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The Omega Diet: The Lifesaving Nutritional Program Based on the Diet of the Island of Crete

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Really?
Lifesaving Stuff!
The best diet book !!!
A valuable reference
Healthiest Eating Plan There is.

The Omega Diet: The Lifesaving Nutritional Program Based on the Diet of the Island of Crete
Artemis P. Simopoulos , and Jo Robinson
Manufacturer: Collins
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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The Queen of Fats: Why Omega-3s Were Removed from the Western Diet and What We Can Do to Replace Them (California Studies in Food and Culture, 15)

ASIN: 0060930233

Amazon.com

Is it really possible that eating more fat is the key to better health? It depends on the fat, according to Dr. Artemis Simopoulos. The Omega Plan shows, in great detail, the difference between omega-3 fats, those found in fish and some green vegetables, and omega-6 fats, which are found in most meats and vegetable oils. The former have heart-protective and cancer-preventive properties; the latter, she writes, cause obesity, heart disease, cancer, depression, and a host of other ills. Omega-3 fats are at the heart of her plan, along with ample servings of fruits and vegetables. Unlike diets based on deprivation, Simopoulos offers some fairly lush food choices, including an ounce of cheese every day. Best of all, The Omega Plan is bursting with so much useful information about food shopping and preparation that you'll be able to use its advice the second you put the book down.

Book Description

The medically proven diet that restores your body's essential nutritional balance

"Good fats"--essential fatty acids--influence every aspect of our being, from the beating of our hearts to our ability to learn to remember. There are two types of essential fatty acids (EFAs), omega-6 and omega-3. The problem with our modern diet is that it contains far more omega-6 fatty acids than omega-3s. This hidden imbalance makes us more vulnerable to heart disease, cancer, obesity, autoimmmune diseases, allergies, diabetes, and depression.

The Omega Diet is a natural, time-tested diet that balances the essential fatty acids in your diet. It is packed with delicious food that contain the "good" fats, including real salad dressing, cheese, eggs, fish--even the occasional chocolate dessert--and an abundance of antioxidant-rich fruits, vegetables, and legumes.

The Omega Diet provides:

Customer Reviews:

Really?.......2007-06-01

I was surprised that this book was copyrighted in 1998. It seems that we have just now caught up with what she knew back then about essential fatty acids. That part of the book is very good and I am glad that we have finally caught up with her on this.

I haven't tried any of her recipes but I it seems that many of the recipes do not follow her traditional Greek way of cooking. I mean canola oil, for instance, certainly is not a part of traditional cooking anywhere. It is a relatively modern phenomena. She also uses white sugar and white flour in some of her recipes. Come on! These things were not part of the traditional Greek diet. And, really, do you think they used low-fat dairy products. Give us a break!

Lifesaving Stuff!.......2006-11-03

Great recipes, great information. Two RN's and my cardiologist all give this book a really big thumbs up! Plus, and this is a seriously big plus, you never feel like you're dieting.

The best diet book !!!.......2006-08-27

This book is a classic, and will be for a long time !!! The best way to eat healthy, and stay strong. Many of her predictions have already come true - i.e omega -3 eggs, canola oil in many foods. Has worked to maintain my weight for several years, and great cholesterol levels.

A valuable reference.......2006-07-12

"The Omega Diet" clearly explains just what exactly constitutes a truly healthful diet. In easily understandable language, Dr. Simopoulos outlines a simple, medically sound plan based on seven guidelines that can restore your body's nutritional balance and help it to function as nature intended. She emphasizes the importance of eating foods rich in omega-3 fatty acids and antioxidants and warns against consuming excessive amounts of omega-6 fatty acids, trans-fatty acids, saturated fats, and refined carbohydates, all of which can contribute to heart disease, cancer, diabetes, obesity, and a host of other maladies that afflict many millions of Americans. You really owe it to yourself to read this book.

Also recommended: "Recipes and Remembrances from an Eastern Mediterranean Kitchen," by Sonia Uvezian. The wide range of flavor-packed, easy-to-follow recipes in Uvezian's book prove that delicious food and healthful food can indeed be one and the same.

Healthiest Eating Plan There is........2006-05-21

In the most exhaustive human diet study ever undertaken in America, detailed in "Eat, Drink and Be Healthy", Harvard researchers provided substantial evidence that a "mediterranean style diet" presented the lowest risk of heart disease, cancer and other chronic illnesses. It was convincing enough that The US Agricultural Department actually changed their venerable Food Pyramid for the first time in 50 years.

The Omega Diet is a mediterranean style diet. As is the aptly named Mediterranean Diet and a score of new copy-cats that are hoping to capitalize on the genre (Tuscan Diet and Wine Diet come to mind. And you can probably add The Maker's Diet and What Would Jesus Eat). I have perused them all and followed the guidelines for 4 months to give it a fair assessment.

I found that the meals were easy to prepare, filling and satisfying. And it's kind of nice to have an excuse to kick back with a glass of wine (Lemme alone! I'm on a diet!)

My only caution with The Omega Diet, as with any of the others mentioned above, is to pay attention to the ammount of fat you ingest not just the type. If you are looking to lose weight or maintain what you have lost, I'm afraid this plan still won't get you completely off the hook. Even "good fats", at 9 calories per gram, will go right to the seat of your pants if you over indulge. That's why this book presents different meal plans calculated for specific daily calorie intakes.

If you have already "gone Med", this book is still a decent addition for the 50 or so varied recipes that probably don't appear in your other books.

Kommos V: The Monumental Minoan Buildings at Kommos (Kommos: An Excavation of the South Coast of Crete)

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Kommos V: The Monumental Minoan Buildings at Kommos (Kommos: An Excavation of the South Coast of Crete)

Manufacturer: Princeton University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0691121230

Book Description

Kommos, an ancient site on the island of Crete, is known both for its important Greek sanctuary and for its earlier role as a major Minoan harbor town. This final book in the Princeton series focuses on the results of several decades of excavation at three of the site's monumental public buildings during the Minoan period. Of these, one has the characteristics of a "Minoan palace," a large central court surrounded by wings. Two stoas on either side of the court may have accommodated spectators watching formal events unfold within the court. Other rooms were used for storage. Vessels from the "palace," but also, and mainly, from two buildings that succeeded it in the fourteenth century BC, originate elsewhere in the Aegean and as far as Anatolia, Cyprus, Egypt, Syro-Palestine, and Sardinia, attesting to the site's major role in international trade. One of the later buildings is characterized by six huge rectangular spaces that were likely used to shelter ships during the nonsailing months. This kind of structure, from that period, has never before been found in Crete. Equally unique is the range of imported pottery.

The results of the excavation are recorded in detail in chapters commenting on the architecture, on the "palace's" painted mural decoration, and on other finds representing a wide range of activities, including the likely production of purple dye, valued for trade amongst the elite. Well-stratified deposits provide a unique opportunity to establish local ceramic developments and to use them to date events that are being considered in terms of sociopolitical and economic perspectives encompassing the Mediterranean and the Near East. This book, which completes a survey of more than six hundred years of history, will prove especially useful to specialists in the Minoan era and to all students of the ancient world.

Aegean Wall Painting: A Tribute to Mark Cameron (British School at Athens Studies)

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Aegean Wall Painting: A Tribute to Mark Cameron (British School at Athens Studies)

Manufacturer: British School at Athens
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0904887499

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Not really practical for a short visit to Crete
Indispensible for the island
Blue Guide Crete, 7th ed.

Blue Guide Crete, Seventh Edition
Pat Cameron
Manufacturer: W. W. Norton & Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Blue Guide Greece: The Mainland, Seventh Edition
Crete Travel Map (Globetrotter Travel Map)
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Lonely Planet Crete

ASIN: 0393321347

Book Description

Completely rewritten and reorganized, with an array of new maps and plans, Blue Guide Crete is carefully arranged by province. Filled with detailed descriptions of villages, towns, churches, archaeological sites, and walks, and useful practical information on transportation, lodgings, and food, this is an indispensable guide to Crete. Color map, 11 maps and plans. 20 illustrations.

Customer Reviews:

Not really practical for a short visit to Crete.......2007-05-14

First off, this book is written for an British audience so it's not quite right for a U.S. audience.. I found the book a little too verbose and not something i carried around with me. It is full of information about Crete but not really for use 'on the go' during my 3 day stay.

Indispensible for the island.......2006-07-14

We used this guide at the exclusion of several other guides on Greece/Crete. We found it indispensible. Not only for the cities, beaches, towns, foods, and general area, but for a piece by piece exhibit guide for the Museum (they don't give you any informational handouts at the Museum in Iraklion), but for the MANY ruins, monasteries and historical sites throughout Crete. This was the single best guide we had for Crete. Highly recommended.

Blue Guide Crete, 7th ed........2006-03-20

This guide gives the information you need to know about traveling in Crete: history, current information, food and lodging.

The Rough Guide to Crete 6 (Rough Guide Travel Guides)

Average customer rating:

Good even if a bit dated.
Decent guide, some things missing
By far the best Crete guide
This guide is simply the best!!!
A book for backpackers.

The Rough Guide to Crete 6 (Rough Guide Travel Guides)
John Fisher , and Geoff Garvey
Manufacturer: Rough Guides
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1843532921

Book Description

The Rough Guide to Crete is the biggest, most detailed and most comprehensive guide to Crete available. Established leader in its field, now in its sixth edition. Knowledgeable yet accessible coverage of the famous sites, with historical background on the island''s Minoan past, including recent discoveries. It also illustrates Crete''s place in ancient Greek myth. The guide includes the lesser-known beaches and stretches of coastline and gives unrivalled detail on the mountains - including walking routes and unspoilt mountain villages. Sound coverage on wildlife and the environment, on Crete in literature, and on the island''s traditional music. It also includes all the practical information Rough Guides are so highly regarded for - full details of how to get there, how to get around - including local buses and boats - where to stay, and what to eat.

Customer Reviews:

Good even if a bit dated........2006-07-02

This is a good, extensive guide to Crete, even if this 2004 version is now a bit dated in 2006, though the majority of the recommendations are still good -- except for the recommendation for car rental from "Motor Club" which was a disaster.

Decent guide, some things missing.......2006-06-20

Crete is huge -- you can't even picture how huge until you see it from the air. Crete is 160 miles from end to end, and that is why it is very useful to buy a separate book to help you find your way. I chose this book because it was the first tour guide that I found that explored Crete by bus, instead of insisting that a foreign traveller go through the troublesome ordeal of renting a car. This book is very good in that area -- it offers detailed bus and ferry schedules and acceptable maps for every city.

This guide offers tremendous hotel reviews, covering most of the obvious budget hotels and showing you how to get to them. It also provides extensive historical information on some of the more interesting sites, such as Knossos and Moni Arkadi. There are some important details, however, that this book overlooks. I feel like perhaps the writers didn't take notes on the names of things as they were travelling; in Iraklion, the book gave general descriptions of tavernas they recommended, instead of just saying their name. This made it kind of hard to figure out what they were talking about.

As with some other tour guides, the maps skimped on street names, which made them very difficult to use; they also never give the Greek letters for places, making it sometimes hard to translate what you read in the book to what you see on signs. I was also disappointed in this and other tour guides, in that they didn't mention some very critical basic information, such as how to deal with tipping, or local etiquette; Greeks have very specific expectations regarding their hospitality. I would also have liked to have read that I was not allowed to flush toilet paper down the drain -- not every facility has a warning sign about this, and it would have been useful to read about it rather than discover this oddity through experience.

By far the best Crete guide.......2004-11-12

It's unbelievable how much detailed information is in this book. The organization of the book is very convenient and there are page references throughout the book to the topics being discussed. This makes it extremely easy to either read the book from front to back or to pick out a narrow topic and read about it. My only complaints are that I wish it had more color photos and a better map, but the information is more important than photos anyway. This book will definitely make planning your trip to Crete a lot easier. And it's much, much better than the Lonely Planet Crete guide. Lonely Planet publishes some great books, but its Crete guide is not one of them.

This guide is simply the best!!!.......2002-12-20

The person who wrote the last review was stupid enough to choose a package holiday based in Hersonissos. I say this because Hersonissos is INSANELY OVERDEVELOPED (at least by Greek standards) and one would HAVE to be stupid to stay there when there are other, much more beautiful, much less crowded, much less expensive, much cleaner, and much less developed areas not too far away. Don't get me wrong - both Hersonissos and nearby Mallia are worth spending a night or two in just to experience the nightlife, but then one should move on to someplace prettier and quieter.

As someone who is of Cretian descent (my mother was born and raised there) and who has a ton of relatives there, I can honestly say that this guide is EXTREMELY accurate and on the mark about almost everything. It even contains facts and information which many natives don't know about. Although I usually stay with relatives in or near Hania, this book has helped me plan and successfully undertake some very awesome daytrips. It has also helped me with sightseeing, eating, and accomodation when visiting other parts of the island away from Hania (where I don't have any relatives so I have to stay in a hotel and eat in a restaurant).

This guide is NOT aimed at package tourists but it can be used even by someone on a package tour for the historic and cultural insights it offers. The reason it comes down so hard on Hersonissos is because the place IS overcrowded and spoiled (many other guides agree). Also, Hersonissos can be visited from Iraklion (the capital) or from Mallia by bus or taxi. (If you wanted to visit Monte Carlo, for example, without selling your house, you would stay in Nice or in Menton or some other nearby town and GO INTO Monte Carlo by the frequent trains - you can always take a taxi back to your hotel. This is MUCH MUCH MUCH MUCH MUCH MUCH MUCH MUCH MUCH cheaper than staying in a hotel WITHIN Monte Carlo itself). This is analogous to the Hersonissos situation. You can VISIT Hersonissos without actually staying in any of its expensive, crowded hotels. Does one have to stay at the Plaza in New York in order to visit the shops on Fifth Avenue or go to a Broadway play? - NO!!!

A book for backpackers........2000-10-10

I travelled to Crete on a package holiday and stayed in the popular (read overdeveloped) resort of Hersonnosis. I found that the Rough Guide had no interest in covering this particular area and is particularly scathing towards package holidays. It is written as a guide to backpackers, and is probably useful for finding cheap restaurants and rough hostel accomodation. It is not as useful as a travel guide. I had travelled to Crete previously on an archeological tour and I know a good deal about the Minoan sites, the Venetian harbours and the Natural amenities such as the Samarian gorge. I found that the rough guide had litte to say about what was important and much to say about what is not important to the package holidaymaker. It was a lesson to me, in future I will be careful to choose the right kind of guide for my holiday!

Last Lift from Crete (The Nicholas Everard World War II Saga)

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Fighting in the Eastern Med

Last Lift from Crete (The Nicholas Everard World War II Saga)
Alexander Fullerton
Manufacturer: McBooks Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1590130936

Book Description

The situation is dire for British forces in the Mediterranean, and Commander Nick Everard and his son Jack find themselves in the midst of chaos. Aboard separate ships, the Everards are part of a flotilla patrolling the Aegean. There they face the terrifying bomber attacks of German Stukas as they struggle to save as many of the evacuating troops as possible. But when the order comes for one last lift from Crete, the decimated flotilla must make a suicide run—and only a miracle can save them!

Customer Reviews:

Fighting in the Eastern Med .......2005-05-26

This is book two in the series of books featuring Nicholas Everard. In this book he is on the destroyer Tuareg operating in the Eastern Med. This is still early in the war, and the British flotilla is facing the might of the German Luftwaffe. Then the order comes to make one more trip into Crete.

Mr. Fullerton has done a supurb job of developing this new naval series. This series has the spirit of the Horatio Hornblower and Jack Aubrey series, but it is set instead in the world of World War II. The author served with distinction as a submarine officer in the British Royal Navy. It is clear that he knows whereof he speaks, and his writing skills are up there with the best.

Average customer rating:

Misleading
Extremely biased and poorly thought-out
very short
An excellent, modern book, both scholarly and accessible.
thought provoking- but not every building is a temple!

Minoans: Life in Bronze Age Crete
Rodne Castleden
Manufacturer: Routledge
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 041508833X

Book Description

Since Sir Arthur Evans rediscovered the Minoans in the early 1890s, this people of Bronze Age Crete have become a fixture in European prehistory. The popular imagination has defined a whole string of cultural traits that make up the "Minoan" personality--elegant, graceful, lithe and athletic; these refined aesthetes surrounded themsleves with sophisticated architecture and beautiful objects. Nature lovers and lovers of peace, the inhabitants of each city-state lived in harmony with their neighbors, while their fleets ruled the seas around Crete. Yet to what extent does the later work of archaeologists in Crete support this view? In Minoans , Rodney Castleden uses the results of recent archaeological research to produce a comprehensive vision of the peoples of Minoan Crete.

Customer Reviews:

Misleading.......2005-09-08

The book has a nice bibliography and is useful for looking up sources for research. However, anyone reading this as an introduction to Minoan civilization will me mislead on several key points. 1. The author refers to the Minoan "palaces" throughout as "temples". This is confusing to the reader. Granted, Minoan "palaces" were much more complex buildings with many functions than this accepted scholarly term implies. But simply changing the term doesn't help anything.
2. The author discounts the well accepted idea that the Mycenaeans ever ruled at Knossos. The period of Mycenaean sovreignty is treated as a continuation of Minoan civilization with no break. Most people of Crete were the same and went on living as they had been in Minoan times. But the ruling class changed, as evidenced by the change in administration language at Knossos. The author makes no mention of the change and in fact uses the Linear B tablets from Knossos and even Pylos(!) as evidence for Minoan social institutions.
3. The author displays a real lack of understanding about Minoan religious life. Strange considering how many buildings he refers to as "temples". For those interested, see Nanno Marinatos' "Minoan Religion".
The book makes an interesting read as an overview or for light reading, but shouldn't be taken too seriously.

Extremely biased and poorly thought-out .......2005-06-08

Beware! If you read this book, know that it misrepresents the Minoans terribly.

Let's begin with the cover. The vast majority of humans depicted in Minoan art are women. Furthermore, for every man shown in a (possible) leadership position, there are thirty Minoan women shown in such positions. Most scholars concede that the political leader of the Minoans could very well have been a woman. So what does Castleden plaster on the front of his book? Not only a man, but the only male figure that's ever been suggested as a remotely possible leader. If this isn't blatant dishonesty of the worst kind, I don't know what is.

And who is Castleden, anyway? I've looked high and low, and can't find credentials for him. There are none listed in (or on) his book. He isn't an archaeologist. He doesn't seem to be a scientist or academic. He doesn't seem to have any training in anything. Did he even graduate from high school? If so, no one's saying.

As the Library Journal reviewer above points out, Castleden spends quite a bit of time blasting "traditional" theories about the Minoans. In his mind, almost every "traditional" theory is a "wrong" theory. But as the the LJ reviewer also notes, Castleden offers little or no evidence to support his "new and improved" theories.

Take for example the Anemospilia data. Not every archaeologist agrees that "human sacrifice" happened at this Minoan site. Yet Castleden assures us that he KNOWS it did, and, furthermore, that this translates into the Minoans generally practicing human sacrifice (!) He knows they did, by golly! He, the "expert" with the mystery credentials, tells us point blank that "the archaeological evidence is not susceptible of any other interpretation" (p. 171, 1994 edn). Excuse me, Mr. C., but have you read the imminent archaeologist Nanno Marinatos?!? No? I thought not. Marinatos gives that "other interpretation" you so haughtily assure us does not exist.

And then there's war. The traditional view is that the Minoans maintained peace for 1000 years unbroken. So of course Mr. C. knows this has to be wrong. Again Mr. C. refrains from mentioning that not all experts (of which he is not one) agree with him here. He passes the Minoans off as confirmed warriors (in certain time periods at least), and himself as one with the credentials to know.

I wholeheartedly agree with the Library Journal reviewer: "Castleden frequently proposes scenarios drawn more from psychosocial inference than evidence, yielding arguments less compelling than the originals. A nation of addicts could scarcely have had the energy to execute drug-induced creativity, much less to develop the commercial empire that was ancient Crete under the Minoans...."

Lastly, nothing in this book is referenced -- the first mark of an insecure amateur. We are forced to rely on Castleden's honesty and integrity about almost every thing he says. And we've already seen that his honesty is questionable.

very short.......2000-05-16

Now one may say that we do not have much evidence for life in the Bronze age, but surely we have more than what Castledon is using. Written for a more mainstream audience, I would not use as a text for undergraduates. Instead, read it to see if it pushes you to think differently about any "fact" from that most ancient time.

An excellent, modern book, both scholarly and accessible........1999-10-18

Books about ancient cultures tend to be either slightly soft-focus and "fluffy" or dry and almost excessively scholarly; neither approach succeeds in bringing a culture to vivid life for the interested lay reader. This book, however, does just that. It has scholarly evidence in detail, but also fleshed-out conclusions, and unflinchingly looks even at evidence that doesn't "fit" our modern image of ancient peoples we want to like, in its quest to bring us a living, breathing image of the Minoans. (It also has illustrations in plenty; I feel a bit juvenile to admit this, but I very much appreciate illustrations, as no verbal description can quite convey the brushstrokes, the maze-like floor plans, the quality of line.)It's not a perfect book---I agree with another reviewer who complained that people probably had more houses and fewer temples than Mr. Castleden concludes ---but it is an excellent one, especially for an "armchair archaeologist".

thought provoking- but not every building is a temple!.......1999-02-24

I read this book with deep interest and found that most of his impressions were right on the mark. I agree that to survive in the rough world of the Bronze Age the Minoans were very skilled fighters and raiders rather than flower sniffing pacifists pictured by Evans and other discoverers. But not every building was a temple. Each "palace" I agree was a temple in part. The west side of every major "palace" has been shown to have cultic significance since the time of Sir Arthur Evans. However, the east side of the central courts resemble Minoan residental architecture from all over Crete and from Thera. Is it not possible that the rulers (be they kings, priest kings, or a ruling priestess)still needed places to live! I feel that many of the so called villas in Knossos that Castledon calls temples are just very large homes with a home altar or a sacred room.

Customer Reviews:

Good guide for driving in Crete.......2007-01-11

It contains updated information about the roads in Crete and a city map of the main harbors.

Odyssey With the Goddess: A Spiritual Quest in Crete (Odyssey with the Goddess)

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I had hoped for more.
Great Spiritual Journey
Honest and Beautifully written, I travelled with her

Odyssey With the Goddess: A Spiritual Quest in Crete (Odyssey with the Goddess)
Carol P. Christ
Manufacturer: Continuum International Publishing Group
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0826407935

Customer Reviews:

I had hoped for more........2007-06-19

This would be more appropriately titled simply "A Spiritual Quest in Crete". While I enjoyed the book, Ms. Christ uses names and cultural ideas in a way that could lead one to believe that she is discussing archaeologically based facts about the pre-Hellenic Minoan culture when she is, in fact, engaging in wishful thinking. For example, she gives the Snake Goddess a name chosen from Linear B, which has been translated; the language used by that culture was written in Linear A, which has not been translated. She refers to the Snake Goddess by that name for the rest of the book, which is confusing at best and misleading at worst.

I found the book engrossing, but I had to keep flipping back to remember if a specific name/idea was based on archaeological evidence or her own suppositions. If one were reading it without frequent backtracking, one might believe her ideas were facts.

I had hoped for more.

Great Spiritual Journey.......2005-09-25

If you are searching for your own spiritual center and want a book that documents someone else's journey to inspire you, read this book!

Carol is steeped in the lore of the goddess against a background of general PHD religious studies. For many of us, it is imperative to see beyond what the cultural and religious patriarchy have taught us and find the feminine face of god.

Even better, Carol still conducts these goddess pilgrimages.

Honest and Beautifully written, I travelled with her.......2003-09-17

This book is wonderful for several reasons, but mostly because Carol takes the reader along on her journey and confides in us as if we were close friends. Her frankness about her experiences inspires me to explore my own truth. Discovering the mysteries of the Goddess along with the author and finding some of my own, I just couldn't put this one down.

Minoan-Mycenaean Religion, and Its Survival in Greek Religion (Wesleyan Poetry)

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Minoan-Mycenaean Religion, and Its Survival in Greek Religion (Wesleyan Poetry)
Martin P. Nilsson
Manufacturer: Biblo & Tannen Booksellers & Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0819602736

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