health Books

This is the most entertaining, interesting cookbook I've ever read, second only to the great Pat Conroy's cookbook. And that's a compliment of the highest degree because Pat Conroy is my all-time favorite author, living or dead! Does that tell you how "taken" I am by this book?

I generally don't buy a cookbook to "read" it; I buy it to skip around through the recipes, but after reading all the delightful accolades about the charming stories the authors have published, in addition to the scrumptious recipes, I started reading from page one. And guess what? I couldn't put it down! Between the variety of recipes for this long-neglected vegetable with the unlikely name of "collard greens," and the interesting, often humorous, tales of the authors' friends and relatives, I had the time of my life.

Other reviewers have likened this reading experience to visiting old friends or relatives. I relate to that because it took me back to my Ohio childhood where I could envision my mother and aunts, shelling green beans (or other kitchen chores) as they told one "cooking" tale after another. My memories were so vivid I could even hear the Kentucky twang still evident in their voices.

I'm not a "true" cook, by any means, but even I could make the Stir-Fried Greens, and it was mouth-watering with the suggested sweet-and-sour sauce recipe that was included. The next time we have a family "pot-luck," I'm going to ask one of my daughters to prepare the Collard Crock-pot Casserole. That sounds "to die for." I can't wait to taste it. Oh, yummy!

In addition to the above, The Collard Patch contains many intriguing facts. I enjoyed learning how to grow and harvest collards--not that I'll ever do it. It's just good information.

And I must rave over the soothing green cover. It makes me want to take off my shoes and run through fields of grass (or even collards) as I did when I was a child. It doesn't get any better than that, "y'all!"

Thanks, Mary Lou Cheatham and Dr. Paul Elliott, for stirring my long-dormant memories and for sharing yours, also. You have another California "Collard Convert" on your hands now. I was pleased to note that Californian Dorothy Reinhold, a well-known food author and the supervisor of "Cut'n Clean Greens," contributed several delicious recipes and some great information, as did Yvette Freeman, another "collard lover" who is best-known for her role as Nurse Haleh Adams on the popular TV show "ER."

Kudos for collaborating on this book. You have a winner on your hands. Fly with it!

I highly recommend "The Collard Patch" and Cheatham's other cookbook "Flavored with Love: Mary Lou's Family and Friends Can Cook" to anyone who loves to cook AND to read.

Reviewed by Betty Dravis, November 2008
Author of "1106 Grand Boulevard"

If you've ever had a yearn for warm Southern food and a feeling of home, this book is perfect for you. While it does introduce several delicious and unexpected ways to enjoy collard greens, these are certainly not the only food on the menu. Dozens of wonderful recipes are included, along with food facts, entertaining stories about the different cooks who contribute, and some lovely Scripture quotes for good measure :)

Author Mary Lou Cheatham has not only great culinary skill, but a wonderful family and a warm heart, both of which show through her writings here. Reading this book gives me the feeling of being surrounded by good company, enjoying great food as well as nice tidbits of advice and Southern wisdom. Recommended!

The low-down, nitty-gritty bits of dirt and information about collards in this book is the appetizer before the main course of recipes that makes even the most over-boiled critic salivate. The dessert of stories is a fine finish to this unique cookbook that even cooking-phobic readers will enjoy. Read it in one sitting or read sample chapters as time permits -- either way, you'll learn something and be inspired to cook and eat these greens that are so good for you.

Back in the middle ages, every grand lady in her castle kept her own book of cooking and healing lore which might be passed down from mother to daughter. These "commonplace books" might have quotations from sermons, tips to kill insects, notations on how to skin wild boar and instructions for serving roast peacock with the feathers on. Later on the tradition became more like a scrapbook, a way for an accomplished young lady to show an elegant hand in setting down a favorite poem, dash off a watercolor sketch and collect the recipes for the favorite dishes of her best beau--soon to be her husband.

THE COLLARD PATCH is an American edition of a "commonplace book" inspired by the homey 'mess of greens' that Southern children have gagged on for generations. There are recipes, many with a useful nutritional chart that shows the sodium level! There are stories, some of which shade into "yarns". There are more recipes, mouthwatering and fancy--who knew the humble collard could keep such company? The authors chat with us as if we have just dropped into their kitchen. I love the stories. I am thrilled by the section on cornbread, which contains some marvelous recipes for this Southern staple. I laughed over the instructions to Paul's Midnight Chili which begin "Far up the Crock Pot" and end with "Stop any flowing blood and apply Band-Aids as needed"!

These people speak my language. My one gripe? A cookbook needs tabs so the cook can find the recipes fast.

Highly recommended. Band-Aids not included.

The Collard Patch
By Mary Lou Cheatham
Paul Elliott

What a great idea for a cookbook, with stories and recipes.
This is a beautifully written book, with details on growing, and preparing collard greens.

I live in Utah. I didn't even know collard greens from spinach, kale or turnip greens.

I looked for frozen collards, with no luck. Next I looked for the fresh variety, still no luck. I did find some at the Whole Foods store. I later saw collard greens at Walmart, as well. They looked fairly sturdy, compared to other limp varieties of greens.

I have been reading the stories in the cookbook each night. Finally, on Saturday I began my chopping and freezing. It is very simple to remove the inner tough stem, and twist like a cigar. Then you slice at an angle and chop each section. Quick and easy.

Did you know there are two ways to soften the collard greens? One is by freezing, and the other is by adding a pinch of baking soda.

On Saturday, I picked out four recipes: Cherry Chocolate Cake, Apple Collard Raisin Pie, French Onion Collard Soup, and Collard Corn. The cake, although you need to note the missing ingredient, cherry pie filling, is a supper tasty and moist cake. Beware, it would be a very good idea to have company over. As a family of three, now, we ate and ate on the cake. Now it's time for some exercise. I walked the dog all over town, trying to fit back into my clothes.

The Collards Corn went very well with the Lasagna, I made for dinner tonight. I admit that I cut the garlic in half. My husband isn't a big fan of garlic. I thought this dish was great and very tasty, as a side dish.

The French Onion Collard soup great. I embellished it, a little, by adding two packs of onion soup mix to the four cups of water. I also added two whole onions, to get the real onion texture. I added the chopped collard greens on top of each cup of hot soup, browned the French bread rounds with a little butter, and added cheese, mine was mozzarella. It tasted just like Mimi's. Do they have Mimi's in the south?

Tomorrow, I will make the Apple Raisin Collard Pie, with the remaining 5 cups of collards, in my freezer. It sounds good, as well. I don't know why I picked two deserts. I guess I was just curious. If I like the desserts, I will surely like the collards. I remember the time my mom made cookies out of mashed potatoes. They were good, with a strange texture.

Now that I have tried collard greens, I will try to keep some in the freezer, for any future taste treats.

Jill Ammon Vanderwood
Through the Rug
Through The Rug: Follow That Dog (Through the Rug)
Stowaway: The San Francisco Adventures of Sara, the Pineapple Cat

Very informative on most herbs. Conspicuously skirts around those herbs that should be used wisely (Cohosh, echinacea, St. John's Wart), but provides plenty of ideas and projects for the more common 'safe' herbs.

Great book at fraction of original price. Really helped me out on my trip. Very informative.

This is an excellent book, but there are a couple of drawbacks. First, and most annoying, is the ordering of the herbs by scientific name. Makes it hard to find the herb you're looking for. Second, it's a large book, takes up a lot of space on the table and doesn't fit on all shelves.

It has served me well enough, but I recently came across Your Backyard Herb Garden: A Gardener's Guide to Growing Over 50 Herbs Plus How to Use Them in Cooking, Crafts, Companion Planting and More and I have to say this is the book I would pick up instead, in retrospect. I may even buy it anyway. It's small, has all the reference information in this one (and then some), and more readily available.

This is a simply marvelous book. It is a mystery to me why it is not continuously in print. Do not hesitate to buy this used from Amazon Marketplace sellers, as I did.

The book is large and beautifully fashioned and produced, with gorgeous full-color photographs not only of each herb, but of dozens of different species of each herb, and of every possible use to which herbs can be put. There are full-color pictures of crafts, teas, household items, massage how-to illustrations, dyes--to say nothing of prepared food dishes; this is actually a cookbook within an herbal!

ONE CAVEAT: if you are looking for an in-depth gardening how-to, with exhaustive planting info, you might want a supplement for this book, which sticks to the basics. But every other herb-related topic is embellished and elaborated on. There are dozens of pages with full-color, labeled illustrations of different "theme" gardens you can plan. Whole chapters EACH on potpurri, herbal cosmetics, dyes, medicines, and household cleaners. Fabulous, unique homemade gift items like herbal-scented beads--that's right, painted beads made entirely out of herbs and plants!

The food/cooking section alone is worth the price of the book. The dishes are fantastic. I have already made the Sweet Rosemary Slices and several teas and drinks, and they are wonderful. Almost every recipe has a full-color photo.

I could go on and on, but rather than waste your time, I will leave you to hit "Add To Shopping Cart."

Money has rarely been this well-spent.

Unless you want extreme detail, you only need one book on herbs and this is it - whether for gardening or for culinary or medicinal insights, crafts or whatever. It's all here - and concise. I love to grow and use herbs and tossed the library my other herb books.

Liz Lipski is very prepared.
I Found in this book a little of suggestions very important, and other things to avoid for a good digestion

This is a good book if you want to learn all about digestion, the areas of the body involved and how different foods, herbs, and minerals can heal (or destroy) the body. It was interesting to discover how many ailments that are not commonly associated with digestion actually were alleviated or reduced by change in diet and supplementation.

I recommend the author consider making the text flow better on a re-write of this text. To me the book was very reference-like. I admit it did state in the beginning that the book was not written to be read from front to back. Nevertheless, I expect books to read this way unless it's specifically labeled as a reference text.

I found this book to be very informative. It is written in easy to understand, plain language. Everything is explained well enough for a lay person to understand.

I would highly recommend this book to anyone who would like a deeper understanding of how the digestive process works. Anyone who desires to take control of their health should read this. My doctor told me that the colon controls 90% of the other organs of the body. I had a hard time believing that until I began to do research on the digestive system. I have concluded that he was right.

This is an exceptional book about the digestive system. I would highly recommend it. I also ordered the children's digestive wellness and it too is an exceptional and informative book.

I usually don't write reviews on Amazon unless I have extreme satisfaction from my purchase. Well this is one of them. I used to get bad heartburn frequently and was taking proton-pump inhibitors, which I felt were not alleviating the problem but maybe making it worse. I bought this book and learned a bit about the digestive system and the bacteria involved in helping us digest. Knowing that I have H. pylori which was the main cause of my heartburn, I decided to take the approach of promoting the good bacteria in my system. Since then I've done this, and barely ever get acid reflux. The only times I will get it is when I deviate to eating bad foods for a prolonged amount of time.

I believe this diet is a wonderful and healthy approach to losing weight, it is not to easy but the results in the end could just make your day, I lost 8 pounds in one week with the Protein Plus One Plan. I love it, I recommend it to all of my friends.

This book has every diet you could ever think of in it and it helps you pick the one that would work best for you. I learned a lot from this book and lost some weight without putting it back on.

I'll admit that these diet plans probably work, but I just got this book and it is not as easy as it sounds. I can see how it would work for celebrities who have someone to make them the meals they want with the allowed foods.

I am a busy college student, and the 3+2 was what was the best for me, but there was no way in the world with my schedule that I'd be able to get the amount of protien that my plan required by cooking foods. So I was going to try drinking protien powder shakes.

THEY ARE DISGUSTING AND EXPENSIVE. If you have the time and the money to prepare a variety of meals then I think you will be satisifed with this book and I wish you well, otherwise you will have a hard time. All these diets require that you eat a LOT of protien, and not from some of the sources that we previously believed to be good protien, like dairy products.

Also, if you don't know your exact body fat for some of these plans you have to make estimates, how many people are going to go out and get their bodyfat monitored? Your doctors office would laugh at you if you called them and told them you wanted to make an appointment to do that. There are a lot of hidden advertisements for Dr.Perrone's products, constantly reminding you to dial a certain number toll free if you need something he wants you to buy and he can't find it.

However, I am using the book as inspiration to diet, I may not lose fat as rapidly as if I was on an exact plan from the book, but I am going to try. I am going to eat a decent amonut of protien and lots of vegetables, and limit my fat and carbohydrates.

I have read this book from front to back and have selected the perfect diet for me from the diet questions. I have lost 15lbs in two months eating the foods that I love from the protein, carb, fat and free foods lists. I followed the instructions and have not been hungry. Other than planning to cook a turkey breast on the weekend for the week and for shopping for my foods that I will eat that week, this diet is a snap! I feel healthy. I feel very good. My muscle strength is returning and my fat is melting way. I would reconmend to the buyer of this book to get the free Lean Body Mass Calculator from (Diet Hacker). By weighting yourself once a month, doing the measurements that are required by the Lean Body Mass Calculator, you will get a fairly accurate Percent Body Fat measurement. With this number, the rest of the calculations in the book for your specific diet will give to you the exact information that you will need to create your daily meals. I would also advise that the buyer take a good multi-vitamin & mineral supplement, so you will be sure your body is getting the complete nutrition it needs everyday.

Here's to a slimmer me! Yum!!

Beware! This book is not for helping you change your habits over the long-term, but it interesting because it gives you a range of options should you need to lose weight quickly. And I MEAN WEIGHT, not NECESSARILY FAT. In fact, you will probably just lose a lot of water and the glycogen stored in your muscles, instead of actual FAT. It is pretty much physically impossible to lose 5 pounds a week unless you are morbidly obese and totally starving, which is not healthy, nor is it realistic over the long term. But "Dr." -- and that's Ph.D., not M.D.--Perrone gets 2 stars from me for the effort!

This is a great start to a new way of thinking on budget planning. I am working hard to cut out the clutter in my bills and mind to get it together!

We bought these as a functional hands on book for all our employees. Our country wouldn't be in the state it is financially if more people had listened to Dave 5 years ago.

Great seller, received in perfect condition. Recommend this book to everyone who wants to live debt free!!!

Although I am not yet through the book, I am very excited to start putting into practice the principals behind with in it. It is an answer to prayer!

This is an excellent product to help people with their finances and establish a budget. Dave Ramsey has a great plan to help people get out of debt and stay out of debt. This should be required reading for all young people entering adulthood.

It's a fun book, brings back memories of girlfriends and the fun we had and loved the recipes too!

I love any and all Susan Branch books so this one did not disappoint! I actually already had it but bought it as a gift for a very good friend who is going through a rough patch in her life. I hope it gives her as much joy as I get just by looking at the pages!

Product arrived in perfect shape. I gave the book to a friend for her birthday, and she loves it.

Thsi book is just a light read ,full of snippets on friendship and wonderful recipes

Every page of "Girlfriends Forever" is a treasure to read. That is why I have bought copy after copy of this book to share with my best and dearest friends.

It is filled with all the everyday things that girls laugh and talk about. It's not the kind of book that has to be read from cover to cover. You can read a page or ten pages from anywhere in the book and enjoy every minute of your reading time.

I have had this book for over a year now. I use a highlight marker to highlite the informative tidbits. This book can be hard to digest because of his knowledge of chemistry and the human body.Most of his health tips are very easy to read though. I have been on a high dose vitamin regiman for most of my life and I have not had any serious health problems. I look, act and feel much better than people half my age. (I was born in 1964).Dr. Pauling started the vitamin revolution back in the late 1960's. This book (How to live longer) is like a Doctors journal. As I said earlier- alot of the book is hard to understand unless you know something about chemistry. Dr. Pauling himself took 18 grams of vitamin C a day and lived to the age of 93. I myself take about 7 grams per day but I feel that is good enough for me so far.Dr Pauling also took his own urine samples to do tests on vitamin C and he found out that only 15% of the vitamin C is excreted through the urine! That means that the other 85% is being used by the body.Go on youtube and you can watch video clips of Linus Pauling discussing the importance of vitamins.
Thank you for prolonging our lives Dr. Pauling!

I don't have enough words to tell how this book is valuable to me.
You gotta read it! It will change your habits and spam your life time on earth!
Good luck!

While I agree with those who contend that even in large doses vitamin C undoubtedly doesn't cure cancer, neither do the deadly poisons of chemotherapy and radiation. Unlike the horrible side effects and life shortening poisons of chemotherpy and radiation, even in large doses vitamin C won't poison your system and shorten your life. Having said that, I convinced that you can take to much of even an excellent vitamin such as C.

The mildest form of chemotherapy, mustard gas was used in WWI. It was so difiguring that it's use was outlawed at that time. The form most often used in present day cancer treatment is the most toxic form available. As it burns the tissues, radiation is no safer than chemotherapy.

In the 1970's Nixon declared a war on cnacer, which meant he was declaring war on our bodies. I'm not war with my body, but rather desire to do all in my power to treat as the fearfully and wonderful made creation of God that it is.

While not a cure for cancer either, a truly healthy diet, optimal doses of all vitamins and minerals, fresh air, moderate sun exposure, plenty of rest, dealing with emotional issures, etc, can prolong people's lifes, give them a better quality of life with less pain and in less advanced cases even reverse the disease. Way to often we are looking for a magic bullet supplement or treatment for disease. There are no magice bullets, but rather we all need to take "responsibility" and care for our bodies the way they were designed to be cared for. Prevention of disease not cure should be our emphasis.

User "L. POWER lp542": while Linus Pauling is a great mind and his vitamin regimine is a wonderful way to maintain a healthy immune system, his mega-doses of Vitamin C are ABSOLUTELY NOT a primary treatment for cancer, as you suggested. It is irresponsible of you to suggest that taking large doses of vitamin C can push one's cancer into remission. The only effective prescriptions for cancer are those offered by leading oncologists, like surgery, if possible; chemotherapy; radiation treatment; radiofrequency ablation; monoclonal antibodies; etc. It is irresponsible and morally abhorrent to suggest that vitamins can be an effective primary treatment for cancer when leading oncologists have never supported this hogwash. You are presenting a supplementary treatment as a primary treatment. And, since cancer is a fatal disease, your advice can actually shorten the lives of patients who would otherwise be receiving treatments that actually work and have been proven to do so in double-blind randomized placebo trials. Do you really believe that a random book (written by a Nobel laureate or not) contains secret cancer fighting tools that leading researchers and oncologists are not aware of? If vitamin C loading was so groundbreaking in the treatment of cancer, don't you think there would be articles about it in major medical journals and presentations on it at the annual ASCO (American Society of Clinincal Oncology) convention? There is a reason that mega-doses of vitamins are not used as primary treatment at cancer hospitals. That reason is that vitamin C loading is NOT a proven primary treatment for any type of cancer. There are NO studies proving that vitamins can push any type of cancer into remission. Those cancer patients you mentioned who are alive today are not living because of their vitamin loading. They're alive because of the primary treatment (e.g. chemotherapy, radiation, monoclonal antibodies, etc.) they received.

I have not read this book, but I somehow doubt that Linus Pauling would suggest in it that vitamins are a good primary treatment for cancer. In fact, I'm sure he didn't. Something this riculous could only come from a crackpot poster on Amazon...

My grandmother was taking about 26 different meds for all sorts of conditions, COPD, arthritis, diabetes, cholesterol, fibromylagia, etc. etc. I figured most of her symptoms were a result of over medication and side effects. I first got the book "Best pills, Worst Pills" to review her meds. I highly recommend it. Then I started getting books on nutrition and vitamin supplementation. This book by Pauling is the best I have read. After you read it, it will give you a better understanding of how to look at you health from a big picture point of view. The other book I highly recommend is a book by Hoffer called "Putting it all together: The New Orthomolecular Medicine". He writes more about his clinical experiences. If you read the Hoffer book first, you would probably be a little more skeptical, but if you read the Linus book first, it will give you a better foundation for accepting Hoffer's propositions. GET THE BOOKS!!

I want to congratulate Lise Cloutier Steele, and Mary Anne Wyatt, for this excellent book on the devastating effects of a hysterectomy. Incredibly, the vast majority of women who have a hysterectomy do not receive adequate information about the harmful side effects of their operation before their surgery. The women's stories represent the tip of an iceberg that reveals the chilling effects these surgical procedures have had on the lives of so many women: one in three women over the age of sixty-five in Canada have had a hysterectomy. It is difficult to comprehend the thinking within the medical community that ignores the scientific literature which speaks of the side effects and is responsible for the loss of so many vibrant, intelligent, and powerful women to our society. These are other excellent resources: http://www.cbc.ca/natureofthings/show_hysterectomy.html and the HERS Foundation in the U.S.
Cathy Woods, Vancouver, BC
(...)

I thank Lise Cloutier for writing misinformed consent book. Many of us women have been hysterectomized and we had no idea of the facts involved, simply because doctors do not tell the facts. I had a hysterectomy several years ago at age 21 at the advise of my doctors. I find misinformed consent to be specially informative for those facing hysterectomy, and informative for the rest of us as well because it indicates many of the side effect of a hysterectomy, which many are suffering with, but are not aware of the source of their problems. I do believe misinformed consent will help many women. Again, thank you Lise.

I felt like I had "come home" while reading Misinformed Consent. I cried as I poured over story after story of these courageous women and their health problems after unecessary hysterectomies. Everything I read validated my own experience and made me see I am not mentally weak, rather, I suffer from a physical endocrine problem caused by surgical menopause. I don't need a doctor to agree with me whether I am, indeed, experiencing symptoms like depression, insomnia, weight gain, low libido, etc. If I say I am experiencing them and if all these women say they are experiencing them, then it is TRUE. Shame on the pharmaceutical companies for making a buck while destroying quality of life for women. In Misinformed Consent, I learned there's such a thing as salivary testing for hormone levels, bio-identical hormone replacement therapy and compounding pharmacists. Thank you Lise Cloutier-Steele and friends, for this very edifying and informative book. If you want to LIVE instead of just SURVIVE and if you are contemplating hysterectomy, READ THIS BOOK!!

I cried when I read Misinformed Consent because story after story validated my own experience with symptoms and doctors.
These courageous women discover it's not mental weakness they're suffering from, it's physical endocrine problems caused by uneccessary hysterectomies. Any woman considering a hysterectomy should read Misinformed Consent. Any woman who wishes to live instead of survive should read this book. Thank you Lise and friends, for Misinformed Consent. In it, I learned, for the first time, about saliva-testing for hormone levels, compounding pharmacists, and bio-identical products for hormone replacement therapy.

The courageous authors of this remarkable book have accomplished the near impossible: They have taken on the medical profession and revealed its LIES AND COVER UPS. These are real stories by real women who TRUSTED THEIR DOCTORS and were BETRAYED, physically and psychologically damaged, and abandoned by those in whom they entrusted their very lives.

I can only imagine the pain and torment these women have suffered through their experiences, and the difficulty they must have endured in reliving and writing this book. WE are the beneficiaries of their heinous experiences. "Misinformed Consent" has unlocked the door behind which the careless, deceptive victimization of women has been well hidden. These women educate and inspire..and I, for one, am eternally grateful for their efforts in giving this book to the world.

"MISINFORMED CONSENT" is THE BOOK every woman MUST read and SHARE with mothers, daughters, sisters and friends.

This is one of my childhood favorites; I had this book growing up but lost it somewhere and when I found it here I bought it.

This is a book from another time.

Here's a summary of the action: Sal wakes up. While brushing her teeth she notices that one is loose. She tells her mother. She makes a wish. She goes to tell her father who is digging clams. On the way she sees a fish hawk, a loon and a seal. She tells her father. She drops the tooth in the mud and loses it. She picks up a seagull feather. Sal, her father and her sister go into town. Her father cannot start the motor on the motor boat so he rows across the bay. Sal tells several people in town about her missing tooth. The motor is fixed. The grocer gives Sal an ice cream cone (her wish). They return home for clam chowder.

That's it.

But this is a book from another time.

The cadence is graceful, the illustrations spare but satisfying, and really, when it's over you realize that everything that needed to happen, happened.

There is much wonder in small things...

My 8 year old thought it was old and boring but he did seem interested in a few parts of the story. Probably a little outdated for kids these days but I loved it. It was the kind of story I would read when I was little, but I am going on 50.

This is a very long, very wordy book. It's not suitable for last minute bedtimes, nor for toddlers.

It's very suitable for kids in the older end of the 4-8 range, or littler kids with a good attention span, though.

Not much happens in the story - girl loses a tooth, gets her wish of ice cream, has clam chowder for lunch - which is just the way real life works. It's so well-written that you don't even *notice* that the story moves slowly, you might as well be talking about your own life.

I really sound like I'm criticizing, but I'm not. All the points I'm mentioning actually make it a good book. Really :) Definitely don't pass this classic book by.

To a child, every morning is a new start with infinite possibilities; at least that's how it should be. In this classic 1953 book Robert McCloskey brings a child's simple world to life. McCloskey, better known for his Make Way for Ducklings and Blueberries for Sal, gives us another look at little Sal. The story is timeless and his line drawings bring the children to life.

The simple coastal lifestyle of more than half a century ago may be hard to find today, in part because of the high local tax valuation of shore and island properties. Still, if you were to take a child to the rocky coast of Maine this summer, she could be little Sal in the clam flats. One Morning in Maine (Picture Puffin) is full of that magical atmosphere where the land and ocean meet. We all want that magic!

McCloskey's Caldecott-honored book tells a simple story. Young Sal wakes up on a sunny morning in Maine with an adventure in store. She and her little sister are going with their father in the boat to Buck's Harbor to dig clams. There are idyllic family scenes, lessons from their father about the world around them, ice cream cones at the store, and the disappointment of a loose tooth lost in the clam flats.

Simple stuff? It certainly is, and just the sort of simple stuff children thrive on. Sal's morning may be long ago and far away, but the curiosity and wonder of a child's new day will be with us forever.

Linda Bulger, 2008

If you've read Patterns Vol. 1 then you should really read this. Patterns Vol. 1 was very detailed and threw a ton of information at you. There were many techniques and examples given but it was short implementation. That's where Vol. 2 comes in. This book has much of the same info in it as it's predecessor but it glosses over that and gets in deep with how to put all of these techniques together. There's more description on pacing and an emphasis on analogue marking. At the end there are two full length dictations of M.H.E. in action. All of the linguistic devices are spelled out in column fashion making it easy to see how these "patterns" fit together. Reading Vol. 1 and not this would be like watching the first hour and ten minutes of a movie and then not watching the last twenty minutes.

This book, along with the part one of the series, form the best development of understanding of hypnosis I have ever encountered. Extremely thought-provoking and useful. For those who wish to truly explore the subject, it is a must-have.

Milton Erickson, is my mentor. I can not give you an honest appraisal of this book as I read and practise every thing written about the man, his style of Hypnosis, and the use of NLP. Richard Bandler has once again put together a book of Erickson's work, which is to me a Bible in the use of Clinical Hypnosis as practised by Erickson. I have been practising for 42 years and I am still learning Erickson's methods and motivators.

I would highly recommend this book to any one who has any interest in learning about Hypnosis it's mysteries and how to apply it with skill. Erickson was a master of Hypnosis and dealt with all facets of this medium. He understood what he was doing but was unable to put it into words for others to follow. This is where we are lucky with Dr. Richard Bandler coming into the picture and putting the works of Erickson into the written form so that others may be able to understand it, and eventually practise it as Erickson did. I read the same books over at least 5 times before I attempt to interpret the method to my own use.

As stated Erickson is my Mentor. I can not be subjective or objective of any thing written about this man, his work, or his methods. Another marvelous book.

Wonderful, but not easy to read. This is a must for anyone wanting to understand Milton's linquistic approach to hypnosis. Highly recommended.

Milton Erickson is legendary for his work in hypnosis. This book is a great introduction to his ways of using language to induce trance states. It is a good intro into NLP (neurolinguistic psycotherapy). i think it is more useful as a reference book for those interested in neuropsychology but it reads well in straight reading format as well.