I gave this book five fully earned stars because it is such a magnificently crafted exploration of claims that premortal spirits contract with birth parents, laying out life plans and even the infant's name. This impressively assembled book, reporting wide-eyed wonders world-wide, is thus a towering tribute to the robust wellness of human gullibility across our planet, there still being an obviously huge demand for the a-scientific thinking which this book so beautifully displays. It will have profound appeal to the irrational masses of wishful wonderers absent of knowledge of genuine psychology, devoid of knowledge of genuine genetics. One must sincerely admire the physical and mental stamina of authors capable of devoting so much time and meticulous attention to dorky detail of trivial tripe, reveling in the thick of thin things, celebrating the sin of sensibleness and exulting in our eternal appetite for abject absurdity.

Fascinating! The Carmans asked the pre-life questions, then painstakingly did the research, their information is not just from the West, but from worldwide cultures. This book is a goldmine! Beautifully organized and compiled.

Such a beautiful book Cosmic Cradle.So well researched with stories of communication with future children from around the world. Who would have thought that so many cultures would have similar expierences. Story after story will thrill you with such touching realization that you know somewhere deep in your Self to be true. This is not just a book about preconception communication,this is a book about the evolution of our very souls, from one lifetime to the next, and everything inbetween. It helps show us that our souls are immortal and we are just passing by in our human existence for our own evolution, and enlightenment. I would recommend this book for anyone,maybe a gift for your expecting wife, or a friend. Beautiful illustrations through out, and the volume of stories and content will overwhelm you.So many years must have been set aside to make this book and it truly shows in the depth and sincerity of the authors. What a great job they did I commend them for it and look forward for more books written by them. Truly a book worthy to be discussed on several major talk shows.

The only book by Lowell that I like more than this one is Tell Me No Lies. I read it years ago and still re-read it.

When Erin inherits a diamond mine in Australia from a great-uncle she never knew, her life changes dramatically. Cole had won half of the mine from her great-uncle in a card game years before. Erin and Cole are drawn thrown together to find the mine and avoid everyone-- especially enemies-- who crawl out of the woodwork once the presence of the mine is know. Since the mine could make or break the diamond cartel, the political and economic implications could be earthshattering.

I read this book many years ago, it was one of the first of Ann Maxwell's (aka. Elizabeth Lowell)that I had read and it's still one of my favorites. I've read it four times. Her characters are very well drawn, the dialogue is crisp, plenty of action and it is romantic without being mushy. It is a "romance" book I think a man would enjoy. I would also recomend Ann Maxwell's "Tell Me No Lies".

I really enjoyed this book with the action and romance that doesn't quit. She's an admirable heroine and he's the complex hero that's worth waiting for...sigh...

Enjoy the earth through literature, poetry and meditations with this guide. If you love the feel of dirt beneath you, the wind in your hair, or water on your feet, this is a book you must carry with you.

This is a fantastic book. It has a lot of beautiful poetry in it that celebrates the earth. If you are thinking of buying it, then I would highly recommend it. It is something I plan to use to share with others. I am one of those "treehugger" people, and I suppose that is why I like this book so well. There are several passages in the book that were so moving it brought me to tears.

Thank you Elizabeth and Elias for compiling this wonderful book of earth honoring prayers. I've used it many times to find an appropriate opening or closing to classes or other gatherings where a moment of earth gratitude and awareness was called for. In fact, I've used it so much that I lost it and need to buy another one! It is also a rich source of prayers to use for personal spiritual work, prayers that help slow me down enough to remember the sacredness of the natural world. Even if I'm hard at work in the city and can't be physically present in some of nature's more healing places, at least I can remember to feel the earth beneath my feet, and to honor her. It is a great book just to pick up and browse through, and contains prayers that are ancient and full of the energy of thousands of our ancestors, and prayers that represent a new awakening to our lost heritage. An earth bible for earth lovers! By the way, I've heard rumors of a Volume II. Is it true and can I purchase it here, or elsewhere?

If you want just patterns that tell you exactly what to do stitch by stitch, this isn't the book for you. If you want to everything necessary to learning how to design your own garments, along with a generous helping of commentary and lots of fodder for your imagination to spin off and invent your own "knitting workshop," then GET THIS BOOK. The seven separate sleeve shapings and how they can be done on a circular needle alone are worth five times what you're going to pay. The garter stitch chapter doubles that to ten.

Seriously -- get Barbara Walker's stitch collections, a fair isle chart book or two, and this. You literally do not need anything else to be knitting sweaters that you yourself designed for the rest of your life. Then, when people ask you what pattern you used, you can smile subtly and say, "Oh none, I just made it up." You and Elizabeth Zimmerman. :-)

I am a huge Elizabeth Zimmerman fan, and I love this book. The baby garter stitch surprise jacket is an icon of knitting. Everyone who saw the first one I made went completely gaga over it. I was embarrassed at a baby shower when I gave one and everyone went nuts over it. One caveat: EZ gives the pattern in a 7st/in guage, which makes a VERY tiny sweater. I would recommend going up some needle sizes.
I like the directions for the seamless shoulder shapings in this book better than the directions given in "Knitting Without Tears" because there are more of them, the pictures are front and back, and I feel the directions are more clear. Of any of EZ's books, this is the one with the most projects I want to make. I love it, and I frequently refer to it for techniques I want to use in my own projects.

Like all Elizabeth Zimmerman books, this one is a joy to read. But unlike some of her books, this one really teaches you the "nuts and bolts" of some specific projects. Some of the projects are "out there" like the Puzzle Pillow, but most of them are timeless and endlessly appealing, like the Pi Shawl. Very, very valuable book for nearly every knitter (and even the experts will enjoy reading it).

I must admit I was growing tired of Kathy Lynn Emerson's Lady Appleton but her latest book, FACE DOWN AMONG THE WINCHESTER GEESE, tops the series by rekindling my interest. An excellent plot and resolution to the fate of her husband, as well as Emerson's usual top-notch historical details and writing style.

I'm reading the "Face Down" series in order, and I've really come to love Lady Susanna and her supporting cast of characters - even her dog of a husband is entertaining. I have to admit, I guessed who the murderer was in this one - but I didn't guess why he was until late in the story. You get a fascinating history lesson with all of Emerson's books, but a great mystery too.

Susanna is taken from Leigh Abbey to London by her husband Robert, but has no idea why. She is not aware that Robert is scheming with Diego Cordoba and the Spanish Embassy and needs her there in London.

One day a petite dark haired lady named Diane St. Cyr comes to see Robert at their rental house on Catte Street. Robert is not present and Susanna takes a message to have him meet Diane at a place called the Falcon. Susanna is aware that Diane is probably one of Robert's many mistresses but gives him the message anyway. Robert goes to see Diane to find out what she wants. The next morning Diane is found in the streets dead.

In order to clear Robert's name, Susanna begins to look into the murder and discovers that there have been several women(mostly prostitutes),with the same physical features murdered on the same day over a period of seven years.

With the help of her maid-servant and friend Jennet, as well as a brothel keeper named Petronella, Susanna discovers who is killing the Winchester Geese(prostitutes)and what Robert has up his sleeve.

This is the second Susanna, Lady Appleton mystery that I have read and found this one to be much more enjoyable.

I'm building a youth volunteering program at a volunteer center, and I would highly recommend this book to both kids and adults. The format is engaging and easy to read, and the stories will inspire you to want to make a difference. The book is organized into areas of concern including hunger, environmental concerns, and the need for peace. Each chapter includes data on the problem, stories of successful kid-driven solutions, ways more kids can help, and space for reflection.
Studies show that kids who volunteer are more than twice as likely to volunteer as adults, and more likely to contribute generously to charitable causes. This book is a great way inspire a new generation of volunteers!

from Blue Jean Online

by Truc Doan, Teen Editor

Society loves to label teenagers. Each generation is studied, packaged, and shipped out with a name. What will this generation of the new millennium eventually be called? Will it be Generation Destruction, Generation Party, or Generation Privileged? To prove that teenagers in America aren't just a bunch of lazy couch potatoes, Elizabeth Rusch has put together a collection of stories about young people who have done something to change the world for the better. These stories vary--for example, one is about a young girl who gave an intelligent speech, while another is about a boy who managed to collect hundreds of cereal boxes for the hungry.

After every story, there is a "What You Can Do" list and quotes from other young people with ideas. The common thing among all the stories (and the thing that makes each story so endearing) is that these kids did not start out wanting to change the world. They just saw something wrong and decided to fix it. After every story there is "Your Solution," a blank page where you can write how you would or could change the world.

What I found particularly inspiring about this book is that none of the kids even considered the possibility that their ideas would not work. They just knew it could be done. Some of these kids had intelligence on their side, others just plain courage. It doesn't matter, though, because in the end all of their dreams became a reality. We know because their stories are in this book.

This book is very good for young people, and older, because it teaches that even kids can make a difference. The author is VERY good at telling the true stories of kids and it is very uplifting, I encourage anyone to read it!

I wasn't sure what to expect when I was waiting for this book to arrive. When I got it, I was pleasantly surprised. The color pictures are pictured to show the beautiful finished patterns. There's a nice how-to section in the beginning of the book. It also has a page of supplies you need to start. This makes it much easier to understand the whole process.

I bought this book to make a quilt to remember my honeymoon in Hawaii and the quilt shops we visited. I just love these patterns and when I was in Hawaii I thought that the patterns would be too difficult to ever think of doing, but I was wrong. Most of them aren't too complicated to do even if you haven't done much applique. This book has alot of really beautiful patterns.

I used this book to make Hawaiian applique on a jacket that turned out fabulous. Not just for quilts!

While new to I Ching, I find myself fortunate to find this work. It brings a structured simplicity with comprehensiveness that is essential in order to give the I Ching veracity and approachability. Excellent.

For the past 25 or so years I have been failing to make head nor tail of the Yi Jing. My studies suggested and my intuition told me, that there was something very significant to be found there but the text, though it seemed to provide many glimpses of relevance and truth, always slipped back into obscure regions peopled only by erudite sinologists... and where these luminaries sometimes seem to have slight differences of criterion (the things Mr Cleary says about R.Wilhelm!).
There was nothing for it but to declare myself a Complete Idiot - something which had been staring me in the face for longer than I like to think - and this very Daoist act of auto-abasement was rewarded by a version of the Yi Jing, or rather the Zhouyi (its wings having been usefully clipped of Confucian confusion) which at last made sense. Sense not only for the clarity of the translation (or transliteration or whatever) but by the meaning and coherence of the text.
The sensation is rather like having a plaster removed from a broken limb.
I would like to recommend the book to anyone who wants a clear, manageable and simple (but not simplistic) version of the background to and wisdom of this classic.
Five Stars! Bravo! and Many Thanks to Ms Moran and Master Yu!

At Last! A reliable & supremely useable guide to this ancient art & science from two of the best known authorities in related fields [Classical Feng Shui]. When a couple of true heavy hitters put their all into a book like this it becomes an invaluable manual that-- like their other works-- is highly practical and easily put to use. Pronounced "E"-Jing, Nobel prize winner Neils Bohr discovered in 1945 that the I Ching was binary code for--
you guessed it-- Quantum Theory. I don't mind recommending the book to anyone at the bargain prices that the Idiot's Guide softbounds go for -- in fact, we
have regularly recommended their first book here in the Twin Cities on our cable show-- All About Feng Shui for Home & Office.

This is the first book I've read by Elizabeth David. Her writing is clear and fun to read. The information contained in the book is detailed, the historical documents impressive. Though the book is not recommended for those looking for immediately usable recipes, I would recommend it to anyone interested in baking and learning more about it.

The sensuous aroma of baking bread filled my mind as I read the exquisite prose of Elizabeth David. Perfect for those who have the original old English oven and owning your own flour mill will increase the enjoyment of making these rare breads. As I devoured my domestically produced delights, an almost orgasmic pleasure assaulted my sensory organs. There are no greater pleasures in the world than these.

Not just a cookbook, though there are plenty of recipes. Not merely a history, though abounding in historical sources and anecdotes. Not a textbook, but with enough theory for just about anyone. Not literature proper, but Ms. David's prose flows beautifully. The book is simultaneously informative, thoughtful, engaging, useful and most of all a pleasure to read. The book is equally at home in the kitchen as the living room. Simply a wonderful book.