Barry Duncan and Scott Miller are with Marc Hubble directors of The Institute for the Study of Therapeutic Change (...). These people play an important role in improving and renewing therapy. In this book, the authors explain how therapy has for too long been been neglecting, ignoring, and depersonalizing clients, by its over-emphasis on methods and techniques, by following the medical model, by its emphasis on pathology, by hegemony of biological approaches, and so on.

The authors first debunk the myths of:

1) PSYCHIATRIC DIAGNOSIS:
a) it lacks reliability,
b) it lacks validity,
c) it puts the blame on the client, and
d) it is often motivated by self-interest, fueled by greed, and blows with the winds of fashion,

2)DRUG TREATMENT OF MENTAL PROBLEMS:
a) they work no better than therapy in the short term
b) changes brought about by medication are less likely to persist over time
c) there often are severe adverse effects,
d) drug studies often look better than they are because they rate improvement by looking to clinicians' perceptions, not clients'
e) the relationship between drug companies and psychiatry is an unholy alliance, making most of the drug-effectiveness research very suspect

3) THE MAGIC APPROACH:
a) there is no special magic silver bullet approach which is much better than another approach
b) the role of the competence and experience of the therapist is rather unimportant

According to the authors, four decades of outcome research have shown that there are four main factors of change, being:

1. Client factors (percentage contribution to positive outcome: 40%).
2. Relationship factors (percentage contribution: 30%).
3. Hope and expectancy (percentage contribution: 15%).
4. Model and technique (percentage contribution: 15%).

Some conclusions:
1. Thoughts, ideas, actions, initiatives, traits of clients are the most important predictor of therapy success!
2. Next to what the client brings to therapy, the client's perception of the therapeutic relationship is responsible for most of the gains resulting from the therapy.
3. Models and techniques are much less important than generally thought.

The authors advocate a new and refreshing approach characterised by:
1) Client-directedness. Clients' beliefs, values, theories and goals are repected, close attention is being paid to clients' initiatives, interventions and perceptions. Much attention is given to establishing the quality of the relationship, and to monitoring the clients' perception of the quality of the relationship.
2) Outcome informedness. Progress is measured from session to session using paper and pencil questionnaires. By the way: the client's experience of meaningful change in the first few visits is emerging as one of the best predictors of eventual treatment outcome.

Two thoughts come up after having read this book. First, this book is refreshing indeed and a shock to the therapy system. Second, the ideas ventilated in this book might be relevant for work outside the therapy field as well. Consider for instance what management consultancy and managing coaching could learn from this......

In The Heroic Client, Barry Duncan and Scott Miller consider the whole field of "mental health," the roles of client and therapist, and the central question of what helps in therapy. They address mental health mythologies that affect the practice of therapy, including a pervasive reliance on medication, diagnosis, the medical model and priveleging the therapist's expertise. The book asks us to reflect on why we have lost confidence in the person-to-person collaboration of talk therapy, curious in light of the fact that research continues to show that talk therapy is more effective and enduring than medication for most of the problems people bring to therapy.

Duncan and Miller present an exciting, well-researched and thought-provoking argument for client-directed, outcome-informed therapy, which they call "co-therapy." Based on the research on what makes for success in therapy, Duncan and Miller propose we place greater reliance on the theories of change, experiences and strengths clients bring and less on our preferred causal theories and techniques.

This is a courageous and challenging book. Every mental health professional and consumer should read it. It can make a difference. Tobey Hiller MFT and Phillip Ziegler, MFT, co-authors of Recreating Partnership: A Solution-Oriented, Collaborative Approach to Couples Therapy (W.W. Norton, 2001)

This book is a must-read for all mental health professionals! Based on 40 years of outcome research regarding "what works in therapy," Barry Duncan and Scott Miller have articulated a way of being with clients that emphasizes collaboration, respect, and honors their theories of change. The authors challenge many of the dominant theoretical, political, and social discourses that have been privileged in society and unfortunately have informed psychotherapy practice in ways that tend to alienate and stigmatize clients and lead therapists astray. What they advocate for is therapy that is client-directed and outcome-informed, thereby honoring clients' voices and perspectives. This in and of itself has been a long time coming and is worth the price of admission. The Heroic Client is a thoroughly-researched book, and one that I have and will continue to recommend to my students and colleagues. It's a must for all mental health professionals!

This book, drawing on current research findings and the authors' extensive clinical experience, reminds us that it's not the hottest new techniques or the therapist's theoretical orientation that makes for effective therapy. When satisfied clients are asked what made the the difference, their most frequent answer is a meaningful encounter with a caring, responsive human being whom the client felt understood his concerns and validated his strengths and resources. Many of us in the helping professsions seem to need this reminder. Phillip Ziegler, co-author of Recreating Partnership: A Solution-Oriented, Collaborative Approach to Couples Therapy.

I am especially glad to have stumbled upon Escape From Babel sooner rather than later in my career. In a most straightforward way it cuts to the chase about what it means to be a part of effective therapy; it reminds that clients (and their experiences) are nothing less than extraordinary when given the opportunity to have a role in their therapy; and it will encourage you to look again at the role of ethics in the profession. I encourage new and experienced therapists and therapists-in-training to absorb the messages in this book. Don't spend money on all the different "latest and greatest" technique books; this is a far more valuable investment!

This excellent text for counselors, social workers and psychologists covers the rationale, value and techniques of highly effective brief therapies. It is full of interesting and useful case examples that make the challenge of brief therapy dialog easy to learn and implement. I not only use it myself, but have insisted that the entry level counselors that I supervise buy a copy and become familiar with the techniques it describes. Jonathan Williamson, MA, LPC

Based on the strong literature review, professionals in the human services field may well see an improvement in their clinical outcomes if they follow the suggestions in this book.

I found this text to be of great help. The contributing chapters and the topics covered are fantastic. The authors take therapy constructs that have always been detailed in writing styles far too thick and complex and now describes them in descriptions much easier to understand, all the better for the transfer from theory to practice. While certainly pointed at the field of therapy, this book speaks to many of the "helping" disciplines---more can be "therapeutic" by aligning with these "common factors." The authors give great review to the ingredients to effective interventions and behavior change. When I finished this book, I was left with the impression that although everyone may not be in the "therapy business" this book shows how many who "help" can now be far more involved in the positive behavior change business.

I read this with relish. A genuine "Thanks" to all those who contributed to this book. I can't say enough about it.

This book challenged what I was taught to do when doing therapy. The book inspired me--made me think about new ways to view "stuck" cases. The case examples were powerful and the writing was excellent. A bit of interspersed humor made the reading interesting. I highly reccommend this book to anyone in the field of therapy. In fact, I suggest reading this book before going in to the field so that one can avoid becoming pigeon-holed into any certain formal, traditional model of therapy.

Creatures Of Habitat: The Changing Nature Of Wildlife And Wild Places In Utah And The Intermountain West is an illustrated, exhaustively detailed account of the extremely fascinating animals and plants to be found in the Utah and the intermountain west, ranging from the shorebird that eats brine shrimp and flies nonstop each year from the Great Salt Lake to central Argentina, to the rare mustard plant just recently discovered on Mount Ogden. Creatures Of Habitat openly discusses what is happening to this wildlife and its natural surroundings, emphasizing how the loss of its habitat is contributing to the decline and extinction of numerous species. With lists, guides to wildlife viewing, and habitat maps, Creatures Of Habitat is an excellent reference for any amateur animal watcher or natural world armchair traveler, particularly those who live in or near Utah!

Development is overtaking both habitable places in the Intermountain West. The general wealth of our society, the inherited fortunes of the world war generation, and the achievements of technology, allow urban areas to expand across the habitable landscape. Growth in the urban footprint, along with that of the supporting technological and recreational infrastructure, results in habitat loss. In turn, several Utah species are becoming extinct.

This book looks at the creatures at risk and the choices that have resulted in their becoming endangered. The reader learns that each sub division, road, strip mall, and power plant that is built to support our lives takes away precious habitat. The wild species that lived in that territory are not displaced. They may become endangered if the habitat loss is substantial. The burden of preservation is ours. The creatures endangered species cannot choose where to live. We must choose what to develop for ourselves and for them.

"Creatures of Habitat" is divided into three major sections. It addresses endangered species, loss of wild places, and the choices we have for the future. The technical material is presented to tell the stories of how and why certain species are endangered. The story of each creature deserves to be heard. The book examines habitat loss issues from many angles, connecting these into a coherent picture of the complex problem of western development. There are several suggestions for becoming involved as individuals or in organizations dedicated to saving what remains of our wild places.

I found the book to be unprejudiced and well researched. Problems are stated along with the history and present solutions, as are the behind-the-scenes groups that have been working to preserve habitat for years. There are probably surprises for readers who have not examined endangered species and habitat loss issues from all sides. In particular, I was pleased with the recognition that the hunter, and associated organizations, have worked to preserve habitat years before it became a well-known problem.

This book is shows us that there are no easy solutions to these problems. Perhaps the greatest hope is in education. This book does just that.

This book is essential reading for any leader in the world of health care. Health care execs are confronted with complex, highly charged negotiation challenges, internal and external, nearly every day. Many of these conflicts can damage lives and corporate finances. The book gives you very practical, results-oriented advice on how to resolve conflicts and move forward.

Dr. Marcus is the nation's leading expert in health care negotiations and conflict resolution, having helped numerous high-profile organizations overcome conflicts and reach mutually productive agreements. This book thoughtfully conveys this valuable expertise.

Marcus presents a broad spectrum of options for getting through tough times in the healthcare industry. The personable style and ongoing case history make this a very readable presentation.

Marcus teaches us that conflict is not only always present and unavoidable but can be used as a catalyst for good change. He describes differences in types of negotiation, mediation, and arbitration. He is a proponent of interest-based negotiation which is an attempt to improve the lot of the whole by improving the parts. He advocates active listening.

As witness to his sincerity, he dedicates a chapter each to four of the healthcare stakeholders: policymakers, healthcare management, physicians, and nurses. Each of these chapters speaks loudest to its own stakeholder, at once representing them and persuading them to enter into negotiation.

Postitional bargaining is also explored. Marcus does not advocate being a sacrificial lamb.

This book serves as an excellent introduction to the topic of conflict resolution and negotiation. However, in order to engage into the fray, one would also need to continue to study and practice the principles presented.

Although Marcus seems preachy at times and overhopeful at others, he is at least starting to draw the diverse and strong healthcare industry into one place to sit and talk. Hooray for that.

This is a well organized book that clearly defines potential skin problems of Dogs or Cats and then plots out a potential resolution that both the layman and the veterinarian alike can use to successfully assist the afflicted pet.

Helps educate the pet owner to ultimately assist the veterinarian with the proper diagnosis by delving comprehensively into the subject of skin disease, its' causative factors and curative possibilities to assist in the proper final diagnosis, which with skin ailments, is sometimes never possible to pin down.

My only wish is that a new, revised addition would be published that would reflect some of the newer drug therapies that have become available since the books' original publication date in 1997.

Rauch of U. Michigan and Simon of Caltech edit this volume for the IMA (Institute for Mathematics and its Applications, University of Minnesota). It deserves 5 stars for the depth and complexity and importance for physics applications, but not for simplicity or even ability to communicate with the public. For the latter two things, the reader should hire a reputable consultant or tutor to translate. IMA is published by Springer, which is usually noted for its clarity, simplicity, and ability to translate for non-specialists. However, IMA and a few other institutes and even publishing companies direct themselves solely to specialists and to industrial applications and to very recent results that have not yet been translated even for most other theoreticians. It will be necessary to split this book review into several parts (hopefully) in order to give some flavor of the book. Here a few definitions and directions will be indicated. We are talking quantum mechanics for very small Planck's constant, h, in which case classical physics plays a key role. When h is very small, quantum mechanical objects become unusually big, which is another way of looking at this book. The large Z limit of atomic Hamiltonians (think of the Hamiltonian as an energy operator) is the area of current research, together with Weyl asymptotics. The latter refers to the classical results of Weyl, one of the greatest algebraic theorists of all time, that some very important things become determined by volumes in this region (technically, eigenvalue distributions of elliptic operators on compact manifolds become more and more determined by volume, which will hopefully be clarified later). In this "twilight zone" region, we are dealing with heavy molecules in strong magnetic fields, gaps in the (essential) spectrum where semiconductors and insulators have impurities that create new energy levels and thus affect conduction, color, and so on. The results are also applicable to linear wave equations whose initial data are very oscillatory and whose solutions involve geometric optics rays which are solutions of ordinary differential equations (rate/speed/acceleration type equations ) even though the original problem involves partial differential equations (rate equations with multiple variables all of which except one are held fixed or constant).

My kids, ages 6 and 3.5, loved this charming book almost as much as I did. It's the story of the Bottle family, who moves to a town populated by humans living in can houses. But the Bottles are not well received.

"Those bottles! Why can't they be like the rest of us? Why must they always go around acting like bottles?" When the Bottles save the town from destruction, the humans finally see the virtue of glass neighbors.

The wry narrative is accompanied by wonderful 1950's-style illustrations. This is the best children's book I read this year.

Frank Miller used to be one of the comic creators I admired most but then the satisfactory, but somewhat less than impressive Sin City happened and I was turned off him a little bit. Don't get me wrong, Sin City was good, but it was standard fare, nothing to write home about. I just got the impression that Miller, like John Byrne, Chris Claremont, Chuck Dixon and others, was just past his prime. It was with this in mind that I sat down to read Ronin for the first time recently and I didn't have high hopes. I had forgotten that this was the Miller of old I was reading and as the story progressed I got the same enjoyment I got when I read some of Miller's masterpieces like Dark Knight, Year One, Daredevil and so on. Its such a fast paced story that you can barely put it down even to get a drink of water. So many twists and you can never guess what is going to happen in the end. Great dialogue, characters you really want to see again and an excellent apacalyptic theme. I really love the way that Miller mixed Samurai legend with futuristic technology. These two themes shouldn't work because they are too different, but somehow they do here.
I haven't read any of his recent stuff, including DK2 but
eading this has made me interested in checking Miller out again.

I recently reread this dark and brutal story. I'd forgotten how good it was; Miller's world and characters are highly developed, morally ambiguous and socially mature. The story is classic hard- core science-fiction and the art work is amazing. A must read for any Frank Miller or science- fiction fan.

If you like science fiction and suspence all in the same book along with japanese characters then you have got to read Ronin. Like Millers other masterpiece "Batman:The Dark Knight Returns" it has the same artwork and depth. Even though Mr. Millers artwork doesn't come close to that of someone like Chaep Yaep, the story more than makes up for it. In the tradition of "Akira" it combines Japanese cultue with a futuristic prescence. If you liked "Dark Knight" you'll love Frank Millers' "Ronin".

Professor Miller's is not one of the better translations of the Gita. We can see this immediately by her choice of subtitle, "Krishna's Counsel in Time of War," which works against the real significance of what Krishna is saying and misses the profound message of the Gita entirely. If the Gita were only advice about how to act during war, it could hardly have even a minuscule part of the world-wide and timeless significance that it has. Regardless of how literally one may want to read the Gita, it is an unmistakable truth that Krishna's counsel is not about war, per se, but about how to live life, and how to face death.

We can also see in her introduction and in the "key words" section following the text that her understanding of the Gita is mostly academic. She has not practiced (at least not to any great extent) any of the yogas central to the Gita. It cannot be emphasized enough that a true understanding of the Bhagavad Gita requires not only study but practice in one or more of the four yogas presented by Krishna, namely bhakti yoga, karma yoga, jnana yoga or raja yoga.

To illustrate some of the problems in the text, let's look at the beginning of Chapter Five as an example. Miller calls this, "The Fifth Teaching: Renunciation of Action," which is not exactly right since what is renounced are the fruits of action, not action itself, which according to the Gita, is impossible to renounce. We always act; even in inaction we are acting. Just "Renunciation" would be a better title for the chapter. Miller uses the word "Simpletons" in the fourth verse as the converse of "the learned"; but this is just poor diction. The intent of the Sanskrit is "unlearned" or "immature." Swami Nikhilananda, in his translation (1944; 6th printing, 1979), even uses the word "children." The natural word is "fools" which Miller avoids for no clear reason.

In the next verse, Miller has: "Men of discipline reach the same place/that philosophers attain;/he really sees who sees philosophy/and discipline to be one." She certainly has the spirit of the meaning correct, but "Men of discipline" is not only needlessly vague, it is misleading since discipline alone does not work at all, which is one of Krishna's main points. While hers is a literal translation of the Sanskrit "yogair," a more meaningful translation would be "Men of yoga." R. C. Zaehner, who translated the Gita for the Oxford University Press (1969), uses "men of practice" although that too is not entirely agreeable. Eknath Easwaran (1985; 2000), who really knows yoga, has Krishna simply say, "The goal of knowledge and the goal of service are the same; those who fail to see this are blind." Easwaran can deviate from a strict literal translation because he really understands the purport of the Gita. Swami Prabhupada, whose translation serves the further didactic purpose of promoting "Krishna consciousness," is also a man who has a deep understanding of the Gita. He puts it this way: "One who knows that the position reached by means of renunciation can also be attained by devotional service, and who therefore sees that sankhya and yoga are on the same level, sees things as they are."

Another disagreeable choice made by Miller is the epithet, "Lord of Discipline" that she has Arjuna use in addressing Krishna in 10.17. This unhappy phrasing comes about because of Miller's reluctance to use the proper and natural word "yoga." Easwaran has "supreme master of yoga," while Nikhilananda has simply, "O, Yogi...O, Lord." Prabhupada has "You...O Blessed Lord," and Zaehner tries to explain with "athlete of the spirit...You, Blessed Lord." Stephen Mitchell's recent translation (2000) has the eminently sensible, "Lord of Yoga."

I think Miller was overly influenced by the very literal and also largely academic translation by Franklin Edgerton from 1944, a translation admired in academic circles since it was the one included in the prestigious Harvard Oriental Series, but a translation neither poetic nor especially insightful. It is difficult to make strictly literal translations true to the spirit of the Gita because the Gita is poetic and is profound in a way not immediately apparent. Miller worked hard at a literal rendition of the text, but she also sought to make it contemporary for a particular (young) American generation. Ainslee Embree, Professor of History at Columbia University, is quoted on the cover as saying, "Miller's is the translation for her generation." Unfortunately, it is not clear that Embree meant that entirely as a compliment!

Having said all this, Miller's is a sincere effort, and captures most of what the Gita is about. No reasonable translation of this great spiritual work is in vain.

This book is a classic text of the Hindu culture. Very readable and easy to digest, this book provides a lot of sound teachings. Being a Christian, I am often amazed at the vast amount of parallelisms that exist between the various religions and find myself less condemning and a result less offensive, which leads to more opportunities to discuss my beliefs. With that said, I recommend that more people need to be able to understand other cultures and beliefs before attempting to persuade others to adopt their teachings, whatever they may be. This book is great ground zero reading into the psyche of the Hindu culture, as well as a good instructor in many areas where we have questions.

Despite the literary criticisms made by some other reviewers, the fact is that the main messages of this age-old text still come through clearly in this modern translation. The introduction is excellent, and its engaging style is probably easier for first-time readers to swallow versus other academic translations. For the book's small price and size, it's a great investment and, as a piece of world literature, has to rank among the greatest ever produced.

While I think most religions of the world are fundamentally the same if you explore them yourself, from a documentation perspective, Eastern texts seem to go further than many Western texts in trying to explore and understand the nature of, and the relationship among, reality, God and ourselves. It seems you don't have to travel someplace far to finally understand it, or at least understand it better; the knowledge is in the here and now. Like Krishna's friend Arjuna, you have to become aware and accept it. And the first step in doing that is opening a book like this.