effect Books

Writing The Right Word by writer, editor, and educator Dave Dowling (President of Write On Course, LLC, a company specializing in business and technical writing seminars...) is an excellent practical resource for writers of all skill and experience levels and backgrounds. Featuring entries in a lexicographic order, Writing The Right Word teaches aspiring writers the proper definitions of easily misused or confused words, such as levee versus levy, lightening versus lightning, spoor versus spore, and much, much more. A useful 235-page reference tool for avoiding common errors that computerized spelling-checkers will not detect, Writing The Right Word is a highly recommended and much appreciated addition to any personal or professional writing reference collection.

This is one reference book that won't languish on your shelf. Once one starts using it, it becomes second nature to double check your accuracy. My initial thought was that it was a bit slim (230+ pages), with largish type, but this is only a plus. Access becomes very quick and straightforward. The examples are clear and concise...it obviously de-fogs the memory banks (re proper word usage). ANY writer will use it and the book should be mandatory for any high school freshman (and your college student would thank you forever for the gift). Indeed, Dowling has presented us with a book that makes it much easier for writers--at the very least--to appear to be smarter...and that's a bargain. No regrets on this purchase. ((On second thought, it will help you with spoken english as well...ever use the wrong word at a meeting and feel like a schmuck?))

As a college-level instructor, I am often struck by how poorly most students use the English language. 'Writing the Right Word' is a unique and indispensible tool that can help anyone, from high school student to professional writer, learn how to write what he (or she) really means. In today's complex world, the importance of using the correct word cannot be overemphasized. This book explains the most common word confusions in a clear, concise, and 'user-friendly' format, complete with thought-provoking quotes at the beginning of each section. I found myself reading it for the sheer pleasure. Personally, I think this book should be required reading in the schools, and is definitely a 'must have' for anyone who makes his or her living as a writer. Dowling's descriptions are clear and understandable, his examples vivid and sometimes amusing. The sections on 'affect versus effect', 'that versus which' and 'who versus whom', words that rank among the most notorious for confounding the average writer, are themselves worth the price of the book.

The book is very useful and to the point. It is an excellent
resource for my business correspondence. Since people still
judge you on your ability to communicate in writing, it will
be very helpful. Will be using it frequently.

This concise guide is an excellent reference tool for any writer: published, aspiring to publish, business professional, or student. It contains most of the common word pairs that are likely to cause confusion, and provides clear definitions and examples for each. Equally importantly, this guide fills a gap that other reference texts fail to address. No writer should be without a copy!

This book presents a very thorough history of Chicago and, more generally, urbanization in the U.S. Really interesting anecdotes and my guess would be it would teach you a few (or more) things you didn't know before.

I was impressed by this book. I read it for its history of Chicago's commodity markets, and it gives the best history of those that I've found, but I was fascinated by the entire thing. I found the story of the lumber industry particularly interesting -- it would have been easy for the author to lapse into moralizing but he stuck to the facts, explaining how bosses, workers, customers, lumber yard owners all felled the forests. He showed how people in the city and country shaped the midwest together, and he argued this using extensive historical fact, having apparently spent 10 years reading what seems like every available periodical, bankruptcy record and resource available. I feel as though what I regularly see in my own life validates his point -- go to Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota and surrounding states and you will always find a connection to Chicago. It seems a particularly good read for these times, as people are uniting to address environmental problems, but I suspect readers will be able to say it's a timely read for years to come.

I "had" to read this book for a college history class so I went to the library and checked it out. Somewhere in Chapter 2 I returned the library book and bought my own copy. This is one of the best books I've ever read. There were times I felt that I was reading something that happned 10 years ago... not over 150! While this may not be a book you'd first be drawn to, I've found myself reading this 'textbook' over my other personal picks. Everyone with any kind of intrest to the past should own their own copy of this book! (The chapters on grain and lumber were my favorite!)

There are going to be other reviewers who can provide more erudite reviews-- reviews better grounded in the study of cities or economic history. I am nothing more than an average reader who enjoys non-fiction.

First of all, potential readers should be aware that this is an economic history. It follows flows of goods and capital rather than following the lives and careers of the men and women of Chicago. I knew what to expect, but for people looking for a more standard history of Chicago this may make Nature's Metropolis difficult to engage.

I really enjoyed reading the book. It stretched my understanding of the economic growth of cities and raised issues that I had not considered about the role of the city *in* nature (not as opposed to nature). The examination of elements that made Chicago into both a city and The City was fascinating. The chapters tracing grain, lumber and meat as goods were clearly written and underscored the central theses.

I guess it goes without saying that Nature's Metropolis is far from a light read, but that does not make it less rewarding. As someone who does not have a background in history, I only longingly wished that the bibliography had been annotated to help support further reading.

This is a very distinctive, well researched and argued book about how Chicago developed. Starting with a standard model of Urban Economics - the von Thunen model of central place theory- the author quickly moves beyond it. The distinctive contribution of his book is Cronon's emphasis on how the roots of Chicago's remarkable development lay in the "soil" of its surrounding hinterlands. He carries this argument further by examining how the transportation and communication revolutions of the 19th century - the railroad and the telegraph - created unique advanatages for Chicago relative to other competitive metropolitan areas (such as St. Louis, Cincinnati, Milwaukee) and finally, how in turn, new metropolitan areas (such as KC, Omaha) arose to steal aways Chicago's dominance.

As other reviewers have noted, the book offers really fascinating, detailed discussions and original research on - for example - the grain and lumber industries as well as capital flows in the midwestern US creatively using court records on corporate failures to track the flow of investments.

This books contains a rich lode of intellectual wealth and it is well worth the effort to mine it.

The author is strongly against the War on Drugs and he tries to provide as neutral as possible a look at the facts. He is certainly not anti-recreational drugs which I found to be a nice change. It has a good history of drugs and their effects but it could have had more practical information e.g. I wanted to know how much marijuana to use for oral consumption as compared to how much I smoke and this book was of no help.

Overall good beginners summary of history and effects of common recreational drugs. Good not great

The topic of my book was the history of drugs. This book was aimed towards anyone who wanted to know the history and use of most drugs. It is hard to say what the specific goal of this book is because it covers many different areas on the topic of drugs. The author defiantly covers the topics that are brought up. The book was written very well and was easy to understand but still very informative. The book was written from a neural viewpoint and the author expresses no clear opinion. Although the author does advise against using drugs illegally and abusively.
There was no favorite part of the book for me I liked all of it. However I did find one fact very interesting, which was how, the United States, makes up four percent of the worlds total population and yet we consume sixty five percent of the world total hard drugs. The author did a good job of this by covering every aspect of drugs like their history, reasons for use, effects when used, and how they are used. For the most part the book was good but if there was one thing that had to be improved I would suggest making some of the chapters shorter. Most chapters were concise but sometimes there would be a longer chapter that could get boring because there were some redundancies.
I recommend this book to anyone who wants to learn about drugs. This book is a good source for a much more broad coverage on the topic of drugs. What I mean when I say a broad topic is how the book goes over the use of drugs in the ancient world and religion, the effects of drugs in the government, the selling of drugs, diseases caused b drugs, modern history and use of drugs and much more. However if you want to read this book you should know that it is pretty long. I think this book should definitely be kept on the chemistry book report list for next year. As a boy in high school it is surprising how often the topic of drugs comes up and if you have read this book you will know a lot about them. I also think that this book should be added to the library so it is at easier access to anyone who wants to be able to read it even if it is not for the book report.
I think this book served the purpose of the assignment very well. It taught me a lot about the history and use of drugs. It also showed me how drugs are related to chemistry and how their effects and reasons for causing those effects are all major parts of chemistry. In reading this book it also made me realize how big a topic like chemistry is and even though I may not like certain parts of it there are so many different interesting things to learn in chemistry.

Illegal Drugs: A Complete Guide to Their History, Chemistry, Use and Abuse (Review)
Illegal Drugs: A Complete Guide to Their History, Chemistry, Use and Abuse, is an interesting book. After reading it, I learned a lot I did not previously know about certain types of drugs. Also, I learned about what to do in case of an overdose of said drugs. Overall, it was a extremely educational experience reading the book and I would absolutely recommend it to be on the list of books to read next year.
In Illegal Drugs: A Complete Guide to Their History, Chemistry, Use and Abuse the book is organized in sections describing the health effects of drugs, the drug history, chemical makeup, along with many others. The author provides a section on the physiology of the brain and its reaction to chemicals. The book also thoroughly covers drugs with one detailed chapter for every single drug type you could imagine. Each chapter also includes a history of the drug, a personality profile of the type of people who use said drug, chemical characteristics of it, the drug's withdrawal signs once use is stopped or discontinued, long-term health problems of use of the drug, and emergency care information just in case one has an overdose.
The book concludes with resources for self-help, websites that provide information about drugs, and a list of drug abuse and treatment centers spread out all over in the United States. A bibliography for each chapter is also a big help for those who want to learn more about certain drugs more than what the book has already listed.
In the book, there is a section for basically every type of drug, as well as an intro with drug history and current drug laws, and ends with the question, will drugs be used? The author then says that that is not the question we should be asking. 95% of the United States uses some form of psychoactive drug. The real question is, which will be used?
Throughout the book, the author talks about how when certain drugs are criminalized, people turn to other types of drugs. For example, in the 1930s during the prohibition of alcohol, the use of marijuana soared in the U.S. hit its highest levels. Also, when the government cracked down on the use of drugs like cocaine among teens, the use of ecstasy and other drugs rose dramatically.
The beginning of the book also describes in not a lot of detail `legalized' drugs such as caffeine, alcohol, tobacco, and nutmeg among others. Schedule 1 & 2 drugs are described in the book, with the latter group being about amphetamines like speed (meth) and others. Illegal Drugs includes over 178 different drugs and descriptions of them. This includes drugs ranging from LSD to Rohypnol the date rape drug. It is very well illustrated and contains at the end, an informative as well as lengthy bibliography.

This is an excellent book for any student who is doing a report on drugs. it has everything you would need to know and not just about the drugs themselves it has the culture, the history, chemical make up. a very well organized book

like title states this book covers it all. whether your a student doing research or a concerned parent this book will make things much clearer. from how addictive drugs are to street names to statistics this book has it all.

The author used a lot of words but didn't seem to say a whole lot....while I'm with her on sugar being bad, she doesn't give many reasons as to how or why it's bad. I think it would have been helpful to have some of the statistics I have read in other books about the toll it takes on your health. Basically the book says to very gradually phase out sugar and give your kids lots of protein, which is another problem I have. It puts an unbalanced emphasis on protein needs. She recommends some foods that aren't healthy in the sake of getting protein in (is she aware of some of the health issues associated with too much protein?). Protein shouldn't be the focus, it should be healthy eating with no sugar. I was very disappointed overall with the whole thing and it was rather a waste of time reading it.

This book has been a Godsend to us. My 13 year old daughter is a high performing athlete who has apparently been a sugar addict for many years without our knowing it. I wish I had figured this out years ago! Apparently, she is not only a sugar addict, but one step further: reactive hypoglycemic. Which means that during all her sporting events, pumping her with sports drinks is the exact opposite of what she needs. She caught on to the fact that she was feeling better and performing better within a week or two and is now quite conscious of of her need to eat protein when she has sugar, and is cutting back on the excess sugar, saving it for when she wants a treat. Thank you Kathleen!!!

A friend recommended this book to me and I am forever grateful.
Kathleen shares easy-to-follow steps to help kid's - and families -
kick the sugar habit.

THIS BOOK IS GREAT! IF YOU HAVE A CHILD THAT IS HYPERACTIVE, IT IS MOST PROBABLY THE SUGAR! I WOULD HIGHLY RECOMMEND TRYING WHAT THIS BOOK SUGGESTS BEFORE GIVING ANY CHILD MEDICATION. MY DAUGHTER WAS DIAGNOSED WITH ADHD AND SHE IS ON THIS DIET NOW AND IS COMPLETELY FINE! MAJOR ATTITUDE ADJUSTMENT....IT REALLY WAS THE SUGAR!

....HAPPY MOM

The program that Dr. Kathleen DesMaisons designed for children in her book Little Sugar Addicts is wonderful. The book describes the program is simple, plain language. Dr. DesMaisons has dedicated her life to helping people heal and her compassion, warmth and sensitivity comes out in her latest book, Little Sugar Addicts. I read this book and started doing the program with my kids and I have seem miraculous changes in them. It has been such a blessing. This book is very easy to read and the program is very easy to do. I highly recomend it to all parents.

Its an okay book, but as far as being illustrated, not so much. Not that helpful to an average gardener. Perhaps that is not the intended audience. Nice characterization of formal vs informal or natural, but mostly in words. Author seems to feel Chinese gardening is underappreciated, perhaps, compared to Japanese gardening, which is an offshoot.

"As a newcomer to the real estate development market, this book opened my eyes to the world of plant design. The author's guidance instilled a sense of confidence in me to be able to speak intelligently to my designers." - Donald A. Wilhelm, Author of This Time's a Charm; Lessons of a Four-Time Cancer Survivor

Planting Design Illustrated by Gang Chen seems to me to be possibly the only book one would need to read to understand all the basics involved in good design.

I read this book as a complete novice concerning plants and planting design and found that it was easy to read and understand. Showed it to some of my gardening friends and they found it equally fascinating.

This book seems to me to be the Feng Shui of planting design too. I loved everything about it.

The illustrations were perfect also...not too complex, but full of every detail needed to understand what the author was talking about. The only thing that would make this book better would be a CD/DVD of the illustrations!

This book will become my planting design bible!

Planting Design Illustrated

I am both a recreational gardener and am in the horticulture profession. This book is helpful to anyone planning a new garden or renovating an older garden. Chen explains spatial layering, planning for five senses and four seasons in a way that assists both the layman and the professional. The list of plants is organized to plan for scale and is easy to adapt to your gardening zone. Drawings are easy to understand and pictures are representative of what the author is trying to convey.

This book on Planting Design is extremely descriptive and very informative having been written by a capable Architect. As a previous City Planner, I wish, I had such a thorough text as this when doing site plan reviews and landscaping requirements.

It would be my suggestion to a reader who is interested in the Planting Design approach on a personal scale, to dedicate some general review time of this text, gaining orientation to some of the technical terminology as found in this fine text on Planting Design. Specifically, the study presented on the early historical Oriental contributions to formal or informal gardens certainly would serve as a useful guideline for future construction of any gardens.

I found Chapter 6 especially informative in a complete and easy story manner. It dealt with Planting Design principles, concepts, and methods coupled with Oriental case studies. This is a perfect study tool for landscape design and planting; readily applicable to the home landscape.

The early Oriental uses of planting designs as described provide an informative insight into the cultural aspects of plant material evolution into today's usage. The historical correlation of bamboo to the various reflection of human nature aspects is very enlightening.

My recommendation suggests one take the time to gain an oversight by reviewing the index and gently viewing each chapter's heading with descriptions. Then delve more intently to possibly uncommon plant design terminology such as "scale", "heavenly creations", "mass planting" or much more.

While this is not a "picture" book on design, it is packed with information and data that can be applied to any scale or size project. It does not require a "castle" to enjoy the same feelings found in the early, large gardens in France or the Orient based on these elements of Planting Design as narrated in this text. For individuals wishing to spend time creating wonderful gardens, keep in mind what you learn regarding the "basic spatial relationships" to plants, structures, and man.

Although I had a some prior knowledge of landscape design and requirements when I was approving plans for commercial projects, I personally feel this text is an excellent study and informational tool for anyone interested in Planting Design.

PROS: The text book is well written and easy to understand.
CONS: The companion DVD that contains the resource files for the tutorials was defective. I returned the book and the DVD for a replacement and the second DVD was also defective. The THIRD DVD finally worked.

This is an incredibly thorough book. I am new to After Effects and this book has been very helpful in teaching me this complex program. The DVD that comes with the book is great too as it allows you to practice the techniques as you read about them. And at almost 700 pages plus additional digital chapters, you are definitely getting your money's worth.

One caveat is that if you have no experience at all with motion graphics, effects and the like, this book may be a little complex for you. However these authors also have a book called "The After Effects Apprentice" which is supposedly more basic, although I have not used it.

This book has been traveling back and forth from my bed side to my computer desk for the last 3 weeks. In tandem with another book ("The After Effects Illusionist"), I've literally become an expert in After Effects, and recently used it produce an incredible 3-minute product demo that has gotten positive feedback from people like the former President of Sony Entertainment (now on the board of directors), the creators of DVR recording (white label manufacturer for all DVR - they own the patent), and several venture capitalists. This book helped me make that happen. I knew very little about After Effects prior to reading it, and it turned me from a beginner into an expert!

...this is definitely the book you'll want to buy, especially if you're on a limited "book budget". After Effects, while fundamentally not a difficult program to understand, has an enormous number of function parameters, user interface options and workflows that can cause the average Joe to question his own sanity for trying to learn AE. But, with this book as your guide and some time to tinker with the program as you are reading you can really improve your skills to a point where you're creating cool things in just a few days.

(You really need to try out the functions and examples as you go with AE; trying to learn and memorize stuff then use it later, doesn't work with this program because there are just way too many variables involved in creating motion content).

Like many Focal books, it is very well produced in terms of material quality, layout, typography and the like... and the writing is easy to understand. There are probably 10 different ways you could organize an After Effects reference book but here again I found that what was presented to me worked very well. The figure examples are plentiful where things get more complex, and the types of examples relevant to a typical AE workflow where you're doing a mix of things like animating objects to follow a pre-determined path or handling far-out text effects and background textures that seem to "move and evolve" as time passes.

If you can get through this book and not feel like you are a more capable motion graphics editor, you're doing something wrong. While I don't recommend relying on only one book to learn AE (anymore than I do with Photoshop) because ultimately you'll need a mix of books, videos and other mediums to really learn AE over time... if i had to rely on only one, this would be it for sure.

It was recommended by my instructor and has proven to be a healthy resource for knowledge of both after effects and motion graphics. Definitely the first book I would by if you are trying to learn MG.

What a real treat, anyone interested in matte painting or the history of those out of this world shots on the big screen, this book is a must. I can't put it down. Get this one!

Matte artists have always helped bring a movie to life, and until now, they were never really appreciated. In this beautifully layed-out book by critically-acclaimed writer Mark Cotta Vaz and insider Craig Barron, the history of matte painting is finally revealed. Living in Los Angeles, California, I was given the truly remarkable privilege to tour these once forbbiden glass artist studios and see a first hand account of what it was like to be part of the movie-making process. Matte artists have been such great assets to the movie studios in terms of saving a lot of time and money during what would be an other-wise laborious task to build an intricate set. What's great about this book is that it shows comparison views of a shot before and after a matte painting is included. Such famed directors as Martin Scorsese, James Cameron, and George Lucas have used the artwork of these amazing artists to create worlds that would be almost impossible to make without. The book also includes a companion cd about the matte paintings, and includes scenes from movies such as "Star Wars," "Casino," and "Titanic." If you hadn't known these were paintings, you would never have guessed. Finally, these truly genuine artists are credited, and Hollywood owes many thanks to the epic scenes they were able to create! So to all matte artists everywhere, THANK YOU!

I bought this book to mainly look at the pictures and thats mainly what I did. The writing of the book was so well done and knowledgable that I read a bit of it also. Before looking/reading at this book I believed that matte paintings were used for primarely sci-fi, fantasy, and other incredible landscape shots. This is not the case as most matte paintings are used for houses, interiors, street scenes, and many other shots that I never would have guessed they were used for. To think that all these years I've been fooled watching so many movies and seeing matte paintings and never even realizing it. An eye opening book to say the least.

I received this book last week, and had time over the weekend to enjoy a lot of it's contents.
Matte Paintings have always been my favourite aspect of SFX, so this book was one I have been waiting for. The price put me off, so I spent longer than I should deciding to buy it.
I diddn't need to worry. If you love the art of the Matte Painting, this is the one book you'll need, and the only one you'll need. From interviews with the Matte Artists themselves, and a complete history of the Matte painting, it simply covers all you'd want. A CD rom is included which compliments the book perfectly.
A beautiful book- Well written, and with the quality of layout that a subject like this deserves. Well done to the creators of this excellent publication!

I grew up in L.A. in the 50's and 60's when it was not OK to discuss matte painting as the studios did not want people to know that they really didn't go on location to film in exotic places. When people asked what my father did for a living, I said he was in "special effects." Then they would say "So, he blows up things?" "No, he paints in things that aren't there..."

Now, everyone can see what it is that he did for so long. He paints in things that aren't there. The authors did a fantastic job of explaining and demonstrating the incredible art of matte painting. Now I have the book to show my kids and others who never quite understood what it was that my father did. Also, this book has a great picture of him dancing with Betty Grable!

I received the book quickly and it was in good condition but the book is strange and very long, but I'm getting through it.

I just finished your book I loved it so much that I just didn't want it to end.
I related to just about everything you went through. My parents also went through the war as Partisans in the woods of Poland and White Russia and then came to Montreal.
Thank you so much for writing this book. I must confess that
I laughed and cried but the last 100 pages of your book brought back so many memories for example singing to my father on his death bed \"OYFIN PRIPITCHEK BRENT A FAYERL, UN IN SHTUB IS HEYS. UN DER REBELY LERNT KLEYNE KINDERLEKH DEM ALDF-BEZ.\"
I saw you at Lynn University when you were in Boca Raton and had the
pleasure of meeting you and Fabrizio,gee I hope I remembered his name, but you know who I mean the cute Italian. You signed my book and I will cherish it forever.
Again, thank you so very much this book really made a difference to me.
Lots of Luck, from one survivor to another Sarah Johnson.

Great book! The stories you related, made me laugh and cry with you.It was truly a walk down memory lane. You have successfully memorialized Cote St Luc, forever.Sheila

Hanala Stadner writes an amazing narative of her life, beginning with a childhood of loneliness and need. Her parents, survivors of the Holocaust, do not seem to be able to understand her travails which include normal childhood growing pains. She bitterly leaves home and is able to work as a semi-employed actor. Her pain follows her as she stumbles into drug and alcohol abuse. Just when the reader is totally disgusted with her, she begins a long road to recovery and self discovery. This well written book will make you laugh and make you cry. I would heartily recommend it.

Stadner's book is well written and fun. She tells her stories in writing even better than she delivers them in person, and this book is loaded with all kinds of memories, each one tugging at a different heart string. She hits home over and over, and that familiarity makes it even more entertaining. At times, I found myself agreeing with her out loud, or calling my sister to remind her of something I hadn't thought of in years. I laughed, I cried, I enjoyed every minute of it.

Everyone in America needs to read this book!! Anyone in America that has a liver problem, from Hepatitis C to liver cancer can get get better from taking this product. We have been to Dr. Berkson's office, and he is a marvelous Dr.!! You should have some kind of review to let people know about this book.

If you've heard of alpha-lipoic acid and its being extremely helpful in treating diabetes, liver illnesses, mercury intoxications, or as an anti-oxidant, you may want to know more about it before taking it. This book, by Burt Berkson (MD, PhD) is an excellent answer to your worries. Berkson describes how he got to be interested by alpha-lipoic acid, it's safety record ("FDA"-approved in Germany for 50 years), it's uses, and, perhaps most interesting, his views on medicine.

Not only does Dr. Berkson come across as a very competent and compassionate physician, especially in regards to lipoic acid, on which he is America's leading expert, he is also an outspoken critic of what he correctly sees as problems in modern American medicine. In the first chapter, he describes how he almost ended his career when he saved the life of a dying patient against the wishes of his boss, and how he would do it again. No insurance policy and few doctor's visits can provide the benefits of his invaluable candor, which serves to immunize his readers with a large and healthy level of cynicism about medicine as it is practiced in the United States today.

One thing that this book does not contain is advice on what dosage of lipoic acid to ingest. This may be a sign of great wisdom; in Germany, where Dr. Berkson worked at the Max Planck Institute, and where lipoic acid has been on the market for decades, neurologists who exclude a potential heavy metal poisoning in their patients are not regarded with the sort of wonderment that mermaids and unicorns otherwise garner. Those with a heavy metal problem can suffer some extremely unwelcome and perhaps permanent side-effects if they take the sort of dosages that others easily tolerate. By not giving any advice on this subject, Dr. Berkson certainly isn't giving any bad advice on this subject.

I heartily recommend this book.

Dr. Berkson has put his research and findings into terms that all can
understand. I had hepititis and recovered, but suffered from minor
liver malfunctions which triggered constipation and poor digestion of
fats. Merely the addition of Alpha Lipoic Acid has helped restore my
liver function and aleviated my problems. I've gained much usable
information from his book about preventing heart disease, a family
problem....I am thankful that I have finally found a supplement that
has helped me with those continuing liver related problems.

As a two time cancer survivor, I wish I had found this book 10 years ago and I might not have had to go through all I have. The author is a wonderful physician and writes in a manner that is clear and understandable. The material is so important for anyone to maintain a high antioxidant status for overall health. Thank you, Dr. Berkson.

If only the author had used twenty pages to say what he has said in whole, long, 155 page book. It is too laborious to get essential facts- like optimum dosage for example is nowhere to be found easily, if at all. He knows his stuff, but must it take so long and why no summary page? Also it is a one size fits all- how do people survive all the diseases he outlines without this potion?

I applaud this book for bringing attention to this topic. The American way is to create problems, then sell you something to solve your problems. Like routine circumcisions, then later in life taking Viagra and other various sexual enhancers. Kudos to Ronald Goldman. It's good to see him pick up the pieces after his daughter's murder.

I purchase this book as a present to those I know are about to have a baby boy.
Six years ago I presented this to my son and his wife. They were being badgered into circumcising by the doctors and hosptal. I credit this information for savng my grandson from being damaged for life.

"Just as expected, seventy-two percent of the male students are circumcised. At Clem's party I had been reminded of the promiscuous way in which American doctors circumcise males in childhood, a practice I highly disapprove of...it constitutes, in [an] advertiser's phrase, 'a rape of the penis'. Until the forties, only the upper or educated classes were circumcised in America. The REAL people were spared this humiliation. But during the affluent postwar years the operation became standard procedure, making money for doctors as well as allowing the American mother to mutilate her son in order that he might never forget her early power over him..."

Gore Vidal
MYRA BRECKINRIDGE

If there was ever an issue that metaphorically encapsulates the Achilles heel of Western society, it turns out that this may be it, above all others. The title of this incredible, clearly thought out, brilliantly edited and masterfully written book may lead you to believe that it is all about a seemingly benign issue. Make no mistake: what this book is actually about are

1) the actual definition of the surgical practice and

2) the social, economic, sociological, psychological and anthropological forces that go into us seeing it as other than what it is.

Dr. Goldman effectively teaches in this book, from the anthropological perspectives of such luminaries as Ashley Montagu and Margaret Mead, that circumcision is a practice that is older than all recorded history and religions. (The practice was actually regimented and ritualized by the Egyptian priests and pharohs, millenia before the advent of Judaism.) Yet the practice, in and out of a religious context, continues. Dr. Goldman shows us from the purely medical/health/surgical perspective (with an avalanche of evidence and corroborative opinions in the medical profession) that circumcision is a practice that has little to no medical health value, and was once actually called a cure for masturbation and cancer by last century's medical community. Yet the implausible and unscientific theories justifying its existence keep coming up, and the practice continues. Dr. Goldman shows us, amazingly, from an internationally sociological and cultural perspective, that the United States is the only industrialized nation in the modern world that has the overwhelming majority of its infant boys be subjected to the practice. Yet the practice continues. Dr. Goldman shows us, from an ethics in medicine perspective, that circumcision is a practice that, by virtue of the harm done to infant children physically and psychologically--with little to no up side beyond the money going to obstetricians and pediatricians for the procedure--completely rips to shreds any conception of the Hippocratic oath and turns the entire life of any doctor who performs them routinely into a profoundly dangerous lie.

Yet, the practice continues.

It is an old anthropologist's dictum that the most important thing to know about a culture is what it takes for granted. Dr. Ronald Goldman, with CIRCUMCISION, THE HIDDEN TRAUMA gives us not only the hidden, true anatomy of the surgical process, along with the actual complete and (heretofore to my knowledge in everyday America) unknown anatomy of the human male, but also the secret architecture of the social forces and weaknesses that make up the ritualised American denial of the inherently violent nature of its existence. Dr. Goldman shows in this both innovatively and exhaustively researched book that the entire surgical procedure of circumcision depends on the total invalidation of the soul of the infant male child and their personhood for its existence in medicine. Only paleolithic theories of the child feeling no pain and suffering no lasting or remembered traumatic side effects from the procedure--WHICH ROUTINELY INVOLVES THE USE OF NO ANESTHESIA--justify its medical practice; and fly in the face of all kinds of logic while doing so.

I along with most of the country have never seen actual pictures of or witnessed a circumcision; part of the reason I saw no problem with it when I picked this book up. The *pictures* in this book alone of children in the process of being circumcised, however, will change your way of looking at the practice forever--as it has changed me and mine forever. Picture an adult male going through the process of circumcision, complete with his hands, arms and legs forceably bound in industrial strength velcro to keep him from being able to interrupt a surgical process performed on his perfectly healthy sex organ against his will--again, *without anesthesia*--and the first thought that will probably come to your mind is one of two things: the electric chair, or Nazi Germany.

Which by definition takes away the mystery of how BOTH in the 20th century could have come into existence.

I discovered Dr. Goldman's work in the bibliography of one of the seminal books by the psychologist champion of the human child Alice Miller (author of, among other classics in the field, FOR YOUR OWN GOOD, BANISHED KNOWLEDGE and PRISONERS OF CHILDHOOD--THE DRAMA OF THE GIFTED CHILD). Between this, Alice Miller's work, and William Dufty's SUGAR BLUES, I feel as if I have the answer to why our culture can move so far forward and fall so far backward on the evolutionary ladder at the same time. The door separating Western culture from the embrace of higher consciousness, as told to us by poets, mystics,yogis, leaders of ancient religions, transpersonal psychologists and theoretical physicist/philosophers, is our view of the spiritual and physical completeness of the human child--and the actions we take upholding that view.

That door is locked with a dead bolt called CIRCUMCISION. And even unlocking the door, as Europe has already shown us, does not by definition mean opening it. But without unlocking it opening it isn't posible.

Read this if you have to in small doses, but read it; it will change the way you view our world.

Because this unique book exposes significant issues about male circumcision that medical professionals and religious practitioners have long tried to ignore, I cannot recommend it highly enough, not only for the victims of this questionable medical procedure and religious rite, but also for the perpetrators and potential perpetrators of a primitive cultural tradition that causes great harm in our society. As a victim of neonatal genital mutilation myself, I have spent much of my life trying to come to terms with both the physical and psychological trauma involved, in part, by surveying the relevant literature on the topic. However, while I have found many books and articles that deal unapologetically with the physical trauma involved in both male and female genital cutting, as well as the psychological trauma that accompanies female circumcision, this book is, to my knowledge, the first and only published resource that delves into the psychological trauma to which males are subjected through this bizarre procedure. In his well-written study and analysis of the psychological aspects of male circumcision, Dr. Goldman, who is himself Jewish, indeed uncovers the hidden trauma that medical professionals and religious practitioners have so long denied, and he gives voice to those many victims of male circumcision whose post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms have been dismissed by those same professionals and practitioners for whom questioning the wisdom and safety of an age-old ritual would be self-indicting. In this country, the practice of female circumcision has been outlawed because, as a tradition foreign to our Judeo-Christian heritage, its harmful results are deemed self-evident. Unfortunately, many more psychological studies and academic publications confirming Dr. Goldman's findings will probably be necessary before the harmful results of male circumcision are finally accepted similarly as self-evident, and American males are given the same legal rights to genital integrity now granted to females through the U.S. legal system. Nonetheless, Dr. Goldman's book is a significant first step in providing a clear rationale for granting men equal protection under the law.

I just want to read a book that is fair about circumcision. Unfortunately, they don't exist. All books are either extremely for or against. This one is no different.