Opening

Tera's book captures both her journey and the message of interspecies communication in an easy to read, moving story. I didn't want to finish the book because I wanted there to be more to read, more to learn. My heart and mind felt such an expanse. Thanks Tera!

This wonderful book will change the way you look at life! In it, Tera Thomas takes us on a personal journey where we can learn for ourselves -- what animals have taught her.
Written with alot of openness, heart and humor, it is the story of her development as an animal communicator. It is filled with delightful stories of animals she has known, unforgettable characters who impart tremendous wisdom about the meaning of life and death, and the importance of acceptance. And, because of what these special beings (animals and Tera) share with the reader, I finished the book with a much greater acceptance of life -- and self -- than when I had first begun.
It is a very spiritual book, with much to be gleaned from within its pages.
You can't help but feel as if you have, if not flown, then certainly stretched your wings a bit. To be savored again and again.

"Opening My Wings to Fly" is a magnificent book. Tera Thomas and her precious animal friends have created stories that are beautifully written, inspiring and moving. I learned so much from reading this book - not only about the wisdom and love of animals but also about how to live in a grateful and generous way. All the while, I was captivated by the stories - stories which moved me to tears, made me laugh out loud, and motivated me to open my own wings to fly. I am very grateful to Ms. Thomas for this gift of a book. It is a treasure.

Without the male-bashing you so often get in the media. It can be just as helpful for men to read as it is for the women. Her advice is based on universal principles. I appreciate her honesty and her cheerful attitude.

If you want to be angry or criticize, go find another book. If you want to heal, this book is a good place to start.
--George Stancliffe

This is the first self-help book about relationships that actually looks at the relationship between men and women in a POSITIVE light. Instead of taking an antagonistic view of male/female relationships and bashing the opposite sex, Susan Jeffers suggests that each of us (women and men) look within and make changes while trying to create the right relationship. She helps women see that men are more like women than not--and that we all really need the same things from a relationshp. She also encourages women to assess their current relationships and to understand what they are and are not getting from them. I met the man of my dreams while reading this book because I had my defenses down and MY HEART OPEN. I just bought two more copies for my friends. Read this book with an open mind, an open heart and a pencil. You won't be disappointed.

For men as well as women. Susan gives men insight into the mind of woman. This is not a complex manuscript with indepth study into the science of human behavior. It is simple. Even the intellectual can learn from simplicity. Thank You Susan Jeffers, you have helped be become more human.

365 delicious doses of relationship success vitamins. You will love it and look forward to your daily dose.

Philosophers have the questions. Sherven and Sniechowski have the answers -- delightful ones, joyous ones, loving ones and practical ones. If you want to feel more alive, read this book. If you want your family and friends to enjoy their lives more, buy them this book. This is fabulous!

There are many ponderous and worthwhile books out there which lead us toward the correct routing in our search to find and nurture love. Some of these are overwhelming despite our good intentions!

Opening To Love 365 days A Year is a simple guide in this complicated wilderness. . . tiny, thoughtful and gentle ways to express, feel and to be grateful in our dailiness of existance. Here are accessible reminders everyone can do - from remembering to give a compliment to the comfort of a big pot of vegetable soup simmering on the stove. These all say love.

A book to light up your life - day by day.

Heartfully recommended!

Corinne Edwards Host and Producer "Book Tours" on Wisdom Television

For the average chessplayer choosing a dependable opening repertoire presents a difficult task. We know that in order to play the opening well we need a sensible set of variations - but which to choose? The main openings entail so much theory that it seems impossible to absorb them without devoting huge amounts of time to the task. Well in this book two masters propose an interesting and dynamic set of interlocked variations against any white opening that won't take years to learn. Of course this is nothing new - many repertoire books for the black pieces exist. However this one is different from most in that the systems given are very solid, sound and logical.
This is not to say that they are to everyones taste. In fact, while I admire the way this book succeeds so well in its aims I don't feel entirely comfortable with the Pirc (the mainline against 1e4) and find the lines against 1d4 interesting but a little awkward somehow. However this is entirely subjective; given the thoroughness with which the authors treat their material I have no doubt that the lines are solid.
So lets look at the book. Thick, attractively presented, nice layout. The material is VERY complete - these guys take writing a repertoire seriously. Tons of variations but also enough explanation to guide the reader. Besides no book can make a claim to completeness without being laden with variations. In a repertoire book the whole idea is that you never need purchase another opening book and this seems true here. There is a nice move index at the back.
Other reviewers have commented on the actual moves against the various white openings so I won't bother listing those. Suffice to say that because 1.e4 is so popular (at least at amateur level) you had better like the Pirc.
One noteworthy feature of the book is the inclusion of a couple of 'second string' systems along with the main repertoire. While the reader would probably be better off sticking to the main lines its nice to have the option and they make useful surprise weapons.
I really can't fault this book. It is a shining example of how a repertoire book should be written. Its all here: a totally self contained and solid system against any white opening. You won't be able to learn it all in a short time. Work is required but that is true of any improvement in ones chess play. I think five stars for a quality book which delivers exactly what it promises and shows what an opening repertoire book should be like.

One of my favorite chess books. I have stumbled around looking for a repertoire for years, and this book, based on 1...d6, brought me home. What is great about it is verified by modern techniques (computer analysis), so the moves given really are good. Plus, I love that it considers weak alternatives by white, that GMs would never play, but you will see often in your internet games, such as 1. d4 d6, 2. e3. Great, great book.

Maybe not explosive but well written and easy to understand. A lot of diagrams which helps if you don't have the time to play the set ups out on a chess board. A great book to help you get stronger playing the black pieces.

Dr. Singleton's book is right on time for the African American woman of today, because as quiet as it's kept, we are hurting and need to be healed. As a 17 year old African American female I opened the book and from reading the first page I knew that it was not another one of those "How-To" books. We all know about the sudden trend in writing motivational books where the author has an eyecatching title like "How To Heal Your Broken Soul With Five Easy and Totally Doable Steps!", written by some person who couldn't be further away from their target readers.

Dr. Singleton's book is far from anything like that. This book is real and with every chapter dedicated to another hurt and troubled Black woman, the reader can relate to one,if not two or three of the women. This book is not just for middle-aged Black woman.It is for any woman of any age."Broklen Silence" is simply put and can be read in no time, and even if you find that every chapter is not aplicable to you, each reader should find Singleton's ending 10 Priciples of Affirmation.

Thank you for writing this book Dr. Singleton.There is someone of my generation out here reading it.

Broken Silence is an exceptional book that I found to be very captivating. I am an African-American male and I believe that every "brother" should read this book, and gain an understnading of the women in their lives as well as themselves. We all have loved ones, friends or co-workers who at some time in their life will go through a period of emotional or psychic distress and will need guidance to successfully cope with the situation. All too often the women in our lives suffer in silence, hence the title of the book.

In the preface, Dr. Singleton stated that she had to undergo therapy herself as part of her training and found it to be an unpleasant experience. This helps to explain part of the reason for so much resistance in our community towards therapy, especially if the therapist comes from another cultural background. Dr. Singleton manages to combine therapy with good old-fashioned wisdom and thereby gain the trust of those who have come to her for help.

Eight women are profiled in the book, a representative sample of the thousands of people Dr. Singleton has assisted over the years. Dr. Singleton shows in each different situation, how to turn a negative experience into one of empowerment and triumph. Pychological counseling is not an easy process and it takes a lot of time and hard work, just like in any good relationship. As I read this book, it brought to mind a movie I saw last year, the Antwone Fisher Story. I saw men who were moved to tears by that film and this book could have the same impact.

This culture and society has never been a facilitating environment for good relationships between African-American women and men. Today our young people are constantly bombarded with misogamist (hatred of marriage) and misogyny (hatred of women) messages through videos, music and television. The society has never embraced us as equals in the workplace either as we witness the attack upon affirmative action. It is very hard to be sane in an insane world. Dr. Singleton shows in her book, Broken Silence, that no matter how dire your personal, family, or work situation, through therapy and love, you can become a strong and vibrant woman. The process works for the "brothers" too. We all need help from time to time and should not be ashamed to seek it. This book should be placed upon everyone's "must read" list.

This book is great beginning for women who are uncertain about whether they need to seek professional help! She really has captured the essence of Black women and their path to therapy. I have recommended it to many of my friends.

This is a good choice if you feel skittish about following thru with the largest transaction in your life. Much of this book didn't apply to me because I'm buying just land in NC with cash --a transaction that's much simplified from the stuff she covers here. Much is made of escrow, but in NC, as far as I can tell, escrow is not as central to the closing process. There is an appendix on the differences between the closing procedures between all of the US states, but it would be nice if this was beefed out a little more. Still worth it, comprehensive, and good links to web resources.

"This book has all the information anyone needs for all aspects of a closing. It tells you the right questions to ask, when to ask them, and includes helpful checklists, which are really user-friendly. I used this personally in my latest closing, and it was the best guide I could have had. The list of documents needed to be sure the closing goes smoothly was great. Sandy Gadow is the leading author and expert on closings and escrow and I appreciated the easy to read style of her book. Worth buying this book!"

I really enjoyed this book. The book is written very clearly, with great illustrations and examples. The easy to understand way in which closing was explained made sense and was easy to follow. I have read many real estate books, but never one written by a closing professional. Someone who really knows the subject matter from first hand experience. This book prepared me for what to expect at closing, what fees I was allowed to question and how to negotiate lower closing costs. I realized that settlement errors just don't happen at the mortgage level, they also happen at the title company. This book delivered on it's title. It really is a complete guide and a handy reference book. I went to closing with less worry and more confidence than ever before. I understood what I was doing and what to question. This is the only book I could find that really helps you with the final and most critical part of a real estate purchase (or sale).

I have been working on opening a specialty food shop/cafe and got stuck on the logistics of planning. After using several guides and books I randomly found (and getting NOWHERE) I decided to buy Gourmet to Go on a recommendation. It is THE best thing I could have ever bought, hands down. It seems that all the questions I had were answered in the book, and the structure of the book leads readers down a logical path through the maze of planning for this type of business. If you are to buy any book on this topic, this is the one. The money spent on this book will save you thousands later on. Two thumbs up!

This is an excellent treatise of starting a specialty food store or, perhaps is even more beneficial to one who wishes to wholesale food products to place in food stores or delis..

People wanting to cash in on the current trend towards take-out convenience need this book, as well as From Kitchen To Market and How To Get Your Product Into Supermarkets.

The three books are invaluable for overlapping reasons. A prospective store operator needs to understand how to setup his or her store and, just as important, how their competition operates. Beginning store operators also need to understand their industry in detail not merely from the viewpoint of their competition and from their customers, but from their suppliers position.

Gourmet To Go does a great job from a narrow viewpoint. Probably the only topic not suffriciently explored is the hands'-on advice. Perhaps the next edition will detail the possibilities for including rollergrills, microwaves and how to earn what the industry refers to as "Plus-sales." I'm speaking of the technique in all fast food chains and convenience stores to get customers to spend more money.

Other hands-on topics that should be discussed are controlling theft and the experience of many store operators who have lost significant chunks of money in providing lottery tickets. I know of a feww whose losses exceeded $10,000. Adding insult to injury, lottery only reimburses stores from one to three percent of gross sales and pay-outs for winning tickets. Despite such a poor return on investment, many stores consider it mandatory to provide lottery.

Further, computerizing the store could be considered, as well as installing UPC readers. It is not uncommon to see even the smallest store using such equipment. Yet, those installing such systems all seem to have to reinvent the wheel.

Again, buy this book but augment it with From Kitchen To Market and with How To Get Your Product Into Supermarkets so you can keep up with and, perhaps, improve upon your competition and keep customers, suppliers and yourself happy!

Having some experience with new product projects for major corporations, this somewhat smaller scale, but nonetheless similar principled look at the operations and craft of specialty food store biz is well-done.

It is full of relevant and cogent thoughts for anyone interested in this market niche. What I found very well done is the sections of writing the biz plan and the steps therein critical to putting together and then implementing such.

Also included are fairly thorough lists of resources such as consultants, trade journals, suppliers, etc.

What could possibly have been additionaly useful was stress on two key areas: concentration on obstacles and their probability of happening (i.e. scenario plotting) and finding and use of two key players from the outset: attorney and accountant/tax specialist.

The most striking point made in this book, from my perspective, was the notion that the Jewish concept of day from sundown to sundown reflected the creation story of Genesis in the sense that first God acts, later people are drawn into the equation. If insights such as that excite you, you will enjoy this book.

The book is written in a very personal style - how Dorothy C. Bass has come to see and use time. This results occassionally in some reader disconnects e.g. her assumption that a church could not refrain from Christmas carols during Advent - I come from a church that does not use Christmas carols until the Christmas vigil. But these "disconnects" also are a strength for the book - she is not giving you a list of how-to's, but rather inviting you to reevaluate time in your life ... with a recognition that that will have similarities and differences from what it means in her life.

This book is recommended for everyone - and especially needed by individuals planning liturgical season.

Without a doubt, this little book is one of the most helpful spiritual books of the new century. Bass takes a careful look at how we view and use time. Her citations of other authors, especially poets, are well chosen and lyric. This is a book to savor, to stimulate meditation, and to return to. May I suggest it as the perfect Christmas present for someone who is not too superficial to appreciate it?

Bass doesn't preach at us from on high, but rather bears witness to her own struggles to keep sabbath and receive time as a blessing and gift instead of as a problem or enemy. Bass describes how "receiving the day" can become a way-of-life practice, and she relates this activity to other core practices that give life character and integrity (see "Practicing Our Faith: A Way of Life for a Searching People," which Bass edited.) Bass grounds her analysis of time in contemporary research from a social scientific perspective, such as A.R. Hochschild's "The Time Bind" and R. Levine's "A Geography of Time." Bass's deeper grounding, however, is in the practical wisdom of the Jewish and Christian traditions for living faithfully in the rhythms of days, weeks, and years. Drawing on the biblical story of the creation of time (Genesis 1), Bass invites us to consider what difference it would make in our lives if we viewed dusk instead of dawn as the beginning of each new day. Observing how digital clocks now synchronize our global economy, Bass notes with irony how Benedictine monks invented the clock to call the community to prayer at set hours during the course of the day. The challenge for us today is not to "turn back the clock," of course, but to learn how to live freely and humanly within a 24x7 society. I enthusiastically recommend "Receiving the Day" to anyone who cares to ponder how we dwell together as creatures within time. This book prompted deep personal reflection about the ways I spend my time, and it also inspired the design of a playful worship service for our congregation's annual Family Camp. A great book for adult study groups and sermon ideas. To open "Receiving the Day" is to open a thoughtfully chosen, carefully crafted gift.

GM Uhlmann is certainly an acknowledged specialist in the French defense. I for one decided to buy this book to deal with problematic variations as black (i.e., Tarrasch variation and KIA) I found more than I could possibly hope to find in the book. For one, this is not just an insuferable encyclopedic treatise bound to be outdated the minute you buy it. It isn't a pedantic presentation of lines with no logical sense but a concise and fun explanation of IDEAS commonly used in the French. GM Uhlmann promises in his book to show you what's typical and how to find your way out from unknown situations over the board and gives you an arsenal of weapons to enrich your French defense.

The book's format is simple: Anotated games by Uhlmann full of comments, variations, ideas, and opinions. I found it interesting to see that GM Uhlmann shows a remarkable objectivity when mistakes by him appear on the games. With utmost professionalism he warns about his mistakes, suggests an alternative approach, and implicitly tells you how to fine tune the opening. I have applied many of the ideas presented on this book and can say that I feel more confident each time I play the French. GM Uhlmann makes you fall in love with the French by exposing the ideas behind each variation and how to thrive when facing unknown situations.

I must forewarn anyone reading this review that the book is very specific in the variations covered: Tarrasch closed and open (with an isolated queen pawn), Winnawer, Advance, KIA and exchange. Do not expect to see the classical variation among the lines covered or any other non-fashionable lines. GM Uhlmann has worked the above repertoire of the French defense and since those lines are his specialty you will learn them thoroughly with him.

In regards to negative aspects of the book I can say that I would like to see a more thorough discussion about the pawn structures that result commonly and how to play the resulting endings. This is of course very subjective and it is just my opinion on how to deal with the study of chess openings. In spite of that, I believe that discussing pawn structures resulting in the French would make the book just perfect. However, I am giving the book 5 stars because it delivers what it promises to the reader.

This one by Uhlmann has the special something that separates art from the mundane. It brims with love and care about his French Defence, yet it is objective too. He does not smirk at white's various lines, such as the King's Indian Attack. He treats chess with respect, and he does not make ridiculous claims, ala Watson, that the French will give black an edge in every line. This book is a keeper, and I don't even play the french!

What's great about this book is that it is based on 60 complete games, not just variations with an evaluation of +- or =. Uhlmann does a great job anotating the games as well as telling the reader the ideas behind the lines he chooses. Of course he does not go into all of the main lines for Black, it is a reperetoire book after all, but his choice of lines are the best for those who really want to put up a fight with the French. All of his games in this book are nice struggles against some of the best ever. Uhlmann is a true advocate of the French and only played this defense against e4. What better person than he to write a book on the French!

If you could own only one reperetoire book on the French, this should be it!

I loved this book. The thing is, it's rather old and might be out of date (I'm sure it is). Burgess is a very thorough writer on the openings.

The Complete Akekhine contains over 240 pages of well documented material on the virtues of this system for Black (1.e4 Nf6). It's not an easy defence to master however. Invariably, the Knight on f6 is forced to several different squares by pawn thrusts on White's part on many occasions. This is a double edged sword. White either ends up getting his advanced pawns picked off or develops a strong enough initiative that suffocates Black. I've had varied success with it, but seem to do better in Blitz games where my opponent has less time to come up with more solid moves. I can definately see the potential though and i recommend this book to anyone looking to avoid the Ruy Lopez, Giuoco Piano, King's Gambit or if you're tired of using or unfamiliar with the French, Caro-Kann, Sicilian, Pirc or the Modern defences. It's certainly challenging and fun.

Graham Burgess writes a fine book, which both presents the virtues of Alekhine's Defense, while pointing out the white lines that make it a challenge to play. He does not try to make up frothy generalities about the theory, recognizing that the different variations can lead to very different treatments subject to case-by-case analysis. I am a B player, who found this book both easy to use and substantive. The Alekhine is a fun, quirky and very complex opening. I added it back to my blitz arsenal after reading this book.