Each time I think it's time I settled for something less than fulfilling in life I sit down and read through this book. It calms my soul. It realigns my senses to what it is I'm truly seeking in life and in a partner. I have given this as a wedding gift to those who I think have the mind and soul for such small wisdom as this. I would recommend this book to anyone who seeks to be complete before entering into a relationship or who seeks understanding of why their past relationship failed. It has helped me to keep clarity of mind.

This book was a wonderful gift from a friend. I used to beat my self up when I couldn't follow the advice of the many self help books I have. The Couple's Tao Te Ching really changed the way I looked at my behavior because it didn't tell me how to behave. I memorized this passage because it has been helping me through this global, troubled time: "The world will never know love, respect, kindness and tolerance until you experience them in the safety of your love. When you do, it will." It means a lot to me. It's more than just about a relationship with another person. It makes a lot of things clear.

I have a library full of books on relationships and improving communication. Those books (like Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus, etc.), tend to be read quickly with their advice being filtered through my brain for ideas to tweak our relationship. This book is refreshingly different. If you want to involve your brain by thinking about the deep meaning of the words, you can... or you can just hear the words and feel them nurturing your heart and spirit. Each page offers beautifully written verses to provide quick inspiration or a thought to meditate on for as long as you like. This books is a great addition to any library and makes a wonderful gift for any couple.

I'm the daughter of the Bounty Hunter he was a very real person and most of this stuff is real even if that seen hard to beleive.I was there and lived it with him and a whole lot more. If you would like to contact me please feel free to do so at confess@swell.net thanks for taking to time to read about my father Gina(Boyles)Holmes

I am the daughter of Tiny Boyles and know that most of these stories to be true. He was truly a Mountian Man from the past thrown into LA California. His way of life was day to day and very explosive If you wish to contact me for more info please feel free to do so at confess@swbell.net Thank you Gina Holmes

Hank Williams said very little about his life outside of his haunting lyrics. Since he left so few interviews behind, there were plenty of people who were willing to fill in the gaps with their own self-serving myths. Bill Koon slices through all of these myths to find the truth of Hank Williams' life. Hank has been portrayed as a saint and a sinner, but Koon shows that Williams was somewhere in between. Overall, he was a troubled man with natural talent, and this well-written book clearly shows that. Hank Williams, So Lonesome, is a triumph, and Bill Koon should be applauded for doing such a fine job. I highly recommend it.

My dad wrote this book so I have to give it five stars.

This book, compiled by Don Cusic, contains the lyrics to every song that Hank has been credited to be a writer or co-writer that's very well put together and researched. Reading his lyrics is just as interesting as listening to the man sing his voice. He is a very interesting man who really put his all into his music so this book definitely should be opened when you listen to his CD's. This is essential to every country music fan, music fan, songwriter, and everybody who has any interest in his music.

I found the breif account of Hank's life to be one of the most accurate in modern times of overhype sensationalism. It shows and tells about the real down on earth Hank who was all too familar with pain and sorrow as well as love and joy. Like many other Greats, Hanks' life was not a very easy one. It shows Hank as just a regular guy who enjoyed doing his Thing... MUSIC!!!

Roger Williams, who of course is not related to the subject that he wrote about, has given us a rare, insightful look into the life,career, and death of a country music legend. Hank Williams was an ordinary man with extroardinary talent who made the most out of the gifts that he was blessed with. However, as he grew up, Hank came across two powerful forces that would eventually destroy his career, and ultimately, his life. Women and booze did not mix, and as the book says,Hank found this one out the hard way. The author goes into detail about how Hank's career took off with his induction into the Grand Ole Opry in June of 1949. From there it gives us a look into how the opry operated in the early 1950's.The alcoholism which Hank undoubtedly had went far back to the early days of his youth when he was just eleven years old. By the time he released Lovesick Blues in 1948, Hank was already having problems staying sober. Alcohol is mentioned many times throughout the book because, as most fans know, alcohol wrecked Hank's overall physical condition. The book reveals some rare photos of Hank when he was at the prime of his recording career, but some of these photos shows his body slowly wasting away.After all is said and done, Hank Williams died in the backseat of his Cadillac at the age of 29, in the early morning hours of January 1, 1953. The cause of death could problably have been attributed to a broken heart. The life that Hank lead spelled out his fate way before the reaper came to take him away forever, but the legend lives on in the hearts of country music fans everywhere. Hank Williams will never be forgotten, and this book gives all the reasons why. But there's only one thing left to say. Hank was a man like all the rest, but his memory is enshrined because of his care and compassion for others who were less fortunate than he was.

This book is so easy to read and so full of information that I have an absolute craving to revisit it every year or so. I have never read a book so often (and I read and reread constantly). Having spent my summers on Maryland's Eastern Shore and having visited Smith Island, this book absolutely takes me home to a wonderfully simple and fascinating way of life. Who would have ever thought that the common blue crab was so eloquent a creature...I'm sold!

I discovered this book on my brothers bookshelf while visiting the Eastern shore, and read it in two sittings. An absolutely fascinating book on the Bay, the Eastern shore, the blue crab and more. William W. Warner's gifted prose depicts the watermen and their life in a way that is both honest,sympathetic and informative. As a non-native Washingtonian, this book finally explains so many of the mysteries of the bay -- from soft shell crab and how/why they get that way --to Tangier Island and how/why it became so popular. It is the kind of book you immediately want to share with your friends... your family... your lunch bunch... the guy sitting next to you on the subway..

As a recovering 20th-century American lit major, regrettably my reading list (beyond Melville's classic and a certain Hemingway novella) lacked a certain maritime flavor in deference to social issues, the human experience, and anything that could somehow be interpreted as sublime or lead to a seriously insightful opium habit. Having said this, I encourage everyone to read William W. Warner's 'Beautiful Swimmers: Waterman, Crabs and the Chesapeake Bay'. In terms of exploring the relationship between humanity and the sea, I have never read anything more eloquent. Its prose is refreshingly simple, but very engaging, with detailed sketches to enhance the authenticity. I've read several books twice, a handful three times. As of last night, 'Beautiful Swimmers' is the only one I've read for a fourth time. Many books (Moby Dick for example) merit more than a single reading mostly because they are too dense to "get" on a first run. It is the rare book that begs for multiple sittings simply because it's a joy to go back to the same words again and again. I'm a voracious reader, read my first novel (Jack London's 'Call of the Wild') when I was seven and have been buried in some book ever since; in my experience, 'Beautiful Swimmers' is one of about six or seven books that fit this "joy to read" category.

This book is simple. It is hopeful. It brings back the wonder... to weary parents.

It applys to babies as well as teens.

Share it with those who need it.

Great text for parenting classes that doesn't read like an owners manual.

This book not only brought parenting alive to me but after many readings, any many translations...

it brings the tao alive as well.

Be prepared it is written in poetic form. And requires your input...

The Parent's Tao Te Ching is not about behavior modification and table etiquette. There are plenty of other books for that sort of thing. How many times have you read on of those "How to Raise a Perfect Child" books and tried to apply their practical advice to your unpractical offspring? (note: I have just counted and I have 37 books about practical parenting on the shelves of my living room library that I have collected over the past 19 years of being a mother). I can't count how many times my children have looked at me with smirks on their little faces and said, "What book did you read that in?" when I've tried yet another spin on an old parenting technique.

I am so grateful for Mr. Martin's book. It does not tell me I can be Martha Stewart, Mother Goose and the Pink Power Ranger all rolled into one as long as I follow the steps. It simply reminds me of what is real. For example, here is an excerpt from one of my favorite passages:

"They look so small and frail but they are great and magnificent. They are born of the same womb that birthed the cosmos and knitted together the galaxies."

This book is a simple, elegant reminder of what truly matters. I have two copies. One for my bedside and one for the office. I open the second one when my husband calls with the latest child- related disaster update.

I highly recommend Willam Martin's other Tao Te Ching related books: The Couple's Tao Te Ching and The Sage's Tao Te Ching.

I really love this book. It is simple, like a cup of coffee in the morning and doesn't require that I apply each chapter to the raising of my children like a course in Parenting 101. I feel the author William Martin understood I was searching for an inner understanding, not more rules for parenting that can be so hard to obey because they only work once. It seems to be a real challenge to raise our children, keeping them safe, all the while being aware of the subtle difference between teaching and controlling. I have often found myself questioning my decision to become a parent, a job I cannot walk away from. After reading this book, I have started to understand where the real parent in me resides and she's a lot stronger, and frankly, a lot more fun than I had given her credit for.