S Books

This is a little treasure chest of wonderful stories that truly are uplifting. I really did enjoy reading this book!

I read SMALL MIRACLES, some years ago. This seems to be the same book, exactly, although, when I ordered it, I thought it was a sequel. I liked it better the first time around, when the anecdotes sounded more "golly-gee-wiz" than they do the second.

Miracles happen every day. Yitta Halberstam and Judith Leventhal are angels themselves, bringing these fantastic stories to millions of people. Buy and read every single one of their books. Not only are they hard to put down, you won't be able to look at your life with the same eyes ever again!

A really lovely little book that helps even the worst days.

I found this unique book of coincidences to be remarkable. While the authors relate it to Jewish principles, giving a moral or rule at the end of each 'episode,' their statements are applicable to those of all faiths.
There were short, short stories, short stories and those a few pages long. But all showed the positive human spirit that exists in everyone of us if we give ourselves a chance and don't close our minds. Sometimea a bad choice becomes a great move. An ordinary act becomes heroic to those on both sides. And, almost always, WHAT GOES AROUND COMES AROUND. There are no stories of coincidences that backfired, although one can be sure scores of these exist too. But the purpose is to bring joy, hope,
confidence and more open-mindedness to the readers, with the desire that they will share this with many more. A brilliant person with a promising
future suddenly gets terminal lung cancer. But the person telling it mentions some small act that was done, often out of common courtesy. And in this case, one of the six items the dying person wanted in his casket was a letter of encouragement from the teacher.

This is a book for teachers, educators and all who desire to be educated.
I acquired it for $.50 at a flea market booth, after just noticing the
colorful (but also bland) yellow cover. This is the best $5.00 expenditure
I've ever made. I'll share my copy with others and have ordered another
version. Whether you are in the dumps or feeling great, the stories will
heighten your consciousness and create more appreciation for your present lot. I am fortunate to have found it. Please consider my words. Advice
is worthless. Words from the heart can be meaningful. My heart speaks.

Recieved item on time, right when we were told it would arrive. Book in very good condition.

Simon Wiesenthal is best known as the man who had been indefatigable and single-minded in trying to bring Nazi criminals to justice as long as there was a single one of them left. For him this was an absolute moral imperative and something that he felt he owed to the memory of the murdered millions of Jews, of whom Wiesenthal could so easily have been one: he was the survivor of a succession of concentration camps: the Janowska camp outside Lvov, Plaszow (the camp of Schindler's List), Auschwitz, Gross-Rosen, and finally Mauthausen. It may come as a surprise to some readers that Wiesenthal was sensitive to the moral problems raised by the issue of forgiveness - yet this book is a moving meditation on that theme. According to his biographer, Hella Pick, Wiesenthal had `always considered it his most important book'.

Cruelty and casual murder were everyday occurrences in the Janowska camp, and are described in gut-wrenching detail in the first half of this episode from Wiesenthal's life. While doing slave labour at a military hospital near the camp, he was secretly brought to the death-bed of Karl, a gravely wounded 21-year old SS officer whose conscience was wracked - not just at death's door, but apparently immediately after the event - by his participation in a horrific massacre of Jews in Dnepropetrovsk. The officer got a nurse to find `a Jew', who happened to be Wiesenthal, to whom he could make his confession and from whom he could seek forgiveness. Wiesenthal wanted to get away; but something - apart from the dying man's grip - made him stay to hear him out. A Catholic priest later told him that that alone should have helped the man to die in peace, since confession and genuine repentance are more important than any absolution. But at the end Wiesenthal left the room without saying anything. Quite apart from the sufferings he was himself undergoing at the hands of the SS just then and from his expectation of death at their hands at any moment, it was not for him to offer forgiveness on behalf of the victims of Dnepropetrovsk. But the issue haunted him - had he done the right thing? After the war he sought out the SS man's mother. The young man had come from a devout and Social Democrat family who were distressed when their son had joined the Hitler Youth and even more when he had volunteered to join the SS. But the mother was convinced that her son had been a good man. Wiesenthal said nothing to her about what her son had done... The short but haunting book charges the reader to put himself in Wiesenthal's shoes and to ask himself `What would I have done?'

Before publishing his book in 1969, Wiesenthal sent his manuscript to a number of distinguished thinkers for their response, and the comments of ten of them were included in the first edition. Further contributions were made by others to the 1997 and 1998 editions: there are now 53 altogether, and they make up nearly two-thirds of the book. They include - to name only the most famous - those of the Dalai Lama, Cardinal König, Primo Levi, Deborah Lipstadt, Herbert Marcuse, and Desmond Tutu.

Some of the respondents seem to me to veer away from the question Wiesenthal had posed, and draw a distinction between forgetting and forgiving; others discuss the question of collective guilt (some reject it; others blame all the bystanders) - interesting, but irrelevant in the context of this story. Almost all agree that whilst individuals can forgive offences committed against themselves, no human can forgive in the name of other victims. In such cases, if the victims cannot be asked because they are dead, perhaps only God can be asked for forgiveness - though one respondent says that God was hardly fit to forgive something which He had after all allowed to happen. And the Jewish tradition has it that even God will not forgive the unpardonable sin of murder. It is unpardonable, because it is the one sin for which reparation is impossible. The Christian tradition, basing itself on Jesus asking God to forgive them, `for they know not what they do', and on the idea that you must hate the sin, but not the sinner, shaped the answer of some Christian respondents. Some say that forgiveness is not only a boon to the penitent, but also for the victim, freeing him from the burden and poison of hate. Two Asian contributors, one a survivor from the Khmer Rouge and the other a victim of the Cultural Revolution in China, blame only the top leadership, and have some understanding for those who were brainwashed.

One respondent hopes that Karl will rot in hell; others also refuse to accept the genuineness of his repentance, indeed stress the offensiveness of him putting a Jew - chosen not as an individual but picked at random - under the moral burden of hearing the confession and being asked to forgive. Wiesenthal at least saw Karl as an individual and is capable of some compassion towards the dying man and later towards his mother (but one respondent thinks that Wiesenthal did wrong to shield her from the knowledge of what her son had done).

These are just some of the responses to Wiesenthal's question. It is a question addressed to all of us, and it is not surprising that this book has been used as a text in many courses on the Holocaust.

Multiple issues arrived ahead of schedule and are in new condition.The Sunflower: On the Possibilities and Limits of Forgiveness (Newly Expanded Paperback Edition)

I've used Wiesenthal's The Sunflower as a text in college courses several times. On each occasion my original high estimation of Wiesenthal's narrative grows, while my dissatisfaction with the chorus of responses that takes up nearly two-thirds of the latest edition deepens.

Wiesenthal asks exactly the right questions that all of us need to confront about forgiveness. Is forgiveness always ours to bestow? Is it permissible or even possible to forgive on behalf of others? Should forgiveness be tied to repentance on the part of the transgressor? Should the transgressor try to atone for his/her wrongdoing? What if, as in the case of the dying SS-man Wiesenthal meets, the performance of overt acts of atonement are impossible? Are there certain actions that are unforgiveable, or is the philosopher Jacques Derrida correct when he insists (On Cosmopolitanism and Forgiveness) that the only kind of forgiving that makes any sense is the kind that forgives the unforgiveable? And in a godless world--a world where, as several characters in The Sunflower say, wickedness is so rampant that God seems to have gone on leave--is forgiveness necessarily a different kind of phenomenon than it would be in a Godded world?

Weisenthal doesn't pretend to answer any of these questions, but he and the other characters in his memoir discuss them, presenting different perspectives and coming to different conclusions. The very real value of The Sunflower is that it encourages readers to think about the questions.

Which brings me to the responses. Most are impressionistic, unanalytical, platitudinous, and hence totally out of step with the brutal authenticity of Weisenthal's text. A few stand out from the others: Robert Coles', Rebecca Goldstein's, Abraham Joshua Heschel's, Primo Levi's. But most can be given a pass. My suggestion would be to focus first and foremost on Weisenthal's text and forget about the responses. A nice cinematic complement to the book is the documentary "Forgiving Dr. Mengele."

Summoned to the bedside of a dying Nazi who had willingly participated in the systematic annihilation of Europe's Jews, concentration camp inmate Simon Wiesenthal found himself the captive, solitary witness to this 21-year-old SS man's confession of responsibility for committing acts of unspeakable cruelty.

Kurt had asked a nurse to bring him a Jew (any Jew would do); quite by chance the nurse selected Wiesenthal from the work detail assigned to the hospital that day. Against his will, he listened to this man recount his experience of packing a house full of Jewish men, women, and children and then setting the house on fire while lobbing grenades into the inferno and shooting at anyone who had attempted to escape this hell. Kurt watched a father, mother, and small boy leap from a window to their certain death. Before the leap, the father had shielded the child's eyes.

The image haunted Kurt, who was unable to fight again. Instead, he froze on the battlefield and suffered and injury that first cost him his sight and then took his life. Before he died, though, he wanted to confess his sins to a Jew that he might be forgiven and die in peace.

Wiesenthal, who was about the same age as this soldier, heard him out but refused to forgive. Instead, he offered silence in response to the story and returned to the concentration camp.

The experience haunted Wiesenthal; soon after it happened, he discussed it with his friends back at the camp, with a Polish Catholic seminarian. Much later, he presented the story to theologians, political leaders, Holocaust survivors, and victims of other attempted genocides and asked each of these persons what he or she would have done in the same situation.

The story itself is first book of The Sunflower; the responses to the question, "The Symposium," are the text of the second book in this volume. Broadly grouped, the respondents are Jews and Christians, primarily. There are two Buddhist respondents and one Chinese respondent who makes no reference to religion though his response is in keeping with Buddhist thinking. Within these broad categories respondents reflect on different facets of the experience Wiesenthal describes and facets of their faith and life experiences and knowledge to make a response.

The Jewish respondents point to the fact that only the person against whom a sin has been committed has the right to forgive the sinner. Therefore, Kurt cannot be forgiven; his victims are dead. The Christian respondents point out, first, that they feel they have no right to address the question because they have never been on the receiving end of genocide. Then they point out that God alone can forgive and that it is incumbent on each of us sinners to find forgiveness in our hearts for others. The Buddhists respond, as Buddhists do, in the present tense and with an eye on enlightenment--a release from suffering. Each perspective reflects a different concept of individuality and therefore of the nature of accountability.

For this reader, The Sunflower accomplishes the important task of bringing the reader into the concentration camp alongside one of its victims, into the hospital room of the dying SS man, and into the heart of the questions the Holocaust raises about responsibility, accountability, forgiveness, restitution, and grace. These are questions that refuse pat answers and therefore remain alive and active in our minds. Wiesenthal's book challenges our ability to empathize with those who suffer and our ability to think about how and why we believe what we do about ourselves and each other. It is a humble and beautiful tribute to those who suffered and died in the Holocaust. We too can honor their memory by participating in the conversation this book presents.

The book sunwing was a great read, intense and freighting usually sequels aren't as good as the first book. But in this case the book sunwing and silverwing were both great! The book sunwing is about the mission finding his father continuing from the first book. Silverwing Shade and Marina with their colony are looking for shades father. They go to so many places he's been to, and they finally find him. But with all this looking they have started a war. Witch they must end. A war with the carnivore bats these carnivore bats have caused death to so many creatures. Even owls are fighting back with them! Please read this book it is a great book.

My son has been reading this series. He loves the story line - he's 11, but reads on a college level. So, I would say this is appropriate for that age group, and interresting enough to hold the attention of an older reader. The sory line seems interesting enough for an adult reader wanting a quick read too.

This book is really awesome. This book starts when a runt silverwing bat named Shade wants to find his father. His father, Cassiel, disappeared after he wanted to see a human building. So, Shade, Chinnook, Ariel, Freida, and a lot of other bats go to find him. On their trip they get stuck in an indoor forest, where humans put exploding metal bands on bats and birds because they use the explosive bands to blow up building for war. Shade and Chinnook have to escape from exploding and then they run into Goths forest, and then they have to save the world from eternal night. Goth is a vampire bat. One of the coolest things about the bats is their echo-vision. Shade uses his echo-vision and makes himself look like a vulture to the vampire bats. The best part of this book is when Shade and his family and other silverwing bats and some rats enter the bone room. I like when they crawl into the bone room because it is really creepy and full of bones.
My favorite character was Throbb, but he dies in Silverwing. My favorite character in Sunwing is Cassiel because he says things that can be funny. The thing I don't like about this book is how there are too many things to do with forests. In the beginning they run into a human forest and it takes them 6 chapters to get out of that forest. Later in the book they run into Goths forest and it takes them 3 chapters to get out. But sometimes they do interesting stuff in the forests. My least favorite character is Goth because at the end all he does is roar. I want every body to buy this book! But, you must read Silverwing first to understand Sunwing.

This book is as good as the first one, and is as enjoyable as the first as well. But, don't read Firewing, you'll hate it. I did.

Sunwing was one of the BEST books I've EVER read! It has lots of fiction in it but, it also has a large amount of true facts in it also. I truly reomend this book. And it has a bunch of action and adventure in it. And I think people who like animals such as, bats, mice, owls etc. will LOVE this book completley.

Jacob Milette

This is an excellent book for any student that is a serious Karateka. I have shown it to some student's & they are ordering the same book.
Good job Amazon.com for having these books available to us.

one word "WOW", I got this book as per my Sensei suggested. I really like it. Very well make with detail illustraions. My book is the 7th edition 2007. Highly recommanded for everyone.

The book shows step-by-step instructions on how to do the katas. If you've learned the katas before, you will love it. If you've never learned them before, you may find a little difficult to do the more advanced ones. A video will help you more in those cases because of the details that even well described are hard to do without watching someone doing it in front of you. I can't think of a better way to teach katas using a book, though and because of that, I think it's still worth buying the book and if you feel that you need, buy a video to help with the harder katas. Good luck!

If nothing else, the kata should be the common factor between schools of the same type. The 25 Shotokan Kata book by Shojiro Sugiyama serves as the guideline for Shotokan karate-ka. Nishiyama sensei gives approval to the forms and explains a few nuances that articulate his concepts of body mechanics. The book is a treasure.

This is an excellent resource to support lessons taught in class. The presentation of the kata in clear and easily understood drawings with supporting text is the best I have found in various books on kata from the Shotokan school. I recommend it to anyone looking for a text to support their study of kata or simply as an addition to your martial arts library.

This is just a great book. Being born and raised in a Coal Camp in McDowell County, West Virginia really made me appreciate the descriptive style of writing which captures the true spirit of the "holler." When I finished the book I celebrated by cooking up a big pot of pinto beans and baked a big ol' pan of cornbread. Thank you for such a wonderful book.

"Over the course of my life, I have been lucky in that I have seldom managed to get exactly what I wanted; instead, I have most often been able to grow to appreciate what I got." You find out all the things the author strove for during her youth that never seemed to materialize...except for her studies when she always did well except for a very short period of time.

Linda Scott has told about her life that is most revealing and about a place in Appalachia in Eastern Kentucky that is so well explained that you know exactly what her hometown area looks like and how everyone lived. The twists and turns in her life are like a corkscrew where changes are constant, but purpose remains strong. The author is the most down-to-earth academician I have ever known including my brother who is a retired professor. If you want a marvelous reading experience, then get this book. I guarantee it!

I loved this book. It really tells the story of my people.

I was born in Paintsville (home of Loretta Lynn) and had to move away when I was 4. Reading this book took me back to my Grandma's front porch and the well outside. It reminded me of church outhouses and dinner on the ground. Made me want to throw rocks in the creek off the bridge at Grandma's and walk up to the family graveyard to wonder about my ancestor's lives. If you are from Eastern Kentucky, this book will make you proud to say "warsh" and "tard." If you aren't from there, read it anyway. It might make you appreciate us "hillbillies" a little more.

As a long-time enthusiast of Appalachian literature, I was eagerly aniticipating reading 'Creeker'. Though I didn't care much for the stereotypical title, I thought I would be able to make it past it to enjoy a unique brand of literature.

Boy, was I wrong!

This book typifies the apologist mentality that premeates Appalachia and keeps the ignorant serfs on the proverbial feudal land.

If you're a true fan of Appalachian literature, stick with the true masters, Bobbie Ann Mason and Lee Smith.

If you are a relatively new and inexperienced reader of American history, especially of the 20th century, this is the one book you should read as a foundation. The book's contents are accurate, the style is readable and entertaining, the perspective is unusually unbiased compared to current history writers. It's what a good history book should be.

Most compelling to me as someone born in the 1950s is the incredible sense of context the book delivers. Born after World War II, I was living through events in the 1960s and 1970s that seemed crazy until I read this book and found how much of that present flowed out of the past described in Manchester's book. For a young reader of today (circa 2000), the book still provides a strong foundation for current events. While history doesn't repeat itself, as Mark Twain is alleged to have noted, history rhymes. With this book, younger or inexperienced readers will begin to hear the rhymes and perhaps draw the reasons for why things are happening as they are today.

This is one of the best history books I've read in a 50 year reading life (so far!). It is impeccable in its scholarship, but accessible and enjoyable in its style. Everyone living today should read this book. It would give us a common ground to disagree from!

The Glory and the Dream is a two volume set of over 1600 pages. Mr. Manchester calls it a narrative history of America. It covers the years from 1932 to 1972. And I mean "covers". There are 37 chapters, almost one for each year.
These two volumes, as with all history books, contain a wealth of information, but Mr. Manchester's books seem to contain more information, if that is possible, than other history books. He is overwhelming.
Every time I pick up one of his books I end up re-reading the whole thing. And for some reason the man's style is always able to keep my interest. His feelings and intensity come through and not necessarily with his prejudices attached. He is just a good writer, plain and simple.
This set begins in the year 1932 with the Bonus Army marching on Washington D.C. It is a fascinating and tragic tale.
The year 1932 was "rock bottom" for America and the Great Depression.
When I picked up this first volume I thought it was the most radical thing that I had ever read. I thought that the book contained every corruptible thing about America that had ever been written. But now I realize it is, more or less, plain old American History. Since that time I have read more and more corruptible things.
I think reading William Manchester's account of things is what set me off on reading history.
William was a marine and served in the Pacific in W.W.II. He refused to become an officer - which has to say something for his character.
His style makes reading a learning history a pleasure.

This is the book I recommend to people who say that they hate History as a subject. When I was reading Manchester's account in the beginning of the book about the Bonus Marchers in 1932, I could feel the heat and humidity of pre-war and un-airconditioned Washington D.C. And Manchester conveyed the suffering of these veterans and their desperation in clear and concise language. I don't think that any historian has written about the Depression in as moving and compelling a manner as he does. And this is only the begining of the book. There's more great passages in his description of the home front during WWII. He recounts forgotten stories such as the "I want to go home" riots by GI's at the end of the war in Europe.

I disagree with one earlier reviewer who thought that a weakness in the book was Manchester's alleged liberal bias. In fact, his account of the Alger Hiss affair is unabashed in showing Hiss's guilt and in highlighting Nixon's diligence in pursuing the truth.

I completely wore out the copy I bought back in 1980. I first read it in the hospital when I was recovering from elective surgery. I was so ensconsed in it that I finished it during my three day stay.

William Manchester (1922-2004) provides a highly readable look at the USA from 1932-1972. This gripping narrative is written in the style of general history, yet readers come away with a profuond understanding of the times and events. The narrative begins with the nation in the depths of the Great Depression, with millions hungry, homeless, riding the rails, and looking for jobs that didn't exist. Enter Franklin D. Roosevelt and the New Deal, which greatly improved conditions. Then what followed was the Second World War, the post war boom, McCarthyism, Civil Rights, Vietnam, etc. The author does more than merely describe events and major personalities; he captures the feel of the various decades, looking at social conventions and changing mores over this 40-year period. Manchester even includes vignettes of major figures like Walter Reuther, Eleanor Roosevelt, Marilyn Monroe, etc. This is a superbly readable and slightly liberal two-volume narrative about the USA from the Depression to the end of Vietnam.

William Manchester bookends this sprawling, epic US history with two protests in the heart of Washington. He opens in 1930 at the rise of the Great Depression, with veterans across from the White House coldly shunned by President Herbert Hoover when asking for advance relief from the Great Depression, then brutally attacked by troops and national guardsmen led by Douglas MacArthur. He concludes with President Richard Nixon's second inaugural in 1973 at Watergate's rising, Vietnam demonstrators audible blocks away amidst calls for national unity and self-reliance.

In between, across 1300 pages, (excluding index and exhaustive bibliography) "The Glory and the Dream" chronicles the American Century's meatiest, most eventful years (1932-72). Manchester details a diary for and about what he called the "swing generation" but whom ex-NBC-TV anchorman Tom Brokaw (who cited Manchester as an influence) christened "the Greatest Generation."

These men and women endured and thrived through what, against Manchester's narrative, seemed (except for the relatively tranquil late 1950s) a non-stop whirlwind of hardship. Painting in broad strokes by economic numbers Manchester reveals compelling pictures of the Depression, bank and crop failures, Franklin Roosevelt's election and the New Deal, World War II, and the Korean and Cold Wars. He also includes near month by month chronicles and analysis on America's roots and involvement in the Vietnam War and Watergate, which takes up most of the book's final third. And of course, he addresses the still-shocking days of rage, murder, and decaying social fabric in the late 1960s.

Manchester's storytelling is expertly paced, foreshadowing careers of 20th century icons like Nixon, JFK, Marilyn Monroe and even the Edsel. He traces their steps to the national stage and devotes personal "Portrait of An American" sections to many (including Dr. Benjamin Spock, Edward R Murrow, and Ralph Nader). He does this deftly balancing international, social, and economic views of day to day life, worked, and socialized, even addressing political and social extremists (50s beatniks, 60s hippies, John Birchers). Isolationist vs. internationalist foreign policy views, themes as recent as last month's Iraq election, pops up throughout the book; virulent opposition to FDR's war mobilization leads to the opposition to the Truman Doctrine and Marshall Plan. Vietnam's civil war slowly creeps across several administrations beginning with Dwight Eisenhower's, reaching the heart of American experience as the decade and book close.

Anyone knowing or having lived through part of the last half-century can reference America's seismic events at a high level. To Manchester's credit he reached deeper into the causes behind pop culture and historical touchstones like Nixon's "Checkers" speech, 1968's Vietnam My Lai massacre, the oft-overlooked 1936 hurricane crushing New England (and ineffective warnings against it), and Japan's 1937 sinking of the USS Panay which foreshadowed Pearl Harbor. He draws dimensional character studies amidst the era's scandals (the fall of Eisenhower right hand man Sherman Adams as one example). He allows you to understand personalities and issues behind history's strongest feuds: President Harry Truman against union leader John Lewis (or MacArthur, or Joseph McCarthy...), between Southern governors and other leadership against Dr. Martin Luther King, the Freedom Riders, the Kennedy administration, and finally against the Black Panthers' vicious 1960s anarchy. Finally, he chronicles the "silent majority" generation gap between Nixon/Agnew's divisive, reactionary leadership team and a generation's angry youth.

Before his death last year, Manchester wrote whole volumes on major figures included here (Winston Churchill, MacArthur, JFK). But given the relatively short time each is presented (except for FDR, who dominates the book's first half ), Manchester masterfully retells individual personal style, social time, major accomplishments, blunders, and closure to their lives and histories. "The Glory and the Dream" is filled with protests after violent counter protests (which Manchester respects even when he does not agree), well-drawn, memorable characters more remarkable for being real life characters, and insightful side comments on issues like the role of the vice-presidency and American tolerance of dissent.

At its publication, Manchester himself called "The Glory and the Dream" the culmination of his career, and for once it was not hyperbole. Anyone wishing to understand American character must start here; "The Glory and the Dream" is the finest history-based book I've ever read, and one of the finest in any genre.
Absolutely essential.

I'm glad I found the No S Diet just after I realized that the whole idea of "restricting" and "counting" didn't work for long term weight loss & manteinance. I 'discovered' the nosdiet website and after I read it, finally said to myself: "this is the way to eat to not worry anymore about dieting". Since then, I can now focus on other more important and fun things in life.

I ordered this book just as a support for the nosdiet website, because I already knew all the info. As other reviewers have said, you don't really need the book to lose the weight, just follow the no snacks, no sweets, no seconds advice and you're done.

However, the book serves as a big FAQ that will save you many weeks (or months) of reading into the diet message boards. So for the price, if you're new to this system, this is gold.

Anyways, at first you will feel free, you will throw away all the other diet books you've bought (even the ones that "promise" they will be your 'new lifestyle for life'), and you will be very enthusiastic about this new way of seeing your relationship with food. However, after the first weeks, If you're the typical diet-addict, you may get disappointed. Why? you may ask. Simple: the weight loss is not 'fast' as the more commercial diets you're used to hear about. The weight loss is slow, but seady, and sustainable for life. You must have patience and start paying attention to your new habits (because as the author says, this is a mental fix, not a dietary one). You have to keep going at it looking it like a long-term goal, not a "lose 20 pounds for next summer" approach.

Personally, the best thing about No S Diet is that it is doable. I've never been able to "follow" a diet for a few months without dropping it (it is not a matter of willpower, really), but since I found NoS (not really a diet per se), I've been eating this way for 2 years. I was getting fat when I started doing it (after a Christmas binge-festival), then I lost around 20 pounds in the last 12 months after I started exercising, and I'm now at a healthy weight. I KNOW I can to this forever, and even without thinking about "doing" it. It's automatic. By the way, I also suggest the "shovelglove" invention by the same author, if you don't know what kind of exercise to do, in addition to walking.

So, if you are the kind of person who didn't have a wise grandma that taught you "wait until dinner to eat" or "ice creams are for sundays", this is what you need. This is TRULY the last & only "how to eat" book, for everyone.

The No S Diet takes an interesting approach to fat loss. First, while many diets claim to advocate/be the authentic diets of our ancient anscestors, who were lean and much healthier. No S asserts that our RECENT anscestors were lean and healthy, and targets the bad habits and other problems that have recently allowed us to become lardy. Engels uses FDA and other historical data to show how (permasnacking, too much sugar, too many oversized portions) and when (within the last 50 years) we went wrong, and the No S Diet is simply a toolkit to turn back the clock as necessary. Beyond this, the diet is arranged to be sustainable through life. In No S, there are no evil macronutrients, so you can eat with your family and friends without friction or special accomodations for you. Importantly, the diet assumes that you are a rational, thinking person who is able to improve yourself. If you are unsure as to whether you want to fork out for the book, just try going to the website and looking around.

This book, like 99,9% of diet books, relies on catchy names and cute phrases to promote itself. However, like most other diet books it relies on the biggest weight loss myth ever.

So what is the myth?

It is the widely held belief that calories do not count or are of only minor importance when it comes to weight loss. Make no mistake: If you wish to lose weight, calories are everything! To successfully lose weight, you must burn more calories in a given time period than you take in, no matter what diet you are following.

Despite this, diet authors commonly advise us to forget about counting calories! No wonder most people fail dismally in their weight loss efforts!

You can follow NOSdiet's rules to the T but if there is no calorie deficit, you won't lose weight.

If you don't know what calories you are burning and what calories you are consuming, it's very difficult, if not impossible to create a calorie deficit.

Creating a calorie deficit with NOS, is like spitting on a swinging jug.

The NOSdiet rules cannot supersede the laws of physics, no matter what the author or his followers claim.

My recommendation, determine from one of the numerous BMR calculators online your calorie needs and consume sufficient calories to create a daily 500 calorie deficit. As you lose weight, adjust the numbers. This system guarantees a weight loss.

The proof is in the pudding. I've been on this diet for three months and have already lost over 10 pounds. The rules are easy to keep and have not impacted my lifestyle dramatically except to make me feel more empowered. This was a nice bonus that I wasn't expecting. It's truly amazing how much food can control your life. No longer!

I was curious about this newly-popular book since it is based more on when you eat than what you eat, which makes it somewhat similar to The 3:00 PM Secret. The No S Diet is simple and elegant, having just 3 rules - No Snacks - No Sweets - No Second helpings. These rules apply except on days that start with "S", namely, Saturdays, Sundays, and Special days, where "Special" days are defined as birthdays, holidays, and sick days. The key rule as described by the author is "no snacks", and he defines snacks as anything you eat between meals. In other words, don't eat between meals - period - except on S days.

The author criticizes other diet books, which seems unnecessary, though he is clearly trying to distinguish himself and his ideas. He says, for example, forbidden-foods diets are "patent nonsense" and "pseudoscientific". He continues with calorie-counting diets stating they "require you to be a full time calorie accountant" and "...funny that these diets masquerade as scientific..." and so on. Then, he tells you why his diet so much better: "Because it is simple, sustainable, and you aren't really depriving yourself of anything." He says we are fat because of "excess" - we simply eat too much!

The author advocates eating healthy meals and making them count (nutritionally). He is convinced that snacking is what makes Americans fat, suggesting that obesity rates correlate with the number of calories consumed through snacking. He supports this idea by citing that the French snack on average less than once a day compared to Americans three times per day, and that the Chinese barely snack at all. He also says obesity has increased with the increased rate of snacking. While snacking may be a factor in why Americans are obese, it's not likely that it is the only cause.

He does not provide food lists, recipes, or exercises, and says his diet can be used in conjunction with other diets. He does not, however, appear to be a fan of low-carb diets.

Contents:
1. It's That Simple
2. No Snacks
3. No Sweets
4. No Seconds
5. Days That Start with S
6. Building the No S Habit
7. Beyond the No S Diet
Endnotes

This is an interesting book with some research and stats. It has a common-sense approach that should resonate with many readers. I agree with the author about the problems of following diets with draconian meal plans. We are all adults and should be able to determine whether we are overeating during meals by watching the scale. This approach should be an effective method for many people and the book is worth reading. I also recommend THE 3:00 PM SECRET: Live Slim and Strong, Live Your Dreams, The Alternate-Day Diet, and The 2007 Second Expert Report, Food, Nutrition, Physical Activity, and the Prevention of Cancer: a Global Perspective..

This book is even better than the glowing reviews suggested. It's simply a masterpiece of intelligent writing. The author respects the reader's intelligence, and has an amazing ability to mix detail and the big picture. I love the way the author combines a highly readable style with both arresting action, minute detail, and yet keeps his balance. He is able to get you excited about the events in Albany, GA as though they are happening now, then backs off to show how the whole campaign kind of died. He has remarkable energy and writing talent, and a wonderful ability to shift gears, weave threads together.

As you begin to read chapter one, this book will become a page-turner. The amazingly woven detail gives life to this story of over fifty years ago. Author Taylor Branch documents how M. L. King, Jr. walked into the storm of what was to become the Civil Rights Movement, and was then sucked into its vortex. As a "boomer" I was alive during parts of this, growing up in the Midwest. I remember some headlines and TV scenes, but reading the minutiae of what was behind those headlines was like unto discovering a mother's diary. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

The best single book on the civil rights movement I have ever read. Parting the Waters is partly a wonderful, complicated biography of Martin Luther King, Jr. However, it is also a history of the early years of the entire civil rights movement. King, SCLC, and SNCC are described in great detail and their efforts are set against a background of federal reluctance to intervene in the South. Inspiring and detailed.

I am about halfway through this book. Even though I have not finished yet I feel compelled to comment on it. I believe it is extremely important for African Americans of my generation to get a more complete understanding of the civil rights movement. So far this book has opening my eyes and changed the way I view our African American experience.

What is best about this read is it flows like a history book. I give much credit to Mr. Branch for simply telling the story and not adding too much of his own commentary and opinion. That is one of my pet peeves with many of our `writers' today. They want to impose their opinions and biased interpretations. We do not need opinions. We need to educate ourselves with facts and draw our own conclusions. Okay, I will get off the soapbox.

Anyway I highly recommend this book. It is a very long read, but if you seek a deeper understanding of the African American experience this is a great start. Many of the issues we face today can be interpreted more accurately by getting a more complete account of our past.

By most accounts, Branch's three volume history of the Civil Rights Movement is the authoritative account of Dr. King's life. But beyond the facts and history, this particular volume is an example of masterful storytelling. I read this book during my morning and evening commutes, stuffed between strangers on the train. Branch transported me to another time and place, at times on the brink of tears. Branch devoted decades of his life to crafting this story. His efforts leave us with an honest and beautifully told story - one of our nation's most inspiring and tragic.

Shelby Foote's Stars in Their Courses provides the perfect balance to Bruce Catton's Gettysburg: The Final Fury. While Catton's history unfolds largly from the Union perspective, Foote walks the reader through the same battle from the Confederate perspective. I appreciate Foote's professional attitude. He is careful not to assign undue blame or indulge in excessive "what ifs". Instead he describes the strategic and tactical logic behind the battle, what led to its eventual outcome, and how crucial decisions were made during the fighting. This is a well written book, though, as someone has said, it would have been nice to have better and more frequent maps. Foote is the quintessential southern civil war historian, and you will not be disappointed with this relatively quick read.

Actually sought this out to give as a gift to a very big fan of Shelby. This work is tremendous and for the fan or the enthusiast a brilliant read.

Bought this after I went on a self guided tour of Gettysburg one gray winter day, and wanted to learn more than I did or could remember from Elementary/High School.

Wonderfully written. I just wish there were more of the maps in the book to refer to as he talks about the movements.

Highly recommended

I could write a long review about how good this book is but that would be a diservice to the author. We lost a great historian when Shelby Foote passed. He was a historian who prefered to be remembered as a novelist. As a proud Vermont Yankee, professional historian, and living historian of that period, I tend to get cranky about revisionist views or the whole Sourthern "lost cause" foolishness. However, Mr. Foote, a proud southerner, wrote about the most important event in our nation's history without the prejudice or regionalism, so many bring to the topic. He could write excellent history and tell the story with the readability of a novelist.



We are poorer for his passing but the body of work he left behind on the Civil War will remain some of the must have items in any serious collection of books about that second birth of our nation.



We'll miss you Shelby but thank you for what you left behind.

Foote isn't just a historian who writes, he's (IMHO) first and foremost a writer who really knows his history. What that means is that in his books, you get great narratives that draw you in, but the story stays true to the facts and isn't over-dramatized.

This book strikes the perfect balance between giving enough detail that you can follow the key events clearly, but then not getting so bogged down in details that you get bored or lost in them. He is great about sprinkling in stories that bring in the 'human element' and make the story come alive. I especially liked how he handled the contention between Longstreet and Lee over tactics at Gettysburg.

I'd recommend this book to anyone, but especially to someone who knows a bit about the Civil War but wants to flesh out their understanding of this key battle.

One last thing... the book has no index so going back to find information later is difficult. Why no index?

Sad to hear that Foote has passed on and that there will be no more wonderful books from him like this one.

This is a Phenomenal book! It's a great book for all women of color to read. Each chapter alerted all of my emotions and thoughts. I am learning everyday how to attack any negative energy surrounding me and follow the gift of intution. Learning to love yourself in the midst of everything.

Yes, I already gave it five stars, because I read one of her other books "Tapping The Power Within...." When I was about 14 or 15 years old, I was in a afterschool class, and the instructor gave us each a copy of "Acts of Faith." The title of the book was very powerful to me, and I tried to read it then, but I was not ready. See, thats the thing about most self help books like these, you must be READY to read them. I actually got "Tapping the Power Within..." last month from my counselor, thats when I realized I still had two of her other books. My aunt also bought me one of her books when I was of the age 14, because I was going through a tough time. The book was called "Don't Give it Away." Which I am now in my THIRD YEAR OF COLLEGE... YAYY ME, and I passed the book down to my sister. (Also, I wanted to leave this portion of my message for a poster on here named Tigress "JD": Do not feel stupid for buying a collection of her books. Actually, I had just did the same thing. I am about to buy more of her books).Its quite hard choosing which books to read. I am currently reading the "Acts fo Faith" day by day, and I have finished reading "Tapping The Power Within" Which is helping me a lot. The following books I already have purchased was already shipped to me is "Faith in the Valley," "Living Through the Meantime," (which I started to read, but I was not sure if I was ready, after reading a couple of pages through)"One Day My Soul Just Opened Up (which I am debating with "Living Through the Meantime"), and "Yesterday I Cried." So I have about seven of her books. I am going to purchase more right now. I hope you all remain strong, and I hope the books will help you all a lot. (sorry for all the typos its 3:12am in the morning in NYC and I could not help it, but to get back online and purchase some more books, plus I cannot fall asleep).

This book is great not only for black women, but for all women. It helps one to understand life better, and to love ones self better.

I am a big fan of motivational and self-help books. I have read many in my lifetime. Mostly good, some so-so. It is important to read a book relevant to what one is going through at that time to get the full scope of things from the book we read I believe. Iyanla's books are one of them and one of my favourite authors. The first book I got from Iyanla's collection was "Yesterday I Cried" and that had helped me through the ditch I was going through at that time. A friend of mine recommended a book of hers "One day My Soul Just Opened Up" which at that time I had already knew about her and went on to search on amazon her other publications and purchased the whole series of her books. Yeh - crazy me! But hey, she's good! I like her approach in the way she writes and conveys her message. It's real. I can relate to her. I have almost the whole collection of her books that she has published and reading them one by one as I go through my life's ups and downs. For the past few months I've been going through many valleys, I started reading "The Value In The Valley" which has given me many insights into my own valleys that I am going through and have gone through and approach life and my valleys in a different light. I have just purchased the Audio CD version of it to listen while I drive or at home. Can't wait to get it and the rest of the motivational goodies I just got from other authors. :) Thumbs up to this book as well as Iyanla's other books. Thank you Iyanla for all the insights your book has given me. :)

I saw a lot of me in reading this book. It really helped me to realize somethings about myself and why I do the things that I do. It was great. I would recommend it to anyone who needs clarity on themselves and their lives.