Inspiration Books

Jon Kabat-Zinn gives a most complete introduction to appreciating the now and quieting your mind. I highly recommend these cd's for the beginner.

While going through classes to try and grasp this concept I still could not grasp the practice. This CD made things so clear. It is extremely helpful & informative. I appreciate the authors tone and easy to follow language!
I will probably purchase follow up products from this author.

I needed something, especially non-religious, to get my mind off of where our country is headed.

I have been lucky enough to take two Mindfulness courses and they have changed my life. Both were run by excellent course leaders but nothing compares with hearing Mindfulness founder Jon Kabat Zinn discuss the philosophy and methodology behind it. His wit, compassion and way with words themselves make CD1 compulsive listening as well as explaining the reasons for CD2 which are the practices themselves. I cannot recommend this highly enough to anybody who wants to learn about themselves and especially those seeking release from troubled mind states such as anxiety and depression. Buy it- Mindfulness practitioners will tell you honestly that they make no promises to 'fix things' but it might change your life too...

A very useful program to help each one of us get in touch with what's real and important. It makes a lot of sense when you think about what John says. And you can't help but relax listening to his voice.

El Secreto (The Secret)Es muy interesante aparte de los consejos de vida k te da te hace recordar y valorar las cosas buenas sobre todo ser agradecidos por lo k tenemos, me gusto mucho .

Que descubrir en ti mismo el poder que tienes para hacer que las cosas cambien,...........

Les recomiendo la versión AUDIO MP3 de Piense y Hágase Rico Piense y hagase rico

A good book if you are looking for an impulse to improve and enhance your self-steem. Some of these methods may result questionable but it's a good job in general.

La escritora australiana Rhonda Byrne logró reunir a grandes maestros, filósofos, escritores, científicos, etc. que comprenden y aplican en sus vidas los principios de la Ley de la Atracción. Estos personajes destacados comparten con nosotros sus conocimientos y experiencias sobre el tema en forma por demás amena e instructiva. La Sra. Byrne incluye, además, pensamientos brillantes que tomó de grandes escritores que vivieron durante los siglos 18, 19 y 20 quienes, afortunadamente, dejaron su obra, o gran parte de ella, escrita en libros que aún se pueden encontrar en algunas tiendas. Robert Collier, Prentice Mulford, Charles Haanel y Charles Fillmore son los nombres de algunos de los pioneros de la citada ley que mas sirvieron de sustento para estructurar El Secreto, sin embargo también podemos encontrar citas de Budha, Henry Ford, Shakespeare, Emerson, etc. Es realmente excepcional el trabajo realizado para la elaboración de este documento que ha servido y servirá para que muchas personas aprendan cuestiones que tienen que ver con la utilización de sus propios recursos personales así como recursos del Universo para lograr una vida mas plena.-

I read the book, explored their website,watched the videos and decided to attend the seminar in Denver. I was amazed to see the many, many demonstrations by Dr. Bartlett seemingly collapse people's body control as they would slowly bend backwards or suddenly slump to the floor, out like a light for 10 to 20 minutes; sometimes accompanied by the subject's peals of relieved laughter. When the audience of over 400 people were asked to practice the processes with their seating neighbors, I was truly amazed when I was personally able to "collapse" several men and women with my own initial practicing of these "Zero Point" exercises. (N.B.,this constitutes empirical evidence!) Dropping people to the floor was not the point of the exercise; it is just a side effect which occurs about 80% of the time during process application. I myself was rid of a shoulder-neck muscle-knot with chronic dull ache which my conventional Chiro never was able to satisfactorily treat, and I did not collapse to the floor; just wobbled a bit. Dr.Bartlett says the secret seems to come from using creative, imaginal humor. Well whatever, it worked for me and 400 others that week. Go ahead; it works...enjoy and empower yourself before the FDA, AMA,and various medical schools figure out how to burn Dr. Bartlett and 400 witnesses at the stake. When the penny drops for them, they will need to conduct another embarrassing funeral for hard science as they experience the power of the mind over matter. Hah! Welcome to the Third Millenium folks.

I note that many of the 5 star reviews here are about Richard Bartlett and his seminars...and that the lower ratings deal more with the book itself.
The book has only one chapter dealing directly with the technique and the rest of the book is just a jumble of stuff about quantum physics and about the seminars.
Unless you are considering attending one of the seminars I really cannot see much value in this book at all. You can have some fun trying the technique as described in the book but unless you attend a seminar, or Bartlett creates a DVD of the seminar, it would be much better to stick to Quantum Touch, Trigger Point Technique and the like.
Hope this helps.

I found the book interesting, though I resented the use of hypnotic suggestions aimed at the reader. It also made me wonder whether subtle hypnotic suggestions account for success for workshop participants. My biggest problem, however, was with the Kindle edition of the book. According to the book, the "key" to unlocking the videos on the Matrix Energetics web site specifically meant for those who have purchased the book is to be found on a specific page and paragraph. The Kindle edition does not have page numbers, relying instead on sections. Repeated emails to several departments at Matrix Energetics to determine which section of the Kindle edition has the "key" were unanswered. The only email response I received was from the sales department, offering me a DVD for $35. After ten phone calls to the number listed on their site--having got an answering machine that does not take messages--I gave up.

'The Divine Matrix: Bridging Time, Space, Miracles and Belief' by Gregg Braden is a scientifically grounded book that provides evidence to indicate that there is an energy that connects everything in our lives, including ourselves with the universe.

This new scientific evidence shows that you have the potential to communicate with the force that links the entire creation. This power exists in you.

What I like most about this book is that the author takes you on a remarkable journey that bridges sprirituality and science.

You will understand how the applied principles of quantum physics promotes healing. This is the essence of energy medicine!

Reads well along with 'Nexus' by Morrison & Singh, a spiritual novel about an interesting group of people in search of healing and their true happiness.

Nexus: A Neo Novel

I absolutely love this book. I have an extensive library ranging from self -help to metaphysics to quantum physics, etc. This is in the top 5 of over hundreds of books I have read over the years. I liked that it wasn't just a pitch for his seminars, it has a lot of meat. I have read it several times and go back to it from time to time for a little inspiration. Also it was a quick read, easy to get through.

I am about two-thirds into The Seeker's Guide. I read 10 - 20 pages per day. The subject matter is very interesting to me. However, I'm finding the writing tedious. I often re-read exerpts and have difficulty with Ms. Lesser's personal reactions to everything she has experienced. I find myself wanting to know her experiences but not her evaluation. She's traveled a phenomonal path and I'm anxious to learn about her evolvement, relationships, travels and teachers. Just as I begin to have some vicarious experience, I'm thrown off by another personal opinion she has. I find it distracting. To me, it feels like she wrote more for her personal gratification and not so much to assist the reader in a search for spirituality. Still valuable stuff!

Nicely written, personal and relevant for anyone "seeking" information on spirituality. It doesn't promise anything but makes a compelling case for meditation. Several tips for meditating are offered throughout the book and a variety of specific meditation practices are available to integrate into your life. I liked that the author understands that changing your daily routine to include meditation takes forgiveness and patience. If it becomes an exercise in obligations too early on, one may be easily discouraged.
Well done and enjoyable read promoting meditation as part of a spiritual path.

One Day She'll Darken: The Mysterious Beginnings of Fauna Hodel

I heard about this book..when I heard Oprah Interview Ms. Lessor...I ordered it..I found it to be informative..tying in all the religions..pointing us to our oneness...

This book is extremely hard to read because of the small print--some lines are squeezed together and the print becomes even smaller. The reader needs to be aware that this book is dry and much like a text book. The author concentrates so much time on her lifestory. There are many other books about spirituality that are positive and uplifting for the reader to enjoy.

I am approaching my 50's and one of the first things that changed was my vision. This being such a wonderful book for those in their "wisdom" years, I would like to recommend that it is reprinted and made available in LARGE print. I am really challenged with the fine print and the word congestion on each page. Thank you for the consideration!

This book has brief every day narrations of every day life situations and gives you advice to stay calm or take the best out of the situation.
I think that it is helpful to read the authors point of view and realize that you dont have to choose to get angry about dirty dishes in the sink, and many many other indexed toppings.

In keeping with Don't Sweat the Small Stuff" this book continues to be a motivational addition to my collection. It was worth me sweating to find an inexpensive copy.

I've owned two copies of this book over the years. The first copy I lent to a friend who in turn lent to a friend and so on. Needless to say that this great little gem of a book never found its way back into my eagerly waiting hands.

I've purchased another copy since then and read chapters from it from time to time. We all tend to stress about the little things in life, and I'm no different. Whenever I find myself getting unduly frustrated or uptight, a read of this book always helps me put things back into perspective.

I'm a firm believer in not sweating the small stuff: Not just the book, but the principal of it. Life's way too brief and fleeting to always be tied up in minor details and insignificant issues. Save it for the big problems, I say.

This is a handy little guidebook that does well to serve as a constant reminder to keep things in perspective. I believe every household should have a copy of a book like Richard Carlson's 'Don't Sweat The Small Stuff".

How To Keep Your Man: And Keep Him For Good

Real Life Dramas - Volume One

Darren G. Burton

This book got me through my divorce without any emotional scares! Need I say more... This is a must read for just learning how to appreciate what you have in life rather than focussing on what you could have. Definitely a must read.

This is a perfect book to have on your coffee table or at your bedside. Reading
any of Richard Carlson's 2 page chapters a day is wonderful support in having
a great life. This book has helped me feel at ease in myself. For example - the
chapter "Cut Your Some Slack," reminds me "Life is a process - just one thing after
another. When you lose it just start over again" - I love this! It's nice to
remember that every moment is new and full of possibilities.

I have also found books by authors Ariel & Shya Kane enlightening. By reading
their books, Working on Yourself Doesn't Work: A Book About Instantaneous Transformation, How to Create a Magical Relationship and Being Here: Modern Day Tales of Enlightenment, self-discovery has become so easy and fun. They say that "awareness is not an achievement - it is a way of life." If you enjoy books written by Richard Carlson, I have a feeling you would also enjoy those written by the Kanes.

...and you will see different things in the pages each time. I am one of the lucky artists in this book and I am amazed at the results. To put this much work together from so many artists had to be tough. My favorite aspect is the fact that there is so much diversity. Each artist bring their own voice to their work and it bounces off the other artist's work to create a harmony of color, shapes, images and words. ... Wow maybe that was a little too tooooo....but I want to convey that this lively book is a real treat to look at and a good source of inspiration for what ever art you do or enjoy. Great job Dawn. Thanks for including my work.

This book is wonderful. As I leafed thru the pages I had amazing inspiration to grab various art supplies and try something new. A great book for when you're stuck in a non-creative but want to be creative moment. This is an art journaling book you won't regret buying.

How does a reviewer "Rate" or "Review" another artists' ART?
This was a difficult task for me, because as my 1st sentence stated, it's quite difficult to rate an Artists' personal Art.
Basically, it's like trying to evaluate a person's inner soul!

This book is so well photographed & so detailed and colorful! Dawn DeVries Sokol has done a beautiful job at displaying all the entries that she received while organizing this book of 1000 Journal entries.

The other amazing thing is that the entries that Dawn received were from all over the World! Therefore, it is so interesting to see how a journal writer is different from all others, and yet also the same, in that "we" (as a community of human beings) express ourselves in common ways as people! This book expresses this point very well---the soul of a person.

Dawn stated in her Preface that she chose not to categorize each Chapter by theme. But rather, Dawn chose to show the Journal entries as a continuum. In this way, Dawn has displayed the worldwide entries in a spiral fashion, rather than in a linear fashion...thus, each entry spiraled from one to the other.

Some Journal entries are sometimes "dark", sometimes sad, and sometimes happy. Such is life.
All are introspective.

When I read this book, I first of all went through each entry to look at the colors and artistic points. Then, the second time I went through this book, I looked at each Journal entry more specifically (often with a magnifying glass) in order to absorb the pages more thoroughly.

All in all, this was a very insightful experience, not only into the souls of the Artists and writers, but also into my own soul.

Whether you use (or would like to start using!) an art journal to document your days or access and express your inner creativity, this book will inspire. It's so huge, by the time you finish you already want to flick through it again to remember your favorite pages. It's interesting to see the diversity of examples from other countries. Apparently when the project got up and running they were inundated by examples from people around the world wanting their work included in the book. While some pages are completely magnificent artworks there are also some very simple, playful, even childish pages - so you won't feel intimidated or dissuaded from taking up pen/paint and paper yourself, always a risk with these types of books - you can buy them in a bid to become inspired but actually end up the opposite! Not so here. There are naive scribblings that can be as insightful and interesting as beautifully designed masterpieces. This book will give you ideas and inspiration on two levels - technique and topics. Some pages have clearly taken hours and hours to complete, some are of a quick and simple style that seems easier to accomplish amid a busy lifestyle. Either way you'll get ideas. Then there's the dilemma of 'what can I write about?' From incidental observations to spiritual contemplation, you'll come across triggers and ideas in other people's work you might like to explore. And even if you prefer to just look at art rather than create your own, this is simply a beautiful book and reading other people's art journal entries can reveal sometimes intimate and always intersting glimpses into the creative process.

Huge, colorful, and important. Open to any two-page spread and you will find yourself getting lost in the creativity and playfulness (images, words, ephemera, and montages) of hundreds of brilliant people. Thank the Good Lord for all of them, but especially for "author/assembler" Dawn DeVries Sokol and her passionate work. As a life-long sketcher, doodler, cartoonist, journaler, and collector of "beautiful scraps" I am inspired beyond imagining with the turn of each giant page in this book. It will be a long time (if ever) before it gets slid into my studio bookshelves for I will be pouring over it daily. This is a portable library, a floating museum, a veritable mountain of inspiration. THIS is the "movable feast!" I have already added it to my list of books that inspire me on my blog: www.TeaWithMcNair.typepad.com. I am eager to meet Dawn at the ZNE Convenzione here in the Bay area (Aug. 22-24, 2008) Meanwhile, I have ONE THOUSAND pages of creativity to sit with at Cafe Zoetrope and make me giggle, tear up, and want to crack open my sketchbook many more minutes each day.

Call your local independent bookshop and get it today. Mine came in two days--it is well-worth the cover price.

I found this newer version to be a "part 2" of the book, "The Divine Matrix". The information seemed to repeat everything I learned in that book. That book, "The Diving Matrix", I found fascinating and very interesting. This newer one is a comparable read, but not if you're looking for newer information.

The hard-nosed skeptic will caricature Gregg Braden's "The Spontaneous Healing of Belief" as just another "New Age" book written about how we create our own world by merely believing. I want to defend Braden's book from such criticism, and I invite skeptical readers to study this interesting book with an open mind. It is not that belief provides the easy route to New Age enlightenment, it is that Braden's "belief" involves the hard work of purification as we learn to tune ourselves with something bigger than our narrow self interests. While Braden's treatment is not perfect, it is easy to find what he intends to say in the face of would-be criticism. Negativity will not have the final answer, even when it comes with a pretense of rigor. We must also put our best foot forward in a positive sense.

Braden (page xi) summarizes his understanding of scientific evidence: "Paradigm-shattering experiments published in leading-edge, peer-reviewed journals reveal that we're bathed in a field of intelligent energy that fills what used to be thought of as empty space. Additional discoveries show beyond any reasonable doubt that this field responds to us -it rearranges itself- in the presence of our heart-based feelings and beliefs. And this is the revolution that changes everything."

Braden (page 3) raises a troubling point: "What if we're living our lives shrouded in the false limitations and incorrect assumptions that other people have formed over generations, centuries, or even millennia? Historically, for example, we've been taught that we are insignificant specks of life passing through a brief moment in time, limited by `laws' of space, atoms, and DNA. This view suggest that we'll have little effect on anything during our stay in this world, and when we're gone, the universe will never even notice our absence."

Braden (page 16) writes: "It becomes abundantly clear that something -some intelligent force- is holding the particles of you together right now, as you read the words on this page. That force is what makes our beliefs so powerful. If we can communicate with it, then we can change how the particles of `us' behave in the world. We can rewrite the code of our reality."

Braden (page 20) writes: "The atoms of our reality either exist as matter or they don't. They're either here or not here, `on' or `off'." In the off position, Braden considers particles that are transformed into "invisible waves." Braden (page 21) writes that, "everything boils down to opposites: pluses and minuses, male and female, on and off."

Braden (pages 23-24) writes: "Everything is ultimately made of the same stuff. From the dust of distant stars to you and me, ultimately everything that `is' emerges from the vast soup of quantum energy (what `could be'). And without fail, when it does, it manifests as predictable patterns that follow the rules of nature. Water is a perfect example. When two hydrogen atoms connect to one oxygen atom as a molecule of H2O, the pattern of the bond between them is always 104 degrees. The pattern is predictable. It is reliable - and because it is, water is always water."

Braden (page 28) writes: "A fractal view of the universe implies that everything from a single atom to the entire cosmos is made of just a few natural patterns. While they may combine, repeat, and build themselves on larger scales, even in their complexity they can still be reduced to a few simple forms."

Braden (page 31) relates belief to the universal: "Every day we offer the literal input of our belief-commands to the consciousness of the universe, which translates our personal and collective instructions into the reality of our health, the quality of our relationships, and the peace of our world. How to create the beliefs in our hearts that change the reality of our universe is a great secret, lost in the 4th century, from the most cherished Judeo-Christian traditions."

Braden (page 41) writes on healing: "Beliefs have long been known to have healing powers. The controversy centers around whether or not it's the belief itself that does the healing or if the experience of belief triggers a biological process that ultimately leads to the recovery. For the layperson, the distinction may sound like splitting hairs. While the doctors can't explain precisely why some patients cure themselves through their beliefs, the effect has been documented so many times that at the very least we must accept that there is a correlation between the body's repairing itself and the patient's belief that the healing has taken place."

Braden (page 46) writes: "Just as the belief that we've been given a healing agent can promote our bodies' life-affirming chemistry, the reverse can happen if we believe that we're in a life-threatening situation."

Now it is clear that Braden's "belief" is not any belief, or a statement of faith. Rather, Braden describes belief as a synthesis. Braden (page 52) defines belief: "that it's the acceptance that comes from what we think is true in our minds married with what we feel is true in our hearts." Braden (page 53) writes: "Belief is our acceptance of what we have witnessed, experienced, or know for ourselves."

So there can be wrong beliefs when our reason is not in balance with our emotion, and so to arrive at something self evident (as Braden requires) involves an innate error recognition. It is this way that belief can be tuned with the universal, but this requires discipline. Braden (page 59) writes: "the universal experience that we know as feeling and belief are the names that we give to the body's ability to convert our experiences into electrical and magnetic waves."

Braden (page 74) writes: "Simply hoping, wishing, or saying that a healing is successful may have little effect upon the actual situation. In these experiences, we haven't yet arrived at the belief -the certainty that comes from acceptance of what we think is true, coupled with what we feel is true in our body- that makes the wish a reality."

In is interesting that Braden sees reality as a computer simulation, and it comes with belief codes that act as part of the universal computer program. This admission would seem to delight materialists and science fiction writers that venture similar speculations. But Braden's usage is metaphorical, and there is a serious caveat that permits a break from a mechanistic world view: we are able to re-program our poorly tuned beliefs, because instinctively we know that the simulation is only an illusion. Because we know that an appearance is an illusion we are able to escape the dictates of a computer program, and therefore greater reality cannot be just a simulation. Braden (page 137) writes that, "while our bodies are certainly in this world, the living force that expresses itself through them is actually based somewhere else, as the larger reality that we just can't see from our vantage point."

Braden gives us many helpful hints on how to re-program our beliefs. Braden (page 159) writes: "To make a change in something as powerful as the core beliefs that define our lives, we need a trigger that's equally powerful. We need a reason to jolt us from complacency of one way of thinking into a new, and sometimes revolutionary, way of seeing things."

Because we can break away from the output of a mere computer simulation, Braden's big reality involves a spiritual realm that rediscovers the wisdom of Buddha and Jesus. Braden (page 199) writes: "Jesus taught that we must become in life the very things that we choose to experience in the world." This corresponds to Braden's belief code number 27, and by now I hope you feel the jolt of this remarkable book.

"The Spontaneous Helaing of Belief" by Gregg Braden is a powerful and scientifically based book.

Amazingly everything that exists emerges from a simple 'Reality Code' and this code can be changed/upgraded by intent/choice.

Recent scientific evidence is confirming that the universe does in fact work like one big 'consciousness computer' This consciousness computer is programmed by means of the language of human emotion & focused belief. As a result our feelings about ourselves & our world are most important as a basis for constructing a new reality.

"The Spontaneous Healing of Belief" is a highly recommended book & to think of ourselves differently is the beginning of spontaneous healing.

Better read together with a New Energy novel "Nexus" by Morrison & Singh, deep, soulful, inspiring & transformational.

If you want to know more about your subc.I heartily recommend these CDs

The Power of Your Subconscious Mind
The Master Key System
Thought Vibration or the Law of Attraction in the Thought World
The Science of Getting Rich
The Science of Mind
Think and Grow Rich: Original Version

I finished this book about a week ago and have been deliberating it's content trying to post a suitable review. Quite simply: it seems as though there was a germ of a really good book in there somewhere, but it never materialized. It seems as though Gregg is just trying to replace one mental box for another, that in order for one to program the universe to ones liking, one must alter or change or abandon their beliefs in favor of a new system of beliefs, which in the final analysis seems to be at the very least - pedestrian. It's a new version of make new beliefs or rather, make believe. Gregg's use of scientific proof's is quite sloppy as well and very often unsupported.

It is my considered opinion that it is the dispensing of ego driven belief systems, intellectualizations and judgments that will allow us to begin to experience the wholeness of life and creation; as a very wise being once said "a house divided against itself cannot stand."

A disappointing journey.

Secret Gratitude Book The book is beautiful but I thought there would be more written content - not a diary style book. The shipment came within specified time and was packed well.

I thought this was more than a journal but this is what it is. A great idea but if you read Living The Secret Everyday: My Secret Workbook you will get the journal which I make my daily entries plus exercises on how to live the secret (Law of Attraction) daily...

After reading The Secret, I followed up with this book....A beautiful journal to write what you are grateful for. If you are looking for this plus an explanation of the Law of Attraction and where gratitude comes in nad to show you how, read Living The Secret Everyday: My Secret Workbook.

I really love this daily journal, just wish that the size was larger, great way to begin and set your day.

Not that you need a Gratitude Book, a pad of paper would serve the same purpose, but having the book strengthens your desire to participate. It is only through participation that you connect with the true power of mankind. It allows you to be an example for others on the true power of the mind by guiding you through your own personal evolution.

What more can be said about this lovely collection of thoughts? Even as it celebrates its 50th anniversary, it is as fresh as the day it was penned. This book is a keeper if ever there was one, a volume to be read and re-read and handed down to one's children, which is what I intend to do with the most recent Gift from the Sea that I bought.

Listed as a 'summer read' in a local magazine list - I hadn't heard of this book. I picked it up and finished it from one afternoon into the next morning. And -- there was nothing surprising or new to be found here in the book - the pace at which its written and the uncomplicated natural way Lindbergh examines her life and her impressions of life's stages will have me passing this book on to many people in my life.

What timeless wisdom there is in this little book. Although it was written many decades ago, the challenges and issues faced by Anne Morrow Lindbergh are the same ones faced by women in today's crazy, bustling world. In fact, although women in Siberia, Cameroon, or Ceylon might not have her specific set of circumstances, they can still identify with Lindbergh's ponderings about a woman's life, her obligations, her relationships, and her needs. She lived in an upscale suburb of Connecticut and was the mother of five children, and yet there's something in her writing that can touch the souls of women everywhere whether in a grass hut or trailer beside a busy highway

The chapters in Gift from the Sea center on Lindbergh's musings during a two-week vacation at the shore. Leaving husband, children, and house behind, she lives in a bare beach cabin without heat, telephone, plumbing, hot water, rugs, or curtains. She finds simplicity beautiful and longs to take it home to Connecticut when her vacation ends.

Lindbergh takes a shell at a time and describes it in relation to other things in a woman's life. For instance, the moon shell reminds her that quiet time, solitude, contemplation, and "something of one's own" is needed. The double-sunrise represents the pure relationship found in early stages of friendship and marriage, and she reminds the reader that there is no permanent return to an old form of relationship since all are in the process of change. The oyster bed symbolizes the middle years of marriage and family, especially as the home itself grows and expands to accommodate the growing family.

I first read this book when I was a young mother and could readily understand Lindbergh's comment that saints were so rarely married woman because of the distractions inherent in raising children and running a house. "Human relationships with their myriad pulls--woman's normal occupations in general run counter to creative life, or contemplative life, or saintly life." Now in midlife, I can better understand her affinity for all the shells as reminders that each cycle of the wave, the tide, and the relationship is valid.

This book came very highly recommended by two friends who are avid book readers. However I hate to admit that the book did not move me as much as my friends claimed that it moved them. I was more interested about the background references to the author's personal life and how the book came into being. That I would have read voraciously. The book is short but I don't intend to read it again to see what I missed. I believe a book either moves you or it doesn't. This particular book despite other rave reviews did not move me despite my great affinity for the sea and women writers. I wonder if perhaps if the book would have touched me differently if I read it in the beach rather than on a plane which I did.

I have never been a big fan of books on CD. This changed with Gift from the Sea with the forward by Reeve Lindbergh and beautifully read by Claudette Colbert. This is a beautifully written and recorded book. I keep it in my car and play it quite often. I have orderered additional copies to share with friends. It is indeed as relevant today as it was fifty years ago and probably even more pertinent in today's fast paced world where we fail to slow down give ourselves alone time to comtemplate our lives. Reeve Lindbergh's forward about her mother was a lovely bonus. Although I have not read any of her children's books, I have read everything else she has written that I can find and encourage anyone who has not read her books to check her out on [...].

Everyone saw the news splashed across the headlines or on the evening news reports. The wrong family was sitting beside a recovering girl in the hospital. How could it have happened? Read MISTAKEN IDENTITY to get the inside account from the two families that were involved in the unbelievable story.

The story seems straight out of the movies, almost too hard to fathom. But the Van Ryn and Cerak families, aided by Mark Tabb, tell the story of how Whitney and Laura were misidentified and two families dealt with both joy and sorrow with the help of their unerring faith in God.

Laura and Whitney were both students at Taylor University, a Christian college in Indiana. There were both in a school van on their way back to campus from a banquet with a few other people. A tractor trailer crossed the median and hit the side of the van, plowing it onto the side of the road. "Laura" was thrown 50-feet from the van. When rescue workers found her, a purse and ID nearby said that it was Laura Van Ryn. The photo on the ID looked enough like her. Thus began a five-week trial for both families.

The Cerak family received a call that Whitney had died in the accident. An employee from the university had identified her for the family. Colleen couldn't bring herself to look at the empty shell of what was left of Whitney, knowing in her heart that the true spirit of Whitney was now standing before God. Had Colleen gone and identified the body, would the error have been caught on the first night? No one knows.

The entire story is a bunch of "what ifs" by both families. Little things during "Laura's" recovery made family and friends question and wonder when "Laura" would return to her full self. But with the doctors and therapists constantly telling the Van Ryns that the neurons are firing but not necessarily connecting properly yet, no one gave it a serious second thought.

Only after "Laura" starts to come out of her coma and respond to therapy do the questions truly get raised. When a therapist asks "Laura" to write her name -- out came "W-H-I-T-N-E-Y." In the next few days, the pieces all come together, and a forensic dentist verifies the worst news for the Van Ryn family: this is not Laura after all.

What should be a story of loss for the Van Ryn family is a story of unerring faith. They are truly grateful for the time they spent with Whitney in the hospital. They are happy for the Ceraks' miracle and do not blame God.

The Cerak family went through grief but knew that Whitney had lived in God's love and was in a better place. They had sorrow, but knew that they would all see Whitney sometime in the future. When the call came that she may still be alive, Carly, Whitney's sister, would not believe it. Not until she saw with her own eyes did she believe the miracle that Whitney was still alive.

The story is so uplifting in the true belief both families have in God, that even in the time of sorrow they both experienced, the reader never once felt truly sad. The Van Ryn and Cerak families are both truly exceptional families. They are unwavering in their faith and love in God. They are both wonderful examples of a life lived to the fullest.

Reviewed by: Jaglvr

I enjoyed reading this book. I am not one for reading books, and I couldn't put this book down, a couple parts of this story actually had chills. The two familes are so strong and inspirational. This is a very religious book though.

Immediately after finishing this book, I recommended it to my mother & sister. Both said they couldn't stop the tears whilst reading the book. Especially my mother, who lost a brother in a similar car accident 20 years ago - who knew all too well the pain that the victims' families were going through. She said there were several times when she was forced to put down the book because she was crying so much.

Despite the sadness of the events, I am amazed and impressed by the reactions of the families and Whitney herself. They deal with the tragedies with faith, and even humour. This book is most definitely worth a read - I've lent it to several people so far, and about to purchase extra copies as gifts for friends. I normally don't spend much money on books but this is definitely worth every dollar. I don't even begrudge the exorbitant sum I have to pay for international shipping.

To non-Christian readers who say they felt alienated by the heavy Christian themes, I encourage them to read anyway. If you're interested in reading this book to understand how they coped with the tragedy, those parts of the books aren't just a Sunday sermon - they are part of the families' healing process.

The only minor negative comment I have with this book is the style in which it is written. At times, it's overly emotive. The author's repeated use of "NOOOOOOOOO!" gets a bit tiring at times and suggests poor writing skills. The author could have done a better job of conveying emotions. But this is such a minor element of the book. The rest of the book is very easy to read and I still enthusiastically recommend this book.

I really enjoyed this book; I thought it was a really quick read. I appreciated how much detail the family went into explaining the night of the accident, the days of the burial services, and also when they discovered Whitney was still alive. I believe this is a very touching story and people that need GOD in there life or don't have much faith in good should really read this story.

And if you are someone who gets offended when others talk about GOD and his power I believe maybe this book is not for you.

I was a bit concerned after reading some of the reviews about this book. As a non-Christian, I was worried that it would be too religiously based. However, I was pleasantly surprised. I thought it was a great book. I read the entire book in two days! At times, it did seem to be a bit heavy on the religious aspects, but overall I think it is worth the time to read. It was amazing that people were able to have such an enormous amount of faith at such a trying time in their lives. Although it was mentioned several times that some people became Christians after reading the blogs, I did not find this offensive. Everyone has the right to believe as they wish. I did not feel like the emphasis was on "converting" anyone in this book. I have already passed this book on to a friend.