This book is filled with wonderful Mother Teresa thoughts on prayer. It also contains some beautiful prayers that can easily be incorporated in to daily prayer. The collection of thoughts is concise, on point and organized effectively. Mother Teresa never disappoints.

While this book is wonderful, it is not better than "No Greater Love" by Mother Teresa. "No Greater Love" remains my number one book of her wisdom.

Prayer speaks from the heart and when done well, it can bypass our inherent prejudices and resistance. Mother Teresa knew this, and her inspirational words, just as her prayers, transcend any faith position and speak to everyone. Dr. Anthony Stern, in his inspiring book brings this great master of prayer to the average reader. Everything Starts from Prayer presents Mother Teresa's own words in an arrangement both accessible and thought provoking.

As I was reading the book I was struck by the scope and the depth of prayer that the book reveals through Mother Teresa's beautiful and powerful prose. I realized that besides being an incredibly charitable woman, who devoted her life to help the poor and the sick, she was a great master of praying, with inner knowledge and experience that surpass many other spiritual teachers. Dr. Stern arranged Mother Terasa's prayers in a way that illustrates the nature and the process of prayer and illuminates the many variations and subtleties of praying. Mother Teresa addressed many aspects of prayer, from child-like prayer to healing prayer and even to the resistance to prayer. It is particularly instructive to read the way she addressed the special pain and loneliness of modernity. Her insights into the problems of the ailing psyche from a spiritual point of view are most interesting. When talking about the narcissistic self, she tells us that there is no place for spirit where there is only self. Even God cannot put anything into what is already full. (page 54). Unlike some current spiritual ideas, which divorce spirituality from morality, Mother Teresa teaches us that spirituality and morality go hand in hand. It is easy to be proud and harsh and selfish--so easy. But we have been created for better things (page 12).

I recommend this book for anyone who takes prayer seriously, whether new to the practice or experienced. We can all learn a great deal from Mother Teresa and use her experience to further enrich our own prayer lives and learn about our (spiritual) selves. It is a book which should be read not just once, but used repeatedly as a companion to the praying person, a resource that one can refer to when looking for guidance and inspiration.

The bibliography at the end of the volume includes books on prayer from different religious perspectives and the resource list will be useful for those who are searching for in-depth experience of prayer in a monastic setting.

Mark R. Banschick, MD Adjunct Professor, Hebrew Union College

A sweet book which covers the subject of reaching God through prayer. It is stripped of the boundaries of formal religion and gets to the heart of the matter: How to make contact with God,How to pray, Why you should pray and the nature of prayer. Mother Teresa's words are simple but rich, clear and evocative. I will return to this book again and again for guidance. The book is simple but not simplistic. It raises the spirt and guides the soul.

An excellent, straight-forward guide to who's who in world mythology, complete with illustrations. I couldn't have written my book without it! However, it does not give a complete listing of all lesser gods, fairies and other devine entities. Only the better known ones.

Something that has always peeked my interest is the stories of ancient gods and the legends of past. The book covers those topics and many more. The amazing entries in this encyclopedia by Anthony Mercatante is nothing short of amazing.

From A to Z you'll find interesting clips about different gods, goddesses, myths, legends, heroes and villains. You find Roman, Greek, Norse, Jewish, Buddhist, Hindu, Muslim and Christian traditional portraits of gods, saints and demons all in this 800 plus page book.

Assembled is the most complete set of entries I have ever seen. Am impressive list with an even more impressive explanation of each entry. The author has really done his homework with book. This would make an excellent reference manual for every student and teacher.

Check out Facts on files website for more books in all kinds of categories. While this book is a little on the pricey side, I assure you, you'll be hard pressed to find any book that even comes close to this one, this one is in a class by itself.

Clearly, one of the most concise resources on the subject available. Layout was very good, with defined entries that would help both those serious students of mythology and folklore and the casual observer equally.

Perhaps the best thing to say about this particular resource is that it attempts to present a concise point of reference for the more famous aspects of mythos and legend over the entire span of world culture. The book is not as concise with specifics as some would like, but it does provide a factual representation based upon analysis of the folklore rather than popular culture's influence, and that in itself is worth the price.

Although this book is centered on the matter of Mark Robarts and his moral dilemma, we also encounter his sister, Lucy. She is one who is presented to us as a real Christian woman. She takes on herself the care of Mrs Crawley who is suffering with a deadly fever. Lucy is the ideal woman, beautiful, charitable, caring. She deserves the very best and is rewarded for her efforts by becoming Lady Lufton. Mark on the other hand, suffers a great deal largely from ill-advised friendship with Sowerby. Mark wants to achieve status by ill-advised social connections. Thankfully he is saved from ruin by his friends.

(...) Framley Parsonage speaks SO directly about a subject which is so integrated into our lives that it is hardly questioned in our society, namely ambition.

The last hundred years of American society seem to speak of the primacy of "progress" as a driving force. Just look at the current discussion of flat economic indicators. God forbid that we only produce THE SAME as last year. But I digress. Trollope, in his own masterly way, writes of the temptations and difficulties which accompany ambition. And, much to my delight as a reader, he shows how his main character actually overcomes those difficulties by facing his previous moral failings head on.

(...)

Young clergyman Mark Robarts receives a choice parish, thanks to Lady Lufton, the mother of one of his university friends. However, Robarts, though newly and happily married, is not content to settle into the life of a country minister. Lured by a wealthy and worldly set of new acquaintances, he finds himself pushed into living beyond his means and, worse yet, being held legally responsible for another man's bad debts.

Meantime the young Lord Lufton has been smitten by the charms of Robarts' sister Lucy, much to the displeasure of his aristocratic mother. It take a great act of magnanimity on Lucy's part - helping the impoverished Crawley family during a crisis (the Crawleys are more prominent in "The Last Chronicle of Barset") - to finally convince Lady Lufton that Lucy is worthy of her son.

This beautifully written novel contrasts the simpler integrity, though sometimes snobbish values, of the old ways with the more meretriciously glamorous lives of a newer society. As usual, Trollope has produced a multitude of characters whose motives are completely credible, and his depiction of the different social groups provides a most vivid kaleidoscope of Victorian life and attitudes. As always, there is nothing outdated in Trollope's sure insight into human nature.

Over the past several years there has been an immense body of literature, fiction as well as non-fiction, devoted to the topic of the Mafia. In fact, colleges are even offering courses analysing Mafia Literature.

It seems we have an insatiable appetite when it comes to reading about these wise guys.

The newest book to be unleashed is D. Lea Jacobs first work of non-fiction, Friend Of The Family. According to the inside flap of the book, Jacobs is an established author of historical fiction, writing under a different name. In view of Jacobs' previous writing experiences, it is not surprising that the book reads like an adventure novel rather than a non-fiction tale.

The crux of the story centres around two of the most famous successful undercover criminal operations in the annals of the FBI, the Coldwater and Pizza II operations.The main protagonist is the FBI's first and probably one of the best undercover agents to work against the Mafia, Ed Robb, known as Tony Rossi to the Mob.

It was Ed Robb who in fact pioneered the tactics, techniques, and procedures that continue to guide today's FBI covert operations.

At times reading the multitude of facts, stories and players, seemed like I was watching a spider weaving its web and eventually capturing its prey.

Although, I must admit, it was very often difficult to keep track of all of the names tossed around. However, thankfully, to rectify this problem, an appendix at the back of the book lists the cast of characters. It also indicates to which Mafia family each of the bad guys owed allegiance and who were the good guys.

Apart from describing and analysing the various sting operations of the FBI, the book also explores the conflicts faced by the main protagonist.

The mental stability of Ed Robb played an extremely important role in the overall undercover operation.
As mentioned in the book, " a deep undercover penetration could change forever the mental makeup of the participant. Like the death of a loved one, a wrenching divorce, or any other extremely stressful emotional trauma, they are never forgotten and the effects are permanent."

There is no doubt that the facts and insights Jacobs presents are by and large absorbing, and often unexpected. We are reminded that behind the tough guy mask of these criminals are often paranoid personalities who can concoct infantile schemes leading to their downfall.
One moment they may be gentle, funny or sad, and in the next moment they believe they are invincible and that nothing can harm them.

Over the past several years there has been an immense body of literature, fiction as well as non-fiction, devoted to the topic of the Mafia. In fact, colleges are even offering courses analysing Mafia Literature. It seems we have an insatiable appetite when it comes to reading about these wise guys.

The newest book to be unleashed is D. Lea Jacobs first work of non-fiction, FRIEND OF THE FAMILY. According to the inside flap of the book, Jacobs is an established author of historical fiction, writing under a different name. In view of Jacobs' previous writing experiences, it is not surprising that the book reads like an adventure novel rather than a non-fiction tale.

The crux of the story centres around two of the most famous successful undercover criminal operations in the annals of the FBI, the Coldwater and Pizza II operations. The main protagonist is the FBI's first and probably one of the best undercover agents to work against the Mafia, Ed Robb, known as Tony Rossi to the Mob. It was Ed Robb who in fact pioneered the tactics, techniques, and procedures that continue to guide today's FBI covert operations.

At times reading the multitude of facts, stories and players, seemed like I was watching a spider weaving its web and eventually capturing its prey. Although, I must admit, it was very often difficult to keep track of all of the names tossed around. However, thankfully, to rectify this problem, an appendix at the back of the book lists the cast of characters. It also indicates to which Mafia family each of the bad guys owed allegiance and who were the good guys.

Apart from describing and analysing the various sting operations of the FBI, the book also explores the conflicts faced by the main protagonist. The mental stability of Ed Robb played an extremely important role in the overall undercover operation. As mentioned in the book, " a deep undercover penetration could change forever the mental makeup of the participant. Like the death of a loved one, a wrenching divorce, or any other extremely stressful emotional trauma, they are never forgotten and the effects are permanent."

There is no doubt that the facts and insights Jacobs presents are by and large absorbing, and often unexpected. We are reminded that behind the tough guy mask of these criminals are often paranoid personalities who can concoct infantile schemes leading to their downfall. One moment they may be gentle, funny or sad, and in the next moment they believe they are invincible and that nothing can harm them.

review by Norman Goldman

I have not as of yet read the entire book, only excerpts from it, but I am sure that it will be amazing. This incredible story is about my Grandfather, Ed Robb!

Gandhi explains in Hind Swaraj some of his fundamental ideas on how to obtain Home Rule in India. One aspect of Indian society Gandhi criticizes is the relationship between Muslims and Hindus. Gandhi tries to convey the idea that religious identity does not constitute for nationality. He feels that in order to obtain swaraj, India's people must unify themselves as a nation. By disbanding disagreements between the two religions, with acceptance and without imposition, Gandhi implies that what is important- Mother India- can be saved. Both Hindus and Muslims should stop seeking concessions from the British, begin the swadeshi movement (Indian-made goods), and that a universal language (Hindi) would also help the cause. Another factor which will lead to swaraj is passive resistance. (Gandhi launched the Civil Disobedience Movement 1931-34). Unlike Nehru, Gandhi opposed modernization/industrialization. These views, as well as views about education and economic reform are also included.

This book is simply awesome. I call this one of the best books I've ever read. It presents Gandhi's views lucidly and you understand the clarity of thought and spirituality of a person who lead India to freedom.
To all Indians who are unaware of their own civilization, this book also contains portions where Gandhi gives reasons for why he regards Indian civilization to be the best. (I accept that I'm being chauvinistic).
However, this book is not meant for Indians alone, it is for people who wish to be open-minded, who dare to think outside the box, who wish to understand the world, mainly who wish to search for the all-pervading truth.

Satyameva Jayathe (Truth always wins)

This excellent new edition of Hind Swaraj fulfills the needs of all readers, either for private and academic purposes. Extraordinary is especially the introduction which covers all major subjects which should be taken into account for understanding "Hind Swaraj", e.g. wesetern and eastern influences on Gandhis thoughts, the London & South African years etc. The text itself is issued with a lot of explaining footnotes which also refer on the original (written in Gujarati). It's so far the first edition I know which compares between the english and gujatati text ! The only, minor manko might be the fact that the South African years are treated rather short, but the bibliography and advices for further reading lead the ambitious reader to new sources.

Great local color, humorous outlook, authentic reminiscences ofrural medicine.

I really enjoyed this book. Nothing funnier than truth, and this author knows first-hand what it's like to encounter the Maine yankee in all of his integrity, skepticism, and humor.

Very interesting to see how medicine has changed for the 'Family Doctor' over the past century. Imagine making 'housecalls' in the middle of the night during a snow storm, or nearly getting run off the road by clergy to reach a dying man first.

This book is well worth the read for anyone who's interested in the 'old' Maine and the life of a country doctor. Good Work Dr Betts!

I really enjoyed this tale. The author has a neat sense of humor, even when dealing with lots of difficulties on the job. It made me realize what it was like for a general practice back in those days, and likely for todays' rural doctors.

I bought this book because I wanted a reference guide for all of the health concerns I have and may have. Its incredibly thorough and its easy to use. The only criticism I have is that no matter what symptoms you have, the book's answer to everything is to see a doctor. It might be helpful for them to go more into detail on what you can do about something before you go in, or home remedies.

A visit to the doctor always makes us very conscious of how much time is wasted. The time you take off from work, the time you spend in the waiting room the time you spend waiting for the doctor to come and actually talk to you for a few minutes. Then we find ourselves sudden incapable of describing accurately our aches and pains. This all happens after we finally decide to go see a doctor because we are not sure if we know enough to deal with the problem on our own. Calling your mother to find out what to do is not always an option. The "Harvard Medical School Family Health Guide" is a great help for dealing with health concerns in this Era of Managed Care. The volume deals with information about diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of disease in all stages of life. The information is presented in a very user-friendly manner, with over 900 illustrations, covering: (1) questions to discuss with your doctor; (2) first-aid and emergency advice; (3) symptom charts to determine if and when to call the doctor; (4) home remedies and alternative medicine; and (5) drug-interaction charts to prevent dangerous drug-drug, drug-food, and drug-herb interactions.

I have used this book to save myself from a trip to the doctor, to identify a rash on one of my children, and to better understand my father's hearing problems. This "Family Health Guide" has proven itself both useful and easy to use, and I am someone who never took even biology in school and who therefore finds medicine to be as mysterious as any other science. Every household should have this book, or something very much like it. One final advantage of this particular volume is that this "book" never goes out of date because you can get page and index searched for updated information on every entry from a website.

This guide is the only general medical guide you will need for your family. It has great symptom charts, pictures, explanations, information, & instructions for thousands of situations. It is an emergency medical guide, a compilation of articles by medical experts, & an all-round great source of medical information. I love this book! We're buying more for presents.

Mr. Samuelson is most undeniably a great economist, and a great liberal, but from the distant past. As a textbook writer I find him very poor; even irrelevant. He has a way of presenting the subject in a technical/mathmatical way that leaves the reader no better off at all at understanding and discussing the basic economic issues of the day. Besides that he was a remarkably biased teacher/textbook writer. He will perhaps go down in history as the man who said that Russia was a great example of how well a planned economy can perform (even though it really just impoverished its citizens) and that Milton Freidman's work was mistaken (even though it finally became intellectually dominant and was used by the Fed to create the current economic miracle). If you had a choice to spend two semesters plowing through Samuelson or a weekend reading "Capitalism and Freedom" or "Understanding The Difference Between Democrats and Republicans" you'd be wise to pick the later. You'd learn 10 times as much in a fraction the time.

Absolutely easy to read and understand! I never thought I could actually "enjoy" reading about the subject before I came across this book.

I was amazed to discover how good the original edition of Samuelson's classic economics text is. Virtually everything in it is just as relevant today as it was in 1948. Of special interest to me was chapter 10, Personal Finance and Social Security, for the light it sheds on the current debate about retirement income security. I think Samuelson ECONOMICS 1 ed. would be my textbook of choice for a course in introductory economics.

This book was great I had fun reading it

This was a really good book, considering it had hardly anything to do with who Gloria is as a person, but of other information that is ALL new to me. Is this book authorized, because I'm just really interested to know if that information is accurate. Good Book.

I read half of this book, since this book is half the English version, and the other half is the Spanish version. Being a fan of hers, I found it very interesting. It isn't all flattering to Gloria, for it tells of some of her legal disputes, financial disputes, and arguements with band associates and relatives. It gives some insight as to how she got to be such a famous rock star, and some of the reasons people admire her so much.

Living in the Netherlands 30 km's from the dutch coastline it's easy for me to take a look at the remnants of the Atlantic Wall. I bought this book because I wanted more details about specific parts of the Atlantic Wall and this book gave me just that. The details on the bunkers are numerous and there are a lot of pictures inside. I always thought that the Atlantic Wall was a formidable obstacle but when you read this book you can only conclude that the allied armies were lucky because the best defences were in the wrong place. The only thing that's missing in this book is the complete northern section of the Atlantic Wall (Belgium, the Netherlands and Denmark) so in my eyes this book is incomplete. Especially in the Netherlands there are a few very rare bunkers left and they are still in good condition. This book is the first of an entire series so I hope that the other authors won't make the same mistake that Anthony Saunders made.

Patrick Koestal

Hitler's Atlantic Wall is an excellent overview of the design, construction and defense of the German fortifications along the French coast in 1940-1944. The Atlantic Wall was intended to reduce German military weakness in the West and thereby deter or impede an Allied invasion. The book consists of nine chapters, including detailed sections on the design and building of the wall, the labor force and a very detailed section covering all the major batteries. Numerous excellent photographs and sketches of bunker designs supplement the text. There are two excellent appendices, which list all the different types of bunkers and all the major coastal batteries in France. Note that this book is for the specialist, primarily for military historians interested in greater detail on the Atlantic Wall or persons planning to visit D-Day sites in France, not for readers interested in a general historical perspective. There are only two weaknesses in the book, the most serious being a lack of any maps. The other weakness is that the book only discusses the Atlantic Wall in France, but does not discuss German coastal fortifications in Belgium, Holland or Norway.

There are a number of interesting statistics in this book. Construction on the Atlantic Wall began in late 1942 and by the summer of 1944, 11,500 bunkers of various sizes had been built at a cost of about $1.5 billion. About 5% of Germany's steel production went into the project. About 250,000 workers - mostly forced labor - were used in the project, but only 15,000 were German. The Todt Organization, a semi-independent agency under the Ministry of Armaments, built most of the wall and the German army, navy and air force had little control over the construction efforts. Indeed, the entire project was a tangle of bureaucratic and organizational in-fighting, since the wall was mostly designed by the three services, built by Todt, out-fitted by other organizations and finally manned by the services. There was little standardization in construction and over 43% of everything built was non-standard.

While the author's technical analysis is excellent, his conclusions are more contentious. He states, "to have built so much in so short a time along such a distance of coastline was indeed astonishing,..[but] it was built by slave labor.. [and] the truth is that it was ill-conceived." Noting the wall's failure, he states, "it took two years to build and two hours to breach. And once breached, the rest of it largely became redundant." Actually, the Germans never intended that the wall would defeat the invasion in itself, only that it would buy time for mobile reserves to move up and counterattack. There is little doubt that the resistance nests on Omaha Beach on 6 June 1944 brought the US landings to a virtual halt for several vital hours and the failure of the German armor to respond quickly was not the fault of the fortress troops but rather, Hitler, Rommel and von Runstedt. Also, the author's assertion that the wall tied up large amounts of German manpower in static defense and was a waste of resources is incorrect. The German army in France had been stripped to the bone because of the needs of the Russian Front, and there was no choice but to use fortifications as a combat multiplier. The argument that fixed defenses are a waste of time and resources could only be made by someone who has never been under air attack or artillery bombardment; the Germans knew that they were going to have to face an invasion someday. Had the Germans built more panzer divisions with that steel, as the author argues, most of those tanks would have gone to the Russian Front and the second rate divisions in France would have been fully exposed. Without the Atlantic Wall - imperfect though it might be - the Allied invasion probably would have achieved all it's D-Day objectives and then some. Furthermore, the delay and heavy casualties caused when the Allies began clearing the fortified ports had a larger effect on Allied strategy than the author suggests. The troops left behind in the ports were mostly low quality, but they tied down Allied troops and required an inordinate amount of firepower to eliminate. The author's contention that the wall was instigated by Hitler's "bunker mentality" is rather a cheap shot as well, since any military man would have recommended improving coastal defenses. The fact is that Germany was a resource-poor nation and it had to use reinforced concrete and slave labor in a desperate effort to keep retribution at bay.

A number of books have been written on the topic of the Atlantic Wall and many simply provide the standard lists of bunker types and weapons with little else to fill in the gaps. The last good book on the topic in English was by Partridge, but Saunder's work takes a new approach and adds to the literature. In addition to the background information, the author has given a good description of the methods used for creating concrete for fortifications and the process on how the actual structures were constructed from creating the foundations to applying the camoflauge. Most books general ignore this and simply state the concrete was so many meters thick and certain features existed in the structure.
The book is primairly concerned with the sectors in France since this was where the Allies had contemplated their 2nd front. In addition to describing what the sectors included, the author gives a history of all of the fortresses from Royan to Dunkirk describing how they were reduced or neutralized.
There are only a few topics missing that might have been included such as the defenses of the Belgian coast and the Dutch islands such as Walchern since they became actively involved in the campaign. Although plans for every type of bunker built were not included, this would not have been practical in this type of book. The plans that are used are excellent and provide a good sampling. Many of the photos used seldom appear elsewhere or have never been used before and include many good examples of the fortifications during the war instead of after when they were disarmed and abandoned. The book provides a good history of the Atlantic Wall in France and serves as an excellent reference and I highly recommend it for the World War II enthusiast, military historians and those with a keen interest in fortifications.