Donna Eden's Energy Medicine has made the human energy system clearly understandable and accessible. She shows us that it is within our daily reach to be able to strengthen and maintain our own vitality to support our own healing and reminds us all that the journey to health and wellness is one that we must walk with consciousness and awareness. Thank you to Donna for demystifying the very essence of human health and well-being! I use the book daily and the exercises have helped me to manage stress and to break through some habitual and unhealthy patterns in my life. A wonderful book! A must for anyone working with energy healing. Blessings!

Donna Eden's book, ENERGY MEDICINE, is a priceless addition to any energy healer's book shelves. In simple language with clear illustrations, Eden outlines ways to release stress, restore energies, escape the grip of fear, concentrate in the midst of fear and stress, feel joyful more often, overcome digestive problems, mend broken arms and legs, overcome nervousness, calm people (and yourself), relieve arthritic pain, relieve muscle cramps, relieve low back pain, and regain control when feeling hysterical.

I would be thrilled with any book that so clearly outlines techniques for helping people with such a wide variety of ailments, aches and pains, but ENERGY MEDICINE goes several steps further. Eden describes the body's energy meridians, chakra balancing, and how to do the "celtic weave". As Eden explains, "The Celtic weave, as an energy system, laces through all your other energy systems and creates a resonance among them. It is the weaver of your force fields. It holds your entire energetic structure together. As an exercise, you use the Celtic weave to pulse your aura's energies outward and to strengthen them. The exercise also connects all your energies together so they operate as a single web. Touch one strand, anywhere, and your whole system reverberates in harmony."

I love the way ENERGY MEDICINE includes a vast assortment of fascinating real-life stories of energy healings that Donna Eden has been involved in, including her own recovery from being bitten by a poisonous insect in Fiji. The shamans in Fiji treated Donna for her bite by burying her up to her neck in sand for long stretches several times over a two day period, believing the toxins would be drained into the sand. Donna recovered her full health in Fiji, and shortly thereafter began her studies of energy healing.

I highly recommend ENERGY MEDICINE to anyone with an interest in energy healing. Experienced energy healers and novices can all find much of great value in this essential reference book.

ENERGY MEDICINE is a brilliant, comprehensive and comprehensible book on the many modalities of healing with energy. Donna Eden shows us that by working with energy we can restore harmony on all levels when it is lost. The book provides very specific and easily learned techniques for releasing negative energy and recreating a healthy flow of energy. The book contains ancient and not so ancient practices from all over the world and many helpful suggestions for specific concerns. If you are struggling with a chronic dis-ease this book is full of useful practices that will open the doors to healing. Best of all Donna's example of healing from serious illness shows us that when harmony is restored all is possible. If you are interested in growing in spirit the exercises will help maintain balance and deepen connection to vital life force. I recently attended a lecture given by Donna in Boston. Donna's ebullient joyful spirit, her physical vitality and her loving compassion speak eloquently of what is possible for us all in working to cleanse and strengthen our whole selves. ENERGY MEDICINE is a book that can really help us do just that. I highly recommend.

I'll be honest with you: I read Mark Vonnegut's book because he is Kurt Vonnegut's son. The elder Mr. Vonnegut mentions it one of his books (I don't remember which one, but I'm pretty sure it's Fates Worse Than Death, or maybe Timequake), and I probably would never have picked it up (or even heard of it) otherwise. That said, it is a fascinating and very delightful book, full of insight and well worth reading. Not many books tackle the admittedly difficult issue of describing insanity from the inside out (i.e., in the form of a first-person recollection), and this book is truly useful for those looking for such a work. It's hard to imagine anyone doing it better. I can see this as a practical "must read" for medical professionals looking to identify more closely with their patients, or for anyone who just wants a more personal account of the subject matter than that often offered by dry, sterile medical textbooks. Mark's writing style is quite good, but also highly personal. He doesn't seem aloof or like somebody with whom we can't identify (as many people who have experienced mental illnesses inevitably do): he seems like just one of us. The emotions and problems he was going through are certainly things that many of us can relate to (especially those of us who lived through the times that the the book describes) - although the cause for his schizophrenia was never, of course, fully discovered, a lot of things, as Mark says, "happened all at once": his steady girlfriend cheating on him, his parents breaking up, his father becoming famous. Although Mark's writing style is nothing like his father's, the two do share a similar sense of humor. This, coupled with the delightfully personal aspect of the prose, makes this a great read for those interested in its subject matter. Reccommended.

I came upon Mark Vonnegut's book during a summer of unemployment. I read Kerouac, Burroughs, Ginsberg, and all the first person accounts of Woodstock. I read Kurt Vonnegut, and in a lucky stroll through the Sci-fi section, I read Kilgore Trout's 'Venus on the Half Shell'. When I came upon Mark Vonnegut's book, Eden Express, I thought I was getting into a 'son-of' phase.
Eden Express details the experiences of Mark Vonnegut as he comes to terms with a brain and a mind that no longer follow his dictates. It is a tale of hard lessons, filtered through expectation and dreams.A book of exploration, it ends on a note of healing; it encourages self determination with respect to treatment. It is a thoughtful examination of ability, hope, and healing.
I sincerely hope Mr. Vonnegut reissues this book, and offers his impressions since his earliest struggles with mental illness.
"It is no measure of sanity to be well-adjusted to a profoundly sick society" Krishna Murti
Thank you Mark... and best wishes.

Perhaps eclipsed by his more famous father, Mark Vonnegut has never received the recognition he deserves for this fine work. Courageous, honest and at times extremely funny, Mark tells his tale of madness without a hint of the pretension that often creeps into such works. Especially interesting is the way he tries to reconcile his schizophrenia with the hippie lifestyle he was living in the 60's, when many thought the line between sanity and madness was nonexistant at best, and that "madness is a sane response to an insane society." After a prolonged hell where he lost the ability to eat, sleep, or have a moment's peace, Mark ended up embracing and being helped by good old fashioned square western medicine, without losing the depth or sincerity of his countercultural leanings. His evocation of the experience of madness itself outstrips anything I have ever read on the topic. A very good book.

MARTIN EDEN follows the rise and fall of a young sailor who by sheer force of will educates himself and succeeds in becoming a famous writer (this is London's autobiographical novel, published in 1909, when he was thirty-three and the most popular living writer in the world). Few readers liked it then, they found it dark and depressing after a certain point; they wanted the entertainment they were used to from London ("Come on, Jack, give us another story with dogs and snow in it!"). Not as many read it now as should, and London himself disdained the fact that it inspired many young writers without talent to follow Martin Eden's example. But it is also a valuable story about a young man maturing in his conception of love as regards the opposite sex:

"Ambition soared on mad wings, and he saw himself climbing the heights with her, pleasuring in beautiful and noble things with her. It was a soul-possession he dreamed, refined beyond any grossness, a free comradeship of spirit that he could not put into definite thought." -- The youth becomes a man.

London's prose is straightforward and vibrant, much like the author at his best. Martin Eden falls victim to the vicissitudes of his fame and fortune, much like the author at his worst (too much hard living is often given as the reason for London's death at forty). London spends a lot of time in this book criticizing American materialism in the way that materialism ought to be criticized. He also displays a certain kind of American work ethic (five hours of sleep a night, perseverance through failure, etc.) that sometimes doesn't know what to do with itself once it achieves success. We should all have that problem--just hope that we deal with it better than young Martin Eden does. A very worthwhile read.

Martin Eden is one of those books on which it's difficult to pass judgment. It doesn't rise to the realm of high art, although the writing is splendid in parts. The philosophy displayed through most of the novel comes across as sophomoric and meretricious. As autobiography it is dubious at best, as anyone who has read a biography of London knows. On all these accunts, London's other semi-autobiographical work, John Barleycorn, is much better and well-grounded......And yet, any one who has ever been in love or thirsted for beauty and knowledge, or has had ambition thwarted, or had it fulfilled and found that its reward led to emptiness can not help saying that this is the stuff of life.

The book has Nietzsche's influence written all over it. Indeed, the closing lines of Chapter XXVIII are directly lifted from Nietzsche. This influence doesn't, to my mind, detract from the novel though. Quite to the contrary, it's what holds the book thematically and artistically together.

The best part of the book by far is the ending, wherein London remains artistically and thematically true to himself and to his readers, and thereby renders the book unpalatable for mass consumption. As Nietzsche puts it, "I love him who is abashed when the dice fall to make his fortune, and asks, 'Am I then a crooked gambler?' For he wants to perish" There is also the influence and theme of that most anomolous of the books of The Bible, Ecclesiastes, which is, again, more overtly evident in London's John Barleycorn: "Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher; all is vanity. What profit hath a man of all his labour which he taketh under the sun?"

This book has its faults, but indiffence to the very pulse of life and to the vagaries of the human condition is not one of them. I can't imagine any lover of and struggler with words and life coming away from Martin Eden unmoved.

"Martin Eden" is my fifth foray into the works of Jack London. Although I don't find the excitement within that was apparent in "Sea Wolf," the passion is certainly evident. I have read that "Martin Eden" inspired more bad writers to sequester themselves with paper and pencil in unheated attics than any other book, and it is easy to determinewhy. Eden's obsession with learning and then creating the immortal printed word -- after falling for a woman above his class in society/socialist-conscious San Francisco -- is a powerful force that London expounds convincingly. Then, without warning, the sage advice "be careful what you wish for, it may come true," rears its ugly head. London also includes a line about ghosts that should be a classic, but isn't, and his description of a suicide ranks as the best of its kind. A WORD OF WARNING: Do not read the foreward until after. It tells too much of the story and robs some of the author's intended suprises. This is unforgivable. May the publisher rot in hell.

In America today, there are 3 accepted ways of dealing with personal anguish: religion, psychology, and beer. "How Good Do We Have To Be?" combines a great deal of Old Testament religion (not surprising since the author is a rabbi), quite a few Freudian theories, and leaves the amount of beer to use up to the reader.

The "radically new interpretation" of the story of Eden is nothing new. It has always been a central understanding of my religious background that we are human (and able to experience the joys and pains of being human) only because of what happened in Eden. How Kushner is able to suddenly stumble on this is beyond me (of course I don't have much experience with the Jewish faith).

Overall the book is well written and easily understandable. Chapters deal with forgiving family members, life partners, and ourselves. These chapters are backed up with personal stories (which are probably the book's strongest point).

So how good do we have to be? The answer is "pretty good" if you want to have a job, friends, and good family relations. This book offers no excuses for personal behavior (and repeatedly points out that we must be responsible for our actions). If you come from a guilt producing religion or are carrying a large amount of guilt for any reason, you may find the message in this book useful.

Self-help books have a (deserved) reputation of being both trite and loaded with psycho-babble.

This book is an exception. I liked the reinterpretation of Eve's act of eating and sharing the apple. It was an act of liberation for mankind, one of the bravest acts in human history - in fact, it made possible humanity *entering* history by finally giving us a choice of good and evil

It is perhaps the sincerity and simplicity of Kushner subsequent message that moved me: You don't have to be perfect to be loved, nor should you expect people you love to be perfect. You should love the whole person; not disregard their faults ("blind love"), but accept the person with their quirks and iconoclastic behavior.
Whenever I get angry with someone I love, I think about that, and my anger vanishes.

I bought a copy for my sister.

I was asked recently in my bible study group who I would most like to meet. It was an easy answer -- Harold Kushner. I struggled for many years (after a private Baptist school upbringing) to come to terms with my doubts about God, who was presented to me as a cruel, vengeful God. My struggle turned toward anger. After reading Rabbi Kushner's book, I felt as if a great weight were lifted from me. My soul just seemed to breathe a sigh of relief. God, as introduced by Rabbi Kushner, makes sense to me now. I have begun to see that God has simply been poorly represented by so many. This book gave me (a hard sell if there ever was one) peace. I began to study the Bible with new eyes. I began to look at myself and others with greater compassion. This is a simple book -- with life altering implications. Buy this book. Read this book. Share this book with others. (Note: Kushner's other books are wonderful as well!)

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland is one of the most clever and entertaining books yet written. The author's use of language is extremely appealing to the younger readers. These young readers are attracted to this book because of the author's use of many songs. For instance the lullaby sung by the duchess to her child. The Mock Turtle also sang to Alice and the Gryphon a song about the Lobster Quadrille. The author also uses poems that are entertaining and fun to listen to. "You are Old Father William" is one of the many poems. Not only does the author use poems but she also uses commonly known poems and changes the words to fit the character saying them. For instance the Mad-Hatter sings Twinkle Twinkle Little Star in different words saying "Up above the world you fly, Like a tea-tray in the sky." If this isn't a unique way of writing I dont know what is. Another style of her writingthat is appealing is when she creates a picture, using words in a poem, about the poem. Yhis is used on page 37. The words in the book are nbot hard so the book can be enjoyable when it is being read, not stressful. The author brings animals to life which is an interesting style of writing. This is Lewis Carroll's style of writing. The main character in this book is a little girl with blonde hair named Alice. This child is full of fantasies and dreams, which is what the book is about. Alice is very curious and likes to know every little detail. She thinks she is very smart. For example, when Alice is listening to the Dormouse's story she asks questions like "What did they live on," and makes smart comments such as "They could'nt have done that you know, they'd have been ill." She is also a little bit bratty, especially to the Dormouse when she says: "Nobody asked your opinion." These characteristics pull together to make an interesting main character and to create a fabulous story. The theme of the story is sometimes you need to take a break out of every day life and dream of fantasize. This makes your life more interesting even if you dream about things that will never come true. Alice does this when she dreams about changing sizes and listening to talking animals. Dreaming doesn't hurt anyone except the people who don't do it. If nobody ever had dreams life would be extremely stressful and boring. The plot of the story is all about Alice trying to find the white rabbit, which of course is in her dream. Following the white rabbit takes ALice to interesting places, such as the Courtroom filled with animals, and the Duchess' house, along with meeting interestingpeople such as the Cheshire-Cat and the Queen. This amazing cat hes the ability to disappear whenever it wants to and it always smiles. In the end Alice finds the white rabbit and then wakes up from her dream. This is the plot of the story. The story is effective to the reader. This is so because after listening to such acreative dream and fantasy, it inspires people to take a little time out of the day and be creative and dream once in a while. All the parts of this five star story; the writer's style, the main character, the theme, and the plot; come together to create the overall effectiveness of the story. This is why I rated this book five stars.

I really like Alice in Wonderland and its sequel because it is so whimsical. The way Dodgson made fun of Alice so much makes one laugh until tears come pouring down. He based the character Alice, on his friend; a real life Alice. Throughout the book, he constantly makes references to her, or something related to her. For example, when a character asks her the exact day Alice replies May 4th. May 4th is the real life Alice's birthday. Alice walks through Wonderland, and she sees many strange things, but thinks otherwise. If you like poems, you will certainly like Alice in Wonderland and its sequel, for both books contain numerous poems. However, in the book Carroll takes the original poems and creates a parody out of them. Something interesting to know is that all the poems relate to the chapters. These are all minor details, but something to muse over. On the surface, Alice in Wonderland is a book where she meets weird creatures and walks away from them always feeling humiliated, as she thinks she is smarter than she really is. That is most of Alice in Wonderland.

Alice through the Looking Glass is similar to the prequel, yet glaringly different. The whole book revolves around a chess game, and so the character's actions correspond to moves on the chessboard. Alice joins in the game, starts out as a white pawn, and proceeds to move until she becomes a queen. At each square, she meets a new character, but in one chapter, characters from the previous book are in this one too. An important thing to know in this famous classic is that everything is backwards. It makes sense since Alice is on the other side of a mirror, yet she encounters difficulty sometimes in understanding this. But in the end, she manages to become a queen and to checkmate the red king. Both books are very enjoyable, and I strongly advocate both children and adults to read it. Enjoy!! Cheers!!!!! : )

When I was assigned Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass to read for my Victorian Literature class, I was excited. Even though I had heard Alice's Adventures in Wonderland referred to countless times throughout my youth, I had never read the story or seen the movie. I had never heard of Through the Looking Glass, but while reading, I realized that many people who think they are talking about AAIW are actually referring to TTLG. The two texts seem to be conflated in a way that makes them indistinguishable from each other. It is for this reason that I enjoyed reading this edition of the texts. There is only a page separating the two stories, which allows the reader to easily make the transition between them. This small separation also allows the reader to recognize the undeniable connection between the texts and to understand why many people combine them in their minds.
AAIW is about a young girl named Alice whose boring day with her sister is interrupted when a white rabbit runs by her saying, "Oh dear! Oh dear! I shall be too late!" Alice's curiosity is aroused, but surprisingly not to a great degree. This is the first hint to the reader that Alice is not an average child, as she seems to believe that a talking rabbit is quite normal. She does become intrigued, though, when the rabbit produces a clock from his pocket, so she follows it down its hole and enters a world of wonder. I loved the story from this point on. It is filled with such unbelievable creatures and situations, but Carroll's writing style made me want to believe in a world that could be filled with so much magic and splendor. There was never a dull moment in the story, and each page was filled with more excitement. I will offer a warning, though. This story is not for those who like a neatly packaged plotline. It is written in a somewhat discontinuous nature and seems to follow some sort of dream logic where there are no rules. However, I enjoyed the nonsensical pattern. Without it, a dimension of the story would be lost. It offers some insight into the mind of a young, adventurous, fearless girl, and Carroll seems to be challenging his readers to be more like Alice.
The second text in this book, TTLG, is again a story about Alice. In this adventure, Alice travels through a wondrous world on the other side of her looking glass. As in AAIW, Alice again encounters absurd creatures, such as live chess pieces and talking flowers. The land she travels through is an oversized chessboard, which gives this story a more structured plot than AAIW. The chess theme provides Alice with sense of what she must accomplish in the looking- glass world, and it provides the reader with a sense of direction throughout the story. Alice's goal is to become a chess queen, so the reader knows that when she becomes queen, the story will be over. However, just because the story has some structure does not mean that it is not just as wild and marvelous as its predecessor. I enjoyed all of the characters. They seem to have an endless supply of advice that people in the 21st century can still learn from. My favorite example is when the Red Queen says, "Now, here, you see, it takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place. If you want to get somewhere else, you must run at least twice as fast as that!" Maybe what Carroll is suggesting is that if we read more nonsensical, unbelievable stories like his, we won't be so afraid to be adventurous and fearless like Alice; so that the next time a white rabbit runs by us, we might just see where it leads us.

PROS: Bite size stories whet the appetite for more.
CONS: Not as enjoyable for those not familiar with the "Night's Dawn" trilogy (subtract a star).
BOTTOM LINE: A fun read for anyone; required reading for "Night's Dawn" readers.

A Second Chance At Eden is a well-done collection of short stories set in the universe of Hamilton's "Night's Dawn" trilogy (The Reality Dysfunction, The Neutronium Alchemist and The Naked God). This novel was released before the third book in the trilogy but could be read anywhere in the sequence.
I like the short story format for quick SciFi fixes and Hamilton does not disappoint. Each story holds your interest and further explores the rich tapestry created in the trilogy. Included are plot twists, action, mystery and a big handful of references back to the other three books. While some stories (Sonnie's Edge, the title story, Escape Route, Candy Buds, The Lives and Loves of Tiarella Rosa) were better than others (New Days Old Times, Deathday), all the stories were an enjoyable diversion.

"A Second Chance At Eden" is a short story collection by science fiction author Peter F Hamilton. All stories are set in the same universe as his acclaimed Night's Dawn trilogy (comprised of "The Reality Dysfunction", "The Neutronium Alchemist" and "The Naked God"). This collection fills in the period leading up to the first book in the trilogy and spans about 500 years. The stories describe the first uses of the affinity gene, the founding of the Edenist culture, and the discovery of the Laymill by Marcus Calvert (yes, the father of the trilogy's hero Joshua Calvert). The story "Escape Route" was included in the fifteenth edition of "The Year's Best Science Fiction" (ed. Gardner Dozois).

The collection as a whole is uneven in quality, but definitely interesting for fans of the trilogy.

I read "The Reality Dysfunction" and "The Neutronium Alchemist" last year. "The Naked God" is on my shelf but I wanted something lighter before I jumped into the 1000-page "Naked God." "A Second Chance at Eden" was a great way to refresh myself about key cultural and technological backgrounds of Hamilton's future-history.

All seven stories in this collection have intriguing premises and the timeline Hamilton provides gives you a great sense of continuity of societal development.

"Sonnie's Edge" has a slick, near-future, cyber-punk mentality and outlines the very beginnings of the "affinity bond" that plays such an important role in the Night's Dawn novels.

"Second Chance at Eden," by far the longest story in the book, describes life aboard the first Edenist habitat. The plot is a murder-mystery: how can there be an unsolved murder inside a conscious asteroid that sees all? Enough twists and turns to keep you guessing until the end.

"New Days Old Times" is centers on the political struggles that emerge when Govcentral tries to force colonists from different ethnic backgrounds to live together.

"Candy Buds" was probably my favorite story in the book. The mafia boss of the planet Tropicana takes in a young girl whose blind brother has the ability to create beautiful fantasies ingestible through edible neuronic symbionts. Despite his intentions, the relationship between the old man and the girl is quite touching, but there's always the undercurrent that not all is as it seems.

"Deathday" is a haunting tale set on a desolate planet where a forlorn widower hunts the chameleon-like xenoc beast that desecrated his wife's grave. The most depressing story in the book, but also very powerful.

"The Lives and Loves of Tiarella Rosa" recounts the tale of a fugitive terrorist who hides from the authorities when he is taken in by a family on an oceanic world. But who is taking advantage of whom?

"Escape Route" features Marcus Calvert, father of our hero Joshua from the Night's Dawn trilogy, as he discovers a derelict xenoc starship while looking for precious metals in an asteroid field. But he's not the only one after riches, as Marcus and his crew struggle against mercenaries with hidden agendas.

This collection is more than a supplement to Hamilton's saga. It's a wonderful way to flesh-out the universe of the Night's Dawn and to gain a deeper appreciation of Peter F. Hamilton's impressive imagination.

Simply-told though filled with dark implications, this lean-but-lyrical gem is as strong as vintage Hemingway. In this posthumously-published novel, Papa explores the many manifestations of desire as it excites, inspires, nurtures & drives us mad--often all at once. Set in the 1920's on the Cote d'Azur, it chronicles the honeymoon of David Bourne, a writer, & his lovely, impulsive wife Catherine. As her strange compulsions take her on a slide toward either freedom or insanity, David struggles to follow her and still practice his chosen craft. Soon after another woman enters their relationship, the struggle becomes one for control of David's art through his love for both Catherine & Marita, the newcomer. This is a love-triangle with three complete sides (as they pair & repair), and how each of these characters chooses to resolve their struggle belies the more prurient aspects of the book: this is less erotica than a story of how the dark & bright sides of desire inform lives, how they empower & weaken us, and how love may not be enough--even 'true' love. As entertaining as any romance, though much more provocative, this book is a masterpiece (despite the controversy surrounding it).

I became a writer largely out of love and admiration for Ernest Hemingway. Old Man and the Sea is his best in my opinion, but this one is my favorite. So much of Hemingway's work is loosely autobiographical, so many protagonists modeled after himself. But in his earlier works, when he gets to the deepest parts of these men, he pulls back, or shies away with emotional distance or some other kind of evasion. There is no such evasion in the Garden of Eden. This book is his most vulnerable, tender and humbling portrait of so many of the central struggles of his life.

It is difficult to separate Hemingway the man from Hemingway the writer and for that matter Hemingway the character in his own writing. He encouraged them to be confused in his own way during his life and was a major contributor to the blossoming of our current culture of celebrity obsession. So it's not invalid in my opinion to read his work as part of the greater story of his life and find meaning in it from that perspective.

In this book, Hemingway finally takes on some of the painful issues of his life. There's a great deal of sexual intrigue in The Garden of Eden, specifically about gender and identity. David and Catherine, the two main characters, do some fascinating and disturbing play with their genders and their relationship with each other as a man and a woman. A lot of people have theorized that one of the contributing factors to Hemingway's suicide had to do with his conflicted sexuality which he hid for most of his life. As a child he was raised as a girl until the age of four or five by his mother who had wanted a daughter. Aside from that, there was a history of cross dressing in his family, which also tragically played out in a subsequent generation with Hemingway's son Gregory AKA Gloria.

We see him delve into one of the great traumas of his writing life -- when his wife (was is Pauline or Hadley?) lost an entire suitcase full of his writing including all the carbon copies, in the middle to early part of his career. This incident is replayed in this novel and dealt with on a much deeper level than is mentioned in a Moveable Feast.

We are also able to see in The Garden of Eden a more complex heroine and a more fragile and intertwined relationship than is presented in any of Hemingway's other works. This again is another major issue of Hem's life story -- why was he married 5 times? what were these relationships like and what was it about him and each of the women that contributed to this? Though The Garden doesn't give any answers, it is fascinating to see the questions touched upon and explored in a more honest and vulnerable way than in his other work.

It is true that this novel is disturbing. I wouldn't describe reading it as a feel-good experience. But after a while, feel-good experiences become a little one note and this is something more interesting. There is an exquisite kind of mourning and desolation that runs through this book, and yet at the same time some of his most voluptuous writing about food and sex and his surroundings. The tension is breathtaking, yet at the same time heartwrenching as you can almost feel it all becoming too much for him.

I love this book. It is in my top ten of all time. And I know almost everyone would disagree with me, but I think this book is more than worth reading. It's a precious final window into the soul of one of the greatest writers of our time.

ps. A caveat: Read a couple other Hemingway novels before you read this one, if you haven't.

...I saw The Garden of Eden in our bookshelf, and thought, hmm..haven't heard about this one before, and started to read it. It instantly attraced me, the way Hemingway describes the beautiful surroundings, the Côte d'Azur, but what caught me the most was the quite special and daring story. We follow newlywed writer David Bourne and his rich wife Catherine on their honeymoon on the riviera. Cathrine has alot in common with Brett in The Sun Also. She is very seductive and sensual, and maybe a little out of balance. One day she brings with her Marita, another young woman they both start to pursue. The Garden of Eden is a journey trough sexuality, insanity, self realization. It's a must read for every Hemingway fan!

Now I definitely need to read more of Carl Sagan's books. This one is not very recent (he speaks of a new video game called "Pong"), but full of thought-provoking and interesting concepts concerning intelligence and evolution. I was pleasantly surprised to see that he had a chapter pertaining to dreamstates. ("Tales of Dim Eden") Also pertaining to Eden, he illustrates how the Genesis story of Man and his Fall can in some senses really be accurate, not (pseudo)scientifically (as in Creationism...obviously it is a book on evolution and phylogeny) but as a metaphor for several characteristics of the human races emerging onto the present scene of a civilisation stemmed from the frontal lobes. Which in the big picture has been very recent, to show this he condenses the life of the cosmos to a scale Cosmic Calendar of 365 days. Us Earthlings almost miss the New Year's party. Neurologically, the areas of the brain are explored and their respective functions as well as connections to mammallian and reptilian ancestors. (A triune model is used) Finally, he briefly touches on our search for extraterrestrial intelligence and, very appropriately to this setting, exposes the West's lack of appreciation for scientific knowledge the world which we inhabit and our irrational attraction to superstition and bogus claims of occult psuedo-science... something I just had to include somewhere in here.

Carl Sagan really does a great job of going step by step, through the brain, explaining the processes, and giving a clear understanding to the reader of how we can see the evolution of our brains from those of lowly worms, to fish, reptiles, mammals, and eventually us.

We are living proof of evolution. Carl Sagan is great at teaching us that. He is funny and interesting, makes his points clearly and concisely. He was (and continues to be) one of the greatest, most skilled popularizers of science ever, period. You'll laugh, you'll think, you'll talk about it with your friends. You will NOT be bored.

Reading this book really made me feel at one with science and myself -- the strange organic computer in my head which is my brain. I was overwhelmed. Even though this book was written over 20 years ago, Mr. Sagan speculates on theories that even now are being confirmed -- such as that structures inside the brain are responsible for spiritual or religious experiences or ecstasy. I knew it was true when I read it because I experienced this ecstasy while reading the book -- and it sure wasn't God pushing the buttons! Get this book!

On a last note, I also read Broca's Brain by Carl Sagan. It was a little more outdated and not quite as interesting. Much of the topic material is the same. You don't, therefore, need to read them both. Just get Dragons of Eden.

This is a book that should be read by all psychologists, psychiatrists, explorers of Artificial Intelligence or basically just anyone with an interest in what human intelligence is. If there is one thing that research in AI has taught us, it is that we really don't understand what intelligence is. The scientific credentials of Carl Sagan are impeccable, as he is one of the premier astronomers of this century. However, in this book he engages in speculation about the organization and structure of the human brain. In doing so, he also demonstrates that he himself is possessor of a brain of the first magnitude.
The title is derived from his thesis that the innate mammalian fear of reptiles is a genetic endowment left over from a titanic battle. Independent of the reasons, mammals emerged victorious, at least temporarily, in the evolutionary struggle for dominance. The remnants of that struggle live on in our myths and subconscious fears. Sagan's recounting and descriptions of those fears have major ramifications for the development of artificial intelligence. Our brains are constructed of several sections, all of which are overlays of a core that could rightly be considered reptilian. It would appear from this that the construction of an artificial intelligence should begin with a simple core followed by the continued construction of advanced overlays.
One of Sagan's major fields of effort was exobiology, the informed speculation about life and intelligence in places other than Earth. At this time, it is still a theoretical field, but that does not mean that it is not based on hard science. The speculations that he engages in in this book are also based on hard science, and an honest reading will force you to reconsider the construction of the human brain. Our primitive pieces occasionally rise to dominance, perhaps showing us what those mighty reptiles were really like.
Sagan is no longer with us, and his presence is sorely missed. However, he has left one of the most compelling legacies that will continue to enhance the human perspective for a long time. This book is a major contribution to that legacy and it is a book that everyone should read.

I bought this book at the suggestion of the manager of the local bookstore to keep me occupied during an unwanted month-long trip to Poland. I normally don't read Star Trek novels, because Paramount doesn't recognize them as canon. That means that they never happened. They're basically authorized fan fiction. In fact, this is the first Star Trek novel that I've read all the way through. It's actually pretty good. In fact, I read so much of it at a time that I had nothing to do to relieve my boredom for the rest of the vacation. It's written by William Shatner. Who better to write a Captain Kirk story than James T. Kirk himself? This story is Kirk in his own words. It takes place between the end of "Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country" and Kirk's apparent death in the opening scenes of "Star Trek: Generations". Kirk joins a young woman on a journey to save her homeworld and, perhaps, recapture his youth and be young forever. Sure, we know that he won't be young again. Sure, we know that he'll survive the events of the novel. It's still fun and exciting to read, though. Don't let "Star Trek V: The Final Frontier" fool you. Shatner can write. The only complaints that I have are a few typos and Shatner's writing style. He often omits the word "and" in compound sentences, and he often uses incomplete sentences lacking subjects. He also writes a lot of the characters' thoughts into the narrative itself, which is supposed to be neutral. It's as if the narrator knows what the characters are thinking and agrees with them. Other than these things, which you can get used to, it's a good book. Shatner even references events in numerous TOS episodes and all of the TOS movies except for "Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home" (which really didn't need to be referenced anyway). The story is bookended with scenes of Spock, standing over Kirk's grave on Veridian III, thinking about his late friend. Some historical notes are contradicted, such as when phasers were invented ("Enterprise") and the time period of Cochrane's first warp flight ("Star Trek: First Contact"), by later canon material, but the main story itself can still fit into the canon. The ending sets up Shatner's next Star Trek novel, "The Return". Overall, "The Ashes of Eden" is a good story and worth your time to read. It IS James T. Kirk.

Starting with this book, Willam Shatner has proven how much he knows about and truly loves Star Trek and its characters. Along with the help of the Reeves-Stevens (They also deserve a high salute as well), Shatner adds some much needed depth to the cheap "death" of Kirk in Star Trek: Generations. He also takes care of some hanging continuity threads from the past movies as well. Gosh! Is it more than satisfying or what to finally see the resolution and evolution of some key questions and themes! The interesting thing here, while reading this, is that word has it Shatner proposed this story for the next Star Trek film. 6 was a great way to go out, but if they would have come back for one more, this would have been it. This story would have merited it, and I gurantee you everyone would have been leaving that theater with tears in their eyes and their fist in the air in victory. All sorts of juicy details are touched upon, including how and why The Genesis Project failed and more about David Marcus's death and everything else. I, too, had a little bit of a struggle seeing the young Teilani go after Kirk. I realize he IS Kirk, but come one, he is 60 years old now. (This is rectified in the following books in the series when Kirk is in the 24th century and Teilani is more his age) Whatever reputation Shatner may have, there is one thing no one should dispute: He knows and loves Star Trek like the back of his hand. It's too bad; as awesome as his books in this series have been, I wish he and Nimoy would take over the reign of control over the Star Trek franchise. I would DIE to see the saga Shatner had portrayed in these books on the big screen. For me, his books are what the movies used to be. Star Trek has become so cheapened, watered down, and politically correct, that when I finally ran across these books, I finally had REAL Star Trek again. Not some soap opera like what it has become. Go ahead: Compare these books to anything Star Trek in the past several years. The difference will make you weep. Here is the difference between love and the almighty dollar.

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, William Shatner has written what I would proclaim as a piece of fine science fiction and Star Trek literature. The story begins with a great mysterious/emotional awe as it opens with Spock at the grave of his fallen friend James T. Kirk. Then, the story sky rockets as Mr. Spock recalls their last adventure in the final days of the beloved James Kirks life! The story starts with Kirk reliving a simulation on Tycho VI where he lost his girl friend and relives a challenging moment with arch-villian Androwar Drake. In the end Kirk awakes from a simulation and drags on his last day virtually hopeless until a new young lady enters his life. A half Romulan/Klingon hybrid she leads Kirk and virtually gives a desperate Kirk hungary for a last piece of action hope. Kirk's friends think he is crazy but Kirk does not listen. Instead he gets involved with the young women and leaves Starfleet to aide her in defense of her planet Chal. This young woman named Telani gives him the Enterprise after Kirk learns his arch-enemy Androwar Drake becomes the CiC of the Fleet and plans to blow the ship to dust. So, Kirk returns with the Enterprise and old friends Scott to the planet! But that is one half. Meanwhile Checkov and Uhura go on a mission to find out Klingon's are selling weapons of mass destruction. While there both Checkov and Uhura run into a rogue agent of Star Fleet Intell and get ditched and left to die until Captain Sulu rescues them. Then the crew goes to the new CiC and the old gang along with Spock and McCoy are assigned to hunt down Kirk! Well, in the end the two sides meet in epic battle that only the reader will have to find out! Shatner blows the fans away with a great book! Long life James T. Kirk!

I read this book back in November (2002) and was quit surprised when Oprah picked this masterpiece as the book that brought her club back... Even without Oprah's backing this is probably one of the GREATEST books I've ever read. You can't put the thing DOWN!

In this story, which is loosly based on the book of Genesis insident between two brothers at war(Cain & Able), John Steinbeck gives a brutal examination of almost every nook and kranny of human nature: sex, love, betrayal, hypocrisy, greed, jealuosy, etc... and successfully weaves these elements into a heart wrenching tear-jerking story you'll always remember.

This book is one of Steinbeck's most powerful novels since the Grapes of Wrath, and it's realism is POWERFUL enough to invoke a number of EMOTIONS in all of it readers. Buy it. You can't go wrong.

How wonderful that, through Oprah's discovery of it, so many readers will immerse themselves in this rich novel! I've loved it since my freshman year of college (I spent a weekend devouring it after seeing the James Dean film.) I live in Northern California now, and Steinbeck's description of the Salinas Valley in spring rings true to me each year. EAST OF EDEN is the Cain and Abel story (note how the names of Cathy, Abra and the Trasks start with C or A), but it's also the realization that through that story, we have been granted freedom of choice, for good or ill. And it is Steinbeck's own story; the Hamiltons were his mother's family, and how I loved getting acquainted with them. I very much appreciate Lee, who subtly represents the multifaceted history of the Chinese people in this area. There is US history, from the Civil War to WWI, and the settling of California. And there is, ultimately, the triumph of love over the evil of shame and doubt. The defining moment falls in the exact center of the book: Steinbeck was a master storyteller, and I am ever grateful he shared this one with us.

I first read this book 38 years ago and the characters in this book remain as vivid as the California landscape that Steinbeck masterfully details. Who can forget Cathy's innocent-faced evil, Adam Trask's flawed goodness, Lee's dual identity as undeucated coolie in public and intellectual in private, Cal's pain at being rejected by his father, Kate's murderous duplicity or Samuel's strength in friendship? The dry foothills of California's Salinas Valley, the rough side of Salinas (the town where Steinbeck grew up), Monterey, even San Francisco's Chinatown are lovingly detailed in this portrait of the California of Steinbeck's early years. Members of the Steinbeck family including John make cameo appearances in the book, although a reader would need to have that fact pointed out. Curiously Steinbeck allows no motivation for Cathy's (Kate's) evil- she appears to be simply bad seed, whereas Caleb's greatest sins are seen as understandable reaction to Adam's failings as a father. But is Caleb doomed to evil? As Adam says on his dathbed, "Timshel", "Thou mayest" triumph over evil.