Amazon.com
Edward Boyd's agnosticism rested "not ... too much on any positive position ... but rather on a host of negative ones" about Christianity. In an attempt to address these negative issues, his son Greg, a professor of theology, asked his father, a strong-willed, highly intelligent, and stubborn 70-year-old, to enter into a correspondence in which "all of their cards would be laid on the table." Greg would give his father the opportunity to raise all his objections to the veracity of Christianity, and Greg would "answer these objections as well as give positive grounds for holding to the Christian faith."
Three years and more than 30 letters later, Letters from a Skeptic was published and Edward Boyd came to accept Christ. During his journey, he and his son hash through such topics as why the world is so full of suffering; why an all-powerful God needs prayer; how you can believe in someone who rose from the dead; and how another man's death can pardon others. Despite their brutal honesty, both men exhibit respect and love toward one another as they address these volatile subjects. In Edward's second response to Greg, he boldly says, "Well, your distinction between the 'Christian Church' and 'Christians' is interesting and novel, but frankly, I don't buy it." Greg responds, saying, "I've got to admit that you are raising some extremely good points in your letters. You are raising the most difficult questions a theist can face." --Jill Heatherly
Book Description
A son and his skeptical father debate issues such as suffering, Biblical inspiration, and whether or not all non-Christians go to hell. This book will help the reader to wrestle with the rational foundation of his or her own faith.
Customer Reviews:
Wonderful, authentic, insightful father-son conversation.......2007-09-25
All individuals of faith are at times either skeptical or apologetic for their faith beliefs. So, we can identify with both the skeptical father in his forceful, honest questioning and the remarkably insightful son in his clear, loving explanation of Christian faith. My MIT education and my seminary education both prepared me to appreciate the mystery and complexity of finite living in an infinite reality. Surprised at the unexpected depth of thought in this book, I enjoyed it from beginning to end---and purchased 3 copies for my sons! Highly recommended. You might also want to check out Greg Boyd's website and download (free) his fantastic and very timely sermon series The Cross and the Sword!
you may need to re-read this one.......2007-07-27
I really enjoyed this book, mostly as a glimpse into one person's faith journey. I did find some of the apologetics and theology a bit over my head and I would need to re-read this book several times to gather all that Boyd is saying. This would be a great book to use in a discussion forum at church.
The book covers a series of letters written between Boyd the son (who is a pastor at a church) and his father (the skeptic). The letters deal with many of the hard questions that make Christianity unbelievable to some people.
Besides providing arguments for Christianity, this is a story of one man's journey into a life of faith. The tribute at the conclusion was very moving.
I personally found C.S. Lewis Mere Christianity easier to understand, but they are both excellent books.
Great book for mature believer or skeptic.......2007-05-14
This book addresses questions that most people have about God and Christianity. It contains a series of letters written between an unbelieving dad, and his believing son. You find yourself saying about the dad's questions, "I can understand why he asked that". But the responses by the son are quiet effective and thought provoking.
I have given away over 20 copies of this book. It also lends itself to group study. I highly recomment it.
Definitely Worth Reading.......2007-04-11
I read excerpts from this book during our WHY> campaign at church. My pastor had this book and loaned it to me. I was so impressed that I had to not only buy a copy for me, but for a couple of friends who have very skeptical family members. Growing up in a Christian home, there were things I just always believed and never questioned, so it was difficult answering questions from skeptics. Greg Boyd answered his father's heartfelt questions with honest and Biblical answers in a way that was easy to understand. Now I feel more confident to answer those tough questions, too.
A wonderful book.......2007-04-11
This book is a wonderful blessing in my life. It has set turned my world upside down (actually right side up) and provided a spark to my Christian life. I have been so moved by this book that my life has taken on new meaning and direction. God has used this book to change a life forever.
Book Description
What does it mean to be a man? Moreover, how does a father instill these qualities in his son? Using as an example the process by which a boy moved through the medieval stages of knighthood, author Robert Lewis identifies parallel stages for today’s fathers to create ceremonies to commemorate significant milestones in a young man’s journey toward becoming a modern-day knight. Beginning with a biblical perspective of manhood, author-pastor Robert Lewis shares a unique approach to shaping a boy into a man by equipping him with three essential elements: a vision, a code of conduct, and a cause (Christianity) in which to invest his life. Complete with ceremony ideas to celebrate accomplishments and ingrain them in his mind, this softcover is as insightful as it is practical in raising a boy to be a chivalrous, godly man.
Customer Reviews:
An Awesome Must Read for Fathers with Sons.......2007-09-06
My husband does not take the time to read much since he reads so much at work, but when he started this book he could not put it down. It was very encouraging, insightful and is a must read for fathers with sons !!!!!
Exceptional book.......2007-05-13
I highly recommend this book. It's unique, creative, insightful, and provides numerous excellent tools for dads to use with their sons. It's the best of its kind that I've read ~ have sent copies to my three sons-in-law. Am also recommending it to all the dads in my church.
Rev. John P. Splinter, Ph.D.
Raising A Modern-Day Knight.......2007-03-31
Important information for every dad that wants to raise a son according to biblical principals. A must read book to move beyond good intentions and give what every son needs--love, affirmation, vision, direction and a father's blessing.
A book every father should have!.......2007-02-09
I picked up Raising a Modern Day Knight while attending a recent Family Life marriage conference. I'm sure there isn't a dad out there that doesn't want to raise his kids properly, and especially his son. I have a five year old and know that right now, I am his hero, his best friend, the best guy in the world. I don't want to squander his admiration and unconditional love. I want to know how I can raise my son so he will be a strong man. This book attempts to answer that question. This is a Focus on the Family book and broaches the subject of parenting from a Christian point of view. It's also a very short book and can probably be read in a couple of hours. In its brevity, you aren't going to get a lot of content, but what you do get is good stuff.
Author Robert Lewis equates raising a son to the process of raising a young man to be a knight back in the dark ages. At times, the analogy is cumbersome, but the book still offers a lot of good points. Also, the book is filled with tons of scriptural references, which at times caused my eyes to glaze over. I feel the scripture references needed to be backed by more examples or antecdotes. This book is primarly about teaching your older kid how to be a man, and how to do it through ceremonies. The book doesn't include much discussion on how kids think and act, so don't expect that in here. This book is probably for men with kids approaching puberty and older, because it focuses a lot on guiding your young boys into manhood through memorable ceromonies.
Lewis men need to teach their boys how to be men by providing a strong example in Jesus, living right in their own lives, guiding them through memorable ceremonies and surrounding them with a community of men. The ceremonies are a big focus of the book, and although the author says he provides a lot of examples of different types of ceremonies, they really are all the same. You may not want to give your son a family crest at his college graduation, but the book does stress the importance of ceremonies for your children Some of the most power ful segments of the book are when fathers mention they failed their sons, or when sons said their dads weren't there for them.
Every father should read this book and every father should understand that the role of a father is the most important job they will ever have.
What is a man?.......2006-08-10
That is the key question for men born and raised under the infuence of a society burdened by political correctness and absent fathers. The most disturbing askers of this question are young males themselves, who are receiveing so many inputs from so many unreliable sources. Robert Lewis has not only answered the question for himself and his sons, but provides a model based on the most noble parts of the mideval concept of knighthood. His answers are compelling, soundly based in Christianity, and illustrated with many "how to" methods that have worked for him and others. While the book is targeted at fathers with juvenile sons, it has meaning for all of us.
Book Description
In April 1975, as Saigon fell to the North Vietnamese Army, John Bissell, a former Marine officer living in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, was glued to his television. Struggling to save his marriage, raise his sons, and live with his memories of the war in Vietnam, Bissell found himself racked with anguish and horror as his country abandoned a cause for which so many of his friends had died.
Opening with a gripping account of the chaotic and brutal last month of the war, The Father of All Things is Tom Bissell’s powerful reckoning with the Vietnam War and its impact on his father, his country, and Vietnam itself. Through him we learn what it was like to grow up with a gruff but oddly tender veteran father who would wake his children in the middle of the night when the memories got too painful. Bissell also explores the many debates about the war, from whether it was winnable to Ho Chi Minh’s motivations to why America’s leaders lied so often. Above all, he shows how the war has continued to influence American views on foreign policy more than thirty years later.
At the heart of this book is John and Tom Bissell’s unforgettable journey back to Vietnam. As they travel the country and talk to Vietnamese veterans, we relive the war as John Bissell experienced it, visit the site of his near-fatal wounding, and hear him explain how Vietnam shaped him and so many of his generation.
This is the first major book about the war by an author who grew up after the fall of Saigon. It is a fascinating, all-too-relevant work about the American character–and about war itself. It is also a wise and moving book about fathers, sons, and the universal desire to understand who our parents were before they became our parents.
Customer Reviews:
"Would you stop the car? I'd like your help beating my son." .......2007-09-22
This is a searing, honest, and yes, fair account of a young man's reconciliation with his father, against the backdrop of a return to Vietnam.
The dialog Tom records is almost too good to be true, but it's coming out of his tape recorder, so there it is. The elder Bissell comes across as an ordinary, memory-laden senior citizen who happens to once have been a soldier. His drunken implosion, which the author unspools against the fall of Saigon, is a topnotch piece of psychological fiction, but is nothing that the reader catches first-hand from the rest of the book. At times it seems that Tom projects the gook-plinking hophead of media stereotype into his father, but none of that comes out in the dialog. Indeed, at certain points it's the father who has to point out to the son what a bloody horror the war was.
Had Tom been around during the war, he doubtless would have been a protestor. But at this late date, the historical record is in the books. He stitches together quite good second-hand accounts of the fall of South Vietnam, and of the strange career of Ho Chih Minh (though the latter is perhaps somewhat over-basted with "nuance."). An honest fellow, he frequently admits that the North Vietnamese and the NLF were as bad as advertised, and worse than the more conventionally corrupt South. He still refuses to swallow the old wartime lies, though he proposes no way that things could have come out right.
The end of the return tour, with his father raising a toast with a former ARVN his own age, ends the book on a touching and unexpected up note. Mission accomplished.
A fair-use sample:
"A lot of guys I went to basic with died in this place [the Citadel in Hue city]," my father said. "A lot of guys. Guys who joined up again. Guys who kept volunteering. All died right around here." He shook his head.
"Like who?" I asked.
"You don't know them."
"Well, what were their names?"
He looked at me queerly. "What do you care?" This was said with a brusque sort of inquisitiveness, not anger.
I got to my feet. "I'm sorry. You're right. Just morbid curiosity."
My father--the abrupt smile on his face false to anyone who knew him--turned to Hien [the guide]. "What do *you* think?"
Hien regarded his shoes, which looked like small leather noses peeking out from beneath his blue slacks. "I think this is a special place for many people."
My father said nothing and stood there in the wind, amid the grass. When he closed his eyes, it almost looked as though he were listening to someone.
No new insights into fathers and son,vets, or the war.......2007-08-18
As I am unschooled in the detailed history of the Vietnam war, I focus my comments on the other material I expected based on professional reviews of the book.
Specifically, I expected some attempted growth in the father and son's relationship. Nothing huge, which would be unrealistic, but an attempt or a tiny movement. I also expected insight into the effect of a war that divides generations, dominating both the elder who lived it and the younger who were not directly touched by the war but by their wartime fathers.
The book delivered weakly on both counts. Unless, that is, the author's message is that both generations are so traumatized, albeit differently, that neither can soften their assumptions and defenses long enough to begin to understand the other. Instead, they play out their deep attitudinal and behavioral patterns passively and actively. When they do gain a little insight into the other they become angry. Oddly, father and son both seem slightly grateful to have taken their frozen relationship on a road trip to Vietnam. Finally, to find a point about the effect of war on an entire culture, you'd have to use the family as a metaphor for the U.S.
If these were the author's points, he could have expressed them far more effectively, and also more interestingly by exploring and elaborating them. For instance, why is it so difficult for the son to ask questions of his father that could possibly increased understanding? The problem isn't only that the dad's reticent and challenged to explain an inexplicable experience. No, the son also doesn't hear or effectively work with what his dad *does* tell him. Why is this? And, how interesting that it might be harder for those who weren't in the war to embrace the experience of those who were, instead of vice versa?
Another fruitful but unexplored vein was their mutual expectations and assessment of the trip. Why had they each gone, what had they hoped to get out of it, what happened internally for each of them?
Yet another lost opportunity occurred in the majority of the book which was was a discussion of the war organized according to major questions in the son's perspective. These topics, such as "Why were the South Vietnamese Corrupt" and "Could the U.S. Have Won the War", seem to accurately reflect the perspective of those born mid-1970s as the author was. Fair enough. But, how much more interesting it would have been to to compare, contrast, and connect the son's major questions about the war with his father's!
There are plenty of places where a hungry reader might think the author's about to do something interesting like this, but he never really does. If you've followed the war coverage in major newspapers or magazines during the last several years, you're not going to gain much additional insight here. Unless, of course, the historical interpretation is accurate, which I'm not in a position to judge, but other reviewers have cast doubt on.
A son on his father's Vietnam service.......2007-05-30
It has been a generation since the last American soldier left Vietnam, after almost 15 years of substantial involvement in the fight to defeat the army of North Vietnam and insurgent forces. Some 3 million Americans served, 800,000 of them in combat. The names of more than 58,000 of this country's dead are etched into the stark, granite walls of Washington's Vietnam War Memorial.
In his compelling new book, THE FATHER OF ALL THINGS, journalist Tom Bissell, born in 1974, brings that painful era to life in a rich and emotionally resonant narrative constructed around the trip he took to Vietnam in November 2003 with his father. John Bissell, a Marine combat veteran, arrived in Vietnam in April 1965 and served there until he was wounded in a booby trap explosion in late 1966. Acknowledging the humility that any writer must feel approaching a subject that has been covered in more than 30,000 books, Bissell sets for himself the task of recounting "an emotional experience interwoven with established historical facts of the Vietnam War." It is, he writes, "a book about war's endless legacy."
The book is loosely and somewhat idiosyncratically organized into three sections. The first interweaves an account of the last, desperate days before the fall of Saigon with Bissell's imaginative recreation of his father's dismay as he watches those events unfold in his home in Escanaba, in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. The second, and longest, section poses a handful of queries, such as "Could the United States have won the war in Vietnam?" and "What was the Soviet Union actually attempting to accomplish in Vietnam?" using them as the framework upon which the book's main narrative structure is constructed. The final section, entitled "The Children of the War Speak," contains brief snippets of interviews with Bissell's anonymous contemporaries on all sides of the conflict, reflecting on the ways in which the war's legacy affected them and their families.
Bissell is a gifted writer, whose prose is enriched by a talent for selecting arresting details that will fix the scenes he describes in the mind's eye. In one gripping section near the end of the book he describes the visit he and his father made to Cu Chi, an area that featured an elaborate network of tunnels from which guerrillas launched fiendishly ingenious attacks against American soldiers based there. Another emotionally powerful portion is Bissell's terse recounting of the My Lai massacre in March 1968, which most readers will find chilling in its harrowing detail.
Foregoing any attempt either to glamorize his father's service or to demonize the vast majority of the soldiers who fought there on all sides, Bissell nevertheless portrays his father as a fundamentally decent man, reporting that John Bissell's fellow Marines even nicknamed him "Nice Guy." Like most American soldiers, he was compelled to fight by a sense of duty to his comrades rather than to some at best vaguely understood mission to stop the spread of Communism throughout Southeast Asia. If anything, Bissell is much more judgmental about himself than he is of his father, subtly questioning whether he would have had the courage to do what his father did. One darkly comic scene describing Bissell's attempt to fire an AK-47 at a shooting gallery is likely to have readers wondering the same thing.
The book could have benefited from a map tracing the route of the Bissells' journey, as well as some photographs in addition to the few family snapshots sprinkled throughout the first section. These shortcomings are counterbalanced by a useful bibliography featuring annotations by Bissell on some of the secondary sources he relied upon in this work.
At a time when the United States is embroiled in another unpopular war, the temptation to draw facile parallels with the debacle in Vietnam is almost too great to resist. For the most part, Bissell doesn't succumb to that temptation, perhaps because most thoughtful readers already will find themselves struggling to suppress the echoes of incompetence and bravado from that era that haunt us to this day.
THE FATHER OF ALL THINGS is an intensely personal book that expands outward in concentric circles from the intimate relationship between father and son to the broadest concerns of historical and geopolitical thought. "War is appetitive," Bissell writes. "It devours goodwill, landscape, cultures, mothers, and fathers --- before finally forcing us, the orphans, to pick up the pieces." If this book finds the audience it deserves, it will remind those who lived through that era of the price war exacts, and may help educate those who did not to that grim and timeless reality.
--- Reviewed by Harvey Freedenberg
A writer of great talent - Tom Bissell.......2007-05-07
I've read everything I can find by Tom Bissell. His writing is mesmerizing: a medley of travel log, memoir, novel, and psychological study. I think he is inordinately talented.
With this memoir, his depiction of growing up in Escanaba, Michigan, resonated deeply with me, since I grew up there too and knew his family before he was born. I think he described it well, though his was a dark impression. His honest searching and critical mind were very moving to me.
My heart went out to his father, though a young man, saddled with supporting a wife and child, two siblings, his mother and mother-in-law in his early twenties. The Bissells were peceived as very wealthy and above the ordinary worries of most of our families. They were like the Magnificent Ambersons, and we didn't know the half of it.
I also admired his retrospective on the Vietnam War. It was very well researched and presented with lucidness and poignance. I'm not much of a history reader, but the author had my full attention and understanding.
Some day this writer is going to win lots of prizes. Thanks, Tom Bissell, for a wonderful book.
A Subject Greater Than the War Itself.......2007-05-05
"The Father of All Things" is the latest brilliant offering from one of America's great young writers.
Whereas Bissell's first book, "Chasing the Sea," alternated between his (sometimes humorous, sometimes painful) return to Uzbekistan after a failed stint in the Peace Corps and a deft history of Central Asia and the ability of its peoples to repel or outlast any and all outside powers' tries at conquest, "The Father of All Things" plumbs the depths of one family's experience in the Vietnam War, and the reverberation that war has had on the children of veterans on both sides.
To his credit, Bissell shares more of himself in the memoir sections of the book than he does in "Chasing the Sea." His relationship with his father is one of soft reconciliation after years of -- if not literal, then certainly emotional -- separation. There are courageous and heart-baring passages that would've been clumsy in the hands of a less-talented author, and you can see the warmth that Marine Captain John Bissell has for his son, even when he's teasing him about being a Communist when they go to Vietnam together, almost 40 years after John's last visit, when he was one of the first combat troops on the ground.
Yes, why another book about Vietnam? As Bissell himself states in his brief author's note: "More than thirty thousand books on Vietnam are currently in print. Why another? one might (and probably did) ask. . . . This is not really a book about the nation of Vietnam, or even the Vietnam War. It is, instead, a book about war's endless legacy. . . . When war begins, leaders inevitably frown as they promise courage and bravery, guarantee tragic sacrifice, yet vow, all the same, to see it through. What any war's igniters rarely admit are the small, terrible truths that have held firm for every war ever fought, no matter how necessary or avoidable: 'This will be horrible, and whatever happens will scar us for decades to come.' Indeed, even necessary wars can destroy the trust of a people in their leaders, just as war destroys human beings on both sides of the rifle."
To ask questions of one's government is not treason -- it is one of the highest form of citizenship. And if one's government cannot supply satisfactory answers to its citizens, it is their duty to endlessly question that government. To say this book -- or the author himself -- is anti-American couldn't be further from the truth, and proof is in the pages. Bissell has reported from both Afghanistan and Iraq, and there's a particularly harrowing passage in the book where, trapped in Mazar-i-Sharif in the early days of the 2002 American invasion, he uses a fellow journalist's satellite phone to call his father. He gets cut off in the middle of the conversation and his father, believing his youngest son has been kidnapped by the Taliban, is suddenly thrown back into his own war.
Not only does Bissell do a superb job of honoring his father and the generation of young men who fought and died in Vietnam, he also, with "The Father of All Things," salutes the 20- and 30-somethings of contemporary America, the brothers and sisters of Bicentennial Babies, who are currently fighting and dying in Afghanistan and Iraq because, as it did with their fathers in Vietnam, their country called them to their duty.
Bissell well understands the sacrifices a military man makes, as he lived with them in the form of his father. Yes, this book is about war, and specifically about the Vietnam War and its shadow, but to read it so narrowly misses the point: This is a book about a son trying to understand his father because he loves him.
Average customer rating:
- title is a misnomer
- A veritable encyclopedia of psychiatry and mental health
- "Conquering Schizophrenia" is thoroughly dishonest book.
- Extremely helpful and hopeful. Well written and thorough.
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Conquering Schizophrenia: A Father, His Son, and a Medical Breakthrough
Peter Wyden
Manufacturer: Knopf
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ASIN: 0679446710
Release Date: 1998-01-27 |
Amazon.com
Described by Nature magazine in 1988 as "arguably the worst disease affecting mankind, even AIDS not excepted," schizophrenia is devastating for both sufferers of the affliction--more than 50 million people worldwide--and their families. Conquering Schizophrenia is one family's account of their terrible, 25-year journey to hell and back.
Jeff Wyden was a bubbly and vivacious child, described by his father as "unusually charming." In early adolescence, small changes occurred in Jeff's personality--his boundless energy was replaced with silence and a devastatingly low self-esteem. By age 21, Jeff had become severely psychotic and completely withdrawn from reality. So began the nightmare of schizophrenia. Jeff's story is eloquently told by his father, Peter Wyden. Although an inspirational book, especially for those affected by a mental illness, the Conquering Schizophrenia doesn't lapse into excessive sentimentality. Jeff is frequently portrayed as a monster, consumed by the wretched disease. Treatment options for the illness were particularly grim, including prefrontal lobotomies and electric-shock therapy. For more than two decades, Peter Wyden searched for a better answer, which eventually came with the development of new drugs. With this treatment, Jeff was "almost civilian" again. Wyden is an energetic and illuminating author who writes of a subject matter with which he has lived so closely for several decades.
Book Description
This story of a father guiding his son from despair to hope is a chilling, inspiring journey through the mysterious tunnel of schizophrenia--a world once closed and forbidding, now suddenly radiating excitement as thousands of patients are, in effect, being reborn.
Jeff Wyden, a bright, happy boy in childhood, began to withdraw in adolescence, and by the age of twenty-one was severely psychotic, disconnected from reality. He was schizophrenic. In the ensuing twenty-five years, Peter Wyden accompanied his son into a hell without certainties as they searched for a solution.
We see them pass through the hands of more than fifty psychiatrists and countless hospitals, clinics, and halfway houses. Doctors and health-care providers help and sometimes hinder both father and son in their odyssey through hypnosis, electroshock, dozens of drug therapies, and disabling "side effects."
Throughout their ordeal, the father's management of his son's managers is his daily task, self-assigned despite self-doubt. He is alternately tolerant and challenging while he observes and learns, always primed for more of Jeff's mercurial signs of new crises.
Along the way we learn about the history of the treatment of schizophrenia, from barbaric stopgaps like prefrontal lobotomy to the biomedical treatments that have revolutionized psychiatry. And finally, there is the new drug Olanzapine--a godsend for Jeff, and reason for cheer. It is not a cure, but many consider it the safest, most effective treatment to date (the first of similar medications recently licensed by the Food and Drug Administration, with more on the way). The story of its development is told here for the first time.
Until now, few of us have realized that two and a half million Americans, mostly young and intelligent, are schizophrenic, merely existing through the decades, separated from reason, rendered dysfunctional by the costly and little-understood disease. Fifty million people worldwide suffer from it. This compelling and enlightening book offers useful information about what can be done for them today--and the hope of more help to come.
Customer Reviews:
title is a misnomer.......1999-09-04
author spends a great deal of time (xxx? pages) oscillating between blaming mental health professionals and presenting himself as a devoted father (perhaps too devoted?--i.e. overly responsible?)...furthermore schizophrenia is not "conquered" at the end of the book...rather only the right drug is found--which eliminates symptoms but which, contrary to popular belief, does not "cure" mental illness (since the patient is only well as long as he is medicated)
A veritable encyclopedia of psychiatry and mental health.......1999-07-13
Before you ransack the library trying to get straight about mental illness, just read Peter Wyden's "Conquering Schizophrenia - a Father, his Son, and a Medical Breakthrough." Wyden, a writer, tells of his son Jeff's 25-years of crippling psychosis, and his story vibrates with passionate critique of the mental health system. His journalist's piercing eye fixes the target, while the other eye darts around, taking us on a back-street tour of psychiatry's history, players, and struggles as Wyden searches for perspective on this arena.
What is the target? Is it Jeff himself, who went from warm,extroverted child to introverted, erratic youth, then back to a more normal, properly medicated 46-year old man? Is it mental illness itself? Which illness? Jeff's was diagnosed as "school phobia," "anxiety," "depression," "schizophrenia - paranoid type," then "malignant case of manic-depressive." Perhaps it is psychiatry itself, with its "foibles,follies, and failures," and its oddly noble persistance in the face of overwhelming enigmas?
In any case, the target keeps moving. This conveys Wyden's sense of confusion and hair-pulling frustration through the dozens of psychiatrists, neuroleptics that ravaged the body while they calmed the mind, the hospitals, and halfway houses that make up Jeff's existence. He shows us the "split" between modern medicaters who treat the physical, and the traditional Freudians who believe only in the unconscious and psychoanalytic. He describes the bizarre events of pharmacology finds and the equally bizarre trip through FDA approval. He narrates the bitter 20-year feud between Dr Spitzer and proponents of DSM series and the older therapists who call it a "straightjacket."
The sound and fury, based on the void of the unknown, rages on. There is an abyss between etiologies, and chaos about categories. Signs of schizophrenia dovetail so slyly into signs of manic-depression (hallucinations, hyperagitation) that even "experts" can't say which is primary. Medications for one cross over for the other. "My learning curve was turning erratic," complained Wyden when Clozaril came on the scene. ". . . Anything might work. Anything might fail. . . There are no true experts."
At the book's end, Jeff is converting from Clozapin to the newer Olanzapine (the "breakthrough"), and seems to be emerging from his demi-world into a more responsive, organized person. His real diagnosis is still up for grabs.
The real breakthrough is hope, for today and for tomorrow, hope that research and medicine can cut through the profound devastation of a broken brain. Wyden has painted a realistic picture of major mental illness - ambiguous, unpredictable, messy, and bankrupting. Only those who have traveled that tunnel of despair can appreciate the candle of this seemingly promising advance.
"Conquering Schizophrenia" is thoroughly dishonest book........1998-10-25
"Conquering Schizophrenia" lauds Zyprexa as conquering schizophrenia. The truth of the matter is that Zyprexa is a very, very unpleasant medication. Zyprexa is better than other antipsychotics, but that is faint praise. Jeff, the author's son, is left with negative symptoms but those are the worst symptoms. The book takes the E. Fuller Torrey line. Someone with schizophrenia is dumber than a pigeon. A pigeon given something good presses the lever. Someone with schizophrenia given something good refuses medication. When everyone is off dopamine antagonists then a book with the title "Conquering Schizophrenia" can be written.
Extremely helpful and hopeful. Well written and thorough........1998-02-07
"Conquering Schizophrenia: A Father, His Son, and A Medical Breakthrough", published by Knopf, January 1998, is a father's account of the life of his son Jeff. Jeff's break came at age twenty-one. The book chronicles the next twenty-five years along two interwoven paths: the events in the lives of Jeff and his family and the evolution of the mental-health field during this time --its trends, controversies, therapies, medicines, practitioners, advocacy groups, agencies, economics, politics, etc.
The father/author, Peter Wyden, has published a dozen books and was formerly a writer for Newsweek. He writes in a concise, organized, journalistic style that is mercifully free of any self aggrandizement that might have been expected (he candidly acknowledges his missteps) and of any excessive sentimentality (the story itself speaks eloquently of the emotions, frustrations, struggles and celebrations that were there throughout). He levels some very valid criticisms without being strident. It is carefully crafted with detailed back-of-the-book chapter notes, bibliography and index for the reader who wants to dig deeper. It is very up to date, mentioning situations as of Fall, 1997. (Of course we Internet devotees want to know how things are going this morning.)
I strongly recommend this book highly to anyone whose life has been affected by schizophrenia or by any other serious mental illness. I have been struck over the last four years (our 23-year old son was diagnosed with schizophrenia four years ago) how much I read about one mental illness that relates to the others. (Incidentally, I have no connection to the publisher or author. I wish I did know the Wydens personally).
Jeff was treated by over 50 docs over the 25-year period. He was "treated" in every imaginable theater from the renowned Menninger Clinic, where at the time of Jeff's stay early on, probably did more harm than good, to a run-down half- way house, where he was helped greatly by a dedicated, compassionate social worker.
His symptoms when bad were very bad. He once broke a nurse's nose. He was not an easy patient and not an easy son. But those that got to know the real Jeff were very fond of him. And to his father, even after spending 25 years of struggling with Jeff over meds, docs, hygiene, etc., maybe to some extent because of those struggles, Jeff was a hero, a theme often repeated.
Family support helped (and I suspect help greatly) throughout. There were some talk/cognitive therapies here and there that helped deal with some of the problems of the underlying illness. Jeff's manic periods were helped by lithium. There were other meds that I cannot recount. A breakthrough came with Clozapine, though negative symptoms, especially lack of motivation, remained and a purposeful day, much less the possibility of a job, were not on Jeff's radar screen and he spent his hours at the half-way house. The "conquering" word in the title refers to the next breakthrough which came with Olanzapine in 1996. Some of the negative symptoms begin to remit. The book ends with Jeff beginning to take some steps into the mainstream world and he gets involved with a local church program and one day asks his dad "Do you think you could get me a watch? I'd like to get my days organized". (!) You would have to read the whole story to understand what a wonderful ending (beginning) this is.
Perhaps I wouldn't have divulged the ending if the book only dealt with Jeff's situation. It would have been a great book if limited to just the Jeff story. Many of us could identify and empathize and imagine our own books. Not to take away from the story, the real strength of this book for me was the second interwoven thread that dealt with the many aspects of the mental-health system as it evolved over the same twenty-five-year period and the interplay of that with Jeff's life. The author was relentless in his researching, advocating and mainly getting to know individuals who could help his son. He knew or got to know many of the movers and shakers, those at the tops of their fields, and gleaned from them a detailed and realistic survey of the battlefield on which his son found himself. I have spent a lot of time myself the last few years reading, surfing the Web, meeting, etc., but was left with a lot of questions and perhaps was left without a a good overall perspective of how the many pieces interact.
The author does a masterful job of covering many areas and gleaning the salient features, good and bad, things you are never going to read in a journal or hear admitted for the record. For example, from a discussion with Dr. Solomon Snyder, the inventor of Prozac: "One question has run through Snyder's professional life: What exactly causes schizophrenia? ... 'We know so little he said', he said sadly. 'There's a screw loose, but we don't know which screw.'" I think I would like to have known this four years ago rather than having to discover it over time. The book is filled with nuggets like this.
The wide-ranging areas covered include: the slow, grudging acceptance of using meds for treatment, later the doctrinaire rejections by the biological guys of the talk therapy guys, (thank goodness my son's doc is dual-track), the fights over wording of the DSM-III, the history of anti-psychotic meds (amazing twists and turns), meds in the pipeline, the R. D. Laing school, orthomolecular treatment, psychosocial treatment, electro-convulsive therapy, schizophrenogenic mothers,"Toxic Psychology" book, "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" movie, Marilyn Monroe, atrocious experiments and abridgment of patient rights, sexual abuse, the history of the National Alliance of the Mentally Ill, the champions of mental health legislation in Washington, the big, profitable, competitive pharmacy business (Eli Lily sales of Olanzapine in 1997 about $850 million), the National Institute of Mental Health, various studies and meta studies (and the ongoing puzzlement), interviews with consumers, interviews with the big names, etc.
He writes of many problems/challenges: the general stumbling nature of the progress in this field, the unknown causes of the illness, the problems of diagnosis and the diagnostic categories, questions about treatment, side- effect tradeoffs, stigma, managing the managers, family stresses, under funding of research and support agencies and the crushing work loads, poverty- producing expenses, bureaucracy, on and on.
I found the book very satisfying in many ways. It most of all helps sustain our hope. And makes us appreciate the fact that despite all the difficulties we families are facing in 1998, times and prospects were much worse just a few years age. It chronicles a story we can relate to and can compare to our families' stories. It always held up the humanity, the personality of Jeff.
It shines a light on the battlefield that still has its challenges and dangers but through which we can now walk with more confidence and with a better chance of survival or even conquest.
I wish the best to the Wydens and to all the many families doing battle.
Book Description
When Bob Greene went home to central Ohio to be with his dying father, it set off a chain of events that led him to knowing his dad in a way he never had before—thanks to a quiet man who lived just a few miles away, a man who had changed the history of the world.
Greene's father—a soldier with an infantry division in World War II—often spoke of seeing the man around town. All but anonymous even in his own city, carefully maintaining his privacy, this man, Greene's father would point out to him, had "won the war." He was Paul Tibbets. At the age of twenty-nine, at the request of his country, Tibbets assembled a secret team of 1,800 American soldiers to carry out the single most violent act in the history of mankind. In 1945 Tibbets piloted a plane—which he called Enola Gay, after his mother—to the Japanese city of Hiroshima, where he dropped the atomic bomb.
On the morning after the last meal he ever ate with his father, Greene went to meet Tibbets. What developed was an unlikely friendship that allowed Greene to discover things about his father, and his father's generation of soldiers, that he never fully understood before.
Duty is the story of three lives connected by history, proximity, and blood; indeed, it is many stories, intimate and achingly personal as well as deeply historic. In one soldier's memory of a mission that transformed the world—and in a son's last attempt to grasp his father's ingrained sense of honor and duty—lies a powerful tribute to the ordinary heroes of an extraordinary time in American life.
What Greene came away with is found history and found poetry—a profoundly moving work that offers a vividly new perspective on responsibility, empathy, and love. It is an exploration of and response to the concept of duty as it once was and always should be: quiet and from the heart. On every page you can hear the whisper of a generation and its children bidding each other farewell.
Customer Reviews:
Touching book.......2007-01-11
Great book, I have grown to really like Bob Greene. I have bought many of his books and and reading them as fast as I can. This book brings the people who fought WWII for us and why they did it and makes them real. I am learning to really appreciate their sacrifices.
A WONDERFUL MEMOIR AND TRIBUTE.......2005-02-18
This is a good work. As one disgruntled reviewer pointed out, this is not a history book, but rather a memoir and tribute from a son to his father and to one of the many heros of WWII. Having been raised by a father from that era, it is quite apparent to me that my relationship with my father was my no means isolated, but somewhat the norm. This work struck pretty close to home. Having spent over twenty years in the military myself, I can understand some of their thoughts, but even that cannot bridge the entire gap. Those guys looked at life differently than my generation. The author has approached the subject with great sensitivity and through his conversations with these men, I feel, has been able to understand not only them, but himself. I highly recommend this one to any father and any son. Well done Mr Greene.
A Tribute From a Son to His Father.......2003-03-26
Bob Greene has written a touching and emotion-filled book about two men who influenced the outcome of World War II; his own father and Paul Tibbets, the pilot of the Enola Gay. Greene's father served as an infantry soldier in Italy, while Tibbets was training his men in Wendover, Utah for a mission which would hopefully end the war.
Tibbets and Robert Greene, Sr. lived in the same town in Ohio, but had never met. Bob jr. writes about how his father would speak of Tibbets and call him "the man who won the war". While Bob jr. was back in Ohio to be with his dying father, he drew on his memories of Tibbets. Finally, Bob went to meet Tibbets. What occured was the beginning of an unlikely friendship that spanned a generation and allowed Bob to discover things about his father and his father's generation that he never understood before.
Bob found Tibbets to be a very honest and straight-forward man. There was no nonsense from him; everything was in plain terms. Tibbets talked frequently about his mission to Hiroshima on that fateful day in August, 1945. He said several times that he had no regrets for what he did and he always slept easy at night. Tibbets' stories enabled Bob to see that his father and many other men just like him also played large parts in winning the war. Tibbets never liked the phrase "the man who won the war". He was always quick to give credit to the soldiers as the real heroes, just like Robert sr.
Perhaps my favorite part of the book is the several chapters which deal with the trip to Branson, Missouri. Bob, Tibbets, Tom Ferebee (bombardier), and "Dutch" Van Kirk (navigator) took a trip to Branson over Memorial Day weekend and they were treated like conquering heroes by the public. But what impressed me was the candor and openness that these men spoke with. I learned a lot about the Hiroshima mission that I never knew before.
I found this book a little slow at the beginning, but it definitely picks up over the second half. Read this book and learn about the generation of men who won the war.
A book about a hero and a father and how much are alike.......2003-02-18
A great book about a true hero and other's worthy of the same label. A very easy and engaging read. I highly recommend this book.
A disappointment ........2003-02-14
I have seen Bob Greene on some of the news stories on TV. I like his wit and sentiment. I was prepared for a great book on the great generation that produced his and my father. I was disappointed.
First, the book is disjointed. It goes from sentiment to sentiment, and then reverts back again. In his talks with General Paul Tidbitts, I thought he kept dwelling on the same emotions of a hard military decision. That decision was made long ago, and why keep hammering away at it. Bob, just get over it. The U.S. had to bomb Japan to spare the lives of American soldiers and sailors.
Another problem I have with this book is its lack of history. It tells a little of the history of his father, some of Tidbitts, and then a little on the Doolittle Raiders. Other than that, it is pure sentiment, repeated again and again. For a 300 page book, this could have been cut to 80 pages. I read this book, and it was a disappointment. If one wants to remember the Greatest Generation, read something from Ambrose.
Average customer rating:
- This book is Dangerous?
- POTENTIALLY DANGEROUS
- JUMP Into This Book!! You'll Be Glad You Did!
|
The One Where the Kid Nearly Jumps to His Death and Lands in California
Mary Hershey
Manufacturer: Razorbill
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Binding: Hardcover
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Forever in Blue: The Fourth Summer of the Sisterhood (Sisterhood of Traveling Pants, Book 4)
ASIN: 1595141502
Release Date: 2007-03-01 |
Book Description
“Mom didn't think it was funny when I took off my leg at school, put it in my locker, and then tied a rag around my stump with fake blood on it. After that, though, the kids at school pretty much knew if anyone was going to be cracking jokes about my leg, it was gonna be me.”
So says thirteen-year-old Alastair Hudson in this darkly humorous comingof- age story about the relationship between Alastair—who calls himself Stump to draw shocked attention to his missing leg—and his father, who left the family after the accident that resulted in the amputation five years earlier. When Alastair is sent to spend the summer with his dad and his dad's new wife, father and son are forced to confront the truth of what happened years ago, finally allowing Alastair to move forward with his life.
Customer Reviews:
This book is Dangerous?.......2007-09-23
This book is dangerous in that it's hard to put down once you start reading it. Mary Hershey weaves together a tale of family, hope, defeat, triumph and ultimately reconciliation in an easy reading, quick moving book about one summer in the life of 13 year old alastair (aka stump)
POTENTIALLY DANGEROUS.......2007-09-02
Is this author herself an amputee? I doubt it! In fact, this author brags about running marathons. This is potentially dangerous territory; before entering the fragile psyche of a physically challenged young adult, one should be prepared with suitable knowledge and insight. Parents, be cautious of what your children read, especially if they are physically or mentally challenged in some way. Training as a school guidance couselor is not necessarily adequate to represent the inner workings of the mind of an amputee. I am STILL waiting for a SUITABLY TRAINED PROFESSIONAL to write an entertaining adventure story that will inspire physically or mentally challenged young people in an insightful way. This is NOT it!
JUMP Into This Book!! You'll Be Glad You Did!.......2007-03-11
I stayed up waaay too late finishing this book as once again author Mary Hershey knocks one out of the ball park as she delivers another hilarious-and-utterly-emotionally-satisfying story. Really, she does humor and catharsis better than just about anyone.
The story is about Alastair, who calls himself Stump because of his prosthetic leg, who is being shipped off to live with his father and step father for a summer while his recovering alcoholic mother struggles to keep her grip on sobriety. But there's some ugly history there, history Stump can't quite remember in detail, but history that is tied into the fateful jump he took that cost him his leg. And Stump wants nothing to do with the history, or his father, or his new step-mother, who ends up being very cool person and someone Stump could learn an awful lot from, if he'd only let himself. But of course, he won't.
About the only thing Stump does like is 15 yo Jesse. When he commits to competing in a triathlon to win her respect and spend as much time with her as possible, he attaches himself to a hardnose coach who wants little to do with him, but finally agrees to help him train.
Stump's days are filled with grueling hard work, emotional avoidance, a first crush, painful truths, and hilarious antics as he negotiates his way through his much loathed summer. His voice is dead on hilarious and full of 13 yo snark as he passes judgment on all those around him and keeps everyone at arm's length. But of course, in spite of his best attempts to stay frozen in the past, slowly awareness and memory begin to seep in, awakening the painful memories of his fateful jump, which he--and his father--must face. And face them they do, in a harrowing, emotion-wringing, soul-cleansing finale. I can't recommend this book highly enough!
Book Description
A suspenseful, emotionally charged real-life Sopranos: The son of New York's most notorious Mafia killer reveals the conflicted life he led being raised by a cold-blooded murderer, who was also a devoted family man, and the wrenching legacy of Mafia family life.
Al DeMeo will never forget the day in 1992 when a coworker, a fellow trader at the New York Stock Exchange, taunted him with a copy of the hot new book Murder Machine, chronicling the horrific criminal life of DeMeo's father, Roy, the head of the most deadly gang in organized crime. The moment sent DeMeo into a psychological tailspin: How could he have spent his life looking up to, and loving, a vicious killer?
For the Sins of My Father recounts the chilling rise and fall of the man who led the Gambino family's most fearsome killers and thieves, through the eyes of a son who had never known any other kind of life. Coming of age in an opulent Long Island house where money is abundant but its source is unclear, Al becomes Roy's confidant, sent to call in loans at age fourteen and gradually coming to understand his father's job description--loan shark, car thief, porn purveyor and, above all, murderer. But when Al is seventeen, Roy's body is found in the trunk of a car, a gangland slaying that places Al between federal prosecutors seeking his testimony and a mob crew determined to keep him quiet.
Desperate to abide by the father-son bond, but equally determined to escape his father's dangerous and doomed life, Al Demeo embarks on a courageous quest for the truth, reconciliation, and honor. With the implacable narrative drive of a thriller and the power of a painfully honest memoir, For the Sins of My Father presents a startling and unprecedented perspective on the underworld of organized crime, exposing for the first time the cruel legacy of a Mafia life.
From the Hardcover edition.
Customer Reviews:
Roy Demeo the Gangster AND Family Man (as told by his son Albert).......2007-08-20
Wow! If you've ever read books that involve Roy Demeo (The Ice Man, Murder Machine to name a few), you will know that his reputation is that of a ruthless, antagonistic, killer who was widely feared by many for such a reputation. However, this book is interesting in the fact that the author tell about his life with his father, Roy Demeo, as told from a son's point of view. This exposes Roy Demeo's "family Man" side, and shows how much he really did love his wife and children.
Once criticism of the book is that it has a slow start. The first few chapters are slow and a little boring, but it gets better from there.
There's a flip side to every coin.......2007-08-01
After have read Murder Machine I came over The Since of my father by accident after surfing the net...I think it's a wonderful book by Albert, that gives you the insight from a sons perspective of a mob hitman.
Murder Machine was great, but how much did they acctually "spice up" the stories??? I thought "the sins of my father" was a fantastic book, very interesting and hearthwarming. If you like me enjoy mob-books, have a big heart and haven't read this one: buy it. Don't mind the people who gives it a low rating, they were expecting Lucky Luke or something.
Great book Albert De Meo. May your father R.I.P.
Albert Demeo.......2007-07-20
We see the life of a gangster through the eyes of a young boy. A young boy who adores his father and will do anything to please him. He is slowly introduced into the workings of the Mafia. The older he gets, the more tradegy his life encounters. Very well written. My only regret was that there were not enough photos in this book.
Poor.......2007-05-19
Getting a book published merely because your daddy was a gangster is a bit of crime. Me buying it and toiling through the amateurish prose even more of a crime.
don't bother.......2007-05-07
The kid doesn't know anything about his father other then what the police knew. you can find a lot better book about Demeo
Book Description
Using kings of the Old Testament as character studies, Steve Farrar examines the critical role a father plays in preparing his son to become a godly man. What separated the good kings from the bad kings was a father who made time commitments to mentor his son, by modeling biblical manhood. Do you want your son to become a man of regal character? Then this book is for you!
Customer Reviews:
Every father should read this.......2007-07-20
It is hard to argue with 4000 years of history. This is a must read for any man with a son. King Me helps you to understand how important it is to validate your son and avoid making the same mistakes so many fathers do.
Wish I Had this 10 years Ago!.......2007-04-04
My husband, who does little to nothing on the computer, only dictated this line to me: "I wish i had this book 10 years ago!" He says it is a must have for every dad and requested i find and buy him everything Steve Farrar has ever wrtiten. I did! Specifically, the author breaks down the various personality types and talks about the necessity for each in life and how a dad can appreciate, mentor, direct and affirm his son(s) for the Glory of God and honorable masculinity in general.King Me: What Every Son Wants and Needs from His FatherKing Me: What Every Son Wants and Needs from His Father
EVERY FATHER SHOULD HAVE THIS BOOK.......2005-10-03
I am a female working on a talk to give to men. I saw this book and thought I would see what it has to offer. I now can't believe I've allowed my children to be adults without knowing this information. If you have a son, he deserves the best and this book is the best guideline I've seen to raise boys to men.
Required Reading for a Young Father!!.......2005-07-22
I rarely read and if I do it is typically fiction (last book I read was 2 years ago). But I might read this book twice! King Me is so full of insightful information from an experienced father that undoubtably each new "pass through" will provide additional guidance for young fathers in raising boys in decadent days.
Rarely have I ever taken time to review a product BUT this book should be in the hands of everyone responsible for the soul of a young boy. The only downside to this book for a "typical non-reader" is feeling drawn to read more of Mr. Farrar's books.
Fantastic Book For Fathers Who Take Their Role Seriously.......2005-07-19
This is the best book I've read on raising boys. It is easy to ready, practical and supported by biblical principles. I highly recommend it to principled men who take their role as fathers very seriously.
Book Description
What makes a boy into a man?
Courage.
Confidence.
Patience.
Integrity...
For more than one hundred years, this classic poems has inspired readers to reach for the best in themselves.
In pictures and words, here's what every boy needs to know most.
Customer Reviews:
Spectacular, No Ifs About It.......2007-05-12
Rudyard Kipling's poem about what it takes to become a man is one of the world's finest. He published the poem a few years after winning the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1907. It is both inspirational and motivational and gives an excellent code for living in just a few lines. If you love the poem, then this illustrated version will be read and enjoyed many, many times.
A few of my favorite couplets:
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
with sixty seconds worth of distance run
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And--which is more--you'll be a Man, my son!
Book Description
With a new introduction by the author, this bestselling, compassionate book returns to help men rebuild their relationships
A seminal classic, Finding Our Fathers examines the hidden struggle faced by millions of men: how to reconcile their childhood images of their fathers--and of all men--as silent, stoic breadwinners with the life they want to live now--embracing two-career marriages, closer ties with their children, and greater emotional awareness.
Harvard psychologist Samuel Osherson shows you how your "unfinished business" with your father affects your relationships with your wife, your children, friends, and bosses--and how it can lead to a profound sense of loneliness, vulnerability, and rage. Osherson penetrates the shroud of silences that prevents men from coming to terms with their deepest feelings and fears, and shows how you can resolve the inner conflict of the father-son relationship and begin to develop a new sense of strength and purpose in your family life and career.
"A groundbreaking, classic work as timely today as when it was first publishedperhaps more so."
William S. Pollack, author of Real Boys: Rescuing Our Sons from the Myths of Boyhood
Customer Reviews:
Very enlightening.......2004-04-16
Perfect for the person who grew up in a traditional family (Dad works, Mom raises the kids), probably more than ok for the rest as well. Sam explains several key aspects of the Father/Son relationship that were really helpful to me. A couple, of the many, examples would be: like why we see our bosses the way we do in relation to our relationship with our father, how Dad's relationship to Mom changed when the family started, and why our Fathers saw us the way they did. Plenty of good, without being overdone, aspects of our relationship with our Mothers as well. I felt the book strayed at some points just far enough from the title that it warranted 4 stars instead of 5; like when he discusses in detail some of the failed attempts he and his wife had at having children. The close is strong as he suggests how to heal those wounds we have with our Dads.
Overall a good book, but rather reductionist.......2003-11-23
I could not relate to the many anecdotes provided by the author/psychologist of this book. Perhaps fathers and sons do have many unresolved issues regarding intimacy, anger, and roles, but it seems to me the author was pretty selective in finding those cases that helped support his views about the problematic father/son relationship. I was close to my father and grandfather, and both were vastly different men in terms of temperament, education, class, and culture, but none had the distinction of being undermined by their wives, or feeling like mechanized machines (even though my father was a machinest in a factory). I think Osherson may have spent too much time doing longitudinal studies at Harvard and too many hours in his office where his anticipations of finding antipathetic father/son relationships ended up as self fullfilling prophecies. Snippets of dialogue from therapy sessions seem to me very questionable in terms of their ecological validity. Additionally, the date of this book 1986 is telling. A lot has happened in the family constellation since then.
Excellent.......2001-07-05
Absolutely excellent. Many works of this subject matter spew forth psychobabble and contain nothing useful or substantial. This book rocks.
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- Lords of Madness: The Book of Aberrations (Dungeons & Dragons d20 3.5 Fantasy Roleplaying Supplement)
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- Never Suck A Dead Man's Hand: Curious Adventures of a CSI
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- Off the King's Road: Lost and Found in London
- On a Pale Horse (Incarnations of Immortality, Bk. 1)
- On Call: A Doctor's Days and Nights in Residency
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Seeing Is Believing: Experience Jesus through Imaginative Prayer
