I found this book to be very useful in building my first piece of log furniture. In fact my first project is a log bed (under construction at this time). There are few resources available that teach you how to build log furniture. Dan and Les have written a no nonsense book with detailed information on wood, tools, finishes and etc. The plans are reasonably clear and concise and there are lots of tips that can help reduce the "ooops" factor when building your first piece of furniture. The tools required are simple and fairly inexpensive. If you want to build your own log furniture then buy this book. My only negative coment is that I wish there were a few more projects to chose from.

Being a beginner this book gave me alot of ideas and step by step insturctions and choices that other books did not.

Les has the ability to make it sound as if he is talking right to you in this book. I have just taken an interest in rustic and log furniture and was very happy to get this book from e-bay,and he included his signature!.
The book has several different suggestions, not making one way the only way to do things.
thank you les for your wonderful guidience as I start my new hobby!
jharriet

I was totally confused about where I was and where I wanted to go with the rest of my life. Mark Gerzon gives wonderful examples of others that have faced similar questions in their own life from Buzz Aldrin to many of his own everyday patients. Although not every chapter was of interest, I found this to be an excellent jumping off place for my own quest to integrate my "Shadow Side" with the successful life I had achieved so far. I wish I had read this before I started my own search for my "second half of my life" identity.

By midlife, many people derive their personal identities from college degrees, marriage, careers, children, and their material possessions. In our middle years, Freud says that we look for ourselves in work and love. "Inexplicable exhaustion, mysterious pain, insomnia, uncontrollable crying, profound dissatisfaction at work" are all symptoms of a midlife transition (p. 22). "Deny your body's message too long," Mark Gerzon warns, "and you may get sick. Deny your mind's warnings, and you may go crazy. Deny your soul too long, and you may lose it" (p. 36).

I arrived at this book adrift at 43, with my life in transition, yearning for a greater sense of authenticity in my life. "In the second half of life," Gerzon writes, "our old compasses no longer work. The magnetic fields alter. The new compass that we need cannot be held in our hand, only in our heart. We read it not with our mind alone, but with our soul . . . Now we yearn for wholeness" (p. 5). In his insightful examination of body, marriage, work, aging, our planet, and spirituality, Gerzon reassures us that "aging has meaning" (p. 182). He encourages to adjust our thinking to view a midlife transition as a natural opportunity for personal growth, rather than as a crisis. Seen this way, the "private, lonely, and often unchartered journey" (p. 107) through midlife becomes a time for "healing deep wounds, seeking our soul/mate, caring for our families, committing ourselves to a true Calling, respecting the aging process and our elders" (p. 220). It is a time, Gerzon writes, for having the "ultimate affair with the ultimate stranger: your shadow" (p. 109). Midlife is an opportunity for transformation, for facing the shadows of our personalty (p. 81), for paying attention to disillusionments (p. 109), for bringing heaven down into our daily lives (pp. 263-64), and for listening to our dreams, our "inner elders" (p. 274).

This five-star book offers wisdom and clarity to any reader attempting to make sense of the journey through midlife.

G. Merritt

I discovered this book early in my crisis. Three years later I still routinely consult Gerzon's wisdom. I've read volumes trying to find my through what he calls The Forest Dark, and no words have rung truer than those found in Listening to Midlife. It's a masterpiece and, for those of us with a malfunctioning compass, a light to guide us through what can be the most terrifying time of adult life. His best advice: Have the Ultimate Affair with the Ultimate Stranger - Your Shadow.

Mark has been there, he knows the way through.

I know, I know. You've enjoyed the two "Lord of the Rings" movies released so far and maybe thought about trying out some epic fantasy in printed form, right? But then you saw that most fantasy series out there are either at least half a dozen volumes long (or more!) or have individual volumes thick as a telephone book. In some cases, both descriptions are true! So, naturally you run out of the bookstore screaming in fear at the prospect of conquering all those pages. Well, here's your solution... if you're open to or already familiar with the comics medium, pick up the first two volumes of CrossGen's epic "Sojourn" graphic novel series. This volume, plus volume 1 ("From the Ashes") together collect the first 12 issues of this terrific fantasy series, and the story so far gives you the type of drama, wonder, adventure, and humor you experienced in Peter Jackson's films (though with its own personality and flavor), but without the time commitment, fuss, and... well, drudgery, of having to wade through a four-pound doorstop of a book (or two, or three, or... you get the picture). Instead of getting your weightiness from the literal weight of the book, you'll get it from the epic goings-on, courtesy of Ron Marz's entertaining writing, and from Greg Land's wonderfully detailed artwork. And for those of you who don't mind a nice, thick book, and even like 'em, don't worry, you do get well over a hundred pages in each of these first two volumes, plenty of pages to let you get good and immersed in the story. But not enough to send you away screaming.

The second trade paperback of the Crossgen series "Sojourn" continues with the same fervor of the first and makes your tounge water for the third. Arywn, the beautiful herione chosen to defeat the bad guy to save the world, Gareth, the cycloptic narrator, Kreeg, Arwyn's faithful poochie, Mordath, Skeletor's first cousin [not really], and Neven, the mysterious mage all return as the hunt continues to track down the shards of Aiden's arrow.

Without giving too much away, volume 2 focuses on the attempt to retrieve of the first shard and an encounter with a very unusual dragon. There is more character development for Arwyn and Gareth, and we are left just as confused regarding Neven's role. And Kreeg goes "woof".

What sets Sojourn apart from other series' (in my opinion) is the role of Gareth. He is a narrator, a commentator, and a main character. Whereas Arwyn is rather tactid (is that a word?), we constantly hear Gareth's thoughts and opinions, but not so often that it gets annoying. Arywn's character is also phenominal since she is a strong herione with an unpleasant past who doesn't really want the arrow to save the world, but to avenge the death of her son and husband.

If you liked book one, you'll love book two just as much. If you didn't like book one, what's wrong with you? ;)