W Books

Cuneo is very accurate with his facts (I should know, I was there), and he also has an excellent writing style.

This December, ten years ago, while a hostage to a group of terrorists
in Lima Peru, my name was called for me to come down from the second
floor of the Japanese Ambassador's residence. I was to be released.
It happened at 11 am on a Sunday morning at the same time a special
prayer service was going on at my church in Lima. My pastor was asking
for the safe release of all the hostages. He asked that the Lord to
intervene and gain the release of me and other church members held
hostage. It was already happening as they prayed.

All of us have our own stories, we know there's power in prayer.

I thought of all that when I read "Almost Midnight" by Michael Cuneo.
The book is about Darrell Mease, a criminal in Missouri who brutally
killed three people in a drug deal (crystal meth). Mease was convicted
and sentenced to death. He had received the Lord at an early age and
his mother was still active in the Assembly of God church. She led
prayers for her son. Mease turned to the Lord again and made what many
considered to be a sincere conversion. A blue grass musician received
a word from the Lord that he was to speak to Mease and tell him that
the Lord was his lawyer and that he was not to worry he would not be
put to death. After the musician visited him in jail, Darrell Mease
had a revelation that he was to be spared the death penalty. Time went
by and his execution date was scheduled for late January 1999. He
never lost faith that he would be spared.

With only two weeks to go before his execution, the date was suddenly
changed. It seems that Pope John Paul II was scheduled to visit
Missouri on the same day as the original execution date and Governor
Mel Carnahan had it changed to early February to avoid embrassing the
Pope who was a strong opponent of the death penalty. The Papal staff
were aware of the change in the execution date for Mease. The Pope's
visit was a one day stopover in St. Louis. During the visit, the Pope
presided over a special prayer service attended by Governor Carnahan.
As the service concluded, the Pope slowly made his way to the Governor,
took his hand and whispered in his ear, "Please have mercy on Mr.
Mease."

Amazingly, Governor Carnahan commuted Darrell Mease's death sentence
based on this personal plea from the Pope.

One of the pastors who had attended the interfaith prayer service at
which the Pope had descended from the altar and talked to the governor
had also ministered to Darrell Mease on death row and had urged him to
make peace with God as his execution date approached. Darrell had told
him that God had been clear that he would not allow his execution. The
pastor said, "I was blown away -- Darrell had never asked the pope to
say a word on his behalf. He'd simply continued to pray. Absolutely
remarkable. And I thought there was a lesson here for all of us. The
Scriptures are radical, and God's mercy is boundless. But most
Christians don't truly appreciate this. We're too timid in the our
faith. We needed someone like Darrell Mease to drive it home."

The story went on with other strange twists. A few months after he
commuted the death sentence, Governor Carnahan was killed in a plane
crash as he campaigned against John Ashcroft for the US Senate seat
from Missouri. Carnahan, although dead, received more votes than
Ashcroft on election day a few weeks later. The new governor of
Missouri named Carnahan's widow to fill her late husband's Senate seat.
Ashcroft went on to be named Attorney General of the United States.

God answers prayer -- "Almost Midnight" made me remember that again.

Michael Maxey

"What on earth is a Canadian of northern Italy Jewish descent teaching at New York's Fordham University researching a meth-related multiple murder in the Ozarks?" I asked Mike Cuneo as he sat across from me in Branson's Bob Evans Restaurant. He was in the tourist town researching the Darrell Meese case for a book. Meese was sentenced to die by lethal injection in 1990 after the brutal shotgun murder of three people, Lloyd Lawrence (a man many locals admitted "needed killing") his wife, and their paraplegic grandson. A drug kingpin might deserve it, but two innocents?
Governor Mel Carnahan had just recently made news for his commuting Meese's death sentence, after having met with Pope John Paul II in St. Louis during the Pope's visit. Cuneo,
"I don't know why Carnahan would do that. He's killed himself politically, I would think," I told Cuneo. Little did I know that the governor who saved Meese's life would lose his own in a tragic plane crash during a race for senator-and still beat opponent John Ashcroft.
Like the Meese case, Almost Midnight, Cuneo's "American story of murder and redemption" is filled with sudden turns, surprises, and ironic twists. It's interesting and riveting investigative journalism. For Ozarkers, it shows a subculture that exists in the land of Bible belt religion, country music, and family-friendly tourists, a subculture unknown to many residents unless they are involved in law enforcement or social services. Cuneo covers the events that lead up to the murders, Meese's hair-raising road trip to the Southwest that only leads him closer to justice back home and death row, and the trial itself. He also looks closely at Mease's time in prison, where the convicted murderer rediscovers religion. It is there that he professes "God is my lawyer" and is miraculously delivered from lethal injection-just as he predicted he would be.
It sometimes takes an outsider, or a novelist, to show us the family skeleton we deny exists. Cuneo takes us on the real wild ride in actuality that Dan Woodrell does in fiction in Tomato Red. For those who are Ozarkers, the book is interesting to read just to see "if Cuneo misses the mark" in capturing a portrait of an area and a culture. For non-Ozarkers, it's an interesting portrait of the Ozarks and its denizens that, unfortunately, can add to the stereotype that exists. Cuneo's Almost Midnight, with its detailed descriptions of the virtues-loyalty, self-reliance, family, and faith-and the negatives-violence, chemical dependency, and lawlessness-of our Ozarks' culture presents a remarkable portrait of Meese and ourselves.
The tourist area that prides itself on family values and a friendly atmosphere while hosting almost 8 million visitors annually has a below-the-surface reality that's hard to confront. All it takes is a Meese incident, or an incident like the triple murder of the Husman children and mother at Kissee Mills, Mo., this last March, to let us know now shallow is the soil that covers what's beneath. Michael Cuneo probably has material for another riveting book.-Fred R. Pfister: Editor, The Ozarks Mountaineer

I was reading a lot of books with the word MIDNIGHT in the title when I stumbled across this one. This is by no means the worst one of the bunch. In its own unique way, it's a fine study of redemption, breeding, and forgiveness.

And marketing too, for it seems almost as though the late Pope John Paul II was the victim of a marketing scam when he decided to pardon Darrell Mease, the killer at the heart of this wonderful biography. He was coming to St. Louis on a once in a lifetime trip, and a local cleric decided that he would gain some press by picking out a convicted killer and seeing what JPII could do for him.

It helped that the circumstances of the crime indicated that Darrell was himself well loved in his community (in the fields of rural Missouri) and that the man he killed, Lloyd Lawrence, was hated and feared. On the other hand, Lawrence's wife was killed too, as well as a poor paraplegic boy who hardly ever did anything hurtful to anyone.

Methamphetamine, the scourge of the Ozarks, was behind the killings. Darrell, who served time in Vietnam, was one of those who couldn't get it together after his tour of duty. He had a surface charm and affability, but inside, he was troubled. We get all of this through multiple narrators, people in the community who tell us his whole story from birth to the present. Like CITIZEN KANE, ALMOST MIDNIGHT gives us a constantly shifting perspective on a hidden corner of America. The popular TV sitcom MY NAME IS EARL will come to mind when you read this book, for the multiple murders that claimed the lives of the Lawrence family are just one more twist removed from the wacky trailer-motel life of the MY NAME IS EARL characters. Or, Johnny Depp in CRY BABY.

Roughly the first half of the book concerns the life and crimes of Darrell Mease, hard-partying hillbilly 'Nam vet and would be meth cooker. The detail in which Mease's life is recounted makes it hard not to sympathize with him and to understand his crimes, a feeling which the author appears to share.

The second half of the story explores Darrell's trial, imprisonment, conversion story and ultimate pardon from execution. In that part, Darrell is portrayed less sympathetically, and there is even a suggestion that he is undeserving of his eventual pardon from death row.
This apparent shift in viewpoint is appropriate to this complex tale, though, where Darrell comes to represent something different to everyone who comes into contact with him: death penalty opponents, Ozark locals, the victims' family, law enforcement, even Pope John Paul II!

It's a fine book, ultimately, and explores a lot of the issues (religion and government, death penalty, small town policing, veterans' problems, rural poverty, drugs) raised by this unusual case. Well written, compelling and highly recommended.

Sit back and relax with this read because W. A. Heisler exhibits a truely remarkable understanding of what Christmas is all about. His storytelling will fill your heart with the love and peace we all need to feel. I'd recommend this to all those who are looking to get away from the hustle and bustle that Christmas has become.

Wow, what a journey An American Christmas will take you on. From the first story "The Tradition" it touched my heart and I could not put it down. This book is an emotional, heartwarming and inspritational read. So enjoyable. I have actually read it twice. I have given it for gifts and encourage everyone to read it. You will truly feel the power of the words.

I liked this book a lot. My favorite stories are "Stille Nacht" (set during World War II) and "These Four Walls".

The author has a good sense of humor and it's most evident in "These Four Walls" (the story about the kids and the 'witch').

There's also some suspense in "Stille Nacht" and "The Long Road Home." (That surprised me even though I read and liked a few of the author's uncollected suspense stories.)

Three of the stories have spiritual elements. I normally wouldn't enjoy stories like that (outside of the horror genre), because I'm an atheist. It takes talent to make an ornery guy like me appreciate a sentimental and spiritual Christmas-themed story.

I'm looking forward to a book of Heisler's suspense and horror tales.

W. A. Heisler does a magnificent job with these five spiritually uplifting and inspiring Christmas stories that will touch and warm your heart. Heisler is able to quickly pull you into each story and connect you personally with each character. His ease and humor keeps your interest. A great holiday gift idea for someone you love.

What a great way to spend your christmas vacation! The Christmas memories shared in the short stories of this book offers such a variety of characters each with a feel good theme that offers an uplifting solution to the commercial driven christmas it puts the focus on the real meaning of christmas and the importance of the memories we make during the holdays. I laughed, cried and really enjoyed An American Christmas.

thought it was all it claimed to be!
great information.
I really like the short overviews!

got what i wanted FASTER than expected, and in absolutely great condition!! will use them again, if i need to purchase any other books!!

Very helpfull, a great guide to bring down the vail which sometimes blinds us to the things we have a hard time seeing.

Excellent information, written in an easy to read and absorb format. I'd highly recommend this to anyone looking for assistance in this area.

Probalby the best Anger Management book I have read. The Dummies' straight to the point writting is funa and easy reading. I would highly recommend to anyone dealing with anger issues. It has helped me personally at home, work and play!

Thayne Davidson Miller, III, is, to his way of thinking, the very self-embodiment of "the poor little rich kid." As the only child of billionaire parents, he has been afforded every advantage in life except one - the ability to actually be a child and do the things other children do every day. His parents take him with them wherever they go, and he has already mastered such subjects as law and medicine by the time he becomes a teenager, but he hates being isolated and allowed to interact with only a few select adults. Life as he has always known it changes irrevocably on the day of his thirteenth birthday, however, when both of his parents are killed by terrorists.

After a year of mourning and isolation alongside his only friends (Jacque, his "gentleman's gentleman," and his dog Chopsie) Thayne is determined to do what any other teenager would be doing - attending school with students his own age. Not just any old school will do, of course; it has to be a school where his advanced intellect is allowed to soar. While he considers the Scorsos International Academy and University, it's really a foregone conclusion that he will choose GODA (Global Optimum Development Academy) on the island of Demeverde, for it and the mysterious man who runs it played an important part in his parents' lives. GODA is much more than a mere school - even calling it an academy of learning is to do it a disservice. Only the best and brightest are accepted there, each with a special talent all his/her own, and learning is an active, all-encompassing endeavor.

With his parents' killers still unidentified, Thayne's personal safety is paramount, so he can't enroll as the famous Thayne Davidson Miller, III - in fact, Thayne really can't leave home at all. Fortunately, one of his family's businesses is able to build a lifelike robot to assume the role of Thayne, while "Arnie Carver" jets off to Demeverde. He quickly makes the first real friends of his life and loves the challenges and opportunities the school provides for him. His new life would be ideal were it not for a rare and terrible sickness that comes to be associated with the island. At first, it's just a child here and there across the globe that becomes sick, each of them having visited Demeverde at some point in the previous couple of years. When the disease strikes one of Arnie's friends, however, the Demeverde connection can no longer be dismissed out of hand. That's when Arnie and his friends set out to discover the source of the plague for themselves.

Undoubtedly, Arnie Carver and the Plague of Demeverde will be compared with the Harry Potter series. After all, you have these extraordinary kids going away to this extraordinary school to learn extraordinary things, they play an invented game called coca that elicits the same sort of excitement as Quidditch, and the main character is a young protagonist with a dark history that robbed him of his parents and perpetually dangles a potentially deadly threat over his own young head. Arnie Carver isn't Harry Potter, though, and this novel forges a story that is really quite its own.

I loved the book. Thayne is a wonderful, sympathetic character, and I warmed up to his new friends and classmates just as quickly as he did. The wonderful technologies employed at GODA are a treat to visualize, and I have to believe older children and young adults will find such extraordinary things as SlipDiscs fascinating. I would even go so far as to call the book inspirational - were I a couple of decades younger, this is just the kind of story that would have gotten my intellectual juices flowing. It never hurts to see true friendship put on display in front of you, either.

On top of everything else, author Kenneth R. Besser lays a solid foundation for future books in the series, leaving us to wonder what the real story behind the unsolved murder of Thayne's parents' might be, question the motives of the man behind Scorsos International Academy and University, and yearn to know more about Unius, the mysterious, seemingly all-knowing, head of GODA. This has all the makings of a great series.

Arnie Carver and the Plague of Demeverde is the well-told tale of a boy named Thayne Davidson Miller III, a genius and the heir to a fortune. He's the richest kid in the world, who has everything in the world, but needs "to learn how to be a part of the world."

After his parents are murdered, early on in the book, young Thayne has his chance. Although grief-stricken by their deaths, he is looking forward to a few changes in his life. For the first time ever he is now allowed to attend classes (under the assumed name Arnie Carver) with other kids - although the school he chooses turns out to be quite different from the schools you and I are familiar with!

Besser writes with the confident ease of a good storyteller. The wit, the humor, the adventures, and the legal hi-jinx will delight precocious young readers and teens. Combining elements of sci-fi, fantasy, mystery, and political thriller, the author at times seems to parody these genres as he relates the adventures of his young hero. And because of that it's a book that adults can enjoy as well.

By the end of this first in a series of books, the bright young protagonist has not only become a part of the world, he has helped to save it. But there is still more for him to do and discover, and I can't wait to find out what will happen next!

Reviewed by Braine Plach (age 10) for Reader Views (1/08)

Have you ever thought it would be terrific if you had all the money that you ever wanted to have? Can you imagine not having to wait until Christmas or your birthday for presents? For some kids, this would be a dream come true. But Thayne Davidson Miller, III, doesn't think it is very much fun. Instead of being a blessing, it is a curse.

Thayne is constantly being surrounded by security guards. Thayne's parents are billionaires, so having a normal lifestyle as a young boy is impossible. He is a normal boy who would enjoy playing soccer or football with other boys, climbing trees or just hanging out with his friends. Instead he has to fly on his parents' jet to all kinds of far-off places. It's not like he gets to see anything when he goes to these other cities. He is constantly being watched.

When Thayne turns thirteen, his life takes a drastic turn. He has now inherited the 50 businesses that his parents owned. He is an orphan! The murders are unsolved, so Thayne takes the matter into his own hands. He attempts to discover what really happened to his parents.

He has a very brilliant mind and uses it to his advantage. He creates a life-like robot and a personality to live out his dreams of being normal. Arnie Carver is born. Will this make Thayne any happier or only add to his misery?

Kenneth R. Besser is a master at storytelling. "Arnie Carver and the Plague of Demeverde" is just one of a series about Arnie Carver. The twists and turns throughout the story will have you sitting on the edge of your seat. Books like this, with its science-fiction twist, will have kids anxiously awaiting their next Arnie Carver book.

Is being wealthy really worth it all or is it a sure fire way to ruin your life?

Part of the beloved Arnie Carver series of novels for young adults, Arnie Carver and the Plague of Demeverde follows the adventures of Arnie Carver, once Thayne Davidson Miller III. The child prodigy of billionaires, he hated how airtight family security protected him at the expense of keeping him away from other children his own age and everything a child might want to do. But on his thirteenth birthday, he became a billionaire orphan when terrorists allegedly killed his parents. No evidence of Thayne's parents' supposed murderers could be found, though - what really happened to them? To solve the mystery, and experience life unsheltered if not entirely unprotected, Thayne replaced himself with a lifelike robot and took on a new alter-ego, attending an international high school named the Global Optimum Development Academy as Arnie Carver. Just as Arnie gets settled in, a deadly disease starts plaguing the island and the school - what could be causing it, and why? A gung-ho adventure featuring a young protagonist who respects schools and books as well as learning through experience, sure to engage young readers to the very last page.

To those around him in this futurist world of cool gadgets, Thayne Davison Miller III has it all. His parents are the richest people in the world. He travels around the world, and best of all, he is dearly loved. The one thing missing from his life is being around kids his own age. That might sound like a simple thing to ask, but Thayne isn't your average kid. Kidnapping is a real threat and his parents fear for his safety to the extreme degree. So his parents with the help of Jacques Marquis, Thayne's man servant and only friend, decided long ago on home schooling.

On his thirteenth birthday, what was meant to be a delightful surprise turned tragic as Thayne's parents were assassinated on the way to his birthday party. With the exception of his beloved dog and friend, Jacques, he is all alone in the world, but with an added problem. The killer or killers were never caught. He too could be a target.

Thayne devises a plan to set a trap for the people responsible for killing his parents. He sends a life like double called an intellitron as decoy to the local school. In the meantime, the real Thayne attends the Global Optimum Development Academy on the island of Demeverde under the name of Arnie Carver.

Just as Arnie and his friends settle in for the school year, a mysterious and deadly disease plagues the school. At first, no one believes the disease is related to the island until one of Arnie's classmates comes down with it. Now it is up to Arnie and his friends to find out what is causing this disease. And if they do, will it be in time enough to find a cure for Arnie's friend? Kenneth R. Besser kept me guessing until the very end as it should be!

This colorful cast of children with special abilities, keeps the story upbeat and smiling. One of my favorites is Steven "Tinker" Schocken. He has a special knack of fixing things. Then there is Bernadette Rogers who senses what people are feeling. That's not all. With her mind, she can get you to see things her way, unless you know how to mentally block her. (Way cool!) Another unusual person in the book is Choi Guihah, who has an uncanny ability to do things with her muscles, which includes making a soft landing from twenty feet. These are but a few of the characters making this a truly appealing story.

Review by J. Kaye Oldner

This is a great positing book. All the postions are demonstrated with visuals along with a radiographic picture to demonstrate what is should look like. It also contains the criteria and evaluation for every position. the book is well organized and easy to follow. i would recommend this book as part of a class book. I learned a lot from it.

This is a perfect book for upcoming radiography students. Covers not only standard position techniques but also the more obscure. The is the perfect book for anyone student or radiographer to expand their knowledge in the field. Stop reading this and buy it already!

AS A FRENCH RADIOLOGIC TECHNOLOGIST, I WANT YOU TO FORGIVE MY ENGLISH, BUT BOTH THE ATLAS AND GUIDES ARE NECESSARY FOR ANY RADIOLOGIC SERVICE. IT'S A REFERENCE, AND EVEN IF YOU CAN'T READ ENGLISH PERFECTLY YOU CAN REFER TO THEM (ANATOMIC DESCRIPTION, PHOTOGRAPHY OF RADIOLOGIC POSITION AND RESULTS WITH COMMENTARY). MY GUIDE IS IN THE ROOM WHERE I'M WORKINK EVERY MINUTE, BECAUSE IT CONTENTS NOW ALL INFORMATIONS NEEDED AND ADAPTED FOR EACH POSITION AND EACH X-RAY TUBE. THEY HAVE TO BE IN EVERY SCHOOL. WAITING FOR THE FRENCH VERSION AND AN INTERACTIVE CDROM.

We began using this text this fall and have been very impressed with the quality of the anataomy sections and the radiographs are all excellent. The color makes it much easier to learn radiography. It is also very comprehensive. Students can learn many projections and not just the basics. We especially like the Mobile chapter which is very practical and accurate in its approach. The Workbook by Hayes which accompanies the Atlas is also excellent. We can use the 3-volumes for 7 different courses in our school and that makes this text a bargain overall. Our students also began using the accompanying Pocket Guide which they much prefer over the one they were using previously because of the AEC write-in ability. This whole package is excellent for radiography students.

It is easy to see why this textbook has made it to its 50th anniversary edition. The authors have introduced all the latest techniques, including computed radiography. The color throughout is wonderful. This is not only a great student textbook, but a great book for reference purposes. We continue to use this book for 5 different courses in our program and we continue to love it. Thanks for the color !

I read this wonderful book when it was first released, but something--summmer weather, I thought--made me pick it up again. Quickly I realized the book had been with me the whole time, and within a few pages, Pierce's voice had lulled me again into a state of high suggestibility where landscape, history and dream comingle. At first the novel seems fragmented, but soon you realize that Pierce's characters, especially Sam Browne, move according to their own timelines. Trauma, uncertainty and loss guide this book on a scavenger hunt of meaning that lead to the Blue Mountains of Australia, a setting that, like an astrological chart, casts its fortune on three generations of soon-to-be wanderers. Todd Pierce's The Australia Stories is just as timeless and influential.

"The Australia Stories" is a beautifully written, captivating novel. Pierce's amazingly clean, crisp writing creates wonderful images that transport the reader to the time and place of each story. The stories would appeal to anyone, young, old, male or female. Each individual story is masterfully woven as a part of the larger story, and the end pulls them all together in an unexpected, but perfect, way. I could not put the book down and, when I finished, I wished there was more!

This five-star debut uber-novel, a sequence of short stories, takes the reader across oceans of time to Sydney and the Blue Mountains of New South Wales. Pierce risks sentimentality on his poignant journey - and comes up with something like a prose poem I could not put away until I reached its last intense page. Other readers have praised the novel's plot and characters. I'd like to extol its powerful nostalgia, its longing for what Proust called les temps perdu. The Australia Stories creates an almost mythical aura about its setting and characters; it is exponentially more radiant than any travel guide. The wonder of the author of this book is that, rather than living like an aesthete in a cork-lined room, Pierce has performed an enormous service to all writers by maintaining a stellar Web site about literary agents. He is both at home in the fictive world he creates in The Australia Stories - and alive and well in his generosity and tirelessness as a member of the workaday literary community. Cozy up to Pierce's pocket-sized The Australia Stories and let it take you to a magical Down Under!

I picked this up because a friend told me about it. Took me about two evenings to read. Fabulous story. Stunningly written. Seriously, each paragraph was dazzling. I'm only saddened because (at least on Amazon) this is the author's only work. Hopefully, there'll be more.

The mythology of Australia is central to this novel. Both Sam Browne's grandmother and mother have vanished into the wilds of the Blue Mountains of New South Wales, his grandmother to myth and his mother in search of her own mother's memory. These disappearances (his mother's body is found, his grandmother's never found) have a profound influence on Sam as he remembers the year he spent with his mother in Australia before she was lost forever.

Pierce combines the unfathomable territory of memory with myth-saturated Australia, where the Aboriginal population has produced such ethereal tales from spectacular geography. Pierce also adds a strong feminist content to Sam's identification with his maternal relatives. His mother has had a positive effect on the young boy and the grandmother's journals offer him even more understanding of their unique bond with the land.

After returning to the United States, Sam finishes school, marries and divorces. Yet he remains fascinated by the stories of his mother and grandmother. Sam is able to recover most of his grandmother's original documents and spends his time pouring over their contents. His grandmother's voice speaks to him over the years, seducing him back into the land of myth that plays such an important role in his life. He cannot help but heed the siren call of his mother's native country.

In The Australia Stories, Todd James Pierce perfectly captures female sensitivities and the power of familial ties, reading Sam's mother's emotions with acuity in that short year spent with her in Katoomba, before returning to California. While the maturing Sam Browne feels Australia in the marrow of his bones, the lives of his mother and grandmother are ever more an intrinsic element of his spirit. He begins an intimate journey toward understanding the true nature of intergenerational connections, evolving one into another, spiraling through time. At peace with the past, finally, Sam steps easily into his future, where limitations are allowed no purchase, offering only promise and possibility. Luan Gaines/2003.

This is a beautifully well-written book. Mind body-books can be arrogant or too ethereal.
Dr Sternberg succeeded to write a thoroughly researched and referenced book that is also a fun book to read. This book is really helpful to understand how your mind functions. It is worth reading and re-reading.

This well written & interesting book became my bible in learning how stress can influence and/or cause an autoimmune attack. Understanding the connection between mind and body, and learning to cope with stress, is paramount to a complete recovery, so well explained by Dr. Sternberg.

This book is useful for students, scientists, and those who are otherwise interested in integrative medicine. Sternberg augments her explanation of the stress-immune connection with interesting and relevant research studies. I found it useful as a student studying neuroscience and as an individual trying to understand and manage stress in my life.

Most of us believe that emotions have an impact on health--emotional stress often leads to illness and bad environments definitely changes our moods and our health. But...just how do immune defenses work, does the brain really send messages to our body to protect it from the impact of stress or lead us to get sick? How do we get the balance of healthy performance and stress right? This extraordinarily well-written book describes the mechanisms relying heavily on current research and does so with exquisite references to history and descriptions of real situations. Sternberg writes so well that many of the emotions she discusses are evoked for the reader. It challenges mainstream linking without promoting simple-minded extreme new age therapies. It shows how a balanced life can be the healthiest lifestyle. This delightful journey through the body is a must-read for anyone who wants to understand how stress and immune responses really work.

I am a writer who is currently at work on a book on my living through colon cancer. I was diagnosed at age 47 with Duke's C-3 colon cancer. Because of the early onset of my disease, I was three years too young to be considered for routine colon cancer screening, which doctors are supposed to offer to patients when they reach age 50. I was lucky. Even with one year of chemotherapy (due to minor lymph node involvement) medical textbooks and doctors said my chances of surviving five years (a five year colon cancer survivor is considered "cured") were about 35 percent. Now, seven years later, I can say that Esther Sternberg's work validates some key elements of the survival strategy I developed for myself that links health and wellness and emotions.

Sternberg flies in the face of conventional medical wisdom by providing proof that stress can make you sick. She provides evidence that the immune system can be trained, citing the work of Bob Ader and Nick Cohen. And she offers evidence that nerve chemicals or hormones can affect immune-cell function in a physiological way.

This is ironic considering that when you ask a psychiatrist or even a psychopharmachologist how the latest generation of SSRI anti-depression/anti-anxiety drugs (Prozac, Zoloft, Paxil, Celexa etc.) work, the answer is that they are not exactly sure.

The medical establishment in the US tends to hive off the debate about health and emotions (the mind-body connection) to the area of alternative medicine. New age healing and some of the Eastern approaches tend to overlook the scientific connection. Sternberg taps history and science to frame the issue and if it were simpled down to the level of a mass market audience her book would be a best seller.

This is quite simply a great book. I stayed away from it, even after a Catholic priest friend recommended it 30 years ago, because I knew Watts had essentially repudiated the church (in his case, the Anglican communion) and Christianity, and returned to his earlier Buddhist practice.

Whatever one may think of where Watts ended up late in life, this is quite simply outstanding and completely orthodox Christian theology, and treats the great doctrines of the faith through the prism of mystical experience while integrating the thought of many of the great Catholic mystics (e.g., JP de Cassaude, St. Theresa of Avila, St. Catherine of Genoa, Meister Eckhart).

I was quite surprised to find that his methodology relies so heavily on Aquinas. His grasp of Aquinas' theology is sound, and his idea that the incarnation is an eternal expression of God's loving acceptance and oneness with his creation, not a shield for divine wrath, is a refreshing antidote to much of what passes for theology in evangelical circles. His adaptation of Vedanta to convey the idea of God as non-dual...that God can create REAL, OTHER beings and things and yet remain in a sense the one and only reality...the "one without a second" (I doubt I am doing his argument justice here)...was really eye-opening.

There are also flashes of pure poetry...his lengthy description of the 'purposelessness' of much of creation as a testament to God's sense of humor and loving prodigality stands as a challenge to a variety of atheisms that are based on Western bourgeois notions of 'usefulness.'

I have already given a copy of this book to friend and bought another copy for myself, and am reading it through a second time.

This book explores how traditional Western religious doctrine can be reconciled with the intuitive religion of the Orient.

For more than forty years, Alan Watts earned a reputation as the most authoritative and insightful interpreter of Eastern philosophies for Western readers. Author of more than twenty-five books (everyone a gem to read), he was an editor, Anglican priest, graduate dean, broadcaster, lecturer, and entertainer. He held fellowships from Harvard University and the Bollinger Foundation and was Episcopal Chaplain at Northwestern University during the Second World War. He became professor and dean of the American Academy of Asian Studies in San Francisco, created the series "Eastern Wisdom and Modern Life" for National Educational Television, and served as a visiting consultant for psychiatric institutions, hospitals, and the United States Air Force. He traveled widely, including such countries as Japan, Burma, Ceylon, and India. Watts died in 1973.

_Behold The Spirit_ is one of the most clearly written, profound, and enlightening books on theology I have ever read. This book represents the ideal combination of profundity and readability - never again will you say that a book must be difficult to read just because it deals with extremely complex and deep subject matter. Like most of Alan Watts' books, _Behold the Spirit_ is an absolute pleasure to read, yet competently deals with universal metaphysical questions which have troubled man for many centuries. For instance, Alan Watts talks at length about the problem of what God was doing before He created the universe. Was He just sitting there alone? The answer can be found in the book.

To me, this type of theological question is quite fascinating. I appreciated the unorthodox and critical approach Watts took in examining a wide range of theological and general metaphysical issues. In other words, this is not an evangelical or fundamentalist Christian book; it is a critical and sceptical examination of Christianity and man's belief in God. I highly recommend this work to anyone, and if you only want to read one or two of Alan Watts' most important works, they should be _Behold the Spirit_ and _Psychotherapy East and West_. These two works represent the solid core of Alan Watts' philosophy. They are rigourous, profound, and comprehensive psychological works which are also remarkably succinct, miserly, and readable. With Alan Watts, you can obtain large amounts of elightenment in a short amount of time, with minimal aggravation and headache.

Being quite familiar with Watts and his many books,indeed he was one of the most freshest spirits available in print,and remains so, the basic message of direct experience with G-D never leaves his writing and this book.
The ongoing debate between mystical religion with it's intuitive grasp of direct experience on one side and practicing a code of conduct steeped within theological law on the other hand in essence boils down to a simple debate between using either one's head or one's heart in serving G-D for some,or in loving G-D for others without the extremities of blind practice of customs and rites.
The fusion of both is what Watts seeks to find by not confusing the finger pointing at the moon for the moon itself.
These days in an age where religious fundamentalism in most major religions rules as the only way to salvation,Watts Pluralism is refreshing.
This book is a difficult read and could be used as a theological textbook Yet,how to interpert "in his image" or how to engage in dialogue between dual or non-duality thinking between creator and created is a message that becomes clear and one of practical urgency in this world of religious intolerance,fanaticism,triumphalism and terrorism .

Christianity is, today, in a strange place. While the religion is in steep decline in Europe, conservative, literalist forms are on the rise in an America hungry for some spiritual depth. Yet these forms also invite a great deal of disdain from seekers hungry for a faith that gives deep meaning without insulting their intelligence.

Written almost sixty years ago, Alan Watts "Behold the Spirit" is as relevant today, if not moreso, than it was then. Addressing the acute problems within both Catholicism (which is used loosely, including Orthodoxy and "High Church" protestants such as Episcopalians and Anglicans) and Protestantism, Watts chalks them up to an irrelevancy steming from the periods they evolved out of. As Watts points out, the early Christianity of the bible, Paul, the Church Fathers, the Neoplatonists, and Augustine was the high wisdom of a dying civilization- Rome. The Christianity of the medieval era was the literalist religion of a newly born Western civilization, while the Christianity of the Renaissance and modernity is the stripped-down moral faith of an adolescent civilization rebelling against it's roots. In order to gain a wisdom appropriate for a mature civilization, Watts contends, we must look to the wisdom of other mature civilizations- the Christianity of the ancients, and the mystical wisdom of the Eastern religions.

Watts goes on to discuss what a "nondual" Christianity and Christian mysticism would look like ("we must develop a Christian way of washing our hands"), the problems with philosophical modernity and Protestant moralism, and the issues of spiritual "monkey business"- thinking that we can attain sanctity by imitating forms rather than recognizing the spirit.

Overall, an important contribution to modern theology, and a worthwhile, though quick, read.

I first met Dinty while reading The Accidental Buddhist and was captivated by his style. I bought Between Panic and Desire as soon as it came out and learned that he is living my life five years in the future. I'm looking forward to his next work to see how my life turns out.

This is probably the most refreshing and inventive works of creative nonfiction. The stories interact with one another in creating a wonderful, compelling narrative. I chose this as a required reader for my creative writing class at Manatee Community College because the forms of the stories provide great examples of what creative nonfiction can be in the 20th century.
Because the novel is enjoyable, it reads quickly. The topics span a great distance in the modern era of popular culture, yet this book does not bog itself down with over-referentiality. Buy this and you will not be sorry!

This is simply an amazing book: funny, accessible, poignant, avant garde, and silly all at the same time. It is an easy read, as it is organized in short, punchy chapters. If you were born in the 1950s or 60s, the book will be even more meaningful for you. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

Moore's fine sense of rhythm and wit carries us through this brief memoir. Under a stylish veil of humor and irony, Moore explores the universal human search for balance between panic and desire.

This really isn't a memoir in the conventional sense--and thank God for that. This sad-yet-funny montage provides a number of poignant glimpses into the life of a writer and a country: whether he's writing about Irish-Americana, 9/11, dropping acid, or dysfunctional fathers, Dinty Moore is poignant, honest and ultimately hopeful. No matter how much you think your country is screwed up, or how much you think you've screwed up, or how much you think your family screwed you up, read Panic and Desire. By the time you finish it you'll realize life is better than you thought.

I've read tons of books, and this one is the most helpful I've come across in relation to practical Christianity. Anyone trying to figure out how to go "deeper" with God will find encouragement, humor, empathy, and passion. Catherine Marshall tells her stories in the most colorful way - uniquely true stories that will touch your heart.

What a legacy this woman of God left before she went home to heaven. Her life was a life of the right priorities. This anointed book will draw many people closer to God as they read the insight she shares. Reading about the testimonies of others who have overcome encourages you in your walk with the Lord Jesus.

Another theme from Holy Scripture that she emphasizes throughout the book is love, i.e., love for God and for other people. In fact, love for God will cause these other matters to fall into place appropriately. The motivation, desire, and focus will naturally flow out of a heart that loves God.

This is an awesome book. Answers some basic question of how God can allow the horrible things to happen here on Earth. How to forgive those who have hurt you. A must read.

This book propelled me to go deeper in my personal walk with God. It was instrumental in my understanding on faith, surrender, forgivenss and love. Since then I have given this book out to many folks struggling in their faith and it has been such a blessing. Though written in 1961 it is as fresh as the day it was written.

It is amazing how God reveals divine healing power through Ms. Catherine's "Beyond Our Selves". Every time I feel down, God has used the book words to lift me - no - to let me soar up in the spirit. This treasure embraces divine healing power to emotional hurts, discouragement, confusion, depression, self-worthlessness, grieve. Truely, God's word never returns empty.