This tour de force historical perspective of nature leads the reader into a provocative search for understanding the human role on Earth. Not for the narrow-minded and/or Jerry Falwell.

DON'T BUY THIS EXCELLENT LITTLE BOOK, UNLESS YOU WANT TO TAKE MORE CHARGE OF YOUR OWN LIFE. DR.SHEPHARD IS ALL FOR YOU DUMPING THE 'POOR LITTLE ME. I'M A VICTIM!' MENTALITY & GETTING TO GRIPS WITH WHAT YOU CAN DO TO HELP YOURSELF - WHICH IS MORE THAN YOU MIGHT THINK. ALONGSIDE ELLIS & BURNS, SHEPHARD SHOWS YOU HOW TO STOP KIDDING YOURSELF & TAKE ACTION! COME CLEAN WITH YOURSELF AND TAKE ACTION. HE SHOWS YOU HOW IN 18 EASY-TO-READ CHAPTERS. BUT FIRST THINGS FIRST - GET HOLD OF A COPY & START ASAP.

The only thing I didn't like about this book is the title, which for some reason screams snake oil salesman. The rest of the book however, is terrific.

Shepard touches on a number of topics where people might have certain "hang ups" or misconceptions about themselves. Examples include: secrets, rejection, sex, parents, alone and people with people and work.

Each topic is thoroughly covered by an easy to read chapter. The book does not use technical language and is targeted at the layman. Each chapter finishes with a number of provocative exercises. For example, the chapter entitled "Secrets" concludes with:

1. Think of the thoughts you are ashamed of right now. Write them down.

and question 4 asks the reader to tell a stranger these things.

The overall message of the book is about achieving balance in life. Although not explicitly stated, the underlying theme that Shepard preaches revolves around moderation in all things. There is no need to become distraught because one considers oneself "abnormal". More likely than not, this perceived abnormality is simply a figment of the imagination. For example, Shepard states that it is simply a fact that most men orgasm within 10 seconds to 3 minutes and most women do not orgasm at all.

Overall a great book for anyone suffering from the feeling that there is something "wrong" with them.

It is no doubt MLK's speeches are great and did alot
to shape American thinking. Unfortunately, I can only
play the first 2 CDs on my CD player. I have a friend
who has a CD player that can play all of them. Apparently
it has something to do with the index numbering on each
CD. Instead of each CD starting at 1 it starts where the previous CD left off. I wouldn't take a chance that this
product won't play in your CD player. I think it is very
unfortunate that I paid so much for the complete set of speeches
and I can't listen to most of it.
I WOULD WAIT UNTIL THE NEXT VERSION COMES OUT THAT CORRECTS THIS
FLAW.
It would have been also nice to have some text to accompany the
audio CDs.

An outstanding history of the Civil Rights movement through the most famous speeches of MLK. I particularly enjoyed his final speech which we hear words from but was full of inspiration and foresight as to what would become of America and its black citizens and their victory in the struggle for freedom.
A must for every buddding philosopher, peace activist and politician.

Reviewer: Mark Lamendola,... author of over 3500 articles.

Inspiring, informative, and soul-stirring, this tape brings to life the original recordings of Martin Luther King, Jr.

Having grown up in the era of the Vietnam war and civil rights demonstrations, I got this tape thinking it would help me remember some of the key issues of the time and compare them to where we are now.

What I was not expecting was the emotional and spiritual journey this tape took me on--it was a journey at a speed that made me look for my seat belt.

Let me interject a personal note here. I am not an African American. I am not black, but neither am I white. My family name is an "Americanized" version of a Sicilian name. While my family did not emerge from slavery on southern plantations, it did emerge from near slave conditions in Sicily. I would also like to note that Sicily was invaded by the African Moors, as is evident by the curly hair and nose structure of modern Sicilians--and by the fact we get sickle cell anemia (whites do not get this disease).

Italian-Americans, who make up 6% of the USA population also underwent an era of extreme prejudice and discrimination--as did African-Americans, who make up 13% of the American population.

Some people malign Dr. King as "that nigger who riled up all the niggers." Others said he was moving too fast. Others said he was asking for too much. And on and on. What these people fail to realize is Dr. King wasn't riling up anybody. He was not an agitator. He made a call to love. When you listen to his speeches, this all becomes very clear. I am not comparing King the Man to Christ the Lord, but to condemn his call to love does compare him to Christ and does condemn both King the man and Christ the Lord. To my mind, that is hypocritical and presumptuous.

In his speeches, Dr. King presented such concepts as:

*African-American slaves are not rightful property and never were. These people were kidnapped from their homes in the area of the Gold Coast.

*The Emancipation Proclamation of 1863 declared all men (grammatical convention makes the pronoun gender-neutral in this context) equal. Yet, 100 years later, American people of color had actually moved backwards in relation to "white people." King presented incontrovertible evidence of the nullification of the Emancipation Proclamation and the abandonment of law and order that allowed suppression and oppression of an entire race of people.

*The segregation movement was part of a "divide and conquer" strategy to keep poor whites--especially poor Southern whites in their place by creating an even lower class.

*As a unit, African-Americans have more wealth than most countries--including France!

*No violent uprising has ever succeeded, unless it had the support of the general population. African-Americans did not have, and could not possibly have, such support in the USA.

*A violent uprising by African-Americans could never come to any possible good. At the outset, it would increase fear and mistrust. The government would be duty-bound to squash it, and had the power to do so. Violent uprisers would have to defeat the local police, then the county police, then the state police, then the state militia, then the National Guard, then the US Armed Forces--not exactly the recipe for success.
But non-violent action could succeed. This is what Dr. King espoused.

Dr. King said two conditions existed:
1. Power without love--this characterized the white system .
2. Love without power--this characterized the black community.

His goal was to combine power with love--not for black people, but for the brotherhood of mankind. His vision was that people would be judged by their character, not by the color of their skin.

This tape concludes with an incredibly moving speech, given to an audience of 10,000 in Tennessee. ...

It was Dr. King's last speech, given the day before a killer stopped Dr. King's campaign of love and brotherhood by severing Dr. King's spine just below his chin.