Books

The Measure of a Man: A Spiritual Autobiography (Oprah's Book Club)

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I expected more....
AWESOME & INSPIRING
what adds more weight to the measure of a man---fear, anger, or resignation?
Sidney -- Applause, Applause!!!
THE MEASURE OF A MAN is packed with insights and spiritual and social reflection

The Measure of a Man: A Spiritual Autobiography (Oprah's Book Club)
Sidney Poitier
Manufacturer: HarperSanFrancisco
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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The Pursuit of Happyness

ASIN: 0061357901
Release Date: 2007-01-26

Book Description

"I have no wish to play the pontificating fool, pretending that I've suddenly come up with the answers to all life's questions. Quite that contrary, I began this book as an exploration, an exercise in self-questing. In other words, I wanted to find out, as I looked back at a long and complicated life, with many twists and turns, how well I've done at measuring up to the values I myself have set."
—Sidney Poitier

In this luminous memoir, a true American icon looks back on his celebrated life and career. His body of work is arguably the most morally significant in cinematic history, and the power and influence of that work are indicative of the character of the man behind the many storied roles. Sidney Poitier here explores these elements of character and personal values to take his own measure—as a man, as a husband and a father, and as an actor.

Poitier credits his parents and his childhood on tiny Cat Island in the Bahamas for equipping him with the unflinching sense of right and wrong and of self-worth that he has never surrendered and that have dramatically shaped his world. "In the kind of place where I grew up," recalls Poitier, "what's coming at you is the sound of the sea and the smell of the wind and momma's voice and the voice of your dad and the craziness of your brothers and sisters...and that's it." Without television, radio, and material distractions to obscure what matters most, he could enjoy the simple things, endure the long commitments, and find true meaning in his life.

Poitier was uncompromising as he pursued a personal and public life that would honor his upbringing and the invaluable legacy of his parents. Just a few years after his introduction to indoor plumbing and the automobile, Poitier broke racial barrier after racial barrier to launch a pioneering acting career. Committed to the notion that what one does for a living articulates to who one is, Poitier played only forceful and affecting characters who said something positive, useful, and lasting about the human condition.

Here is Poitier's own introspective look at what has informed his performances and his life. Poitier explores the nature of sacrifice and commitment, price and humility, rage and forgiveness, and paying the price for artistic integrity. What emerges is a picture of a man in the face of limits—his own and the world's. A triumph of the spirit, The Measure of a Man captures the essential Poitier.

Customer Reviews:

I expected more...........2007-06-27

With all the hoopla about this book I expected more. This was pretty mediocre as far as I was concerned.

AWESOME & INSPIRING.......2007-06-27

From the moment I started to listen to this autobiography (audio) I was immediately hooked. It not only gave me an insight into the authors life, his relationship with his parents, his own children and his journey to success. I was inspired and motivated by his tenacity to stand up and be counted against the odds, particularly in era and environment where you are judged not as a Man who is gifted with a talent to inspire others but by the colour of your skin.

Mr Poitier has not only been an inspiration to me, he has helped to pave the way for other African Americans.

Thank you

what adds more weight to the measure of a man---fear, anger, or resignation?.......2007-06-21

I want to start by saying that I have a tremendous amount of respect and admiration for Sidney Poitier as an actor and artist in his industry. He is perhaps one of the greatest living actors of all time. I don't mean Black living actors. I mean one of the most accomplished actors, across the boards (he could be White, Latino, Asian or green with purple stripes, and this would still be my opinion). He received a well-deserved Academy Award, for his role in LILIES OF THE FIELD, high recognition for films including A RAISIN IN THE SUN, PATCH OF BLUE, TO SIR, WITH LOVE, IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT and GUESS WHO'S COMING TO DINNER. Just one word from Sidney Poitier, and who wouldn't melt?

THE MEASURE OF A MAN: A SPIRITUAL AUTOBIOGRAPHY is exactly what it says it is. It is indeed spiritual and it is Poitier's autobiography, taking an intimate look at his trials, tribulations, joys and accomplishments in the field of acting (both, on stage and screen). Poitier's formative years were spent in the Cat Islands and Nassau, before relocating to Miami, Florida (where he was born, while his parents were en route to the Bahamas) and then took a train to Harlem, New York on a whim. Little did he know that this move would secure his path to acting. As a young boy, Poitier dreamed of going to Hollywood to become [in his words] "a cowboy." He didn't realize, at that tender time, that those cowboys were actually given instruction to learn how to portray those cow ropers, fighting for the honor of young maidens, while kicking aside bad guys and tumbleweeds, in the same breath. I found these early passages fascinating and wonderfully written. Poitier clearly has fond memories of his childhood. Though, he was poor, his parents instilled in him a great sense of dignity and a very strong work ethic. This served him well when looking for work, barely scrapping by as a dishwasher in New York. He endured racial epithets and had to stand tall in the face of great racism and oppression. Yet, he didn't take guff from anyone. In fact, he made a point of outwitting guff at every turn in the road.

The second half of the book, on the other hand, takes a decidedly diifferent turn. A--shall we say--more self-righteous Poitier emerges here. I won't argue that life threw him some very tough obstacles to overcome. His early upbringing in Barbados did not prepare him for the racial inequality he faced in the United States. I don't believe this was something he was ever able to accept. Poitier caused rifts between his White and Black audience members, because, although his characters exuded great dignity, class and eloquence, this was not enough to earn the respect of some of the more radical people who went to see his films. In fact, he came across as "white washed," particularly when Blaxploitation films were surging in popularity (SHAFT and SUPERFLY, to name a couple of examples from this genre). Poitier's characters were men who fought with words, and rarely with their fists, while his raging counterparts were blowing away villains with their pistols. I could feel Poitier's anger for people who mistreated him swell at this point in the book, especially. It's like he was sitting on a cauldron about to boil over with the heat of rage. Poitier's bout with prostate cancer most likely gave him the push he needed to write his life story, with full knowledge that he, too, was mortal and on borrowed time (not unlike everyone else on the planet).

My verdict? Poitier's legacy lives on in his beautiful body of work in film. His book is a very visceral portrait of a man burnt by the very industry that he drew his finest creative expression from. It is at once brutal, unflinching and (at times) ponderous. I leave it up to you to read this and derive your own opinion about this body of work. For me, it could have easily left out the last rambling passage, because it leaned more toward purging. And, though purging (as they say) is good for the soul, there is a fine line between catharsis and collapse.

Sidney -- Applause, Applause!!!.......2007-06-14

I could hardly wait to read The Measure of a Man, as I am a huge fan of Sidney Poitier. It was everything, and more, I had hoped. Sidney is an eloquent and elegant man who chose to turn his life's lessons into his "rock". Stubbed his toes here and there, but used it to further his drive to choose the right path. He never compromised those very basic, solid ethics and morals in life. No sell-outs for this man. It wouldn't hurt us to take a look at our own actions now and then to see how well we're measuring up!

THE MEASURE OF A MAN is packed with insights and spiritual and social reflection.......2007-06-09

THE MEASURE OF A MAN: A SPIRITUAL AUTOBIOGRAPHY is an Oprah Book Club pick and a powerful survey of the personality, values and ethics of actor and black man Sidney Poitier, offering up memories from his movie experience and covering his personal views of life. From insights on injustice and its impact to the underlying meaning in the films he was involved in, THE MEASURE OF A MAN is packed with insights and spiritual and social reflection and is a pick for any general-interest lending library, especially those strong in film autobiographies.

A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier

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Fast and Affordable Service
A RARE GIFT OF INSIGHT
An important story to tell
Amazing
review from a mother of a teenager

A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier
Ishmael Beah
Manufacturer: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Sold

ASIN: 0374105235
Release Date: 2007-02-13

Book Description

My new friends have begun to suspect I haven’t told them the full story of my life.
“Why did you leave Sierra Leone?”
“Because there is a war.”
“You mean, you saw people running around with guns and shooting each other?”
“Yes, all the time.”
“Cool.”
I smile a little.
“You should tell us about it sometime.”
“Yes, sometime.”

This is how wars are fought now: by children, hopped-up on drugs and wielding AK-47s. Children have become soldiers of choice. In the more than fifty conflicts going on worldwide, it is estimated that there are some 300,000 child soldiers. Ishmael Beah used to be one of them.

What is war like through the eyes of a child soldier? How does one become a killer? How does one stop? Child soldiers have been profiled by journalists, and novelists have struggled to imagine their lives. But until now, there has not been a first-person account from someone who came through this hell and survived.

In A Long Way Gone, Beah, now twenty-five years old, tells a riveting story: how at the age of twelve, he fled attacking rebels and wandered a land rendered unrecognizable by violence. By thirteen, he’d been picked up by the government army, and Beah, at heart a gentle boy, found that he was capable of truly terrible acts.

This is a rare and mesmerizing account, told with real literary force and heartbreaking honesty.

Customer Reviews:

Fast and Affordable Service.......2007-06-27

The shipment was delivered quickly and the price was great. I had no problems.

A RARE GIFT OF INSIGHT.......2007-06-26

When I first saw Ishmael Beah interviewed I thought he had a remarkable poise, a glowing presence. At that point, nerves from appearing on national television, added to the whirlwind of an intense book tour, added to the energy already generated by writing the book, on top of the huge relief of successfully fleeing the nightmare in Sierra Leone could explain all that poise and glow. But I wondered if Beah was special... inspiring because he had unusual talents or an inner mission or vision that made him, his accomplishments and his message beyond the reach of mere mortals. So I read his book.

His direct unvarnished style, his humble honesty and the utter lack of a self-defense told me this first-time writer was indeed special. But WHAT he wrote told me he was just a kid, caught up in yet another manmade hell, used and abused psychically and physically. The difference between him and his friends who withered and perished or returned to "the life" after rehab was that he saw a ray of hope and reached for it, even when it could mean his imminent death. He made a choice. He mustered all his courage. No excuses. He was desperate. He had nothing to lose. He never gave up.

Reading his assessment of his life I realized that he experienced trauma the same way many children experience it who have not been soldiers in a war, because there is a terrible sameness to man's inhumanity to man however it morphs into our lives. And the reaction of a human soul to its challenge is always either surrender, fight, flee or go crazy. I read about his confusion, his desire to run away, his despair and fear. I recognized all the symptoms. So I bought the book for a young friend, a woman in her 20's, who has been grappling with childhood sexual and psychological abuse. I told her if he can come through THIS, perhaps it will give you hope that you, too, can come through your hell.

She read the book and felt a deep compassion for Ishmael Beah (...had it not been for the book, a man we might otherwise easily condemn for his brutality to his fellow man, in many cases, his brutality to his fellow children... I cringe to remember how some people treated U.S. soldiers returning from Vietnam, as if their age made them any less the victims of war as the drafted envoys of violence.) This young woman KNEW what Beah was talking about, she who had never held a gun. And she has taken strength from the connection she feels with him.

I would suggest giving this book to someone who is struggling with despair and fear and confusion, because it may help him or her to feel not so alone. As heavy as it is, this book will honor his or her dark exerience of life, and validate their own instincts about right and wrong and betrayal. It may also inspire them to hope. A LONG WAY GONE probably deserves a special occasion of its own rather than being a birthday or Christmas gift. And it may require the promise of talks afterward to help a young person sort through it. For adults who have experienced childhood trauma long since buried, it may be a wake up call to become their authentic selves.

And for the rest of us, who vote for the Congresspersons who can take our own youth into war, this is a must read (along with James Webb's FIELDS OF FIRE) if you have any doubt that war isn't a tolerable option. I have a 19-year-old son and I can promise you his sensibilities are as innocent and fragile as the 12-year-old Beah's... only my son, and kids in high school, are considered fair game, cannon fodder to the leaders who have never read a book like this.

An important story to tell.......2007-06-26

With the continue debate of Dafur and the movie "Blood Diamond" Ishmael Beah forces readers to enter a world that they choose to ignore. Beah tells his story in great detail and the images he explains are booth disturbing and sad. He is one of many child soldiers and he is the voice of those children who are recruited each day and forced to kill. This is an easy read and an important book. There are few first hand accounts of what it is like for children trying to survive in war torn countries and this gives us a sense of the horror that they live through each day.

Amazing.......2007-06-26

I really enjoyed this book even thought at times it was a bit hard to read. This book made me think about life, other people and their turmoil, and what is happening beyond my sheltered life here in America. This man has been through more than I can imagine. I admire the person that he has become.

review from a mother of a teenager.......2007-06-26

Being a mother of a child the same age Ishmael was I found it hard to read this book at times. Well worth the read but difficult to imagine my own child, or any of the children in my town of 700 for that matter, having to go through what Ishmael did. There were times when I couldn't put the book down and other times when I had to close my eyes to the visual that I received. It is definitely a book that I would recommend that everyone read. Read it with your eyes and your heart open.

Average customer rating:

Amazing insight into the Muslim culture
Fascinating Story Of One Woman's Courage And Acheivement
A serial liar
An amazing new view for all women
Couldn't put it down

Infidel
Ayaan Hirsi Ali
Manufacturer: Free Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0743289684

Book Description

In this profoundly affecting memoir from the internationally renowned author of The Caged Virgin, Ayaan Hirsi Ali tells her astonishing life story, from her traditional Muslim childhood in Somalia, Saudi Arabia, and Kenya, to her intellectual awakening and activism in the Netherlands, and her current life under armed guard in the West.

One of today's most admired and controversial political figures, Ayaan Hirsi Ali burst into international headlines following an Islamist's murder of her colleague, Theo van Gogh, with whom she made the movie Submission.

Infidel is the eagerly awaited story of the coming of age of this elegant, distinguished -- and sometimes reviled -- political superstar and champion of free speech. With a gimlet eye and measured, often ironic, voice, Hirsi Ali recounts the evolution of her beliefs, her ironclad will, and her extraordinary resolve to fight injustice done in the name of religion. Raised in a strict Muslim family and extended clan, Hirsi Ali survived civil war, female mutilation, brutal beatings, adolescence as a devout believer during the rise of the Muslim Brotherhood, and life in four troubled, unstable countries largely ruled by despots. In her early twenties, she escaped from a forced marriage and sought asylum in the Netherlands, where she earned a college degree in political science, tried to help her tragically depressed sister adjust to the West, and fought for the rights of Muslim immigrant women and the reform of Islam as a member of Parliament. Even though she is under constant threat -- demonized by reactionary Islamists and politicians, disowned by her father, and expelled from her family and clan -- she refuses to be silenced.

Ultimately a celebration of triumph over adversity, Hirsi Ali's story tells how a bright little girl evolved out of dutiful obedience to become an outspoken, pioneering freedom fighter. As Western governments struggle to balance democratic ideals with religious pressures, no story could be timelier or more significant.

Customer Reviews:

Amazing insight into the Muslim culture.......2007-06-27

Brave woman, incredible story and great insight into the third world culture in Islamic countries. Ayaan's book is very timely, with the war in Iraq and Afganistan and understanding the clash of our culture with theirs. I applaud Ayaan for her amazing courage to step away from all she was brought up with. She deserves all the support we can give her and I hope she finds happiness and peace in this country.

Fascinating Story Of One Woman's Courage And Acheivement.......2007-06-21

I knew nothing of Ayaan Hirsi Ali when I purchased this book, but I'd heard some of the "buzz" regarding this book and decided to read it. I had read and heard snipets of information regarding the lives of Moslem women is Islamic countries, but this was the first time I'd read one woman's story and I was engrossed from the beginning.

Granted, some of what Ms. Ali lived through as a child had more to do with tribalism than Islam, but it is fascinating that Islam allows for this and accepts this. Ms. Ali's story is not perfect - I don't think she purports to be perfect - but it is her story and she has allowed all of us to share in it. As she re-lives her childhood, her immigration to Europe, and eventual assimilation into the West, she brings the reader along to share in her joys, her sadness, her frustrations, and her accomplishments. Her story is one of achieving and attempting to become to the fullest the human being she was meant to be. A wonderful book of courage and accomplishment!

A serial liar.......2007-06-21

Too bad her interview on The BBC was not included with her book. It exposed her as the serial liar, illegal alien in The Netherlands that she is/was. As an avowed atheist, she can only speak for herself and not Islam. Her "tales" while horrific are the product of a backwards culture, and a patriarchal society. Her story is no different from that of any woman, in any religion. In short, woman get crapped on all the time. Is it fair? H*ll no, but is her story anymore worthy than any Christian or Jewish woman simply because she claims to be a Muslim? Nope.

An amazing new view for all women.......2007-06-19

This book is incredibly interesting and as contemporary to us, a great point of view in our history and common point of views that cah be dangerous for our miopic society.

I hope her battle can help or Western world to cope with Islamic people and not close our eyes in front of immigration and integration problems.

Katia

Couldn't put it down.......2007-06-19

I have seen Ayaan Hirsi-Ali interviewed and knew who she was when I got this book, which was riveting from the moment I started to read it. Her life story (to date) is an amazing road of transformation and realization. This woman has determination, intelligence, and courage beyond anyone I have ever met. As a woman born and raised in America and having opportunities available to me from the beginning, I am humbled tremendously by the incredible accomplishments of Hirsi-Ali. Born in Somalia, one of the poorest nations on earth, and having lived in Kenya, Saudi Arabia and Ethiopia under strict Muslim faith, she managed to educate herself beyond the restrictions of the religion, escape the prison of such a male dominated culture and realize the hypocrisy of the world in which she existed. Against all odds, she survived female genitle mutilation at the age of six, learned to speak several languages, and ultimately disgraced her family by refusing to marry someone she barely knew by seeking asylum in Holland. Amid death threats, she further educated herself and ultimately became a member of the Parliament in Holland with a focus on women's rights and wrote a film about the submission of women in Islam which resulted in the horrific murder of it's director, Theo Van Gogh. The assasins composed a letter to Hirsi-Ali and stabbed it into VanGogh's chest. Her courage to share with us the tragic and horrifying events of her life, including severe beatings, a fractured skull, and her ultimate denouncement of Islam, demonstrates her determination to call to reality the backwards ideology of Islam, specifically the fundamental aspects, which threatens the Western World. She is grateful for all that she saw in the modern world, from friendly police men to social workers and democratic governmental agencies. She was fascinated by bus schedules that ran on time, garbage collection, and all the things we in the West take for granted, including welfare. As Hirsi-Ali was amazed by hot and cold running showers, I am in awe of Hirsi-Ali and wish more educated women of Islam could find such strength and courage to stop the ignorance and violence and hatred that is ingrained in the children in the name of Allah. Unfortunately, education and poverty is at the core of fundamental Islam and it is unlikely to change in those regions where Islam is the law, corruption abundant and women are enslaved. Her insight is invaluable, her honesty is applauded and her curiosity, which brought her to where she is today, is refreshing. Tragically, those values cost her a family who have disowned her and see her as an Infidel, but ironically, her choice to accept and embrace freedom has made her someone they should be very proud of because she is truly a woman of great honor, admiration and success.

Paula Deen: It Ain't All About the Cookin'

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Another Paula Deen book I just love
Easy Read
my review of Paula Deen
Jill from Philly
Definitely a woman to admire and respect!

Paula Deen: It Ain't All About the Cookin'
Paula Deen , and Sherry Suib Cohen
Manufacturer: Simon & Schuster
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0743292855
Release Date: 2007-04-03

Book Description

Do you know the real Paula Deen? You may think you know the butter-loving, finger-licking, joke-cracking queen of melt-in-your-mouth Southern cuisine. You may have even visited The Lady & Sons to taste for yourself the down-home delicacies that made her famous and even heard some version of her Cinderella story (a single mom with two teenage sons started a brown-bag lunch business with $200 and wound up with a thriving restaurant, a fairy-tale second marriage, and wildly popular television shows), but you have never heard the intimate details of her often bumpy road to fame and fortune.

Courageously honest, downright inspiring, and just a little bit saucy, Paula shares the highs and lows of her life in the inimitable charming and irreverent style that you know from her television shows and personal appearances. She talks about long childhood summers spent in a bathing suit and roller skates and hard years living in the back of her father's gas station; a buzzing high school social life of sleepovers, parties, cheerleading, and boys; and a difficult marriage. The death of her beloved parents precipitated a debilitating agoraphobia that crippled her for years. But even when the going got tough, Paula never lost the good grace and sense of humor that would eventually help carry her to success and stardom. Of course, you can't get by on charm alone: as Paula has learned, you need plenty of willpower, hard work, and, above all, the love and support of family and friends to finance, sustain, and run a successful restaurant.

In each chapter, Paula shares new recipes: there's serious comfort food like her momma's Chocolate-Dippy Doughnuts, Courage Chili for when you know life's going to get tough, Sexy Oxtails for seducing that special someone, and the recipe for her new mother-in-law's Banana Nut Delight Cake that Paula finally got just right. And you'll love the never-before-seen photos of her family.

In this memoir, Paula Deen speaks as frankly and intimately as few women in the public eye have ever dared. Whether she's telling tales of good times or bad, her story is proof that the old-fashioned American dream is alive and kicking, and there still is such a thing as a real-life happy ending.

Customer Reviews:

Another Paula Deen book I just love.......2007-06-27

Although this book doesn't have the amount of recipes in most of Paula Deen's books it is an interesting read about her life and how she became the cook everyone loves - hard work and determination plus a love of cooking have brought her into our homes. If you love Paula Deen you will enjoy this book but if you are looking for a selection of Paula Deen recipes try one of The Lady and Sons books.

Easy Read.......2007-06-27

If you are interested in Paula Deen, this book appears to be an honest, though slightly arrogant profile. It is an easy read and enlightening.

my review of Paula Deen.......2007-06-26

I found this book to be riveting. Paula allows herself to be completely open and honest about things in her life. She doesn't mince words or put on airs. What a lovely change in reading.

Jill from Philly.......2007-06-18

Paula Deen is a true Southern Lady. She is full of grace, goodness and humor. I loved her book! It's honest, warm and funny. Thank you, Paula Deen, for telling us your tale. You've made the world a brighter place by cooking up oxtails and fried chicken and more importantly..... by just being you....because it ain't all about the cookin'.
I went to The Lady and Sons, when it was still just a "local" favorite. I was passing through town and a local artist told me to go and eat Paula's fried chicken. Well, I'm Lebanese and I'm not an "expert" on Southern food. But being a passionate cook myself, I can tell when something is made with love. I came home to Philly raving about the Southern food at The Lady and Sons. Everything Paula does is a true reflection of who she is as a human being. Everything is just so darn good!

Definitely a woman to admire and respect!.......2007-06-17

What a wonderful book by an awesome lady! Life is not always easy and often times not real pretty. Paula shares how through determination, perseverance, hard work, love and dedication of family, and more of all of the above, she has been able to succeed in business and find true love. Paula Deen is a woman to be respected and admired for all she has accomplished. She is living proof that anything is possible if: (1)never forget where you come from, (2)family always comes first, (3)be willing to keep a positive attitude, pray faithfully, and work HARD, (4)and last but not least BELIEVE! GRITS...Girls Raised In The South!!!!

Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman's Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia

Average customer rating:

A Bead Counted in Gratitude
Couldn't put it down!
Eat, Love, Pray: Every Woman's Search
What is "spiritual" about this book?
Good read, but curious about the Swami

Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman's Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia
Elizabeth Gilbert
Manufacturer: Penguin (Non-Classics)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0143038419

Book Description

This beautifully written, heartfelt memoir touched a nerve among both readers and reviewers. Elizabeth Gilbert tells how she made the difficult choice to leave behind all the trappings of modern American success (marriage, house in the country, career) and find, instead, what she truly wanted from life. Setting out for a year to study three different aspects of her nature amid three different cultures, Gilbert explored the art of pleasure in Italy and the art of devotion in India, and then a balance between the two on the Indonesian island of Bali. By turns rapturous and rueful, this wise and funny author (whom Booklist calls “Anne Lamott's hip, yoga- practicing, footloose younger sister”) is poised to garner yet more adoring fans.

Customer Reviews:

A Bead Counted in Gratitude.......2007-06-28

As a guy, my mind simply would've never noticed this book for me to pick it up. The title and presentation, with exception to the prayer beads, simply don't call out to the masculine spirit. It took one of my beautiful friends of the feminine persuasion to place this book in my hands.

As a hitchhiker thru many lands, my wanderlust delighted and splashed in the puddles of scenic descriptions and friendly faces that fill this book. Many memories resurfaced, particularly in India, and future plans were altered to taste in a bit of the lovely author's experience.

As a holyman, I love watching myself and others be dragged, kicking and screaming, by our divine guidance to a more healthy, holy self. From the very introduction, I could feel the presence of the divine that had already entered this woman, and dug in for a good read that rarely let me down.

As a lover, who was once under a vow of celibacy, I could empathize with Elizabeth's pain in a place where passion and sex ruled, but know well the internal fortitude and strength this builds. The internal strife of this choice was one of my favorite aspects of her growth.

As a writer, had I only one sentence in which to sum up this book, I would state: "One woman's journey, out of breakdown back to wholeness, across Italy, India and Indonesia." Amazingly, this just happens to be a good part of what the title states, and it is obvious from the very start that her journey was more success than failure.

As a walking advertising campaign for everything I love, I have found that I can turn anyone onto this book simply by handing it to them with the words "pick a paragraph... any paragraph." I have yet to have anyone simply shrug off what they randomly read.

To Elizabeth Gilbert: "My love and gratitude for every word. See you later alligator."

Couldn't put it down!.......2007-06-28

Best book I've read in a long time. Actually used a highlighter in this one to mark particular groups of words that just resonated with me. A soulful, well-written book. I didn't want it to end.

Eat, Love, Pray: Every Woman's Search.......2007-06-27

I really enjoyed this book. The author made it so easy to share and understand the many phases a woman has in her life. I could relate to this woman and felt that she looked inside me and shared many thoughts and emotions that I have had.

What is "spiritual" about this book?.......2007-06-27

I agree with the reviewers who said that Gilbert's writing is "dishonest" - it's as if she deliberately dumbed down her experiences in order to make Oprah's book list and to sell a lot of copies of this marginally written shallow book.

Even her experience in Italy is sort of depressing. THAT is hedonistic pleasure and re-awakening? Her life before her journey appears to be identical to her life during the jouurney- being paid to travel and write about it in a way that appeals to the masses - essentially saying nothing at all. And how are any of her actions or beliefs spiritual? She is more self-obsessed than a teenager and I was sad and embarrased for her.

I should have been scared off when I saw it was a best-seller. It's not entirely awful because it's amusing in places but ultimately not worth it.

Good read, but curious about the Swami.......2007-06-27

I have enjoyed reading this book and loved the bold searching ideas that animate it. I felt as though I was traveling along and learning from the experiences. I found the author's voice compelling and generous. Yet I am perplexed by suggestions by reviewers, which seem accurate, that the deceased Swami discussed in the India section is Swami Muktananda. It is curious to me that the author tells his story in a breezy mythical manner without any interest in the allegations of sexual abuse outlined in a 1994 New Yorker article as well as other sources. I would be interested to know if this was a deliberate personal spiritual decision--to mythologize her spiritual heroes, to reject the allegations, to decide they meant little to her, or a decision she made as a writer, to establish a smooth mythical narrative for her tale with colorful, yet morally uncomplicated heroes and spiritual patrons. Or maybe this is just a case of a Swami mix-up

Average customer rating:

INSPIRATIONAL!
Interesting author, interesting story.. a must read
Unbelievable!
Entertaining, enjoyable, amusing, charming...
such admirable people

The Glass Castle: A Memoir
Jeannette Walls
Manufacturer: Scribner
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 074324754X

Amazon.com

Jeannette Walls's father always called her "Mountain Goat" and there's perhaps no more apt nickname for a girl who navigated a sheer and towering cliff of childhood both daily and stoically. In The Glass Castle, Walls chronicles her upbringing at the hands of eccentric, nomadic parents--Rose Mary, her frustrated-artist mother, and Rex, her brilliant, alcoholic father. To call the elder Walls's childrearing style laissez faire would be putting it mildly. As Rose Mary and Rex, motivated by whims and paranoia, uprooted their kids time and again, the youngsters (Walls, her brother and two sisters) were left largely to their own devices. But while Rex and Rose Mary firmly believed children learned best from their own mistakes, they themselves never seemed to do so, repeating the same disastrous patterns that eventually landed them on the streets. Walls describes in fascinating detail what it was to be a child in this family, from the embarrassing (wearing shoes held together with safety pins; using markers to color her skin in an effort to camouflage holes in her pants) to the horrific (being told, after a creepy uncle pleasured himself in close proximity, that sexual assault is a crime of perception; and being pimped by her father at a bar). Though Walls has well earned the right to complain, at no point does she play the victim. In fact, Walls' removed, nonjudgmental stance is initially startling, since many of the circumstances she describes could be categorized as abusive (and unquestioningly neglectful). But on the contrary, Walls respects her parents' knack for making hardships feel like adventures, and her love for them--despite their overwhelming self-absorption--resonates from cover to cover. --Brangien Davis

Book Description

The Glass Castle is a remarkable memoir of resilience and redemption, and a revelatory look into a family at once deeply dysfunctional and uniquely vibrant. When sober, Jeannette's brilliant and charismatic father captured his children's imagination, teaching them physics, geology, and how to embrace life fearlessly. But when he drank, he was dishonest and destructive. Her mother was a free spirit who abhorred the idea of domesticity and didn't want the responsibility of raising a family.

The Walls children learned to take care of themselves. They fed, clothed, and protected one another, and eventually found their way to New York. Their parents followed them, choosing to be homeless even as their children prospered.

The Glass Castle is truly astonishing -- a memoir permeated by the intense love of a peculiar, but loyal, family. Jeannette Walls has a story to tell, and tells it brilliantly, without an ounce of self-pity.

Customer Reviews:

INSPIRATIONAL!.......2007-06-22

If you're looking for a survival success story, this is the book to read. It's welll-written, engaging and honest. I highly recommend it. Pamela D. Blair, Author The Next Fifty Years: A Guide for Women at Mid-Life And Beyond

Interesting author, interesting story.. a must read.......2007-06-21

I love this book. There is much debate about it actually being a memoir, or a kind of fictionalized pseudo-biography, but either way I love the way Jeanette Walls tells a story (be it true, false or otherwise embellished) - highly recommend!

Unbelievable!.......2007-06-20

I couldn't put this book down- it was a very quick read. Jeannette's experiences are unbelievable and her ability to always overcome is unending. I'm so amazed that she retains her love for her parents after all she goes through. Great book.

Entertaining, enjoyable, amusing, charming... .......2007-06-18

I loved this book. Sometimes with a dysfunctional family relationship that is so atypical, it is hard to relate. On the contrary, this story was so noteworthy, I couldn't help but to re-tell it to my husband and children.

Even if the life story is embellished, who cares! It was that entertaining.

such admirable people.......2007-06-17

it's hard to believe this is a memoir, because i cant imagine parents so irresponsible. especially given what we learn at the end. i admire jeanette and her siblings so much for getting through that and still making such great human beings out of themselves. if we all put that much effort into living, we'd be really super people.

Average customer rating:

Thoughts on Grace (Eventually)
Lamott Just Gets Better
Where's the Grace and the Faith?
I always love her books but............
The best ever

Grace (Eventually): Thoughts on Faith
Anne Lamott
Manufacturer: Riverhead Hardcover
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 1594489424
Release Date: 2007-03-20

Amazon.com

Through Anne Lamott's many books (including six novels, her bestselling parenting memoir, Operating Instructions, and her popular guide to writing, Bird by Bird) the subject she keeps returning to is her faith, her deeply personal--"erratic," she says--journey in Christianity. Her latest book, Grace (Eventually), is her third collection of her "thoughts on faith," and she took the time to answer a few of our questions.

Questions for Anne Lamott

Amazon.com: This is your third book on faith. How has your perspective changed since you wrote your first one?

Lamott: I wrote my first book on faith when Bill Clinton was president, and I was in a much better mood. I wrote Plan B during the run-up to war in Iraq, and the ensuing catastrophe, so I was very angry, but trying to reconcile that pain and hostility to Jesus's insistence that we are made of love, to love, and be loved, to forgive and be forgiven. Some days went better than others. Also, my son Sam was in his early teens, and that was a LOT easier than when he turned 16 and 17, his ages when I was writing the pieces in Grace (Eventually).

In general, I think Grace (Eventually) is a less angry book. I like how I'm aging, except that my back hurts more often, my knees crack like twigs when I squat, and my memory fails more frequently, in more public and therefore humiliating ways. But I think I complain less. As my best friend said when she was dying, and I was obsessing about my butt, "You just don't have that kind of time."

Amazon.com: What does grace mean for you? How can we better communicate it to each other?

Lamott: Grace is that extra bit of help when you think you are really doomed; also, not coincidentally, when you have finally run out of good ideas on how to proceed, and on how better to control the people or circumstances that are frustrating or defeating you. I experience Grace as a cool ribbon of fresh air when I feel spiritually claustrophobic. Sometimes I experience it as water-wings, something holding me up when I am afraid that I'm going down, or the tide is carrying me away. I know that Grace meets us whereever we are, but does not leave us where it found us. Sometimes it is so small--a couple of seconds relief here, several extra inches there. I wish it were big and obvious, like sky-writing. Oh, well. Grace is not something I DO, or can chase down; but it is something I can receive, when I stop trying to be in charge.

We communicate grace to one another by holding space for people when they are hurt or terrified, instead of trying to fix them, or manage their emotions for them. We offer ourselves as silent companionship, or gentle listening when someone feels very alone. We get people glasses of water when they are thirsty.

Amazon.com: Many of the essays in Grace (Eventually) first appeared in Salon, the online magazine, and that's the way that many readers first found you. How do you see the Internet changing the way people read and write?

Lamott: The Internet makes everything so immediate and spontaneous, which I totally love--UNLESS it has to do with the immediacy of people's negative response to me. Several of the Salon pieces in Grace--for instance, the story about the horrible fight with my son, and the piece about turning the other cheek while being ripped off by The Carpet Guy--generated a couple hundred letters, many of them extremely hostile. Perhaps "spewy" would be a better description. I also sometimes get knee-jerk responses to my mentions of Jesus in my Salon pieces that seem to lump me in the same tradition as Jerry Falwell. But for the most part, I love the populism and egalitarian nature of the Internet: everyone counts the same.

Amazon.com: What stories do people tell you, when they've read your books or know you are a writer?

Lamott: People tell me how relieved they are that I try to tell the truth about how hard it can be to be a mother, or a daughter, or an American in these times. They tell me stories about how awful their own teenagers can be, or how awful they themselves behaved towards their kids or parents; how hard it was to finally be able to adore their mothers, or to forgive their fathers. They tell me their sobriety dates. They whisper to me that they are Christians, too.

Also, they ask if I am able to read their manuscripts, and the name of my agent, and my e-mail address. They ask if we are going to survive the current political difficulties--and I promise them we are. They ask how old my son is now--17 and a half--and how he is doing, which is fantastically, after some of the hard months I wrote about in Grace.

Amazon.com:What lessons do you think you can pass on to others: to your readers, to your son? What lessons does it seem like people have to learn for themselves?

Lamott: All I have to offer is my own truth, my own experience, strength and hope. I can pass on the tool of a God Box, and how for 20 years I have been putting tiny notes in mine and promising God I will keep my sticky fingers off the controls until I hear God's wisdom: sometimes I get an answer because the phone rings, or the mail comes, but at any rate, during every single terrible problem and tragedy, I have been given enough guidance and stamina and even humor to bear up, and be transformed, for the good. I always tell Sam that if you want to make God laugh, tell Her your plans. I tell Sam that if he listens to his best thinking, he will suffer: and to listen to his heart instead, to listen in the silence, and to seek wise counsel.

Amazon.com: You've written nearly a dozen books (including an incredibly popular guide to writing): does writing get any easier? Does it get harder?

Lamott: In a very important way, writing gets easier, because I've been doing it full time now for thirty-plus years, and just as you would get better and better if you practiced your scales on a piano, I've gotten better, and can try harder and harder pieces. But writing is always hard. It does not come naturally to me at all. I sit down at the same time every day, which lets my subconscious realize it's time to get to work. I give myself very short assignments, and let myself write really terrible first drafts. But I grapple with the exact same problems every writer does, which is having equal proportions of self-loathing and grandiosity. I sort of live by the Nike ads: Just Do It. So I sit down. I show up. I do it by pre-arrangement with myself, because I know I'll feel sad and terrible if I shirk on that days writing. I do it as a debt of honor, to myself, and to whatever it is that has given me this gift of being able to tell stories, and to make people laugh. Laughter is carbonated holiness. Other people's good writing is medicine for me, and I hope mine is too, for my readers.

Book Description

The sharp, funny, and heartfelt follow-up to her bestselling Plan B, Anne Lamott's newest collection is a personal exploration of the faith and grace all around us.

In Grace (Eventually): Thoughts on Faith, Lamott examines the ways we're caught in life's most daunting predicaments: love, mothering, work, politics, and maybe toughest of all, evolving from who we are to who we were meant to be. This is a complicated process for most of us, and Lamott turns her wit and honesty inward to describe her own intimate, bumpy, and unconventional road to grace and faith.

"I wish grace and healing were more abracadabra kinds of things," she writes in one of her essays, "that delicate silver bells would ring to announce grace's arrival. But no, it's clog and slog and scootch, on the floor, in silence, in the dark."

Whether she's writing about her unsuccessful efforts to get her money back from an obstinate carpet salesman, grappling with the tectonic shifts in her relationship with her son as he matures, trying to maintain her faith and humor during politically challenging times, or helping a close friend die with dignity, Lamott seeks out both the divinity and the humanity in herself and everything around her. Throughout these essays, she writes of her struggle to find the essence of her faith, which she uncovers in the unlikeliest places. By turns insightful and hilarious, pointed and poignant, Grace (Eventually) is Anne Lamott at her perceptive and irreverent best.

Customer Reviews:

Thoughts on Grace (Eventually).......2007-06-27

This is the third book by Anne Lamott that I've read. She confesses parts of her life that most of us want to keep secret. She does this with frankness and humility. And as always, she makes me laugh. We can travel with her on her spiritual quest and appreciate her insights.
An enjoyable read.

Lamott Just Gets Better.......2007-06-27

I have read everything Anne Lamott has written. Grace (Eventually) is a splendid group of mature, thoughtful essays on life and faith. She is accessible and often perplexing. Yet she is nearly always delightful. Lamott just gets better and better.

Where's the Grace and the Faith?.......2007-06-26

I really don't understand Anne Lamott's appeal. I'll grant that she is a talented writer but clearly this, in an of itself, cannot explain it. I suppose a good bit of her appeal probably stems from her gut-honest authenticity, her willingness to say exactly what she's thinking all the time. She's profound, she's profane, she's shocking and people seem to love her for it.

Her latest nonfiction book (she has also authored several novels) is entitled Grace (Eventually) and it is a series of essays. As such it is somewhat disjointed with incomprehensible section names and odd chapter titles. There is little cohesion. If there are common themes they revolve around some kind of faith in Jesus, the trials of being a single parent, the difficulties that come with life, and an overwhelming hatred of George W. Bush (along with various members of his administration) and everything he has done as President. I haven't done a word count, but I suspect the name Bush appears significantly more times than the name God (unless, perhaps, we also count the times she uses God's name in a profane way; that would even things up some.). The essays recount episode after episode where Lamott was depressed or angry or belligerent or foul-mouthed or, in many cases, all of the above. It's exactly as depressing as it sounds.

This excerpt, drawn from the beginning of a chapter, is quite typical of the book's content:

I woke up in a bleak place on Sunday. It was not the place of ashes, like the morning after the 2004 Presidential election, but there was no comfort anywhere. It was miserably hot, and the news couldn't be worse--a new crop of mutilations in Iraq, with 2,500 U.S. soldiers now dead, and a North Korean ICBM apparently pointed at the West Coast. Two of my dearest friends had terrible diseases. There was a nasty separation going on in our family, and a small distraught child. Also, my son had not obeyed his curfew and we had had words at two a.m.

...

In the face of all this, I did the most astonishing thing a person can do: I got out of bed. At least I could still walk. A better person would think, Thank you, Jesus. But I thought, God do my feet hurt. God, am I getting old. Then I had some coffee, to level the playing field of me and my mind, as it had had several cups while I slept, and now if felt like talking.

Then I headed to church.

And it was not good.

Lamott has proven to have wide appeal, writing for Salon, the Los Angeles Times and a variety of other periodicals. It should be exciting to see a professed Christian writing for what is clearly a largely secular audience. Sadly, though, the spiritual insights shared by Lamott are more shocking or embarrassing than exciting and inspiring. Here is a smattering of what the reader will discover:

* On Jesus: "You've got to wonder what Jesus was live at seventeen. They don't even talk about it in the Bible, he was apparently so awful."
* On abortion: "I wanted to express calmly and eloquently, that people who are pro-choice understand that there are two lives involved in an abortion--one born (the pregnant woman) and one not (the fetus)--and that the born person must be allowed to decide what is right: whether or not to bring a pregnancy to term and launch another life into circulation." "Then I said that a woman's right to choose was nobody else's goddamn business. That got their attention." "We must not inflict life on children who will be resented; we must not inflict unwanted children on society."
* On euthanasia: "Mel was somewhat surprised that as a Christian I so staunchly agreed with him about assisted suicide: I believe that life is a kind of Earth School, so even though assisted suicide means you're getting out early, before the term ends, you're going to be leaving anyway, so who says it isn't okay to take an incomplete in the course?" In the chapter "At Death's Window" she eloquently describes assisting her friend in taking his own life by overdosing on barbiturates.

As we've come to expect from Lamott, there is a handful (or two) of uses of profanity spread throughout the book (using the name of God casually, several uses of language of the four-letter variety, and so on). Of course the book is not without its interesting insights. Readers will be able to identify with many of the difficulties Lamott has faced. They will laugh at some of her reactions to the situations she has encountered; they will roll their eyes at the same things that frustrate her. There are some notable quotes like this one: "A good marriage is supposed to be one where each spouse secretly thinks he or she got the better deal." But when it comes to spiritual content that is distinctly biblical and profoundly Christian, well, there is not much at all. Lamott seems to embrace a very wide faith that extends far beyond the bounds of Scripture. She celebrates things the Bible forbids and hates things the Bible commands us to love. Her self-loathing is so prominent it is easy to wonder if it isn't simply narcissism weakly disguised. In fact, with a fair bit of faith talk, but very little that is distinctly Christian, I suppose it is not difficult to understand why this book has wide appeal outside the church. I hope Christian readers are discerning enough to ensure it has little appeal within.

I always love her books but...................2007-06-21

I always enjoy reading Anne Lamott and this book was going along swell. She has an easy, casual manner that makes it feel like you're having a best-friend discussion sitting at the kitchen counter. But in this book I got SO tired of her blaming EVERYTHING that's wrong in the world on George Bush. It's like we were all basking around here on Heaven-On-Earth until Mr. Meanie screwed it all up. Her writing seems so smart and sensitive yet her political comments were so stupid. Not the most enjoyable read for me.

The best ever.......2007-06-11

This book is the best Anne has published since Traveling Mercies. She is so upfront and real I feel like I know her. Since I am also in a 12-step recovery program, I could identify with much of what she says but what really touched me was her wonderful way of approaching her son's adolescence. The chapters on becoming a mother and how the feelings change over the course of that child growing up - always loving even in the face of increasing emotional distance - reflected much of what I have experienced with my own children and grandchildren. If one hangs on, eventually grace arrives. I loved the book.

It's Your Ship: Management Techniques from the Best Damn Ship in the Navy

Average customer rating:

Theory at work
Excellent book on management theory
It's Your Ship: Management Techniques from the Best Damn Ship in the Navy
Awesome Book
One of the best books on leadership you'll find

It's Your Ship: Management Techniques from the Best Damn Ship in the Navy
Michael Abrashoff
Manufacturer: Business Plus
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0446529117

Amazon.com

Other than the sobering fact that real lives are regularly at stake, running a navy ship is a lot like running a business: leaders of both must get the most out of their crews to operate at peak efficiency and complete the tasks at hand. As commander of the highly acclaimed USS Benfold, Captain D. Michael Abrashoff irrefutably demonstrated how progressive management can succeed at sea; in It's Your Ship, he translates his methods into an approach that can also be applied by land-bound captains of commerce and industry. Describing "the ideas and techniques that I used to win my sailors' trust and, eventually, their enthusiastic commitment to our joint goal of making our ship the best in the fleet," Abrashoff cites embarrassing failures along with subsequent triumphs to illuminate the keys to his accomplished 20-month tenure aboard the guided missile destroyer. His suggestions: lead by example; listen aggressively; communicate purpose and meaning; create a climate of trust; look for results, not salutes; take calculated risks; go beyond standard procedure; build up your people; generate unity; and improve your people's quality of life. While hardly original on the surface, Abrashoff's course should provide practical direction and inspiration for any leader hoping for similarly positive results in similarly rigid organizations. --Howard Rothman

Book Description

Naval captain D. Michael Abrashoff reveals the management principles that shaped his ship, the U.S.S. Benfold, into a model of leadership as progressive as any celebrated in the business world.The most important thing a captain can do is to see the ship from the eyes of the crew. This belief has successfully guided D. Michael Abrashoff, the captain of one of the U.S. Navys most modern and lethal warships. Abrashoff has revolutionized how to handle such challenging problems as excessive costs, low morale, sexual harassment, and constant turn-over. Business managers will benefit from Abrashoffs guiding belief that focus should be on empowering your people rather than on chain of command. By shifting organizing principles from obedience to performance, managers will be rewarded with remarkable productivity. As Abrashoff explains, the more people enjoy the process, the better the results. Good leaders listen to the people under their commandand use their ideas to improve operating procedures.

Customer Reviews:

Theory at work.......2007-05-14

There are lots of book out there that describe management theory, but few give you examples of how to put it to use in the real world. This book tells how Commander Abrashoff (the author) empowered his crew so that they could be the best that they could be. I work in law enforcement and the story was very relevant to para military management style of most law enforcement agencies. If you are about to take charge of a group of people, this is the book for you.

Excellent book on management theory.......2007-05-08

I was referred to this book by a friend. One of the best books I have read on management. I'm a member of the fire service and many of the principals brought up in this book can be directly related to our business. I have since passed this book on to my officers and soon-to-be-officers in hopes they might better their management style. A must have!

It's Your Ship: Management Techniques from the Best Damn Ship in the Navy.......2007-04-30

great principles to live by. this book is applicable for work, church, marriage. good book.

Awesome Book.......2007-03-13

This book is such an eye opener to what a good solid leader should possess. The book is wrote in and intersting view and is a must for all future officers, police, fire dept, military where ever

One of the best books on leadership you'll find.......2007-02-23

I am a cynic on business books. There is a lot of drivel out there penned by half-wits. This book is not one of them.

This book presents practical, common-sense leadership ideas that have been field tested in one of the most rigid organizations going- and yielded extraordinary results. I particularly like the author's emphasis on encouraging feedback from lower level team members, common sense solutions, quick action on new and promising ideas, and concern for all members of the team. The fact that his ideas on leadership are the distilled results of what he did to turn a troubled ship into a Navy-leading example give the author credibility. It's an inspiring read, and I found myself unable to put the book down.

This is definitely a book I'll put front and center of my bookshelf, and come back to again and again. I've already passed it to another member of my team.

The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream

Average customer rating:

An Englishman's view of Barack Obama and Election 2008 (U.S History & Politics student - Kent U.K)
A good read
Great Man for Our Times
A Conversation with Obama about America
Our Next President!!!

The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream
Barack Obama
Manufacturer: Crown
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0307237699
Release Date: 2006-10-17

Amazon.com

Barack Obama's first book, Dreams from My Father, was a compelling and moving memoir focusing on personal issues of race, identity, and community. With his second book The Audacity of Hope, Obama engages themes raised in his keynote speech at the 2004 Democratic National Convention, shares personal views on faith and values and offers a vision of the future that involves repairing a "political process that is broken" and restoring a government that has fallen out of touch with the people. We had the opportunity to ask Senator Obama a few questions about writing, reading, and politics--see his responses below. --Daphne Durham

20 Second Interview: A Few Words with Barack Obama

Q: How did writing a book that you knew would be read so closely by so many compare to writing your first book, when few people knew who you were?
A: In many ways, Dreams from My Father was harder to write. At that point, I wasn't even sure that I could write a book. And writing the first book really was a process of self-discovery, since it touched on my family and my childhood in a much more intimate way. On the other hand, writing The Audacity of Hope paralleled the work that I do every day--trying to give shape to all the issues that we face as a country, and providing my own personal stamp on them.

Q: What is your writing process like? You have such a busy schedule, how did you find time to write?
A: I'm a night owl, so I usually wrote at night after my Senate day was over, and after my family was asleep--from 9:30 p.m. or so until 1 a.m. I would work off an outline--certain themes or stories that I wanted to tell--and get them down in longhand on a yellow pad. Then I'd edit while typing in what I'd written.

Q: If readers are to come away from The Audacity of Hope with one action item (a New Year's Resolution for 2007, perhaps?), what should it be?
A: Get involved in an issue that you're passionate about. It almost doesn't matter what it is--improving the school system, developing strategies to wean ourselves off foreign oil, expanding health care for kids. We give too much of our power away, to the professional politicians, to the lobbyists, to cynicism. And our democracy suffers as a result.

Q: You're known for being able to work with people across ideological lines. Is that possible in today's polarized Washington?
A: It is possible. There are a lot of well-meaning people in both political parties. Unfortunately, the political culture tends to emphasize conflict, the media emphasizes conflict, and the structure of our campaigns rewards the negative. I write about these obstacles in chapter 4 of my book, "Politics." When you focus on solving problems instead of scoring political points, and emphasize common sense over ideology, you'd be surprised what can be accomplished. It also helps if you're willing to give other people credit--something politicians have a hard time doing sometimes.

Q: How do you make people passionate about moderate and complex ideas?
A: I think the country recognizes that the challenges we face aren't amenable to sound-bite solutions. People are looking for serious solutions to complex problems. I don't think we need more moderation per se--I think we should be bolder in promoting universal health care, or dealing with global warming. We just need to understand that actually solving these problems won't be easy, and that whatever solutions we come up with will require consensus among groups with divergent interests. That means everybody has to listen, and everybody has to give a little. That's not easy to do.

Q: What has surprised you most about the way Washington works?
A: How little serious debate and deliberation takes place on the floor of the House or the Senate.

Q: You talk about how we have a personal responsibility to educate our children. What small thing can the average parent (or person) do to help improve the educational system in America? What small thing can make a big impact?
A: Nothing has a bigger impact than reading to children early in life. Obviously we all have a personal obligation to turn off the TV and read to our own children; but beyond that, participating in a literacy program, working with parents who themselves may have difficulty reading, helping their children with their literacy skills, can make a huge difference in a child's life.

Q: Do you ever find time to read? What kinds of books do you try to make time for? What is on your nightstand now?
A: Unfortunately, I had very little time to read while I was writing. I'm trying to make up for lost time now. My tastes are pretty eclectic. I just finished Marilynne Robinson's Gilead, a wonderful book. The language just shimmers. I've started Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin, which is a great study of Lincoln as a political strategist. I read just about anything by Toni Morrison, E.L. Doctorow, or Philip Roth. And I've got a soft spot for John le Carre.

Q: What inspires you? How do you stay motivated?
A: I'm inspired by the people I meet in my travels--hearing their stories, seeing the hardships they overcome, their fundamental optimism and decency. I'm inspired by the love people have for their children. And I'm inspired by my own children, how full they make my heart. They make me want to work to make the world a little bit better. And they make me want to be a better man.

Book Description

“A government that truly represents these Americans–that truly serves these Americans–will require a different kind of politics. That politics will need to reflect our lives as they are actually lived. It won’t be pre-packaged, ready to pull off the shelf. It will have to be constructed from the best of our traditions and will have to account for the darker aspects of our past. We will need to understand just how we got to this place, this land of warring factions and tribal hatreds. And we’ll need to remind ourselves, despite all our differences, just how much we share: common hopes, common dreams, a bond that will not break.”
–from The Audacity of Hope

In July 2004, Barack Obama electrified the Democratic National Convention with an address that spoke to Americans across the political spectrum. One phrase in particular anchored itself in listeners’ minds, a reminder that for all the discord and struggle to be found in our history as a nation, we have always been guided by a dogged optimism in the future, or what Senator Obama called “the audacity of hope.”

Now, in The Audacity of Hope, Senator Obama calls for a different brand of politics–a politics for those weary of bitter partisanship and alienated by the “endless clash of armies” we see in congress and on the campaign trail; a politics rooted in the faith, inclusiveness, and nobility of spirit at the heart of “our improbable experiment in democracy.” He explores those forces–from the fear of losing to the perpetual need to raise money to the power of the media–that can stifle even the best-intentioned politician. He also writes, with surprising intimacy and self-deprecating humor, about settling in as a senator, seeking to balance the demands of public service and family life, and his own deepening religious commitment.

At the heart of this book is Senator Obama’s vision of how we can move beyond our divisions to tackle concrete problems. He examines the growing economic insecurity of American families, the racial and religious tensions within the body politic, and the transnational threats–from terrorism to pandemic–that gather beyond our shores. And he grapples with the role that faith plays in a democracy–where it is vital and where it must never intrude. Underlying his stories about family, friends, members of the Senate, even the president, is a vigorous search for connection: the foundation for a radically hopeful political consensus.

A senator and a lawyer, a professor and a father, a Christian and a skeptic, and above all a student of history and human nature, Senator Obama has written a book of transforming power. Only by returning to the principles that gave birth to our Constitution, he says, can Americans repair a political process that is broken, and restore to working order a government that has fallen dangerously out of touch with millions of ordinary Americans. Those Americans are out there, he writes–“waiting for Republicans and Democrats to catch up with them.”

Customer Reviews:

An Englishman's view of Barack Obama and Election 2008 (U.S History & Politics student - Kent U.K) .......2007-06-22

Here in the U.K I guess I get a very different view of your Country. They say an outsider can easily and quickly see things its hard to see in yourself. Well, I study U.S history and politics here in England and I like to think I understand the subject of power in the U.S. fairly well. So here is my humble opinion on this book and the upcoming election.

First of all It should be understood the depth of hatred the world feels towards George W Bush. As an Englishman, like all English people, we share your history, language and a lot of your culture. We are (generally) forever on your side, no matter the costs to our country. As one of the first to join any American coalition militarily or economically, the brits are fighting your corner. The last few years, despite our Prime Minister Mr Blair's view and standpoint, the vast majority of our people do not want to see british or American soldiers in Iraq and we are sick of the whole war, the policies of our leaders and we worry for the future security of the Nation. George W Bush is the most unpopular President with the British people and is universally despised and ridiculed. Personally, I have yet to meet one British citizen who has any view other than hatred for this man. Many, many people felt cheated and disgusted when he was elected in 2004 and angry that the American people had elected this man again. So what can anyone do to stop this cynism and hope for a better future for your country and for the security of Nations like ours? well, vote Democrat for a start. Will Obama be a good choice?

This book is titled under various chapters that deal with specific issues facing the future President. i.e

1. Republicans and Democrats
2. Values
3. Our Constitution
4. Politics
4. Opportunity
5. Faith
6. Race
7. The world beyond our borders (foreign policy)
8. Family

I have to say that with the exception of maybe two chapters, Obama is not giving much away regarding any plans for the Presidency or his policies. Like many people tired of the Bush administrations lies and incomptency, I would love to see this man be elected to office. I have always been a democratic liberal and agree with basically everything he has to say. But although I can't vote in the U.S of course, even if I could, Obama has not convinced me too much of what he plans to do in steps towards making the world a better place.
Senator Obama is an eloquent and educated man, with a seeming humility and forthright honesty rarely seen or heard since the days of Truman and JFK. This is refreshing to hear and gives me hope for the future, but he is not really saying very much in particular and offers no visions other than a kind of; let's do the right things, be nice and it'll all work out fine. I realise politicians give little away before elections for fear of alienating a proportion of voters, but Obama has told us hardly anything at all. He is in the mould of JFK (no bad thing I admit) and he reminds me of him in many ways. He is the kind of all-things-to-all-people type of politician. Like JFK, he appears to be the kind of President you would like to get a beer with and is regular nice guy, but would be a bit short on firm action or firm policy as leader of the free world. Like Mr Kennedy, he's likeable, It's all inspiring rhetoric and good news, but dude.......where's the beef?

Having said this, it's an enjoyable read and full of inspirational words. it's well written and cohesive in its arguments for change. I do hope that he stands a chance of winning but i doubt it. In my opinion America will never have a black President, at least not in my lifetime, no matter who he is or what he stands for. Its sad but true, the hard-right, christian, white, monied majority rule America and the rest of it can hang for any chance of a real say in how the USA and (consequently our world) is run. It makes me sad to say this but its true.

Good Luck Obama. and good luck America 2008 !

A good read.......2007-06-15

I read "Dreams from my Father" and thoroughly enjoyed it. Obama could easily make a living writing.

Barack Obama is an excellent writer who will hold your attention no matter what he is saying. His casual style laced with human interest stories makes this book a page turner. Furthermore, he is right on nearly every issue. He is intelligent. Not only does he listen, but he processes incoming information which, as we have discovered, some people do not.

I do have a bone to pick, and I have it to pick with all of modern society. Article Six of the U.S. Constitution clearly states, "...no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust in the United States." Note the words "any" and "ever." For a politician to discuss his religious beliefs (or a debate moderator to ask about them) becomes a religious test and panders to those folks who want to abandon American law and tradition when it comes to religion.

Great Man for Our Times.......2007-06-08

This is the politician all of us who hate politicians have been waiting for. A person more concerned about the greater good than party loyalty or selling out to the highest bidder. Read the book then decide on the man!

A Conversation with Obama about America.......2007-06-07

Obama's first book Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance was written before he went into politics, and reads like a biography - although he brings up certain societal concerns, it is about his journey to discover himself as someone of mixed heritage that grew up without the presence of his father. "The Audacity of Hope" is written after his unlikely ascension to the national stage as a U.S. Senator and speaker at the 2004 Democratic National Convention. It is not nearly as biographical as his first book, with each chapter focused on a certain aspect of our nation ("Republicans and Democrats" about partisanship, "The World Beyond Our Borders" about foreign policy, etc.). It is basically a conversation with Obama about these issues, as he explains his views of what the problems are and some ideas about how they may be approached. Although they are not the focus, personal anecdotes are used throughout the text, and very few portions of the book read like something that could have been generically written by anyone with some knowledge of the issues - Obama's voice and the personal importance of these issues to him easily comes off the page.

In a section of the book in which he explains a conversation he had with Senator Byrd, Obama writes: "He told me I would do well in the Senate but that I shouldn't be in too much of a rush - so many senators today became fixated on the White House, not understanding that in the constitutional design it was the Senate that was supreme, the heart and soul of the Republic." When this book was written, thoughts of Presidential candidacy in 2008 couldn't have been absent from the Senator's mind, and although the book's purpose isn't to make the case for Obama as President, it's hard to read it without sincerely believing he would be a great man for the job. I'd strongly recommend this book for anyone that wants to learn more about why Obama might (or, if you decide so, might not) make a good President, HOWEVER there are several portions of the book that are excellent regardless of your views on the man - the chapter on "Politics" (which explores the process by which and the reasons well-intentioned politicians might become unscrupulous), "Faith" (which discusses the reconciling of this issues and today's politics), and "Our Constitution" in particular.

Our Next President!!! .......2007-06-04

This book is simply amazing! At 17 i am already very cynical towards politics and the government, and see it as being very corrupt, mainly because its run by Republicans (and the Bush Administration). However, Barack Obama's idealistic views on how we as a nation can come together and "reclaim the american dream" has shined a light on a bad situation and brought hope to me, and i know it will do the same for you. His book isnt about trying to create an image for himself as a presidential candidate(as he now is), its about his personal views on everything from "how we should interpret the intent of the Founding Fathers" to how he feels we can bring our nation to a better place. Also he doesnt use this book to bash other politicians! (So if you want to read a book by a true and honest politician then this is for you)

Average customer rating:

Donald T
Everything is Relative
Einstein the Human Being
Wow..... a spectacular look at an equally spectacular man....
Isaacson continues to build his case for being in a lofty league of serious contemporary authors in his own rite.

Einstein: His Life and Universe
Walter Isaacson
Manufacturer: Simon & Schuster
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

Scientists | Professionals & Academics | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0743264738
Release Date: 2007-04-10

Amazon.com

As a scientist, Albert Einstein is undoubtedly the most epic among 20th-century thinkers. Albert Einstein as a man, however, has been a much harder portrait to paint, and what we know of him as a husband, father, and friend is fragmentary at best. With Einstein: His Life and Universe, Walter Isaacson (author of the bestselling biographies Benjamin Franklin and Kissinger) brings Einstein's experience of life, love, and intellectual discovery into brilliant focus. The book is the first biography to tackle Einstein's enormous volume of personal correspondence that heretofore had been sealed from the public, and it's hard to imagine another book that could do such a richly textured and complicated life as Einstein's the same thoughtful justice. Isaacson is a master of the form and this latest opus is at once arresting and wonderfully revelatory. --Anne Bartholomew

Read "The Light-Beam Rider," the first chapter of Walter Isaacson's Einstein: His Life and Universe.

Five Questions for Walter Isaacson

Amazon.com: What kind of scientific education did you have to give yourself to be able to understand and explain Einstein's ideas?

Isaacson: I've always loved science, and I had a group of great physicists--such as Brian Greene, Lawrence Krauss, and Murray Gell-Mann--who tutored me, helped me learn the physics, and checked various versions of my book. I also learned the tensor calculus underlying general relativity, but tried to avoid spending too much time on it in the book. I wanted to capture the imaginative beauty of Einstein's scientific leaps, but I hope folks who want to delve more deeply into the science will read Einstein books by such scientists as Abraham Pais, Jeremy Bernstein, Brian Greene, and others.

Amazon.com: That Einstein was a clerk in the Swiss Patent Office when he revolutionized our understanding of the physical world has often been treated as ironic or even absurd. But you argue that in many ways his time there fostered his discoveries. Could you explain?

Isaacson: I think he was lucky to be at the patent office rather than serving as an acolyte in the academy trying to please senior professors and teach the conventional wisdom. As a patent examiner, he got to visualize the physical realities underlying scientific concepts. He had a boss who told him to question every premise and assumption. And as Peter Galison shows in Einstein's Clocks, Poincare's Maps, many of the patent applications involved synchronizing clocks using signals that traveled at the speed of light. So with his office-mate Michele Besso as a sounding board, he was primed to make the leap to special relativity.

Amazon.com: That time in the patent office makes him sound far more like a practical scientist and tinkerer than the usual image of the wild-haired professor, and more like your previous biographical subject, the multitalented but eminently earthly Benjamin Franklin. Did you see connections between them?

Isaacson: I like writing about creativity, and that's what Franklin and Einstein shared. They also had great curiosity and imagination. But Franklin was a more practical man who was not very theoretical, and Einstein was the opposite in that regard.

Amazon.com: Of the many legends that have accumulated around Einstein, what did you find to be least true? Most true?

Isaacson: The least true legend is that he failed math as a schoolboy. He was actually great in math, because he could visualize equations. He knew they were nature's brushstrokes for painting her wonders. For example, he could look at Maxwell's equations and marvel at what it would be like to ride alongside a light wave, and he c