The Master Puppeteer

Book Description

Who is the man called Sabura, the mysterious bandit who robs the rich and helps the poor? And what is his connection with Yosida, the harsh and ill- tempered master of feudal Japan's most famous puppet theater? Young Jiro, an apprentice to Yosida, is determined to find out, even at risk to his own life.

Meamwhile, Jiro devotes himself to learning puppetry. Kinshi, the puppet master's son, tutors him. When his sheltered life at the theater is shattered by mobs of hungry, rioting peasants, Jiro becomes aware of responsibilities greater that his craft. As he schemes to help his friend Kinshi and to find his own parent, Jiro stumbles onto a dangerous and powerful secret....

Customer Reviews:

Very Good Book.......2007-04-24

Jiro, a spirited yet clumsy boy, goes to the theater to work as an apprentice to get money to help his family. An old blind man, the reciter Okada, tells him he can stay. Here he meets a cast of interesting characters.
Yoshida - A harsh and short tempered man. He is the head of the puppet theater and a master at controlling and giving life to puppets.
Kinshi - The leader of the boys at the theater. He is an optimistic, funny, and good-natured boy loved by the other boys. He cares about the night rovers (poor people who riot and attack places to get food) and tries to help them.
Minoru - a fat boy who loves to eat.
Tehji - A rather timid boy who is good at working but shy and talks with a stutter.
Wada - An older boy who is rough and thinks he is the best.
Okada - A blind but kind man who recites the plays in the theater.

Jiro gets suspicious and sees a connection between Yoshida and Siboru, the very famous Robin Hood-like bandit. Soon the theater becomes the start of an adventure of hopes and losses, and even life and .

Over all I think Paterson had unique characters. The story really shows what life was like in Japan at that time. She does an amazing and beautiful job of describing the art of puppetry. The climax is also very exciting. I recommend this book to anyone.

Kinshi.......2006-11-29

The Master Puppeteer is a very suspenseful book about a boy living in a puppet theater as an apprentice. His family is very poor and they are just trying to stay alive. I recommend this book to anyone. It may not be your favorite book but it won't be your least. The book really makes you predict what will happen next. The only part that was hard to concentrate on were all of the Japanese names, other than that it was an easy read. Everything in the story had a purpose in the end. There wasn't a single piece of information that could have been left out. I personally have always enjoyed reading about life and death situations or any type of action and adventure book. If you like reading adventure books you will enjoy this book.

'' The Magical Page Turner''.......2004-01-08

The Master Puppeteer is a mysterious thrilling book about a bandit named Saburo who robs the rich and helps the poor! There also is a boy in the story named Jiro who devotes his life to learning puppetry.Meanwhile the puppet theater crashes by a mob of rioting peasents.Jiro becomes aware of his responsibilities greater than his craft.He schemes to safe his friend Kinishi and his parents.While he does this he stumbles upon a great and powerful secret.

Buy this book! (AC).......2004-01-08

This outstanding book takes place in Osaka,Japan. The main characters are Jiro, Yoshida, and Kinshi. Jiro, a thirteen year old young boy, is determind to find out who Saburo is even if it takes risking his own life! Saburo is a mysterious robber who robs from the rich and helps the poor. Meanwhile Jiro is learning puppetry. Kinchi is the master puppeter's son. The master puppeteer is Yoshida who tutors Kinchi. When his sheltered life at the theatre is ruined, Jiro stumbles into a dangerous and powerful secret!

The Master Puppeteer.......2002-04-14

This book called The Master Puppeteer is about a poor boy name Jiro. Jiro is trying to help is father, so the family won't starve to death. The family needs money to keep alive because back then, things were not that well. A lot of people were in hunger, it is up to Jiro to help out with business. Jiro and his family are in the city of Osaka, that is in Japan. Jiro tris to at a theater and make puppets for the a theater, but sadly Jiro is too clumsy for the job.

There are also friendships and courage along this story...I enjoy reading this book, because he shows me more about Japan and the people who lives there...

Average customer rating:

Way Beyond "Socrates Revisited"

True, but gimmicky

A Unique and Inspiring Wake-up Call

Challenge Consensus Reality!

A Simple Cure For What's "Eating Us"
The Simplest Path to Personal and Planetary Awakening, Step One: FREE YOUR MIND: 10 Keys for Unlocking Your Personal Potential, Achieving Spiritual Awakening, ... of Humanity's Ultimate Cosmic Destiny
Vincent Casspriano Jr.
Manufacturer: Lulu.com
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books
Buddha | Buddhism | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 1847285783

Book Description

The Simplest Path, Step One: Free Your Mind delineates, in one slim volume, a complete system for achieving personal spiritual awakening, along with a straightforward, no-nonsense plan individuals and groups so enlightened can follow to awaken Humanity en masse and positively transform the world. This book contains keys to awakening. Awakening from our personal dream shatters the solid "box" of limitation memes have built around our lives, and frees us to fluidly craft our personalities, environments, relationships, careers, etc. as an artist paints a landscape or a sculptor teases form from formless clay. All of us awakening together from the shared dream of the planet will mark the birth of our species out of our current global nightmare of decline into a limitless future literally beyond our present ability to imagine, even in our "wildest dreams," indeed.

Customer Reviews:

Way Beyond "Socrates Revisited".......2007-08-22

After reading the commentary attached to the one star rating given by the young man from Texas, I feel compelled to step forward in defense of this very fine book. With only one exception, every point made in that negative review is simply wrong. Just not factually correct. The reviewer identifies himself as a young man (... "to my young mind"), and since all of his other Amazon reviews are of TV episodes on DVD, video games and rock music CDs I take him at his word. Well, I am an "old man," closing in on my sixty-third birthday, and I came to Mr. Casspriano's book after six decades of life experience, the last three of those decades a zealous practitioner of Zen Buddhism. I say this not to "brag," but simply to qualify myself as a reviewer before beginning.

I'll start where the one star reviewer closed his argument, with his statement that the simplest path reduces to two Socratic concepts: "Admit that you don't know anything" and "know yourself."

The first part is nominally true (the exception). Like Zen Buddhism, a central tenet of the simplest path is working to release the false notion we all hold that we know ourselves, other people, the world around us. But identifying and releasing our attachments to our illusions is a life's work, not some brash "I don't know nothin'!" as the young Texan seems to imply. Under normal circumstances, we go about our daily lives with no idea we are deluded about anything, as Maya (the illusion of the phenomenal world around and even inside us) is so convincing that most of us never even think to question its validity. Casspriano did not invent the notion of human beings being trapped in illusion, as this truth was known to the timeless authors of the Hindu Vedas and is central to all schools of Buddhism (not just Zen). But his scientific/spiritual exploration of the mechanism by which Maya ensnares our minds and can, with effort, be overcome is among the best "plain English" explanations of this process I have read. There is no "inscrutable mystery" in the simplest path (a criticism that has been accurately leveled toward Zen Buddhism, as a lot of Eastern thought truly does come off as "inscrutable" when translated into English and/or the metaphors of Western culture). Casspriano lays out in no-nonsense American English exactly what our brains are doing when they create the illusion we mistake for reality, then shows the reader in the same clear terms how to train his or her brain to break free of illusion and taste reality as-it-is. In just 216 pages, that is no mean feat. After thirty years of Zen practice and numerous kensho experiences (of varying depths and intensities), I can say from personal experience that Casspriano is correct. Enlightenment comes as the fruit of a long, incremental process of retraining the mind to touch reality in a new way, and the process described in the simplest path is the same as that followed in Zen practice, especially Rienzi Zen koan study (I'll have more to say about this in a later paragraph). Casspriano's approach and language is very different from traditional Zen (more "scientific," and no sitting meditation is required), which I think would appeal to Americans and other Westerners seeking to experience "awakening" without necessarily committing themselves to a religion like Buddhism, but the internal mental/spiritual process and final destination are the same.

"Know yourself," on the other hand, is not in this book at all, at least not in the way the young reviewer, or Socrates for that matter, uses the phrase. As in Buddhism, Casspriano takes pains to demonstrate that "self" is as much of an illusion as our misapprehension of the phenomenal world, and is a byproduct of exactly the same mind process that creates outer Maya. A core teaching of Buddhism is that our "self," our personality/ego, is nothing more than an aggregation of outside influences that cluster together in our minds like shiny stones gathered into a pile, and which we mistake not only for something "real," but tragically, for our essential selves. Yet this "pile" has nothing really to do with who we are at all. Buddhism teaches "no-self." Belief in the illusion of a unique and independent "self" is our greatest obstacle to enlightenment. Wasting time and energy getting to "know yourself" in the Western sense is foreign to Eastern thought. Casspriano again does a great job of translating the Buddhist concept of "no-self" into Western scientific/spiritual terminology. He shows the process by which our ego/personality aggregate "piles up," as well as how to take the pile down, stone by stone. Enlightenment is what the pile was covering up, and so it naturally appears as soon as the pile is removed - but oh how we cling to our personal pile of stones! "Self" is what we must trade for enlightenment, what must be surrendered, and Casspriano returns to this truth many times in the simplest path. My point is that the one star reviewer's reduction of the simplest path to "know yourself" has no basis at all in the actual book.

As to the book being "gimmicky": Yes, the words "The Simplest Path" recur frequently throughout the book, but not in reference to the book itself (at least that's not how I took it), but rather to the system of understanding the mind and working toward "awakening" Casspriano is describing - and it is a complete system that deserves to be considered as a whole, on its own. At times the repetition does have a feel of "branding" in the commercial sense, so I understand where the reviewer may have taken his impression. But the simplest path, while resonant with Zen Buddhism (and apparently, according to Casspriano, with the Toltec philosophy espoused by Carlos Castaneda, of which I have no personal knowledge, so I'll have to take the author's word for that) is far enough different that it needs its own "name" to set it apart from other schools of similar but not identical thought. The reviewer's criticism is like saying that every use of the term "Zen" in a book called "Zen Buddhism" should be taken as a reference to the book, and not to the larger practice of Zen Buddhism as a spiritual discipline that the book is describing. Casspriano's point in repeatedly linking The Simplest Path, Zen Buddhism and Toltec Shamanism throughout the book, at least as I understood it, is to highlight these three spiritual practices as related reliable paths through a dark forest of illusion, a forest in which many apparent (and more popular) paths, including most (all?) religious beliefs, actively vie to mislead travelers toward deeper ensnarement in the dream, rather than leading them toward "awakening."

I want to say a word about koan study in Rienzi Zen and how it relates to the simplest path. Koans are those quirky Zen sayings and stories like "what is the sound of one hand clapping?" or "what was your original face before you (or your parents) were born?" that have no rational answer, and which Zen students turn and turn in their minds like the tumblers of a combination lock until their imprisoned psyches "explode" in a "super-rational" experience of reality beyond the illusion ("irrational" would be the wrong term, as that implies "nonsense"). That "super-rational" vision of reality is called "kensho." I have experienced it myself, more than once in my lifetime. I have come to think of Casspriano's "Key Questions" in the second half of the simplest path, especially the later seven of the ten, as "cultural koans" designed to trigger "collective kensho" for the whole human race at once. Like "what is the sound of one hand clapping?", unflinching consideration of the value of human life, of how our beliefs about the future shape the present, of the true origin and destiny of life on Earth, etc., especially as seen through the lens of Casspriano's "Key Question Technique," reveals that none of these questions have rational answers, yet all require our active and immediate response. Successful resolution of these larger riddles that impact everyone will require us all to eventually "explode" into reality, together, in a "super-rational" way. We'll have to break through the illusion and wake up together, as one (which has been the goal of Mahayana Buddhism, of which Zen is a sect, since around 200 BCE). That is the "Planetary Awakening" addressed in this book, and I believe Casspriano's "Key Questions" are a concrete step in that direction. I'm glad I spent my fifteen dollars.

This is my "old man" take on the simplest path, having encountered it after 30 years of Zen Buddhist practice (I'm not veering off my chosen path here, just bowing respectfully in passing toward Casspriano's). From a Buddhist perspective, the simplest path is true Dharma, though I do not get the impression from reading his book that Vincent Casspriano is himself a Buddhist or a follower of any religion. That to my mind makes his book all the more interesting.

True, but gimmicky.......2007-08-09

Casspriano's book is scientifically and philosophically sound as best as my young mind can tell, but I don't recommend this book. Its scattered with numerous pages of advertising about how his "program" works and how it compares to other religions and spiritual movements. Why must this author physically write out "The Simplest Path" in reference to his book every other page, and talk about his second volume? Perhaps because he's not out for pure truth, but for our money.

All this book comes down to after you strip away the nonsense is two things. First, admit that you don't truly know anything. Second, know yourself. Do those two things (they essentially both mean to question EVERYTHING), and you'll have Casspriano's "Planetary Awakening," with 15 bucks still in your pocket. And you'll be following the fundamental truths already said by Socrates.. so do yourself a favor and pick up Plato's "Apology" and read up on the Socratic dialogue on how to live a good life. And don't stop there, because you can't be sure he's right.

And I have 10 bucks that says these other couple of reviews were written by the book publisher. In any case, ignore the hype.

A Unique and Inspiring Wake-up Call.......2007-05-15

This is one of the most clear-headed books I've read in years on the subject of real, nitty gritty, get your hands dirty spiritual development (as opposed to the fru fru New Age variety). So much of what passes for "spirituality" in our time amounts to some author, celebrity, priest, philosopher or self-appointed guru telling us what to "believe," sight unseen, if we want to reach heaven, attain enlightenment, achieve "ascension," etc. Casspriano takes an at times startling opposite approach. For Casspriano, such unquestioned/unquestionable beliefs are not only NOT the path to spiritual awakening, they represent the chief obstacle blocking our realization of higher consciousness. And it's not just religious beliefs ("faith") he's talking about, but all our beliefs about reality, especially those that enclose our thinking in "boxes" that limit our freedom to find solutions to real-world threats like Peak Oil, overpopulation, Global Warming, etc. Though much of the book focuses on individual enlightenment, for Casspriano, these larger planetary issues are "spiritual," as well. Whether the issue is our personal inability to find happiness or Humanity's collective rush toward physical extinction, the cause is the same - our wrong-headed beliefs about what's real. The solution is the same, as well - continuous, deep questioning. Using Richard Dawkins' concept of "memes" as a central metaphor, Casspriano first breaks down the basic process of belief, showing the mechanism in our brains by which beliefs misdirect and control our psyches, then he walks the reader through an exploration of a series of ten "anti-meme questions" aimed at breaking down the walls of our mental "boxes" and setting our minds free. With each question, he supplies an exercise designed to allow the reader to attain a personal taste of reality "beyond the box," especially as flavored by that chapter's "Key Question." For the most part, this formula works very well (with a few rare moments of over-exuberance on the author's part, as already described in other reviews, though as a card carrying vegan environmentalist, I can't say I particularly minded), delivering a cumulative series of death-blows to some of the most basic "pillars" of our present human consensus reality. Beyond the walls those pillars supported lies real reality, where we are all interconnected and interdependent, and, in Casspriano's view, mutually destined for greatness, if we can just wake up and grab the reins of our runaway culture in time. This is not a book for spiritual "feel gooders" seeking soft assurances that they're perfect just they way they are and everything's going to be all right, no matter what. This is a wake up call, a tool kit and a concrete action plan for becoming individually enlightened and collectively saving the world, all rolled up into one. That, I think, is a cause well-worthy of exuberance.

Challenge Consensus Reality!.......2007-05-10

This is a thoughtful book that addresses how we may go about developing a process to question our everyday consensus reality. I suppose if I have learned anything in 49 years of life, it is that all personal and social problems stem from our fundamental views on the nature of reality itself. Vincent Casspriano uses the concept of a "meme" as a fundamental unit of ideas, assumptions, etc. that often block our understanding of reality itself. One such meme, for example, may be that we have to "fight for our freedom" or the world's a "fearful" place and hence, we have to be ready to kill to protect ourselves. I suppose you could also use the word "paradigm" here as well, but the essential point of this book is that we "unconsciously" function in our life with many limited points of view that block our ability to solve problems on both a personal and a social basis.

While Vince Casspriano is to be congradulated for producing a book that presents both a methodology and a motivation for personal transformation, there are a few pitfalls here that the potential reader should be aware of before tackling this material. The author has some rather strong views on fossil fuel consumption, meet consumption, and the role of humans in the cycle of procreation. While I generally agree with his analysis on fossil fuel consumtion and meat consumption (as I have viewed large tracks of deforrested grazing land in developing countries), these viewpoints can distract the reader from the essential point here which is to rigourously question consensus reality. Since I am single, and have no motivation to have children, I definitely disagree with his views on the necessity of human procreation on this planet, but here again, it is important to extract the essential meaning rather than get caught in the specific political/social debates that these issues may spawn.

If you are serious about personal transformation with the potential for changing our global consciousness, than this book can be an invaluable tool. I do agree with the Author that a world population of "high functioning" people can resolve every planetary problem we face today. As we systematically question our consensus reality, we will see our problems in new ways, and with this new perspective, problems can often be quickly resolved or transcended.

A Simple Cure For What's "Eating Us".......2006-11-13

I considered titling this review, "Stop Whining, Wake Up and Get Busy Saving the World," but decided "Eating Us" would be more attention-grabbing - which matters because I believe Vincent Casspriano, Jr.'s "The Simplest Path, Step One: FREE YOUR MIND" is an important book, and I want to do whatever I can to draw your attention to it. Pick the title you like best. Both very fittingly describe what you will find within the pages of this remarkable new release from New Paradigm Press.

I have selected three short quotations to explore in this review that I think best summarize Casspriano's overall message:

From Chapter One, "The Boxes We Dream In":

"Right now, this very moment, you are asleep... Even if you are reading these words in broad daylight - sitting at your desk or beside the kitchen table, your feet firmly planted on the floor, eyes open, senses alert, feeling the weight of this book in your hands as sounds of life rise and fall rhythmically around you - you are deeply asleep, and dreaming furiously"

Now, the idea that Humans are sleeping, and must therefore "awaken," is by no means unique to Casspriano's "Simplest Path" spiritual system, being the root observation underlying pretty much all Eastern religion, and a lot of Western Occultism and New Age metaphysics, as well. In fairness, Casspriano makes no claim to this as an original insight, openly supporting his assessment of the human predicament with quotations taken from Animism, Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism and Islam. He then flows seamlessly into a list of complementary illustrations from the secular realms of Quantum Physics, brain/consciousness research, and most to-the-point, the study of memes and memetics, ala Evolutionary Biologist and world's best-known cheerleader for scientific atheism, Richard Dawkins.

If you've never heard of memes or memetics, a quick Google of those terms will reveal hundreds of serious, information-rich websites devoted to this now thirty-year old science. In a nutshell, a "meme" is a sort of contagious thought-form that spreads between people by way of imitation. Obvious memes in our environment include advertising jingles, fads and fashions, etc. Casspriano somewhat radically extends the concept to include just about everything that makes up the contents of our individual brains and shared human culture. While he resists redefining the word "meme" wholesale, he decidedly expands its definition to make memes and "memeplexes" (what you get when a number of memes band together into an organic, relational unit, like a religion or cultural or political movement) the basic, fundamental building blocks of everything we habitually label "real..."

And then he demonstrates, in at times excruciating detail, the complete emptiness of the "apparent-reality" that is a byproduct of memetic activity in our brains. What we call "real" is not real at all. It's an illusion spun up by our memes. And our memes are not original to us. They are "viral invaders" assailing our minds from without. Worse - and, while even this thought is not wholly unique to Casspriano, he certainly gives it his own very effective spin - memes are by no means mere passive beliefs or simple "harmless ideas." They are, Casspriano believes, actively predatory psychic parasites whose survival depends on our buying into the illusions they create in our minds. Think of illusion (Samsara, Maya, etc.) as a web we're caught in. Memes are the spider. We are the fly. Gotcha.

One thing I like very much about Casspriano's book is that he never asks us to take anything on faith, least of all this rather ugly depiction of the human psychic/spiritual condition. He not only challenges readers to test his hypothesis firsthand in order to experience what is real and true for ourselves, he spends a large chunk of the book outlining specific exercises anyone can do to escape memetic interference and personally experience reality as-it-is. The exercises in Part II of the book are powerful medicine... But this is a digression, so let me return to the point.

Memes are the spider, and we are the fly. A better metaphor might be that memes are the farmer, and we are the cow. Domesticated and docile, we allow memes to milk us daily, to extract from our minds the potent human psychic energy which, if reclaimed by us and put to proper human use, would quickly and positively transform our lives and our world. This transformation is awakening, ascension, enlightenment, metanoia, the Buddha-like change of consciousness most religions and spiritual systems on Earth hint at, but few ever actually deliver to followers. In this analysis, Casspriano's "Simplest Path" is very much in line with Gurdjieff's "Fourth Way," Carlos Castaneda's Toltec sorcery, and a few other well known spiritual practices inhabiting a somewhat darker, though perhaps more realistic corner of the New Age. But unlike most of those other systems, Casspriano's prescription for escaping illusion and awakening to reality is remarkably, well... simple.

From Chapter Three, "Waking Up":

"The simple truth is that we are sleeping because we lack sufficient energy to wake up."

And later in the same chapter:

"The real work that brings about awakening, rather than merely granting the external appearance of "being spiritual," while actually embroiling us ever more deeply in the dream, is a rigorous, daily commitment to the identification and elimination of every self-serving belief from which our personal dream-lives are constructed."

For "belief" in the quotation above, read "meme/memeplex." Casspriano certainly does, treating the terms as largely interchangeable. In the end, this genuinely simple - at least in the sense of being uncomplicated and pragmatic - spiritual practice amounts to discovering reality as-it-actually-is less by searching for a glimpse beyond the illusion, than by systematically withdrawing our participation in, and identification with, the dream. When we disentangle our psyches from memetic illusion, only reality remains. We don't have to chase it; to a meme-free mind, reality just appears. This is "Satori" in Zen Buddhism. This is "stopping the world" in the Toltec sorcery of Castaneda and others. Casspriano's genius lies in his talent for exposing the core mechanism behind such complex and often inscrutable spiritual systems, and for putting into plain language clear instructions for unraveling the dream and achieving personal awakening. The virus-like process by which memes take over and control our human minds, as described by Casspriano is, to my mind, very complicated (but well worth struggling through). What is genuinely simple about "The Simplest Path," however, is Casspriano's prescription for breaking those bonds, once you've made the effort to understand how they are created and maintained. For Casspriano, remaining a victim of spiritual sleep and energetic exploitation by memes is a complex activity in which we unconsciously invest enormous amounts of psychic energy every day of our lives. Awakening is the product of a simple act of withdrawing that investment, which automatically re-energizes of our minds and lives. Or as Casspriano cleverly phrases it when closing Chapter Three, "Waking Up":

"Unweave the tapestry of the dream, and awakening happens."

Anyone can do this. Spiritual awakening, in Casspriano's view, may be hard work, but it is not complicated work. The path to enlightenment is really rather shockingly simple. Fall out of love with the dream. Reclaim your psychic energy. Wake up to reality.

The ten "Key Questions" Casspriano explores in the second section of the book are designed to put the theory laid out in Part I to practical and immediate use. Essentially, I think Casspriano sees these ten issues - why we treat enlightenment as an "airy-fairy" ideal instead of a measurable transformation of brain functioning, the excuses we make for avoiding personal responsibility and integrity along the lines of Castaneda's "impeccability," the fallacy of belief in a "separate self," etc. - as pillars of both our personal and collective human dreams. They are by no means an exhaustive listing of the memes twisting our minds. But they are primary keystones on which layers upon layers of the grand illusion are built. Topple these ten baseline pillars and the larger structure crumbles.

Casspriano explores some "Keys" more successfully than others. One downside to the book is that, especially in the "Keys," Casspriano's own memetic prejudices shine at times rather glaringly through, as when, in his discussion of the American "What Would Jesus Do?" religious fad, he characterizes the Evangelical Christian purveyors of WWJD as, "ultra-conservative, right wing ideologues." Even should the reader personally agree with such pronouncements, its hard to resist thinking, "Hey Vince! Your memes are showing!" But where he nails his point, Casspriano's prose can be downright inspiring, as with the "Key" cosmological study "Is Earth the Center of the Universe?," which explores the gap between what we know, scientifically, about the Universe and what our daily choices and behavior says we really believe, about the cosmos and about ourselves. His closing "Key" "Are We Alone?" so poetically frames the true stakes of our global human predicament - species survival VS extinction - that its hard to imagine anyone keeping their gaze glued squarely to their own self-involved navel in the wake of reading it. Of course we are not alone. There are six and a half billion of us on Planet Earth, and whether we awaken to what's best in us or follow our darkest drives over History's cliff into oblivion, we do so as one. One planet, one fate.

This notion of "oneness" and of a common, intertwined human spiritual and biological destiny is a core theme in The Simplest Path, Step One: FREE YOUR MIND that sets it apart from any spiritual book in recent memory. My final quotation from the book returns us to the opening lines of Chapter One, "The Boxes We Dream In":

"We are all aware of the challenges facing us as we enter together into the 21st Century:

· World oil supplies are running out.

· Global warming is transforming the Earth into a steamy greenhouse.

· Even as our technology connects the world, ideological extremism, terrorism and militarism divide us as never before.

· Headlines bombard us with news of war, famine, pestilence and death until we feel overwhelmed and unable to respond.

· Time is running out..."

Vincent Casspriano, Jr.'s "The Simplest Path to Personal and Planetary Transformation, Step One: FREE YOUR MIND" does not offer easy escape from these very pressing real-world human ills, but rather, a down to Earth, workable prescription for their cure. Yes, we must awaken as individuals, and, rest assured, "The Simplest Path" shows spiritual seekers exactly how to do that. But a prime message of "The Simplest Path" is that, for personal awakening to have meaning, it must occur within the context of a complete re-visioning of global culture, and a mass wrenching away of the wheel of History from the control of viral memes, that we might create a common cosmic human destiny worthy of our highest potential as a species.

Now that's a meme worth feeding.

Average customer rating:

Tabs are a bit off
Solid transcriptions
Yet Another Review...
watch it
Keep chugging along, cherry lane

Metallica - Master of Puppets
Metallica
Manufacturer: Cherry Lane Music
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Songbooks | Music | Entertainment | Subjects | Books

General | Music | Entertainment | Subjects | Books

ASIN: 089524358X

Product Description

Matching folio to the best-selling album. Song List: Battery, Damage, Inc., Disposable Heroes, Leper Messiah, Master Of Puppets, Orion, The Thing That Should Not Be, Welcome Home (Sanitarium).

Customer Reviews:

Tabs are a bit off.......2005-10-14

Lets get one thing straight: I love metallica!
But, this book has one mayor error:
some of the written tabs are incorrect, not in notes but in sound.
..Just sit down with this book and practice then you will figure out a lot more better and faster ways to play a certain lick etc. It is 75% correct. Otherwise a good book with nice pictures.

Solid transcriptions.......2005-01-09

The Master of Puppets songbook from Cherrylane is actually pretty good as far as these items go. It's fairly accurate, even for some of the more complex sections. However, The Thing That Should Not Be is notated in drop D-tuning, when the whole guitar is actually tuned down to D -- but the actual notes appear correct despite this error. I like the fact that some of bassist Cliff Burton's leads (Orion and the intro to Damage Inc.) were incuded as well. You can nit-pick about some the positons in the tabulature, but as long as the notes are right, who cares?

Yet Another Review..........2003-05-30

The Master tab book is definitely a must-buy for not only the avid Metallica muso-fan, but for those wishing to upskill themselves in various guitar techniques.

As mentioned elsewhere, take all tabs with a grain of salt, however, the solos are a near-enough note-by-note transcription and each riff is intricately tabbed to include even the most subtle of variations.

Includes a very well-written introduction, outlining some very important and helpful tips to assist you in your mastery of one of Metllica's finest albums.

In a one-line verdict: A definite must-have, even as a collector's item!

watch it.......2002-01-26

Much like any tablature book on the market, you have to take the info within the book with a grain of salt.
These tabs are not transcribed by the actual musicians, but by people trying to figure out the easiest way to play these songs.
With that in mind - upon viewing the S&M video, I discovered that "The Thing that Should Not Be" is not in drop-D tuning as the book says, but rather in standard tuning tuned down a whole step (much like "Sad but True" or "Whiskey in the Jar" or "Sabbra Cadabra")- as far as I can tell, the only Drop-D tuning song that the mighty metallica does is "-human" from the afore-mentioned S&M.
these books are great to help you through trouble spots when you are trying to figure out certain difficult passages, but nothing beats figuring it out for yourself.
Still... could not have figured out some of the parts from this momentous album without the help of this book (especially considering what a novice I was when I first bought this - remember kids - downstrokes only... otherwise you won't be as cool as your Uncle James)

Keep chugging along, cherry lane.......2000-08-10

Sometimes, you can find tablature on the net that isn't always accurate, but you know that these cherry lane books are gonna sound right, cause they are!

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Don't trust anyone wearing a shirt!
Great even for the NON Science Fiction Reader.
Just amazing how well it holds up
An outstanding novel . . .
delightful early science fiction..

Puppet Masters
Robert A. Heinlein
Manufacturer: Del Rey
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

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ASIN: 0345330145
Release Date: 1986-10-12

Book Description

Earth was being invaded by aliens and the top security agencies were helpless: the aliens were controlling the mind of every person they encountered. So it was up to Sam Cavanaugh, secret agent for a powerful and deadly spy network, to find a way to stop them--which meant he had to be invaded himself!

Download Description

Tale of space aliens who attach themselves to human beings in the Midwest

Customer Reviews:

Don't trust anyone wearing a shirt!.......2007-08-11

This is not only one of the best alien invasion yarns since H. G. Wells, it's one of the best horror stories of the last fifty years. Sam (not his real name) is an agent for a very, very secret department of the U.S. government -- so much so that not even the government's other secret agencies know about his outfit. The Old Man (his boss) calls him in one day to go and investigate a purported flying saucer landing in Iowa, together with another agent, a stunning redhead named Mary (not her real name, either). Needless to say, the landing ain't a hoax -- though the invaders try to make it look that way. But the aliens are parasites the size of a dinner plate who attach themselves between a human being's shoulder blades and hook into the spinal cord, thereby putting themselves in complete control of the host. It's going to be a very nasty, very paranoid war. And Heinlein is in top form telling it, especially the section in which Sam himself becomes a victim. This novel, though now more than half a century old, reads better than most of the author's other books from that period, and I was puzzled for years why it was never made into a film. Well, that happened in 1994, but the result was pretty bad -- almost as bad as the film version of STARSHIP TROOPERS. Let's have a *good* film based on this book!

Great even for the NON Science Fiction Reader. .......2007-06-27

I am not a Science Fiction fan at all. I have only seen the original Star Wars movie, for example. It's just not my thing.

Then my friend told me about this book, The Puppet Masters by Robert Heinlein, and how people were overtaken by alien slugs and he was curious about how people "are overtaken by slugs of belief, of thought, of ego, of... of... of..."... well, he didn't say exactly that, but I understood.. even more, I think which is...

What might happen if we purposefully infected the world with forces of light?

Intriguing. So I read.

I loved, loved, loved Heilein's writing voice. It was almost like film noir. What was not to love about Sam? I swear I had heard his voice many times in films from the 40's. I could hear him using words like "dame" and say she was something like "a tall glass of water..." you know the kind of guy!

Anyway, I loved that immediately and the short, punchy, fast paced chapters draw in even those of us who aren't into science fiction really easily.

What impressed me... more than anything else... was how Heilein was able to wave some significant themes into the book itself. My favorite quote from the book is this one:

"Luck is a tag given by the mediocre to account for the accomplishments of a genius."

I agree with it wholeheartedly.

I also appreciate Heinlein's treatment of the lead woman in this book. Yes, ofcourse she is beautiful, but as significant as her beauty is her confidence, her intellect, her insights and her partnership with the men in her life.

It is intriguing to read about today (the book starts in July, 2007) from a "What will it be like then?" from 1951. We aren't flying around in rockets... (what a disappointment!) but there IS no more "Iron Curtain"... I bet that would have surprised Mr. Heinlein!

This one is worth reading, even if you don't think you like Science Fiction.

Just amazing how well it holds up.......2007-05-01

Copyrighted in 1951, The Puppet Masters showcases early Heinlein, already showing the style and content that would lead to him receiving the first Grand Master Award for science fiction. The book is entertaining not because of its fantastic vision of the future, but for the reason novels are usually entertaining - plot and character.

The story unfolds as a mysterious crash occurs in rural Iowa. Government agents are sent to investigate but do not return. The main protagonist, also an agent, a female agent, and the agency leader are dispatched. They realize something is out of the ordinary, eventually uncovering an invasion of aliens with the ability to enslave th eminds of humans, creating virtually indistinguishable puppets that then further their cause of global dominion. The story follows the three's struggles to first convince humanity of the threat, then ultimately find a way to fight back..

Set in a world that would put it near the present day, the book often misses the mark in terms of predicting the future. Information technology today is beyond anything Heinlein imagined, and transportation and military technology today still lag behind his vision. These are minor quibbles, though, as anyone who can't suspend disbelief enough to accept this as an alternate reality really has no business reading alien invasion stories in the first place.

Heinlein's characters are entertaining, incredibly skilled, and for want of a better term, "old school" in their approach to the various competencies the different genders bring to the business of protecting humanity. Heinlein has been accused of misogyny, but to me that rings hollow, as the female lead here is (typically for Heinlein) the most competent and mentally tough of the main characters. If believing that men have a duty to protect women from harm is misogynistic, then I guess you'll have to send me to re-education camp as well.

I went into the book more or less expecting the above from Heinlein. The Puppet Masters was one of the few of his books I had not read. I've enjoyed his other works, and this one did not disappoint. The one unexpected treat was seeing his early views on Soviet Russia. Apparently the aliens invaded in the territory of "the Commissars" as well, but it was much more difficult to detect. In Heinlein's mind, there appears to have been little difference between a soul-destroying collective administered by an alien hive mind and the same thing administered by a Politburo. As some have suggested, this allegory may have been Heinlein's purpose in writing the book..

So, for a timelessly entertaining early work by Heinlein with the bonus of seeing his incredible prescience regarding the USSR, The Puppet Masters is certainly worth your time.

5 stars.

An outstanding novel . . . .......2007-03-15

. . . from one of the greatest Sci-Fi authors of all time.

"The Puppet Masters" is a novel concerning an alien infestation of the Earth -- and how that invasion is dealt with. No plot spoilers -- just a few thoughts:

1) This novel was written in the 1950's -- a time in which Heinlein was moving away from the Sci-Fi juveniles at which he had excelled, and was moving into adult fiction. What would become his "future history" was developing -- but was not fully developed.

2) A super-secret spy agency is a device that Heinlein would use again (notably in "Friday") but in the mind of this reviewer, "Puppet Masters" is the better book by far.

3) As other reviewers have noted, this is a book written in the 50's, but narrated from the early 21st century. It is most interesting to see some of Heinlein's predictions about how 21st century life might look.

4) As in many of his other novels, Heinlein's female lead is red-haired.

5) Although this novel was written many years prior to "Starship Troopers", one can easily see similarities in Heinlein's attitude about honor, devotion, service, and military strength. Could "Starship Troopers" have been written, had not "Puppet Masters" preceded it?

All in all, this is a novel which I can recommend without any reservation whatsoever.

Five Stars.

delightful early science fiction.........2007-02-02

'The Puppet Masters' is a fun read that works off familiar territory: aliens invade Earth and inhabit the bodies and minds of humans. Robert Heinlein has a very smooth writing style which enables the reader to get into the story and not get weighed down by excessive details, as is often the case with science fiction novels. The author does a good job with characterizations and building suspense; at times 'The Puppet Masters' is a real page-turner.

Unfortunately the book runs out of steam in the last hundred pages or so; it's as if Heinlein didn't know how to exactly pull the story together and build a satisfactory conclusion. While the end itself is good the author comes close to ruining it by added elements which seem totally contrived.

Bottom line: overall a most worthy read, .. enough so for me to seek out other works by Heinlein.

Modesty Blaise: The Puppet Master (Modesty Blaise (Graphic Novels))

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Modesty Blaise excellence continues
A must for all Modesty fans

Modesty Blaise: The Puppet Master (Modesty Blaise (Graphic Novels))
Peter O'Donnell
Manufacturer: Titan Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1840238674
Release Date: 2006-02-01

Book Description

As dangerous as she is desirable, Modesty Blaise, the cult creation of best-selling writer Peter O'Donnell, returns for three more devastating adventures!

In The Stone Age Caper, Modesty and her partner, Willie Garvin, face a deadly Outback gang; The Puppet Master has a plan to brainwash Modesty into killing Willie to settle an old score; and humour and action mix when Modesty acquires a young admirer in With Love From Rufus!

Featuring brand new story introductions by Modesty creator Peter O'Donnell, a feature article on The Stone Age Caper and an introduction by author Jan Burke (Bloodlines), this latest addition to the Modesty Blaise library is not to be missed!

Customer Reviews:

Modesty Blaise excellence continues.......2006-12-14

Titan Books continues its series publication of every Modesty Blaise comic strip, in order. Each book contains an intro by the author, Peter O'Donnell, and every strip sequence another short description by Mr. O'Donnell. These comics are very well written and illustrated; they keep your attention from beginning to end and have thrilling espionage/murder/mystery/high adventure stories. This is the original Modesty, the character around whom the 13 novels were written and 2 movies made. The Puppet Master contains stories 22-The Stone Age Caper (strip # 2508-2627), 23-The Puppet Master (strip # 2628-2738) and 24-With Love from Rufus (strip # 2739-2846).

A must for all Modesty fans.......2006-08-06

The introductory comments by Peter O'Donnell are worth the price alone. The story lines, dialogue and illustrations are superb.

THE HEINLEIN TRIO THE PUPPET MASTERS DOUBLE STAR AND THE DOOR INTO SUMMER

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THE HEINLEIN TRIO THE PUPPET MASTERS DOUBLE STAR AND THE DOOR INTO SUMMER

Manufacturer: Doubleday
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: B000HZXQOA

Metallica - Master of Puppets (Drum Edition)

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Metallica - Master of Puppets (Drum Edition)
Metallica
Manufacturer: Cherry Lane Music
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0895245620

Book Description

Matching folio to the best-selling album. Includes: Master Of Puppets * Battery * Leper Messiah * plus photos.

PUPPET MASTERS, THE: Spies, Traitors, and the Real Forces Behind World Events

Average customer rating:

Misinformed, innacurate, confusing

PUPPET MASTERS, THE: Spies, Traitors, and the Real Forces Behind World Events
John Hughes-Wilson
Manufacturer: Weidenfeld and Nicolson
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0297846159

Book Description

John-Hughes Wilson is a recently retired Colonel in British military intelligence. He reveals how intelligence is the hidden hand behind major events, from stunning military victories to disasters like Pearl Harbor and 9/11.

It soon emerges that the Cold War spying game, as depicted by John Le Carre, has been going on for centuries. Almost every devious trick used by the KGB or the CIA would have been familiar to Francis Walsingham, Queen Elizabeth I's intelligence chief. He trapped Mary Queen of Scots in a conspiracy that lead to her execution: a brilliant operation that involved breaking Spanish codes, torturing their spies and turning many into double-agents. His methods, and his conviction that 'the end justifies the means', have been shared by successful intellig4ence chiefs from Roman times t the present day.

He argues that Military Intelligence - not prostitution - is the world's 'oldest profession', but the two often overlap. From the prostitute in Jericho who hid Joshua's spies to the infamous KGB 'honey traps' that ensnared CIA agents, politicians and businessmen, ladies of the night appear with salacious frequency in the story.

Customer Reviews:

Misinformed, innacurate, confusing.......2006-01-14

I was thoroughly disappointed. The book would have been a much, timely treatment of events occurring today. The Cold War is over but there is a new threat amongst us: can the Intell-Defense powers be just as active to crush this new enemy? It would have been an interesting book. The author is often found waffling due to lack of material and sometimes even relating historical items inaccurately.

Average customer rating:

Beware of Hunched People!

Robert Heinlein B--Puppet Masters
Robert A. Heinlein
Manufacturer: Del Rey Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

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Customer Reviews:

Beware of Hunched People!.......2007-02-28

When I was a teenager, Robert A. Heinlein was one of my favorite authors. Time had passed by, but still I love some of his books. "The Puppet Masters" is one of them.

This book was published in 1951 when the Cold War was raging. That cultural background greatly influences the story. As I pointed out in other reviews, books and films of the period allude the frightful issue of: "They are LIKE us but they are NOT us. They are DANGEROUS to us", as in the films "The Thing from another World" (1951), "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" (1956) or "I Married a Monster from Outer Space" (1958).

The story focuses on an alien invasion that expands all around the world with unimaginable speed. Sam and Mary are agents of an ultra secret Security Agency under the control of the Old Man who have a direct link to the President.
Both agents go to investigate and after discovering what's up, a fast paced adventure starts.
Alien parasites take control of human beings by the expedient of attaching themselves to the back of the host. The first frightful issue to overcome is how to distinguish friend from foes. Then, the Government has to implement some defense against them, that include a "bare backs" politic. Finally our heroes try to find the source and origin of the invasion.

At this height of his career, Heinlein was more centered in the action than in political or social speculation, as he develops in later books, with uneven success.

I recommend this book to all sci-fi lovers and those who enjoy adrenalin charged adventures.
Reviewed by Max Yofre.

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The Puppet Masters
Robert A. Heinlein
Manufacturer: Blackstone Audiobooks
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Audio CD

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The Door into Summer: Library Edition

ASIN: 0786181494

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