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Valerie Harmsunderstands that not all love is meant to result in a relationship with the person arousing the love in one. Circumstances, including a relationship with someone else, may stand in the way. When such love is aroused, individuals often feel troubled from frustration, guilt, doubt, or a mixture of these and other emotions. But as Harms teaches, this need not be the case. As she says, "When we become attentive to our fantasies and dreams [aroused by love], loving and not condemning our deepest wishes, we give them a chance to direct and empower our lives." Adhering to this principle, she teaches how to make such love a positive experience.

In exploring this kind of love, Harms focuses on the self--how the self can maintain its wholeness and singular potential and be empowered by the love's creative, unpredictable forces. This positive involvement with the love she explores not only fulfills one as a person, but also enhances one's place and value in all relationships. Harms has one of the best understandings of love a reader can find. Among her previous books are "Stars in My Skin/Nin, Montessori, Steloff" and "Unmasking: Ten Women in Metamorphosis."

Henry Berry

Book Reviewer

Editor/Publisher, The Small Press Book Review

The use of personal examples makes it very clear how using dreams and symbolism can help us understand what it is in ourselves that needs developing. However, the book does not limit relationships to "mere" projection; it acknowledges that the inner and outer world work together. Both need to be recognized.

It is a pity that this book is out of print; this book is most helpful for the individual who is trying to make sense out of what sometimes seems like a very difficult realm to deal with. Many books do not honor the spirit of romantic attractions, and the relationship they have to our deepest self. The personal examples (bravely given) help elucidate this journey, and encourage us each to similar acts of courage in personal exploration. I have personally read this book several times, and I recommend it highly.

His writing is laid out very well and easy to read. While reading this, I felt that he was actually there explaining the chapters to me as a one on one instructor.

Great Job!

First book on the market that answered all of my client/server questions when I deal with PC to AS400 programming tasks!

Not only does Howard do a good job of explaining how stored procedures work, but gives some great coding examples on how to get you up and running correctly. He goes the extra mile and talks about performance too, one thing that normally is lacking in many others out there.

Nice job Howard. Look forward to others in the future!

Acorn is central to The People -- it is the primary staple food of the Indians of California and sustained them through the winter. A bad crop of acorn meant possible starvation, so the food is treated with respect and tradition throughout the process of turning it from a bitter nut to a sweet flour for making soup or bread.

The book is beautifully photographed and gives detailed instructions for how to make acorn both the traditional way with a granite mortar and sand pit and the modern way with a blender and kitchen sink. I have watched the Indians of Yosemite Valley make acorn many times and have made acorn myself, so I can assure you that the instructions will help even beginners make acorn for themselves.

California Native Americans used acorn as a staple food, and still reverence it. "One must create a relationship with the tree, one must understand the ground which cherishes the fruit so lovingly." But that understanding is not mere words, it is a vast array of knowledge -- and a special technology of place. Julia Parker, Kashia Pomo, who married into the Yosemite Mono/Paiute family headed by elder Lucy Telles, spent many years learning the lifeways that Lucy taught by example.

Julia tells anthropologist, writer, and friend Beverly Ortiz the story. of acorn preparation through a seasonal round. It is Julia's story, but it is also the story of California Native women over thousands of years. Many photos (by Raye Santos, of Julia preparing acorns; family activities and people from the Telles and Parker family albums; and from 19th and 20th century Yosemite National Park Service collections) make clear the intricate technology these women developed. The process, followed step by step from the story and photos, is shown as part of a life-and-seasonal cycle. The acorns, gathered from the ground, should be dried for a year before being shelled and pounded into meal and flour. The meal is then leached of bitter tannin in shallow sand basins, then separated and cooked with hot rocks in water-tight woven baskets.

The careful explanation of each step in the long process of food preparation is enlivened by Julia's personal recollections of traditional family life, and the cultural/spiritual/social meanings of all the activities. This is a fascinating way to understand Native lifeways, full of life and meaning. Readers will understand, from this woman's inside view, why the book's title -- It will live forever -- is true. This is not an academic account of a dead past; it is a lifeway still alive. At Native events in California today, women still take the time and trouble to prepare this traditional food and experience their closeness to the earth, and their cultural survival as a people.

There is enormous contrast between this lively account of Native women, maintaining life, and the distancing, dead accounts by male anthropologists and historians, which mount Native cultures and lifeways with a freezing academic objectivity, as if they were bagged specimens dead and long gone. This book is highly recommended for young people, as an alternative to the deadly, boring, and incorrect accounts prepared for young people that purport to present archaic Native societies. Those awful books form a minor industry among textbook publishers. This book is a delicious antidote to such multicultural poisons. -- Reviewed by Paula Giese, editor, Native American Books (http://www.fdl.cc.mn.us/~isk/books/bookmenu.html)

Despite the dire situation spelled out in the first pages, the book's humor is what initially captured my attention. It had been a while since I laughed out loud reading a novel. I found it oddly reminiscent of Neil Simon. It is genuine humor, derived from the uniqueness of the individual character. Instead of jokes, which any character can recite, the funny stuff here comes from a misunderstanding of speech or action between the colorful cast of characters, or from a simple play on words. As someone who doesn't relate to most of what passes as comedy in the entertainment realm of today's culture, I enjoyed the natural, pure humor in Sherman's writing.

Sherman wrote the book in first person as well as third person, alternating by chapter and denoting with different fonts. I found this to be unique, and it helped the flow of the story while giving the reader an insight into Sherman's struggle as a writer. It is one of the book's strengths.

The general style of writing is fluid. Easy to read, yet very informative of the momentous challenges facing the world, as we try to balance the demands of commerce with the growing realization that our planet is fragile and its resources are far more precious than we have perceived.

Man's relationship to nature has been the subject of many books. What makes "It's the End of the World, and I Could Use a Drink" different is that it is told with an ecological urgency that is noteworthy. In Sherman's world, time is of the essence and the result not only gives the reader a significant reason to think a bit more about the environment and our sources of energy, but also provides a fun, action-packed reading experience that would translate easily to the big screen.

If you haven't read History of American Trotskyism or The First Ten Years of American Communism, both by Cannon, pick those up as well.