Freedom Books

26 June 2008 - This Manifesto derives from decades of principled defense of freedom, peace, and sound money. It convincingly and eloquently advances the Libertarian philosophy. Ron Paul covers liberty, Austrian economics, the Federal Reserve, the free market, the welfare state, and the warfare state. I think he brilliantly covers each of these topics expect I have doubts about removing the military from overseas. I do agree that we can not afford to keep the troops at their present levels but do think the security risk is greater than we current could imagine.

This book is incredible. Regardless of who you are going to vote for, you should read this book first. I don't think the name is appropriate.
It may make people think the book is angry and inciteful, but it is just the opposite.

Have you been wondering what is causing the problems in our economy?
Have you been wondering how far we should go to fight terrorism, and what effect our interventions have on the radical islamic mindset in the middle east?
This book answers those questions and more in an easy to understand way that also teaches you more about those subjects than you will ever get in the news.
I was surprised to find that Ron Paul is as great a thinker as our founding fathers in my opinion, and has done a great service to this country by writing this information down.
Read how this country is no longer controlled "by the people", and how Ron Paul doesn't blame any particular group or generate hate in any way, but simply calls for an end to long-standing politics that has taken our government away from the people and the values set down in the constitution.
I feel so empowered and patriotic reading this book.
It solidifies feelings I've had for a long time about the government, but just couldn't quite put all the pieces together.

A concisely written platform for the movement behind the message of 2008 GOP presidential candidate Ron Paul, MANIFESTO diagnoses American sicknesses, and proceeds to offer sensible solutions that can work NOW. I have come to believe that Paul's brand of conservative policy are the only way. He is my personal hero.

This book will confirm beliefs that you have already held, much like Winston reading "the book" in 1984, as well as give you more examples of government driven schemes, scams, and broken promises to contemplate that you have never before pondered. The main difference between Winston's book and Ron Paul's is that Paul's gives clear, simple remedies to the problems that our government has gotten us all into. Touching on topics from foreign policy to oil prices to the abuse of executive powers, Dr. Paul parcels out his pearls of common sense wisdom. Listen to the previous reviews! This book is a MUST READ!!! Everyone knows that the best form of advertising is word of mouth; I will be spreading the word and getting as many friends and relatives to read this book as possible. Its time to open our eyes, America!

This is an outstanding book that every American should read. The chapters discussing the economy and the constitution rang especially true to me. By the end of the book, I was basically mad at what all of our current "servants" in Washington D.C. have done to our country. Dr. Paul makes some recommendations on where to begin the change (at the end of the book). I'm just not sure we can get enough people interested in making real, possibly painful, change.

I found the book easy to get into and I identified with the author and her search for self realization and feelings of doubt. I would recommend this to any seeker of Truth.

Before you read this book, keep in mind that Sadhguru is the leader of Isha Foundation. This "yoga" group charges significant fees for its services and yet has many non-paid full time volunteers. Be sure to do background research on the group.

I have read a myriad of 'spiritual' books through the years looking to fill the emptiness and fear that was always lurking. Most of what I've read has touched me at an intellectual level. Sadhguru's words seemed to jump of the pages of this book and touch me at my deepest core. It's as if the book is alive with his words. Although they are filled with logic and wit, there is much more than that. There is a resonance of truth that I've never come across before. With this truth is a deep peace and comfort. That's saying a lot for such a tireless searcher as myself! I hope everyone gets to experience this beautiful gift.

Great book to read!. It is applicable to almost anyone. It is easy and simple to read and provides real answers about life.

- Read this book to finally understand YOU, get rid of pretending to be someone that you are not and understand how to live life to the fullest.

- Reading this book you will absolutely agree with the guidelines from the bible
" The Kingdom of God is within you"

- My son who is a sophomore at college was impressed with the Guru himself whom he found to be an amazing, knowledgeable and powerful and yet a `cool' Guru with integrity and power. My daughter who is a senior at high school after reading a few chapters could stop reading the book. The book has rekindled her urge to know the truth about herself.
The book has propelled them to sign up for the Isha Yoda Inner Engineering Program (July 23-29 2008 program in Edison, NJ)

- This book has become the standard present/gift that we give to our friends and relatives. It is really a worthy gift!

Sadhguru Jaggi's responses to Simone's questions are profound and witty at the same time. The book has a nice, conversational tone to it and is not easy to put down.

A book I will definitely re-read .. this one's a keeper!

In Peace, V

Some authors invite you to take a journey with them. But in "Infidel" Ayaan grabbed my hand firmly and pulled me down her path, sometimes with my heels dug in for fear of what the next turn would reveal. But I could not put the book down. This is a fearless revelation into the very heart of the Islamic world and an honest working through of her faith and feelings. It constantly amazed me that she could recall and relive this horrible existence without hate or resentment. The writing style is extraordinarily good and draws you in from the first paragraph.

Another incredible thing was how she takes the reader into her mind while she was watching CNN and American news coverage during and after the 9/11 crisis. Westerners were trying to convince themselves that these terrorists were isolated extremists. Ayaan tells the reader otherwise, that most Muslim mothers would have rejoiced to have had their son involved in this "holy" and justified act. It is a rare glimpse of politically incorrect honesty.

I felt as if I had fallen into the book. I became, along with her, a conformist and a rebel, an obedient woman and a disobedient daughter, a refugee and a rescuer. I would finally feel safe only to discover that all around me there were those seeking to kill me for revelations of life behind the veil of Islam.

In the end I ached for her. Her emptiness now that she has rejected Allah is palpable. But her strength and character and loving honesty is a testament to the amazing woman she has always been inside.

I literally could not put this book down and read for hours and hours last weekend. Upon reaching the final page I felt that it seemed more like a beginning than an end. A story of brutality and repression that is beautifully inspiring, this book deserves a read.

The last few weeks, I have been enjoying my commute in the company of Ayaan Hirsi Ali, as I've listened to her fascinating book Infidel. I love books that transport me to a foreign place or time, and immerse me in a culture that I didn't know about before. And I love books that provoke thought about important ideas. Infidel does both of things exceedingly well. It is the autobiographical account of an independent-minded woman who was raised in a traditional Somali Muslim family and grew up to be a Member of Dutch Parliament advocating for women's rights. The first half of the book is a vivid account of her childhood in Somalia, and later in Saudi Arabia, Ethiopia, and Kenya as her family escaped the turbulence of their war-torn homeland. Her description of life in places like Mogadishu, Mecca, and Nairobi is rich in detail about their houses and neighborhoods, their food, their culture and traditions. Her portraits of her parents, her siblings, her grandmother, and other family members are richly complex, infused with the emotional perspective of her childhood at the same time balanced by an unflinching retrospective assessment of their good qualities and their weaknesses. The genealogist in me was fascinated learning about the Somali tribal culture that puts such a premium on one's ancestry that children at an early age can recite their ancestry for nine generations, and when two Somalis meet, they can readily ascertain their kinship even to tenth cousins. And her description of the variations of Muslim practice between countries, and the rise of Muslim fundamentalism, was illuminating and especially relevant today. She does a remarkable job of making comprehensible such alien traditions as polygamy, arranged marriages, and female genital mutilation. What is especially remarkable is how, even though she would later come to condemn some parts of the traditions she was raised with as being completely barbaric, she describes them in the context of her early life subjectively and dispassionately, neither concealing the barbarity nor revealing anger, judgment, and condemnation. The account is all the more powerful for that, allowing the reader to understand how such barbarity could be accepted and tolerated because of how it is embedded in traditional ways of life and in how sons and daughters are raised. And it allows us to understand this amazing woman on all the parts of her journey, from childhood, to adolescence when she was drawn to fundamentalism, to adulthood when she escaped to discover liberal ideas. The latter half of the book describes her life in the Netherlands, where she becomes not only a parliamentarian but a political lightning rod after making a controversial film with Dutch filmmaker Theo Van Gogh which lead to his murder and death threats for her. The book then becomes more about politics, ideology, and her intellectual autobiography, though embedded in personal experiences of immigration, learning Dutch culture, and ultimately life as a figure in hiding from death threats. She raises significant questions about whether a liberal society can survive being tolerant of a growing immigrant community within its midst that remains insular and perpetuates an illiberal way of life. (These questions have reverberations here in America, not only regarding Islamism, but in issues like the recent Texas FLDS raids, and in the fault lines of conflict between religious liberty and civil rights protections -- issues I hope to explore in future blog posts.) And she makes a compelling argument that Islam needs to undergo its own Reformation if it is to be reconciled to modernity. Her ideas and the amazing life experience that formed them make for vital and fascinating reading.

What a thoughtful and inspiring book this was! Ms. Ali writes in a very engaging and direct style that makes for a hard-to-put-down biography/self-discovery book. After finishing this great book, one can only admire this woman for her courage to think for herself, change her whole way of life, and watch as her family disowned and alienated her. She was able to see Islam for what it is--a disastrously out-of-touch system set in place to suppress women, full of ridiculous mythology. Ms. Ali rightfullly shows that Islam countries are far behind Western countries in economic well being, human rights, and learning.

One, I think, must also consider X-ianity during the reading of Infidel. Could there be verses telling women to be quiet in the X-tian Quran? Could there be verses in the X-tian "holy" book where god commands men to r@pe women? Could x-tianity be a silly bunch of myths, hundreds of years old (just like Islam!), that shackle its adherents from growing intellectually and morally?

Infidel is a fantastic book by a true, modern-day hero. I'm so glad I read Ms. Ali's memoir, and I can't wait to see what she'll say next. Highly recommended!

Until it was finished, this book became a part of me--- I could not put it down. Ayaan's culture was an incomprehensible combination of love, support, backwardness, cruelty, and control. To watch her grow and develop into an independent and autonomous young lady, was to see a flower beginning to bloom. It made me thankful for having been born in the USA and for the parents I had.

Submission and degradation of women in the Muslim faith is certainly not a new or unrevealed topic, but this personal account by Hirsi Ali brings insight and understanding that one can not achieve through news articles and other written factual documentation. I applaud Ms. Ali for her courage to come forth and expose the errors of her former religion (which is no easy task) with the hope that the atrocities against Muslim women will eventually come to an end. Women of all faiths and nationalities should read this book and more like it to remind us that we still have a long way to go to accomplish true equality with men.

Paul Rieckhoff's new book CHASING GHOSTS is a must read for every citizen of the United States--and for those who cannot read, a family member of friend should read it to them. It is not simply Rieckhoff's stunningly honest telling of his experience as a soldier in Iraq, it is among the finest reports yet written on that highly unnecessary conflict for which we Americans are ultimately responsible. Get and read this book at your earliest opportunity! If you do, you will quickly find out what being patriotic actually means. In addition to the joy you will feel from the way this is written with such daring honesty, simplicity, passion, responsibility, uncomplicated intelligence, insight and vision--you will be stunned, shocked, amazed, thrilled, and you will weep, laugh and be frightened for this book contains real, raw truth. But the unexpected surprise will probably be your own renewed desire to be a much better human being and American. This might be the finest book yet written in our new century--by a young man who is genuinely human and humane and wishes to share his profound observations and thoughts with all of us. CHASING GHOSTS is as good as it gets.--Wayne Adams, NYC

"Chasing Ghosts" is a hard hitting book which reveals the ugly truths about the invasion and fouled up occupation of Iraq from a soldier's point of view. What are those ugly truths? Civilians still living without basic necessities such as electricity, running water or food. Illogical decisions such as disbanding the Iraqi army and leaving a small numbers of American troops to guard large sections of Baghdad (which led to the growth of the current insurgency). Anyone who wants to know what really went on in Iraq during the 2003 invasion should turn off FoxNews and read this book instead.

Written with truth, honesty and passion, Paul Rieckhoff unveils the ugly face of the war in Iraq. "Chasing Ghosts" is a true eye-opener for anyone who supports or doesn't support the war. This book surpasses any media reporting of the war as it tastefully criticizes the war and President Bush. Rieckhoff writes from the heart with a clear head and good conscience, resulting in a brilliant recollection of his time serving as a First Lieutenant and Infantry Platoon Leader for the U.S. Army National Guard during the first year of the war in Iraq.

I highly recommend this book to everyone, regardless if you come from a military background,or not, consider yourself a political guru or not. This book opens your eyes and gives you insight into what is really going on with our government and may also give you insight into yourself and your ability to trust, sacrafice, and honor the people you surround yourself with.
pick up a copy, you wont be dissapointed!

Chasing Ghosts is a gripping first hand account of the horror of Iraq from a Lieutenant who has served, honorably with sacrifice and true heroism. After reading his grueling account of Bagdad and the complete failure of our President and his so called leaders to understand the complexities of this war, I know this war is wrong. Rieckoff does an excellent job in helping the reader understand the complexities of a nation that is battered from years of torture, and embraces the reality that it will take generations of peace before these people can emerge from the abuse. Our presence does nothing but contain the pain and heighten the fear.
Not only does Reickoff so successfully capture the tragic feeling of war from all sided, he presents a bipartisan account of the failures of our government in its mission there. He paints a weary account of John Kerry's reluctance to listen to Veterans, the President's incredible stupididy, and the medias insensitivity to the soldiers who risk their lives every day.
I saw Paul Rieckoff on Tavis Smiley's PBS show and was impressed with him there, so I knew I had to purchase this book. It was well worth the price of admission.

Bing West did an excellent job! I chose this book because I wanted to better understand both the Battle for Fallujah and the larger War in Iraq from the soldier's point of view. West describes the negotiations and he makes that an essential interplay with the conduct of the War. The US is lucky to have the committment of troops who fought this battle under the political circumstances they faced then and continue to have to contend with.

The only unanswered question I have is: What was the source of the Insurgents' high powered weapons? West implies that they may be the remainder of the Iraq Armys' weapons under Sadam Hussain by describing the former soldiers and officers who fought with the Insurgents. But he does not directly address that.

Jim(Illinois)

the title comes from a comment on The Iliad. a well written book. lots of details on the battle. also gives a broad view of the entire socio-political background. not for the faint of heart.

I picked this up to read on a month long travel trip. I ended up reading it in one sitting! Consequently, Im very glad I had also purchased a few other titles on the same topic. I really good read, disturbing and terrifying at times with a great deal of insight, but a great read.

"No True Glory" written by Bing West.

"No True Glory" chronicles the combat and political events directly relevant to the city of Fallujah from April of 2003 through 2005. Perspective is given from soldiers on the ground all the way up to commanding officers.

The Good: No True Glory provided a wide range of perspective and gave good information from all sides of the Fallujah story. It didn't just given the action and tragedy on the battle field and it didn't completely bog you down with politics or tactics. A good blend of political explanation that helped you to understand what happened and why was combined with thoughts and attitudes of the high ranking officers and mixed with the day to day activities of the guys who were actually kicking in doors and getting shot at. The mix was good and paints a full picture of not just what happened when but also why.

The Bad: I had previously read "Jarhead: a Marine's Chronicle of the Gulf War and Other Battles" and "Generation Kill". Both of which were more personal because they focused on individuals or individual groups providing a personal aspect to each. That is the only aspect in which "No True Glory" lacks. The reality is that this couldn't be accomplished in "No True Glory" because the time frame the book covers is longer than any single tour of Duty served.

Overall: If military books interest you then pick up No True Glory and give it a try. A great read!

His account of the fighting in and around Fallujah was very informative. He description of the bravery and determination exhibited by the Marines was very memorable. Yet by ignoring the political ramifications of fighting a trumped up war created by the Bush administration and the large number of civilian casualties that have been subtained, he intentionally created a very distorted overall picture of the conflict. Also, his comparison of the fighting in Iraq with the Tet Offensive during the Vietnam War was extremely inaccurate. By blindly accepting the offical version of events, Bing did an injustice to his readers. Amazingly, he pretty much ignored the total incompetence of President Bush, Rice, Rumsfeld, and the political leaders who served there. As a Vietnam Combat veteran myself, I was very disappointed that he didn't recognize the harsh fact that one man's terrorist in another man's freedom fighter. Or rather, the glaring fact that we can't militarily win a war of occupation, unless we literally accept the fact that we are corporate occupiers and not political liberators.

This book is a "must have" for any freedom loving individual with an interest in firearms. It is primary a rifleman's book, because the rifle is what will keep our freedom, not a handgun.

Complete technical information on all models along with a complete buyers guide on rifles with all the pros and cons. Legal advice and constitutional interpretations as well.

Excellent book!

I'm not sure if I can say anything more descriptive or relevant than the previous reviews, but I will say that this is an EXCELLENT book. If you are a gun owner or have ever considered owning a gun, this is the definitive resource for you. Before you buy, sell, or have any further dealings with firearms, you owe it to yourself to read this book!

I've read several of the other pro-gun and Second Amendment books offered by such noted authors as Bracken, Ross, and Rawles. They are all excellent works in their own right. However, Boston's Gun Bible (BGB) differs from all of the others in that, it is a purely non-fiction and factual book, based on detailed research. No gun-owner's library should be without it.

Buy this book and read it. You will not regret it.

Boston's Gun Bible is a very informative reference for almost everything relating to firearms. Boston offers advice and reviews for a wide range of topics, including (but not limited to): handguns, semi-automatic rifles, bolt-action rifles, shotguns, sights, optics, scopes, rangefinders, night vision, ammunition, knives, self-defense tactics, laws, regulations, and rights. Not afraid to state his opinion and back it up with facts and figures, he does a good job of separating fact from philosophy, and extensively covers both. Boston's style of writing puts an unwritten "and I mean it" after every sentence.

Boston's Gun Bible is partitioned into five parts. Part I begins the book from the ground-up by first defining a number of terms. Next comes a review of basic firearm safety, followed by a review of self-defense scenarios, defensive tactics for a number of situations, and a chapter dealing with guns and tactics specifically for women.

Part II exhaustively (and I mean exhaustively!) covers many semi-auto 'battle rifles', like the M14/M1A, FAL, and AR10, and battle carbines, like the AK74 and AR15. Boston not only numerically rates each rifle against tens of individual criteria, but elaborates (sometimes extensively) on each. Part III covers all other types of rifles, handguns, and shotguns with the same detail.

Part IV covers the acquisition of firearms, whether through private sales, gun stores, or gun shows. Boston hits many of the caveats associated with firearms ownership, as well as recommends a number of items for immediate purchase. A chapter is devoted to the practices, operation, and jurisdiction of the BATF. Boston also covers how to inspect firearms prior to purchase, and how to haggle a fair price. Reloading, cleaning, sighting, and shooting are all covered in the last chapter.

Part V and VI mainly cover topics like firearms rights (and rights in general), regulations, and disarmament. This is done as concretely as possible through commentary, recommendations, research, essays, news clippings, etc.

When it comes to firearms and self-defense, Boston certainly knows what he is doing. Boston's Gun Bible provides valuable information, confident recommendations, and an uplifting philosophy. This book is definitely worth its cover price. I highly recommend it.

Superb resource book with an unbelievable amount of information. I would have gladly given it 5 stars except there are a few typos here and there. I will strongly recommend this work to even those who are not firearm enthusiast. You might just become one and will certainly learn a great deal. An expert will discover within this book that there is a lot left to learn.

Boston's Gun Bible is probably THE book every gun owner and freedom loving American should own. Few Americans truly understand the Bill of Rights and the 2nd Amendment. It's not about hunting, nor is about personal protection. First and foremost, it is to protect Americans from an overbearing government! Boston's Bible gives you the information you need to make intelligent choices in every phase of selection and use of firearms.

That said, the original edition was released in 1998. We were in the depths of the Clinton efforts to disarm Americans. He revised it in 2000 with many important updates, and revised it again in 2002, which this version happens to be. That was the last revision. A newly revised edition is sorely needed.

It's been six long years, and many important events directly bearing on firearms, their ownership and use have transpired. The gun ban expired, which opened millions to ownership of guns more evenly matched with government forces. The development of the 6.8 SPC round for combat use in Afghanistan and Iraq. Laser optics. Wartime R&D have put many new features and materials in play. New manufacturers have come; others have gone. The Supreme Court has revised laws on gun ownership. All of this needs to be accounted for in any book purporting to be a Bible. And that means timely revisions.

The other reviews here accurately reflect strengths and shortcomings of the Bible. Even as it ages, however, it is aging gracefully, and you should surely own and study religiously the most recent edition.

EDIT - ADDED COMMENT (6/30/08) - I discovered this weekend that the book has been revised and updated since it's 2002 copy right date, but because the updates are not annotated, you have no way of knowing which edition you are reading. The copy I found this weekend says, "New text for 2006" on the page facing the table of contents. In reading through sections of the book, I find comments which indicated new material. It would be most helpful if the publisher, Javelin Press, would use standard bibliographic formatting and conventions so a reader would know which date he has.

"The Law" could be printed in today's editorial page, and most would believe that Frederick Bastiat was speaking to today's events. But this little classic shows that the plagues of statism, class interest, and majority tyranny were just as timeless in 1850 as they are today.

Mr. Bastiat establishes that all rights are individual rights. A group, consisting only of individuals, has none inherently. Proper law, derived from individual rights and made effective by force, steps in for the individual when others overwhelm him and attack his rights. Had society simply stuck with this, its issues would be empty.

"But the law is made, generally, by one man, or by one class of men. And as law cannot exist without the sanction and the support of a preponderating force, it must finally place this force in the hands of those who legislate.

"This inevitable phenomenon, combined with the fatal tendency which, we have said, exists in the heart of man, explains the almost universal perversion of the law. It is easy to conceive that, instead of being a check upon injustice, it becomes its most invincible instrument."

And in come the activists, the planners, the egotistical, the greedy, and the law is turned on the individual and perverted into a tool for group power; division, group conflict, abuse, resentment, and law-worship result. Society's issues are legitimized only when the law is treated like this. And so Mr. Bastiat challenges the planners' blueprints for law as organized charity, organized welfare, organized commerce, etc., with his own definition: LAW IS ORGANIZED JUSTICE (capital letters are his).

Mr. Bastiat follows with his theory that statism is ubiquitous in Western history, even among the influences of the founding fathers. He offers many historic examples of ideas that man is passive, or must be made to be so. Robespierre was the worst: "The principle of Republican Government is virtue, and the means to be adopted during its establishment, is terror." You'll be surprised by the totalitarian talk of many figures we celebrate: we'd find it revolting if it were about foreign invaders. Yet it's about their own people.

Mr. Bastiat presents a solid challenge to democratists, universal suffrage, republicanism, any tentacle attached to state government. Socialism is merely the overt version of this problem.

Proper law is only about the individual. It isn't about creating anything. It isn't activist. It is reactive. Justice steps in for one's protection, not for one's profit.

Read this classic and be a little more free.

The author is able to eloquently define Law as well as the role of law and law-makers in any society. Although written for another country and another time, the content is just as applicable to this country today. This is a testiment to the fundamental truths expoused.

This is a formative, classic work. If you are into politics, do yourself a favor and read it ASAP. This is really a light-weight primer to libertarianism, and yet it is very powerful and heavy-duty at the same time. If more people would read (and adopt) these ideas, I think our political environment would slowly move in the right direction!

I think that other reviews have done a fine job of praising the importance and genius of Bastiat's work. And I thoroughly enjoyed his reasoning and clarity as well. But I was pretty disappointed by the quality of this edition. The book has misplaced punctuation and typos in it -- the kind that would be caught by a simple spell checker. Maybe I'm picky, but I find such errors to be rather distracting when reading. When I buy a book, I expect that someone has carefully proofread it, but somehow that seems to have been overlooked here.

So, 5+ stars for Bastiat, and a generous 2 stars for the publisher.

In 1850 a French guy wrote this little essay on the Law. It could have been written today in the US, in Europe, because we are certainly not progressing in terms of common-sense, politically. Here are some ideas:

-Justice is the absence of injustice. Nothing more than that.

-What God does is well done. Do not claim to know more than Him. The fact that this rule is almost universally broken says much about our level of hubris.

For Bastiat Law is a minus, it takes away. His subject is so relevant today that we can see the results of the States' false philanthropy, just as Orwell warned us in his Animal Farm. Western governments certainly know how to belittle us... we couldn't do without them. In Spain we have this government commercial encouraging drivers to drive well: "We can't drive for you!" They wished. The only idea that they think about it tells how far they've got under our skin.

This book is dynamite. Makes one see the world today in a clear and detached way. Who are the philanthropists that we "owe so much devotion to"? Take Gore's greedy schemes with his mineral mines behind his climactic facade. Take another homeless, Soros, the preacher of the Left, whose God is money.

To be a Pharisee is indeed to love the Law while hating man, to use the Law to make Injustice legal, to pervert Justice, to become a new god to modern State worshippers, wellfare addicts. Yes, Bastiat would sure be ashamed to see what the West has become: the legalized plunder by the State.

I know, I know, CPAs are supposed to understand everything about finance and investing. Well, this CPA can audit multi-billion dollar companies and play hard ball with the pros, but when it comes to smart, sound, strategic personal investing and asset allocation, I'm afraid I'm in the bush league.

I liked the book because it discussed all of the key areas that I need to consider (debt, interest, lease vs. own, mortgages, philanthropy, stocks, bonds, funds, 401Ks, IRAs, credit ratings, taxes, insurance, attitude, and marital money matters), but it covered them in an easy-to-understand, clear, positive and entertaining way that left me hopeful rather than overwhelmed.

I finished the book armed with knowledge, a clear path forward, and most of all, a positive, confident feeling that I can now put my arms around what used to be a black hole, squeeze tight, and know that my assets are now in gear.

Get Your Assets in Gear was the answer to questions I've always had about finances. One of my goals in life is to always have enough money to cover my living expenses and still have more for pleasure. This book tells you exactly how to save enough to be financially fit and happy along the road to financial independence. I am so excited that I am 23 years old and have this book, because I am now 100% positive that I will have the life, financial and otherwise, life that I want. I have always found finances difficult to comprehend between 401k, stocks, mutual funds, loans, etc. Get Your Assets in Gear makes it crystal clear what each of them are, and what the perks are of each. This book gets a huge thumbs up for making each point clear, specific, and attainable, and the icing on the cake is that it was an easy, fun read!

Get Your Assets in Gear makes understanding the process of investing easy and fun. If you are in search of concise information written in easy to understand language this book is for you. I have purchased copies to give as gifts to all young investors.

Get Your Assets in Gear focuses on young people just starting out but she doesn't neglect those of us who are catching up; her advice is equally suited to any person of any age who just wants to increase their wealth and their quality of life. Geiger provides a questionnaire in Chapter One to determine whether this is the book for you and to help your chart your progress.

Geiger's approach is very positive and upbeat; she never couches anything in negative terms because she's a great believer in a positive outlook affecting your finances directly.

She makes great use of others' wisdom as well as her own experience as a financial professional; for example, she provides some affirmations from author Chellie Campbell in the form of a daily exercise that is a lot of fun. Geiger believes in marrying thought to action; throughout the book she provides information and advice and then provides you with directions on the exact step to take at the end of each chapter.

Geiger's strength is in simplifying financial subjects in a way that is enjoyable to read and which really emphasizes the most important points. Every aspect of financial planning is covered: budgeting, dealing with debt, tithing, investing, credit score building, house and car ownership, retirement accounts, partner finances, taxes, saving money for college and teaching kids about finances. She manages to cover all these subject in less 200 pages, without glossing over anything and without overwhelming the
reader.

If you are a beginner trying to get educated and organized, you will appreciate her direct coaching approach; if you are more experienced, you will probably appreciate her encouragement and positive wisdom as you reach financial plateaus in life. Even if you already have a lot of knowledge of personal financial planning, Geiger's enlightened educational technique will help you learn how to spread the word and coach your children, family members and friends.

(I also reviewed this book in my Dollar Stretcher (stretcher dot com) book buzz blog.)

Financial whiz Jan Geiger has written a fabulous guide to financial freedom for young people. This is the book I wish I had read when I was growing up. Filled with upbeat stories told in an engaging manner, it gives you all the basics from student loans to car loans to real estate mortgages (bet lots of people out there today wish they would have read this part before the latest fiasco!). Follow your "Money Mom's" simple recipes and you can relax knowing your financial future is assured.
Chellie CampbellThe Wealthy Spirit: Daily Affirmations for Financial Stress Reduction

Wonderful experience. Seller worked out all the details with me and I was so pleased with the purchase. Would definitely refer others to him and also buy from him again. Thanks so much.

Pictures. These will remind you. Haunting. Sad. Heart wrenching. Moving. These words won't do it for you. The book will give you more. Over 3000 people died that day. This book will help you to never forget what happened to them and us.

The point comes across, but I think there is plenty of other work that should have been included.

A message to each and every reviewer who takes time to add thoughts to a any media of memorial of 9/11, World Trade Center Towers tragedy... thank you from my heart.

My spouse and I resided on the Lower West Side, Battery Park City, Gateway Plaza, So. End Ave. As survivors of the 9/11 World Trade Center Towers tragedy... From our Gateway Plaza apartment, facing the street and 300 yards from the Towers, we helplessly witnessed all from our apartment windows. The closeness of the Towers viewed from our windows - gave an illusion that one could reach out and touch the Towers; their beauty with night lights reaching toward the sky promoted a contemplative emotion.

We viewed the planes entering the Towers, the overwhelming inferno, individuals jumping, the collapse of the Towers, the darkness as debris hit our windows with a fury. What occurred over a period of hours, seemed like a much shorter time span. The darkness was darker than an eclipse, darker than the darkest night; and then a momentary hush after the air cleared. Viewing the roof garden one floor below, with the human reaction of looking out to see if someone might be on that roof garden and in need of help. Debris strewn everywhere, recording tape and paper hung from the trees of the garden and oh, so much ash. The momentary hush, whether real or imagined, then the viewing of debris for a second, fantasized that a parade had just passed by on our short street. I now really understand the expression a "feeling of helplessness", I couldn't fix what had just happened.

We vacated our apartment finally at 5:15 p.m. that day, waiting for someone to knock on our door, with only a battery radio to keep us abreast of happenings. "In a New York minute", we evacuated via the stairwell touched with ash, the result of a first floor door left open. With a few belongings, gathered with a tad of thought of what was being left behind, we stepped out of the door onto the pavement, seeing and standing in ever so much ash & debris, I wanted to turn around and go back to our home. It was one moment of reality in time, I carry to this day.

We planned to walk up the East Side, glimpsed the tired fire, police, volunteers, and med techs in our immediate driveway and street, so instead opted to pass through the building in back of the apartment complex. We gained access to the Esplanade walking the short distance to reach the Hudson River North Cove dock. We were escorted to the New Jersey shore via New York Police boat. From the boat deck, we viewed even more damage to the Manhattan skyline, especially noting the zigzag shape of the side of the American Express building, housed in one of the World Financial Center buildings along with the glorious Winter Garden, as well as the fall of World Trade Center Building 7. We were taken to the Jersey City Hospital, attended to by compassionate staff. Then traveled by National Guard truck to Hoboken, NJ where we were housed by a wonderful family who with great trust welcomed strangers to their home.

On Friday 9/14, our eldest son & daughter-in-law drove from New Hampshire via New Jersey routes to Hoboken for transport us to New Hampshire for temporary residence with our daughter, who along with her friend and our youngest son, greeted us with open arms & the overwhelming feeling of not wanting to let go with each hug that followed. Our daughter and son had spent that Friday in New Hampshire collecting items of clothing and necessities which the Concord community generously opened their hearts and donated by churches, stores, individuals, employers, American Red Cross, et al.

One of our grandchildren -- he was 8 at that time - arrived home from a few days with his Dad. He hugged us so tight, understanding the depth of 9/11 events for someone so young and yet so wise. He told Grandpa & Babcia that he had something for them... his Mom was not even aware of his gift. He had spoken to his classmates about his grandparents' closeness in location of the World Trade Center Towers. Presented to us was a large envelope full of hand-made cards from each of his classmates. And if that isn't love and caring, I don't know what is - from the hearts and minds of children!

Residing now in New Hampshire, not because of 9/11 drove us away, but circumstances just went that way as we continue to put our lives into perspective.

We Miss - New York City deeply; events found nowhere else in the USA, the introduction to & interaction with so many wonderful cultures. There isn't a day or night over these years that we do not think of 9/11... the Lady of Liberty & Ellis Island both on the merge of the East and Hudson Rivers. And that Lady of Liberty wept, I just know it, & still stands with pride that the USA is a democracy that will prevail.

We Remember - the victims, the survivors, their friends and families, the workers from the public and private sector, the volunteers, our neighbors in Gateway Plaza and staff in the small group of stores on South End Avenue, Battery Park City.

We Remember - the places we visited, the book signings attended, the celebrities we met, the concerts and theater plays, the movies, the arts, the parks, the strangers we talked with, on streets, on subway and those while standing in line for an event...

We Remember - Always In Our Hearts, Forever In Our Souls, Heroes, Victims, Survivors One and All... We Were There.

Painfully, the lump in my throat and the twist in my stomach, the tears in my eyes and the pain in my heart, to the depth of my soul, forever reside.

LIFE has done a first class job of putting together a book covering this horrific act by such a cowardly enemy.Rather than to make the Americans cower as these fanatics probably thought and probably thought and hoped for;it showed what a good and strong nation it is.History will remember both 9/11 and Pearl Harbor for the terrible and misguided acts of hatred they were.
This act conjours up different thoughts for everyone who witnessed it ,in whatever fashion,but no more so than those who had friends and particularly those who lost loved ones.
To those who may turn a little soft on the War on Terror a review of this book should remind one of what we are dealing with.
A great book TIME and thanks.

This book is well written and you don't need to use your imagination that often. T.J. Parsell goes into explicit detail of his life experiences. I highly recommend this book to anyone who has questions about young people in prison.

As soon as I finished reading this book, I went back to the beginning and read it again. I was blown away by Parsell's experiences and his courage to come forth and tell the truth. He made me realize how ignorant I was about life in prison. I learned a lot and thoroughly enjoyed his writing. Highly recommended!

I suppose my title is strange for a book about this subject---but it was really wonderful and I see everyone else liked it too. This is going to be a book I KEEP on my shelves, usually I get rid of the book after I read it. I couldn't wait to pick it up again. Most autobiographies I don't like, they don't tell the whole story, but T.J. Parsell really, really bares his soul to us and I thank him. And he's really come so far in life since his prison days.

There was just about every emotion and feeling there can be in this book. Love, hate, tenderness, violence, understanding, friendship, rage, openness, awareness, brutality, isolation, confusion, sadness and maybe even a little bit of joy.

What a book!! I'm going to write T. J. I'm so glad he turned out alright. The letters at the end made me cry.

I finished this book about a year and a half ago, it was so intense a read for me at the time, that I gave it away as soon as I finished it, I didn't even want it sitting on my shelf. It's one of the most depressing things I've ever read, ironically making it a great story, one of the best I've read. Really changed my perspective on things, I'm heterosexual and used to be fairly closed-minded about those who were otherwise, but now I'm not so quick to judge a homosexual person. Also, it is a real eye-opener for many I'm sure on the topic of male-rapes inside prison, and the injustices with this system in general. He got, what, $50 for robbing some photoshop with a toy gun? Ok so I can see giving him a month in the county jail, not 4 years in prison, get real. We need to demand for a reform in this country as far as this "corrections" system goes, even the horrors at Abu Ghraib are NOTHING compared to what goes on daily inside American prisons. I highly recommend this book, and "Inside by Michael G. Santos", as two very-worthy books on what life is like inside of walls and fences. This book will haunt.

I read a great review of this book on a writer's blog & couldn't wait to read it! It truly is a courageous story and I admire Parsell for sharing such difficult memories. Bravo!