The Most Beautiful Man In Existence: The Scandalous Life of Alexander Lesassier

Customer Reviews:

A most charming Rogue; or, why house calls cost Extra.......2000-01-31

What a modern occurrence: a young man works only enough to get by, seduces every lovely young thing he can, spends himself into bankruptcy, and abuses his professional position, all the while wondering with complete innocence why the world isn't beating a path to his door. But Rosner's book isn't a comedy of 20th-century errors; it's the tale of a Regency-era stud who badly needed to be disabused of his notions. Fear not. He never was. Each few pages brings some fresh misadventure, in which the good doctor thinks he's found the perfect source of free money or true love, while you, the reader, are already squirming in anticipation of disaster. Here's a taste: Lesassier's specialty is obstetrics, at which he actually was quite competent. However, there was that little problem with him seducing his patients. This book does take a certain amount of attention to read. Published for the academic community, it's page after page of small print and few illustrations. It's well worth the effort.

Fascinating tale of life as left out by Jane Austen.......1999-08-11

This is a remarkably engaging tale based on the in-depth study of an 18th century physician's voluminous diary. In this actual history that reads like a page-turning novel, Rosner brings to life an ambitious, social climbing man from his youth and his training through a career marked by multiple scandals. A reader is forced to wonder how much the world of the protagonist's sexual pecadillos and ambitious exploitative manipulations are reflected behind the scenes in today's medical world. The author has turned scrupulous historical scholarship into a fully engrossing read.

Book Description

"When you balance your seven energy centers, you reclaim your natural rights and reestablish your natural order. You begin to undo the damage that was caused by living your life backward, from the head first, forgetting the body and spirit altogether. As with everything in nature, if your life isn't supported by a grounded source of energy, it will wither and lose its vitality. As you learn about the chakras, you will discover that balancing them isn't particularly hard, especially if you think of it as a process of not just living your life, but actually loving your life." -- From the Introduction

How can we balance our time and energy when our days are so hectic? How can we find harmony in mind, body, and spirit? In True Balance, renowned intuitive and spiritual healer Sonia Choquette presents a step-by-step workbook for finding balance within our seven essential energy centers, or chakras. Drawing upon her deep personal experience and practice, she offers a wise and down-to-earth guide to achieving harmony. With supportive questionnaires, practical advice, and many specific remedies, Choquette leads us to a balanced life filled with creativity and blessings.

Customer Reviews:

true balance shows some simple ways to balance yourself.......2007-09-04

true balance shows some simple ways to balance yourself. it seems like a good introduction to the topic of energy balance. I was looking for more advanced techniques.

Concrete.......2007-05-17

This book came into my life at just the right time. It gave me concrete simple steps to help me with my spiritual journey. It also taught me about Chakras or energy centers, something I knew nothing about. It has really motivated me rediscover myself.

Easy to Follow Instructions to Get Centered.......2007-03-16

The benefits of this book are that these instructions on every chakra are easy to follow. Anyone could do them and in that, it achieve the author's goal of helping people get into balance. The explanations are clear and concise and the case stories illustrate the point well.

On the flip side, I agree with another reviewer's honest appraisal of this book. While I find it very useful for the most part in my life, I agree with two other commentators of the Pollyanna approach in this writer's tone. I've also wondered how true to life these case histories are because the theme seems to suggest that Choquette's guidance is a form of ultimate salvation towards one's dreams fully realized just like Moses was to the Israelites when he delivered out of Egypt and Pharaoh's bondage. Choquette seems to suggest that those who follow her instructions get their dreams and those who don't perish just like the heathens on the Tower of Babel.

For the most part, the resources in the back of this book with recommendatoins connected to each chakra are very valuable. But some of Sonia's selections don't seem as "safe" as others: Sai Baba (an Indian guru with controversial allegations of abuse on young followers), A Course in Miracles (written by a woman in New York City who was an agnostic Jew yet claims to channel the voice of Jesus Christ), Lynn Andrews (a plastic shaman who has been exposed for making all her books up), and The Avatar Course, Started by a former Scientology Mission holder--Harry Palmer. This recommendation to the Avatar Course is the one resource that had me step back from True Balance.

In a Petition to the office of Governor Jeb Bush of Florida by the Avatar Survivors League (now I have never done Avatar but felt that if something like this was sent to a Governor's office, it is worth mentioning for the purposes of consumer protection):

This Delaware corporation is registered as a for-profit enterprise selling a series of courses under the trademark "Avatar." The courses are described as "personal development education." In reality, Star's Edge is a quasi-religious cult with roots in Scientology.

MISREPRESENTATION OF ORIGIN, CREDENTIALS AND PURPOSE
* The founder and sole owner of Star's Edge, Harry Palmer, operated a Church of Scientology Mission in Elmira, New York for 15 years. After he was excommunicated in 1986, he soon introduced the Avatar Course.
* Palmer claimed the course resulted from revelations gained during a prolonged series of "sensory deprivation" sessions in a flotation tank. He promoted the course to former Scientologists as providing "the entire span of the Scientology bridge, the Buddhic path and beyond."
* Over the past decade, Palmer has broadly advertised himself as an educational psychologist. This unlicensed imposture as a health care professional is a felony in Florida and throughout the US. In truth, Palmer never received a degree in psychology, and has never held any credential or license as a psychologist. His college degree was in secondary education, and he was certified in New York to teach high school English.
* The basic Avatar Course consists of mental processes that induce a state of hypnotic trance. They are similar to those taught in Scientology, Raja yoga, Neuro-Linguistic Programming and Buddhist meditation, among other practices. Yet the materials are represented as "confidential," and students are required to sign a nondisclosure agreement that defines them as unpublished trade secrets.
* Avatar Course trainers engage in mental manipulation by indoctrinating vulnerable students into the belief that the Avatar "network" is key to creating an Enlightened Planetary Civilization that holds the key to solving the woes of mankind.

UNETHICAL AND ILLEGAL BUSINESS PRACTICES
* Star's Edge and its licensees recruit students for a nine-day course to become "Masters" (individual trainers) licensed to deliver the basic Avatar Course. The conditions of full licensure are not fully disclosed beforehand.
* Successful graduates receive a "provisional license." They are required to pay internship fees for an indefinite period until they become "qualified" by Star's Edge. Meanwhile, they are pressured to take successive trainer courses.
* Qualification requirements are arbitrary and unpublished. The licensing contract allows Star's Edge unilaterally to revoke any license issued, without explanation or recourse.
* Trainers are pressured to fix fees for the basic Avatar Course at the full "suggested" amount. This practice violates fair trade and competition regulations in virtually every jurisdiction worldwide where the Avatar Course is offered by independent licensees.
* The licensing scheme is a pyramidal multilevel marketing operation with the primary objective of selling successive courses for the financial benefit of Star's Edge, rather than providing a viable business opportunity for licensees. As a result, the vast majority of those who completed the Master course have since failed and given up on teaching Avatar as a business.

MEDICAL AND PSYCHOLOGICAL MALPRACTICE
* Although Palmer falsely advertises himself as a psychologist, most of his works (including those registered as published) are claimed to be confidential, and have never been subjected to peer review.
* During the top-level Wizard course (which costs $7,500) Palmer reveals to students that they are infested with multiple possessive spirits or "entities." These are similar to the implanted "body thetans" of Scientology lore.
* Palmer has stated that these entities are the true cause of fatal illnesses, including AIDS and cancer. Their influence is said to be responsible for psychotic breaks that may occur during the basic Avatar Course.
* As a result, Avatar Masters who have taken the Wizard Course sometimes spread unfounded rumors of miracle cures. Many claim that taking the Avatar Course(s) will enable students to cure themselves of various medical conditions, including bipolar disorder. This amounts to a fringe religious doctrine akin to those expounded by Scientology, Christian Science, the Jehovah's Witnesses, Voodoo and other groups that practice faith healing.
* On the Wizard Course, students finally learn that Palmer is a sort of New Age messiah. This is the culmination of a progressive indoctrination into an occult belief system. It all began with the deceptive promise that the Avatar Courses only enabled students to examine and restructure their own personal and religious beliefs.

Also in her later book Ask Your Guides, Sonia also references Dr. Emoto on the impact of thought energy on matter. Dr. Emoto's Ph.D. is also from a questionable unaccredited university and his findings were done not according to scientific protocol nor have his reports been peer-reviewed to maintain quality control. Before stating anything as gospel (even the gospel itself) do due diligence for your own good. If you see someone who is licensed you have recourse if they cause harm. Psychics are not regulated so it is "at your own peril"... and often at high fees (Sonia charges $800 USD/hour) you can never recover. My strongest criticism of Choquette despite her best intention is that she recommends homeopathy and flower essence remedies in the section on the throat (fifth) chakra. There is no evidence to this effectiveness apart from placebo and many of these products are not tested for safety in human consumption.

To Sonia's credit, her suggestions to do The Hoffman Process, The Artist's Way, Gestalt, Imago Relationship Counselling, Improv, and get massages were a tremendous benefit to myself and others who read her books. Nonetheless, most people new to chakra work will like this introduction but the Eastern original take on the kundalini is the truer to source form.

Life's better when you're balanced!.......2006-11-08

I'm a Sonia Choquette fan. Everything I've read by her I've found helpful and enlightening.

The step-by-step instructions in True Balance make this "how-to" book advice easy to implement. Whether you're just a little off kilter or way out of alignment, True Balance suggestions get you quickly back on track so that you can think clearly and function optimally. I highly recommend this book.

Judy Marcus, author, WHERE ARE MY KEYS?, Memory Training You'll Absolutely LOVE

Choquette is obviously a brilliant psychic, though she is too Pollyanna.......2006-04-30

Choquette is obviously a brilliant psychic, though she is too Pollyanna-like.
She doesn't really understand her audience. She grew up in a 6th sensory home and seemed to have had a very nurturing family life growing up.

Although I can understand the truth and worth of what she says, she will have a hard time getting through to intelligent people, who are in my opinion, the ones who need to most help getting to their hearts.

She seems to not understand how trauma and abuse impact people. If you have had something traumamic in your life Choquette's advice may actually hurt you because you may not be able to trust how you feel. Emotions and energy can be much more complicated than Choquette describes.

True Balance: a Commonsense Guide for Renewing Your Spirit

Average customer rating:

True Balance: a Commonsense Guide for Renewing Your Spirit
Sonia Choquette
Manufacturer: Three Rivers Press (CA)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000N7A2PS

Book Description

How to incorporate fish, poultry, beans, & quality protein powders into a low-fat diet.

Customer Reviews:

Very informative........2006-01-25

This is an excellent book for beginners. Each design has a pattern with guidelines and very good, easy to follow instructions. I also purchased another book by M. Chatani, Paper Magic, Pop-up, Paper Craft, and I highly recommend it too.

Good beginner book.......1999-03-04

As far as pop up card books go, this is a great starter book! It was the first one I bought, and it got me hooked. Good thing too because I have since purchased six other books, and realize that those have more difficult designs such that I might have given up on the hobby.

Christmas Alphabet Cards: Nutcracker Pop-Up Cards

Average customer rating:

Christmas Alphabet Cards: Nutcracker Pop-Up Cards

Manufacturer: Orchard Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0531360083

The Christmas Alphabet: Dove Pop-Up Cards

Average customer rating:

The Christmas Alphabet: Dove Pop-Up Cards

Manufacturer: Orchard Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0531360075

The Christmas Alphabet: Snowflake Pop-Up Cards

Average customer rating:

It's magic!

The Christmas Alphabet: Snowflake Pop-Up Cards

Manufacturer: Orchard Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0531360105

Customer Reviews:

It's magic!.......1999-02-01

This is such a beautiful book filled with magical pages. My 4 year old niece couldn't resist touching. We used it as a sing along book Christmas Day--we will make this book a family tradition. MJSmith808@aol.com

Average customer rating:
An English Florilegium: Flowers, Trees, Shrubs, Fruits, Herbs, the Tradescant Legacy
Mary Grierson
Manufacturer: Abbeville Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Gardening & Horticulture | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books
General | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0896597903

Average customer rating:

Spock's Still the Authority

Nothing else as thorough and easy to read

For those who read it thoroughly, an excellent work

The Final Frontier... of childcare?

Dr Spock and Baby Wise

Dr. Spock's Baby and Childcare: Seventh Edition
Benjamin Spock
Manufacturer: Pocket
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

Child Development | Babies & Toddlers | Parenting | Parenting & Families | Subjects | Books
Child Care | Parenting | Parenting & Families | Subjects | Books
General | Parenting | Parenting & Families | Subjects | Books
General | Parenting & Families | Subjects | Books
General | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

Dr. Spock's Baby Basics : Take Charge Parenting Guides

Dr. Spock On Parenting: Sensible, Reassuring Advice for Today's Parent

Dr. Spock's The First Two Years: The Emotional and Physical Needs of Children from Birth to Age 2

Dr. Spock's Baby and Child Care : 8th Edition

Dr. Spock's Pregnancy Guide: Take Charge Parenting Guides

Accessories:

Health o Meter HDC100-01 "Grow with Me" Teddy Bear Scale for Babies and Toddlers

ASIN: 0671537628

Amazon.com

No parenting library is complete without this childcare classic. Recently revised, the sixth edition still provides the sensible, compassionate advice and hard-core how-to-do-it tips that Dr. Spock has always been famous for. Whether it's mixing formula, treating chicken pox, or dealing with divorce or a child's homosexuality, Dr. Spock is the man.

Book Description

Generations of parents have relied on Dr. Spock's timeless bestseller. It remains the source book, the most authoritative and reliable guide available. Collaborating with Dr. Steven J. Parker, Dr. Spock has now updated and expanded this reference to meet the changes and challenges of the next century. Organized for fast and easy reference, and including entirely new sections covering adolescence, this resource provides the latest advice and information on such topics as:

breast-feeding: the newest approaches, with proven techniques for working mothers

immunization schedules, vitamins and dietary recommendations

common medical questions and answers about whooping cough vaccine, diaper rash, infant diarrhea, scoliosis, and acne

working and parenting

talking to your child about sex, contraception, homosexuality, tobacco, alcohol and other drug abuse, AIDS

school and learning problems

children with disabilities

dental care for children

raising non-violent children

gay and lesbian parents

first aid and injury prevention-including sports and recreational safety.

All Dr. Spock's invaluable, time-tested advice is here including the most current medical practices and advances in child care, along with an all-new glossary of medical terms. More than ever before, this essential and classic work will help all parents face their many challenges and responsibilities with new confidence and joy. As Dr. Spock has always said: "Trust yourself. You know more than you think you do."

Customer Reviews:

Spock's Still the Authority.......2004-07-09

Ten years ago with the birth of my first child, I received 6 different books on baby care--all from the best sellers list. Over the next 10 years each of them, at one time or another, was heaved against a wall at 2 am or tossed into the kitchen trash can. Dr. Spock's Baby and Child Care helped me to correctly diagnose croup in my 6 month old daughter, which led to a call to the pediatrician as opposed to a trip to the ER. Dr. Spock calmly and reassuringly helps parents learn THEY are the experts about their own children.

Nothing else as thorough and easy to read.......2004-03-31

As a second-time mother who's read Dr. Spock, Dr. Brazelton, and Dr. Sears' baby care books, I still reach for Spock whenever I have a question, or an uncertainty about something. This book is extensive in its coverage of both big and little issues, from diapering to feeding, and on into adolescence, ecompassing details as well as emotional aspects of what you're doing, if applicable. I find his philosophies and techniques to be a terrific common sense, middle ground, and reassuring resource. Even if you enjoy other parenting books, this one is a must- sort of an encyclopedia of infant/child issues, as the index is detailed and thorough. Keep this one in your library!

For those who read it thoroughly, an excellent work.......2004-01-06

It would appear that some reviewers vehmently loath Dr. Spock yet they quite blatantly have missed the very key point of everything he said. Throughout the book he stresses numerous times the importance of following YOUR instincts and that he is only SUGGESTING methods for CERTAIN situations and he states quite clearly that it is of the utmost importance to realize that every child is different and parents are human and therefore you should not apply his methods, or any other "experts" methods to ALL cases without using YOUR OWN judgements. The core of everything Dr. Spock said was love your children and enjoy the experience of being a parent. He gives confidence to first time parents and a great deal of helpful advice on every aspect of baby and child care. One can get a great deal out of Dr. Spock's work, but only if they are patient, thorough readers with a certain amount of common sense.

The Final Frontier... of childcare?.......2003-07-02

Any "Star Trek" fan would not want this book! It turns out it's not about "Star Trek"! It's about Childcare! Who would have guessed? We're loosing power, Scotty!

Dr Spock and Baby Wise.......2003-05-30

I own both of these books, and I've read Sears too. I think they are all a little extreme in their beliefs. I don't believe in letting your child sleep with you, so that's why I put a cot in my twins' room and slept with them the first 3 months. I believe in teaching good sleeping habits because I know that it is BEST for my child, and I'm willing to look at their long-term happiness and not just their short-term happiness, and ways to ease MY conscious. I pushed my children a little every night to sleep further and further, and it was not a traumatic experience at all. Once they proved to me that they could do it we never looked back. My twins have slept from 8pm to 7am since 3 months of age, and only get up if they are sick. I've not let them get sick often so I haven't had to worry about them forming the habit of waking up. They are extremely secure with putting themselves back to sleep without my assistance if they happen to wake up for no reason. My kids take wonderful naps because I truely believe that a well rested child sleeps better at night. I certainly agree with the other reviewers that you should never let your child scream until they vomit. That is just cruel! I just feel sorry for people who have 2 and 3 year olds who still get them up during the night. Shame on you PARENTS, for not doing your job!!!

Book Description

By examining the period from 1915 to 1930, with flashbacks to O'Keeffe's little-known studies in Chicago and New York, Becoming O'Keeffe casts a clear new light on how a fiercely independent art student became the artist Georgia O'Keeffe. The careful scholarship and persuasive arguments of Dr. Peters's text--supported with forceful clarity by her choice and juxtapositions of images--reveal not only unexpected complexity in O'Keeffe's own work but also previously unexplored connections with work by her colleagues, particularly her dealer and husband, Alfred Stieglitz, and the photographers Paul Strand, Charles Sheeler, and Edward Steichen.

Dr. Peters's interpretations of the aesthetic and personal interaction between O'Keeffe and Stieglitz show for the first time how strongly the painter's work influenced Stieglitz's own, and she suggests new ways of understanding their art and their relationship. That she does all this in exhilaratingly good prose makes this book a rare pleasure to read. Now revised to take into account the latest scholarship, Becoming O'Keeffe also provides an updated and expanded bibliography, as well as six new illustrations.

Customer Reviews:

A Doorway into Early O'Keeffe.......2006-12-19

Having viewed the recent Georgia O'Keeffe exhibit on "Colors and Conservation" in Rochester, NY (which Mississippi Museum of Art-originated exhibit has its own, fine catalogue), I found this volume most illuminative regarding O'Keeffe's relationships as they informed her development as an artist. As a example of the type of "close reading" undertaken by the author here, the background offered on O'Keeffe's "Lake George Farmhouse Door" (near the close of the book, though only halfway through O'Keeffe's life) suggests it may be taken as a response of sorts to her husband's earlier photograph of a smiling, younger woman posed in front of the same doorway.

The author thus raises questions on creative transformations involved in making art. Why, for example, is the door-glass opaque in the artist's painting instead of something we can see through in her husband's photograph? Does her rendering of their summer home's door suggest a way into or a blocking out from the artist's own life, as the photo itself is held to suggest of the woman depicted in it? One does not need this sort of background in order to appreciate the painting itself, held by MoMA, but those seeking autobiographical insights on O'Keeffe's early work should find "Becoming O'Keeffe" intriguing reading.

One writer who does not "get" O'Keeffe.......2006-09-10

I am irritated by writers who purport to know the inner thoughts of people who are no longer alive to defend themselves. Peters has collected plenty of information on what was going on in the American and European art worlds, and it's worth reading for that. There are also some works here I haven't seen in other books. But if Peters wants to understand O'Keeffe's state of mind and approach to her work, why take O'Keeffe's perfectly clear and straightforward writings and then negate them in favor of hyperbolic, overwrought analysis? Having to repeatedly reject an artist's own words and play the game of "What she really meant was..." is a good sign that you don't understand the subject. Why are O'Keeffe's simple words so hard for her to comprehend? Peters' analogies stretch far past the point of usefulness: a closed window equals a camera lens? Paintings of trees become "prototypes" for paintings of crosses made 5 years later? Does she mean O'Keeffe was really trying to paint crosses, and they just came out looking like trees? Or that the first time O'Keeffe saw a cross she thought "Oh, that looks like a tree"? This book isn't nearly as much about O'Keeffe as it is about what Peters would have been doing if she could magically take O'Keeffe's place. Maybe Peters gets really confused about simple actions, like putting a drawing on the floor, because she's never done much artwork. Sometimes you have to put things on the floor because in the facilities you have available, that's the easiest way to see and work on them. I think the lesson here is that if you have to change something to your own words to understand it, you're no longer perceiving that thing--you're only perceiving yourself. Peters spends a lot of time here reflecting her own thought process, and in doing so, misses not only O'Keeffe, but maybe visual art itself.

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