Non-Fiction of Choice

Letters from the Afterlife is a hopeful, inspiring after-death communication received by a woman almost a century ago. In the early part of the twentieth century, a woman began a process of "automatic writing" — as though she were an instrument for someone else's words. Days later she discovered that the "writer" — identified as attorney and author David Patterson Hatch — died thousands of miles away, and he was telling his story of life after death through her. The resulting book, originally published as Letters from a Living Dead Man in 1914, gained wide-spread popularity and was hailed for helping remove the fear of dying. An eyewitness account of the afterlife, told while the storyteller was there, the book describes life after death in minute detail, including the consequences of suicide, how loved ones find each other, and the relationship with higher beings.

New discoveries in archaeology and recent bestsellers and movies such as The Da Vinci Code and The Passion of the Christ have sparked a renaissance of the many controversies that have remained unanswered in Christianity and other religions. At the heart of these controversies is Jesus. With a unique perspective only Sylvia Browne could bring, The Mystical Life of Jesus is filled with the details of Jesus’ inspiring life. Including his birth, childhood, travels, ministry, miracles, crucifixion, death, and resurrection, she addresses all of the major controversies:

• Was there a virgin birth?
• Was there a Star of Bethlehem?
• What did he do for the first thirty years of his life?
• Was he married?
• Was he divine?
• Was it a miracle at Cana (and who was getting married)?
• Is there a Jesus lineage?

Using her unique relationship with her spirit guide and her years studying the controversial Gnostic texts, Sylvia answers all of these questions with a confidence and authority only someone who has visited the afterlife can have.

Does the name Shakespeare make you shudder? Does it carry you back to the days of speeches painfully memorized for English class and promptly forgotten when the exam was over? You need The Friendly Shakespeare, Norrie Epstein’s examination of the life and work of the famous Bard of Avon. Mixing solid scholarship with a conversational writing style, Epstein provides concise summaries of Shakespeare’s life (what we know of it) and work, along with humorous and insightful commentary on related matters such as theatrical conventions of the era---e.g., women’s parts being played by men---political conditions in Shakespeare’s time, the modern film industry’s fascination with the plays, and whether you should be insulted if someone calls you a fustalarian. A quick glance through the table of contents will reassure the reader that this is not another tome of boring Shake-stuff, not with bullet points like, “Transvestite Theatre and Boy Actors” “Attention Shakespeare Shoppers!” and “A Glossary of Sexual Slang.” So whether you are a Shakespeare enthusiast and avid theatergoer or simply got dragged along to one evening to Much Ado About Nothing, hie thee hence to thy local library or bookstore and obtain The Friendly Shakespeare. Thou shalt be glad thou did.

The world is flat, not geographically, but according to Friedman, the world is now a level playing field for any nation who wants to compete in the global marketplace. Friedman espouses the idea that the tearing down of the Berlin Wall allowed people to think globally and the telecommunications revolution provided the opportunity for foreign countries to provide services more cheaply than in the United States. Have you talked to someone in India lately when trying to resolve some issue with your phone or computer? The author discusses the forces he believes have flattened the world and the myths that Americans have embraced that may hinder our competing in this new level world. He points out that emerging nations are eager to take advantage of these opportunities to compete for jobs and economic benefits.

"I can't help how I look. My parents gave me thinning hair and fat genes." We hear and say things like this many times. But Mark Hansen and Art Linkletter maintain that genes are a small determining factor in how our lives play out. The choices we make have more to do with our happiness, success and life direction. One of the choices is planning for our financial future. They give suggestions for this important plan for the years after our money making years. Hopefully by the time we retire, or as they call it 'refire', we will have enough money saved to live without depending on government agencies or others. If we work it will be because we choose to, not out of necessity. Refiring means finding new ways of being creative, productive or helpful. We can plan ahead for these amazing years when we discover again hopes and dreams that were put aside for whatever reasons. I think everyone who plans to have a future needs to read this book. Maybe you don't want to think about those days years in the future. This book helps you look at life from the perspective of people who are now in the senior years of their lives and are still going. What makes life worth living and how can I help others enjoy their lives? Find suggestions for making good choices for the best years yet to come.

Have you ever seen the complete plays of William Shakespeare performed in a couple of hours by a troupe of only three actors? If not, you owe yourself the treat of watching a performance by The Reduced Shakespeare Company. Now two of the actors have taken their zany performance style and converted it into book form in Reduced Shakespeare. In this case, you can judge a book by its cover, which features a portrait of the Bard decked out in thick eyebrows, mustache, and cigar a la Groucho Marx---an accurate indicator of the authors’ approach to their subject. No Bardolatry here, and no solemnity; this is a romp through Shakespeare’s life and times, peppered with irreverent commentary on every Shakespeare-related topic under the sun. You will learn how to “Make Your Own Shakespearean Comedy!” and find out just what the odds were of Shakespeare’s work having been written by anyone but Shakespeare (slim to none). But in the end, it’s best to let the authors speak for themselves: “Somebody, somewhere needs to boil down all the pertinent information into one brilliantly concise, intellectually cogent, and entertainingly readable volume. Until somebody does that, we’ve written this.” For more on the authors and the Reduced Shakespeare Company, visit their website at http://www.reducedshakespeare.com

Dr. Phil WATCH OUT!!!!! I’ve read many, many self- help books, gone to therapy and worked hard on all my issues. I wish I had had a copy of this thought provoking yet easy to read book to guide me through my own process of self-discovery. Simply the best, most practical self-help book I’ve ever read written by debuting writer Andrea Mathews. Mathews, a practicing psycho-therapist, uses the method of finding the Authentic Self in her practice. This involves reaching beyond the roles we developed for ourselves as children to keep us safe and help us fit in to our families and society at large. These roles may have kept us attached to our caregivers or to survive less than perfect childhoods, but as we become adults these roles begin to stifle us. Like ill-fitting, outgrown clothing this façade we’ve created now hampers our growth and creates a plethora of problems we imagine are the result of outside forces. But actually most of the problems we experience today come as a result of the mask and script we have created, and the roles we play.

The solution is in finding the Authentic Self. Mathews has written a simple to use text, full of self-tests, and detailed analysis of the most common roles people take on to survive their childhoods. Not only can this book help you discover the roles you’ve been playing, it helps you recognize the things that are authentic to you. Working the pages of this book offers a practical yet deeply spiritual guide to finding and living the Authentic Self. Forget about therapy………buy this book and start living AUTHENTICALLY!

Now in his mid-70s, comedian Newhart riffs lightly on his life and career, publishing along the way portions of his most popular routines. His book is a memoir only in the most superficial sense. There are no revelations, dark or otherwise, only an amusing and repetitive PowerPoint presentation by a writer determined to keep himself concealed. Oddly, Newhart’s observations about the art of comedy often veer close to banality. Comedy can help us make it past something very painful like death. He opens with some comments on comedy and comedians, and then segues into chapters about his youth in Chicago. His father drank a lot; we don’t learn much about Mom. Newhart attended Catholic schools, got a bachelors degree in management and left Loyola’s law school sans degree. He was drafted, spent two years as an army clerk, then worked as an accountant. On the side, he wrote comedy routines, selling a few to radio stations. He lived at home until he was 29. His first comedy album (The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart) skyrocketed, as did the follow-up. The ensuing years were filled with stand-up dates in Vegas, TV shows, movies and lunches with glitterati. A treacly sequence about meeting his wife and some Erma Bombeckian pages about a disastrous family trip in a Winnebago are among the weaker sections. More interesting behind-the-scenes segments discuss his TV shows and films, especially Hell Is for Heroes and Catch-22. Playing one scene in the latter with a wicked hangover, Newhart was taken aback when director Mike Nichols declared that was exactly the quality he was looking for in the character. Its one of the books many drinking stories; the author writes with less good cheer about smoking, which nearly killed him. His best friend is Don Rickles; he met Stan Laurel; he wishes he’d met W.C. Fields. He still loves doing stand-up. More of a routine than a memoir, but full of the wry, understated self-deprecation that Newhart has perfected.

Poitier, Sidney. The measure of a man : a spiritual autobiography. Harper San Francisco, 2000.

An Oprah Book Club choice. "I have no wish to play the pontificating fool, pretending that I've suddenly come up with the answers to all life's questions. Quite that contrary, I began this book as an exploration, an exercise in self-questing. In other words, I wanted to find out, as I looked back at a long and complicated life, with many twists and turns, how well I've done at measuring up to the values I myself have set." --Sidney Poitier. In this luminous memoir, a true American icon looks back on his celebrated life and career. His body of work is arguably the most morally significant in cinematic history, and the power and influence of that work are indicative of the character of the man behind the many storied roles. Sidney Poitier here explores these elements of character and personal values to take his own measure -- as a man, as a husband and a father, and as an actor. Poitier credits his parents and his childhood on tiny Cat Island in the Bahamas for equipping him with the unflinching sense of right and wrong and of self-worth that he has never surrendered and that have dramatically shaped his world. "In the kind of place where I grew up," recalls Poitier, "what's coming at you is the sound of the sea and the smell of the wind and momma's voice and the voice of your dad and the craziness of your brothers and sisters . and that's it." Without television, radio, and material distractions to obscure what matters most, he could enjoy the simple things, endure the long commitments, and find true meaning in his life. Poitier was uncompromising as he pursued a personal and public life that would honor his upbringing and the invaluable legacy of his parents. Just a few years after his introduction to indoor plumbing and the automobile, Poitier broke racial barrier after racial barrier to launch a pioneering acting career. Committed to the notion that what one does for a living articulates to who one is, Poitier played only forceful and affecting characters who said something positive, useful, and lasting about the human condition. Here is Poitier's own introspective look at what has informed his performances and his life. Poitier explores the nature of sacrifice and commitment, price and humility, rage and forgiveness, and paying the price for artistic integrity. What emerges is a picture of a man in the face of limits - his own and the world's. A triumph of the spirit, The Measure of a Man captures the essential Poitier.