Book Reviews

The Definitive Book of Body Language

Celebrating a Texas Longhorn football victory while in Italy can get you arrested. Blowing your nose in front of a Japanese client can cost you the deal. Body language reveals a persons feelings and attitude while conversational words convey mere information. Therefore, learning to read gestures correctly enables a deeper understanding of friends, greater intimacy with family, and can even increase your sales quota. Full of playful commentary like — “What signal alerts you that a politician is lying? His lips are moving!” — makes The Definitive Book of Body Language enjoyable and its lessons memorable and easy to apply. According to Allan and Barbara Pease, women can be taken seriously in the workplace while maintaining their femininity if they have the right handshake and refrain from smiling too much. Indeed it is women’s natural inclination to smile that often dumbfounds men who have difficulty recognizing a woman’s repertoire of different smiles. Offering suggestions for both men and women to disarm an aggressive handshake and how to tell when someone is telling the truth (they expose their palms) or when they are giving a false smile (the left side of the smile will be stronger and the eyes will not wrinkle) the Pease’s entertainingly guide you through coming to know others, as well as yourself, through non-verbal communication.

Recovering from Loss and Reviving the Heart

Not feeling as connected to the world as you once did? Having a bit of trouble remembering how to play or enjoy the sunlight? When left unattended, sorrow (whether from everyday losses such as broken trust and lost opportunities to the monumental losses of a job or the life of a loved one) accumulates and diminishes the flow of life force “like a low grade fever.” Each unresolved loss, no matter the size, piles onto the one before. When a loss occurs, the pain flows not only from the immediate loss, but also from all the previous losses. Like when you stub a toe and suddenly find yourself grieving the loss of your childhood pet. Instead of instructing you to simply “send love into the pain” (an ineffective technique when you can’t remember how to love or are so numb you can’t locate the pain), Stephen Levine, a noted grief counselor, gently guides you to turn toward the pain in order to “unearth the heart that has room for it all.” Expertly leading you though exercises based in body awareness, Levine begins by asking you to gently become aware of your belly and sense your breathing, then later to walk to allow your mind to settle and sing loudly to allow your heart to open. If these techniques sound ridiculous or impossible, they are probably exactly what you need. Steeped heavily in Buddhist thought, the short chapters of Unattended Sorrow assist you to connect to your grief while not being overwhelmed by it, and thus invite you back chapter after chapter as you gradually peel away the layers to allow your heart to expand once again.

Extreme Extreme Spirituality: Radical Approaches to Awakening

Fire walking, skydiving, fasting, and breaking bricks with your bare hands offer those bold enough to try them the opportunity to intimately come to know your relationship to fear (“False Evidence Appearing Real“) and through releasing it, find grace. Practicing spiritual growth as an extreme sport gives you direct experience of how your mind works to create self imposed limits, and how easy it is to overcome these limits by allowing the right attitude to release your personal power and dramatically transform the way you experience life. The high drama of these activities simply makes the lessons more memorable and therefore easier to call upon during frustrating or painful moments. If fire walking seems to be a bit of a leap for you, Tolly Burkan, known as the father of the global fire walking movement, suggests trying to walk barefoot across your sun baked driveway. Or if you would prefer to face your fears in bite-sized pieces, try performing your least favorite chore (like washing the dishes or cleaning the cat litter) and quietly observe your thoughts as you complete the task. These thoughts are the ones that prevent you from maintaining happiness in any situation. Revealing his own struggles working with and eventually embracing these radical activities that utilize the unconventional to kick your awakening into hyperdrive, Burkan offers insight into the utilization of these techniques and how their lessons expand your ability to live your spirituality.

Real Success Without a Real Job

It is possible to make money doing what you love; millions have done it before you! If you dream about a life full of fun and freedom, a more relaxed work environment, pursuing your passions, or living extraordinarily, then an “unreal job” with your own “unconventional business” is right for you. However, if having health insurance and a retirement plan are more important to you than the personal freedom to spend your time as you please (with friends, at the beach, etc), then the path to self-employment will be slower, or just not appropriate. Rather than a guide to help you plan your way to your dream life, Real Success without a Real Job guides you through the first step: coming to deeply believe that such a life is even possible. Robert Sharma was an overworked but highly paid litigation lawyer who successfully leapt into his dream job as a writer and professional speaker. David Bach was once the butt of jokes at the investment firm, but since leaving the firm in order to implement his unorthodox ideas he has become a financial guru. No matter your field of interest, or phase of life, Ernie Zelinski’s success principles will help you find and tap into your unique well of creativity as you redefine career and life success on your road to happiness.

Clutter Junkie No More: Stepping Up to Recovery

Feeling constantly overwhelmed? Tired of trying yet another organizational system that promises to transform your life? Have trouble setting realistic goals and accomplishing them? Is your living space constantly a mess, no matter how much you clean? Not all that different from alcohol or gambling, clutter can be used to keep the world out by staying overly busy or junk can be piled up around you to create a safe nest. Written by a recovered addict and based on the twelve steps of alcoholics anonymous, Clutter Junkie is no mere book on how to organize your papers, or what new fangled gadget you need to buy to make your life easier, but a viable journey into self discovery and recovery from a life diminishing addiction. Focusing on uncluttering your mind and your spirit, Barb Rogers steps you through the process of letting go of what no longer enhances your life and removing the barrier between you and your emotions. Taking one small step at a time she guides you through finding your long buried dreams by releasing the experiences that maintain your fear of living life, loving others, and taking risks. “In no time, you will be looking into the mirror and recognizing the person you are, what you are capable of, what you want out of life.”

Natural Remodeling for the Not-So-Green House

“Ecological remodeling is not the poor cousin of the shiny new eco-home.” Nor is it about simply redecorating with earth friendly materials or even rehabbing to make your home more energy efficient. Instead, natural remodeling transforms your dwelling into “a positive mediator — not a barrier — between you and the rest of the living world.” While utilizing far less natural resources than building a new eco-house, natural remodeling brings you into harmony with your natural surroundings and fosters enhanced joy for your family by re-synchronizing you to the movement of the sun and the direction of the wind. Based on an assessment of who you are (prefers indirect light, cooler temperatures, uses computer in home office, etc) and the placement of your home (on a hill with a large oak tree), Carol Venolia and Kelly Lerner combine their building and architectural knowledge to awaken new ways of thinking about your home. Under their tutelage you notice that your favorite spot has just the right mixture of sunlight and view that you love, and that if a window were added to the south wall then an even better view of the tree would be available. Or that a simple change to double hung windows would create the ventilation needed to keep the attic office usable during the summer. Bursting with technical information, case studies, inspiring images, tips for simple one day projects as well as instructions for complete rehabilitation Natural Remodeling steers you through the maze of options to create a greener home and a greener you.

Alec Franklor owns and operates RetreatFinder.com, an online directory of spiritual and healing retreats. She is also an arts administrator and photographer. She can be reached at books@retreatfinder.com.

Music and DVD Reviews

Arvo Pärt Da Pacem

Most deserving of its 2007 Grammy nomination, this ethereal recording of sacred choral music by Estonian composer Arvo Pärt (b. 1935) expands far beyond its digital confines. Thanks to the fabled Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir, conducted by longtime Pärt collaborator Paul Hillier, Pärt’s music resounds with timeless reverence. The voices, sometimes accompanied by Christopher Bowers-Broadbent’s organ, ring on forte passages, elsewhere floating hushed, transporting tones. Toward the end of the 13-minute “Salve Regina,” written five years ago, the organ’s exquisitely spare triads chime with Pärt’s characteristic "tintinnabuli" (from the Latin, “little bells”), a technique used in most of his mature works. “Dopo la vittoria” is at times quite animated; in one section, the men voice the melody while the women comment in counterpoint, imitating the back and forth of Saint Ambrose and Saint Augustine singing a hymn to the Holy Trinity. You may not be into religion — I’m certainly not — but the faith that resounds through Pärt’s music will for many speak a pantheistic language.

Peter Kater Elements Series: Fire

Beyond Earth, Air, and Water, it is Fire, one of the four CDs in Peter Kater’s “Elements Series,” that received a 2007 Grammy nomination. Although the first track, “Eternal Sunshine,” is a bit treadmillish, the other compositions, including “The Way Home,” “Twilight,” “Hearth Fire,” and “Afterglow,” possess an uncommonly serene beauty. It’s music that makes you want to slow down, pause, lie on your back, and gaze up at a sky filled with stars. Kater’s all-acoustic flights, his piano joined by Ludvig Girdland’s soulful violin and Paul McCandless’ rich treasure chest of penny whistles, oboe, English horn, and soprano sax, make one forget about the dross of war. Fire instead purifies, creating a place of wonder and appreciation where superficially pious men in robes seem like needless distractions from the enduring and true.

Peter Lieberson Neruda Songs: Lorraine Hunt Lieberson

Expansive in concept, magnificent in execution, Peter Lieberson’s Neruda Songs speak of the unfathomable mysteries of love and death. Written for his wife, the great mezzo-soprano Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, Peter settings of five of Chilean poet Pablo Neruda’s “100 Love Sonnets” were inspired by the love the two shared for each other. Although Peter decided to set the songs in August 1997, a mere month after he and Lorraine fell in love, he first began to compose the music in 2005, as she was entering her final year of illness. True to his path as a teacher of Tibetan Buddhism, he creates a spare, sensuous aesthetic that revels in the flesh while honoring the godliness within and beyond. Tailoring his writing to his wife’s vocal and interpretive strengths, he takes us on a unique, multi-dimensional journey, made all the more poignant for its acknowledgment of the fleeting. After Lorraine premiered the five Neruda Songs in Los Angeles with the LA Philharmonic in May 2005, she subsequently performed them in Boston and New York with the Boston Symphony Orchestra conducted by James Levine. This recording, culled from the Boston performances of November 25-26, arrives on the heels of a Grammy nominated all-Lieberson CD (Bridge), far more generous in length than Nonesuch’s 32 minutes, that includes Lorraine’s live 2004 Ravinia Festival performance of Peter’s Rilke Songs. Both CDs serve as enduring testaments to Lorraine Hunt Lieberson’s communicative mastery. A little over seven months before her death at age 52, her warm, velvety voice glows with inner strength and health. As always, her ability to sing with unadorned, naked honesty is a thing of wonder. At the conclusion of the final song, as Lorraine sings in a sliver of a voice that love is like a long river, only changing lands and changing lips, the breath stills, and the heart opens.

Little Richard Here’s Little Richard

In the olden days, it is rumored that a certain pre-pubescent adolescent on Long Island used to drive his mother out of the house by playing Little Richard LPs at top volume. Now, 50 years after Richard Penniman’s eponymous début platter forever changed the course of rock and roll, his first two albums reappear on a single high-resolution monaural super audio compact disc. While this may initially sound like the equivalent of sonic heaven for aging audiophiles, not even returning to the original masters can alter the fact that the recordings are far from high fidelity. Yet not even tape saturation, distortion, and clatter can detract from the impact of Little Richard’s give-it-all high state. Then in his early twenties, his voice was intact, complete with his signature falsetto “whoos” that show no sign of wear. The disc’s 24 selections begin with “Tutti-Frutti,” the demo tune that, with its lyrics toned down from “tutti-frutti, good booty” to “tutti-frutti, aw rooty,” won Little Richard a recording contract and hinted at his oft-conflicted sexual orientation. Credited by Ray Charles, Dick Clark, James Brown, and Smokey Robinson as the first trend-setting artist to put funk in a rock and roll beat, Little Richard’s string of early hits, all of which are included here, included “Good Golly Miss Molly,” “Keep A Knockin’,” “Jenny Jenny,” “Lucille,” and “Ooh! My Soul.” Though he temporarily quit the music business, spending awhile as a born again Christian and Seventh Day Adventist minister, he re-emerged in the 60s as an opening act for a few then-unknown acts named The Beatles, Rolling Stones, and Jimi Hendrix. On and off again periods of performing, ministry, and gospel music followed, as well as struggles to curb his homosexuality. But between August 1955 through October 1957, the fabulous Little Richard sang, screamed, yelped, and breathed rock ‘n roll as if his life depended on it.

Meg Rayne Open Up to the Spirit

I have lots of sympathy for independent musicians, being one myself. But few of their CDs make the grade. Meg Rayne’s is different. When she sings “Open Up to the Spirit” to a classic upbeat country/gospel melody, her energy is so positive that you immediately sense that she’s not just another folk singer going through the motions. Writing her own songs, Meg’s “Still Small Voice” and “Prayer Changes Everything” are the real thing. Her somewhat throaty voice, pushed on top, may not rival the clarity and freedom of some of the greats in their prime, but it’s quite lovely, and ideal for the songs. If you’re looking for songs of faith with a distinct New Age tint — songs that you’d be happy to play at a Unity service or sing with friends — give Meg a listen.

Franz Schubert String Quartets ‘Death and the Maiden’ • ‘Rosamunde&rsquo

The sharp opening chord of Schubert’s string quartet ‘Death and the Maiden’ strikes right through the heart. Written in 1824, the year after the 27-year old composer exhibited the first symptoms of syphilis, it is a work of utmost resignation and despair. With his youth seemingly behind him, and protracted suffering lying ahead, Schubert poured his heart out in both this, his 14th string quartet, and his preceding ‘Rosamunde’ quartet written the same year. Schubert’s grief is so personal, so exposed, and so free from denial that his suffering speaks to all. Yet, by venting his grief while simultaneously acknowledging the infinite beauty in life with every note, he miraculously transcends suffering to embrace a higher or at least equal truth about the human condition. Life may be filled with suffering, but it is also filled with beauty worth rejoicing. So this music seems to say. Some have called the Takács String Quartet the greatest string quartet in the world. Though there are so many criteria involved in the judging that the assertion ultimately seems beyond the point, the Takács certainly seemed unequalled when I heard them perform the ‘Death and the Maiden’ Quartet No.14 in D minor live some years back. Now, with veteran San Francisco Symphony principal violist Geraldine Walther in the group, their playing retains, if not magnifies, the same impact. The essential interplay and cooperation between viola and cello that make the slow movement of ‘Death and the Maiden’ sing with such devastating eloquence is reinforced by the heart-breaking sweetness and forceful cries of first violinist Edward Dusinberre. These are great musicians, with veteran second violinist Károly Schranz and cellist András Fejér equally eloquent. (Fejér’s cello is especially clear in the second movement). The performance is riveting, as shattering as it ultimately uplifting. If the ‘Rosamunde’ quartet represents a gentler excursion into melancholy, it is no less filled with beauty. Here again, the extraordinary oneness between the members of the quartet enriches musicianship as though it is alive to every moment. What keeps the playing fresh is the tension, the constant interplay of pitch, rhythm, and nuance that declares Schubert’s emotions as real and relevant today as they were close to two centuries ago.