For those new to the works of Sheldrake, this could be the perfect buy.

Yes, it's a repackaged version of what the authorities would consider "Old School." So if you want a book with a cool title, cool cover, and probably one of the more digestible texts of Sheldrake's ideas, (and you don't have any Sheldrake on your shelf) then this would work.

As for complaints by Sheldrake fanatics, hey, at least this is getting those marvelous ideas by McKenna and Sheldrake out to newer and newer audiences!

I read this book while on jury duty. Because I ran out of reading materials, I went back over it and decided to write down some of my favorite quotes. Here is one example, by Ralph Abraham. "I find the whole idea that the world's soul is confined in a space/time continuum of four or ten dimensions extremely claustrophobic." So, you all get the idea. This was not a book to summarize, so I kept writing down quotes and buzz words. What gave me a lot of chuckles were the interspersed references to psychedelic drugs and various qualities of mushrooms, and the use of mushroom examples and so forth. I don't know much about mushrooms, but it helps date these guys, even while they are talking about ten dimensions being claustrophobic. I will say this-- they must have had some good trips.

I don't pretend to understand a lot of their references, mushrooms aside, but it is an easy book to read as long as one doesn't feel the need to follow up every lead and reference. Their approaches seem to be kind of cutting edge, but dated, if there is such a combination. I am particularly interested in Sheldrake's morphogenetic fields, which is what led me to the book. My attention span tends to be a little short, so I wanted a kind of breezy overview. Although I enjoyed the book a lot, I don't think I got much out of the morphic fields discussion. So I will look elsewhere for that.

I lent this book to my daughter, who is enthralled by it, particularly since she just took a bunch of final exams, some having to do with statistics and econometrics, so their discussions of modeling were most interesting to her.

And who wouldn't go for the idea of creativity coming out of chaos? Aren't our lives in chaos most of the time anyway? There must be a purpose for it. That's it. I get more creative after every chaotic event!! The discussions about beginnings, endings, various attractors, etc. were really fun to read. Not sure which ones came from their imaginitive minds (resulting from chaos), or their super intelligent brains, and which ones were from the mushrooms.

Oh, here's another Abraham quote I absolutely loved. "As the waves pass the rock, their shape is changed. There is a hologram of the rock within the wave that comes forward and crashes on the beach, then there's a reflected wave back."

Ok, that was cool!! All things considered, if you have some extra time (either on the beach, or on jury duty) read this book. They weaved in references from all aspects of experience-- mythology, mushrooms, science, waves, psychology, philosophy, history, etc. I love that!! I consider a book a success for me if I get one good idea from it. And I got more than that from this one, although I am not any more inclined to take psychedelics than I was prior to reading the book.

This is a gripping series of conversations between the three authors discussing various aspects of the psyche, the universe, the role of chaos theory in the dynamics of creation and the rediscovery of ancient wisdom. The authors, all three of whom stood at the cutting edge of their respective disciplines, challenge the reader about our current views of reality, morality and the nature of life. The sometimes breathtaking insights emerging from this will not fail to move the reader. The chapters on creativity, the imagination and chaos are amongst the most compelling, and deal with theories like the cosmic imagination as a higher dimensional magnet that pulls the evolutionary process to itself, the Omega Point, and imagination arising out of the womb of chaos. Other fascinating topics include indeterminism in nature, nature's organising fields as mathematical representations, and the encoding of information in crystals and in written language. The chapter "Light and Vision" is one of the most poetic, dealing as it does with physical light and the light of consciousness, the theory that one's thoughts are a measurable field emanating from the eyes, the similarities between electromagnetic and mental fields, the concept of a world soul, and morphogenetic fields as a medium of divine omniscience. Incorporeal intelligence and non-human entities are discussed - are the latter merely inhabitants of the psyche or do they have an independent existence? Scientists and inventors like Kekule, who received answers in dreams, are referenced here. The book concludes with a glossary, bibliography and biographical information about the authors. It is a stimulating text in which the power of the mythical imagination, scientific observation and innovative speculation combine to create a thought-provoking reading experience.

houston is not a typical western novel like anything else i've read. the story is kinda loose and slow and houston, the hero of this novel, is not what i've expected as a western guy. he slept too much and almost always got up a bit late, liked the luxury of checking into hotel, appreciated a nice room upstairs, eating in a restaurant and paid handsomly with generous gratuity. well, almost like a modern man driving mercedes. the story is kinda drgged on with a flow that just about dragged you along. no excitement and not a thing to get excited even in those gunfights. all the impressions i got from this novel are: he drank a lota coffee, ate a lot in the restaraunt with all kinds of food and spirits from the bar, checked into a lot of hotels, and rode his horse and led the pack horse all day long without taking breaks, folks were all talked like modern and educated people and always shaked hands meeting or walked away. there is nothing special about this book that really worth a dime to praise about. don't even know how come it could be compared with lonesome dove except the wordy narration. this writer is about 3 notches lower than what louis la'mour could and would have deliverd. lots of repeated eating scenes, hotel check-ins scenes, lota livery talks. what else got here? nada, man, purely nada.

MY NAME IS DOUG BOWMAN JR., THE SON OF THE LATE DOUG BOWMAN. MY DAD PASSED AWAY IN SEPTEMBER, 2000. I WANT TO THANK ALL THE READERS AND ADMIRERS OF ALL OF HIS BOOKS AS HE HAS PUT MANY LONG HOURS WRITING THESE FOR YOUR ENJOYMENT. I LOVE MY DAD AND I SURE MISS HIM. THANKS AGAIN FOR YOUR CONTINUED SUPPORT. SINCERLY, DOUG BOWMAN JR.

Just like Camp set out to do the remarkable feat of tracking down outlaws in West Texas.Doug achieves the same with this action packed novel filled with real life charactors.Again "A job well done".

I have always been fascinated throughout the years by Ms. Houston's voice, but somehow, she was surpassed and her daughter has attatined all the success. I was delighted when I saw the book on the shelf and could not put the book down. I think the book was well written and she tackled her subjects with taste and dignity. Despite her lack of success, I respect how she humbled herself to shower praises on other artists, including Aretha Franklin, who she accompanied on numerous of her classic recordings. This book also shows the struggles that she endured as a struggling performer raising a family. I admire the fact that she did not neglect her parental duties and molded her children to exhibit class and respect (which Whitney is now losing I must add), which I can respect and appreciate. I wish her all continued success. I recommend the purchase.

Cissy Houston is a wonderful singer. Anyone who listened to her sing in the 70s still has to wonder why she didn't end up a superstar. The book presents a a wonderful but I suspect sugar coated verison of her fascinating life.

When first heard Cissy Houston sing on one of her 70's solo albums I wondered why this woman is not a household name and espeacially after I found out about her being lead singer of the Sweet Inspirations,this is a book about a woman who never received her just do for someone with such a captivating voice!whether behind the scenes are in front CISSY HOUSTON IS A SWEET INSPIRATION!

This book is an adventure of the imagination. Houston gives us a design for using the imagination as a tool for personal growth. The book is a workshop for personal development. Houston provides the reader with exercises to develop four realms--sensory, psychological, mythic, and spiritual. This is not a book of concepts and theories but of practical exercises for becoming more of who you are meant to be.

Since the page for this book already contains a description of its topics, I'll skip straight to my opinions. I came away from this book feeling inspired to open up to the world around me...and inside me. Many of the techniques in this book are not wholly original so some readers may be disappointed, but the combination of topics and presentation are very effective and powerful. Nevertheless, this is one of those books which cannot be fully realized without doing the exercises. As a result, how much one gets out of it varies according to how much one puts into it. Don't let that scare you though, because the exercises are not difficult and are enjoyable. I wish the book went a little further, though. There were places where the lack of depth left me wishing for more. That issue aside, reading this book is just the right thing to do if you want to wake up to the world around you, gain some self-realization and, most of all, become a little more passionate to the everyday possibilities available as a human being.

Jean Houston can rightly be called the mother of the human potential movement. She has been everywhere every one else has gone, only she was there first. Sadly, her books have not always served her well, she is too complex and always on the move. Her life is a virtual roadmap of personal transformation and the search for our deepest selves. In this small but potent book she does manage the near impossible and distills a lifetime's worth of teaching into an accessible introductory work. While a book is no substitute for actually studying with this master teacher, A Passion for the Possible serves as an inspiring glimpse into the mind and work of Jean Houston.

Now that I am finished with this novel and have moved on to my next read, I am having a hard time remembering much about David Lindsey's "An Absence of Light". Being a big fan of concise writing styles, such as Michael Crichton and Greg Iles, I found Lindsey's overly descriptive style distracting, particularly since the prose was often irrelevant to the action. If you are a fan of very wordy authors, I would direct you to someone like a Pat Conroy (of Prince of Tides fame), who despite being extremely descriptive and downright wordy, does it extremely well.

I wouldn't describe it as a bad book or a horrible read, just an extremely ambivalent one.

I enbjoyed this book and felt it stimulating! I was very moved by the authors work! It rates up there as agood one....almost as good as "Going Too Far", by that great up and coming author Steven Gardner

Reading this book reminds me of my childhood dreams in Ireland.

This book is so poorly written I stopped reading it after the first 80 pages or so. Some background information provided at the beginning is interesting, but the book failed to hold my interest--a remarkable feat, given how fascinating a man Sam Houston is. A much better biography is Sword of San Jacinto, by Marshall de Bruhl.

I'm not sure if the first reviewer read the same book that I did. As a doctoral student in history, I have read many history books and must defend Williams's book as SUPERBLY written and carefully researched; Williams obviously wrote this book for a larger audience. Such an excellent combination of readability and academic rigor is the envy of every serious historian.

I highly recommend this biography for the causal reader and the serious scholar, which certainly ranks among the best bios of Sam Houston to date.

I'm not sure if the first reviewer read the same book that I did. As a doctoral student in history, I have read many history books and must say this was a SUPERBLY written and researched account. Williams's prose is highly accessible to the average reader, while meeting the rigors of serious academic work. An excellent book for the casual reader and scholar alike.

For lovers of great photography, one of the real gaps for a long time has been a monograph on this master of Euorpean street photography, whose images of Paris in the 30's in particular are among the greatest of their kind. Since the unfortuante deletion of the magnificent mid-80's reissue of PARIS BY NIGHT there has literally been nothing available except an over-priced paperback from Germany (I beleive) that has made its way to US museum bookshops and the like. What great news it was that Abrams, who are one of the best houses for this sort of thing, was publishing a major catalogue to accompany the travelling exhibit now at the National Gallery in Washington. The book was delayed several times earlier this year (no doubt to the chagrin of the museums the exhibit has already passed through) and has finally arrived in time for Christmas.

It is sad indeed to report that the book is a total disappointment- at least so far as the images themselves are concerned:

One: The source material and printing of the picutres are truly second-rate - without richness, luster, or dimension. Many look like photocopies from magazines or other books. They are oddly glossy but flat. Compare these to the incredible matte reproductions in PARIS BY NIGHT and the contrast between what can be done with with what is here is nearly heartbreaking.

Second: What is with the recent tendency to print photographs in an oversized, right-to-the-edges format with no sense of border or space to let the composition breathe and no sense of frame lines. The bleed-over simply kills the impact of many of these photogrpahs. It's a ruinous way to present great imagery. (It afflicts Abrams' new Bill Brandt book as well but to a lesser extent because the printing of that book is so much better.)

Third: There is very little that is new here. For such a major undertaking it comes across as a routine collection of well-known images, a greatest hits, that ends up delivering little emotional punch or insight into this great artist. Compare this to Abrams' own exhaustive works like Walker Evans: The Hungry Eye and you'll see what I mean.

With so many great photographers receiving deluxe treatment in the past few years from Abrams' W. Eugene Smith book last year to Bulfinch's Lartigue mongraph, it is a real shame that someone as seminal but poorly represented in print as Brassai should receive such a well-intentioned but unsatisfactory tribute. PLEASE BRING BACK PARIS BY NIGHT!

I am surprised that this book has gotten such mixed reviews here -- it is the definitive book on the subject. The essays are full of new information and elegantly presented. The design of the book, bleeds and all, remind me of the particular way Brassai made his books (which is why we care about Brassai today). The reproductions look like the original prints! The book is smart and real.

I saw this exhibition at the National Gallery of Art and bought the book. The exhibition blew me away and so did the book! It is the best exhibition book on photography I have seen. The print quality of the photographs is superb and the text is excellent. This book is a lesson in photography, political science, and sociology.

This is a book that was clearly written out of necessity -- by a teacher of a class on Project Procurement who couldn't find an extant textbook to cover all the material, and so prepared his own. For that purpose, it is very well suited. The style is direct and clear, if somewhat ascetic. The few graphics look like they were cut and pasted directly out of MS Excel. The basics of the material are covered in the book, but coverage of anything beyond basic is spotty. It's obviously in a first edition, because it hasn't been "polished" yet with better examples, case studies, and graphics. Overall, I'd say it's a pretty good textbook for a class on Procurement Management, but the 2nd Edition will probably be much better -- I hear one is in the works for the 2003-4 timeframe.

This is a very comprehensive book on project procurement management. It is written in a text book style with good case studies, questions, and class exercises at the end of each chapter. It is an excellent reference for information on contract pricing, schedules, budget, specifications, and the bid and award process. It covers all phases of procurement management from making the decision to procure a product or service to contract close-out. It is an excellent source of practical information for any project manager who intends to contract out a portion of work. I used it as a reference to prepare a course on project procurement management and also refer to it in my work as a project manager.

This is a story of how one man can make such a difference to American culture. It tells the story of how Sam Houston fought for Texas'independence from Mexico.

He served as president of the Republic of TExas and as United States Senator and governor of the state.

He won his greatest victory in the Battle of San Jacinto.

After many battles with the American system he finally got what he wanted, the independence of Texas.

This book is an excellent way to learn much about American History and even more about Texas history. It tells about the life of Sam Houston from his teen years until he is kicked out of the Governor's mansion for refusing to go along with Texas' decision to secede from the union. He runs away to live with the Indians, is Governor of Tennessee and President of the Republic of Texas as well as a US Congressman and a veteran of the Battle of Horseshoe Bend. He is a very exciting American. I have read it outloud to elementary students many times in Oklahoma, Texas and Missouri. I believe all Texas students over the age of 10 should read this book. I bought an out-of-print copy but hope it will be reprinted. All students enjoy this book because it is so captivatingly written. Otherwise boring historical events are woven into the fascinating life of a fascinating man. It is written on about a 6th grade level. I tried other biographies of Sam Houston when this one was out of print but none is as excitingly written as this one. I was so glad to find it on Amazon.

This book is for those interested in an esoteric interruptaiton of Egyptian mythology. The first section of the book includes a varitety of myths which has have been re-interrupted, while the remaing part of the book are lessons for personal transformation. There is a lot of information contained in the book, but the exercises at the end of each section did not interest me that much.

I know alot of the myth in the book isn't proven to be true as of now, with all my reading. But it is a very nice story. It is just kind of all over the place, and seperated with exersizes, like a school book or something. I thought the myth was wonderful, it gave such detail and all of Osirus and Isis, and the other Gods and Goddess involved. The book includes some information about Horus, Seth, Nephthys, Ra, Geb, and some others. It's a pretty nice book. I dont care for the exersizes, I just wanted to read and learn more about the myth, some of it in here is exagerated, but other than that it's nice.

Jean Houston succeeds in bringing a very ancient mythological story all the way to the present time. She really lives what she teaches, and she guides us to do so as well. Our lives can benefit a lot from the richness of ancient wisdom!