 
# Catfish

# Volumes 41-45

# ©2015
# Andrew Bushard

Catfish

Volume 41

Andrew Bushard

Reviews

Audio

Benzedrine Monks of Santo Domonica

1994:Chants Don't Suck. USA: Rhino Records.

Weird Al's parody of "Smells Like Teen Spirit" pokes fun at how it is hard to decipher what Nirvana is saying, thus, interestingly enough the chant version of "Smells Like Teen Spirit" enables one to decipher the lyrics since it is slower and clearer than the original. Particularly ironic, and consequently enjoyable was the chant version of REM's "Losing My Religion. Also great was the chant version of Queen's "We Will Rock You." Perhaps, this version should be played at basketball games.

Cochran, Tammy

2000:Tammy Cochran. New York, NY: Sony Music Entertainment.

I was thinking it was going to be more countryesque than it was, but it was softer than I thought. In fact, it didn't seem too country at all, but she is still classified as country. None of that honky tonky twang in here, really. Sometimes a little too soft, and I would have preferred more of the story telling type song like her hit "Life Happened" than the love song type.

Dalai Lama and Howard C. Cutler, M.D.: read by Grover Gardner

2001:The Art of Happiness: A Handbook for Living. Hampton, NH: Chivers North America.

Some fundamentalists suggest that all religions besides Christianity are evil tools of Satan. After listening to the benevolent Dalai Lama's words, it's laughable that anyone could conclude that the Dalai Lama is an agent of Satan. He is in fact the epitome of benevolence. Lots of good advice, and some I don't really agree with. For example, the Dalai Lama argues that in almost any problem in your life, you are at fault to some extent or another. The feminist community has for years being trying to change the idea that women contribute to rape. Howard Cutler gave a weak counter example (lying) to try to refute the Dalai Lama's notion that one almost always contributes to one's problems. We don't always contribute to our problems as even others have argued. Some conceptions of karma can be very dangerous. If the Dalai Lama (and Buddhism) has any fatal flaw it would actually be too loving and peaceful. Such is not ideal. I think hate and anger, (what the Dalai Lama considers to be horrible) are really positive when done right. Anton LaVey and others liked him argued that some hate is needed to be fully human and balanced. It seems that people who lack hate don't have the much needed balance. There needs to be hardness. I do love the tolerance of the Dalai Lama and Buddhism. The Dalai Lama does not seek to push his religious views on everyone; in fact, he argues that Buddhism is not ideal for every last person, even suggesting that the other religions should stay in existence because they are so good. That type of tolerance is so utterly refreshing especially when contrasted to the mindless fundamentalist notion that only Christianity is right and everyone must convert. Buddhism like anything else to me is not perfect, but in many ways it is an admirable faith.

Dobson, James: read by someone else

1996:Love Must Be Tough: New Hope for Families in Crises. Dallas, TX: Word Publishing.

When I think of tough love, I think of it being used by parents; although there are parenthetical references to that here, Dobson focuses on marriage issues, particularity affairs. In graduate school, one of my classmates was researching biases. One day I told him I found a bias. I told him how so many people think that Dr. Laura is an extremist, yet I listened to one of her books on tape and found it to be sensible and not extremist in the least. He called the bias these other people have a "generalization bias". He said "Every three months she'll say something off the wall, and then people think that's all she talks about". I believe the same can be said for James Dobson, at least from this audio tape. There is really nothing offensive on here, and although I may disagree on particulars, this advice would be wise whether one is a Christian or otherwise.

Dyer, Wayne.

1998:Wisdom of the Ages: a Modern Master Brings Eternal Truths into Everyday Life. New York, NY: HarperCollins Publishers.

Dyer did bring forth some good wisdom, though I don't agree with it all. Dyer has too much of the yin of the old yin yang; he's too soft, too peaceful, too slow paced, too at ease. I find such softness such yinness hard to listen to for prolonged periods of time. He has no anger or hatred, something I don't think is preferable. A good work if a little short.

Eagles

1994:Hell Freezes Over. Los Angeles, CA: Geffen Records.

Yes, some libraries still in 2005 lend tapes. A place here or there the tape quality was second rate (or maybe it was my sometimes quirky player). The hits were catchy as were a couple of songs that I had not heard of (though they very well could have been hits).

Eminem

2003:The Eminem Show. Santa Monica, CA: Aftermath Records.

I finally got an opportunity to become acquainted with Eninem's music after hearing so much about him. This is surely one of the most suitable albums to jog to. There's something about it that makes it conducive to running. It might be the beat. Other rap albums don't seem to have the same effect on jogging, so there might be something special about this record. People like Bill O'Reilly are wrong, because there is substance in these lyrics as defenders have been arguing. Yes, there is the typical tough and macho posturing, but there is also a more vulnerable, humble side as well. Eminem in one lyric acknowledges his errors, and in another says "My insecurities could eat me alive." These are not feelings you hear on every rap album. About the only song, I could really object to was "Superman", which seems definitely misogynist, but then again Eminem says he is "tongue in cheek". Eminem is frequently castigated for being homophobic, but on this album I heard only a reference or two slamming homosexuality. In condemning his adversaries, he makes profound points on the nature of art and the interpretation thereof. Whether you are a rapper or not, if you have ever had your misinterpreted, this is something you can relate to. One of my former classmates said that when opponents of rap talk about rap "they always talk about bad rap and not good rap." I imagine this is exactly what happens to Eminem. Have any of these opponents heard "Hailie's Song"? It is a noble expression of a father's strong love for his beloved daughter.

Eugen, Herrigel: read by Ralph Blum

1990:Zen in the Art of Archery. Los Angeles, CA: Audio Renaissance Tapes.

I passed by this audio tape for more than one visit, but eventually decided to check it out on one visit. Sometimes old = dull, but such was not the case here. I wanted to learn more about Buddhism, and such was a great way to do it. It painted a fairly attractive picture of Zen.

Fry, Ron: read by Beverly Butler and David Cooper

1996:Improve Your Memory. New York, NY: Highbridge Audio.

I have been familiar with some memory enhancement techniques before particularly mnemonic devices; this one gave me a couple more. Plus even the examples were interesting and incidentally informative on their own account.

God Bullies

1994:Kill the King. San Francisco, CA: Alternative Tentacles.

A lot was rather unmelodic, and I really prefer melody. Though a couple of songs, like "Pretty on the Inside" included some dialogue with musical background. "Pretty on the Inside" seems to have the morale that if you engage in misconduct, it can backfire on you since a horrible consequence, worse than you can imagine, could manifest itself and your behavior will become public.

Good Charlotte

2002:The Young and the Hopeless. New York, NY: Sony Music Entertainment.

Having heard only "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous" and "Bloody Valentine", both of which I liked, I thought I would check out Good Charlotte. I was afraid these songs would be hard to get into, but fortunately that didn't happen as the songs were very easy to get into right away. "Riot Girl", "The Story of My Old Man", among the others makes this album one to listen to.

Hubbard, L. Ron

1980:Scientology and Effective Knowledge.

Hubbard, interestingly, compares Scientology to Buddhism. Instead of claiming Christianity is unique among all religions, Hubbard claims Buddhism is distinct because he says it tries to get to "knowing". He even suggested that Siddhartha "was the first scientist". However, Hubbard claims that what Buddhism has tried to do, Scientology actually does. A great line from this tape went something like this: "In order to better someone, you have to better him [or her]. You can't better someone by worsening him [or her]". Is that what we call wisdom? If so, I can give you plenty of it.

Ivins, Molly

2000:Shrub: The Short But Happy Political Life of George W. Bush. New York, NY: Random House Audiobooks.

Molly Ivins is a liberal, but still she critiques George W. Bush in a fair minded way. So many liberals point out and lash out about only Bush's negatives, but Ivins is better than that. Her descriptions of Bush have only proven true since he has unfortunately become our president. I think it is also an asset that she lives in Texas as she can give a more insider first hand view of what Bush is like.

Keith, Toby

2004:Greatest Hits 2. Nashville, TN: DreamWorks Records.

I do not care for Keith's political stances especially his stupid retaliation against criticism directed toward Bush, though his music is okay.

Keneally, Thomas: read by Grover Gardner

2003:Abraham Lincoln. Santa Anna, CA: Books on Tape, Inc.

Abraham Lincoln is one of the more banal American history topics, so one might not expect too much excitement, but this audio book was fascinating. It is a talent to do something well which has been done many times before. Some people may not have liked the end of this which was a detailed description of the author's "sources" but I didn't find it dull in the least.

Lieberman, David:Narrated by Richard M. Davidson

1999:Never Be Lied to Again:How to Get the Truth in 5 Minutes or Less in Any Conversation or Situation. Prince Frederick, MD: Recorded Books, LLC.

Ironically, the title is a falsehood: it has "never" in it and as the saying goes "never say never", so you'll probably be lied to again, and I think the author mentioned how the techniques are not foolproof anyways. Also ironically, some of the author's favorite techniques to uncover lies involve elements of deceit if not out right lies. It's ironic that in order to get the truth you must lie (if you follow his suggestions). In his work, Instant Analysis, Lieberman, like many contemporary psychologists stresses the idea that you should give a person the "benefit of the doubt" (he even used this phrase) and be open to different interpretations than just what immediately comes to you. Very well and fine, but in this book, the author seemed to suggest, notwithstanding very cursory introductory remarks about other possibilities, that whenever someone exhibits these signs of lying, the person is lying. I know I have been truthful yet have exhibited some of the behaviors he considers to be automatic sings of lies. For example, I talk slower than average, and Lieberman says that a sign of deceit is talking slow. He also suggests the old notion that if you having nothing to hide you'll gladly talk. I have refused to talk to police or allow a search not because I had something to hide, I didn't, but because I wanted to assert my rights. There's little worse than arousing suspicion when you are doing nothing wrong, which unfortunately is the cost of being assertive (some might say quixotic). So very very useful. The audio format was not conducive to going back and reviewing which is vital of a work of this nature. I hope to use this information often and I hope to remember a lot of it.

Meatloaf

1998:The Very Best of Meatloaf. New York, NY: Sony Music Entertainment.

I haven't heard Meatloaf's music for awhile. I remember liking it from my MTV days. Emotionally powerful music with deep lyrics.

Megadeth

1992:Countdown to Extinction. USA: Capitol Records.

In my younger days, metal was one of my favorite genres if not my favorite genre. Now it is no longer my favorite genre, but I still like some of it. I'm not ecstatic about this album, but I think it is just fine.

Morgan, Diane: read by Arthur Morey.

2001:The Best Guide to Eastern Philosophy and Religion. Los Angeles, CA: Audio Renaissance.

It seems to me that not that many books of this type would devote so much to tantric philosophy. I hadn't heard much of it before so it helped to learn about it. This audio book acknowledged that it left out Jainism, Sikhism, and other eastern ideas. The audio book only ran for 3 hours, which was part of the problem; it didn't need to be abridged so much. Jainism is rarely emphasized the way it should be, especially considering how it appears to have some of the best attributes of any religion or philosophy. This audio book was not too stiff, at times, colloquial words and phrases were even used.

O'Rourke, P.J.: read by William H. Macy

1992:Give War a Chance: Eyewitness Accounts of Mankind's Struggle against Tyranny, Injustice, and Alcohol-Free Beer. New York, NY: Random House.

Despite the title, I don't remember hearing anything at all about alcohol free beer (such as O'Doole's), all he mentioned was how there was no alcohol allowed in Saudi Arabia. His profile of Dr. Ruth had me laughing more than I have for a while. He teed a fine balance: he was able to be humorous and witty and yet still report about the Gulf war in a patriotic way.

Reilly, Lee: narrated by Barbara Caruso

1997:Women Living Single: Thirty Women Share Their Stories About Navigating Through a Married World. Prince Frederick, MD: Recorded Books, Inc.

The style is ethnography, except that it is not academic, but popular. Reilly argues that unmarried women are vilified, stereotyped, and treated cruelly in life. Reilly suggests being single is legitimate and women should be treated the same. I know the scope of the book could include women, but even though women may get the worst of it, men too face pressure to marry. When I ran for city board, I made a speech to the current city board. One citizen in said "Good speech, but you're not going to get it. They're such a traditional bunch, they like it that he [my opponent] is married." There is a stereotype for men as well. Unmarried men are assumed to be uncivilized and less respectable than men who are married says society. Although this book reflects on the specific theme of single women, it makes profound points on a broader theme: be different in any way from the social norm that most of society thinks is indispensable. Thus, I would love to see the same theme of this book focused on topics such as living without a car, being a teetotaler, or even being a short man.

Shannon, Elaine and Ann Blackman: read by Barbara Daniels Korsen

2001:The Spy Next Door: The Extraordinary Secret Life of Robert Philip Hanssen: the Most Damaging FBI Agent in U.S. History. Hampton, NH: Chivers North America.

I only have one complaint about this superior work: the work did not focus much on Hanssen's post arrest experiences, such as what happened at the arraignment, the sentencing, and how he is adapting to prison life. I heard somewhere that one of the deals he got in his plea bargain was the opportunity to operate a computer, though without internet access. Good heavens, I was sucked into this fabulous book. I loved the suspense. Indirectly, the work provided me more insight about the workings of the FBI. There was this dude I met in graduate school, who named Bob Hansen, and was a cop just like this Bob Hanssen, but the one I met pointed out the name was spelled differently. My life has become so much more exciting from listening to this work. One great deed the St. Paul public library, Sun Ray, branch did was acquiring this work. I am so very happy I came into the library on the day I did. I was glued to this work. I stayed up past by bedtime listening to this fascinating tale; how could I not? Spy stories can give up bad dreams, but it is joy listening to something so very interesting. A great joy of life is listening to fabulously interesting tales like this one.

They Might Be Giants

1990:Istanbul Not Constantinople. New York, NY: Elektra Entertainment.

An EP. I heard "Istanbul Not Constantinople" many times before, so it was not a treat to hear it again, though I am still not really sick of it, because it is a pretty good song. I had never heard James K. Polk before and instantly was attracted to it, as it a wonderful way to teach a history lesson with style. How could the PMRC object to that song? I'm sure it could, but that song is a good history song. It's also cool.

They Might Be Giants

1998:Severe Tire Damage. Hollywood, CA: Restless Records.

It seemed like a live album. The last song, "About Me" was like the form of "Fingertips" from Apollo 18, which included a song consisting of many different small musical bits. Having heard some of these songs before, in fact, many many times before, much of this was not as much of a treat as I would have liked. However, I did get to hear some new songs, like the very educational "Why Does the Sun Shine? (The Sun is a Mass of Incandescent Gas)"

Various Artists

2005:Totally Country 4. New York, NY: Sony & BMG Music Entertainment.

I like some country music, and wish I could be exposed to more. Hearing compilations is a great way to become more exposed to country music; unfortunately, this compilation did not help me find more country artists to listen to.

Various Artists

1999:70's Rock Volume 2. St. Laurent, Quebec: Madacy Entertainment Group, Inc.

Not a first resort cd, but better than I thought. Some of the tunes sound familiar.

Various Artists

1998:Now That's What I Call Music. Beverly Hills, CA: Virgin Records America, Inc.

I played "Barbie Girl" by Aqua too many times. I am probably on the extreme other end of what Barbie is like, but the song may have been tongue in cheek, though it would be good to dance to for the with it folks. Radiohead's "Karma Police" intrigued me by the title, but the sound of the song didn't hit it off with me.

Yankovic, Weird Al

1988:Weird Al Yankovic's Greatest Hits. New York, NY: Zomba Recording Corporation.

As a satirist myself, who has occasionally written song parodies, I admire and dig Al's parodies, which he is ever so proficient at.

Books

Albert, David

2003:Homeschooling and the Voyage of Self-Discovery: A Journey of Original Seeking. Monroe, ME: Common Courage Press.

I am in an interesting position to review this book: a few years ago I dated a woman who was homeschooled, and now I work in a public elementary school. David, like many homeschoolers, raises a lot of great points and he does have a lot of wonderful ideas. I do think he is too hard on the school system. I know that some institutions need to be removed entirely and others yet need to be reformed. After much thought I believe our education system is one that needs to be reformed rather than abolished. Albert does have points about arbitrariness of the school system, its rigidity and pressure, and its teaching of blind obedience to authority; authoritarianism, and the belief that an education degree is somehow magical. But I would challenge him on the notion that the elementary school I work at accepts someone as unconventional as me. I surely don't agree with all the philosophies of the educational system, but I am generally inclined to be tolerant of that which accepts me. I didn't think an elementary school would be the place for me, but now I've been pleasantly surprised. Sure, the educational system has defects. Some of what I am asked to do doesn't make sense nor is it ultimately morally right, and much of the rest makes so much sense and I wouldn't understand how someone could be against it. I would have liked to see Albert address that. Although I might want to make a career out education if such works out, I think I would be inclined to homeschool any kids I would have. Albert has a romantic view of life and it is ideal for kids.

Bessant, Annie

1952:A Study in Karma. Adyar, Madras, India: the Theosophical Publishing House.

A short book which really added no additional insight to my understanding of karma. About the only contribution was the idea that national disasters suck in those with bad karma and avoid sucking in those with good karma. Books on karma are hard to find, so I was stuck with this one, and since it was short it was worth reading, but otherwise, not much is here.

Bodian, Stephen

1999:Meditation for Dummies. Indianapolis, IN: Wiley Publishing, Inc.

The author suggests one's total perspective changes when one meditates, and I'm not sure I want such a perspective. The author, like other Buddhists, condemns anger and hatred, and I believe some is in order. Though I do think meditation could serve you and me well, when used in a balance with some good healthy hate and anger. I would have loved if the chapter "Meditation for Healing and Performance Enhancement" was longer or at least more emphasis was placed on such. Although, I would love for meditation to yield these benefits for me, there are other positives to the practice as well, and meditation as an endeavor is worthy of consideration.

Dalai Lama

1994:A Flash of Lightning in the Dark of Night: A Guide to the Bodhisattva's Way of Life. Boston, MA: Shambhala Publications.

Although the particulars in places may not mesh perfectly with me, I really like the concept of a bodhisattva. I think it would be neat to try to be a bodhisattva without embracing Buddhism entirely. On page 94, the Dalai Lama says the human body is just waste. Marvin Olasky criticizes such a depiction of the human body in a book reviewed below. I think Olasky may have a point when he suggests that the human body is something much more magnificent and amazing than that. The Dalai Lama says "Once mature, it [the body] is made up of blood, flesh, organs, and bones....Why then are we not repelled by the body, which is wholly made up of disgusting elements?" Because the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. On page 106-107, he expounds on ideas which seem very similar to the servant leadership philosophy, a concept derived from Christianity. This would be one example of what the religious scholars consider to be the similarities across the religions, especially when folks compare Buddhism to Christianity. On page 107, he suggests that treating others well will give one the karma to "be reborn as kings and leaders". In other parts in this book, he condemns fame, leadership, and power, so exalting the reward would seem to contradict his ideas, though he does say that our good deeds should not be done with the idea we will get a better future life plight. I found disturbing that the Dalai Lama considered one possible punishment for bad behavior in this life is to be born as mentally disabled in a next life. Some people say being mentally "disabled" is not really a punishment since, sometimes it can be a blessing in disguise and least of all, there are advantages to most every situation. In the above reviewed audio tape by the Dalai Lama, he states that abortion might be justified if the child would be handicapped! Abominable!!! One of the big themes of this book, and Buddhism in general is the idea of "there is no self" or at least we should not recognize the self. I am not sure this is preferable. Ayn Rand's Anthem offers a different perspective, as they say, about the evils of a society where people lose the self. That book made its point on my brain and in this matter; I think Rand's way is preferable to the Buddhist way.

Davis, Leslie

2002:Always Cheat: the Philosophy of Jesse Ventura. Minneapolis, MN: Tell the Truth Books.

As the book sets out to do, it makes Ventura look really bad, particularly for the alleged bribe he gave to another Reform Party candidate to be. In part of the book, the author went off on a digression about the corruption of the Ramsey County attorney's office. Some mention of that was perhaps necessary for context purposes, but it was a sidetrack that deviated from the purpose of the book. The book succeeds in the sense it makes Ventura looks bad, which all in all, is something the opponent of anyone could do, but you could say it fails on the ground, that it has not totally convinced me that Ventura is so bad. Ironically, some of the words and actions of Ventura which opponents cite to make him look bad make him look good in my book.

Demi

1998:The Dalai Lama: A Biography of the Tibetan Spiritual and Political Leader. New York, NY: Henry Holt and Company.

A glorified biographical sketch, but probably good for kids.

Dyer, Wayne

2001:There's a Spiritual Solution to Every Problem. New York, NY: HarperCollins Publishers.

After hearing a couple of Dyer's audio tapes, I thought I would try one of his books. Since he has published many, deciding which one was a hard decision. Choosing this particular book was a good move. Dyer's spirituality is very eclectic incorporating Hinduism, Catholicism, Sufism, among others. As eclectic people usually are, Dyer is very tolerant of the variety of people and ideas. Dyer claims a) nothing is evil because God created it all and God is entirely without flaw b) energy is what determines it all, and c) spirituality is indispensable. In here he attempts to define spirituality and his contribution is fabulous. On page 9, Dyer suggests one of the essential characteristics of spirituality is looking inside ourselves. It would seem that such would be introspection rather than introversion. One can certainly be introverted without being introspective and probably introspective without being introverted. After reading the book, I can't believe spirituality to Dyer is solely introspection, but it is a big part of it. Add this to the thoughts in Kasl's If the Buddha Dated, and you get a real good picture of spirituality. Throughout Dyer refers to the spiritual as "faster energy". I found this very interesting since I have thought when one slows down in life one is most spiritual. It was as if Dyer anticipated such a thought, because on page 136, he makes the point that we must slow down in order to receive the speed of spirit. I was extremely happy to see Dyer condemn drinking according to his spiritual worldview. He suggested that drinking is a unhealthy "energy field" and that intoxication is an anti-spiritual state. His personal examples were wonderful. In one place, Dyer was talking about how he told his students he was going to be published even though he had never been published and new authors usually were not embraced by the big publishers. His point in describing this was to show us if one has positive thinking, one can achieve a lot, which I do believe is true. Although Dyer is a far cry from being cocky, that particular behavior did seem self assured. I just can't even attempt to say something will happen for sure in the future and I surely can't promise I will succeed at something. Throughout, Dyer believes one should "be open to everything and attached to nothing". I would just modify it to say "open to most everything and attached to almost nothing". I don't think it's virtuous to be open to absolutely everything and I do think some attachments are appropriate. We don't need to be nit picky with his semantics, because overall, the concept is a sound approach to living. Elaine St. James said that if one reads uplifting books before bed one has positive dreams and if one reads books with darker themes, one has more negative themes. I have observed that when I listened to an audio tape about a spy, I had bad dream. A time or two after I read Dyer's book, I slept sound and woke up feeling very refreshed and wonderful. Perhaps, she is on to something. Dyer seems like the person that would accept pretty much all of us, even the outcasts and that type of acceptance is admirable. I think I need to read another Wayne Dyer book.

Ganeri, Anita

2003:Sacred Texts: The Guru Granth Sahib and Sikhism. North Mankato, MN: Smart Apple Media.

This is probably just the second book I read on Sikhism, which is something I have not been much aware of for most of my years here. I am surprised to learn that it is considered a major religion, at least by the people who put together this book. I like the Sikh ideas of equality of the sexes and aversion to cutting the hair at all. This book unlike the other book did not focus on just Sikhism in general but instead it focused on its scripture, Guru Granth Sahib.

Ganeri, Anita

2003:Sacred Texts: The Tipitaka and Buddhism. North Mankato, MN: Smart Apple Media

Splendid if a little on the short side.

Gonzalez-Balado, Jose

1996:Mother Teresa: In My Own Words. New York, NY: Gramercy Books.

As one would expect, this work is full of love and wise advice. I was pleasantly surprised to read Mother Teresa expressing some post-capitalist sentiments. In one excerpt of her words, she expresses how she and her sisters will not receive compensation for their work because such creates improper motives. That was so refreshing! Too bad, the rest of the world does not see it the same way. I strive for post-capitalism and was pleasantly surprised to see Mother Teresa affirm it.

Greenleaf, Robert

1979: Teacher as Servant: a Parable. New York, NY: Paulist Press.

This work is a parable just like James C. Hunter's The Servant, which both serve as a complement to each of their other books, Servant Leadership, and The World's Most Powerful Leadership Principle. The lessons from it are not quite as explicit as in The Servant, but I believe the lessons are apparent. This book is a bit drier and less well written than the Servant, which I imagine is due in part to the time period it was written in, but even so, it is still a fine work. I do not agree with all of Greenleaf's recommendations, even though he's one who is often credited as starting this whole servant leadership idea. A couple of Buddhist thoughts were expressed toward the end, but I could not tell exactly if the comments were supportive of Buddhist ideals or not. Overall, the work uplifted critical inquiry, questioning of authority, and the whole idea of "creating institutions where everyone comes in contact with the institution is better off, to serve and be served by the institution". Particularly profound was a very counter-intuitive critique of philanthropy presented in the chapter on foundations. In this chapter, it suggested that if one does not create a scenario where both parties give and receive instead of one party just receiving. I agree with this entirely as I resent situations where the other party acts as if he or she has everything to teach me and I have nothing to offer.

Heider, John

1985:The Tao of Leadership: Lao Tzu's Tao Te Ching Adapted for a New Age. Atlanta, GA: Humanics New Age.

In some ways, the leadership advice in here was similar to James C. Hunter's books on servant leadership. Though Hunter articulated it more clearly and went into more intricate detail. The first half or so went into me well; the second half or so for some reason was not as easily digested. It could very well have been something external to the book, like a different mood during each day. The book seemed to repeat itself. Furthermore, there is just something about Taoism that doesn't quite work for me (though it certainly has some benefits).

Hobe, Phyliss

1990:Lovebound: Recovering From An Alcoholic Family. New York, NY: NAL Books.

I think I have read enough books on ACOA. This book billed itself as different from the rest, and indeed in some ways it disagreed with common approaches, but it is surely not pathbreaking. I hate it when people act as something is path breaking when it is not. Nevertheless, her efforts are good and she helps us recognize the severe problem of adult children of alcoholics. The stories in here are something one can probably never get enough of since the stories demonstrate the evil of alcohol.

Jones, Rodney, Charles Sevilla, and Gerard Uelman

1987:Disorderly Conduct: Verbatim Excerpts From Actual Court Cases. New York, NY: W-W Norton and Company.

I read the sequel to this work, Disorder in the Court, which I much enjoyed. I learned of this work, yet could not find it for quite awhile. Then at a Twin Cities library, I finally did. The book had a bad odor to it, but otherwise it rocked.

Kasl, Charlotte

1999:If the Buddha Dated: A Handbook for Finding Love on a Spiritual Path. New York, NY: Penguin Group.

I listened to the audio tape of the author's other work, If the Buddha was in Love. I found it useful to some degree, but this one was extremely useful. I like how she emphasizes eclectic spirituality, since I am eclectic all around. If the Buddha was in Love was more abstract than this work, which is perhaps why I preferred this one. Also this one is geared to where I am at. I dig her type of spirituality. We need spirituality and thoughtful books on love and romance are due. This book is exemplary.

Kummer, Patricia

2003:Enchantment of the World: Tibet. New York, NY: Children's Press.

After listening to that tape of the Dalai Lama, I became intrigued about Tibet. I know some leftists are big on the Free Tibet movement, so I wanted to learn what this Tibet was like.

Mack, Joshua

2002:Karma 101:What Goes Around Comes Around and What You Can Do About It. Gloucester, MA:Fair Winds Press.

When I read this book, I was in that "flow" which psychologists talk about, which I attribute to the well written nature of the book and the ever fascinating topic. It was fast reading and it was ever deep. I needed a karma fix and this book provided. I am not sure if karma exists, though I sense that it might, and I fear it if it does. I have never seen karma covered to the utmost prosaic extensions possible. The "Karma Do's and Don't's" in a sense could be interpreted as flip, but in another sense, which I'll accept, are demonstrations how every act is supposedly influence by karma, even the smallest acts you might not think anything about. For example, on page 27, "Karma Do: Replacing the empty roll of toilet paper......Karmic Don't: Putting the empty carton of orange juice back into the fridge". I was on the internet looking for more books on karma and fortunately discovered the existence of this work. I requested it via interlibrary loan, and fortunately it was available to me. Good move, me: because this is the best book on karma around, and I doubt I can come across a better one. Joshua Mack should get lots of great karma for writing this superb work. Few books draw you in as much as this one, even the best of the best.

Miller, Kathy

1984:Out of Control: A Christian Parent's Victorious Struggle with Child Abuse. Waco, TX: Word Books.

This woman was not very patient, but it was good that she eventually developed some patience. I suppose all of us lack patience to some degree or another, though usually not as much as her. She's definitely Christian to the bone. It sure is interesting that even after she admitted this child abuse, there was no legal action. I say if there is legal action for one, it should be for another, though sometimes certainly it is better to not be so crazily hard on people.

Olasky, Marvin

2004:The Religions Next Door: What We Need to Know About Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Islam – and What Reporters Are Missing. Nashville, TN: Broadman and Holman Publishers.

I am on the Conservative Book Club email list and the ad about this book piqued my interest. The book sounded pretty inflammatory and distorted and also a narrow minded claim to how Christianity is great and the other religions suck, but I found out that was likely more to do with the ad writer rather than the book itself. Olasky seemed to try to be fair minded, though he distorted matters a number of times, whether intentionally or unintentionally. He was knowledgeable about the subject matter and he was often pretty accurate. On page 15-16, Olasky makes an interesting point, though I'm not sure he's exactly correct in his assumptions. On these pages, Olasky argues that Christianity unlike these other religions paints the prophets and servants of God as fallible humans, while the other religious traditions act as if the religious leaders and prophets are infallible. David Lieberman, a lying expert, whose work is reviewed in this volume, does say that if a tale has no derogatory bits, the tale is more likely to be less than accurate. To contradict this, I should tell you about the Buddhist tale of Siddhartha, the Buddha, being a deadbeat dad. Furthermore, The Everything Zen Book tells stories about Zen masters who were far from perfect or in some cases, even admirable. Olasky does argue against some of the excesses and abuses of these other faiths. I am afraid if these religions were more open about the flaws (if they truly are not), then it would be just more ammunition for Olasky to use to argue against these faiths. Later on Olasky suggests that one way coverage of religion could improve is being more critical in evaluating the human flaws of religious leaders. Somehow Christian leaders are excluded from this mix. One of my old friends mentioned how people like Billy Graham and Mother Teresa are treated as if they are nearly flawless. Indeed, I do not believe I have ever seen a negative press account on Mother Teresa except maybe a small atheist press article. Even Mother Teresa is human. Olasky appeared to be more charitable and less dissatisfied with Judaism than the other three religions. On page 72, Olasky argues that reincarnation causes people to not value existence enough since existence goes on for such as long time. This is a valid and thoughtful criticism of reincarnation. I'm afraid Olasky just doesn't realize where the logic of that criticism will lead: it will lead to the idea that secularism is best. In my debates I have argued that what is scarce is valued more than what is plentiful, therefore, if life is finite, it tends to be valued more than if it is infinite. One Christian rebutted this by saying if finite life does this, then wouldn't one want life to be as short as possible. This Christian dude's point seemed to be: the more life, the better. If such is the case, then reincarnation is the way to go. In this matter, whichever way you cut it, Christianity appears to have the worst of two worlds. Olasky goes on and on about Buddhism's attachment. I too recognize problems with avoiding attachment, and am not entirely comfortable with avoiding attachment as a dogma, but in some ways, detachment appears to be virtuous. On page 106, Olasky says "That animosity toward the body is frequent in Buddhism." I too have heard Buddhists say our body is just flesh. Olasky is suggesting that by making such statements, Buddhists hate the body. Buddhists do not hate the body; they just believe the spirit is more important. Some have argued that Christianity is anti-body, but Olasky is not seeing that, I guess. On page 130, Olasky discusses "Zen's ascetic tendency". If only it were so! I consider myself ascetic and am turned off by Buddhism's aversion to asceticism. In fact one of the most well know parables of Buddhism is that after Buddha left his palace, he became an ascetic and eventually discovered that asceticism was destroying his body, thus instead he choose what he called "the middle way", which allowed a so called moderate view toward the body's needs: fulfilling them, but not depriving the body nor overindulging the body. On page 128, Olasky discusses Buddhists who fast, even to their death. I have not found many Buddhists who accept fasting. Buddhists seem to oppose it, since they seem to consider fasting ascetic. For example, when Federation Without Television had a speaker from the Zen Meditation Center, I asked her about fasting. She said the Buddha taught against it and supported the middle way instead. Fasting is one of the best practices I have ever engaged in, yet sadly the Buddhists don't value it enough, yet here Olasky claims such practices define Buddhism. How can what a religion does not advocate define it? Oddly, on pages 139-140, Olasky cites tabloids to prove his point that Buddhism is harming Japanese society. He only qualifies the citation of tabloids by a mention of "hype". Most of us do not believe the fault of tabloids is mere hype, but a treacherous manner which brings into question the veracity of anything reported inside them. I don't know how a professor of Journalism can seriously cite tabloids to prove his point. Tabloids have little credibility. Since abortion is becoming one of my key issues of concern, I enjoyed his discussion of this religion's views on abortion. It was ever too brief; perhaps a whole book on other religions and abortion could be published. On page 157, Olasky condemns Islam's teetotalism, he, like others, seems to suggest that moderate consumption is acceptable, but it is not. If Islam has any virtues, teetotalism is one. On page 179, Olasky suggests that Christianity unlike Islam does not believe in tough punishment. What about "An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth"? Is blinding someone okay, but Islam's hand chopping for theft is wrong? To me both are wrong. Olasky misleads us by suggesting that Christianity's history is one of peace (180) yet the history of these other faiths is chock full of violence (197). I was surprised by the last two chapters "Missing the Story" and "How to Do Better". I figured that these would be calls to convert to Christianity, but instead they were commentaries and suggestions about religious journalism. On page 212, Olasky criticized one reporter and her story on the grounds that the story does not do a follow up a year from then. Since when did news reporting incur the obligation of having to do that? Since when did news reporting become a longitudinal study? In one criticism of Buddhism, Olasky states "behind that democratic notion , which suggests the happy idea that human beings should be kind to dogs and deer, lies an equation of human beings with cockroaches". I don't think Buddhism is arguing this at all. Buddhists, in fact, emphasize that being reincarnated as a human is a blessing, since it is not all that common, and also it's the only plane of existence in which one can achieve Nirvana. I do not believe an accurate understanding of Buddhism can lead one to believe that Buddhists consider insects are exactly the same as humans.

Ozaniec, Naomi

2003:101 Essential Tips: Everyday Meditation. New York, NY: DK Publishing, Inc.

Little I haven't heard before, but I found the bit on color, element (particularly fire) to be new.

Pelzer, Richard

2005:A Brother's Journey: Surviving a Childhood of Abuse. New York, NY: Warner Books.

Having read his brother's book, A Child Called It several years ago, I was afraid this was going to rehash the same old ground, but, instead of repeating the same information, it just took over where that book left off. It was as gripping as his brother's book. In this book, the role of alcohol in the abuse, became more clear. Such is proof positive of the evils of alcohol. I noticed this, then I saw a mention in the book cover about alcohol's influence. Richard was very introspective and made profound reflections along with a superb relay of events. Richard expressed a fundamental notion: karma, which seems to make ever so much sense especially since I have been reading a lot of books about it lately.

Piven, Joshua, David Borgenicht, and Sarah Jordan

2004:The Worst Case Scenario Handbook: Weddings. San Francisco, CA: Chronicle Books.

This book appears to be a serious book, but some of the suggestions are so off the wall, one is prone to wonder if the book is a satirical book. I think perhaps it is some of both, since the suggestions seem sound and also some parts are surely on the lighter side. Either way will do for me.

Quindlen, Anna

2000:A Short Guide to a Happy Life. New York, NY: Random House.

Short is right! If you seek to read this book while drinking a cup of coffee, don't plan on finishing the coffee. But it's all good. This book could serve as an ideal secular humanistic affirmation of existence, though she does not appear to be a secular humanist.

Schechter, Harriet

2001:Let Go Of Clutter. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill

This book was read in just a single day. I am getting to the point where I want to eliminate more and more of my belongings, even though I once clung onto them. I am getting better and this book inspired to get rid of more. Her classification of "Happy and Sad" as items to keep, and "Good and Bad" as items to throw away, was fabulous.

Simon, Charnan

1998:Community Builders: Brigham Young: Mormon and Pioneer. Danbury, CT: Children's Press.

One motivational audio tape profiled the Mormons as a group which overcame adversity, thus I was inclined to admire this aspect of Mormonism. After reading this, my admiration of Mormons is reaffirmed.

St. James, Elaine

1995:Inner Simplicity: 100 Ways to Regain Peace and Nourish Your Soul. New York, NY: Hyperion.

This was one of those books that wasn't too short, but it went by fast. I think she may have a point about her suggestion of not reading troubling material before sleeping. When I listened to a story about the spy Bob Hanssen, bad dreams followed. Mostly this is similar to much inspirational fare, but it does me good to hear it again, possibly in a different way.

Weisberg, Jacob

2002:More George W. Bushisms: Accidental Wit and Wisdom of Our 43rd President. New York, NY: Fireside Books.

While on a bus, I was reading this work. One dude made a remark that he "couldn't believe you are reading that". It seemed that he thought because Bush was on the cover, the work was praising Bush. Such is surely not the case, as I told the dude this book makes fun of Bush's stupid remarks. I liked the work.

Weisberg, Jacob

2003:Neither in French Nor in English Nor in Mexican. New York, NY: Fireside Books.

This book did not radically depart from the other one's style, so the last sentence of the last book review applies to this one as well.

Catfish

Volume 42

Andrew Bushard

Reviews

Audio

Allan, Gary

2001:Alright Guy. Nashville, TN: MCA Nashville.

Slow and so so songs to start, then it got better with the songs "Alright Guy", "I'm Doin' My Best" and "What Would Willie Do?" "Alright Guy" and "I'm Doin My Best" have a very similar theme: I'm a decent person with the guaranteed flaws." "What Would Willie Do?" paints Willie Nelson as a very compassionate, magnanimous, good natured person. I didn't know that much about Nelson's character, but the song described him in a beautiful way; it was the type of song you would want written about you.

Allan, Gary

1999:Smoke Rings in the Dark. Nashville, TN: MCA Nashville.

Not as good as the above one. In fact, no songs are memorable.

Allan, Gary

2003:See If I Care. Nashville, TN: MCA Nashville.

Besides the touching and extremely insightful "Tough Little Boys", I do not care for this album. I believe country music is at its best with ballads (though often not love songs). I wish Allan's music had a little more kick to it.

Beattie, Melody

1990:Codependent's Guide to the Twelve Steps. New York, NY: Simon and Schuster.

Lame. I didn't like her soft lovey voice too much. I am getting sick of twelve step material, maybe partially because I studied AA for my master's thesis. But the pickings for audio tapes were not ideal, so I chose this.

Becnel, Barbara Cottman (abridged)

1991:The Co-Dependent Parent. New York, NY: HarperCollins Publisher.

Some of the same old same old recovery and psychology but also new material on co-dependency, though I don't think the tape adequately explained what codependency itself was, which I am confused about.

Boldt, Laurence: read by Gabrielle de Cuir and Stefan Rudnicki

2001:Zen and the Art of Making a Living: a Practical Guide to Creative Career Design. San Bruno, CA: Audio Literature.

The book professed to be practical and I wish it would have been less so, since as it went on, it gave advice you could have gotten elsewhere, despite its claims that it was giving you a different perspective (remarks such as "This is not your usual career guide" were said). Don't get me wrong, the perspective is a great one.

DeAngelis, Barbara (abridged)

1992:Are You the One for Me?: Knowing Who's Right and Avoiding Who's Wrong. Los Angeles, CA: Audio Renaissance Tapes.

DeAngelis surely used many lists which is ideal for me because I like lists. Great relationship advice which really gets you to examine and ponder the angles of relationships. Before this, I really didn't know much about DeAngelis, besides the vague notion that she is famous, and I left with good thoughts about her work.

Dyer, Wayne

2004:The Secrets of the Power of Intention. USA: Hay House Inc.

Dyer is super inspiring. He seems like a good person to know. I would like to meet him someday.

I love his family stories and he seems like an ideal father. He said he fathered his children so that they live for themselves and not just be clay that he molds. That type of parenting becomes really beautiful when kids have noble aims.

His conception of the purpose of life is really intriguing, though I am not totally convinced it is reality. It would be cool if it was true, but I am not sure it is. He believes that before life begins we all choose what will be in our lives. Sometimes this seems like it might be true, but who knows if it really is. To me it is comforting if all my struggles lead to something greater.

He said the purpose of his life "is to teach self reliance" and he said he had to be an orphan to learn these skills. I admire how he once was an orphan and overcome obstacles to be a very positive minded success today. Experiences like his are some of the most inspiring around.

On this work, his voice sounded different to me than on his other audio tapes. It had more kick to it here and wasn't so soft.

He expressed anti-rap, anti-prescription drugs, and anti-alcohol sentiments. I'm not so fond of the anti-rap sentiments though he may be right to a point. He was very hilarious when describing prescription drugs. He hit the bulls eye when explaining the trouble of alcohol.

He proposes what he calls a "strength test". I am compelled to try it because it's fascinating, but also fear I would look like a nut for trying it. This test involves holding some item against your chest while you put out a fist and if another person can move the fist, the item against your chest is "weakening you" and if the person cannot move your fist, the item against your chest is "strengthening you"

His idea about life being purely energy is very fascinating and it seems to make intuitive sense to me. I like the whole idea he suggests about energy coming from this and that and I think it is plausible. Intuitively it seems right on. At least, energy does seem to be an important spiritual force.

Sometimes he almost sounds like a social Darwinist or a Horatio Alger believer, but I know he is more kind than most of them. He believes good people succeed because they are good and this is a definition of the Horatio Alger myth.

My former friend Tim once said that

motivational speakers fill people up with vacuous nonsense". Indeed, it does seem that often they say something that sounds good but is not really true. It occurred to me that not only is his approach wishful thinking, but such is the entire essence of "the power of intention": he claims that if you believe something and act as if it is true, then it comes true. That's the very definition of wishful thinking. I do believe that to a certain extent his idea "the energy you put out is what you attract" is true, but he oversimplifies the matter by acting as if it is a universal law. Fact is some very positive loving people have no friends and no success and some horrible people are very popular with lots of success. Also, "act as if you have what you want to manifest in your life" seems to be promoting cockiness. I would prefer to take action, persevere, and humbly hope rather than strut around acting as if I have something I don't have.

I want to expose myself to more of Wayne Dyer's works because they are so inspiring. He is an admirable person for being such a positive and moral influence on the world.

Edelman, Gary (abridged)

1997:The New Rules of Money: Simple Strategies for Financial Success Today. New York, NY: HarperCollins, Inc.

I don't know if I care enough about these matters to try to follow his suggestions, but I do think they are worthwhile. His reading style was on the plus side. I learned about some new issues as well.

Forward, Susan

1992:Innocence and Betrayal: Overcoming the Legacy of Sexual Abuse. `(abridged). Beverly Hills, CA: Dove Audio.

Pretty sick. How could anyone commit incest when one realizes how harmful it is to the victims?

Fry, Ron (abridged)

1996:101 Greatest Answers to the Toughest Interview Questions. St. Paul. MN: High Bridge Audio.

Since the questions weren't numbered, at least on the audio, addition, it was hard to say for sure that there were 101 questions, but I assume that there were. I've read a lot about interviewing so this didn't add much to my knowledge base. It did however reaffirm my antipathy toward the whole job interview process. Perhaps, more than others, Fry showed how pointless interviews really are (though I doubt that this was his intention).

Gardner, James Finn: read by the author (abridged)

1997:Apocalypse Wow: A Memoir for the End of Time. New York, NY: Simon and Schuster.

I am beginning to dislike abridged works. For mediocre books, abridging the audio version may be okay, but for books of this quality, which really aren't that long in the first place, why not keep it unabridged? This one was abridged so short, as there were even two tapes, just one.

Goleman, Daniel: read by Barrett Whitener

2003:Destructive Emotions: How We Can Overcome Them: A Scientific Dialogue with the Dalai Lama. Santa Ana, CA: Books on Tape, Inc.

Although the Ramsey County Public Library North St. Paul branch doesn't have a super big audio book collection, I have came across some awesome finds there like this one. I had not seen this audio book anywhere else before, so it was good to discover. This Mind and Life Conference which was the content of this book seemed like a very intellectually stimulating event. It reminds me some of the intellectual stimulation of Federation Without Television conferences. Although Howard Cutler in The Art of Happiness briefly mentioned that the Dalai Lama has a sense of humor, this conference really showed that side, as he fairly frequently made jokes. This audio book did not replay everything that happened at this conference, but it seemed to cover the highlights much like I did for 3 Federation Without Television conferences in the book Federation Without Television: the Blossoming Movement: Essays and Leaflets. A very thoughtful affair. Surely, I don't agree with all the ideas, but the Dalai Lama and these scientists have some very good thoughts for us.

Hillman, James (abridged)

1996:The Soul's Code: In Search of Character of Calling. New York, NY: Random House, Inc.

One of the more thoughtful books around. I majored in Philosophy in College and as time went on, Philosophy lost its appeal to me, but such a work like this turns me on to Philosophy again. Hillman ponders the same type of questions that I often wonder and think about. Some of his answers were quite good and his exploration was good for my mind.

Jackson, Phil and Hugh Delehanty: read by Phil Jackson (abridged)

1995:Sacred Hoops: Spiritual Lessons of a Hardwood Warrior. New York, NY: Simon and Schuster.

Although I am not a big basketball fan, I was inspired. It's interesting to see such a mainstream figure talk so openly about Zen. The Zen principles he discussed seem very simple, but as they say, in practice, it is different. As an athlete myself, I relate to what he says about sports. His approach is a good one.

Kasl, Charlotte Davis (abridged)

1992:Many Roads, One Journey: Moving Beyond the Twelve Steps. New York, NY: HarperCollins Publishers.

I have exposed myself to a few other of Kasl's works, and I had not yet know how strongly she was opposed to "the patriarchy". In this audio tape, she suggested that the 12 steps are not necessarily good for women and other "oppressed people". I think she has some great points and some liberating new proposals. Her critique compliments the other critiques of A.A. I have come across, and I think her model is far better for among other reasons because she emphasizes tolerance, acceptance and flexibility.

Keith, Toby

2001:Pull My Chain. Nashville, TN: SKG Music Nashville.

The song "I Wanna Take About Me" seems like an ideal song for Karaoke. Generally the songs are too slow, but a couple were catchy.

MacKay, Harvey (abridged)

1990:Beware the Naked Man Who Offers You His Shirt. New York, NY: Simon and Schuster.

Not interesting enough to check out the book version, but I think the abridged audio tape inspired me and helped me out.

McGiniss, Joe: read by James Naughton (abridged)

1991:Blind Faith. New York, NY: Simon and Schuster.

True crime is a fine genre, evidence of this fact is this work.

Messina, Jo Dee.

2000:Burn. Nashville, TN: Burn Records.

She's one of those country artists who is not all that country. She has some good passion and love for living.

Meyer, David

2001:God Calls as Babylon Falls. Beaver Dam, WI: Last Trumpet Ministries.

Meyer is a fundamentalist but a critical thinking one. Knowing him, I perhaps expected a more zealous sermon on this topic of 9-11, but it wasn't quite so zealous, at least for him.

Meyer, David

2002:The State of the Union. Beaver Dam, WI: Last Trumpet Ministries.

Given the title and Meyer's political interest, I expected and wished for a very political sermon, but the sermon really wasn't that political. I have looked forward to receiving Meyer's more recent tapes, because I wanted to hear him slam the Bush administration. He is no fan, but the criticism was insufficient for my tastes. He considers himself a straight shooter and he really is, I just wish he would have criticized the Bush administration more than he did for there is little that is sweeter than non-leftists hating the Bush administration.

Meyer, David

2001:Babylon is Falling. Beaver Dam, WI: Last Trumpet Ministries.

Lovely! I love how Meyer tells us that "Churches never tell you they don't need any of your money because they have enough already". Also delightful was when he slammed the Bush administration by saying Bush "wanted it to happen", Bush is a "C student", and in one statement, Bush used "second grade grammar". He called Bush a "madman". Awesome! He said 9-11 "was planned" and that the official story has lots of "inconsistencies". He described a dream in which he tells Bush that Bush is not a Christian and Bush repeats that he is indeed a Christian. A delicious audio tape sermon is one which slams Bush and is not left of center. Keep up your anti-government rhetoric, David Meyer.

Meyer, David

2001:The Land that is Not Cleansed. Beaver Dam, WI: Last Trumpet Ministries.

Among other gems on this exciting audio tape are when David Meyer condemns abortion and says our government sucks for arresting anti-abortion demonstrators. So somebody else besides me understands this about our government! If the cops were the good folks, they would not arrest the pro-life crowd. Cops serve the abortionists. Meyer also alluded to something he calls "the conspiratorial view of history". He mentioned that the universities don't teach this and that he criticized one professor he met in particular for this. The conspiratorial view of history sounds awesome and I would love to spread it around, at the least, to give people something different to think about.

Meyer, David

2002:The Last Days Golden Calf. Beaver Dam, WI: Last Trumpet Ministries.

It's hard to go wrong when you slam Bush. The biggest problem of this sermon was that it did not slam Bush often or hard enough.

Millman, Dan (abridged)

1988:Way of the Peaceful Warrior: A Story that Changes Lives. Tiburton, CA: HJ Kraemer Audio.

Although a main character's name was Socrates, I kept thinking that he sounded more like a Buddhist than the Socrates I remember from Philosophy. Then later, the narrator made reference to "being Buddha's ghost". It may have been more interesting if it was Platonic Socrates that was in the story, but it still was a good spiritual parable. I found the Socrates character to be too pushy and domineering. This story didn't change my life as I have heard the Buddhist line before, and don't completely buy it, but it might change someone else's life and may even be something new.

MXPX

Year Unknown: Before Everything After. Santa Monica, CA: A & M Records.

MXPX is a solid band and pop punk is a reliable genre. A few of the songs were respectable while the rest weren't so hot, but still alright. This is not something I could find myself listening to for tons of listens like I do with my favorite cds.

Payne, J.

Year Unknown:Some Things God Can't Do. Location Unknown: Publisher Unknown.

This preacher is your typical fundamentalist delivering your typical fundamentalist church sermon. He's just crazed enough to be obnoxious and disgusting, but not quite crazed enough to actually be entertaining. One of God's gifts to him is the ability to yell so much without losing his voice. There are energetic, lively, and dynamic speakers and there are insane speakers; the preacher on this tape falls into the latter category.

Pelzer, Dave: read by Brian Keeler

2001:The Lost Boy: A Foster Child's Search for the Love of a Family (unabridged). Prince Frederick, MD: Recorded Books, LLC.

I hesitated over whether I should check this out, but checking it was something I did and it was a good move. Again, this book affirms how much I am inclined to dig nonfiction narratives. I was inspired. Pelzer did a great job lauding foster care and detailing his life. I am amazed how these authors can retell their stories with so much detail. Though just the most parenthetical reference was made to Wayne Dyer's Your Erroneous Zones, my ears perked up in a major way. Pelzer made a passing comment about the book being eccentric. Although I have read Dyer's work, I haven't read the book in question, but I do not get the impression he is eccentric, instead I get the impression he is eclectic. Also Dyer like Pelzer had a bad birth family and had to be a foster child, so I imagine Pelzer could relate if he has been aware of that fact. I did not know foster care had such a horrible public image back in those days as Pelzer says, but perhaps, it figures. Although such is not the case with everyone, both implicitly and explicitly, this book reaffirms that with some people, if they can make it through the horrible struggles, greatness and glory will come.

Redgrave, Lynn (narrator)

1996:Confucius, Lao Tzu, and Chinese Philosophy. Nashville, TN: Knowledge Products.

I learned about the subjects covered here in other places such as the Best Guide to Eastern Philosophy. More information was provided here and also the use of different voices was nice.

Shattuck, Roger (abridged)

1997:Forbidden Knowledge: From Prometheus to Pornography. Los Angeles, CA: Audio Renaissance Tapes.

The topic had potential, but this work didn't make it too worthwhile. Little insight and poor discussion, it just did not stimulate as much as something on this topic could.

Various Artists

2005:Patriotic Country 2. New York, NY: Sony BMG Music Entertainment.

Many emotionally charged songs. Country musicians can be very skillful at creating such songs and this album is full of them. I think sometimes patriotic country songs are even better than standard patriotic songs, because they have the real person feel to them.

Various Authors

1996:Quest: Discovering Your Human Potential (abridged). New York, NY: Simon and Schuster.

The famous people on here pretty much have the same opinion and for someone who has listened to a fair amount of motivational and contemporary psychology material, it is the same old song and dance. Plus the format forced these figures to put their words into sound bytes.

Young, Stephen: read by the author with Barbara Rosenblatt and Bob Grundfest.

1993/1993:Seven Steps to Master the Interview and Get the Job. New York, NY: Random House, Inc.

Some good suggestions, but perhaps they are too much hassle for me.

Ziglar, Zig

1976:How to Get What You Want. New York, NY: Simon and Schuster Audio.

In a past issue of Catfish, I reviewed his work Success for Dummies, and I am a big fan of motivational literature, with proper reservations. I thus had some reservations about that book, but this tape generated few reservations. It was a treat to hear him speak, as he is quite talented at it. His style is marvelous. I do think the speaking style of evangelicals is far more exciting that eastern philosophy and religious speakers, even though I do think the philosophy and religion of the east is generally better. Early on, I observed that he sounded a lot like a Baptist preacher, then later on he even made reference to his Baptist heritage. I found his emphasis on credibility to be so inspiring. He discussed how he needed to be able to live what he has been saying or else he's two faced. This type of integrity is awesome and unfortunately, neither rightists nor leftists seem to really grasp its importance. He even integrates some sound behaviorist principles into his lecture, and combining an inspirational message with behaviorist principles is one of the most powerful combinations on earth.

Ziglar, Zig.

1987:5 Steps to Successful Selling. New York, NY: Simon and Schuster Audio.

I'm not so fond of his whole "You can get anything you want as long as you give enough people what they want." I do not believe this is true in our world. Ziglar does have a point about "price" and "cost". His example of buying a cheap bicycle for his son really hit home with me because I recently had an episode where I twice returned the same bike to KMART and I was about to return the same model for the third and final time, but it got stolen. This bike was a hunk of junk and it was cheap in price, but expensive in cost. I do believe there are some pragmatic suggestions for aspiring or preexisting salespeople.

Books

Arata, Michael, Jr.

2004:Preventing Identity Theft for Dummies. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley Publishing, Inc.

This is one of the shorter for Dummies books. I even used one of the suggestions: getting your name off the preapproved credit card mailing lists, so this book was not read just for curiosity, but for actual. Good suggestions, which are ultimately common sense, but not such that you may realize right away. On the whole, it gets me motivated to be more cautious.

Arnoldi, Katherine

1998:The Amazing "True" Story of a Teenage Single Mom. New York, NY: Hyperion.

Since young mothers are my heroes, this book was just right as it wisely praised them through a great cartoon story. Those who choose life over abortion in such difficult circumstances as the main character did, are heroic. The character expressed the common trend of men wanting to avoid women with children, but to me such is backwards. Both single mothers with children and single mothers without children have their own benefits, so why limit oneself to just one of them? The story was very sad in parts, but ultimately good triumphed. The author purports not only to tell a story in part similar to her own, but also provide some usable advice to single mothers about college.

Browne, Mary T.

2002:The Power of Karma: How to Understand Your Past and Shape Your Future. New York, NY: HarperCollins Publishers.

I really like books about karma. There is something extremely fascinating about the concept of karma. I am not 100% convinced that karma exists, though it might be nice if it did. Karma is a good way; I just don't know if it is real. The author wrote well and she made a good move by alternating vignettes of clients' lives and supposedly, their experiences with karma with explanations of karmic concepts. Although, Karma 101 by Joshua Mack was better, this book was fine in its own right. One of the reasons I liked Mack's book better than this one was because Mack wrote from a Buddhist perspective, which is sounder and Browne wrote as a psychic. I, like most people, am leery of psychics. No matter how convincing she tried to sound, something inside me won't let me believe her. Many others allude to the logical link of karma and reincarnation; she flat out stated that it is absolutely imperative to believe in past lives to believe in karma. I don't think it is necessarily imperative for a belief in karma to be tied to past lives, but it seems to make the most sense that way. I just can't look at our world and believe karma exists if we live just one life (as both monotheists and atheists believe). Browne in her explanation of karmic concepts does often acknowledge that one's karma could have came from a past life(lives), yet oddly, her vignettes supposedly demonstrated how her clients were experiencing bad karma in this life from what they have done in this life*. She surely wants to make a case for karma and her vignettes, whatever they are worth, do serve as "proof" (at least in her mind) for the "law" of karma. Her case is far less potent when the effects of karma come into play many years down the road. Although she talked about past lives, her vignettes overwhelmingly suggested karma is a swift force in this life. I wrote a piece about me wondering if Weird Al would get bad karma for making fun of fat people in songs like "Fat" and "Eat It". Browne, actually said that one reason a person is fat is because the person was mean to fat people in a past life. Obesity is unlike other physical traits because it is largely under one's control, thus it is far different to make fun of someone with a physical deformity than to make fun of someone who is obese. The cause of obesity is largely sloth and lack of initiative and to let someone stay in such a condition should cause bad karma. Browne's conception of reincarnation is baffling. She says a) one usually needs to live about 2800 lifetimes in order to advance to the state where one is enlightened and b) between each new incarnation, one must wait 800-1200. If you do the math, it would seem to take forever for someone to achieve enlightenment. In other models, enlightenment can come much more quickly (though it still may take a while). Thus, the earliest I could have lived before this current life was around the turn of the FIRST millennium. It is asinine that a person would reincarnate only once a millennium. What is 1000 times 2800? That's how long it will take for you to achieve enlightenment on average? Will humanity even be there? How did she arrive at these numbers because they don't make much sense, and serve as some of the least believable reincarnation figures. In the book, The Complete Idiot's Guide to Reincarnation, the author, a past life regression therapist, shared many stories about past lives, which occurred far less than a millennium ago. In one case, he tells of a client's past life as a Nazi. That was 60 some years ago. If you reincarnate within that time frame, reincarnation seems more likely. Plus, The Complete Idiot's Guide to Reincarnation seemed to suggest that current suffering is largely a result of past life experiences, while Browne's vignettes suggested that current suffering is largely a result of very swift karma. I wonder if karma is nothing more than wishful thinking. If one believes it works in this life alone, or as it works in Browne's vignettes, I find the concept ludicrous, which is why now, I am leaning to the notion that karma makes no sense independent of a link to reincarnation because there is no way the bad are always punished and the good are always rewarded in our current world. I wish it were so, but I just can't believe it is. In fact, if anything, our world seems to reward the bad and punish the good. One book I read about the new age, stated that psychics selectively report their predictions instead of showing us them all right and wrong. Browne seemed to do exactly this as throughout she constantly made reference to her successful predictions. I do know that for every example she gave of karma taking its toll, I could look into our world and provide several counterexamples of it not taking its toll. Although most people don't trust psychics, I do believe many in some form or another believe in her basic argument: that when something good happens it is because someone was good and when something bad happens it is because someone was bad. Again, this makes no sense when you look at our world. At least the evangelicals, however flawed their thinking is, do acknowledge that in our world sometimes or even often the good are punished and the bad are rewarded. I don't need karma to be good or moral though regardless of whether it is logically feasible or not, I still fear the karmic consequences of bad deeds. This book is interesting, intriguing, well written, but I am not persuaded. Karma can exist and it very well might, and I do find it to be a good explanation for life, but Browne argument for karma falls short.

Dhammika, Ven

1991:Good Question, Good Answer. Taipei, Taiwan: The Corporate Body of the Buddha Educational Foundation.

This organization's idea of "this book is strictly for free distribution, it is not for sale" is an awesome philosophy and approach. This is the approach I have been trying to implement in my life because it is one of the most beautiful ideas out there. There were many typos. The author calls those who try to proselytize to you as "not really your friend". To counter proselytize, he recommends using the "broken record" move. This is a technique my DARE instructor taught us. There is good discussion about Buddhism and belief in God. The author has some very good ideas about this matter. I loved reading the book. I wish it would have been longer and more in depth since it was a great quick read.

Dyer, Wayne

1995:Your Sacred Self: Making the Decision to Be Free. New York, NY: HarperCollins Publishers.

This would be book number two of Dyer's that I have read. As a general guide to spirituality, it is sound. Dyer explicitly states that the world would be better if we relied less on what he calls our ego and more on "our sacred self". Many other spiritual thinkers, philosophers, psychologists, and motivational thinkers have expressed this same view. Certainly, as Dyer suggests egotism causes many problems, but if everyone became selfless, there would be just as many problems. People would and now sometimes do fight over who gets to be generous and selfless. I remember once my grandmother and one of her friends went shopping and eating. Instead of them arguing "You need to pay", which would be selfish, each of them were insisting that they should be the one who pays and my grandma ultimately said, "Next time I won't take you then." The symbiotic relationships works best when some give and others receive at least part of the time. I did really like his explicit and implicit renunciation of evangelical Christianity, and he seems to accept just about every other form of spirituality. Sounds like a good spiritual approach to me. His second to last chapter, "From Toxicity to Purity" threw me off some. I was expecting a chapter discussing purity in the sense I know, which he would consider "purity of the body", and perhaps some of what he considers "purity of the mind", but the chapter was different than my main conception of purity, so it didn't resonate with me as much as I thought it would, but it was still decent.

Forward, Susan with Donna Frazier

1999:When Your Lover is a Liar: Healing the Wounds of Deception and Betrayal. New York, NY: HarperCollins Publishers.

I was searching the library for books on lying and truthfulness in general and this book, although geared toward lying in a specific context, was about the best find. It served both its particular purpose of describing relationship liars, and my purposes about the nature of truthfulness and lying in general well. The vignette/explanation and elaboration style much like Mary T. Browne's, was a very effective move. Particularly engrossing was the chapter about sociopaths. Forward and Fraiser suggest that of all nutcases, sociopaths are the most terrible and irredeemable. The book was written to women, and it behaved as if men are the main ones who behave in these deceptive ways. Although I do acknowledge that in our society, due to social conditioning, women have special precautions, I believe it is sexist to write a book like this with the perspective which suggests men are the main liars and women the main victims of these lies. Women just like men do their own share of lying and it would have been better if the book was written from that perspective.

Goldman, Karen

1992:The Angel Book: A Handbook for Aspiring Angels. New York, NY: Simon and Schuster.

Cute, but I'm not sure how much spiritual value it has. It's almost more like a poem than a spiritual book. It uses eloquent rhetoric without much substance. The book did not convince me that angels exist or even that it would be entirely desirable if angels do exist.

Gorden, Cheryl

1996:Home Schools: An Alternative. Mesa, AZ: Blue Bird Publishing.

If I have kids, I think I am going to homeschool them. This book further convinced me that homeschooling is the way to go. I learned from the interesting and useful information . It stimulated my thoughts, but whet the appetite for more. I work in the public schools and see the validity of some of these criticisms first hand. This book was pretty fair minded as it didn't go out of its way to dis the school system just for the sake of polemics. It even suggested that homeschools be amicable to school systems.

Grieve, Donald, Ed.D.

1991:A Handbook for Adjunct/Part Time Faculty and Teachers of Adults. Cleveland, OH: Info-Tech, Inc.

Dated, but still great. Hopefully if I get to teach at the university level, I'll be able to remember the good ideas in here.

Hanh, Thich Nhat

1995:Living Buddha, Living Christ. New York, NY: Riverhead Books.

On the back cover are words from Martin Luther King Jr., who died in 1968, in support of Thich Nhat Hanh. If King knew Hanh, then Hanh must be quite old since it sounds as if he has been in his business for a long time. The cut of the pages gave a subtle religious text type look. Hanh's anti-alcohol view is extremely admirable. Buddhists that abstain from alcohol are doing something very smart. Hanh also tells a story about a Christian who claimed that an atheist like Hanh cannot value life. Hanh consequently explained how exactly he valued living. Hanh although a religious figure, is a great example of how atheists can live with a life of meaning, happiness, morality, and love, which too many Christians claim atheists cannot have. Other atheists have given other examples of atheists living good lives and now we have Hanh to serve as an example. Throughout Hanh suggests tolerance, a great virtue, which I am embracing more and more of as time goes on, is the way to go. On page 9, he says, "In a true dialogue, both sides are willing to change. We have to appreciate that truth can be received from outside of –not only within—our own group. If we do not believe that, entering into a dialogue would be a waste of time...We have to believe that by engaging in a dialogue with the other person, we have the possibility of making a change within ourselves, that we can become deeper." That is a beautiful affirmation and description of true tolerance. That I love about Buddhism. On page 155, Hanh says, "If you are open enough, you will understand that your tradition does not contain all truths and values." Right on! Unfortunately not enough people believe that. Although Buddhist, what he calls metaphysics is better than other types, I am still not completely comfortable with it. I don't know about the Buddhist ideas of "emptiness" and "non-self". They don't fully resonate with me. I found the ending of the book to be on the weak side, but it was still alright.

His Holiness the Dalai Lama

1999:Ethics for the New Millennium. New York, NY: Riverhead Books.

On page xii, the Dalai Lama says "There is nothing in these pages which has not been said before". I sure hope that would not be the case. If such is true, then such a book would not cut it in academia where the whole point of any research is that the research is in some way making an original contribution. I don't believe that such was the case with this book. If everyone is unique, then it would naturally follow that everyone has something to say which he not been said before. He also says, "Not that the reader should suppose that I, as Dalai Lama, have any special solution to offer". I doubt this.

It's interesting that on page 5, he suggests that poor people have more peace than well off people, thus he suggests wealth may be more harm than good. I remember reading a sociological piece which suggested that up to a point, impoverished people aren't as joyous as better off people. He does wisely denounce the overrated wealth.

I loved how he suggests that democracy was a failure. He didn't hit us over our heads with the point, but he did throw it in there. On page 16, he said, "This is why the great movements of the last hundreds and more – democracy, liberalism, and socialism – have all failed to deliver the universal benefits they were suppose to provide". As a staunch critic of democracy, I applaud such a fundamental criticism by such a beloved figure. People need to ponder this because today people treat democracy as a cure all. People treat democracy as a sacred cow. People treat democracy as if it is perfect. But the Dalai Lama says it has failed!

Lately I have been pondering the definition of spirituality. I have received various insights about what spirituality is from people like Wayne Dyer and Charlotte Kasl. But one of the best definitions I have ever seen is the Dalai Lama's definition, "Spirituality I take to be concerned with those qualities of the human spirit – such as love and compassion, patience, tolerance, forgiveness, contentment, a sense of responsibility, a sense of harmony, which bring happiness to both self and others" (pg 22), and even more concisely, "The unifying characteristic of the qualities I have described as 'spiritual' may be said to be some level of concern for others well being."

I love how the Dalai Lama is down to earth enough to acknowledge his shortcomings and use them as illustrations of how to better one's spiritual life

Throughout the book, he denounces "Aversive emotions". This reminds me so much of what contemporary psychology does. I think perhaps these people attribute too much significance to "aversive emotions". Certainly they can cause troubles, as they claim, but not as much as one might think. You might have health problems that stem from anger (and very likely you might not), but overall, there are a lot worse predicaments for life than too much "aversive emotion". The Dalai Lama says anything in extreme is bad, even something good. Sure too much joy might cause a problem in your life, but really not a big problem at worst.

On page 97, he strongly criticizes anger claiming it is pretty much without virtue. I doubt that. Too me anger is a very positive force, perhaps, even more positive than negative. I love it.

On page 185, he provides a wonderful definition of honesty. He considers honesty to be "no discrepancy between the person's external appearance and inner life." Indeed, people who are like this are wonderful. It feels so good to be like that, which is one reason why he applauds this way. Sometimes, our external appearance is a matter of perception. Sometimes, people have an impression about you, then find out information about you which they do not like, and they think say, "I thought I knew you better" or something similar. Sometimes, when a person finds out more about you, and thus is shocked, it can not be your fault. Just because you do not show every side of yourself or fork over every detail; that does not necessarily make your deceitful or dishonest. I have a feeling someone would be shocked or at least surprised to see different sides of me. Perhaps any consequential alarming discoveries could be the other person's fault, because they did not think I could be more dimensional than the view I presented to them. Hiding and not showing are not necessarily the same. If you are a public do gooder and commit horrible crimes in private, then perhaps your image is dishonest. Not everyone knows about my political polemicist side (among other sides), and see one side of me, such is that which is presented at work. Does this make me dishonest? Would I have to show every side of me at work too?

Fascinating but also a bit odd was his recommendation on page 193 that "married couples should have children unless there are compelling reasons not to. The idea of not having children just because we want to enjoy a full life without responsibility is, I think, quite mistaken." I have mixed feelings about having children. He seems to be suggesting we MUST have kids. He really didn't provide much support for this assertion. It does get me to think and it makes me wonder whether it is my duty to have children (if I am able).

On page 205, The Dalai Lama appeared perhaps a little satirical, which is certainly not typical of him, from what I have read and heard. He remarks that weapons would be more justified if the weapons could kill the bigwigs behind the wars rather than the peons being killed in it. Perhaps so.

On page 226, he describes why he chose the religion he has become famous for. "It suits my character, my temperament, my inclinations, and my cultural background". He also states the wonderful idea that other people can find what suits the same for them.

Page 234 reminds me of the words of two famous atheists, which were put to music by Dan Barker. One is Tom Paine, "The World is My Country. To Do Good is My Religion". The other is the original author whose name I forgot, said "So Many Gods. So Many Creeds. So many paths that wind and wind. When just the art of being kind is all this sad world needs."

I like his brand of spirituality and the work he does. I think he would be decent enough to even like someone like me!

Jeffers, H. Paul

2005:Freemasons: Inside the World's Oldest Secret Society. New York, NY: Citadel Press.

I checked this out once, and only got through a few pages, and then checked it out again. The book was interesting, though I would have preferred different emphases. The chapter "The Men Who Rule the World" should have been longer. I would have preferred an expose. Good Masonic books are hard to find, especially critical exposes.

Kasl, Charlotte

2001:If the Buddha Married: Creating Enduring Relationships on a Spiritual Path. New York, NY: Penguin Compass.

Thought provoking like few others, and even more powerful than simple motivational books because it encourages me to reflect upon the various facets of relationships. In my journal and in my head, I have recently thought heavily about the points Kasl makes in here and in her other works in the series. I would love to one day have a relationship built upon the ever solid foundations she presents in her top notch book. I love how this book causes me to think introspectively in such a deep way, and as she suggests relationships are about the growth of the self, and thus she suggests thinking about relationships enables us to think about ourselves as well. She values honesty and acceptance among other phenomenal virtues. A relationship organized along these principles is a relationship capable of doing wondrous deeds.

MacKay, Harvey

2004:We Got Fired! And It's the Best Thing That Ever Happened to Us. New York, NY: Ballatine Books.

Inspirational books of this variety do me well. MacKay's style is very lively. He chose a good cross section of people. Some of the people have excelled (after being fired) in fields I pursue, and others have excelled in fields, I may never pursue. Thus surely some of these tales contain lessons more suitable to me personally, but pretty much all of them have valuable lessons. The person's lessons which hit home the most with me was our former governor, Jesse Ventura. I was already acquainted with his story, so hearing it wasn't new, though MacKay's exploration of Ventura's life revealed some additional insights. I believe Ventura is a positive person and his interview demonstrated that quality in spades. At the end of each story, MacKay summed up the lessons and phrased them as witty pithy maxims, such as "Don't tell the Ayatollah to shave his beard" for his son's story. In between, the stories, MacKay reported facts and tales to buffer the points of these stories. MacKay seems like an open minded person who values people. There is only one criticism of any significance: my friend Tim once accused all motivational writers/speakers as being "charlatans" since he believes "they fill people up with vacuous nonsense". I don't believe motivational people deliberately mislead, though I do believe they are sometimes naïve and make blanket statements that may sound good but in reality don't pan out. So many motivational speakers and writers try to convince us "If you are a good person, you will succeed". Such is definitely not the case. For example, MacKay said "Frauds NEVER [emphasis added] make it to the finish line". Sure, it would be great if that was true, but I can't believe it is.

Manette, Danne

2005:Ultimate Betrayal: Recognizing, Uncovering, and Dealing with Infidelity. Garden City Park, NY: Square One Publishers.

In some ways, this book was very similar to the Susan Forward book reviewed above, except this one was much shorter and devoted solely to affairs. Also like that book, the author wrote it to women, since only men have affairs and no woman in history has ever had an affair. One of her themes was the idea that looking for the scoop on the affair should be done in order to make you aware and the book also was very good at recognizing the victim's agony. The chapter "Self-Reflection" was a wise move because like in any other matter, self reflection is a good idea. Manette did have more concrete applications and specific suggestions for you to follow while getting the scoop on your partner. Although the tone of the book was sexist, men surely can also use the information.

Morton, Tom

1992:The Survivor's Guide to Unemployment. Colorado Springs, CO: Pinion Press.

I read this after a bout of unemployment was fortunately over with, though this work would have hit the spot when I was unemployed. Morton comforts those who need it.

Sachs, Robert

2002:Passionate Buddha: Wisdom on Intimacy and Enduring Love. Rochester, VT: Inner Traditions.

I think one of the best applications of Buddhism is for relationships. I wouldn't want to apply pure Buddhism to every aspect of life, but relationship wise it is a good move. This book is in some ways similar to Charlotte Kasl's books on Buddhist approaches to relationships and some ways different. It was great that the author made a distinction between "wrath and anger". Beautiful and thoughtful words throughout. This book is more philosophical than practical and it gives plenty of food for thought and good moral frameworks to consider.

Safron, Jeremy

2005:The Fasting Handbook: Dining from an Empty Bowl. Berkeley, CA: Celestial Arts.

I have read a few fasting books, and this book is one of the most innovative of the bunch. The subtitle of the book, Dining from an Empty Bowl, is clever. Safron is a raw foods enthusiast and he provides new facts such as the water from coconut is analogous to our blood. His "Fasting from" section included not only food but other consumables such as "speech". Although I have not personally done a speech fast, I have known others who have done so. I certainly applaud his recommendation for a "media fast", which I have been on for a long time. I'm not sure a "sight fast" would be a good idea since it could be very hard to exposure one's eyes to light again. For me, it's bad enough waking up in the morning after sleeping the previous evening. He coined a new term "innerstanding" which is also clever. His suggestion for cleaning the lymph system is way out there. It sounds too crazy for me to buy it. On page 45, he actually suggests that we "swallow cloth" to help our stomach clean itself. I don't plan on trying that ridiculous solution any time soon. But besides a couple oddball ideas, the book was full of wisdom. He did say there are other ways to remove toxins than just by fasting. He used the term "shot" to describe small quantities of healthy juices, which is interesting since the term "shot" brings to mind a very unhealthy drink, alcohol. On page 48, he says, "TV is one of the most toxic visual substances". Criticism of television is something I dig. This book is rare and special in how it devotes just about equal attention to physical, mental, emotional, and, to a lesser extent, spiritual fasts. The closest any other book came was Fasting Your Way to Health, which described the health benefits of fasting along with the Christian rationale for fasting. On page 51, he says "Cleanse the mind before the body." This reminds me of Wayne Dyer's emphasis on purity of mind in the previously reviewed book. On page 53, he discusses the phenomena of while fasting dreaming about what you are fasting from. Especially in the latter days of my long fasts, I dreamt of food. In my case, it was scary because the dreams were about eating in the middle of fast, hence breaking the fast too early, I was relieved to wake up and find out I was dreaming thus had not broke the fast early. In the Acknowledgements, Safron acknowledges Herbert M. Shelton, who I also admire much. One of the approaches to this book would seem to contradict one of Shelton's teaching. Shelton taught that it is misguided to think particular foods are good for particular organs, since good food is supposedly good for every part of the body. Because of this, Shelton taught general nutrition instead of focusing on specific areas. Safron, on the other hand, suggests that we should fast for certain parts of the body and certain foods or beverages are good for these parts of the body. At the end of the book, he offers a detailed critique of your health for as little as 20 dollars. The questionnaire is extensive and the results would be interesting and possibly useful if the fee was less. The fee may be reasonable but it is still way too high for me. There is so much else to spend the money on. Like food.

Weiss, Brian

2004:Same Soul, Many Bodies: Discover the Healing Power of Future Lives Through Progression Therapy. New York, NY: Free Press.

I didn't look closely enough at the title, since I thought the book was going to be about regression therapy, but instead the book is centered on progression therapy though there is plenty on regression therapy. His other book Many Lives, Many Masters is much acclaimed and I have seen it several times on the shelf and through searches, but it never appealed to me enough to get down to reading it. This book changed my mind about getting down to reading that book, since after reading this one, I now want to read his other one.

I don't necessarily believe in rebirth, though I am not ruling it out and I think that rebirth is a fascinating answer to the question of the purpose of life. I am skeptical so I cannot accept past lives as true right away. Weiss was too gullible or too full of wishful thinking believing what happened with his patients to be evidence of rebirth, as some critics say people like him believe anything that supports what they want to believe.

To me, this work, although at least partially is nonfiction, is a good fantasy work. Under Weiss's thinking and other models of reincarnation, the purpose of a life is learn or establish karmic balance, which concerns me a little. Some say that after some people achieve enlightenment, they are on earth primarily to help others in big ways. I would prefer not that I am on earth now because in the past I was bad, but I would like it if I am here as a bodhisattva, which would be to make the world a better place, rather than just deal with past baggage.

On page 33, he says, "It is rare that a person will master more than one lesson in one lifetime". Although I might concede there may be a major underlying theme to each existence, I'd hate to think I am just learning one lesson. I know over just my less than 30 years, I have learned many lessons, sure, some more powerfully stick out and some are more central.

On page 54, he claims that each person probably at some time in the past was evil and cruel. This would suck because I would hate to think that I would do anything so bad. He even describes a client who feels exactly the why I would. I know I have done wrong, but I don't care how young my soul would be, I would not want to be evil in any major way.

On page 58 and 59, he describes a so called past life of his that sounds remarkably similar to one of the scenes in All Quiet on the Western Front, though in his case it involved Russia and in the book it involved Germany and France.

He did a good job of answering questions that I have wondered about reincarnation. I can't say whether his answers are really good or not, but at least he was thoughtful enough to conceive them and try to answer them. Sometimes, I think reincarnation may be a phenomenal idea, but the current models of it aren't quite right. With reincarnation, as the Buddha said "life is suffering", thus you want to avoid it, but I think good can come from life, so it would rock if you came back not because you need to alleviate your errors, but instead to experience the glorious good of life, to enjoy life and make the most of it. It might be cool to come back during another era or have lived in a previous era, most of all, if such was done with a bodhisattva like mindset.

Catfish

Volume 43

Andrew Bushard

Reviews

Audio

Alessandra, Tony, Ph.D. and Michael J. O'Conner, Ph.D.: read by Tony Alessandra; also featuring Carrie Gordon and Jude Prest.

1996:The Platinum Rule: Do Until Others As They'd Like Done to Them (abridged). New York, NY: Time Warner Audiobooks.

This book bills itself as an improvement of the old golden rule because it says not everyone wants to be treated just like us. I really admire this rule and this book has inspired me to practice it more. I already embraced some very similar if not exactly the same principles which I heard about from other sources, thus this gives me an extra boost. I have also heard of the silver rule and the iron rule and I do think this is the best of the lot, which makes sense because platinum is the top of the bunch.

Brown, Les

1997:It's Not Over Until You Win (abridged). New York, NY: Simon and Schuster, Inc.

The title reminds me of a Carl Klang song called "It's Not Over Until We Win". This tape is very inspirational, combining both abstract principles which are more realistic than many motivational tapes, and personal anecdotes.

Chopra, Deepak, M.D.

1993:Ageless Body, Timeless Mind (abridged). New York, NY: Random House, Inc.

The addition of George Harrison's singing was a nice touch, and it broke it up. Deepak's tape was alright. It seemed to be just like other eastern thinkers, and offering little above that.

Dyer, Wayne

1992:How to Be a No Limit Person. Chicago, IL: Nightingale Conant.

I would say Wayne Dyer is one of the best of the whole lot of motivational speakers. His content is great and it is accompanied by an eclectic spirituality.

Dyer says "No Limit" people don't feel a need to justify their doings and even avoid situations where they are cornered into justifying. That works for me because I don't like justifying myself to others as I too like what I am doing and don't care to have to explain it to people. In fact, I resent it.

Although in Dyer's other works he talked about running, I did not realize how dedicateda runner he is. Here he discusses running about double digit miles daily. As a long distance runner myself, I really relate to that and think it's awesome he does that. In fact, part of his discussion about "no limit people" not having to justify themselves involved discussion of his running. I run even in weather I hate because like Dyer says it occurs to him that "it is something he is going to do" or something to that effect.

When describing sickness and health, he talks about a spectrum which sounds similar to Herbert M. Shelton's maxim "health and disease are a continuum".

Dyer does make naïve statements from time to time. For example he said "Who wants to be around people who want to always be approved of?" Actually, Wayne, a lot of people do. Like many other motivational speakers Dyer naively suggests that good people always succeed and bad people always fail.

I was talking about how Wayne Dyer's views align with some of the sentiments of homeschoolers. On his lecture The Secrets of the Power of the Intention, he discusses the virtue of allowing children to become who they are destined to be rather than forcing something on them. In this lecture, he directly criticizes the school system and in doing so does it more charitably and sensibly than many homeschoolers do, while at the same time persuasively arguing his wonderful point.

It was interesting to hear that Dyer holds libertarian type views. He made some comments about not following the way government works as an inspiring model. He said "Anyone who wants to dismantle all this bureaucracy is going to get my vote". In other places, he has passed off politics to be too concerned with selfishness, status and power, so it is very interesting to find out his actual political views.

Dyer here suggests something that is the opposite of what Dr. Laura has said. Dyer says "You are not what you do". Dr. Laura emphatically says "You are what you do." I think both of them may be right in certain ways.

The format alternated between a live lecture and Dyer being recorded in the studio. There were two musical melodies that also alternated. One of the melodies was ideal for the topic and I loved listening to it. It's too bad I don't know where to find a longer version of it.

Goleman, Daniel

1995:Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More Than IQ (abridged). Los Angeles, CA: Audio Renaissance Tapes.

The topic is so worthwhile, I almost with I would have gotten the full length book instead. Goleman makes a good point.

Lonestar

1999:Lonely Grill. New York, NY: BMG Entertainment.

I found the song "Somebody's Someone" to be very touching and emotionally compelling. It is surely an excellent ballad. Since that song was so good, I decided to check out a Lonestar full length cd. Although the cd was alright, it did not live up the high expectations that a group which writes a song like that can achieve.

Little, Tony

1996:Conceive, Believe, Achieve: A Three Step Program for Personal Achievement and Financial Success. Los Angeles, CA: Audio Renaissance Tapes.

I don't recall hearing about Tony Little before, but from what he says and what the packaging says, it sounds like he is well acclaimed, after all, like he points out and the package says he is "America's Personal Trainer".

His tale is a good one and he has some wise advice. He is good at being a motivator.

Millman, Dan

1998:Everyday Enlightenment (abridged). New York, NY: Time Warner, Inc.

The printed book version looked interesting, but it was very long. I checked it out without much hope of completing it, then a bit later, I found this audio version at a library. Some of it is similar to what I have heard before, but Millman is a bit better than many other Eastern thinkers. In one journal entry, I wrote, I discussed how conquering my mind seemed too tough and how it was tough enough to control my doings, which was one reason why meditation seemed so very difficult for me. Millman said something very similar here. I also liked how Millman suggested that trying to change emotions and mood was futile since he figures it takes too much work to do so, so one should just let them be and live life despite them. He suggested that it's okay to have whatever emotions we have if we still get done what needs to be done.

Meyer, David

2001:One Word Sermon. Beaver Dam, WI: Last Trumpet Ministries.

David Meyer does fundamentalism right and I bet you thought that wasn't possible. If one must be fundamentalist, one should do it Meyer's way.

Meyer, David

2003:The Two Jerusalems. Beaver Dam, WI: Last Trumpet Ministries.

Even if you find fundamentalism abominable, there is a lot to like about Last Trumpet Ministries and Meyer's work. I was impressed when he lauded fasting by suggesting that a woman with mercury poisoning found fasting to be the only solution. Meyer can really rock sometimes (He probably wouldn't like the slang phrase "rock" though).

Simon, Neil.

2000:The Odd Couple. Los Angeles, CA: L.A. Theatre Works.

The introduction claims that Neil Simon "is America's most prolific playwright". I am skeptical of that statement. Perhaps, he is the most prolific well known playwright, but I would doubt even that. Who knows what some obscure playwright is composing? Some obscure playwright could be composing tons of plays and his or her output could far exceed Simon's. I had heard of the work before since it is so popular, so I had an idea of what happened. There was too little dramatic buildup, since one could tell before they even got together, it would be a bad match. It would have been more dramatic if the bad match was a surprise. There was an inordinate amount of dialogue before they lived together and I think, an emphasis on after when they got together would have been better. The ending was anti-climatic. Enjoyable even though it was disappointing in some ways.

Travis, Randy

1999:A Man Ain't Made of Stone. Nashville, TN: Dreamworks Records Nashville.

"The Family Bible and the Farmer's Almanac" sounded like a good song from just its title alone and I was right. "I'll Be Right Here Loving You" sounded a little like a cross between Billy Joel's "Storm Front" and INXS's "Meditate" lyric wise, particularly the latter. Randy Travis looks pretty buff. He appears to lift weights.

Various Artists

2001:Singers and Songwriters: 1979. USA: Time Life, Inc.

I managed to listen to both of these not so thrilling compilation cds. About the only excitement was Dire Straits's "Walk of Life" and Suzanne Vega's "Luka".

Weil, Andrew, M.D.

2002:Taking Care of Yourself: Strategies for Eating Well, Staying Fit, and Living in Balance. Boulder, CO: Sounds True.

A lot like Weil's other works, so I am wondering if exposing myself to anyone of Weil's work will be worthwhile, since the same material is covered again. Now I even see, "from Andrew Weil's Guide to Optimum Health", which I also listened to, so hopefully this wasn't too similar to that.

He criticized New Age and the way it deals with emotions, so I applaud him for that. I agree with him.

Weil is anti-running. It's sad because running has been such a positive force for me. The reasons he cites are valid, such as the one saying that many people don't have "runner's bodies" and I agree. I just hope to do this for a long time.

It's good for me to listen to Weil because it compels me to think more about nutrition and living better. I wish he was more dedicated to veganism, but overall he has a great perspective on health.

Woodward, Bob: read by Boyd Gaines

2004:Plant of Attack (abridged). New York, NY: Simon and Schuster, Inc.

I love politics. It's interesting to learn about Bush and his administration. Woodward was critical but cordial in interviewing all these people. Interesting.

Yankovic, Weird Al

1994:Greatest Hits Volume II. Los Angeles, CA: Scotti Bros Records.

I wouldn't have considered these some of Al's greatest hits. I like some of his other songs better. My favorites on this one are "Headline News", "Smells Like Nirvana", and "Money for Nothing/Beverly Hillbillies". "Money for Nothing/Beverly Hillbillies", although written for humorous purposes, is inspiring to me, because it is awesome when someone who lives in poverty makes it big. I love stories of success even if they are just fiction. Weird Al has some of the best satire around; that is for sure.

Books

Cameron, Miriam, PhD, RN

2001:Karma and Happiness: A Tibetan Odyssey in Ethics, Spirituality, and Healing. Minneapolis, MN: Fairview Press.

Although I do sometimes like travel descriptions, I would have preferred a straight discussion on karma. The author tied Buddhist concepts to her travel experiences in Tibet. She is very explicitly eclectic as she says she uses Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity, and other ideas and I like that a lot since I am a big fan of eclecticism. The epilogue defined "spiritual values" and since I am interested in discovering definitions of spirituality particularly non-Judeo-Christian ones, this was one of the more interesting parts of the book.

Cermak, Timmen, MD

1989:A Primer on Adult Children of Alcoholics. Deerfield Beach, FL: Health Communications, Inc.

Shorter than some similar books, but lots of good material. New insights and that is good.

Editors of Don't Sweat Press

2001:The Don't Sweat Guide for Couples: Ways to Be More intimate, Loving, and Stress-Free in Your Relationship. New York, NY: Hyperion.

Books like these usually make sure to have exactly 100 suggestions, but this book only had 97 suggestions. Pretty much all the suggestions are good and it would be great to apply to a relationship.

Farenga, Patrick

1998:The Beginner's Guide to Homeschooling. Cambridge, MA: Holt Associates/GWS.

As homeschooling goes, I like the tone and approach of Holt Associates, so it was nice to get that in this book. I was turned on by the thinness of this volume; as interesting as some thick volumes, such as The Underground History of American Education are, I don't have the time to complete them, so thinner works can appeal to me more. The printing was too small, but this did not bother me as much as with other works, since the words themselves were so interesting. The main text is only 29 pages, and the first appendix is an essay with a few more pages, but the rest is just information about contacts.

On page 9, Farenga deals with the issue of single parents and homeschooling. He describes his own job at this homeschooling publisher and suggests other people could do the same. Many don't think they can homeschool in a single parent family, and Farenga is not adequately addressing this concern. In his case, a homeschooling publisher is naturally sympathetic to the needs of homeschooling families, but few people work for such places that make it THAT easy. Could these homeschooling people look at the world from someone else's perspective? Some say it's too costly for many poor families to homeschool, and instead of addressing this with feasible answers, too many homeschooling writers act as if everyone is in their world of cushy super flexible high earning jobs.

In this short work, there was a section entitled "On Being a Qualified Teacher" addressing the certification deal. I find the whole issue of certification to be interesting, so I liked this. Farenga should write a whole book on the issue of certification, if he hasn't. I doubt if he has. This section was what I needed. I am even more convinced of the nonsense of certification because I work in the public school as a non-certified employee.

This book says Holt Associates is about unschooling, which sounds really good to me.

Gatto, John Taylor

2002:Dumbing Us Down: The Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling. Gabriola Island, BC: New Society Publishers.

I wanted a really hard hitting critique of the school system, so I decided to get Gatto's An Underground History of American Education. Unfortunately, it was way too big to tackle, especially during the school year when I am employed in the school district. Since I work in the school district, I now really analyze the homeschoolers's criticisms of the schools, and some ways, find them to be accurate and other ways to be inaccurate. I can see the school up close and personal, so I get a good view of the validity or lack thereof of various home school criticisms.

I loved how Gatto slammed television along with the education system. He even claimed that the two most perverse and pervasive influences are television and the education system. Right on!

On page 27, Gatto says "The children I teach have a poor sense of the future, of how tomorrow is inextricably linked to today. As I said before, they live in a continuous present: the exact moment they are in is the boundary of consciousness". This is in direct contrast to Buddhism, which emphasizes the utter importance of "living in the moment". Buddhism, I have found, is actually philosophically contrary to homeschooling in more than just this way. The Dalai Lama even accepts going into schools and teaching some Buddhist ideas. I have thought that some meditation could serve hyperactive kids well, but the homeschoolers are really against considering hyperactivity a problem.

In a couple of places or so in here, Gatto condemns Platonic thought. It's really interesting in pondering Gatto's specific conception of the world. If he is against Buddhism and Platonism, that makes his point of view really interesting.

Gatto is ever so correct in condemning what he calls "the one right way", and with this critique we have one of the most powerful refutations of the school system's logic.

On page 64, Gatto says, "Parents, for the most part, are usually lied to or told half truths, as they are usually considered adversaries". Gatto is right in a sense. I might hope to do a doctoral dissertation on paraprofessionals, which are part of the school system. I believe what is fascinating is how paraprofessionals must like Erving Goffman suggested in his "dramaturgical metaphor" of human interaction, "perform", "act', and engage in "impression management". I wouldn't say parents are necessarily considered adversaries, but there is definitely what Goffman calls "a backstage", where teachers will talk differently about parents than they do to their faces. By no means is this type of behavior solely endemic to teachers though. Teachers really have to be diplomatic with parents. I do not like treating parents or students this way as a whole, as I would rather be real with kids.

Gatto says, "interrupt kids with bells and horns all the time and they will learn that nothing is important" and elsewhere Gatto believes having periods makes kids not be motivated to study something seriously. This is a really thought provoking concept. I have seen teachers take this really far, as I have seen kids have barely any time to do anything, and then jolted in the middle by teacher instructions. Gatto has a point here. In real life, almost every activity is interrupted at some point, even with for those of us with longer attention spans. He is right that the artificial interruption can undermine the continuity and satisfaction of the opportunity. He is indeed right that the school system constantly jolts kids from activities, making most everything scattered and fragmented.

As a minor point, Gatto gives the same old line about prohibition. Certainly this got on my nerves, but I did not allow it to override my acceptance of his otherwise fabulous general argument.

On page 83, in order to make his points, he claims that women and minorities have it worse today. This is dubious to me as some improvements have surely been made.

Gatto like other homeschooling advocates touch on the problems of rigid teacher certification requirements. I entirely agree with him on this. This is another one of the very strong homeschooling arguments. He even calls certification "a fraud and a sham". I do wish I could find fuller treatment of the certification issue. Homeschoolers touch on it, but it doesn't seem to be dealt with in enough depth to satisfy my curiosity.

The crux of homeschooling is expressed on page 85, "good things happen to the human spirit when it is left alone". I love the human spirit and want to see it flourish. Some good may come out of the school system, but I think the homeschooling way could do better.

Hamilton, Elizabeth and Dan Hamilton

1997:Should I Homeschool: How to Decide What's Right For You and Your Child. Downers Grove, IL: Intervarsity Press.

On page 13, the book said it set out to be "balanced" about the homeschooling issue which it did not think other books were, since they were biased one way or the other. I value this particularly because I have seen it from both sides: I once dated a woman who was home schooled and now I work in the special education department of a public school.

On page 62, the authors claim that "teachers in classrooms with twenty pupils have a hard time really getting to know their students." Yes and no. This is valid and invalid at the same time. Since I work in mainstream classrooms, I do find it difficult to connect with every last kid, which sometimes has more to do with time factors than anything else. However, I am also able to really connect with some kids, and I do wish I had even more time for that with them.

On page 63, the authors claim that a teacher only devotes a 120 seconds per school session on average per kid. I find this hard to believe. Again, I have found it hard to connect with every kid, especially since I am in so many classrooms.

I was impressed with the fact that this book showed fair mindedness and conceded that sometimes homeschooling is not the way to go with certain families. The above book by Patrick Farenga seemed to dogmatically suggest that homeschooling was always best. Some say if you acknowledge the pitfalls of your side, you bolster your credibility. Thus these authors did exactly that here.

His Holiness the Dalai Lama (Compiled and edited by Renuka Singh

Year Unknown: The Path to Tranquility: Daily Wisdom. New York, NY: Penguin Compass.

The format was ideal for buses where attention may not be constant. Short pages are easy to read because you keep moving and you make progress. As the title suggests, there is a lot of wisdom in here. Some parts aren't so wise, but overall it is very wise. I consider eclecticism to be the epitome of wisdom. The Dalai Lama on the other hand disagrees on page 363, where he condemns it: "If you try to follow all the paths, you will not get anywhere". That makes little sense to me. In actuality, you will get everywhere. In one place, while criticizing backstabbing, the Dalai Lama states that if you are prone to do such, "Nobody will like you." Not true! Backstabbers do seem to have friends. The Dalai Lama suggested that karma really works and he critiqued people like me who think karma may not work because we don't see the righteous consequences as "short sighted". Good work, and I hope to expose myself to even more Dalai Lama works.

Hood, Mary, Ph.D.

1994:The Relaxed Home School: A Family Production. Westminster, MD: Ambleside Educational Press.

The drawings, simple but distinct, looked a lot like the drawings used by this Mennonite group. Since the Mennonite group was pretty out there, I was wary of this book, but despite the Evangelical Christian emphasis, the book was pretty good.

On page 12, Hood briefly makes reference to four types of homeschooling theories. Unfortunately, she just makes reference to them, without giving even a brief definition of each. She does say they are dealt with at length in another of her work, but I would have loved to at the least get a brief definition of each of these ideas. This makes me curious and makes me want to read the other work, which unfortunately I don't recall seeing at any library, though this work is more available.

On page 24, Hood urges women to "make sure your own needs are attended to first [emphasis in the original]." James C. Hunter, a leading proponent of servant leadership says the opposite, and in fact such is a major thesis of his view of servant leadership: that parents and others should give themselves second priority to children. I think both of these authors are a little bit right here.

Hood makes a dubious statement on page 52. She says, "No mother will intentionally keep doing something if it is clear it is hurting her children!" Really? She shouldn't assume all mothers are good because they are not.

I was surprised and impressed to see this evangelical Christian describe the use of Howard Zinn in her homeschooling curriculum. She said she used a history book with a fundamentalist tone and Zinn's book in order to show her kids different angles. That is very open minded and that is the way to be.

On 85, she makes a claim that other homeschoolers make. I rarely hear this anywhere else, but it is intriguing to me. She says what we usually think of when we think of "adolescence", is "not an automatic feature of puberty." This even sounds postmodern. She is suggesting like other homeschoolers, that "adolescence" is an "arbitrary construct". Impressive outside the box thinking!

The Christian bias did not detract from this work, and I think her concept of "a relaxed home school" is a good one.

Kaplan, Robbie Miller

2004:How to Say It When You Don't Know What to Say: The Right Words for Difficult Times. New York, Prentice Hall, Inc.

The general ideas I more or less have deduced on my own, but it was still good for me to read about the specific approaches to all the different types of tragedy. The book urged readers not to tell people "It's a Blessing in Disguise". Blessings in Disguise are positive spins, but I suppose it is up to each individual to determine that his or her negative situation is really a blessing in disguise.

Koetzsch, Ronald, Ph.D.

1997:The Parent's Guide to Alternatives in Education: The First In Depth Guide to the Full Range of Choices in Alternative Schooling, With All the Information You Need to Decide What Kind of Education Is Right For Your Child. Boston, MA: Shambhala.

Before this, I had only been familiar with a few of these alternatives. I knew a lot about homeschooling. I briefly read about free schools and the idea intrigued me. I knew about Montessori schools as my sister went to one years ago, but I couldn't tell you much about them.

On page 6, the author insightfully observes: "While the public school system is still for the most part bureaucratic, hierarchic, authoritarian, and conservative, a great deal of experimentation, reform, and restructuring has gone on and continues to go on within it". That is very accurate. I work in the public school system and find the statement to be a fair description of what just I see.

I found his discussion of the "Responsive Classroom", part of what he calls "the Social Curriculum" to be interesting because the school I work for has used the Responsive Classroom model starting this year. I have not been all that impressed with it. It has some good ideas, but nothing ground breaking. Many people act as if new models like this are so cutting edge, when they aren't that much to me at all. The author categorized "The Social Curriculum" as one reform trends. It did not occur to me that the Responsive Classroom would even be worthy of the title "reform". It doesn't seem to all that much better.

He discusses the proposal of at least arranging classes by how talented and advanced the kids are rather than just their age. This sounds good to me.

The author discusses something called "developmental education" which contends that kids should not be taught anything or in any way contrary to their designated "developmental" ability. Critics of the school system say it limits children. Something like this developmental education would seem to limit most of all, so it really should be questioned.

The author is a backer of Waldorf education personally, but he did not appear to allow his bias to be reflected in the writing. He seemed to treat the subjects very fairly including his own Waldorf model.

In the end is call to start one's own school. I applaud the pioneer spirit. I love to use it myself. It is so awesome to found something. It is a wonderful idea. Hopefully one day I can do it as well. That would really be part of my political plan.

Of all the types of schooling presented here, "free schools" (almost no structure) sound most appealing to me. In fact, one Autonomy Party position paper calls for public schools to be made into free schools with just the minimal authority to maintain the peace. Progressive education sounds good as well. Essential schools sound nice too. I would like to learn even more about these models. Homeschooling sounds good too but I already am pretty familiar with that.

Komisaruk, Katya

2003:Beat the Heat: How to Deal With Encounters With Law Enforcement. Oakland, CA: AK Press.

This book is so ideal. This is a lot like Nolo Press's Criminal Law Handbook, which I have been ever so fond of. Both of these books were written in wonderful styles and this book has even more edge to it than the Nolo book. This book is written in a more anti-authoritarian tone than the Nolo book and I liked that. This book further inspires me to dedicate myself to advance my rights and I love it for that.

The book clarified the issue about ID which didn't seem so clear in the Nolo book, and I left with the conviction that name and address are all that you need tell. Clearing that up was wonderful.

The section on minors was enlightening. The book even suggested that minors can refuse searches and even includes something to post on a door. The book is very good at having forms in it and I hope to copy them for my own use.

The book went into better detail than even the wonderful Nolo Book about how to document an event and even included great forms with it as templates. This section also made me feel better. Since I have trouble describing incidents, especially in regard to sequence of events, the book's observations that people don't remember so well and especially major events, made me feel better. One might be inclined to think that some major event would be all the more easy to remember, but this book suggests that such is not the case. The book did a wonderful job walking the reader through filling a misconduct form, as it broke it down into the steps, so it was as clear as could be.

I liked the use of cartoons to show applications of these principles.

On page 148, the book discusses that police review is often an empty procedure. My level of cynicism has lead me to believe that such is futile, especially after reading Nolo works and other works about it. Now I think this even more so.

The biographical sketch of the author was also interesting. It says she was an activist who got thrown in prison and is now a lawyer. Although I am generally not fond of lawyers, former activist lawyers are inspiring and it's wonderful this author is using her legal talents for good, and it is reassuring that she writes as some who knows what it is like to be an activist or otherwise disliked by cops. Many people just don't understand how this feels. She had some good words on how the courts dislike pro se lawyers and unfortunately she insinuated that representing oneself is not so good.

Lal, Vinay (author) and Borin Van Loon.(illustrator):

2005:Introducing Hinduism. Thriplow, Royston, UK: Icon Books, Ltd.

I have read a lot on Buddhism lately, so I have become familiar with atheism, Christianity (particularly Protestant Christianity), and Buddhism. I have been thinking that Hinduism is something I could more about. So it's good I got this enjoyable easy to read book which in a light format taught me some more about Hinduism.

Luna, J.J.

2004:How to Be Invisible: The Essential Guide to Protecting Your Personal Privacy, Your Assets, and Your Life. New York, NY: St. Martin's Press.

Ever important but rarely given the necessary emphasis is the typeface. This book has one of the best typefaces around. It's hard to top a fantastic book with a fabulous typeface.

The book is full of sound ideas, many of which are too involved and sometimes even costly for me. It did achieve the aim of getting me to think more about privacy. I don't really want to be invisible, in fact, I want the opposite: social prominence, and thus perhaps, the book's advice is even more pertinent. It helps me to start thinking more carefully.

In making an appeal for the necessity of a book on privacy, Luna acknowledges that the wrong people are accused and convicted for crimes, and he claims that insufficient measures to assure privacy can play a role. He really emphasized this theme on pages six and seven and also elsewhere in the book. Such a realization shows good sense and insight. It is unfortunate and perhaps even tragic that some cocky people seem to think it's easy to avoid arrest and hard to get arrested. To me it seems so easy to get charged, it's almost surprising it doesn't happen all that more often.

On page 37, Luna suggests a very innovative suggestion for mailing with privacy: slyly paying a hotel to mail it. I wonder why he doesn't worry more about the hotel actually mailing it. Something tells me that the hotel may not mail the piece.

On page 40, he presents a very interesting definition of liar, which I don't exactly buy. He says, "a lie is a false statement made by one [person] to another, who is entitled to hear and know the truth, and which false statement tends toward injury to the other." I would define a lie as something much more basic than that. He argues that "lying" is sometimes acceptable depending on why and how it's done. He thus suggests that "harmless lies" for privacy purposes are acceptable. Ideally, we wouldn't have to lie at all.

I have thought about the potential dangers of allowing apartment workers to come in my home when I am not there. My concerns are justified according to Luna as on page 251, he really cautions us against doing this.

The book is full of good anecdotes to help advance the points. So good, a so very good book.

Manz, Charles

2002:The Power of Failure: 27 Ways to Turn Life's Setbacks into Success: Prescriptions for a More, Productive, Prosperous, and Peaceful Life. San Francisco, CA: Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc.

The premise of this book is right on. I love books that encourage people to hang in during difficulties in hopes of ultimately triumphing. Manz is not as naïve as some thus his writing is consequently more effective.

Manz sure seems to like to write poems as a number of his poems were included in various chapters.

A great move of his was precisely articulating specific definitions for "success" and "failure" and he contrasted these with what he considers the common definition.

He includes Microsoft as an example of a company that has experienced a number of failures and we all know it is super successful, which is ever so motivating.

On page 28, he extols the value of patience, "The critical bridge between vision and execution is patience". I have really begun to see how important patience is for the purpose of success in my own life.

On page 61, he puts forward a maxim almost identical to Zig Ziglar's "You Can Get Anything You Want as Long as You Give Enough People What They Want". I am not so sure this is the case. Is that How Hitler triumphed so much and achieved such unprecedented success?

It was not as inspirational as it could be, but it is still wonderful to have a book full of inspiration during trying moments of life.

Miser, Brad

2005:Absolute Beginner's Guide to Homeschooling. Indianapolis, IN: Que Publishing.

Miser expresses some viewpoints which would seem to contradict what other homeschoolers say. On page 16, he seems to argue that a big problem is when schools try to stop using bad grades because such is claimed to harm kids. Ironically, it seems many other homeschoolers types argue that grades scar kids, yet Miser seems to be suggesting that schools that try to remove grades as doing a disservice.

Also ironically Miser argues that competition is good and that the schools which remove such are erring. It seems to me that many other homeschoolers complain that the pressure of competition of the public schools damages kids.

Again, ironically, Miser exalts standardized tests. So many other homeschoolers speak of standardized tests as if they are this great evil that harms children immensely.

On page 55, Miser makes an excellent point that homeschooling can actually help the school district because he says, "In fact, removing kids from public schools improves the funding per student ratio because the same amount of funds educate fewer children". That's what you call wonderful logic.

He thoroughly discusses the importance of addressing introversion and extroversion. He seems to oversimplify the differences between the two, but other than that, his discussion of this matter is stimulating. It's something I have been thinking about lately coincidentally.

On page 254, he mentions that some of the standardized tests demand a college degree to administer. To me, this seemed to be one of those pointless requirements. Homeschoolers say the school system is full of that. It is. I have experienced some pointless "licensed teacher" requirements when I have worked in the public school. I have been told that only licensed teachers can walk a group of kids down the hall, even though this is not consistently applied. I even volunteered to help this one kid study math in my free time, but I was told I couldn't do that because there wouldn't be a licensed teacher to supervise me. One other time, this one kid had to be monitored for discipline purposes and someone else couldn't do it, but I said I could stay there and do that. Then I was told that such wouldn't work because there needed to be a licensed teacher there. To me, it makes no sense that an adult can't sit and monitor a student for a timeout without having acquired a teaching license. On page 258, Miser shared my concerns about needing a college degree for giving out these standardized tests. He said, "I don't really know why a college degree is required to administer such tests. Doing so is mostly a matter of reading and following directions." Indeed, some people who think they know it all, really are stupid about their arbitrary rules.

Miser is more fair minded than some homeschooling proponents. On page 265, he states, "Of course, not everything about an institutional school environment is negative." Since I work in the public schools, I have wondered how homeschoolers could object to some of the happenings of the public schools, since to me these seemed unquestionably good. Many homeschoolers suggest the public schools are almost entirely rotten, and I think they could see more grey. I think if more homeschoolers made the acknowledgments that Miser did, they would have a better argument. You look bad when you say something is rotten when it is undeniably good. Homeschoolers could be more discriminating as some of their arguments don't seem valid to me especially when they paint the public education system with such a broad brush. I once did and would love to more often ask homeschoolers how one could object to this and that. The time I did so, I got a thoughtless reply full of crazed extreme hysterical thinking. I want to be a devil's advocate so I can learn more from the homeschoolers and to determine for myself which homeschoolers' criticisms of the school system are valid and which are not.

Piven, Joshua, David Borgenicht, and Joshua Worick

2004:The Worst Case Scenario Handbook: College. San Francisco, CA: Chronicle Books.

Of all the Worst Case Scenario books, I think I found this to be the most relevant and enjoyable one. For seven years of my life, I attended college and graduate school, thus I can definitely relate to what is presented in this book. Furthermore, although I am not currently enrolled in a formal institution of higher education, I am really still in the college mode. I feel and act like I'm in college, it seems. I guess such an environment is really ideal for me.

Throughout this book, I related again and again.

In the book's "how to avoid going to the wrong college", it suggests, "Compare the number of nearby bookstores to the number of nearby bars." That's awfully funny, because in my book Evil: the Impact of Alcohol and the Power of the Alcohol Industry, I demonstrate how sad it is that Mankato and Stevens Point, where I attended graduate school and college has way many more taverns than libraries.

On page 58, in "Find alternative facilities", the book recommends the water closet by the Admissions office because the book says it is "nice". Indeed, I have found this to be the case. I have used such a bathroom and it is indeed a good place to go.

On page 63, it is recommended to "Shower with Your Clothes On" as a way to clean clothes. I don't recall doing that in college, but I did something similar in Oakdale here. I was low on the dough and needed some clean clothes, so I filled the bathtub with water and laundry detergent and tried to wash my clothes that way. It was better than nothing, but definitely not preferable to the other way.

On page 73, the book encourages poor students to go to grocery places and eat the free samples. I really did this one day while living in the Twin Cities. My food and money supply was super low. I decided to go to Whole Foods Market and it was a goldmine. There were tons of great and nutritious samples and I had tons. The book suggests "making a meal of the samples". I humorously suggested this over a decade ago in a piece of satire, and I actually had to do it out of desperation that one day at Whole Foods Market.

On page 74, and 75, the authors suggest going to gatherings with food and also dumpster diving. I have thought of this and have dumpster dived a number of times.

The book says, "Generic or store labels are always cheaper than name-brand labels." Generally, this is correct, but certainly not always. The book should have said, "almost always cheaper."

Oddly, the section "How to Survive a Riot" is something I have had need for. On October 4th, 2003, a major riot occurred after the homecoming game of MSU-Mankato. I slept through it and did not learn about it until the next evening, but it was only a few blocks from my apartment. As outrageous as needing riot survival techniques may sound, I can testify that they might be useful. Don't doubt the destructive potential of alcohol.

The section "How to Sleep in the Library" is a good one. Some universities don't mind people sleeping in common areas, and maybe not even in the library, but other universities do. Once I fell asleep at the Todd Wehr Memorial Library at Viterbo College and people overreacted. The security guard woke up. Get a grip, it's not that big of a deal! I have also slept at unorthodox places (such as a telephone booth and bathroom stalls) so how to sleep at a library is definitely something that could have been useful to me.

A great book.

Qunindlen, Anna

2005:Being Perfect. New York, NY: Random House.

The book makes avoiding perfection sound real good. Although I do believe she has a point about how awful extreme perfection can be, it is surely better than extreme sloth and apathy. There is nothing wrong with striving for greatness. Sadly, many do not want greatness. This may be fine, because if everyone was famous, we could not remember them all. It is a good deal society limits the number of famous people to a reasonable level, and such might be the natural order of it all.

Tayoun, Jimmy

1995:Going to Prison? Brunswick, ME: Biddle Publishing Company.

I read this book on the public buses; a fact I found humorous. I don't think anyone noticed, but if someone did it could have been quite funny.

This book is very similar to Jim Hogshire's Surviving in Prison, except it seems a lot shorter. As I recall, this work had smaller print than Hogshire's, so an exact comparison is difficult, but I still think there was more to Hogshire's. The main text is after all only 38 pages, but those pages are crammed full of very interesting information.

Some think typos are so horrible and this book has several such as "tlevision" (30) and "de-scribes" and "re-cords". As one who has written a lot, myself, I find it hard to eliminate every last mistake in a work, so I have some sympathy for mistakes and the fact this book has some mistakes in it, makes me feel better. It seems that some of the smaller publishing companies have less sophisticated editorial procedures, so this is the result.

The autobiographical sketch is interesting as it describes a successful politician who entered prison. It even said "He considers his prison term to be his fourth career change". I would imagine something in his political career contributed to his prison sentence and I would be interested to find out what it was. I do not recall hearing of this man before I read his work.

I wonder if Biddle Publishing publishes other intriguing books like this. This is one of the books a place like Loompanics is well known for publishing, so it's nice to find other publishers who do the same.

Workman, Katrina

1999:Homeschooling: Untangling the Web of Confusion. Mesa, AZ: Blue Bird Publishing.

In the introduction, the author says she needed to write this book because she found lots of homeschooling books written about "why to homeschool", but "not how to homeschool". It's ironic she says that, because I have found exactly the opposite to be the case. I want books about why one should homeschool, but mostly just find an abundance of how to homeschooling. The how to's are still interesting, I just prefer the other type.

The Christian tone of this book is evident with quotes such as "the man is still the spiritual head and leader of the family". Good grief.

There are some typos, on pages 15, 16, and 65 to name some pages. I know how that can happen, so that makes me feel better.

On page 57, she recommends observing court cases as an educational experience. I did exactly that in Stevens Point, WI and Mankato, MN. It sure was a terrific experience.

Wright, Susan

1995:How to Marry Money: The Rich Have to Marry Someone – Why Not You. New York, NY: Carol Communications, Inc.

The book is not nearly as shallow as it sounds. The book does talk some about attracting the wealthy, but the book is much more than that. The book is broader in scope than the title would suggest. The book offers lots of good relationship tips which could be useful for even those who don't care about "marrying money". Actually, if you were concerned about "marrying money", the broader emphasis of this book might disappoint you.

Catfish 44Q

Andrew Bushard

Reviews

Books

Axelrod, Alan and Jim Holtje

1997:201 Ways to Say No Gracefully and Effectively. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.

I was looking for something more impressive than what I got. I really learned nothing new in regard to assertive techniques. I loss interest in the book, but since it is fairly thin, I decided I wanted to finish it, so I did.

Blanchard, Ken

1999: The Heart of a Leader. Tulsa, OK: Honor Books.

On page 33, Blanchard discusses how managers are wise to understand what works particularly well and not just assume. At my former work place, to show "thanks" to paraprofessionals, we were given a party. Unfortunately, I did not want that. I even was pushed to go though I wanted to stay working in an assignment that day which I was needed for and knowing I was useful was one of the greatest ways to say thanks to me.

On page 128, Blanchard says "Servant Leadership is more about character than style" and he suggests that servant leaders may not be perfectly democratic all the time, and such is not really relevant because the underlying motivation is more important. This is profound. In our world everyone seems hung up with democracy even when the democracy leads to injustice. I would rather be just and undemocratic rather than

unjust and democratic. Unfortunately, a lot of people just do not get this.

I think I want to read more Blanchard books. I love leadership and motivational works and Blanchard seems to be good at this.

Brandt, Judith

2002:The 50 Mile Rule: Your Guide to Infidelity and Extramarital Etiquette. Berkeley, CA: Ten Speed Press.

I checked out this book and it sat dormant for awhile, then it sparked interest enough for me to get down to reading it. These days I am much more interested in reading books with great meaning, and thus I was afraid I would be wasting my time with light reading here. After all, this is a book about how to get away with an affair. It turned out that the book did provoke some thought. The book questioned monogamy and it brought back my questioning of that in college such as wearing a "Legalize Polygamy" shirt. The book thus again has me wondering if monogamy is right.

The book presents some intriguing thoughts about the mating game. For example, on page 43, it argues that since men supposedly are inclined to pursue a number of women, and if the best men get all the women, then those who do not naturally get lots of women enact monogamy as a way to make sure some women are still available to them. There are other similarly intriguing theories as well.

Covey, Stephen

2004:1989:The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change. New York, NY: Free Press.

I did something rare for me; I purchased this book. With libraries purchasing books is rarely necessary especially when I have access to 100+ Twin Cities libraries. Furthermore, this book is a huge bestseller, so I could find it at just about any library or even just about every library.

After finding out about the Franklin Covey store, I decided I would have to check it out. On Covey's audio tapes, he tells a story about how impressed he was at this hotel for having detailed mission statements. So I wanted to see if Franklin Covey practiced what it preached and if it did, I was thinking then I should support the place because it's about time I give money to a good place instead of all the lousy places I give money too. Indeed Franklin Covey did have a mission statement, and this book is what I ultimately purchased.

Although, I have heard abridged audio versions of this work, I decided I actually needed to get down and read it. Although a good amount of the material was review, it was valuable to have read this book. Sadly, I have found that in too many ways, my old work place is the opposite of what this puts forth.

I am amazed that some of what I have been practicing for awhile and have discovered independently is very similar to what Covey supports. He talks about "synergy" and the Autonomy Party has been a party of synthesis. In fact, I have often used the word synthesis to describe what we do. We pull in the best for competing ideas to make something better. For example, we take the idea that drugs are harmful and should be eradicated from the pro drug war folks and we take the idea that it's inhumane and unjust too punish people for merely using drugs from the anti-drug war folks to create an altogether new drug policy.

Additionally, one of the chapters is called "Seek First to Understand, Then to be Understood", which title is self explanatory. Federation Without Television has followed this. Our organization has invited diverse speakers representing many ideologies and belief systems and have given them forums to present their views of the world and we learn without judgment.

In the Forward, on Page 9, Covey supports something rational which flies in the face of conventional psychology. Conventional Psychology says it's bad to have high expectations. I have considered this to be terrible. Covey instead encourages high expectations.

There are many gems through this profoundly wise book. On page 58, Covey says, "always treat your employees actually how you want them to treat your best customers." That sounds a lot like servant leadership. I wish my former work place practiced that. On page 179, "Trust is the highest form of motivation. It brings out the very best in people." I don't know if trust is the absolute highest form of motivation, but he is right that it is something very important. It has felt awesome when people have trusted me at work for example. I do think trust and respect are much harder to fake than approval.

On page 190, he starts to discuss "Six Major Deposits" and the one being "Understanding the Individual". He discusses how it's imperative to know a person before we know how to make the person happy since what one likes is not the same as what another likes. That sounds exactly like the "Platinum Rule" which an audio tape was created on.

On page 165, Covey says something ironic, "I have come to believe that many truly great classes teeter on the edge of chaos." This totally describes Federation Without Television sometimes. One of the members called our meetings "free spirited" and indeed they are because we let them go in just about any direction.

On page 195, Covey says, "Education – continuing education, continually honing and expanding the mind – is vital mental renewal. Sometimes that involves the external discipline of the classroom or systematized study; more often it does not." I have heard something similar to this many times before, but it's awesome that Covey acknowledges this. I believe wise people understand this.

A beautiful line is "Peace of mind comes when your life is in harmony with true principles and values and there is no other way." Principles have long been something that have been very important to me. Thus his chart, "Possible Perceptions Flowing out of Various Centers", which include the "Centers" of Spouse, Family, Money, Work, Possessions, Pleasure, Friends, Enemy, Church, Self, and Principles was both spiritually and intellectually edifying. Hopefully, all along my life has been what he calls "principle centered". I sure hope so.

This material is awesome and it has wisdom unlike many others. These ideas I want to integrate into my life. This is better than just about anything from the leftist establishment. If karma exists, Stephen Covey must have some great karma.

Dyer, Wayne

1995:Your Erroneous Zones. New York, NY: Avon Books.

The title of this book is a clever play on words, which I did not get at first. I initially thought it was about "erogenous zones". I was familiar with Wayne Dyer and it struck me as interesting that he wrote a book about sexual play, but I did not think too much about it. It eventually dawned on me that it was "erroneous" not erogenous".

I was reading this book on the public bus. The book was mostly pointed down to such an angle where I would not think anyone could see the title. One woman said, "Your Erogenous Zones; he wants to get some pussy". I did not tell her what was up; I just snickered.

On page 49, as well as elsewhere, he says "A fully functioning person never complains." I'm not sure whether my idea of fulfillment meshes with that or not or whether I am just not quite as fulfilled as I can be since I certainly do complain.

Homeschoolers and other critics of the public schools would likely love what he has to say about "Approval Seeking Messages from School". Furthermore, on page 118, he condemns the public school system for making us feel guilty. He believes there is something seriously wrong with our school system.

Dyer provides a novel critique of rock music. Starting on page 72, Dyer discusses "approval seeking messages" in hit songs (of the 70's when this piece was written). Usually, when people criticize rock music, it is for other reasons.

On page 87, Dyer categorically dismisses all apologizing. This resonates with me since apologizing is something I generally avoid if all possible. I am not free from apologizing but it is very rare for me.

On page 110, he claims, "Guilt is the most worthless of all erroneous zone behaviors". I'm not so sure about that. I've long believed that guilt keeps me and others moral. I have thought that there might be another way to stay moral besides guilt although guilt can be very useful. He thinks that indeed guilt should go and he insinuates that you can still do right. I recognize that there are two types of people in the world who are without guilt: the self actualized people and the sociopaths. It is so ironic that the two opposite ends of the spectrum share this condition, and perhaps there is a fine line there.

On page 180, Dyer hammers down the common psychological theme in "The Folly of Shoulds, Musts, and Oughts". In many ways, Dyer buys all the common psychology hook, line, and sinker. He did describe the harm of these "shoulds, musts, and oughts", which most every psychologist does these days, but he did so by getting me to think about it in a new way. He claims that shoulds, musts, and oughts "come from someone else". I have long been resistant to the idea that shoulds, musts, and oughts are categorically bad, and now this really gets me to think that if these are impositions from other people, then there is a big problem with them indeed.

In one section, Dyer condemns what he calls "The Justice Trap". He claims that justice does not exist in the world so it's foolish to pursue it. Yet, I know Dyer also believes in karma, which is suppose to be total justice for everything that happens in the world. The two contradict themselves it would seem.

I have some conflicting emotions about the last chapter, "Portrait of a Person Who Has Eliminated All Erroneous Zones". I believe I have a different though in some ways overlapping idea of a self actualized person. His notions of a self actualized person not caring what others think, being brutally honest, having no heroes, not getting bored, being open to learning all the time, taking action, ignoring social status, along without other of the attributes resonate with me. I wonder if the points of difference are parts I have a hard time accepting though are a component of self actualization or whether he is wrong about those points.

A great and empowering book. I want to read his work Pulling Your Own Strings. [Edit this has been done!]

Evangelista, Nick and Anita

1999:Blood Lust Chickens and Renegade Sheep: A First Timer's Guide to Country Living. Port Townsend, WA: Loompanics Unlimited.

One search I do on library computes, when I think of it is a search for keyword "Loompanics". I am fond of the books Loompanics sells so I get happy when a public library has a good volume from Loompanics which I have not already read. I found this particular fine Loompanics book at the Rum River Library in Anoka, MN, which is part of the Anoka County Library System. This book is a pretty tame book as Loompanics goes. Loompanics bills itself as being this big subversive book company and it is indeed. This book would not probably raise too many eyebrows, but it sure was interesting. There were good stories. The authors talk as if all country homes are farms, but such may not definitely always be the case. This book was quickly finished because it was quality.

Fanning, Patrick and Heather Garnos Mitchener

2001:The 50 Best Ways to Simplify Your Life: Proven Techniques for Achieving Lasting Balance. Oakland, CA: New Harbinger Publications, Inc.

I've read enough other books on this topic, that's there is little fresh or new, still the book served a purpose and I want to indeed be more and more committed to living simply.

Goldenflame, Jake

2004:Overcoming Sexual Terrorism: 40 Ways to Protect Your Children from Sexual Predators. USA: Xlibris Corporation.

I read an intriguing article in People about this sex offender who turned his life around and is now trying to make up for his past by reaching out to sex offenders. Ever since reading that my mind could not stop thinking about it. As a sociologist, I have thought about how life must be as sex offender and whole ramifications of sex offenses.

Then this book jumped out at me at the Hennepin County Public Library branch in Hopkins, MN. I checked it out.

The title of the book makes it sound as if the book is just about preventing sexual abuse of children. The fact of the matter is that the "40 ways" are really just in the back. Most of the book is telling the intriguing story of Goldenflame, which seems to suggest that someone who has done something this bad, can still make something good come out of life.

He discusses how he came into sex offending, and how he came out of it. It was interesting to find out how important Buddhism became in his life. He is one of those people who sure have evolved a lot in a life and now seems like a caring and spiritual person when before he was the epitome of evil.

Goldenflame is well educated and well read and that really shows in his writing. It makes the book more thoughtful and insightful.

On page 182, he makes an excellent point that sex offender registration should not be used for statutory rape offenders, especially when the given statutory rape is just technically illegal. My dad was telling me about this dude who was around 20 who had sex with someone about 16 and because of that he was put on the sex offender registry. It struck me as very wrong for him to be put on the sex offender registry for that. After all some who is 50 can have sex with someone who is 18 or 19, and it's all legal. What is more twisted a 50 year old person having sex with an 18 year old, or a 20 year old having sex with a 16 year old?

Although mostly he does express enormous remorse, he also complains about his plight in some places. On page 184, 192, and elsewhere, he attempts to get the reader to feel bad about the restrictions placed on sex offenders and how inconvenient sex offender registration can be. At best, such is a waste of breath. I do not imagine many people feeling sorry for sex offenders.

On other occasions, I have wrote about and thought about how oppressive housing and especially employment situations can be for criminals, since they have the mark of a criminal. I have thought about how some criminals must have difficult living anywhere because more and more housing units these days do not allow those with felonies to live there. On page 194, he says, "If these new laws are allowed to drive lawfully registered sex offender out of the cities, we could easily see them become an angry band of exiled sexual predators roaming across the countryside and that could threaten public safety everywhere." That is not likely in my book. I do not picture that happening. There he attempted to gain sympathy for sex offenders by trying to show us how such policies would negatively affect us. Again, I think sometimes these anti criminal housing policies can go overboard, but I doubt anyone would even blink an eye at this. People do not care if life is difficult for criminals.

I was so intrigued about the whole stigma of sex offenders and this enabled me to get an inside glimpse of that.

Johnson, Spencer, M.D.

1998: Who Moved My Cheese?: An Amazing Way to Deal

With Change In Your Work and In Your Life. New

York, NY: G.P. Putnam's Sons.

Lately, I have been trying to find books about blessings in disguise. Unfortunately, I find few to none listings under this topic. I found a book with the title "Blessings in Disguise" and after I paged through it at the shelf, I decided it did not look that interesting. I came across this work and decided to check it out. I have seen this work before, but

I was not inspired to check it out.

Ironically, the book is about blessings in disguise!! I did not know the book was about that! I know one blessing in disguise can totally change your life. All it takes is one. This book reaffirmed the perspective I have come to embrace and it further encouraged me to keep going with that mindset.

Langdon, Ken and Christian Osborne

2001:Performance Reviews. New York, NY: DK Publishing, Inc.

Interesentingly enough, this book popped out at me soon before a performance review of my own. This book gave the perspective of the boss giving a performance review and as such goes, it seemed to be sensible. I have experienced two fair performance reviews and one unfair one, thus I know something like this can help.

Neill, A.S.: edited by Albert Lamb.

1992:1960:Summerhill School: A New View of Childhood. New York, NY: St. Martin's Press.

Although I surely disagree with Neill on some particulars, his free school inspires me Who knows: I might start my own some day. I am beginning to believe that the free school approach is the best educational approach.

This book does dispel some of my perceptions of what a free school is. I suppose I have come to think of a free school as something pure in form. Such is not the case. On page xxii, he even talks about expelling children. Ironically something the public schools seem to only do very reluctantly in the worst cases, and it seems especially rare at elementary school.

There were too many introductions to this edition. They were good but there were a lot of them.

On page 4, Neill compares school to the military. This made me think of The Servant by James C. Hunter, which said that the military way is fine for war but in everyday situations we need servant leadership.

His school uses "self government" of the children. I am not a fan of democracy, but one of autonomy. I am loving the free school idea, yet I still despise democracy. On page 18, he did say that democracy in his free school was not 100%, since there needed to be some not so democratic aspects. Sounds good to me. At least he's sensible enough to realize that. Some people want democracy in everything.

On page 38 he praised tangents! I am a big fan of them myself. One of the goals of Federation Without Television, which in my book is fairly similar to a free school, is to promote creatively and spontaneity. Federation Without Television allows and even encourages tangents and digressions. We have even had lectures full of only tangents.

On page 62, Neill says something very similar to what Deborah Tannen said in her book You Just Don't Understand. Both of these authors argue that those who violate policies, rules, laws, and procedures are often those who cherish authority and power when they receive them, and break the law and rules because they are not in power themselves. I think this is a profound insight.

Neill praises eclecticism on page 70, something I am also very fond of. Eclecticism is one of the major guiding forces in my existence.

On page 77, he discusses fasting. Again fasting is something I adore and practice.

Neill condemns alcohol! I loathe alcohol to the max. He discusses prohibiting alcohol in his free school (81). Some contend that to take away the right to drink is an egregious violation of freedom. Neill does not think so! Nor do many others who have argued against this notion. In my book Evil: the Impact of Alcohol and the Power of Alcohol Industry, I show how taking away the right to drink really has no effect on freedom. At worst, you are taking away one choice; you still have a million choices left.

In one place, it sounds like he advocates a dispassionate or at least a detached approach. "If you are possessive about people, you ought not be a schoolmaster" (110). I do not think I agree with this.

He, like many other opponents of the school system, disses teacher certification. "Teaching is an art, not a science. But the law is there, and Picasso would not be able to get a job as an art teacher if he had not trained" (115). I love it! How true!

Throughout the book he describes his distaste for Latin. He suggests that a big reason for this is because it was rammed down his throat. It's interesting because I find Latin to be so fascinating. He hates it. For awhile, I found Latin fascinating, and finally I began to study it. I have been studying it for a little less than a year now and it has been so enriching and fulfilling. I have studied it on my own and with my own discipline. I know I do not need a formal course or a Latin teacher. Ironically my love of Latin and his hate of Latin both prove the point that the school system is bad.

It's good he is not too pure. "Of course there is a limit to self-regulation. We cannot allow a baby of six months to discover that a lighted cigarette burns painfully" (228). I share this sentiment as in an Autonomy Party position paper I argue that safety is a good parameter for a free school to have.

While reading page 234,I was struck by how differently he views something that do homeschoolers. On page 234, he describes kids of the same age group being together, while homeschoolers often say it is unnatural and very harmful to organize kids by age and put kids of the same age together. On this matter, I think the homeschoolers are right.

In one place, he disses what he calls "posterity". He even quotes someone who said, "Why should I care for posterity. What has it done for me?" I long for posterity. My whole existence is dedicated to making posterity.

A great book full of emancipation. Such is very rare. Books like this are indeed hard to find.

Petrash, Jack

2002:Understanding Waldorf Education: Teaching from the Inside Out. Beltsville, MD: Gryphon House, Inc.

Overall, although Waldorf education appears to be an improvement, it still isn't quite my cup of tea. If I had to pick between Waldorf and regular education I would try Waldorf. This book suggested that among other aspects Waldorf education involves being well rounded, having double periods instead of the shorter ones schools are accustomed to, "block teaching", "teaching by example", and "less homework". Those ideas sound pretty decent to me, but ultimately there is something that doesn't feel totally right about Waldorf Education to me, at least it doesn't feel as if Waldorf education is ideal.

Robbins, Alexandra

2004:Pledged: the Secret Life of Sororities. New York, NY: Hyperion.

It was great that Robbins included quotes from Sorority handbooks. I would like to read those handbooks, themselves. Once my dad was telling me that one of my cross country teammates had joined a fraternity and he asked me what I thought of fraternities. I said something along the lines of "Not my cup of tea", and my dad said the same was the case for him. Sororities are many times cooler to me, and although not a fan of fraternities, I am more intrigued by sororities, and a book on sororities is more interesting to me than a book on fraternities though both are interesting to read about (and never join). The style was a good one and I liked to read about Sabrina and Professor Stone. Robbins even tells us she has updates on these people on a website. I like how she is critical because I too am critical of sororities and fraternities.

Rupp, Myron (compiled by)

2000:Quotations of Chairman Jesse. St. Paul. MN: Ruminator Books.

Almost every quote in her I have read or heard about before. Thus reading it was pretty redundant.

Snitzer, Herb

1964:Living at Summerhill: A Photographic Documentary on A.S. Neill's Pioneering School. New York, NY: the Macmillan Company.

Most of the libraries it seems do not have books on the free school Summerhill or any free school for that matter. I had to go to St. Paul's Central Library (probably the 2nd biggest public library in all of the Twin Cities, and perhaps the state of Minnesota itself). I have not read too much about free schools, though they sound extremely awesome and liberating. I am beginning to think I would like to start my own free school some day, (a book on alternative education recommended starting your own school).

Page 2 describes what sounds like an almost rule less place, though later I find out Summerhill does have rules. My ideal school would have some limits.

On page 41, it threw me off to read that Neill was scolding kids. I guess I figured that such did not happen at a free school. On page 80, Neill even told a kid to "Shut up".

Page 83 describes how Summerhill uses class bells. That is interesting because John Taylor Gatto, an anti school system writer, condemned bells in Dumbing Us Down: the Hidden Curriculum of Mandatory Schooling, because he claimed "that teach kids that nothing is important".

I was also surprised to discover on page 110, that this free school doled out fines. On page 123, the chairperson of a meeting threatened to fine those who disrupted the gathering. It's odd that a free school is stricter on something like this than the regular schools. Although surely teachers in the public school system scold kids all the time for disrupting, it's usually just that a scolding. I work in a public school and for even the worst offenses, the punishments are far lighter than what Summerhill is willing to give for the pettiest offense.

On page 129, Neill paradoxically says, "So don't feel you can come here and do as you like." Isn't that contradicting the whole point of a free school, which supposedly is that you can do exactly what you like?

There is a lot of bluntness and jabbing at this school. I don't think I would always like that so much.

What I learned from this book is that my conception of a free school was too idealized as in practice, it is a different story.

Usually, I like lots of photos, but here the photographs overwhelmed the text and since this free school idea is so fascinating, I wanted more text. I did like the verbatim excerpts of what went on at the school. This work gave me a good taste of Summerhill and I do seek to learn more about this ever fascinating free school and free schools in general.

Teachout, Richard

2000:Garage Sale Manual For the New Millennium. Oakdale, MN: Teachout Communications.

I was surprised to see where this book was produced. Oakdale of all places! Not that many books are published in Oakdale from what I gather. Oakdale is where I currently live and the address of the author may not be all that far from my apartment complex.

Some of the information about pricing might be outdated slightly since six years have passed since the publishing of this book, but the book does give some percentages which can serve as constants.

Ever so slim, but great. The advice is sound and interesting. Since my mom is super interested in rummage sales, I want to show it to her. I have already told her about it.

Audio

Barry, Dave: read by Mike Dodge

1997:Dave Barry's Book of Bad Songs (abridged). St. Paul, MN: HighBridge Company.

This was a nice humorous critique of popular music. I needed a good audio book and I did get one here.

Carver, John

1992:Empowering Boards for Leadership: Redefining Excellence in Governance. San Francisco, CA: Jossey Bass, Inc Publishers.

I really did not know much about "boards" before so this was a good education about them plus his suggestions about how boards better refine their duties and roles seemed smart. I was really impressed that he gave out his home telephone number.

Covey, Stephen

1992:Principle Centered Leadership Audio Learning System. Provo, UT: Covey Leadership Center.

I reviewed an abridged version of this program in an earlier issue of Catfish, which was only one audio tape, while this one is six audio tapes.

It's funny that so many people eat up Covey's word because when you get down to it, Covey is really radical. Radicals tell us "the definition of radical is getting to the root of a problem." Covey talks about ushering in new "paradigms", namely his "Principle Centered Leadership" paradigm.

For the visually minded, there is a condensed booklet which conveys the ideas discussed on the audio tapes in diagrams and words.

Since I have listened to Covey's audio tapes before, I already knew pretty much what he said here. The stories were pretty much the same. However, I really have been thinking about his perspective and how it applies to what I do and the environments I am in. Unfortunately, a lot of people still are not following his ways and it would be so much better if they did. I use his ideas and examples and hold them up to the incorrect ways elsewhere. It would be so inspiring if I got involved in some establishment which abided by Covey's ideas.

Franklin-Covey bookstore has a branch in the Mall of the America and I would like to check the place out, and see if everyone in the place has a "mission statement" like Covey highly recommends. I think it might be really inspiring to visit that place since I imagine it practices what it preaches. [Edit: Refer to an above review which describes my experience visiting the Franklin-Covey store].

Dyer, Wayne

1998:How to Get What You Really, Really, Really, Really Want. USA: Hay House.

Overall Dyer is great and this shorter work is high quality. Once again he provides us with wonderful stories. He seems to have such an interesting family.

He mentions Jung's archetypes of a person's life and he claims that his life has followed that pattern and insinuates we all follow that pattern. No we all do not. Some people do not. Motivational speakers can make very sweeping statements which often are not entirely true.

In the Secrets of the Power of Intention, he told a very touching story about his daughter Sky and the soul searching she was going through about her singing passion. In this audio tape, he invited her to sing "Amazing Grace" and indeed her voice is beautiful. I would like to hear more of her singing. She has a terrific voice and seems like an interesting person from what Dyer says about her.

Dyer, Wayne

1985:Choosing Your Own Greatness. Chicago, IL: Nightingale-Conant.

Wayne Dyer's works pump me up. Little is as motivating as his works.

I was just thinking about how just about no one seems to understand me. Then I heard Wayne Dyer say, "No one will ever understand you because you're unique, special" and that makes me feel a lot better about this and it is so very true when you think about it. Dyer often has said, "The right person shows up in your life at the right moment" and he also applies this to ideas and words as well. This would be one example of how it has worked with me.

Dyer said something along the lines, "The only morality in the universe is that you have total freedom to flail your first until it hits my face" He discussed the idea that you can do whatever you want as long as it does not hurt someone else. This is the Libertarian maxim. The way he exalts freedom makes me wonder if abandoning libertarianism way back when was virtuous.

In one part he talks about what he calls "ducks" and "eagles", the former being uninspiring and the latter being everything common imagery has considered eagles. His general point is awesome. He argues that eagles think outside of the box ducks let something get in the way of doing what needs to be done. A very inspirational sentiment to be sure. Unfortunately, he makes his point by saying that customer service personnel who do not bend the rules to accommodate his personal needs are ducks. For example, he claimed that someone who would not serve him food past closing hours was a "duck". It seems like a rather rash judgment to say someone is a duck just because the person does not want to serve you food after the place has closed.

He discusses the importance of practicing what you preach. I am all about that all the way. Not enough people dig that.

On the side "How You Can Become One", he reads an essay from his earlier work, Your Erroneous Zones, about what a "NEZ [No Erroneous Zones] person" is like. Here he gives context of his inspiration which I do not recall him giving in that book.

Fabulous. I have already exposed myself to a lot of Wayne Dyer and I still want more.

Eminem

2002: Curtain Call: The Hits. Santa Monica, CA: Aftermath Records.

This collection impresses me. The songs are full of great meaning. A recurring theme in Eminem's music and in this collection in particular is fame has tremendous costs, prices, and pressures.

The song "Stan" is a great one which tells the tale of a suicidal fan who adores Eminem but gets no response (for awhile) from his correspondence. Eminem does eventually reply, but it is too late. Perhaps, one of the messages of the song is that fame enables one to touch lives and help people, but the precise timing is of the essence, unfortunately. The song does a wonderful job portraying a star-fan interaction from the perspective of both.

"Guilty Conscience" is a song with a positive objective which is exactly the opposite of what critics say rap and Eminem are all about. The song seems to promote doing what is right.

"When I'm Gone" is a wonderful song about his beloved daughter full of great passion and emotion. It's one of the few rap songs that mention the "karma", and not only that, but mention karma with a sophisticated understanding of it. How can they say Eminem is bad when there are songs like this? The song rhetorically asks is all his fame worth the great cost it puts on his daughter.

Ivins, Molly with Lou Dubose: read by Anna Fields

2003:Bushwacked: Life in George W. Bush's America. Santa Ana, CA: Books on Tape, Inc.

This seems like a book long version of the NOFX song "The Rationality of Irrationality." This book is very sad to listen to, and it also touches a person because it so beautifully describes the plight of the common people, enabling you to sympathize.

The only parts that bothered me were the pro-choice views and the anti-tort reform views. The reason I am bothered by the whole anti-tort reform effort is not because I am in support of business. Rather, I see efforts to block tort reform as a way for lawyers to fight big business for the little people's money. This book suggests lawyers are great because they help the little people. I do not view lawyers so highly.

I am impressed hearing about a man named Rapaport, who according to the tape is this wealthy socialist who uses his money for lots of good. I adore philanthropy. It warms the heart.

I listened to other Molly Ivins works and those were lighter in tone. This work is sad in tone and also it more harshly criticizes Bush in a polemic style, when the other ones are more along the lines of a fair minded editorial.

Kornfield, Jack

2001:Buddhism for Beginners: A Complete Course on the Heart of the Buddha's Teachings. Boulder, CO: Sounds True.

I think information on Buddhism is more conducive to books than audio books, namely because I hate how utterly softly many Buddhists talk. We know that monotone speaking is dull speaking, yet Buddhist speakers talk at an even level. I wish Buddhist speakers would get excited or maybe upset and thus change their voice. Kornfield's soft talking made this hard to listen to even though the material was intellectually interesting.

Kresky, Stephen: Narrated by Nelson Runger

1999:George Washington: the Man Who Would Not Be King (unabridged). Prince Frederick, MD: Books on Tape, Inc.

I am amazed at how these narrators can seem to read so many pages without making a mistake. If and perhaps when they do make mistakes, I would imagine editing could be quite difficult.

I like most people am familiar with George Washington. I have also listened to more in depth accounts, and still this book on tape broadened my understanding of George Washington.

Lohr, Dick

1992:Taking Control of Your Workday: How to Achieve More in Less Time with Less Stress. Boulder, CO: CareerTrack Publications.

A lot of the same type information is presented in similar books and nothing he said about procrastination was new, but he does have a few new tips or two and he is a good speaker which is ever so important.

Lonestar

2004:Let's Be Us Again. Nashville, TN: Sony/ATV Songs.

This was a lot better than the Lonestar album I reviewed in the last volume of Catfish. There was a good variety in lyrics. The album contained the poignant and emotional "Somebody's Someone". "That Use to Be Us" was a more upbeat high school reunion song than Tammy Cochran's "Life Happened". "From Here to There" was another song with good lyrics. The first verse reminded me of the first verse of Trick Pony's "Just What I Do" since they both talked about the Wright Brothers. "Women Rule the World", "Mr. Mom", and "T.G.I.F", "Let Them Be Little", and "County Fair" are also very nice.

Pelzer, Dave: read by J. Charles

2004:The Privilege of Youth: A Teenager's Story of Longing for Acceptance and Friendship (unabridged). Grand Haven, MI: Brilliance Audio.

Since two of his other works, A Child Called It and The Lost Boy were depressing, I suppose, I was thinking this one would be depressing as well, but it was not. It was super meaningful while at the same time being uplifting because in this work he describes finding happiness after experiencing so much misery. I was happy to hear about all the joy and fulfillment he found and I suppose such demonstrates that even in the worst of circumstances, there can be a light at the end of the tunnel.

Rafkin, Louise

1998:Cleaning Other People's Dirt: A Housecleaner's Curious Adventures (unabridged). Roseland, NJ: Live and Let Live Audio.

This audio tape reminds me some of the book Waitress: America's Unsung Heroine, since they both paint life from a working class point of view, which in my book is a great point. The working class of this country is so honorable. It is perhaps the most honorable group out there. It is better than the rich snobs and better than the lumpen slackers. She's giving us good stories too. Down to earth like you would expect something written by a member of the working class would be. I personally am not talented at cleanliness so perhaps I admire this work all the more because of it.

Sigman, Robert

1989:Law for the Layman: Automobile Accidents. Orlando, FL: Legovac.

This audio tape was not nearly as polished as most audio tapes you check out from the library. It had some interesting information and I think I learned something even though a lot of it was pretty basic.

Travis, Randy

1991:High Lonesome. New York, NY: Warner Brothers Records.

The only song I really cared much for was "Better Class of Losers". The rest were so so only.

Travis, Randy

2002: Rise and Shine. New York, NY: World Entertainment LLC

I knew that Randy Travis had Christian Tendencies but I did not realize the scope of his belief in Christianity. Since I am not a Christian, I'm generally not one for gospel, but some of the songs did touch me such as "Raise Him" and "When Mama Prayed".

One of the most inspiring songs I have ever heard is the song "Three Wooden Crosses". Christians surely enjoy the song because it is a parable of redemption and salvation. To me, that is there, but the song has much more meaning yet. This song is about planting seeds. This song suggests that with good intentions seeds can germinate in wonderful ways of which one may not have even started to imagine. In this story, a minister gives a prostitute a bible with the hope of saving her. I won't spoil the ending. If you listen to the song you will discover how what the minister did had an impact he could never have imagined but it was very beautiful indeed. The lines "It's not what you take when you leave this world behind you; it's what you leave behind you when you go" are some of the most beautiful words ever mentioned in a song. This song reminds me of Stephen Covey's notion that people "want to leave a legacy" and the song showed how, a farmer, teacher, and preacher left a legacy. The message of this song is beautiful; I can't stop listening to it.

Tippin, Aaron

1992:Read Between the Lines. New York, NY: BMG Music.

I heard two of Tippin's songs on those "Patriotic Country" compilations and found them really good, however, this particular cd appears to have nothing on par with those songs, and after listening to this cd, I don't know how much patience I would have to listen to another Tippin cd.

Various Artists

1994:1986 Billboard Top Hits. USA: Rhino Records.

Sometimes compilations from the 80's are a little disappointing, but this one came through. I wanted to find Starship's "Sara" on a cd, so that rocked having it here. "Eye of the Tiger" is also a good song to be able to play from a cd, even though the Rocky movies have made it a cliché. The librarians from Anoka County wrote on it, "Out of Order" and indeed the songs were out of order, but I can live with that.

Various Artists

2002:Totally Country. New York, NY: BMG Entertainment, Warner Music Group, Inc, Sony Music Entertainment Inc.

A fairly good selection of country songs. After listening to Volumes Two, Three, and Four, of this series, I finally listened to this volume.

Williamson, Marianne

1997:On Practical Spirituality. Niles, IL: Nightingale-Conant Corporation.

It started out soft and slow, so I was afraid, but in the end it was not like I first suspected. Parts of it were inspiring. There's not even kick to this, but spirituality is more and more pleasing to me these days.

Yankovic, Weird Al

1993:Alapalooza. Santa Monica, CA: Scotti Bros Records.

Over and over I listen to this. The songs I have already heard, such as "Frankie's 2000 Inch TV", and "Talk Soup", I loved. I also loved songs I had not yet heard such as "Livin in the Fridge", "She Never Told Me She Was A Mime", and "Waffle King". A couple songs weren't all that swell, but the other ones more than made up for that.

I love how Weird Al can parody a very serious song like Aerosmith's "Living on the Edge", which is about racism, and make it into a humorous song about rotting food in the refrigerator. I especially loved the line, "If you can name the object in that baggie over there, then Mr. You're a better man than I", which parodied the line, "If you can tell a wise man, by the color of his skin, then Mr. You're a better man than I".

"Talk Soup" takes some great stabs at talk shows. "Waffle King" is a witty song perhaps about our lionization of pop icons for the pettiest of reasons and how this lionization can go to the pop icon's heads.

Satire is the beat of my life so I am hooked on something like this.

Catfish 45Q

Andrew Bushard

Reviews

Books

Babiak, Paul, Ph.D and Robert D. Hare, Ph.D.

2006:Snakes in Suits: When Psychopaths Go to Work.

New York, NY: HarperCollins Publishers, Inc.

This book both scared and intrigued me. Although I studied social psychology in my sociology studies, little about psychopaths was covered, so these readings of late really fascinate me. This book really describes someone I know. This book can give you bad dreams, and it does need to be read.

On page 51, the authors said that psychopaths "even lie to people who tell the truth." That's interesting because the psychopath I know does that. The book oddly praised Caesar, who is someone I am also intrigued about it, and I want to learn more about

him. The book said Caesar was surely not a psychopath. That's good. The idea that "Psychopaths have no career goals" perplexes me, because aren't they suppose to crave power and thus seek to advance in a career to get more and more power. The authors

did say something to the effect of "They may appear ambitious, but if something more exciting comes along, they will go for that."

Baker, Douglas, B.A., M.R.C., L.R.C., P.F.Z.S.,

1982:Karmic Laws: The Esoteric Philosophy of Death and Disease. Wellingborough, Northamptonshire.

What do those last three abbreviations behind the author's name stand for? Since my thirst for learning about karma is not quenched, I requested a number of books on interlibrary loaned about karma. This was one of the more fascinating.

In a journal entry sometime back, I wrote that it would be interesting to find out how karma created specific situations and conditions. Then lo and behold I discovered this book which did exactly that. I guess that goes to show that it is likely that just about anything you can dream of has been actualized somewhere else. The book proposed the karmic actions that lead to conditions: Anorexia, Alcoholism, Breast Cancer, Rheumatoid Arthritis, Down Syndrome, and Schizophrenia. Very intriguing to ponder this. I

would be curious to find out what karmic theorists propose is the karmic cause for a lot of other conditions as well.

Beaumont, Ned

1996:The Policeman is Your Friend and Other Lies.

Port Townsend, WA: Loompanics Unlimited.

Sadly, this book was not available from ILL from any library in Minnesota, but there was a Wisconsin library that stocks it, so I was able to get a chance to read it. I surely don't agree with every last point or perspective, but this book is generally awesome and right on the money.

Beaumont is super cynical and right now this is the way I feel so his writing really resonated with me. In some ways, Beaumont really reminds me of myself.

Thus I relate. He discussed how he regretfully was once a police officer and I have felt the same about working for the school system. Then later, he wrote about how he too worked for the school system.

I especially enjoyed his chapter on the school system. Having worked there for two years then resigning due to a conviction the system is evil; I have come to really oppose the system, so I ate up his words there.

Beaumont uses lots of big words; in some cases words I never remember coming across.

Wayne Dyer says we get the right books and right people in our lives exactly when we need them. It's eerie in a way, but that's exactly what this book did to me. I've been thinking lot about many of the thoughts the author expressed in here lately so, it

sure was something to hear him say it.

If the label "anti everything" is suitable, it may apply to Ned Beaumont; most people think that is so negative, but I've been called "anti everything" as well, so I think we are much alike.

11 years ago I wrote that capitalism and communism were two heads of

the same beast. He said something very similar. He called "the education establishment, big business, government" -- "the three headed monster". How right on! Few people are against both big business and government; many are really against just one but not

the other, and almost no one is against the education establishment. These types of sentiments are vintage Andrew Bushard.

In his section about the school system, Beaumont calls those who do not bend to the school system "iron", or "silver", or "gold" according to their level of greatness. The run of the mill bad kids may be at best iron, while the really creative revolutionary bad

kids are silver and gold. Wayne Dyer also has praised "bad kids" I love it!

One very insightful comment on page 87 was "Cultures are known by their buildings".. Amen!

This book also got me to think more about college. Sometimes, I see it as something different than K-12 education; other times it seems to be just like the system. Beaumont argues it is really indeed part of the system. I've become very cynical about higher

education in recent times, so his words on the subject really get me thinking.

The beauty of this work is that Beaumont sees the oppression that is pervasive in so many different places. Few people recognize all the oppression that exists in our world, so those who do need to be lauded to the max

Blanchard, Ken, M.D. and Spencer Johnson, M.D.

1983:The One Minute Manager. New York, NY: Berkeley

Publishing Group.

I read Blanchard's "The Heart of a Leader" and that turned me on to his work. I have often went past the One Minute Manager books on the library shelves, but am I ever glad I for once got one of these books out. It is way great. The book is written in parable just

like James C. Hunter's "The Servant" and Robert Greenleaf's "Teacher as Servant: a Parable", which made it all the more better.

Blanchard, Kenneth, Ph.D., Patricia Zigarmi, Ed.D, and Drea Zigarmi, Ed.D.

1985:Leadership and the One Minute Manager: Increasing Effectiveness Through Situational Leadership. New York, NY: William Morrow and Company.

Although this book does not hold a candle to servant leadership books, it does have some leadership wisdom .

Brings, Felicia and Susan Winter

2000:Older Women Younger Men: New Options for Love

and Romance. Far Hills, NJ: New Horizons Press.

I am all for transcending boundaries. I once even wrote a school paper in defense of May December relationships. In one place, the authors even argue that because of the biological sex drive zenith in men (at a young age) and women (at an older age), these types of relationships might be the most natural. Way to go. I was looking for an older men younger woman book, but this book is nice as well as it discusses some of the same themes.

Cleckley, Hervey

1988:The Mask of Sanity: An Attempt to Clarify Some

Issues About the So Called Psychopathic Personality

(5th edition).

I didn't like the smaller print, but the author packed a lot in the 452 pages, so perhaps the publisher found it necessary. Although this book is considered the pioneering book on psychopathy, I read the other well known books first. This didn't appeal to me much at first, but eventually I decided to read it. The book is old fashioned which is natural since it is old. The writing is old fashioned and you can tell about the moral sensibilities as well. The author wrote as if having promiscuous sex was the end of the world. He

also wrote in the spirit of his times that homosexuality was an illness. He even criticized the Hippie era.

Some of the phrasing is delightful. For example, "he at once proceeded to drink on weekends and to haunt public houses of unsavory reputation."(203)

The author used a lot of big words. A number of words, I was not familiar with. He also on occasion used sarcasm, which is usually not expected in an academic work. Actually, I read one older academic study which would have similar language, so perhaps academia was less formal years ago?

On page 291, he made a big deal about this one psychopath engaging in the "impersonation of an officer". In college, I got a ticket for doing that as part of an April Fool's Day joke, so I got a kick out of that. I'm not a psychopath though.

Throughout the author claimed that "psychopathy is worse than schizophrenia" in how damaging it is to society and the individual.

Other works have emphasized the lack of conscience as the central feature of psychopathy, here, Cleckley seems to suggests the most prominent feature is a

drifting type of drive, where the psychopaths can't settle down and do much of anything.

The book did indeed help me learn more about this super fascinating disorder.

Davis, Mike

1996: 9 to 5 Beats Ten to Life: How to (Re)Enter

Society. Lanham, MD: American Correctional

Association.

This book is admirable because it's trying to help felons make something of themselves. The content was pretty light. I zipped through this book in little time.

Danziger, Robert

2000:The Revelation of Music: Learning to Love the

Classics. Modesto, CA: Jordan Press.

My mom got this I think for a quarter at a garage sale. The book in its vilification of rock music, reminded me of "The Ascent of Herman Being" which I was assigned for my music appreciation class in college. Then I saw both the Herman Being book and

this book are by the same author. He used a new term to me, "art music." Despite the small flaw, the book was very engaging.

Dyer, Wayne

2006: Being in Balance: 9 Principles for Creating Habits to Match Your Desires. Carlsbad, CA: Hay House, Inc.

For Wayne Dyer, this is a pretty short book. Many of his books are of a substantial length. The book design is unique and it appealing not just to the eyes but also to the touch. Much of this is in line with Dyer's other writings, though in some places, he

expresses opposite opinions (for example elsewhere he talked about how foolish it is to care about what others think and here he says we do care what others think). I admire Wayne Dyer and I think he is one of the wiser people out there. I try to have a critical

mind and I wonder what in here is wisdom and what is off the mark.

Evangelista, Anita

1995:How to Develop a Low Cost Food-Storage System. Port Townsend, WA: Breakout Publications.

I don't foresee myself preserving food for storage in the foreseeable future, but the book is interesting nevertheless. Also, I wouldn't want to preserve much because I know preservation destroys nutrition.

Field, Christine

2002:Help for the Harried Homeschooler: A Practical Guide to Balancing Your Child's Education With the Rest of Your Life. Colorado Springs, CO: Waterbrook Press.

The book has a slight evangelical Christian overtone, but it's not so bad that a person interested in homeschooling could not overlook it. Although it is sexist, it is not as bad as the other similar book I reviewed her. On page 47, the author even recommends

that we "accept our children as they are." Since this book looked useful, I ordered a copy of it, which I gave to this family I want to homeschool.

Hawkins, David, M.D., Ph.D.

2006:Transcending the Levels of Consciousness: The

Stairway to Enlightenment. West Sedona, AZ: Veritas

Publishing.

Part of this could be considered wacky (his whole idea of muscles contracting or expanding as a way of telling whether something is good or not), which could turn off readers. That would be very unfortunate, because even if his major premise is foolish (it does sound a little strange to me, but I tried his "kinesiology" test, and oddly it seemed to work), he makes some very profound spiritual points. I am fascinated by the way he operationalized and quantified "levels of consciousness", and even if it's false, it's still fascinating. Why would "reason" be deemed higher and more powerful than "Acceptance"? "Acceptance" as he defines it is suppose to be a high spiritual trait since the east says we should give up attachments and that state involves just that. A person based on reason may or may not give up attachments. There's lots of interesting charts in

here and make the usually not so concrete realm of spirituality, concrete. I dug the detailed explanations of each state of consciousness. The concluding chapters lost me though, and I struggled a little to get through them. On page 378, Hawkins says if you have problems with his test, then you should do the "Thymic Thump" which involved pounding your chest and making laughing noises. That part there makes his whole kinesiology idea sound nutso. But again, just ignore the goofy parts, and accept the great spiritual insights.

Hawkins, David, M.D., Ph.D.

2002:Power Vs. Force: The Hidden Determinants of

Human Behavior. Carlsbad, CA: Hay House, Inc.

I am really impressed with spirituality books that are methodological and concrete with their use of typologies. Hawkins even makes states of consciousness into quantifiable numbers which he says are based on logarhythms.

On page 71, he says "self improvement becomes a way of life". Some people do indeed feel that way and they keep improving because improving is natural for them.

On page 108, he claims that Puritanism may lead to sadomachism since pleasure and discomfort are associated. It makes sense to me.

He praises Wal-Mart claiming that since it's successful, it must be good. That makes me gag. It makes me gag when motivational writers praise Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart does not have higher spiritual qualities in my book. Hawkins needs to realize that sometimes if

not most of the time rotten people and companies succeed.

On page 206 he says spiritually evolved people "have more friends than they can count" so do obnoxious and rotten people. Lots of rotten people have many friends. This statement of his is hogwash.

He even blames the poor for their plight (look at page 252 for example). Sometimes motivational speaking and writing can be just like social Darwinism. Mumia Abu

Jamal condemned this attitude in one of his commentaries, saying, "Today, being poor is not so much socioeconomic status as it is a defect of the spirit." It looks like Hawkins is

arguing that poor people deserve their plight and rich people are great.

The main theme of the book is that you can tell how good or bad something is using "Kinesiology" or as he puts it "testing whether something makes you strong or

weak." Supposedly, you can tell how spiritually good something is based on whether when it is mentioned a person's arm can resist your pressure. It sounds far

fetched to me. He talks about doing lots of research on this, but I did not see any data from the research. Why is that left out?

Whether kinesiology is a spiritual tool or not, I think his big points are great ones. He argues that like the title suggests, we should aim for "power", which he defines as informal persuasive influence instead of "force" which he considers to be formal, rigid,

coercion. He also is wise to make us think really hard about what influences us in what ways.

Increasingly, these days, I am seeing myself turn away from negative influences (such as bad food), because I have evolved past that. I think it's a great question to ask whether something will "make us strong or weak".

I think I needed to have read this book and it may do me much good in my upcoming spiritual struggles.

Holt, John (updated by Patrick Farenga)

2003: Teach Your Own: The John Holt Book of

Homeschooling. Cambridge, MA: Perseus Publications.

Homeschooling is beautiful and Holt's vision is great. I was impressed that paraprofessionals were mentioned, because I was once one of those in the public schools, until I saw how evil the school system is. I had read much of the ideas expressed here

elsewhere, but it's still nice to get. I sometimes really wish I had my own to teach!

Howard, Louise: illustrated by Chris Riddell

1996:Buddhism for Sheep. New York, NY: St. Martin's

Press.

Interesentingly enough the name of the illustrator came before the author's name. The illustrator's name was also bigger. This book I read in a few minutes waiting for a bus. Although I don't necessarily agree with all its advice, there is some wisdom here.

Jones, Louis

2005:I Need a J-O-B!: The Ex Offender's Job Search

Manual.

Fortunately, I have no criminal record, though most nearly all of us deserve a criminal record. Even so, for a number of reasons, I have had a very difficult time finding employment, so I can relate to what ex offender's must go through. I applaud ex offenders who want to turn their lives around. This book is written with compassion. Even if you are not an ex offender, there is some good advice in here that could apply to your job search. The author even says something that I have held yet few understand: the author said one may not want to make a hobby into a job because it can take the joy and satisfaction out of it. Right on.

Koon, Jeff and Andy Powell: illustrated by Ward Schumaker.

2002:You May Not Tie an Alligator to a Fire Hydrant:

101 Real Dumb Laws. New York, NY: The Free Press.

I have longed enjoyed "dumb laws" books, so this was something light yet interesting to read. This book exceeds the other books, as it provides the verbatim text of most of the laws discussed in the book. That really aids in authenticity, plus we can see the

wording for ourselves, so we can tell if the authors would be exaggerating something.

Landau, Elaine

2004:Schizophrenia. United States of America:

Franklin Watts.

This book was written for an audience of children, but nevertheless, the material was written in such a way, that people of any age could learn from it without feeling talked down to. It succeeded at making me feel empathy for schizophrenic people. I might want to help them if it were not for my misgivings with the medical establishment. On page 55, the author quotes from someone who recommends forcing drugs down people's throats. That is terrible. Drugs are bad enough when recommended, they are horrendous when forced upon people. At least, the book did describe other ways to deal with schizophrenia.

Luther, Martin

1957: 1517:Luther's Ninety Five Theses. Philadelphia, PA:

Fortress Press.

I just had to read one of the most influential writings in human history. Also since I wrote a book called "95 Theses Against the School System", I figured it would be good to read the original 95 Theses. It wasn't what I expected. I was afraid it was going to be really long and perhaps hard to read. In fact, it was really short and many theses are only

a sentence in length. My theses were generally a few paragraphs in length. Luther inspired me so it was good to read his book after I posted my 95 Theses. Even though this is an evangelical work, I found it overall to be very powerful and liberating.

Mapes, Diane

2006:How to Date in a Post-Dating World. Seattle,

WA: Sasquatch Books.

The book is informative with wonderful anecdotes and also has a great sense of humor. It only took me a couple of days to read; it was that good.

McNally, David

1990:Even Eagles Need a Push: Learning to Soar In a Changing World. Eden Prairie, MN: Transform Press.

I am really getting to read the great inspirational works of our day. I have long been aware of this work, but it was not until now that I finally read it.

I love how he praises "commitment" and "determination". Like many others, he suggests that ambition is more important than talent. I too think ambition is more noble than raw talent. However, I wonder if ambition is really just another talent, because it is easy for some people to work hard just as it is easy for some people to be good at athletics.

Neuharth, Dan, Ph.D.

1998:If You Had Controlling Parents: How to Make

Peace with your Past and Take Your Place in the World.

New York, NY: Cliff Street Book.

The book gives some good advice and offers good thinking about this topic. Although I have seen similar material, this was presented in a way to make the material center focused.

147 Kids Who Know: Compiled by J.S. Salt

1997:Always Kiss Me a Good Night: Instructions On

Raising the Perfect Parent. New York, NY: Three

Rivers Press.

It's one of those real short books that you can finish in a jiffy. It's also good to boot.

Rapp, Burt

1986:Undercover Work: A Complete Handbook. Port

Townsend, WA: Loompanics Unlimited.

Although the book was interesting, a lot of it was basic knowledge and common sense. The anecdotes added something as did a few tidbits of new information.

Rommel, Bart

1990:Execution: Tools and Techniques. Port

Townsend, WA: Loompanics Unlimited.

The book mentioned Dr. Kevorkian. I guess I did not realize he has been doing his work for so long. Besides the pro death penalty tone, the book was a quick interesting read.

Shackleford, Luanne and Susan White.

1988:A Survivor's Guide to Homeschooling. Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books.

I was looking for a practical homeschooling book that I could recommend to a family I desperately want to convince to homeschool. This book is indeed practical. Unfortunately, it's way too fundamentalist suggesting that women belong in the home. Not many women believe that these days, so this book could turn people off. Some readers before me noted that this book "advocates spanking" and that is another problem

with this book. Despite these two flaws, the book was fine, and although it may not convince more progressive people to homeschool, it could be convincing for fundamentalist types.

Starchild, Adam

1994:Everyman's Guide to Tax Havens. USA: Eden

Press.

The binding was low cost which was a surprise from an established publisher like Eden Press, but it actually may have added some charm to it. Plus 8 1/2 by 11 inches paper enabled the print to be large, plus it was double spaced which made it easier to read.

This book contains a lot of geographical information about some lesser known countries so that is a boost. He even talked about new countries which rocked. I am very glad the Minneapolis Central Library stocks this fine item. It's short, but it rocks.

Urbana, Ian

2005:Life's Little Annoyances: True Tales of People

Who Just Can't Take It Anymore. New York, NY: Henry

Holt and Company, LLC.

Probably not so spiritual, but good for some light entertaining reading when you need it. I was intrigued about how these people mentioned on page 53 created parodies of motivational slogans, because I like them believe that motivational writing and speaking is often out of touch with reality. I also really related to the section on job hunting since I have had an insane time in the job market.

Vaswani, J. P.

1991: Why Do Good People Suffer? Pune, India: Gita Publishing House.

All the way rewarding. The typeface is friendly, the text is spiritual and down to earth* and the explanations for karma seem pretty sound.

Audio

Allan, Gary

2005:Tough All Over. Nashville, TN: MCA Nashville.

Most of the songs I didn't care for much. I did like the song "Life Ain't Always Beautiful", which seemed to make some good statements about life.

Auchincloss, Louis: read by J. Paul Boehmer.

2000:Woodrow Wilson. Newport Beach, Inc: Books on

Tape, Inc.

This narrator is one of the best narrators I have ever heard; his voice is so clean and distinguished. Plus the information was very interesting as well.

Author Unknown

1994:Goof Proof Grammar: Speak and Write with Perfect Confidence. Mount Laurel, NJ: Learn Incorporated.

Actually the presentation was super well done. It was entertaining, plus the format enabled you to learn a little too, though a lot of I had already known. This is a good way to teach grammar.

Baer, Robert: read by Robertson Dean.

2003:Sleeping With the Devil: How Washington Sold

Our Soul for Saudi Crude. USA: Books on Tape, Inc.

The author has about the right amount of cynicism: cynical enough, but not so cynical, he's alienating. Every now and then, he inserts barbs and very plain language, which is a nice touch on his overall message. He's willing to stick his neck out to tell what he believes to be the truth, and that I admire a lot. I have done the same about the school system, so I feel like a kindred spirit. He talks about resigning from the CIA, and I would love to find out more details about the circumstances of that.

Blanchard, Ken and Steve Gottry: read by Brian

Corrigan.

2003:The On Time, On Target Manager: How a "Last

Minute Manager" Conquered Procrastination (unabridged).

USA: HarperCollins Publisher.

This work surpasses the other two One Minute Manager books I have read. Although those books were quality, they were not quite as deep as other leadership books

I have read. This one on the other hand is very deep. I was surprised and impressed. It talks a lot about a "servant heart" which is awesome because servant leadership is beautiful. Although I am not prone to procrastinate, this work inspired me by reaffirming

values I embraced to some extent or another. It expressed these principles in a slightly new way and the story was a great one. The narrator did an excellent job. I dug his impressions of the character, especially how he made a squeaky voice for our beloved protagonist, Bob.

Dressed to Kill

2000:Waco: Playing With Fire. England: BMG.

I found this in a dollar store. Since I am very interested in the Waco ordeal, I thought could be an excellent cd. I was hoping it would be something like Carl Klang or Johnny Philko. It was an utter disappointment. All the tracks consisted of muffled recordings of David Koresh here and there, with some background music making up the bulk of it. I don't get the point. I'm not sure whether the creators of this were sympathetic to the plight of the Davidians or not. I would guess they think something was wrong with Koresh. It was a burden to listen to.

Earley, Pete: read by Edward Holland

1998:Confessions of a Spy: The Real Story of Aldrich

Ames. Ashland, OR: Blackstone Audiobooks.

Even though Aldrich Ames was a big time spy, I was not familiar with him before this, so I learned a lot. I guess I find spy stories thrilling as I loved this work and the audio book "The Spy Next Door" about Bob Hanssen. There may very well be more audio books

about spies which I could check out. This work was sad and also ever so intriguing.

Ettus, Samatha (editor): read by Several People

(unabridged).

2005:The Expert's Guide to 100 Things Everyone

Should Know How to Do. Minneapolis, MN: Highbridge

Audio.

The material was full of a good variety and the segments were short but long enough. The readers were good choices; and one in particular had a ton of enthusiasm. In a few cases, such as doing laundry (with a machine), mowing the lawn, and writing a personal letter, the act was so basic and simple, it almost insulted our intelligence to provide it, but in the vast majority of cases, the material was very relevant and useful indeed.

Franken, Al

2005:The Truth...With Jokes. Grand Haven, MI:

Brilliance Audio.

I am very impressed with the fact that Franken narrated his own book. Many famous authors delegate that task to someone else. Furthermore, this audio book wasn't simply an oral version of the hardcover, but instead the audio format gave it something the

hardcover format lacked. Al Franken did impressions and included audio clips, something you cannot get from a hardcover. He makes me laugh a lot.

Grant, Michael: read by Nelson Runger.

1995:Julius Caesar. Prince Frederick, MD: Recorded

Books, LLC.

Interesting enough for me to get all the way through it, but not so interesting that it kept me on the edge of my seat. The back praises Runger's speaking. Indeed he does have a powerful voice. He does stay in the same tone of inflection the whole time though, and

some variation would have been nice. It says there are "tracks every 3 minutes for easy bookmarking." At first, it seemed like they were tracks every 5 minutes, but later it seemed more like three. I am still new to the books on cds deal; I prefer books on

tape as it's easier to start and stop since you don't have to worry about being in the middle of a track. A Brilliance Audio cd had a track every minute, and that helped a lot. Even every 3 minutes is too long. I hate having to not be able to stop it when it is convenient for me to do so.

His Holiness the Dalai Lama: read by Richard Gere.

2005:The Universe in a Single Atom: The Convergence

of Science and Spirituality (unabridged). USA: Random

House, Inc.

This book covered some of the same ground as other books by/or about the Dalai Lama, nevertheless, it was good. The Dalai Lama has a good worldview and I found his metaphysical discussions about life fascinating (I would have preferred even more of that, as this is something I am sorting out myself).

The House Committee on Un-American Activities

Year Unknown: The House Committee on Un-American Activities. Smithsonian Folkway Recordings.

Great clips though way too short and piecemeal in format. I think instead of bits of hearings, we could have been exposed to more substantial portions of them.

Johnson, Spencer, M.D.: read by Dennis Boutsikaris.

Year Unknown:The Present: the Gift that Makes You Happy and

successful at work and in life. Santa Ana, CA; Books

on Tape, Inc.

From reading the description on the back and from looking at the title, from the beginning, I had a good idea what the story would be about. I guess the only

surprise was this is how Spencer Johnson feels. This message is tiresome and I didn't find the story enlightening.

Kasper, Lynne Rosetto

1999:Stories From the Italian Country Table: Experience the Flavor of the Italian Countryside: Includes Pimsleur Italian Lesson. New York, NY: Simon and Schuster Audio.

This audio tape wasn't my first choice. I selected it more out of lack of other alternatives, but it ended up being decent. The "Pimsleuer Italian Lesson" would have gotten quite redundant if I listened to the full length version, but it was interesting getting a little taste of Italian.

Kelly, Kate and Peggy Ramundo

1995:You Mean I'm Not Lazy, Stupid, or Crazy?!: A Self Help Audio Program for Adults with Attention Deficit Disorder (abridged). New York, NY: Simon and Schuster Audio.

Good information and easy to listen to. I just didn't like how the authors legitimated psychiatry and pharmaceutical drugs.

Ladouw, Donald: read by Rick Adamson.

1998:How to Supervise Others: Techniques for Getting Results Through Others (abridged?). USA: Random House, Inc.

Similar to many other works on the same topic. Some of the new material is thoughts I have came to myself. Not quite servant leadership minded, but fairly high minded as supervising works go.

Less Than Jake

2006:In With the Out Crowd. New York, NY: Sire

Records.

Besides the song "Overrated", nothing else was too special. It's alright, just not sensational.

Livingston, Gordon: performed by James Jenner.

2004:Too Soon Old, Too Late Smart: Thirty True

Things You Need to Know. Prince Frederick, MD:

Recorded Books, LLC.

In a work like this, one might expect clichéd advice, but the author actually provides wise and insightful advice. I like how he's a psychtriast and is willing to criticize the profession's practices. The narrator has an edge to his voice when reading the pointed

sections.

Lonestar

1997:Crazy Nights. New York, NY: BMG Entertainment.

Good songs were "A Week in Juraez" and "John Doe on a John Deere", the rest were mediocre.

Neujahr, Michelle

Year Unknown:Living on the Edge. Forest Lake, MN.

This was very short only one side, but also very inspirational. It didn't jump out at me as something that looked exciting, but I guess we shouldn't judge an audio tape by its cover. It's also neat that she lives in the same county as I do. Too often I am disappointed with audio tapes because the speakers aren't dynamic enough, but she sure was dynamic.

Nichols, Donald R.

1986:Starting Small, Investing Smart: What to Do with $5 to $5,000. Albuquerque, NM: Newman Communications Corporation.

The author tried to make the format interesting by having two real life people ask questions, but the questions were clearly contrived. Nevertheless, the program was still informative.

Pipes, Richard: Performed by George Wilson

2003:Communism: A History. Prince Frederick, MD: Recorded Books, LLC.

Partially inspiring and partially informative. Despite the dismissive tone, I found it interesting and because of that, almost too short.

Poison

2006:The Best of Poison: 20 Years of Rock.

Hollywood, CA: Capitol Records.

Most of these are songs of Poison I heard before, particularly in my adolescent days when I really dug metal. The song "Something to Believe In" really hit the spot right especially right now, since its message is something I really relate to these days. In fact, Poison's lyrics are better than I thought they were.

Richardson, Cheryl

2002:Stand Up For Your Life: Develop the Courage,

Confidence, and Character to Fulfill Your Greatest

Potential (abridged).

Her message is an awesome one. It is similar to what Wayne Dyer says, and I think this could really benefit people. It is the way to go.

Robbins, Stephen

2002:The Truth About Managing People And Nothing But the Truth. Prince Frederick, MD: Recorded Books, LLC.

There was indeed some new material and although the target of it was not up my alley, it still was fairly interesting nevertheless.

Stewart, James B.: Read by Boyd Gaines.

1999:Blind Eye: How the Medical Establishment Let a Doctor Get Away with Murder. New York, NY: Simon and Schuster Audio.

I love these thrillers! Little else glues me this much to my tape player. Some tapes are tolerable; others are interesting; this is the best of the best. Plus, I find psychopathy so interesting, and since the character Mike Swango was a psychopath, it was even better yet. Incredible indeed!

Travis, Randy

1987:Always and Forever. USA: Warner Brothers, Inc.

"Forever and Ever, Amen" is a good song, which I have heard before. The title of that song sounds very much like "Always and Forever", but "Forever and Ever, Amen" is a much stronger song. As new songs go, "Good Intentions" appears to be a song with a touching message.

Tobais, Cynthia Ulrich

1999:The Way We Work: What Your Know About Working Styles Can Increase Your Efficiency, Productivity, and Job Satisfaction. Nashville, TN: Broadman and Holman Publishers.

A lot of this I have heard before or at least something similar to it. Still it had some interest for me.

Traig, Jennifer: read by Melinda Wade.

Year Unknown: The Devil is in the Details: Scenes

from an Obsessive Girlhood. Minneapolis, MN:

Highbridge Audio.

I have never heard of the term "scrupulosity" before even though I am very familiar with OCD. She is very hard on herself. I'm into the whole idea put forth by people like Thomas Szasz that mental illness is just a social construct. I don't understand why scrupulosity is a mental illness. Surely overanalyzing matters for moral concerns might be missing the forest for the trees, but that really isn't mental illness. Jennifer Traig has bought into the psychiatric brainwashing and ultimately ends up in a state of self loathing. Scrupulosity to me is a sign of advanced intelligence. Most people can't handle it, certainly, but such an analytical mind should not be deemed mentally illness. If

morality is an intricate web, that shows that very sophisticated thoughts are going on. Traig is way too self loathing. Again, I must say that non fiction narratives are among the best type of writing. So what's the problem with scrupulosity? I'm skeptical.

Various Artists

2006:80's Hits Stripped. Los Angeles, CA: sidewinder-records.com.

I would have performed the electric versions, but I guess this all acoustic various artists album works.

Weil, Andrew M.D and Rosie Daley: read by the authors

2002:The Healthy Kitchen: Recipes for a Better

Body, Life, and Spirit (abridged). New York, NY:

Random House Audio.

I have listened to other Weil audio tapes, so by now I am familiar with his message. A lot of what he said here was a repeat of his message elsewhere, but it was still interesting. Recipes probably aren't the ideal subject matter for audio books, but there weren't too many of those.

Various Artists

2005:Punk Goes 80's. Westminster, CA: Fearless

Records.

I've heard better punk covers, namely the album "Punk Covers" among others, though this did have some good punk versions such as Relient K's "Manic Monday", Amber Pacific "Video Killed the Radio Star", So They Say "Forever Young" for example. I am not familiar with many of these bands.

Various Artists

2006:Monster Ballads. New York, NY: Universal Music

Enterprises.

As a big fan of ballads, I found this to be a treasure. These included many of my favorite metal songs from my adolescent/teenager days. I thus had heard many of these songs before. My favorite song is the Scorpions "Wind of Change", which I also remember.

I like that song because it is a beautiful song about political freedom. It makes me want to hear other Scorpions songs; I wonder if the Scorpions have many political songs.

Vega, Suzanne

1992:99.9 F. USA: A&M Records.

I have a feeling Vega's songs are full of substance, but if they are I can't figure them out, at least right away. I wish I could because if they are songs of substance, I love songs of substance. Music wise, they are mostly fairly catchy.

Weiss, Brian, M.D.

1996:Only Love is Real: The Story of Soulmates Reunited (abridged). New York, NY: Time Warner AudioBooks.

The suspense was pretty predictable. I'm not sure about past lives existing, but they are interesting and Weiss wrote a good book about them here.

Worley, Daryl

2002:I Miss My Friend. Nashville, TN: SKG Music

Nashville LLC.

If only all the songs here were as poignantly beautiful as "POW 369".

Zig Ziglar

2004:Staying Up, Up, Up in a Down, Down, Down World:

Daily Hope for the Daily Grind. Carol Stream, IL:

Oasis Audio, LLC.

Christians claim the bible is infallible and full of wisdom; Ziglar quote many passages he thought were the best, and to me they didn't sound that special really. I really didn't find this work all that motivational.
