Henri Rousseau: Jungles in Paris

Book Description

Henri Rousseau (1844-1910) was a self-taught artist with a unique style, exemplified in his visionary jungle scenes. These dream-like tableaux, for which he drew heavily on visits to Paris' Botanical Gardens, captivate with the lushness of their plant and animal life, while unsettling the viewer with their heady combination of exoticism and romanticism.

This sumptuously illustrated book provides not only a comprehensive overview of Rousseau's career, but also penetrating insights into his inspiration. With large, color reproductions of his paintings, many previously unpublished illustrations of his sources and influences, and a wealth of new research on his life and work (including the only interview conducted with the artist), Henri Rousseau: Jungles in Paris

is poised to become the definitive volume on this remarkable painter.

In Green's Jungles (Book of the Short Sun, Book 2)

Average customer rating:

Challenging--but as brilliant as it gets
Better than the first book!
Fine -- but Lacking
Wolfe torments his readers
Will Patera Silk please stand up?

In Green's Jungles (Book of the Short Sun, Book 2)
Gene Wolfe
Manufacturer: Tor Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Adventure | Science Fiction | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Subjects | Books

General | Science Fiction | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0312873638

Amazon.com

Gene Wolfe has stymied and delighted smart science fiction readers for years. His complex, multilayered narratives, untrustworthy narrators, and puzzle-box characters send those of us who like that sort of thing into paroxysms of thrilling speculation, re-reading, and just plain guessing what it all means. In Green's Jungles is the middle book of Wolfe's opus trilogy, The Book of the Short Sun (the first is On Blue's Waters). It is by no means necessary to start with his other series, The Book of the New Sun and The Book of the Long Sun, in order to enjoy what is most likely the final examination of the universe Wolfe has created. But critics and fans are mostly in agreement that they are best read in order, and that the Short Sun series is the best of an astonishing bunch.

In Green's Jungles follows narrator Horn as he voyages to the planet Green (Blue's companion) and to the abandoned generational starship known as the Whorl in search of the godlike Patera Silk. As Horn recounts his adventures, his own identity becomes muddled, and we find out his interactions with the vampiric inhumi of Green and the strange alien Neighbors were deeper than we knew. In fact, Horn may not be himself at all anymore. Tantalizing story details drip slowly from Wolfe's pen:

Through the ring a Neighbor saw him, and she came to him in his agony.... she said, "I cannot make you well again, and if I could you would still be in this place. I can do this for you, however, if you desire it. I can send your spirit into someone else, into someone whose own spirit is dying."

So who is Horn? Has he become Patera Silk--it seems so, for people begin mistaking him for the heroic leader. Is he the warrior king Rajan, or is he something entirely new, formed by the strange places and people around him into a savior of worlds? Identity, love, and faith weave through the themes of In Green's Jungles, and Wolfe has added another masterpiece to a shelf full of them. --Therese Littleton

Book Description

This is the sequel to On Blues Waters. It is narrated by Horn, on a quest from his home on the planet Blue to find the heroic leader Patera Silk. In is also a section of Wolfes major new fiction, The Book of the Short Sun, building toward a strange and seductive climax in Return to the Whorl, now in hardcover.

Customer Reviews:

Challenging--but as brilliant as it gets.......2004-08-23

(...)
The Book of the Short Sun will be one of the finest reading experiences of your life... if you can get through the thing. The difficulty in extracting those rewards out of the text is considerable and not to be lightly discounted. Reading these books will require supreme effort. Willing readers will have to be intensely interested with how individuals relate to historical and semi-mythical figures, religion, and their own personality as influenced by these themes. These books are about as far as you can get from the popular concept of "space opera" and thrilling, "page-turning" fiction. An analogy to Moby Dick is probably very appropriate as that work due to the very slow pacing, the introspection, and the great literary symbols stomping through the setting reified and alive. Any scholar of literature should be deeply fascinated by these books.

WHY YOU SHOULD PASS:

There is no shame in not reading these books. They are terribly difficult and an exercise in stamina though we feel most people should at least try once. If you have attempted Shakespeare and been turned back because of the language; if you have attempted Moby Dick or novels by Henry James only to be turned away by the lack of progression in the plot; if you have attempted James Joyce's Ulysses but been baffled by the interior monologue, then Short Sun is probably going to daunt you as well. But we feel the rewards of this book are equal to those giants in literature.

(...)

Better than the first book!.......2004-03-15

Gene Wolfe can be a frustrating writer: his prose is often elliptical, his plots and characters unusual, his text obscure and dense. He's a master of indirectness: he'll leave out what for other writers would be "important plot points".

In this second volumn of Book of the Short Sun, we spend most of our time *not* in Green's jungles, but the intersecting plots and deft, subtle interplay of the different characters leave us with both a clear picture of the main character's (Horn/Silk) time there. We get crumbling cities, in-human (and human) monsters and other trappings of, say, a good Burrough's Barsoom tale presented entirely as backstory to the current events in which the lead character has become embroiled.

On Blue's Waters (the first volume) was a beautiful work, marred (I thought at the time) by the overly obscure ending. But this novel (a lot clearer to follow, with a more conventional linear story) actually improves the first book. I can't wait to read the final volume now...

Fine -- but Lacking.......2004-03-02

In Green's Jungles covers Horn's second stop on his way home to the Lizard. Contrary to its title, the novel only barely touches on events, many of them major, that took place on Green. Most of the story focuses on a war between two neighboring cities. I found In Green's Jungles more difficult to enjoy than volume 1, and was often annoyed at Wolfe's unnecessary convolution of simple events. Moreover, the war between the cities, as well as most of the characters involved, seemed inconsequential. This induces the suspicion that the whole book might have been written to stretch a two-book story to trilogy length. Even so, it was a pleasure to read, and I highly recommend the entire series to SF fans who enjoy Wolfe's unique and puzzling style.

Wolfe torments his readers.......2003-02-22

Mr Wolfe is a writer of powerful imagination, but he has a bad habit of leaving out the dramatically most important parts of his stories, tormenting his readers! Herein, he hops from the future to the present to the past, and back without warning, dwells on trivial detail while he omits most all major events in the stories, mixes short stories and nightmare visions into the "plot", so the bewildered reader has no idea what might be really going on. The reader has to work too hard.

The writing in the first part (of this last part of the ten plus book Sun series), "Blue" was comprehesible in comparison.

Where was the editor with the red pen?

If you want to save money, this book does not seem to be important to the plot line of the series and can be easily skipped. It reads as it were notes or an undeveloped plot outline.

The plot continues in "Return to the Whorl" you can safely bypass this.

Ultimately the concept (be forewarned, I give away the plot here) of one caracter morphing into another is quite clever, but this this book will leave you wondering what the heck you just read!

Will Patera Silk please stand up?.......2002-10-17

In Green's Jungles (Book of the Short Sun, Book2) By Gene Wolfe, is the 2nd volume in the short sun series. All the books are tied together (see the books of the Long Sun) in many ways. One excellent reviewer said this book is for the SF thinker rather than the SF reader and I agree. You have to THINK HARD about what is being said and done. Getting past the omni-linear track of the plot (for me) was the hard part, but becomes very clear at the end and holds your interest.

Here is a good Editorial Review that helped me understand the plot better: 'In Green's Jungles follows narrator Horn as he voyages to the planet Green (Blue's companion) and to the abandoned generational starship known as the Whorl in search of the godlike Patera Silk. As Horn recounts his adventures, his own identity becomes muddled (very), and we find out his interactions with the vampiric inhumi of Green and the strange alien Neighbors were deeper than we knew (and how). In fact, Horn may not be himself at all anymore. Tantalizing story details drip slowly from Wolfe's pen:

Through the ring a Neighbor saw him, and she came to him in his agony.... she said, "I cannot make you well again, and if I could you would still be in this place. I can do this for you, however, if you desire it. I can send your spirit into someone else, into someone whose own spirit is dying."

During the story's narration, we notice a marked change in Horn as his search for Patera Silk continues. The change, gradual at first. Starts little by little, but as each of Horn's recollections become known, we are spotting inconsistencies, and his voice is becoming that of Patera Silk, Horn, Lord Rajan and Master Incanto all in one. The confusion is known by us (the reader), but only sensed or felt by Horn et al. Mr. Wolfe's mastery, becomes abundantly clear as you get towards the end of the book.

As I mentioned in my earlier reviews, these works bear repeated reading to fully comprehend. The prose and style are 1st rate. One amusing reviewer wrote "Horn would greatly appreciate the quality of the paper in the Hardcover edition."
Enjoy and grow!

Average customer rating:

Vegas history lesson

educational

Great history of Vegas

True History of Las Vegas

Green Felt Jungle
Ed Reid
Manufacturer: Buccaneer Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
General | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
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Las Vegas Babylon: True Tales of Glitter, Glamour, and Greed

ASIN: 089966783X

Customer Reviews:

Vegas history lesson.......2005-05-25

While the book is old and dated, the story is extremely well written and keeps the intensity level up there right up to the final pages. While today's Vegas is nothing like the Vegas of old, the book provides a fascinating look into an otherwise secret world. A good read.

educational.......2004-07-06

I liked reading "Green Felt Jungle". I enjoy visiting Las Vegas,
and even though the town is a different place now than it was
at the time described by the book, it still helps to know
some history. One of the fascinating chapters describes the
entry into town of Mr. Benny Binion, and his feud with an
adversary named Herb Noble. Not all gang warfare involved the
Mafia, I guess. I have no idea how true to life the book is. I
can't call myself streetwise, or a tough guy, by any stretch of
the imagination, but it sounds real. One thing I agree with.
However bad the Mafia and other gangsters might have been (and I
have no doubt that they were mostly slimy psychos), Las Vegas
was probably a more interesting place, in some ways, before
the corporations took over completely.

Great history of Vegas.......2000-04-07

This book was great. It steps through the things that happened in Vegas and the truth about the events and people that made this great town.

True History of Las Vegas.......1999-05-07

As a child I remember growing up in Las Vegas, knowing the real truth behind som eof the more notorious figures in town. I remember finding a copy of Green Felt and was enthralled by the truth as I knew it. I grew up in the casino business and some of the people mentioned in the book were like family (remember until recently Las Vegas was truly a small town). If only someone would produce this into a "A" movie. With the interest in "mobs" and "gangsters" I feel the public would love it, if done right. Of course as with the movie Casino, the political leaders would dismiss its authenticity and publicly deny anything ever happened. I highly recommend this book to those interested in how the casino industry gre in Las Vegas, its roots, its founders and how it got where its at today ......

The book of the short sun: On blue's waters, in green's jungles, return to the whorl

Average customer rating:

A very strange and wondrous trilogy

The book of the short sun: On blue's waters, in green's jungles, return to the whorl
Gene Wolfe
Manufacturer: Sfbc Science Fiction
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

ASIN: 0739416898

Customer Reviews:

A very strange and wondrous trilogy.......2005-07-21

General for all books in "The Book of the Short Sun" ("On Blue's Waters", "In Green's Jungles", "Return to the Whorl"): This third series of books, which are a direct continuation of the books in "The Book of the Long Sun" and an semi-direct continuation of the books of "The Book of the New Sun" is similar in its writing style and tone. When you start to read "On Blue's Waters" you feel like you've been thrown into an alien world inhabited by non-alien people with an alien culture. That's what Gene Wolfe has created in these books. He has gone where few authors have dared to go: in the very distant future of Mankind; not a few decades or a few hundred years, but many thousands of years. Frank Herbert, in the "Dune" books, started nine thousand years or so into our future. In Gene Wolfe's books, we don't know how far into the future we've gone, but it's well beyond what Herbert did, as the sun is cooling.

The characters in these books are highly developed, three-dimensional, and realistic. The story-line is extremely non-linear, with abrupt shifts in time and setting, along with dream sequences loaded with meaning. It takes a while to get accustomed to that style, and some readers might not like it, but it was worth it for me. The writing is highly descriptive, and one comes away with a feeling of having visited the places described and having known the characters. One strange note about the series as a whole is that its central character, Horn, gets semi-transformed into Patera Silk, the central character of "The Book of the Long Sun", as the story progresses (or does he?). This series of books also resurrects from "The Book of the Long Sun" one of the most entertaining supporting characters I've ever encountered, Oreb, the semi-intelligent, wise, and highly vocal bird who was the constant companion of Patera Silk and is now the companion of Horn, the new central character. Oreb reminds me of Robert Heinlein's "Buck, the genetically-enhanced talking mule who was a companion to Heinlein's near-immortal Lazarus Long.

For "On Blue's Waters": The story starts off twenty years or so after the end of "The Book of the Long Sun", with Horn (a character from the "The Book of the Long Sun") setting off on a quest to find Patera Silk, the hero and central character of "The Book of the Long Sun". It takes a while to get used to the very non-linear nature of the narrative. Horn has to find Pajarocu, a semi-legendary city that has a spaceship capable of returning to the Long Sun Whorl (an enormous, semi-evacuated orbiting spaceship), where he believes Patera Silk to be. While most of the characters in the book are human, there are also the inhumi, the race of intelligent but parasitic beings that evolved on Planet Blue's neighbor, Planet Green, and eventually spread to Blue, as well as the Neighbors or Vanished People, who were the original inhabitants of Blue before being nearly killed off by the inhumi. There might also be a race of superbeings who functioned as the gods of the Vanished People, but we're never sure of that.

For "In Green's Jungles": This continues the story of Horn and his search for Patera Silk. The ship that was supposed to take him to the Long Sun Whorl, instead takes him to Green, the home of the inhumi. He has to lead his fellow shanghaied shipmates against the inhumi, who want to enslave them and drink their blood, and Horn gets some help from the enigmatic Neighbors or Vanished People. Horn is killed along the way (or is he?) and reincarnated, thanks to the Neighbors, in the body of the dying Patera Silk (or is he?). The reader is never certain of exactly what happened to the central character, which reflects the character's confusion about himself (he is never certain again if he is Horn, Silk, or some combination of both). The writing is somewhat more linear here, and there are increasing hints that this series connects not only with "The Book of the Long Sun" but also with "The Book of the New Sun". A wonderful continuation of a complex, enchanting story.

For "Return to the Whorl": In the most linear (but still not very linear) and least obtuse book of the series, Horn (or is he Patera Silk?) jumps back and forth between the Planet Blue and the spaceship Whorl, searching for Silk (himself?), helping his new friend Pig (whose dialect is initially hard to understand but you get used to it), and making his way back to his (Horn's) family. He succeeds at returning to his family, he succeeds at helping Pig regain his sight (and stop being a blind pig!), and he succeeds, in an extremely strange way, at finding Patera Silk. All of the threads get tied together here, from "The Book of the New Sun", "The Book of the Long Sun", and "The Book of the Short Sun". The main character of "The Book of the New Sun" series, Severian the Torturer, even plays a small but important part, although he never gets named. The ending leaves the reader wondering if another series is planned, as the opportunity is there (Silk goes back to the Whorl as it readies to head back into deep space), but the tone is wistful, bordering on melancholy, as if Gene Wolfe were saying good-bye to his beloved characters. This is a very obtuse, poetic, complex, and wonderful set of books. It was a challenge to read, but was well worth it.

Overall, this is a strange, well-written, complex, and enchanting tale.

Average customer rating:

The Green Felt Jungle
Ed Reid
Manufacturer: Trident Pr
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000OKIFVW

Khaki Drill and Jungle Green: British Tropical Uniforms 1939-45 in Color Photographs

Average customer rating:

Another Fine Photo Study of the WW II British Service.
Khaki Drill and Jungle Green
A SUPERB FOLLOW UP TO WW11 TOMMY

Khaki Drill and Jungle Green: British Tropical Uniforms 1939-45 in Color Photographs
Richard Ingram , and Martin Brayley
Manufacturer: Crowood
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Military | History | Subjects | Books

Pictorials | Military | History | Subjects | Books

Uniforms | Military | History | Subjects | Books

General | World | History | Subjects | Books

Military Science | History | Subjects | Books

ASIN: 1861263600

Book Description

This full-color volume chronicles the uniforms, weapons and equipment used by the British soldier in the more distant theaters of World War II. Color photos showing re-enactors in authentic settings help to create a realistic picture of what it was like to live and fight in remote areas and often under very trying conditions. From front-line infantrymen to logistical support, and from private soldier to officers, this volume delivers color photos accompanied by explanatory text to make this an invaluable reference for military buffs.

Customer Reviews:

Another Fine Photo Study of the WW II British Service........2001-12-22

This full color book has a broader scope than his WW II Tommy (c.f.) It covers the khaki drill and jungle green uniforms of the RAF and even the Naval ratings of the Malta Defense Force in white undress shorts.
This book is extremely well photographed in a large format. Because Brayley served 24 years as a military photographer in many parts of the world he was able to pose his models in the actual locations where the items were worn in Africa, the Middle East, and the Far East. As in all his work, all of the items are original World War period issue.
The only peculiar thing to my eyes is that because many items were unused, due to the British manner of attaching the clothing issue labels to the outside of the garments, these lables are visible in the images. In actual service, of course, these would be removed.
The book covers as well as clothing, personal equipment, small arms, and comfort items commonly carried in the field.
This is a fine work and a classic of its genre and deserves a place along with his other works on the library shelf.

Khaki Drill and Jungle Green.......2001-07-17

Oh, wow! A wonderful follow up to Tommy! An excellent and all encompassing review of British & Commonwealth uniforms worn in the warmer theatres of WW2. And at last someone has shown me that the P44 Equipment really did have an actual rucksack. Other writers, (Davis & Chappel), when describing this item, never show what it looked like, and as I have a P44 large pack that is nothing like what they describe, I doubted the existance of a rucksack. So my thanks to Messrs. Ingram & Brayley for illustrating it in use, and mounted on the P45 manpack carrier. The photos in the book are ecellent, the descriptions are clear and often amusing, and the subject matter extensive. To my mind it is the diffinitive work on British uniforms in the Middle and Far Easts. I only wait, with ill-concealed impatience, for September when the publishers promise the republication of the authors' first work on the uniforms of the British women's services; then my collections of books on British uniforms of WW2 will be complete

A SUPERB FOLLOW UP TO WW11 TOMMY.......2001-02-12

As the title suggests this work covers the uniforms worn by the British forces in tropical regions, personal kit and weapons are illustrated but the emphasis is on clothing of all types. Captions are necessariy brief but highly informative, space being devoted to quality photography rather than long text. If you enjoyed WW11 Tommy you will love this work that covers an untouched field.

Average customer rating:

Bloody Jungle : Green Berets in Vietnam

Manufacturer: Ace
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000BD361Q

Survive in the Jungle With the Special Forces "Green Berets" (Elite Forces Survival Guides)

Average customer rating:

Survive in the Jungle With the Special Forces "Green Berets" (Elite Forces Survival Guides)
Chris McNab
Manufacturer: Mason Crest Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Library Binding

Military & Wars | History & Historical Fiction | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

General | Ages 9-12 | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

Survival Skills | Outdoors & Nature | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 1590840046

Average customer rating:

Green Felt Jungle
Ed; Demaris, Ovid Reid
Manufacturer: Pocket Books, Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000KF3MUU

Amazon Jungle: Green Hell to Red Desert?

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Amazon Jungle: Green Hell to Red Desert?
R.J.A. And H.S. Irwin Goodland
Manufacturer: Elsevier
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: 0444413189

Book Description

Conscious Conception is the comprehensive reference for fertility awareness. All natural methods of family planning, both ancient and current, are presented within the larger context of sexuality and an evolving spirituality, which embraces the religious wisdom traditions and goes beyond.

The book is for anyone who wants to prepare before conception for the great journey as partners in creation: commonly known as becoming PARENTS. Couples who are labelled "infertile" will discover new possibilities and ways to naturally conceive.

This book is also for anyone exploring fertile sexuality and desires a way to avoid contraception and pregancy both at once. The information is shared with the hope that every baby can be a welcomed baby AND strengthen sexual relationships. Rather then rely upon medical device, chemicals or surgeries, the invitation of Conscious Conception is to experience fertility as not in the way of sexuality, but rather, that fertile sexuality is THE way of spirituality.

The authors boldly guide us through such real issues as abortion, adoption and choosing the gender and birth time of our babies yet always within a larger story of SOUL myth, metaphor and our evolution of ideas about sexuality and by extension, creation.

One prevailing concept in Conscious Conception is that we can put to rest the "victim-of-fertility" archetype which has been at best the inspiration of great literature/tragedy for millennia, and at worst has released much pain and suffering upon our Earth. We can become conscious of our capacity to co-create as simple as knowing when one is hungry or thristy, we can know when we are fertile and act in ways which are best-for-life.

This natural knowing is aided by attention to not only our physical bodies and fertility cycles, but our dreams and desires. What is emerging at the end of this millennium is the realization that fertility awareness is a SOURCE experience, one which puts us in direct relationship with creative energy. By becoming conscious of our fertility, we become more creative.

It is our choice in what form we show the world our love a baby is but one option. Conscious Conception transcends the pro-choice and pro-life polemic. Conscious Conception is both at once simply stated, it's instruction is to "Choose Life".

The propaganda which is put out by the contraceptive industry results in many unwanted children and abortions. All contraceptive methods have failure rates which mean real conceptions. Natural Family planning has the best statistics in effectiveness for one reason when there is any possibility of pregnancy, abstinance is practiced. When fertile, regardless of contraceptive promises, babies can be conceived, and sometimes are.

Included are detailed ceremonies for healing previous abortions, both public and private rituals to resolve the past and be more present in the unfolding fertility story now. Abortion is not moralized as being "wrong" rather, it just hurts and is increasingly unneccessary as the practice of Conscious Conception/ Fertility Awareness is spread throughout the world. Again, contraception is deconstructed to show its inevitable failure while in contrast, when cyclical abstinance is employed, there are no conceptions.

Plus the world's best kept secret fertility awareness inclusive of abstinance, enhances a long-term monogamous relationship in many ways that usage of contraception cannot. It also is optimal in short-term relationships as the practicioners need fear no untimely pregnancy.

What would the world look like if every baby was a wanted, welcomed baby? If women knew ourselves and honestly communicated our truth in regards to fertility to our lovers? What if teens learned fertility awareness, which embraces the best of all ideas about sex education, and developed a real self to esteem? Conscious Conception describes such a world a world of the POSSIBLE FAMILY. Freebirth, waterbirth, tota

Customer Reviews:

So disappointed and left me with a bad taste.......2007-03-10

I bought this book because I was interested in natural techniques to fertility and "consciously" conceiving my future child. I was hoping that the authors would have an unbiased, balanced perspective; however, I have found that this book is VERY "new age". Don't get me wrong, there are many new age principals that I agree with. I just think that the authors of this book are on the extreme deep end and are extremely biased by their own opinions.

One example is in the article "Health, Nutrition & Fertility" by Frederick Hamilton Baker. In regards to the amount of chemicals that are found in foods and therefore in our bodies causing infertility, he says "It's as if the soul isn't very interested in coming to unhealthy parents especially in these 'latter days' when there are already so many other early obstacles to fulfillment. (Unnatural birthing practice, lack of breastfeeding, childhood torture in the form of cribs and city housing, etc.)"

"Torture" as he uses it, is such an extreme viewpoint. I haven't read the whole book; it's unreadable. But one can assume from this statement that he is pro- bed sharing - which is fine, except I think it's really rather rude and ignorant to assume that all children are "tortured" by being put into cribs (I know plenty of them who love their cribs, my own son being one of them). He also expresses a belief that eating meat is deviating from a healthy "whole" diet. Regardless of what he feels is personally best for himself, I think it is small-minded to assume that that must be the case for everyone and a better proclamation would have been that if you are not a vegetarian, meat consumption needs to be moderated.

Elsewhere in the book is an article by Jeannine Parvati Baker called "Astrology: Stars in Our Eyes or Preventing Dis-Aster". I don't know what else to really say about this article except that it seemed to lack a point. She talks excessively of what sign the moon (for example) was in when she first ovulated and then after she gave birth one out of five times, the signs of all of her children, etc., and goes on to say that she sees a pattern without really discussing what that pattern is. I am pretty in to astrology, more so than the average person, and I really didn't get the point.

In fact, much of this book seems to be a little self-indulgent. The authors speak from their own heavily biased perspective without maintaining any sort of objectivity or sense of how their experiences might relate to the reader. It is unfortunate, for this book had great potential - it's large with beautiful illustrations throughout and alot of the topic material is good. The writers just didn't seem to be able to keep their feet on the ground long enough for this book to really be practical at all. And quite frankly, it is also offensive. It seems to me that the authors are taking the viewpoint that living a natural lifestyle in sync with nature that you can achieve fertility, healthy pregnancy, etc. My last pregnancy ended in a stillbirth because my son had a birth defect, and I eat and buy everything organic, never take medication, do most of what they are suggesting in this book anyway. And it still happened. My point being not that living a natural lifestyle is not good, but there are most definitely instances in which modern technology and medicine can be helpful. For example, many women suffer from clotting disorders and suffer repeated pregnancy losses until they are diagnosed and take blood thinners during pregnancy, after which they are able to go full-term and give birth to healthy babies. I get the feeling like Jeanning Parvati Baker was lucky (nothing more, nothing less) to have given birth to five healthy children. I don't think that it's because of astrology, or vegetarianism, or anything else that she is talking about in this book.

So in conclusion I would say this book is good if you are extremely into new age ideas, as this book is VERY new age (I don't even know how other reviewers said it wasn't at all; this book reeks of it). But if you are someone who is not at all into new age ideas, or you are into some but combine new age with conventional wisdom to find the balance that is right for you, then this book is pretty worthless. I wish I could return it and get my money back. I am going to try to buy some other books that might be related to what it was I was originally looking for, and hopefully they will be much better than this book was.

wow... big book. far fetched?.......2007-01-23

Not an easy read... pretty "flighty" swoops around from subject to subject, really difficult to follow. Wouldn't particularily reccomend.

this book changed my life.......2004-09-08

I am an avid reader of books on many topics..spiritual, medical, educational....this book is all that and more. It has changed me. I have recommended it to many friends and all have loved it (can't put it down). This book is such a great inspirational resource for women and while the focus is fertility...even those not trying to conceive will find plenty of empowering wisdom inside this book. It offers a great perspective of who we are as females and the power of creation that is contained within us. While some of the views are a bit controversial (abortion..to have or not to have....baker is confidently pro-life) ...my pro-choice self did not at all feel put off by baker's comments on the subject. In fact, quite the opposite. THIS IS A GREAT BOOK. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!.......2004-01-05

This book is a beautiful, breath of fresh air! Ms. Baker is a goddess, and will thoroughly help you to see the goddess within yourself. What can I say about this lovely work of art? As you meditate through the words of this "bible", you will begin to cultivate a fertile self you never knew you had. I bought this book to help with my fertility problems, and it is wonderful in this aspect, but it is oh, so much more! Please read this book.

A message for all time.......2003-12-28

In today's world of ever-increasing assisted reproduction technology, this book is even more important than when it was first published in 1986. This enormously rich and original work of art takes readers on a very special journey. A journey about beginnings, with a very special guide-Jeannine Parvati Baker reigns as the spiritual leader of the Women's Movement in the US and her influence has spread abroad as well. She has always been a powerful advocate for babies to be born naturally into families who can express their own power inspite of the medical establishment.
Every individual considering pregnancy should study her insights, and return to the book again and again, because a conscious conception is the cornerstone of primal health.

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