An excellent book. The author, a D.O. and M.D., became interested in Eastern approaches to healing when he witnessed an acupuncture session. Smith gives great explanations relating the flow of energy to body structure. I was particularly impressed by his account of how the energy of each chakra relates to the skeletal structure. The information in the book is densely packed, and -- at least in my own readings -- is best absorbed in small doses. A caveat: I don't have firsthand experience with the author's particular system, Zero Balancing. In any case, I believe the book contains valuable information for people who already have experience in some mode of energy healing.

My professional health care practice was dramatically changed after having read Inner Bridges. Doors opened to my understanding of energy and how it relates to body structure, including the bones and joints of the body. I am very grateful for the insights given by Dr. Fritz Smith in this book.

I checked this book out at my local college and kept renewing it so I could finish more chapters. Finally I ran out of renewing times and decided I really needed to own my own copy.

The book is detailed and precise. It is relatively hard yet light on math and what there is is explained well. It has great graphics and clear explanations that make the most advanced topics easy to visualize and understand. The problems at the end of the chapter are great for review.

It's the best introductory chem book I've ever seen. Better than any chem course.

This book is excellent for the Bioorganic chemistry. I went into my class terrified and overwhelmed. I was actually able to follow along better with the book than my actual teacher. The diagrams are clear cut and gives many examples. I love the factual clips in every chapter about nature or medicine and how this all relates to bioorganic chemistry. I found the clips a breather and a break from the complicated matter. This book finds a way to explain one thing in many different ways so that even the beginner can comprehend it at an advanced level. This book got me through the class with an A.

This book has my name in it 7 times. Because of that, I consider it to be a great book. It's well written too!...

This is a great little book for kids. It is a nice warm and fuzzy story with a happy ending.

Everyone I have told about it, that got it really loved it.

This is a nail-biting thriller that also gives us quite an insight into the Islamic-Extremist mindset. If our government had heeded this kind of warning earlier, 9/11 might have been prevented. This is a must-read for all Americans.

Jericho Gambit is a high intensity, fast paced military thriller about a terrorist attack on the US and the heroic response by the military and intelligence communities. The characters are likeable, the settings are realistic, and the action is heart stopping. The novel involves some graphic fight scenes, but the story is compelling and fascinating. Combining military expertise, a suspenseful plot and excellent writing, this novel is a must-read. Highly recommended!

Mr. Osborn has done a tremendous amount of research in creating this well written and organized book. Documents the pioneer families Brunner/Bruner, Ramsburg, Getzendanner, and many others. Completely indexed and all source information is included. Case bound with glossy pages, this volume can be passed on to your descendants and will last for generations. Contains several illustrations and maps. Will make a great gift for anyone descended from Joseph Brunner.

This publication, like the author's other titles, is meticulously researched and carefully written. It contains fascinating stories from original documents about the Brunner family line and their many descendents, along with extensive listings of lineage and current contacts of descendents. A must have for those researching the history of the Bruners.

If you are thinking about building, firing or repairing a kiln, this is the book. With a fair amount of firing experience, but little knowledge of building, this book gave me the info and guidance to help build my own wood kiln. Get this book.

This book is the best reference for pottery kiln builders and operators. I have built and operated Olsen's Fast Fire Wood Downdraft kiln form the book and converted it to gas with excellent results.

A proud camel is selected to accompany the Magi described in Matthew to carry gifts for Jesus. He tries to get out of the journey (he has other commitments), but is convinced otherwise by some sand-blowing voices. As his journey continues, so does his burden, as gifts are added to his back. A young child even adds a straw for the baby's bed, that, well, I don't want to spoil the ending ("Will this straw cause me to fall?").

We used this book as the basis for our church's family Christmas Eve service. The children participated in a recreation of the Christmas stories in Matthew and Luke, and then settled in for a reading of this great book. During the story, we had two people in a camel costume come through the aisles, as "presents" were loaded onto baskets on the "camel's" back. It was a great success, and helped bring alive the oft-repeated Bible stories.

Thury has a great skill of weaving in enough adult humor to keep the attention of even the most holiday-weary parent (this camel complains of his joints, gout and sciatica, which all parents and granparents can relate to after weeks of holiday shopping, eating and "assembly-required" efforts). My seven year old has requested it again and again. Original, enchanting and a great twist on both the Christmas story and "the straw that broke the camel's back." Or did it? The pictures are outstanding.

This is such a wonderful book! Every year I look for a special book to share with my family, this year it will be The Last Straw. It is a humorous tale that also teaches a valuable lesson about humility. The Last Straw is right up there with Santa Calls and The Red Ranger Came Calling. I highly recommend this book!

Growing up as a Caucasian American I was always attracted to the disenfranchised, disempowered and misrepresented peoples of the world. My sense of justice was offended by the philosophy of European superiority, the philosophy that is based upon the idea that a person is basically born into an ethnic caste system of which Europeans where the lords. I started to befriend African Americans very early on, and I became deeply fascinated by their culture. One day an older African-American woman asked me about this, noticing me shying away from playing with white kids. At the time I didn't know how to respond so she scolded me. She told me that I was not 'black' and that I had no business pretending I was. She went on to tell me that I could never identify with what 'black' people experience, because like it or not, I was white. I would always have opportunities that 'blacks' wouldn't. She did have a point, or at least I thought. I went through a serious bout with my identity after that and decided to educate myself on what actually happened to these people. I started with this title, and it led me onto a serious engagement with our country's brutal fascination with chattel slavery.
Frederick Douglass was a slave on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, not too far from Baltimore where I live. His accounts of the treatment of slaves is indeed frightening. It is very important to note that when Frederick was young he was sent to live in Fells Point Maryland as a house slave. The wife of his owner thought it good to teach Frederick the alphabet. After Frederick learned the alphabet the woman showed her husband. He was furious with his wife, and told her that it you teach these 'niggers' to read they will want to know how to write. If they know how to wright, they might start thinking they are equal with white folks. He then ordered her to stop teaching Frederick anything 'that could interfere with his chores'. Unfortunately the damage was already done. Frederick became obsessed with reading and taught himself to read by studying newspapers in the streets and paying white kids to teach him. Slowly we see Frederick, through his own religion convictions, developing a liberation philosophy through education. Knowledge was his key to freedom, and it eventually led to his escape to the North.
One of the key points of this narration is that the slave owners used methods of controlling slaves which are very similar to the tactics employed by the propaganda machine. For instance, Frederick noticed that the slave masters made the slaves drink on holidays and observed them strictly to make certain that all of them spent their 'free' time drunk. They were always on the look-out for slaves that exhibited critical thinking attempting to hold conversations with their fellow slaves about their condition. Reminiscent of the fabled or not Willie Lynch manual on how to make and break a slave, these slave masters certainly knew what they were doing. The institution of slavery was highly developed, almost a science unto itself. Escaping this was the main theme in the first half of Frederick Douglass's autobiography. The second part deals with his efforts to bring slavery to an end all together by raising peoples consciousness to the inhumanities of the practice. I am indebted to Frederick Douglass for bringing me closer to the reality which African Americans live through day in and day out not only in this country, but also in apartheid South Africa. While I believe that the scolding I got was somewhat well deserved, I do believe that consensual integration is part of a God's work. Overall one finds it very difficult to account for all of valuable contributions this work can bring to the human heart. This is one of those books which makes you want to cry, then laugh, then explore new methods of pluralism and equality. Ironically I married an African American sister who teaches at Frederick Douglass Middle School in Baltimore City. She often tells me how the text books are over fifteen years old, and the computer lab even older. Most of the students see no benefit in the public indoctrination system anyway, but when they do go they are met with ancient resources and apathetic teachers. Another clear indication that we have a lot of work to do on this 'American' notion of equality.

This book, written in Douglass' later years, not only lifted my spirits but did a great deal to reestablish my faith in humanity. This was a man who had every opportunity, and reason, to be bitter and/or vengeful. He, instead, chose to fight, with his intellect and his golden tongue, for what he, and others chained in slavery and social subservience, rightfully disserved as a member of our human race. He was a man of conviction and inner strength who taught himself to write with an elegance that I have never seen equaled. I strongly recommend this book.

The correct opening line of "My Romance" should be "My romance doesn't HAVE to have a moon in the sky" instead of "NEED to have a moon in the sky" as I incorrectly stated in my review here.

Also, in "Lady is a Tramp" I used the third person instead of the original first person usage to demonstrate the lyrics. The original "Lady is a Tramp" is written as "I get too hungry for dinner at eight. I like the theater but never come late...etc." I used the third person because it is the more familiar version.

AND AS A TESTAMENT to the timelessness of Rodgers and Hart's songs, listen to the current Ralph Lauren "Romance" perfume commercial. It features James Taylor and Carly Simon singing the opening and closing lines of "My Romance". It's a beautiful, heartfelt song nicely rendered by Taylor and Simon.

Lorenz Hart is one of the finest lyricists in the history of American musical theater. He is largely responsible for elevating the process of writing lyrics into an art form. Before Hart, lyrics were usually trite and predictable with simplistic rhymes such as "I am blue, and so are you."

Hart wrote lyrics that are cerebral and sophisticated. His compositions are infused with wit and wisdom. He used complex rhymes. An example from "My Funny Valentine": "Your looks are laughable, unphotographable. Yet you're my favorite work of art. Is your figure less than Greek? Is your mouth a little weak? When you open it to speak, are you smart?"

Another example from "Bewitched": "I'm wild again, beguiled again, a whimpering simpering child again...." And yet another example from "Lady is a Tramp": "She gets too hungry for dinner at eight. She likes the theater but never comes late. She never bothers with people she hates. That's why the lady is a tramp."

Hart could be wistful and romantic as in "My Romance": "My romance doesn't need to have a moon in the sky. My romance doesn't need a blue lagoon standing by. No month of May. No twinkling star. No hideaway. No soft guitar."

Hart's lyrics are consistently observant and very often ingenious. They are the perfect match for the variety and intricacy of Richard Rodgers' superb music.

This biography is quite detailed with a number of amusing anecdotes. It is a must read for those who want to know more about this endearing, erratic, and gifted artist Lorenz Hart. His contributions to musical theater are profound and timeless.

Frederick Catherwood's career as an artist has been dominated by the magnicent drawings and paintings that he made of Mayan art and architecture while accompanying archaeologist John Lloyd Stephens . For decades this was the only view of that civilization that most people had. Even today they still are impressive. Bourbon gives us not only a biography of the artist but wisely chose to put the book into a large format. The result is that the reader can appreciate Catherwood's work (which the book is profusely filled with) even better. Coupled with John Lloyd Stephens "Incidents of Travel in Yucatan" (available in very inexpensive editions) one can expierence the thrill of discovery that both men felt as they uncovered the lost Mayan cities of the Yucatan jungles. A feast for the eyes
of the first visions of a vanished world.

In reading the The Lost Cities of the Mayas : The Life, Art, and Discoveries of Frederick Catherwood by Fabio Bourbon, one must first take in and enjoy the full folio size color reproductions of Catherwood's engravings and drawings. The vast aray of sumptous images and the clear and concise text that takes you on an adventure through the life of Frederick Catherwood, the first real Indiana Jones is a joy to read and imagine! Oh to have lived in the 19th c. and been on the first real archaeological journey through mexico and central america, documenting the opening up of an ancient civilization to the world. A must for the adventure reader and explorer.