Guides Books

I have found this book to be an extremely valuable tool and guide!
I gladly recommend it to artist, teachers, therapists and all those interested in expressive arts and inner journeying.

This is a powerful and practical, hands-on workbook, guiding us to expand and deepen our creative process.

The authors generously share their deep personal experiences, stories and wisdom, and ancient practices from many different traditions.

Through their personal stories, guided imagery, meditation, journaling and maskmaking, we are guided to give voice and expression to our inner connection.

A great gift is being offered in this book ... a gift to learn and pass on to others!

This wonderful book has helped me come in contact with my personal spirit guides and has helped me evaluate who I am at the depths of my true self. From the artfully crafted suggestions/visualizations (guided imagery) to the in-depth coverage on Eastern acupressure and somatic energy meridians; I love reading every page and savoring every articulation. The stories and examples in the book about how many people have explored their Totem Animals and Ancestors is spectacular and inspiring. Has only helped me on my journey as a hypnotherapist to teach and learn more about the Whole self through transpersonal activities and experiences. Thank you Kaleo and Elise for this treasure of golden and numinous wisdom.

This book is truly a gift! Perfect for teachers looking for a step by step guide for their class or perfect for groups looking for a tool to truly delve into theirselves. Therapists looking for alternative tools to help clients reach thier core, should also be pleased. This is healing art at its best! For a really phenomenal gift, check out one of Kaleo and Elise's maskmaking classes.

This is a very inspiring book. It offers a wonderful journey into your inner world. Simple and easy to follow guided imageries lead you to explore and connect deeply to your soul. A great book for your spiritual healing and transformation!

"Amazing! Thank you for the gift! Your book has given me a deeper and better understanding of the creative process and its power to heal the inner soul.I am starting a practice of mask making and body casting for healing. I am trying to bring together workshops for both...body casts for women who are breast cancer survivors. I have a degree in Expressive Art Therapy working with traum clients using art as a therapeutic tool and I need and want to start doing my art in a deeper more meaningful way. Your book gives so many wonderful and necessary spiritual guidelines and guided image exercises to weave into my practice. Thank you for sharing your wisdom. This is a spiritual path we are on."

I recently purchased knitting looms at a shop near my home and realized that the booklet that came with it did not provide enough information. The Loom Knitting Primer: A Beginner's Guide to Knitting on a Loom provides details that I had been searching for. These details include: the descriptions of knitting boards as well as circular looms, a glossary, as well as tips on buying a loom. This Primer also has directions for 30 projects that include a simple hat, a garter stitch hat, I-cord hot pad, purple trendy scarf, etc. I would say that for anyone beginning to learn how to knit with a loom, this Primer is a good start.

This book is great. Isela has put together many techniques new to the looming community. She shows you how to loom knit and make it look as if you have needle knitted the item and why it turns out that way. I had never known before this how to do a true knit or purl stitch on a loom.How can you do cables? How do you increases or decreases?Socks? All of this is in there. Only the e-wrap was ever explained before. She gives you all the tools you need here to translate regular knitting patterns and gives looming terminology. If you want to learn to knit by using these looms or other looms on the market pick up this book.
This looming craft is knitting in the round but it can also be used to make flat panals for making other items. She explains that with pictures in this book. This also was her first publication. Book number 2 is about to be released with even more patterns.(May 2008) It is a primer that gets your imagination flowing, she has spawned a whole group of non knitters to try to knit and do it successfully and some are even going further with chart reading and becoming pattern writers themselves. Caution: looming is addictive once you learn these basics.The sky is the limit.I highly recommend this book to new and old loomers out there.

I watched someone on a loom at my local craft store and I picked up a set for myself. I made a few scarves and hats. When you're ready to make the next step into how to use your looms to make things a little more complicated but not overwhelming, this is a good book for that step. I'm very pleased with this book. I would recommend it to a friend.

I only had made hats and scarves on my knifty knitter until I bought this book. This book is very comprehensive. It gives you a little history of loom knitting, the different types of looms, different types and gauges of yarn, and gives you a list of tools you need and tells specifically what they are used for. It has instructions for starting and finishing your knitted projects, picking up a dropped stitch, joining flat panels together, adding stitches, decreasing stitches, and pretty much anything else you might need to know to create things on your looms. I love the variety of patterns! And all the instructions are very easy to follow... with lots of pictures and drawn diagrams. I recommend this book to anyone who is stuck just making scarves and hats on their knifty knitter!

This book has a lot of great proyects on diferent types of looms.
You really have to get it! :)
From shals and scarfs, to hats and socks to wear on everyday. :)

Great book!

very uplifting and inspirational! I will give this book to my patients and friends who are living with cancer in their lives.

The Cancer Prayer & Support Team of the Cicero UMC in Cicero, NY has purchased this book to give to those in our church who have been "touched" by cancer, either in their own life or a family/friend.

This book has received fabulous reviews and we will continue to purchase the book when our current supply is depleted.

I have given this book to many people when they learn of a new diagnosis of cancer. It was given to me 7 years ago when I had lung cancer.
When I opened its pages, I felt like I had found somebody who knew what I was feeling and had written it down. My feelings were now validated. And they were validated with hope. "Hope" was the theme through out the book.
The title says it all.

I have purchased this book for several friends...it is beautifully written and inspiring. It helps you find hope when you truly need it.

This book is great. It offers insight and HOPE. I am not living with cancer yet I have learned so much from this little book. What it has to offer is not little - big in understanding, big in learning, BIG in HOPE.

After reading the 3star review, I decided to do the same - drive to my local bookstore and peruse the book in person. I agree that the main reason to buy is the chapter on pairings, but considering this is the bulk of the book, it is worth every penny, whether you are a wine, beer or tea lover. I am personally on a quest to try every bolded, capitalized pairing (those quintessential flavor experiences) in the book!

Everyone knows how to spot a wine snob, high class, arrogant, sips a little wine, smells it. Well now you can be that person w/o having to be arrogant. This book will explain what wines go with what foods, why you sniff a wine, how to taste it, what to look for in a wine and many other fun facts.

Everyone knows that red meat and red wine go well together but what goes well with a roast,or short ribs, heck even meatloaf? This book will help you.It goes beyond just main ingredients, it teaches you to also look at the other aspects of it as well such as different herbs, spices, the marinade you use, and how your going to cook it. Even mashed potatoes have more than just potatoes.

I have worked in restaurants and even have a degree in culinary and I must say, this is a good point to start with and even to look back as a reference point. I own all three reference books Culinary Artistry, The Flavor Bible and this one and I read them almost every day. Great series of books by the authors, I trust these books like I trust my chefs at school.

I have been "into" wine for a long time (before it became mainstream to
be "into" wine). I have tasted many different varieties of wines from all over the world, have many books on wine and love finding that perfect match between food and wine. I love having wine with my meals and when you can get that perfect match -- it can be heaven.

This wine book is amazing!!! In one section they go through every wine imaginable and tell you what foods will go with it -- HIGHLIGHTING those foods which will go VERY good with it. Then they have another section in which they do the complete opposite (I.E. given a food, what wine will go with it).

There are lots of comments by great chefs, recipes and a section where
each chef lists his favorite wines and what he likes to pair with it.

I love this book and highly recommend it.

(3 1/2 stars)

After reading the slew of five-star reviews for this volume, today I drove to Barnes & Noble fully ready to purchase it. After spending a fair amount of time in the aisle surveying its contents, I ended up not getting it, and thought I would explain why not for the sake of those Amazon readers whose considerations might be similar to my own.

I think the issues of relevance are 'who you are' and what you're looking for in a book like this. I certainly understand why great wine aficionados (presumably with money and time), critics, sommeliers, restaurateurs and the like would desire and benefit from a work of such sophistication and scope. But for the hobbyist (like myself), it was just too much. A little 'highbrow' for me -- and I suspect I'm not alone. I didn't find it nearly as accessible as, for example, Karen MacNeil's Wine, Food, and Friends (which I bought). MacNeil's book has a seasonal presentation, and, while evidencing an expert's range of knowledge, seeks not to lose sight of practical concerns (such as $$). In a nutshell, What To Drink . . . has a more encyclopedic approach (and does include beverages beyond wine), while MacNeil's is user-friendly and more what I was looking for. I wish it were possible to buy chapters 5 & 6 of Dornenburg & Page's book separately, because they comprise a tremendous resource for ongoing reference. The one surprise regarding Dornenburg & Page was that in a product of such erudition, it lacked an index.

So, bearing in mind the two questions I started with, I hope some of these thoughts will be helpful in informing your purchasing decision.

I may run out of superlatives in the course of this review, so I'm just warning you now. What to Drink with What You Eat is absolutely the most spectacular book ever written about pairing food with wine. It will turn you instantly into a world-class sommelier, confidently able to pair virtually any cuisine with a compatible choice. What's more, the recommendations extend far beyond wine to include beer, sake, spirits coffee, tea and different types of water, so even a teetotaler can derive some value. There isn't a food- or wine-lover on the planet who wouldn't benefit from having the book always on hand as a resource.

The secret sauce here is that the authors, who have great credentials themselves, have also enlisted the input of dozens of top sommeliers and other authorities to create an uber-reference, one that gains considerably from its generous tendency to be more rather than less inclusive in offering up suggestions. Think of the principle of "the wisdom of crowds," but here the crowd are all experts and have the chops to back up their opinions. The list of foods, cuisines and beverages that are explored is truly encyclopedic, so odds are pretty good whatever you want advice on will be covered. For example, speaking of secret sauce, you'll even get suggested pairings with a Big Mac.

The crowning glories of the book are chapters 5 and 6, which really should be turned into a searchable database online and made available via PDA. These chapters are mirror images, one that starts with the beverage and suggests foods, and the other that starts with the food and matches the drinks. I'm telling it to you straight: if you've ever had a moment's hesitation about what to bring to a dinner party or just flat out what might go best with your frozen pizza, the answer is at hand. Wanna build the meal around a special bottle of wine? No problem. In fact, I'm not sure this book isn't subversive in the sense that it does such a great job of simplifying a complicated subject and making it accessible that it renders real-life sommeliers unnecessary.

Of course, that's a ridiculous notion; I'm just stating it for effect. You still need a sommelier to put together a wine list, add a personal perspective, precisely match the cuisine of a restaurant to its wines and gauge the "readiness" of any particular client to explore new territory. But if you live in New Jersey, where the only advantage of archaic, Prohibition-based liquor laws is the plethora of BYO restaurants and thus there are very few sommeliers period, this book is like manna from heaven.

I don't mean to imply that What to Eat is prescriptive to the point where you aren't allowed to express yourself and exercise free will. Quite the contrary. The book does a splendid job in the first few chapters of breaking down various pairing conventions developed over the past 20 years (plus of course the most classic matches) and providing guidelines that anyone can build on, and the authors encourage imagination and experimentation.

Let's go with a real life example, my first since I bought the book, and quite an "acid" test at that. I was asked by a hostess to suggest something that might go with roasted sea bass served with a Mediterranean ragout of red peppers, tomatoes, olives, and capers. My first instinct when approaching anything Mediterranean is to go with the "territory," which means for me clinging to the coastline from Provence to Sicily. Here I would have gravitated toward a white because a tannic red wouldn't go anyway and it's summer now and a chill is definitely welcome. Besides, I'm not sophisticated enough to figure out what to do with capers to begin with, so why not let a thousand years of local experience do the hard work for me? Then, I turned to chapter 5 and looked up sea bass. There were 16 suggestions, but nothing related to a Mediterranean ragout, which would clearly provide the dominant flavors to the dish. So with a little trepidation (are they going to whiff on my first challenge?), I looked for "Mediterranean" and sure enough found the following entry: "Mediterranean Cuisine (eg anchovies, olives, peppers, etc) Champagne, rose; Chateauneuf-du-pape, white; Pinot blanc; red wine, esp. tart Old World; rose; verdicchio, esp with onion-based dishes." Not feeling wholly comfortable yet, I cross-referenced the pesky caper and found: "Beaujolais, high acid; beer; Muscadet; Pinot Grigio/ Pinot gris, esp. dry; Pinot Noir, esp from Russian River Valley." That's enough breadth for anyone to find an appealing option.

The genius of the book is the exhaustive number of dishes and international cuisines covered. I'm sure there are some things you can eat that aren't paired here, but I'm not sure why you would want to! Also, while it wasn't true for my sea bass, many if not most of the listings actually go a step further and provide recommendations specific to the actual method of preparation. It's not just one size fits all. Pasta with artichokes? Check. Pasta with sardines? Check. You get the idea.


I haven't been this excited about a wine book in a couple of years, maybe since reading Andrew Jefford's The New France The New France: A Complete Guide to Contemporary French Wine (Mitchell Beazley Wine Guides). If you have even a passing interest in drinking wine with your meals you'd be crazy not to buy this book. It has the potential to enrich every dinner (and the occasional lunch/brunch/breakfast?/snack) you eat for the rest of your life, and if that isn't enough hyperbole, I don't know what is.

Whether you agree with him or not, Nietzsche's thought is pivotal in understanding modern Western society. This one-volume compilation provides an excellent introduction to his core philosophy.

Nietzsche changed my life. This translation and selection heightened and developed my sensibility more than any other philosopher or work of fiction. I think the difference in dynamic plays a role here: in works of fiction the characters represent man in various and hyperreal circumstances, but it is only a representation. With Nietzsche, the life of the real man and what he wrote underscore each other.

Nietzsche is utterly enjoyable. One almost feels a wicked pleasure as he dismantles the various and prevailing constructions of the world. But he always fights fair: he allows his targets to live on the page and fight back.

I love the aphoristic style. The way he briefly but profoundly treats a topic, and then returns to it again with a new twist or perspective. It is rich!

I've typed that name what seems like a thousand times in the last month. I used Beyond Good and Evil for two papers this semester, and he gave me an idea for a short story. What a writer! Not a guy you'd like to be on a desert island with, but his philosophy could be purposely misinterpreted and made into a somewhat logical or at least palatable set of ideas. The interpretation seems to be pretty good...I also used Kaufman's Nietzsche for the research paper I did, and he seems to be pretty knowledgeable and unbiased. I can't wait to read some of the other pieces in this.

a great collection...i don't think it includes 'thus spake zarathustra', though. if it does, my apologies. if i'm right, then that's an odd omission. otherwise, i love it.

The Birth of Tragedy-75 Aphorism-Beyond Good and Evil-The Genealogy of Morals (3 Essays)-The Case of Wagner-Interpretations/commentaries

A great collection, though a strange chronological leap from BOT to BGE. Right for the price and a great review of the later published books of FN. All of Kaufmann's footnotes are maintained. You'll at least want to have had read The Gay Science before coming to this, or even TSZ; Beyond Good and Evil and The Genealogy of Morals are NOT the place to get your feet wet and FN is not joking in Ecce Homo when he says that a close reading and familiarity with his earlier writings is necessary to delve and dredge up all that he has thought through--and to then move on to further possibilities presented by the various threads lain therein.

But if you are really eager to get to these later works, do at least have some familiarity with Hegel and read the Untimely Meditations and then make the leap to this volume.

Caveat: I cannot recommend the Zarathustra translation by Kaufmann, as available through the Viking Portable Library or Penguin; it is truly facile. Hollingdale's translations of the TSZ, Twilight and the AntiChrist are much preferable, thought they lack K's commentary.

A friend recently recommended this as a new series I could read with my six-year-old daughter. We had already read all of Little House on the Prairie, as well as some children's novels, including Charlotte's Web and Stuart Little.

We love these books. The main characters, Betsy and Tacy, are just about five years old when they meet, so my daughter instantly related to them. She loved hearing about how they liked to sit on their bench at the top of the hill, make up stories and get into mischief.

One interesting note: It's always hard to see the characters age from book to book. Although my daughter enjoyed the whole Little House on the Prairie series, she really preferred the books where Laura was young. Still, she remained attentive as Laura aged, partly because the books didn't dwell too much on the trials of adolescence, crushes on boys, etc. These issues came up, but they didn't dominate the books, which were more focused on survival issues, life on the prairie, encounters with Indians, etc.

Betsy-Tacy is slightly different. While it does give a good sense of life in a small town in the early 1900s, the primary focus is on the characters themselves. Right now we're on Book 4, Betsy and Tacy Go Downtown. In it, the characters are 12, so quite a bit older than my audience.

The other night, I almost choked when the characters began discussing whether or not Santa exists - in my household, Santa does exist. We haven't really questioned him yet. So I had to skip over the (otherwise endearing) passage. I was grateful that I was the one reading, because I'm not sure grandma would have picked on that had it been her turn to read.

Book 4 makes only a glancing mention of crushes on boys, which is fine, but it looks like Betsy-Tacy will get more and more wrapped up in boys in the next few books, and I don't think my six-year-old will relate. So I'm going to give this excellent series a break for awhile. For now, we're on to The Secret Garden and the Tale of Desperaux.

I highly recommend the Betsy-Tacy series, but your little one's interest may not keep up as the girls get older.

My daughter and I have LOVED sharing Betsy-Tacy as a read-aloud. The way that the author weaves the girls' fantasies right into the chapter is a perfect illustration of just how real imaginary play is to children (or at least used to be when kids were allowed to imagine). Beware, parents: Have a hankie on hand for the Easter Eggs chapter. I had tears running in rivulets down my cheeks. The only sad thing about Betsy-Tacy is that my daughter wishes that she had a kindred spirit of her own as they do. Highly recommended!

I was introduced to Betsy and Tacy at 5 or 6 by my mom. She adored the series growing in the 50/60s. I grew up in the 70s/80s and fell in love with Betsy, Tacy and Tib. I have 3 daughters that now love these books also. If I had to name the best gift I ever received, I would name my Betsy books. I read the books at just the right time in my life. I would look forward to receiving my Besty/Tacy book at Christmas. When I had my 1st child, my mother gave me the final book in the series when Betsy also has a baby. I was overjoyed yet sad because I knew it was the end of the books.
These books were so important to me growing up that I still think of the characters often. They are wonderful classic stories of a simple time and true friendships.

B-T fans rejoice! Sutton Foster acquits herself well, and brings the characters and Maud's distinctive writerly voice alive in her reading of B-T.

Tired of reading the book over and over and over to your children? This audiobook can take over the chore. Or guarantee that you arrive at work in a good mood, by listening during your commute.

Don't hesitate, just get it before it goes out of print. Let's hope they issue more of the books on CD too.

I was recently reminded of the Betsy-Tacy books I loved so much when I was a young girl. You can not imagine my horror at seeing the current editions' illustrations of the girls, though. Part of the original books' charm was the simple illustrations. Whoever decided to change them should be ashamed. Ashamed and fired. Seriously.

Contact me if you want to join a campaign to have the real drawings returned to future editions of these timeless classics so many of us loved so much.

Checkmate opens as Lymond and his band of mercenaries leave England behind and travel to France to serve the French King in his battles with King Phillip. As Lymond is still set upon returning to Russia King Henri offers Lymond the annulment from Philippa that he desperately wants if he serves France for one year - if he doesn't Henri will do all in his power to block the annulment forever. Philippa comes to France to serve as lady in waiting to the young Mary Queen of Scotts, and continues her investigation into who actually parented Lymond and Marthe, as Lymond starts his own separate inquiry into his parentage.

The story unfolds amidst the pageantry of the French Court as it prepares for the wedding of Queen Mary to the Dauphin of France, and Philippa and Lymond struggle to deny the love they have come to feel for each other. Lymond and Philippa's adventures take them from the domicile of the deceased Dame de Doubtance, to a wild chase through the back streets of a French town (loved it!), until Philippa's quest to obtain the proof of Lymond's birth before it's sold to the evil Margaret Lennox and culminates in a disastrous encounter for Philippa that tears Philippa and Lymond apart and almost destroys any chance they have for happiness together.

As with the first five books in the series, Francis Crawford is a fascinating hero, and is as suave, debonair, flawed and fascinating as only a 16th Century version of James Bond could be. This was a rock-solid finish to a fabulous series, and it was wonderful to see the return of Jerrott and Marthe, along with more of Lymond's mother Sybilla and his brother Richard. I most especially enjoyed the mature and grown up Philippa who stole every scene and was a perfect foil for Lymond. My only complaints are the return of the French and Latin without translations as was found in the first book, and thumbs down to the publisher for not including a cast of characters as they did in the first four, this was a complex tale with many characters coming and going and that would have been greatly appreciated. Five Stars.

Dorothy Dunnett is absolutely the finest writer of historical fiction that ever lived. I have been a fan for 30 years -- her books are so complex and interesting that I find I can re-read them many times over and still learn something new each time. 'Checkmate' is the final book in Dunnett's Lymond Chronicles and the only negative thing about the book is that sad feeling you gets when you reaching the last page and realize the six book journey of her hero, Lymond, is over!

My only word of caution is: don't start with Checkmate. The characters and situations are so complex that readers really must start with 'Game of Kings' and read the series in order.

Dorothy Dunnett's brilliant characters people a dazzling world that really existed, furnishing the Lymond Chronicles with a richness, immediacy and depth I've found in few other novels. They will stay with me, Lymond, Sybilla, Phillipa, Jerrott, Archie, Danny, the Dame de Doubtance, Khairedin -- all of them.

Checkmate, the conclusion to The Lymond Chronicles, is best, most beloved book I've ever read. Each time I reread the series I feel like I'm gaining more perspective and understanding of these wonderous people. But when I recommend it to friends, I have a terrible time explaining what it is really about.

The writing is stunning (although sometimes you have to work a bit for understanding.). The details of history are engrossing. The plot twists and twines and leads to strange lands (literally and figuratively). But most of all there is Francis Crawford of Lymond and Sevigny.

Lymond is unique. In his strengths and weaknesses he is unlike any other literary character I can think of. This series is his story, but primarily told by the people who love, hate, respect, and fear him. My first time through I did all four. The conclusion, which I did not anticipate, pulls him together as a character and a person. The journey to get there is a wonderous thing.

And while Lymond is the center of the whirlwind, Phillipa (especially), Jerrot, Archie, Richard, and the rest of the cast each add dimension and beauty to an already enthralling tale.

I can't recommend this book enough.

This is the sixth and final novel in Dorothy Dunnett's Lymond Chronicles. Like each of the novels in the series, the action is fast, absorbing and beautifully written. Lymond himself is dealing with the issues of nations and of monarchs while at the same time grappling with family secrets and finding that his own limits of endurance are being reached.

Set against the backdrop of the marriage of Mary, Queen of Scots to the Dauphin of France, the religious turbulence between Catholics and Protestants and the fragile alliances between European powers in the 16th century, this novel is a fitting conclusion to an epic and magnificent series.

'We have reached the open sea, with some charts; and the firmament'.

Highly recommended.

Jennifer Cameron-Smith

My daughter read this book and said she wanted to feel like Jessica felt. Two weeks later we were at the Kushi Institute learning about macrobiotics for a week. When my daughter and I eat macrobiotically we feel much better. I believe that eating macrobiotically has helped pull me back from the brink of some awful Western disease. Ms. Porter has written a great book to introduce a way of life that can seem daunting to many.

This book is amazing! Since I knew nothing about macrobiotics before I read it, I was skeptical. The farther in I got the more the concepts began to make sense. It is written in plain english and very easy to understand. It's also very funny, making it a pleasure to read. I highly recommend this book!

This is a wonderful book. However, I downloaded it to my new Kindle and immediately had problems reading the first Table even after adjusting to the largest font. I wrote customer service today thinking they would back it up with a text copy or some refund but they just said this will happen and side-stepped the issue. I don't really find this an acceptable policy when a very important part of the book is unreadable.

I had been reading about Macrobiotics for a while online before buying this book. It was an easy read and it helped me go "whole hog". I have only been macrobiotic for a short time and have seen amazing transformations not only in myself but in my husband as well. I never thought he would have stuck with this diet since he enjoyed meat and dairy so much. I was vegan before so I knew it wouldn't be hard for me. But after seeing the results in just a few weeks we knew we were macro for life. No more GMO's, no more processed foods, no more refined sugar, no more dairy and meat pumped full of hormones, no more feeling bloated and sluggish. We chew our food thoroughly and enjoy it and are never hungry. We eat good portions of great food. The fat and "sludge" in our bodies is melting off literally and I'm sure we aren't even balancing yin and yang that well yet or upward and downward foods etc. I can't imagine the benefits as we refine our knowledge. I threw out all our food not befitting any human and gave some other stuff away to friends in need. Then we took the time to find all the new ingredients but it's not too hard when you have Whole Foods Market or a Henry's nearby. I bought all kinds of new kitchen gadgets and tossed out the microwave and teflon items as well as any polycarbonate plastics with BPA's. I would recommend this book and way of life to anyone striving for health, vitality and energy. I used to drink a Rockstar before running at the gym or take an Herbal Nitro or Red Bull. Now I can run and workout without the use of stimulating sugars and caffeine that whack out the chemicals in your body and deplete needed vitamins from your system. I never thought I could have a strong workout without these enhancers. But since going macro I not only can have a great workout but my endurance is up and I'm doing more. This is a new way of life for us and I promise, it's a good one.

I was disappointed by Ms.Porter's lack of a bibliography to back up some of the more controversial content in the book. Dairy causes wet spots in your lungs? (just one example that she never explains)

She seemed to shoot from the hip without backing up her statements. I am sure she is not a medical professional nor a nutritionist and should not be representing this information as remotely factual. The fact that she prefaces many of these statements with the wording that 'it can be debated' does not let her off the hook. The publishers should have demanded better. Anything can and will be debated. Most authors do not write books amounting to conjecture and have someone buy it. I am glad that I did not pay full price. I hope that people do their own research before taking parts of this book as the truth. Talk with your physician.

Suzanne Falter-Barns has given the gift of added inspiration to anyone who needs vindication for taking time out to pursue their own dreams, not just writers, but aspiring spirits of all walks of life. We are often made to feel guilty for seeking our own path, or the 'road less traveled', especially if we're not following traditional or 'money making' careers. In my opinion, this book should be required reading for all graduating high school seniors to give them that extra gust of wind beneath their wings...
Chrissy K. McVay
author of 'Souls of the North Wind'

This book may look small, but it packs a wallop for everyone who's having trouble starting - whether it be starting "the great American novel", a painting, new business or screenplay. Suzanne Falter-Barnes also shows us how "failures" actually help us in the creative process, and be positive experiences along our path. It's not necessarily a matter of having talent, it's all about having the passion to follow our dreams.

I was browsing the table of contents of this book online here at amazon, and was so excited by just the titles of each chapter I knew I had to have this book immediately if not sooner. So for the first time in my life, I dowloaded the digital version of the book and was reading it within 5 minutes. Now I am a person who has read all the Robbins,Chopra, Dyer, Sinetar, Moore, Quantum Physics and Abraham materials you can think of. Every book on Doing what you love and the money will follow theme. This book is the best of all of them.

I read almost all the "You can do anything you want once you find yourself, believe in yourself and focus" books anyone on earth can claim to have read and this book had me up all night and the next and I read it in just 2 days I couldnt put it down. What struck me about it if you read it clearly, is that this book isnt so much about doing anything and succeeding, its about just getting out of the way of all your doubts,excuses and mental reasoning and just living who you are. It doesnt even matter if you fail or succeed as the doing it becomes the divine calling of your life. Nothing else is important...or satisfying!

All the other books focus on succeeding or getting from A to B but Suzanne just tells you to do it, do it forever and let the chips fall where they may. Wow, what a relief to know that I can spend the next 30 years of my life as a public speaker, never make a dime and on my death bed know I did what my soul came here for me to do! The success and fame is just gravy.

Thank you Suzanne for giving me permission to live my life with no hidden agendas of meeting anyones expectations including my own. Damn, life may actually start to be fun again. As a financial advisor who has few paying clients I've done so well for, Ive made them millions of dollars and never even got a thank you, nor have I got the fame and exposure for my website or message board called:momsonlinestocks(ok, ok, so I threw in a little plug. lol) that I deserve after having one of the best stock picking records in the country for 2 years! Nor have I been able to live the way I want financially because they dont reward me very well, Ive felt very resentful about life. Now I know it is ok to do the things I really love even if they never pay my bills. In fact, without doing what you can say is your life/soul mission(s), no success anywhere else will ever make you feel complete. I cant wait to read Suzanne's other book which is on its way in the mail. BEST book I ever read!

Please.....get this book for everyone who is not really happy with their work and lives. In fact, get this for everyone who is as well. I'ts loaded with inspiration from cover to cover. If this book wont do it for you, nothing else will. Dont know what you want from life? No problem. Suzanne will help you. In fact, I'd love to correspond with all readers of this book and maybe even start a cyber support group or board. The most liberating and validating book I've ever read. I'm even thinking of making a career out of teaching her concepts! Coaching anyone? -) Be prepared to miss work the next day if you start this book late at night. You wont be able to put it down. In fact, tomorrow I am going to attend a workshop on a particular love of mine I have had for years knowing there will be only superior and more experienced people there. Now I am going because it is my calling to do so, the fear of measuring up is completely gone. What an epiphany! I wish I read this book at age 15, instead of in my 40's. My whole life would have probably turned out different.

I have always affectionately been know as the "maker of miracles' or the "grantor of wishes" but never was able to get paid for my personal coaching/consulting. Now I have the emotional tools to do so and it doesnt even matter if I never get one paying client. My e-mail is:mince38@yahoo.com if you'd like to comment or chat.

Marc

Unlike the last negative review, though I did find some things that have been said in many other books of this type, for me the reminders were just that--a reminder to get back into the work I love, but with a practical stamp upon it to make it happen (me being an ungrounded Gemini, being 'practical' is difficult!). I just finished Suzanne's other book, "Living Your Joy" and I am so grateful I found it as well. Both books inspired me to do the work (play) that is REALLY important to me, yet still keep the day job going for the daily bills we all face here on Planet Earth. Bravo, Suzanne!

Speaking from my own point of view when trying to pursuing my dream, I have faced the fear of failure. I think we all have in some way, more or less. We need encouragement to go on, and if we don't get it, we need courage to do it all on our own.

To me, failure is wisdom and something we shouldn't be afraid of. What's important is that we must never give up. The dream is out there and it's reachable if you don't give up. In some way you'll always be able to achieve it.

Author, Suzanne Falter-Barns is in her book `How Much Joy Can You Stand?' giving us inspiration and encouragement to never giving up on your dream. The book is based on other peoples stories as well as on Suzanne Falter-Barns own experiences. In the book are exercises to go forth and back whenever a situation occurs.

Take the advices from others and start pursuing your dream today. When you're 70 years old, it might be too late and you'll be annoyed over what you didn't do. Everything is up to you - get started!

I read this book when I first started selling books on amazon and I had so many questions. This book answered them all in a simple, direct manner. I have read just about every book that comes out on the subject, and this by far is the most informative and well written. Who cares about the cheap plastic binding? It's the information inside that is important and in this regard, this book is a winner!

I love books and wanted to investigate selling them on Amazon, so I bought this book. It basically gave me everything I needed to know to get started, and the incentive to try. Although I am still very small, just selling a few books a week, I am in the process of building my inventory and have found that Ms. Miller is right - this is a do-able and profitable business and this book was absolutely invaluable in helping me to get started, and I am going to re-read it again as a continuing reference.

Concise and to-the-point. Easy read. Great real-life examples of seller success stories. Chock full of helpful tips and advice to increase your sales and maintain motivation. If you want to be successful selling books, then read this book first. In fact, read it a few times just to be sure the information hits home. You can easily read it in just over an hour or so. Five-star effort all the way! Thanks Christine!

Yes, it's true that Amazon itself does a good job of being user-friendly for sellers, but for new-to-the-business folks like me, this is a terrific guide. It's like hiring a personal trainer who's at your side when you want her. It's like exercise--yes, you can do it all by yourself, but it does help to have that one-on-one expertise.

Miller is organized, clear and concise and, she's got a cheeky sense of humor to relieve tension and remind you that, yes, you can do this and it's going to be fine and it's going to be fun! The format is actually easier to use than a paperback book because I can prop it open on the desk to refresh my memory as I work and for whatever step I'm at: creating an accurate listing, contacting customers, finding tools and services to take it to the next level, and so on. In addition, her insider tips from her years in the business are quite helpful and easy to follow.

This is a particularly helpful first guide and then you can graduate and move onto the more sophisticated and involved stuff. Great investment.

I have been selling books on Amazon for several months now and was looking for a book that could give me a little more expertise and tips on how to be more effective at buying and selling books. I found this book to be mostly information I have read many times before in other places, with very little new useful info for anyone who has been selling for more than a few months. This book has some good information for new book sellers, but you can get 99% of this info by reading the Amazon.com guidelines on selling and reading Michael E. Moulds' blog, both of which are free. If you don't want to spend 30 minutes on Google to get this information for yourself, then this is the book for you. If not, don't waste your money.