4 comments about Who's the Dummy Now?: Winner of America's Got Talent.

1. This book is so worth the money. Great Book. Surprising events that took place. Sad. I would highly recommend this book to all Terry Fator fans and those who aren't



2. This man has endured many things in his past. He never let his past overcome him. He always depended on God to get him through things. We all should learn from this because faith and beliving is what we need. Anyhow, I thought the book was great. Some of the things in the book i could relate too.
   
   I would recommend this book to anyone. Terry is a great entertainer.
   
   Thanks Terry for a great book!!!



3. This is one of the best celebrity bios I have ever read. It is a great rags to riches story but above all a story of incredible perserverance against all odds to succeed at something the author loved which was performing.
   
   This is a very visceral book. I found myself laughing and crying at various times and I am a 50 year old man. The stories about Terry's father dashing his dreams at every opportunity were anger inducing but there was so much joy to be had in reading his climb up the ladder and his meeting his wife-to-be Melinda.
   
   This is a very fast read and extremely satisfying. Your life will be enriched by reading Terry Fator's story.



4. This is a very insightful book. It tells what has made Terry Fator, Terry Fator. What he is today is because of his circumstances. It reminds us all not to let our past rule us. It was very welcoming to see that anyone and everyone can acheive success if we have motivation and if we have God on our side. It is really nice to read how one depends on God to help him through. One great book to read. I couldn't put it down. If you are lucky enough to meet this man, you will find that he is facinating and amazing man, not to mention a world class ventriloquist!!!

5 comments about Save Me from Myself: How I Found God, Quit Korn, Kicked Drugs, and Lived to Tell My Story.

1. I have not finished this book yet. From what I have read, I recommend this book to all. Every heavy metal music artist and heavy metal fan should read the book!



2. This is an awesome book, if your a KoRn fan, a former KoRn fan like myself, a non-believer, or a believer in Jesus Christ like myself, I think you will enjoy this book as you look through the years and watch Brians life unfold as KoRn gains national and then worldwide exposure. Then he makes a five million dollar decision that I dont think any one of us could make. I dont really read books, but I couldnt put this one down. It was awesome to read about what he was going through during each tour and remembering the shows that I saw them at and putting the peices together after reading the book like "oh that's why he was no where to be found backstage during Lollapaloza 97"
   Great book.



3. Wow! I was compelled to purchase this book after seeing Brian on a christian talk show. I am fascinated with the human condition and Brian managed to struggle through a good many conditions! I found his story sad and inspiring yet I am left unconvinced that he is safely on the other side. I'm surprised by the depth of emotion his story stirred in me. Very interesting fellow and a definite page turner!



4. A honest in depth look at a "star's" life, before and after discovering God. Amazing story!



5. I rate this book a five, not on how "well" it was written or because the author's theology is so "great" but because of the honest message that comes straight from Brian's heart. It is a story of how God draws someone unto himself and how HE gives a person HIS power to overcome. This is why God says, "Confess your sins one to another." My son was a Korn fan but as I have been helping him to replace this dark music with the same genre of music with healthier messages, this book was recommended to us. My 13 y.o. son is not a reader but devoured this book in 3 days. It impacted him and allowed him to share some of the painful things in his life with me (unusual). He wrote to Brian and told him how he is now a believer that will not default or waiver. I have seen true evidence in my son's life the last couple of weeks. My son was attracted to this book because he likes the music. Others may be attracted because they suffer from a life dominating sin. I love how Brian shares the specifics of "how" God delivered him from drugs. Although I believe Brian is still young in his faith and trying to figure out what he believes and God's will for himself, I pray this book impacts others for the great name of Jesus Christ!

5 comments about Without a Map: A Memoir.

1. Although this book started with quite a jump and kept me interested, by the middle I was getting too much redundancy. I'm glad this author told her story and shared it as a tool for relationships and to learn from.



2. I really enjoyed reading this book but have wondered if the author has exaggerated a bit for effect. I lived in a small New Hampshire town close to Hampton at the time the book begins. A girl or two in the town became pregnant and there was definite disapproval, but at the same time kindness. No one was shunned by her friends or anyone else, much less her parents. I find it hard to believe that her parents were so stonily unloving at this critical time of need for support and understanding, not to mention help. Maybe, but I doubt it. Her travels sound suspiciously overdone also. Still, it's an absorbing story and a gripping read.



3. This is the harrowing tale of a child who was betrayed by her mother and father, and a child who became a mother and then betrayed her own child. The story begins with the sudden loss of everything that Meredith Hall held dear--her parents' love, her home, her place in the community, her school friends--when she was deserted for the sin of becoming pregnant at 16. The memoir is a sustained reflection on how this betrayal played itself out through the rest of her life.
   
   Throughout the book, Hall tries to understand the terrible betrayal of her parents' love, a love bordered by conditions, the most important one being "Thou shalt not bring shame upon us." With startling honesty, she consistently refuses to gloss over, deny, or ignore the consequences of her actions or those of her parents, most notably in her account of the abuses her abandoned son, Paul, suffered at the hands of his adoptive father. Hall never hides from the scars she inflicted on her beloved son, and insists on forcing herself to note the terrible differences between the upbringings her 3 sons experienced--the first child a life of deprivation and fear, the others, lives of love and comfort. There is no possibility of reconciling these facts, nor does she attempt to.
   
   Hall holds all the violent and conflicting emotions together, never allowing the one to cancel out the other--love and rage, trust and betrayal, need and abandonment, loss and guilt. Her writing carries no contradictions, just the paradoxes of a life lived and declared in lines of lyrical beauty, with passages of exquisite beauty, so finely detailed that it hurts to read. It is a testament to Hall's many years of deep reflection and personal honesty that she could sustain this juxtaposing and balancing of opposites without allowing her work to collapse under the weight of the awful emotional overload she has lived through.
   
   Although this memoir makes for compelling reading, it is not always an easy read. To read it is to become immersed in the terrible suffering of an untethered soul seeking love lost. Hall partially finds what she has spent a lifetime looking for when she is reunited with her 21-year-old son, and when she opens her home and gradually her heart to an old man who is afraid to continue living alone after the death of his wife. But in the end this is a book about life and living. Hall succeeds in gleaning wisdom from a grief begun in a betrayal and carried in a wounded heart through her life. She discovers a joy that "lies like a shimmering pond within our grief, the landscape of our lives."
   
   In the end, Hall asks herself if she would choose a different life, if she would forget all the pain. And the answer she gives is surely the only answer possible. "No. Memory remains. The uneasy remembering transforms pain into sorrow, and sorrow into love. There can be no oblivion."
   
   by Edith O'Nuallain
   for Story Circle Book Reviews
   reviewing books by, for, and about women



4. While Meredith Hall in "Without a Map" tells a sad, interesting story, I found myself struggling to get through the book. Undoubtedly, she was treated abysmally by her parents and friends when she became pregnant at 16 years old. This family and community "shunning," along with giving up her baby for adoption, stays with her through the course of her life. Very sad, poignant stuff. But, she reminds us, practically every paragraph, over and over, that she is in pain, sad, alone, detached, etc.
   
   There are very interesting, meaty parts of the story. She buys a fishing boat with a boyfriend and fishes through a storm, she walks through Europe to the Middle East with no money, she cares for her mother through a terrible terminal disease. But these moments are dragged down by the over emphasis of her feelings. Meredith also chooses to ignore chronology again and again, and also leaves huge holes in her story - just when we are rivited by her story, she jumps to a whole new part of her life. For instance, one chapter ends with her in the Middle East, broke, practically naked...then, she decides to go home. The next chapter starts and she has two children. How did she get home? How did she meet and fall in love with the father? What changes in this empty person's life to open up to another human and decide to create a new life? It is a mystery.
   
   While there is some good stuff here, and Hall is a talented writer, I found this to be a tedious attempt. I needed more meat, less gravy.



5. Having read some of the reviews, I get the sense that those born of later generations or those who led sheltered lives have difficulty conceptualizing what it was like for a young girl who found herself in Meredith Hall's circumstances. One review even stated that abortion was not an option. Actually, it was -- a dangerous, often fatal, backstreet option performed mostly by unethical practioners under unsanitary conditions.
   
   Hall's parents were like many of those times but fortunately not all. Some, rather than shun their child and cast her out, tried to help her, but all so secretly, making arrangements for her to go away for "a long visit," or "to care for a sick relative," in a far away town.
   
   Faced with shame and censure by the community, many would react as Hall's did with devastating affects on the girl. Some of the reviewers could not understand why Hall could not just, as we say now, suck it up and move on. I tended to feel that way myself at times while reading the book, but I do understand that not everyone is able to do that. She had lost the love of her parents, and lost the child as well. Those are two heavy losses right there. She also lost the only way of life she had known.
   
   Some reviewers felt that Hall lacked feeling in her telling of her story, not expressing warm emotion in other relationships in her life. I believe rather that the trauma of loss caused feeling to be bottled deeply within, beyond her reach for many years. Perhaps that was what the killing of the chickens was about. I found that to be a highly difficult chapter to read, but perhaps it was an important one. Killing of living creatures with names, seemed to represent the killing of her spirit, all her girlhood hopes and dreams that she had experienced. Laying out their bodies was like laying out all the losses. It was after that that Hall seemed able to finally move on.
   
   People react differently to different experiences. Another book that readers of Without a Map might enjoy is Stolen Fields: A Story of Eminent Domain and the Death of the American Dream a memoir that traces the effects of a catastrophic event through several generations of a family.

5 comments about Crazy for God: How I Grew Up as One of the Elect, Helped Found the Religious Right, and Lived to Take All (or Almost All) of It Back.

1. frank is the reflection of his social climbing self absorbed mom_and abusive whining dad. that frank has the terrible judgement to inflict this biography on us is regrettable. his is a life of disorder and wet dreams and illusions of grandeur...a hillbilly from the alps.



2. Crazy for God: How I Grew Up as One of the Elect, Helped Found the Religious Right, and Lived to Take All (or Almost All) of It Back-by Frank Schaeffer, like all of the authors books, is well written and an easy read. But, wait, RELAX, Don't Do IT! This quasi auto-biography is long on "look how wonderful and enlightened I am" and short on any real substance. It's MOMMY DEAREST for the born-again liberal crowd, except this mommy is no over the top Hollywood actress, just the woman behind the fundamentalist man, in this case the late, and I feel great, Francis Schaeffer. If you haven't figured out by the prologue Frank Schaeffer is the only son of theologian/cultural commentator Francis Schaeffer.
   
   Just so readers of this review will know where I am coming from I am a practicing Catholic (whose gonna keep practicing until he gets it right) and one who enjoys Frank Schaeffer's writing, especially his novels. I have followed his career since the 1990s. I was there when he converted from Fundamentalist Christian to Orthodox attack dog polemicist, though in this book you find out that the fire has gone out. I subscribed to his now defunct, but always interesting (at least the articles written by his guest writers) Christian Activist periodical. If I remember I think in passing I also saw his movie, on late night TV, Baby on Board. So I am familiar with Mr. Schaeffer.
   
   Simply, he is bitter, he has always been bitter, and now he is more burnt out than bitter. So who does he blame, MOM and DAD. Not really very original. And, that is the problem with this book, there is no truth in advertising. You really never find out what it was like in the early days of the organized religious right, you just find out that the author thinks that the likes of the late Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, James Dobson, etc. are terrible, misguided, evil, or all of the above. And which thinking person on the right or left doesn't think the above three are misguided to some degree? In other words you only get a cursory idea of Frank Schaeffer's brushes with these folks, no details, and a lot of hand wringing from the author. To hear him (or in this case read him) tell it if it was not for Frank Schaeffer no one would have heard of any of the stars of the American Religious Right. So, you are not there in the beginning.
   
   What you do get a lot of is if it wasn't for my parents I would have been the greatest artist, film director, writer and all about cultural icon that ever lived. And, you find out he masturbated a lot, and lusted after any and all females under the age of 30 who visited L'Abri, the cultural discussion hostel in Switzerland founded by his parents. And, oh yeah, now that dad is dead and mom is senile and blind his parents were (and still are, in the case of mom) great people and he loves them. But, and I did say he is a talented writer, dig deeper, beyond the literary pats on the back the author gives himself and you will find his parents had feet of clay, whose doesn't, they loved him and most of all they indulged him. While Mr. Schaeffer is loathe to admit it, until he knocked up his wife, and even after that, this guy led a charmed life, with no demands. He got to paint, make movies, meet Led Zeppelin, oh yeah, the writer drops names like a dying oak. This reminds me of the old Steve Martin routine "Sammy Davis Jr., personal friend of mine." So this now begs the question, after reading this tome, why is he mad and why should I care that he is mad? Hey Frankie, count your blessings you smuck. You never had to get a real job, oh yeah, I know you do tell us in the book how when you were a starving artist you stole pork chops. But, this is actually a literary device, much like "it was a dark and stormy night" that I know I read somewhere else. In the book you tell us that when you were a teenager you painted and a bit later sold your work to folks like the Rockefellers. Also, had showings at well known galleries in Europe and New York, all because of the connections you made because of your father. This, while the rest of us slobs, were flipping burgers at MacDonalds, and running the ditto machine in some college work study program. So, what the hell are you complaining about in this book?
   
   In closing there is no real insight or history here. Just a lot of the usual Frank Schaeffer bitterness and regret. He's a still a sensitive lad you know, at least according to this book. I really expected him to quote the song My Way, by the end of the book. All this being said like all Frank Schaeffer books it is well written, easy to read, and entertaining. But only if you can push aside all the "my childhood was really messed up" stuff. You see, Frank Schaeffer, apparently, according to this book, was an angry young man who now is just tired.



3. I first read Frank Schaeffer's book "Baby Jack The Novel" and felt it was a brilliant story and well written. I never realized that this author was the also the same guy who was one of those fundamentalist leaders who helped marry the religious right to the GOP. In his newest book "Crazy for God" the author writes a very personal and brutally honest memoir, that opens up and exposes the underbelly of the evangelistic movement; where he was a big mover and shaker in that christian community.
   
   His book takes us on an emotional journey with his dysfunctional family. He shares what it was like growing up in a community in Switzerland founded by his evangelical parents. His father was a leader in that religious community and it seemed to be his predetermined destiny that he would follow that same route himself. The book is so full of side stories and insights on his earlier life that the book almost comes across as a novel.
   
   His story is fascinating and full of authentic introspection - almost too honestly written. The authors leaves himself totally exposed with all his warts and blemishes. He gives the reader a rare and different look at some of various leaders of the fundamentalist moment, like Jerry Farwell, and Pat Robertson. The book may open some eyes and minds about the dangers of politics and religion; but for those who are deeply into the faith, I think they may not too impressed by the authors concerns. Personally, I found this book fascinating on many different levels- politics, religion, family, sex, social relationships, power and the ever present egos.
   
   The book is as much about family life, as it is about religion and belief systems. In the end, one comes away believing that the author is still evolving and seeking answers. His quest seems much more open and honest then it ever was in his earlier life. I learned a lot about the author that I liked and it only deepens my appreciation and respect for him even more as a novelist today.
   
   "Crazy For God" could become a must read book for serious seekers looking for their own authentic path to enlightenment, or at least some inner peace. The book is an eye-opener, from someone who was on the inside and was one of their respected leaders. I highly recommend this book!



4. Written in a way that keeps you stuck in the book for hours, Frank's story is so unusual, so unique, everyone should read it.



5. For me, "Crazy for God" was very worth reading on a number of levels. Granted, some sensitive souls (me included) may need to take the AA sharing approach of "Take what you like and leave the rest". Frank is a very good writer. The book flows easily from chapter to chapter, and I found it hard to put down. As I tried to read Chapter 56 aloud to my wife about Frank's last time with his Dad in the hospital remembering skiing together, I kept having to stop reading, I was so choked up. In Chapter 57 Frank revisits the abortion issue, and the way we Evangelicals over-simplify (to our shame and detriment) complex ethical problems, be they abortion, capital punishment or so called "justified" wars. It's an excellent chapter, the thoughts expressed ought to be required reading. For me it was the heart of the book.
   
   Unlike Frank, or my own adult children, or my wife, I did not grow up in a practicing Christian home. I was a "Jesus Freak" of the early 70's from a very, very dysfunctional background. Somehow it just seems that those of us who find and surrender to Jesus after a childhood without him, go on relating to Him differently than those who were "inoculated" to Christianity from the beginning. Frank, like my own own children, is one of these. Could it be something to do with Jesus' words that those that are well don't need a physician, that He came to seek and to save those (like me at 19) who are lost? I still haven't figured this out. But, Crazy for God has helped me get a better feel for what my children must be struggling with trying to relate to (and take ownership of) the faith they grew up with.
   
   Finally, I was a teenager in both local Swiss and then international schools from 1965 to 1969, learning to smoke dope in Geneva at the same time as young Frank. And like Frank, my parents were too occupied to make a difference. This part of the story was just fun to read. It blows my mind now to realize that all this L'Abri fellowship stuff was going on just a few miles away!

5 comments about Ghost: Confessions of a Counterterrorism Agent.

1. I was very moved by the book, and the stories of how counter-terror work began with just 3 guys in a basement, and all of the difficulties encountered in trying to prepare a sleeping America for a new an ugly enemy.



2. Fred Burton: Straight laced American
   First off fantastic book with great insight into the job for the state department. Pretty much just history and nothing post 9/11 but keeping that in your mind while you read it allows you to understand just how much we missed and why.
   
   Fred Burton the author and star of this work is a straight laced American. He is nothing like the rouge 007's of the world and that makes him great in my book. He was not a field agent so that makes it difficult to compare but if you line him up next to Robert Baer, former CIA- Counter Terrorism, you will see they are very different. Burton is a give it all, work is life, patriot and the United States needs more men like him. All and all great book and if you are looking for a true to life James Bond thriller you have come to the wrong place.
   
   NOTE**
   Robert Baer is a great American and a Patriot he has served his country well and with distinction. His novel(s) and works of non-fiction are fantastic and somewhat on the lines of a James Bond novel, so if that is what you are looking for, there you go, Enjoy I know I did.



3. OK. After glancing at the excellent reviews, I probably will continue to read this book. I am giving a rating only because posting the review requires it. In fact, I haven't finished the book. But what caused me to leave the book to see what others thought of it is this:
   On page 30, upon Burton's entering the CIA headquarters for the first time, I read "" ... a statue of Nathan Hale, a Revolutionary War spy who went to a British hangman's noose with the immortal words 'Give me liberty or give me death' on his lips."
   Give me liberty or give me death? Those are certainly immortal words! Nathan Hale? It's been quite a while since I took American history, but that quote is attributed to Patrick Henry. Hale is remembered for the words "I regret that I have but one life to give to my country."
   So what made me pause in my reading - and write this - is that I am perplexed. Did Burton dredge up an inaccurate memory? Worse, might that what is actually written somewhere in the mysterious places of the CIA. Or, finally, is the Random House editor a little deficient in his/her American history, to let this error slip by?
   I know, I know, some will same I'm picky. But it's so wrong that it stopped my reading dead in it's tracks. Has that passage caused any other readers at least a short pause?
   Well, as I said above, because of the excellent reviews the book has received her, I will return to it and continue my reading.



4. Very much enjoyed reading this book, no it is not like a Robert Ludlum or John LeCarre novel. It is a true testament to the real American Heroes who tread into dark and dangerous places and situations that most of us would fear to go. What stands out here is the dedication and patriotism of these men and woman, who, though obviously highly skilled and intelligent choose a life of sacrifice and service over money and fame. They seek to protect the rest of us from horrors that we can barely appreciate, while often suffering the criticism from the ill informed. The big payoff if they are killed in the line of duty is an anonymous gold star on a wall at Langley. I would hope more people read this book if only to understand that it is a dangerous world in which we live, and perhaps, if only for a moment, take a break from American Idol and Monday Night Football to appreciate these American public servants.



5. This is a fun little book, but it's not much of a "confession" as billed. Burton was a DSS agent with an interesting career, but he was not a big player. Most of his involvement was at a low-level, conducting debriefings, meeting a few informants, and reading lots of cables. He does not document personal involvement in ANY top takedowns, no intelligence "coups" nor any real excitement. In spite of describing his countersurveillance training, his need to wear "tied shoes" to be able to fight, and running through his home neigborhoods watching for tails, he never really makes the bigtime. He does have some decent tips on countersurveillance and terrorist planning and execution cycle, and some interesting inside tidbits, but this is no true "ghost."

5 comments about Time Bandit: Two Brothers, the Bering Sea, and One of the World's Deadliest Jobs.

1. I have been a fan of Deadliest Catch since roughly the second season. For the most part, I liked the Hillstrand Brothers (though Capt Phil and the Cornelia Marie crew are my favorites). I was very excited to find an autographed copy of the Hillstrand's book at my local B&N. Though it offered some entertaining stories, I must say I was disappointed in the book as a whole. The narrative is very choppy and hard to follow. It jumps back and forth from Jonathan being stranded at sea, to Andy on the farm waiting to hear from him, to both of them reflecting on their pasts. I don't blame the Hillstrands for this (I don't expect crab fisherman to be great writers) as much as I do their editor/ghostwriter. Surely he or she could have done a better job.
   For me, the most disappointing aspect of reading this book was how much respect I lost for the Hillstrand brothers. By their own admissions and through their own words, Jonathan comes across as the perpetual child who refuses to grow up. He wastes his money on women and booze and doesn't spend a lot of time with his son (but expects him to take over the family business someday). Though he says he treats women well, he seems to have an almost annoyed, even hostile attitude towards those like Andy and (Jonathan's) son Scott, who have or seek to have a stable family life. For his part, Andy comes across as the perpetual enabler who is always bailing his brother out of trouble. I have to say the book as a whole left me feeling a bit cold towards the brothers. I will definately watch them differently when they're on the show in the future.



2. If you love Deadliest Catch and the Hillstrand brothers you will really enjoy this book. They are my favorite captains on the show becuase of thier sense of humor.



3. There is no question that Time Bandit finds an eager audience among fans of the American TV show "Deadliest Catch," but I was pleasantly surprised to find that the book stands up well on its own as an entertaining and informative read. The brothers Hillstrand have a pirate's lode of great fishing stories, but the book doesn't stop there. These men are also admirably candid about their personal histories and the tough issues they deal with on land (families, obligations, personal demons, compliance with fishing regulations, outfitting for the next fishing run, hiring/firing crew, etc).
   
   The first and dominant voice in the narrative is Johnathan Hillstrand whose delivery struck me as egotistical and arrogant to the point that I almost didn't stick around to give the book a chance--but I'm glad I did. After all, the book opens with the "bad boy of the Bering Sea" perilously adrift and alone, and even if he does seem a bit full of himself, I wanted to see how he would get out of his dire predicament. His life-threatening situation serves as the literary focus to reflect on his life--kind of a slow-motion version of seeing your lifetime pass before your eyes before you die. Thus unfolds Johnathan's entertaining story, reminiscences of his life, interspersed with the narrative of his brother Andy and the fellow fishermen who eventually rescue him.
   
   At first, I thought the writing style was too unpolished and the tone overbearingly arrogant but as I got to "know" Johnathan better, and then his brother Andy, I decided to cut them some slack. After all, if fishermen were born to be writers, they wouldn't be fishermen, and vice versa (with the exception of Linda Greenlaw who is both a good writer and fisherman). Thankfully, the authors enlisted the help of seasoned writer Malcolm MacPherson who I presume is responsible for making a cohesive work from two lifetimes of harrowing stories. More effort in that direction would have further improved the book.
   
   Time Bandit is great entertainment. Tales of near death, living on the edge, the roughness of life on sea and land, gave me a great escape into a world I could never approach in my real life. I take points off for the literary weakness of the book which is apparently aimed at the established TV audience as a "mixed media" marketing effort. When the TV show eventually ends and the DVD market is sated, the book will not have much literary quality to sustain it as a book alone.
   
   Sharing similarities with Time Bandit in ocean-going subject matter, here are a few recommendations which are stronger literary works: _The Hungry Ocean_ and _The Lobster Chronicles_ by Linda Greenlaw, _The Perfect Storm_ by Sebastian Junger, _Hen Frigates_ by Joan Druett, and _Cod_ by Mark Kurlansky.



4. This book can hardly be laid down, which is surprising for its genre. It was received in the condition advertised.



5. I really enjoyed this book. It is well written and very informative. I watch Deadliest Catch every day, and can't wait for the new season to start. Johnathan and Andy Hillstrand are to be commended for getting this book published. They are my favorite fishermen and I really like the crew also. I cannot recommend this book enough. It is excellent. I loved each and every word and could not in all honesty put this book down. I think I read this most excellent book faster and in a shorter time then any book I have read, and I have read hundreds of different books in my adult life. If you like the show, you MUST get this book.

5 comments about Monster: The Autobiography of an L.A. Gang Member.

1. Even though Cody Scott pats himself on the back a lot, and it's obvious he is not finished with his foolish ways, I found the book useful in one way. I had a student I had known off and on since he was 5. He was bright and lively, and could not learn to read. He could make neither the visual or auditory connections with print . He couldn't remember what we went over with him . When you have both a lack of visual and auditory memory, it's not likely you are going to ever succeed at reading. It was unlikely my student, Alex, would ever be able to read. I received permission to use this in his case high interest book with this student. It was a last ditch effort. Alone with him in my office i would read a vignette, and just at the exciting part, I would refuse to read another word. But I would help him decode what was there. It was a struggle, but Alex did in fact succeed in learning to sound out, figure out, and remember what he read. So for that I am grateful to the author.



2. Monster Kody Scott has been in one of the most ruthless gangs since age 11. He was drawn by the fame and respect that gang members in his 'hood received. Everything he did since age 11 was done to gain a reputation for his name and his set.
   
   When I purchased this book I was very excited to get an inside look at the life of a gang member from one of the toughest streets in America, South Central L.A. I have always been interest in gang activity and thought this would be a great read on that fact alone.
   
   For the most part the book was able to enlighten me on gang life, however, it wasn't able place me there, so to speak. The book was very very very dull and dry. There was no talk of emotion, from his first kill to his last. There was no talk about how stealing his first car made him feel, whether it be good, or bad, powerful, or paranoid I don't care which it was, but make it interest for the readers!!! I guess the hard streets have left Monster emotionally empty. Everything is stated very matter-of-fact manner, with minimal descriptions of events to make them coherent.
   
   As I said before, this made for an extremely boring read. After reading about his 100th raid, I found I could care less, they were practically all the same. This book has no depth and at the end it felt like a homework assignment, forcing myself to finish it. Which is a shame because given his status in the Crips, Monster Kody Scott, could have given one of the best if not the best accounts of gang-life in America.
   
   Over all I rate it 3/5. I know really only focused on the negatives of the book, but there are also good qualities. It is pretty rare that we get an autobiography written by a gang member, especially an O.G. It did add a level of authenticity that a D.A. or police officer would not be able to provide. All said and done, I would not recommend this book to a friend.



3. I've read this book several times over the years. Author Sanyika Shakur offers a sobering and disturbing look into the other side of Los Angeles.
   
   For anyone seeking understanding into what turns a young man into a hard-core gangster, this book is invaluable reading. The book is unapologetically violent and includes some graphic descriptions of an inmate-on-inmate assault inside the Los Angeles County Men's Central Jail.



4. Love this book but this book left me wanting more like what happened after he left prison in 91.I learned alot from this book things i didn't know;very good book.



5. There are so many things that can be said about this book, because it makes you think on so many different levels. It's brutally honest, and no holds barred, violent and as ruthless as things can get but... Then there is more... And I to date haven't read a book to surpass this in actually putting one "There" in the life of a Gang Banger. It made me think about the loss of innocence, it also made me think about what would have happened if this same man had of been raised else where in a different environment? I'll leave that one to the philosophers and all but the conclusion I came up with is he would have survived no matter where he was planted. When I first read Eldridge Cleavers "Soul On Ice" I was shocked at the intelligence pouring from the pages. I had the same feeling reading "Monster" by Sanyika Shakur. Highly intelligent! This book reads like a birds eye view of his life! It even inspired me to write on the subject so I give credit where credit is due. If you want to know what is really happening in the streets and neighborhoods of America then read this book!!!!
   
   Raw? Without a doubt, but as shocking as all it is, there is also compassion revealed and revelations and for the man to live to write about it is a miracle to begin with.
   
   I think this book deserves far more than what Amazon has in levels to rate.
   
   To understand the real picture you have to see the underside...
   
   And this book reveals it as few have and is an important part of American Literature and a testimony of how it really is with no holds barred!
   
   And in addition to all the other things this man has been, one that he has certainly proven himself to be, without a doubt is an exceptional author and one who knows how to truly write something you won't have to worry about forgetting...
   
   Because you won't...
   
   Your Chance to Hear The Last Panther Speak

5 comments about The Dance of the Dissident Daughter: A Woman's Journey from Christian Tradition to the Sacred Feminine (Plus).

1. I picked up this title as one it was a woman's spiritual journey and two I like the author for her other two books - secret life of bees and mermaid chair. I am not a christian woman, and my religion does have a feminine version of God. But no woman is really spared the overwhelming experience of patriarchy in one form or the other. Sue's experience seems to come from an authentic place of pain and genuine need to explore, quite unlike Liz Gilbert or other self pitying women. She is obviously well read in theology of her own religion and has put great effort into understanding the 'song' as she calls it, the spiritual calling behind the practice of the religion. She is lucky to have had the resources to explore the pain she experienced and kind and generous to share it with the world. Some reviewers have written that being from an orthodox background she feels discrimination more than they do. Regardless of how you feel it it is very much present and will take centuries to go away. Sue's story is an inspiring call to women to reexamine the roots of their faith and their history in various forms, and simply put to be inspired to do our own dance, as opposed to dancing to others tunes.



2. I have read many of the reviews of this book, and I noticed the variety of opinions Dance of the Dissident Daughter has inspired.
   
   Each of us has an opinion of this story based on our personal experiences, and my spiritual experience is quite similar to Kidd's.
   
   I can relate to the phases she had to go through in order to find peace with her path; I honor and respect her journey.
   
   Read this book with an open heart. I did not believe that she was bashing men or Christianity; she had to set the programming of the church aside and find her own truth. This is what she inspires all women to do for themselves.
   
   We all search for our individual spirituality...our meaning...and I feel that this book gives a beautiful example of one woman's search for her truth.
   
   May you find yours as well.



3. Sue Monk Kidd captures the reader with her openness about how she became a feminist, almost by accident. This is a very personal account describing her experience of moving from accepted Christianity to feminism. I found the story fascinating and finished it in only 3 days. For the most part, the author simply told her story and how she interpreted the events she faced along the way. However, at various places in the book she began to generalize her experiences to all women, which made me agree with the reviewer who said her journey is not my journey.
   
   What I found a bit disconcerting is that the author states that she made a living as a writer for Christian and inspirational magazines and yet on page 83 says that she suddenly realized that the Bible focuses primarily on masculine rather than feminine attributes of God. Actually, the primary message throughout the Bible is that the God who created the universe wants to have a personal relationship with his creatures, both female and male, and how that is achieved. Even the author would classify relationships as a domain which is more in the feminine rather than mascuine realm. Likewise, the majority of the 10 Commandments deal with relationships and in Matthew 22:36-39 Jesus said the 2 most important commands were loving God and loving your neighbor. I don't see how anyone can miss these more feminine qualities of God.
   
   Maybe the fact that America is a much more egalitarian society than when the book was written in 1996, and maybe some of the recent books that I've read, like The Female Brain, which highlights some of the hormonal and internal changes that women undergo explain why I disagree with the author and don't view the elements of patriarchy in society as something that needs to be attacked. Also, Kidd identifies many identity issues as struggles for girls and women, which I believe are universal struggles regardless of one's gender.
   
   However, even with these complaints I believe the book is important to read if one wants to understand and interact knowledgably with a feminist.



4. Sue Monk Kidd's journey resonates for me as I have long struggled with the way we tend to ignore or excuse the masculine priority that surrounds women's lives. Ms. Monk explores and ennunciates the "stacked deck" of everything from language and religion to the ingrained assumptions of women's secondary status in the world. True the balance has shifted somewhat, but as long as there are places where men have a "right" to beat their wives, where it is against the law for women to be educated, where it's a BIG DEAL to have a woman run for president, where we criticize a woman for being today's connotation of the word FEMINIST for speaking simple truths; we have a problem. Not one to be trivialized or ignored. Can you imagine the hue and cry that would erupt were we to refer to all humanity as "whitekind"? Ms. Monk is shining a light on the endemic prejudice women live with every day of their lives by sharing her journey, her questions, her fears, and confusion with us. I am grateful to her. I don't feel so alone.



5. Sue Monk Kidd expertly and openly shares her most intimate experience in finding the Divine in this well written and referenced personal account.

No comments about The Lost Art of Walking: The History, Science, and Literature of Pedestrianism.

5 comments about Center Cannot Hold, The: My Journey Through Madness.

1. This is an amazing account of an intelligent woman who will not let one of the most devastating mental illnesses, schizophrenia, beat her. Her courage and honesty are amazing. What she has achieved is beyond what "normal" people can imagine. She has done so much for those with mental illness and their families by her brave account, not just in showing how it can be managed but the failures of understanding in the medical community.



2. I struggled through this book. Surely Elyn would quit having so many psychotic symptoms; surely her meds would stop her symptoms; certainly she would realize that seeing an analyst was not helping with her symptoms. About two-thirds of the way through, I put it down thinking I would return it to its owner.
   
   However, a month later when I read some positive book reviews, I picked it back up hoping to read that she was free of psychotic symptoms. Instead, she continues to live inside her illness and hold onto her symptoms.
   
   As a person with a psychotic disorder, I know that recovery from these painful symptoms is possible. And it isn't just the meds that help one recover. The fundamental change in how I perceived and reacted to my world came from changing my thinking.
   
   Recovery is personal to everyone and obviously Elyn's idea of recovery is to continue living with her horrible symptoms and maintain the capacity to live a productive life. For me, I choose to find alternative ways to heal that include positive expectations for myself and the world around me.
   
   Elyn, the center CAN hold; the center DOES hold. It's all we have.
   
   If you are a family member of a person with a psychotic disorder and you want your loved one to suffer the rest of their life, then send them to a psychoanalyst. If you truly want happiness, freedom, independence and all the wonderful things life has to offer for your family member, then read Jill Bolte Taylor's, My Stroke of Insight. "Peace is just a thought away."



3. 'The Center Cannot Hold' presents an extremely admirable story. Professor Saks not only survives but thrives despite having schizophrenia. 'The Center Cannot Hold' shows Professor Saks to have an almost superhuman will power. Despite set back after set back Professor Saks returns to the ring time after time and finally triumphs. I think the real strength of this book is that it shows people with schizophrenia frequently to be decent caring people with a profound sense of justice. In terms of psychoanalysis, vis-a-vis Dr. Saks the proof is in the pudding, but psychoanalyis isn't really such a terrifc option for the vast majority of people with schizophrenia. Too, a similiar career path to the career path of Dr. Saks is largely out of the question for most people with schizophrenia. I think the main strenth of the book is to show than people with schizophrenia can be very very ill but at the same time fully human.



4. What everyone who reviews this book and Ms. Saks herself untterly fails to realize is the devastating affect that her two years with "Operation ReEntry" had on her emotional and psychological development. Spawned from Synanon, a destructive and cruel cult that borrowed its methods from Korean war era mind-control and brainwashing techniques, it had her brainwashed into believing that she needed to have her spirit broken down and "rebuilt" although she never makes clear in what way it was beneficial for her to have spent two years being yelled at, made to scrub the stairs with a toothbrush, cut off from normal teenage activities, separated from her peers and turned over to a group of controlling drug addicts. Nor how her spirit was supposedly rebuilt nor to whose specifications. Lots of people have done far more drugs that Ms. Saks did and are fine. But when your parents abandon you to a cult that turns sanity, reality and common sense on its head then makes you believe you are crazy if you challange it, truth gets twisted into such a Gordian knot that sometimes insanity is the only escape. The lady seriously needs to reexamine that time in her life to understand the damage that was done by her post-traumatic reaction to her semi-incarceration. I'm not saying that she would not have schizophrenia anyway. But the massively profitable "behavioral" programs that Synanon spawned have been the cause of much post-traumatic stress and suicide, not to mention the kids who died in the "programs" as a result of abuse and neglect. Although I admire her and her accomplishments there is a big piece of the puzzle missing here. I hope Ms. Saks will do a rigorous re-examination of this time in her life and write about it.



5. One of the best of all the books I have read over the 15 years my son has been struggling to find his place in a society that refuses to care for his needs. It gave me tremendous insight into his struggles, and I am now reading Sak's third book, "Refusing Care." I have suggested "Center Cannot Hold" to the local chapter of the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill, so that families can borrow the book, read it, and gain their own "insight" into the details our loved ones are unable to tell us about. It certainly will help me to change the way I interact with my son, as I learn to let go of my fears for him and encourage him to make his own choices in dealing with such a devastating brain disorder.