D-A Books

I am going on six decades, and over that period have read a handful of collections of stories in the same class as these stories. Although this troubled man only wrote this one book, he accomplished more than most writers do in a career. If you love great writing this book will not disappoint you. Other reviewers have described the content well, so I will not repeat it, but will agree heartily with the five star reviews. I only wish we had more from this incredibly talented man.

Writing instructors looking for a story that illustrates the "show, don't tell" principle will be pleased with Pancake. For example, there's a line in "Trilobites" in which the story's narrator recalls seeing the shadow of an airplane pass over the mountains in which he lives and thinking, for a split second, that it was ("I swear to God") the shadow of a pterodactyl. No thick blocks of exposition about how the land of his birth seemed to lie at the intersection of the ancient and the modern--Pancake gets it across in one sentence. I return to this book every few years, and I gain new insights and see new things to appreciate each time. It's hard to believe that the author was so young (in his twenties) when he wrote these stories.

I must have first seen this collection shortly after it came out in 1983. It was impossible not to be struck by the author's name, which seemed to me at the time to embody a uniquely American authenticity (it turns out to have been a typo that he decided to retain). Despite the hyperbolic praise heaped on it even then, I heard nothing of Mr. Pancake or his work until I came across a mention of it recently in another book. Perhaps too close to the author's age upon my first encounter, and unfortunately, too far from his level of maturity at the time, it was better to wait nearly a quarter of a century before reading him.

What impressed me the most was the author's command of his medium: not one superfluous word, and most remarkable in someone so young, the utter lack of artifice, of "cleverness," of the desperate attempt to impress the reader with the writer's erudition. Pancake clearly wrote about what he knew, and like Tolstoy, chose those details of environment and character that by their precision and descriptive power best evoked the whole.

Stylistically, the stories vary between first and third person, and except for "The Salvation of Me," take place in very short periods of time. In the temporal as well as the descriptive, the carefully chosen part succeeds in standing in for the whole.

The foreword by James Alan McPherson, and the afterword by John Casey, both who knew Pancake well, augment the stories by illuminating the man who wrote them. I am baffled by the inclusion of "A New Afterword" by Andre Dubus III, who never met Pancake, but like many people, was strongly affected by his writing. Pancake made his living as a teacher; I would have much preferred a reminiscence by one of his students, and if possible, by "the girl who had allowed him to kiss her cheek after several dates."

What comes through in each story is Pancake's genuine affection, and even more, respect for his characters. He is willing to allow them to be themselves, unlike many writers who use their characters simply as a means to make a point, to elucidate an argument, to convince us of their contempt. Pancake has no desire to prove anything, except the gentle observation of ordinary people limited by their circumstances. There is no blame, no "other" responsible for his protagonists' conditions, aside from the inherent limitation of life itself, of being human in a not entirely indifferent universe.

Unlike Sylvia Plath, Ernest Hemingway, and other writers who killed themselves, Pancake died too soon to realize a measure of success, and based on his popularity at this juncture, probably never will. Had he lived, even if he had never "matured," any additional work (dare we imagine, a novel or two?) would have assured his place among the great American writers of the last century. Sadly, the paucity of his production, despite its quality, can only render him a curiosity.

Most of these stories, set in West Virginia, were written in the late 70's and early 80s. At that time the people of the hollows of WV were suffering through a period of recession comparable to the Great Depression. Mining which had been the backbone of the WV economy for over a hundred years, was dying or dead. Ecological and environmental concerns, as well as the growth of the use of oil to fire electric plants, had diminished the need for appalachian coal (also replace by the hugh open pit mines of Colorado and Arizona).

By the beginning of the 80s, towns were literally closing down and people were on the road like Oakies in the thirties. It was at this time that Pancake, having graduated from Marshall University, was beginning his writing career. He saw stories all around him, and his eye for detail is uncanny. Having lived the part, he has little trouble evoking the effect of poverty and hopelessness in his characters.

The problem I have with his stories is that many of them are plaintive narratives, without a beginning or end. They bring forth well defined problems and characters, but that's as far as they go. But maybe that's the way that Pancake wanted them to read.

Knowing that one day he put a shotgun in his mouth and pulled the trigger, you can see his pain in the words of many of his characters. What was the cause of this pain? All are assumptions, only he knew the real reasons. But I'll say, having been there, his seems to me to have been an uncontrolled malaise (maybe a chemical imbalance or alcohol induced ennui)
that was never treated. On the other hand, maybe he was just bored. Either way, you have to take his stories from his standpoint and go on from there.

The skillful rendering of characters rather than caricatures distinguishes Breece D'J Pancake's one and only book from many other works of contemporary fiction. The stories are set primarily in the hills, small towns, and hollows of West Virginia. The stories illustrate the hardscrabble lives and emotional struggles of characters on the periphery of many things: society (in "A Room Forever"), love (in "Trilobites" and "Hollow"), depravity (in "Fox Hunters"), acceptance (in "The Scrapper"), success (in "The Salvation of Me"), and a sense of self (in "First Day of Winter"). The fact that Pancake wrote these stories in his twenties gives them a certain kind of patina, a sadness of unfulfilled possibility, his characters would understand. In tight phrases, apt description, and with an ear for the cadence of speech, Pancake draws the fortunate reader in to be shocked, amazed, horrified, and altered by the slice of reality he has recorded.

I love this book .This is one book which my son loves to read and write in ,because its so colorful and full of different things on one page .My son does not like to do only 1 thing at a time --or should i say ,u know how kids get bored of one thing very quickly ,well this book is the answer .My son can do 5-10 pages at a time because in thos 5-10 pages ,he gets to read,write,color,count,and draw pictures .I will recommend this book to all my family and friends ......thx amazon

My daughter loves this workbook. It keeps her busy while keeping her up on her math and phonic skills. The book has easy directions for her to follow.

This is a great review book for kids to work on throughout the summer and the activities are actually fun for the kids.

My 5 yr old really likes doing his "summer homework". He likes working towards the goal we have decided upon, and usually wants to do more than 1 days work at a time. I have to slow him down because I'm afraid the book won't last the whole summer.

Summer Bridge Activities-we have used these for 4 years for all 3 of our children. We use them to help the children keep up their school/academic skills over the summer break. They are a GREAT adjunct to summer reading. The books have various "exercises" covering all subjects in a day by day format and have "grading" pages with stickers and stars for completion. The children initially balk at doing them but soon enjoy "remembering" what they did in school!!!

Un frase diaria para cada día del año.. QUE INTERESANTE !

You have to read the signaled marvelous phrase for the day... that`s all in order to live better and happier

encontré el mejor instrumento para estar contenta y de buen animo todo el dia..
Leo una frase, entra a mi cabeza y no sale hasta por la noche...

NO SIRVE SOLAMENTE PARA PASAR BIEN UN RATO... SE TE METE A LA MENTE Y PASAS EL DIA CON TODA FELICIDAD Y SIN PENSAMIENTOS NEGATIVOS,...

¿Vieran como han diminuido las fricciones entre mi esposo y yo?

so that I can read a phrase each morning...
IT MAKES YOU FEEL SOOO GOOD !
Now, I don`t fight anymore at school... Because I keep a nice modd all day long !
IT`S GOOD FOR BAD TEMPERED KIDS LIKE ME

I'm the mother of an 8-year old daughter diagnosed with OCD. This book opened up new doors for us in treating this disorder. It has been perfect for her, and she actually wants to sit down with me to read it. I believe that giving her obsessions/rituals an actual name and introducing her to a child who struggles with similar issues is a major step in our road to living triumphantly over OCD. I strongly recommend What to Do When your Child has Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder to go along with it--I ordered both and, along with my Bible, they have a home right next to my bed and already have worn pages!

We got this book the weekend my kids were going to their grandparents. I read it on the way to their house and it captivated their attention, both of them (ages 3 & 5). They listened to every single word intently and quietly. They loved the story of the boy and riding his bike up and down the worry hill. It is quite long though and my voice got a litte sore reading aloud for so long. At the end of the book, my son asked, "mommy who's book is that?" and I said "It's yours". He asked if he could write in it. The pages are black and white pictures like a coloring book. I told him he could color the pictures but not to color over the words so that I would be able to keep reading it to them. Unfortunately at Nana & Papa's house there was an accident involving water and the book so only half the book made it back. The cover was torn off and everything. I was so mad! I will probably re-order the book just because he enjoyed it so much.

We were told by a Doctor, who hadn't even met my son, that he thought my son may have OCD. He was referred to the Child Mental Health offices in our local town and there was a 14 month waiting list! I decided to see what I could do as a Parent and I bought this book. I left it on the table and my son picked it up and read it - his initial reaction was "do you think I have OCD", I replied by telling him that I was interested in the subject as I didn't want to label his condition. Since reading the book he has come along leaps and bounds and his teachers said there has been a remarkable improvement in his confidence and his anxiety has gone!

The book was OK but not great.

It was overly simplistic and not too meaninful for a teenager or parent. It really only skimmed one aspect of OCD, compulsion, and did not address at all the cause of the compulsion, obsessions.

May be more meaningful to younger children...

As a clinician specializing in the treatment of OCD, I highly recommend this book as a resource to clinicians and families with a child with OCD. I've used in in my practice and found it to be a wonderful resource. Clinicians can buy several copies and loan them out to their clients or recommend that their clients get this book.

Larina Kase, PsyD, http://www.TheSuccessfulTherapist.com

My younger sister is 7 years old. When she started reading the book,outloud, I was interested. The book was a little bit hard for her,but she loved it. Later, I read it. It meant a lot to me and now it is one of me and my sister's favorite books.

after reading one page, you're hooked. makes you feel lucky to live in a home. children ages 8 to 18 will definitely enjoy this book. definitely best children's book material. frances o'roark dowell did an awesome job. i give it two thumbs up!

Where I'd Like To Be is a great book by Frances O'Roark Dowell. It is about a girl named Maddie who lives in an orphange and keeps to herself. She hardly tells anyone her secrets especially about her scrapbook of dreams. Her scrapbook contains magazine clippings of things she wishes she had like a big house, dogs,etc. One day her scrapbook is revealed.One of the boys at the orphange becomes friends with Maddie. Eventually she trusts him enough to tell him about the scrapbook and dreams. This is a heart-warming book that you should read. To find out what happens to Maddie read this book.

What if when you were a baby, a ghost saved your life? Well, according to Granny Lane, that's what happened to 11 year old Maddie. She longs for a family and a place to call home and feels that it's hopeless. After all, who adopts an 11 year old? But maybe it wasn't as hopeless as she thought.
Maddie may seem a normal kid to you, she goes to school, has great friends, is in after-school activities, but then you go to her home. She has shared a room with people who come and go as often, it seems, as the seasons. Maddie lives at the East Tennessee Children's Home. She wants a home so badly she has a "book of houses" and a "book of people." Throughout the book she and her friends find that they are all a family, a strange one, but a family none the less.
Where I'd Like To Be, is a book that all people should read for a heart warming tale. I think what I liked best is that you can almost feel each character's emotions as they change. I think anyone who likes a story that makes you glad for what you've got, should read this book.

Great book, especially for young girls in their search for self. This book surely must be based, at least in part, on some observations from East Tennessee Christian Home in Elizabethton, Tennessee because the author has cited several times East Tennessee Children's Home (where the novel is set), as well as Allen Avenue (the actual location of The Home), and Elizabethton, Tennessee (the city in which the novel is set). I certainly encourage young girls to read the book, as well as their parents. I think it will lead to more understanding on both sides.

since I am just beginning to apply it to my current situation. But after reading it, I certainly see where some past relationships have gone wrong.

And the basic theory does make intuitive sense: Hamburg focuses on physical issues, practical compatibility (day-to-day teamwork) and what he calls "wavelength compatibility" (that is, broader ways of looking at the world, and similarity of opinions on big issues such as religion). As he points out, if your prospective mate flunks on all three criteria, further communication and hard work will only make it clearer that he or she is not a good match.

My only real quarrel with Hamburg so far is his suggestions about which issues couples must resolve before being married. For example, he thinks that a couple should decide before marriage whether to have a "traditional marriage" (i.e. one where the male earns most of the money) or a more egalitarian mrriage. I am not sure that one can know in advance how "traditional" one's marriage can be; presumably most reasonable couples would move towards a less traditional marriage if the spouses' earning power is roughly equal, but towards a more traditional marriage if one spouse's economic contribution turns out to be minimal.

According to the author, there are 3 dimensions necessary for a successful relationship. They are:

1 -- the Practical dimension
This is about how well you live and work together.
Are you a morning person or a night person?
Do you want the air conditioner on or off?
Do you want to decorate in a minimalist modern style or a cluttered country style?
These may sound like petty, insignificant issues, but on a daily basis, if you and your partner are way off on this dimension, you could easily grate on each other's nerves.

2 - the Sexual dimension
This goes beyond sexual attraction to include sexual style.
Do you like quiet, missionary style sex or loud, try-every-position-imaginable sex?
Do you like sex once a day or once a month?
If you and your partner are way off on this dimension, then both of you will feel frustrated. The partner who wants less sex will feel like a spoilsport and the partner who wants more sex will feel like they are on a sex diet.

3 - the Wavelength dimension
This is about the meeting of the minds.
Are you for or against abortion?
Is your humor quietly witty or loud and raunchy?
Are you interested in politics and keeping up with current events or does that stuff bore you?
In an ideal world, we would all be able to kindly accept each other's differences in values and opinions. In reality, though, when someone disagrees with a value we hold dearly, we tend to think that person is naive, crazy, or stupid...and respect goes out the window.

According to the author, dissatisfied couples are couples who only have one or two of these dimensions present.
If the practical dimension is missing, then living and working together with this person on a daily basis will lead to constant bickering. If the sexual dimension is missing, then you will feel frustrated and bored with your sex life. If the wavelength dimension is missing, then you won't be able to relate to your partner on an intimate level.
If a couple has all three of these dimensions, then they have struck gold and will likely have a fulfilling marriage. That's not to say you and your partner have to be twins (some difference is healthy because it allows you to grow and makes the other person interesting) but just close enough so that the ratio of good times outweighs the bad times. I agree with the author's outlook and consider this book to be a smart look at relationships. Highly recommended.

This book helped me understand why I couldn't say yes to someone who seemed like the perfect spouse for me "on paper" and to most of my family and friends. It clearly lays out the most important aspects of compatibility and helped me realized that my little issues with my ex-boyfriend were actually significant problems that would have led to a less than harmonious problems. It also helped give me the confidence to walk away from the relationship even though most above mentioned family and friends couldn't understand why I would do so. A couple of years later I met someone who I am very compatible with and now we have two kids and a very happy marriage. I often recommend this book to single friends and all have benefited from reading the book. Definitely the best $15 I have ever spent!

I've read a lot of books on relationships, compatability and love. This book was the most practical, straightforward, realistic and helpful. What impressed me most about this title was the author's ability to simplify a very complex topic. He also considered dimensions of compatability that are often difficult to define, but that are crucial to forming a good long term relationship. The author also included deceptively simple exercises for couples that allowed them to access not only their thinking about a particular area of compatability, but more importantly their felt sense of it. In short, this book helps cut through confusion in the area of love. It is well worth the cost and it is quite different that most books of the same genre, which I have often found to be very similar to each other. It is clear that this author has many years of experience counseling real couples with difficult compatability issues. I also appreciated that the book did not include too many case studies or examples. I have found many case-study approach type books to read more like a novel than a helpful tool to work with a problem, perhaps this is a personal bias. In short, this book is a very useful tool for understanding an existing relationship or as a benchmark guide for dating compatability. It also achieves its goal without a lot of unnecessary text or redundant stories about other couples.

The author presents a fairly straightforward theory of how he's seen compatibility relate to long term marital happiness and stability. He breaks it down to three areas: practical, sexual and wavelength. I've thought a lot in the past about the way I relate or don't relate in relationhships, but reading this book I had a number of "aha" moments where I felt like this makes real sense. I've discussed his ideas with a number of friends and the consensus is he's right on. The great thing is that after you read this I'll bet you'll feel compelled to talk about these ideas with friends and more importantly your lover. It's an easy, accessible read that I would see as invaluable to people looking for love or married for years.

As a graduate student of counseling psychology, I read on average 300 pages a week for school. But after my reading for school is done, only one book can keep my attention, and that's Richardson's biography on James.

If you want to see American psychology at its roots, there's no one else to start with than James. He's the most colorful, most quoted and most brilliant early psychologist in America and yet one of the least known and most under-rated.

This 500-page breathtaking tour de force of James sets the standard for the life of William James. For me, Richardson brought James back to life for as long as this book continues to be in print!

I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in the history of psychology, especially the history of psychology in America. Also recommended to anyone who enjoys reading about the lives of great men and women of the past.

James isn't just for academics. He was a staunch advocate for psychology as a practical field to help us live richer and fuller lives. He didn't just study psychology (and medicine, and philosophy) - he lived psychology at a time when the field was only being born.

Richardson's biographies of Thoreau and Emerson are two of the best books I've encountered in my life of voracious reading and this is one is just as wondrous. I cannot read any of these books in public, because they all make me want to weep and clutch my chest and shout, "At last! Everything has been revealed!"

I wish I could explain why Richardson's biographies are different from anyone else's. It's not just an artful piling up of delightful and distressing facts. Instead it's like the doorbell rings and you have a new best friend: William James. There's something magical and occult about this. It's not like he went to the research library, it's like he drew mystic diagrams on the floor.

Richardson writes that one of James' gifts was "his uncanny ability to pick up redemptive ideas from his reading." And it is Richardson's gift too, to fill each page with life-giving ideas. These biographies are as purely inspirational as a strong Lao coffee with sweetened condensed milk. Reading them makes me prone to fits of euphoria.

Richardson points toward the sources of James' genius-- one of the most important of which was James' own depression and heartbreak. He writes, "James had a remarkable capacity to convert misery and unhappiness into intellectual and emotional openness and growth. It is almost as though trouble was for him a precondition for insight." How hopeful that is!

Richardson's compassion for his subject spills out, somehow, to the reader, and makes one feel that one's own nonsense and bleakness do not render one disqualified for a whole human life. What more can I ask for?

More than an interesting read, not only into the life of one of the gotfathers of psychology and pragmatism, but of the period. Well written.

I would suggest reading this book first before reading some of William James other books. This book gives you an overview and thought process to give the reader a context for understanding all of his work. I am 35 years old and know of no one in my age that reads William James but I just wish this book came out years ago before I read all of his work.

I need not repeat the summaries set forth below by other reviewers, since these explain both Richardson's method -- to tell the life story through the work -- and the essentials of James' theories. What I will say is that, even if you have no background in philosophy or psychology, you should read this brilliant, passionate biography. James wrote for a popular as well as a professional audience; he was open and curious to all experience, and wished to be inclusive rather than exclusive in disseminating his ideas. Richardson is clear and succinct in explaining James theories -- often in the man's own, crisp, evocative language and clarifying analogies. Moreover, the concepts that James developed have in many cases become part of our popular vocabulary, including through organizations such as Alcoholics Anonymous, which Richardson reports took inspiration from James' Gifford lectures, published in the U.S. as "The Varieties of Religious Experience."

I had not read James for many years but, since reading this biography, have purchased a collection of his writings and am re-reading many of his works. You will come away from "In the Maelstrom of American Modernism" with a better understanding of both American values and ideals, and the history of U.S. higher education. Most importantly, however, you will come away with enormous admiration for the radiant personality that was William James, or as Richardson exclaims (using italics, not caps) at the end of this great work, for "the SPIRIT the man." When I finished reading, I not only wanted to read William James; I was sorry that I had not known him or had him as a teacher. That's how good this book is -- for every reader.

Wonder is absolutely wonderful. Nicole Pollifrone is not afraid to open up and share her heart and soul with her readers. She is definitely a poet's poet. I can wait for more from this modern day troubador.

The raw emotion melts from the pages to fill the reader's soul and provide a mirror to see themselves. We all experience and can relate to the poetry written here. Nicole writes concisely but the words expand your thoughts as you read. The best poetry I've read in a very long time.

Wonder is a great collection of inimitable poems that convey energy and confusion of love. Wonder demonstrates that poetry is inseparable from live and living. In every single poem I felt confession and emotional tension. I really enjoyed reading Wonder - brave poetry written with sensuality and sincerity.

On rare occasions a poetry collection comes along that is so totally reflective and enlightening that, when you reluctantly arrive at the end, your first inclination is to simply start again at the beginning. Not only is Wonder such a collection but it is an invitation to sit close and listen even more closely as Nicole Pollifrone deftly uses few words to express raw emotion.

In our small world of heavy population there are countless souls crying out everyday in an attempt to connect to someone, anyone, who may feel as they do, experience what they have experienced, through the darkness and the light. Pollifrone does well in letting us know we are not truly alone.

Wonder is beyond doubt a timeless `message in a bottle' cast out to anyone willing to discover they are not alone. This is precisely a book to give a friend. It's a book to keep and to share, to savor and to digest, to begin and ... to begin again.

This is simply the BEST poetry I have ever read!! When's the next book coming out? :)

I continue to be intensely interested in everything I can possible read about 9/11 and have found nothing that has matched the author's description of what the victim's families have experienced.

If you are curious about how the site in PA was examined and the nature and extent of what the government revealed to the families, this is a great book to read.

Kudos to the author for revealing her personal experiences because it is evident that she is a private person by nature.

This is a must read for all judo players. It gives an inside account of how judoka Jeremy Glick faced with certain death made decisions to lay down his life to save many others. The story focuses on Jeremy's personal growth as a boy starting judo at age 6 and eventually winning the collegiate nationals. Jeremy was a real mench with a passion for living. He was a devoted husband, loving father, and successful sales executive with a terrific sense of humor. The ultimate goal of judo is to continually seek the perfection of one's character which Jeremy strived for.

This is the best book that I have read in a really long time. I was moved by Lyz's honesty and heartfelt emotions about losing her husband on 9/11. Even though one could possibly not imagine what she felt on that day, it gives you a little insight to her story, her husband and her daughter. Her daughter will be so thankful that she made this memorial of her father. Lyz's daughter Emmy is so lucky to have such a strong role model in her life in both her father and mother. This book is a real example of true love, life and loss. Not only is her husband a hero but she is as well.

This is a Wonderful Book.It has background of Lyz Glick and Her Late Husband Jeremy Meeting,falling in Love,Colledge,Marriage,the baby Emmy and the Hijacking leading to Jeremy's death.I highly recommend this book.

I was very anxious to read this book since I read an article on a Reader's Digest magazine about a year ago and so I requested my local library to buy it. I read it in a week, I am pretty sure I could've read it in two days if it wasn't because I have a lot of homework. All I can say is that I loved "Your Father's Voice". It is very well-written and moving.

Lyz Glick carefully tells the story of her life with Jeremy and her life once Jeremy was gone. She walks us through every memory she kept. She shares with us the weakest moments of her life after her husband's death, but she also states the importance of her and Jeremy's daughter in her life.

I have to applaud Liz Glick for managing to tackle such an enourmously emotional and personal subject with such grace. This book put thoughts in my head of what it would be like if I had to face the same reality she encountered, and I have to confess it brought me to tears often. What happened to her and to anyone whose loved ones were killed that horrible day is something you don't wish to anyone. Like I said I can't imagine enduring the things she went through.

I was totally blown away by this book. I undoubtedly recommend it. It's the kind of book you should have on your coffee table. You will see it is very hard to put it down.

vgxoxo@hotmail.com

Ours is a time when few scholars of the Islamic universe seem to grasp accurately the long-term repercussions of the aging modernist or newly emerging postmodernist era, to their faith as a whole and to each culture this faith has engendered and/or historically enriched. Fewer yet present powerful scholarly contrast to the panic-ridden xenophobia sermonized across the landscape by our faithless ideologues. Mercifully, however, from to time there appear exceptions to this norm and we are gifted with truly Islamic medicines for the ills of the globalized man that are intelligent in design, universal in logic and humane in treatment, ringing truer with the great world religion than the cumbersome alternatives.

Shaykh Hisham Kabbani, an expert in the vast tradition of classical Islamic learning spawning the last fifteen centuries and a qualified Spiritual Master of the Naqshbandi Order of Sufis, presents one such exception with tremendous force. In the `Approach of Armageddon?' he meticulously outlines the prophecies and warnings issued by Holy Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), both as exegesis of the Holy Qur'an and as they appear in the Islamic traditions of hadith and tarikh.

However, Shaykh Kabbani's observations about the End Times are chillingly accurate not just according to revealed sources but to the latest scientific discoveries as well. The resulting mix is a sequential series of visual and psychological images in which one comprehends with unprecedented clarity how the events of history are not arbitrary at all but perfect steps leading all of us to witness the wisdoms of our material and spiritual existences. There are prayers of safety and mystical chants listed toward the end that are no less than precious pearls from the ocean of gnosis.

Of course, End Times themes permeate the world far beyond the religious sphere and one need only look at the prevalence of the subject in our pop culture to get an idea of how heavily and profoundly it now weighs on the human mind. I recommend this book as a must-read to not just every student of religion and history, or just to believers of religious traditions, but to all who, like myself, believe that the human spirit is spiraling not toward a cataclysmic end but that it is being nudged into an ultimate state of learned harmony.

Reading the events in the book it seems this is a Just In Time Book to warn and prepare people for the trying times that seem to be here already.

This book is a Godsend. The lucid Foreword is full of sweetness and explains the role of saints.

As the rest of the book unfolds I am attracted to and feel curious about the Prophet Muhammed. What does he look like? What kind of presence he has? How he inspired his people and continues to do so even now ... how much he cares for them as is obvious from this book. I wish I could meet him and thank him for all the signs he gave.

On reading this book I feel anxious and nervous as on approaching an important exam. I must admit that I am scared and NOT prepared for this one. I have little children (2 and 4 years), I am scared and worried for them. Then on page 289 I read "Daily Recitations for Protection from Tribulations", I gathered my children to me, we held hands and recited a little bit of each. This has now become an everyday ritual for us. My heart cries out to the Shaykh for help and guidance ....

Reading the events in the book it seems this is a Just In Time Book to warn and prepare people for the trying times that seem to be here already.

This book is a Godsend. The lucid Foreword is full of sweetness and explains the role of saints.

As the rest of the book unfolds I am attracted to and feel curiouser and curiouser about the Prophet Muhammed. What does he look like? What kind of presence he has? How he inspired his people and continues to do so even now ... I wish I could meet him and thank him for all the signs he gave. Which the author explains is to help people because he cares for people of all times everywhere.

On reading this book I feel anxious and nervous as on approaching an important exam. I must admit that I am scared and NOT prepared for this one. I have little children (2 and 4 years), I am scared and worried for them. Then on page 289 I read "Daily Recitations for Protection from Tribulations", I gathered my children to me, we held hands and recited a little bit of each. This has now become an everyday ritual for us. My heart cries out to the Shaykh for help and guidance ....

I bought this book when it first came out and sat down to read it the evening it arrived. Well, I ended up finishing the book that same night and have read it about 30 times since.
I've never seen any other book that can compare to this one, especially in the way it is presented.
However, recently I stumbled upon some lectures by Imam Anwar Al-Awlaki called "The Hereafter" and most of volume I talks about the the minor and major signs of the Day of Judgement. (Volume II goes even further). This series is also based solely on the Qur'an and the hadiths of the Prophet (pbuh). ...

This book could be subtitled 'A Guidebook for the End Times'. It will challenge and inspire you, shake you to your soul, and give you comfort. This could only be the result of the gift of true wisdom which, even if you didn't know Shaykh Hisham Kabbani's academic and spiritual training, you feel you can trust.
The Shaykh delves deeply into the Qur'an. Reading this book will give you a taste of real Islam as the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) taught it. Compare the insights in this book to the prevalent fundamentalism of our times and you will see what Islam is missing today. This is Islam that the fundamentalist Wahhabis aggressively oppose and have all but destroyed in our time so that it has become extremely rare to hear this kind of wisdom, spirituality and knowledge coming from within the Islamic world.
"The Approach of Armageddon" begins with secrets of Qur'an and Hadith which were unknown at the time of the revelations, but are being 'discovered' in our own time. This is the book where science and spirituality meet. They not only meet, but expand the understanding of both. Sample chapters include: the origin of iron, the oceans which do not mix, the Big Bang theory, string theory and the ten-dimensional universe. And that's just for starters.
Then the Shaykh lays out the Signs of the Approach of the Last Days clearly and authoritatively from Bedouins who compete in constructing Tall Buildings, the contraction of Time, Scholars being replace by ignorant leaders to The Thirty Liars, The Anti-Christ, the Return of Jesus Christ, Gog and Magog. At the end of the book, Shaykh Kabbani gives the reader 'protective supplications and recitations'. I was very moved to read the review of this book by the woman with two young children who sits with them every day and reads these supplications. As a Muslim, I would highly recommend this book for both Muslims and non-Muslims......It is a rare gem in today's vast array of Islamic books.