How to Teach English

Jeremy Harmer’s How to Teach English is an invaluable guide for English teachers, particularly for those who have not undergone any special training in English teaching. This book covers all the important topics that relate English teaching classes at various levels as well as the main elements of English grammar and some effective methods teaching them to students.

Harmer’s attention to the extra-linguistic features that help in engaging students’ interest is the most appreciable aspect of his book. Teachers can gain some truly valuable tips here on, for example, how their dress and voice influence the attention of their students; how to plan lessons; the pros and cons of different English teaching approaches, and much more. The exercises included with the text to illustrate the topics are simple and easy to use in any English teaching class.

How to Teach English also includes a special chapter What If? to guide teachers on how to handle the commonly experienced difficulties with students in a class. What, for example, can a teacher do if the students are uncooperative or if the students keep using their native language(s) in the class instead of speaking English. The author has also provided a brief list of helpful resources for teachers of English. For all the latter, Jeremy Harmer’s How to Teach English is strongly recommended.

ISBN: 0582297966

Availability

http://www.alibris.com/booksearch.detail?invid=9957856604&browse=1&qwork=3030985&qsort=&page=1

The Labyrinth

Shackled in a dreary room in one of Chicago’s mental hospitals, a schizophrenic child’s life had crossed the way of eternal darkness. Wounded and nearly abandoned, this kid couldn’t foretell then that he was to attain freedom from the dismal scene of the mental hospital, get back to school, go to fight in a war for his country, get married and sire kids, and found his own publishing company in the heart of the world’s publishing center. This child was Mike Stefan Strozier and The Labyrinth (World Audience Publishers, 2006) is his memoir.

Reading the book’s subtitle – schizophrenia, homelessness, war, alcoholism, and divorce – did at first induce some apprehension: was it going to be another gloom-and-doom story? But it was amazing to find the episodes of Mike’s troubled past free of self-pity. Instead, you find the writer’s success in stepping aside from the negativity so frequently associated with the bitter memories of trauma. With time, the account of his life’s most challenging phases show Mike as a man growing in strength while his trial changed its guise. There was pain, a lot of it, but there also was a characteristically human tenacity that took the throes one after the other, without cringing. The Labyrinth goes to show how tolerant the human spirit is!

Something worth-noticing in the book is that Mike has chosen not to causally or – for some part – chronologically connect the choices he made in his adult life; one reason perhaps being that he didn’t have many of them. But this is also how he proves his writing talent, i.e. by engaging the readers’ interest in the immediacy of his episodic narrative. And it works in preventing The Labyrinth from sounding too egotistical.

There is some limitation, however, with respect to the book’s audience. This reviewer feels that The Labyrinth is about the phases of a man’s life, which would be of little interest to many women. The interesting question that strikes the mind, therefore, is ‘who is Mike’s Ariadne?’ Or did his magical thread come out of the blue?

ISBN: 978-0978808662

Availability
http://www.amazon.com/Labyrinth-M-Stefan-Strozier/dp/0978808665/ref=sr_11_1/105-0654095-5530023?ie=UTF8&qid=1189857871&sr=11-1

How to Write a Suicide Note

In an exceptionally daring work of cultural criticism and probe into multicultural identity, Sherry Quan Lee takes her readers to the roots of emotional trauma experienced by a woman of color who has attempted suicide more than once. How to Write a Suicide Note (Modern History Press, Michigan, 2008) is a work of prose-cum-poetry exploring the role of cultural background in inhibiting one’s true self from expression, leading to suppression and trauma – the beginning of suicide. As the book’s subtitle serial essays that saved a woman’s life connotes, Lee’s verse becomes the medium through which she reclaims her right and will to live. Her book is, therefore, a life-loving book, and not a collection of ‘suicide-recipes’ (as the title may seem to suggest).

Lee’s remarks and questions about the experience of a Black-Chinese woman, impelled into following the white American values and lifestyle, come in a poignant tone. But, somewhat unexpectedly, there is no sickness as such, which leaves the reader depressed or queasy. One may get a bit confused at first up on making sense of the desultorily-written lines, blending surrealism with self-consciousness. However, the multiple messages on the same page get connected as you move forward through the book. Five divisions of the book present suicide notes – writings that ask question about life, ethnicity, cultural values, and the trauma associated with one’s identity as a minority member of a lower social rank.

More than anything, How to Write a Suicide Note places high value on the written word and the process of writing as pertains the expression of one’s real self. It is through this activity that lost lives and dejected spirits can return to confidence and a revived will to exist. Writing, to Lee, is just a form of life, or sometimes, even greater than life. Here is how she culminates the meaning of writing for her readers:

‘When you can, write
When you can’t, live
When you can’t live, write.’

While seriously concerned with cultural critique and emotional pain, How to Write a Suicide Note is not simply gloom-and-doom. Judging the process of writing as a form of therapy, Lee shows the intimate connection between identity and passion for art. For Lee, writing counters the darkness of social life; for other readers, it may be another activity that gives greater meaning to their lives. What is important to learn and remember from How to Write a Suicide Note is ‘don’t die by your weaknesses; live by your passion.’ It is one of those books that show you why living is greater than suicide.

ISBN: 978-1-932690-63-7

Treasure Hunt

Treasure Hunt (Booklocker.com, 2008) is a delightful book, truly entertaining in the light-heartedness of its party-centered clues for family and/or friends. Nancy Kruse has shared over 100 clues in different categories – all serving to heighten party celebration at home and outside. Here you learn to add fun to parties by giving clues that would lead to gifts as well as a spark for using your creativity and wit to write amusing verse for celebrations.

Though some may think of clues as rather trivial, the author tells about the significance of clues beyond that of adding amusement to gift-giving in parties; clues allow participation by most/all participants and also initiate conversations, thus playing an important social role. There are also some important considerations that must be kept in view while creating party clues: proper timing, adequate space, and the personality of the seeker – to name a few. And as the author proceeds to share the clues she uses, you come to know how giving clues enhances our interaction with people, objects, and places. Some of the funny clues also give you a good laugh!

There is one thing that that this reader felt missing in the book, namely illustrations. With some simple sketches, Treasure Hunt could have been made even more exciting a book for party lovers. For another volume, and we can’t wait to see one, the author may consider adding pictorial fun to go with the clues.

ISBN: 978-1601455659

Availability: http://www.amazon.com/TREASURE-HUNT-Book-Clues-Parties/dp/1601455658

Deadly Decisions: How False Knowledge Sank the Titanic, Blew Up the Shuttle, and Led America into War

Information has occupied the center of decision-making in human societies since ancient times. In the modern world, the political and social structure have gained immense complexity while the biological mechanism for information-processing in the human nervous system has remained more or less in place – liable to distortion, deletion, improvisation, and other errors that transform the original information in different ways, thus giving rise to what Christopher Burns terms as ‘false knowledge’. In Deadly Decisions (Prometheus Books 2008), Burns unveils and explains in detail the mismanagement of information that led to historical disasters like the sinking of Titanic, the destruction of the space shuttle Challenger, and – more recently – the 9/11 terrorist attacks followed by Iraq War.

In addition to the meticulous research of the book’s author, revealing the inside story of the widely known disasters, this book explains the biological basis of false knowledge and the nature of truth systems. The latter covers the philosophical concepts of truth and its role in society as discussed by renowned thinkers and writers – Kant, Voltaire, Rousseau, Struass, and Durkheim. Burns shows the relation between information handling/mishandling, human understanding/confusion, and the combined impact of both these on human existence.

With the horrors of a potential pandemic – the avian flu – hanging like the Damocles’ Sword on humanity, receiving, processing, and presenting information with maximum accuracy has become equivalent to the very survival of our species on this planet. The need to improve our information processing systems is thus the cry of the hour and the author of Deadly Decisions daringly appears with the case file for revising our attitude toward information handling in order to avoid making disastrous decisions. The Internet is one global network of information sharing in our time and Christopher Burns is hopeful that the World Wide Web can prove a satisfactory solution for ironing out the seams in information management.

Deadly Decisions is fully referenced, highly critical, and shockingly revealing. It blows the whistle and warns humanity of future catastrophes that can be prevented by ensuring the efficiency of information handling systems. There is much to learn from this book, and a lot to discuss.

ISBN: 978-1591026600

Book Webiste: http://www.deadly-decisions.com/

Furnace of Creation, Cradle of Destruction: A Journey to the Birthplace of Earthquakes, Volcanoes, and Tsunamis

Volcanism, earthquakes, and tsunamis – together they make the great trinity of natural disasters; that is how we know these violent natural phenomena, while our collective understanding of their origin has been plodding its way across time and tradition. At length, there seems to be a scientific theory that convincingly explains the nature, origin, and dynamics of the three greatest natural disasters – the theory of Plate Tectonics. British professor of oceanography Dr. Roy Chester, author of the classic title Marine Geochemistry, covers the progress of human understanding of earth’s most destructive natural hazards from ancient mythological traditions to modern scientific findings in his latest book Furnace of Creation, Cradle of Destruction (AMACOM Books, New York, 2008).

Ancient mythological/religious traditions themselves remain rather less known and scarcely discussed in our age of scientific education, except for history buffs and the most avid readers. Not surprisingly, old beliefs about volcanoes, earthquakes, and tsunamis regarded them as acts of the gods or supernatural forces/creatures. Even in the recorded history of academic thought, there was a general domination of religious dogma and traditional beliefs till the Renaissance. Roy Chester traces the path of human thought and understanding, over the centuries, leading to the new era in studies about earth, its age, and evolution. It is insightful as well as entertaining to read how the scientific explanations of earth’s internal forces and their manifest effects have come in a series of episodes – like a mystery novel in which missing pieces of evidence are sought after the initial investigation narrows down the range of possibilities. In the chapter New Battles, the author discusses the two main schools of thought – Uniformatarianism and Catastrophism – that contended for authority on gearing the direction of future research over earth’s structure and evolution. From thence, the really significant story of the theory of plate tectonics comes into play.

Describing some of the most notable/forceful natural events on earth, Roy Chester shows how a number of theories about earth’s interior and internal forces were conceived by different researchers. The reader is taken to high mountains and deep down into the depth of oceans for structural observation as the author unfolds the plot of the plate tectonics phenomenon, moving back and forth in time. Through Dr. Chester’s showing-and- telling, we ultimately get the complete idea of how the seemingly rigid continents ride on a more plastic layer of molten rock material underneath and the relation between tectonic activity and natural disasters. There certainly is a lot more to learn about earth in Furnace of Creation, Cradle of Destruction: the formation and destruction of ocean floor; hot spots and hydrothermal venting systems; tectonic activity and global climate; and even the very origin of life on earth. Primarily, it is the story of the earth here that we read, also learning how earth’s matter, environment, and life are broadly related.

Thorough understanding of natural disasters clears the confusions about natural havoc wreaked on our lives and property. What is more important for the general reader is the possibility of predicting earthquakes, volcanism, and/or tsunamis in time to avoid/mitigate the damages associated with the disasters. As Roy Chester shows, it is still very hard to accurately predict future disasters; yet, extensive research has identified the more dangerous places on earth and a number of safety measures can be taken to minimize loss during a disastrous event. The final chapter of the book details the important concepts based on decades of research relating the prediction of earthquakes, volcanism, and tsunamis. It is here that the reader finds the human species face to face with nature; and gladly, we are not completely helpless here. Roy Chester makes a case for the unique human quality of scientific investigation and capitalizing on research for a safer and better future.

Furnace of Creation, Cradle of Destruction is a complete course in the basic concepts of earth’s structure, composition, activity, and evolution. With many awesome cases f natural disasters and helpful illustrations, this is the book that will make readers better understand how physical nature works on our home planet.

ISBN: 9780814409206

Availability: http://www.amanet.org/books/book.cfm?isbn=9780814409206

An Insomniac’s Dream

Kelly Moran’s An Insomniac’s Dream (Publish America, December 2005) is just the kind of book that matches its title throughout its content and style – a half-dreamy mode of story-telling, one which makes you question the meaning of the word ‘real’. A collection of 30 poems and 7 short stories, the book explores the paranormal phenomena by palpable characters in the stories and a number of uneasy feelings in the poetry.

In an important sense, most of Kelly’s poems are ‘versified’ flash stories, each of which ends with a twist in the last two lines. While they do vary in the themes of the stories they tell, the mode mainly remains dreamily observational. In the first few poems, the author does not use the first-person narrative and hence a distinctive kind of detachment from the scene depicted in the poem; but it’s not long that she pays her personal tribute to her near and dear ones in poems like Pink, Blue, and Yellow.

Kelly’s poetry, in part, sounds dreamy because of the ease with which she waves two contrasting impressions in a single concept. In Every Petal Falls, for instance, we read of a daisy’s ‘frail petals, and its whisper that is ‘strong as the wind’ – when the daisy speaks. Same quality repeats in the very next poem Candles Wishes where the evanescent tears and smiles in a moment of time are contrasted against the memories ‘etched in stone’. Only a few poems lack the fluidity of poetic beauty and sound rather monotonous – Keeper of Secrets, for example – and one or two are less expressive in conveying the message, like Nothing. Most of the poems in this book, however, do touch your feelings and the sensation lasts for quite a while.

The true charm of Kelly’s writing, however, is best seen in her short fiction. Each story in An Insomniac’s Dream stands as an attention-grabber, a mystery of the literary quality of good creative writing. Communicating with the dead is the main motif in most of these stories, a spooky air, hence, envelops the reader while keeping him/her glued to the sense of its words. The tale that stands out from the collection as a real gem is The Man Named Fred in which the ghost of the deceased wife of a mystery writer communicates with him and shakes him down to his last nerve. The story sparkles as a critical view on the sincerity of one’s belief in what he/she writes – an interesting challenge to all writers of paranormal fiction.

Looking at the title and cover image of An Insomniac’s Dream, if you feel attracted to take a look at the content, it is surely recommended that you do since there is much inside this short book to amuse, intrigue, puzzle, and (sometimes) haunt you with its dreamy situations.

ISBN: 1413773443

Author Website

http://www.authorkellymoran.com/

Show Me: Marketing with Video on the Internet

Online marketing is becoming an integral component, many a time the leading one, of an effective marketing plan in our age of cyber technology. With popular social networking websites, like MySpace and Facebook, and video-sharing sites, like Youtube, videos have become the most favorite media for publicity about one’s products, services, and/or talent. Hence, a large number of people are turning to videography for marketing on the Internet. Award-winning videographer Jessica Kizorek’s latest book Show Me: Marketing with Video on the Internet (PSI Publications, Illinois, 2008) is a practical guide to the basics of online video marketing that address the important considerations in video-making for enhancing one’s web presence.

As specified in the disclaimer, Kizorek’s book is not a commercial offer of services but only a useful guide that educates aspiring and professional business owners on the most important facts about video marketing. In 12 chapters, the author covers her topic well from various angles including the reasons for choosing video marketing; different barriers to video marketing; knowing the audience and gauging success of a video; producing and distributing videos online; and so on. There are two very important chapters on legal entanglements relating video marketing, and on the perils and pitfalls involved in international video production. Also included in the book is an appendix summarizing the basics of video marketing online along with endnotes with important references. The information in Kizorek’s book makes it a crash course in video marketing on the Internet.

The glossy pages and attractive images in the book add richness to Kizorek’s conversational style of writing. There are very few typos in the entire publication and the only thing that may interfere with the reader’s enjoyment is the slew of quotes about video ads and marketing – something that fills virtually every second page of the book. However, one may easily skip them by concentrating on the interesting text of the chapters. Show Me: Marketing with Video on the Internet is the book for all Internet users, business owners, and individuals/groups who want to know about video marketing on the Internet.

Book Website

http://www.showmethebook.com/

Author Wesbite

http://www.jessicakizorek.com/

Theaters and Theater Companies of New York

For theater goers and drama lovers, the World Audience Publishers (New York) has published a brief guide to important theaters and theater companies in New York. Authored by Mike Stefan Strozier and Anthony Rubino Jr., Theaters and Theater Companies of New York (January 2008) carries a wealth of guidance on important drama production centers in New York along with full page photos of theater buildings.

Strozier and Rubino’s book inform the readers on the difference between different kinds of theater companies, working in New York; the background of their origin; and the profiles of more important theaters and production companies including their contact details and expert rating of their overall performance. Such an evaluation may help the readers decide what theater to go on their coming weekend. In addition, the authors of the book have also touched on the good and not-so-good critics and publications concerned with the quality of theater in New York. The book also warns against some places for security reasons – information, particularly helpful to strangers/tourists who want to enjoy nighttime theater in New York.

Despite the somewhat out-of-proportion abundance of theater images, Theaters and Theater Companies of New York does not lack in amusing substance. You learn about the story of the first actor, the story of the Tony Award, financial facts about theaters, the longest running plays, and more. This guide offers a snapshot of the art of theatrical production in New York, its past and present, and the business and pleasure of theater in the heart of America.

Availability
http://www.amazon.com/Theaters-Theater-Companies-York-2008/dp/193420983X/ref=sr_11_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1200718025&sr=11-1

The Last Cowgirl

Dickie Sinfield, the 52-year old Salk Lake City journalist, ignored the call of her ‘cowgirl instincts’ for years in order to mix up in the more delicate and nifty urban lifestyle. But now, when her only brother is dead in suspicious circumstances, Dickie has little choice but to return to the ranch in Clayton, Utah, where she spent a childhood full of internal psychological conflict. The storyline of Jana Richman’s latest novel The Last Cowgirl (William Morrow Books, January 2008) points to the strong sense of connectedness to a place – in Dickie’s case, the country farmhouse where she had her first practical lessons in living a life.

The story of The Last Cowgirl proceeds as a first-person narrative, taking turns between Dickie’s voice as the 52-year old reporter in Salt Lake City and the child Dickie growing up on a farm. Unlike her elder sister Annie, Dickie’s characterization follows the view of her mother: ‘playing it safe is a shitty way to live a life.’ This holds for both the girl child on the ranch who would get lost in the hills at night and rescued by the ranchers as well as for the still-single, investigative reporter who would go politically incorrect in the face of crooked authorities. Strength, courage, stamina, and the spirit of adventure speak it for the west; Dickie Sinfield being an instance.

Jana Richman’s novel is a balanced work of inspiring literary merit. The language is fresh; the conversations are engaging; and all the main characters are memorably created. In a sense, The Last Cowgirl is a book of heroes chosen from apparently common people. Dickie’s conflict is both natural and vital for the expression of her real self – one that has escaped the lash of time by her half-conscious choice of shifting places. The motivation for returning to Clayton is gradually explored in the combination of the two subplots that fit into each other like mirror images to make a single, shining whole. Readers are cogently led to show how Dickie’s life is about keeping the legacy of courage and commitment that has been the pride of living in the openness of the American west.

The Last Cowgirl also critically brings up some burning issues, e.g. care for animals versus their abuse for vested-interests; passion for natural versus artificial life; speaking the disturbing truth about war as against a conciliatory silence; and finding the true love in contrast to mere companionship for the sake of a social life. With absorbing dialogues, captivating imagery, and delightful humor Jana Richman has scribed a heart-winning saga of exquisite western beauty.

ISBN: 978-0061257186

Availability

http://www.harpercollins.com/books/9780061257186/The_Last_Cowgirl/index.aspx

Author Page

http://www.randomhouse.com/author/results.pperl?authorid=36360

The GenoType Diet

Since William Sheldon’s seminal work on somatotyping, a number of scientific endeavors have been made to correlate behavioral traits with biological constitution. Dr. Peter J. D’Adamo’s latest book The GenoType Diet (Broadway Books, December 2007) discovers new connections between human morphology, genetic makeup, and blood types. He then theorizes a division of people into six main groups, the GenoTypes, on the basis of these characteristics and relates them to a person’s health, proposing a diet plan that best fits the nutritional needs of each category. After Dr. D’Adamo’s Eat Right 4 Your Type series, this book adds a new perspective to the diet-centered approach of naturopathic treatment.

Dr. D’Adamo devotes individual sections of his book to explain the science, mostly epigenetics, underlying the role of diet in an individual’s overall health. How and why it differs for different GenoTypes is the hook in this publication. Most interestingly, though not very fully, the author relates diet and Genotype in an evolutionary context. Combined with the author’s storytelling skills, it makes the research work a kind of test for self-discovery. As one reads more, he/she is tempted to discover him/herself in the right category of GenoTypes.

While the The GenoType Diet remains an interesting read for most part of it, there is a good deal of repetition in more than one chapter – sometimes seen in replication of whole passages. This is the main weakness that actually starts boring you at the beginning, and/or end, of some chapters. There also remains some confusion about how the author places historical figures, like Julius Caesar and Elizabeth 1 etc, in a particular GenoType without having any possibility to know their morphological measures, blood types, and other variables. This is more of a problem when he categorizes religious figures – like Abraham – characters whose very historicity is in question.

Dr. D’Adamo’s books is not strictly confined to healthy diet only but he also suggests some easy-to-do exercises for people of the six GenoTypes in order to ensure optimal fitness. The book also contains a list of useful resources on the subject and a glossary of important terms. Recommended for health-conscious readers.

ISBN-13: 978-0767925242

Availability

http://www.amazon.com/GenoType-Diet-Genetic-healthiest-possible/dp/0767925246

Author Website
http://www.genotypediet.com/

Alive!

Substance abuse continues to be a disastrous consequence of stress and pain, especially those experienced in the early years of one’s life. In her recent book Alive (Infinity Publishing, 2008), Eileen P. DeClemente has revealed intriguing connections between childhood traumas, familial stress, and addiction to alcohol and drugs. Starting with her collapse in her mid 30s, Eileen tells an aching tale of her journey through several years of alcohol and drug abuse. After surviving a number of near-death situations, she decided to put an end to her sufferings by seeking professional treatment. Her narrative keeps the reader glued to the pages of her book, till the very end.

Eileen’s depiction of the alcoholic’s angst carries the reader away not only by its openness and poignant honesty, but more so by her analysis of familial relationships and their interplay with substance abuse. An alcoholic/druggie not only loses control of his/her freedom of choice but is also robbed of his/her social life. For Eileen, it was not less than a miracle to come out of the extremes of substance abuse (over 90 pills a day) and live a normal life again.

Alive is an exemplary work of personal encounter with alcoholism and drug abuse. Eileen’s life story is alarming, mesmerizing, and didactic; at the same time inspirational, motivating, and full of hope for all people who are suffering from some form of debilitating stress in their lives. There are some typos in the book – the only thing that may be regarded as the book’s weakness (and one can point to the publisher only). However, the author’s magic hardly allows one’s attention to be distracted. Alive is just what the doctor ordered; a book for everyone including the teenage population.

ISBN: 0-7414-4578-6

Book Website: http://eileenisalive.com/

The Genie in Your Genes

To counter the invasive nature of allopathic therapeutic techniques, currently forming the bulk of mainstream treatment, alternate healing experts are knuckling down on scientific research that validates non-invasive, simpler, safer, and less expensive treatment methods. Part of the groundbreaking work in this direction comes from Dawson Church, founder of the Soul Medicine Institute (SMI) – a nonprofit education and research institute that focuses on consciousness and energy as primary modalities. In his recent book The Genie in Your Genes: Epigenetic Medicine and the New Biology of Intention (Elite Books, California, 2007), Dawson Church probes into the complex processes that switch on, or turn off, the genes in our bodies, a process that determines whether or not certain healing responses will be triggered. The pages of the book are filled with some of the most amazing findings on genes and illnesses, and their connection with the flow of electromagnetic energy in the body.

To date, mainstream science and popular media have convinced every second person that our biochemistry is mostly determined at birth and that allopathic treatment therapies are the most reliable and effective means of coping with diseases. The Genie in Your Genes challenges this view in a radical manner and underscores the importance of our beliefs and emotions as the dominant factors in determining our physiochemical as well as genetic framework. A simplified version of the author’s view can be created by thinking of psychological states – beliefs, emotions, and intentions etc – as directly affecting the flow of electromagnetic energy in our bodies. This energy has the ability to switch on (or off) particular genes as well as trigger the release of biochemical substances in the body that are important for quick and long-term relief from diseased symptoms. Such changes that start outside the DNA (i.e. epigenetic changes) are even heritable and, if adequately manipulated, have the potential of producing a healthier and peaceful generation of human beings. An amazing implication of epigenetic medicine!

Dawson Church is certainly not excessively critical of allopathic medicine. He acknowledges the use of such treatment in bringing relief from painful symptoms of certain conditions. But given the many adverse effects of allopathic treatments, their invasiveness and low effectiveness in many cases, and their high costs and many risks, he proposes that allopathic treatment should be the last resort of patients, not the priority. Explaining the simple, easy, and cost-free techniques of energy healing, Dawson Church equips the readers with some effective, quick-healing techniques that provide instance relief from stress and associated physical symptoms. The exciting research studies discussed in the book are fully referenced and a list of useful sources of information on energy healing is there for interested readers to consult. The Genie in Your Genes is yet another landmark publication on the subject of epigenetic processes, energy healing, and the biological changes resulting from non-physical stimuli.

ISBN: 978-1-60070-022-4

Availability

http://www.genieinyourgenes.com/

Succession

Award-winning author Herbert Lobsenz has returned to the publishing world with his latest novel Succession (Zumaya Publications, 2008), the story of an aspiring writer, Jake Garrison, who finds himself in the alienating corporate world of the 1960s’ America. While Jake struggles to hold on to his sanity amidst the materialistic pressures of his workplace, the inner conflict with his doubts over his wife’s fidelity and his own integrity silently push him to the darkness of distrust. Only later would he realize that his response to the antagonist forces was overly fueled by his deep-seated fears.

Lobsenz creates an intriguing story for his book. His construction of the plot is compact and somewhat intricate; more poised on the side of the corporate mania rather than the main character’s personal development. There are some weaknesses in the book that may distract an average reader from getting the most of its pleasure and gist. The story takes a sharp start with a captivating hook but soon looses the balance of Jake’s character and, at times, Jake becomes almost non-existent in the plot. Lack of continuity in the story and a rushed conclusion interfere with the novel’s impact as something enjoyable with a clear meaningful message.

On the positive side, Succession opens up a window of thought against the senseless world of business where one has to tread one’s kind, even one’s own friends and family, for making profit. Jake’s watchword ‘never show pain’ is a manifestation of the fears associated with the race for survival in the ever-tightening capitalist society. On the whole, Succession is a poignant and disturbing book, recommended only for a limited audience i.e. men who can enjoy a tale of the business world back in the 1960s.

ISBN: 978-1-934135-81-5

Availability

http://www.amazon.com/Succession-Herbert-Lobsenz/dp/193413581X

The Slippery Art of Book Reviewing

Book reviewing has been the hobby, profession, and passion of many practicing and potential writers as well as ardent book readers. Still, there had been no book length publication until now that may have served as a guide for reviewing books. Now we finally have one under the title The Slippery Art of Book Reviewing by Mayra Calvani and Anne K. Edwards, editors of the free monthly review ezine Voice in the Dark. Published by Twilight Times Books (2008), Mayra and Anne’s book covers all the basic elements involved in the art/hobby/profession of book reviewing.

As the title hints, book reviewing is a slippery art with a number of influences acting on the potential reviewers, hindering their objectivity and partiality in writing the review. The Slippery Art of Book Reviewing points out those slippery sides of the book reviewing art so as to enable the reviewer to write fair, objective, and reader-friendly reviews. Failing to do so not only betrays the trust a reader puts in the reviewer but also endangers the reviewer’s own reputation and integrity as a pen-holder. This is the most important aspect of The Slippery Art of Book Reviewing.

Mayra and Anne’s book also educates on the basics of reviewing like what a review is; what are the various types of reviews; how to write different types of reviews; and the relation between the review, reviewer, reader, author, and publisher. The examples of reviews and a simple step-by-step guide to review writing included in the book are certainly a great source of information for beginner reviewers. Also, a valuable list of publishing and reviewing sources, online and in print, at the end of the book will be of great interest and practical assistance to reviewers at all levels.

ISBN: 1933353228

Availability

http://www.amazon.com/Slippery-Art-Book-Reviewing/dp/1933353228

Authors’ Websites

Mayra Calvani: http://mayracalvani.com/
Anne K. Edwards: http://www.mysteryfiction.net/

The Human Antenna

Acupuncture and other methods of alternate healing have been in use for centuries and have repeatedly been criticized by hard-shelled scientists and medical professionals as devoid of any solid scientific base. But Dr. Robin Kelly’s recent book The Human Antenna (Elite Books, California, 2007) brings up a whole new face of human existence in the light of some really fascinating research studies. Mainstream science has always attempted to attribute all bodily and mental functions to the material base of our existence. Here, Dr. Kelly presents evidence that we are essentially ‘energy beings’ down to our very last atom. A stunning theory of life!

Working as a medical doctor, Dr. Kelly tells how he found scientific and rational wisdom in ancient Chinese traditions of healing, particularly acupuncture. Not only did he become an acupuncture therapist but also pursued research on the healing aspects of universal energy. What Dr. Kelly learnt was radically different from the ruling concepts of ‘life’ in science; we turn out to be intimately connected to the universal energy that affects each and every cell of us, every passing moment. This universal energy is a major resource of healing various types of illnesses more effectively and almost free of cost. All we need to do is understand it better along scientific lines of research. The Human Antenna is a seminal work in that direction.

Including several accounts of the most exciting and revealing research in various scientific disciplines across the globe, The Human Antenna surprises the reader with its wonderful, little-known facts about life and its interaction with the universe. At the same time, Dr. Kelly narrates his own life experiences that inspired him to seek the truth of existence out of the dark realms of obscurity. His skills of story-telling and refined sense of humor make The Human Antenna a page turner, converting intricate scientific concepts into amusing tales for all his readers.

ISBN: 978-1-60415-014-8

Availability

http://www.amazon.com/Human-Antenna-Reading-Language-Universe/dp/1604150149/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1214146569&sr=8-1

Author Website
http://www.humanantenna.com/

AIDS Orphans Rising

AIDS is one of the worst threats that have thwarted humanity. In human knowledge, it has a short history; though its origin is possibly as old as humanity itself. Now in the 21st century, AIDS has become ever more terrifying in a different way than a medical condition: it is prowling on the lives of children. In her latest book AIDS Orphans Rising What You Should Know and What You Can Do To Help Them Succeed (Loving Healing Press, December 2007), Sister Mary Elizabeth Lloyd alarms the readers with the frightening figures of the world’s minor population that is left orphan as AIDS continues to take their parents down. Every 14 seconds, such a tragedy occurs in some part of the world!

In many developing and poor countries, the death of both parents leaves the surviving children on their own. Thus a child headed household (CHH) is formed where the orphans, many of them under 9 years of age, have to work for their survival. Those who are not left a house by their parents have to live on the streets, beg for food, and are prone to falling into crime and prostitution in order to survive. The situation is assuming the status of a crisis in African countries, particularly in South Africa and Zambia, where the governments are economically too weak to support AIDS orphans. What do these helpless children do?

As Sister Mary Elizabeth explains in her book, viewing these children as totally helpless will not be so correct a view since these orphan kids have developed coping strategies of their own to ensure their survival. These range from menial labor to selling grains and nuts, and learning technical skills while continuing to go to school full time. Still, they are very much in need of help from grownups not only to live better but also for emotional support and the development of positive and fully functional personalities as they move into adulthood. Without help, they remain at a high risk of becoming a prey to exploitation and abuse.

How can the lives of these AIDS orphans be salvaged? Sister Mary Elizabeth provides a complete resource guide in AIDS Orphans Rising for the readers to help them play their role in helping the poor kids who have been left on their own in the struggle for survival. The Sister ad her team are working in various parts of the world to support AIDS orphans and their efforts make an instance of inspiration for all those who care to save human children from the claws of poverty and potential abuse. AIDS Orphans Rising is a major step in this direction.

ISBN: 978-1932690477

Availibility

http://aidsorphansrising.org/book.html

AIDS Orphans Website

http://aidsorphansrising.org/

The Book of Life

The Book of Life by Chinese poet and philosopher Ronnie Lee is the first among a series of books that the author has scribed on the subject of existential philosophy and its role in explaining life. Published by Outskirt Press (December 2006), The Book of Life is a voluminous collection of Lee’s poems on existentialism, logic, and the reality of our existence. The aim of Lee’s work is attaining a greater understanding of truth and the core realities of life. The merit of his work is contained not only in his philosophical quest for discovering the meaning of existence but mainly in his use of poetry as a medium of explaining the otherwise mind-boggling views on issues that may not interest the general reader. But Lee makes his views both easy to grasp and enjoyable to read in poetic form.

The Book of Life is divided in five main sections: The Truth of Logic, Wills, Philosophy, World Science, and My World Experience. The first three parts deal with philosophical concepts and the role of logic and reason in understanding various phenomena of existence. World Science is a more mathematical part of Lee’s book, explaining the reality of life by applying existential logic to many mathematical expressions of our mainstream science. In the last part of the book, called My World Experience, Lee shares the many questions he asked himself for attaining a greater understanding of the reality of existence. His own curiosity for getting knowledge serves as a model of wisdom for his readers.

Lee’s The Book of Life is a founding work of philosophical poetry that is a rare genre in our times. Poetic composition makes philosophy easier and interesting. It is an invitation to discover grand realities in an enjoyable, artistic mode. We all have got our own ‘book’ of life; why not explore it in depth like Lee?

ISBN: 978-1432700096

Availability

http://www.amazon.com/Book-Life-Existentialism-Wisdom Philosophy/dp/143270009X/ref=tag_prf_item_edpp_ttl

Strategies

As Tami Brady suffered from the painful and peace-haunting symptoms of fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome, she lost control of her life. To mask her fears, she pressed harder on herself in her field work as an archeology student, trying to convey that she was strong as ever. But one day, when she collapsed in the field and was raised to her feet by her friends, she heard the most important thing from one of the students; that she was human just like them. In her latest book Strategies: A Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Fibromyalgia Journey (Loving Healing Press, Michigan, 2008), Tami Brady tells the story of transformation as a person after her painful experience of fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome. In a very important sense, Dr. Brady found herself a more confident and wiser person even to the point of thanking the two diseases for visiting her and making this shift in personality possible.

Fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome are quite prevalent with no exact cause or cure known so far and often being wrongly diagnosed as one or more of several other disorders with similar symptoms. Strategies explores the nature of these two debilitating diseases via the author’s personal journey through them. Realizing the hazards of passively receiving treatment with prescribed medicine, Tami started to formulate her own treatment strategies, targeting both specific symptoms and general well-being. Thus we learn about three main strategies that every patient of these diseases can benefit from: physical support, stress management, and natural medication. Tami’s book is a valuable resource of various means of coping with fibromyalgia and stress that leads to exhaustion.

Strategies also includes a complete treatment plan in form of the many pages to be used by readers who are patients of fibromyalgia and/or chronic fatigue syndrome. By presenting her own treatment plan as a model, the book makes self-treatment easy and simple enough to be used with confidence by any and all readers. For every health conscious individual, and particularly for those who want to win their battle over stress and fatigue, Tami Brady’s book is highly recommended.

ISBN: 1-932690-48-4

Availability

http://lovinghealing.com/strategies-chronic-fatigue-syndrome-fibromyalgia/

Author Website

http://www.tami-brady.com/

The Case Against ‘Jesus’

For nearly two thousand years, billions of people have believed in Jesus Christ of the New Testament as a historical figure who lived on this earth and performed miracles. But did Jesus really exist or is he an invented character, no more than a rewrite of the various mythical traditions predating the New Testament? This defying question has been raised before by more than one scholar in the past and now it comes with a shockingly greater force out of the pen of Burton H. Wolfe. In his fourth (revised) edition of The Case Against ‘Jesus’ (World Audience Inc, New York, 2007), Burton Wolfe launches a meticulous probe into the validity of Christian faith that stands on the belief that Jesus Christ existed as a living, breathing person; performed miracles; and was crucified. Digging up the most intriguing historical evidence against the very existence of Christ, Wolfe exposes organized religion as a hoax that serves to satiate the vested interests of more than one group of people.

According to Wolfe, there are many strong reasons for doubting the historicity of Jesus: the absence of any authentic historical evidence of Jesus extrinsic to the New Testament; the startling resemblance of pre-Christian traditions, especially of the Hebraic origins, to the Biblical accounts of the Christ; the contradictions in the Bible regarding the story of Jesus and his crucifixion; various frauds perpetrated by the Church and media to perpetuate the story of Jesus as an authentic fact; and the direct historical evidence proving Jesus as fiction rather than a historical fact. The author’s attention to detail and his vigorous criticism of irrational beliefs pose a serious problem to the world’s dominant religion as well as to organized religion as a whole.

The Case Against ‘Jesus’ is not only a hard blow to religion but also to different media that side with religion in furthering its deceptions. Wolfe is a relentless pursuer of truth who does not hesitate clawing at the fraudulent excesses of some of the most celebrated media channels and publications for their repeated misrepresentations of reality. He names the popular TV channels, newspapers, and magazines that have played with the ignorance and credulity of millions, singling out a few cases of their deception and presenting them as examples of their partiality. These revelations about the most trusted sources of information demand a revision of our very standards of credibility and truth.

Burton Wolfe writes his case against the historicity of Jesus with the knowledge of a scholar, the logic of a philosopher, and the fiery spirit of a nonconformist. At a few places in the book, his tome assumes a certain degree of anger, sounding harsh, but he counters this impression by arousing a good deal of laughter as he encourages making fun of lies disguised as truth. His book is a challenging read for all audiences concerned with truth, history, logic, and of course, with the Judeo-Christian religions.

ISBN: 978-1-934209-55-4

Availability

http://www.worldaudience.org/pubs_bks/pubs_bks_Wolfe_Jesus.html

Burton H. Wolfe’s Page at Authors Den

http://www.authorsden.com/visit/author.asp?authorid=41094