The first fundamental proposition of this book - that liesure and opportunity to embark on the spiritual journey is indeed an exceptionally rare event - is enough to move one's vacillating spiritual longing off of dead center. Following a long second chapter in which this school of Buddhist theory and practice are lucidly distilled, we find five remaining chapters, each benevolently designed for both fledgling and long-standing students to stay the course through life, and for testing their sure-footedness all along the way.
For me the contraversial title of this book is appropriate: besides providing 'how-to,' Lojong training bestows the 'wish-to'- which, after all, is the prime mover of spiritual progress. I am grateful to Alan Wallace for sharing his deserved wisdom and understanding with us, and hope that a few young and unsuspecting aspirants will be sucked in by the mainstream title.

A truly clear and most interesting dicourse on the Seven-Point Mind Training Method of Buddhism. Compared to HH The Dalai Lama and Geshe Kelsang Gyatso's discourses Chekawa's poem, Mr Wallace truly speaks to the Western mind as a both a philosopher and a teacher. However, the book is highly readable and focused without sacrificing intelligence.

This book is a wonderfully intelligent, cogent, well-grounded, and practical introduction to living life spiritually. You may want to keep a few copies on hand as party favors for the right friends at the right time.

A great book filled with a chilling plot twist. Was Symon Smith's life based in reality or just an interpretation of Jerad Christianson's lyrics? Or a combination of both? This book can be interpreted a number of ways.

The low production cover and binding of the book and text made it feel like a garage band's demo tape, (which The Carpet Frogs are/were). A perfect touch that I didn't put together till later.

Symon Smith lives!

If you are a Beatles lover, you must by this book. This is one of the most different books that I have read in a very long time and I read the entire book in an airport while waiting for my plane. The author has quite an imagination. I almost wished that the book was non-fiction instead of fiction.

I bought this book after hearing some buzz about it on a Beatles web site. A cool little novel with nods to the Minneapolis music scene, The Beatles and The Catcher in the Rye.

After a night of snark-hunting, Sir Harry Random, a well-known children's author, turns up dead in a fountain in Trafalger Square. His body is found by his friend Oliver Swithin, a fellow snark-hunter and part-time children's author who has created one of the most malevolent characters in all of children's literature, the ferret Finsbury. Sir Harry is but the first in a series of corpses, all of whom seem to be the work of a zodiac serial killer. Oliver's uncle Mallard is a Detective Superintendent in the New Scotland Yard whose attractive young assistant Effie Strongitharm is a budding love interest of Oliver's. The story of their search for the murderer is a cleverly written and twisting tale, fast-paced and most of all, FUN!

I have seldom laughed so hard reading a mystery novel. It was also, I thought, an excellent mystery. It kept me guessing & I didn't arrive at the solution before the characters did, as I usually do. Everything made sense in the end, the characters were well-drawn, very clever, witty, sexy, and sometimes satisfyingly over the top (Hoo, Watt, & Eidenau - now really!) When can I get Beechy's next book?

Reading this book was the most fun I have had in a long time. There are many enjoyable and entertaining mystery novelists in the world today but you must treat yourself to this wonderful new voice. The book has a strong main plot (the serial murders) and subplots which you are as eager to have resolved as the murders themselves. Who dunnit isn't the only surprise at the end of the story.

The book is a very fast read. You owe it to yourself to spend a few hours romping through London with Finsbury the Ferret and his creator.

An excellent look at an often neglected topic!

Alan Brunacini has put into words what the standard for any fire service organization should be. This book is entertaining, enlighting, and on the mark.

I have been a firefighter for over twenty years and seen firefighters that are truly great, and firefighters that seem to get the job done but have no special spark. I have always tried to figure out "What is the difference between the two?" Chief Brunacini, details the difference. The really great firefighters obviously take that extra effort to do the job right. Alan Brunacini describes how it can be done and has been done. The only problem with the "WOW" service he is talking about is it will take a lot of understanding by management to get to this level. This new standard for the fire service is not for the future, it is NOW.

This book describes a standard of service that every firefighter can understand, can attain, and feel great about. Bravo Bruno.

This book is entertaining and fun to read wih great stories and fun cartoons. The book provides a sound basis for implementing change at every level of the fire service. It helps departments put the "service" back in fire service. I especially enjoyed the way that the book relates to personnel on the street, those that have the customer contact. It shows how everone wins when we provide customer service: the department, the individual firefighters, and the citizens. While the focus is on the service provided by emergency crews, the message can be adapted for other individuals in the fire service, from fire inspectors to administration.This book should be required reading at the academy - maybe the first topic.

This is the best fantasy novel that I have read since the Robert Jordan Wheel of Time series came out. A I am excited for the next part in Whell of Time, I am just as eagerly awaiting the publication of part two of Gem Quest by Gary Wassner. It was clear to me that this novel was outstanding when all I could do was bounce in my seat as I read the book, wanting to know what happens next, but never wanting it to ever end.
The descriptions of the characters, the landscape, emotions, moods, the language and conversations make the reader feel like they are experiencing everything for themselves.
The world created by Gary Wassner is as real as the one that we live in today. The trees, some of the oldest creatures in our world, become a central figure of the world created in Gemquest. The trees hold the world together, but the characters and their lives make the story.
At the onset you can feel the tension between good and evil. You find yourself routing for the good, but wondering what this evil being is going to conjure in order to do his bidding.
The novel takes every aspect of a fantasy novel that a reader can dream of and eloquently and intelligently ties it together to depict a world that could only be imagined. It was near impossible to tear myself away from reading this book, even to get a bite to eat.
I recommend this book to anyone who reads fantasy novels, including those by Robert Jordan, Tad Williams, Terry Brooks, Mercedes Lackey, and the list goes on.

I feel that the author has used very complex ideas and deep thoughts in his writing technique. he fully describes all the characters, landscapes, and situations. I have been waiting quite some time to read such an interesting novel. i feel that his technique is one-of-a-kind, spectacular, phenomenal! this book should be put in all schools, libraries and bookstores immidiatly. I am expecting a sequel twice as good. i cannot wait.

I just finished GemQuest and can't wait for the sequel. Growing up reading Tolkien, LeGuinn, Herbert I find myself having very little patience for novels in this vein that fall short of my somewhat higher expectations, but GemQuest was so well developed on every level, including the depth of the characters, the visual complexity of the environment in which GemQuest exists and the twists and turns of the story line itself, I was totally engrossed and thoroughly enjoyed the book. It all worked towards creating a fascinating experience and I recommend the book highly. The book also screams to be made into a movie as well, although I feel that the authors technique makes me feel like I already saw it in it's film version.

The techniques presented in this book is good enough for a beginner like me to get started. However, the projects given in this book was not enough to motivate me to try them. I've found that the book was not organised enough for a beginner to go through the projects and progress from there.

Having said all this though, I still think that the book is a good reference to have and coupled with other books like Glass Painting (The Art of Crafts series) by Naazish Chouglay, you could learn more and appreciate the art as well as the techniques behind glass painting.

Whew! I'm a busy gal, so if I take a minute to write a review, trust me it is a great book! I usually do stained glass, but sometimes life is too busy for that- it is very time consuming. If you crave simple, yet, beautiful art projects in glass, this is the book for you! From etching beautiful holiday glasses, to painting "modern-art" type vases. The details are excellent. You will know the right paint to buy for the project you are working on. No guesswork. Even the least crafty would be amazed at the results you can obtain with this delightful book. There are enough projects to keep you busy for at least a year if you do projects on the weekends.

What I love about this book is not so much its lovely projects, there are twenty five of them and 400 motifs. But it's extensive cover of glass painting techniques. If your the sort of person that likes to get ideas from books but want to make your own original works this book will guide you along with heaps of helpfull advice. There are heaps of ideas on outlining alone, tips on using a wide variety of paints including household ones, as well as etching, stencilling and working with glass and plastic. This book is printed in the UK but I have not found it any trouble to find the materials they are talking about here in Australia. A must have for any glass painter from beginner onwards.

Alan Moorehead was a war correspondent who covered most of the 3-year desert campaign in North Africa in World War II. Therefore, he saw the war at first hand, sometimes coming under fire himself (usually from aircraft), sometimes getting lost in the vast desert, sometimes missing key events because his reporter's intuition led him astray. Although he was not usually on the front line, he did manage to get into towns within hours of their liberation. He had interviews with the general staff of the (British and U.S.) armies and a good grasp on the overall strategic vision of the campaign, from the Allies' point of view.

The writing quality is top-notch, especially descriptions of the burnt out and fought-over towns and countryside. You get a good flavour for the conditions the troops fought in and for the bravery and resilience shown by the soldiers. There are a number of very interesting sidelights to the action, highlighting the difficulties encountered in trying to report the war.

Unfortunately, there are a number of quibbles that detract from a 5-star rating. This book is not a "definitive" history of the war - it was written too soon and from a purely Allied point of view. It is undoubtedly biased - he constantly makes excuses for the Allied generals' failings to deliver a knock-out blow to the Axis, especially blaming the long supply line from England (neglecting the fact that half of the Axis' supplies were sunk in the Mediterranean). He refuses to admit the Allied forces were consistently outgeneralled by Rommell, blaming the British training and internal organisation instead, first claiming the generals could not change it (bureaucratic inertia), then applauding Montgomery for changing it quickly. There's distracting (and long) digressions from the front, especially a trip through India and a vacation to the U.S. While the politics of Indian independence are interesting in their own right, they are complex and require an historical context so they couldn't be developed properly. Finally, there is no background material - the author assumes at least a passing knowledge of the people and politics of the day, so it might be frustrating for a beginner. The maps are generally quite good, however, so geographical mastery of the area is not necessary.

Therefore, I recommend this book as a personal snapshot of the attitudes and actions of the Allied armies in the desert campaigns of WWII. As such, it is clearly biased, but the quality of the writing and the descriptions overcomes this difficulty.

If you are interested in the War in North Africa this is the read for you. It is absorbing and well written with a flow of a correspondent who is constantly moving to different parts of the front. I love and would recommend anything by Moorehead, but this is still a special book because he lived most of it. It is not however a history of the war. There are large chunks of the war that are not written about, time frames where whole battles are not directly refered to. That is because Moorehead was not there to cover the war. That does not detract from the flavour and action of the book. Moorehead is great in, among other areas,

* his description of the British Campaign against Italy in Ethiopia
* his descrption of the early days of the war and also the Australian role in the war against Vichy France in Syria and then its role to nip a coup and Nazi support for Iraq, firmly in the bud
* his description of the ebb and flow of battle that confused both sides, but ultimately was most boldly exploited by the Germans. The swirl of dust and whole lines of transport and tanks wondering either into or out of battle can almost be tasted.
* the seldom written about race to Tunis at the end of the book, the sudden rush across Algeria and then bogged down fighting in Tunisia; tough battle that tested the Americans for the first time and one where, despite the public image, was still largely British in effort.

The book is also of note in that halfway through Moorehead leaves the front for India and covers the Scripp's mission on Indian Independence at the height of the Japanese invasion. I know of really few descriptions of the positions of all the major parties in debating future of India: Gandhi with his unrealistic notion of "sating the violence of the Japanese invader with the blood of pacifist Indians who merely submit to the bayonets;" Ali Jinnah's willingness to send millions of Muslim troops to support the British if Britain would grant defacto status of the Muslim homeland of Pakistan. Somewhere between the two was the ever boxing clever Nehru. Moorhead met all these men and interviewed them in detail.

Moorehead also relates the loss of other correspondents in the fighting. The constant weariness and grind of the campaign that had Britain in the fighting for more than 3 years is apparent and there is a heartrending description of a British Tommy experiencing too much of the constant slogging and pounding of battle and not caring, in desperation, leads a forlorn attack in what was obviously a case of suicide.

This is one of the best books on WWII and war that I have ever read... and I may have read over 1000 since my early teens.

Moorehead's first person account of the African Desert Campaign is top-flight. He captures the moment as he experiences it. I feel I am sitting right beside him as he describes events and his reactions to them. Could this man write! I carry this book in my briefcase and whip it out whenever I have a few minutes to spare. I am always rewarded.

This book is a deliciously suspenseful true love story that describes how Donna May met the man of her dreams, Alan Chien. While we know from the start where this love story will end, we don't know how two people from such different walks of life who don't know one another can recognize each other after their first chance meeting.

Told alternately from Donna's and Alan's point of view, this story demonstrates the way synchronicity operates in real life. Donna enters the story as an experienced healer, energy worker, and dream interpreter who is learning to better understand how to communicate with spirit. Alan just begins to discover these things as he witnesses first-hand the way Donna's waking dreams have real-life significance, and begins to find meaning in coincidental happenings in his life as well. Both Donna and Alan discover a deeper sense of love and connection between each other and all that is, as they learn to trust their hearts and spirits to guide their lives.

When I meet couples for the first time, I almost always ask them, "How did you two get together?", because I love to glimpse the way the spirit behind physical things pulls us closer to those we need at just the right time in our life. "Eyes of Sophia" shares these gifts of spirit with us as it opens and reveals a world of interpreting dream symbols, physical pain in our bodies, coincidences and synchronicities. This book shows how even the occasional disappointments and set-backs along the way have meaning, and are part of the grand design of life. I love the way this book effectively demonstrates how the more closely we observe the details (names, articles, dates, songs), the more meaningful our own life story can become. Donna May and Alan Chien's autobiographical tale is exactly the kind of sign-post people need to find the spiritual meaning behind coincidences in their lives, and learn how to live a dream-come-true.

Spirituality is something of which I have always been skeptical. Because I don't know much about it, apart from organized religion as it pertains to Christianity, I approached this book with a certain amount of dubiousness. I was determined to view it in an entirely objective manner. I am still unsure about the subject matter to an extent, but one thing is certain. It is not possible to read "Eyes of Sophia" without being pulled right in to the heart of the story.

This is the true, non-fiction tale of Alan, a retired art teacher, and Donna, a massage therapist and healer. Unknown to each other, and unbeknownst to each other, they both asked for direction and opened themselves up to spiritual guidance at critical times in their lives.

Donna's utilitarian question and subsequent dream led her on a quest. During this search she met Alan - a chance meeting which would turn out to be not coincidental at all. For it was revealed to Donna that Alan was the crux of her search - he was, metaphorically, the Tin Man, and it was Donna's altruistic purpose to help him find his heart. This in turn resulted in photographs of Donna in which confirming images were manifest. Among them, the eyes of Sophia. Donna's dream had come to fruition.

The ideology in this book comes from many different areas of spiritualism and religion. For me, this was a colossal learning experience.

What struck me most throughout the story were the synchronicities; not mere coincidences, but parallels between Donna's discoveries and Alan's life. There were so many of these on myriad levels, simultaneously chaotic and structured. It was incredible to learn that different events and occurrences are actually connected, and consolidate to form a big picture. Just when you think the various threads are too many and too unrelated, they are all pulled together and make perfect sense. The closed mind could never see these, but when pointed out they are obvious. It has inspired me to become more alert for synchronicity in my own life: there is much I may already have missed by not being aware. If Donna had not been so vigilant and acted directly on her true feelings, she may never have found Alan, and then he may never have found his heart. Two people would then have missed a chance at becoming their "authentic selves".

"Eyes of Sophia" is stimulating, intriguing, and at times pleasantly puzzling. Although a spiritual book, it offers benefit for all. This journey of two people is shared philanthropically to encourage, to inspire, and to affirm that it is indeed possible to find your heart.

In this book, Donna May and Alan Chien have shared the very interesting, unusual means by which they found each other, and what they learned from signposts along the way. In the process, the reader is presented with evidence of universal principles at work beyond our own intellect, that give form to the nature of unfolding events that we experience throughout our lives.

Relationships are among the most important alchemical caldrons of the soul, where we come to understand universal truths about ourselves, and realize the integration between the intellectual aspect of self and the spiritual nature of self. These truths, preserved also throughout centuries of mythological stories, go beyond personal opinion and religious or cultural dogma; they reveal to us directly and individually the true spirituality behind all life. Among many universal principles involved, philosophers have also provided written explanations. Jacob Boehme wrote long ago of his concept of counterpoise between good and evil, and Benedict Spinoza of his view of the organic interdependence in the necessity for all life. The choices that we make are choices that ideally are considered the "best for all concerned." However, "right" in one's judgment may be considered "wrong" to another, but as life unfolds, we see that what manifests is not necessarily what we would call "good or bad", and may be simply "necessary" for all concerned, all known and unknown matters considered.

Eyes of Sophia is about the Light of knowledge expressing through material conditions, providing important signposts uniquely meaningful to us, that help us to use wisdom in making appropriate choices affecting not only ourselves, but others, too. In following the way of the heart - Donna sees her significant dreaming experiences transcended as they are mirrored as synchronicities in reality. Also, "Tin Man" sings, "cause never was the reason;" of this, Alan realizes, "We seem to want to manipulate the lines of intention building our lives, but we can only follow their lead and choose within whatever is presented." In our dance of counterpoise with life's experiences, two intertwining threads make and remake our destiny: life's "Hermetic" reason for what we experience on Earth, and the choices we make while personally applying our own "reason" into the mix.

This would be an excellent "primer" for those who want to read metaphysics in action that goes beyond philosophical and theoretical treatises, into manifested reality. Eyes of Sophia is an easy to read documentation of Donna's and Alan's real life blueprint from a dream, to Love's union.

This is a very good beginners boxing book as Doug Werner guides through all the basic 6 punches (jab, straight, left/right hook, left/right uppercut) and proceeds with countless bag and flow drills in a manner that beginners can easily understand and practice. The scope and detail of this book is SIGNIFICANTLY superior to more popular beginner's book "Boxing: The Complete Guide to Training and Fitness" by Danna Scott. I have bought (and gave away) that book due to its lack of details. The large number of photographs in this book is very well selected and helpful.

A few minor gripes that took away one star for me were: (1) Some editting problems such as minor typos and one incorrect description where the author meant left hand, but wrote right hand (which was quite confusing when comparing to the picture). (2) Be careful of a number of photos showing the fist so over-rotated on straight punches that the thumb actually is pointing straight down! I think he was trying to make the fist more visible, but I think it certainly would add confusing to a beginner. Note that at no point does the text indicate the thumb is to point down toward the ground. (3) The weightlifting exercises could have used a few more pictures as the text was somewhat lacking. However, these minor gripes aside, this is the best mass published beginners book out there that I've found and I've looked through about 10+ books.

...

This book is perfect if your looking to enter the sport of boxing, learn some self defence or just get into shape. Easy to to understand and follow, the authors go into detailed description of punches, defense moves, footwork, bag drills, partner drills and sparring drills. The thing that sets this book apart from others though, is all the pictures. Every move or technique described in this book has a picture to go along with it. I have read many boxing techniques and training guides and highly recommend "Fighting Fit" for any amature.

This book is great as a detailed description of boxing technique, both literary and visual. I have recommended this book to people who have technical problems with their style or people who just need to perfect their technique, it covers everything from footwork through to sparring. By far the most detailed do-it-yourself boxing book I've seen to date. Good for beginners. An experienced boxer may find it useful, it's good to read around the subject, but you wont find any advanced discussion, generalship, advanced fight strategy, to the degree that, for instance the Tao of Jeet kune Do, or Ned Beaumont delve into.

Russ Conway has written a wonderful investigative piece about a man who is truly a disgraceful figure in the history of Canadian hockey. Russ brings forth, with his own agressive style, the wicked ways of a man who calling a crook is an understatement. First, he never backed down to get his answers and his writing is first-rate. Anyone who follows hockey should read about a man who almost destroyed it.

In "Game Misconduct" reporter/author Russ Conway has exposed the scourge of the National Hockey League personified by Alan Eagelson. Initiated by his relationship with the Boston Bruins of the early '70s, including Bobby Orr, Conway became aware of inequities in pension payments to such NHL greats as Brad Park, Gordie Howe and Orr. But perhaps more frightening and vile were the actions taken by Eagelson in disability claims by former players. Innumerable examples of players filing for permanent disability due to injury are chronicled in this book. The tragedy is the way Eagelson manipulated the NHL Players Association, the NHL and the players to gain profit off the backs of the injured. Eagelson "charged" the diability insurance for representing the players. A significant percentage of insurance claims lined Eagelson's pockets before the injured/retired player saw a dime. In addition, such players as Brad Park, whose child suffers from a chronic illness, were stonewalled on insurance and pension claims to support their family.

Conway methodically documents the path Eagelson traveled in his rise from virtual unknown to head of the NHLPA and major sports agent. How one man can succeed in an environment of obvious conflicts of interest is testimony to the ruthlessness of major sports team ownership and the naivete of the young professional athlete. Conway brings the reader to 1996 and the Eagelson indictments in US Feredal Courts in Boston but unfortunately is unable to report on the successful extradition of Eagelson to the US from Canadan proving money has its benefits.

This is a well researched book on the corruption of major sports in Norht America. Conway deserves praise for exposing the cold and calculating Eagelson who profited from the agony and injury of players he represented as agent and NHLPA head. Anyone interested in major sports off the field will be amazed by this book

All hockey fans owe Russ Conway a debt of gratitude for helping rid hockey of the parasite Alan Eagleson. He documents Eagleson's criminal and disgusting behaviour in great detail, helping fans to better understand what hockey players faced in the past, the necessary background information for many of the issues facing pro hockey today. I haven't read such a gripping book since "Net Worth". Eagleson will be back in the courts again before long, no doubt willing to lie about the charges being brought forward by a number of retired hockey players. Read this book and you'll see that the players have justice on their team.