There are many reasons for having this book but let me relate to you what only two chapters did for me:

Gradually I became stressed. I found it hard to concentrate on anything, even the things I once enjoyed -- Even watching a movie became a task. I was too tense to concentrate, which made it hard to remember anything. I avoided people because even talking became stressful. I became so tense at times that I had difficulty breathing.

Then I got this book.

The muscle relaxation exercise showed me that all of the above symptoms were due to tense muscles brought on by stress. Afterwards I felt wonderfully calm and at peace with the world.

Following the advice on meditation brought about a simultaneous supreme calmness and sharp-thinking alertness (My brainwaves had gone from high beta to alpha). Once, my concentration increased so dramatically after the meditation that I felt mentally invincible. Of course, the effect only lasted that night but I experienced a similar effect on repeating the mediation. It basically quietens your chattering mind, and reduces 'noise on the brain'.

The incessant chatter on the brain stops. No longer caught up in your thoughts, you are left more in the moment, and notice the world isn't all that complicated after all. Peace follows.

I can't _stress_ enough how vital this book is for conquering tension, stress, and emotional unrest.

Get it for yourself and feel much better.

Lessons for Living is a exceptionally well-written book offering simple, practical and usable suggestions for living a happier and more fulfilling life. The book has helped me personally, offering new perspectives on situations in my life that were troublesome. As a therapist, I often recommend Johnston's book to my clients and have used it as a text in several group therapy settings. Every single client has given positive feedback on how the book has helped them see problems in a new light as well as provide easy to follow exercises to aid them in making changes in their lives. The book's best feature is the many strategies for tackling long-standing habits that negatively impact our lives. I highly recommend Lessons for Living . . . for everyone.

The subtitle of this book gives the reader insight into the meat of Dan text. Dan gives simple solutions to life's complex problems. In a format that is designed for a daily thought or meditation the author gifts us with the paradox of the complexity of simplicity. His book is divided into three sections of lessons: remembering, coping, and growing. He invites his readers through the use of quotes, personal stories, metaphors, and illustrations to move toward health and wholeness. All perfectionist would be assisted by his illustration of being on auto-pilot and anyone in the helping profession would resonate with his story about mind storms. I would recommend this book to my clients, colleagues and Sunday school class members.

David C. Johnson
Pastoral Counselor

With so many books detailing the gore and carnage of the CW, it's refreshing to read about the bridges to humanity that were never destroyed. Dr. Dan deserves a lot of credit for compiling these moving anecdotes.

My Brother's Keeper by Dr. Daniel Rolph raises the standard by which Civil War history is recorded. We have many historical accounts of bravery and agression on the battlefield and while those accounts can stir the blood in positive ways, nothing has moved me more than Rolph's reports of merciful bravery in My Brother's Keeper. During these days of patriotic fervor and nationalism, it was inspiring to read about mercy being part of the warrior's spirit. Definately a must read and a "Keeper" for my library.

It doesn't matter if you have ancestors from the North or South, you will have a different feeling toward those who so gallantly fought and died for what they believed after reading "My Brothers Keeper." The book brings out the basic caring nature of man that can be seen in page after page of records written by those who were involved in hand to hand combat during the Civil War. A few tears were shed during the reading of this book, as I could imagine the emotions on both sides. Well worth the time to read.

My son came home from pre-school reciting bits of the book after just one reading and begging to order it for home. The illustrations are wonderful and the language is clever and fun. Now my son wants to write books of his own!

As a parent, I would add that if your child has concerns about nightmares, this book is a practical-but-fun story about how kids can control them.

Daniel & David Kamish have done it! My 6 year old and ten of his friends (holiday gift giving) own and love this book. The illustrations put a funny spin to awful kid nightmares, and who wouldn't give their right arm for a "magic pencil". We can't wait for these two to collaborate on another book!

Shows great imagination. Stimulating, great for kids of all ages

If Puhn's "How to make your car handle" is practical and straightforward then RCVD is marvellously comprehensive and thorough. Casually flipping through it you might be deterred by the intensity of some of the mathematical passages in this book but this is just the "textbook" side of things. The Millikens also give very clear explanations, diagrams and concise well-structured advice. My one gripe was that the index, while long enough, tends to hide information under unexpected headings, with successive indents snaking from page to page until you quite lose the thread of where you are in the suspension alphabet. Still, it is probably the best currently published work on suspension theory, leavened by some very funny quotations in the chapter headings.

Who better to publish a book about vehicle dynamics than the Society of Automotive Engineers? I was a bit sketchy about the price at first, but I probably would have spent five times as much buying all the different books it would take to get all the information in this one! It only took me a week or two to get it, even though it said something like 3 to 5 weeks. Anyway, highly recommended!

Tired of reading articles by so called 'experts' that have probably never driven a rae car in their lives and wouldn't know the difference between oversteer and understeer if it hit them in the face. This book has all the answers, and that's as simple as I can make it. It has all the math, all the theory, and some of the best stories I have ever read. Everything about this book extrudes excellence, go on and buy it, just don't show it to your friends.

What a delight to read "Radical Hospitality", written by a monk and a mom. Both worlds, that of the monastery and the family home, are primary places of hospitality. Lonni & Daniel weave their lives, stories and faith together into a durable and beautiful welcome rug, inviting all who dare step this way into a life of "radical hospitality". The title word "radical" may turn some away from this book due to connotations of rebellion and anarchy. Don't let it. "Radical" simply means "having to do with the root, the radix". Benedictine hospitality is truly radical, returning us to our roots, our true heart home in God the God who welcomes us as we are, where we are, who we are. Hospitality begins at home with God, and at home where we live, eat, sleep and love on a daily basis with others. Radical hospitality is the true balm to heal the wounds of nations, and bring peace. But will we live this way? For two other books that explore Benedictine hospitality in the home, look into THE FAMILY CLOISTER: BENEDICTINE WISDOM FOR THE HOME (Crossroad, 2000) and THE CHRISTIAN FAMILY TOOLBOX: 52 BENEDICTINE ACTIVITIES FOR THE HOME (Crossroad, 2001).

Just like Benedict himself, always challenging the individual to come to the heart of Christ, in the stranger. I used this book for lectio and the encounter with God and myself was an unbelievable experience. It challenged and reaffirmed my own identity as a lay person, who seeks to live the Benedictine way, to be more hospitable. In many cases this book will either root you more deeply in the heart of Jesus and open your life or uproot one from the rocky soil and plant them in the fertile soil. Either way this book causes the individual to seriously challenge and examine they way we all live our lives as hospitable people. It's not a flighty warm fuzzy book, but you don't get lost in monstastic terminology either. It is really practical in dealing with the lay person and reflecting on how we can live radical hospitality reflected by a monastic. Lonni and Fr. Dan does a great job!! Dominus vobiscum!

Several years ago Lonni was my instructor at a writer's conference. She was in the process of working on Benedict's Way with Father Homan. We asked her to read some of what they had written to us and she graciously agreed. You could have heard a pin drop in the room when she finished. This is the same sense I have from reading Radical Hospitality. The message is a simple one, make room for another person in your life and try to believe that doing it will make a cosmic difference. As I get older I'm learning that simple concepts are usually the most profound. The word is overused but this is a profound book. I have long enjoyed Mrs. Pratt's writing. Teamed with Father Homan she had gone from excellent to superb. It will be a shame if this book does not get the attention it merits from both readers and those who make books happen. My singular gripe is that the authors do little to focus on the basics of Christian hospitality as opposed to monastic hospitality. Considering their backgrounds though it is not surprising, nor, does it take away from the book.

My wife gave me this book because I was a deer hunter before I retired. I read the book and enjoyed it, although I had to look up a word now and then. This is a scholarly work. Some chapters are more readable than others. Herman certainly knows about the history of gun hunting, but I wish he had discussed the history of archery, which is how I hunted. Regardless, this book was a good addition to my library. The illustrations are great and the writing is accessible.

In Hunting And The American Imagination, Daniel Herman (assistant professor of history, Central Washington University) reveals that American hunting traditions are not based colonial or frontier cultures. In fact, the colonists and frontiersmen defined themselves as farmers and bringers of civilization to the wilds. Hunting was an integral part of frontier life, but was primarily viewed as a matter of subsistence rather than identity. It was in a post frontier era that the mythos of hunting was seized upon in the popular imagination and such democratic legends as those of Daniel Boone, Davy Crockett, Meriwether Lewis, and Native American cultures as the basis for America's sports hunters assuming a mantle of hunting oriented stewardships over the land and the wildlife. From John Smith to Theodore Roosevelt, what emerged in the 20th Century was a rich legacy of imagery and lore that gave rise to today's widely held, middle-class ideas about American hunting rights, privileges, and mores.

Herman is not so much interested in hunting itself as in ideas about hunting. He traces the path by which Americans--especially Theodore Roosevelt and others of the Progressive Era--came to think of themselves as a people who had been made great through hunting. Herman deftly draws on critical theory and on a vast repertoire of secondary literature yet he grounds his story (or, more properly, his series of stories) firmly in history rather than in literary criticism. The result is scholarship at its best.

The book has one important attribute: it's clear, undoubtedly. Having a minimum of prerequisites, I think there's no way to not understand what Prof. Cohen says through its pages. It makes the job of learning this part of theory easier than any other text.
But ... but I can't totally agree with Cohen's crusade against formalism. I agree that the first target of a book should be to clearly transmit the intended knowledge, and Cohen perfectly succeeds in this. But formalism too has its importance, thereafter. A compact and clear formalism helps to communicate efficiently, and moreover unambiguously. Like in mathematics, the first, important thing is to understand. Yet, there's no way for you to efficiently work with math without using any kind of formalism, should it be more or less "standard".
That's it: a very powerful book for a "profound" understanding of the subject; a bit more of natural formalism would make it a "complete" understanding also, and the book a five stars one.

I must say this is one of the best books I have ever read. The auther is humorous and insightful. He manages to take very abstract concepts and explain them in clear concrete terms and metaphors.

This is a great book. I read the first edition many years ago, and it too was great. Everything is explained in order, and explained well - it is very accessable, even to the casual reader interested in the topics presented. It was through this book that I was able to actually write software that demonstrated Kleene's Theorem, (RE=NFA=DFA) converting between Regular Expressions, NFA's and DFA's.

Unlike many textbooks, reading this one is actually FUN. By the time I was done, I felt that I understood everything that was presented. That's how good this text is.

// CHRIS (Darien, Connecticut)

Isabella Bird was an astounding woman. Adventurous, courageous and full of good humor, she traveled by horse through the Rocky Mountains when it was still virgin territory. Although she lived under difficult circumstances, especially during the winter months, and met a number of rough customers along the way, she never lost her nerve or her good nature. This is an excellent book to get a feel for Colorado in the late 19th Century and to admire a woman way ahead of her time.

A must for the reader who is searching for a first hand description of life in the Rocky's in the 1800's. It includes wonderful sketches by the author and great descriptions of characters and adventures in the untamed West. A great book for bedtime and rainy day reading.

This is a wonderful book to bring on your vacation to the Rockies. Miss Bird travels to what are now popular tourist destinations, only she does it before the convenience of a SUVs, Motels, or even plumbing. She meets overworked settlers, fascinating (and surprisingly polite) desperados, and English dandies. She revels in the mountain vistas, sunrises, sunsets and orange moonlight. Her many mile treks on horseback over frozen landscapes, alone in the wild west are an inspiration.

Being an architect already, I found that the book was an excellent introduction, even for me, to the various alternative building techniques emerging. It gave the author's honest opinion about many of the techniques, which was very appreciated. Don't expect it to be a precise how-to guide for any of the methods. It is an excellent overview, though, that can help you evaluate which building techniques you would like to explore further. The references at the end are vast and helpful.

However, I found that for a book about the "Natural House", it often suggested many un-green building materials (OSB, polypropylene bags). Sometimes their "ungreeness" was mentioned, sometimes not.

This book would go far in helping a person seriously considering alternative housing options. Numerous popular and reliable methods for homebuilding are described in detail. The reader is provided with a clear understanding of exactly what efforts, materials, costs and skills will be required.

In addition to these utilitarian functions, this is a spectacularly informative and enjoyable book. I am in no position to seriously consider housing of this sort but I read this book cover to cover and enjoyed it all. This is a fascinating and engaging topic and the author is a remarkably skilled writer. Recommended for any curious person.

If you're interested in building a natural home (cob, rammed earth, straw-bale, earthship, whatever), this is your primer. The author has done his homework and presents the description, pros/cons and pitfalls of each type of construction. He is very honest about just how "do-it-yourself" each type can be, and how much it will cost you. He also covers passive and active solar design, natural water capture and other alternative technologies to go with your natural home. This is an excellent overview on all these subjects.

The best thing about this book is that he refers you to other sources for more detail - books, videos, newsletters and organizations that will support you, give you a workshop or just give you more detailed information than belonged in this primer book.

I highly recommend this as the first book you read on the subject. Once you know which type of house you are interested in, you can pick up some of the other books he suggests on that building type.

The China-Burma-India theatre is the least-documented theatre of WW2. Here's a novel based on history, which educates you about that theatre and period without your even realising it.

The background that Dan Ford creates is impeccably accurate in almost every aspect -- the history, the military background, the technical detail, and the social and sociological environment. The characters ring true; right down to the way the pilots respond to bonus agreements, and the ground crew to the cornucopia of materiel that the Americans seem to bring in their wake, when they go to war. Against that authentically-reproduced backdrop, Daniel Ford tells a tale of young men from different environments, mainly American, but also British, Indian, Japanese, and New Zealander, flying and fighting and making love. Read this book, and give a thought to all those real-life men, who lived the real-life stories on which it's based. They really were a great generation. And this book is one they themselves would probably have enjoyed.

In any novel that's based on real events, it's a huge temptation to look for real people amongst the fictional characters. I suspect that Dan Ford had the famous Pappy Boyington in mind when he dreamed up the character of "Uncle Wiggly"--the hard-drinking, two-fisted pilot who lamed his knees in a landing accident at Rangoon. Likewise the sweet-natured squadron leader has got to be based on Bob Neale, who as a civilian was the high-scoring American fighter pilot in the spring of 1942. It's great fun picking these characters out of a story that pounds along like a novel by Jack Higgins.

Definately a five-star book. Anyone whose read Dan Ford's excellent history of the Flying Tigers will want to have this novel in his collection also. And anyone who hasn't, will find it the best possible introduction to the men of the American Volunteer Group--not to mention a Japanese air force pilot and some of the English and Burmese girls who populated Rangoon in the last days of the British Empire.

Mark Hallet in Denver

Dan Ford wrote an excellent non-fiction account of the American Volunteer Group, so he knows his subject. In "Remains," he draws from the colorful personalities of several real members to create his fictional characters--young mercenary fighter pilots who experience events that really did happen in the desperate days before the fall of Rangoon. "Remains" has a far more earthy quality than you'll find in any non-fiction work, making it a believable and highly enjoyable read.