Bond Reviews

Hope is a good writer--she's observant; reflective. I loved her book "Motherless Daughters" and she effectively uses her own experience to make her point. However. . . She lost me on this book because in one sentence (one sentence, mind you! ) she dismisses the relationship between a paternal grandmother and her granddaughter as never being as close as the maternal grandmother. That may be true in some cases--indeed, in many, and surely in her own. However, Hope's research is limited and biased. How can she effectively dismiss half of the population? Look at examples down through history of grandmothers & granddaughters (via their sons). . Their influence was great and I maintain ALL family relationships take investment and time. You get out of it what you put into it. The "mother of my mother" book a catchy idea, but the bias really bothers me. And what about adopted daughters? I have an adopted daughter, 4 sons, 1 grandson, & 1 granddaughter whom I love with all my heart (she's crazy about me, too). Each of my children and grandchildren are unique and each relationship is unique. This book depressed me for days until I was able to babysit my Kendsy (4 mos. old) for 5 days straight and re-fill my emotional cup. I gave this book 3 stars for the writing but the concept is weak! Sorry.

I could not put this book down! I am the eldest daughter of an only daughter and a maternal granddaughter to a grandma who helped my mother raise me from the day I was born until I was 11 1/2. This book offered me a great deal of insight into our triangle. Now that my mother is a grandmother herself, I have recommended it to her so she can take an objective look at her part in our triangle and those with her grandchildren. This book is very informative and the writing is super-engaging. I think any daughter will benefit from reading this book, especially if she's planning to have children.

I ordered this book because I just became a grandmother of a baby girl last week and saw the author in the Today show--I was dismayed at her use of negative words and negative appproach to the different "types" of grandmothers and wanted to find out just what she was talking about. Words like "manipulative" and "meddling" are so distructive. I consider my new role as one of support and teaching and love of my daughter and her family and being there for her after her c-section as a privilege--I am saddened that this could be called meddling and rather insulted by these terms. So I want to read the book to find out if the impression given by the interview was correct.

This is a typical relaxation tape. It has little to do with Rolfing. I assume that Rolfing was put in the title to help sell the tape. It is very misleading. If you want a soft Yoga voice asking what color you thigh feels like, or what your back would say if it could talk, then buy this tape. But if you are looking for something about Rolfing, this isn't it.

The exercises on this tape focus on connecting with one's body, then re-educating one's body to move as nature intended, using gravity as an ally rather than a foe in attaining good balance. First one learns to breath deeply, fully, and effortlessly--which in itself can have a profound impact on every facet of one's life--but that's just the beginning! Gradually one works through the entire body, using one's newfound breath as a tool to attain both deep relaxation and efficient movement (one is not possible without the other). While the exercises themselves are short and simple, you'll begin noticing changes in the way you feel and move almost immediately. There is nothing "New Age" about this tape: It is based on sound anatomical and physiological principals. Yet, in a manner of speaking, it ties together many ideas & techniques popularized by the New Age movement . . only here you see how the fit together and make logical, practical sense, such as the visualization exercises alluded to by the last reviewer. An excellent tape all around!

Some Tai-Chi masters say that you should strive to do Tai-Chi so well that you don't do it anymore. Mary Bond's book BALANCING YOUR BODY is a western approach to this ideal. This is a method of exploration, discovery and action to achieve dynamic balance and harmony in a constantly changing internal/external environment. My personal situation precludes formal exercise in definite locations or with groups. Of the extensive search that I've made, her methods are the most interesting and potentially the most useful. However it goes in practice, I will always thank her for educating me to the difference between symmetry and balance.

I have suffered with IBS for many years. This book offered simplistic advice that any reasonable person would have tried already, such as visualization. Save your money, do not buy this book.

IBS can be a horrible thing to suffer with and unfortunately a lot of books written on the subject can even be worse. In my search for books on IBS I found a lot of them written by doctors to be unsympathetic and confusing. That was until I found Barbara Bradley Bolen's book on IBS. Her book was written in a clear and friendly manner and it was a pleasure to read. Also, Bolen writing was very sympathetic to the disease of IBS.

One of the things I liked so much about this book was the case studies that she put in. For example when she was talking about the importance of doing a self monitoring sheet to help spot patterns in your IBS she related what she was talking about to one of her patients. It was helpful because it makes you realize that you are not alone with dealing with IBS. She also has many different activities in her book that can help you spot patterns in your IBS, as well as activities to help you calm down, cope and relieve stress. This book was very helpful in understanding, dealing with, and hopefully reducing the symptoms of IBS.

I recommend this book to those that are suffering from IBS and also those who know and love somene that has it and want to understand more about what it is really like. A great buy.

After buying, reading and giving away many, many books on Irritable Bowel Syndrome, I was blessed to have found this one. No recipes in this one, this book makes clear the powerful correlation between IBS and anxiety, IBS and stress, IBS and depression, IBS and fear. After spending a week of increasingly severe pain accompanied by increased anxiety about the pain (or was it increasing pain about the anxiety?)and winding up in the local ER, I realized that I needed to help myself by calming myself. This book tells how. In compassionate, orderly chapters, Barbara Bolen teaches how to truly "break the bonds of IBS." Hooray for her! Hooray for all of us!

Truly beautiful. Made me cry then smile. I have a 12-year golden retriever myself, and they are definitely a gift of joy and love

Dr. Schoen and Pam Proctor have written a remarkable tale of veterinary practice and the animals and people encountered along the way. Dr. Schoen relates his own path from traditional veterianry medicine to a mixed practice including alternative therapies for animals. His stories of healing will intrigue you to continue turning each page as you follow the lives of his extraordianry patients. Thank you Dr. Schoen and Pam Proctor. As a veterinary student I found this book extremely inspiring.

After reading this book I can think of so many people I'd like to send it to! I highly recommend it to anyone who has or loves animals. Some of the information in this book can save the lives of animal companions by showing the additional options available to heal health problems.

Another poor effort by John Gardner. This doesn't even qualify as an easy diversion.

This is one of the best books from John Gardner's Bond series. The story concerns a headhunt for Bond where a variety of spies and assassins are out trying to capture and kill him, and in doing so, earning one million Swiss francs. Fast paced and very original.

I HAVE SEEN EVERY JAMES BOND MOVIE THERE IS TO SEE. I HAVE READ EVERY book by John Gardner! His Bond outings keeps the Bond Flag alive! Nail biting suspense! Great storytelling at its best in this great adventure!

Basically I liked this book, as it does a good job of laying out the political climates of the various times and places in the James Bond novels-not only those by Fleming, but also the many other sequels by Amis, Gardner, et al.-and short stories, as well as all the films up to the third Pierce Brosnan one. I have read all the Fleming stories at least twice each, and will probably do so all over again now that I will be able to keep Jeremy Black's input on the politics surrounding the plots in mind.

However, I am still reeling by the frequency of errors in the book, including wrong names-e.g., he mistakenly calls [Pierce] Brosnan "Bronson" (unless of course I missed a James Bond movie that starred Charles Bronson... I don't think so!)-and he renames the character Tatiana Romanova from the novel and film From Russia, with Love "Natalya"; and heaps of grammatical errors.

This book needed an editor and a fact-checker before it went to print. I sincerely hope the publisher has one of each overhaul this book before it issues the paperback edition!

This was a very interesting book. I liked it a lot. The word "politics" might tend to steer some readers(especialy younger ones) away from this, but don't let that word scare you. A very good book, lots of information. A recomended read from a serious(sometimes refered to as "purist") Bond fan

This includes everything about 007! and I do mean everything. Buy it today and see for yourself.

Judging from the wildly differing reviews that have appeared in newspapers in the past few weeks, this book seems to inspire either passionate admiration or something akin to personal rage. It isn't hard to understand why: Angier has written a highly unconventional, imaginative biography, in which she is herself a character at times, and tells us almost as much about what it's like to write a biography as about the life of Primo Levi. She has also dared to use her own intuition -coupled with, and informed by, her scrupulous research and reflection -- to deduce things that Levi, a very private man, did not himself talk about. Finally, she has clearly angered the people who do not want to believe that Levi killed himself; it is impossible to believe, after one has read her, that his fall from the landing of his apartment building in Turin was accidental. Perhaps even more disturbing to those who saw him as some kind of radiantly sane figure is her sorrowful conclusion that he did not do it because, or primarily because, of what he had suffered in Auschwitz.
The portrait of him that emerges is of a man who was not the secular saint, the avatar of reason, that his readers have supposed, but something greater: a tragically repressed man who struggled with overwhelming depression all his life (except, ironically, as Angier tells us, when he was in Auschwitz), triumphing not so much in his person as in the great books in which he refused to give way to it. It seems a more amazing accomplishment that a deeply troubled, self-doubting, conflicted man should have produced those masterful works of illumination and sanity than if he had simply been the serene figure of his readers' imaginings. And it should come as no surprise to anyone that literature of the high order of Levi's does not come out of an effortlessly serene mind. Angier makes it clear what a conscious artist he really was.

Though she sometimes hammers her point home rather than allowing the reader to arrive at his own conclusions about the conflicts that lay at the heart of Levi, it seems impossible that anyone will ever come closer to penetrating the mystery of the man.

As awful as current events seem to be, with unsettled questions about who is most likely to die next dominating much of the news, this book takes a look at how a great writer managed, as best he could, for a time. Applying political psychology to figures who assumed some importance in our evaluation of the most catastrophic events in the twentieth century can still be disconcerting, as I myself might be the worst example. Part of the joke of MY VIETNAM WAR JOKE BOOK was that a 19-year-old G.I. grunt in Nam might say things that you would never expect to hear from the kind of genius who survived Auschwitz and wrote about it in the manner of Primo Levi in THE PERIODIC TABLE, which was an American best-seller when it was translated into English.

Carole Angier seems very English and aiming for an audience at a university level of views, far removed from the concerns of those Americans who need a little more control over what is happening in the world, as expressed in an article in The New York Times of March 31, 2003, of a situation which is assumed to be temporary:

Eleven days into the American-led war here, the narrow, once fertile crescent of territory that gives Iraq its only outlet to the sea remains a land of insecurity and ambivalence, devoid of the euphoria that American and British soldiers hoped to encounter in southern Iraq.

People who experienced a sense of euphoria in reading Primo Levi's reflections on life as an understanding of chemical elements are sure to find THE DOUBLE BOND by Carole Angier dismal evidence that Primo Levi's life remained "a land of insecurity and ambivalence," and that the inability to write which marked his final days was primarily a lack of the sense of euphoria that newspaper reporters Marc Santora and Craig S. Smith, writing for the Times, had assumed that Americans would expect for those encountered in great historical events.

This is a big book with a tremendous index, but most people will find that few of the people listed in the index are familiar to them, though two lines are required for the pages on "Americans," as distinct from the three lines for "America/United States." There are also listings for "Britain" and "England," but no extended discussion of the controversy there, in which David Irving is listed for a single page, on the book, HITLER'S WAR. American and England are such outlying areas in the scope of Levi's concerns that the description of his "barrage of articles" (p. 603) trying to counter Holocaust denial seems obsessed with the French. THE DOUBLE BOND is hardly neutral, but mentions such disconcerting facts as that Louis Darquier de Pellepoix was Vichy's commissioner of Jewish affairs. "Darquier was eighty-five years old and clearly senile, he said; since he himself had sent 70,000 French Jews to their deaths, he was hardly a disinterested party." (p. 603). The word "disinterested" here must primarily mean disinterested in the truth. I just received news that a newsman, Peter Arnett, (I am the face), was fired by an American network for talking in Baghdad on Iraqi TV. The standard applied in his case was hardly whether he was still capable of thinking of interesting things to say, but more along the lines of whether other people ought to be given the opportunity to believe what he was thinking.

In these interesting times, MY VIETNAM WAR JOKE BOOK is the worst possible point of view because its interest is primarily in laughing. Primo Levi could never have written MY VIETNAM WAR JOKE BOOK, because he did not have the personal interest in pursuing that situation past its most absurd conclusion, that geopolitics could be responsible for the deaths of 3,000,000 Vietnamese without ultimately accepting any responsibility for the fate of the survivors. Levi had math for Europe: "There had been 17 million Jews in Europe in 1939, and 11 million in 1945: where were the missing 6 million?" (p. 603). There might be fewer people in Iraq in a few months than there were a month ago, but Levi is a poor candidate (he's dead, you know) for thinking that anyone could be more disinterested in that than he is.

On the question of therapeutic value of trying to provide attention to those who need it most, the tangled web in this book is tied to older lives: "from 1978 onwards his depressions were triggered very largely by his mother's decline, and by its consequences. But it was also not true, because neither was natural or external. The truth is that his own relationship with his mother was pathological; and so was the level of care Lucia required them both to give. These together were quite enough to depress him on their own." (p. 602). This is entirely like his relationship to "those who denied the crimes he had devoted his life to recording. They, and they alone, brought out in him absolute intolerance; and a violence of language (`senile', `stupid', `mad') which was to him the essence of the Lager, and normally beyond the pale. The appearance of Faurisson and his ilk was the deepest shock to him: perhaps as deep as the shock of Auschwitz itself. These new Nazis lived in peace and safety, unlike the original ones." (p. 604). Having experienced a bit of shock ourselves, it is not too surprising that some governments have an interest in bringing a bit of shock to Iraq, but hardly like the shock Levi brought when he died in the house where he had been born, Corso Re Umberto 75, "built in the good middle-class areas of Turin around the turn of the century." (p. xxiv). This book honors his life, and is a profound appreciation of the nature and meaning of his death, too.

Carole Angier deserves the thanks of anyone seriously interested in the life of this strange and amazing man who helped and continues to help mankind to deal with the massive trauma of World War II and, further, with all attempts since then to kill the soul. She has spent years in attempting to discover him, in assessing what is factual, what can be conjectured, and what is unlikely about this man who was so reticent and whose family and friends are devoted to respecting his privacy and that of his family. However, it is true that a great man belongs to the world too.

Unfortunately the world will not tolerate the fact that he was human and seems not to want to forgive him for taking his own life, as appears likely, especially in view of his call for help to Rabbi Toaf shortly before his death. Myth does not grow well in the presence of fact, and the facts that Carole Angier has tirelessly gathered will enrich our understanding immeasurably but have disappointed some. This seems true too regarding her altogether modest and to my mind reasonable and well-founded speculations as to his motivations and of the emotional flow of his life. Levi himself saw this coming, said that he was not a "guru" and could not bear the weight of such a role.

She seems to me to have come to central and moving understandings of his surroundings. One can only stand in awe of the amount of information she has absorbed in her attempt to make the most accurate portrayal of the influences impinging upon him. Her depiction of the Auschwitz environment is as complete as I have ever seen; her understanding of how there could be non-shameful fellowship there which would turn to shame when viewed by the outside world; her understanding of the sad fate of the Samaritan Lorenzo, who could not tolerate his life after Auschwitz, that this is how heroism is, "a historical glory but a personal burden." True for Lorenzo and for Primo Levi as well.

It has become fashionable in Primo Levi circles to reject absolutely studies of him, as the previous biography by Anissimov, which are in any way flawed. But the truth is we owe a debt of gratitude to her as well; she roughed in the picture and indicated areas that need to be understood. Primo Levi induces in his readers a protective possessiveness; everyone who reads and loves him wants to rescue him from the imperfect perception that has just been promulgated. This is sainthood in formation. But he was not a saint; he was an imperfect and therefore all the more amazing human being.

Carole Angier has given us a relentlessly factual, moving, and gracefully written portrayal of this complex man. This is the best of biography. She deserves our thanks also for rendering him as we feel he would have liked, in shades of gray, but gray composed of flashes of brilliance mixed with the most horrifying black. Levi was a true Perseus, able to look at the face, see down the throat, of the terrifying Gorgon, able to return and to summon up the courage to tell us the revolting horror. Carole Angier in her remarkable book has helped us to understand the formation of the man who did it, how he could stand it, and what it cost him and those around him.

When Charlotte goes on a trip to visit her friend Oliver in London shes finds a big surprise waiting for her. It seems that Oliver's mom and step-dad had to go to Germany on important business. Oliver neglects to call Charlotte and tell her that she will have to exchange her ticket, in hopes that while his parents are gone he and Charlotte can go to scottland to see a sick old friend. It sounds exciting and you have to give Ms. Bond credit for her delightful imagery, and painting a creative picture of London and Scotland, however the book lacks a good ending. It feels as though the author got to page 296 and said, "well that's it I'm spent!" Through out the entire book you wonder what Oliver's feelings for Charlotte are exactly and nothing actually develops. At the end it just feels opened ended. Not a story where you can just make up the ending but like the author tried but just couldn't finish it. So Warning to the wise just don't waste your time.

The love of Friends is a great book about a girl named Charlotte, who travels to London to visit her close friend,Oliver. Oliver used to live with his uncle in the same town as Charlotte, but when his uncle died his mother brought him to live with her. Olivers parent go out of town and he is suppose to reschudule Charlotte's trip. He dosen't. Charlotte and Oliver sneak off to Scotland to visit a close friend of Olivers uncle, who is dieing from cancer. The is excellent untill the ending where it kind of just stops in middle of an important part.

The Love of Friends is the third book in the 'Charlotte and Oliver' Series, as I call it. This one is undoubtably one of the best. I have read every single book by Nancy Bond, and this is one my top three list. Charlotte goes to visit her friend, Oliver, who has moved to England. She soon learns that Oliver has kept something from her-that Paula,Oliver's mother, had told him to tell her to postpone her visit for a week because of a business trip. He did not. Consequentely, Oliver and Charlotte are alone in Oliver's family's London flat, and Oliver has told Charlotte that he wants to go to Scotland and that he wants her to go with him. A poinient and wonderful tale that touched my heart. A definite MUST READ!

The illustrations are not very cute, the text is a bit too simple and the book is over before you know it. Unless you are a die hard paddingtion fan - just move on.

My toddler has loved this book since he was six-months old. He loves the pictures and rhymes on each page. It has been a constant favorite and we have read it together over and over and over again. A must have for any toddler's collection.

My 1 year old loves this book, and so do I. It's simple, short, and rhymes--perfect for both of us! If you love Paddington Bear, you will want to get your littlest ones started with this book.

This book should not be sold any longer. Since it was published back in 1999 - and is now close to 5 years old - it contains a lot of mis-information. The U S Treasury Department has changed many of the rules and regulations concerning savings bonds - most notably over the past 18 months. A person purchasing this book to learn more about U S Savings Bonds will get good information, and bad information. The problem is that he/she will not know what information is good, and what information is bad. Thus, by not buying the book, the savings bond owner is probably better off. I do not challenge the idea that it is important for savings bond owners to learn all about their own collection of savings bonds. They need to know the rules and regulations, so that they can make informed, intelligent decisions about keeping or cashing in bonds - and the proper time to do it. But any printed book is not the place to find it: the information becomes obsolete too quickly. The internet is the place to find accurate, up-to-date information about savings bonds. Because any web site can be updated quickly and easily, the information presented there is more likely to be current. Because it takes the author so long to prepare the book, and then the time it takes to get it printed (published) and then put into the distribution piepline, I suggest that any book about savings bonds is already obsolete the day it becomes available for sale to the public. Furthermore, according to reliable sources who work for the Savings Bond Division of the U S Treasury Department, numerous additional changes will be forthcoming during the next 2 years. For my money, the internet is the ONLY place to find all the information that you could possibly need to know about U S Savings Bonds. Just type in "savings bonds" in any search engine.

Surprisingly,this book is enjoyable and easy to read. It contains information, I have not found anywhere else, that is vital to know before investing in savings bonds. If you already own savings bonds, you will benefit from reading this book before you sell them. Savings bonds are not the simple investment most people believe they are. I checked this book out from the library, but found it so valuable I am purchasing a copy for myself.

This book contains more in-depth information than theinformation available from government publications or the website. Use that information and thatwebsite, but also get this book. I use the free downloadable SavingsBond Wizard from the government website, and also set up an Excelspreadsheet to keep up bond statements as outlined in this book--whichis a more effective statement to aid decision-making. Some of theissues covered in this book: don't trust your bank to know whatthey're doing / understanding interest rates / timing issues re:redemption and maturity / organizing your bonds and keeping records /recovering lost bonds / tracking your investment (using the wizardand/or a statement you develop yourself or purchase from a service) /deciding to hold or fold -- evaluating performance of your bonds /comparing savings bonds to other investment options / taxation issuesinluding estate/gift/inheritance tax issues / using savings bonds forretirement / exchanging for HH current-income bonds / purchasing /reissuing / redeeming / tax-free for higher education feature / bondsas gifts / the new I bond / forms of ownership / bonds for minors /resources. Highly recommend. END