D-A Books

The Chesapeake & Ohio Canal is a living dream. Early Virginians envisioned a water route to the vast American interior--onward even to the Pacific. Jefferson urged Washington to make the Potomac navigable thereby creating an inland route to the Ohio.

Great republics need freedom to dream. They undertake experiments not all of which succeed. On the 4th of July, 1848, John Quincy Adams, sixth President, son of John and Abigail, broke ground for this canal. The setting was a sylvan glade overlooking the Potomac gorge a few miles above Georgetown.

The C&O Canal itself was a colossal failure considering its original purpose, overtaken by its competitor the B&O Railroad and never to reach its intended destination.

Mike High's guide, on the other hand, is a huge success. The C&O Canal Companion is far more than a "complete guide." High provides full narration of the canal's history, including numerous historical events that intertwine with the waterway: the French and Indian War, John Brown's Raid, and the bloodiest day in American History, September 17th, 1862, the Battle of Antietam. The the Union with 12,401 casualties lost 2,108 dead; the Confederacy with 10,318 casualties lost 1,546 dead.

High is particularly good on structures along the canal. We gain a true feel for the canal's operation as a living and working thing from his descriptions: locks and their operation; spillways; culverts--and that engineering marvel, the Georgetown inclined plane to lower boats from the canal to the Potomac.

My favorites of all are the magnificent aqueducts, ingenious designs for carrying the waterway above rushing creeks and rivers that must cross below to reach the Potomac. The very names of these structures, Seneca, Monocacy, Catoctin (fallen but now in the process of being repaired) and the picturesque Antietam, are themselves poetry. These stone beauties, the finest structures one can view in a wild setting, like the canal itself, have become so integral to their surroundings they seem a part of nature, not man-made.

Many miles have I run and hiked, preferring to travel on foot so as to take in canal sights, sounds and odors to their full, at times with a hiking companion, other times alone, and on some of my favorite long stretches with Athena, my trusted Golden Retriever. Many times have I brought Mike High's book along on my rambles.

A great American of the last Century, Justice William O. Douglas, preserved the Canal, helping make it what it is today--not the intended highway of interstate commerce--no, something better: a corridor for wildlife reaching from the Alleghenies to the Chesapeake. A preserver of the entire eastern shoreline of one of America's most beautiful rivers. Thank Douglas for his advocacy in the form of a widely publicized 1954 hike of the entire canal, a man of action who preserved a dream and made it better.

When human beings stretch their legs and breathe deeply, they are better able to exercise their rights and freedoms. What kind of a place would you dream of for this stretching and breathing?

In days of turmoil or congestion, dream a place to be alone among beautiful things, where history, nature, and wilderness are real, the rest of the world become a dream. Do you have a deep need to see and absorb this truth, the majesty of which can only be contemplated while alone in a place of beauty?

Freedom begins with dreams. "The right to be let alone," Justice Douglas reminds us, "is indeed the beginning of all freedoms."

Dream a canal.

One of the best books I have ever read on the C&O Canal. Great combination of history and facts.

Wonderful guide to the C & O Canal park that includes history and detailed information about the various mile marks. This edition is revised from the original. However, with the make-over of the Monocacy Aqueduct in 2005 and other changes the book should again be updated to include this information.

Still this book covers every aspect of this unique national park that spans almost 185 miles from Georgetown to Cumberland, Maryland, whether you are a hiker or biker or just a traveler visiting the various sites along the canal.

I purchased this book to help prepare for a trip my brother and I plan to take next summer. I have only scanned it, but it looks like it will have all the information we need to make our preparations easier and our ride more enjoyable.
It looks like a very thorough description of the trail, the sights to see along the way, and the amenities available on the trip.

I organized and led our high school youth group (23 people) for a week long ride on the trail. This book was invaluable in pulling it off. It has all the info for logistical planning, as well as providing excellent historical context (which the high schoolers loved.)

While we were on the trail, I was tracking our progress via the book at every water stop. Even if you have minimal map reading skills, the maps in the book will allow you to determine your location with great accuracy (again, which the high schoolers loved.)

Finally, the book is organized wonderfully and is an easy and interesting read. It combines information with background and context.

In sum, if you are going to ride the C&O Canal trail, don't leave home without this book in your possession. It is as important as water and a first aid kit.

Exactly as I said in the title. We completed Calculus 1, 2 and 3 on this. Great for beginners.

My son is currently at Harvard where he is taking Calculus II. He called home, requesting we forward his Larson textbook that he used for AP Calc in high school. It helped him tremendously with concepts he just wasn't getting at one of the top schools in the nation--and he has shared this textbook with his professor at Harvard!

Kudos to the author of this wonderfully written book.

First things first: If there was a ten star rating it would apply
to this book. Secondly, I found these authors through another of
their books, "Precalculus With Limits - A Graphing Approach". That book was just as well written. Truth be told, I would buy any of their books, sight unseen. They are a students
teacher and a teachers teacher. They don't sacrifice rigor, nor do they forget the mathematical maturity of their student audience. Using their books alone, and self-study (no classes,
tutors, or the intellectual diet pill category of "Calculus Made
Simple" or "Calculus The Easy Way" silver bullets I filled a forty year gap in math studies in 1-1/2 years to the point of
acing the AP Calculus and AP Physics Exams. Knowing calculus prior to beginning physics with calculus is an absolute necessity. I am no genuis. I do not have exceptional ability. I simply had the advantage of two textbooks written by teachers who
really care and take a mentoring approach to writing. All of this
has really been a long-winded way of saying that with this book
and a healthy dose of strong motivation and perserverance you will succeed in your calculus courses.

The best book about Calculus I ever seen. Read it and you will know all about you need to love mathematics.

This is no doubt the best textbook I have ever owned in any subject. I've never been able to actually read through a math text untill this book came along. The analytic graphs are colorful (and the 3-D generated ones are simply astounding) which is totally different from the dull, dreary, and nightmarish math texts from my past. This math book is unlike any other I have seen before -- in a class of its own. There are plenty of examples, charts, and many many exercises(some especially challenging). I went through Calculus I and have taught myself Calc II within a matter of weeks. Highly recommended.

In volume five of Proust's massive and perspicacious `a la recherché,' we find the narrator Marcel, slowly, yet surely, falling out of love with Albertine. Proust is extraordinarily masterful at evoking the painful (and yet very real) feeling of gradual disaffection, which all lovers must inevitably face with each other. Marcel pontificates endlessly and relentlessly on Albertine. He loves, her (or maybe we should say him), he doesn't love her, he loves her, he doesn't love her, etc. etc. Until, finally, the moment of decision, he tells her that he does not love her and wishes her to leave, insisting that she will be happier without him. Of course, the moment Albertine departs, Marcel is in despair, he has lost has love, and Albertine is reduced to the status of the `fugitive.' This volume is one of the most beauteous and thoughtful unfolding of the loss of love, and the painful convalescence that transpires in the subsequent period. Marcel goes to Venice, and explores that wondrous and ancient European city, and he sends help to find Albertine, only to discover that she has died in a horseback accident. In addition to the tragic loss of Albertine, Marcel grows continually disenchanted with the aristocratic world to which he belongs. Proust is brilliant in his ability to sustain this massive web of characters, as he reintroduces figures from the early stages of the search, such as Gilberte (Marcel's first love), and Mme Verdurin. This book evokes the meaning of life as it unfolds temporally, and the meaning of relationships throughout the course of a lifetime, and how they change and drift in and out of focus at different stages. It is one of the great works of Western literature.

The 7th of March I found this book, ISBN:0713996048. Now it's the 12th and I've returned to buy the book,except I can't locate it on the site! What is going on? Where's the first volume in the set? I'm so frustrated by this. I waited for years for the new translation to be completed.Help me!

Modern Library's Volume V deals with the relationship between Marcel and Albertine. It is a complex, psychological relationship to say the least. In the Captive, Albertine lives with Marcel in his apartment in Paris and in The Fugitive one wonders who is, in fact, more captive -- Albertine or Marcel. It would seem to be Albertine for whom Marcel possesses an obsessive love and concurrent fear of her sapphic penchant. But it is also Marcel who will sacrifice experience if he makes a commitment to her. Who is more free, the captive or the fugitive? Proust raises questions about how to serve best the artist's quest for beauty. In fact, how does one really ever "capture" the beauty of life in art or music or literature? Even in a masterpiece, is it not beauty the fugitive that usually dwells just beyond one's capture? Or like Vinteuil's septet or the music of Wagner or the painting of Rembrandt, is the best for which one can hope of fugitive beauty only a brief fleeting experience? Are the vast tracts of time spent to understand the beauty and meaning of life worth it? As a writer does he not habitually surrender life in order to capture it? Or is the pursuit of the capture of the beauty of life in fact where one realizes its most sublime value? One sees in Proust toward the end of The Fugitive a member of society who respects it but chooses by reasons of health not to position himself so visibly within it. Despite his family name and vast but dwindling fortune inherited from his beloved grandmother, he seems to become somewhat ultimately disenchanted with the intricacies of Faubourg-St. Germain society to which he devotes so much of his writing. He recognises society's shallow obsession with materialism and rampant snobbery but his own place in society is captured by its complex history and tacit rules and Marcel is inescapably a captive of his own culture. When Albertine is lost to him toward the end of the volume, as in the prior volumes, the story line's serial intrigue advances most. Characters from prior volumes reappear, reminiscent of Balzac, whom Proust adored, but like him they change,too, and usually for the worse over time. The great tapestry of the characters of Proust -- Albertine, Gilberte, Swann, Brichot, Bloch, Charlus, Morel, Saint-Loup -- ultimately surprise and usually disappoint him. As to nagging questions about Proust's own orientation, "Personally I found it absolutely immaterial from a moral standpoint whether one took one's pleasure with a man or a woman, and only too natural and human that one should take it where one could find it." I found myself wishing that Proust had written more about Bloch and Saint-Loup and Gilberte, and less about Albertine. But she was, like his work, the one obsession, the endeavor of which understanding he could never escape and never quite marry -- she was his beauty and his art. She was the breath of life itself from his pen and from his experience of life as seen through the eyes of a true genius.

This is volume five of the superlative new translation of "In Search of Lost Time," containing the two books of the Albertine cycle, which are now titled "The Prisoner" (translated by Carol Clark) and "The Fugitive" (tr. Peter Collier). Though I haven't yet read their translations, I have found the new editions to be a wonderful improvement over those done in the 1920s by Charles Scott Moncrieff. So I have no hesitation in giving them five stars.

Unhappily for American readers, current U.S. copyright law prevents Viking/Penguin from publishing the last two volumes of "Lost Time" in this country until 95 years after Proust's death, or 2018. The first four volumes have been published here in handsome hardcovers (more handsome than the British edition), but the only way to obtain this and the final volume ("Finding Time Again") is to find an imported British hardcover or paperback. -- Dan Ford

The Albertine episodes make more sense if we assume this is a homosexual ralationship. Albertine's independence, and her being allowed to live in a young man's apartment, and other aspects of her social life do not seem likely for a young woman in the nineteen hundreds. Marcel's (and incidentally this is the only volume where he refers to himself as Marcel) suspicions then become the gay lover's fears that his lover prefers heterosexuality. Albertine is the only female in the Recherche who never gets married.
Apart from these external clues there is quality about the the affection Marcel feels that suggests a gay rather than a straight relationship.
This volume marks a turning point in the narrator's fascination with the aristocracy. From here on disenchantment sets in, and the references to homosexuality become almost homophobic.

I have a couple of issues about this book which prevent me from giving it an altogether hearty endorsement. First, it seems the casino-owner knows about the shanghaing before anyone tells him that's what happened. Next, the ending isn't as tidy as I would like. The criminal is still at large, even though his career as a politician is ruined, and he was not proven to be the murderer. Still, it was a lovely book with a Sherlock Holmes flavor. I agree with the others who claim that it doesn't patronize kids. When are we going to see sequels?

As I opened the book and read the first few pages, I knew I wouldn't be able to put it down until I had finshed the entire story! Mr. Emerson does an exceptional job of bringing story, location, and most importantly characters to life right in front of your eyes! This is a book to be enjoyed by readers of any age, and I anxiously await Mr. Emerson's next literary offering. A well earned 5 stars!!!

Set in late nineteenth century San Francisco, The Case of the Cat with the Missing Ear, from the very first page captured my attention and held it throughout. Mr. Emerson has written an intelligent and thoroughly gripping and rather humorous mystery with a cast of curious canine (and feline) characters. Samuel Blackthorn, a clever, cunning, and courageous Yorkie dogdetective, makes many friends and deals with canines a zillion times larger than himself -- which, after all, is to be expected in a town populated by pooches of every description. The imagery, such as the vivid description of the fog rolling down into the city at twilight, is truly fascinating! Wit and whimsey abound in this Sherlock Holmesian narrative, which I highly recommend to readers both young and old. I can hardly wait for the next adventure in the series! A very good read, indeed!

The best book I've read in the last few years. There aren't many books between the reading level of Harry Potter and To Kill a Mockingbird. This is it. It's funny but doesn't treat kids like they aren't as smart as adults. This is a book for kids who love to read but have run out of good books. Although it says ages 8-12, I'm 40 and I loved it. Dog lovers of all ages will love it too.

This delightful mystery is intended for young adult readers but is reviewed here for its ability to interest all age groups. Take a Yorkshire terrier investigator who is a master of deductive reasoning ala Sherlock Holmes, add some animals who come to him for help, and throw in a complex tale of deceit which involves high-ranking city officials and you have Adventures Of Samuel Blackthorne, a satisfyingly different and witty mystery.

I haven't read much yet. I've been too busy browsing through the pictures. Beautifully detailed. Amazing how this art was created by people that we think of as primitive. There has always been a need of humans to express themselves through art.

I have always be fascinated by this type of art work. Lately I have bought a half dozen books on the subject, This book is by far the best for photographs and illustrations. It gives real insight to the art and way it was created. The wealth of photographs is amazing. I would highly recommend this book to anyone with an interest in cave art.

This is an amazing book! I don't think I've ever lingered over a book as much as I have this one. The incredibly detailed descriptions of the artwork draw you to repeatedly examine each photograph. I find this book even more fascinating because it includes a study of the cave's floor as well as the parietal art.
This book is a fascinating journey into the past depicted by the most extraordinary photographs!
I highly recommend this book for your personal collection.

It's dark in there. Deep in the caverns located in cliffs of the Ardeche River gorge somebody left images of a world unseen. Bears, ibexes, lions and more are depicted in over three hundred complete and and partial imagery along the rock walls. Some have even been "erased" by smudges overlying the originals. In some cases the animals are probably fighting. The rutting season? Others are massed together as if migrating or hunting in packs. To depict these fauna so precisely required immense talent. Yet they could only have been drawn in the flickering light of oil lamps or torches. The very walls must have seemed to flicker with life as the painters went about their craft. Who were they? Why did they put so much effort into these images? What can we learn from them?

Jean Clottes, leading a team of researchers, has been examining the Chauvet caves for over a decade. In this book, the images are catalogued, defined and analysed for age and content. More than anything else, this book is a fantastic depiction of the images, in both panoramic and in close detail. It has been an immense task and the work has barely begun, as Clottes notes. Access to the cave, even when permitted, requires patience, dexterity and allows no tinge of claustrophobia! Yet some of the photographs show the researchers at their work or examining their surroundings. It's a vivid contrast to see but the boots of one crawling through an access tunnel, then standing almost lost in an immense grotto.

A compilation of the work of several authors, Clottes' book offers more than the images of our ancestors' paintings. It's made clear that whatever the painters' drive to convey their views of lions, mammoth or bison, it wasn't an evolving aesthetic sense or the expression of a leisure class. Among the collections of photographs, analysts attempt to derive some meaning from the depictions. To Joelle Robert-Lamblin, the closest approximation to these Palaeolithic artists are the Inuit. In an essay pointing out similarities and differences, attention is given to the role of the cave itself and known shamanic practices. For both societies, the bear is a figure of significance. At Chauvet, paintings are done over cave bear scratchings, and in one place a bear's skull has been carefully positioned. Were the skull and the many paintings of bears an appeal for their power, or an attempt to ward off predation?

Interpretation of these images isn't easy, but Clottes explains some of the patterns and practices involved. Reading his text requires a bit of page flipping, since the cave has so many chambers, all named for some factor or another [although "The Sacristy" at the far end defies explanation]. In the "earlier" part of the cave, the images are rendered mostly in red ochre. In the deeper chambers, the dominant colour is black. Certain animals abound in some grottoes, while others are nearly devoid of images. Many surfaces which almost cry out for use remain blank. Clottes suggests these divisions are based on initiation levels of those allowed within the sacred confines - a practice common in many of today's religions. Further, the mystery of the lack of human figures remains unresolved.

Beyond the glorious photography, Clottes provides maps of the various chambers and a table of dated artefacts. The dating, as he notes, was a shocking revelation. The images were depicted over thirty thousand years ago. And their creation wasn't continuous. A five thousand year stretch, a distance in time equal to that of the Old Kingdom of Egypt to today, separates the two major periods of occupancy. Was the location lost, or simply visited without adding new graphics? The notes and bibliography for this account are thorough, but are limited to the immediate work. Clottes is still working on the images and their meaning. He may produce another book on Chauvet, but it will not truly replace this one. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]

It would be easier by far to climb Everest or to plunge into the Marianas Trench than to gain access to Chauvet Cave, which is restricted to a mere half dozen archaeologists by the government of France. There are very good reasons for the restrictions. Human activity in limestone caves is inevitably destructive; both natural features and artifacts are quickly degraded. This is hyper-critical in Chauvet because of its uniqueness and scientific significance. Fortunately, there is this magnificent book of photos of the cave and its art. There is also a spectacular virtual tour of the cave on line, maintained by the French government.

When the cave was discovered by spelunkers in 1994, it had not been entered by humans since roughly 22,000 BCE (or 12,000-14,000 years before the Creation of the Earth, according to Biblical fundamentalists). Yet to the astonishment of archaeologists, some of the art and artifacts in the cave were soon dated reliably as even older, perhaps 15,000 years older, from the Aurignacian era, thus being the earliest known cave paintings as well as the oldest known footprints of an anatomically modern human. Even more astonishing is the sophistication of the paintings, both technically and aesthetically. No words can describe the impact of seeing such skillful representations of horses, mammoths, rhinoceroses, elk, and cave lions, representations that seem as vivid and impressionistic as our own modern iconic images of the Wild. The Chauvet paintings are in no way "primitive" in comparison to the images in the caves at Altamira or Lascaut, yet they are as much as 750 human generations older!

I've personally visited a dozen of the cave-art sites of France and Spain. Some of them are over-toured, yet a few of the best, like Peche-Merle, are solitudinous. Photographs and even moving pictures do little justice to the sensations of seeing the paintings and sculptures in situ. You can't just walk into the gallery and stand on a flat floor and see the stuff on the walls. These are real caves, narrow, cold, full of sharp spikes of rock and jagged corners - head-bangers, crawly holes, slime, and ankle-twisters. Likewise the artists didn't stand and sketch; they crept and crouched, and sometimes hid their images in the weirdest crevices! Whatever they were doing, whatever it meant to them, it was no casual graffiti; it was full of lost intention.

Jean Clottes, the author of this book and one of the chief archaeologists of Chauvet, writes lucidly and modestly about the project he heads, the history and significance of Chauvet, and the whole context of the presence of early modern H. sapiens in Europe. His text is not for specialists only; it's accessible to "armchair" archaeologists like myself, though I can't help regretting that my armchair is as close as I'll ever get to this first known masterpiece of human artistic impulse. Wouldn't a few million euros (or dollars)be more usefully spent on conserving and studying Chauvet than on building another freeway overpass or a fence to keep workers out of a country where work is wanted?

For those readers who enjoy stories of personal spiritual journeys then the late author Norma Paulsen's biography is a book that you need on your own book shelf. In his book, "Christ Consciousness: Emergence of the Pure Self Within", he takes the reader on an odyssey of inner discovery as we follow this man's spiritual unfolding. What makes his story even better is his time that he spent with the founder of The Self-Realization Fellowship Paramahansa Yoganada. That part of the book is the reason I purchased this book and also what I found to be the best part of it.

The author goes down many interesting roads with his life. At a young age, he discovers the teaching of his guru Yogananda and joins his monastery for a while until he decides to leave. Why he leaves is some what not totally clear but he ventures off to taste of life at its fullest; getting married, taking a huge interest in UFOs and falling on hard times, divorce, alcoholism and even got arrested for a DUI.

The key is that all these life pursuits become spiritual learning experiences and the author is able to eventually do what he felt destined to do - build a spiritual community in Santa Barbara. There is much more to this book however, that goes well beyond his person story. Paulsen explores old native American theories of how the world was formed and how UFOs and aliens might have had some part in our evolutionary process.

Paulsen shares many of his personal spiritual experiences including what certainly was his own Christ Conscious experiences. This is a fascinating book for anyone with any interest in spiritual people and their life stories. It is also a wonderful book for those readers who follow the teachings of Yoganada; as it gives devotees some more personal stories of that great master.

The book is well worth your time and the purchase price. There is much to learn, think about and meditate on.

Christ Consciousness is the story of one man, Norman Paulsen, and his experiences, both in the physical world and in the spritual world, from his childhood to his years with Paramahansa Yogananda, and finally to a face-to-face encounter with God, I am that I am. I applaude the courage it must have taken for the author to go public with these experiences, and having had similar experiences myself, and I feel a great relief and recognition with the fact that there are people on this earth that don't wander off on spiritual populism, but that focus all their attention, and settle for nothing less than to see God face-to-face.

Written in a clear and concise language, and filled with many inspiriational illustrations, this book is easy to read, and you may, like me, read it more than once. This book completely changed my life, and hopefully, it will change your life too. For many people living in spiritual darkness and searching for answers and for the truth, Norman Paulsen and this book may be a beacon of ligth in the ocean of darkness.

"Christ Consciousness" by Norman Paulsen is about the life of the author, the struggles he faced in founding the Solar Logas Foundation and the true origin of Homo sapiens.

This book is divided into 5 parts; Part 1 deals with the author's childhood and his desire for God. Part 2 deals with the divine plan of creation. Part 3 engages the reader into lost civilizations. (this will no doubt engage the interest of the evolutionists!) Part 4 deals with the forces of good and evil. And last but not least, Part 5 deals with the author's vision for his organization.

Self-Realization members who desire to know more about their Guru, Paramhansa Yogananda, should read this book. This book also contains information which is immensely useful to evolutionists and to UFO enthusiasts. This inspiring book is also recommended to those souls desiring enlightenment.

Finally, this book complements the "Autobiography of a Yogi" by Paramhansa Yogananda and the "The Complete Conversations with God (Boxed Set)" books by Neale Donald Walsh. In Conversations with God, God reveals to us that Man did not directly come from beasts and our genes were combined with the genetic code of Highly Evolved Beings. (HEBs or Highly evolved aliens) This message is beautifully emphasized in "Christ Consciousness".

In short, I would like to invite the reader to impartially analyze the messages contained in this book. Our Earthly future is one of hope and NOT of a catastrophic ending.

If you are familiar with the holistic concept of health, then you know that it recognizes that all of the systems of the body must be in balance in order for the whole to work properly, that each part of the whole is connected in some way with every other part. A holistic approach to life leads us to the unavoidable conclusion that there is a oneness between the cells of our bodies, between the people who inhabit a city, between the planets and stars that inhabit the universe. What if this oneness could actually be experienced? What if it could actually be seen and felt? Imagine how differently people would treat each other if they realized that we are all part of one being? That what we do to another we are actually doing to ourselves?
I found Christ Consciousness, by Norman Paulsen, to be a wonderful book that shows us that within each one of us exists the ability to establish communication with and to experience the brilliance of an inner light, and our oneness, through this light, with all of creation.
Norman reveals the subtle nature of consciousness, as he unfolds his own journey and the evolution of Christ Consciousness that has taken place within him. Norman's search for God led him to Paramhansa Yogananda. As related in this book, his autobiography, his continued efforts produced a face to face meeting with that Being of Light called I Am That I Am, Christ. Norman was ordained by Yogananda to teach others how to experience this most wonderful meeting, and how to begin to be able to have direct communication with this Being of Light, our Creator.
If there is actually a way to establish communication (communion) with God, and realize our inherent oneness with all of the wonderful images of light and sound that dance around us, everyone and everything, who would not wish to accomplish it? Norman Paulsen's writings offer us the opportunity to become aware of the sacred forces that enable us to live from one moment to the next, and to see how to balance these forces within ourselves and within others. Paulsen shows us a glimpse of how different life could be: illness being treated by working with the underlying cosmic forces of life, buildings being built in accordance with sacred geometry, people being conscious of the connection between themselves and the earth, plants, minerals, and animals. When people realize the essential oneness of all created images, everyone will approach life in a holistic manner.
I highly recommend this book to anyone looking for guidance in the search for God and the understanding of the creation that surrounds us. This book is such an inspiration because it gives us all hope ... the hope that we can accomplish what Norman did ... the hope that we can find out for ourselves, beyond the shadow of any doubt, that there really is a God ... and that He is very much alive and wanting to be involved in our lives.

This is one of the most inspiring books I have ever read. This book is a “must read” for anyone having chosen a conscious spiritual path and who has ever had experiences they could not explain or thought just too far out to be real. As one who taught meditation and other spiritual practices for sometime, I can tell you with confidence that aside from Yogananda’s “Autobiography of a Yogi”, nowhere else do I know of a personal account of spiritual awakening so revealing, rich, and honest. Incredibly affirming, so many of Mr. Paulsen’s experiences mirror my own -- but especially attunement to the distinctive, tranquil, inner voice -- his guiding light since birth.

In this biography, Mr. Paulsen relates his innermost spiritual experiences and adventures in a most candid and sometimes child-like way (most refreshing!) that is quite engaging and easy to read. Many spiritual biographies I have read were a bit hard to follow; either too cerebral, ungrounded, or offered in poetic and even nebulous terms leaving the reader to fill in the gaps. However, Mr. Paulsen’s account is presented in straightforward language and lends credence to the experiences each one of us may yet be destined to have or have had along the spiritual path. Most importantly, his account leaves the reader with a greater sense of oneness; offering many examples to any longer wonder at the reality of your soulful encounters. This book also contains an abundance of wonderful photographs and excellent sketches that richly illustrate his encounters that bring to life his journey in a most incredible way.

Spiritual seekers have long questioned the validity and value of their epiphanies, the purpose of their dark nights, and the meaning of their illuminations; as well as doubted the sanity of their thoughts about these on an interior level. Look no further: Mr. Paulsen covers all the bases, and then some! Once began, you won’t want this book to end. I can only hope Mr. Paulsen will choose to write a sequel since I understand he is still teaching, alive, and well.

Read this book with the open heart of a child and I dare say you shall be transformed. A true blessing for all of us!

Dr. Colegrove has written an insightful, self-help book on leadership. I enjoyed reading the text and using the graphs and organizational aides to follow the passages. His understanding of leadership roles from personal experience are enlightning and concrete. I believe his duties of military service, father, husband and educational leader has helped him in his research on leadership roles.

Dr. Colegrove's book is a great reading for any person involved in leadership. Climbing the Pyramid is a concise look at
the concepts that make a leader more effective with his role. The book gives advice and tips that help the leader manage people
and more imprtantly advice that helps the leader evaluate himself. The book is easy to read and makes an impact by the relevant information and effective order in which it is written. I think the book is a resource for a large audience and can be easily understood for all levels of leadership. I especially enjoyed the information on "how to be a better listener. I believe this book does better than all others I have read on leadership at getting the advice over in a concise way. I recommend this book!!

I found this book easy to read and understand. I liked that it was written in a style that was easy to follow. I enjoyed finding my leadership style and found it very true.

Dr. Mike Colegrove has written a great "How-To" book concerning leadership. I am just beginning to learn the administration process and this book has been a tremendous help in my understanding of basic concepts such as communication, listening skills, setting expectations, motivating, and developing a vision. You can try the self-assessment exercise on communication skills and take a listening test. This book is very easy to understand and easy to follow with its various lists, charts, and diagrams. I highly recommend "Climbing the Pyramid" to anyone either going into or already in administration as a quick reference for all types of leadership situations.

Climbing the Pyramid is an excellent book the gives the reader valuable, first-hand advice from an experienced educator. The book discusses key topics, such as Planning, Listening, Communicating, and Time-Management. It provides excellent motivational strategies, with self-assessment tests to recognize your strengths and weaknesses on any given topic. It also contains visual representation through models and charts for those of us who are visual learners. Even though the book is designed to assess your leadership role, it addresses skills that you use in everyday life, such as communication. By taking the Communication Skill Self-Assessment Test, I learned what type of communicator I was both professionally and personally. The test targeted my strengths and weaknesses and provided suggestions on how to improve my weaknesses. Climbing the Pyramid is not just a book that you read, then disgard. This is a book that you will recommend to others, and keep close to your side for personal reference. It's a must-have for survival in the field of education.

Truly a great read. This book discusses life's most common but difficult hurdles in an easy-to-read narration with many well thought out and intriguing analogies. This book serves as a great reference tool for life. I highly recommend this book.

I not only enjoyed this book, but learned a great deal about myself when reading it. There were so many "ah-ha" moments, when I found myself agreeing with the author. Every chapter of this book is not for everyone, however, different chapters have effected me through different phases of my life. This book should be kept someplace where the reader can look at it when ever he needs to. It is full of lifes simple lessens and complex issues, as to where we came from, where we are today and where we are going. The author simply "Gets It" and demonstrates it in a very easy read!

What a lovely, compassionate book! With incredible insight, Dr. Ferraioli is able to draw upon the experiences that we all share in common as human beings, yet with a tenderness and sincerity that draws each individual in as if he were speaking to them personally. The format is just perfect as well, making it easy for the reader to skip to the chapter that calls to them at that moment. I have given copies to family and friends as gifts, and everyone has had such positive feedback. Thank you, Dr. Ferraioli, for sharing the gift of your experiences and insight with others in this delightful read!

This book should be handed out to every single human being when they are old enough to read and referenced and read throughout life! My life has been forever changed.

Thank you Dr. Ferraioli!

This book is a must for anyone looking to understand themself and others better. The chapters are brief and get to the point, and do so in such a creative and relatable way that you forget that they were not actually written about YOUR life. These essays help one to understand how their challenges may have developed, and the small but important changes that we can all make in the way that we relate to the world. Anyone facing challenges in their family, love-life, professional endeavors or life in general should get a copy.

The book came in a timely manner and arrived in new condition exactly as I ordered it. Very pleased.

This is a great book. For example, the chapters on obsessive compulsive and passive agressive personality give some great direction for therapy. Knowing that an obsessive person fears making mistakes, that narcissism is part of obsessionality and that a passive agressive person fears loss of autonomy can really guide treatment well.

On the other hand, the treatment of narcissistic personality disorder is weak. It just concentrates on how the patient should learn that the world does not revolve around them. It ignores the shame, need for validation and driven quality that narcissistic patients have and is reflected in their cognitions. In other words, the case used to treat NPD is of the oblivious type and in practice it is more common to see the hypervigilant type of narcisit. As CBT becomes more psychodynamic, this issue will be better addressed, I anticipate. (The oblivious narcisists are more antisocial and the vigilant ones are more on the anxiou/dependant end of the spectrum - I forget who's classification this is).

As someone who is avoidant co morbid with OCPD spent perhaps 40 years depressed more than not before reaching out for any professional help I would like to say especially in the chapter on avoidants the book is pretty much dead on. The chapter on avoidants is the one I can most closely relate to but I see myself in others as well my OCDP us most apparent in hoarding issues a spot my therapist and I are having a hard time pushing me through I've been working with a therapist for about a year and half now making progress even if it's slow. My therapist knows I am a person who likes to try and understand my disorders and reads as much material as I can. We have both learned a lot together she being my motivator and supporter. She has been outstanding doing her research to help develop plans of actions that have helped knock down some long standing self built walls. She likes to kid me that I could teach a graduate class in personality disorders with all the reading I have done.

To sum this up as a someone who has to deal with these issues as part of my daily life the book is right on with much of the way my thoughts/reactions are if I don't work actively to keep ahead of them to continue on my road to a happier life. And yes even as someone who came to therapy at a high functioning level in many aspects of my life I know at times I can be a frustrating client. But for me the knowledge that both my therapist and I are feeing increasing levels of frustration has been something I have been able to use to finally find the courage to knock down some long standing walls. So a special than you to those of you who choose to try and help those of us who present some special difficulties.

I love Aaron Beck, the founder of cognitive therapy. I think he has great insight into the various personality disorders. This book is incredibly helpful. It includes all of the disorders, their way of thinking, they co-morbidity, their treatment, case studies, and more. If you want one book on the treatment of personality disorders, this is the one to get.

Beck has done a great job describing a very pragmatic, common sense cognitive-behavioral methodology for the treatment of challenging personalities. The research he has done builds confidence in practitioners interested in and using these methods. Each personality style is well-described, and several strategies are provided for addressing these problematic dispositions. The book is very well-organized and easy to read. Assignments and case examples further add to the utility of this text.

This is a great gift book for your Republican/conservative friends. It's title tells all--it is a charming little quote book of ideas from our fortieth president. Biographies by family members are always superior to biographies written by distant observers, and this non-exception proves the rule.

It is a great gift book, meaning that it has dainty fonts and stunning pictures. It is organized topically, but is not indexed so you may have to hunt a little for your favorite quote. The cover is a nice balance of a thoughtful black and an autumn rust, reminding us that Reagan is in the autumn of his life and slowly heading to black. However, the cover has a border of gold remind us of the gold ofg life after death.

We need politicians with wit--Kennedy and Reagan both had the Irish blarney, but the silver-tounge seems to be scarce among the current chain-gang in Congress. This book should be a manditory study gude. We need to eradicate the superficial smashmouth so common on the Sunday shows!

Favorite Quotes:

"Government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it." (p. 111)

"What American needs is a spiritual renewal and reconciliation-firt man with God, and then man with man." (p. 75)

"Since I came to the White House, I've gotten two hearing aids, had a colon operation, a prostate operation, skin cancer, and I've been shot. Funny thing is, I never felt better." (p. 22)

Pros: (1) Michael Reagan has gathered an admirable collection of Reagan's utterances. (2) He has packaged the volume in an appealing design with useful topics and short, bulleted style.

Cons: (1) I hoped to find more of Reagan's humor in the book. (2) I guess you expect a collection of quotations to come from a devoted fan, but for me, the overall presentation would have been better received if some of Michael Reagan's gushing had been curbed.

I've been doing my own little research project on Ronald Reagan, and this book was great. It describes some things about him that only a family memeber could describe. You can definitely tell it was written by an adoring son, but it gives insight that no one else has, and reminds us of what a patriot, team player, and forward thinker Ronald Reagan was.

@In this book I have underlined or marked 115 partsAall of which can help me stay optimistic and start afresh in any difficult situation. The best feature of this book is the author's (President's son) brief comment in each chapter before President's quoted remarks. Through each bit of the author's episodic description of Ronald Reagan, I believe we can take a glimpse of Ronald Reagan's sincerity, honesty, dedication for the good of the United States and after all for democracy. The author's friend, a White House speechwriter for Reagan, personally told the author how Reagan, disapproving of his national security adviser's frantic opposition, had come to give a famous speech before the Brandenburg Gate in West Berlin, "Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!" Reagan told the author himself on the occasion of the Reagan family gathering what he really wanted to whisper to the Russian Secretary General at the side of a negotiation table. The author's description on personal exchange with President, in coordination with well-selected quotes, successfully can show me who Ronald Reagan is and bring me to further reading on Reagan. @

There are times when words alone do not do justice. This is one of those times. I have never read a book so uplifting and righteous. Simply put; if you did not appreciate Ronald Reagan when he was the leader of the free world, you now have an opportunity to look back at the wit and truthfulness of the greatest president to grace the oval office. This is a fast read; excerps from speeches, etc. If you read only one passage, let it be the chapter on Leadership. You will truly understand the greatness of this American hero.