Category: Book Reviews

by Michael Berman http://www.merciangathering.com/learbooks/home.htm The concepts of heaven and hell are familiar to all of us, whatever our faiths may be, and the idioms that incorporate the words themselves have become so overused that they are now nothing more than clichés. On the other hand, although they appear in a number of mythologies and religions, [...]

The Gratitude Power Workbook: Transform Fear Into Courage, Anger Into Forgiveness, Isolation Into Belonging By Nina Lesowitz and Mary Beth Sammons ISBN: 978-1-57344-649-5 US Price: $16.95 7 ½ x 6 Trade Paper June 2011 Distributed by Publishers Group West Mary Beth Sammons and Nina Lesowitz have received hundreds of thank-you emails and letters from readers [...]

Is there a biological distinction between races? “No,” argues legal scholar and social critic, Dorothy Roberts, “yet it absolutely exists economically, politically, and socially.” In her new book, “FATAL INVENTION: How Science, Politics, and Big Business Re-Create Race in the Twenty-First Century” (The New Press), Roberts argues that race simply does not exist on a [...]

Although life’s hard knocks may have convinced you otherwise, Todd Patkin insists that happiness really is a choice. If you choose to act or react in a more positive way instead of giving in to your urges to grumble and complain, he promises, you truly can influence how content you feel. Unless you’ve been living [...]

Early on in psychoanalyst Dr. Jacqueline Simon Gunn’s In the Therapist’s Chair (Xlibris, 2010), the author states “life is a series of moments, and some of the most important things we do as human beings are subtle and occur in a moment.” And it is truly the therapist’s job to illuminate the reasoning behind why [...]

Beginning in June 2009 through the fall of 2010, Sandi Haber Fifield photographed family-owned farms spanning New England to the West Coast and the Pacific Northwest. The languid photographs in Between Planting and Picking (Charta 2011) of farmers’ tools resting along fencing or a lone pumpkin standing sentinel to rural crossroads bring to mind the [...]

Healing This Wounded Earth With Compassion, Spirit and the Power of Hope:  How we may all become catalysts for a happier and more peaceful world By Eleanor Stoneham O Books, 2011 292 ps., $24.95 In a time when global ecological, social, and political catastrophes can seem overwhelming and almost hopeless, Eleanor Stoneham, Ph.D., shows how [...]

Harvest to Heat (The Taunton Press, 2010) is a beautifully photographed collection of recipes by top chefs in the country that highlight the unique contributions of artisans and farmers, and their high-quality products. Firmly rooted in the farm to table movement, the slow food featured here is definitely worth the wait. There are wonderful stories [...]

The selections highlighted by Maryam Mafi and Azima Melita Kolin in Rumi’s Little Book of Love: 150 Poems That Speak to the Heart (Hampton Roads Publishing, 2009) show much more than love between two people – the term “Beloved” is how Rumi refers to God. But this quest for ecstatic divine love apparently can be [...]

I will tell you upfront that in Hot: Living Through the Next Fifty Years On Earth (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2011), author and veteran journalist Mark Hertsgaard does offer hope and solutions as well as pictures of how cities, regions, and countries will (and will not) fare even ten years down the road in the face [...]

Fast Food & the Lean, Mean Teen:  Seven Ways to Make Healthier (and Skinnier) Choices at the Drive-Thru The typical teen’s hectic schedule often makes fast-food meals a tempting—or necessary—option. However, say Ellen Shanley and Colleen Thompson in their new book, Fueling the Teen Machine, you don’t have to write off nutrition when you place [...]

I picked up Ezra Bayda’s Beyond Happiness (Shambhala Publications, 2010) with a challenge in mind: Would reading this snap me out of a low mood? I was feeling extremely challenged. I had pulled a muscle in my back; there were noisy workmen in the building whose presence had made even going up and down the [...]