Imagination Will Take You Everywhere by Samantha Snyder (Doodle Art Alley Books)

I must admit I enjoy coloring, doodling and quotes so this new book Imagination will take You Everywhere packages these all together in a wonderful and fun book.  The size of this paperback book is perfect, and the drawings and quotes are inspiring. This book is pure fun....therapeutic, relaxating and inspirational all packaged into one. I like to color Mandalas and do journal art so I have a collection of watercolor colored pencils, Crayola Twistables and markers to choose from. 

If you enjoy coloring or want to give it a try, this is a fun and relaxing way to spend some down time. It's a definite stress reliever and I often put on some music or listen to an audio book and escape into the comfort of coloring. With this book, you also have the added bonus of quotes to inspire you. I look forward to spending more time with this book and I've already bought a gift copy and sent it to my cousin in Germany. I sent her some pictures of what I was working on and she loved it, so it's a perfect gift as well. 

If you want to try your hand at coloring, or even share with your kids for a fun summer activity, the author's website has free printable summer coloring pages on her website, go here. 

About the book:

Explore the Magic of Doodle Art. 

Imagination Will Take You Everywhere shares 50 doodle art images of inspiring sayings, quotes, and words printed on one side of the page for all ages to color. 

Quotes from famous authors include Emily Dickinson, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Benjamin Franklin, John Keats, Abraham Lincoln, Eleanor Roosevelt, William Shakespeare, and more. The book also includes sayings and words from Be Kind, Courage, and Dream Big to Enjoy the Journey, Faith, and Hope. 

Each doodle art image has been carefully selected to provide plenty of enjoyment, inspiration, and relaxation.

About the author: 

Samantha Snyder has been doodling her whole life. While teaching elementary school, she often drew up coloring pages and printables for her students and fellow teachers. She decided to start sharing her creations and in 2008, Doodle Art Alley was founded. Doodle Art Alley is dedicated to giving those squiggly lines the proper credit they deserve. Who would have thought that such a small and simple idea could possess so much potential? There are lots of fun art activities, tips and information to read through and enjoy. 

Author Website: Doodle Art Alley

Review copy provided by Word Slinger Publicity  in exchange for an honest review.
No compensation was received.

 © Copyright 2015- All Rights Reserved

Review & Giveaway: Super Immunity by Joel Fuhrman, MD

About SUPER IMMUNITY by Joel Fuhrman, MD:

Why do some of us get sick with greater frequency than others?What makes us more susceptible to illness? Are we doomed to get sick when our coworkers and family members do?Is there a secret to staying healthy? 

Joel Fuhrman, M.D., a leading expert and board-certified medical specialist in prevention and reversing disease, offers a comprehensive guide to superior health. 

Based on the latest scientific research, Super Immunity shows us how we can become almost totally resistant to colds, influenza, and other infections. 

The evidence is overwhelming: we can supercharge our immune system to protect our bodies against disease—everything from the common cold to cancer. Nutritional science has made phenomenal strides and discoveries in recent years, and when this new research is applied it enables us to seize control of our health like never before. Dr. Fuhrman explains this new science, providing everything you need to know to put this knowledge into action in your kitchen and in your life. 

What we eat has everything to do with our health, and, unfortunately, too many of us are living with a severely depleted immune function. Our dietary choices are making us sicker, shortening our lives, and costing us billions of dollars in doctor visits, hospital stays, and prescription medications. But Dr. Fuhrman doesn’t believe more medical care is the answer. Rather, he explains the solution is to change the way we eat. The standard American diet is nutrient deficient. We are eating too many highly processed foods, foods with added sweeteners, and animal fats and protein. At the same time, we are not eating enough fruits, beans, seeds, and vegetables, which leaves us lacking in hundreds of the most important immune-building compounds. By changing our diets and combining foods that contain powerful immune-strengthening capabilities, we can prevent most common modern diseases.

Super Immunity is not a diet book but a nutritional guide with the intent to boost your immune system which will result in living longer, being stronger and reducing risk of disease. Our society, especially the American society has a diet high in processed foods full of chemicals and ingredients. They are cheaper and convenient, but they deprive our bodies of the nutrients of whole foods from fresh vegetables and fruits. This in turn, effects the way our bodies function and makes us more prone to illness. Many of us are aware of this and are on the search to find a healthier way of eating. 

I was intrigued with the premise of this book and the link to diet and nutrition and its effect on our immune system and ability to fight off colds, flu as well as cancer, heart disease and autoimmune disorders. Dr Fuhrman promotes a nutritarian diet which is a diet rich in micro nutrients. It is a defined as a diet rich in natural plant food which boosts the immune system, naturally lowers weight and fends off illness. Dr Fuhrman supports his claims with significant research and personal stories from patients of his that have benefited from this approach. The nutritarian diet is similar to the vegetarian diet with protein mainly coming from beans/legumes, nuts and seeds. 

The 5 Daily Rules for Super Immunity:

1) Eat one large green salad every day (preferably two)

2) Eat at least a half-cup serving of beans/legumes in soup, salad or a dish once daily

3) Eat at least 3 fresh fruits a day, especially berries, pomegranate, cherries, plums. oranges

4) Eat at least one ounce raw nuts and seeds daily

5) Eat at least one large (double-size) serving of steamed green vegetables daily

Dr Fuhrman includes information on the risk/benefit of the flu shot and how it relates to medical care in general. I found this section to be very informative as he brings to light the important concerns about the risk/benefits and informs the consumer about what is in the flu shot and the concerns related to safety and health concerns. There is a large section in the back of the book dedicated to menus and recipes to go along with this nutritional approach. For me and my family, some of the nutritional changes can be implemented with increasing fruits and vegetables. The approach of encouraging protein sources in the diet from beans/legumes and nuts will not work for my family as our son has life threatening allergies to nuts and legumes and some beans are in the same food family as peanuts which are a risk for our son to eat. This is a nutritional approach that may be healthy for some although those with food allergies need to be aware that this approach may not be safe for them to implement. 

There is a wealth of research to support Dr. Fuhrmans claims that he cites in the book. This is what is different from many health and nutrition books and allows the reader to research further if they so choose. With that said, I did find the scientific benefits helpful to understand his claims although at times it was too much scientific information to hold my interest. I have a medical background and am concerned that this technical approach at times may turn away the novice reader. I have not read Dr Fuhrman's other books to compare them and they may be written in the same style. Dr Fuhrman has written a thorough and well researched book that supports the connection between nutrition and our immune system and its ability to fight off colds and flu as well as other illnesses. 

For more information from Dr. Fuhrman,

 be sure to visit his web site,www.drfuhrman.com, 

 follow him on Facebook & Twitter!

You can also Text keyword "SUPERIMMUNITY"
to READIT (732348) for bonus content.

Thanks to Harper Collins and TLC Book Tours for providing a copy of this book for review.

*GIVEAWAY DETAILS*

Compliments of Harper Collins:

I have one copy of SUPER IMMUNITY to give away. 

For 1 Entry: All you have to do is leave a comment here. Make sure to include your email address (no email, no entry)

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Enter by October 30 , 2011

Sunday Salon- Health & Nutrition -Weekend Cooking

We've been fortunate to avoid the big snowstorms so far this month here in Ohio. Although, there is one predicted for this week, we're waiting to hear if the winds will shift and it will head in a different direction. I've had a busy month at work, working part-time feels a lot like full-time as there is just as much to do at home in addition to working.  I work in the schools and fortunately, I can work at home some days when I am writing reports which is a nice benefit. My son had the dreaded URI (Upper respiratory Infection) this week and missed three days of school. He's in middle school so he's going to have a lot of work to catch up on next week. Fortunately, it bypassed my husband and I and we're thankful for that. I was sick enough last fall and I hope that I stay healthy this winter.

I recently had some blood work done and found out that I'm severely Vitamin D deficient(like most of us in the Northeast) , hypothyroid and I have to start on thyroid medication. I also have high cholesterol and my inflammatory markers were high so I've taken on some healthier changes. I've joined Weight Watchers Online (I've already lost 6.5 lbs in 3 weeks!) and I have decided to limit red meat to lean meats occasionally. I'm also taking a prescription mega dose of Vitamin D, multi-vitamin, fish oil to get my Omega 3's and calcium/magnesium supplement. 

I have been researching and reading about healthy eating and have several books on my shelf that I plan to read and adapt changes to my lifestyle. These are a few and I would love to hear from anyone else if they have any other suggestions. 

~Nutritional Books~

• Eat to Live by Joel Furhman
• The China Study  by T. Colin Campbell, Thomas M. Campbell 
• Prescription for Nutritional Healing by Phyllis A. Balch 
• Superfoods Healthstyle by Steven  Pratt
• In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan

~Cookbooks~

I have a lot of cookbooks but with the exception  of a few Weight Watcher cookbooks, I don't have anything that focuses on health and nutrition. I'd like to find some good cookbooks that support healthy eating, so please share any suggestions or recommendations.

~Healthy Food Finds~

I have found some wonderful healthy foods that I wanted to share. Blue Diamond Almond Breeze, unsweetened. I use it to make oatmeal, add it to my cereal and to make a fruit smoothie: whirl a cup of almond milk, frozen berries and a banana in a blender~delicious! Please share any healthy food finds or ideas, I would love to hear them.

Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book (novel, nonfiction) reviews, cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, fabulous quotations, photographs. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend. Please link to your specific post, not your blog's home page.

Review: The G-Free Diet by Elisabeth Hasselbeck

I have had The G-Free Diet: A Gluten Free Survival Guide by Elisabeth Hasselbeck on my bookshelf for several months and had to find the right time to read this book. Ms. Hasselbeck is well known as a co-host on The View and has been outspoken about her journey with celiac disease. Elisabeth found herself sick, starting in college and couldn't figure out what was the cause of her illness. She consulted numerous doctors and specialists but not one was able to help her determine the cause of her stomach problems and illness. She was a contestant on the TV show Survivor, with a very limited diet and was able to pinpoint her health problems to wheat and ultimately gluten. She had to be her own advocate and ended up diagnosing herself and finally found a specialist in Celiac Disease that did further testing to confirm the diagnosis.

In the G- Free Diet Hasselback shares how she learned to adjust her lifestyle to a gluten free life. She shares her experiences and suggestions throughout the book from what exactly gluten is to how to read food labels, finding gluten-free products, how to grocery shop effectively, adapt recipes, how to manage G-Free living with family and friends and more. This is a great book for the beginner and it includes extensive lists of products and restaurants that are G-Free.

The G- Free Diet focuses primarily on celiac disease but it also highlights other health conditions that may benefit from changing to a gluten free diet. Such conditions as arthritis, diabetes and even autism. There are many parents who have found significant improvement with their children with autism after changing their diets to a gluten and casein free diet. There is a chapter that discusses this in the book. I have several friends who have children with autism who follow this type of diet. They have found it has made a significant improvement in their children's lives.

I decided it was the perfect time to read this book as I am researching a gluten free diet for my son. I've mentioned here before that my son has major food allergies, with peanuts and tree nuts being the worst as they are life threatening. He also has many other food allergies and lactose intolerance. We are researching some changes in his diet as we believe he may be sensitive to gluten and feel that it may be beneficial to try a diet change. The G- Free Diet will be a good resource to use if we decide to go down this road of becoming gluten free. I found many suggestions that were familiar to me with already having a child with food allergies. I am constantly on alert and checking food labels, checking with manufacturers and careful about foods that my son eats at school and at restaurants.

The G- Free Diet would be a good resource to start with if you , your child or family member has been diagnosed with celiac disease or needs to follow a gluten free diet. Hasselback is a prime example to many that you often need to be your own advocate and research information yourself to get answers. This is not to say that anyone can self diagnose themselves accurately, you should always confirm this with a medical professional. I feel that the book is more geared toward the newly diagnosed and the person who has learned to live a G-free lifestyle may already be familiar with this information. I would have liked to have more information from a medical doctor added as an additional chapter or addendum to explain the medical issues. Also, the professional advice added from a nutritional point of view by a medical doctor and/or nutritionist would have been an added bonus.

For more information, check out the G-Free diet website . You can read an excerpt from the book, here.

Disclosure: Copy of book provided for review from Hachette. I am an Amazon associate.

Review & Giveaway: Mrs. O: The Face of Fashion Democracy by Mary Tomer

I follow Mrs-O.org - the web site that Mary Tomer created to chronicle Michelle Obama's fashion style. When I saw that this idea was turned into a book called Mrs. O: The Face of Fashion Democracy by Mary Tomer, I knew I had to have a copy myself. I find that Mrs. Obama is a First Lady with intelligence, style, class, strength and charisma. These qualities are reflected in her personal style and choice of clothing that is inspiring. I like that she combines high end designer labels with more affordable brands such as Gap, J Crew, and Liz Claiborne.

Mrs. O: The Face of Fashion Democracy includes over 120 beautiful photographs of Mrs. O and describes the back story related to her clothes and accessories. The photographs are stunning and bold and I enjoyed looking through them and reading about details related to the fashions she chose to wear. You get a true sense of her personal style. There are also interviews with her favorite designers which include Isabel Toledo, Jason Wu, Michael Kors, Maria Pinto and Isaac Mizrahi. The book opens with Michelle Obama's earlier years and even includes rare photos from behind-the-scenes of the presidential primary trail , the 2008 Democratic National Convention, the events of election night, the inauguration and early life in the White House. There are even drawings and opinions at the end of the book from Mrs. O's fans which was fun to read.

I found this video from Mrs-O.org that describes the book and you can see actual photos and details from the book. Check it out:

*Thanks to Hachette for providing a copy of this book for review. I am an Amazon associate.

**GIVEAWAY HAS ENDED**

~GIVEAWAY DETAILS~

Thanks to Anna at Hachette I have ONE copy of Mrs. O: The Face of Fashion Democracy by Mary Tomer,to give away to one lucky reader!

1. Leave a comment and PLEASE, make sure to leave an email address in your comment so that I can contact you. I will have to draw another winner if I have no way to contact you. ~1 entry

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Please remember to leave an email address so that I can contact you if you are a winner. Also, there are many ways to get extra entries, LEAVE A SEPARATE COMMENT for each one or they will not count. I will be using random.org to pick the winners.

This giveaway is open to U.S. and Canada, only. No P.O. Boxes Please.

The deadline to enter is November 30th at Midnight, EST

Review: $20 Per Gallon by Christopher Steiner

$20 Per Gallon: How the Inevitable Rise in the Price of Gasoline Will Change Our Lives for the Better by Christopher Steiner

(Hachette Audiobook , Unabridged and read by John Wolfe )

Review written by my husband Greg:

Have you given a moment to consider what would happen if gasoline prices doubled, tripled, or even quadrupled? You might be tempted to think that the effects would be limited to the types of vehicles you drive and consequently what you pay at the pump. Maybe you're thinking that electric cars will eventually become practical and so the problem is solved. If that's your understanding, then you would do well to read this book. What you may not be considering, and what Christopher Steiner points out, is that the entire fabric (literally) of our society depends on petroleum products. Polyester clothing, carpeting, countertops, roofing, asphalt, and everything made of plastic requires petroleum to produce. Consider too that all products, be they petroleum based or not, require gasoline to transport them from their source to our local retail stores. Of course this includes agricultural products as well, which end up on our grocery store shelves. Air travel becomes affordable only for the wealthy and Walmart prices skyrocket due to their reliance on cheap transportation costs.

Disrupt the flow of petroleum and our well oiled, petroleum leveraged, societal machine begins to crack at its seams. There seems little doubt of that, but the real question is can we adapt appropriately if and when that occurs. Christopher Steiner makes a strong case that it's really a case of "when" and not "if". Given that petroleum is a finite, non-renewable resource it's inevitable that production will peak and then steadily dwindle down to oblivion. The author also suggests that we are at or near that peak and that all of the easy to extract oil has already been extracted making it increasingly expensive to sustain our current appetite for oil. It's a sobering thought.

The chapters in this book are given titles such as $4 gas, $10 gas, $20 gas and reflect the consequences associated with the specific price. There's a spectrum here which includes the demise and decline of such things as the SUV, air travel, asphalt highways and roofs, living in the suburbs, imported goods, trash pickup, and all petroleum based products including the case for your iPod. The consequences are anything but mild.

However, the future may not be all doom and gloom, especially if we rise to the occasion with an innovative and entrepreneurial spirit. We'll learn how to conserve, make our processes more efficient. These measures will yield environmental benefits as well. We'll become more of an electric society where wind, solar, and nuclear power provide the bulk of our energy needs. Spending less time in our cars will also mean that more lives will be saved and a healthier populace as we spend more time walking and riding bicycles rather than driving to the local fast food chain. Christopher Steiner speculates the melting of the suburbs as it becomes more cost effective to once again live in the cities. We'll see the rebirth of trains as well as new subway projects which were previously unfundable. Our plastic products will be replaced with materials derived from corn and will decompose soon after they're buried in the landfill.

Whether or not all this will unfold just as Christopher Steiner claims is not completely certain as some of his tenets are better supported than others (some downright specious), but one thing is for certain, changes due to petroleum shortages are inevitable and will affect us in our lifetime. $20 Per Gallon offers us a clarion call to action. Now is the time to prepare, and some forward thinking companies such as UPS are already taking the right steps and will allow them to thrive in the future. In addition to the prognostication, what I like about this book is that it motivated me to take a fresh look at my own energy consumption habits and how they might be improved. For some, this could translate into refraining from purchasing a gas guzzling vehicle or it could be as simple as deciding not to purchase that cutesy piece of Chinese junk.

• Listen to an excerpt of $20 Per Gallon, here.
• Read an Q &A with author Christopher Steiner, here.
• Christopher Steiner's: THE TOP 10 CHANGES IN A FUTURE OF HIGH GAS PRICES
• Check out the authors website, The Steiner Post, here
  
  

Information to purchase book, audiobook. (I am an Amazon Associate)

Thanks to Hachette for providing this audiobook for review.

Review: Parenting Your Anxious Child with Mindfulness and Acceptance by Christopher McCurry

Parenting Your Anxious Child with Mindfulness and Acceptance

is a thorough guide for parents to a new approach Dr. McCurry recommends called Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT). I have a child who deals with anxiety and was very interested in reading this book after Dr. McCurry contacted me and asked me to consider reading and reviewing it.

Product Description: We live in a chaotic and often unpredictable world, so it's only natural for you and your child to have anxieties. But seeing your child cry, cling to you, or even use aggression to avoid his or her own fears and worries may cause you to worry even more, trapping both of you in a cycle of anxiety and fear.

You can interrupt this cycle with the proven-effective mindfulness and acceptance skills taught in this book. Drawn from acceptance and commitment therapy, Parenting Your Anxious Child with Mindfulness and Acceptance offers a new way to think about your child's anxiety, as well as a set of techniques used by child psychologists to help children as young as four let go of anxious feelings and focus instead on relationships with friends, learning new things in school, and having fun. You'll learn these techniques, use them when you feel anxious, and teach them to your child. With practice, you both will let go of anxious feelings and your child will find the confidence to enjoy being a kid.

Parenting Your Anxious Child with Mindfulness and Acceptance allowed me to look at my child's anxiety differently and consider different approaches. It encourages you to look at the anxious behaviors and reactions of your child and the "dance" that develops between you as a parent and your child. The "dance" is a familiar pattern and cycle that you develop as well as your own anxieties and often it is not effective. This book encourages us to break the cycle and develop improved communication, confidence and self-control in our children.

There is much information on the definition and diagnosis of anxiety as well as many examples of different children and how this ACT approach can be used. There are also exercises to try on your own with guidance as to how to do so. The book explains ACT but it's an approach that is hard to summarize, you can read Dr. McMurry's definition of ACT here on his blog. This is the kind of book that has thorough explanations and tools and exercises to apply. I have a health care background and was familiar with much of the information and felt a bit overwhelmed at times with all of the information. I would suggest reading it in chapters and taking your time thinking about the sections and even taking notes to refer to. It can be studied alone or complemented with therapy from a psychologist who understands and implements this approach. I have tried a few of the exercises and feel that they can be effective after more practice. I plan to re-read parts of the book and continue to try working through some of the exercises. This is a gentle and loving approach to anxiety and does encourage you as a parent to look at alternatives to the cycle and avoid the anxiety "dance".

You can read an excerpt, and view the table of contents.

To purchase Parenting Your Anxious Child with Mindfulness and Acceptance go here.

Visit Chris McCurry, Ph.D Website, here.

About the author from his website:

Dr. Chris McCurry is a husband, a father, and a clinical child psychologist practicing in Seattle, Washington . His practice is limited to work with children ages 3 through 12 and their parents. Areas of specialization are anxiety, Autism/Asperger’s Spectrum and other problems of socialization and fitting-in, and issues related to Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. He also works with children who are capable but who are underachieving in school. Parenting Your Anxious Child with Mindfulness and Acceptance is his first book.

Review: Obama-The Historic Journey, Young Reader's Edition

Regardless of which candidate you voted for, as Americans, we all know that the journey of the election of our 44th President has definitely been a historic one. I am proud to be part of this history and to have my son, who is just 10 years old witness this historic event. Obama: The Historic Journey, Young Readers Edition is a beautiful book that chronicles the life of Barack Obama and his rise to presidency. I love that this book, published by The New York Times, tells this story through words and 200 beautiful color photographs. This book does an amazing job of sharing this journey from the start of Barack Obama's early childhood all the way up to the election process, inaugaration and first few weeks into office.

This book is a Young Readers Edition, geared to inspire the 8-12 year old age group. I loved it, it was inspiring to me and I learned quite a few things along the way that I had not known. The writing and style of the book will definitely appeal to the younger and older age groups. It's written in short chapters, with quotes and anecdotes that complement the content. Did I mention the gorgeous photographs?! I must emphasize this again that the photographs are wonderful and make the book outstanding. The strength of the book is in the way it presents the information in a journalistic style that presents itself in an interesting and welcoming manner for young readers.

My son enjoyed flipping through the book and looking at the photographs and was especially interested in reading about Barack Obama's background and his daughters. He hasn't read the book completely yet, but has told me he will read the book "soon". Summer is around the corner and this would be a fun and educational book to read, it's full of pictures and is only 96 pages.

I highly recommend this beautiful and educationally informative book to both young and adult readers. Thanks to MotherTalk for inviting me to participate in this book blog tour.

Review: The Age of the Unthinkable by Joshua Cooper Ramo

The Age of the Unthinkable: Why the New World Disorder Constantly Surprises Us And What We Can Do About It

by Joshua Cooper Ramo

Description :

(From Publisher, Hachette Books)

Category: HISTORY, POLITICAL SCIENCE
Format: AUDIO BOOK (CD, unabridged)


Today the very ideas that made America great imperil its future. Our plans go awry and policies fail. History's grandest war against terrorism creates more terrorists. Global capitalism, intended to improve lives, increases the gap between rich and poor. Decisions made to stem a financial crisis guarantee its worsening. Environmental strategies to protect species lead to their extinction.

The traditional physics of power has been replaced by something radically different. In The Age of the Unthinkable, Joshua Cooper Ramo puts forth a revelatory new model for understanding our dangerously unpredictable world. Drawing upon history, economics, complexity theory, psychology, immunology, and the science of networks, he describes a new landscape of inherent unpredictability--and remarkable, wonderful possibility.

Here is another review from my husband Greg:

Just because something is too terrible too contemplate doesn’t mean it can’t happen. It seems rather obvious, but rings especially true of late, wouldn’t you say? Take for example the collapse of Bear Stearns or perhaps climate change. We now in an age of accelerated change and everything around us is becoming increasingly complex. A funny thing about complexities is that just like enemies, they accumulate and that progressively lessons our ability to understand our world. Our social, economic, and political systems are heavily linked, much like the grains of sand in a sand pile. Did I just say a sand pile? It turns out that a sand pile confounds our most sophisticated analysis. The most advanced physics and mathematics fail to predict its behavior. Here we learn of a laboratory experiment where uniform grains of sand are systematically dropped from a pepper mill to form a pile. It doesn’t take long for the pile to self-organize into the shape of a cone, but wait long enough and avalanches will inevitably occur, yet it is impossible to predict when. Will it be the next grain of sand or the 100th that triggers it? Each grain of sand is affected by every other grain in the pile which means that even our most advanced computers are incapable of modeling it, and therefore fail to predict its behavior. Over time, the sand pile has organized itself into a state of unpredictable instability. The moral of the story is that financial systems, the climate, geopolitics, diseases, and so on, are all examples of “sand pile systems".

In these sand pile systems, there is no simple input output relationship, and to complicate matters further, there are combined effects when we link, or "mashup", systems in novel ways. Two pills taken together are lethal, but otherwise perfectly safe when taken independently. Combine home mortgages with mortgage backed securities, and we unknowingly have a recipe for financial disaster. That’s one reason why simplistic ideas such as “Soldiers in, Democracy out” don’t work. There’s a tragic paradox here. The policies designed to make us safer, in effect make the world more perilous. Measures aimed to fight terrorists end up creating more terrorists. Measures enacted to stem a financial crisis seem to guarantee its arrival. We can declare that a war has been won when in fact it has just begun, or observe a recognized expert such as Alan Greenspan admit that he got it all wrong. Indeed, we are living in a disruptive age.

So what should we do about it? For starters, new systems require new ways of thinking about them. Our government institutions are old and inflexible and designed to solve problems that are centuries old and nations are no longer the sole concentrations of power. What we need now is new and radical thinking about these problems, the kind of radical thinking and action we see in novel, highly adaptable, responsive groups such those we find at Google, the brains behind the Wii, or heaven forbid, Hezbollah. A better model for dealing with the sand pile is an immune system. Just as there are decentralized forces for evil in the world (e.g. Hezbollah), there needs to be decentralized forces for good, “T cells” to further the analogy. Thus when a disruption occurs, there are positive local forces available to respond in order to bring the system back into stability. It’s a thought provoking idea, but will we be able to collectively institute such a radical shift in thought? Perhaps there’s a chance if Ramo’s book were to somehow become required reading for those in power, and decidedly not just for those in power, but for the rest of us “T cells” as well. Unfortunately, I found the execution part of Ramo's proposed renaissance to be lacking, so I'll propose the following: instead of dropping bombs, drop copies of this book!

Clarification: After receiving some comments about my review, I realize that I may have inadvertently given the wrong impression about the book. Actually, I found "Unthinkable" to be one of the most insightful and refreshing books I've ever read (I would give it a five star Amazon rating). As I mentioned in my review, I do believe this book is essential and should be "required reading". In fact, I plan on listening to it a second time. Perhaps it was my last statement "instead of dropping bombs, drop copies of this book!" that threw people off. My only criticism of the book is that Ramo doesn't exactly spell out how to institute his excellent ideas (fodder for a follow on book?) so my remark was a somewhat tongue in cheek suggestion that drew upon an analogy of dropping wartime leaflets (as opposed to dropping bombs). In no way did I mean to denigrate the value of the book by suggesting that it be dropped from an airplane! I regret any misunderstanding that may have turned people away from the book. That is the opposite effect of what I intended. Wait a second... This just helps further Ramo's point as I now suspect that the book review system itself is also a "sand pile system" :)

-Greg

About the author:

Joshua Cooper Ramo is Managing Director and a partner at Kissinger Associates, one of the world's leading strategic advisory firms. Prior to joining Kissinger Associates, he was Assistant Managing Editor of Time and worked in the advisory and banking business in China.

For more information, visit Josua Cooper Ramo's website, here.

Thanks to Hachette for providing this audiobook for review.

Review: The Survivors Club by Ben Sherwood

~Another Review from my husband Greg~

*This is a review on the audio book edition*

As the executive producer of ABC’s Good Morning America, Ben Sherwood became fascinated by the many astounding survival stories presented by a variety of guests on the show. He came to wonder what it took to make it through impossible situations and live to tell about it, especially considering that most of those involved were often otherwise ordinary seeming individuals. This fascination lead to both a book and a web site dedicated to the phenomenon.

Be careful though, this is not a MacGyver style survival guide. It is more about the personality traits and belief systems involved in survival. And when we speak of “survival”, it is not limited to plane crashes, car accidents and the like; rather it is in the broader context of all of life’s greater challenges which includes such things as health conditions, loss of loved ones, and financial hardship.

I found most of the survival anecdotes fascinating, although quite frankly, some of them did make me cringe a bit. I’ll refrain from revealing too much, but among those I found most compelling were; the woman impaled by a knitting needle through her heart and how it saved her life, the only pilot known to survive an ejection at over Mach 1 (faster than the speed of sound), and the Serbian flight attendant who made it into the Guinness Book of World Records for being the person who survived a free fall from the greatest height, namely 33,000 feet!

In addition to exploring a repertoire of survival experiences, the book also includes a toolkit to help you discover your own “survivor personality”. This portion of the book relies heavily on "The Survivors club" website ( you can link to HERE) which includes a sophisticated survivor profile test along with many other survivor oriented resources. Unfortunately, I was unable to take the test due to the site’s insistence that I either upgrade or switch to a different browser. You don’t have to be a software engineer like myself to understand that this is inexcusable when there are several trillion websites already out there that work perfectly fine with Internet Explorer 6.0. So for me, the site remains a mystery. Still, I was able to infer my survivor profile from the description of the five types (The Fighter, The Believer, The Connector, The Thinker, and The Realist).

The audio book concludes with an interview with the author along with some words on how this research has personally affected his own life.

Aside from its educational and entertainment value, the book is a solid resource for those looking to both assess and improve their awareness and survival quotient for a range of crisis situations, some uncommon and some mundane, those which many of us will inevitably face. I’ll rate the book 4 out of 5 in its class (5 once the website is fixed). This book has life changing potential for its readers and I firmly believe that lives will be both saved and extended as a result of disseminating the wisdom garnered from this book.

Unabridged version is available in CD and Digital Download formats.
Also available in hardcover and e-book.
Find out your Survivor IQ by taking the quiz.

Thanks to Anna at Hachette Book Group.

*Enter the giveaway to win your own copy of the audiobook edition of The Survivors Club.

Find all of the details HERE.

Review: When Wanderers Cease to Roam by Vivian Swift

Description: A charming, illustrated celebration of puttering, doodling, daydreaming, and settling down after years on the road. Following a lifetime of trekking across the globe, Vivian Swift racked up twenty-three temporary addresses in twenty years, finally dropped her well-worn futon mattress and rucksack in a small town on the edge of the Long Island Sound. She spent the next decade quietly taking stock of her life, her immediate surroundings, and, finally, what it means to call a place a home.

The result is When Wanderers Cease to Roam. Filled with watercolors of beautiful local landscapes, seasonal activities, and small, overlooked pleasures of easy living, each chapter chronicles, month by month, the beautifully mundane perks of remaining at home—from curious notices in the local paper to the variations of autumnal clouds. At once gorgeously rendered and wholly original, this delightful and masterfully observed year of staying put shows us how the details of travel and the details of our lives remain with us—how they can nurture and sustain us, and how the past and the present become, in the end, intertwined.

This was a charming and quirky book to read. It's part journal, part memoir and diary. It's very unique in style, filled with beautiful watercolor drawings created by the author. It's formatted by months of the year with stories and experiences and drawings that correlate to each of the 12 months of the year. Ms. Swift spent years traveling the world from the age of 19 to 39 and then she discovered the Long Island Sound and set roots there for 10 years living in a small village. I enjoyed the town newsletter clippings that shared small town events and news and the items that Ms. Swift found around the village. One one page is a set of all of the colored children's mittens she found. On another is a mish-mosh of various items including foreign coins. She shares favorite clothes ,old and new, and where she has worn them and her stories behind them. There are even a few recipes included along the way. There are beautiful sketches and drawings related to the seasons and for the winter there is a set of drawings of a snowman's activities. She intertwines stories and experiences related to her travels and life experiences along the way. You can read it month by month or just browse through the pictures or read the whole book as I did.

You can browse through some of the actual drawings from the book at Vivian Swift's website.

Review: The Nine by Jeffrey Toobin

The Nine by Jeffrey Toobin

Description:In The Nine, acclaimed journalist Jeffrey Toobin takes us into the chambers of the most important—and secret—legal body in our country, the Supreme Court, revealing the complex dynamic among the nine people who decide the law of the land. An institution at a moment of transition, the Court now stands at a crucial point, with major changes in store on such issues as abortion, civil rights, and church-state relations. Based on exclusive interviews with the justices and with a keen sense of the Court's history and the trajectory of its future, Jeffrey Toobin creates in The Nine a riveting story of one of the most important forces in American life today.

I must start out by saying that this is not a book that I would normally choose to read. It was my book club book for this month that the group voted on. With that said, this is definitely a book that took me out of my comfort zone and I am very glad that I read this book. Mr. Toobin goes into great detail of the inner workings of the Supreme Court justices, their backgrounds as well as their personal and political beliefs. He interviewed "the nine" justices (Rehnquist, Stevens, O'Connor, Scalia, Kennedy, Souter, Thomas, Ginsburg, Breyer), plus the most recent two (Roberts & Alito). He also interviewed their clerks and added great details of Court History to blend the information. Toobin goes into great detail to show the controversies that have affected the court on both sides of the liberal and conservatives on the court. This book was a reminder that all members of the Supreme Court, the highest body in the United States, are appointed by the current President and confirmed by the Senate. Also, the President selects individuals who share his idealogical views. Toobin shows how these choices affect major decisions faced by the courts. This book does cover controversial issues that have come before the court including segregation, abortion, gay rights and affirmative action. It was a thought provoking and engaging book and it reminds us of what the constitution stands for and how much has changed in our own society since then. It was not a quick read, at least for me, and it is definitely dry reading at some points. If you don't have a legal background, you just may find yourself needing a dictionary at your side. Also, using google searches for background information will be helpful. I would recommend this book for those interested in history and legal issues and for those of us who should know about what is going on in our own government!

About the Author: Jeffrey Toobin, a staff writer at The New Yorker since 1993 and the senior legal analyst for CNN, is one of the most recognized and admired legal journalists in the country. (Information from the authors website, for more information go HERE. )

Review: Raising A Successful Child:: Discover and Nurture Your Child's Talents

Raising a Successful Child:Discover and Nurture Your Child's Talents by Sandra Burt and Linda Perlis

(Hosts of Parents' Perspective Radio Show)

Description: This book is based on the belief that all children have talent and potential — and so do all parents. To the familiar four talents that most parents try to bring out in their children — artistic, musical, athletic, and academic — Raising a Successful Child adds six more: empathic listening, idea generation, natural leadership, natural comic ability, spatial aptitude, and negotiation skills.

The authors teach parents how children function so the parents themselves can identify their children's strengths. The activities and exercises guide parents on a journey that leads to discovering each child's many innate talents. Raising a Successful Child shows parents how to support their children's interests and nurture their strengths while opening them to new experiences and avoiding unhealthy parental pressure.

This is a book that I received from Mini Book Expo and Ulysses Press . I was interested in reading this book as a parent of a 10 year old child and was hoping to learn a thing or two. Raising a Successful Child is a book that is presented in a simple format that is parent friendly and filled with good advice and suggestions. To get the most out of the book, the authors explain in the introduction that the first 3 chapters give a foundation for the rest of the book. It is a good idea to read those chapters first. Then the other chapters are arranged by subjects and can be read in any order as the subject applies to your needs at the time. Each chapter then has an "In Short" section that gives helpful ideas that apply to that subject. Some of the subjects the authors address are: Alone time and Creativity, Learning Tools, Teamwork, Partnership between Parent and School, Overscheduling Activities, Teamwork, Value of Family and More. There is also an appendix of resources and a significant Bibliography to reference at the end of the book. This book would be a good resource to new parents and parents of young school aged children. For me, I didn't find that much new information in this book. It could be that because my child is older I have already dealt with some of the issues addressed. Also, I found that some things didn't apply to my family. The nice thing about this book is that it does have chapters on different subjects that you can refer to as they apply to your child and family situation. I did like the positive attitude and ideas that it reminded parents to think about. The authors encourage being a nurturing parent and that this would empower your child to be successful. They remind parents that we grow and learn from our mistakes and should try to enjoy the adventure of parenting!

The authors, Sandra Burt and Linda Perlis are the producers and hosts of the award-winning weekly radio program, Parents’ Perspective, interviewing guest experts on a different child rearing issue each week. You can find more information about the authors and their radio program at their website Parents' Perspective.

The Green Beauty Guide Book Tour Plus a Giveaway too!

The Green Beauty Guide by Julie Gabriel

Description:

Go green and get gorgeous

The promise of beauty is as close as the drugstore aisle—shampoo that gives your hair more body, lotions that smooth away wrinkles, makeup that makes your skin look flawless, and potions that take it all off again. But while conventional products say they'll make you more beautiful, they contain toxins and preservatives that are both bad for the environment and bad for your body—including synthetic fragrances, petrochemicals, and even formaldehyde. In the end, they damage your natural vitality and good looks.

Fortunately, fashion writer, nutritionist, and beauty maven Julie Gabriel helps you find the true path to natural, healthy, green beauty. She helps you decipher labels on every cosmetic product you pick up and avoid toxic and damaging chemicals with her detailed Toxic Ingredients List. You'll learn valuable tips on what your skin really needs to be healthy, glowing, and youthful.

Julie goes one-step further—and shows you how to make your own beauty products that feed your skin, save your bank account, and are healthy for your body and the environment, such as:

• Cleansing creams and oils • toners • facials • under eye circle remedies • anti-aging serums • lip balms • scrubs • exfoliators • clay and cleansing masks• moisturizers • acne treatments • makeup remover • teeth whiteners • shampoos, conditioners • fragrances • sun protection • bug repellants • baby products • and much more!


With her friendly, thorough, and helpful advice; fabulous beauty recipes; product recommendations and ratings; Toxic Ingredients List; and a complete appendix of online resources, Julie Gabriel gives you all the information you need to go green without going broke and become a more natural, healthy, and beautiful you.

I am thrilled to be hosting a book tour for Julie Gabriel's book The Green Beauty Guide from TLC Book Tours. I have been consciously working on changing my cleaning products to more greener and safer products. I am also attempting to change our food choices to more healthier, organic foods. It's a challenge to make changes and for me, it is small changes, one step at a time. My son has food allergies and I have learned a lot over the years about checking ingredients to make sure that foods are safe for him. I have realized that there are so many unnecessary additives and preservatives that are added to make these products last longer on our shelves. I have often wondered if the extra shelf life these products provide for our convenience is worth the health risks we may be exposing ourselves and our children to. I was excited to be part of this tour and read Julie Gabriels book to learn more about Green Beauty products. Ms. Gabriel emphasizes in The Green Beauty Guide, that what we put on our skin is just as important as what we eat as it is absorbed by our skin and we shouldn't put anything on our skin that we wouldn't be able to safely eat.

The Green Beauty Guide is chock full of wonderful information to help you choose safe, organic and natural Skin Care, Hair Care, Makeup and Fragrances. I believe it is a must-have resource for anyone interested in learning about going green and choosing safe products for your body from head to toe. Not only do you learn why you should choose safer products, but you learn how to do this. This Guide is thorough and jam packed with detailed information and it includes 12 pages of references.

I appreciated that Ms. Gabriel goes into such great detail and thorough explanations in each chapter. Especially early on in the book where she describes the specific ingredients that are in most beauty products that are toxic and unsafe. One study the author refers to found that about 90 percent of cosmetic ingredients have not been analyzed for their health impacts. I went to my cabinets to check my own beauty products and found that most of my products contained many of these offending ingredients. Even products that I "thought" were more natural had some toxic ingredients. Ms. Gabriel writes that even products labeled organic and natural may still contain toxic ingredients or byproducts. That is another reason why this book is so important...it is a reference and guide that you can look back on and check these important details as you shop for beauty products.

Ms. Gabriel recommends that if you start with only one organic beauty product, that it should be your moisturizer. She explains that moisturizer stays on your face the longest and that would mean that your body is absorbing what is in the product that you choose to use. In a sidebar, the author points out that the skin can absorb up to 60 percent of substances applied to its surface. You can also develop allergies to cosmetic products. The toxic ingredients can worsen your acne or cause allergic reactions that look like acne or pimples. There is concern that the toxic ingredients may also lead to other serious diseases.

There is a green leaf product guide that rates products and takes into account more economical choices and products that may be more readily available in some grocery and drug stores. Not only does Ms. Gabriel give examples and names of specific products that she recommends, she also gives many recipes to make your own beauty products! She also gives simple tips and techniques to solve skin troubles using foods and products that you may have right in your own home or are easy to get. Personally, I am looking forward to trying some of her home facial routines and green solutions for dark circles under my eyes. I learned what causes my dark circles and plan to try some recommended techniques that are natural and easy to incorporate into my life.

Yes, some of the products are quite expensive but there are other options that are more economical. Ms. Gabriel understands that not everyone can afford the expensive options so she is very thorough in providing alternatives. She includes product recommendations as well as many recipes for things such as lip balms, sugar scrubs, facial masks, acne zappers, baby wash and wipe solution, bath salts, bug repellant and more.

For me, I cannot recommend this book highly enough. It is a thorough book that will help you transition to more greener, safer beauty products. I know that I will be referring to this often as I choose my own personal beauty products and routines to make it more safer and green. I will also use this information for my whole family as well. This information is not only for women but for men, babies and children. We all use soap, shampoo, moisturizer and many other things that are important to be safe products for us all.

***

About the Author: Julie Gabriel

Julie Gabriel is a passionate advocate of green lifestyle, a holistic nutritionist, and a new mom of a 18-month-old Maria. A professional journalist and former magazine beauty editor, Julie pursued her lifelong dream and have studied at Canadian School of Natural Nutrition in Toronto to become a Holistic Nutritionist. As a Canadian living in the UK, Julie has a deep knowledge of environmental issues both in Europe and in North America. To help new moms save time and money, Julie has launched her own skincare line for mom and baby, Petite Marie Organics. Formulated exclusively with certified organic plant ingredients, all multipurpose products can be used by mothers and babies thus helping moms jump-start green living on a budget. The products, So Pure You Can Eat Them®, are freshly handmade, and every ingredient is scientifically proven to be safe during pregnancy and breastfeeding. Petite Marie Organics mom-and-baby skincare products are available online at petitemarieorganics.com, and in fine health food stores in the UK, the US and Canada since January 2o09.

Be sure to check out Ms. Gabriels website The Green Beauty Guide for even more information.
She shares more tips and tricks, recipes, product reviews and even features Green Beauty Makeovers.

You can purchase your own copy of The Green Beauty Guide HERE. I must add that I believe that the list price for this book at $16.95 is an amazing value for this HUGE book of 400 pages with a wealth of information.

If you would like to visit other stops on the booktour, you may find them here.

This is the Tour schedule for this week:

Monday, December 8th: Red Lady’s Reading Room

Monday, December 8th: She is Too Fond of Books

Tuesday, December 9th: Savvy Verse and Wit

Wednesday, December 10th: Bookopolis (will also be posted as
a Guest Review at Books on the Brain)

Thursday, December 11th: B & B ex libris

***GIVEAWAY***

I have great news to share with you!!! I was fortunate enough to receive 2 copies of this book from the publisher. I couldn't bear to part with my copy so I am happy to say that I am able to give away a copy of The Greeen Beauty Guide to one very lucky reader!!

Here are the details to enter the giveaway for a chance to win this book:

• For one entry: Leave a post and comment about this review.


• For a second entry: Comment about a favorite green beauty product that you use or would like to try.


• For a third entry: Go to Ms. Gabriel's website The Green Beauty Guide and share something that you found helpful and/or interesting.
  

Please make sure that you post your email or there is a way for me to contact you via email through your blog/contact info. Otherwise, I cannot enter your name into the drawing. I will use random.org to pick a winner of the book.

This giveaway is open to US and Canada only(Due to the high cost of US postage) apologies to my overseas readers. This will be open through December 13th, Midnight, EST.