About this product: Meet Dexter Morgan. He's a highly respected lab technician specializing in blood spatter for the Miami Dade Police Department. He's a handsome, though reluctant, ladies' man. He's polite, says all the right things, and rarely calls attention to himself. He's also a sociopathic serial killer whose "Dark Passenger" drives him to commit the occasional dismemberment.
Mind you, Dexter's the good guy in this story.
Adopted at the age of four after an unnamed tragedy left him orphaned, Dexter's learned, with help from his pragmatic policeman father, to channel his "gift," killing only those who deal in death themselves. But when a new serial killer starts working in Miami, staging elaborately grisly scenes that are, to Dexter, an obvious attempt at communication from one monster to another, the eponymous protagonist finds himself at a loss. Should he help his policewoman sister Deborah earn a promotion to the Homicide desk by finding the fiend? Or should he locate this new killer himself, so he can express his admiration for the other's "art?" Or is it possible that psycho Dexter himself, admittedly not the most balanced of fellows, is finally going completely insane and committing these messy crimes himself?
Despite his penchant for vivisection, it's hard not to like Dexter as his coldly logical personality struggles to emulate emotions he doesn't feel and to keep up his appearance as a caring, unremarkable human being. Breakout author Jeff Lindsay's plot is tense and absorbing, but it's the voice of Dexter and his reactions to the other characters that will keep readers glued to Darkly Dreaming Dexter, as well as making it one of the most original and highly recommended serial killer stories in a long time. --Benjamin Reese
About this product: "[A] solid how-to book...For amateur dream researchers, this is a must." WHOLE EARTH REVIEW This book goes far beyond the confines of pop dream psychology, establishing a scientifically researched framework for using lucid dreaming--that is, consciously influencing the outcome of your dreams. Based on Dr. Stephen LaBerge's extensive laboratory work at Stanford University mapping mind/body relationships during the dream state, as well as the teachings of Tibetan dream yogis and the work of other scientists, including German psycholgist Paul Tholey, this practical workbook will show you how to use your dreams to: Solve problems; Gain greater confidence; improve creativity, and more.
About this product: Dreaming with God is about releasing the people of God to their eternal purposes as co-laborers with Christ. He is interested in our desires, and would like for us to partner with Him in the unfolding of world events. The fullness of the Spirit obtained in intimacy is what qualifies us for such a role of influence. The Old Testament fullness of the Spirit is seen in wisdom, and the New Testament in power. Wisdom is covert ministry, and power is overt ministry. When the Church walks in supernatural wisdom (providing solutions to the needs of the world) and walks in power (confronting the infirmities and torments of darkness) we will know what He meant when He said, "Nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising!"
About this product: In the 80s, Tracy Kidder's The Soul of a New Machine attempted to define the story of the development of a minicomputer: from the new science to the business and nascent culture of electronic hardware and software that was characteristic of that time. Scott Rosenberg's Dreaming in Code draws on Kidder's model as it attempts to document the state of software, the Internet, and everything circa 2006 through the lens of Chandler, an as-yet-unfinished software application for the management of personal information.
The Chandler project--driven by Mitch Kapor, the founder of Lotus Development and main author of its 1-2-3 spreadsheet, and later co-founder of the Electronic Frontier Foundation--isn't the primary point of Dreaming in Code, though reading about software people and their social behavior is at least as interesting as reading about that of meerkats or monkeys. Rather, Chandler is a rhetorical device with which Rosenberg takes on the big questions: How do software development teams work (or not)? Why does the reuse of software modules rarely work altogether correctly? Does open-source development by volunteers on the Internet lead to innovation or just insanely bifurcated chaos? Chandler helps his readers think more clearly about all of these issues; however, "answers" to these questions are, of course, not to be had, which is one of his points.
The problem with books about technical subjects that aspire to appeal to a general audience, particularly computers and software, is that such subjects are so far outside the realm of familiarity of most people that the prose bogs down in analogy and metaphor. Rosenberg manages to avoid too much of that and deliver a readable account of software development and culture. --David Wall
About this product: "Remarkable...An intricate weaving of dramatic events with the supernatural and the cosmic...Evocative and lush...A rich and haunting narrative, an excellent new voice in contemporary fiction." SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE Now available in a Spanish language edition from Ballantine Books. Here is the dreamy and bittersweet story of a family divided by politics and geography by the Cuban revolution. It is the family story of Celia del Pino, and her husband, daughter and grandchildren, from the mid-1930s to 1980. Celia's story mirrors the magical realism of Cuba itself, a country of beauty and poverty, idealism and corruption. DREAMING IN CUBAN presents a unique vision and a haunting lamentation for a past that might have been.
In the shelter of her country cottage, Sara Feilding puts pen to paper to create dreams. But curiosity has enticed the prim, well-bred gentlewoman out of her safe haven—and into Derek Craven's dangerous world.
A handsome, tough and tenacious Cockney, he rose from, poverty to become lord of London's most exclusive gambling house—a struggle that has left Derek Craven fabulously wealthy, but hardened and suspicious. And now duty demands he allow Sara Fielding into his world—with her impeccable manners and her infuriating innocence. But here, in a perilous shadow-realm of ever-shifting fortunes, even a proper "mouse" can be transformed into a breathtaking enchantress—and a world-weary gambler can be shaken to his cynical core by the power of passion. . .and the promise of love.
Modern physics tells us that we’re dreaming the world into being with every thought. The Courage to Dream Your Life tells us how to dream our world with power and grace. The ancient shamans of the Americas understood that we’re not only creating our experience of the world, but are dreaming up the very nature of reality itself—that is, “life is but a dream.” When you don’t dream your life, you have to settle for the nightmare being dreamed by others. This book shows how to wake up from the collective nightmare and begin to dream a life of courage and grace, a sacred dream that shamans throughout time have known and served. Alberto Villoldo reveals ancient wisdom teachings that explain how to birth reality from the invisible matrix of creation; and reveals how we can interact with this matrix to dream a life of peace, health, and abundance. He shows us that courage is all that is required to create the joy we desire!
About this product: Lucid Dreaming: Gateway to the Inner Self is the account of an extraordinarily talented lucid dreamer who goes beyond the boundaries of both psychology and religion. In the process, he stumbles upon the Inner Self.
While lucid (consciously aware) in the dream state and able to act and interact with dream figures, objects, and settings, dream expert Robert Waggoner experienced something transformative and unexpected. He was able to interact consciously with the dream observer-the apparent Inner Self-within the dream. At first this seemed shocking, even impossible, since psychology normally alludes to such theoretical inner aspects as the Subliminal Self, the Center, the Internal Self-Helper in vague and theoretical ways. Waggoner came to realize, however, that aware interaction with the Inner Self was not only possible, but actual and highly inspiring. He concluded that while aware in the dream state, one has both a psychological tool and a platform from which to understand dreaming and the larger picture of man's psyche as well. Waggoner proposes 5 stages of lucid dreaming and guides readers through them, offering advice for those who have never experienced the lucid dream state and suggestions for how experienced lucid dreamers can advance to a new level.
Lucid Dreaming offers exciting insights and vivid illustrations that will intrigue not only avid dreamworkers but anyone who is interested in consciousness, identity, and the definition of reality.
About this product: For anyone with eco-friendly ideals as well as a penchant for high style, Dreaming Green showcases seventeen inspiring homes that are at once luxurious, beautiful, and fashioned inside and out with green materials, design, and details.
While renovating their Manhattan brownstone, Lisa Sharkey and LEED-accredited architect Paul Gleicher’s top priority was to create a home that was light on the earth and completely free of the harmful products that are often found in building and decorative supplies. A sophisticated couple who entertain frequently, Sharkey and Gleicher also demanded a home that was beautiful from the basement to the top floor’s sunroom. They sourced stylish and elegant materials, designed small and large spaces for flawless efficiency, and finished the project with responsible yet stunning finds.
Dreaming Green features the Sharkey-Gleicher brownstone as well as sixteen other environmentally responsible, impeccably designed residences that will stir readers to reimagine their homes as places that marry responsibility and beauty. From cities and suburbs to the countryside, Dreaming Green showcases places of myriad sizes, shapes, and styles. Each space, with its floors, gorgeous fabrics, nontoxic paints and finishes, wall coverings, furniture, fixtures, use of recycled materials, and other details, is a treasure for the eye and a gift to the earth. What’s more, Sharkey and Gleicher highlight unseen design elements that conserve resources, such as passive heating and cooling methods and ideas for low-impact building and renovation, among other innovations. The spaces on display here prove that saving the earth never needs to compromise comfort and elegance.
Make yourself at home and lose yourself in: • An English Tudor–style home in Austin, Texas, that was built from cast earth clay and utilizes a wind-powered energy system. The home is decorated throughout with gorgeous antiquities and salvaged materials. • An upstate New York eco-farmhouse perfectly situated on a hilltop and designed to catch the breezes from the surrounding Berkshire hills. The owner-architect used local craftspeople—none based more than a mile away—to further the “buy local” ideal. • An Ann Arbor, Michigan, “sunhome” built to capture the sun’s rays for maximum heating and lighting. The modern marvel is U-shaped to accommodate an eighty-year-old magnolia growing on the property. • A glamorous southern showplace in Atlanta, Georgia, which the owners christened “Ecomanor.” It hearkens back to the stateliness of an earlier time but is also a model of contemporary energy efficiency and sustainability.
Lavishly photographed, Dreaming Green also boasts an invaluable resource section—a boon to anyone embarking on making a green home, renovating a current residence into one, or just dreaming about doing so. Dreaming Green is both a practical guide and a rich source of inspiration.
About this product: I just can't get enough of Karen's books. She does a wonderful job. The only problem with this book is that I wish it would have been longer. :-)