Great Book! I totally enjoyed reading it. I have a small collection of books on money management. None have moved me to action such as this one. It was so easy to read. Everything was explained very well. What I also loved about this book was the endless resource Ms. Stephens gave. Her example of everyday people whom did well investing small amounts of money encouraged me tremendously. I founded myself running back to my budget trying to find more money to invest. She removed all my fears and doubt. I hated keeping a budget at first. I hated seeing in printed how much money I did not have. Now I love keeping my financial records. I gladly count my pennies because I know it is my beginning of a bright financial future! Thank you Brooke Stephens.

Brooke Stephens has written a book which is a presentfromheaven. I bought this book... some time ago; what asteal. Anyhow, I thought it was like the Suzie Orman's book, but once I started to read this book, I notice there was something different here. It was a simple day to day plan for personal growth as well as personal finance. The financial guide is not a get rich book but the book is for those of us who truly do not understand finance. BS book could also help the knowlegeable finance manager out there. I must tell you this, I have read only 100 pages and I already must say it is worth 10 stars. This book has drove me to pencil in notes in the margins. The booksellers have not given this book a top spot in their stores, and I must say, I wonder WHY. Good people, please, do not pass up this book if you are interested in making your finances better. Wow, enough said here, but do not forget to come back and check out my next review.

Personal Finance Books are no sure thing for riches, but this BOOK is not just good, but VERY GOOD !

We can all benefit from this very informative book! Whether we are 25 or 45, we need to take control of our finances and build a financial future that we can all be comfortable with! No more excuses for why we do not have enough money to start with; look at the examples of Anne Scheiber, Oseola McCarty and Gladys Holm, Donald Othmer, little known people who started with little and built a fortune, leaving it to help others.

Read this book and use the tools! Be frugal and reap the benefits!

By showing the amazing collection of the American Museum of Visionary Art, this book provokes the reader to re-think the distinctions our society draws between genius and madness. I've actually been to the Museum in Baltimore and am thrilled that this artwork is now available on a large scale. This book may not be for everyone, but those willing to expose themselves to its often disturbing imagery will be rewarded.

"The End is Near" makes you yearn for Divine inspiration regardless of its source or circumstance. The artwork is stunning, the artist bios are awe-inspiring and the essays are thought provoking, empowering and spiritually comforting. This is an amazing gift to give to others...but do yourself a favor and give it to yourself first. And then go out and pick up a paintbrush, a pencil, or a piece of coal and create. This book will make you realize that the best art you ever see could be just below the surface of your own consciousness.

The End Is Near brings together interesting essays and most unsual artists. The quality of the images and paintings displayed in this book make it a MUST for any art collector and connoisseur of fine books. Essayists in this book bring new meaning to the art depicted. Visionary art and Outsider Art come together in this book beautifully. WELL DONE...a "must have".

Eternal truths are presented here in an appealing manner -- it's hard to believe this book was first published in 1908. It's full of spiritual insight and raises one's consciousness. Provides the fundamentals for a fresh and joyful outlook upon life and living. As such, a successful attempt to articulate that which is often considered ineffable and unutterable, the illumination of spiritual forces accessible by everyone. Many thoughts are expressed in short poems and this adds a lot to the reading pleasure, e.g.: "...the waters know their own, and draw/the brooks that spring in yonder height/so flows the good with equal law/unto the soul of pure delight." Words of wisdom wonderfully written.

"In Tune With The Infinite: Fullness of Peace, Power and Plenty" is a book about the essence of the existence of mankind. And Mr. Ralph Waldo Trine couldn't be any more precise in explaining this when he said that, "The great central fact in human life, in your life and mine, is the coming into a conscious, vital realization of our oneness with this Infinite Life, and the opening of ourselves fully to this divine inflow". Based on some of Mr. Waldo's precepts, man is created to the image of the Infinite and by this grace begets the power to control his own dominion. We are ONE with It and therefore all connected to one another. For this reason, the cause and effects of our actions toward others will always reflect back. This book is soothing not only for the spirit and the soul but also for the body. Because of its profound ideas it may seem hard to read at first but as you begin to understand its words, it flows gently into one's mind. This book has helped me change my life. In tune with the Infinite. I highly recommend it to all readers.

Exciting, powerful - Henry Ford attributed his success to the inspiration he received from this book. Notes and highlighting are prolific in my dog-eared copy. The author addresses: What is God?(16), What is Thought?(24), What is the unseen side of life? (28), God is guiding me.(83), We can perform miracles now.(118), Send out your thought.(137), Don't surrender your individuality. (121), Building castles in the air. (26), Study the nature of thought.(24), etc. This classic was a best-seller when first printed in 1908 and continues on today in its timeless fashion. "There is a golden thread," Trine writes, "that runs through every religion in the world."

Over and over as I read Stephen Scalese's book The Whisper in Your Heart, I found myself saying "This is it! This is the answer I have been searching for." I knew I had allowed logic to dominate my life and needed to find my way back to more balance. I had a nagging sense that the answers were within, believing we had been divinely given personal tools to wholeness. How to get there though had eluded me. I am so excited about The Whisper In Your Heart. Scalese has a talent not only for writing with clarity, but also for communicating the peace and wisdom of this most profound subject. I hold this book to be one of the most valuable in my library. It is an essential guide for living abundantly in every area of one's life.

STOP! LISTEN! Our life-walk need not be alone! Stephen Scalese has been blessed with an experience that will change the lives of those of us who employ the principles he has discovered and has shared within the pages of this book. By spending a few minutes a day in a receptive, peaceful mode, your answers to life struggles will become clearer and your life path less thorny. Why not LISTEN TO THE WHISPER WITHIN YOUR HEART?

There is a quote - I'm not sure who said it - that the longest journey man will ever take lies in the distance between his head and his heart. Stephen G. Scalese's book, The Whisper in Your Heart, will significantly reduce the length of that particular journey for all who read it and apply its simple principles. I started my own journey some 10 years ago, and have been working fairly diligently at it ever since. First was a search for meaning in life - "Is this all there is?" Then came a spiritual awakening, that there was something larger than me at work in my life. Then came a search for simplicity and balance. Finally came the realization that wholeness is what we all seek, and that all life's answers have already been provided for and are already within us - we have only to carry them out. If we can find them, that is. Especially with all the distractions our lifestyle and culture can throw in our path. Scalese's book is a clear short-cut to tuning in your frequency to the channel that carries your answers within you - how I wish I had found it 10 years ago. After reading the first two chapters, tears of joy welled up inside me at the overwhelming sense of truth these words carry. It reminds me of a song by A Ragamuffin Band, "My Heart Already Knows," one line of which goes, "You know my head ain't even close to what my heart already knows." Read this book to learn what's already in your heart!

This is a superb guide to world building, firmly grounded in physics yet pushing the envelope of imagination. It contains a number of fascinating ideas which I'm sure will add richness to my SF writing, and at the same time provides lots of useful equations for working out the details. The chapter on planets which might bear life "not as we know it" is the most fascinating, though far too short. However, my one complaint is about that chapter. Gillett is repeatedly too quick to assume that the absence of fire and uncorroded metals would trap an alien race in the Stone Age forever. An imaginative writer could surely think of other routes to technology. Overall, though, a splendid book and an invaluable resource for the hard-SF writer.

This is probably the best and only book that clearly states the current understanding of stars and formation/evolution of planets around them, in plain speech. The information is as extensive as it is scientifically accurate which is a great plus for an aspiring fiction writer who does not want to look over the countless pages of an Encyclopaedia Formulae on astrophysics. Besides the numerous formulas one needs to create a (scientifically) cohesive world, Gillett also gives many tidbits from the fiction writing over the course of time, allowing you to become familiar with the possibilities of several future technologies/discoveries. Also included are several studies of fictuous odd-ball worlds ( one is an ocean world filled with sulfuric acid). This book will likely be useful to the writer as well as the explorer within everyone.

Required reading if you're an aspiring SF Writer. This book provides the basic information needed to design an "authentic" planet that is scientifically consistant. Most of the equations are in sidebars so they can be easily located and entered in a spreadsheet making it easy to try out a variety of scenarios for your planet and its environment. The author has packed lots of information in a small book.

If you find this book useful you will also find "Energies: An Illustrated Guide to the Biosphere and Civilization" (available from Amazon) equally thought provoking and just as useful. While World-Building takes a look at planets in general it does focus on Earthlike planets in particular. Energies takes a wide-ranging look at Earth itself(its biomass, climate, animals and technology) with extensive charts, graphs and equations and fills in some areas where World-Building is thin. The books complement each other amazingly well. In addition, both list other references and resources for additional research.

Despite the criticisms levelled at Trollope for his "authorial intrusions" (see Henry James for example) this novel is always a pleasure to read. The characters take precedence over the plot, as in any Trollopian fiction and this is what makes a novel like BARCHESTER more palatable to the modern reader, as compared to any of Dickens's. Some readers may find the ecclesiastical terms confusing at first but with a little help (see the Penguin introduction for example), all becomes clear. What is important, however, is the interaction between the all-too-human characters and in this novel there are plenty of situations to keep you, the reader, amused.

Do yourself a favour and take a trip back into Nineteenth century where technology is just a blink in everyone's eye. What you will discover, however, is that human beings have not really changed, just the conventions have.

I rushed home every day after work to read a little more of this Trollope comedy. The book starts out with the death of a bishop during a change in political power. The new bishop is a puppet to his wife Mrs. Proudie and her protégé Mr. Slope. Along the way we meet outrageous clergymen, a seductive invalid from Italy, and a whole host of delightfully ridiculous characters. Trollope has designed most of these characters to be "over the top". I kept wondering what a film version starring the Monty Python characters would look like. He wrote an equivalent of a soap opera, only it doesn't take place at the "hospital", it takes place with the bishops. Some of the characters you love, some of the characters you hate, and then there are those you love to hate. Trollope speaks to the reader throughout the novel using the mimetic voice, so we feel like we are at a cocktail party and these 19th century characters are our friends (or at least the people we're avoiding at the party!). The themes and characters are timeless. The book deals with power, especially power struggles between the sexes. We encounter greed, love, desperation, seductive sirens, and generosity. Like many books of this time period however, the modern reader has to give it a chance. No one is murdered on the first page, and it takes quite a few chapters for the action to pick up. But pick up it does by page 70, and accelerates into a raucously funny novel from there. Although I didn't read the Warden, I didn't feel lost and I'm curious to read the rest of this series after finishing this book. Enjoy!

"Barchester Towers" has proven to be the most popular novel Anthony Trollope ever wrote-despite the fact that most critics would rank higher his later work such as "The Last Chronicle of Barset","He Knew He Was Right" and "The Way We Live Now".While containing much satire those great novels are very powerful and disturbing, and have little of the genial good humor that pervades "Barchester Towers".Indeed after "Barchester Towers",Trollope would never write anything so funny again-as if comedy was something to be eschewed.That is too bad,because the book along with its predecessor "The Warden" are the closest a Victorian novelist ever came to approximating Jane Austen."Barchester Towers" presents many unforgettable characters caught in a storm of religious controversy,political and social power struggles and romantic and sexual imbroglios.All of this done with a light but deft hand that blends realism,idealism and some irresistible comedy.It has one of the greatest endings in all of literature-a long,elaborate party at a country manor(which transpires for about a hundred pages)where all of the plot's threads are inwoven and all of the character's intrigues come to fruition."Barchester Towers" has none of the faults common to Trollope's later works -(such as repetiveness)it is enjoyable from beginning to end.Henry James(one of our best novelists,but not one of our best critics) believed that Trollope peaked with "The Warden"and that the subsequent work showed a falling off as well as proof that Trollope was no more than a second rate Thackeray.For the last fifty years critics have been trying to undo the damage that was done to Trollope's critical reputation."Barchester Towers"proves not only to be a first rate novel but probably the most humorous Victorian novel ever written.

My son has enjoyed this book from 2 months of age, and still loves it at 7 months! "Cow Moo Me" depicts different animals and some of their funny behaviors with beautiful illistrations and a simple rhyme. It's the one book we take wherever we go!

My wife borrowed this book from the library, since my son loves books. Cow moo me was an instant hit. When I ask him to pick a book from a pile, he chooses cow moo me. The artwork is simple and vibrant and the text is rhythmic. I plan on buying this book for our collection.

This book cracks my 10 month old son up like no other book! The rhythmic words and funny faces of the animals in the illustrations really make him laugh out loud - and he wants me to read it over and over.

This is Nietzsche's first, and in some ways the best, philosophy book. Prior to Human All-Too Human, he penned The Birth of Tragedy and Untimely Meditations. But it is only in this book that Nietzsche comes into his own as a philosopher. The book was written soon after his retirement from teaching, due to ill health, and Nietzsche suffered a lot from physical pain, while writing the book, having to take hashish to relieve it. The book contains opinions on almost everything under the Sun. Although it is clearly broken down into distinct chapters, the thoughts within chapters are not arranged systematically. This is intentional and represents Nietzsche mistrust of grand theorizing and excessively systematic thinking. He retained this aphoristic writing style till the last days of his productive life. Thus in his approach, Nietzsche anticipates both existentialism and post-modernism. He views life personally, passionately, and with distrust to grand system(narrative) building. Thoughts slither through the labyrinth of human life, revealing strartling insights and forcing us to reconsider received opinions and conventional wisdoms.

By Nietzsche's standards, the perspectives presented in the book are fairly measured, and the author's voice is not nearly as shrill as it would become ten years later, in his last books. Because Nietzsche settles at a high level of generalization, some opinions do sound narrow-minded and prejudiced. In this, Nietzsche was also a victim of his time and culture: his comments on women and "the youthful Jew of the stock exchange" are not intellectuals gems, to put it very mildly. Some of his other opinions, on marriage, for example, also strike me as strange. Overall, this is a book by an all-too-human philosopher, yet it is a path-breaking work, a precursor to existentialism and post-modernism, written in a style that can appeal to the reader sheerly as good literature.

In this book, actually an anthology of three books, Nietzsche anticipates and comments upon social, cultural, political and psychological issues most of which are still current and troubling. A central theme is the human tendency to look for comfort, stability, and easy answers. He seemed to foresee that this tendency would become even more maladaptive as the pace of change increased, than it was in his own time. He offers an analysis of its causes, and a treatment, in the form of a relentless series of verbal shock-treatments, delivered in one-half to one page essays. The reader is constantly stimulated to take another look at issues that he thought he had settled.

Another issue for Nietzsche is the examination of the appropriate roles for science and art in human development. Anticipating contemporary thinking,he proposes that the brain has two competing/complementary functions. One, whose main product is science, brings an immediate sense of power to be able to understand what was not understood before, and what is not understood by many others. As an after-effect, however, it brings a sense of despair and depression, that previously-held illusions have been destroyed. The other half of the brain, the artistic sense, which he also calls the will to falsehood (not in a negative sense)presents possibilities, creative syntheses, or holistic images.

For Nietszche,human evolution proceeds by each individual maximizing the potential of each part of his brain, constantly generating new creative ideas, and then subjecting them to relentless analysis and criticism. This is the method Nietszche himself uses. He warns, however, that it requires incredible energy and strength to constantly be aware of and examine one's basic assumptions. Many who try will fall, (as Nietszche himself did) but, anticipating Darwin, he describes a process whereby the strongest, those most capable of enduring physical and psychological adversity, are the ones who survive and pass on the benefits of their growth.

Read this book if you are feeling depressed, read it if you are feeling strong, read it if you are feeling bored, read it if you are feeling overstressed, read it if you want a really good time, read it one page per day, read it all at once, read it in your own way, but my recommendation is READ IT.

This book is good for all of those who have read other of Nietzsche's works, as well as those who wish to start reading him. Nietzsche's ideas behind the concept of free spirits talk about an intellectual elitism which is only to be understood by those who have lived it. A book trully for free spirits, but recommendable for everyone who wishes to reach such a status, or become knowledgeable on Nietzsches ideology.

Most of the ideas on this book prevail up to his latest works, unlike previous essays which are later diminished by Nietzsche himslef. If you like this book read "The day Nietzsche Wept", if you liked that one, read this one. Let us face the truth: Nietzsche is a great thinker, specially for his time.

In difficult times we like to turn to books, especially to novels. But it would be a mistake to think that only light and syrupy stories bring us relief. On the contrary, we need the company of authors who, thanks to their perceptiveness and creative vigor, describe the world as it is, without false embellishment. We sense that these writers are able to face the worst of all possible worlds because they keep alive in themselves the promise of peace and goodness. For this reason we are moved by their vision.

Vizinczey's Innocent Millionaire brings us such a subtle solace. The novel is an enthralling roller-coaster of fortunes and passions, full of striking dialogues. It even manages to say something new about the birth of love. Marianne, the heroine of an ultimately tragic love affair, is one of the most lovable woman I have ever encountered in fiction, surpassing even the desirable and generous ladies of the author's previous masterpiece In Praise of Older Women. But this is a very different novel. Here the author weaves a tragic love relationship into the story of a fraud, showing how small and ridiculous are all those stupid and greedy people who make our life miserable or dull. If you are satisfied with the world as it is and approve its values, you will scorn this book. But for the dissatisfied reader, it is a rare treat and a unique source of comfort.

Every once in a great while- if you are lucky- you enounter a book or a writer so special that you cannot help but buttonhole everyone you meet in an effort to share the good news with them. Thanks to the miracles of cyberspace, I can now buttonhole strangers all over the world and let them know via this forum what a wonderful writer Stephen Vizinczey is and how I feel it has enriched my life. An Innocent Millionaire is not just Vizinzcey's best novel it is, at least in my opinion, the greatest novel of the 20th century. I re- read it regularly and find new depths of meaning and insight in it each time. Also, like a missionary, I do my best to get others to read it as well. In the little over four years since I discovered the novel myself, I have bought at least one additional copy of the book every month to pass along to someone I feel would appreciate it. Again, like a missionary, I cannot claim to have had a 100% success rate. But I have found no one who merely "likes" the book; the ones who enjoy itlove it passionately and, as I, begin anxiously seeking out Vizinczey's other works. The novel certainly had that sort of almost intoxicating effect on me; after I first finished AIM I became desperate to get a copy of Truth and Lies in Literature. In those pre- Amazon days, my local distributor couldn't get a copy and jokingly suggested I try driving to the University of Chicago and try my luck there. With only the slightest hesitation, I did in fact make that five hour drive for that book and never regretted it. Vizinczey's work is so special and so mentally invigorating that it is easily worth such effort. Though Iunhesitatingly call, An Innocent Millionaire Vizinczey's greatest work, Truth and Lies in Literature is another favorite of mine. It is a collection of marvelous essays about literature.What a feast! . And, at the time in my life when I read this book, I desparately needed such an injection of passion. I was an undergraduate literature major . And, at the time in my life when I read this book, I desparately needed such an injection of passion. I was an undergraduate literature major and my teachers were doing an outstanding job only of sucking all the pleasure out of every book we read- making me forget why literature had ever mattered to me. But his essays helped refresh my memory- and it is another title I regularly re read. I really do not know how to say this but I truly feel as if I have learned quite a bit about the world from Vizinczey'swork and for that I shall always be profoundly grateful.

On the advice of a good bookseller, of the kind that has now practically disappeared, I read An Innocent Millionaire quite some time ago. Through that novel I discovered Stephen Vizinczey. The quality of the book inevitably led me to read all his other work, including his essays, which are models of clairvoyance.

I acquired the habit of reading some decades ago, and that habit not only taught me to distinguish the good literature from the bad, but also to appreciate it as a source of knowledge, rather than only of entertainment.

The novel that I am referring to is a veritable fountain of knowledge. It is ideal for those who do not know the USA (or the world), and even more so for those Americans who wish to comprehend their country. Although the future of a work of art is not predictable, this may well be one of those novels that, in a hundred years, will be read to learn of a culture and of a civilization.

But I am not writing these lines to praise An Innocent Millionaire. Its caliber has already been recognized by people such as Graham Greene and Anthony Burgess. And the critics have unanimously (or almost) rated it as one of the books of the century.

I am writing to identify a significant error that I have found in some critiques. In many of these, the book has been categorized as an "adventure novel." Due to the current understanding of the meaning of the word "adventure" this is totally misleading.

The first (and perhaps the best ever) adventure novel from the Western Hemisphere, from which all subsequent novels originated, was Adventures of the Ingenious Knight Don Quixote de la Mancha (1605), by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra. The fact is that the word "adventure", from Latin adventurus or advenire, simply meant 'things about to happen'. Today, unfortunately, it is associated with the leaps and bounds of James Bond or Indiana Jones.

I do not believe that there is a single novel (including those written in the past tense) in which there are not 'things about to happen'. Even the epic poems of Homer could be considered adventure novels. Especially The Odyssey, a work that was transformed, in the cinematographic version with Kirk Douglas, into what is today considered an "adventure".

I condemn those critiques that lightly pigeonhole works of art. An Innocent Millionaire is a book full of ideas and concepts, with brilliant dialogues that are not only meant to sustain actions. Perhaps this is the reason that MGM is taking so long to make the film. If the novel is not well understood, there is a distinct risk of transforming a contemporary epic poem written in prose (I prefer this classification for An Innocent Millionaire), into a banal adventure.

Pablo Urbanyi

I got this book before going to live in Germany for 3+ years to get a feel for the country, for the language. The lack of giving this 5-stars isn't so much for the translation of poetry (since I could only order a ziegersnitzel, book a zimmerfrei, and little else en deutsche), but simply that the writing hasn't drawn me back into it time and time again like the bilingual translation I have of Octavio Paz. Whether it's the poetry from the poet or the poetry from the translater, I'm not sure. With that said, there is some brilliant poetry here and Steven Mitchell being a poet himself puts it down faithfully with regard for the poet's voice. I wasn't under the impression that German could be a poetic language, but after being exposed to it and reading this book I'm moved to change my opinion. Here's some of the better lines: True singing is a different breath, about nothing. A gust inside the God. A wind. And the beauty of bilingual editions gives us Rilke's words as well: In Wahrheit singen, ist ein andrer Hauch. Ein Hauch um nichts. Ein Wehn im Gott. Ein Wind.

I bought this book along time ago, but it has remained on my shelf untouched until tonight because I knew that Rilke wrote in German and that I would be reading a translation which I thought my detract from the power and original intention of the poetry. But I decided to open it tonight out of curiosity after reading a few of the letters from Letters to a Young Poet and Rilke immediately became my favorite poet. Even when I don't understand what he is saying his poems carry an immediacy and a power which bring me close to tears. I have not read any other translations of his work so I am not qualified to comment on the quality of this translation, but if you like poetry I would definately suggest getting your hands on some Rilke!

"You are not my favorite poet. That implies comparison. You are poetry itself." in a letter from Marina Tseteyeva to Rilke.

Since I do not speak German, I can speak neither to the accuracy of translation nor interpretation (realizing that they are separate concepts). But I can tell you that this keeps me coming back for more (so much so I have 2 copies, plus a hardback, which differs slightly in content). It's the sort of book that if I loan it, I'm astonished to get it back. And don't really mind.

Mitchell has included in his notes excerpts from diaries and letters which I otherwise would never have had the joy of knowing, nor insght into not only the heart of the poet, but the heart of God as well.

Mitchell also has the integrity to refrain from attempting to translate some works which, I believe, he would have otherwise loved to share. His rationale, from the intro to the "Notes" section, follows:
"Translating poems into equivalent formal patterns is to some extent a matter of luck, or grace, and this is especially true of rhymed poems. Rilke called rhyme "a goddess of secret and ancient coincidences" and said that "she is very capricious; one cannot summon or foresee her; she comes as happiness comes, hands filled with the achievement that is already in flower." Some of my favorite poems never got beyond a rough draft, because that sweet goddess refused to make even the briefest appearance."

This poetry is a love letter to life, no matter what an acedemic might say about the relative merits of the translation/ interpretation. Reading Rilke, I understand why Jung (I think it was Jung) said, "Everywhere I go, I find the poet is there before me." (or words to that effect) Enjoy.