Customer Reviews:
Insightful frameworks for an effective PSO .......2007-05-27
This book is absolutely the best! It provides frameworks to structure and implement an effective professional services organization (PSO) for an IT product vendor. A product company PSO matures over time through various phases characterized by the types of services it offers. This book is full of practical yet winning strategies and tactics to maneuver the high risk waters of professional services. There are clear directions on how to manage key levers that increase profitability but it also sets realistic expectations. Although the book provides the `recipe' for a sample $100 million professional services organization, it lists all the necessary `ingredients' to cook up a PSO of any size.
I liked the fact that it is written in a style that is free of any jargon. Authors are professionals who clearly understand the industry from inside. My least favorite part are the diagrams and illustrations which are at best adequate but could be better. Highly recommend this book!
Building professional services in a product-based company.......2005-01-10
This is the absolutely best book devoted to building pro services organization in a product-based company. While there are a lot of sources on managing stand-alone pro services firm (i.e. accounting, law), this book addresses the common pitfalls in moving into services for product-oriented companies.
The book is easy to read, well organized, and packed with sound practical advice you can start applying right away, whether you're in delivery, sales, or marketing -- you'll be going back to it often.
You will sleep with this book.......2004-08-17
This book absolutely is the best book I've ever ready regarding professional services. They describe a pragmatic approach from their experience at SGI services. This book will take you through planning an PS organization, development of various groups, reporting strucutures, templates for tools to help you.
It's focus in on a PS organization of a product company but you can take much away from this book if you are purely a services organization.
What I like the most is that it helps you do begin to address the various challenges where other books gloss over these topics and leave it to you.
Excellent pragmatic approach.......2004-01-23
This book as become my day-to-day bible to managing a professional service division within our product-oriented company. If you have your objectives and strategy clear, this book will help you getting organized with the tactics.
Required Reading.......2003-07-19
This book is "just what the doctor ordered" for anyone trying to develop a Professional Services(PS) organization that is aligned with other functional groups and the overall mission of a product company. It also should be required reading for any leader moving for the first time from a stand-alone PS company to head up a PS organization within a product company.
I found it to provide easy to read, practical guidance on what the components of the PS organization should be, what the mission and profitability drivers should be, key organizational interfaces and how it should be measured.
Also, this book was reviewed, chapter by chapter, by all PS leaders as well as other functional leaders within the company, to develop a "lessons learned" document as part of a services strategic planning process. Invaluable assistance!
Book Description
Here the local vigilante is a farmer's wife armed with a pistol and a Bible, the most senior member of the volunteer fire department is a cross-eyed butcher with one kidney and two ex-wives (both of whom work at the only gas station in town), and the back roads are haunted by the ghosts of children and farmers. Michael Perry loves this place. He grew up here, and now -- after a decade away -- he has returned.
Unable to polka or repair his own pickup, his farm-boy hands gone soft after years of writing, Mike figures the best way to regain his credibility is to join the volunteer fire department. Against a backdrop of fires and tangled wrecks, bar fights and smelt feeds, he tells a frequently comic tale leavened with moments of heartbreaking delicacy and searing tragedy.
Customer Reviews:
Truck much better.......2007-08-22
He's got talent as a writer BUT dead people, puke, and sappy back-where-I-belong speeches didn't do it for me.
Garrison Keilor he ain't.......2007-08-03
Good reasons given for not wanting to live in the rural Middle West. No charm, even Lake Wobegone has more.
Good Read.......2007-04-04
This was a great book. Some scenes left me teary-eyed from laughing, and some that were very poignant.
A nice reflection on life's up's & downs from a small town perspective.
backporch stories.......2007-03-09
Nice adventure. Reminds me of sitting on a deck listening to a good storyteller-real stories. True to life. Honest. I felt the small town as many seperate tales as opposed to a story about a small town.
might be to real for some- but it portrays a stark reality for those of us who aren't exposed to the many ways life does happen. Enlightening and endearing.
Introspective in the matters of the human psyche.......2007-01-31
I lived the first 30 years of my life less than 30 miles from New Auburn, Wisconsin. So when I fortuitously discovered that the author hailed from the same neck of the woods, I promptly purchased the book from Amazon.
When it comes to reading for pleasure I read at a snail's pace. A John Grisham novel typically takes me several weeks to read. By comparison, I actually read this book at record breaking speed. It was impossible for me to set this book down for long.
There were times when I was nearly rolling on the floor laughing but there were even more times when I literally shed a tear or two. Most books don't engage me emotionally to this depth but then again most books are not written by such an insightful person,
Especially when it comes to matters of human nature and mortality.
And yes, mortality is an issue that this author brings to the fore on many occasions. In fact, if I had to sum up a central reoccurring theme it would be this. We humans are on this planet for a very short time and are balancing on a very thin and precarious wire each and every day that we rise from our beds.
I never felt that the author was an especially cynical person but rather a realistic one who chose to contemplate death as he continued to learn how to help others to live. His choice of an altruistic occupation simply confirms the lesson that many wise persons have learned, that "there is more happiness in giving than in receiving."
This book moves quickly with plenty of realistic and graphic imagery of his experiences in the rescue field interacting with scores of colorful characters. The author is an excellent wordsmith and is incredibly introspective in the matters of the human psyche. I am hooked and intend on reading his other offerings.
Book Description
Odysseus and his men have done what no other mortals have done: returned alive from the terrifying Land of the Dead. Armed with warnings and advice from the ghosts of the prophet Tiresias, Odysseus is determined to finally sail home to Ithaca. But the enchantress Circe tells him that the Greeks will face even more horrors on their journey, including an encounter with Scylla, the six-headed monster, and Charybdis, the deadly whirlpool. Who will survive these terrors-and how?
In this third of six books based on episodes from Homer's Odyssey, Mary Pope Osborne continues the exciting adventures of one of the greatest heroes of all time.
Customer Reviews:
Tales of odyssous.......2005-11-17
The Odyssey is about this man named Odysseus and his adventure to the island of the Sun God. It's based on the original book, Homer's Odyssey. He's got to go through some amazing things to get to the Sun God. He also has to keep his men safe, plus he has to deal with his men, because they want to slay and eat the cattle of the sun god.
Odysseus had to fight 3 monsters on his way to the Sun God. He had to fight the Charybidis, which is a giant whirlpool. He has to fight the three-headed monster that killed six of his men. The last thing he had to fight was the lady merchants that led you to their island and killed you or you drowned on the way before you got there.
Then Odysseus got to the land of the Sun God and he told his men that if they slayed and ate the cattle that the sun god owned their families would be cursed. Then when he goes to sleep they eat the cattle because they haven't eaten for a very long time.
The reason that I recommend this book is because it's a fun book for all ages and it is a pretty fast read. Another reason I recommend this book is because it's a fast paced historic fiction story. The last reason I recommend this book is because if you've read the other Mary Pope Osborn books, like the Magic Tree House books, you'll love it.
tbreading@warsaw.k12.in.us.......2005-10-21
I use this book for an ESL English class. It's much more comprehensible than reading the poetic version. The kids seem to enjoy it, where I think they would be lost with the poetic translation in our textbook. All of the students in this class are low level English speakers, so this gives them something interesting to read without a huge comprehension challenge.
The best in the series!.......2004-07-04
We read all these books in the series together as a family. This one was our favorite. My boys couldn't wait for bedtime so they could hear what would happen next in the story. These books offer enough action to keep one's interest, young and old. I recommend all the books in the series. We can't wait for #6!
Book Description
Captain Jack Sparrows ship, the Barnacle, and its up-till-now unshakable crew have suddenly fallen under a sinister spell. While continuing on their quest for the storied Sword of Corts, the crew suddenly finds themselves entranced by an ethereal song and each of them attempts to take the Barnacle in a different directionand away from the swords supposed location. Only Jack seems unaffected by the strange song, but can he both subdue his crew and defeat the mysterious force behind the dark spell?
Customer Reviews:
Fun read for Pirates of the Caribbean Fans!.......2007-01-03
My boys really enjoy this series about Jack Sparrow as a teenager. Oh, and I do, too! It is great how the author uses references from the movies. These are swashbuckling adventures with interesting characters!
Fun fun fun!.......2006-11-02
These books just keep getting better! I bought these for my daughter who is a major Jack Sparrow fan but I am finding myself enjoying reading about the adventures that formed Jack Sparrow. Pick these up, you and your child will get a kick out of them!
Another wonderful Jack Sparrow Book!.......2006-08-05
Just like the first, wonderful. As Jack Sparrow and his crew continue there search another problem unfolds. Jack has no time to wast on his search for Left-Foot Louis and the Sword Of Cortes, but when a strange song comes about and sends each of the crew members trying to take the Barnacle (the ship) in diffrent directions, Jack must find out were the sound is coming from and how to stop it. From a awsome begining to a wounderful end Jack sparrow finds a way to keep me turning the page once agian. So do your self a favore and please go and get this book for your self "Ye savvy"
Another great book in the Jack Sparrow series.......2006-07-05
Though not as quick-paced as the first volume, this book is still strong. And the ending (the best part in my opinion) makes you want to read on to the next chapter in Young Jack's life.
Argh!.......2006-06-14
The Siren Song is the second book in the new Pirates of the Carribean series, featuring a teenage Jack Sparrow.
This installment continues the story of Jack's adventures shortly after the end of the first book. Captain Jack and his crew, includinig Arabella, Constance, Jean, and Tumen, survived an encounter with an infamous pirate, but they never did find the mythical sword of cortes. Now they learn that the legendary Davy Jones is also after the sword.
Jack, of course, wants to get the sword first so they set sail for the treasure. That's when strange things start to happen: a mysterious island appears out of no where, a sea monster attacks the ship, and a strange never-ending song coming from the sea causes everyone except Jack to act strangely. This strange song is the "song of the siren" and Jack has to figure out what is going on to save his friends and his ship.
I would recommend this series only to those who loved Treasure Island and Kidnapped, and to those who love anything with pirates in it.
Book Description
A harrowing first-person account of living with a borderline personality Anthony Walker was a psychology student in Miami when he met Michelle-a beautiful 22-year-old in the hospital after attempting suicide. He was immediately drawn to her case, although his interest in her was not purely clinical. Though his friends and family warned him, he felt certain his love could heal her. But no one could ever love Michelle enough. The seductive roller coaster of her aggressive sexuality and her boundless needs made Walker a partner in his own self-destruction. After a hurried marriage, endless violent tantrums, and wildly unreasonable demands on his time, the author realized he would have to sacrifice his career, and more, in order to be with her. With a foreword by John Gunderson, M.D., director of psychotherapy at McLean Hospital,the world's leading authority on diagnosing personality disorders, this is a fascinating account that gives us a glimpse into the life of someone who suffers from Borderline Personality Disorder.
Customer Reviews:
Walker's a Little too Self-pitying.......2007-05-30
When a young med school student ("Walker") decides that a young, attractive woman who had just attempted suicide needed love, he was correct. "Michelle" needed love, but she more desperately needed help. Like many borderline females, Michelle is unbelievably sexy, impulsive, full of rage, childlike, and incredibly needy. Because of his misguided and naive attempts to save her, her rage, self-doubt, and hate mushroom. Walker is overmatched and Michelle's unrelenting suicide attempts and physical attacks nearly destroy him. The story is gripping; but, worse, it is pathetic. Walker makes little effort to understand Michelle, to participate in her therapy, or to get her to see a better psychiatrist. His "love" is weak and amounts to nothing more than fearful placating. I don't know what horrified me more, his limitations or her rage. Walker unabashedly places the blame on Michelle - who was too mentally ill to controll her behavior. A far better book is Rachel Reiland's account of her recovery from BPD, "Get Me Out of Here." Rachel's psychiatrist is an astounding physcian and healer. He never allows Rachel to manipulate or intimidate him -- and he is committed to making her well. Where Walker leads the reader to believe those with BPD are forever consigned to hell, Rachel's psychiatrist leads her to heaven.
Surviving a relationship with a borderline personality.......2006-12-04
Please note that this book is now being published under a new title: The Siren's Dance: My Marriage to a Borderline: A Case Study by Anthony Walker.
In the story you will meet a young doctor who gets caught up in a whirl wind romance with a young beautiful patient after a suicide attempt. He is deeply attracted and fascinated by her but completely unprepared for the full force of the dark side of her personality. The book offers no solutions but if you have anyone in your life who you even suspect of being borderline personality then you should buy this book.
Even though the case of borderline personality described in this book is mild I still think that the book is an excellent example of the general behaviour of the borderline personality and the affects on those that love them. This book will help you understand the common behaviours of borderline personalities. Buy this book and know that you are not alone and that you are not to blame.
The book is absolutely invaluable in helping you realise that you are not alone. Many people feel very alone when in relationship with someone who has borderline personality simply because they can not talk to anyone about their relationship because other people can not relate to the behaviour of a borderline personality because it is so far removed from reality. Here at last you will find someone who understands what you are going through and can "talk" to you through this book.
Borderline personalities are often in denial about having borderline even after receiving a diagnosis they will usually vacillate between blaming you and complete denial and only very rarely evening admitting that they even have a problem. If you suspect that someone in your life has borderline but you are not sure then buy this book and find out. After reading this book you will be know if the person in your life has borderline or not because the `evidence' presented in this book is simply overwhelming.
Excellent Book on BPD.......2005-11-02
Excellent book. I'd highly recommend it to anyone who had a relationship with someone with BPD. I had the misfortune of getting involved with a woman with BPD and almost lost my sanity. These people are like children, following their impulses, having no sense of a stable self. In my experience the woman with BPD changed from one mask to another, depending on whom she was with. At times she was very sweet like an angel, then at other times she would turn into a raging monster. She had numerous affairs and she lied about them. She appeared happy at one moment and then she'd get really depressed. She'd also accuse me of things I haven't done. Getting immersed into the world of someone with BPD can be a real nightmare. I'm glad that there are books like this, helping people to identify it. People with BPD appear interesting, charming and exciting until you get too close. Then they react with rage and accusations. And I had to deal with all sorts of lies and manipulations, becoming more isolated and depressed. I hope this book helps others understand what BPD really is and help all involved in the healing process.
--Alexander Shaumyan, poet, author of "Spirit of Rebellion"
Too many errors and full of fluff.......2005-09-25
When a novel has errors it loses its credibility and I stop dead in my reading track.
On page 94 and 95 of the hardback copy, the couple goes to a laundry and proceed to fight. Suddently the laundry contains article from their apartment,which they demolish as they fight.
Mistakes continue on pages 127 where the author/doctor's younger sister,credited with the first college diploma in his family, died at the age of 22. Did he not receive a diploma?
Age-related errors continue on page 137.
AS far as its BPD content, the novel is fluffy.
It was like reliving my marriage.......2005-06-11
I have to start out by saying that I am not neutral with regards to borderline personality disorder. Like the author, I was married to a person who suffers from this disease. Reading this book was very eerie for me because it brought back a lot of memories and experiences which I had mostly managed to forget. For me, the biggest take-away was being able to hand the book over to a friend or family member so that they could understand just a bit what it was like to live with a borderline -- the spiraling descent into madness, and the slow crawl out. The author had the advantage of clinical training and expertise and was STILL drawn into a relationship which, at the very least, derailed his career for a couple of years. Your average person on the street is much less well equipped to deal with mental illness. If you are stuck in a relationship with a borderline, giving this book to friends and family may help them to understand how you got into this mess and why it is so hard for you to get out. If you are the parent or sibling of a loved one who is clearly enmeshed in a bad relationship or marriage and can't seem to get out, this book may help you understand why.
Average customer rating:
- Wow
- Smorgasbord
- Fate, Chance, and the Meaning of Life
- I fell in love with this book...
- Just can't recommend it.
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The Sirens of Titan
Kurt Vonnegut
Manufacturer: The Dial Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
 Contemporary
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Vonnegut Jr., Kurt
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Similar Items:
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Cat's Cradle
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Breakfast of Champions
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Mother Night
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Slaughterhouse-Five
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Welcome to the Monkey House
ASIN: 0385333498
Release Date: 1998-09-08 |
Book Description
The richest and most depraved man on Earth takes a wild space journey to distant worlds, learning about the purpose of human life along the way.
Download Description
In Vonnegut's tale of the near future, a cold and malevolent universe is all that humanity can ever know.
Customer Reviews:
Wow.......2007-09-10
Before purchasing this piece of art, I already agreed with most of the philosophy behind it that I was to indulge. By the time I finished the last line however, I had no idea it would strike my nerve ending the way it did. When I finished, I leaned back, and starting laughing out loud from extacy.
What amazed me most about this book was not its astounding realization of life, or the amazing context Vonnegut portrays it in, but the manner of which the book seems to take you on a journey much longer than the 300 pages seem they should. When I concluded this work of art, I felt as though I had been by Malachi Constant's side throughout all those years of 'accidents'.
In a punctual manner of speaking, this book is amazing. If you haven't read it, read it. If you've read it and are looking for support from my review, read it again. You owe it to yourself to enjoy such fantastic prose.
Smorgasbord.......2007-08-15
As any fan of Kurt Vonnegut's novels knows, there are certain common themes to his work. "The Sirens of Titan", more than any other of Vonnegut's books that I've read so far (eight and counting), seems to pack all of his favorite subjects into one story. The subjects of science fiction, religion, war, political satire, time, fame, family, fortune and fate all come together to form a highly entertaining and thought-provoking story. Despite the smorgasbord of familiar Vonnegut subjects, the one theme that seems to stand out and rise above the others is the theme of fate. The characters in the novel all start out believing that they control their own destinies, and yet, time and again, find themselves simply pawns in the games of more powerful forces; often completely without their knowledge. Vonnegut seems to be ridiculing again and again mankind's delusion that he is somehow in control. To paraphrase a character in the book, "It's obvious that some being much more intelligent than I is in charge. Why shouldn't I just be friendly and try to have a nice time?" Who knew you could get such home-spun common sense wisdom from the planet Mercury?
Fate, Chance, and the Meaning of Life.......2007-08-06
After the somewhat clunkier Player Piano (Vonnegut's first novel), his style and voice take a big leap forward here with The Sirens of Titan. The concise sentences, the short paragraphs, the short chapters, the subtle insights, the satire, the humor - everything that makes Vonnegut so compulsively readable is accounted for here. As far as the actual story, there are a lot of important twists that I don't want to give away, but in short, Sirens is a wonderfully inventive exploration of fate, chance, and the meaning of life in this solar system. While I personally prefer a couple of Vonnegut's later books to this one, I'd say that Sirens is a must read for Vonnegut fans and a great introduction for anyone who likes to save the best for last.
I fell in love with this book..........2007-08-02
It is the first Vonnegut book I had the pleasure of reading and within a month I have read 4 more. It a fantastic book that manages to mix sci-fi with philosophy and religion. It's a captivating story, and I think one of the best Vonnegut books out there.
Just can't recommend it........2007-07-22
This was my first Kurt Vonnegut book and I struggled to like it because this book and its author came so highley recommended, but alas, I just can't.
Perhaps in 1959 it was a breakthrough for being so nihilist towards its plot and characters, but with the retrospect that living in the 21st century provides, Vonnegut's novel comes across as surprissingly dated and bennal, as if it broke ground for people to come along later and truly execute with some vision what Vonnegut perhaps set out to do.
First and foremost the novel never delivers on the promises layed out in the first 20 pages. The sense of wonderment established in the beginning, and its connection to an undercurrent of meaning in all our lives, was never explored. It was monotonously explained away as if Vonnegut couldn't be troubled since life is all supossed to just be random and meaningless anyways.
The characters don't grow or evolve, they are unlikeable and render unimaginable and utterly illogical decisions. Perhaps he was attempting to make their synapsis as unpredictable as the occurences around them, but I don't buy that... it comes off as lackluster storytelling.
Overall I was left a tad confounded, not that the message or meaning was too complex, but that someone would actually set out to create such elaborate language around what amounted to nothing. Of all the books I've read I think about this one the least.
Fortunately it only took me about 5 hours to read (otherwise a lazy afternoon) so if you're truly curious you can give it a go.
Book Description
Aris Boch is back--and this time he's after Daniel Jackson.
Customer Reviews:
new planet, new enemy.......2007-08-02
When I first read this one it brought up a few questions such as whatever happened to that bounty-hunter that they had run into 4 years earlier and if there a few more enemies that they had never met. I think that if there were a few enemies in this one than it would have to be the bounty-hunter's sister, the goa'uld and that creature at the end of the story. But for Daniel you had to think that brought up one his own ambitions and that was to find some of his lost memories when he'd been gone during the previous season, but for O'neill, Carter and Teal'c this brought up their biggest fear and that was having their team-mate being turned in a goa'uld. I thought the story was really good nonetheless and I look forward to checking out the rest of them when I get the chance. Trust me, order this one, you won't be disappointed.
A bit different.......2007-06-05
I've been an SG-1 fan since it's inception way back when, and have read and seen a fair amount of material on the series. This book didn't quite ring true. The plot struggled through, and the ending was not quite right. The biggest issue that I had with this book was the characters. People read SG-1 fanfics to experience the exploits of the SG-1 TEAM, not Samantha Carter and her lackeys. Throughout the majority of the book, Jack, Daniel and Teal'c were portrayed predominantly as weaker than their usual selves (with the occasional spot on moods evoked seemingly more for continuity), while Carter comes across as the strong, stoic leader. While I enjoy stories with a strong female lead (i.e. Tomb Raider, political thrillers, historical thrillers, etc, etc), taking the rest of SG-1 so far out of character to strengthen the role of Samantha Carter just seems OFF. So, a meandering and struggling plot, characterization somewhat off base, and a lackluster ending all add up to the conclusion that I should have listened to my wife (another strong woman) and checked it out from the local library. At least that way you won't feel ripped off in the end.
Liked this one least of all.......2007-05-17
Of all the Stargate SG-1 books, this is my least favorite. Didnt' flow right and felt like it was a strained effort. The actions of some of the main characters just didn't fit with the way you've come to know them from the TV series. Disappointing. Didn't like the way it was wrapped up either - not quite right.
An unexpected turn.......2007-05-12
This book took an unexpected turn, which kept me turning the pages.
Book Description
Goddesses, Sirens, and Mermaids is an underwater art photography project. The concept was born of Todd Essick's love for the sea and its inhabitants and his desire to share, aesthetically, something of the bond we all share with the ocean.
Goddesses, Sirens, and Mermaids began more than three years ago and Beginnings chronicles the first four locations photographed as part of this ongoing project. These images represent a work in progress and powerfully demonstrate Todd Essick's desire to unite the grace and beauty of the sea with that of the female form. His photographs are an attempt to bridge the distance to that divine mystery all great art aspires to explore.
Todd Essick employs nothing but film, models, the expansive underwater seascapes and the animals who dwell there to create his images. Neither digital overlaying, montage, nor Photoshop sleight of hand has been used in the production of these photographs.
THEY ARE REAL PHOTOGRAPHS.
Customer Reviews:
A Beautiful, Dreamy Trip to Other Worlds.......2006-06-01
Todd's book is unique among underwater photography books. His use of models with large marine animals is a magical combination. The photos have an otherworldly quality and display the beauty of both the marine animals and the human anatomy. Each location is accompanied by a text telling the story behind the pictures presented in the book. The stories make you feel as if you were there. A wonderful book to experience and keep for inspiration!
Book Description
As America slowly relaxed its moral codes in the postwar era, pulp novels offered an initiation to the previously hidden demimondes of sex and hedonistic excess. While the cover blurbs feigned shock and disgust, the cover art reveled in illicit danger, their titillating scenarios offering a lurid window on America’s suppressed desires. Now, collected here, are tigresses and temptresses in all their reckless glory. Each title in the series features 23 color postcards.
Customer Reviews:
She tried and succeded ^_^.......2005-08-14
A great postcard picture collection. i gave them to my girlfriend as a present, since she has wanted a collection of pulp covers for sometime now. She loved them, I loved them, and all of our friends that also saw them got a kick out of them.
All four of the pulp cover art books by Prion are highly recommended,whether you are a fan of pulp art or just like nice pictures in general. if you are a bit of a collector of pulp covers, get em all and add 92 excellent pictures to your collection.
Average customer rating:
- Siren Call to Read The Siren Call of Hungry Ghosts
- A rare investigative treatment of the subject
- A book more important than the Bible, Koran, and Talmud
- Treacherous Waters
- Not a Review As Such...
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The Siren Call of Hungry Ghosts: A Riveting Investigation Into Channeling and Spirit Guides
Joe Fisher
Manufacturer: Paraview Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
Psychology & Counseling
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| Adolescent Psychology
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ASIN: 1931044023 |
Book Description
Mediumship dates back to the Greek Oracles and beyond, but millennia later nobody yet knows for certain what transpires when a medium enters a deep trance. Today, the practice of channeling spirit guides through hypnotized mediums is hotly debated. This strange phenomenon is either dismissed as a dubious parlor trick, or regarded as a form of communication between this world and the next. Many view "the guides" as a source of love and wisdom…but are they?
For five years, Joe Fisher painstakingly investigated the claims of channelers and the mysterious voices that speak through them. The Siren Call of Hungry Ghosts is his gripping journey into a realm of darkness and deception.
Customer Reviews:
Siren Call to Read The Siren Call of Hungry Ghosts.......2006-04-25
The Siren Call of Hungry Ghosts is a spell binding paranormal detective story, elegantly written, and as
haunting and irresistible as its title implies. The implications of what British paranormal investigator and writer Joe Fisher discovers, at the apparent cost of his life, are staggering, and have such profound implications for all inhabitants of this particular plane of reality that as over the top as this may sound, this book may be one of the more important ever written.
The title capsulates, in perfect microcosm, the subject of the book and also the effect of the book on the reader...
at least this reader. This book is itself a rabbit hole, a rabbit hole with a certain suction, an undertow pulling you in as the author is pulled into an ever more high stakes involvement with the phenomenon.
Joe Fisher experiences the classic pitfall of the paranormal researcher. He begins as an observer, but becomes ever more obsessed and affected, even over-powered by the object of investigation.
This is the sort of book that has an irresistible allure like an over ripe fruit hanging lowly on the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, a fruit I found myself reaching for at the very first moment I heard mention of the book's title.
Essentially, this book pulls back the veil on the channeling and spirit guide phenomena and compels you to look, through a glass darkly, at evil in one of its more beautiful, complex, seductive, ingeniously manipulative forms.
While it is dangerous to be unaware of such dark possibilities and manipulative entities, it may also be dangerous to cast your attention in their direction. Attention is not just internal, it is also a beacon visible to others, and not all of those others are visible to us.
In case I've been too luke warm in my praise of this book, let me add that it has intense entertainment value to read, finely crafted sentences, perceptive details of people and places, observations that are nuanced and multi-layered, a narrator who earns his reliability as a witness even as he descends into the most unreliable of circumstances. The flowing succession of events and realizations has a haunting, gothic effect on the reader, like a Palantir that compels and obsesses your attention, but without excessively distorting your view. And if that wasn't enough praise to make this book shimmer darkly in your mind's eye, and compel you to read it
with the obsessive attention it deserves, I don't know what else to say....
A rare investigative treatment of the subject.......2006-02-26
When I began reading this book, I simply could not put it down, and I ended up staying awake all night reading. Quite simply, it is riveting. A seriously ill woman with no interest whatsoever in occult or religious matters is put under hypnosis by a neighbor, in an effort to relieve some of her pain. Surprisingly, while she is under, her "guide" reveals himself, and begins a highly philosophical dialogue. It seems the woman, unbeknownst to her or anyone else, is an excellent channel of those from the other side. An informal group gathers around her, and in time they each meet their guides through her, who all seem to know extraordinarily personal information about those gathered. A rapport quickly develops between the guides and the members of the group, and the guides regale the members with accounts of former lives spent together, the nature of earthly existence, the karmic ties being played out among the members, etc. Sometimes the guides give information on the guides' own most recent past lives. The information is highly detailed, including place-names, names of people, specific landmarks in obscure places and times, etc.
Joe Fisher, one of the group members and the author of this book, wants desperately to have some sort of tangible and objective proof that the information coming from the guides is verifiable and factual. His quest takes him around the world, and into the realm of a kind of ghostly smoke and mirrors, where, in every case, the evidence is highly compelling and accurate...and yet genuine confirmation is *just* beyond Fisher's grasp. His journey also takes him into the realm of other channels, and their specific entities, some quite well-known. What he finds is both tantalizing and even mind-boggling.
The implications of the author's discoveries are far-reaching, regarding the reality of earthbound souls, the true origins of channeled entities (despite the entities' own self-proclaimed origins), the smokescreens that channeled entities use, and the possible reasons behind it. If you are at all interested in "A Course in Miracles," the Abraham books, the Seth books, the Michael books, Ramtha, etc., I strongly advise you to read Joe Fisher's "The Siren Call of Hungry Ghosts" first. As other reviewers have noted (accurately, in my opinion), this book truly is one of the most important books on the subject of New Age phenomena; it is a pivotal and important work and I can't recommend it highly enough.
A book more important than the Bible, Koran, and Talmud.......2004-07-25
With all our 'advances', and history to learn from, why are we still imprisoned on planet Earth ravaged by poverty, disease, and wars, and looking Armaggedon in the face every day, instead of 'Star Trek' exploring the universe in space ships ? Read Joe Fisher's book about Hungry Ghosts, and realize why his book is more important to humanity than the Bible, Koran, Talmud, and Hindu Vedic Texts combined, THE most important book ever written. (Thank you Joe Fisher, Be at Peace).
Treacherous Waters.......2003-11-04
To fully understand The Siren Call of Hungry Ghosts (1989), it is important that readers know that author Joe Fisher committed suicide about the time this Paraview Press edition was issued in 2001. According to Paraview's website ("Troubled by personal problems - as well as by the spirits he claimed to have angered in writing The Siren Call of Hungry Ghosts - Joe Fisher took his own life on May 9, 2001"), Fisher's tragic suicide resulted from late complications involving his investigation into the world of "channeling and spirit guides," which makes the book's dedication ("This book is dedicated to my dear mother, Monica, who has always insisted that demons do exist") all the more ominous.
The Siren Call of Hungry Ghosts recounts Fisher's fraternization over a number of years with a diverse group of people who meet weekly to "channel" the disembodied "guides" who speak to them through a non - professional, fatally - ill trance medium. Eventually coming into verbal contact with his own personal "guide," "Filipa," a Greek woman who claims to have been his devoted lover in a former life, Fisher slowly becomes emotionally dependent on their apparently sincere and forthright communications. Fighting paranoia as he discovers that "Filipa" seems to know his every thought and action and is even able to intervene in his daily affairs, the author sets off to England and Greece to prove to himself that "Filipa" was in life who she claims to be in death.
The Siren Call Of Hungry Ghosts is a disturbing book on many levels, not the least of which is Fisher's initial failure to establish any sort of sanity - preserving rational guidelines to help him discriminate between, understand, and classify his perceptions, insights, and experiences. Though Fisher had written two earlier books on the subject of reincarnation, and appears to have humbly considered himself somewhat of an expert and skeptic, readers will readily discern Fisher's amazing lack of objectivity, as well as his broad credulity and emotional desperation as his experiences with "Filipa" devolve from the surprising and inexplicable to the harrowing and destabilizing. The book is full of indefinite suppositions like "throughout recorded history, many people have been sensitive to an accompanying presence in their daily lives" and "humanity has always been attended by invisible beings," which make it clear that bedrock intellectual ballast was a quality the author lacked. As a result, Fisher seems headed for serious trouble even before the events of the book begin, especially since "gullible" is an adjective the author feels applies only to other channeling enthusiasts. Sadly, though familiar with the work of William James, Carl Jung, and Julian Jaynes, Fisher never seriously considers the dynamic role human psychology may play in the complex channeling phenomena.
Since the author was clearly experiencing a remarkable series of extraordinary events, readers may find it difficult to sympathize with his literalizing desire to hold the "discarnate" presences absolutely at their word, as if the content and nature of their pronouncements were his to command. As the book progresses, the author's "need to believe" becomes increasingly frantic, barely concealing an unsubtle will for power that Fisher fails to acknowledge or discipline. Addicted to "Filipa" and the romantic fantasies he has spun around her, confused, and manipulated on all levels by an increasing variety of "entities," Fisher pays a heavy price for his hunger for "self - knowledge," preoccupation with the dubious notion of "eternal love," and needy willingness to place his emotional and mental welfare wholly in the trust of apparent unknown super - normal agencies. Obviously, Fisher should have questioned whether his fervent desire for an all - powerful and transcendent guardian figure did not disguise his own unresolved parental complexes.
Fisher did realize that his interest had become an unhealthy obsession, but rather later in the game than readers will. By that time, he was moving unsuccessfully from channeler to channeler, attempting to prove that "Filipa" could manifest identically through different mediums, or that other entities could blindly identify her as his true "guide," and thus offer some evidence of her objective reality. In one bizarre episode remarkable for its audacity, Fisher flies to England in hopes of obtaining an audience with a newborn infant who he believes to be the reincarnation of "Ernest," one of the disembodied personalities whose given history has proven to be false. Meanwhile, the author's human relationships fail, and he finds that "no matter how hard I tried, I could not shrug off a cloying sense of contamination which could neither be pinpointed or explained. Life had rarely been so fraught with uneasiness."
The book's last chapter and newly - added epilogue find Fisher wiser, paraphrasing Goethe ("Whatever liberates our spirit without giving us self - control is disastrous") and Jung ("We die to the extent that we fail to discriminate"), but still anxious, paranoid about the "invisible" forces around him, unsure of the order of things, and fearful that the retribution of the "spirits," his "unseen enemies," may lead to his demise. The Siren Call of Hungry Ghosts is an intelligent book that Fisher partially intended as a warning to others; it is also a sad and educational commentary on human fallibility, hubris, recklessness, and the tragedy that can arise when "the abiding human need for greater meaning in life" goes awry.
Not a Review As Such..........2002-12-11
I want to confess up front that I haven't read this book-regardless of that, I would like to point out that Fisher wound up jumping off of a cliff in 2001, in spite of his convictions that suicide was never justifiable. You have to wonder how much the dealings with "spirits" had to do with his suicide. The moral of his book seems to be that people are better off not communicating with "spirits", and I would imagine that his suicide makes point more profoundly than anything that he wrote would. Having said that, I'm ordering this book and I plan to read it immediately.
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