Tremor Books

This is by far the best information available for anyone with ET. It has become my Bible!

I've had ET since I was a very small child - I'm in my mid thirties now. This is the best source of information for ET that I have ever seen.

Great for anyone that has ET, it helps us to understand it better. I have had ET for 37 years and it does get worse getting older.

This excellent compilation of the facts surrounding Essential Tremor was like looking at myself in the mirror for the first time. It's comforting to realize that many have this same functionality disorder. And it's likewise great to have all the information about Essential Tremor from diverse sources in one clear book.

I may not like what I saw in the mirror, but I am very glad to have read about my reflection.

In this spy thriller, published in 1966, Anthony Burgess combines his characteristically witty and clever linguistic mastery with a convoluted espionage plot. The book easily dwarfs, in both style and content, the best examples of Ian Fleming's Bond franchise. The characters are deliciously cynical and wonderfully self-seeking. Burgess's secret agent hero, Denis Hillier, enjoys sexual adventures that make Bond's encounters appear as exciting and as fulfilling as a fourteen-year-old boy's in-house episode with a porno mag. I did feel, though, that it was a bit lacking in action and thrills. Many parts are taken up by snotty, over-erudite and verbose exchanges between characters. The language, though, is a sheer pleasure to read, with its witty puns, arcane wordplay, polylingual allusions and explorative scope. In addition, the book has a fascination with the ideas of Original Sin and redemption, which preoccupied the Catholic nonbeliever Burgess throughout his life.

This is a factual account of everyday life a muslim in India goes through. A must read for all muslims and especailly hindus who always use the term psuedo secularis to ward off any reference to discrimination. The recent Sachar comitee report entails the problems in details and affirms that muslims are discriminated in all walks of life in India. I just hate the fact that Pakistan was created because it has become such a bone of contention for all issues dealing with Indian muslims. Indian muslims have to prove thier loyalty constantly, their religion is maligned , they are portrayed as intolerant, violent, and deserve no respect. I only hope people would wake up and look beyond religion and ethnicity and have compassion. Definetly a must read book. Kudos to Mrs. Robinson

An amazing, fresh, sf-fantasy novel, with a gut-wrenching beginning. Lots of terrific creative new ideas such as the "Sha Muira" assassin that figures so prominently in the story. I really enjoyed the tension between Gaultry during the slow transformation of the young assassin. I enjoyed this book the first time I read it and I am now re-reading it once again. It is just as good on the second reading, although, the surprise element is gone. Now I look forward to reading the earlier book in this series, as well as the newer sequels to this excellent book.

This book is not as exciting as the first, typical for a trilogy. I don't really like how much if focuses on Gaultry because I always wanted to hear more about Mervion. Maybe that will be in the third book. Sometimes I don't like reading about drama after drama and this book does have a lot of fighting and violence but overall it is very interesting and definetely well written. Just don't expect easy paced or light hearted!

An engaging story, the heroin is strong & magical. The story is original & light. This book follows Gaultry -the Glamour/Witch- in her fight to free Teilmark from The Bissanty Empire's clutches. You get to know more about Bissanty & the way the people live & feel. I was intrigued by the religion they follow. I still want to know more about Mervion, Gaultry's sister & Martin.
My only remark is that sometimes Ms. Reimaan writing is a little distracting, like she is trying a little too hard to convey a thought or describe a scene.
All in all a very good story. Thank you Ms. Reimann. Can't wait to read the 3rd book.
Get it & READ IT!(...)

I greatly enjoyed reading the adventures of Gaultry and her companions.... once i had finished the two books in the series i just wanted to read more- there are so many questions i have about the characters. Katya really brought life to her book, to her story but i urge her to write the third book- i'm waiting with others to find out how Gaulrty lives the rest of her life

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and thought that it was as satisfying as the first part in this series. New characters serve to help the action along; they are appealing and interesting. However, I thought that some characters, such as Mervion and Martin Stalker, should have had more attention payed to them. I eagerly await Reimann's third part to this series. There remain many questions to be answered.

This updated fourth edition of Dr. Randall Schapiro's Managing The Symptoms Of Multiple Sclerosis uses clear language and illustrations to explore all the common symptoms of MS and tested, proven treatments for it; from tremor and weakness to bladder and sexual difficulties. From a survey of common symptoms to helpful exercises, Dr. Shapiro covers the latest information on MS and its impact.

Ably written by Doctor Randall T. Schapiro (the Medical Director of The Fairview Multiple Sclerosis Center) and now in an newly updated and expanded fourth edition, Managing The Symptoms Of Multiple Sclerosis is a practical, informative, and medically sound instructional guide to dealing with the day-to-day difficulties induced by MS, ranging from bladder and bowel difficulties, to spasticity, tremors, physical weakness, and sexual problems. Managing The Symptoms Of Multiple Sclerosis is especially commended as being a "reader accessible" resource written especially for those with MS and their medical/familial caretakers.

I bought this book because my MS has been acting up quite a bit. I found the book very informative and useful. I had some things going on with me and I wasn't sure if it was MS related. I checked out swollen ankles and my answer was there with tips on what do to. It saved me a trip to my doctor's office and time off work.

Symptom management is a hot issue for many people with MS, for obvious reasons. Once you've committed to taking one of the disease-modifying drugs, you are still left with the consequences of MS, an often dizzying array of interlocking symptoms. Facing up to life with MS means coping with symptoms that range from the inconvenient to the painful, debilitating, and disabling. It also means coping with the emotional fallout of both your current symptoms, and the likelihood that they will over time worsen and diversify.

I was attracted to this book because it is written by a doctor. I am reminded constantly when reading it, however, that while he is an expert on MS, he is experiencing MS symptoms only second-hand. In consequence, it is clear that on many issues, he just doesn't get it. I was also attracted to the fact that this book has been popular enough to go through four editions. This means both that it sells well, and that it is likely to be up-to-date. The world of MS research is moving so fast these days that the information in books very quickly becomes outdated. Which is, of course, a good thing provided readers keep their wits about them. Not all of the book appears to have benefitted from a rewrite, however. Parts of it were written in 1986 and are, as we will see, beginning to show their age.

It is my feeling that the presentation style of this book may run the risk of alienating a significant fraction of MS patients. The approach taken is top-down, and assumes that you need to know the mechanism (couched in college textbook terminology) of a bodily function or process before you can talk about it; but for many of the processes described in this book, it just isn't so. Often dry and technical for no good reason, it over-utilizes the passive voice. It lists a dizzying array of drugs, mostly dismissed with a few lines rather than given the in-depth description they deserve. It emphasizes the mechanics of coping, not the emotional side. In places it is downright patronizing about the emotions felt by a person with MS, a trait unfortunately shared by many medical professionals. For example, from Chapter 8, "A person with impaired mobility who does not use the right tool cannot accomplish the job of walking. Although it may be difficult at first, try not to have negative emotional feelings about using assistive devices. They are simply tools to improve mobility."

The visual presentation of the book is somewhat lacking. A significant fraction of people with MS have vision problems. I believe that this audience would be better served by a larger font size and the selection of a clearer typeface, both in the main text and in the figure labels.

The book is broken into 22 chapters and four appendices, which are divided into four major sections. The second section alone is divided into subsections, five in number, comprising of from one to seven chapters each. I am somewhat skeptical as to whether this division is of any practical assistance to the reader. The chapters are as follows:

1. What is Multiple Sclerosis? This chapter gives the standard explanation of MS, which will be of some interest to the newly diagnosed. It includes two excellent sections on "Choosing Your Physician", and "Complementary Medicine".

2. Managing the Disease Process: An excellent, if dry, description of the standard disease modifying drugs, current as of 2003. It should ideally be supplemented with more up-to-date information by the discerning reader.

3. Fatigue: This chapter is essentially the standard polemic on fatigue, including the usual tiresome lists of things you can do in everyday life to reduce the amount and effects of fatigue. These would be wonderful in an ideal world, but as many of us have to work and care for children while coping with MS, most of them seem bizarre if not totally divorced from reality. Some of them are merely condescending ("Plan ahead" and "Set Priorities" for example), others show a worrisome level of naivete (the person who wrote "Use the same grocery store on a regular basis and learn where various items are located" clearly does not do the family shopping, or shops in a quaint old grocery store where the shelves are not constantly reorganized in pursuit of a rapidly shifting and seasonal demographic), and some are antediluvian ("Use disposable diapers", honestly, does anybody in the western world use cloth diapers anymore?).

4. Spasticity: A good chapter that discusses the three major options, exercise, drugs, and surgery. I was disappointed that there was no mention of either yoga or acupuncture, which in recent years have become popular in the MS community for managing spasticity.

5. Weakness: I actually learned something about proper exercise in this chapter. I only wish that this chapter were longer than 2.5 pages.

6. Tremor and Balance: Another good chapter.

7. Paroxysmal Symptoms: At just over a page in length, I wish this chapter could have been longer also.

8. Mobility: Putting it All Together: This chapter illustrates many of the minor presentational flaws in the book. For example, one must ask oneself why the use of the word "Ambulation" in the section heading "Walking (Ambulation)"? What advantages does it bring? Isn't it a gratuitous use of terminology? Doesn't it just serve to intimidate the less well educated reader? The author shows here and elsewhere a disregard for the MS sufferer who is on a limited budget when he states "Leather soles wear with time amd need to be replaced frequently, but their advantages far outweigh this minor problem." The problem of replacing leather soles may seem minor to somebody on a physician's salary, but must seem daunting to somebody trying to live on a Social Security Disability allowance. Nonetheless, this chapter provides some excellent advice.

9. Pressure Sores: Another good chapter. Some discussion of the relative merits of some of the choices presented, such as sheepskin versus gel pads for wheelchairs, would be a useful addition.

10. Bladder Symptoms: An excellent chapter. I'm in two minds as to the applicability of the figures, however. I found them confusing. I suffer from DSD (detrussor sphincter dyssynergia) myself, and was surprised to see the disorder described but not mentioned by name.

11. Bowel Symptoms: An excellent chapter.

12. Speech Difficulties: A very good chapter that should perhaps be longer.

13. Swallowing Difficulties: A good chapter in the sense that I already do the things that he recommends to compensate for swallowing difficulties.

14. Vision: A chapter that is again too short, particularly given that many MS patients are diagnosed during their first bout of optic neuritis.

15. Pain: It's nice to see a doctor who admits that a significant fraction of people with MS experience pain. I can't begin to count the number of people with MS who have confided to me that their doctor has pooh-poohed their report of pain, responding that pain isn't a "normal" symptom of MS. The truth is that chronic pain can be debilitating and can seriously affect the quality of life for MS patients and their caregivers.

16. Dizziness and Vertigo: This chapter is again too short, and contains almost no useful information aside from a drug list.

17. Numbness, Cold Feet, and Swollen Ankles: This chapter seems to exist solely for the author to blow off these symptom. Terms such as "annoying" and "nuisance" are used over and over. Despite the author's claims (and methinks he protesteth too much), numbness can significantly reduce quality of life. This chapter would benefit from a serious attempt to analyze and advise courses of action with less condescension.

18. Cognition Difficulties: This chapter contains the usual frustrating list of bullet points containing didactic and quite impractical advice, including "make lists" (I do, but I lose them), "organize your environment so that things remain in familiar places" (but I have young kids), and "carry on conversations in quiet places" (and on which planet exactly are these quiet places to be found?)

19. Diet and Nutrition: This chapter, written by Daniel Kosich (who has a PhD), is sound but "old school", based on the traditional food pyramid. There is no mention of Atkins or other diets currently under investigation. Some of the advice, such as reading food labels, is a good idea. If your diet is the traditional American meat-and-potatoes fare, then this chapter will probabaly be an eye-opener for you. But if you show any degree of dietary sophistication, it will probably be ho-hum.

20. Exercise: A chapter with some solid messages, such as the fact that "no pain, no gain" does not apply to people with MS, but it consists mainly of pointers to other chapters, indicating perhaps that a reorganization of material is overdue.

21. Sexuality: The clinical approach in this chapter is a big turn-off. It leads me to ask whether there are ways of coping that are more sexually attractive. Although some interesting advice, such as the use of a bag of frozen peas as a sex toy, does slip through the clinical facade here.

22. Adapting to Multiple Sclerosis: An excellent chapter. It however does not mention the use of on-line forums and support groups for those unable or disinclined to join group counselling sessions.

There are 47 pages of appendices, as opposed to 142 pages of ordinary text. I'm used to the appendix being a minor organ, not almost a quarter of the organism. I'm led to wonder why these are appendices at all and not chapters? The appendices are as follows.

A. Glossary: I found the Glossary useless, neither comprehensive nor particularly well explained.

B. Exercises for Spasticity: A great section with many well-explained diagrams.

C. Transfers and Mobility: Another great section with many well-explained diagrams.

D. Resources: A somewhat shabby list of books and electronic references. This should be replaced by a web page that is updated regularly by the author.

This book contains an Index, which I applaud. So many MS books do not, which is particularly frustrating when searching later for misremembered topics. This Index was however obviously not done by the author. If it were done better, it would have perhaps uncovered some of the inconsistencies in the book, such as the subject of drinking water. The Index refers us to pp. 115-116, omitting references to fluid intake on p. 76, 81, 118, and 133. In all we are exhorted to drink "six to eight glasses per day", "8 to 12 cups daily", and "eight glasses of water per day" in three different places in the text, leading one to wonder at the disappointing quality of editing of this book.

In summary, this is a good book in the sense that it contains much useful information, but its primary weakness is in presentation. It does not appear to be designed to be read by the patients who have the very problems that it describes. It could become an excellent book if the author would take on a co-author who knows how to write for a general audience, is compassionate, and has first-hand experience with managing the symptoms of MS.

how can anyone add to the previous review? this book is an excellent resource. it seems to be written, not so much for the clinician, but for those who suffer from ms. however, i agree with the previous reviewer, it could be improved, perhaps, by being more practical or in-touch with the experiences of the m.s. patient or caregiver. much of the management recommendations involve medications, which you may wish to discuss with your *ms specialist*. dr. schapiro offers some very practical suggestions for dealing with symptoms and coping. as new symptoms crop up, i first pick up this book. i, usually, augment it with visiting good web pages. definitely worth the price, used.

I have read all of Jaid Black's books and they are all great but if I had to pick just one, this one would be it. Tremors was a well told love story with enough steamy sex to fog up your contact lens!

There are only 76 pages but boy can she pack in some great intimate scenes in just these few pages. There are no fillers or pages and pages of boring scenery or descriptions of what clothes they are wearing. In fact, the hero won't let the heroine wear any clothing for the duration that she's with him. And that's not the ONLY thing he's demanding about either. Sigh, after reading this book, I was so envious of Marie and all that Fredrik did to Marie in the bath, on the table, over the...well, you get my drift. After I read this book, my boyfriend had no idea what had come over me or why I was suggesting we eat some strawberries and bananas or why I was walking around talking about recreating certain pages of Tremors. But boy oh boy, YOU'LL know why after you read this well written e-book. There are numerous memorable scorcher scenes like that all through out this book. What I loved most of all was that each scene is unique and different....

I've read erotica before but Tremors truly is Romantica - a mix of romance and erotica. My biggest complaint about erotica was that they are not well written. They leave me cold and slapping dirty words on pages does nothing for me. As an avid reader of alot of fiction and non-fiction books and periodicals, I think Ms. Black is a great writer, period. That she happens to write steamy romance is just my good luck and proof that my complaints about erotica are finally being answered. Tremors has romance and warmth whereas erotica does not. They both have heat but I actually cared about Fredrik and Marie and what happened to them. When they got hot, so did I. When Fredrik's heart was in pain, I felt it too. I wanted them to live happily ever after.

I really enjoyed this book. Tremors is a well-written love story that just happens to have enough libido maxing graphic sex to teach Masters & Johnson a few things! Sigh, wish Fredrik was real so he could come teach me. Ja baby!

Tremors is more like a short story than a full novel but even though its only 76 pages its still a complete story. The heorine, Marie has come to Europe trying to bascially find herself. She encounters Fredrik, the most dangergous,facinating man she's every met. His past is dark and there are horrid rumors about him. She is warned to stay away from him but soon finds that she can't. He wants her and is determined to make her his so he basically traps her.When I first read this story I only gave it a 2. I didn't really like the fact that he was so demanding of her. I reread it and have changed my mind. I can now see the pain that Fredirk was in and how desperately he wanted someone to love him as much as he loved her.

The love scenes are pretty graphic but not in the disgusting way. They show true passion. Although if you are embarassed but such graphic scenes this book may not be for you.

This is an outstanding read! Well worth the money and the wait. Jaid Black is an amazing author. Why she hasn't been published in print is beyond me. Although it would be easy to say she's in the same category as Robin Schone, Thea Devine and Susan Johnson, I think her stories are even better. Within the first few pages you feel like you KNOW these characters. They become part of you, and you actually feel that these people are alive.

So, jump on the Jaid Black bandwagon before it leaves the station. Because on this train, the sky is the limit.

I have read all of Jaid Blacks novel and they are all good. Her stories are well written minus the purple prose that we see in some erotic novels. Tremors is very steamy and very graphic and may not be for everyone but if you love Robin Schone, Thea Devine and Susan Johnson, I guarantee that you're going to enjoy all of JB's novels.

Sometime after Patricia Highsmith's death in 1995, my local bookstore moved her books from the "Mystery & Thriller" section to the more general "Fiction" section, a final irony for a writer who had been largely ignored in the U.S. (except perhaps by mystery readers). Why this was so is not clear at all. Did Hitchcock's filming of her 1950 "Strangers on a Train" fatally pigeonhole her as a mystery writer? Or did the expatriate nature of her life, living abroad in England, France and finally Switzerland for so many years, allow us to lose sight of her as a great American writer? For make no mistake about it, Highsmith was a great American writer, as evidenced by perhaps her most serious and ironic work, "The Tremor of Forgery" (1969).

"Tremor" begins with novelist Howard Ingham's arrival in Tunisia, where he expects to spend a few weeks writing a screenplay with the film's director, who will be joining him shortly. The director never does arrive, leaving Ingham to begin working on a new novel while immersing himself in Tunisia, where everything in his life gets turned upside down. His new novel is "about a man with a double life, a man unaware of the amorality of the way he lived." Is this a description that fits Ingham as well? "In his book, he had no intention of justifying his hero." Could this be true of Highsmith too?

Within a few pages, Highsmith introduces the kind of exotica found in the great expatriate novels: Cafe de Paris, Herald-Tribune, Pernod, jasmine. And by the end of the second chapter she has also introduced the novel's themes: identity, loneliness, male bonding, and cultural relativism. The latter figures prominently as Ingham begins to change, unable to make the decision to return home after realizing the film will never be made. Already in chapter 4 he is "irked" when he hears some "Germans" speaking "very American American." And soon the African sun makes difficult "the sheer effort of imagining New York's unwritten conventions."

The backdrop for this novel is the June 1967 Arab-Israeli Six-Day War. While not a factor in the plot, this war, which coincides with the first couple weeks of Ingham's stay in Tunisia, provides a historical context for the reader. This is definitely not the world of Lawrence of Arabia. Nor is it really the world of Paul Bowles' "The Sheltering Sky" (1949). Rather, the world of "Tremor" is a precursor to our own troubled times. Which is not to say the novel could have been written yesterday. Some aspects of the novel make it almost a period piece. For even though the '60s can seem like only yesterday, those years were more like the previous century than like subsequent decades in many ways: international communication could be slow and unreliable, there were no cell phones, faxes, Internet, e-mail or credit cards. And in "Tremor" the characters still wear cufflinks.

Highsmith is not a humorous or witty writer, nor is she much of a stylist. However, there are many things to like about her writing. Two of the characters that Ingham meets in Tunisia are especially well drawn. Anders Jensen, a homosexual Danish artist, provides a European point of view on the "funny" Americans, with their annoying consciences. Francis Adams, a retired American, represents contradictory America during the Vietnam War (which is also raging, just out of sight) and stands for everything that Ingham's nickname for Adams conjures up: OWL (Our Way of Life).

The portrait of Ingham is also interesting. A successful young novelist who continues to write well even during periods of personal turmoil, Ingham wrestles with a number of demons. His meditations on identity, particularly cultural identity, have weight and significance for many of his decisions (or non-decisions). Is cultural identity tied specifically to place, so that Antaeus-like we lose our cultural moorings once lifted clear of our cultural origins? Or are there values and elements of character that are indelibly burned into us, unchanging regardless of setting? At one point, it appears that Ingham's "character or principles had collapsed." But this is followed almost immediately by an incident that contradicts this statement, where Ingham's character reasserts itself, one more bit of irony.

Highsmith, in her mid-forties, was probably at her peak when she wrote this novel. Nearly every sentence is taut and firm. Her writing is like that of a "thriller" the way M. Night Shyamalan's movies are like those of traditional "horror" films in that much of one's enjoyment and expectations are based on knowledge of the genre, the more so the better.

Would "Tremor" make a good movie? Highsmith has been filmed before, by international directors from Britain (Hitchcock, Minghella), France (Clement) and Germany (Wenders). Would the movie of this novel be too slow, too thoughtful, kind of an anti-thriller where what you expect to happen doesn't quite, ending with a mystery that almost isn't? Or could it be a nice quiet "psychological" movie, a period piece, in an exotic setting, containing foreshadowings of today's resurgent, militant Islam? It wouldn't have to be a Hollywood production. It might work as a PBS-type TV movie, assuming PBS one day expands its sense of "Masterpiece" to mean more than just "anglophile." Too obscure even for PBS? Well, PBS broadcast series made from Evelyn Waugh's "Brideshead Revisited" and Olivia Manning's "Balkan Trilogy" and "Levant Trilogy" and none of these is exactly a trendy or action-packed work.

Highsmith might well have been thinking of her own novel when she describes Ingham's attitude toward his novel as "a difficult book for him to think of in film terms." But it's still fun to wonder about that possibility. And even more fun to read and re-read her novel whenever we need a bit of something exotic in our reading lives.

Separated from all that he is, a young writer is tempted to become much that he is not. He is tested, in several ways, with only his own antennae, sensitive to subtle and not-so-subtle moral and ethical malaise to protect him.

The state of mind of the main character has a disquieting, queasy-making effect on the reader. We dread his imminent personal disintegration, right up to the last few pages... when there is an unforced surprise which is a true and strong insight into - there is no other way to say it - how to live one's life.

An extraordinary book.

Howard Ingham is an American writer in Tunisia, sent there to write a movie script. Luckily he has received a large advance and is staying in a hotel waiting for the arrival of the actors and director/cameraman. He's also waiting for a letter from his girlfriend Ina. Unfortunately, before he arrives, the director commits suicide after a short affair with Ina, but Howard stays on in Tunisia, unable to get going with his life. He makes various and assorted friends and Ina travels from New York to visit him. He decides he's crazy in love with her, then decides he isn't. He defends himself against a burglar, then is made to feel guilty about it. Howard can't really decide how he feels. I know how I felt: bored. Every meal, every can of beer is described.

There is one good thing: the dog comes back!

In what some consider to be Patricia Highsmith?s finest novel, The Tremor of Forgery explores a young writer?s descent into moral ambiguity under the hot sun of 1960s Tunisia. Stranded by a suicide, heat-induced torpor, and a growing severance from all Western ties, Howard Ingham finds himself the only witness, and perhaps even participant, in the disappearance of a local pick pocket.
The way that suicide and murder and espionage, such major events, play such a minor role in the action of the novel leaves an odd sense of dissonance in the mind in the reader (one listening to Parker and Gillespe?s ?A Night in Tunisia? may, in fact, get the same feeling). Highsmith juxtaposes her hero?s emotional ambivalence with his supplanting into Araby. Also at hand in the novel is an ongoing reference to Fyodor Dostoevsky?s Crime and Punishment that serves not so much as a retake as a running commentary. Though her references are tactful, fans of the Russian author will undoubtedly prefer his landmark work to a twentieth-century rebuff that emphasizes the sham values of the times. Interesting description and the anchoring to a larger work of literature cause this reader to give an otherwise dry work a modest score of four thumbs up (out of ten).

Tunisia, its blazing desert and ocean side hotels, is a land of many scents and sensations. The writer, Howard Ingraham, witnesses an incident from which he then is forced to confront himself stripped of all, albeit illusionary, protective devices. Within this jasmine scented, bloody and sordid terrain, Ingraham is exposed as a haunted and uncertain man, a man who is incomplete morally and whose attempts at intimacy and love have been, in retrospect, as deformed as the cat's broken tails, a fixation, it so happens, of the Tunisian populace.

Highsmith has written some of her finest ambiguous characters into this novel. The blaze of the desert sun and the atavistic Tunisian forces suspend that pretense of American self-assurance that so often drapes those travellers.
This is a gorgeous setting, a camel ride and an evening under the desert sky suggests there are some parts of Ingraham's sexuality that have not been fully realized. Highsmith portrays the tensions of life as they are- subtle, mysterious and always in a state of flux. The alienated Westerner in the midst of third world contempt and superficial graciousness. Israel has just won the Six Day's War, and there is news that an American's car was overturned in a neighboring city. Are they plotting, these Arabs who seem to talk loud all the time, and whose language is alien. Ingraham by turn, moves within the Arab neighborhood, below his artist friend, his confidant and his moral interpreter.

Looking for a clean tying up of the mysteries? As in life, that is far more an interpretation and an acknowledgement of the nature of the human heart- and its reluctance to show itself.

Dr Lykken is one of the only scientists who has done any research on polygraph that draws a half negative conclusion other researchers like Dr Raskin totally disagree with him. This book is interesting reading and contradictory in its content. On the one hand Dr Lykken says that polygraphs don't work and on the other he promotes a guilty knowledge test using the same polygraph as a good way to detect guilty knowledge. He invented this test so he promotes it in this book as the best type of polygraph test. I found this book to be very biased and not very convincing due to the fact he contradicts himself a lot. While it is true mistakes are made using polygraph it is no different than any other forensic method as nothing in forensics is 100% accurate. While Dr Lykken makes some good points it is obvious he makes a living out of producing anti-polygraph material. If what he states in this book where tottally true the NSA,CIA,FBI,Police and law enforcement agencies across the US would not rely so heavily upon them.

The word science has been associated with all sorts of hogwash and chicanery, none more harmful than the myth that there is a machine that will reliably detect lying. I know of no better example of [pseudo] science than the continued use of the polygraph.

As I write in my book, "Communication Research" (2003; p 411; Allyn & Bacon), "[Lykken's] book should receive a Pulitzer prize. It is must reading for anyone who has an association with lie detectors or polygraphs ...or for anyone who would like to go on an intellectual joy ride while swooping to an understanding of how an entire society can be duped by pseudo "science." Lyken reviews virtually all known research about lie detection with brilliant scientific rigor. He concludes [as does the National Academy of Sciences in a recently published independent report] that there exists no credible empirical evidence"... for the test's validity (Hocking et. al.; 2003; p 411; Allyn & Bacon).

I challenge anyone to read Lykken's review of polygraph research and disagree with his conclusion that "it is madness for courts or federal police or security agencies to rely on polygraph results" or that the mythology surrounding the test is a deeply entrenched mythology similar to children believing in Santa Claus or the Easter Bunny (p 279 - Lyyken).

Lykken's book is written with the rigor and documentation of a first rate college text, yet is fascinating and readable. It is an important work, one of the best and most valuable books I have read in 30 years of teaching social research methodologoly at the university level.

Five stars are not enough to do Professor Lyyken's work justice.

Dr. Lykken contradicts himself through out the book. How can you say the polygraph doesn't work, and then promote the GKT for the detection of truth? His work research is indirect conflict with and has been discredited by other researcher such as Rakins, Honts, Kirscher and Abrams (and many others). Interestingly, since he first wrote this book, the Guilty Knowledge Test has been almost universally accepted as being worthless and little better than a coin toss.

Having been accused of a crime I didn't commit just because I failed a lie detector test, it was a big reveal for me to see that some people do believe that the polygraph test is bogus. Dr Lykken's book proves that with a polygraph test everything can happen : an innoscent person can look guilty, and a guilty person can look innoscent. The machine doesn't show you if you lie, it only shows you if you are nervous. Through several cases, the book shows you how Americans have had a blind believe it the device, ever since it was invented and how innoscent people have been sent to jail because of it (but they have been released later, when REAL evidence was found). I recomment everybody to read this very informative book.

I feel very strongly about this book because not too long ago a relative of mine was accused of a crime they didn't commit and was coerced by the local police dept into taking one of these tests. Fortunately, we were able to come up with many resources (including this book) to dispute the validity of the polygraph in court. Lykken's book isn't perfect by any means but it's one of the few honest books out there that explain how the mysterious polygraph works and the byzantine government reasoning behind using it. This is a book that the government definitely doesn't want you to read because it would invalidate one of their most effective "witch hunt" interrogation techniques.

THE RIOT INSIDE ME: More Trials and Tremors is everything the 60s, 70s and 80s were--turbulent waves of social, political and emotional upheaval that segue into placid pools of self-acceptance, artistic talent and bittersweet reflection. With raw candor and compelling prose, Wanda Coleman vividly recreates her journey to the woman she is now--an awesome whirlwind of extraordinary literary stature.

Coleman's personal history from the 1950's to 2005, is revealed through essays, interviews, journals and letters--creating an autobiography that is not only a testament to the enduring perseverance of one black woman, but of her willingness to share the humor, as well as the tears, which litter the highways and side streets of her incredible life.

In an age when the memoir has taken a beating, Coleman's THE RIOT INSIDE ME emerges as an example of not only how beautiful, but how powerful a memoir can be when executed in the essence of the art.

Reviewed by Cxandra
for The RAWSISTAZ Reviewers

Interesting and insightful, though some of the writers told me much more about themselves than the Saint they were supposedly writing about. The writers hail from across the religious spectrum and include Protestants, Atheists and lapsed Catholics. Some may wonder about the wisdom of this, but it does give the reader a unique perspective on the power of these Saints lives in a post-Christian age.