The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom (A Toltec Wisdom Book)

Amazon.com

Sit at the foot of a native elder and listen as great wisdom of days long past is passed down. In The Four Agreements shamanic teacher and healer Don Miguel Ruiz exposes self-limiting beliefs and presents a simple yet effective code of personal conduct learned from his Toltec ancestors. Full of grace and simple truth, this handsomely designed book makes a lovely gift for anyone making an elementary change in life, and it reads in a voice that you would expect from an indigenous shaman. The four agreements are these: Be impeccable with your word. Don't take anything personally. Don't make assumptions. Always do your best. It's the how and why one should do these things that make The Four Agreements worth reading and remembering. --P. Randall Cohan

Book Description

In The Four Agreements, don Miguel Ruiz reveals the source of self-limiting agreements that rob people of joy and create needless suffering. Based on ancient Toltec wisdom, the Four Agreements offer a powerful code of conduct that can rapidly transform anyone's life to a new experience of freedom, true happiness, and love. These agreements are deceptively simple: Be impeccable with your word (speak with integrity; say only what you mean); Don't take anything personally (nothing others do is because of you); Don't make assumptions (find the courage to ask questions and express what you really want); Always do your best (and you will avoid self-judgment, self-abuse, and regret). Peter Coyote's resonant reading emphasizes the power in these remarkable tenets.

Customer Reviews:

A good foundation.......2007-10-01

This is a compelling book that provides a straightforward, easy-to-understand methodology for improving one's quality of life. In this work Ruiz first reveals the source of self-limiting beliefs that tend to rob people of joy and create needless suffering. He then recommends a technique for overcoming these beliefs: adopt four new agreements with respect to how they approach the world and conduct their lives.

Is this some new, revolutionary technology for self-improvement? No, the fact is in one way shape or form we've all heard these types of admonitions from other sources in our lives. What Ruiz does well is package them in a novel way and provide practical insights into how we can best apply them. Bottom line, even if you've heard something like this before it never hurts to be reminded about good advice you've received in the past.

PLEASE... Read the 1 star reviews BEFORE you buy this book!.......2007-09-27

I am shocked at all the 5 stars and positive press this book has received. PLEASE, read a few of the 1 star reviews before you purchase this book. Quite often people who rate something with just 1 star are grumpy individuals who just want to argue... not this time. Many writers of the single star reviews are extremely well spoken, very well read and positive minded individuals. They are worth reading! (More so than this book.)

Everyone on this Planet should read this book, it should be a teaching material in Schools.......2007-09-25

The four agreements is not only a book, it is a lifestyle. Most of the wisdom in self helping books i have read thruout the years has mostly washed away, vanished in to the sea of mind few weeks later after i read them. This one is different. It has somekind of power. And it forces you to do the doings not just read about them.This one stayes with you cause you wan't to pick it up over and over again.

Critical information, so powerful it should be taught 7- 12 + college.......2007-09-24

I did not receive any critical information about my role in relationships from any source including school, religious education, parents, or advisor's.

The Four Agreements and the Mastery of Love has now provided this knowledge and it is and will always be a reference source for living the rest of my life

It is so ingrained and with me every day as I work to improve on my relationships with my family, friends, and business relationships. After you listen to the message of the Four Agreements, you will see the need for this information to be made available to your family and friends.

My wish is for this to be a part of the curriculum for the public school systems.

Cecil Sterne
Pawnee County, Oklahoma

Easy to read, let's see how easy in practise.......2007-09-18

I think we've all seen this stuff before in various incarnations (e.g. Bible - "Do unto others...") but it is a very easy read and the agreements are plain and unambiguous. They are not cluttered with ceremony but come down to principles of values and self context. And like alot of similar readings, the battle or challenge lies in the effort to achieve and not only the achievement itself. I like that it advocates largely a position or development of an inner strength that is personal. All too often, I have noticed some of these personal freedom type writings from authors who present their writings in a stadium type environment and whip the crowd up in a frenzy to create a mob frenzy that attempts to portray the message. That's clearly the domain of some charlatans that we've all seen. I'm looking forward to the challenge involved in implementing these agreements. It won't be easy but most thnigs worthwhile aren't so they say.

Blood and Thunder: An Epic of the American West

Average customer rating:

Fremont's Reputation
one of the best
Thoroughly engrossing biography of Kit Carson
Reads almost like a novel!
Blood and Thunder

Blood and Thunder: An Epic of the American West
Hampton Sides
Manufacturer: Doubleday
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

ASIN: 0385507771
Release Date: 2006-10-03

Book Description

Praise for Blood and Thunder

“Kit Carson’s role in the conquest of the Navajo during and after the Civil War remains one of the most dramatic and significant episodes in the history of the American West. Hampton Sides portrays Carson in the larger context of the conquest of the entire West, including his frequent and often lethal encounters with hostile Native Americans. Unusually, Sides gives full voice to Indian leaders themselves about their trials and tribulations in their dealings with the whites. Here is a national hero on the level of Daniel Boone, presented with all of his flaws and virtues, in the context of American people’s belief that it was their Manifest Destiny to occupy the entire West.”

—Howard Lamar, Sterling Professor Emeritus of History, Yale University and editor of The New Encyclopedia of the American West

“The story of the American West has seldom been told with such intimacy and immediacy. Legendary figures like Kit Carson leap to life and history moves at a pulse-pounding pace—sweeping the reader along with it. Hampton Sides is a terrific storyteller.”

—Candice Millard, author of The River of Doubt

“Hampton Sides doesn't just write a book, he transports the reader to another time and place. With his keen sense of drama and his crackling writing style, this master storyteller has bequeathed us a majestic history of the Old West.”

—James Bradley, author of Flags of Our Fathers and Flyboys

“Blood and Thunder is a big-hearted book whose subject is as expansive as they come. Hampton Sides tackles it with naked pleasure and narrative cunning: In his telling, the vast saga of America’s westward push has a logical center. The dusty town of Santa Fe becomes the nexus around which swirl the fortunes and strategies of a mixed set of serious overachievers, from Kit Carson, the original mountain man, to James K. Polk, the enigmatic president whose achievements, in the dreaded name of Manifest Destiny, were almost biblical in scope. Sides is alive to the exuberance and alert to the tragedy of the taking of the West.”

—Russell Shorto, author of Island at the Center of the World

“For a huge percentage of us immigrant Americans (those whose ancestors arrived after 1492), Hampton Sides fills a gaping hole in our knowledge of American history—a vivid account of how ‘The New Men’ swept away the thriving civilizations of the Native Americans in their conquest of the West.”

—Tony Hillerman

"BLOOD AND THUNDER is a balanced, thoughtful summary of the American conquistadors in the 19th century Southwest. Hampton Sides has re-created violent events and such inflammatory figures as Kit Carson without bias. Carefully researched, thoroughly enjoyable."

-Evan S. Connell, author of SON OF THE MORNING STAR, CUSTER AND THE LITTLE BIGHORN

A Magnificent History of How the West Was Really Won—a Sweeping Tale of Shame and Glory

In the fall of 1846 the venerable Navajo warrior Narbona, greatest of his people’s chieftains, looked down upon the small town of Santa Fe, the stronghold of the Mexican settlers he had been fighting his whole long life. He had come to see if the rumors were true—if an army of blue-suited soldiers had swept in from the East and utterly defeated his ancestral enemies. As Narbona gazed down on the battlements and cannons of a mighty fort the invaders had built, he realized his foes had been vanquished—but what did the arrival of these “New Men” portend for the Navajo?

Narbona could not have known that “The Army of the West,” in the midst of the longest march in American military history, was merely the vanguard of an inexorable tide fueled by a self-righteous ideology now known as “Manifest Destiny.” For twenty years the Navajo, elusive lords of a huge swath of mountainous desert and pasturelands, would ferociously resist the flood of soldiers and settlers who wished to change their ancient way of life or destroy them.

Hampton Sides’s extraordinary book brings the history of the American conquest of the West to ringing life. It is a tale with many heroes and villains, but as is found in the best history, the same person might be both. At the center of it all stands the remarkable figure of Kit Carson—the legendary trapper, scout, and soldier who embodies all the contradictions and ambiguities of the American experience in the West. Brave and clever, beloved by his contemporaries, Carson was an illiterate mountain man who twice married Indian women and understood and respected the tribes better than any other American alive. Yet he was also a cold-blooded killer who willingly followed orders tantamount to massacre. Carson’s almost unimaginable exploits made him a household name when they were written up in pulp novels known as “blood-and-thunders,” but now that name is a bitter curse for contemporary Navajo, who cannot forget his role in the travails of their ancestors.

Customer Reviews:

Fremont's Reputation.......2007-10-14

This is an excellent book except for the Fremont-bashing that seems to be fashionable. It is especially distressing that the material about Fremont came from a non-historical work with no scholarly background entitled "A Newer World". The author would have been better advised to supply his own supporting references. That is enough of a reason to knock off a star.

one of the best.......2007-10-13

If you have any interest in American History please read this book. We read the entire book outloud, quite an undertaking, so I'm glad to see that is available as an audiobook. The writing is riveting, the bibliography reassuring, the story enlightening. This book is a springboard into the conquest of the Western United States and will give you new eyes if and when traveling through these areas. Read the book.

Thoroughly engrossing biography of Kit Carson.......2007-10-12

This is an excellent biography of a famous American pioneer--Kit Carson. What sets it apart is its humane treatment of a complex figure. Carson appears to have been the "real deal," not a manufactured hero.

The book proceeds by interweaving several story lines, which can be somewhat confusing at times but, in the end, this serves the author well. Among the story lines--Kit Carson's exploits, the Navajo leader Narbona's story, General Stephen Kearney's episodes, and so on.

Kit Carson's role--from trapper to hunter to scout to military officer--is the glue that holds this book together. In the process, the reader learns a great deal about the events of the 1830s through 1860s that transformed the United States. The Mexican War dramatically expanded the size of the country; the American conflicts with the Indian nations opened new territories for settlement and economic development; the Civil War ended slavery (although, ironically, perhaps not in the southwest, as Native Americans sometimes served a similar role after the Civil War); the West was opened for development.

What humanizes this book is the treatment of Carson. He was sometimes mercurial (with an occasional burst of temper); he was a person of action, and he sometimes was cruel and brutal; he was also a person of honor; he had a perception of the larger picture in the West, and could see that white aggression was the real problem--not marauding Indians.

On a personal note, the book traces Carson's family lives (he had at least two real families, one with a native American wife), his struggle to be a good husband and father while he was off on one adventure or another most of his life.

This is a strong biography which is set in a larger context. It is well worth looking at.

Reads almost like a novel!.......2007-10-12

I first encountered this book when I heard the author speak at our local bookstore. I am a history lover and wanted to know if this man could pull of another interesting book on American History. I had a copy of the book ready and took copious notes on the blank pages in the back. The author was fascinating to listen to.

Since then, I have read the book thoroughly and found it read almost like a novel. Each chapter led you to want to read on.

I have purchased copies as gifts for friends and even gave a copy to my American Indian History professor and he was enthralled.

Good work. Loved it. You will, too.

Blood and Thunder.......2007-10-09

This is a highly readable and comprehensive account of the adult life and times of Kit Carson and the people/places he touched. It's not a biography, but a series of vignettes documenting his involvement in a variety of professions -- from mountain man to military man -- as the needs of the West evolved. There's a great deal of information about Carson's contemporaries as well. I read the book with a map of New Mexico at hand to more closely identify the places mentioned. I highly recommend it to anyone interested in Western history, including the several battles of the Civil War fought in New Mexico.

The Four Agreements Companion Book : Using the Four Agreements to Master the Dream of Your Life

Average customer rating:

The Four Agreements Companion Book : Using the Four Agreements to Master the Dream of Your Life
Overkill
Live life by the 4 agreements
A Practical Guide to Help Us Decode Our Emotional Garbage
A Must Have!

The Four Agreements Companion Book : Using the Four Agreements to Master the Dream of Your Life
Miguel Ruiz , and Janet Mills
Manufacturer: Amber-Allen Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Self-Help | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books

Motivational | Self-Help | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books

Personal Transformation | Self-Help | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books

Dreams | Self-Help | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books

General | Psychology & Counseling | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books

Native Healing | Alternative Medicine | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books

General | New Age | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books

Personal Transformation | Spirituality | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

Accessories:

ASIN: 1878424483

Amazon.com

In The Four Agreements, Mexican shaman Miquel Ruiz built his teachings around four agreements: be impeccable with your word; don't take anything personally; don't make assumptions; always do your best. Now Ruiz offers readers a companion guide, making practical mysticism out of the ancient Toltec tradition. On the one hand this is an eloquent introduction to Toltec teachings, offering a fascinating discussion of how one's life is a dream (and a dream that's often dictated by others) and how "domestication" is the root of human suffering. On the other hand don Miquel has also written a Toltec self-help book, offering specific tools, exercises, and suggestions to help readers live their own dreams, become more attentive, and make conscious agreements with themselves. For readers who feel aligned with the Toltec tradition, this will certainly be a powerful ally as they begin the dream of transformation. --Gail Hudson

Book Description

The Four Agreements introduced a simple, but powerful code of conduct for attaining personal freedom and true happiness. Now The Four Agreements Companion Book takes you even further along the journey to recover the awareness and wisdom of your authentic self. This Companion Book is a must-read not only for those who enjoyed don Miguel's first book, but f or anyone who is ready to leave suffering behind, and to master the art of living in our natural state: happiness.

Customer Reviews:

The Four Agreements Companion Book : Using the Four Agreements to Master the Dream of Your Life.......2007-08-24

This DEElightful book clarifies everything in the "Four Agreements" book, simplifing and making it much easier to remember what was learned...
I can't say enough to entice the reader into having this companion book, it's a must have...Rob Ward

Overkill.......2007-07-02

While I absolutely love the four agreements and return to the original book often, I found the companion book to be completely unnecessary. The writing style was poor and rambled in circles, constantly repeating itself. There was no new information at all. I seemed to me to be a way to get a little more money out of the concept - shocking considering the author.

I did enjoy the last few pages of personal examples from people who had incorporated the four agreements into their lives.

If you have the four agreements original book, you don't need this one and if you don't then skip this one and get the original.

Live life by the 4 agreements.......2007-05-14

My life was simplified by reading this book. It is a daily guide for me and my children now. Ruiz is a healer and a spiritual guide. Recommended for all ages.

A Practical Guide to Help Us Decode Our Emotional Garbage.......2004-08-26

After reading The Four Agreements, I felt that it is great to learn the four agreements ¡V be impeccable with your word, don¡¦t take anything personally, don¡¦t make assumptions and always try your best. However, that book did not have enough practical ideas or skills to guide me decode our old agreements/emotional garbage, how to be aware and how to transform. This book has a practical guide to teach us how to live in the four agreements. It teaches us how to become aware and how to transform.

1. Bring the Awareness to Surface so We Can Let Go of the Parasites, the Old Agreement, the Judge, the Victim, the fear

2. How to transform by the second attention (become aware and not act on or judge too fast), action-reaction, attach-detach

Don Miguel Ruiz has a very playful style of writing when he was telling us the above skills. I think in essence, the above skills suggests us to slow down our thinking process to give us enough time to steer our feelings and actions to apply the four agreements and to enjoy life intensely within the moment. His dialogue about the four agreements and other people¡¦s stories about applying the four agreements give me hope that I can live my life with what he has suggested. The dialogue helps us to decode certain emotional garbage and the dialogue helps me to break the old agreements. It is definitely a must-read if you have read the four agreements. Again, reading is not enough. However, putting the new adopted philosophies into everyday¡¦s life is the way to turn the dream of hell to become the dream of heaven.

A Must Have!.......2003-01-17

Anyone who has read his first book will definitely want to read this one as well. This book actually helps the reader to implement the Four Agreements into daily life. Very insightful and I wish I had read it forty years ago!

1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus

Average customer rating:

a great overview
Unputdownable
Excellent insight into the latest research
Fascinating but flawed
Great history, great archeology, great read

1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus
Charles C. Mann
Manufacturer: Vintage
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Americas | History | Subjects | Books

General | World | History | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

ASIN: 1400032059
Release Date: 2006-10-10

Amazon.com

1491 is not so much the story of a year, as of what that year stands for: the long-debated (and often-dismissed) question of what human civilization in the Americas was like before the Europeans crashed the party. The history books most Americans were (and still are) raised on describe the continents before Columbus as a vast, underused territory, sparsely populated by primitives whose cultures would inevitably bow before the advanced technologies of the Europeans. For decades, though, among the archaeologists, anthropologists, paleolinguists, and others whose discoveries Charles C. Mann brings together in 1491, different stories have been emerging. Among the revelations: the first Americans may not have come over the Bering land bridge around 12,000 B.C. but by boat along the Pacific coast 10 or even 20 thousand years earlier; the Americas were a far more urban, more populated, and more technologically advanced region than generally assumed; and the Indians, rather than living in static harmony with nature, radically engineered the landscape across the continents, to the point that even "timeless" natural features like the Amazon rainforest can be seen as products of human intervention.

Mann is well aware that much of the history he relates is necessarily speculative, the product of pot-shard interpretation and precise scientific measurements that often end up being radically revised in later decades. But the most compelling of his eye-opening revisionist stories are among the best-founded: the stories of early American-European contact. To many of those who were there, the earliest encounters felt more like a meeting of equals than one of natural domination. And those who came later and found an emptied landscape that seemed ripe for the taking, Mann argues convincingly, encountered not the natural and unchanging state of the native American, but the evidence of a sudden calamity: the ravages of what was likely the greatest epidemic in human history, the smallpox and other diseases introduced inadvertently by Europeans to a population without immunity, which swept through the Americas faster than the explorers who brought it, and left behind for their discovery a land that held only a shadow of the thriving cultures that it had sustained for centuries before. --Tom Nissley

A 1491 Timeline

Europe and Asia

Dates

The Americas

25000-35000 B.C.

Time of paleo-Indian migration to Americas from Siberia, according to genetic evidence. Groups likely traveled across the Pacific in boats.

Wheat and barley grown from wild ancestors in Sumer.

6000

5000

In what many scientists regard as humankind's first and greatest feat of genetic engineering, Indians in southern Mexico systematically breed maize (corn) from dissimilar ancestor species.

First cities established in Sumer.

4000

3000

The Americas' first urban complex, in coastal Peru, of at least 30 closely packed cities, each centered around large pyramid-like structures

Great Pyramid at Giza

2650

First clear evidence of Olmec use of zero--an invention, widely described as the most important mathematical discovery ever made, which did not occur in Eurasia until about 600 A.D., in India (zero was not introduced to Europe until the 1200s and not widely used until the 1700s)

800-840 A.D.

Sudden collapse of most central Maya cities in the face of severe drought and lengthy war

Vikings briefly establish first European settlements in North America.

1000

Reconstruction of Cahokia, c. 1250 A.D.*

Abrupt rise of Cahokia, near modern St. Louis, the largest city north of the Rio Grande. Population estimates vary from at least 15,000 to 100,000.

Black Death devastates Europe.

1347-1351

1398

Birth of Tlacaélel, the brilliant Mexican strategist behind the Triple Alliance (also known as the Aztec empire), which within decades controls central Mexico, then the most densely settled place on Earth.

The Encounter: Columbus sails from Europe to the Caribbean.

1492

The Encounter: Columbus sails from Europe to the Caribbean.

Syphilis apparently brought to Europe by Columbus's returning crew.

1493

Ferdinand Magellan departs from Spain on around-the-world voyage.

1519

Sixteenth-century Mexica drawing of the effects of smallpox**

Cortes driven from Tenochtitlán, capital of the Triple Alliance, and then gains victory as smallpox, a European disease never before seen in the Americas, kills at least one of three in the empire.

1525-1533

The smallpox epidemic sweeps into Peru, killing as much as half the population of the Inka empire and opening the door to conquest by Spanish forces led by Pizarro.

1617

Huge areas of New England nearly depopulated by epidemic brought by shipwrecked French sailors.

English Pilgrims arrive at Patuxet, an Indian village emptied by disease, and survive on stored Indian food, renaming the village Plymouth.

1620

*Courtesy Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site, Collinsville, Ill., painting by Michael Hampshire. **Courtesy Museum of Indian Arts and Culture, Santa Fe, N.M. (Bernardino de Sahagún, Historia General de las Cosas de Nueva España, 1547-77).

Book Description

In this groundbreaking work of science, history, and archaeology, Charles C. Mann radically alters our understanding of the Americas before the arrival of Columbus in 1492.

Contrary to what so many Americans learn in school, the pre-Columbian Indians were not sparsely settled in a pristine wilderness; rather, there were huge numbers of Indians who actively molded and influenced the land around them. From the astonishing Aztec capital of Tenochtitlán, which had running water, immaculately clean streets, and was larger than any contemporary European city, to the Mexican corn that was so carefully created in a specialized breeding process that it has been called man’s first feat of genetic engineering, Indians were not living lightly on the land but were landscaping and manipulating their world in ways that we are only now beginning to understand. Challenging and surprising, this a transformative new look at a rich and fascinating world we only thought we knew.

Customer Reviews:

a great overview.......2007-10-13

This is a great overview of early American cultures, and the various ways in which they shaped their environments. It is not an encyclopedia of Native American cultures, but uses specific examples to support the notion that the original inhabitants of our country have been misunderstood as lacking in initiative and expertise in manipulating the North American landscape... i.e. it debunks the "Eden" myth. Very well written and entertaining as well as informative.

Highly recommended for anyone looking for a more clear view of America before the arrival of Europeans.

Unputdownable.......2007-09-26

I found this book extremely enjoyable. It contains a wealth of knowledge about Native American cultures in N. and S. America; findings that are apparently well-known in academic circles, but which have remained largely unreported and unknown to mainstream audiences. Mr. Mann clearly admires much about the achievements of these pre-Columbus civilizations, and seeks to redress "common" misconceptions that most Westerners have about "primitive, savage" Indian life. I am glad I read this book. I learned a great deal from this book, and was fascinated by the subject matter.

This book is also beautifully written, and makes the subject matter accessible to laypeople. I was expecting it to be readable buy dry, but it was instead a book that just compelled me to keep turning pages. It helps to bring these ancient civilizations to life, talks frankly about the impact of European colonization on these civilizations, and challenges the reader to set aside his/her textbook knowledge and consider seeing Native Americans in an all new light.

Every now and then a book comes out that makes science "sexy." For example, "Guns, Germs and Steel" by Jared Diamond, or "Krakatoa" by Simon Winchester. To me, this is one of those books. It's both revealing and entertaining. "1491" was just a terrific read - thought provoking, compelling, entertaining, well researched. I even read all the appendices, and that's saying something.

I highly recommend this book.

Excellent insight into the latest research.......2007-09-25

Please don't confuse this excellent book with the poorly researched fantasy "1421: The Year China Discovered America." 1491 is an extremely well researched and documented look into the latest archaelogical findings and theories pertaining to life in North and South America prior to Columbus's landing.

Mann does an excellent job explaining the accuracies and flaws of the multitude of theories surrounding this topic. As he simply exposes the debates and doesn't attempt to resolve them himself, he provides an illustrative lesson that one should not become too entrenched with any particular theory on the pre-history of man as each theory is eventually overturned or modified by new findings.

His writing style seems similar to Jared Diamond. Mann, however, makes his points without getting bogged down in the excruciating details which makes this book much more readable than Guns, Germs, and Steel or Collapse (both of which were excellent books as well). With over 100 pages of notes and references he provides the reader with the necessary information for them to conduct their own level of research based upon their desires.

Fascinating but flawed.......2007-09-23

Henry Ford said that all history was bunk, and he had not even read 1491! What a shock to find that the population of the new world in 1491 was greater than that of the old world! That the natives, said to be long-term farmers, had shaped the landscape to suit themselves, that buffalo roamed in small numbers until old world diseases killed off most (90%) of the native tribes and thus allowed the huge herds to form. What a shock to find that many north American tribes considered themselves libertarian compared with the hierarchy bound Europeans. Yet more than enough evidence is given from old writings long ignored, and new archeological finds.

This is all fast and entertaining reading. There are many maps to help explanations, citations by page number, and an index. Mann traveled to several of the archeological sites.

On the downside, Mann talked of the "balanced diet" as though its desirability has been proven, and does not say how maize provided this "balance" (p18). The battle between Hernán Cortés's men and the Mexica was said to have been described as the costliest battle in history with 100,000 casualties (not deaths), (p129). Why no mention of Verdun in WWI with a million deaths and Stalingrad in WWII with a million deaths? Is a mammoth's molar really the size of a bowling ball? (p152) Mann wrote of winter on the Amazon river. I thought equatorial areas had wet and dry seasons, not the 4 seasons observed far from the equator (pp301,305).

But there is another, bigger fly in the ointment. Mann accepts the carbon dioxide from combustion hypothesis of global warming (pp300,308). Solar cycles of changing heat output and the sun's influence on cosmic ray effects on the Earth's clouds determine climate, not CO2 levels. [Jaworowski Z, Solar cycles, not CO2, determine climate, 21st Century Science and Technology, Winter 2003-2004, pp52-65. Accessed as a PDF on 5 Jul 07 at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zbigniew_Jaworowski or at: http://www.21stcenturysciencetech.com/] According to Laurence Hecht, Editor of 21st Century Science & Technology: "Of all the hypotheses [on Earth climate], that of human-produced carbon dioxide as the forcing mechanism for warming is the most deeply and extensively studied, and by far the most discredited. No other hypothesis rests on such flagrant and lying disrepect for data as...on the falsification of the historical CO2 record." [Hecht L, What Really Causes Climate Change? EIR Science, 2 Mar 07, pp6-9. Accessed as a PDF on 5 Jul 07 at: http://www.21stcenturysciencetech.com/] The other big falsification in this hypothesis, skyrocketing temperatures in the last 50 years to levels not seen in 1300 years, is exemplified by the temperature graph of Michael Mann, which was shown to be a fraud, not just a mistake [McIntyre, S., McKitrick, R. (2005). Hockey sticks, principal components, and spurious significance. Geophysical Research Letters, 32, L03710; doi:10.1029/2004GL021750], [Soon, W., Baliunas, S. (2003). Proxy climatic and environmental changes of the past 1000 years. Climate Research, 23, 89-110].

So for historical controversies Charles C. Mann appeared to do balanced work, with opposing ideas neatly cited. But by failing to look up the "other side" on global warming, he missed effects of giant volcanic eruptions and solar output changes on temperature. The Roman era warming and Medieval Climate Optimum, both with temperatures higher than now and the Little Ice Age (1500-1800) were ignored, thus their effects on migration and population sizes was missed. Now it seems that the crop failures of the Little Ice Age were a main reason for northern Europeans to try to move to a warmer climate.

As always with with non-fiction, some errors make the entire work suspicious. Still a worthwhile book with its limitations in mind.

Great history, great archeology, great read.......2007-09-23

I love fresh looks on old topics. This book delivers on that theme. As a history teacher I find the same mundane, lopsided, and inaccurate truths presented in textbooks about this era time and time again. Mann's book is a counterweight to that miseducation and shed's light on often under appreciated and misrepresented Native American societies.

Animal Speak: The Spiritual & Magical Powers of Creatures Great & Small

Average customer rating:

Wonderful Book!
Animals do indeed communicate information to us
Animal Speak by Ted Andrews
Animal Speak Still Going Strong
Fascinating Information about animal symbolism

Animal Speak: The Spiritual & Magical Powers of Creatures Great & Small
Ted Andrews
Manufacturer: Llewellyn Publications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Shamanism | Earth-Based Religions | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books

Channeling | New Age | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books

General | New Age | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books

Parapsychology | Occult | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books

Spiritualism | Occult | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books

Look Inside Nonfiction Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books

Look Inside Outdoors & Nature Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books

Look Inside Religion & Spirituality Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books

Look Inside Science Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books
Similar Items:

ASIN: 0875420281

Amazon.com

Want to learn how to speak the language of critters, large and small? Easy-to-read and understand, Ted Andrews's bestselling Animal Speak shows readers how to identify his or her animal totem and learn how to invoke its energy and use it for personal growth and inner discovery. Nature lovers will love this insightful compendium, chock-full of touching stories about animals, natural history, and animal folklore. Readers will also learn magical animal rites and how to read omens. Animal Speak includes a dictionary of bird, animal, reptile, and insect totems, which describe each creature's meaning. For example, if a person's totem is dragonfly, he or she was most likely excessively emotional and passionate in early years, learning with age to balance it with mental clarity and control. If a dragonfly suddenly shows up in your life, it means you may need to gain a new perspective or make a change. --P. Randall Cohan

Customer Reviews:

Wonderful Book!.......2007-10-13

Love Love Love this book, gives a good description of hundreds and hundreds of animals, talks about totems and the relation of the totem to you.
Very well written, everything I wanted this book has it.
I am very happy I bought this book
~Anastasia, VA

Animals do indeed communicate information to us.......2007-10-02

This book was recommended to me several years ago, and since reading it I regularly refer to it as an informational resource. On many occasions I have been amazed at how relevant the information about a particular creature was to what I was experiencing at the time it happened to cross my path. I found Animal Speak to be of such value to me that I chose to include an excerpt from it within my own book. As such, I highly recommend it to any person who has interest in the spiritual path.

Animal Speak by Ted Andrews.......2007-09-26

Animal Speak: The Spiritual & Magical Powers of Creatures Great & Small

Great book, I had seen Ted Andrews in person, what an incredible man. I already had so many books at the time, I did not buy it then and have him sign it. But recently it is the time of skunks and well, I have just seen/smell for several weeks. My friend has the book, and she read me the section about skunks, and it was amazing. how much of what it had to say about skunks, from strength, relationships, boundaries, sensuality, were the things I was looking at in my life. So I decided to buy the book after all, and it is a great thing.

Animal Speak Still Going Strong.......2007-08-11

This purchase was a replacement for an fifteen year old copy that I simply wore out. I bought the first copy when I met Ted Andrews in 1987, I teach neo-shamanism and suggest that all of my students have this book and it's accompaniment "Nature Speak." Ted is a naturalist and knows animals and nature first hand. He combines his knowledge with ancient and modern myth and lore to give us a comprehensive guide to how animals interact in our metaphysical world.

Fascinating Information about animal symbolism.......2007-07-31

"The most common belief in many societies is that spiritual guides often use animals or animal imagery to communicate their purpose and roles to humans." -From the book.

I was drawn to this book several years ago when I had a recurring dream about an animal and felt sure that there was an important message in it for me. I have used it several times since to look up the meaning associated with certain animals that came across my path. We may think that these encounters are random or coincidental, but they're not. Often we don't see signs that are right in front of us. Does it take a billboard to get you to take notice? For me, sometimes it does, but I have tried to slow down and pay attention to these subtle natural nudges because a lot of times, they contain a powerful message or just good advice! Just as symbols, seeing/encountering certain animals may, on the surface have no meaning to us, but our subconcious knows what it means.

There is a HUGE amount of information in this book. It is very interesting to read. In addition to finding out the meanings/messages of animals, it also tells you how to find out what your nature totems are and how to work with that energy.

In chapter 4 'Reading signs and omens in nature' there are charts for the meanings or symbolism of certain trees and flowers and the positive/negative qualities of colors.

Highly interesting book and great to have for reference.

Average customer rating:

Great book for little gifts.
A beautiful little book
Love the Book, Love the Cards That Go With the Book....
playfull support of the book Four agreements
Wisdom from the Four Agreements - Review

Four Agreements Cards
Miguel Ruiz
Manufacturer: Hay House
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Cards

General | Self-Help | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books

Motivational | Self-Help | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books

General | Psychology & Counseling | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books

General | New Age | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books

Personal Transformation | Spirituality | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books

Look Inside Religion & Spirituality Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books
Similar Items:

ASIN: 1561708771

Book Description

Based on Don's New York Times bestselling book, The Four Agreements, the 48 cards in this deck provide a simple yet powerful code of conduct for attaining personal freedom and true happiness. There are 12 cards corresponding to each of the four agreements: (1) Be impeccable with your word; (2) Don't take anything personally; (3) Don't make assumptions; and (4) Always do your best.

Customer Reviews:

Great book for little gifts........2007-05-31

This is the greatest book ever written, in a nutshell, you can read this in 15 minutes.. I keep it around as a reminder of the Four Agreements... great gifts!! I order them several at a time. and give them away quite regularly, everyone loves them.

A beautiful little book.......2007-01-03

I absolutely love this little book. This is a summary of the full version but it is a wonderful way of encapsulating all of that in a concise manner. It's a nice one to have close by to read and reread again.

Love the Book, Love the Cards That Go With the Book...........2006-12-17

Loved reading the "Four Agreements" Book. These companion cards are a great addition to the book as they are bite sized reminders of the four agreements discussed in the book & they help you stay focused on keeping the four agreements in mind.

There are 48 cards in this deck--- with 12 cards focusing on each of the four agreements. The art work on each card is phenomenally beautiful and the cards are wonderful just to look at for their beauty. I find that if there is an agreement that I am having a difficult time practicing, then I can easily refer to the 12 cards that deal with agreement to help bring that agreement back into focus.

playfull support of the book Four agreements.......2006-11-03

easy exercises on the four agreements, giving way to many different situations: all of them happening so often in daily life

Wisdom from the Four Agreements - Review.......2006-11-02

Miguel Ruiz writes philosophy dealing with your word, your ego, judgment and integrity in a simple format. It is yet another reminder to love your neighbor as yourself.
Trish New, author of The Thrill of Hope and South State Street Journal.

House of Rain: Tracking a Vanished Civilization Across the American Southwest

Average customer rating:

Childs has done it with this book...
Excellent Read With Interesting Personal Point of Views
House of Rain, A Great Read
House of Rain
Exception read for the non-archeologist interested in the Anasazi

House of Rain: Tracking a Vanished Civilization Across the American Southwest
Craig Childs
Manufacturer: Little, Brown and Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Americas | History | Subjects | Books

General | World | History | Subjects | Books

Essays & Travelogues | Reference & Tips | Travel | Subjects | Books

Nature Writing | Outdoors & Nature | Subjects | Books

Look Inside Nonfiction Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books

Look Inside Outdoors & Nature Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books

Look Inside Science Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books

Look Inside Travel Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books
Similar Items:

ASIN: 0316608173

Book Description

A feat of historical detection--the most significant, andcertainly the most enthralling, book on American prehistory to appear indecades.The greatest "unsolved mystery" of the American Southwest relates to theAnasazi, the native peoples who by the 11th century converged on ChacoCanyon (now New Mexico) and built a flourishing cultural center thatattracted pilgrims from far and wide, a vital crossroads of the prehistoricworld. The Anasazis' accomplishments--in agriculture, in art, in commerce,in architecture and engineering--were astounding, rivaling those of theMayans in distant Central America. By the 13th century, however, the Anasazi were gone from Chaco. Vanished.What was it--drought? pestilence? war? forced migration? mass murder orsuicide? Craig Childs draws on scholarly research and a lifetime ofadventure and exploration in the American Southwest to pursue the mysteryof their disappearance. Considering many possibilities, he points the wayto a new understanding of how a vibrant civilization collapsed.

Customer Reviews:

Childs has done it with this book..........2007-09-11

It's been a long time since I was thoroughly captivated by a book but House Of Rain has managed to do just that. Craig Childs is arguably one of the finest non-fiction writers today. For those of us who live and breathe the Great Southwest, Child's descriptions will bring back vivid memories of Sleeping Ute mountain in the distance and standing where the Ancients stood at Mesa Verde, Hovenweep, and Chaco. For those reviewers who felt like they needed maps and an answer, you can get maps at the visitor centers all bound up in glossy little books with equally glossy descriptions of people and places. This is not one of those books - it's so much deeper. This book is not a souvenier, it's a vehicle that takes you to places that a relative few will ever see and even less will understand. Sometimes, there is no final answer - there's just the lingering questions. That's part of what makes it so interesting.

Excellent Read With Interesting Personal Point of Views.......2007-09-06

This is the first book by Craig Childs that I've read. I will say it is an excellent book on the Anasazi. Craig has spent his whole life in the desert Southwest and appears to be quite knowledgeable about his subject. If you are the least bit interested in knowing a bit more about the Anasazi but don't want to read a "dry" scientific book about the subject, this is "the book" for you. Craig has travelled, worked and talked with many southwest Archaeologists who study the Anasazi. His discussions on the Anasazi are not boring and dry and his writing style is superb. I have a passing interest in the subject matter and this is one of the newest books on the subject and based on reviews of his other books, bought this one. I'm glad I did. Craig covers some controversial areas in regards to the Anasazi and where they went. They didn't disappear, their ancestors are still here, spread out over the southwest. He hits on a few quite creditabal possibilities and presents material to support them. I not being an expert on the subject but none the less interested and with some of my own ideas, I think Craig is on to something in regards to some of the reasons for the abandonment of the ancient sites across the entire southwest not just the Four Corners area commonly attributed to the Anasazi. Craig's descriptions of his backcountry travels are excellent and gives the sense that you are there with him which makes it even more enjoyable to read. This one is a keeper which I know I will read over and over again.

House of Rain, A Great Read.......2007-08-16

If you'd like to take a journey into the SW United States looking for the "missing" Anasazi, you should crack open this book, and delve into Craig Child's riveting journey. Child's style of writing puts you there with him, and he's very skilled at creating images that draw you into the adventure.

House of Rain .......2007-07-07

Craig Childs and "House of Rain" took me to places I've been and most importantly, to places I've been unable to experience. As I was reading this descriptive narrative of the Southwest that I love so much, I felt I was walking right beside him...excellent!

Exception read for the non-archeologist interested in the Anasazi.......2007-07-06

I already own several of Craig Childs books which I enjoy reading so that I can vicariously explore the canyons with him. This book is Exceptional. I bought it just last week at the Anasazi Heritage Center near Mesa Verde and Canyons of the Ancients while vacationing there with my wife and granddaughter. Living in Utah, we make yearly trips to the Moab area and southeastern canyons of Utah always hopeing to find a ruin to explore and photograph. This book is great for the non-scientist but those interested in the cultures of the Southwest like me!

Collected Wisdom: American Indian Education

Average customer rating:

A must-read!
A journey in understanding

Collected Wisdom: American Indian Education
Linda Miller Cleary , and Thomas D. Peacock
Manufacturer: Allyn & Bacon
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Communications | Skills | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

General | Education | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

General | Education | Professional & Technical | Subjects | Books

Look Inside Nonfiction Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books

All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books

Business & Investing | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books

Nonfiction | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books

Professional | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
Similar Items:

ASIN: 0205267572

Book Description

How do cultural differences and real-world issues affect the education of students, in this case, American Indian students? What approaches have real teachers found that work well with American Indian students? This books answers these and more thoughtful questions about teaching in today's diverse school communities. KEY TOPICS: This book captures the collected wisdom of nearly 60 teachers of American Indian students, their frustrations, joys, and challenges. It provides in a very real way, a portrait of the issues that challenge these students, as well as the successes some teachers have in working with American Indian students. It provides new and fresh perspectives on learning styles and literacy issues. It is also the first book to confront issues of historic oppression and its impact on contemporary Indian education. New and practicing teachers seeking to enhance their awareness and teaching methods to meet the needs of today's diverse classrooms.

Customer Reviews:

A must-read!.......2000-05-24

Possibly the most useful book available for anyone working in or considering working in elementary and secondary American Indian education. As a tribal school employee, I felt the authors may have used our school as a case study! Thought provoking and inspirational - highly recommended.

A journey in understanding.......1998-12-12

These gentle, generous-spirited writers have contributed a great deal to the field. Their book is full of stories, true tales of work in classrooms. Each leads you further into the depths of insight needed to be of use as an educator of Native American students.

Average customer rating:

Indian
Enchanting and riveting, this story will stay with you
Island Of The Blue Dolphins!
May be too adult for 10 or 11 yr olds
good

Island of the Blue Dolphins
Scott O'Dell
Manufacturer: Yearling
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Literature | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

General | Issues | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Adventure & Thrillers | Literature & Fiction | Teens | Subjects | Books

Classics | Literature & Fiction | Teens | Subjects | Books

All 4-for-3 Deals | 4-for-3 Books Store | Stores | Books
Similar Items:

ASIN: 0440439884
Release Date: 1987-02-01

Amazon.com

Scott O'Dell won the Newbery Medal for Island of the Blue Dolphins in 1961, and in 1976 the Children's Literature Association named this riveting story one of the 10 best American children's books of the past 200 years. O'Dell was inspired by the real-life story of a 12-year-old American Indian girl, Karana. The author based his book on the life of this remarkable young woman who, during the evacuation of Ghalas-at (an island off the coast of California), jumped ship to stay with her young brother who had been abandoned on the island. He died shortly thereafter, and Karana fended for herself on the island for 18 years.

O'Dell tells the miraculous story of how Karana forages on land and in the ocean, clothes herself (in a green-cormorant skirt and an otter cape on special occasions), and secures shelter. Perhaps even more startlingly, she finds strength and serenity living alone on the island. This beautiful edition of Island of the Blue Dolphins is enriched with 12 full-page watercolor paintings by Ted Lewin, illustrator of more than 100 children's books, including Ali, Child of the Desert. A gripping story of battling wild dogs and sea elephants, this simply told, suspenseful tale of survival is also an uplifting adventure of the spirit. (Ages 9 to 12)

Book Description

In the Pacific, there is an island that looks like a big fish sunning itself in the sea. Around it blue dolphins swim, otters play, and sea birds abound. Karana is the Indian girl who lived alone for years on the Island of the Blue Dolphins. Hers is not only an unusual adventure of survival, but also a tale of natural beauty and personal discovery.

Customer Reviews:

Indian.......2007-10-01

White people found her people and took them off island with lie of freedom. She escaped and remain on island with brother. Wolves eat brother. She walk alone and with a special wolf who is kind to her. one day she enter a water cave, found out the truth about her people fate. her people died and she survived. one day white people return to the island once again, she finally allow herself to join them. she became famous and she is buried in california. her clothing is in museum in Italy. wonderful story of her courage life.

Enchanting and riveting, this story will stay with you.......2007-08-27

I have to smile when reading these other reviews that say this book was one of their favorites as a child. It also was mine. I've read so many books, that most times the memory of the details within them grow dim, but not with "Island of the Blue Dolphins". I can still picture the breathtaking beauty of the island where Karana spent her growing years. I still remember her joys and trials of living alone for so long, after everyone had left. Her ingenuity and strength still amazes me. I can't wait until my children are old enough so I can enjoy this Newberry book with them. It's definitely one in a million.

Island Of The Blue Dolphins!.......2007-08-19

When I was on vacation at Martha's Vinyard I went to the book store and bought Island Of The Blue Dolphins for myself and I loved it!! I love it so much because of it's beautiful discriptions and details that I can picture in my mind. This book is beautifully written and has wonderful detail of natural survival of hunting, and making friends (Rontu and Rontu-Aru and the English girl Tutok, the fox and Won-a-nee the otter). How many wonderful and beautiful adventures of exciting survival can one indian girl have? I am 10 years old and recommend this book to whoever loves reading and is a fan of detail and beauty!!!!!!!!

May be too adult for 10 or 11 yr olds.......2007-08-15

My 11 yr old enjoyed this book but says it was too sad for her taste. Kids!

good.......2007-08-13

THIS BOOK WAS FOR MY GRANDDAUGHTER. She liked it very much. I am looking for some other books for 7th graders do you have any suggestions?

The Encyclopedia of North American Indians

Average customer rating:

The Encyclopedia of North American Indians

Manufacturer: Marshall Cavendish Corporation
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Encyclopedias | Reference & Nonfiction | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

General | Americas | History | Subjects | Books

Children's | Encyclopedias | Reference | Subjects | Books

Look Inside Nonfiction Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books

Look Inside Reference Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books

Look Inside Teen Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books
ASIN: 0761402276

Books:

Books Index

Books Home

Recommended Books