Future Books

Ever since the first tea leaves were brought from Asia into Europe, tea drinking has been an iconic mark of civilized society. In "Passion For Tea", Beverly Rorem brings to bear her enthusiasm for tea in a compendium of information on the history of tea from its history in China, to its cultural impact on Japan, India, Russia, Turkey and the Middle East, Europe, and the United States. These historical overviews are capped off with a concluding chapter on what scientific research has revealed about the therapeutic benefits of tea for everything from alcohol damage to liver and brain, to arthritis, cholesterol, bacterial infections, cancer, skin care, and more. Deftly written and knowledgeably presented, "Passion For Tea" is very highly recommended reading for anyone who has every enjoyed a cup of tea in good company.

The slightly naughty but nice cover attracted me when I first saw the book.
When I opened Beverly Rorem's new book, "Passion for Tea," I thought I would just take a tentative sip. But there I sat, drinking the entire book in, just like a delicious cup of tea. Much more than a simple overview of types of teas which is what I had expected, Bev has done her homework. Even though the book is a fun and easy read, it contains an amazing amount of scholarly research: history, international scope, specific medical and health references, and even travel suggestions in various countries including off the beaten track tea salons and tips on French waiters.
Having just visited an exhibition of Mary Cassatt's paintings, including the two that Bev references: "The Cup of Tea," and "Five O'Clock Tea," I know I will view these works with more understanding the next time I see them!
Being a tea drinker, I am familiar with a couple of the earlier books on tea, but none of them are as well written, researched, or have the scope of this new contribution to Tea Literature!
I've purchased a couple for friends and recommend you pick up a copy. Enjoy it with of course a cup of tea.

Environmentalists are often passionate but seldom patient, so it's refreshing to find an environmental book written with a positive, upbeat attitude. After briefly stating that yes, the planet has been badly damaged by its human inhabitants, author Karen Roberts stops lamenting that fact and immediately begins describing some of the beneficial actions occurring around the world. Citing examples as familiar as Oregon and the Dakotas and as far-reaching as Nepal and Antarctica, the author takes readers on a world tour of earth-saving efforts by heroes of all kinds and representing very diverse cultures. Surprisingly, many of these crusaders are usually cast as villains on the environmental battlefield; here hunters, ranchers, developers -- even oil companies -- are working to protect the planet. As awareness of the fragility of our ecosystem grows, even some corporate and government hard-liners begin to realize the importance of concepts like alternate energy research, land trusts, public transportation, and slow-growth. This book delivers a message of hope and of encouragement that, with any luck, will be heeded by the planners, politicians, and power-brokers whose decisions and actions affect the quality of life on earth.

Passions And Patience: Fostering Earth's Future Through Unlikely Partnerships by environmental activist Karen Roberts and professional photographer Tim Hauf is dedicated to inspiring men and women to protect the planet, conserve neighboring wildlife, and renew hope in the cause of promoting and defending environmental improvement and protection issues. A collection of stories of unexpected partnerships such as that of the Shell Oil company with DaimlerBenz to produce hydrogen fuel in Iceland, and the collaboration between hunters and artists working together to save the ducks, Passions And Patience is a welcome and very highly recommended addition to personal, school, and library Environmental Issues reference collections and supplemental reading lists. Passions And Patience is also available in a hardcover edition.

As a former Assistant Secretary of Commerce and Assistant Director of the Congressional Office of Technology Assessment,I have long been conversant with the issues addressed in Dr. Atkinson's book. I find myself in complete agreement with his basic thesis and believe he has articulated it so effectively and done such a prodigious job in assembling evidence from so many disparate sources, while delineating specific actions to promote productivity growth for a more humane economy, that I consider it a classic guide for America's 21st Century.

One of the best explanations of the New Economy I've read. Dr. Atkinson has written a readable economics book (no mean feat!) which explains and applies the work of Joseph Schumpeter, an economist people talk about but do not read.

As a professional in public policy, I find his recommendations innovative and challenging, and, above all, his explication of the New Economy clarifies why the 21st Century presents great progressive opportunities

"For those who have been appalled as I have been by our politician's program to end violence with war and violence, Chris Maser's book will come as a great relief. He shows how fear insidiously works its way into almost every part of our lives and in doing so corrupts our decision-making. It's fear that makes us believe violence is a solution. Our media is now obsessed with making us afraid, and we need strong, positive books like this one in order to think our way through fear toward beliefs about society and other people that lead to peaceful relations. The humane and moral response to the tragedy of September 11th is what Maser offers in his book; it's a courageous statement given the social climate that now prevails. I recommend this book as a means to productive dialogue and a way to begin to think outside the non-productive cycle of violence that defines our lives today."
- Susan Sarandon, Actor/Activist

"For anyone saddened, confused, or outraged by current events, Chris Maser's "The Perpetual Consequences of Fear and Violence" provides an accessible way to begin to penetrate the complexities of today's world with insight and compassion. Reading this volume is much like spending a summer afternoon on the front porch with a beloved aunt or uncle or respected village elder who-by virtue of the practical wisdom accumulated over many years of real-life experience and self-reflection-can discern patterns and piece together parts of a larger puzzle into a coherent and meaningful whole. At its best, it introduces readers to the concepts and questions that expose the implications of unconscious thought, inviting them to begin their own journey of self-reflection and do what they can to contribute to a more mindful future. Maser's writing is mercifully free of specialized jargon; but don't be fooled, the material in this book works simultaneously on many levels. Approach this book not as a professional or scholarly expert, but as a concerned citizen and-above all-as a human being. It's a book chocked full of common sense. It's a book to be pondered and savored."
-Dean Button, Director of Program Development, School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Rensselaer Polytechnic

The Perpetual Consequences Of Fear And Violence: Rethinking The Future by author, lecturer, conflict resolution facilitator, and social visionary Chris Maser is a moral and ethical response to endemic problems and social issues embedded in contemporary American society ranging from the September 11th attacks; to the widespread phenomena of child abuse as the root cause of human violence; to the problematic issues arising from the rapidly evolving science of genetic engineering upon plants, animals, and even humans; corporate dominance in shaping human political and social milieus, and so much more. A deeply introspective and serious warning of what social ills can bring if left unchecked, The Perpetual Consequences Of Fear And Violence is an impressive and highly recommended addition to personal and academic Philosophy Studies, Social Science Studies, Ecological Studies, Political Science Studies, and Peace Studies library collections and supplemental reading lists.

This book was intriguing and kept me reading! I could not put it down. It was especially interesting since the cemetery is nearby. The pictures are spine tingling! I recommend it!

I couldn't put this book down...I've read most of what is out in the NDE and afterlife; and these sisters have a very fresh and down to earth way of sharing their story about their brother's death and the quest for knowledge on the afterlife. I also find it great for someone who's lost a dear one. VERY GOOD!!!!

Planting The Future provides a different focus on the botanical market, featuring works by the herbalists of United plant Savers and discussing strategies to save and preserve medicinal herbs. Chapters provide an A-Z listing of herbs and their history, uses and propagation.

This is a MUST HAVE book not only for Herbalists but for all People of this Turtle Isand. As ypou read this book it will not oly scare you but it will also wake you up. It is not up to a few people to save the plants, IT IS UP TO ALL OF US!

Marvin Olasky's new book on Katrina stands out among the rest because it is the first to look closely at "what worked" as well as what failed in the days following the storm. It is the first to identify the important role that faith-based efforts played in the recovery, and most importantly, it is the only book to offer real strategies for the future.

Hurricane Katrina was a national disaster that was played out on an international stage. In this age of instant and graphic communication where there is an increasingly thin line between news and entertainment, the whole world watched while the hurricane bore down on New Orleans and the Gulf Coast. The world watched with sick fascination as pictures of death and devastation flashed across their television screens. Untold millions watched as the New Orleans levies let go, inundating the city with water. And the world saw the response which was both impressive in its speed and frustrating in its disorganization. In The Politics of Disaster, Marvin Olasky, professor of journalism at the University of Texas and editor-in-chief of World magazine, takes a look back at this disaster and looks forward to the inevitable "Katrinas" of the future. "This book examines incidents, some partially preventable, that have a major negative impact on the ability of an entire community to live peaceably."

Olasky dissects the disaster and gazes into the future. He begins by asking what went wrong in New Orleans. He traces the bulk of the problems to two sources. The first is what he calls "Katrina's paperocracy." This sarcastic sentence tacitly describes the paperocracy: "Perhaps New Orleans could have used even more planning and more meetings to unify the FEMA, OEP, LOEP, NHC, MCI, and ESF plans and experience." New Orleans was prepared, on paper at least, to deal with a Hurricane. Various agencies had plans in place. But these plans were contradictory and allowed little flexibility. Fear of overstepping boundaries, fear of litigation, kept the plans from being effective. "The brutal fact is that big government tends toward big bureaucracy, which means elaborate paper flow but the tendency of one misplaced card to bring down the house."

The second source of problems was the media. "National media had become a megaphone for hysteria and blame. Among the casualties were truth, speed in offering help, and progress in both international affairs and domestic relations." Reporters focused undue attention on the traumatic, dramatic events at the Superdome and the Convention Center. Olasky looks at the reality of the crime and violence in the days after the storm and shows how the media stirred hysteria, constantly reporting rumor as fact and fiction as rumor. This hysteria did great damage to the city. For example, reports of armed gangs and snipers were largely false, but relief efforts were put on hold while soldiers and police were dispatched to hunt down these non-existent criminals. As Olasky says, "crying and yelling made for much better ratings than calm assessment of the damages." News became entertainment. A real-life tragedy became little more than an action movie, and millions sat transfixed by it.

The second section of the book discusses what went right. Olasky looks at rescue, relief and recovery and shows how faith-based organizations, primarily the Salvation Army, the Southern Baptist Convention and local churches, by far outperformed any government agency. The absence of a paperocracy allowed these organizations to move quickly and decisively. He looks also at corporations such as Home Depot, Wal-Mart and Fed-Ex which played an integral role in relief efforts and which put the government to shame with their speed, preparedness and organization.

In the third section the author suggests ways of reforming national disaster policy and then, in the fourth, proposes how faith-based organizations can take the lead in post-disaster relief efforts. The book wraps up with a chapter on international disasters and another that looks at how America is equipped to deal with one of three disasters likely to strike her in the future: earthquake, terrorism and pandemic.

The final chapter, "Beyond Worry," provides a biblical basis for not becoming overwhelmed with fear of the future. We must avoid both fatalism and undue worry, and place our confidence in God's providence. "Maybe we need to reawaken that understanding if we are to deal with disasters in ways neither foolhardy nor fearful." We can have full assurance that God is in control, that nothing happens apart from His knowledge, even events that are difficult to understand. "What's hard to accept is that the road to contentment runs through misery." As has been so clearly shown in the death of Jesus Christ, pain and suffering can be terrible means to a wonderful end.

The Politics of Disaster shines some much needed light on the events of Katrina, proving that so much of what we witnessed on television was pure fiction. While the disaster was an act of God, it was made far worse by politics, pride and falsehood. We can only hope and pray that the next time a major disaster strikes America, she will be better prepared and that she will have learned from the mistakes of Katrina, for future disaster is inevitable. Clearly the fruit of much research and much consideration, this is an excellent book and one I enjoyed thoroughly.

I was almost afraid to actually read this book. I had taken an on-line class where the metaphysician had used this book as a text. I had some handouts from the book, so my expectations were pretty high. I got the book and it lives up to its title. I have been using the decrees and theories written in the book and it is changing my life. I have never had such harmony......in my relationship with my teenager, too! I am grateful to have had a chance to buy this book. I will keep it forever as a reference. And the book was in perfect condition at a used price. Thank you Ms. Prophet and thank you Amazon.com
Linda Huffstetler-Dearing

Arguments for physical effects from the stars in popular astrology are easily refuted. Predict your Future provides the spiritual affects of the subtle energies of the universe. This knowledge will help any who desire it, to chart the lessons and challenges they will face as well as the spritual power to have victory over them. Ms. Prophet presents all the practical tools we need to ride the wave of our lives at the crest without wiping out. I highly recommend this book for the spiritually awakened and those who want to be.

Preserving Charleston's Past, Shaping its Future: The Life and Times of Susan Pringle Frost is a small book that packs a big punch. Weighing in at 110 pages (171 counting index, sources, and notes), this book is a fascinating account of Susan Pringle Frost and her firm hand in the creation of the preservation movement in Charleston, South Carolina. To understand this story, one must know a little history of Charleston. Once one of the richest and most beautiful cities in the country, Charleston took a devastating downturn after the Civil War. So when ravaged by fire, hurricanes and even a destructive earthquake, Charlestonians did not have the money to raze and rebuild like many others cities (including Richmond and Atlanta). Instead, they had to restore. As a result, the turn of the century saw many of Charleston's historic buildings still intact but needing lots of work.

Enter Miss Susan Pringle Frost. Born in 1873 to a very old Charleston family that became impoverished after the Civil War, Pringle Frost was a woman way ahead of her time. She was able break away from the ties that bound traditional Victorian women and to move into a more modern age. Having never married, she first went to work as a court stenographer in 1901--a time when women weren't accepted into the workplace. She eventually went into real estate and became the first woman realtor in Charleston. She was a firm believer in civil rights when it was an unpopular stand in the south. She got involved in the suffrage movement, and hitched her star to Alice Paul. The skills that she learned during the suffrage battles, she used to great effect to get the preservation movement started. She badgered public officials, she recruited followers, she begged loans from bankers, and she was the key motivator in founding the Preservation Society of Charleston--still the premier preservation society in the city. Even before the PSC was founded, she single-handedly contributed to preservation efforts by purchasing run down homes in once properous neighborhoods and restoring them at her own expense. When the city wanted to tear down the homes that make up the now famous Rainbow Row and build something modern, Miss Susan purchased six of them and saved the entire block from the wrecking ball. Without Pringle Frost, Charleston would not be the charming city that attracts millions of tourists each year. Her contributions to the city of Charleston are so very impressive and author Sidney Bland does a fine job of bringing this story to life.

The life of Susan Pringle Frost, the Mother of Historic Preservation in Charleston, is explored with perception and sensitivity by Dr. Sidney R. Bland, whom I had the honor of assisting with a small portion of his research. Her father, Dr. Francis L. Frost, a brave Confederate surgeon, spent an angonizing and wholly fruitless decade after the end of the Civil War trying to re-start rice planting on his family's rice plantations on South Carolina's North Santee River. After his failure (and none of his neighbors fared any better), he turned to several other occupations, each of which proved equally fruitless. "Miss Sue," as she was called, along with her two sisters, rose above the limitations of her aristocratic breeding and lent a shoulder to the wheel, taking outside jobs to provide the failed family with an income. Southern gentlewomen that they were, they gave all their earnings to their father, in order that he might remain the titular head of the family. Miss Sue's rise from martyr to the Lost Cause to court stenographer to Charleston's leading Suffragette to the city's first real estate agent to its pioneer historic preservationist blazed the trail for many women both in Charleston and outside the Palmetto State. Sidney Bland's unblinking yet compassionate study of Miss Sue and her era is a precious insight into the rapidly-changing face of the South in the early twentieth century. -- Richard N. Cote', author of Mary's World: Love, War, and Family Ties in Nineteenth-century Charleston (Corinthian Books, 2001).

Gullandrian tradition holds that on Midsummer's Eve no one can be called to account for amorous indiscretions. Even the king's daughters indulge in revelry. Unfortunately, they are also still held responsible for the consequences of their actions when pregnancy is involved, as Princes Liv Thorson discovers. And while she might prefer to quietly return to her life in America, her Viking prince and kingly father may have other ideas.

Rumors spread quickly in the palace, and within twenty-four hours not only had Liz endured the traditional family revelation of pregnancy, including nausea and rash, but so has the man responsible heard of her condition. Prince Finn Danelaw was entranced by the woman he held in his arms, and would certainly fulfill his responsibilities to her. Unfortunately, he may have to follow her America to do so. In a country where bastard children are badly stigmatized, and a king demands marriage, Finn has his task cut out for him if he is to convince the princess that she has his heart.

This reviewer must confess to a personal love for this series. Something about the combination of historic alpha males clashing with strong Americans is incredibly appealing. Indeed, author Christine Rimmer has a flair for capturing the essence of historical flavor, yet presenting it in a modern setting, which is absolutely captivating. The amusing celebration on Midsummer's Eve is a delightful beginning to an ancient consequence! And it is such a pleasure to watch the rebellion of American daughters in the face of an archaic father with a heart of gold. I can hardly wait to see how the third and most independent princess of all handles her prince charming. PRINCE AND FUTURE...DAD comes very highly recommended.

This is the second of the Viking Brides series. Liv Thorson is the first born of the triplets. She's a student at Stanford Law School with plans to become a member of the Supreme Court! Liv is in Gullandria for her sister's wedding. One of the group showing her the country she was born in is Prince Finn Danelaw. At the wedding celebration Finn and Liv do celebrate-the next morning Liv wakes up naked with Finn and unable to find her underlisse--guess who has them? Within 24 hours Liv finds herself with the family myth-she has thrown up, fainted and has a bright red rash on the upper chest--the signs of pregnancy! The maid is the King's spy so Liv & Finn find the King demanding a marriage. Liv refuses and goes home to CA. Finn follows to romance her into marriage. It's fun to watch Liv & Finn discover *Love* There is even some suspense in their story. Good book