Amazon.com
Best known for The Serpent and the Rainbow, Wade Davis is an ethnobotanist interested in the native uses of plants, especially psychotropics. He finds many such plants in the travels he recounts in One River, especially coca and curare. (The first, famously, is a curse in the First World but is a necessity in the Andes, where it promotes the digestion of many kinds of food plants.) Framing Davis's narrative is an account of the dangerous World War II-era Amazonian expeditions undertaken by his mentor, Harvard biologist Richard Evans Schultes. Davis describes a few hair-raising encounters of his own, making this a fine book of scientific adventure.
Customer Reviews:
The amazing world of plants and the people who study them.......2007-08-21
Wade Davis is a lyrical writer and an accomplished scientist. This account of enthobotanists studying the amazing properties of plants and the way they are used by indigenous people is one of the most fascinating books I have ever read. Into the already-dense tapestry of medicinal, psychotropic, and industrial uses of plants he weaves fascinating details about the lives of several other brilliant and eccentric botanists, the administrative debacle of the U.S. government's rubber policy during WWII, the extraordinary lifestyles, religion and mythology of the tribes he encounters, the history of the missionaries, the cultural and nutritional significance of coca and the saga of its commercial exploitation, and the brutal history of the Spanish conquest. Add to this the sheer logistical difficulties of working in the remote rain forest -- the washed out roads, unusual diseases and parasites, harrowing plane rides, etc. -- that he, and especially his predecessors endured, and the book reads like a nail-biter adventure story. Left me with an overwhelming sense of awe as well as regret for the wonders that exist and those that have been lost.
More jouney than you can imagine.......2007-04-02
I actually teared up at the end of this book, not something I expected from a book about ethnobotany. At the end of the reading I had learned about the lives of researchers in such exquisit detail that I lived along side of them. This book is nearly perfect, much better than even the rave recommendation from some very respected friends. It's possible that there will never be anyone who will have the knowledge from experience that Richard Shultes had aquired in South America and that alone makes this book very rich, yet added to his story are the experiences of Davis and Dr. Plowman two researchers that also immerse themselves deeply into the Andes, the llanos, and the Amazon to learn about the forests, the people and the use of medicinal and psychoactive plants.
This is a long book, nearly 500 pages and is a serious commitment but well worth it as you will not experience anything quite like it unless Davis's other book is better (I have not read it yet). I only have a few complaints about the book and those are regarding omissions in some available photographs that Davis mentions in the end and a lack of maps for much of the area covered in the book. There is one small map on page 125 that shows the route of travels but it is too small and difficult to use. I resorted to a copy of International Travel Maps - South America North West to see the detail that I needed as I followed the travels of Schutes, Davis and Plowman.
Davis is an excellent writer and he has a way of conveying a sensitivity to the lives of all that he encounters. That along with his insight into the cultures that he experiences and the knowledge and history that he brings into this makes it a unique, rich read.
ADVENTUROUS PSYCHONAUTS BEWARE.......2004-09-06
Being interested in pharmacological psychedelics and their effects, I was most disappointed by this mundane travelogue. I struggled immeasurably to get through this tome. I kept aiming it at the trash can, but kept telling myself it was going to get better. It didn't and it ultimately ended up there. I expected an adventure novel into alternate dimensions or Davis' personal journey into mind altering hyper-dimensions. It was not to be. I understand the importance of Schultes work. All psychonauts owe this man a debt of gratitude. But this book is a tedious retracing of every footstep this man made in his discoveries, along with Wade Davis' personal journey and dealings with Schultes. Very dry reading in my opinion. SERPENT AND THE RAINBOW is a better book. Readers should be warned this is NOT a psychedelic adventure story, but a tiresome travelogue of plant classification. Important, I suppose, if that's what you're looking for. I prefer Schultes' own book PLANTS OF THE GODS. It's wonderfully illustrated and an easier read. Or if you're looking for a true psychonaut's adventures in South America, I'd suggest reading anything by Terence McKenna. He was one strange and brilliant fellow. Or THE COSMIC SERPENT by Jeremy Narby. Frankly, I'm surprised by the glowing reviews for this book. I found it to be quite boring.
Speaking of Wade Davis, there was a rumor some years ago that he was living amongst the Rastafarians in the Blue Mountains of Jamaica and planned to write a book about it. Now, that would be fascinating.
Even Deeper in the Wonder.......2004-04-15
This will be a very short review on a book that has long been with me. While working on a reproductive biology macaw research project climbing into the canopy of the Amazon each day for 3 months i found ONE RIVER one night piled amongst the research literature. Even though i had the Amazon literally ground into my bones after so many days of hard labor i could not put this book down each night reading by candle. Could one gourge on steak then still enjoy reading about cattle? This is simply a fascinating, and most well written book on arguably the most complex wonderful ecosystem as experienced by a most hard working curiously gifted individual. Do your soul a favor and read this book 5 times!!!
Wade Davis opens up the amazon and ethno-botany.......2003-09-27
I have read this book fully three times over five years. I am still amazed at the wealth of detail, yet the subtle humor in Davis' descriptions of the plants and peoples of the Amazon basin. The book is so detailed that I think many people glaze over in trying to read it. I would say it helps to read it before and then after you visit any rainforest. It also gives you a whole different approach to medicine and healing. The shaman empathizes with a patient, and uses native plants on HIMSELF to approach the healing process. Then, illuminated regarding what course to follow, provides the patient with a very specific course of healing, often using other plant materials. Often dismissed in our American culture as superstition, these practices are fascinating to read about from an author who has travelled, observed, and done what we can only imagine, and who seems to believe otherwise.
Book Description
William Alexander had a simple dream of having a vegetable garden and small orchard in his backyard. It was a dream that would lead to life-and-death battles with groundhogs, webworms, and weeds; midnight expeditions in the dead of winter to dig up fresh thyme; skirmishes with neighbors who feed the vermin (i.e., deer); the near electrocution of the tree man; and the pity of his wife and children.
When Alexander decided to run a cost-benefit analysis, adding up everything from the Havahart animal trap ($60) to the Velcro tomato wraps ($5) to the steel edging ($1,200), then amortizing it over the life of his garden, it came as quite a shock to learn that it cost him a staggering $64 to grow each tomato.
A gardener with an existential bent, Alexander gives excellent advice about everything from peaches to leeks, while tackling such questions as What do our gardens tell us about ourselves? Do we get the gardens we deserve? And why does the groundhog have to take one bite from half a dozen tomatoes when any gardener would gladly grant him six bites of just one?
Customer Reviews:
Great book gift for green thumbs (and brown thumbs).......2007-08-09
I HATE gardening, but thoroughly enjoyed reading Alexander's odyssey of his quest to build his dream garden. Very funny account of epic battles with weeds, rodents, and bugs as he tries to prevent his little "hobby" from ruining his life. Your gardening friends will love this book (and non-gardeners will too!)
A tasty little story.......2007-08-02
His wife's insistence on an old fixer-upper of a house means the author can have the garden, orchard, and even meadow he's always dreamed. Once the house is livable--and everyone in town knows it has to be repaired to be livable--the owners start on the grounds. Landscape contractors, who are always late and leave their backhoe to winter in the author's yard, promise a garden to be proud of--and then bring plans for some very ordinary rectangles.
Not to be daunted, Alexander picks heirloom plants to grow his produce. He is determined to have the same fruit and experiences he remembers from his father's gardening. Organic gardening should be easy when he has only four trees and a small garden. He can pluck off the hungry worms and organically protect his crops from predators of all types.
After learning how much time is involved in using the organic bug sprays--first you find the caterpillar, then you spray him--how much it costs to put in something other than grass walkways, and that some animals are not deterred by six thousand volts, he gets down to serious gardening.
His wife and children begin to question his sanity. His plants don't always grow the way he expected. Who knew growing roses would kill the corn? Sitting down to calculate the cost of his succulent heirloom tomatoes gives him a jolt he thought he'd only get from his electric fence. Did his dad really do it this way? Had he been hoodwinked about how much fun this all was? When did the hobby become a second job?
You needn't be a gardener to enjoy the humor in this book. The history of tomatoes and potatoes, and insights on the Anasazi Indians thrown in with ridding the garden of Superchuck, the groundhog, is true fun for the reading. Cultivated entertainment.
Armchair Interview says: Humor and hoeing, planting and waiting, bugs and bug sprays flow together to give you an enjoyable read.
Enjoyable memoir of a man and his garden.......2007-07-26
I am by no means a gardening expert, more of a beginner, but I enjoyed this memoir of one man's obsession with and relationship with his garden. I found it informative and funny. I took as much what not to do, as what to do, from the book. I mean, you can see the excessiveness of his spending and learn from it as much as you can learn from the ways he fights pests on his fruit trees. I read books like this for inspiration and I was inspired by his mistakes and successes. All in all it was an enjoyable light read.
For the Gardening Obsessed.......2007-07-26
This book speaks to every obsessed gardener in America. The majority of the public, however, won't get it. They put in a few pansies, water them when they think of it and go on with their lives. But a few of us have an insatiable drive to work the soil, wage a constant war with the elements and beat off ravaging beasts just so we can be overwhelmed with too much produce.
Our neighbors think we're nuts--why would someone put themselves through all that labor and expense to get something they could buy at the corner market for $0.85 a pound? (Yeah, well I don't get the mountain climbing thing either.)
I like Alexander's writing--it was cute and witty and perfectly illustrated a man trying to work in his career, family and home improvement projects around his gardening obsession. All 2,000 square feet of it.
Although organic gardeners will be disgusted with how often Alexander reaches for the spray can, most will be able to relate to his journey.
A really cute read but I can't review the recipes as I didn't try them out yet.
As an animal lover..........2007-06-28
... I too was distressed by the chapters where the authors obsession defies his place at the top of the food chain and his "logical" abilities. When the local fauna decide that his exorbitantly expensive garden is the local salad bar, he goes on the war path and attempts to destroy everything alive that is not a plant.
While this is somewhat disheartening, it is also illuminating. I place this book alongside ElectroBoy on my bookshelf, and alongside The Omnivore's Dilemma, because it makes such a natural segue between the two.
William Alexander is truly obsessed with his garden. What ought to be a nice, pleasant way to pass time and to get some exercise and food turns into a dangerous obsession, resulting in damage to his finances, his health, his psyche, and his marriage.
It is amusing, in parts, however.
Read it, if only to see what lengths people will go to in order to save their hobby. It is an interesting study, really. Probably not a book I will read again, but it is one that I will think of from time to time.
Harkius
Amazon.com
Who but Matthew Fox--former Dominican priest, author of countless influential books such as Original Blessing and The Reinvention of Work, silenced by the Vatican for his controversial statements about creation spirituality, and now an Episcopal priest--would combine rave dances with a religious mass? And who else would now attempt such a distillation of the world's religions as this book brings us? Combining writings from a multitude of spiritual traditions, Fox here puts into practice the idea of deep ecumenism that he has been exploring in a series of books going back to The Coming of the Cosmic Christ in 1989. To accomplish this task, Fox focuses on four categories of spiritual inquiry that he sees running like a river through all spiritual traditions: how we relate to creation, to divinity, to ourselves (this includes topics such as meditation, art, ritual, sexuality), and, finally, how we relate to the future, a section that explores issues of service and compassion, justice and spiritual warriorhood. He then concludes with "18 New Myths and Visions" that summarize his central message.
Simplicity and clarity are the goals of this book. To achieve this Fox weaves his own brief commentary through a series of quotations drawn from a myriad of traditions. While it may be faulted by some for this method of making easy connections between traditions, the book serves its purpose as a kind of primer for deep ecumenism. It will be especially useful for those new to such ideas, and to those who might otherwise never meet Hildegard of Bingen and Julian of Norwich, Hafiz, and the Sufi Ibn Arabi--not to mention Thomas Aquinas, physicist Werner Heisenberg, and geologian Thomas Berry--all sharing each other's company. --Doug Thorpe
Book Description
Maverick theologian Matthew Fox brings readers into the common heart of the world's great religions, illuminating a "deep ecumenism" for seekers everywhere.
We get to the core of religion by going to the heart experience, Matthew Fox says, not by dwelling on doctrines that so easily divide even within religious traditions. In One River, Many Wells, Fox exhorts readers to embrace the common faith of deep ecumenism.
Fox masterfully distills the common principles of the world's religions, and shows exactly how the different fingers of world faiths connect to a single hand. Drawing on seminal quotes, lessons, and ideas from the great faiths, he demonstrates how each expresses a common goal and approach to life, and concludes the book with "18 New Myths and Visions" that will inspire readers to embrace deep ecumenism.
One River, Many Wells is an indispensable resource, envisioning a new and exciting way of faith that erases the lines of false distinction between religions and calls upon each of us to worship from our common heart.
Customer Reviews:
Diverse Paths but One Experience.......2006-01-01
This book by Matthew Fox is a wealth of information derived from many sources, the Old and New Testaments (Bible), the Koran, the Vedas, African religious traditions, Native American, Celtic sources, and Buddhism. Writing it must have been a huge undertaking but amazingly, the information flows *naturally* as it reveals the outpouring of Spirit in the lives of mankind throughout the world and over the millenia. Many of the experiences described are words which attempt to capture Divinity at work through particular individuals, societies, and their outcomes. The book is an *essential* exploration of mankind's relationship to each other, community, the earth, and the cosmos. It is an exploration of the meaning of Life itself. Like a previous reviewer, I had difficulty getting started. Initially, I tried reading it straight through but could not. Gradually, at different times, glancing at the chapters, I felt a surge of energy. The ideas and concepts explored by the author set my emotions and mind at ease. Eventually, I was able to "plunge in" and "swim" through the material with relative ease.
The book is divided into five sections, "Relating to Creation", "Relating to Divinity", "Relating to Ourselves: Paths to Encounter and Enlightenment", "Relating to the Future: What the Divine is Asking of Us", and "Where Do We Go from Here? How Deep Ecumenism Explodes our Imaginations with Eighteen New Myths and Visions". Each section has further subdivisions where the author expands on specific themes, such as, Creation, Light, Community, the Names of God, Form, Formlessness, Nothingness, the Divine Feminine, Meditation, Mindfulness, Art and Ritual, Joy, Suffering, and Dying, Resurrection and Reincarnation, the Spiritual Warrior and other topics. Each theme is given a thorough examination connecting many different cultural viewpoints and providing unique insights. The author's vast experience in the realm or religion and personal enlightenment, along with his courage to tackle controversial subjects is greatly appreciated and admired.
The author's vision for mankind is very broad and inclusive ... he sees beyond the barriers of dogmatic belief, ritual, and any other differences that separate people. He gets down to *personal* experiences as expressed by the Great Spirit of Life in the vast expanse of time both from the past, in the present and future. The subject is spiritual expression in the lives of humanity and how the many different ideas and experiences have only One source. This is a very highly recommended book for anyone who is interested in comparative religions and spirituality. Also recommended is "One Heart" by Bonnie Louise Kuchler. Her book is an excellent source of quotations and meditations from different religions and spiritual practices. It is a less complex but similar work. Many readers who find Matthew Fox too deep would benefit from her book. Erika Borsos (erikab93)
The Universal Church of God........2004-09-20
Fox is giving the hounds of the status quo a run for their money with this near encyclopedic outline about fighting the good fight. Those with an open mind and heart will find much food for thoughtful contemplation here. Fox admits his book is in no way complete. That it is meant to be suggestive of what future Scriptures will and must contain; wisdom from all Wisdom traditions, a bias in favor of what we have in common; a religious humility that lets traditions other than our own speak for themselves; a use of primary sources; God as experience, not doctrine... Fox succeeds in his stated goal.
This book is an encouragement for fighting the good fight. For becoming a spiritual warrior. Anyone can be a soldier telling the Emperor or their Priest or their Boss what he or she wants to hear. Being a warrior means taking a stand. A warrior has a dignity a soldier never realizes. The warrior fights his holy wars with internal enemies before going on any external jihad. The enemies of personal pride and greed and such. Anyone can be a brute, or a terrorist, in the name of God or Country. Fox points out that even in Islam there is a distinction between a lesser and a greater jihad. The greater jihad being that struggle against one's own demons. As the Sufi mystic Hafiz states, battle without love, can render a person mad. As I like to say, it does not matter what a person believes if they don't have love in their heart.
With that said, "One River, Many Wells" is well worth the read. It is a very good outline to work from regarding one's own spiritual journey. Fox brings to light what Meister Eckhart said 700 years ago, "God is like a great underground river." Thus "One River, Many Wells" is short for One Underground River (Source, God), Many sacred Wells-religious traditions. Again, as I like to say, God speaks to anyone that will listen. To meditate is to dig one's own sacred well. Be still and know that I am God. There are no atheists in Foxholes.
What is he thinking.......2001-11-18
It's hard to tell where Matthew Fox is and where he is going. His books have been a trail of hit and, mostly miss, wanderings.
He recognizes a common source for spiritual reality. And yet he pushes an ecumenical (and even New-Age) agenda to try and mold all existing beliefs into a vision that it cannot be. 'Only if the religions of the world would stand together...' These religions are organizations with their own agendas and systems. Perhaps Fox should listen to the Dali Lami who said that ultimately there is no reconciliation between the *religions* of Buddhism and Christianity. There may be one spirit, but not a single religion or even meaningful coordination of them. (Vivikenanda says that would be very boring.)
Mysticism is the root of all real spiritual experience and Fox knows this. But each religion is an outgrowth (and hence not true development) of the founder who had the mystical experience. The goal of any true (spiritual) path is personal experience. Fox keeps attempting to join all religions (forms) into a great ecumenical mandala and this cannot be done. Personal experience is always unique. It is wisdom that we can see from other beliefs. But Fox keeps on pushing in yet another book.
To be perfectly clear, his inclusion of various spiritual and mystical source in this book is commendable. Everyone else is realizing wisdom of many sources so why not M.Fox. However his approach is always one of 'Look how great what I am saying is'. He claims great visions and breakthroughs for humanity if we will just believe what he is saying. Check his past books. He always does this.
The inclusion and recognition of various sources does not, in his writings, yield meaningful synthesis. This is because there is no coherent meaning to be achieved through shallow or 'deep' ecumenism (joining of outward forms). Neither by dancing, or having estatic sex, or by bringing in ethics or spirituality to work (all themes of his). Neither volumes of writing nor diversity of inputs has meaning on its own. There is no substantial vision presented in his works that rises above religion (form) and beyond his own (elevated) concepts of how things should be. His previous books have not resulted in major changes to society and it does not appear this one will have much effect either.
FINDING IT ALL IN ONE PLACE.......2001-09-03
I had a difficult time getting started in this book. I'd picked it up and put it down several times. But once into it, it was a pleasant surprise. I read about spiritual matters and paths of every religion and each reading talks of it's own spicific area of knowledge and experience. But Matthew Fox picks a subject and covers it from all angles, Jewish, Catholic, Islamic, Hindu, Buddist, Native American, African American, even the Celtic and the Goddess. It's a great book and a great read. And then you know why you like to study them all.
As complete a tome of spiritual knowledge possible.......2000-12-13
Matthew Fox has outdone himself with this work, taking similar themes from the works of mystics spanning diverse traditions. To those who are regular consumers of Fox's writings, this compellation provides a "Bible" for his idea of "Deep Ecumenism". It is as complete a tome of humanity's spiritual knowledge that I have seen on the bookshelf. The best part- Fox has included sources not just from typical religious sources, but from science and literature as well.
Book Description
Chad Pregracke was a high school student when he first glimpsed the trash that littered the bottom of the Mississippi, a shocking sight that launched him on a quest to clean up the river. After four discouraging years seeking government help without success, he decided to take his fund-raising private—and a corporate sponsor decided to take a chance on this naive but unshakably determined young man.
Ten years later Chad's one-man project has grown into a $500,000 operation with more than 60 sponsors (including National Geographic). His work has been featured on national news and won numerous honors and accolades, but its grassroots, can-do spirit still thrives aboard the 135-foot barge that serves as home base for his organization, a floating environmental classroom, and an inspiration to people of all ages.
This is the story of his personal triumph as an advocate for America's rivers. Chad measures success in tons of garbage removed and thousands of people with a new stake in—and a new understanding of—the river environment. But From the Bottom Up is much more as well: a first-person chronicle of Chad's own life along the Mississippi featuring colorful characters, a near-death experience, a haunted swamp, and other flourishes worthy of a modern Mark Twain; and a fascinating portrait of the river itself which explores everything from the natural history of mussels and catfish to Indian lore to the key role of the Mississippi in our country's history.
Customer Reviews:
We need more people like this! .......2007-08-23
It's a great book that details how one person saw a need for change no matter what it took. Chad perservered (and continues to) and has created this movement that draws in sponsors, staff and volunteers who are happy and willing to help with enthusiasim. It's very well written and makes for a good read. Thanks Chad and Jeff - keep up the good work!
Fantastic! .......2007-06-15
I could not be more engaged in the book than I am - it is so thrilling and to read about the experiences they have had it makes you wish that you could have been there! It is just excellent! I love it - and I'm so excited when I carry the book somewhere and people ask me what I'm reading because I can't wait to tell people some of the CRAZY things that have happened to Chad and his crew.
ANYONE could read this book and thoroughly enjoy it - I even share parts of the book with my 6 year old son who can't wait to get back out the XStream Clean up this year!
It's amazing how he can take something seemingly so mundane as picking up garbage - write a book about it - and it is just an amazing adventure!
Rising to the Top.......2007-05-29
"From the Bottom Up" is an enormously impressive account of the prodigious effort and success of Chad Pregracke and his clean-up team to take on a difficult and necessary problem in our environment.
Our world needs this motivation, talent, work, and hands-on planning to protect our planet. Jeff Barrow's excellent writing makes the information flow easily and captivates the reader's interest. The dedicated and hard-working team forces attention to rise to the top of our consciousness and educates the reader on the necessity of cleaning up our waterways, taking responsibility for our environment, and stimulates our will to do it.
Great, very entertaining story about one man's idea and his ability to get thousands to help........2007-05-01
It's hard to write an accurate description of this book, let alone Chad Pregracke's accomplishments. Do you measure it in the number (545) of refrigerators he's pulled from rivers? Do you measure it in the number (15,991) of tires his group has pulled up? Or possibly by the number (1) of horse's heads he's pulled from the river? Combine these stats with tons of press coverage alongside a trip to the White House to receive an award alongside Rudy Giuliani and Bill and Melinda Gates and you've got a very good story.
Over the past 10 years Chad has assembled a group of volunteers, sponsors, and genuinely interesting people to help him accomplish a daunting goal of cleaning up America's rivers. This has extended into an audacious goal of planting a million trees and educating thousands of students on his "floating classroom."
This book will give you an inspiring, very entertaining snapshot of how it was done and even gives you a quick blueprint of how to do something in your own area. Read it for an inspiring portrait of a true original who started with a small idea and turned it into a national movement.
It's a real CRUSADE - action - danger - adventure & comic relief!.......2007-04-27
This is an amazing story with never a dull moment. Chad has to be one of the most tenacious persons on the face of the earth! The obstacles he overcame were numerous and the spirit he faced them with was awe inspiring. They don't call it the Mighty Mississippi for no reason. Chad's fabulous sensce of humor comes shining through from this self appointed trash talking, picking, sorting, recycling dude.
Book Description
In the aftermath of the historic 1993 March on Washington for gay and lesbian rights, Keith Boykin, in One More River to Cross, clarifies the relationship between blacks and gays in America by portraying the "common ground" lives of those who are both black and gay.
Against a backdrop of civil rights and the black experience in America, Boykin interviews Baptist ministers, gay political leaders, and other black gays and lesbians on issues of faith, family, discrimination, and visibility to determine what differences--real and imagined--separate the two communities. Boykin points to evidence of African and precolonial same-sex behavior, as well as figures like James Baldwin and Bayard Rustin, to dispel the myth that homosexuality is a "white thang," while his research suggests that blacks are less homophobic than whites, despite the rhetoric of rap and religion. With stories from his own experience as well as that of other black gays and lesbians, Boykin targets gay racism and black homophobia and suggests that conservative forces have substituted the common language of racism for homophobia in order to prevent a potentially powerful coalition of blacks and gays.
By portraying what it means to be black and gay, One More River to Cross offers an extraordinary window into a community that challenges this country's acceptance of its minorities, both racial and sexual.
Customer Reviews:
A Brilliant Book that is indeed LIFE CHANGING!!.......2007-02-18
Mr. Boykin has done an outstanding job of relating the issues that challenge gay men and women of color in America. And I very much appreciated that many of Mr. Boykin's observations and analysis stem from personal experiences that he relates to such an honest degree that in some instances I felt uncomfortable (as if I was an intruder - albeit welcomed) while reading them. This book should be REQUIRED reading in every high school in America! While we are likely decades away from this ever being a real possibility - I am very thankful that Mr. Boykin took the time to weave together a story - a record - if you will - of a REALITY that is as AMAZING as it is PAINFUL for many of us at this point and time in American history.
I am a rapper.......2005-07-26
I am a rapper. I hate this book. It's wack and stupid.
Danm Good.......2005-06-08
This book is a page turner, you feel yourself actually wanting to coniue reading it.
This book states the obvious without adding much........2001-08-23
Kudos to Boykin for writing the book, but in all honesty, the work seems written for an audience that is either non-black or black but non-gay. For black gays, most of Boykin's observations will seem obvious, and he doesn't offer much new insight.
After a while, books like this grow tiresome and seem almost cynical in their opportunism.
Thought Provoking and Well Written.......2001-01-31
Keith Boykin's One More River to Cross offers a wonderful discussion on issues that arise with being African American and gay in today's society. He does a wonderful job of making relevant issues known and connects the African American struggle from Frederic Douglass to Audre Lorde's Zami. Read it, you'll love it.
Customer Reviews:
Review from "Dunbar on Black Books".......2004-01-15
The following review appeared in November 2000 online in "Dunbar on Black Books" (http://www.queenhyte.com/dobb/dobb_archives/dobb_00/nov_00.htm ):
One More River to Cross by Margaret Blair Young and Darius Aidan Gray (Bookcraft, ISBN 1-57345-629-2) is the first of a trilogy entitled Standing on the Promises. It is a historical novel about black Mormon pioneers. With it "Dunbar on Black Books" (DOBB) makes an exception to its custom of reviewing only nonfiction books. We do this for two reasons. First, this book, albeit a novel, observes canons of history more dutifully than some works that hold themselves out as pure works of history. In the author's notes, the reader is told: "We have been true to all the facts that we could find but have freely fictionalized the spaces between the facts." Second, this book deals convincingly with an important subject about which very little has been written: black Mormon adherents whose membership in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Salt Lake City dates back as far as 1832.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints makes much of the point that this book is not an official publication of the church. Bookcraft, its publisher, states that the book does not represent its position. One must know that Deseret Books publishes doctrinal works by Latter-day Saint leaders, biographies, and "enlightening" church historical books and that Bookcraft is a registered trademark of Deseret Book Company. It is in this context that DOBB reviews One More River to Cross.
When we overhear Delilah Abel whispering to her sleeping son Eli[jah] on the plantation just before they flee, we may think that they are fictional characters. We later learn from citations of the records of baptisms in the Nauvoo Temple Church of the Latter-day Saints in Salt Lake City that they were living people and that Eli[jah] Abel was baptized there. So that while we may have reservations about the dialogue between the persons in the book, or even the accounts of events that took place on the journey to Salt Lake City from Maryland or from Alabama, or from wherever, we know that Elijah Abel made it to Salt Lake. More than that, we are provided with evidence that he was one of the very few blacks to receive the priesthood in the early church and that he was ordained by the Prophet himself.
This book is one of the first, if not the very first, that this reviewer read by starting with the end notes. Quite frankly, to me the notes are a most significant part of this book. The authors make excellent use of records in the Missionary Record Books of the church, of information from conversations of Joseph Smith, as reported in Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, from U.S. Census records in Salt Lake City, and from Brigham Young's Journal, to mention a few of their sources. They have given us a book providing information about African Americans in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints that is not widely available.
A word about the authors is in order. Heber G. Wolsey, former managing director, public communications, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints says of Darius Gray, the black co-author, "I know of no one who can express a more objective, more compassionate, more honest portrayal of blacks in the Mormon Church than Darius Gray." Gray is a former journalist and presides over the Genesis Group, an official arm of the Mormon Church. The Genesis Group was organized in 1971 to support church members of African descent. Coauthor Margaret Blair Young is a lifelong white member of the church, "with pioneer heritage," Mr. Wolsey points out. "She has felt deeply over the past few years the inspiration of her pioneer forebears, many of whom knew the Saints of color portrayed in this novel," he says.
This is an important book. It ought to be read by everyone as it throws light on some little-known facts about the history of the membership of African Americans in the early Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In this era in which Protestants are looking to their roots after decades of ecumenism, Darius Gray, as a black Mormon should not be on the defensive because of widely held, erroneous perceptions of the history of black membership in his church.
If this book were a nonfiction work, I would make the observation that an index would have been useful. The bibliography is excellent. William G. Hartley, associate professor of history, Smith Institute, Brigham Young University, says it all when he says, "In a way that pure history cannot do, this story attaches us to black Saints who deserve to be known about and appreciated by our generation."
With two more volumes to come, the contributions of African Americans to the Mormon Church should be well documented for the general public. It has been said that the best way to keep information from black men is to put it in a book and classify it as nonfiction. Perhaps Margaret Blair Young and Darius Aidan Gray have found a formula to set this situation right.
Not Just Promises--But a Real Delivery!!.......2001-03-13
Anthony and Joan both could not put this book down! Anthony read it first, then read parts of it to Joan, then Joan read it. In the spirit of The Work and the Glory series by Lund, Standing on the Promises, combines factual history and characters with an outstanding story. The characters really come alive and the reader can truly imagine themselves right in the story and experiencing the events portrayed. The actual events and research are documented after each chapter and provide a wonderful historical review of the evidence. After, becoming acquainted with Elijah, Jane and Isaac in other publications, being able to read their stories was truly inspiritational. We are eagerly awaiting the next book in this series!
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- Spoon River Anthology(signet classics)
- Spoon River flows through humanity
- American Writing At Its Best
- We Are The Dead Of Spoon River...
- Very interesting
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Spoon River Anthology (Hesperus Classics)
Edgar Lee Masters
Manufacturer: Hesperus Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
 20th Century
| Poetry
| United States
| World Literature
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General
| Poetry
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| World Literature
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United States
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Masters, Edgar Lee
| ( M )
| Authors, A-Z
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ASIN: 1843911086 |
Book Description
In this 1915 collection, Edgar Lee Masters tells the stories of the dead through their own posthumous words. Realistic, often cynical, these epitaphs are spoken from the grave by 244 former citizens of a small Midwestern village. The entire spectrum of human life is represented here—everyone from poet to shopkeeper is given a chance to narrate their life, to tell of their struggles and their thwarted hopes and dreams. With these classic poems, Masters took his revenge on the hypocrisy and narrow-mindedness of small-town America, revealing it in all its injustice, corruption, and cruelty. Edgar Lee Masters is best known for the Spoon River Anthology. As well as verse, he wrote biographies of fellow writers, including Mark Twain and Walt Whitman.
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HENRY got me with child, Knowing that I could not bring forth life Without losing my own. In my youth therefore I entered the portals of dust. Traveler, it is believed in the village where I lived That Henry loved me with a husband's love But I proclaim from the dust That he slew me to gratify his hatred.
Customer Reviews:
Spoon River Anthology(signet classics).......2007-03-14
This is incredile writing, Masters ability to give his characters a voice that reachs ones heart and mind simply amazing. Ernest Hyde, is an excellent example of this as well as Amanda Barker,Yee Bow and many others. These are the names of some the voices that Masters sets free. There dry innocent voices are oddly humorous and this is what i find the most refreshing.This is free verse at its finest.
Spoon River flows through humanity.......2006-06-29
Masters' Spoon River Anthology is as poignant today as when it was written. Part glimpse of history, part poetic essay on the eternal frailties of the human animal, the epitaphs are riveting from first to last. Read it. Then get a spoken word recording. Then read it again. You'll find these characters live on.
American Writing At Its Best.......2005-11-13
There IS an actual Spoon River in Fulton County, IL but no town by that name. Masters was speaking about that area because he was writing about what he knew. Like any great literature, it transcends time and place to have more universal meaning. Some characters are small town folk, others aspired to grow beyond and were thwarted by circumstance, while still others grew beyond Spoon River and were brought back home from their travels for eternal rest. "All, all are sleeping on the hill". Each character narrates his or her own brief story in a free verse poem, one per page. Some stories intersect as characters mention each other. It's interesting to cross reference characters in this regard. Sometimes the compliment of mention isn't returned. Upon first inspection, this might seem to be a rather morbid format. However, the characters speak more about their lives and human struggles than they do about death. Theirs are timeless tales about joy, accomplishment, pain, betrayal, discovery, loneliness and atonement.
This book is a real classic. It was given to me for my seventeenth birthday and I've collected several different volumes of it since then including one signed by the author. I think the dramatic format might still catch the attention of alot of teenagers and give them pause to reflect upon the deeper meanings in life. It's one of those must read's for anyone looking to read the American Classics.
We Are The Dead Of Spoon River..........2005-09-17
Upon its release Edgar Lee Masters' collection of free verse poems must have shaken the literary universe. In an era when the mores of polite Victorianism were still lingering in an America concerned with all things proper, Masters dared pen a book in which the dead of a small Midwestern town lie not in a state of reservation before Christian resurrection, but in a condition of stasis, ruminating on their lives and speaking with candor on all they may have done. The dead who speak from their graves in these wondrous poems reveal their secrets, their unfulfilled dreams, their disapprobation at humanity's conduct. The dead are to varying degrees wise, ironic, witty, bitter, content, confused, and moralistic. They have regrets, they mock the values of we who are living, they seethe with longing, they confess universal truths at long last, they await they know not what, the arrival of eternity or a continuation of their suspended state of evaluation, in conditions of calm, content, fright, or regretless joy. There is one thing none of those who have passed away from the streets of Spoon River to its hallowed acre on the hill, are and that is quiet.
One of a dozen or so American poetical achievements that most fully justifies our nation's pride in its own literary accomplishments.
Very interesting.......2005-08-27
This has lots of background and biographical information. Plus it includes other materials. Well done. I was a little disappointed in the quality of the paper.
Amazon.com
Colin Fletcher, the author of the Grand Canyon classic The Man Who Walked Through Time, adds to his life list of desert voyages with a trip down the 1,700-mile-long Colorado River. From its sources in the Wind River Mountains of Wyoming to its union with the Gulf of California, Fletcher traces the Colorado in an entertaining and often quite funny travelogue. More seriously, he ponders his own life's passage, musing on lost loves, the experience of war, the onset of old age, and impending mortality. Despite the title, other travelers have made this journey--devotees of the Colorado will know the writings of John Wesley Powell and the Kolb brothers, among others. That notwithstanding, Fletcher makes keen observations of the area's geology and wildlife, and of human behavior.
Book Description
At age sixty-seven, Colin Fletcher, the guru of backpacking in America, undertook a rigorous six-month raft expedition down the full length of the Colorado River--alone. He needed "something to pare the fat off my soul...to make me grateful, again, for being alive." The 1,700 miles between the Colorado's source in Wyoming and its conclusion at Mexico's Gulf of California contain some of the most spectacular vistas on earth, and Fletcher is the ideal guide for the terrain. As his privileged companions, we travel to places like Disaster Falls and Desolation Canyon, observe beaver and elk, experience sandstorms and whitewater rapids, and share Fletcher's thoughts on the human race, the environment, and the joys of solitude.
Customer Reviews:
Are we there yet? .......2007-06-03
I have to agree with many previous reviewers. This book is slow. I imagine Mr. Fletcher would be very interesting to talk with, perhaps even to tour a river with. However, reading him, his introspective observations become arduous and strained. I put the book down years ago at page 249 and I can't convince myself to pick it up again.
A book for the ourdoor type.......2003-08-26
This is a good book for those who are genuinely interested in a journey in the wilderness. This is not a book for those who look for thrilling adventures, or those "armchair travelers" who look for commercialized travel books (such as those by Bill Bryson). You can say that the book lacks drama, it is too "plain". To a certain extent I agree with that. As Fletcher says in his book (about the Colorado), it plays "themes and variations". The same can be said about this book, most of the time it flows slowly, but along the way there are reflections, thoughts, observations, etc. It is not as "exciting" as the commercialized writings of Bill Bryson and the like, but you can sense the honesty in Fletcher's writing, that is, he did not take the journey with the goal of writing a book about it, he genuinely wanted to take the journey just for the sake of it.
This is not an Edward Abbey type of book either. Abbey's writing is definitely better. Comparing this book to "Desert Solitaire" is like comparing a amateur's snapshots to Ansel Adams' murals. But, like I said, if you are genuinely an ourdoor and wildness person, especially if you hiked or rafted in the canyon country, you will find much to enjoy in this book.
Well worth the read!!.......2002-04-04
I did a whitewater rafting trip last year through Canyonlands NP and this book brought the wonderful memories of that trip - the beauty of the scenery and excitement of the rapids - back to me full force. I LOVED this book. Colin Fletcher's descriptions really bring you to the river and its surrounding beauty. I love how he describes everything, and how he goes off on tangents back to memories of his own life. This book is well worth the read!
Motivating book as one eases out of "youth".......2002-03-02
Colin Fletcher was one of my early "guides" into backpacking, and many of his hiking tips still stand up well as I continue to backpack in my 50's.
His trip down the Colorado provides more inspiration for what can be achieved as you get wiser and, oh yes, older, too.
This isn't an "adventure" story in the trite sense, nor a river guide. It's a sharing of a person's thoughts. Fletcher is a different kind of person than most of us, but his musings cause me to think about my own life strategies and outcomes.
-- P.C.
An excellent "thinking" book.......2001-05-17
This is a book for those looking to take some quiet time to think about life, the river, and the environment. It is not a logistical book for those wishing to duplicate the experience. Fletcher's journey reveals the river from the perspective of an elderly man traveling at a slow pace (6 months) who is absorbing the spirit and feel of the Colorado and reflecting upon a lifetime of wilderness travel. It is slow, methodical, and at times a little tedious, but rich in detail and thoughtfulness.
This is a book for the thoughtful and reflective, not the pump-me-up, thrill seeker. The little mistakes the author makes are usually pointed out by himself, and they mark the book as authentic in that Colin is a lot like the rest of us in his amateur knowledge of the details of wildlife. He differs, though, in his ability to tell the story, a unique story, of adventure and life.
Book Description
In 1911, The Kolb brothers, Emery and Ellsworth, young photographers living on the South Rim of Grand Canyon, conceived a preposterous expedition: although neither of them knew much about whitewater, they had two wooden rowboats built, and proposed to row them the entire eleven hundred miles of the Green and Colorado Rivers. The trip was not solely for thrills. They planned to make not just still and stereo photographs, but moving pictures as well.
In early September they launched from Green River, Wyoming. For the next four and a half months, the brothers rowed, careened, roped, dragged, and carried their boats through and around the rapids, often finding themselves swimming in the freezing river, patching and repatching their boats, and salvaging what film and equipment they could from their flooded hatches.
Their first assistant left in tears after the first week, but was replaced on the last leg of the journey by stalwart Bert Lauzon, a miner, cowboy, and roustabout. Against all odds, the three men emerged from Grand Canyon in January, 1912, with photographs and movies they would show and sell for the next sixty years.
Here for the first time are their on-the-spot accounts, transcribed from the journals they penciled late at night along the shore. Theirs is a tale of phenomenal courage, terrific luck, and dogged perseverence. And in spite of unending hardship, the brothers had nearly as much fun doing it back then, as you will have following along nearly a century later.
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One River, Many Currents: A Handbook of Inquiry in the Arts Therapies
Helen, Ed. Payne
Manufacturer: JESSICA KINGSLEY PUBLISHERS
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
General
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Psychoanalysis
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ASIN: 1853021539 |
Books:
- Photographing the Southwest: Volume 3--Colorado/New Mexico (Photographing the Soutwest)
- Physics Matters: An Introduction to Conceptual Physics, Laboratory Manual
- Planet Earth: As You've Never Seen It Before
- Pokemon Diamond & Pearl: Prima Official Game Guide (Prima Official Game Guides)
- Prairie: A Natural History
- Priceless Florida: Natural Ecosystems and Native Species
- Rethinking Tourism and Ecotravel
- Risk Assessment With Time To Event Models (ENVIRONMENTAL AND ECOLOGICAL RISK ASSESSMENT)
- Road Guide to Death Valley National Park, Updated Edition
- Seashore Animals of the Southeast
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