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Williams Books sorted by Average customer review: high to low .

Williams
Music Business & Entertainment Law Contracts for Indie Recording Artist, Labels, Songwriters, Composers, Producers, Managers and All Others in the Record Industry. Preprinted Binder
Published in Ring-bound by Platinum Millennium (2001-08-01)
Author: R. Williams
List price: $34.99

Average review score:

Perfect for all!
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2007-05-03
No matter what area in the music or recording industry you are in, these contracts are absolutely relevant. I found them extremely useful for my company and have highly recommended it to others in the industry. I would suggest that anyone who needs help with contracts purchase this product, you won't be sorry.

wow
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2006-07-14
I bought this book 2 weeks ago and I could not help myself from dropping by here and saying how i use and feel about this book. Basically it is a life saver for me, it cuts the time I use do deals and it's a fountain of information if you don't have an outside source. My thought it ..buy it!

wow
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2006-07-14
I loved this pack ever since day one when i first bought it, it brought a while new perspective to my office and the work being done there has increased in efficiency not at my desk but at my colleagues to. Great title

What a nice collection.
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2006-06-29
This binder is very well balanced for such a low price. At first, I thought that these contracts would be cheap and of poor quality. However, you can easily customize these contracts to your liking. I would highly recommend these to anyone!

Contracts are a necessary evil.
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2006-06-29
Let's face it- no one likes contacts. In this business though, you need them, pure and simple. This is one of the best collections of legal contracts I've seen in a while- and I've been in this business for quite some time. Do yourself a favor- pick up a copy while you still are in business.

Williams
THE ROAD O NAB END: A LANCASHIRE CHILDHOOD.
Published in Paperback by Eland (2000)
Author: William Woodruff
List price:
Used price: $0.47

Average review score:

Hard Times In the 1920s and 30s
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2007-01-02
One thing that poverty didn't diminish is Woodruff's powers of recall. Though, as soon as he becomes literate, one senses he'll inexorably transcend his meagre beginnings which ring most vividly in this tale. I loved the regional patois as much as the rising political conscience of the working class boy. The years roll by with the daily grind, humilities accompanying the unjust disenfranchisement of workers; Dickensian conditions that were worse in Lancanshire than other industrial zones. Woodruff's effortless prose is as tough as his father's persistent presence and as nuanced as his mum's mercurial mood shifts. Fortunately for readers,'Nab's End' is no end, but a beginning to further tales from post adolesence. Having just closed the covers on Roy McFadyen's, 'at A Cost', I opened Woodruff to discover a parallel story in times bedevilled by poverty and dire economic depression. If you want to visit the comparison and find, at a pinch, an even more extraordinary childhood,'At a Cost' is published and distributed by its author @ 15 Maryann Street, Golden Beach, Queensland, Australia 4551.

If you have never been there, you now know it
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2004-06-23
This is a wonderful book which, as an Anglophile, I loved reading. Just a word to those who feel it some of the terms are American. Remember, please, that the author is now living in the US, and new terms become automatically one's own after a while. And yes, there is a sequel to this book!

I implore any reader to read Woodruff - unbelievable
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2004-02-14
You don't have to have been born in Blackburn (as I was) to appreciate this wonderful true story of a childhood in poverty with all the wit and humour and honesty of the working class. Their hopes for a better and fairer future are vivid and the story ends with an emotional desire from the reader to know how and if this young man succeeds as he takes his steps away from Lancashire. Inevitably the reader will read the sequel Beyond Nab End which is even better but read this first.

superb book-leaves you wanting more
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 4 total.
Review Date: 2003-05-19
William Woodruff and I have something in common; we were both born and reared poor in Lancashire, doubly lucky as Mr Woodruff puts it. The book itself is a reader, you pick it up and you can't put it down. There is always something else you want to read in the next chapter. It is a shame the book had an ending to it as it leaves you wanting more.

Like one of the other reviewers I was a bit disappointed when the text was dumbed down, probably for our American cousins, as little discrepancies showed through the text. For instance, stating ten pennies instead of ten pence (we would have said it 'tenpunce') and the absolute glaring mistake of calling a tanner 6p when it should have been 6d and a dodger is 3d not 3p. Little details like this tend to eat at me.

The book was easy to read and if you know a little about Lancashire, specifically Blackburn, you will find it fascinating.

Tim Brimelow 19 May 2003

This really is a superb social history
Helpful Votes: 4 out of 5 total.
Review Date: 2005-02-13
I came upon this book after hearing brief snippets of it serialised BBC Radio 4 and the World Service.
It had added interest for me as I know Blackburn (at least modern Blackburn) very well, it was later a surprise to discover I knew virtually nothing of the town.
The book is evocative and stirring as you follow the authors journey from early childhood to his 16th year, when he finally leaves a deprived, economically and spiritual broken town for London, in hope of work and a better life.
The journey in between is a rich array of colourful and long forgotton characters and ways of life. Most striking by far is the harshness of past societies in which the poor were virtually ground into the dirt and totally at mercy of commerce. Yet still the love and joy of these kindly, caring and sweet natured people shines through, it took a great deal to make them lose all hope. One cannot help but to think that these poor and hardworking forbares made more than a little of the muscle in the British national psyche.
The Authors journey is one of love, loss and curiousity, his intelligence is meant for better things than the dust and grime of cotton mills but so hard worked are his people and he that this realisation is a long time coming.
Highlights characters are Grandma Bridget and the lovley Aunts he visits in Summer. Quite a journey and very much a joy to read.

Williams
The Snarkout Boys and the Avocado of Death
Published in Hardcover by William Morrow & Co (1982-03)
Author: Daniel Manus Pinkwater
List price: $12.95
Used price: $2.54
Collectible price: $12.95

Average review score:

A look at what's really going on
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2007-02-03
I would wager that more than a few adults who favor science fiction or fantasy were set on that path as youngsters by the works of Daniel Pinkwater. Speaking for myself, Pinkwater instilled in me an interest in fiction that was reflective of more than just the ordinary world me (or, more than likely, awakened an existing, but dormant, interest in such literature). In the case of Avocado of Death, we are presented with aliens posing as realtors, a supercomputer fashioned out of a single avocado, and an international criminal mastermind who employs orangutans to do his dirty work, just for starters. And Pinkwater's books are without a doubt offbeat, zany, absurd, and certainly whichever other such adjectives the critics proffer. But their zaniness is beside the point, or at least it is subordinate to a larger point.

Though Pinkwater's books have a wide appeal, I can say from experience precisely who they're aimed at, and to whom they appeal the most: the kid who's bored with school, who looks in vain for something new or unusual to engage his interest; the kid who knows how much he doesn't know, who knows that there are things that his parents and teachers aren't telling him and is almost certain that there's a great deal that adults don't know either. Pinkwater's protagonists slog through the mundane world of the everyday, until some circumstance allows them to catch a glimpse of what's behind the curtain and have some idea, for the first time, of What's Really Going On. Generally it involves conspiracies, outlandish coincidences, and general wackiness, and generally none of it makes any less sense than what we normally think of reality. In fact, it occurs to me that a reader of Pinkwater's could graduate to Douglas Adams without too much trouble.

I'm not sure that Avocado of Death is Pinkwater's best work; if I were to make a recommendation, I would start a kid off with Lizard Music. But whichever you begin with, I have to recommend giving a kid who enjoys reading a Pinkwater novel; there's no telling what kind of imagination you might unlock.

Love this book
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2007-01-11
I first saw this book in my school library . I was in middle school and was not into reading very much. We were required to check out a book so this one caught my attention with the colorful jacket. The first page pulled me in and I was able to see the characters in my head. I have been an avid reader for 24 years since this book. My kids are "lovin' it", too.

That would explain the ultra soundproof room
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2005-02-17
I did not discover this book until I listened to it this week at the ripe old age of 23. As such, I did not feel the book was long enough.
Pinkwater is engaging beyond my understanding how he does it, although the absurd characters and their stranger actions are a sure start. Take Uncle Flipping Hades Terwilliger who has not missed a late night movie in 17 years despite being kidnapped numerous times, or Walter's mother who is paranoid of communists beyond all rationality, or the fellow with the painted on sideburns. A few of Walter's exploits were things I did as a kid. Others were opportunities I wish I'd had. Except for the orangutan wrestling. I frown upon that. The silly care-free writing, and the flawless speaking performance by Pinkwater had me wishing my commute were longer.

I've been meaning to sign up for bookcrossing and this is a prime first candidate. Or maybe I'll send it to my silliest friend.

fond memories
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2003-04-12
My "hippie" aunt and uncle, in New York City, sent me this book, and Fat Men From Space, when I was about eight. I loved it!
I am now almost thirty; yet I remember these books with great affection. Mind you, what you remember and what was true are two different things; but a book that can make you smile more than ten years later is worth the investment.

Wonderfully unique
Helpful Votes: 4 out of 5 total.
Review Date: 2003-11-10
I remember reading (and rereading) this zany, gripping, urban adventure when I was in third or fourth grade (and its worthy sequel, The Snarkout Boys & the Baconburg Horror). On a whim, some twenty years later and with a law degree to my name, I tracked down a copy at the public library and ... wow! I enjoyed it every bit as much. Daniel Pinkwater deserves major kudos for such a book--someone buy that man a Napoleon or twelve.

The fast-paced story is told from the viewpoint of Walter Galt. Walter is a teenager on the verge of dying from boredom at Ghengis Khan High School, until he meets Winston Bongo, another suffering student and the self-proclaimed inventor of 'snarking out'. The boys' late-night snarkouts eventually bring them into contact with a smorgasbord of oddball characters (such as Ms. Bentley Saunders Harrison Matthews, aka Rat) and places, from Blueberry Park to Lower North Aufzoo Street to Beanbender's Beer Garden and beyond. Ultimately, with the help of the world's greatest living detective, Walter, Winston and Rat must locate the world's largest avocado and save the world (or at least the nations' realtors)--but watch out for stuffed Indian fruit bats!

Pinkwater is a true original and writes this surreal, comic yarn simply, cleanly, and hilariously. Highly recommended for kids, parents, avocado lovers ... and even lawyers who used to be kids. Five stars!

Williams
Temples, Tombs, and Hieroglyphs: A Popular History of Ancient Egypt
Published in Hardcover by William Morrow (2007-12-01)
Author: Barbara Mertz
List price: $26.95
New price: $5.75
Used price: $5.51

Average review score:

Temples, Tombs, and Hieroglyphs: A Popular History of Ancient Egypt
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-03-08
I loved this book. It's very well written and very informative - definitely not "dry" and "stuffy".

Temples, Tombs, and Hieroglyphs by Barbara Meertz
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-02-19
The book is interesting as well as fascinating with much information. Just what was needed to add to her Elizabeth Peters novels about Egypt.

The more you know, the less you know you know
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2008-05-24
A few years ago I visited these areas and the tour guide spoke with great certainty about everything. Come to find out almost everything is subject to question. Mertz is clear on what has been established, and what is theory. The time, energy and research put into Egyptian archeaology opens new avenues of doubt and make facts more and more elusive.

Mertz warns at the beginning that this is not a text nor a complete history. She says it is an collection material that she finds interesting. The first part was a little TOO informal for me. Mertz hits her stride with Hatshepsut and keeps the narrative strong through the end.



Newly Updated Book Perfect for Anyone Interested in Egypt
Helpful Votes: 2 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2008-04-09
For anyone who has an interest in Egypt or ever wondered exactly who the ancient Egyptians were and why their dynasties lasted for thousands of years, Barbara Mertz's "Temples, Tombs & Hieroglyphs" is the perfect introduction. More commonly known to readers as Elizabeth Peters, Mertz is the author of the popular Amelia Peabody mystery series.

Long before she started her career as a best-selling writer, however, Barbara Mertz began as a trained Egyptologist, with a PhD from the famed Oriental Institute at the University of Chicago, the launching pad for many successful Egyptologists. These credentials make her the perfect person to write this history, as she is able to translate the rich Egyptian history of the pharaohs into something more easily understood by readers with no archaeological background, except an interest in Egypt.

This is not to say that the book is always easy reading, although Mertz tackles her subject with a passion and humor readers are unlikely to find in any other, more typical history tome. She manages to bring the Egyptians of old to life, translating ancient hieroglyphs into fascinating stories of individuals, each with their own purpose, strengths and weaknesses exposed.

She opens up the fascinating world of tomb robbers and archaeologists (which some claim are not so far apart in purpose or behavior at times). She demonstrates how information is extrapolated from archaeological findings and illustrates how history is revised over time as new facts and theories come to light.

Despite the injection of personality Mertz brings, this can be dense material at times. For anyone uninitiated in the world of the Egyptians, there are more than 30 dynasties, each with several rulers, falling into 10 eras, dating from the Stone Age Archaic Period to the time of Cleopatra and the Roman invasion. The sheer length of time and individuals and events covered is staggering.

With repeating pharaohnic names, unfamiliar landscapes and place names, conflicting historical research and theories, the book can be overwhelming at times. Yet the reward for sticking it out (dare I even say, re-reading parts) is worth the time and effort expended. Frankly, I read this book twice, cover to cover, and the second time around, I finally began to get a real sense for the overall arc of historical time period covered. And I would hazard to say that it seems even more likely that dipping in again would yield even more historical treasure and understanding.

The richest gift that Mertz offers in her overview of Egypt can be found in the simple stories of the rulers described here, in illuminating for the novice the archaeological tricks of the trade (and weaknesses of such methods) used to determine exactly (or to the best of anyone's knowledge) what happened so many years ago. Mertz's infectious passion for all things Egyptian (well, except possibly pottery shards) can't help but influence her readers to want to learn more. Through her book, she has opened the door to her own exciting world, and readers can't help but want to share in that magic.

Christine Zibas, Book Pleasures

A Wonderful Introduction to Egyptology
Helpful Votes: 2 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2008-03-02
Writing under the pen name Elizabeth Peters, Barbara Mertz started the Amelia Peabody series of tongue-in-cheek Victorian archaeological thrillers in 1975. But 11 years before then this trained Egyptologist published the first edition of "Temples, Tombs & Hieroglyphs".

Like many other books this traces of the history of ancient Egypt from the pre-dynastic to the Ptolemies. But Mertz brings her sense of humor to lighten what can be a dry series of lists of kings. She brings to life highpoints in the Old, Middle and New Kingdoms, as well as the chaotic periods in between. Moreover, she lifts the veil and lets the reader in on many of the scholarly disputes, like those over the woman pharaoh Hatshepsut and the role of Nefertiti in the succession to her heretical husband Akhenaton.

It's also nice to see someone reveal the egomaniac Ramses II for what he was, a poor leader who lost the second Battle of Kadesh, and who covered his weaknesses by pasting his image everywhere.

For anyone who has read the Peabody books, including the depiction there of Sir William Flinders Petrie (and his approach to feeding his staff), Mertz' homage here to the founder of modern Egyptology is interesting.

In her forward to this Second Edition, Mertz says she thought she wouldn't have to do much to revise the earlier work. But then, she adds, taking into account four decades of new discoveries proved to be a challenge. There are places in this book where she discusses post-1964 work, but the addition of the new material is seamless, with no sense of things just stuck in.

This is a delightful introduction to the fascinating history of ancient Egypt.

Williams
Wolf Story
Published in Hardcover by Linnet Books (1988-03)
Author: William McCleery
List price: $16.50
Used price: $7.95
Collectible price: $53.99

Average review score:

A must-read, must-have classic
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2006-07-10
I am buying yet *another* copy of this book, as we no longer even pretend to lend it- nobody will give it back! This has been a favorite book since our youngest was 4. She's just turned 11, but when she's under the weather it comes out for another read. Every family- and certainly every 5 year old boy!- should have this as a bedtime storybook. Even the chapters are just the right length. Although the price has gone up n recent times, it is worth every penny- this is one you want to own.

Read Once, Love Forever
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2006-02-10
We have books in the family library, and then some very special books go into each child's library. This is one of those books. There is no better book to read to a five-to-six-year-old. It has a loving father-son relationship, complete with exasperation on both parts. It has a roll-off-the-chair laugh-out-loud bedtime story that gets extemporaneously spun by the father, and it has day-by-day life. Get this book, read it to a child. If you don't have a child the right age, read it to a friend's child or grandchild. Read it.

Splendid Read Aloud Bedtime Storybook
Helpful Votes: 2 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2002-08-11
It's a tough business to tell a child a favorite story again, and again, and again, both for the storyteller who's tired of telling it and for the child who has, like a true die-hard fan, grown into a very devoted yet demanding critic. The story must be told "just-so", exactly the same way it's been told before and at the same time fresh, new, and even better than ever. Wolf Story is a story about telling a story, and both a parent and their child will recognize themselves in 5-year-old Michael and his father as they share the ritual bedtime story, a story about a very nasty wolf named Waldo. Little Michael seems to "know" the story even before he's heard it, but he isn't altogether conscious of this. He knows it much better than the tale's storyteller/author, his father, and isn't shy at all offering suggestions when his father doesn't tell it right.

Guaranteed this clever book will have you both laughing out loud at times, but I was also very pleased to find an amusing children's book that manages to operate at different levels without the wisecracking or cynical tone so common in children's literature now. Children can easily see the story from the point of view of the father, of little Michael, the scary wolf and the little farmer boy, Jimmy, who stands up to him. This makes the story all the more delightful for them. What a treat!

fun, sweet dad-son story
Helpful Votes: 2 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2002-01-23
Five-year old Michael is a demanding taskmaster, and his father must be creative to tell a wolf story within the constraints laid down by his son. For instance, the wolf must be named Waldo. A terribly fierce wolf named Waldo. Good natured teasing and realistic conversation make this the humorous and sweet story of a father and son who enjoy each other's company.

Wolf Story
Helpful Votes: 7 out of 7 total.
Review Date: 2002-10-17
Every year I read Wolf Story to my second graders and at the end of the year when I ask them their favorite chapter book read to them, Wolf Story is chosen every year to be the favorite. They love to follow the adventures of Rainbow and Michael. When you complete Chapter 1, the kids are hooked. They can not wait for the next day. I have even had kids who have been sick ask if I can re-read a chapter that they missed or if they can stay in at recess to read the missed chapter on their own.

Wolf Story is wonderfully written and captivating to young children. Every year I can not wait to read the book. I find myself anxious to share the next chapter.
When my own children have children, Wolf Story will be the book that I can share with them. I strongly recommend this book to every child and to every adult who enjoys reading to their children at bedtime.

Williams
The Arab Table: Recipes and Culinary Traditions
Published in Hardcover by William Morrow Cookbooks (2005-09-01)
Author: May Bsisu
List price: $34.95
New price: $14.69
Used price: $13.79

Average review score:

Virtually no illustrations ...
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2008-07-13
I found this book to be a turn-off mainly because it lacks illustrations. I hope the next edition will take care of this major flaw of otherwise a decent effort.

Cream of the Crop, a MUST HAVE!
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-01-28
The Arab Table by Mary Bsisu is a must have for anyone interested in Middle Eastern cooking.

I have read the other reviews and agree that it is a 5 star book.

One thing of note---one of the other reviewers criticized Bsisu for citing too many contributors to her book. Why? She had her own recipes and if she collected recipes from others that indicates only that she knows a good recipe when she finds it and if she felt that it belonged in her book than good for her for adding it, it can only benefit us the readers.

I used to live in the caribbean and made perfect baklava there many times. When I came back to the States all my batches of baklava were ruined by sugar syrup that had crystallized by the next day. For the life of me I couldn't figure out what was going on and wondered if it had something to do with the humidity?!?! My sister in law cooks her sugar syrup for 10 minutes, my mother in law for an hour, so I knew it had to be something scientific, maybe due to temperature not length of time cooked. Neither my MIL or SIL could explain it.

WHile reading BSISU's cookbook (it makes fine reading even when you don't have anything particular you want to look up), i came across a recipe for Kunafa bi Jibin, or Shredded Pastry with Cheese. In this recipe, she gave instructions on making the sugar syrup, including " Let the syrup boil until it has reached the thread stage (about 225 on a candy thermometer)". HELLO! this was my mistake and this is the ONLY cookbook i have seen this mentioned in out of many, many middle eastern/greek cookbooks. So I applaud her (and THANK her because imagine making a whole pan of baklava only to have it ruined by the next day---heartbreak). BUT, to the subject of the other reviewers comments about her book being a collaboration of recipes from many people, I have to point out that the ONLY place this temperature is mentioned is in the Kunafa with cheese recipe, not the Sugar syrup recipe (which is on the page before), or the baklava recipe, or the regular konafa recipe. I do think that this is an omission because such a simple instruction should have definitely been in the sugar syrup recipe, and the fact that it is not leads me to believe that the recipes came from different people or sources.

Anyhow, the price of the book definitely pays for itself just for saving my baklava.

The explanations of customs and holy days are interesting and entertaining, and nowadays any book that can shed light (in a positive way) on how arab/middle eastern people live can only help to broaden the understanding between people which will benefit us all.

The Arab table cookbook
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2007-12-26
Very comprehensive, representing the best of Arab culinary traditions. Explains ingredients and methods well, makes it easy for people in the U.S. to find ingredients or get the same result using "western" ingredients. Would recommend to friends who have never made Arabic dishes before.

A definite must!
Helpful Votes: 2 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2007-09-20
This is one of the best books on Arab cuisine that I own. Bsisu is an excellent cook - the recipes are wonderful and easy to follow. The end results are great and very authentic - perhaps because Bsisu book is more of a book on recipes passed down from family and friends than a cultural anthology (home recipes taste the best after all!) The book concentrates mostly on cooking from the levant (where Bsisu is from) but it also has several recipes from other regions, especially the gulf region where Bsisu lived. It includes most of the popular arab recipes as well as lesser known ones, such as those from Gaza, where Bsisu's husband hails. The book is also filled with wonderful cultural ancedotes from Bsisu's family life as well as a thorough explanation of many arab (both christian and muslim) cultural traditions. One thing the books lacks is many stew recipes (she has several of the popular ones but just not as many as I expected). However, what the book lacks in stews is compensated by the huge reportaire of main course dishes -all which are excellent.

The only caveat I have with this book is the introduction section, where Bsisu lists all the arab countries. She lumps all the gulf arab countries in one category despite listing all the other countries seperately. While the cooking of the Gulf states is similar, it is no more similar than the cooking of Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and Palestine. I would understand lumping Kuwait, Bahrain, the UAE and Qatar in one category. Oman and Saudi however deserves categories of their own. Oman lies on the Arabian sea and has a very different culture than the rest of the gulf as it is influenced by trade with Africa and India. As for Saudi Arabia, only the eastern coast has a cuisine similar to the rest of the Gulf. The rest of saudi arabia borders egypt (through the red sea), the levant and Iraq, so its cuisine is vast and distinctive. Of course, Bsisu is probably just not familiar with the various styles of Saudi cooking since the book is really based on her experience of the Arab world - nothing is wrong with that but I just wanted to point it out. Another strange thing is that Bsisu doesn't include Libya Algeria and Sudab among her list of Arab countries and I find this omission really strange as they are very important and it doesn't make sense to include every other arab country except these three! Anyhow, NONE of this detracts from the book, as like I said before it is a book of family recipes and recipes passed down from friends and not a cultural anthology. The recipes are excellent, authentic and hail from all over the arab world - so if you want a cook book on arab cooking, buy this one. I bought this book from my sister who learnt how to cook from it and my cousin bought herself a copy too - they both love it!

May Shakhashir Bsisu's Book is also Good for Vegans
Helpful Votes: 5 out of 6 total.
Review Date: 2007-06-24
There are recipes such as Spinach Triangles, Onion Rice, Fava Bean Salad, and many others that are purely vegan. The good thing with most middleastern recipes (Arab & Iranian) is that you can omit the meat (or replace the broth with water) and still have a great-tasting food (soy ground meat is also an amazing substitute for real ground beef). This book is also good for families who want to alternate between foods with meat and without meat.

Williams
At the Entrance to the Garden of Eden: A Jew's Search for God with Christians and Muslims in the Holy Land
Published in Hardcover by William Morrow (2001-09-01)
Author: Yossi K. Halevi
List price: $25.00
New price: $2.17
Used price: $0.46
Collectible price: $25.00

Average review score:

Entrance to the Garden of Eden: A Jew's Search for Hope with Christians and Muslims in the Holy Land
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 5 total.
Review Date: 2005-10-08
This is a must for all ethnic groups to read.

A study in courage
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2006-05-17
One problem with writing intelligent books on religion is that religion demands the author experience it. Halevi takes this difficult challenge and seeks common ground with Christians and Muslims. To find this common ground he is willing to push his boundaries, go beyond his fears to find a common ground.

In his efforts he encounters a Catholic order of religious that seeks to return to the Jewish roots of Jesus as a common ground for Jewish-Christian relations; a Catholic monk of the Melkite rite (Jerusalem rite) seeing Arab-Jewish understanding through the Arab Christian; a common ground of genocide with Armenian Christians; a common ground of love with Sufi sheiks ...

Throughout his search runs a thread of the common monotheistic underpinnings of the three major religions of Israel. A second thread is a more universal acceptance that includes the great Eastern traditions - Buddhism and Hinduism. The third thread is the history of the Jewish people and the reality of strife in Israel. Through these threads, Halevi challenges the reader to confront his or her prejudices in the political and religious arenas.

The net result is not a great book, but one I highly recommend because of the issues raised and the author's personal willingness to share his experience in addressing the issues.

Hope
Helpful Votes: 2 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2005-09-10
The title is exact. Halevi is an extraordinary person: a mystic deeply rooted in his Jewish faith but who can share a common search for peace and religious experience with Christians, the historic persecutors of Jews, and with Muslims, who have now become the "enemy." I know three of the communities of Christians he shared with and the descriptions are accurate so I can assume the Muslim sections are just as fair. Anyone searching for religious and mystic truth that is non-violent but serious about faith and God will love this book.

What real faith is all about. Amazing.
Helpful Votes: 3 out of 3 total.
Review Date: 2005-02-14
Yossi Halevy thinks he is only writing about interfaith connections in the holy land, but in fact the most inspiring aspect of the book is the delicate portrait of his own faith in God, where this deep faith takes him, and the grace of goodwill and wisdom that it creates inside his soul.

An honest, humble, inspiring adventure
Helpful Votes: 8 out of 8 total.
Review Date: 2006-09-08
I just love this guy. Starting with a simple urge to connect with his neighbors, Yossi Halevi embarks on an awkward, fascinating, dangerous journey through Israel, the West Bank and Gaza. He discovers a series of surprising characters who dream, not just of peace between Jews, Muslims and Christians, but of spiritual friendship. And the story of these fragile, budding friendships becomes an adventure of almost overwhelming power.

I want to quote from one episode, where Halevi and a madcap Jew called Eliyahu Charanamrit McLean attend a mosque in Karawa village on the West Bank:

"This mosque was a family project: Everyone here belonged to the Abu-Laben clan. They were working class people; the shaykh himself was a car mechanic.

"What do the other Muslims think of you?" Eliyahu asked.

"That we're crazy," replied Saud's father. "They think we chant the name of 'Abdallah' instead of 'Allah"". Laughter.

I asked Saud what he experienced during the zakir [or dance of remembering God]. "That our hearts kept getting closer and closer to God," he said, with the Sufi vagueness I'd so often encountered from Ibrahim. ...

Ibrahim, not to be poetically outdone, added "Our souls went up to heaven like clouds".

"When you pray together," said the shaykh's father, "you form one heart".

I felt sad for this forlorn Sufi Shteibl. Here was an Islam with which we could make peace, yet it was almost absurdly perepheral. Still, maybe the fact that a handful of Muslims and Jews had danced together was enough for God to work with; perhaps He would magnify our prayers, widen the circle of ecstasy." (p. 104-105)

Halevi is realist enough to claim no easy victories. As the level of sectarian violence rises again, his network of friends retains little but hope and prayer. It's a marvelous book.

--author of "Different Visions of Love"

Williams
Beneath Words
Published in Hardcover by Palo Duro (2000-11)
Author: William B. Sechrest
List price: $50.00
New price: $32.30
Used price: $12.08

Average review score:

Love and Nature
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2000-10-14
Through his discerning eyes Roger's penetrating photographs reveal the richness of nature along the Carmel, Big Sur and Monterey Coasts and opens our eyes to our own backyards. A photographer who shows the soul of rocks, trees, leaves, caves, ocean, sand and sky. Bill's words call the soul of the world, drawing us into a fullness of life's emotions, triggering our own losses and hope and wonder...then reminds us of the gift of each moment through sound, sight and feelings. A poet with the courage to bare his soul and in so doing awakens our. These photographs and poetry bring the universe to our doorsteps. A treasure book.

A wonderful gift...
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2000-09-28
Recently, I was given a copy of this book as a gift, and was immediately struck by the beauty and thoughtful compositions of both the images and the poetry.

The photographs are of the California coast, but they are certainly not the typical "postcard" shots. In black and white, and rich in tonality, these are complicated images, some of whose beausty strikes you immediately, and some of whose beauty sneaks up on you. Seemingly simple scenes resonate with hidden complexity brought to light by the masterful eye of the photographer. Like zen style ink paintings, many of the images and poems are deceptively simple at first glance, but gain depth and meaning with careful appreciation. Honest and thoughtful, almost meditative, as the title suggests, this book works on a level that is fundamental. Highly recommended...

Rest for a soul
Helpful Votes: 2 out of 3 total.
Review Date: 2000-10-09
Moor's Photographs are fresh and modern. I highly enjoyed it and recomend it to everyone.

Living art
Helpful Votes: 2 out of 3 total.
Review Date: 2000-10-07
Art should provoke response, should inspire action in kind. This book delivers a moving example of just that: photographer inspiring poet, poet guiding the artist's eye. Moore's captivating images are, on one level, a beautiful rendering of Monterey's allure. But like Sechrest, I see something else, something profoundly emotional, which Moore achieves straightforwardly, without artifice or manipulation. Be sure to share this book with your most insightful friends and enjoy their responses.

TIP: as the book's designer, I happen to know Moore will be publishing another remarkable book of southern Russian images in the near feature. Keep a lookout - Moore is definitely on a roll.

Exciting....fresh...visions
Helpful Votes: 2 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2000-09-29
Moore's photographs of Carmel, the Texas Panhandle, New York and all of his photography is breathtaking. These images come in to your mind, your heart and you can feel as one with them. Perhaps places you have never been and yet feel as if you have due to Moore's balance of nature's beauty and his extreme talent.

Williams
Callanetics: 10 Years Younger in 10 Hours
Published in Hardcover by William Morrow & Company (1984-10)
Author: Callan Pinckney
List price: $17.95
New price: $43.65
Used price: $33.00

Average review score:

The Best!
Helpful Votes: 11 out of 11 total.
Review Date: 2006-08-28
I've done Callanetics off and on for years. Of course, like most people, I get sidetracked and stop exercising for whatever reason, but I always come back to Callanetics because it WORKS! No, you won't lose massive amounts of weight, but if you are relatively normal weight for you, and you just need to tone up and get everything back where nature originally put it, this is the one for you. I would advise a cardio session a couple of times a week to compliment this program. If you are still skeptical, I would simply invest in the book and look at the pic of the hourly transormation of the one woman throughout her 19 classes. It is simply amazing. then if you aren't convinced, resell the book here or on ebay.

The BEST!
Helpful Votes: 2 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2007-09-26
Still the best excercise plan for women over 50 that has ever been written! Re-marketed (?) on late night TV under a new name 'Fluidity', the concept and execution of these exercises is timeless. Opening the package was like saying 'Hello!' again to an old friend.

I love callanetics!!!!!!
Helpful Votes: 4 out of 4 total.
Review Date: 2007-10-09
I bought the DVD's 10 years younger and super callanetics here on Amazon. I am not ready for super callanetics (although I have heard it works amazingly). I am on my 3rd hour of Callanetics. My stomache is already flatter. I look better, I feel better. I also run and/or hike and bike a few days a week for added cardio. I got the book because of my job, I travel a lot and do not always have access to a DVD player. I am trying to download the DVD onto my Ipod video, but am having difficulties (I blame Apple, not the makers of the DVD). This book is great! I love all the before and after photos and written instructions. I already have a good idea of the exercises from the DVD so the book is nice when I don't have a DVD player handy. I HIGHLY recommend this exercise program. I feel great and energized after (and my sex drive is improved! nice little added benefit :) I recently started doing some yoga shoulderstands and some old school yoga/breathing stomache exercises to supplement this as well. I have been unhappy with my cellulite and stomache for years..... I think I may have found the answer. Be warned, It is hard! I can't finish all the exercises, but, all in due time....

Indeed, still the best!
Helpful Votes: 4 out of 4 total.
Review Date: 2006-11-25
A few months ago I was clearing up my attic and found the old book. I love fitness, and have done it for ages, but my arms and legs invariably DO bulk, whatever the experts say and whatever method I use! Must be genetics, I have very strong musculature.
I always ended up a lot fitter, but not fitting my dresses and blouses anymore... So I started Callanetics again, and the results are great! Also, I'm no longer bored with the exercises, as I was long ago!
Is Callan P. still active, do any of you know that?? I'd love a new DVD!

Worth the trouble
Helpful Votes: 5 out of 5 total.
Review Date: 2007-12-27
One thing the other reviews don't quite emphasize enough- these exercises are just plain ol' unpleasant to do. It is not fun to sit in a lunge with one leg held out to the side and slowly move it up and down a few inches 50-100 times. The only justification for this torture is that it works. I don't have any interest in exercise per se, just in being strong and looking as good as possible. (And not limping around like Quasimodo the first three hours of the day) I have been doing these exercises for three months. I have lost 5 pounds, and look like I have lost 20. I do 50 repetitions rather than 100 and do it 4-5 times a week, as it is less boring for me to do less more often. It helps to memorize the sets and then review the book or video every once in a while to make sure one is doing it correctly and not dropping any of the exercises. Read the instructions carefully initially so you don't hurt yourself doing it wrong.

Williams
Christian in Complete Armour
Published in Hardcover by Banner of Truth (1964-07-01)
Author: William Gurnall
List price: $48.00
New price: $28.80
Used price: $20.00

Average review score:

Christian in Complete Armour, by William Gurnall
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2007-09-11
ISBN 0851511961.

I have to concur with the others, if I had only two books with me on a desert island, one would be my Bible, and the other would be this book (hedging out my other stand-by: The Institutes of the Christian Religion). I am awe-struck by the gifts of wisdom, insight and understanding that the Lord worked in the heart and mind of this saint, William Gurnall! I can't wait to get home to pick up where I left off, it is that dear to me.

It's loaded to the gunwales with insights; the author has an understanding of spiritual warfare and of the human heart that is simply astounding. One might sit down and study Owen, or Edwards, et al, to great profit (I have), but I believe there's probably nothing better for the final fifteen minutes of the day than a read from Gurnall to pierce beneath the Old Man's fifth rib, to set the tempter on his heels, and to drive one to repentance. A better devotional work to leave a soul begging forgiveness for his 'till-that-moment hidden sin I have never found. That's William Gurnall. He not only trains for war, he reveals sin and generates prayer.

I looked at the abridgement online, the one separated into daily readings, and I believe that this unabridged edition is definitely better. Be sure to get the one belonging to the ISBN# at the top of my review.

If only every Christian would read this pearl of great price, this treasure trove of godly wisdom...

Read this manual of obedience and spiritual warfighting and you will inevitably draw closer to your Lord! Read it prayerfully and you will advance noticeably in your discipleship.

Many Christians, such as myself, can divide the days of their Christian experience into pre-Reformed and Reformed. I can safely say that my devotional life can now be divided into pre- and post-Gurnall.

As you read this review, wondering whether to purchase this book, your unseen foes tremble with a trepidation that is most justified indeed. Christ owns His enemies, and He raised up a Field Marshal in William Gurnall to help His sheep do likewise.

EDIT 8Feb08

Don't leave this century wihout reading this book
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2007-05-13
William Gurnall is a writer for all seasons. His work, specially the modern abridgment, speaks so clearly and so directly to this generation. You can read a few sentences and pause because you have been amazed at the relevancy of His comments. This is a work that you will cherish reading. You will never be tempted to rush through reading it. Few writers have been able to hold my attention as William Gurnall. C.S Lewis would be the other one. But of course no book holds a candle to The Bible God's written revelation. Don't leave this century without reading this book.

revised English language preferred
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2007-01-05
The content of this book is excellent; however, the old style in which it is written made it difficult to read. The revised version in modern english is "an essntial addition to any Christians library.

Best classic work on spiritual warfare
Helpful Votes: 2 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2008-02-01
Compared to this great Puritan work, most modern books dealing with spiritual warfare appear dwarfed, and even trivial. Gurnall's massive exposition of Ephesians 6:10-20 is the product of a series of sermons preached in his church over many years. The book is at once profoundly biblical and at the same time always relevant.

William Gurnall lived during a time of great spiritual conflict in England, and this conflict directly led to the great civil war and the revolt against the king and his Church of England. Just as in the book of Revelation, where one's spiritual loyalties place him in deadly conflict, so in England, loyalty to Scripture placed Christians in the center of that nation's wars. Yet, while many followed the army's progress with great interest, Gurnall realized that an even greater conflict was being waged in their souls. As the pastor of the parish church at Lavenham, where he served all his active life in the ministry, Gurnall was more concerned with his people's souls than with the external progress of the conflicting parties in England. His long ministry encompassed the rise and fall of the Puritan cause. Because he remained in the Church of England after the Act of Uniformity, while thousands of strong Puritans withdrew and suffered as Nonconformists, Gurnall often was not respected by subsequent writers on both sides. His only lasting contribution to the struggle was his massive book, The Christian in Complete Armour.

Yet what a contribution that was! It was so popular with the people of England that it had passed through six editions by the year of his death. This book was a great blessing to John Newton, and was highly praised by Charles Haddon Spurgeon. It has continued over three hundred years inspiring Christians to stand against the devil. Gurnall begins with a call to realize that we are in a death-struggle with Satan and to take our stand and be prepared to fight. He then describes our armor and weapons, and the weapons employed by our great adversary. Each part of the armor is described at length, along with the means by which Christians can employ it in defense and offense against Satan. The book is full of spiritual insight, practical application, and inspiring word-pictures. We cannot read it without new determination to stand for the Lord and engage in true spiritual warfare--not the superficial warfare so often seen in the modern Charismatic movement, but the true and vital warfare of the Christian heart and life.

Gurnall's great book belongs in the library of every church and every Christian family. It makes wonderful devotional reading and produces spiritual fruit. Let Gurnall help you "fight the good fight of faith"!

The Christian in Complete Armour by William Gurnall
Helpful Votes: 2 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2006-03-12
I can't put this book down, William Gurnall was truly a man inspired by the Word of God. How has this book be overlooked by our modern church? The this book should be a requirement for graduation from seminary. This book is a must for all Christians who feel something lacking, or for those who do not.
Besides the Bible, I have not read a book so powerful.


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