5 comments about The Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions of Overeaters Anonymous.

1. This is an excellent book for people who are addicted to compulsive eating. If you use the principles of OA in your daily lives, you will be able to stop eating compulsively and lose the excess weight.



2. Not much else to say, but that I use this book on a regular basis and consider it fundamental to my recovery from compulsive overeating. It's a challenging book and seems to grow in meaning as I grow in understanding!



3. Before the image of an OA meeting being filled with obese people fills your mind ... think again. An overeater can be anyone ... fashion model ... successful accountant in a size 8 ... fitness trainer ... midly plump dental assistant ... anyone. The causes and reasons are different. Overeating is not a lack of willpower but an emotional relationship to food that has someone not know when to stop. Eating is natural, overeating needs to be addressed so as to protect our very health. This wonderful "bible" for Overeaters Anonymous helps those in recovery work their healing one day at a time. Whether at a meeting, or in a personal inventory, or in working with a sponsor ... this contains elements of surrendering our will power to a higher power. Whether you believe in God or not, the notion of not having to do this alone is a welcome relief for many caught in a viscious circle of emotional medication through misuse of food. The concept of a higher power enables someone to be open to group support and feel the possibility of living a healthier way. This book is a program that is not a quick fix, a diet, or anykind of body makeover technique. What it provides is a way of thinking and living that addresses the root of using food as a drug.



4. Core material - and a breath of fresh air to the 'eat less and less and take diet boosters and blasters' voices out there. I also recommend a new book that has real food recipes for one of the original foodplans of early OA. For The Original Overeaters Anonymous Very Low Carbohydrate Food Plan: Greysheet Recipes. This is a beautiful book. I bought it because I'm on the low carb, healthy, food plan. It has great recipes. I really like the protein and vegetable recipes. I can never think of enough things to do with vegetables. Now I know what other people are cooking. I'm glad to learn more about phone and in person meetings. I never knew where the term "greysheet" came from. I have wanted to learn more about it for a long time.



5. The 12 steps of Overeaters Anonymous is a book that teaches you to live your life today what ever your size is. Overeaters can be the slim ones as well as the ones with overweight, they suffer the same way!
   
   It is not what you are eating it is what is eating you.
   
   After walking the steps with a sponsor I am now free of this sick compulsion. I read this book all the time and go to meetings. You can find your meeting at [...]
   
   It works if you work it
   Anonymous in Iceland

5 comments about What I Know Now: Letters to My Younger Self.

1. Loved reading these letters and learning about the lives of those who wrote them! Excellent and inspiring!



2. We should all take the time to reflect on what we have learned through the years. And reminisce about how naive we once were. It took courage for these women to share their most vulnerable moment and I thank them for that. Their stories have helped me in accept the beauty of maturing and accepting who I have become. I have given this book as a gift to several girlfriends for their birthdays. I just wish I would have had the foresight to read a book like this when I was younger...but then again, I may not have really understood it.



3. I read this book and it was comforting and validating for me to know that so many famous women have experienced many of life's struggles that us everyday women are challenged with. Many of the letters give important insights and inspirational advice in an honest, approachable and down-to-earth manner. I will definately refer back to many of the letters in this book that struck a cord with me. Great advice for all women of all ages, in all walk of life.



4. some authors included in this work give you enough background to understand why they advise their younger selves the way they do. Other authors are just vague. It's nice to compare their experiences and roads to self-development to mine and for that reason it's a good read to keep on the shelf; besides the awesome women included in it.



5. Excellent book to help guide women that it's okay to make mistakes in your younger years.

5 comments about The Minds of Boys: Saving Our Sons From Falling Behind in School and Life.

1. As a mother of a young boy(5) who is experiencing several of the symptoms described in the book (disliking school, lack of participation, academic difficulties, occasional disruptive behavior, etc), this book has helped me, if nothing else, to be more empathetic, understanding and patient towards him. This in itself is worth a solid recommendation for the book. Our sons need love, support and understanding, despite the aggravation that their behaviour sometimes causes. In a world where teachers and doctors are quick to diagnose ADHD and prescribe drugs, this book also equipped me to have better discussions with doctors and teachers. It does not provide a quick fix, but strong support along the journey.



2. A lot of boys are being drugged because their teachers don't know how to handle "boy energy" and find it easier (for them, the teachers) to teach boys who are stoned.
   
   Gurian is a champion for boys' learning styles. Read this and buy a copy for any teacher who wants you to drug your son.



3. This book is an especially good read for any one who interacts or teaches childresn. This book helped me to understand why my personality and my classroom management style of "sit-still" and "be quiet" is contrary to the nature of boys.
   
   I did learn a lot.



4. I recommend this book to anyone who is raising a boy or teaching boys. It is a fairly easy read with lots of great information about how boys think, learn, etc.



5. Good book by a well known, great writer. Check out his other titles, too!

5 comments about Focusing.

1. This book is certainly not what I expected. It's quite "dated"-- I got the impression that the technique described in the book was a fad in the 80s. I'll just say it did not help me learn how to actually "focus"...



2. A wonderful technique for those who have read enough books and are ready to take on the adventure of reading their own inner world.



3. I have applied the idea of felt sense a few times and found it very interesting and helpful. I learned to be more in tune with my feelings, even though it's really through bodily sensations.



4. This approach seems very Gestaltian. I found this book by reading "Toward a Psychology of Awakening." I found the method is effective until the last step or two. Focusers seem to believe that these felt shifts are easy and can happen any time you focus correctly. I do not believe this pattern fits all people. These 'felt shifts' seem to happen later, with more awareness of the bodily manifestations of my mind. And I cannot force anything to happen when I want it to, but it does happen in its own way, spontaneously. It's like what Fritz Perls emphasized, with enough awareness, the organism automatically heals itself.



5. How interesting that this book is still relevant though it was written so long ago! The Focusing method is really great for everyone--whether you are trying to clear some mental space and focus on your issues, or if you are a therapist and want to try it as a healing modality.

5 comments about Prime: Adventures and Advice on Sex, Love, and the Sensual Years.

1. Okay, it was a wonderful book. Interesting and absorbing, but because the author is a "Sex Researcher" the book a tad creepy. It's like if Jeffery Dahmer wrote a cookbook. While your reading this you can't help wondering about whether this lifestyle influences her academic persona. I'd have much preferred if this had been published as "By Anonymous".



2. I was disappointed because more than an empowering book for women in their prime, it was a little black book of her conquests. I couldn't even finish it. At first, I was intrigued, but then it became like a revolving door (sorry Pepper!). Plus, she has a condescending attitude towards people like me who prefer a more long-term serious relationship. Living in the era of AIDS, HPV, and herpes outbreaks does not engender me to leap into casual flings just because I can. I mean, I'm shocked she never even tested these people before bed-hopping. And the indifferent way she brushes off amours that want something more but that stifle her "growth" is positively aggravating. I had to put it down (and thankfully, return it to the library).



3. Dr. Pepper's book candidly looks at dating at mid-life. Her anecdotes provide personal insight, and allow us to live, experience and learn through her. It's going to take several meetings and relationships before finding "the one," if at all....and Pepper reminds the reader that maybe finding "the one" isn't what we should be after - that it's more of the journey, and loving the journey instead. As I go through this process, it makes it a heck of a lot easier to keep Pepper's experiences in mind - I know I'm not the only one going through this....I'm not the only one who will experience losses. Great book! I'd even tell men to read it - I think they'd learn a lot as well!



4. This is a great read,not just for single women in their "prime," but for men and women of any age. Other amazing book about this topic is:I Love You. Now What?: Falling in Love is a Mystery, Keeping It Isn't



5. Just finished the book today. It's a great story of Pepper's growth but more than that, I think it is a help for those women over 50 that may need permission to let go and enjoy life. It lets women know that sex and love does not HAVE to end at a certain age. I turned 60 in May, am sexually active, going to the gym (for myself, not for him), eating healthier, planning to do some traveling (may include Bali one day) and enjoying my life to the fullest. I am having a ball and this book proves that it can be done. I recommend it to women over 50 but I think all women should read it no matter what their situation: married, single, divorced, or widowed. This is a great read.

5 comments about Think and Grow Rich.

1. This book is a classic that I read twenty years ago and wanted to have my own copy as I think it is a good reference for self-improvement. It has stood the test of time.



2. A true classic. The grand grand father of all self help books. Stand the test of time. Very helpful indeed. Must read.
   
   p.s. Below please find some of my favorite "and classical" passages for your reference.
   
   Whatever the mind of man can conceive and believe it can achieve. pg 32
   
   Knowledge becomes power only when, and if, it is organized into definite plans of action and directed to a definite end. pg 76
   
   Success requires no explanations. Failure permits no alibis. pg 138
   
   Genuine wisdom is usually conspicuous through modesty and silence. pg 141
   
   Men who accumulate great fortunes are generally known as cold blooded, and sometimes ruthless. Often they are misunderstood. What they have is will power, which they mix with persistence, and place back of their desires to insure the attainment of their objectives. pg 151



3. If you are looking to start a business, advance in your career or develop the mind of a young individual this is the best starter book. Napoleon Hill's philosophy about weatlth and mindset is bar non the best (based off of Andrew Carnegie)content I ever read. This book got me the right mindset to launch my real estate investing business. A must read!



4. All of the great reviews I read say it ALL. This book is a timeless classic & a great educator for all who take the time to read it. Some are under the false thought that this great work is only for those in sales or that the book's ONLY objective is to make money. This book is for True success in ALL areas of life!
   
   If it is not already, this book should be on the recommended reading list for All High School Graduates, so they can get a off to a good roaring start in life! It has pushed me to SUCCESS!
   
   I sure wish I had it when I came out of school
   Tangela Cook
   www.door4futureprofits.com



5. Im very satisfied with the service of amazon,however it would be a good idea to show the size of letter because is too small and eventually it gets tired to read those books,in fact is the second book i bought and i didnt expect that size of fountain
   Thank you

5 comments about Auto Repair For Dummies.

1. Has been an all-inclusive auto resource. For newbies, but is packed with stuff.



2. After watching my sister go through several Auto Tech classes to learn how to work on a car, I was intimidated by the amount of time & money I thought it would take to get the same knowledge. Then I found this book. I've been a faithful reader of the Dummies books for a long time, and this one just reinforced my opinion of them.
   
   After reading this book, I am able to change my own oil, check & change my brakes, change a flat tire, know which replacement tire to buy and why, and diagnose almost any car problem myself. I have saved hundreds of dollars (maybe over $1000 by now) because I knew exactly what I needed a mechanic to do to my car whenever I took it in.
   
   As a bonus, my car now runs better than it ever has before, because this book also covers preventative maintenance in extreme detail. It even lays out a monthly routine for you for checking most of the systems in your car.
   
   I highly recommend this book to absolutely anyone who wants to learn about cars. Even if you know nothing except how to start, drive, and stop your car -- before reading this, I thought the rim CAME WITH the new tire! -- this book is for you.



3. Before this book I didn't know a thing about cars. Now, I would still say that I don't but, I would NOT go to the mechanic for everything.



4. I've always relied on mechanics (with mixed results), but I wanted to know what was going on with my car and to be able to perform basic maintenance myself. This book is very easy to use (MUCH better than my owner's manual). It provides a good overview of how cars work, as well as specific advice for particular repairs and maintenance. If you're already a gearhead, this is presumably too basic, but if the inside of your car is a great big mystery to you, this is definitely the book to get.



5. I bought this book because I wanted to expand my knowledge on cars and engines. It did not work out as expected. If you have NEVER worked on a car before and you have NO IDEA about parts then I do recommend this book to you. For someone that knows even the basics this book is totally pointless and boring. There is nothing to teach you. If you are the kind of person that brings the car to the mechanic and is like do whatever you have to do then buy the book. If you can make something as simple as an oil change by yourself then do not.

5 comments about The Unmistakable Touch of Grace: How to Recognize and Respond to the Spiritual Signposts in Your Life.

1. I love this book and ordered 3 copies which I promptly gave away to my friends. I'm getting ready to order 4 more.



2. This book is really amazing. I still use Cheryl's earlier book, Take Time for Your Life, as a great reference for my coaching practice. Her latest book takes you in another direction by showing you how to recognize and follow the signs of grace - "the recognition that everything is connected and sacred". I enjoyed hearing her personal story as well as that of others in their search for grace. It is a great example of how setting your intentions creates your reality. If that wasn't enough reason to read this book - she provides some great book, website and magazine recommendations. I would highly recommend this book. It could change your life... if you are ready for a change.



3. Cheryl Richardson has put into words what many of us have experienced in our lives but didn't know how to explain or articulate. This is not just another "how to" book on creating the perfect life. It is a book that will help you become more mindful of what is already present in your life. You won't miss another "signpost" after reading this book and you'll become more aware of how grace has been a presence in your life from the beginning. Bravo, Cheryl! Pamela D. Blair, Author, The Next Fifty Years: A Guide for Women at Mid-Life And Beyond, co-author I Wasn't Ready to Say Goodbye (Updated Edition): Surviving, Coping and Healing After the Sudden Death of a Loved One



4. It was truly a touch of grace for me to find myself watching Oprah (which I don't usually do)the day she had Cheryl Richardson, Martha Beck, and Louise Hay on her show. This book is wonderful, as is Martha's, and I have owned Louise Hay's book and given it to many friends over the past 25 or more years.
   
   "...Touch of Grace" is a very personal, easy to follow book. Common sense is not usually a phrase one applies to a book that is probably categorized as "spiritual" or "metaphysical" but this book just makes a lot of sense, and if one is truly open to looking at how grace has touched their lives and willing to be aware, this book will be a great help along the way...to...peace and serenity, joy, etc., etc.



5. Cheryl's book "The Unmistakable Touch of Grace" was an excellent book. I think she has a lot to offer and I like her writing style. Excellent ideas to use to accomplish one's own "touch of grace". An excellent book.

5 comments about Soulcraft: Crossing into the Mysteries of Nature and Psyche.

1. If you've never been on a wilderness rite-of-passage before this book offers insight into the practice. Plotkin blends psychospiritual insight on every page. This book is a primer for the ancient practice of the Vision Quest and within this rubric offers a detailed account of the process.
   
   Like Plotkin notes, a wilderness journey into the mysteries of the soul is not a place for the weak of heart. You need to be put together pretty well before answering this call. But the rewards are life-changing.
   
   As metaphor, in the middle ages, gold merchents used a touchstone to determine the value of any gold brought to them by rubbing the gold onto the stone which then produced a certain color to validate the worth of the gold.
   
   A wilderness quest for the purpose of seeking a vision is a touchstone experience. It takes one deep into the raw and untamed soul before its conditioning, conformity, and domestication by culture. In western society, we have forgotten and lost meaningful rites of passage and this loss has created a social fabric of fear based individuals.
   
   Plotkin is well versed in the process of depth psychology and the underworld passage such an undertaking opens in the psyche of those who embrak off from familar shores. Seeking depth, change, and transformation in one's life is difficult and filled with danager. The passage of the threshold expereince is an invitation to risk all for the sake of authenticity and peronal transformation that can lead to a new way of being-in-the-wolrd.
   
   If you think you can sit in a wild place, alone, without food and little water for four days and nights, for the sake of spirit bringing a vision into your life, this book is a necessary guide. Be warned that you may come back (re-incorporation) a different person then the one you left behind at your quest circle. But, for those who pass this threshold, life may also take on a new and profound awareness...



2. I recently picked up this book for the second time - the first was about 3 years ago. It resonates deeply at a core level and, I believe, will do the same for anyone who is standing at the edge. Need a push? Read this book.
   
   Lou



3. The inhabitants of our alienated modern society--and those suffering globally from its negative influences--are desperate for meaning. Self-Help books abound beyond belief. People of all ages, especially in the workplace and corporate world, live lives of such "quiet desperation," as Thoreau wrote, that they can barely discern even the surface they're skating on, much less the depths that lay beneath. Young people worldwide fall into depression, crime, or the false promise of fundamentalism and fanaticism, sacrificing themselves for--what? Surely not our shared humanity.
   
   Bill Plotkin's SOULCRAFT is, I believe, at last, the "definitive" self-help guide, one so profound that it has the capacity, for those open to it, to help reshape our entire vision of the world--and restore to ourselves a fulfilling home within it.
   
   I write this as a cultural anthropologist, author and lecturer who has himself sorted his way through any number of methods to a more balanced, centered life. Plotkin draws from traditional and Jungian psychology, the deep wisdom of the natural world (one of the richest sources of meaning which we have almost succeeded in destroying), and from a wealth of knowledge about traditional cultural practices the world over that provide ancient keys to holistic living. Plotkin draws out the essence of all this and spins it into a welcoming web, each strand another guiding rope hung with tools to empower one on a perilous and promising journey to center.
   
   Make no mistake--this book is not psycho-babble and or self-help pablum. It is not an instant solution; it is a challenging way to open yourself up to an ever-widening world through which, with courage and commitment, you will continue to journey the rest of your life.
   
   There may be some who think the notion of "soul-crafting" is uncomfortably "New Age" (I feared so at first). If so then this is a work that synthesizes everything good and wise that emerged from the wild and ecstatic upheavals of the late `60s, filtered over decades through Plotkin's formal social-psychological training, shaped by his rigorous, wide-ranging scholarship, and brought finally to fruition through the power of his personal experience and heartfelt vision.
   
   And now his newest book has appeared: "Nature and the Human Soul: Cultivating Wholeness and Community in a Fragmented World." I just ordered mine from Amazon and got it immediately. After what Plotkin has just given me in the earlier book, I can only imagine what this book, described as a culminating life's work, can offer me. I can't wait to read it. --Jud Newborn, Ph.D., author, "Sophie Scholl and the White Rose."



4. I read this book as part of a course in personality. This book gives you the definitions and differences between spirit and soul, and how a journey to know the soul can be a road less travelled. It is an amazing insight into the state of coming to know one's soul and the difficult road that must be taken to get there. The author also gives many examples of his participants vision quests and how they can relate to psychological issues in one's life. This book should be read by all humans. We have all lost our connection with nature and through this book we might be able to regain that relationship



5. Last year I met, quite out of the blue, a gifted shamanic practitioner in my own locale who has taken me under her wing (and has not requested a single penny from me for doing so). This was a catalyst event which has prompted my own "second cocooning," a concept explained in "Soulcraft" that I now understand. So much about this book has provided me vital context for understanding my current stage of life and showed me the next couple of steps that I need to take from here.
   
   Some might be tempted to dismiss Soulcraft as "fluffy New Age tripe," but I hope you won't make that mistake. Plotkin doesn't blow sweetness and light up anyone's butt. The journey to soul is not an easy one, and no one--no teacher, no seer, no guru--can make the journey for you. This book encourages you to do the *necessary and difficult* work of finding your own soul, your own vision, your own task--it's important not only for you, but for the way we all live on this earth. Not only that, this book gives you some real-world strategies and activities for how to actually do that.
   
   I am reminded of Jesus saying in the gospels, "what does it profit a man to gain the world but lose his soul?" This book provides some context for understanding what's happening as you lose the world in order to gain your soul. While we ultimately make this inward and downward journey alone, on another level we're not really alone--others have gone before us (and some examples are given in the book), and the presence of Spirit is in all and around all.
   
   My thanks are given gratefully to Bill Plotkin for birthing this book into the world.
   
   One thing, though: I appreciated Plotkin's brief statement in the book that we should not be appropriating culturally from native peoples--but then he quoted Harley Swift Deer in the book, someone who is reputedly/reportedly a "plastic shaman." That was a disappointment, but overall the book is still worth five stars.

5 comments about The Addictive Personality: Understanding the Addictive Process and Compulsive Behavior.

1. I would definately recommend this book for anyone that wants information without having to read hundreds and hundreds of pages. Very imformative.



2. This author has explained addiction from the beginning to the end and didn't leave anything out. It provided me the tools to understand the addict in my life like nothing else ever has, including Alanon. I am now able to sit next to the addict in my life and say I understand and mean it. I am no longer sitting on the outside wishing I could make sense of the craziness addiction creates in the life of the addict and those of us who love them. As the author explains, "addiction doesn't make sense" so stop trying to find logic in it. Instead the author gives the rest of us a view from the addicts perspective and it helped heal the awful pain the addict has caused in my life. This is a must read for anyone who knows an addict, loves an addict, is an addict or lives in society because addiction surrounds and effects us all.



3. I was first exposed to Nakken's work in a Hazelden pamphlet from the late 1980s. I used that material & the papers of Harry Tiebout to present 1 lecture each month titled 'The Addictive Personality.' I did the lecture for about 3 years & then quit my job at a treatment center in order to go to grad school. What I learned there, & during the years since, has convinced me that there is no such thing (read single entity) as the 'addictive personality.' In fact, persons with many different personality structures become addicts. Over 20 years of research indicates the closest correlation exists with antisocial personality. Early versions of the DSM classified alcoholism along with neuroses & personality disorders, but that changed in 1986 with DSM3. Nakken's work continues interesting & somewhat entertaining, but is useless in explaining addiction. It neglects other causative factors, & may in fact contribute to learned helplessness by convincing a person that their personality (an enduring structure very difficult to change) caused their addiction!



4. This book is extremely helpful in understanding addicts for those who try to help them. It may even help you understand yourself.



5. As someone who struggles with Alcohol addiction I gained valuable insights from this book. As it should, the book addresses addiction in the context of a whole personality/pattern of addiction, not simply addiction to one particular substance such as alcohol. A must read if you struggle with addiction.