This book isn't that well written, but I give it five stars because the author was on the scene when the Stones were recording the album SOME GIRLS in Paris. SOME GIRLS is my favorite Stones album, so to have fly-on-the-wall observations of its creation was a treat.

Too often billed as the scruffy-haired, swashbuckling sidekick to Mick Jagger, Keith gets a bum rap. This man is the resident philosopher of the Rolling Stones. Ask him a question and you get an unadulterated answer. For instance: What about the Beatles and their experience with the Mahareshi? "Hey that was their gig but I have to draw the line on swamis." In his own words, glitter rock 'n' roll came to Keith whether he wanted it or not. He is a man who simply loves his craft. Were he not a star, he would still be happy playing for tip-jar money. This is a man who on unencumbered Friday night has bangers and mash and plays dominoes with his dad. This is man of no fragile glamour rock ego. "I think photography is magic. It's even made me look good a couple of times." As for his reputation as reckless drug pirate: "I never turned blue in someone else's bathroom," he says, "that's the height of bad manners." Even behind the basset hound face of age, Keith hangs on to those youthful characteristics that have kept his cylinders firing for lo these many years. He still has his heroes. High in those ranks is none other that another charter member to the World's Greatest Rock 'n' Roll Band - Charlie Watts. "Without Charlie there would be no Stones," he says. So, Keith Richards. Wit and charm. Seem like an oxymoron. Hardly, make yourself "Happy" and don't deprive yourself of the "Satisfaction" that this little book gives.

Chang and Kelly have done a wonderful job simplifying a very crucial process in any environment that seeks to improve its operation. The book is short and very directive. I recommend it for any organization that wants to find ways to review its operation and implement changes that will have a positive impact. People are resources and have the ability to share their ideas to make things work more efficiently. I wish more of those contemporary self-help texts would follow this book's example by reducing their 200 to 300 page text to a 104-page workbook process like Chang's and Kelly's. This is a pragmatic approach that can be used immediately by any group.

The authors will be familiar to any regular reader of alt.flame.psychiatry. Ablow and Coles have a long-standing reputation as two of the most provocative--and talented--investigators of the region where social norms, criminal activity, and the human brain meet. That's brain, not mind, and the distinction is an important one when approaching A & C's body of work. Wielding an informed position best described as "neo-materialism," the authors masterfully unearth the links between doctor and patient, criminal and victim, normalcy and deviance. In particular, this work puts to rest many of the issues raised in Danielski's "The Relationship of the Physician and the Trauma Patient," [1986] and Bearden's "Shrinks and Other Friends" [1992]. Please don't get the impression that A & C's work is simply another dry academic work on patient/doctor interaction, though. This is also a penetrating first-person account of one doctor's frightening but ultimately redemptive plunge into the nightmarish world of the mentally disturbed. A tasty read, and highly recommended for everyone, from fans of true-crime to serious academics hungering for the latest in therapeutic theory.

Stories about great athletes that were famous and not so famous. Each of the chapters talks about an athlete that contributed to the sport in very unique ways. After reading it, I wanted to know more about some of the characters that were great athletes and times very humorous. It's a book I will re-read and recommend highly.

Like a swinging Keith Richards riff on top of the powerful backbeat of Charlie Watts's "Engine Room" I tore through this book so fast the pages were almost burning in my hands. I couldn't put the book down or stop reading it. Bockris proves with this biography that Keith Richards truly IS the ultimate rock n' roll icon through his inimitable, rhythmically driven style, attention to what makes music "swing" (something multiple modern artists have discarded) and an incredible presence that oozes off the pages. While Bockris backs his book up with the dialogues of those who knew Keef, these accounts often seem contradictory-- perhaps shedding some light on the paradox that is legend. Either way-- a must for all Richards apprentices, Rock afficinados and anyone who wants to learn a thing or two about how to feel their pulse more effectively...

This book is the definitive biography of the greatest rock guitarist/philosopher of all time. Bockris, as usual, is sensitive, brilliant, and insightful in dealing with one of the most mysterious musicians to ever play rock, Keith Richards. Because the book probes not only his public life but also his private life, this book is as close as most people will ever get to understanding rock and roll's greatest enigma. Essential reading for Keef junkies (and I choose my words carefully!).

From some of the quotes Kieth gives in the beginning of the book about his childhood, all the way to the end of this rather long book, you'll enjoy his rich, british, sense of humor. Bockris has written an autobiography about his life, not just about the crazy years Kieth spent battling heroin addiction. As hard as life can be, even being a herion addict, he can joke about his drug use and make the reader laugh. As much as I oppose using drugs, I admire Keith Richards as a musician and as seemingly honest,funny caring man who has outlasted many others in his profession. This book tells the story of a man who comes from "good stock" and I am sure you will enjoy reading it.

It's a "how-to" book on barefoot hiking, but also on bare feet in general including thoughts, perceptions, and a historical and cultural viewpoint. It's a wonderful little book. Richard has inspired many others to try and greatly enjoy hiking barefoot. "Why hike barefoot?Because it is an exercise in reverence, vulnerability and respect in which we humbly admit our dependence on the earth for our very existence. It symbolizes our willingness to open up instead of shut down to the natural world around us. Maybe in this exercise, we will begin to realize our interconnectedness to the whole of life and to each other."

Maybe you're one of the many people who slip off their shoes as soon as they get home. Maybe you even remember running around barefoot when you were a kid. If so, then you're already aware that going barefoot is mighty comfortable (and maybe even faintly subversive).

Did you also know that it provides a number of medical benefits? Well, it does; there are lots of chronic problems -- and not just foot problems -- that are caused in part by wearing shoes unnecessarily.

So have you ever tried barefoot hiking? If not, Richard Keith Frazine would like your attention.

In this altogether charming book, Frazine sets out the case not only for hiking barefoot but for avoiding shoes in general. Far from being unsanitary or gross, he holds, going barefoot is actually physically, mentally, and spiritually healthy.

Frazine invites the reader to explore not only the benefits of going barefoot but the sources of various attitudes _about_ going barefoot. Why, for example, are bare feet associated by some with poverty or bad manners and by others with freedom and tolerance? (I myself avoid shoes whenever possible and I'm occasionally surprised by people who think there's something rude or offensive about bare feet.) And he clears up myth after myth about the supposed dangers of going barefoot and its associations with negative feelings.

As for hiking itself, there's a lot of sound advice in here about how to do it safely (and a lot of correction of the misunderstanding that it isn't _possible_ to do it safely). And it's also fun to read; Frazine's prose style has a delightfully old-fashioned, New England-y air that reminds me a bit of Emerson and Thoreau.

A fine book all around, then -- a well-written volume of sound advice and arguments, devoted to a subject on which I agree with the author. Now _that's_ a treat.

Going barefoot: it's not just for hippies anymore.

(You can preview the text online if you know where to look...

I bought a copy of this from Ten Speed Press a little while back. Richard did an excellent job writing about a subject that most people would not even attempt. The only way to appreciate the book is to have actually done some barefoot hiking. This encourages one to go barefoot when doing other things on a daily basis, such as walking to the train on your way to work, just carry your footwear in your hand and slip it on when boarding the train, etc. This keeps one's feet in condition for barefoot hiking. Go barefoot and go barefoot some more, especially in the Summer. It just feels great and really is good for foot health. Richard's "basic rules" to follow are excellent advice. I just want to conclude by saying it is a wonderful little book.

The book is entirely journal entries that for the most part describe how the author builds his wilderness cabin and goes about other day-to-day tasks. This is not the book for those seeking accounts of extraordinary Alaskan adventures but it is an impressive account of craftmanship. It is a story of impressive feats of carpentry and resourcefulness. You do get a few descriptions of encounters with wildlife but I didn't find that to be a strength of the book. Great pictures, too.

This has to be one of my very favorite books. I have read it front to back at least 7 times! It is written with the true adventurer in mind. Every detail of his experience makes the reader wish it were he/she that was there with him. If you have ever wished you could just go off into the woods, build a cabin and be self-sufficiant, This is the book for you.

This is a powerful book and has quite a following. I was given the book by one of my best friends, which I consider a wonderful gift. This book has it all, beautiful photos, Richard's journal notes are amazing in their insight to his thinking and how this adventure unfolded. It is a simply wonderful book, and has people traveling to Alaska just to see the setting for such a balanced book. This book lays claim to new territory, and the claim is valid. No wonder it sells well, it is captivating reading and makes you look hard and close at your own life.

This is one of the great children's stories of all time. I loved it as a child and read it over and over again, and my son has been demanding it as a bedtime story regularly since he was2-1/2 years old. The 1991 Platt & Munk (a division of Grosset & Dunlap) edition, beautifully illustrated by Cristina Ong, leaves out all the requests made to the busy trains. The story is now very brief (which is why I give it only 3 stars instead of the 5 the full-length version deserves)--I suppose because it is a board book--but the essentials are all there. It also changes the sex of the engines from male to female, so perhaps some parents would like to read this edition to their children as well as one of the others.

I first heard of this story while watching a Barney video with my son. I bought the anniversary edition of the book. The "shortened" board books - while culled from the original book - don't have the words that my son loves to hear - "I pull you - Indeed not!" and "I think I can, I think I can". The pictures are also great! My son loves to point at them especially the mountains.

Now he wants us to read him this story everynight!

The story of a train filled with dolls and toys that breaks down and asks for help from other engines. The classic story of a simple struggle to bring the dolls and toys to the "children on the other side of the mountain" is a delight when a little blue engine volunteers to help and "I think I can, I think I can, I think I can" is is finally rewarded in the end with "I thought I could, I thought I could", etc. My 2 and 3 year olds' favorite book for many weeks. Enjoy. Dec 1998

"Dangerous if read too late in life", Hemmingway.

This is an excellent book if you can find it.

I have just read this book and I think I could place it among the ones I liked the most (together with Gerald Durrell's ones): what I prefered was the poetic that filled the whole book , in the descriptions of landscapes, and people, that poetic you can't find in modern writers.