This book is a series of essays on the life and thoughts of Sophia. I can honestly say I have never had such an in depth look into someone else's head before. With candor and humor, you see life through Sophia's eyes. Many times you will shake your head at a shared truth; many times you will wonder how you missed the things she sees; and other times you will just blink alot and shrug your shoulders at this crazy lady. She holds nothing back in her essays even when she describes the search for her birth parents or dealing with her four kids. This book has everything; love, humor, quests, philosophy, sex, nature, food stamps, in short random snapshots of the human brain. Read this book. It will touch you in many ways.

Sophia wrote this book as part of her academic work for an undergraduate degree at the State University of New York. She worked under the guidance of Professor Thelma Jurgrau, who often gave her editorial advice which she was free to take or not. Most often, she did not. Professor Jurgrau was in no way responsible for the contents and should not be listed as a co-author.

Desperate seeking for the book has finally paid off. A must read by anyone into humorous, honest, alternative books.

Sophia could not have done worse with the previous publisher (Old Homestead). Thank goodness a better publisher came along.

I have always been into Myers-Briggs Typology, and I generally love books that involve self-awareness quizzes. As such, I bought this book as soon as I saw it. This sytem is different than Myers-Briggs, and in many ways it is easier to use and takes less effort to identify your "type." What I really like is that it is so much easier to accurately identify friends, coworkers and acquaintances with this system than with Myers-Briggs. As another reviewer noted, the distinctions between the four types are well defined enough that I didn't find two of my friends who are radically differnt were the same type, as happened with Myers-Briggs.

What I especially liked about this book is that the authors suggest that all four types are valuable, and the book gives suggestions as to how to develop the parts of you that are not as strong. As well, it is better than Myers Briggs in giving tips for how to deal with people of various types. The Do's and Don'ts are great, and I found them very accurate for myself and my friends.

I liked the idea of the simplified personalities as being as NORTH, SOUTH, EAST, and WEST. It is a fun tool to use on my friends. However, the idea of arbitrarily sterotyping people as being a personality type in their region didn't impress me. Also, some of the material repeats itself. Other than that, it was very good!

The Personality Compass is a clever and fun way of using the typical four quadrants to describe the four personality "types". This excellent book uses what may be called personality "attitude attributes" (the attitudes that others read from our actions) to accurately describe the four personality types, as others have done in the past, myself included. This excellent book uses these attitudes to describe the interaction we have with others-HOW we react. This book doesn't indicate WHY we react the way we do, but that isn't the purpose of this book and if the reader wanted to know why, they need to read other books. This book addresses the RATIONAL-GENETIC aspect of personality very well, but falls short in describing the emotional-genetic, rational-learned and emotional-learned aspects of total human personality, which also isn't the purpose of this book. Even so, anyone who wants to truly know WHAT their genetic-rational personality is and HOW they interact with others, this is definitely the best book on the market. Readers must look elsewhere for WHY we react the way we do using the genetic and learned, rational and emotional aspects of our total human personality.

My above opinions are based on 27 years of research with thousands of normal people to define what will come to be knows as "Symbiotic Personality", which indicates WHY we genetically and learned, rationally and emotionally react the way we do with our rational and emotional brains to carry on each day.

This book is a good read. I recommend it for the individuals interested in history, collaborative arts and innovative ideas and techniques in the performing arts.

Art Performs Life is a unique and authouritive guide to the works and view points of todays most prominent 3 American Choreographers. It emphasizes on the collision of dance and life. Their view points on the gendering of dance and technique are stated clearly.The political and social agenda the choregraphers use and their individuality in representing life on stage using major issues is brilliantly represented in this book. It is a must have for anyone interested in modern dance

This is a "warm and fuzzy" book. It doesn't get in your face or make you nervous. There are challenges, but so gently delivered you might not even notice. However, the gentle approach does nothing to lessen the impact of the truth, so joyfully shared, that God loves us forever, for always and no matter what. This is a great summer beach read or a gift to give to a friend who needs to know how much God loves them.

Boundless Love written by a wonderful group of women is an inspirational little book. It has everything you could ask for.
Humor, tears, spiritual lessons. I loved the stories that the women share about their personal experiences. Most of which I could easily relate. I highly recommend reading this book!

Thelma Klein has a story that you must read to understand. It will give you faith in the human ability to grow and reach new heights.

Who is this woman? The heart felt memoirs of a witty, insightful everywoman. Send it to a good friend for Christmas! L Williams

This is a love story based on the eternal triangle. Thelma a beautiful girl , unawakened to love, is seen and loved by a gentleman who takes her away from the land of her birth Norway.
She in turn is loved and worshipped by her father's man who sacrifices his life for her. Thelma is loved by her husband's friend who never ever lets on who the object of his passion is. After many turmoils Thelma dies leaving a daughter, Thelma. The sweetest ending with the daughter marrying the friend who loved her mother!
The story seems too simple to comprehend in today's world where you see a girl and you sleep with her! This is a gentle story filled with love, passions wakened and unwakened.Full of the dark thoughts that torment humans and thoughts we do not like to talk about.
All in all its highly readable.

Marie Corelli deserves most high praise in everything she ever wrote, but Thelma is her most tender, pure work of genius!

I wish that every girl will read it as early as possible to preserve her purity, honesty and innocence! And every boy will read it to know what to look for in a love relationship!

Nothing really matters in this life except LOVE! I believe our world can be a better place, if we will only chose it to be!

Women of Faith is beautifully written with 366 daily devotionals.

Women of Faith also partners with various Christian organizations in providing spiritual resources for women. They arrange to have conferences all over the United States.

A practical and useful book to use for your private devotions or with a group.

I couldn't wait to get this book ...!
I'm a beginner to Bible studies, and am reading devotions to my group when we meet. This book just filled my expectations!
These devotions are written by some well-known authors and is spiritually motivating. Each story is short and to the point!
...I will also recommend this book to all of the other ladies in Bible study.

I have been doing daily devotions for over 10 years, and it's sometimes hard to find a book that is current and yet spritual.

I saw the list of contributors and decided to give it a try.

This book of devotions is a winner. I'm a busy mom, career woman and caregiver. So free time for me is at a premium. This book has all the things I look for. Quick and easy to read, and with advice and practical ways to live the Godly life I continue to strive for, without being preachy.

I look forward to my devotions and am renewed.

Once again, Smith has created as a hero, an inarticulate Mormon young man. This time he's a missionary, leaving the typically atypical mom and dad for his two year mission in Tennessee. Those he encounters are universally physical and mental oddities without a normal human thrown to stabilize the too-thin plot and teen-age dialogue. This should set back missionary work in the Volunteer State by fifty years, if Tennesseeans make the connection.
And I am further left to wonder if the red Kool-aid sect behind the Wasatch Front really believes that the rest of the country is populated by this type of characature.

i thought that this book was a fun look at a small town and the missionary experience

If you ever want to sit down and laugh, you need to read this trilogy. They are sooooo FUNNY!! The author has a wonderful way of making small town life seem not so small. The characters are people you know, people that you can relate to. These books are great!

The wonderful maze that mormonism has pulled off since it's inception is amazing. Thelma has outlined the blatant lies that are constantly withdrawn from potential converts. I recently ran into a missionary who denied the fact of blacks holding priesthood roles until 1978. I, like Thelma gently explained that the coverups are on going to this day. He didn't think the Mormons had anything to do with the the Olympic bribe scandal. Naivity is a great characteristic to have if you are looking for a converts as a missionary. I look forward to a follow up on any one who accepts her challenge. Morman-a word used to imply that Joseph Smith was a man-made religion based on his own inspiration. For the reviewer who denies his own ignorance of what is Christian doctrine and what is plagurized replicas. But that is just one more truth that Thelma explains, the lies and deceit of the mormon church. Good people will enjoy this book. People in denial won't.

What a wonderful vessel this woman is for the Lord. She speaks with such a sincerity and respect to her "beloved Mormons" that she benevolently sets herself apart from those who mean well but unwittingly trample on the good Mormon people in their witnessing efforts. She successfully delivers the truth about (1) the spiritually destructive nature of Mormonism and (2) the good news of the "Biblical" Jesus.

Biblical Christians such as myself want so desperately to break through the "feel-good" facade of Mormonism and share the truth. We want to reach out to loved ones who are in spiritual bondage and don't even know it. Of course their eternal future is at stake.

As I read the book, I was most amazed to learn that Mormons, in large part, are unaware of some of the outrageous and definately unbiblical doctrines of their faith, such as that Jesus Christ is a polygamist and is siring children in heaven forever and ever.* If they only knew... But the good news is that the truth is always there waiting for them if they will only seek it. This book can help.

If you are a Christian with Mormon loved ones, this book may very well reach through to them in a way in which you are unable.

*Orson Pratt, The Seer, p. 158

is what this book is all about. A former Mormon, Thelma Geer obviously loves the Mormon people and only wants to share her love of Christianity with them. She points out to them many of the unspoken and "swept under the carpet" doctrines of the early church that seem way out of synch with what Mormonism is today. And yet these policies are written doctrines! I hope that many Mormons will read this with an open mind, and discover for themselves the truth about the church. This book is informative, well documented and written in a very non-accusatory way.

Professor Lavine, who teaches (or taught) philosophy at George Washington University, invades the late night airwaves once a week on Maryland Public Television's "College of the Air" programming during the regular school year. This is the book on which her television course is based. "From Socrates to Sartre" is a brief, yet thought-provoking analysis of six major Western philosophers: Socrates, Descartes, Hume, Hegel, Marx, and Sartre. Interspersed between the discussions of these six thinkers are brief chapters about transformational periods in Western philosophy and their major figures (e.g., Aristotle, Aquinas, Kant, Leibniz, Husserl, etc.). Though I regret that some of these other major philosophers are given rather cursory treatment, at least they are mentioned. Had the author given every major philosopher full treatment, she would have written a much less welcoming book for the neophyte student.

That leaves us with Professor Lavine's detailed and candid exploration of the six philosophers she has aptly chosen. Her writing style is straightforward and crafted with just the right mix of serious complexity and common-sense explanation. Some parts of the chapters get overloaded with raised questions, but that is what philosophy is all about. Rather than guide the reader through what ought to be thought, she leaves many of these questions open, prompting the sort of self-examination that is the crucial basis of any introductory philosophical survey. I would recommend this book, really only second to Will Durant's THE STORY OF PHILOSOPHY (and, I guess, Thomas Nagel's WHAT DOES IT ALL MEAN?, too), to any reader curious about exploring the history of the Western philosophical tradition.

To the layman (like myself) looking for an introduction to some (but not all) of the defining philosophic movements of Western Civilization, this book is both exciting and informative.

While the author's style may be a little dense for some people, it is well organized, cohesive and thought-provoking. Ms. Lavine doesn't shy away from presenting each philosopher's contribution in the context of their own time and location, and intersperses a small amount of relevant biographical information for all of them. This makes it much easier for someone who doesn't have much background to relate to and incorporate the ideas that are presented.

Though there are only six philosphers covered in-depth (Socrates, Descartes, Hume, Hagel, Marx and Sartre), other philosophers and their contributions are referenced here and there where it relates to the text. Lots of good names to drop ;-) Each philospher is given several chapters in each section, making it nice and easy to reference.

Although I found some parts to be out-dated (the section on Marx makes one or two mild references to Soviet Russia), tedious and/or uninspiring, they were few and far between. The best compliment I can give is that I am now very excited about learning more on the subject of philosophy in general and I have an excellent frame of reference to get started.

Lavine's survey of philosophy, "From Socrates to Sartre: The Philosophic Quest," is wonderfully successful at many things. First of all, it lets a new reader, who has never dabbled in philosophy, learn what the classical thinkers have thought. Much of the true philosophical works out there, from Kant's "Critique of Pure Reason" to Sartre's "Being and Nothingness," are quite dense and almost incomprehensible to even a well read reader. Lavine does a splendid job of taking these huge works and condensing them for the reader, expressing the main points. However one should not think that I am insinuating that this is a "dumbed down" book of philosophy, not by any means. Lavine respects her reader's intelligence and lets it grow through taking very abstract philosophical ideas from centuries ago and making them very practical today. Lavine also successfully shows the reader that no philospher, not Plato, Descartes, Hume, Hegel, Marx, nor Sartre, was successful in devising a philosophy that withstood criticism. Lavine shows the reader the holes in each philosophy. More importantly, however, is Lavine mangages to make the reader think for themselves about what their personal philosophy is, and how it affects their lives. I never thought of myself as I great thinker before reading this book, but afterwords I am armed with the ideas and the conundrums to debate with any other armchair philosopher. This book makes a great introduction to philosophy while still teaching very specific ideas of each philosopher. A wonderful book