Friday November 21, 2008
Biographies & Memoirs: Specific Groups
Displayed below are the top selling items for today, Friday November 21, 2008 along with the review customers have voted "most useful".
To find top selling items in for a specific category, use the menu on the left or click here to see all categories.
- The Game : Penetrating the Secret Society of Pickup Artists by Neil Strauss
- Here's the Story : Surviving Marcia Brady and Finding My True Voice by Maureen Mccormick
- Three Cups of Tea : One Man's Mission to Promote Peace . . . One School at a Time by Greg Mortenson
- Eat, Pray, Love : One Woman's Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia by Elizabeth Gilbert
- Against Medical Advice : One Family's Struggle with an Agonizing Medical Mystery by James Patterson
- Same Kind of Different As Me : A Modern-Day Slave, an International Art Dealer, and the Unlikely Woman Who Bound Them Together by Ron Hall
- Are You There, Vodka? It's Me, Chelsea by Chelsea Handler
- My Horizontal Life : A Collection of One-Night Stands by Chelsea Handler
- Three Cups of Tea : One Man's Mission to Fight Terrorism and Build Nations . . . One School at a Time by Greg Mortenson
- Eat, Pray, Love : One Woman's Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia by Elizabeth Gilbert
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The Game
Penetrating the Secret Society of Pickup Artists
by Neil Strauss
(based on 584 customer reviews)
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(Imitation Leather)
Edition: 1
Author: Neil Strauss
Publisher: William Morrow
Price: $27.44
You save: $7.56 (22%) off the list price!
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Most useful review as voted by customers:
654 out of 745 people found the following review helpful.
Review Date: 10/19/05
Fascinating ... and not a little creepy
First, a disclaimer, because of the sniping going on about this book: I don't know any of the people portrayed in "The Game." I have no biases in either direction regarding any of them. In fact, I'm a straight (and married) female, so I really have no vested interest in ANY pick-up strategies.
I read "The Game" after seeing a review of it in the newspaper. I was amused and a bit intrigued at the idea of a whole subculture centered around seducing members of the opposite sex -- at the idea of guys who honestly had NO other goals in life.
In a way, it's almost an inspirational story in the beginning. Everyone likes an underdog, and the short, bald guy who's suddenly able to get all the babes is no exception. But it wouldn't be much of a story if there wasn't a dark side to the success. Strauss describes how he loses interest in everything EXCEPT picking up women and in fact feels compelled to hit on them almost constantly. He holds seminars on seduction. He posts to message boards about seduction. He lives in a house full of guys whose sole interest is seduction -- some who spend thousands of dollars attending seminars around the country.
Of course, at the end, he realizes that all the tricks and one-liners he uses to get a woman into bed won't help him when he meets The One. And maybe I'm a bit naive, but isn't that what most of us really want in the end?
Strauss is a fine writer, though not a highly remarkable one. I think the story itself, rather than the writing, is what carries the book. The characters are truly compelling -- especially Mystery, who I almost want to meet to see if he's as irresistable as everyone seems to think. (You have to wonder, though, if his techniques work half so well when the women already know about them.)
So, should guys who can't meet women pick up this book? I don't think so. I -do- believe that some of the advice here could work, such as "negging" -- giving a good-looking girl a subtle put-down to make her want to win you over. I know that, in my single days, I was more intrigued by the guys who weren't under my spell, so to speak. Still, it doesn't make putting people down a nice thing to do.
My problem with this book is that it might be overly seductive to single guys, and draw people in to a rather twisted subculture -- which I think is NOT the author's intent. I also think that the techniques described encourage objectification of women to an extreme, and aren't particularly healthy for guys, either.
It's easy to see how becoming an expert in seduction would sound, well, seductive. But these "expert" philosophies all have one thing in common: They treat women as the enemy. And we're not, I swear!
To summarize: If you're looking for a good read, pick up "The Game." If you're trying to meet women, get some fashion advice and learn how to boost your self-confidence, because magic tricks and insults aren't going to get you into a relationship worth having.
Click here to see more reviews for: The Game
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Here's the Story
Surviving Marcia Brady and Finding My True Voice
by Maureen Mccormick (based on 45 customer reviews)
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(Hardcover)
Author: Maureen Mccormick
Publisher: William Morrow
Price: $17.13
You save: $8.82 (34%) off the list price!
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Most useful review as voted by customers:
81 out of 88 people found the following review helpful.
Review Date: 10/14/08
Excellent
The Brady Bunch was a show that I discovered only in reruns as I was a little young when it first aired. By the time I did watch it, I was in my teens and thought the whole show was a bit of a joke and could not understand its cult following - however, over the years, it somehow kept resurfacing and despite myself, I got to know a little bit about each of the Brady kids. When I saw that Maureen McCormick was publishing her memoirs, I thought it would be interesting to read as I always thought she was the most interesting character on the show - and always felt that there was alot lurking behind the "good girl, hair of gold Brady".
As soon as I started reading, I absolutely fell in love with the pace, the tone and the overall story being told. The first thing I noticed (and was eternally grateful for) was that although Maureen does touch on her childhood, she does not go on and on about it for half the book. She basically gives us the highlights (which includes some surprising facts about her siblings and her parents) and then moves on to her early career. Yes, she does spend some time on her "Brady days" but tends to gloss over some of the key elements that I believe would have been fun to read. She does go into quite alot of detail about the "crushes/kissing/fondling" that happened among the Brady kids, but I would have liked to hear more about the dynamics behind the scene - that did not necessarily relate to the teenage lust that seemed to be rampant. I would have like to find out more about the chemistry of the actors, some funny onset stories would have been nice. There is a minimal amount of this type of thing - it seems as though the Brady kids were all about "teenage lust" which is okay - but I felt there could have been a little bit more substance here. Besides which, somebody is going to have to explain to me why every girl (including Maureen) had a thing for Greg? I mean, the guy is really average looking in my opinion!!!
However, what comes after the Brady years is really where you find the heart and soul of Maureen McCormick. Its going to be hard for me to write this review without giving away any of the spoilers, but I had NO IDEA just how far down she fell before she found the strength to pick herself up. To her credit, she exposes every raw nerve in this memoir and makes a point of saying that SHE alone is responsible for the situation(s) she got herself into. I have to say that she must have had a fairy godmother looking over her - because she really got herself into some horrible situations.
The writing here is exceptional and we get a very clear picture of just how screwed up Maureen was. When she talks about her meeting with her future husband, you can actually feel the tone of the writing change - there is hope and love in the writing.
Maureen McCormick needs to be commended for writing an honest, raw memoir. She could easily have gone the other way and written some bubblegum account of her life. Writing memoirs are always tricky because you can't or won't divulge other people's involvement in your life and Maureen has done an excellent job of keeping the focus on her and not on the "other" celebrities that she talks about in her book.
I read alot of these types of books and I can't encourage you enough to run to the bookstore for this one.
Click here to see more reviews for: Here's the Story
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Three Cups of Tea
One Man's Mission to Promote Peace . . . One School at a Time
by Greg Mortenson (based on 1447 customer reviews)
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(Paperback)
Author: Greg Mortenson
Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics)
Price: $9.00
You save: $6.00 (40%) off the list price!
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Most useful review as voted by customers:
498 out of 567 people found the following review helpful.
Review Date: 6/2/06
STOP what you are doing...
you.. yes YOU behind the terminal, surfing the web, maybe finding that cheap chotcky to buy or something. Stop what you are doing if you have come across this book and this review. You need to read this more than you think!
Within the confines of 350 pages you can be transported to a world that for most Westerner's and specifically Americans, is probably very unknown, and more than likely, highly misunderstood. In this world you will be introduced to a man named Greg Mortenson, or as you soon to know him, as Greg Sahib..
The story that is told by David Oliver Revin, will not just be inspiring, will not be just teeth clenching, it will make you re-evaluate what you do in your life. While most of us may talk about the incapacity of the administration, or some (unfortunatly) the hatred of the middle East, or maybe some of you are even lying down in the streets, but there is ONE person who is TRULY doing something about the problems of foreign policy by litteraly getting his hands dirty touching the earth to build a school foundation, and risking his life ten times over.
When you have read this journey, you will be saying to yourself, did he really do that? That guy is CRAZY! Did that really happen?, the Taliban? , How is that possible? In the journey that is fortold of a change of fate through a failed mountain expedition, you can see what the spirit of the individual can do and how it can be transformed. As the events of 9/11 soon come to fruition, Greg couldn't be in a better place at the right time, and with David's narration, you are litteraly put in the drivers seat.
After reading Mortensen's journey, you will want to litteraly book a plane ticket to somewhere you have never been before. In reading the accomplishments of a somewhat flawed (hey what person is perfect) individual, you will feel small and insignifigant. David Relin will not just explain what Greg did, he will make you live it, with some enjoyable side narrations that will make you grin.
In Three Cups of Tea, David has managed more than anything to explain the heart of a problem (Islamic hatred of the West) of a very complicated nature (through numerous foreign policy debacles and politics spanning decades), and how one man knows of an easy solution (Go to poor regions of the Middle East and give education and extend the olive branch. Build schools for the poorest of the poor, ecspecially for girls. And more importantly, let them know that it was done.. by an American).
As if it was so difficult to understand.
I encourage you to take this journey and figure out that sometimes the biggest problems in life require some of the most common sense solutions. I also echo the other comments on here that you should buy this book from the actually CAI institute and consider a donation as well.
Greg Mortensen is doing what he is doing best, and his passion comes through the pages. For myself my passion is to write. Like Gregg I feel it is what I can do best (when I put my effort my passion, and my soul into it).
now if you'll excuse me...
I have to go write a check.
Click here to see more reviews for: Three Cups of Tea
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Eat, Pray, Love
One Woman's Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia
by Elizabeth Gilbert (based on 1730 customer reviews)
-
(Paperback)
Author: Elizabeth Gilbert
Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics)
Price: $9.00
You save: $6.00 (40%) off the list price!
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Most useful review as voted by customers:
279 out of 398 people found the following review helpful.
Review Date: 2/26/06
HER OWN SEARCH - HER OWN VOICE, BOTH IMPRESSIVE
Reading the subtitle of Elizabeth Gilbert's latest book, "One Woman's Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia," one can only think well, she certainly knows where to look! Also, upon learning that this is her chosen way of recovering from a particularly acrimonious divorce and a trying-to-make-up-for-that-loss romance that didn't work, we might think how fortunate she is to able to seek solace in such intriguing places.
Whatever our opinion of her reasons for this journey it has been established that she's a super writer (The Last American Man), and she brings all of her wit, intellect and stylish pen to Eat Pray Love. More than that, she brought a great deal of courage to her chosen task of traveling the world alone at the age of 34. She felt she needed a dramatic change, and it may be that she has found it.
It's a pleasure to listen to this memoir/travelogue in her voice. Many will associate with her initial confession that she's not a very good traveler in that she suffers from various digestive interruptions. However, on the plus side she easily makes friends with anyone. As she puts it, "I can make friends with the dead." Or, if there isn't anyone around she claims that she could chat with a pile of Sheetrock. Whatever the case, she is a very lucky lady as her travel experiences prove.
No Viva Italia for Italy because of Messina, a port town in Sicily that she describes as "scary and suspicious." Perhaps that's one reason why she's lonely and depressed there. But things definitely take a turn for the better in India and Indonesia, although her meditation needs a little more work.
Did Gilbert find what she was searching for? Listeners may not be too sure but they'll certainly enjoy the trip!
- Gail Cooke
Click here to see more reviews for: Eat, Pray, Love
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Against Medical Advice
One Family's Struggle with an Agonizing Medical Mystery
by James Patterson (based on 24 customer reviews)
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(Hardcover)
Edition: 1
Author: James Patterson
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company
Price: $17.81
You save: $9.18 (34%) off the list price!
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Most useful review as voted by customers:
23 out of 23 people found the following review helpful.
Review Date: 10/22/08
Incredibly familiar
This book was a phenomenal retelling of the life of someone with Tourette Syndrome. As a mother of three boys who all have the same diagnosis as Cory, I feel like I can adequately say that I am more of an authority on the subject than most. As I read through his life struggles, weeping through a great many of the pages, I could identify with much of the grief and pain that he and his parents have gone through. I believe that everything in the book was very accurately portrayed, from the lack of understanding of the educational system to the medical roller coaster ride of trial and error, not to mention the misery inflicted by social situations. I feel like the book was tastefully written to not bash the people who do not understand this condition, (including medical/mental health professionals) but to portray the frustration and mental anguish caused by this lack of understanding.
I highly recommend this book to all, but especially to those who have the fortunate opportunity to touch the life of someone with Tourette Syndrome. As is obvious in Cory's case, these children are incredible. They have to overcome so much more than the rest of us would ever dream of imagining just to live, let alone succeed. Thank you Cory, for sharing your life with us.
Click here to see more reviews for: Against Medical Advice
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Same Kind of Different As Me
A Modern-Day Slave, an International Art Dealer, and the Unlikely Woman Who Bound Them Together
by Ron Hall (based on 207 customer reviews)
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(Paperback)
Author: Ron Hall
Publisher: Thomas Nelson
Price: $10.19
You save: $4.80 (32%) off the list price!
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Most useful review as voted by customers:
90 out of 95 people found the following review helpful.
Review Date: 5/3/07
Better Than Fiction
At a recent conference I met a gentleman who happens to edit one of those airline magazines that always competes with your legroom in an airplane. A short time ago he sent me an email and asked if I had heard of a book called Same Kind of Different as Me and recommended that I read it. He seemed like a good enough guy and the book had a great cover, so I went ahead and ordered it sight unseen (or nearly so). And what a book it turned out to be.
Same Kind of Different as Me, a book that is factual but could just as easily be fiction, tells the unlikely story of the unlikeliest of friends--Ron Hall and Denver Moore. Told in two voices, the book alternates between telling the story from the perspective of Ron and Denver.
Ron Hall is a wealthy international art dealer who travels the world buying and selling rare and expensive works of art. He has grown rich but has also grown selfish and has grown away from his family. When Ron Hall reluctantly volunteers at a homeless shelter (at the insistence of his wife) he soon comes into contact with Denver, a man his wife is convinced is going to change the city. Denver grew up as a sharecropper in Louisiana, living a life that seemed little different from the life of his ancestors one hundreds years before. He eventually walked away from the cotton fields and found that, while life on the streets of Fort Worth was difficult, it was easier than being a sharecropper. It was here, in a homeless shelter, that the two men met, one serving food and the other being a reluctant recipient of this charity.
Chef Jim and Deborah chatted easily while I mentally balanced the ledger between pleasing my wife and contracting a terminal disease. I had to admit that his idea seemed like an easy way to start--serve the evening meal once a week, and we'd be in and out in three, four hours max. We could minister from behind the rusty steel serving counter, safely separated from the customers. And we could enter and leave through the rear kitchen door, thereby minimizing contact with those likely to hit us up for money. The whole arrangement seemed like a good way for us to fulfill Deborah's desire to help the homeless without our touching them or letting them touch us.
Her bright laugh pulled my attention back into the room. "I think that sounds great, Jim!" she was saying. "I don't see any reason why we can't start tomorrow. In fact, let's just say you can count on us to serve every Tuesday until you hear otherwise."
"Praise the Lord!" Chef Jim said, this time giving Deborah a great big Baptist hug. It did not sound great to me, but Deborah had not asked me what I thought. She never did do much by committee.
At first unable to crack Denver's stony personality, Hall eventually prevails and strikes up a friendship with a man worlds apart. They become fast friends who endure a tragedy together and who soon grow in their love, respect and admiration of each other. Each man teaches the other about life and faith. Somehow the story of the relationship between these two men is fascinating and inspiring. It offers a glimpse into two worlds that are nearly opposite and shows what happens when these worlds come into contact with each other. I can still hardly believe this was not a novel.
While the book showcases a fun sense of humor, there is also plenty of heart.
And yet for all the courage I knew she had, she had shown this glimmer of fear. Oh, how I loved her then. Fiercely. The passion you feel down in your guts where no one else can see and only you know its frightening force. I could remember that there were times in our nearly three decades of marriage that I had loved her less than at that moment, and guilt pierced me like a spike. Though she had always given unconditionally, I had often not been willing to do so in return, She has deserved better than she's gotten from me, I thought, and nearly drowned in a wave of regret thirty years deep.
Between the heart and the humor is some good theology, but, unfortunately, also some that would require believing the word of the author rather than finding any basis in Scripture. For example, there is talk of a "visitation" where a dead person returns to earth, however briefly, to offer comfort and encouragement. This is not something the Bible tells us we can or should expect. There was also some theology that was suspicious and seemed to reveal an understanding of the gospel that was somewhat incomplete. I found these distracting and disappointing, but not fatal to the book.
So while Same Kind of Different as Me is not necessarily a book I'd recommend for its theology, it is a book that I'd recommend for a stirring and unforgettable story, and for the pure joy of reading it. This one caught me by surprise and I enjoyed every minute of it. I can pretty well guarantee that someone will buy the movie rights to this story, so why not buy it now so you can say that you read the book before you ever heard of the movie!
Click here to see more reviews for: Same Kind of Different As Me
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Are You There, Vodka? It's Me, Chelsea
by Chelsea Handler (based on 264 customer reviews)
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(Hardcover)
Author: Chelsea Handler
Publisher: Simon Spotlight Entertainment
Price: $16.47
You save: $8.48 (34%) off the list price!
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Most useful review as voted by customers:
179 out of 189 people found the following review helpful.
Review Date: 4/17/08
One of the funniest people in America
I actually bought this book for my wife, since she had enjoyed Chelsea Handler's previous book, "My Horizontal Life." When the book arrived yesterday, I picked it up to peruse it and I couldn't put it down. This book is laugh-out-loud funny. The book contains stories from the author's life from around the age of 9 through adulthood that are funny from the perspective of men and women alike. As should be clear from the title, this book isn't for kids and the content can be pretty racy. If you aren't easily offended, however, it will probably be the most humorous book you read this year. I'd give it more than 5 stars if I could.
Click here to see more reviews for: Are You There, Vodka? It's Me, Chelsea
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My Horizontal Life
A Collection of One-Night Stands
by Chelsea Handler (based on 257 customer reviews)
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(Paperback)
Author: Chelsea Handler
Publisher: Bloomsbury USA
Price: $10.17
You save: $4.78 (32%) off the list price!
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Most useful review as voted by customers:
50 out of 65 people found the following review helpful.
Review Date: 6/29/05
Woody Allen meets Sex and the City
Hilarious recollection of multiple amorous adventures and misadventures. Remeber when Woody Allen was funny? Well this could be his sister's version of "Everything you always wanted to know about sex but were afraid of asking"
The succession of ever so more improbable sexual fiascos and mishaps, would make Candace Bushnell cringe. Like Sex and the City, but wearing JC Penney shoes instead of Manolo Blahnik's.
A comic tour de force.
Read it, you won't regret it.
Click here to see more reviews for: My Horizontal Life
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Three Cups of Tea
One Man's Mission to Fight Terrorism and Build Nations . . . One School at a Time
by Greg Mortenson (based on 1447 customer reviews)
-
(Kindle Edition)
Author: Greg Mortenson
Publisher: Viking
Price: $9.00
You save: $6.00 (40%) off the list price!
click for more info
Most useful review as voted by customers:
498 out of 567 people found the following review helpful.
Review Date: 6/2/06
STOP what you are doing...
you.. yes YOU behind the terminal, surfing the web, maybe finding that cheap chotcky to buy or something. Stop what you are doing if you have come across this book and this review. You need to read this more than you think!
Within the confines of 350 pages you can be transported to a world that for most Westerner's and specifically Americans, is probably very unknown, and more than likely, highly misunderstood. In this world you will be introduced to a man named Greg Mortenson, or as you soon to know him, as Greg Sahib..
The story that is told by David Oliver Revin, will not just be inspiring, will not be just teeth clenching, it will make you re-evaluate what you do in your life. While most of us may talk about the incapacity of the administration, or some (unfortunatly) the hatred of the middle East, or maybe some of you are even lying down in the streets, but there is ONE person who is TRULY doing something about the problems of foreign policy by litteraly getting his hands dirty touching the earth to build a school foundation, and risking his life ten times over.
When you have read this journey, you will be saying to yourself, did he really do that? That guy is CRAZY! Did that really happen?, the Taliban? , How is that possible? In the journey that is fortold of a change of fate through a failed mountain expedition, you can see what the spirit of the individual can do and how it can be transformed. As the events of 9/11 soon come to fruition, Greg couldn't be in a better place at the right time, and with David's narration, you are litteraly put in the drivers seat.
After reading Mortensen's journey, you will want to litteraly book a plane ticket to somewhere you have never been before. In reading the accomplishments of a somewhat flawed (hey what person is perfect) individual, you will feel small and insignifigant. David Relin will not just explain what Greg did, he will make you live it, with some enjoyable side narrations that will make you grin.
In Three Cups of Tea, David has managed more than anything to explain the heart of a problem (Islamic hatred of the West) of a very complicated nature (through numerous foreign policy debacles and politics spanning decades), and how one man knows of an easy solution (Go to poor regions of the Middle East and give education and extend the olive branch. Build schools for the poorest of the poor, ecspecially for girls. And more importantly, let them know that it was done.. by an American).
As if it was so difficult to understand.
I encourage you to take this journey and figure out that sometimes the biggest problems in life require some of the most common sense solutions. I also echo the other comments on here that you should buy this book from the actually CAI institute and consider a donation as well.
Greg Mortensen is doing what he is doing best, and his passion comes through the pages. For myself my passion is to write. Like Gregg I feel it is what I can do best (when I put my effort my passion, and my soul into it).
now if you'll excuse me...
I have to go write a check.
Click here to see more reviews for: Three Cups of Tea
-
Eat, Pray, Love
One Woman's Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia
by Elizabeth Gilbert (based on 1730 customer reviews)
-
(Kindle Edition)
Author: Elizabeth Gilbert
Publisher: Viking
Price: $9.00
You save: $6.00 (40%) off the list price!
click for more info
Most useful review as voted by customers:
213 out of 304 people found the following review helpful.
Review Date: 4/3/06
AMAZING!!!
This book transends genres to be a memoir, travel guide, self help, and philosophy book. For anyone that ever wanted to find their own path, this book is for you! Elizabeth Gilbert's writing is down to earth, funny, smart, and like the cool best friend you always wanted to be like. Buy the book, Its a great journey!
Click here to see more reviews for: Eat, Pray, Love
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