Freedom Books

_Theodicy_ by Leibniz is amazingly relevant and readable considering how long ago it was written. This book is far better than many other works of philosophy which came much later. Very few authors have been able to tackle the problem of the relationship between the existence of evil and the existence of God with as much skill and clarity as Leibniz. The issues discussed in this book are still very relevant today, and the questions concerning evil and the existence of God still have not been answered. That is what makes this work so timeless; if I had been told that it was written yesterday I would have believed it, so relevant are the questions and so readable is the style. This is a must-read for even the most modern and scientifically-minded philosophers. Leibniz adresses questions that are completely independent of science, and can never be answered through science alone. The only way to solve the ancient problem of evil is to continue to think about it in the same way as Leibniz, even though we may never find a solid answer.

This, and other of Leibniz's writings are, ..... I don't know. Profound? That is an understatement! Paradigm shifting? At least a few? These are some of the most powerful and poignant thoughts put into writing. This is the man who discovered the calculus with meaning (as opposed to Newton, who also gets credit, but had a different basis).

Leibniz gets some bad neglect in history, largely because Voltaire undermined his thoughts by creating a ridiculous straw-man of Leibniz's ideas - maybe Voltaire just couldn't grasp it! It is some of the hardest writing to read, especially since there was nothing before this like it. (for this reason, I recommend, if new to Leibniz, to NOT read an introduction or such. Many "scholars" still give Voltaire's slant on Leibniz. Read for yourself and then judge).

For hundreds of years Leibniz was put on the back shelf because Newton reigned supreme. But guess what? It turns out that Leibniz was right in his charges against Newton. The death of classical physics and the rise of the quantum started with Leibniz - it just took the world a while to catch up.

Also, if you have to deal with someone who gives that trite argument "If God is all powerful, If God is all good, How is there evil in the world," Plop, this book on his/her lap. Why people expect and easy and quick answer to this question is beyond me. Leibniz's answer, his treatment of free will and determinism, the soul and the individual - truly, if grasped, will change some part of your mind for the better.

Leibniz's argument for the origin of evil in human freedom is perhaps the most famous of all the theodicies, and obviously if you want to read the source then this is it. The argument is easy to grasp and convincing - which made me wonder exactly why it required a book of this length (about 400 pages). The answer is that Leibniz sets out his argument within the first fifty pages and the rest of the book is devoted to meeting arguments that other thinkers (particularly Bayle) had made about theodicy. Leibniz really over did the treatment of Bayle's objections, to such a point that Leibniz himself admitted around page 300 that he was growing tired of refuting Bayle.

Fortunately this edition contains almost all of the original appendicies (bar one which set out the formal argument in Scholastic Latin), the first of which is the main arguments of the book stripped down into analytic logical arguments. This takes only 9 pages and to be honest, it's almost worth skipping the rest of the book and just reading this, as it contains all the important points. At the very least I find it very useful when I want to come back and remind myself what was said.

I have nothing to add to the previous reviews concerning the importance of Leibniz's thought as expressed in this book. I would like to add this caveat, however: this translation is not a critical edition. Leibniz quotes numerous passages in Greek and Latin (he was enormously erudite), but these passages are not translated in this edition. Neither does the editor/translator identify where the quoted passages are from (this would be useful if one wanted to look up the original context of a passage that Leibniz is quoting). Fortunately, the quotations are usually not necessary to understand the argument, which is somewhat repetitive in any case.

The other disadvantage of this volume is that the index contains only proper names and not ideas. This is unfortunate, since much of the work is not clearly organized and the discussion of a given issue is often scattered throughout the book.

But since this is the best edition of the Theodicy currently available in English, one has to live with these disadvantages.

To the extent that this gem of a book demonstrates how the way we handle money is a metaphor for much else that ails us, it helped me face and deal with an array of things that were dysfunctional in my life - not just my indebtedness. Written in a style that's both personal and universal, Margaret St. John's book has a formula that works.

....and read this book! Written with the understanding and compassion which comes only from experience and hard work, Margaret St. John will help those willing to gain insight into the reasons they suffer with debt. The reader will empathize with people who reacted to early childhood circumstances by becoming adult debtors, and underacheivers. I learned the reasons we undermine our foundations with needless debt, and how best to allocate what we earn. The method used is practical and has helped many who thought there was no hope. This book helps even those of us who have no debt, but who, by mismanagement have wasted money we may need in time. Buying this book is a wise investment.

This book takes a hard hitting approach to debt. While reading the book, I quickly discovered it wasn't about the money. Wow! What a revelation. This book has helped me to "peel away the layers of the onion" and discover the reasoning behind my debting. It even inspired me to go to my first Debtor's Anonymous meeting. Today, I'm much closer to becoming debt free. The future is much brighter now that I don't debt one day at a time. Thanks, Margaret!

This gem is a do-it-yourself guide to the solvency we all desire. The practical exercises are fun to do, and they hold the key to opening those doors of awareness as to why we do the things we do.... More than just a "how to manage your money" treatise, this book delves much more deeply into the beliefs that keep us indebted monetarily and otherwise. Excellently written, with plenty of anecdotes and personal experiences, I found it insightful and empowering. This book comes from the heart - Ms St. John has suffered through and found solutions to problems more common than most would care to admit. Thanks so much for sharing.

All traumatic events spawn the good and the bad, the unique and the clueless. The Post 9/11 world has been no exception. Following the single biggest loss of Aerican blood on American soil since the Civil War battle of Antietam, there have been scores of hucksters, self-proclaimed experts, and scare-mongers alike purporting to have the Final Fix It to deal with the world following the horrors of that fateful day.

There have been several works of political and journalistic types that have been well written, moving, accurately evocative of that terrible day, and contributed something unique to our permanent discussion about what it means to live insecurely in an increasingly insecure world. It's not just 9/11. Katrina. Rita. Earthquakes. Tornadoes galore. Tsunamis. The list is seemingly endless.

At LAST there is a book that concisely yet capably brings in more data than I ever thought possible to pre-brief the average person about how to deal with disaster---and most important of all, how to be: RESILIENT.

I really down't know how Kehayan and Napoli did it. Those of us who write for a living are constantly faced with what I call the '10 poounds of gold that must fit in a five pound bag' conundrum. In short, what do you exclude? How do you summarize without weakening the work? Most of us cannot do this adequately. Kehayan and Napoli have succeeded, in spades.

In one small, highly readable, well organized, graphically lucid and linguistically 'Just The Facts, Ma'am' style, these two mental health professionals weave in the basic How-To's with the whys and wherefores of REALLY surviving. The authors were able to get Mary Ellen Salamone, the courageous and singular President of FAMILIES OF SEPTEMBER 11, to write a forward that will move you to tears without mawkishness.

The ten things---and you must read the book to know what they are---to deal with disaster with resiliency are worth the price of admission.

I , who spent years working in the heart of the U.S. Congress, learned a few things about how federal laws work for disaster relief. As a father, I learned a few valuable things to help me better protect my kids. As a husband, I have more skills to help aid my wife if disaster strikes. And as an American who knew people who perished on 9/11, I have come away a well focused, better armed, more thoughtful, sensitive and RESLIENT man able to face disasters after having read this book.

Amazon only allows ratings up to five stars worth. I would throw in several more if I could. What I can and will do is to urge you to: BUY THIS BOOK!

Challenge: Name me two other books besides this one that will save your life? I won.

This book was obviously very well researched and clearly written with loads of pratical information. Covers a wide range of issues, how to be prepared and what to do after. Presented in an easy to read format with lots of reference material. Also has the unique combination of medical and psychological information that everyone can benefit from in some way. Truly a needed "handbook" in todays world. A bargain for all the information this book contains. It would take many hours to research this on your own. The authors are to be commended on their work. Money well invested.

Resiliancy is well written, well organized, easy to understand and complete in every sense. Thus far, it is the premier individual and family guide to preparing for a personal and family crises of any kind. It is literally "a how to" manual on how to prepare yourself and on how to be resiliant in the face of disaster and terroism. The book's references are spectacular. In short, when the book doesn't have the answer it tells you where to go to get the answer. In the post 9/11 world we live in, it's a must own.

With the aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina & Rita, being prepared for calamity is much on everyone's minds, Rebeccasreads recommends RESILIENCY IN THE FACE OF DISASTER & TERRORISM as a no flourishes guidebook of information on preparing yourself & surviving.

In 10 fast & succinct chapters you will learn how to determine what might happen in your life: injury - heart attack - wildfire - car crashes - earthquakes - domestic violence - rape - illness - storms - tornadoes - shooting - flash floods - robbery - terrorism - poverty, among many...
- what to expect
- how to prevent
- how to prepare
- how we react
- when to get help
- help yourself
- help others

National & personal Armaggedons can come at any time -- life is dangerous, no matter where we live nor how poor/rich we are -- learning from this book & getting you & your family prepared will help you sleep at night.

The fall of the Nicaraguan revolution was neither inevitable, nor caused by the lack of political consciousness of the workers and farmers who had made that revolution, neither was it caused by those same workers "voting with their stomachs" in 1989. No, it was the leadership of the Sandinista National Liberation Front ( FSLN ) and its policy of " concertación", of catering to the domestic capitalists of the city and the countryside that demoralized the working people, without gaining a single concession from Yanqui ( U.S. ) imperialism as the FSLN leadership had promised ! The working people I met in Nicaragua in 1986 during the war against the U.S.-backed counterrevolutionary terrorists were ready to make whatever sacrifice necessary ( and they were doing so ) in defense of THEIR workers and farmers government that then was in power, under the leadership of the Sandinista Front, that was still a revolutionary leadership then. The Nicaraguan people were betrayed by their leaders, who had and have to this day more faith in capitalism then confidence in the workers. The lessons of the degeneration of the FSLN and the defeat of the workers and farmers government that is treated in this book are based on the experience of of a revolutionary workers party in the U.S. defending that revolution here and opposing the U.S. dirty war, and on the socialist journalism of its permanent bureau in Managua during the ten years of the revolution. These lessons are just as important as the lessons of the victorious Cuban revolution , also covered in thumbnail sketches here .We workers and farmers here in the U.S. can still learn much from the FSLN during its revolutionary period, as we can learn from the works of comandante Carlos Fonseca, founder of the FSLN, on the road to power, referred to throughout this valuable book.

The 1979 rise of Nicaraguan workers and peasants inspired freedom-loving people around the world. The FSLN led a massive mobilization that uprooted the long-standing Somoza system of repression and subservience to U.S. capitalism. The armed people began a road of social justice and genuine sovereignty. Led by the Sandinistas, they defeated the invasion of counterrevolutionary contras -- armed and commanded by Washington. Yet the FSLN, at the moment of its greatest victories, turned away from the road of leading the workers and peasants forward to the overturn of capitalism. Instead, they reversed course and abandoned land reform, workers rights, and sought to become an inoffensive bourgeois political party. Even that modest ambition was thwarted, and they lost power in 1990.

This book is the most complete political analysis of the Nicaragua's Sandinista Revolution, not for academics, but for working revolutionists, for workers, peasant and youth who want to change the world. It contains resolutions on Nicaragua adopted by the Socialist Workers Party starting in 1979, the historic Program of the Sandinistas by the FSLN's historic founder Carlos Fonseca, and several important articles and speeches by SWP leaders. Most unique are the fifty-page introduction by SWP leader Steve Clark and the articles by Larry Seigle, a leader of The Militant's bureau in Managua during the revolution. They document that the revolution failed, not because it was anticapitalist, but because it failed to go on to end capitalism.

The July 1979 triumph of the Nicaraguan revolution showed the way forward for fighting workers and farmers throughout the Americas and the world. It transformed the possibilities for revolutionary struggles in Central America and the Carribean...attracted a new generation of fighters in the United States to communism...interwined with the rising freedom fight in South Africa...and gave impetus to new advances by the socialist revolution in Cuba.

"Only the workers will go all the way" - that battle cry of Augusto César Sandino, leader of the war against the U.S. marines' occupation of Nicaragua in the 1920s and '30s, once again became a line of march for millions.

This special issue of New International, based on ten years of working-class journalism from inside Nicaragua, traces the lessons fighters everywhere can learn from the rise and fall of the workers and farmers government in Nicaragua.

Nicaragua, Grenada, and Cuba "are three giants rising up to defend their independence, sovereignty, and justice, on the very threshold of imperialism...One must have a sense of history to know what these revolutions mean." Cuban president Fidel Castro March 1980 (from the back cover)

A must read. this will help people better understand how Americans are blind to modern slave mentality.

This book either confirms or reveals the perspective for ones freedom success. Once the book is read, the reader has the choice to retreat back to a controlled subsistance or or move forward to a life of financial, spiritual, and political freedom.
It is worth having in ones library. It doesn't take up much room.

This is an easy read. You will finish it in one evening because you won't put it down until you're done. The analogies are striking. You'll never look at your coworkers the same again. You'll want to see what they do with a spoon.

C. Mason Weaver, author of the hit "It's OK To Leave The Plantation" is back in full force with another 'underground success' monster in a small package: "The Rope: A New Perspective On Freedom And Success" (2001, Reeder Publishing, 84 Pages).

This one is just right for the briefcase, or the back pocket and is easy enough to digest in an afternoon, which I did recently. Weaver gets to the point quick as to why many of us DON'T achieve what we COULD achieve in the realm of business and commerce.

The main thrust: There are too many 'economic slaves' and not enough 'Free Enterprise Warriors'. Weaver gives solid emotional and encouraging examples as to how and why some of us never make the jump from 'wage slave' to 'business owner', which I will be happy to paraphrase:

*We ANXIOUSLY surround ourselves with naysayers and negative thinkers and adjust our vision to make them happy;

*We have FORGOTTEN that we WERE and ARE a race of economic 'risk takers' who have lapsed into the 'what government can do for me' rather than 'what I can do for myself and my family', and;

*We have become satisfied with the creature comforts rather than figuring out what we need to get our own and help others to get theirs!

... However, just like a Barber's clippers going after stray hairs that could mess up a cut, Weaver cuts away some of our OWN bad attitudes towards economic success. He makes a strong case for not only business ownership, but INDEPENDENT BUSINESS OWNERSHIP.

You'll laugh out loud as Weaver explains 'The Rope', and why there are too many that would rather be content with what they have and not dare to go for the 'deep water' of business success, regardless of how many times one may have failed in the past.

The past is the past, according to Weaver, and the future is YOURS if you want to move up to a new level of thinking and DOING. This small book is available from the publisher by email request..., or checking on line or your local bookstore.

C. Mason Weaver scores again...and its the right time to make that next economic step UP, to business ownership.

In my search for Motorcycle Fiction, I found this book and decided to give it a shot. I liked it. It's not written by the Bikers that I run around with, but it is a good story. The concept of having a global breakdown intrigues me. Most Bikers would go for the Freedom of self controll; deciding their own destiny, so I can understand the plight JC had when he decided to make his run for the New Society. I found this story to hold some of the truths of the Biker Culture and I think most people would enjoy the read. I don't know if I would have written it in 2011; that's only three years away. Maybe JC does know something we don't.

I met the author, talked bikes, then I bought his book. I had been reading non-fiction books and this book was a breath of fresh air. It was fun to read and I looked forward to finding out how the plot ended.

Mark B in Loveland

What an adventure. This is a book you pick up and don't put down till the last page, and when you close it, the only word is "WOW!" Thanks for the memories and putting them all together.

I have just finished reading A Run Up The Coast by G.W.Lewis.
I could not put the book down. I have never been on a motorcycle, but found that this is a book for everyone, and my thoughts were, "this should be a movie". Mr. Lewis has indicated this book is the first of a trilogy, and I can't wait to read the next sequel.

I immediately recommended the book to my family and friends.

I highly recommend THE SACRED SEVEN STEPS, it certainly is a practical guide to peace and freedom.

This book is an accumulation of years of spiritual study and I commend the authors on writing such a wonderful book. I gained so much from the information shared.

Don't miss reading this uplifting and exciting book, it will take you to places that will fill you with positivity. I found it very healing to my heart.

Thanks for writing such a great book, and I look forward to future works by the authors - Sandy Breckendridge and Kirk Vandenberg.

Love & Blessings to you both.
Jenny Crawford

What a book for all bedside tables. If I have a confusion or a need for an answer to a particularily difficult dilema. I need only open Sandy and Kirks book to any page, the page roulette works because invariably it opens to the right answer and I breathe a sigh of relief. Every topic is covered form judgement to abundance. I can only thank Sandy and Kirk for their brilliant calming and inspirational writing. Such insight is found in only rare books and stays by me for quick access. It restores my faith in the HIGHER WAY, and resounds with my souls advice. Thank you dear freinds for the comfort of your words.

The Seven Sacred Steps is a brilliant tool for those beings seeking to reach the inner depths of their being simply and easily. It is full of gentile and poignant wisdom aiming its readers towards a clear and precise path. Because the basis of the book is taken from a hands on workshop it gives us both sides, the questions asked and answers and techniques given to find our own deeper happiness within. In this book, Sandy Breckenridge and Kirk VandenBerghe are a brilliant team, supporting and providing an arena for the ancient heart vibration, which calls itself Alana to come through and teach
true knowledge. In The Seven Sacred Steps, Alana speaks on the very thing every human being hopes to find once they realize they have been looking.

Reading The Seven Sacred Steps was/is an experience of connecting with the energy of the teachings placed there. It doesn't read like a book. I found that I was taking it in on many levels and expanding spiritaully, as I read it. The first time through was slow...I just stayed with a chapter and read it over and over again. When I was done with the entire book, I wasn't. I started back at the beginning and went through it again. This is a book I will never stop reading. It has touched me in ways I have never been touched before. It's a living thing....and in some strange way, The Seven Sacred Steps has become a very dear friend.

This is an excellent book to inform persons with above average intellect regarding modern technology's ability to keep us safer in today's world. Every chapter is interesting and, it seemed, every sentence is packed with information. The book approaches safety from many different areas, and probably every person interested in the overall topic will say "Ah, I didn't think of that." Take your time reading this one, as there is so much information regarding the people and their ideas in several areas. My possible only complaint was there may have been too much information to digest - my reason for only giving it a four...

It's difficult to easily peg the appropriate place for Safe: The Race To Protect Outselves In A Newly Dangerous World. It is equally important to health libraries, political and social science collections, and surveys of terrorism. It's the first to explore the work being done around the world in areas of security and defense, and the mechanisms which might thwart efforts to increase safety in the world. Safety covers all the high-level risks and efforts to protect the public in a post-911 world.

For the reader interested, but not expert in technologies, this is a fascinating account of the wide range of methods available or under development for combatting the terrorist threat. Some of the information is quite surprising, revealing the inadequacies of some conventional wisdom about appropriate ways of preventing or responding to terrorist attacks and ways in which we fail to take full advantage of familiar tools. Most impressive is the eminently readable manner by which the authors have made many advanced technologies and systems understandable to the lay reader. This will be a valuable reference book to assist the reader in the future to process news and discussions of public policy.

This book is filled with fascinating facts about our attempts to stop terrorism. I would like to thank the wonderful people that we read about in this book for making our country a safer place!

Vernon Kitabu Turner writes from life about life. Thus does a good writer share with the reader on many different levels. You are in for an amazing discovery when you read this book. It is your book and your life.

Highly recommended for both beginners and long-time warriors on the spiritual path.

Vicki Woodyard

If I could write 1,000 words here about Kitabu's book Secret I would. However, I can't even put what I feel about his book into one sentence. This book is so many things in one, that you just sit back after reading it a say one word, "Wow." I very much wish I could convey my thoughts into words for this book, but I don't think they have words for what I feel. I was so moved. Thanks for another very well written book Kitabu.

A lovely mountain-mist prose, exciting insight, race, discovery, self, freedom: these are his tools. The result is The Secret of Freedom.

I am a journalist who met Kitabu while he was in Jamaica and had an opportunity to review his book for a national paper....

Extending beyond our 'limitations' Secret beautifully and almost poetically defines the idea that self is a great thing, individual and untouchable -- a core that makes the externals (like skin colour) irrelevant.

Written with such self-assured insight that you begin to feel: "Right, RIGHT, that's IT!", Secret offers a gently prodding look at the old problems. It is exciting to walk with Zafir through his discoveries that freedom lies within himself, and that the imprisoned can be free, even while those who imprison can be chained. The 'secret' isn't a secret at all, but something that is known if you make any attempt to find it within yourself: freedom is the acknowledgment of self, that untouchable core. And Kitabu communicates all this in a simple style that offers a greater vitality to the strength of these truths.

The book is a communion with the reader. You feel the freedom here, than read about it, you become Zafir. I cannot think of a better tribute to an author.

It quite obviously doesn't hurt that the author is a Zen practitioner and martial arts expert brought up in a Christian home, who has studied and published poetry.

His work is a blend of all these, and adds a behind the scenes richness to Secret...

How can you describe a book which touches you at so many levels? First it is a good story that forces you to reevaluate everyday life and things you take for granted. Then it show you how the powers of this world manipulate us to make our own minds our worst enemies but the book does not leave us there. "Secret" takes us on a journey of liberation and on a no-holds barred battle for freedom and justice. The reader clearly sees that there are some things we must do for ourselves. On the surface, one might think Secret was a Black book but it is as universal as Herman Hesse's Sidhartha or Homer's epic tale, the "Odyssey." You read it knowing that it is cutting through our deception with the authority of a Holy Book, yet it is not preachy. We are co-adventurers with the main character Zafir. We see the truth for ourselves, discover with him, moment by moment. I recommend The Secret of Freedom to anyone who is trying to make sense of this world and would like an uncompllicated but clear account. Written before the movie, "The Matrix," it reflects a similar Philosophy, while showing us that the power to break free is ours already. You will read The Secret of Freedom again and again.

Someone dissatisfied felt this book did not help them. One quick comment than my results! Put it into action!

I myself began USING the information within this book and began to see an increase in money coming to me. The review is there to let you know about the book not the people writing about it.

I would challenge anyone to read one chapter and follow through with what the author is asking you to do than see if it works. Everyone is a critic yet put a little action behind it before you say anything. I have and I can show the success I had!

Please see refer to my full review (and comments thread) for the paperback version:

Secrets To Creating Passive Income and becoming financially free

In short: I purchased, and promptly returned the physical book a few days ago. And I then wrote a somewhat negative review to help others properly evaluate this book. Strangely I got a lot of negative comments straight-away. In further researching the negative comments against my review, I couldn't help but notice the same group of people are the same ones who rate these books so highly, many of whom are co-authors, associates, etc. Just be aware of it.

Def:
A shill is an associate of a person selling goods or services or a political group, who pretends no association to the seller/group and assumes the air of an enthusiastic customer. The intention of the shill is, using crowd psychology, to encourage others unaware of the set-up to purchase said goods or services or support the political group's ideological claims. Shills are often employed by confidence artists. In the UK the term plant is also used.

I was skeptical when I got this book that it probably was a sales pitch for someone else's 'money making system.' I was so pleasantly surprised to find one great suggestion after another with real resources. The brainstorming sessions using my own experience to get ideas, then applying these suggestions was such a powerful combination, I'm sure to be successful as I try these new ways to generate income.

I will be financially free, sooner than I ever expected, now that I've read this book!

This book will give you insight into so many ways you can amplify what you get paid for your time or just plain make something else work for your wage (i.e. your money, your computer, your car - whatever).

This book tells you how, gives you ideas and opens up pathways that are already available to you, but you weren't aware of.

Well worth the investment of $25 and change...

The one who dies with the most toys wins... C'mon - they're dead! How do they win? I loved this part of the book and looking a financial strategy differently. I want to be financially free now - so that I can LIVE! That single thought alone was paradigm-shifting for me.

I love thinking of the things I want to talk about and write about and all the ways that will serve me financially.

Great concepts!!! Thanks!