When I read this book sometime back, I was reading it just to read.As I got into the book I found it hard to put down. I cried, I got angry,I hated HATE. I lost two brothers in this mess! Whose loss is greater. Are we not all equal? What these people went through just to survive was dispicable. We take advantage of life! I fell in love with Haing Ngor, I wish I could have met him and hugged his neck. Not in a sexual way, but as a loving sister. This was the most precious kind of man. He gave of himself in a way we should all be doing.What he went through we could only imagine. To watch babies be ripped out of the wombs of women and to go from rich to poor, to watch your world crumble before your eyes and still have love for your fellow man. I have a respect for all life, we all need to open our eyes and look around. Life is a blessing and we should count ours. I love my country,and our people, but that doesn't mean I can't love others to. Haing S. Ngor was a great man who gave for all countries, and all men. He had a heart of gold. May God forgive us all for the Hate we hold.

This book was my first exposure to what had happened in Cambodia. I saw a man go through a typical childhood for his class abnd become a doctor and meet the woman of his dreams. His life was perfect. Then on April 17,1975 it all came crashing down. He and the rest of his family were plunged into some of the worst conditions to ever exist in history. He survived almost his whole family. Then, he had the courage to show the whole world what had happened to his people. Sadly, this man was killed in a "random" murder in his home in LA. We promised the survivors of the Holocaust that we'd never let it happen again, but we did in Cambodia. Read this book and see why again we must try and keep it from happening ever again.

This is an outstanding portrait of a man who survived the barbaric reign of terror of the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia. Anyone who has seen the movie "The Killing Fields" has a cursory understanding of the Khmer Rouge and their attempt to transform Cambodian society during their control of the country from 1975 to 1979. However, this film omitted most of the astounding atrocities committed by the Khmer Rouge as anyone who has visited Tuol Sleng S-21 in Phnom Penh (as I have) can tell you. In this book Dr. Ngor relates his horrifying experiences of life under the Khmer Rouge in detail and in the process educates the reader as to just how horrible an existence it really was.

This book is remarkable because of the detail related by Dr. Ngor and the personal nature of its content. Many Cambodians to this day will not talk about his period in their lives. For many, the mental and physical abuse they suffered during this period was too painful to re-live ever again. As I read this book, I could not help but wonder how Dr. Ngor was able to keep himself together.

Dr. Ngor effectively puts the period of Khmer Rouge rule in historical context by explaining the historical events and forces which led to their capture of the country. These events and forces included the People's Republic of China, North Vietnam, the Vietnam War, the United States, and of course, the C.I.A.

I admire Dr. Ngor for his extraordinary courage, and I regret that I did not have the opportunity to meet him during his lifetime. May he rest in peace.

I recommend it to everyone I know. The dishes are easy to prepare, and taste simply amazing! I just love the whole concept of this cookbook!!

I went to a bridal shower (the bride was vegetarian) where my cousin made some recipes from this cookbook, and they were wonderful. I asked her for the recipes, and she told me the name of this book. I am so pleased with the book, I have given it to several friends as a gift

This is a very good cookbook not only for amateurs but for profesionals as well.I recomend it to everybody loves pasta and to all who collect cookbooks

This is the typical novel that when in schooldays, the Teacher order the pupils to read it. And obviously, you do (or you pretend that you do) without paying very much attention on what you read. Sometimes this novel do not appear in the Compulsory Lecture Program, and you escape from it. This is what happened to me...
Later, a friend of yours (in my case it was my partner) recommends you to go over it again, and you discover a Gem.
There are very little things than can be said about the plot, the characters, the language... because I risk to spoil the whole experience of reading it. But I would not avoid saying that Unamuno was one of the most clever writers that ever existed in my country (everyone has heard of him here), and that in "Mist", mostly all things that worries the Human being, such as love, relationships between men and women, marriage, the Meaning of life, the aim of Literature itself... is within its pages, and that is exposed in a very surprising and entertaining way.
As every Masterpiece, it admits many different lectures and points of view, and it might be a very good piece of literature to be discussed in one of those Book Clubs that are so popular in the States.
Trust me: Read it and you won't be disappointed.

This is one of my favorite books of all time. It's about everything and nothing at the same time. It's a tragic love story, a philosophical quest, and a literary experiment all in one. An existential novel about how to write an existential novel! Unamuno's writing is both very funny and deeply insightful, and at the end, he has you questioning whether or not you yourself are alive. A mind-bending work, and one I have read again and again.

" Ni los recuerdos ni los suenos son tan efimeros como la NIEBLA"

This book deals with human emotions, thoughts and fears in a deep, meaningful and funny way. It has a little bit of everything, private conversations with God, the search for the true meaning of life, the quest to find an everlasting love, the fear of facing death, and the hardships that every single human faces during a lifetime.

I read it in Spanish, and I have to say it is one of the best written books I have read so far. Every single word is where it should be, and the story flows magnificently. Im sure that with a good translation this book won't lose its magic in English.

Although it deals with very serious topics, the story is simple, well written, funny, easy to read and with a very unexpected twist at the end...

It simply belongs to a class of its own.

The famous Indian classic, Kautilya's 'Arthasastra,' a treatise which deals with the attainment of worldly ends, distinguishes between two kinds of wisdom - Straight and Crooked. To the former belong (to use Western examples) such works as 'The Imitation of Christ' by Thomas a Kempis, a work which teaches how, ideally, the virtuous should live, while overlooking the fact that often it would be extremely impractical and socially disastrous to live in such a way.

The second class of books, those which teach the art of 'Crooked Wisdom,' is exemplified in the East by Kautilya's 'Arthasastra' itself, and in the West by such works as Balthasar Gracian's 'The Art of Worldly Wisdom,' Francesco Guicciardini's 'Maxims and Reflections of a Renaissance Statesman' (Ricordi), and by the present collection of Maxims by La Rochefoucauld.

These books are both highly realistic and extremely practical, for they depict, not man as he is supposed to be, but man as he is with all his selfishness, stupidity, ambition, arrogance, malice, laziness and other imperfections, and they teach the art of how, not merely to survive, but even to thrive in the midst of our far from perfect fellow men and women. And, certainly in the case of La Rochefoucauld, this teaching is done with great precision and wit.

'Crooked Wisdom,' then, should not be understood as the product of a crooked mind, but as the clear-sighted wisdom one needs to survive in a world teeming with such minds, a world, as Tancock says, involved in a "sordid struggle of self-interests, a scramble for power, position, and influence in which the foulest motives and methods [are] decked with labels such as duty, honor, patriotism, and glory."

La Rochefoucauld seems to provoke two very different kinds of reaction. Fully paid up members of the rose-tinted spectacles club, are shocked and horrified by his portrait of man and society, and they tend to dislike both the man and his book.

The more realistically inclined, however, will savor his bite and wit and will readily acknowledge the self-evident truth of much if not all of what he says. The man was undoubtedly brilliant, not only in terms of the many profound insights he gave us - particularly those having to do with 'amour propre' or self-love - but also in terms of the skill with which he translated those insights into pithy and memorable maxims.

Tancock defines the maxim as the expression of "some thought about human motives or behavior in a form containing the maximum of clarity and TRUTH with the minimum of words arranged in the most striking and memorable order" (my caps). La Rochefoucauld's aim, in short, was simply to tell the truth, and to tell it for our benefit.

The maxim as a literary genre was cultivated in his milieu, and La Rochefoucauld's were polished to a high state of perfection, for they had to satisfy a critical and sophisticated audience. Seven years were devoted to refining them, during which the circle of his aristocratic friends and fellow habitues of Mmme de Sable's salon repeatedly offered advice and criticism.

The 'Maxims,' then, although the product of an individual sensibility, also become in a sense the product a collective effort, having emerged from a serious and civilized salon whose interests were psychological, literary, and linguistic. Anyone who feels inclined to dismiss them might keep this in mind.

I discovered La Rochefoucauld many years ago, and have always been a great admirer of his Maxims. Once read, they are never forgotten. They have a way of burrowing deeply into the mind, and the fact that they tend to recur in those moments when we are reflecting on life and mulling over our experiences seems to me a kind of proof of their veracity.

One that has always struck me as particularly significant is Maxim 22 : "Philosophy easily triumphs over past ills and ills to come, but present ills triumph over philosophy." Or, in the words of the Red Queen : "Jam yesterday, jam tomorrow, but no jam today." If such truths are not exactly cheering, this in no way detracts from their being true.

There is an enormous amount to be learned by the honest and open-minded reader from La Rochefoucauld's 'Maxims,' especially if they also have a sense of humor. But the 'Happy Days! Happy Sky!' school, whose main requirement of a writer would seem to be that he should confirm them in their beautiful illusions, would be wiser to look elsewhere for edification. La Rochefoucauld is not a writer for the faint of heart, nor for those without a sense of humor.

FERDINAND-DREYFUS, Un philanthrope d'autrefois: La Rochefoucauld-Liancourt, 1747-1827 (Paris, 1903). Translated to English. WJH (François-Alexandre-Frédéric).

Born at La Roche-Guyon, on 11 January, 1747; died at Paris, 27 March, 1827.

Opposed during the last years of the reign of Louis XV to the government of Maupeou, and the friend of all the reformers who surrounded Louis XVI, he owed to the influence of these economists the favour of the king. Having little liking for the military profession he devoted himself to scientific agriculture. During the rage for rural life which characterized the last years of the old regime, La Rochefoucauld made his estate at Liancourt an experimental station, whishing to improve both the soil and the peasantry. He introduced new methods of farming, founded the first model technical school in France (intended for the children of poor soldiers), and started two factories. Politically, he was a partisan of a democratic regime of which the king was to be the head, and throughout his life was faithful to this dream. Deputy for the nobility of Clermont in Beauvaisis at the States-General, he voted unhesitatingly for the "reunion of the three orders". it was he who in the night which followed the taking of the Bastille (14 July, 1789) roused Louis XVI, saying: "Sire, it is not a revolt, it is a revolution." He presided at the Constituent Assembly from 20 July to 3 August, 1789. On the night of 4 August he was one of the most enthusiastic in voting the abolition of titles of nobility and privileges. As grand master of the wardrobe he accompanied Louis XVI from Versailles to Paris on 5 and 6 October, 1789. As president of the committee of mendicancy, he made a supreme effort at the Constituent Assembly to organize public relief; he determined the extent and the limits of the rights of every citizen to assistance, determined the obligations of the State, and established a budget of State assistance which amounted annually to five millions and a half of francs, and which implied the national confiscation of hospital property, of ecclesiastical charitable property, and of the income from private foundations.

Liancourt is one of the most undiscerning representatives of the tendency which led the revolutionary state to destroy all collective forms of charity. Absolutely devoted to the person of Louis XVI as well as to the doctrines of the Revolution, he secured for himself in 1792 the lieutenancy of Normandy and Picardy, so as to prepare for the flight of the king as far as Rouen; but Louis XVI refused to place himself in the hands of constitutional deputies. La Rochefoucauld-Liancourt emigrated shortly after 10 August, and resided in England until 1794, afterwards in the United States (1794-7). He took advantage of his residence in that country to write eight volumes on the United States to induce Washington to interfere in favour of Lafayette, and to gather ideas upon education and agriculture which he attempted later to apply in France. After 18 Brumaire, Napoleon authorized him to return to his Liancourt estate, which was restored to him. This former duke and peer gloried in being appointed, during the first Empire (1806), general inspector of the "Ecole des arts et métiers" at Châlons, of which his Liancourt school had been a forerunner. The book "Prisons de Philadelphie" which he composed in American and published in 1796, was meant to initiate a penitentiary reform in France at the Restoration in 1814 he begged but one favour-to be appointed prison inspector. In 1819 he became inspector of one of the twenty-eight arrondissements into which France was divided for penitentiary purposes. Louis XVIII gave him back neither the blue ribbon nor the mastership of the wardrobe, and in the House of Peers he sat with the opposition.

La Rochefoucauld-Liancourt was the Franklin of the Revolution. An aristocrat by birth, a liberal in his views, in touch with all the representatives of the new commerce, he availed himself of this concurrence of circumstances to become the leader of every campaign for the people's protection and betterment; improvement of sanitary conditions in hospitals and foundling asylums, reorganization of schools according to the theories of Lancaster, whose book he had translated (Système anglais d'Instruction). He brought into use the methods of mutual instruction, and the pupils between 1816 and 1820 increased from 165,000 to 1,123,000. In 1818 he established the first savings bank and provident institution in Paris. On 19 Nov., 1821, he founded the Society of Christian Morals, over which he presided until 1825. It was at times looked upon with suspicion by the police of the Restoration. At its meetings were such men as Charles de Rémusat, Charles Coquerel, Guizot the Pedagogue, Oberlin, and Llorente, historian of the Inquisition. Broglie, Guizot, and Benjamin Constant were chairmen in turn, and Dufaure, Tocqueville, and Lamartine made there their maiden speeches. In these meetings provident institutions, rather than charitable ones, were discussed; slavery, lottery, gambling were combatted, and the matter of prison inspection was taken up. When La Rochefoucauld-Liancourt died, the Restoration would not permit the students of Châlons to carry his coffin, and the two chambers were much concerned over such extreme measures. La Rochefoucauld-Liancourt was a typical philanthropist, with all that this word implies of generous intentions and practical innovations; but also with a certain naïve pride, inherited from the philosophy of the eighteenth century, which led him to mistrust the charitable initiative of the Church, and to forget that the Church, the most perfect representative of the spirit of brotherhood, is still called in our modern society to win the victory for this spirit by putting it to practical uses, as she alone can.

These maxims, though brief, speak volumes about their author and the human condition. Francois duc do La Rouchefoucauld was cursed with a double nature which led him in his career as a courtier to, as Leonard Tanner puts it in his introduction "romantic self-dedication followed by bitter disillusion." After the fighting in Paris of 1652 he retired to a quiet life of contemplation and the society of such friends as Mme de Sevigne, who's letters give us such a vibrant window upon that age. It was during the many meetings he had with these friends that the first maxims evolved, and which he would continue to compose and perfect until he death in 1680. Nothing quite like them had ever existed before in European literature, and their precision and bleak though biting wit would shape the style of French letters for centuries to come. Essential reading for the student of the school of hard knocks.

This is the perfect book for any SEC fan. I couldn't put it down and I plan to give it as a gift to all of my friends.

Written by Sam King
Advocate Sportswriter
10/29/2002

GOOD READ: "SEC Sports Quotes," a book of quotes compiled by Chris Warner, is a good read for sports fans in general and LSU fans in particular. LSU Athletic Director Skip Bertman, often quoted in the book, might say it would also be a good book in Starkville -- if it was all pictures. Bertman, who joked about Starkville and Mississippi State in his years as a baseball coach, is quoted often in the book. A couple: "Starkville is an Indian word for trailer park. "In Starkville, there is only one beauty parlor and they only give estimates." Present Tigers baseball coach Smoke Laval gets in his shot. "Who's the loneliest man in Starkville? The Tooth Fairy." Actually, Bertman loves Starkville and may soon have LSU fans parking their motor homes there and being bused to games in Tiger Stadium. - Sam King, The Advocate

Written by Greg Langley
Book Editor, Baton Rouge Advocate
02/12/2003

Sports zingers Sports fans may enjoy local author Chris Warner's latest effort, a compilation of quotes from Southeastern Conference sports notables, SEC Sports Quotes (CEW Enterprises, [$$$]paperback). The book is a reminder that some of the best wits in America have been, and are, coaches and players. Take LSU athletic director Skip Bertman's observations on Starkville, Miss., the hometown of rival Mississippi State. "In Starkville there is only one beauty parlor, and they only give estimates," Bertman zings. And: "Starkville is an Indian word for trailer park." And: "NASA is moving the space program to Starkville because it has no atmosphere." Current LSU baseball coach Smoke Laval pokes a little fun at Mississippi State too: "Who's the loneliest man in Starkville? The Tooth Fairy." Of course the current master of the one-liner is South Carolina coach Lou Holtz, who said, "The man who complains about the way the ball bounces is likely the one who dropped it." He also said, "The only time you can start at the top is when you're digging a hole." But the one man most associated with football in the Southeast was Bear Bryant, former Alabama head football coach. There are plenty of gems from Bryant in this collection, but none more revealing than "Be good, or be gone." This is an enjoyable collection that will provide fodder for many an after-dinner speaker. Some of these quotes may even end up in Sunday sermons, but most of them will be repeated on Saturdays in football season. Greg Langley, The Baton Rouge Advocate, 2002

"This fieldguide is for all change champions who are learning about, seeking to, or who are in the midst of leading social or organizational change...The purpose of this fieldguide is to provide you with all of the necessary elements to implement a best practice change or leadershiip development initiative within your organization or social system. Contributors in this book are widely recognized as among the best in organizational change and leadership development. They provide invaluable lessons in succeeding during crisis or growth modes and economies...Within the forthcoming chapters, you will learn:

*Key elements of leading successful and result-driven change

*Tools, models, instruments, and strategies for leading change

*Trends and research on innovation, change and leadership

*Critical success factors and critical failure factors

*How to design, implement, and evaluate change and leadership initiatives (pp.viii-xi)".

In this context, D. Ulrich, M. Goldsmith, L. Carter, J. Bolt, and N. Smallwood (the editors) divide this invaluable book including twenty-two chapters of 'best practice' into three sections: (1). Transformational and Large Scale Change, (2). Fundamentals of Leading Change, (3). Transformational Leadership and Sustaining Results. They say, "we have different interests, clients, and approaches. We have each experienced successes and failures while hoping only for success. The failures were almost always failures to make correct assumptions about the fit between type of intervention, organizational system, and situation. It is these failures that help us learn; they make us humble and open our minds to different approaches...This fieldguide presents you with an array of choices for how to approach many complex situations. You will find many ideas that you can adapt to your own situation and needs. And, when you do lead change, lead with the same passion, humility, creativity, and commitment to stakeholders, customers, and excellence that have been exhibited by the change champions contributing to this book (from the Introduction)."

In the last chapter of the fieldguide, 'You Can't Be a Champion Unless You Keep Score,' John Sullivan focuses on importance of measuring results. He says that "If this were the Olympics, it would be obvious to all that you couldn't become a champion without measuring results. In fact, the definition of a champion is 'the one with the best results.' In the general business world the use of numbers and metrics is part of life...Within all major firms all projects, products, and business units are evaluated on the basis of numerical results. However, in direct contrast, we within HR resist using metrics, almost like developing them was the equivalent of a root canal...The Watson Wyatt Human Capital Index study demonstrated that the potential impact of people programs on a firm's overall market value could be as high as 47 percent. The road is clear and the time is right. HR must now seize this unprecedented opportunity to adopt metrics and to become the next 'corporate hero' (pp.279-283)"

Therefore, after saying "metrics are the fastest and the cheapest way to change behavior in business," he demonstrates:

I.Nine reasons to utilize metrics: (1). Meeting your goals, (2). Driving improvement, (3). Obtain funding, (4). Early warning a.k.a 'smoke detectors,' (5). Understanding critical success factors, (6). Shift to fact-based decisions, (7). Metrics change behaviors, (8). Eliminate confusion, (9). Builds coordination/cooperation.

II.Eight steps in developing metrics: (1). Select a metric for each program goal, (2). Choosing between soft and hard metrics, (3). Understanding the different categories of business impact, (4). Selecting simple but attention-getting metrics, (5). Understanding the characteristics of great measures, (6). Selecting from standard HR metrics, (7). Selecting from advanced metrics, (8). Building the business case for increased HR funding.

III.Eleven decision factors for approving HR projects: (1). A low initial investment, (2). The project has a high ROI, (3). Similar projects implemented elsewhere have a high success rate or a low risk of failure, (4). The project starts right away without a long delay, (5). There is a short payback period, (6). The project has a complete set of accurate results metrics and a method for collecting metric information, (7). No new headcount is required, (8). The project has negative consequences for failure built in, (9). The program gives us a competitive advantage over other firms, (10). The program can demonstrate that it increases worker productivity, (11). A project team is credible and has high success rate on previous projects.

Finally, Sullivan writes, "HR professionals understand that the world of business has recently lost its tolerance for decisions made without facts and for programs that don't produce measurable results...Metrics can provide you with the opportunity to be superior performer by letting you know unambiguously where you are and how far you have to go. Your future path is clear; you can't become a champion...without measuring your results (pp.297-298)."

I highly recommend this invaluable fieldguide to all change champions of the future.

This is like a conference within a book without the travel and expense - I learned from the top thought leaders in the field such as David Cooperrider - the creator of Appreciative Inquiry, Marshall Goldsmith - one of the world's top coaches and experts on behavioral change, Jerry Sternin - the founder of applied positive deviance, Louis Carter - one of the foremost experts in best practices in leadership and organization development, Kathleen Dannemiller - the creator of whole scale change, Dave Ulrich - one of the world's top 5 management educators ranked by Business Week, Lawrence Susskind - the Director of the Consensus Building Institute at MIT/Harvard, the well known futurist Ryan Matthews, the world's leading expert in succession planning Dr. William Rothwell, Dr. W. Warner Burke, the award winning teacher and consultant and many more! Any organization that does not have a copy of the fieldguide in their organization will seriously lack competitive advantage.

This book is an absolute steal for the price. It is extremely generous in the information it provides. There are 22 chapters of the best theories, practices, and examples in change/business management and leadership/organization development -- with an eye towards getting results that matter for you and your organization. This book has already helped me to make my job more valuable inside of my organization - as well as helped me to better understand how to get my ideas implemented faster - and improved my chances of getting a promotion! Thank you to the publisher and editors for providing me with a book that has far exceeded my expectations.

Since first reading this book over 14 months ago, I've found it a constant source for information and resources. It addresses the problems I encounter on a daily basis AND gives sources for products that I can use to provide better care for my loved one.

This book is a must for caregivers and professionals facing the challenges of Alzheimer's. It is the first book I've read devoted to Alzheimer's care that offers something more than reasons to institutionalize our people. Caregivers need information, options and where to access tools and resources before they can make informed decisions about their choices or their role as caregiver. As someone who spent 25 years designing rehabilitations plans for handicapped people and another 10 years facing the care of my husband, Tom, who died of this disease in our home, this is the first volume I've picked up that speaks of caregiving in positive, life-giving, do-able terms and not the drudgery that we are all led to believe consumes the process. While it offers pragmatic, workable, affordable solutions to caregivers, it never loses sight of the continued humanity and needs of our family members for love and regard in spite of their loss of cognitive skills. My experience as a caregiver was met with nothing but obsticles in my quest to keep my husband home, a journey I relate in my book, "He Used to be Somebody." I found Tom's care problems were 75% attitude and 25% tools, resources and help. This book offers both to families. I highly recommend it.

Mark Warner's book on Alzheimer's proofing your home is more than a how to book. Mr. Warner gives an in-depth description of the ways in which Alzheimer's disease affects a person's life, and the life of the extended family. By understanding the disease in depth and the changes that take place in a person physical and emotional need, there is a context to understanding why modifications and alterations are needed. He explains what to do and why to do it. His approach is that of a loving caregiver who not only wants to make the home safe and secure, but also wants to raise the quality of life. . Modifications are practical, but also designed to bring comfort. Even after over two decades of working professionally with people with memory loss, many of his suggestions caught me by surprise. I kept saying to myself, "why didn't I think of that?" He addresses all the behaviors associated with the disease, from wandering to agitation, and suggests environment solutions that could ease the situation. Not only will this bring a higher level of comfort to the person with the disease, but many of the suggestions are a benefit for anyone who wishes to have a safe and barrier free home. I recommend this book to anyone caring for someone with Alzheimer's, anyone involved in home care, and anyone who is interested in altering environments to meet specific needs of unique individuals. Like any thoughtful book, his ideas about adapting environments to the needs of people with Alzheimer's disease also stretches one's thinking about changing environments for anyone with specific needs, or who wants to think about the highest level of safety for family members.

By letting us into her thoughts as she moved from hope to resignation, Gale Warner has allowed us to witness close-up the emotional process of dying. I've read this book over and over, trying to really grasp what it must have been like to have understood, and written "We are entering a new reality" (the time when she recognized and had to fully comprehend that she was not responding, would not recover, and that death was imminent.) Whether or not you share her profound relationship with the natural world, her assertion that she has had sufficient joy and experience in her life really does ring true. I've never read anything quite like this: it is an amazing gift.

I feel it's a privilege for me to have followed Gale Warner on her journey: What was her journey? A journey we'll all have to embark on, sooner or later (hopefully, later), since we're all going to die. Gale Warner was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma at age 30 and lived 13 more months. In these months, she wrote in her journal about her thoughts, her insights, her struggle, her pain, and finally her acceptance and serenity: But it was never easy, never simple. Gale Warner saw cancer as the ultimate test of her faith (her particular, private sort of faith). She worked and struggled with her own mortality. In her own words-

"Limits. In order to boil water, you must put it in a pot. The pot sets a limit and so does cancer. When you learn you are not immortal, that you may only have a few years to embrace life, you start doing so. The photo of the Earth on my wall shows its beauty- and its limits. It would not be the same if those same colors and swirls were sloshed all over space".

"Dancing at the edge of life" is an important book, because in the end, everybody has to find their own answers or anyway, start asking their own questions. I would recommend this book to anyone and of course, not only to people with cancer. You don't have to get diagnosed with lymphoma to start thinking of the "big" questions, you don't have to wait to have cancer in order to learn how to live.

Another reason that makes this memoir important, is that Gale Warner must have been a very special, intelligent & sensitive person. She had worked as an environmental journalist & was also an accomplished poet. A person that fully embraced life was ultimately able to fully embrace the journey towards death.

Gale Warner's story is positive proof that each of us, if we make a conscious choice, can see and feel the Spirit of God in everything and everyone, in spite of, and especially during, adversity and pain. It is the little moments, Gale's descriptions of that divine CONNECTEDNESS, consistent and enduring, that touches me the most. Her tender, poetic prose allows us to glimpse the radiant, spiritual essence that is the birthright we all share. During these troubled times, the world finds itself somewhat short of role models, but with the loving gift of "Dancing at the Edge of Life," Gale remains a lasting example. In her own words, she was and is "a daughter of the four winds, a child of the moon and rain and sun ... sister of the whale, and the juniper." I suspect that she now shines brightly in the heavens; each person who reads this book will feel the warmth of her glow, and best of all, will want to share it with others.

I read The Chocolate Sundae Mystery.
I thought it was a very good book because it was easy to read. It is a "boxcar children mystery" and the ice cream disappears and all the whipping cream has gone sour in Greenfield. I think 8 to 13 ages should read it.

THE CHOCOLATE SUNDAE MYSTERY is the second best Boxcar Children book besides THE HOME RUN MYSTERY & THE MYSTERY IN THE EMPTY SAFE. I can't decide between those two. I love the excitement and suspense. I was mad when my dad said it was time to go to bed right at the climax. A+

Dear Reader,

The Chocolate Sundae Mystery is a great book! It is the best mystery book ever! My favorite character is Jessie. You will never forget this book! These mysteries are very thrilling! You will love it!

Enjoy,

Natalie