"The light that gradually dawns on him consists in his understanding that his fantasy is a real psychic process which is happening to him personally." (Jung p. 528-529) This sentence from the book sums-up its content.

In this work Jung demonstrates that Alchemy was a precursor to modern Western psychological insight. Jung draws a "process map" of the Alchemy in this volume, in which he laboriously (but not tediously) shows that the steps the alchemists took to bring about the transformation of matter. Jung suggests that this process is a metaphoric representation of a process some humans travel to reach a level of consciousness that includes and unites the unseen (transcendent) reality with the visible experience.

It can be read as an interesting intellectual insight into earlier Western thought, or it can be used by an individual as a guide through the process of psychological transformation. This work is essential to anyone on the path of transformation and who looks to Jung as a guide on that path. It is not for a casual reader of Jung.

The following is a review for Mysterium Coniunctionis:

Jung seems to write from the dream state; associations interleaved with digressions punctuated by potent and startling images. This is his most satisfying book for me because it has the simplest premise but is also the largest and richest. He stretches out enormously within a limited range, gathering a life-time of inquiry into a writhing basket of conflicting thought. This method illustrates perfectly how deep experience can become when meditated upon and scrutinized and when tangents are whole-heartedly encouraged and darksides allowed to bloom. No need to hop-scotch around the world, just look into the pile of dead ants beneath your radiator and let your mind wander. The conjunction of opposites: perhaps Jung's emblem for the source of life, the alembic, where all intellectual and emotional births occur. Read and reread this book to step through the microcosmic door into unlimited life right where you are.

Jung seems to write from the dream state; associations interleaved with digressions punctuated by potent and startling images. This is his most satisfying book for me because it has the simplest premise but is also the largest and richest. He stretches out enormously within a limited range, gathering a life-time of inquiry into a writhing basket of conflicting thought. This method illustrates perfectly how deep experience can become when meditated upon and scrutinized and when tangents are whole-heartedly encouraged and darksides allowed to bloom. No need to hop-scotch around the world, just look into the pile of dead ants beneath your radiator and let your mind wander. The conjunction of opposites: perhaps Jung's emblem for the source of life, the alembic, where all intellectual and emotional births occur. Read and reread this book to step through the microcosmic door into unlimited life right where you are.

Someone gave me New York: Architects 01-02 as a gift. What a great gift! I really enjoyed this book even though I am far from artistic and know nothing about architecture and design.

The book has a stylish cover that features a pattern of geometric, almost-three-dimensional boxes that are in different shades of blue. The internal layout is easy to follow and provides a way to compare architects and their styles virtually side-by-side.

At least one reason I personally liked the book so much is that I've lived in NY for many years, and a decent number of the pictures in this book were of buildings and interior spaces I've walked by or through, admired or have always meant to see. It was interesting to focus on the art, design and structure of these buildings and spaces that are a part of my daily life and nice to realize how much New York architects have contributed to the character of New York.

Architect buffs, people getting ready to build or design a home or office or urbanites planning to design or restructure an apartment anywhere in the world will all love this book, will appreciate the easy access to information about a large number of architects and will find it incredibly useful as a source of design ideas.

What a great idea! Organized as a directory of modern architectural firms based in the New York area, this book allowed me to really get an in-depth perspective on each firm. I particularly enjoyed the section in each architectural profile where the architects themselves talk about their personal design philosophy. And of course, all those wonderful photographs of spaces and buildings! This would be a great gift book both for the serious lover of modern architecture or for someone who just likes to dream about beautiful spaces.

You don't have to be an architect to really enjoy this book.

The concept of the book, to present a number of incredibly diverse NY architects in once space, is fantastic and one I haven't seen before. And the book itself, while functional, is also great to look through and easy to read and follow. The pictures of the architectural works beautifully illustrate the diversity, style and capabilities of each architect, while the written information accesses the entire world of the particular architect by showing the scope of that architect's experience and the works for which each is responsible.

What a great book to have on your shelf or coffee table, both for the architectural of mind and the architectural lay person.

Carl George effectively communicates the essential basics. This book does a good job of highlighting the difference between being a facilitator of small group time and being a leader (someone who is a disciple-maker). I have used this book as the main text for training small group leaders. It provides great material for interactive discussion and presenting a wholistic picture of all that small groups can be.

The best two things about this book are: 1) it helps the small group leader coordinate with the pastor, and 2) it includes shepherding, building community, discipleship and evangelism as part of the small group experience. It is the best balanced book available today!

I am a small-groups person. I have been in one small group or another, often as a leader, almost continually, for the past 30 years. I believe small groups are just about the most important aspect of a church's life.

I have read many books on this, gone to many seminars. There is a lot of good material on this topic.

But in my present role as a church consultant, this is the book on small groups that I hand to pastors who are wanting to know how to grow a small group ministry or how to better equip their small group leaders.

Why? As George explains in this book, most church small groups do a good job of promoting nurture and fellowship, but most stop there. George believes an effective small group should perform three basic functions, not just nurture. In addition to nurture, he believes small groups should be effectively engaged in small-group-based evangelism (George says that in any given year, only one small group in four does any evangelism), and he thinks that small groups should constantly be training small group leaders through apprenticeship. I agree that a small group needs all three functions. And so I use this book as the entry point for someone who is new to these ideas about small group life.

After this introduction, I point churches to further training or more in-depth printed materials about various aspects of this approach to small groups, but in my opinion, there's not a better starting point than this one.

The lessons taught in this book have been missed by a lot of adults. We desparately need a generation who will show that doing wrong is never right. NO ONE WILL EVER KNOW illistrates this lesson clearly as well as showing that wrong actions carry negative consequences. Some consequences last a lifetime.

Carl Sommer's books always have such great messages for children and they'll love this one. They'll be able to identify with the temptations of sneaking and disobeying. This little squirrel ends up paying a high price to learn this lesson. A helpful resource for every parent and teacher!

As a director of a preschool/kindergarten I am always searching for good literature. I have found a winner with Carl Sommer's "Fun Times With Timeless Values Collection". The concept of sharing is presented in one of these books, "Tied Up In Knots". Children (and adults),I believe, will thoroughly enjoy their visit to the farm and learn how life can be so much easier and pleasant when we SHARE. Our characters do discover sharing really does bring happiness! Every classroom and home can smile once this principle is practiced.

I agree with a reviewer that this book may not be suitable for absolute beginners but rather for people who has experience before and did not play for sometime. But regardless it is a great piano book.

Although this book is designed to be a complete keyboard coarse, it is so densely packed with information and moves so fast from one subject to the next, that it would not make a good self-study guide for someone who knows absolutely nothing about playing the piano. The information is all there, but in a no nonsense fashion, not in a more user-friendly, take the time to really make sure anyone can grasp the concepts that are commonly found in beginner courses with much more modest goals. That said, as a comprehensive reference to playing styles, techniques and methology it is unsurpassed. Anyone with a basic grasp of piano playing, will find it most useful. Are you trying to play some Bach or Mozart but can't remember or never knew how to play a trill or mordant? This book will not only show you all of the various ornaments and explain not only how to play them, but offer many examples of what is in stylistic keeping for a given time period for a piece of that tempo. If that is not cool enough, it also explains the reasons for why it was used and relates it to later developments not in that style of music but in current styles of music, so you have a basis of information to make your artistic choices. Want to know how romantic music such as Debusey is traditional pedaled; this book will show you and explain what you are trying to acomplish soundwise. Maybe you studied classical music for year and now want to play a bit of bluegrass or jazz, this book will teach you about that too. Or maybe you want to just pick up some pop sheet music and be able to improvise a bit of additional accompanent, because what is provided sounds so empty. The answers are in this book too.

The book is divided up in too many broad chapters that explore a cluster of concepts exploring both musical theorie and practical techniques. Each section has elaborate exercise and several complete pieces of music, all of which can be heard on the accompanying cd. History notes and biographis on relevent composers round out the chapter. In fact there is so much, sidebar information, that you can learn a lot by just flipping around and reading those. There is also a large reference section in the back containing both suggestive listening and music to play and a comprehensive musical dictionarie. The only thing missing is an index, which would make it much quicker to locate the desired information. The only other thing I didn't care for was the fold out table of contents at the beginning of the book that are subject to damage when you fold them back in. They really should have been printed on the inside of the cover.

Unless you have a degree in music, it is hard to imagine that anyone could not find something to learn from this amazing book. As I look though it, I am constantly amazed by how much has been packed into this 290 page bundle. The book has a sturdy hard cover and opens to spiral bound pages that make the book a pleasure to prop up on the piano. All in all this book is well worth the price.

As a side note, Americans should be aware that the author uses the British names for notes values and time signature (i.e. semibreve rather then whole notes and crotchets instead of quarter notes, duple time for double time). They explain the two sets of names in a chart near the beginning and then ever after use the British terms. As someone use to the American/Northern Eurpean names, I find a bit confusing, but am getting used to it.

The Piano Handbook: A Complete Guide For Mastering Piano by pianist, composers, and music journalist Carl Humphries is a straightforward, "user friendly" tutorial for mastering the art of piano playing. An erudite text (illustrated with both black-and-white and color photographs) deftly detail various styles of play ranging from romantic, to classical, to jazz, rock, blues, and more, as well as technical matters such as hand positions, pedaling, tonal balance, chord progressions, etc. The Piano Handbook is enhanced with an accompanying music CD which has tracks relating to 69 different exercises. Highly recommended to piano players of all skill and experience levels seeking to improve, The Piano Handbook is designed in a spiral bound format which will conveniently lay open flat while practicing music.

I have used this recipe book practically every day for the past 4 months. There is not one recipe that was a disappointment. Most were fantastic. They salsas are out of this world! Best of all I have lost 12 pounds!! Every day my husband says "This is the best dinner I have ever had." I just ordered two more books for my daughter and daughter-in-law.

This has become our favorite cookbook. I like spicey food, but not overly hot spicey food, and these receipes are perfect. Our favs: Lime-Curry Chicken Breast (pg 228), Spicy Mango Salsa (pg 173 - with any grilled fish or chicken), Avocado & Jicama Salsa (pg 197 - again with any grilled fish or chicken).

The recipes are varied and quite ecclectic, but remain easy to prepare. The instructions are detailed and most of the ingredients are readily available. This is definately the cookbook I use the most!

When America declared war in 1917, Carl A. Brannen was an 18-year-old freshman at Texas A&M. He finished out the fall semester of his sophomore year and then enlisted in the Marine Corps in January 1918, reporting for boot camp in February. Immediately upon graduation, he was shipped overseas to France to join the American Expeditionary Force under Gen John Pershing's command. After more training in Europe, he moved to the "front" to join the 6th Marine Regiment under the Army's 2d Division as a replacement for marines killed in the first 48 hours of the battle of Belleau Wood. Brannen kept a very good diary. We discover that he is not a heroic figure-just a marine trying to stay alive. He knows that a foxhole or trench is a valuable piece of real estate in face of murderous machine gun fire. Brannen understands and appreciates the difference between his gas mask and those the French have (they are better), so he watches for a spare one. He knows what hunger is and how much a hot meal means, when he can get one. He also knows what thirst is and how uncertain resupply is in a combat situation. Brannen quickly learns the difference in the sound of the explosion of a gas, shrapnel, or high-explosive shell. He stayed in Belleau Wood until it was captured on the first of July, a great morale victory for all the Allied armies. Brannen wasn't relieved until 16 July 1918. Instead of receiving a period of rest and recovery, he and his fellow marines were trucked to the battle area of Soissons, where he participated in an advance led by tanks. The Germans countered the attack with near-point-blank artillery, killing Brannen's best friend. It took only 40 minutes for his regiment to be nearly annihilated. Brannen, however, is a survivor. He participated in battles in Saint-Mihiel, Mont Blanc, and the Meuse-Argonne. Following the armistice, as a member of the 2d Division, his unit became part of the Army of Occupation. Pershing kept the army sharp by means of a rigorous postwar training program. Brannen writes about how morale plummeted in this situation since most soldiers only wanted to return home. Just when Brannen began to feel down, he was selected to join the ranks of a regiment referred to as Pershing's Own. He had fought with the 4th Marine Brigade in every major battle and had survived-a claim few people could make. The 6th Regiment, composed of three thousand men, suffered 1,161 killed and over 4,656 wounded for total casualties of 5,817.

Over There is a very moving book. Brannen, who knows he was lucky to survive, is a quiet man in a heroic way. If it were not for his son and some dedicated scholars, the papers, photographs, and diary entries that tell his story would have been lost. This book, together with Robert Asprey's At Belleau Wood, provides a poignant reminder of just how terrible war really is.

Carl Andrew Brannen died the year I turned 18. The same age he was when he began his journey through the Marine Corps, into France and back home to Trinity County, Texas. I have visited his battlefields several times and have used "Over There" as a field reference guide. In the summer of 1999 I stood in the Soissons battlefield with my 4 children as they lay in the same road in about the same place their great grandfather clutched the earth for a dozen hours or so waiting for the German counter attack or darkness or death which ever came first. He with a couple of dozen Marines were all that stood between the German line of defense and the rear echelon for most of that fateful day. I read his account out loud to them as we walked down the road and know that it brought insight and meaning to them as it would any American. Knowing that there are thousands of decendants of war veterans with stories untold, I highly recommend this book as a way to begin your own personal journey to discover the trail, Washed with Tears, as my Uncle Joeseph Patrick Brannen, C.A.Brannen's son, and one of the authors of this book, might say. C.A. Brannen's point of reference for his experiences was that of his uncle Eaph Dial, a Civil War veteran of Hood's Texas Brigade, who from 1862 to 1865 fought in most every major engagement his brigade was a part of. Like Eaph Dial, my grandfather was also a part of every action the 2nd Division participated in between June of 1918 and the end of the war. His war decorations include 5 battle stars all of which are featured in this book. C.A.Brannen's dash across no man's land at Soisson's and Blanc Mont Ridge was often described to me as child listening with great awe, as similar to the Confederate attacks at Gettysburg. There is a bit of every American in his story and ought to be read. It is a quick read, complete with historical research to confirm his accounts and is perfectly suitable for readers of every age.

These memoirs have been quoted in Toland's book on WWI and now in Farwell's book. It was good to go to the source because of the writing of the Carl A. Brannen, the editorial comments from the editors, and then the addition of the excellent view of the son in 1990. This should be a must read for every Marine and for anyone who wants to know about war.

I love this man's writing! I started with his fiction and having devoured all there was of that at the time I stumbled on his first book of Miami Herald columns. I bought Paradise Screwed as soon as it was out.
The really exciting thing about Carl is that he takes on the corruption and the sleaze and the bizarre goings on in Florida and makes people aware of them through witty yet hard hitting writing. He isn't afraid to make waves and when you read this book you will begin to wonder about the greasing of the wheels in State politics.
He is passionate about his home state and what is happening to it and as a visitor to Florida on more than one occassion, he has really made me think about the affects of inconsiderate development and tourism.
But even if you aren't keen on any of that, the columns are clever and well written, so it's well worth the read.

Another collection of "baseball-bat-to-the-forehead" columns in a similar writing style as Moore. Both men use biting satire and their wicked wit to tell you what they think, and are unafraid in doing so. Hiaasen is even more impressive I think because his substantive job is still journalism and yet he can find humor in real people and events as easily as in fiction.

These columns are a selection from over the last 20 years of events in South Florida. You don't have to go back any further than 2 years to Elian Gonzalez and the 2000 presidential election to know that there's enough grist-for-the-mill here to fill much more than one book on these two topics alone. Nevertheless Hiaasen reins himself in and spreads his verbal darts around. Topics covered include "Mayor loco", the soon-to-be-gone Marlins, Chads (not a person, those bits of paper, remember?) Dolphins (both the team and the ones that frequently drown offshore), Race Riots, a con artist doctor and a pet-hating extortionist. That's the more exotic stuff. Then there's the normal South Florida fare of crooked politicians, stupid state officials, assorted mobsters and mafia, drugs, guns, and general mayhem and madness. As Hiaasen said in a recent interview "all the paths of slime and disreputability seem to lead here."

The man is a Florida treasure and for those of us who live through what he writes about his humor is a saving grace. Very few of us can express it the way he does so he is our voice of reason saying yes, it's PARADISE SCREWED allright, but we're still alive we can laugh about it.

I think that the previous customer review misses the point of this collection. Its predecessor, KICK ASS, was mostly intended to showcase Hiaasen's brilliance of style. PARADISE SCREWED is not aiming to be KICK ASS, PART TWO; it's not a gathering of columns that did not make the cut for the first volume. Instead, it expands outward to focus on issues. Its purpose is entirely different (as is evident from the title), and so is the principle of selection. The writing itself, though, is as biting and as crucial as that in the first collection. Both books are vital and essential.

Carl George wrote this book some time ago, but even today, it is a highly relevant and important book for many of today's churches. The concept of small groups is not exactly a new concept. Many churches have encouraged this for years. But few churches even now have turned the concept of small groups into a far reaching and fundamental tool of ministry, outreach, and caring that permeates the entire church mission. Even today, small groups tend to be a "back burner" concept among many churches.

This book tries to draw a direct relationship between small group ministry and church size. The theory is that a church can grow only so big and reach only so many people absent a vital and large emphasis on small groups. George cites a few megachurches as examples of the kind of ongoing growth and changed lives that occur when the church embraces small groups not with a recreational commitment, but with the kind of commitment that comes when something is considered a primary mission of the church.

The small group model for church growth is a model that works, not because George says so, but because several churches who have embraced this model are growing beyond many of the ceilings that the vast majority of churches who don't embrace this model can't seem to break through. Getting their people into small groups, when emphasized and encouraged, allows bigger churches to continue ministering to people and meeting their needs by allowing the congregation to minister to itself and not overtax the staff. This accomplishes the goal of the church not having to build up a huge staff of paid people to try and meet the needs of a big congregation. Therefore, allowing church funds to be spent not on an increased staff, but on more relevant activities that are more in line with the mission that God has imparted on the particular church. Further, small group multiplication allows the church to continue to grow and reach new people in the community in ways that are non threatening.

I did not give the book 5 stars only because the book does not appear to spend a lot of time discussing how a church can really establish a vital small group ministry and structure their staff in an effective way to cultivate it. Too often, growing churches want to do good things, but do not put the kind of infrastructure in place, whether people or facilities, to administer the programs with excellence. It's the classic problem of biting off more than we can chew. The motivations of the church are in the right place in these instances, but without a clear plan in place for administering a major small group ministry, George provides an incomplete strategy for implementing this approach. This may sound like a minor point, but it isn't. Ministries that are not undertaken with excellence are ministries that fail to fully fulfill the purpose for which the ministry was created. Having an administrative infrastructure in place that effectively manages a big small group ministry while also being an infrastructure that is frugal relative to church budgets is clearly one aspect of establishing a ministry with excellence. And this aspect is not easily addressable and thus, represents a significant challenge to George's model. It is solvable I believe, but George should have addressed this in more detail, in my view.

But clearly, George has hit on something that every church can benefit from if implemented correctly. At its core, Christianity needs to be about people. And in order to meet people's needs and transform people into fully devoted disciples of Christ, the church must place just as much a priority on meeting people's needs and providing care and support as it does on spreading the Gospel message. In fact, I would argue that those two things go hand in hand, and both are strengthened by the other. Having an active small group ministry that looks for small group solutions for a whole array of congregational concerns and interests is a proven model for church growth and evangelism, and something George describes very well. A good book, a good pastoral resource.

While some of the diagrams leave you wanting and wondering, the heart of the book solidifies the need for small groups. Especially in a era when there is so much demand on our time and so much stress in our lives. When George related the story of Jethro and his council to Moses, I knew our church HAD to get behind small groups in a big way. George shows how small groups are the key to a church family and how they are the true ministry of the church.

Carl George's "Prepare Your Church for the Future" is a must-read for those who desire to approach ministry in fresh ways in the coming years. His emphasis on the keys for developing groups for meaningful relationships and growth are second to none!

Your great grandfathers read them by the fistful. Even your grandfathers probably read at least a few of them. But the days when Horatio Alger was one of the most widely read authors in America have long since passed. Alger's message--that by dint of hard work, decent morals, good manners and a hefty serving of luck, any American boy can rise from rags to riches--is so clearly anathema to the literati that his dismissal by the critics and the continuing refusal to treat his work as anything other than simple-minded boosterism was virtually foreordained.

However, you would think that Alger's novels would warrant greater scrutiny simply for their obvious cultural impact. It is not an overstatement to say that it is likely that every significant man of business, politics, literature and academia in America in the early decades of this century had read the works of Horatio Alger. How can you hope to understand these men and the America that they forged if you ignore the one author who was most likely a formative influence on them? More than that, it is certainly the case that except for a couple of decades of despair brought on by the Great Depression, it is, has been, and seems sure to remain, the uniquely American idea that anyone can succeed. It is amazing the number of times you will hear folks from foreign countries speak about how this perception of unlimited possibilities is something that you only find in America (Howard Evans on Booknotes one night springs to mind). This after all is why we are the one nation that welcomes immigrants. Other countries assume that immigrants will just get on the dole and stay there; we assume they will not only succeed, but will flourish. Alger is certainly not the originator of these belief, but his millions of books must have contributed something to this entrepreneurial spirit that informs the national soul.

Besides that, they are just fun. There is something refreshing about Alger's straightforward, unmannered writing style. The mere absence of all of the modern stylistic devices that so often make reading modern novels a chore, makes reading the books a pleasure. Besides, who doesn't get a vicarious thrill reading about a good boy making good. And, beneath the outer layers of poverty, Alger's heroes are enormously appealing; here's his description of Richard "Ragged Dick" Hunter:

Dick's appearance as he stood beside the box was rather peculiar. His pants were torn in several places, and had apparently belonged in the first instance to a boy two sizes larger than himself. He wore a vest, all the buttons of which were gone except two, out of which peeped a shirt which looked as if it had been worn a month. To complete his costume he wore a coat too long for him, dating back, if one might judge from its general appearance, to a remote antiquity.

Washing the face and hands is usually considered proper in commencing the day, but Dick was above such refinement. He had no particular dislike to dirt, and did not think it necessary to remove several dark streaks on his face and hands. But in spite of his dirt and rags there was something about Dick that was attractive. It was easy to see that if he had been clean and well dressed he would have been decidedly good-looking. Some of his companions were sly, and their faces inspired distrust; but Dick had a frank, straight-forward manner that made him a favorite.

There is a reason that the term "Horatio Alger story" lives on in our lexicon. The concept touches something deep within our psyche, confirming something that we desperately want to believe about individuals and about the type of world and society that we live in.

Let the critics ridicule them, but when we stop believing in the power and the truth of the Alger myth, we will cease to be a great nation.

GRADE: B

Horatio Alger made an instant classic when he wrote this book. Fast-moving, you can finish the book in one sitting. These two stories will reach all youth and even adults. Perfect book for those comming of age. A definite 5-star book!

This book was great. it was about a boy who came from the streets of New York City who had to fend for himself. Even though he was very poor and lived on the streets he was very kind and always tried to help people out. this is a excellent book for it reminded me of people who come to New York city not having anything but at the same time possessing everything! he had dreams but thought he would never achive them. Ragged Dick was a powerful and complelling book. I couldn't put it down cause I wanted to read more of the boy's adventures through the streets of NEW York. it has left a warm place in my heart forever!