Death Books

This book offers the very information people really need at the most difficult time in their life. Talking to other people about someone dying is usually a frustrating experience - they just don't understand. This writer does, and addresses issues only someone who has been through it understands. It's a great resource and a real lifeline for the living to the dying.

As an oncology chaplain at UCLA Medical Center, I am always looking for practical, helpful, and meaningful resources that I can use to help patients, their caregivers, and other health care professionals deal with the overwhelming challenges that serious illness can present. "Where Souls Meet" is one of the best resources I have read on this subject. It serves as a deeply moving and personal guide that will lead the reader through the journey that all of us, in one way or another, will someday travel.

AT A TIME WHEN PEOPLE CAN FEEL THERE IS NO HOPE, COMES A BEAUTIFUL RAY OF SUNSHINE. DILLON'S INSITE AND DIRECTION IS A BREATH OF FRESH AIR. AS A HOSPICE VOLUNTEER COORDINATOR, THIS BOOK HAS PUT NEW INSPIRATION INTO MY JOB. I HAVE A MUCH BETTER UNDERSTANDING AND INSITE INTO HOW TO HELP OUR VOLUNTEERS, OUR PATIENT'S AND FAMILIES DEAL WITH THE MOST DIFFICULT TIME OF THEIR LIFE. HAVING LOST CLOSE FAMILY AND FRIENDS PERSONALLY, WHERE SOLES MEET HAS HELPED ME RESOLVE PERSONAL ISSUES AND HAS GIVEN ME A PEACE IN MY HEART I HAVE NOT HAD BEFORE. I PLAN TO INCORPORATE THIS BOOK INTO OUR TRAINING CLASSES AND HAVE COPIES AVAILABLE FOR OUR PATIENTS. I HAD THE GREAT HONOR OF MEETING DILLON EARLIER THIS MONTH, AND I ENCOURAGE EVERYONE WHO HAS A CHANCE TO HEAR HIM IN CONCERT OR AT A SPEAKING ENGAGEMENT TO DO SO WITHOUT HESITATION.

This is a most excellant handbook that provides guidance and direction for family and caregivers of terminally ill people. It is the best and most thorough study that I have found on this subject. It clearly defines how to relate to a person who has been diagnosed with such an illness on the spiritual, emotional, and cognitive levels. It should be made a requirement for every hospice and healthcare worker who relates to terminally ill patients on a regular basis. Families with a terminally ill member will find the book most helpful. It will answer many of their questions and allow them to have a better informed understanding of the patient's emotional needs. It should be made available to all families who are caring for a terminally ill person. Besides focusing on our relational and vberbal behavior when relating to the terminally ill, it gives very practical suggestions. For example, appendice C gives suggestions on what to look for when hiring helpers for patient care. Appendice D has ideas and examples of how to make lists and charts for everyday monitoring.

Many times caregivers think only in terms of what they can offer the terminally ill patient. One chapter gives important lessons that the caregivers can learn from the terminally ill patient.

As a Certified Hospice Nurse and Hospice Administrator I have access to many tools to help both staff and loved ones through the grief journey. Where Souls Meet is both compelling and insightful. From introduction to appendix this book provides each reader with guidance and support through the most difficult time most of us will experience - the loss of a loved one. As we anticipate death, like life, we are faced with many challenges and obstacles. This book offers both inspiration and suggestions to help ease the fear. Dillon writes and shares with a level of emotion and realism that will help both caregivers and professionals alike. Share this book with a friend!

This book should never have been called " Comfort - A journey through Grief." It should have been called "Self Indulgence - A journey through repetition." I too lost my daughter...she was 14 and died from respiratory illness. I seek out books like this to help me with my own grief. This book did not provide any help, let alone comfort. To the contrary, it irritated me because of the lack of any attempt by Ms. Hood to discuss comfort or healing and the observations that she repeated over and over, ad nauseum. And where is the journey of the title? Ann Hood says late in the book (almost at the end, in fact) that she doesn't know how she got from there to here. She is referring to going from being the crazy woman with the dirty clothes to being the woman who wrote a new novel. If she doesn't know this, then it is misleading and irresponsible to call this book a journey. I can see how people who have not lost a child would find this book poignant, but as someone trying to make my own journey through grief over my loss, this book is a fraud.

I have just finished reading "Comfort" by Ann Hood and I sit here stunned. Never have I been a witness to such raw and intimate emotion. Ann writes of her tortuous journey of trying to cope with her grief after the sudden death of her daughter, Gracie. "She was only five years old." The reiterating of this sentence and the phrases describing her frantic experiences that day in the hospital, over and over again throughout the book, convey the sense of disbelief, helplessness, and raw pain throughout the memoir.

Ann Hood is not a new author to me. I have read many of her other books. "Do Not Go Gently" about dealing with the impeding loss of her father to cancer also revealed her ability to put on paper what was coursing through her veins. "The Knitting Circle" a fictional story of a woman trying to put her life together after the loss of her daughter, was her previous attempt to try to tell the story of the loss of Gracie. In each of these, woven in with the phrases of pain and brutal honesty is an energy and lust for life that is redeeming. I find myself crying and then laughing with tenderness as she goes on to mention something that brings to life the human spirit to survive and cope.

Even though the book deals with such tragedy and pain, it is not a downer. I am left with a sense of connection to Ann and her family that make me want to hug her and bring a cake over to her house. She is each of us...she is a mother who isn't afraid to feel her pain and share it with us. She is a wife who isolates herself in a corner one minute and then grasps tenaciously to her husband in the next. She is a woman who exhibits love, anger, longing, strength and determination. If she can walk through this then there is hope for all of us who also have difficult journeys in our future.

There is a kinship between those who have suffered the death of a child, and this book speaks to that familiarity, and the healing that begins to nudge its way in as the retelling occurs. I nodded my head in agreement, and cried as Ann shared the journey of her grief, the silly things people think they have to say to a grieving parent, and the reality of the words "I'm still here". This book is an empathetic comfort for those who have known the tragedy of burying a child.

Reading Ann Hood's best-selling novel The Knitting Circle, I sensed that she was doing exactly what aspiring writers are told to do: She was writing what she knew well: Knitting, friendship, life's challenges--and losses. What I didn't realize as I read her wonderful novel was that she held a deeper, far more intimate story that was begging to be told. Comfort: A Journey Through Grief is that very personal story about the sudden loss of Hood's five-year-old daughter Grace. With the kind of raw emotion that only a survivor of such grief can share, she journeys back to the events that define her losses and finds light and hope in what seems to be a hopelessly dark place.

In a searing prologue bearing the same title as the book ("Comfort"), Hood begins and ends with the thought that "Time heals," methodically listing the comments that people made to her in the aftermath of Grace's death. Interspersed among the well-intentioned words of others, Hood writes her own rebuttals and rebukes of them. "Once you have lived through all of the firsts, it will get better." ... "Are you writing down how you feel?" "But I cannot write. I cannot think of anything but her." ... "She is in a better place." But how can a five-year-old little girl be in a better place without her mother?" "Are you writing any of this down?" "Only the lies people tell me. There are no words for the size of this grief. There are only lies."

By the time I finished reading the prologue, her words clutched my heart and threatened to never let go.

They say that writing about such pain is therapeutic. I say that reading this book is also therapeutic. As a mother and a nurse, I cannot imagine having to make sense of the loss of a young and healthy child. Likewise, I cannot imagine having to function and move forward after such a shock. Hood reveals just how terribly difficult it is to go anywhere but inward.

"In the days and weeks and months that followed, I told these details over and over and over to anyone who would listen. Repeating them made the story which seemed unbeliebable still, real. It was as if by repeating the details I cold somehow understand them, understand what had happened to Grace, to our family." (Chapter Two: Knitting Lessons).

This book will take you on an emotional ride unlike any other. I have emerged from the pages of this book with an incredible ache for Hood's loss but also with joy for her renewed hope for the future, in her adopted daughter, Annabelle.

Written with grace and brutal honesty, Comfort has touched my life and is sure to touch the lives of all who read about Ann Hood's powerful journey.

by Lee Ambrose
for Story Circle Book Reviews
reviewing books by, for, and about women

The author's five year old daughter Grace died suddenly. She writes about her life and her coping with her grief. While the subject matter may turn many away, this 186 page book, which can be read in one sitting, will move you and particularly so if you have children.

Many compare this book to Joan Didion's The Year of Magical Thinking. From my point of view, this book is in a different class - far superior - coming deep from the author's soul where you live and feel the grief as you turn the pages. For example (P. 96): "I have read that when someone loses an arm or leg, for months afterward they still feel the pain in their missing limb. A phantom limb, it is called, as if the outline or shadow of that limb is still there. That is what my arm became. Phantom limbs, aching for Grace. At night I would wake up in pain, my arms actually hurting with longing for her. It is hard to imagine that emptiness can cause pain, but my empty arms arched."

The book is beautifully written. The author has a knack of bringing alive small every day experiences - "I ate wine biscuits twisted into pretzel shapes and hard bread dipped into tomato sauce, tight batons of prosciutto and crunchy stalks of fennel dripping with olive oil."

Hood is direct in explaining her grief - there is no magic silver bullet to deal it.

"Writing about Grace, losing her, loving her, anything at all is not linear. Readers wants a writer to be able to connect the dots. But these dots don't connect. One day I think about how knitting saved my life, and I write about that. But how do I connect it to other parts of my grief? Grief doesn't have a plot. It isn't smooth. There is no beginning and middle and end."

Or

"It had been three years since Grace had died. Slowly, we were back to work, out with friends again. Our loss still filled our home, every corner of it. It still filled us. Time doesn't heal, I had learned, it just keeps moving. And it takes us with it."

And finally, she expresses her anguish in vivid heartbreaking ways:

"The first time I walked into Grace's room after she died, when the reality of what had happened to us in the past forty-eight hours was still unbelievable, the first things I saw were those tights. I saw them and screamed, not the kind of scream that comes from fright, but the kind that comes from the deepest grief imaginable. It is a scream that comes when there are no words to express what you feel. It is an argument with God or life or death. It is a scream that rails against logic and fate and everything there is."

Hood eventually turns the corner but never shakes the horror and pain of losing a loved one. Hood's grief comes alive and is real as you turn the pages. Sad but emotionally stirring book.

practical, thorough, reliable, and compassionate. i felt prepared as i helped care for my dying father. i used suggestions from the book to improve his final days.

Wonderful and compasionate book about death and dying. I read Elisabeth Kubler-Ross' landmark book "On Death and Dying" and this book applies most of her principal ideas into practice. The fact that book is written by a medical doctor, Ira Byock, also helps better understanding of both physiological and psychological aspects of dying and how it affect dying person and people around them. This book definitely promotes hospice and helps educate about preparation for the death and grieving process before, during and after death. One knows that this is a comapassionate physician after reading a first chapter describing death of author's own father from cancer. I was crying by the end of it - that is how moved I was about the beauty of it. In spite of Dr. Byock's assurances that pain and discomfort can be eliminated, it is very important to have a right mix of dictors, nurses, bath aids and volunteers willing and capable to make such assesments. Having family willing, understanding and able to take care of dying person is one of the best blessings one could hope for. But for people with no children, or family around (immigrants, exiles, etc.) it may be difficult to navigate modical system without adequate help. I would say - get acquanted with your local hopisce care on your own and learn about people in that office especially if you know you or someone you know is terminally ill, very old or otherwise close to dying process. If in today's world we shop for best schools, best homes, best cars why not look around for the best talent in palliative care for the purpose of making sure our last days are filled with comfort, care and best possible support? Stories in this book are very powerful, probably because people in these stories are real and in some way they have touched Dr. Byock too. There are times when I can picture them and I find myself crying. There are some good practical advices too in this book such as taking care of living will, power of attorney and getting legal things in order before death. I would strongly recommend reading this book to anyone.

Death is a hard subject to talk about. In this book the author relate histories of dying persons with respect and love, letting the reader know that's possible die without pain and surrounded by loved ones.

This is an immensely valuable book for anyone with a friend or family member (or one's own self)dealing with end of life issues. With deeply moving personal stories of patients treated by a hospice physician, the book often reads like a novel. But integrated into these stories is a very important message about the value of the dying process, both to the dying person and his or her loved ones. While not an overtly religious book, the author makes a strong case for hospice care for the dying, including effective pain management and maintaining dignity for the dying person. This becomes a strong refutation of the euthanasia movement.

Many of these stories will create a strong emotional response in the reader, but there is never a maudlin or overly sentimental tone to any of the stories. An incredible amount of wisdom is imparted by the author, and will provide much that can help families working through life and death issues. Particularly valuable are insights on the appropriateness of forgoing treatment, including feeding tubes, the effects of the dying process on the body (including the transition to "other-worldliness" that is often seen in the dying who let go of their attachments to the things of this life), and the reminder that the dying are, in fact, still living. Dealing with physicians, who are trained to "cure disease" versus provide "dying care," is, in itself, reason to read this book.

This is a "must-read" for those who are interested in hospice care issues, who want to be able to have an intelligent conversation about end of life issues in a personal or academic setting, or those who just want to know what it means to die well. The fact that the poignant stories remain in the reader's mind well after they have been read put a human face (so to speak) on the issue. If it can be said (and, many would argue, aptly so) that Americans have an ingrained avoidance of thinking about dying (except to fear it or deny it), a widespread reading of this work will help us to deal with the inevitably of our death more wisely.

I wanted to take a few minutes and thank you for the inspiration, hope, and peacefulness that I got out of reading your book, "Dying Well". My Mom, who was 84 last December, had been ill with cancer for about 2 years, and these last few months had been really rough with her oncologist chasing tumor after tumor. Just about a month ago, I purchased your book, and read it, and it gave me great hope in the process. Also that there is a real opportunity with patients who have a terminal disease, to let them know how much they mean to each other, and an opportunity to give them as much love, and show as much compassion as possible. Finally, I'd like to thank you again, for helping me understand the process of Dying Well, and for the knowledge of making the end of life meaningful by showing love and compassion to our beloved Mom, and for the inspiration of your personal stories, and the stories of your other patients who were in similar circumstances as my family. And thank you for Hospice, a great and compassionate service for which our family is grateful.

This book was very helpful and comforting. I lost my "Best Friend" which happen to be my Mom!! I felt I wasn't a lone going through is grieving processes. Even thu her passing has been over a year I understand now that even thu it may be a year it many take many more years to except and that is okay!! She is ALWAYS with me. Except & listen to signs 'cause they do reach out to US from beyond.. :)

I am still in the process of reading this book. I am enjoying it and the unique way it came about. It is a group of stories from different women. Every crayon in the box has contributed to this book. Red, yellow, black, white, rich, poor, middle class, etc.

I have had different "things" happen since my mother died and truly feel they are "things" she has sent to console and reassure me that I will be okay and that she is okay.

I plan to write the author with my experiences, since my mother's death, as she collects them and hopes to put together another book someday in the near future.

If you believe in psychics, mediums, and see things "outside of the box" this book is for you.

A very intersting book relating experiences women have had after the death of their mother.

A friend told me to read this book shortly after I lost my dear mother to breast cancer. It is full of inspiring, wonderful true stories of women who lost their mothers and had signs of them being near them after passing. The most wonderful thing happened to me after I finished this book a couple of weeks after my mothers funeral. I was going to church every morning at 7 a.m. for mass every day on my way to work after she died. One morning I was sitting in my usual pew in front of the Blessed Mother statue waiting for service to begin....I looked down as I knelt to pray at the pew seat in front of me and there was a feather! It was over 3 inches long - I looked everywhere else around me - no other feathers but the one right in front of me. I believe this was a sign from my mother. Please read this book - your mother is still with you...you will always be together.

I have given this book to about four of my friends whose mothers have died. It is a compilation of stories from women of all walks of life who have experienced some sort of "visit" or sign from their mothers after their mothers have passed on. It is so interesting and so comforting. It expresses what many of my friends have experienced but hadn't been talking about. Are these visits coincidences or are we living in a dream here and the world after this is the real world? It gave me great comfort and hope when my mom died, and I continue to hear from her in so many ways.. strange bird visits.. dog visits, dreams.. I cannot recommend this book enough to anyone who has lost a mother, whether they were on good terms or bad. I will continue to order this book and share it with my friends. Thanks for reading!

One of the funniest books I've read, even for a bit of a hypochondriac like myself. FULL of the most fear-inducing information that one shouldn't take on board- like the chapter on ordinary body quirks that could meant the most catastrophic of illnesses. Particularly amusing (for me) was the chapter where the author interviews a Proctologist. Hilarious, with insane little footnotes, and illustrations. Be prepared for a rather sobering finale. Great book.

Warning... this is not for the paranoid, for those that read every bad bio-terrorisim book out there then wonder if they've contracted Ebola, or for those who call emergency when they've stubbed their toe thinking it's fleah eating cancer....
Great book full of witty looks at all the medical disasters that can kill ya...
It is well written, funny, well organised and lends itself to reading to friends and relatives who enjoy combining a lack of medical background with pure paranoia. Keep a copy around for flu season...

Several laugh out loud moments. Weingarten's newspaper column is funnier than this book. I love the column. The book isn't bad.

If you truly want to sample Weingarten at his best read his column.

Gene Weingarten used to be Dave Barry's editor at The Miami Herald. Enough said.

Despite the macabre subject matter, this is a hilarious book. I laughed out loud many, many times. And while it may, indeed, feed a true hypochondriac's neurosis, it can also show just how obnoxiously far you can take it. I will admit that even I (not so much a hypochondriac) took a few of the `tests' presented in the book. I evidently have about a half-dozen serious medical conditions...

If you like Dave Barry, you'll like this book.

I recently lost my boyfriend to cancer. After his death I was given "no death, no fear". Great book! It helped ease the pain. I wish I would have had this book before he died so we could have read it together. It is a simple book with very profund messages and helps take the fear away from the idea of death. Life continues...

Hanh quickly grabs the reader's attention and mindfully drifts off in euphamism and metaphor as he meanders over, under and through this difficult topic (difficult for most people).

Calming in his approach to death, life, beginning (no beginning) and end (no end), the author seems to have an excellent hold on his spiritual beliefs and his desire to share. For those of any and all faiths, death is a frightening subject, but Hanh paints a wonderful picture of immortality through all that a person touches in his/her life.

The only, and I stress only, misgiving I found with this short read are the over-used metaphorical analysis between human life and that of an oceanic wave. I wish the author could draw similarities shared by all breathing life organisms, rather than something as translucent as water (although I think I understand WHY he often describes life in terms of water).

I would certainly recommend this book.

I read this book after the passing of my Grandparents and it helped me deal with their passing. I recommend this book to anyone who is searching for answers about life and death. Great book!

This has been one of the most powerful books I've ever read. It helped me through the death of my father. My mother is now nearing the end of her life in this body and I'm re-reading it. I suspect that I will revisit it many times . . .

I first thought the book was simple and repetitive. But when I experienced a loss and re-read the book, I finally realized how profound this book really is.
I had been dealing with the subject of death for quite a few years. (I started with the book HAGAKURE, by Tsunetomo Yamamoto. You may or may not like to check that out. It's a more stoic approach to similar subjects). Anyway, I wanted to conquer the idea of my own inevitable mortality, so that when the time comes, I will handle it with grace. So, my approach was to prepare beforehand.
As I said, I was working on my OWN mortality. It never occured to me that I might also apply it to someone else. Someone I love recently died. That was the 1st real loss that I've encountered, so I was devastated. All those years of preparing myself didn't really mean much (though at the time, I thought I was ready and that I knew it all). I had already owned a copy of this book and read it several years ago. Feeling in the pits, I decided to pull the book out and read it again, as this time it is much more applicable (since I'm experiencing loss).
The book seemed so simple beforehand. It was a quick read. Thich Nhat Hanh also seemed repetitive; I felt bored several times. This, as it turns out, was my fault, not his. He is such a good teacher that he makes everything seem so simple. However, after someone I loved very much died, I re-read this book, and I realized how profound it really is. The reason why Thich is so repetitive, is because you need to drill it into you head so that you really understand it. It's like learning how to count to ten. No one is born knowing how to count to ten. But you drill it until the day when you know it all by heart. Trust me, this book is more profound than it seems; do not just read through it and think that it's all obvious and that you already know it. Reading and learning is not good enough; you have to experience it!
It's like this: death is not real. You cannot create something out of nothing, and you cannot become nothing from something. It's not the reality of things. (Physics will agree with that, for you scientists out there). The problem is that we're deluded. This delusion creates in us a false sense of reality, and that leads to our suffering. We fear death because we think we become nothing. We fear death, because we do not understand it. The problem is that we've learned the wrong way; we need to unlearn our delusions and see death as it really is: simply a change in form. Basically, it's moving on. We want to stay in one place, but the fact of the universe is that it is always changing. We are deluded into remaining stagnant in a universe that, let's face it, is not going to stop and wait for us.
This book helped me immensely in my loss. But it's neverending; you can't just reach a certain point and then stop; you'll lose it. You have to keep going. It's one of those books I will always keep with me. Get this book beforehand, and slowly introduce it into your life and try to apply it. Don't wait until you experience a loss. You will be too devastated. It's never too late to prepare youself for what's inevitable. It will greatly diminish your sense of despair. That much I can gaurantee.

Let me preface by saying similar to what the author says; that I'm sorry that any parent has a reason to read this book. Our healthy 18 month old son passed away very unexpectedly and it was devastating to us. It was hard for me to hear platitudes from some people around me because they weren't walking the same road as me. I soaked in her words and turned to the Bible. I especially liked the chapter her older son wrote about treatment of surviving siblings. I'm sorry if you have a reason to purchase this book, but it is helpful.

I think anyone who has lost a child should read this book! It really helped myself and many friends and family members through our own tragic loss. It was recommended to me and I recommend it to anyone who has had to go through this pain.

This book was first given to me at a funeral home YES... a funeral home not just any funeral home it was the funeral home where my mother in law laid to rest after a year long struggle with cancer. I felt hopeless asking myself how would I'd be able to support my husband when I indeed was a mess myself. I took the book and did not loose sight of it waited 5 months after her death to finally open it and read it. The best thing I could have done to find the answer to grievence and acceptance. I cried every night as I read it and since then have passed it one to others who find themselves lost of answers when a loved one crosses over...

I bought this book for my wife, who lost her mother to Alzheimer's a year ago. Too often, as Americans, we seem to want to move on past the loss of a loved one quickly. We've learned over the years that grief lasts for a long time. The book is loving and healing for this process.

I was given this book just after we lost our 22 year old son. It was one of two that helped me the most. It tells you to keep looking for the roses through all that you are having to endure.
"God is continually keeping His promise by providing roses, sometimes with actual flowers, sometimes through friends, and often in the form of memories as a reminder He is caring for me, and when I hurt, He hurts."
The book is about the many kinds of "roses" that God sends us. I now send it to those parents that lose children, no matter the age or circumstance; but I have also sent it to those that have lost a spouse. It is a wonderful "rose" for anyone grieving a loss.

Beth Groundwater's Virtual Death is what you might call a StimRead in the year 2026 when her novel takes place. From the excellent premise of a murder surrounding a "Stimulation Suit" addict, to the quirky details of future technology and the hard police science used to solve this case, Virtual Death will keep you on your cybertoes. I look forward to seeing this one in print. Great writing and great entertainment.

I loved this from the first lines-- an echo of Ray Bradbury distilled into an intriguing mystery. Based on this excerpt, I definitely want to read the whole book!

Neil Plakcy, author of Mahu Surfer: A Hawaiian Mystery (An Alyson Mystery)

The possibilities, the possibilities! Great premise. I'm not much of a sci-fi expert so maybe this idea has been approached before, but I found the concept brash, bold and well-executed. Think computers are already integrated into your life? You haven't seen, felt or imagined anything yet. Great idea, extremely well done. Can I have some more, please?

Hey Beth, I want some of what you've been smoking. Anonymous sex online, porn be damned, who needs it in the future. A hot date, a sure thing, and I won't have to buy her dinner or meet her parents. And she won't have to pick up my dirty socks or hear me snore when it's over. But just like every great technological inovation, somebody has to ruin it. In this case, a cyber killer has figure out a way to make virtual sex deadly. Nick and Allen have to figure it out before another Sim-suited babe meets her orgasmic end. I'm thinking that victim might be Lydia, a newly, about to be satisified Simsex customer. Something horrible happened in her real sex life, so she turned to Gloves and Goggles love online. Thank heaven for clearance sales, she's movin' up to the big time now. I've got a funny feeling Nick will attempt to convert her back to the old fashion way, but she's not going willingly, I'm sure...until of course, she gets more than she'd dreamed of when the killer comes calling. I want to be there when it happens. This story is packed with vivid futuristic details, fun characters, and high stakes. Who wouldn't give this five stars?

This excerpt hooks the reader with it's immediate immersion into the near future . . . and a body. Virtual reality has evolved into near-reality, and sexual fantasies can be played out in the safety of one's own home. Or can it? I'm looking forward to reading this well-researched tale, and will definitely go out of my way to buy it WHEN it's released.

There are a couple of clinkers in the narrative that would take just a minute or so to re-work, such as, "A click signaled the house computer recognized her and unlocked the deadbolt."

Though I got this, I stumbled over it a bit.

I also noticed a couple of places where the dialogue probably should have been replaced by narrative, as when Nick explains what the hyiod bone is. I just got a mental image of the guy looking straight into the camera to say this.

Just a couple of nitpicky things. I think this is an excellent read, and I'd love to know what happens to Butterfly, and you just know that the door-buster Stimsuit she's getting is going to cause her no end of problems. This is an exciting read! Well done, Ms. Groundwater!

Bret

Nasty - Official ABNA Entrant
"Nate Jepson (a.k.a. "Nasty") is a solid entry into the P.I. hall of fame." - Publisher's Weekly

Who would have thought that the ancient Vedic health science system from India could give rise to a highly effective and hip Western guide to creating successful, harmonious, and exciting relationships!

WHAT'S YOUR DOSHA, BABY? does that and more. Take the quiz and learn your dosha. Take the quiz and learn about the dosha of your significant other. Bring greater harmony and joy to your relationship than you could have dreamed. The principles apply across the board - business relationships, the sister you never quite understood, the relationship patterns you'd like to do differently and with more satisfaction.

I'm giving this book to everyone on my holiday list.

When I got this book I had just hoped to get informed about the various ways to improve life by learning new principles of mind & body. However, after reading it, I'm amazed by the wealth of information I got. Deepak Chopra has rightly said on the front page of the book that Coffey brings the timeless wisdom of Ayurveda to a contemprary audience and shows us how to discover more about ourselves and our relationships. I totally agree with his words and word like to congratulate Lisa Marie Coffey for coming up with such a profoundly amazing book!

Lisa Marie does an amazing job of taking ancient knowledge and putting it in easy to understand language. This book is a quick read with a wealth of information that is easy to understand and apply now!

When I first picked up this book, I expected to learn something about Ayurveyda, my "dosha", and considerations regarding my health, diet and well-being. This book was very informative in this regard and presents the information in a way that westerners can understand. I was pleasantly surprised to read further that Ayurveda has something to say about relationships. By understanding the nature of each dosha, I can apply the understanding to all of my relationships. This book is an enjoyable read and I learned something new.

While reseaching information on Ayurveda & Dosha's, I came across Lisa Marie's whatisyourdosha.com, which turned out to be very interesting. With an easy quiz, you can find which Dosha fits your personality and get a basic understanding of what it is all means.
Her new book, "What's you Dosha, Baby?" is a wonderful guide to understanding how you fit within this Dosha and how it works within your lifestyle. Most highly valued is the information on compatability with anyone in your life. Other suggestions cover best forms of exercise for you mind/body type as well as foods best suited. It is a wonderful way to introduce oneself to this ancient pratice/belief way of living.

Nothing mattered anymore, my grades went down, i didn't care about life, i wanted to die. so i attempted suicide, my wrist is scarred and mutated, everyone said i was insane. then i heard from the family circle magazine about this book, and i swear this has helped me, and i'm so glad that not everyone thinks depressed teens are insane or stupid. and i'm glad there are people like lisa hurka covington that are talking to teens how valuable life is, and helping them sort out their problems.

This book combines compassion and empowerment with accurate information.

The author, a cousin of singer Curt Cobain, wrote this book to help make sense of her cousin's suicide. It is readable, knowledgeable and thorough. It helps adolescents understand what they might be feeling when they are depressed. It discusses how to interrupt the downward spiral and find a way out. The book covers both social and biological aspects of depression.

I felt that the author had a good intuitive grasp for how an adolescent might feel when he was in the depths of a depression. She reflects back the sense of isolation and hopelessness so that a depressed person feels understood. She provides information on how to get help when you don't feel that anyone out there is trustworthy.

She empowers teens by providing good information about the causes of depression and well as the treatments. For those who want more detailed information, she provides a resource list. I especially liked her section on how to stay healthy once you have recovered from the initial depression.

I have recommended this book to several teens. They felt that it made sense and was helpful

This tome is organized extremely well; one can start at the beginning or jump directly into any chapter. The background information is helpful and lucid for parents and the stories from the teens themselves tells it like it is but at the same time gives hope and tells of "the light at the end of the tunnel" for depressed teens, that things do get better. Highly recommended!

In When Nothing Matters Anymore, Bev Cobain offers a teen-friendly reference guide to adolescent depression, complete with self-help suggestions, counseling resources, and case studies of teens who sought help for their illness and now lead "normal" adolescent lives. Cobain is a credentialed author: a certified registered nurse, a mental health professional, and a recipient of the National Mental Health Association's Green Ribbon Award for efforts on behalf of teen depression awareness; however, the book reads like Cliff's Notes of a more comprehensive text - as if Cobain simply compiled the bullet-point lists, sidebars, and quick-reference statistics from an American Psychiatric Association web listing for teen depression. When Nothing Matters Anymore relies little on Cobain's personal observations and extensive experience, and too much on peppy, inspirational messages from its case study teens.

The book is structured in two parts: What's Wrong? and Getting Help and Staying Well. What's Wrong? is primarily diagnostic, providing a checklist for the reader to determine whether he or she is depressed, explaining the varieties and causes of depression, and outlining the correlations between depression and chronic illness, sexual abuse, sexual identity, drug use and addiction, eating disorders, and "perceived differences" from peers. Getting Help and Staying Well highlights treatment options, suggests ways to seek help from family or trusted adults, and lists self-help activities for readers undergoing treatment. Both sections include "Survival Tips" that a health professional might suggest to any teen: Get Exercise, Have Fun, Eat Good Food, etc. There are some practical suggestions, like journaling and creating mood charts, and there is a chapter dedicated to the important topic of teen suicide, but the book as a whole rarely digs below the surface of the illness and underestimates its audience's desire (and perhaps ability?) to understand depression more fully.

One aspect of the book that seems borderline inappropriate is Cobain's ad nauseam referencing of her cousin Kurt, the popular lead singer of grunge band Nirvana, whose suicide shocked the MTV youth culture in 1994. Perhaps this approach is an effective way of securing "street cred" amongst teen readers, but this hook feels opportunistic at times, particularly in "A Letter to Kurt Cobain," a three-page, sappy, metaphor-heavy eulogy in which Cobain rues that Kurt's handlers wouldn't give her the access that could have prevented his suicide. I understand the intent is to show the readers that she cared for someone they cared about and saw the beauty of his music and the tragedy of his death as they did, but to a non-teen reader, it rings hollow. Had Cobain been close with Kurt, a reader might not bawk at this inclusion, but she mentions that she did not know Kurt "personally," a fact that makes the multiple, casual mentions feel like name-dropping.

For the last year or so I had a few questions for myself. Why am I here? Whats my pourpose in life? Cant I just be dead? Dang do I wish I could give my life for some one else. This is really good book for any teen...

Not only is the author a good writer, it has a lot of good examples of other peoples life situations so you can auctly say "wow someone can really relate to my struggle".
Anyways, again its a good book and if you have any questions about it my hotmail address is [...]