Stewart Books

Dr. Stewart does a beautiful job in his book about showing us that there are no quick fixes along our individual human path. His correlation between planetary health and personal health demonstrates the complex interconnectedness of all things, a message particularly relevant today.

I enjoyed every bit of this book. Dr. Stewart did an magnificent job of articulating and weaving the complexity of health and healing and made it user friendly and doable. It's a great read for both the lay person and health care provider.

A great book for anyone who wants to stay or improve their health. Most medical, diet or self-improvement books provide a laundry list of things to do to change your health, life or what have you. This book clearly shows how we can change our perceptions about what it means to be healthy and in with an honest assessment make fairly effortless changes that can have extraordinary results. I love the self-evaluations and by making conscious decisions truly does have a profound impact on our health and attitude.

Dr. Stewart has created a resource that goes way beyond self-help books. Deep Medicine is about real and whole health! It is a guidebook combining personal inquiry and individual lifestyle choices. It involves the soul and emotions as well as physical and nutritional lifestyle choices to help you make transformative changes for healthier, vital living. I'm using it as a guide to health, and to my life.

-L. Barrett, Breast Cancer Survivor

I have always been a Delia fan. This book maintains the typical high standards.

Very pleased with the book and extrenely pleased with Amazon and the service they offered in replacing a damaged copy.

This certainly not the be all and end all of vegetarian cooking (I am an omnivore) - indeed many things Delia sees as suitable for vegetarians apparently must all contain cheese of some sort; that can get a little tedious at times I must admit! And what about vegans?

That said, for dealing with basic vegetables and some interesting accompaniments for meats or for enjoying alone, I think nobody should be without this book in their library. Wonderfully illustrated with clear, concise instructions. Highly recommended, as are all of Delia Smith's cookery books.

This is the one that you should really own above all others. Being of English stock, I was brought up with Delia all my life. to be short and sweet, the recipes are inspiring easy and very tatsty. I am not a vegetarian but would be more than happy to make most of these recipes for myself.
If you really want to cook something that is different from your average American recipes, this is the one to buy.

Well worth paying the extra money for.

While this was not my first vegetarian cookbook, it does rate among my favourites - for those nights when I have a bit of spare time on my hands.

The book itself is beautiful, with a solid hardbound cover, thick smooth pages, and absolutely gorgeous photography. The pages are crisp and vibrant, and the design is elegant and reader-friendly. The makers of this edition had an eye for quality and for readability.

The food is in keeping with the care put into designing this book. I've prepared quite a few of the recipes therein and have had fantastic results - and I'm no gourmet chef. The food is incredible. The only cautions I would give are as follows: (a) it's not an everyday cookbook... some recipes are complex, and some take quite a bit of time and patience to prepare; (b) some of the ingredients are a bit rare, or don't translate well from UK to Canadian terms; and (c) there is no nutritional information accompanying the recipes - but looking at the ingredients suggests an overall moderate to high fat content.

That said, the recipes are more than worth the time and effort. And we all need a little sweet in our diets. You do, however, have to enjoy cooking to fully appreciate this book.

A final disclaimer: this book is ovo-lacto-vegetarian, and uses eggs, milk and cheese in a good number of its recipes.

What a wonderful story! I was amazed that the author is a man. The character of Sheila Redden is so believable and your sympathy is with her even though she is about to leave her son. Ordinarily that would lose me as far as any compassion is concerned. I really enjoy Mr. Moore's style of writing and plan on reading all of his other books.

Wonderfully romantic reading, but not sappy or "unreal"......I loved this book from page one until the end.........a woman's awakening to her life. Highly recommend it.

Wow! What a book! I don't usually read romance novels, and I'm still unsure as to what compelled me to buy this one. But whatever the reason, I'm glad I did!

Had someone handed me this book to read, stripped of its cover thus leaving me no clue as to whom had written it, never in a million years would I have guessed the author to be a man!
Brian Moore should be commended for his impressive ability at bringing to life the totally believable female character portrayed in this book. Few male writers can successfully execute on paper such a vivid and candid depiction of a middle-aged woman in turmoil--the revealing of her innermost thoughts about herself and the world around her as she grapples with the sensitive issues of aging and sexuality.

Anticipating her husband's arrival in France to celebrate their second honeymoon, Sheila Redden dreams of rekindling the passions and excitement once present in their stale, sixteen-year marriage. However, disillusioned by his many excuses for not showing up to meet her, Sheila soon becomes painfully aware that her husband's busy schedule with tending patients takes precedence over her happiness. Lonely and deeply hurt, Sheila does what I guess many emotionally-neglected wives would do--she has an affair. I don't think that she intentionally went out looking to get laid--it was just something that happened quite naturally given the vulnerable state of mind she was in at the time. What starts out as a seemingly innocent enough chat with a handsome young American in a Paris diner, suddenly magnifies into something far more serious. Riddled with guilt, yet driven by the desire to walk away from her loveless marriage in favor of a more independent life, Sheila confesses to her husband (over the phone!) that she is in love with another man. What follows Sheila's confession is an unexpected train of events that will drastically change the lives of all of those she touches.

As I've said before--Wow! What a book! This is one of those
'once upon a time' fairy tale romances, but one in which no one at the end rides off into the sunset happily ever after.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to just kick back and enjoy a good ole' fashioned, brilliantly-written romance novel. But be forewarned--some of the lovemaking scenes are quite explicit.

TWO THUMBS UP FOR THIS THOROUGHLY ENJOYABLE NOVEL!

Smart, quiet, shy, too tall, Sheila had never been on her own. She went from dependence on her parents to dependence on a husband. After 15 years of marriage, a long-planned 2nd honeymoon sets into motion the chain of events which leads her away from her safe, ordered, boring existence, and awakens a desire for autonomy.

Moore's cool, precise, detached prose steers the reader through an emotional storm. If anything, this coolness enhances the intensely erotic scenes in the story. As always with Brian Moore, the tale seems to be driven by its own internal workings, and the personalities of its characters. Yet the ending is neither staid nor predictable. You will not be able to put this book down easily, or to put it out of your mind until long after you have finished reading it.

I first came across this book while stationed in Vietnam in 1971. The story is about the life and times of a young geologist who escapes a catastrophe that causes the deaths of almost all of the population of the world. As you read, you see how this young man copes with loneliness and then love after finding another survivor.

These two begin a life together and eventually establish friendship with other survivors and then form a "tribe". As chapters pass by, they are named for significant events in the tribe's lives during the year.

I have read and re-read this book to the point that I will need to purchase another copy in the near future.

Several reviews have noted what they call the essential pessimism of the book: Man Has Fallen, Civilization Is No More, etc. Well, yes, that is all there. But what is also there is a profound triumph of the human spirit: Civilization is Dead - Long Live Civilization. I will NOT spoil the ending, but book ends with a rebirth - an obvious societal pregnancy if you will - of a new civilization, one profoundly in keeping with the new conditions of their brave renewed world.

One can imagine a sequel, and I wish Stewart ahd written one!

I first read this book almost 50 years ago, and have re-read it multiple times. It is one of the best "transition" books ever written. I recommend it on several levels.

I had read this book several times in the past and before reviewing it I read it again.
His author was more than fifty years old when he wrote it. This maturity is perceptible all along this work.

The story is situated in a world devastated by a sudden pestilence that annihilates most of the humankind. Taking into account the last SARS epidemic that jumped abruptly from China to Canada it doesn't look an impossible scenario.

Isherwood Williams comes down from an isolate spot in the mountains to discover an empty world. He starts a search all across USA, from California to New York and back again. He finds only isolate human cells, couples or trios, overwhelmed by catastrophe and in a near catatonic state. Returns to his native town and contemplate with a certain scientific detachment the fading world around him.
Mr. Stewart intercalate brief vignettes describing what happens to dogs, cats, cattle, plants, roads, dams, bridges, contrasting them with Ish's daily experiences.
Little by little the story grip reader's attention and even if action is somehow slow, the book can't be putted down.
Human cells began to draw near each other and a rather feeble structure starts to grow up.
This is the story.

The author approaches universal questions about survival and extinction; civilization and savagery; social structure and anomie. He also examines religious values, ethics and the ultimate sense of life itself.

This book gives the reader a lot of stuff to think about. A very enticing read!
Reviewed by Max Yofre.

I am a 62 year old grandmother who has read hundreds of books, but no book ever moved me like this one. It is the story of one thoughtful, intelligent young man spared during a world wide epidemic that wiped out most of the population. While we always expect that the end will come with a bomb that distroys everything, this time, all the infrastructure was left intact. The plants and animals that had evolved to be dependent on humans also succumbed and Mr. Stewart deals with this in a remarkable and sensitive way. Today human beings have brought civilization to the brink, but this book reminds us that no matter what, the Earth Will Abide.

When I went to introduce my preschooler to Winnie-the-Pooh, I bought the big book with the complete stories and poems. It didn't take long for me to figure out that it wasn't quite right for my 3-year-old. Reading a story out of the original works takes a good 15-20 minutes, which is more than one can really expect from a preschooler or toddler. Also, the original Pooh is a bit like Sesame Street, in that there are phrases and indeed entire sections of the stories that adults will find amusing but which will just go over a child's head.

And yet, I didn't want to break down and go the route of the Disney-fied Pooh books, with their cartoonish illustrations and watered-down plots and characters.

That's why I was so pleased to find the Easy-to-Read series. There are six easy-to-read titles from two publishers. They are:

Winnie-the-Pooh and Some Bees
Pooh Goes Visiting
Eeyore Has a Birthday
Tigger Comes to the Forest
Christopher Robin Leads an Expedition
Pooh Invents a New Game

Each book is based on one chapter from the complete works. These little books are divided into four chapters, although it should be no problem to read one from start to finish in one sitting.

The print is large and well spaced, and there are ample illustrations (the original drawings by E.H. Shepard) on every page spread to keep little eyes engaged in the story. Most important, the editor has removed most of the passages that aren't so kid friendly and has simplified the stories without giving them a Disney style candy coating. One could read the original story and then the easy-to-read version and get the same basic plot; when going from the Milne works to the Disney versions, the same is certainly not true.

I didn't give these books five stars because the editor retained some language and dialogue that may be a bit confusing for children in the intended age range. Nevertheless, these books are a wonderful introduction to a classic cast of characters for the preschool set.

I love eeyore he is my favorite charter. I loved his book. It was neato.

When all the characters in the imaginary world of Winnie the Pooh go on their day to day mischiefs, forgetting a friends special day, it makes one see how cartoon characters really portray real life situations. The full page of colors allows one to sit back and get the satisfaction of a children's book. Yet this book not only addresses a child's awareness nor is it an entertainment instrument but as well as a joyful piece of literature for any age group to admire

This little book is an exact reproduction of a chapter 6 in the original book, Winnie-the-Pooh by A.A. Milne, with the original illustrations by Shephard enhanced by judicious watercoloring. All the charm of the original, in a perfect size for reading to littler kids, who can feel satisfied at having been read "the whole story." Also good for children just starting to read all by themselves.

Beautifully bound and illustrated, this little book is part of a series of 10 such Pooh books published by Dutton. Don't confuse these 10 "storybooks" with the even smaller and abridged board-books for infant/toddlers.

Written in a more modern and light style, "Egypt Uncovered" is a good book although a bit of a coffee table piece with a rather light covering of many topics. Still, it manages to update some crucial information in the field with more recent discoveries in the past two decades.

The authours by and large avoid the trap that many modern Egyptologists fall into these days of down-sizing the scope of slavery in ancient Egypt or minimizing certain negative aspects of the ancient society.

Where the book REALLY stands out however, is in the spectacular photos of areas largely ignored by Egyptologists, or books on ancient Egypt, including much in ancient Sudan. The authours spend some time on this important but largely under-represented area of study on ancient Egypt. This, plus some excellent maps and illustrations, make it a very good reference source even for the already knowledgeable, as well as the merely curious. I recently had my copy damaged and I am buying another copy as I feel it is too invaluable in the above areas not to have available. Recommended!

jeff s. savage

A great book . Needeing to know anything about Eygpt well I think you just found your book .

A great book . Needeing to know anything about Eygpt well I think you just found your book .

This is a wonderful book . I gave copies to all my friends interested in Ancient Egypt. It's well written and beautifully illustrated. It gives you all the excitement of what is happening in archaeology in Egypt today without having to go there.

My wife, Connie Barlow, a writer of popular science books, and I live permanently on the road. We travel to colleges, universities, churches, synagogues, and meditation centers teaching and preaching what we call "the marriage of science and religion for personal and planetary wellbeing" all across North America. Our specialty is helping people see evolution in sacred ways.

Over the last decade or so I have read dozens of excellent books related to science and religion, sustainability, the epic of evolution, and the future of humanity. (See ... for an annotated list of Connie's and my favorites.) Evolution's Arrow, by John Stewart, is one of the wisest, most insightful, and most inspiring I've ever encountered. I devoured it twice in the last week.

To tell the truth, I simply cannot speak too highly of this book. My hunch is that at the end of my life I'll still rate Evolution's Arrow as one of the most significant books I've ever read.

Stewart's thesis is simple: The universe is going somewhere, there's a direction to evolution, and this has major consequences for humanity. Without resorting to teleology, Stewart argues that wherever life emerges in the cosmos, evolution will progress in the direction of greater cooperation and complexity at ever increasing scale and evolvability. Why cooperate? Because in a cosmos where natural selection is a primary driver of evolution, those who cooperate, whether they be molecules, cells, organisms, or societies, will outcompete those who do not. Cooperative organizations are more competitive and adaptable than non-cooperative organizations, if, that is, the system is "managed" in such a way as to ensure that cooperators benefit from their cooperating and non-cooperators pay for their non-cooperating. Without management, or governance, freeloaders and cheats will typically outcompete and out-reproduce cooperators. But where management - effective governance - can ensure that the system captures the results of cooperating and non-cooperating, evolution will produce cooperative organizations out of self-interested individuals and continue doing so at ever wider scale and adaptability.

The key to progressive evolution is organizing and managing a system such that an individual pursuing his or her own self interest also pursues the interests of the whole; and by serving the whole, they are serving themselves. Stewart shows that this is not nearly as difficult as one might imagine. Evolution has already done so many times.

This understanding of the role of governance, prehuman and human, in evolution is one of Stewart's most valuable contributions. Management, of course, can be external or internal. Examples he gives of external management include the way RNA manages proteins and the way rulers and governments manage human societies. His examples of internal management include insect societies managed by genes reproduced in each individual and human tribes managed by inculcated beliefs and moral codes.

By demonstrating how management systems and evolutionary "mechanisms" (means of searching for and reproducing improvements) have themselves evolved, and continue to do so, Stewart shows how self-interest at the level of genes and individuals need not stand in the way of the movement of evolution toward increasing cooperation and complexity. As he states, "Evolution on Earth to date has organized molecular processes into small-scale prokaryote cells, prokaryote cells into larger-scale eukaryote cells, eukaryote cells into multicellular organisms, and organisms into societies. It is about to produce a unified cooperative organization of living processes on the scale of the planet, managed by humans."

Others, of course (Aurobindo, Teilhard, de Rosnay, Wright, Russell, Hubbard, and Wilber come to mind) have said similar things. What makes Stewart's contribution unique, and invaluable, is both the clarity of his argument and, especially, his vision of where and how humanity needs to change in order to align with and embody the evolutionary impulse. His chapter on creating a "vertical market" for models of effective global governance is worth the price of the book in itself. His vision of how to organizationally move into the future, both individually and collectively, is both alluring and compelling.

Some readers may find irritating the author's habit of repetition, but I was grateful. By the time I closed the book, his main points had become so much my own that I can trust they will not disappear as a passing enthusiasm.

Evolution's Arrow is both mind-expanding and trust building. If I had to recommend reading only one book on evolution and the future of humanity, I'd suggest this one. It rocks!

When I first read Evolution's Arrow in 2001, John Stewart's analysis of the human situation and its relationship to evolutionary processes impressed me greatly. In my own writing since then I have quoted passages from his book and commented favorably on his view of things. It is a book rich in important insights that can help humanity deal with its present multi-problem predicament. With the book now more widely available, I wanted to take the opportunity to say some things about it and encourage others to read it.

A central focus of the book is the role of cooperation in furthering the evolutionary process. Stewart effectively sells the idea that although competition may at times help an individual organism to survive, the root mechanism for evolutionary advancement in the larger sense always has been, and still is, cooperation. If self-interested individuals work together in the right ways, all can benefit. Early in biological evolution it was necessary to wait long periods until the slow-moving evolutionary process invented an effective new technique for "managing" cooperation. These management mechanisms are necessary because they allow cooperation to overcome competitive threats from those not willing to cooperate -- and Stewart tells us about some of these techniques. Today, however, with human decision-making driving evolution, we have the opportunity to bring human ingenuity to bear on the problem and to change things much more rapidly. We can devise ways of better-managing the cooperative mechanisms that already exist (such as markets) and we can invent new ones. Cooperation is the way forward for humanity, and creating management and governance structures which bring self-interest into harmony with the long-term interests of the human species and all life on earth is the challenge.

Stewart notes that present human psychology is determined by our evolutionary past -- both biological and cultural -- and that to meet the challenge we must transform ourselves psychologically. He advocates aligning our personal behavior with the inherent directivity of evolution, and says that to "contribute to evolutionary objectives" we need to "develop the self-knowledge and psychological skills needed to transcend our biological and cultural past."

I can here only hint at the insightful gold that resides between the covers of Evolution's Arrow. Whether your interest is a clearer understanding of evolution, or saving evolution's experiment here on earth from today's human mis-management, get and read this book.

This book makes a compelling case for evolution of life on this planet as having a clear and predictable direction.

Each major advance in evolution of life is the result of cooperation of simpler organisms into a vertical organization of these simpler organisms into a more complex organism.

The premise is that cooperation is a "win-win" proposition and that evolution occurs when the benefits of this cooperation can be distributed to all the organisms participating in the cooperation. The barrier to evolution is that there are "freeloaders", "cheats", and "thieves" who receive the benefits of communal cooperation without paying the costs that produced those benefits.

Until effective governance is in place to stop these uncooperative organisms, evolution into the next level of vertical integration does not occur.

We are now at a point in the evolution of human society where we have global economic markets that are not adequately controlled by governance mechanisms that can fairly distribute the benefits and the costs of these economic markets. For those who are aware of this evolutionary direction, establishment of a global vertical market as a governance mechanism provides meaning to life beyond gratification of personal biological (food, sex) and social status (money, power) objectives.

I strongly encourage everyone to read this book, especially if you are sensing a lack of meaning in your life!

This is an amazingly bold book. Copernicus and other Renaissance intellectuals took "man" out of the center of the universe. Now Stewart and others are putting humanity back at the center but in a radically different way from the theocrats. Contrary to the conventional view that evolution is just adaptation to existing circumstances, without any overall direction, Stewart identifies two unifying themes in evolution. First and foremost is the drive toward greater cooperation among organisms due to the huge payoffs in survival that such cooperation yields. Second is the drive towards better mechanisms of adaptability itself, yielding much more rapid evolution with fewer dead ends.

Humanity is identified as the ultimate in both cooperation and adaptability among current organisms. Planetary society, or global governance, is next on the cooperation agenda. Oral traditions and now print and electronic media have already yielded a fantastic increase in adaptability. This is cultural, not genetic, adaptability, but all nature cares is that it is effective both within a single lifetime and between generations. Next on this agenda is a much deeper psychic ability that will enable individuals to achieve satisfaction through pursuit of a visionary planetary society, transcending existing, recreation, entertainment, family, work, community, etc. Others who are of the optimistic sort, might proclaim genetic engineering of humans as the next wave of adaptability, but Stewart only looks at genetic engineering of other organisms.

Another book that sees a possible evolutionary breakthrough by humanity is "Promise Ahead - A Vision of Hope and Action for Humanity's Future" by Duane Elgin of "Voluntary Simplicity" fame. A major difference is that Elgin looks at environmental barriers to humanity's success - climate change, resources exhaustion like Peak Oil, etc in the face of massive population. Instead Stewart looks at evolutionary barriers to cooperation. That is, the most primitive evolutionary force is reproduction of the individual organism, but individual success may spell doom for the greater success yielded by cooperation. This is the "prisoner's dilemma" of game theory. Example: when our individual cells attempt to proliferate at will, we get cancer and die.

So Stewart identifies how this barrier was overcome at each stage of evolution, from primordial soups of reproducing proteins to modern humans, usually by a strong "manager". For humans we had the subordination of the individual to the family and the tribe, now to the corporation and the state and much in-between. Principal problems to overcome are the "freeloaders" and "cheats". Religion and mythology used to play a dominant role as manager in enforcing community norms and morals, but these are also a barrier to creative change, hence the emergence of the modern secular state. This in turn has left a somewhat hedonistic individualism in its wake, which could be cured by the transformative view of Evolution espoused by Stewart. A more dramatic, visual, and spiritual version Stewart's Evolution is the "Great Story" of the universe presented by Michael Dowd and Connie Barlow.

Stewart even tackles the problem of how to make global governance work. He says that "vertical markets" would introduce adaptability into governance. Governance is now adaptable by passing new laws but is hamstrung by static constitutions and by the rigidity of the laws themselves when faced with complex and poorly understood societal problems. A vertical market in governance would open many governmental tasks to bidding by private entrepreneurs. However the idea is to solicit different ways of defining and performing the tasks themselves, not straight forward implementation of previously defined tasks. To a certain extent this is already done by the "requests for proposals" that are used in some areas of government contracting. Stewart would extend this to a much higher level, to the legal and even constitutional arena, with the public having a much larger say in the contract awards.

Of course it is a severe challenge to get the public involved in a way that serves the larger public interest, not that of special interests, which often have the most knowledge or financial interest. This is where many of the techniques of "deep democracy" enter, including advanced methods of deliberation and polling. Since you'd need to regularly re-bid these contracts, you'd also have a major problem of personnel management: workforce turnover and disruption of careers as strategies are shifted by these new engineers of civil society. A possible solution would be a more universal civil service system to maintain benefits and career development across varying societal roles. These issues are not discussed by Stewart.

Stewart's discussion of "linear" vs "systemic" modeling is somewhat confused. The former is identified with simple cause and effect logical analysis, the latter with more complex multivariable analysis that requires deep insight, needed for more advanced levels of cooperation. However linear analysis, as mathematically understood, can involve any number of variables, as long as the multiplications are by constant numbers or matrices. Thus straight forward scaling, not cause and effect, is what makes linear models easy to understand and to use. Much cause and effect reasoning is actually nonlinear, often involving discrete, not continuous, quantities.

Dynamic nonlinear models involving feedback loops and the like are probably what Stewart means by "systemic" modeling. Classic examples are the world scenarios developed for the "Limits to Growth" study, plus many narrower economic, social, biological, and environmental models. The crucial insights are into the qualitative behaviors of such models, including such phenomena as convergence to a steady state or to cyclical behavior, divergence, overshoot and oscillation, bifurcation, and chaos. Discrete models like cellular automata would also qualify as systemic, as would iterated nonlinear equations. Here is where computer simulations can greatly extend real world experience, but this is not mentioned by Stewart. To expect insightful systemic modeling by a significant portion of humanity without widespread use of such tools seems highly utopian to me.

These quibbles aside, "Evolution's Arrow" is groundbreaking work and a quick, easy read to boot.

The book is a great gift for Mother's Day or any extraordinary women you may know. It features 58 women from all walks of life and doesn't just concentrate on celebrities. You learn about these women, who they are and the accomplishments they have made - while finding out what they always wanted to be when they were children. It's really well done and a beautiful coffee table book.

Added benefit - some of the proceeds go to charity to help inner city kids and families.

An exceptional gift book for the special women in your life.

I bought this for a friend and everyone at the party loved it - was passed around and got rave reviews - the friend was very pleased with her gift.

If you have a daughter, wife, mother or niece who is graduating from anywhere, this is the perfect gift. The book of terrific photographs from Clay Blackmore of 58 women documents their aspirations as children before succeeding in other areas (e.g. former secretary of state Madeline Albright, the chess champion; Olympic gymnast Dominic Dawes, the Supreme Court Justice; etc.). I love books like this. To find this book and other cool short book club recommendations, go to [...].

This is a cute book, probably mostly enjoyable for people who already love pugs! Stephen Urbauer

This book is written with comedic flair and terrific photography. Yes, the outfits are well-made and well-researched, but the book's charm lies in the wonderful humor of this delightfully pan-faced, patient Pug, Charlie, acting out the larger-than-life historical roles her "mom" has designed for her. First Pug on the Moon? Queen Victoriapug? Andy Warholpug? Marilyn Monroepug? Charlie portrays them all with a dignity totally at odds with her fabulously-dressed situation.

You don't have to like Pugs or dogs to enjoy this book -- just bring your appreciation of the absurd, and you will be entertained!

For anyone with a love all Pugs - this is a great picture book !

This is a must-have for any pug-lover, especially pug lovers who love to buy their pugs outfits! Lisa creates all of her pug Charlie's outfits from scratch, which is amazing considering the elaborate nature of some of the costumes. The photos in this collection are fantastic, and Charlie is a great model. She is equally adept at tackling Marilyn Monroe or Genghis Khan! Even non-pug lovers will marvel at the beautiful photos and costumes and at the sweetness of Charlie.

Ruff has written something remarkable that manages to transcend setting, sexuality, or race.

Believe the hype: this may just be the best novel of the year.

It's the spring of '69 in Cincinnati. In the bathroom of a cramped house in a barren housing project, a black kid of 13 is soaking in the tub, hearing the screen door slam as a mystery guest is greeted by his mom. Moments before, Cliffy stood naked at the bathroom window watching a dark, nattilydressed man pull into the parking lot in a low-slung T-Bird. "He turned up our sidewalk.... Our eyes locked in the tug of gravity -- the little body me, the big body him, in a pull like the moon toward the earth or the earth toward the sun, or me toward fried chicken legs, my favourite thing in the world."

Two pages in and I was hooked on this writing. Cosmic homoerotic magnetism and fried chicken legs? It's a giggle -- but so much more. We feel the swirling, unformed passions of a child teetering on the threshold of sexual awareness. A page later, the silk-shirted dude is standing over the toilet and Cliffy is mesmerized. "His thick gold-ringed fingers unpacked his privates from tight black polyester pants. He maneuvered it until a red head came out." The guy turns out to be Cliffy's dad, absent for a decade. He pisses a golden stream, repacks his tool, then hoists Cliffy up for a kiss on the cheek: "Give your old man some sugar."

Dad decides to stick around for a while. He even gets a job, still managing to pull all-nighter debauches, stumbling into the kitchen next morning while Lacey (mom) is dispensing Sugar Crisp to her brood of three boys. At home dad is found mostly on the couch in his tight bikini briefs, watching TV and ordering beers and snacks from his grudgingly obedient sons.

Lambda-shortlisted editor Shawn Stewart Ruff has given us a gem with this first novel, woven through with insights about oppression and prejudice, hurt and healing. Cliffy's first-person voice is surprisingly seductive. He's a convincing kid in every way while doubling as a near-flawless vehicle for his author's wisdom about pubescent boys and their surging sexuality. One scene, in which Cliffy is affectionately manhandled by his father on the couch, is intensely erotic. You see that both Clifford and Cliffy, dad and son, are briefly immersed in a sexual game that's over almost before it begins -- too soon even for them to acknowledge it. But we sense that dad is playing with fire.

A few pages later Cliffy is riding double on the banana seat of his new friend's bicycle, his arms tightly around Noah's waist. The thrill of their erotic tug feels just right: "The wind flapped his shirt up. Sweaty hair vanished into Fruit of the Loom underwear elastic above the studs on his stained Big Hank jeans. Oil, mud, arm stink and Captain Crunch cereal swirled around me in tornados of smells." I instantly recalled that same cereal breath and boyish sweat wafting from my pals at summer camp.

Cliffy and Noah later share an outdoor jerk session. It's the beginning of a love affair that pulls us deep inside their hormone-charged dance of discovery and desire. The sex is as tender and green as spring growth in an asparagus patch. Noah is Jewish and part of the friendship is a growing, reciprocal awareness of the shared tragedy in their ancestral histories. Harassed in the street by kids recycling their parents' intolerance, they are all the more determined not to let prejudice pull them apart. In a touching emotional climax one morning Noah bursts into tears as he meets Cliffy for some renewed outdoor dick-play. Noah's dad has just had a messy mental breakdown and been taken to hospital. "Noah cried. His face puckered and turned bright red. He made dog-like whining sounds. I put my arm around him and then I began to cry, and get a hard-on at the same time." Some teens shout at them from a passing car: "Look at the Jew-Nigger lovebirds."

Ruff bowled me over with this scene (and many others.) What gets me here is the incongruous hard-on. It's funny, but it also proves beyond a doubt Cliffy's unshakable bond with Noah. Body and heart -- his whole being -- hum with need and tenderness. Then the heartless abuse from outside reminds us that love is always endangered. Does that sound a tad overwrought? Well, the novel is the complete opposite. This book rings with authenticity, exploring carnal realms that too many publishers simply won't go near. Bravo to Shawn Stewart Ruff and to Quote Editions for bringing his gift to us.

Ruff, Shawn Stewart. "Finlater", Quote Editions, 2008.

Gay Teens Beautifully Represented

Amos Lassen

"Finlater" is quite simply an amazing book that deals with real people in real situations. It is beautifully written and extremely sensitive. It affected me in ways few other books have. Perhaps this is because of what I said earlier about the reality of the characters and plot.
Cliffy is a thirteen year old black sensitive kid from a low-income family in Cincinnati, Ohio. He is entering the eight grade after having great success in a spelling bee where the only word he misspelled was the name of the housing project where he lived, The Findlater, and that was because he always heard it pronounced as "Finlater". His home life is somewhat sad--his brothers are sexually active and they cause trouble; his mother works hard to take care of the family. His father has recently returned home and doesn't do much aside from drinking and lounging around the house. Nevertheless Cliffy Douglas loves his mother and is devoted to her.
When Cliffy starts school, his desk is near Noah Baumgerten's. Noah is a young Jewish student and the two boys become fast friends. The boys both belong to minority groups and they receive the terrible nicknames of "Jew" and
"Nigger". As the boys get to know each other, they secretly wish that they could change home lives. Cliffy wants to have a loving home like Noah's and Noah wants to be a "soul brother". The friends spend all of their free time together and they explore their sexualities and bodies. Eventually the boys' families also meet and the boys begin to explore the secrets of each family and they study their fathers whose own lives greatly influence the boys' lives. The two boys manage to find their own world in which their pasts are blocked out and they are allowed to live and love. This is where the story ends and we are left to finish the book in the way that we want and for me this was a big plus as I became part of the plot. This is a love story with a lot of emotion. It could easily become a book for young adult readers but I see it as a book for all ages as it has so much to say about so many things. It is beautifully and eloquently written and physically beautiful to look at.
This is a book that will not easily be forgotten and when Cliffy says that the only thing to be ashamed of is being ashamed, he won my heart.

Shawn Stewart Ruff may be a name known to only a few avid readers of short stories, but with the publication of FINLATER this gifted writer is bound to be recognized as a very important voice in American literature. Few writers are able to relate a story from a child's vantage as keenly as Ruff: echoes of such writers as JD Salinger and Colm Toibin and JG Hayes are present in this tender little love story that offers finely honed insights into the impact of racial tensions on the sociologic changes of the 1970s. It is a book that deserves wide critical attention as well as a broad readership.

The title FINLATER sets the tone of the message of this little treasure: the story takes place in the projects area of Cincinnati known as Findlater, but the main character and narrator of this tale is Cliffy Douglas, an African American 13-year-old lad who has just entered the eighth grade after success in a spelling bee where his only misspelled word was the name of his home zone he has always heard pronounced as 'Finlater'. Cliffy's home life is rocky - his brothers are raucous, early sexually developed (and active) trouble makers and his mother labors to feed her family which now includes the returned father figure who spends most of his time drinking and lounging in his bikini underwear. Life is not wholesome, but Cliffy's devotion to his mother holds him together.

As Cliffy begins his school year he is seated by a young Jewish lad, Noah Baumgarten, and as the story slowly unwinds we discover the differences and similarities between these two new friends. The spectrum in which each lives covers the racial tension in the neighborhoods as the bonded pair are referred to as Oreos, or more maliciously as Nigger and Jew. And it is this disparity of home life and background that makes each boy envy the status of the other - Cliffy wants to become a Jew and have a caring father and mother like Noah's and Noah longs to be a Soul Brother. Together they explore the limits of their environment of discord as well as the territory of their developing bodies and sexuality. In time their respective families meet (or rather collide) and the boys discover the secrets of each other's family members, with special attention focused on the fathers whose personal problems have shaped each boy's life. Out of this puzzling quagmire of family developments Cliffy and Noah plan an escape from it all, an escape that will allow them to live their young passionate love life without the gloom of their pasts. But can they find that path? That is where Ruff leaves the reader, hoping for a happy ending for these two wonderful kids, but without a map except the pathway to the heart these two unforgettable characters have carved in this story.

FINLATER explores same sex attraction in boys as they enter puberty as well as any author who has approached this subject. But Shawn Stewart Ruff writes with such restraint and eloquence that his characters never lose balance on the tight wire of racial, social, and color tensions they tread. In Cliffy's mother's words, 'One last thing. The only thing you should be ashamed of is the fact that you are ashamed. We don't choose our families or our families' situations. Hopefully you'll do better in your life than I have. You'll have a big house, a fancy car, and a family you choose to have.' And such is the manner in which Ruff approaches the entire story. This is as fine a coming of age book as you'll likely find on the shelves, and Shawn Stewart Ruff is a major new voice in American literature. This is one of those books that cannot be recommended highly enough! Even the unique presentation quality of the book by QUOTE Editions is remarkably excellent. Grady Harp, July 08

Full disclosure: I am listed in the acknowledgement of FINLATER as an early reader of the book. Second disclosure: I'm not a professional writer or reviewer, just a reader with some scattered background in history, LGBTQ studies, African American studies, librarianship, and education.

The novel presents real people in a real place: people who grow, a place that is also in the throes of change. As with Ruff's short stories I've read, there were characters whom I wanted to hate, but he doesn't let the reader make those easy decisions. A famous author once said that the first rule of writing was never to humiliate your characters - a recommendation that Hollywood regularly ignores. But Ruff has the humane instinct to draw each character with honest sensitivity and understanding.

Two comparisons could be useful - one is with Peter Cameron's acclaimed SOMEDAY THIS PAIN WILL BE USEFUL TO YOU. Superficially, one can say that Cameron's protagonist, James, is an 18-year-old, rich, white, Ivy League bound sensitive and smart New York City cynic; and Ruff's Cliffy is a 13-year-old low-income sensitive and smart black kid from Cincinnati. But there's something else that's different. In FINLATER, the stakes seem higher, but not falsely inflated - for starters, there's actually sex and genuine intimate feelings, desires and desperation, in Ruff's work. The family dysfunctions aren't just fodder for rolling one's eyes in embarrassment, but dangerous and real in their impact. In FINLATER, there are both well-off and poor, and the genuine desire of one to taste the other. On the other hand, both Cameron and Ruff share a charming restraint, letting their stories unfold and their characters emerge naturally. The fierceness in FINLATER is not forced, but Ruff's novel goes where Cameron's can't.

Another comparison I can draw (and at least two other readers have drawn) is with James Baldwin. Here, you'll have to do some of the work yourself, because I can't put my finger on it exactly. Maybe it's the direct and honest presentation. Or the characters I want to care about. Or how both Ruff and Baldwin (at his best) can bring life to "issues" (race, sex, family, violence) that would simply be dead weight or shock-value trivia for lesser talents.

Finally, the production value - the actual physical book - is outstanding, beautiful. That is, it's worthy of the story and people you'll find inside. It demands to be held and opened.

And finally, finally: like Cameron's book (and even like much of Baldwin's work), there will be a temptation to make FINLATER a "YA" or young adult book. Cameron disagreed with his publisher and the book stores about marketing his book as a YA story. Ruff may find that his FINLATER has to face the same pressure to pigeonhole the book in this way. It's no surprise that fully adult readers - like myself - wish we could have been as wise and decent a teenager as Cliffy, eager to taste and see, ready to learn and grow, able to accept that lifepaths cross and separate. Who wouldn't want to share this story with teenagers - OK, with the sex, maybe a bit uneasily - to tell them that it will be all right, that they're worthy of life's experiences? But it is, finally, a book for adults, and maybe for their inner 13-year-olds too.