Nothing's Sacred

I loaded my iPod with Lewis Black’s Nothing’s Sacred yesterday
and headed to the gym to ride the recumbent bike. (Why sit up straight when you can recline? A recumbent bike is like a theatre seat with pedals. It even has a cup holder.)

I laughed out loud at Black’s smart-aleck rants about everything from the government to LSD and candy corn. I would have slipped off the bike a couple times if it hadn’t been for those nice armrests.

Black takes us on a comic's tour of his life from his childhood in the 50’s, through the Aquarian Age and into the digital world. An excellent guide, he is both funny and insightful.

I recommend this book but not unreservedly. If you like Lewis Black, you’ll love it. If you are sensitive about politics or religion, you might want to try before you buy. You can listen to an excerpt of Nothing's Sacred at Audible.

Read by Black himself, this book makes even aerobics fun.


Barnes&Noble on CD $20.56

Amazon on CD for $19.95.

Audible Download $9.95

Booksamillion on CD $18.97 (Club Price)

Many Lives, Many Masters

If you're curious about past lives or life after death, this book is a good choice.

The author, Brian Weiss, M.D. is as conservative as they come. A graduate of Columbia University with an M.D. from Yale University School of Medicine, he has taught at many universities. Dr. Weiss was the chairman of the Department Of Psychiatry at Mount Sinai Medical Center and has authored numerous scientific papers. He's not the sort of fellow you'd expected to cure your ills by regressing you to a past life.

Believing that a patient's chronic headaches were psychosomatic, Dr. Weiss used hypnosis to regress her to the first time she experienced the headache. She was quickly transported to a different time and place. At first Weiss didn't believe this was possible. But with each regression session, her symptoms improved so he continued. She related many past lives while under hypnosis.

One day a new voice came from his patient’s mouth. The voice called itself, The Masters. They had a message for Dr. Weiss. The story of how this serious scientist came to believe The Masters were real is as fascinating as their explanations of life after death and reincarnation.


Dr. Weiss risked his professional standing and career by publishing his accounts of these experiences. He believes in reincarnation and I believe him. I had an opportunity to interview Dr. Weiss for a television series and found him and his credentials to be authentic. I highly recommend Many Lives, Many Masters as well as Dr. Weiss' other books.


Barns& Noble On CD $17.95

Amazon on CD unabridged $13.57

BOOKSAMILLION on CDs $13.88 (Club price)

Audible For Download $14.95

Vertical Run

One of my all time favorites is Vertical Run by Joseph Garber.
Published by Bantam Doubleday Dell Audio Books.

This one is tough to turn off. It’s a great for a long drive or a lot of yard work.
Executive Dave Elliot reports to his corner office in a Manhattan high-rise where everyone is out to get him. Now, a lot of us have that experience at work but for Dave it’s literal.

His boss starts the ball rolling with a simple handgun. When that doesn’t work, a team of trained killers, sporting the latest in High-Tech gear, pursue him from floor to floor. Dave doesn’t know why. And there’s something the killers don’t know. Dave has some training too.

Fast paced with lots of action, this one will keep you on the treadmill for hours.

Find Vertical Run:

Download on Audible.com - six hour abridged version $9.95 for first time buyers $17.97 reg.

On cassette tapes From Amazon

On cassette from Barnes & Noble $16.19

from BOOKSAMILLION on audio cassette $12.06

Since I Discovered Audio Books.....

Books are artfully stacked on every flat surface in my home. I ran out of space on my bookshelves years ago so now I “decorate” with books - like Jackie O did. Yeah, that’s the ticket.

I’d rather read than do almost anything else. I can easily spend the whole day in a chair with a book. I can but when I do, I have the guilty feeling that I should have used my time to get something done – like grocery shopping.

Since I discovered audio books, I’ve been listening to fiction for hours a day guilt-free.
Talk about multi-tasking. Now, I can “read” while I drive, eat lunch, sort socks or pull weeds.

When I discovered downloadable books, I bought an ipod and filled it. Since then, I’ve been to the gym every day. The trainers think I’m disciplined. I’m not. It’s all an elaborate charade, cleverly designed to let me read for an hour and appear industrious at the same time.


Between getting in shape, driving, house and yard work, I can get in an extra five or six hours of reading a day – without a twinge of conscience. Reading is no longer my guilty pleasure. It’s a reason to clean the shower.

There is a downside though. When you can listen for six hours a day, you go through books pretty fast. Once you go through your favorite authors and those of your friends, choosing becomes trickier. That is why I started this weblog to pass on, to anyone looking for a good book, my suggestions.