5 comments about Sit, Ubu, Sit: How I went from Brooklyn to Hollywood with the Same Woman, the Same Dog, and a Lot Less Hair.

1. A TV producer thinks his oddball life story is more interesting than the TV shows he worked on in this poorly-written book. What could have been fascinating insight into the production of Family Ties or Spin City is instead a mish-mash of unconnected stories about his life that change from year to year. So the first chapters are titled: 1985, 1972, 1954, 1972, 1982, 1969, 1982, etc. They are short and skip around to unconnected events, such as his trip through Europe, his minor jobs as an actor or his producing a TV show. The hyperactive writing style may be "clever" to those within the Hollywood community but it's FRUSTRATING when trying to read a cohesive narrative. By page 60 he hasn't really said anything worthwhile and it makes it difficult to want to finish the rest of the book.
   
   The author was told by his future wife that he was "self-centered, shallow and vain." And much of that comes out in this book. He has the Hollywood-style "humility" where he says he wasn't a very good actor, is gracious enough to admit that he didn't want Michael J. Fox cast in Famiy Ties and wants us to believe that he is just a normal person. Yet in revealing his past we discover that his is totally abnormal and incredibly hippie-like.
   
   The book details quite a bit of his inappropriate behavior--immoral to some, ahead of his time to others. It makes sense when you read that his daughter went on to produce a show like Friends that doesn't have a moral center to it. The reader will see why his is highly thought of in the Hollywood community, but in middle America he is very fringe. It's hard to believe one of the greatest conservative characters on television was created by this man, but even he admits that he created Alex Keaton to come across negatively. It was the casting of Michael J. Fox (that the author had to be talked into) that changed how America perceived the character.
   
   There is an interesting section on Spin City, which makes Micheal J. Fox look like a real bad guy. There are a couple stories where Goldberg admits to violence or being nasty. There is also some quasi-spirituality--such as the opening story in the book where he consults with a psychic! He fits the stereotype of the California rich radical. By the end of the book this is not a guy you want to know.
   
   Like many other books from TV producers, this proves that most of what you see on the screen comes from the somewhat narrow life experience of those who write the shows. There are a few interesting stories here and a couple of nice Familiy Ties tidbits, but nothing out of the ordinary.
   
   He also doesn't have a good sense of television sitcom history. He claims that the sitcom format was "invented by Lucille Ball" and that Seinfeld was "the most successful TV comedy of all time." He is so far off that it isn't funny. And this book isn't particularly laughable. It's just a guy who thinks that because he created one or two successful TV shows a long time ago that people will be interested in hearing about mundane things in his life such as his Frisbee-catching dog.



2. Goldberg writes like people think -- at least people from Brooklyn, the Bronx and those other boroughs. Simple words, simply wonderful. The Goldberg's adventure through life is a map for life.
   Lopriore



3. The thing that surprised me the most in this breezy, charming bio by Goldberg, who made Michael J Fox a star when he created 'Family Ties', is how choked up I got while reading it. It reads like those light, smart sit-coms you're watching and laughing hysterically at, and then suddenly something happens that's so touching, so human, you're welling up before you know it. A large portion of the book is, like so many have previously stated, a love letter to his wife, and it's nice to see Hollywood endings can come at the end of a romantic fairy tale.



4. What a refreshingly funny, sincere, and insightful read. I laughed out loud so many times I lost count. I loved the way he included just the right amounts of different aspects of his life, none dominating the story - his work in television, his adorable chocolate Lab Ubu, his friendships, and his heartwarming relationship with his wife Diana. It was simply delightful cover to cover. I read few books more than once; this will be one of them.



5. I've read sooooooo many books in my day, but this one has the charm, warmth and insight into Gary's humanity, that I couldn't put it down. Now what do I read????!!!! Please, Gary, write another one!!!

2 comments about Not So Quiet On The Set: My Life In Movies During Hollywood's Macho Era.

1. This is a tremendous book. Robert Relyea gives you a front row seat into the making of some of the best films made during an era before digital editing and effects were available. Where the media seems to use the phrase "Hollywood Elite" with wild abandon, Robert reveals the incredibly demanding and arduous roles that create the final product. These artists put their lives on the line to get the right shot. The hours they worked are similar to Information Technology workers of the dot-com era and beyond, but the work was much more strenuous. These people worked their tails off.
   
   Craig embellishes this fine work by describing the impact a life in film had on the family. His is the voice of a son who is very proud of his dad. It's a marvelous collaboration.
   
   This book is intense, very funny, and humanizes so many of the cast and crew who jointly created so many renowned films during 4 decades of filmmaking. It's a great insight into many of the crew-members responsibilities. He's also very honest as he describes interactions with some of the many recognizable people he's worked with over the years.



2. If you want to work in Hollywood and be involved in Production of movies, this is the book for you. Clear, honest, and a fair report of how Hollywood worked before You-Tube and the digital revolution; it deals intellegently with the emotional toll of working in an industry where there is little time for anything other than work. An essential read for anyone thinking of working in media.

5 comments about Platoon Leader: A Memoir of Command in Combat.

1. In 1991, I had the privilege of being a student at the School of Advanced Military Studies at Fort Leavenworth under the direction of then Col James McDonough. A man of deep reflection, he was also passionate about soldiers and ensured that everything we did as students in teh study of warfare and campaign design kept them in mind.
   
   Now I am a university professor offering courses in US military history. Part of what I do is to expose my students to leadership and battle at the small unit level. There is no better book for that purpose concerning Vietnam than McDonough.
   
   Every student takes something different away from this book because, unlike many assigned books, they read it. The book captures you right from the beginning. You really can't put it down. And, it contains more lessons about life and leadership than I can express here.
   
   Knowing the author personally in 1991-1992 is special, for I saw in him then the character that had developed from his time in Vietnam. He tells it like it is, he means what he says, and he stands by his word. His book is more than just a memoir, it is therapy for a man who must live with the past, both for better and for worse.



2. Platoon Leader was an excellent read, and one I would recommend for all those enjoy military reading. I would especially suggest it to all junior military leaders. Entertaining and well written, the author discusses at length his role as a leader, and what he views as good and bad leaders. The aspect of the book I enjoyed the most was it allowed the reader to see leadership, on a small-unit level, working in real-world combat conditions. Unlike many books leaders read for professional development, it shows how leadership works when employed and doesn't just philosophize about leadership principles.



3. As a junior officer I have an entire list of professional reading that I am trudging my way through, but so far McDonough has been by far the most enjoyable and has made the biggest impact on my own leadership style. Both Platoon Leader and Defense of Hill 781 are great books, but Platoon Leader is so far the best military memoir I have read. It has been over a year since I read this book, but the three things that have stuck with me are:
   1. Do the right thing, at the right time, for the right reason.
   2. Death in a combat zone is more about just being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Sooner or later your luck runs out, but you have the duty to your fellow soldiers to do everything in your power to protect them.
   3. The stealing of a bottle of soda from a grandmother leads slowly but inevitable to the rape of her granddaughter. If you let your soldiers steal at all you are setting the stage for what atrocities they will commit later. You must always be vigilant in your discipline.
   
   While I do not have combat experience, I am currently serving in Iraq and know second handedly that these concepts still hold true.
   
   Other than the leadership aspect of the book, Mcdonough is just a great story teller and is able to make the book engaging and addicting.



4. James McDonough provides an in-depth look at infantry platoon operations in Vietnam. This is a must read for anyone who intends to pursue a military career. The book is very graphic, but also very succint and to the point. McDonough doesn't waste time with superfluous details, every word is well chosen and critical to the telling of the story. Once you begin reading, you will not want to stop. It is a quick read, and well worth the time it takes.



5. "Platoon Leader: A Memoir of Command in Combat," by James R. McDonough, chronicles the author's experiences as an officer in the Vietnam War from 1970-71. His platoon is charged with manning an outpost next to the village of Truong Lam.
   
   This is a fascinating, well-written account. McDonough fills his narrative with vivid details that really made his story come alive in my mind. He doesn't flinch at describing the goriest and most horrific images of war. There are also moments of irony and bitter humor. Also noteworthy is the informative material about tactics used in Vietnam. And the author humanizes the story by touching on such "down-and-dirty" issues as the latrine his platoon used.
   
   McDonough's story is populated with a compelling cast of characters. Particularly intriguing is his exploration of relationships among the various groups he encountered in the war zone--U.S. enlisted men, his fellow Army officers, Vietnamese military allies, enemy forces, and the many civilians caught up in the conflict.
   
   While rich in scenes of combat, "Platoon Leader" goes beyond being just an action-packed war yarn. The book explores the ethics and morals of war. McDonough deals directly with the danger a soldier faces in becoming dehumanized by the brutality of war. He vividly portrays the struggle of a leader to remain wise and humane, yet also tough and resolute, under the most trying of circumstances. This book is both a profound meditation on wartime leadership and a powerful work of American literature.

5 comments about Carnet De Voyage (Travel Journal).

1. With "Blankets", Craig Thompson established what I think will remain as a landmark in the book/comics/cartoon world. With this one, I expected basically just a sketchbook filled with random drawings and what not.
   
   The truth is that the book was a lot more continuous than I expected, and it does read like a story. The best of this is that originally this notebook wasn't supposed to ever see print, it was Craig's private sketchbook, but as it grew, people expressed interest and suggested that he publish it. And thank God that he did!
   
   "Carnet de Voyage" is a fascinating book. It's more raw than "Good-bye, Chunky Rice" and different from "Blankets", but in its very own genre, it definitely achieves something memorable. And the intensity of the emotion is as strong as ever. I found myself laughing here, and being very concerned about Craig there. Indeed, I don't think I was ever made to care so much about someone I never met before Craig Thompson. The man is simply saintly in that sense. He is a mix of gracious humility and honesty, and his truth-like art is just mind-blowing.
   
   So what will you find in there? The telling of his travels through France, Morocco, Spain, Switzerland, and the Alps. Thompson's artistic vision shows through that book and one can sort of get an idea of how he functions. And one certainly gets to see how tortured poor Craig really is. That unpretentious notebook will make you feel closer to him, because he is so genuine in his art, doesn't hide his life from his work, and as a result, you get a window to his soul.



2. and it doesn't pretend to be, but I found it very worthwhile. I like CHUNKY RICE and I think BLANKETS is one of the great American novels, graphic or otherwise. I felt I needed a Thompson fix, and hoped this would help while I wait for the Next Book. Thinking it would be bedside reading, a few pages at a time, I read it in one sitting. His voice is as true as ever and his art is wonderful. You will meet many interesting people and suffer through his mishaps with him. It was just what I had hoped it would be, a good solid Craig Thompson fix.



3. Craig Thompson is fantastic. If you like his work, you'll love this collection of musings, sketches, and stories of life on the road in Europe and Morocco. This book provides insight into Thompson's inner life, what drives him, and what he yearns for. Side by side this there are sketches that are so accurate and evocative that I felt like I was back in Morocco myself. Thompson experiences all the highs and lows of travel on his trip and very openly shares them all. For anyone who's traveled alone, but wished for company this book will ring true. But, Thompson also shares with the reader the exhilaration of new places and new people that can be found out in the world. A fantastic quick read and visual journey.



4. Craig Thompson's epic 600 page graphic novel, BLANKETS is one of the most beautiful comics I've ever read. I was astounded at the breadth and depth of the book and wondered how someone in his mid twenties could have crafted such a massive achievement so early in his career.
   
   With the publication of CARNET DE VOYAGE, I now understand a little bit more about Thompson's work habits... he is a nonstop drawing machine. But no... machine is wrong... there's nothing mechanical about his work. Art flows out of Thompson's brush pens with the organic fluidity of a true master. He may well be the greatest natural cartoonist of his generation... hell, even a handful of others.
   
   CARNET DE VOYAGE wasn't even supposed to be a book. While traveling through France, Barcelona, the Alps and Morocco last Spring to promote BLANKETS, Thompson's omnipresent sketchbook suddenly became his next project. In his introduction, the typically self-effacing artist dismisses it as "a rather self-indulgent side project."
   
   Yes, there's lots of self-indulgence, but no more than any other writer or artist's work is self indulgent. Smarting from a recent breakup, suffering from crippling rheumatoid arthritis exacerbated by nonstop signings, sketches and portraits of locals (many of whom demand money for the privilege of being models), Thompson's travelogue is filled with the kind of subjective experience that's only interesting to others if it's told well.
   
   And in CARNET DE VOYAGE, it's told beautifully. Mixing his two styles, the cartoony whimsy of GOODBYE, CHUNKY RICE with the more naturalistic impressionism of BLANKETS, Thompson allows us to experience everything he does: The homesickness, the culture shock, the thrill of the new and the comfort of other people. His passion for beauty, be it architectural, arboreal, feline, culinary or (often) feminine is all delineated with an artistic embellishment that's more effective than any photograph could be.
   
   That's the power of comics; They can be (in the right hands) surreal and realistic at the same time. Thompson is as much a master of capturing the empirical world as he is conveying his inner demons (and he's got a lot of `em... this boy is one tortured, sensitive artiste). He may dismiss CARNET DE VOYAGE as "not (his) next book," but it's the richest, most rewarding graphic novel I've read since... well, since BLANKETS.



5. This was actually quite good, but it ends way too abruptly, with Thompson informing his audience afew pages before the end that he was only given 231 pages and then stopping right in the middle of his tour. I hope this might mean that there's a second volume, possibly? I was especially affected because I am an Oregonian as well ( though I was born here, as opposed to having moved here like Thompson) and because I lived a year of my life in Montpelier, where he stopped on his tour. It was cool seeing stuff I recognized. I also enjoyed Thompson's whiny, self-pitying and -criticizing tone which reminded me of Crumb or Pekar. It was just good.

5 comments about A Sorrow Beyond Dreams (New York Review Books Classics).

1. Peter Handke's slim memoir is necessarily sorrowful; it is about his mother's suicide. She was a survivor of the holocaust, and like many survivors, suffered from severe depression in the subsequent years. Handke's tone is cold, removed, and sepulchral. This is a vivid and moving text; it can not be easily categorized. It is non-fiction, but it is composed with the eye of a true artist.
   
   Not a read for everyone, but definitely an impressive effort. It is a testament to the ultimate destruction of Europe during WWII, glimpsed through the microcosm of a single individual.



2. With thanks to the New York Review Books, Peter Handke's A SORROW BEYOND DREAMS is once again available. This slim but pungent volume opens with an elegant introduction by Jeffrey Eugenides ( author of 'Middlesex' and 'The Virgin Suicides' ) and few writers could better place this memoir of Handke's response to his mother's suicide in 1971 in a more meaningful perspective.

   Handke writes about his mother in a way that creates a story rather than a history of a life. There is so much understantding of how the world changed from Pre-WW II through the post war emptiness of a desecrated Europe and its accompanying slow move toward healing that plagues burned countries after victories or defeats signalling the end of wars. Handke's mother remains nameless which serves to make her a more universal figure than just another individual. And using the word 'individual' is actually in contrast to the major problem of this tragic women's life. Always a women of poverty, suffering the cruelties that that station in life suggests (a fatherless child, a marriage of convenience that results in a life with an alcoholic husban, self induced abortions, begging for food, the lack of simple luxuries like Christmas gifts, etc) his mother was not a woman who considered herself an individual: she was a daughter of a postwar poverty and gloom, aligning herself with Socialism which further negated her worth as a unique person. Her gradual withdrawal in yet another group (those with 'nervous breakdowns') overtured her ultimate complete withdrawal from the world as she finds taking her own life the final solution to her grief.

   Handke reserves his own response to the loss of his mother until the end of this memoir - a section of memories, flashbacks, regrets and tears that force him to place his final godbyes in the form of the written word. The writing is powerful in its simplicity, unfettered by false emotions, straight forward in forcing both the author and the reader into confronting the tragedy of suicide. Perhaps many readers will use this short tome to find healing of like experiences: others will read this book simply because it is a beautifully constructed story of the life on an Everyman/woman. Highly Recommended.




3. Glad to see this back in print. I've relied on a library copy when I wanted to revisit it. Spend the hour or two it takes to read this and it will stick with you forever. I hope they've touched up the few missteps in Mannheim's translation. Otherwise, this near-perfect memoir puts most of its flabby and narcissistic successors (the list is endless) to shame.



4. At once stark and lyrical, Handke's A SORROW BEYOND DREAMS is one of the finest memoirs I've read, and, without a doubt, the strongest portrait I know of a mother by her son--a portrait made strong, in part, by Handke's ability to see and analyze his mother's life within the context of the limited choices available to her, and by his ability to see the ways in which her life is molded by the "genre" of a life comparable to a woman of his mother's class and station. It is, too, at once loving and mercilessly painful. I'm not a great fan of Handke's--the intensity of his self-consciousness, or the cool ironic stances of his early work--but this brief book is an exception. Read it & you will be reading it again throughout your life.



5. In several dozen pages, Peter Handke gives an overview of his mother's life up to and including her suicide in late 1971.

   In spare and unsentimental prose, the reader sees a woman (the last of five siblings) grow into a vibrant and vivacious creature in 1930s Germany. An affair with an older married man produces a child; long after he is gone from her life, she fosters the illusion that he was her one true love. (Never mind that their meeting years later is awkward and stilted at best.)

   In a subsequent loveless marriage with an alcoholic and abusive man, Handke's mother is slowly destroyed by stifled dreams, societal expectations, and stony resignation.

   Handke's insistence on remaining detached is the only problematical aspect of this otherwise elegant memoir. He makes a valiant attempt, but it just doesn't work for this type of book. The reader only comes close to empathizing with his mother; the full embrace is not there. Moreover, the authorial intrusions seem to be too much of a postmodern literary trick and interrupt the flow of the narrative. Every instance that Handke steers the book towards the aspect of the writing process itself is a misstep. (A memoirist who accomplishes this more skillfully is the French writer Annie Ernaux.)

   "A Sorrow Beyond Dreams" is a worthwhile read and ultimately a fine tribute, yet the reader yearns for the more detailed version that the author promises with the very last sentence of his book.

4 comments about Ravens in the Storm: A Personal History of the 1960s Anti-War Movement.

1. What a long strange trip it was for Carl Oglesby! In 1965 Oglesby was busy working for the defense contractor BDS. He was happily living the middle class lifestyle in suburbia with his wife Beth and their 3 children. But independent from his duties at BDS Oglesby had quietly come to the conclusion that United States involvement in Vietnam was a huge mistake. His views on the war crystallized when he was asked to put together a campaign brochure for Democratic congressional candidate Wes Vivian. Well, one thing led to another and before long Carl Oglesby would resign from BDS and renounce his comfortable lifestyle to become President of the fledgling organization known as SDS. "Ravens In The Storm: A Personal History of the 1960's Anti-War Movement" is Carl Oglesby's memoir of those turbulant days in the mid to late 1960's when it seemed that the whole world was turned upside down. This is compelling reading folks!
   What is so fascinating about "Ravens In The Storm" is the fact that this book probably could not have been written without the thousands of pages of documents from the files of the FBI and CIA that Carl Oglesby was able to obtain in recent years through the Freedom of Information Act. He no longer had to rely strictly on memory to document so many of the events that he recalls in his book. Because of the fact that the SDS had been infiltrated by government agents and his home phone had been tapped by the Feds, Oglebsy now had access to actual transcripts of many key organization meetings and phone conversations from this period.
   To me what is most striking about "Ravens In The Storm" is how radicals like Bernadine Dohrn, Mike Rudd and David Gilbert were able to co-opt the agenda of SDS and steer the group in a direction totally contrary to the vision that Carl Oglesby had for the organization. Seems like the 1968 assasinations of Martin Luther King and Bobby Kennedy was the last straw for most of these folks. Whereas Oglesby had sought to foster dialogue and education to help bring an end to the Vietman War the group that would come to be known as the Weathermen favored armed conflict and ultimately revolution. It seems to me that had Carl Oglesby's even-handed approach won the day that the war in Vietnam would have come to a conclusion much sooner. It was also extremely unsettling to read about Carl's 1965 meeting with a group of eight South Vietnamese business leaders who outlined a plan to bring the conflict to a rapid and just conclusion. And as Oglesby recalls on page 75 "The ghastly fact to contemplate decades later is that, in its salient points, this is almost exactly the peace plan that was adopted in 1975, ten years after that meeting and as many as three million lives later."
   For me, "Ravens In The Storm" was a real eye-opener. Contrary to my recollections of the period it is comforting to know that there were some thoughtful and reasonable people like Oglesby with very honorable intentions involved in the anti-war movement. Carl Oglesby is a superb writer who tells his story with verve and makes his argument most eloquently. "Ravens In The Storm: A Personal History of the 1960's Anti-War Movement" should prove to be an important addition to the history of this period. Highly recommended!



2. Very well written memoir of SDS as it transitioned from its early years to its demise under the frustrations and pressures of the era. A few minor mis-edits do not detract from this exciting and calmly passionate account of a unique personality in SDS. As an activist in an SDS chapter during the times, I found this book's insights both clarifying and satisfying. A must-read.



3. "Ravens in the Storm" is at once an elegiac memoir, a chronicle of the inside workings of the antiwar movement and an apologia. There is a wistfulness about it, a sense of opportunities squandered and chances missed, but also a triumphant air that Carl Oglesby and his cohorts in the Students for a Democratic Society, or SDS movement, had actually, in the final analysis, accomplished something not achieved before or since. They made a difference at a critical time in our nation's history that has eerily familiar parallels to today, as we live through another illegal, ill-advised and unwinnable war.
   
   The similarities to the 1960s Vietnam War era and the current fiasco in Iraq are an undercurrent in "Ravens." Oglesby never mentions our current conflict, leaving it to the reader to draw the unmistakable conclusions: a nation of sleepwalkers trusting in a corrupt government, a president with an unclear mission and a blank check, and a compliant Congress that failed to fulfill its constitutional responsibility to reign in an out-of-control administration.
   
   Oglesby's 1960s featured a government that lied to and spied on its citizens, a corrupt, profit-driven military-industrial complex; a country bent on nation-building in a faraway place of which we had and have little cultural or historical understanding, and little sympathy for the millions of lives destroyed in a horrific and pointless war. Sound familiar?
   
   The difference is for Vietnam they had Carl Oglesby and the SDS, and the best we could manage for Iraq was Cindy Sheehan.
   
   The book traces Oglesby's unlikely and meteoric rise from middle-class homeowner with a wife and two kids living in the suburbs working within the military-industrial complex at Bendix Corp. -- with top-secret security clearance -- to the world stage as president of the radical student group SDS. Like Woody Allen's Zelig, Oglesby seems to have been at every major event of his time and met most of the movers and shakers of his day.
   
   "Ravens" is well-written, mainly because Oglesby was a trained writer and editor at Bendix who also is a playwright, poet, songwriter and pretty good raconteur. He's got five other books to his credit, including two on the JFK assassination.
   
   Here's a sample from the book, and you tell me whether it sounds like a description of where we are today:
   
   Our national debt was up, our taxes were up, our inner cities were up in flames, our war strategists were up a tree, our kids were up to their necks in killing and getting killed in a lost cause, our North Atlantic allies were almost up in arms against us. The war had to come to an end. Johnson had to go.
   
   Replace "Johnson" with "Bush" and you're here now, in 2008, in Iraq, not in 1968, in Vietnam.
   
   It is the parallels with today that give "Ravens" its immediacy, its importance as a book that should be read by anyone who wants to understand how America could get itself into the kind of intractable predicament we currently are in.
   
   But it is Oglesby's unique place in modern history that lends the book a certain gravitas. As president of SDS Oglesby turned the organization -- which at its height counted 317 chapters and 100,000 members -- toward protesting the Vietnam War and away from its grass-roots community organizing mission.
   
   He participated in a tribunal organized by philosopher Bertrand Russell and existentialist Jean-Paul Sartre, he was at the 1968 riots at the Democratic Convention in Chicago, he was asked by Black Panther Eldridge Cleaver to be Cleaver's vice-presidential running mate in the 1968 elections, he went to Cuba and organized a program wherein Americans went to the island nation -- illegally -- to help with the sugar harvest.
   
   But his turning of SDS into a radical antiwar organization also led to the government's illegal and violent crackdown on the entire antiwar movement, to the formation of the radical Weatherman movement and, ultimately, to the downfall of SDS at the hands of the government and its own internal entropy.
   
   Oglesby sacrificed much for his involvement with the cause: he lost his family, was star-chambered by SDS and forced to resign from numerous jobs because of his association with the antiwar movement and his principles.
   
   But he always (at least as he tells it) cleaved to those principles, even when it cost him dearly. He consistently promulgated a moderate liberal agenda that counseled inclusion and a willingness to promote dialog over diatribe, understanding over insurrection and engagement over violence.
   
   The book would have been stronger with a section of photographs from the era, which would have put faces to names and places. It would have benefited by a more talented proofreader, but these are small criticisms that only in minor ways detract from its power and impact.
   
   It is a thoughtful, reflective and insightful book. "Ravens in the Storm" should be required reading for anyone who wants to try to understand some of the most turbulent and, finally, most interesting times of the 20th century.



4. This is the best memoir I have read on the protest movement, SDS, and the 60s student movement.
   I read it in one sitting and was taken back to the sweaty, urgent, angry, and idealistic moments of the vietnam era. Contrary to conventional wisdom the student movement had many factions and different ideas about how to end the war, and change society in general. This book goes into detail of the infighting within the student movement and how SDS was originally a democratic organization that was taken over by more radical fringe elements who wanted revolution instead of change by working within the system. The author was the first president of the group and travelled to South Vietnam in the mid sixties. He felt that those who met with the North Vietnamese gave the student movement a bad name and played into the hands of their detractors. After reading the book I wondered why we don't have a more strongly defined anti-war movement now.

5 comments about Spiritwalker: Messages from the Future.

1. This is such an amazing book! I was luck enough to be living in Hawaii while reading it (much of it takes place there). This is really engaging and inspiring to wonder whether it really happened (supposedly it did!).



2. I am skeptical (and for good reason), whenever I see books about Indigenous Life ways, written by white people.
   As such, I have overlooked this book for many years, when at the library or bookstore, and looking for books about the ways of the Ancestors, and Indigenous Wisdom.
   However, after happening across Mr. Wesselman's video interview on the Conscious Media Network website, [...], I was convinced enough to read this book for myself.
   I found him (in the interview) to be genuine enough, and I was also intrigued when he mentioned the story of how a very well known Hawaiian Spiritual Elder & Kahuna, Hale Makua, came to one of his lectures, and said that he (Makua) had spoken with the Ancestors about Hank Wessleman and his book, and that THEY (The Ancestors) said that everything in this book is true, and gave THEIR blessing to Mr. Wessleman and the writing he is doing, and to continue the work.
   If not for hearing this, I would not have believed this story either, for who can prove or disprove this very subjective experience that Dr. Wessleman has had?
   Also, in regard to one other reviewers objections: Hank mentions himself that he was translating this direct experience into his own words, and way of speaking (the syntax and word choices etc.) are all his, but that the essence of what was said, was all theirs.
   
   In regards to the buildings and ruins: The oceans rised, perhps 300 feet, so wouldnt most coastal cities be submerged, and then what was left above water rusted away after 5,000 years?
   
   Even if its all a novel, the message of our civilizations imminent and RAPID decline, is no joke, and it would be good for people to take head of this, and focus on what matters:
   On learning how to live as a natural human being, without need of "the system", and also to heal ourselves, and our families, and communities.
   
   Thats what really matters, not all this media hype about the latest brittney spears gossip, etc.
   Here's some related food for thought from a Hopi Elder that was given to the world several years back, which is even MORE pertinent today than it was in the 90's:
   
   "You have been telling the people that this is the Eleventh Hour, now you must go back and tell the people that this is the Hour. And there are things to be considered . . .
   
   Where are you living?
   What are you doing?
   What are your relationships?
   Are you in right relation?
   Where is your water?
   Know your garden.
   It is time to speak your Truth.
   Create your community.
   Be good to each other.
   And do not look outside yourself for the leader."
   
   Then he clasped his hands together, smiled, and said, "This could be a good time!"
   
   "There is a river flowing now very fast. It is so great and swift that there are those who will be afraid. They will try to hold on to the shore. They will feel they are being torn apart, and will suffer greatly.
   
   "Know the river has its destination. The elders say we must let go of the shore, push off into the middle of the river, keep our eyes open, and our heads above water. And I say, see who is in there with you and celebrate. At this time in history, we are to take nothing personally, Least of all ourselves. For the moment that we do, our spiritual growth and journey comes to a halt.
   
   "The time for the lone wolf is over. Gather yourselves! Banish the word struggle from you attitude and your vocabulary. All that we do now must be done in a sacred manner and in celebration.
   
   "We are the ones we've been waiting for."
   
   -- attributed to an unnamed Hopi elder
   
   Hopi Nation
   
   Oraibi, Arizona



3. I don't believe the author is telling a true story. It sounds like he's intelligent enough and did some decent research before trying to publish this to a naive audience. Even as a fictional account, this book falls flat for me. The writing is tedious at times and repetitive.
   
   There are things that don't add up. For example, it's 5000 years into the future, and there are accounts of Iesu (Jesus) and Kotama (Gautama Buddha) still being recounted by 7 foot tall, burnt sienna skinned, blue eyed Hawaiians who live on the Western Coast of the United States. Only, it's no longer the United States, and modern civilization has all but disappeared, or at where he's located. And the Hawaiians don't seem to remember anyone other than 'the navigator Cook'. He uses italicized words like 'enjins' and 'siti' to describe engines and cities. I think he's pulling the reader's leg and trying to infuse a certain je ne sais quoi by using seemingly foreign words in italics.
   
   He also loves the manipulative, suggestive open-ended question formula to evade rational explanation but nevertheless leave the reader assuming a conclusion that is never proved (e.g., Could it be that I had passed some test during that first altered-state experience back in Berkeley and was now granted access?) Could you ask more leading questions that beg the answer without later answering them in any meaningful way...?
   
   Finally, he likes to stress his scientific, intellectual, rational, disbelieving nature and training. He doth protest too much.



4. Spiritwalker is the first book of a trilogy. The next two books are "Medicinmaker," then "Visionseeker."
   
   In Spiritwalker, Hank Wesselman beautifully illustrates his initial, extraordinary visionary experiences with using a writing style which is easy to follow and often peppered with humor. The concepts presented in the book -- such as out-of-body consciousness and shamanism's healing methods, etc. -- are thoroughly investigated and explained to the best of the author's ability, with the Western, scientifically-oriented perspective in mind. Hank's "inner scientist," stemming from his previous education in the Anthropological field, compels him to come up with rational and logical reasons as to how and why these extraordinary experiences are taking place. Using scientific reasoning and traditional Hawai'ian beliefs, he is able to explain (was able to explain to me, at least) what would normally be unexplainable.
   
   The content of the entire trilogy generally includes: 1) his first encounters and reactions to his initial out-of-the-ordinary experiences, 2) his understanding and explanation of these experiences through a scientific and traditional Hawai'ian Kahuna's perspective, 3) an extraordinary account of his repeated "journeys" to a possible future Earth, seeing it through another man's eyes, and 4) several undeniably relevant and important proposals which connect his experiences to our present time and global situation.
   
   I appreciated Hank's openmindedness and sincerity when he approached his difficult-to-explain/understand experiences. Both his experiences and perspective inspired me to look at my life and future in a new way. The Spiritwalker trilogy has made a significant difference in my life. I highly recommend all three books.



5. Given that the original hardcover came out in the early 90s, it's amazing how prophetic this book has become. I noticed today a science article on MSNBC about the Greenland ice cap. It may completely melt in 200-300 years and raise the world's ocean levels by at least 23 feet! That doesn't even take into account melting of Antarctic ice. Is this book a true story? I don't know. I do know that the future 5000 years from now may very well be as described in Spiritwalker.

5 comments about The Battle of Mogadishu: Firsthand Accounts from the Men of Task Force Ranger.

1. His book was excellantly written from the viewpoint of a soldier caught up in a political nightmare. He served his country with dignity and pride in the Battle of Mogadishu, Somalia.



2. I really enjoyed this book! I read it in one week because it was so interesting when I started reading it I couldn't put it down. One thing that really grabbed my attention vividly is that when the troops in Somalia went out on patrol they said that when the Somalian's saw that there were Americians in the streets they would stop fighting each other and turn thier attention toward the Americans and start firing at them!
   
   After I read this book, I couldn't watch the movie anymore because the book and the movie are somewhat different. It's kind of hard to watch the movie and see events unfold that didn't actually happen. For instance, the movie portrays Eversman as being in the stronghold with Kurth and some of the other Rangers all night after securing the Super 61 crash site and maybe I missed it somewhere in the book but I don't remember reading that. From what I read, Eversman went back to the airport after the hostage snatch. The movie is more "Hollywood" I think although the movie is very good but I think Eversman's version is told more accurately and more detailed. I really enjoyed it!



3. This is a nice addition to the Black Hawk Down book and movie. Basically it is the story of six soldiers who were part of the battle in 1993. Yes, this book is not Black Hawk Down, but it does provide additional insight into this battle. I thought the six authors did well in providing their own picture of the battle. All six had different perspectives on what happened and this is shown through their stories.
   
   If you have one book to read about this battle, it would be Black Hawk Down. However, this is a nice addition for those interested in knowing further info on this infamous battle.



4. the title pretty much says it all. read blackhawk down instead...



5. This book is made of many firsthand accounts of soldiers who were there. It is good supplementry reading to Mark Bowden's Black Hawk Down.

5 comments about Running from Safety: An Adventure of the Spirit.

1. I liked this story a lot. Richard Bach always finds a creative way to communicate his philosophy about what's life, and always makes me ask myself some questions and challenges me to look for the answers inside me. I've read other books of the author, and this one is not so deep, it's more simple maybe. Anyway, it's a nice story.



2. Great book. It will appeal to you only if you are ready to read a book in its class. If you manage to read the whole book, you will gain alot from it. If you have acquired this book it must be meant for you. Read it!



3. This is one of the very few books which teach how to come out of comfort zone! If one wants to take risks, he/she needs to come out of so called 'safety zone'. These lines are enough to describe this book.



4. This is a dichotomy of inner child meeting up with grown man, in metaphorical terms. An autobiographical account of the author's life, although a mental stretch, will make the reader re-examine their lives and choices along the way. Made me laugh and cry.
   Arlene Millman
   author of BOOMERANG - A MIRACLE TRILOGY



5. I didn't feel there was any new content in this book, it seemed to me to be a different story on what Richard has already talked about in his other books. Still the basic story was good and worth reading.

5 comments about Living My Life (Penguin Classics).

1. I'm happy with the purchase, just typing on the keyboard in the privacy of my own home, selecting a book, clicking on it, easy, quick, effecient. Book arrived quickly, new book. All was well in my world. Only complaint would be that 2 of the 3 books I ordered simultaneously came packaged together in an excessive amount of packaging. Overboard on the plastic wrap followed by extra cardboard for protection, followed by a box. Don't need all that for books. Need to think about the environment Amazon.



2. This is the best autobiography I've ever read, because her life was lived with such commitment & independence. Certainly, she was hugely influential in her time, but her success was scratched out of nothing, with no support, and huge opposition. The difficulties and the times are conveyed amazingly well. The book will make you look carefully at your own life ... in ways that can only change it for the better.



3. NOTE: THIS IS VOLUME ONE ONLY! It's a great book but it is not labeled as just the first half of the memoir.



4. I could not disagree more with Goldman's ultimate philosophical conclusions, but I enjoyed this book, and volume II as well. Her essential humanity emerges, and it is a good case study and an interesting read, historically, philosophically and personally. She is no Mark Twain or Billy Faulkner, but her life was interesting and her prose adequately conveys the milieu she became enmeshed in. A fair degree of antecedent historical knowledge is necessary to fully enjoy this book, but you most likely have that or you wouldn't be reading about Emma to begin with. If you don't, or find that you are getting lost in the history and sequence, it would pay to do a little research to better understand what she lived through. It will also help you spot bias on Goldman's part. I heartily recommend this book. It is informative, enlightening and entertaining to boot.



5. In her autobiography Emma Goldman explains her life, narrating the experience of marching to her own drummer. Depending on the reader's political expectations, Emma's life is either inspiring or downright terrifying. Those who believe in social conformity would probably be more comfortable moving on to other fodder.

   Nevertheless, this eyewitness account of American and Russian history, ought not to be trivially dismissed. Emma fought for things we have taken for granted in modern life, such as birth-control and the eight-hour work day; she went to jail in the struggle to obtain these for us. This book explains how she lived her commitment to individual liberty, choosing who she would love, advocating revolution, and harrassing those of her "allies" who compromised on these principles.

   Perhaps the most interesting portion of the book is her years in Russia. Here she describes arriving at the "Promised Land" of the peoples' revolution and how that mutated into a sense of disillusionment and horror at what she saw as the betrayal of that revolution by the "dictatorship of the proletariat."

   Her writing style is nothing exceptional, but the story she weaves from the material of her life is nothing short of fascinating. Another reviewer suggested taking a break between volumes--I couldn't! I had to know what happened next.

   Although there are a lot of pages to wade through, I will give this book as a gift to the young women in my life. I believe that Emma can serve as a role model for living one's own life, not living out the expectations of friends, family, or society. In a dysfunctional world, we have too few people who model this.

   Emma gets three stars for writing style, but the powerful and plentiful content bring the rating up to five stars. Not to be missed.

   (If you'd like to discuss this book or review, click on the "about me" link above & drop me an email. Thanks!)