3 comments about ADD and Me: Forty Years in a Fog.

1. Reading this book was like speaking to Ken. Ken is a good guy who is a very talented writer. Normally, I wouldn't read a book like this, but since I know Ken personally, it was like having him in my living room. I found I had to concentrate on the text more than usual because its a bit all-over-the-place, but so is Ken. Since I like him so much, I found it easy to like the book. I think you will too. -Johnny



2. Overall, I found this to be an enjoyable read. Mr. Patterson's story is both funny and sad. Having ADHD myself, I found myself nodding in agreement while reading the book because I could identify with the difficulties, feelings and situations he faced.
   
   For someone with ADHD, the value in reading this book is finding out that other people are dealing with the same issues and that you are not alone. For someone without ADHD, it is important to keep an open mind while reading this book because it may be hard to identify with the author's struggles and writing style. Yet, it will help give a better understanding of people who are ADHD.
   
   Again, an enjoyable read that is also authentic. Highly recommended!



3. ADD and Me: Forty Years In A Fog is the personal memoir of a man with Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD), which he likens to living in a fog. Impulsiveness, distractions, and obsessions complicate his life from childhood to school, military career, and personal relationships - without the natural stability of cognition that other people take for granted, author Ken Patterson has had to find alternative means to cope. An inspirational story filled cover to cover with anecdotes that are sometimes humorous, sometimes dark, but always laced with challenges above and beyond the norm.

5 comments about I Hope You Have a Good Life: A True Story of Love, Loss and Redemption.

1. When I first picked up this book, I was a little unsure about it. I am here to tell you that this book is worth reading. It shows a family dealing not only with cancer, but living with past lapses in judgment that sometimes come back in the middle of the night to haunt them.
   It made me realize how short life is, and that we should all take a little more time and enjoy the people who are in our lives. We never know when something could happen to them.



2. This is simply one of the finest memoirs I've read in years; and an important book on serious topics - marriage, divorce, adoption, alcohol, and illness. Armstrong has a lot of wisdom to impart, and does so in a simple yet affecting style that will often break your heart.
   Do not miss this book...it's a work of art.



3. I just read All That Really Matters the UK version of I Hope You Have A Good Life. What a wonderful book! I would definately give more than 5 stars if I could. The book is a true story of a woman who gave up her baby girl years ago. Well she gets married, to who else, Campbell Armstrong an aspiring writer, and has kids, 3 boys, of her own. After they move to Phoenix, they end up getting divorced and Campbell moves back to Ireland where they are originally from, while Eileen stays with the boys in Phoenix. Years later Eileen finds out she has cancer. Across the world, a woman named Barbara also finds out she has cancer. She has been looking for her real mother for a long time. When she finally finds her mother and they both discover they both have cancer, the illness doesn't matter anymore because they have found each other. This is a story of loves lost and found along with lifes ups and downs. What a magnificent story. I have also read Concert of Ghosts by Campbell Armstrong. Also a descriptive book!!!



4. I want to thank the author for following his ambitions, listening to his heart and sharing his writings with us. As we all know, there are, at times, difficult decisions to be made in life. When our choices seem both right and wrong simultaneously, the measure of our worth can possibly be revealed. This is a true story, a memoir, of deep human connections. Make a point of reading this one. You will be thanking Campbell Armstrong, also.



5. I thank the author. As we all know, there are, at times, difficult decisions to be made in life. When our choices seem both right and wrong simultaneously, the measure of our worth can possibly be revealed. This is a true story, a memoir, of deep human connections. Make a point of reading this one. Then you, too, will be thanking Campbell Armstrong, also for his wonderfully emotionally uplifting writings.

No comments about Maína (Serie Gongoli).

5 comments about Bill W. and Mr. Wilson: The Legend and Life of A.A.'s Cofounder.

1. Pompous, pretentious and expensive sums up this book for me in just a few words. As a member of AA and having read a number of histories of AA and Bill W I was really looking forward to reading something which I thought might throw a new light and tell me something new. In reality it was, with very few exceptions, simply a repetition of the same old stuff and written in an irritating style. Alluding to a biker at Founders' Day on the second page Mr Raphael writes "The contrasting colors and textures emphasize the cut of the chaps, how they cradle his virilia, leaving him suggestively exposed." proved to be warning enough that this was not going to be a book I would enjoy or find readable. Irritating prose, questionable and unsupported ideas and theories, and with allusions to being a poor man's "Not God" this is most definitely a book I would not commend to anyone. And not worth the quite substantial price either!



2. Literary scholar and professor of English, John W. Crowley, writing under the pen name Matthew J. Raphael, renders a refreshing perspective on the life of Bill Wilson, founder-in-chief of Alcoholics Anonymous.
   
   With "Bill W. and Mr. Wilson" Crowley expanded his personal bibliography of works pertaining to alcoholism and drinking, including "The White Logic: Alcoholism and Gender in American Modernist Fiction" (1994), "Drunkard's Progress: Narratives of Addiction, Despair, and Recovery" (1999), and most recently, "Drunkard's Refuge: The Lessons of the New York State Inebriate Asylum" (2004).
   
   Like other recent Wilson biographers, Crowley critically examines key events in Wilson's story and flirts with exposé. Unfortunately, the criticism goes only as far as an adoring fan of Bill Wilson could permit. Crowley has to be careful not to lose his AA readership at the same time he has to preserve his own faith. It's a slack tightrope, but casual readers will be left believing he has made it to the other side safely. Others will see the length of the rope and draw their own conclusions.
   
   This book is an absolute must-read for anyone with an interest in the origins of Alcoholics Anonymous.



3. I was given this book as an early gift for my 5-year sobriety birthday. In April 1998, I took what I hope was my last drink. In April 2003, "God willin' and the creek don't rise," I will celebrate that 5-year milestone. I've read all the AA-approved treatments of our co-founders and their lives, and much of the non-conference-approved canon on the life of William G. Wilson. This book quickly became my favorite because of its honesty. Rather than painting Bill W. as God's special instrument, divinely appointed to save us drunks and led by God as if by puppet strings, this book paints an appropriately complex picture of a real human being -- a drunk like me. Raphael's take on Bill W. is based on tremendous research and a great deal of thought, as well as the wisdom of long-term, "good" sobriety. The writing is lucid and readable, though I did have to consult the dictionary twice. (I don't mind that, though -- being stretched a little. Good books should do that, don't you think?) For anyone interested in AA's legendary cofounder, I give this book a 5-star recommendation. It doesn't get better than this for thoughtful members of the recovery community.



4. I picked up this book after finishing Francis Hartigan's fine biography of Bill Wilson. I simply could not finish this book. "Raphael," the pseudonym of the author used in accordance with AA's 12th tradition, does a slip-shod job of reserching this subject, and mainly spends his time writing textual rifs based on his own interior monolog.

   This kind of writing seemed OK in the 70s, but now that Raphael and I have sobered up, it doesn't seem very interesting.




5. Only 3500 copies initially published. Sure to be a cult book like Igor Sikorsky's "Aa's Godparents : Three Early Influences on Alcoholics Anonymous and Its Foundation : Carl Jung, Emmet Fox, Jack Alexander" and copies will be hoarded and in great demand. The cover of the book is outstanding, from a painting, NIGHTHAWKS by Edward Hopper 1942, its compelling.

   The book, like its cover, also is compelling. The author has an easy to read but euridite and somewhat pedantic style that once I became used to it was very comfortable. Its been a long time since I encountered the terms termagant or fin de siecle.

   The facts and narratives are always interesting and I find myself agreeing and disagreeing with a number of statements and conclusions but I have to think them out. Items covered extremely well are existentialism, deflation in depth, desire for salvation, The Varities of Relegious Exerience, and the list goes on. That it has compelled me to think out some preconceived views is what I find to be the best characteristic of this book. Read the book and "Let your response happen."

   Factually it is nicely done. I admire and respect the author's endeavors.

   That said, there are several holes that I wish had been explored:

   The Hebrew and Greek concept of "Metanoia" is mentioned in a shallow passage that dismisses it as a purely "Protestant" concept. Father John Doe's, Ralph Pfau, writings would be a place to start. Repentance is more than confessing and saying you are sorry... (there are more than 4 steps!)

   Where o where is any reference to Emmet Fox? The Sermon on the Mount has been called the "Little Big Book" and there are several histories where it is noted that it was given out at meetings before there was a big book. The author did a wonderful job of tying linage back to the (Shoemaker, Buchman) Oxford Group, I found myself wishing he had done the same with Emmet Fox. (The Sermon on the Mount is still AA approved literature.)

   Several Long/Old/Seasoned Timers have mentioned that Bill, while writing the 164 pages at the mystical white kitchen table, constantly used and referenced the Bible, New Testament, and the book of James. I would have liked to have seen this aspect covered with the same ability the author showed with Nell Wing's viewpoint.

   Bill W has a pamphlet which is AA approved and published where he addresses an AMA medical conference. In it he simultaneously describes the program along three tracks - 1) Psychological, 2) Philosophical, and 3) Spiritual. I found myself hoping the author was going to cover this material. Alas, no such chapter.

   But it was a great book, I wanted more of the Author's reasoned, diligently researched and insightful conversational text. Even though I did not completely or necessarially agree, I really enjoyed the process of the reading experience. I truly enjoyed the book. It made me think, made me agree and disagree, informed me, and affected me. I really would like to have seen it be twice as long.

   In the stepping stones section where the author discribes Lois W. as saying that Bill W. did truly achieve humility was wonderfully led up to, framed, and presented. I felt, se finis, as if Bill was saying to me, out of this book, "True ambition is to walk humbly and to live usefully under God's Grace."

   Well Done! Bravo

No comments about Ms. Doesn't Stand for Multiple Sclerosis.

2 comments about I Had No Means to Shout.

1. In reading this book it brought tears to my eyes many times. My son is verbally apraxic. I can share the Hale's excitement in knowing for the first time what their son is thinking and what he wants to say. Charles is truly an inspiration. His parents Mary Jane and Martel are true saints. In a world where people want easy solutions, they never gave up on Charles. They never stopped searching for new possibilites for Charles to communicate.

   I feel this book is an absolute must read for anyone who deals in anyway with handicapped children or adults. This book is a breakthrough to a better understanding and a better way of helping handicapped people. This book will eduacate our special needs providers on a new level.

   This book will also let parents know they are not alone and to continue to fight for your children, you are the only one who will. Never loose your hope or faith.

   I thank Mary Jane and Charles for allowing us into their lives and for showing us brighter, promising futures for our loved ones.

   With much respect and admiration!




2. This is a book about the best in all of us. A reaching across the greatest differences in humanity to discover the essence of our beings. It's also a story of uncommon heroism and the power of a loving family.

   I feel I can speak eloquently about this because I also know, as the author of this book, what it means to find a whole person where others felt there was just a shell and not have people believe it or actively try to pull it away. It's the story of a mother and father's discovery that their child, who is a severely autistic 36 year old man, is not only very intelligent and aware, but has a depth of wisdom and love that is very rare.

   But in keeping with her son Charles' attitude, Mary Jane doesn't dwell on the hurt and betrayal of those who don't believe in what Charles is saying, but joyously celebrates this wonderful discovery and what Charles tells us in his own words about autism and the controversy over Facilitated Communication (FC). I talked with five adult autistics using FC for two years and I have no doubt that every word that Charles says is his own. If you want to know about autism, this is the first place to start. For those that have used FC, they will find many new insights.

   Jane's presentation is even and lively. I particularly enjoyed the biographical sketch which gives us a look at two wonderful parents in their journey together raising a very special but difficult child. I have been a worker and not a parent of special children, but I am a parent and have a special appreciation for what these parents go through. When they do it right like Jane and many more, it's especially enriching knowing them. These parents become just as special as their kids. But now, thanks to parents like Mary Jane, we can get a more complete picture of just how special their children are. Make no mistake about it, what we are learning through FC about consciousness and the human condition is equivalent to Copernicus' discovery of the Earth being round instead of flat. These special people have a very important function amongst us, and while Jane's son Charles doesn't flaunt it, you can assuredly hear it in his words. Think of this book as Rainman finally having a chance to talk.

5 comments about The Cry of the Gull.

1. This is an exquisite book, both heartbreaking and inspiring at the same time. Emmanuelle Laborit was born deaf into a hearing family, at a time when using sign language in public was a crime in France: it was considered obscene, and the law wasn't changed until 1976, well into the author's childhood. This created a tragic set of circumstances for those born deaf in France.
   
   The author was blessed to have college educated parents who were willing and able to look outside of their own culture to find what their child needed, and when her father decided they should learn sign language, he brought the family to Gallaudet University in Washington, DC for a month, where mother, father and child took part in an intensive sign-language immersion program.
   
   Laborit writes eloquently about the first seven years of her life, a time in which she had no formal language to express herself with. Until her parents made the decision to learn formal sign language, Laborit and her mother made up their own signs, but the problem with home signs is that they are understood only within the environment where they were created.
   
   I highly recommend this book to hearing parents of deaf children, as well as anyone working with deaf children and young adults. The insight provided here is invaluable.



2. Emmanuelle Laborit writes her autobiography with such expressive detail. Some parts were hard to believe what the deaf have to go through to let themselves be heard for others. I recommend this book for any parent of a deaf child. What choices they have to make in the education of their child. There are so many different choices. Emmanuelle expains how her education was, she did nearly everything. When she started to learn sign language the world became more understanding to her.



3. Author recounts troubles of a person born deaf in france,compounded by the fact that sign language was outlawed there as "too sensual" until 1979. It's also a beautifully written book which captures the softness and gentle love of words often found in many english-as-a-second-language authors {except,for her,english is a third language!}.

   I lost all my hearing suddenly in 1999. The whole world runs like a silent movie. I am excluded and don't understand what is going on around me anymore. This book offers insight,direction,hope. Maybe it will make people more sensitive to the cruel isolation of deafness.




4. Author recounts troubles of a person born deaf in france,compounded by the fact that sign language was outlawed there as "too sensual" until 1979. It's also a beautifully written book which captures the softness and gentle love of words often found in many english-as-a-second-language authors {except,for her,english is a third language!}.

   I lost all my hearing suddenly in 1999. The whole world runs like a silent movie. I am excluded and don't understand what is going on around me anymore. This book offers insight,direction,hope. Maybe it will make people more sensitive to the cruel isolation of deafness.




5. This book caught my eye, because I really only read non-fiction. My interest in human development has been encouraged by my rather stilted childhood. This book is written with such candidness, that you are literally enveloped. I have laughed out loud, shed some tears, and loved every moment.

5 comments about One Particular Harbor: The Outrageous True Adventures of One Women With Multiple Sclerosis Living in the Alaskan Wilderness.

1. In this fascinating book, Janet Lee James describes her adventures while living in the Alaskan wilderness. While that may be enough of a challenge for many, this author suffers from multiple sclerosis. Coming to grips with this devastating diagnosis, Ms. James decides to live life to its fullest extent--and follows her dreams----to Alaska. She starts out in Anchorage working at a radio station, but eventually seeks out more remote areas of the state. Traveling to Cooper Landing, on the Kenai peninsula, Ms. James finds work as a cook/waitress/bar maid in a small lodge. As part of the deal, she can live for free in a rustic cabin. 60 feet up the side of a mountain, with no running water or electricity. This would normally be enough of a challenge for anyone, but imagine doing this with the exacerbations of MS. Ms. James provides an infinitely readable and entertaining book. She is frank and honest about the problems encountered with MS, some of which can be pretty humiliating. After reading this I immediately googled her name to see if she had written more books, but was unable to find her or any other books she has written. This book is highly recommended.



2. I was on the fence about buying this book due to what seemed may be mostly about MS and it's horrors . But, took a chance and am glad I did . I realize it was first published in 1993 and here it is 2007 and I just got around to it .
   
   I was captivated by Ms. James sheer gutsiness ( is that a word ? )to leave the safety of her home and family to pursue a dream she might have otherwised put off like the rest of us do , thinking we have all the time in the world . She made me laugh , and made me shake my head at some of her antics before MS got a real hold on her . amazing adventure ..worth your time and $$$ .
   
   the last 1/3 of the book was un-nerving tho . I'm happy I didn't read it as a young girl , i would have been looking for every symptom . I learned more about MS then i wanted to also ....all the promises to her and every patient of that time over 30 years ago ...saying a cure was probably going to be found in a few years with all the research . How sad . they are no closer to a cure now then 30 years ago .
   
   I would have been terrified to go it alone in a state such as Alaska with no real friends waiting for me knowing that I had MS yet not knowing what to truly expect from it as being newly diagnosed and each case different.
   
   I do have many questions tho , BUT those I wrote in a letter to her home . I hope she is still with us . In any case ...God Bless and may she find peace & happiness wherever she is .



3. What an excellent, excellent, excellent book and a brilliant author. The author had the courage to share the often unspeakable truths of what can happen, which doctors NEVER tell you about. She also has a warm and charming way of infusing humor and inspiration so others to gain a sense of hope and to "go for their dreams and make them happen. I can't think of a gutsier auther!
   I loved it and would love to meet her!



4. This book is great - positiveley the best book I've ever read. It follows the story of Janet, a woman with MS. Instantly, you feel as if Janet is an old friend. A good book for when you're feeling frustrated with the world and wishing you could do like Janet did...fly away to Alaska. A true story of adventure!



5. I have read all sorts of books on MS--- Medical journals, personal accounts, alternative healing.. This wonderful book brought me to new heights in my understanding of the disease.. I wanted to jump on a plane to Alaska and pick up where Janet left off! I loved her bravery, her honesty and especially her sincerity. I, too, am a vagabond and traveler with MS... One of my favorite books ever on the subject!

1 comments about Queen of Peace Room, The (Life Writing).

1. Resting in my hands is a slender book. Its cover has a black matte finish that is pleasing to the touch and a picture crafted by the author that effortlessly holds my attention. This book, its cover, the paper used to embrace what will become some of the most illuminative words I have read in a long while, and the graceful artwork therein, all form a package that is difficult to release. I hold this book for a long while then manage to put it down only to return to hold it again later. I know about the subject matter that resides between the covers of this work because its author Magie Dominic wrote to me about the narrative that lives there. I know she writes with an eloquence to which I am unaccustomed. I also know that once I begin to read what I know will be an intense autobiographical chronicle; I won't be able to stop. Maybe its because I do know what's there that I hesitate to begin. Yes. And that's why I hold on to this small, beautiful book but have a hard time starting the journey.

   When I do begin to read The Queen of Peace Room I am immediately rewarded. The prose is solid, it's beautiful, and it's satiating. Make no mistake, this story is disturbing but its telling is done with such a light touch that I barely feel the sting until I put it down. Then it won't leave my mind.

   I grew up in a world so radically different from Magie Dominic's that I find myself having to catch my breath as I try and place myself inside of her world - inside of her being. Tucked between the covers of this willowy book is a narrative so immense it's just barely contained by the fine matte jacket surrounding the work. The things that go to make up this life I can only imagine.

   She was a victim of sexual abuse at the age of seven or eight at the hands of a metaphorical Cyclopes. Like Polyphemus from Homer's Odyssey, Dominic's tormentor was fond of warm, moist, human flesh. Greedily he gorged himself on a child's mind, body, and dignity. The beast's hideous glass eye perched on the family car's dashboard watched impassively as a child became prey. An unblinking witness to a horror no human should ever endure.

   In the 1960s, she was stalked, beaten, and raped by an unknown assailant. She plunged into a deep depression and attempted suicide only to be comforted by a mother who made it clear that all of this trauma had absolutely no place in public discussion - no place ruining the family's Christmas.

   The Queen of Peace Room unfolds, as Magie Dominic unfolds, during an eight-day retreat in a place safe from the intruding world surrounded by the love of kindred spirits and the hushed quietude of nature. In a deeply personal and inviting tone, Magie takes us into the deepest folds of her life. She leads us through a wilderness of pain, humiliation, death and finally to a serene place where a harnessed field meets a wild meadow. Here, at this locus in time and space we see the transformation of Magie Dominic from whatever she may have been in the past, to an exquisite though solitary butterfly resting in the stillness on a tall blade of grass: whole, complete, and good.

   The Queen of Peace Room is expansive life writing. The tragedy bound in this tale is epic. Yet, there is affirmation in Magie Dominic and in her story. The refusal of one human soul to let go of its dignity, its absolute unwillingness to surrender, is genuinely heroic. Reading this made me cherish the brutal privilege of being human - like the one who wrote this story. Like the one who lives this life.

   --- Reviewed by
   Timothy E. McMahon, M.S.
   tim@mcmahonco.com

4 comments about The Silents.

1. When I heard Charlotte Abrams wrote the silents, I had to get it immediately. I doubt she would remember me, but we went to Tuley High School at the same time. Reading the book for me was like a travel trough the past. The memories of the school. the park, the neighborhood, and the simpler times were wonderful. But I recommend the book for the story of love and affection it tells. A beautiful tale of the struggles of deaf parents attempting to raise their children in what was for them a silent world. And while they felt like outsiders their children lovingly guided them through the speaking world. As you read this well written book be prepared to be spellbound and also to shed a few tears.



2. This book tells me that deaf and mute people live lives that are very similar to hearing and speaking parents. The children of parents with handicaps have more responsibility. This book tells about the love and care the parents give to their children and the love and care the children return to their mother and father.



3. The author, Charlotte, takes us through her childhood in depression era Chicago to living in Los Angeles with children of her own. What makes her story unique is that her parents were deaf. And we are graciously allowed into a world which is foreign to most. A world where there are no dogs barking, no music and no voices. It's a touching, inspiring, story full of rich memorable characters that stay with you long after you've turned the last page. After finishing "The Silents," I thought to myself, what a lucky woman Ms. Abrams must be to have had parents that were so utterly and indisputably in love. I look forward to reading more from this author and I hope "The Silents" receives the recognition it so greatly deserves.



4. Althoug I am a little biased about this book (the author is my mother) I felt it was a heart warming story of growing up the hearing child of deaf parents. The warmth and humanity of the family described is one that will touch the hearts of all people. If you are deaf or in any other way disabled, or you know someone who is, you should read this book. It is amazing to read about a family in the 20's and 30's of this century facing the hardships of deafness, raising two children and still being able to have a "normal" life. My grandparents, the topic of this book, were two of the most wonderful people you could ever meet and I would like to invite everyone out there to meet them in this book. Thanks.