Scott Books

This second edition has many of the numbers updated which reflects the most current demographics being taken into account. Specific research includes data released during 2007. The new appendix makes the demographic situation of American Jewry even more clear. The book continues to be a great call for action. I recommend Getting Our Groove Back as a manifesto for Rabbis, Synagogue Presidents or anyone interested in the vitality of American Jews. Kudos to Mr. Shay for his candor and commitment to such important issues we face for the future of American Jewry and as it affects our children and future generations.

This book is a fantastic call to action. Mr. Shay has clearly done his research and used his qualified experiences and level-headedness to lay out convincing and practical solutions to the crisis that faces American Jewry. His dedication to American Jewry is refreshing and his optimism is inspiring. Because Mr. Shay writes to the point, the book is not dense and can easily be read by any individual regardless of education or religious experience. As a 23 year old recent college graduate, I highly recommend this book to anyone who has an interest in seeing the amazing tradition, culture, and religion that has helped shape the lives of great Americans continue to shape the lives of others in the future.

Written by Scott A. Shay, Chair of UJA-Federation of New York's Commission on Jewish Identity and Renewal, Getting Our Groove Back: How to Energize American Jewry is a straight-on look at the numerous obstacles confronting American Jewry today. Chapters question whether Hebrew schools can ever be made to effectively transmit Jewish identity, why Jews are giving less to Jewish causes and what can be done about it, to the modern erosion. of the American Jewish population due to intermarriages without conversion and declining overall birthrates. "In my view, if we accept zero population growth as desirable - which not all people do - Jews should be exempt from this concern. Contrary to other populations across the world that have grown exponentially, the Jewish population has declined in the past fifty years. Jews still have a great deal of catching up to do, whether it be to restore the population lost during the Holocaust or simply to reach numbers proportionate to the level of population growth internationally and in America." Getting Our Groove Back also stresses that the state of Israel is utterly important to the Jewish identity, and encourages trips to Israel for all Jewish teenagers. A hardcore guide to strengthening the cultural identity and influence of the Jewish tradition among American Jews of all branches of Judaism.

Scott Shay's book, Getting our Groove Back: How To Energize American Jewry, is masterful. Mr Shay has applied his keen, scientific, problem-solving mind to important issues facing Judaism.
Jewish community problems are discussed with reference to today's best sociological research. Mr. Shay presents thoughtful, forward-thinking answers to help the Jewish community solve its issues.
Practical solutions are Scott Shay's contribution to the Jewish community.
Anybody who is serious about improvement and change within Judaism must read this thought-provoking, creative book.

I was intrigued by a review in the Jewish Week and devoured the book. I've since bought copies for the Rabbi and President of my Conservative Synagogue... bought more copies to give to our Seder guests.. Shay brings a thoroughly refreshing perspective on both the problems confronting American Jewry as well as possible solutions. He is totally non-partisan or denominational. His only agenda is securing the future of American Jewry. He's critical of Orthodoxy for assuming that if they are successful they can save us on their own. Shays shows they don't have the critical mass. He's critical of Reform for patrilinear decent and the havoc it creates.. and he's critical of Conservative Judaism for loosing it's position as the largest denomination... if they are loosing members... we all lose. You don't have to buy all his solutions.. but they will certainly make you think. Get the book. Read it. Get copies for agents of change and let's energize American Jewry!

I originally read this book in 2003 when it first came out. I found it to be of great help in my practice. I saw it on the shelf the other day and had a few moments between patients and began reading it again. I did not realize how much I had missed in my initial reading. Like great wine it gets better and better.

Dr. Fehr never disappoints. His down-to-earth, no nonsense approach makes his knowledge and experience extremely accessible, not only to students and professionals, but for anyone with a keen interest in understanding human behavior. His honesty is as refreshing as his insights are brilliant.
What's not to recommend!!!!

I have just finished reading Dr. Scott Simon Fehr's Introduction to Group Therapy: A practical guide (2nd.Ed.)and was amazed on how much I enjoyed a text book. This book was given to me for a birthday present and even though I am a psychologist, I thought, "Why would someone give me a text book for my birthday?" After all I have been out of school for years but truly I am delighted this person did. This book was beautifully written with an engaging style that is seen in few text books and part of the engagement is due to Dr. Fehr putting himself out there and talking about his personal experiences running groups. It too is a funny book. I roar when I read his first group experience in a state psychiatric facility. Simply because I could identify and it brought back a flood of memories. Well done, Dr. Fehr

Dr. Scott Fehr has done it again! Brilliantly written and skillfully crafted, his breadth of knowledge, keen insight, and experience permeate from every page. Introduction to Group Therapy is the most comprehensive and practical guide on the subject of group therapy. A must have for aspiring and seasoned clinicians.

Every once in awhile, a book comes along in our field that sheds new light on an important topic in a clear, understandable manner without diluting the information. Dr. Fehr's practical guide to group is one such example. He has provided something for everyone, from the beginning group therapist to the experienced clinician. His real life vignettes highlight technical aspects of conducting group therapy, provide the reader with often poignant, sometimes funny, and highly illustrative examples of various group phenomena, and bring to life what too often in our field is dryly presented. Dr. Fehr's communiction style challenges us, makes us laugh, take pause, reflect, and ultimately come away feeling revitalized in our work with groups. His review of the history of group therapy is the most compelling I have ever read. A must read for graduate students and senior group therapists alike.

Kenneth Burke was a restless thinker ever-alert to what makes Shakespeare's plays work. Scott L. Newstok, with admirable bravura in a profession that tends to undervalue the editing of collections, recognized the importance of committing himself to the painstaking project of recovering Burke's writings on Shakespeare. The result is a treasure-trove both of some landmark essays in his career (most notably the 1951 Hudson Review piece on Othello), and also of the bric-a-brac of intellectual history scattered throughout Burke's work from the 1920s through the 1980s. Newstok unearths and reproduces sections that Burke crossed out from a lecture, thus offering windows onto his compositional process. Among other works never fully revised for publication, he edits and annotates the typescript of Burke's response to a graduate student's paper on Troilus and Cressida. As importantly, Newstok gathers what appears to be every excerpt from Burke's lifetime of writing that mentions Shakespeare. The process of obtaining permissions alone is staggering, but it is a further tribute to Newstok' s professional integrity and passion for the project that he gained full cooperation from the Burke estate and the endorsement of surviving family members.
The volume begins with a cogent survey of the key issues and terms (including a glance at Aristotle, "Burke's classical mentor") that played a generative role in Burke's Shakespeare criticism. He ends with suitably terse yet remarkably helpful notes; for example, indicting where precisely in Coleridge's Biographia Literaria we can find the reference to which Burke alludes in passing. Newstok gives sufficient identifying tags of dramatists, writers, philosophers, and artists whom Burke assumed his audience knew, and covers in detail the original settings of the works discussed and, when applicable, where they were printed previously.
This much having been said, the larger question still looms: Do we need so much--indeed all--of Burke's Shakespeare criticism gathered in one place? The answer this volume convincingly urges is: yes. The Editor's Introduction establishes the impressive influence Burke has had on a number of critics and dramatists, as well as on important movements in literary scholarship and dramatic criticism. The claim of kinship to Burke's work is wide and diverse, ranging from Edward Said to Angus Fletcher. In a long note Newstok gives an initial roll call of upward of fifty Renaissance literary scholars who have profitably engaged Burke's work. He goes on to point out that Northrop Frye annexed Burke as one of his antecedents in "the archetypal approach," and Harold Bloom called Burke "my heroic precursor." And yet it is often through indirection that debts to Burke's ideas are acknowledged. Buried in a footnote, for example, Stephen Greenblatt tellingly relates: "As so often happens, I discovered that Burke's brilliant sketch had anticipated the shape of much of my argument."
In part this reluctance to give Burke pride of place in one's own scholarly work is the result of the unmistakably Burkean tone and trajectory of thought to be found in his often idiosyncratic approach. Unlike literary critics who develop systems that others dutifully can follow, Burke does not leave a coherent methodology, notwithstanding his "Pentadic analysis" and his, at times, deeply moving readings of Shakespearean scenes. Rather readers receive insights--the kinds that he left for a general audience rather than a coterie of the initiated. Although he "appreciated the favorable attention from academia," finally he was more concerned with inspiring "others to join his ecstatic readings of Shakespeare, and gain contact with the energy at the heart of Shakespeare's plays."
One example illustrates just how useful having access to these essays can be, especially in a properly edited edition. Recently when teaching Timon of Athens to undergraduates, I turned to Burke's typical mode of beginning an investigation as presented in Newstok's book. It supplied just the heuristic jump-start required: "First, let's force ourselves to decide exactly what Timon of Athens is about." Written originally as the introduction to an edition of Timon, Burke intelligently recounted the main strokes of the play, act by act. He then treated the main characters in turn and examined their function in the drama: "Apemantus serves to keep the play from falling simply into contrasted halves." He also considered relations among the sexes, showing how women in this play function "only in a supernumerary capacity." That there are only courtesans and no mothers, sisters, or wives, fits well with Burke's judgment on Timon as "an almost brutally end-of-the-line character, his life coming to a close in rabid talk of total human rot." The one moment of pity, supplied by the faithful retainer Flavius, is a touch that Burke sees as "quite Shakespearean, at least in the sense that a Shakespearean tragedy has a scene that softens the audience with tears of pity just before the final outbreak of victimage." He compares Flavius speech instructively to Desdemona's willow song, a connection discussed at greater length in Chapter Six, Burke's landmark essay on Othello (another reason why it is good to have all of these essays collected in one volume). When all is said and done, Burke is a reliable and subtle expositor of Shakespeare's plays.
The second part of this essay turns to consider the nature of Timon as a dramaturgic invention. With all of the rigor shown in his Rhetoric of Religion (1961), Burke explores "invective," "lamentation," and "praise" seen as "the three freedoms." Fortunately Newstok restores paragraphs apparently excised by Burke's editor, Francis Ferguson. These are instructive paragraphs indeed, as they make clear why these three are linked and how they help explain the ineluctable humane movement charted out in Timon of Athens. Granting the disputation of authorship, Burke makes a solid case for Timon's "radicalism"--in its usual, literal, and etymological senses--and concludes that, although it "is not pretty," it is "extremely thorough."
Likewise Burke is thorough and radical in his approach to the plays as a whole. He covers all of the chief topical issues and he seeks to dig to the root of things that often remain undetected by virtue of alluring speeches and the fast-paced sweep of a drama's action. Consequently this is a book that should be placed next to The Riverside Shakespeare on one's bookshelf. As a teacher I anticipate returning to it often, especially when sorting out what should go into an introductory lecture on a given play. And it is for this same reason that people outside the academy will want to have ready access to Burke as well: he gets to the bottom of things.

An iconoclastic American intellectual, the late Kenneth Burke (1897-1993) was an exceptional and prolific literary critic whose writings and commentaries were respected -- even by those who occasionally disagreed with either his assumptions and conclusions. In the pages of "Kenneth Burke On Shakespeare", academician Scott L. Newstok (Assistant Professor of English, Gustavus Adolphus College, and Andrew W. Mellon Post-Doctoral Fellow at Yale University) has gathered together under one cover all of Burke's Shakespeare literary criticism (including previously unpublished notes and lectures) that had such wide-spread influence on his contemporaries. Drawn from a profusion of sources, including literary magazines, academic journals, Newstok has accomplished a truly impressive task of research and recovery. The result is a compendium of analytical commentaries on Shakespearean dramas and comedies. Enhanced with the inclusion of an appendix (Additional References to Shakespeare in Burke's Writings), extensive notes, and 'Index of Works by Shakespeare', and a general index, "Kenneth Burke On Shakespeare" is a welcome and enthusiastically recommended addition to academic library Shakespearean Studies reference collections and supplemental reading lists.

The most valuable aspect of Scott L. Newstok's recent "Kenneth Burke on Shakespeare" is his inclusion of a talk, delivered by Burke, entitled "Introduction: Shakespeare Was What?," which serves as a useful primer to Burke's system of reading Shakespeare. As the lecture establishes, Burke is ultimately concerned with what literature does (i.e. how it functions). Accordingly, Shakespeare is, in Burke's mind, an artist who "spontaneously knew how to translate some typical tension or conflict of his society into terms of variously interrelated personalities." As Burke explains, Shakespeare's ability "was to let that whole complexity act itself out, by endowing each personality with the appropriate ideas, attitudes, actions, situations, relationships, and fatality" (18). Shakespeare, above all other dramatists, constructs plays in which his characters' engagements with each other constitute the play's movement while dictating meaning to its audience. And Burke, perhaps above all other critics, articulates the anatomy of these engagements for us.

Without a doubt, Burke scholars will find Newstok's compilation of additional references to Shakespeare invaluable. While the sections that Newstok provides can't possibly offer full context, the well-versed Burkean will certainly have the texts in question (A Grammar of Motives, Attitudes Toward History, and so on) at hand. An impressive piece of scholarship, Kenneth Burke on Shakespeare will prove to be an essential work for a variety of audiences, including Shakespearians and Burkeans.

This work gathers together all of Kenneth Burke's writing on Shakespeare, thirteen major essays and a host of notes and remarks scattered throughout his writings. It contains an introduction by its editor,Scott L. Newstok which explains his own work on the volume, and Burke's general approach to Shakespeare criticism. The book also contains on its back cover laudatory words from among others Harold Bloom and Stephan Greenblat, that is from among the most distinguished literary critics working today.
Burke is an original in his approach to Shakespeare. He focuses often on the opening of the play, and is very concerned with the effect of the play on the audience. He again and again shows how Shakespeare is master playwright creating the effect he wants the work to have on the audience. For Burke whose basic view of drama derives from Aristotle 'action' plays the central role.'Character' is if not subordinated then not given the central place in his analysis as it has in the work of arguably the greatest Shakespearean critic of all A.C. Bradley.
While understanding Burke's brilliance and originality I have never been a strong fan of his writing. I have always found it somewhat difficult and academic. His learning is vast and he makes sudden shifts in his discourse which I find hard to follow. I too find often that the kinds of dramatic questions, the questions relating to how the dramatist achieved the effects he did, are not those which primarily concern me.
However the volume as scholarly collection and edition of Burke's work is comprehensive and carefully referenced. It is a real contribution to Burke scholarship and should be made good use of by all those who take interest in his scholarship.

All of Kenneth Burke's writings on Shakespeare have been assembled in one place in this book, and even a compendium of brief mentions of Shakespeare, through the assiduous efforts of Scott Newstok. And what a treasure trove it is. As an undergraduate, I remember working my way diligently through Burke's A Rhetoric of Motives and A Grammar of Motives and being dazzled by the breadth and depth of this man's thinking. I thought I might have to dust off these volumes in order to approach this collection, but I did not find that necessary. The work stands solidly on its own, touching on Burke's dramatistic analytical approach, but not requiring any special knowledge beyond the scope of the essays themselves. Burke is quirky, and though he has a definite critical system, he is not essentially systematic. These essays range widely, both individually and as a collection. For the Shakespeare scholar, each one is a gem worthy of contemplation; for the neophyte or undergrad, this is a fine book to read piecemeal, on a "need-to-know basis."

From a scholarly perspective, I am most struck by the prescient sensibility of Burke's thinking. His work seems to percolate up through the current generation of literary critics, largely latent and unacknowledged, but there for the perceptive reader to discern. In places a Marxist perspective emerges, as in brief discussions of the enclosure acts, calling to mind H. R. Coursen's The Leasing Out of England: Shakespeare's Second Henriad. Yet Burke is no doctrinaire Marxist. Elsewhere, insightful psychological approaches both to characters and to the audience's experience of the play emerge. But there is no Procrustean psychological deformation of the works. Most markedly, Burke seems to anticipate many of the new-historical perspectives so prevalent today. In Stephen Greenblatt's Will in the World and James Shapiro's A Year in the Life of Shakespeare: 1599, I hear echoes of Burke. Though best known as a rhetorical analyst, the scope of Burke's critical project is made clear in his work on Shakespeare.

For anyone who finds the previous paragraph "inside baseball," do not lose hope. This book is ideal for the beginning and intermediate Shakespeare student as well. Burke's treatment of Julius Caesar, Othello, Hamlet, Macbeth, and King Lear will provide any student of the Bard's tragedies with fresh perspectives and unique insights into Shakepeare's tragic vision. The essay on Caesar is especially illustrative of the uniqueness of the Burkean approach. In the essay, "Antony in Behalf of the Play," Burke gives a meta-dramatic view of the play through the persona of Marc Antony, exploring the motives of the characters, the playwright, the audience within the play (the crowd), and the audience of the play. "Psychology and Form," the essay on Hamlet, ranges far and wide, offering insight into Burke's extensive knowledge and synoptic approach to literature. Here, he develops a theory of the development and resolution of psychological expectations in an audience and compares this to the listener's expectation of resolution in music (the condition to which all art aspires, as Walter Pater memorably put it).

Burke is a great thinker and a gifted writer. This book does an invaluable service by assembling all of his writing on the greatest writer in English in one place. This is a book that will be treasured by the expert and can teach the student to treasure Shakespeare's work. It is highly recommended.

...The first 87 pages of this book are phenomenal. It describes a truthful, honest and healthy way to apprach the problems of life and correctly defines discipline, courage and the difference between true joy and the common societal ideal that feel-good happiness is the ultimate goal in life.(Thank God)
As for the rest of book it starts to go a little down hill during the part on love (if you are a christian as I am than you realize the lack of mention of the perfect love of God) although it's still very good from a purely secular or humanistic point of view. It discounts the idea that romanticism is the same thing as disciplined love and he places romanticism in its rightful category as an ideal or notion rather than truth of disciplined love.
His theory of Grace and his idea of God are, however, quite ungracefull and unfortunately they lower the credibility of the book for many readers (not just Christian readers) because it is so sparce and it just doesn't do a good job of explaining much. Likewise his idea that evil is some kind of human entropy is interesting but it will be discounted by many becasue it may be structured upon an unsound idea of what entropy really is.
But I highly, highly suggest the first 87 pages to all people.

Todos encontramos un ejemplo parecido en nuestras vidas en el que se malentiende el concepto del amor y mas aun su practica.

La capacidad personal de cada uno, la determinacion de utilizar la disciplina como un aliado, y la convicción de que uno es es dueño de su propio destino, son algunas de las verdades que se analizan. Excelente libro, que educa, y me imagino es por otro lado atribulante para quienes no quieren ver su realidad. Las secuelas son tambien altamente recomendables.

Well, this book is definitely great for readers who seek to find out what's wrong with their spiritual health from a shrink's point of view--you have some issues with certain things, the book points out why you feel or believe that way, then, the book advises you of ways to overcome such shortfalls by adopting a different mental scheme, such as, telling yourself that life shouldn't be easy when you encounter hardships. However, this book does not work for readers who are seeking for a holistic view of the universe, and thereby apply such views in overcoming the problems they face each day. In other words, if you don't have the psychological symptoms as discussed in that book, you won't find the book very useful.

This book has comforted me in the last year every time I have felt that life was immensely difficult and that I just could not go on. I have given it to people I care about in the hopes that Dr Peck will do them the kindness he has done me.The book has also reassured me that the energy within me is kind and compassionate (in the words of Gary Zuvak)and that everything happens for a reason and usually we are made stronger by our experiences.I often re-read the chapters on love and grace as they still have the power to move me as they did when I first read them.

The most interesting thing about this book is that it throws light on how much we have misunderstood love to be.It clarifies what exactly love is. He has made a detailed study of the holy scriptures both from the east as well as the west.Though the topic can become very complex but Mr.Scott in this well researched book has kept it as easy as possible to understand.It is a must read for a better perspective in life.

This is a ok book its kinda for younger kids.Its about a shipwreck and alot of kids get stranded on a island Andrew Lian Ned they look to see if anyone else was on the island they were on. But when they were looking they encountered dinosaurs and they get scared and hide. So now they must over come that great fear. Also during the middle of the book they see them starting to fight and they try to kill the dinosaurs and it has a really suprising ending.

Even though this book is short, it is filled with action for a person of any age to read. In the story it also gives the story of the sea monster, the Kraken. I like the creativity of Scott Ciencin's books on Dinotopia, as well as the Dinoverse series. At first you thik that the Unrivaled are going to invade, but later you find out that they are the most peaceful race on Dinotopia. Congatulations, Ciencin, you've done it again.

Even though this book is short, it is filled with action for a person of any age to read. In the story it also gives the story of the sea monster, the Kraken. I like the creativity of Scott Ciencin's books on Dinotopia, as well as the Dinoverse series. At first you thik that the Unrivaled are going to invade, but later you find out that they are the most peaceful race on Dinotopia. Congatulations, Ciencin, you've done it again.

I own this book and a few other Dinotopia titles and I really recommend this to any Dinotopia fan or just about anybody who likes to read really good books. Once I started reading it I could'nt put it down, it is one of the best books Ive read in a very long time. I also recommend the Dinotopia book Windchaser for another good read

or anyone else, for that matter! I own this book and have reread it a few times. Three friends journey into the Lost City of Halycon, and what they find is not what they expect. They meet new friends and face new challenges. But will it be enough to stop the power-hungry Lord Lucius? You'll have to read it to find out! This book has adventure and excitement, and some humor mixed in also. Over all, an excellent book.

Maahvelous sparkles with such heart and originality in both text and images that I am breathless. The noise of sameness is silenced in this inspired book by Chambliss and his outside the box interpretation of humanity, adventure, and hope.
LOVED IT!!!!

Scott Chambliss has created a fascinating book! The illustrations are remarkable, the characters very likeable, the message of hope, tolerance and acceptance is thoughtfully , yet gently revealed as the story unfolds. A very special book full of humor, warm feelings and soul. In essence, a wonderfully written and well packaged book!

This book is so fun and so innovative that it's a pleasure to see and own. The artwork clearly shows the creative hand of a Hollywood production designer...and finally a "hero" is not cloaked in darkness, but in all the glamour and exitement of international travel. Just a wonderful book.

This is the perfect book! It's really fun to read, has beautiful artwork and looks great on your coffee table.

This is the best book I've ever written and illustrated!
And it's also the first book I've ever written and illustrated!
So beware!
What may follow may be even better or even worse!
But in any case,
I'm glad you're here!
And YOU'RE MAAHVELOUS!
xoxoxScott

The Plain Reader is a collection of articles that once appeared in the magazine "Plain". Its authors are comprised of individuals with varying philosophies on the virtues of a simple life. Some articles are written by Quakers, Amish and Brethren. There are also articles by homesteaders, authors of several books, and others.

Since the authors come from so many different backgrounds, the articles aren't always compatible. For example, several of the articles are extremely anti-technology, anti-electricity, anti-competition, anti-public school education, etc., whereas others espouse the use of some of these things in moderation.

To me, extremism in any direction is the antithesis of simplicity, which, after all, is what this book is supposed to be about. Still, the book is correctly subtitled "Essays on Making a Simple Life" - it is essays by different people, with different backgrounds and different beliefs about what constitutes a simple life. It is an educational read, not only about simplicity, but also about how certain groups view the rest of the world.

Measure twice, cut once. This proverb is a sample of the master carpenter's wisdom, which I would not disregard. But there is perhaps even a better wisdom for such tasks.

I knew an uneducated man, formal education ended in the sixth grade, a good part of his youth behind a mule, and in his young manhood giving service under General McArthur in Pacific island warfare. I don't think he weighed 130 pounds dry at age 65. But he taught me an immense amount as a master carpenter in his late years, overlooking my efforts while working in his home shop, helping me directly to improve my own home and its furniture.

What Virgil taught me was, cut twice, first on scrap then on final. He kept a bucket of scrap pieces of wood ready to run through the table saw, jointer, or router, before running through the final production piece in the work.

There are delicate refinements which only the observant and humble souls initially acquire. When they share these with us, we are immensely blessed.

This selection of essays should be on the bedside table -- and read -- by everyone who claims to want to simplify their life. The truth is, many of us (Baby Boomers, Yuppies, BoBos et al) would like to live a simple life, provided we could still have all the amenities we've grown accustomed to -- cars (but nothing flashy), television (but not cable, of course), movies (art on film), designer clothes (but simple ones), gourmet food (we'll grow the herbs ourselves), computers/Internet access (well, it's just a modern typewriter/telephone and what a research tool!)

Savage and his friends claim that the techno life most of us lead is actually simpler than the lives they lead. In the techno life, we can do away with too much interaction with others. We separate ourselves with complications. We can live in virtual reality, paring down the complications (human beings) into abstracts. We can have friends around the world, although we might not know our neighbors names. We can amuse ourselves, filling our time with fantastic games, entertaining TV, music from around the world. What's wrong with that? It may be that life is so short, and we are spreading ourselves so thin, with all the possibilities at our finger tips, we may be missing real life completely.

They claim the simple life is actually the more complicated life, with all the mess and difficulties of living in a small community, having to rely on neighbors (who we might not even like) for help, raising our own foods, finding ways to entertain ourselves and our families that might involve planting, sewing, talking, writing, singing, and being in the moment (without the new agey spin to it).

Without lecturing, this collection of articles from The Plain Reader newspaper (subscribers are limited to 5,000 in order to keep it small and hand-made) motivates, illuminates and educates us.

Although the authors are generally Luddites, Quakers, Mennonites and other plain living folks, living sans TV, Nintendo, radio, daily newspapers, ownership of automobiles, etc., the articles are not judgmental of those of us still living in the consumer world. And let's be honest -- as much as we claim we want the simple life, here we are, you and I, writing and reading reviews, and buying books over the Internet! We're mentioned in the book, sympathetically.

In an interview with Jerry Mander, the Plain editor says, "..but I have never had anyone say to me, 'No, no get away from me. These issues aren't important to me. I like being a machine.' On the contrary, in every case where I've spoken heart-to-heart about my concerns, they've turned around and said, 'You know, I, too, have a real sense of unease about what I'm doing. I think I do watch too much television. I do feel controlled by it,' etc.

Now if I were to wag my finger at them, or organize activities to "wake them up," appealing to their minds, they would simply hold more tightly to their stake in the dominant culture. When I tell them my fears and failings, I've not had a single person fail to respond. And so I do believe this is how we're going to reach people. Our magazine reaches people by dissolving their fear, by encouraging others with what we're doing."

And so this book encourages us, with examples of what the plain folk, some once Bobos like thee and me, are doing. It almost pains me to read it, for I fall far short of the pure and simple thoughts in here. And yet there's hope -- I may not give up everything, but I can question, and make changes in how I live my life.

Mary Ann Laiser writes of The Media-Free Family; Bill Duesing has thoughts on "Leaving Money Behind; and Art Gish speaks of 'Food We Can Live With."

Even if you're not ready to leave it all behind, this is a wonderful book to read. So thought provoking, it may inspire you to question some of what you're doing, what you're allowing your children to do (I'm speaking to myself, here!) and how even small changes can be made. We bought one copy, but now we need more to pass along!

Can be read bit by bit, or at one sitting. Use a marker, or bookmarks. The woodcut illustrations by Mary Azarian are simple, but beautiful (better even than the cover.)

A wonderful view of the world without all the gadgets we think are necessary. A great way to live and belong in the world. As a Christian I think we could do without alot of the junk the world thinks we need. Thanks for a great book.

This is one of those days when I am feeling terribly blessed because I was able to buy a copy of The Plain Reader Essays on Making a Simple Life - Edited by Scott Savage. This is one of those books if you can find a copy I recommend you buy it. It is out of print, so I think the only places you can find a copy are via used books or small new booksellers who may have a copy stuck away somewhere.

So what makes this book a gem? Well, for one thing it is a series of articles on a variety of topics, written by a lot of simple living folks on subjects that those seeking or living a simple life will really appreciate. One might even say its a great book to have next to your bedside so you can read something short, and encouraging before going to sleep.

I loved reading this book. I got to a point in the book where I couldn't put it down till I was done. There were no boring parts and I find that very few books can do that for me (short attention span).

If you're looking for a short but highly entertaining Sci-fi read, then I suggest this book.

It contains elements of genetic manipulation to time jumping to master of illusions stuff and terra-forming abilities that just blow the mind.

This book does not disappoint - read it soon if you haven't already!

Though this book is fairly old for science fiction it is still very relevant. As well written as Card's Homecoming series. Lanik Mueller is a royal member of the Muellers, a nation on the planet Treason. The Muellers have the ability to instantly heal themselves, making them incredibly difficult to kill. Lanik becomes an outcast to the Muellers when his abilities mutate and make him a freak. He is forced to leave by his father and go on a mission to other nations that are warring with the Muellers.

Lanik discovers that the Muellers are not the only nation with unique abilities. Virtually, everywhere he travels he finds a people with a different ability and kind of like in a video game, he learns how to incorporate each of those powers into himself and starts to become a type of Superman.

He goes on to learn that there is a group of usurpers that are really ruling things and know all the secrets of planet Treason. Lanik must decide if he wants to risk everything he has learned to face up to the usurpers and restore Treason back to the people.

I loved this book from cover to cover and Card continues to amaze me as one of the best authors of our generation.

I loved this book. I've read Treason (Revised) and A Planet Called Treason (Original). It should be noted that the original copy (A Planet Called Treason) labeled the "Inkers" as "Niggers". This was changed in later versions. I would recommend the revised version, Treason, as it contains the more appropriate name for these characters.

Obviously written early in his career, this story really stands apart from much of OSC's work. It really is a fascinating read, although sometimes dark and a little graphic -- but it would make an excellent sci-fi movie. The hero of the story is a rad-regen, meaning his family has the ability to regenerate body parts (if a finger is cut off, it grows back), however he cannot control his growth as puberty hits, and he has extra limbs and internals growing all over the place. Talk about a bad day. He becomes an outcast, and wanders this planet of outcasts looking for purpose and a future. The ancestors of the planet's inhabitants were outcasts from earth, sent here for their crimes - the planet has no natural resources for them to escape - and hence is called Planet Treason.
A great adventure, and a fun read. You won't be disappointed.

as stated in the other reveiws, the plot of this book is very interesting and imaginative but the aspects of the book that i enjoied were first that the character lanik is a character modeled after an average teenager. all of his actions are based on that of a young adult and thus it shows how one matures over time and when exposed to various stimuli. The second aspect of the novel that i enjoied was the brilliant way in which card depicted the difference between the following catagories of actions that are treason dissent and freedom. The most prominante way in which he portrays this is with the planet treason being orbited by its two moons dissent and freedom. card also portrays this theme or idea in ay least ten different manifestations. Other than this the book was very descriptive and in other words one of those books you can't put down until your done and after that you feel remorse that it is over.

Too often, when a good novel makes the transfer from one media to another, the result is less than stellar. How often have you seen a good book make it to the silver screen, only to have the heart and soul of it lost in the translation? I saw that this comic was available for quite a time, but hesitated purchasing it because of what I "knew" was usually done in these situations. However, I weakened because I do enjoy Smith's Libertarian Universe series so much. I was curious too, if truth be known, and besides, I needed a fix of something by LNS.

I am very glad I did!

The artwork is typical of the genre... garish colours, almost cartoonish drawings, but close enough for you to tell who is human and who isn't,... but they are very effective and lovingly drawn. They do the job of presenting the characters involved effectively. If only one artist did all this work, his work ethic is amazing. I would be interested in finding out just how long the project actually took!

The "heart" of the novel, "The Probability Broach" has been kept, especially the heartfelt dialogue between Clarissa and Win just after his forceful interrogation of their Federalist prisoner. This is, I feel, a very key point in the novel/comic, and it is well done. I understand LNS himself had a say in what was presented, and I feel it shows. Even if you have not read the original novel... and who in their sane mind would NOT read the novel?... you get the total overall picture of what the book "means", and what the author is trying to make you understand about Libertarian values. All the important events and characters are presented in the correct sequence.

After I completed the comic version... and it was good enough to get me to read it almost uninterrupted... I couldn't resist, and so broke out the original novel again, and read it for perhaps the 20th time, just to compare. It was good to read it again, but I was satisfied that the graphic novel "does the job" nearly as well. Yes the novel is better, for me, in giving detail and feelings, but the comic version was great too!

I lent the comic to my son-in-law, and he totally enjoyed it, not having read any LNS before. When he finished he asked me if I had the novel. He is presently reading it. But, we are two very satisfied readers of the graphic novel of The Probability Broach. If you are an L. Neil Smith fan, you should get this work of art, simply as a collectors piece. However, I feel you will be very satisfied with its presentation. New readers will be able to see and understand what they should about this particular political viewpoint, and go away happy. I ,for one, wish this were a reality, however, I fear Man's evil nature prevents it. There are just too many "Red Barons" out there who want or need to control others to allow this revolution to take place.

I just hope "The Venus Belt" gets published in this format as well, but I doubt it will. The work involved in producing something like this is worth it for a one-of-a-kind effort, but since no "new" Libertarian values are presented in the second book, the need to publish is simply not there... but, I hope I am wrong.

Having read the novel The Probability Broach, I was very interested in seeing the graphic novel. It was very well done, and compliments the novel well.

I would highly recommend it to any Probability Broach/L. Neil Smith fans.

I had read the novel first, and so I was a bit skeptical when I read the comic version. I was very amazed to see so much from the novel included in the comic version. After reading the comic version, I could not recall that anything had been left out. Very well done and entertaining. The illustrations were well done and quite similar to what I had visualized in my imagination while reading the novel.

In this era of so many comics being turned into big screen movies, I cannot wait for the movie version.

Probably the best book on liberty and freedom has been transformed into a beautifully illustrated Graphic Novel. Scott Beiser teams with the author of the original book L. Neil Smith, to create a new and stylishly updated version of the original novel. Beiser's artwork jumps off the page with depth and clarity, evoking feelings of immersion into this world. If I could dive in and live there I would. Excellent!

This graphic novel has to be considered both as an SF/Action-Adventure story, and as a piece of Libertarian propaganda.

As SF, it's colorfully imaginative, and runs with a theme previously used in L. Sprague De Camp's Wheels of If and the TV show Sliders (with a dash of Ernest Callenbach's Ecotopia thrown in). The story is usually fast paced, but there are a few points where the propaganda acts like an unwelcome speed-bump (as when the medic spends two pages preaching to our Gulliver character about the psychological problems of pacifists who won't bear arms in self-defense). The art is eye-catching, and filled with whimsical background touches (e.g. the cameo appearances by Jimmy Carter, Jimmy Olsen, Peter Parker, and Billy & Mandy).

The Probability Broach is also largely successful as Libertarian propaganda (more successful than the environmental propaganda in Callenbach's Ecotopia, which shares a similar narrative structure). The alternate history of the "over the rainbow" world has plenty of shocks for casual readers, and encourages them to delve with an open-mind into real-world history regarding the Whiskey Rebellion and minor American politicians like Albert Gallatin. More importantly, its alternate world is largely plausible, especially to readers who have already been steeped in the works of Hayek, Virginia Postrel, Ayn Rand, and Milton Friedman, or who have already been persuaded by themes in Reason Magazine or John Stossel reports.

There remain gaps in the argument, though: like most Libertarian fiction, marriage and children seem out-of-place in this world. As in Ayn Rand's fiction, children are typically ignored, or if they appear at all, they enter as though they'd wandered in from a Victorian-era book written for children: the children are thoughtful and well-mannered enough to handle the responsibility of gun ownership or contract law at six years of age, instead of being subject to the kind of wild passions and fits that seem to demand authoritative parenting and restraint. In a post-Columbine world, the idea of gun-toting seven year olds strikes a sour note (though there is a temptation to see the kind of private school system that would avoid creating either Columbine-style pressure cookers of forced attendance, or the petty tortures cited in privately-run British boarding schools like the one depicted in Kipling's Stalky & Co.).

Further, the graphic novel is guilty of card stacking. "Our" world is depicted as one in which every historical example of government encroachment (short of pre-Civil War slavery) is carried one step further. For example, Executive Order 6102 (a Great Depression measure that prohibited "hoarding" of gold) is not only still in force in 1987 (instead of having been repealed on Dec. 31, 1974), but has been expanded to cover other precious metals.

Finally, the propaganda doesn't seem to adequately address why anyone short of a would-be dictator would be tempted away from the Libertarian model. Marxism never arose in the alternate world (Gallatinism swept Europe instead), slave-holders were *talked* into emancipation (by a President who, historically, was one of the few Revolutionary leaders who didn't include a manumission clause in his Last Will), the Plains Indians were apparently quick to reject tribal authority and the notion that their land was Sacred (in the alternate history, Manifest Destiny continued as a series of peaceful trades of land for precious metals and "stock options"), the Tragedy of the Commons never resurfaced (perhaps the alternate world's Confederacy arrived at a common law distribution of property rights for the broadcast frequencies, ground water, and air?), and Freemasonry is the closest thing witnessed to religious extremism.

The alternate world's Confederacy participated in a few variants of the "good" wars, but always via privately raised armies of volunteers, a method that uncomfortably resembles the distinction between 2001's nation of Afghanistan and the "unaffiliated" Al-Qaeda network that it harbored. The novel is gutsy enough to directly address the security question (how does a society that doesn't believe in borders or arms control stop a foreign army from assembling within its borders?), but the answers given seem terribly weak in a post-9/11 context, and remind readers that in real world history, an organized army was able to easily defeat a rag-tag band of farmers in the Whiskey Rebellion.

But despite these open questions, the graphic novel and the society it depicts remain compelling. I look forward to reading the unabridged prose version!

THIS IS THE FIRST TIME THAT I'VE EVER PURCHASED FROM AMAZON, AND I MUST SAY THAT I AM COMPLETELY SATISFIED WITH MY PURCHASE. THE BOOK WAS IN PEFECT/BRAND NEW CONDITION AS DESCRIBE.

This text is required for Psych 103 at Stony Brook Univ., LI, NY
It is excellent.

I received this book in only three days and it was in better condition than described...Not to mention the awesome price that I got for the book and expedited shipping!! My school wanted $113.00 for the book...psshhh.

If you've ever wanted to learn as much as possible from an introductory textbook in the area of Psychology, look no more. This book has served as a tremendous assistant for Psychology, and various other areas of study where psychology is certainly related. If you enjoy learning about cognitive and other behavioral functions of the body, this book is a perfect match!

The authors' use of case studies and real-life examples makes this more than a textbook -- and much more readable than one. I found myself excited about reading each chapter. And I know I'll be looking up things in it in the future. My only quibble is that I found many copyediting errors that I hope the publisher will fix for future editions.