Smith Books

The book is amazing and easy for read [ASIN:0809115093 Beginning to Pray]. I am concerned about the way we pray and what we are supposed to wait from pray. The book shows that we may be searching the wrong way, and addressed me to improve may pray.

My spiritual director recommended this book to me. The book guides me in my spiritual life and is clear in its message.

I am reading this book for the 5th time, and I just got finished leading a study group for it. Each time I read it, it is as if it's brand new. English is not the author's first language, so some of the wording is a little choppy at first. He phrases things a bit differently than English speaking people, but once you get used to his style you can't help but be challenged and encouraged in your personal relationship with God. I think an appropriate sub-title for this book could be: How to have a personal relationship with the living God. His first chapter "The Absence of God" hits a topic that all of us have experienced at one time or another - Why does God seem so far away? I highly recommend this book for anyone interested in deepening his walk with God. Among many things, it will challenge you to be authentic before God, show you how to be still before God, and demonstrate how to live in the present moment - practicing the presence of God.

The apostle Paul tells us "we do not know how to pray as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with sighs to deep for words."

This little book by Anthony Bloom will help any person find the way to a prayer life breathed with the Spirit's life.

Anthony Bloom's Beginning to Pray is not just for beginners in prayer. In it, Bloom offers practical suggestions for novices in prayer and profound insights for even the most spiritually mature. Bloom draws from a life rich in challenges and communication with people and God in myriad circumstances. His writings of prayer reveal the mysteries that open to a person who prays in God's presence often.

The introduction to the book is the transcript of an interview of the author answering questions about his life and ministry. The interview illustrates his qualifications to write a book on prayer. It also shows that his is a remarkable life journey that has taken him from Russia to the Orient to France. He worked his way through college to become a surgeon, eventually being conscripted by the Germans after the occupation of France. He then became ordained as monk in 1948 and served as a monk and a surgeon before leaving his medical practice for ministry.

His first point in writing of prayer emphasizes our state before God. People at some point will face God, and when they do, they will receive salvation or condemnation. He encourages readers to accept their desperate state and to go to God asking for and receiving mercy. Then prayer can begin. Otherwise, God is outside of us and cannot hear. Prayer will be sent to the unknown.

Bloom urges readers to develop a passion for God at the expense of the possessions of the world. He reminds readers that one must take up his or her cross daily to follow Jesus. Bloom offers readers ways to experiment with types of prayers to find what suits them. These include written prayers like psalms, short prayers like the "Jesus Prayer, praying with icons or spontaneous prayers. What is important writes Bloom is that those praying believe in their own prayers and pray heartily not haphazardly to God. He also exhorts readers on the importance of sitting quietly in one's room away from the distractions of the world. To Bloom, practicing silence before God is a key to closeness with God in prayer.

For Bloom, those "crises" in our lives that would become excuses not to pray are the very dangers that should prompt us to pray. Let nothing stop you from entering into quiet time before the Lord. He devotes a chapter to managing time and prayer.

The final chapter entitled "Addressing God" discusses the necessity of a personal relationship with God as opposed to a functional relationship with God. This idea critiques a relationship where readers see God as serving a purpose only in their lives versus a relationship with him in which he is the object and desire. This personal relationship requires us to call God by a name that is personal and address him not vaguely but as someone known.

Bloom's insights target intensity, passion, relationship and time in prayer. I think all Christians often need to begin again in prayer. This book is a tool to help readers do just that and to analyze their prayer lives and see where they stand. Bloom offers several ways to "experiment" with prayer, and these are useful. The main impact for me in this book is his emphasis on taking prayers seriously. He writes that if we want God to listen and act on our prayers we must pray earnestly and sincerely with thoughtfulness and heart.

He adds two meditations at the end of the book. One I found instructive and one I did not find helpful.

Craig Stephans, author of Shakespeare On Spirituality: Life-Changing Wisdom from Shakespeare's Plays

Bought this for my granddaughter and hope she finds out the the sewing machine isn't too scary.

Great tools to help your child (or yourself) get used to using a sewing machine.

I purchased this book for my 9 year old grandaughter. What a wonderful introduction to sewing. First and formost, it is fun, visually attractive, in a easy to use spiral format on durable stock. It begins with some nice graphics and games that involve learning the parts of the sewing machine, moves on to some FUN drills that teach little hands how to control sewing lines, curves, points and so on. It ends with some very basic projects that kids can complete on their own giving them a real sense of acomplishment. This is a must have for children learning to sew.

This is a great book. Inside it has actual patterns for your kids to practice tracing with their machine stitching. Very colorful and excellent quality...thick pages. Can't wait to try it out with my daughter after we give it to her at Christmas.

This book was exactly as described. Easy to read and use. Cute projects for kids!

My daughter has now read through Volume 5 of the series. She really enjoyed the "Diary of a Wimpy Kid", so I ran upon the Bone series when looking for other graphic novels. She enjoys the humor and has shared the books with her friends.

The only drawback off this TPB is its length - this comics is simplistic so you go through the book fast. But the story is great, characters are engaging and you have to wait for the next volume.
Note - this edition is colored and is really beautiful. Can't imaging it in any other quality.

This volume of the Bone adventures picks up where the first one left off, and is equally fun and interesting. It would be hard not to love the Bone series, with the wonderful characters and humorous situations. This is great stuff, and I highly recommend it to graphic novel lovers.

Again my son loves the Bone Series and it helps encourage him to read because he enjoys the books so much.

Wow! There is something truly amazing about the images and words of "Bone". At heart, it's a fairy tale, but one that appeals to the child in the adult and the adult in the child.

Famous Hispanic novelist writes broad brush cultural and political history of the connection between Spain and Spanish America--the "New World" of the subtitle.

He shows how the three threads of Spanish history in 1492--feudalism fighting toward central monarchy, Christianized Europe fighting against the Islamic outpost on the Iberian peninsula, and the three peoples of the Book--Jews, Christians, and Muslims--fighting for survival and cultural footholds in the rebirth of knowledge in the Rennaisance--played out on the projected Utopia of the "New" World.

Good high-level framework for studying South and Central American history.

Reading this book, helped me see how close to each other we all are. How the Islamic culture and arts are part of the Hispanic world. For instance, a great percent of the words that we use in Spanish derived from the Arabic language. It's a great read!!

This book is the English translation of El Espejo Enterrado, by Mexican writer and diplomat Carlos Fuentes. It consists of 399 pages divided into 5 parts and 18 chapters which describe the history of the Spanish speaking people from their Cretan and Greek roots, through their development during the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, the Imperial Period, all the way to modern Spain and South America.

The book also includes 5 two page tables titled The Monarchs of Spain and showing detailed genealogical information on the families that ruled Spain from 970 ad to the beginning of the 20th century (not included in the Spanish version published by Taurus-Bolsillo 1992), as well as a large number of beautiful black and white and color illustrations (also not included the Spanish version published by Taurus-Bolsillo 1992). I missed such information, when reading the Spanish version, particularly the illustrations, because the author refers to them in the text, often with very detailed descriptions.

The book ends with the credits, acknowledgements, and index.

El Espejo Enterrado is listed as an essay, although it probably should be classified as a history book. Yet it is more than that, because Carlos Fuentes is more than an essayer or a historian. He is a multifaceted artist who sees and describes reality in a more comprehensive as well as captivating manner than the average essayer or historian would. Hence he does not just give the description of the events that shaped the history of the Spanish speaking people, he makes them interesting, he makes the reader want to learn more. For example, by discussing the individuals whose thoughts and actions influenced the decisions of the Spanish speaking people (e.g., Jean Jacques Rousseau and Napoleon); by relating the major world events from which those related to the Spanish speaking people developed (e.g., the Renaissance, the French Revolution, the American Revolution); or by describing the works of some of the major Spanish speaking artists (e.g., Don Quixote, La Vida Es Sueno, Las Meninas, La Maja Desnuda). Hence with this book, you will learn more than the history of the Spanish speaking people, you will meet some of the great thinkers of the Western world, you will be reminded of the history of the Western world, you will learn about the products of the most illuminated minds of the Spanish speaking world. You will also discover about many word origins, (how many among you reading this review know the meaning of the word Saragoza, the origin of the name Malinche, the identity of the woman from whom California got its name, the reason why the Mexicans call the turkey guacolote). And you will acquire an awful lot of useful information which would otherwise not be easily available all in one book, for example, the real significance of Goya's painting Saturn Devouring his Children".

If you are educated in the history and artistic expressions of the Western World and interested in Spain and South America, you will not be able to put this book down until you come to the end. In actual fact, you will probably wish that you never came to the end.

This book is absolutely spellbinding and captivating in it's presentation that is both an excellent narrative and artistic with imagery to further enhance the experience. The editorial review here at Amazon by Kirkus Reviews is a good synopsis to get a good idea about the books contents. Also there are many sample pages available for your perusal. From a readers perspective this book is one to cherish after the reading experience is over. Carlos Fuentes presents the subject of Spain and it's influence on the new world with clarity and makes his points with the precision of a sugeon, clean and accurate. Beginning with the ancient imagery of the bull found in caves in Spain Fuentes begins his analysis showing how this imagery continues in the arts and culture in such diverse domains as the works of Goya and Picasso, advertisements for brandy and of course the Spanish spectacle of bullfighting. He picks and chooses his historical path, weaving through the centuries concluding with the the growth of Hispanic USA. The book is full oh historical facts, little known bits of information abound as Fuentes draws analogies that stimulate the mind, stimulating the reader to conclude further inferences. The book reminds me of Bronowski's "The Ascent of Man" only on a smaller scope, from a perspective that makes connections between Spain and Latin America as oppossed to the whole of humanity. The "mother" countries influence is expounded upon as only Fuentes can, his use of language is powerful, insightful and revealing all the while showing his keen intelligence and sharp eye for details. The accompanying artwork throughout the book is fantastic and helps the reader to further understand the subject. A moving narrative is delivered by Fuentes and I highly suggest this book to anyone interested in the history of Spain and it's long lasting influence in the Americas. A natural outcome of reading this book is to further explore one of the many topics introduced. Included is a complete lineage of Spanish succession detailing the various ruling families and marriages that created the kings and queens of Spain. Aslo there is an outstanding suggested bibliography. This is a superb book that stimulates the mind while you read and beyond.

The countries of Latin America have collectively had a long and tortured history; starting with the wars between the great native empires, the arrival of Columbus and the Spaniards, and finally US imperialism throughout the 20th century. Now, at the dawn of the 21st century, Latin Americans are more conscious than ever of their past, the contributions both native and European to it, and the state of their current economies, societies and culture. Part of this awakening and collective consciousness is the rise of prominant authors born and raised within the Hispanic world. One of these is Carlos Fuentes from Mexico, who in this book examines the origins and evolution of Latin American peoples, countries, and cultures. Paying attention to the influences from Spain, Portugal, France, various current and ancient native tribes, and now the US, this book shows how modern Hispanic culture came together in ways often violent, haphazard and chaotic. Rarely was one person in charge of this process; rare are the works that dominated this evolution. Outside of the Catholic Church, Latin America knows no equivalent of Sun Tzu's Art of War, Homer's epic poems, or the US Constitution. The author then tries to distill what is best about Latin American culture, and in doing so, points a way forward for Hispanics throughout the Western Hemisphere. Overall, a great book to understand this region of the world, its past, its present, and its probable future.

(From Don Simmons, Jr., Check, VA)

Burning the Furniture, by Dan Smith, stands up easily against Rick Bragg's All Over But the Shoutin' as a classic memoir of growing up in the South.

As a Western North Carolina native who grew up in many a small Southeastern town, Smith's voice and rhythm bring my childhood and youth to life as surely as the smell of sawdust and varnish from a furniture plant.

The chapter titles alone are worth the cover price. There's "Cut Me a Switch," My Favorite Ex-Wife," and "Driving Drunk: A Love Story," to name a few.

Especially if you grew up in the `60s/'70s South, his stories -- shenanigans at the municipal pool, getting hot-foot walking on the asphalt under the merciless Southern sun, sandspurs in your feet, his mom's attempts to keep her young-uns in line or being called a nigger-lover for having black friends - will bring it all back to life with humor, sadness, fear and hope.

I highly recommend this less than 200-page jewel. Bragg may have just lost his bragging rights.

Don Simmons Jr.
Check, Va.

I loved this book from cover to cover and when I finished it I wished there had been twice as many chapters. The book has both a big heart and a funny bone. Dan Smith's hardscrabble upbringing and elegantly rendered appreciation of his momma's grit make it stand out as a gem in the genre of southern literary memoirs. His tales reminded me of what a joy -- and a challenge -- it once was to be a young boy growing up in the South, surrounded by oddball family members and offbeat neighbors. Burning the Furniture chronicles childhood baseball games, wars fought with BB guns amid the kudzu, and summer days at the local pond, as well as encounters with racism, tough days at the mountain orphanage, football injuries, awkward encounters with nubile young girls, the practical jokes of daffy newspapermen and lessons on how to use alcohol to lose jobs as well as women. Burning the Furniture is in the same vein as Rick Bragg's memoirish "Ava's Man," only better.

Fans of biography and memoir frequently have to slog through 400 pages or more of exhaustive detail about the subject's life -- not all of it necessarily enthralling. Which makes "Burning the Furniture" a refreshing change of pace in this genre. In a lean 175 or so pages (made leaner but all the more engaging by over two dozen nostalgic photographs) readers are whisked along on a whistle-stop tour through the author's very colorful life. From his impoverished childhood in a family of eight children to his serendipitous start in the newspaper business, through multiple marriages and the horrors of alcoholism, "Burning the Furniture" is a Southern gothic story where the author comes out not only alive, but with humor and perspective very much intact. Whether you relate to Smith's experiences or are amazed by them, his stories are funny, sad, strange, revealing, and always well told. If you love picking up a book and getting so wrapped up in it that you cancel the rest of your day, you'd do well to give this little gem a try.

One of the best qualities that anyone can possess is the ability to laugh at oneself. In "Burning the Furniture" even amidst a childhood filled with poverty and a turbulent adulthood, Dan Smith is able to laugh at his many precarious situations and have the reader laughing right alongside him as well.

This book will surely delight you as it did me, although it's no fairy tale. You're as likely to be fond of the man at the end of "Burning the Furniture" as you are to be disturbed by the younger version.

Sometimes, a walk down memory lane takes you to overgrown paths full of kudzu.

Though the setting in Burning The Furniture takes you back six decades (timely book release date on the author's 60th year), it is no shortcut path for juveniles in a Ozzie and Harriet neighborhood. All the props are there, but the young chap scurries and scattles between them like the kid we only caught glimpses of growing up in southern suburbia. And just like television then, we read the first part in black and white.

But of course, we grow up--bumps and all--and color comes. This memoir lets color creep in by various hues. Some we like. Some we would prefer to shrink away from. Nonetheless, the author's story is a compelling one. Pure nostalgia at moments. Poignant, with philosophical undertones if you want to experience it that way.

Some people tell their life stories better than others... Dan Smith writes a screen play here, placing you as an "extra" so you're in the act right along side a fully developed character. A character with flaws to be sure - but a character you'll be glad to cut through the kudzu to meet.

Susan Quincey's only reason to pretend she's happy to see Christmas coming is Jeremy, her small son, and this year she doesn't think she can do it even for him. Widowed by the terrible irony of "friendly fire" in Desert Storm, she's raising her child alone in her husband's beloved Duluth. She earns enough to live on, just barely, as a secretary; she battles Minnesota's brutal winters; and she longs for Mark, who never got to see their son. When her car refuses to start at the work day's end, with the streets a glare of ice and snow falling, she desperately needs the help her boss offers. A "jump" to her car's battery, an escort to make sure she gets home safely, and the offer of dinner out - just why is a company president like Kevin Dockter being so kind to one of his firm's secretaries? Is there something he wants, or is he genuinely interested in Susan? And if so, does she dare to let herself respond?

Based on a true story that's told after the novel's ending, Janet Elaine Smith offers a Christmas romance that manages to be sweet without ever becoming saccharine. Trust me on this: I hate "sweet" romances that have nothing else to offer, and I hate them with a passion. This book, though, I couldn't put down. I read it in an evening, and was sorry when it ended because I'd have loved to remain immersed in its magic for another hour or two. A Christmas Dream has the potential to become a holiday classic like Dickens's A Christmas Carol. So help me, it really is that good!

Janet Elaine Smith's A Christmas dream really touched me. That might not be saying much for some people, but I am a hard sell. I generally don't like romances. But Janet Elaine Smith's A Christmas Dream is touching without having any kneejerk sentimentality. It shows the reality of living in grief and yet when love comes it's both romantic and mature and hopeful. I highly recommend this story for anyone who likes mature, loving romance about real people.

Want to enjoy a good read? Then Janet Elaine Smith's "A Christmas Dream" is the perfect book. If you love the "Miracle on 34th Street" as I always have, then "A Christmas Dream" should be placed side by side with it. I have. Come to think of it, this book should be made into a movie too.

"A Christmas Dream" is full of warm memories. It is about a young widow with a three-year old son, who must face the world alone after the tragic death of her husband in a desert storm. Uncertainties loom.

Ms. Smith's characters in Susan Quincey, Jeremy her son, Kevin Dockter, and Kevin's mother, are so real; it's not difficult to relate to them one way or another. This book is easy reading. It gives a wonderful feeling in the end - perfect for the Christmas Season.

Miracles do happen! Janet Elaine Smith made it happen in this heart-warming book. If you believe in the powers of love, faith and kindness, I strongly suggest you go, rush out and get this book. Happy Christmas everyone! Thank you Janet Elaine Smith for sharing "A Christmas Dream."

Janet Elaine Smith has done it again! Her characters are so real you feel you know them, or want to.
This is a beautiful, warm Christmas story that proves miracles do happen and dreams really do come true.
This book should be made into a Hallmark Movie.

Well, once I started the book, I absolutely HAD to finish it, because I could NOT put it down so I read it in one night!!  I LOVE it!!!  It was so wonderful and so full of hope and new beginnings, not to mention evidence of Janet's delicious sense of humor right from the start. It has been so long since I have sat down to read something that I wanted to read and with so much gusto. I literally "devoured the book".  
Janet has truly given me a special gift as I am such a Christmas person, even though I believe that the spirit of giving should be all year round.

Her book has reaffirmed my belief that one should never give up hopes or dreams that one cherishes. And, considering all that has happened in 2005, never giving up is most definitely a major theme!

Read it, you will love it!

To my mind, Course of Empire is the best book written by Bernard Devoto (1897-1955). With it, he won a National Book Award to add to his Pulitzer and Bancroft prizes. DeVoto's integration of American exploration with the political quarrels of Europe is exceptionally good, and his understanding of western geography is overwhelming even to the well-traveled.

Most important, this is the work of a novelist manqué who should have been a historian all along. The book is everywhere readable and sometimes sings. A couple of examples:

"The best hope of peace lay in the fact that for half a century Spain had been falling like Lucifer son of the morning and was now prostrate. Its possessions spread across Europe without logic of geography or nationality. If they could be satisfactorily distributed among the powers peace might follow like the well-being of a man who has dined well." (164)

"In 1744 [Arthur Dobbs] published An Account of the Countries Adjoining to Hudson's Bay, a vigorous, absorbing book which assembled everything that was known, rumored, guessed, logically deduced, and imagined about the Northwest. It is a visionary's argument and perhaps the most shining eighteenth-century example of what the imagination can do when it has a blank map to work on and is handicapped by no empirical knowledge whatever." (244)

Finally, in Course of Empire, Native Americans are treated knowledgeably and thoroughly yet without the stifling political correctness of our own day. DeVoto writes of "savages" who do savage things; and he is right. Of course, DeVoto had the advantage of writing at a time when Europeans could no longer get a pass for being white but before Native Americans got one for not being so. DeVoto could not have chosen his era, but he certainly made the best use of it.

This is a magisterial history of the exploration of the west by an icon of western histiography. DeVoto takes in the whole sweep of New World history, from the conquistadors up to Lewis and Clark. Lewis and Clark are the clear apogee of the narrative, and the hundred or so pages on their expedition function as a hundred page mini book within a book.

I learned alot about the exploration of the west in this book, especially in the sections devoted to spanish (inept) and french (daring but lacking ambition) exploration. All forces eventually will yield to the english and later the americans.

Jefferson emerges as a far sighted hero of manifest destiny. This book gives great little known detail on the interaction between westerners and native americans without being biased or unduly sentimental to the existing native cultures.

I thought on the whole he was even handed about alot of controversial issues and his awesome prose and thorough research make this an enduring classic of american history and the "course of empire"

Although the various European powers moved sometimes disorganizedly, in fits and starts, DeVoto shows how the course of empire's path is laid out.

As the first volume of a trilogy, DeVoto foreshadows America's later claims of Manifest Destiny and "democratic-imperial" dreams in "Course of Empire," based on the expansionist energy he details in "Across the Broad Missouri."

All three volumes are worth a read.

This is a book about the exploration, not the settlement, of North America. As such, it traces the 278 year history of European and American efforts to penetrate and understand the North American continent.

The Course of Empire then is a compendium of various and sometimes quite different national interests. Utilizing a chronological, fill in the blank approach, DeVoto literally fills in the map of North America as viewed, rightly or wrongly, by each succeeding explorer. Chapter by chapter this story unfolds across the entire history of North American exploration. Thus, the reader meets everyone in chronological sequence, starting with Balboa and ending with Lewis and Clark.

Since subsequent explorers often had access to the records of those that preceded them, DeVoto is not only able to fill in the North American map with the contribution of each exploration, he is also able to link each exploration to its fundamental drivers: national intent and economic interest. As a result, he is able to underscore the ebb and flow of New World power as each country's global interests and economic situation changed over time.

For example, Spain's 16th century interest was mostly focused on conquest and plunder. As a result, Spain's more northern explorations, led by De Soto and Coronado, were limited by the lack exploitable civilizations. In contrast, after the defeat of the Spanish Armada and Spain's decline as a world power, England's subsequent 17th and 18th century efforts were more driven by land acquisition, sugar and the fur trade. It is easy to see why then that the French and Indian War was fought and why Britain's explorations are so much more consistent and focused on such dramatically different sections of North America.

Of critical interest is how the author weaves the unbelievable scope of this effort into a consistent whole, telling the story of how the geography of North America limited and encouraged continental expansion and ultimately defined the national borders of the United States. This is an excellent work and well worth your time.

Like many readers I was led to DeVoto by Stephen Ambrose, and I was not disappointed. This book combines meticulous historical scholarship with a real skill in storytelling, and it gave me a new understanding of how Europeans perceived and penetrated the continent. I began with the intention of reading the three volumes in historical order, and I'm eagerly continuing to "Across the Wide Missouri," which is all the review you should need.

My only complaint -- and the only reason to deny it a fifth star -- has nothing to do with DeVoto's work itself. The edition I read (purchased here, and as far as I can tell identical to the one for sale above) had black-on-white, pen-and-ink maps that appear to date from the original printing. They can be hard to read, which is a significant drawback in a narrative that relies so heavily on geographical references.

I would be very happy to see either a companion volume filled with modern maps (as has been done so admirably with the Aubrey-Maturin novels), or a new edition of the book that incorporates them directly.

I have no illusions about the sales volume of this title, or its power to induce such a new printing. Nor do I ignore the charm in presenting these maps with the same "period" style that DeVoto's first readers saw. But I found this book so instructive that I hope for others to derive the same benefit -- and that means using modern techniques to make it the most effective educational instrument it can be.

It's important to disclaim that I'm only talking about the illustrative maps. The ones used as chapter headers, that show the continent gradually "filling in" over the centuries, are priceless and should be left as-is in any future printing.

I'm not typically a fan of the "categorization" approach to understanding, they tend to be overgeneralized and unspecific. That is the approach this book takes. The assessments let you understand what areas of behavior you should emphasize on - based on your tendencies for self abuse.

Basically it outlines 6 weight gain triggers:

1. Lack Of Structured Meals
2. Toxic Food Choices
3. Portion Distortion
4. Sedentary Lifestyle
5. No Regular Exercise
6. Stress

And certain "Phenotypes" lean toward certain behaviors that cause you to gain weight. The assessments are to identify your particular leanings.

An okay approach, but I didn't find it highly motivating or insightful.

I did find some information very helpful. The fact that some body chemistry types don't process pleasure signals properly. Thus, in order to get the sensation of pleasure from food, these types tend to overload their systems to get pleasure to trigger. This intellectual understanding is very helpful and does provide a reasoning behind waiting a bit for those pleasure signals to make it through before continuing on a binge.

In the end though, the basics of eating well, having an active and energized life will get you where you want to be. The book was okay, not sure it was worth the entire read but some information was useful.

I have to say that I am a diet novice so I do not have much to compare it to. That said, I love this book! When I was really frustrated about losing my post-pregnancy weight, this helped me tremendously and I never actually "dieted." It helped me to identify in which areas I needed to improve and gave me great suggestions on minor dietary changes that made a huge difference. For example, since my type is hormonal, eating more low-fat dairy (which was really easy for me) was all I needed to do and I started to see/feel improvements immediately. I really liked what an easy read it was, too. . .determine what your type is, read that section and you're off! The only thing that I do not like about it is the title; it sounds so hokey and I find myself wanting to pass it on/tell others about it but I am hesitant because of the title.

If you have a history of alcoholism or drug addiction, or binge eating, take a look at the Phenotype A food plan. Genetically, Phenotype A people may have low levels of the neurotransmitters dopamine or serotonin. Their "feel-good" genes don't work, leading them to alleviate their "lows" in some other way.

I have found this food plan really helpful because it doesn't feel restrictive. It balances out the protein/carb/fat ratio and tells you exactly what types of food to eat and when. It suggests certain supplements for depression. Rather than being a short-term weight loss diet, it is a long-term food plan designed to alleviate cravings and mood swings. It pretty much follows a hypoglycemic diet, except for the caffeine. (For info on the link between hypoglycemia and alcoholism, see the Hypoglycemic Health Association of Australia.)

This book is the best thing that has ever happened to me!! It is short, simple and to the point. The Doctors outline exactly what you should be eating according to your phenotype and also help you recognize what triggers your weight gain and how to combat it! If you are ready to make a change in your life, this is the book to help you do it.

By following the plan in this book, I have lost a total of 22 pounds (so far) and improved my health, mood and energy level.

Finally, a book that offers help, not hype, in dealing with weight loss and health. Grounded in the most advanced science of today (genetics), but easy to read and understand even by me. I was ready to give up thinking I would never lose weight and be able to keep it off. Everyone with a weight problem, no matter what the cause, needs this book.

Hot, Spicy and Good to the last drop! The ending will definitely blow you away. These two male authors have come together to create a one of a kind masterpiece. A great summer read that will keep you sizzling for a while.

Diva Reviewer
www.divasread2.com

Great read. I was really surprised at how the story ended. It left me a little perturbed with Sheila and Nick. Who would have thought this would be the ending? Hey Shiela what comes around goes around. This will certainly catch up with you at some point. Thank you Brian for visiting with the ASIS Book Club this weekend. We really enjoyed your explanations to all of our inquisitive questions. Hope that you will return to visit with us again. PS: You must write another novel with the cameos of the Final Fling. I am truly curious about Sheila and Nick...Take care: Dee

shelia, malik, greg and rena are definetly not ones to learn a valuable lesson from past mistakes. the authors picked right up where they left off from swingers, and the s.w.a.p game. the sex was hot and the drama never ending and to put them on a cruise ship had me wishing i taken one this year because the description was on point. i enjoyed this book and just when i thought i knew what the ending would be WHAM Brian and Torrian threw us a fast ball that took a sharp curve and never slowed down.

Shelia went from having my sympathy to me just flat out wanting to kill her scandalous a$$. Rena just can't catch a break with her punk A$$ husband greg always acting like a straight up byotch even though he's supposed to be the man. if he's the man point me out to the nearest lil richard because i can do without a man like that. Malik was such a hater blaming his short comings on everyone but himself but had the nerve to always want to flirt and hit something. i was't expecting the ending to go as it did and even though this was the couples final fling i still feel we need more to really give us closure. the story ended in a way that wasn't resolved and with scores still needing to be settled.

i suggest anyone that's looking to get involved in swinging to read s.w.a.p game, swingers and final fling these books might make you wanna reconsider

These two authors did a great collaboration, the story fell into place through each character's eyes and I was able to understand Sheila & Malik eventhough I hadn't read S.W.A.P. Hot and exciting with a twist that will leave you talking!

I loved this book. I thought it was an easy read from cover to cover. I felt like I knew the characters of the SWAP game personally and I could not believe they would go there again. I wish I had read the book Swingers before I read Final Fling but I didn't. If you have not read both books I would recommend that. I kept wanting to know the history of the other book but I could not stop reading Final Fling and start Swingers the book was just to juicy.

I also found humor in some parts of the book that others might not have. I won't give away the story line but lets just say the trip to Hedonism was kind of funny. Also the ending threw me for a loop I saw something coming but not that. I do wish the authors would have taken a little more time at the end I wanted more and it was done.

Overall good read and it will make you think what would I do in that situation ?????

This book puts, in novel form, virtually everything every American needs to know about the Federal Reserve, fiat-money central banking, and monetary history, and it does so following an unadulterated Austrian line, without any conspiracy mongering or Antisemitism -- two curses that plague the Honest Money movement. Author George Ford Smith is unique among popular Fed critics in his understanding that the Fed is not bad because it's a "private bank" that generates "windfall profits" for its "shareholders" -- the Fed is bad, truly evil, because it is a government institution designed to provide a blank check for the unbridled growth of the federal government at the expense of liberty.

Oh yes, there has been a conspiracy -- but it's not a "theory," it's historical fact. George F. Smith reveals this indisputable truth throughout the course of this 274-page, impossible-to-put-down thriller, and also clearly demonstrates how the Federal Reserve redistributes wealth from the poor to the rich, all within the context of a gripping plot.

The story focuses on a gold-loving, free-market economist who seemingly "sells out" and joins the mainstream, eventually rising to the position of Fed chairman. But his "sell out" was false -- he only put on Keynesian/Monetarist (as if there's a difference) garb in order to infiltrate the Fed so that he could expose and destroy it! I'm not giving anything away here since this happens very early in the book. The heart of the book is how the government reacts to having its deception exposed.

George Ford Smith's knowledge of monetary history, the nature of government, and the unfortunate ignorance and apathy of the American populace is truly peerless. This book should be heralded by the Mises Institute, LewRockwell.com, and the Ron Paul R3VOLution as the first of hopefully many great works of fiction exposing the truth about the Federal Reserve and the government it sponsors by secretly stealing from the productive class. Five stars are not enough for this heroic effort!

I don't usually read novels very often, because I think that I should be learning something when I read. _The Flight of the Barbarous Relic_, however, is the best of both worlds; it is an entertaining way to learn the truth of how the Federal Reserve operates without having to read a dry text! I really enjoyed this book; I recommend it to everyone. It's a great way to educate people on the Fed. You can recommend it to your book club or hand it to everyone who is wondering why our gas prices are so high.

The Flight of the Barbarous Relic is a completely unexpected book. George Smith makes a fascinating and suspenseful story out of a question some of us have asked ourselves: "Who stole the value of the money in our wallets?" Inflation is a faceless evil, but the author has managed to put faces and motives on the folks behind the phenomenon.

I have been puzzled by the news on the financial networks. One newscast recently said that the price of food had risen in the last month by the highest amount in years, and then went on to say that since there was no increase in the cost of living, some change in interest rates was expected. No change in the cost of living? I used to think you needed to buy food to live, but it turns out that food and energy, two of our biggest living expenses aren't included in the cost because they change too much. You can understand why this whole area can be very confusing.

As the pastor of a small church, I have seen the effects that our economic situation is having on "ordinary" people. One lady who works in a bank dreads going in to work in the morning, because the first thing she has to do is call an increasing number of her customers who have written checks--for rent, for utilities, for food, etc.--and ask them if they can provide funds for the checks so the bank won't bounce them. I have seen families cut back on everything they can think of to make payments on mortgage they should never have been offered in the first place. I have seen food pantry workers trying to fill needs for food for folks who have spent their food budget at the gas pumps in order to be able to get to work.

Those who are hurting most are the very ones who are trying to do the right thing--to work for their living, to support their families, to pay their debts, and to live a decent life. Most are too basically honest to believe that they have been robbed on such a scale. Most have trusted and supported the leaders who manage the economic environment in which they live. Business as usual has been going on for a long time.

This book, with its different perspective, shows this part of our economic system from the inside. It's a book of mystery, intrigue, and glimpses behind the scenes, which of course makes it fun. But it does also raise some relevant ideas and interesting questions to take away and consider. It is worth a look.

George Ford Smith does an excellent job of distilling the essence of an Austrian School analysis of status quo economics into 277 pages of page-turning suspense. If you're like me, and you read a lot of fiction and history, but can't make it through even the most accessible book on economics (even though you know it's an important subject) without your eyes glazing over, then this book is for you.

Smith provides a trenchant survey of the history of money and banking in America, and then gets to the heart of what ails us at the outset of the Third Milennium. As the plot unfolds in his nifty little thriller, his characters manage to find opportunities to expound on how it all went wrong with the Business of America, when we got off track, who was responsible, and how we can get back to the garden, as it were. Do I need to mention that the prescription is as good as gold?

As if that weren't enough, Smith excoriates our two-party farce, and why they are wedded to this sad state of affairs called the Federal Reserve System. And the ends the powers-that-be will go to in order to retain their power. A chilling subplot envisions how the Internet could end up being emasculated and bowdlerized to the point where it would be as original and informative as the CBS Evening News.

And you would be well-advised to look into the books on the short reading list at the end of Barbarous Relic. If those tomes are a little too daunting, look up some of the more accessible essays by the same authors (Rothbard, Mises, etc). To read these giants is to immediately recognise that you are in the company of common sense. And these are the ideas George Ford Smith is trafficking in Flight of the Barbarous Relic.

But none of this is meant to dissuade anyone who is looking for a cracking good tale to occupy a few happy hours. Barbarous Relic is filled with a plethora of interesting characters, good and bad, and once I started it, I couldn't put it down.

Forget what party you may be supporting. Forget a lot of things you have been told about how our economy works. Read this book and you will begin to understand things that we have been kept in the dark and lied to for decades by both parties.

First of all this is a pretty good story. Secondly, in delivering the story, the author is trying to shake us awake as to what is happening to us and the result is far from pleasant.

In fact, the protagonists in the story have a sense of futility as to awakening enough of us to what has been done to our economy that seems difficult to oversome.

I was asked to review this novel by the author. I did and I am not sure I was not happier living in ignorance. However, it is better to understand one's life and situation and if you agree with that premise, then please, pick up this book and be prepared to be very, very worried about our econoomy and our future.

The "barbarous relic" referred to in the title is the gold standard which at one time in our history tied the value of our currency to that precious metal. If that sounds arcane or old fashioned, I challenge you to read this book and ever feel sanguine again about your economic status in this country, especially if you feel really, really comfortable.