Triumph Reviews

I just love the way the book was compiled. It shows that men must be protectors and not destroyers. This book has a lot to offer to the world. Every home should have a copy. The book holds your interest and was well written. I am glad that i had a chance to read it. I love the author and was glad that i had a chance to meet her in person. Her book will be a great inspiration to many. The book tells about the way a woman fell deply in love with this guy who she then trusted and married. Unfortunately he betrayed her trust and abused her. Luckily by sharing her story with a sister, after one of the greatest disasters in her life with her husband, she was finally able to get out of it. Angela, keep up the good works. Looking forward to reading more of your future books.
Alec.

The author uses examples of other religions to show how Christianity can be our only answer in a world where we have nothing but questions. The several chapters on Islam are fascinating and include actual excerpts from the Koran which I did not know was not even translated for its own people. Dr. Womack really gets in to the nitty gritty of what faith really is and explains it in terms that anyone could understand. I highly recommend this book!

Regan Smith has told the story of his life before and after diagnosis of OCD. He tells of his successes and failures from childhood into adulthood. His case does not require him to constantly wash his hands, which is one symptom most people usually associate with OCD. However, he does cope with other symptoms. For example, he has had a bad time with the colors orange and green; the colors for the book jacket have significance to him. Proper medication and understanding have proven to Mr. Smith that he is not crazy. He believes that many people have undiagnosed OCD. This book is easy to read and understand. It should be read by those who experience symptoms of OCD and their loved ones.

this book is from the 80's, and is still the best comprehansive book on both types of diabetes. it explains the causes of both types and gives true workable answers to those two forms of disease.it is still superb book today at the year 2000,and you can take it from me beacause i am a therapist ,and it is working, i can asure you that it is real for both types of diabetes.go ahead, buy that book today.

I read this several years ago even though I do not suffer from MS or any similar physical health condition. I enjoyed it as a story of self-improvement and recovery. The story chronicles Rachelle Breslow's diagnosis with Multiple Sclerosis and her progression towards health. At first negatively impacted by the media and medical community's hopelessly pessimistic predictions for people with MS, Rachelle soon decided to question the inevitability of a future of severe painful physical deterioration and implements in her life many positive changes and healing practices. At first focused mostly on physical recovery, Rachelle soon finds that her physical state is influenced by many factors, including mental, emotional and spiritual. As she improve these, implementing whatever healing practices and positive changes she can make and letting go of things that have been dragging her down, including a deprecating marraige partner and years of negative self-talk, her condition slowly improves. Included in the book are examples of some of the positive visualizations Rachelle uses to heal her mental and emotional states, along with her vegetarian recovery diet, exercise routine, and experience with a pilgrimage to a US ashram in which, through meditation and guidance, she comes in touch with self-acceptance and self-love again. The book has information to help readers build their own self-care routine. The story is particularly remarkable because Breslow questioned and triumphed despite what authority figures know about the disease, which isn't much other than it's symptoms and that it is incurable. A well-written and engaging inspirational story.

How we all wish we were as insightful as Julia's mom. My children laughed at the thought of a real wolf under Julia's bed. Now each evening we call the zoo to see if any monsters escaped and could be lurking under our beds.

A Man named Dave tells the story of one man's incredible journey through hell and how when as a child he endured the most appalling abuse by his mother. This is gut-wrenching stuff, not for the squeamish. It reveals the courage and strength Dave possessed as well as his ability to forgive his mother. Its a story of triumph and forgiveness.

I'm so pleased that Dave has the most extraordinary relationship with his son and with the love of his life Marsha. Dave, I sincerely pray that you, Marsha and Stephen live happy ever after - you deserve it. Dave also unselfishly helps other abused children and travels extensively to offer guidance and motivational talks. Dave you are truly an amazing person.

You think you had a bad childhood, read this book and you'll soon find out what bad really means. This book is so inspirational to not only abused children, but to anyone who is interested in the resilience of the human spirit.

I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS BOOK.

I have read all three books in the series, and I feel I have gained so much from all 3. Dave, as a boy, lived as no child should ever have to live. I am a single mom and have done everything in my power to surround my child with as much love as possible,so it almost was impossible to imagine any mother torturing her own flesh and blood as "The Mother" did with Dave.. After reading this book, not only did I feel extreme sorry for Dave and all other abused children in our world, but I also felt an extreme sense of pride for him and the amazing accomplishments he has made in his life. This is a must read. You will cry with Dave, laugh with him, and get angry at him so many times in this book. But most importantly, you will learn about surviving, willpower, trust, and how we all have to ability to make a difference. Thank you Dave Peltzer for making such a difference. I kiss and hug my child a little longer and a little harder each and every night because of what you've taught me. You're better than Superman!

A few years ago one of my friends was reading a book called A Child Called "It". The cover intrigued me and the more she told me about the book the more I became interested in reading it. So I looked for it at our school library and checked it out. This book immediately engrossed me, so I decided to read The Lost Boy. I enjoyed The Lost Boy even more than A Child Called "It". So when I found out Dave Pelzer came out with a new book, A Man Named Dave, I immediately went out and bought it even before I had read it. A Man Named Dave, in my opinion, is the best of the three novels. The reason I liked this book more than the other two was, because he was stronger against his mother, he wasn't her "it" anymore. It was great when he stood up to his mother in all of the situations where he encountered her. I loved the fact that he tried so hard to be a great father to his son Steven. I enjoyed the fact that he didn't take after his mother parenting wise. Dave Pelzer has turned into a wonderful person despite all of the hardships he has gone through in his past. Dave has won many awards such as: The Points of Light Award, J.C. Penney Golden Rule Award, The Outstanding Young Persons of the World and was one of the Ten Outstanding Young Americans. I would recommend this book along with, A Child Called "It" and The Lost Boy to anyone, these books will really touch you.

Stefan Fatsis' "Word Freak" is a fascinating, if at times intense, look into the world of competitive Scrabble. As a "living room" Scrabble player, I looked forward to the insight that the book might give to my game. What I quickly learned was that I will never be a Scrabble pro - and after reading about those who are, I determined that maybe that is not a bad thing. To call these players quirky is a huge understatement. Most have made Scrabble their life quest - traveling to tournaments all around the country (and the world!) and re-programming their brains to the point where words like "djinny" and "elorst" jump off their racks for big points.

At first, the inhabitants of the Scrabble sub-culture are endearing, however over the nearly 400 pages of this account, Fatsis' title tag of "freak" ultimately (and truthfully) rises to the surface. Perhaps the most interesting aspect of the book is the author's own personal journey - from an outsider and Scrabble neophyte (how's that for a word!) to an "expert" ranked player whose obsession with the game nearly rivals the top pro players. It is truly a case of the reporter becoming an integral part of the story as Fastis becomes a full-fledged citizen of this peculiar world. I would guess that this Wall Street Journal sports reporter is still playing competitively these days.

Whether readers who do not have a passing knowledge and interest in Scrabble would enjoy this book is hard to say. For a Scrabble fan such as myself, even I was overwhelmed at times with the minutiae of tournament life and word play. Nevertheless, this is a quite entertaining and readable book. That said, I will happily return to the ignorant bliss of amateur Scrabble where ditching a "z" to spell "zoo" for a measly 12 points is a cool move.

I enjoyed Word Freak tremendously. It is not the kind of book that you have trouble putting down or can't wait to pick up again, but, nonetheless, informative and entertaining. While I do not have blue hair (although I'm probably in that age category), I took offense to his obvious abhorrence of blue-hairs (I don't think I've seen blue hair since the early '50s)and the connotation was used all through the book. I almost trashed it 20 times, but being such a good read, decided to finish it, and glad I did.

Fatsis spent time with avid scrabble players. Here are his observations. He relates through several dozen loosely linked narrations how the game has been transformed since the 1950s into a community that is strangely both exotic and familiar. This witty book celebrates scrabble as our national mental pasttime. Everyone who likes the game will find her or himself in these pages.

With a fresh writing style, he shares a huge amount of information about the way the game is seriously (if not addictively) played without the reader feeling burdened. (Did you know that in any random selection of 7 tiles, there is a 12% chance of a seven letter word appearing?)

Fatsis delves in an anthropological way into the life styles of noted participants in the competitive game. Some of these people are poster children for the saying that you either succeed in art or in life but not in both. The author knows how to approach even the most difficult personalities with wit and compassion.

He takes the reader to visit lonely geniuses in ill-kept apartments, clubs in New york City which spawned top competitors, competitions in Reno and elsewhere. He recounts the tussles between player associations and the manufacturers as unhappy, comical scenes from a lifelong dysfunctional marriage.

Fatsis is, I take it, a sports writer for the Wall Street Journal, and you should take that as an indication he knows how to bridge chasms. Lurking underneath the surface of his prose, I sense a belief in the power of play to discover value in our lives, and what more exquisite play is there but with words? Is it coincidental that during the decades of scrabble's dominance as a pasttime, one of our leading poets, James Merrill, used a Ouija board to help compose poems?

There is a genre of books and films which focus on wierd, outcast personalities. Fatsis does spend time in his book at the edge of society. But this is not another story about loners. Fatsis himself is a semi-competitive scrabble player. By projecting himself both as participant and observer, he brings us along to the extent that many readers will find something of themselves in an antic life of competitive play.

If you like scrabble, and if you are are curious about how creativity occurs in the world of play, and especially if there is a Walter Mitty crouching inside you, buy this book.

This is a well-written and interesting book. Catherine Maurice's devastating criticisms of the fraudulent therapies which attempt to make mothers feel guilty for their children's autism would alone make the book worth reading.

However, I have three major concerns about the book.

The first is that Maurice presents Lovaas/ABA as the only possible option, ignoring the fact that there are other educational methods (such as TEACCH, or the Koegels' modifications of ABA), which also have good scientific evidence backing them.

Secondly, she also ignores the experts who have raised doubts about Lovaas's claim to have effected complete "recoveries" from autism, and who have pointed out that greatly improving a child's level of functioning, while vitally important, is not the same as a "cure". I've seen too many parents who read Maurice's book and immediately start to plan on the basis that after a few years of Lovaas treatment, their child will be completely normal. The overwhelming balance of evidence is that as a rule autistic children grow up to be autistic adults. We (I have high-functioning autism) may grow up to be independent, happy and successful adults, such as Dr. Temple Grandin, but we remain "different", and often experience great stress from the constant pressure placed on us by families and society to be more "normal".

Thirdly, I was worried by the way in which she constantly treats autism as a tragedy and a fate worse than death, and speaks of dragging her children kicking and screaming out of autism, forcing them to be "normal". Autism certainly doesn't make life easy (and I've worked as a volunteer helper with kids with severe autism combined with severe mental retardation, so I know just how difficult it can be), but nonetheless it's also part of who I am, not a "shell" in which there is a normal person hidden away. How would you feel if you found out that your parents viewed who you are as a tragedy to be cured at all costs?

Lovaas/ABA can be a great way of teaching, but I'm worried about people who use it not to teach children but to try to "force" them to be normal. There's a big difference between trying to help someone learn and function better and trying to "fix" them by turning them into someone else completely.

I'd recommend that people who read this should not make it their only book on autism - they should also read a more general account of autism giving information on the condition itself and on various methods of educating autistic children, and also a first-person account such as those written by Dr. Grandin.

When my fourth child was diagnosed with "PDD", I was happy. That was how ignorant I was--I thought it meant he wasn't autistic! Six years and one more autistic child later, I still credit this book with giving me a foothold and a way of grasping how to deal with the educational interventions that I feel continue to remain most viable for so many autistic children. I had nothing but my own gut feelings, one other book called "Children with Autism", and this book to guide me in the beginning stages of what would prove to be the longest, most incredible journey I have ever made in my life. It's still evolving, and so are we, in my family.

Because of this book, I garnered the strength to look into educational intervention for my first autistic son in the way of a "home program". I didn't know anything about what a "home program" entailed until I read this book. I didn't know that the optimal time you must devote to a program such as this has been set at 40 hours a week! I didn't know that there wouldn't be any trained therapists available--I had to be trained myself, in fact! I found babysitters, one high school girl, you name it--at one point I was so desparate I dissolved in tears and said, "I CAN'T DO THIS! " But you have to. YOU JUST HAVE TO. And you will, too, because you must.

As my supervisor said to me when she "okayed" us for the program, "Look at it this way--two years of your life will make such a difference." And it did. Not the sucess story the author had, but at least a sense of control over things and an awareness of my son's potential.

This book gave me something to hang on to. I realize now, especially after having a second autistic son, that not all things go as planned, and not all "programs" turn out as ideally as Maurice's did. On the other hand, you must have hope when you are an autistic parent. This book gave me that. And it gave me an understanding of an invaluable way of teaching young autistic children that is still the primary way they are taught most sucessfully (it is called Applied Behavioral Analysis now)that I needed, just to get started in the right direction. Buy it and read it. Use your brain when you read it and accept the fact that all these kids are different and you are not this woman. But be thankful. She wrote THE GROUNDBREAKING BOOK on this type of intervention.

best wishes, Jean

I can not begin to express the amount of appreciation I have towards Catherine Maurice. Many people who have autistic children may read her book and wonder why this woman was deemed lucky enough to save not one, but two of her children from autism. I believe that she was successful not only for completely dedicating herself to her children, but also because of the book she would write for others as well. After finding out that our daughter has PDD our lives changed. If it weren't for Catherine's book, I don't know where I would have found the strength to help our daughter. Although we are greatful that her diagnosis was on the mild end of the spectrum we still had no idea how to help her. She was already in a special ed play group and receiving tons of speech OT and PT. I had never heard of ABA therapy. It was friend of mine who put me in touch with someone who runs an ABA program that I got my first real education in ABA. By some miracle I connected with a two fantastic ABA therapists who was trained by a top professional. My daughter had an immediate connection with her, and in the short six months that have past we have seen a dramatic difference in her behaviors. No two people have the same experiences in life and no two parents will have the same reaction when their child is diagnosed with PDD. What I have learned from this book is that we owe it to our child to pull ourselves together as quick as possible so that we can perhaps foster our own "miracle." Throughout this process I have encountered countless kindred spirits who have intentionally or coincidentally came to our rescue. I do count Catherine Maurice as one of those spirits.

What struck me most while reading this book is that it raised the image, time and time again, of the conscious mind trying to understand the elements of a dream. In the final analysis, I found this book to be typical of the historians approach to studying religion and the sacred, meaning it is like a person born and raised in a wealthy family writing about the views of poor people.

In Triumph of the Moon, Hutton tries to make a case for where the concepts found in modern Wiccan originated, using the poetry and philosophy of various writers he feels were key figures in the evolution of modern witchcraft. Hutton focuses largely on writings produced between the 14th and 19th century. Even though much of the content of these writings are based upon pre-existing myths, ancient deities, archaic beliefs and practices, Hutton treats the material of those he cites as being made up out of whole cloth. This fits his agenda nicely, but poorly serves both the readers of this book and the insights of the authors examined by Hutton.

An example of one of Hutton's targets is Robert Graves, and Graves' book The White Goddess. Hutton claims that Graves essentially invented the Triformis Goddess known in Wicca, and her association with the moon as well as the concept of Mother, Maiden, Crone. However, ancient Greek and Roman writers spoke of Hecate and Diana/Artemis as a triformis goddess (often calling her Trivia, goddess of the three roads) and these goddesses were indentified with witches even as late as the first century BC in the writings of Horace, Ovid, and Lucan. Additionally, the image of the Mother, Maiden and Crone appears in the iconography of ancient Greece and Rome in the image of the three Fates. Therefore, it is quite clear that Graves did not invent these concepts.

Hutton conveniently dimisses the writings of various historians and commentators such as Michelet, Gomme, Tartarotti, Jancke, Mone and others who held that witchcraft was, to one degree or another, the survival of ancient pagan religion. Hutton ultimately deals with their views as being essentially flights of fancy, and in doing so fails to realize the power and influence of the Muse, as only a historian can.

Joseph Campbell once said that we have two levels and modes of consciousness, the conscious mind and the subconscious mind. He pointed out that each one comprises 50% of our accumulative consciousness, and yet we rely upon only the one half, the conscious mind and its view of the world. In this regard, we can truly say that Hutton's book is indeed a half-brained idea.

Hutton has written a book that truly needed to be written, unlike the vast majority of texts on the history of modern pagan witchcraft, for and against. In essence, Hutton isn't for or against; he's an historian. This approach may well annoy those looking for support for their beliefs, of course, but for those interested in a dispassionate account, this is the book to buy.
Hutton really starts with the eighteenth century, with Masonry, "cunning men", and other magic-workers of various kinds. He discusses these folks as sources for the later witchcraft revival, and gives his sources scrupulously. He then moves on to the nineteenth-century "occult revival", which is only rather sketchily handled, and to Gardner and the whole complex from which he arose.
Next, Hutton discusses Gardner in considerable detail, considering the whole "Dorothy Clutterbuck" problem and the whole complex of the first Wiccan covens. It seems not unlikely that this discussion will infuriate those who don't want to think of Gardner as a spiritual ancestor for their modern practices. At the same time, it's likely to tick off those would-be "debunkers" who want a lurid account of Gardner the evil sex-maniac. Overall, I found that Gardner came off rather sympathetically, which surprised me.
For me, the best thing about the book is the discussion of the extension of Wicca past Gardner's own influence. For example, I tend to associate the rise of Neopaganism with liberal politics, given the strong affiliations with the rise of feminism, ecological activism, and a kind of back-to-the-earth approach to collapsing the modern military-industrial dominance of (especially) American economics and politics. But Hutton demonstrates that in the first half of the century, in England, Wicca was very much a right-wing movement, not entirely divorced from movements like Baden-Powell's Boy Scouts and the Kibbo Kift. The transition from right to left, concurrent with the switch from one side of the Atlantic to the other, is fascinating, and deftly handled by Hutton.
I suppose the book is somewhat dense, if you're not used to mildly academic prose, but by academic standards it's pretty breezy reading. The book is quite accessible, as it is carefully indexed and Hutton makes clear what he's doing and why. If you are interested in a fairly direct, straightforward history of Neopagan witchcraft, this is a great book.
You will hate this book if:
1) You are absolutely certain that Wicca is a surviving ancient pagan religion, continuing underground despite centuries of oppression; or
2) You are absolutely certain that Wicca is a load of nonsense, made up by some foolish sex-crazed women, which offers no spiritual rewards to anyone with half a brain.
You will love this book if:
1) You are willing to read some rather dense, careful historical prose, in a mildly academic style; and
2) You would genuinely like to know a good deal about the ins and outs of the origins of the modern pagan witchcraft revival, and how it has developed over the last century.

This book gives a clear, convincing history of the development of the 'religion' of witchcraft, showing quite clearly that the movement is 20th century in origin, and that extravagant claims about the antiquitiy of the religion have no basis in reality. Mr hutton shows that claims about the ancient origins of the witchcraft religion are nonsense, but he is always kind and polite, and never ridicules the beliefs of modern wiccans, he must be the world's most tactful historian. An earlier review of this book claims to have attended a workshop by someone who says she knows of a 'hidden' Pagan village in England, dating back to before the Norman conquest and only discovered in the 1990s. I don't think this reviewer can ever have been to England. We are a very small country, with 9as P.J. O'Rourke puts it)'A population density like Macy's toy department at Christmas'. There aren't any hidden Pagan villages here because there's nowhere to hide them, okay?