This book is an excellent counseling tool for the spouses of combat veterans who live with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. I have given this book the many spouses. Many say that the greatest thing the book does for them is help to show that they are not alone in their experience with the veteran PTSD sufferer. Patience Mason gives the spouse an understanding of what is going on that leads to a sense of comfort and the courage to continue the battle. The battle, is to find a way to stay with their vet and at the same time preserve their own sanity. This is the best book out there for contents and ease of reading!

Four years ago my Vietnam Vet husband of 26 years invited me to a new VA couple's group through the PCT clinic. The director tried his best to give us the resources and help he could. He offered me a copy of Patience Mason's book. There is so much knowledge through information & personal accounts; I believe anyone who reads it will find "the light shining in the darkness" of living with a PTSD survivor. I have highly recommended it to all spouses, family members, friends, clergy, and therapists, as well as the Vets themselves who are looking for insight and support. Even better that it's now available in an affordable paperback!

This book was so helpful to me... I keep buying it and giving it away! It is the best book I have read on coping with PTSD, and I have read them all. It tells you what to expect and why. Who to contact in the VA for help. What forms will need to be filled out and how to deal with all the government agencies. Also lists several self-help groups. Everything from A to Z. It will give you a whole new understanding of your father, brother, husband, or significant other.

It's been a while since I've read a book that I've so thoroughly enjoyed. Mr. Freda gives us a real river cruise as he extends the metaphor beautifully. His style of writing is lucid, striking, to the point, and certainly no nonsense.

Certainly, this is a "coming of age" story and rather brilliantly done. I understand the author is a product of the Defense Department's overseas schools (he graduated from Kubasaki High School in Okinawa in the late '60s). I happened to be a young marine stationed on Okinawa at the time, personally nervous about Viet Nam (as most of us were) and when I picked up "Patience of Rivers" I felt the author had more than represented an era, of course. His book transcends a single concept. This is Mr. Freda's second novel (I've also read his "Suburban Guerillas" and it's also great!) and I can hardly wait for the next one.

This is a fun and engaging book, and an easy, quick, and suspenseful read. The author is an exceptionally gifted writer and good storyteller, who I think does an excellent job of capturing one of the most unforgettable moments in recent time...the late 60's. It is nostalgic without being overly sentimental, and I found the characters to be "real" people with universal qualities that are instantly appealing. The setting takes place in a small rural town, and I especially enjoyed the author's very lush descriptions of the natural beauty of the area, and how he wove this aspect of the story into the overall plot. Anyone who is a sucker for a "first love", coming-of-age story, but perhaps seeking a fresh approach, should read this book.

I was there! Not really, but I feel like I was. The author's feel for this era transported me from dusty West Texas to the foggy, wet Delaware River Valley. I was a little older than Nick, the main character in the book when Woodstock happened, but whispers of it ran through our tight-knit farming community like wind through the corn tassles. We wanted to be there. So the first week in August, 1969, 3 of my friends and I convinced a long-haul trucker to take us "east"! We ended up near New York City, hot, hungry and dirty with no earthly idea how to get to "Woodstock." But the freaks knew. They pointed us north, and with thumbs out, battered cowboy hats and boots and dirty bandannas, we headed for our life-changing experience.
Read this book, Buy this book, love this book, share it with everyone you know over 48! We were ALL there in spirit. We all wanted "out"! We all wanted "in"! We none of us wanted to go to Vietnam but I did. And I took memories of Woodstock with me. Now with this book, the memories of how free and easy it was back then, when all we had to decide was what to eat for supper, where to go dancin' and who to sidle up to was foremost in our innocent minds.
Thank you Joseph Freda, for putting it all into focus for me and for taking me back to a better time and place.-Scott Johnson

A friend gave me the book to read a few years ago. It was great! It helped me to see the controlling part of my personality. I didn't know how damaging it was to me and others. Now, I need to share it with others who are struggling with the same issues, but I can't find a copy. Please let me know where I can find this book.

I learned from this book how one of my greatest strengths in controlling circumstances at work created problems with relationships with those i loved the most when i used those same techniques at home. i also learned ways to change my behavior for the better which has made life at home much more harmonious for all. i have loaned this book to so many others that have found it extremely helpful that my copy is now dog-eared. Please let me know if anyone has info on how to purchase additional copies, since i would like to have them available to give to others. badges@gate.net.

I have used this book with many clients and their families. It is a great resource tool in understanding controlling personalities. However, I loaned by book to a client and never got it back. Does any one know where i can obtain another? chastainjb@aol.com.

I found this book to be very good and highly recommend it to teachers who have children from Ethiopia or any other African country in their classroom. They will find an appreciation for their country or continent in the reading of this story. Many times Americans tend to put down the African continent and dissolve it into stereotypes. Kids from Africa need support that where they come from is appreciated and that they are welcome in the US too.

The story upon which this picture book is based changes depending on the locale--it might be a tiger in Indian tales or a bear, as I have heard it told in a Native American version. In all, the story is a tale of patience and love discovered, and Kurtz paints this theme beautifully in LION'S TAIL.

In this version, set in Ethiopia, the story is told from the point of view of a little girl who feels left out when her father takes a new wife. The girl gets advice from her grandfather, and thus the tale is set in motion. What sets this apart from the traditional tellings is the strong character development, as well as the point of view.

Cooper's expressive illustrations set the mood for the story setting, as well as the images of the characters, beautifully. With Kurtz's well written prose, illustrations are hardly necessary, but wonderful icing on the cake.

My son (age 7) brought this book home from library day at school. We read it together and while I think the lesson of the story might have been lost on him, I don't believe it would be lost on children who face the difficulties of negotiating new mom's, dad's, foster parents, etc. I work with children that have emotional problems and the issue of acceptance (giving and getting) in step and foster families can be dealt with powerfully and sensitively with this book.

This is a story of the time of Christ, but not really a story about Christ. It is a rich exotic story of peoples and cultures 2000 years ago, rich in detail, color, customs and smells of daily life, probably impossible to know unless one had lived there at that time and perhaps, Patience Worth, the author, really did! The circumstances surrounding the writing of this book are part of an enigma of spirit posession, multiple personality and past life recall. Perhaps it is unrefutable evidence of life after death. Whatever it is, the reader will come away from it with indelible images of daily life of Romans, Greeks, and Jews at the time of Christ. It fills in many of the gaps in the biblical story of the time of Jesus Christ through the telling of the life of Theia, a concubine slave and dancer for Roman nobels and her illegitimate son, Hate sired by Tiberius, one of the Roman nobels. An intricately woven story of three lives, Panda---Theia's handman; Hatte---Theia's son Hate; and Jesus Christus. The story culminates with Theia, Hatte and Jesus alone at the crucifixion in a final scene where Theia dances through the night around the cross on which her son was crucified next to the cross of Jesus. In the morning, she is found dead at the foot of the crosses stained with the royal blood of Jesus and her son Hatte. It's unforgettable.

The construction is sometimes difficult to follow and it takes some getting used to certain word usage. It's written as an observer would see and hear it. Often times there is no introduction of characters, they just walk into the scene and start talking as if everyone knows who they are and probably everyone there at the time did know, but it is sometimes confusing to the reader in this day and age. One has to work at putting all of the pieces of the puzzle together for a while to understand what is taking place. And, unless one starts from the beginning, it's easy to get confused because some characters have several names. For example, Ajax is also know as Caanthus and Simeon and Hatte was named Hate by his mother and Caanthus by his mother's handman. It's well worth the considerable effort however and I encourage more people to read and study the literature of Patience Worth. It's truly great writing and poetry with deep philosophical and spiritual implications. Taken in total, it may very well be the evidence we all have been looking for of life after death.

Anything written by Pearl Curran, Patience Worth, or Casper Yost is worth reading. These books should not be collecting dust. Donna Nelson

After reading about the Patience Worth phenomenon and the high praise this book received on its literary style and content after publicaton in 1916, I searched for a copy. My elation at finally finding a copy was surpassed by the sense of exultation I experienced after reading it. The story is complex, but interesting. It creates an uncanny sense that you are reading an eye-witness account of the events described in the story. It is the only 600 page book I have ever felt compelled to re-read, not once, but twice. It is a story of Christ, but more so, it is a story of fate, religious beliefs, and the irony of life, interwoven with a fairly unbiased view of the political and social settings during the time of Christ. It is suspenseful, humorous, and moving, particularly the last few chapters and the description of the crucifixion. Roy Franc Baas

When Will It Be Spring? was first published in 1997 as a standard picture book before being released as a board book. This may explain why the story and art seem especially well done. Mother Bear and little Alfie need to sleep through the winter, but Alfie keeps misjudging clues and time and again wakes his mother long before spring has arrived. This theme will work well, I'd think, with toddlers because bedtime and restlessness are important themes to them. Alfie's eagerness and his mother's patience are shown in the beautiful illustrations as well as the text, and will make young children feel good about, not just sleeping and waking, but also about the unconditional support of their parents.

This is a well written story that doesn't even need the writing -- the illustrations themselves suffice to transport a child and its parent to a beautiful world of misty mountains and autumn leaves, winter's first snow in a peaceful pine forrest, spring flowers along the shores of a glassy alpine lake. And the bears are cute too. My daughter is only 19 months old, but the pictures are enough to captivate her almost as much as they captivate me. If you want to show your child the Grand Tetons and Yellowstone without actually taking the long drive to Wyoming, this is one way to do so.

One of our favorite kids' books yet. Story is charming, but not "cutesie"; reflects some real knowledge of natural history on the part of the author, and the illustrations are exquisite - make me want to crawl right into the book - especially the final one of Alfie asleep in a sea of spring flowers surrounded by mountain peaks. This is one of a handful of children's book illustrators whose work I would like to have framed on my walls.

"Patience of a Saint" is a typical Greeley story. It contains some excellent images and metaphors of the Catholic Church, some good mystery, some sex, and some violence. It fits Greeley's perfect equation of what to include in a sell-able story. But even with all the expected story parts, it remains one of his better stories, delving into a person's growth as an adult. It is reminiscent of the Biblical story of Saint Paul's conversion, set in modern-day Chicago, with some contemporary images thrown together to show us what Paul may have gone through if he had lived in our time. An interesting idea, a good read, and if you take the time, a thought-provoking way to approach the Bible story as well as middle age.

This is the story of Red Kane, a man caught in a dilemma of Love. After twenty years of marriage plagued by misunderstanding and bitter resignation, Red finds himself falling in love with his wife all over again - and at the same time, pursued by an implacable, attractive God.

Redmond P. Kane, a popular Chicago newspaper columnist and Pulitzer prize winner, smokes and drinks too much, neglects his kids, enjoys a mistress, is feared and hated by his colleagues, and has shared nothing but a bed with his wife for much too long. At 53, Red is an unhappy, disgruntled cynic. But soon, all that changes. On a Chicago street corner a speeding car, almost runs him down, and a moment of divine grace - one in which God and Red's green eyed wife are somehow identified with each other - almost knocks him unconscious. An then Red';s real troubles begin. They start with evil- plan old fashioned wickedness in the person of aging politico Harv Gunther. Red has come up with evidence that links Gunther to the disappearance of a newsman 20 years earlier and the recent murder of a teenage girl, but proving it can cost Kane his career. He's almost ready to close his files, go out for a drink and forget it all. Yet since his brush with death Red finds himself inexorably drawn down the path of saintliness and driven to always do the right thing. Being a good husband to his wife Eileen is at the top of Red's list. Without realizing it, he's whistling "You're Irish and You're beautiful and dreaming of going home, taking her in his arms, and making up for all the sins of omission accumulated over 20 years of their on-again, off-again marriage. But what happens when he does? Beautiful Irish Eileen think's he's having a breakdown, just as his newsroom co-workers are sure he's finally gone over the edge. Soon, a psychiatrist is trying to have him committed. God has turned Red's whole existence upside down. Must he choose between his wife and his god? Or have they joined in a plot to try the patience of a saint. As Red probes the depths of his new emotions and renewed commitments with the help of Msgr Blackie Ryan, he also digs into the dirty business of Harve Gunther and in the process gravely endangers the lives of everyone he loves.

This is a wonderful book. The author suggests wonderful possibilities of grace and love for our lives. It is a book that restores faith and replenishes the soul. Oh, and it's a great love story. Not your typical boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy gets girl back; this is a wonderful tale about a man who discovers the true depth and meaning of his love for his wife--with no small assistance from God. In a "cynical" age this book is a rare, complex, affirmation of true love and grace. This is my favorite Greeley story.

Terry Tempest Williams is without a doubt one of the finest writers to tackle the intricacies of the American West in literature of any sort. Carrying her own torch is impressive enough, but Williams also evokes the activism and urgent motivation that calls us to appreciate, respect and save our remaining western wilderness that was so powerfully put into words by Edward Abbey. I have reviewed a portion of "Red" before (see "Desert Quartet"), so I will limit this review to the remainder of "Red".

Williams carries on the great and ancient tradition of storytelling to raise consciousness about uniquely Western, and specifically Colorado Plateau, issues. From the Hopi and Navajo peoples, down through the early American explorers, the proverbial cowboys and the present activist community, storytelling has been a central method of encapsulating emotion, opinion and experience into messages that have wide appeal. Williams, in stories such as "Coyote's Canyon" here in "Red", presents her powerful vision of an environmental movement wrapped in the spiritual connection with the stark, often harsh, always awe inspiring desert and given wings by action. Like Abbey, Williams does not shy away from controversy, and her opening to the title essay is a list of places that strangely grows longer each time I contemplate the names set forth. Williams gets personal here, and the blunt approach of listing over a hundred places brings to my mind the fact that I have walked on much of that ground... and that I have seen the critical need to protect these remaining places from the industrious uses and agricultural manipulation that has occured on the infinitely vaster balance of the Colorado Plateau. In this way, "Red" has demonstrated its effectiveness. Some may say that as a resident of California I might have no reason to comment on Utah... and I would, as Williams exhorts in "Red", flatly disagree. Every one of us has a responsibility to work toward a better world, and Williams manages to say this without preaching it or patronizing the reader. (Besides, my mother lives in southern Utah, and I have walked hundreds of miles of that beautiful land...).

In summary, "Red" is another jewel of a book from Terry Tempest Williams. I am glad to see "Desert Quartet" back in print, though I sorely miss Mary Frank's wonderful illustrations that were in the original. This is a book which is not a difficult read, nor a scholarly treatise... rather, it is a frank, realistic look at a serious challenge facing the United States right now.

Terry Tempest Williams created this book to fight for Wilderness with the best tool she has, her writing. The beauty of her words hang in the air and cut like a knife. When asked by a friend why she writes, Williams responds: "I write as an exercise in pure joy. I write as one who walks on the surface of a frozen river beginning to melt. I write out of my anger and into my passion. I write from the stillness of night anticipating - always anticipating. I write to listen. I write out of silence. ...I write because it is the way I talk long walks. I write as a bow to wilderness. I write because I believe it can create a path in darkness."

Both a piece of literary artistry and passionate activism, "Red"'s audience appeal is the broadest of any book I've ever read. The book's structure, both wild and bounded by cadences of space, conforms strategically to Ms. Williams' conceptual take on the color red - red represents heat, anger, unpredictability, the lifeblood of the earth that runs through human beings and all earth's creatures, and is concentrated in the searing deserts of the American West where Ms. Williams lives. A thematic tapestry though it is, it is, at its core, a living breathing message presented selflessly and succinctly by a woman who I believe understands the need for a lifelong journey down the parallel rails of human and non-human nature until these rails converge. I recommend this book highly.

I highly recommend this book, particularly for someone who is just beginning to experience fibromyalgia. This book has very good resources and is very concise. Even though I have been diagnosed with this for many years, I gained new information from it. I wish that this book had been published when I was first diagnosed. I have read almost every book out and I truly believe that this has the best information in a fairly short, very easy to read book. I have even had my local library buy a copy and I have loaned the book to friends who have then decided to buy it!

Excellent reading!! This book certainly helped me identify with and understand what people with this disorder have to go through. Several people I know have fibromyalgia and I simply had "no clue" as to what they were experiencing until I read this book.

Fibromyalgia Syndrome-Fighting the Devil with the Patience of Job is one of the best books that I have ever read or purchased regarding living with chronic pain and fibromyalgia. I have the paperback version of the book and recommend it highly

This author did her homework and has set everything out in laymen's terms so it is easy to understand and refer to time and time again. Also, she certainly does not mind "walking on a few toes" when talking about health care and disability issues. It is a "must read" for people who live in chronic pain and for those who have fibromyalgia (and especially those newly diagnosed with the disorder or think they have it).