Open

No one writes about musical theatre better than Ethan Mordden, and I anxiously await his every book on the subject. This fourth in his new series, however, is a surprisingly disappointing entry.

1960s witnessed the implosion of the Golden Age musical theatre format, as one show after another tanked trying to recapitulate the old formulas. New practitioners were blowing new life into the game with the "concept musical"; meanwhile, the countercultural revolution and the incursion of rock were eating away at the very space that musicals once occupied in the culture.

One would expect, then, that a chronicle of musicals in the 1960s would hold these developments front and center -- chapter headings might include "The Concept Musical", "The Rock Revolution", "The Countercultural Revolution", "The New Ethnicity", etc. But in OPEN A NEW WINDOW the new America musicals existed in hovers far in the background -- when these changes were, after all, the REASON the form had to change the way it did.

Instead, Mordden basically takes the occasion to dish and do post-mortems on almost every show that hit the boards from 1960 to 1969, dividing the shows into butterfly-collection subsets like "flops", "English shows", "dark shows", "three shows of 1969" that he just happens to find particularly interesting, etc.

Of course, his descriptions of and opinions on the shows are razor-sharp as always, and often laugh-out-loud funny. By the 1960s, Mordden was old enough to actually see all of these shows in their original performances, and this lends especial vividness to his tour.

But ultimately it's just a tour, or more precisely, an excuse to gab about the subject at book-length, getting his particular impressions on each show between two covers. And in a book by Mordden, this by itself is a let-down. Mordden specializes in taking whole swatches of theatre history and identifying dominating themes within them, rendering that theme in almost novelistic prose. Even when you can see that he has carefully fashioned his outline to allow him to hang every single show on it at some point, the result is still caviar.

His survey of the 1920s, MAKE BELIEVE, is also a tad too "taxonomic", but he gets away with it because he emphasizes theme overall, and describing the shows requires an archeological virtuosity that Mordden never ceases to dazzle me with. The 1940s and 1950s volumes are masterful in keeping larger points front and center, even when at times he has to shoehorn some shows into thematic points that they do not really quite fit.

But in OPEN A NEW WINDOW, archaeological smarts are largely beside the point; these shows are well-recorded and recent memories. And then Mordden's interest in theme here is for some reason weaker than in any of his other books. He covers the concept musical -- but sprinkled throughout. He gives little more than a page to the place of rock in musicals, in contrast to his articulate discussion of that issue re film in his THE HOLLYWOOD MUSICAL. The emerging black presence is something we largely must glean here and there, and it really won't do for HALLELUJAH, BABY! to get half a page while the misbegotten MATA HARI gets three.

Discrepancies like this do not follow from anything inherent to charting how the sixties musical developed, and reveal the problem with the book. HALLELUJAH, BABY was an attempt to engage the times, was written by top pros, won a Tony, had something of a run, and contained some fine performances. MATA HARI was just business as usual, written by semi-talents, no one really shined in it, and it didn't even make it to New York! The only reason to dwell lovingly on MATA HARI and rush past HALLELUJAH BABY is that MATA HARI fascinates in its obscurity (Mordden's archaeological bent again). The choice is natural for a few hundred die-hard show buffs, but it's questionable historiography. As the events themselves proceeded, MATA HARI was an ignominious, passing mistake. And yet we get loving, even musicological rundowns of some of its numbers, while HALLELUJAH BABY gets a polite nod.

The result is a book whose audience is a little unclear. People who don't know the shows are going to get winded with the endless procession of descriptions, ticking off of key songs, etc., especially in, say, a chapter on Off-Broadway musicals few people even noticed when they were running. A particular problem here is that there were an awful lot of weak shows in the 1960s; in the 1940s and 1950s books one reads about one gem after another, but how much will most people want to read about how magnificently inept one show after another was? Certain show buffs cherish campy dishing about "Flops", but that little joke does not travel far beyond this little set. Most people want to read about good work.

But then the small coterie of people who know the shows well and have all of their recordings -- who I suspect are Mordden's main audience -- do not need the listings, and do not need to be apprised of the existence of each and every musical. Or if we must have this, it must be cast in readable form, where we have a REASON to follow Mordden through several dozen productions.

I imagine people like us are supposed to just enjoy reading Mordden's opinions. And we do. But a sort of show-by-show reference book would do just fine here. This book barely needed to be cast in prose. OPEN A NEW WINDOW, as much as I hate to say it, left me a little bored about halfway through -- for the first time in twenty years of reading Mordden.

Mordden will always be God when it comes to chronicling musicals, and anything he writes is worth reading and re-reading. But in the end, the 1960s throws him a bit.

I discovered Ethan Mordden through his books on movies. I enjoyed his style and then started reading his books on Broadway Musicals.

I am not an expert on musicals by any stretch of the imagination. However, I found "Open a New Window" very readable and interesting. I was continually surprised to find people in musicals that I never would have imagined. (Vincent Price starring in a Broadway musical in 1968? My universe is still reeling.) To someone who knows "Funny Girl" and "Cabaret" as films, it was revealing and useful to read about the plays they started as.

As for complaints that Mordden overlooks the big picture in the development of the musical, I would disagree. Granted, I am no expert, but to me he kept referring to the social changes going on and kept emphasizing how the subject matter of musicals kept becoming darker.

"Open a New Window" isn't a heavy, scholarly tome, but it is fun and accessible to readers who are curious about Broadway musicals while not obsessed with the subject.

Mordden, a knowledgeable and entertaining writer, adds a new volume to his decade-by-decade history of the American musical theater. The first three covered the 1920s (Make Believe, 1997), 1950s (Coming Up Roses, 1998), and 1940s (Beautiful Mornin', CH, Feb'00). The author takes a chronological approach but does introduce some thematic chapters, one on English musicals in the US (pre-Lloyd Webber) and another on off-Broadway musicals. He finds no one overall theme to the decade of the 1960s but emphasizes the most important (in his judgment) shows: Cabaret was "the essential sixties musical"; Camelot was a show with "serious issues [and an] outsized score." Hello, Dolly! and Fiddler on the Roof were "not only excellent compositions but excellent stagings." What gives this volume special attraction are Mordden's anecdotes about the production history of the musicals and his detailed consideration of many now-forgotten shows (e.g., Ben Franklin in Paris) and major failures (Breakfast at Tiffany's). Readers will want to have the recording of each show. A section of photographs gives a sense of the decade's flavor. A good read and a fine acquisition for large academic collections serving upper-division readers through faculty, for performing arts libraries, and for popular collections.

Great Subject Matter - Hard Read

I dig the Dalai Lama so much - even seeing his smiling face on the cover of this book fills me with joy and brings a smile to my face - I just find him so hard to read.

The content and subject matter is great. There is so much in this book and it's always a moving experience reading the Dalai Lama's words

The focal point is about opening your heart and practicing compassion in your everyday life - and calm abiding.

This is a great book, warm and comforting - my only complaint is that it is difficult to read.

In my humble belief, this book might have been more appropriately titled, "On Peace: A Guide to Inner and External Happiness." As we go about our somewhat materialistic lives, its important and helpful to consider what it is we desire. As we embark in the passion of work, play or friendship, its important to consider what we are doing on this earth.

Such answers are provided by this book. It is a compilation of the speeches and lessons taught by the Dalai Lama on his three day visit to New York City culminating in a speech given at Central Park to a crowd of 200,000 people.

This book is less about compassion and more about finding an inner meaning to your life. Loosely interpreted, it is about finding peace, a peace which arrives from the happiness of your actions, and a happiness which arrives from assisting others rid themselves of suffering.

I believe Buddism, and this book particularly argue that there is no material self but rather only soul. It serves as an important guide both in a broad and specific sense of how to meditate, open your heart, and perhaps most of all, open your mind. The Dalai Lama speaks of global issues and the way in which one can internalize those issues so as to project compassion both inward and outward. The value of his teachings and this book are twofold. Just by reading this book, you will instantly recognize a path to self improvement, and upon reflection, meditation and most importantly practice, you will reap the eternal benefits of a life dedicated to the betterment of yourself and ultimately mankind.

This glowing review was written a day after having completed the book, and I hope to stand by it, a year, and even a decade or more from now. In the meantime, I hope to read it again, and I hope to impart its wisdom onto my soul and onto the soul of those around me.

Kosovar, another reviewer, apparently does not realize the meaning of what meditation is. In a Buddhist perspective, it means simply concentration. To drive in concentration is not dangerous, but advisable. It is true, however, that people often are NOT at all concentrating on the moment when driving; many of us seem to lack an element of real concentration in all of our daily tasks.

How was the book? It was wonderful, HH The Dalai Lama is such a great teacher. Where Tibetan Buddhism from an academic standpoint can become very dogmatized and esoteric, The Dalai is able to present us with the core of what is taught. Not which Buddha did this when or where, but practical advice on this life. In "An Open Heart", he provides a great introduction to anyone interested in Buddhism. Nobody often knows what tradition of Buddhism they will take when first reading into it all, and The Dalai Lama is the most popular writer on the subject to date. I think it's wonderful, thank goodness it's not someone like Taisen Deshimaru that is popular, someone who didn't understand the Dharma so well. That would be dangerous. The Dalai one can trust, a good read and informative as well. May you have many Dharma dreams to come my friends!

Enjoy:)

Wu Kwang is a versatile teacher, not afraid to be scholarly, not afraid to be eloquent, not afraid to be blunt. He uses classic Buddhist and Zen stories when necessary, in addition to contemporary teachings when necessary. Exemplifying the Buddhist teaching ideal of "skillful means," Zen Master Wu Kwang brings both a wide-reaching wealth of knowledge and a strong foundation of practice to his teaching, both of which are evident in this book. It's a good read besides.

A great book - down to earth and completely unpretentious. Zen is not easy and this book doesn't claim that it is.
How interesting that "zen buddhist" at earthlink
in an earlier review is self-described as a theravadan buddhist. It's a little like a Protestant reviewing a book on Catholicism.
For somebody who claims in another review that Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind (a classic by anyone's standards as "degenerate", I give up. Before knocking the book, try to get rid of your "600+" books and give sitting in stillness and silence a chance as this book advises. And to all who highlight untiil their pens run out of ink - it's zen - not an academimc discipline!!!

Zen Master Wu Kwang, as a below reviewer has pointed out, is a Zen Master of the West who recieved inka from the 78th Zen Patriarch Seung Sahn. Don't know. Some people want it more complicated then that I suppose. It isn't. If the Buddha knew, he would not have sat for all those years, before the day he viewed the morning star and attained enlightenment.

Wu Kwang (Richard Shrobe) is a very clear teacher, I had the privelage of hearing him speak in Chicago once at a convention of the Kwan Um School. I believe it's possible that some could disregard him because he doesn't have the "romantic face of the East"-that's fine, they won't get anywhere. I will never understand someone saying, "Such and such is not Zen, such and such is a horrible teacher." With that sort of I like this, I don't like that-I am an expert on Zen attitude, they expose their own ignorance. It's quite humorous to watch, because we have all been there.

Anyway, this book is straightforwad and to the point as far as Zen practice is concerned. You are quaranteed to take quite a bit out of this. That said, I would recommend The Compass of Zen by Zen Master Seung Sahn first. Well, enjoy this book!

Any IT administrator worth his salt would try to save money for his company while not denying efficiency. This book helps to use some free yet fully functional UNIX tools that help to achieve that goal. Those of us who have been system and network administrators for a long time are always looking for ways to make our jobs easier. The problem is that efficient solutions almost always cost money. Just ask the stubbornly (and foolishly) Microsoft-centric shops about that!

This book covers a good amount of information regarding network methodologies like SNMP. But since the primary purpose of this book is dedicated to open source tools, the majority of the book focuses on those specific tools that the author thinks will be of value.

Overall, this is a good book. Having a single point of reference for free utilities is always a good thing. Not only does the book cover some genuinely useful tools - there's a caveat on that later, though - but it also lists where to get the software and gives instructions on how to compile each package. For someone who is new to UNIX and doesn't really feel comfortable with the idea of compiling software, this book will help to alleviate those fears.

There are some things with this book, however, that don't make it the open source panacea that network administrators might be looking for.

The book assumes that IT shops have Cisco hardware. Whereas there is no doubt that Cisco is the current big boy, the technology market has proven time and time again that those at the top often do not stay there. Since there is no guarantee that competitors will be Cisco-compatible or will have the same functions, many of the tools in this book that rely on Cisco routers will most likely be incompatible with those environments. In some cases this means that entire chapters in this book might be useless.

There is also an entire chapter dedicated to basic network functions, like telnet, ping, and traceroute. I have been working with Solaris for over seven years. I currently am in a position where I have to deal with AIX and SCO. In some cases the operating system revisions are several years old. With that in mind, I have yet to run into a version of UNIX that doesn't already have these commands available right from the operating system.

The chapter on system automation and notification is very cramped. In a single chapter, the author attempts to cover shell scripting, Perl scripting, sendmail, and even text manipulation via sed and awk-like syntax in Perl. That one chapter alone will be a serious cause of brain explosion for someone who has never worked with these tools before. I have taught each of these topics (sans Perl) in my highly-regarded Solaris administration course, and I can tell you that each of these topics requires its own chapter. Compressing all of these topics into one chapter is like compressing "The Silmarillion", "The Hobbit", and "The Lord of the Rings" plus its appendix to a single 100-page book.

Additionally, there are a number of other, very popular open source network tools that are conspicuously left out of this book. The most glaring omission that I noticed is Ethereal, a very popular GNU-licensed network analyzer. I'm sure that other administrators will be able to mention other tools that have been left out.
The most discouraging thing about this book is that it carries what I consider to be a hefty price tag ($44.99 MSRP) for a book that is less than 250 pages long. In addition, this book is a compilation of information that is already available for free on the Internet and can be found without very extensive searching. Overall, this is still a respectable book. It's a good collection of open source network administration tools (albeit only a relative few). But if you aren't a Cisco shop you might find about one-fourth of the book to be useless, and if you are already an experienced UNIX admin some of the other chapters will be of no additional benefit.

Given its potentially limited amount of usefulness based on your environment, I can't really suggest this book unless you are in a Cisco shop and are relatively new to the UNIX world - not because the information isn't valuable, but because the price tag doesn't necessarily justify its value even though the book itself is rather solid.

I am not a Network Administrator, and I took an interest in this book simply to learn the basic tools used to build and maintain an open source network. In my position there were a number of chapters that particularly stood out for me

Chapter 1: Introduction. I felt this was a very well-written and easy to understand introduction to the world of Open Source network administration. It goes through the basic reasons to use Open Source, answers many of the question that many people only familiar with closed-source software may have, including questions of quality and security, as well as smart reasons to use open source software.

Chapter 9: Basic Tools. Need to know what a ping is, how it works, and why it's important? This book takes he time and effort to carefully explain how basic things such as ping. It explores telnet, netcat, traceroute, MTR, and netstat. It's a great chapter for reviewing these basics and exploring what you require.

Chapter 10: Custom Tools. This chapter gets into explaining the basics of bash scripting, bash itself, basic Perl scripts and what they are commonly used for, and how to use cron. Again, these are basics, but vital to anyone looking for basic knowledge of the environment.

The chapters in between cover subjects suh as SNMP, MRTG, Oak, and Tcpdump, all great tooks in network administration. The author gives detailed explainations of all these tools, how to use them, how to set them up, and offers tests and examples of them in action.

I would recommend these to anyone who is new to putting together an open source network. The instructions and descriptions of all the tools are at a level that I feel most moderately computer-literate people can follow.

Open source is the wave of the future, and James Kretchmar's "Open Source Network Administration" (OSNA) catches that wave in fine form. Although the book is only 238 pages, it contains several gems. I read the book specifically for its coverage of the Multi Router Traffic Grapher (MRTG), OSU's Flow Tools, and Sysmon. By following Kretchmar's instructions, I easily installed these three applications.

I was able to accomplish these tasks because OSNA is a "cross platform" book. The author doesn't limit himself to discussing how to run the tool. He gives guidance on how to configure Cisco routers to export NetFlow records or enable SNMP reporting. Sometimes these simple steps are buried in Cisco's Web site, so I appreciated getting straight to business. I literally had these tools running in a matter of minutes thanks to Kretchmar's instructions and the FreeBSD package system (e.g. "pkg_add -r ").

On the down side I thought coverage of old stand-bys like tcpdump, traceroute, and netstat was unnecessary. I would have liked reading about more "niche" tools like MTR. If you like this book, keep an eye out for my "Tao of Network Security Monitoring" in the summer. I'll take a similar approach in several chapters by discussing security-related network monitoring tools.

Sequels are supposed to be worse than the original copy, but this book must be the exception that makes the rule. Awesome book! Please-more stories with surprise endings. This book had some very predictable stories.

I think that this book was terrific, even though there were other Chicken Soup books that I thought were better. Almost all of the stories had a moral in them and the ones in the end especially made me cry. I think that the Chicken Soup books will be great just like they are now in the years to come.

A 5th Portion of Chicken Soup for the soul is an extremely excellent book because it teaches unique lessons.

This book lacks depth badly. It might look nice from the cover and is actually interesting in the first 40 pages, but once you get the idea why open source is good - better code is produced, better philosophy etc - it gets very boring to read this idea again and again for 200 pages.

It feels like the author didn't have much to say after chapter 3 and tried to write some stuff such as comparing hackers to superheroes ("both have 'exceptional powers', but are not understood by society") or explaining the "importance of beer for the community" (no kidding!), just to fill the number of pages agreed with the editor. So for the second half of the book he spends pages and pages listing "useful sites" like freshmeat and sourceforge, some "important people" such as Linus Torvalds and Alan Cox, and, well, repeating how Linux is cool and "the community" is ultra-cool.

The author is an open-source evangelist so I expected some bias, but the fact he doesn't enumerate one single flaw on open-source development model is suspect. No methodology/philosophy is perfect.

Another point to ponder is that lots of "advantages" of open-source development he enlists also applies for any good software, no matter how it's produced, and some of the most common questions, such as "how do I get support?" are answered with "you have usenet and IRC for that" which is not exactly what people expect to hear (not to mention it also applies for traditional "closed" software)

Open source adepts won't have anything new to read on this book and people who don't believe on it won't be convinced after such a biased and superficial read. Those could actually misuse this book _against_ open source.

...

This book explains what the geek culture is, what are open-source software (o-s) and free software (free-sw) and their communities' values.
The book is divided in three parts. The first one 'talks' about the origins of o-s and why is it better than proprietary software. The second explains what the geek culture is and what is the o-s/free-sw community and how it works. It presents some mistakes that people make regarding o-s/free-sw. The third part of the book explains how we can participate in this community, how to make business and what are the main players (persons, institutions, companies). At the end the author presents a resume of the principal o-s/free-sw licenses.
This book is an easy reading, interesting and well written. The problem is that the subjects aren't presented with sufficient depth, especially when related to how to make business with this software.

On the contrary to a review above I find the book amusing and full of humor, even though not intended by the author.

It is as good as any religion. The arguments are equally deep.

Only one question remains: where are the source for the book so I can correct the errors in it?

So go out and cooperate with your competitors and jointly develop one single product. Then the users wont have to chose which product to use because there will be only one available.

First, let me disclose that I haven't yet read this book. But, I'm in the midst of reading "Ascenion," Nisenson's book about Coltrane and his music. It sounds to me like Nisenson is taking a similar approach here in his Rollin's book. The complaint that this book is not a comprehensive book about Rollin's life, but rather, more about his music and process, seems to me like complaining that a lecture on Picasso spoke too much of his art and artistry and not enough about his life. Yes, if you want a biography of Rollin's personal life, then this may be thin from that perspective. But, if this book is anything like "Ascension," it will provide the reader and lover of Rollin's music with valuable insight into his music, which is, after all, the most important thing. Isn't it?

For an understanding of Rollins' playing and his uniqueness as an artist I would recommend this book. Nisenson does capture the feelings that I associate with seeing/hearing Sonny Rollins perform live. As other reviewers have said below this is not a comprehensive biography but it is written with a deep appreciation of the music that is Rollins' contribution to the culture. Sonny Rollins is the greatest live performer I've ever seen and this book captures some of that spirit so for me it was a worthwhile read.

"Open Sky" provides the reader with a music fan's perspective on the brilliance of sax great, Sonny Rollins. Nisenson writes with an obvious love of jazz and his book is peppered with Rollins's own words -- originally expressed in a series of telephone interviews with the author. As others have mentioned here, "Open Sky" is not a comprehensive survey or an extensive biography. Nisenson focuses instead on the highlights of Rollins's long recording career -- providing insight into the evolution of his improvisational art. The book does not include a discography (or an index) but this does not seriously detract from enjoying a good read. As with good improv, sometimes it's best to be left wanting more!

I must admit that I bought this book because it didn't cost much. As is usual with me, I was short on funds one day when I stopped by the local bookstore to get some coffee. I decided to get lunch and something to read to go with my coffee. I can be picky; and on this particular day I felt no desire to wade through the usual rhetoric of one of the national newspapers...So I went in search of a cheap paperback...and it was then that I stumbled across "With Open Hands" by Henri Nouwen.

I had read some of Nouwen's stuff before. I'd really liked some of it (the excellent "The Road to Daybreak"). Some of it had left me less than impressed (the mind-numbingly academic "Wounded Healer"). "With Open Hands" is neither excellent or poor--its actually pretty mediocre; but towards the good end of the mediocre spectrum (if there is such a thing).

"With Open Hands" bears the marks of being quite well thought out. One can tell that this book was labored over by people who cared. In fact, it is the result of Nouwen discussing the subject of prayer with a group of twenty-five theology students.

Hand imagery (clenched vs. open) dominates the book; but other undercurrents are palpably felt. Some of these noticeable undercurrents are: liberation theology, the writings of St. John of the Cross, and the idea of stillness or solitude. Nouwen, and the students he discussed prayer with, were clearly steeped in the classic literature on prayer.

The book is laid out in series of brief reflections. These are no doubt meant to be reflected upon at length. These reflections also progressively lead the reader into the next subject matter to be discussed.

"With Open Hands" is ultimately unsatisfying (as so many books on prayer are) because it spends most of its time dancing around the subject it describes. In so doing, it gives only a limited perspective on the topic. One is left feeling that some sort of suggested practical exercise or other way of letting the reader experience the subject being discussed would have strengthened the book. However, it is not without its high points or worth. Therefore, I give "With Open Hands" a heartfelt, if not ringing recommendation.

Other books on the subject of prayer that I would recommend are: Emilie Griffin's "Clinging: The Experience of Prayer"; Madame Guyon's "Experiencing the Depths of Jesus Christ"; Richard Foster's "Prayer"; and C.S. Lewis' "Letters to Malcolm, Chiefly on Prayer."

Henri Nouwen had a great ability to take something rather simple and ordinary, and use it a as way to help people understand and experience God. Nouwen's now classic book WITH OPEN HANDS is an excellent example of using a simple image to invite a person to prayer and a deeper experience of God. Clenched fists demonstrate being closed to God, and through reflections on prayer: silence, acceptance, hope, compassion, and prophetic criticism, Nouwen invites us to open our hands and thus, be open to God. This work is excellent for people who are new to prayer or are trying to discover new prayer techniques, but it is profound enough to help all people experience God.

Nouwen's book not only opens the hands but the mind and the heart as well.

This is a book that does not define or explain prayer or give you a formula for better prayer, it is book that opens your hands and leads you to an experience with God. It is a book that one does not read but rather live. A book that leaves you slightly exhausted at the end but better for having read it.

I didn't even have a cesarean and still this book made me laugh, cry and shake with rage. If I have another baby I will require my midwife, doula or whatever to read this book! The first question on my list of midwife interview questions is "Have you read Open Season?" Yes, Nancy is angry, and I think it is completely justified. This book made me realize that everything I had suspected about American childbirth was true, and that a lot of the horror stories such as women being tied to the bed are still happening today.

I know Nancy, and this is an example of how seriously she takes her support of women through the birthing process. She is wise, bright, clever, strong, and tells the truth, just as this book does. She will give you that same support if you are one of the lucky people she "midwives" through labor, delivery, and the life that comes after.

Nancy Wainer Cohen is THE pioneer of VBAC in the United States. Thanks to her activism in this area, Once a c-section, always a c-section no longer applies.

This book is a marvelous collection of thoughts, insights, experiences, and tools for helping women avoid cesarean, either primary or secondary, and is well worth the reading.

Maybe I've read too many books covering this same territory, but this one doesn't seem to me to have very much new to offer. There's a great deal of wisdom here, but all of it's cribbed directly from well-known sources and, while well enough written, the work is compiled without much original contribution by Dr. Richo. The underlying ideas are a blend of classic Eastern philosophy, Jungian psychology, Christian and Buddhist ethics, and Joseph Campbell's mystical anthropology, all packaged into a kind of pop New Age format complete with "practice" exercises and an advertisement on the last page for Dr. Richo's tapes and workshops. None of this is to say that the book isn't thought-provoking, but only to suggest that readers who are familiar with the source material may find Unexpected Miracles derivative and a little dull. The most useful purpose the book could serve perhaps is to stimulate people who haven't read the originals to experience the rich rewards of doing so.

David Richo is obviously intelligent and armed with a stunning vocabulary. However, this said, he never manages to get beyond the academic and esoteric when discussing synchronicity. Although he is quite informative when speaking about different religions and metaphysics in general, he is unable to explain clearly how we as individuals should go about understanding, creating and applying synchronicity in our daily lives. There are "lessons" at the end of each chapter, but these seem almost an after thought. I was very anxious to get my copy of this book, but was more than just slightly disappointed when I finally was able to read it.

I have believed that alot of this stuff is hocus-pocus. And yes I have read some of the other "originals" mentioned in another review. However I picked up this book and found that one of David Richo's favorite Shakespearean quotes has long been mine also - from the Merchant of Venice. I thought that interestingly weird! Since then I have thoroughly enjoyed his books and am making friends with the idea that perhaps this cynic can learn something. I didn't give it five stars as I'd like David Richo to write another book that goes more deeply into this subject! I DO think, however, that the reader would benefit from buying and reading this book.