5 comments about Reflections of Eden: My Years with the Orangutans of Borneo.

1. Having spent time volunteering at Tanjung Puting, I felt this book was wonderfully written. Although The Professor (Birute) is not an open person, she willingly shared her personal feelings in this book. She tells us in a wonderful fashion about the difficulties of establishing Camp Leakey in Kalimantan. She discloses much about marriage and divorce from Rod, and raising Binti. Her account of Rod's efforts during 7 1/2 years at Tanjung Puting are wonderful in that she credited him with so much. I appreciate her assimilation into Indonesian and Dayak culture. At first glance it may be difficult for us to understand how she could marry Pak Bohap, a native Dayak who even admits to having eaten orangutans. But her writing about this relationship is so understandable. Overall, this is a wonderful book by a woman entirely devoted to the conservation of one of the world's great apes. The story of her life in Borneo is fascinating. A great read about one of Louis Leakey's proteges!



2. Wonderful book! Galdikas brings us from her very beginnings as a young woman studing Orangutans to a true scientist breaking new ground as Jane Goodall and Dian Fossey did. The information and descriptions she passes along to the readers is endearing, educational, and brings you to another world. Read this yourself, you will be enchanted, you will cry, you will be happy you experienced this book. Thank you Birute!



3. If you are inspired by dedicated peoplewith vision and or conservation this is a must read. Professor Galdikas is an amazing woman and is part of the Leakey sisterhood ie Fossey, Goodall and Galdikas, who have made life time studies of apes.



4. The next best thing to living in an Indonesian rain forest with these creatures is reading this account. The animals are of course, her main focus but the daily life and the reality of bringing a child into this forest are all examined and told with the same voice. The rain forest, sights, sounds and smells come to life through her vivid descriptions. I have reread this book along with all of Goodall's and the Fossey books and this is a necessary addition to the knowledge of great apes.



5. Dr. Galdikas study and care of the orangutans of Borneo is greatly appreciated. My friends and myself enjoyed this book a great deal. Long live Dr. Galdikas and the magnificant orangutans of Borneo!

5 comments about Six Wives: The Queens of Henry VIII.

1. I have never been able to put a book down before on Henry the VIII and his wives. After struggling to finish this book of exhausting but uninteresting detail, I thought I would sell it on Amazon, a first for me. But then, after checking, I learned it was only going for 87 cents. Why am I not surprised?



2. There have been numerous books written on the lives of Henry VIII's wives both as a complete history and on an individual basis. Starkey's book is an interesting read if you want to have a very in-depth understanding of just how incredibly political each of his marriages were. There are complaints that most of the book is spent on Catherine of Aragon and Anne Boleyn but in looking at the history of these two women, they were the beginning of the making of Henry as well as England's history to come. Catherine of Aragon has been painted in some books as being a complete victim to be sympathized with for the harsh cruelty of Henry while he pursued Anne Boleyn. Starkey is not the first to intimate that she was actually a political machinist in her own right but he likes to present himself as being the first. Catherine's situation is no different than any other woman's reaction to "the other woman" so to imply that Catherine was not so obedient and submissive as she appeared is merely to say that perhaps she was at one point but came into her own as she progressed as Queen of England. That's psychology 101. Regarding Anne Boleyn, there's really nothing new painted about her specifically but there's a great deal of information presented about the true complexity of the divorce proceedings. This is truly the first book I've read that goes into just how many people were involved, what they actually did and how the hand-offs took place from person to person. In other works, only the most prominent figures in the picture are brought to light. The other wives did figure prominently in Henry's marriages from a very political standpoint. However, many authors outside of Starkey have indicated that there is little recorded information on each the successive wives especially in regards to Anne of Cleves. The one extreme criticism I have for Starkey and all the other authors regarding Catherine and the "consummation" of her marriage is the supposed evidence. Starkey follows the same path as all the others. I was hoping to see something more plausible. Every author states that the marriage must've been consummated based on two points of evidence. Arthur's boasting the following day of marriage being thirsty work and that he'd been amongst Spain and Catherine's silence on the subject. Why is it that every author does not take into consideration that Arthur was a 15 year old boy who carried the weight of an empire and was expected to perform his marital duties and therefore may have bragged because he couldn't state the other possibility....that he didn't perform? Regarding Catherine's silence on the subject and the question of "why didn't she complain?", she was a born princess. What princess/Queen who was 17 years old, in a foreign land and married to a King would complain that the marriage had not been consummated? To do so would be the equivalent of denigrating and humiliating her husband and a nation. The question is always left that only God knows whether the marriage was consummated or not. I beg to differ. There is one other person who would know if Catherine was a virgin and that would've been Henry. He was not sexually ignorant when he made Catherine his wife and where were his boasts? I recommend this book more for the political information surrounding the wives and what raised them and who truly took them down. Henry may have had final say but his court was very powerful in manipulating him. This book points this out more than any other out there.



3. I agree with unsolved fan and J.A. Miller, this book was by far the best book about the wives of King Henry than any others I've read.
   Starkey presents facts in such a way as to keep the reader thouroughly engaged, and looking forward to reading the next chapter.
   This book is quite fascinating. I've learned so much more from Starkey's book than from any history course.
   I recommend this book to anyone wanting to learn some of England's history and, to enjoy doing so.
   I wish he had spent more time on Katherine Parr, who seems to have been the most influential in bringing about reform in the churches of that day. That wife, Henry's last, was probably the most interesting and of a deep-thinking mind, than all his other wives, except for Catherine of Aragon, his first.
   I also totally disagree with the popularity of Anne Boleyn, now, in the movie theatres. Boleyn was not as worthy of attention and study, as are Catherine and Katherine.
   READ THIS BOOK! You'll be glad you did!



4. I agree with another reviewer who felt that this book sets a tedious pace that is frequently bogged down by constantly rehashing the ups and downs of Henry's divorce trial, first from Catherine of Aragon's point of view and then Anne Boleyns. While the amount of material regarding Catherine of Aragon is enormous the writer does stop often to compliment himself (tasteless) and by the time Anne Boleyn comes on the scene the reader is exhausted.



5. I really enjoyed this book. I'd have given it a full five star rating if the author had not asked the same silly questions over and over again, and if he had written a little more on the later wives like Anne of Cleves and Katherine Howard. However the book was very informative and interesting and I recommend it to those who wish to know more about the wives of Henry VIII.

5 comments about The Merry Recluse: A Life in Essays.

1. Ms Knapp shows a remarkable facility to delve into various aspects of life and make them fascinating for the reader. She explores twindom, eating disorders,alcoholism and relationships in addition to various other subjects, with an equal facility to expand one's understanding on these topics. She also has a a wonderful sense of humor underlying even her most serious observations. I continue to enjoy this book despite the few topics in which I have no interest.



2. Oh--how I wish she were still with us. Caroline Knapp is one of the best authors I've ever read. Humor, diversity, insight and fierce and fearless exploration of common human issues are just a few examples of what make her writing irreplaceable. Read through her book excerpts, columns and articles from newspaper and magazine in this wonderful collection. You will laugh, cry, reflect and ponder life's mysteries. Whether those mysteries be big or small makes no difference--Caroline manages to explore them all in the most meaningful and unique ways.
   If you are a woman I absolutely guarantee this book will strike a chord in you.
   If you are a fan this is simply a must-read.
   If you are just meeting her then this is the perfect first introduction to our marvelously intelligent, dearly missed, late, great Caroline Knapp.



3. Caroline Knapp died in 2002 of lung cancer at the horribly early age of 42. She was almost my exact contemporary in age. I nearly died of a diabetic coma at about the same time, so there is a weird little echo of experience and sorrow when I think about her. I was already familiar with her funny book of faux-advice, "Alice K.'s Guide To Life", but I hadn't yet read all of her really great essays that are collected in "The Merry Recluse." (The title is a state of being to which I also aspire.) She wrote all of these terrific little pieces in the 1990's when she was at the height of her powers and apparently at a level of maturity and confidence that allowed her to look back with considerable wisdom. Caroline suffered intensely earlier in her life from anorexia, depression and anxiety, alcoholism and shyness. But she writes about these with clarity, grace, much much humor and tough-mindedness. She didn't wallow in victimization like so many do; above all she wanted to understand. In the long hot summer of 2006 perhaps my current fvorite essay in this volume is "Endless (and Endless) Summer", about how much she hated summer, how she preferred autumn, and how weird she felt when she saw all the summer-adoring people around her. Believe me Caroline; you read my mind. As you did over and over again in this book, as if we were friends who never met. And I'm seriously going to miss your wonderful, tenderly witty yet serious voice.



4. Caroline Knapp's fifth memoir was published posthumously after the author died from cancer at age forty-two. The book consists of newspaper and magazine essays written over a fifteen year period. The columns are presented thematically rather than chronologically, in sections about family relationships, grief/recovery/sobriety, the state of the world, and personal reflections.
   
   Early essays discuss female friendships, girl crushes, and Knapp's relationship with her mother and father. She was a raging, active alcoholic when both passed away within a year of one another. Knapp also covers ground on two topics she's renowned for--anorexia (as described in her memoir Appetites: Why Women Want) and alcoholism (as described in Drinking: A Love Story). Her assays on recovery provide additional insight and reflection beyond what was in her other books. None of the essays were published during her active alcoholic period in the early 1990's (only one from 1989, a long essay about her eating disorder, was published prior to Knapp's sobriety).
   
   In the lighter essays, Knapp returns to the familiar subject of her dog. One October 1998 piece for the Boston Phoenix is a rebuttal to Ron Rosenbaum's New York Observer column asserting the superiority of his cat over Knapp's dog. Other essays on the state of the world cover topics ranging from Linda Tripp s betrayal of her friend Monica Lewinsky, to life as an office drone in corporate America, to home decoration. The ruminations on life are hit-or-miss, and the fluffier pieces at the end aren't written as powerfully as Knapp's solid essays on addition and relationships.
   
   If Knapp wasn't already a bestselling author of wide renown, this essay collection would be of little popular interest. The true gems are the essays which expound on the topics of her earlier works Drinking and Appetites. I recommend this book only to admirers looking for additional material from this accomplished and well-spoken woman.



5. I have read other nonfiction essays by this author. They all have been very good. I won't spoil the clincher here but I wish she had more to offer us.

5 comments about Mayada, Daughter of Iraq: One Woman's Survival Under Saddam Hussein.

1. When it comes to autobiographical or biographical books, like this one, and the events recounted are mainly dramatic and very sad, the impulse is to rate it with 5 stars. However, I find that this particular book, or rather, its narrative, seems to be lacking that something or other which would put the whole thing into a more tangible perspective. Of course one cannot but sympathise with Mayada and all the "shadow women" and what they went through as described (imprisonment and torture in Iraq).
   
   However this time, and unlike some previous work I read by the same author, I felt that the book lacks in substance a bit, some points have not been explained clearly and, in my opinion, the frequent descriptions of Mayada's fortunate background blur some more fundamental issues.



2. wow...what a book. could not put it down. if you want to know what living under the regime of saddam was like this says it all!! these women were so courageous. the imprisonment of women, children and men and what they suffered is in grafic details here. this is a story that breaks your heart. should be must reading for all. shocking shocking read. my thoughts are still with these women and what has become of them. this is the fourth book by this author i have read; each book has been a page turner. this one the most disturbing. but they are all written as if you are right there at the moment and watching it with your own eyes, it is so discriptive. that this is a real story is horrifing!!!



3. I am an Iraqi woman and I read this book. It is complete non-sense. She clearly was one of the people who got the greatest advantage of Saddam Hussein being in power. Don't you read that in between the lines? She met Saddam and Chemical Ali (she wrote an article in an Iraqi magazine about how handsome Ali was, and how great his personality was). You are no "oppressed woman" if you are allowed in the presence of these criminals and murderers. She knew every single powerful man then! In Iraq, you couldn't get that close if you were not the first one who cheered and clapped for that brutal system. Ask me about Iraqis who really suffered, not this woman! She probably wants to get another high rank in the new government and that is why she is listing her "suffering" story. This woman didn't suffer, she was one of the most pampered women during Saddam Hussein's time and she will still be pampered no matter how the Iraqi government changes. If you really want to read about the suffering of Iraqi women, read the book named "Baghdad Burning". It is a stunning book that is wonderfully written and truly depicts how everybody still suffers in Iraq.



4. Mayada is an essential book for any historian of what the United States is actually doing in Iraq. The history is fascinating, and Mayada bears witness to horrible suffering in one of the most perverted dictatorships since that of Idi Amin.
   
   That being said, there are a few criticisms. The author attempts to mix Mayada's account of her time in an Iraqi prison with flashbacks as an attempt to put the Iraqi situation into the appropriate context. This could easily be done -- as has Daniel Jonah Goldhagen in Hitler's Willing Executioners. I don't think that the author is successful so sometimes the reader is left with the feeling that some organization was necessary.
   
   That doesn't change the fact that every American should read this book.



5. 
   Mayada Al Askari was born in Iraq, in 1955, to a prominent Iraqi family, and is the granddaughter of Jido Sati, an important Iraqi politician and statesman in the first half of the 20th century, and of former Iraqi Prime Minister Jafar al-Askari.
   This biography tells of her experiences growing up in the hellish cage of Baathist Iraq under Saddam Hussein's rule of fear.
   Mayada was born, grew up, was married in, and gave birth to two children in Iraq.
   She detested the Hitler of the Euphrates Saddam Hussein, and her one dream in life was to live to see the end of his rule.
   The author Jean Sassoon visited a children's ward in a Baghdad hospital with Mayada, and knew that Saddam, who brought on the wares and sanctions, was the reason for these children's suffering. Saddam was so eager to lay the blame for infant deaths on the sanctions that he was known to hold back medicine from the hospitals- he might, for example, allow only one cancer drug to be issued for leukemia patients, who clearly required tow or three different drugs to battle certain cancers.
   Saddam was also known to have placed empty baby coffins on the street to inflame world opinion against the United States (The international left lapping up Saddam's propaganda with enthusiasm , while never one uttering a word against his genocidal reign of terror).
   Mayada ran a printing shop and was arrested on false charges that opposition material had been printed with her facilities.
   She was imprisoned in Baladiyat, the headquarters of Saddam's secret police which also served as a prison cell.
   Here she was tortured and witnessed deaths and maiming of the women in her cell by the most horrific tortures.
   Many of these were imprisoned for no certified reason at all, and another was imprisoned, for example, for organizing a litter cleaning campaign, as this was then seen as an implicit criticism of the Saddam regime's administration.
   Every woman was taken at least once a day for a torture session.
   These women were beaten, whipped, burned, mutilated, dismembered, and gassed and electrocuted.
   One method used was to insert a pipe into the victim and burn their insides with gas.
   Were where the hypocritical 'anti-war' activists who hysterically pour venom against President George W Bush and Prime Minister Tony Blair for liberating Iraq, when Saddam was torturing his own people and murdering hundreds of thousands of others.
   When American forces humiliated Iraqi Baathists, involved in terror, while doing nothing like what Saddam's cohorts did to thousands, the international left and media broke again into hysteria, but where were they when Saddam was involved in perpetration of these horrors.
   In true Orwellian style they compared President Bush and Blair to Hitler when it was so clear that Saddam was the Hitler of the equation, and millions of Iraqis were jubilant at Saddam's downfall. The book, through detailing Mayada's conversation with some of her fellow prisoners, relates the cruelty of the Saddam Hussein family, including Saddam's torture and starvation of a pet dog, tied up next to a pool of water while being killed with thirst, all the while being given electric shocks by Saddam's sadistic son, Uday.
   Everyone who has ever had an interest or comment in the Iraq War or who says that they do not know why President Bush removed Saddam would do well to educate themselves on something of Saddam's excesses.
   This book gives us an insight but it is only the tip of the iceberg of the horrors perpetrated by the Saddam regime.

5 comments about 28 Years Between Kisses: The Love Letters That Reclaimed a Lost Romance.

1. This book is just awful. Why anyone would want to read these folks' letters I can't imagine. Yes, it's a very romantic notion that they have found each other after so many years. But hearing the details of their lives is just plain boring. Yuck. So disappointed!



2. Riveting and Courageous
   
   I received this book as a gift, and had no idea what power lay in its pages. One evening I picked it up and started reading. It was after two when I finally headed to bed, still reading. I made it to the foyer where I stood for the next hour, feet freezing from the cold floor, until I finished it. The book is riveting. The caliber of writing is extraordinary, and the authors' range of intellect is amazing.
   
   The authors reunite and lay bare their souls without being self-conscious. The concept of wishing to undo the personal mistakes of the past is timeless, but so few ever risk the status quo to pursue an old and uncertain memory that has perhaps been twisted by time. Tom summons uncommon courage and risks his self-worth and sanity by laying out his feelings for Linda to reject. But she doesn't reject them. She too risks her settled, routine life for a relationship with a potentially possessed man. They find and share a love that I've searched for, as well as other middle-aged friends.
   
   Enjoy it. The characters will remain with you for a long time.



3. I just received this book and find myself waking early in the morning to start reading. This book is like a warm chocolate chip cookie fresh from the oven with a fresh glass of milk. The author presents word-pictures of scenes and events by giving specific details that appeal to all five senses.
   
   The excitement and anticipation I feel with each letter must pale in comparison to Linda and Tom waiting for the next email or letter from each other.
   
   This book restores my belief in true love and companionship. I feel a new excitement for life and for my own relationship, as well as a sense of gratitude for finding my husband and experiencing a love like Tom and Linda share.



4. This was so bad that I did not finish it. While this could have been a great short story, it is evident that the authors were unable to condense their thoughts. I lost interest so often that i found myself skipping paragraphs (there are pages and pages about something that could easily have been trimmed down to one paragraph.)
   
   
   Skip it.



5. I love these stories about how some people are just meant to be. Letters, not emails or text messages, bring back together two people after nearly 30 years. WOW! To quote a movie, sometimes what you are looking for is right back where you left it. A favorite for anyone who still believes in love. Not all reunions have happy endings. Some break off again for good when the fantasy shatters. But for those with the good luck of a permanent reunion... a tale like this will inspire you to never give up hope.

4 comments about The Secret Diary of Elisabeth Leseur: The Woman Whose Goodness Changed Her Husband from Atheist to Priest.

1. 'My Spirit Rejoices'& 'Light in the Darkness'
   or 'The Secret Diary of Elisabeth Leseur' - Sophia Institute Press

   It is not often that one finds a book of such vital import that it changes one's life. But the journal kept by Elisabeth Leseur is surely one of the most compelling books I have read in many years. It ranks with the great works of the Carmelite Saints: St. Teresa of Avila, St. John of the Cross, and St. Therese of Lisieux.

   For many years now I have kept Elisabeth as my companion during Lent; a great Spiritual Director in an age of darkness. She holds the light of Eternal Truth and points out the way with calm assurance.

   Elisabeth experienced an extreme degree of spiritual isolation owing to the timbre of her times in Paris high society. Her husband was aggressively atheist, as were many of his friends and associates. She kept the love of God deep in her heart, and it was to the Heart of Jesus to whom she turned for daily solace.

   At Elisabeth's death her husband, Felix, found her secret journal; and as he read the pages of the journal, his heart turning to remorse, the last vestige of his hatred for the Catholic Church was swept away in the tide of his beloved wife's counsel. Reconciling to the Church, Felix Leseur entered a seminary and became a Catholic priest. Elisabeth's cause for Canonization is now open at the Vatican.




2. The joy and hope that many evidently find in atheism is a puzzle to believers. For such, the In Memoriam written by Elisabeth Leseur's husband is worth the price of this book. He was a militant atheist for most of their 25-year marriage, while she grew in her faith and from love for him kept her prayers for him secret. Both were highly educated; Felix had lost his faith in studying medicine, was later a journalist and an insurance executive. They were childless, due probably to Elisabeth's many health problems. However, she was able to travel and to entertain until stricken with cancer and dying at the age of 53. The Elisabeth Leseurs of the world are usually unsung. But this diary, rescued by her sister from the burnpile, converted her husband Felix not only to Christianity but to the priesthood. It is a true love story.



3. There are many excellent books written about Catholic Christian spirituality by saints who were priests, monks or religious sisters. "The Secret Diary of Elisabeth Leseur" is unique because it is the spiritual diary writings of a married woman. There are many married women today seeking holiness in their lives as wives and mothers. This is a book for them! They will find profound and useful spiritual direction in the words of Elisabeth Leseur, whose love for God gave her a steadfast, faithful and fruitful love for her husband. I can't recommend this book highly enough to women who are seeking holiness in their vocation of marriage.



4. I am halway throught brousing the main sections of the book. It is easy to dip in and out of the various sections, because the heart of the matter is simple but profound - staying close to the heart of Jesus- forgivness, repentence, salvation. Easy to read because it is down to earth yet mystical because as with all truth that is about the ultimate reality - GOD, it expands outward to infinity, beyond simple logic. Just as Jesus can both be our judge and our savior, thus forgivness and justice, redemption and conversion exist together in a unity. An amazing story of how an ordinary woman becomes extraordinary while following the message of Jesus of how to live our lives by seeking truth, in her case studying as much as she can in order to be READY when it comes time to witness truth to those who need the intelectual approach, by following the way - in terms of ministering to those in need, and by living the LIFE, forgiving her atheist husband and seeking every opportunity to BE a Christian to him. very very inspiring.
   
   I especially like the organization of the book, which follows the author's own approach. So the subject is approached as a journal, as a series of tasks to do, and other goal oriented processes.
   
   recommend very highly. appeals to the both the mystic and the modern mind, in my humble opinion.

5 comments about God Is a Woman: Dating Disasters.

1. When I heard this book was by a comedian I was expecting it to be hilarious since there is so much material that can be derived through dating, but it's not particularly funny. The dating advice this book has is decent, although pretty basic (which in my opinion is all that matters but it just isn't that interesting to read). The value this book had to me was that the stories are pretty interesting but they aren't going to shock you unless you and your friends were hermits in college and have never heard slutty stories or anything like that. There's a guy called Max Tucker who has some more outrageous stories which you can get online- just google him.



2. Dragged on and halfway through I couldn't finish it. This guy is the type of guy who thinks he is funnier than he actually is. Many other books out there that are similar and more entertaining. I think a lot of these 5-star reviews are contrived.



3. this is well written, with a lot of insightful ideas and thoughts on the subject. You should also read some of his ezine articles, they're terrific as well.



4. I can't say that I didn't enjoy this book, but I think the books by Neil Strauss are much funnier and more educational of the pickup. But this book is supposed to be a humorous read and it succeeds in this objective. I think it gets kind of old about midway through, but I hunkered down and forced myself to read to the end and thought that things picked back up again.



5. This book was recommended to me by a friend and I'm glad that I decided to purchase it. I'm in a "book club" so to speak, in which we study the social sciences and while "God" isn't exactly heavy on helping one improving their social skills, the book was never touted as such. What it does deliver on is funny, often times hilarious tales of a traveling comedian's dating disasters and the lessons he learns along the way.

5 comments about That Mean Old Yesterday: A Memoir.

1. I found it hard to put the book down. Disturbing. Heartwrenching."Makes me want to holler" --- but inspiring!!
   I met Stacey when she was 14 and just starting out at The Lawrenceville School. She was our babysitter. My husband is part of her story. I knew her life was challenging but I didn't know the depth until reading her book.
   Stacey adds a historical perspective to her story which opens the possibility of great discussions and conversations.
   This is an important book. Pass it on..



2. Stacey Patton writes with the power of a Claude Brown, and her story of her childhood as a ward of the New Jersey foster care system is just as wrenching, and ultimately hopeful, as Manchild in the Promised Land. Ms. Patton has a remarkable gift in being able to step aside of her own brutal treatment and place it in a much larger, historical context -- the legacy of slavery. It is quite brilliant the manner in which she moves the story from the beatings she suffered at the hands of an adoptive mother, who was not poor at all, but the wife of a Christian minister. Whippings, supposedly intended to raise a good child, physically and emotionally scarred Stacey, but they could not destroy her amazing resiliency,spunk and vision. Her escape from a cruel and violent housefold was accomplished despite the bumblings of agents of the State's foster care agency. It is fair to ask how far can the thesis of a link between slavery and the everyday violence of some families and communities be carried. And one can also fairly ask, how can we get this book into the hands of every public servant who has to serve as the last protector and intermediary for children who become wards of the state?



3. In slavery times, the master would beat slaves into submission. Their whippings discouraged slaves from running, rebelling and slothful. In turn, slaves beat their own children so the master would not have to. Whippings and beatings are a learned behavior. One that should have ended with slavery, but someone became the punishment of choice for Africian Americans. When Stacey Patton penned her memoir, of her life as the adoptive child of Myrtle and G. Patton in That Mean Old Yesterday, she compared those turbulent eight years to the life of a slave. Stacey was the slave who endured beatings, displacement and abandonment and who eventually runs away from the abusive massa.
   
   At age five, Stacey's short life is changed with just a visit from the social worker. She is informed by the only mother she knows that she is a foster child and she is just a temporary visitor in the only home she knows. She is eventually placed in the adoptive home of Myrtle and G. Patton, a couple who by all appearances are loving people who cannot have their own biological child. With so much love to give they chose Stacey. And they were the perfect family until the adoption was complete. Then, the first slap, then beatings with a belt, extension cord, shoe, hands and fist began by this loving adoptive mother. In Myrtle eyes, this was done in love, after all, it would be better for her to beat Stacey than the police and the Bible says "The blueness of a wound cleans away evil" and "Spare the rod, spoil the child." So for eight years Stacey endured the beatings for simple infractions such as her shoes being crooked in the closet, saying "yep" instead of yes. Until at the age of 13, she could not take it anymore. Rather than sit passively and wait for Myrtle, her massa to beat her to death, Stacey ran.
   
   I sat with my mouth wide open in horror reading Ms Patton's story. Not because of the abuse she suffered, because as a former Child Protective Services worker I had seen it before, but because Ms Patton was so horribly wronged by those who were supposed to protect her. G and other family members knew what was happening and condoned Myrtle's behavior. School teachers and administrators saw the bruises and did not report it; doctors and nurses treated her injuries and did not report them, and the police placed the blame on her and sent her back to her abusers. Through all of this, Ms. Patton had an inner strength and a strong will that could not be broken. When she got tired of the abuse, she ran away and steadfastly refused to return to her adoptive parents' home. Where many would have thought that life ina group home or the system would have been her demise, she excelled in school and sports. She received a full scholarship to a prestigious boarding school, despite the naysayers. She was one of the kids who beat the system. She refused to let the title "Ward of the State of New Jersey" hold her back. She had dreams and she did not let her dreams be deferred.
   
   That Old Mean Yesterday is not an easy read and I would not recommend it to everybody. Those who read the Darkest Child by Delores Phillips, Neecy's Lullaby by Cris Burke, The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls, Somebody's Someone by Regina Louise or A Piece of Cake by Cupcake Brown might be able to relate to this novel. It is hard to believe a child could overcome all the obstacles placed in front of them, but Ms. Patton did and is to be congratulated for her tenacity and accomplishments.
   
   Jeanette
   APOOO BookClub



4. Stacey Patton is a remarkable and inspirational person who endured years of physical and verbal abuse by her adoptive mother, Myrtle. Ms. Patton was placed in the foster care system at the age of two by her biological mother as a way to escape her dysfunctional biological family. Only to be adopted by equally dysfunctional people. After seven or eight years of living with abuse, Ms. Patton demanded that her adoptive parents contact DYFS so she could leave their home.
   
   Ms. Patton sets her life on a path to rid herself of the stigma associated with being a ward of the State of New Jersey. With no encouragement from her house masters, she applies and is accepted into a prestigious prep school with a full scholarship. While at school, she is united with her biological family.
   
   Ms. Patton does an excellent job of displaying the similarities between slavery and her childhood. Slave children were beaten into submission. Ms. Patton was beaten for the most trivial mishaps. Slave children were taught to be emotionless. Ms. Patton did not know how to be angry.
   
   Thanks to Ms. Patton for sharing details of her childhood. This novel should be read by everyone as well as used as a training guide for social workers. Ms. Patton is a survivor, who did not let hurtful and mean spirited words and actions limit or shape her destiny.



5. Part I of this book contains entirely too much introductory material. In fact, you've read a considerable amount of the book before you realize that she actually experienced abuse. I did not think I was going to be able to read the entire book. However, once I got to part II the book really picked up and becomes an interesting read. At that point, I didn't want to put it down. The author parallels her abuse to the history of slavery which is a unique and interesting touch, but it goes overboard at times. Finally, the book opens with a very dramatic scene and by the book's end, you're not sure what happened that led to that scene or what happened after, a tad frustrating.

2 comments about Profiles in Audacity: Great Decisions and How They Were Made.

1. 
   This is a collection of vignettes explaining how some of the most influential decisions in history were arrived at; from Galileo's decision to publicly support Copernicus' solar-centric version of the universe to President Truman's decision to drop the A-Bomb to Bill Gates acquiring the rights to DOS. Though the book does cover events spanning a period from Cleopatra to Flight 93, 70% of the book is dedicated to American decision makers so for a strict historical survey for pedantic historians, it falls woefully short.
   
   However for the casual reader of history, it is a very interesting and engaging coverage of many of turning points of history and not merely the boring, behind the scenes red tape kind. "Decisions in Crisis" covers Elizabeth I's standing up to the then overwhelming might of Spain and JFK's finding a middle ground in the Cuban Missile Crisis. "Decisions to Venture" covers such diverse topics from the Lewis and Clark expedition and the Race for the Moon to Charlie Goodnight's first cattle drive and Ted Turner's creation of CNN. "Decision of Conscience" I found to be the most stirring with examples such as Gandhi's use of non-violent resistance, Branch Rickey's hiring Jackie Robinson to play for the Dodgers, W.E.B. Du Bios role in the creation of the NAACP, Daniel Ellsberg's decision to leak the Pentagon Papers and Betty Friedan's decision to look into and beyond her own dissatisfaction with what society prescribed a woman's life should be to what women had the potential to achieve. "Decision to Risk Everything" of course included such famous examples as Hillary and Norgay's ascent of Everest and Washington's Delaware Crossing, but it also includes such lesser known moments such as the Berlin Airlift and Nixon's decision to open relations with Communist China.
   
   The final section, "Decision to Hope", was the weakest. It does contain some excellent examples, such as Begin and Sadat's work for peace between Israel and Egypt (which is one of my first memories of world events as a child), Carnegie's philosophy of modern noblesse oblige. However, the other examples feel misplaced and the book strikes a very sour note here by including Chief Joseph' surrender at the Battle of Bear Paw mountain as a "Decision to Hope. "I want time to look for my children and see how many of them I can find. Maybe I will find them among the dead. Hear me my chiefs, I am tired, my heart is sick and sad. From where the sun now stands, I will fight no more forever." How does this sound hopeful to anyone? After watching his tribe be decimated by U.S. troops, freezing temperatures and starvation in a conflict started by American settler's greed it does not sound at all hopeful to me. It sounds like surrender which is not an act of hope, but resignation. A "decision" forced down one's throat at gun point is not a decision at all.
   
   But that stumble aside, it is otherwise an good overview of some of the more momentous moments in history, especially the modern ones that shaped the world we live in today and can introduce even more knowledgeable history readers to historical figures not usually mentioned in the grand scale of most historical work.



2. Some of the vignettes were interesting insights into history. But it seemed like the plurality of them were over-hyped in the CEO-worshipping management book style of leadership assessment. If the decision led to a successful conclusion, it was a great decision and therefore the leader had audacity. Yet, some of these tipping points in history could just as easily failed. No audacious decisions that failed were reviewed. Even those that succeeded didn't mean that there weren't better decisions that could have been made. Some weren't even decisions at all. Did Galileo really decide to rethink the universe? Or did he just assess the many different mental models of the solar system and conclude that the sun-centered model (proposed earlier by Copernicus) best explained his observations?
   
   I usually recycle my books by passing them on to friends or family who might find them interesting. But I can not think of anyone to pass this book on to.

1 comments about A Voice in the Wilderness: Conversations with Terry Tempest Williams.

1. A Voice in the Wilderness: Conversations with Terry Tempest Williams is a selection of interviews with naturalist, author, and activist Terry Williams, as collected by Michael Austin. The discussions cover Williams' love of wildlife, her reflections upon eroticism, art, family, literature, democracy, politics, Mormonism and much more. A mind-expanding and highly contemplative reflection upon the multifaceted dimensions of life, A Voice in the Wilderness draws the reader in with its succinctly worded insights into the foibles and paradoxes of daily life. An index allows for quick reference to key subjects in this one-of-a-kind reflective memoir.