Roberts Books

Of the five books on growing and using lavender, Robert Kourik's book provided the most practical information on growing lavender. It is well written and nicely punctuated with beautiful photographs.

Lavender is my latest garden discovery -- easy to grow, hardy, useful, beautiful.

Not only is it beautiful- not only is it well-written - it answered questions about the lavender collection I've been developing. Munstead? Hidcote? Ahh... I get it now!

Grew up with vast fields of French lavender as a child and lavender is a daily part of my life still. Love this book because it gives so much useful information on soil requirements, watering and best type of lavender to grow where you live. There is also a great recipe section in the back part of the book with the Buttermilk Lavender Bread and Lavender Lemon Shortbread (which is a cookie) being two recipes that even the most manly of men would even enjoy. Beginning on page 112 the author has given a Farms and Garden listing for throughout the states Canada that carry lavender items. On page 116 the author provides a good map of the United States and the different growing zones for those interested in growing lavender. Will also note the book is beautiful and one that I love to simply pick up and re-read often.

I enjoyed this book because it didn't assume you were a botanist, but explained things in a way that answered my questions and yet wasn't too simple. Compared to the several other of the Lavender books that I have purchased I felt that this one was the most complete, it had a nice breakdown of the lavenders and good sections on growing. It is a book of substance and readability. My advice is that if you want a book to get you started and only want to buy one book, get this one.

Excellant book. I borrowed it from the library a couple of years back and thought so much of it that I wanted to purchase a copy for my personnal library. A very insightful look into the lifes of Robert E. Lee's daughters and their lifes.

Anyone interested in Robert E. Lee the man, will be delighted with the insights into his family provided by author Coulling. Lee was an exceptional leader, but his role as a father was even more revealing of his loving nature and the nuances of his personality. In my opinion, this book does a lot to demystify Lee. I do not see him as such a complex and mysterious individual as some historians have labeled him. His consistency is especially evident in this chronicle of family life.

Apart from Lee, the book focuses extensively on the lives of the daughters. Each daughter is portrayed as a complete person, and their individuality is celebrated. One can learn quite a bit about Mary Lee the mother, too, and even the grandparents who were so deeply loved by the girls. The sons are not ignored, either.

There is an overcast of sadness about the story, at least I felt a little sad, because they did have a difficult life. It's true that the Lee family was prominent in society and certainly they can be seen as privileged, but these privileges carry their own burden.

I highly recommend The Lee Girls to all those who want to escape to the past for awhile and enter into the Lee household.

The book was a wonderful view into the life of Robert E. Lee's family as well as perfect picture of what the social, educational and family scene was in the mid 1800's. The dairies of family members allow us to picture their journey through life with intimate detail. The book points out the closeness of family, as well as the lost art of letter writing, as our society has progressed from pen and paper to e:mail and instant messages.

This book is a well written and very well documented account of the four Lee daughters. Most of us are aware of the generals and battles of the Civil War. This book gives an insightful look into the lives of women during this time period. The author gives us an accurate account of the attitudes and behaviors of the time even when they are not currently acceptable. She also portrays the individuals in a very balanced manner. You realize that aside from being a prominent military family they are also a loving family with the struggles and triumphs all families share.

The Lee Girls by biographer Mary P. Coulling is the informed and informative story of Confederate General Robert E. Lee's four daughters: Mary Custis Lee; Eleanor Agnes Lee; Mildred Childe Lee; and Anne Carter Lee. Diaries, letters, paintings, and other contemporary records were utilized as primary source materials upon which to base an bibliographically historically accurate narrative of these women's lives through girlhood, the horror of war, and the era of reconciliation and rebuilding. A truly excellent and well balanced chronicle, The Lee Girls is a welcome and highly recommended addition to American Regional History, Civil War Studies, and Reconstruction Era Studies collections and supplemental reading lists.

Robert Mercer-Nairne's The Letter Writer is a compelling novel, bringing together the lives of several Seattle-area residents in a most unlikely way. But when most of those residents go together on The Letter Writer's cruise to Hawaii, things suddenly start to change.

The Letter Writer is a wonderful novel, with just enough complexity to make it interesting and hold your attention, but not so much that the characters get mixed up in your mind. Novels like The Letter Writer are my favorite; I call them great airplane books, because they're so fascinating they hold your interest through late and delayed flights, turbulence, crying babies and roaring jet engines.

Mercer-Nairne skillfully weaves together the life circumstances of several characters. Until the middle of the book, you wonder where he's going with his characters, but then you begin to see just what he has in mind. It's not until the epilogue, however, that you find out all of the many twists and turns, most of them very surprising, that have taken place in the book.

The book has 351 pages, with 57 chapters, plus an epilogue; none of the chapters are very long, but several of them are further divided. This is one of the things that makes The Letter Writer great reading in my opinion; while it's certainly written so that it can be picked up and put down, you won't want to do that. You'll want to read it as fast as possible.

I think The Letter Writer would make a fabulous movie, but at any rate, I'm looking for more novels from Mr. Mercer-Nairne.

Rebeccasreads highly recommends THE LETTER WRITER as a leisurely saga of Seattle-ites from old wealth & hopeful entrepeneurs, & what happens when each receives a newsletter touting a once-in-a-lifetime deal.

Enter a cast of regional characters with histories & agendas, quite ably sketched, meandering along in a very Northwest fashion... (I live here, so I can say that!) until, in Part II, they set sail for Hawaii on David Dulalley's Golden Cruise.

On the high seas, surrounded by luxury & ulterior motives, marriages start cracking at the seams, seductions occur around every corner, & deceit winds its bitter tentacles around the charming & the loathesome, the naive & the lecherous, the suave & the desperate.

THE LETTER WRITER is quite absorbing -- a tad heavy on the financial intricacies -- a lively parable about greed, foolhardy optimism, vanity & the struggle to understand what truly matters.

Mercer Nairne is as good a writer as I've read in a long time. He has original style, a flair for literary nuance, and impeccable plot timing and structure. The Letter Writer is simply a splendid work, a real eye-opener into a slice of American culture, replete with get-rich-quick schemes and the like.

Highly, highly, recommended.

The Letter Writer is a fine work of fiction by an author with a unique and distinct voice. Mercer-Nairne captures a facet of American culture with vivid characters, a compelling storyline, and a wonderful writing style.

I recommend this book highly to all lovers of good fiction.

I feel strongly Mercer-Nairne is destined for literary stardom; he is that talented.

The Letter Writer: Book Review

"I enjoyed reading this book. The characters were portrayed very well. Jack, a multimillionaire who experiences mid-life crisis and ends up finding meaning to his life - but it costs him millions of dollars and emotional pain. Adele is a heavy-drinking, free-living, multimillionaire with an independent mind and a sense of humor. Wendy, a single mother who finds the love of her life. Mixed up educators playing with their students' lives in their conquest and the retiring professor who resists this plot has a big secret. A married advisor carries on an affair with another man and when he is discovered, he thinks his world has ended.
I would say this fiction is a light comedy that is quite entertaining and has some romance elements as well. Author Robert Mercer-Nairne brings attention to common human frailties with a sense of fun. He clearly reveals the desire to `get rich quick' in North American Society. Members of this society tend to hear what we WANT to hear and perceive the greener pasture out there somewhere - rather than in the here and now.
Readers are shown the foolishness of following others blindly and the danger of where our greed can take us. Innocents can have their life irrevocable altered by someone else's desire to climb a corporate or social ladder. The benefit of spiritual leaders to help ground the characters in this novel, helping them learn to forgive themselves and move on in life is used at several points in the story.
I recommend this book for anyone looking for a light, entertaining read."

ISBN#: 0974814105
Publisher: Gritpoul, Inc
Author: Robert Mercer-Nairne

~ Lillian Brummet - Book Reviewer - Co-author of the book Trash Talk, a guide for anyone concerned about his or her impact on the environment - Author of Towards Understanding, a book of poetry. (http://www.sunshinecable.com/~drumit)

As a language arts teacher, I read 2 or 3 books a week. I am constantly searching for well written, relevant, and riveting novels. This book delivers. I highly recommend this book for 9-13 year olds.

I am a middle school language arts teacher and I read just about every new title that gets any hype. This book did not disappoint! The plot is well developed and the characters are endearing...Frita is so spunky while Gabe is a quirky scardy-cat afraid of his own shadow. Both Frita and Gabe learn a great about life, love, fear, racism and the nature of hate the summer before they enter fifth grade. In the end they realize that fear is a part of life - bravery is feeling the fear and forging ahead despite it. Great read HIGHLY recommended!!!

I bought this book for Christmas for my 10 year old (4th grade). He will read a chapter and then come find me and read it to me all over again because he thinks it is so funny. He has to read 1/2 hour everyday for school requirements and he will continue to read this book for over an hour. Gets him away from the computer and GameCube games. Hurray.

I bought this book because I loved the front cover and the blurb on back. The cover depicts a jar of something yellowish-green, reminding me of "The Secret Life of Bees." Perhaps I should not tell this about myself, but I will--I did not "see" that spider until after I completed the book and looked at the cover again to decide how the picture fit into the story. Then I saw the spider and the green color (grass through the jar). Wow. I decided then that the story really is about fear. Fear of spiders was near the top of Gabriel's list of fears. Frita convinces him to adopt this spider as his pet.

The blurb on back summarizes the story as a friendship between two fourth-graders moving up to fifth grade, two unusual fourth-graders, one white boy and one black girl. Then I thought about the book again. Not fear. The book seems to be about fear, and it is, but the real intangible character is integrity. The book is about integrity.

Frita Wilson is the only African-American in their small school in Hollowell, GA, not far from Plains, where Jimmy Carter hails. The story takes place during the summer of the campaign for president in 1976, a time when integrating is taking place all over the South and racial strife is evident.

Gabriel King misses his Moving Up graduation to fifth grade because some racist bullies physically prevent him. As a result, Gabriel decides he will not go to fifth grade housed in a separate wing, fearing the bullies. He will just stay in fourth. Frita makes it her summer's goal to liberate them of their fears. Even in victory over various levels of fear, Gabriel "knows" all along that his fear of bullies will not be liberated and he is not going to fifth grade.

They defeat some fears on the list and some fears win. The saddest loss occurs near the end and becomes the impetus for winning the big one. Not willing to be a spoiler, I ask you to read this most enjoyable book. Friendship is a big winner. Family love and unity are big winners. But the biggest winner is integrity. So are Gabriel and Frita because they have this integrity all along.

Having written all this, I feel I must voice my one misgiving about the book. Although it really is a cool story with racism and specific racists taking hits (in a law-abiding way, not through violence), I cannot help but question this friendship between Gabriel and Frita. No matter how I look at it, I just cannot see it happening. Not because of skin colors, but because of age and sex of the children. Boys and girls in the fourth grade just aren't best friends. They certainly don't spend the night with each other in the same room. Parents just would not allow this closed door thing with a boy and a girl of this age. Having stated these things, I still endorse this book--with four stars, not five.

I read this to my 7 and 9 year old boys. We couldn't put it down. It now ranks among our favorites with Tale of Desperaux and Ida B. A true treasure of a book.

Soennichsen attempts to capture "my reverence for Death Valley's geology, history, and harsh environment. It is a reverence conceived in naiveté, nourished through repeated exploration, and polished with the passage of time. It is the story of how this region helped construct my views on the environment, tourism, solitude, and religion, among other topics. It is part memoir and part adventure tale; part history and part coming-of-age story." (xiii) He compares the Valley to a harsh mistress whom he still loves. One who "did not seek to hide its appearance with vegetative cosmetics, did not adorn itself in soft and sumptuous outer garments or employ subtly filtered lighting or cool desert breezes the tempt my senses." (xii) Not all the narrative, wisely, emerges from such extended metaphors. These are deployed sparingly, for maximum effect.

He knows the power of the fanciful placenames we use to try to account for Death Valley's weird formations. Our attempt to play Adam shows both our bold confidence that we can control nature, and our failure to understand the ineffable forces that outlast us. Our naming reveals their power over us far beyond what words can convey. Nevertheless, he tries in a variety of registers to explain some of the fascination that this territory's provoked in him and within a few hardy, or deluded, people over the past century and a half.

William Lewis Manly's tale-- as retold skillfully by Soennichsen-- of his fellow pioneers who took what would become a fatal short cut for some in their party in 1949-50 (ironically a much wetter winter and more forgiving climate than usual) here's interspersed with chapters on the geology and dessication, the mining and pioneer days, the unpredictable weather, the flora and fauna, the crazy folks, The Devil's Racetrack mystery of gliding boulders, more crazy folks, his earlier forays into danger, burros, and what can be seen off the main roads that circle the National Park. Unfailingly, he gives enough insight into his own experiences without getting bogged down in superfluous details from the rest of his life.

He selects only what's appropriate to illuminate the Valley, from his point of view, and supplements it sparingly but deftly with the records from history and fellow sojourners. I sensed that much more could have been told about the mining camps in particular, but other guides and academic works did this. The context, nonetheless, for such efforts as the 20-Mule Borax Mule Team that in turn spawned the now-nearly forgotten (he makes an aside to it) "Death Valley Days" show by Ronald Reagan before he entered 60's politics remained undernourished. Yet, we can find out more in longer, or less accessible, works. He appends a short list of sources selected, but I would have liked much more annotation or specific suggestions for other media. (There's a URL given on the dust jacket with www. plus the main title of his book as a single word plus dot-com; I tried it today and found a dead link, however.)

This book earns five stars for its clear prose, careful composition, and thoughtful analysis of this infamous expanse. Although the cover and titular typeface make it at first look less than the well-informed investigation that the contents reveal, and the lack of a usable map or representative photos does detract unfortunately from my perfect rating overall, this book's recommended. The photos tended to be rather indistinct, as if random snaps, and did not depict the splendor or strangeness of the sights his words witness.

I admit a bit of confusion. He cites verbatim the dangers of desiccation from Richard Lingenfelter's standard history, while he contradicts what Lingenfelter asserts on the previous page of "Death Valley & the Amargosa": that the Shoshone term "Tomesha" did not mean what Soennichsen in his own introduction's first sentence asserts: "Ground on Fire." (xi; cf. Lingenfelter 1986: 11-13--also reviewed by me.) Lingenfelter traces this false "Paiute" etymology to a 1907 "one-liner" from a geologist. Lingenfelter gives "Coyote Rock" as the probable Shoshone derivation from what was once the largest Indian village there. Thus, as both authors agree, the mythic and the illusive certainly reign over the landscape.

Speaking of placenames, Soennichsen's map, while it reminded me of an affectionate sketch one might take away from an insider who shares his own points of interest on a napkin with you after a long conversation in a local bar near the Valley, on paper's too cramped and idiosyncratic to serve the curious reader wishing for more precision and an easier comprehension of the many sites referred to in the text.

Yet, these remain minor faults compared with the book's strengths. I admired Soennichsen's style, both as a thinker and a chronicler of his beloved realm. For roughly four decades, as he sums up his book's scope, he's been roaming when he could these quiet lands, preparing to tell the tales in this brief, lively, but serious record of what lurks beyond the myths of this often forbidding, yet coyly inviting, place.

He's edited this efficiently told collection of interrelated essays down, I estimate, from a larger work, and the discipline in crafting his reflections shows in the meditative, yet never dull, pace. With touches of self-deprecation, memories of lots of beer in coolers, and the right amount of anecdotes, he tells entertaining yet educational stories. As with Edward Abbey's "Desert Solitaire," this updates the ancient wonder of the American desert for our times; Soennichsen has the advantage of moving further west than Abbey into what still seems to me a Mojave that has lacked the attention from nature writers that it deserves and earns in the hands of such earlier efforts as the late Colin Fletcher's "A Thousand-Mile Summer."

Soennichsen's final chapter accomplishes this feat of verbal reclamation best. Without revealing why I think his night in Surprise Canyon proved so apt a name for such an encounter as the one he relates, he also cocks a sober eye towards our hubris and chides our refusal-- in a wilderness that often punishes the foolhardy visitor-- to respect the limits that such a desert represents to all of us who drag motorhomes and generators out there into the silence. We wish to see Mother Nature from the comforts of only our frigid automobile window, or perhaps after tearing it up under our 4WD's spattered windscreen. Without getting sanctimonious or hypocritical, he marvels at relentless human endeavor to tame such an awesome place. Also, he elicits respect for the hidden places that should not be domesticated.

I did not expect the penultimate pages of this little book to end with a chapter citing Sartre, but it's again testimony to Soennichsen's skill that he can integrate a profound observation into his own reflections without it coming off as showing off. At Chris Wicht's Panamint camp, he finds intimations that connect with Wordsworth's "inward eye which is the bliss of solitude." (qtd. 168) Our existential solitude, as he learns one midnight, takes us into our minds as the most mysterious of all our landscapes, where even Death Valley may look tamer by psychic comparison.

I thoroughly enjoyed how Soennichsen interwove the historical stories from the past and the factual geographical information with his personal experiences in Death Valley. I liked this book so much that I bought it for my parents.

I throughly enjoyed this book about Death Valley and the author's experiences there. My family used to visit Death Valley regularly on our way to other destinations during our vacations. This book brought back numerous fond memories of my childhood thinking about the mysteries and dangers of the Valley to the pioneers that dared to brave that fantastic wilderness. I was both informed and entertained while reading this wonderful book. If you are even the slight bit curious about Death Valley and the people who explored it, read this book. You'll be pleasantly surprised at the discoveries on each page.

Ok, so... I'm acquainted with this author (online only) because one of his other interests is one I share, and we hang out on the same message board. So when the book came out, I came here to Amazon and bought a copy, just to support John, even though I had NO interest at all in Death Valley.

Well, I started reading it after having it in my "to read" pile for a couple of months, and must say I am VERY pleasantly surprised. John has a great writing style - very accessible, and easy to read. I also like the way you have the past interspersed with the present in this volume. I learned so very much from this book, and have actually told my husband that I'd like to visit Death Valley at some point. (Though, I must admit, I'm one of those city wimps who would want air conditioning & cold water at all times. *grin*)

I'd highly recommend this book to anyone - whether they do or do not currnetly have any interest in Death Valley. It will suck you in and make you long to see this lowest point in America. I am so very pleased that I enjoyed it :) - I honestly thought before I cracked the book open that I'd read 20 or 30 pages then put it away due to a lack of interest.

BUY THIS BOOK!! Recommended by a relative, I had preconcieved ideas and little interest in Death Valley, but started reading it anyway. What a great surprise awaited me within just a few pages! I was transported back and forth between the past and the present, gaining a reverent respect for my ancestors who dared to take this trek through the valley's harsh conditions and then finding myself in awe of the fascinating workings of nature to sustain life and even beauty in such a place.

Reading "Live!From Death Valley: Dispatches from America's Low Point" introduced me to diverse and interesting characters from both long ago and not so long ago, pulled me into mystery and danger, brought me knowledge of botany, wildlife and geology I had never realized before and along the way came many laugh out loud moments that made me look around for someone, anyone, to share them with!!

John Soennichsen's love and expertise of Death Valley shines through and has made me re-think my position that vacations should only be taken on tropical beach's! Wonderful reading!!

Longevity Made Simple by Richard Flanigan M.D. and Kate Flanigan Sawyer MD, MPH, has a subtitle, `How to Add 20 Good Years to Your Life.' This book is not a diet book or is it an exercise book. It is longevity book that explains in simple language what science tells us about living long, healthy lives.

The book consists of eleven chapters plus an appendix with simple recipes. Some topics covered in the book are how long should we live? Eighty-five if we are in good health. The top 10 causes of death in the U.S. Did you know the 10th leading cause of death is Septicemia? Find out what that is in Chapter 2.

Also included is a personal risk profile. It explains what is good and bad cholesterol. Along with BMI charts, a good predictor of health risk is your abdomen size, that's your waist size. It also states the limits for men and women.

Which is better, to be Fit and Fat or Sedentary and Lean? The Cooper Institute, using data from the Aerobics Center Longitude Study answers that question. The minimum amount of exercise is listed and some cautions on over-exercising.

Health foods are also covered. There is a list of Super foods that help to reduce oxidative stress, reduce inflammation, improve the elasticity of the arteries, and improve blood pressure. Heard of plant Stanols and Sterols? These lower serum cholesterol naturally.

Tea or coffee, which is healthier? Seems like both are. Tea contains antioxidants and coffee is associated with a lower risk of diabetes. Also explained are vitamin supplements and some common medications like statins for cholesterol and different type of high blood pressure medicines. A whole chapter is devoted to common health tests, such as EKG, ultrasounds for heart and arteries, and cancer screening tests to name a few.

Rounding out the book is 10 health tips that are practical and do-able. Several of the suggestions I have already started on, such as eating several veggie meals a week and changing my exercise routine.

With charts, graphs, and lists and concise explanations, the Flanigans have made the medical science easy to understand. They write with just enough science to provide meaning and with common language to make it understandable. The amount of data inside makes this a very good quick reference book to have on hand.

By George Fulmore

In retirement, there would seem to be a link between our health and our longevity. The healthier we are, the longer we probably will live. The trick, of course, is 1) trying to figure out the best advice for our individual situation, and 2) trying to follow that advice, while still enjoying ourselves in retirement.

"Longevity Made Simple," by Flanigan and Swayer, (2007, Williams Clark Publishing), I found to be a book that gives a good, up-to-date overview on how to live as healthy and as long as we can.

The thesis of the book is that we are genetically capable of living to about 85 years of age, but that the choices we make in what we eat and how we take care of ourselves can add or subtract years, even decades, from that age.

The basis advice involves:
1) Lower cholesterol
2) Lower Blood Pressure
3) Avoid Tobacco
4) Eat a diet rich in fish, fruit and vegetables
5) Get exercise
6) Maintain a healthy weight
7) Prevent accidents
8) Drink alcohol (daily in small amounts)
9) Take aspirin
10) Take a multivitamin

Heart disease, cancer and strokes are the cause of nearly 60 percent of Americans deaths. By keeping our cholesterol level below 182 mg/dL, our blood pressure under 120 mmHg, and not smoking or having diabetes, we can greatly reduce our risk of heart disease or stroke. Not smoking, of course, significantly reduces the risk of lung cancer, which is the leading cause of cancer for both men and women in the United States, according to the book. For other types of cancer, early detection dramatically increases the likelihood of survival.

The authors also suggest that other tests be done on a regular basis, including Cholesterol (lipid) panel, Advanced lipid testing, Coronary Artery Calcium Testing, Blood tests for the presence of inflammation, Electrocardiograms and Treadmill Stress tests. They say that coffee, with its "high level of antioxidants," is actually quite healthy to drink in moderation. And they site the recent study that found that exercise and fitness are more important than body weight, plus they note that there is no longer evidence that a type-A personality is directly linked with a higher risk of heart attack.

There is much more than in the book, which, again, I think gives a good, high-level overview of improving ones health and longevity in retirement. I recommend it.

Common sense, practical advice about your health. Readable, understandable, and useful. Explains cholesterol numbers, blood pressure, atherosclerosis, and how these issues affect your health and ultimately longevity. I'm giving the book to people I care about.

This book is wonderful! It is quick and easy to read. All of the information is well organized and to the point, which makes it a valuable reference tool. Many other books are way too long, repetitive, and use language that is difficult to understand if you don't have a degree in medecine.
I would definitely recommend this book to anyone wanting to learn how to live a healthier life!

Reading this book gives one the feeling your doctor is sharing everything they can with you...in one visit.

Unfortunately, only later in our life do we tend to get more serious about our health. Even later is never too late, and you can make a difference and you can educate the young now. Absorb it.

Through extensive scientific research, professional experience, the authors, both doctors, have teamed up for a thorough user-friendly book targeting longevity, providing YOU with the choices for a longer better life. And what's more, everything is explained in layman's term. Layout is designed with gray-shaded sidebars to quickly view and digest those very important topics. Lightweight and easy to carry, this is a great book to refer to during those quiet moments.

Understanding the Threats
You will get clear facts on the 10 threats to your health and its risk factors, from the number one killer, heart disease to the number 10, Septicemia. Do you know what septicemia is??

Then, you can assess your own profile. And here, completely understand those HDL LDL cholesterol levels and triglicerydes which you have never understood before.

Happiness...is it in you?
I especially like chapter on your mental health, a critical factor in our lives.

Exercise - "the real fountain of youth"
Don't try to live without it! I cannot stress how much in this book refers to the importance of exercise and how favorable it is to ward off many aspects of diseases.

Facts on Diets of long-lived people, Excellent Food Choices and Menus
Included is fact-based info on diets of various cultures, you are given a simple list of superfoods, learn about fish, nuts, and bad foods. Several menus are included.

Another chapter deals with our medications and/or supplements. Learn what statins are, and the dos and don'ts of your vitamins, etc. Great information!

As I mentioned, make this handy well researched and referenced book your bible for a long healthy life. Carry it with you. Give it as a gift!!

Lord Chesterfield's writings are by far the best guidelines for an up-and-coming, savvy gentleman to learn the ways of the society. Stanhope's many gems of advice are learned painfully by most through experience, or sometimes not at all. This book is truly a classic and one I will insist my future sons read before making their way in the world.

Lord Chesterfield is the 18th-century English father I never had. In these letters to his son, he gives stern but fair lessons in how to conduct oneself as a gentleman in society. Chesterfield, with his classical learning and lifelong service to the monarchy, is superbly qualified to give such social advice. His dry wit, strong-mindedness, and discerning eye make him entertaining to read, and, though repetitive ("the graces, boy, remember the graces!"), much of his advice is still very apt today. Taking us through the prime of his career to the twilight of his life, these letters show Chesterfield as the ultimate politician--keenly aware of humanity's selfishness, and always ready to use that selfishness to his own benefit. There is something endearing in this open devilishness.

The following, and my favorite, quote will no doubt provide a quick and definitive answer to the ageless question: are you upper class?

Dear Boy,
Having mentioned laughing, I must particularly warn you against it: and I could heartily wish that you may often be seen to smile, but never heard to laugh while you live. ... A man's going to sit down, in the supposition that he has a chair behind him, and falling down upon his breech for want of one, sets a whole company a laughing, when all the wit in the world would not do it; a plain proof, in my mind, how low and unbecoming a thing laughing is: not to mention the disagreeable noise that it makes, and the shocking distortion of the face that it occasions. Laughter is easily restrained by a very little reflection; but as it is generally connected with the idea of gaiety, people do not enough attend to its absurdity. I am neither of a melancholy nor a cynical disposition, and am as willing and as apt to be pleased as anybody; but I am sure that since I have had the full use of my reason, nobody has ever heard me laugh.

"All you learn, and all you can read, will be of little use, if you don't think and reason upon it yourself". This is merely one of the advices Lord Chesterfield gave to his natural son, Philip, in the many letters he wrote to him from 1737 onwards, and that this book compiles.

Chesterfield was an important stateman, who wrote these letters only for the eyes of his son, not for the general public, so he did express in stark terms what he truly thought about many controversial themes. It is, in my opinion, very interesting to read what he considered to be general truths, and to get to know his conception of life, society and politics. Whether you agree or not with his opinions, you cannot remain indifferent to this controversial book.

Lord Chesterfield places great value on appearances. He tells Philip that "If your air and address are vulgar, awkward, and gauche, you may be esteemed indeed, if you have great intrinsic merit; but you will never please; and without pleasing you will rise but heavily". The author is, evidently, a cynic who doesn't believe that the world can be improved. He points out that "The world is taken by the outside of things, and we must take the world as it is". Chesterfields profession is fairly evident at all times, for example when he advises his son "...to be upon your own guard, and yet, by a seeming natural openness, to put people off theirs".

"Lord Chesterfield's Letters" has been considered a noteworthy classic by many, but it has also been strongly criticized. For example, Samuel Johnson said that it taught "the morals of a whore and the manners of a dancing-master". I really don't agree with Johnson: I happen to like this book, and a lot. It is not only very easy to read, but also informative. The reader feels as if he were talking with an old but very experienced person, who played an active part in an enormous number of significant events, and who wants to transmit his knowledge not only on diplomatic affairs, but also about life and education. He often displays great insight, for example when he says that "You must look into people, as well as at them. Almost all people are born with all the passions, to a certain degree; but almost every man has a prevailing one, to which the others are subordinate".

All in all, I strongly recommend this book. It includes a high number of subjects, and I think you are highly likely to find it very appealing. If more is needed to convince you, I'll just leave you with one of the phrases written by the author, and I'll let its excellence to speak for itself: "Mind, not only what people say, but how they say it; and, if you have any sagacity, you may discover more truth by your eyes than by your ears. People can say what they will, but they cannot look just as they will; and their looks frequently discover, what their words are calculated to conceal". What else can I say?... Enjoy this book!.

Belen Alcat

Lord Chesterfield was an influential politician, diplomat and cabinet minister during the reigns of George I and II, and this book is a collection of letters of advice, counsel, and sometimes genuine wisdom, written by Chesterfield, over many years, to his son, Philip Stanhope, for whom Chesterfield had the highest hopes of success in the world. What you may get out of this book depends on who you are as a reader: casual readers would do better to stay with mysteries and thrillers; inebriate undergraduates would do better to skip it altogether; but ambitous men and women, actually working in the real world, will find so much here to consider and reflect upon, that it will take several close readings to absorb all that may apply to your career. That one's knowlege of the World must be learned by experience in the World, not in an ivory tower; that one's skills and virtues are of little practical value, unless carefully presented in a pleasing and artful Image; that multitasking destroys all hope of success; these are a few of the ideas which Chesterfield presents in elegant and polished prose. But Chesterfield's personal life, as it unfolds through his letters to its tragic and sorrowful conclusion, presents the most powerful lesson of all about ambition, life, and failure, for those readers who can read beyond what is merely written.

This book is amazing. It has helped me realize what this world would be like without the catholic church, the inherent dangers of secularism, and the path to rectify the evil of modernism. By doing this, it has helped bring me back to the catholic church. This author is on par with Aldous Huxley and George Orwell in both his ability to visualize alternate worlds with precise understanding and his ability to write in a eloquent yet succinct manner. It is a short book and I highly recommend it.

R.H. Benson wrote two mystical visions of the future. _The Dawn of All_ is an extremely romantic and improbable 1911 parable of a 1971 world mostly Catholic and at peace, ready for the Second Coming. _The Lord of the World_ came first, in 1907, and was a darker vision. A world of flying craft, major scientific advances, and comfort has become a place of materialist despair. Euthanasia is routine, for the desperately ill and the terminally bored. Oliver and Mabel Brand, a rising young couple, are the golden ones -- Oliver becomes a major political figure, but Mabel chooses the cool despairing end of legal euthanasia. Father Percy Franklin is one of the last Catholic priests in a world hostile to freedom, church, university, and history. Eventually elected the last Pope, he is restricted to the dusty forgotten village of Nazareth. Julian Felsenburgh is a charismatic American adventurer who means to and does become Lord of the World, anti-Christ. Details are less important than the very modern mood. Believing in progress as the only good, people are swept into any movement that promises it. The past is ruthlessly exterminated. The quest for one world government that begins with Esperanto ends with one world dictatorship.

Robert Hugh Benson grew up at the end of the nineteenth century, when it looked like Socialism would sweep over the world and make religious worship outmoded. His father was Archbishop of Canterbury; and he joined the Church of England but later converted to Catholicism. In his introduction to this book he wrote that he took the idea of Man (not the Son of Man) becoming the ideal and 'took it where it would go'.

Knowing that this book was written in 1904, before the Great War and the dissolution of the European Empires, and the nascent beginning of flight, it is interesting to read his views of what the world would look like in 100 years (or about now). He saw the end of poverty and hunger, and the raising of HUMANITY to the paramount position. His views on woman are arcane, as one of his characters dismissed his wife as 'just a woman', and that they make no strides of independence. He talks about inter-city flight at the amazing speed of 150mph, one year after Kitty Hawk.

The stories bottom line is that once Man begins to worship himself (in the guise of Julian Felsenburg), he not only has no need for idealized religion, but that the persecution of anyone who disagrees will become an act of Sedition and punishable by death. Religion is represented in this story by Roman Catholicism (all others having given in and disbanded, except for a few 'elderly jews wandering in Palestine) which fights a peaceable rear guard action against the forces of HUMANITY.

The language is a little difficult and flowery, while the ideas are interesting but sometimes the catholicism is hard to comprehend, but all in all it's worth reading.

Robert Hugh Benson (born November 18, 1871; died October 19, 1914) was the youngest son of Edward White Benson, Archbishop of Canterbury, and younger brother of Edward Frederic Benson. Benson studied Classics and Theology at Trinity College, Cambridge, from 1890 to 1893. In 1895, he was ordained a priest in the Church of England by his father.

His father died suddenly in 1896, and Benson was sent on a trip to the Middle East to recover his own health. While there, he began to question the status of the Church of England and to consider the claims of the Roman Catholic Church. His own piety began to tend toward the High Church variety, and he started exploring religious life in various Anglican communities, eventually obtaining permission to join the Community of the Resurrection.

Benson made his profession as a member of the community in 1901, at which time he had no thoughts of leaving the Church of England. But as he continued his studies and began writing, he became more and more uneasy with his own doctrinal position, and on September 11, 1903, he was received into the Roman Catholic Church.

He was ordained a Catholic priest in 1904 and sent to Cambridge. He continued his writing career along with the usual elements of priestly ministry. He was named a monsignor in 1911.

Lord of the World is one of his more exemplary works and well worth reading.

"A Century before Left Behind there was Lord of the World," reads the cover blurb in the striking Wildside Press edition. But while both books deal with end times, that's where the similarities end. In Benson's vision, Catholics are the last remaining Christians. The Left Behind books, named for a line in Larry Norman's song, "I Wish We'd All Been Ready," on the other hand, follow the idea of the rapture popularized in Hal Lindsey's bestselling book, The Late Great Planet Earth.

I ordered this book from Amazon after reading Gwen Watkins' essay in Charles Williams: A Celebration (also available from Amazon) comparing Benson and Williams as writers. Williams being my favorite author, I was very excited to come upon a similarly gifted novelist. Benson wrote Lord of the World in 1907; it takes place in a future about a century later (around now). That's also around the time that Chesterton wrote his novels. Both he and Benson write so colorfully that it's sometimes hard to know what's going on. Whether people were more imaginative then or that was the style at the turn of the century I don't know. But having read GKC helps one read Benson, and vice versa.

Williams is often held to be obscure for his descriptions of supernatural and occultic ritual. Benson's obscurity lies in his pre-Vatican II Catholic vocabulary and bits of the Latin Mass, which will not be familiar to many readers. That aside, this is an absolutely gripping story. Having once started, I couldn't put the book down. Uncannily, in this 1907 novel, Benson prophesied a dark future that became reality, first in Germany and then in the USSR. Writing in the then new genre of science fiction, he envisioned a technologically advanced world nevertheless rushing headlong to destruction. It's amazing how contemporary he sounds as he looks forward in time to our present and his future.

I am pleased with this book. It is written in a non-technical, professional manner and provides practical, useful strategies that I can do with my child. I would encourage anybody with add kids to read it.

This is the only book that I have come across that presents ADHD in a positive light. Additionally, it provides many helpful strategies for both teachers and parents. The only knock that I can say about this book is that it doesn't talk much about medications. All else is great.

Cimera, Robert E. (2002) Making ADHD a Gift: Teaching Superman How to Fly. Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Education.

How you teach children about ADHD could set the tone for the rest of their lives. You'll have to paint an honest picture of the condition but also be very positive .... Talk to them about their favorite superhero.... Bring up the fact that each superhero has different abilities.... Then explain that people in real life are a lot like superheroes-everybody has different abilities.... The super abilities of kids with ADHD include having a lot of energy and being able to run around a lot without getting tired. They can also be very creative and intelligent. The purpose of school and IEPs is to get children with ADHD to control and utilize their super abilities for "The Good"... You are teaching Superman how to fly (p. 97).

This is the gift of this book. Robert E. Cimera is an assistant professor at the University of Wisconsin at Oshkosh who was diagnosed with ADHD-C as an adult. He views ADHD as a positive ability. Each chapter begins with a chapter outline; a case study, illustrating elements that will be addressed in the chapter; questions for consideration, for understanding the case study; and a discussion of underlying elements, concerns and strategies. The information is conveyed in a conversational style suitable for the layperson or student educator.

In the first chapter he gives an overview of definitions and diagnoses of the four types of ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder): ADHD-I (Inattentive), ADHD-HI (Hyperactive-Impulsive), ADHD-C (Combined), ADHD-NOS (Not Otherwise Specified). This information serves as a basis for understanding the case studies and discussions that follow. Each chapter gently carries the reader through a critical thinking process of application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation.

In the chapters that follow, the author covers the topics of: inattention, impulsivity, hyperactivity, social skills, educational programs, and strategies for ADHD children, adolescents and adults. Cimera also has the reader consider the possibility of other conditions or situations that could mistakenly be diagnosed as ADHD. The last chapter contains resources for individuals with ADHD and resources for their teachers and parents. It includes booklists, periodicals, videotapes, contact information for organizations and support groups and an annotated list of Internet sites. Most of the materials had imprints from the early nineties and late eighties. Only one of the websites mentioned was not currently accessible. The website annotations were quite pertinent to their content with the exception of the U.S. Department of Education site, which has been drastically revised since the publication of this book. Although there is a very detailed table of contents, there is no index. The addition of an index would have been useful.

Overall, Cimera provides a positive, supportive and informative voice on the subject of ADHD. I found the examples of students and their goals (pp.130-131) especially illuminating in exploding my own preconceived attitudes toward ADHD. Special education students, classroom teachers, parents and adult individuals with ADHD could find valuable information and insights in this book. It provides an accessible introduction to the condition and provides the reader with the educational, environmental and behavioral accommodations and strategies that can help ADHD students, their parents, teachers and classmates create supportive scaffolding for success...

Positive and informative. I big help for teachers or parents of children with ADD. Loads of strategies and resources.

Somebody at a CHADD meeting suggested that I read this book. I am happy that I did! It is so well written that I couldn't put it down. I read it in one evening. It gives many practical strategies. But the best feature is that it views ADHD as a gift that should "be utilized, not repressed!" I can't recommend this book more highly. Get it. You'll be happy that you did!

I enjoyed this book very much. It was an interesting read and it shows that only with direct and personal experience (satsang) with the Master can a person subjectively observe the Master's Is-ness and inner transformation. And that is what this story is about; a spiritual experience of great importance, affecting and transforming the life of this author. After reading Charles Perry's Haight-Ashbury historical account and Gene Anthony's pictorial account, Robert Roskind's memoires of ex-hippiedom, Tom Woolfe's bio on the Ken Kesey and Merry Pranksters adventures, along with this read, you really can feel for the cultural, social and political climate at that time and the place, and get a feel for the Master and appreciate the idea of a such a Being living here amongst us in knowledge and yet still in vulnerablity. Great read.

I enjoyed this book very much but I am giving it four stars because it has a lot of editing errors that need to be corrected. This is a novel about a young man, Trevor, growing up in the '60s who like so many people during that time hears a different drummer and after following his path through the bohemian Topanga Canyon lifestyle in Southern California and breaking up with his girlfriend as their life-styles and values become increasingly divurgent, heads north to the Monterey Pop Festival and the hippie haven of Haight-Ashbury in San Francisco.
As Trevor encounters several synchronicities and follows their trail his path takes a spiritual turn and through the use of first LSD and then meditation he opens to a deeper understanding of what is happening during the Movement in SanFrancisco and all over the world during that Summer of Love. He meets a small community of people who are studying with a Master, a type of guru of transcendental spirituality, and they learn that there is a deliberate shift in consciousness that is being encouraged and supported from beings of high vibrational realms. The Flower Power era is NOT a coincidence but a deliberate paradigm shift. The book resonated with me because I grew up during that time and in those very same places and it rang very true to life. The 1960s was a complex, lovely, brutal, exciting and mind-expanding time, a time when many people took quantum leaps in their spiritual, emotional, intellectual and artistic growth. This short, sweet novel expresses some explanations for the climate of that time. It offers insight into how many people were feeling and thinking. The main character, Trevor, is portrayed very realistically and develops from a curious and open-minded young person into a seeking and realizing pilgrim on the path of self-actualization, peace, amd harmony. So many of us trod that same path. The '60s was not the same thing for everyone, my experience was much more political than Trevor's, I took way more LSD and listened to way more rock 'n roll, but my spirit opened up in exactly the same way to a unique vibration that almost seemed to be in the air and the water at the time. If you lived during that time you may enjoy a nostalgic look backward. If that is not your era you may enjoy this lovely window into a part of that experience.
At a time when the world seems to have forgotten how to love, this gentle book can go a long way toward reminding us of the capacity we all share for harmony and unity and peace. It might nudge you into recognizing how much fear you carry around with you and help you lay that aside in favor of love. Be sure to wear some flowers in your hair...and read this book.

This generally well-executed and hard-to-put-down book is a fictional(ized) reminiscence about What Really Happened according to someone who was at ground zero when the love bomb went off.

That is, I _think_ it's fictionalized. At the very least, author David Rey Echt has changed his name to "Trevor" for the purposes of the narrative. I don't know how much of it is really supposed to have happened. But it doesn't matter, because the novel is true in the most important sense: something really did happen during the Summer of Love, and it wasn't just that a bunch of kids did a lot of drugs and had a lot of sex.

Zen master Seung Sahn once remarked to his then-disciple-and-protege Stephen Mitchell that the hippie mind was just a quarter-inch away from enlightenment. You'll find similar views echoed everywhere from Stephen Gaskin and Ram Dass to (more recently) Skip Stone's _Hippies A to Z_ and John Bassett McCleary's _The Hippie Dictionary_. And on my own website I write as follows: "It may be best to regard the hippie movement, on its spiritual side, as a recent example of that perennial underground countercultural mysticism that always seems to swell up, like grass through the cracks in the sidewalk, whenever a dogmatic and/or authoritarian worldview, religious or otherwise, holds cultural sway."

So you may well imagine that I'll be sympathetic to a novel suggesting that at the heart of all of this is a spiritual event that . . . well, I'd better not spoil it for anyone who hasn't read it yet. But fictional or not, the personal journey described in this book is realistic, and the spiritual advice is sound. (For whatever it's worth, this review is being written by someone who has been known to tote around a battered copy of Stephen Gaskin's _This Seasons' People._) Echt has clearly done his spiritual homework.

What can I tell you _without_ spoiling anything? Just that it follows the travels of a young man named Trevor from Topanga Canyon to San Francisco on a journey of spiritual enlightenment.

I can also tell you that there's some serious mojo in this book (or, more precisely, accessible "through" it, if you know what I mean). There are a few passages that will actually give you the spiritual equivalent of a contact high just from reading them. That's a nice feature, given the aim of the book.

If you lived through this period of time (whether or not you were at ground zero), this book will help to remind you of its real meaning. If not, the first-person narrative will show you what the air tasted like, so to speak. Either way, this text can push you a little further toward mindfulness, if you want it to.

One last thing -- I absolutely hate to Deduct Points For Spelling, so I'm going to pretend I gave it four and a half stars. But the reader should be aware that there are lots of typos and grammatical gaffes that got past the proofreader(s). This doesn't bother everybody, and I don't have any particular problem reading around such things myself. (And I think it's good to be understanding about the fact that, particularly at non-mainstream publishers, authors are often left to proofread their own books.) Nevertheless, if you _do_ care about such things, be warned.

I lived through the Summer of Love, and my own experience was far less adventurous or groovy than the events described in this fictional account. That shouldn't be surprising, since the story is about the calling and initiation of a few flower children (and others) into a path of lifelong spiritual service. This isn't a novel meant to fictionally convey to the reader what the SoL was like...rather, it's a way of viewing it as a spiritual event, a hinge around which human choices and events might turn one direction or another.

So far as reading goes, I did not notice the many typos or other problems mentioned by previous reviewers--perhaps those have been cleaned up. The story itself is made stronger by being expressed in language of the time and the characters being humanly comprehensible...in other words, they are not "perfect beings."

Still, there's a lot of auras, and golden light, and third eyes--the sort of thing that works if you're receptive, but not so much so, if your personal inclination goes in a different direction.

In sum, this is a pleasant and hopeful story, but one that on reflection can lead the reader to think about what has happened since 1967. Has the world improved? Have you?

I can tell you that reading this book definitely resonates with something deep inside. Even though I wasn't born during the 'Summer of Love', I can get a sense of what it must've been like. It doesn't matter since the message is timeless. Definitely a must-read !!!