In some ways, Air Conditioned Nightmare is one of Henry Miller's most accessible books. It can be consumed, processed, and enjoyed by readers who are not, per say, Miller fans, as the themes are somewhat broader than his usual subject matter of himself and his friends.

This is a great book to introduce newcomers to Miller's work. It also is a fascinating portrait of America at a point in time and from a certain perspective. Especially given the modern habit of romanticizing the WW2 era, Air Conditioned Nightmare gives an alternative, cynical view that remains insightful today.

What holds me back from giving the book five stars is that it falls victim particularly harshly to Miller's characteristic laziness. His favorite trope of gushing over some new friend of his for a chapter or two unfortunately dominates the book, and he rambles off on some very dull tangents about things like car trouble.

Nonetheless, there's plenty of Miller's brilliant diatribes and observations, which make it quite worth the while to plough through the hubris.

Miller's observations of the USA are still true 60 years later. The contrast is between the man-made horrors and some of the wonderful artists Miller found in out of the way places. My favorite chapter is the story about Weeks Hall's mansion "Shadows" at Bayou Teche, Louisiana -- it inspired me to visit the place, which was still as mysterioso as Miller had described it.

Miller's observations of the American scene in "The Air-Conditioned Nightmare," are, as in his earlier works, dead on. But his travels take him beyond the Yeast Coast to the Grand Canyon, where he shares his unique appreciation of things uniquely appreciable about North America. Also has a great vignette on auto mechanics circa 1940.

This is a satisfying read if you appreciate language and character. It is a collection of views and vignettes of the author's life when he lived in Big Sur. Miller's unique personality and interests come through in his language that makes even ordinary things come more to life. It was interesting to discover what seemed like proto-new age thinking in some of this, written in the 1950's. His evocations of character are great and so is the feel of the environment. I read part of the book during a trip that took me through Big Sur, and it deepened my enjoyment of being there. The Henry Miller Library is worth visiting.

I first read this book exactly ten years ago when I was struggling through a profound period of depression. I don't want to say that the book cured me, because that would be too facile and too drastic a declaration, but I will say that Big Sur and the Oranges of Hieronymus Bosch was the first real beacon, the first glimmer of light to lead me out of a suffocating psychological cave. I don't know why, exactly, but when I began reading the book, a deep sense of peace came over me for the first time in several months. The book seemed to open up my eyes and my ears and my throat and even my lungs; I found myself sucking in big sweet gulps of air, and I started to detect a freedom and a limitlessness in the world that I had previously failed to recognize. Of course, there is no way that I can promise that you will have the same reaction. Over the years I have passed the book along to various friends: Some of them have fallen in love with it and some of them have been utterly bored. That is understandable. The book has no plot; in fact, it doesn't really pretend to have any forward momentum. The narrative just floats. As other reviewers have noted (both enthusiastically and bitterly), Henry Miller delivers in this book a seemingly random swirl of philosophy, wit, character studies, soaring observations of topography and weather, literary and arty musings, puzzles, koans, epigrams, aphorisms, scripture, historical trivia, astrological forecasts, and jokes. It does not, upon first glance, have any point whatsoever. But that, friend, is the point. What Miller is laying out here (in a unique way, free of the usual hippie jargon) is a meditation on how to live a different life, a vibrant life, a life of the spirit, which is, by his definition, a narrative that refuses to conform to the usual numbing standards of conduct. So if you are looking for a "story," per se, keep driving until you get to Monterey. And if you are looking for some of Henry Miller's famously invigorating foulness and fury, pick up Tropic of Cancer instead. If you are looking for peace, stop here.
Big Sur and the Oranges of Hieronymus Bosch is for any reader who is in the mood for a beguiling rumination on how a man once tried to bring peace into his life. The story, as such, is this: Henry Miller moves to Big Sur, one of the most beautiful places on the planet, and sets out to create a new home infused with energy, creativity, a sense of community, and an appreciation of nature, while at the same time he copes with intrusions and financial pressures and the charisma and creepiness of other people. That's it. If that sounds dull to you, steer clear. If it sounds seductive to you, plunge in. Because if these are issues that gnaw at your soul (and maybe they should, since our media-saturated culture is becoming more programmed and conformist every day), then you might find this book to be a page-turner as gripping as any of John Grisham's potboilers. I could not put it down. I read it straight through, and afterwards, I felt like every step I took was charged up with a new vitality. Crazy, huh? The way I see it, Henry Miller's big lascivious grin was one of the bravest acts of American rebellion, because it came roaring out of his heart, and the heart is where all true liberation takes place. That's the appeal of this book, for anybody who cares to explore it. In my case, this book said to a depressed man: There is another way to live. Choose it.

The obvious advantage of being a son or daugter to a writer is fairly obvious... We are there, at certain times... No one, I repeat no one, has ever captured the essence of the Nature of Big Sur, forget the characters( real people) that lived there.I had the chance to read this novel, after living ten or twelve years of its life... He is so good in describing the natural Beauty and Natural functions of Life, On Partington Ridge, and Big Sur in general.. No one comes close to describing the Nimbus fog effect, the sun casting shadows forty miles out into the sea, the beauty of the redwoods(and not Seqoias) that so many people come to se. Those very same people asking for that"other"road, near the Ocean(?)... Big Sur can be a state of Mind.. But Henry Miller captured the essence of what Essalen Institute has tried and always failed to find... He lived, and breathed, and most importantly, understood Big Sur... Institutes come and go... A great man's wise vision. Living the Life, not talking or massaging it, is what he was....He never went to esalen, he went to big sur Hot Springs...Just the water, the Ocean, the birds and the company... The rest is, as always, a sad addition to somethingt magical, when those that need to "create" something, to compete with the Supreme Being................HTM(MM)

Henry Miller has been one of my favorite writers for my entire adult life. I also am a fan of Erica Jong (who was onced facetiously tagged with the moniker of female Henry Miller) That made this book doubly alluring. I have always had to renconcile the raw bluntness of Miller with my own philosophical positions. A lot of Millers writing is extremely sexist on the surface and even on some deeper levels. I like the way Jong is able to point out how supportive Miller was of female writers like Marie Corelli and Emma Goldman and Helena Blavatsky. (all writers I read because of Miller) She also cites his support of her own career. Miller was a child of the Teddy Roosevelt era but he sought to overcome all these obstacles. Most of his writing was an attempt to transcend these weaknesses. Did Miller fear women as Jong suggests? She certainly presents a strong argument to that end. This is a touching elegy to a writer that influenced and aided Jong in her own literary ascension. As to the criticism that this book is really about Erica Jong, I would state that The Time of the Assassins is really about Henry Miller and Anais Nins book on D.H. Lawrence is largely about Anais Nin. These are artists writing about other writers and not critics presenting literary criticism. It should be read as a salute and not as objective analysis. And I state it does succeed quite well at that.

Jong tackles Miller's wide-ranging life from the perspectives of friend and fellow writer. She also takes the nearly unheard-of fresh angle of looking at Miller as a human being, warts and all. As linear biography, the book doesn't work; this is fortunate, as it is intended -- and works -- as a romp through someone's life.

In a fine mesh of poetry, prose, research, experience and playfulness, Erica Jong succeeds in giving one an idea of what Miller might have been like if one had met him. This is far more valuable than any diatribes or rants regarding the often alleged "obscenity" of Henry Miller's work. Readers also can find here a more concrete analysis of Miller's many facets: supporter of woman writers, conqueror of his own Oedipal complex, father, lover, dirty old man, intellectual, rover.

If you like Henry Miller, read it and learn more. If you hate Henry Miller, make an effort to understand him. You still might not like his writing, but you'll at least have one hype-free view of his work and life -- and Erica Jong's writing is as fresh and funny as ever.

My take on this...

And so, it is.

Everyone has somehow come to the notion that their generation, their time is "the one" and that there is nothing new under the sun unless their generation creates it or is savvy enough about adapting it as their own. Also, something construed as 'challenging to' our accepted notions should be outright condemned. Case in point is when Jong published "Fear Of Flying" groups everywhere labelled as way too provocative. Jong's reply: "I had imagined that everyone knew Chaucer, Rabelais, Lawrence and Joyce were full of sex, so why all the fuss?"

"The Devil at Large" is about liberators, necromancers, artists and writers--about writers Jong and Miller, about how similar they were and how they came to be fast friends and about this blindsidedness of the public I spoke of above. It is for those of us searching for answers, it is about, to flip-flop paraphrase the great psychedelic bluesband Funkadelic, "freeing your a**, and your mind will follow". Who better than Isadora Wing herself should do a work on the Dirty Ol' Man of Letters? This is, my friends, a great book with great ideals.

And so, it is.

To many, Miller is a rabid misogynist who doesn't deserve a second glancing. His use of language is dense and unappealing and obscure and he goes deep, deep into what we cultured folks would call unmentionable..like the section on French urinals vs. American urinals from the novel 'Black Spring'. But, see the facts that he's described the unmentionable, that he attempted to put words to an otherwise impossible to describe feeling, frees us all...

The universe is perceived by us all sensually. To be part of the universe is to be expressive sensually, according to Miller via Jong. To embrace both the flesh consuming microbes and the exudates we normally discard, to love equally the dung and the diamonds.

Embracing only our high ideals never lead to anything, says Miller through Jong, but war, famine and hatred. And, concludes Jong, "Without obscenity, there is no divinity". If we do not accept and embrace it all--even the nastinesses--there cannot be a breakthrough of the physical to the spiritual. Life is about liberation, minute by minute, fear by fear. Miller's role according to Jong is to help us liberate ourselves by reading about his struggles with his own liberation..

But, alas! Personal liberation? We cultured folks are much more interested in new tires for our cars since the economy is doing so well and we want to feel only as liberated as the freedom of motion we get from our cars...

And so, it is.

It wasn't what I expected. I had to throw it away, no one I knew wanted it! I guess I should have read the reviews carefully.

Make sure that you do before you waste any monies!

Though I have not read all of this book, I can say for certain that Henry Miller was NOT married to Marilyn Monroe!

Henry Miller was married 5 times in his life, but never to Marilyn Monroe. You are confusing him for the playwriter Arthur Miller, who was briefly wedded to Ms. Monroe.

This book is written as it has been culled from Brassai's personal journal and notes over a period of almost fifty years.

It reads more like a compendium of valuable snippets and insights rather than as a continuous narrative. Brassai as a photographer met Picasso in Paris and was invited by the painter to take some photographs of his work. Most of these photographs were actually of Picasso's small (and not so small) recent sculptures. It was common practice for all sorts of artists at that time(and earlier) to have professional photographs taken of their output so they could see their creations from a different, more removed perspective (vanity?). Picasso was certainly no different.

Picasso himself was an avid amateur photographer and as John Richardson has pointed out in his excellent Picasso Bio. he was not merely content to paint the paintings he also tried to somehow install himself in his pictures via self portaits with various paintings as backgrounds. The camera had become an instrument of magic tele-kinesis.

Brassai's notes show us how enthusiastic Picasso was about his new friend's talents in portraying Picasso's sculptures as if new. Brassai goes on to render much detail of the retinue of followers and sycophants that daily alighted on Picasso's doorstep in Rue Grand Augustin during those mostly war years. One sees completely how it was none other than Picasso himself who craved such fawning even if he did ignore most of their attentions.

It is obvious that Brassai wished to cause no offence with this publication as he discounts all of Picasso's nasty foibles as necessary bohemian artistic exigencies.

The book is full of wonderful photographs of the characters that came into contact with the great man as well as various photos of Picasso's studio, output and abundant clutter.

There is even a complete listing of Picasso's paint requirements. I found that fascinating. One is reminded of Marcel Duchamp's comments that all paintings are really the same in as much as they all start out as a given colour range of tubes of oil paint.

There is little humanity in the observations and maybe that is no bad thing. Picasso and Sabartes are portrayed as two scheming nuncios whose Catalan dialect was the spoken code of choice. Much is given to calcuation of Picasso's position with Byzantine nuance and deliberation. Should he sign this picture? Should he see that dealer?

Overall, a valuable addition to the ouevre on Picasso and a book that can easily be dipped into from time to time.

This is quite simply a wonderful book, and a splendid new translation of a great classic about the Paris art world during the 30s and 40s. Brassai was a witty, wry observer of Paris life and an excellent writer as well as photographer. The episodes he captures of Picasso's life are irreplaceable, often hysterical--and not recounted in other, stuffier books on the great modern artist. Highly recommended for art lovers. A pleasure to read

I recently read the novel Wuthering Heights, by Emily Bronte. As a student, I would not recommend this book to other readers. Unless falling asleep after every chapter of a book classifies it as good, Wuthering Heights is only good as a bedtime story. In the novel, it is said that Heathcliff and Catherine are in love, if this is so they wouldn't have spent their times together trying to hurt one another for pleasure. Heathcliff would have not wished that Catherine not rest in piece because she didn't mention him in her last breaths of air before dying (even though she was unconscious). This relationship that the author portrays as love, really is not love. It is more of a hate than anything. Another thing about this novel in which, I did not quite enjoy was its exaggeration in descriptions of everything. It is great to describe things well enough for the reader to create an image on what is happening in the story, in their mind, but don't push it overboard. For example, Liam O'Flaherty an author of short stories and novels uses great descriptions in his works. In his stories, he was able to create a mental image of the story in reader's imaginations, without letting the story get boring, and without over doing it. The thing is in Wuthering Heights, Bronte explained things out far too well and made the story less interesting. So coming from a student, I would not recommend this book to another student.

"It is as if Emily Bronte could tear up all that we know human beings by, and fill these unrecognizable transparencies with such a gust of life that they transcend reality." -Virginia Woolf

Damn straight, sister! I gotta tell you, read this book in the *summer time*. Do not, I repeat, DO NOT, read this in the gloom of winter, as I stupidly did.

The epic story of Catherine and Heathcliff plays out against the dramatic backdrop of the wild English moors, and presents an astonishing vision of fate and obsession, passion and REVENGE.

This classic book is a bummer. Not that it's bad writing, but my oh my.. it makes you so sad! Your heart just goes out for Heathcliff and the depression he faces. But also, the um... "inter-breeding" (*blush*) is quite disturbing!! One cousin marries one other cousin and they have kids who marry their other cousins, I was just surprised that the whole lot of them weren't, "messed up".

I really wouldn't recommend this book for happy people. If you want some romance and a historical novel, read "Gone with the Wind". My favorite.

I don't like romance novels, or movies or television shows. Such is the curse of the lion share of my sex, despite our gradual feminization in the modern era.

I'm glad I overcame my aversion to read this excellent portrayal of eros defiled. Heathcliff is the focus, fulcrum and prime mover in this story. He is dragged of the streets and taken in by a wealthy gentleman from the provinces. This man showers great affection on the young street urchin and demands equal treatment from his two natural born children.

The eldest, a son, resents this upstart, so when the father dies, he relegates poor Heathcliff to the status of neglected servant. Catherine, the younger, has become a close friend of Heathcliff and follows him into the relatively untethered but savage life of the servants' children. Growing up unsupervised they develop the manners of the low born, and but develop a strong bond of love that transcends the facile distinctions of filial versus romantic.

Alas, when Catherine comes of age, the duties of her birth beckon and she is taken from Heathcliff and marries someone of higher station.

It is this love, never fulfilled, that sours in Heathcliff makes him a despicable tyrant.

This is the dark side of romance, and Romance as viewed from the man's vantage point.

Worth reading.

"No one would have believed in the last years of the nineteenth century that this world was being watched by intelligences greater than man's and yet as mortal as his own...." Thus begins The War of the Worlds, written by science-fiction mastermind H. G. Wells, who brought you other incredible novels, such as The Time Machine.

This suspenseful story of Martians invading Earth is full of surprises. The narrator tells of his encounters with the powerful Martians and their stunning technologically advanced weapons and machines, which range from iron-melting heat rays to death serving war machines.

This novel has its ups and downs. One down is that the author sometimes describes the surroundings too much. But, the book does have the eerieness of a suspenseful book, keeping you on the edge of your seat, wondering what will happen next. Will mankind survive? Will the invading Martians take over the Earth? Will the Martians destroy the Earth? Find out when you read the spectacular book, The War of the Worlds.

I read War of the Worlds more than 20 years ago, and have seen it come back in many forms, including musically accompanied audio tapes. I never get tired of this timeless story. I was highly disappointed in the movie version, as I wanted to see Martian Fighting Machines that walked about on 3 legs (Perhaps George Lucas had this in mind when he created Imperial Walkers). I was more pleased then as now with the images that the book stirred in my mind. The narrative style, written by a Victorian-age author about a Victorian-age circumstance, is well worth reading. My only disappointment with the book is that the end was anticlimatic. It would have been more thrilling if Wells had said that the Martians had been weakened to the point that mankind could rally and finally expunge them. Still, it is a study in human arrogance, contrasted well with the valiant spirit of those who sacrificed themselves in fighting the Martians so that others could escape. All in all, a very moving book, and well worth your time.

This is the book that got me interested in Science-Fiction in the first place, and i've never really read anything else that has drawn me in in quite the same way. It is along with two other H.G. Wells books (The Invisible Man, The Time Machine) quite possibly the blueprints for everything else that followed. For me the only apocolyptic books that came even come close to War Of The Worlds, are The Stand and The Day Of The Triffids.

It works on a number of levels. You can read it as a novel about a Martian Invasion and it works, or you can reads it as a political commentary on the British empire and it still works. It also gives you a pretty good account of life and attitudes in England a century ago.

Quite simply in my humble opinion it is the best piece of literature written in the last 150 years. Now if only Hollywood would make a proper adaption of it. One set in England in the 1890's and with proper tripod fighting machines.

One cannot lug his audio-visual equipment everywhere he goes, and while keeping back issues of Hustler and Swank close at hand is an option, the chance that these less than wholesome rags may somehow slip out of the briefcase and lie spread open for all eyes on the rush hour LIR to see is not one those with sense would court. Under the Roofs of Paris is, therefore, perfect. On the commute the tired, yet horny, gentleman can peruse its pages secure in the knowledge that his rampant and all-engrossing sexual obssesion will not be discovered. Sure, the brain behind a set or two of prying eyes might know that the author, Henry Miller, wrote some "dirty books", but if it knows that, it knows that he wrote them a long time ago, back when dirty meant the sight of a woman's bare ankles. Chances are however, it won't even get that far. You see, Amazon's sales notwithstanding, people rarely read. They'd like to, even think they should, but they don't, and the guilt they feel at the sight of another engrossed in a book soon morphs into resentment, a resentment so powerful (Who does he think he is, anyway? Reading! Some of us have to work!) that the subject, or even the title, of the volume at hand goes unnoticed. So read away, Masters of the Universe. With Val and the boys your respectability remains in tact. They're better than Viagra. Cheaper too. Just a page or two and John Thursday will be good and ready for wifey's (or the babysitter's) figlet...

... then you need to go to your friendly back-alley novelty store to get yourself a quick fix! This is the first sexy Miller book I've read. (My first read was "Big Sur and the Oranges ...") Page by page, you'll find explicit scenes of unheard of acts of raw sex. ... The side effects of reading "Under the Roofs of Paris" are hard-ons, extreme moisture, and an ever-lasting hunger for that which we most crave. It's easy and fun to read. The language, though very blunt, makes this a quick page turner. Do your sexy side a favor and read Henry Miller.

I actually tried this trick with several friends: Ask someone to open the book to any page and begin reading aloud. More than likely, they will only read a line or two before blushing. Although they cease reading aloud, they will usually smile and continue reading silently before replying.

This trick says a lot about how many people approach this book. People don't want to admit that they like it, but if nothing else, find it interesting. Midget-boinking, statuatory rape, and gang-banging- certainly no one would consider these EROTIC! Depending on how one defines PORNOGRAPHY... actually, no matter HOW you define it, this book fits! Just keep in mind, this book is a collection of stories. Miller is famous (or infamous) for fabricating. (Read Brassai- "The Paris Years")

My point? Don't make too much out of the 'dirty' aspect of this book. There is some really good writing worth finding- if you can stomach page after page of 'porn'.

Discovering Fossil Fishes written by John G. Maisey is a book covering fish fossilization through out history. Spanning more the one-half billion years fishes are older than dinosaurs and have links to the tetrapods on land.

This book is highly illustrated with art work one nearly half of the pages with the dialog on the other half of the book. Fishes have a unique evolutionary history that stretches back in time, they are incredibly ancient and include the ancestors of all the limbed vertebrates living on the land.

I found the book to be highly readable and easy to follow as this book could be read and understood by those twelve years old or older. There are color illustrations along with fossilized pictures comparing both. This gives the reader a good approximation as to what the fossil would look like in life.

From their ancient ancestors, the craniates, fishes evolved not once, in a single lineage, but multiple times, filling countless biological niches. Given their long evolutionary history, itis not surprising that so many species of fishes exist today; one new fish species evolving every 18,000 years, or about 55.5 species evolving per one million years. The sum total of fishy diversity through time is far greater than now, and the evolutionary history of fishes is a vast and comples subject.

But, the author wrote this book with the layreader in mind and the prose are simple but very effective. as more fossil fishes are uncovered we will know better what the ancient world looked like and come to discover more of our own ancestors.

Maisey is a curator of vertebrate paleontology at the American Museum of Natural History. With this work he has brought the evolution of the fishes to the popular science reader. My only major complaint about this book is in format. I would like to have seen it arranged by geological period as apposed to taxonomic group. I also think that a more visual group of cladograms arranging all the fishes would have been in order. Many cladograms are included but they only show small snippets of the relationships between fishes and you have to piece a larger picture together throughout the book. The illustrations are excellent and you will have a hard time finding so many images of fossil fish, if you are just interested in seeing images of fossils then this will be great for you. I also liked how he discussed the development of major morphological features. While a person of specialized interest might be aware of these, having them all in one place is convenient.

If you have a developing interest in fishes or in vertebrate paleontology than this book would be good to have. It would also be a nice compliment to any library including material on natural history.

I came across this book while finishing my MSc at Guelph. The book soon made its rounds among all the ichthyology students and faculty. It is well written, lavishly illustrated and nicely designed. Seeing this volume going for so cheap surprises me. I paid 5 times more for mine. Any student involved with fish taxonomy, evolution and general biology MUST get this book. I found the lateral views a bit goofy but the paintings of creatures in motion in their habitat are superb. People who are interested in early life on our planet should also consider having a look at this one. BRAVO Dr. Maisey!

Like most Christian men who purchased this book, I had to be as careful buying and reading this book as I did acquiring pornography. To be a Christian man, and admit to an addiction such as alcohol or drugs, will yield a warm embrace from the Church. They want to help. To admit an addiction in porn however, is to become a modern day leper. I think Henry Rogers is sensitive to the emotional rollercoaster that many men cannot escape, and he approaches the matter Biblically, which is to say, the wisely.

On a critical note, I found that the book sometimes advocated or gave rise to the very feelings I'm trying to conquer. In a chapter on Internet Pornography, he actually listed the top ten keywords used for search engines to find porn. Why give this out? Might as well tell an alcoholic where the nearest bar is at. Likewise, many of the personal accounts of these women, which were offered with the intention of having men experience a change of heart, were written much in the same manner that many erotica based stories are written. If a man struggles with this, and is turned on by the horrific experiences that these women sadly endured, then he will not see the light, but find this material to feed his sexual perversion. His account of strip clubs, which I have never attended, made me want to go. That's not a good thing for someone like me.

Overall, the book was very well written, thoughtfully and respectfully researched (especially with regard to the women), and kept the Bible at its center focus. Will this book utlimately help me overcome my addiction? I will honestly say that it gave me a lot to think about, and has got me back into the Bible. However, like many men, I need divine help to overcome that which has controlled and dominated me for so very long. I believe that God is stronger than Satan, and am prayerful that He will intervene sooner than later. My prayers are with You all as well...

Lately I've noticed an increase in the publication of Christian-based books about sexual addiction. They have been written because there seems to be a growing number of men in the church who are trapped and defeated by sexual issues. This problem is one that needs to be addressed at a basic level, and this book does that in an admirably honest and straightforward fashion. It is well-written, and should be read by anyone involved in this issue. But there is a crucial aspect which should be taken into account when reading this book (and others like it) that I'll expand upon below.

Each individual book within this genre tends to have a similar overall message and methodology - "sin bad, purity good, here's how to stay holy, etc." There's usually a unique slant to them as well, depending on whatever point the author feels the need to make. In the case of "The Silent War," the focus is on the negative consequences of sex addiction and involvement with pornography. Much of the book documents the casualties on all fronts of the "Silent War" - the men who risk everything to fulfill their sex addiction, the family members they devastate, and the women who put their physical, emotional, and spiritual health on the line by their personal involvement in the porn industry. This is particularly effective because it shows the human cost of sexual addiction, and destroys the myth that pornography is a "victimless" crime. It's only in the last couple of chapters that a solution for those in bondage to this sin is offered, and it is along the usual Christian lines of accountability, prayer, fleeing temptation, Scripture meditation/memorization, and so forth.

I liked the book - it's an easy read, the main author is very transparent about his own struggles with pornography, and the message is an important one. However, any Christian who is dealing with sexual addiction and pornography should not rely on this book alone (although it can be said that any single book on this topic is somehow inadequate). While sound, the solutions listed above will only "work" for the reader if they have a growing love relationship with Christ, and a PRIMARY desire to know Him and obey Him. If one simply concentrates on eliminating the sin (the negative) without discovering an acceptable alternative (the positive), then I think eventually they will fall again. Personal holiness is a byproduct of our relationship with God - it's not an end in itself. If that is kept in mind, then "The Silent War" is worth reading as an aid to strengthening one's existing walk with God.

This is one of the best books I have read for quite some time. Pornography is a very sensitive and REAL issue. People normally make fun of it and think it's no big deal as everyone is bound to encounter it at one time or another, that it's alright to play with it. Henry Rogers illustrates the devastating effects it has on people's lives. Their financial, spiritual, even physical lives will rot once trapped in porn's deception.

I am very difficult person to please for I have a very short attention span but this book was like a magnet. I just couldn't put it down. Each chapter is very detailed and the author is not opinionated. Henry Rogers discusses different dimensions of pornography, from phone-sex to the Internet, girlie bars to adult magazines. In fact, a big chunk of the book is composed of stories from actual people who were/is involved in this deceitful industry. Buy this book! Specially if you have a brother or a male friend. Even women will surely realize a lot of things after reading this.

I am currently reading "Affair of the Mind" by Laurie Hall and I'm having a difficult time trying to maintain my interest. That book pales in comparison to this one. This book will surely help anyone who wants to escape or even better, to avoid, the deadly clutches of pornography.