Dr. Rees outlines a holistic approach for achieving health that goes far beyond most books on mind-body medicine. He links health of the mind, body and spirit with health of the planet, and gives practical suggestions for restoring balance to all through the ancient techniques of ayurveda. However, Dr. Rees assures us, restoring balance is not a difficult proposition when one utilizes the natural healing processes that are already present within each human being. "Heal Yourself, Heal Your World" is humorous and written in a clear and compassionate style, so it makes the very deep knowledge it contains go down easy. Get the book and do what the man says--your body and your world will thank you!

This eighteenth volume in the Aubrey-Mathurin saga is relatively action-less. For once, Jack has been assigned to routine post-captain's duty in the Brest blockade squadron, sailing back and forth for weeks on end. I don't believe the great guns are ever once fired in anger in this book. But, however (as they say), there's a lot here for the faithful reader of the series -- mostly domestic, with Jack being caught in an old adultery, as he says, "without a leg to stand on," but getting back with Sophie eventually. It's 1814, and with peace about to break out, Jack is very worried about his lack of a professional future, wholly expecting to be "yellowed" -- being made admiral in time but given no command -- having unfortunately crossed his admiral, whose nephew wants to enclose the common on Jack's manor. (Think agribusiness and economies of scale vs. the family farm). Perhaps he can increase his professional stock by hiring out to develop a new navy for revolutionary Chile. . . . Stephen spends a good deal of time ashore in France tending to intelligence matters, but we get no details. ...

In typical O'Brian fashion, the current state of our heroes is reversed in this book. Here we find Aubrey on the downgrade, while Maturin is repairing the damage done him in the previous episode. Certainly a rivetting story that is a pleasure to read, yet the real "happy ending" is left 'til the next installment (we hope!) For those looking solely for naval action, this book is not the best of series. Most of the plot involves Aubrey's difficulties on land and admiralty politics. Personally, I couldn't put it down and am yearning for the next installment

A reviewer of O'Brian's next book in the series wrote that the Aubrey books are really one 6000 page novel. I agree. This volume advances the story. It also deals more extensively with
domestic issues than previous books have. If you are reading
the Aubrey books, keep going. If not, don't start here, start at
the beginning.

The options for research on Saint-Saëns aren't much, so this book nearly soured me on the subject altogether. It's utterly unreadable. I recommend scouring libraries and used bookstores for James Harding's 1965 _Saint-Saëns and His Circle_, which, while hardly exhaustive, is at least readable and useful in getting a sense of the man.

As a professional in the opera world (I've been at it too long to call it a business), I had a very good reason to buy and read this biography...the only one widely available in English these days. (I could only wish that some of the earlier sources in Rees's bibliography had been available to me.)

I found Rees's style both disjunct and pedantic...an accomplishment of sorts. In the facts of The Life, presented prosaically, for a composer whose existence was anything BUT prosaic, Rees left us hungry for substantiation. (His footnoting was mostly just irritating.) Certain events and trends in The Life, about which we would gladly know more--the controversial, virtually sensational dissolution of the composer's marriage, for instance, were glossed over, swept under the carpet or conveniently ignored.

Rees's technique of analysis of each work as he encounters it was perfunctory at best; is this guy really a musician? The writing has a kind of amateurish fervor to it, which might have been charming in other hands; but based on this work alone, I would quite simply not delve further into this composer's life or works, were it not for the fact that I'm about to be involved in a production of SAMSON ET DALILA.

This was a major disappointment, and all of us interested in the voluminous output of this protean figure--hey folks, why HAVE only two of his operas been recorded professionally?--will simply have to wait for someone better at this task. Perhaps Rees didn't find all that much to admire about Saint-Saens; but it doesn't incline me to want to read his life of Edward German (now THERE'S a Minor Composer). Oh well...onward and upward into the future. Saint-Saens is ripe for rediscovery, but Brian Rees may have nipped it in the bud...for a while. Most opera enthusiasts I know, certainly in the professional echelons, are tired of Mr. and Mrs. Gheorghiu, Andrea Bocelli, Charlotte Church and the like. Enough of the endless BOHEME entries in Schwann (oh all right, I think it's a great piece too!); give us a chance to hear some Saint-Saens that set the musical world on fire...or at least kindled respectable bonfires...in its time.

Although I was truly interested in this subject, getting through all 485 pages of this book was pretty much drudgery. It's hard to believe the author has had much writing experience, particularly in the fields of music or biography. Saint-Saens never came alive for me, never became a person I could like or dislike, or even care about. Instead, the author provided an endless calendar of the composer's life -- on the order of Tuesday he went here, Wednesday he did this. We learn of his petty jealousies, but little else of the real person, whose life probably included many mysteries beyond the author's grasp.

And there is little or no critical evaluation of the vast majority of the works of this enormously prolific composer, nor any real discussion of his inspirations or working methods. Poor Saint-Saens comes across as a rather fuddy-duddy, petty workaholic.

In addition, the book is poorly written: the author evidently knows nothing of the rules of paragraphing, commonly including widely divergent topics in a single, unending paragraph. This is both confusing and irritating.

Finally, the omission of a list of the composer's works as a separate appendix is unforgiveable! True, the Index does list works, but only as they are mentioned in the text, with no assurance that this listing is accurate or complete. I'll look for a better and more complete biography!