"I have had the privilege of hearing Cantor Leo Fettman's story of Holocaust survival personally... As I read this book, I could hear his voice and see the pain in his eyes once again. ...I will recommend this book to counselors, educators, and those who seek insights in the personal impact of the Holocaust that transformed ordinary people into extraordinary survivors. ...I am grateful that Cantor Fettman worked through his own pain of remembering to bring us this great treasure!"

Reverend Steven E. Boes Director of the St. Augustine Indian Mission Winnebago, Nebraska

I just finished reading SHOAH: Journey from the Ashes.

For the past 25 years I have read an average of two Holocaust books per week. I have read good books, bad books, mediocre books, and some outstanding books. This book I would gladly recommend anyone read as it goes beyond the Holocaust and goes to humanity.

Cantor Fettman mixes in sociology, psychology, common sense, and his experiences taking him from faith to faith never with a loss for where G-d is in his life.

I am proud that Cantor Fettman was one of the 60 interviews that I conducted for the Spielberg Survivors of the Shoah Visual History Foundation. He is a man that leaves an impact. He is a man who has made a difference.

This book is well written with just enough reference to the Holocaust to be a Holocaust book and at the same time this book becomes a primer on how to live your life.

I dare to dream for a moment thinking how this world would be if in each persons life a Cantor Fettman appeared. It is also leaves that void wondering how many Cantor Fettman's were murdered during the Holocaust.

This book should be required reading for everyone at any age and with any religion.

I would tell anyone searching for a book on the Holocaust to begin right here.

In Shoah: Journey from the Ashes, Paul M. Howey and Cantor Fettman have done an in-depth historical prologue which chronicles 2,000 years of anti-Semitism. Then they have recorded Cantor Fettman's tragic Holocaust experiences (and) then they have listed current hate groups who sadly are still part of our society. This book does an excellent job of showing unless we are proactive, history will continue to repeat itself.

Shirley Goodman, M.S. Educator and Author Omaha, Nebraska

This is a very important book in that it describes one of the most interesting mammals ever discovered: the first eusocial mammal. It is also a testament to the remarkable ability of adaptationist thinking (reverse engineering) to develop ideas that can then be looked for in nature. The existence of the naked mole rat's unique social structure was predicted based on ideas about the general selective environment that was thought to have led to eusociality in other animals.

Paul Hirt has pulled together some of the best western historians to focus on the Pacific Northwest; from Spanish attempts to settle the coast, to Hanford, irrigation, and post-war race relations. Very readable, comprehensive, and well-done. Anyone looking to understand the Pacific Northwest will enjoy this book.

Compared to books such as "Voluntary Simplicity" by Duane Elgin and similar books, one realises that many of these ideas are nothing new when one reads Walden by Thoreau. In fact, what strikes me is that we as a Western society have not overcome many of the issues pointed out by Thoreau 150 years ago. Thoreau left Concord MA "disdainful of America's growing commercialism and industrialism", the slavish materialism of that society then. One wonders what he'll say if he would see the extend today - in the post Coca-Cola society. But then Thoreau was a man who clearly stepped to his own drum. Becuase of slavery, he refused to support the state on moral grounds. How would his views have been tolerated today?

I am not luddite, but my favourite quote from the book is this: "We are in great haste to construct a magnetic telegraph from Maine to Texas; but Maine and Texas, it may be, have nothing to communicate". Does this say something about the Internet, newsmedia and our contemporary information overload, or what?

I liked the introduction and footnotes of Meyer. Just enough to provide context and explanation, but never intrusive. This book is as relevant today as it was during Thoreau's lifetime. Highly recommended.

H.D. Thoreau is the first and most important figure in U.S. Radicalism. This collection provides the essential background for the latent radicalism inherent in American politics, especially as it was vocalized in the Civil Rights and Anti-War movements of the 1960's.

Disobedience is the shorter of the texts, but probably more important. It is an attempt to justify moral anarchism and a call to act on individual judgements about justice.

Walden can be interpreted as an important treatise against consumerism and the dangers of specialization, as well as an appreciation of the natural environment. Those interested in anti-globalization/anti-free trade movements would do well to read Walden to gain an understanding of where anti-consumerism came from and an examination of its ethical implications. However, it also pays to remember that Walden is a failed experiment and, in the end, Thoreau returns to Cambridge.

Thoreau, as political philosophy, has certain problems. Moral anarchy and denial of the social contract is difficult to replace in civil society--Thoreau makes no more than the most vague references as to what could replace it, seeming to rely on the fact that his personal sense of justice is universal.

Nevertheless, Thoreau's conscience has resonance and is as relevant today as ever. His rejection of consumerism as the basis for society and its stratification also teaches important lessons.

Thoreau represents that first step in understanding the other part of American political thought--extremely different from that of the Constitution and Federalist Papers--but with profound connections to the work of Dr. Martin Luther King.

I can only speak from experience on this one. This is one of the most remarkable books I've ever read. Thoreau influenced my views on liberty, justice, and integrity [following what is right, not merely that which is deemed law]. The inner journey Thoreau got me started on has continued throughout my life. I credit him for instilling within me the concept of "Teach me how to think, not what"--invaluable to the fledgling independent thinker and philosopher. I highly recommend Ralph Waldo Emerson, in conjunction with Thoreau.

This collection of journal articles assembled by Sherman and Alcock is somewhat thought prevoking. Unfortunately that is where it ends. Most of the articles are subjective in nature and often lack any real scientific structure (e.g., no data, unclear methods, etc.) If, however, you enjoy a good biological debate, this book contains many articles which argue various points of view (with various degrees of ability) on subjects such as sociobiology, coevolution, and behavioural genetics.

As a third year university studentm, I read this text as supplementary reading for our Animal Behaviour undergraduate course last semester. Throughout the duration of the course I was suitably impressed with the presentation of the material in the class (particularly due to the notable performances of the two profs teaching it) but found that this text was a truly engaging read that helped round out my learning experience.

While it does not follow the structure of a true scientific report, we do keep in mind that it is composed of excerpts from a scientific magazine that also caters towards the laypeople (i.e. those who have no major scientific background), just like Scientific American and Wildlife Conservation (although both those magazines are even more general than the American Scientist!). I found this to be one of the best supplementary texts that we have been given at the university so far, due to the scope of interesting topics presented, from canid domestication to prairie-vole partnerships to human mating strategies. As many of my other classmates, I read the rest of the book (as well as parts of the other assigned textbook) without the necessity of our profs assigning readings, growing more and more attached to the amazingly captivating field of ethology.

As I mentioned before, this text is not written in the format of a scientific journal, but it still educates and inspires readers of our generation to investigate the issues discussed further in depth (even during our spare time) by using those aforementioned scientific journals to glean valuable insight into actual experimental methods. Excellent!

Volumes in the "Twentieth Century Views" series are often found on the library shelves of high schools and colleges, and for good reason. Even though the set was first published in the 1960s, the scholarly pieces of literary criticism found here can provide students with interesting perspectives from which to view an author's work. This kind of book is not designed to be read from cover to cover; even the most devoted followers of Thoreau (in this case) are apt to find themselves reading the same paragraph a dozen times every once in a while, or perhaps even occasionally nodding off. It's not a late-night page-turner. (!)


Nevertheless, this title contains 16 entries that touch on themes in _Walden_, _A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers_, Thoreau's _Journal_, his poetry, and his views on individualism, simplicity, politics, and Indians. All were written in the first half of the 20th century. Appropriately enough, the volume begins and ends with a poetry tribute to Henry David Thoreau: Yeats' "The Lake Isle of Innisfree" and "Letter from a Distant Land" by Philip Booth. The excerpts that appear here do not overlap with those found in _Thoreau in our Season_ or _Twentieth Century Interpretations of Walden_. So if you've got a literature project underway, perhaps you'd better look at all the offerings on the library shelf. Thought-provoking supplemental material for research and understanding.