Journey to Kunishi

Average customer rating:
Journey to Kunishi
Stuart P. Evensen
Manufacturer: 1st Books Library
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 1403379939

Book Description

The most interesting lives are not always the best-known lives, and this is the account of a truly fascinating person. The stories of Alexander Gerschenkron—his great escapes, his vivid wit, his feuds, his flirtations, and his supremely cultured mind—are the stuff of legend.

Born in 1904 into the progressive Odessa intelligentsia, Gerschenkron fled the Russian Revolution at sixteen and settled in Vienna, immersing himself in the charged civic and intellectual life of another doomed city. Escaping the Nazis in the late 1930s, he made his way to Massachusetts, evolving from a political exile and social outcast into a man referred to by The New York Times as “Harvard’s scholarly model,” and by his peers as “The Great Gerschenkron”—the Harvard professor who knew the most.

Gerschenkron was a dazzling thinker, and his professional theories complemented his personal preoccupations. He was particularly interested in people—and economies—that cleverly overcame the large forces conspiring to hold them back; there were uses, he said, to adversity. Colleagues admired his vigorous ethical code and considered his personality to be perhaps even more original than his work. Gerschenkron was an uncompromising man who feuded with everyone from Vladimir Nabokov to John Kenneth Galbraith, who played chess with Marcel Duchamp, who enjoyed an intimate interlude with Marlene Dietrich, and who was a confidant of both Isaiah Berlin of Oxford and Ted Williams of the Red Sox.

Or was he? Layers of mystery and contradiction are at the core of this brilliantly recreated life, this prism through which we look back across some of the most important and unsettling moments of the twentieth century. With The Fly Swatter, best-selling author Nicholas Dawidoff gives us an intelligent, beautifully written, deeply felt biographical memoir of a real-life American character.

Customer Reviews:

An Exceptional Tribute Beautifully Written.......2007-01-07

A biography as magnificent and entertaining as its subject: Alexander Gerschenkron, a Russian Jewish immigrant, who became a world champion chess player, a linguist (fluent in over two dozen languages, both ancient and modern), an economist (his theories still un-refuted today), and a Harvard intellectual. The author is Gerschenkron's grandson, and the entire book feels warm and loving, but for me the most memorable part comes from the story of Gerschenkron's reaction to the student riots in the late 1960's at Harvard. Gerschenkron's reply to this disorder is unforgettable because he had witnessed first hand the chaos and the thuggery of both the Bolsheviks and of Nazism. He barely escaped from each. His speech is the one and only time he ever mentioned these parts of his life. Delivered to the entire Harvard University and Cambridge community, his words of quiet dignity will surprise you, challenge your assumptions, make you see our country anew, and hold you rapt just as they gripped the entire town that day when everything stopped as citizens gathered around their radios to listen to this great man.

Very good story teller with a good story.......2002-08-05

Alexander Gerschenkron is the type of man many of us would like to be: smart, charming, interested in the world, charismatic, etc. His grandson, Nicholas Dawidoff, seemingly captured his life in a surprisingly honest and thoughtful manner. I say "suprisingly honest" because one could certainly understand if Dawidoff were to give in to hero worship -- given the important role his grandfather played in his upbringing. But Dawidoff saves the hero worship and the highly personal anecdotes for the opening and concluding chapters. The 300 or so pages in between give a very balanced depiction of a complicated man, and that's the stuff of great biography. The first half of the book is a real page-turner, chronicling Gerschenkron's difficult times as a young man in revolutionary Russia and fascist Austria. How could Dawidoff possibly keep up this pace once his grandfather settles down as an educator at Harvard? Well, he doesn't, through no fault of his own. Dawidoff's depiction of Gershenkron's latter life is beautifully written, but the exciting pace of the earlier pages simply can't be sustained. Dawidoff clearly spent a great amount of time interviewing Gerschenkron's colleagues and students, most of whom (although not all) were effusive in their praise. But the book tended to feel slightly repetitious toward the end with the ongoing remembrances and non-related anecdotes. For one so close to the story, Dawidoff managed to expertly review and analyze Gerschenkron's complicated doting relationship with his wife, Erica. Also, a wonderfully telling anecdote at the end of the book reveals not only Gerschenkron's character, but Dawidoff's patient understanding, as well. Although Gerschenkron was an expert chess player, somehow he managed to lose his queen to the 14-year-old Dawidoff. Gerschenkron swept his arm across the board, spilling all the pieces onto the floor. "Num, num," he said. "Let's go eat lunch."

An Amazing Story From a Grandson.......2002-08-01

Maybe you had a grandfather who was quite wonderful, but you did not have a grandfather who was wonderful like Nicholas Dawidoff's grandfather was wonderful. Dawidoff's charming biography of his grandfather, _The Fly Swatter: How My Grandfather Made His Way in the World_ (Pantheon) starts with his own memories of Alexander Gerschenkron. For instance, Gerschenkron, known as "Shura" within his family, had an arsenal of fly swatters, each of just the proper color and heft for its particular target. The baby blue flyswatter was just the thing for his particular enemy, the wasps, because they were vicious, and the mild color would make them let down their guard. If he were successful in swatting the wasp (not often), he would give "lengthy disquisitions on swatting technique." He would never allow the insect body to be cleaned up, for he "claimed they were deterrents, that other yellowjackets would encounter their unfortunate colleague and feel inclined to keep away themselves."

Shura was, to be sure, a character. But he was also brilliant in an obsessively academic way. He mastered some two dozen languages, but his field of expertise was not language. He was able to discourse on (and write academic treatments of) _Hamlet_ and _Dr. Zhivago_, but he did not teach literature. He was an economist, a quintessential Harvard professor who left a lasting mark on economic thought with his theory of "economic backwardness." He had a rather exciting early life, fleeing the Russian Revolution, and then fleeing the Nazis, before he found himself in the economic department of Harvard that was to be his academic home. He was a natural show-off. He could certainly be obnoxious and overbearing, and his students often felt they were not measuring up to his superhuman standards, but none of them forgot him, and he left a strong mark on the next generation of economists. Dawidoff makes the case that his standards were so exacting, and his sense of the overwhelming complexity of history and economics so complete, that he constantly spent time in library stacks gaining more information, but was intimidated about committing himself in print. He did, however, play chess with the artist Marcel Duchamp, disparage Vladimir Nabokov for an inept translation of Pushkin, and charm Marlene Dietrich to give him her phone number.

One of the great strengths of this engaging book is that it makes Shura's wide-ranging academic endeavors almost as exciting as his flights from political oppression. The love of reading and the love of learning just for the sake of exercising one's mind could not have a finer exemplar. And while most people would regard a life in libraries as unexciting and unromantic, Shura was fond of living his life as fully as his capacious mind would allow. After he had recovered from a cardiac arrest in the foyer of the Harvard Faculty Club, he used to bring his students to the very spot where he had temporarily died. "You know, there was nothing. No beautiful colors. No castles. No bright lights. Nothing. So, if there are things you want to say and do, don't wait. Say them and do them. You won't get the opportunity after you're dead." During decades devoted to learning, this comprehensive biography makes plain, Gerschenkron drove himself to a life which for all of its time in an ivory tower was full of exuberance and courage.

Gerschenkron's world.......2002-07-09

Growing up Nicholas Dawidoff had a talkative and demonstrative larger-than-life maternal grandfather who had lived in, to paraphrase the Chinese curse, interesting times: his home town Odessa during the Russian revolution and Vienna (where he had to start over, learning German as a student) during the rise of Nazism. Alexander Gerschenkron (called Shura) had married a fellow student, Erica Matschnigg, in Vienna, whom he would deem "perfect," and who was his lifelong intellectual sparring partner. To save their lives they emigrated to the US. After a time Shura found work at UC Berkeley, The Federal Reserve Board in Washington DC, and then at his favorite place ever: Harvard. In addition this brilliant and cultured grandfather was kind and funny, educated, eccentric, and more than willing to act as a sort of a dad for his grandson, whose own father was mentally ill.

The one thing, though that Gerschenkron couldn't, or wouldn't, provide for family, friends, or colleagues - or his beloved and loving grandson - was so much as a shred of concrete information about his childhood, his youth, and anything remotely resembling his feelings. No one got into his inner life, and those who tried (and there were many) learned that it was at all times off-limits. So this book is a memoir but also a work of informed conjecture and detection.

Dawidoff, an insightful man and a compassionate reporter, draws a careful and reasoned portrait, "a biographical memoir, a work of reconstruction" that is a pleasure to read. The "dismal science," economics, has never seemed so vitally important and downright interesting as it does in this book.

Gerschenkron was hyperactive; he gave up reading the newspaper in middle age, citing the number of books he had yet to read and reasoning that the time the papers took from this was objectionable. He loved to argue and to win, but he was courtly, too. He practiced what he called "French manners," combining recognizable rules of European etiquette with extreme chivalry. He could be exasperating, but he was generous and possessed astonishing depth and breadth of knowledge (in many areas, not just economics) which he more than willingly shared with the world. Gerschenkron developed theories of economic behavior that are classics, now, and some which were of great importance to US policymakers' understanding of the Soviet Union during the Cold War, and of developing nations' economic behavior. He was a prolific essayist and loved literature. Rather than read translations, he taught himself entire languages. He worked out chess problems without a chessboard. He was a character, and became something of a curmudgeon in later life.

Gerschenkron was also fiercely loyal to certain things - countries, colleagues, ideas, people, and the most ordinary stuff of his life. Dawidoff takes pleasure in this information, and I did, too Of Shura he writes. "[He] had a party (the Democrats); a team (the Red Sox); a player (Ted Williams); a board game (chess); a breed of dog (Labrador retriever); a flower (pink rose); a lower body haberdasher (he sent to a Vienna tennis shop for white linen trousers); an upper body haberdasher (he ordered his wool plaid lumber jackets and matching caps from a hunting supply outfit in Maine); a brandy; a chocolate bar; an aspirin; a bullet; a pencil; a shaving soap; a foreign bookstore; a domestic bookstore; a barber; a newsstand (he would go miles out of his way to buy his periodicals from Sheldon Cohen at Out of Town News); and a weekly news magazine (L'Espresso)." And of course he had a school, Harvard, which he loved beyond all measure. Gerschenkron's calculus was simple: the US was the best nation on earth, and Harvard its best school. He thrived there. Dawidoff claims that Harvard "made his personality possible."

Gerschenkron dominated people and gatherings and enjoyed contact, but also required and demanded great blocks of solitude. Sometimes he hurt those he loved. He insisted that his young daughter practice her flute when he wasn't at home, because the sound annoyed him. He disappointed his daughters often and had some stormy relations with friends and colleagues.

There's hardly a dull moment in this account of a life and the many lives that Gerschenkron touched, and Dawidoff has provided enough interesting tangential information to serve as jumping-off points for a lot more reading and inquiry.

There are Source Notes and Acknowledgements. The books lacks an index, which is a real shortcoming. There are hundreds of interesting and important people, places, and works of art and scholarship in this book and its publisher ought to have splurged on something so essential as a good index. Gerschenkron (a lover of notes, acknowledgements, appendices, and indices) would agree.

Average customer rating:
The Fly Swatter: How My Grandfather Made His Way in the World
Nicholas Dawidoff
Manufacturer: Pantheon
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000TTI0KE

Average customer rating:
The Fly Swatter : How My Grandfather Made His Way in the World
Nicholas Dawidoff
Manufacturer: Pantheon Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000WL1XEE

Book Description

Esoteric Anatomy offers a spiritual approach to massage, bodywork, and somatic psychology, demystifying an ancient transpersonal model for understanding energy in nature and working with consciousness in the healing arts.

Customer Reviews:

Esoteric Anatomy.......2007-01-11

There is very little actual anatomy in this book. It is a strange conglomeration of new age philosophies and Chinese medicine as it pertains to massage.

Amazing--not a quick read.......2006-03-09

This book is incredible. It's laid out with a lot of charts and pictures to assist what's being said. This is dense and a lot to go through, but I find that going that much in depth help wth unerstanding the complexity of the issues. A lot of material is summarized int his book, and I'd recomend it to anyone. In fact, I had to order two copies--the first copy I ordered went to my mother's house--who liked it so much that I had to order another copy for myself.

For serious seekers and scholars of the occult.......2005-02-13

Like Dr, Stone's work, this might take a while to get through, but is worth the time. Read a little, meditate on it. This book is worth taking the time to properly digest. Also great for reference, great charts and diagrams. Great information on indian philosophy, polarity therapy, the elements, the gunas, and many other subjects. Highly reccommended.

Wow.......2004-05-11

Having met Bruce in person and experienced his personal brilliance and the compassionate nature of his work, I would say this book is a must have for any esoteric minded person. The book covers a huge variety of topics all of which I have found utterly profound. Most of the pages could be read over and over again to soak up the cosmic/myopic insight and awareness dripping from the text. This is not just one mans words, but a infinite reflection of wisdom gathered from all corners of the world. Nothing is left out except personal application of this knowledge to manifest its wisdom and reward. Thank you Bruce.

Lots of info - at times overwhelming.......2003-10-16

Bruce has done a great job collecting the important information from Dr. Stones works and mystical body theory in general. However, the material is hard to read and is perhaps not the best book for getting into the subject of body as consciousness or especially Polarity Therapy. If you are just getting into Polarity Therapy you should look at the book by Franklyn Sills.

Average customer rating:
Roma: Authentic Recipes from In and Around the Eternal City
Julia Della Croce
Manufacturer: Chronicle Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Cooking, Food & Wine | Subjects | Books
Italian | European | Regional & International | Cooking, Food & Wine | Subjects | Books
General | Regional & International | Cooking, Food & Wine | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

Umbria: Regional Recipes from the Heartland of Italy

Veneto: Authentic Recipes from Venice and the Italian Northeast (Italian Regional Recipes)

Cooking the Roman Way: Authentic Recipes from the Home Cooks and Trattorias of Rome

Rome, At Home : The Spirit of La Cucina Romana in Your Own Kitchen

The Da Fiore Cookbook: Recipes from Venice's Best Restaurant

ASIN: 0811823520

Book Description

The culinary journey that began with Umbria and Veneto, has arrived in the eternal city of Rome and its surrounding region of Latium. In Roma, Julia della Croce ventures from coast to countryside to reveal over 60 cherished recipes passed from generation to generation in this region rich with culinary tradition. While the area surrounding Rome exhibits both the traditions of the Greeks and the culinary refinements of the Etruscans, each of the five Roman provinces has maintained its own culture and culinary character. From the fresh seafood in the coastal province of Latina; to the rustic aged meats and sturdy cooking of the most northerly province of Rieti; to the simple, seasonal dishes of Viterbo known for its aromatic olive oils; to the handmade pastas and rich, savory meat sauces of the landlocked Frosinone province; and finally to the lusty cooking of Rome itself, this collection beautifully captures the authentic tastes of this region's legendary food. Della Croce also lists her favorite places to stay, fun and historical local festivals, and where to find authentic regional Italian cooking and wine classes for those planning a Roman adventure.

Book Description

A complete organizer to help owners, breeders and trainers plan a year in the life of their horse!

Owning a horse can feel like running a small business - bills to pay, insurance to arrange, deadlines to meet and vital facts and figures to keep in a safe place. At last is a book that helps anyone involved with the day-to-day life of a horse end the headaches and plan ahead!

The first section designed for planning out tasks such as budgeting for health care expenses and includes space for vital data such as emergency telephone numbers. There's also a 40-page reference section filled with horse tips and vital facts always good to keep on-hand. The diary section is beautifully illustrated with a photograph for each month and seasonal information pertaining to horses, along with important dates for a horse caretaker to know.

Average customer rating:

Enhance your paintings with custom frames

Well writeen book with few shortcomings

How-to general reference, well illustrated

The Encyclopedia of Picture Framing Techniques: A Comprehensive Visual Guide to Traditional and Contemporary Techniques
Robert Cunning
Manufacturer: Sterling
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Framing | Crafts & Hobbies | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books
General | Crafts & Hobbies | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books
Reference | Crafts & Hobbies | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

Home Book of Picture Framing: Professional Secrets of Mounting Matting, Framing and Displaying Artworks, Photographs, Posters, Fabrics, Collectibles, Carvings and More

Mat, Mount, and Frame It Yourself (Crafts Highlights)

Mat Cutting & Decoration, Vol. 2 (The Library of professional picture framing) (The Library of professional picture framing)

Picture Framing, Vol. 1 (Library of Professional Picture Framing, Vol 1)

Basic Picture Framing: All The Skills And Tools You Need To Get Started (Stackpole Basics)

ASIN: 0806993022

Book Description

You can choose the right molding, mount, or finish to complement any object: paintings, mirrors, textiles and more. “A DIY manual for making custom frames. Traditional and contemporary techniques are presented, along with a variety of finishing techniques.”—Woodshop News.

Customer Reviews:

Enhance your paintings with custom frames.......2004-10-10

A proper frame is of a great importance for a painting. It can either make it shine in all its beauty or simply spoil it. In spite of wide availability of framing materials nowadays, it is surprisingly difficult to find exact hues required for the balanced color harmony that suits a particular piece of art.

If you are yourself a painter and would like to give your work a final boost, I recommend you read this book carefully and try your framing skills. For most artists who have been through all kinds of painting techniques it will be an easy and welcome new activity. Frame may well become a work of art in its own.

The book gives all necessary instructions for framing. Starting with the mechanics of cutting and gluing pre-decorated picture frame mouldings together, it goes on to more enjoyable and artistic topics of actually painting and decorating the mouldings yourself. Chapters like Decorative Mounts, Wood Finishes, Paint Finishes and Gilding as well as the Restoration and Repair are very interesting and really useful. At the end the book gives a nice selection of finished frames. I recommend you start with this last chapter. It is so rich with ideas!
--This text refers to anoher edition of his book

Well writeen book with few shortcomings.......2002-10-24

Chapter 1 Materials and Equipment
The book begins from the assumption that you own little to know tools and then goes on to cover the basic tools need for framing. This includes sharp, modern, color photographs with detailed descriptions of each item and how it is used. The author also does a nice job at providing more than one tool example to accomplish the same job, such as the different type of mat cutters. He explains the differences between the simple inexpensive models to the costly advanced versions and how you would need to implement them. This chapter also covers the five basic parts of a frame (backing board, picture, mat, glass, and frame) and the primary categories of moldings. One glaring omission: there is only one brief mention of power miter saws.

Chapter 2 Making a Simple Frame
The chapter begins with cutting the mat, which after reading through the book, you'll discover is one of the most challenging tasks in framing a picture. The author covers several different methods in cutting a frame from a standard knife to an expensive professional cutting system. Next is cutting and joining the frame, and looking at this book from a woodworker's point of view, this was both inspiring and frustrating. It was an inspiration in that the displayed techniques sent my creative thought process into motion and gave me direction as to what type of frame I would like to design and make. It was frustrating seeing how the cutting and joining process was oversimplified. The uninitiated in the skill of cutting and joining small pieces, especially mitered pieces, will be very disappointed at how the process has a higher than normal learning curve. And God help you if you skimp out on any of tools presented and opt for the wooden miter box to produce a tight fitting 45° angle. I can just see the weekend hobbyist throwing this book and the miter box across the garage!
This chapter has another flaw due to the author being too general: how to determine the depth of cut for the rabbit to hold the glass, picture, mat, and backing is never mentioned. As for joining a mitered corner there are far better ways to do so than the methods described in the book. Although they will all certainly work, I can come up with four methods that use better materials and will produce a higher quality joint with no more experience or tools needed than the methods described in this chapter.
The following sections cover cutting glass and assembling the pieces. It is well written, and easy to follow.

Chapter 3 Advanced Carpentry
Here we go, now I was ready to learn something! The opening topic on homemade profiles was excellent; the advice was right on and useful for beginners through advanced alike. The author mentions using preformed moldings like those readily available at your local home store and more advanced ideas like making mirrored inlaid banding from inlay veneer. I was very upset over the light mention of how to use a router to make profiles. It was very oversimplified and I believe it could lead a person to serious injury without further mention of a necessary learning curve. Advanced joinery was another useful topic although it was lacking in many common techniques used by many woodworkers.
The section on ornamental extended corners was very interesting but should be left for the advanced framer/woodworker. I also believe that his method for making ovals and circles is far more difficult than it needs to. The following section on slips, box frames, and floating frames is really fun and is a section that woodworkers can shine. However, here we once again run into that "depth of the rabbit" problem. It's never mentioned and I kept wondering what is an acceptable amount of space to leave, if any at all, between the backing board, the item in the frame, and the glass. The section on multisided frames (those being more than four sides) is another poor section that will lead the beginning and even many intermediate readers down a dark path.

Chapter 4 Decorative Mats
What a great chapter, I learned a new way to draw an oval, that's simple and uses a compass, nail, and thread, why the bottom "stile" of a mat should be wider than the top, and how to figure the proportions for mats with multiple windows. The section on double and triple mats, and making unusual shapes was equally useful, as were the detailed descriptions about the variety of matboards. The section using other materials in place of matboard got me to thinking about using wide pieces of veneer.

Chapter 5 Wood and Wood Finishes
This chapter covers basic domestic woods (assuming you live in the UK or Europe!) and what you can do to cover them in stains and finishes. The one glaring error in this chapter is the assertion that veneers can only be used on flat or gently curved moldings. The author needs an education on bendable veneers! There was also a nice side bar on building your own mini-fuming tent. The section on stains was basic at best and does not even take into account the many differences in staining different species of woods. Additional techinques such as graining and pickling are covered in useful detail.

Chapter 6 Paint Finishes
I will give the author credit where credit is due. All sections in this chapter were informative and full of relevant details. This included a great chart about painting and varnish qualities and uses.

I enjoyed reading this book and it certainly inspired me to go out and start building some frames. Although I was a little disappointed over the vague descriptions in some of the sections, I thought the low cost and high production values helped balance the scales. I wouldn't recommend it for absolute beginners, but for everyone else it's a good buy.

How-to general reference, well illustrated.......2001-01-22

Demonstrates in full color, step-by-step photographs all stages of making and decorating frames and mounts. This useful and well designed book is an encyclodedic introduction to picture framing crafts. It offers comprehensive descriptions of equipment for both beginning and advanced techniques and explains a wide range of decorative effects, from wood and paint finishes to gilding. It gives advice on how to restore and repair frames and includes an inspiring creative gallery of finished frames by professional artists.

Book Description

This wonderfully illustrated book is packed full of essential information and wonderful ideas for successful plant combinations.

Average customer rating:

Comprehensive Resource

Anti-hormone slant.

Anti-hormone slant.

Great balanced viewpoint

one true voice

Dr. Susan Love's Hormone Book : Making Informed Choices About Menopause
Susan M. Md Love , and Karen Lindsey
Manufacturer: Three Rivers Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Women's Health | Personal Health | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books
Menopause | Women's Health | Personal Health | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books
General | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books
General | Parenting & Families | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

Dr. Susan Love's Menopause and Hormone Book: Making Informed Choices

What Your Doctor May Not Tell You About Menopause (TM): The Breakthrough Book on Natural Hormone Balance

The Menopause Diet

The Wisdom of Menopause: Creating Physical and Emotional Health and Healing During the Change

I Feel Bad About My Neck: And Other Thoughts on Being a Woman

Accessories:

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

ASIN: 081296392X
Release Date: 1998-04-28

Amazon.com

In an empowering and demystifying book about menopause, Dr. Susan Love, a noted breast surgeon and women's health advocate, tells it straight about hormones. "Hormone therapy is neither a fountain of youth nor an 'evil empire,'" Love writes with her coauthor, Karen Lindsey. "I can't tell you in this book whether or not you should take hormones, but I can spell out the pros and cons, examining the various promises that have been made for menopausal hormone therapy, and letting you know what the side effects and dangers can be."

But even before she gets into the promises and the pros and cons, Love lets the reader know what menopause is biologically, and how its symptoms can vary widely. Particularly fascinating is the second chapter, titled "The Medicalization of Menopause." Love's examination of how women in other cultures actually look forward to menopause, and of how the medical establishment and the pharmaceutical industry have a vested interested in making menopause a disease, is a convincing one. It puts menopause and hormone therapy into a whole new light.

Chapter by chapter, Love reviews the scientific evidence for the promised benefits of hormone therapy--protection from osteoporosis and heart disease--and for the potential risks--increased chance of breast and endometrial cancer. And she answers almost every imaginable question about alternatives to hormones, from dietary changes to exercise to acupuncture to herbs.

While Love and Lindsey, who worked together previously on Dr. Susan Love's Breast Book, are up-front about their perspective on hormone therapy, they also give women the information they need about the various hormones on the market and provide a questionnaire to help them assess their values, so that readers can make their own informed choice about hormones during menopause.

Book Description

"We're the baby boomers," writes renowned women's health advocate Dr. Susan Love. "We wanted to change the world in the sixties. During the sexual revolution we claimed the right to enjoy our bodies. We wanted more knowledge about how our bodies worked. We read books about menstruation and childbirth. Now we're approaching menopause, and we want to decide for ourselves how we'll experience this process as well. But how do we do that? We're faced with all kinds of options, and with them all kinds of questions."

With Dr. Susan Love's Hormone Book, Dr. Love will help you decide for yourself how you want to move through this stage of life. Here's the information you really want to know to answer your most pressing concerns:

You've been having symptoms -- hot flashes, night sweats, mood swings. What are your options for coping with them?

You've read in the newspapers that after menopause women are in danger of heart disease or osteoporosis, and you don't want to wind up like that hunched-up elderly woman you saw in the supermarket checkout line. How likely is it?

Your doctor thinks taking hormone replacement therapy might be the answer, but you're not sure: How does it work? What can and can't it do? Is it safe?

Your mother sailed through menopause and your symptoms don't bother you. Do you need to do anything at all?

You've had breast cancer or heart disease. What choices will work for you?

You don't like the idea of medication. Are there any life-style changes or alternative approaches worth exploring?

With clarity and compassion, Dr. Love will help you sort through the answers to these and other confusing questions. She emphasizes that menopause is not a disease that needs to be cured; it's a natural life stage. She tells you what you need to know about coping with symptoms and addressing concerns about osteoporosis, heart disease, breast cancer, endometrial cancer, and more. And she walks you through every option for the short and long term.: lifestyle changes (diet, exercise, and stress management), alternatives (including herbs and homeopathic remedies), other medications, and a thorough discussion of the pros and cons of hormones. An in-depth questionnaire on your personal health risks and lifestyle preferences will help you put it all together to make choices to fit your unique needs--choices Dr. Love encourages you to reconsider as your life situation changes. Also included are guidelines for finding the right health care professional, a resource guide of helpful books, newsletters, and organizations, and more.

You know your body better than any doctor, and you're in the best position to assess your individual needs, risks, and lifestyle choices and to decide how you want to more through menopause. With Dr. Love's authoritative, comprehensive new book, you'll have the information you need to make the decisions that work best for you.

From the Hardcover edition.

Customer Reviews:

Comprehensive Resource.......2002-07-08

This book covers all the bases you'll want to consider when facing menopause. The author discusses many aspects of menopause, including symptoms, treatments (both conventional and alternative), and long-term risk of breast cancer, osteoporosis, and heart disease.

Some of the things I really like about this book: The author dispels several myths (like taking estrogen leads to youthful-looking skin) and pulls the curtain back on the cozy relationship between the pharmaceutical industry and medical research. The reason all the "gold standard" studies on menopause have been done using Premarin, which contains horse estrogens not found in humans, is because researchers get that drug free from Wyeth-Ayerst (the Premarin manufacturer and patent-holder). As the author acknowledges, the collecting the urine that goes into Premarin causes hardship to countless horses and their offspring, and women ingesting the drug get all sorts of serious medical complications. It will be great for women everywhere when medical researchers give equal study to the hormones that are found naturally in human women (which so far seem to be much more benign than Premarin, but being non-patentable hold less potential for financial profit).

Some things I didn't like about the book: The author cites a lot of evidence gleaned from nonhuman studies (done on monkeys, rats, and mice) even though common wisdom holds that animals are a very poor model for humans. (About 80% of the drugs that pass animal tests are later found to be harmful to humans.) She does mention the importance of vitamins and minerals beyond calcium and Vitamin D, but I'd like to see more emphasis given. (See books like The Bone Density Diet or Preventing and Reversing Osteoporosis for more on that.) Finally, she doesn't acknowledge that women without a uterus can also benefit from taking progesterone; in fact she often muddles the (important) difference between progesterone and progestin and falsely implies at times that the harmful effects of taking progestin apply to progesterone as well. (Note: progesterone is natural to a human woman's body; progestin is a molecularly altered compound which can be patented but which acts differently from progesterone in the body.)

Overall, there is a ton of helpful information in this book and the good certainly outweighs the bad. This is a great primer for women who plan to live for a very long time!

Anti-hormone slant........2002-02-05

I was looking for something a little more objective.

Anti-hormone slant........2002-02-05

I was looking for something a little more objective.

Great balanced viewpoint.......2001-12-19

This book presents a comprehensive discussion of hormones and alternatives to dealing with premenopause, menopause, and long-term prevention. Details are provided which include alternative approaches, including diet, exercise, etc. It even includes a final helpful chapter on making your own decisions. The only negative thing is that it was written in 1997, and there may be more current information available now. Wish she would release an updated edition.

one true voice.......2000-01-28

I write on January 27, 2000, two days after the embargo was lifted on the National Cancer Institutes new findings, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, on the role of estrogens alone, and estrpogen -progestin combinations, in breast and uterine cancer. If you have a uterus and take estrogens without progestins you invite endometrial cancer. If you add progestins to the estrogen you avoid the cancer "down there" but substantially increase your chances of getting it "up top" in your breast. The longer you stay on hormones the more your chances of uterine and breast cancer keep rising...and rising.. There's much to consider and under some circumstances taking hormones, especially for the short run might make sense. - See if you can look the article in the Journal of the American Medical Association -- and check out the accompanying editorial by scientists from Harvard's School of Public Health, titled "Postmenopausal Estrogens- Opposed, Unopposed or None of the Above" which concludes that "it is time to reasses...the commonly held belief that aging rountinely requires pharmcological management..." In 1997,Susan Love was excorriated for presenting exactly this reasonably cautious and honest viewpoint in her splendid HORMONE BOOK Meantime, 12 million US women continue to take estrogen alone, while 8.6 take it with progestin. I wish every one of them would read this excellent work., and reconsider. And I personally am exceedingly proud to present a 1999 interview with our heroic Dr. Love in my own new book (with Gary Null) FOR WOMEN ONLY; YOUR GUIDE TO HEALTH EMPOWERMENT.

Dr. Susan Love's Hormone Book: Making Informed Choices About Menopause

Average customer rating:

Dr. Susan Love's Hormone Book: Making Informed Choices About Menopause
Karen Lindsey
Manufacturer: Random House
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000X3DYA2

Product Description

An electrifying new biography about the four Essex lads who became award-winning stadium superstars and champions of synth pop! Jonathan Miller's groundbreaking book features in-depth interviews with founder member Vince Clarke and producers Gareth Jones and Mark Bell, and contains never-before seen interviews with the band members themselves. With additional input from Gary Human, Howard Jones and Thomas Dolby this is a unique portrait of a band that almost lost control when their lives went off the rails and lead singer Dave Gahan's heroin addiction nearly killed him. In the end Depeche Mode not only survived, they triumphed, racking up a staggering 40 million-plus album sales on the way. This is their amazing story, told in full for the first time. Born out of the post-punk backlash in the early 80's, Depeche Mode took their name from a phrase in a French style magazine and became the definitive international synth-pop group. Vince Clarke, Andy Fletcher and Martin Gore had started out as an Essex guitar band but it was their bright and upbeat synthesizer-driven brand of pop fronted by Dave Gahan that was to find global acceptance and enjoy unlikely success in the US. Despite a handful of early plaudits in the music press, the group won only intermittent critical acceptance over the years, its often light musical approach contrasting with lyrics that sometimes plunge into darker topics like S&M, religious fetishism and the scourge of capitalism. But whatever the music press said, the fans finally bought into Depeche Mode in a big way. Their Violator tour at the start of the 90s sold millions of records and turned them into major US concert stars. In true rock style, Depeche Mode's members have suffered their share of internal strife over a long career. Dave Gahan reinvented himself as a lead singer with both a harder musical edge and a near-fatal drug habit, while internal acrimony often marred the later stages of their career. Jonathan Miller has made an e

Customer Reviews:

Very Informative.......2006-08-17

I found this to be a very difficult book to put down. It is packed with tons of info and insights into the personalities within the band. If you are a Depeche Mode fan, this is a must, you won't be dissapointed.

On the other side of the coin, however, there are lots of quotes taken from EPKs and the short film from the 86>98 DVD, which, of course, most fans have already seen.

Also, there was some info about Martin Gore being half black, which lacks credibility. The source who revealed the information was just called a "child hood friend". Then there's also that annoying fact that Martin bares absolutely no African features (nor do his children).

The writing style does get a bit drab from time to time. All and all, however, I give it 5 stars for simply being a fairly accurate chronology of my favorite band.

Lots of interesting facts even for the big Fan........2006-03-23

Been avidly following Depeche Mode since 1985, so when i knew this book did not contain direct interviews with band members themselves, i suspected there would be little information i hadnt already come across from reading many articles on DM in the past 20 years. But i was wrong. Even the avid fan who has followed them closely will find a lot of new and interesting details especially about the early years. Whilst there really is nothing that exciting in the early days it really is quite nostalgic to go back to those years and read up on vince, dave, mart and fletch when they were just young teens trying out their new synths. Lots of fun to read in the end, and quite thorough too. Very up to date as well. Ends around the time Dave and Mart are promoting their solo efforts. So quite contemporary.

Stripped: The True Story of Depeche Mode.......2005-03-17

Stripped: The True Story of Depeche Mode by Johnathan Miller is a very interesting book that for the first time tells the whole story about this groundbreaking rockgroup. The formative years are described much more in detail then the latter part and that is why I am inclined not to give 5 stars. It seems as they become more and more famous, the chapters also become shorter. I was quite interested to read about the different equipment that they had used over the years and I was quite disapointed that the author had not made a comprehensive list of all keyboards used for each recording as this is quite intesting. I also found that it strange that their was so much material on Vince Clarke as he was only with them for one album. Alan Wilder must be a bit disapointed with the book as he is shown to be arrogant, filled with self importance. I find the writing to be clear and concise and this is a very good (not perfect) biography on one very peculiar and intresting synth trio.

BEST BOOK ON THE BAND SO FAR.......2004-09-10

'Stripped' is the most comprehensive book on Depeche Mode to date - covering all eras of the group's innovative career.
A lot of emphasis is placed on the band's formative years, with contributions given by those who knew the members before they became international stars.
There is however, like most other books written about the band, a lot of second-hand information from previous interviews - and many of these interviews are well known to those who have a keen interest in the group.
There's plenty to read though - and some rare pictures too which avid fans are bound to like.
All in all, it's definitely worth having if your a fan of "the best electronic group in the world".

Finally Depeche Mode makes sense to me now.......2004-07-31

Finally a book that really gets into the music and personality of depeche mode and lets you understand them. The previous two books were not good and after reading them twice I was still left totally in the dark about the band.

This book discusses what the others didn't, the music!! It really tells the Depeche Mode story album by album and single by single. He tells about how the albums are made and discusses the working relationships between the group members during those albums. From that perspective he goes into personal bits on the band that really show their personalities. This book doesn't just start talking about their personalities and sorta throw in the albums as time markers. It really shows you how their music develops.

He also really brings up alot of new interviews and facts, which I didn't think existed. After reading the other books, which overlapped alot, this book had refreshing new interviews that shed incredible perspective on the group. Alan's story is finally told as well in great detail...giving some of the most candid insights into the group. Daniel Miller, Gareth Jones, and Vince Clark are covered as well.

I have been a HUGE fan for over 17 years now and until I read this book I always thought that they came from outerspace. Its funny but I will kinda miss that naivete. I had my own ideas of them that weren't true that I will miss. But now that I know the whole story, it inspires me.

Book Description

The Diary of Anne Frank taught the value of love and forgiveness and became a worldwide, enduring bestseller. In Dear Cara: Letters from Otto Frank, the story continues and expands. Through his letters, Otto, the only survivor in the family, became a treasured wise friend to thousands of young people around the world giving simple, honest responses to their questions. Cara, a young American girl, kept his letters, followed his advice, and honored Otto as her surrogate father. Nearly 20 years later, as a grown woman and mother, she journeyed to Amsterdam to see the home where Anne had been hidden in an attic for two years before her murder. Cara listened to some of the holocaust stories from the Dutch people who had sheltered the Franks, then traveled to Switzerland to fulfill a life-long dream to finally meet her mentor and his second wife in Switzerland. She embraced the tender, frail old man who had been able to live Anne's belief that "In spite of everything, I still believe people are really good at heart." He had not forgotten those who had betrayed their wartime hiding place, nor did he wish for revenge. He had managed, through his own radiant spirit and the poignant words of his dead daughter, to embrace the best in people and forgive those who had been the worst. Cara and Otto, generations apart, know love can bloom in every culture through the most painful of times and their brief coming together was the best of times. Dear Cara: Letters from Otto Frank captures the horrors of war in Europe and the tumultuous postwar decades in America. Most of all, it shares the treasures of love in all its manifestations. Otto is a beloved teacher, and Cara really listens from her heart: each is a blessing for the other. This story tells it honestly as their private letters reveal their true selves and bridges the gap between their ages, cultures and life experiences. Dear Cara: Letters from Otto Frank is a "keeper," a book for young and old readers. PUBCOMMENTS: The Diary of Anne Frank, one of our enduring inspirational books, was written by a young girl who died in a Nazi concentration camp in World War II. Otto Frank, her father and the only family survivor, motivated people all over the world to carry on Anne's message of love and hope in their own lives. Otto never wanted Anne remembered as a victim but as a living spirit through her words. A generation later, a young American girl began conversations with Otto through letters reflecting her own chaotic teenage years and the violence in America in the 1960s and '70s. His responses helped her mature into a loving, trusting woman. Cara Weiss Wilson wrote this book from her extraordinary correspondence with Otto and the inspiration she drew from it. He validated her need to be heard and respected; he became her mentor, her wise "grandfather," as he was for so many others. He taught the importance of tolerance and true spirituality, focusing on the power of love, not revenge. He said, "If the world were ending tomorrow, I would still plant a tree today." He truly lived his message. Cara's twenty-year correspondence with Otto culminated in a memorable meeting shortly before his death, and influenced the rest of her turbulent life. Her remarkable book helps others lead fulfilling lives and renews our faith in the possibility of forgiveness and optimism.

Customer Reviews:

From Girl to Woman (With a Very Special Mentor).......2001-04-01

"I received your kind letter and thank you for it. It was very nice of you to send me your photo, so that I have a better impression of you as a person..."

So begins Otto Frank's first letter to a young American girl in 1957, a suburban California girl named Cara as much in the mainstream of American society as the pop songs she listens to on the radio. That girl had read Anne's diary, had been deeply moved by it, and had written to Anne's father.

He wrote back.

Cara wrote to him again. Otto wrote back. She wrote again. He wrote again. And so on and so forth...for decades. They grew close. Cara faced all the same questions we face, about school, love, marriage, child-rearing, politics, family. But she had a very, very special mentor.

This book is her story of that relationship. Yes, it's a remarkable pairing. But it's also a remarkable tour through the last half of the 20th century, through the Civil Rights movement and Vietnam, the Watergate days, too many wars in the Middle East; all reflected in a single woman's coming of age. The letters back and forth are always revealing and quite often gripping. They are about private troubles and public issues. And when Cara, as a woman, goes to visit an ailing Otto, by now an old man, it would take a reader with a hard heart indeed not to feel a lump in the throat, at least. Then, when Otto her a collection of something that takes us, the reader, completely over the edge, in the best possible way.

We recommend this book to anyone, of any age. It is just special.

Dear Cara Offers Inspiration and Shares a Story of Love.......2000-10-16

Dear Cara is a book about a man and a woman, across the world from one another, both in miles and the lives they lead. Otto Frank, who survived the death camps of the Holocaust but lost his daughter there, shares his hope and inspiration with a young American woman whose life is unfolding. His shares his unfailing human spirit and his love with Cara, a young woman who first wrote to him at the age of 13. Throughout her life, from her teen-age years, to college to marriage to motherhood, Otto Frank is there with her, offering his support and his inspiration. He listens to Cara's dreams, her troubles, her worries and through their correspondence, she feels the joy that a young person feels when someone is listening. A young woman's voice is heard. When, as an older woman, Cara's world is turned upside down, the wisdom and hope that Otto Frank gave her for twenty years, sustains her through her pain and provides her the support she needs to endure and accept, and ultimately, to grow from her own experiences. This book is must-read for young people and for adults who believe, or want to remember, through pain and turmoil, how important and precious hope, and love, is.

Dear Cara: Letters from Otto Frank: Anne's Father Shares His Wisdom

Average customer rating:

Dear Cara: Letters from Otto Frank: Anne's Father Shares His Wisdom
Cara Wilson
Manufacturer: Tandem Library
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: School & Library Binding

General | Biographies & Memoirs | Teens | Subjects | Books

Historical | Biographies & Memoirs | Teens | Subjects | Books

Books:

Books Index

Books Home

Recommended Books