Having just returned from Chile with this book as my primary reference guide, I found myself continually borrowing other guidebooks. Simply put, it contains too little information. I also found some of the authors' opinons a bit stronger than what I care to have when travelling an unfamiliar country. The two standards, Footprints and Lonely Planet, remain for me the best guides to South American travel. I regretted carrying this one along enough to have donated it to a hostal in Punta Arenas.

Admittedly, the guide takes a fun approach, and has interesting and readable content. However, because it lacks the depth of more veteran sources, I recommend this guide only as a supplemental reference.

Of all the guidebooks I read to prepare for a two week trip to the southern part of Chile - this one had me the most enthused about going. The descriptions in the book compel you to go to out of the way places I would have missed otherwise. It is not as detailed as the Rough Guide - but sometimes the zen for travel can be lost in the details. These authors have an obvious enthusiasm and love of this country. This feeling did not come across in many of the other guide books.

I bought a number of books for my trip to Chile and found this one to be the most helpful by far. I only had a few weeks and I needed some good input on how to spend my travel time. I appreciated this guide because it gave opinions and recommendations.

I think the authors and I have the same expectations for travel -- we seek out interesting places but also good food and comfortable (not necessarily fancy) lodgings. I'm definitely an indepedent traveler who likes to seek out new experiences. This guide led me perfectly along the way.

We just spent 3 weeks in Costa Rica, carried 4 of the major travel books and Mr. Baker's was the one we used constantly. The others mostly took up space in our luggage. The long introductory section was very complete and interesting - history, ecology, geography, lots. We found that this book had much useful information about the many parks, about small towns and large. We liked the small local maps. We enjoyed the hotel reviews and found them to be reliable. Funny! Mr. Baker uses more adjectives per sentence than anyone we have ever read! The book only lacks a good map for drivers. Why not add one?

I bought 4 guidebooks before our trip to Costa Rica, and left "Explore Costa Rica" at home because the middle section of the book had already fallen out after a few looks. "Lonely Planet" was also left at home because the reviewer didn't seem to go inside most of the restaurants and lodgings he reviewed. I took "New Key Guide" and "Moon Handbook" and rarely opened the "New Key Guide". The writers of "New Key Guide" don't seem to like Costa Rica very much, making unnecessary and inaccurate comments like "Costa Ricans don't trust each other, and neither should you". This left me relying on the Moon Handbook, which more than made up for the inadequacies of the others. It has everything you need: first you need to find a place to stay. They're grouped by price and described accurately as to amenities and type of clientele. Then you want to eat. Same orderly presentation. Some of the other guides group the hotels and eateries all together, without sorting into price and type. What a hassle to do the sorting yourself when you're tired and it's late. Moon Handbooks also give lots of descriptions of things to do. But the best and most indispensible part was the town maps. I don't know how we would have figured out where we were going without them. This is the only one you need. And it is still intact after a month of daily use and abuse.

We purchased the 1999 edition directly from Moon (it was so new Amazon had not received it yet) hot off the press ! We also purchased several other competitors guidebooks to take with us. The Costa Rica Handbook came back from the trip very worn! Of all the books, this one has the most travel information, the best maps, most useful suggestions and funny traveler's stories that were relevant to our trip. We tried using and referring to the other books many times while in Costa Rica, but we found ourselves reaching for the Costa Rica Handbook by Moon time and time again! If you can only afford to buy one book with information on travel to this country buy this one! One shortcoming you should conisder before buying this book - it contains little about wildlife...you will need to purchase another book that contains pictures and identification information about animals, plants, insects, birds, etc. of this country if your primary purpose for going is to sight animals and birds native to Costa Rica ! Another note: If you are planning on driving outside of tourist areas you might want to learn a little Spanish...we speak intermediate Spanish and while I was in the country, I couldn't help thinking that someone who had no knowledge of the Spanish language would find traveling by car and stopping outside of tourist areas (lodges, restaurants and gas stations) a bit confusing (they speak almost no english outside of tourist areas)...Know your road signs in Spanish! it helps a lot - buy a beginner's guide to Latin American Spanish with a tape so you can hear pronounciation.

Bitita's Diary by Carolina Maria de Jesus is an excellent testimonial about Bitita's life and obstacles she went through. She had to deal with gender, race, and class in her lifetime. Her own relatives did not accept her when they found out she was of lower class then them. Bitita tried to make the best of what she had or would move on to see what else the world could offer her. One time she left her mother and joined a convent. When she realized that she made the choice of no social life she had to leave the convent that provided her with food, a bed, and medicine and go back to living on the streets but had her freedom back to herself. I though this story was an inspirational testimony that shows a young girl who had to struggle in her life that tried to remain true to herself. I would recommend this story to anyone, especially women.

Bitita's Diary by Carolina Maria de Jesus is a wonderful testimonial depicting the life of a poor, black, Brazilian woman. Bitita takes the reader first hand through her life from a young girl to a mature woman. Most importantly, this book opened my eyes to class, gender, and race relations in Latin America. Not only is Bitita discriminated against because she is black, but she also feels discrimination because she is poor and a woman. Despite her misfortunes and sicknesses, Bitita becomes quite educated (mainly self-taught). Through Carolina Maria de Jesus' style of writing, the reader can see just how spunky and inquisitive of a child Bitita was. The innocence of a child can see truths and wrongs quite easily, unlike us adults. Not only does Bitita question these wrongs - she argues them loudly and openly. For this, I admire Bitita. This book was an easy read because of the author's frankness and honesty. The background settings were well explained which lead to the complete understanding of why Bitita acted the way she did. I recommend this book to anyone who is interested in Latin American culture, or the plight of gender, class, and race issues.

I felt that the book Bitita's Diary by Carolina Maria de Jesus was an excellent testimonial about a young girl growing up in Brazil during the early 1900s. As a young girl living in the favelas near Sacramento, she faced many hardships because of her race, gender, and class. She was discriminated in every which way because she was a women of darker skin who belonged to the lower class. Throughout all the obstacles that she faced in life, she still seemed to conquer the impossible. She recieved an education which helped to succeed in life. I really did enjoy this book because Bitita took you on a journey through her thoughts and feelings. She forced you to endure the suffering that she felt during her hard times, yet she also let you enjoy her happiness during good times. What I also enjoyed about the book is that by it being testimonial it challenges "offical history." Many time there is only one side to the story, but through Bitita's writing, one can see how a young girl of the lower class viewed the Brazilian Revolution of 1930 differently than others.

We've all done things we didn't want to do just to make other people happy. In the book, Shadow of a Bull by Maia Wojiechowska, a young boy named Manolo Oliver has a dream of becoming a doctor, but that dream is quickly shattered when his hometown of Arcangel, Spain, look to him to bring the spirit of bullfighting back to the small town since the death of his father. Six men, friends of his father's, take Manolo to many bullfights and teach him everything there is to know about the sport. Manolo knows what the whole town wants from him. He just doesn't know if he is capable to give it to them. But in the end, his dream comes true in a way that pleases both him and the town when he becomes the doctor he wanted to be. The suspense and drama you feel while reading this book is all due to the great descriptions that Maia Wojiechowska uses. She describes the pressure that Manolo feels of following in his father's footsteps. You become very interested in the story and you don't want to put it down.

Book Review: Shadow of a Bull

Do you think you would have enough courage to fight in a bullfight? Well, Manolo did. Manolo's father was one of the greatest bullfighters to ever walk the face of the Earth, and everyone expected Manolo to be the same. However, Manolo could not perform anywhere near his father's standards, and often wished he did not have to live up to those expectations. When he saw his first bullfight Manolo started to enjoy bullfighting more, and realized he could be as good as father. He practiced every day and got better, and better. Finally, he fought in his first bullfight. He did very well with the cape, but did not perform as well in his other competitions. Then an old man gave Manolo the choice to either become a doctor or a bullfighter. This was a very difficult choice for Manolo to make.

I guess you will have to read the book to find out what he chose.

In my opinion, Shadow of a Bull was a good book for several reasons. First of all, it was a quick easy reader. Second of all, I think that the author did a wonderful job describing the bullfight and the Spanish culture. The reader feels like he is at the bullfights cheering on Manolo. Next, I think that many people have faced intimidating challenges similar to the Manolo's. This makes it easy to sympathize with Manolo throughout the book. Finally, in addition to being a book about Spanish culture and bullfighting, Shadow of a Bull is a fable. The lesson to be learned from this book is that hard work pays off and that working hard is the only way to achieve goals. That is a very important lesson to learn in life. I would recommend this book.

Shadow of a BULL is one of the greatest books i have read. It's easy to see why this book recieved a Newberry award. Manolo Olivar is the son of Juan Olivar the greatest bullfighter in all of Spain. Young Manolo is expected to do the same. Manolo thinks he is a coward and really doesn't want to fight the bull on his 12 birthday. Six men train Manolo for the fight. He was trained well and thought he could do it. Secretly Manolo wanted to be doctor. When Manolo went to see the doctor, he said he could help around the clinic. When Manolo was forced to fight the bull, he did well at the begining of the fight but, when it came time for the bull to be killed, Manolo choked and couldn't do it. After that, he went to work for the doctor. This book is a great book and i recomend it to anyone who wants to read a good book!!

Master novelist Gabriel Garcia Marquez comes through again with another winner with his portrayl of a dying Simon Bolivar. The story is comprised of reflections and anecdotal information on the liberators life, going back and forth in time ,shifting decades with memories of times past and how Bolivar sees the end days approaching. As he travels down the Magdalena River ( a sort of farewell tour) the ghosts of his past surface, including the many loves, his enemies, his allies, his fading dream of unification and those who betrayed him. His memories assault his journey making death nearly a desired relief for the sick and shadow of the great man of vision for Latin America. When reading a historical novel like this one the question arises as to whether the information is factual or purely imagination. I finished reading this book wanting to believe some of the memories of Simon Bolivar were true and accurate to his life. In the end Marquez clarifies this point saying he was not concerned about the accuracies of the final days since those with him left no written record of the final days. However, Marquez does go on to say that he did considerable research(2 years) revealing often contradictory information filled with inaccuaracies while he labored through voliminous documentation. He also consulted with various historians, from several different countries, who are experts on the life of Simon Bolivar to further enrich the exactitude of the novel. Many changes were made from the original manuscript. That said, there are things to be learned from this novel that only the simplicity of historical novels can provide. For furthe exploration of the life of Simon Bolivar it is suggested to read Eugenio Gutierrez Celys "Bolivar Day by Day " or the work of Bolivar biographer Vinicio Romero Martinez. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in the writtings of Nobel Prize-winning author Gabriel Garcia Marquez, the life of Simon Bolivar and his dream for Latin America.

One of my good friends is the person whose opinion I trust most when it comes to books and literature. And, I'm happy to say, we usually agree on what's good and what's not so good. Although my friend loves Gabriel Garcia Marquez, "The General in His Labyrinth," however, is one book my friend didn't like and I did.

"The General in His Labyrinth" tells the story of the melancholy and sad final journey of General Simon Bolivar, fondly known as "The Liberator" in many South American countries. Bolivar is the man who drove the Spanish from the northern part of South America during 1811-1824, even though the local aristocracy chose to fight against him. In the end, he became a sad and defeated man, old before his time and burdened with the knowledge that his dream of a unified South America would not be realized during his lifetime.

Although Bolivar is revered in much of South America (and the world in general), his final days were quite unhappy. In this book, Garcia Marquez takes us along with Bolivar on his final cruise along the Magdalena River from Colombia to the sea. Bolivar was sad, disillusioned, in shock from the after effects of an assassination attempt and suffering from an unspecified illness; in short, this mythic man had become old at the very young age of forty-six.

After Bolivar had been denied the presidency of Colombia he decided to spend his final days in Europe, far away from political strife of any kind. But Bolivar wouldn't have been Bolivar had he not given his life to the people. His dreams of living in peace in Europe were dashed when the government that replaced him failed.

It didn't take years of history to make Bolivar larger than life. He was larger then life to those who knew him intimately as well as to those who knew him only by reputation. And no wonder...he possessed a terrible temper, a extraordinarily passionate nature and his political and leadership abilities were virtually unsurpassed. Everyone paled next to Bolivar, in life just as (almost) everyone pales next to him in this book. (His enemy, Santander, and his commander, Sucre, are two notable exceptions. His lover, Manuela Saenz is also a well drawn character, but Bolivar's valet, Jose Palacios lets us know that, other than saving Bolivar from assassination, she was really nothing special, just one more lover among very many.)

I read, in a interview with Garcia Marquez, that the voyage along the Magdalena was chosen to be fictionalized since this was a little-known episode in a very publicly-lived life. Personally, I think it was a wonderful choice. The voyage was one that was no doubt filled with melancholy and nostalgia and no one writes of melancholy and nostalgia, especially South American melancholy and nostalgia, as well as does Garcia Marquez. This is a book in which real memories become confused with the hallucinations of delirium, a confusion that is only enhanced by the descriptions of the steamy jungle interior. The floods, the oppressive heat, the epidemics that Bolivar and his weary band of supporters encounter only serve to enhance "The Liberator's" own physical decline.

I also think that showing us Bolivar, not at the height of his glory, but at what was no doubt one of the lowest points of his life, was also a wonderful choice. Bolivar was, apparently, a man of contradictions. He was flamboyant and mythic, yet ultimately tragic; he could be elegant in public matters yet coarse in private; he was obviously a genius at strategy, yet his last days were filled with the incoherence of illness. And, all along the way, through this maze of contradictions, Garcia Marquez never loses sight of the one driving force in Simon Bolivar's life: his desire for a unified South America.

I also love the way Garcia Marquez twists and folds the narrative of this book until the reader isn't quite sure what's real and what's fevered hallucination; what really happened and what didn't. Of course, Garcia Marquez is a master at just this sort of narrative and he really outdoes himself in this book.

In the end, Bolivar, himself, decides that South America is ungovernable; it is, he declared, a land that will inevitably fall into the hands of tyrants, both large and small. Sadly, Bolivar's prophecy seems to be, at least in part, true. And, even more sadly still, although the world has come to love and rever "The Liberator," "The Liberator," himself, died a sad and defeated man.

"The General in His Labyrinth" is a fictionalized account of the last seven months of the life of Simon Bolivar (1783-1830), the liberator of Gran Colombia (Venezuela, Colombia, and Ecuador) from Spanish rule. Bolivar's goal was to unite South America into a single great country, but there was constant conflict with separatists and political and military rivals, and in the last year of his life he was expelled from the presidency. He left Bogota with an entourage of close friends, relatives, and servants, and his final months were spent in a journey down the River Magdalena, ostensibly to leave the country. A terminal illness (consumption? tuberculosis? his bedsheets are burned and eating utensils are buried after he uses them for fear of contagion) causes him fits of feverish delirium, in which he recalls glorious episodes in his life.

I once read one of Garcia Marquez's earlier short stories, "A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings," and that story and this novel seem to share a theme. They are both about an important or extraordinary figure (in the story, the title character; in this novel, Bolivar) who falls from a state of grace, comes into contact with common people, and must suffer their treatment, be it awe or indifference. I knew almost nothing about Bolivar and the history of South America, but the fact that this fascinating novel made me want to learn more about the subject is a testament to Garcia Marquez's great skill as a writer.

I can't believe how many people (including myself) had never heard of freshwater dolphins before seeing this book. Why isn't there any information out there about these intriguing cousins of the saltwater dolphins that we all know and love? Well, now there is! And Sy Montgomery takes us deep into the habitat of the freshwater dolphins --- the Amazon (where, as she explains, there are trees and ants that can kill you, among many other things). She not only explores the life and biology of these dolphins, but she also explores some of the myths that surround them. She learns that many native Amazon peoples believe that these creatures can take the form of humans in their efforts to seduce women into their underwater world. She relates first hand accounts of these stories and myths. But the author doesn't stop there, she writes extensively about the atmosphere of the Amazon, the people, the ecosystem, the cultures, the tourists, the industries, etc... She provides alot of interesting information about a very unique subject. As I read the book, I felt as if I was being pulled into the Amazon. Her writing is clear and approachable, sometimes poetic, but other times drawn-out. There are some very insightful passages as well. And fascinating photographs are scattered throughout. I recommend this book to anyone interested in animals, conservation, adventure travel, aboriginal/native cultures and all those intrigued by the idea of a freshwater dolphin!

I loved this book! Sy Montgomery is a talented writer, able to put you in exotic places with vivid descriptions, I almost felt I was in the Amazon. She really brought it to life, I look forward to reading another book of hers I have purchased, "Search for the Golden Moon Bear."

The book focuses on the author's quest for the pink dolphin, but really it is a journey to find not one but two dolphins. I don't refer to the other species of dolphin that lives in the Amazon, the tucuxis (one which she also covers in the book), but for two sides of the same animal. On the one hand she searches for the pink dolphin, the bufeo in Spanish or boto in Portguese, a living animal of which little is known about in comparison with many other dolphin species. Living in the most massive river system on earth, one connnected to innumerable lakes in the rainy season, in waters often black as coffee and infested with caimans, piranha, stingrays, and electric eels, in often very remote regions to which there is no reliable transportation to, it is a difficult subject to study. An example of cetaceans from an earlier geologic era, primitive when compared to modern oceanic dolphins, the pink dolphins preserve something from an eariler era, a holdover in the modern world. Montgomery and her various companions in the book struggle to get good observations of the dolphins, to try and track them, to identify individuals, to observe their behavior. The author finds that even experts who have studied the bufeo for years are often perplexed by them. She has many successes, providing much interesting information on them and a fine series of color photographs of the often startingly pink dolphins.

Montgomery though is also questing for the Encante, the mystical shape-shifting dolphin that is very real to many of the peoples who live along the mighty Amazon. Believed to exist in fabulous cities beneath the surface of the river, the locals speak in conspiratorial tones about the dolphins' magic powers and often lust for attractive humans. The natives often worry that their wives, husbands, sons, and daughters will be stolen about by the fabulous Encante, and speak with awe and reverence about the dolphins. Montgomery continually quests for the natives' views of the Encante, for their "true" tales, and for how they protect themselves against their fantastic attention.

Montgomery doesn't exlusively focus on dolphins though. Her book in part is a vivid travelogue of Amazonia, bringing us to many exotic locations. We visit Manaus, the impossible Paris of the Amazon, home to an opera house right out of a fairy tale. Built upon the backs of native jungle peoples by rubber barons, today it is a squalid city trying to embrace change. She takes us to amazing Meeting of the Waters, where for miles two tributies of the Amazon, the black River Negro and the white Solimoes, flow side by side before forming the true Amazon River. We are taken to two different nature reserves, both with differing strategies, Tamshiyacu-Tahuayo and Mamiraua, where some of the rich life and deadly beauty of Amazonia is preserved against an uncertain future. Montgomery takes us to the impossibly clear waters and white sandy beaches of the Tapajos and Arapiuns Rivers, where she actually swims with the dolphins, something not possible elsewhere in the dark and piranha-infested rivers elsewhere. She undertakes a vision quest by taking the hallucigenic Ayahuasca or "Mother of the Vine," something few Westerners have done (and for good reason).

Further, while the bufeo or boto is the star of the book, many other animals form a rich supporting cast. The odd hoatzin, a bird with claws, seemingly someting out of the Mesozoic. Electric eels, extremely common and suprisingly complex. Caimans, another seemingly prehistoric species. Amazonian manatees, gentle vegetarians that are much more intelligent than often given credit for. The weird side-necked turtle. All manner of insects, including ants. And more are given space.

Some have said that she rhapsodizes too much in the book, but I disagree. She has done her research, the book is filled with interviews with experts, and there is a nice bibliography at the end. She has skillfully combined hard science with poetry, and the effort is very worthwhile. I highly recommend it.

In reading this book, I feel as though I learned as much about the Amazon and its people and culture as I did about pink river dolphins. Mythology, botany, entomology, anthropology, zoology...it's all there, along with doses of history and present-day conservation and environmentalism.

I love Montgomery's style of writing (and thinking). There were times which were poetic, educational, reflective, and others in which I found myself laughing out loud.

A long-time dolphin lover, I appreciate Montgomery's enormous effort she undertook to connect with pink river dolphins. I'm happy to have found and read this book so she could share them with me...

This was the next best thing to being there.

In this book Villoldo provides us with a glimpse into Andean healing practices. Each chapter begins with an excerpt from Villoldo's Journal written during his training sesions with the teachers from the Q'ero nation, and with the healers he encountered in the Peruvian and Brazilian rainforest. Villoldo then goes on to describe the foundations of energy medicine and ends most chapters with simple exercises to give us the taste of what he is writing about. Myself i am interested in parallels between various shamanic practices and energy training in martial arts and SHS provided several useful tips. However, the practical usefulness of this book is probably limited, because even the simplest exercises need verification and support by a qualified teacher.

I find the information in this book to be (to the best of my knowledge) accurate, provided by a competent and well-trained specialist. The stories about the Q'ero shamans and their training are especially interesting. These people have a sophisticated understanding of consciousness and of the issues related to death and dying. As all indigenous shamans, they are intimately connected to nature and show amazing skills taping forces residing within the majestic landscape of the Cordilleras. i think it is high time we start to look at the Q'ero with new respect.

In my view this is probably one of the best books available on Peruvian shamanism and its applicability to the Western practice of "integrative medicine". i recommend it.

In SHAMAN, HEALER, SAGE, Alberto Villoldo spells out practices for personal and collective transformation of consciousness. The techniques elaborated are his own synthesis and interpretation of ancient healing practices. He strongly emphasizes that they must be employed with the highest code of ethics and integrity. What can heal can also hurt. Therefore, much of shamanic training is dedicated to developing ethics and values grounded upon a deep reverence for all life. To Villoldo's mind, energy healing from someone with inadequate training is basically black magic, regardless of one's good intentions.

Shamanic energy healing is not about rules or ideas. It is about vision and spirit - about realizing our luminous nature in infinity. It is about being caretakers of the Earth - speaking with thundering rivers, whispering mountains, and hearing the voice of God in the wind. In the world of the shaman, there are no divisions between mind, spirit, and matter. There is nothing to transcend and nothing in need of yoking. Said his teacher, Don Antonio, "We are luminous beings on a journey to the stars."

As Villoldo portrays it, the Illumination Process of the shaman is a direct interaction with the forces of Spirit. It allows us to taste infinity and renew ourselves from the source that animates and informs all life. In experiencing infinity, the illusions of old age, disease, and death are shattered. Every cell in our body is informed and renewed. Our immune system is unfettered, healing is accelerated, miracles and spontaneous remissions become common occurrences.

According to Villoldo, The Luminous Energy Field contains an archive of our personal and ancestral memories. That informs the chakras which organize our physical and emotional world. Erasing negative imprints in the Luminous Field enable the immune system to efficiently eradicate an illness. Amazon shamans believe that when all the chakras are cleared, one acquires a "rainbow body." One can visit the spirit world and die consciously because one knows the way home. One is not stalked by death, but claimed by life.

In the shamanic view, the four survival instincts - fear, feeding, fighting, and sex - are mirrored in the first two chakras. An unbalanced first chakra manifests as feelings of scarcity. When cleared, we know with every cell of our body that we are cared for and sustained by the universe. The second chakra has the capacity to digest negative emotions and expel them as waste. The tool of the third chakra is visualization. Balancing the third chakra improves the surrounding world since, according to the shaman, we dream our world into being. The nature of the fourth chakra, the heart, is impersonal love. The fifth chakra, the throat, gives voice to the feelings of the heart. In the sixth, seventh, eighth, and ninth chakras, development becomes transpersonal as we explore ever more subtle domains. We master death, time, invisibility, and the ability to keep a secret. It is said that all the desires of one with an awakened third eye come true. Therefore, a number of healers holding the same vision can manifest its truth for the planet.

To develop the shaman's way of seeing, we need to see with the eyes of the mind and the heart. Villoldo gives visualization meditations as to how to develop and strengthen those connections. The result is primary, direct, immediate, multisensory perception (synesthesia). The seer learns to track the origin of illness across time by finding the wounded "face" of the patient. Once it appears, it will reveal its story.

Before healing, the shaman summons the organizing principles of the Universe and aligns himself with them. He invokes a sacred space for healing and maintains it through the purity of his intent. That protects him from absorbing negative energies. After completing his work, he closes the sacred space so that it will not become contaminated. Otherwise, the forces of nature would no longer respond to his call. Villoldo says that he has seen healers who neglected to close their own sacred space absorb toxic energies from their client and become ill themselves.

Villoldo gives detailed steps for the Illumination Process of energy healing. It works by combusting and digesting toxic wastes that obstruct chakras and fuel imprints. Clear light is employed to overwrite information contained in the blueprint to prevent reorganization of the disease. Thus, the Illumination Process integrates and transforms emotional wounds into sources of knowledge and wisdom.

According to Villoldo, every form of energy has consciousness and frequency of vibration. Just as the brain has receptor sites for specific chemicals, we have receptor sites for specific energies. Villoldo cautions his students that negative energies are attracted to those with whom they share an affinity. Students may be drawn to work with those having similar psychological issues. In that case, an afflicted energy might change hosts -- passing from the patient to the healer.

According to Inka prophecy, we are now in a period of great chaos and upheaval. It will last until the year 2012, when "the paradigm of looting and pillaging the Earth brought by European civilization will end and the ways of the Earth peoples will make a comeback. The conquistador will perish by his own blade." The Inkas speak about a new human, Homo Luminous, being born - a being connected by luminous threads spanning across time, anchored in infinity. Says Villoldo, "We are that new human. Our question no longer is can we make a quantum leap into who we are becoming, but rather dare we do so."

In that dynamic, courageous vision, SHAMAN, HEALER, SAGE offers great hope and promise for our world -- for the individual and collective transformation of consciousness necessary to heal our planet. It inspires and encourages us to realize our luminous nature in infinity -- in the birth of a new humanity in harmony with the forces of nature, at one with all life, and at peace with the world.

This book was in a way, my first introduction to shamanism. Although quite familiar with the works of Carlos Castaneda, it was only after reading this book that I realized that the type of 'sorcery' described by Castaneda is at its essence, a form of shamanism.

Dr. Villoldo's writing style is engaging and reflects an inner elegance and sobriety. He has learned much and has much to teach us. His training as an Anthropologist in the Western world coupled with his extensive training with Incan shamans allows him to convey and adapt ancient teachings in to a form that is compatible with the mind-set and lifestyle of the modern day person. In addition, the book provides practical exercises that one can use to begin one's own personal journey on a Path of Knowledge. I recommend this book to anyone with a true interest in shamanism.

Also recommended: 'The Chakras'(Patricia Mercier), 'The Path' (Esmeralda Arana)

As a venezuelan I thank god that there is no train to my country and that Paul Theroux didn't stop in Venezuela because almost everywhere that he went , including part of the U.S.A, he had the ability, the gift to find only the negative things. So you should ask me, then why did I give this book 4 stars, because its fun to read. Paul Theroux, a young writer in the seventies, one day decides to leave his wife and kids in their home in London, go back to his parents house in Massachussets and from there take a train to the Patagonia: the farthest south that he could go. Sounds fun for an adventurous man, but all the time, all the places he keeps bitching about everything: The people on the trains, the people in the cities, how he misses his family, what is he doing there, about the food, about the hotels. Well you name it, but in the middle of all this bitching you can almost find yourself in the forest, in the middle of a civil war, in the top of the mountain, meeting Borges, every day completely different from the other.Paul Theroux can be real obnoxious, but he sure can write.

Having read a few of Theroux's books, this one starts very slow...almost plodding along. It's very hard to read until he makes it through Central America. The characters (people) he meets from the time he leaves Boston until he reaches South America don't seem to add to the story. In fact, the author treats them in a seemingly condescending way. Once he reaches South America, however, the book becomes eminently more readable. I didn't enjoy this one nearly as much as "Riding the Iron Rooster", but interesting in it's own way.

I very much like Theroux's writing. To me his sometimes acerbic observations get towards the truth of a place AS HE PERCEIVES IT. When I read travel books I likt to hear the author's point of view. That may or may not accord with my own or others'. I like also to compare them to other writers' experiences of the same place, whether it somewhere I will travel to by aircraft or mind's eye via the armchair only.

How does Theroux strike up conversations with such odd collections of people? Partly because he travels alone, and partly because he is open to hearing the stories of others. Either he hits on the most interesting people in every place, or he endures more mundane conversations than anyone in order to cull the best! He must keep assiduous notes - really WORK at travelling to be able to relate in such detail.

I know he gives us glimpses of his working modus operandi -references to the books he is reading, and the note-taking. A few times on the train I wished he had looked up longer i9n order to be able to tell us a little more about what was a bit further away from the track.

As a military pilot, I'm of course drawn to stories such as these. A family member got the book for me as a gift, and upon seeing the front cover of the book, something immediately just said "generic". However, that being said, I would actually recommend the book to someone who isn't intimately familiar with flying or the military. Despite the skittish storyline, it's actually a quite readable and inspirational book that will likely invoke a bit of patriotism.

Nevertheless, I think some people, especially professional aviators, might find it hard to like this book, even if they want to. To me, every page seemed to be written with the intent of someday being read in front of a camera for a bad made for TV movie...but maybe I'm just being overly crtical. The story, in and of itself, is a great one (although covered almost in its entirety in the news), but I thought the literary qualities of "Born to Fly" just left much to be desired.

In just days, my local Barnes & Noble nearly sold out its floor display of Born to Fly. While I rarely went beyond reading romance books, I loved this book. This book's foundation in reality, not fantasy, didn't diminish its magical literary power. It's much more interesting than Mark Twain.

Pilot-turned-Author Mr. Osborne, who's as handsome as Tom Cruise in Top Gun, reminds us that our world's exploding with danger. The description of his experience is intense. This book will lead to a whole generation of young Americans discovering the world outside of our continent.

Well, I am a 64-year-old woman whose knowledge of airplanes and the military are scant. Yet I was drawn to this book from viewing interviews with Shane Osborne on TV. I wasn't disappointed and could scarcely put this one down. I didn't care that he (as some critics complain) portrayed himself glowingly. I know enough about Navy pilots to realize they do what they do well in large part because of their self-confidence. I view that as merely honest self-appraisal. Lt. Osborne's "collaborator" Malcolm McConnell seems to have written with people like me in mind, carefully explaining pilot and airplane terminology so that we could at least keep up and feel part of the events as they occurred. I loved this book. I learned so much. I am extremely proud that these people (the crew and the U.S. military in general) are part of the country where I live. Read it. You'll love it too.

This was the first of Stephen E.Ambrose's books that I have read. The book is a collection of independant essays on a variety of wars with American involvement. Although I found the book had alot of his own opinion on each battle or war I also discovered that he had some unique historical insight. He also posed some interesting questions as to the resoning behind the very critical decisions made in each war. After reading just the Introduction I became intrigued and aware that Ambrose has an amazing grasp on his material and understanding of the complexities of war. Ambrose has a rare gift of understanding, making each essay in the book remarkably easy to follow while at the same time passing along a great wealth of knowledge. After reading this book for the second time, I realized that if an author can make his reader think about his ideas and therories to the extent at which I was debating them within my own consciousness, then this book is well worth the time of others.

Ambrose, even though he has been accused of triumphalism with his writing, is still a kick A-- writer about the respectful, dedicated, and sometimes flawed people that have surrounded the history of this country - but especially surrounding war. I agree with another reviewer who said that you could read this in sections because of the organization. There is so much material in the book for any student of American History. I found the chapters on MacArthur, the Bomb, and Vietnam (Nixon) to be especially enlightening. I have to say that I think the best chapter is entitled "D-Day Revisited". If it doesn't make you weep, maybe you need to read it again. As a history teacher, I plan to read some of these chapters to my classes (if i don't make them get the book).

This collection of essays from the entire span of Ambrose's writing career provide an entertaining, very readable and very worthwhile display of American military legacies. There is really no single theme that can said to represent this collection except that which its title states, as it really is a diverse selection of topics from across the US military history field. The discussion of Vicksburg at the beginning of the book was the longest but also the most informative of all the work, though his retouring of D-Day beaches in a later chapter is also a deeply impacting read that would be well worth your time. His analysis of MacArthur is fair and unbiased, also deserving of accalaid, but perhaps the most important is his My Lai analysis, which delved deeply into the mentality of atrocity, soemthing often overlooked but especially important. Another A+ to go on the list Ambrose has already respectably accumulated.