D-A Books

WOW, Ryan Jones has really hit a hot button with DATASHARK! You won't sleep any easier after comprehending the scope of NSA operations, but it is good to know that some of us are watching the watchers. "Who will guard the guards?", indeed! Buy this one for a thrill ride you won't want to get off!

--TERRY, LAS VEGAS, NV.

This is a GOOD book and a great read. I re-read it recently, something I don't do with many books, and found it a bit better on the second read than the first time through. In fact, given recent events, like the on-going Chinese hacks into U.S. government computers, it's down-right required reading to understand possible threats and outcomes of the hacks. But what I really enjoyed about the book were the characters and the action, and the very "real" feeling Datashark gives them. Mr. Jones's web site shows the depth of his research into the background of his book, and that wealth of material shows in the book's ability to suck you into the all-too-close-to-real world of Datashark. I look forward to more books by Mr. Jones!

Wow! I started reading this during my lunch breaks but found I couldn't put it down. It's one of those books you simply must get back to to see what happens next. It'll scare the hell out of you if you don't understand much about computers and government. It will scare you even worse if you DO. When's the next one coming out? I'm ready to see this one on the big screen and the next one on my desktop. Techno-mystery-action-thriller at its best.

This book will make you just a little more nervous in the digital age. A superb story, Ryan Jones has a nice talent for weaving a tale that left me wanting more. The only problem with books like this is that they don't last long enough, especially when you are on a plane and have a few hours left.

The interesting thing about writing about classified information is that no one (save a select few) can prove you wrong. This book makes you wonder how plausible the entirety of the storyline is, and believe me, that is a frightening thing.

After finishing this book, I was a little scared to be returning to the DC area and having to drive by Ft. Meade on the way home. I hope Jones can keep this up and keep me on the edge of my seat with future titles.

I found Datashark as engaging as DaVinci Code. A great read, interesting and creative until the very end. Great plot, storyline and writing style. I am not very computer literate and was amazed how Jones made the complex details understandable and smooth flowing.

A bit disappointing that it was too short. I found myself wanting more. Looking forward to other works by this author and if there is not a movie version of Datashark on the horizon someone in hollywood is in a coma. WOW and double WOW!

Dr J.F. Unger Jr

This is a wonderful photo representation of the desecration and destruction of a beautiful train station. It provided me with images and emotions I have not otherwise experienced in reviews of the original Penn Station. I highly recommend this to anyone interested in the subject and photography!

This is an extraordinary, heartbreaking, must have book for anyone who loves New York and/or McKim, Mead & White's work.

Photographer Peter Moore and his wife Barbara moved into the Penn Station neighborhood in the early sixties. They used the building every day, whether they were passing through to the subway or catching a bite in the cavernous coffee shop.

With the railroad's permission, they documented its slow dismantling over the four years from 1963-1967. This book is the first appearance of that work. The black and white pictures are arranged chronologically, showing the faded but still magnificent station from its last days of active use through to its ghostly presence as a metal shell. The photography is beautiful and lyrical and sad beyond words, like a mournful love song to a love lost. The picures of the rubble-filled waiting room, its shape still intact but its side walls gone, are especially hard to take.

One note: this is not an exhaustive review of the building and its various spaces. It is a chrono picture of the concourse and waiting room through through their destruction. For more pics of the station in use, try "The Late, Great, Pennsylvania Station."

I remember as a kid in the mid-70s taking the train to NYC and having to endure the commuter's nightmare known as "modern" Penn Station.

In the late 80s, I learned what once was on the site of the current MSG/Penn Station monstrosity and became appalled that people could let a beautiful work of art be dismantled and replaced with a horrible building. In the early 1990s, I learned about the 1950s and 1960s and how Americans were obsessed with all things modern and new, rejecting anything with a hint of age or ornament.

Moore & Moore take a pictorial look on how the McKim, Mead and White's neoclassical masterpiece was dismantled over a multi-year period in the mid-1960s. While they really don't go into detail on why the old Penn Station was demolished, the spooky, B & W photos tell more than how an architectural gem was demolished. On a deeper level, the photos tell the tale of how an entire city was becoming irrelevant to suburban America and was sinking into massive decline (the years of municipal bankrupcy and burning neighborhoods in the South Bronx are only a few years away).

It was a very sad book that gets more depressing with each turn of the page, as more and more of the beauty of the old Penn Station gets stripped away. I guess that was the power of the photographs working on me.

Pair this book up with Robert Caro's _The Power Broker_ to get a good picture of New York in the early Baby Boom era.

This book just takes your breathe away, the images are so vivid and shocking. How on earth could anyone sign off on destroying this colossel beauty, it's something I just can't get my mind around. I am so grateful that this was documented, as hard as it is too look at, people need witness these pictures to make sure it does not happen again. Many people credit the outrage over the razing of this McKim, Mead, and White masterpiece with helping save Carnige Hall and Grand Central, which though appreciated, does not lessen the sadness over the loss of this New York City treasure, it really is such a tragic loss. I highly recommend this book for its text, great visuals, and the power is thought it provoks: great book.

I am one of the generation of New Yorkers that have grown up with the ghost of the old Penn station - and its unfortunate replacement. We have been forever robbed of this stately thing, which was so much more than a building. Watching it's slow death in these haunting pictures makes me hope this is the last time we have used our imagination to destroy rather than build. (This is an especially painful irony in light of our recent tragedy.) Get this book, and look at it with your children. And may we never treat the human-made beauty around us with such contempt again.

I found the book to be very easy to read and understand and it had some useful and doable suggestions.

As my readers may know, I work in the spa retreat industry as the resident Pilates Teacher at the Como Shambhala Retreat at Parrot Cay in Turks and Caicos. Right now the big spa buzz word is "Detox". People want detoxifying diets, detoxifying spa treatments, detoxifying products, and detoxifying activities such as Pilates and Yoga. Needless to say, I was more than interested to read a Detox book writtenn by well known PBS personality, bestselling author, and naturopathic doctor Brenda Watson, along with the prominent vascular and gastrointestinal surgeon Dr. Leonard Smith.

"This is the most important book I will write in my career. In June 2006 the World Health Organization (WHO) reported that nearly one-quarter of global disease is caused by environmental exposures... [saying] 'Well-targeted interventions can prevent much of this environmental risk,' saving what could amount to millions of lives every year."

We all know that our environment is full of synthetic and toxic chemicals that we must encounter and try to process every day. Watson begins The Detox Strategy by recommending a lab toxicity screen so that he reader can identify exactly what toxins and how much of them s/he is dealing with. These tests are relatively inexpensive (costs range from $79 to $359) and can be done by mail through analysis of feces, hair, liver function, blood, and/or urine. Hair can actually tell the best story, so is often the preferred sample. She also offers a self quiz for those unable to do the laboratory testing.

While she admits that it is impossible to live in the 21st century and avoid or eliminate toxins altogether, Watson offers attainable goals to limit and manage exposure to environmental toxins while strengthening our bodies' ability to manage such substances.

Her program is a 6 part RENEW-al, composed of steps to Reduce exposure to environmental toxins, Eliminate the toxins currently in the body, Nourish the body's cells to support natural detoxification, Energize the body via exercise and relaxation, and maintenance of Wellness. None of this is crazy and at it's most basic there are small steps that are easy and inexpenive to take and maintain.

For example, we can reduce exposure to toxins through air and water filters, natural non-toxic cleansers and body care products, organic foods, and probiotic and enzyme supplements. We can eliminate toxins already in our bodies through herbal cleansing regimens that involve taking morning and evening herbal cleansing supplements while also drinking lots of water, and if possible adding baths, saunas, and colonics. We can nourish our bodies through eating good whole foods (organic where possible), adding certain supplements known to help strengthen our cells, such as antiixidants, EFAs, amino acids, fiber, etc. Exercise, deep breathing, meditation, and other body-mind practices help us energize. And the combination of these steps leads to wellness.

Watson clearly explains and outlines every step of the process, giving options from the least invasive changes to the most radical. She explains why the changes are important and has done the research to back up her claims. I was prepared to not like this book, thinking it too difficult to implement and riding on the detox bandwagon, but Watson has done a great job of providing complex information in a clear, easy to understand, and most importantly easy to implement manner. Well done!

This book is a great read for those who are new to wanting to eliminate as much toxic material as possible from their homes and bodies. It is also great for the old-timers who have been doing so for a while.

Author Brenda Watson does it again. Full of useful information not only from an eating view but the things around your house that you use for cleaning and caring for your home all can make you feel better!Resource section very handy information for finding websites and products.

This is a great book to introduce people to the concept of toxicity in the body. I am tired of the comment "Well, there's chemicals everywhere, whatya gonna do!" Well, what you need to do is to educate yourself to the realities of the toxic soup that we live in. Alarming yes, but denial will not make it go away. Knowledge is power and the sooner you get on board and learn what you need to do to cleanse yourself, particularly your digestive tract, the better off you will be. Who wants to enter that medical nightmare ?
Brenda Watson is a voice that is finally being heard and I am very happy that she has done the PBS specials and offered plenty of educational materials. I can't say that I support all of her product offerings, as a Nutritionist I have my own preferences. Nevertheless, her books are all good, especially for the layman who is willing to learn the truth about the environment we live in. Highly recommend !

In this new supplement, the authors have identified four essential educational components that educators must process when addressing the issues of using technology within the educational setting. These emerging issues of cyber standards include (a) developing a compressive, site-based technology plan that focuses on the improvement of student learning (b) developing policies for cyber security that protects the school from potential liability and student endangerment (c) developing appropriate and factual communication strategies that support positive marketing of the school mission to the public and (d) how teachers can engage the use of technology for improving the teaching and learning process.

The authors are very detailed and descriptive with the information needed to administer the daily task of leading an effective and successful school. It is a definite hands on resource that you will want to keep handy and review and use daily. The authors are very knowledgeable and have studied all angles of organizational procedures and implemented suggestions for different sites that may be modified to adjust to your situation. It is a book that a new principal would find quite useful in setting up a building that would run successfully from day one and effectively limit major crisis from ill thought out planning. The chapter on safety is, in this time of major concern, a vital guide to helping protect a school from later regrets of irresponsible behavior to the safety and concern of all within its confinds. I as an administrator of an elementary school found it very useful and highly recommend it to others as a very useful guide and resource to keep on hand when reviewing or changing procedures within your building.

Today more than ever, American schools are facing a national dilemma on how to improve education. A new era of transformation is evolving from the traditional Industrial Age school to the school of the Information Age. To accomplish the reform of public education, a new way of thinking about old practices needs to be regenerated to create world class schools. In the book Developing School Programs and Policies, I discovered new ideas, methods, and programs that will help individual schools to regenerate the traditional into the practical. Many time in the history of school reform we have become bogged down by the theoretical and not the practical. This manual is purely practical and provides a step-by-step model for application, something that has not been commonly available in most education resources. The authors have addressed many of the complex issues of public schools by defining policies and programs that are ready to use and applicable to most school settings. The topics range from curriculum improvement, at-risk programs, the expansion of the school day, discipline, safety at school, teacher responsibilities, to the establishment of a vision and goals for school improvement. The book is truly an anthology of pactical ideas that can be used by school board members, superintendents, principals, teachers, and community task forces responsible for regenerating public schools. As a graduate student, I found the book very useful in helping me to understand how schools and school programs are designed.

The first supplement, Observing and Assessing Teacher Performance, is an invaluable tool for principals looking for an evaluation system based on improving instructional performance. The performance data that is collected is both productive and supportive because the process itself involves the teachers in their own instructional improvement. Helping teachers teach better is the ultimate goal of this evauation system.

What a novel idea!

I would highly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in reforming the educational practices within their local schools or to anyone who is a student of educational reform. This book truly weaves together the best practices and standards for school improvement and takes a hard look at policies, practices, and attitudes that are in need of fundamental changes as we stand on the threshold of the 21st Century.

If you are striving for a world-class school, you need this manual.

Sandy

Public schools are now discovering that they cannot prepare students to succeed in tomorrow's world unless they reinvent themselves today. The schools that will thrive in the future are those schools that embrace reform and take control over their own destinies. In many cases throughout the nation, today's schools are not in control of their own destinies because of the loss of local control and the inability to initiate an open agenda for public engagement in the school renewal process. Despite this, policy makers (state agencies and legislators) continue to establish mandates for holding educators accountable for student improvement. Designed in non-collaborative environments, these mandates are based on high-end accountability policies that regulate school reform. However, rarely are these reform mandates based upon the wisdom of school effectiveness research. Additionally, the local school communities are not consulted about how the new regulations will influence the education of their particular school populations. Five years ago, during the course of our crystal ball gazing, we missed several important concepts when developing this manual. We did not recognize that policy development would have such an influence on school reform measures, nor did we fully understand the extent to which effective schools research could have on the impact of policy development. To support communities in building stronger schools and regaining ownership, this manual provides a guide for supporting effective school practices through polices and programs based upon effective school research.

The days for public school security have arrived, and we, as educators, must take every precaution to protect the health, security, and wellbeing of every member who enters the school's environment. In the new supplement to be released in December of 1999, authors Michael King and Linda Harrison give you a comprehensive look at school security and crisis management. The new supplement entitled Programs and Policies for Developing A Safe, Secure, and Healthy Environment will provide expert advice on how to plan and develop a school crisis prevention plan.

The new supplement is divided into three major Chapters. Chapter 8-1, "School Building Security," provides administrators with an overall program for securing their school facilities. Chapter 8-1 concludes with a valuable assessment tool that administrators and security officials can use to evaluate the present level of building security and provides a reference point for future security planning.

Chapter 8-2, "Developing a Crisis Management Plan" provides policies and procedures necessary to prevent and react to school threats, emergencies, and evacuations. The Chapter is divided into two parts: those crisis situations that require evacuation and those crisis situations that require taking shelter.

Chapter 8-3, "School Health Services," provides policies and procedures for dealing with a variety of health issues. Its major purpose is to help school staff members recognize and react appropriately to those medical situations that occur within the school setting. It includes policies and procedures for reacting to student injuries, handling contagious and chronic illnesses, recognizing social and psychological issues, and administering medications.

All three Chapters of this new supplement are important parts of a comprehensive crisis management plan in any school.

This is a well-written and well-researched description of the economic problems ailing contemporary American agriculture, and of the deleterious effects mammoth-scale corporate farming is having on the environment. The author is an experienced investigative reporter and an unashamed proponent of sustainable agriculture and the ever-dwindling "family" farmer representative of traditional crop cultivation in the United States. As such, Diet For A Dead Planet is a bit of a polemic and firmly in the camp of other books critical of the relationship between agricultural economics and modern food production, such as Eric Schlosser's Fast Food Nation. Needless to say, Cargill and Archer-Daniels Midland executives are not going to be enamored of Diet, but any citizen concerned about the state of farming in the US, and its effects on public health and environmental well-being, would do well to read this book.

Cook organizes his topic into three sections, dealing with food quality and safety; the business and economic aspects of modern agriculture; and environmental consequences of profligate pesticide use and "factory" farm effluents. Each section contains several chapters with extensive footnotes. The chapters are obviously targeted for a general audience, and as a consequence are very readable without overwhelming the reader with statistics and technical jargon. In particular, I found the chapters on the evolving history of American agriculture offered a concise but informative account of a complex and often tumultuous subject. Other chapters on such diverse subjects as the "mad cow" crisis, the continuous deposition of toxic pesticides in water supplies, and the travails of workers in high-throughput slaughterhouse operations, are all eye-opening to one degree or another.

Cook ends the book with a admonition to the public: unless we actively choose to support organic / sustainable farm operations, our health and the welfare of the environment we live in are not going to improve. Rather than simple hectoring, however, in the last segment of the book he provides an extensive listing of whole-food organizations and advocacy groups dedicated to helping us change the way we eat and consume natural resources. There is of course an element of "better to light one candle" rhetoric here; even Cook is not so naïve as to think that tomorrow will see the US converted to any kind of enormous vegan commune. But his hope is that after reading Diet some of us will devote a bit of thought to the hows and whys of our eating habits, and in this, I think he is as realistic as any "muckraker" can be.

Whether he is taking on the exploitation of farm workers and poultry-plant employees; the take-over of large-scale agribusiness; farm subsidies, or an America swimming in pesticides and animal waste, Mr. Cook has clearly done his research. Extremely well documented, the book contains a number of startling statistics. Did you know that in California's Central Valley, the 1,600 dairies there generate more waste than a city of 21 million people? Did you know that in 1997, growers applied more than 985 million pounds of pesticides and herbicides to crops? Can you conceive of a farm subsidy system that has people like Scottie Pippin and Sam Donaldson receiving farm program monies?

There is a lot to ponder in this book and some excellent ideas and suggestions as to what we as consumers can do to make changes in our lives and our communities to help bring farming back to the people and out of the hands of the giant corporations.

Millions of Americans are sickening from the food they eat, last year 5,000 died, and obesity and diet-related diseases are on the rise: so Christopher Cook's examination of the food industry in America in Diet For A Dead Planet: How The Food Industry Is Killing Us provides much food for thought. Cook is an investigative journalist whose probe of the food industry's perils is backed with facts and well-honed research. Food lies at the root of many epidemics and poor social and economic conditions. Cook not only pinpoints the problems, but argues for a new way of looking at what and how we eat which places sustainably produced foods within reach of the public. Diet For A Dead Planet is informed and informative reading.

Christopher D. Cook's latest book Diet for a Dead Planet offers the American public with a wake up call view of the food industry today. As an investigative journalist, he gives a complete overview of the socioeconomic and political ills facing food production. He begins the supermarkets and ends with the global agricultural market.

Cook inspects the multifaceted complexities which have arisen due to cheap labor, often exploited and without healthcare. He also depicts the plight of migrant workers, processed food, and pesticides manipulatively spread over crops with the able assistance of government subsidies. The findings are thorough, compelling, and difficult to ingest at times. However, they are warranted as he introduces authorities to backup his claims.

The statistics Cook presents are real, yet harsh. Yearly, 75 million Americans are sickened by the food they eat, while an estimated 67 million birds are killed by the millions of pounds of toxic agricultural pesticides sprayed on crops. Meanwhile, farmers that remain take home only about 19 cents per food dollar spent by the average consumer (this is in comparison to 37 cents in 1980 and 47 cents in 1952) according to Cook.

Cook closely examines every branch of the food industry. In doing so, he reaches a necessary reason for change. The socioeconomic, environmental, and political injustices currently practiced weigh heavily on America's well being. Within each chapter, he goes into great detail explaining, expanding, and scoping the historical difficulties and how they adversely impact today's food industry. Beyond that conclusion, Cook explains that unless a new solution, specifically changing how food is "made", Americans will continue to spiral downward.

Cook clearly maps out the issues beleaguering and tormenting many workers in the food industry from farmers, supermarket employees to higher up executives. All problems such as exploited migrant workers, sickened Americans, corporate control, and government subsidies carry negative consequences for the future if nothing is done soon. In Cook's last chapter, he outlines a solution which focuses on changing the role of the food industry in the future. This book is powerful in its own right. However, more pages need to be devoted to envisioning that solution than one final chapter. I hope to see more works from Christopher Cook. I recommend this book as a read for anyone who eats. This is also a book for anyone who wants to learn the truth about a topic in urgent need of active change and tired of complacency.

This book will open your eyes to the American food industry...from poor quality to bad business practices, Cook covers it all. I knew that quality and mega-chain stores were a concern, but I never considered the demise of our communities and food culture as a by-product of these issues. This book won't help you to sleep easier at night, but it will make you think before you purchase your next carton of milk or loaf of bread.

My favorite author when it comes to strength training. This book is gonna change the way you think when you think of training for more muscle mass. it can be easily ordered at the authors site just type dinosaur training in the search. Also worth reading are Struat McRobert and Randall Strossen if you like this author. If you r just starting out in search of that elusive physique you got to read this one and even if you have been doing this for a while its even more important to have this book. Any strength training fan can tell you what dinosaur training did to there world. Carry on Dino brothers and sisters. Strength and Health all the way.

Hi,
words are not enough to say how this book is. In fact, this is the STRENGHT TRAINING BIBLE, not more than that! This is a classic master piece. Everything you need to know about really productive training or how to develop tremendous strenght is cover in this book. If bodybuilding leaved you alone with no gains, if popular training method doesn't works for you, if REAL strenght (strong man like) is something that interest you, if you are tired of book consisting of nothing but 5 pounds exercises with stretching, if you want to know nearly everything about productive traing : What are best exercices, How much time do I have to train, What are single and why do them, How many reps should I do to became stronger, How old timer strong man that lifted near 400 pounds arms lenght over head WITHOUT ANY CHEATING GEAR (supplement, wrist, steroid and other widgets) develop their strengh? How to increased substancially your poundage on exercise, how to improve your grip strenght and close 150 pounds or more spring cruncher, How to raise your physical fitness to a super level and so on... BUY THIS BOOK! YOU WILL NEVER REGRET IT! Nothing else to say. Best 20 bucks ever invest in training in my life.

In writing Dinosaur Training, Brooks Kubik has blessed us with the finest strength training book written in more than thirty years, and one of the greatest and most inspirational strength training books of all time. If you want to learn the real, no-nonsense secrets to building true, functional strength that will last a lifetime, each page of Dinosaur Training is packed with those secrets. No gimmicks here, just hard work and how to do it the right and most productive way.

Kubik is no armchair authority. A former world record holder in the bench press, he is a lifetime drug-free lifter and athlete who practices the tried-and-true, old-school strength-building methods he details in Dinosaur Training. Today, past the half-century mark in age, Kubik is far stronger and fitter than the vast majority of much younger athletic men, a living testimony of Dinosaur Training's effectiveness.

In conclusion, I give Dinosaur Training my highest recommendation, and I strongly urge you to do yourself a special favor and purchase a copy. It will be the best strength-training investment you will ever make.

First, I don't know where the previous poster gets his info, but Kubik DOES still train with weights. On his website, in an article dated March 08, he mentions working with dumbells.

Second, this book is still available in many online stores. I don't know why it is going for over $100 on Amazon. I bought it in summer 08 for 17 bucks.

The book: As my title suggests, DT is the best book on training I have ever read. And I have read many over the last 20+ years. The book provides, in incredible detail, the prescription for bigger stronger muscles. The problem with so many other books is that they tell you what you want to hear instead of what you need to hear. DT tells it like it is. Hard work + heavy weights + progression + compound movements + abbreviated workouts = success. After 25 years of weight training I have finally gotten stronger and bigger, at age 39, following these principles. Ironically, I gradually figured it out on my own in the last couple of years. DT confirmed what I learned on my own, though it did also add to my knowledge base. There is no hype in this book, no pictures of steroid freaks, and nothing complicated. Kubik makes it clear from the start that this is a book for people who are drug-free, willing to work brutally hard, and not get swept up by what the crowd is doing this week. Following DT's priciples you will be successful. After YEARS of complete failure using every other training theory out there, it is a dream come true to finally have some success. The only thing to remember about DT is that 99% of the people in this world are too mentally weak to do it properly. I've watched videos on Youtube of people doing 20 reps squats for example. I've yet to see anyone doing them with the necessary intensity. I only wish I saw the light sooner. I must have spent THOUSANDS on books, suppliments and those idiotic Joe Weider magazines over the 1990's! Joe weider is a con man and manipulator who should be in jail! But "that's a whole other can or worms" as they say.

Brooks Kubik wrote the most inspiring strength training book of all time. I defy anyone to read this book and tell me otherwise.

What is it? Brooks has compiled a book of old strong-man techniques for building incredible, superhuman strength. The old school training methods were written before you could shoot yourself full of chemicals and puff up like a distressed blowfish. In the old days, bodybuilders were not expected to look pretty or be "hooge" veiny looking ding dongs they are now a days; they were expected to be exemplars of terrifying strength. Men who could bend pieces of iron, or tear up solid objects with bare hands, or toss around human beings as if they were nerf toys. Brooks book is a manly bellowing back to the days of tossing around giant logs, pushing around enormous dumb bells and bar bells, and picking up objects that ordinary human beings would have a hard time moving with a fork lift. He isn't hearkening back to the golden, "muscle beach" days; he's hearkening back to some atavistic time when weightlifters were men who wore singlets, and grew giant walrus moustaches, and worked in a circus.

The book outlines many exercises and odd lifts which have been forgotten. It also advocates for use of odd shaped objects, and away from the use of machines to achieve functional strength goals. Personally, I actually do find machines occasionally useful, and I figure Brooks probably did once in a while as well, as he hints here and there, particularly in the first edition of the book. But abhoring such things as evil is a good and necessary thing to do.

This is not a complete training book. It doesn't talk much about nutrition, and disdains the idea of periodization (probably out of spirit more than anything else, but it is still necessary to rest sometimes). This is a book that, when you read it, makes you want to get out and train. Preferably using some kind of scary impliment made out of rusty iron girders, anvils or anchor chain. But even if not; it makes you want to acquire old fashioned herculean strength.

Another great discours from Aimee Cesaire reagrding the Europeans bumbling excuse for justifying the illegal acquistion of others peoples land and resources, and slavery. No wonder I personally have BLACK RAGE.

the quality of the product was the very best. it also arrived when i expected it too. i needed it in a crunch time and it came through beautifully.

This is a fascinating book for folks interested in the international decolonization movement of the 50s and 60s, and its relation to the Black Power movement in the States. The Discourse is beautifully written and passionately argued. The interview helps clarify Cesaire and Senghor's concept of "Negritude" as an early form of Black pride, rather than racial essentialism. The essay introduction is worthwhile since it puts the book in relation to Cesaire's poetic work and the Surrealist movement in France, America, and the Antilles. It's unduly dismissive of Cesaire's Marxist politics, especially since it goes against the spirit of the interview appended at the end.

In Aimé Césaire's "Discourse on Colonialism," She very blatantly voices her opinion that a (European) civilization that is:

...incapable of solving the problems it creates is a decadent civilization. A civilization that chooses to close its eyes to the most crucial problems is a stricken civilization. [and finally] A civilization that uses its principles for trickery and deceit is a dying civilization. (31)

As well as applying for both Britain's presence in Southeast Asia and the Caribbean, and France's colonial presence in Africa and the Caribbean, this powerful statement could become an equation for the line drawn between one country's involvements with another.

For example, here is an unmistakable connection here to the US' involvement in Iraq. Are we as a nation decadent? Stricken? Dying? The over $155B spent in Iraq (...) instead of other national priorities. Cesaire's points are very relevant to the times as she brings further knowledge and past histories into the damage of Colonialism: "...at the present time the barbarism of Western Europe...being only surpassed...by the barbarism of the United States" (47).
She talks about the `gangrene' of impartiality, in regards to the French hearing stories that are disturbing and pornographic. "Colonization, I repeat, dehumanizes even the most civilized man" (Césaire 41). A theme prevalent in films such as Black Girl, Chocolat, and Xala. It is easy to be impartial when one is ignorant.

I read Cesaire's 'discours sur le colonialisme' in one afternoon at a coffe place and it was captivating in how intellectually he wrote, with tinges of attitude in the words. A lot of the things he wrote about I already knew from studying a lot about Africa before and what ethnocentricism vs. ethno relativism means when applying yourself and perceptions of other cultures. This book is as applicable in the 1950's as today, I found that America seems to be the new France and Britain, as far as imperialism goes.

This book has so many good points about how one must look at the non Occidental world. Whenever I hear people talking about Africa in a degrading way in that the continent needs the Western world to give it medicine, schools, etc . . .it infuriates me with the lack of research these people have done. Although one can't expect everyone to know, but they would at least get a glimpse if they read this. They would see that it is the fault of the Occidentaux which is why Africa is in the state it is now. Before Europeans went there, the people of this rich, great continent had their own cultures, laws, languages, writing, religions that worked very well for them. Because they were different than Europes ways, they were viewed as primitive and uncivilized, but you can't measure a civilization by the same standards of another, far different one. Just because they didn't write their history down, doesn't mean they didn't have it. They used oral tradition for this, which is just one example of the European's prejudice. If Europe never went there, these African civilizations very well could have flourished and become great as the passage of time went along.

Colonization has done it's damage, Cesaire talks about decolonizing our minds, I wonder how long that will take to accomplish? I would recommend this short read to anyone who wants to try to get out of their own cultural shell and think about the way the world is viewed from the viewpoint of others, even though this book is seriously outdated and seems like the author has never even been to Africa.

Frantz Fanon is a more compelling read though (even though he's a bit of a misogynist), try "black skin, white masks" or "l'an V de la revolution algerienne/a dying colonialism".

Doing the Right Thing is written for children taking care of their elderly parents. The book is well written and emphasizes the need for setting limits in taking on this difficult task. Specifically, Roberta Satow speaks of reaching a balance for children who have had distant, difficult relationships with their parents in the past. She emphasizes having boundaries and taking care of one's self in order to deal with the issues that inevitably come up at this time. As a daughter taking care of my mildly demented mother, I found this book helpful in validating the positive things that can come out of this new chapter in my life. Feelings from the past can be resolved and a new, positive bond can be formed with your parent. I highly recommend this book to any child taking care of an elderly relative and for children who are experiencing guilt over the resurfacing of old feelings at a time when our parents need us most.

The introduction to this book left me breathless - the author could have been looking over my shoulder at my own interaction with my mother, and dealing with the welter of emotions that come out of that relationship. I very much appreciate the author's disclosure of her own situation - I think this gives an immediacy that the reader can relate with. Anyone in a care-giving situation with their parents' should read this book, no matter what their relationship with their parents was like. I plan to recommend it to everyone I know, because they will need this kind of information sooner or later.

After picking up this book in a library, I was surprised to learn how low it is ranked on this list. Although I do not have personal need of the book (my parents are dead), many of my contemporaries are or were caregivers. This book helped me understand them. Among my aquaintances, nearly every primary caregiver is on antidepressants. With little time for exercise or self-care they have health and weight problems. And the primary caregiver often is not the favorite child. As Pipher says, he or she may be an estranged child seeking a last chance to work out "unresolved issues," in the language of therapy.

The book's title can be misleading. Satow does not limit her topic to children who resent their parents. She provides several examples of selfless caregivers who love their parents and care for them willingly. Often they're repaying an emotional debt or following a culture they embrace.

Given the heavy subject matter, author Satow couldn't take on the usual upbeat, cheery tone of most self-help books. In fact, reading the book can be exhausting. I am reminded of Mary Pipher's book, Another Country: relentless examples of frustration with no end in sight.

Compared to Pipher, Satow comes across more as a hands-on therapist and teacher. And she's the kind of therapist who holds firm to mainstream beliefs (e.g., we never lose ties to our parents) and offers, by way of encouragement, a simple, "That's difficult."

Like Pipher, Satow's message is one of acceptance. At some point in life, there's little to anticipate. And contemporary American society lacks an infrastructure to provide support.

The book would be stronger if the author had stepped back for a broader perspective. Many caregivers sacrificed their own lives, so who will care for them as they age? How will the single or childless elderly fend for themselves?

And some relationships seem so broken or distant that one or more children could move to the opposite end of the world, guilt-free. Remember the Sopranos episode where Tony's mother dies? Carmela, Tony's wife, says, "Who are we kidding? She was awful." A funeral director told me he's experienced this reaction first-hand - more than once.

The biggest omission in Satow's book relates to money. In her last chapter, Satow makes some recommendations for caregivers. She includes a list of questions, encouraging caregivers to assess whether they're experiencing illness, taking out their frustrations on their own children or giving up a social life altogether.

But Satow totally ignores the financial effects of caregiving. When the parent dies, the child who gave up career options now has to move forward, battling age discrimination and a resume gap. Sometimes parents never get around to updating a will. Some die intestate. The inheritance gets divided evenly among three, four or five children, who rarely are motivated to reward the primary caregiver. And the primary caregiver's career can suffer or even disappear.

Still, I'd recommend this book to anyone who's caring for an elderly parent. But I suspect caregivers have little time to read. Ultimately, this book will help the rest of us try to understand a little more.

The interviews in this book were very enlightening, giving me some new insights into the situations that I, and apparently many others, are going through with aging parents. I did sympathise with many of the adults, and I guess the only shortcoming of the book was that I expected it to provide me with solutions. I realize that may be impossible to receive from a book, but I do think I gained a lot by the empathy I felt to others who deal with the same insolvable and sometimes intolerable situations. I would recommmend this book to those just beginning to feel the pull to help their parents so that some strategies may be of help in the earliest stages before patterns are set.

This is it folks! Probably one of the most important books I have ever read. It took me, as the reader, full circle from my childhood all the way through to my current relationship with my aging parents, in a matter of hours. I could not and would not put this book down. It wouldn't let me. Never have I read anything on the issue of children dealing with their aging parents that has so thoroughly covered every human emotion. It is gut-wrenching and inspiring at the same time. Kudos to Roberta Satow for having the desire and the ability to write about a topic that is so controversial and so very necessary. This book pushed all of my buttons and made me rethink every aspect of my relationship with my parents and my own children. This subject cannot be talked about or written about enough. I took on every role while engrossed in this book. I was child, sibling, parent and aging parent all at the same time. I was hit emotionally from every angle. When the book was finished I was literally angry that there weren't more pages. I can't stop thinking about or talking about this book. Now that is the sign of a great book! Please tell me there will be more where this came from!

I purchased this book after serching for resources on mother - daughter abandonment. I was researching this subject to see if others has experiences such as mine. By reading this book I have come to understand it and grow. It made me feel as though I was not alone in my childhood experiences. I would highly recommened this book to anyone!!!

Don't Call Me Mother: Breaking the Chain of Mother-Daughter Abandonment is a poignant story on several different levels. It's such a compelling memoir, you have to keep reminding yourself that it isn't fiction. The raw emotions and the bare truth of the story pull you into a drama that no child should experience. It's a testimonial to Linda Joy's strength of character that she could survive such an experience let alone re-live it again to tell her story.

Her prose is so poetic, at times you think you're reading poetry. In addition to being a fine author, Linda Joy is a therapist illuminating the spiritual growth that comes from compassion, forgiveness, perseverance, and the courage that can be born of such a tragic childhood.

The driving force behind the book is the hope that the chain of abandonment cycling through the generations can finally be broken. Don't Call Me Mother should be read by anyone who has experienced abandonment, divorce, or living with mental illness; however, the book stands on its own as an unforgettable story.

I had the privilige of hearing Ms Myers speak recently and was touched by her incredible empathy and understanding for people who have suffered abandonment and abuse in their childhood. Though the memoir genre is overpopulated by stories of Hollywood stars and the like, regaling us with their secrets, Ms Myers' account of three generations of mother-daughter abandonment and her quest to heal the rupture in her family reads more like a lyrical and sensitive novel than a true-life story. Poetic and evocative in its depiction of Ms Myers' incarnations as a child struggling to withstand the tempestous damage of mental illness; a young woman seeking the truth buried amidst family secrets; and of a strong-willed mother and grandmother fighting to reshape the future out of the past, this is a book that touches all of us, whether or not we have suffered the same. Healing and powerful in its message while never being self-indulgent, "Don't Call Me Mother" is a testament to the resiliency and courage of those who seek to make peace with themselves and discover truth through their losses.

As a women's memoir writing teacher and coach, I read memoirs to find exemplars for my classes. I recently read the excellent Don't Call Me Mother: Breaking the Chain of Mother-Daughter Abandonment by Linda Joy Myers. Her compelling life story is written as a series of vignettes that reveal a multi-generational pattern of abandonment and eventual healing. Myers, a marriage and family therapist, writes in the voice of the first person speaking in the present tense. If you are writing, or interested in writing, your memoir, consult this book to understand the dramatic impact on the reader of this voice and tense combination. From the author's perspective, Myers says the choice "forced me to integrate the self that I was with the witness I have become." You'll also notice the importance of trains in her life, representing separations and reunions, new ventures and returning home. If you are working on your memoir, consider if there has been a thread running through your life that could be woven into your memoir. Myers, also an artist, creates vitality and vividness in the people and places she shares with us through the use of color descriptors. What passions do you have - gardening, sports, cooking, art, music - that might enhance the telling of your story?

I strongly recommend this book as a "good read" if you struggle with the mother-daughter relationship in your life. I also highly recommend this book for the insights it offers into writing your memoir.

This was not quite what I thought it was but it was enjoyable, if that is the appropriate term for a book that causes one to cry or reflect on familial relationships. I have been surprised to learn how many women end up in circumstances in which they have effectively, if not actually, been abandoned by their mothers. I gave a copy to my daughter and loaned mine to a friend who I learned had been placed for adoption because her mother didn't want more children.

Dr. Atkins, My parents have read your book and have been on the diet for about 5 month They have really lost the weight they wanted. I live in Hawaii and they live in Maryland and I haven't seen my dad or mom in almost two years. When I saw him last he had put on allot of weight and When he came out to Hawaii I couldn't belive that he had lost all that weight. My mom wasn't a heavey person but she quiet smoking and put on some weight and she has gone on your diet and lost the weight she wanted. My husband and I are going on this diet soon. I am only 15 pounds over weight that I feel. My husband wants to loose about 25 pounds. I think this is a great way to loose weight. Thank your for your time. Diana Steinbach

I purchased this book to get more info on natural remedies for PMS. It is a wonderful reference for Holistic health remedies that can be applied to your daily life.

I stayed away from diets for years because they were making me fatter, then I found Dr. Atkins' New Diet Revolution. Iam losing weight faster than I ever had in the past, and I can live with the food you get to eat! what diet before this lets you eat steak and whipcream!

I wasn't looking for a cure for my sleep disorder, monthly cramps, headaches and occasional UTIs when I picked up Dr. Atkins'Health Revolution three years back; I was just doing a little preliminary research on the Atkins Diet to see if this guy was some kind of quack, as his detractors often claimed. Lo and behold, a new world of health and physically based well-being opened to me as I began to understand just how my nutritional habits (and lack thereof) were undermining the quality of my life.

A common myth about Dr. Atkins that could stand some clearing up is that he advocates a strict homeopathic system of medical care and an unbalanced meat-only diet. These misconceptions can be corrected by reading the first few chapters. Atkins actually gives well-reasoned explanations of his philosophy of Complementary medicine, an approach that stresses prevention via good dietary habits, vitamin supplements and exercise, then homeopathic and vitamin remedies when there is a problem, and finally traditional medicine when all else fails (Yeah, he's a quack all right!). Without going into the details and logistics here, I was impressed with how logical and simple to apply this system is.

Where Atkins' detractors have hung up on most is the section on diet and how our last 150 years or so of history have affected it. From our pre-industrial food options though the Twentieth Century's sudden proliferation of processed flour and sugar, we can trace the steady rise of heart disease, obesity, tooth decay and Type 2 diabetes. Worse, the industries that stood to profit from the "deadly duo" (and other starchy carb-based foods that were taking the place of meats, eggs, butter and cheese as the bulk of our diets) greatly influenced the medical profession's research and findings. The resulting decline of our national health is a bitter legacy to take responsibility for, and that is just what too many of our processed food makers, doctors, pharmaceutical companies and health experts would have to do once they conceded that Atkins may indeed have been right. For that reason, such an admission may be decades in coming.

Whether or not you find yourself agreeing with that area of Atkins' theory, the book presents sound arguments and encourages a lifestyle that has improved untold lives over the past 30 years. There are changes you can make that will lower your blood pressure, bad cholesterol and triglycerides, eliminate systemic yeast infections, reverse diabetes and re-energize you - all without the use of drugs. In fact, you will probably end up being able to ditch the drugs you are on now.

I believe that someday Dr. Atkins vitamin and diet principles will be the standard recommendations from the health industry. It is hard to argue with the steadily growing segment of our population that simply gets lasting results by using them, and expands slowly via word of mouth. Meanwhile, those happy few of us will continue to benefit from the work done by this incredible man and his steadfast campaigning on our behalf before a tragic head wound took his life a few months ago.
Rest in peace, Doctor.
-Andrea, aka Merribelle.

Finally!!! A diet where you don't have to eat like a bird! Great book. I lost well over 30 lbs and have kept it off for almost a year!! Thank you Dr. Atkins!!!!!!!!!!!!