book reviews: new releases
Cancer: A Personal Challenge
Three New Self-Help Books
Love is Not a Game (But You Should
Know the Odds)
Dream Maker--Grigor Fedan
The Spiritual Life of Animals and Plants--Laurie
Conrad
There Must Be More Than This: Finding
More Life, Love, and Meaning by Overcoming Your Soft Addictions
- by Judith Wright
Unlocking Alien Closets: Abductions, Mind Control,
and Spirituality--Leah A. Haley
Carl Melcher Goes to Vietnam--Paul Clayton
The Shamanic Drum: A Guide to Sacred Drumming--Michael
Drake
Eternal Treblinka: Our treatment of
Animals and the Holocaust--Charles Patterson
Unidentified Flying Objects: Starcraft--Der
Voron
Looking for the Summer--Robert W. Norris
Gem's Story: The Spiritual Journey Of A Shy Girl
And A Perfect Monk --Joost Boekhoven
Enlightenment in Our Time: The Perennial Wisdom
in the New Millennium--Lonny J. Brown, Ph.D.
Conjuring Maud--Philip Danze
Mother of All--Richard Schiffman
Cancer: A Personal Challenge--ed. Bob Rich, PhD
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1877053112/cougarwebworks
Bob Rich has assembled a comprehensive and readable collection of personal stories and informative articles that should guide anyone in becoming acquainted with cancer and its conventional and alternative therapies. The book is well balanced in its approach: no-nonsense scientific descriptions of the medical conditions; heartfelt narratives of personal journeys with disease (involving acceptance, recovery and support); and insightful portrayals of alternative healing methods. Chief among these are various forms of meditation and visualization, with proven effects in reducing the threat or impact of cancer. All in all this book is a powerful testament to the power of mind over body, convincing both scientifically and spiritually.
Dream Maker--Grigor Fedan
http://www.grigorfedan.com
Dream Maker begins with a chronically depressed man, Martin Devon,
struggling with a failing marriage and a collapsing business.
At his bleakest hour he is helped during his sleep. He finds himself
revisiting a past life, Britain 464 AD and encounters mystics
who practice meditation and Agape, practices that were to be eradicated
in a few more centuries. The Arthurian legend also figures prominently,
and the book provides a good factual account of the time period.
In the course of events Martin discovers the cause of his condition,
but also the means to heal himself. It's a fun, good read with
substance.
The Spiritual Life of Animals and Plants--Laurie
Conrad
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0759658722/cougarwebworks
Clairvoyant, music teacher and psychic healer Laurie Conrad has
written a charming and engaging book about her often miraculous
experiences of prayer and healing with her numerous cats, dogs,
and other fauna and flora. The book is disarmingly simple, almost
naive...yet powerful and believable, as we read about how the
animals respond to (and sometimes help compose!) classical music,
pictures and statues of holy figures, and directed prayer.
Unlocking Alien Closets: Abductions,
Mind Control, and Spirituality--Leah A. Haley
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1883729084/cougarwebworks
If you're already a believer and want to be entertained with
a continual stream of abduction fantasies--er, experiences--then
this is the book for you. But beware; They might be onto you then.
Usually I'm pretty open-minded about these things, but when the
abductions happen daily (nightly) and take every form seen in
the literature, it gets to be a
bit much. To her credit, Leah Haley is educated, articulate, and
passionate about the personal growth lessons implicit in her long
history of contact with "a whirlwind of dark mysteries"...which
include media mistreatment and shadowy government coverups. Ultimately
it comes down to a judgment call about what is real; a leap of
faith. This is the choice for "unwitting victims" like
Leah, as it is for the reader.
Carl Melcher Goes to Vietnam--Paul Clayton
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1591133009/cougarwebworks
This slim novel (196 pages) came out of nowhere (ebookland) to
become a finalist at the 2001 Frankfurt eBook Awards, alongside
such a notable as Joyce Carol Oates. Its style is plain and unassuming;
its content likewise confined to the daily experiences of the
mundane foot soldier in Vietnam.
Yet this book has a certain naïve charm that grows on the reader,
at the same time as the narrator experiences the growing horror
of the doomed ground war from close up. Neither the beginning
nor the end of the story, framing a year's tour of active duty,
are earthshaking. Yet in the reading of it we have a compelling
portrait of a real and likeable person undergoing the life-and-death
charade that is war.
The Shamanic Drum: A Guide to Sacred
Drumming--Michael Drake
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1591131642/cougarwebworks
This book is a valuable, well-researched, and well-written treatment
of all aspects of shamanic drumming. The author weaves together
both ancient and modern lore, from oral shamanic chants to modern
physics and biology, along with personal experiences to illuminate
the practice of sacred drumming.
He draws most heavily from the Native American shamanic tradition,
which uses the frame drum, but also covers similar traditions
from other primal cultures around the world.
I didn't find much in this book that I hadn't come across elsewhere;
yet perhaps nowhere else have I seen such a wealth of information
and insight specific to the use of the sacred drum for contemporary
shamanic and healing uses.
Included are step-by-step exercises, analysis of different beats
and tempos, and chapters on cosmology, journeying, power practice,
and healing the earth. Recommended to anyone seeking to connect
deeply with the drum as a tool for personal, interpersonal, or
group spiritual and healing work.
Unidentified Flying Objects: Starcraft--Der
Voron
http://www.publishamerica.com
Starcraft has a lot of interesting material thrown together:
this sums up my reaction to the book. Aimed at "UFO beginners,"
thought-provoking questions are raised and intriguing evidence
is presented (from an array of sources of inconsistent reliability)
for the long-term presence of alien intelligent life on earth.
Unfortunately, the material is unprofessionally written and poorly
organized. There is no central principle or conclusion, except
that we are not--and have not been for a very long time--alone.
Some of most captivating evidence concerns areas showing apparent
ancient nuclear blast damage, in a number of archaeological sites
from Scotland to the Sahara. Other chapters (in no particular
order in the book) cover UFO sightings and crashes, extraterrestrial
technology (the most poorly documented), biological/genetic engineering
of humans, and secret US government research on alien starcraft.
If you are not already convinced of the existence of starcraft
on earth, this book is unlikely to do it for you. But it might
open your eyes to some startling "facts" to ponder.
According to the author, in other words
Looking for the Summer--Robert W. Norris
http://www2.gol.com/users/norris/
Bob Norris tells a riveting true-to-life story of the Vietnam
era and its aftermath. A young man has a high draft number, joins
the Air Force, and then serves a year in military prison rather
than going to war. This archetypal predicament serves as background
for the adventures related here, beginning in Paris and extending
to Germany, Afghanistan and India. David Thompson has left the
U.S. and is seeking a broader vision, finding in the world around
him and within himself the inspiration to write. Along the way
he finds friendship and support by a number of other interesting
characters, who accompany him in a journey of discovery. Physical
danger and political intrigue are part of the bargain, but these
he survives until the final revelations he receives in the squalor
of India. Finally he is able to come to terms with his own private
demons, his estranged father, his homeland, the past.
The book is entertaining, fast-paced, and well-written. The language
is fresh and smooth, the characters are alive, the scenery vivid.
We are able to identify with Mr. Thompson (presumably Norris)
through his struggles to find meaning and peace in his self-exile.
Mr. Norris has given us an apt and representative portrait of
a generation.
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Gem's Story: The Spiritual Journey Of A Shy
Girl And A Perfect Monk --Joost Boekhoven
http://www.gemstories.com
I particularly enjoyed having this ebook along, efficiently packed
inside a 12-oz mini-computer, during a recent walking journey
through Spain and Portugal. The journey of an unusual young girl
in the company of a wandering monk was evocative of some of the
same truths my partner and I were discovering. The simple style
made for refreshing and easy reading, and also was good for reading
aloud. Yet reading aloud raised the question of how different
the two main characters' voices are--not very. They seem in fact
to become more similar as the story progresses; but perhaps this
is intentional, as the connection between the characters increases.
The text reads like journal entries...yet its place in the action
is more like interior thought...yet dialogue and conventional
narration is included, too. Somehow it all works, anyway, as the
central theme is certainly gripping and allows the story to carry
our interest despite stylistic questions or minor flaws. The overall
effect is of a cartoon or comic-book type presentation: a fable,
a parable, a fairy-tale, using simple word pictures and captions
to carry the story forward. The stark lack of detail in physical
and cultural setting is not necessarily a fault, as prominence
is thereby given to the narrative device of the two alternating
voice-tracks.
The ending seemed to me too abrupt, summarized. The revelations
and spiritual lessons in the second half weren't new, though at
times they were presented as if they were. And after following
both characters through their learning about the oneness of God's
all-present manifestation, I found the monastic conclusion rather
sterile. Still, it's a captivating love story with unusual spiritual
depths, and I would recommend it to anyone looking to explore
the ways in which love and wisdom might conspire.
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Enlightenment in Our Time: The Perennial
Wisdom in the New Millennium--Lonny J. Brown, Ph.D.
http://www.BookLocker.com/bookpages/lonnybrown01.html
http://www.holistic.com/lonny
This is a book I personally had trouble reading; but it might
be just the right book for another spiritual seeker. My problem
was that I found nothing new in it. I had already been exposed
to the ideas and philosophies and wisdom teachings so thoroughly
described and collected here. Truly, however, Mr. Brown has done
a remarkable job in bringing under one roof the many teachings,
practices, questions, and insights that any quest for wisdom must
encounter.
In the matter of style I was also disappointed, finding quotes
and second-hand knowledge substituting for original thinking.
By contrast I think in this regard of a truly fresh and original
treatment of spiritual awakening, Satyam Nadeen's From
Onions to Pearls: A Journey of Awakening and Deliverance;
another is Eckhard Tolle's The
Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment.
In my opinion, the shining jewel in this volume is a guided
visualization through the path of the seven chakras. I found
Dr. Brown's elucidation of these energy centers comprehensive
and vivid.
In conclusion, I would definitely recommend Dr. Brown's compendium
to anyone coming relatively new upon the landscape of alternative
spirituality. For more seasoned inner travelers, however, I would
recommend looking elsewhere for a stimulating read.
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Conjuring Maud--Philip Danze
Philip Danze's first novel is a dazzling descent into a heart
of darkness, while also an enchanting tale of an unusual romance.
The vivid imagery and taut narrative carried my interest solidly
to the end. Danze gives us a simple yet unique love story in an
unforgettable setting in equatorial West Africa in the early part
of the twentieth century. A recommended read--scheduled for print
release in October 2001 by GreyCore
Press.
Mother of All--Richard Schiffman
Richard Schiffman has written an entertaining and illuminating
portrait of one of India's lesser known saints: a woman who earned
by her exemplary spiritual depth the name, "Mother of All."
A humble housewife in the tiny village of Jillellamudi, "Mother"
ministers to all and sundry with the same self-effacing yet all-powerful
message of simplicity, identifying with, and manifesting without
effort, the undiscriminating grace of the mothering cosmos.
Schiffman writes both from his first-hand experience with the
Mother and, in top-notch story-telling style, of Mother's early
years on her somewhat miraculous path to public fame. His elucidations
of the Mother's message of wholeness are at times repetitive and
lengthy, but always well-articulated and clear. The book concludes
with the memorable sayings of the Mother herself, who passed from
her earthly sojourn in 1985.
