A book that has the potential to change one's life. Must be read slowly and with an open mind. Pearce answers the ultimate questions with precision. Goes beyond understanding...his words are absorbed like heat from the sun.

J.C. Pearce did a wonderful thing in writing this book. He challenges the rationality of existing within a set frame of knowledge or world view, and challenges us to look beyond the obvious for the true possibilities. I truly enjoyed this book. Not a day passes that I don't think about some aspect of what he was trying to say.

The last time I used a highlighter on a book, it was around 1988, I was writing a college paper on Virginia Woolf's "To the Lighthouse," and I needed to mark recurring themes. In reading "Profound Healing" 15 years later, I finally reached for a highlighter again, because I knew that a) I would be keeping this book for a long time, and b) after I finished gobbling up the "plot," I would want to return to important passages and remind myself of exercises and references. So even if you're like me and using a highlighter on a book is a form of heresy, keep one handy when you're reading "Profound Healing." (I showed the book to my older sister, another book lover like myself, and she pretended to grow faint and need smelling salts when she saw the highlighting!)

This book tells the inspiring story of the author, whom I have met, and her journey from cancer, to an acceptance of and preparation for death, to physical healing. In Part One, she tells of discovering that she had advanced cervical cancer and how she decided to treat it (and NOT with the radical surgery recommended by her doctors). She refers to earlier spiritual training, but fear not! in Part Two she tells that story and introduces us to her spiritual teacher and her own inner (and outer) journeys. Part Three is the post-cancer adjustment period, and Part Four outlines the 12 Steps she identifies for the healing process.

Canfield writes, "Profound healing is not a cessation of physical symptoms, but an expanded awareness of our spiritual nature." She does not "blame the victim" or offer miracle cures for relieving symptoms, but rather points us to a deeper, more numinous realm. Having met Cheryl in person, I can attest that she is an unassuming and humble person and is not caught up in trying to convince people of anything their own intuition doesn't corroborate.

I am a skeptic. I haven't experienced the mystical things Canfield and other spiritual writers say they have experienced. But I don't discount their experiences. Who knows, maybe I'm the woman with her eyes closed who just hasn't seen the sunrise yet -- it doesn't mean that sunrises aren't "real." Fortunately for the skeptics among us, Canfield does not ask us to believe what she believes. She just presents her experience. Take what you can from it and find your own blessings.

Ralph Strauch's unique background in both mathematics (working as a Senior Mathematician with the Rand corporation) and the Feldenkrais method of body movement, gives THE REALITY ILLUSION a blended perspective of rational thinking and physical intelligence. Strauch suggests exercises to do by yourself and or with a friend to demonstrate the way our physical strength and health are altered as we change the focus of our attention. This book has excellent illustrations throughout, and is an excellent guidebook for examining our forms of perception.

No popular book has been as urgent as this since Al Gore's 'Earth In Balance' in addressing the imbalance in our modern lifestyles. A discussion on how our society as heedless consumers and the whole economic structure built around it are bringing woe unto our own species as well as onto our precious planet, this book also reveals that by living a simple lifestyle much can be done to alter basic socio-economic ills present in todays society as well as pressing environmental issues that we cannot ignore in our daily lives. A sobering read anyone with a even a modicum of conscience.

This very readable book is very useful corrective to what's become the "standard" view of Wilde. It's especially good at exposing the weaknesses of Richard Ellman's now-standard biography of Wilde. For example, the claim that Wilde contracted (and later died of) syphillis is pretty much taken apart by Pearce.

Pearce has also very closely read Wilde's works, so he offers some very valuable readings of Wilde's writing in order to better understand Wilde's inner life--a life, according to Pearce, that was marked by inner loathing and a self-rebuffed desire to embrace the Church.

Ellman's book remains the standard biography in terms of prose quality (Ellman wrote with uncommon beauty and grace, and Ellman's enthusiasm for Wilde's work and personality is truly infectious). However, Pearce's book really should be must reading for all fans of Wilde's work. It doesn't merely trot out all the old information and anecdotes, but actually offers a fresh view of Wilde.

I first read this book several years ago. I am a professional computer scientist/applied mathematician, and have no training at all in any social science aside from history, government and anthropology courses taken in college (lo these many years ago). My interest in this book arises from the illumination that its chapters on the English, the Irish, the Italians and the Jews (the main ethnic groups in the town in which I grew up) have given to otherwise inexplicable bits of my life. For example, I could never understand why one of my Yankee friends would go into paroxysms of anger when, after inviting his daughter to Sunday dinner, she would accept, and then call with a (legitimate) excuse on Saturday; or why one of my mother's best friends, a woman of Irish descent, drove me wild for over 40 years with her teasing manner, although she clearly meant very well towards me. The pathways of social and familial relationships passed from generation to generation through the filter of ethnic heritage appears to be remarkably powerful, even in these post-melting-pot days. Read this book with an eye to self-discovery if you don't believe me!

Ethnicity and Family Therapy is quite simply the best book that exists to any interested person as well as students and professionals with a good overview of important factors to understand when dealing with differences that exist in people.

I first became familiar with Monica McGoldrick about eighteen years ago. She has devoted her life's work to research and writing on the influences of ancestry and ethnicity in our contemporary lives. Every time I pick this book up (over the first and second editions), I find myself lost in it as if it is my first discovery of it and I always learn something new! A great book for a discussion group to consider.

I have been using this book and the earlier book in my practice for more than ten years. It has been vital to my work not only with other cultures, but my own (Irish)> I have often shared the readings with my clients who also found the chapters on their cultures to be acurate. If there was going to be one book on my shelf, this would be it. Got a copy to sell I would buy it as a back-up!

This book is an excellent introduction to the parallels between Christianity (and specifically, Catholic Christianity) and the world of Middle Earth. However, I was somewhat saddened by its lack of real depth: it skims over a lot of material in its 6 chapters, but doesn't stop to cover many things in detail.

I especially would have loved to have more parallels drawn between characters in the Silmarillion and Christianity, such as the female Valar Aratar, each of whom bears a trait of the Blessed Virgin Mary: Nienna, Lady of Sorrows; Varda, Queen of the Stars (and therefore Heavens); Yavanna, Queen of the Earth. Such things would have added greatly to my enjoyment of this book, and I think to its value. Also wonderful would have been a chapter on Beren and Lúthien and their descendants Aragorn and Arwen, though as it's rather short - the actual text, excluding foreword and glossaries, is only slightly over 130 pages - this book obviously hasn't the room to attend to everything.

However, its somewhat concise format aside, this book should prove of interest to all Tolkienphiles, as it has some very fascinating quotes from Tolkien and his contemporaries on philosophy, the place of religion in our world, and the march of modernity. I give it 4 of 5 stars because it could have delved much deeper into its subject material: perhaps a series could be published?

I found this book fascinating, beautiful, and moving. Mr. Birzer has done a credible job of analyzing and interpreting "The Lord of the Rings" and The "Simarillion" for those of us interested in Tolkien's writings. The reader leaves Sanctifying Myth with a better understanding of the main characters--specifically Gandalf, Frodo, Sam, Faramir, and Aragorn.

I especially liked the depiction of Sam Gangee as the true hero of "The Lord of the Rings." Frodo is important, of course, but he remains somewhat in the abstract as "The Ringbearer" or "The Hero on a Great Quest." I instinctively liked Sam and admired the qualities of loyalty, honesty, common sense, and affectionate humor which Sam displayed throughout all three parts of LOTR.

Gandalf is also explained very well as the saintly emissary of Eru/Iluvatar/God-a Christlike figure "dying" and coming back to life to serve Middle Earth with new powers.

I think Tolkien's Sanctifying Myth is profound and very relevant to our time of secularism, Islamic Jihad, moral distintegration, and crumbling traditional morals.

I hope everyone gets a chance to read this book.

I read the reviews below, and the one from the "English undergraduate at the evangelical Gordon College" caught my eye. Of course, he/she's an undergraduate. How else could one explain their lack of ability to read genius? Reading Milton, Chaucer, etc., is no less troublesome than reading Tolkein, but he/she labels him with bad prose.

I think he doesn't like him because he's Catholic, plain and simple.

Mr. Birzer, however, focuses on this master of the English language and his work, and does an excellent job. Tolkein has been critically lauded not for his association with Lewis, but because of his own artistry. I'd recommend Birzer's book for anyone who wants to truly understand this classic writer.

[Perhaps our evangelical friend would be more happy reading such "excellent" (cough) pieces of fiction (cough) as the expertly written "Left Behind(cough)" series? ;)]

Some individuals feel that they already know everything Thom puts into his book "The Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight". If so they should step forward and lead rather than complain from the peanut gallery. This book is in essence calling out for action in the most basic sense, for individuals to make a conscious effort to conserve and preserve that which makes life sustainable. I can appreciate the way Thom spells out the situation facing humanity, mainifested in massive pollution and wasted lives physically, but at root a spiritual malaise owed to "dominator culture" fallout. Reconnecting on a local level, to our history, ecology and local economy is the solution to the danger inherent in the centralized, wasteful, authoriatarian culture we have today. Wake up, winter2, will soon be upon us, as our oil based culture will begin to consume itself if a new fuel is not found. "The Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight" is actually pretty down to earth focused on real problems in simple and scientific terms. Developing strong, self-sufficient local communities is offered as the best survival strategy for the coming decades.

There's good reason why in Neale Donald Walsch's latest "Conversations With God" book, the very short list of "must read" books includes Thom Hartmann's Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight. There's a good chance it will change everything about how you look at life.

It's inexorable: more and more of the world's biomass is being converted to human flesh as our population booms and we eat other stuff. The richer people among us (including middle-class America) may not see it yet, may still believe that SOMETHING will rescue us (something always has, right??); but like the aristocracy safe inside medieval castle walls, the fact that we ourselves haven't yet been hit by this "plague" has no bearing on the inevitability of what lies ahead.

Whether we like it or not, we live in a limited space (Earth) with a finite amount of matter. All our food and all our fuel is made up of that matter. This book has extensive documentation of how we're changing the balance between ourselves and the rest of the planet. There are more and more people, using up more fuel, eating more food, tearing down more trees (often to make 99c burgers). Can anyone seriously think this can go on forever?

It's not pleasant news to realize, but it's inescapable. The more people we have, the more food we need, and the more fuel we need for heat and transportation.

Worse, the developing world (which has the highest population growth) is on the early part of the fuel-using curve: their consumption is increasing, yet they can only afford less-efficient engines, increasing pollution even more than would be done by additional first-world cars, which are more efficient.

I was raised in a scientific discipline, and I can't imagine why it's not more apparent to us: all the energy for all the planet's activities comes from sunlight, and we're burning through our reserves of stored sunlight (fossil fuel) at an astonishing rate. We keep finding more, so far, but let's wake up, folks: sooner or later we're going to run out, and all we'll have to live on then will be *recent* sunlight: today's sunlight, and wood (grown by energy in recent years' sunlight). And unfortunately, all our solar and wind technologies depend on petroleum-based compounds - when the oil is gone, those technologies can't help any more.

We must, must, must change how we live. It takes time for people to adjust to the information in this book - we need to get started - buy this book and spread the word.

"Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight" is the latest offering from best-selling author Thom Hartmann. It is one of the most intense and disturbing books I have ever read. Yes, the book is highly recommended and was selected from among many other worthy titles, along with "The Prophet's Way", as book of the month because of the potential for far reaching positive effects upon readers' lives. And as Thom Hartmann says in his introduction the "...book is ultimately about hope, and - once we understand how things are and how they got this way - offers concrete solutions for a brighter, and more meaningful future." It's true, the book provides, in the end, an optimistic message. I strongly urge you to read this book, but I'm not going to minimize its initial impact. The first two-thirds are tough going. There's no getting around it. Yet it is a journey of great Purpose, taking you, with your eyes and heart open, into the message of the final third of a book which may be the most important book you can read for our Now and our Future.

The book begins with a striking look at the conditions of our world today. Some of this is going to be familiar reading because of the increasing frequency of published reports of impending ecological disasters and environmental collapse. Yet Thom Hartmann is not simply sounding the alarm or preaching to the choir of environmentalists. He truly gives us a fresh viewpoint of the current state of the planet, and how things got this way.

"It all starts with sunlight". We, and everything else came from it, and all that sustains us is fueled by it. When we as a species were in harmony with nature and consumed our share of the sunlight without destroying and dominating the environment, our resources were renewable and our populations stable. We lived in a state of harmony and cooperation for hundreds of thousands of years. But, as we know, something went wrong in the Garden of Eden. Actually there were several things occurring over tens of ! thousands of years, and Thom Hartmann chronicles 4 pivotal events.

First was the introduction of herding - approx 40,000 years ago - which was our initial departure from hunter-gatherers. Then about 10,000 years ago was the rise of agriculture, and following that the discovery of minerals, mining, and smelting metals. More food production, more energy, and thus more growth in population. This of course is widely known. But what has not been generally known, or at least discussed in depth offered by this book is the change in attitude that also occurred at that time. Thom Hartmann shows us that with so-called civilization and the rise of city/states came the idea that it is our destiny to rule the earth, that it is "...acceptable not just to compete with nature for our food supply, but to bend nature to our will, to destroy competing species and peoples, to dominate nature."

The results of this have been the rise and fall of civilizations across the planet, each time collapsing when the sources of available sunlight became depleted or taken away by the next conquerors. Each collapse, each layer of history, left woundings in the earth, and in the human psyche. And this pattern (the occurrences and reasons for which are explored in depth in the book), continued again and again right up to the present. Still, as bad as they were, the overall planetary destructions of the past were minimal compared to what we have been seeing since the 4th pivotal moment in modern history.

That "moment" was the discovery of sources of Ancient Sunlight that had been stored in the earth for millions of years. Around 900 years ago people began using coal for fuel. This allowed for more forestlands to be converted to croplands, and with the increase in food the world human population doubled (from 500 million to a billion) by 1800. The key is that here is "...when our ancestors started living off our planet's sunlight-savings". In the middle of the last century, the other great source of ancien! t sunlight - oil - began to be used. And since then we have discovered (just look around you) countless uses for this resource in the form of fuels, fabrics, and plastics. We were then, and are now more than ever, living well beyond the means of our daily sunlight income. Our supplies of Ancient Sunlight are vanishing. They may well be gone within our lifetimes, certainly within our children's. Yet rather than use the remaining fossil fuels to create new sources of energy and new ways of living, we just keep consuming, consuming , consuming.

Thom Hartmann calls the people promoting/living in this way members of "Younger Cultures". They/we are called this not just because of their/our relatively recent appearance in history, but more importantly because of their/our immature, and dangerously irresponsible attitudes. Younger Cultures see themselves as separate from the world. Their "mission" is to dominate and conquer. They expend vast amounts of energy to establish ownership and control, and so the harming of others becomes an accepted part of the culture. Of course the lack of regard for others, and the separation from nature is echoed in the ever increasing destruction of the environment.

Here in the West we, with all our comforts and shielded from the devastation growing at alarming rates in other parts of the planet (not to mention the poor and homeless living relatively close by), are generally living in survival by denial. We support a growing variety of addictions, from ingested substances to the much more devastating forms of energetic addictions such as television. And we have become adept at inventing ever more refined methods of treatment, as well as "fixes" for the environmental challenges.

We need to be willing to look deeper into the root causes of these personal and planetary illnessess, into the abyss we call civilization, into the past unveiled for all it was/is in terms of the events and effects and even more importantly in terms of the attitudes that m! ade them possible over and over again. The first two-thirds of "Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight" will provide that vision, that first step in personal and planetary healing.

In the part 3 of the book, Thom Hartmann shows us what we can do, beginning now, to restore our planet by transforming ourselves and healing our relationships with each other and all other living things. The model for this can be found in the essence of the Older Cultures. We are blessed with the presence of a few remaining Older Culture peoples such as the San, Kogi, Kayapo, and many of the Native American tribes, and if we listen, really listen, they have much to tell us. In their view we are not separate from the world but part of it. It is not our destiny to dominate, but to cooperate. Their stories of the world, their descriptions of life, are very different from our Younger Culture ones. It's time to change the stories we tell each other and our children about what happens in life, and our reasons for being here.

We can begin to reconnect simply by paying more attention, being more awake, to the here and now. Meditation is the first and most powerful way to do that. When we find our center, that "...quiet place within where *thinking* ends and *consciousness* begins" we then "...find the ability to transform others and ourselves in ways which can and will transform the world." As we transform ourselves, we can create intentional communities, grounded in a new vision of reality that supports all of life. We can take the best of what we have now, and use it in more positive ways for a healthier future.

It took great courage to write this book. And it takes great courage to read it, move through it, and begin to take action. Yet the choices are clear. We can continue to allow the accelerating destruction of the planet while living in denial of our own complicity and fearing the outcome. Or we can choose each day to reconnect to the Sacred and reawaken to our Oneness drawing our strength and energy ! from a truly infinite and renewable source: Love.

Bottom Line -- Consider "Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight" as essential as any book or manual you have ever read, and one of the greatest gifts you could give another. Read it, use it, share it and together we'll write a new story and create a healthy future for our beloved planet.

--- Steve L

I have this friend who hates Henry James. I can't understand it. The style is dated, in that people dont write that way today, but as you get into the book you begin to enjoy the style, as well as the plot, characters, and French/American dual culture shock that still goes on today. (For an update on the theme, look at Le Divorce and Le Mariage by Diane Johnson). I couldn't wait to see what was going to happen to these characters and the description of Paris in the Second Empire were fascinating. If you watch the Masterpiece Theatre version without having read the book, you will be totally confused. They moved events out of sequence all over the place and after about ten minutes I shut off the tape and picked up the book. You have to know the whole story before you watch them throw characters and events at you in the first two scenes that only appear 2/3 of the way through the novel, after a foundation has been laid as to who they are and when and why things happened.

I couldnt recommend this more for a good read. The only caution I have is for readers who have never been to France. They may get an extremely negative impression of French people from many of the characters in this book. Go to Paris and you will find the city is wonderful, and so are the French people. These characters are not typical!! They belong to a certain class, and the book does take place 150 years ago. If this book doesnt get you hooked on James, I dont know what will. Try Washington Square and dont miss that movie, with Jennifer Jason Leigh, Albert Finney and Maggie Smith.

OK so it takes half the book to get to the story. In typical Henry James fashion you are completely prepared for the action. Unlike Thomas Hardy, whose surroundings tell us of the character of the person it surrounds, James wishes you to know the depth of his characters as seen through the eyes of others. This of course brings on many minor characters that just seem to disappear, but it is a view of a person as if the reader was on the other side of the mirror watching the story unfold. Yes, James is wordy, yes this is not a quick read, but Henry James has a mastery of language and story telling that is rare.
"The American" is a wonderful love story that ends as a real life love story might end. Do not expect roses and happily ever after, it is as much a story of an ancient social system as it is of the life of "our hero." And the thing that seems to get missed is that Henry James actually wrote this as a mystery, not a love story.
This is a novel to contemplate and read between the lines. Good verses Evil, Noveau vs Old Money, Right and Wrong, can literature get any better than that?

This book is long, but only because that's how James tells the story. It's like a soup that needs to boil all day, so it's kept on low, but when it's done, it's perfect. The book stays at the pace of "our hero" the American Christopher Newman. A smart, educated, rich, yet easy going, simple, and humane veteran of the Civil War and a self made tycoon, who goes to Europe to see the "treasures and entertain" himself.

He becomes entangled in what he thinks is a simple plan for matrimony, but is really truly a great deal larger and more treacherous and terrible than that.

We spend a lot of time in Newman's mind, paragraphs of character analaysis are sprung upon us, but nothing seems plodding or slow, nothing feels useless. By the end of the book we find that we think like the character and can only agree with what he does. We react to seemingly big plot twists and events as he does, without reaction, and a logical, common sense train of thought.

But don't misunderstand that. For a book that is so polite and the essence of "slow-reaction", it is heartwrenching and tragic. You will cry, you will wonder, and you will ask yourself questions. Colorful, lifelike, and exuberant characters fight for your attention and your emotions, and we are intensely endeared to them. Emotional scenes speckle the book and are just enough. And the fact that something terrible and evil exists in this story hangs over your head from the beginning. It's hard to guess what happens because James doesn't give us many clues, and the ending may come as a surprise to some people. And without us knowing it, James is comparing American culture to European culture (of the day), and this in of itself is fulfilling.

Indeed, James uses every page he has, without wasting any on detailed landscapes and useless banter. 2 pages from the end you have a wrenching heartache, but the last paragraph and page is utterly and supremely satisfying, and you walk away the way Newman walks away, at peace.

I am continually captivated by THE SOUL. I have read the book many times, and each time I sense I am reading something new that touches me on a very personal and profound level. As a professional in the investment industry, I don't have extensive knowledge of the literature or lexicon in the field of spiritual development. Yet I found THE SOUL completely within my grasp. Mr. Jaidar addresses the reader in a very direct, practical, and uncomplicated manner that the layman can understand. But make no mistake about the content, the reader will be challenged (and in the most wonderful ways!). Mr. Jaidar makes this most important subject accessible to all without reducing or trivializing any concepts. THE SOUL has imparted a truth to me, which has forever altered my understanding of my life.

In checking back on reviews of some books I've loved over the years, I laughed aloud when I read "A reader from Santa Fe" 3/11/00 review of Jaidar's book. And my second reaction was sadness for that person.

Never was there a clearer example of the necessity of having the eyes to see and the ears to hear!

Readers, take a look at what some of our best thinkers and researchers in the fields of consciousness studies and spirituality have to say about this book:

Larry Dossey, M.D.: "All truly great and enduring spiritual documents are jewellike - luminously clear and radiant....Anyone who reads THE SOUL will have found a precious gem, a treasure of immense worth. This book is about the Great Constants - those insights that have changed lives throughout human history."

Joseph Chilton Pearce: "For generations we have needed a new framework and lexicon for talking about the human spirit, and HERE IT IS. Everything that I (and others of similar bent) have written has only groped, at best, toward what is spelled out here. With the power and assurance of personal knowing, rather than conjecture, and with an admirable simplicity and clarity of style, George Jaidar shares with us a revelation he experienced nearly a quarter of a century ago..."

Professor Charles Tart: "....George Jaidar's book is one of the clearest, most sensible guides I've seen to real development. I strongly recommend THE SOUL to those seriously interested in finding and growing that deeper self."

Read through the other reader reviews. Don't miss this book. For those who do have the eyes to see and the ears to hear, and who are ready, THE SOUL holds the keys to transformation - not just thinking about it, or reading about it - but actually living out this unfolding new mutation in human consciousness.

Looking for something with more substance than the entry-level inspiration of the CHICKEN SOUP books? Deeper than the plethora of books out there on the soul, which offer repackaged tradition and conventional wisdom?Joseph Chilton Pearce (CRACK IN THE COSMIC EGG, MAGICAL CHILD, EVOLUTION¹S END, etc.) wrote in the Foreword to this book, "For generations we have needed a new framework and lexicon for talking about the human spirit, and here it is. Everything that I (and others of similar bent) have written has only groped, at best, toward what is spelled out hereŠ." Truer words never written.George Jaidar offers a challenge to those of us who feel that impulse to something more ­ there¹s just got to be something more in this life. This invitation is to those who have thoroughly explored ­ and reached the limits of ­ religion, philosophy, and sciencing. This book can take the thoughtful reader on one heck of a romp through what Jaidar calls the "mind process." Examining enculturation and the worldview that we¹ve all agreed upon as "reality," Jaidar traces how fear and hope are used to enforce allegiance to the reality we¹ve created. The fear process and the hope process are, as he writes, "the twin foundations of religion" ­ not to mention the twin foundations of mental illness.Jaidar speaks to the Yearning that so many feel, that little inner nudging that keeps reminding us that there¹s got to be something more in this life. And then with a passion and beauty of writing style uncommon in philosophical discourses, Jaidar lays out a spiritual practice, that if adopted, can take the reader beyond the mind process, with all its limitations, and into the Soul process, where that "something more" is not only found, but becomes transformational.Jaidar frankly acknowledges that "This book was not written for a mass audience, but rather for a vanguard who will serve as a Œsaving remnant¹ of our species. These people quite uneasily know who they areŠ.." If you are one of those who has never been able to squelch the uneasiness, the itch for something more, this book was indeed written for you.