A visit to the De Young Museum on my last day in San Francisco turned a time-filler into an experience of a lifetime. The exhibition itself was truly amazing; the collection superb. The lighting, layout and flow of the exhibition allowed me to get lost for a couple of hours. Here was true craftsmanship in its purest form from all over the world; even an Australian artist was represented in the collection!

A visit to the gallery shop was next on the agenda to see if there was a catalogue, but since I thought a lot of the presence of place would be lost I wondered how you could put that on to paper.

But there it was. A fine book with excellent production values and fine photography. It will be a great momento of my visit and comfort me to know that there are great people who support artists and help keep the barbarians from the gate.

If you are interested in glass, this book will be of particular interest. The Saxes have pieces by Chihuly, Lino, Flora Mace, Bertil, Therman Statom, William Morris, and many other well known glass artists. Also beautiful ceramics, furniture, wood bowls, sculpture.... If you can't make it to the exhibit, buy the book. You won't be disappointed.

Can't think of anything but praise for this fabulous book. The objects selected, the color photography, the insightful introduction, the artists' info in the back ‹ all top-notch. If you think the world is doomed, this will be great antidotal weekend reading!

This incredible book has been a profound influence in my process of healing. I read it at the recommendation of a friend and have been grateful eversince. I have often found myself referring back to it's rich pages to refresh my mind with it's simple and sensible, yet profound insights. Dorothy uses a cluster of some of the psychological schools of thought. This allows for a more comprehensive view of the what and how of both self-esteem and the healing process. I found the intermittent summations of the "basic ideas" very helpful. I'm confident that each person who reads it with the intent to put to practice the exercises she provides would benefit immensely. I think that they can help accelerate the learning and healing process. Do put your heart into it! May you to reap in great abundance the healing and the wisdom that you seek.

My friend used this book some 20 years ago to change his life. About 3 years ago, he told me about it and it changed my life. Now I'm letting everyone who I feel need help to know about this book.

I like to wonder in the bookstore and look for old , small books. Written decades ago, if they survived all these years and still stand on the bookshelf, there must be something great about them. Unfortunately you cannot do this on an Online bookstore. Hence this review.

While reading this book, I expected a little more. But after I finished it, I ended up using some of the advice to help heal a lot of post divorce pain. For that reason, I would recommend it to anyone looking to advance past what self blame and low self esteem can do.

Choice of Love gives you the real practices that Dorothy Maclean has used in her work.

"The exercises I am suggesting are practices that have helped me," she says.

She describes how these practices fit into the actuality of her life.

Included are explorations and instructions for attuning to love, elemental qualities, nature, places, and more.

The power of the book comes from the fact that Dorothy Maclean shares so freely of herself and her lived experience.

Dorothy Maclean, one of the cofounders of the Findhorn Foundation, writes of her experiences during the fifteen years after she published "To Hear The Angels Sing," her book telling of that community. She tells of her search for The Beloved, her name for "the eternal, complete love." She describes the love in all things -- plants, animals, rocks, trees, cities, fire -- as well as in humans. At Findhorn, she and others learned to use their powers of love to contact nature spirits, known as devas. The story of how she progressed in her ability to attune to nature spirits makes fascinating reading. For those like me who seem to take a long time to reach these levels, it is encouraging to know her learning took many years.
Maclean left Findhorn to return to her native Canada to apply her learning to ordinary living. She finds when she attunes to a situation with love, the solution is presented. When she accepts a fault or darker quality in herself, she feels divine love. I like the way she describes seeking balance in polarities. Part 2 of the book is devoted to her experiences with the souls of nature; how she contacts the divine essences of plants, volcanoes, hurricanes, the identities and souls of countries. She encourages us to do the same with loving contact, and assures us this is the way the planet will be saved. Her earlier book impressed me deeply. I enjoyed reentering her story and learning how she has continued to grow in love and consciousness through the years.

Dorothy Maclean is that wonderful combination of a profound mystic and a loving, down-to-earth person who embodies the best of a spiritual tradition. A book by her is always a special feast of insights, and this book, her first after too many years, is no exception. I commend its spirit and its richness to you.

Even though this is a cookbook, it is too cute for words! I love, love, love the concept! I have finished the book already and haven't cooked a thing! Must have in any library! Just makes you feel good all over.

Brenda Rhodes Miller's The Church Ladies' Divine Desserts: Heavenly Recipes and Sweet Recollections is an excellent cookbook and a beautiful tribute to the wonderful ladies who keep our churches going. The cakes are out of this world delicious! I've been working my way through it much to the delight of my hungry friends and family.

Kimberley Lindsay Wilson, author of 11 Things Mama Should Have Told You About Men

The Church Ladies Divine Deserts is an indispensable combination of great recipes and hearty doses of oral history and advice. There is a long tradition of "church ladies" involvement in every facet of the secular and sacred traditions of their faith based institutions. One of the most important is that of nourishing the palate with the delectable deserts that grace the tables of the church dinners and the dining room tables in their homes. Brenda Miller, the wife of a minister, has collected the recipes and the stories behind them from the "church ladies" all over the country. Every cook should buy it. Every reader who wants to know more about some of our country's best traditions should also read it.

Conch Shell Murder keeps you guessing from start to finish. Marvelous characters jump right off the page. The author's great sense of place makes you feel you are there, pulling for Katie Hassworth to solve the murder of Alexa Chitting a colorful, controversial Key West figure. A suspenseful, fun read.

This is a fast-paced read with a real-life
main character. Former teacher-turned-detective
Katie Hasworth must overcome inexperience,
adversity, and even a romance! And what's
not to love about the glamorous backdrop of
Key West, Florida? Unlike too many of the
haunted, super-human sleuths of today's whodunnits,
Katie is someone we can all relate to -- and cheer for.

Though she has partnered with former Miami cop Mac McCartel for two years, former schoolteacher Katie Hasworth has been bonded and licensed as a private detective for a few months. Her confidence is limited so she is hesitant to take on a murder investigation especially with her mentor out of town even though her landlady and friend Diane Dade asks her to look into the death of her mother Alexa Chitting. Reluctantly Katie agrees to investigate the homicide ruled a robbery gone bad by the Key West police and concurred with by Mac.

Katie begins her inquiries at the scene of the crime, Alexa's office, where the culprit killed the victim using a conch shell that ironically symbolizes birth. Katie finds an obscure bullet that the cops overlooked and believes more than just a robbery occurred as Alexa was changing her will. However, she wonders who were the losers if Alexa had signed her revised will and would one of them kill to keep his or her inheritance? Katie learns the answer as she becomes a target when she gets too close.

This engaging private investigative tale hooks readers because the heroine lacks confidence yet courageously seeks to solve the homicide against staggering professional odds. The story line reads more like an amateur sleuth cozy as the violence is left off the pages and Katie is learning on the job. Katie is a delightful individual and the support cast enables the audience to understand her, especially her fears, much better even when they fail to cooperate. Fans will enjoy Dorothy Francis' straightforward Florida (no major whackos) mystery.

Harriet Klausner

Author Dorothy Fletcher claims the book is fiction, but surely it is not! As every teacher can attest, these are the students who inhabit--and haunt--every high school classroom in America; yet the characters come across as individuals. The teacher's first encounter is with an impatient, sarcastic junior who announces herself as "Rhodezzzzia." (The intonation is perfect.) The final encounter is by the bedside of Rochelle, a shy student with AIDS, who dies "one week shy of her seventeenth birthday." In the intervening months, the students gain confidence in their abilities, question their values, give up on school, and face some harsh realities of life. Along the journey of one school year, Mrs. Fletcher guides you through the lessons of some of the greats, such as Edgar Allan Poe, Sojourner Truth, T.S. Eliot, and Maya Angelou. She also teaches you about human nature--both adult and adolescent. Read The Cruelest Months! You will laugh aloud, but keep a hankie nearby. You will need it.

I recommend this book for teachers and those thinking about being a teacher. More importantly, I recommend this book to everyone concerned about our education system. Ms. Fletcher accurately describes the dedication and efforts of teachers working under very difficult conditions. Now, more than ever, our schools need the support of the public in our efforts to prepare our students for a challenging world.

Fletcher vividly describes what we, as teachers, see each year in our classrooms! I related to so many of the vignettes. As a 11th year teacher in a public school, I have had many of the same characters in my classes. Teachers, students and administrators are sure to enjoy this book! Pre-service teachers would gain from the insight and sensitivity.

This book by Lance Berger, Martin Sikora, and Dorothy Berger reminds us that many of the solutions to issues within a business reside within its organization. The job of the CEO is to create a corporate culture and work environment where all employees feel ownership and influence in that part of the business for which they are responsible, and to encourage dialogue between senior management and the people who do the work every day.

Today, it is popular to rely on RAICers (reengineering academic industrial consultants complex) to design and implement new business strategies and a new organizational design based on the latest fad or cure-all. The authors caution that getting an outside view has its place, but is not a substitute for tapping the knowledge of your internal resources.

The authors present their road map for identifying change triggers which require reassessment of strategy. They also provide a blueprint for building a change responsive organization and developing change responsive people. Most interesting are vignettes of companies and their executives who faced an internal or external change trigger, leading to a major change initiative. I found these vignettes very useful in that they described real situations and how these executives addressed them.

Berger, in his typical style, attacks the issues head on. He cuts through the nonsense and identifies the fundamentals that organizations must address from within in order to get on a growth curve. His concise thinking is reflected in the roadmap for change that is laid out, and the mini case studies provide excellent examples of how real life companies have successfully applied the principles that Berger outlines in the first half of the book.

Deengineering The Corporation is a refreshing change from the usual business school texts or the popular "we know how to fix your business" manuals. It is a practical how-to; must reading for corporate executives, as well as those just entering the workplace. It offers simple, easy to understand strategies and presents compelling arguments for why growth is best managed from within. As I prepare to take a one-year sabbatical beginning January, I was especially interested in the sections on developing exit strategies at all levels of the organization. Additionally, the personal vignettes of the featured CEOs/COOs reinforced the book's premise that when companies take charge of and design their own leadership responses, success is more likely to follow.

I was pleasantly surprised by this book on Airedales. For an inexpensive book, it contained great "breed specific" information on raising and training an Airedale. It also had lots of great photographs. It is, however, written in a manner which scared off my wife from the breed -- sort of no-nonsense, this is a big decision, don't take it lightly, an Airedale is not for everyone -- kind of way.

I have owned Airedale Terriers since 1979 and have bred them since 1985. This book captures all the essential information about Airedales and organizes it in a very readable manner. I send the book home with every Airedale puppy that I sell. This book gets my highest recommendation.

"Take equal parts of intelligence, strength, heart, and loyalty. Add a generous portion of humor, sensitivity, and high energy. Throw in a pinch of stubborness and feistiness. Pack this inside a handsome 50- to 70-pound dog . . . and you have the Airedale Terrier."

With this humorous introduction, dog trainer and author Dorothy Miner begins her book on Airedale Terriers, amusing those readers who have experience with this wonderful breed of dog and giving fair warning to those considering getting one. What follows this opening -- while it may maintain the same light-hearted tone -- is an interesting, readable book that is tightly packed with information. In the dozen-plus chapters that follow, Miner examines the breed in detail: the Airedale's history, considerations in puchasing an Airedale, basics and beyond in regard to raising and/or breeding Airedales, thoughts on owner responsibility, and more! With a well-thought-out table of contents and a concise index, the book is a breeze to use, whether reading from cover to cover or looking for an answer to a specific question.

From Miner's coverage of the topic, it's apparent she knows her stuff about dogs -- and Airedales in particular. Her words, like her in-person work, exude a calm, logical attitude -- an approach that is inspiring to the new dog owner. AIREDALE TERRIERS by Dorothy Miner is the kind of training manual that readers will turn to for new-puppy guidance and one they'll return to again and again as their dogs grow.

The original of this piece "As A Man Thinketh" is a profound piece, but distinctly marred from a female point of view by the inextricably male casting of the reader. This book is a much easier to take read for me and I think for most women (though it would be as irritating for most men as the original was for most women). It is somewhat more subtly marred by the occassional misuse of a gender term - I.e. "womanly" does not substitute straight for "manly" in most usage without making the resultant sentence rather odd.

Other than this quibble, it is an excellent book and one I would recommend to anyone as nourishing food to feed your mental life.

This book goes with me nearly everywhere. I'd read it several years ago and it was helpful in getting me to get outside myself, and change my attitude a bit (oh, what a helpless victim of circumstance and other people's actions I'd been!)

Later, I ordered up several copies to hand out. When I was an executive, other women would sometimes come to me with complaints about who did this to them, and why they were helpless to change. Everything I suggested had a 'Yeah, but...' attached to it. Before I hit my mid-40's, I was caught in the drama, feeling responsible and depressed by their circumstnaces.

Then I started handing out copies of the book. I'm sure many thought I was nuts, but a couple have actually gotten the message.

I'm not a tough-minded broad, but a bleeding heart liberal who finally realized you can help a fellow working-woman to grow not by solving her problems, but by supporting her as she learns she can do it herself.

The language in the book (really a booklet) is based on "As A Man Thinketh", but altered just slightly for women. It is invigorating to realize that what is true for the gander is true for the goose.

Don't be put off by the style - "Woman is buffetted by circumstances so long as she believes herself to be the creature of outside conditions, but when she realizes that she is a creative power, and that she may command the hidden soil and sees of her being out of which circumstances grow, she then becomes the rightful master of herself."

Oh yes! So, here's the message - what you think and do greatly affects what happens to you. You aren't the victim you think you are, so move on!

"As A Man Thinketh" and "As I Think" are also available.

This book has added a lot of richness and inspiration to my relationship with God. It is true that if one thinks negatively all the time nothing good will come out of his/her but if one thinks positively everything he/she does will yeild good results: this book makes it perferct and simple to grasp the concept. I will recommend "As a man thinketh" to everyone who is willing to improve upon their thinking process. I also believe that we are what we think. You will not regret spending money on it. I bought one for my husband and I keep mine in my purse for easy access and reference. God bless you.