Loved it. The samplings of Moroccan life and the
>>> adventures of an educated, Western jewish woman, quite alone but tenacious in her commitment, offering love,
>>> dignity and learning while deftly wading through gritty to funny moments
> , and all the while just a sound
> bite away from a frightening outburst.
>>> Some eloquent passages are a mind's eye moving picture of a Moroccan's
>>> intriguing traditions, breathtaking views and desperate
>>> survival strategies. Even a recipe, such a deal! Men, women, teens can gain a lot from this.

I loved it. I savored it. The adventures of an educated, Western jewish woman offering love, dignity and learning while, alone, deftly wading through gritty to funny moments
, all the while just a sound bite away from a hateful tirade. Some eloquent passages create a mind's eye movie of breathtaking views, intriguing traditions, market life, and desperate survival strategies Moroccans endure. There's even a recipe, such a deal! A good read for teens, too.

This grandmother sees a Morocco that few other interlopers experience. The story is honestly related in a personal tone that makes the reader feel he/she is co-traveler with Ms. Marchick. Her experience with culture shock is classic while her survival is admirable. This is a must read for anyone who finds a good read a good companion. Don't buy one. Buy two and give your best friend a treat.

We are slowly killing ourselves. We drive too fast, eat too much, are sleep-deprived and are fried, frazzled and hassled. E multi-task til we drop. More of us commit suicide with a fork than with a gun. Laptops, desk tops, PDA's entomb us in an icy digital dungeon.

So what does this have to do with pets? Dr. Becker and Danelle Morton have crafted a brilliant story. We need the CAT scan and pills. But we also need the puppy and the kitten to heal our bodies, mend our minds and soothe our troubled souls. And make us smile again.

With rock-solid data from psychologists, immunologists and epidemiologists the authors take us by the hand and show the healing power of animals. The style is soft, comfortable and enticing. You cannot put this book away. The Bond between people, patiends and pets is real, assessble and can no longer be ignored.

But have a hankie handy. A guarantee: no one finishes the book with a dry eye. But we feel good about the tears. Like the kind we shed with a good laugh.

So, if we want to go the distance, live long enough to cash in the 403-b, read this book. It will change your life and you can bet on it.

Though outside my normal lane of fiction, this reviewer read this book because of my love for dogs and cats. My spouse has remarked that my significant other was my beloved dog Max who has to be in heaven still emitting beams of healing to me. Along with Danelle Morton, Dr. Marty Becker of TV fame and author of some of the Chicken Soup books provides an insightful look at healing miracles involving pets. Medical research has begun to correlate the healthy relationship between a dog or a cat and a human especially a person in need of healing.

THE HEALING POWER OF PETS describes how animals cure or prevent illnesses and encourage couch potatoes to get off their butt and join them in activities. The authors also provide true-life stories of pets enhancing the lives of their owners often in miraculous ways that science does not understand in spite of gathering high statistical relationships between health and owners. This well-written book is clearly for pet lovers who know inside their hearts the meaning of "harnessing the amazing ability of pets to make and keep people healthy ".

Harriet Klausner

In the Healing Power of Pets, Dr. Marty Becker and Danelle Morton remind us that good health, like living a good life, is not simply an issue of absence of disease. Good health is achieved by a balance between factors influencing body, mind and spirit. In this book, the authors explore how animals aid humans in all of these categories. Animals help the body by encouraging exercise and stimulating nerves. They help the mind by providing structure in the daily activities, giving a person someone outside themselves to think and care for, facilitating social contacts and breaking through barriers of isolation. They benefit the spirit by assisting people to achieve a meditation- like relaxation and experience living in the moment.

While this book will be a delight to most pet owners, I believe that its utility goes beyond that. Health care providers, mental health councilors and educational specialists will all find food for thought in this well researched book. One of the first things that I do when reading a non-fiction book is to flip to the back and see what information is referenced. This book has an extensive bibliography and considerable scientific material is cited. However, it is a credit to Dr. Becker's writing style that the narrative flows seamlessly from personal stories to scientific research that illustrate the same point. As a result, the information is conveyed in a way that is engaging as well as being educational.

While we derive many benefits from our association with animals, we must remember that the Human Animal Bond needs to always be a two way street of mutual benefits. Too often we fall short of our responsibilities to them, as the high numbers of animals abandoned at shelters attests. All too often, reality doesn't live up to our expectation and it is the animals who suffer because of this. So I was quite pleased that Dr. Becker included information designed to improve the human side of the Human Animal Bond, from discussing how to select the best pet for your needs to providing the needed mental and physical requirements for your pet to live a full and healthy life. In this way, Dr. Becker provides additional balance to this book.

Some of these stories will make you think. Some will make you cry. Some stories will inspire awe and wonder at the animals who have developed remarkable abilities to detect problems and assist humans. In most cases though, the animal helps humans, not because of what they do, but simply by being what they are. It is our challenge to take this gift and use it wisely.

Chicken Soup for the Pet Lover's Soul is a fantastic book for anyone who has a special place in his or her heart for animals. The book was made up of many different stories describing the special qualities that make our pets and furry friends unique. I rated this book a 5 because I found myself crying one minute and laughing the next. There are stories that will make you giggle, one in particular describes buffalo playing a game on ice. It made me realize that there are many things about animals that we don't understand- and never will. Who would have guessed that buffalo play games? The book also included stories that sent tears down my cheek. The story that stands out the most in my mind is a story about how far a mother cats goes to save her kittens. The love of the mother cat can relate to human mothers as well, they will do anything to protect their children. I believe that animals are fantastic teachers. One story in the book talks about how a gorilla helped to rescue an injured (human) boy after he fell into her area in the zoo. The author of that story explained that what is truly amazing about the gorilla is that she helped the boy without caring about recognition. She helped the boy because she wanted to, she didn't know that recognition was even a part of the act. That is exactly what us humans can learn from these animals. We need to help somebody because it's the thing to do, not because we want to be remembered as a hero.
I would recommend Chicken Soup for the Pet Lover's Soul for anyone who enjoys animals or just wants to read a book that make you warm and fuzzy inside. The stories in the book will show you exactly why pets are teachers, healers, heroes and friends. You will realize how special they really are.
Also check out Chicken Soup for the Teenage Soul for stories about teenagers that will inspire you.

After I read the first heart-warming pages, I couldn't put the book down for more than 15 minutes. This is the kind of book that makes you want to cuddle up with your pet and read the soul-tickling stories that are written over the 403 pages. Many times I found myself saying, "Wow!" or "Oh my gosh I can't believe that really happened!" But most of the time I found myself saying, "Aw, how sweet." I love how the stories are true. Once you open Chicken Soup For The Pet Lover's Soul, you won't be able to close it. You will love how just reading one 3 or 4 page story will make you remember it for the rest of your day. It teaches about how animals can be healers, heros, and teachers. I give this book 2 thumbs up, and in addition to the 2 thumbs, I give it 5stars as well.

Many stories to touch the heart--and the soul. Our pets become part of us; their unconditional love is something we treasure. When we are faced with losing them the pain and sorrow go beyond words to express!

After you read this book and smile-- and cry-- I would like to recommend two other wonderful books: one is FOR EVERY DOG AN ANGEL, an absolutely marvelous little book, that even though written for children, adults will love even more! The angel stays with pup throughout its life; "forever dog" and its "forever person" will eventually reunite; sometimes the dog will cross back over its "angel bridge" to visit in the interim. The author has had several experiences with her "forever dog", "Martha"; I have had a few with my little ones as well.

The next recommendation is for adults: THE SOUL OF YOUR PET. Stunning, solid evidence of animal afterlife; will startle the most hardened of skeptics. In addition, it is biblically-sound regarding pet afterlife.

I love this book! I found myself laughing and crying through out the book. Two of my favorite stories were, "15 Minutes of Fame" and "Bedroom Secrets of Pets Revealed". I have 2 large dogs and 1 cat and can relate to both of these stories. It's nice to know that there are so many people in the world that give the gift of life and love to their animals. If you too are an animal lover, this is the book for you. I am sure you will relate to at least one of its many well written stories.

I got the book as a Christmas gift and found myself transported to warm memories of pets, past, present and future. I found the book to be like looking in someone's emotional diary; sharing their most intimate, special moments of sharing their lives fully with a beloved pet. I bought ten copies of the book and gave it as a new millennium gift to all the pet lover's in my life and I'm prould to report that the praises, thank you's and high-fives keep coming my way. If you love your pets like family, and are tired of fiction or stories of gloom and doom, add this book to your shopping cart!

I loved this book, the stories truly captured the special bond and joy that animals bring to peope's life.I laughed,cried and will never look at my cats the same way again.For those people who ae owned by their pets we are truly blessed and this book contain stories that will remind us of this. For the many people without a four-legged friend in their life they should read this book and find out what they ar missing.

This book will change your life! What Ernest Becker has accomplished is a synthesis of the kernels of truth that lie in all psychological theories. He speaks to the reader and demonstrates, that the single overwhelming motivator of the human being is his fear of death and his subsequent denialof his impending morality. Deny your mortality, but buy this book!

All lovers of existentialism will enjoy Becker's treatment of life and death. Becker won the Pulitzer Prize for this work when it was first published in 1974. Ironically and tragically, Becker himself died of cancer that very same year. He was 50 years old. I have been unsuccessful in my efforts to find out whether or not Becker knew of his sickness when he wrote the work. He certainly writes as one who understands the darkness of human life. Becker's thesis is that human personality and behavior has its deepest roots in our denying our death (thus the title). By this he means not only our death itself, but all of the horrors associated with our mortality as human beings. Becker makes frequent reference to Otto Rank, and reiterates Rank's point that all human cultural creation is inevitably religious in nature. There is also a wonderful treatment of Freud which will be especially refreshing to all those nauseauted by modern attempts to dress up Freud's theories and make them appear more optomistic than they are, as well as a discussion of Freud's breaks with Jung and others. There is even a chapter on Kierkegaard. Becker also attempts to show that neurosis is at least in part a result of not being able to erect the 'denial of death' defense mechanisms so many do, and that those who traverse the depths of human existence cannot but go mad to some degree. He says at one point, "No wonder the road of the artist so often detous through the madhouse." Finally, Becker bashes modern psychology, which makes this book an absolute must for any deep thinker who is considering entering this field. The Denial of Death is brutally honest, scholastic, and beautiful. Best of all, Becker doesn't make the all too common mistake of attempting to provide a solution (something all lovers of Camus will appreciate). The last 10 pages alone make this book worth reading. Read it thoughtfully and you will never be quite the same

I write only because I am concerned that some of the other reviews are going to scare away those with strong religious beliefs or at least a genuine interest in life after death. No one could be more deeply steeped in the study of paranormal phenomena than myself, yet this book ranks among the most profound and wise I have ever read. Even if you have little background in psychology or philosophy, you will recognize the deep truth of what Becker has to say. If you haven't read this book, you don't understand how the world works -- it is that important.

Few crime prevention experts emphasize intuition. Instead, they talk about staying alert to crime. Sometimes crime prevention experts generate more fear than they alleviate.

Gavin deBecker, on the other hand, makes intuition and freedom from fear the focus of his philosophy. Instead of imagining the bad things that could happen, he says, live without worry of crime.

He also says to stop watching the news. It only generates needless worry and gives one a distorted view of the world. I have been teaching these same concepts for years as a black belt in karate, so it was refreshing to read them from someone else. I avoid newspapers and TV news--it only darkens our view of the world. It only makes crime seem worse. Give up news for two weeks and notice how your outlook improves.

As a teacher of women's self-defense, I've heard many stories of intuition. Some people call it the "back ground music," because it is like the music that plays in a movie before something bad happens.

As deBecker writes, act upon your survival signals (run, search your house in the middle of the night, stay away from an individual, etc.), even if you feel foolish doing so.

Shed the fears in your life, because fear clouds the survival signals. Those who live in fear of crime are already victims.

Some of the book is difficult to read, such as chapters on child abuse. But the book is still worth it. Buy copies for yourself and friends. If you spend time worrying about crime, this book could change your life.

Everyone should read this book if they care about themselves. Now that my hair has finally stopped standing on end, I can tell you I recognized my first husband, my brother-in-law, several guys I dated, and, scariest of all, I man at work who goes on lots of blind dates. My advice to women who travel has always been "when in doubt, say "get away from me," and I've done that a few times. I used to feel guilty about saying what I wanted. After reading "The Gift of Fear," I'm feeling incredibly lucky that I survived my first marriage. de Becker's book puts into words that anyone can understand that mysterious gift that we all have to recognize the "wrong" in a situation. The recent trend to sell people a belief that workplace violence is rampant is suspect. "The Gift of Fear" is a book on this topic that speaks to the issues frankly, honestly, and without pandering to our fears. I'm wondering why a man was the one who was able to explain women's intuition as a viable survival tool, and get the book published! Thank you, Mr. de Becker. Pam

Gavin de Becker offers a world of information in The Gift of Fear. While his summaries of situations involving public figures might seem distant and irrelevant to average daily life, in fact they provide plenty of insight into real-life situations that any of us might face. For instance, the escalation of letters and contact with a film star might resonate with the employer of an unstable worker (they did for me).

Disturbing situations are put before us all the time on the news, but de Becker puts them into perspective, and I applaud his emphasis, both in this book and in his recent television appearances, on the danger of domestic violence to women and children in the United States.

Much reassurance comes in the form of his tips for analyzing the behaviour of others, whether on the street, in the house, or at the office, and also his explanation of intuition -- minute details of strangeness that the subconscious can assemble and transform into an instinctive call to action.

The information de Becker provides makes for a more fear-free life; he encourages people to fear real danger, and let go of extraneous anxiety.

Dear Stranger, Dearest Friend opens with Lara, an active and healthy New Yorker, who discovers a lump in her breast at the age 39. After scheduling an appointment with her doctor, she seeks solace on the web by posting her questions and concerns on a bulletin board about breast cancer.

It is here that she meets Susan, a breast cancer survivor. Susan quickly becomes a pen pal for Lara, answering her questions, serving as an information source and sounding board as Lara struggles through a cancer diagnosis and treatment options. From this correspondence emerges a special friendship. This relationship evolves and the two women share with one another about their families, work, and life in general.

Becker's book has come from her own personal experience with breast cancer. It is clear Becker knows her stuff and has elicited help from the medical community to provide the most current information on breast cancer. At times, the story reads a bit like a public service announcement, but the message is an important one. Becker has created two very likeable characters and a format that is very easy to read.

Dear Stranger, Dearest Friend is an important read for all women and anyone who wants to learn about this disease and the power of new friendships.

In her poignant, honest and at times startling story of two women and their unlikley, burgeoning friendship, Laney Katz Becker enlightens, informs, uplfits and entertains. Her fictionalized account of two strangers who meet on line for support is funny, sensitive, heartbreaking, warming and honest. This is a book all men and women must read. For women undergoing treatment, they can read it to feel support throughout the crisis of breast cancer and feel understood and validated. For survivors this is a novel that can become a cherished friend. For the families of survivors and women in tretament, this book offers unparalelled insights into the candor and emotional and physical upheaval of women touched by cancer. For anyone of any age looking for a great book about friendship, family and loyalty, this is it.

The excellent choice of Ms. Becker to use e-mail conversations as a way to chart the growth of the friendship, makes the information accessible to everyone and offers the reader spontaneous humor and raw emotion more difficult to portray in narrative form. I applaud this amazing new author and am anxious to see more from her in the future. "Dear Stranger, Dearest Friend" is one of the best books I have read in a long. long time. I congratulate Ms. Becker on her wit, talent and strength. I am hoping to see much more of her work in the future. And I am recommending this book to everyone I know. This is a great book club choice that would prompt honest, intelligent discussion.

Laney Katz Becker has written a marvelous book!

This epistolary novel is composed of e-mails between two women in different parts of the country who *meet* on an online breast cancer message board.

At the beginning of the novel, Susan, who lives in Ohio, is in remission after being diagnosed with breast cancer three years earlier, while Lara, in a suburb of New York, has just found a lump and is in the process of having a biopsy to determine what it is and what treatment she will have. In a panic, she signs on to a cancer message board and then e-mails Susan with her many questions and fears.

The book traces the correspondence between these two very different women whose common problem allows them to find strength in and through each other. Lara's search for a definitive diagnosis is a revealing look at the frightening and startling scenarios that face women with this disease.

This is an uplifting story of friendship in the face of adversity, offering insight into the turmoil of a cancer diagnosis. The author, a breast cancer survivor herself, has written a book that every woman should read. She includes a good list of breast cancer resources at the end of the book.

I would highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to learn more about this terrible cancer and read a story of a great friendship and caring.

You will laugh, cry and be confused when you read this book. This book can teach you that what you think is good is not always good.

There is a boy named Peter Pan. He sprinkles fairy dust in Wendy and her two brothers. Then he shows them how to fly. He takes them to Neverland and shows them to the Lost Boys who live there. Wendy becomes their mother. She makes up rules, like any other mother would do. The boys have to follow these rules. Everything was fine until Captain Hook came with his crew to where the boys and Wendy were. While Wendy and the boys were at the lagoon, where they go every day after dinner, they see a girl named Tiger Lily, princess of her tribe. She was captured by Smee, one of Captain Hook's men. Then Peter saved her. A few days later Wendy and the boys were on their way to Wendy's house when they too were all captured by Captain Hook. Then Peter saves them. Then the lost boys, Wendy and her brothers go home. All except for Peter.

It is mostly about what the people in the book think is right with childhood. The kids in the book think that if you grow up it is bad, but in our case it is actually good.

Peter Pan is a violent book not really made for children under the age of 10 but people 10 and up can read it. It is violent because of the language that is spoken and the idea that killing could be fun. Also, the vocabulary is very difficult for children under 10 to understand. Even if you're older it is difficult to understand.

Overall, it is a good book but watch out for the violent ideas if you are reading it to little children.

When talking of literature, people tend to look solely at books they read today but forget what they used to read, namely the ones we read as children. It is a common misunderstanding that children's literature is to be read by children and children only, but when we come to think of it, which one of us are not children, at least in our hearts?

One of the best books any child, young or old, can read is Barrie's Peter Pan. Although written in the past century, it has something for any generation at any time. Its humorous views at the world from a child's mind left me rolling over the floor, laughing; the exciting storyline kept me busy with reading until the end; and the serious undertone made me think of whether the world wouldn't be a better place if we realised that deep down, however deep, we are in fact all children. So if YOU are a child, which you most certainly are, get yourself a copy and enjoy your ongoing childhood.

This is an utterly charming work. It has been retold myriad times, but nobody else has done it as well as the original teller, J. M. Barrie.

It's difficult to know what to say about a book like this... everybody knows the story. But I guess that unless you've read this book (not just seen a movie or read a retelling), you don't really know the character Peter Pan, and without knowing the character, you don't really know the story. So read it.

By the way, if you enjoy this, you probably would also like "Sentimental Tommy" and its sequel "Tommy and Grizel", both by Barrie. There are differences (for one thing they're not fantasy), but there are also compelling similarities. Anybody who found Peter Pan a deep and slightly bittersweet book would be sure to enjoy them.

-Stephen

Gavin De Becker's new book is a valuable and important extension of his excellent "The Gift of Fear." I teach high school psychology and had my classes read TGOF, which proved to be an eye-opening, empowering tool for teenagers. "Protecting the Gift" expands on these ideas by specifically focusing on child and teenager safety. While I agree with some minor criticisms that the new book repeats some older material, the repeated material is worth hearing again, and the new book provides the most thoughtful and specific advice I have heard on how to talk to children about self-protection. As I new parent, I am grateful for De Becker's instructions. My own parents are wonderful, but as I suspect is true of the vast majority of families, they never talked to me as a child about how to recognize, prevent, and report sexual abuse--or how to trust my intuition and say no to adults in any number of questionable circumstances. By teaching us how to engage in this dialogue, De Becker is doing the public a great service!

I almost gave this book four stars, but only because it has a few flaws, where De Becker's THE GIFT OF FEAR was not only flawless, but taught me more than any one book has ever taught me. Still, this is a powerful book. I read it without stopping for sleep, so I can assure you that it is indeed well written.

De Becker shows parents and other adults every facet of possible victimization of children and how to avoid it. When he is teaching his readers, which is always, he uses brilliant examples that we can all relate to. Take this as an example: "I would ask which is sillier: waiting a moment for the next elevator, or placing her child and herself into a soundproof sterel chamber with a stranger she is afraid of?" Succinctly, he teaches, in that one sentence, so much. How many times have all of us pushed ourselves into an elevator with someone who made us afraid?

De Becker's challenge is to empower us as parents, and empower us he does, just as he empowered us in THE GIFT OF FEAR. He instructs us all on using our intuition to make life or death decisions. I can still recall a time when my son, then just very small, and I were staying at a luxurious hotel. We went to the top-floor pool and walked right into a burglary. How I managed to get myself and my son out of there calmly and completely is a testament to De Becker's lessons on the incredible strength of a mother whose baby is threatened.

De Becker teaches us all new ways of thinking and new ways of being and new ways of protecting our children and ourselves from abuse, abduction, violence, crime.

De Becker's appendices are worthwhile, too, with listings of excellent books and important organizations.

This is a book I would recommend to anyone who loves a baby, child, or adolescent.

I read Gavin's first book, "The Gift of Fear," when it was originally published. Ever since then, I had hoped that he would write another. It must've been kismet when I had turned on "Oprah", (daytime television is not something I normally do), and there he was discussing "Protecting the Gift."This book is absolutely priceless in the information it provides. Gavin's writing style is easy to comprehend and makes for a quick read. The real life incidents cited here are often moving, but more importantly, they are examples of everyday folks who proved to be the strongest of survivors. I commend those who bravely told their stories to Mr. de Becker so that others could learn.I only wish that someone had written this book many, many decades ago, so that close friends of mine and dear family members could have protected themselves against the violence and sexual abuse that they endured for so many years. Or those around them could have noticed the tell-tale signs and intervened. But now I have a copy and when the day comes for me to be a Mother, I intend to give MY gift this important one.