Wilson Books

This was listed as the top choice for obsessive-compulsive disorder by the Carlat Report for December 2005 in a review of self-help books in psychiatry (www.thecarlatreport.com).
It is very much a self-help book, directed at patients rather than professionals, but some of the methods recommended seem to assume that a professional is involved and it discusses the use of medication. Indecisions and mentisme are not covered but hoarding (which is seldom due to OCD)is. As with several other self-help books it is without references or statistics so that we have to take some of the claims for effectiveness on trust. The professional reputations of the authors are so high that I would be inclined to trust them, although in some of the cases described the remedy looks worse than the disease. Their recommendations for dealing with contamination fears, and also their techniques for coping with contrast ideas, might be quite distressing.
An academic quibble is that the techniques mostly seem to be plain vanilla behavior therapy, rather than cognitive. The cognitive therapy of Beck (and its avatar, the rational-emotive therapy of Ellis) involve arguing patients out of their symptoms by convincing them of the logical errors of their thinking, a futile endeavor in OCD. This book recommends the kinds of treatment that many of us have found useful empirically whatever our theoretical background.
Sigmund Freud (in one of his letters to Binswanger) discusses a case of OCD and recommends what is called in Norman Guterman's translation "counter-compulsion." (His classic paper on OCD is usually considered the 1909 "Rat Man" whom he did treat by psychoanalysis. That was published as "Der Familienroman der Neurotiker Bemerkung einen Fall von Zwangneurose" for those of you who own the Sammlung kleiner Schriften. In the Collier paperback series, edited by Philip Rieff, the "Rat Man" case is in "Three Case Histories" )
Where Foa and Wilson fall short of Freud, and of Judith Rappaport's "The Boy Who Couldn't Stop Washing," is in literary merit. They write clearly and understandably but this is not something that the general reader would want to read cover to cover.

The book describes a host of obsessive/compulsive behaviors together with strategies to overcome them. For instance,
washers tend to clean their hands multiple times, take many
showers and repeat actions obsessively or due to shear habit.
Repeaters tend to repeat actions compulsively until they are
performed perfectly or to the perceived satisfaction of
the person with "a repeater" behavioral trait. Hoarders tend
to gather "things" out of a fear of discarding something
valuable. The hoarder may keep every possession ever owned
for fear of throwing out a single valuable thing. Hoarders
never consider the opportunity cost of space. As a self-help book, the authors identify classic situations that trigger these
unhealthy behaviors. Once identified, specific strategies are
provided to combat the undesired behaviors/behavioral traits.
A strength of this book is that it helps you to conquer a host
of unhealthy demons which trigger neurotic retaliatory
responses. The authors encourage readers to act contrary to
these destructive proclivities every time they surface.
The book is worth the price charged-many times over.
The issues addressed are rarely talked about or admitted to
during the conduct of public discourse. This book provides
readers with a private forum to discover their eccentric
behaviors without the penalty of public chastisement or
derision. The book is recommended highly for this purpose
alone.

This book saved my life nine years ago. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. My life is no longer ruled by anxiety. Thank you R.W. and E.F.

This is an excellent book. I think it is the best self-help book on OCD. Luckily my CB therapist does these exact techniques with me in therapy so it's like this book is a hard-copy of the work I am doing. It's a great reference manual. Take this book seriously - it will help you if you follow the practices with as much patience and effort as you can. The thing that clicked for me after ready only the first few chapters of this book, is that my thoughts are obsessions! They are exagerrated, irrational, not based on reality! I never before could grasp that concept because I actually believed that my obsessions and suspicions might be real (that I was just missing something) and that somehow my mental compulsions would help me to relieve the tension and anxiety that my obsessive thoughts were causing. It's amazing... it all literally clicked. These thoughts are obsessions. They are NOT REAL!! Wow.

This book comes highly recommended by my doctor and is living up to its reputation!

An excellent grouping of poems. They each reflect real life circumstances in today's busy world. I am pleased to be an integral part of my grandchildren's lives. As such, this book is quite relevant to circumstances that they could face as they grow up and out into a more independent world. Thanks Vickie for having the heart to tell it like it is. Your sensitivity and talent certainly shines through your work. You help us face and address so many of the current social ills!

Vickie,I will start off by saying your words,language and poetry are simply clear,down to earth and truly has a message.The only reason that I gave you 5 STARS is because there was no 10 on the board! My review may be quite different from your other wnderful reviews and that is because the reason that I said Divinely Awesome is because I do not understand God's Ways or Timing.I now know that He says that all things work together for His Good and purpose.I pray that every child,teenager,parent and also anyone that would like to have hope and press on and accomplish their purpose,would get your book and read it often.I really wish that I had mentors or someone when I was a hurting and confused child and teenager,to guide and direct me.I became a very angry and violent young woman that every poem in your short but very powerful book described with such clarity and humor.My prayer is that many more doors are open for you to help young people,which are our future to know that they will submit to someone for the rest of their lives,that they must develope character and that their gifts can take them but their character must KEEP them.They also will always have choices,there will always be consequences,they can continue to play the BLAME GAME and that they can choose to be BITTER OR BETTER BUT THEY CAN'T BE BOTH.Your words in each poem touched my soul and gave me hope in a way that you will never know on this side.I was the destructive child that grew up in a very violent home;chose all the negatives that lead to many addictions.I am now 52 yrs old,and the author of 'All Cracked Up" and at this stage i began to feel like giving up on my purpose to continue my triology of my books to help the youth,battered men and women,unhealthy relationship addicts,sex addicts,rageaholics,sucidal tendencies and eventually crack addicts.Why? because I became all of the above and more; I didn't have someone like you who cared enough to talk,write or show me the WAY and some how THE DIVINELY AWESOME GOD THAT CREATED ME and knew me before I was in my mother's womb;through all the rain,storms,fire ,trials and tragedies, He directed and kept me to tell my story from experiences to help someone.Now with all the mentors He has provided for me I am proud He added Vickie as a road model and mentor in this 52 year old woman's life.When the road gets hard as it has, I can read "The Trouble I See" and know to hold on,some more Help is on the way.Keep up the Awesome call and purpose on your life Vickie Lynn Wright Wilson!!! Again thank you with all my heart!

I really enjoyed this book and feel it can make an impact on the yougth of today. It is easy to read and in a language they can understand. The book projects prospectives of parents/adults and those of teenagers. The poems demonstrate deep feelings of concern, desires for sucess, christian principles, and provide situations of caution. The book should be promoted for parents and their children. The author has found a tool to make an impact on our society!.

A wonderful book of poetry!!! Ms. Wilson's concern for the well being of all children and her experience as a parent and teacher shine through in each poem. Congratulations on your debut. I look forward to reading your next piece of work.

Reminds us that it is still possible, at a time when irony and
cynicism are so much the fashion, to pay tribute to our greatest
asset 'our young teens', in teaching them to recognize 'failings
and failures', while being properly appreciative of virtues and
victories. If you need to read a single book to help save our
teens, 'THE TROUBLE I SEE' is it.

Dr. Wilson is an internist who took time to write this book for women who want to maintain their husband's (and their own!) health in a simple, understandable way.

Topics include diabetes type II, prostate health, cholesterol and cholesterol-lowering drugs, heart conditions and more. The doctor covers supplements like fish oil--so this is not a book that only covers ethical drug treatment. Bravo. The book definitely goes into detail that you might or might not get from your family phsyician, and it does it in the most accessible, easy-to-grasp way.

Dr. Wilson felt so strongly that if women would have a readable guide for health, they could influence the health of their partner in a significant way. I agree. I can't see who wouldn't benefit from having this valuable book to read and refer to.

This book is at the same time immensely readable and yet quite profound. Dr. Wilson does a superb job of taking medical information that to the layman might appear quite complex, and explaining it in very readable and understandable terms. This is quite a gift! She talks TO people, not DOWN to them. I especially appreciated her candor in the chapter on "Regrets and Longings". By allowing her readers to feel her own pain at being horribly and unjustly accused of a professional error in judgement, she validated the pain of everyone who might find themselves in a very difficult position that took them totally unaware. This is a great gift she gives to her readers. She comes across as human yet totally professional.

Many books on health either try to cover too much or simply focus in one small disease area. Of these two choices, I prefer those that look at one small area and cover it well. It had never occurred to me that a health book could also focus on the common health issues of one sex or the other, of a certain age. Your Husband's Health was a pleasant surprise in this regard.

Dr. Wilson is an internal medicine physician, and combines her experience with the statistics about what is mostly likely to go wrong with a middle-aged man. I found the book to be an eye-opener for me, and benefited from understanding more about how excess carbohydrates can cause my triglycerides to increase (along with my waistline).

The book begins with psychological issues, an area often not spoken of very much concerning middle-aged men. Dr. Wilson sympathizes by describing her own experience with being hauled into a lawsuit that didn't really reflect her culpability. The book goes on to cover depression and alcoholism.

The man sources of physical problems that cause early deaths are covered in the forms of:

Too little High Density Lipoprotein (HDL) in the blood (HDL helps remove cholesterol from artery walls);

Heart Disease;

Cholesterol in the body;

Hypertension (high blood pressure);

Cancer.

In a final section, Dr. Wilson looks at other nagging concerns including being overweight, diabetes, erectile dysfunction, urologic problems, sleep disorders, getting men to go in for a check-up, and being aware that men don't want erectile dysfunction as a side effect of a medication or medical treatment.

Dr. Wilson keeps it simple. If you can read at an 11th grade level, you will understand just about everything.

I did find her ideas about exercise to be unrealistic. She is able to discipline herself to do an hour of exercise a day before going to work. Good for her! But she feels that middle-aged men can be encouraged to do that also. I'm skeptical. Even when I'm feeling like exercising a lot, I seldom exercise every day. Many of my workouts last less than an hour, unless I find something I really want to read or watch on television while I am on the treadmill. Also, with age and arthritis (not to mention being overweight), exercise is an increasing challenge. I also thought that her ideas on weight loss are also a little optimistic. I graded the book down by one star for these reasons. In terms of making it clear what the issues are though, this is a five-star book.

As I finished the book, I found myself reformulating my diet to add even more vegetables and low-glycemic fruits . . . and low-fat protein.

I am 53 and read Your Husband's Health out of curiosity about my own
health. I seldom go to the doctor so most of this was new and
interesting information. I particularly liked the section entitled
Regrets and Longings. I wish my wife had read that ten years ago. The
book is well written, concise and kept my attention. There are some
wonderful stories and humor interspersed with the medical information.
I highly reccomend this to midlife men and their wives as a good place
to start understanding their own health and preserving that health for
later in life.

Your Husband's Health: Simplify Your Worry List came out at a critical time for my husband and me. His best freind, Tom, and his wife were on vacation last month. Tom went swimming in the ocean, became very short of breath, and keeled over dead. It was a terrible shock to all of us, and has made us understand our own mortality.
I countered the fear for my own husband by studying the pertinent advice in this well written book. It now seems relevant what the doctor has been saying about cholestoral and blood pressure. I understand my husband's emotional changes and growth at mid-age much better.
Although the sections on deadly physical problems helped me through the crisis of Tom's sudden death, I probably benefitted most from "Regrets and Longings" because i better understand what I can do to keep our marriage happy and fulfilling for the both of us.
I highly recommend this book to anyone who cares about a man in the mid-life age range, it may help you save his life.

This is an excellent book. When I read this book it made me want to go out an tackle some new ideas that I had be pondering for hours, days, months, and even years. This book will also make you re-evaluate yourself, and if you have been lying to yourself about being you best at all times it will come out after reading is complete. It may even come out while reading it. It will also make you ask yourself, "am I doing what GOD would have me to do?" In closing, IF YOU ARE WANTING TO MAKE A HONEST CHANGE IN YOUR LIFE OPEN THIS BOOK, AND BE TRUE TO YOURSELF.

"Driving Destiny" is a practical life application book supported by biblical scriptures. Ms. Wilson uses personal life experiences to display how faith has worked in her life. I was able to relate to many of the contexts surrounding destiny. I found the book to be a great testimony and guide in finding my purpose in life. I came away feeling inspired and motivated to find my own destiny.

I enjoyed reading Kristi's book "Driving Destiny".
This great book came when I was going through a lot of stress in my life, but after experiencing the marvelous wisdom displayed by the author; I was encouraged and inspired to face those difficult situations maturely.
I have known Kristi Luv for two years and also admired her intelligence, spiritual aspirations and devotion to the Lord. This book is a good companion to youths and adults, whether rich or poor, especially, for people that seek spiritual and unique guide to live a stress-free life and successfully conduct their daily tasks and dreams. Kristi has definitely given us a lead to courageously follow the road to our destiny via her divine and excellent work on "Driving Destiny". Ok...let's drive together and praise the Lord for His Blessings. Kristi keep up the good work!

I really enjoyed reading Driving Destiny! Now I understand why Kristi always has a pleasant demeanor. She went straight to the point of reaching your destiny and that's lining up your thoughts, wishes, and dreams with what Jesus has for you and reading, meditating, and speaking his word!! I will use this book as one of my spiritual and professional development resources.

I can't wait for the next one to be published!

I really enjoyed reading Driving Destiny! Now I understand why Kristi always has a pleasant demeanor. She went straight to the point of reaching your destiny and that's lining up your thoughts, wishes, and dreams with what Jesus has for you and reading, meditating, and speaking his word!! I will use this book as one of my spiritual and professional development resources.

I can't wait for the next one to be published!

If you enjoyed Persuasions then you will aslo enjoy Easy Chairs. This is a book for those who are learning to enjoy a challenge. Easy chairs although easy to read is more difficult to follow than persuasions. You will need to stay awake and follow the conversations as they unfold, and really think about the answers being given. I have read this book more than once and I enjoy it each time that I read it.

The premises are those related to reform theology.Mr. Wilson writes that these are questions that he asked as he studied. They are very good questions indeed. The answers are offered in a way that causes the reader to formulate his or her own answer. As an Adult Bible teacher I am pleased to have found this book. Each chapter causes the students to think, evaluate, contemplate and discover Biblical truths without being given easy answers from a teacher at the front of the room.The answers are not always the easy ones given half-heartedly and without serious thought.

I purchased an additional copy for a friend who is deep thinker and she was thrilled with this book. WARNING: If you don't like to think on your own this is not a good book for you.

This is a truly impressive work. It is a penetrating, but yet sufficient simple and "reader friendly" introduction, defense, and reflection upon the doctrines known to many as "Reformed Theology".

Wilson does a fine job of integrating theological ideas into the conversational story he weaves. He relies upon clear and simple analogies and writes in a convincing and effective way.

Highly recommended for those who are seeking to understand (or defend) reformed theology!

I have been able to use this book as a great evangelism tool on numerous occassions. I have been able to lend it to Christians who go to Liberal churches so they can see how they are following short in their reasoning and presumptions of what God requires of man and I have been able to use it with non Christians so they can see clearly how God's eternal plan works in our lives.

Sit down, and pull up a chair. Pour a cup of coffee; we have to talk.

Truth alone, sets us free. Truth is timeless, and is above culture....truth never changes.

This is a solid book. Doug Wilson explains many of the common questions about Calvinism and Reformed thinking (beginning, of course, by stating his reticence to use these terms) in an engaging, informative manner. I have read assorted other books on Calvinism, and Doug Wilson here answers some questions in ways I've never seen them answered before, and gives great analogies to help understand what he's talking about. The whole book is written in a dialogue format, which makes for an occasionally stilted read (there are only so many ways a character can say "I see" or "I don't understand" before it gets kind of old). But overall, I think the format works great, illustrating how down-to-earth these principles are, and following the natural logic when thinking through these things. It's a stellar book.

I bought this book when it first came out in hard cover. I looked forward to reading it, but was stunned by the very first sentence:

"Columbus sailed due east from the Canary Islands in hopes of reaching Japan." Was he headed to Morocco to begin an overland trek? I think the author meant the sentence to read: "Columbus sailed for the East by heading due west from the Canary Islands in hopes of reaching Japan." Or something like that. This kind of problem right at the start lowers one's confidence in the rest of the book. That this error remains in the paperback version is even more troubling. It is such an obvious error that I find myself wondering if I am missing something. However, every time I check the map, there is a great deal of land east of the Canaries and Japan, and Hispaniola is definitely to the west (West Indies and all that.)

However, the rest of the book is pretty decent. There are lots of good source documents that provide very short selections. The author has gone for quantity versus quality. To know any of these topics seriously, you will have to go much beyond the couple of pages provided on it in this book. This would be a good way to find topics that are of interest to you, however.

It covers everything from Columbus, the founding, the expansion west, the Mormon Exodus, the Civil War, the Wright Brothers, Henry Ford, the World Wars, Kennedy's assassination, a very strange way of presenting Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech through by providing an excerpt from James Reston's news article, Vietnam, the moon landing, through AIDS and email. There is a lot more material than I can list here, but you get the drift.

This can be a useful book to read and discuss an excerpt at a time with your children and to help clarify their geographic orientation about East and West.

Reading this book was a treat. Reading first-hand accounts of incidents will give you a picture of how things really were. Notice the chapter on "A Mob Confronts A Stamp Collector". This made me feel like I was seeing exactly what happened. The book can be read from any chapter all of which are independent of one another. One caveat. Make sure you have a weekend to spare because once you get into the text it's goodbye everything else. Excellent history.

I had the unique opportunity to meet Mr. Colbert while working at a TV show. Much like himself, the book is incredibly insiteful into many of the events that shaped this great land. As a New Yorker, I especially enjoyed the description of a late 19th century deli, you could taste the Corned beef!!! When you finish this book you will see a view of American history that the text books you used in school never tried to show. Only Mr. Colbert brings together the first-hand accounts of the Challenger disaster and Curt Flood's personal battles as well as the thoughts of a witness to President Lincoln slipping away after the shooting in Fords theater. I highly recomend this book to all Americans and I (like Charles Kuralt) have kept it and referenced it in many an undertaking. Keep up the good work David, and I made sure that the cameras were kind to you.

What I loved about this particular book is that there isn't a historian in sight - nobody is writing it from the subjective slant of 50 (or 500) years' time - the accounts presented are from the diaries, letters and articles written by the people who actually took part in the events - a person on Columbus' crew, John Adams, the seconds at the Burr/Hamilton duel, etc. Spanning the time from Columbus through Bill Gates and email, this is a sprawling volume, split into short essays that are easy to read and not overwhelming on the eye. What it does best is interest you in a story so that you want to investigate further by reading book-length discussions. Of particular interest were the two wildly diverging viewpoints on Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech, and how not all who heard it were enthralled at the time. Very clever use of the form.

In addition to being a great collection of primary sources, this book is also incredibly entertaining. Only read this book if you want full absorption. The book would be better if the passages were longer, though!

Coach Grant Taylor's life seemed to be running in reverse. As a high school football coach, Grant had yet to have a winning season after 6 years. Angry parents were pushing for him to leave.
On the home front, things weren't much better. The Taylors' attempts to start a family had failed. They had financial problems,their house was in constant need of repair, and their old car left them stranded more often than not. After an encouraging conversation with an older man who had been praying for the school and the students, Grant decided to give it all over to God. I won't spoil the story for you by revealing what happened after that, but believe me, things did begin to happen!
I am not a big sports fan so I didn't know how much I would like "Facing The Giants". I didn't see the movie until after I read the book. Wow was I ever surprised! I LOVED this book! I laughed, I cried.....it is so much more than a sports story. It amazed me to see what really is put into motion when an individual,then a whole football team,gives their best to God and trusts Him for the outcome.

Eric Wilson is best know for suspense novels with historical backgrounds. With each novel he's shown growth and depth as an author and a man. His first four novels were very different and yet revealed trademarks of the Wilson signature.

Now with the release of Facing The Giants Eric stands everything you've known about him before on it's proverbial head and shows he's no one trick pony. Not only can he come up with imaginative plots and characters that are at once real and larger than life, but he can also take someone else's work and make it his own. This he's done with Facing the Giants.

Originally a grassroots successful film depicting the real life struggles of a high school football team, their coach and community, Eric Wilson's novelization takes that framework and builds his own story brick by brick. Yes, much of the book reflects the original movie, but Wilson adds depth and meaning where a film-goer might be left to wonder.

Admittedly, this isn't my kind of story and I've told Eric so. I much prefer suspense. However, it is a great read and a reminder of God's faithfulness even in the darkest night of your life. As always Eric brings characters and situations to life, raw with emotions, heart, courage and weaknesses.

Next up for Eric is the novelization of another film, Flywheel--coming in April. And then, in October, Eric will change everything again with the release of book one of the Jerusalem's Undead series. Book one is called Field of Blood. Think 1st century Jerusalem and vampires. How can you not want to read that?!

I loved reading this book. It even made me cry! The part where he makes the player crawl the entire field with the guy his back is incredible! I even loaned it to two of the boys I babysit who love football and the loved it! Great book! I would recommend it to anyone!

Herein lies the rest of the story.

These days every successful movie is either preceded by or followed by a companion novel, but many novelizations fail to stand on their own. Poor or lazy writing, failure to understand the onscreen characters, failure to add something new to the original--these errors and others weaken the majority of movies-turned-books. FACING THE GIANTS suffers none of these troubles and stands to widen the movie's already sizeable audience.

Wilson's novelization of Stephen & Alex Kendrick's screenplay is as enjoyable, moving, and inspirational as the original film, and it provides an excellent way for fans to re-experience FACING THE GIANTS for the first time and for first-timers to finally jump on the bandwagon. What's more, the book version not only expands a few scenes and adds a few others, but allows the reader to see inside the heads of several key characters--something even the best actors can't perfectly convey.

Just as Dan Reeves said about the movie (see front cover), this story is one that every Christian, athlete or otherwise, should experience in one media form or another.

It is all about the motive. It is all about the heart.

I received this book Saturday and read it all the way through today, after watching the movie again yesterday. I think the book and the movie make a great combination. I had seen the movie several times, and I think the book added some details that are not seen in the movie. While I was reading the book, I was able to visualize what took place in the movie. Eric Wilson did a wonderful job of putting the movie on paper. I will often return to the book, when I need encouragement, and probably later on watch the movie again.
I think it is important to understand the whole plot before jumping to conclusions. It's easy to think this is nothing more than a feel good Christian book/movie, but after a couple times, you start to get the message. I found myself actually identifying the emotions where I was hyped up at times (especially the game for the state title), but the extra details in the book really helped; for example when Larry Childers wheeled himself to the end zone and stood for his son when David was about to kick a field goal to win the state championship. From the book, I could see the encouragement a father provided for his son, and that gave David the encouragement to give it his best. I could say much more, but I was very happy to see this in print.

This was very well done, and I think illustrated Lois Wilson's personality. One topic I wish the author had added a little more detail on is the issue of co-dependency.

For all those struggling with loved ones with the disease of alcoholism, this book is excellent.

This book should be available through every public library for those who do not have it on their own shelf.

Excellent book and tranaction. Received as promised and in excellent shape.
Thanks you Seller

The Lois Wilson Story: When Love is not Enough
By: William G. Borchert
Hazelden
Center City, Minnesota 55012-0176

Lois Wilson was an amazing, wonderful woman and the world is a better place because she and her husband were in it. Author William G. Borchert used his words to express this woman's life, her trials, tribulations, and sanctification. Lois Wilson was the co-founder of the Al-Anon, and Alateen fellowships. Her husband Bill Wilson was one of the founders of Alcoholics Anonymous.

This amazing book about her life starts as a flash back. It begins with introducing you to a very unhappy Lois in the early 1930's. Then it shifts to her beginnings. The book takes your hand and walks you through the entire life of Lois Wilson, her family, and some of her friends. It gives you explicit details about her life, how AA came about, Bill, and Al-Anon.

Lois met her husband Bill, who was four years her junior, in Vermont. This would prove to be a love that stood the test of time and alcohol. They married in January, before he went of to fight in WWI. They had a beautiful wedding in her parent's house in Brooklyn, and they were married for fifty-three years.

Lois's life with Bill was full of ups and downs. He was in the Army, and then an investigator on Wall Street. Bill was a genius. He began his drinking days when he was overseas, and it continued as it was seen as acceptable in his profession. This later carried on into him becoming an alcoholic.

Lois was forced to be the breadwinner of the family as Bill's drinking got worse and cost them everything that they had. Through all the years that she went through with him having this horrible sickness, she began to change and harbor much resentment. To add to her pain she was unable to have children, and when they tried to adopt, a friend put a stop to it because of Bill's drinking. Later Mrs. Wilson came to realize that it was for the best that they did not have children, and she looked at all the alcoholics in AA as her dear children.

As Bill started to recover after many hard years of his illness, Lois was still hurting inside with deep resentment, and anger. Bill formed Alcoholics Anonymous with Dr. Bob Smith, in Akron, Ohio. He found that the only way for him to stay sober was to be with another drunk. This revelation only injured the already wounded heart of Lois even more. She had wanted to be the reason and the one that caused her husband to be sober and to stay that way.

As the fellowship of AA continued to grow, one day Lois went out on the porch and noticed that there were other wives just sitting in the cars that lined the street. She went out to the other women and invited them in. She had a revelation that there were others out there hurting just as badly as she from this horrible alcohol demon. Thus started her little kitchen group. As the years progressed, this kitchen group concept developed into what is now Al-Anon. They followed the same twelve steps that AA did, but they also had their own twelve steps to follow as well.

Once it was realized that the children were being left out Lois, and some of the volunteers who helped with Al-Anon decided that something needed to be done for them, thus the dawning of Alateen. It was headed by one of the original volunteers, and each group was set up to be fostered by an Al-Anon member. Lois took particular interest and joy over the group for the children.

Because of the will and determination of Bill and Lois wisdom, there is now what is called a "cure" for alcoholics, and their families. Alcoholism is a disease that effects all members of a family, co-workers, and even some people in the community. Monumental steps were made by these two amazing people, and none of it would have happened if Lois had not stayed by Bill's side.

This is a story about heartache, pain, stamina, faith, and above all love. God had both Lois and Bill Wilson here for a reason, and I believe that they fulfilled their calling. Mr. Borchert did a wonderful job of telling the story, and letting the reader feel that they also personally knew Lois Wilson. This was a hard life to read about, but I learned a lot from the experiences in the pages. I hope that God will use this book to expand understanding about alcoholism, and the strong family that it takes to support one.

Highly recommended for landscape design and
development of native gardens

I am a plant freak, and I am a gardening book freak. I have many, many books, probably too many. Literally. So many books that I've bought that looked interesting at the store have wound up sitting on the shelf, never to be opened again. This is one that will never even get to the shelf.

This book is so comprehensive, so informative, so beautiful to look at, and so danged readable that I find myself seeking it out whenever I've got a free moment. How many gardening books have you bought lately that poured forth all the information you could possibly want? How many have you bought lately that were a lot of fun to read? Now, how many can you name that do both at the same time? A precious few, but this one does.

Timber Press celebrated their 25th Anniversary this past year, and I did something I never do, I wrote the company a letter. In essence, what I said was this, "I never mind buying a Timber Press Book, often sight unseen, because I know it will be good." This book is excellent, even by Timber Press standards.

If you have any interest in trees or gardening, you will find this book a "must have." Informative, enjoyable, beautiful. What else could you want?

This outstanding new book will become one of the primary references for all kinds of information about native woody plants of North America. Many of the plant descriptions have far more detailed information on culture, diseases, and ornamental characteristics than the widely known reference books by Michael Dirr (the 'standards' by which all other woody plant references are judged). While the intent is to provide information and promote the ornamental characteristics of native woody plants, for home gardeners and landscape professionals, this will also prove to be a valuble reference for naturalists and others mainly interested in these plants in the native, rather than the cultivated, landscape. The photographs are outstanding, and will certainly promote interest in many little known and underutilized woody plants. I never knew there were so many native North American oaks! As a botanist and later home gardener with a life-long interest in woody plants, there are few books in the past decade which have been published with this level of detail and value.

Guy Sternberg and Jim Wilson's Native Trees For North American Landscapes represents a lifetime of research and work: the authors provide an in-depth technical catalog of detail on native trees and their environments, providing tree 'profiles' which describe flowers, fruit, plant ranges, and culture. Sections outlining best seasonal features are particularly useful, telling gardeners which plants are showiest per season. Stunning photos and outlines of common cultivation problems and solutions make Native Trees For North American Landscapes a solid, invaluable reference for landscapers, libraries and home gardens alike.

This is one of, if not the best book about trees you can buy. It is informative for the amateur as well as the pro. The pictures are beautiful, my favorite is of the Burr Oak photographed in a horse pasture. I waited over a year for this book, well worth it! I consider myself an amateur arborist and would highly reccomend this book to anyone with an interest in trees and nature in general. I do not see an underlying agenda by the author, just useful information and honest opinions.

that's from the muppet column. hilarious. okay first off, the cover is tight ... balls in briefs ... the insides are great too. ive read most of these before, but they're all worth reading again. good stuff

There are a few good sports-writers around but I always get dried ink on my hands from their columns. Chris is different. His wit and facetious charm can be found "in the net" as well as in this book. Come on, give the kid a chance; it's a Great Read!

I'm in tears reading this book, laughing so hard. Pure comical genius. Quality stuff.

Yeah, that's right. You need to judge this book by its cover. The inside is just as hilarious as the outside. 5 stars just for that. Though it is a great read for Wilson fans, sports fans or anyone wanting a laugh.

okay, the book is great. i just keep cracking up from reading the article called "spelling for dummys xxx dummies." the wheel of fortune gag was dope and the redskins ball coach calling ifeanyi ohalete "IO, as in IOU playing time" is just mad funny. the rest of the book is just as goon and worth your reading time. out