Memoirs from Normandy: Childhood, War and Life's Adventures

Book Description

New Book Offers Humor and Pathos
A Boy Grows To Manhood in France-1928 to the Present

The author intended his memoirs just for friends and family, but their appeal is much wider. Explore history and culture, taste the personal meaning that forges human values.

Armand writes candidly of family ties, love of country, friendship, service to others and lasting achievements. He learns and grows, and develops an engaging and humorous story-telling style.

These memoirs move from mischievous childhood through wartime adolescence and the multitude of ways in which Armand played, learned, survived, worked, traveled and helped others. He gifted countless exchange students with Normandy's rich history, and shared the Norman's deep feelings for Americans. From Caen to its Omaha Beach American Military Cemetery, to the French Antilles, to Italy, and to the USA and back, Armand's memoirs are moving, while they entertain, educate, and inspire.

The author was born in Caen in 1928, and dishes up generous helpings of nostalgia for a France of yesteryear. After his father's death in 1942, he shared important decisions with his Mother. For a fifteen-year-old, the most important was the wrenching decision to flee their home after the Allies landed. With his little sister, they were greeted with open arms at the chateau of their friends, the Le Roy Laduries. The offer had been made in advance by Armand's friend, Francois, when the two boys were discussing the imminent and fervently-hoped-for landing. Refugee life included chateaux communes shared with German soldiers, gut-wrenching bombings that shook the solid chateau walls, and the deaths of beloved friends. Seventy-five per cent of the nearby city of Caen was destroyed--but rebuilt, as were their lives, after "those unforgettable days from the Landing to the Liberation."

Read on for hilarious stories following the post-war vogue of the occult in "Hypnosis, Magic and Mystery," then "The Happy Landlord," "Travels to Italy" (his most-beloved country, where he climbed EVERY volcano!), "April Fool's Jokes," "Working on the Railroad," "My Own United States of America," and three short stories that the author wrote in his youth.

Book Description

The goal of an "integral psychology" is to honor and embrace every legitimate aspect of human consciousness under one roof. This book presents one of the first truly integrative models of consciousness, psychology, and therapy. Drawing on hundreds of sources—Eastern and Western, ancient and modern—Wilber creates a psychological model that includes waves of development, streams of development, states of consciousness, and the self, and follows the course of each from subconscious to self-conscious to superconscious. Included in the book are charts correlating over a hundred psychological and spiritual schools from around the world, including Kabbalah, Vedanta, Plotinus, Teresa of Ávila, Aurobindo, Theosophy, and modern theorists such as Jean Piaget, Erik Erikson, Jane Loevinger, Lawrence Kohlberg, Carol Gilligan, Erich Neumann, and Jean Gebser. Integral Psychology is Wilber's most ambitious psychological system to date and is already being called a landmark study in human development.

Customer Reviews:

Pure Speculation.......2006-10-30

In the early chapters Wilbur makes the claim that modernism shifted the focus from ontology to epistemology. Unfortunately for him and his gullible readers, Wilbur gives no thought to epistemology or verification. Truth to him seems to be based on appeal to authority. He offers no arguments in this book, only assertions or quotes from others making unjustified assertions. Time and again he presents a false dilemma between total reduction of the mind/soul/spirit to physical matter and his robust mystic metaphysics. This is a FALSE dilemma, especially considering the identity theory hasn't been taken seriously in philosophy in over 30 years! Ken needs to quit trying to show how smart he is and spend some time catching up with the last 30 years of research in philosophy of mind and cognitive science. Very few philosopher or cognitive psychologists would take this book seriously because it is offering an integral alternative to ideas that are outmoded already, yet it doesn't recognize at all why those ideas are no longer talked about. Bottom line: Pure assertion/speculation and no argument. How do I verify that? He doesn't cite a single academic journal or present any justification for any of the premises he uses in his already spurious arguments (if you can even call them arguments). This is a great example of someone trying to do philosophy who has no formal training in philosophy. Sure its possible, but Wilbur is a good example for why philosophical training is useful. Perhaps if he had some he would understand why an appeal to an unqualified authority is fallacious.

One of Ken Wilber's more advanced and scholarly books.......2006-06-14

This book will not necessarily make good bed timing reading from the standpoint of being "light." Between the covers, it presents a deep exploration of the shortcomings of modern reductionistic ways of looking at the psyche and in its place posits and optimistic, embracing and holistic view that revives the original meaning of the term psyche in most broad sense i.e. mind or soul.

In Chapter One Ken Wilber points out that the great problem of psychology has always been that different schools of thought have taken one or a few aspects of psychology and declared it the only worthwhile aspect(s) worth studying. In his model, the goal is to honor and embrace every legitimate aspect of human consciousness.

Ken also looks at reality as a hierarchy (holoarchy) made of wholes that are also parts. He calls these holons and each one has four dimensions; 1) subjective; 2) objective 3) collective objective (objective systems); and 4) intersubjective (worldviews and cultures). He further argues that each dimension is not reducible to any other, which means that the subjective and intersubjective are legitimate areas of inquiry with their own unique validation criteria.

Ken Wilber's model also embraces a synthesis of over 200 worldviews and he includes mystical experience and other ways of knowing as legitimate epistemologies. He goes on to explain that the subjective nature of reality is "real," but that the scientific method is not the correct mode of inquiry for this exploring this domain. However, he says that its existence is both undeniable and has been explored for thousands of years by highly developed people of all faiths. In other words, we can have real knowledge of this area.

His model honors the full spectrum of human experience including the body, emotions, mind, soul and spirit. These are presented as different developmental levels which exist within each quadrant that make up an entire holon.

Another important part of Wilber's model is the notion of evolution. According to him, we are evolving personally and collectively toward higher states of being that include subtle and non-dual states.

Ken opens the book with a definition of psychology which very nicely summarizes the scope of this work: "Psychology is the study of human consciousness and its manifestations in behavior. The functions of consciousness include perceiving, desiring, willing, and acting. The structures of consciousness, some facets which can be unconscious, include body, mind, soul, and spirit. The states of consciousness include normal (e.g. waking, dreaming, sleeping) and altered (e.g. nonordinary, meditative). The modes of consciousness include aesthetic, moral and scientific."

According to Wilber, "the development of consciousness spans an entire spectrum from prepersonal to personal to transpersonal, subconscious to self-conscious to superconscious, id to ego to Spirit. The relational aspects of consciousness refer to its mutual interaction with the objective, exterior world and the sociocultural world of shared values and perceptions." I think this describes his notion of development well, but this is even further developed in his book the Atman project.

This book really represents a well-research and holistic model of the psyche including its intersubjective aspects. This is often a piece that is left out as though we are isolated monads wondering through the world.

While this text is valuable, fascinating and thorough, it is not the easiest read for people with a weak background in philosophy or psychology. If this applies to you, you may want to read his book "A Brief History of Everything" first. This presents his major ideas in a more "user friendly" format.

"The will to a system lacks integrity." - F. Nietzsche.......2006-01-15

I would think that a person such as myself would be an ideal audience for Mr. Wilber's ruminations on mind and spirit. Like the Pandit, I have a broad interest in interdisciplinary approaches to the psyche and the spirit. We share a taste for Eastern and Western philosophy, psychology, and the emerging discourses of self-organization and systems analysis. Yet for the life of me I cannot understand what this book is supposed to add to our understanding.

Wilber is extremely erudite and a strong thinker, I will grant him that. His book draws broadly from the marketplace of ideas and would seem cosmopolitan in a manner of speaking. Yet despite the variety of ideas he examines, this book remains narrowly confined by the basic self-absorption of its project.

What we have here is a work that articulates Wilber's framework for understanding and integrating a wide variety of approaches and techniques under an overarching interpretive system. All of the thoughts and thinkers he considers are neatly arrayed in their respective quadrants on his gigantic graphs. So? What does this get us, other than the intellectual autobiography of one well-read meditator? Is his thinking that it will not occur to researchers that there are other fields of study than their own, without such a framework?

Most of what he says is fairly obvious to anyone who looks at the material he digests for us like a mother bird. There will be readers, of course, who have no desire to come to terms in a meaningful way with the source material, and for them, Wilber will save a lot of reading.

In the final analysis, Wilber is a systematizer, which explains the strangely plastic and lifeless quality of his prose, for systems are strikingly inert. As Hugh Kenner observed, a system can only mechanically unfold, or decay, like the orbit of a satellite.

Ultimate Paradigm - Four Quads, Multiple Streams & Waves.......2005-09-09

This book is one of my favorite books. I say that because it represents a higher paradigm, actually the ultimate paradigm, which means it's continually subject to even higher paradigms. Behind all teachings, concepts, ideology, religion and science is psychology. Even though there are methods of psychology restricted to particular schools of thoughts, psychology itself exists behind that. And integral psychology is the higher of paradigms. Another wards, every book read, every concept, teaching, every system, no matter how accurate, significant, reliable, and proven empirically and so forth, when taken alone as the "one truth," amounts to reductionism. In most cases, empirical observation is known as flatland, as the observable facts are without the "forgotten truth" (Huston) and subjective reality which cannot be "proven" in objective terms.

Wilber is very detailed and the pages of footnotes confirms this, each point painstakingly laid out, many times repeatedly with emphasis on another particular angle. I've read the "Atman Project," "Theory of Everything," "Eye of The Spirit," and it's recommended to also read, "Sex Ecology and Spirituality" (you should see all the footnotes in that book!), "Spectrums of Consciousness," .....Eden," "History of Everything," "A Sociable God," "Sense and Soul," there's some more too, every book is connected to the Integral psychology. This book is really an eye opener and I highly recommend it. When to comes to the transformation and development of consciousness, Wilber's is an expert on the subject, devouring all other authors on this subject, either complimenting or criticizing it in one of his publications. I used to think I perceive all of my paradigms from a larger liberal paradigm and yet now I question such simplicity. And yet can I call this book that? After all, it will not take in one model as "all," but transcend it into another.

Pardon this over simplification, especially when it comes to Wilber - It's the four quadrants that I think can be weighed against every teaching. For instance I love Fijof Capra's "Tao of Physics," and it is an awesome analysis of the web of relational links found in physics and the Eastern counterparts. And yet, the book itself is monological, another wards it's an important work but only from the Upper Right Quadrant or objective lens. And so this needs to be taken in account with the other quadrants, the individual subjective, the collective subjective molds of thoughts we think through and the collective objective systems we perceive reality through as well. So every book, whether it's Freud's awesome repression psychoanalysis, which is limited to the Upper Left Quad or individual subjective, or Jung's archetypes which is limited to mostly the Lower Left Quad or collective subjective, or Marx's manifesto, which is limited to the Lower Right Quad or collective objective social system, or David Bohm's Implicate Order, which is limited to the Upper Right , which is the Individual Objective, all these are greatly significant, yet taken alone as dominant act in reductionism. His four quadrant approach is just fantastic in relations to evaluating fairly what ever it is you are reading. I was reading the Tao of Physics and it relates so well the outline of the web of relational links in quantum and eastern thoughts and yet it only falls within the upper right quadrants. I was reading Marx - lower right, Freud - upper left and so on. No matter how wonderful the theory in psychology, in political science, in neurology or biology, in cultural linguistics - they all fall within one or maybe two of the quadrants, all pieces, but never the whole and that is the point here. None can claim absolute, as this is reductionism, while each part is a whole makes up a larger whole/part which is part of a whole/part and so forth.

Now there are streams and levels within each quadrant and Wilber can get exhaustive here if he wants to - most of the footnotes are as significant as the chapter they are noted in and he loves going on footnote tangents, worthy of every morsel.

I'm impressed in the way Wilber defines much of the grown of consciousness in Sheldrake's theory of morphic fields or collective forces, waves and streams and various levels, which can be advanced more rapidly through altered states and yet cannot be omitted or overridden but most be personally developed and experienced in all.

The chapters on premoderism to modernism, but of more significance to myself, the chapter on modernism to postmodernism was the best I've had explained. using the deconstructuralism and both the validity and reductionist aspects - truly enlightening! Wilber is a special writer and personally, I think will go down in history as significant and prolific

There are many facets to this book. One is the pre-trans fallacy, where Wilber argues against his former teaching of romanticism of returning to the pre-ego self, as here he now teaches that the later development, as in the subtle and casual realms of consciousness are areas that include and transcend the ego, a whole/part within a larger whole, as opposed to the trashing of the ego and returning to the pre-ego. It is here that Jung's archetypes represent the subtle and if a collective consciousness relating to before the ego then a pre and not a trans development.

Also argued are Stan Grof's adaptation of Rankian analysis incorporated into his analysis of the LSD experience in the return to the pre-ego and what's more argued is the ideas of returning to the birth process psychologically or having to be re-born as in a return. Instead it is a return only to re-experience in the sense of re-living or returning only to loosen the particular repression and to then move back forward to both include and transcend the ego development. You must first fully develop the ego to the strongest or highest extent before transcending it to the higher development.

I just purchased books by Jenny Wade, Michael Murphy, Jurgen Habermas, Pappa Free John, Stan Grof, and a few more in conscious development and influences on Wilber.

Beyond brilliant: A great mind brings it all together.......2005-08-23

For everyone who has a sense that much of "modern" thinking overlooks the whole area of spiritual reality, Ken Wilber is a breath of fresh air blowing over what he calls the "flatland" of rationalist thought. With grace and wit, he integrates the insights of great thinkers and traditions into a view of reality and humankind that is both refreshing and challenging. But do take the author's suggestion and read the whole book without consulting the endnotes. Once you've finished, the endnotes make another book, but one that depends upon a basic understanding of Wilber's arguments. No wonder Wilber is the most widely read philosopher of our time.

Average customer rating:

Want to be a better cook?

Nice

Great Cookbook/Magazine

Cook's Illustrated 2001 Annual (Cooks Illustrated Annuals)

Manufacturer: Cook's Illustrated
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Cooking, Food & Wine | Subjects | Books
Reference | Cooking, Food & Wine | Subjects | Books
Holidays | Special Occasions | Cooking, Food & Wine | Subjects | Books
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Cook's Illustrated 2003 Annual

Cook's Illustrated 2000 Annual (Cooks Illustrated Annuals)

Cook's Illustrated 2002 Annual (Cook's Illustrated Annuals)

Cook's Illustrated 1999 Annual (Cooks Illustrated Annuals)

Cook's Illustrated 2004 Annual (Cook's Illustrated Annuals)

ASIN: 0936184566

Customer Reviews:

Want to be a better cook?.......2003-12-25

Cook's Illustrated is a no-nonsense, incredibly detailed, well-written, well-researched, and fussy-about-quality-food magazine written for American home cooks and foodies, not gourmet cooks (although the food you'll end up cooking might qualify as gourmet) or food faddists. The annuals include all of the magazines for that year bound into hardcovers and handily indexed. Quick Tips showcase reader tips for everything under the sun and in the kitchen. Recipes may include everything from making a better pot roast to Indian food. Equipment reviews rank essential (and some not so essential) kitchen tools.

Each recipe features a description of the process the author went through to get the master recipe, usually including any interesting food science tidbits along the way (for instance, how heat, in the instance of cooked food, may affect the protein molecules, etc.), which makes for some fascinating reading; it's not unheard of for me to read that part of the recipe out loud to admiring dinner guests at their request.

"My" chicken and dumplings have been pronounced "the best ever", "my" pork roasts have been called "to die for", and "my" roast turkey is looked forward to by anyone who has ever come to my table during the holidays.

I have collected each annual, eagerly looking forward to each one even if I've received the magazine on subscription, and each one makes me a better cook -- if you want to become known as a fabulous home cook, these annuals will put you ahead of the pack!

Nice.......2003-05-06

I have about 3 different cooks illustrated cook books, only this one has a year attached to it "2001" But I have become a better cook by having them. I am leary of buying more as many reviews I've read say repitition is inevibable. I wish I knew of one of their books that had everything in it the way fanny farmers or betty crocker does, I'd buy that in a heart beat. The receipes are delicious and I haven't made a bad meal since getting the books.

Great Cookbook/Magazine.......2003-02-04

I recently discovered Cook's Illustrated through a cookbook given to my husband and I for our wedding. It was their "Best Of.." cookbook. After trying several of their recipes with no failures, I asked for their annual magazine book for Christmas. What a find! I love reading the articles and I love the recipes. The book has all the magazines from 2001 in it, from January - December. I am currently making recipes from the Jaunary/February issue and have not been disaapointed. There is also a lot to be learned about cooking practices in this book. It's a great addition to any cook's kitchen.

Book Description

Let your children/grandchildren learn the months of the year with Dolly as she changes her many outfits to fit the month and the season. A Dolly Fashion Show! is both educational and fun to read! Written for children of all ages, A Dolly Fashion Show! reflects back on simpler times when children dressed up in their parents clothes just for the fun of it. Dolly enjoys dressing up, too! Read about Dolly in her first book, and let the words and pictures create smiles and happy thoughts. Then share those smiles and happy thoughts with others. You'll be glad you did! For more information about Dolly Books, Dolly Club and other Dolly merchandise visit Dolly's website at: www.DollyBooks.com

Customer Reviews:

Absolutely adorable!.......2006-03-07

As the formatter for this book, I have to say that I really enjoyed putting this book together! My two girls really love the book - especially my youngest, who loves pictures of any dogs.
Dolly is toooo cute with all her little outfits. She moves from month to month, changing outfits and telling the kids what she likes to do in that month.
Derrick Horres has really outdone himself with this one. Along with the book, you can join the Dolly Club (which is free!). There are calendars, book mugs, and even t-shirts of this adorable pooch. You'll be missing out if you pass this one up.

kat rend
www.rendgraphics.com

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Our Best Seasonal Quilts: From Fons and Porter's for the Love of Quilting Magazine

Manufacturer: Oxmoor House
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Crafts & Hobbies | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books
Quilts & Quilting | Crafts & Hobbies | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0848723627

Book Description

Books in Barron's profusely illustrated Water Gardens Handbooks series show amateur gardeners how to build the water garden of their dreams. Handsome designs and ambitious projects can be carried out with surprising ease by gardeners who follow the author's clear, step-by-step, photo-illustrated instructions. Details include suggestions and advice for stocking water gardens with fish and embellishing them with aquatic and waterside plants. Emphasis is placed on low-maintenance water features that offer maximum beauty with a minimum of fuss. This handbook's projects for beautifying a backyard water garden include paving and edging the pond perimeter, using different colored pebbles for decorative purposes, adding ornamental statues, constructing bridges and decks, and more. Approximately 175 full-color photos.

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Pond Features and Decorations
Philip Swindells
Manufacturer: Barrons Educational Series Inc
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000M3OW7M

Book Description

Discusses basic concepts of marriage and divorce. Offers children a creative way to sort out the stressful feelings of grief caused by change.

Customer Reviews:

Absolutely wonderful.......2005-02-19

In 2002, I seperated from my husband and my son who was 5 at the time had a hard time adjusting. I enrolled him in counseling and happened on this book. I must say it was EXTREMELY HELPFUL. My son was able to show me his feelings in pictures and I was able to make that connection that helped him cope with what was happening to our family.

I had two other children as well but they were too young at the time of the divorce to understand what was happening. Now that they are 5 also they are beginning to understand and one daughter in particular is having a hard time. I am sooo glad I refound this book. I just purchased it again for her and cant wait til we can start healing together when it arrives.

useful tool.......2001-02-14

I found this book extremely helpful in my therapy work with children whose parents are divorcing. The art therapy format was especially helpful for my nonverbal kids. The book nicely addresses many issues that may arise for children in a nonthreatening manner. Most of all, it did a good job of explaining "divorce", a very grown-up concept, in kid terms.

A helpful tool for kids........2000-04-01

As a school counselor, the workbook was helpful to me in getting kids from divorced homes to talk about their feelings. The content is simple and straightforward, but not upsetting. It focuses on acceptance and positive change. The kids loved drawing the pictures and putting their name on the book as the illustrator. It gives them something to feel proud about. The workbook could also be a helpful tool for parents who are having difficulty talking to their children about divorce.

Customer Reviews:

I'd like a copy of this book!.......2000-01-24

Hi! My name is Theresa Therese! To whoever is listening, I'd really like a copy of this book when it is available! (That'll teach me for being so arrogant as to type my own name into a search engine! ... This was the no 1 result).

Photographer buff.......1999-12-29

The book was purchased for my teenage son who is very interested in black and white photography. He loves the book. A collection of Ansel Adams work in light and shadows in one book is worth more than the price. A must read.

Master of Light Ansel Adams and His Influences

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Master of Light Ansel Adams and His Influences
Lichtenstein Therese
Manufacturer: Todtri
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Average customer rating:

MASTER OF LIGHT: Ansel Adams and His Influences
Therese Lichtenstein
Manufacturer: Todtri
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Average customer rating:

Master of Light: Ansel Adams and His Influences

Manufacturer: Todtri
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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