Guides Books

A great read. Non dogmatic. Michael is a great teacher and his journey is a transformational lesson for all of us. If your interested in Zen but a a bit put off, this book is for you. Michael bridges east and west with humor.

Has all the stuffing necessary for longtime practitioners and enough humor for beginners. I took it with me on my plane trips--quite helpful on the journey.

Michael McAlister writes from his heart. He comes across as "of this world", giving his very human experiences on his path in Buddhism. He is at times funny, and always generous and encouraging to those looking for guidance for waking up! I have given this book to my family members and I have it on my bedside table. I can open it at any place for inspiration. I highly recommend it!

Bad news: Michael McAlister's book will not save you from yourself. Good news: Michael McAlister's book will not save you from yourself. It will, however, lovingly and repeatedly point you toward your true nature, or home, where safety is neither a problem nor some thing you can acquire. This book is not only practical and accessible, but also poetic and spacious. Michael's words have accelerated my own process of separating thoughts from awareness. It's a book I'll return to, and have shared with others. I would highly recommend it to anyone who is tired of fighting impermanence, who would like to quiet the mind, and who would like to notice the noticer, the one who has always been awareness.

Awake in this Life by Michael McAlister spoke to me on many levels. It explained in clear language the journey to enlightnement found in non-dual faith traditions. It spoke to my emotions through the descriptions of this journey; it let me know I was not alone. And the best part, I found, was the invitation, in these pages, to go beyond intellectual understanding and emotional comfort--to know this path through my own experience of the Infinite.

By practicing the stillness that Michael McAlister speaks of in his book, I have begun to move beyond my ego and its obsession with trying to control the future and its attachment to the past. As Michael says: "Will our relationships be informed by wisdom and thus become an expression of compassion? Or will our relationships be informed by grasping and thus become an expression of greed?" The choice is ours.

Michael's book is a bright light pointing the way to compassion; comforting,affirming, assessible to everyone with a willing heart. We are all Buddha's and Awake in this Life helps us relize this now.

Harold Jaffe's Beyond the Techno-Cave : A Guerilla Writer's Guide to Post Millennial Culture consists of essays, docufictions, and various amorphous texts which address contemporary topics and subject matters that echo and reverberate the conditions which these post-millenial times are bound by.

And although inhabiting such world equates into being continually subjected to the origins and residues of 9/11, Harold Jaffe's artistic impulses, motivations, and responsibilities are ever more persistent, in gravitating towards fulfilling the need to further examine particular interstices, which define these current times, while simultaneously being driven further into exposing the obstructions, which sustain the governing bodies' stranglehold on our freedoms.

Since each text is different from one to another, the entire collection is a multi-faceted, omnibus range of literary blueprints, which, either individually or as a whole, point them towards what it means, what it takes, and, more importantly, why one must resist, reject, and subvert such conditions, at all costs.

Recent memory suggests that Beyond the Techno-Cave:A Guerilla Writer's Guide to Post Millennial Culture is arguably one of Harold Jaffe's most commendable works yet, but it is, without question, one of the best examples of the most noteworthy Brechtian ideal:

" art is not a mirror held up to reality, but a hammer with which to shape it"

Having been acquainted with some of Hal Jaffe's previous work I was pleased to explore this new book. Techno-Cave features a collection of compelling pieces that will evoke the dialogue lingering on the tip of the tongue, the intense outrage that has been muted by our suppressive society. Chapters such as Schizo-Terrorist and The Writer in Wartime hit dangerously close to home. As a developing writer, pieces such as Suu Kyi/Giacometti deliver invaluable insight into the potential art still holds. The art of docufiction is at it's best here and Jaffe gives the under-appreciated genre an immediate and lasting appeal. Jaffe's nonfiction is raw yet tightly controlled, passionate yet discreet. The Chapters are interesting read individually but most satisfying from start to finish.

Techno-Cave is a really interesting work of docu-fiction unlike any I have encountered before. Jaffe uses innovative structure and language to push life into this genre. The writing is charged with the personal, political and emotional sentiments that are coursing through our post-9/11 global community. Jaffe does little, and rightfully so, to avert the readers eyes from the realities of our present day situation: the struggle of the incarcerated, political prisoners, mass-media, the cult of celebrity, etc. The pieces that comprise this collection, in my view, are an attempt to stretch the versatility and scope of prose which inevitably will pave the way for future generations of socially-conscious writers.

In a time when people and society are interrogated on a daily basis, overtly and covertly, Harold Jaffe turns around interrogates the mainstream culture many have come to blindly accept. Its tentacles are far reaching. Therefore, one must be unconventional when challenging or questioning contemporary culture. Harold Jaffe draws from a palette in Beyond the Techno Cave, a tapestry that includes formal essay, docufiction, and "treating" current events to lay "counter-ideological mines" which intricately weave and skillfully move to engage the reader, writer, and activist in us all. Beyond the Techno Cave is a clarion call to action, to engage in discourse, to unplug ourselves from the screen, to endure and resist like in "Suu Kyi/Giacommeti". It is "committed writing" like in "The Writer in Wartime," in a time when the only commitment is that of omission and repression. With a graceful sense of craft, Harold Jaffe assembles voices to form a compound of reality.

Harold Jaffe plants a literary mine with Beyond The Techno-Cave, dealing a decisive blow to the hands that claim to feed-but always poison. Jaffe spares virtually no domain, no topic, no political entity. He secretes literary bombs on a diverse array of powerful adversaries, all with the style and grace of a skilled guerrilla fighter dug in trenches of an oppressive-totalitarian-culture-war.

for the full review visit: www.thetripwire.com

The book is very comprehensive. Unfortunately, even though it claims to be a field guide, it is too heavy to carry around. It is not a book to take with you on a bird walk.

I simply had to acquire this one when I saw it in a bookshop in Nairobi. I had another field guide, but wasn't happy with it. Great illustrations. It is now my faviourite souvenir from Kenya. Its only fault is its weight, but I carry it in a shoulder bag. The book also has usefulness outside the target zone: Several birds seen in Cameron are illustrated in it. I always like to compare illustrations and was glad to have it with me when in Yaounde. A book to make others jealous by. You can set it on the coffe table as a conversation piece or to get the children interested without coaxing them.

An outstanding and essential book to help you identify the many magnificent birds inhabiting the savannah when on safari in Kenya. In fact, this is the book our certified guide and driver, a Masai, used daily and kept next to him at all times! LLC

I used it many times in Tanzania and it is also fantastic book for Israel and the Middle East!

Ofir

This book is one of the best field guides I have ever had on African birds. It is extremely detailed and has pictures of so many birds, it is just AMAZING.

Wow. What can I say but this book should be in everyone's home library. I can not believe how much I learned about a subject I am not comfortable talking adout! Or should I say used to not be comfortable. I bought one for all my girlfriends and my aunt who is in treatment for breast cancer. She took it to all her chemo and radiation treatments to share with her fellow patients. Again, WOW!! Buy it!

What a great book to answer all the questions women have about our "girls." Elisabeth Squires knows how to educate and entertain! What a great resource for women. Thanks, [...] Lady!

Over the course of many months my book club's conversation kept coming back to boobs...things like bra-fitting and breastfeeding and family members struggling with breast cancer. So we decided to read this book. It was great fun! Some read it cover to cover while others dipped in here and there to the parts that most interested them; the book covers many subjects and is written with humor and wit. It's one of those books that belongs on any mom's shelf, not only so she can refer to it but so tweens and teens can go to it for that information that is sometimes too awkward to bring up over dinner (like how, when I was a teen, I referred to that great 70s book Our Bodies, Our Selves). This is the Boob Book that you want lying around for when you or your kids have a health or body image question about boobs. Informative and uplifting!

This is an entertaining, informative, and essential book for everyone with or without BOOBS. Elisabeth uses humor and practicality in addressing a subject matter that is Taboo and Inanimate to many. Read it. Laugh. Stop staring.....Get a clue about Boobs...

How refreshing that Elizabeth Squires speaks openly and honestly and humorously about bOObs! This is the ultimate guide and will hopefully change the tone of discourse about a body part that affects women throughout their lifetime and on so many levels. Thank you Elizabeth!!

Gail Konop Baker author of CANCER IS A BITCH Or, I'd Rather Be Having a Midlife Crisis

This book has excellent information for anyone who is just diagnosed with asthma. If you have been living with asthma for awhile and have been active in the management of your asthma, you may find that there is very little "new" information contained in the book. You will find that the book contains a good description of the various treatments that may be prescribed by your doctor. Be that as it may, the book continues to be a good resource for anyone with asthma.

After a diagnosis of COPD and/or asthma, I did what I always do. I set out to learn as much as possible. This is a wonderful, comprehensive and hopeful book. I have checked much of the info with my pulmonary MD and he too was most impressed and is suggesting it to patients. It is written in understandable terms, with a fine resources section. I learned a lot, and felt a bit more in control of this disease. Because if you give in, it will "git ya". Well done!

Couldn't breathe. Bought this book. Showed my doctor who changed all my medications. That was six months ago. TODAY? I BREATHE so well that I'm training for the NY marathon. It's hard for me to believe that getting the RIGHT medication can be crucial for allergy and asthma. But I'm a believer.

I have had allergies since birth--and never have felt good until I did the things written in this book. An excellent book on why allergies happen and what you can do--today--to stop them. I took the book to my doctor and she changed my medication to include steroid nasal inhalers. This helped me go through two pollen seasons without missing any work. SUPERB!!

I have sinusitis and asthma, and my children have the same. We have suffered for too many years according to this book. It enlightened me to learn that my sinus drainage actually triggers asthma--thus, I have learned to stay on top of sinus infections and post nasal drip--to END ASTHMA. It works. Dr. Smolley is brilliant. The book is a must read for any parent or person with allergies, asthma, sinusitis or other lung disease. Read it--and do what he says--it will change your life the way it has ours.

Nelson and Michael have put together an extraordinarily useful compilation of articles dealing with the causes and treatments of HIV wasting and the host of maladies that accompany it. The current acceptance of steroid, exercise and nutrition therapies to treat HIV can be directly attributed to the good work done by these activists.

I recommend this book wholeheartedly...it has profoundly effected my life for the better and is an important tool in my health care.

In 1988 I was told that I was seropositive, four years after Nelson Vergel learned of his status. For eight years I obediently followed doctors' orders, assuming with them that only prescriptions would be of help. After nearly dying in 1996, I discovered the website Medibolics, which evolved into this book. Following Vergel and Mooney's suggestions about supplementation and bodybuilding, in addition to the prescriptions, I am now again a healthy man, in fact probably in better shape than in my thirties before the infection. All lab counts are now within the recognized normal range, and there have been no opportunistic infections in five years. The authors' recommendations are thoroughly referenced for those who will read the original research for themselves. It was especially courageous for the authors to recognize the usefulness of anabolic steroids at a time when government policy has been severely restrictive. I remain profoundly grateful for Vergel and Mooney's work in a field that has been decisive for my own health. The information is relevant for the health of all, and serves as a concise starting point in a bewildering battery of literature.

thanks for your great work, since i followed your program i gained > almost TEN POUNDS in less than 2 MONTHS. Being on steroids is a great > asset in my life.....It changed my life...well, i mean NOW i have a > life. thanks very much for being there, we need you !!!! Bruno.

Just recently purchased and read this book. Excellent reference guide not just for anabolic steroid use, but for nutrition, supplements, exercise and much more. This is a must have and must keep resource book! A valuable treasure I will constantly, be able to refer to.

Mooney and Vergel are committed. They have spent thousands of hours researching lecturing and in the case of Vergel living with their subject. The book provides in laymens terms but backed with numerous scientific citations, how to use exercise, supplements and steroid agents to make living with HIV bearable.

The advent of HAART has meant a change in the life expectency of HIV patients. As a result the toxic effects of the HIV drugs are seeing many complications and side effects. This book discusses many of these and provides hands on suggestions for dealing with them.

Even if you just exercise you will feel better and you may just slow some of the side effects. You may even reverse some.

I have followed this book very casually since I bought it in July last year up until April 2001. I noticed that my "blood" results (other than Viral Load) were getting better and despite 'failing' a drug combination, my overall health was great. For the last 3 months I have followed some of the books recommendations RELIGIOUSLY. Despite having to change drugs due to resistance, my health and fitness has increased amazingly. And as an added benefit friends say I look the best I have in 10 years. My waist has gone from 38" to 31". My chest, arms and legs have all increased in size. My CD4's both in real and % terms are the highest in 4 years and all my other blood works are excellent. I am 40 years young. 2 weeks ago I completed a Vitality and Longevity Analysis and my Doctor advised that I had the Celular Health of a 26 year old.

I am so confident of the book and the authors that I bought my Doctor a copy.

I have never heard any of this information any where. This book is a must read. There is enough information here that makes a strong connection between calcium deposits, nanobacteria, and heart disease.

They do a great job in translating the terms for non medical people. Additionally, I would say that the relationship between the information presented and cancer represented about small percentage of the book, but the linkage is important and worth considering nevertheless.

I just finished reading an extraordinary book, The Calcium Bomb: The Nanobacteria Link to Heart Disease and Cancer. It also explains for the first time, the possible etiology and outline for a real treatment of my own ailment (which I know quite a bit about) ankloysing spondylitis. This is a work of excellent investigative scholarship and if its basic premise is true, namely that nanobacteria create calcium shells to protect themselves and can only be killed once they are unsheathed, then it may be one of the most important health books ever written. The relationship between nanobacteria and atherosclerosis and arteriosclerosis is portrayed convincingly.

An interesting read on health but is it fact or fiction? Pretty scary if true as it is not main stream.

The book discusses how a newly discovered microorganism, nanobacteria, are responsible for the plaque that accumulates within our tissues as we age. Plaque buildup is what causes heart disease, and other circulatory issues. Beyond that it describes how the use of EDTA suppositories and the antibiotic tetracycline have been used remove plaque from arteries and restore health to many who would certainly die without this therapy.
There is some controversy in that nanobacteria are not currently scientifically accepted as being living organisms, and that they are not accepted as the cause of arterial plaque formation. The authors give compelling evidence that they are organisms and they do cause plaque formation. Beyond the scientific argument about nanobacteria, there is no debate that arterial plaque and calcification are major contributors to heart disease, and that EDTA chelation therapy can remove this plaque in many people. The book gives numerous examples of those who have been saved from this therapy, and it provides references to where this therapy can be obtained.
It does downplay the effectiveness of oral EDTA chelation, and it highly recommends the use of tetracycline. In that, it seems to favor a therapeutic regimen that is currently available through only one source, and at a premium price. I am trying to give useful information here rather than a simple review. I have researched this to quite an extent and believe that oral EDTA chelation is fairly effective, it is much easier to take, and it is a lot cheaper than the suppositories they recommend. Beyond that garlic and curcumin, are very safe and effective herbs that offer some anti-plaque benefits.
This is one of the best books I have ever read. It is very thoroughly researched and referenced. Currently the web site www.calcify.com simply displays a message stating that the authors are working on an updated version of the book. I will certainly buy it as soon as it's available. I am disappointed that this book is already out of print and that currently it is selling for such a premium price. If you suffer from life threatening heart disease then by all means buy it, it will be worth every penny to you. If you have more of a scientific interest then you may wish to wait for the updated version or research EDTA chelation therapy on the web.
I would prefer that the future version of the book focus more on methods of removing plaque from the body and less on the scientific debate over nanobacteria.

This book is the natural complement to "Calcification: the Aging Factor," by Mark Mayer. While these books are on the same subject, they are both very different in content. The Calcium Bomb is about nanobacteria; while "Calcification: the Aging Factor" talks about other factors that can contribute to calcifications.

I really enjoyed reading this charming book. The author Betsy Draine is unassuming and her honesty is refreshing. It's obvious that she didn't make up stories just to spice things up. More often than not, truth is more interesting than fiction. Dordogne particularly the town of Castelnaud where the author and her husband buy a vacation home is beautifully described, but you feel her sadness as she describes the changing of the times.

Another great book on Dordogne that I recommend is "The Most Beautiful Villages of Dordogne" by James Bentley and Hugh Palmer. As a matter of fact, the town of Castelnaud is featured in that book as well with some fantastic photos including one of the castle and its surrounding town on the back cover of the book. I highly recommend both! It's also refreshing to see that the story is actually set in the French region of Dordogne instead of the very popular Provence or Tuscany. There is a list of suggested readings in the back of the book.

I am going on a trip to the Dordogne area so this book has given me a perfect insight as to what to expect of the land, villages, food and people. The author writes with honesty about their experience and relays what I believe is the joy of owning a home aboard and intertwining with another culture. I can feel the sun of the morning when she opens the shutters to the day.

This book is a charming joy. The authors' successful search for a modest summer home in France will take the reader on their own dreamy journey, exploring what it would be like to live in a French country village and to succeed in making friends with the villagers. Great insights into what rural French folks are really like, and how to make them your friends. The book also underscores the importance of finding what is truly important to you in your life.

I bought this book while we were looking for our own house in the Dordogne (most wonderful spot on earth -- go, see it for yourself!), and found it both comforting and helpful (as well as funny, touching and insightful). We found our own house a short time later (in Aubeterre sur Dronne, a village in the Charente just across the border from the Dordogne), and are giving this book to friends and family to help explain the experience and the lure of southwestern France.

very entertaining book about buying a vacation home in France. I love sw france--the food, the villages, the people. This book is about an American couple from Wisconsin--looking for a house in SW France-- buying a house and then living there for the summers. They become friendly with the residents of the small village. They tell of how they were invited to dinner parties ---the food that was served-- the people the conversations etc......Its great! I really enjoyed it.

A wonderful book. I loved it as a child, and going back to read it as an adult I realize that there are a lot of things that I missed. I remember my teacher reading it aloud in class--wonderful!

The movie, although very nice, has only a superficial resemblance to the book. For one thing, it moves the time a generation or so back. For another, in the book both parents are alive, rather than Caracticus Pott's being a widower; consequently, there is no romance.

I could very well wish that a new movie be made, NOT a musical and following the original plot.

Just like when I was a kid at my moms knee listening to her read this to me I wsa again transported to another time. This audio is great. Kids and adults alike will fall inlove with this audio book. Some what diffrent than the movie staring Dick Van Dyke. which is always a welcome suprise.

It is a charming and delightful story that you will love to read to your children. I read this book to my 6 year old. She loved it!! We both wish we could find more books about this wonderful family and car.

I remember the 1968 movie based on this novel fondly, but had never picked up the novel itself until just the other day. I was surprised at how different the book is. Although Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang herself is very similar in both, the plot of the story is much different. I enjoyed this simple little story, with Fleming's humorous asides, very much. Those asides reminded me of the "Series of Unfortunate Events" books I have read and I would be interested in learning if Lemony Snicket drew from Fleming's story style for his own series. This is a fun, quick story that most kids will enjoy. I do, however, fear that the admittedly crude illustrations in my original edition would not be as popular with modern children.

The story of Caractacus Pott, his family, and that wonderful magical car is one of the best children's stories you will ever read. Ian Fleming, the creator of James Bond, tells a fantastic story about Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, the magical flying car that can even turn into a boat! It's a delightful story, filled with crooks and gangsters, and you won't be sorry you bought this fantastic little book. Should be added to every child's bookshelf. Just delightful! The book is so much better than the movie, eliminating that silly Vulgaria story. If you want to read the story Ian Fleming intended, you'll have to buy the book. You won't be sorry.

I bought this book for reference rather than than study use, but it has served its purpose well. First, this book provides decent coverage of Cisco Pixes. Brief overviews are provided of key technical concepts - enough that you can understand what exactly you're configuring. Secondly, the book provides excellent example configurations, even going so far as to step you through basic software setup. (i.e. A step-by-step guide to setting up the integrated PPTP Windows 2000 VPN client, including screenshots). Finally, it provides some of the best coverage of Cisco Pixes that I've found outside of Cisco's website.

There is only one thing I would have liked to see included in this book: A basic configuration example for those who want to use the Cisco Pix as a termination point for Cisco VPN Client connections. For THAT, I had to go hunting for information on Cisco's website. Thus far, this is my only complaint about the book.

I can whole-heartedly recommend this book for anybody who needs a good reference on setting up, configuring, and managing Pix firewalls.

This book well and truly paid for itself after the first couple of chapters. We found a number of areas where our setup was wrong and this book provided a very indepth look at the PIX product and enabled us to fix this easily and quickly. Good book for all users.

Excellent book, everything you want to know about the Pix. Very thorough, topics are explaned well, in great detail and with good examples. This is the best Pix book on the market that I know of.

I got this book to configure a Cisco Secure ACS with VPN clients, and i reached my goal. And you can get many other topics in a cookbook style. You can read the technical information or only take ideas from examples. Excellent PIX firewall book.

If you use PIX, get this book, it has a LOT of great info.