The Burning Land – The New Bernard Cornwell Book
The Burning Land the new Book form Bernard Cornwell author of the Sharpe series of books is out on the 1st of October in the UK. His previous novel ‘Azincourt’ sold well entering the New York Times list at number 4, and stayed there for a number of weeks, Azincourt was reported to sell over 100,000 copies in the UK in its first month since publication.

Bernard is a prolific writer and has written over 40 books, including the Richard Sharpe series of books, and the much acclaimed Warlord series which gives a fresh and feisty retelling of the Arthur tale.

The book is the fifth instalment in the Saxon Chronicles series of novels following on from The Last Kingdom, The Pale Horseman, The Lords of the North and Sword Song. It focuses on the continuing saga of Uhtred of Bebbanburg as he fights for King Alfred against the threatening Viking forces.

The story will continue as Uhtred faces the potential invader and would be king of Wessex, Harald Bloodhair. Who due to King Alfred’s weak health seeks the throne, as England appears weak and vulnerable to the land hungry Vikings. The Book reaches its climax as both forces prepare to meet for a decisive battle at Farnham in Sussex.

Like many books this autumn its release date has been timed to avoid a clash with Dan Browns latest release the Lost Symbol, and a gap of a good 2 Weeks has been left to enable the book to get the much needed promotional space both online and in bookstores.

The book is due to be release in the US in January after the Christmas period for reasons we have been unable to fathom, unless books are not commonly bought as Christmas presents in the USA.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jon_Hunter

The Lost Cases of Sherlock Holmes

Click here to enlarge.


http://www.amazon.com/Diane-von-Furstenberg-Display-Generation/dp/B00372632W%3FSubscriptionId%3DAKIAIZSPC3FJNES4GXSQ%26tag%3Debookconference05-20%26linkCode%3Dxm2%26camp%3D2025%26creative%3D165953%26creativeASIN%3DB00372632W

Just reviewed

The Iran Threat – President Ahmadinejad and the Coming Nuclear Crisis
“‘God willing, with the force of God behind it, we shall soon experience a world without the United States and Zionism.’-Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, October 26, 2005″ (p. 25).

Alireza Jafarzadeh, former media director for the Washington, D.C., office of the Iranian parliament in exile, brings together published reports and his own inside “sources” to paint a scary picture of Iranian leadership and its intentions. He sees the surprise come-from-behind victory of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in the 2005 presidential elections as a carefully orchestrated action by Iranian Supreme Leader Khamenei to make “the presidency a zealous and aggressive mouthpiece for his radical Islamic agenda” (p. 28). (The 2007 book of course doesn’t cover this year’s disputed Iranian election.)

Much has been written about the “aura” Ahmadinejad said he felt surrounded him during his address to the United Nations in 2005. “I felt the atmosphere suddenly change and for those 27 or 28 minutes the leaders of the world did not blink… It seemed as if a hand was holding them there and had opened their eyes to receive the message from the Islamic republic.”

The author sees Ahmadinejad’s spirituality as “convoluted and hypocritical,” and his escalation of speeches about “Iran’s duty to prepare for the ‘return of the Mahdi’” as “grasping at straws to survive” (p. 30). He says the Iranian economy “is in shambles” and that the Iranian leadership “has never been more vulnerable,” but that doesn’t make the apocalyptic rhetoric less frightening (p. 235).

“This is Ahmadinejad’s manipulation of the concept that the Mahdi will return in a time of great turmoil; the rallying cry of ‘nuclear rights’ is Ahmadinejad’s justification for creating an atmosphere of global turmoil to signify that the Mahdi will come soon…” (p. 31).

Jafarzadeh sees Iran as “ground zero for international terrorism” and the source of much of the unrest in Iraq. “In addition to sending Iranian operatives to enter Iraq posing as religious pilgrims, the Iranian regime has recruited an enormous network of agents within Iraq itself,” he writes of Iran’s intelligence network. “In July 2006 my sources in Iran uncovered facts about Iran’s training and support of Iraqi militias” (pp. 61, 105, 108).

The author discusses the various approaches being used to address Iran’s nuclear threat. The diplomatic option has not worked, and is even counterproductive in his view.

But he does not endorse the military option “because I believe that the Iranian nuclear threat should have an Iranian solution, conceived of and implemented by Iranian patriots with the support of the international community.”

He also believes Iran’s nuclear facilities would be very hard to hit with precision air strikes, if the West is even aware of the location of all of them. “Second, a military attack on Iran would change its image from that of antagonist…to that of a victim of western aggression.” He also points out that Tehran would “reach out to its support base among terrorist states and Islamist terrorist groups throughout the Middle East” (p. 218)

Alireza Jafarzadeh’s reliance on underground “sources” (he hadn’t been back to Tehran since the summer of 1979) and his agenda for regime change in Iran cloud some of the conclusions of the book. However, this book gives some background to a major crisis in today’s world.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=R._Mike_Bennett

Dr Clare Albright Has a New Book “Neurofeedback – Transforming Your Life With Brain Biofeedback”
Peak performance begins and ends with the brain. More specifically, the more efficiently the brain is able to function, the more exquisite your performance will be. A new audiobook by Dr. Clare Albright-”Neurofeedback: Transforming Your Life with Brain Biofeedback” will reveal the most leading edge method for moving your performance into the “zone” with ease.

The first thing that you’ll notice, and that will be like music to your ears, is the down to earth, homespun story telling Dr. Albright has used to make what could be a complex subject, something that you’ll not only understand, but enjoy immensely.

You’ll get the feeling that you are in a comfy café’ with Dr. Albright, sipping steaming hot and aromatic coffee, allowing her to envelop you with her masterful use of the English language. Yes, you’ll come away with an amazingly in depth understanding of neurofeedback, and how it can change your experience of life, but just as important, to me, is that you’ll get the feeling that you can actually see Dr. Alright in front of you, making a real human connection and captivating you with every utterance. This is a new and different kind of audio program, to be sure.

Many of the most notable experts in the field of neurofeedback are already signing the praise of this audio book. “Never before has neurofeedback been described in such a colorful and useful manner!” There are sections on ADD, ADHD, Menopause, Alcoholism, Brain Injuries, Peak Performance; the list goes on and on. If it has to do with the brain, you can bet it’s on this program.

If you are a coach, therapist, salesperson, athlete, manager or just simply want to take your performance to a whole new level, you will find information here that you just won’t find anywhere else. My prediction on neurofeedback? I would say that at some point in the not so distant future, neurofeedback will have rendered many other methods for improving your performance obsolete. After you have listened to this magnificent program by Dr. Clare Albright, you’ll know why she will have been such an important part of that movement. Bravo Zulu Dr. Albright! You can get her book on Amazon!

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Vincent_Harris

Happy Hour by Michele Scott
Happy Hour by Michele Scott is a book about friendship and four strong independent women who support each other through some tough challenges. The story embraces themes of love, trust, starting over, dealing with the past and looking forward to the future.

Jamie is a single mother and the editor-in-chief of a Wine Lovers magazine. She’s grieving the death of her husband while taking care of a daughter and also her senile mother-in-law. Kat is a sommelier at a restaurant she owns with her chef husband, Christian. She’s having a hard time dealing with her ex and her husband’s ex, while trying to make their blended family work. Danielle is a vintner of a fabulous new winery. She finds herself entrenched in a family crises when her eldest daughter comes home from college and drops a bombshell on her. Alyssa is a gallery owner and artist with skeletons in her closet. She’s about to get married when her past catches up with her. The women get together every other Sunday for Happy Hour. They share wine, food and offer each other insight that helps them cope with their problems.

The author knows how to tell a story and she captured my interest immediately. The family dramas are told separately but Scott brings them together seamlessly. The characters are wonderfully drawn, realistic women with real emotions and plenty of conflict to bring them out. Although heavy problems are addressed, the book is not a downer. Ms Scott’s wonderful voice and a touch of humor lighten the mood. The story is thought provoking, inspiring and entertaining at the same time. Two thumbs up for this one.

Disclaimer: A copy of this book was provided to me at no cost. This review is my honest opinion of the work

Publisher: CreateSpace (October 31, 2009)

ISBN: 978-1449505578

Paperback: 318 Pages

Price: $12.99

Gail Pruszkowski reviews for “Romantic Times BOOKreviews” magazine and her work has been published in the “Cup of Comfort” Anthologies.
Her first paranormal romance Call of the Wilds will be released May 2010 from Siren.

http://write-juncture.blogspot.com/
http://galestanley.blogspot.com/

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Gail_Pruszkowski

The Pioneer Woman Cooks – Recipes From an Accidental Country Girl
My first experience with one of Ree Drummond’s recipes came when I was surfing the internet for the ultimate apple dumpling recipe. My husband had stated that he’d never had an apple dumpling that he actually liked (and folks, this is rare. He is the easiest man to please cooking-wise.)

Because of the dearth of an adequate apple dumpling recipe, I made it my mission one day to find a recipe. I happened upon Ree Drummond’s site of The Pioneer Woman and was astounded at the blog I found there. The first thing I noticed was the gorgeous photograph of apple dumplings on a beautiful blue and white dish with a scoop of vanilla ice cream on the side. The photograph alone had my mouth watering.

But it was the way she talked about her mom and the recipes she wanted her mom to bring when she came for a visit that made me keep reading. This is one cookbook author who isn’t afraid to be authentic. One of the first recipes Ree recreated from her mother’s binder of recipes was the apple dumpling recipe. I’m an impatient person, so I just printed off the recipe, got the ingredients and went to work. My family felt they had died and gone to heaven (even if I didn’t serve them on such a beautiful plate as she did). I made eight batches of those dumplings before they finally allowed me to stop.

That’s when I returned to her blog and marveled at the detailed way she shares her recipes. Every step has a beautiful photograph. Her marvelous sense of humor pervades the writing. It took no time for me to be completely hooked, wondering if there was enough ink and paper in the whole world to copy every one of her recipes for my very own. I felt I had stumbled upon the greatest cookbook ever.

I guess William Morrow Cookbooks felt the same way because that is when I discovered that she had a cookbook coming out. They made good use of her step-by-step process complete with photographs in the cookbook. No complaints here about not enough photographs of important steps.

I bought one of the first copies. I was very anxious to find out if the cookbook was as good as her blog. I’m here to tell you that my only disappointment in the book is that it is far too short. Now don’t get me wrong…her cookbook is a standard-sized cookbook. I just know that there were a few of my favorites from her blog that didn’t make the cut. (Do I hear a sequel in her future? I hope so…)

I read a review of her cookbook by Publishers Weekly. They commented that her constant references to her husband, The Marlboro Man, made the book distracting and juvenile. I’m guessing that a man wrote that review. As for this woman, I was enchanted by her serialized story of her romance with a cowboy that took her from the sushi-eating vegetarian beaches of California to the heart of cattle country. The main story is on her blog. Anyone who has read that understands the references in the book. In fact, to me, that was a big part of the charm of her book.

If you’re just looking for a good cookbook without any of the down-home stories about life on a ranch, buy a Betty Crocker or Joy of Cooking cookbook.

If you’re looking for entertainment, combined with the most detailed recipes with step-by-step full color photographs that are sure to guarantee your success, check out The Pioneer Woman Cooks: Recipes from an Accidental Country Girl. It’s my new favorite cookbook, and I’ve given them as gifts to my favorite cooks.

About the Author:

Kathleen Birmingham is a ghostwriter of hundreds of articles, lesson plans, newsletters, and books. Currently she is partnering with Russ Stevenson creating a system to help numerous people get their ideas out of their heads and down on paper. For more insight into her philosophies on the business of writing, visit her at:

http://americasauthormaker.blogspot.com/

http://kdbwriting.blogspot.com/

Copyright – Kathleen A. Birmingham. All Rights Reserved Worldwide.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Kathleen_Birmingham

‘The Big Short’ Tells Fascinating Tales About Market Meltdown
Now that about 1½ years have passed since America’s financial system nearly collapsed, is there anything left to say about what went down?

Turns out there is.

In The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine (W.W. Norton & Co., $27.95), best-selling author Michael Lewis (Liar’s Poker, The Blind Side and Moneyball) delivers fascinating tales of how a few professional investors foresaw the collapse of the subprime mortgage market and then pocketed millions from their big bets.

Each of the players is something of an oddball:

•Steve Eisman, the book’s star, is a blustery stock-analyst-turned-hedge-fund-investor who’s prone to Cassandra shout-outs in public forums. “Even on Wall Street, people think he’s rude and obnoxious and aggressive,” says his wife, Valerie Feigen. “He’s not tactically rude. He’s sincerely rude.”

•Michael Burry, a money manager and former neurologist, is an obsessive loner with a glass eye and Asperger’s Syndrome, a developmental disorder that can affect a person’s ability to socialize. “My nature is not to have friends,” Burry says. Lewis notes that Burry wore the same shorts and T-shirts to work for days on end and refused to wear watches, his wedding ring or shoes with laces.

•Charles Ledley, Ben Hockett and Jamie Mai started their “garage band hedge fund” in a shed behind a friend’s house in Berkeley, Calif. Hockett is apocalyptic, with an isolated farm where he and his family can hunker down, if necessary.

Each saw the bubble through a different lens. Eisman felt the subprime mortgage bond market “seemed mainly stupid or delusional.” Burry thought it “looked increasingly like fraud” perpetuated by bond trading desks. Ledley and his team believed the financial system was corrupted by “a cabal of Wall Street banks, rating agencies and government regulators.”

Each found ways to short the market and lay enormous bets that the bonds would crater – by purchasing credit default swaps on them. A form of bond insurance, credit defaults swaps could be purchased without owning the underlying bonds.

In some cases, the players had to beg Wall Street firms to let them buy the swaps, because few bankers could understand why they’d want them.

Making these gigantic bets didn’t always go over well with the funds’ impatient investors.

Burry was a hero when his Scion Capital wildly outperformed the market (up 242% over the first half of the decade, while the Standard & Poor’s 500 was down 7%.) But his investors turned after he shorted mortgage-backed securities that wouldn’t tank immediately. “You know a lot of people are talking about withdrawing funds from you,” one investor said.

Those who held on profited big time. By June 2008, an investor who had stuck with Scion from November 2000 earned 489%, after expenses, compared with the S&P’s 2% return.

Like Charles Gasparino does in The Sellout, Lewis spreads the blame for the nation’s financial meltdown:

•Bond raters Standard & Poor’s and Moody’s misrated subprime bonds, magically turning BBBs into AAAs.

•Lax accounting rules let mortgage companies assume their loans would be repaid.

•The Securities and Exchange Commission ignored inflated valuations of collateralized debt obligations (CDOs), the structured finance vehicles that acted as viral agents spreading the American crisis to the global economy. The SEC “didn’t know anything about CDOs” when Hockett and Ledley complained to the agency, says Ledley.

•Wall Street firms were clueless about the enormity of their subprime woes. “They didn’t know their own balance sheets,” Eisman says.

•Insurer AIG, a major seller of credit default swaps on subprime mortgage bonds, didn’t believe home prices could fall across the country simultaneously.

Like Liar’s Poker, The Big Short views its subject cynically.

While the prescient investors made millions shorting the subprime market, the Wall Street firms made out pretty well, too. Most of the CEOs kept their jobs and the Federal Reserve bought the banks’ bad subprime bonds, sparing them from having to recognize losses.

As Lewis writes, “Pretty much all the important people on both sides of the gamble left the table rich.”

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Richard_Eisenberg

Interview with Dawson Church, author of The Genie in Your Genes

Elite Books (2007)
ISBN 9781600700224
Reviewed by Paige Lovitt for Reader Views (4/07)

Today, Tyler R. Tichelaar of Reader Views is interviewing Dawson Church, author of “The Genie in Your Genes.”

Dawson Church is the author and editor of many books. He has collaborated with such best-selling authors, as Robert Kiyosaki (“Rich Dad, Poor Dad”), Deepak Chopra, John Gray (“Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus”), and Wally “Famous” Amos. He is the founder of the Soul Medicine Institute (www.SoulMedicineInstitute.org) which researches and teaches emerging psychological and medical techniques that can yield fast and radical cures. His new book, “The Genie in Your Genes” pioneers the practical use of Epigenetics, (control of genes from outside the cell), explaining the remarkable self-healing mechanisms now emerging from this science. It has been hailed as a brilliant breakthrough by leading scientists, and hit several best-seller lists within days of its release.

Tyler: Thank you for joining me today, Dawson. To begin, could you tell us a little about your background and how you became interested in the mind’s ability to influence the body’s health?

Dawson: My interest in the topic really began while I was freelancing as a book editor in New York in the mid-80s, when I became intrigued by what was then the emerging new paradigm of alternative medicine. I also had the good fortune to witness very rapid, almost miraculous cures with energy medicine in cases where conventional medicine had failed. I edited one of the first books on holistic healthcare, “The Heart of the Healer,” and eventually got a doctorate in Integrative Healthcare at Holos University under the mentorship of distinguished neurosurgeon Norman Shealy, M.D., Ph.D., founder of the American Holistic Medical Association. We coauthored a book called “SoulMedicine” (www.SoulMedicine.net) which looks at the history of miraculous cures from prehistory onward, lays out the scientific basis for healing, and also charts a course for the future of healthcare.

Tyler: Would you explain to us a little more what you mean by energy medicine and an example of how it is used and how it differs from conventional medicine?

Dawson: Energy medicine and energy psychology work at the level of the body’s energy systems, electrical, magnetic, and quantum, to affect your cells and organs. An example of an electrical energy device is a pacemaker, and of a magnetic one is an MRI, which stands for Magnetic Resonance Imaging. These are energy devices used in conventional medicine. However, it turns out that our cells are affected by very small electrical charges too, and these can be generated without technology, by techniques such as healing touch, massage, and the stimulation of acupressure points by tapping or rubbing them. While the amounts of energy involved are tiny, they can have big effects, since it turns out that emotional trauma is stored in our organs as an electrical charge, and that charge can be nudged in the direction of health by energy psychology techniques.

Tyler: Dawson, could you provide our readers with an easy to understand definition of epigenetics?

Dawson: Epi means “above,” as in control above the level of the gene. Epigenetics looks at the various outside influences that affect the ways that our different genes turn on or off, also called expressing. The focus of epigenetic medicine is to move beyond the limited notion that DNA is the key to our experience of health or disease, and to look at the interventions that we can make epigenetically to affect our health.

Tyler: Would you share a success story with us of someone who has experienced healing through the use of energy healing?

Dawson: There is a man named Hank Hadley who is only too happy to have his story shared publicly. At the age of 10, Hank fell 25′ down a hay chute onto a concrete pad, landing on his tailbone. Multiple accidents over the years added to the challenges and pain. He has been through 16 major operations, for his back, neck, and even cancer. He has so much metal in his body that he sets off radar detectors. In addition to suffering multiple major emotional traumas, several years ago Hank was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis.

As the result of all this, over the years, Hank has taken just about every prescription drug on the market for pain, (including morphine) and even became addicted to some. The addictions were severe enough that he was forced to enter treatment centers. On occasion he could walk from his home to the mailbox and back without crutches. He couldn’t ride in a vehicle for more than 10 miles without excruciating pain and discomfort.

Today Hank is off all pain medication. All Multiple Sclerosis symptoms, arthritis and scar tissue pain have vanished, and pain is rarely an issue. When he began using Energy Psychology, specifically the technique called Emotional Freedom Techniques or EFT, his pain levels (on a 0-10 scale) were generally between 8 and 9 on a daily basis. He showed great dedication to EFT, and performed the EFT routine several times a day.

His pain is now minimal, and after a recent session he did jumping jacks for a video crew. After 24 years on disability, Hank now works full-time at physically demanding job. He continues to use EFT frequently, as new challenges arise in his life. For a full account and updates see: http://www.emofree.com/multiple-sclerosis/multiple-sclerosis-persistent-tapper.htm

Tyler: That’s a wonderful example. Just what does the EFT routine include? I understand Hank “taps” frequently. Can you explain what tapping is?

Dawson: Acupressure and acupuncture make use of a system of tiny electrical and cellular channels inside our bodies. The electrical resistance at the center of an acupressure point has been measured at about 1/2000th of the resistance of the surrounding skin. When we tap on these points, rub them, or use any kind of friction, we generate a kind of electricity called piezoelectricity. It runs through these low-resistance points to the places in our bodies where trauma is stored, and people usually feel an immediate and visceral release of that tension. Used in a protocol like EFT which includes affirmations and a structured round of tapping, they are extremely powerful. Another simple but effective technique from energy psychology is TAT, or the Tapas Acupressure Technique. These techniques can reduce the levels of stress hormones like cortisol in our bloodstream, and boost the level of DHEA, one of the main cell repair and anti-aging hormones. So as you reduce your stress through TAT, EFT or similar techniques, you produce a cascade of positive genetic and biochemical changes in your body. There are links to all these therapies and others on the nonprofit Soul Medicine Institute web site (www.SoulMedicineInstitute.org).

Tyler: Dawson, recently, the film and book “The Secret” has received a lot of attention. Are you familiar with the book, and how do you feel “The Genie in Your Genes” is similar or differs from its philosophy?

Dawson: “The Genie in Your Genes” describes concrete physiological processes that are biologically and medically verifiable. “The Secret” took a more metaphysical and inspirational approach. “The Secret” states that our thoughts produce concrete manifestations, and while this is generally true, the biological specifics are a good deal more subtle. Some intentions have been shown to produce strong biological effects, while others have been shown experimentally to produce no biological effects at all.

Tyler: Would you encourage readers interested in “The Secret” to read “The Genie in Your Genes”? Could we say your book is a more advanced version of “The Secret” that brings out the nuts and bolts of healing ourselves through thought?

Dawson: “The Genie in Your Genes” is based on sound and credible science. It quotes some 300 studies, mostly from mainstream medical journals like the “Journal of the American Medical Association,” the “American Heart Journal,” and similar publications. “The Secret” is a series of metaphysical propositions, while “The Genie in Your Genes” deals in hard biological facts. However, it turns out that those metaphysical propositions can “land” powerfully in our bodies, producing measurable biological changes, especially in our stress response, which affects every cell and organ in our bodies.

Tyler: Obviously, it sounds like “The Genie in Your Genes” has a spiritual aspect to it, and I know you have had spiritual teachers such as the Dalai Lama and Deepak Chopra in your books. However, your background is very scientific. Do you believe the fields of science and spirituality are beginning to align themselves more closely?

Dawson: Spiritual teachings have for centuries affirmed the value of disciplined thinking and rigorous spiritual practice. Now, studies of longevity and immunity are showing that these practices produce measurable biological improvements. Science is now showing the precise mechanisms that come into play as a result of spiritual practice. The idea that the two were ever separate was an illusion that is being rectified as science advances.

Tyler: As science advances, where do you think a greater understanding of epigenetics and the teachings in “The Genie in Your Genes” will bring humanity and all life on earth?

Dawson: Better health. Greater longevity. Less daily stress. More joy. Fewer autoimmune diseases. Longer health span. Better relationships with parents, children and spouses, as we no longer act out our emotional traumas. In the big picture, it will bring fewer conflicts between tribes and nations, as people no longer project the emotional wounds of their shadow side out onto “the other.” By healing ourselves, we become agents for healing our communities.

Tyler: Where can readers go to get more information about “The Genie in Your Genes” or to purchase the book?

Dawson: Readers can visit http://www.GenieBestseller.com for more information about the book. They can purchase it in stores, such as Borders, Barnes & Noble, or online.

Tyler: Thank you so much for joining us today, Dawson. Do you have any last comments you would like to give our readers?

Dawson:I have been looking at healers and healing, and writing about their work, for over two decades. I have never before seen any therapies with the potential of energy psychology and energy medicine. You can literally live a stress-free life, with huge implications for your health and wellbeing. If you’re used to the usual long cycle of emotional trauma and physical pain, as most health care workers are, it is astounding to see cases like Hank Hadley’s. If we love ourselves enough to release our stresses every moment they arise, we create a better life for ourselves, and everyone around us. I would urge anyone in pain, whether emotional or physical, to grab these simple techniques with both hands, and see just how much healing can be accomplished safely and non-invasively with their beliefs, energy systems, and other epigenetic interventions. The chances are good that you will feel much better than you ever believed possible!

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Stephanie_Glidden