Das Energi by Paul Williams lives on my bookshelf between Richard Bach's Illusions and Hugh Prather's Notes to Myself. I got this book as a gift when I was in my twenties, and it changed my whole view of the world. Since then, I have given multiple copies to other people as gifts.

Paul Williams wrote Das Energi originally in the early '70's as a series of journal notes. The collection of thoughts soon developed an underground following for its insight, challenge to the dominant paradigms of truth, and breezy me-decade prose. Beauty, God, fear, truth, money, good, evil--these are just some of the topics dealt with in this browsable amalgamation of brief paragraphs and good humor.

Paraphrasing one thought from the book: you don't grow just from getting up and getting another beer from the refrigerator; you grow when you do things you don't know if you can do. This particular thought stuck with me and has come back to inspire me to face what is difficult from time to time.

Definitely worth your time...one of the few books that I keep in my permanent collection!

I received a copy of this book almost 10 years ago, when I was in a very dark time of my life. This book provided a moment of clarity to me that has continued to progress to this day. Long before Oprah and discovering your spirit, Paul Williams helped me to find mine. Thank you Mr. Williams!

There are two books I regard as the absolute cream of "hippie spirituality"; this is one, and the other is Stephen Gaskin's _This Season's People_. This one is something like a hippie _Tao Te Ching_, and (as another reviewer has noted) its focus is on the energy that some traditions call "ch'i".

Paul Williams originally published this book in 1973 and it became an underground classic in pretty short order. Its title is intended to parallel Marx's _Das Kapital_; Williams's essential thesis is that just as capital replaced land in modern economies, so "energy" will replace capital. (I'm putting the word "energy" in quotation marks so that it won't be misunderstood as having something to do with, say, solar heating or wind electric power generation.)

Readers with a background in economics may find Williams unconvincing on this point if they don't see what he's really driving at.

For example, at one point he declares roundly that money and property are obsolete concepts. What he really means is that we're on the verge of transcending these concepts _as_ the concepts on which the economy is founded. But he doesn't mean we just won't use money or property any more, or that we'll do away with the concepts altogether; after all, we didn't just stop using land when we started using "capital," did we?

The real, underlying point is that money and property can't be shared in the way that ideas and energy can be. If I give you some of my physical/material property, I have less myself; but if I share an idea with you, then we _both_ have it. (Which is, by the way, a powerful argument against legally enforceable patents, as distinguished from copyrights and other sorts of intellectual property.) Similarly, if I share my "energy" with you, I don't become less conscious or receive less of what I need; just the opposite.

For Williams, the spiritual laws governing "energy" are the true foundation on which the human economy is really based. Williams states these spiritual laws and fleshes out the book with lots of spiritual advice of the hippie-wisdom variety; you can look at the book's sample pages to get an idea of where Williams is coming from in this regard.

Again, Williams's essential thesis is that the role of these laws in the spiritual economy is about to become clear. Writing in 1973, he was convinced that a sea change in human consciousness was just around the corner and we were about to take the next step in planetary evolution.

Was he wrong? I don't think so, but this isn't the place for an extended discussion of the point. Suffice it to say here that the growth of the Internet and the recent development of intellectual property law, prosaic though these phenomena may seem to some, are also an indication that the economy is moving in exactly the direction Williams describes in this book.

At any rate, this book is a modern spiritual classic, a masterpiece of "hippie spirituality," and a good exposition of perennial philosophy. It also, but less obviously, belongs to a sort of "underground libertarian" tradition that predates the '60s: the "energy" in this book is the same "energy" Isabel Paterson was writing about in _The God of the Machine_.

Williams's approach to spirituality also goes well with Mary Ruwart's _Healing Our World_, a book I strongly recommend to any libertarian hippies (and anyone else) who may be reading this review.

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."

This book helped me learn how to apply magnets to my body, what to expect, and how to communicate this knowledge to my neurologist. After suffering from a spinal cord injury and a cervical fusion the remainder of my discs were collapsing and I was suffering from horrible headaches and muscle spasms. Neurologists said I needed more operations and would end-up in a wheelchair if I didn't have them. Now, my doctor cannot believe the change and either can I. This book is VERY easy to understand and was hard for me to put down. I have recommended it to several people with disabilities of all sorts. We all know there is no magic wand. However, Dr Lawrence has relayed all the important information about the benefits and also misconceptions of magnet therapy. This book has helped me find a way to live with a problem I've had since a car accident in 1991. Get the facts so you dont waste your money on the many different magnetic devices on the market. Be an informed consumer and be pain free. I look forward to more of his writings on this topic.

Dr. Lawrence, Dr. Rosch, and Ms. Plowden do an excellent job of summarizing recent findings on how magnets are being used by medical and other professionals around the world to help people with chronic health problems of all kinds -- without the negative side effects commonly associated with drugs and surgery. In lay person language this book tells you where and how to use health-grade magnet products for best results with problems ranging from back discomfort, to joint stiffness, to attention and sleep disorders and more. It also discusses how magnets were used in health care for more than 4 thousand years and why we are returning to their use after almost 80 years of using drugs and surgery as alternatives. Health-grade magnets changed my life so much that I changed careers so I can share them with others. This book points out that contemporary medical professionals were not trained in the use of magnets for health, so few have any awareness of their use. If you or someone you love has a chronic health problem, get and read this book then try health-grade magnets for yourself!

An excellent book on magnetics, easy to read and understand. I was introduced to magnetic health products by a friend and have never felt better in my life. Sleeping on a magnetic mattress has convinced me of the power of magnets in health and wellness. I have a 10 year old springer spaniel with hip displaysia who also sleeps on magnets, she is an entirely new dog, more energetic and with less discomfort. After reading this book I can now comfortably talk magnets with my friends and family and highly recommend their use for a better quality of life.

All I can say is Thankyou Steve Anderson.After years of having to flip all the images and reverse all the words, Steves book presents a wonderfully, clear picture of the golf swing.Two of my friends who are right handed also got the book and have improved dramatically.My only complaint is that they're playing better than me now and are winning all the bets!

Having read many golf books I feel qualified to comment. Steve's book breaks the full swing and short game down into manageable and understandable pieces. The pictures in the book make the instruction more understandable. My scores have definitely improved by implementing the instruction techniques contained in On the Other Hand.

Being a Ft. Myers resident, I was able to watch Steve's weekly appearances on our local TV. The way he answered viewers' questions about the golf swing, quickly made me realize that he knew his stuff. When I read an article telling that Steve had written a book, I couldn't reserve my copy fast enough. ON THE OTHER HAND is a classic. It's well-written and explains the sometimes complex action of swinging a golf club better than any other book I've read. I rate it 5 stars!

For a book written in the early 1990's, much of what Mr. Diaz has to say about evaluating the different manufacturers & models still applies. Being in the market for a folding boat, I've found this book very helpful. Although I think the author is little too zealous about the virtues of folding boats vs. the hard shells. If you're looking for a boat about whitewater kayaking or river boating, skip this one. The focus is on sea kayaks. Does this mean that folding boats aren't suitable for the river? Couldn't tell you after reading this book.

The author, Ralph Diaz, has for a number of years published a slim but tremendously valuable newletter for folding kayak enthusiasts, and this book is essentially the information collected by Ralph and his readers over the years, updated, corrected and expanded, together with new information collected for the book. The result is a unique and absolutely invaluable reference volume for owners (and prospective owners) of folding kayaks. Ralph is no dillitante how-to author; he's a fanatic evangelical for folders, knows everyone in the business, and has helped countless people to select the kayak that's best for them. He also knows, and is know by, everyone in the folding kayak business. Ralph takes you on a tour of the history of the folding kayak, the benifits and drawbacks of folders, a tour of the various manufacturers and models available from each, and walks you through basic kayak technique. He tells you about modifications that owners have made and tested, and where to get parts and repairs for out of production boats. I have been enamored of folders since I saw my first one on Isle Royale back in 1968. As we talked, a young fellow not much older than I assembled a boat from two small suitcases that was far more seaworthy than the heavy aluminum canoes my compatriots and I were paddling. As a 14 year old I didn't have the wherewithall to buy one, and put the notion aside for a number of years. Last year, with Ralph's help, I found the folder of my dreams, a Folboat Greenland II. If you're contemplating purchase of a non-whitewater kayak, you must read this book- even if you hadn't been contemplating a folding boat.

I live in Japan, where space is at a premium, but I also love kayaking. All the hardshell kayaks I looked at were reasonably priced but at lenghts of 17 feet or more I could hardly keep them in the tatami rooms of my house. Ralph Diaz reminded me that a folding kayak was the practical and intelligent answer to my needs. So today, I own a Klepper double which collapses into two canvas bags, which, when I'm not exploring the coastline of Japan, or other distant places, stays in a closet in my office. This book furthermore covers every aspect of the seemingly endless features and benefits of folding kayaks, and reviews all the major manufacturers products as well. The well-written introduction by Paul Theroux alone is worth the price of this little gem ("Paddling in Hawaii in the winter, it is not unusual to see whales, But only the paddler is able to leap into the water and hear the whales singing..."). Highly recomeneded reading for anyone seriously contemplating seakayaking anywhere in the world.

This is a fantastic book for the first-time potter or for someone experienced hoping to learn more. The only weakness was too few photos of finished products to see the results of techniques being described in the book. Otherwise, a fun book that will inspire you to learn more about your craft!

I got this book as a Christmas present from 3 of my dearest friends last year and it has just been a FANTASTIC source of inspiration and information since. Projects were easy to follow and instructions were clear, illustrated with lots of nicely taken photos to guide you every step of the way. I would highly recommend this book to both beginners and/or experienced potters.

What a great book for all of us clay lovers. Not overwhelming yet offers information on about everything you need to know. I've had this book for several years and I keep getting out again and again.

If you are looking for an introductory book on Access 2.0, this is not that book. Use the MS manual and the F1 key. A lot. But once you have a basic understanding, and want to build a 'good' app, don't start without this book. If you believe that code can be beautiful and elegant you'll appreciate the book even more. The samples and examples on the accompanying disk will save you much more than the price of the book. And you'll learn a ton in the process.

While all other Access 2.0 books provide only one or two chapters on the advanced topics, the "Access 2 Developers Handbook" is completely devoted to just that. The discussions skip the basics and gives you, the developer, what you need. It covers all the topics you need to become an Access programmer/developer. It is the only book on the market that pays close attention to these issues. This book's number one asset is showing you how to write resuable code, saving you so much time in the long run. The sample disk included with the book pays for the price of the book. Provided are many sample reusable functions and add-ins. I have one such function in a client's application for almost 2 years now! I am president of a small consulting firm in New York City, and this book is what we use to as a reference and a starting point for new programmers wanting to work for us. The book is very well written, easy to follow, and has many samples that the authors work through so you can really learn. It is a must have for any serious Access developer

The best book I have found on MS Access 2.0. I originally bought it because it contains information about how to dynamically resize forms. It it a great reference manual and you can check out some of the code at Sybex website.

Christopher Bing, author of the 2001 Caldecott Honor book, Casey At The Bat, is back with his innovative and creative interpretation of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's, The Midnight Ride Of Paul Revere. His obvious love of history, meticulous research, and attention to detail transports the reader back to that long ago night. This is a very visual experience. Mr Bing's marvelously evocative illustrations give the appearance of old engravings in dark blues and subdued tones. And the text itself, looks as if it was printed on yellowed parchment, and torn from an old book or diary. Imaginations will soar as children examine historical objects, and re-creations of maps, military orders, and other documents, that appear officially sealed, and can be opened and read. This adds to the drama and excitement of the poem, and brings Longfellow's words to life. With additional end notes and historical information about the days leading up that fateful night, and beyond, and a short biography of Longfellow, Christopher Bing has authored a unique, interactive American experience. Perfect for youngsters 8 and older, The Midnight Ride Of Paul Revere is a masterpiece to be treasured and savored each and every time it's read.

I just finished reading Jeff Shaara's "Rise to Rebellion," a novel about the start of the American Revolution, which includes a chapter on Paul Revere and William Dawes riding to Concord to warn Sam Adams and John Hancock that the British were coming to arrest them and then go on to Lexington to capture the gunpowder and munitions stored there by the colonial militia. So when I saw "The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere" I happened to pick it up. I have never been a fan of the famous poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, especially since I remember someone arguing that the only reason he picked Revere to immortalize was because it is hard to rhyme anything with "Dawes." But once I opened up this book and saw what Christopher Bing had done in the way of graving and painting, I was captivated. On the frontpiece there is a letter you can open up that turns out to be a reproduction of a letter from Thomas Gage, the commanding general of the British troops in Boston, giving the 10th Regiment, Foot their fatal mission.

The poem is told over the course of a dozen spreads; the breakdown is not in terms of stanzas and is cued more to the narrative than the form of the poem. But as much as you might enjoy this book if you like poetry, that is nothing compared to what you will think about it if you are a student of history. There are maps of "The Plan for the Secret Expedition to Concord" and "Paul Revere's Ride and the Middlesex Alarm." On the backpiece you can open up a pamphlet being "The Deposition of Paul Revere prepared for the Massachusetts Provincial Congress." Bing might be out to illustrate Longfellow's poem, but he is also very much aware that the poet made up a lot of the details. In his "Miscellany Concerning the Historical Ride of the Patriot Paul Revere" Bing keys his comments to each of this twelve spreads, explaining the "true" history of the fabled ride. In his note on the preparation of this book, Bing take equal pains to explain the stages used in creating his masterful illustrations, which involved a glazing technique to create the "glow" in the nighttime scenes. This is a superb effort and I will definitely track down Bing's earlier volume on Ernest Lawrence Thayer's "Casey at the Bat" and eagerly await anything else this talent conceptual illustrator sets his mind to do.

As a middle school English/Social Studies teacher, I require my students to memorize The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere. I was interested in how Christopher Bing had interpreted this most famous poem by Longfellow. I must say that I was stunned by his artistic rendering of the different parts of the poem. Most unique of all was the three dimensional letter attached to the flyleaf which was written by Thomas Gage, the British commander. This letter, sent to Lt. Col. Smith, described how he (Gage) would march a force of men to Concord to seize any munitions the Americans might have stored there. And equally incredible is the three dimensional fold out deposition by Paul Revere which described the actions he took to warn the Americans the British were coming. This book was alive with surprises and "hands on" interactivity. When I tried this book out on my 110 students, they were amazed. Then something really amazing happened....history and a poem came alive, giving them a much fuller understanding of the events of April 18, 1775. The way the poem was layed out page by page even helped them memorize the poem quicker and more accurately. The maps, illustrations, and the miscellany concerning the historical ride lend so much to this famous poem that even the most jaded American historian/teacher could learn all over again why we Americans are who we are and why we do the patriotic things we do. This is a must have book for every red-blooded American! Thank you Christopher Bing for transforming American history.

Autobiography -more often truer to form than substance- seems to repeal one's pretensions concerning identity while legitimizing a sense of purpose. Paul Auster's "Invention of Solitude" is perhaps one of the very best ever written: If Henry Adams attempted to offer credence to his generation than Auster is the heir apparent for the 20th c. Arranged in two parts, "Invention" and "Book of Memory," the novella-length memoirs center around two themes; familial and personal loss. The passing of a father whose mysterious motives and outlook later occupies the subplot of a mystery and the author's search for its truthful sources in "Invention," while the second (written when the author was at an all-time low) is a meditation upon his own son, which is interwoven with study of Collidi's Pinnochio and, ostensibly, Jonah. Auster is as much at home quoting a Judaic scholar as Pascal, Tolstoy or a close acquaintance. Together the book solidifies the relations while offering amazing insights for anyone who has suffered and expereienced a sense of conviction in wake of tragedy of loss. This is an astonishingly mature and compassionate book, one which I have never found anyone to whom I could not recommend.

The missing father, the poignant chance events, the lonely writer, the meaningless world that seems far too fraught with meaning: these are the themes that wind themselves through Paul Auster's novels, surfacing and echoing one another in the lives of his diverse characters. With Invention of Solitude Auster has stepped out of fiction for a moment and examines his own life. And here the same themes are reflected. In the unsearchable life of his distant father presented in Memoir of an Invisible Man; in the stories of chance and fate that haunt his alter-ego, A, through the Book of Memory; in the life that eventually adds up to Paul Auster. The book is particularly recommended for writers or potential writers, for its unglancing depiction of solitude. Not only the physical separation, but the spiritual and mental as well. To end with this.

I read some four or five novels by Auster and nothing got beneath my skin more then The Book of Memory, a second part of Invetion of Solitude. The humour, the style, the twists and obvious but secret connection to quotidian life and biographical facts, tasted like a delicious cake. A cake one doesn't eat at once but rather chip by chip, like a gourmet, to get all the 'prana' from Austers words. I especially like his interest in tangible life, the life around us (that of course is within us-that's why a Slovenian guy like me can like his writings). The only time i got bored is when he gets into the baseball. For such a stuff one needs to be closer to America, which I'm not. So, if you still wonder wheather you'll like Auster or not, just grab one of his books and let him take you to the rich and beautiful trip of imagination

Paul Feyerabend's autobiography is a surprising, wise perspective on a life shaped by an extraordinary intellect, chronic pain, and an overwhelming urge to mischief. Most powerful is his late awareness of human connections, and his passion for his new wife. Near death, he wrote: "My concern is that after my departure something remains of me, _not_ papers, _not_ final philosophical declarations, but love.... That is what I would like to happen, not intellectual survival but the survival of love."

Paul Feyerabend's autobiography is remarkably open and frank, fitting with the way this man wrote, thought, and led his life. Feyerabend was the man who, perhaps more than anyone else, has clearly pointed out that science has become the religion of western culture. His autobiography let me learn a little about what made this man so unafraid of thinking differently from other people. I also found it to be poignant, particularly in the picture of a boy raised without love, who as an adult is captivated by his love of beauty in music and the theater, and who finally begins to grasp what love is at the end of his life.

This is a slim volume, barely 200 pages, but it charts an awesome spiritual odyssee. Paul Feyerabend - enfant terrible of late 20th century philosophy - looked ruthlessly in the mirror and painted an unadorned picture of himself. At the end of his life, he painfully recognised that its course had been shaped by absences, rather than by specific events or, for that matter, ideas: absence of purpose, of content, of a focused interest, absence of moral character, absence of warmth and of social relationships.

Only when Feyerabend approached the final fifteen years of his life and settled as a professor in the philosophy of science in Zürich - after having lectured four decades at Anglo-American universities - he started to relax. And eventually, a woman came and set things right. In 1983 he met the Italian physicist Grazia Borrini for the first time. Five years later they married. His relationship with Mrs. Borrini must have been the single most important event in Feyerabend's life. Reading his autobiography is an experience akin to listening to Sibelius' tone-poem 'Nightride and Sunrise': after 1983 the colours change dramatically and his prose is infused with warmth and immense gratefulness. It is a delight to read his rapt eulogies on the companion of the last decade of his life, on his most fortunate discovery of true love and friendship. Indeed, although Feyerabend is not interested in 'spoiling' his autobiography with an extensive reiteration of his philosophical positions, there are a few messages he clearly wants to drive home. The central role in life of love and friendship is one of them. Without these "even the noblest achievements and the most fundamental principles remain pale, empty and dangerous" (p. 173). Yet, Feyerabend clearly wants us to see that this love "is a gift, not an achievement" (p. 173). It is something which is subjected neither to the intellect, nor to the will, but is the result of a fortunate constellation of circumstances.

The same applies to the acquisition of 'moral character'. This too "cannot be created by argument, 'education' or an act of will." (p.174). Yet, it is only in the context of a moral character - something which Feyerabend confesses to having only acquired a trace of after a long life and the good fortune of having met Grazia - that ethical categories such as guilt, responsibility and obligation acquire a meaning. "They are empty words, even obstacles, when it is lacking." (p.174) (Consequently, he did not think himself responsible for his behavior during the Nazi period).

Contrary to someone like Karl Kraus, Feyerabend seems to think that men, at least as long as they have not acquired moral character, are morally neutral, whilst ideas are not. A question which remains, of course, is who is to be held responsible for intellectual aberrations and intentional obfuscation if this character is only to be acquired by an act of grace, an accidental constellation of circumstances.

There is an enigmatic passage in the autobiography which may shed light on this important problem. After having seen a performance of Shakespeare's Richard II, in which the protagonist undoes himself of all his royal insigna, thereby relinquishing not just "a social role but his very individuality, those features of his character that separated him from other", Feyerabend notes that the "dark, unwieldy, clumsy, helpless creature that appeared seemed freer and safer, despite prison and death, than what he had left behind." (p. 172) It prompts him to the insight that "the sum of our works and/or deeds does not constitute a life. These . . . are like debris on an ocean . . . They may even form a solid platform, thus creating an illusion of universality, security, and permanence. Yet the security and the permanence can be swept away by the powers that permitted them to arise." (p. 172) These ideas do not exactly solve the question about moral responsibility, but they do suggest a tragic 'Lebensgefühl' - an acknowledgment of the fact that the spheres of reason, order and justice are terribly limited and that no progress in our science and technical resources will change their relevance - which seems to underpin Feyerabends very earthbound philosophy.