When he was fourteen, Kirk Douglas left the religion of his childhood. Or did he? In his later years he came to realize that his view of the religion of his childhood was childish. Paul's famous lines to the Corinthians comes to mind: "When I was a child I thought like a child, I spoke like a child, I reasoned like a child."

Many of us dismissed our religious roots without really understanding or appreciating them. Douglas moved through the decades without looking back on that adolescent's decision to 'throw the baby out with the bathwater.' Serious encounters with his health and a near-death experience forced him to look again, which he did.

He learned, as we all must, that one's true religion, after all, is a function of experience. Early in life we think religion is a set of beliefs which are handed to us and either accepted or rejected, with little or no middle ground.

With encouragement from a rabbi, Douglas looked again at the old stories and to his surprise they had taken on new meaning and depth since his earlier reading. As Joseph Campbell would say, he found himself in those old stories; he came to realize that the stories are not about other people who lived 'way back when,' but about him, or you and me when we see ourselves in the stories.

The story he tells is like a myth in which we can see ourselves--an adolescent who leaves his religion, a man who works at his career, only to end up where he started, but to 'know the place for the first time,' as T. S. Eliot said.

I really enjoyed reading this autobiography. Kirk Douglas has had enough life and experience for his two autobiographies, and at the rate he is going, he'll have enough for a third!

Kirk is unafraid to let us into his weaknesses, his fears and desires. He doesn't let anything stop him. No stroke could steal his love of life away. His spirituality sustains him, and his sharing of it sustains us.

May he have long life.

Kirk Douglas has become a member of my family by the sensitivity of his writing. I feel as if I have known him the entire 46 years I have been on earth. I recommend this book to all those that are downcast and feel that life has not been fair to them. Mr. Douglas invites you into his heart and bears his soul. If you feel you are down in the valley, you surely will climb the mountain to victory as you read every word he has to share. Reading this book brought a smile to my face, a tear in my eye and a song in my heart!!

I liked it although it was morbid. Ending was alright but you should really read it for yourself.

The narrative jumps from one absurdity to the next. Two-thirds in, I tossed it into the trash can. The plot is forced, the characters are contrived, the decisions Tyler makes are unbelievable and naive, especially for a judge who has some inkling of how savy criminals think.

That Julia's mother would never tell her daughter who her father is is another ridiculous assumption. And that no one would question why Margo/Julia would sign away her billion dollar interest in the inheritance to some unknown corporation--and no one would question that?--is beyond even ridiculous.

This book is a super insult to my tiny intelligence. I hope the author will think out his story more effectively in the future. He has a fine talent, but is wasting it by writing super-pulp fiction like this.

Sidney Sheldon, the best author in the world, will not disappoint any of his readers with this book. Morning, Noon, and Night is another intriguing, fast-paced thriller. There are innumerable plot twists, and the end is no less shocking. As with most of Sheldon's books, every chapter ended with a cliffhanger, keeping the reader interested in what the next chapter will bring.

This book revolves around a very wealthy and influential family known as the Stanfords. When the father dies, his children, the three heirs to the fortune, are shocked to find that they may have and illegitimate sister with whom they must share their wealth. This family carries out all of the major components of a great action novel: murder, revenge, greed, blackmail, and a splash of romance.

Although shorter than the average Sidney Sheldon novel, Morning Noon and Night has no less an impact. The short nature of the book actually gives it a sense of urgency. A combination of these elements kept me constantly reading. I finished this book in a little more than four hours.

Morning, Noon, and Night is a masterpiece, even for an author as brilliant as sheldon. No Sheldon fan will be disappointed with this work.

I have never read a book like,"Morning, Noon, and Night." Sidney Sheldon did an exquisite job on the plot. The story revolved around a billion dollar man named Harry Stanford. He had four children. Three by his wife and one by another woman he had an affair with. Harry was brutal towards his children. He had no faith in them and had no love for them. His wife committed suicide no longer after Harry's affair. She could tolerate his abuse no longer. Stanford was in for it big time. Many people were out to get him. Only, the outcome of his death is the most crucial part of the book. I will put it this way: Stanford had a will that was being divided three ways, or maybe even four.

The content was a definate pleasure in the story. Fraud, suicide, murder, drugs, sex,and swearing were main points. The most surprising of all the themes is undeniably the fraud. Sidney Sheldon described the fraud so flawlessly, that even the closest reader could not have caught the drift. His tricks on your mind threw the curves desired in a priceless novel. The suicides were undoubtfully enormous cases of irony. Irony just makes a story twice as much fun. Last but not least, advanced audiences aren't left out. The sexuality and sexual themes were existant and quite vivid. These themes makes a premium read that much better.

I definately, recommend this book,"Morning, Noon, and Night", to anyone and everyone. Sheldon, unmistakenably, has the most original style I have ever seen a writer have. Sheldon has major capacity and skills. It's a quick read, because it never drops to a broing read. Also, a reader must read and comprehend most details. It always leaves you thinking and guessing. This book, is one of the best I have ever read, and I do indeed recommend this book to everyone who is literate.

There are some serious people portrayed in this collection. And some of these rabbis are both well known and rightfully respected. But the emphasis in this tasteless and pretentious coffee-table production is on the off-beat, the publicity-seeking, the "with-it." The photographs are posed productions -- not a grab-shot in the book. More often than not these portraits convey much more megalomania and narcissism than sirituality. Sorry.

Spiritual Transcendentalism in the New Millennium is a transcendental philosophy by enlightened spiritualists who apply pure logic and reasoning to support the philosophy of the existence of a superior progressive unified spiritual intelligence (God/Allah) instead of interpreting their inspirations with minds that have been predisposed to subconscious conditioning of a Spiritual Existence that necessitates a dominant spiritual presence. Spiritual Transcendentalists have a goal of bringing rationality, logic and common sense into present day religious beliefs.

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WOW... Now you can not only have a rabbi over for coffee, but have a coffee table book of Rabbis! But you know what?? This is FABULOUS. Better than Rebbe trading cards. RABBIS is a unique book about leaders in modern Judaism in Italy, Israel, Spain, Europe and North America. It features portraits of rabbis and essays in their own words. This can be a drawback, since some rabbis discuss their lives and roles, while others shep, well not nachas, but their own agendas. Will you love them all?? Of course not. That's why every two Jews have three shuls. Sometimes those who minister in the trenches are a little (or a lot) peculiar... but there are different strokes (and rabbis) for different folks. They all serve their communities' needs, some large, some very small. Will your rabbi be envious if s/he wasn't included? Probably. The RABBIS span from Alper (a comedian/rabbi) to Zecher and Zecher. There is a Sephardic "Angel" and a Kfar Chabad "Ashkenazi." Rabbi Black is a singing cowboy in Albuquerque, while Rabbi Brooks ministers to African American Jews. Rabbi Yosef Hadana, Chief Rabbi of Ethiopian Jews appears, as does Yitz Greenberg and Lynn Gottlieb. The cover is adorned by Rahamim Banin, a fundraising, kosher restaurateur and Chabad rabbi in Venice, Italy. He is captured in a gondola, while the camera captured Rabbi Paltiel with his very pregnant wife before a large pic of their Rebbe. There are Borchardt of Agudath Israel and Borowitz of HUC; Hartman of Jerusalem and Hausman of Meah Shearim. There are Balfour Brickner and Rachel Cowan of NYC, and Geller and Eger of California. Rabbi Goldstein is in his National Guard uniform, Garborcheik in his IDF uniform, Kass in his NYPD suit, and Potasnik in his FDNY garb. Rabbi Dorff is photographed from a hospital bed. Buchdahl, a Korean American rabbi in Scarsdale writes an excellent essay of discovery, as does Rabbi Tsuruoka. There are Tokayer and Waskow; and Simkha Weintraub is pictured as truly a man of the "cloth." An unshy Tunishy follows a surfing Shifren; while father and son, and father and daughter teams of Hirsch's, Marmur's, Kreitman's, Schneier's, and Schindler's appear. Rabbis Matalon and Bronstein are captured in debate, and Saperstein is captured on Capitol Hill; Menticoff is jogging, while Niles Goldstein is photographed in his martial arts attire on a Manhattan rooftop with a WTC tower in the background. Kleinbaum and Kolodny precede Labeau and Maya Leibovich, while Schorsch follows Rackman and Rozenberg. Upon closer inspection, the photos reveal secrets, whether it is a "770" here, a book "title" there, or a chosen background. Truly an enjoyable look at contemporary Jewish spiritual leaders.