A wonderful reference book to have for those who are looking for cancer treatments other than surgery, chemotherapy and radiation for themselves or for their loved ones.

This book saved my life. I can't say enough times how helpful all of the different treatments can come together and actually begin to fight cancer.

I have had cancer and was fortunate enough to have my right kidney removed by surgery without the need for any chemotherapy or radiation. By the time I had any symptom, I had a tumor half the size of the kidney. Conventional medicine is excellent for surgery, emergency and trauma. But it is sorely lacking, and sometimes harmful, for treating illness and disease. Conventional doctors only know 3 treatments for cancer: surgery, chemotherapy and radiation. The latter two treatments destroy the immune system while attempting to destroy the cancer. This book gave me a totally new perspective. Instead of the conventional medical model of attacking the symptoms and trying to remove individual cancer cells, it seems the proper thinking about cancer is that you need to build your own immune system to fight it. It is a disease that will return unless you build your body's immune system to control it! Destroying the immune system while destroying the cancer will not work. It is one's own immune system that will fight the cancer to give one a future. With this book and its extensive content, I have developed a 3 point plan: 1) Prevention - build my immune system, this book gives me ideas to develop a plan; 2) Diagnostics - this book shows there are a multitude of diagnostic methods that conventional doctors don't even use, some of which will detect cancer up to 19 months before conventional diagnostics (X-ray, CAT scan) will, many are very simple and relatively inexpensive ($100-$200) - why aren't these used???; 3) Treatments - with this book, I have studied and prepared myself with the knowledge ahead of time of what I would investigate and use for alternative treatments should my cancer return.

I'm a fund-raiser coordinator for a national charity. I used "The Celebrity Address Directory" to contact celebrities for an autograph donation for our annual celebrity auction. We had a wonderful time and the event was a great success. Many signed items sold for more than the anticipated price. Mr. Ellis was a help to us by providing updated addresses. He was professional, fast and courtesy with all his replies. I would highly recommend this book to all fund-raisers because the book is well organized by celebrity category and makes sending out requests very easy.

I'm a fund raising coordinator for a national charity. I used "The Celebrity Address Directory" to contact celebrities for an autograph donation for our annual celebrity auction. We had a wonderful time and the event was a great success. Many signed items sold for more than the anticipated price. Mr. Ellis was a help to us by provided updated addresses and he was professional, fast and courtesy with all his replies. I would highly recommend this book to all fundraisers because the book is well organized by celebrity category and makes sending out requests very easy.

When I received my copy of this book I was surprised. It has many top name celebrities and a lot more! I like the lists he has in this book - celebrity birthdays, celebrity charities, celebrity hobbies, top paid entertainers, Rock' Roll Hall of Famers, Nobel Prize winners, places to get in person autographs and via venues -places to send a request where a celebrity is performing. I haven't seen these features in any other celebrity book. Got to go, I have letters to write.

This book remains on the top of my list of favorites. My wife and I (both fans of the book) have made significant improvements to our financial status in the past two years since reading "The Four Laws". I mean significant! We've paid off $29K in credit card debt, invested the same amount in mutual funds, both are able to max out our 401(k) plans, have met our contribution limits to our Roth IRA's already and are planning our next visit to ski in Austria (...)! That is our story now. It was far from pretty before reading the book. It is important to note, like anything worthwhile, it takes goal setting, planning and follow-through to achieve. This book lit a fire that no other book could. In fact, about 10 of my friends have received a copy of their own as gifts from us. Simply a great feeling knowing that I can control my life and help others to achieve the same experience. Peace, love and happiness!

This is an excellent book. It is less than 120 pages. It reads like a story. Starting with man hacking his fake Xmas tree to bits and ending with financial freedom, a real friend, and a new lease on life! I loved it! I have sent copies to family members who have actually thanked me and implemented what they read! I plan to send out more this year. It's a funny, no-nonsense look at getting out of debt. I think I'll go and re-read it again!

I purchased the audiotape of this book and listened to it on my daily commute. The presentation of the idea was very simple and made me feel like I could follow their suggestions too! I sat down and worked out my tracking, target, trimming, and training goals and realized that with all of my debt...I could be paid off and debt free by April of 2003 (and I had lots of debts from just finishing my doctorate). I also mentioned some of the ideas in this tape to my 13 year old (that if a 15 year old puts $7 aside each month until s/he was 65...and received 15% return...that they'd be a millionaire at retirement). She, too, is excited about the rules given in this book.

Study skills sound sort of like learning strategies but I prefer the sound of the term "learning strategies." A skill is something you have or don't have. A strategy is something you do. This book is great for teaching kids how to do better in school. It presents the ideas in such a cool way with a story, activities, lesson plans, and even music. It is really a good book. Oh. The puppet is cute too.

Someone told me about this book and how it teaches kids learning strategies. It does it with a story to get their interest. I've been using the ideas in this book and they are a big help. It can help any kid but especially one with LD. The writer has a website with free stuff that helps a lot too.

This story for students in grades K-3 includes sheet music for "The Lemonade Song", reading comprehension questions and associated activities to help young students enjoy learning. The story uses a clever analogy between lemons and children to illustrate how something that seems bad can become something that is very good. Bitter juice can be squeezed out of a lemon, and then sweet sugar can be added for a tasty treat. Likewise, bitterness and frustration can be squeezed out of children, and with "sweetness", patience and hope, a positive and successful outcome can be reached. She refers to hugs as "lemon squeezes," and unpleasant things as "sour." The strength of this book is in its application as a teaching tool.

Leave it to Dick Lee to observe that the only result of down'n'dirty Customer Relationship Management implementations is to get down and dirty. His trademark common-sense approach to CRM is distilled in this revised compendium of his earlier books, which completely updates his four-step method -- Developing Customer-Centric Strategies, Redesigning Workflow, Re-engineering Work Processes and Supporting With Technology -- and puts it between two covers for the first time.

Lee's the ideal guide for companies already convinced of the need for CRM, but who need highly practical step-by-step guidance. He dispenses with high-flying jargon and theoretical musings in favor of showing what CRM looks like on the ground. How should you structure team leadership, identify the market cycle for each customer group or map current data flows? What size conference room should you book for a certain team meeting, how much time should it take and how many flip charts and markers will you need?

Lee gives you the benefit of his vast experience in answering such questions, and others which you probably didn't even think to ask. His painstaking visual representations of old vs. new sales proposal cycles, proposal resolutions, customer service flows, etc. are definitive, to make them any simpler he'd have had to do them in crayon.

Battle scars are all over the book. On "Change Management" he says "There are two aspects of change management critical to the success of CRM implementations: Leadership and firefighting. The more you have of #1, the less you'll need of #2." Here's a man who's seen more unnecessary firefighting than he cares to remember. He's learned that the best way to impart the information that needs to be imparted is to use the old threefold approach: Tell 'em what you're gonna tell 'em, tell 'em, then tell 'em what you just told 'em. From setting a baseline to beta and launch he walks you step-by-step through what needs to happen when, a seeing-eye dog doesn't provide better guidance than this.

This is an implementation manual in the most literal sense of the term, a book to have open on the desk while you implement CRM.

Dick Lee has done it again - distilled years of consulting experience into a practical guidebook that will assure the success of virtually any CRM project. Don't expect the usual consultant's mindless assortment of silver-bullet checklists though. These projects still take work. I will say that if you diligently follow the steps clearly outlined in Strategic CRM, Dick Lee's complete CRM implementation manual, your customers will be better off for it!

...

Leave it to Dick Lee to observe that the only result of down'n'dirty Customer Relationship Management implementations is to get down and dirty. His trademark common-sense approach which made the first version so indispensable is sharper than ever in 2.0.

Lee's distilled his earlier work here. The book completely updates his four-step method -- Developing Customer-Centric Strategies, Redesigning Workflow, Re-engineering Work Processes and Supporting With Technology -- and presents it between two covers for ease of use.

Lee's the ideal guide for companies already convinced of the need for CRM, but who need highly practical step-by-step guidance. He dispenses with high-flying jargon and theoretical musings in favor of showing what CRM looks like on the ground. How should you structure team leadership, identify the market cycle for each customer group or map current data flows? What size conference room should you book for a certain team meeting, how much time should it take and how many flip charts and markers will you need? Lee gives you the benefit of his vast experience in answering such questions which you probably didn't even think to ask. His painstaking visual representations of old vs. new sales proposal cycles, proposal resolutions, customer service flows, etc. are definitive, to make them any simpler he'd have had to do them in crayon.

Battle scars are all over the book. On "Change Management" he says "There are two aspects of change management critical to the success of CRM implementations: Leadership and firefighting. The more you have of #1, the less you'll need of #2." Here's a man who's seen more unnecessary firefighting than he cares to remember. He's learned that the best way to impart the information that needs to be imparted is to use the old threefold approach: Tell 'em what you're gonna tell 'em, tell 'em, then tell 'em what you just told 'em. From setting a baseline to beta and launch he walks you step-by-step through what needs to happen when; a seeing-eye dog doesn't provide better guidance than this.

This is an implementation manual in the most literal sense of the term, a book to have open on the desk while you implement CRM.

David Sims, owner of business freelance and copywriting house David Sims Writing writes regularly for CRMGuru.com and CRM magazine among other publications.

Miller presents a detailed history of a remarkable period in U.S. Congressional history leading up to the Civil War. Miller describes the battle waged in the U.S. House of Representatives, led by John Quincy Adams, to preserve the right of citizens to petition their government, and his efforts to keep the issue of slavery before the House. I finally saw one of the important effects of the infamous 3/5's rule, which was to create a power imbalance in Congress in which slave holding states dominated the House due to the additional Congressional Reps. they gained by virtue of their large slave populations. It was this imbalance that hindered Congress from a full debate regarding the abolition of slavery. Extremely informative, very well researched and documented, and Miller weaves a witty commentary throughout that is most enjoyable. This is a book that should be read in every high school American History class. It is at times dry (big surprise as Miller details Congressional proceedings) but nonetheless fascinating. I have a new appreciation of the contribution of Adams to the battle against slavery.

This book deals with events from 1835 to 1845 and is principally concerned with John Quincy Adams' fight over the House rule which forbad the reception of petitions about slavery. This may seem like a narrow issue to be the subject of a 556 page book, but this book is flawlessly written, and has great humor--exposing the idiocy of the slavery upholders--and at times brought tears to my eyes. A dropback to the stirring events of 1775 and 1776, found on pages 155 to 157, is as good a writing as I have ever seen evoking the sheer drama of those days. This is a nigh flawless book for one as interested as I am in congressional history and the years before the Civil War.

Try discussing the relative role of slavery in the American Civil War, and the discussion will likely turn on its ear quickly, with little generated other than heated words. So often, it seems, we cannot discuss this subject except with anesthetic prose, or highly spirited points of view. Not so with William Lee Miller's Arguing About Slavery. The author, Thomas C. Sorensen Professor Political and Social Thought at the University of Virginia, has crafted a wonderfully expressed story of the battle over slavery in the 1830s and 1840s on the floor of Congress.

To those of us in the late twentieth century, the idea of petitioning to consider a prayer for action, the Constitutional sanctity of the act, and the relative abuse of the privilege by Congressmen both North and South seems the actions of an almost foreign government. The nearly maniacal desire of Congress to avoid any discussion of slavery in toto also seems incredible in light of government today. Using Congressional records to retell the story in the words of the participants, Miller weaves a fascinating tale as forces in the North try to ensure the rights of their petitioners, as well as deal with continued efforts to stop them dead in their tracks.

There are three major areas to the book: the opening of the slavery issues in Congress, with the presentation and fights by Southern radicals to keep any admittance of them from even appearing in Congress, the development and passage of the "gag rule," in which any attempt to place a petition in front of Congress regarding slavery was "gagged," and finally, the story of former President John Quincy Adams in these fights, and his efforts to support the rights of American constituents in these battles.

The story of Adams is the centerpiece of the book. In laying out the man who would not back down to both Southern and Northern Democratic interests, Miller brings back to life an American figure who is likely lost to many of our generation. Adams, already in his sixties as the slavery battles began, was an unlikely hero. Having served in nearly every capacity he could prior to agreeing to run for Congress after his presidential term, he brought a dogged determination to duty that is hardly recognizable in today's terms. Adams was not an abolitionist, but he was determined that the voices of his constituents, should they be of an abolition ideal, should be heard in the halls of Congress. To that end, he battled for a decade to make those voices heard.

Making use of Adams's massive personal diary, historical context, as well as the Congressional Globe coverage of the proceedings of Congress, Miller delivers the story of these battles in the words of those who were there. Thus, we can see the fanatical words of South Carolinian planter James Henry Hammond: "And I warn the abolitionists, ignorant, infatuated, barbarians that they are, that if chance shall throw any of them into our hands he may expect a felon's death," and Waddy Thompson, Jr.: "In my opinion nothing will satisfy the excited, the almost frenzied South, but an indignant rejection of these petitions [calling for the end of slavery in the District of Columbia]; such a rejection as will at the same time that it respects the right of petitioning, express the predetermination, the foregone conclusion of the House on the subject -- a rejection, sir, that will satisfy the South, and serve as an indignant rebuke to the fanatics of the North." And finally, we see and hear in our minds eye the torture of Adams as he struggles to balance his personal devotion to his country (he was a strong Unionist) with his obligations and duties to his office. Looking at war as a possibility between the two sides of the Union, he concludes in his diary: "It seems to me that its result [that of war] might be the extirpation of slavery from this whole continent; and, calamitous and desolating as this course of events in its progress must be, so glorious would be its final issue, that, as God shall judge me, I dare not say that it is not to be desired."

Much more than just a chronological narration of events, Miller weaves in background of the events and personalities in order to make his subject come alive. Arguing About Slavery is a book outside the mainstream of standard Civil War book fare, but a must if you have any desire to understand the people, events, and stories that led to the great conflict beginning in 1861.

This is a delightful book in which Linda recounts her life as a member of the exrtaordinary Lewis family. The style is conversational, warm and intimate - so much so that you can almost hear her dropping her voice as she gets to the more delicate bits. It's like having her sitting by your side, chatting away - slipping in the odd bit of scandal here and there to spice up the narrative lest your attention should wander. Linda does the story justice by telling it simply and with humour. And what a story it is! If it had been written as fiction it would be dismissed as being too fanciful. Shooting, killings, Heaven, The Devil, death and judgement, marriage, divorce, sex, drugs and rock'n'roll all play their part - and that's just for starters. Chapter two gets even better. Linda begins with a snapshot of family life in Ferriday, Louisiana with (one imagines) daddy coming in from a hard day's bootlegging to Jerry Lee playing boogie-woogie, momma raisin' the roof with songs of praise and big sister Frankie Jean generally causing mayhem. It wasn't until later in life that Linda realised that not every family lived like the Lewis' - but for all their perceived shortcomings (even by Ferriday standards they were regarded as somewhat eccentric), daddy and momma were exemplary parents. No one could have done more for their children or been more supportive. The story of mortgaging the family home to buy a piano and selling eggs to raise money to get to Sun Records are well known, but Linda for her part remembers the talk at home as always being of 'when' Jerry Lee would become famous - never 'if'. The Lewis famiuly were always well represented at the Holiness Church in Ferriday - which Linda describes as the battleground between good and evil. Guys urged on by the preaching and the singing and the speaking in tongues would confess all manner of sins and vow to fight the good fight, which some of them did - at least for an hour or so afterwards. In later years as older members of the family died and were buried, Linda and Jerry Lee with cousins Mickey Gilley and Jimmy Lee Swaggart would return to sing with the fifty or so regular congregation in what must have been the gospel show to end all gospel shows. The lessons learned in church were taken to heart - even though the bit about not sleeping together without getting married meant that Linda (like Jerry) had to tie the knot many times over to keep within the letter, if not the spirit of the law. Linda recounts her marriages with good humour and without rancour. One guy blew his brains out, another just lasted for one glorious sex-filled weekend and in one case a quickie divorce (to allow an immediate re-marriage) was facilitated by a judge who was well disposed to the Lewis', having played the mailman in the movie 'Great Balls Of Fire'. A good deal of the book is taken up with life on the road with Jerry Lee. Having dropped out of school she was able to see Jerry through the lean years following the Myra incident. She went everywhere with him, backwards and forwards across America playing any club or bar that would have them, even the places where she says they frisked you for guns - and if you didn't have one, they gave you one. Jerry's resillience and determination in fighting his way back to the top is widely acknowledged, but Linda - forever his number one fan - deserves some of that recognition for her totally untiring and unselfish support. It grieves her that in later years Jerry Lee has been hi-jacked by the infamous Dr. Nick and sixth wife Kerrie. Linda is generous towards previous wives but understandably wouldn't give Kerrie the lickings of a dog. What should have been the crowning glory of a glorious career seems to end in ruins and that hurts. But among the lighter moments - and there are plenty - it is revealed that Jerry Lee Lewis sleeps with a fully-loaded sub-machine gun under his bed. But as to the circumstances in which he came to use it - you'll have to read the book. It would be wrong to give the name away here, and in any case Linda tells it so much better. In life, as in the book, there's never a dull moment with 'The Devil, Me and Jerry Lee'. Chris Woodford.

This is a delightful book in which Linda recounts her life as a member of the extraordinary Lewis family. The style is conversational, warm, and intimate - so much so that you can almost hear her dropping her voice as she gets to the more delicate bits. It's like having her sitting by your side, chatting away - slipping in the odd bit of scandal here and there to spice up the narrative, lest your attention should wander. Linda does the story justice by telling it simply and with humour. And what a story it is! If it had been written as fiction it would be dismissed as being to fanciful. Shootings, killings, Heaven, Hell, the Devil, death and judgment, marriage, divorce, sex, drugs, and rock n roll all play their part - and that's just for starters. Chapter two gets even better. Linda begins with a snapshot of family life in Ferriday, Louisiana, with (one imagines) daddy coming in from a hard day's bootlegging to Jerry Lee playing boogie-woogie, momma raising the roof with songs of praise and big sister Frankie Jean generally causing mayhem. It wasn't until later in life that Linda realized that not every family lived like the Lewis' - but for all their percieved shortcoming (even by Ferriday standards they were regarded as somewhat eccentric) momma and daddy were exemplary parents. No one could have done more for their children or been more supportive. The story of mortgaging the family home to buy a piano and selling eggs to raise money to get to Sun Records are well known, but Linda for her part remembers the talk at home as always being of 'when' Jerry Lee becomes famous-never 'if'. The Lewis family were always well represented at the Holiness Church in Ferriday - which Linda Gail describes as a battle ground between good and evil. Guys urged on by the preaching and the singing and the speaking in tongues would confess all manner of sins and vow to fight the good fight, which some of them did - at least for an hour or so afterwards, In later years as older members of the family died and were buried, Linda and Jerry Lee with cousins Mickey Gilley and Jimmy Lee Swaggart would return to sing with the fifty or so regular congregation in what must have been the gospel shows to end all gospel shows. The lessons learned in church were taken to heart - even though the bit about not sleeping together without getting married meant that Linda (like Jerry) had to tie the knot many times over to keep to the letter, if not the spirit of the law. Linda recounts her marriages with good humour and without rancour. One guy blew his brains out, another just lasted for one glorious sex-filled weekend and in one case a quickie divorce(to allow an immediate re-marriage) was facilitated by judge who was well disposed to the Lewis', having played the mailman in the movie 'Great Balls of Fire.' A good deal of the book is taken up with life on the road with Jerry Lee. Having dropped out of school whe was able to see Jerry through the lean years following the Myra incident. She went everywhere with him, backwards and forwards across America playing any club or bar that would have them, even places where she says they frisked you for guns - and if you didn't have one, they gave you one. Jerry's resilience and determination in fighting his way back to the top is widely acknowledged, but Linda - forever his number one fan - deserves some of that recognition for her totally untiring and unselfish support. It grieves her that in later years Jerry Lee has been hi-jacked by the infamous Dr. Nick and sixth wife Kerrie, Linda is generous towards previous wives but understandably wouldn't give Kerrie the lickings of a dog. What should have been the crowning of a glorious career seems set to end in ruins - and that hurts. But among the lighter moments - and there are plenty - it is revealed that Jerry Lee Lewis sleeps with a fully loaded sub-machine gun under his bed. But as to the circumstances in which he came to use it - you'll have to read the book. It would be wrong to give the game away here - and in any case, Linda tells it so much better. In life, as in the book, there's never a dull moment with 'The Devil, Me, and Jerry Lee'.

This is a delightful book - in which Linda recounts her life as brother to rock and roll star Jerry Lee Lewis. The style is conversational, warm and intimate - so much so that her voice can be heard to drop as she slips the odd bit of scandal here and there lest the attention should wander. Linda does the story justice by telling it simply and with humor. And what a story it is ! If it had been written as fiction - it would be dismissed as being too fanciful. Shooting, killings, Heaven, Hell, the Devil, death and judgement, marriage, divorce, sex, drugs and rock and roll all play their part - and that's just for starters. Chapter two is even better.

Linda begins with a snap-shot of family life in Ferriday, Louisiana - with Daddy coming in from a hard day's bootlegging to Jerry Lee playing boogie-woogie and Momma raising the roof with songs of Praise. It wasn't until later in life that Linda realised that not every family lived like the Lee Lewis's - even by Ferriday standards they were regarded as somewhat eccentric.

The Lewis family were always well represented at the Holiness Church in Ferriday, Louisiana - which Linda describes as a battleground between good and evil. People would confess all manner of sins and vow to fight the good fight, which some of them did - at least for an hour or so afterwards. The lessons learned in church were taken to heart - even though the bit about not sleeping together without getting married meant that Linda (like Jerry) had to tie the knot many times over to keep within the letter, if not the spirit of the law. Linda is quite specific as to why her marriages failed. For example one guy blew his brains out and another just lasted for one glorious 'sex-filled' weekend.

A good deal of the book is taken up with life on the road with Jerry Lee - during the lean years which followed the 'scandal' of the marriage to his 13 year old cousin. She went everywhere with him, backwards and forwards across America playing any club or bar that would have them, even the places where she says they frisked you for guns - and if you didn't have one they gave you one. It grieves Linda that in later years - Jerry Lee has been hi-jacked by the infamous Dr.Nick and sixth wife Kerrie. What should have been the crowning of a glorious career seems set to end in ruins - and that hurts.

But among the lighter moments - and there are plenty, it is revealed that Jerry Lee Lewis sleeps with a fully loaded sub-machine gun under his bed. But as to the circumstances in which he came to use it - well, it would be wrong to give the game away here. In any case Linda can tell it so much better. In life, as in the book - there's never a dull moment with 'The Devil, Me and Jerry Lee'.

Those who aren't members of the Church of Latter Day Saints, better known as Mormons, may not be familiar with the issues of the Mountain Meadows Massacre. I had never heard of this event, myself.

In Ferry Woman, Gerald Grimmett tries to shed light on the role of John Lee, the man who bore the brunt of the blame for the historical massacre.

The author creates a fictional character (the Ferry woman) --one of Lee's wives. It is through her questioning eyes that the reader sees the events unfold. John Lee is hardly a pleasant character, the Mormons don't come off at all well. Even though Lee's role is toned to "participated" rather than "instigated", Lee is not exonerated in the least. We also get a very gritty glimpse of the less-attractive side of life in Utah during the early days of the Morman settlements, and it seems pretty accurate. Life was, as is the familiar quotation, nasty, brutal and sometimes short.

I didn't know about this historical event (I guess my history of that part of the West begins and ends with the Mormons being run out of Nauvoo and the Donner Party.) So I didn't particularly have an opinion about this massacre. As a historical novel, it is well written and interesting. If you are a reader seeking a romantic-style historical novel, this isn't it. If you like realistic historical novels, you might really enjoy this book.

The Mountain Meadows massacre is a stain on the history of the West, Utah, and the Mormon church. It has never been satisfactorily dealt with from a historical standpoint, and it is unlikely, given the lack of verifiable information and a continuing reluctance on the part of authorities to pick at the scab, that it ever can or will be. So it becomes the duty of novelists to compel us to examine the killings, the cause, and the aftermath. Even if we cannot understand those troublesome times, through a well-told tale we can at least consider--rather than ignore--them.

THE FERRY WOMAN is such a tale; so far as I know, the only one. By seeing the incidents and events of those dark days through the eyes of a fictional storyteller, the conflicts and struggles and relationships become personal and emotional, hence more affective than a cold recounting of history. Throughout the book, Emeline (the ferry woman) wrestles with faith, loyalty, authority, loneliness, love, and hate in very human and understandable ways.

The story's end is, maybe, a mite tidy. And some Mormons will be offended by Grimmett's portrayal of Brigham Young, legendary builder of the West. It is well to remember, though, that in THE FERRY WOMAN we see this complex man solely through one set of eyes--Emeline's--and as her view is distorted by her experiences, it is both authentic and acceptable.

The Ferry Woman, is an account of the aftermath of the Mountain Meadows massacre, an important incident in the history of American westward expansion. The events described in this book encompasses the eras of Manifest Destiny, the misportrayal of Native Americans to the American public, the building of Western "empires", and 19th century religious cultism, as seen through the eyes of the fictional, Emeline Buxton Lee. Through Emeline, the author explores the personal tragedies that accompanied the mass-murder of 127 California-bound emigrants by Mormon pioneer settlers of "Deseret" in 1857. Key among Emelines' personal tragedies are the trials and eventual execution of the her husband, John Lee, adopted son of Brigham Young, who was, in his own words, "...used by the Mormon Church as a scape-goat to carry the sins of that people." (J. Lee 1877). The author brings to life the experiences of a pioneer woman who is swept up in events far beyond her control. Through the authors portrayal of her, we experience the joys and hardships of pioneer life during the mid-19th. century. Grimmett's intelligent and sensitive treatment of the subject matter, most particularly the challenges of love and integrity involved in sharing a husband who possesses multiple wives, provides a thoughtful and satisfying literary experience. Well done!

Written with extraordinary eloquence, elgance and honesty, Lee Martin's powerful memoir "From Our House" deserves a national reading audience. Revealing the horrible and enduring hurt regularly dished out by his angry and bereft father, the author journeys where few have the courage to go: to the depths of the human heart turned against itself, to the terrain where lives twisted by loss and regret recoil against each other, to the crooks and crannies of our soul where we try to forgive, to start anew, despite all evidence against hope. Whatever words of praise I write cannot begin to measure the profound respect I have for Lee Martin. This slender, compelling work will be recognized, I have no doubt, as a masterpiece, and Mr. Martin will be recognized as a skilled and compassionategeographer of how families can enter the darker regions of abuse.

Three characters dominate the narrative, which follows the life of the author from childhood through the ultimately redemptive acts of both father and son. Lee Martin interweaves his story with that of his mother, Beulah, and his father, Roy. The most poignant character is that of the mother, a woman who married very late in life and appeared to accept an existence of diminished possibiliites. Beulah emerges as an amazingly strong woman, whose faith and quiet optimism never flags in the midst of a household of anger and violence. Lee Martin describes her as "a woman of duty and endurance, selfless and without need, at least none she was willing to place before the obligation she felt toward her family." Earlier in her life, she battled against her father's alcoholism; her adult life would witness her constant attempts to broken a sense of peace between her enraged husband and alienated and terrified son. The author is acutely aware of her emotional exhaustion and the gnawing toll an abusive home exacted on her physical and spiritual life. Ultimately, if anyone triumphs in this memoir, it is she. Her quiet optimism, faith in the future and belief in the power of forgiveness transcend the violence, anger and mistrust which were the hallmarks of their home.

If Beulah symbolizes faith and redemption, Roy represents blasted hopes and unfettered violence. The author's evocative description of how his father lost his hands in a farming accident foreshadows the rage and sense of impotence that will become life's companions to his father. Roy regularly whips his son, and for those of us who have felt the anger of a father as expressed through whippings, Lee's understated pain permeates this novel. Yet, Roy is presented as a whole being. Lee knows his father is a "sensualist," whose passions for life were stripped from him by the accident. We can see Roy's jaws kneading in anger; we feel his hooks clamp into us when he grabbed his son by the throat; we know how he can use powerful words to sublimate the frustrations boiling underneath.

Yet, the son, Lee Martin, must be the focus of this memoir. We see him as a little boy, yearning for the caress and embrace of his father. Instead, "although he never really maimed me, he often left red marks on my skin, marks that faded more quickly than the heartache that filled me on those occasions." Lee senses that his family was skewed and recognized that difference in the other dysfunctional families he encountered in his childhood. He grows up with a sense of shame, both of his family and of his own apparent evil, for mustn't he by defintion deserve the abuse his father so unsparingly gives him. His family's move away from his rural origins brings only temporary relief to his family; Lee is an outcast, an outsider -- both in his new environment and in his own family. By his adolescence, Lee dallies with delinquency, involving himself in theft and arson. His eventual embracing of his mother's religious convictions provides the lever by which he may offset his own sense of existential anguish and family displacement.

Not only does the author carry the narrative with conviction and purpose, Lee Martin is an amazing writer. Each page is exquisitely crafted. His description of his childhood farm/home is Whitmanesque. As you read this novel, you will constantly comment at how hard this author has worked for you. Redolent with pain and anguish, "From Our House" instructs us in the manner of living.

A must read! Lee Martin takes a deeply honest look into who is, where he has come from and how that will shape his identity. Never have I come away from a piece of literature and felt so moved. Martin's memoir has a sort of constant rhythm that propels you to take the journey with him into another time. He avoids with great dignity the "poor me" syndrome, and takes the time to reflect with honesty and integrity the struggles of life. While 1960s life on a farm in the midwest might seem a nostalgic and peaceful setting, Martin brings to life the kind of violence and true grit of living and emotion that takes place in this typically idealized setting. A pleasure to read in that you come away feeling that you've learned as much as about your own life as you have the author's.

Lee Martin's memoir "From Our House" is more than an unsettling portrayal of a unique American childhood or the clash of generational values that were the seeds of the Sixties. It aims beyond a painful depiction of how rebellion and cruelty, even betrayal, can be bound up and contained within the love of a family. In fact, at its most daring, it is a suggestion of the very nature of forgiveness: that even as an offense and heartbreak continues, the indictment is never made and final judgement, despite so much bitterness, never rendered. It suggests something about the human spirit very hard to believe and by the end of the book, impossible to deny.

Martin uses a strong grace to tell us of the accident that takes his father's hands on the farm. "I'm free to imagine that day anyway I'd like: a brilliant sun glinting off the picker, the dry leaves of the cornstalks scraping together in the wind; or perhaps it was overcast, the sky dark with the threat of rain, and perhaps the wind was cold on my father's face." It happens when Martin is a baby, this event that will shake his family so powerfully, releasing his father's terrible anger and shame, and his own struggle to understand, gain approval and finally forgive. Later in the book he imagines being present at the accident, older in this dream, and able to warn his father to turn off the tractor before manipulating the picker. He dreams of the power to prevent the accident that leaves the elder Martin with steel hooks to drive his car, hold a cup of coffee or touch his wife and son. Remarkably, at the conclusion, we're not sure Martin would want to change the past, or that we would have him do so.

"From Our House" hangs in the heart and mind's eye, this image of what we can be, drawn with the sharp lines of what we are. I read the book a second time because it is good news and true, true because it never cowers at our inhumanity.

Martin's father and he share a rare moment of understanding on the morning of his grandmother's funeral. Coaxing his reluctant boy into preparing for the morning, his father lays beside him on the bed. "Such a strange day," he says. "You'd hardly think it was meant for you." The same can be said of this book, a stunning and beautiful declaration of everything we are.

The focus of this book is not on memory techniques such as the LOCI method and while it does mention them and explain them briefly it does not give a lot of detail about them.
Instead it focuses on memory problems as a normal part of aging, medications and diet. Through out the book it mentions Alzheimers and similar concerns and repeatedly speaks about not being concerned about particular memory lapses as you grow older.
It does have thorough coverage of memory myths and how some of these myths create or contribute memory problems as well as the best coverage of diet, medicine, supplements and similar factors of any of the memory books that I have read.
This is a workbook with many excercises to prove their points as well as show how various techniques work and how storing and retrieving memories works in the mind.
If I were asked who I would recommend this book to then it would have to be people in one of two groups. First would be anyone who is aging and thinks that they are having memory lapses more often and are concerned about them. Second would be those who want to know what drugs, nutritional supplements and dietary factors may increase or harm their mental capacities.

This book is a great self help tool not only in the area of memory - but in using the power of positive thinking.

Right from the start the exercises give you power to enhance your memory by teaching techniques to pay attention, to associate and to accept your own abilities.

For anyone who has a tendancy to forget, you can learn your strengths, boost your weaknesses and even smile at them. If you fear Aging, Alzheimers, Dimentia or Senility - there is an explanation that is understandable. Medication, Depression and other factors that can alter one's memory are also described.

I would recommend this book to anyone who suffers from or knows someone else who has concerns regarding his or her memory.

I'm writing this review because I really liked a lot of aspects of the book. I recommended it to my friends, so I figured I'll recommend it to internet users as well. I've read some other books on memory improvement, but I think this book was more engaging. It includes most of the principles found in the other memory books I've read, but this book seemed to make it more cohesive. I think the other aspect I enjoyed was the emphasis on personal attitudes. It honestly left me with a new perspective on growing old. Also I felt the book spoke well to some of the sometimes-negative feelings I've had about growing old (to be honest I was surprised by just how many negative perceptions I had that this book revealed to me - and corrected, so to speak). Actually, the more I think about it, the more I can say I really liked the book and do highly recommend it. Enjoy