Book Reviews

New Book Reviews

• The Little Soul and the Earth: I'm Somebody - A Children's Parable adapted from Conversations with God by Neale Donald Walsch
• Crackerjack Choices: 200 of the Best Choices You Will Ever Make by Bil and Cher Holton
• The Real Meaning of Life edited by David Seaman
• Life-Changing Affirmations: A 30-Day Plan for Spiritual Transformation by Vicky Thompson
• (fear not) – Venture to Inner Peace by Alan Lohner
• Personal Game: Five Strategies for Winning and Protecting What You Cherish Most by Michael Goulding
• Soul Journeys: My Guided Tours through the Afterlife by Rosalind A. McKnight
• The Translucent Revolution: How People Just Like You are Waking Up and Changing the World by Arjuna Ardagh
• Storycatcher: Making Sense of Our Lives through the Power and Practice of Story by Christina Baldwin
• Pronoia is the Antidote for Paranoia: How the Whole World is Conspiring to Shower You with Blessings by Rob Brezsny

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Previous Reviews

The Little Soul and the Earth: I'm Somebody A Children's Parable adapted from Conversations with God Neale Donald Walsch, 2005 Hampton Roads Publishing Group, Inc. Charlottesville, VA The latest jewel from Neale Donald Walsch written for the “little soul” in all of us. How many times have you heard that you are not your body? Or maybe that you are your body? However, has anyone ever told you that you get to have a body? Ahhhhh. There it is. The most important part of the message that you are not your body. The message that your body is a gift you get to have for a while. Don't you treasure gifts? The Little Soul is born as Meghan this time and her Guardian Angel is Melvin! She wants to experience forgiveness on this voyage through human life and Melvin is there to love and guide her every step of the way. She is thrilled with her new human body and her ability to still see and hear Melvin clearly. Frank Riccio's illustrations are luscious and inspire you to reach out and run your hand over the page to further absorb this brilliant parable. Other Reviews
Crackerjack Choices: 200 of the Best Choices You Will Ever Make Bil and Cher Holton, 2005 Library Publishing Group, Raleigh, NC Number 78, “Decide how well your life is working – and for whom.” This is just one of the gems from Bil and Cher Holton's most recent inspirational book. Think of one of your core beliefs. Now, think of a choice you made today to affirm that belief. The Holton's maintain that your beliefs have nothing to do with your choices. If your brain and your emotions have atrophied from lack of decision making, the Holton's offer a choice map to recondition this skill! This inspired little book of 200 choice points sprinkled throughout with inspirational quotes would make a terrific gift for everyone you know – including you! Other Reviews
The Real Meaning of Life edited by David Seaman, 2005 New World Library, Novato, CA So, you are 18 years old, no real friends, you are flunking calculus, avoiding your writing assignment but it suddenly occurs to you to ask an online forum what the real meaning of life is on a lark. Well, except for the whole real meaning of life thing…sounds like most college freshmen. David Seaman expected to get the usual beer and brothels or zealous religiosity that comes with asking the deep questions that many avoid. However, tens of thousands of answers from internet users and over 2000 letters later, this college freshman realized that he had stumbled onto a visceral reaction regarding how deeply we seek the meaning of life as we live it. David Seaman includes the cream of the crop of the optimistic as well as some of the pessimistic responses. One man who had survived four heart attacks wrote a simple phrase that resonates loudly, “Be the grease, not the glue.” David Seaman assures us that he has not gone off to contemplate his navel, as many of his aquaintenances accused, but continues to study, write, and finally pass calculus. This bright book by this bright, young author is what I refer to as a carry along – carry it along with you wherever you go and read an entry to uplift your spirit! Other Reviews
Life-Changing Affirmations: A 30-Day Plan for Spiritual Transformation Vicky Thompson, 2005 Red Wheel, York Beach, ME This is not your typical affirmation book. Vicky Thompson wrote these affirmations with a well-ordered plan to catalyzing life change. Each entry includes the word of the day, an affirmation in the form of a short poem, a setting for meditative imaging, and a meditative prayer to complete the practice. There are five steps of six days each. These are love as empowerment, developing intuitive spirituality, inner wisdom and fortitude to examine life, tools of forgiveness, and, finally, service to yourself and others. Thompson designed a plan based on integration through cycling on a 30-day repetition. As you delve deeper into your personal wisdom, you may choose to spend more time on an individual step. Written with a Judeo-Christian slant, this slim volume would be a wonderful gift for the upcoming holiday season. Other Reviews
(fear not) – Venture to Inner Peace Alan Lohner, 2005 Three Spirits Press, Welches, OR There are no angels in this book, but isn't there a common idea that angels are so magnificent that the first thing they have to say is, “Fear not”? I imagine that after being the first to see his brother in death at a car accident and the first to see him after death forty days later, that someone had to tell Alan Lohner, “Fear not.” For a brief time in the late 1970's, Lohner served as a police officer and encountered the misery and repercussions of death and dying. Lohner's brother, John, and then his mother years later, visited him after death and conveyed specific information on how we are loved and cared for from beyond the veil. These visits, Lohner's experience as a law officer, and just the vicissitudes of life brought him to the writing of this exquisite book. You may have heard, “See with a child's eyes,” or “You know your reason for being.” However, have you ever had anyone tell you in three to six succinct sentences just HOW to do that? This is Alan Lohner's gift. Exceptional black and white photos that inescapably capture the essence of his words accompany his quotes. (fear not) is, without question, a must have. Other Reviews
Personal Game: Five Strategies for Winning and Protecting What You Cherish Most Michael Goulding, 2003 Personal Game Inc., Wilmington, NC The information in this book has the remarkable gift for creating real and lasting change in your life. In martial arts, the radius created by the length of your arms creates your personal game space. You block, strike, or step aside from “attack” in this area Therapist and martial artist, Michael Goulding, combines the principles of psychology with the balance maneuvers of the martial arts to gently lead you to an understanding of what is relevant and what you cannot control beyond your personal game space. Imagine the freedom of releasing the effort to control things beyond your arms length. Words have power and this is a commanding book. Nevertheless, Michael Goulding radiates calm, caring sincerity in his writing! Other Reviews
Soul Journeys: My Guided Tours through the Afterlife Rosalind A. McKnight, 2005 Hampton Roads Publishing Group, Inc. Charlottesville, VA Soul Journeys, Rosalind McKnight's second in the Journey Trilogy series, explores the vibrational significance of human existence and the no-time afterward. McKnight's spirit guide, Radiant Lady, enters into a dialogue with her, explains the nature of human struggle and the resources constantly available to assist us. Although McKnight channels Soul Journeys, it reads like a page-turner novel. The story pulls the reader in and you cannot wait to see what happens next. An encouraging concept that McKnight and Radiant Lady establish is the ability to pass on to higher vibrational levels depending on our vibrational level when we leave our human life. If you are vibrating fully within your heart chakra, then you pass on to the fourth dimensional vibration level. Another way of telling us, “Don't leave it ‘til the end”! Other Reviews
The Translucent Revolution: How People Just Like You are Waking Up and Changing the World Arjuna Ardagh, 2005 New World Library, Novato, CA The message of The Translucent Revolution is such a relief and, yet, so profound. “As translucents continuously relax into being less defined internally, they become more vivid and unique externally.” The beauty of translucence is realizing that your important mark on the world may be loving your child in one transformative moment when he needs you most. Then again, your mark on the world may involve digging in a lime pit, nearly blinded, for decades to set free a nation. Sex is a one on one intimacy deepened by being present with your partner, not a biological event. Art does not emanate from you but takes you to timelessness where it pours through you. Filled with studies, anecdotes, quotes, and exercises, Arjuna Ardagh has written a road map to translucence that will leave the reader more confident and the world a better place. Other Reviews
Storycatcher: Making Sense of Our Lives through the Power and Practice of Story Christina Baldwin, 2005 New World Library, Novato, CA Christina Baldwin, one of the pioneers of personal writing, offers us many of her stories as examples of how to begin catching our own. She advocates journaling but makes it guilt free by not delineating a style, a tool, or even a frequency! As I moved through Storycatcher, I found myself not only remembering more of the stories of my life that have made me who I am but the ability to tell those stories to my children in a way that would interest them and give them a sense of their connectedness to this line of people we call family. When catching stories, you must be paying attention to the details just as you did when you were a child. How is it that I can remember eating biscuits with my Pop at a small narrow table and yet my own is covered in piles of paper? I see my table in a completely new light these days. The light that shines when I see the future stories in my children's eyes. Other Reviews
Pronoia is the Antidote for Paranoia: How the Whole World is Conspiring to Shower You with Blessings Rob Brezsny, 2005 Frog, Ltd., Berkeley, CA The first thing I wanted to do when I opened this book was grab my markers and colored pencils and color all the fantastic black and white illustrations. There are symbols, gods, goddesses, and labyrinths galore. Then I realized that I was supposed to be reading it. Oh yeah. So, I read the instructions and the instructions said I could read it anyway that I wanted to. I read it from the back forward! Rob Brezsny's boundless optimism, irreverence, and insight offer a completely new way of breaking loose and finding the self within. Pronoia is a way of looking at the world as though all circumstances could be a blessing rather than a curse. He does not deny that bad things happen. He just maintains that you might realize tomorrow how lucky you really were. So, abandon your history, dance, sing, color, and figure out who you really want to be! Other Reviews