Other than the words to live by, the book was too complicated to either understand or put into action. Unless I totally misinterpreted the text, the proceedures had to be done by at least one other person to help. My spiritual journey is personal, I don't expect others to understand, how would you find other people to help out if they don't get it?

Tiwari presents a specialized guide to Ayurvedic healing. This book is one of the most complete books available on the cleansing and rejuvenating therapies of Pancha Karma, which were originally taught and practiced by the ancient Vedic seers. Best if used by those already familiar with Ayurvedic medicine, this book provides detailed explanations of seasonal influences on Ayurvedic therapies, Ayurvedic rejuvenating sadhanas, Pancha Karma, and the Ayurvedic healing diet and related physical activities. Also includes a pharmacology, a glossary of ingredients, a list of Pancha Karma accessories and equipment, and a thorough list of Ayurvedic resources and suppliers.

I started reading this book along with the original scripture on Ayurveda. I stopped reading the scripture when I realised that this book is authentic repoduction of sashtra (scripture). Maya Tiwari is highly meticulous and writes in lucid langauge. She writes like Hindu Godess Saraswati (Godess of Wisdom). This book is a must for all those who think Allopathy is a joke.

The main character's name is "Goody" and the love interest is called "Dreama" and another character is called "Peanut". If the author can't imagine these characters as real people with real names, how can the reader be expected to? The writing itself is quite striking, but the story is weak, aimless, and there is no dramatic tension at all. It seems like the author knew this and tried to bluff us with a lot of heavy breathing and embarrisingly over-the-top grandiloquence. Like a violent empty cartoon, but written as if it were Moby-Dick.

This luminous, riveting and maddening book had me in thrall until the last fifty pages when it degenerates into a Rambo style mess. Oh, but when it's good it's terrific, I'm anxious to read this author's other books.

This is a well crafted book, not the usual word processed [stuff] that passes for popular fiction these days. It is a evocative, dark,literate slice of Americana. Not reccomended for those who like their reading to crank along at the pace of a made for T.V movie. Pinckney has a fine eye for character and detail. If you liked the movie "Sexy Beast", you will probably enjoy this book as well.

I bought this book because of the enthusiastic reviews it received on the Amazon.com website. Having looked through it, I am thoroughly disappointed. The author is apparently either unaware of the great novels dealing with Benedict Arnold, beautifully and accurately written in the 1930's by Kenneth Roberts,or has chosen to ignore them. I find this totally unacceptable, since much of what we know about the march to Quebec, the retreat and near loss of the Northern Army on Isle Aux Noix, and the Battle of Valcour Island came to light in "Arundel" and "Rabble in Arms". Martin apparently wanted to write an academic version of Arnold's life, but his failure to cite Roberts renders the Martin book intellectually dishonest. Further, that Martin could have failed to mention Roberts' collection of diaries entitled "The March on Quebec" is truly mind boggling. If it would be possible to give the book zero stars, I would do so for it doesn't deserve the one I had to give it.

Martin's biography demonstrates the complexities of Arnold's mercurial character, but falls short of the completeness needed to become the "authoritative Arnold". The author syphons through 2 centuries of myth to find the true Benedict Arnold: a complex human being with amazing military talent, caught over and again in a web of politicking which he neither understood nor approved. Arnold's treason becomes more heroicly tragic than dastardly. Indeed, the reader cannot help but see similarities of today's "look out for my own best interests" philosophy in business, sports, and politics. It would seem Arnold may be the ultimate example of American individualism.

While Martin's work is well written, interesting, and highly readable, it is far too incomplete to be anything other than a suplementary source. Martin ignores key activites in Arnold's life, most importantly his time spent as commandant in Philadephia, and also ignores the romance and marriage to Peggy Shippen. Col. Andre is mentioned in only a cursory manner. The treason itself is barely touched upon. The book essentially ends after the Battles of Sarasota, when Arnold was badly wounded. What emerges is an interesting but incomplete portriat of General Arnold.

This book would be a great Volume One, if Martin were to continue the biography by addressing these other events in Arnolds life. But for one who is interested in learning about Arnold for the first time, this book is best left on the shelf for after a more thorough biography.

I began this book with the preconceived notion that I think most American's have that Arnold had absolutely no redeeming qualities. This book dispels that myth but at the same time offers no apology for Arnold's treason. The extent of James Kirby Martin's research and analysis is the book's strongest point. Up until Arnold's treason, his contributions to the American Revolution were substantial yet largely unappreciated. Martin documents in great detail the heroic and selfless actions taken by Arnold in the early part of the war, and then dissects Arnold's disillusionment with the independence movement and descent into betrayal. Arnold's distaste for the independence movement centered on the Continental Congress, where decisions were made to placate regional interests and to appease petty egos rather than to reward meritorious conduct on the battlefield. The ironic thing is that Arnold had the unwavering loyalty of the one person who counted: George Washington. Arnold was unable to appreciate this. Washington, like Arnold, had his many detractors in the Congress, yet Washington, unlike Arnold, was not consumed by it in the end. This book is not an apology for Benedict Arnold's attempt to hand West Point over to the British. Rather, it is a compelling acknowledgement that Arnold was a complex individual who had many virtuous qualities and who poured every ounce of his being into the quest for independence until he was consumed by his disillusionment. I wholeheartedly recommend this book to all persons who are interested in American History. James Kirby Martin challenges what we learn about Benedict Arnold as children, yet never requires us to conclude that Arnold's treason was either laudable or excusable.

This is an out of date look at the Japanese. Ruth Benedict interviewed Japanese in the United States during the last years of World War II. After the war Benedict had a chance to visit Japan and talk to Japanese in Japan, but elected not to do so. Therefore, this book is jaded and misrepresents the Japanese. Other books are better and give a truer picture of the Japanese.

After WWII Ruth benedict was sent to Japan to learn and help the US understand the "Japanese mindset". This book is unparalleled in its scope and easy-to-read-ness. It is essential to historians, anthropologists, and the curious. Read it. Read it. Read it

I had expected the author-resident of this book to reveal much more about the Hamptons rather than just a compiliation of names and addresses. In my estimation the book doesn't reveal much insight or short-cuts as the name ("Short-cuts") might infer.

Is does give you a shortened version of the yellow pages.

Jodi's Shortcuts is an excellent guidebook to the Hamptons. It has great reviews of all of the latest restaurants (including new ones that do not appear in other guidebooks), it has a great calendar of events that I could not find anywhere else, and it is chock full of every other service and listing you could ever want, plus lots of secrets, backroad maps, etc.I keep one in the car and one by the phone in the house at all times - it's the perfect resource! It's also got great tips from many famous people - their favorite restaurants and things to do. I loved it, and would highly recommend it to anyone! I hope they do guidebooks to other areas in the future!

Books published at the author's own expense really should contain a warning on the seller's site. If no reputable publisher will touch it, it's likely to be pretty bad. And this one is. I was unlucky enough to buy the book before it was reviewed on site. How I wish I'd waited! It truly is appalling. I didn't know enough about the subject to recognise the historical errors, but the bad grammar, patronising style and nauseating 'folksy' wisdom made reading it a very unpleasant experience.

LiPira is a renaissance man, according to the cover blurb he is a retired dentist who plays golf. Unfortunately he's not much of a historian. You wouldn't want a historian to drill your teeth, and as "Garibaldi" demonstrates, it's probably not a good idea to have a dentist write your biographies. I was suckered by the two previous reviews, but after a dozen pages I realized that the author's mother and sister wrote them, because no discerning reader could call this book excellent. Among its many flaws:

Research: the bibliography lists eight works, none less than twenty years old, none apparently in Italian, and none primary sources. Its seems LiPira read a handful of biographies and decided to try his hand at it.

Tone: It reads like some misbegotten 1940s communist propaganda. Garibaldi is a "noble leader" who "must fulfill his destiny". Alternately the "true messiah", "megahero", "demigod" and, laughably, a "guru of libertarianism, so to speak". We read that a "swell of adoration built to a tidal wave of idolatry" and "The Neapolitans were awed by his invincibility". He is a great lover whose "wiry constitution enamored him to all in the boudoir". His troops were "feverish in their passion to begin this momentous invasion" and "follow their glorified hero to higher levels of achievement". Pretty steamy stuff.

Bad guys are "imperialists" and "royalists". Interesting since Garibaldi renounced republicanism in 1851 and spent his career fighting for a king and for a time was dictator of Sicily. LiPira resorts to marxy prose to demonstrate Garibaldi's appeal to "the masses", even criticizing merchants who disliked Garibaldi because he "impounds" their goods to feed his troops. Garibaldi was a brilliant general, but it's not necessary to disguise the fact that he was also an ambitious mercenary. One annoying riff is LiPira's strange failure to grasp the relationship between military and political power. He mewls about "political interference" and how "politics once again nullified the noble sacrifice of so many gallant men", without considering the political ends for which they were sacrificed. When Garibaldi once persisted in fighting after a war had ended, LiPira acts as though he was abandoned by conniving politicos. Perhaps the fact that Garibaldi disguised his lust for adventure with contradictory ideologies explains his pathological distrust for politicians. The book fails to engage in any real political analysis.

And it is often inaccurate: "Millions [in Marseilles] were dying each year" of cholera; "Guerrilla warfare was born in the nineteenth century"; characterizing ancient Rome as a society of "liberated people, ennobled men, and guardians of human rights". Italy "failed in its first attempt to join the League of Nations" in 1866. Once LiPira has Garibaldi retreating so as not to "pit Italians against Italians and lead to a civil war", while for fifteen years he has been fomenting civil war by leading his Italian troops against other Italians. The French had "forty cannons, forty-eight artillery pieces, and various howitzers" (howitzers are a type of cannon, and cannon a type of artillery - an odd error in a military biography). San Marino is "a small old republic", without comprehending that its tactical value to Garibaldi and the very reason that this small republic got to be an old republic is that it sits atop a mountain without good road access.

Grammar: apparently English syntax and usage aren't a part of the dental school curriculum. LiPira can't seem to get the hang of matching subject to verb: "weakness and fragility was evident". Readers will enjoy the inventive usages: "abstract poverty" (vice abject), "offshore" (vice onshore), "reactionaries" (vice revolutionaries), and "lie" as the past tense of "lie", as in "Garibaldi lie in a stupor".

Some phrases are nearly incomprehensible: "ethereal personification", "obvious casualties", "It took until June for the sailing of the Neapolitan army to depart", "his talented saber in hand", "Garibaldi presented the taking of Venice via Dalmatia and the Balkans but with governmental ties." in a battle, his "ammunition dwindled to an embarrassing minimum", "He was adamant in his belief that life is not for the privileged", "each town they passed was more friendly than the next". The death of Garibaldi's beloved wife's is described as "unwelcome". For good measure there are ethnic slurs: "subtle" Sicilians and "warlike Prussians".

Readers will get a kick out of the redundancies: "freedom and liberty", "violent battle", "due to his recuperative powers, he recovered.", his biography included an "episode from his life", "more incessant", "a ditch that served as a trench", "long two month voyage", "both fear-inspiring and terrifying", "aggressively attacked", those killed are "lost forever", "raves and adulation", "the royalist king", "disarray and disorder", and "prior history". LiPira is compelled to state the obvious: "Little did he know what the future had in store", an attack was "designed to disable the enemy and bring victory", he patiently explains that computers did not exist in 1807, and later that the Statue of Liberty (not yet built) "had not gained [its] place in history, as yet".

e.e. cummings once teased Warren Harding for writing a sentence with seven grammatical errors. LiPira has created the biographical equivalent, cramming all this into a mere 120 pages. So, while it reads like a vanity book published by a hobbyist writing in his den, at least it doesn't take very long. Oh, the worst, the very worst thing about this book is that Garibaldi's name is misspelled on the spine.

This was one of the most interesting books on Italy i have ever read. Very enjoyable indeed! I would recommend it to alot of people interesting in Italy.

I was very poorly impressed by the apparent sheer misandry that shines through in this work. Negative stereotypes about males in general and athletes in specific are the foundation of this work, which I did not find to be particularly well researched. It was not helpful in the slightest to me. I was terribly disappointed.

There is a difference between drawing conclusions from data and the kind of misandry which the NC reader refers to. This book takes a long look at both at both numbers (types of crimes, numbers of felons) and case-study data (individual accounts from the subjects) to support a conclusion that is obvious to all thinking people: violent group behavior is connected to violent individual behavior, especially when groups of men are involved. It is not misandric to develop a hypothesis and then examine whether the data support it or nor; it is, however, irresponsible to make sloppy, defensive, ad hominem attacks on books which scare the hell out of you. This book acts as a mirror to reflect some uncomplimentary facets of male society (and male sports). Readers may not like what they see, but this book (and others by Benedict) prove that you can't just throw names at social problems like these to make them go away. As I am all too well aware, living in the heart of Buckeye country, women pay a terrible price to pay when men's sports (especialy amateur sports) are glorified, and I am thankful when books like Benedict's emerge and help define the extent of such violence nationwide.

I was writing a report for one of my college writing classes about the recent off the field problems that athletes are having today. I had bought Pros and Cons and found it to be interesting and full of facts and stories. However, when I read this book, I was impressed even more. Benedict does a great job of painting the picture of how violent these knucklehead athletes can be. When the victims descibe their beatings, it sends chills up your spine. If anyone who is looking for a behind the glitter and glamour look of today's professional athlete, than they must buy this book.

I'm sure John Harvey has the best of intentions with this book and no doubt it has been received with praise by conservatives in the Catholic Church. However, as a practical guide for pastoral care it is at best misleading, and at worst potentially quite harmful.

Any person, Roman Catholic or not, that cares about the mental health of his/her client should disregard this book. Harvey goes to great lengths to perpetuate stereotypes and myths about gay men that have been overwhelmingly debunked through careful research through the years. Harvey's primary error is to view homosexuality as an illness or an addiction, similar to alcoholism or other drug abuse. Hence his group Courage was formed on the 12 step model to help people overcome their homosexuality. The problem is there is no illness and there is no addiction. Homosexuality was taken off the list of mental illnesses by the American Psychological Association 30 years ago.

If you're looking for a book that is consistent with Church teaching but will actually help very few people, this is the one for you. If you're looking for a book that actually helps gay people struggling with questions about their sexuality and faith, go elsewhere. I would recommend books by Jeanine Gramick or Robert Nugent or by John O'Neill.

Just to reiterate the comment from the other reviewer, the one positive about the book is its encouragement for gay people to talk to someone that can help.

This excellent book is an attempt to bring a catholic-holistic view on homosexuality. The book is divided into parts treating homosexuality as phenomenon from psychological, theological and practical pastoral point of view. The main psychology schools involved in treating this anomaly are sketched. Good arguments and explanations on the actual situation in the sectors of psychology and psychiatry concerning the present view on homosexuality are given - with many eye openers. Harvey comments, polemizes and refutes with very good arguments views of some five known catholic dissenter theologians. A balanced catholic magisterial view on homosexuality is given with comments on the 1985 Vatican note on homosexuality. All written in a sober,humble language without any unnecessary sensation or judgemental attitude against the homosexuals. Harvey shows breadth and profoundity of his knowledge and shares many good practical insights. But I still lack more practical guidelines. All in all the book is an excellent introduction. Father Harvey wrote 1996 yet another highly recommendable book on this topic. It is worth while to read both of them!

First I must say that I am very thankful to God Almighty for these two great priests and shepherds of the faithful for having the courage to write a great book that reveals the truth about the worst disease that has plagued this century. Father Harvey's and Father Goreschel's research has helped me and many others, especially those involved with the Courage and Encourage support groups, to understand homosexuality and to know that it can be treated, to know how to live chaste and thus fulfilling lives in the midst of contrary opinions and thinking, to know how to support others who are seeking help in dealing with their own tendencies or how to be healed from a life of homosexual practice, to know how to reach out and help families who are also dealing with loved ones who are suffering from homosexuality, and to give hope and true loving support to everyone faced with this problem, that one can be healed and live normal and faith-filled lives. I know these authors personally and I also know many people whose lives have been miraculously transformed by knowing the truth through their books,through personal counselling, and especially through the loving and dynamic community support of Courage and Encourage. This book and the other books by these two great priests can only help those who want to be helped and who have the courage to know, confront, and accept the truth because the TRUTH (which can never change) will set you FREE!

I looked forward to reading The Search for Joyful but the book was lacking the in depth characterization found in Mrs. Mike. Some of the characters were almost cardboard. Also, I would have loved to read more about Mrs. Mike and her life.

But the book made a nice, easy read and I would buy it again.

I read MRS. MIKE for the very first time recently and it has quickly joined my top "5 best books ever" list. Therefore, no matter what, I don't think this book could have ever equaled it in any way. There was a lot of good writing here and a good story, but it got bogged down. Personally, I would have liked some parts to have been shortened and others expanded upon. I would have loved to have heard more about Kathy's growing up with Mrs. Mike and Sgt. Mike and the twins and more about what happened with Crazy Dancer and the daughter. Overall, it was an enjoyable read.

If you are looking for another book "just like MRS. MIKE," I'm afraid that THE SEARCH FOR JOYFUL will disappoint you. It's about a different young woman's journey out of girlhood, set in an entirely different era even though it begins just one generation after the classic tale of a Canadian Mountie's bride. While Katherine Mary Flannigan is among its characters, this is her adopted daughter's story. I'm glad I was able to put aside my preconceptions and let Kathy Forquet take me along on her own unique journey, because I found it a very rewarding trip.

This Kathy, as readers of MRS. MIKE will remember, came into the lives of Mike and Kathy Flannigan after their one-time household helper - the Cree girl Oh-Be-Joyful, who ran away to marry a half-breed trapper named Jonathan Forquet - died and left a baby daughter behind. Jonathan brought the child to the woman his young wife had called her "more than sister," and the Flannigans added the little girl to their adopted twins. Who, with their French ancestry, fit in among the northern Alberta village's white youngsters; while small copper-skinned Kathy, a First Nation child growing up in a white family, fit in nowhere except at home. "Kathy is to be included," Mrs. Mike consistently told Connie and Georges. But as her story opens, Kathy Forquet is striking out on her own for the first time - to answer her country's World War II call for young women to study nursing - and merely being "included" is no longer enough.

In the cosmopolitan city of Montreal, she find a profession to excel at and to love. She also finds prejudice among her fellow nursing students, and even - eventually - in the family of the young man she marries. But there is another young man, a fellow "Indian" also serving in the Canadian Army; and there are friends like Kathy's roommate Mandy, her old schoolmate Elk Girl, and "Sister Egg."

Through study and hard work, through coming under enemy fire in a front-line medical unit, through loving and losing and learning to love again, young Kathy journeys just as far in this book as her adoptive mother did in MRS. MIKE. It is written with more frankness because it was, after all, published 50 years later. If you're planning to hand it to your child, be warned about that! But I personally thought it well done, and well worth reading.

B. Groeschel's attempt to analyze and propose solutions to the clergy sexual abuse disaster falls far short in both content and presentation. It's poorly written and ill-informed, insulting both the reader's intelligence and the gravity of the situation with pat, predictable "answers." As in the case of most of Groeschel's books, there is a smattering of humor, but here it is entirely out of place. Of course, he blames the usual suspects and even throws in a few more (such as the trend of people dressing "down" for Mass. Come on)! What Groeschel ultimately wants, it seems, (though his confused style makes it hard to discern) is a "ghetto" Church (and at one point he actually defends this desire). But really, he's not worth arguing with in this book, given its slapdash and erratic meanderings. It's simply NOT worth reading. Try George Weigel's "The Courage to be Catholic" or, better, Donald Cozzens' "Sacred Silence."

While erudite and witty, this account of the current crisis in the Catholic Church, betrays objectivity by attempting to pin all ills related to this crisis on laxed seminary formation and an increasingly permissive Western society.

That may be so. But in the opinion of this reader (and of most Americans) the larger part of this crisis lies in the dereliction of duty and outright cover up practiced by US Bishops and the Roman Curia.

Indeed, key questions such as Why doesn't the Catholic Church come clean about this matter by opening its files to civil authorities?, Why haven't more bishops, who have been found guilty of such cover ups followed Bernard Law in resigning? and Is there a need for laity and other groups within the Church, not only to express their displeasure, but to demand a place at the decision-making table? are almost ignored.

Sadly, the one prescription that is repeated at infinitum in the book, namely more orthodoxy, seems to reflect Groeschel's own desired medicine than what is truly needed in the mind of this reader, namely MUCH MORE accountability on the part of church leaders.

Gustavo A. Bujanda
Dallas, Texas.

Father Groeschel has written a small book that is not difficult to read; but for its brevity and simplicity, it is remarkably perceptive.

Father Groeschel cuts straight to the heart of the matter: the Church (especially in the United States) needs reform - or, perhaps better, renewal. The Church needs to get back to the basics and to be true to the mission given to Her by Jesus Christ. For too long, members of the Church have allowed themselves to be influenced by the spirit of the world. As a very sad result, the Church is now afflicted by an all-too-worldly scandal.

One may be surprised that the author doesn't spend more time talking about the responsibility of the bishops. I maintain that most of the book deals indirectly with the bishops. If seminary formation has been lax or irresponsible since Vatican II, the bishops are the ones who have allowed it to happen.

Yet Father Groeschel manages to avoid condemning anyone. He acknowledges that even he had been caught up in the worldly spirit that has been so prevalent in the Church. His answer is to point to the examples of great saints whose personal holiness helped to bring about great renewals when the Church faced troubled times in the past.

This is not a complete or comprehensive account of the scandals, their causes, or the solutions. It is, however, a good place to begin looking for answers about how the scandals could have happened or how they can be overcome.