A successful, well-organized meditation guide.
In this self-help guide, debut authors Avis and Brown combine scientific research and holistic mental-health strategies to help readers connect with their inner selves.
The book offers the expected meditation methods and strategies, but it also contains much more. The authors come to the subject of inner peace from many angles, combining principles of Reiki, martial arts, meditation, yoga and chakra research to create a workbook that guides rather than preaches. They begin, in the introduction, by taking the reader through an explanation of life energy and the way it flows, changes and affects its environment. They urge readers to reconsider the definition of the self-help buzzword “balance” as they explain what they see as the inevitable imbalance of the universe and the pendulum swing of energy that keeps its multiple forces aligned. In the book’s first chapter, the authors makes an intriguing argument that plants and nonhuman animals live in harmony with the laws of energy, but ego has caused human society to ignore this natural balance. The dominant, analytical left side of the brain has diminished the use of the right side, which encourages the use of the senses, creativity and intuition, they write; the left side must be quieted for people to finally find harmony. The book tackles the importance of sensing and feeling “vibrations” in the environment and then launches into a study of self-connection, encouraging readers to find their real selves inside the false selves that their egos have created. Avis and Brown also offer multiple spoken and silent meditation exercises. The book’s best feature may be the organization and progression of its topics; by the end, readers will likely have a firm foundation for understanding practices that encourage inner peace.
A successful, well-organized meditation guide.Pub Date: Oct. 8, 2012
ISBN: 978-1477219133
Page Count: 164
Publisher: AuthorHouseUK
Review Posted Online: Feb. 20, 2013
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Like a 12-episode TV series condensed into a single book—categorically engaging, but occasionally overstuffed.
Terrorists planning a New Year’s Eve attack against the U.S. are working with people on American soil in Turney’s debut thriller.
In the post-9/11 world, federal agents pay meticulous attention to seemingly harmless behavior. But what appears to be a routine check on a monitored website in Arizona leads from an Arkansas redneck looking to mix a poisonous concoction for personal reasons to an Islamic extremist in Vegas who has already piqued the FBI’s curiosity. Mixed martial artist Taseen “Taz” Hamshan, with ties to the extremist, is recruited by agent Kyle Morel to go undercover and make nice with a suspected terrorist. But how are the terrorists staying ahead of the FBI? At first glance, readers might suspect that Turney’s 600-plus-page novel would hit lulls. Nope. He allows no off-the-cuff introduction to any character or subplot, providing rich back stories and, surprisingly, never dropping any of the minor plots. Even agents sent to handle mundane surveillance are established in detail—which makes it startling when anyone dies. It’s epic, almost excessively so, but the author does keep the numerous characters from overwhelming the book with subtle reintroductions, such as a soft reminder that Russian intelligence operative Kondrashov is watching the Iranian and Venezuelan presidents. Despite the multiple storylines, there’s cohesion. However, the novel might have benefited from giving stories and characters some breathing room. And the U.S. isn’t the squeaky-clean hero among indignant foreign countries—American citizens must contend with an unpopular president, while Russian agents, despite their country’s neutrality, debate warning the U.S. of a possible jihadist attack. The author laces the story together with striking transitions—evidence being blown up shifts to people watching pyrotechnics at the Treasure Island casino. As the New Year’s celebration approaches, Turney maintains intensity with a natural countdown and an abundance of people in peril. And don’t forget: One of the characters is a jihadist mole.
Like a 12-episode TV series condensed into a single book—categorically engaging, but occasionally overstuffed.Pub Date: May 20, 2012
ISBN: 978-0615645889
Page Count: 640
Publisher: Lionhorse Books
Review Posted Online: Aug. 2, 2012
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A smart, entertaining take on eternal conundrums.
Celestial gumshoes search for the source of evil in this knotty supernatural allegory.
Recently deceased ex–CIA agent Stewart Willoughby is an Observer, an almost-angel who uses rough tactics in the fight against demonic adversaries. He gets a break when he recruits a new informant, a senior executive at the Company—aka hell—who’s willing to give him information on “The Formula” that demons use to goad humans into sin. (The impish fiends are forever whispering malevolent hints into people’s ears, sometimes in person and sometimes over the phone from infernal call centers.) With his fetching partner and former fiancée, Layla, Stewart embarks on an extended investigation into the nature and causes of evil, from garden-variety manslaughters to horrific genocides. Their sleuthing takes them to some of history’s grisliest crime scenes—and eventually starts to eat away at their souls, as they resort to methods that are uncomfortably similar to the brutalities they want to eradicate. In this installment of his Logic of Demons series, Goodman continues fleshing out his inventive vision of the afterlife as an edgy, inglorious, down-to-earth place, where heaven itself is divided between hostile liberal and fundamentalist factions, and no one is sure that an always-absent God even exists. The devils, as usual, get the best lines; Goodman’s portrait of hell as a dreary corporate bureaucracy is a satiric gem—the chief torments are pointless routine, office gossip and nasty performance evaluations. The novel drags, though, when it focuses on Stewart and Layla’s relationship, which stays blissfully bland even after it takes a satanic turn. But Goodman also probes meaty philosophical themes with sophistication, as his characters wrestle with the problem of evil and the blurry line separating right from wrong. Subversively, he suggests that evil may not be a demonic plot but just another name for human nature. Goodman’s allegorical symbology isn’t too intricate—a farm boy Stewart encounters turns out to be the quite literal embodiment of Time and Chance—and at times the novel’s intellectual debates feel like an undergraduate seminar. Still, Goodman’s cross between a detective novel and The Screwtape Letters makes for a stimulating read.
A smart, entertaining take on eternal conundrums.Pub Date: May 4, 2012
ISBN: 978-1432790790
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Outskirts Press Inc.
Review Posted Online: July 17, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2012
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
