

A Delightful Addition to any Cook's Kitchen
An Excellent Tool for Any Kitchen
Excellent original recipes!

Great info for Fayette County
Lessons To Be Learned

Life on a 1920's Texas farm

One of the most beautiful love stories I have ever read

A Versatile Resource for Sacred Geometry!

Excellent for the pro'sI give it 4 stars because I know once I understand the complexity of the subject it will be a useful book...but its not a great teacher.
A Classic and Thorough Book - Only Somewhat Dated
combustion engine

THE BOOK for those wondering... "What is Scientology?"Highly recommended to those who found 'Dianetics' and other Hubbard 'materials' muddled and incoherent, this book puts them into perspective and leaves the reader with a true sense of comprehension. Re-reading 'Dianetics' and other 'Scientology literature' after 'Blue Sky' proves an interesting experience.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
Well researched and written, an essential for cult critics
Excellent book on cults & brainwashing inside ScientologyHe is an excellent author who is able to clearly set forth his experiences within the Church of Scientology and the experiences of other ex-members and critics of scientology.
I think that most of the reviews of this book can be summed up well to fall into 2 catagories.
The first catagory is the group of people who are interested in finding out the truth, or at least a book that can point them in that direction (The Bibliography in this book is immense, and people who claim that the book is full of lies either are severly misguided or do not understand how to do research for themselves using a bibliography.)
The second catagory I believe would fall under a quote that I thought was one of the best quotes I have read in a long that was in the book:
"As soon as one's convictions become unshakeable, evidence ceases to be relevant - except as a means to convert the unbelievers. Factual inaccuracies... are excusable in the light of the Higher Truth." -P.H. Hoebens
If you are looking for facts about the religion around the Church of Scientology, and their leader, L. Ron Hubbard, then this book is for you. If you are looking to learn how to practice Scientology, or want to be lead into the cult of Scientology, I recommend you read something else, like "What is Scientology" by L. Ron Hubbard, although once you read this book and understand the motivations and thought proccess that went through LRH's head while writing, you may quickly discover the "real" truth about Scientology.


repression
17th Century ModernThe plot takes place inside the closed world of the French elite, during the reign of Henry II. Although the novel starts out famously slow, once you get past that tedious interval the story gets much more interesting. We are introduced to the true powerbrokers of France, men and women absolutely possessed with the thirst for power. Those with some education of the French Revolution should find this section of the novel very enlightening, as it highlights their absolute isolation and ignorance of the body politik itself. Instead, the pampered court spends their time stabbing each other in the back and doing everything possible to get close to the king. To do this, they employ everything in the arsenal, including arranged marriages, family ties, and a lot of sex. If one wants a fictional but definitely reality based account of Machiavellian politics in the Renaissance, this is a great book to read.
Then of course, we come to the actual love story. In the beginning, the love between our Princesse and her suitor seems to be a familiar romance, one which numerous writers have regaled us with. A dashing young prince falls in love with a beautiful fair maden. However, this book quickly pulls away from such monotonous convention, and, in glorious French style, takes the reader on a descent into true human nature. That is the kind that harbors jealously and intrigue. The love story quickly becomes a fierce and tumultuous event, with the actual lovers stuck in the middle. A very progressive love story.
This book is definitely a classic, as it really represents a big development in the genesis of the novel. However, it does get very tedious at times, and often drifts into meaningless window dressing. Nevertheless, The Princesse de Cleves is on the whole a very engaging and complex love story that should satisfy any modern reader interested in the multitude of topics it covers.
A Landmark WorkBut is a classic in Mark Twain's sense of the word, the sort of book everyone wants to have read but nobody actually wants to read?
I agree with another reviewer that this isn't beach blanket fare. Readers of early English literature will find it more palatable than Samuel Richardson's "Pamela" and better plotted than anything by Defoe. Although Mme. de Lafayette is not the first important female writer in French - Christine de Pizan comes to mind - this highly original work outdoes Aphra Behn, Fanny Burney, or any other English woman before Jane Austen.
If those comparisons bring a sparkle to your eye then prepare for a treat. The central figure is a sixteen-year-old girl fresh from a sheltered childhood in the countryside when her mother decides to deal for a prestigious son-in-law. Except for the fictional protagonist every figure in this late Renaissance setting is historically accurate. The jousts, the love affairs, the betrayals, and the shocking death of one pivotal figure all happened. De Lafayette presents the French royal court at its most glamorous, then peels away the facade to reveal ambitions that corrupt or destroy everyone who remains in their spell.
Women's fictions from this era were expected to be love stories. This one succeeds at that well enough to woo modern readers while it levels a scathing attack on the French aristocracy in the tradition of Moliere.


Trippy, but scary?It's hard not to give away the plot, because the plot is only revealed in the end. It's basically a few huge extremely strange events in one book.
Even though the imagery is very good for this short, Hubbard's language is a little terse and antiquated to make it a quick read. Though overall pretty interesting, I would not recommend this, as I wouldn't know what to classify it as.
Review of Audio Book version2) Very interesting and gripping story. Something of a supernatural flavor with demons and spirits...or so it implies. The story leaves you guessing until the end what is actually going on. The story is definitely one of the spookiest stories I've read (heard) in a long time.
3) By chance my local library has 75% of their sci-fi/fantasy audio books all from this author. I've never been a L. Ron Hubbard fan but the more I hear his books the more I'm enjoying his fictional writings. This was more supernatural than sci-fi but in all the author's pieces so far the characters are interesting and engaging.
Hubbard's best work

Totally mind-boggling!
Excellent, if unpolished insider's look at a modern cult
L.Ron Hubbard, Almost my Hero