Books about Musings from Amazon.com

Our Lady will inspire women everywhere to “lighten up”—in more ways than one!

As millions of women can attest, losing weight is hard work, and even the most resolute of dieters often fail. What’s missing from nearly every diet program is the support and humor women need to keep on track and lose those pounds for good. Here, Our Lady of Weight Loss—the patron saint of fat removal—comes to the rescue with miraculous motivation for all!

In this unique book, Our Lady shares her tried-and-true gospel of weight loss guaranteed to lift readersÂ’ spirits and finally make dieting fun. A fat-free, calorie-free, carb-free, guilt-free helping of divine inspiration, Our Lady of Weight Loss is the ultimate cheerleader for women everywhere and the best friend who will keep them on course even when the brownies beckon like a siren. With the help of Our Lady readers will:
• Stay inspired with “motivational musings” and tips
• Curb their cravings and keep their creative appetite satisfied with “pious projects”
• Confess their chocolate or french fry transgressions and move on
• Indulge in healthy and simple “righteous recipes”

Part art object, part craft project, part bedside companion, and part cookbook, Our Lady of Weight Loss is perfect for any woman following a diet program and still searching for her “thinner core.” Quirky and soulful, with gorgeous four-color artwork throughout, this book will keep readers laughing on the rocky road to sveltesville and change their relationship with food forever. BACKCOVER: “Janice Taylor and her alter-ego, Our Lady of Weight Loss, give us just what we need—a lift, a laugh, and, of course, a kick in the tush. Taylor has found a unique way to fuse weight loss with creative expression, and she puts it out there to help others with wit and warmth."
—Jami Bernard, Film Critic, N.Y. Daily News, and author of The Incredible Shrinking Critic.
Price: $4.77 [Notify me when price goes down.]

It may be foolish to consider Eric Raymond's recent collection of essays, The Cathedral and the Bazaar, the most important computer programming thinking to follow the Internet revolution. But it would be more unfortunate to overlook the implications and long-term benefits of his fastidious description of open-source software development considering the growing dependence businesses and economies have on emerging computer technologies.

The Cathedral and the Bazaar takes its title from an essay Raymond read at the 1997 Linux Kongress. The essay documents Raymond's acquisition, re-creation, and numerous revisions of an e-mail utility known as fetchmail. Raymond engagingly narrates the fetchmail development process while elaborating on the ongoing bazaar development method he uses with the help of volunteer programmers. The essay smartly spares the reader from the technical morass that could easily detract from the text's goal of demonstrating the efficacy of the open-source, or bazaar, method in creating robust, usable software.

Once Raymond has established the components and players necessary for an optimally running open-source model, he sets out to counter the conventional wisdom of private, closed-source software development. Like superbly written code, the author's arguments systematically anticipate their rebuttals. For programmers who "worry that the transition to open source will abolish or devalue their jobs," Raymond adeptly and factually counters that "most developer's salaries don't depend on software sale value." Raymond's uncanny ability to convince is as unrestrained as his capacity for extrapolating upon the promise of open-source development.

In addition to outlining the open-source methodology and its benefits, Raymond also sets out to salvage the hacker moniker from the nefarious connotations typically associated with it in his essay, "A Brief History of Hackerdom" (not surprisingly, he is also the compiler of The New Hacker's Dictionary). Recasting hackerdom in a more positive light may be a heroic undertaking in itself, but considering the Herculean efforts and perfectionist motivations of Raymond and his fellow open-source developers, that light will shine brightly. --Ryan Kuykendall.
Price: $5.66 [Notify me when price goes down.]

Book Description:
Bill Maher is on the forefront of the new wave of comedians who have begun to influence and shape political debate through their comedy. He is best known not just for being funny, but for advocating truth over sensitivity and taking on the political establishment. Maher first came to national attention as the host of the hit ABC-TV program Politically Incorrect, where he offered a combustible mixture of irreverence and acerbic humor that helped him to garner a loyal following, as well as a reputation for being a controversial bad boy.

Bill Maher's popular new HBO television show, Real Time, has put Maher more front and center than ever before. Particularly one regular segment on the show, entitled "New Rules," has been a hit with his ever-growing legion of fans. It is the part of the show during which Maher takes serious aim, bringing all of his intelligence, incisiveness, wit, and his signature exasperation to bear on topics ranging from cell phones ("I don't need my cell phone to take pictures or access the Internet. I just need it to make a phone call. From everywhere! Not just the places it likes!") to fast food ("No McDonald's in hospitals. I'm not kidding!) to the conservative agenda ("Stop claiming it's an agenda. It's not an agenda. It's a random collection of laws that your corporate donors paid you to pass.")

His new book, the first since his bestselling When You Ride Alone You Ride with bin Laden, brings these brilliantly conceived riffs and rants to the written page. Appropriately titled New Rules, the book will collect some of the best of the rules derived from previously written material and will also contain substantial new material, including some longer form "editorials"--of course with a twist and bite that only Bill Maher can deliver.

Mark Rashid is a great storyteller, as the readers of his horsemanship books know, and this collection of fifteen tales, he's in top form. These stories are of Mark's life working on cattle ranches and guest ranches before he became famous worldwide for his work with horses..
Price: $9.48 [Notify me when price goes down.]

One of the profound mystics of our times shares insights into realms of life beyond the physical dimension in this stunning account of spiritual wisdom and mystical revelation. According to Sadhguru, mysticism is a misnomer. For those who know life and the seed of life, it is simply reality. For those trapped in limited awareness, exploring anything beyond our logical understanding is mystical. In this intriguing look into the twilights of truth that lie at the core of existence, the mystic, yogi and realized master shares realities from his own life. Mystic's Musings keeps us teetering on the edge of logic as it enthralls us with esoteric and scientific explanations of life, death, rebirth, suffering, karma and the journey of the Self. With infinite clarity and candor, Sadhguru shatters conventional definitions of morality, religion and spirituality and provokes readers to move beyond the trap of our conditioning and self-imposed limitations. As similarly unorthodox as it's author, Mystic's Musings boldly addresses the spectrum of spirituality to help the seeker orient himself to the higher realms of knowing and living. For all persons on the spiritual quest for liberation, this book is a priceless offering by a blessed being who strives to enlighten the world in his own way. Mystic's Musings provokes readers to delve into spaces that are not for the faint-hearted, yet deftly guides us with answers about reality that transcend our fears, angers, hopes, and struggles..
Price: $14.88 [Notify me when price goes down.]

One of the most widely respected members of the magic community, Lon Milo DuQuette is known for his ability to address the rather intimidating aspects of magick with a casual candor; he makes the subject accessible to the initiate while still holding the interest of the experienced reader. Angels, Demons & Gods of the New Millennium is a collection of loosely connected essays surveying the state of magick in the face of the new millennium. It showcases DuQuette's knack for combining wit with profundity, producing chapters such as "Qabalah-Zen of the West" and "Demons Are Our Friends," while addressing contemporary topics such as initiations and the procession of the equinoxes. .
Price: $11.10 [Notify me when price goes down.]

Instead of melting in the face of wet diapers, horn-honking husbands, and crazy fad diets, author and mom Phyllis Barrett teaches other moms to hang in there, hang tough, and take lifes bitter pills with a big glass of humor. A lifestyle columnist with the Birmingham News from 1979 to 1987, Barrett dished out her pro-mom columns twice a week to fellow harried hamstrung mothers with kids. As powerful today as then, Barretts advice and humor rings true story after story. Collected for the first time ever into one volume, Hang in There, Mom! is a must-read for anyone with kids, a hubby, or both..
Price: $14.95 [Notify me when price goes down.]

The spiritual imagination of Ed Hays comes alive in each of the forty reflections on joyful living found in Chasing Joy: Musing on Life in a Bittersweet World. Joyful living is our God-given right, says Hays, as he challenges readers to dig through life's miseries and darkest pains to discover the goodness God continues to promise all of humanity. Hays uses common joys and struggles of ordinary lives, blending them with some of the great wisdom figures and traditions of our world to offer a wide variety of delightful hints and spiritual exercises for cultivating deeply rooted joy..
Price: $7.37 [Notify me when price goes down.]

Cover to cover Judy Martin covers it all in The Creative Pattern Book. You'll get 27 complete and guaranteed accurate patterns from the world's foremost quilt pattern designer. From the first idea to the last quilting stitch, everything you need is right there in front of you in this colorful volume. Each pattern gives you a big color photo, yardage AND fat quarters, color-coded rotary instructions, at-a-glance quilt requirements, whole quilt diagrams, quilting diagrams, exploded block diagrams, full-size quilting motifs, cutting icons, cross references, pattern ratings, style and color discussion, and clearly written directions.

As if all that is not enough, Judy discusses her sources of inspiration and offers practical tips for each quilt. She points out the best ideas to be gleaned from each quilt so you can begin to take your own quilts to the next level.

Imagine a great quilt book. Now crank that up a notch, and you will come close to The Creative Pattern Book. It is definitely not your ordinary quilt book. It has more pages, more color, more bed-size quilts, more ideas, more fun, more how-tos, and more thorough patterns than the usual quilt book. In short, it has more of everything you want in a quilt pattern book..
Price: $13.37 [Notify me when price goes down.]