The Year of the Badger is the touching story of how a family brought up an orphaned badger. The badger, Nikki, is such a sweet , adorable little thing in the beginning, and as she grows up she becomes more cunning and mischievous. She's so cute, it makes me want to have a pet badger myself. She is constantly getting into trouble and causing humorous situations. After a while, her natural instincts take over and it becomes evident that she needs to be set free. I don't want to give away the whole book, so read it yourself.

Reverent but not gooey, with a strong, simple text and very attractive illustrations, this is the sort of book I've been trying to find for years. Now I've got it for my kids and will probably start stocking up soon for my godson's birthday and all the other religious gift giving occasions --Easter, Christmas, baptisms, etc.-- that are coming down the road.

I read this book for the first time in my early teens, and twenty years later I am still coming back to it. With every read there is more recognition, truth and beauty to discover. There are so many more facets to the story than I suspected during the first read. Although the book lifts off slowly and some later chapters are decidedly difficult at a first confrontation with the subject matter, I recommend this book with all my heart to anyone even remotely interested in the esoteric sciences.

All things happen for a reason and it was no mistake that a virtual stranger passed this book on to me after a brief conversation. It marked a special place in my spiritual journey. I didn't read it as fiction because it felt like "home" to me, that in a previous existence, I had walked that path. The familiarity was unquestionable. I'm an artist and I created a painting entitled "STEP INTO ETERNITY" to honor that experience. I recently recommended this book to someone and was happy to see that Amazon could provide it. It's been 17 years since I received that gift and it's impression still stays strong with me. May those who are drawn to it be so inspired on their own journey.

I just happened to go to a psychic and she told me that my spirit guides told me I should read this book. My spirit guide said that it would explain all the questions I have ever had about god, where I came from, and my past lives. And boy did it ever. The book goes in to great detail about birth, life, death, reincarnation, zodiacs, and so much more. I recommend it to anyone who is confused about god, religion or their spiritual well being. The content of this book will explain everything. I read every word in two days and accepted it as truth, not fiction.

I first saw and heard Elisabeth Kubler-Ross on public tv in the mid 70's; I was fascinated with her and with her work from that first introduction. This writing of her life was a must read for me personally and I was engrossed from cover to cover. Though I was a little surprised to read about her involvement with channelers (something I personally can't accept), her writing about it as part of her own life was not a turnoff to me. She has a very good point, as she says many times in her book, that we should be open to all things and not rule out happenings as being within the realm of possibility. When EKR speaks or writes about death and dying the listener/reader does not feel great sadness. She was granted the gift of passing on to others an understanding of death as a natural and very important part of living, to be dealt with with dignity and compassion. With this book, as with everything I've ever read or heard by her, EKR has helped me to understand just a little more about how to live life to the fullest. This world is better by far for having been influenced by her wisdom.

I have just finished reading her book, Wheel Of Life, and recommend it highly. It is her autobiography in which she pulls no punches as per her beliefs and recounts her life of service to the dying. It is written with simplicity, passion, humanitarian concern and Love.

A significant portion of "Wheel of Life" does deal with near death experiences, out of body experiences, after death communications and messages from Jesus. But the truly remarkable aspect of the book are not these fantastic, sensational paranormal accounts, rather what shines brightest is the measure of unconditional Love she has shown to the suffering throughout her life. Her long record of helping terminally ill patients cope and grow in death through unconditional Love and significant self sacriifice gives those paranormal claims a degree of crediblity that otherwise might not exist.

Every morning as I sit savoring my strong, black coffee, I think of Dr. Ross' lesson of Love.

Kubler-Ross is a role model to be looked upon for faith, courage and love, and the greatest of her gifts is love. In the footsteps of her mentor Dr. Albert Schweitzer she vowed to live and give her life for those less fortunate then herself. In her memoirs she give us an account of her life from her years has living her childhood as a triplet and not having an identity to her years as a young woman finding her identity and her golden years lived out with the same force, determination and courage as in her youth. She never deterred from her goals and focused herself beyond what life and circumstances were sent her way. She could have stopped in mid-stream, saying that she had done enough for humanity but at the age of 63, after many disasters, went to Virginia to set up a home for children dying of AIDS. She met with much disapproval but managed to get beyond the dissent of the people and found foster homes for these children. Since 1972, I have been interested in the issues of death and dying and Elisabeth Kubler-Ross has confirmed many of my ideas and beliefs. Thank you Elisabeth for taking a stand and making this world a better place.

When I first started teaching an undergraduate course in Death & Dying in 1972, I could correctly assume that every student had already read Kubler-Ross. Now, they've never heard of her, which is a pity. Despite the total lack of evidence to support her five-stage paradigm, she did us all a favor by pulling the shroud off of the topic. She was the first popular writer to deal with feelings of the dying patient. Her book, which cost $1.95 back then, was hot stuff. She actually talked to terminally ill people and didn't beat around the bush. Now we've got any number of pop psychologists applying her five -stage theory to all sorts of things she never even thought of: grief, marriage problems, alcohol treatment, you name it. I tell my students that the staging theory has been around for 32 years now. If it is going to have any experimental support, perhaps it might have emerged by now. The fact is that people are much more complex than any five stages can account for, and people can hold more than one emotion at a time. I've heard Kubler-Ross herself say this many times. But, we can remember five ideas, so there you have it. If she'd proposed a 16-stage hierarchy, she would have never gotten big. At any rate, there are no real scientists in thanatology that now credit her much at all any more, but for historical purposes this is still a valuable book.

"On Death and Dying" is an excellent resource book for someone who has or is about to lose someone close to them. As a counsellor I have counselled many individuals through grief and while each family/individual is unique, the patterns are generally the same. The book deals with the five stages that accompany grief: 1)Denial and isolation, that is shutting yourself off from family and friends, social or work related activities and refusing to accept the reality of what has happened. 2)Anger, "the why did this have to happen to me" stage and the need to blame. 3)Bargaining, for example, if I could just have this person back, I would not do this, or I would do that. 5)Depression, the feeling there is no reason to go on and a sense of being constantly overwhelmed, often feeling loss of control over their life. 5)Acceptance, of the way things really are and choosing to live the best possible life you can, anyway.

While these stages can be applied to death under any circumstance, I found the book primarily revolved around the terminally ill as opposed to someone who has died suddenly without prior warning. However, it is important to remember that even though death may not be anticipated at a particular moment in time, most of us go through the same stages of grief regardless of whether or not the death is anticipated or unanticipated. The book will NOT lessen the grief, but the words found here may help readers to understand the grieving process and that grieving is a natural life process, even though it feels very un-natural, confusing and totally devastating at the time.

Elisabeth Kübler-Ross's book, 'On Death and Dying', is one of the classic works in the field, still used to educate and inform medical, counseling, and pastoral professionals since its original publication in the 1960s. Kübler-Ross did extensive research in the field by actually talking to those in the process of dying, something that had hitherto been considered taboo and an unthinkable, uncaring thing to do. Kübler-Ross asked for volunteers, and never pressured people to do or say anything they didn't want to. One of her unexpected discoveries was that the medical professionals were more reluctant to participate than were the patients, who quite often felt gratitude and relief at being able to be heard.

Kübler-Ross also spoke to families, and followed people through their ailments, sometimes to recovery, but most often to their death. She let the people guide her in her research: 'We do not always state explicitly [to the patient] that the patient is actually terminally ill. We attempt to elicit the patients' needs first, try to become aware of their strengths and weaknesses, and look for overt or hidden communications to determine how much a patient wants to face reality at a given moment.'

This caring approach was often an aggravation for Kübler-Ross and her staff, because they would know what the patient had been told but was not yet ready to face. Kübler-Ross recounts stories of attempts to deal with death in different ways; denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance -- in fact, the various stages of grief were first recognised in Kübler-Ross's research.

There are those who dislike the 'stages' theory of grief, but it is important to know (as the quote above indicates) that these are not set-in-stone processes, but rather dialectical and perichoretic in nature, ebbing and flowing like the tide, so that where a person was 'stage-wise' would vary from meeting to meeting.

Kübler-Ross explained her interest in this research by saying that 'if a whole nation, a whole society suffers from such a fear and denial of death, it has to use defenses which can only be destructive.' Her work is primarily geared to health-care providers, and provides verbatim transcripts of conversations with a wide range of people in different classes, races, family situations, education levels, and ages. The reader can then get a sense of how to better communicate with someone in a terminal situation.

'Early in my work with dying patients I observed the desperate need of the hospital staff to deny the existence of terminally ill patients on their ward. In another hospital I once spent hours looking for a patient capable to be interviewed, only to be told that there was no one fatally ill and able to talk. On my walk through the ward I saw an old man reading a paper with the headline "Old Soldiers Never Die". He looked seriously ill and I asked him if it did not scare him to 'read about that'. He looked at me with anger and disgust, telling me that I must be one of those physicians who can only care for a patient as long as he is well but when it comes to dying, then we all shy away from them. This was my man! I told him about my seminar on death and dying and my wish to interview someone in front the students in order to teach them not to shy away from these patients. He happily agreed to come, and gave us one of the most unforgettable interviews I have ever attended.'

She concludes with a chapter explaining the reactions of doctors, nurses, counsellors and chaplains, professionals who deal with the dying every day, on how the kinds of listening and care she outlines can change their work and lives as well. It is remarkable to see some of the transformations which take place among these people.

I have used the advice and insight given by this book in my own ministry, and heartily recommend it to everyone, regardless of medical or ministerial intent, for it can give guidance on how to deal with the deaths of friends or family members and, ultimately, our own death.

Death will never be a happy subject, but it needn't be a dark mystery devoid of meaning and guidance.

It's about time someone wrote young adult fiction that didn't put all of us teens into one category. I really enjoyed reading this book more than I expected. The characters I could most relate to where Blue and Jason. The only reason I didn't give this book a rating of 10 is because I didn't feel there was enough attention focused on them. I can't wait to find out what happens between them in the next book!

LOVE BYTES IS THE BEST BOOK EVER, I REALLY RECOMEND YOU TO READ IT. IT'S GREAT, THE STORY IS ABOUT A GROUP OF REAL CLOSE FRIENDS, WHO ARE SO COOL, THEY REMIND ME OF MY FRIENDS, WHEN YOU START THE BOOK YOU CAN'T BUT IT DOWN, YOU FEEL AS IF THE PEOPLE YOUR READING ABOUT ARE YOUR BESTEST FRIENDS. I CAN'T WAIT TO READ NUMBER TWO!!!!!!!!!!

This book was wonderful. It had friend life, love life and work life. It is such a good book that I read it 4 times! It was a book that will keep you reading past mid-night. Each chapter begins with an @Cafe members' web page. It is funny,and really cool.

I am engaged to be married to a wonderful Christian man. In this book Elliot gives many tips that have been helpful in shaping my love life. Not everything in the book was useful, but some of it still was. Even if you do not agree with all the suggestions in the book, you are sure to find some helpful and biblical insights.

Guys tend to shy away from Elizabeth Elliot. Shy away no longer. This book (and Passion and Purity) not only changed my view of this crazy phenomenon we call dating, it helped change my view of our amazing Creator. Life is much better because of EE's writings.

One of the two best books on relationships I have ever read (the other is "I Kissed Dating Goodbye," by Joshua Harris). I agree completely with the reviewer who said that many people do not abide by the standards Elliot sets up in this book and still have happy, healthy marriages. I'm one of them. That's because our God is forgiving and willing to help us work thorough our mistakes. But I wish I had had this book earlier so that some of those mistakes could perhaps have been avoided.

Even though I've made my own peace by now, my heart still hurts for all the people around me who chase after romantic relationships, thinking that they have to "have" a girlfriend or boyfriend in order to find their own personal worth. I see friends who are on their way to being strong Christians get sidetracked, willing to sacrifice everything they know and believe about God and themselves just for the sake of feeling good about one particular relationship. That never works, and then they have to start from scratch not only romantically, but in their relationship with God that they've betrayed. No wonder it hurts so much!

Stop before you start. Really seek God's will in ALL areas of your life. And if you struggle with romantic temptations like so many of us do, then give Elisabeth Elliot a chance. This book sure made me mad the first time I read it--I thought she was terribly closed-minded. But I was the one who wasn't willing to change for God. Focus on your love story with him before you worry about anyone else.

Wilson has written two books, and combined them into one called The Select. He combines a love story between two medical students with a thriller about a medical conspiracy. We spend the first half of the book reading about Tim and Quinn, the two medical students, and how each likes the other. Tim is hitting on her in a playful way hoping to gain her love. She is always thinking how she'd like to be with him, but she has her studies so won't act upon her feelings. Throughout this we get a little dose of the conspiracy, but nothing really happens. Finally, Tim and Quinn realize their love, and the book changes focus to the conspiracy. The only real aspect of Tim and Quinn's "happy time" love is sex in a nearby hotel mentioned for about half a page. Then comes the conspiracy where the two lovers are seperated from each others and we really get to meet the "bad" guys. None of the "bad" are really evil, they think what they are doing benefits mankind. These characters, from the Senator, to security guards are great. They are complex people doing what they think is right, even though they know they would be arrested for doing it. I would have like to have seen these characters, especially Dr. Alston, developed more. Instead we get a 'this is why I'm doing what I'm doing' speech so the reader has a basic understanding of Dr. Alston. I would have liked to have seen what made him believe that what he is doing is the right thing. Overall, this is not a bad book, it just could have been much better. If Wilson had developed Dr. Alston to the length he developed Tim and Quinn, Wilson would have a much better book

I came across a gem when I purchased this book at a thrift store. Wow!! What a medical thriller. This book keeps you on the edge of your seat. You never know where F. Paul Wilson will take you. This is a great book--a guaranteed suspense read.

The mere possibility of the events depicted in F. Paul Wilson's book 'The Select' makes one of the best, and scariest, books I have ever read. The book is written with knowledge that could only come from a man with first-hand experience in the medical profession. This novel is a page-turner from the beginning. It picks you up and sweeps you away, leaving you soaked long after you've finished. Wilson does not clog the pages with medical mumbo-jumbo that would leave the seasoned reader confused, but delights your senses with clever innuendoes and metaphors. This is a must-read for fans of medical thrillers.

Dr. Hanson, a leading classical scholar, provides an excellent examination of how warfare among the Greek city-states was conducted. He places particular emphasis on how the individual soldier fought. On the one hand, combat in the front line must have been awful; on the other hand, because the armies were made up of men who had known each other for years, unit cohesion must have been very high. While thoroughly researched, Hanson does not fall back on academic jargon, and his points are easily understood by the nonspecialist. As he demonstrates, the method of warfare, while often fatal to the soldiers, left property and noncombatants unharmed. Unfortunately, later in the wars between Athens and Sparta a more complete, and thus destructive manner of warfare developed. This is an excellent book for anyone interested either in classical Greece or the history of warfare.

Hanson writes a vivid, realistic description of the horror of hoplite combat. He gives the reader an in-depth armchairview of agrarian city-state warfare. There is much to be learned from this book about battle with edged weapons.

In the final chapter, however, when he tries to blame the horrors of modern total war on the psychology of the hoplite battle, he goes astray. As bloody and unpleasant as the hoplite battle was, it was really a system designed to limit non-combatant casualties. Only the soldiers on the chosen field of battle exposed themselves to injury while the city-states themselves suffered little behind their stout walls. Hoplite warfare was sort of like settling international disputes by means of a very bloody football game.

This all changed when Hoplite met Immortal in the Persian Wars. In addition to learning that the Immortals were misnamed, The Greeks learned total war from the East. In this war for survival as a civilization, the Greeks began to look on battle as more than bloody and sometimes fatal sport. The bloodbath that began at Marathon continued through Thermopylae, Salamis, and Plataea, and the Greeks began to understand warmaking in terms of total war. Hanson overlooks this Persian "contribution" to the Western way of warmaking.

This is my second time through the book and it is still an excellent read and provides an engrossing account of the orgins of how warfare in the Greek world was waged and its impact throughout history. On that note I must disagree with George Delke Sr. that the Greeks were not the inventors of this type of warfare and that the Assryians were good at it (if they were the Greeks wouldn't have slaughtered them as often as they did).

Dr. Hanson makes a thorough and thoughful analysis of the Greek hoplites and the way they fought. From the hoplight to the their commander no stone is left unturned. But while the main emphasis on the book itself is the hoplight and Greek warfare in general there is much more to it than just that. The Greek hoplights were not successful because of their bravery or for their numbers, the Assyrians were brave and they outnumbered the Greeks in all their battles, then why was it the hoplight armies were so successful against the Assyrians. It was because of their orginization and their training (this is why I disagreed with the previous reveiwer). This then is the underlying theme to the book, not the heroics of one man but the performance of the whole.

The Greek structure of warfare will go on to conquer almost the whole ancient world under the hands of men like Alexander the Great, Scipio Africanus, Julius Ceasar, and the other great Roman generals of the ancient world. But the traditions of Greek warfare would go on to influence the later nations of the European world and from there the whole of the Western World.

Using a plethora of sources from ancient authors, battles, archeology, and others the author has managed to write an excellent resource that is original, readable, enthralling, and most importantly is its credibility. This is a must have for any student of military history, both professional and layperson alike.

I first read this book in my early teens, before I'd ever done any real dating. I kept going back to it, both when someone of the opposite sex was interesting me, or when down about there being no one in the picture. She offers a lot of very practical sound advice as to how to go about dating in the right way. I also found it extremely valuable when I realized that I was single, out of college, and had NO prospects on the horizon. I was able to accept that I didn't need to worry about that. God would find me a spouse, so I didn't have to. And that's exactly what He did.

Some have suggested that her personal experience was too different from most people's to be applicable. To anyone with such a perspective, I would suggest that you are reading it all wrong! I don't think Elisabeth Elliot would suggest that everyone needs to have a Jim and Elisabeth duplication in their own lives before marrying. She offers principles that apply regardless of your personal circumstances.

A couple of very valuable highlights that stand out to me, years after getting married. Her chapter on "What can a kiss tell you?" was really right on. Physical communication is tempting, but actually, it shuts down the more important forms of communication for finding Mr. Right, and can actually give you a lot of regret.

I also valued the romance in Jim's perspective when he wrote to her, "I have you now unravished." He was grateful to look forward to the time when physical intimacy was right, and to leave something to look forward to! That is so completely romantic, and I think it is almost tragic that in today's society, that romance is almost unheard of. People take what isn't theirs don't relish the anticipation of getting it AT THE PROPER TIME. My husband and I went about it that way, and I found it very romantic, both the anticipation of the consumation of my marriage, as well as when that actually took place. I wouldn't have wanted to have cheated myself out of that beautiful memory!

Old fashioned? I suppose it is. Relevant and needed in this day and age? Absolutely. When you put your love life in God's hands, that is a safe place to leave it.

If you really want the lifetime mate that GOD HAS CHOSEN FOR YOU, then this is the book for you. Elisabeth Elliot effectively communicates the Biblical principle that if you do things God's way, and not the way our culture says to, then you can find the mate He has chosen for you. And then you can fulfill the plan God has for your lives. As Christians, why would you want it any other way? When I became a Christian, I realized that my choices so far had not been the best ones, and that a sovereign God can, and is willing, to do that for me. When I realized that God did have the perfect person for me, that I just had to wait on him, then to me dating others was a waste of my time. Why indulge my flesh kissing someone I have not plans to marry? I wouldn't want my husband to be kissing someone else before I met him, so why should I? I learned to depend on God during the uncertain, and sometimes lonely times until I married 5 years ago. Elisabeth Elliot gives you a practical roadmap to achieve this. This is one of the best books I have ever read. I have many other friends who depended on God, and not themselves, to provide a mate and are all happily married.

I first read this book when I was about 18 years old. I remember thinking that it was a great book, and having a general feeling of being encouraged by it. Then I put it on the shelf and forgot about it.
6 years later, I have found myself going through some hard times. The guy that I dearly love has moved away, and life just seems bleak. To further complicate it, our relationship had moved from friends, to more serious, then to a time of no communication at all, back into friends. It's been very, very hard on me. I've spent countless nights crying myself to sleep, trying to figure out God's will in this, and praying that the guy would come back. Trying to balance loving the guy unselfishly, while wanting him so badly. It was confusing to say the least.
Recently I saw this book on my shelf. I picked it up, intending to read a chapter or two. I read for hours. It was like every word was written just for me. I realized how far off the mark I was in putting God first in my life. I had wandered far away from what I wanted to be. This book brought that sharply to light. I felt that God was hitting me with a 2x4 saying "wake up, you need to learn some hard lessons."
In the course of re-reading it, I've cried, given things to God, struggled to honestly try to put God first, just to name a few things. This book is about love relationships, yes, but to me is it also about putting God first in one's life, no matter how difficult that may be. It is teaching me to love God with my entire being. I feel that it has completely changed my life for the better. I still am struggling, still crying, but I'm drawing closer to God, and realizing that He will never leave me. His Grace is sufficient for me... Thank you Elisabeth Elliot for writing this book, it is a God-send.