Customer Reviews:
Great Author.......2007-09-17
I have read two of her books now and neither of them were at all disapointing. She revels her whole self in this book and I find it amazing that she was able to get through all of what happen to her. It was intresting to see how her work with the young boy brought up her old baggage and she was able to make it through that. Very good book and hard to put down.
Healing is always two-sided.......2007-05-04
Annie's realization that "healing is always two-sided" seems to capture the heart and soul of the therapeutic relationship. Her artfully written narrative shows how "what has been wounded in a relationship must be, after all, healed in a relationship."
Her healing therapeutic relationships--both as a therapist and as a client--help Annie begin to move beyond the damage of her past traumatic relationships. Annie convincingly demonstrates the therapist's own sense of vulnerability has the potential to bring either tragic harm or human healing to the client. She beautifully summarizes this realization with her advice to therapists: "If it is possible to remain open to our fears and make reparations for our mistakes, our vulnerability can be used in the service of healing."
powerful, beautiful, evoking.......2004-02-19
I began this book because I am a student of Annie's. I could not put it down, feeling like I myself was becoming somehow involved with her relationship with Ben (the 5 year old boy with brown hair and bangs). I felt like I was getting inside both Annie and Ben while watching the beautiful way in which they interacted. I could not be in the room with this book without wanting to read on into the relationship that evolves. The personal aspect of the patient-therapist relationship becomes the center focus as does Annie's life outside of these interactions with Ben. The reflection, time, energy, and exposure that is demonstrated by the author in this book was by far the best I have ever seen. This has become my favorite book, one that I will never live without, and also one that will remind me of what I want to do with my life and how to do it.
The Prevalence of Dismal Psychotherapists.......2002-09-30
Harvard child psychologist and severe child abuse survivor Annie Rogers suffered psychiatric hospitalizations once or twice a year from puberty until her late twenties -- when, after a six year insidiously inept and crazymaking "therapy," an attempt to stab and shoot that therapist and one last hospitalization for another word salad psychosis (and no more insurance), her exceptional and no doubt desperate sister and friends found the gifted and pro bono analyst Dr. Blumenfeld. If this exceptional memoir hasn't become a classic must read in psychology with many reviews by both patients and therapists by now, there are unfortunate reasons. One is that Annie's politically correct adolescence shows in her disdain for the "medical models and diagnoses" Dr. Blumenfeld himself could afford to abandon only because he knew them and the blind therapists who live by them so well -- and thus could authentically reach and stabilize the talented and brilliant, borderline and psychotic personality and doctoral intern Annie. "You have a kind of giftedness, Annie, that probably has always been inseparable from your suffering, and we don't know very much about that yet." What we need now is a wonderful book from the exceptional and sainted Dr. Blumenfeld and more from the healed and gifted writer Dr. Rogers on the two sided magic of play therapy with children. You must meet Annie's beloved "oppositional" 5 year old patient Ben and ponder the 7 foot angel "Theosporus" who protected and accompanied Annie from age 6 to Dr. Blumenfeld's office at 27. A Shining Affliction raises more questions than it answers -- it might have been twice as long, and it's hard to tell if important details were deliberately or unconsciously left out. As it is, it's a daring memoir by a once psychotic Harvard child psychologist that should be a controversial must read classic in both child and adult psychotherapy.
a strong memoir, about which I have a few criticisms.......2001-09-01
At its best it reminded me strongly of I Never Promised You A Rose Garden, in that it shows the healing relationship between an excellent therapist and a disturbed female patient. This book had the added benefit of having the patient/author also be a therapist, and while being healed herself doing a marvelous job of participating in the healing of a young boy whose problems are remarkably similar to her own.
The book was beautifully written, very open and revealing, and gentle in its nature. I also was grateful to hear the author write of her experiences with a TERRIBLE therapist, who, for self-protection, violated therapeutic boundaries left and right and essentially drove the author mad.
A few criticisms:
1) I found annoying the authorýs rambling free associations when she was psychotic. Itýs like, she seemed to be trying to be literary and give the reader an idea of what was going through her mind, but I think she could have come up with a more coherent, descriptive and readable way of doing it than spouting out word-noise. It reminded me of the Keseyýs dull ramblings about the ýfogý and the ýmachineý in Cuckooýs Nest. I tended to skim/skip over these parts.
2) I canýt help but wonder what really motivates a person like Annie Rogers to bare her soul to an audience. Granted, she wrote a wonderful and interesting book that contributes to the writing on psychotherapy, but I still think itýs suspect, like to some degree she sold herself out. I find a real beauty and self-respect in anonymity, especially for a psychotherapist, so when someone voluntarily gives it up, I canýt help but question why. (Grandiosity? Career enhancement? Shaming her bad therapist? Getting her good therapist to love her more ý and to live up to his prophesy?ýor perhaps just ýlook, mommy, see how great I am!ý)
3) I also find it suspect that her ýgreatý final therapist pushed her so hardýyet so subtlyýto become a writer. What was in it for him to mold her as such?
Amazon.com
You loved the comic strip; now read the business advice.
Or should that be anti-business advice? Scott Adams provides the hapless victim of re-engineering, rightsizing and Total Quality Management some strategies for fighting back, er, coping. Forced to work long hours, with no hope of a raise? Adams offers tips on maintaining parity in compensation. Along the way, Adams explains what ISO 9000 really is and assesses the irresistibility of female engineers.
The breath-taking cynicism of the strip should prepare readers for the author's no-holds-barred attack on management fads, large organizations, pointless bureaucracy and sadistic rule-makers who glory in control of office supplies. Readers of the on-line Dilbert Newsletter are familiar with the kind of e-mail Adams receives from his readers -- and may even have sent a few of those missives themselves. Along with illustrative strips, e-mail messages provide excruciating examples of corporate behavior which compel the reader to agree with Adams when he insists that "People are idiots".
The final chapter offers a model for would-be successful businesses to follow: the OA5 model. It's introduced with little fanfare, no outrageous promises and just the right amount of self-deprecation.
Book Description
The creator of Dilbert, the fastest–growing comic strip in the nation (syndicated in nearly 1000 newspapers), takes a look at corporate America in all its glorious lunacy. Lavishly illustrated with Dilbert strips, these hilarious essays on incompetent bosses, management fads, bewildering technological changes and so much more, will make anyone who has ever worked in an office laugh out loud in recognition.
The Dilbert Principle: The most ineffective workers will be systematically moved to the place where they can do the least damage 埭anagement.
Since 1989, Scott Adams has been illustrating this principle each day, lampooning the corporate world through Dilbert, his enormously popular comic strip. In Dilbert, the potato–shaped, abuse–absorbing hero of the strip, Adams has given voice to the millions of Americans buffeted by the many adversities of the workplace.
Now he takes the next step, attacking corporate culture head–on in this lighthearted series of essays. Packed with more than 100 hilarious cartoons, these 25 chapters explore the zeitgeist of ever–changing management trends, overbearing egos, management incompetence, bottomless bureaucracies, petrifying performance reviews, three–hour meetings, the confusion of the information superhighway and more. With sharp eyes, and an even sharper wit, Adams exposes –– and skewers –– the bizarre absurdities of everyday corporate life. Readers will be convinced that he must be spying on their bosses, The Dilbert Principle rings so true!
Customer Reviews:
Best and truest workplace book EVER!.......2007-09-17
subject says it all- just get it and you will laugh your hiney off. Plently of Dilbert cartoon panels disbursed throughout. Published in 1996 but absolutely timeless and just as applicable today as ever; probably always will be.
A funny, smart, and revealing look into workplace dynamics.......2007-08-16
Yeah, we all know Dilbert. Meetings are waste of time, managers are stupid, and co-workers are imbeciles. I half expected this book to be full of these cliches. Not even close. Scott Adams does an excellent job of showing the humor of a job with smart observances and clever ideas. From the absurd yet funny comics, to actual written letters from organizations, and his own personal experiences - Adams gives out humor that is relevant, funny, and pertinent. His topics range from management, to consultants, to engineers, to marketing, and much more. He touches on all facets of the workplace in a manner that couldn't be handled well in a few comic strips.
I'm working and getting my MBA now, and this sort of book tends to ground me. It's a quick and easy read. Nothing special, but very smart and funny.
Total Quality Management Produced this.......2007-06-11
Scott Adams worked for a utility monopoly when he began his satirical comic strip that mocked decadent management. Does anyone believe his comic situations would apply to an owner-operated small business? Only a large monopoly could afford and profit from the examples in Dilbert-land. Their profits are based on costs, so their higher costs from mismanagement allow higher charges on their captive customers. Once you understand this you'll know why things work that way. But nothing lasts forever, many places will be closed, their employees outsourced offshore. The bad effects could be reduced by a program of internal competition and rotation of managers. (That pointy-haired manager has to have a relationship with somebody in upper management.) This book lacks an index and a bibliography, like a novel.
Note polarity when changing a battery (p.3). Statistics is the art of arranging facts so they produce the desired conclusion (p.5). Sometimes they can be factual. Adams' story about "bluffing" (p.6) tells me he is not a carpenter, painter, plumber, electrician, mason, farmer, or assembly line worker who produce something from real work. I doubt if any of them will ever read this book for humor. You might just as well explain television to a cave person. Adams doesn't understand the printing press; it reduced the cost to mass-produce literature for those who could read.
The `Introduction' seems truly idiotic. If his co-workers don't know much that tells you about their knowledge gained from weekly news-magazines, corporate broadcasts, weekly tabloids, etc. Does he have a cure? [I recommend reading a daily newspaper, news radio, and avoid broadcast media that features gossip and opinion, and magazines. Listening to advertising is a form of Pavlovian conditioning.] "The Dilbert Principle" (Chapter 1) originally appeared in the `Wall Street Journal' along with other curiosities of that day. [Browse a copy once a week, they have news that is often missing from most newspapers.] Adams wonders why certain people are promoted to management? It's the class system, managers do this to prevent being threatened by more talented people. Talented people will either leave for another company, or accept their fate (p.17). The ineffective manager is used as an expendable who can be sacrificed if the need arises (after blaming the workers who have only followed orders). You can read about this in the newspapers if you haven't seen this for yourself. Read C. Northcote Parkinson's book.
Giving Chapter 5 the title "Machiavellian Methods" tells me Scott Adams never read "The Prince". "Campaign Promises" may be a better title. "ISO 9000" is the way to document processes and job descriptions so the corporation can send this work offshore, fire employees, and save millions on salaries to give bonuses to upper management. There's no secret here (Chapter 20). This is followed by "Downsizing" (Chapter 21). Chapter 23 discusses "Reengineering". Did those two authors ever practice what they preached? If not, then what does it say about the mismanagers who believed their story? There is a hidden agenda here, a formula for mass layoffs.
The Dilbert Principle for Seth.......2007-01-25
I received what I ordered, on time, to the correct ship address and in good condition.
Excellent book........2007-01-03
If you want to know wath really happens inside a typical organization... read this book and you'll name everyone around your cubicle as the characters in the book. Have fun and discover the real organization structure.
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- God's provision through suffering
- Yes, They Carried Their Crosses Well
- One of my favorite books
- Challenging and encouraging - great read!
- Lessons Learned From Hard Lives
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The Hidden Smile of God: The Fruit of Affliction in the Lives of John Bunyan, William Cowper, and David Brainerd (The Swans Are Not Silent, 2)
John Piper
Manufacturer: Crossway Books
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The Legacy of Sovereign Joy: God's Triumphant Grace in the Lives of Augustine, Luther, and Calvin (The Swans Are Not Silent)
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The Roots of Endurance: Invincible Perseverance in the Lives of John Newton, Charles Simeon, and William Wilberforce (Swans Are Not Silent)
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Contending for Our All: Defending Truth and Treasuring Christ in the Lives of Athanasius, John Owen, and J. Gresham Machen (Piper, John, Swans Are Not Silent)
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God's Passion for His Glory: Living the Vision of Jonathan Edwards (With the Complete Text of The End for Which God Created the World)
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The Life And Diary of David Brainerd
ASIN: 1581342470 |
Book Description
Bunyan. Cowper. Brainerd.
We read their stories and wonder how they endured. How does one survive twelve years in a dank prison cell? How does one survive month after month of a depression so debilitating that death seems the only hope? How does one endure tuberculosis? Or cancer, or emptiness, or death, or loneliness, or divorce? Whatever the trial may be, how does one endure without the soul shriveling up and blowing away with the breeze?
In the lives of John Bunyan, William Cowper, and David Brainerd, we find the strength of soul that not only endures hardship, but honors God in the midst of it. The Giver and Sustainer of life enabled them to worship through all their suffering. That's why their affliction bore so much fruit. The story of their suffering, their perseverance, and their passion is one that can inspire the same hunger for the supremacy of God in your life.
John Piper invites you to read their stories, consider their lives, and be encouraged that no labor and no suffering in the path of Christian obedience is ever in vain. Even the bleak hill of Golgotha was a skull with a frown of affliction on its face. But "behind a frowning providence, He hides a smiling face."
Just as Bunyan's, Cowper's, and Brainerd's suffering produced the worship and humility that is essential to Christian living, we too can look to God for great privileges to come from our own pain. And we too can remember, "The bud may have a bitter taste, but sweet will be the flower."
Customer Reviews:
God's provision through suffering.......2007-10-10
This book is a great encouragement, especially for any depressed or discouraged Christian. It's good to be reminded that God causes all things to work together for good for those that love Him... and that He can work through us, even through depression. "Hallelujah! What a Savior! Hallelujah! What a Friend"
Yes, They Carried Their Crosses Well.......2007-09-24
In the second part of Piper's eulogies to great men of the Faith, in 'The Swans Are Not Silent' series, we get to meet Bunyan, Cowper (pronounced Cooper) and Brainerd.
The introduction to the book brings us to an important theological aspect in the Christian life: the fruit of affliction. It is by these means of trials and tests, that God shapes the character of the lives of men and women, who lay claim to being Christ's. The cost of discipleship is ravaging, demanding, painful and yet, brings much glory to God, only if we continue to see His good in our circumstances.
Of this school, John Bunyan was an unchallenged leader. Most probably the most famous of Puritan preachers and pastors, the Bedford tinker grew in stature and favor with the English folk, which extends right to this day. Those that say Bunyan only had to agree to not preaching without a licence, at no other cost was his gaol term enforced, fail to know those days. As Piper explains, they were the Non-Conformists, who refused to bow the knee to the Church of England with her popish traditions and catholic conventions. If you read Bunyan's sermons, you will readily see the sort of principle he disagreed with. For example, that they had a Common Prayer Book, and for every circumstance, Holy Day, or gathering, they were required to pray from it word-for-word. NO! says Bunyan, for 'I will pray by the Spirit and by my understanding!' 1 Cor 14:15
What really touched my heart was that Bunyan confessed he loved his oldest daughter most. Born blind from birth, she was his weak spot. During the twelve years imprisonment when she had occasion to visit with his second wife, he claims that it was extremely hard to part with her. A fathers heart! If ever he needed an excuse to conform and be released from prison, she was there. Yet God graciously supplied in His means of grace to Bunyan.
Quote: 'Let me beg of thee, that thou wilt not be offended either with God, or men, if the cross is laid heavy upon thee. Not with God, for He doth nothing without a cause, nor with men, for...they are the servants of God to thee for good. Take therefore what comes to thee from God by them, thankfully.'
It were as if Bunyan saw Christ in his tormentors, and heard Christ plead with him to transfer their guilt, their actions, onto Christ, and thus be free to love them.
Bunyan is with reason well-loved.
Cowper was a hymnist and could rise above his melancholy to deliver the most beautiful odes of praise to God. Suffering from depression, he regularly had to keep the foes of darkness at bay, and dug deeply from the wells of grace to bring forth his fruit, much of which is still well-known and in use today.
Brainerd was made public by Jonathan Edwards, the great American theologian. Brainerd was a missionary who lived in the most depriving of conditions amongst the Indians he was doing missionary work to. He also had ailments and was ill for most of the time, yet continued to thank God for every breath and word he was able to bring. God sustained him and then He mercifully took him away, at a relatively young age. Missionaries who are pitted against tests, deaths of various kinds, always refer to Brainerd's work for exhortation.
This is a remarkable book in the sense that these men were principled and knew not the easy way out. They continued to live out their witness, knowing that it was the Holy Spirit at work in their life's calling, despite the odds being stacked against them. So in good times and tough, God was sovereignly ruling in their lives.
Solemn and awe-inspiring.
One of my favorite books.......2007-07-26
If you are reading this, you really need to read this book. Have you suffered affliction? There is JOY in this book. As I read about David Brainerd, I couldn't help praying "Lord change me." There is a sense of healing in this book as God really undertands our suffering and loves us.This book left the image in my mind of David Brainerd riding his horse in the rain through the woods, throwing up blood from TB in a mission to share the gospel to the Indians. He was rejected by the seminary. There was nothing easy about his life. This is a book to read over and over. It will bring healing and joy to you in your affliction.
Challenging and encouraging - great read!.......2007-04-24
The second of Piper's The Swans are Not Silent series, this book was the most difficult to read because of the subject it dealt with - suffering. Piper selected three great men of the faith, known for their devotion to the Lord and their godly walk and let the reader peak behind the curtains of their lives - and the suffering, depression, attempted suicide and struggles of these three men was very distressing. Yet, even as Bunyan face his twelve years in prison for preaching the gospel, he saw his struggles actually ordained and orchestrated by God for His own glory; a view that both Cowper and Brainerd shared regarding their own hardships and turmoil.
In a country where suffering is avoided at all costs and seen by many as spiritual weakness, the lives of Bunyan, Cowper and Brainerd shout a different story about the sovereign hand of God in the lives of His children. 1 Peter chapter 4 tells us that we should not consider suffering strange, but rather as a sign that the Lord truly is in control and that He is working out our salvation for His own glory through our hardships. Looking back at the lives of these three saints, it is easy to see how God has been glorified in their struggles - from the writings of Bunyan to the poems and hymns of Cowper to the effectual call to ministry that the life of Brainerd has had on hundreds if not thousands who followed him. While these three struggled greatly, many have tasted the fruit of eternal peace from their hardships.
All four books of this series are outstanding - highly recommended for all Christians to read. Piper introduces us to some great men of the faith and challenges us with their lives to walk in a manner worthy of our calling as those who went before us have done.
Lessons Learned From Hard Lives.......2007-03-30
Affliction - it is a word that few Christians in our day would like to use in refrence to life. In the midst of the purpose-driven, make me happy Jesus generation comes this wonderful book by John Piper on the lives of John Bunyan, William Cowper (pronouced Cooper), and David Brainerd. What we learn from this book is just what the title suggests: there is fruit in affliction. Reading this work by Piper helps me to see that Romans 8:28 is still true even when it seems life is tough. God is able to use the difficult times in our lives not only for His purpose (Ephesians 1:11) but for others. Did David Brainerd know that his short 29 years on planet Earth would shake up so many Christians and call so many to abandon it all for the sake of world evangelism (Luke 14:33)?
I urge all disciples of Jesus to read this work by John Piper. The chapters are fast paced and you will not get lost in minute details of these men's lives. Piper covers the basics of their life and then he shows you what lessons we can learn from their affliction to help us in ours. An excellent book that I give five stars too without any reservations.
Book Description
A dark, twisted, existential manifesto posing as a book of daily inspiration. Revolutionizing the best-selling genre, this thinking man's parody hijacks the format of daily affirmations but offers a different message: only in paradox, truth; only in darkness, light; only in affliction, affirmation. These "daily afflictions" offer readers inspiration, practical advice, and food for thought, as they navigate the jungle of existential terror that begins anew each day. We follow the fictional Brother Void on a spiritual journey, both profound and hilarious, into self, family, love, career, death—and, ultimately, Enlightenment. We learn to "listen to our inner critic," appreciate "the nurturing power of dysfunctional families," "love the wrong person," "succeed at failure," "embrace our inner corpse," and, finally, withstand the "agony of being connected to everything in the Universe." Part spiritual autobiography, part ironic meditation, this tragicomic guide to life's sublime predicaments will elevate and educate the spirit. The truth will set you free, Brother Void reminds us, but first it will hurt like hell.
Customer Reviews:
More Like the agony of laughing you a** off!.......2007-03-08
I love this little book. I run a drug treatment cener and invite staff in for a reading when they seem stressed. Sometimes we just flip to a random page, other times we look for what fits the mood. Just the right mix of wisdom and insanity!!
Putting the Cynical Into Words: Wise up!.......2006-11-18
This is a frank response to the depths of affliction, without a long-winded psychoanalysis. This is straight-forward and worth a read for some laughs and reflections.
My favorite passages are those of the dysfunctional family... for so long, I have tried to put into words what good can come out of having been brought up in this kind of family, and I am glad Boyd managed to put his finger on the lesson behind it all. He sheds light on positive outcomes that can result after someone goes through a fiery trial of affliction.
I don't particularly fancy the Love chapter here...however, I do give credit to the "Breaking up with Yourself" entry. I appreciate what he says about how people must break a pattern of failed love by realizing that the afflicted are the one's with the issues themselves. In other words, you should not expect of others what you are not yourself. We've heard it all before and it is just a matter of time, hopefully, for the stubborn to wake up, grow up, and quit passing through the revolving door that leads to nowhere worth talking to others about. I'd rather hear about those rare gems, like true love and wisdom put into life practice.
I hope this book not only entertains readers, but puts them into a more pro-active mode to change the patterns that keep them from rejoicing in the best that life can offer them in their afflictions. Learn the lessons, wise up, and encourage someone. Common sense...
Amusing and worth a passing read.......2006-10-01
unlike most self-help books this came across as something anyone could have written based on their real expiriences. It was like a sympathetic voice to those who feel lost. it does not demand you change the way you think or try to feel better. rather accepts lifes uncertain and sometimes unhappy moments. It says this is real and it's ok.
this book takes a humourous and sometimes insightful look at the depressing circumstances we all face from time to time. it refers to a good number of great thinkers and if you don't know where to start with them it may be of some use. i would not call it depressing, it seems to take such a light-hearted attitude towards its material that i doubt it was intended for any serious reflections.
i enjoyed reading it and i would definately recommend it to anyone who feels real life can be a let down and would like to laugh about it.
Deeply Desperate Satisfaction.......2006-01-04
I came across this book TWICE, in different people's bathrooms, during one desperate month. It made my suicidal life worth living. I am Loving my dark side. I Love this book.
If you are still getting superficial hope out of your affirmations, don't bother, but if you are ready for some reality, depth and true enlightenment, this can knock some of it into you.
Don't be lazy and don't buy this book!.......2005-10-08
Do yourself a favor and read the original writings by the authors quoted and interpreted by Boyd throughout "Afflictions". If you have done any reading of the original texts, you will see that he clearly skews their words and that his interpretations are frivilous and ridiculous. Too negative to be worth a read! For the real treasure dig into the classics which he is profitting upon.
Book Description
To answer the troubling question, Why? Edith stresses Gods empathy and applies Job and other Scripture in a personal, caring approach to physical, emotional, and spiritual suffering.
Customer Reviews:
Understanding Suffering.......2001-12-15
This book is excellent and one that I heartily recommend. In fact I have 3 on my bookshelf at the moment so I can share the truths in this book with others. It's given me understanding of how God uses suffering in our lives.
I know of one person who wrote a newsletter before her death of how this book brought purpose to her life in the midst of her dying from cancer.
If you are struggling for answers about suffering, this book will help bring about understanding.
Affliction.......2000-08-16
A great book for helping to understand affliction. Very helpful for learning to use affliction for personal growth and for experiencing increased intimacy with God. I recommend it to anyone who has lost a loved one, lost a leg, lost a job and/or suffered any pain or loss during their life's journey.
Required Reading for believers.......2000-02-14
I would like to encourage all Christians and non-Christians alike who have an opportunity to read this book to do so, and then use the lessons/encouragements/exhortations of Edith Schaeffer to be salt and light in the world we live in. If I could recommend only 1 book to someone to read to prepare them for the life we face on this earth(other than the Bible, of course)and to help equip others to deal with the problems/adversities we will face,and a sound, bible-based christianity, this would be the book. I found it readable 1 chapter at a time, it is not necessary to sit down and read the entire book at once, at so many places I found myself thinking of someone who needed to hear this, read this, understand this, gain a measure of understanding to get through what they were facing, or wanted to help someone else get through their trial with a christian way of seeing that I had to stop my reading and find/call that person at once. As you can tell, I am a big Edith Schaeffer fan, you can never go wrong in recommending one of her books to someone, if someone is not a christian, they will be exposed to real, authentic answers that the Bible and a relationship with Jesus Christ provide to those who do believe, and that is rare today, I feel. Again, please get a copy of this, read it, then pass it on, there is a hurting world that needs to be prepared to face "Affliction", and this book and author are the best I've found in my christian travels.
A First Class Book For Helping A Person Overcome Crisis.......1998-08-30
In this excellent book Edith Schaeffer shares many personal experiences which help a person to understand the meaning and purpose of suffering. The point she makes is that there is meaning and purpose in all suffering. She states there is a Personal God who understands and uses these experiences, not only to help us, but also in an eternal way to help everyone. It is good reading that is meaningful and full of comfort for anyone who is suffering.
Customer Reviews:
Possibly the Funniest Book I Have Ever Read.......1998-03-26
When I was a child in the 60s, my parents owned this little book (obviously an earlier edition). Even though it was written for adults and I was only 9 or 10, I literally laughed out loud every time I read it, and I read it many times. When I wanted something fun to read, I could pull out the Dr. Spock book. I have never forgotten it in the 30 years since then and have been wanting to get my own copy for some time now. As with the previous reviewer, I remember well the curse of Vesuvius Bladder, along with other childhood horrors, such as Eddie Arcaro's Ride...I should keep quiet, so that search list for copies doesn't get too long.
Wonderful, hilarious depiction of children's ways of life........1997-09-13
I spotted this little-known book in the library at VA Tech
and have been trying to get my own copy ever since.
Numerous humorous drawings are used to enhance the tongue-in-cheek
descriptions of various diseases, such as Vesuvius Bladder.
This disease can be spotted when young male babies
release their bladders while on the changing table.
This book should be turned into a calendar.
Average customer rating:
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The Crook in the Lot: Or the Sovereignty and Wisdom of God Displayed in the Afflictions of Men (Puritan Writings)
Thomas Boston , and
Maureen L. Bradley
Manufacturer: Soli Deo Gloria Ministries
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Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 1573581372 |
Book Description
When calamity and disaster strike as it did on September 11th, many people begin to ask, "Where is God?" and "Why did God allow this to happen?" These are the very questions Thomas Boston addresses in this timeless book. This book includes an introduction and a study guide to maximize the impact of this classic work.
Amazon.com
If Russell Banks hadn't become a writer, he thinks he would have wound up stabbed to death in a barroom brawl. He is the son of a two-fisted, drunken New England plumber, and the grief of fatherly combat resonates through his work like the background radiation of the big bang. Banks became a violently drinking plumber himself--and then a Pulitzer Prize-nominated Princeton literary giant and one of the luckiest Oscar-buzzed writers in Hollywood history.
(The Atom Egoyan adaptation of Banks's brilliant novel The Sweet Hereafter perfectly captures its brooding beauty, and Affliction may be Paul Schrader's finest film since he wrote Taxi Driver.)
Affliction transmutes Banks's painful past into fiction. His divorced protagonist, Wade Whitehouse, 41, is imprisoned by fate in Lawford, New Hampshire, a hell frozen over. He digs wells for chump change, lives in a trailer, drinks, and alienates his daughter by dragging her to a miserable Halloween costume party. In two weeks' time, Wade demolishes his pitiable hopes of family happiness, drawn into a rigorously plausible series of disastrous deaths. In flashbacks to his Dad-abused youth, we see how Wade wound up such a Dostoyevskian clown.
Banks has a mind of winter: when Wade sees his dead parent, the scene unfolds with the cold logic of ice-crystal formation. The story is narrated by Wade's kid brother, the family's sole escapee to college, in a cool, distanced way. Both brothers contain aspects of Banks, but each breaks free of autobiography. This is one haunting novel.
Book Description
Wade Whitehouse is an improbable protagonist for a tragedy. A well-digger and policeman in a bleak New Hampshire town, he is a former high-school star gone to beer fat, a loner with a mean streak. It is a mark of Russell Banks' artistry and understanding that Wade comes to loom in one's mind as a blue-collar American Everyman afflicted by the dark secret of the macho tradition. Told by his articulate, equally scarred younger brother, Wade's story becomes as spellbinding and inexorable as a fuse burning its way to the dynamite.
Customer Reviews:
very good.......2007-01-07
This book is spellbinding in its story but also in its character description. It is another father beats son story but its OK because Banks handles the material with such skill and the story is about so much else as well. It is set in northern New Hampshire and the cold, snowy scenery comes alive along with the deer hunters and town folk going no where.
A strong look at alcoholism and child abuse.......2002-12-30
Russell Banks has crafted a strong story about the effects of alcoholism on children. The story follows Wade, a divorced father of a single pre-teen daughter. The mother, however - his high school sweetheart, whom he had married, and divorced, on two separate occasions - has custody and has since moved to another town; Wade only gets to see her once a month, and on Halloween. Wade goes about his life as the local policeman all the while longing for the good old days, and wondering what could have been, and how he can get them back. Eventually, he hatches a scheme, and talks to a lawyer. Slowly, events unfold which shape the future in different ways: a funeral which brings the family together again; the accidental death of a visiting hunter, which Wade thinks is suspicious; a looming marriage which threatens to bring back his old ways; etc. Through everything, the reader is getting a look into Wade's past, the abuse he and his brothers and sister suffered at the hands of their father, and how eerily close Wade seemed to be getting to following in his own father's footsteps.
Affliction is a very strong look at alcoholism and behavioral similarities through generations - the effects which are transmitted from father to son without even realizing it. We do as we have had done to us, not what we wish would have been done to us, or so it seems. The relationship between Wade and his family is clearly defined, and the interactions between them are always revealing, especially when his sister and family comes back for the funeral. The family interaction is some of the best I've read.
There are little trouble points: the novel is long, and several chapters feel unnecessarily slow; the point of view the story is told from (Wade's brother) is awkward at points, especially when he has to explain how he knows things about the story he's telling - it would have been easier just to tell it from a third person point of view; and then ending a little unresolved - I don't know why, but I wanted a little more resolution.
Overall, though, Affliction is still a powerful look at family life and the long-term effects of poor parenting. It's a vicious cycle, but Banks would have us believe there is some hope, as the story is told from the point of view of a brother who continually asks why Wade had to be the failure in the family rather than him. Why had he been able to break the cycle? Why wasn't he in Wade's position, or Wade in his?
The novel offers no clear answers.
Matty J
Early, Long, Forever Winter.......2002-05-09
This is a tough book. It is the last years of a family that has lived in the miseries of violence and addiction. These are always complicated sooner or later by poverty and loss of soul. The very landscape has been beaten up and bought up and drilled to make it little more than a ghost of nature. Twisted and tortuous is the path of the lives and the land. The buildings are erected similarly, no beauty and not much comfort. The people who have the money are not at all nice to the ones who haven't. Corruption, exploitation and every now and then somebody gets brave enough to take off. Wade, our everyman, has a friend who made it, and he wonders after a certain amount of booze, on certain nights, if he might be able to do the same. But he knows he won't. This is a land of trailer parks perched on concrete slabs, where people fight and love in bars, with half working neon signs casting eery shadows over treacherous, icy roads.
Wade Whitehouse is a large man, with strength, sex appeal and a wound racing through him like the Mississippi and all its tributaries. His tale is told through his brother, the questionable survivor, who went to college, got out, has a career, and isn't a blackout drunk. There is the sister turned evangelical Christian, with her own frightening, crazy children. There are the ghosts of the two other brothers, dead together in some offensive in Nam. They too, haunt the bizarre story, a mystery, a murder, and the climax of a legacy.
My friends in Maine were simply out of their minds over Banks, and out of respect from these Chicagoan, Wisconsin transplants whose art awakenings I had shared, I entered into these readings seriously. While I recognize the brilliance, it just isn't my geography, just as I suppose I miss so much in Southern writers, but somehow, I can relate more, I feel, to the Welty's and Faulkners and Flannery O'Connors and so many others.
The symbolism is intense. A mother who is frozen to death and the nagging, break-through pain of a long-decayed tooth. Throbbing, heart breaking and cold.
Check it out, everyone should sample Banks. He is most assuredly, we are told, Wade with a miracle. His talent is indeed miraculous, I just don't worship there.
wayyyy cool.......2002-04-25
dude, this book was rad. it was so funny when the little girl cries because her dad of her dad beat her dad. i liked the ending because the brother talks about people working at video stores and video stores are cool. read this book anyd you will see what im talking about.
Rugged, tough as nails -- and powerful.......2001-12-26
There are a lot of books out there by "cowboy poets" or sort of macho-ish writers. "Affliction" has no such pretensions, but it's more austere, rugged, and well-crafted than the best of them.
You can read the other reviews for the plot. I won't repeat it. I'll just say this: The relationship between fathers and sons haunts this book like a curse passed down through the generations, and the dynamic of that relationship--and the way it affects the men's lives--gives this book its enormous depth, compassion, and power to shock. An unforgettable read. Really a great novel of American man.
Average customer rating:
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Most Solitary of Afflictions: Madness and Society in Britain, 1700-1900
Andrew Scull
Manufacturer: Yale University Press
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ASIN: 0300107544 |
Customer Reviews:
: ).......2007-01-10
Loved this book...Used it as one of my sources for a research paper. Well written. I'd probably even read it for fun.
Book Description
Among the developed countries it is not the richest societies which have the best health, but those which have the smallest income differences between rich and poor. Inequality and relative poverty have absolute effects: they increase death rates. But why? How can smaller income differences raise average life expectancy?
Using examples from the USA, Britain, Japan and Eastern Europe, and bringing together evidence from the social and medical sciences, Unhealthy Socities provides the explanation. Healthy, egalitarian societies are more socially cohesive. They have a stronger community life and suffer fewer of the corrosive effects of inequality. As well as inequality weakening the social fabric, damaging health and increasing crime rates, Unhealthy Societies shows that social cohesion is crucial to the quality of life.
The contrast between the material success and social failure of modern societies marks an imbalance which needs attention. The relationship between health and equality suggests that important social needs will go unmet without a larger measure of social and distributive justice. This path-breaking book is essential reading for health psychologists, sociologists, welfare economists, social policy analysts and all those concerned with the future of developed societies.
Customer Reviews:
More lies..........2005-07-04
This is just typical of the "Me, Me, Me" society who wants everyone to support them instead of taking responsibility for their own lives. See my review of "Uninsured in America: Life & Death in the Land of Opportunity" for more details.
Brilliant - It Is Not The Wealth In America That Matters.......2005-06-12
It is not the wealth in America that matters for health, quality of life and wise thinking. What matters in a blessed society is how the wealth is distributed. Even in a very wealthy country as in America, uneven and idiotic distribution of the wealth is leading to corruption of CEOs and large corporations, disintegration of health care delivery, and unbelievable amounts of misery in families where husband and wife have to both work to survive. It used to be that one spouse worked outside the home and the other spouse worked inside the home available for the raising of children. With all of the wealth in America, the healthcare delivery system is one of the most inefficient and corrupt delivery systems one could even imagine. Without good preventice and curative healthcare for Americans the country will fail and it will be a completely avoidable tragedy caused by raw greed. By far the number one priority for America should be quality healthcare for all Americans not based on social standing, who you know, or the money in your bank account.
A fine blend of research and rhetoric.......1999-12-21
Unhealthy Societies is a terribly ambitious book. Only superficially is it about public health...really, what Wilkinson is trying to get at is something altogether more profound, he goes for the age old philosophical questions on what makes a society good and decent and just. Wilkinson bites off a heck of a lot, and chews it masterfully.
Wilkinson defends his thesis with a mountain of empirical evidence and not a little bit of style. His gift for elegant and persuasive prose makes his complex reasoning seem simple, almost commonsensical. The end result is a truly refreshing rationale for a sort of democratic socialism, one that is neither dogmatic nor ideological, but rather is based on social fact, in the Durkheimian sense.
In Richard Wilkinson we have a rare gift: a social scientist who is careful with his evidence yet is not afraid to take on truly transcendental questions. It's a shame his research isn't more widely read and cited.
A phenomenal correlation of disease & income disparities.......1998-10-12
Unhealthy Societies - the new, new pediatrics
Unhealthy Societies: The Afflictions of Inequality, by Richard Wilkinson, is a clear, multifaceted description of research into the patterns of disease, violence, and death between and within societies.
Wilkinson reviews the global patterns of disease and death historically, where the trend is down. Countries which have attained a modest degree of affluence have gone through the `epidemiological transition' where the primary causes of death are no longer infectious, but the `diseases of affluence' the degenerative diseases He then reviews changes between societies, showing that some have large divergence in death rates as a function of income and that others do not. The difference is a function of the spread of income within the society. This pattern applies to the states of the US as well as among nations. . Above a certain level, the prime factors which determine health are relative, not absolute income.
He then cites data on the differences in death rates within societies as a function of income. For example, British civil servants in the lowest income categories have 4 times the rate of death from heart disease as those in the highest income categories. This pattern is shown to apply to homicides, and reading failure as well as a large number of medical conditions.
Another chapter deals with the level of cooperation in human societies in prehistory, versus the atomization and Hobbesian conflict, which is seen as normal and inevitable today. He also reviews studies which show that much of what we call human nature has been shown to be inference from our own behavior and is very sensitive to changes in situation.
He then looks at the societies beyond the epidemiological transition and inquires into the mechanisms by which the poorer folks in society might be afflicted with disease. He concludes that it is due to psychosocial factors and particularly chronic stress. That the lower you go in society, the more fear you have of unemployment and destitution. Also you have less space to live in, less education, and are surrounded by more stressed people. Stressed people have lower self-esteem and for instance are much less likely to be able to give up smoking. Short-term pleasures, such as comfort foods, become harder to refuse. He also relates some studies about the correlations between family discord in childhood and adult health problems, and depression in mothers and children's accident rates. "To feel depressed, cheated, bitter, desperate, vulnerable, frightened, angry, worried about debts or job and housing insecurity; to feel devalued, useless, helpless, uncared for, hopeless, isolated, anxious and a failure: these feelings can dominate people's whole experience of life, colouring their experience of everything else. It is the chronic stress arising from feelings like these which does the damage."
Wilkinson points out with classic British understatement - "If the aim is to improve the welfare [health] of populations, it would be unwise to try to treat the psychosocial symptoms without reducing the underlying scale of relative deprivation." Recovering his voice he adds: "As the powerful logic of the market extends its tentacles ever wider, it is easy to think of economics as a mental illness which leads to the perception of all human behavior as springing from an egotistical desire to maximize consumption." "The public sphere in [healthy and egalitarian] societies seem to be incorporated in social life rather than being abandoned to the negative market relations between self-interested households".
Turning to solutions, he points out that "To want continuous growth in order so solve problems of [unemployment, income insecurity and increased profits] is merely a form of addiction: during the economic highs the problems are temporarily solved only to return in the next recession. The problems which the economic upturns seem to solve need a more fundamental and durable solution which would hold even in the absence of growth." "If we could use a dose of egalitarianism to turn the idea of civilisation into and inclusive rather than an exclusive concept, we would perhaps have an idea of the social conditions for health." "Rather than relying on providing more special needs classes in schools, more prisons and police, more social workers and health services, more counsellors and therapists, we have to tackle at root some of the main causes of the problems with which they attempt to cope. Even if we could afford vast armies of counsellors and community development workers with a small team for every street, there is no reason to think that it is possible to separate the structural causes from their social symptoms." Wilkinson concludes with: "Action does not depend simply on a sense of altruistic concern for the welfare of a minority. The majority cannot enjoy life oblivious to these problems: they affect the quality of life for all of us."
This is a brilliant book, pulling together much data which illuminates the causes of the diseases we experience in our everyday lives. Pediatricians in particular see this and when we are not moralizing, wonder why it is. Wilkinson shows that an egalitarian society where people see each other as partners rather than opponents, as interdependent rather than independent, is healthier and generally wealthier.
Much ink has been used in the last 25 years to talk about the `new' pediatrics. Many pediatricians have expanded their practices beyond the organic diseases to look into the individual stresses and dysfunctions of families seeing them as factors contributing to the diseases we see in our patients. What Wilkinson does is to look beyond the individual stresses to the social stresses. He takes a public health view of stress disease and how it affects us all. In my opinion pediatricians should add this dimension to their work with families and in society. We fail our professional duty if we ignore these pathogens as outside our purview.
Karl W. Hess, M.D., FAAP
Wilkinson's Unhealthy Societies is required reading........1997-08-26
In Unhealthy Societies: the Afflictions of Inequality, Richard Wilkinson lays down the gauntlet to all those who profess to be concerned about the health of societies and those who live in these societies.
He carefully outlines the research that indicates that it is not the wealth of nations that determines health, but rather how this wealth is distributed. He also describes the processes by which economic inequality becomes translated into societal malaise and societal disintegration.
Using many examples from the United States and the United Kingdom, he documents that states and areas that have relatively greater inequality of wealth show greater signs of societal disintegration involving higher crime rates, poorer health, and greater incidence of violence.
Unhealthy Societies: the Afflictions of Inequality suggests that health education and health promotion approaches that ignore broader social issues are doomed to failure. He also suggests that societies that ignore these issues are also destined for increased malaise.
The book should be required reading for health workers, policy and welfare analysts, and government officials and politicians. It should be especially useful as a text in the health and social sciences.
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