Death Books

I honestly could not tell you how many times I have read this book (or the entire series, in fact). While I liked all of the books in the series, Death's Master is the one that has stayed most clearly in my memory. The stories of Zhirem, Kassafeh and Simmu have stayed with me for many years.

For those of you not familiar with Tanith Lee, she writes lush prose and in this series focuses on creating a cycle of stories which interconnect. Although it would be easy to go over the top, she somehow manages to always stay on the good side of going too far. Although any of the books in the Flat Earth series can be read as stand alone novels, I believe that you will be more quickly immersed in her world if you begin with Night's Master (the first in the series).

I first read it as a pre-teen (snuck home from a garage sale). However, it is not for nothing that these books are called "adult fantasy". Caution recommended for younger readers.

Tanith Lee addresses some disturbing questions in this book. One is, what would you do with immortality if you have it? The other, what would you do if you were invulnerable?

The androgynous Simmu, (he actually could change body forms too), the son of a lesbian queen and, for lack of a better word-- a corpse, was adapted by demons after he was left to die in his mother's tomb. He later meets Zhirem, a boy made invulnerable at the cost of his mother's beauty. The novel addresses their tortured love story in the context of the Demon Lord's mischievious plans to entertain himself, and the Death Master's fight to preserve his supremacy over humans.

Character development was excellent in the case of Simmu and Zhirem. You could read into why they ended up doing what they did, but you could never guess what they were about to do before it happens. Simmu gains immortality and becomes the King of Simmurad (City of the Immortal). Zhirem, the invulnerable, becomes th! e greatest sorcerer in the world, but was directionless until he was taken up by the Death's Master to take on and destroy Simmurad.

The other characters in the story are no less fascinating. Simmu's mother, Narasen was inflicted with a curse by a spurned sorcerer (would-be lover), but her cleverness saved her. Unfortunately, she was felled by treachery in her moment of weakness. Having struck a deal with the Death's Master, she was bound to serve him as the undead. Lylas, the witch, was the Death's Master's handmaiden. Her schemes drive the story forward. Kassafeh, Simmu's wife and the daughter of a sky elemental, was the key to Simmu's immortality. However she finds herself trapped in her immortality. Ironically, she breaks out by betraying Simmu, thus becoming the key to the destruction of Simmurad.

The other questions addressed include, why do people chose to do good, to the point of becoming saints? Is it because they are afraid of being evil? What is evil? ! And so on...

The story is of course, a LOT more complicat! ed than that. After all, it is about how unusual people dealt with unusual circumstances. I totally loved it. It's a great example of Tanith Lee's work, it's brilliant and if I had more space, I will keep on babbling on about how wonderful this book is.

If you've never read Tanith Lee's stuff, this could be a great intoduction for you.

This was the second book I ever read by Tanith Lee, the first was the Silver Metal Lover. I stumbled across it in used book store, read it in a couple of hours and then ran out to find the rest of the series. I love Lee's fantasy novels and this series is probably her best.

The story takes place over an extended period of time and tells the tales of several different characters and how they relate to dying, death and immortality. The common thread is the Lord of Death and how humanity perceives him. There is also the side story of how he interacts with the Lord of Night and the demons. The entire series has a mythic quality, like these were the tales of some long lost culture.

The books in this series are: Night's Master, Death's Master, Delusion's Master, Delirium's Mistress, & Night's Sorceries.

You could read the first 3 books out of sequence and not have any spoilers. Don't read Delirium's Mistress until you have finished the first 3. The last book is a collection of short stories and can be read at any time, but it is assumed that you are familiar with the mythos of the flat earth.

I have read this volume several times. Each time I read it, it moves me beyond what mortal life can do. Through the first half of the book, I feel light and carefree as if it strips my sorrows. After the end, I drip into the bleakest, blackest melancholy, despair unlike any other. After a period, My despondence lifts and I feel free. I am cleansed of all human pressures and woes. I highly value the tome for it's pure unadulterated emotions.

Death's Master ultimately clutched me by the heart and reeled me into spirals of emotions, reviving deep regions within which I almost doubted I had. The characters are so magnificently described that you actually able to feel at one with them, experiencing their joys and weeping when tragic irony had its will (the misfortunes of beloved Zhirek and Simmu...).

This is definately one of Tanith Lee's most brilliant ventures yet.

Tough, acerbic, witty, tender. This is one of those books that doesn't get the marketing, isn't hyped by big shot poets in PoBiz land, but deserves all the praise and more that "best-selling" poetry gets. Who is this person, Semansky? I'd like to meet him.

I am stunned, period

"Death" is a fine book, but Semansky's most recent collection, Blindsided (from 26 Books of Portland, OR) will gain readers for years to come.

Can you say "Screaming, kick-butt, knockout"? That's what this collection of verse is. I'm a connosieur of contemporary poetry and believe me, I ate this one up. I can't wait for the movie!

Whew! An emotionally charged reading experience. I usually don't read poetry but this book really took a hold of me. Semansky's voice is somewhere between Holden Caulfield's and Darth Vader's. I look forward to his next book

This book should be read by anyone whatever the personal situation is. It helps particularly when you are about to loose or if you have lost a loved one.
We know nothing about death and we are never prepared to face it. Reading this book gives comfort, helps to ease the pain, and also teaches us to respect and honour all the living as well as the importance of living fully and consciously the time we have.

One of Elisabeth Kubler-Ross's books, 'On Death and Dying', is a classic work in the field, still used to educate and inform medical, counseling, and pastoral professionals since its original publication in the 1960s. Kubler-Ross did extensive research in the field by actually talking to those in the process of dying, something that had hitherto been considered taboo and an unthinkable, uncaring thing to do. Kubler-Ross asked for volunteers, and never pressured people to do or say anything they didn't want to. One of her unexpected discoveries was that the medical professionals were more reluctant to participate than were the patients, who quite often felt gratitude and relief at being able to be heard.

This book, 'Death: The Final Stage of Growth' continued that research; Kubler-Ross is the editor here rather than an author, and the text is primarily in others' words. This includes other doctors and psychiatrists, patients, and family members. Kubler-Ross in her research spoke to families, and followed people through their ailments, sometimes to recovery, but most often to their death. She let the people guide her in her research; here she lets them speak for themselves for the most part.

This caring approach was often an aggravation for Kubler-Ross and her staff, because they would know what the patient had been told but was not yet ready to face. Kubler-Ross recounts stories of attempts to deal with death in different ways; denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance -- in fact, the various stages of grief were first recognised in Kubler-Ross's research. There are those who dislike the 'stages; theory of grief, but it is important to know (as the quote above indicates) that these are not set-in-stone processes, but rather dialectical and perichoretic in nature, ebbing and flowing like the tide, so that where a person was 'stage-wise' would vary from meeting to meeting.

Kubler-Ross drew together a diverse collection of views for this book, finding meaning both in life and death. This book provides insights for health-care professionals and clergy, as well as the families, friends, and companions of those who are dying. There are insights here to help cope and find meaning and resolution in death.

Death is a difficult subject to comprehend, and even more difficult to deal with. Kubler-Ross includes an anonymous letter from a student nurse who discovered she was dying, and wrote a letter to fellow hospital workers giving a first-person account of what it is like to be on the receiving end of the treatment - something which, like it or not, most of us will eventually face. This is part of our common humanity.

It is important not to approach this subject merely as an intellectual or theoretical subject -- it is not sufficient to subscribe to a 'pie-in-the-sky' kind of theology about afterlife the denies the emotions in this world. Even those with firm belief and faith will still experience the loss in this world.

This book is lovingly written, well-researched and full of insight. While some of Kubler-Ross's ideas have over time become oversimplified, and some research has been superseded, her example of bringing a difficult subject to the area of regular conversation and consideration cannot be underestimated, and this book is part of that legacy.

'On Death and Dying' Author Dies at 78

Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, a psychiatrist who revolutionized the way the world looks at terminally ill patients with her book "On Death and Dying" and later as a pioneer for hospice care, has died. She was 78.

She died Tuesday of natural causes at her Scottsdale home, family members said.

Published in 1969, "On Death and Dying" focused on the needs of the dying and offered her theory that they go through five stages of grief - denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance.

"Those who learned to know death, rather than to fear and fight it, become our teachers about life," she once wrote. In another passage, she wrote: "Dying is nothing to fear. It can be the most wonderful experience of your life. It all depends on how you have lived."

Kubler-Ross wrote 12 books after "On Death and Dying," including how to deal with the death of a child and an early study on the AIDS epidemic.

"She brought the taboo notion of death and dying into the public consciousness," said Stephen Connor, vice president of the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization.

In 1979, she received the Ladies' Home Journal Woman of the Decade Award. In 1999, Time magazine named Kubler-Ross as one of the "100 Most Important Thinkers" of the past century.

Born in Zurich, Switzerland, Kubler-Ross graduated from medical school at the University of Zurich in 1957. She came to New York the following year and was appalled by hospital treatment of dying patients.

Whoever has seen the horrifying appearance of the postwar European concentration camps would be similarly preoccupied," she said.

She began her work with the terminally ill at the University of Colorado Medical Center in Denver, and was a clinical professor of behavioral medicine and psychiatry at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville.

Kubler-Ross began giving lectures featuring terminally ill patients, who talked about what they were going through. That led to her 1969 book.

"Dying becomes lonely and impersonal because the patient is often taken out of his familiar environment and rushed to an emergency room," she wrote.

"He may cry for rest, peace and dignity, but he will get infusions, transfusions, a heart machine, or tracheostomy. ... He will get a dozen people around the clock, all busily preoccupied with his heart rate, pulse, electrocardiogram or pulmonary functions, his secretions or excretions - but not with him as a human being."

The most important thing Kubler-Ross did was bring death out of the dark for the medical community, said Carol Baldwin, a research associate professor of medicine at the University of Arizona and who worked as a nurse in one of the nation's first hospices in 1979.

"She really set the standards for how to communicate with the dying and their loved ones," Baldwin said recently. "Families learned that it's not a scary thing to watch someone die."

Kubler-Ross is survived her two children, Kenneth Ross and Barbara Lee Ross, and two granddaughters.

Kubler-Ross shares with us her life's work experiences with death and dying persons and how dealing with our own death parallels with our everyday life choices. Death comes to us in small ways everyday. There are many things in life that we have to die to, inner growth depends on this. Dying to small things prepares us for the moment of bodily death. Our ego for one thing is the hardest to die to, how we love to be right and not give in to someone else's opinion, how we love to be recognized for our work, our successes, our education, our money, our home, cars etc. To let go of our ego takes a lifetime but it is well worth the effort and gives you acceptance and peace of soul. The practice of letting go in small things prepares you for the bigger decisions of life. Your life becomes less petty and more human, less superficial and more realized, less important and more compassionate. It is not an easy lesson but one worth working through the stages of death and dying. Victor Frankl in his book "Man's Search for Meaning " also show how finite is our existence. Anthony DeMello in his book Sadhana, a Way to God: Christian Exercises in Eastern Form reveals how important it is to detach ourselves from desire and also the Dalai Lama lives a life full of compassion although he has been exiled from his own country for over 35 years. To be or not to be that is the question.

Death: The Final Stage of Growth is an especially enlightening work not simply because of the varied and knowledgeable contributed views to this particular volume, but because it approaches death and dying not from a scientific or psychological standpoint, but rather, from a cultural, sociological and mixed religious context. The essays that focus on the Eskimo, Jewish, Hindu and Buddhist approach to death and dying are deeply taken into account, as are their rituals, their cultural approaches and their belief systems. But though all the faith approaches differ in one way or another, the unifying human elements are-for the most part-a consistent grief, fear, faith of a higher authority and the oncoming trials and tribulations that dying can and will entail, all of which unites us. Dignity should begin at the conception of life, and it does not cease until the last breath is taken and arrangements for what follows are respectfully set up. But in many cases, as illustrated in the section entitled: "The Organizational Context of Dying" by Hans O. Mauksch, once a person is diagnosed as having a terminal illness and thus becomes a full-time patient, (s)he, after stripping and handing over their possessions, is banded like a piece of property They then are quickly yet efficiently-like in the military or in religious life-slowly deloused of their sense of autonomy; they are gradually assilimated to the institution. And their physical and mental definitions are not fully acknowledged. It is not done out of spiteful cruelty, just ignorant insensitivity. But through psychological studies-as done by Kubler-Ross as well as others in the field-and radical restructuring in pallative care, hospitals are really no longer deemed as the menacing sick houses of olden times. Rather, the patient as a whole is acknowledged, not merely the physical self. The soul, the intelligence, the humor and wisdom. The "all" of the person is taken into account, and as that is so, the hospital environment in its own right changes for the better. But it stems from communication and compassion and facing what for almost all of us is the ultimate and insurmountable phobia. All in all, Death: The Final Stage of Growth is another excellent and necessary Kubler-Ross offering.

My father recently made his transition. I read many books about the deathing experience before he passed on, and this was my favorite one. It is very helpful for those in the place of giving care, and for understanding and preparing for our own journey.

How did Paul Twitchell die? Weren't you (Anya) with him? Why not tell this story of deathing? Confessions of a God Seeker by Ford Johnson also tells God-soul how to prepare for death or vice versa which is the same.

While I keep an extra copy of this book to give away if I learn someone is terminally ill, it is a good read for anyone. "On Death and Dying" (Elisabeth Kbler-Ross) offers seminal research on the pre-death experience. "Deathing" richly illustrates the soul's transition, what follows, how to prepare, and what to expect.

The reader learns how traditional rituals were designed to help the soul in transition and how one can help a loved one at that milestone. I consider both books essential background for anyone who works with the terminally ill. Long herself an adept and teacher of out of body movement, Anya Foos-Graber brings the creativity of a novelist and deep, affirming, personal spiritual insight to this most important of topics.

I discovered this book 11 years after its publication. It should rank as important as "The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying".But how we MODERNS learn about dying,either for our own or for our loved ones? This book gives a step by step instruction in a compassionate way. It integrated ancient wisdom,NDE research and conscious dying into a powerful experience! It is a joy to read. THANK YOU,ANYA.

Written in 1984 when the conscious birth movement was gaining ground along with the conscious death movement, Anya Foos-Graber provided us with a vivid case study combined with a manual for preparing for our own death or being a loving and skillful companion for someone facing their death.

Among the other books you might enjoy reading to amplify her essentialized manual, I'd suggest Sogyal Rinpoche's "The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying." Her book, written before the publication of his, was not able to cite this in its bibliography.

This is a useful book for changing cultural attitudes and metaphors of facing death more directly with less fear and more hope.

--Janet Grace Riehl, Sightlines: A Poet's Diary

Without a doubt, one of the more entertaining and informative retelling of the Battle of Trafalger. The author put all his talents of a fictional writer and applied it nicely in this well searched and written account of the Trafalger campaign and battle. I am familiar with the author's work on Copenhegan which was also nicely done.

You can probably compared this book with David Howarth's work although Decision at Trafalger provides far more details and more insights into the entire campaign and battle then Howarth. The book read well and even a casual reader can get into the narrative. One of the better books on the subject, belong on a bookshelves of anyone who got an interest in naval warfare during the Napoleonic era.

This book is simply perfect. Not only does it recount the true events surrounding the Battle of Trafalgar off the coast of Spain, it is an excellent introductory book to the genre. As a fan of Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey/Maturin tales and CS Forester's Hornblower, this new collection of nautical books is a must read.

Dudley Pope's narrative flows smoothly making this one of those books you can't put down until your finished. The nautical terms of the 1790's ~ 1800's are explained to satisfy both the novice and the well read. Whether this is your first Age of Sail book or just another in a long list, this is a must read that you will cherish.

As both a Patric O'Brien fan and a lover of history works, I very much appreciate the novelistic approach that Mr. Pope takes with the book, which adds much character to the writingas well as a flavor of the life and times. Some detail is sacrificed, but the book is easily readible and the account of the ship actions themselves with included diagrams helps make this complex engagement easy to comprehend.

This is the best written and best researched treatment of the Battle of Trafalgar and Nelson's death that I have ever read -- and I read a LOT of naval history! Most discussions of Trafalgar concentrate on Nelson's slow death on the orlop deck, while the really decisive actions of the battle rage out of view. In this book Pope gives readers a thorough and vivid discussion of exactly what happened between the whole engaging fleets, AFTER Nelson was hit and taken below. The victory was Nelson's, from his strategy and leadership, but many other men on both sides fought to reach that crucial military decision. Dudley Pope brings this to life. If you've ever wondered why Nelson's last order, knowing he was mortally wounded, was for his flag captain to anchor the British fleet, read on! I also highly recommend Pope's other works, including his fictional Lord Ramage series, which gets visibly better from book to book.

Trafalgar was an amazing, dramatic event. The grandeur of the ships and the legendary characters involved are well described in this book, and you can tell that Dudley Pope was a man who was fascinated with the age of fighting sail. He was also a very good writer and he described it well.
Pope started out by describing the voyage of the HMS Pickle, the 4 gun schooner which carried news of Nelson's victory as well as his death back to England immediately after the battle. This small part of the great story of Trafalgar might be ignored or briefly mentioned by another author, but Pope related it as the dramatic story that it was. He described the heavy weather which battered the tiny, unescorted ship through hostile waters during her 1000 mile voyage home, causing her to leak badly. He described the overland voyage to London by the young Lieutenant Laponetiere, who arrived at the Admiralty, utterly exhausted, late at night to deliver his stunning news to an elderly, overworked clerk. And all this is just the first chapter.
Subsequent chapters describe the British, French and Spanish navies of the time, the strategies of Napoleon and Pitt, Nelson's life and the relationship he had with his Captains, the life of the common sailor, and even the conditions in Cadiz in 1805. Pope's writing is full of color and detail, and this book moves quickly.
Pope managed to describe the action of the battle very clearly with the use of diagrams of the battle as a whole and of individual matchups between opponents. He made the complex action understandable, and described the dramatic death of Nelson without getting bogged down in melodrama.
The aftermath of the battle, as well as it's importance to the Napoleonic wars and the future of the Royal Navy, are insightfully described towards the end of the book.

In one of my all time favorite books David Darling carries the reader into the depths of time and space. Scientists rarely accomplish this level of appreciation for the actual reality of the universe. The vividness of the journey was reminiscent of Asimov and deeply meditative. Darling now hosts a great reference site for space and astronomy news (daviddarling.info).

Gevin Giorbran
Author of Everything Forever: Learning To See Timelessness

a most facinating look at all of time and space in a realy easy to read format

It's not very often that I would describe a book as beautiful, it's even more rare that I would use this word to describe a science book, yet it really is the only word that describes this book. The auther obviousely views the universe and all it contains with much admiration and this pours from every page of the book. He paints a picture with words that leaves the reader with a lump in the throat and tear in your eye, and genuinely convinces you that the universe is not just amazing but is a thing, a living thing, of great beauty.

I really would recommend this book to everybody - it's probably my favourite book of all time.

I loved this book. It paints a very clear picture of very BIG and VERY small. It is written in a clear easy to read format that I found more novel like than your typical 'cosmology' book. Find a used copy somewhere and read this.

To be able to make the unknown and the infinite into the knowable and measurable seems impossible. Deep Time does the impossible in a readable look at physics and cosmology. Darling traces the events that were likely to have occurred during the Big Bang through the long stretches of the time that is our past, our present and our future into entrophy and the end.

I was in awe at every turn of the page, every turn of events. A book for all who stand in wonder beneath the stars.

This book was given to me and I found it to be a wonderful bedside book to pick up as I faced another day or ended a difficult day as I grieved for my loved one. It is a book of hope and yet does not lavish `platitudes' but instead God's love and comfort. It is a good choice when you want to hold out a hand to a friend.

I have bought many of these. I send this book to friends who have lost a loved one or have a serious illness. It is extremely inspiring and comforting.

I had a really tough year. Cancer, divorce and infertility were all the issues that faced me. This little book is/was ENORMOUSLY comforting. I am buying several to give to others. The perfect gift when you don't know what to do or say for other people in their tough times.

Perhaps because I find great solace in nature, I have found this little book with beautiful photos, prayers, meditative thoughts, to be a great comfort and an excellent gift to those who are in mourning.

This book is like the comfort of a friend's warm embrace when the pain is not seen by the human eye nor the path one to be walked alone. This book left me comforted during a time of trials which left me asking God those "why" questions which He rarely answers on this earth. God never promised the absence of trials in our lives but He did promise growth in our trials. We can choose to hold onto the pain all by ourselves and experience limited growth or we can choose to let God and friends share our pain and in the sharing allow them to help us grieve and grow. From someone who has felt my share of pain thru life and whom has gone thru training to be a crisis counselor,I highly recommend this book to the person hurting and to the friend reaching out to another in pain. It is a book I reach for when the trials touch my heart and when another's heart needs an encouraging word from a friend. I would highly recommend this book as an outreach to be provided to anyone grieving a loss or questioning the "why" of a trial.

The book came very quickly and was in excellent condition. And to top it off the book was great.

The book is the ultimate handbook for deliverance ministry. The keys to identifying and breaking off demonic strongholds are identified clearly. As this life is a battlefield, then this book is a war room strategy guide. This book brought me immense help in identifying how demons work to intimidate and harass people, and how to fight on their behalf. As usual, this author has taken a complex subject and put it into simple, concrete terms. Indispensible reference book for anyone serious about setting others free.

This is an intensely practical, very valuable guide to spiritual warfare. The Lord Jesus Christ has given us the power to overcome all the attacks of the enemy! Demolishing strongholds means you have to repent of your sins (or overcome the curse against you) which allowed access to your life and then go after the strongman. But many make the mistake of not recognizing that there are other spirits of bondage connected with the strongman which make him even stronger. (This book gives detailed lists of these associated with common strongmen.) The author directs the reader to bind the strongman, cast out the other spirts, THEN cast out the strongman. She includes prayers to use, stories of victorious battles, and her own personal experience. Even if you don't believe in demon deliverance, think of this book as a way of using truth encounters to confront strongholds and what kinds of strongholds tend to happen together.

If you are like most Christians, you have times when you may feel "hemmed in" by something that isn't readily explainable.Other times you may lack the freedom in Christ that you have had in times past. Delivering the Captives is a well written practical guide to deal with issues before they get a foothold in your life. This is a book every library needs to have, and hopefully the reader will review from time to time. It is a very compatible book with the author's Beyond the Lie. Though the specific issues may be differerent, both of these books deal with life isssues that affect our functioning ability. Make no mistake about it, the strongman will do his best to defeat you quickly or with a slow burn. With God's help we can be victorious.

This is a great "how to" book with amazing stories about everyday people who experience relief and freedom from fears, tormenting thoughts, addictions and overpowering sinful habits by resisting sin and evil through drawing near to God. Salvation, personal freedom and deliverance from demonic spirits, is the work of Jesus in and through our lives.

Alice Smith in "Delivering The Captives" shares how we can obtain personal freedom and effectively help others with their greatest struggles and pain. "Delivering The Captives" renews our faith that the love and power of God is more than enough to live changed lives and experience God's peace.

Debbie Walker, Houston, TX.

I was referred to this book while searching out another "motorcycle author" Daniel Meyer. My personal favorites are books that inspire me to get out on the road and ride for days, if not weeks. La Plante delivered the motivation in spades. I found this story to be intriguing, as LaPlante rides cross country to Sturgis, set against the backdrop of his "real world" life experiences. This book is a page-turner, and I finished it while on a two day trip to pick up my newest bike in Reno. The 600 mile ride back home was the perfect ending to reading a great book about riding.

A man comes to terms with his life's decisions and puts them into perspective during his lone bike trip from East Hampton, NY, to Sturgis, South Dakota. Honest and without pretention, it will make you want to take a break from daily routine to prioritize and appreciate what we all take for granted. You do not need to be into motorcycles to enjoy this gem of a book.

INCREDIBLY AWESOME!! LaPlante has captured the very essence of what we all yearn for....IT! A search into the mirror for the true meaning of hardaches, joy, love, honesty, fellowship and sincere happiness. One doesn't need to be a motorcycle enthusiast to savor the rewards this adventure will salivate. His humorous style will leave you giddy but the real story lies between the Hamptons of New York and the hallowed ground of the Black Hills of South Dakota. His wit and outrageous cast of characters makes this wild ride a must read, all the way home. This true exploration will leave a reflection in the mirror. Destined to end up a classic!

Author Richard la Plante wanted to once live his American dream of attending the annual motorcycle rally in Sturgis, South Dakota. However, the now fiftyish Richard knew his time to consummate his dream apparently passed and he always would be a couch potato wondering what he missed. With a young child and a pregnant wife and now fifty-three, Richard faced with economic worries and writer's block decided it is time to live his fantasy. Borrowing a bike, he begins his odyssey.

IN DETOURS: LIFE, DEATH, AND DIVORCE ON THE ROAD TO STURGIS, Richard, in his autobiography, concentrates mostly on the trek to the Dakotas, which serves as an allegory to life's journey from birth to death. This is a strong but quite different type of autobiography. Though some will say the author ignored his responsibilities to his family with this risky venture, many will agree this book is worth reading not only for the well-written morality tale, but also for encouraging individuals to sing "My Way".

Harriet Klausner

It's truly special how La Plante somehow takes one's own gritty reality of life, death and divorce, sends them off on a bike ride through time, space and climates, and ends up with a journey full of humor, sensitivity, hope and dreams. This book is a vacation for the soul complete with pit-stops for laughter, tears, and reflection.

Sure would love to let loose and really take such a trip but until then, I'll take my daily dose of Detours to remind me to keep the perspective by getting lost.

PS... I'm off to Ebay to buy a bike!

I bought this book for a friend who lost her 18 year old daughter. It turns out the author wrote this after losing his daughter! God is awesome! My friend said it really comforted her and helped her with her grieving. Highly recommend for anyone that has lost a loved one.

This book is a very good for the one who is caught in the middle of a loss -one that may last a lifetime. The writings are short, which makes it easier for that person to read when nothing else makes sense. The author shares her heart, which will make it easier for you to share yours.

This devotion deals with the raw pain that comes with loss, be that of a loved one or of a dream that is cherished with all one's heart. The author understands the real heartache that comes with great loss and never criticizes readers for having the full spectrum of emotions. This book helps readers to understand grief and how to acknowledge it, address it, and then begin to move forward. It truly is a blessing.

Whether your grief is new and raw or lingering and unresolved, this book can be a powerful tool for healing. If you grieve the loss of a loved one through death or other life-altering circumstances, this devotional offers gentle guidance and companionship. Now that I have read the entire book, and gone through quite a few Kleenex on the way, the writing is beautiful, too. Everything is stated just perfectly, sensibly, sensitively, lovingly. I appreciate the authors openness, honesty and courage in writing it. The book is a beautiful gift that I'm sure will touch peoples lives and heal their souls.

I have purchased several books to give to friends who are either grieving a loved one or any other kind of loss. I found that this is very comforting and encouraging without each devotion being long and overbearing. During the grieving process, I did not feel like reading pages but short encouraging devotions like these are ideal!