How to Read a Book (A Touchstone Book)

How to Read a Book (A Touchstone Book)
Average customer rating:

Excellent treatise on literary analysis and criticism

A commendable work

The best of its kind

Learn to read, think, analyze, and communicate

Book Review

How to Read a Book (A Touchstone Book)
Mortimer J. Adler , and Charles Van Doren
Manufacturer: Touchstone
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Literary Theory | History & Criticism | United States | World Literature | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
General | Books & Reading | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
General | Philosophy | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
General | Reference | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0671212095

Book Description

How to Read a Book, originally published in 1940, has become a rare phenomenon, a living classic. It is the best and most successful guide to reading comprehension for the general reader. And now it has been completely rewritten and updated.

You are told about the various levels of reading and how to achieve them -- from elementary reading, through systematic skimming and inspectional reading, to speed reading, you learn how to pigeonhole a book, X-ray it, extract the author's message, criticize. You are taught the different reading techniques for reading practical books, imaginative literature, plays, poetry, history, science and mathematics, philosophy and social science.

Finally, the authors offer a recommended reading list and supply reading tests whereby you can measure your own progress in reading skills, comprehension and speed.

Customer Reviews:

Excellent treatise on literary analysis and criticism.......2007-08-16

On one hand, it feels weird to read a book about how to read a book. So very meta. Yet I came away from this tome with a lot of insight into the difference between widely read and well-read.

There are salient points (and useful advice) on finding themes and reading with an analytical mind. I really wish I would've been able to read this book before I went to university.

Even the advice on reading novels for entertainment, while probably common sense to many, is useful. In addition, there is a (rather intimidating) reading list at the end.

So, overall, a must-read. Only four stars, though, because at time the text can be a little dry and turns into a struggle.

A commendable work.......2007-07-01

I picked up this book in a state of vexed frustration. I had forgotten how to read. At least, if felt like that. It was becoming an increasingly difficult practice for me to finish novels; this I rightly ascribed to one of my most damaging shortcomings: perfectionism. I kept telling myself that I had stopped reading books PROPERLY, or that I was being lazy - in a word, that I wasn't assimilating as much as I should be. My standards, though, were unattainable: I seemed almost to expect that, after one reading, I should be able to recite every word, without fail. It is ludicrous, peurile, yet I couldn't seem to disentangle myself from it. I even considered investing in a punchbag, because there was no one in proximal distance upon whom I could feasibly unleash my anger.

I finished this book today, and already I can assert that it was a successful panacea to my reading woes.

The most important thing that I took from the book - the remedy, if you will - concerns first readings. Rather than attempt to absorb everything, rather than constantly consulting the dictionary - one should just immerse oneself in the novel, ideally in a single sitting. If one keeps stopping, then one is apt to forget, or even lose interest. Then, if one wishes, one can reread the novel with an analytical eye. More than one too many ones in that paragraph.

Adler's insistence that you should read the most challenging books, ones that will stretch your imagination, rather than reading exclusively for mere entertainment - is also admirable. I agree with other reviewers that this book should be compulsory for high-school children (not to mention high school children).

I gave it four stars because most of the book is devoted to the art of reading NON-fiction, and only some of the advice is applicable to imaginative fiction. That is just a minor personal criticism, though.

The name of the book is appalling. Not that this had any bearing on my rating, but the title is deceptively simplistic, and you might want to cover it when in public, lest one be mistaken for an illiterate oaf.

The best of its kind.......2007-06-27

This book changed my life. I think it should be required in school. Or at least it should be required reading for anyone who wants to be an English teacher. I will definitely pass on this information to my future students. I have always been a good reader. In fact, I was so good that no one bothered to find out what exactly I was doing when I read and give me helpful suggestions for improvement. If you think of yourself as an educated, thoughtful person, and still you find that you often finish a book and are unable to articulate much about it six months later, get this book. I read more slowly now but I know what I'm reading. You might also try Susan Wise Bauer's The Well Educated Mind. I would check out both from the library and then select one to buy as a reference. Or buy both if you're a collector like me.

Learn to read, think, analyze, and communicate.......2007-06-16

This book picks up where your reading instruction in school most likely left off. In school you probably learned only the first, elementary, level of reading. In How To Read A Book Mortimer Adler and Charles Van Doren explain that there are actually three levels of reading beyond the elementary level (inspectional, analytical, and syntopical) and they demonstrate how to develop each of these levels of reading within yourself. In so doing they instill in the reader critical thinking skills that can be applied not only to the written word but to the spoken word as well. And after reading this book you will discover that you are not only a better reader you will find that you are a better communicator. In short, this book will provide you with the tools necessary to live a more fulfilling and productive life.

Book Review.......2007-06-08

The book arrived in a timely manner and I was satisfied with my purchase and the efficient service.

The Odyssey: A Modern Sequel (Touchstone Books)

Average customer rating:

Best read straight through without stopping
Mithras and Apollo
No hope No despair
Homer would have loved it
Homer would have loved it

The Odyssey: A Modern Sequel (Touchstone Books)
Nikos Kazantzakis , and Kimon Friar
Manufacturer: Simon & Schuster
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | World Literature | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0671202472

Customer Reviews:

Best read straight through without stopping.......2006-04-26

I read this in a period of weeks while homeless in a city, each day I would return to the library and read another huge section,never missing a day...the incredible prolixity and repetition, far from being burdensome, were like great rolling waves of majesty and freedom upon which I floated until the last cantos, surely one of the greatest climaxes in all world literature, brought me to rest and peace as Odysseus was united with Christ, and sailed off through the ice. And then I knew that for the rest of my life I would be as free as Odysseus had showed me how to be in this work. How's that?

Mithras and Apollo.......2001-01-26

I read Kazantzakis absorbing and compelling verse novel over a two-month period, rich and crazy as a Christmas fruit cake, and only to be nibbled in small doses. This is a deeply flawed work of consumate art; flawed, because it expresses a weltangshaung and philosophical stance utterly at odds with the complexities and values of the human spirit which it still succeeds in celebrating in verse of passion, intensity and beauty. Flawed, because it defines the human spirit in terms of the unsubtle, extroverted, violence of masculinity at its most obnoxious, a Nietzschean ubermensch driven to sweep through the human mind like a panzer division; flawed because it present a vision of utter and self-serving solipsism.

But of consumate art in that within those paramaters it creates, with a richness and intensity rarely encountered in modern literature, a detailed, elaborate and sensory world of image, passion and experience; and in positioning the human spirit dancing at the edge of the abyss, in celebrating the defining moments and relationships of life, it ultimately triumphs over its own weakness.

Its stages of the soul's evolution, its imagery and its passionate invocation of the sun link it with the old warrior-cult of Mithras; and while the leopards, elephants, drunkards and maenads seem at first more of Dionysos, the elegance and elegaic elements also link the work with the Greek Apollo, and the discipline of an exact and exacting verse.

Essential to an understanding of the twentieth century vision - and also to an understanding of what made so many of us passionately feminist.

No hope No despair.......2000-12-06

A long, long time ago, I read this book and it changed the way I read literature. Kazantzakis' book goes beyond writing - it is a vivid exploration of the flame that consumes man. To go back to reading the frivolous so-called literature of today almost seems pointless. I am just thankful that Kazantzakis left us with such a rich body of work to read. The libraries were full of his books twenty years ago, but today I rarely find them on any shelf. To those of us who were lucky enough to discover him early, we know that he is the best kept secret of the twentieth century.

Homer would have loved it.......2000-08-30

This is the best book I have ever read. Granted, I have read it in greek but still, there is no match. Homer would have loved his hero over again.

Homer would have loved it.......2000-08-30

This is the best book I have ever read. Granted, I have read it in greek but still, there is no match. Homer would have loved his hero over again.

Average customer rating:

Shows historical roots of Kissinger's brand of diplomacy
The World According to Henry Kissinger
Absorbing account on the art of dealing and warring among nations
Excellent book
My least favorite "statesman" writes one of my favorite books!

Diplomacy (A Touchstone Book)
Henry Kissinger
Manufacturer: Simon & Schuster
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Politics | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Does America Need a Foreign Policy? : Toward a Diplomacy for the 21st Century
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ASIN: 0671510991

Book Description

THE SEMINAL WORK ON FOREIGN POLICY AND THE ART OF DIPLOMACY

Moving from a sweeping overview of history to blow-by-blow accounts of his negotiations with world leaders, Henry Kissinger describes how the art of diplomacy has created the world in which we live, and how America's approach to foreign affairs has always differed vastly from that of other nations.

Brilliant, controversial, and profoundly incisive, Diplomacy stands as the culmination of a lifetime of diplomatic service and scholarship. It is vital reading for anyone concerned with the forces that have shaped our world today and will impact upon it tomorrow.

Customer Reviews:

Shows historical roots of Kissinger's brand of diplomacy.......2007-08-27

I enjoyed reading this book. Dr. Kissinger is, without saying, one of the most talented and accomplished diplomats that this nation has had. The fact that he ignited so much controversy on both the left and the right does much to confirm this view. In this book, he traces the evolution of international diplomacy from the 17th century. He begins with a discussion of Cardinal Richelieu, a talented practitioner of raison d'etat, which would later develop into realpolitik. Richelieu, though a French Catholic prelate and regent, would ultimately cooperate with Protestant and Muslim rulers against the fellow Catholic Habsburg Empire. It is easy to draw parallels between this and the Nixon-Kissinger policy of rapproachment with Communist China and efforts to play China and the Soviet Union against each other, to the benefit of the United States. Dr. Kissinger also spends a lot of time discussing Metternich's "balance of power" brand of diplomacy, and Bismark's realpolitik. It is clear from the presentation that he has a great deal of interest in, and respect for, these 2 men (and, in my view, with plenty of justification). This book is a "must-read" for people who want a better understanding of diplomatic history.

The World According to Henry Kissinger.......2007-05-13

During his terms as foreign secretary and national security adviser Henry Kissinger was the ultimate bad guy. Nice to have such a chap around! All the frustrations during the Nixon and Ford Administrations could be directed at Henry Kissinger. But every bloke deserves a second chance.
In 1994 Kissinger wrote Diplomacy. It really is a brilliant piece of work!!Astonishing how a former secretary of state commands every detail of statemanship in foreign policy. Kissinger deals with the concepts of national interest, balance of power and power politics. The book is a thoughtful exercise in modern politics and as such a wonderful textbook for every student of government and bureaucracies. The foreign policy of the United States in the twentieth century strikes Kissinger as ambivalent. It is insisting simultaneously on the inadmissibility of intervention in the domestic affairs of other states and on the other hand passionately asserting that its (the United States') own values are universally applicable. In the day to day conduct of foreign affairs the United States is pragmatic while no nation has been more ideological in the pursuit of its assumed historic moral convictions. Well, Kissinger wrote his Diplomacy in the period between Bush 41 and Bush 43. Maybe we could pinpoint this precisely as the difference between pragmatic and ideological.

Luuk Oost

Absorbing account on the art of dealing and warring among nations.......2007-01-17

In Diplomacy, Henry Kissinger presents his masterpiece analysis of the evolution of the art of diplomacy. As a top diplomat, the author leaves out details of historic events that are circumstantial to his theme. That is the understanding of how national diplomacy has grown up in the last four centuries.

Diplomacy starts with the seventeenth century dominance of Holy Empire where the Emperor drove his absolute authority direct from God. In such imperial design, the populace is the servant of the Emperor who represents God on Earth. Democracy is a sin since it questions God's will. Modern science was newborn and untested.

The emergence of reformation presented challenge to the Holy Empire. That gave rise to new diplomacy. France improvised the tactic of "nation-state" as a savior of its populace from the estranged Empire. Astute leaders would have to adapt the biblical doctrine to deal with the new trend of questioning the divine authority of the Emperor. The rise of "nation-state" started the "immoral" struggle for national interests and securities, in place of God's work.

The national struggles that replaced the Holy Empire collided over land grabs, borders, and national interests. Bismarck advanced that evolution farther into "Realpolitik" with cold and calculating national dealing that is devoid of personal affection. The result was the unification of Germany.

The major landmarks in the evolution of diplomacy are closely attributed to individual statesmen with secure and long careers on the national theatre. After Bismarck's removal, the reckless "Worldpolitik" led to expansionism and two world wars. The aggravating factor was the emergence of new military technology that complicated the coordination of diplomatic planning and military strategy.

As modern science grew confident and Deity grew challenged, the military industry outpaced diplomacy in securing national interests. WWI engulfed Europe as a result of the failure of diplomacy to catch up with military mobilization. As science grew older and military force became lethal, WWII erupted out of exercising excessive diplomacy, with little military strategy on the allied side.

The author delves into the psychology of nations and leaders in a brilliant analysis of its impact on historic development. For three centuries, the cold and calculating Great Britain dominated the seas and retained its imperial kingdom and democratic government in determined trend of "splendid isolation". Great Britain kept the balance of the European forces till its fateful end in the marsh of German and Russian dictatorships. Modern technology then eliminated the oceanic barriers between America and the old world. Great Britain is then replaced by USA, with only one difference: rejection to colonialism.

The psychological analysis of the behavior of the statesmen in time of peace and war offers deep understanding of how our present day policy has evolved. As recent as the year 1914, WWI started because the European emperors refused to attend the funeral of the assassinated Austrian emperor because his dead wife was not from noble blood. In 1960, Henry Kissinger was freely and humbly walking Kansas City's streets with Henry Truman. Neither of the two was from noble blood, yet each of them was the top policy maker in the human history.

Diplomacy has grown and matured as our struggle with faith, race, and science continues.

Mohamed F. El-Hewie
Author of
Essentials of Weightlifting and Strength Training

Excellent book.......2007-01-12

This book is excellent. I recommend for students in International Relations and Science Polict.

My least favorite "statesman" writes one of my favorite books!.......2006-10-29

I would love to give this book 1 star based on the person who wrote this book, but Kissinger has shown in almost all of his writings an understanding of world politics that goes far beyond almost any other American student of diplomacy in analysis and historical accuracy. This is one of his true Master Works, and is easily the best single volume on diplomacy that I've ever read. He is able to place European diplomacy in a narrative that is exceptionally readable and erudite despite its inherently esoteric topic.

In terms of a general discussion of diplomacy, the next best is a *three* volume series, *The Great Powers*, by Longman Press. Without judging the person who wrote this book, *Diplomacy* ranks with the great histories of our day.

Average customer rating:

Solution Selling Fieldbook Could Help Boost Your Sales

The Solution Selling Fieldbook
Keith M. Eades , James N. Touchstone , and Timothy T. Sullivan
Manufacturer: McGraw-Hill
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Popular Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

The New Solution Selling: The Revolutionary Sales Process That is Changing the Way People Sell
Solution Selling: Creating Buyers in Difficult Selling Markets
The Solution-Centric Organization
CustomerCentric Selling
ROI Selling: Increasing Revenue, Profit, and Customer Loyalty through the 360 Sales Cycle

ASIN: 0071456074

Book Description

The breakthrough process used by more than 500,000 sales professionals worldwide!

The Solution Selling Fieldbook helps you integrate the plan's nuts-and-bolts techniques into your own day-to-day practices, and immediately gain access to key decision makers, diagnose buyers' business issues, and increase top-line sales.

Building on the processes, principles, and management systems outlined in The New Solution Selling, this practitioner's workbook features:

A complete step-by-step blueprint for sales success
A trial copy of Solution Selling software
A valuable Solution Selling CD-ROM that includes tools, templates, and sales letters

Includes Exclusive Solution Selling Software on CD-ROM

More than 120 work sheets on negotiating, opportunity assessments, implementation plans, and more
Letters/e-mail templates
Coaching on Solution Selling techniques
Import/export capabilities
Links to more Solution Selling content

Customer Reviews:

Solution Selling Fieldbook Could Help Boost Your Sales.......2007-01-17

The Solution Selling Fieldbook is the perfect compliment to Keith Eades 2004 book, The New Solution Selling. The New Solution Selling is an excellent book destined to become a sales classic. However, in sales, having a great theory doesn't necessarily translate into becoming a great salesperson. The Solution Selling Fieldbook provides tools to effectively implement the sales process and sales strategies discussed in The New Solution Selling. The CD-ROM included in the back of the book makes it easy for the salesperson to personalize all of the worksheets and templates to his or her own territory.

Eades formula for sales success in The New Solution Selling is: Pain x Power x Vision x Value x Control = Sale. The authors of the fieldbook maintain that a successful sales call is a result of effective planning and research. Fortunately, the fieldbook provides all of the tools to effectively plan the sales call.

The fieldbook begins by helping salespeople identify areas of pain in their accounts. As the book points out, "no pain, no change." Discovering the pain is the most important step in the process because it influences everything else that happens in the sales call. The worksheets and examples in the fieldbook help the salesperson identify the "pain" in his or her accounts. An important issue to understand is that pain varies depending upon the key player's job responsibilities. Too often, salespeople focus on one player in the buying center and ignore the others. By providing a systematic format, the fieldbook helps the salesperson make sure that the key players in an account have been identified. While each key player has unique pain areas, the effects of the pain are felt at the company level. The fieldbook helps the salesperson create a pain checklist to illustrate how each key player's pain aggregates at the organizational level.

Of course, planning does no good unless the salesperson is able to talk with the key players in a prospective client's firm. Consequently, the fieldbook moves on to stimulating interest and provides many examples for how to do that in the initial call to a prospect. It also provides letter templates in the event that the initial contact is made by mail. Once contact is established, there is no guarantee that the key player(s) will realize his or her pain. As every good salesperson knows, just because s/he can identify the pain doesn't mean that the prospect willing to do something about it. The fieldbook provides job aids to help the salesperson get the prospect to acknowledge the pain.

Finding and developing the prospect's pain is important so that the salesperson can help create a vision for the solution. Value must be an integral part of this vision. The salesperson needs to lead the sales call with value propositions to stimulate interest. By getting the right kind of information during the sales call, the salesperson can verify and justify the value of the solution. Value justification should be stated in terms of benefits expected (increased profits, increased revenue, or decreased costs). And, as always, The Solution Selling Fieldbook provides templates and exercises to help the salesperson accomplish this difficult task.

In summary, The Solution Selling Fieldbook is an excellent "how to" book for implementing the contents of The New Solution Selling. Salespeople who use this fieldbook diligently should see an increase in overall sales.

Tai Chi Touchstones: Yang Family Secret Transmissions

Average customer rating:

Why don't you own this book?
Know the source
Tai Chi Touchstones: Yang Family Secret Trasmission
A scholarly compilation of early Yang oral and written works
Interesting Book

Tai Chi Touchstones: Yang Family Secret Transmissions
Douglas Wile
Manufacturer: Sweet Ch'i Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Sports | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 091205901X

Customer Reviews:

Why don't you own this book?.......2007-06-26

If it is your intention to figure out what Yang Luchan could put into practice, you know that all we have are hints. A written hint here. An oral hint there. A rediscovery from this person. An oral tradition from that person. In other words, you know how hard it is to stay on the path. Well, here is a book that is chock full of hints, a veritable roadmap of them. If taijiquan is for you a "martial" art, why don't you own this book?

Know the source.......2006-12-05

Here's a statement issued by the Yang family (Yeung is Cantonese for
Yang

-----
Yeung Family's Tai Chi Chuan

The Yeung family's style of Tai Chi Chuan is unique to the Yeung
family.

It was started by Great Master, Yeung Lu Chan, who was born over two
hundred years ago, and has been passed down to family members,
generation after generation to the present day. The lineage under
discussion is that of Mr Yeung Sau Chung, the eldest son of Mr Yeung
Ching Po. Mr Yeung Sau Chung moved to Hong Kong with his family in
1949, and continued to dedicate his life to practicing and teaching Tai Chi Chuan until his death in 1985. Since then his family has devoted
themselves to practicing and teaching Tai Chi Chuan.

Mr Yeung had taught for over fifty years, and his daughter Ms Yeung Ma Lee, taught for over twenty years. Over these seventy years, they both have taught many students. Their method of teaching is personal and individualized. Through this methodology, they have employed various teaching approaches that take into consideration an individual's learning level, capabilities and physique.

It is important to clearly define the different categories of learning
more fully:

Category one is family. Yeung family members are taught the complete
body of knowledge. In the family, the methods and formulas are observed
most strictly, and the teaching methods employed are quite severe.
While all family members learn, not all like teaching and not all take
disciples.

Category two is disciple. Generally, a student is required to spend a
specific amount of time studying with the teacher before being
considered for discipleship. Students are accepted as disciples based
on several criteria. The disciples must have aptitude and possess virtues
such as honesty, kindness and loyalty to the Yeung's family. Once
accepted, they would acquire from the Master skills that lead to a
level of comprehension that far exceeds that of the students so that they can help the Master to spread the Yeung Family's Tai Chi Chuan.

A disciple is allowed to use the Yeung family's name when teaching.
Disciples can choose to take their own disciples. All disciples are
listed in the chart of School of Yeung's style of Tai Chi Chuan but not
in the Yeung's family lineage despite the fact that some people
shamefully promote themselves this way.

Category three is student. With permission from the Yeung's family
students could teach using the Yeung's family name.

The family itself has published books about Tai Chi Chuan. One must
understand that books only serve as a guide; you could only learn the
art well with instructions from the Yeung family. Recently a movie of
Mr Yeung Sau Chung surfaced on the internet (without family permission).
The same principle applies. It may be the best form one has ever seen,
but without the underlying formula, it is impossible to learn from it.

There are a lot of claims by some people saying they are practicing the
"real" Yeung style, or they possess the "forgotten secrets" etc. It is
absolutely important that the followers should exercise the utmost
caution to discern the authenticity of these claims and whether the
martial art is appropriate for their physique, otherwise it is not only
a waste of time and money but also it might cause serious injury. Yeung
style Tai Chi Chuan is both an extraordinary defensive art as well as
an unparalleled health maintenance exercise. The principles and
applications are only as valuable and effective as the source from
which they spring.

Know your source.
-----------------------

Not my words, but the words of the Yeung family. There are a lot of taichi chuan masters teaching terrible and innacurate form. Buyer Beware!

Tai Chi Touchstones: Yang Family Secret Trasmission.......2005-07-23

It is a very interesting approach to Tai Chi. It explains the philosophy and the basic. It is good for people that are starting with the study of Tai Chi.

A scholarly compilation of early Yang oral and written works.......2002-04-28

Though "secret transmissions" is somewhat of a misnomer, what the author presents is a collection of early published taiji material--mostly by Yang Cheng Fu, though there is one work
indirectly attributed to Yang Ban Hou.

These early works are not a step-by-step manual, but guides to the practicing student to help gain insight into what they're practicing. What any reader should immediately pick-up, however, is that these guides were written for someone learning how to fight.

Though much of the material is by (and thus, oriented towards) a Yang-stylist, the fundamental principles of taiji remain the same in all styles, so there is enough material that all taiji practitioners can benefit by. In fact, this book was recommended to me by a Chen-style practitioner.

The other part of this book, the author's foreword, gives the colorful (and sometimes conflicting) historical background and accounts of the Yang family, which is in of itself a fascinating read.

This book is definitely recommended for any serious taiji student.

Interesting Book.......2001-12-09

The books contains a few interesting passages, along with the common banalities that I hear all the time from anyone who knows what's what in Tai Chi.

Still, the stories are nice. It's refreshing to find a book where someone doesn't show you a (poor) form with 2 basic applications and claim to the the God of Tai Chi.

If you really want something to sink your teeth into, hit the tai chi classics.

PS- The best laugh in the pages of the book are the pics of Yang Chen Fu in "action". For a master, he had sloppy form.

Touchstones: A Book Of Daily Meditations For Men
Average customer rating:

Remains a touchstone

This book is a Medicine Wheel

For the recovering man

A good way to start the day

A gift for oneself and others

Touchstones: A Book Of Daily Meditations For Men

Manufacturer: Hazelden
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Meditation | Alternative Medicine | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books
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Believing In Myself: Self Esteem Daily Meditations

Accessories:

RESPeRATE Blood Pressure Lowering Device

Airborne Effervescent Health Formula, Original Orange, 10 Tablets (Pack of 3)

ASIN: 0894863940

Book Description

Speaking straight to men who are striving for serenity or trying to maintain emotionally and spiritually balanced lives, these daily touchstones begin with quotations from sources as varied as William Shakespeare, Wendell Berry, Michael Spinks, and Woody Allen and conclude with affirmations that underscore the lessons of intimacy, integrity, and spirituality. They explore the masculine role of lover or spouse, father or friend and, like a helping hand extended, ease the daily strain of making a man's way.

Customer Reviews:

Remains a touchstone.......2007-08-15

I first came across this book at my brother-in-law's house. I picked it up and dipped in briefly, liked the thought I read and then put it down. Ever since leaving his place that day, the little book has regularly come to my mind, and the simply truth I read on the page that day. I feel an affinity with the book, partly because it is understated and never showy. It is serious, without being melancholy; it is deep, without becoming stereotypical. Reading it is like having an intimate conversation with a trusted friend, except the dialogue is inside, and silent. It makes me feel good knowing its there, for me to open and dip in again, to feel what I felt the first time I picked it up all those years ago: this is true.

This book is a Medicine Wheel.......2007-07-30

I have used this gem of a book personally and in the wilderness program, Galena Ridge, I operate for at-risk teens. The beauty of the book is encapsulated in the April 1st reading....every experience we have, every choice we make, is a "medicine wheel" telling us much more about ourselves than it tells us about others or the world around us. The reflections in this book take on new meaning with each reading, helping us learn about ourselves as we embrace our courage to grow and change.

For the recovering man.......2007-07-05

This book is the cornerstone of recovery for men and used by men as an aide in recovering from addictions, co-dependency. While not conference approved literature it parallels much of it in its focus.

A good way to start the day.......2007-05-21

I was given this book 20 years ago and have just recently gotten into the habit of reading it every morning. There are some days when the reading really hits me but even more when it doesn't. My main complaint is that there are many readings specifically directed towards men when only a few of those really have to be. It didn't get 5 stars because I have other daily reading books that speak to me much more often and others that I don't bother with or really hate. See my other reviews if you want to know which ones. This one is certainly worth buying.

A gift for oneself and others.......2005-08-16

My husband has used this book for about ten years and has found it tremendously helpful. It lives next to his chair in the den, and he spends about 30 minutes with it in the morning while I'm still asleep. He reads the daily entry and meditates on the suggestions and affirmations on each page. He's commented that it provides comfort without being sugary, and he values the thoughtfulness of each entry, the low-key approach, and the wide range of sources quoted. I've browsed in and believe that it would be helpful to anyone, regardless of one's spiritual orientation... or lack of same.

He recently bought a new copy to send to a friend who is having serious problems in his life, and we hope that its calm wisdom will help him as well.

The Unheard Cry for Meaning: Psychotherapy and Humanism (Touchstone Books)

Average customer rating:

Deepening Insight into the Ultimate Search for Man's Meaning

The Unheard Cry for Meaning: Psychotherapy and Humanism (Touchstone Books)
Viktor Emil Frankl
Manufacturer: Touchstone
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Psychology & Counseling | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books

Logotherapy | Psychology & Counseling | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books

Psychotherapy, TA & NLP | Psychology & Counseling | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books

The Will to Meaning: Foundations and Applications of Logotherapy (Meridian)
The Doctor and the Soul: From Psychotherapy to Logotherapy
Man's Search for Ultimate Meaning
Recollections: An Autobiography
Man's Search For Meaning

ASIN: 0671247360

Customer Reviews:

Deepening Insight into the Ultimate Search for Man's Meaning.......2006-07-03

This was a wonderful book. I highly recommend it immediately after you read Man's Search for Meaning. This is a continuation and extension of the Introduction to Logotherapy that comprises the second half of Man's Search for Meaning. This book is more academic and less personal, but still full of insight and humanity. Frankl touches on many different aspects of life and existential vacuums that we all face. Here are some of his remarks that I thought perticularly noteworthy and that will give you a feel for the overall nature of this work.

Frankl's Definition of God
"God is the partner of your most intimate soliloquies. Whenever you are talking to yourself in utmost sincerity and ultimate solitude-he to whom you are addressing yourself may justifiably be called God." {NB: This is in the context of a non-theistic statement, Frankl notes that a religious person would assert that these are real dialogues between himself and God, while an atheist would be equally correct in insisting that they are only monologues within his own mind. Frankl, himself, I think tends toward the latter position.}
Frankl, Viktor. "Determinism and Humanism: Critique of Pan-Determinism" The Unheard Cry for Meaning. pg. 63.

Self-Trancendence
"Man is - by virtue of the self-trancendent quality of the human reality - basically concerned with reaching out beyond himself, be it toward a meaning to fulfill, or toward another human being to lovingly encounter."
Frankl, Viktor. "Determinism and Humanism: Critique of Pan-Determinism" The Unheard Cry for Meaning. pg. 80.

On the Meaning of Sex
"Human sex is always more than mere sex, and it is more than sex to the extent that it serves as the physical expression of something metasexual, is the physical expression of love. Only to the extent that sex carries out this function is it a rewarding experience." {To the extent that sex fails in this task, ie. using another person as a tool, failing to connect to that person as a subject, not simply an object, it is referred to as 'masturbatory' and 'neurotic' by Frankl.}
Frankl, Viktor. "Determinism and Humanism: Critique of Pan-Determinism" The Unheard Cry for Meaning. pg. 80.

The Pursuit of Happiness
"The more one's search for meaning is frustrated, the more intensively he devotes himself to what ... has been termed the 'pursuit of happiness.' When this pursuit originates in a frustrated search for meaning it is aimed at intoxication and stupifaction. In the final analysis it is self-defeating, for happiness can arise only as a result of living out one's self-transcendence, one's dedication to a cause to be served or a person to be loved."
Frankl, Viktor. "The Dehumanization of Sex" The Unheard Cry for Meaning. pg. 83.

Hyper-reflection and Existential Emptiness
"Paying too much attention to something is what I am used to calling 'hyper-reflection.' The patient is invited to carefully observe and watch himself; what is even more important, he is encouraged to endlessly discuss whatever he furnishes from within himself. Hyper-discussion becomes more and more a substitute for the meaning of life which is today so often missing, and missed by those who are caught in an 'existential vacuum,' a feeling of emptiness and meaninglessness." {There is also a discussion on the principle of hyper-interpretation, which subjects one to a relentless examination on one's 'real motivations.'}
Frankl, Viktor. "Critique of Pure Encounter" The Unheard Cry for Meaning. pg. 76.

Understanding Your Grief: Ten Essential Touchstones for Finding Hope and Healing Your Heart (Understanding Your Grief series)

Average customer rating:

Understanding Your Grief
An Organized Approach to Dealing with Grief

Understanding Your Grief: Ten Essential Touchstones for Finding Hope and Healing Your Heart (Understanding Your Grief series)

Manufacturer: Companion Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Death & Grief | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books

Grief & Bereavement | Death & Grief | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books

General | Self-Help | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books

General | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

The Understanding Your Grief Journal: Exploring the Ten Essential Touchstones (Understanding Your Grief series)
The Understanding Your Grief Support Group Guide: Starting and Leading a Bereavement Support Group (Understanding Your Grief series)
Healing Your Grieving Heart: 100 Practical Ideas (100 Ideas Series)
Understanding Grief: Helping Yourself Heal
Healing a Spouse's Grieving Heart: 100 Practical Ideas After Your Husband or Wife Dies (Healing Your Grieving Heart series)

ASIN: 1879651351

Book Description

Explaining the important difference between grief and mourning, this book explores every mourner's need to acknowledge death and embrace the pain of loss. Also explored are the many factors that make each person's grief unique and the many normal thoughts and feelings mourners might have. Questions of spirituality and religion are addressed as well. The rights of mourners to be compassionate with themselves, to lean on others for help, and to trust in their ability to heal are upheld. Journaling sections encourage mourners to articulate their unique thoughts and feelings.

Customer Reviews:

Understanding Your Grief.......2007-02-01

I love Wolfelt's work and find it very useful information! I have already used several pieces of information from the book!

An Organized Approach to Dealing with Grief.......2004-07-16

Enduring the pain of losing a loved one is certainly among life's biggest trials, and there is no "quick fix" for dealing with the grief. Before you can solve a problem you must understand it, so it's helpful to have some expert assistance for such a big endeavor. This book offers a step-by-step guide through the process, answering tough questions, dispelling myths, and dispensing advice along the way. Dr. Wolfelt is a compassionate, experienced and knowledgeable voice who presents his approach to the grieving process logically and efficiently. Ten "touchstones" make up the pathway, labeled with words like dispel, embrace, recognize, and nurture. Taking an organized approach to something like grief might sound impossible, but it may well be a critical part of making it through a very difficult time.

A Doll's House - Literary Touchstone Edition

Average customer rating:

Ladies Be Carefull
if you like plays

A Doll's House - Literary Touchstone Edition
Henrik Ibsen
Manufacturer: Prestwick House, Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Continental European | Drama | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

General | Drama | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

All 4-for-3 Deals | 4-for-3 Books Store | Stores | Books

All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books

Literature & Fiction | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
Similar Items:

CliffsNotes on Ibsen's A Doll's House & Hedda Gabler
The Importance of Being Earnest
Hamlet (Folger Shakespeare Library)
The Stranger
Oedipus Rex - Literary Touchstone Edition

ASIN: 1580495982
Release Date: 2005-06-01

Product Description

This Prestwick House Literary Touchstone EditionTM includes a glossary and readers notes to help the modern reader contend with Ibsens approach to complex human interactions and the relationship between the sexes. Norwegian-born Henrik Ibsens classic play about the struggle between independence and security still resonates with readers and audience members today. Often hailed as an early feminist work, the story of Nora and Torvald rises above simple gender issues to ask the bigger question: "To what extent have we sacrificed our selves for the sake of social customs and to protect what we think is love?" Noras struggle and ultimate realizations about her life invite all of us to examine our own lives and find the many ways we have made ourselves dolls and playthings in the hands of forces we believe to be beyond our control.

Customer Reviews:

Ladies Be Carefull.......2007-09-25

Ladies, if you're unhappy at home, this book is definately for you. Timeless, controversial, and very telling about the said plight of overly self-sacrificing women. It saddens me every time like the painful struggle of some sick child.
Guys, think you have a good perspective of women? Read this book and find out. A must have for any strongly introspective individual, be it man or woman. Enjoy!

if you like plays.......2007-01-06

I had to read this play for a class and I have to say I was pleasantly surprised. The play was very interesting and had a lot that one could think about after reading. With a controversial ending (because of the time this play was written)I would recommend this for anyone to read, even more than once.

Touchstone Teacher's Edition 3 with Audio CD (Touchstone)

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Touchstone Teacher's Edition 3 with Audio CD (Touchstone)
Michael McCarthy , Jeanne McCarten , and Helen Sandiford
Manufacturer: Cambridge University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Education | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

English (All) | Dictionaries & Thesauruses | Reference | Subjects | Books

General | Reference | Subjects | Books

General | Foreign Languages | Reference | Subjects | Books

General | Education | Professional & Technical | Subjects | Books

All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
Similar Items:

Touchstone Workbook 3 (Touchstone)
Touchstone Student's Book 3 with Audio CD/CD-ROM (Touchstone)
Touchstone: Student's Book with Audio CD/CD-ROM, Level 2
Touchstone Student's Book 4 with Audio CD/CD-ROM (Touchstone)

ASIN: 0521665973

Book Description

Easy and enjoyable to teach, Touchstone is packed with new and exciting ideas, offering a fresh approach to the teaching and learning of English. Teacher's Edition 3 is fully interleaved and contains practical teaching notes along with a wealth of optional activities. Detailed language notes based on corpus research give teachers special insights into English usage. Audio scripts, answer keys, and tests are also provided. Teachers can go into the classroom confident that they are fully equipped to teach students to be effective communicators.

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