No comments about The Lost Childhood: The Complete Memoir.

5 comments about Killing Cancer: The Jason Winter's Story.

1. This book is poorly written. It does tell Jason winters story, but you can read the same stuff on his web site. Save your money.



2. this book was such an eye opener. everyone you know including yourself should own this book.



3. I read this book very quickly and took notes for several people in our circle of friends and family that are fighting cancer right now, including my husband. I purchased a second book for my sister-in-law as her 23 year old daughter is in stage 4 ovarian cancer. We have purchased and are using several of the products mentioned and feel they are contributing to our cause.
   This book is extremely helpful in understanding how cancer develops and how it can be defeated. It is not just for cancer patients and their families but for anyone who wants to be cancer free.
   Regards,
   Jessie



4. I was so happy to have finally found my copy of this book (in Chinese language) in one of my old boxes during the past weekend. I bought this book back in approximately 1987 in Hong Kong, and I loved it, I admired the author's courage, wisdom and persistance. This is one of the very few books I carried back to the USA -- I guess I have always wanted to find out more about this author. I was trying to tell my American friends about his book for years and couldn't. Now I found my book in Chinese, and with the help of the amazon.com, I was able to find the author's other book titles. I remembered that it is one of the most valuable books I have ever read. I intend to buy the English version and more books from this author. I thank the author and amazon.com!



5. I got this book at a garage sale and read it quickly! Jason Winters lived through and beyond a diagnosis of terminal cancer. A photo at the end of the book shows him in robust health 4 years later! He is right that helping others alleviates anxiety, and he shares other brief tips that are easy to apply to anyone's life. He also listed early signs of cancer--which did not match anything I'd ever read, yet I found them intriguing. The first thing I did after reading the book was to search Amazon to see if Mr. Winters lived on to write the sequel he alluded to in this book. I WAS SO GLAD to see his next title "Killing Cancer: 18 Years Later"!! Sir Jason Winters, you are heroic! Thank you for reminding us all about G-d, that the earth has gifts for us if we seek them, and that all we need is here.

3 comments about Ice Cream in the Cupboard: A True Story of Early Onset Alzheimer's.

1. One of the best books I have read in a long time.Very compling and heartfelt



2. Ice Cream in the Cupboard: A True Story of Early Onset Alzheimer's is very much a true love story. Written by husband Pat Moffett, Ice Cream in the Cupboard tells of his relationship with his wife, Carmen Moffet, together with whom he raised five beautiful children; just as they were planning their retirement, Carmen's behavior started to change in disturbing ways - she started to have both verbal and physical outbursts, and lapses of forgetting. Doctors could not find anything physically wrong with Carmen, until incidents at Carmen's workplace forced her to see one who diagnosed her illness as early-onset Alzheimer's. Ice Cream in the Cupboard describes a strong bond, one that Carmen continued to cherish even as her self and her memories of Pat faded away. A poignant testimony about the harsh realities of a pervasive disease, and the indescribable strength of love.



3. Even though I have only read some of the pages in the book, it is very down-to-earth and an easy read. I heard Mr Moffett on a radio program today (WNOX, Knoxville, TN) and I found his story fascinating and quite interesting. Having a mother who developed Alzheimer's disease in her 70's, I understood everything Mr Moffett was talking about. I can't wait to receive my copy of his book so I can read the whole story. Thanks, Mr Moffett, for sharing your story with the rest of us!

No comments about A Man with No Talents: Memoirs of a Tokyo Day Laborer.

3 comments about A Month and a Day: A Detention Diary.

1. The more I read this book, the more I understood how important it was for the erstwhile military junta of the time to eliminate Dr. Kenure SAro-Wiwa. This book is a blinding shot in the eye for anyone who was in one way or the other called out for acts the author painstakingly makes the reader to personify. It delves into all manners of "human's inhuman to human," if I dare call it so. Read this, especially if you wish to know the state of the current Africa, using Nigeria as a backdrop, in relation to the rest of the world.



2. This story will go down in history - have the courage to read this book and pass it on.

   RJS




3. This is a classic text that chronicles the degrading and dehumanizing process of intimidation of by a dictatorial regime embedded in repressive antics and deviously blood-thirsty. This book comes from the lived experience of Ken Saro-Wiwa, Nigeria's foremost environmentalist and literary writer. He, it was who led his Ogoni people to challenge the environmental degradation of their environment by the Anglo-Dutch Shell corporation through gas flaring, oil spillage and soil degeneration, and the exploiting gimmicks of a militarized centralist and thievery regime. In this work Saro-Wiwa, chronicles his role,in the evolution of the history of the struggles for relevance and records the methods of organization and mobilization of the Movement for the Survival of Ogoni People (MOSOP)into a vibrant, virulently vocal and highly feared movement. This work derived from the author's contact with the evil of human authority, hence it is a direct a product of his experiences with the malevolent human-evil-forces that were unlynched against him and the struggle. The expereinces reminisced here is just one of his many in the series of unwarranted detentions in the hand of the evil regimes of Ibrahim Babangida and Sani Abacha in unkempt cells of the Nigerian security apparatus in different cities of Nigeria. On another occassion- the detention from which he smuggled this book out to be printed- he would not come out alive. He would be "judicially murdered" by the junta whose guns were brought by the sweat of humble and victimized tax-payers like Ken- representative of repressed Nigerians- and from the money derived from oil that springs from underneath his Niger-Delta homeland-including his Ogoni group. Ken did not leave out the Nigerian Police and their inhumanity- dogs who devour the flesh of other dogs- in fact they act like "vulture." A loaded term in Ogoni parlance! This work goes to show the plight of minorities within such colonial contraptions as the Nigerian nation state, under the dominating rule of a northern hegemony and a limited military clique in collaboration with their favor and fund-questing (fat-bellied) civilian cronies. This goes to further prove the fact that colonialism subjugated many ethnic groups under a contraption that was never dialogued nor radically sanctioned.Is it any surprise that Somali, Rwanda, Burundi, Zaire, Sierra Leone have gone on ruptured by the thunders of machine guns! In this vein the book brings to the fore the problem of such political hypocrisy as such as the overtly caricatured Federalism which is practiced by the Nigerian government. In a way Ken Saro-Wiwa, credenced the fact that all ethnic nationalities must radically be allowed to shape their destiny and control their resources. Further, this book reveals the filthy environmental practices of the multinationals who without regards to safety measures and ecological ethics endanger the lives of people in the orgy for profit-making. Profit-making predominates in the psyche of the multinations in deterrence for the sanctity of the human life! Double business and ethical standards-one for Africa another for the West- in fact Ken calls this "environmental racism." This book is a resplendent classic, and it is essentially valuable for all those who want to educate themselves on one of the most forceful and feared Social, ethnic and environmental movements that has arisen in post-colonial Africa today. In fact, the book goes to show the courageous fights of minorities and social movements towards advocating and ensuring changes. Ken Saro-Wiwa its author was crudely exterminated with eight others on a farce of a trial- a militarized set-up tribunal of the despised tyrannt of Sani Abacha in 1995. Saro-Wiwa is dead but remains a living-dead, an ancestor of a sort for the many social movements that revolves around emphasizing rural development and sound environmental norms and sanctity for the community where companies are located that are emerging in Nigeria today, and it would not be an overstatement to add Africa. His ideas and views radiates and takes on flesh in this little book. Buy one today, read and digest it and realize what a portent book it is, and know why the author was most few by a modern day dictator, who feared men and women of ideas than he feared the men and women who hold the guns! Happy reading! Bon voyage!

5 comments about The Flamboya Tree: Memories of a Mother's Wartime Courage.

1. This is the story of a mother's incredible determination, devotion, courage and strength all aimed at saving her children from the ravages of a Japanese concentration camp.
   
   We do not get to know the role religious faith may have played in Clara Olink Kelly's mother's life prior to the Japanese invasion of Java. However, given the times, her Dutch culture and her social status, one can imagine that she lived a Calvinist role of being a submissive, demure, obediant wife. Religious faith obviously were very important to her during the three and a half concentration camp years as she read scripture stories to her children. One wonders, however, would Clara's mother have survived if she had been alone with no children dependent upon her?
   
   The real downer of this memoir is the betrayal committed by Clara's father. It is not difficult to understand how after nearly four years of being separated from his family and all that he endured in working on construction of the railroad line over the River Kwai, that he would be most vulnerable to entering into an extra-marital relationship, especially not knowing if his family was even alive. However, once he knew they had survived, it seems he did not give a hoot. He was totally responsible for his wife and children languishing four more months in an Allied concentration camp. In the meantime he enjoyed himself exploring post-war business opportunities.
   
   The result of his neglect was that his wife's berberi worsened and his son nearly died. We do not know but perhaps Mr. Olink was a jerk from the beginning. If so, then after the war he took being a jerk to a whole new heighth!
   
   This reviewer is not like the others who have commented here so far. I had no relatives who experienced anything like what Clara Olink Kelly describes. However, Paul, an acquaintance of mine who is from Holland, tells how it was that his parents and younger siblings endured the Japanese concentration camp in Sumatra. Paul's father also was a forced laborer on the River Kwai rail line. Paul's mother and siblings experienced the same deprived and depraved conditions as Claras' family. Paul's family came out of the ordeal as an intact family. Clara was not so fortunate.
   
   Some readers might wonder how Clara, nearly six decades later, could possibly remember the "exact" words uttered by the others in her life when she was but four to seven or eight years old at the time. We must remember that all autobiography's and memoirs reveal a process that we all go through as we tell our life stories. We repeat those stories over and over again until we get them "right."



2. I loved this book. It tells a story of courage, bravery, and family. It vividly captures an aspect of WWII that (sadly) is unknown by most people. My grandmother was also a prisoner of war in a Japanese camp in Indonesia and gave birth to my dad while in the camp. They are both gone now and this book helped fill in so many of the details of their story. Thank you Clara Kelly for telling your story, and telling it well.



3. ...It's awesome! I am so thankful to Ms. Kelly for sharing her experience. My Grandmother was also a prisoner of the Japanese in Indonesia during WWII. She had 2 babies (my dad, 6 months, & uncle, 1.5 years). I have heard 'pieces' of my Grandmothers story, but she has never been able to speak of it all. Now I know why. This book is truely a favorite of mine and always will be. Thank you Ms. Kelly. God Bless.



4. The Flamboya Tree, by Clara Olink Kelly, was very touching.
   This is a part of history that people should know about. We know about Japan invading Pearl Harbor,and other places, but what we don't know is the people who became effected by the war.
   Clara tells this story so well, she makes you feel like you are there seeing all the tragic events yourself.
   This is one book that I would highly recommend to everyone, I think we can learn a great deal from it and have a better understanding of war itself.



5. We were bowled over by this book! Clara Kelly presents vivid and heart rending images of the heroic acts of her mother to save her children from the devastating conditions in a Japanese concentration camp during WWII. This tribute to her mother also reveals the tenacity of the author and her older brother under unbelievably inhumane conditions. We will read it again.

1 comments about Clearing Land: Legacies of the American Farm.

1. Clearing Land: Legacies Of The American Farm combines memoir and history, drawing upon the author's own experience growing up on a family farm with the economic realities that are forcing such farms to extinction in the modern day. Poetic in its reminiscence of a daily life deeply intertwined with nature, cultivating plants and animals, and the joy of simply being alive, Clearing Land is a powerful firsthand testimony sure to evoke memories both pleasant and questionable of those who also lived and worked in agriculture. An emotional and at times spiritual remembrance.

5 comments about Baby Doe Tabor: The Madwoman in the Cabin.

1. This is by far the most honest, and readable account of the thoughts and fears of this legendary woman I have ever read. Some accounts of her life are so fictionalized, that it's hard to recognize her for what she was: a warm, lonely, and frightened girl, who thought, at least twice, that she had found the man who would be 'the one'. Her loyalty to Tabor, proving to the world that her interest in him was not purely materialistic, was never understood, or appreciated, until she was gone. Her undying, perhaps unhealthy love for her daughters will wrench your heart. Mostly, this is a rare look into the deteriorating mind of a woman who only wanted to be happy. Like we all do. Read this book, you won't be sorry.



2. Scholars, historians, and general readers have long awaited this book, the first full-length work on the life and times of Elizabeth "Baby Doe" Tabor and her two daughters, Lily and Silver Dollar. Based on over a decade of meticulous, in-depth research and analysis of primary documents--documents long ignored and overlooked by writers and historians--Judy Nolte Temple has brought to light one of the most fascinating real-life stories of the American West. She offers a much-needed corrective to the popular legend of Baby Doe from film, opera, and dinner theater, helping to displace the caricature that has obscured the remarkable woman who now emerges from these pages. Temple uses Tabor's own words, letters, and dreams to show us the real "Lizzie" Tabor: daughter, sister, lover, wife, and--most significantly--strong mother of two willful, intelligent daughters. The legend of Baby Doe has little to do with the real-life story of Elizabeth Bonduel McCourt Tabor, but it tells us volumes about how we mythologize and marginalize female historical figures. Elizabeth Tabor was a prodigious writer, a woman who left behind a voluminous amount of writing she carefully compiled for over 50 years. My only lament is that so much of her work has been lost since her death in 1935, primarily to "treasure hunters" who ransacked her Leadville cabin and the deliberate destruction of her writings, dreams, and drawings by early archivists and historians who claimed to be well-meaning. Nonetheless, there is an almost overwhelming amount of material that remains, and Professor Temple has done a masterful job of organizing and analyzing one of the most compelling archives of a woman's voice and experience in American history and literature. Temple also provides the reader a glimpse into the life of Horace Tabor and his first wife Augusta, as well as an absorbing look at the history and culture of Colorado and the West from the 1870s to the 1930s. Photographs and reproductions from Elizabeth Tabor's scrapbooks and artifacts accompany the text.
   
   A deeply insightful and authoritative text on a fascinating and important American figure, this book is an essential read for anyone interested in women's writings and diaries, women's history, and the history of the American West.



3. The life story of the Silver Queen of the West who lost everything. If you loved the television show Deadwood, you must read this book.



4. Author Judy Nolte Temple is a sharp woman wasting her mind. In "Baby Doe Tabor: The Madwoman in the Cabin," she spends over 200 painstakingly-researched pages trying to solve the biographical riddle of a pathetic subject. In the process, she gives the impression of ceaselessly pounding away at square pegs of data and trying to force them into the round holes of her pat, but often uncertain conclusions. She acknowledges the difficulty, but persists nonetheless, writing a hyperanalytical text that can hardly be considered accessible to the inquisitive general public. Her target audience is obviously a scholarly one whom she invites to consider and share her overzealous theorizing about the once-notorious Baby Doe Tabor. Too much ado about the life of an unfortunate woman with wandering eyes and a foundering mind. Why lavish full orchestral accompaniment on the life of a woman who obviously spent so much of it whistling in the wind? Not recommended to any but the infinitely indulgent.



5. In this excellent study, the author argues that the dreams and visions as well as the life and mythology of Elizabeth (Lizzie) "Baby Doe" Tabor can best be appreciated and understood by means of the detailed textual and contextual analysis provided here. I fully agree. This important and timely work appeals to a wide readership, including scholars and readers interested in studying the complicated lives of women who lived and wrote in the American West during the past 150 years.
   
   Legends and popular biographies have painted distorted and incomplete portraits of Elizabeth Tabor, and Professor Temple's book-length study makes a significant and much-needed contribution to the fields of literature, women's studies, western American history, and popular culture. I am especially appreciative because the book presents a number of new concepts that help both scholars as well as a general readership understand the complex life and the convoluted writings ("Dreams and Visions") of this historical figure.
   
   Most important, the scholarship underlying this work is sound. Dr. Temple has an impressive record of twenty or more years of significant scholarship in the fields listed above. Her scholarly work is well-known and well-respected by scholars who have worked in these fields for decades as well as by newer scholars just beginning their research and scholarly production. Dr. Temple's work has been particularly meaningful to me because both of us have long theorized and published in the area of autobiography, specifically, women's varied forms of autobiographical writings, including diaries and journals. I have followed her work on Lizzie Tabor closely and with great interest, and Judy Nolte Temple's high quality of scholarship is evident in this book.
   
   This book is significant because a comparable book on this subject does not exist. Judy Nolte Temple's book sets the record straight (as much as is possible) concerning the actual life of Elizabeth Tabor--not by repeating nor accepting conventional (and hackneyed) mythologized accounts. Moreover, this book is especially helpful because it makes the very first comprehensive attempt to analyze, decode, and assess the "dreams and visions" of Lizzie Tabor.

5 comments about My Name Is Iran: A Memoir.

1. This autobiography is incandescent with the luminous spirit of the author.
   
   She is articulate and honest about the experiences and uncertainties she encountered in the journey of her own life to date. Look at the photographs in the book: she radiates intelligence, light, and compassion--and so do her words.
   
   The details of her Persian cultural legacy are fascinating, as are the dynamics of her supportive, closely knit family. The latter provides an example of how the values of immigrants can enrich the fabric of American society.
   
   If you are attuned to pick up the more subtle energies (so to speak) of spirit, this book will be quite rewarding for you.



2. Iran has a story to tell, story of a young woman coming to understand who she is and within that context I appreciated the book. I did not care for her need to name drop on so much of the book to establish her identity. At some point in the book Iran feels the need to mention that the grand father of the neighbor of her niece was someone important in US Navy and somehow unsuccessfully she tries to establish a link from there to her present partner. Some of these kinds of name dropping and her need to mention them seem completely out of place and takes away from her story. Over all it is an average book.



3. From an American perspective, Iran is a far-off desert land filled with oil fields and industry. Iran's rich history dates back thousands of years nearly to the beginning of civilization. Yet, we know so little about Iranian lifestyles, cultures and religions. To many, their people and their lives are a mystery to us. Interested in learning more about the country once known as Persia? Let me suggest an excellent place to start.
   
   Born in the United States to Iranian parents, Davar Ardalan is the perfect tour guide to this part of the world. Her fascinating biography, `My Name is Iran' has both literal and figurative meaning. Her proper first name actually is `Iran.' What a fine ambassador she would make for either country.
   
   Davar's book chronicles her quest seeking a true and self-satisfying identity. Her complicated and tumultuous life has seen her morph between a modern American woman and a subservient Iranian willingly locked into an arranged marriage. Her book follows her long search for a place to comfortably rest her soul. Although the perspective is from a personal point of view, Davan's biography also serves as an authoritarian primer about life in Iran.
   
   She has adopted many, many places as her home. A very complicated and diverse life she has led. Davan comes from an enormous family that was very influential in the establishment of modern society in Iran. Several family members of her generation migrated to The United States in search of a richer life. All have experimented with lifestyles both traditional and modern. Some chose one; others chose both. Davan could not decide.
   
   As you read, you will understand how her deep heritage in the Middle East has altered the direction of her life. She seems nearly taunted by both sides of her fence. During most of her young adult years, Davan could not resolve where to go or how to ultimately live. You feel her struggle. Her understanding of both her cultures is so full. If she could only embrace one to call her own!
   
   'My Name Is Iran' is filled with many studious footnotes further explaining the history and the stories behind the many people mentioned in her tales. The book is a masterwork. Not only is Davan a great student of her family's legacy and homeland, she shows sensitivity to her readers with in-depth explanations providing all the background you may need to understand her life in whole. Her tireless work has created a gem which may open her ancestral world to an audience otherwise blind to all of Iran's cultural wealth. It is an unusual and interesting read.
   
   This is not a dry and dusty history book. The tone is personal and passionate. Much is to be read about Davan's personal life: her two marriages (one to a second cousin,) her children, the beloved members of her family and all the things that bubble and cook in her pot of life. What a cast of characters are to be found in all her relatives! Follow her life as she matures from a young girl to a woman immersed in American culture. Later, she returns with conviction to a harshly structured lifestyle. In the end, she becomes a producer and correspondent for National Public Radio working with renowned journalists like Jacki Lyden and Daniel Zwerdling. Quite an amazing life!
   
   Invest some time and read this book. You will begin to understand the spirit within the souls of Davan's people. She'll take you to the site of Solomon's Mosque, the Alborz Mountains and the lands once ruled by Cyrus the Great. Learn about her father's renowned architectural blending of styles both old and new. Feel the excitement in a place half way around the world. Will she ever find balance between the two distinct cultures of America and Iran? Davan offers much to discover. Her pages combine into a journey you won't forget. Salam!



4. I know that a journalist is suppose to write only about facts when describing an event; However, I do expect more from a memoir, especially if it is written by a journalist. I cannot believe that one can go through life without coming with an insight of who she is, and what she stands for. From the book she appears as if she has no control over her destiny, she just follow the flow with no question of who she is. For her last page she justify herself through her boy-friend who tells her that he loves her, not through a realization of who she is, or what her name Iran means to her.
   Bette Davis, with only high school level education, came much more genuine in her book, than Ms Ardalan. She was shallow, and she did not try to pretend to be anything more than than. While Ms. Ardalan is shallow but pretend to have depth.



5. This book is poorly edited, and not very effective. The author's story is not that fantastic that it can stand on it's own, and as a producer for NPR, she's just not that interesting. She spends so much time tip toeing around anything that might cast her family in a bad light, that the book feels half baked.
   Yes, she went back and forth from Iran a couple of times and had a couple of bad marriages, but so what? She should have written the book about any single one of her ancestors, each of which had a more interesting life than she did.

5 comments about The Compleated Autobiography by Benjamin Franklin (1757-1790).

1. I had never read Volume 1 of Benjamin Franklin's autobiography, so I didn't know what to expect when I bought Volume 2, which was compiled from Dr. Franklin's diaries by one of his descendants, Dr. Mark Skousen. I really thought that because 200 years had gone by, it would be rather dry with way too many historical details and that I would never finish it. A good book to help me fall asleep at night. But I was wrong. I simply loved it.
   
   Dr. Franklin was quite a character and this book shows in his own words what he thought of his fellow 'founding fathers,' (especially his opinion of John Adams!!) how he managed to keep some of his English friends in the midst of the Revolutionary War, and the woman who got away (quite possibly the only one).
   
   This is not a book just for a history class. It is most, most entertaining and I finished it in record time. I wish Ben had lived to 100 instead of just 84.
   
   Highly recommended if you like history and even if you don't.
   
   Heidi Walter
   [...]



2. This is a review of the audio version of this work.
   
   I found this to be a great disappointment, bordering on annoying. The author was attempting to complete Franklin's autobiography which doesn't cover the second half of his life. I found two very difficult problems with the work.
   
   First, the opening of the audio book presents the author's background including why he wanted to do this. This introduction was distractingly self-serving and provided quite a bit more about the author than any reader would probably expect. He is a descendant of Franklin, which may spurn his motivation....but failed to make the experience any more enlightening.
   
   Second, the book is written "using Franklin's own words"...or so says the notes from the publisher. What it does is try to use the language of Franklin's day including quickly worn out expressions and lines. I tired very quickly of the authors attempt to turn every phrase like a Poor Richard quip. What he may have gained in accuracy, made the audio experience painful.
   
   I do not recommend the audio edition for those two reasons, nor would I recommend the book. One would be better served with Isaacson's (BF: An American Life) book for a look at the second half of Franklin's life....it's simply written better and it offers more insight.
   
   The idea of getting inside Franklin's head and finishing the autobiography is compelling....but this attempt failed in it's lofty goal.
   
   --Cudo



3. Let's just say I am a Franklin buff. If you really like Franklin or history this is a worth while read. If you want to learn more about Franklin you should start with the Autobiography and then move to one of the many Bios, the most recent of which is Walter Isaacson's "Benjamin Franklin." If you get through those, you may be well ready for this read. To be honest, in my opinion, the author stands in the way of this work a little but it is not bad.



4. Book received timely and in excellent condition. Am still in the process of reading it.



5. I gave this as a gift to my mother. My father read it cover to cover and enjoyed it and my mother is in the process of doing so. It is written in an older style and can be a bit dry, but history buffs (my parents) are really enjoying it.