naturalist who wishes not always to eat out of Costco & eliminate the danger of MONSANTO & the world of unnatural & unsafe foods. Great pix & descriptions, also uses both medicinal & edible

This book has provided me with the ability to further my daily quest to eat only raw food. With Global warming now upon us and with the rising cost of organic vegetables this book will allow me to supplement me diet with raw wild plants.

I own three copies of this - an autographed hardbound that I keep at home and two duct-tape reinforced softback copies that have been on many trips into the field on personal trips, as part of field reference libraries on wilderness kayaking trips, at camps and on natural history cruises, and even in my day pack from time to time (though this is really too big to be a backpacker field guide). When this first came out it was THE gift of the year among my coastal Alaskan friends with any interest in nature (thus my three copies).

I would like not to see the parallels. Any rational and compassionate person should like not to see the parallels. But the parallels are there, and Miller lays them bare in this devastating and meticulous extended analogy.

This is an astonishing book. Its thesis is provocative, to say the least, and it may not be for everyone -- but if you've ever wondered if just maybe our current federal drug policy wasn't delivering quite what you'd hoped, crack this book open and prepare to lose sleep.

This is one of the most powerful books I've read in a long time. Richard L. Miller deserves an award. In this book, the author details the erosion of civil liberties by the current war on drugs. For those familiar with this area, he trots out the typical points: harsh penalties for minor violations and loss of civil liberties for all.

But what makes this book special is the author's analysis of legal issues and history. Richard Miller is an independent scholar who has written about Nazi justice (in "Nazi Justiz"). I thought his application of Nazi jurisprudence to the drug war was overkill at first. Little did I know just how wrong I was. As one reviewer put it, this book will help you lose weight.

What sets this book above the others on the drug war is that Miller explains how the war effects the innocent, and how innocence is no longer an adequate defense. In fact, Miller has a Justice Department official quoted as saying that innocence was not a defense to forfeiture of assets. He argues that asset forfeiture has corrupted law enforcement at all levels.

In one example, Miller tells of an elderly couple in one California county who owned a mutil-million dollar ranch adjacent to a national park. Apparently, the Park Service wanted the land, the local law enforcement the assets (in the form of the house, possessions, etc.). Thus, police had to get a warrant to raid the property. First, they searched it illegally. This is a typical tactic of DEA agents and local law enforcement, who search a house and either plant or discover evidence that they can use to get a warrent later. Regardless, the courts have determined that even illegal searches and seizures are acceptable in the war on drugs. All of this is documented in the book. Even in the illegal search, no drugs were discovered. An elderly couple, go figure?

If you think that stopped the police, DEA, et al., then you haven't read the book. One local officer testified before a judge that "thousands" of marijuana plants were being cultivated on the property. This testimony was based on a lie told to the officer by another. Although both were aware of the lie (and the couple's complete innocence of ANYTHING), this way neither officer could be chared with perjury. Needless to say, the judge issued the warrant.

During the raid, the husband was sleeping. He was roused awake by his wife's screaming and was shot to death as he put down his rifle, which he had becuase he thought he was being robbed and was defending his wife. The agents participating in the raid evicted the wife. Even agents of the U.S. Park Service were involved, in case you doubted their complicity.

It gets better. The location of the ranch was in a different county than the one in which the local police were from! They went out of their own jurisdiction for the express purpose of seizing property from people THEY KNEW were innocent. All of this was expressed by the county prosecutor (where the ranch was), when he said that they appeared to be motivated by a desire to obtain the property and assests of its owners.

This book is meticulously documented and researched. The analysis of the legal issues with references to the Nuremburg Tribunal and Nazi legal principles is stunning. As well as his telling of the internment of Japenese-Americans to demonstrate how segments of society can be treated if the propaganda warriors desire their elimination.

If you're not enraged by the time you're finished reading this book, your heart is dead.

The author has done the work and now the citizens must spread the "gospel". Like a seer Lawrence is able to anticipate the insane trajectory of where this drug war is leading. Though the picture he paints is ugly, if these drug warrior zealots are not vigorously challenged now he clearly shows how much uglier it will become. The evil of Nazi Germany and that of the US drug war are clearly shown to progress via the same chain of events: identification, ostracism, confiscation, concentration, and the final solution ie annihilation. Miller is an American hero doing the best he can to awaken conciousness.

This is one of the best books I have read. I am against prohibition. Many people are but whenever the subject comes up in conversation the retort to my sugestion that prohibition be repealed is typically something along the line of "all you want to do is smoke pot" ...followed by some chuckling and then some stories about the days when we use to get high as kids.
This book is not about smoking pot. It is about the use of the drug war and prohibition law to circumvent Americans civil liberties. It is very well written. It helped me to form reasonable counter arguments to the for mentioned statement such as... "is it OK to strip search a child?"
This book is made even more relative when used as background material to analyze what I witness while watching the Judge Alito confirmatio hearings.
The scariest part of this book is watching the events described come alive right before our eyes on C-span.
I think you should read this if you, like me, suspect that something is rotten in Denmark and the official version of what is happening just isn't making sense.

This book is an anomaly amidst the typical drug policy literature available. Miller's argument stems from his scholarship on Nazism. He applies Raul Hilberg's "chain of destruction" to the current "war," not on drugs, but on drug users. William Bennett was less than secretive about his abhorrence for those who used drugs, especially those "hard-core users who were too far gone to care about" - stated differently, the real issue is not the drugs themselves, but the type of people who use drugs. America is full of social problems, e.g. poverty, crime, &c.; problems that most politicians are timid in addressing because of the complexities involved in solving them. Yet, politicians need a platform to stand on and the American public needs a scapegoat. Drug users, that most alien element in the population, according to Miller, are the perfect group to identify, ostracize, confiscate, concentrate, and then annihilate as scapegoats for all the ills in society: in fact this sequence of stages is Hilberg's "chain of destruction." It is from his "seminal" study on the Holocaust, later published as: The Destruction of the European Jews, that Hilberg constructed his theory of the chain of destruction. Nazi Germany, like America, was in the throes of profound social discord and the public demanded a scapegoat. The Jews became the literal manifestation of a scapegoat for the German people. Hitler, faced with harsh social problems, exercised his own prejudices to isolate, blame and thus use the Jews as a scapegoat for Germany's problems. It was identification of the scapegoat with a real entity and the eventual acceptance of this scapegoat by a German majority that led to the conceptualization and employment of a "final solution" for the riddance of social ills from German society. Miller's argument is provocative, to say the least, in that he sees a direct correlation between the processes of Nazism and the processes of the "drug warriors." Moral indignation when it is directed toward a highly specified group of people can have disastrous consequences. Miller is not the only scholar who has applied the scapegoat theory to drug users in American society, but he is the first to take it to its disturbing, but logical end.

I thought this was one of the best books in the EQ series, and coming from me thats saying quite a bit, oh and Winnowill is a subject worth thinking about.

ElfQuest is a wounderful series for anyone whom reads it. It is full of some of the personal expierences from Wendy and Richard Pini's own life, it contains moral lessons, it has incredible insight, a dynamic story and georgeous artwork, do not pass this book up! IT ROCKS!!!

If you are new to the world of elfquest this is the third book in the elfquest line.Before it comes the books Fire and Flight(book #1)and the Forbbiden Grove(book #2). In this book, you meet the Gliders, a group of elves that claims to be the High Ones. You also meet the dark and evil Winnowill, a healer but one which uses her powers for hurting rather then healing.Lastly you learn the secret of the Wolfriders... I won't give away the story but I do reccomend you buy this book for its art,story and feeling...

This is the third book out of four collections of the original quest which are, in my opinion, works of genius!! The first book is Fire and Flight, the second - The Forbidden Grove, and the last (In my opinion, as the stuff that follows doesn't really seem like Elfquest to me) is the Quest's End. I have been reading those same four books over and over again for 15 years and I feel that they have enriched my life.

Of course, being an ElfQuest fan, I love pretty much everything ElfQuest, including this book, and so will you if you like ElfQuest in general.

However, this is the paperback/black and white edition-don't buy it! Warp and Marvel comics are coming out with hardback, color editions of I believe all of the ElfQuest storyline, just slightly re-organized from the last hardcover/color edition of their graphic novels that they released- heads up, don't go paying fifty bucks online for someone's used old copy! Unless you're really impatient don't go buying this! The next one to be redone in color and hardback should be #3! They've done 1 and 2!

Although it will be more expensive that way, if you're going to bother getting into something that is primarily a visual medium, why not in color as it was meant to be seen? Nothing "artistic" about this kind of B&W, it just loses.

VERY GOOD!! the best yet.

VERY GOOD!! the best yet.

I say this is more (much more) bloody than others of four ordinary ElfQuest, but it is writed well. There is a story much morer than ever in "Fire & Flight". Kahvi's the new character in this( you see her in picture) , and she is the chief on elkriders, who call themselves Go-Backs. Go-Backs live in shadow of mountains were is a HOME OF HIGH ONES. And with wolfriders they found it. once more i will say: Wolfriders never die. Yes, I know one-eye just did in a "Captives of Blue mountain", but, if you read this, you se how many of Go-Backs die. And that is normal. But NONE of wolfriders. They have armors as much as Go-backs.

But to end this, I tell you: Wendy and Richard teach us in every book , and they tell about life.

Believe me, you just won't believe this! This is the most skillfully drawn and written part of the whole "Elfquest" series next to the part about the adventures in the Blue Mountain. In fact, you won't see anything like this ever again in any Elfquest tales, nor even the future ones yet to come, I suspect. The great epic of war against the bloodthirsty Trolls of the Great White North begins right after the imprisonment of elves in the Blue Mountain by the witchlike Winnowill - a real teeth-rattling clash of so many different characters, old or new with their individual personalities and differences. In additional, a whole galaxy of the fantastic environment on the far-off World of Two Moons really opens up for the very first time to your mortal human eyes - from the monstrous labyrinth of the Troll lair to the shimmering walls of the long-lost Palace of the High Ones - with a whole bagful of earth-shaking surprises to boot! If you already have this rare book or are lucky enough to get your hands on a copy, I sincerely promise you that you just won't be able to put it down, nor read it just once!

For the first time since the original Elfquest story was released as a 20-issue series (from 1978 to 1984), it has been published in the original black-and-white format; the new Reader's Collection printing of Book 4 includes issues 16 to 20 (the last five), dealing with the elves' campaign to wrest control of their ancestral home, the Palace of the High Ones, from a hostile, heavily armed tribe of trolls.

By now much ink has been devoted to the originality and emotional conviction of the Pinis' tale, and of course Wendy's artistic skills need no further explanation. However, it is good to see, once again, the sheer quality - and expressiveness - of the artist's pencil-work as originally presented; some of this was obscured by the mediocre coloring of the editions published since the late Eighties (quite unlike the elegant coloring-work of the earlier Donning versions of the first four volumes, still worth having after all these years).

It has been said many times before, but it should be said, again, that the Pinis demonstrate their storytelling prowess by breaking the conventions of fantasy fiction; most importantly, the fulfillment of the quest is seen to be costly, even in the loss both of lives and innocence; and the battle, though necessary for the elves to reach their goal, is not their be-all and end-all - the truly life-changing events lie further ahead. The climax of this story possesses a nuance and thoughtfulness worthy of "real" fiction, and this, even more than the superlative artwork, gives the tale its substance and emotional power.

A final note on the presentation: some printing errors have unfortunately crept into this Reader's Collection book (as they also have in volumes 5 and 12a (the first printing only) of the series) - many pages are out of their proper order, so if you are new to EQ, try to find and earlier edition of Book 4 to enable yourself to follow the plot correctly. That caution aside, it is good to have the original EQ storyline again - now priced to gain a new audience.

I first encountered Enneagram literature in the early '90s, and became engrossed, but soon felt bogged down in belly-gazing and type-analyzing, and somewhat depressed by the way the types seemed locked into their weaknesses, according to the sources I was reading at the time. Rohr and Ebert's book, on the other hand, was a breath of fresh air. The "Christian perspective" in this book is a perspective of redemption and transformation. Knowledge of one's type becomes a key toward growth and transformation, rather than a stimulus for belly-gazing. Also, the book's treatment of "wings" and different "centers" (gut, head, heart), as well as its discussion of factors that lead to type-confusion (a person of one type taking on the characteristics of another at a certain point in his/her life), helps account for the unique variations and complexities found in individual personalities. I also found it better than some of the other sources I'd read at pinpointing the essential issues of the types, and after having mis-typed myself for years, I finally made the correct identification.

A suggestion to any newcomer to the Enneagram: Explore different discussions to gain a nuanced understanding of it (as well as to avoid the pitfall of narrowing people into rigid categories). One of the beauties of the Enneagram is its complexity. Although the insights in this book were the most constructive to me, other helpful sources have been: audio recordings of Enneagram workshops led by Rohr; The Enneagram Made Easy by Baron and Wagele (a fun quick-reference, and there's a brief but interesting cross-reference with the Myers Briggs Type Indicator); http://www.9types.com/; and http://www.enneagraminstitute.com/.

This was a wonderfully well written and insightful book...explores the depths of the enneagram in relation to one's Christian life.

This updated version of DISCOVERING THE ENEAGRAM is truly a gem. It does a good job of explaining Enneagram theory and an excellent scholarly job of looking at the history of the Enneagram. In addition, its descriptions of the 9 Enneagram types are well done and insightful. Each of these sections also contains many interesting historical references to important figures and event in Christian history.

I have read a lot of Enneagram books including some that were written from a Christian perspective. Within the Christian subset of books, I feel this one is "hands down" the very best. It is also in general agreement with Riso and Hudson, Helen Palmer and Sandra Maitri on the characteristics of the types. These are three of the biggest names in Enneagram study and each has a useful perspective to offer.

Rohr sees the Enneagram as both a useful psychological and spiritual tool for self growth. Psychologists and spiritual directors will really appreciate his rigor and depth. Another Christian author who uses the Enneagram for spiritual direction is James Empereur. His book THE ENNEAGRAM AND SPIRITUAL DIRECTION is also quite good.

If you are a psychologist you may also want a copy of PERSONALITY TYPES by Riso and Hudson. This book covers the 9 developmental levels of each type in detail and the associated psychological pathologies. For a general audience, THE WISDOM OF THE ENNEAGRAM by the same authors may be better because it has a more broad focus on theory and keeps the detail on each developmental level to a minimum.

Another point worth mentioning is that this updating version of Rohr's DISCOVERING THE ENNEAGRAM (retitled) covers new discoveries about the history of the Enneagram. This includes its use and possible origins in Early Christianity. This section is well-researched and you can find a lot of good references here on the history of the Enneagram.

As a fan of Richard Rohr, i must confess I found this book quite disappointing. Having engaged in coursework on the enneagram I entered this book with some familiarity with the lens it provided.
I was very disappointed in Rohr's generalizations and use of stereotypical terms such as "Jewish mother" which I find inflammatory. I also found his assumptions as with certain types having had abusive childhoods (when this is not necessarily true). It appears that either Rohr or the other author has some personal issues with the two and seven types. As the tone of these chapters is much more negative than the rest of the book. Incidentally, in the chapter entitled "The enneagram and Jesus" there is disproportionately less space devoted to how Jesus was an enneagram 2 than any other type.
As the book appears to be translated from German and is a republication of a 1989 german edition, I give Rohr the benefit of the doubt and give him 3 stars when I really believe it worthy of only 2 stars. There is some worthwhile information presented but the manner it is presented is questionable at best.
Regardless of the author or teacher, the enneagram is a none too gentle wake up call to take a long hard look at our compulsions. Studying it is always painful if one truly invests in its philosophy. However I urge extreme caution in reading this book as I find it to have more potential for traumitization.
For a more gentle yet credible introduction to the enneagram I reccomend anything by Riso and Hudson especially THE WISDOM OF THE ENNEAGRAM. Similarly anything by Helen Palmer is excellent. For brief bare bones essentials on the enneagram, THE ESSENTIAL ENNEAGRAM by Daniels and Price will suffice. For an excellent and gentle read on the Enneagram and its relation to Kabbalah look into the two books by Rabbi Addison.
For an excellent book by Rohr read HOPE AGAINST DARKNESS: THE TRANSFORMING VISION OF SAINT FRANCIS IN AN AGE OF ANXIETY.

This book hit my personality type totally! With jaw-dropping accuracy, it brought my natural inclinations to light as a typical personality type. All of a sudden, I was not alone and there was reason for my tendencies. This book was great because it bridges the gap between your natural inclinations and where you should go as a Christian. Highly recommended!

Wonderful book for understanding well-known people's relationship with God. It is also a good source for figuring out how to develop one's own relationship with a higher power.
The contributors discuss what their childhood religious background was like, how it "evolved" and how it has changed.
The book brought up the question-Does it take a tragedy to bring a person closer to God?- and others to contemplate about "human nature." Meditation,prayer and contemplation are the most often suggested methods for developing a relationship with God.
Our "retreat" will be using this as our basic text. I think that the way it is "organized" can lead to many interesting, spiritual discussions.

In a world that seems so terribly fixated on our differences, it is nice to be reminder of the truly important things that we share. Handbook for the Spirit brings together some of the most well known people in the world (The Dalai Lama, Mother Teresa, Thick Nhat Hanh, Brooke Medicine Eagle, and Wayne Dyer just to name a few) to share their view and experiences about spirituality. It doesn't seem to matter if they refer to God, Jesus, Buddha, Allah, or the universe, nature, or the I Am. The foundation is the same, that something connects us all as one.

There's something deeply touching about Handbook for the Spirit. As I read, I was reminded about the really important aspects of my life. Suddenly, all my petty cares and anxieties didn't seem so all consuming. I felt empowered. In that moment, I knew that interconnection that the author's spoke about and was renewed in my life purpose.

Handbook for the Spirit (3rd edition)
Edited by Richard Carlson, PhD, and Benjamin Shield, PhD

Spiritual leaders from every tradition clearly point to a new direction in the human understanding of our relationship to our divine source of being in the Handbook for the Spirit. In today's complex world, the message remains as simple as ever: "The way back to ourselves is to understand, through compassion, that we were never separate." Only through the harmony of our minds and hearts will we ever be able to embrace our differences, which is the key to tolerance. An excellent confirmation of the common ground of all religions.

Rahasya Poe, Lotus Guide Magazine ([...])

I really liked how this book was done. It's a collection of spiritual essays from people as diverse as The Dalai Lama, Wayne Dyer, Rabbi Harold Kushner, Father William McNamara, Thich Nhat Hanh, Mother Teresa and many more.

The purpose of the anthology is to show the common denominator of all religious teachings, which is an individual's personal relationship with God.

I was really moved by the messages from the authors. To give you a feel for the book, here are a few quotes from some of the essays:

--The Dalai Lama: "The essence of all religions is love, compassion, and tolerance. Kindness is my true religion."

--Wayne Dyer: "Gandhi was asked to describe in twenty-five words or less what his life mission was. He said, "I could do it in three: 'Renounce and enjoy." You renounce all worldly attachment to everything and enjoy what God gives you."

--Rev. Michael Beckwith: "We don't really have a personal life apart from God."

--A.H. Almaas: "To truly find God, truth needs to be found independently from the opinions of others. The truth has to be found in our hearts."

--Barbara Marx Hubbard: "The way to becoming a cocreator is, first, to meditate in silence at least once a day. Have a journal present. In the deepest silence and relaxation of your being, ask for anything to come forward - any information from God on any question you have."

...and there were many more great quotes I could have chosen from. This is a very special book. Though it's less than 200 pages, it provides great insights and inspiration from some very spiritual people. I highly recommend this book.

Joseph Campbell said it well - and says it again in this new collection: "An intense experience of mystery is what one has to regard as the ultimate religious experience."

If that's where you are in your own spiritual journey - then this book is for you.

"Handbook for the Spirit" is a Who's Who of "old friends" in the spiritual field - too many names to list here. But the co-editors Dr. Richard Carlson and Dr. Benjamin Shield are old hands at sharing insights into the healing and happiness that can surprise us in our spiritual journeys. They've collected here some new, and some old, thoughts specifically about a person's relationship to the divine - to God or to other higher realms of spiritual truth.

What I love about this particular collection is that, while it does share some speculative approaches to spirituality, the community of voices here also is rooted in traditional faiths as well.

So, for example, we've got a great piece here by Sue Bender, author of the memoir, "Plain and Simple," about life among the Amish. Writing with her characteristic clarity, she gives us an 8-page reflection on what she's learned from the Amish -- and from her experience of writing about the Amish.

Rabbi Harold Kushner appears in this collection, too. For so many readers, his voice is like an old friend returning to share a few thoughts. As in most of these inspirational pieces, there's nothing here that's stunningly new to longtime readers. But it's like coming to a family reunion in which Kushner leans back and reminds us of various things, including the importance of Martin Buber's teachings.

And, every now and then, there's a flash of awareness, for example: I enjoyed finding, toward the end of Kushner's chapter, this little gem: "When people ask me, `Where is God?' I tell them I would rather rephrase the question to, `When is God?'" Now, truth be told, I've heard this great question from a number of rabbis through the years. It's a brilliant reframing of our windows toward God. Nevertheless, as I finished Kushner's chapter, seeing the question afresh in that context - was like a little ray of light.

That's how the very best "readers" in this genre are supposed to work. A huge "Bravo!" to Shield and Carlson and the whole circle of old friends who assembled this wonderful little gift.

In his book Forty Years A Speculator, Fred Carach does an excellent job of convincing the reader that the big blue-chip companies are NOT the way to invest; rather, other stocks are worthy of your dollars because of their income potential, or the fact that they are good penny stocks or inexpensive enough that you can double your money, perhaps many times over. Fred's humorous tone is very appropriate, as he convincingly conveys in a conversational tone that it is laughable how some people ignore inexpensive yet high-quality stocks as if they are not worthy of investment. Fred lays his cards on the table, listing many stocks that he deems investment-worthy and his rationale for investing in them. Many of these stocks are NOT the ordinary stocks that the investment pundits say you should invest in. Fred will convince you that you can intelligently gamble your way to riches by being a contrarian investor. This book is a must-read for every investor who wants to be an intelligent gambler and for those who want a successful alternative investment approach. Fred should be applauded for sharing his excellent work and advice with his time-tested and novel investing approach.

People stand up and listen. This is a book that can be a difference maker for you. Buy the book. Read it. Apply it! This gives the every day guy a chance. Don't be fooled by the title. This is an excellent well rounded and well thought out investment program that nobody it talking about...nobody! Don't wait.
Joe - Woodstock, VA

Although humor may be sprinkled throughout this whole book, it should be taken very seriously. He gives a very well thought out, and examined approach to very high risk investment. He gives not only relevant stock examples, but also relevant historical examples. My only recommendation is to read one or two general trading books, before reading this one, otherwise you won't be able to fully appreciate his alternative view of investing.