Dont Sweat The Small Stuff At Work Cd

Book Description

Millions of people have enjoyed Richard Carlson's national bestsellers that tell how not to let the small things in life get the best of them. Now, in Don't Sweat the Small Stuff At Work, he tells listeners how to interact more peaceably and joyfully with colleagues, clients, and bosses.

Spending forty hours or more a week in an office, along with rush dealings, heavy workloads, and daily dilemmas, can make working a very stressful experience. Richard Carlson reveals tips that will transform your outlook at the office, easing stress there and also leading to a happier life at home.

Customer Reviews:

Great quick read.......2003-03-11

This is a great book for anyone needing to get to the source of help they need quickly. I use it often as a fast refresher and as a constant guide in my daily endeavors, whether it be professional or personal. I recommend this to all who are starting in management, sales, or just simply wanting to improve your outlook on life and reduce stress. But you don't have to take my word for it.....(Reading Rainbow theme in background...)

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Money Well Spent

Excellent source of advice

Excellent Technical Discussion

An Important Book for Financial Advisers

Retirement Income Redesigned: Master Plans for Distribution: An Adviser's Guide for Funding Boomers' Best Years

Manufacturer: Bloomberg Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 1576601897

Book Description

For years, financial planners have focused on helping their clients accumulate wealth for retirement. Now, as millions of those boomer clients head into retirement, there is little quality information on how to manage that wealth in retirement. Evensky and Katz, two of the nation's best-known financial planners, asked leading experts to give advisers a toolkit and roadmap to the new landscape. Included are valuable insights and practical approaches for increasing retirement cash flow, withdrawal strategies, longevity insurance, creating portfolios with low volatility, and decision making. Each of the 26 contributors offers fresh research and solutions for forecasting income needs, evaluating client needs, and communicating effectively with clients. Armed with these more effective approaches to distribution and improved methodologies for planning, financial advisers and wealth managers will be able to make their clients? golden years shine ever more brightly.

Customer Reviews:

Money Well Spent.......2007-08-16

I have read over two dozen books on investing and retirement planning and this is among my favorites. First, there are few books which talk to the subject of distribution (as opposed to accumulation) strategies. Second, the authors have chosen to allow other experts to contribute to their book - 25 of them to be precise. So you are not just getting the advice of one or two people, but the opinions of over two dozen renowned experts in the field. There is a tremendous amount of wisdom contained in the chapters.

As anyone who is a student of investing and retirement planning will know, Harold Evensky is quoted routinely and widely recognized as an expert in his field. Simply getting his advice is more than worth the price of admission. An example is the Evensky & Katz Cash Flow Reserve Strategy (E&KS) which is discussed in chapter 11. I have no doubt I will use this strategy in my own distribution planning.

Also not to be missed in the work of Bill Bengen on sustainable withdrawals, which is presented in chapter 13. Anyone who is contemplating managing their own cash flows in retirement (and even those who entrust this to others) should not miss Bill's views and opinions. He is arguably the leading expert on sustainable withdrawal rates in the financial planning business. I would highly recommend that you also consider purchasing his book, Conserving Client Portfolio's During Retirement, in addition to this fine work. Fortunately that book has recently become available on Amazon so it is now easy to find and obtain. I purchased my copy about 9 months ago and had to order it directly from the Financial Planning Association.

While you may not agree with every opinion expressed in this book, it will certainly get you to thinking (perhaps outside the box) and pressure testing what you think you know.

I'm sure I will use it as a constant guide in managing my own finances.

Excellent source of advice.......2007-08-04

I have been reading retirement and investment books extensively over the past 2 years (Graham, Gibson, Slott, Stein etc.) and while some have touched on saving for retirement, few have touched on withdrawal strategy. In this book, Harold has gone to great length to spell out the retiree's psychological and economic needs, and offers up excellent options to address both. That section, plus the other fine chapters by other authors, make this a must-have book for the enlightened counselor.

Excellent Technical Discussion.......2007-03-10

As a recent retiree, who is not a professional financial planner, I found this book very helpful in understanding the "technical" details of various financial planning tools. I was particularly interested in Monte Carlo analysis (which I use) and how this tool can be used to objectively (albeit not in the most easily understandable form for a lay person) quantify my investment portfolio risk.

It was also very interesting in how the Monte Carlo tool is being misused to evaluate risks other than simple investment portfolio risk. I would agree with the authors conerns about how certain financial planners are trying to use Monte Carlo analysis to evaluate risk far beyond the investment portfolio.

Traditional financial planning advice would suggest an ultra-conservative investment strategy high in fixed income securities. For those willing and able to accept the variablity of the stock market, a significantly higher level of income can be generated with little additional risk. Monte Carlo is the tool (properly used) to evaluate investment strategies.

An Important Book for Financial Advisers.......2006-05-24

This collection of twenty essays on retirement planning shifts the focus of much of the current literature from the accumulation of assets to their distribution. "Retirementality" - how we think about and live out retirement (Anthony) - is being redefined by a generation who are living years longer than their predecessors. Indeed, "longevity risk" is one of the central themes of this book. As defined benefit pension plans disappear and the viability of social security is debated, the net reality is that longer living retirees are left with fewer streams of guaranteed life-time income. Making that nest egg last is a challenge. Failure to do so is "the probability of ruin" - to use Milevsky's indelicate phrase.

A number of these contributors see annuities as integral to generating a guaranteed life-long stream of cash. Carey and Dellinger (and Milevsky elsewhere) maintain that investment returns produced by an annuity will always be superior to identical investments outside an annuity because of the "mortality credits" from other terminated annuity policy holders which are factored into the projected income. A chapter on reverse mortgages presents an evenly balanced discussion of this additional source of income for retirees. Considering that half the population who reach 65 may need some form of expensive institutional care (Greenwald), supplemental streams of income may also prove useful to pay for a long-term care insurance policy.

"Sustained Withdrawals" (Benge) seeks to determine a "safemax" - the maximum, annual withdrawal percentage rate from a retiree's accumulated wealth during this "decumulation" (Katz) phase. Determining this rate is another key theme in this collection. The rub is that relying solely on historical average rates of return and conservative withdrawal percentage rates mean little to a portfolio's survival if the sequence of market returns is negative in the early years of retirement. Benge's research looks at different withdrawal rates, asset mixes, various timing strategies, and adjustments to the withdrawal rate when it is a goal to leave nest egg assets as a bequest. Meanwhile, Stanaslovich in "Creating Portfolios With Lower Volatility" raises the bar with a gloomy projection of low returns for a variety of asset classes into the next decade.

This book should be read by financial planners, brokerage advisers working with retiring clients, and informed investors who want to manage their own affairs.

Book Description

The interactions of biogeochemical cycles influence and maintain our climate system. Land use and fossil fuel emissions are currently impacting the biogeochemical cycles of carbon, nitrogen and sulfur on land, in the atmosphere, and in the oceans.
This edited volume brings together 27 scholarly contributions on the state of our knowledge of earth system interactions among the oceans, land, and atmosphere. A unique feature of this treatment is the focus on the paleoclimatic and paleobiotic context for investigating these complex interrelationships.

* Eight-page colour insert to highlight the latest research
* A unique feature of this treatment is the focus on the paleoclimatic context for investigating these complex interrelationships.

Global Biogeochemical Cycles in the Climate System

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Global Biogeochemical Cycles in the Climate System
Ernst-Detlef Schulze
Manufacturer: Academic Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OHHHAK

Book Description

A major statement by one of our foremost holistic healers, this deeply personal, moving and inspiring contribution takes its readers beyond the realm of medicine to a place where healing begins.

The Healer: Heart and Hearth suggests a new and wholly original understanding of the role of the healer and of the sufferer representing the culmination of Dr. John Diamond's over forty years of experience in traditional and holistic therapies. Among his other works are the best-selling books, Your Body Doesn't Lie and Life Energy.

Customer Reviews:

Why I require each client to read this book.......2004-09-02

I've been a massage therapist and healer for 13 years. I now require each potential client to read this book and Music and Song, Mother and Love, both by John Diamond. I often recommend other books along the way, but these two books set the tone for all of the work we do together. Together with Facets of a Diamond: Reflections of a Healer, these books should be required reading for all healers and those who really want to support their own healing.

A new look at healing and therapy.......2003-06-14

In this personal and engaging book, Dr. Diamond considers the many elements that combine to produce an effective and long-lasting therapeutic relationship. Drawing on his own extensive experience as a holistic healer, Dr. Diamond discusses the role of the healer and that of the sufferer. He also looks in detail at setting up the best environment in which healing can take place.

I find Dr. Diamond's emphasis on the importance of a holistic approach to healing most valuable, and I welcome the philosophical context in which this book places that concept.

Inspiring book!.......2002-04-03

This book inspired me to have a new attitude toward my home -- and my life! It is written in a mix of prose and lovely poetry -- both of which are full of heart-warming thoughts. I also like the use of word origins to illuminate these thoughts.

Book Description

Told with captivating images, an evocative text, and haunting music on a CD, here is the remarkable story of a courageous group of rural African people who converted to Judaism eighty years ago and, despite ensuing hardships, have stuck by their faith.

The six hundred members of the Abayudaya (Children of Judah) community living in a remote area of eastern Uganda lead a life devoted to traditional Jewish practices. They observe the Sabbath and holidays, attend services, follow dietary laws, and cling tightly to traditions in their small mud and brick synagogues. Surrounded by Muslims and Christians, facing poverty and isolation, these people have maintained their Jewish way of life for four generations since the initial conversion of their tribal chief Semei Kukungulu in 1917. Even during Idi Amin's reign of terror, when synagogues were closed and prayers had to be held in secret, the Abayudaya did not abandon their beliefs.

Richard Sobol is the first photojournalist to document this newly discovered Jewish community's way of life and to relate their heroic story. His sensitive portraits and moving landscapes depict everyday life, from caring for children to struggling to grow food. He shows their day of rest on the Jewish Sabbath, as well as their religious celebrations and rituals. His intriguing text, including extensive interviews, chronicles the story of this community from its conception to the present. Supplementing Sobol's images and text is a CD filled with powerful music and songs from services recorded by ethnomusicologist Jeffrey A. Summit, who has also provided an essay examining this unique mix of African and Jewish sounds.

Other details: 100 full-color illustrations

Customer Reviews:

About Abayudaya.......2005-10-03

A fascinating story, told with brilliant photos and a pleasant CD of music. Makes a good gift, and a sure pick-me-up for your own coffeetable.

A Breath-Taking Visual Chronicle of Faith and Endurance.......2003-10-10

I first heard about the Abayudaya in 1996, through the work of "Kulanu," an organization working in support of isolated and marginalized Jewish community around the world. In September 2003, Rachel Namudosi Keki, a 21-year-old Abayudaya woman visited our community. It was a remarkable event.

Rachel highly recommends this book (which includes many pictures of her father, J.J. Keki, and a few of Rachel as well, although she is not identified by name) as the best available resource for understanding the history, reality, and day-to-day life of the Abayudaya.

The audio CD is a vital part of that understanding. (More Abayudaya music is available on the Kulanu-produced CD, "Shalom Everybody Everywhere;" Rachel is the soloist on these recordings, mostly recorded when she was around ten years old.)

Among the many unexpected revelations in this visually stunning book is the fact that J.J. Keki was visiting America in the late summer of 2001, and witnessed the first plane striking the World Trade Centers on September 11th. If you review film footage from that day, you can catch a glimpse of a tall black man wearing a kippah among those running from the scene.

Exquisite Photos and Music of Uganda's Jews.......2003-02-11

Richard Sobol has just come out with Abayudaya: The Jews of Uganda, an exquisite volume of photographs with text about this remarkable group, and a CD of Abayudaya music is included in a pocket attached to the back cover. The music was recorded and annotated by Rabbi Jeffrey Summit, an ethnomusicologist at Tufts University.
Those of us who have lived and traveled in sub-Saharan Africa universally bemoan the fact that our pictures cannot capture the color and contrast, the rhythm, the unique beauty that is Africa. Richard Sobol, a seasoned pro, has captured the essence of these African scenes as few others can (Carol Beckwith comes to mind). Views of the Ugandan countryside and towns, of Abayudaya prayer and study and feasting, of women washing dishes and carrying water and preparing food, of elders in contemplation, of adults and children at play, of vendors of colorful housewares, of stunning posed portraits - it's all there, and each photo is a masterpiece.
And Sobol's 18-page essay about Abayudaya history and life and Jewish practice is a fine summary for those who have not been introduced to this unique community before.
Summit has written a five-page text to introduce the CD, which is entitled Abayudaya Music of Worship and Celebration. This essay is both informative and poignant. It reviews the various influences on Abayudaya music - Zulu music, church and Salvation Army music, Bantu folk music, Western visitors, and Nairobi (Kenya) synagogue melodies - often learned from recordings or the radio.
Summit recorded this wonderful sampling of Abayudaya music in informal sessions in Uganda in 2000 and 2002. The first half of the CD includes unaccompanied traditional hymns and psalms, some dating back 20 or 30 years, one composed by the community's founder, Semei Kakungulu, in the 1920s. The annotations themselves make fascinating reading. One note explains that Psalm 136, heard on the recording as a responsive "reading" with soloist and chorus, reminds the community of the downfall of Idi Amin since it recounts God's deliverance with the splitting of the Red Sea. A particularly precious rendition is Rena bat Esther's solo in Psalm 121, used by the Abayudaya to provide strength and comfort when a person is ill. This is one of the few compositions on the CD by a female composer. Another woman's composition is the melody to Psalm 130, which is sung repeatedly during a burial while shoveling earth and filling up the grave. Women seem to specialize in consolation.
Twagala Torah ("We Love the Torah") is a charming children's song composed by one of the youth leaders of the community, Moses Sebagabo. The text, in Luganda, English and Hebrew, is sung by Abayudaya children who attend public school.
The more upbeat second half of the CD features guitar accompaniment by Gershom Sizomu and electric keyboard by John Mark Nkoola, musical director of the Abayudaya high school. In an interesting contrast, Summit placed the a capella rendition of Psalm 136 in the first half and the electric version of the same psalm in the latter half. J.J. Keki's song "Ali Omu Yekka" ("My Only One") sounds like a standard love song: "I have one chosen one. I only have one love. I'm warning those others, don't come near me, she's enough...." But Summit points out that the Torah is the object of the songwriter's love, and the song is a veiled warning to Christian and Muslim proselytes in Uganda!
John Mark Nkoola wrote a modern song about the feeling he has when somebody has died. The words are particularly poignant in this place where deaths from AIDS and malaria are not uncommon: "The time has come. We must be going back where we have come from, to dust... When I think about death, I become afraid. I wish I had somebody to explain why this happens. Perhaps I may settle my mind. Let us enjoy life... Enjoy life in the right time, place and with the right people before you disappear like a shadow."
A few of the selections were heard on the community's first recording, "Shalom Everybody Everywhere!" produced by Kulanu with the Abayudaya in 1997. It is particularly satisfying to hear the beautiful, mature voice of Rachel Namudosi, in "Adonai Mukulu" ("God Is Great"). We heard her lovely child's voice on earlier recording. Happily, more recordings are in the works.

A Story of Faith . . . and Self-Reliance.......2003-01-21

I was thrilled to read Richard Sobel's powerful story of the Abayudaya. I had the opportunity to visit this community in May of 2002 on behalf of Heifer International. At the time I did not know of Sobel's book. It has made my visit all the more meaningful. Now I want to return.

The Abayudaya Women's Heifer Project is located in the Mbale district of Eastern Uganda and Heifer work with them was started in 1997. A group of seven women became the governing council. Twenty heifers were originally distributed and to date there have been 5 pass-ons. There are now 22 persons ready to receive Heifers.

This group is one of the poorest groups that Heifer works with in Uganda. However, it should be noted that the assistance of the Abayudaya Women's Heifer Project extends to those who are Christian and Muslim as well as Jewish.

We visited many of the farms and then visited the people gathered at the synagogue. They shared their story and we felt the power of their faith. The cows are helping the move toward self-reliance, but it is their own strength that is so empowering.

A beautiful, fascinating book.......2002-12-10

This book is the fascinating and bizarre true story of a small group of rural Ugandans who got the idea to convert to Judaism about 75 years ago. The prose part of the book is actually quite brief, but the pictures are beautiful, and the CD that accompanies the book (their prayer music) is a musical treat.

Average customer rating:

worthwhile read, with some disfiguring flaws

A superb book - well worth reading & re-reading

a wonderful introduction to the magic of mathematics

The Pleasures of Counting
T. W. Körner
Manufacturer: Cambridge University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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The Road to Reality: A Complete Guide to the Laws of the Universe

ASIN: 0521568234

Book Description

In this engaging and readable book, Dr. Körner describes a variety of lively topics that continue to intrigue professional mathematicians. The topics range from the design of anchors and the Battle of the Atlantic to the outbreak of cholera in Victorian Soho. The author uses relatively simple terms and ideas, yet explains difficulties and avoids condescension. If you are a mathematician who wants to explain to others how you spend your working days, then seek inspiration here. This book will appeal to everyone interested in the uses of mathematics.

Customer Reviews:

worthwhile read, with some disfiguring flaws.......2003-07-02

No question, this is a five star book, it is a nice tutorial overview of applied maths, the high point being a presentation of Turing's analysis of the Enigma cypher at Bletchley, which I had never read before.

I was surprised at some of the things cited (the first chapter on operational research in the first world war is not, shall we say, deep) and some of those that do not get cited, but de gustibus non disputandem est. And I would have to say that in general the contents were surprising in the best way, by being ofbeat, and that is good.

Nevertheless, I have a list of quibbles; here are some:

First, he makes some foolishly dismissive - to be kind - remarks about economics, which reveal only that he does not seem to know a lot about the subject.

Second, he makes some foolish jokes about masters and servants; he glosses his description of Halmos's Naive set theory as a gentlemans guide by explaining that a gentleman should know how to drive, but probably prefers to let his chauffeur do it most of the time. He makes similar remarks about valets and algorithms (an algorithm is something that your valet could perform). One gets the feeling he would have been on the prosecution side at the Chatterley trial.

When I was doing my PhD, I remember one of the other students attempted to cultivate a gentleman's attitude to the computer on which he did his research. This was not as endearing a pose as he thought.

Third, maybe less aristocratic disdain about foundations would have improved the final dialogue about the axiomatic method, where complex technical issues are simply brushed under the rug without mention. Yes, the standard axioms for addition and multiplication, plus induction, do define the natural numbers up to isomorphism, but not in a standard first-order language. Surely such a point is germane to the discussion (or reason to have another discussion instead, if you do not want to confuse a beginner with end extensions and non-standard models).

But a nice book, and I look forward to reading bits of it more carefully sometime soon.

A superb book - well worth reading & re-reading.......1998-02-09

I came across this book on the 'new acquisitions' shelf of our library. It looked interesting, so I spent a lunch break browsing through a couple of chapters. Come the time to go back to work, and I put my name down on the circulation list.
By the end of the week, I had crossed out my name, leaving the comment: 'I have just bought my own copy'.

This is a great book to dip into on a wet evening. The chapters can stand alone, though many themes recur throughout the book. Each chapter combines a well-written narrative, examples that expand on the underlying mathematics, and numerous sidebars of the highest quality. I particularly liked the one about the extrovert mathematician.

Dr Korner's aim with this book is to lure unsuspecting teenagers into enjoying mathematics. He uses the technique of showing lots of real-world applications, most of which can be readily grasped (and some that are totally gripping). These range from tracing the source of a cholera epidemic, through submarine warfare and Enigma codebreaking, to understanding how the cells that form the walls of blood vessels know when to divide, so as to make the blood vessel just the right size. In most cases the mathematics involved is fairly straightforward: enough to challenge, without intimidating. Some of the mathematical material is developed in the narrative, more in the examples. Just about every page has enough text per equation to ensure readability.

There is a good annotated bibliography, and plenty of references, among which I found many books I had already read and enjoyed. However, the references lack ISBNs. The book - my copy is the paperback - is well laid-out and presented, with a clear typeface and robust binding. It should stand up well to the repeated use it is likely to get.
Buy this book!

a wonderful introduction to the magic of mathematics.......1997-05-09

If you know a bright teen interested in mathematics or engineering, GIVE THEM THIS BOOK! If you were once a bright teen interested in mathematics and engineering, give yourself this book. This is not an introduction to math. This is an introduction to *using* math to see things you might otherwise miss. Korner is a story-teller (he must be a wonderful lecturer). He covers his subject by telling stories of significant problems and the math that conquered them. The openning chapter tells the story of Dr. Snow's use of statistics to recognize the source of a London cholera epidemic, an epidemic stopped by removing the pump-handle of a London water pump. The subsequent chapters tell the story of operations research in World Wars I and II. In World War I, to counter the threat of German U-boats, was it better to use convoys, or individual ships? Convoys would mean delays --- gathering the ships to start, the convoy could proceed no faster than the slowest ship, and then overload the docks and railroads when they arrived. Which would you choose, and why? Having made your decision, how would you explain it to a math-leery naval officer? Later chapters tell the story of Alan Turing and breaking the enigma codes. This book is challenging, but great fun.

Counting Sheep: The Science and Pleasures of Sleep and Dreams

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Weak Title...Strong Book
An Encyclopedic Sleep Manifesto
"The Science and Pleasures of Sleep and Dreams"
Scientific and Artistic Appreciation for Sleep

Counting Sheep: The Science and Pleasures of Sleep and Dreams
Paul Martin
Manufacturer: St. Martin's Griffin
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Medicine | Subjects | Books

ASIN: 0312327447
Release Date: 2005-10-13

Book Description

Counting Sheep is excellent popular science, opening up the nature of sleep and explaining its mysteries. Does the early bird really catch the worm or end up healthy, wealthy, and wise? Can people exist on just a few hours sleep? Does everybody dream? Do fish? Is anybody getting enough sleep? Even though we devote a third of our lives to sleep, we still know remarkably little about its origins and purpose, and sleep-related events like yawning, sleepwalking, and nocturnal erections still confuse most of us. But with Counting Sheep, readers will gain respect, understanding, and a more full enjoyment of the time when theyre lost to the world.

Customer Reviews:

Weak Title...Strong Book.......2004-11-29

I almost passed on this book because the title gave me the impression that it was probably a piece of fluff. In reality this is a very comprehensive study on all aspects of sleep. I really liked how the author put many things I already knew, more or less, into perspective. Such as: Driving while having slept too little is like driving after having drunk too much. Alcohol gets all the blame, while people pride themselves on going without sleep. One problem: I often have dreams that foretell some incident that occurs later in the day, and found this true for many others also. Psychic dreams seem to be as common as rain, but the author dismisses them as mere coincidence. I subtracted one star for this factual error.

An Encyclopedic Sleep Manifesto.......2004-11-22

"The mere presence of an alarm clock implies sleep deprivation." What's the purpose of sleeping and dreaming? Some would just as well ask what's the purpose of wakefulness, or elegant dining, and I've been happily one of them since I was kid who early understood the delicious and miraculous sensuality of that mere third of our lives spent sleeping and dreaming. (Some of us wish it was an acceptably higher percentage.) With whimsical puns and humor appropriate to any lover of sleep ("Give sleep a chance." "Falling asleep again, what am I to do?"), Dr. Martin covers everything from the art of lucid dreaming to the history of beds -- and everything his delightful and agile mind can squeeze into 432 pages in between. No kidding. Despite the format that already feels like a sad "remainder," no self respecting sleep aficionado will be without this book on a nightstand (or coffee table, perchance to recruit other sleep and dream connoisseurs). Loaded with countless "aha" and "wow" current research facts and implications -- and plenty of encouragement to include the exquisite pleasures of sleeping and dreaming in daily life. Highly recommended educational material for the materially insane Western world. Zzzzzz.

"The Science and Pleasures of Sleep and Dreams".......2004-10-23

A very good subtitle for this encyclopedic book, also the title of this review, which could have included the words "and everything that can go wrong with sleep and the lack of it". Easy to read, exhaustively referenced (but without numbered references), Martin's dry humor is sparse at the beginning, but expands nicely as the book progresses. There are no picures, tables or graphs. For my taste, too many myths, legends, personal anecdotes, and non-scientific thoughts including poetic fantasies detracted from the many experimental findings that were presented.

Every aspect of sleep was addressed: REM, NREM, deep-wave, insomnia, too little sleep with many warnings about its effect on driving and other activities, alcohol and sleep, falling asleep, snoring, apnea, dreaming, waking up, SIDS...everything! Some conclusions were not surprising - many people in industrialized countries are suffering from too litttle sleep or too little deep sleep, and wake up to alarm clocks, a stress. Many school children sleep through classes because of poor regular sleep.

Martin demonstrated a few lapses in content. Chronic Fatigue Syndrome was said to have complex causes, including "malfunctioning immune reactions" (p21). Actually, it is proven that food allergies, especially grain allergies, are a common cause of CFS. People who get sleepy 90 minutes after eating a meal (p157) was not connected with hypogycemia from high-carbohydrate food. ADHD may well be caused by poor sleeping (p232), but no mention of its possible connection with diet was made (J. Am. Phys. Surg. 2003;8(2):58-60). Serum cholesterol levels were said to be a risk factor for heart disease (p263), which they are not when age is taken into account (see The Cholesterol Myths, Uffe Ravnskov). Eating fat, unless it was all trans fat, was not likely to be the cause of Elvis Presley's early death (p280). Grinding of teeth while sleeping was adressed with several types of treatments (p283), yet the simple plastic tooth guard was not mentioned. Irritable bowel syndrome (p284) was not connected with grain allergies. SIDS causes (p328) did not include too many vaccines too early in life as a possible cause.

Despite the caveats, this is a very good book.

Scientific and Artistic Appreciation for Sleep.......2004-08-05

We spend about a third of our lives sleeping, but we don't like to admit it. We are likely to praise the person who skimps on sleep in order to get the duties of the rest of life, "real life," done. Scientific sleep research was not even considered until recent decades. Correcting this sort of neglect of a biological necessity is one of the purposes of _Counting Sheep: The Science and Pleasures of Sleep and Dreams_ (Thomas Dunne Books) by Paul Martin. The deliberate neglect of sleep manifests itself in many ways, as if, Martin writes, we all somehow "ceased to exist at night." There is an enormous literature about sleep, not just the scientific studies that have been conducted over the past five decades, but also poems, essays, and novels having to do with sleep and dreaming. Martin gives quotations from many authors (especially Shakespeare and Dickens) in epigraphs and also as illustrations within the text to show how universal the literary concern for slumber has been; his reading is obviously wide and rich, and his book is crammed with interesting facts about aspects of sleep that ought to convince anyone that sleeping is more important, and more virtuous, than we currently esteem it.

Sleep is universal, even among other animals besides humans. Humble insects and mollusks sleep. Fruit flies find a location where they can remain immobile for a couple of hours, around the same time of day, and if you keep them from sleeping, they catch up as soon as they can. What is sleep for? Nathaniel Kleitman, the founder of modern sleep research, dodged the question. He said he would explain the role of sleep once someone had explained the role of wakefulness. Most hypotheses of the action of sleep have been shot down, and non is completely convincing or comprehensive, so there are many mysteries still to be solved. Martin makes the case that almost all of us in modern societies are deprived of sleep at least some of the time. "Love not sleep, lest thou come to poverty," says the Bible, and even Dr. Franklin roused the sluggards with the reminder that there will be sleep enough in the grave. Our eagerness to stay up, our fortitude in setting the alarm so we get an early start, are not virtues at all, Martin shows. Sleep deprivation robs the next day of comfort and productivity, but can also produce disasters. The grounding of the Exxon Valdez, the Challenger explosion, the near-disaster at Three Mile Island nuclear power station and the true disaster at Chernobyl might not have happened had the personnel involved all been sleeping well. There are many sleep diseases, but the very worst is Fatal Familial Insomnia, in which sufferers endure worsening sleep until their brains become incapable of generating sleep brain waves. Not even the strongest barbiturates bring sleep, and death invariably results.

There isn't much here about that other bed activity, sex, but there is chapter on the universal phenomenon of nocturnal erections and the equally universal one of yawning. There is a chapter on beds, many of them strange or expensive. Cardinal Richelieu was so devoted to staying in bed that he traveled in his bed, with porters carrying him. If he visited you, you would have to tear down a wall or two so that he could be carried, still abed, into your house where he would begin his meetings, again still abed. There is the story of how the Soviets harnessed sleep deprivation by amplified music and flares to keep Nazis from sleeping and overtaking Leningrad. Famous sleepers are profiled. The pianist Anton Rubinstein would have overslept every morning except that his wife found the perfect solution. She would play an unresolved chord on his piano, and he would leap out of bed to complete it. You can learn here about increasing the likelihood that you will remember your dreams, or how to increase your chances of lucid dreaming, during which you have more control over the dream than usual. Throughout this informed survey runs the recurrent and welcome message: Sleep is important, you probably don't get enough, and you should enjoy a good sleep just as you do a good meal. And naps are good for you. Brightly written, Martin's book cannot itself induce somnolence, but can just make us act upon it more readily and knowingly.

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Counting Sheep: The Science and Pleasures of Sleep and Dreams
Paul R. Martin
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ASIN: 0006551726

The Pleasures of Counting.: An article from: American Scientist

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The Pleasures of Counting.: An article from: American Scientist

Manufacturer: Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Society
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COUNTING SHEEP: The Science & Pleasures of Sleep & Dreams

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COUNTING SHEEP: The Science & Pleasures of Sleep & Dreams
Paul Martin
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Counting Sheep: The Science & Pleasures of Sleep and Dreams

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Counting Sheep: The Science & Pleasures of Sleep and Dreams
Paul Martin
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Pleasures of Counting
T W Korner
Manufacturer: Cambridge University
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