The book was an easy read full of good ideas, some of which I have already put into practice in my own life. There is a chapter on consumption, which is kind of depressing as it makes you feel guilty for shopping for pleasure. But the book makes you think, which is what Nell Newman intended. It also makes you angry that the government doesn't insist on a better quality of life for us as far as chemicals/ toxins/ produce are concerned.

This is a good, easy read for anyone interested in making their world a safer more pleasant place to live. It covers everything a person can do to make a difference as far as helping to reverse the damage done by decades of poisoning our planet and thereby ourselves with pesticides, herbicides, and chemical fertilizers. The suggestions in this book are things anyone can do. It also covers the newest degradation to our food supply, genetic engineering. Not written in words that are better left in a science lab but in down-to-earth, common sense language.

Informative, funny and inspiring, this book is a delight to read. The tone - perfection is not necessary, small changes can make big differences - is excellent and not at all preachy. I bought this book on Earth Day and couldn't put it down. I hope this is the first of a series of books by the authors.

All to often prayer is viewed as a perfunctory task that we go through in order to communicate with God. Our prayers may consist of flowery words that are not relevant to our lives and sound artificial to our ears. Is it a surprise then that people have such great difficulty with prayer?

Joseph Schmidt challenges us in breaking the above view by suggesting another alternative in communicating with God. Why not honestly reflect on the daily events of our lives and become aware of God's word and work in them? In other words, pray our experiences which give meaning to life instead of babbling to God about things that don't touch us.

If God is the source of our existence then we can know God through our experiences. Prayer takes on a new meaning and enables us to enter in life more fully and intereact intimately with the God who Loves us for who and what we are. Such a notion is radical and gives us a new perspective in honestly sharing ourselves with God.

Praying Our Experiences shows us the process of how we can get to know ourselves as God knows us. Step by step Schmidt introduces us to a way in which we can begin the experience. This is not a formula driven book on prayer where you learn techniques for praying. Our author presents to us a guide to enable you to develop a more fully developed prayer life devoid of the barriers which we place in the way of knowing ourselves and God. Such a book is an excellent guide in helping you to achieve a deeper intimacy of God in your prayer life.

I had been struggling in my prayer life, when I first read this book. I just did not feel like I was connecting with God when I got on my knees and "Prayed."
Prayer supplements your relationship with Christ; prayer is the conversation you have with God. This book points out where else in your daily life you pray. For me this was my primary form of prayer and I did not even know it.
This book is a MUST read. It is only 80 pages or something like that and is written in very simple terms. Give this book to yourself and someone you love.

I first read Praying Our Experiences when it first came out 20 years ago. This concise guide to prayer touched me deeply and opened me to the wide world of praying. I bought copies for friends, family members, and used it with classes that I taught. The praise for the book has been uniformly enthusiastic. Prayer is not just for clergy, rabbis, monks, and nuns: we can all pray, whenever and wherever we are, in any way that we can. The most important prayer comes from the heart and is honest communication about the real events of our lives. POE may be short in pages, but it is long on wisdom. I have returned to my well-worn copy over and over in the last 20 years whenever I have needed a reminder that the Creator is always willing to listen to prayers from my experience. I am delighted that the editors offer this anniversary edition: well done. The book is a gift to all of us.

The sub-title says it right: "Digestible Commentaries." The writing style is informative, entertaining and always illuminating. The narratives on diet, in particular, are very applicable to daily life. He does an excellent job of debunking the myths of "chemical content" in our lives and consistently makes the point that "chemical" is not a dirty word! A great and easy read.

Dr. Schwarcz is well-known throughout Canada (and especially, the University of McGill in Montreal) as being the consummate chemistry lecturer. His courses are filled with anecdotes, demonstrations, and humour. He has translated his infectious interest in chemistry to the written word, and the result is a fascinating book that you will enjoy reading, and likely refer to again and again when someone asks, "I wonder why....?" As the title promises, the book is a series of short anecdotes about a variety of chemical subjects. For example, the titular "radar, hula hoops, and playful pigs" gives the connection between these three items (airborne radar, hula hoops, and pig playtoys are all made from the same polymer). The majority of the essays revolve around health, probably reflecting both the author's training (as a carbohydrate chemist) and society's bias.

Schwarcz has two underlying, scientific themes. Science in general, and chemistry in particular, is neither good nor evil - it's the context/use of chemistry that gives a moral distinction. Likewise, chemical effects are generally driven by amount - arsenic is not poisonous in low enough concentrations, while water is deadly under certain conditions (if inhaled, for example). The second point is to make the reader a skeptical consumer. He gives numerous examples of good science vs. bad science - a product trotting out "testimonials" is not evidence that it will work in all cases (or even in the majority of cases!). That's not to say the book gets bogged down in details. His writing style is sharp, witty, and concise. The book can be picked up and read from any point, and you'll still learn something interesting.

I am a chemist, and can assure the chemists considering this book that the science is accurate. It's not the standard sugar-coated fare that appears on television. Likewise, a non-scientist will be able to easily understand the material because Schwarcz never resorts to lingo without first explaining it (for "proof" I point to my mother, who was an English major in university and who enjoyed the parts of the book she's read). Therefore, this book can be recommended to the widest audience, and all will find it informative and enjoyable.

I love this book! I can't wait to read the sequel! Dr. Schwarcz has a way of turning the ordinary into the extraordinary, and making you actually care about chemistry. His secret is that instead of lecturing about chemistry for chemistry's sake, he uses chemistry to make sense of the nagging little questions of everyday life (Why is shampoo so foamy? Why does skunk smell come back the day after you wash it off your dog?). He also brings to light the people behind chemical discoveries, and has a knack for showing how their personal quirks led them to discoveries that changed the world. If you like chemistry, you will like this book. If you HATE chemistry (like I do) you will love this book!

This text is the first word in Biomedical Ref. It is arranged in a user friendly manner and is filled with useful data. The ethics section is a plus for ISO compliant users. Charts, formulas, and frequently used Engineering terminology abound. This updated version is a vast improvement over the 1995 edition.

This handbook provides the reader with an excellent overview of what Biomedical Engineering is and what are the trend that we can expect in the future.

The handbook covers 18 different sections, each one containing about 6 different topics. At the beginning of each section there is a short explanation of the main issues that will be covered.

Although the Handbook will not be useful for an expert in one of the topics, it will certainly be useful to explore different areas in Biomedical Engineering for professionals, or students who need a brief but concise and depth analysis for a particular topic.

This is a very good biography of an overlooked great American thinker. Mr. Brent does a good job of recounting the life of Peirce without getting bogged down in the details of Peirce's philosophy which is well documented in several other books. The book also attempts to analyze Peirce's behavoir and why he failed as an academic, something that desperately needed to be done. As Peirce's reputation inevitatably increases, this biography will become a classic reference to this very interesting American.

This book contains a great deal of information on the life of a sadly-neglected philosopher; one of the most brilliant Americans of the 19th century. Dr. Brent has a wonderful, at times even poetic, writing style, and he has "lived" with Peirce so long that he has excellent insight into the man behind the philosophy. Struggling through Peirce in a class? This book may not make his philosophy "easy"--but it will make him more human.

This is an excellent and helpful book for anyone wishing to know the locations of sanghas, monasterys, and the like in North America. There is also interesting commentary from various North American practitioners of Buddhism included in the material. The overall layout of the book is good and the amount of information is massive. My only complaint is that the information is divided into the three schools of Buddhism and then it is put in geographic order by state and province. I would have preferred it to have been all geographic with the type of Buddhism practiced placed in the listing. Others may be perfectly happy with how the book is set up however. Regardless of this I would recommend this book for those who want a large directory of Buddhist groups in North America.

This book is extremely informative and practical. It clearly describes the different forms of Buddhism, including articles on each, and also covers non-sectarian Buddhist organizations.
Buddhist centers/groups are listed according to type (Theravada, etc.), and includes all the essential information for each, such as contact information and programs offered.
There is also an appendix listing the centers by location (alphabetically by state and locality), and another listing them alphabetically by name.
Many illustrations of centers and spiritual heads also add to the appeal and usefulness of this excellent book.

My son has a passion for Ancient Egypt. As a homeschool mom I have tried to encourage this, however, I felt that he should understand that history did not come to a screeching halt in Egypt after the death of Tutankhamen. In reading this book we not only enjoyed a page turning adventure that we couldn't put down, we also opened up an entirely new line of study. My son even wrote mock news paper articles in the, "Language of the time," bearing the sad news of the defeat of the Gallant Gordon. This book was invaluable in our study.

My son has a passion for Ancient Egypt. As a homeschool mom I have tried to encourage this, however, I felt that he should understand that history did not come to a screeching halt in Egypt after the death of Tutankhamen. In reading this book we not only enjoyed a page turning adventure that we couldn't put down, we also opened up an entirely new line of study. My son even wrote mock news paper articles in the, "Language of the time," bearing the sad news of the defeat of the Gallant Gordon. This book was invaluable in our study

Almost everything you wanted to know about the Duke. The father of surfing, Olympian, and the definition of aloha spirit, this book tells the whole story. Only criticism is there are not enough photos of this incredible man.

This should be required reading for young surfers.

Mr Brennan writes this story of his friend Duke Kahanamoku with care and love. It is wonderful that the time was taken to document this life that lives on in Spirit thirtyone years after his passing. After readiing the story of Duke's life you will see how special he was . The book is well written and very factual. Bravo

It seemed like a prescription for enjoyment. The main character and I are the same age, have lived and travelled in some of the same places, and were even at the University of Oregon at the same time. I also write all the time though I don't have a burning passion to publish.

Did I like the book? It was only OK. I appreciated the short chapters that took me into other spaces at lunch hour. But, it was a familiar whimper without any breakthrough thoughts for me. California angst. Middle-aged angst. Writer's angst. Self-help angst.

Perhaps my lack of enthusiasm was due to my gender. For a woman it's interesting to be inside the mind of a guy, but in this case I was happy when the well-written denouement finally came and I closed this book. I would rather be rereading Arthur Rosenfeld (!!!) or Craig Carozzi for male points of view.

Sutton should keep writing; he has a lot to say to some people. I'm just not on his wavelength.

Joe is the master of the personal essay. In a handful of pages, he tells a small tale and ends each with an epiphany.

You can buy this book to see someone work through a case of writer's block. But I would highly recommend it if you want to read some small masterpieces which happen to have been written at the rate of three pages a day.

Morning Pages is about a longtime writer with writer's block. It's a great tie-in with Julia Cameron's The Artist's Way and with the novels of Gabriel Garcia Marquez and William Saroyan. Cameron says to write three pages as fast as you can each morning upon rising for twelve weeks to silence the internal censor, thereby melting the writer's block. Garcia Marquez writes five pages daily, even stopping mid-sentence at the end of the fifth page. Ben Halaby, the protagonist, writes about his block as he is writing a book. The evolution of a novel is a protagonist as well˜˜Halaby doesn't even realize he's writing one! It is fascinating and deeply moving in that Halaby's whole life seeps onto the page. You get a sense of a man's view of the world growing up in America in the second half of the 20th Century. Reading Morning Pages was like eating my favorite dessert. I couldn't eat it fast enough and was afraid of finishing it.

This is not a great biography of Ford. It doesn't add anything new, and it's probably 100 pages too long(I never thought I'd say that about a book on Ford)! Read Scott Eyman, Print the Legend, and you won't even want to bother with this book.

This is a very good biography of Ford. Yes, McBride relies on Sarris and Carey Jr. a good bit of the time, yet this book remains very interesting and does a thorough job covering the many films Ford made.

Strengths of the book include an eye-opening look at Ford's WWII service, (How many other guys were at both Midway and D-Day and managed to get to Burma and Yugoslavia as well?) a clear presentation of Ford's relations with the different studios (the list of "better" titles for The Quiet Man the head of Republic tried to force on Ford is hysterically funny) and an evenhanded evaluation of Ford's behavior during the blacklist era.

Perhaps the evenhandedness of McBride's tone is what I liked the most about the book. One could take Ford's life and turn it into a straightforward case of hero-worship, or one could take an axe to him up and down the line, pointing out his failures in family life, his bigoted comments, his questionable actions in some controversial issues. McBride avoids falling into either extreme camp. We get Ford warts and all here, and it is left up to us to decide.

My only complaint is that the book is too short. I would have liked more discussion on a few films, and I would have liked a chapter on Ford's posthumous reputation. McBride raises the issue in his introduction that Ford is being forgotten by the new generation of writers and filmmakers, but he never quite tells why.

Still, this was a fine book, one that I read quickly despite its length.

As a fan of the master filmmaker John Ford, I was enthralled to find this wonderful biography. It is both entertaining and scholarly, filled with fascinating anecdotes that provide the reader with an in-depth view of Ford's complex personality. In spanning Ford's life and career, this book also provides a panoramic overview of Hollywood itself and the dramatic changes it went through over the years, many of which are reflected in Ford's work. I really enjoyed the analyses of Ford's films which provide many new insights and perspectives. A must-read for anyone interested in film.