What's really cool about this book in particular is that it has both "long" chapters and "very short" chapters where Gurumayi Chidvilasananda addresses a crucial Teaching in just a few words -- this makes this book very "user-friendly". With this book, I know that I ALWAYS have time to read something no matter how much time I actually have in front of me. Every chapter is life changing, especially the one "This Path is for the Courageous" where she addresses the fears and doubts that spiritual seekers may encounter in the course of their journey of disciplined Yogic practices. I have been studying Religion and Philosophy for quite a number of years now, and I must admit that having read almost all of Gurumayi's books and Muktananda's, I really understand why they are said to be amongst the most authentic and powerful Indian meditation masters of the century (cf. "Encylopedie des Religions, Bayard, Paris). Any sincere seeker should read this book.

I actually heard Gurumayi give the talk that is the title of this book and for the longest time I couldn't put courage and contentment together in a way that I understood, but I know that since hearing her talk and from reading the book and thinking about courage and contentment in all the many ways that the book discusses, I have come to a deeper understanding of courage and contentment. I would say that I am defintely a more contented person, because developing contentment is a priority now. And in many ways I am less fearful. I am in touch with my own courage. It's inside me for sure.

Definitely, reading the book and taking in what Gurumayi says and thinking about it and trying to live as she suggests, has made a tremendous difference for me.

What is remarkable, that I've just realized, is that "Courage and Contentment" really addresses fear and greed, which have run rampant in my life and, from what I can tell, are pretty much the causes of a lot of what's happening in the world today. So I think that Gurumayi, even though she comes from a very old tradition with roots in antiquity, is extremely contemporary and important, especially now.

This is a great book and she's a great writer and speaker.

I've been reading spiritual books for over 25 years and I can't think of another book that addresses the Spiritual Journey more directly or more profoundly. I relished reading this book. With "courage and contentment," our life is truly rewarding.

This book's insights are not only profound, but also inspiring. They motivated me and, yes, even empowered me to go deeper. My practices are stronger as a result of reading this powerful little book. What more could I ask? Thank you, Gurumayi!

Gives great definitions of basic but much confused terms like nation,culture, state etc. Beyond , it is wise, learned and and a real call for an end to hierarchy and domination , superior and inferior statuses in our thought and in society. We need more books like this that really critique American society.

"Culture of Intolerance: Chauvinism, Class, and Racism in the United States," by Mark Nathan Cohen, is a fascinating book. Cohen writes in a clear, accessible style, and handles controversial issues with a firm and non-sensational confidence.

Cohen begins by considering the impact of the controversial book "The Bell Curve: Intelligence and Class Structure in American Life," by Richard J. Herrnstein and Charles Murray. Cohen goes on to deconstruct prevailing notions about "race." He claims "'Races' as depicted in the popular imagination do not exist and have never existed" (chapter 2) and considers such scientific evidence as data about blood types in order to support his assertion.

Cohen examines human culture, language in particular, and considers the often arbitrary nature of cultural phenomena. Among the phenomena he discusses are "The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer," breast feeding, IQ tests, and the debate over "Ebonics." Overall, an intelligent, thought-provoking book.

this book is a must read for anyone interested in "race" and class issues and how they relate to our culture and society today. i was lucky enough to take a class with dr. cohen in which we of course used this book, and i to say it was an enriching experience. "culture of intolerance" lays down well thought out points without being totally bogged down and drawn out by experiments and scientific data. cohen easily says what needs to be said in a coherant and intelligent manner. this is perhaps one of the most thought provoking books i have read in quite some time. do not hesitate to pick up and read it today.

In a country where life is generally so ordered it often appears as atrophied as a bonsai,
when individual citizens go astray, they frequently go astray with a passion and conviction as dedicated to their crime as their neighbors are to pursuing the norms. Mark Schrieber's look at the dangerous and shadier faces of Japan seems to me, an American resident in Tokyo for the past 38 years, long overdue in providing readers with a better balanced picture of the world's second largest economy. Some of the stories are truly bizarre; some are frightening; some are somehow humorous or ironic. But all of them offer an extraordinarily keen insight into a society that is often praised for its
lack of crime and its stable social order. A walk on the dark side with Schrieber is an exciting eye-opener and fabulously exotic entertainment as well.

Schreiber's first book, Shocking Crimes of Postwar Japan, was not only as gripping a read as anything penned by Ann Rule or Jack Olsen, it served as an excellent corrective to the widespread notion of Japan as a society free of violence-prone scofflaws. As good as that book was, however, its follow-up is, in many ways, superior--richer in anecdote, more analytical, covering hundreds of years of history. For those readers with an
interest in Japan, *The Dark Side* is, it almost goes without saying, a must-have. But this is also a painlessly instructive volume for those with an interest in the more general, and always fascinatingly complex, subject of crime and punishment. The criminally inclined, like the poor, we have always had with us: thanks to the prodigiously well-informed Schreiber, we learn the myraid ways that one country has dealt with that unfortunate certainty.

The Dark Side is a great book for two reasons. First, it's a good introduction to the history of crime, crime prevention, and criminal justice in Japan that stretches over 400 years. Though it's not a scholarly book, Schreiber's facts are carefully researched and then presented with a light touch. This book is valuable to anyone seriously interested in Japan, supplying background and facts that can hardly be found in other sources (unless the reader wants to retrace the work that Schreiber has done). The author achieves what we look for in a good historian-he's put a human face on the facts.

The second reason I like the book is because of its genuinely interesting stories. Call me offbeat, but I'm fascinated by the details of such topics as Japan's experiments with executions (including the story of a man whose neck was so strong that he couldn't be strangled-he was pardoned because his executioners saw his survival as a sign of divine intervention). The book tells about famous bandits from 300 years ago, love suicides (and the penalties for survivors!), a Tokyo magistrate whose skill puts him in the same league as Sherlock Holmes, and the delightful Sada-san, who anticipated Lorena Bobbitt by about 60 years.

All in all, this book is a fine read and a fine work of popular history.

Buy it. Read it. Enjoy it. Gritty action and magic that fits well with the western setting. An exceptional book. Anyone that ever loved a western or a fantasy novel will find something to like.

The perfect escape for someone that's read too many fantasy novels filled with the same old quests and creatures. Mixes alternate history and historical characters with terrific, outlandish, wildly inventive plots. A story as big as the west!

This book was a page turner for me. Being a fan of westerns like "Hang 'em High" & "For a Few Dollars more", it had that gritty feeling . I really enjoyed his alternative look at the west and await his next book.. I only wish there were more books of this type today

This short but sweet story gives a hilarious look of the ever so familiar creature-the human through the recognizable figures...Adam and Eve.

Mark Twain presents the journals of Adam and Eve. In a satirical tone we see how they cope with new things. Eve names things and animals and is appreciative of nature. She comments on the moon which falls out of the sky and is brought back. She recalls her reflection in the water, but regards this as a separate entity all together. Adam, differently, builds shacks and searches the land. They eventually find a baby, Cain, who for Adam may be a fish, a bear, a kangeroo, or parrot. He eventually sees that the baby is, of course, a premature human.

There are many instances of humour. The reader is left to wonder how it might have been for the 'first' couple. Kierkegaard remarked that Adam and Eve must have felt trapped by their own freedom, not knowing what to do. I myself regard Adam and Eve as mythology but can see the curiosities of what a 'first couple' would have been like. Would they be happy? Would they be attractive? What were their conversations like? It gives to the imagination, undoubtedly. But like Twain, I can't take it seriously.

Mark Twain creates a fascinating experience of a man and a woman discovering each other, learning to live together in the real world, growing up toward being a whole being.

Throughout the entire delicious epic of the story, the two characters grow from unaware children to mature humans, able to make a living together through all difficulties.

Adam, on one side, starts regarding Eve in a critical way that reminds the rigorousness of an engineer and ends warmly with the calm passion given by a lifetime of togetherness.

Eve, on the other, depicted here as the essential expression of the womanhood, appears as a living miracle of contradictions. She is so playful, sunny, innocent and wildly alive, that Adam finally realizes he's happy to be sentenced to love her forever. It is worth saying that even the Sin is reconsidered here rather as an abuse of Eve's ingenuity than an assumed trespassing...

The friendly, optimistic approach to life, the art of putting strong, fundamental feelings into everyday's words, the gentle humor far from cheap melodrama, the subtle metaphor of the joy of living arising from each chapter made me to consider this novel the most touchy love story ever written.

This is a much needed study. The author looks at two groups -- African-Americans and Korean immigrants -- in the same business and offers important insights into why they have different outcomes in business development. One of the best treatments of the topic I have seen. Silverman goes beyond the typical stereotypes about minority business people, and explains how institutional arrangements impact groups differently. One of the best contemporary discussions of internal colonialism out there.

This book breaks new ground. It develops theory in this area while remaining readable and accessable to all readers. It is a must read for policy makers and others interested in designing urban economic development strategies that work. Recommendations for asset based approaches are natural extensions from this work, and the additional consideration of racism as a barrier to full participation in the economy expands the study's impact. As the author masterfully tells us in the introduction, "the invisible hand of the market cannot conceal color."

This is the most balanced treatment of this topic I have seen in a long time. The author escapes many of the pitfalls of earlier studies. He avoids the easy outs of social pathology explanations for racial and ethnic strife, and he offers a compelling view of the plight of minority (Black and Korean) entrepreneurs that takes broader structures into consideration. Superb.

This book is as good as it gets. If your going to record drums you MUST have this book. It covers everything. Room acoustics, microphone placement, drum prep, EQing and efects, the vibe of the studio and musicians, how to deal with problems of all kinds. I can't say enough about this great book. Buy it.

This is by far the best book I have ever read on recording drums. Never REALLY looked at in other books. I'm a drummer of 14 years and still learned new things not only about my drums, but recording them too. The information from the great drum artists at the end of each chapter was interesting and informative. A must buy!

I'm a chilean drummer and I'm studying reconding engieering and I hardly recommend this book as a guide to everyone who is involved in the recording busines, especially for drummers.

At the very least, Mark Strand is one of the most readable poets around. He's neither too obscure nor too obvious, and if his example were more widely followed then contemporary poetry might find a sizable audience. The poem "The Continuous Life" says everything that needs saying about the joys, hopes, fears, tensions, and emptiness of middle-class existence--or perhaps just plain human existence--and note how well the cascading rhythm matches its theme. It reminded me of James Salter's novel "Light Years," but Strand manages to compress his vision into a mere 28 lines. As an observer of the human comedy, he's quite perceptive.

My only major complaint with this volume is the somewhat repetitive subject matter--there is too much musing about the Nature of Art, too many descriptions of verdant scenery. Considering this was his first volume of original poetry in at least 10 years, we could have reasonably expected a little more variety. Or perhaps I'm being churlish. Don't let me discourage you: read this book.

I gave this book the desert isle test; would I want it on a desert island if my library were limited to 100 American poetry books from 1990 and since. The answer is yes, this is Strand's best, it honors beauty as only the most refined aesthete could do. In these pages you will find Strand's quivalents [my equivocal way of saying `equivalents'] to "Ode on Melancholy" and Stevens's "Sunday Morning" and "Comedian as the Letter C." In a word, this is an elegant volume, as elegant as it is romantic.

You can count the great american poets who are writing today on a thumbless hand with mark strand as the palm. The poem "The Continuous Life" has been refered to as the perfect poem and I've asked my grandchildren to read the final poem in the volume "The End" at my graveside. We need poetry as a people and as individuals and if you have the nature to hear and feel it,poetry is the only truth there is.

The concept of differential diagnosis in dermatology is a pretty tough one.This CD Rom atlas handles this with great finesse.The authors bring out the points of differentiation between various diseases in their own style .The Discussions cover almost all the major diseases that a physician sees in his practice and also some uncommon ones. The clinical pictures are good , but i was dissappointed with the brief discussions regarding therapy , but then again one must remember this is a book on differential diagnosis and not therapy.

I have been using this for the past one year , found it to be good in diagnosing common conditions.Definitely is a big help in my practice.

The CD ROM of the ATLAS OF DIFFERENTIAL DIAGNOSIS in DERMATOLOGY is worth the buy , with more than a thousand pictures along with facilities to zoom and shrink the pictures and a user friendly software through which one can navigate quickly between topics , pictures and the chapter guide(a sort of index for each chapter).The pictures are great , besides common diseases , photos of rare disorders are seen at the end of each chapter. Worth owning,and adding it in your collection.

This book provokes non-stop thought. It is impossible to read it and not have some emotional response. The principles discussed within are insightful and are relative to every person. I think it is improbable that anyone reading this book will not be affected in some way. The content is intense but is presented in a way that can be understood by anyone. The story line is great and interlaced are real lessons for life and the way it should be lived. My life has been changed by using the principles that are presented in Diving In. Anyone can benefit from reading this book and i recommend it to everyone that is interested in changing their lives for the better.

Excellent!! Will reference over and over. Mark touchs on some very serious inner issues in a fun easy reading book. The diving offers some reflective insights into the core of the book and kept my interest as I moved from session to session. It offers the reader the opportunity to go futher within to find their true self and shadows that inhibit their growth. It has givin me insights into how I can improve my business and personal interactions. Peace in who I am.

The modern age has forced us to become narrowly focused and compartmentalized in a small world. Isolation sets in and two inescapable questions haunt our thoughts: "Who am I?" And, "What should I be doing with my life?" Through a series of teaching sessions followed by times of reflection, DIVING IN offers valuable insights for moving beyond success toward significance--discovering who we are and answering our calling.