Book Description

Reynolds Price has long been one of America's most acclaimed and accomplished men of letters. In A Whole New Life he presents his most intimate story yet -- a memoir as compelling as any work of the imagination.

In 1984, a large cancer was discovered in Price's spinal cord. Here, he recounts his battle to withstand and recover from this devastating affliction. He charts the first puzzling symptoms, three surgeries, the radiation that paralyzes his lower body, the occasionally comic trials of rehab, the steady rise of pain and reliance on drugs, and his discovery of biofeedback and hypnosis. Beyond the particulars, Price illuminates larger concerns, such as the gratitude he feels toward family and friends and (some) doctors, the abundant return of his powers as a writer, and the "now appalling, now astonishing grace of God." More than the portrait of one person in crisis, A Whole New Life offers honest insight, realistic encouragement, and authentic inspiration -- and stands as one of Price's crowning achievements. ... Read more

Reviews (7)

A Long and Happy Life
Stricken with spinal cancer in 1984 at 51, novelist Reynolds Price lived to tell the tale, and what a tale it is. With not an ounce of self-pity, Price recounts his diagnosis, treatment, continuous battle with pain and his "whole new life" as someone who now uses a wheelchair with brutal honesty and humor. If you have ever doubted for an instant that we as individuals are ultimately left to put our lives back together after a traumatic illness, Price's story should put that myth to rest. He alone with the help of hypnosis learned how to deal with constant pain, a subject that many of his doctors ignored.

Mr. Price gives every indication that he has a new and happy life. He certainly has gotten on with it and continues to turn out books almost as rapidly as Joyce Carol Oates. It is fortunate that someone with the literary stature of Price chose to write down his experience. This book, along with Abraham Vergese's book about his experience as a doctor treating AIDS patients in East Tennessee in the early years of the epidemic-- MY OWN COUNTRY-- should be required reading for all med students. If reading these two books has no effect on them, they should get out of medicine and into computers.

A WHOLE NEW LIFE is truly an amazing book and as good as anything Price has ever written. It may be his best effort. I cannot recommend it too highly.

One test of a good book is...
One test of a good book is this: does it change the way you live your life or how you look at people. Reynolds Price, professor of English at Duke University, explores in this work a theme that hits everyone but that we don't often consider, or wish to consider, that is, the effect of major trauma on one's life and the life of one's friends, and perhaps everyone else around you.

RP tells the story of his own experience with spinal cancer in a bold, unflinching, but intensely personal way. One of the themes of the work is how profoundly a patient is affected by the attitudes and communication habits of medical care professionals. While he has tremendous praise for those who showed loving concern for him in his difficult times, he also wonders why some were so callous. For instance, he was informed of his tumor by two doctors while lying on a gurney in a crowded hallway. "What would those tow splendidly trained men have lost if they'd waited to play their trump til I was back in the private room for which Blue Cross was paying our mutual employer, Duke [University], a sizable mint in my behalf?"

Also wonderful in this book are his lessons/recommendation for those who have undergone similar tragedies such as this: "Generous people - true practical saints, some of them boring as root canals - are waiting to give you everything on Earth but your main want, which is simply THE PERSON YOU USED TO BE."

For me at least, this book helped change how I look at people, and I hope, will give me strength to deal with the traumas that will undoubtedly come someday to me and those I love.

Honest, insightful, earthy
I took a long time to read this book so that I could think about all that Mr. Price said, there was so much--about being a person struck down with a "catastrophic" illness, what it is like to lose the ability to walk or do anything else with your legs, about having cancer and wondering when it is coming back, navigating a large medical complex, about being a different person because of it all, about embracing that different person rather than resisting him, about what is most important about caregivers, doctors, nurses and friends. (Mr. Price has awesome friends who basically would go to the ends of the earth for him). I learned so much and found Mr Price's writing to be so honest and earthy and insightful. i hated coming to the final chapter. but loved what it had to say. i would recommend this book to everyone, it is a wonderful look at one's own humanity and that of others. Please also read "Letter to a Man in the Fire." after you have read "A whole new life." I read them the other way around, but it is more meaningful to read "a whole new life" first. Every member of every medical discipline should read this book--nurses, doctors, physical therapists, and students of all disciplines. As an oncologist, I learned a lot about how patients feel and what they might need.

Price fan and cancer survivor
I first read this in 1995, during the long week prior to surgery to remove a growing mass of cancer that, thankfully, has never revisited me. Aside from, once again, being awed by Price's magic with otherwise common words, it was especially comforting to read the very heart of a man whose prose I had read and long admired, someone who had survived a similar experience. Price is, hands down, my favorite writer.

A great message for those with cancer
I was sitting at the edge of a lake when I read A Whole New Life. I had finished by own book about the cancer experience and begun traveling to talk about the psychosocial (read emotional) issues of healing from such an experience. And then I read the words "the best thing the radiologist could have said to me was the old Reynolds Price is dead, who do you want to be now." It summarized for me much of my searching for what I had tried to say about what had happend tome. My old life is gone, was over the day they found the lump. I had forged a new one, but wish that someone along the way had told me that the cancer journey means becoming someone different -- and I think better. Thanks Reynolds Price. I recommend your book every time I speak. ... Read more

Book Description

In this brilliant book of recollection, one of America's finest writers re-creates people, places, and events spanning some fifty years, bringing to life an entire era through one man's sensibility. Scenes of love and desire, friendship, ambition, life in foreign cities and New York, are unforgettably rendered here in the unique style for which James Salter is widely admired.

Burning the Days captures a singular life, beginning with a Manhattan boyhood and then, satisfying his father's wishes, graduation from West Point, followed by service in the Air Force as a pilot. In some of the most evocative pages ever written about flying, Salter describes the exhilaration and terror of combat as a fighter pilot in the Korean War, scenes that are balanced by haunting pages of love and a young man's passion for women.

After resigning from the Air Force, Salter begins a second life, becoming a writer in the New York of the 1960s. Soon films beckon. There are vivid portraits of actors, directors, and producers--Polanski, Robert Redford, and others. Here also, more important, are writers who were influential, some by their character, like Irwin Shaw, others because of their taste and knowledge.

Ultimately Burning the Days is an illumination of what it is to be a man, and what it means to become a writer.

Only once in a long while--Vladimir Nabokov's Speak, Memory or Isak Dinesen's Out of Africa--does a memoir of such extraordinary clarity and power appear. Unconventional in form, Burning the Days is a stunning achievement by the writer The Washington Post Book World said "inhabits the same rarefied heights as Flannery O'Connor, Paul Bowles, Tennessee Williams and John Cheever" --a rare and unforgettable book.
... Read more

Reviews (19)

Breathtaking Language & Existential Decency
I first read this book about a year ago and still occasionally pull it off the shelf and re-read a few pages. It feels like going for a ride in a twin-seater plane with an aerobatic pilot who is not showing off - he is enjoying the flight and welcomes you to follow along... one of the greatest autobiographies of this century.

I had a stange but gratifying experience a few months after reading BURNING THE DAYS. A street bookseller in Moscow recommended an autobiography of Yuri Nagibin - a recently deceased important Russian writer. His autobiography was so similar to Salter in style as well as many facts - of course the two never knew each other and wrote in different languages - the war, the women, the films, a happy marriage late in life ... it felt like an unexpected confirmation of Salter's existentialist truth.

BURNING THE DAYS is a great book, I envy those who'll be reading it for the first time.

A Riveting Work of Art
Like I do with so many books, I initially judged "Burning the Days" by its cover. I saw the faded photography of a mid-century writer, handsome and strong. I witnessed the mountains of praise heaped upon him by the greatest of newspapers. I couldn't believe that I had never heard of this guy. So many great discoveries take place in this way. I picked up the book and blazed through it immediately. Salter recounts a life of ferocious masculinity. He paints a canvas of female conquests with the most delicate of colors. He uses language that is so prosaic, so utterly beautiful, that any writer worth his salt would do well to plagiarize. You find yourself re-reading episodes in the man's life as if they were your own, perhaps in another, more interesting incarnation. In fact, the work is ultimately depressing, because you realize how little you have seen and done in your own life compared to this man. I feel sorry for memoirists whose lives can only be pedestrian in comparison.

Perfect. But Better Each Time.
I've read the book twice. And after meeting the author briefly at a reading this weekend I've picked it up a third time. It seems new and better, and still crushes with a visceral weight. Read it again if you were unsure of it once.

What a great illustration of how to burn off your fuel
The book talks about the life of Jimmy, a New Yorker who later graduated from West Point Academy. Jimmy walked through his boyhood in private Catholic schools and summer camps, where he was exposed to the picture of a real world. He discovered the hardship an individual must overcome in order to survive, especially in the circumstance when the individual have to fight against other for a living. Miraculously, Jimmy became an air force major after graduated from West Point Academy. He experienced both wars: the war that existed in oversea (Korean War), and the psychological war. This war complicated him with broken relationship. This was a kind of unreachable relationship that left him with a sense of betrayal and failure, but at the same time it taught him valuable lessons about life. After all, he was unsatisfied with his accomplishment in the air force. He finally realized that his aspiration to be able to write was his ultimate goal because it gave him the opportunity to express his feelings and his personal experiences. As the result, Jimmy became a writer not too long after he retired from the air force.
In the book, James Salter applied several different methods to construct the thesis. He critically wrote the story in different period of time. He switched it back and forth between the past and the present. This technique made the readers question about the transition in Jimmy's past and how the past had an effect on the way he perceived life. In my personally view, the beginning of the book gave me different stages of excitement, however, the points were sporadically mentioned as I moved on. Consequently, the end of the book was quite redundant. On the other hand, the author used large amount of vocabulary, which can be definitely beneficial to one's knowledge.

I'm Insanely Jealous of This Man
As Woody Allen once wrote, some people are born to drink champagne and dance in Manhattan dinner clubs while others are born to live in Brooklyn and listen to a radio program of people drinking champange and dancing in Manhattan dinner clubs. Every time I read Salter's books I get a massive inferiority complex. Here is a man who lies "fully clothed in the stream of days", while I attempt to live vicariously through him. Of course, being born in 1965 handicaps any thought I might have about being a dashing man-about-Manhattan or Korean War fighter pilot. Regardless, I cannot help but be in awe of this man's life and his superb writing. You can read his work over and over and it's different every time. Sublime stuff. ... Read more

Book Description

Have you ever asked God to break your heart with the things that break His heart? Have you ever longed to see people and circumstances through God’s eyes?

Dr. Ted Kuhn asked God to help him see such things as he traveled the world providing medical care for some of the poorest and most needy people alive. From the slums of Manila to drought-stricken Africa to the villages of Haiti, these stories depict people who struggle for their very existence. "My Eyes, His Heart" is a collection of "word pictures" that help us see others as God sees them—all unique, all interesting, all made in His image, and all very precious in His sight. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Thanks
Dr Kuhn, in the Preface says that "Years ago I was challendged to ask God to break my heart with the things that break His heart."Few of us will have the courage or will to live such a self sacrificing journey in life."My Eyes, His Heart" gives those of us who only dream of the journey a chance to feel a little bit of what Dr. Kuhn has lived for the last 30 years.It is a wonderful treat. Thank you Dr. Ted Kuhn.

Heartwarming, heartbreaking, but above all eye opening.

Glimpses of the immediate and eternal
This book contains twenty-three short (usually 2-3 page long) glimpses from the travels and work of Dr. Kuhn as a medical missionary to various locations in South America, Africa, and Asia.Each one gives a vivid sense of the place, the immediate physical suffering of the people, and the eternal spiritual joy they can (and in some cases do) have in that suffering.

For me, this book is not so much about the work of missions, though it is about that, as it is about seeing the spiritual reality alongside what we perceive with our physical senses.This book is sad as it talks about the suffering of many real people.This book may move you to compassion for those around the world who suffer physically and spiritually without hope.But, whether or not you become a missionary to the far reaches of the world, I hope this book gives you a sense of the immediate and eternal together in everyone you encounter.

The book is a very quick read and is well written.Since it is organized in a series of short chapters, it is easy to pick up and put down.This book will be of particular interest to those involved or interested in mercy ministries and missions. ... Read more

Book Description

Dialysis - An Unanticipated Journey.A life experience on dialysis for 30+ years. ... Read more

Reviews (4)

*Educational, personal and entertaining... well-written....*
I am not a dialysis patient but a good friend of mine is and I really got a lot out of this book. David keeps his story on a light and informative note. His endurance and strength are an inspiration to many people who have to deal with illnesses or even with everyday life challenges. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and will recommend it to anyone who needs a boost and a few hours of quiet time and reflection. Thank you for sharing your story, David.

Words of Inspiration
This book will be an inspiration to all who read it. I picked it up and didn't put it down until I was finished. Be sure you have a box of kleenix by your side. The ups and downs of the auther and the love and concern shown by his family and friends will keep you reading and inspired to the end.

Motivational
I found this book to be motivational! David showed my family how to be optimistic when everything seems to be slipping away. The book was well written and easy to read. I have referred it to people I work with as well.

Dialysis - An Unanticipated Journey
When I first became employed in a dialysis clinic, I knew nothing about dialysis. This was the first book I read. I could not put it down! I read it in one night.

This book brings the trials and the joys of Mr. Axtmann's journey to life and is as relevant today as when he started his life-saving adventure. The best thing about the book is that it is written for the layman...it's easy reading and truly gives you an understanding of how patients readjust their lifestyle when they find it necessary to go on dialysis.

I think every patient and their family, as well as healtcare workers should read this book. I've given several copies as gifts and the response of the recipients has been the same as mine. ... Read more

Book Description

This is the first biography of Marc Bloch (1886-1944), historian, soldier in both world wars, and leader of the Resistance, who was captured, tortured, and died a heroic death. Based largely on Bloch's private letters, diaries and papers, as well as on other unpublished documents, it traces the remarkable life of this French-Jewish patriot under the Third Republic. As an historian, Bloch is perhaps best known for The Historian's Craft, an inspiring set of meditations on his life's work, and as co-founder of the now legendary journal Annales, which gave rise to a major school of historical writing. Profoundly influenced by the dark events that shaped his era - world wars, anti-semitism, and totalitarianism - Bloch has become something of an intellectual hero of our century, his life an epitome of the endeavour to uphold, in the face of such events, the spirit of unfettered critical enquiry. ... Read more

Book Description

He was an instinctive and magnificent storyteller, with a talent also for success. Of Human Bondage was his masterpiece; The Razor’s Edge his most spectacular best-seller. He lived nearly ninety-two years, wrote seventy-eight books (forty million sold worldwide) and once had four plays running in London simultaneously. “Rain,” reflecting his fascination with the South Seas, is among the most widely read stories of our time.

In World War I, he performed expertly and courageously as ambulance driver and as secret agent in Samoa and Russia. Eventually he knew “everybody”: Britain’s, Hollywood’s and literature’s royalty. He was seen as formidable, a cynic and the very emblem of worldliness. He wrote constantly about social and sexual entanglements but, in a closeted age, was increasingly secretive about his own–loving men, wanting to love women.

To the extraordinary life of Somerset Maugham and his development as a writer, Jeffrey Meyers brings all his gifts as biographer: of Hemingway (“simply the best book there is on Hemingway” –J. F. Powers), of Orwell (“moving and edifying” –Paul Theroux) and of D. H. Lawrence (“probably the best biography of him” –Times Literary Supplement).

Telling Maugham’s story, from his sad, orphaned childhood in the small English coastal town of Whitstable, through his Paris years and his wandering years, to his luxurious, indeed glamorous, old age at the Villa Mauresque on Cap Ferrat, Meyers reveals much that is new–about Maugham’s days at Heidelberg and on Capri, his medical training, his wartime espionage, his quarrels with D. H. Lawrence and Edmund Wilson, his friendship with Noël Coward, and about his longtime lover, Gerald Haxton. He writes of Maugham’s encounters with Winston Churchill, E. M. Forster, the Sitwells, T. S. Eliot, Bernard Berenson and the Windsors; of his affairs with four attractive and accomplished women; of his torturous ten-year marriage to one of them–Syrie, who became a celebrated decorator–and his wish to marry the actress Sue Jones, gentle, loving and promiscuous, who was his model for Rosie Driffield in Cakes and Ale.

Meyers describes Joseph Conrad’s influence on Maugham and Maugham’s on George Orwell and V. S. Naipaul. He provides a fascinating portrait of a brilliant and complex man whose talent has held and dazzled a cultivated audience from the late Victorian era to the twenty-first century. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

An Excellent Life of an Underrated Author
Jeffrey Meyers is a prolific biographer of literary figures whose books are hit-and-miss - while never less than professional, they are sometimes excellent and sometimes disappointing, depending on the rapport that Meyers has with his subject. But they are always marked by his remarkable industry and erudition. I've enjoyed most of them very much, and his last book, on George Orwell, was excellent.

I'm delighted to say that his new book on W. Somerset Maugham is just as good. It's possible that Meyers feels a rapport with Maugham because, like his subject, Meyers is fantastically prolific and not given his due by the intelligentsia. Whatever the reason, this is an excellent biography of an underrated writer, and immediately becomes the standard life of its subject.

Maugham was a very fertile writer and, like anyone who writes a lot, his production is uneven. Some of his books -- "Of Human Bondage" and "Cakes and Ale" come to mind -- will live as long as any English novels of the last century. Others, such as his historical novel about Machiavelli, "Then and Now," which Edmund Wilson used to unfairly trash his entire body of work in a 1946 New Yorker review, will most likely be forgotten. But Maugham wrote brilliantly in virtually every genre, from the essay to the spy story (his "Ashenden" had a noticeable influence on Ian Fleming's creation James Bond) to the travel book to plays (he once had four plays on the West End at once -- a feat that's been seldom duplicated) to the novel and short story, and the best of his work will live. Meyers illuminates his life with understanding and tact, and avoids (or at least does his best to downplay) the prurient detail so indulged in by other, more sensational biographers (Ted Morgan leaps to mind).

So if you're at all intrigued by the most successful author of his time, or if you're already a fan of his work and would like a sympathetic (yet not uncritical) look at his life, I would highly recommend Jeffrey Meyers new biography. And I can't wait to see which author he tackles next. ... Read more

Book Description

A compelling true tale of love and devotion as a husband cares for his ill wife. He shares the story of their struggles and the remarkable lessons they have learned together about God's love. ... Read more

Reviews (8)

For those who care for the dying
Good book for care givers of the ill. Encouragement to keep on loving in the midst of pain.

Well done - a true example of agape love
For a young single it's easy to fantasize about the joys of having a lifelong love - often at the neglect of counting the true cost of actually having one. This small but powerful book shows that cost, and how one man remained faithful to his wife despite it.

Robertson, a distinguished man high in Christian academic circles, is shocked when his vivacious wife Muriel is diagnosed with Alzheimer's. Gradually, she begins to succumb to its ravages and is forced to abandon her popular radio show and speaking engagements. As the disease takes its toll on Muriel, Robertson devotes more and more time to watching over her. He leaves his work and other pursuits to care for her because without his presence, she becomes fearful and agitated. Only with him near is she happy and content. Eventually she becomes totally dependent upon him, unable to perform rudimentary tasks or even converse.

But the heart of the story is that he remains with her gratefully, and with a loving attitude. He is not an angry or resentful caretaker. Of course, he is not thrilled to watch his lovely, intelligent wife slide into helpless dementia. But he sees his caretaking as a holy task, one entrusted to him by God. Indeed, she "took care" of him for decades, so he finds it a priviledge to return the favor. However, he is careful to state that his is not the "ideal" way to care for a severely ailing loved one. But I would say that his attitude and actions are examples for anyone, regardless of whatever caretaking path is chosen.

Elisabeth Elliot once wrote that marriage is the abandonment of self. Robertson lovingly exemplifies that principle in the midst of a heart-breaking situation - all for the glory of God. Highly recommended.

Such a love!
My death and dying stage - the cover compelled me! And in this case, you CAN judge this book by its cover (center: an image of a woman smiling from under a large brimmed straw hat, circa 1940s, with a shadowy image of a solitary man walking away in the lower left corner)

Robertson McQuilkin was a college professor at a renowned seminary when his wife was diagnosed with Alzheimers Disease. She had always been the love of his life, and he struggled with the choices that come at the end -

This book is strengthening, uplifting, and encouraging - love is a commitment. This man gives up everything to help his bride, and gains it all back tenfold, through blessings from God. it details the anguish he feels and the deep sad love that carries him through every day.

I saw my grandfather in this all over the place, married 57+ years to my grandmother, and visiting her every day at the nursing home. He loves her. He wishes he could do and be more, but feels helpless.

Such a love! It's FAR BETTER THAN THE TITANIC!!

Wonderful Wedding Gift Material!!

In sickness...
A Promise Kept is a small gem of a book. It is a bittersweet love story about a husband's love for and willingness to care for his sick wife. Robertson McQuilkin's love and courage give insight to the vow "in sickness and in health." A Promise Kept is a refreshing read.

A Promise Kept
it will renew your love in marriage, redefine the word "love" in ways that touch the core of you, a must book for lovers, anniv, weddings, widows, those who are suffering. more than principles, this book is a life msg....that reaches a life! buy it... a must! ... Read more

Book Description

In December of 1995, at the age of twenty-four, Lisa Shaw-Brawley was diagnosed with Hodgkin's disease, a form of lymphoma. Shaw-Brawley and her husband were visiting her family in California during the Christmas holidays when swollen glands sent her to see her lifelong family doctor. Only When I Sleep: My Family's Journey Through Cancer is her inspiring, first-hand account of what she learned that day and the battle she fought against cancer, based on the journal she kept from the moment she was diagnosed.

The story chronicles in detailed, compelling scenes both the emotional and physical journey of cancer, including the numerous tests and treatments Shaw-Brawley endured. Honest and forthright, the author does not disguise the bitter truth of her experience or the fear that accompanied her diagnosis. Because of this, the book will reassure newly diagnosed cancer patients that their fears-of possible infertility, hair loss and recurrence-are normal and give them guidance on facing these fears.

Only When I Sleep is also the story of Shaw-Brawley's family, and their journey through a harrowing and ultimately strengthening experience. The book is a remarkable story of family love and the commitment of marriage, which also explores the tensions and comforts of returning home as a married adult. In vivid prose, the author invites the reader into her family's home, into their hearts, and into the battle of their lives. As readers join in this journey, they will be moved, informed, reassured and assisted in their personal journey. The author's father also contributes a heart-warming journal entry of what his family endured, offering comfort and insight to every mother and father in a similar situation.

In the end, a second miracle in Shaw-Brawley's life proves to be the ultimate lesson in redemption and hope. This, coupled with her determined fight, will send a clear message of survival that will inspire and empower other cancer patients.

Reviews (15)

A MUST READ!!!!
This is a wonderful book. It will make you cry, but will also bring joy to your heart and a smile to your face. It makes you realize the "choices" Lisa and her family had to make to survive where very hard for her and her family. You will admire her strength, courage, and her determination to beat this. You see first hand how it effects everyone in her family. How the love of her husband, parents, family members and friends are unconditional. It shows us how the small things we all take for granted can be taken away from us in seconds and our world can be turned upside down. How Lisa never gave up and if you "believe" anything is possible.

I highly recommend this book to everyone, not just those dealing with cancer. There is a "lesson" for everyone to learn from Lisa's experience. It's a WONDERFUL story of love, courage, faith and determination of a young woman who is fighting to survive cancer.

A MUST READ!!!!
This is a wonderful book. It will make you cry, but will also bring joy to your heart and a smile to your face. It makes you realize the "choices" Lisa and her family had to make to survive where very hard for her and her family. You will admire her strength, courage, and her determination to beat this. You see first hand how it effects everyone in her family. How the love of her husband, parents, family members and friends are unconditional. It shows us how the small things we all take for granted can be taken away from us in seconds and our world can be turned upside down. How Lisa never gave up and if you "believe" anything is possible.

I highly recommend this book to everyone, not just those dealing with cancer. There is a "lesson" for everyone to learn from Lisa's experience. It's a WONDERFUL story of love, courage, faith and determination of a young woman who is fighting to survive cancer.

Superbly written, presented, and inspiring biography.
Only When I Sleep: My Family's Journey Through Cancer is an intenselypersonal, candid, and compelling account of then 24-year-old LisaShaw-Brawley's battle to overcome Hodgkin's disease and give birth to achild. This superbly written and presented biographical account is aninspiring testament to the human spirit in overcoming adversity andstriving for a dream against all the odds. Highly recommended reading.

You won't be the same, you will cry tears of pain and joy.
I still have the red 6" scar on my back reminding me of how just sixweeks ago the surgeon removed a large piece of my back which contained theremaining parts of malignant melanoma.When the doctor told me I hadcancer, I just went numb.How could that be?I am young, I am a mom, Ihave so much more I want to do with my life.Cancer doesn't care about anyof that, it doesn't pick and choose, and when it chooses you, your lifewill never be the same.This book is for anyone who has had cancer, has itnow, or knows of someone who has had it or is going through it now.Youliterally feel as though you are in the treatment room with her and goingthrough not only her pain, but her families pain as well.You will crytears of pain for what she must endure, and thank God that it isn't you. You will cry tears of joy for her when she beats it.Cancer affects notonly the person whose body it has invaded, but also their family andfriends.I see things differently now, and this book will open your eyesup too.It will make your realize how precious life is, and that youshould live it to the fullest each and everyday and thank God for thelittle things in life.I thank her for being able to share her experiencewith us in hopes of helping others deal with the experience.

Definitely Helpful
I like Sade T. found this book to be helpful in understanding what myfriends and family have been going through and can only hope that it willlead to more compassion as we all conitune on our journey.I have fivefriends who had/have cancer before they were 28.Reading Lisa's bookreally helped to ease the anger of seeing people being sick so young andput the focus back onto faith.

Lisa you have inspired me to givesomething back.I am forming a team for our local "Relay for Life2000" team event to fight cancer.This is a major fundraiser for theAmerican Cancer Society.I encourage other supporters and survivors tolook for an event in their area.

We all face challenges in our lives,some more difficult than others, but with courage, hope and faith we canall become a little better because of them.Lisa proved that in her book. Read it and see what it can do to help you. ... Read more

Book Description

Joyride is a heartwarming memoir of how a young man reconnects with his journalist mother both before and after her death through the archives of her weekly newspaper columns.

Author Craig Forrest’s life in print began when he was only five years old. His mother, Libby, wrote a humor column in the local newspaper in America’s oldest seashore resort town, Cape May, New Jersey. Craig and his brother, Keith, became frequent subjects of their mother’s Erma Bombeck-like writings. Their mother’s other topics came from the news she gathered while riding around the shore on her three-wheeled bicycle. Her column, appropriately titled “Joyride”, featured useful insights, humorous encounters, and the wit and wisdom that comes from living each day and raising a family.

As he grew up, Craig learned more about his mother by rereading her work. When he returned home to care for Libby in the final ravages of Lou Gehrig’s disease, Craig spent the evenings reliving his childhood through her columns. The writings comforted him as he watched his mother waste away, and gave him the strength he needed to come to grips with the possibility of his own death from Hodgkin’s disease.

Joyride is an inspirational memoir and a loving tribute by a son to his mother—a poignant story reminiscent of Tuesdays with Morrie and The Color of Water.

Reviews (3)

Stupendous Memoir With Resonating Feeling and Love
I'm floored by this beautiful story of a son who learns lessons from his mother by reading her newspaper columns.Undoubtly, author Forrest knows exactly when and how to paint a narritive of tradjedy and love at the same time.

I'm continually haunted by this book, because I've never quite understood my relationship with my mother and only after I read Joyride was I able to understand that life can be happy and sad and still hold the greatest meaning of all which is love.

Forrest is a wonderful writer and his relationship with his mother is nothing less than amazing.I will reccomend this book to everyone ecspecially someone that is having trouble with the death of a loved one.This book will certainly make you laugh out loud and cry, but it's forever a ride of a life time.!

A Journey Worth Reading!
I could not put "Joyride: A Son's Unlikely Journey to His Mother's Heart" down until I read it all.
A story of a young man finding his mother again, thru her wonderfully funny and insightful stories she wrote each week about her family and friends in a column she called Joyride. She wrote hundreds of columns in her lifetime.
The story of the journey takes you in; you experience all the emotional ups and downs. You are there with the family.
There a very few writers that can transport you into their reality, and Craig Forrest does it very well.
The book is a tale of truth, tragedy and hope, the inspirational journey of a young man.
I highly recommend it!
Ann Kane

Incredible Story, Inspiring...Funny too.
Wow, great book. I just decided to give it a try and...it really moved me.Heartwarming, adventure, good life lessons and really funny.Unbeleivable story!I'm amazed, a real winner.Forrest's book keeps you reading.I don't want to let you know anything but there's a real twist at the end.Good job. ... Read more

Book Description

Medical technology meets rural values of simplicity, home health remedies,and unwavering faith in divine providence when a country boy turned country doctor returns to his roots. ... Read more

Book Description

"This is a wonderful book. It gives a warm and loving picture of an isolated African country regularly castigated in the US press. It reiterates eloquently lessons lost by our medical establishment and our populace, which need to be regained." --Journal of the American Medical Association

An unforgettable tale of medicine at the crossroads of two cultures

After four years of psychiatric residency and two years of practice as an attending psychiatrist in San Francisco­­which included stints in an emergency room and the city jail­­Paul Linde thought he'd seen it all. When his pediatrician wife decided that she wanted to work as a doctor in Africa, he went along for the ride, greeting the prospect with a blasé "same job, different continent," attitude. What he found, instead, would challenge much of what he thought he knew about mental illness and transform him as a physician and as a human being.

Of Spirits and Madness is Dr. Linde's account of his year spent practicing psychiatry in Zimbabwe's Harare Central Hospital. In a compelling narrative brimming with compassion, insight, and no small measure of good humor, he tells of his shock at the magnitude of human suffering that greeted him on his arrival in Africa and his initial bafflement with its people's superstitions and differing worldview. He introduces us to his patients, vividly relating how his experiences with them awakened him to the ways in which mental illness cuts across cultures, ultimately filling him with a deep admiration for the incredible patience and spiritual dignity with which they endured their poverty and illnesses. ... Read more

Reviews (5)

Must Read
I have worked in Zimbabwe for two years as a photographer and film maker. Of Spirits and Madness gives western thinking a new vantage point. Remember, there is no reality only perception. One of the best books I have read on Shona culture. The spiritual basis of life forms all other truths in Africa. Great Book, wonderful to read.

Outstanding
I bought this book to be polite. When a friend of 10+ years writes a book... you buy it. And the day before his reading... you start the first chapter. What I did not expect was that I would absolutely inhale the text. My brain lit up with pleasure. There are so many good things about this book. Not only is the writing itself excellent, the information that Paul tucks into the narratives of each patient is downright fascinating. He takes up politics, economics, spirituality, culture, context, and mental health. The story of each patient's illness is refracted through Paul's Western training, his good heart, and his growing understanding of the local explanations for why things happen as they do. Along the way he provides a terrific set of curbside lectures about a wide spectrum of mental illnesses. He interweaves factual information about disease states with tender compassion for and curiosity about the people he served. I learned a lot from this book and plan to read it again. Maybe I should be polite more often....

Ancestor Bewichment Clashes with Modern Medicine.
Dr. Paul Linde's book "Of Spirits and Madness" is a wonderfully entertaining and insightful look into the culture and psyche of the Zimbabwean people. As an American psychiatrist in this third world African country, he becomes immersed in a cultural quagmire of ancestral spirits, evangelical Christianity and traditional healers all colliding with modern Western medical practices. The results, a train wreck of frequently amusing and sometimes very sad situations: experienes which challenged the author's intellectual and medical skills while raising questions in his own mind about the modern world's pursuit of indivudual gain and blatant consumption. This is a great book which will make all readers laugh, think and reevaluate one's own views of what is truly important. The best book I've read this year!

An excellent and inspiring book
In the spirit of the preeminent novelist/psychiatrist Irvin Yalom, Dr. Paul Linde has written a touching and inspiring book about his experiences as a psychiatrist working in Zimbabwe under very difficult circumstances. Despite the "depressing' subject matter (mental illness, poverty, political strife, AIDS, sexism. etc.), Linde has written a surprisingly uplifting account of the human condition. Using well-crafted prose, the reader learns many interesting things about the state of mental health in this Africa nation with its relatively advanced mental health system. Compared to other "third world" nations, Zimbabwe's treatment of the seriously mentally ill is good, but it is still a far cry from that of most Western nations. Linde is an excellent storyteller, telling the stories of his patients with poignancy, humor and deep compassion. All mental health professionals, both the experienced clinician and the neophyte should read this book. This book would also of interest to those interested in African current events. The reader will find himself deeply concerned for the plight of Dr. Linde's patients.

Taking on the Spiritual Challenge to Madness
There's never a dull moment in this psychiatrist's travelogue on a mad journey with his patients. During his year as a government psychiatrist in Zimbabwe, Dr. Paul Linde has to adjust to the cultural challenges that have his patients as likely to consult a witch doctor and herbal treatments as modern medicine.
Packaged in a series of literary narratives, the eleven character studies--one per chapter--personify the cultural and medical challenges he faces, from a young man convinced he's suffering to spare his community to the delinquent employee who claims she needs to rest her mind.
Linde approaches his new assignment with an open mind and writes with sensitivity. He invites the reader along in an exploration of the African supernatural and psychological landscape. This is stuff Karen Blixen didn't see in the Kenyan hills; it's more the twisted psyche Conrad explores at the heart of the Congo.
Of Spirits and Madness is a worthwhile read for anyone interested in the human condition. ... Read more

Book Description

Nose to Nose is a memoir about healing. Recovering from emergency surgery in a foreign country, Barry Schieber finds himself buying a puppy to bring back to Montana. He had never thought of owning a dog, any dog--let alone one that will soon tip the scales at over a hundred pounds.

Once home, wherever they go, Moritz draws people to him. Sensing something therapeutic about Moritz, Barry comes upon a way to share this quality with others. So begins their partnership for weekly volunteer visits at a local hospital.

As this chronicle unfolds, the reader comes to appreciate, with Barry, how a seemingly simple interaction with Moritz leads to healing and to engaging in the lives of others. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

Heart Warming
This is truly a wonderful and moving book. It made me laugh and cry. If you are a dog owner and lover, you will love this book and relate to it. If you don't own a dog, you will want to adopt one after you read this book. This book, written by Barry Schieber, is written from the heart. I highly recommend this book for people of all ages.

a beautiful, subtle, and deeply touching book.
Nose to Nose is a slim volume but within its pages lies a wealth of insight on the human condition and what it takes to understand and appreciate the extraordinary beauty and meaning in what seem to be mundane events. Schieber does not beat you over the head with his observations, rather he lays them gently in front of you, much as his dog Moritz gently lays his head on a childs leg, apparently doing nothing but nevertheless bringing an obviously healing energy with him. Schieber doesn't even ask that you take up his offerings, he just puts them there and leaves it totally up to you. Perhaps it's his Buddhist background at work (he was once Dean of Nyingma Institute in Berkeley, the teaching arm of Tarthang Tulku Rinpoche, one of the first Tibetan Lamas to come to the U.S.), but whatever it is, he succeeds in permeating his book with the same gently penetrating energy that seems to emanate from his pal Moritz. In his End Note, Schieber makes clear the subtlety of Moritz's healing presence and the power of his being. Listing briefly a few of the kinds of experiences he has with Moritz and following each of them with the words "nothing much, " Schieber adds this: "Before long, I am overwhelmed with gratitude to be once again reunited so intimately with life. Thank you, Moritz." And so this book, that also has the ability to reunite us with life, with the incredible beauty of the mundane that slips so quickly by as we look for something more important, more meaningful, more gratifying. Yes, Thank you Moritz, and thank you Barry Schieber for such a peaceful and gentle reminder of how much we miss as we wander often so blindly through this wonderful life. Nose to Nose is the kind of book that you either "get" or you don't, but believe me, its well worth taking the chance.

great dog, so so book
As an advertisement for the bernese breed, this is great. As a book, it is very superficial. I too have bernese as therapy dogs and have been doing it for years. Mr. Schrieber needs to do more than 12 visits to really get into it. Also, he needs to delve deeper into his feelings. I think it is wonderful that he will travel such a long way to do this work, it is very important work. A little more work on the book would have been good. ... Read more

Book Description

Named a Best Book of the Year by Salon magazine and The Philadelphia Inquirer, A Slant of Sun was praised for its incandescent prose about the experience of loving a child who brings tremendous frustration and incalculable rewards and for its extraordinary resonance. Like Operating Instructions and The Liars' Club, A Slant of Sun is a contemporary classic.

Nearly one in five children grow up facing a developmental or behavioral challenge, and like them, Beth Kephart's son, Jeremy, showed early signs of being different: language eluded him, he preferred playing alone to an afternoon on the jungle gym. Doctors diagnosed Jeremy with a mild form of autism called Pervasive Developmental DisorderNot Otherwise Specified. A Slant of Sun is a passionate memoir about how Kephart, guided by the twin tools of intuition and imagination, helped lead her son toward wholeness. Pulsing with the questions, "Is normal possible? Definable?" A Slant of Sun speaks to everyonenot just parentsof the redemptive power of love.

Reviews (31)

Beautifully written, poignantly honest
As one who appreciates beautiful writing and as the mother of a son with PDD, I absolutely loved this book. There were many moments I recognized from my own experience in the roller coaster-like highs and lows Ms. Kephart experienced, the sterile and absolute reports from the medical community, and, worst of all, the rejection of her child. The only additional experience I've had that she didn't report is the blame that others would like to lay at the feet of the parents of such a child. Like Jeremy, my son has made great progress and is a high school honor student at our local public high school. While he doesn't spend time with friends, he's gained enough social confidence to enjoy social functions.

I'm glad that this book is drawing an audience beyond those with an interest in autism-like disorders, however, if you finish the book and don't question the way we as a society define "normal," then you've missed the point of the book.

One Family's Courage in the Face of a Mystifying Diagnosis
I love "A Slant of Sun," a first book by Beth Kephart, a memoir for her nine-year-old son Jeremy. This book is about everything that matters in relationships, whether son and mother, husband and wife, friends. It's about acceptance and compassion and anger and courage. It's about stripping life down to its essentials to find out what the essentials are. What does it matter if your son has good manners or a sensible bedtime if he has not, in the course of his young life, found the words, any words, that will order the rest of his life? I love you, Mommy. I want cereal. I want to play.

Diagnosed at age two with pervasive developmental disorder not otherwise specified, Jeremy had obsessions and rituals and fears and no language to express his need for them. He loved cars and arranging them in precise, unvarying patterns. He was terrified of strangers, of any disruption in his day. The picture on the cover of the book is of Jeremy, alone and facing the world from his front porch, wearing the too-big green hat that for a time was his equivalent of Dorothy's ruby slippers, a bit of protection, a hedged bet against a world that wanted him to be like other kids. And a badge, too, that said, "I'm not like other kids. I hope I find my way, but it will be my way."

In fact, that's how it was. Today, he is on the verge of third grade, a move forward that, like all new things, has him a little nervous. "I know," he confides to his mother, "that I'm not good at transitions." He agreed to having a bunch of strangers in his house for a party in honor of the publication of the book for which he was the inspiration and the hero as long as he could leave and play soccer in the backyard when he felt like it. He not only held his own, he held forth.

I know because I was there. I met Kephart through her bread and butter work as a freelance business writer. I met Jeremy when I learned that his diagnosis was the same as the one pinned on my sister's child, who is three years younger than Jeremy and who, like Jeremy, is gifted in many ways and has eyes you could drown in. I hoped, like everyone who loves a child and sees him suffering, for a prescription. That is not what I found, either in knowing Jeremy or in reading the book about him. I found, as another reviewer has noted, "an extended poem" about the healing power of love. That, ultimately, is what makes this book worth reading.

Jeremy's extraordinary progress through his disorder is, implacably, his story and his alone. The disorder is too broad for it to be otherwise. Kephart - though she knows the science of PDDNOS and autism well enough to be asked to lecture at Johns Hopkins - is as bewildered as anyone. She writes, "It seems to me that the stronger Jeremy grows, the more confounding becomes the incipient question: Just what has happened here? Five years ago we saw our child disappearing - a rapid descent into silence. We met with doctors. We were given terminology. The terminology was a dark room, a dead end....Pervasive developmental disorder not otherwise specified is a label extended to tens of thousands of children....It's an active search on the Internet. But it remains, in my mind, nothing more than a cipher, a way of saying, "We are not quite sure what's wrong."

What is universal, and right, in "Slant" and what Kephart expresses with honesty and exquisite language is the maddening collaboration of heartbreak, joy, rage, and simple sweetness that defines love -- whether you're a small boy demanding that the world take you green hat and all or a mother faced with diagnoses, haunted by imagined inadequacies, exhausted with daily and alternating frustration and progress, cognizant of prices to be paid if this road is taken over that road, and utterly charmed, still, by the hat. "On all the [hat] trees, on all the branches, among all those dozens of leaves, there could not be a more controversial choice," she writes.

"A Slant of Sun" is the real deal. It's a compelling story, compellingly told. It will hold up to the light.

This is a great read
Unlike most books about autistic children written by their mothers, this mom doesn't offer the difinitive methodology for "recovery", no recipe for success. She tells the story of herself and her son to tell what she has found to be the greatest truth of the parent child relationship - love matters. You do your best, you love your child, you teach him/her what is important. So many parents of autistic children, particularly those with very young children, are so afraid of the future, they want answers. You will not find those answers here. This doesn't tell you what to do, but suggests that whatever path you take, be sure it is full of love. This is a lovely book, beautifully written, sweetly told.

beautiful insight, hopeful and profound
This book is a must read for parents of children finding their way back from the cloud of autism spectrum disorders. Beth Kephart paints a picture, not just of a heartbreaking condition but also of hope and joy in the midst of recovery. As the mother of a toddler battling the same mysterious condition I appreciated her acceptance and delight in her son. Beth Kephart put into words perfectly how parenting an autistic child can be so magical and thrilling and so sad and heartbreaking at the same time. Her refusal to let a diagnosis define her son is inspiring.

This is an excellent book to read as a companion to all the information books about autism and pdd. Her son is not 'cured' but he is back, loving and being loved.

Aside from the story itself Beth Kephart's use of words and language make the book worth reading, she writes beautifully.

A wonderful book.

one child's dignity
A Slant of Sun is a beautiful book written about a boy whose dignity and integrity teach his mother many things. This book is not an appropriate selection for parents who are seeking a plan of action or a series of steps to take toward a child's wholeness; the author makes it clear, repeatedly, that what worked well for her child is not necessarily a prescription for all children. Instead, A Slant of Sun is a book for those who believe it is important to step back, to spend time with their children, and to learn the lessons that they teach. It is a book for those who have been profoundly moved by their own child's first words, by unexpected gestures of love. ... Read more

Amazon.com

"This is the story of a brave little dog by the name of Molly--a bush dog, blind in one eye, and poor-sighted in the other." So begins Saving Molly, research veterinarian James Mahoney's introspective book about his pets and his work with lab-test animals. While on vacation in Jamaica, Mahoney stumbles upon a very sick puppy and nurses her back to health. He goes to great lengths to save Molly's life, driving for hours in search of scarce medical supplies, staying up all night to feed and medicate the forlorn creature. This experience prompts Mahoney to review his life as a pet owner, animal lover, and a man who decides which monkeys at the lab get assigned to experiments. For many years Mahoney worked with monkeys involved in AIDS and hepatitis research at New York University's Laboratory for Experimental Medicine and Surgery in Primates, also known as LEMSIP. In this book, he grapples with the difficult questions raised by his work: How can a person who loves animals subject them to the stress and pain of experimentation? After a lab animal has endured many experiments, doesn't humanity owe it a nice retirement? Which tests are justifiable, and which are not? Mahoney believes that although people do not have a right to test on animals, it is necessary, and since it is something that needs to be done, it should be done with compassion. Mahoney describes his efforts to improve living conditions for lab animals. Mostly, though, this book stays away from the lab and doesn't dwell on the details of the experiments. Instead, Mahoney focuses on happier things. He contemplates his relationships with several of the lab's chimpanzees, describing their distinct personalities. He recalls times when he saved lives and took needy animals into his own home. Mahoney clearly loves animals and derives great satisfaction from his work as a healer. This book is a thoughtful account of his struggle to make sense of his life and his work. --Jill Marquis ... Read more

Reviews (7)

Solution to Paradox: Limbo?
I used to be completely against animal experimentation. I even refused to perform required disections in high school biology, and suffered the reduction in my scores because of it. How can someone, anyone, claim on the one hand to love animals and on the other deliver them into harm? I picked up this book in the waiting room of my dentist's office, and wound up reading it in a day. I am still not in favor of animal experimentation, but I am not the opponent that I used to be, either.
The paradox of love vs. harm has left many a person feeling bereft, defenseless and searching for a clear answer. Mahoney's answer is, if not exactingly clear, at least very understandable. We cannot help but feel empathy towards those whom we love, and we shouldn't try to shut off or deny those feelings. But in the resulting flood of emotions - some positive, others not - trade out your sense of guilt (which can only be destructive) for one of responsability. Keep in mind that you are the steward of other lives, not the owner. Be compassionate.
His thoughtful journey has so many applications for anyone who feels themselves to be in this predicament. For example, "Do I put my parent in a nursing home?" or "Should I keep my loved one on artificial life support?" Mahony understands this kind of pain, and has done his best to discover and explain, through the story of Molly, what balance there is. Some day, we will not need to use animals - human or otherwise - for experimentation. But that day is a long way off. Until then, we learn to move forward as kindly and thoughtfully as we can. I recommend this book to all adults (it may be too powerful for younger readers) especially those grappling with these kind of questions in their career choice or personal relationships.

Asking the hard questions
I read this book because I hoped to gain some insight into how researchers justify using live animals as test subjects. I didn't gain any answers here. Dr. Mahoney is just as conflicted as I am about which should have paramount importance: the need to end human suffering through research breakthroughs, or the sanctity of animal life. Contrasted with disturbing stories of memorable chimpanzees who unwillingly sacrificed their freedom and their lives in the human quest to end AIDS and hepatitis, is the remarkable story of Dr. Mahoney's heroic efforts to save a desperately sick puppy. What makes one animal's life of more importance to us than another's? Dr. Mahoney provides no easy answers, but he challenges all of us by asking the hard questions. Even so, he makes several mentions of meals containing meat, and even a trip to MacDonald's for little Molly, without even touching upon the exploitation of animals for food, who perhaps suffer an even more miserable fate than research animals. But all in all, this is a well-written book that leaves the reader with much to think about.

Excellent Read!
I can't say it enough- this book is excellent! Jim Mahoney is a great story teller. I went through a phase where I read a lot of veterinary anecdote books and this is by far the best one. The focus of the book is about how he saved a puppy he found, but throughout it he tells stories of other animals throughout his career. The stories are truly touching and very well written- I was constantly reading them outloud to anyone who was around. I definitely recommend this book to everyone, not just animal lovers!! You won't be disappointed!

Very important and touching book. Read it!
I have read and re-read this book. Everytime, Dr.Mahoney's sincere account of his life with Molly and the chimps , his love for the fellow creatures and his agony over some of the hard choices he made, move me. This is a must read for everybody who wants to understand the meaning of love and understanding between human and animals.

Every animal rights activist should read this book!
No matter which side of the fence you're on regarding animal research, Dr. Mahoney's thoughtful and well written book is a must read. It's a wonderful peek into the lives of some courageous and caring individuals (animals and humans) who have given their lives to science so that all mankind may benefit. As an animal lover it's comforting to know that people like Dr. Mahoney are out there making the lives of research animals better and helping fight disease for all of us. Buy this book, read it, then make a contribution to the retirement homes of Dr. Mahoney's friends! ... Read more

Reviews (7)

Very visual - - A ton of fun
Mr. Herriot's journey through life as a veterinary surgeon is a heart-warming tale. As he goes about day to day, he meets some difficult tasks and is challenged by them. He pulls through almost all of them with extreme care towards the animals that are loved by many. He shows compassion while going about the work that many would get sick to their stomach just thinking about it. An awesome story.

Tremendously enjoyable read
I have been reading excerpts of 'All Creatures Great and Small' in publications such as 'Reader's Digest' for years and have always enjoyed them. When I came across a hardcover copy of the two combined books on the sale table at the local mall, I bought it. Let me tell you, the excerpts didn't do it justice. James Herriot is a superb writer, combining humor, insights, sadness...the list can go on and on. He writes as if he's sitting right next to you talking directly to you. I caught myself tearing up in some places and belly-laughing in others. I had such a good time reading it that I now own all of his books (except for the children's books).

Lovely
This is a feel-good book - the sort of book that gives you that warm-and-fuzzy-feeling' - the sort of book that convinces you that there is still hope for this sad-world-of-ours. I make it a point to read this book at least once a year.

James Herriot is successful not because of the beauty of his sentences or the brilliance of his plot, but for the warmth he radiates. He handles the humourous and the poignant with equal ease, and sometimes you wonder why he ever became a vet when he had such a wonderful gift with words. Perhaps it was just as well.

All Creatures Great and Small is, along with 'Every Living Thing' my favourite of his books. He manages to achieve a perfece balance between simplicity and originality - something so many writers fail to do. If I ever visit England, I know I have just _got_ to see the Yorkshire Dales, if for no other reason than that this was where James Herriot lived and worked.

Books for a lifetime
I first read James Herriott's series about 25 years ago, and I've re-read them numerous times since. The paperbacks in my original boxed gift set are falling apart, with missing pages and loose bindings. Now I'm buying them in hardcover to make sure that I have them available to read again and again for the rest of my life and to pass on to my children and grandchildren.

A Book for the Family Book that Well Read Aloud
One day when we were looking for a good book to read, my husband picked this book from the clearance shelf despite my protests. Truthfully, I thought the book sounded a bit boring...not my type of storyline at all. But I must admit that I was wrong, this turned out to be a charming book with memorable characters. This particular edition is also a good value because you get two works in a one hard cover edition at a very reasonable price. And once you read "All Creatures Great and Small," you will want to read "All Things Bright and Beautiful" because it continues where the first story leaves off.

One nice thing about both books is that the chapters are, for the most part, self-contained. This makes it easy to read one story, and if you don't have time to get back to the book for a few weeks, you can pick up right where you left off. There is a general plot that unites the whole and some characters reappear or run throughout, but overall it is an easy book to keep up with.

I also found it fascinating to learn about the life of a country vet. Through the stories I discovered the ins and outs of veterinary medicine and little facts about farm animals. The individual chapters vary a great deal in topic or mood. Some are comic, others tragic, and others just make you pause and ponder some aspect of life. The main character's life is so different than my own that it was nice to escape into his world. And, by the end of the first book, the characters and their animals had won my heart.

Herriot is most skillful with his indirect characterization. He rarely comes right out and tells you what to think about a character. Instead, he has a knack for telling you about people through their own dialogue and actions. Then, you are left to draw your own conclusions from those details. Personally, I enjoy this method as I find it more interesting to think about things myself than to be "told" them.

Another positive is that this book is excellent to read aloud. My husband and I read aloud to each other at night, and this has been one of the easiest books to follow. It wasn't too complicated, and the stories were interesting and generated conversation. I think it'd be a super book to read as family because it appeals to a broad spectrum of ages and teaches little lessons about life along the way.

These stories are a good investment--I'm glad we have the hardcover edition because I'm sure we'll read them again. ... Read more

Book Description

"O’Donohue and Ferguson provide an exceptionally clear picture of the breadth, scientific importance, and value to society of the work of the late B.F. Skinner. They include reasons that his work has been criticized and misunderstood. A substantial index, an attractive cover and typeface, and a readable style are bonuses to this exceptionally well-researched, accurate, and fair description of Skinner’s work. All collections."

— CHOICE

In The Psychology of B. F. Skinner, William T. O’Donohue and Kyle E. Ferguson not only introduce the life of one of the most influential psychologist of the past century but also put that life into historical and philosophical context. In so doing, they illuminate Skinner’s contributions to psychology, his philosophy of science, his experimental research program, and the behavioral principles and applied aspects that emerged from it. They also rebut criticism of Skinner’s work, including radical behaviorism, and discuss key developments others have derived from it.

Behaviorists, or more precisely Skinnerians, commonly consider Skinner’s work to have been misrepresented, misunderstood, and, to some extent, even defamed. The authors take great care in accurately representing both the strengths and the weaknesses of his positions. They also attempt to correct misinterpretations of his work. Finally, they guide students through Skinner’s theories and demonstrate their applications and usefulness v