Block

I loved Block Party, it was definitely a page turner.
Mr. Banks made you feel as if you knew the characters and, that you was watching a movie instead of reading a book. He gave a description of each of the characters which really hooked you into wanting to read and hear more. I personally could not put the book down once I started reading it.

I can't wait for the next book.

Al- Saadiq, I must admit you are the truth. I just finished reading your book Block Party. That joint is crazy. I'm not really a reader. My wife bought the book for me as a Christmas present. She forced me to read it. I'm glad she did, because if she hadn't I would have missed out. I can relate to every aspect of that book. I am a reformed man now, thank god, but this book put me right back on the block. I'm in my early forties, so you know I have seen the revolution. I tell my wife everyday how things have changed drastically. It is definitely a new day. I hope other brothers my age get hold of this book, so they'll realize it before it's too late. I just started reading your other book No Exit. You turned me out. After teasing me with Block Party, I started searching through my wife's library,that's when I came across No Exit. I started reading it yesterday, and I'm already halfway through. I'm feeling this one too. I hope you have another one out there, I'll be done by tonight. Keep up the good work!!

Saadiq knew what he was doing when he wrote this book. I never read NO EXIT, but after reading BLOCK PARTY I definitely have to pick that up..BLOCK PARTY was a page turner, I did not want to put the book down..Cashmere and mayor were some interesting characters..My favorite character of them all though was Slim...He was a deep old head....He taught Cashmere a lot......I have to say that this was the best street novel that I have read in a while, and I pick them up all the time....BUY IT NOW

Business consultant Peter Block is no stranger to controversy. A number of his previous works explored the reaches of transformational management, including his bestselling book The Empowered Manager. In an even bolder way, Stewardship - Choosing Service over Self-Interest offers a dynamic new organizational structure for our young century. Block defines stewardship as "the means of achieving fundamental change in the way we govern our institutions." He believes that stewardship is a choice "to preside over the orderly distribution of power." This means giving individuals at the bottom of the organizational structure the choice on how to best serve their customers, citizens and community". It also means accepting accountability at all levels. Block continues to define stewardship as being accountable to the larger organization by "operating in service, rather than in control, of those around us." His philosophy is centered on a need and commitment to service rather than self-interest.

Peter Block challenges the modern notion of strong leadership and suggests replacing the term with stewardship. His problem with leadership is that he does not believe it has the capability to create fundamental changes in our organizations. He also believes that leadership "inevitably becomes self-congratulatory and over-controlling. We expect leaders to choose service over self-interest, but it seems the choice is rarely made." Perhaps Block would have better made his point by discussing the various philosophies that pass as leadership rather than neatly collecting them all in one term. Indeed, leadership is often a vague and misunderstood term.

Stewardship - Choosing Service over Self-Interest is a book with three parts. The first part discusses the basic concept of stewardship. It highlights the promises offered by developing a passion toward stewardship in contrast to what we experience in traditionally managed organizations. The second part of the book discusses the redistribution of power in a practical way. This controversial section of the book butchers many managerial "sacred cows" and offers a vision of what stewardship can be like in action! Part three examines the reform process and explores how you and your organization can get from where it is today to an environment of stewardship.

If you are one who is not satisfied with the status quo, you will find this book exciting and refreshing. Sometimes written in almost theological terms, Block inspires the reader to expect more from our institutions and ourselves. This book should find itself on the bookshelf of every person interested in the study of leadership.

Block demonstrates that centralized control, patriarchy and paternalism in organizations are bankrupt behavior which must be replaced by genuine partnership in which workers are truly empowered and share full accountability for the success of the enterprise. It is a compelling call to at last inject our political and social ideal, democracy, into the way we do business, government, and education. If we can move, even a little way, in this direction of serving and being served, the world will be a better place

Although he captured me with his initial quote from Shakespeare's Richard III as rationale for a practical means to insure corporate survival, I found Peter Block to be the most refreshing thinker I've yet had the privilege to study. I used this book in a Doc course where we included a fairly lengthy conference call with Block, thus giving our rather small cohort (12 of us) a good opportunity to quiz him on some of the gritty application details. I must admit that I finished the course with a distinct impression that Block may well be the next Deming. Unfortunately, the mistakes of the past seem to be repeating in that although a new generation of managers understands his philosophy and may be buying into it at a fairly respectable pace, the bulk of corporate thinkers are just not willing to jeopardize the thinking that got them into place. The problem is typical....one of my earliest lessons in administrative thinking was a CEO who told us to use that new CQI process because he was going to foster change in our org.....right up to where he told us to find a way to make sure the results of the process met his goals for the org.

There is no doubt that Block is challenging the big thinkers to have the guts to give up the power while still holding the responsibility. Like Deming before him, he's a prophet with a message everybody believes in but few are willing to sacrifice adequately to reap the enlightenment. I'm not a CEO, but I've used his principles fairly successfully the past 4 years, occasionally I can't make it work, but when it does, the results have been spectacular. What's important for me is that I think of myself as a steward entrusted with a valuable resource. There are some great lessons on how to do this in any serious biography of Henry II of England's administrative structure - which established the concept of English Common Law, among other achievements. (By no stretch of imagination could Henry II be considered a modern manager, but his concept of stewardship certainly was as radical in his day as Block and Deming in ours - the lessons of history are worthwhile.)

It's the subtitle of the book that provides the clue to the difficulty of the concept.....Choosing Service over Self-Interest....it's extremely hard to carry this out. Block himself tends to simply inform those who challenge him that he cannot provide assurances of security, that if the outcome were a sure thing there would be no need for commitment, and then he sometimes talks about installing living democracy in organizations in place of autocracy. This is radical.....so radical that the cost of believing is more than most of today's administrators can afford to risk, so perhaps the philosophy will take root in those who are listening now in anticipation of their time. When it finally happens, the world will once again become a better place.

The book is about a boy coming to terms with the fact that he is gay. Or rather, that he wishes the world could come to terms with this. Fair enough. But is it too much to ask that a book be grammatically correct and that syntax and diction make sense? Yes, I can understand that dealing with a "different" sexual orientation in a world that is mostly intolerant and abusive is hard, and that there are worse sins than choppy incoherent sentences. And please do both of us (you and me) a favor and do not accuse me of being homophobic, because I am not. Trust me, I am no more merciful than this with heterosexual protagonists.

There are just plain too many teenager-aimed books nowadays that have this sort of choppy, half-conscious, half-delirious, not quite stream of consciousness style (if you can call it that) of writing. It's been done so often, starting from years ago, that it is no longer shocking, surprising, dynamic, breathtaking, etc. It's just bad writing. I'll have to disagree with any of the reviews on this page that say that Block's writing is beautiful imagery or prose, etc. It's not.

There are a great many coming-of-age books that deal with people and sexuality that actually have intelligence and heart, and still manage to have good grammar and sentences that flow logically from one to the next. Read one of those instead.

This is the fifth book of the 'Weetzie Bat' stories by Ms. Block. It is really a prequel to the first book, and tells the story of Weetzie's best friend, Dirk. He knows he is 'different' (why is that so feared?) because he likes boys, and he doesn't want to be afraid. He wants to be strong and find someone who is strong, too. But he is unsure of himself. He falls in love with Pup and they are inseparable. They do daring things to show off how brave they are, but Pup is ultimately a coward and, though he loves Dirk, he cannot handle all that involves in such a hate-filled society. Dirk is alone, and his oddysey of discovery and cleansing really begins when he stands up to, and is beaten by, some swastika-wearing skinheads. In his delirium, Dirk meets his dead father, mother, and great-grandmother and they tell their stories to each other. The sharing is healing to them all. We love Dirk for his beauty and heart, and he can love who he is without fear. Duck Drake, who we have met in book one, is looking at the same sky, dreaming of meeting Dirk. This little book is a treasure. Full of poetry and light.

I love Baby Be Bop because it beautifully confronts a subject that most people are afraid to touch. Lia Block describes the struggle of a boy from L.A., during what is assumed to be recent times, and how he is having trouble coming to terms with his homosexuality. My favorite aspect of Lia Block's writing is her avante-garde description. I am normally a person who hates reading, but I was unable to put down Baby Be Bop, as well as the preceeding four books of the Weetzie Bat series. The entire Weetzie Bat series is outstanding but only those who can appreciate the subject matter will get a full appreciation of it.

I teach entrepreneurship to both artists and non-artists at a Boston nonprofit. We encourage all of our students to read The War of Art, and everyone who has read it says it has changed their life. Often, upon finishing the book, students are motivated to make some major decision or change that they have been agonizing over, and many students also get their spouse or kids to read it.

TWOA's main virtue is the clarity, precision, and conciseness with which it describes both the causes of, and cure for, creative blocks. Thanks to its clarity, etc., the reader can easily assimilate the points Pressfield is making and apply that information to make changes in his or her life. Because TWOA nails its topic so effectively and efficiently, I actually think it is more useful than other books on this topic, including best sellers such as Covey's Seven Habits.

I don't agree with every point Pressfield raises--for instance, he is somewhat skeptical of therapy, whereas I think it is often crucial--but there is no denying that this is a fantastically useful and effective book. In "real life" and on Amazon, I recommend it to everyone!

If you have a passion in your life -- writing, painting, music, sculpting, dancing, acting -- and if this passion is the reason you believe you're alive, then check out this book. One of Pressfield's premises is that we're all MEANT for something, we're each here for some reason, to create something in the world (Eternity is in love with the productions of time) and if we don't live for and through this, then we're wasting our time. He blasts away even the most stubborn and alluring resistances - the excuses we tell ourselves for not doing the work. This book can rev you up -- it's short (165 pages)and powerful. I breezed through the book in a few hours and felt energized. Pressfield puts art-making in perspective, puts procastination in perspective, and delivers in a direct, conversational tone -- as one human who is trying to live a life that means something to another. I've read a lot of "how to" books and most don't live up to their hype. This one deals with how to overcome the obstacles of ambition and how (and why) to discipline yourself. As much as a cliche as it may sound, it will make a difference in how you look at what you do. Give it to anyone else you know who wants to write, paint, act, dance, compose, and wants to follow their dream.

Without rehashing what this book is about, I want to tell you what it does: It pushes you to move beyond your current way of thinking about your creativity and removes the obstacles preventing you from taking greater creative actions.

I am not an artist, but rather an entrepreneur. The morning after I finished the book (it's a very quick read), I took what was previously a half-finished idea, fooled around with it for a while, saw it through to its completion and started using it as a marketing tool right away. It instantly became one of my most powerful methods for driving customers to my business. If I had not read the War of Art, the idea might still be unformed and unused.

If you're stuck in your way of thinking about problems in art, business or life, give this book a shot.

I liked Lawrence Block's "A Ticket to the Boneyard" right off. This was my first Matthew Scudder novel to read, and I found the character very easy to associate with. Not that you'd have to be an alcoholic bum, because I am not, but his humble, desperate situations make him a great character immediately. I liked him, and found him to be very interesting. Of course the plot itself was a nice piece of work, with its twists and sudden turns, and the uncanny amount of realism in the story really brings it all together as a truly great read. It's written with a slightly amateurish style of grammatical structure, which merely adds to the authenticity of the book, but I thought that some of the words that came from Matt and Elaine's mouths were a little advanced for an ex-cop and a prostitute. Either way, the book was great and I will certainly pick up more Scudder novels to read in the future!

It would seem that Matt Scudder bought his ticket to the boneyard when he was instrumental in putting away James Leo Motley for aggravated assault. It turns out that Motley is rather psychotic and tends to hold a grudge before violently acting on it. And now that he's out of prison, Scudder's on top of his hit list, as is just about anyone remotely friendly to him.

In between trips to Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, Scudder desperately tries to convince the police that Motley is a deranged killer and is responsible for a few of the latest deaths around town. Motley, however, is clever enough to provide no provable evidence for Scudder to give the police. So in the end, it looks as though it will have to come down to a man on man confrontation.

Apart from being worried about being murdered by a psychopath, Scudder is also working hard on not taking a drink. This is something he works at throughout the book and is very important to his character's development.

Scudder is a very complex character who appears to be finally getting some sort of grip on his life. Although appearing to bumble his way through some situations he is able to stand up during the important moments. This is quite a good thriller that occasionally loses momentum while attending AA meetings.

I was mildly entertained by Lawrence Block's "Even the Wicked." "A Walk Among the Tombstones" was gritty enough to get me to try my third Matthew Scudder: "A Ticket to the Boneyard."

Now I am hooked, and will read the entire series.

Scudder is an ex-NYPD cop...a flawed, complex, likeable, pragmatic character. Now an unlicensed PI, he investigates for his friends.

The plot in "Boneyard" roars along from page one with enough twists and turns to keep you guessing all the way. Not predictable. The villain is one of the most realistic, despicable and depraved I have run across.

Great hard-edged writing that leaps off the pages.

I am making Lawrence Block a priority.

It's hard to rate an anthology. My approach is to rate each individual story. I came out with a ranking of 3.4705882352941176470588235294118. But I find humans have trouble with too much precision, so I'll round it to 3.

Some of the stories are less than equal, as you find in any anthology. I'm not quite sure why Ribbon for Rosie, the story of 7 of 9's trip to the past, won the grand prize. It doesn't seem as we well written, but perhaps because it suffers from now being outside of canon because of STV episodes after '99, when the book was written. Similarly, the DS9 episodes are both pretty thick and difficult to get into- which is a shame, since DS9 has a lot of promise, such as stories about the completely unexplored Gamma quadrant, that was never explored in the series. And while it was nice to see Dr. Taylor again from TVH, the TOS episodes start the book off a bit slow. And Calculated Risk reminds me why Dr. Pulaski left the series, and why there aren't more stories about her.

But on the very positive side, I Am Klingon finally provides a possible answer to that nagging question- where did those foreheads come from? Rand even does am amazing job of tying in all the various episodes that have skirted around this issue, in TOS, TNG, and DS9, as well as providing one answer to what actually happened between Deanna and Worf. One story finally gets to that nagging question- if Wesley was studying with the Traveler in a Native American colony under the Cardassians, doesn't he then become a technical member of the Dominion, and if so, why isn't he helping in the war against the Dominion? And two excellent time travel stories get to some of those questions of, if there is a Department of Temporal Investigations, fixing temporal incursions, how come there are still temporal incursions that have never been fixed? Though the book as a whole isn't as highly rated, I'd definitely recommend it for these hints at possible paradoxi with Star Trek.

And then there are the stories that touched me emotionally. I Am Become Death is a haunting look at Data's life, pre-STN- one with that added twist that can make you cry. I personally very appreciated two STV stories: Touched, for it's etic anthropological look from the perspective of the other, and The Healing Arts, for stressing the importance of empathy, and interpathy, in healing. Reciprocity is TNG story about *very* long wormholes, that is filled with poignancy and a feeling that, truly, All Good Things...

Strange New Worlds II impressed me very much with the quality of the short stories written by Star Trek fans. Some stories continue plots from prior series; a Voyager story is a follow-up to an original series show, while another follows one from The Next Generation. Dr. McCoy makes an appearance in a Next Gen story and a Voyager story, while Chakotay and the EMH both appear in Next Gen stories. Fans of Deep Space Nine will be disappointed, as neither of the stories ostensibly from that series really deals with any of the characters. Only Sisko & Odo are even mentioned. Reg Barclay makes two appearances; so do the Time Cops Dulmer & Lucsly. Lt. Saavik, Dr. Pulaski, & Carol Marcus also appear. To me the best story was Triptych, the second prize winner. A Ribbon for Rosie & I Am Klingon (first & third respectively) are also outstanding. I would recommend this book for any Star Trek fan. It is much more fun to read than Dyson Sphere!

Strange New Worlds II is the second book of fan written Star Trek short stories and there is something for every fan in this one. I found all the stories to be entertaining . One of my favorites was 'Triptych' which concerns the episode "City on the Edge of Forever" The story 'Doctors Three' was a wonderful tale that was appreciated by me as an honor to the late Deforest Kelly. Klingon fans will love 'I am Klingon'. Deep Space Nine only had two entries both being somewhat unusual in presentation. Hopefully there will be more Deep Space Nine stories next year. Though 'A Ribbon of Rosie' was one of my least favorite stories it is a must read if you are a 7 of 9 fan. It provides insight into a young Anika Hansen. I found the style of the story made it a bit difficult to follow so I recommend re-reading 'Rosie' . Strange New Worlds II is a must read for any Star Trek fan.

Francesca Lia Block's books aren't exactly set in the most idyllic atmosphere. Her books are set in New York City or Los Angeles, and sex and drugs are always undertones of the story. But somehow, Block's description of the big city seems to suggest a completely different atmosphere, one of nature and beauty. That and the awesome characters of the stories penetrate the harshness and business that potentially resides in these cities otherwise. Cherokee Bat and the Goat Guys, for all it's drugs, sex, and disturbed emotions, remains the most heartfelt book I have read this summer. But it must be noted that if you want to read this, you'd better read Weetzie Bat and Witch Baby first. Those two will give you a sufficient introduction to the characters. I think there's another book in between Witch Baby and CGG, but I haven't read it :). This, I think, is a book for the Francesca Lia Block fan to cherish.

Any work by Francesca Lia Block has always managed to fill me with satisfaction and joy. Every one of her books is beautifully creative. This one in particular comes in the middle of her Weetzie Bat series and is just as wonderful as each other book in the collection. It has a focus on musical magic and teenage problems (such as love, drinking, smoking, etc) that just about everyone can relate to and understand. Pick up the whole series (5 books) and read them -- you won't regret it.

In my opinion, this is the darkest of the Weetzie Bat books, mainly on account of Cherokee's will to be happy and the more powerful will to help the people she loves. In the process, she becomes overwhelmed, and a hypnotic magic causes the band she's in to shoot too high, landing them in a mess of fans, drugs, sex, and of course, Rock 'n' Roll.

The imagery is glamorous and tasty, beautifully written, with plenty of culture to fufil the senses -- as all her books are.

This was probably my favorite of the Weetzie Bat books, and marks high on my list of favorite Francesca Lia Block books.

Don't get me wrong. I love the burglar series. But this one was a bit too complicated to enjoy. When I read a Rhodenbarr book, I don't want to have to think too hard, but this one has too many twists and too many paintings to keep track of. The story starts out nice enough, with a kidnapped cat and a ransom call (in a Nazi voice) requesting a Mondrian painting. Unfortunately, the catnapping story loses steam and after awhile, I think Lawrence Block almost forgot it, then suddenly tried to wrap a bow around it. Bernie reveals the twisted details in the end, but he doesn't sufficiently explain how he solves the mystery. He rounds up the suspects into one room for the showdown, and the suspect list includes characters heretofore unseen. I wish all the suspects could have been introduced to the reader before hand, so we had a fighting chance to figure out the mystery ourselves.

Lawrence Block is one of our most talented mystery authors. In the Bernie Rhodenbarr series he explores how an ordinary, but intelligent, "honest" person might go about pursuing a life of crime as a fastidious and talented burglar who isn't proud of what he does, doesn't like to hang out with criminals, and really gets a big thrill out of breaking and entering . . . and removing valuables. As you can see, there's a sitcom set-up to provide lots of humor. But the humor works well in part because Mr. Block is able to put the reader in the Bernie's shoes while he breaks, enters and steals . . . and evades the long arm of the law. To balance the "honest" burglar is an array of "dishonest" and equally easy-money loving cops. As a result, you're in a funny moral never-never land while your stomach tightens and your arm muscles twitch as tension builds. To make matters even more topsy-turvy, Bernie at some point in every story turns into an investigator who must figure out "who-dun-it" for some crime that he personally didn't do. It's almost like one of those "mystery at home" games where the victim comes back as the police investigator, playing two roles. Very nice!

So much for explaining the concept of the series. The Burglar Who Painted Like Mondrian is the fifth book in the series. I strongly suggest that you begin the series by reading Burglars Can't Be Choosers and follow it up with The Burglar in the Closet, The Burglar Who Studied Spinoza and The Burglar Who Liked to Quote Kipling. Each story in the series adds information and characters in a way that will reduce your pleasure of the others if read out of order. Although, I originally read them out of order and liked them well enough. I'm rereading them now in order, and like it much better this way. The Burglar Who Traded Ted Williams comes next in the series.

Book dealer Bernie has been hired by a wealthy collector to come to his apartment to value his book collection. Bernie is happy to do this for two reasons. He gets paid more for his time than he does by selling books in his store, and, more importantly, because it gets him into one of the highest security apartment buildings in New York City at a time when a wealthy stamp collector is away in West Virginia. After the appraisal is completed, Bernie sneaks up the fire exit to burgle another apartment and comes away with some choice and salable items. Just when everything seems perfect, Bernie finds himself inexplicably wanted for murder. Soon every cop in New York is looking for him. Even Ray Kirschmann's paid-for help may not save him this time!

This story has some of the most offbeat and unexpected situations in it of any that I remember in detective fiction. Each element seems to be so outlandish that you cannot help but smile. In essence, the book is a spoof of the whole detective fiction genre, and it works as humor very well. For example, a cat is kidnapped by someone demanding a quarter-million dollar ransom and cat whiskers are delivered to prove that the cat is being held. Bernie meets someone unexpectedly in one of his burglaries and you will be totally amazed by what comes next. Bernie is confronted with three seemingly impossible thefts and his ultimate methods to secure the goods will keep you chuckling for hours. Bernie conferences with his attorney while running up and down hills after his old attorney succumbs in an unusual manner to the Grim Reaper. The complications among lovers, ex-lovers and potential lovers remind me of A Midsummer Night's Dream.

Here's the fly in the pigment in this hilarious tale. If you know nothing about art, the story works perfectly and you will remember it for years as one of the best detective books you have read. If you totally suspend your disbelief about art, it also works well. If you know about art and insist on accuracy in details, you will know that the story's resolution does not work. It is full of more holes than most Swiss cheese. If you find yourself in one of the first two categories, you will think of this as a five-star book. If you think of it in the last category, you will think it is hopelessly flawed. My grading reflects a balance between those views. Decide in advance how you want to read the book.

The theme of this book focuses on the seemingly insignificant differences between what is genuine and what is not. Mostly, the differences lie in the mind, rather than in reality. A good question to ask yourself after reading this book is where nongenuine, but well-done, substitutes should be used in preference to what is scarce, expensive and genuine.

Donald Mitchell
Co-author of The 2,000 Percent Solution, The Irresistible Growth Enterprise and The Ultimate Competitive Advantage

Antiquarian book dealer Berni Rhodenbarr feels pretty good about his current job, appraising New York millionaire Gordon Onderdon's personal collection. While checking the library, Bernie, being a thief, cannot help casing the rest of the house in case he decides to abscond with something.

Bernie's close friend Carolyn Kaiser informs Bernie that someone has abducted her cat. For ransom, they want the Piet Mondrian painting hanging in a museum where it is virtually impossible to steal anything. Bernie, knowing that Gordon has a fake on his wall, returns to the wealthy man's home to steal the painting. Instead, he finds a corpse and no painting. Of course, the police turn to Bernie as the prime suspect. Now he has to rescue the feline and prove his own innocence.

This is a reprint of a classy Bernie Rhodenbarr novel, which may be the best of this highly regarded series. Bernie and friends remain interesting and fun, while New York City comes to life in a way rarely seen in a novel. The crisp story line keeps reader attention throughout the book. Bottom line is the entire eight-novel collection is worth reading because no one does Manhattan any better than Lawrence Block does with these incredible tales.

Harriet Klausner

THis was a pretty fast read. The plot is fairly interesting- ugly ducking woman embezzles money form the accounting firm that she works for. We learn about the computer investigation unit of the NYPD, which is more interesting than it appears. We meet a varitety of different characters along the way, and we find out how New York City can be an easy place to get lost in.

I had a few problems with this book.
1) The amount of characters. We are introduced to a lot of didderent people in this book, we start to learn about them, and then they pretty much disappear. I think more attention should be paid to fewer characters.
2) One-dimensional characters- many of the people are very predictable sterotypes- the macho Italian cop, the pampered housewife, the sexy office manager. A few are fine- when every character is cliched it gets a little much.
3) The ending is just not right. It is too pretty. I wanted something more.
4) I didn't like any character in the book. Not one. I had no sympathy for anyone.

But, outside of this, the book is a fast read. The plot is interesting and entertaining. Better than your garden variety beach book. And there is definatley some humor to be found- Block's style of writing is snappy and cute, and wordwise she is not trite at all.

My God, I didn't want this book to end. The best I've read all year. There are several synopses on the page already so I'll skip that. "None of Your Business" was extremely funny, clever, well-written and enthralling. I waited a long time after Ms. Block's first book for her follow-up, and she certainly did not disappoint. Should be on the best seller list.

A fun fast read that I could not put down. A computer mystery with odd, well developed charachters, witty writing and a compelling plot. A great book and this will be a great movie.

(I agree with the reviewer that says the cover doesn't make any sense)...Buy it anyway.

This book surprised me with how much good information was put in such a small package. It presents extensive why ritalin and similar medications are over-prescribed and several important health issues (like food sensitivities, hypoglycemia) that may cause ADD-like symtoms. It also lists commonly prescribed meds, explains what they are, and potential side effects. Plus, the book is well researched, with specific reference notes documenting its statements.

I think that any parent even considering placing a child on medications should take the time to read this very small book, FIRST. Any one in a position to advise parents about this issue, such as teachers or counselors, will find this to be a useful and quick reference to keep on hand.

My daughter has ADHD and I am totaly against prescribing drugs to anyone, but even more so to young children. Dr. Block's book is a masterpiece and an important tool for ALL parents, even if their child does not have ADHD. Reading it restored my faith that there are doctors out there who care about more than making money. Her extensive research and life's work should serve as an inspiration to us all. She explains everything in very simple terms, that everyone can understand, and then backs it up with an impresive bibliography. Her beleif that we need to desolve the roots of the problem and cure our children, is something that most doctors have seemed to have forgoten. They would rather use drugs to treat only the symptoms, and then prescribe more drugs to treat the side-effects from the first drug. It is about time that someone stands up for our health. I sincerely feel that every doctor should read this book and have copies of it in their waiting room.

James Hardie, Brandon, Manitoba, Canada
James@bookfiles.com

I was so happy to find a book that supported the idea that ADD might be managed by other methods than medication. In fact as a biofeedback therapist treating ADD I know that other methods might work better than Ritalin, I also know first hand that there are problems in using Ritalin for some. I recommend this book and it was an inspiration for me to also produce a book of natural techniques I use in my practice to help children with ADHD. The book is BEING IN CONTROL: Natural Techniques for Increasing Your Potential and Creativity for Success in School