Stretch and Relax While Reading a Fiction Book

Books have always been the best pastime and this is evident in lots of books being sold. Fiction books are the ones which are sold the most among all other categories of books.
The stories in these books are of many types and belong to different categories. Therefore, some of the fiction books have horror stories, which have ghosts and other horrid creatures terrorising human beings. There are also comic stories which are capable of making the reader fall of his chair laughing uncontrollably. Then there are stories which have love as the central subject. Fiction books are therefore different in their approach.
Fantasy and fairy tales are some of the recent subjects, which have fiction books written about them. These stories have characters like elves and knights and many other fantastic creatures. One of the variation of fiction books based on this subject is books which have magic and wizards in them. The interest in these books is, therefore, visible as everybody likes to read these type of stories.
Some of the latest fiction books that are being published are extremely interesting. One of them is a book called 'The Brass Verdict'. This book tells the story of a lawyer who finds the right case to launch his career towards success after a series of wrong choices. Written by the well-known writer Michael Connelly, this book features the famous detective 'Harry Bosch' and is perhaps one of the most interesting books written on the subject of law and crime. This is a book, which when read will be able to entertain the user.
Another interesting book which can be read is called the 'Sea of Poppies'. This is a wonderful book to read and has been written by Amitav Ghosh, who is quite a well known writer. The story of this book is an interesting one, and is not boring at all. In fact, this book from start to finish, is one which is fantastic to read.
These two examples form just a simple example of the wonderful books that are being written in the category of fiction. Fiction books, as shown by these two examples are written in a simple way. The language used in these books also have normally used words which are known to everybody. Hence, one does not need to have a dictionary beside him while reading one of these books.
Being simple is, therefore, one of the major feature of fiction books. They are popular for being easy to understand books to be read for relaxation. The basic aim of reading these books is to relax. Good fiction books are those which enable the readers to relax and have a good time.

Reading Personal Development Books

Reading a Personal Development book and doing it in a way that will contribute to our life is not an easy task. It requires time, effort and dedication. We don't read such a book to see what's in it. We read it in an effort to change who we are, change the distinctions that we make and eventually change the course of our life.
Reading a PD book, and doing it well, requires as much time and effort as it does to write one. It is not something that can be done in a week or a month, it takes years.
The reason that it is so complex is that the important points in the book must be assimilated into our brain and nervous system in such a way that they become automatic reflexes that will spring into action of their own volition when these points need to be applied.
Reading a PD book is somewhat like reading a book on techniques for a particular sport. Knowing how to do it is useless unless the technique is applied automatically when the time comes. Take a book on the techniques of golf for example. Knowing the perfect way to swing the clubs is useless unless it is so well impregnated into the nervous system that it will be executed perfectly when the time comes.
Reading a PD book is also like prospecting for gold. Every bit of material must be carefully examined to find those small nuggets that will enrich our lives. It is not a process that can be rushed or done absentmindedly. Pearls of wisdom, like nuggets of gold, come in small packets so they can easily be overlooked.
Once found, these pearls of wisdom must be thoroughly assimilated. Assimilated information is more than knowledge. It becomes part of our unconscious thinking process and will automatically surface at the appropriate time.
The assimilation process is done through experiencing the particular content in various ways. As an example, let us say that you want to assimilate the win-win theory that say that when affecting a transaction, the ideal end result would be that both parties come out winners.
The first thing that you could do is to write down the words, "win-win" where it can be seen many times during the day. Then you could write down the places in your life that the principle could apply. You could talk to your friends about the win-win theory and maybe even write a short essay on it. First thing that you will know, that theory will be part of who you are and will spring up automatically when needed.
People have spent their entire life studying the bible. I believe that some PD books deserve the same treatment. Personally I have been working on Anthony Robbins' Awaken the Giant Within for over two decades and I have done almost the same for Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert Pirsig. These books were read dozens and dozens of times. I have highlighted the important passages then transcribed those passages in Word.doc to be included in my Palm for quick references. These books have become part of my daily experiences.
Studying a book that way does require time and efforts but the investment is more than well worth it. It affects the quality of our life by literally changing who we are. The saying says, "No pain, no gain." That could sum up the ideal technique to read a PD book. Put in the time and efforts and reap the rewards.

Importance of Reading Books

When technology was not so much forward that it created some milestones in the form of computer and television, at that time of the century people used to read books as their primary leisure activity. They would spend hours in reading books that depicted travel stories that ignited the imagination of the reader far away to some unknown lands of fairies or aliens. But the times have changed and MP3 players have replaced All India Radio and people today have lost their innate passion for reading. But this does not mean that one should neglect the books completely. Recent studies have proven that at least half hours of reading a day keeps a person abreast with varied styles of writing and improves the vocabulary.
As compared to other means of entertainment that includes listening to music, playing games such as cricket, etc and watching television, reading books is the most productive one as one improves vocabulary and improves word power. Additionally scientific researches have proved that children and teenagers who love reading have comparatively higher IQ level as compared to those who watch television. Moreover, they are dexterous, creative and do better in school and education and therefore teachers recommend parents to inculcate the benefits of reading in their kids right from the time when they are young. Not only this, those students who start this habit of reading books from their early childhood days are observed to display extraordinary language skills as well as impeccable ability to grasp variance in phonics.
It is known that reading increases mental development and stimulates the muscles of eyes thereby improving concentration and observation ability. Not only this, reading is one of a kind activity that involves higher concentration and also improves the conversational or communication skills of the readers. Reading enables you to learn new found words and phrases that can be used in day to day conversations and this habit becomes a healthy addiction so that one gathers their own information banks right in their minds. Not only this, reading offers the readers an insight of varied cultures of different countries and places and makes you sensitive towards world affairs.
Reading books that interest you expose you to more and more information which facilitates one to come up with innovative and creative ideas. All this improves your reasoning skills and develops your capabilities to understand various objectives and their possible solutions at once.
ITBC is a well known book club where you can find numerous books and can discuss about the same with other members. India Today Book Club houses several kinds of books including Fiction, Classics, Art and Reference Books, Children's reading material, Cooking, Gardening, Fitness and Health, Religion and Spirituality, Information Technology, Medicine and many others.

'god's War', Christopher Tyerman. Book Review

Yes those nasty Crusades. In the post-modern, Marx-droid universe of salivating moppets and eager to please relativists ['please daddy tell us again about how nice the Saracens were and evil the Christians?']; it is quite easy to lose sight of reality. Muslims and Arabs good, Christians bad. Arab, Muslim and Turkish imperialism good, European fascist. So it is refreshing to read a dense, intellectual and accurate piece of work which describes the Crusades as they were – a complex political, military, and very human response to pre-modern Arab and Turkish designs at world conquest. They might have in effect saved Europe. Tyerman's overall conclusion is that, '..the internal, personal decision to follow the cross, to inflict harm on others at great personal risk, at the cost of enormous privations, at the service of a consuming cause, cannot be explained excused or dismissed either as a virtue or sin. Rather, its very contradictions spelt its humanity.' How true. The Crusades, erupting from Pope Urban II's call in 1095 to help the Eastern church against Turkish or Saracen depredation was full of cross purpose, material aims, personal vanity, spiritual earnestness, military valor, and political intrigue. That is what makes them such a great story. The Crusades were in many ways, extraordinarily successful. Men, money, material, and complex logistics were stretched over a thousand miles from the European heartland to the Holy Land and the Eastern mediterranean. The crusaders were usually quite outnumbered. Each of the 5 major Crusades, lasting roughly from 1095 to 1299 could only muster some 30.000 – 40.000 men, many of whom would melt away after a few months of soldiering, confident that any work combatting the Turks would gain them access into heaven. The Muslims, aided by their intimate knowledge of geography, millions of citizens from which to draw armies, proximate logistics, and supply, should easily have repulsed these infidels from any and all conquests. The fact that the crusaders were able to organise; embark; conquer; hold and build the incredible line of castle fortifications some of which, like the Krak de Chevaliers are still standing today, is one of the great achievements of pre-modern warfare. Tyerman's book is valuable because it relates history as it most likely was. The Crusades were viewed in Western Europe as bellum justum – a just war – a war to reclaim once Christian lands from infidel Turks; a war to push the Muslims out of Europe; a war to help save the Eastern church and bring it under the control of the Western. The casus belli for the conflict was varied and justified by theologians and lay political leaders alike. Jerusalem, the home of Christ and the origins of the Church had a profound and special attraction for an extremely religious and devout population. Tyerman rightly asserts that Muslim supremacism and war mongering made the Crusades a necessity. Large parts of Europe were under Muslim dominaton and, 'jihad was fundamental to the Faith, described by some as a sixth pillar of Islam. In theory fighting was incumbent on all Muslims until the whole world had been subdued, but it was a spiritual as well as military exercise from the start, and a corporate not individual obligation.' You won't read such an honest assessment of jihadic Mohammedism in the New York Times. Without a response Western Europe might very well have suffered the fate of the Eastern Church. As Tyerman states, 'it is hard to argue that we are dealing with an age any more credulous or unthinkingly accepting of religious truth than our own.' Certainly so. Contrary to modern media and educational manipulation, the Europeans of the 11th century and of the Crusades were not simpleton mental midgets, scurrying around mud hovels, wearing hair shirts practicing witch craft or listening to papal sermons with rotted teeth falling out. Western Europe in the early medieval period was a bustling, thriving, urbanising scene of activity, invention, and dynamism – everything one would expect to find and see, in an era of change, which heralded the creation of the modern political-economy. Tyerman's chapters are broken into outlining the 5 major crusades – all of them described in rather exhaustive fashion. Details on the military, political and church-oriented spiritual complexity are compelling and very human. The highly successful First Crusade, featuring many of France's and Germany's leading noblemen, families and Knights, is summarised by Tyerman as a dramatic episode, an event rarely told. The First Crusade's conquests from the borders of the shrinking Greek state [some 100 odd miles outside of modern day Constantinople or Istanbul], through the rough terrain of Anatolia, down the Lebanese coast, and on through to the borders of modern Gaza and east to Jerusalem, north east to Edessa, were an astonishing feat, accomplished in just 2 short years of fighting. A force of roughly 40.000 men, from different states, under various leaders with political infighting and intrigue, and weakly supported by the Greeks of the Eastern empire, had landed, marched, fought and won numerous victories over far larger Turkish hosts. From 1097 to 1099 when Jerusalem was taken, the Christian forces were always in demand and need of men, food, water, supplies, military weaponry, and the medieval tank or mounted Knight. Fully armed mounted knights were extremely expensive to maintain and only the rich could afford to pay their own way to the Holy Land, including horse, armor, servants and food. Of a force of 30.000 the crusaders might be lucky to count on 2.000 such men, their power often assuring a Christian victory over the lighter armed Turkish forces. As Tyerman notes about the complexity and astonishing prowess of the First Crusade, 'Yet the political, material, and military pillars of victory fail adequately to describe the structure of the First Crusade or alone explain its success. Although it is misleading to assume that all recruits and followers shared a similar intensity of religious motivation and zeal, without the element of ideology and spiritual exhiliration, there would have been no march to Jerusalem, let alone a successful conquest.' Military superiority, good organisation, personal genius, luck, good planning and a rough hewn solidarity were the reasons why the First Crusade succeeded. These crusaders had faith, believed in their cause and went through amazing deprivations before finally, in 1099 attacking, sacking and controlling their objective – Jerusalem. In spite of this success the Crusades were doomed to failure if and once the Muslims could unify their command and take advantage of Christian manpower weakness, internal political dissension and lack of Western European support. Importantly for the Muslims, the varied Christian states and sundry crusaders always had a hard time creating political and miltiary unity. Without a unified chain of military and political command, Christian conquests became difficult to defend. Another issue was resource scarcity. During the 200 years of the Crusading wars only a small fraction of European power was involved in trying to wrest and protect the Holy Land from Muslim occupation. If the average Crusade had about 40.000 fighting men involved it represented a small fraction of European manpower and also value-added GDP. Logistically such a force would entail a further 400.000 people to support the Crusade including those involved in shipping, transport, supply manufacture, arms provisioning, food supply, various support work and aiding the army directly in engineering, food and siege work. At most about 500.000-700.000 people would have been occupied in some way with the Crusades. Europe's population at that time was about 30 million in 1100 doubling by 1300 to more than 60 million. This signals that Europe was a fast changing, very productive and extremely wealthy society. So in effect we can say that less than 2 % of Europeans were involved with the Crusades – a rather paltry amount. The problem for the Christian East was getting money out of their fast growing home economies, and using such wealth to secure and deepen their hold on the Holy Land. Medieval Europe was still in the nascent phases of nation state creation. Its richest territory was Germany which was made up of many different and competing sub kingdoms. The German Emperor whilst powerful, did not have anything approaching the machinery of a modern state, nor the ability to extract monies to the level the later states would deem justifiable. France was not yet unified [and wouldn't be until after the Albigensian or Cathar crusades in southern France in the early 13th century]; Spain was bifurcated by Muslim conquest; Italy was split into many kingdoms; and the other parts of Europe were fragmented, small and preoccupied with internal matters. In short in about 1100, the European modern state and its ability to create wealth, tax it, and use it to fund centralised armies was not yet in existence. Therein lies the major factor for the eventual collapse of the Crusading ideal. Without a strong nation state structure where GDP can be centrally taxed and armies centrally managed, the Crusades were left with wealthy Kings and Lords paying the costs, supported by European wide Church taxation or tithes so make up the short fall. Even this was not enough. Many crusaders paid their own way, supporting themselves as they went with plunder. In fact many states such as France went into financial ruin due to the Crusades with some states and their noblemen spending an entire year or more of revenue just to reach the Holy Land. The Crusades were a very costly business indeed. Along the routes between Europe and the Holy Land, pillage and theft was common, and much of it directed against fellow Christians and where possible, the Jews. Attacks against Jews by crusaders along the path of their march, were legion. Tyerman relates that, 'Nothing in official Christian doctrine justified slaying Jews. Pope Alexander II had explicitly prohibited it when drawing a careful distinction between them and Muslims in 1063.' Without plunder or the promise of it, the Crusades never would have happened. This says nothing about the sack of Constantinople itself in 1204 and the looting of its wealth. Along with plunder comes carnage and the Crusades if savage, were no more savage than any other pre-modern war. The myth that the Muslims were tolerant multi-cultists devoted to easing the pain of conquered Jews and Christians and never engaging in mass slaughter and savagery is junk and bunk. As Tyerman elucidates, 'The recent Turkish conquests in the Near East had been accompanied by carnage and enslavement on a grand scale.......Massacres as well as atrocity stories were – and are – an inescapable part of war. In the face of a Muslim counter-attack, letting the locals live may not have seemed a prudent option to the Christian victors, however obscene the alternative.' How real that statement is. The Turks, and the Arabs before them, warred, raped, murdered and annihilated their way through Christian and Jewish territory. Submissive and cowed populations make convenient and easy to rule apartheid empires. So it was with the Muslim states of the Holy Land. Tyerman's book is a great one volume piece on why the Crusades happened, how they occured and just how complicated a story it all is. But a couple of things stand out when reading it. The faith and confidence of 11-14th century Europe is one. Their logistical and sometimes military brilliance in campaigning far from home is a second. The engineering achievements in fortifying and bringing to economic life an uncompromisingly harsh land is a third. And perhaps most importantly of all, is their clear headed appreciation of what Islam was all about – a cult of Mohammed, which desired to wipe out civilisation. It is a lesson that one thousand years later still resonates.

Some Older Artificial Intelligence Books Are Worth Reading

Indeed, as a Renaissance Man, I am interested in all subjects of the human experience, the flows of civilization and the technology past, present and future, but, I am not one to go and recommend that you re-read old science books, when the world in the last few decades has become so technologically advanced, everything has changed. In fact, a PhD in many sectors 10-years ago is almost worthless today. Still, I'd like to recommend an old AI or Artificial Intelligence book from back in the 1980s to you:
"The Handbook of Artificial Intelligence" by Avron Barr, Paul R. Cohen and Edward Feingenbaum; HeurisTech Press, Stanford, CA; 1982
This book takes us back to the first real discoveries in artificial intelligent programming, and has over 250 contributors and is some 1200 pages in three volumes, all of which are jam packed with projects, information, and research references from the top scientists of the day. This is brilliant stuff, and indeed, it kind of makes you wonder if mankind has gotten stupider or if all the most recent research has been hidden from view and is well beyond most folks' comprehension now.
Having just completed volume two, I am completely humbled by the dedication, knowledge and shear genius behind some of the special projects listed in this book. Volume II deals with programming languages, the early ones and applications that were state-of-the-art back then in the day. Some of which have changed the way we view medicine, education and research.
Back then they were even talking about machines that were programmed to program themselves. The first volume explained what AI was, how it worked and the theories behind it. The Third volume talks about models of cognition, deduction, sensors, vision, inductive inference and the use of AI in planning and problem solving; all this is totally fascinating stuff indeed.

BEAT THE BLOCK-TIPS TO DEFEAT WRITER'S BLOCK

Most writer’s will, at some point during their careers, suffer from sporadic bouts of writer’s block. And for many, particularly those who look on writing as a hobby, it can be classed as nothing more than a frustration that a few days away from the keyboard will easily cure.However, for those who depend upon their writing to earn a crust, feed the family and pay the mortgage it can lead to despair and lots of writers try to avoid the demon, when it bites, by exercising, drinking copious amounts of coffee and even house-cleaning.But like anything in life, the best way to overcome a problem is to face it head on. To quote the title of a well known book, ‘Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway.’ And in any case, procrastination can often only end up making matters worse.It’s hard to pin down the exact origin of writer’s block but some of the most common causes are; fear, anxiety, the end of a project, the beginning of a new project or a change of lifestyle.Luckily I rarely, not never, suffer from the dreaded writer’s block. But on those occasions that I do, I have a few tricks up my sleeve that usually help me to defeat the gremlin which I hope readers of this blog will find useful.Keep a DiaryMost writers keep a diary - I have two. In one I keep an account of my daily life, whilst in the other I jot down details of my writing day. Keep diaries up to date by filling them in every day and don’t worry if your writing appears dull, it’s a diary not a work of art.When writer’s block strikes my diaries have proved to be a source of some much needed inspiration. In fact I’ve had a couple of articles published that started out as nothing more that a few lines scribbled in one of my diaries.Have a ScheduleThe English writer, Graham Greene, celebrated for penning 30 novels including, Brighton Rock, The Quiet American and Our Man in Havana, famously wrote 500 words per day - no more, no less - every morning.Find a time that suits you and make that your writing time. Set yourself a minimum word count and stick to it. It might be hard going at first but when your body turns up to write at the same time every day, eventually, your mind will follow.Read! Read! Read!Reading should be high on the list of priorities for those wishing to succeed in the writing business. In other words, when you’re not writing you should be reading. I usually read between 4 - 6 hours per day.Read magazines, books, newspapers - anything you can get your hands on. The more varied your reading material is the more ideas you’re likely to come up with.Of course if you’re sole intention is to pen the next best selling horror or thriller novel you should immerse yourself in your chosen genre.Keep a Notebook Ideas for articles and stories will, invariably, come when you least expect them. Keep a notebook and pen or pencil with you at all times. Jot down the idea, a few words will suffice, then you can expand it when you have the time.Recently I’ve started using a small, hand-held tape-recorder for moments such as this. They’re really handy, but make sure to pack some spare batteries if you decide to use one.Finally, enjoy your writing. Naturally we all want to get published and earn an few extra quid, but if you set out with that as your one and only goal and you don’t succeed, a few rejections will see your writing become laboured and it will show in your work, which will lead to more rejections and an increasing spiral of frustration.Coincidentally, this post was written on one of those occasions when I sat down, stared at the blank screen and said to myself, “What I am going to write about today?”So if you are struggling to get words on paper perhaps the best advice is to just sit down and write. It doesn’t matter what you write - just do it!

Room Addition Books

I was surfing the Internet, the other day and I ran across a website that was selling home building books. It had a very pleasing color scheme and was easy to use. As a website designer myself, I showed this website to a few of my friends, who are interested in home remodeling and repairs. Me and my friends, love to work on our homes and often get together for larger projects, that we can work on together.
I'm planning on building a room addition for my expanding family and have done a little bit of everything. For example I have removed and build new walls in my home, added electrical light switches, replaced my kitchen sink faucet and even tiled my bathroom floor and bathtub enclosure. In my business, we have to do a lot of reading and research and I really wanted to build the room addition on my own, more as a sense of pride and accomplishment than saving money by hiring a contractor.
I love working with my family and friends on projects like this also. Anyway, back to the website that I found on home building books, I found for books and ordered them, one was on foundations and concrete work, this book provided me with the basic information needed to build my room addition foundation. The book was simple and easy to follow and I would recommend it to anyone, interested in building their own foundation.
The next book was on building green and this book gave me information on home building, that I had never even thought of and put a lot of other things into perspective. I got this book more for me than my project. The third book I bought was on plumbing called remodel plumbing and it was very informative, since I was going to be installing a bathroom in my room addition. This book had a lot of information that I needed on how to install plumbing fixtures, rough plumbing and finish plumbing. I also recommend this book for novice homeowners and handyman.
The fourth book I bought was Precision House Framing and this book is my favorite. I love building and this book explains everything with easy to understand and follow instructions. Did I say, that I loved this book. Any way to make a long story short, I built my room addition and so a lot of it to these books. I really recommend the home building books website for anyone interested in home repairs, home building, new construction and even feng shui.
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Ryan Hope is working with Greg Vanden Berg on the internet to promote the education for creating simple to follow guides and home building books to help professional building contractors as well as the weekend warriors.