This book is a beautifully illistrated, delight! We are looking forward to owning it. No wonder it is out of print. I think that it is one of the best children's books that I have read in years. Imaginative and lovely.

This is a fun to read story where good wins over evil and the 90's version of the damsal in distess makes all women (young and old) proud. As the story-teller at our local library I find this book to be an excellent attention getter and one that children love to clap or tap to. The illustrations compliment the pounding poetry and endear you to this book. This book is just like those potato chips, "you can't just read it once."

This is a great book for children of all ages. The littlest ones are engaged by the wonderful illustrations and catchy story, the early readers are helped by the easy rhyming patterns and even the older readers will find something new in the illustrations each reading. There are strong male and female role models, a clear moral concerning the dangers of cussing, and brief, funny quattrains with vivid illustrations that bring this "swamp town" to life. You've got to get this book if you have a child between the ages of 1 and 12. It will become an instant favorite.

I loved the author's introduction and I quote, "Has God provided for us a Christian equivalent to the ark He provided Noah?" Ah! Now that caught my attention, could it be so, I wanted to know and I wanted to know where this stronghold of protection was. I was interested!

Francis Frangipane takes you out of pretense into reality at the onset of this work; explaining our walk to Horeb, where we are allowed to be real with God and our feelings about what is happening to us. We breath a sigh of relief knowing we can release our frustrations and fears and we breath in a breath of hope as the author assures us that God has a place of safety from all we are experiencing.

The author takes you on a journey, using men of old from the Bible as examples to bring you out of the many negative emotions that are trying to cripple you and leads you to a knowledge of knowing how to run under the shelter of God's stronghold of protection during trials and tribulations that life brings upon us all.

I would do this book an injustice to try and review the countless helps Mr. Frangipane gives the reader to obtain this desired result, but believe me he
definitely gives you all the information you need to run into God's Stronghold.

If you are a Christian that is feeling overwhelmed by the world that we are living in; if you are seeking the promises of a God who loves you,and the protection His Word speaks of, then this book is for you.

We all need a safe harbor, and for those that are His, there is no safer place than the Stronghold of God. This book will show you the way. It is a journey you will want to take.

Any review of this book that starts from the premise that Francis Frangipane glosses over how hard life can be has missed the point of the book. Francis' view is that when we get into an intimate relationship with God that everything else springs from there. So if you are in a hard place in life, however tough, the Word of God and - more than that - God himself are both still true. God does not choose sin, people do that - even if it means that we are sometimes on the receiving end of some very tough stuff from other people - and have committed serious sins ourselves. We are not robots, God gives us free choice. We can, as Francis points out in the book, always do as we see in Revelation Chapter 12, go into the presence of God. Even when we've failed. There is the place that we find healing and not just the reality of what needs healing, but the truth - because truth and reality are not the same. The reality is that God created each one of us to be able to have a relationship with Him and not as sinful people. But we can come to Him even when we have failed in major ways. We don't have to earn it or prove we've changed in any way. The Prodigal Son parable and the saving of the thief on the cross demonstrate that we need not live having to prove we're different before God will step in - if we invite Him and do so when we have reached the very end of ourselves and stop trying to measure up. When we submit to Him, he changes us bit by bit so that we are healed and permanently changed. And in the book, Francis does reveal he had a very tough time in his marriage when it seemed they could not find compatibility between themselves, but they looked to God who changed them. If that isn't a hard place to come through and find the truths in this book, it is hard to see just how hard it needs to get before Francis shows he has lived and learned these truths and proven God to be faithful even when life is really tough.

This is an excellent book for the new or "mature" Christian. It covers many topics about which everyone needs to be reminded or educated -- the power of praying in His name, the power of the spoken word, and why we should never give up (among other subjects). I would recommend this book to everyone. The added appeal to this book is that it can be read in "bites", as chapters are 5 - 10 pages, and the subject matter of the chapter can stand alone. A great book for everyone!

Timothy Leary is a mythological figure. Almost everyone has an opinion of him, even if they have never read a word he wrote.
Often opinions are second-hand filtered through this or that media source.

The editor for this book, Robert Forte, one
of Mircea Eliade's last students at the University of Chicago,
does not provide us with second-hand information that he has digested, but instead, gathers an anthology of viewpoints from those who knew Timothy Leary. Not all are positive, and I was surprized to read the negative remarks of Owlsley Stanley in regards to Leary. Thanks to this compendium, we are allowed past the veil of the myth and get a glimpse of the human Timothy Leary.

Robert Forte knew Timothy Leary personally and has edited another book, Entheogens and the Future of religion, that I highly recommend.

Thomas Seay

Robert Forte is one of the most important living documentarians of psychedelic history and phenomonology. In this book, he's gathered a myriad voices of people who were really "there" when Leary was influencing people and who therefore have valuable commentary worth hearing -- both positive and negative. The folksy, chatty style of this book make it a pleasure to read. Along with his other book "Entheogens and the Future of Religion," Forte is performing an important informational and documentary service toward a fair assessment of the role that drugs have in society and also of the real-life figures who have affected this. This book is a must read for anyone interested in what Tim Leary (and for that matter, ...) were really like.

If you ever wanted to get a realistic personal perspective of an individual who influenced the world as we know it, read this book. Thank you Robert Forte.

Two important guides to weight and eating are presented in these excellent surveys by Frances Berg. Children And Teens Afraid To Eat (0-918532-55-8, ...) examines six major eating and weight problems, from undernutrition of teens to eating disorders and obesity, blending statistics with a survey of underlying social causes and the actions which need to be taken to help teens. Women Afraid To Eat (62-0, ....) documents the physical and psychological harm done by social images which focus on the detriments of eating. From fad diets to weight prejudices, this tells women how to break free of weight obsession.

Without a doubt, this book should be reading material for all parents before their first child is born.

We want to think our youth are active and healthy. During my years of teaching, I have been more and more disturbed at inactivity of our children, disruption of normal eating, and the amount of fat and sugar calories served in school lunch rooms.

The food the children who carry their lunch bring from home can be nourishing, but parents might be surprised if they watch their children eat. A child's lunch sack might have a good turkey sandwich with greens, two large cookies, a bar of candy, and a soft drink. The child almost always has the candy ond/or cookies at recess. When lunchtime comes, he often throws that good sandwich in the trash with the apple. The food he brought from home has now become two cookies, candy, and a soft drink.

During recess too many children are inactive. Day after day, we watched the same ones stand around talking all recess while they eat their candy or cookies. After observing this for a few years, we scheduled a quarter-mile run twice a week and a full mile on Friday for P. E. Also, three times a week we have exercises appropriate to the age groups. You'd be surprised how many look forward to all the activity once they get used to it. We think it also stimulates brain activity in the classroom.

On the other hand, there are the healthy, active children who might have a cookie at recess, then play hard. They eat their sandwich and apple at lunch and the cookies and are eaten or saved for after school. In these children's lunch boxes there is porbably no candy. What's happening here? Berg says studies show that parents that don't "bug" their children about eating, produce children who don't have hang-ups about eating.

Berg writes that research shows that family attitudes can play a big part in the future eating patterns of their children. When a healthy baby's hunger is satisfied, it will then stop drinking. Parents who "urge him to finish the bottle, disguise cereal with applesauce to get it down" and thus feel frustrated for fear the baby isn't eating enough, is teaching the infant that it's important to eat more than his body needs. All parents should read carefully and think about what Berg has to say.

A parent who "hesitates to let a chubby toddler have seconds, makes a preschooler stay at the table until she finishes her peas, insists that the child eat 'two bites of each food,' or lectures a school-age child to get him to drink his milk...is overmanaging, and it teaches children to ignore their natural signals of hunger and satiety."

By allowing a child to listen and heed these natural signals, Berg tells us that this is an important way to begin the youngster on a lifetime of healthy eating patterns.

Americans serve too large portions. A friend of mine returned from a long vacation in England and remarked that she didn't see an overweight English person all the time she was there. I said I was surprised, I always thought Britons were gluttons. She said she did, too, but she didn't see any.

Berg tells why. "A Healthy Weight Journal subscriber in London sent me an article titled: 'Portions all out of Proportion' that decried 'America's elephantine cuisine.' The writer compares national foods: hot dogs (350 calories in the U.S. versus 150 calories in Britain), cookies (493 vs. 65), ice cream cone (625 vs.160), muffin (705 vs. 158), and a meal of steak and fries (2,060 vs. 730). Until recently, our very large muffins were called "jumbo muffins," the article notes, now they are simply 'muffins.' " Apparently, we are the ones who have become the nation of gluttons.

Berg says that even some our food that is considered healthy, non-junk food is astoundingly high in calories. And the more a child above the age of 3 is served, the more he eats. Big portions promote over-eating. Berg says studies show that our school-age children are getting heavier every year. Younger and younger children are becoming anorexic to stay slim, an astounding number alternately diet and binge. These patterns used to be found among those high school age and older, now they appear among elementary children.

Berg says problems such as eating disorders, dysfunctional eating, undernutrition of teenage girls trying to be thin, hazardous weight loss, and size prejudice all are increasing. Surprisingly, all that can be prevented. The author, Francie Berg, when asked why she wrote this book, says she grows more and more concerned about the appalling research on children and youth eating problems. The true facts were there, but no one was telling those who need to know: our parents and teachers.

Now that she's telling us-we need to listen.

Berg's research is well done. Anyone who doubts what she writes, can read the studies for themselves as her sources are well documented.

Jeanie T.

To be overweight is to fail" . It sums up our society's attitude towards eating and body size today. This is a quote from 'AFRAID TO EAT: Children and Teens in Weight Crisis' by Frances M. Berg. While the book is a cultural commentary, it is also filled with practical advice on ways to prevent eating disorders, obesity, and dysfunctional eating.

The first step to help, is to help understand the roots of the problem. This book does that. It points out the many ways in which we are not nurturing our children, particularly our girls. We are a society that has become fatter and fatter, yet simultaneously bombards our kids with the message that they need to achieve a body size and shape that is biologically unsustainable for the majority of them. This may be the seed for eating disorders. How high levels of obesity and disordered eating and starving teens can coexist is explained. AFRAID TO EAT explores the many forces at play....cultural expectations, media, the role of family and athletics, peer pressure, and more. It explores the issue of size rejudice and lifestyle choices, both of which lead to eating disorders and obesity.

The second half of the book focuses on how to prevent eating disorders, how to make changes to promote normal eating where it doesn't exist, and how to intervene with childhood obesity. There are guidelines for healthy food choices, designs for new health approaches for families, how to include schools in prevention programs, and finally a call to action that challenges us to make changes in attitude (e.g. a greater appreciation for healthy lifestyles versus being thin), lifestyle (e.g. active living, improving phys ed programs in school), prevention (e.g. by promoting healthy attitudes and lifestyles and developing special prevention programs for schools and communities), health care (e.g. reduce size prejudice in health care, focus on improving health, not on ineffective weight loss) and knowledge ( e.g. improved communication to consumers, better education in medical school).

There is useful information in this book not only for a parent, but also for teachers and health care workers. Perhaps after reading it you can share it with your school nurse or phys ed teacher. I am sure you will find its approach not only informative but practical and useful. The word 'vitality' is used a lot in this book as it helps us focus eating away from dieting and size/shape obsession towards eating that promotes a healthy and 'vital' lifestyle.

I work as a professional nutritionist and see firsthand the consequences of the fear of eating. This book takes a big stab at addressing the revolutionary changes that need to be made in our personal and societal approaches towards eating. I recommend it to any who want to join in that revolution, or simply wish to help their own kids enjoy nutritious, guilt free eating for life.

I bought this book at a Revolutionar War event this past weekend and I've read it 3 times already (Purchased Sunday, and it's now Tuesday morning). My husband can't believe that I can't put this down. But I find it fascinating reading. Many of the little tips in here are still on many websites today for frugal living (olive oil and a little white vinegar for a wood furniture polish, for example).

Easy and fascinating reading for anyone interested in history, frugal living, and occassionaly a good laugh.

The thoughts and ideas of the 1800's could be applied to todays world to make it a better place. Like putting more energy into our morals and pride rather than trying to keep up with the Jones'. A wonderfull and funny look at many things that have gone wrong with society over the years.
I read just a few pages in a little store, than had to come home and find it to buy for myself.

Both the prose and the basic philosophy espoused by this book are refreshing on todays palate. No over-wrought writing or get ahead mentality here. The book gives a wonderful view of household life in the 1800's, covering ground from pudding recipes to the best and cheapenst method for cleaning your candle stick holders and treating common ailments. Liberally spiced with the philosophy of a frugal housewife who's example many of us would do well to follow.

Something must have _happened_ to Francis Herbert Bradley.

He seems to have been something of a curmudgeon; at least, he was extremely reclusive and had a reputation for shooting cats. But at some point in his life he must have come to some sort of deep mystical realization.

Otherwise he couldn't have written this book, which reads like a Western version of Shankara. This is philosophy in the grand old style, and it's one of the high points of British idealism.

Bradley's argument doesn't always hold up in its precise details. He doesn't, for example, think that "relations" are real because (he says) they lead to an infinite regress. But Royce replied to this pretty adequately in an appendix to _The World and the Individual_. He also states firmly (and I think correctly) that there's no conceiving reality apart from experience and there's no duality in experience between subject and object. But support for this claim isn't exactly forthcoming. (Timothy L.S. Sprigge does a much better job with it in _The Vindication of Absolute Idealism_.)

But the essential structure of his argument is sound and could be carried through again with a different set of examples (the standard logical paradoxes, say): the world of our ordinary experience turns out upon inspection to be contradictory, so it can't be fully and finally real; what _is_ fully and finally real is a nondual Absolute in which all those apparent contradictions are resolved through that very nonduality.

Well, Bradley puts it better than that, of course, and his prose style is very pleasant to read. This work is also excerpted in James W. Allard and Guy Stock's collection of Bradley's _Writings on Logic and Metaphysics_, so if you want to read a shorter version, check that volume out.

Anyway, the point is, don't ever let anybody tell you there isn't any nondualistic wisdom here in the West. In a different time and place, Bradley would have been revered as a guru -- a prospect that in all likelihood would have made him cringe, so it's probably just as well. But he's clearly trying to articulate a vision here, and few writers have tackled "rational mysticism" with such philosophical flair.

I doubt that Shankara would have shot cats. Fortunately the similarities run deeper than that.

This book is indeed extremely important for analytic, continental, and mystic philosophers alike. Bradley's positive view, the Absolute, is proposed here as the _only way out_ of those messy analytic debates regarding topics such as appearance vs. reality, plurality, quality, and causation. Bradley's starting point: what is absurd (logically impossible) cannot exist.

I'm reviewing a book which is currently out of print. "Why bother?", one might ask. Well, Bradley's work is one of the clearest explanations of ideas which are central to our 20th century fascination with alternate religions. This is not to say that Bradley was exactly a mystic -- his belief system went beyond mysticism. Yet his emphasis on understanding the limits of our mental life finds strong parallels in Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism, as well as Western 'New Age' approaches. Strangely, he wrote in the 19th century. Modern academic philosophers find his work not particularly important. Yet the average reader can gain quite a lot from reading Bradley, his writing style is clear and lucid, and after finishing the book, interested readers may find their world taking on a slightly different cast. It is disappointing to find that Appearance and Reality is out of print, because it stands, especially today, as a text which explicates basic philosophical issues in a way which remains relevant. Brian Whitaker

This book details the Southern case in the debate over which side was right. Springer brings out a lot of facts that do not appear in the standard books on the subject (which are written from the Yankee perspective). He could have done a better job of footnoting, but that is my only complaint about the book. It deserves much wider distribution, especially among our schools.

It's amazing to me that this little book has gone unnoticed for so long. It is a great read. It is easy to read. It is well-documented and will teach you things about the history of this country no one else will.

Is 5-stars as high as the ratings go?

It took Amazon almost 3 months to find this book but it was well worth the wait! If you're interested in the War Between the States and its causes, if you are as nauseated by the current climate of political correctness as I am, and if you really want to see what the authors of your high school history textbooks left out, then you owe it to yourself to order Springer's book. Then hunker down and wait....it will be well worth it!

Harding often makes the list of the worst presidents in US history and this book explores the reasons behind this judgement. Never a statesman, deeply flawed and ultimately tragic, shows what happens when a person whose only qualifications for the job was that he was good natured back slapper abovc controversy is elected to the presidency. He was from an important state which helped as well, but these should never be considered as qualifcations for the highest office in the land.

Harding was scandal prone from his early days. There was a rather nasty rumor that, given the circumstances of the time significant. This was that his family was part African American. In some ways this was the transformation of the old Democratic civil war "bloody shirt" strategy that dated back to Reconstruction. The Republicans were accused even after they had abandoned Civil Rights (in 1876) of somehow attempting to promote African American interests at the expense of white Americans. This issue continued to pop up throughout Harding's career.

Then there are the women. Harding was married to a woman who appears to have been a bit of a shrew. He sought comfort elsewhere and from a variety of sources. His primary misstress was a political liabilty for more than obvious reasons. Carrie Phillips was pro-German and after the end of their affair was a thorn in Harding's flesh. Unfortunately, the letters between the two are surpressed in this book due to the legal efforts of Harding's nephew, George T. Harding. Given Harding's reputation, it is unclear what he was trying to protect by doing so. There is also Nan Britton, who was kind of the Monica Lewinsky of her day. Fortunately for Harding, this story of their affair and daughter did not come to public notice until after he died.

Sex scandals were only part of Harding's presidency. The people he selected for high office were the worst kind of cronies, who say public service as the means to make a raid on the treasury and public property. The worst of these was the Teapot Dome scandal in which national oil reserves were sold to private companies below what would be considered fair market price (in exchange for bribes). This was not Harding's finest hour, but luckily he was dead when most of these revelations became public. By then stories of bootlegged liquor in the White House, Little Houses on K Street and stock market tips (which proved to be bad ones) had destroyed Harding's reputation forever.

Harding's presidency was not quite the disaster it might have been, due to the lack of any great national crisis during his presidency. It is fortunate that this mediocre figure was not in power during a war or economic recession. His role could only have been negative as Russell frequently demonstrates.

Though the subject of Russell's book is not an important figute, it does serve as a cautionary tale of what can go wrong in the selection of presidents. In 1920, the Republicans would have been better served by nominating Leonard Wood (an associate of Theodore Roosevelt). Russell is a fan of Wood's who is far a more compelling figure. If anything this proves that the reputation of Harding is beyond all hope.

This book is interesting to students of racial classification because of the racist smear campaign conducted during Harding's presidential race in 1920. Racists claimed that Harding was part Negro. Russell provides fascinating detail on this campaign, an issue that the Harding family is still sensitive about. Harding won anyway.

I read this book over 30 years ago and was fascinated with it. It gave a detailed look at one of our most obscure presidents. I've been interested in him ever since. Perhaps the only flaw of the book was the forced omissions of the letters between Mr.Harding and his mistress in Marion, Ohio. This tragic presidency was brought to life with the fascinating writing of Mr. Russell.

Found this book in our library and was excited about learning more of Dick Francis. I did get lost at times when he wrote about the race courses, but it was a thrill to get to know him. It is not a mystery, but there are some questions he still does not know the answer to. He writes a book a year, and I could read 4 or 5 of his books a year if he could write them that fast! Nice read.

My passion for horses and horse racing was apparent even when I was a child. Dick Francis' books allowed me the experiences I dreamed of through his words. I learned more through his books than I could have anywhere else in the United States. It is said that truth is stranger than fiction, and Mr. Francis' autobiography is testimony to that! I now own a 5 year old (retired) Thoroughbred, and Mr. Francis' adventures are in my thoughts!

This book is a must have for any Dick Francis or horse racing fan. This was the first book of his that i have read and now i have all of his so far. What i was looking for was a book to tell me about this little known sport. Now i know a great deal about it. I'm hoping for a newer version to tell about what has happened since the book waas written. I read the older 1950's or 1960's print with the pictures of Devon Loch in the Grand National. That was what most intrigued me about the story and what made him fall like that. Like i said this is an excellent book and very informative!

This book provides a different approach to thinking about money. The author suggests that you can take control of your life's goals and then the money will follow. I found this book to be more about getting true to oneself and your spouse than a "get rich" plan. I agree with the author's theory that links happiness and pursuit of one's goals with financial rewards.

I appreciated the "getting started exercises" at the end of each chapter. They have encouraged some incredible discussion in our family as we face choices regarding relocation, and home purchases. I also do seem to have more money around and have found myself re-thinking purchases and my buying "process." Having fresh flowers in my kitchen has been very uplifting in February and is noticed by everyone who comes to visit.

I strongly recommend this book for anyone looking to improve on the quality of their life and leave behind "worrying big about the little."

After feeling bogged down with the minutia of finances (managing budgets to the penny, searching for countless tax deductions, considering buying a house solely for financial reasons, and obsessing over my 401k), Women, Men, & Money provided me with an integrated approach to a relationship with money that supports manifestation of my and my spouse's full, unique promise as human beings. It helps me keep money decisions in perspective by staying connected to money's true value and purpose -- to help me and my spouse bring our authentic selves fully into the world. Part of that self actualization is our service, our unique potential for contributing to others, and that's the crux of satisfying and rewarding work (psychologically/spiritually *and* financially). Women, Men, & Money also has lots of great information about how to interact with your spouse about money in a way that affirms and grows your relationship. As a twenty-something married just one year, I found this book extremely helpful in creating a healthy relationship with money in my marriage. Highly recommended.

I totally enjoyed this easy to read format.

William has introduced a great book about Talent, Being Deliberate and strategies to deal with career, money and relationship problems.

I thoroughly enjoyed myself reading this elegant book. I really like his poignant story about his real estate woes and comeback.

The title of the book should be How to create a better relationship with your family, spouse and career with new prosperity/talent consciousness.

I enjoyed the section about finding one's Talent.

I emailed the author because I was so excited about how to create a better solution in my life.

I'm always looking for better ways to live and

Mr. Devine creates a paradigm for wealth consciousness.

He helps define a better relationship to the almighty buck! We can all use his advice.

A talented author, narrator and financial guru is behind this work of art in nonfiction.

I recommend this highly to all my peers in the Generation X and all those followers of Tony Robbins.

I hope I get a chance to meet the author in the reading book circuit!

This is a must read, I've been recommending to all my friends.

I'll go back to it again to re-read.