Personal Books

This is one of the most profound books I have ever read. I first read the book some ten years ago and at the time I recall thinking "Why didn't I know this information?". Within this book you will learn how to establishing a healthy connection with another. This is a must have book. How I wish I had such insights when I was young.

Item was received with other purchased item, thus I received it in a reasonable amount of time. Book was like new!

This is an excellent book that challenges you to risk being intimate with yourself and your part. Welwood's observations are keen insightful, but delivered in a manner that is respectful to his readers. What I got most from this book was reading and reflecting on all of my relationships and the intimacy I allowed for myself as well as how open I am to others. I definitely recommend this as a book to read to help you appreciate the deeper layers of passion that a relationship can provide.

Have read many books on relationships. This is one of the best and should be at the top of the list for anyone interested in an intimate relationship.

I have read this book several times and never cease to come away with a new understanding. It has depth, compassion and useful information for moving through some of the modern relationship dilemmas that cause so many of us suffering.

John Welwood is a Ph.D. psychotherapist with a deep knowledge of world religions, especially Buddhism. He also has a lot of life experience and has written many books on a variety of topics including other relationship books.

One of the things I most like about this book is the author's ability to apply both modern psychological thought and Eastern philosophical wisdom to modern day problems. He does this in an easy to read fashion with a compassionate tone. He does not come across as omniscient, but rather as a fellow traveler on the relationship path of spiritual growth.

I believe relationships are probably the best or at least one of the best self-growth paths anyone could ever follow. John Welwood shows us how to hold them as such in this marvelously insightful book.

I also recommend his book called "Toward a Psychology of Awakening." This book is subtitled "Buddhism, Psychotherapy, and the Path of Personal and Spiritual Transformation." This would make a nice accompaniment to the book above, but the content is heavier and so is the style. However, it is packed with great information and it represents some of John Welwood's best writing.

I particularly like Welwood's insights on "spiritual bypassing" or escaping our psychological and emotional work by overly emphasizing the transcendent and dismissing the wisdom of embodied experience. I'm sure glad a guy who is writing relationship books holds this point of view because as anyone knows who has been in a committed relationship, there are lots of important ingredients to a good relationship beyond the spiritual considerations. The phenomenon of spiritual bypassing is explored very directly in "Toward a Psychology of Awakening."

He did his research well and he relates the tales and legends of the SCA as well as we could do ourselves around a fire after a fine day at War.

If only the rest of the world could have Wars like ours, where no one is harmed and more friends than enemies are made.

I remember some of the people mentioned in the book. I left the SCA a long time ago because of lack of time. Every now and then I think about going back into it but I'm geographically isolated. This was a nice look at the SCA and the changes that it makes on people in it.

In sooth, it matters not if ye be SCAdian or mundane, this book will delight and inform ye. Partick O'Donnell's "voice" is a perfect balance between jaded old-timer and wide-eyed newbie, to what we call "The Dream". His observations are spot on, and witty. His appraisal is honest, neither sugar-coating the bad bits nor over-stating the good bits. As a long time player in the SCA (16 years and counting) I can vouche for the authenticity of his descriptions and his analyses. Great fun, and a good read!! I agree...buy TWO COPIES! One to read and one to loan. Your friends will thank you, and who knows...they might even come to war with you. Highly recommended. Hie thee to thy Shopping Cart and there addeth this book! Disappointed thou shall not be.

I'm a swordfighter, using real armour and real swords. I found the whole insight into the SCA culture quite fascinating. But I found the best part of this book to be the following of one SCA member from his beginning in the SCA, to him becoming a well rounded person. It was a very interesting, very human story. Being from Australia the SCA movement is no where near as big here, so it was nice to see how the yanks do it.
In the last few chapters the author covers some groups from England. I found this quite fascinating, and I reckon he could do another book on it.

All in all a decent read.

For anyone who wants to know what the Society for Creative Anachronism is all about, this book is **really** worth reading.

It's a remarkably realistic, positive, yet still warts-and-all view of the SCA. Plus, it's written darn well.

It really drives home the fact that the SCA has grown steadily more history- and authenticity-oriented since its roots as a backyard costume party, but it **still** contains several fantasy elements... and likely *always* will.

The SCA is much more flexible and inclusive than most historical recreation groups, so you're always going to have the Tuchux and other groups playing within the Society that aren't strictly historical or fit within the SCA's designation as a pre-17th Century history reenactment organization.

Yes, the involvement of these fringe groups can make a number of us who are concerned about historical accuracy double-clutch at times and we strongly feel that it lessens our credibility with Academia... but I think those groups' involvement also stops us from taking things too seriously. I believe the sheer variety and diversity of folks and their interests is one of our greatest strengths -- we offer many things to many people.

Although the focus of the book is on the Middle Kingdom (midwest United States), the author does interview folks all over the nation. It has *tons* of wonderful interviews with folks from all periods of the group's development (Fleig, Diana Paxson, Ice Falcon, Cariadoc of the Bow, Roak, Alys Katherine...) Their stories made me laugh, gasp, and literally sometimes cry.

I also really appreciated the fact that the book gave me -- someone who has never donned a helm and fought with heavy weapons -- a better appreciation of how and why fighters do what they do.

I used to waterbear a lot when I first joined the Society and I basically looked at heavy weapons fighting as though it was just another type of martial arts competition, as though I was watching an aikido demonstration or a karate tournament.

This book helped me glimpse that there's a lot more to the mindset and the practice of heavy weapons fighting.

This small book is sooo powerful it is unbelievable! I had so many aha moments that it shocked me. Would recommend this book to everyone at every age.

I picked this book up after leafing through it a bit, and what I found intrigued me to buy it. It's an interesting journey through life and growth, offering insight along the way. "The Laws of Spirit" can be read quickly, but should be savored for its rich content. Our life is always open to transformation, and only we have the power to fully direct that transformation. All life is a journey, and this books helps lay it out in simple terms to achieve balance in life. Elaine Williams

I came across this little book completely by accident (fate?) in a bookcase/library of about 800 books while renting a house for a few weeks scouting locations for my company. I was at a very low point in my life and this book taught me a new way of looking at almost every detail. This particular Dan Millman book shows you how we make life so much more difficult than it has to be. I have purchased and given away almost 40 copies of this book to friends, family, and sometimes to people I have just met or barely know that seem lost or overwhelmed with life. Suggestion: Find a spot that is special to you to sit back and absorb this book...it's an easy "short read" and I hope it speaks to you as it has to me and many others.

This book is short and to the point. The problem is that once you have the tools in this book, can you apply them. That seems to be my downfall. Another good guide book out there by my favorite author.

This book is one of my all time favorites. I have bought over 40 copies of this book and given them to friends (many of them in turn told me they bought copies of this book for friends and family). If you want to give a gift that will be appreciated, give this book as a gift!

I have reread this book several times!

Tammy is an engaging writer with the gift of turning her nightmare into a positive, spiritual gift to all who read her story. Both her family and Trent's are amazing.

This is the best book I have read in years! I think everybody that can should read this book and not take LIFE for granted!!!

Tammy did a wonderful work in describing a pain that many of us face and have to go through. At times I felt like she was describing my own thoughts and feelings when I lost my only child in a car accident. While you are learning to draw breath again, our Lord and Savior truly does literally carry you through the pain until you can begin to see hope again. Life doesn't stop just because a life that means more to you than your own, has stopped. In telling her own story, Tammy helps us to tell ours.

I recently lost my husband suddenly, I have felt all the emotions that Tammy expressed in her book. At 24 I have lost my husband, my father (at 16) and two sisters. Last year my husband and I were expecting a little girl and he was so excited to becoming a father. We had been married for 3 years and just bought a house and another car. Unexpectedly my husband was killed a snowmobiling accident, while on a vacation with his brothers. The area that they were on was about 66 acres and he had gone out alone (this was unusual for him) and hadn't returned after three hours they became worried and went to search for him. There were alot of snowmobile tracks and they weren't sure which ones to follow, so they had formed a search party to look for him. As night fell still no sign of my wonderful husband. The next morning they found my husband who had hit a tree, he was wearing a helmet but somehow it had come off of his head upon the snowmobile hitting the tree sending him flying into the tree, he was gone taking my heart with him. I totally understand why she choose the title "Learning to breathe again: choosing life and finding hope after a shattering loss" because thats just what you have to do, when you lose your husband like that, and being so young you think you have your whole life ahead of you and you make so many plans, When you lose it all like that you feel like you have to learn how to breathe again (Im still learning to breathe again)

Tim was my life, my forever love. I know that when I had our daughter Grace Katheryne (it seemed to fit her she was God's Grace to me in such a rough time in my life and it was also the name Tim picked) I felt his presence as I gave birth to her 6 months ago (just 6 weeks after the accident) I know I will see him again in another time and Another place. As I look at her she looks more and more like her daddy each day she has his dark hair nose mouth and chin and my eyes. I know I have had some days when Ive said "I can't do this alone Lord" but then Im reminded that Im not alone God is with me each day and he will never leave me or forsake me. Tammy did such a beautiful job on this book I share it with other widows I know. No doubt it reached an unbeliever and has made them commit their lives to Christ
From the bottom of my heart thank you so much Tammy

As I read this book I had tears in my eyes. I am also a young widow and I have two children (the last was born 3 months after her father passed away while on a business trip in California the rental car he had been driving was hit by a semi. Being a widow I didn't care for the comments made by Deborah Reece, I thought them to be insensitive and hurtful. saying "be thankful for what you have" is just like saying the pain lessens with time. For me it hasn't. It doesn't appear to me she has read the book (kind of like the other book she "read") but for some reason she had an opinion about it. Finding true love is not hard (once upon a time I thought it was) its just about not settling for second best. We should feel sorry for Tammy as she has been through alot. Yes alot of women go through it but that doesn't make it less painful. Also the book I feel was a testamony I don't think she wrote it to make people feel sorry for her. Trent was an amazing man and I was deeply touched by the book (I lead it out alot sometimes to unbelievers one of whom I believe has come to Christ from being inspired by Tammy's book. I love the title as I too thought I couldn't breathe after Dan's crash, everytime I would take a deep breathe I felt as if I couldn't take another breath.Deborah, If you want a wonderful man just pray about it and try to show that you have a wonderful personality, I think guys like positive girls not ones who have negative things to say where they shouldn't be.

I'm a firm believer that when you're facing a big life transition like a wedding, it takes away a TON of stress when you have all the other facets of your life running fairly smoothly. So as a bride looks into the future, she'll know that she's in great shape when she has actual, useful, organized and entertaining steps to take to bring some order into her world. I just got married in April, and Jennifer Louden's books have always brought me a deeper sense of peace -- this book is the PERFECT book for brides-to-be. You're giving them a better chance at a happy life. That's way better than a blender!

I bought this organizer on the basis of the other reviews here.

At the time, I was looking for a way of planning and reflecting that enabled me to be more flexible about both what matters to me and more respectful of the range of mood and other influences that are part of life. I've been dipping into the organizer and thinking about how I can integrate Ms Louden's suggestions into my own experiences.

This is not so much a book describing a linear journey as it is a variety of maps for the journeyer to choose from.

And now, it is 2008, I am ready to start! In the meantime, I have purchased two additional copies of the Organiser as gifts.

Jennifer Cameron-Smith

Whether you are organized or unorganized, this book provides a way to get in touch with your deepest values and goals. This is a great starting place for anyone wishing they had more balance in their life and the author's emphasis on treating yourself with kindness and respect is refreshing and encouraging.

I cannot tell you how rough this year has been. I felt like I was drowning in "have to do" and "I wish I coulds." This book helped me connect my true wishes, secret desires and priorites. I was free to let go of the rest. I was even able to deal with conflicting emotions surrounding a romance. I have had this book for awhile and have used it at different points, but 2008 marked the first time in a long time I was in overload mode. I happened to notice the book "waiting" for me on a side table in my living room. I picked it up and I have felt better since that day.

I ask myself, why does a woman need a life organizer? What has happened to create a need for us to seek answers through various devices and advice gurus? We've become so goal-oriented we can't even listen to our own intuition. Simply lying on the earth should give us any answers we need, but we're too busy, too stressed, to do even that. So we turn to today's guidance, often in the form of books, to find out how to come home to ourselves.

One of our helpers is Jennifer Louden, also known as "The Comfort Queen." Louden is the author of several books including the bestselling The Women's Comfort Book and is devoted to nurturing women to express their "true creative power." I love books and look to them for inspiration and, frequently, affirmations of what I already know. This one is a heart-based, spirit-directed approach to listening to ourselves.

The Life Organizer is glossy, full of color and original artwork, and is written in Louden's warm, over-the-back-fence, casual style. She doesn't offer advice, but rather, "a collection of possibilities to inspire you in creating your way of participating with life and with your gifts."

Those possibilities are ways to stop and "tune in to what you really want and what you really know." She notes five main steps that make up the life-organizing process: connect, feel, inquire, allow and apply. Louden cautions readers not to focus on the five steps, but rather on your own life experiences, posing questions to assist you in getting in touch with your life experiences.

Besides the main steps to help you "create your optimum life day by day, moment by moment," Louden offers six "life-planning concepts." All of these suggestions grew out of Louden's busy life experiences and the intuitive planner she created for herself, which she shared with her coaching clients and those who attended her workshops and retreats. The results, and the stories of several of those women, are included.

"Shadow Comforts and Time Monsters" is one of Louden's life-planning concepts and refers to those comforts that masquerade as self-care techniques, but in fact drain your energy. For example, chatting on a message board may be energizing, or it may be a tactic to avoid talking to your partner. Among the women Louden has coached are those "whose lives consisted almost entirely of time monsters, because they were too afraid to do what they really wanted to do." Watching TV, spending a month cooking for the holidays, and spending a week decorating your child's classroom may be among your "time monsters." Some discerning questions are helpful to consider. We so often say we don't have time, but if we look at what we're really doing with our time, a light may go on.

I particularly like the chapter on "Creating Your Life Planner." I'm a fan of journals so that's why I probably enjoyed the various approaches women have taken to crafting their own Life Planners. You may write in Louden's book, but if you need more room, a spiral notebook will work just fine. Then you need to place your life planner where you have easy access to it, by your bed, or alongside your date book. One woman constructed her own card deck using the questions throughout the book. She uses the cards as her own divination system, drawing a question card or two on which to reflect. She has decorated them with her own images so she can stare at those images and see what they spark in her.

Thirteen elegantly designed planning sections that include four weeks worth of theme-based questions also include "Stories Along the Way," true stories of women who have used Life Organizing to improve their lives.

Each week, on a two-page spread, there is space for writing your intention. Three circles provide space for completing these phrases: "let go of", "have to" and "could do." Questions, and some possible answers, give impetus to a creative and intentional week.

Although this book is full of possibilities, at the core is its intent is to bring you back to yourself, eliminating what no longer serves the life that you, in your heart of hearts, desire. It looks very organized, but in fact you can approach it in your own non-organized, non-linear way. Using it as a divinatory tool seems a good idea to me. Just open the book and see what tips and stories appear for you today.

Jennifer Louden is a bestselling author, personal coach, radio show contributor, columnist for "Body & Soul Magazine" and creator of learning events and retreats. Louden is married to cinematographer Christopher Mosio, living in a small house on an island in the Pacific Northwest, along with their daughter, Lillian.

You can share a cup of virtual tea with Jen at www.jenniferlouden.com and www.lifeorganizerbook.com.

by Mary Ann Moore
for Story Circle Book Reviews
www.storycirclebookreviewsorg
reviewing books by, for, and about women

The main character in Dale Dauten's magnificent story, The Max Strategy, is Max Elmore, an old man with infectious enthusiasm, insatiable curiosity, and wisdom gained from a lifetime of management consulting to leaders across a spectrum of organizations. Max meets the book's fictional author during an extended delay at O'Hare Airport, and during their ensuing conversation, one of the topics Max discusses is 'becoming a flukologist':

"Burton Malkiel (A Random Walk Down Wall Street) dreamed up an imaginary coin-tossing contest. A thousand contestants in a line; heads was a winner, tails a loser. So the thousand people toss their coins and about five hundred get tails and lose. The five hundred with heads toss again. After seven tosses there are just eight coin tossers left. By this time crowds start to gather to witness the surprising ability of these expert coin tossers. The winners are overwhelmed with adulation. They are celebrated as geniuses in the art of coin tossing - their biographies are written and people urgently seek their advice. After all, there were a thousand contestants and only eight could consistently flip heads."

"Naturally, if you aren't smart and hardworking and all that, you're going to fail ten times out of ten. But if you do all the right things, guess what? You fail nine times out of ten. Think how many great novels you've read that never became best-sellers. Think how many actors you see in local or regional theaters who are as good as those on Broadway. Their problem isn't talent or work ethic; it's that they aren't expert coin tossers."

"Remember this: The coin tosser who gets the most 'heads' is the one who gets the most tosses. Given enough chances, chance is your friend."

"Yes, a fluke is a fluke. But you could use a fluke in your career, no? So maybe we should learn their secrets and become 'flukologists.'"

"If you innovate instead of imitate, and work every day to be different from yesterday, you'll improve your odds: You no longer will fail nine times out of ten. You'll fail eight times out of ten."

"Real achievement is a kind of lottery. You enter by being competent and hardworking. Most people get one shot in the lottery, playing at one-in-ten odds. I'm trying to show you how you can enter again and again, at two-in-ten odds. Here's the logic. Most people try to be like the successful people in their field. The result is that everyone does what everyone else is doing. If a great new idea comes along, sure, they adopt it. So does everyone else. You see what is happening to each of them? Each is trying to be exceptional, but ends up going about it by being just like everyone else. The upshot? They have, at best, a one-in-ten chance of producing results in the top ten percent of their profession."

"If you want to be extraordinary, the first and hardest step is to stop being ordinary."

"People try to conform to success, but to be successful is to be a non-conformist. Let's put it this way: You don't become a Picasso by taking a Picasso print and running it through a Xerox machine."

"You can't get to better without first getting to different. Every blessed day. Believe me, it'll wear you out. No, I'm not suggesting the easy way out: this is the exhausting way out. But it's also the exciting way out, the alive way out."

This week, I'm teaching at the Wow Institute in Henniker, New Hampshire. 75 fundraisers from across North America have come seeking ideas to make them better. If we're successful, participants will learn to become innovative flukologists and expert coin-flippers who reject 'ordinary' and are committed to pursuing 'different' every day. It's the risky path, but it's also the only path to 'better,' the only path to 'extraordinary.'

(from www.crawdaddycove.com)

This is a good book, but I'd say it's a bit thin on detail and information. It is basically composed of many feel good success stories.
There's no knowledge here that I found to be of of the ordinary or particularly helpful, but's a good easy read.

A very very good book. The great thing about this book is that once you start reading is, you will not let go... The book tries to reinvent our thinking from the normal rut. Definately a good read. You might not agree with the author at certain junctures, but then he comes up with very good examples.

This book was my introduction to Dale Dauten and remains one of my favorite business books because of the novel way the author finds to make practical advice memorable.

The book is organized as a conversation between a successful entreprenuer and a stranded burned-out businessman at snowed-in O'Hare airport. Max Elmore,our hero, helps his new friend see the nature of innovation and the connection between innovation and business success.

For the person who wants the reputation as an innovator (and ain't that what makes life fun?) this is a little book that can be read and understood in a few short hours.

If you have the courage to devote the additional time to completing the exercises outlined in the book you can expect to uncover some interesting experiments that might lead you to some new methods and new thinking.

If you are interested in innovatation and experimentation as an employee or a business owner, the few hours reading this book will be richly rewarded.

Couldn't put it down. I would recommend this book to anyone that has DARES to dream... It puts success in "simple" terms and not anything like the corporate books I have read in the past- that advises mostly on the "rules" on how you "should" do things....I LOVED IT! I'll probably re-read in about 6 months...

Stadner's book is well written and fun. She tells her stories in writing even better than she delivers them in person, and this book is loaded with all kinds of memories, each one tugging at a different heart string. She hits home over and over, and that familiarity makes it even more entertaining. At times, I found myself agreeing with her out loud, or calling my sister to remind her of something I hadn't thought of in years. I laughed, I cried, I enjoyed every minute of it.

Great book! The stories you related, made me laugh and cry with you.It was truly a walk down memory lane. You have successfully memorialized Cote St Luc, forever.Sheila

Hanala Stadner writes an amazing narative of her life, beginning with a childhood of loneliness and need. Her parents, survivors of the Holocaust, do not seem to be able to understand her travails which include normal childhood growing pains. She bitterly leaves home and is able to work as a semi-employed actor. Her pain follows her as she stumbles into drug and alcohol abuse. Just when the reader is totally disgusted with her, she begins a long road to recovery and self discovery. This well written book will make you laugh and make you cry. I would heartily recommend it.

I just finished your book I loved it so much that I just didn't want it to end.
I related to just about everything you went through. My parents also went through the war as Partisans in the woods of Poland and White Russia and then came to Montreal.
Thank you so much for writing this book. I must confess that
I laughed and cried but the last 100 pages of your book brought back so many memories for example singing to my father on his death bed \"OYFIN PRIPITCHEK BRENT A FAYERL, UN IN SHTUB IS HEYS. UN DER REBELY LERNT KLEYNE KINDERLEKH DEM ALDF-BEZ.\"
I saw you at Lynn University when you were in Boca Raton and had the
pleasure of meeting you and Fabrizio,gee I hope I remembered his name, but you know who I mean the cute Italian. You signed my book and I will cherish it forever.
Again, thank you so very much this book really made a difference to me.
Lots of Luck, from one survivor to another Sarah Johnson.

The title grabs you - humor? Holocaust? Then, you begin reading and Hanala grabs you- envelops you, fastens your seat belt for you and takes you on the ride that is her life. And what a ride.

For the general public, it is a story, written with wit, humor, turns of phrase, expressions which you know you have heard before and are comfortable with but which are neither trite nor cliche, in a style that holds your attention. It is the history of a little girl clamoring for something which is impossible to receive due to no fault of her own, a "normal" childhood, filled with love, affection, nurturing, complements, structure, safety, sibling support, reliable friends, - just like in the 50s and 60s TV families into which she delves for comfort; who, not surprisingly grows into a young adult with physical addictions and emotional insecurities - making bad choices, entering into troubled relationships and behaving in a self-destructive manner bringing her near death; and finally, just as you have almost had it with her and want to read her the riot act, but knowing that nothing you say could bring her out of her messed-up life, she surprises you and takes a small step which becomes a deep reach into herself and pulls herself out of the spiral - building inner strength and finally maturing into the positive, healthy person you would be thrilled to have in your life. Hanala lays open her soul to the core, describes behaviors and experiences that most would be embarrassed and ashamed to admit, and demonstrates that we have the ability to heal ourselves, with the help of others, if we only give ourselves the chance. You laugh, you laugh a lot, and you cry, you find yourself repeating statements out loud that you have just read which may well hit deep in your own soul. Frankly, you don't want the book to end and when it does, you are OK, because you know that Hanala's story is continuing and because it is a real life that you feel connected to.

And, for the readership which is made up of the children of Holocaust survivors/escapees, it is an even more special story. Hanala, through her experiences, and her insights gained through therapy, A.A. and Al-Anon programs, gives us answers as to why her parents, and so many other such parents just could not do a better parenting job - whether due to their guilt for not being able to save family or friends or for the simple fact that they survived, magnified by the relative comfort in which they are living; why they too were and are leading lives that are not filled with what many would consider "normal" actions and reactions - which behaviors many have unintentionally passed on to their children. "It is not because she won't, it is because she just can't." For Holocaust survivor/escapees' children, Hanala provides answers to questions we might not even know how to ask.

Truly insperational. I love Tedy Bruschi and this shows the heart of a true sportsman and a great person. This book is easy to read and a must read if you are a PATS fan at all!

I haven't finished the book, but what i have read is excellent. It was well written, and I felt it explained in the details of his life.

I am a HUGE Patriots fan and i could not put this book down. I am 14 years old and i have to read every single night and i was excited when i started to read this book. This book makes you think about what you have and the things that you take for granted. Even though the patriots lost the super bowl i got over it quicker than i would of since i had just finished the book. I liked the insight on what goes on and what goes through the NFL players head. You have got to read this inspirational book!

I bought this book for my husband for Christmas. He has hardly put it down since he got it. I can't wait for him to finish so I can read it!

Bruschi inspires people, even those who aren't football fans, in this book that tells about what he went through when he had his stroke and the aftermath. I would even recommend this book for stroke survivors or people whose family or friends had a stroke.

This book by Thomas Merton is a marvelous exploration of what it is to be human and the fundamental problems of disconnection from the depths of Being. More practically, it addresses the solution to our isolation in a direct, loving and compassionate way. Thomas Merton is clearly one who has traveled the path to his deepest self and has much to share about his journey.

Thomas Merton is a mystic who has spent a lot of time in silence and deep contemplation. He had a grasp of contemporary issues facing the modern person and he has a way of using language that is simple, but touches the heart.

Although Merton was a Catholic Christian mystic, his message is universal. He illuminates the mystic's path and shares the fruit of his explorations through writing in a way that is accessible and powerful. Somehow, between the lines it is obvious that his experience has been profound and he translates this into terms that help the reader to find meaning.

This book will be especially appealing to Catholics and Christians. The tone is understanding and gentle, although it is packaged in a way that is most digestible to fellow Catholics. On the other hand, there are so many gems that are applicable to the human condition that it will be a valuable read by people of any faith.

Thomas Merton wrote a lot of books and this is one of his best for lay people. New Seeds of Contemplation is also very thought provoking and could be considered a companion volume. It also goes a bit deeper into some of the more existential and metaphysical aspects of living, but not in an esoteric way.

If you have an interest in Christian Mysticism in general, I also highly recommend Practical Mysticism by Evelyn Underhill. This is a great short introduction to Western Mysticism delivered in a very poetical style and that is geared to the average person looking for meaning in their lives.

This book was an amazing read for me the first time through. I have since read again and it continues to reveal insights into my life and relationship with God and to others. Thomas Merton is amazingly timeless and contemporary throughout. These are not abstract views of spirituality, but real and meaningful looks at a life of faith in the world, our world, today. Merton looks truthflly at how we relate to God and to each other in a world that is filled with noise and distractions. I highly reccomend this book to anyone who is honestly seeking to deepen their own interior spiritual life. Merton is a man of our times, understanding the depths and treasures of faith as well as the pitfalls of our humanity. This book will help you to believe that goodness is very possible and that being a spiritual person is possible while living in the world. Merton shows that the religious life is not just for priests, monks and nuns, which is very compatible with the John Paul II vision that all lives lived in faith can be a vocation.

This hardcover is very nice as it is linen bound with a gold ribbon marker. Chapters are broken up into numbered segments, making it possible to read a little each day and to find favorite sections.

"No Man is an Island" is a spiritually moving set of essays--or meditations, rather--that address many issues but ultimately center on our relationship with God, with each other, and with ourselves. Having read only a little of Merton, I found this book somewhat more straightforward and prosaic compared to a later work of his, "The New Man", and he gets a tad dogmatic in spots (well, he is ordained, so he has a license to do so, fair enough)--I was reminded of some of the more trenchant passages in "The Seven Storey Mountain" before he'd mellowed out a bit. And yet Merton's characteristic mix of simplicity and profundity, his fine-tuned mystic's sense of paradox, and his ability to take Catholic teachings and breathe new life into them are all here in full; indeed, in many ways this book would serve very well as a Catholic Monastic statement of what life's all about, spoken in Merton's gentle conversational tones at once calm and serious, critical of the shallow aspects of modernity while articulated in a manner that speaks eloquently to modern people. I have no doubt that this book should appeal to readers who profess Christianity as their religion, but I also think that many non-Christians (such as myself) will find much here that is inspiring and spiritually enlightening.

Every adjective title used to describe this book in the reviews so far i have found to be true.

"The truth i must love in my brother is God Himself, living in Him."
excerpt from this book (Thomas Merton "No Man is an Island"

Reading just that line is enough to contemplate for some while.

I found i had to read small sectionsm and re read to gain fuller meaning
because some concepts are difficult to grapple with, but grapple with them.
I will re read this book many times over throughout my life. It strikes richly at the core of Catholic teaching, its value universal for everyone.
Its a celebration of God and his creatures, it affirms the truth of His love as His gift living in us, for us also to share, for it is not ours to keep selfishly.

While this is certainly not one of my favorite Thomas Merton works, I do find that its format and style facilitate a prayerful experience.

With its individual sections of thought, this book is great to read in parts. I found it wonderfully useful in sections read before community prayer in the chapel. It might be good for someone looking for spiritual reading but who does not have a lot of time to spare.

This is my favorite book on autism, period. I adore it.

I am a 30-year-old mom with Asperger Syndrome, my 11-year-old daughter has Autism. As such, I have sought books to keep on hand to give to friends who may be interested in reading about autism. I wish I could afford a whole shelf full of this one!

Paul Collins writing is insightful and deep and it flows well - leading from one chapter into the next, it's a difficult book to put down. This book talks about the author's expolration of the history of autism, and individuals who have lived or are living their own unique lives. At the same time as he's following these leads to find out more about his autism, his own son is diagnosed. It's a beautiful story because of the twists and turns, and because of the lives of people it illuminates so graciously.

I was given an assignment in my graduate Humanities class to recommend one chapter of a book for the whole class to read. I knew immediately it would be this book, but had to think about which chapter. After much deliberation (there are many beautifully written stories that flow together in this volume), I selected Chapter 16. The passage where he sits on the steps of a church to cry after meeting the man with the painted lightbulbs illustrates how this book speaks on what it means to be human, it isn't just a book on autism.

Always eloquent, never condescending - if this is the first book you read on autism you'll start with a deeper understanding. Don't bother reading books that bog you down with those who "suffer from autism" - this book, instead, is about human beings.

You won't find the rage at autism that so many parents have experienced, or the accounts of scientific and medical detective work that other parents have undertaken. What you will find is a collection of stories of people in both relatively ancient (Peter the Wild Boy) and relatively recent (Henry Darger) history who might have been diagnosed somewhere along the autism spectrum, interspersed with his experiences of his son, Morgan.

Another way this book is different from a lot of books written by parents of children with autism, is that Collins uses this collection of stories to look at Morgan's life in its totality, thinking what Morgan might be like at age 40, or age 70, instead of focusing on today's trials and opportunities. Collins thinks a lot further into the future than most parents. On the other hand, using history to think about autism, may not be the best way to go, as quite a bit of research into autism and related disorders is currently under way.

If you've already read some books about autism, you might think "Been there, done that" as you read about important people in the autism community like Simon Baron-Cohen and Temple Grandin. On the other hand, this book is unusually free of the anger, drama and tragedy of many books on this topic. Another thing that is useful about this book is to reflect that autism has most likely been around for a long time.

The book is easy to read, and is extensively documented if you wish to go further along the path Collins is treading.

This book was difficult to put down so, even with a 4 year old to look after, I read it in 4 days. I haven't had that experience with a book in a long time! "Not Even Wrong" is extremely interesting and informative on the subject and history of autism and the author's own personal experience with his autistic son is a tender and heartfelt thread binding it all together. Not only did it give me a much better understanding of autism but it had a profound impact on my understanding and respect for the unique way my own mind works, as well as the minds of those around me. By taking a respectful look at the extreme differences of the autistic mind, it helps a person become more accepting of the subtle differences we all have between us that, if we work with what we've got instead of trying to fit a mold, make us so unique and interesting. Along with his talent for describing history, Paul Collins has put his heart and soul into this book.

This is not your typical book about autism, and I mean that as a compliment. As another reviewer said, it's difficult to characterize, but it's very interesting even for someone who doesn't know a lot about autism. Well done!

Not Even Wrong: Adventures in Autism was written by historian Paul Collins, the author of Sixpence House. Apparently Collins and his wife don't have enough sense to be devastated that their happy, healthy son Morgan is suffering with a tragic disease. The kid bounces around exuberantly playing verbal games with numbers and letters, banging on the piano, reading everything in sight, and interacting with his nanny and parents in his own way. He's as happy as Mandy West in Paul West's old classic Words for a Deaf Daughter and just as oblivious that he's actually living in a hellish prison and that there must be a real child in there struggling to get out, etc., etc., ad infinitum, while the parents think he's simply a bright kid with many interests. Who cares if he doesn't answer when you ask his name or play along with dumb "look at the funny monkey" games when there's a much more interesting talking computerized camera in the same room?

In short, the parents don't see anything wrong with the kid, because there isn't anything wrong with the kid. He's just more interested in music, math, reading, and audio equipment than people. A phalanx of experts try to convince Collins that Morgan's in need of vast amounts of therapy to bring him up to "normal", but Collins sensibly doesn't buy it even after he is made to understand that two-year-olds generally have more interest in the above social interactions.

Like Paul West citing stories of famous deaf people, Collins goes back in time to look at historical figures who may have had conditions similar to autism, which the shrinks finally talk him into believing his son is at least sort of, kind of, on the spectrum. He spends a lot of time on Peter the Wild Boy, gets into a bit of Henry Darger and others, and presents us with an endless array of fascinating trivia. Thirty years ago, the obviously devoted Collins would have been targeted as one of those too-intellectual "refrigerator parents" who forced their kids to withdraw into a shell of autism. He talks about Bruno Bettelheim, too -- the guy who faked a psychology degree and promoted the theory that all autism was caused by abusive parents. Bettelheim defrauded the psychiatric community and the public for years, while brutalizing hundreds of children at his Orthogenic School.

Collins looks for (and finds) a way to help Morgan communicate without murdering who he is, using techniques such as PECS picture cards. He also finds an autistic school where the kids are permitted to learn through their own ways and interests. The book ends in almost a parody of the old sunburst-through-clouds, ohmygod-it's a breakthrough fashion when Morgan notices Collins has left the room and yells "Daddy" to bring him back. So those who believe in the sickness/cure paradigm get a Reader's Digest condensed version of what they want, and Morgan remains jolly well autistic.

The book repeatedly and convincingly gives the message that it's a mistake to try to force we autistics to behave as something other than our true selves. Parents of other autistic kids tell Collins about how their kid went through the pink monkey routine when they were mainstreamed, but did fine in an autistic school where they were allowed to communicate in their own way. Simply letting autistic people be autistic is such a revolutionary idea! But I think it will be accepted, along with ideas such as autistic culture, in the very near future.

It is easy to forget that just a few years ago, autism was still being classified as a mental illness (in the DSM-IV, it still is). Part of this confusion is caused by the fact that some psychotic children (made that way by abuse or other toxic life circumstance) behave superficially similar to autistic (cf. Mira Rothenberg's Children with Emerald Eyes). The Journal of Autism used to be the Journal of Autism and Childhood Schizophrenia and the two conditions were constantly being mistaken for each other. Now it is generally acknowledged thanks to Bernard Rimland and others that autism has a biochemical and/or neurological basis and is not a response to child abuse. (I believe it is only a matter of time before multiple personality is similarly demystified.)

As of 2005, most mainstream services for autism are still dedicated to the propositions that autism can and must be cured, and that until that day, autistics must be trained to behave as close to non-autistic as possible. It'll take a while to change, but I believe it will change. And I will live to see it, and so will you. Thank you, Paul Collins, for bringing that day a little closer.