Open Books

Every time I find it Amazing!
How much Magic, Love & joy are in those books!
Every story- is a Gift!! :-)

I recommened you to read the introduction..
It is most touching, special and wonderful! :-)
"Good stories touch your heart in a special way no others can
and can transform your life forever!" (in my own words..)

If I could.. I would buy ALL of the books available!
(well maybe I can pass the one for Golfer soul.. ha ha!)

Thank you so much Jack and Mark- you Have changed the world!
Even here (in Israel) some people read your books..
and by now I have about 16 Chicken Soup books!
Not bad huh? :-) And I try to make those books known!
Optimism and good endings- is what needed here! :-)

Many of the stories are so touching- they can fix a whole day.
They can make me tear and appriciate my life more..
Make me want to Change The World for the better!
And also show all of my Love to the ones I love-
Not wait to another day or be affraid to show it!
and never forget the kindness of strangers!

Thank you Thank You Thank You! :-)

And for all the people here who don't know what to do- buy it! :-)
It's worth is! I promiss you! :-)

With Love and Joy!
Gil :-)

The stories in this edition of the book are my favorite. All of my friends have loved the autographed copies that I have given them. So many touching and tender stories, and even ones that make you chuckle.

I have purchased a number of the Chicken Soup series am I am quite pleased with them.

A 4th Course of Chicken Soup for the Soul

By Melody Beattie, Bob Greene, Edgar Guest,
Harvey Mackay, Pat Riley, and many more

Stories, motivational excerpts

Chicken Soup for the Soul is a fantastic, true book with hundreds of stories inside all about people's real live experiences. The sections covered in here are about love, kindness, parents and parenting, teaching and learning, death and dying, matter of perspective, overcoming obstacles, and elective wisdom. Everyone and anyone who reads this book can find stories that they can relate to, while enjoying them. Happiness and sorrow is merely a speck of all the emotions felt throughout this amazing book. When reading this you are able to learn the different kinds of situations there are and the everyday people who go through them. This book is extraordinary and unique; how it slams real life into your face and shows exactly how unpredictable life can be. It also shows us how we should value those around us, for we do not know when it is anyone's time to go.
All of the characters are real people who have gone through an event and have decided to share it with us. Each story has a beginning, middle, and end to it; just like life. Their stories are there to help others or to send a powerful message across that has once touched them. Each and every story is unique, interesting, and 100% true. So be prepared for any kind of emotions, because in real life you don't always know what the outcome will be.
The stories in Chicken Soup for the Soul are all directly from those who experienced the story. They are all easy to understand and follow. The voice in each story is so strong that it actually feels as though the person is right there telling you their story; it's unbelievable! Though not all stories may be your type or make you feel comfortable, just skip them and move on to those that interest you more. There is something for everyone in this original book. After reading Chicken Soup for the Soul you will be able to truly see how precious life really is.

I have read several of the Chicken Soup books and love them all. A five star rating is not high enough, it should be ten! I recommend all of the ones that I've read to all of my friends and even give out the Chicken Soup Calendars as gifts. I want them to experience the feelings that I have when I read the books. (My favorite story is the one about adoption when a child says that an adopted child is one that grows in her mommy's heart instead of her belly.)

"How refreshing to find a book that tackles the societal mores revolving around adoption with such clear and concise explanations of the evolving institution. If you know nothing at all about adoption and the way that society views this institution then this is the book for you. If you think that you know all about adoption, read this book and you will find that there is more to learn. Ms. Small clearly outlines the views that were prevalent surrounding adoption from the past to the present with an insiders understanding that could only be arrived at through having lived within that very system. Her extensive education, as well as her work within the adoption field, allows her a center seat on the adoption stage. Historically all adoption decisions have been made without input from the adoptee and it is only relatively recently that adoptees have found their voices. I, for one, am more than pleased to have Ms. Small speak on my behalf and on the behalf of all adoptees. Three cheers for such a well written, informative book. It should be required reading for all who participate in adoption, including those who regulate and/or facilitate it." --New Hampshire State Representative Janet F. Allen

The Adoption Mystique by Joanne Wolf Small is a book that every adoptee rights activist needs to keep on the nightstand. I first ran into Joanne in 1980 when somebody gave me an article about sealed records and identities she'd written for a social work publication. It was from Joanne that I first heard the peculiar legal concept that the adoptee and natural parent(s) are "as if dead to each other." That article stuck with me, and I credit Joanne in large part for raising my consciousness and bringing me into my strange adoptee rights "career" a decade later. But Joanne has done more than write. In 1980, she was the only adopted member of the federal Model Adoption Legislation Procedures and Advisory Panel (Model Adoption Act 1980). The panel's sweeping recommendations, including unrestricted records for all adoptees nationwide, was a broadside on the secret adoption system. The report sent the industry into such a tizzy that Gladney formed the strong arm lobby, the National Council for Adoption, to "guarantee" that records remained sealed.

This year as I re-read The Adoption Mystique I realized that Joanne had said it all. In a just world, we should be able to fold up our tents and go home. Unfortunately, we live in an unjust world.

The Adoption Mystique was published in 2003. This year it was republished with some additions. In November US Book News named The Adoption Mystique a social change finalist for its National Best Book Award 2007.

Joanne Small is an adoptee rights revolutionary and is happy to know her and recommend her book. Give yourself a Happy New Year and read The Adoption Mystique. And act on it.

This little book of essays takes on big sacred cows both of the adoption industry and the adoption reform movement, and makes hamburger of
them! Ms. Small, an adoptee, social worker, and long-time activist for
adoptee rights, makes the case that the adoption system as it now exists, a culture of secrets and lies, is itself dysfunctional. She also questions the medical model of adoption (everyone is wounded and in need of therapy) and the pathologizing of adopted persons in such theories as "Adopted Child Syndrome" and the public fascination with adopted killers and other criminals. All of her essays are liberally footnoted, providing both documentation of her research and a whole world of adoption reading that readers may want to follow up on. This kind of careful scholarship is refreshing in a field full of unproven theories, unsupported claims and over-generalized statements.

Ms. Small was the only adoptee on the Model Adoption Legislation and
Procedures Committee in 1978.Out of this committee came the Model State
Adoption Act, which recommended open records for adopted adults. The
National Council for Adoption was formed to combat this progressive act, and we have been battling them ever since. In her many years as an activist, Ms. Small has learned many lessons about politics and adoption reform which she shares in "The Adoption Mystique".

The most valuable and timely part of this book is the section on compromise and legislation, and what happened in Maryland in 1997 when a bill was introduced that featured contact vetoes and an elaborate and expensive mandatory intermediary system. Some adoption reformers supported this bill with the rationale that without compromise nothing could pass, most adoptees could have reunions, and that this was a "baby step" to full adoptee rights.

Ms. Small neatly and logically demolishes this flawed argument in her essay. She makes a clear distinction between unconditional adoptee rights legislation, and search and reunion legislation, and why the latter is always in danger of compromise. Her analysis of the Maryland legislation is clear and well-reasoned and can serve as a guideline for other state groups on what not to do legislatively, and why a real civil rights bill can not have restrictions, vetoes, or conditions to the exercise of those rights.

I hope everyone working on legislation in their own state makes this book their bible on what kind of legislation to introduce, support, and hold out for. This is a well-written, well thought-out book that should be in the library of every adoption activist. Some may not agree with all of the conclusions or ideas, but all certainly can learn and question and begin their own dialogue on legislative activism, and how the mystique of adoption has become so ingrained in popular culture that it is hard to break through with reality and truth. I highly recommend The Adoption Mystique.

Mary Anne Cohen

In the words of Howard Cosell, Joanne Wolf Small "tells it like it is up close and personal" in her must read book, The Adoption Mystique. In this well researched critique of adoption, Ms. Small destroys the myth that adoption is or ever was designed to be "in the best interest of the child" as touted by the Adoption Industry. In a series of cogent and insightful essays that are a culmination of both her experience as an adoptee and life's work as a clinical social worker, Ms. Small rips the veneer off the warm fuzzies of institutional adoption to reveal the rot at its core that even denies adults who were adopted as children the right to obtain a copy of their original birth certificate. In writing The Adoption Mystique, Ms. Small follows in the footsteps of Friedrich Nietzsche who fearlessly exposed the rot of the institutional sacred cows of his day. I applaud her integrity and courage for telling the truth of how adoption affects adoptees, adoptive parents, and birth parents.

Msgr. John W. Sweeley, Th.D.

Adoptee and father of three adopted sons

Author of:

The Historical Jesus: Man, Myth or God

Rights, Liberties, and Social Justice: Why the Radical Religious Right is Wrong (September 2007)

Oh, how I wish that my parents could have read this book when I was a youngster. And oh how I wish I had this book to read when I was a young woman. I'm a senior citizen now, adopted at birth. I spent too much of my childhood and adult life feeling ashamed of myself because I was adopted. I grew up believing that I was a bad seed because my real mother gave me away. I was completely buried under the shame of adoption that Ms. Small so adeptly describes as "The Adoption Mystique."

Had I read this book as a teen ager, I would have been astounded to learn that there were other people in this world who felt as I did. A light would have come on in my closet. A voice would have been heard in place of my silence. Most importantly, my feelings about myself would have been validated. All human beings need to be acknowledged and validated for who they are.

THE ADOPTION MYSTIQUE is a collection - a series of Joanne Wolf Small's essays and articles she has written over several years. In the book, she defines, describes and dissects the taboo-like adoption myths that unfortunately are still around today. The equation, "adoption = silence = shame" is what Ms. Small is writing about.

Ms. Small explores the history - what are the myths how did they begin. She analyses them and writes at length about the problems we as a society still have as a result our culture's reliance upon them as truths. Ms. Small also talks about the heavy consequences so many of us have paid because of these cultural taboos. Finally she addresses ways in which we can move forward to bring about changes in the ways our society views adoption.

Ms. Small establishes one basic tenet up front. Adoption is different. Adoption is not the same experience as being raised by your natural parents. Adoptees have two sets of parents. Now this doesn't mean that adoption is bad. What it means is that people need to recognize, understand and uphold the differences.

I was especially intrigued by Ms. Small's essay on "The Task of Telling." Sooner or later every adoptive family has to face this issue and in turn every adoptee is affected by it. The author offers us this troubling observation. "If people believed that telling children they are adopted would be perceived as good news, the difficulty of what to say, when and how to say it would be obviated. People want to shout good news from the rooftops. But when people are faced with the telling task, they are forced to face an unpleasant truth."

Ms. Small talks about the "hows" and "whys" of telling. She describes the pain and the angst that surround telling. She writes about the dilemmas of delaying telling or even not telling at all. Finally, she puts forward positive ways to go about the task. The most important idea to remember is not to lay the burden on the child. What wise words these are!

In THE ADOPTION MYSTIQUE, you'll read about discrimination against adoptees. You will see out how the media has contributed to the myths of "adoptee as bad seed." You'll learn about the history of sealed records in the United States and the movements that are afoot to change the laws. You'll read about the meaning of "search."

As you read THE ADOPTION MYSTIQUE you will begin to see how we can change - how we can begin to debunk these wretched myths. Knowledge is power!

THE ADOPTION MYSTIQUE is for everyone. Adoptees, it's your life line. Adoptive parents and everyone else who loves adoptees - gentle help has arrived. Teachers, social workers, doctors and other professionals - these extremely well researched articles will enhance your ability to help all the different people you meet whose lives have been touched by adoption. There are extensive footnotes following each article as well as a bibliography and separate subject and author indexes at the back.

Reviewer: Anita Walker Field is an adoptee, a retired Chicago public school teacher, and a long time advocate for adoptee rights. Ms. Field is currently Secretary of the Executive Committee of Bastard Nation: The Adoptee Rights Organization.

This is a fascinating story and the author presents substantive research. There is some good prose in parts, such as the character development of Commodore Perry and descriptions of Okinawa, but on the whole it is not a smooth read. The 4 stars I'm giving it are for its importance as a contribution to our understanding of this period, the author's discussion on the impact of the attitude with which Perry's mission was accomplished, and the research that has been brought together.

Had there not been such good material and insight, the text was so choppy that I would have not finished the book. The dangling ideas, that is, concepts introduced but not previously explained or later followed up on, were frustrating. Then there are a lot of tortured sentences and then some grammar that had to be ignored to get the meaning.

One example of a dangling idea was the paragraph that ended by saying that Abe Mashihiro had won an important victory in the appointment of his recommended defense advisor followed by a paragraph saying that the appointee was "his (Abe's) the most vocal critic." What did I miss? By this time in the book, I no longer flipped back. The concept of a victory for Abe getting a critic an influential position isn't ever clear. It could be that the author meant it in the wider context that through this appointment there was no war, but that isn't clear either.

An example of the tortured prose, on p. 190 regarding Perry's son in law and grandson:

"New York's high society made him "King of Fifth Avenue". (New York Belmont Race Track and the Belmont Stakes are named after him, while in Newport, Rhode Island one of the sumptuous "cottages" was built by Oliver Hazard Perry Belmont, the son of "King" and Perry's daughter, together with Alva Vanderbilt previously married to William K. Vanderbilt)".

A grammar example (while you know it's Abe, there are two antecedents for him, not one) is on p. 243 "More than ever, Abe and the roju made the important decisions; with the senior counselors increasinly deferring to him about those concerning Perry..."

While the text was a real drawback (for me), there is a lot of food for thought in the analysis of what it Perry's actions meant for US-Japanese relations for the next 100 years, the unequal treaties, the symbolism of the USS Missouri receiving the Japanese surrender in Uraga Bay and the comparison of China's attitude and policies toward western trade and intervention.

For general readers interested in the seclusion period I recommend Samurai William: The Englishman Who Opened Japan and Native American in the Land of the Shogun: Ranald Macdonald and the Opening of Japan.

This marvelous book is a model study of the unintended consequences of American self-righteousness and imperial arrogance -- with eerie echoes today in the Bush/Cheney invasion of Iraq. It is a work of superb scholarship, and in spots it requires keen concentration, but the total effect is most rewarding, and the concluding sections -- with their lessons for the present and,one hopes,for the future -- are brilliant.

Amidst the present disasters of our militarized foreign policy, Mr Feifer's observation (in Chapter 17) that American "fervor and ignorance, especially of other cultures, sometimes caused grave damage" rings with bitter irony today in Iraq. "The Japan that [Commodore Perry] left was boiling in despairing confusion ... bloody plots and counterplots ... full of episodes that seem not to belong to waking life, but have ... the unearthly logic of events in a dream."

And yet, even in his harsh conclusions, Mr Feifer is scholarly, moderate, nuanced, and scrupulous, never overstating his case as the ironies for today abound. This is an incisive and most admirable book.

This challenging and deeply researched book on Perry's "opening up" of Japan
has the most painful relevance possible to our current government's colossal
misadventure in allegedly trying to bring "Freedom and Democracy" to a land
of darker-skinned people about whose history we are -- not willfully mis-
informed, which would be bad enough, but wildly, tragically ignorant. And
what kind of reverberations can we expect, decades and even a century down
the road of history? What Pearl Harbors, what Okinawas, what Hiroshimas are
there to come?

If you think you knew and understood American history this brilliant book will make you think again.The author sets out to show that America arrogantly decided to force Japan to open its doors to foreigners and trade, a decision that turned out to be the first step along the path that was to lead to Pearl Harbor. He succeeds admirably. This is readable, controversial history with a lesson for what is going on in Iraq today. A must book for serious thinkers.

On one level this remarkable book will provide invaluable background for anyone interested in understanding why Japan's love-hate relationship with the United States continues to this day. It should also serve to underline the dangers of imposing one nation's views on another.
But the book will also appeal to readers simply interested in a rich historical tour of Japan at the dawn of its modern era. The skillful weaving of the descriptions of the personalities, prejudices and political backgrounds of Commodore Perry and his Japanese counterpart Lord Abe brings to life and keeps in focus a story that might otherwise have drifted into an academic dissertation.
Breaking Open Japan will now be added to my list of must-reads for friends and acquaintances interested in peeling away the layers of a society that remains the most complex and conflicted of the modern era.

I do not have that book on hand yet.
Please, resubmit when the book would have been sent to me.

Thanks for another great book in the "Soup" series. We grandparents appreciate you celebrating us with this special book. We all need inspiration, and this book helps us all, whether we are a grandparent or not.

When I married for the second time recently, I instantly became a grandmother. And I had not had any children of my own, so now I have a whole family! I really enjoyed this book. Okay, so the soup books may get repetitious if you read enough of them. But this was the only one I've read and I thought it was good.

I just don't know how the Chicken Soup people keep putting out such great books. There are so many of them and each has about 100 stories. Where do they get all of them? Frankly, after having read three others in the series, i didn't expect this one to be special in any way, but it surprised me alot. I found that the stories had such a wide variety of experiences that grandparents have today --- some that my own grandparents could never have had. I found just a few stories to be 'blah', but on the whole, most of the stories were either really touching or made me laugh out loud. I read several aloud to my children on the phoen becaause they reminded me of 5things that had happened in our house as my kids were growing up.
This book is an affirmation of grandparenting.

This book is about the love and caring of grandparents for their grandchildren. It contains so many heartfelt emotions that were put into words so beautifully that I was touched by them very much. My friend Debby Stoner was a contributor and I was so impressed by her writing skills and how she expressed the depths of her feelings for her grandson. The book was an easy read, supplied me with hours of pleasure and was difficult to put down.

This text marks the beginnings of modern linguistics, and is a must for any linguistic bookshelf. This text is, surprisingly, somewhat difficult to find in bookstores, so I was happy to find this affordable copy at Amazon. I recommend this book, along with Bloomfield's Language, to anyone interested in the structuralist foundations of contemporary linguistics.

If you need to know the foundation of structuralism then you need to read this book. This is where it all begins and the translation of this edition flows well and is perfect for the beginner and novice alike.

One problem with this translation that potential readers should be aware of: If you are reading this to get a better understanding of the terms used by structuralists (signifier and signified) then you need to get the other version. This edition uses the words signification and signal.

Although the rest of text is fine, the exclusion of signifier and signified is, I believe, the only major drawback to the book since these were the terms adopted by structuralist and post-structuralist.

The thirties of the last century cradled the birth and growth of structuralist Linguistcs in many horizons like phonology ,grammar , etc ... and if we were about to ask who embraced that stream , we would - undebatably - find the name of Ferdinand De Saussure.

This fine book of his explained his structural approach to language and established a series of theoretical distinctions that have become basic to the study of linguistics.

Saussure made a differentiation between the (actual speech) or what we call a spoken language ,and the knowledge underlying speech that speakers share about (what is) grammatical.
For Saussure speech represents instances of grammar and the mission of the linguist is to find the underlying rules of a particular language from examples found in speech.
this is different than the descriptivist's p.o.v ,since the structuralist sees grammar as a set of relationships that account for speech ,rather than a set of instances of speech.

Once you grasp the main concepts of this oeuvre you can go further by reading Bloomfield's works on Structuralism.

This book comprised from lecture notes of Saussure to his students in Geneva (compiled posthumously by his students) is a work which changed the course of lingustics since its publication. In this book he makes distinctions which have later become central to discussions of linguistics like:

1. Sign as the unity of signifier (letters, sounds, image) and signified (meaning implied by the signifier)
2. Language (langage) as the unity of langue (code - language as a system) and parole (usage)
3. Syncrhonic (language as static system) and diachronic lingustics (langauge as an ever changing, evolving system)
4. Retrospective (language evolution so far) and prospective linguistics (future evolution of a language).

Many linguists have added a cloud of debate over these concepts, but non explains as lucidly as the master who propounded these. For those confused bout semiotics, semiology etc., this work is a reference point for the original meaning of the term 'semiology' as intended by Saussure. Many of Saussure's binary distinctions became the central to an approach to social sciences called structuralism which still holds sway in social sciences.

Ferdinand De Saussure was well known as the father of modern literary structuralism, but he was also an avid lover of the modern sausage! De Saussure, "the sausage" (as his good friends called him) was a fun loving linguist.

One of the most famous - and infamous - letters in all of literature, De Profundis is a strange little piece of work: either much more than it appears on the surface, or much less. It is something I think everyone should read, if only for its insight into the human character, particularly that of one under great personal suffering. Wilde wrote this extraordinarily long letter from prison to Lord Alfred Douglas, his friend, lover, and the man who - by all accounts - was the reason Wilde was in jail in the first place. Despite repeated assertions in the first few pages alone to the contrary, Wilde seems reluctant to blame himself. He clearly blames Douglas to the hilt, and harbors a certain bitter resentment towards him. And yet... he clearly still hold much dear affection toward - and even loves - Douglas. He still seems to be asking for forgiveness - despite the fact that, by all accounts hardly excluding his own, he was the man wronged. It is quite clear from reading this letter that, desite the view history holds of him, Wilde was clearly a man of very high moral character. Certainly, one would not put Wilde atop a pedastal as the zenith of ethics - he himself says that morals contain "absolutely nothing" for him, and clearly admits - and is proud of - his having lived the high life to the hilt during his youth - but Wilde was a man of principles, and he stuck to those principles to the tragic, bitter end. Perhaps you might say he carried them too far. One gets the sense in reading this letter - or a biography of Wilde - that, not only could he have stopped his immiment imprisonment, but could have severed his ties with Douglas completely - had he wanted to. Apparently, he had his own utterly compelling reasons for not doing so. Whatever the case, Oscar Wilde is one of the most fundamentally and perpetually interesting characters in the whole of history. A self-described man of paradoxes - Wilde was subsequently the true essence of his time, while also being far ahead of his time - De Profundis makes for required reading by one of the most endlessly fascinating individuals you'll ever read about, and also provides a startling - indeed, perhaps too much so - insight into human nature.

De Profundis, though long for a letter, is not a long work in the conventional sense. Consequently, as many editions of Wilde's collected works are available, buying this on its own may be deemed questionable. I highly reccommend purchasing a Collected Works of Oscar if you have not done so already - it's well worth the price - but, should you desire to have more compact editions of specific works, an edition such as this will be privy to your needs.

This is a very moving account of a heartbroken man who was betrayed by a person he loved dearly. The pain, the trauma, the love, the anger, the frustration is evident in every single well-written sentence. This book is not only a window into the mind of one of the best British writers of the late 19th century. It is also a timeless lesson on what can happen when one falls in love with someone who doesn't truly appreciate what they have before them. Of course there are other lessons to be learned in this book but rather than point them out here, I'd much prefer you pick up a copy of "De Profundis" as soon as you can.

Not actually a "letter," though it had to be originally presented as such for him to be allowed to write it while in prison, *De Profundis* is Wilde's masterpiece--one has to have really lived and really, really suffered to have written it and it's amazing that he achieved it.

I only very recently read it--and "got" it. It rings true to me, and is very, very moving and "profound." It ain't summer beach reading.

Wilde is still and will probably always be best known as a "Personality"--that and the author of a couple of decent period plays, a short novel, a few stories, and lots of forgettable poems and such. But THIS--THIS is IT.

He really WAS a great writer, it turns out, after all.

So many people concentrate on De Profundis' accusations cast towards Alfred Douglas. Yes, it's true that the letter was written to him and that Wilde is ruthless in letting Douglas know exactly what he thinks of him but that's not why De Profundis is a great piece of work. It is great for three reasons. Number one - It contains the best account of the life of Christ. Christ as the romantic artist is the only account that has moved me to tears and the only account I can personally embrace. Number two - it is chock full of the Oscar Wilde voice and wit and as a result it reverbates as a true work of art and number three - It is ultimately a work that celebrates the things in life worth feeling - failure, love, injustice, strength and forgiveness.

Don't waste your time with the accusations towards Douglas. He is unimportant. Oscar Wilde is what's important and De Profundis is Oscar Wilde bare.

Ah, me...one doesn't know which to be more irritated
and exasperated with: whether it be Walt Whitman doing
his dissembling shuck-and-shuffle about the children
he had sired (to throw off a probing, serious John
Addington Symonds) -- or Oscar, in this "j'accuse," which
he should have spoken while looking in a mirror, rather
than writing it on paper to Lord Alfred.
This is without doubt a fascinating, horrifying,
and yet in places humorous, "piece de Miserere mei"
(to combine a bit of French with Latin).
If one chooses to believe Oscar, his only fault
was weakness in "giving in" to Lord Alfred. Oh,
come now. Blinded by Eros, reason flies out the
door...if ever reason was in control. There are
some sentences which are devastatingly revealing,
but Oscar doesn't seem to see it. "The trivial in
thought and action is charming. I had made it
the keystone of a very brilliant philosophy expressed
in plays and paradoxes." Ye gods, and little fishes!

And this man dared to call himself a "Classicist?!"
Yikes!!!
The best exercise for the reader is to just take
many of the things which Oscar accuses Lord Alfred
of, and turn them toward the self-blind, self-
justifying Oscar, to see their devastating hitting
of the mark. Never having met the young man, but
only having the "benefit" of hearsay (mostly from
Oscar's literary defenders) Lord Alfred seems to have
been calculating, temperamental (using anger to get
his way), manipulative, etc., etc., etc. The best
description of him may be Wilde's referring to him
with the lines from Aeschylus' play AGAMEMNON,
about the lion cub being raised in a house and
being let loose to wreak havoc and ruin.
But Oscar bears his share of blame -- more than just
that of the "sin" of weakness which he constantly falls
back upon in his own justification. Even in the midst
of what purports to be some sort of penitent cry from
the depths of hell...Oscar still is ever the poseur:
"And I remember that afternoon, as I was in the railway
carriage whirling up to Paris, thinking what an impossible,
terrible, utterly wrong state my life had got into, when
I, a man of world-wide reputation, was actually forced
to run away from England, in order to try and get rid
of a friendship that was entirely destructive of everything
fine in me either from the intellectual or ethical point
of view...." Er, when was the last time that the
"everything fine" had last seen the light of day?
Was Oscar an "Artist," as he consistently claims?
Was he the wronged, harmed Artist? Perhaps only the
reader can decide that for himself. Without doubt
he was witty, acerbic, funny, cute, clever, perhaps
even charming (to some -- sort of like a Pillsbury
Dough Boy with flair and a clever tongue), perhaps
stylish (in a frumpy, velveteen sort of way). Was
he wronged by a predatory clinger and manipulator,
and a hypocritical social prudery and class power
play (Oscar is no Socrates--that's for sure!)? He
hardly seems worthy, in some ways, of being a poster-boy
for Gay Pride parades. More likely, he is a better
warning poster boy for the self-excusing, and never
take-responsibility-for-your-own-actions crowd.
But this is an incredible piece to read and think
about. There is some of it that is mordantly hilarious.

This well-written book took me back to Shelbyville IN in the 1950s, when every barber shop displayed a picture of the 1947 championship team and every patron knew all their names. No one would question the effect Bill Garrett had on his home town, but few could have predicted the impact he would have on collegiate sports for years to come.

The little town of Milan provided great sports drama for the movie "Hoosiers," but the life of Bill Garrett is more than a sports story. He did for NCAA athletics what Jackie Robinson did for Major League Baseball. Young people of today would be shocked to learn what he endured just a couple of generations ago.

Thanks to Tom and Rachel Graham Cody for this great read. As a Purdue grad, it pains me to praise a book that casts such a positive glow on Indiana University!

This is a good book and a good read. If you're from small-town Indiana (like me) and old enough to understand what single-class "Hoosier Hysteria" really meant, then you'll like this book.

However I respectfully offer that it's not a 5-star book. It may be a 5-star story in search of a 5-star telling.

I just finished the book yesterday, and I find myself wishing the authors had been less dispassionate. Or more passionate? Whatever.

So who was Bill Garrett? The book talks a lot about his life and times, and provides some ancedotes, but always left me wanting more about Bill. Sadly, Bill wasn't available to be interviewed, but his teammates, friends and wife were all sources for the book.

Here are some examples:

We learn a lot about how Bill came to enroll at IU, but we don't learn about the man himself. Bill left Tennessee State after enrolling, and took a bus to IU. No one was available to meet him there! How did he feel about this?

Bill was on the road and separated from his wife for several years while he knocked around the fringes of professional basketball. How was their relationship affected? We don't know.

Finally - the authors talk about the changes in college basketball in the 1950's (pp 169-175), Branch McCracken's sporadic recruitment of black players, yet fail to mention that IU WON the NCAA championship in 1953!

Sorry 5-star raters...it's a good book and a story worth telling, but could be a lot better. Probably a better movie than a book.

Seldom have I been so touched, entertained, and educated by a book as I was by Getting Open, which I read in two days. It is truly a masterpiece and something I will keep on my bookshelf for the rest of my life.

Although born and raised in Indiana, I didn't know much if anything about Bill Garrett before reading this book, but I was just blown away by his story. Not knowing the story, it was almost like reading a well-crafted novel and I hung on every new development the authors revealed. I also didn't know much about the racial intolerance of the times. My neighborhood and high school were all white, so I really had little if any contact with blacks before I went to Indiana University as a freshman in 1963. It hardly seems possible that such racial intolerance existed in the Midwest so recently before then.

This book exceeded all my expectations and I highly recommend it to anyone, whether you're a basketball fan or not. If you have any ties to the Hoosier State or to Indiana University, you will love it all the more.

At the pinnacle of his high school career - leading Shelbyville High to the Indiana state championship; a team that had three black starters - not one college scout in the arena attended the game to recruit Bill Garrett or his two teammates due to the color of their skin.

At the pinnacle of his collegiate career - leaving the court to a standing ovation that lasted several minutes - Bill Garrett was refused service in a restaurant days later; one that had on its marquee that it welcomed fans of Indiana Unniversity basketball.

And when Bill Garrett was ready to launch his pro career, the team in his home state did not draft him.

But Bill Garrett was stronger than those who attempted to keep those doors closed. And we are better because of him.

For author Tom Graham - with his co-author/daughter Rachel Graham Cody - the book took seven years of reseach, and certainly a lifetime of not denying the facts from the past and understanding the urgency in the present to set the record straight.

Getting Open is more than a biography on Garrett and how he integrated Big Ten basketball by playing and starring for IU. It is a history of institutionalized racial hatred in the State of Indiana - at one point in the 20th Century, the KKK essentially controlled all essential government offices - and the tireless work of person's from different sides of the tracks to fight the good fight.

Graham is a Shelbyville native who was old enough to vividly recall the times, which certainly helped as he meticulously did his research to cut through the fiction that builds from facts as the years tumble on.

It is a book from the heart that will make you realize how we must celebrate those who had the courage then by continuing to challenge those who want to forget - or rewrite - the past.

This book is an incredibly well written and well documented story that should be more widely read. It is an important history that many sports fans, and non-sports fans, will enjoy tremendously. It is an inspiration to us all, and offers many lessons and insights about overcoming racism. Thank you to the father-daughter authors for getting out this story!

While reading this book, I couldn't help thinking of all my friends who would benefit from reading this book. It's a great read.

It's about time I wrote a review for this book because I have had it for years, read it repeatedly, toss it in my briefcase or luggage on business, or keep a few on hand to pass out......

I have been familiar with the work of spiritual responsibility as taught by Christel Nani and Dr. Rebecca Grace for years now...and have found my personal and professional lives changed remarkably for the better for it. The basics for this book give a very simple, hands on, easy approach to seeing how we each tend to get in our own way while seeking what we want. This book strips away the fanfare and mystic fluff for basic truths about finding joy, being your best self, living your best life, and literally ridding oneself of one's own "stinking thinking." So many times we are our own worst enemy in achieving our own happiness. This book is probably the only book I pick up to re-read fairly often. I always seem to find something new - a new approach, a new idea, a new way to solve a problem each time I read it.

Now, if you are looking for an in-depth analysis of the belief system we carry with us, and how it can be detrimental to one's physical and emotional health - with a very detailed analysis of these issues and how to change, as well as countless specific informal case studies (author's anecdotes) -"Guidance 24/7" is not the book for you. "Guidance 24/7" is the fast, swift, quick, high-intensity dose of a shot of joy. If you want the more detailed analysis of tribal beliefs, lots of great illustrative case studies, and tons of specific resolutions as to how to proceed - you want Christel's later book - "Sacred Choices."

Basically I differentiate the two books this way....."Sacred Choices" is the long slow luscious sip of a frothy fabulous latte, while "Guidance 24/7" is the quick high-intensity shot of espresso..... either way, enjoy! P.S. I just ordered the "Confidence Code CD" - another must own item..... play it before bed and fall asleep to it.... the results are fabulous!

Although nicely written by a medical intuitive, I was disappointed in this slight offering. The information was basic to the point of being simplistic. The boxed thoughts which were to be used a meditations were neither memorable nor effective. In less skilled hands, this book would be trivial and annoying.

This is not to say, it has no value. It is a quick and easy read and the author's experiences are fascinating. Some will find comfort but none will find depth. In many ways, this is like having the whipped cream but not the cake. It is frothy and light. I was expecting a more substance, detailed program for accessing guidance. This is not unlike those inspirational angel blurbs/chicken soup for the soul stories featured in womens magazines--marginally moving, completely forgettable.

This is an excellent book on how to reconnect with God (or whatever you choose as your higher source). I highly recommend getting this book, it will change your life forever for the better!.

I loved Guidance 24/7 because it's so comforting! We all need help. Christel makes it so easy and simple to ask for the guidance you need! You will realize that you are never alone, and divine help is yours for the asking. Christel shows you how to ask for help, how to get over feeling unworthy, how to listen for the answers, and how to be grateful.

This book is a very easy read but you'll want to read it over and over to make sure you get it all. Christel's examples and stories are fascinating! After reading this book, I can see angels in my life, and am much more prayerful for my own needs and others' needs, but also in gratitude for all I've been given. I love this book for its simplicity and integrity.

I have every organizing book known to man, and this is one of the best. The author deals with real problems in the e-office, organizing styles, tools, and furniture placement. You'll find ideas you can use.

It's been my Bible since I took a look at it in a bookstore...and couldn't put it down. Now I carry it around with me. Or it sits in clear site, so that if I slow down or space out, I can pick up where I left off and keep tweaking my life to work better.
It's more than just "how to straighten up your office" although it does that more compassionately and with more humor than any book or person I've seen.
Since the eighties I've used the services of members of National Organizations of Organizers, and read various books, listened to tapes, but this book is the one that finally WORKS for me, maybe because my nervous system isn't wired like most organizers, and Liz Franklin takes this into account.
Besides, have you ever met an organizer who's FUNNY?
I recommended this book to my boss, who, although has a lot of heart and is a great guy to work for, is even more disorganized than me. And I recommend it unequivocally to anyone.
What happens as you start to give yourself the space and time to do what works for YOU, not for an organizer, all sorts of other wonderful things unfold in your life. Try it. I was surprised.

For those of you who may not have known me in my "other life,"
I used to be quite disorganized . . . in fact, I once wanted to enter HOME OFFICE COMPUTING'S "Most Disorganized Office" contest,but couldn't find the application for three years because it was buried on my desk. (True story!)

So when I saw HOW TO GET ORGANIZED WITHOUT RESORTING
TO ARSON by Liz Franklin, a self-described
Cultural Anthropologist, I just had to read it if just for the title . . . and I'm glad that I did . . . the book delivers on its promise.

Franklin uses humor to get her points across, yet she also
provides a lot of very concrete advice . . . in addition, she
doesn't tell you what you have to do, and she recognizes the
fact that everybody is different.

And any author who manages to incorporate one of my
favorite stories into her writing has definitely managed to
catch my attention . . . she writes:

Albert Einstein once went to dinner with a friend and a new
acquaintance. Over dinner, the new acquaintance asked
Einstein for his phone number. "Sure," said Al. He got up,
left the table, and walked back toward the phones.

"Where is he going?" asked the acquaintance.

"I don't know," said the friend, with a puzzled look on his face.

Einstein came back and handed the man a slip of paper with his
phone number on it. "My God, you're Einstein!" said the guy.
"Why do you have to look up your own phone number?"

Einstein said, "Why should I keep in my mind the little things
I can find anywhere?"

There were several other memorable passages; among them:
* Paper flow starts at hand level. It comes into your office via people's
hands. You open the mail with your hands, you take it from the fax,
printer, or copier with your hands, you scribble notes with your hands,
clip interesting things out of the paper with your hands, and input to
your computer with your hands.

Why all the emphasis on hands? So you'll remember this important
secret of organizing: paper always lands on the first available hand-
height surface. And what do we find at hand height? Furniture. Paper
lands, and stops, wherever there is a convenient piece of furniture.
Preferably a flat piece of furniture, but almost any hand-height
furniture will do.

* Sit back in your chair, crumple some scratch paper, and let it drop
from your hand. That's where your trash can belongs. If its new
location interferes with your traffic pattern, of course you can make
adjustments. Just be sure it's easy to toss trash from your chair to
the can without bending, leaning or stretching all day long.

* Put this sign on your Central Headquarters box: "DO NOT DISTURB!
WET PAINT!" I'm not kidding! If you don't protect your stuff now,
you won't find it later. And for some reason, this is a sign that gets
people's attention. Who cares it they laugh-at least you'll have
achieved your objective: to keep them out of your stuff.

I've read quite a few books on organizing. After awhile, they all come out about the same in advice, each with their unique point of view and maybe a couple of "wow" moments. This book though, had something different to offer.

Liz Franklin addresses disorganization - not as an issue of laziness or bad habits but of not organizing ourselves how we work naturally. We each are different in personality, so why do we need to organize our spaces the same? We don't. This is something that I've personally learned over the years - but never saw it written in concrete terms before reading this. Though my desk was already organized (I'm a spatial), it helped me to show and help others how they could organize themselves to fit their personality.

There was also application in the back, with pictures of ways that helped different personality types. The book is packed full of helpful and thoughtful things yet it's easy to understand. It's also down to earth so that you can actually start carrying out what you've learned without the "inspiration high" many self-help books give.

Though I enjoyed this book, there was one drawback. I wish there had been more applications as to how to carry this out. I wish this book would have been longer!

All in all, this is one of the best books on organizing an office that I've come across yet. It's helped to define the real causes of disorganization and frees you to be who you are, and organized at the same time. I hope someday soon she'll come out with a book on how to organize a home!

Wow, did I love this book! I've seen a lot of organizing books, but this one was full of ideas and suggestions I hadn't seen before. They were very, very easy to implement quickly and cheaply.

I particularly loved her suggestions on labelling files in way that's actually meaningful to you - labels and folders that make you WANT to do the work inside rather than avoid it. That was a huge change in my way of thinking. I'm also an out-of-sight-out-of-mind person, and I liked her suggestions on using simple clear/translucent containers (as opposed to all kinds of 'specialty' single-use containers that just add to my clutter).

A must-read, particularly for creative types.

This is a great book chock full of "to the point" advice.
I like the fact that you can use it not only as a "reading" book but also a "reference" book.

This book is great and doesn't treat you like a "dummie".....it
was delivered much quicker than I expected. Excellent!

"HOW TO OPEN A FINANCIALLY SUCCESSFUL COFFEE, ESPRESSO & TEA SHOP" by Elizabeth Godsmark, Lora Arduser and Douglas R. Brown.

Coffee is a huge industry across the country and around the world. In the introduction of "How to open a financially successful coffee, espresso & tea shop" the authors point out that the coffee industry is a $5 billion industry, which is growing more and more every year.

Anyone who is interested in starting his or her own coffee, espresso, or tea shop is going to be fascinated in this book. The authors start at the beginning with developing a business plan. The give examples and even offer a CD program that has preformatted documents. Licenses, business name, choosing suppliers, and equipment requirements are all discussed in the opening chapters.

Many aspects of running a successful coffee, espresso & tea business are discussed throughout this book. The authors have done a tremendous job in giving an introduction to opening this type of business. They talk about profit planning and advertising, as well as choosing the best equipment and managing your operating costs.

Without a doubt this is a definite must have book for anyone even thinking about starting this kind of business. The author's are able to skillfully introduce all the major concerns with opening a coffee, espresso & tea business. They provide a wealth of information that will help clarify a person's views of what is actually required to open, operate, and run a financially successful coffee, espresso & teashop.

Lots of good information. Some things I would never have thought of. I was very glad that I purchased this book and continue to use it frequently.

This is the best book if you are serious about opening your own business! They thought of everything. LOVE IT & recommend it completely!