Disability-and-Health Books

This delightful book covers the full gamut of emotions. A myriad of topics ranging from flatulence to world events are covered in this book. This is Donna Williams, uncensored and ready to disclose her brilliant insights and gems of wisdom and humor. Gems like this should put to rest the misperception that people with autism are incapable of seeing beyond the literal and are incapable of using metaphoric language. If you want to climb the mountain into the world beyond the neurotypical, then join us in reading this treasure.

From surreal to hilarious, the collection in Not Just Anything is as diverse and disclosing as all of Donna Williams' autobiographical collection put together. From farting to terrorism, from merging with objects to mania, from explorations of psychopathy to celebrations of eccentrics, Donna Williams holds back from nothing here. For anyone who likes to dip into another world, here is the dipping pool.

These poems affected me, touched me, sometimes made me chuckle. They are full of the creativity and inspiration for life that is Donna Williams. In other words, they are another installment in the Donna Williams autobiography series though told episodically, and more sensingly. The book is a journey of feeling, quite an experience.

If you can get your hands on this book, and if you read only one book by Donna Williams, read this one.

This is a collection of poems, stories, paintings, and photographs. It's very uneven -- some of them are great, and some of them are just kind of there. Some of them are silly and humorous, others are serious and frightening or uplifting.

My only complaint, if I had one, would be that some of the poems -- like "The Loft", and "The Mountain" -- contain ideas of a sort of compartmentalized nature that I find unfortunate, especially since she applies some of these hierarchies of understanding to all autistic people in her later books. But the other poems more than make up for this.

My personal favorites include "Cat's Cat", "Simply Be", "Chortle", and "Enemy Lines", among others.

"Cat's Cat" is a combination poem/short story about a cat. What I like about it can be summed up well in the last line -- "'Cat's Cat,' said Cat, in Cat." The cat's perspective on the "blob" who lives with and takes care of him is both amusing and real. "Simply Be" reads almost like a prayer or a plea. "Chortle" is a funny poem about the arrogance and snobbery of a person going on about his fancy toilets. "Enemy Lines" is a darker poem about living in a hostile environment.

These poems show the variation of topics in this book, but really you'd have to read it. It describes emotions and experiences I've yet to see described so clearly elsewhere. Some people seem to love this book and some seem to hate it, but I like it a lot, despite its flaws and unevenness. It's definitely, in my opinion, her best book, and possibly the best (or close to the best) book of poetry by an autistic person. It's about a whole lot more than autism, but many autistic people find it speaks to us directly.

Excellent delivery and well worth for the money very good presentation will deal again highly recommended

As an occupational therapy student currently assigned to a physical dysfunction site, I have found this text to be the most valuable. I advise any student taking the NBCOT exam or begining a affilitation in physical dysfunction to purchase this text!!

As an OT student, I've used this book more in clinic (rehab settings) than any other text I own. It is an invaluable reference for manual muscle testing and goniometery. Trombly carries over from class to clinic with ease, and I've even had OTRs borrow it during my fieldwork.

OT for Physical Dysfunction proved to be indispensible both in school and in practice. This text has practice skills in assessment and treatment organized for use in problem-based and in evidence-based learning courses. Treatment principles are outlined with actual therapy techniques, sample documentation and specific information to treat different diagnoses with photos. Absolutely my most-used text.

This is a fantastic book. Disability is a such a big category it may be impossible to ever fully understand all the issues involved. But The Ragged Edge is a great first step.

This book is a series of essays, poems, and short stories written by people with disabilities. Some are angry, others funny, none are boring. Some are better written than others. But all are powerful for their raw honesty.

I was moved by these very personal stories. I had never before appreciated all the trials, fears, and anger people with disabilites live with everyday. Before reading this book I had some vague notion of the problems of access and acceptance, but I never thought about how humiliating it would be to be paraded before medical experts as some kind of freak show (read Lisa Blumberg's essay "Public Stripping"), or how heart rending it must be to hear arguments in favor of abortion rights rooted in the fact that people like you exist, or to live in a world where even one of the United States' most esteemed legal minds could pronounce "Three generations of imbeciles is enough" in support of the forced sterilization of the disabled.

You're apt to find yourself chastized by some of these stories. Good. But you'll have learned alot, gained new perspectives, and perhaps become more empathetic and understanding of a group of people who embody the truth that we're all broken people in the final analysis.

I liked this book. It has a lot of different perspectives, lots of articles from various parts of the disability movement. It really captures the flavour of the movement in its early days.

I'm, Girard Sagmiller the author of the book Dyslexia My Life (ISBN: 096430871-1) . The book The Ragged Edge
, is one of the top book for find out about living with a Disability
, great for anybody feeling as if they are the only one dealing with this or for someone working with a disability group.. Thanks..

This book is a compilation of real-life experiences through the eyes of writers who happen to have a disability. Having read this book, I am that much more aware of both the existence of societal discrimination, whether blantant or a result of ignorance, toward persons with disabilities and the unique perceptive persons with disabilities have on life.

This book really adds a new perspective on some of the behaviors that are typically associated with autism, such as toe walking and the rocking. The book addressed some out of the box ideas on how to evaluate a child with autism. If your area is like mine and does not have a specialist (Developmental Optometrist) then I think it would be beneficial to share some of Dr. Kaplan's ideas with your local optomtrist. The other thing that I liked about the book is that it described some activities that you could try with your child if you didn't have a doctor close by or one that is open to using yolked prism glasses.

This is a great book on a treatment that most people are unaware of. My 2 1/2 year old son who has Autism had a habbit of looking at the t.v. with his head tilted to the right. He would also intertwine his hands and look through the holes while on the computer or watching t.v. I was told that this was just a normal Autistic quirk. But after seeing a specialist in the Chicagoland area, I found out that it doesn't have to be a quirk. Arm Flapping, toe walking and other sensory issues can be resolved by putting his sensory vision and hearing back into sync. I just received his prism lenses yesterday, what I've noticed so far is that they actually seem to calm his need for sensory overstimulation. Example: When he is on the computer he is usually like a gymnist, climbing on the chair, the desk ect the entire time. But with the glasses on, he sat still, very still and just watched his videos on the computer. Wow. I am actually going to order 4 more books today to give to his therapists as Christmas presents. There is no better gift than the gift of knowledge.

Seeing Through New Eyes is an introduction to the treatment of visual conditions that go beyond 20/20 eyesight. Developmental or behavioral vision care can have a significant impact on behavioral, social and learning problems associated with autism spectrum disorders and other developmental disabilities. Poor eye contact and other behaviors are often the result of difficulty with "ambient vision" that drives spatial awareness, visual organization and balance/coordination. Dr. Kaplan gives guidance on how to identify the visual deficits of nonverbal children, select performance lenses that will alter ambient vision and how to create individual vision management programs in order to assist each individual in achieving maximum success in life. This book is essential reading for parents of children with autism spectrum disorder and professionals in the fields of autism, optometry, ophthalmology, psychology and education.

One of the most interesting book in the field of vision, behavior, posture and
much more.
Thousand thanks to Dr M.KAPLAN.

Oliver Sack, MD called this book, "a remarkable account of what it means to be paralyzed, speechless, incapable of communication yet fully conscious... and to struggle back, over the years, to an active and creative life."
I was fascinated by this feminist film maker's candid account of her devastating stroke, and learning to live with disability after seeking out a variety of therapies. You see her struggle with depression, overcoming access barriers, dealing with insensitive hospital staff, and coping with the details of bodily disfunction.
It helps me to understand the experience from the inside view. Quite enlightening.

This book should be required reading for anyone in the field of rehabilitation. And it is a tremendously inspiring story for all of us who wonder how we could ever manage if we were struck with a disabling illness. If it were fiction it would be a great read. The fact that it's a true story gives one goosebumps as well. Bonnie Klein suffered a devastating stroke. This book is about her recovery - both physical and psychological - and the wonderful love and support she received from friends and family, especially from a wonderful husband. It also shows the predjudice and meanness of some people when they are faced with a person who is "different". And the ignorance and arrogance of some of the rehabilitation "professionals" she encountered along the way. It is a story of terror, hope, the tremendous importance of love and support, and how one finally comes to terms with being less facile physically than one used to be. Bonnie Klein is a hero. Her family and friends most loving and genuine. It is a great read.

Ms. Klein establishes important rules to live a fruitful, productive lifestyle, despite a chronic illness: Live life by celebrating life. Independence is control over one's own life measured by the quality of life sustained with whatever help is needed. Sometimes dispair can lead to depression. Sometimes, it can be motivating.

This is a great book! I have read a number of books written by stroke survivors and this is one of the best. This may well be because the book was completed several years after the event. This time gave Ms. Klein the chance to gather and refine her thoughts and experiences.

I am also a stroke survivor. Her acknowledgement that she experienced progress long after the stroke was especially encouraging to me. The medical world says that all progress stops in 3 months to a year. My experience is that the body is a living entity, which is forever changing. So, it makes sense that it would not stop changing because of any medical condition.

The book has humor and is written in a warm and caring context. I would recommend it not only for stoke survivors, but also for caretakers and for health professionals

I picked up Myrna Orenstein's book knowing little about LD and nothing about undiagnosed learning disabilities (ULD). Her clear and personal writing style makes it easy for the average reader to understand some of the struggles people with ULD face.

The book becomes increasingly meaningful as Orenstein calls for better methods for teachers to identify children having academic trouble, and to give a second thought to the class clown or the disorganized and constantly late student. Orenstein's message is supported further throughout the book, as she urges parents, teachers and therapists to work together; to recognize that this disability is attatched to developmental issues inside AND outside of learning in the classroom. Attention is called to bridge the gap between LD specialists and psychotherapists, so that these smarter-than-average children can reach their potential.

Her personal experiences, reseach, and writing introduce the everyday reader to the world where people are wrongly labeled "lazy," or "unmotivated." Her focus on adults and ULD gives insight for LD specialists, therapists, and, like myself, the average reader.

SMART BUT STUCK

What if Horatio Alger had been a dyslexic?

Sure, he's only a fictional character, but his bootstrap mentality and "work hard and you'll succeed" ethics have become what America believes is reality. If he had been a real American, there would have been a one-in-five chance that he would have had some type of learning disability. If he had, his handiwork in certain areas would have only been met with frustration, shame, and the "chasm".

Dr. Myrna Orenstein, in her book "Smart but Stuck", challenges the American myth that a person's strengths and weaknesses are determined solely by intelligence, motivation, and hard work. Orenstein has learned from her own experience and the experiences of others that many extremely intelligent people are unable to learn conventionally in certain areas.

Through the stories of twenty very different and very bright Americans who grew up with undiagnosed learning disabilities (ULD), she explores the painful and trying emotional journey these individuals were forced to go on in order to come to terms with themselves and their learning disorders.

Dr. Orenstein's book compelled me to go down a difficult, but in the end wonderful, road of self-discovery. I have always been a slow reader - not to the point of being diagnosed with a learning disability, where most weekends of college have been spent solely in the library. It frustrated me to no end. Was I not trying hard enough? Could I be tugging those bootstraps a little higher? Was I just plain stupid? Who could explain why I excelled in things such as writing, painting, problem solving, and math and yet read as slow as the children I babysat for?

The first important thing Orenstein's book gave me was the realization that I was not alone. I unquestionably saw myself (my experience and emotions) within the stories and voices of her twenty case studies. The second invaluable thing I learned was that I wasn't going to be able to get rid of my slight disability, but that it was nothing that I should be ashamed of. My slow reading was a weakness within me that I was going to have to accept and learn to effectively live with. Myrna Orenstein's book inspired me to search for new ways to compensate for my reading speed.

SMART BUT STUCK invigorated me to use the people around me and my strength in creative problem solving to find solutions to compensate for my weakness.

In SMART BUT STUCK, Orenstein provides a powerful portrait of the emotional journey undergone by many American adults who have grown up with undiagnosed learning disabilities. Her book illustrates that if a person approaches their learning disability with the right attitude and the necessary support, they can learn to effectively live with it so that it in no way imprisons their intelligence, strength, and success.

Through the powerful accounts of real Americans, Orenstein makes it clear that it is possible to expand America's traditional myth of the path to success. Her book shows that, as both a culture and as individuals, we must be open at certain times to creatively approach conventional learning in order to compensate for learning disabilities. SMART BUT STUCK combines an approach that I appreciate with an in-depth manual for professionals, including therapists, counselors, and educators, to use when measuring the impact of undiagnosed learning disabilities on their clients and students.

For several years I have been searching for information related to my personal experience with LD. There are many excellent books that have helped me understand and cope with a diagnosis that came unexpectedly into my life when I was in my 40's.

I discovered "Smart but Stuck" quite by accident as I searched a database of doctoral dissertations. When I called to find out how I could get a copy of a dissertation about adult diagnosed LD, I was told it had recently been published. Immediately I came to Amazon and ordered a copy for myself.

Dr. Orenstein's book gave me an understanding that is fundamental to anyone trying to put all the pieces of their personal LD puzzle together.

Her concept of the "chasm" is an essential building block for LD's trying to understand their disability in the long view. We all cope with self-defining events from our childhood. Often these events have been pushed into the recesses of the subconscious mind because they are unpleasant reminders of how we were seen by peers and adults whose subtle and not so subtle negative reactions permanently altered our self images.

"Smart but Stuck" has had a liberating effect on me. I deal with the obvious issues related to my LD every day. Using this book, I have begun to go back and reaccess my experiences as a student in a more positive way.

I would recommend this book to anyone with LD at any age or stage of their diagnosis and treatment. While it is specifically related to adults, it will add another dimension at any stage of the LD learning process.

Dr. Orenstein's book should be required reading for parents and counselors as they seek to understand and support someone with LD.

I picked up Myrna Orenstein's book knowing little about LD and nothing about undiagnosed learning disabilities (ULD). Her clear and personal writing style makes it easy for the average reader to understand some of the struggles people with ULD face.

The book becomes increasingly meaningful as Orenstein calls for better methods for teachers to identify children having academic trouble, and to give a second thought to the class clown or the disorganized and constantly late student. Orenstein's message is supported further throughout the book, as she urges parents, teachers and therapists to work together; to recognize that this disability is attatched to developmental issues inside AND outside of learning in the classroom. Attention is called to bridge the gap between LD specialists and psychotherapists, so that these smarter-than-average children can reach their potential.

Her personal experiences, reseach, and writing introduce the everyday reader to the world where people are wrongly labeled "lazy," or "unmotivated." Her focus on adults and ULD gives insight for LD specialists, therapists, and, like myself, the average reader.

I'm impressed with Hayman's ease in presenting challenging material in an integrated framework that is made remarkably easy to understand. This is an important work that challenges various assumptions you never realized you had, but that now you can't deny having made, and made without real justification. It is by provoking that kind of analysis that Hayman's work has the potential to make us all "smarter." It's rare to find a book that conveys such moral passion for a truly egalitarian society, yet argues for that society using such carefully constructed rational arguments, often citing emprirical and historical resources, while also tapping into the author's personal experiences. Highly recommended.

Professor Hayman looks at an issue in our society that is rampant with misunderstanding and rife with malaise, the basing of intelligence among our myriad cultures. His work engages the reader with common sense and personal experience as well as superb research. I can only recommend this text in the highest of glowing terms, an essential read for any individual seeking to uncover one critical reason why our society is unjust and in need of balancing.

Professor Hayman looks at an issue in our society that is rampant with misunderstanding and rife with malaise, the basing of intelligence among our myriad cultures. His work engages the reader with common sense and personal experience as well as superb research. I can only recommend this text in the highest of glowing terms, an essential read for any individual seeking to uncover one critical reason why our society is unjust and in need of balancing.

Nancy Levit *

In 1993 the Educational Testing Service renamed the Scholastic Aptitude Test. Amid controversy that the test contained racial and cultural biases, did not measure intelligence, and thus was inappropriately called an "aptitude" test, test officials changed the name of the SAT to the Scholastic Assessment Test. In 1997, the testing service again renamed its college entrance examination: the SAT became simply the SAT - initials only, no acronym, no squabbles over the meaning of aptitude, achievement, or intelligence. The same thing happens in workplaces all over the country. Employers pronounce that they make hiring decisions based on "merit" - and everyone nods.

In The Smart Culture: Society, Intelligence, and Law, law professor Robert L. Hayman, Jr., explodes the myths that everyone has come to accept about "intelligence," "merit," and "race." He then shows the ways in which law has been complicit ! in keeping these myths unexamined.

Hayman's thesis is simple and straightforward. We have bought into the very idea that there is a meritocracy, and that the meritocracy reflects a natural order. We assume that people succeed based on "merit." In actuality, those people who succeed - for reasons of race, property-ownership, and power - have been the ones who get to define "merit." Merit, as Hayman points out, is largely a definitional tautology: we identify certain characteristics we deem worthy (such as test-taking ability), and then call people who can perform those tasks laudatory labels ("smart"). We thus reward people who are worthy, based, of course, on the possession of the previously identified characteristics. Merit is not natural, Hayman says, "It is the carefully crafted product of centuries of cultural propaganda, a myth of natural inequality perpetuated by men in power - by a political, economic, and intellectual elite.&qu! ot;

Hayman makes the all-important link between race, me! rit, and intelligence. While our nation formally commits to equality under law, our culture still possesses deeply held beliefs about the natural inequalities of its citizens. From the time of its founding documents, our country promised equality. But declaring all men equal was not only a promise unfulfilled, it was a promise founded on a contradiction: the principle did not apply to women, slaves, and those without property. "A nation committed now to equality," Hayman writes, "remained fundamentally convinced that its people were, by nature, unequal."

This idea of natural differences between the races was promoted not only by Southern congressmen in the Reconstruction debates, but by the Western European "race scientists" of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, the American eugenicists of the early 1900s, and the Aryan supremacists in 1930s Germany. It is a debate that has been resurrected in late twentieth century Americ! a by The Bell Curve.

The Smart Culture is a political history of the concept of intelligence. Hayman traces various projects of classifying human intelligence, demonstrating that the equation of intelligence and merit has little scientific validity, but enormous cultural appeal. Given the popularly accepted assumption that intelligence differences are a naturally occurring phenomenon, Hayman argues that racial equality will not occur until the myths surrounding intelligence are dismantled.

The Smart Culture is also a cultural history of the construction of race. This new racism, which is tied to our concepts of intelligence, and defended by arguments about "merit," is, as Hayman explains, really the old racism. The modern, righteously indignant and seemingly egalitarian calls for a color-blind society ignore the history and tradition of our treatment of race in America.

Despite evidence that the biological, genetic, and anthropological significance of raci! al classifications is modest, in America what we have chose! n to make count are the visible characteristics of race, such as skin color. For the Supreme Court, race is an immutable characteristic because of descent, ancestry, morphology, and physiognomy. Race, for the Court, and for most of America - white America, that is - is not a matter of culture, politics, economic enfranchisement, or lived experiences. "Racism," Hayman argues, "thus embraces not only the continued tendency to make of race what it is not - something biological, immutable, and inferior; racism embraces as well the refusal to recognize what race is - a powerfully significant social and political reality."

This review must come with a disclaimer, or perhaps a warning label. Reviews are supposed to be evaluations of merit. Having read what has gone before, you can probably sense the irony that is coming. Let me compound the irony of assessing the worth of Hayman's book with a confession: Bob Hayman and I have co-authored articles together! in the past. So for those of you who suspect that bias might infect this review, you may wish to stop reading before the descriptive project lapses explicitly into laudation.

Hayman's original research brings to life the actual debates of the Reconstruction Congress on slavery and racial differences, and he amasses the anthropological and genetic research regarding race and intelligence, but he drives his point home with stories. Hayman uses narratives to offer readers a glimpse into the formation of meritocracies. Each of the chapters in The Smart Culture contains a story, and in his stories you may recognize your childhood. The stories of Stephen and the Binky Fairy, Louis and the Jewish boy at the lunch table, Mrs. Sweeney's "retards," and Buddy, the impossibly stupid dog, all share a theme: the people in power are the ones who make the rules, who create insiders and outsiders, who name certain qualities or attributes and thereby make them important. The st! ories - sweet, wistful retrospectives, at times painfully s! elf-deprecating - are not to be missed, rivaling those from the great raconteurs of literature: Mark Twain meets Camus on the courthouse steps. In Hayman's stories, and his careful tracing of the political, scientific, and legal naturalization of race, are much broader implications than simply issues of racial inferiority. Systems of merit are everywhere, says Hayman. He describes how the territorial imperative of second graders at the school lunch table is learned, from aunts and uncles, from moms and dads. Hayman tells a story of schoolboys arguing whether the Phillies will take the pennant, and in the background, the girls in the class are a Greek chorus: "yea." Mini-meritocracies operate in sports (soccer games, football, sandlot games, Wall Ball), in school cliques, in gendered speech patterns, and in cocktail party conversations. They are manufactured. They are dangerous and destructive. And we make them.

The Smart Culture is more than a deconstruction! of the concept of intelligence. It is more than a painstakingly researched scientific, psychological, socio-cultural, and constitutional history of race. The Smart Culture is one of our generation's most powerful indictments of insidious racism and meritocracies - the kind in which we all participate, everyday.

* Nancy Levit is a law professor at the University of Missouri-Kansas City and the author of The Gender Line: Men, Women, and the Law (New York University Press 1998).

A Will Of His Own: Reflections On Parenting A Child With Autism by Seattle-based singer, teacher, and writer Kelly Harland is the touching, emotional, and deeply personal memoir of having raised an autistic son who reacts fearfully to everyday, commonplace and non-threatening noises and sights which other children consider harmless, such as a divider stick separating customer groceries. Dealing with tantrums, poor adaption to change, and other hurdles with love and support sometimes comes across as an uphill battle, A Will Of His Own sends a powerful and essentially positive message of hope, learning, and growth. A Will Of His Own is very highly recommended reading for any parent having to cope with an autistic child of their own.

This is a warm and touching story of a family who discovers that their son's difficulties are actually caused by the condition of Autism. These well written stories paint a picture for the reader as this family awakens to the possibilities that life presents to their autistic son Will. The reader is drawn in to the agony, the struggle, and the hope and the acceptance and love as they work their way through this formidable experience. One roots for them and believes that Will, will have his own apartment one day overlooking the water where he can watch the Ferry Boats of Puget Sound when ever he wants. It is an engaging story and a really great read.

"A Will Of His Own" is a moving tribute to the son of author Kelly Harland. Will is a vibrant and loving boy who is autistic. And this collection of well crafted, poignant essays will allow any reader to gain insight into the world of parenting a child who faces unique challenges.

Harland's devotion and deep love for Will, and her husband Charles, is ennunciated with such wonderful candor. She lets you into their everyday world of living with a son who requires repetition in all things and "no change, no surprises". You go on the journey from his infancy, to diagnosis, and through 10 years of his life. The struggles are many - and the reader is enlightened at every turn of the page. This is not just another book about autisim. This is a profound and truthful look at what it is to be confronted with something you never bargained for, how one can rise through the pain, how one can become adept at improvisation on the most human of scales.

There are moments in this book where the reader will be shocked at the callousness of some people, or surprised to learn what it's really like to have a child whose behavior in public can cause a multitude of intense reactions from strangers. This is real stuff and it is powerful.

If you're a mom or a dad this is essential reading. If you enjoy well written stories, this is the book for you. If you're looking for hope in a world that can be so dark you must read this book. But be warned - you will need a box of tissue before you're through.

Kelly Harland has pulled her readers away from the autism literature trend that offers up the "cure du jour."

Instead, Kelly offers us a candid, emotional look at the universal hopes, fears, dreams and sense of wonder that she has felt in raising Will, her adorable, persistent, and sometimes precocious child who also happens to have autism.

Harland's prose is luminous, her insight is razor sharp, and her story has merit for anyone who has ever experienced the utter vulnerabilities and joys, heartaches and little miracles inherent in raising a child who is not described as "typical."

How wonderful to pick up this book on those days where you wish to take a break from conflicting opinions about interventions, diets, biomedical therapies, and simply take a loving glimpse into a family who has not only survived an autism diagnosis, but has managed to thrive in spite of it.

Bravo, Kelly!

Liane Gentry Skye
author of "Turn Around, Bright Eyes", Snapshots from a Voyage out of Autism's Silence.
publication date 9/2002.

The idea of a blind figure skater and visionary writer combining
forces to produce an inspirational guide to moving through life
seemed to be one that would be difficult to carry off . . . but
I was pleasantly surprised to see that Stash Serafin and Ruth
Anne Wood succeeded doing just that in their book, YOU CAN'T
GET IT 'CAUSE YOU'VE ALREADY GOT IT!

In reading it, I felt that I got to know both authors . . . and what
made them tick.

I also learned about skating, writing and life . . . for example,
there was this idea contributed by Serafin:

* With a new piece of footwork, there is nothing to see. Then all of a sudden
the invisible movements of my skates which were done so slowly become
recognizable as I am told I move with such ease, precision and confidence. I'm
often asked; "How can you do such little movements and get such profound
results?" I have practiced two inch jumps done with tiny movements that soon
(observers would tell) got suddenly higher without any effort on my part. I used
to think that all skilled jumpers were able to move with this same level of ease.

And I also learned from Wood how writing certain thoughts down
can help in many ways, including this one:

* We call this the "Aha!" moment which comes when we realize
we already have what we want and can easily ask for more of what we
enjoy receiving or having. And Scripting for Success is a great way
to clarify what you want by writing it down in a story or a success headline.
Reading your script every time you want to feel good, is an excellent way
to stay focused on what you want.

Lastly, Wood got me thinking about how learning can take place
even when you don't plan on it taking place--such as when
she talked about the inspiration she got for naming her characters:

* I would get an idea for a character and then let it simmer for awhile.
Then one day, I would open a book, or surf the Internet, and I would find
that the qualities and descriptions I gave to my key characters
echoed common cultural archetypes through the ages. In essence,
I was getting an honorary degree in anthropology, just by investigating
my own multi-layered characters. They were far wiser and more embedded
in the culture's psyche than I could have consciously devised.

Do read this informative book by Serafin and Wood if you're in the
mood for something a bit different . . . and that will make you think.

This is the best of the "Self Help" books that I have read.
It shows it can be done with much faith and lots of love.

Disclaimer: This is my wife's book, but I'm trying to make this review as objective as possible.

Ruth Anne and Stash separately dreamed of writing a book and were wondering when and how to do it. Stash, an acquaintance at the time, sent Ruth an unformatted manuscript of a book he had written 10 years ago. Stash does not let things get in the way of his success and figured Ruth could help him with his book. He has been blind since he was an infant, but his passion for life, skating, and coaching is an inspiration for all and he wanted to share this through his book. Once they started talking about the book the powerful dynamic that occurred was nothing short of amazing.

Their combined will and excited conversation turned into this book.
They fully embraced the goal of taking their conversation and moving it to written form. This passion to create something wonderful comes out in full force in this book. I hope that you are as inspired by these two as much as I am.

You Can't Get It 'Cause You've Already Got It! is a compelling reading experience. The authors convincingly reveal their own stories of courage, commitment and trust. The remarkable examples from their own lives speak of overcoming obstacles and the strength of the human spirit. You Can't Get It 'Cause You've Already Got It!

I wrote this book, as I am disable, but working. It's been 14 years since the accident, and my life changed forever

I wrote this short story, as I am disable, but working. It's been 14 years since the accident, and my life changed forever. Without words to match the feelings, words are the tool's of thought's and believing that I can do it.

This is the first (and only, so far) book that gives the perspectives of everyone involved when someone has a debilitating stroke. It is a surprisingly well-organized collection of essays from individual doctors, medical prsonnel, caregivers --through to the stroke patient, himself. Perhaps the best essay is is saved for the end of the book. It is written by the editor, Dr. Wallace Sife. He explains the two sides to healing: medical and spiritual. Nobody had ever written about that, and it is so important that it be addressed. Dr. Sife has given enlightenment and hope to his all his readers. This book is especially helpful for the stroke patient and his loved ones. They are scared, and need this kind of practical explanation, which is put into easily understandable, non-medical terms.