HIV Books

i really loved this book if i was born around his time i would have been his friend i love how he stood up for his beliefs and went back to school in stuff even though he didn't get to gradulate, but he still lived a great in fun life it was short but he did things with it i'm young but my aunt past away with AIDS and after reading this book it really touch me i was crying because i felt so bad what ryan went though but he didn't let it get to him. He was so strong he got people believing again.

In fifth grade we were introduced to an illness called AIDS. We also learned about a boy named Ryan White. I took an interest to this story because I have an illness called diabetes and have to deal with how different people react and treat me because of it. Just like Ryan and AIDS diabetes is not contagious and there are no know ways to prevent or cure it. I have heard many different reactions when they find out that I have Diabetes. The most commom being "Did you eat too much sugar or something?" Most of the time I just laugh at this and explain that you have no control over getting Diabetes. I took an interest in school that year and by doing so I found myself a role model...Ryan White.

When I was young I remeber a copy of People magazine that my mom had lying around with Ryan White on the cover. For some reason I always took an interest to him, and his life, and all the article that I could find on him. In high school I remeber reading part of it to do an exta credit project. Finally 2 year out of high school I decided to reread the story of his life. It is amazing how people really are. It really hit home, not living too far from Kokomo, Indiana where he was from, that people in my community would treat people this way. It is also amazing how much determination he had to be who he was and not let anyone or anything get in the way. This book is great!!!! Everyone should read it and put themselves in this families shoes!!

Today is World AIDS Day and each year I remember my childhood friend, Ryan White. His sister and I were both Rollerskaters and skated in the same skating rinks. Knowing Ryan personally and having his book for years now, it is still a story that resonates with me. It is true, thoughtful, and in his own words.

I'll never forget the hatred the spewed from the city of Kokomo against him. It was such a devastating blow to his well being. Not only did he have this death sentence, but the entire town was treating him worse than what you would treat a pig going to slaughter. I am not joking. I remember seeing him at the skating rink one day, it was a time when he wasn't as sick so he was able to be a kid. I went up to him to give him a hug because I hadn't seen him in so long and he said, "You want to hug ME?" He was shocked that someone would want to touch him. That's how bad it was.

Read his book. He is the reason people with AIDS are accepted now. This friend of mine had more courage than anyone I have ever met.

I read this book upon entering seventh grade. Ryan's story was so empowering and so honest that I often feel the need just to sit down and read a chapter by random. Everytime I read it I cry. This auto- biography has inspired me to help in the relief and research for AIDS. I have done reports on the disease and Ryan and teachers often comment about how passionate I am about the subject. This book changed the way I veiw life; a treasure that should'nt be wasted. Thank you Ryan.

I loved every moment of this book! I purchased this book to give me a better idea of the people and orphans of Ethiopia. I wanted to better understand their culture and have an understanding of who they are. The book illustrates how one Ethiopian woman builds a safe haven for orphaned children and shows the circumstances of each child brought to her home. It informs the reader about the aids epidemic and other diseases that have plagued this beautiful country. For anyone interested in adopting children from Ethiopia, it presents real-life stories and how adoption made a difference for them. The stories and photos are real and the author personally involved. I started to read it more slowly at the end so I wouldn't finish it, I loved it so much!

I'm writing this as the mother of an adopted Ethiopian child- I bought this book after a random search and it has been the most valuable book of our whole adoption journey. It's loaded with helpful background info on the AIDS & Orphan crises in Ethiopia, history of Ethiopia, insight into the cultural perceptions of adoption (especially by affluent, white Westerners!) and the very moving perspectives of the orphans themselves, and their Ethiopian caretakers. The heroine of this story is very real, and her character development was deep and insightful. I laid the book down several times to have a good laugh (or cry!) but could hardly keep from turning the pages. Whether you are adopting yourself, supporting someone who is, or just interested in learning more about Ethiopia and this heroine's story, I know you will come away inspired.

Author Melissa Fay Greene, who is the adoptive mother of two Ethiopian children, relates the story of Haregewoin Teferra, an Ethiopian mother who becomes the foster mother for a multitude of AIDS orphans during the height of the pandemic. Greene truthfully tells the tale without painting Teferra as a "modern day Mother Teresa," but rather as a very real and human woman who is asked by clerics to take in one abandoned orphan after another. A grieving mother whose adult daughter died from AIDS, Teferra discovers that helping the children provides her with a means of overcoming her grief. The individual stories of these "lost children" who arrive on Teferra's doorstep are riveting, as is Greene's account of the assimilation of her adoptive children into her family. Accompanying photos show children shortly after they arrived in very bad shape at Treferra's compound and then later with adoptive American families.
Greene spares no one as she rails against the pharmaceutical companies that withheld AIDS medications from third-world countries at the height of the pandemic, causing the loss of a whole generation of parents. Despite having no drugs to help the children, hit-or-miss medical care, and scarce food for all, Teferra does her best to feed, clothe, house, and educate the orphans put in her care. Although one might think that this book is a "downer," it is a very uplifting page-turner that relates the indominable spirit of one Ethiopian woman and her many foster children.

Melissa Faye Green is an excellent writer. She is a true artist painting a vivid picture of scenes, and weaving historical, political and social aspects of the deadly HIV/AIDS epidemic. This is an incredibly powerful book. It is not easy to read due to the difficult emotional toll it can take on one, but I felt morally obligated to read it, so that I wasn't just shutting out the devastating misery suffered by so many millions. She portrays the human face of this awful disease with poignancy. It is an inspiring and human story of one woman's efforts to alleviate her own and others suffering. God bless Melissa for opening our eyes.

This was a wonderful book! Having myself been to Addis Ababa recently (July 07) with my daughter to pick up her adopted Ethiopian baby boy (4 months old), you can just imagine how this story of one woman's love for so many orphans resonated with me. The book is a quick read -- something interesting in every chapter. The author intertwined Haregewoin's up and down story with bits of Ethiopian history and the unwinding spread and theories of HIV-AIDs plus added her own experience with H. and the adoption her own Ethiopian children -- which made the reader come away with a true cultural experience. H. is truly a "Mother Theresa" figure and an inspiration to all women. Thank you, Melissa, for introducing us to her. I really enjoyed having the photos of many of the children and their adoptive families to relate to. I will be sure that my daughter reads this book and I have suggested it to my book club in Boulder, CO which will read it in the fall. -- Gayle Weiss

I gotta say one thing; WELL DONE BRYCE!!!! first, i didn't cry; i'm not real sentimental, but i was very touched and i think that damon was a man of steel; going through 24 years of pain and suffering. i wanted to cry when damon's friends came over. well done, courtenays.

This book affected me so deeply and has stayed with me since I first read it years ago. Having lost a loved one to AIDS I could relate to Bryce Courtenay's pain and I could feel the anger and passion he felt writing this book. Through Bryce's amazing talent for telling a story I felt I really knew Damon and his family. When I got to the last page I let out a deep sigh and cried for Damon, for my own loved one and for everyone affected by AIDS. I thank Bryce for having the courage to write this important book and for sharing Damon's life with us all.

I've read several of Bryce Courtenay's books and every one is a gem. I'm only disappointed that his books are not published in The United States and not readily available in our local bookstores.

I highly recommend this book to everyone and I know you'll be hooked on Bryce forever afterward.

I am a fan of Bryce Courtenay, and have read all his books. This one tells the true story of his last son, Damon, who was born with haemophilia and went through a very hard life, still one full of love and joy. I found myself crying for what happened to Damon, from the purple head episode in hospital to the AIDS he caught during a blood transfusion. And I do completely agree with what Damon said, whatever your problem is, HEALTH is a gift, the most precious one we possess, together with LOVE. The book is about love against the odds, the prejudice, the injustice of a health and political system in Australia in the 1980s; it is full of details and vivid images, and I can imagine how hard it was for the author to write about his own experience, and the suffering in trying to explain in a clear way what exactly happened to him and his family those days. Everyone who has been through a quite serious illness will love this book, as I did. Thanks, Bryce.

I bought this book when we lived in Australia from 1993/1994. I have since read the book over and over again and have lent it to family and friends under the strict mandate that they must return it to me upon completion. This is the most moving book I have ever read and it will be one that I will keep forever. I cried, I laughed, I cheered and I was inspired by Damon's courage and determination to not only live a normal life but to overcome the stigma associated with HIV/AIDs. Bryce Courtney has written a beautiful testimonally to his son's life. I hope every parent loves their child as much as the Courtney's did to not only let him live his life but to also allow him to die with dignity. His girlfriend, Celeste, was also amazing. How many of us could stand by our significant others knowing what she did about the ultimate outcome.

This book is a must read on everyone's list, I am only sorry that it is out of print.

APRIL FOOL'S DAY was the hardest book Bryce Courtenay ever wrote, and it's also one of the hardest books I ever read. I started it (the first time) on a Friday evening and did nothing but read (and occasionally try to sleep) until I had finished it -- I couldn't imagine stepping out of the middle of the story into my own life. I've read this book, given it away, bought it again, several times: it's not a book you can forget.

Courtenay's son Damon was born in Australia with severe haemophilia. Along with the moving story of an afflicted but strong-spirited boy, Courtenay paints a bitter and angry picture of the Australian medical community at that time, steeped in paternalism and political expediency.

Several times a week Damon would bleed into his joints, and his father would take him to the hospital for infusion of Factor VIII to induce clotting. In other countries families were allowed to stock Factor VIII and infuse at home, minimizing both disruption to the family and permanent damage to joints. This was not permitted in Australia, to the extreme detriment of haemophiliacs and their families.

Worse than this, the screening and fractionation of donated blood in Australia did not at that time meet safety standards known and required in other countries. Damon contracted AIDS from the contaminated Australian blood supply and died of that disease on April Fool's Day in 1991.

The book is saturated with the author's bitterness, and the reader can't fail to walk his angry path with him. You WANT it to have been different, you WANT to find a justification or at least an exculpation for the medical mismanagement of Damon and the entire cohort of haemophiliacs in that time and place.

You'll find a celebration of Damon's spirit and his family's faithful support. You'll find love that fights tooth and nail for Damon. But you won't find forgiveness or exoneration, and if you're like me you'll think you should, and keep reading the book again looking for it -- in yourself if not in the author.

Courtenay's work (THE POWER OF ONE, TANDIA, WHITETHORN, etc) appears not to be well known in the United States, although he's highly regarded in his birth county (South Africa) and adopted country (Australia). APRIL FOOL'S DAY should be more widely known. It's a challenging read with a personal message the reader has to translate and tease apart. Read it for that challenge.

On the surface, Nancy Draper's story of her mother's battle with AIDS is a story about facing death from a dreadful disease. But looking deeper A Burden of Silence is really a story about choosing to live with compassion and empathy for others.

In a world where many live daily with fear as a companion - fear of pain, fear of what others will think, fear that they will be the recipient of prejudice - this story shows us that we can choose to live with hope, that even though we are just one person we can make a difference. Nancy has given voice to her mother who thought her only choice was silence.

The book is a loving memorial and a celebration of a life.

Nancy Draper, author of A Burden of Silence, held an audience enthralled at a recent Maine library program as she spoke about her mother's battle with AIDS. Everyone there purchased a copy of her book.

Her first person narrative conveys an intimacy between the reader and the author. It is heart wrenching when Nancy relates how her mother was infected with HIV through a blood transfusion during heart surgery. People usually think that if they have protected sex, this could not happen to them, but Nancy points out that it can happen to anyone. Her mother was an innocent victim who felt a deep shame for having a "dirty" disease. This book explains how a seemingly ordinary family handled this tragedy.

Imagine how hard it must to keep such a secret, when one has every right expect support from outsiders. Think how degrading it is to an elderly woman when her own doctor would not touch her, but made his nurse take blood. This sense of despair is what the author communicates to anyone wise enough to pick up a copy of her book and read it.

The author valiantly attempts to control her emotions, to give an unbiased account of how her family coped. Nancy's mother spent the first five years after her surgery not knowing why she always felt sick. When she was finally given the blood test that determined that the blood bank gave her HIV infected blood, she was devastated. She lived a short three years after the diagnosis.

The decision was made to keep it quiet. Nancy's mother felt that most people would not understand, and perhaps she was correct. Society tends to judge people without all the facts.

Near the end of her mother's life, Nancy and her father applied for hospice care, which turned out to be a blessing. Wintering in Florida, they would have been alone without hospice. Hospice made the last days easier to bear for this brave woman who had so much thrown her way.

Not only has Nancy Draper written remarkable narrative of coping, but she comes from a cohesive family unit. Her husband, present at the program I attended, exuded incredible support, which must make living with this tragedy a bit easier, as her own health suffered during this ordeal. Today her travels take her throughout the country in her work to reinforce AIDS awareness.

This book educates people to a greater AIDS awareness than any professional lecture could accomplish. As Nancy states, AIDS is not a dirty word, and through her participation in the AIDS memorial quilt, perhaps more people will come to realize the wisdom of her words. This book is a must for everyone.

"A Burden of Silence: My Mother's Battle with AIDS," is a gripping and tender account of a daughter's love for her dying mother due to a tainted blood transfusion. In this heartwarming book dealing with a nightmarish subject, Nancy succeeds in revealing her story with courage, compassion, humor, and unwavering love. Through this story, Nancy hopes to erase some of the stigma surrounding AIDS. Nancy explains the importance of keeping her mother's memory alive through the NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt. I highly recommend this book.
Richard H Frishman "Rick Frishman"
www.plannedtvarts.com
www.author101.com

Nancy Draper writes a deeply moving account of her family's pain, shame and suffering during a time when AIDS was a new mysterious disease that had the medical profession baffled and caused grave public misconceptions. A must read book.

After reading the many positive reviews on Nancy Draper's book "A Burden of Silence" I am at a loss to add anything more worthy. So I would like to go at it from a personal point of view. I have just recently met the author, but I was acquainted with her parents for quite awhile. It pleased me greatly when Nancy told me her mother liked me very much, and that she liked my writing.
The secret was kept from me as well as most everyone except the family. I only knew that this lovely, frail lady was not very well. After her death, my husband and I joined Nancy's dapper, and personable father for breakfast on several occasions following church. We still did not know what had caused her death. Now, this gentleman is gone too. I am blessed that because I knew them, I now am getting to know Nancy Draper.
This little woman is incredibly strong and resilient. She has bravely taken on many health problems of her own as well as those of her family. I can understand how doubly-difficult it had to be when she carried the burden of silence, when one of things she needed most, was to confide in others and unburden her own heart. But this was her parents' wish, at a time when AIDS was just entering our vocabulary and was so very mis-understood. This is an important, warmly written book. Susan "Sam" LeGree. Author of "Champagne in a Plastic Glass" and "Old Girl Talk"

An inspriring speech, seperated by touching photographs. For most, not something you would look at more than once or twice, but a good coffee book table or converation starter if your friends are they type that can talk about world poverty around a coffee table...

Buy this book. Put it on your coffee table or beside your jacks. Let your friends read it so they can choose to share it.

...it's the kind of book that you'd read when you stumble across it at a library rather than actually order online. It takes no more than 15 minutes to finish reading the book (basically, Bono's speech to politicians about how they can help Africa). If you're an avid reader and looking for something that encapsulates your mind for at least a couple of hours, then skip this book.

I love Africa. I love Bono. If you know both well enough, there is nothing new that this book can tell you about him or the continent.

I bought this item because I thought I was going to Help...but it ended helping me.

Bono's beautiful words and photographs tell a story we all need to hear. He stirs us to take action to help the people of Africa. A book for us all.

Others have already described the book well. I just want to add my two cents. This account and The Last Watch of the Night are so tender and honest that I miss these men I've never met.

"I don't know if I will live to finish this," begins this memoir by Paul Monette, who would ultimately live only seven years after he did complete it (and, auspiciously, several other works). Monette's account is a chronicle of the last days of his lover Roger Horwitz in 1985 and 1986: a mere nineteen months between diagnosis and death. It's an emotionally devastating portrait; yet, far from wallowing in his grief (although grieve he does), Monette instead describes this period as a battle to extend Roger's life and a determination to seize every remaining day and make the most of it.

An AIDS diagnosis in 1985, in Los Angeles, doomed the couple to an unwanted pioneer status; it was a "death sentence" mitigated only by hope and delusion. For the first half of the decade, Paul and Roger comforted themselves with the notion that the disease, whatever it was, confined itself to a certain group of fast-living libertines ("not us") in San Francisco and Los Angeles. When the reality hit home, the initial method of coping, shared to different degrees by themselves and by their friends (and particularly by Roger's brother), was a mixture of mortification and denial.

Once Roger became ill, however, the couple fought tooth and nail to pursue every potential pharmaceutical elixir or therapeutic panacea; they were on the vanguard of trials for suramin (with devastating side effects) and for the more successful "Compound S" (AZT), which Monette credits for extending Roger's life. Throughout, they struggled to present a united front of normalcy and optimism, with Roger attempting to practice law from his hospital bed and Paul flying to New York for meetings in the Russian Tea Room with the newly famous Whoopi Goldberg about an ultimately doomed screenplay ("it must've dismayed her considerably to think that this humorless man sipping broth and Coca-Cola was meant to be her breakthrough into feature comedy").

Still, if it's possible to say that one can be "fortunate" in such circumstances, Roger and Paul had the only advantages available at the time: money, connections, and (mostly) supportive family and friends. In spite of the sequence of crises and disappointments, they somehow managed to find time to laugh and to love amidst the anger and the betrayals; Monette's wit and fair-mindedness saves this work from overwhelming the reader with morbid pity and depression. Paul and Roger were often too busy chasing hope to pause and wallow; those moments were often saved for the morning. ("Waking teaches you pain.") What's most remarkable about this book is not the riveting and livid account from the front of the epidemic--such memoirs are plentiful--but the lyrical and even humorous appreciation of the "borrowed time" remaining to these two admirable profiles in courage.

'Borrowed Time' is the most unpretentious, cliche free account of love I've read. So much of it's power lies in what Paul does not say about his lover: describing him most often as his most precious 'friend' he asks the reader to understand, to implicitly know the strength of his passion. The simple assumption that readers across cities, countries, cultures will understand his emotions is what gives the story so much beauty. I fell in love with both Paul and Roger, or more specifically, the strength of what they had together.
The battle against AIDS and discrimination faced by both men made me bawl, and I hope this book is read by people working through their prejudices and moral judgements about the both the illness and its prevalence in the gay community at the time the events occurred. Surely Paul and Roger's love can only be seen as something beautiful that graced the earth, even briefly.

Although I am a conservative Christian who has never been "homophobic", I have been 100 percent guilty of "indifference" to what it really means to be gay and and the AIDS issue. Not any more. I began to research the issues and I have been telling everyone about this book. The genuine love story and respectful relationship that Paul and Roger shared is something everyone could learn from. I don't believe I have ever read a book that portrays such courage. The pain that both of these men endured would make the average person collapse under the weight. I know what the Bible says about homosexuality, but I believe that Jesus himself would just wants us stop judging and comdemning and to simply love one another as he loves us. All of us.

I don't know how this book didn't win every award the publishing world has to offer. Quite simply, this one volume is the most emotionally devastating work I've ever read. I've read about hate crimes, political assassination and Nazi persecution, but none touch this. Several times I had to set the book down because I was no longer able to read through great, racking sobs and eyes nearly swollen shut. I grieved.

Paul Monette, author of the the award winning memoir "Becoming a Man: Half a Life Story," died of AIDS not too long after losing his beloved companion Roger to the disease. That he was able to focus so much energy on chronicling the events of Roger's death in this memoir, was a mircle - and indeed this book is a miraclous gift. "Borrowed Time" is a story of pain, suffering, hope, strength and courage. However, and more importantly, it is a love story - the greatest I've ever read.

In this story the author does a profound job of talking about relationships. He is very careful from the start to make sure his readers get a vivid picture of his main character Darryl and his relationships with three women; Sherry, Michelle and Tasha.

Darryl's approaches and encounters with his friends, family and relationships are very important in this story because they act as anchors to many learning experiences most readers may identify with. The story centers around Darryl finally learning lessons of life and realizes what becoming a man and dealing with some very heavy social issues is all about.

Being a strong black women myself I enjoyed trying to relate and I strongly recommend this book as a good read to all especially young black men. In my overall opinion if you are objective there are encounters Darryl faces that we all face if we are to be real with ourselves. The last few chapters the story really builds into some riveting moments where all of your emotions come out, and you don't want to stop reading. The writer is true to his objective in presenting this story from a man's prospective and this I found very refreshing since the majority of stories I have read or know about are usually told from a women's point of view. The title is very appropriate to the story.

I applaud the author in challenging his readers to wonder about the twist in his ending. As a writer myself , I was left with several questions regarding a couple of his characters and situations, and wonder if this was done purposely as an opener for a sequel , if so, I can't wait. Again, I strongly recommend this book as a good read to all. And I am looking forward to reading more books from this author.

Reviewed by Tempie D. King of Memphis RAWSISTAZ

I really enjoyed this book. I started reading it and couldn't put it down. I recomended this book to all my friends. This book made me laugh and then it made me cry. I never read a book that actually made me cry. I hope Mr. Burns is able to write more books and accomplish all his dreams. Thank you for the opportunity to read this book... I just wish the ending would have been a little different. i.e. did Tasha have H.I.V? How did Darryl tell his friends? What was their reaction?

The story of Darryl, and the three women he play around on. Darryl finally meets a woman he makes him give up his playing ways. I was kinda of shocked with what happened to Darryl at the end of the book, and I also would have liked to have known Sherry's and Michelle's result. The book gives you a pretty good look at how a man thinks.

The book was recommended by a very good source.

Once I started reading it, I couldn't put it down. If really "flowed". The author made reading this book seem as if you were watching a movie. You could picture every characters physical make up, their emotions and every detail in your mind. The only thing that was missing were the refreshments.

This book will definitely take you away and draw you in at the same time.

I am looking forward to more books from this up and coming author.

"A Man's State of Mind" is a heart renching eye opener for the man that thinks he is a "player" I thinnk this book was well written. Chris really knows how to bring out the realness of his characters. This book will make you laugh and then out of nowhere it will make you cry. The thing I enjoyed the most was that Chris didn't sterotype the African American women to be the loud, rude women with bad attitudes that people assume they are. Even though this book is fiction it is still the truth as to how it really is in the world, as fr as the way the chacters think and feel. When I started reading this book I couldn't put it down I recomended this book to all my friends male and female. I also recomend this book to you. I look forward to more books by Christoper D. Burnes

Nelson and Michael have put together an extraordinarily useful compilation of articles dealing with the causes and treatments of HIV wasting and the host of maladies that accompany it. The current acceptance of steroid, exercise and nutrition therapies to treat HIV can be directly attributed to the good work done by these activists.

I recommend this book wholeheartedly...it has profoundly effected my life for the better and is an important tool in my health care.

In 1988 I was told that I was seropositive, four years after Nelson Vergel learned of his status. For eight years I obediently followed doctors' orders, assuming with them that only prescriptions would be of help. After nearly dying in 1996, I discovered the website Medibolics, which evolved into this book. Following Vergel and Mooney's suggestions about supplementation and bodybuilding, in addition to the prescriptions, I am now again a healthy man, in fact probably in better shape than in my thirties before the infection. All lab counts are now within the recognized normal range, and there have been no opportunistic infections in five years. The authors' recommendations are thoroughly referenced for those who will read the original research for themselves. It was especially courageous for the authors to recognize the usefulness of anabolic steroids at a time when government policy has been severely restrictive. I remain profoundly grateful for Vergel and Mooney's work in a field that has been decisive for my own health. The information is relevant for the health of all, and serves as a concise starting point in a bewildering battery of literature.

thanks for your great work, since i followed your program i gained > almost TEN POUNDS in less than 2 MONTHS. Being on steroids is a great > asset in my life.....It changed my life...well, i mean NOW i have a > life. thanks very much for being there, we need you !!!! Bruno.

Just recently purchased and read this book. Excellent reference guide not just for anabolic steroid use, but for nutrition, supplements, exercise and much more. This is a must have and must keep resource book! A valuable treasure I will constantly, be able to refer to.

Mooney and Vergel are committed. They have spent thousands of hours researching lecturing and in the case of Vergel living with their subject. The book provides in laymens terms but backed with numerous scientific citations, how to use exercise, supplements and steroid agents to make living with HIV bearable.

The advent of HAART has meant a change in the life expectency of HIV patients. As a result the toxic effects of the HIV drugs are seeing many complications and side effects. This book discusses many of these and provides hands on suggestions for dealing with them.

Even if you just exercise you will feel better and you may just slow some of the side effects. You may even reverse some.

I have followed this book very casually since I bought it in July last year up until April 2001. I noticed that my "blood" results (other than Viral Load) were getting better and despite 'failing' a drug combination, my overall health was great. For the last 3 months I have followed some of the books recommendations RELIGIOUSLY. Despite having to change drugs due to resistance, my health and fitness has increased amazingly. And as an added benefit friends say I look the best I have in 10 years. My waist has gone from 38" to 31". My chest, arms and legs have all increased in size. My CD4's both in real and % terms are the highest in 4 years and all my other blood works are excellent. I am 40 years young. 2 weeks ago I completed a Vitality and Longevity Analysis and my Doctor advised that I had the Celular Health of a 26 year old.

I am so confident of the book and the authors that I bought my Doctor a copy.

After reading Hope I realized how insignificant the glitches (which I thought were problems)in my life really are. Knowing the suffering people with AIDS go through and everything they must endure really put things in perspective. I believe there is a message in this book for any reader who is seeking a greater understanding for compassion, inner peace and what the true meaning of unconditional love really is. When I read Hope I must admit, I cried, however the strenghts of the author filled me with light and "hope" for anything I might encounter in the future. Thank you Joel, you're truly an Angel in the lives of many people. Thank you HOPE for giving me the message I needed to hear at the time I read you.

This is one of those amazing books that you can't put down! And although it can easily be read in one sitting, the insights and inspirations will stay with you for a lifetime.

In "Hope", Joel Rothschild describes his life (his struggles & his joys) since he was diagnosed with full blown AIDS - which was nearly 15 years before the writing of this book! In it, he shares what he's learned about the importance of living each day as if it's your last, as well as how your thoughts have a direct impact on your experiences - "as a man thinketh, so he is...".

I would highly recommend this book to everyone - it is very uplifting, and has a lot to offer each & every one of us.

Thank you Joel for taking the time to write this book!

i read this after reading Joel's first book "signals". i read it at a time in my life when i was in despair, and this book helped my immeasurably. i would recommend it and encourage everyone to read it

Hope is an inspiration to all! No matter what a persons present or past life situation, from the terminally ill, to those suffering through deep loss, to those of us who are blessed to be healthy. (As am I.) Joel has opened up his life and struggles to us to show that it is indeed possible to triumph over whatever life has to offer, transforming perceived diversities into tools for tremendous personnel growth. If you are as blessed as I am, to be in great health and have a great life, Hope will most assuredly fill you with gratitude for the blessings bestowed upon you. A wonderful book. Thank you Joel!

Joel Rothschild relates how he learned from others how to find "new meaning in times of mortal danger...I took those lessons to heart and began to search for ways to reinvent myself and give new meaning to my life."

Each of us has the opportunity to reinvent and redefine our lives when going through a major challenge or loss in our lives. Often, we don't seize it willingly, and instead let ourselves walk unconsciously through our healing. Joel Rothschild offers a path of awareness, a path of conscious choice for living a life with meaning, purpose and grace.

Through his own multitude of challenges, Mr. Rothschild has given us the gift of wisdom gained the hard way, or shall I say, the "heart" way. No other book that I have read in the last l0 years has stated so much, and so eloquently, what I have come to believe about life's lessons.

All suffering and pain has meaning and purpose. For me, I have had to experience several life challenges to feel the truth of this statement, to my very core. In his book, Joel Rothschild illustrates this so beautifully, and we are elevated by his faith and trust in the life process.

He states that "These days all people seem a little more beautiful." Thank you Joel for shining your light so brightly and allowing it to be the mirror for us to see ourselves more clearly!

Marcia Breitenbach[...]

This book is about a journey of Hope.....Hope in the midst of a devestating illness called AIDS. Hope in the midst of a confession to a homosexual relationship while simultaneously being married to your high school sweetheart. Hope in God when the rest of the world is spinning around you and your painful choices. It is difficult to put down, and as each page unfolds, you feel the HOPE starting to penetrate your heart. Heaven's Back Row is about real lives, in the real world, believing for something that this world does not have to offer... HOPE

Warning: This book contains a refreshing level of honesty you won't find in most people.

Bob outlines in detail his confusion, his emotions, his revelations and his pain in facing homosexuality; and his journey out of it to find his true self. No instant "magic bullet" here -- rather an honest account of how change is a process and honesty is an important ingredient.

I must say, I was really turned off by the constant underlying theme of, "Yeah, my actions were bad, but it's everyone else's fault." Parents? Hey, many of us had it way worse at home. Had to work in college? Many of us had to pay for everything! And then giving such short shrift to having sex repeatedly after knowing he was HIV positive? Where's the bitter remourse for all those he likely infected? It's great that Bob repented, but the real story here isn't about him at all. It's about the forgiveness he received from other in spite of all. Hey, Bob, take yourself down off that pedestal.

I read this book when Bob first wrote it. I was in counseling practice then (I have since retired). At the time and now as well I believe it is an amazingly effective tool for giving incredible hope to those infected with HIV and to the sexually broken, as well as to anyone who is in despair. The great hope is obviously centered in Bob's renewed faith in the forgiveness, grace, and power of Jesus Christ, still the healer of hearts, souls, and bodies. You will find an amzing story of how he got there. Or if you just want a fully honest, forth-right, and engrossing read, well, read it--you won't be disappointed.

Diagnosed with HIV in the mid 1980's before the advent and use of antiviral medications, with "T" cell counts below the danger zone, Bob Blackford's immune system was made of papier-mache'. Still he lives, loves, works, and writes (oh how he writes) giving miraculous testimony to the transforming and sustaining power of his God.