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May/June 2002 Conscious Media
Books in Brief

Chinook Book!

The Guidebook for a Healthy Lifestyle!

Start saving money while simplifying your life with Chinook Book! This new resource is packed with more than $7,000 in discounts on food, home improvement products, gardening supplies, transportation, entertainment and dining, and recreational gear from businesses located throughout the Portland/Vancouver metropolitan area. Chinook Book also makes a great fundraising tool.

Chinook Book features something for everyone, with discounts on everyday products and services from locally-based retailers and national manufacturers. Save at Nature’s, Zupan’s, New Season’s, Ben & Jerry’s, OMSI, Oregon Ballet Theater, Portland Opera, GI Joes, Tri-met, local nurseries, bike shops, coffee shops and many more. Take advantage of discounts from national manufacturers such as Smith and Hawken, Patagonia, Nike, Seventh Generation, Organic Valley, and Phillips Lighting. Take advantage of great savings from local home-improvement specialists like Neil Kelly, Pozzi Windows, Rejuvenation, Benjamin Moore Paints and Environmental Building Center.

Save money while learning how to protect your environment with Chinook Book’s educational tips, resources and lower impact products and services. * 

Chinook Book makes a wonderful gift – to commemorate birthdays, holidays, a new home, employee recognition and other celebrations.

Use Chinook Book to raise money for your organization! When your group uses Chinook Book as a fundraiser, up to 50 percent of the book’s $18 purchase price supports your organization. The Chinook Book -- great savings, good ideas—the guide to a healthy lifestyle!

Check Chinook Book out at www.chinookbook.net and be sure to sign-up for the FREE monthly e-newsletter, a perfect companion to Chinook Book.

*All products and services listed in Chinook Book meet environmental criteria endorsed by the Sustainable Development Commission.

Tarot for Dummies by Amber Jayanti
Hungry Minds, Inc.   2001

Review by Alaina Zipp

I have been a tarot dabbler for much of my life, never quite able to make the leap between wanting to know more and actively learning it. I know consciously, having learned it again and again, that there is no ultimate “endpoint” of knowledge, merely a gradual unfolding to deeper levels of understanding. However, I have a confession to make. Somewhere deep inside I believed that after reading this book, I would instantly integrate the author’s years of tarot experience, becoming confident and assured in every aspect of tarot use. 

Reality check. That isn’t possible, even using Tarot For Dummies. In fact, although the author provides a great deal of information on history, specific decks, and utilizing tarot alongside numerology and astrology, the reader is repeatedly reminded that the ultimate authority in a tarot reading is yourself. This book refreshingly addresses one of my pet peeves, which is that a client supposedly is a “blank slate” and the reader or cards somehow “magically” decipher the secrets to their life.

Amber Jayanti also provides readers with answers to common fears about tarot throughout the ages.

In a chapter titled “The Top Ten Myths About the Tarot,” some of the common misperceptions addressed are that tarot predict a future that is set in stone, that the Death card is always associated with a physical death, and that cards are a work of “the Devil.”

This book is a great resource for beginning or experienced readers. It provides detailed information about selecting decks, deciding which spreads to use and, of course, on interpreting the individual cards. On each card’s page, there are several questions for the reader to peruse in determining a card’s meaning for them in this place in time. The author repeats again and again that tarot is a tool to help people understand themselves, their lives and their choices. In-depth instructions are given for incorporating tarot into daily life and living.

Like any tool, be it a computer or a power saw, its usefulness depends on the individual. Tarot for Dummies, I believe, can help you travel as far into the tarot as you are willing to go. I found it well-organized and full of information, and would buy this book for myself and for others.

The Diamond Diet

Reviewed by Alaina Zipp

My first thought about “The Diamond Diet - the Multifaceted Approach To Weight Loss,” was to wonder why a diet based on clarity and simplicity needs 600 pages to explain itself. Actually, the space is needed to share the vast quantities of information, analysis of popular diet plans, recipes and a 7-week program to help you gradually improve the way you feed and care for your body.

As someone who once saved her 14-year-old allowance to buy Sauna-Pants (guaranteed to instantly melt 5 inches off your thighs), I approached this book with a cynical eye. In fact, one of my main complaints is that by using the term “diet,” many people who would like this plan might not even pick it up. The authors Ina and Ron Denburg state that they use “diet” to mean “a plan of living towards health,” and not a traditional restrictive way to lose weight. Frankly, by page 100 of this book, I was recommending it to friends and neighbors.

This plan is a progressive seven weeks, and ingenuously, the first week you eat exactly the same as you always do! That will help anyone lose weight.  Each week’s instructions are only about five pages long. Several extra pages of information, like comparisons of the top diets or sharing information on the development of human eating habits are the reading material for each week. The authors address one of the main reasons that diets often don’t work-a need to fill “empty space” inside, be it emotional or spiritual. Readers are also introduced to mindfulness meditation, physical exercise and deep breathing. A website and its online chat groups provide a chance for interaction and support.

A user-friendly aspect of this book is “upgrading,” or moving slowly into healthier food choices. If, for example, the only vegetables you ever eat are deep fried in tempura batter, according to the book’s flowchart, you might shift a few of those servings into eating canned vegetables or frozen vegetables with creamy sauces. These upgrades are presented in flow chart form for every food group. They repeatedly discuss moderation, and display no great worry over “slips” in the eating program or other exercises. One of this book’s main appeals is that the reader is treated as an intelligent adult. You are provided with the information, the means, and a way to alter your habits, yet there is no condescension and or scolding if you slip off your plan. You simply are urged to move back toward where you are aiming. I know that you will never be the same after reading this book. Whether you collect quirky health knowledge, like the term for someone obsessed with eating the proper foods (orthoexia), want an easy source of up to date information on health, exercise and diet, or are looking for a way to eat healthier, feel better, and probably lose weight in the meantime, The Diamond Diet is worth a look. 

Alice Olsen: Lead Me to the Light

Reviewed by Miriam Knight

Alice Olsen’s crystalline voice falls on the ear with purity and passion. A musician, teacher and healer from Vancouver, WA, her new CD, Lead Me To The Light, clearly comes from the heart. The songs are an eclectic mix of Pop, Rock, New Age, Folk and Worldbeat, and her lyrics reflect a beautiful and sensitive spirit. Her enchanting harmonies are delightful and the messages of her songs resonate with light and love.

You can order it from her website: www.aliceolsen.com, or by sending a check or money order to: Fat Fish Productions, 3515 NE 130th Ave.,Vancouver, WA 98682. CD $15.95 / Cassette $9.95. Add $2.00 for shipping and handling.