Peters-Golden's Culture Sketches is a must have for any student of anthropology or anyone interested in the basics of anthropology. Each chapter reviews and details a particular culture/society and explains the particular culture in an academic and laymans way. In other terms, the book is easy to understand even if you do not know a thing about anthropology and it provides useful information for students and academics alike about 13 societies that exist or have existed on this planet. These are not detailed ethnographies, i.e. they do not explain every thing about the society. Peters-Golden gives a taste of each society and encourages to further explore the societies that interest the reader. If you are a student looking for an insight on what anthropologists study (such as economic systems, religion, rituals, beliefs in magic and mystics, marriage rites, rites of passage, etc) or anyone else who is curious about the other societies on this planet, this book is for you.

Good book for little kids about fathers and their jobs, including their most important job of parenting. Paul Meisel`s pleasant smiling daddies show all kinds of different things fathers might do for work. But the biggest smiles are on the faces of my boys, when Janet Frank writes, "...daddies hurry home-- to us!" I especially like this book, because here in Japan the most prevalent image is that of the salaryman. This shows that there are other options, as well as the fact that women do these jobs, too.

These are great Daily Word messages, one for each day. I live with several others and each day, I tear today's message off and leave it on the breakfast table...anytime I forget to do so, I get asked..."Hey, what's the message for today?" This is great and up to the usual "Daily Word" standards.

Daily Word has provided inspiration for decades, and this page by page calendar is a wonderful source for inspiration and guidance throughout this coming year. Many have apprehension and fears for what may be coming, but this year can be one of hope, love, and above all oneness with God. These daily messages read and meditated upon keeps one centered on that which is most important in our lives. Living in a unit with five others, I share these daily messages by putting them on the refrigerator each morning. There is a full message of inspiration each weekday, and two short devotional thoughts sharing one page over each weekend. Each of us has the ability to make this a happy year in spirit and this calendar is a valuable guide for this goal.

As a women's health nurse and student nurse-midwife I have found this book to be invaluable. Every person who works with teenagers should read it.

Mystic, dadaist, architect, astrologist, vegetarian, couturier - Paco Rabanne is all these things. And he's also an author who recently completed The Dawn of the Golden Age: A Spiritual Design for Living, the last in a series of three books devoted to spiritual themes.

Best known as the world famous fashion designer, Rabanne has been accused of waging a permanent revolution in fashion. But the 62-year-old fashion designer is every bit as heretical in his spiritual views as in his fashion philosophy.

In various magazine interviews he has candidly talked of out-of-body experiences and his belief that in a former life he was one of the Theban priests who murdered Tutankhamen. However, Rabanne is very well schooled in spiritual philosophies and takes his ideas seriously.

The Dawn of the Golden Age describes the dramatic changes that will occur during the transition from the present Kali Yuga era to the future Age of Aquarius. Rabanne says we currently find ourselves in the grip of fear, which manifests as stress on society and the individual. He believes that this state calls for a radical change on the part of humankind, and he attempts to show the way this can be achieved.

Rabanne believes that the myriad of fears and insurmountable difficulties we face today have partly been brought about by the development of technology. This situation causes untold misery on a global scale - the extent and control by machines is now being realised. He also demonstrates how mind control is being achieved via video games and television.

Rabanne possesses the natural gift of being able to see auras. This allows him to perceive that man has become uncentred and turned away from the true path in life.

At the present time, according to the author, humanity sits on the Third Vibrational Level, "from which we will free ourselves little by little, to go towards another life, towards the light of the spiritual world.". But "Satan", who is equated with matter, strives to prevent us from reaching the next level, the Fourth. Everyone will have a choice as the next age dawns - evolve to the next level or stay with "Satan".

Rabanne says that we should ask ourselves questions and listen to the call of the spirit which pleads for growth. By studying sacred works like the Bible and the Quran, as well as Buddhist and other texts, we can find our path to spirituality.

Protecting oneself from negativity and enhancing spiritual development is extensively covered by the author. Chapters like 'Protecting Oneself from One's Enemies' and 'Finding One's Place in the Cosmos', indicate the sort of areas covered by Rabanne.

For example, meditation with a sacred dimension is one of the most beneficial things for development. He explains the three levels and their purpose and effect on mind and body. Protection from enemies is the third phase of the transformation.

One of the ways to defeat the "Prince of this World" is by means of prayers found in Psalms and the correct use of icons for protection. The same methods can also be used to cleanse buildings, homes, and other places where terrible events have taken place. There is a detailed section on how to ward off and neutralise negative thoughts and actions directed towards you.

The end of the book deals with the relationship between humanity and the Earth - how we can relate to it. Rabanne says that the Earth is occupied by elementals and all manner of spirit beings. Many of these will help us because they are in the service of higher beings. However, as guardians of Earth, they will use their power to cause serious destruction if threatened.

The author discusses our place in the Cosmos, the true meaning of Love and ways to demonstrate it. He describes the journey towards Divinity as being clearly defined and attainable by anyone.

The Dawn of the Golden Age includes numerous quotes from the great religious texts. All in all, this book is very comprehensive and enlightening, not only showing the way forward for humanity, but speaking to us on a personal level - pointing us in the right direction to a new level of awareness and the furtherance of our quest to find God.

This book was one of the best in the entire series, It causes you to think about who is really in control of your life. At first I thought I didn't like the series but then I couldn't put it down.

I suppose it's because parents, not the children themselves, pick the books. My daughter loves this one and asks for it again and again. True, I went through a phase of being very tired of the sing-song rhymes. However, I've also realized how many messages she's taken from the book, including her first word (turtle). It's helped give her words to describe her life, and that's a great thing for books to do.

For those who teach American politics and government, there are distressingly few good textbook choices available for national or state courses. A rare exception to the dismayingly dreary or tiresomely trendy tomes that abound is "Democracy in California: Politics and Government in the Golden State." Authors Brian P. Janiskee and Ken Masugi have combined the standard features (formal and informal institutions, demographics, historical vignettes, recent developments, political terminology, etc.) with a thoughtful historical and philosophical approach that places California within the broad scope of American experience and Western political thought.
As its title suggests, this distinctive text draws both high inspiration and practical wisdom specifically from Alexis de Tocqueville's classic study, "Democracy in America" (1835). But the book is more than high-minded or useful: it is dead-on timely too. Tocqueville observed America during the Age of Jackson, early in the pre-Civil War crisis (1830-60) which both preceded and shaped California government. Thus, California was founded at a time (1849-50) when, as Tocqueville knew, republican government was under severe attack from Southern slavemasters and European autocrats. To the extent that the influence of the American founding was not attenuated by these attacks, the new State of California was both representative and free. But having weathered those challenges, California (and the nation) have had to endure the various phases and consequences of the Prussian administrative state which was the questionable contribution of the Progressive movement in the decades since the State's admission to the Union by the Compromise of 1850.
California has been shaped for good or for ill by these competing forces and is necessarily presented in this work as a sort of hodge podge in which multiple offices, frequent elections and political cronyism (the Jacksonian contribution) overlap with direct democracy, anti-partyism and professional expertise (the Progressive contribution). The battle over slavery shaped the State's original identity as a free state in the midst of a bitter sectional dispute but also long tainted its politics with racism. California defied the odds against republican government but the rise of the administrative state and its seemingly boundless taxing and spending--and bureaucratic meddling--puts the future of that regime in serious question. Not everything could be included in this relatively short (160 pages) work but no salient fact is overlooked as it bears upon the future of democracy in the Golden State.
The authors are discerning students of political philsophy, best exemplified today by Harry V. Jaffa, who single-handedly rescued Abraham Lincoln and principled anti-slavery politics from the near-oblivion of the professional historians. Janiskee and Masugi in turn seek to rescue California politics (but not many of its leading politicians)from the academic dead end to which years of pseudo-scientific approaches have relegated it. "Democracy in California" makes the study of California government and politics a much more serious and rewarding enterprise than it has been for many years and will be, if this book is widely adopted, for many more. Extensive footnotes and excellent bibliography. Highest recommendation.

The book examines aspects of Hinduism, Buddhism and Sikhism, their inter-relation and how it relates to western culture.

Author traces origin and development of these religions and their arrival in west. She also explains impact of imigration from Asian countries who came with their culture and religious beliefs and how westerners got to see these culture closely.

A good book with a range of topics covered remarkably in 144 pages.