On-the-tape

New or old, Christians tend to think they must out-do, over-perform, out-tithe, out-memorize, over-volunteer the next Christian in order to prove how faithful they are. That's not what faith or Christianity is about! This book gets you back to the basics, back to the Sermon on the Mount, back to what Jesus said... not what the neighbor's said. If you're feeling stressed out, overwhelmed, or scared of the Christian faith, this is a wonderful book because it tells you what is the basics, what is required, what is called for by Jesus, so you can either leave the rest behind, or understand that you're doing it to (and for) yourself.

This book really encouraged me in my faith. It is a Bible study on the Sermon on the Mount and Jesus' central message. There is a true peaceful feeling in the writing. Swindoll urges us to get away from the busyness of modern life, even in the church, to focus on simple faith and building a relationship with God. I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to be refreshed in their spirit.

This is an important book for all people who desire to live the Christian life without legalism. Swindoll relates in his simple fashion basic truths about who we are as Christians & that, although faith is not without its trials, it really is easy - it is us who tend to make things difficult, not God.

I don't usually read non-fiction to escape and feel good, but Ms. Cronley's collection of essays gifted me with a wonderful afternoon of humor and insightful commentary. I adore this collection! Order this book, curl up with your cat and your favorite glass of wine (or two), and prepare to have a wonderful time.

This book is fantastic. Connie has managed to put into words what most people just think. It is great to read a book with such witty humor and deep insight. Bravo Connie, my hat is off to you.

This book may make you see things differently. You may see cats differently, or flower gardening, or bright moonlight nights, or crisp spring days. Ms. Cronley's gift for imagery makes this an enjoyable reading experience. Her wit is a bonus. I experienced many giggles and a few really good laughs while reading it. I couldn't decide whether to buy the book or the audio cassette, so I bought both, and I'm glad I did. I enjoy the book at home and the cassette in my car.

WHEN YOU FINSH THIS BOOK. MR DUNNE WILL BE A VERY SPECIAL FRIEND

From the beginning to the end "Spellbinder's Gift leaves you at the end of your seat! With everything that happens in the book leaves you wondering what is going to happen next and who is doing it. Even at the end leaves you wondering, matter-in-fact the end leaves you with goose bumps. This book is a must have as an Inspirational book and a teaching book. I believe this is one of Og greatest book ever!

I found this book to be very inspirationa

I've just finished the paperback of"The Sea for Breakfast" and was enchanted by it's gentle humour.This isn't a tale which has you going into great guffaws,but rather,keeps a smile on your face right through the book. Anyone who enjoys rustic humour and quiet wit, will thoroughly enjoy this charming,gentle look at life in the Hebrides.

The enchantment continues as Ms. "Peckwith" moves into her own cottage by the sea on the island of Bruach. The charm of the villagers is matched only by the vivid descriptions. While she learns the Philosophy of Peats, she brings to the village of dour Calvinists the joy and celebration of Christmas. This is my favorite of the three Bruach books (a book well worth owning!), the author has painstakingly and with an abundance of kindness, portrayed the foibles of the island folks - the lisping Romeo named Hector, the antics of the old men, the gypsies, and cows. A poignant and picturesque escape.

Anyone who has ever spent time on any of the coastal islands around Britain, and particularly off the west coast of Scotland, will enjoy this tale very much. Lillian Beckwith's real strength lies in being able to recreate the atmosphere of those unique island environments on paper. Like an artist working away with a fairly stiff brush, she paints the people, architecture and wildlife of this Scottish island (to which, she claims, she was only going for a holiday), with firmness and purpose. One wonders how long the holiday really lasted and one suspects a lifetime. These are indeed places to fall in love with: cut off from mainland life to the extent that, even today, forty years after the publication of "The Sea for Breakfast," one can still find a world that is not subjected to the strains and odours of our industrial society. Anyone heading to Scotland should definitely find a copy - it's an amiable text from a competent pen.

I have read the entire series of Seal Team Seven and still come back to re-read the novel that started it all!! Douglass's initial portrayal of the Team is very authentic - the close ties to the Teams and their brothers-in-arms. Everything seems to have been well though out and kept as realistic as it could be. Too bad after the 4th or 5th novel, this gets lost in a sea of techno-gadgetry and Rambo-esque battles.

This is the book that starts it all. A great book about the Navy SEALs. If you are into the subject, you will love this book and are bound to enjoy the rest of Keith Douglass' series. Great characters and great action! You'll soon be looking for the next book in the series.

I loved this book! It had an excellent blend of suspense and a good storyline. I love Douglas's description of the battles and how he describes each encounter so thoroughly. I enjoyed reading about the raid on the plutonium carrying boat and how they rescued the ship. This is a great book for anyone who enjoyes other special ops books.

How can one rate this book? What is higher than five stars? A firmament? Well then, this book deserves a firmament.

I have read The Secret of the Bulls not once, not twice, but three times; and each time I read it I find something new in it. I confess that I have been deeply moved by it every single time I have read it, and yet, I have been moved in different places, which I find it strange. I guess I bring the state of my own personal life into the reading.

I fell instantly in love with all the characters, particularly that of Mani, a young boy who is the son and the grandson of a butcher but who dreams of being an artist, something almost impossible in the macho society in which he lives. Like Mani, I also come from a very poor background and yet I am pursuing a life in the arts, so I thoroughly identified with him. We first meet Mani as a boy, and we last meet him when as a young man he discovers what the Secret of the Bulls is all about: Finding your own identity and living your life at your own speed, following your own way, whether other people like or not. You have to read the book to the very, very end to understand what I mean. So please, I beg you to read it, it may change your life. It has changed mine. It has given me a lot of hope, and I always feel great when I finish reading it. The book has made me laugh (I mean, I actually laughed aloud as I read it); it has made me cry several times; and let's face it, the sex scenes'which are indeed essential to the story for a change'were called steamy by Publisher's Weekly, and WOW! They were not kidding!

A great story told with heart and passion.

A great read.

I loved this book. I was engrossed immediately into Maximiliano and Delores's love affair, and I too wanted to dance the danzon. Sure, the book was dripping with machismo, but at no point does it pretend to do otherwise.

The book set me on a beautiful dream, and I didn't want to wake up. If you were able to imagine the world of Like Water for Chocolate, and willing not to judge the characters based on any feminist belief system, then you'll enjoy this thoroughly romantic and enchanting family saga.

Bernardo writes a good novel that makes one aware of the cultural traits that make up one culture and are transmitted to another. Also, he writes about the need to hide our sexual orientation when the climate around is unforgiving. Overall a good read, Bernardo lives in New York and has had a chance to experience the Cuban American reality.

The cassette version has Louise Hay explaining about self-esteem and subliminal technology on the A-side, followed by the music and audible affirmations. On the B-side, all you can hear is the music. Yes, the phrases do sound a bit childish, but that is exactly what the subconscious mind responds to - simple positive statements delivered in a warm and friendly voice. Since self-esteem or the lack thereof lies at the root of many psychological problems, this is a great place to start in a programme of self-improvement. Hay is an expert in the field and is blessed with a very comforting voice. Listening to this cassette does work if you are consistent about it. What is even more effective, is when you memorise some of the affirmations and repeat them to yourself, silently in your mind, throughout the day. No cutting-edge brain entrainment methods (such as metronomes) are used here, but her reassuring voice makes up for that. Give it a try!

When I first listened to Hay's affirmations (tape A as spoken words and tape B as subliminal with soothing music) in this recording, I said to myself 'Oh, my God... I don't want anyone to know I owe it...I am NOT THAT SAD', as I found them awfully embarassing (3 years ago). But then, recently I had experienced a really depressing phase of my life, a sort of middle-age crisis, feeling my confidence was totally destroyed. So I have played it while I was working (for only half a day for 2 days). Miraculously enough, not only didn't I find it embarasssing, but also I felt so poised and calmed that the panic crisis seems to be almost over now!! I am glad that I didn't have to rely on Valium.

Her guidance at the very beginning clearly said that the purpose is for ONE'S SUBCONSCIOUS MIND TO ABSORB THE MESSAGES which conscious mind would reject, which one should bear in mind. No wonder that such affirmations like "I am lovable because I exist" or "I am good enough just as I am" or "I love myself more and more evey day" sound too awkward to listen to when you are 'SOBER'. I doubt it's that useful if you CONSCIOUSLY try to remember the phrases as some of the reviewers suggest. However, I cannot deny this tape actually rescued me at subconscious level. Perhaps it may be the affirmations' power, or may be just the relaxing Hay's voice and the music that really helped me, who knows. I confess that I ordered the CD version last week and I am looking forward to receiving it.

When you really think about it, she's more showing us how to do something rather than, say, feeding us every time we pop the tape or CD in. It's like Jesus, in a way, when he taught his disciples how to pray: he wasn't really saying, "Pray this prayer, boys, every time you need prayer," but, instead, was saying, "Pray according to these guidelines and do in the same spirit what I do, touching the same bases," and so on. The tape and CD are for people too distracted to take time out to do "mirror exercises," and if you have no clue what that means, all the more power to you to go out and get her book on healing yourself.

If you were doing the exercises yourself and half-took your own healing seriously, you wouldn't need any tapes. Seriously. You wouldn't need any CD's, and you wouldn't need anymore Louise Hay, bless her soul. (I think that's how she meant for things to be in the end. No dependency.) You would be free. Free to be you without fear, shame, or guilt. Free to make your own personalized CD with your own music and your choice of affirmations. Make sense? So read the book, pull out what you need, and save yourself some money by making your own recording, tape or CD, with your own choice-picked affirmations done in your own lovely voice. No tone or resonance resembles the voice of God more than the one that resides within your very own throat and breast. Enjoy your voice: it is the voice that can move mountains. On the real.

Mason's work in Shadow is an excellent beginning to an author that possesses such a deep understanding of military manuvers, lingo, etc. The details are what captured me in this book, particularly the story of the team's sniper. I felt a little lost towards the middle of the book, but I suppose most book are that way. Overall, he is NO Clancy, however, his next book is still something I would like to take a look at.

GOOD JOB!

-Sunil James

Mason was good at making this premise work, even though he was working with the handicap that came with setting this a few years back. We know the history of the Gulf War aftermath, so where's the suspense in reading about this crack team headed to take Mr. Hussein down? It's there all right. Obviously this is the work of a sharp intelligence. If Mr. Mason were to write another novel, I'd be sure to at least take a look at it.

Shadow over Babylon was given to me by a friend, he said that the book was impossible to put down. I thought that this might be a bit of an exageration, so i decided to read it. I ended up reading the book in 4 days while during my summer holidays. I can honestly say that this is the best book that i have ever read. My favourite author may be Wilbur Smith but this book eclipses anything that he has ever written. David Mason's second book Little Brother is also worth reading.

I met Tony Earley yesterday during the Festival of Southern Cultures at the University of Tennessee at Martin. Our group had the unique opportunity to sit with him once yesterday and once today and pick his brain about this book. It is a very amazing piece of literature, with metaphors hidden just below the rocky surface. His short stories include very insightful mantras...especially the ones about shooting the cat (not for cruelty, but out of pity) and hunting deer. I don't really know how else to describe this book, so all I can say is that you should buy it and read it as soon as possible! Also, he teaches at Vanderbilt University in Nashville if any of you go/are thinking of going there.

Tony Earley is a really great writer and this is a really great book! I first encountered Tony Earley in the pages of The Oxford American and his essay, A Worn Path, which is included in this book. He is a wonderful writer and reading his essays brought back countless memories of my own life. i can't say enough about this book!

Tony Earley's book drew me in immediately...from the first page, the writing is captivating. As he walks the reader through his life from a prepubescent age until he becomes much of the man he is today, it is hard not to see his family, hear their laughter and their tears. His writing is easy to identify with...we all remember having emotions like those that he goes through. There is a face the reader can visualize for every character that appears. There is a voice for every person. This book is amazing.

If you are familiar with the movie that this book was based on, I will say that this is one of the most faithful novelizations of a movie that I've ever seen; almost every scene from the movie is included, and most of the dialogue is faithfully kept as well. Ms. McIntyre satisfies her creative urge by filling in gaps in the storyline, adding internal dialogue and insight into the characters' thoughts as well as transitional scenes that further explain and clarify the storyline.

If you are not familiar with the movie, there are a few quibbles you might have with the story, but for my money, the quibbles are all things that originated in the movie, and that Ms. McIntyre is not responsible for: the running gag of Kirk attempting to "fit in" to 20th century society by cursing, which he does clumsily, and Spock's even more clumsy attempts to follow Kirk's lead. I'm not certain whether this was supposed to be purely a humorous bit, or whether it was supposed to be a comment on how silly vulgarity makes one look, and how foolish it is to try to fit in in that way. If it was intended for humor value, its humor wore thin very quickly, and if it was intended for the latter purpose, I'm not sure that it was effective. But in any case, that, as I say, is not Ms. McIntyre's fault; it was part of the movie that she was working from. Similarly, any part of the plot that referred back to the previous movie, and Spock's tenuous grip on his memories as a result of being recently "reborn", do not sit well with me (see my review of "The Search For Spock" for my objections to that movie/book) but again, this is not the author's fault. I also do not believe that a bit of ambient radiation causes malfunctions in phasers, as happens in one scene, but the same disclaimer of responsibility applies.

On its own merits, and outside of the consideration of how well it remains faithful either to the movie it was based on, or the Star Trek universe in general, or the previously established characters, this book is still quite good, and better able to stand on its own as a Science Fiction Action-Adventure novel than most Star Trek books, and it also does a better job of faithfully portraying the known characters than many. And as I said, it does a marvellous job of faithfully depicting the story from the movie while building on it plausibly and believably. All in all, by almost any measure I care to use, it is a very good book.

It is even better then the movie. It has all the elements of a classic Star Trek episode, with Capt. Kirk falling in love with a beautiful young women, the crew dealing with a different time periode, MR.Spock and Dr.McCoy going at it like an old married couple.......And there are the Klingons, a major threat to Earth, and, of crouse, the whales... Who wouldn't like this book?

I liked it because it really helped to put the movie into prospective.