The 12 Stages of Healing presents a model of healing that allows the reader to be more "OK" with their own healing process. By learning to identify yourself in one of the 12 stages, you begin to see that what is going with you is not necessarily a "problem", but rather part of a larger process. The simple act of identifying the stage you're in and then doing the easy breathing exercise designed to get that particular rhythym flowing is often enough to move you into the next stage. I have seen over and over again the natural accuracy of Dr. Epstein's model: the moving from a sense of helplessness, to the reaching out(or sometimes blaming!), to the perceiving the stuck patterns in myself and on and on. Use this book as a daily guide to life's challenges.

Dr. Epstein has help thousands of people get a new perspective of health and healing. The 12 stages model provides ideas for a new journey in understanding the healing process without the usual judgement of symptoms as bad or wrong. The book has some very easy exercises at the end of each chapter that can help integrate awareness to the body with breath and attention. A great book for those looking for a the bigger picture of health (from the inside out)

This is the best book I've read on the subject. It is complete and gives the views of various scholars both Rasta and non-Rasta. I keep it as a resource and have read it 3 times.

Chanting Down Babylon is a welcomed addition to the growing literature on Rastafari. This reader sucessfully brings together most of the scholars studying Rastafari, as well as Rastafarians themselves, providing an important insight into Rastafari. The inclusion of articles addressing biblical hermeneutics as well as Rastafari theology begins to fill an important gap in Rastafari scholarship. A real treasure for those interested in learning about Rastafari for the first time, and for those who wish to expand their knowledge of this important religious movement.

The secret of this book's success is that it organizes and presents information already well-known to the cigar aficionado in a most appealing format. Publishers and editors of reference books would do well to see what the Landes have done in this most readable work.

Wonderful interviews with the Giants of the Cigar Industry, beautiful photos of Cigars, Boxes, Bands, Tobacco plants, roller's tables, etc. A comprehensive history and primer on the origins, journeys, and incarnations of the Smoke Tube. A great addition to any Cigar Smoker's table.

I picked this book up years ago and of the some 50 cookbooks I own, this is the one I keep coming back to. If you've ever been to the Big Easy and indulged in New Orleans cuisine, you will find this book scrumptious. The recipes are typical Creole and Cajun French and simple. Corrinne's biscuits are a delight! You'll feast in culinary delights if you master these recipes of the Master Chefs of Nawlins, darlin'. If you buy this book, buy a scale. Good luck and Bon Appetite!

After returning from New Orleans this past year, I found that this book allowed me to recreate some to the delicious temptations that I was able to indulge in during my stay. I found the recipes easy to understand, and utterly delicious!

"The story is one from the heart. A funny, sad, moving, sweeping triumph! Just a wonderful book." NEW YORK TIMES

This is a novel that is wonderfully moving. Nathaniel Lande's focus and feeling will open your eyes to what courage and life are all about. There are people and places that you will never forget. It is a page turner and beautifully written.

George Curzon was born in the Victorian era with an extremely privileged family background. This excellent biography relates the multiple rises / falls in his career - I enjoyed the book because of the insightful account of the timeless contradictions of Curzon's character; he was born to an aristocratic family, yet worked incredibly hard all his life; he inspired great loyalty amongst those who worked with him, but thoughtless offense to other senior political figures contributed to missed opportunities; hopelessly out-dated on issues such as women's rights and empire, his views on foreign policy issues were well ahead of his time. David Gilmour gives a great overview of a life which started at the time of the Great Exhibition and ended just before Britain's humiliations of the Gold Standard in the 1930s. People who enjoyed Titan (Rockefeller) may well enjoy this account of a flawed but dynamically positive man.

Lord Curzon was a major figure in British politics at the turn of the century. Immensely accomplished as well as ambitious, he served in several of the highest postions in government, including as Foreign Secretary and Viceroy of India. It is Gilmour's achievement that he manages to convey the complexities of the man, his overweening ambition, his insecurities and also, his tremendous drive to succeed. This a greatly detailed biography, but it is at the same time also very readable. It does not bog down in the minutiae of detail, and keeps a very articulately expressed story-line going. A book of immense interest to those keen on the politics and social and cultural history of that era.

In the earlier part of the 20th century, Jewish historian Gershom Scholem posited that Hekhalot and Merkavah mysticism - a mystical movement that arose in Rabbinic Judaism in the 2nd and 3rd centuries - was, in fact, a form of Jewish Gnosticism. Furthermore, Scholem proposed that this Jewish Gnosticism was also the mysticism that was practiced by the same orthodox rabbis that produced the Mishnah, Talmud, and Midrashim. Scholem's thesis has been debated ever since, and this is where Deutsch's book comes in to help clarify the relationship between Gnosticism and Hekhalot and Merkavah mysticism.

Despite some of the basic similarities (such as heavenly ascent) between Gnosticism and Hekhalot and Merkavah mysticism, there are also serious differences, such as the way that they understand the Hebrew Bible (Gnosticism denigrated it, while Hekhalot and Merkavah mystics held it in high regard). Deutsch points out that when Gnostic texts are analyzed and compared to Hekhalot and Merkavah texts, it is only a few of the Gnostic texts that really seem to have parallels to those in the Hekhalot and Merkavah corpus. And, those texts that do look related may be related because they were influenced by the Hekhalot and Merkavah texts, not the other way around.

How, then, are we to understand the relationship between Gnosticism and Hekhalot and Merkavah mysticism? Deutsch proposes that the best way to study these texts is to look at them from a comparative standpoint of how each group approached the sacred. It is only then that the similarities and differences will be revealed to a greater extent because, as Deutsch puts it, "only a framework can be constructed on the foundation of the available evidence." (p. 150)

Once someone reads a book like Joseph Dan's _The Ancient Jewish Mysticism_, I would recommend a book like this, which provides a detailed analysis of some of the debates within the field of Hekhalot and Merkavah mysticism. Deutsch pays attention to detail and argues his points persuasively. In the end, the evidence for Hekhalot and Merkavah mysticism being Jewish Gnosticism looks weak. But, although there was probably no unified Rabbinic Gnosticism, there probably were some Gnostic rabbis who helped to shape the movement that produced the Hekhalot and Merkavah mystical texts.

This book is a necessity for any serious religious scholar. It is the definitive text on the relationship between Merkabah Mysticism and Gnosticism. An important addition to religious knowledge

I was very pleased with this book. It is a good story and easy to visualize the characters. When you get to the end you really want to know what keeps happening in the main character's (Lilly) life. She has such a hard beginning and you want to see if her new road is good for her. Maybe there will be a followup book.

The Gospel Singer is a spicy novel about a young woman determined to rise to the top of the gospel music industry. She is seductive, yet naive. And while she uses other to carve her pathway to fame, she is also used by people who take advantage of her hunger to succeed. From small town to the big city, Lili maintains her lust for life and glory.

An edition to own of a great writer, second only to Melville in the American literary pantheon.

An edition to own. Here are the best samples of a great writer, second only to Melville in the American literary pantheon.

Nathaniel Harris is the author of numerous history and art books including The Easter Rising. He returns once again to the subject of Ireland in this lavishly illustrated authoritative text that vividly depicts not only the topography of this Atlantic island of mist and myth, but also its history and culture through the ages.

The Oxford educated Harris lives with his wife and son in Worcester, England.

Harris explains how Ireland's climate and culture have combined to create the distinctive Irish identity. From the island's past which includes Early Stone Age settlements to the coming of Christianity, and through numerous invasions and rebellions one sees the mold that has shaped contemporary Irish life. In the book's 224 pages, Harris examines the Celtic world, the age of monasticism, the Irish at war, the Ascendancy, Home Rule, the Easter Rising and partition, the life of the Traveller, farming, industry, sport and music. Readers will also learn about Irish art, the place of the church in Irish life, Georgian Dublin, the Big House, castles and strongholds, the Literary Revival, and James Joyce.

A chapter devoted to myth and magic explains the life and death of Cuchulainn from the cattle Raid of Cooley, one of the best known stories from the Ulster Cycle. Shown is the bronze statue of the mythic hero which now stands in the General Post Office in Dublin's O'Connell Street.

In Dublin's Fair City, the reader may enjoy a vicarious tour through the Georgian City with stops at Royal Kilmainham, now an art gallery; the library at Trinity College, home of the Book of Kells and which, along with the British library, receives a copy of every book published in the British Isles; and the James Gandon designed Custom House and Four Courts.

Celtic and Christian art in the form of incised stones, beehive huts, high crosses, chalices, torcs, brooches, and illuminated manuscripts fill the pages and provide insight into Ireland's cultural past and the unbroken continuity that extends to the present day.

Heritage of Ireland is skillfully written; Ireland is brought vividly to life on every page of this fascinating volume and is sure to make you want to hop on the next plane to Dublin to see for yourself.

Reviewed by Suzanne Barrett

Nathaniel Harris' Heritage Of Ireland celebrates Irish life and history, providing a lively review of the peoples and geography which have formed the Irish peoples. Vintage illustrations and modern photos accompany a fine colorful review.