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- The story continues...
- All that is important is known...
- Second book in one of the most entertaining recent space opera series
- Excellent Story!
- Very, Very Good
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The Sundering: Dread Empire's Fall (Dread Empires Fall)
Walter Jon Williams
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ASIN: 0380820218
Release Date: 2004-02-24 |
Book Description
The Dread Empire of the Shaa is no more, following the death of the last oppressor. But freedom remains elusive for the myriad sentient races enslaved for ten centuries, as an even greater terror arises. The Naxids—a powerful insectoid species themselves subjugated until the recent Shaa demise—plan to fill the vacuum with their own bloody domination, and have already won a shattering victory with superior force and unimaginable cruelty. But two heroes survived the carnage at Magaria: Lord Gareth Martinez and the fiery, mysterious gun pilot Lady Caroline Sula, whose courageous exploits are becoming legend in the new history of galactic civil war. Yet their cunning, skill, and bravery may be no match for the overwhelming enemy descending upon the loyalist stronghold of Zanshaa, as the horrific battle looms that will determine the structure of the universe—and who shall live to inhabit it—for millennia to come.
Customer Reviews:
The story continues..........2007-01-02
The second book in Walter Jon Williams' Dread Empire's Fall series, The Sundering, resumes exactly where The Praxis left off. It continues the story of Gareth Martinez and Caroline Sula as they battle to retake the Shaa empire from the Naxid rebels. The writing and characterization continue to be top notch so if you enjoyed the first book you will definitely like the second. Although the second book was good, I felt that it put a lot of pressure on the third book to determine whether the series will be great or not. In other words, after reading about these people and their war for two volumes, I need the third book to be truly spectacular in order to make the first two books pay off. Therefore, I will withhold judgement on the entire series until I finish the third book, but if the first two books are any indication, I don't think I'll be disappointed.
All that is important is known..........2006-07-21
... so says the Praxis...
So often Science Fiction, and the sub-genre of Space Opera in particular, is set amidst a completely unbelievable background, either an unlikely extrapolation of current society and science or worse still, our current society set in a thinly veiled future that lacks any cohesion.
The Dread Empire series defies this trend by setting the books in very believable, cohesive, and reasonable setting. What a wonderful change from the likes of David Weber's Honorverse.
"The Sundering" is a marvelous continuation of the "Dread Empires Fall" series, providing more of the rich prose and exciting storylines experienced in "The Praxis".
While reading, I often paused to wonder at the depth Mr. Williams has developed for the story's universe, its beauty, and more importantly, for its cohesiveness. I give it 5 stars.
Second book in one of the most entertaining recent space opera series.......2006-05-23
The Sundering is the second of Walter Jon Williams's space opera series collectively called Dread Empire's Fall. (First was The Praxis.) In the first novel the last of the Shaa, the long-lived aliens who controlled the multi-species Empire, died, setting off a battle for control. One species, the Naxids, rebelled, arguing that their status as first species to be conquered by the Shaa made them natural successors. The other species were taken by surprise by the rebellion, as they had apparently assumed that things would continue much as before, with power divided fairly evenly between the several species. A war quickly followed.
The central characters are two humans, Lord Gareth Martinez and Lady Caroline Sula. Both are relatively young and quite brilliant, and both become heroes in early action of the war, effectively preventing an immediate Naxid victory, though it is clear that the Naxids have the advantage of numbers. Martinez and Sula meet and are obviously attracted to each other. However both have flaws that will obviously cause future problems. Sula has a very dark secret in her background, further complicating her already compromised status as the last surviving member of a disgraced family. Martinez's family, while very rich, is provincial and thus his social status is tenuous, and his ambitions (and those of the rest of his family) tempt him towards dicey social and political manipulations, and occasional rather careerist, and conceited, actions.
In The Sundering, the story of the war as well as the personal stories of Martinez and Sula are advanced but not resolved, as one might expect from a middle book. Both are responsible in part for some further military successes, due to their brilliant tactical minds (and to fruitful collaboration). Their personal relationship takes some steps forward as well, only to be impeded by mutual misunderstandings, and by the problems mentioned above: Sula's past, and the ambitions of Martinez and his family. By the end of the novel a plan the two concocted for saving the Empire has been put into motion, albeit credited to more respectable people, and each are involved in desperate battles (of very different sorts) with the Naxids.
The book is very exciting, with some first rate space action, and some ground-based action as well. Williams appears to take great care in making his battle scenes plausible, taking into account travel times, acceleration requirements, and the general physics of space travel in planetary systems. Various aspects seem modelled on Napoleonic era naval adventure books, such as the hierarchical nature of shipboard society, and indeed the aristocratic focus of the overall society. The overall design is quite familiar, including such important things as the hero and heroine being brilliant mavericks, and such small details as Martinez's crusty and wily veteran servant. But if much is familiar, even cliché, Williams works very well within the form. The intrigues and twists and those disasters the reader sees coming give great pleasure. The flawed characters still attract this reader, and I root for them despite grimacing at their folly. This series is great fun to read, one of the most entertaining space operas in many years.
Excellent Story!.......2006-03-23
I truly wonderful novel! It has been awhile since I read science fiction that is so good.
Very, Very Good.......2006-03-21
I commented on this books predecessor that the remarkable thing about Dread Empires Fall is that very little actually happens. I enjoyed the book but I was looking forward to the next installment. I am pleased to say that the second book certainly moved the story and it is rather more action packed then the first text.
As I usually make a point of I do not wish to give too much of the plot away so the review lacks some specifics. The book is far more action packed then the opening book of the series. The story moves at a good pace and the plot does not seem either rushed or artificially elongated. The weakness in middle books is that they often feel like a bridge between the foundation and the capstone and otherwise seem to have very little reason to exist. This is absolutely not true in this novel. The story was engaging and very satisfying. It is still true that the book would be hard to fully engage with if the first text had not been read first.
An excellent book. I hesitate to give this novel 5 stars and have settled on 4 instead. This book, in my mind, does not quite join the very top-level books in the field but it is very, very close.
Average customer rating:
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The Sundering (Dread Empire's Fall)
Walter Jon Williams
Manufacturer: Pocket Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
Williams, Walter Jon
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Science Fiction
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ASIN: 0743428986 |
Customer Reviews:
Not Free SF Reader.......2007-09-03
Not very interesting, it seems. I may give it another chance some time.
Presumably this is meant to be a grand, sweeping space opera, but I
could not get interested in the setup, the aliens, the protagonists, or
any of the setting, so just found this rather dull.
Book Description
To end a long running feud, a proud Scottish lass convinced the clan's women to refuse their men everything.
Download Description
It is said that Braden MacAllister, English baron and proud Highlander warrior, can fell an enemy with a single blow -- and a woman with a single kiss. But not Maggie, it seems. For the fire-haired beauty, determined to end the long running feud that rages between their clan and it's common foe, is immune to Branden's attempts to stop her foolishness. But stop her he will, once he gets the meddling minx alone...and favors her with a passionate caress and an irresistible kiss. No matter how she trembles beneath Braden's sensuous touch, Maggie must not yield! As long as this feud continues, the lives of her brothers are at stake. And though Braden is known to have bedded many a lass, he has given his heart to none. But dare she dream that by assuring peace for her clan she may also be claiming the most magnificient Highlander for herself?
Customer Reviews:
The Great Rip-Off.......2007-03-15
I wonder ... nobody noticed up to now that Mrs. Kenyon's story is a huge (and for me also a scandalous) rip-off? Just read "Lysistrata" by Aristophanes and if you see anything different to the main story (beside the scotish accent that is) let me know.
Sorry Mrs Kenyon but next time you have no inspiration whatsoever, try not to steal ideas from ancient (and extremely famous I may add) Greek writers only because it's easy and you pay no copyright fees. But if you cannot resist the temptation, at least mention in your book that your story is inspired (yea, right!) by this or that particular play and this or that particular author. So bad bad commentors like me cannot accuse you of stealing anymore.
P.S.: Try a search in Amazon under "Lysistrata" and enjoy the real thing :-)
Could have been better.......2006-09-05
I was so looking forward to this novel, but after reading it was alittle disappointed. Not alot mind you just alittle. I thought the plot (the woman forsaking their men everything) alittle farfetched. Why would the woman listen to a spinster is beyond me. Maggie has been in love with Braden forever and he is the all time ladies man. Braden helps Maggie go to there enemies land to try to reason with the laird there - alittle farfetched again. Along this journey he begins to fall for Maggie - well of course she is the only female around for miles on end. On and on the journey goes. Finally we arive at the end of their journey and the ending was just flat. The part with the little boy was just farfetched again. And when Braden gets mad at Maggie - whatever - he is a warrior is he not supposed to defend those weaker than he. By reading this review I am not giving anything away - there is no mystery to this novel. This author usually writes so much better than this. I just felt disappointed again and again with the plot and not so intresting characters.
A fun and witty battle of the sexes.......2006-06-08
In the first book featuring the delectable MacAllister brothers, meet their youngest, Braden. Handsome as sin and more dangerous than the devil himself, Braden has women swooning at his feet from the time he reached manhood. Therefore, on the day he returns to Scotland to hear the news that the village shrew has rallied the women and led them all into hiding, threatening to stop serving the men unless they end their feud with a neighboring clan, his brothers agreed that Braden may be the answer to their prayers. With his seduction skills, angelic looks and renowned negotiation skills, aye, Braden will definitely have the little hellion feeding from his hand in next to no time... or so they thought...
Having lost her brothers' lives through the ongoing feud between the MacAllisters and MacDouglas, Maggie ingen Blar decides enough is enough. Knowing that the only way to knock some sense into the men's heads is by denying them everything, she takes the risk of earning the men's wrath and convinces the women of both clans to go into hiding. Everything was going according to plan until Braden appears at the doorstep.
Ever since she was a child, she has yearned for him to look at her the way he looked at other women. Yet it seems that her brother was right when he said that she was the type of woman to whom men turn to for advice, the kind they develop friendship with. With Braden's sudden appearance, she goes week at the knees despite knowing that his seduction attempts are made to convince her to give up her plan. So how long can she resist this magnificent highlander?
After my delight with MASTER OF DESIRE, I couldn't wait to start reading this book. CLAIMING THE HIGHLANDER is a light and fun story featuring a delectable and oh-so-charming hero and a redheaded hellion for a heroine. I liked the premise of the story and really delighted in being introduced to the MacAllister brothers. Braden's good looks come with a really fun personality, and I enjoyed the sexual innuendos and witty exchanges between him and Maggie. I liked the fact that Maggie wasn't made out to be the village beauty, but rather someone who is passably attractive and has secretly been in love with Braden since she was a child.
Although the middle part of the book dragged a bit, CLAIMING THE HIGHLANDER is an entertaining book filled with witty dialogues and characters that you will wish to read about.
Next up is BORN IN SIN, which I guarantee is even better than this.
A Rainy day book.............2006-01-11
I love this book, it took sometime to start getting into but worth the read when you have read the other books about the brothers and you get to know them its worth the read Sin for me in this book was very good even though he wasn't the hero...
Everybody has a different opinion when writting a review if we all had the same reviews or opinions it would be boring. Reviews can sometimes down play a really good book or up play a really bad book its up to us to read the book and judge for ourselfs and draw our own conclusion thats the best thing about a review its like a silent debate....
Charming.......2005-12-01
CLAIMING THE HIGHLANDER is a light and fluffy tale of romance in medieval Scotland. I generally prefer more serious, historically accurate historicals, but this book was a delight to read. The witty humor and snappy prose pulled me through this fun, sweet story and left me feeling happy and uplifted for the rest of the day.
The strength of this story is most defintiely the heroine, Maggie ingen Blar. She's not the village beauty whom every man lusts for. In fact she's been picked on most of her life for being so plain. But she's intelligent, witty, and knows how to handle the stubborn Scotsmen she has to live with.
She's been in love with Braden MacAllister since childhood and has never stopped loving him all the years he's been away. When he returns to his village to try and undo the havoc Maggie has wreaked in an attempt to end a bloody clan war, there's something about her that gets under his skin. She's no longer the irritating girl he left behind years ago. Braden is a beautiful man who can have any woman he wants, yet he finds this rather plain lass totally irresistible. He fights his feelings for her, but her inner beauty is so great it captures his heart and she becomes utterly beautiful in his eyes.
Yes, this story is fluff, and many aspects could have been more well developed, but it's a worthy read. This story has a core of truth to the nature and meaning of real love. And it's just plain fun!
4 stars.
Book Description
Allan Gurganus's
Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All became an instant classic upon its publication. Critics and readers alike fell in love with the voice of ninety-nine-year-old Lucy Marsden, one of the most entertaining and loquacious heoines in American literature.
Lucy married at the turn of the last century, when she was fifteen and her husband was fifty. If Colonel William Marsden was a veteran of the "War for Southern Independence", Lucy became a "veteran of the veteran" with a unique perspective on Southern history and Southern manhood. Her story encompasses everything from the tragic death of a Confederate boy soldier to the feisty narrator's daily battles in the Home--complete with visits from a mohawk-coiffed candy-striper.
Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All is proof that brilliant, emotional storytelling remains at the heart of great fiction.
Customer Reviews:
A Monumental Event for The Ultimate Survival........2005-09-22
This is the basis for the movie of the same name, an overwhelming preformance in words. Yes, it is comic because the old woman is in a nursing home ready to celebrate her birthday and anniversary of being the oldest Confederate widow. Actually, she'd been a young girl (age 15) when she foolishly married the fifty year old Confederate veteran, who was cruel to her.
This long book (five in all, entitled 'Nobody's Perfect,' ' Time Does That,' 'Give Strength, Lord,' ' These Things Happen,' and 'A Treaty with the World.' It is of monumental length for a first novel. It won the Sue Kaufman Prize from the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters.
It is a work of originality about the virtues of Southerners and has a great moral force. It tells the story of the War Between the States from a woman's point of view and the savage memories she shares of her hard life with a half-crazy Confederate Vet. Lucy Marsden gives an account of her life before, during, and after the Civil War. It is an incredible story of her husband, nine children, parents, mother-in-law, and friends along with her nursing home existence.
War makes men crazy and they take it out on the women in their lives. He couldn't do that to his looney mother who had been burned in her antebellum home which the Union army had destroyed during the war. He chose young Lucy to be his bride because she was different from the other school girls who were flighty and smart enough to steer clear of him. Lucy didn't know what she was getting into, and her mother did not prepare her for the marriage night when she was manhandled and abused by a mean man. She endured many sorrows because of him and yet the oldest widow was 'feisty' as "her outspoken opinions crackle with dark humor."
Lucy maintained a relationship with her mother-in-law's slave, Castalia, who'd looked after the old woman and stayed on to help Lucy as a freed black, like in 'Gone With The Wind.' She symbolized the failure of Reconstruction, meant to show the blacks how to be independent and forge a new life. Castalia had made the Marsden family her family.
Lucy grew into a strong woman despite her weak parents. Her memories of hardship and poverty after the war will remind you of your own hardships (we all have them at one time or another). It was made into the moving movie, and I could emphathize with her as I'd also married an older man and endured some of the same sexual frustration and abuse she did. Maybe that's why old men choose innocent virgins, to lord over. I cried through most of that movie which I watched on DVD recently.
"What the American public ... wants is a tragedy with a happy ending" was quoted in A BACKWARD GLANCE, W. Dean Howells to Edith Wharton. That's what they get in this story as Lucy lived to tell it all -- her way. I looked somewhat like her in the portrait holding the Confederate flag made by a professional at the County Fair just last week.
Allan Gurganus went on to write WHITE PEOPLE and THE PRACTICAL HEART. He also had an Omnibus of short features in one book.
i saw the miniseries on tv first.......2005-09-09
ok, so i was flipping through the channels and my daughter started crying. as i rocked her to sleep,it wasnt the first time i have had to sit through some terrible thing cause i couldnt reach the remote and she was nodding off.I started to watch one of the parts of this miniseries...oh my god i watched a woman give birth and i thought oh, god that seemed real...she was terrified . that woman was lucy marsden. i searched for the rest of the mini series and even tried to see if any of the video stores near me had it to rent.then i turned to amazon, i bought the miniseries ...after watching it i was so in awe at how marriage at a young and innocent age was really portrayed , that i bought the book on amazon too...and it did'nt disappoint!i tell anyone who will listen about the movie and book! that was the best book i have read on a womans struggle with issues of marriage and childbearing since evergreen which i also highly reccomend.
Just tell the story and get it over with!.......2004-10-31
Ordinarily I love a novel I can settle down and read - something really engaging. This book was more frustrating than engaging. The choppy sentences and haphazard storyline were too much to bear past the 6th chapter. For those of you who loved it - I admire your stamina. I just couldn't slog through another page and it's RARE that I don't finish a book.
Too much, too little.......2004-10-20
This book was a big disappoint and maddening at times. I am not one to not finish a book, so I slugged through. Waste of my time. I hated Lucy. I thought she was a pathetic woman with a sad life. Her horrible grammar was excrutiating to read as well, and the author even wrote an entire (long, like all the others) chapter on it! If people from the south really speak like that then it's no wonder northerners stereotypically think southerns are stupid and ill-educated. The entire book jumps around timewise - one minute Lucy is a 90-some year old in the nursing home (and this part of the story, to me, has no interest and appears at random interludes), next she is a young bride, next the story jumps to the Captain and to a time when Lucy was yet to be born. Information is missing - she had 9 children. Only four are named in the book, little information is given as to how or why they are all dead and if Lucy has any grandchildren. While I did find many of the individual chapters/stories interesting, the author draws them out and unnecessarily makes them last 50 pages when they could have been adequately portrayed in 20-30. I could not wait until Lady burned as I thought that would bring me to the end of the chapter.
Zzzzzzzz.......2004-07-14
I bought this book in Bangkok and read it because it was in English. Otherwise I would have chucked it aside. Ditto to what other reviewers have said about the bogged-down prose style, plus several other serious flaws, including but not limited to:
characters that are developed at ponderous length and suddenly disappear, never to be heard from again; the incomprehensible pattern of events which the narrator chooses (giving us every random detail for about a 12-year period and then skipping over a whole lot of stuff that would have been nice to know); stomach-churning prissiness that attempts to pass as womanspeak ("I then scolded my prettiest girl for lisping so"), and a burning-of-the-plantation scene that is laughably stupid as well as flat-out physiologically impossible. Not for the literate.
Book Description
After spending five years in prison for killing his beloved grandmother in a drunk driving accident, thirty-three-year-old Winston Mabie is returning to his Wichita, Kansas, childhood home and the sisters and parents he left behind. Though the surroundings are familiar, Winston's return suddenly forces the five Mabies to reexamine one another. Will they learn to talk of clean slates and new beginnings?
As the Mabies wrestle with pregnancy, broken hearts, obsession, redemption, mortality, and forgiveness, Antonya Nelson weaves a rich and true tapestry of family.
Download Description
None of the Mabie family could have imagined that the one son who exuded "the cosmetic loveliness of a saint" would kill his beloved grandmother in a drunk driving accident. But now, after five years in prison, thirty-three-year-old Winston is returning to his childhood home and the family he left behind.
Living to Tell is the deeply affecting story of the Mabie clan in the tumultuous year of readjustment following Winston's homecoming. Through the Mabies' struggle with pregnancy, suicide, broken hearts, addiction, redemption, mortality, and forgiveness, Antonya Nelson weaves a rich and true tapestry of family. With a deft, unsentimental touch, she reminds us that our bloodiest battles and most heartwarming successes take place at home.
Amazon.com
Living to Tell the Tale, the first of three projected volumes in the memoirs of Nobel Laureate Gabriel Garcia Márquez, narrates what, on the surface appears to be the portrait of the young artist through the mid-1950s. But the masterful work, which draws on the craft of the author's best fiction, has a depth and richness that transcends straightforward autobiography.
Echoing Vladimir Nabokov's Speak, Memory: An Autobiography Revisited, Márquez uses his memoir as justification for telling an artful story that challenges notions of authoritative record or chronology. Time is porous in Márquez's Colombia, flowing back and forth among the mythic moments of his personal history to accommodate his fascination for place. While recalling a trip he took as an adult to his grandparents' house in Aracataca, he veers suddenly back to childhood and his earliest infant memories in that house. Nearly one hundred pages have passed before he returns effortlessly to the pivotal moment on the trip when he declares to himself and family: "I'm going to be a writer... Nothing but a writer.'
Similarly, Márquez toys with the boundaries of truth and fiction throughout his book. He acknowledges that his memory is often faulty, especially with regards to his crucial, formative years with his grandparents. And his explorations of key moments in his life show that, despite his vivid mental snapshots, the events were often temporally impossible. Further, he colors his tale with recollections of ghostly presences and occult events that pass without a wink into his narrative, alongside the documented accounts of his early successes as a poet and singer or details of his first published writings.
With its play on time and truth, memory and storytelling, Living to Tell the Tale's literary form acts as early evidence for Márquez's inevitable calling as a writer, and the language of Edith Grossman's translation, which frequently skirts the boundaries of poetry, mirrors Márquez's effort. While he meanders on his picaresque artistic journey--distracted by trysts with a married woman, the tumult of Colombian politics, and the raw energy of the journalist's life--he ends this first volume with the tantalizing promise of the literary career about to explode, and the impossible prospect of even greater riches for his readers. --Patrick O'Kelley
Book Description
In this long-awaited first volume of a planned trilogy, the most acclaimed and revered living Nobel laureate begins to tell us the story of his life.
Like all his work, Living to Tell the Tale is a magnificent piece of writing. It spans Gabriel García Márquez’s life from his birth in 1927 through the start of his career as a writer to the moment in the 1950s when he proposed to the woman who would become his wife. It has the shape, the quality, and the vividness of a conversation with the reader—a tale of people, places, and events as they occur to him: the colorful stories of his eccentric family members; the great influence of his mother and maternal grandfather; his consuming career in journalism, and the friends and mentors who encouraged him; the myths and mysteries of his beloved Colombia; personal details, undisclosed until now, that would appear later, transmuted and transposed, in his fiction; and, above all, his fervent desire to become a writer. And, as in his fiction, the narrator here is an inspired observer of the physical world, able to make clear the emotions and passions that lie at the heart of a life—in this instance, his own.
Living to Tell the Tale is a radiant, powerful, and beguiling memoir that gives us the formation of Gabriel García Márquez as a writer and as a man.
Customer Reviews:
Delightful trip.......2007-07-03
This book had me traveling over the time, places, aromas and dreams. I enjoyed it.
Always Brilliant..........2007-03-29
I have enjoyed reading this book and look forward to the next two in this trilogy. I will say the book has not been as "captivating" as some of Marquez's other titles, but since I love this writer, I will continue to seek out and read his writings! The rich history he decribes of Colombia is fascinating!
What a writer ..........2006-12-28
The story of his family and his coming of age is incredible, and incredibly told. It will carry you away. If Marquez had not spent quite as much time giving one pargaraph to each of his acquantances in what amounts to an excercise in name dropping, and spent less time describing his debauchery, I would have given this 5 stars.
Painting a Picture.......2006-11-02
Only once in a while can an author paint a picture that is so alive that you step into it and live it with them. Marquez does an amazing job at this. He brings us into his past in this autobiography and allows us to get to know him and the world of rural Columbia. The old banana plantations, the ancient railroad cars, the quirky family members.
If you ever wondered what South America is like - ready Marquez!
Largely for die-hard fans; maybe not even for all of them........2006-10-28
I started this book the same way I started almost every Marquez book in the past - expecting to be mesmerized and taken away for a while from my world to one of the magical-real worlds of Marquez. The first few tens of pages of this book took off the way those in any other Marquez book do: slowly, but promisingly creating a solid loom to weave a tale on. And then the next tens of pages continued in the same vein, as did the next few chapters, and so on and so forth.
Actually, to be fair, at least a part of the problem could be with my expectations. I was expecting another stunning piece of writing, even if it was a recount of reality. But then, how many readers of Marquez would hold that against me and expect differently of him? After all, his books have been as much about his writing style as they have been about his vivid imagination, haven't they? So that's primarily what I felt let down about in this book - the book just fails to grip. Marquez's writing seems weak like never before (except for the odd brilliant phrase here and there), and there aren't enough interesting tales to tell anyway. The book never moves beyond the context-setting; there is almost no dramatic arc, and; there is hardly any climatic resolution.
To summarize quickly then, I would recommend this book to very die-hard Marquez fans only. The only real value of this book lies in helping Marquez's readers undestand how he came to be the writer he did. If you are prepared to go through 500 pages of tedium for that, go for it.
Book Description
From the million-copy-plus bestselling author of Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway comes a powerful and healing book designed to offer a safety net in a world of never-ending change. With her invaluable insights and exercises, Jeffers provides the tools needed to deal with uncertainties in life, offering a sense of peace and possibility. How do we reach this wonderful state? The answers abound in Embracing Uncertainty. Features include: -Forty-two exercises to learn how to stop trying to control everything -Techniques to instantly put problems into perspective -How to discover the power of 'maybe' And much more. It may be one of the most comforting and life-affirming books ever read.
Download Description
Nonfiction about how to live a more peaceful, joyful life by letting go of your need for control.
Customer Reviews:
Embracing Uncertainty.......2006-08-18
Excellent book. I would recommend it to anyone who is struggling with the pressures of life an its uncertainties.
A helping mind for the weary souls.......2005-11-11
"Embracing Uncertainty" by Susan Jeffers
If you want a clear mental image of a beautiful human being, and particularly a beautiful human spirit, read this book and discover its author. Her delightfully simple, though enlightening and uplifting, style will seem as though you're in company with a warm, caring friend that is profoundly wise into the bargain. Learn the virtue of detachment blended with commitment, and find peace within; discover the incredible resources for achieving happiness that you possess. Do yourself a favor and read this book.
Laurent Grenier
Author of the book "A Reason for Living (the way to fulfillment against great odds)."
A very helpful book!.......2005-03-23
Embracing Uncertainty was one of the first self help books that I have ever read.
I found it so helpful that it motivated me to find and read more books that would help me as much at achieving peace and happiness in my life.
Jeffers provides 58 simple exercises that can be practised throughout your day to help you deal with the challenges of life.
I've yet to find another book that offers so many tools to help teach you to control your mind. I use two of the exercises so much that they are now second nature to me!
The first exercise helps me whenever I find myself worrying about something and I can't seem to stop.
I simply tell myself that I'll worry about it tomorrow every time the thought comes up. It's a great mind trick saying you'll worry about it tomorrow when really you'll never let yourself worry about it. This exercise has let me enjoy the present moment without wasting it on useless worrying.
The second exercise that I found very useful was to teach myself to stop `hoping' for things. Instead, I only let myself `wonder' about what might happen. Wondering instead of hoping stops me from feeling disappointment that can come when something I hope for doesn't happen. A `wondering' world is a much easier one to be in than a `hoping' world!
There are 56 other good techniques in Embracing Uncertainty so I'm sure if these two don't quite speak to you, you'll find at least a couple of others that will make your world a lot better.
The Most Comforting Self-Help Book I Ever Read.......2003-10-18
I have read Embracing Uncertainty by Dr. Susan Jeffers a couple of times and I find it the most comforting self-help book that I have ever read. Seldom is one provided with so many wonderful tools to overcome the stress and anxiety caused by the troubled world around us. Against the background of the current world crisis, a lousy economy and the constant threat of terrorist attacks, we all need help to keep calm and balanced, and I found Dr. Jeffers's advice to be ideal in terms of leveling my personal equilibrium. Now, I can approach each day with much more confidence and handle the uncertainty in the world without feeling fearful and stressed. Further, the book is filled with such common sense advice that's so clearly stated, it is accessible to everyone. I can't recommend this highly enough! A great gift for loved ones...
Mostly feel-good fluff.......2003-07-03
One wishes for a thorough and effective treatment of worry, probably based on CBT. For instance, Basco's book "Never Good Enough" on perfectionism. Unfortunately, this isn't that.
In the interests of motivating and directing improvement, I will don the critic's cap.
The book begins with an effective practice, which is reframing expectations as "wonder". So instead of obsessing over hopes and fears, adopt a sense of "wondering" what will happen. Rewrite your messages to yourself from "I hope things work out like so" to "I wonder how things will work out."
One wonders, indeed, how the passivity from this verbal tranquilizer would play out across society, with people not whipping themselves into improvement. Obviously there would be plenty of happier more peaceful people, but perhaps all would wonder when the trains would arrive, if ever.
With that auspicious start one wonders through the rest of the book if anything else of applicability will be presented, but it devolves into a slightly new-age, feel-good fluff fest with a somewhat feminine targeting. The only scraps worth keeping come from a handful of recycled quotes of others, like Feynman's satisfaction with ignorance, Ziglar's postulate that "every obnoxious act is a cry for help," and a poet's observation that we enjoy games because they "make things hard for the fun of it."
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