A View From a Height by J.E. Murphy

A View From a Height by J.E. Murphy is a fantasy novel—the autobiography of Dawn Bang, a second-generation Chinese immigrant to Hawaii. She has left a manuscript behind that is discovered by a man named Tomas. He translates this manuscript into English and is startled and changed by what he reads. In this manuscript, Bang tells the tale of her death and her awakening, and of a love that is selfless, pure, and with the power to redeem and to change history.

Many years after a car accident nearly takes her life—an experience which helps transform her reckless, self-destructive lifestyle to one of selflessness—she begins to have dreams in which she helps the dead cross over. She is one of those called the Dakini, spirits who go to the dead and the dying and assist them in their transition. These efforts help thousands of spirits assimilate to their new existence; however, in one instance, her role is reversed. She helps a dying man live, and so begins the awakening of a bodhisattva, David Chang, and later, the awakening of Captain Thomas John Boorman.

In this book, there is much exposition and discussion of Buddhist truths: the subject of reincarnation and the remembering of past lives, purpose, and knowing one’s true nature and the true nature of the world. The story is primarily a metaphysical one; any action in the story, while an outward appearance of the spiritual, takes a backseat to this. The book entertains while also teaching the open-minded reader; it is thoughtful and thought-provoking, especially for one on their own spiritual journey. Because the novel takes place largely in China and Tibet, there is also much commentary of the political state of these two countries.

This book is for anyone interested in Buddhism or the metaphysical, or simply wants to read a fascinating story. It is a longer book, tipping the scales at over five and fifty hundred pages, but it is worth getting through.

A View From a Height is available from Smashwords.com and Barnes and Noble, and from Amazon in Kindle or print editions.

Review by Diana Reed

Grieving a Soulmate: The Love Story Behind "Till Death Do Us Part" by Robert Orfali

Robert Orfali tells a heartbreaking story in his book Grieving a Soulmate: The Love Story Behind "Till Death Do Us Part." In this part survival guide/part memoir, Orfali begins by describing when his wife, Jeri, was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 1999, which marked a turn in their journey, that their time together was coming to an end. He briefly discusses the details of their battle with Jeri's cancer and highlights her strength, courage and her ability to overcome her circumstances, after which he then describes in detail his own battle with the grief he was left when his wife passed.

At one point, Orfali mentions that he wishes he could have read this same book before his wife passed, and so in order to help others, he writes about his experience with grieving the death of his soulmate, Jeri. He writes about how he dealt with his own grief and gives an analytical but heartfelt approach to sorting through the mess death leaves behind—both the emotional aspects and the practical. Through sharing his wife's passing and the grieving that followed, Orfali seeks to provide the reader with the preparation, support, and understanding needed to grieve their lover when death comes. He discusses how to reconstruct one's life, find new meaning as a survivor, and that it is possible to learn to live again and once again be whole.

Orfali's writing style is gentle, but firm, handling the reader with care while guiding them through a difficult topic. There is a section in the book in which he attempts to give a thorough overview of the available "grief theory—" the theories published by psychologists ranging from Sigmund Freud to Elizabeth Kubler-Ross and how this research impacted his grieving process, and also acknowledges the various self-help books available and what they did for him.

Because death is inevitable and is always waiting on the doorstep, this book is for lovers of all ages.

Grieving a Soulmate: The Love Story Behind "Till Death Do Us Part" is available from Amazon.com in both print and Kindle editions, and also from Barnes and Noble, Apple, Books a Million, and other vendors.

Review by Diana Reed

Review of Recessions End by Michael Everett

Recessions End: Stimulus for the Rest of Us. ISBN 9781453750919 At first I didn’t really want to read a book about the recession and how it has supposedly ended, but gradually as I read Michael Everett’s new book I realized that it was much more than a book about the economics of the recession. It’s really a book about hope and positive thinking and taking action. Everett points out that there has been a recession predictably every 12 years and every time we act like it’s the first time. I thought about it an realized he’s right. This isn’t the first time the economy has crashed. He points out that it’s really a cycle and as soon as you realize that you can begin planning on how to bounce back faster and how to avoid crashing with it next time. The cycle is caused, according to Everett, when the economy heats up above what can be sustained, then the market has to correct. The bubble has to burst. The economy crashes for awhile then it starts back up. The people who are expecting it can avoid going down with it and can ride the wave back up as it goes up.

Everett outlines some of the most positive ways you can take care of yourself to avoid depression and maintain a positive and healthy outlook on life. His suggestions are very practical and down to earth. Stuff like breath, drink water, exercise, protect your mind from negativity and keep on the sunny side of life. Stuff we all know, but we have to hear in a little different way from time to time. For anyone who is depressed at the state of the economy, I think this book is just the subscription you need to pick you up and set your feet back on the road to health and prosperity.

Review by Julia Widdop

Review of Zombie Stop Parade by Richard Buzzell

Written as a diary by someone only identified as ZombieStopperUno, ZombieStop Parade spans over ten months and begins not long after a hacker named "Jackal" releases financial records that indicate the illegal activity of some big time corporations. The Jackal releases this information on several websites—one in particular is the nonconformist site ZombieStop. Created by a couple of twelve-year-olds, Corky and ZombieStopperUno—now in their twenties; both are college drop-outs—ZombieStop's goal is to "inspire people to stop acting like zombies" bred by American corporatism and media marketing. After firebombings target two of the financial institutions that the Jackal exposes, ZombieStop receives suspicion from the FBI, the public, and the media as being behind the firebombings because of their opposition to what these institutions stand for and for their call to action against them.

ZombieStopperUno chronicles these events and the reverberations that follow.. He discusses the influence of corporations and the media in American culture and society, the importance of seeing through the corporate mindset and of working to reverse corporatism's largely negative effects. As the diary goes on and there's more speculation about whether ZombieStop may be behind the firebombings, ZombieStopperUno questions Corky's ambitions for the site and the future of ZombieStop as a nonconformist site. Despite Corky's demand for optimism, ZombieStopperUno isn't without the cynicism for the future that this generation has been faced with and expresses his doubts as to whether its even possible to reverse the prominence of the corporatist "mythology."

What I liked most about this book was not only the style but also its balance between social commentary and action. Its social commentary is not melodramatic or didactic; it's a thoughtful evaluation of what our society has become. The book is satirical, humorous, and leaves the reader something to think about, if not another way of viewing American society. The ideas in this book are not new, but challenge the American mindset just the same. ZombieStop Parade is a good read and hard to put down. I recommend it to anyone open to ZombieStop's vision of staying alive and not joining the undead.

ZombieStop Parade by Richard Buzzell is available as a Kindle eBook from Amazon.com.


Review by Diana Reed

How to Successfully Skew Reality by Shayna Abrams

How to Successfully Skew Reality by Shayna Abrams is one of those books that for me kept saying what I already believed about reality, the nature of God (which she renames the Universal Life Force), and evolution. Her book is available free at Bibliofastic.com. I would encourage the author to do speaking engagements and talk about her experiences going “crazy” which provided her with some very sane insights.

Abrams maintains that there is a greater unexplainable power in the Universe that gives human beings exactly what they need exactly when they need it. Abrams goes on to describe different scenarios that while at first may appear negative, when examined using the belief that the Universe gives you exactly what you need when you need it can be interpreted as positive.

Abrams says her goal with this book is to convince you that life is not black and white and that gray is your new favorite color.

I usually think of the word skew as having negative connotations, but Abrams demonstrates what she means by skewing reality, by asking you to shift your prospective or how you look at a situation. This “skew” or shift in prospective allows you to see the new “gray” of that situation.

This book is simply a different way of describing the concept of having a positive attitude. However as Abrams points out herself ”one sentence in a book that hits you in the right place can be the exact thing you needed to hear at exactly the right time that made enough sense to you that something all of the sudden clicks. That is the “click” everyone who has written a book on this subject hopes for.”

I think the author will find a lot of people who will "click" when reading her book. You can find her book free at: http://bibliotastic.com

Review by Julia Widdop

Controlling The Emotions of a Serious Illness by Alan Yarbourgh, Ed.D

Controlling The Emotions of a Serious Illness by Alan Yarbourgh, Ed.D is available on a great free ebook site called www.bibliotastic.com. I discovered this website just a couple of weeks ago and it is full of wonderful books – all free. This particular book made me understand the power of the website.I will be providing links to people for this book.

Alan Yarbourgh, who suffers from a serious disease himself, wrote this book to help his own clients. Alan along with his wife had suffered from the shock and pain of receiving a diagnosis of Gehrig's disease, or ALS. Eventually Yarbourgh and his wife used Thought Field Therapy to treat the emotional symptoms of dealing with a serious disease. In this book Yarbourgh explains the therapy which consists of tapping a series of acupressure points while directing your thoughts to an area of anxiety or pain. He explains the therapy system simply with all the detail you need to make it work including the fact that Dr. Callahan who discovered the technique had also discovered that the acupressure points must be tapped in a specific order for whatever symptom you are treating. Yarbourgh not only provides the algorithms from Dr. Callahan, but goes on to describe trouble shooting methods for the times it doesn’t work and explains a simpler technique discovered by a student of Callahan’s, Gary Craig. Using Gary Craig’s method you simply tap on all the points so many times that eventually you have covered all the points so many times that the correct order has been covered. What Yarbourgh describes as the shotgun approach.

As a psychotherapist I had read about these methods before, but in reading this book I discovered one of the advantages of using an ebook. I can print out the directions on plain paper to use as a guide. I don’t have to try and hold the book open while tapping on my own acupressure points. I know I will be referring chronic pain clients to this book and this website.

Review by Julia Widdop, MA

Review of Rook by JC Andrijeski

A fantasy novel by JC Andrijeski, Rook presents an alternate reality in which there are not only humans but also seers, a second race discovered in Asia at the beginning of the twentieth century. They appear human, but many of their similarities stop here--unlike humans, they contain supernatural powers and have access to another dimension, called the Barrier. The existence of these beings creates new politics, new cultural dynamics, and suspense in a world otherwise like ours

Rook chronicles the story of Allie Taylor, a twenty-eight-year-old San Francisco native. Her life has never been ordinary--there's always been something different about her that transcends the fact she's adopted, having been found under a bridge as a baby. She's also being stalked, but not by another lovestruck loser appearing with flowers and candy. Rather, it’s a seer, and their meeting sends her headfirst into a whole new set of problems that sheds light on her other-than-ordinary life and some recent events otherwise unexplainable. This seer, Revik, tells her that she's a seer also and that she alone has the ability to destroy the earth.
In this book, Andrijeski has created a fascinating world and an action-packed story; a version of the battle of good versus evil ,and also attempts to tackle large concepts that people face daily. Throughout the story, Allie grows and transforms, taking steps on her own hero's journey--from the beginning as any other human being to the end as a trained seer and her taking on her role as the "Bridge." During the first few chapters, there was mild confusion as to certain facts about the world Andrijeski was making an effort to portray, and throughout the book the exposition tended to be clumsy in places. However, if the reader can get past these things, they will find this book a fascinating read. Andrijeski delivers a good, entertaining story, and there are more installments in this series to come.
This book is available from Amazon.com in print and Kindle, from Smashwords.com, and Barnes and Noble. Other vendors can be found on www.whitesunpress.com.

Review by Diana Reed