You're alive until you're dead.
354584
Much like the author, this book is immaculate.

I suggest every one who doesn't know all that the words "Rwandan Holocaust" entail, to read this book.
I originally thought that this book was about creating awareness for gruesome events such as this, but I began to realize that forgiveness was what it was about.

I opened this book thinking about world issues and how I could help; being young, being a student, being an American. But it did much more than that. Not only did my awareness and world knowledge increase, but my awareness and knowledge of more spiritual things was also increased.

Here is this woman in the midst of death and pain and she can recognize miracles constantly, as well as manifest--from the developed relationship with god within--the miracle of forgiveness.

She is enormously persuasive because she has all elements of great and influential rhetoric: being a victim, she has ethos and pathos embedded in her story, along with the logos of the reasonable coming of faith and forgiveness. Ilibagiza is never manipulative in recounting her story, she is honest and open about her internal struggles and we see the outcome of such earnest prayer and optimism, and it is pure goodness.

I used to say that I hated reading, but with Left to Tell, I realized that it was the only way I could hear what she had survived to tell--I couldn't experience it in a movie the way I could with a book, and the chances of me meeting her and getting such a detailed story was unlikely. Her written testimony was a bridge and a beacon.

How big must a heroic action be? Is sitting cramped in a small bathroom with five plus strangers for two months in order to escape being hunted just because of what tribe they were enough?  I consider her a hero. Someone who can forgive the man who brutally slaughtered her family is a hero.
4026334
After reading this book, life as you know it will never be the same.  It will move you, shake and shift you until you rest in your destiny. Discover who you really are and take your rightful p,ace in the kingdom!
3409231
How would it feel to live forever; could you feel young when your body looks old.  Your body is aging beyond your control because it has been programmed to live out the rules of collective conditioning.  What you need is the body/mind connection.  Beginning at age 30, the average human body starts to come unhinged: wrinkles appear, skin loses tone and freshness, muscles sag, fat catches up with muscle, eyesight and hearing taper off.  As the bones thin and become brittle and break easily, stamina and endurance decline.  You just can't do the things you are used to doing.  To transform the patterns of the past, you must know what they are made of and how to stop the progress of deterioration.

We use basic emotions controlled by hormones.  "Without the feeling, there is no hormone; without the hormone, there is no feeling. ...there is no pain without nerve signals to transmit pain; there is no relief from pain without endorphins to block the signals.  In body-mind medicine, wherever thought goes, a chemical goes with it."  Thus, mind and body are inseparable one.  Life unfolds as DNA imparts its coded intelligence to its active twin, RNA, which in turn "goes out into the cell and imparts bits of intelligence to thousands of enzymes, which then use their specific bit of intelligence to make proteins."

Medicine has used the mind-body connection for healing; defeating pain is a good example, or merely learning to moderate the chronic pain.  "If we could effectively trigger the intention not to age, the body would carry it out automatically."  Awareness makes a huge difference, as you can control what you know is happening.  If you can free your mind not to relive the past or try to control the future, a space is opened for a completely new experience -- "the experience of ageless body and timeless mind."

Even in the make-believe world of television, age is the issue.  In "The West Wing" the fictional president has to go, they say, because the real one is limited to two four-year terms (and he's had the Oval office for seven years already) but the producers of the program are after a younger audience.  Of the two possible choices between a 69 year-old male and a Latin fiftish male, it will be younger to play like he lives in the White House.  "Our past intentions can be changed and reawakened at any time.  Long before you get old, you can prevent such losses by consciously programming your mind to remain youthful, using the power of your intention."

More recent books by Dr. Chopra include PEACE IS THE WAY: BRINGING WAR AND VIOLENCE TO AN END IN OUR TIME, THE COSMIC MIND AND SUBMANIFEST ORDER OF BEING and THE BOOK OF SECRETS: UNLOCKING THE HIDDEN DIMENSIONS OF YOUR LIFE.
4894818
I gave this book "Twelve Months" 5 Stars, because it hit home to me. Anyone "up in their years" or who have a terminal illness, should definitly read this. Makes you think it's high time to live your remaining life to the fullest, just don't sit around waiting to die.
1599437
if you think having a living will and durable power of attorney will save you from the clutches of the industrial medical system, think again. they are not finished with you as long as your insurance holds out.  death is postponed and rarely occurs peacefully in one's own bed.  a very personal, well-researched and well-written book.  my family preceded me in ways i do not wish to follow. this book shows how there is a choice and how to make it. everyone should read it as everyone will have to deal with it. you don't want to wish belatedly that you had known.
170194
You'll be inspired by this true story of defeating overwhelming odds of survival.  What would you be willing to do to yourself to live?
3557697
What happens when we die?  That's an age-old question.  But what would happen if some scientists found  a way to find out, and creates a drug that takes people to the very edge of death, where they see their dead loved ones waiting with excitement, only they are pulled back before they can make it to them.  So begins the cycle, take the drug or kill yourself to get back.  The creator of this drug, Alex, has slunk himself to lowest of levels of murder to get the fluid needed to make his drugs and now he has a created a cult of followers, who will do anything he asks.  Cyrus, a FBI agent, with a little girl dying of brain tumor, is the world's best hope to stopping Alex, before he creates even more damage.  People are not going to work, the economy is failing and all people want is bliss.  This book, was thought-provoking and quite sad in parts, as it takes grief to a level of such unfairness - it hurts.  To be right there, just almost able to touch and then have to return!  Can you just imagine!  The characters are well-developed, I really liked them or really hated them. Glenn Cooper has done a wonderful job with Near Death, it asks a lot of a person when they read it, because you can't help but wonder, "what would I do?"  Overall, I guess when it comes down to it - I'm a faith girl!

This book was provided by the publisher and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
3233265
Being sick myself for almost 13 years, I still live from appointment to appointment and waiting to hear if its spread from my bones to an organ, well it's tough to wait for the news that may come one day.  It's tough on my kids who are grown now, yet my youngest is 18 now and doesn't remember me not sick. Sometimes I wonder, would it have been better to have died after one of my infections a while ago... I had another life before my babies came... this book had me in tears and wondering about my own life and mortality. I can only tell you that I saw myself in the book. Enjoy
457443
I found this book at Amazon.com and thought you might find it of interest. This is a great book about life and death.  After reading this book you will begin to live your life day by day.  This book teaches you how to value life for what it is.
3849957
Death is something many are afraid to confront. It isn't that people aren't aware of the finality of life, they just don't that it applies to them or the people they know. In this book the idea of the reality is death is juxtaposed against modern medicines drive to keep death at bay as long as possible. Without judgement this book asks us to consider what is most important- fighting death at the expense of comfort and acceptance , or embracing death at the cost of maybe giving up time?  It also has us look at the inevitability of aging, and think about what growing old should be like in society. This book is a must read if you have ever struggled with the idea of aging, sickness and what life and death truly means
3724566
What if the life you have lived ended? What if you were told after "your Death" it was all a lie?
How would you feel if you were told that you were only part of a grand experiment ?
What if the love of your life refused to acknowledge you in this "afterlife"?
What if in order to survive you were given a choice to live again but with only two choices
t choose from? You will be shocked, surprised, and well pleased to see how the author
manages these dilemmas !
Read this book if only to compare your thoughts on these  questions.
Oh yeah...it has a Happy Ending/Beginning .
I did receive this book for an honest review.
Honestly if you enjoy really good Scifi with believable , in depth characters, Read this book!
4489444
After experiencing two recent funerals about 4 years apart and reading a little about the American way of funerals versus the rest of the world I felt compelled to know what happens to you and your body when you die. It is a horrifying description that will happen to your body unless you leave very specific instructions of what is to be done to your remains immediately upon your demise. Three hours later is too late. You will be embalmed (not an easy read for the squeamish) and your family subjected to extreme price gouging at a time when all they think they want to do is "the right thing". Annual profits are 41% at some of the larger Funeral Home holding corporations. There is no law to embalm, except when the body cross's state lines. You will learn a lot and I instructed my family what to do and how to do it with what I learned in this book.
1775481
One step into an after life of those who have died a sudden death. Fast paced adventure draws you in right from the beginning of this tale of monsters and heroes.
Once you have started reading you won't be able to put it down.
3261992
Get this book. Read it. If you still want to sit on your couch and go nowhere, check your heart rate.
Quit your job,
get some stuff,
go somewhere,
have some fun.
Before you die.
3651820
I've believed before that once we died our bodies were empty shells and the spirit or consciousness  lives on in another plane. The author confirms this with his experience in the afterlife. I've viewed life as if we are riding a train.... we are born, travel through one experience to the next... then step off and take another train/journey to another destination.... that if the afterlife.
893748
Back away slowly and live that hour and a half of your life elsewhere.
2309421
This was a reality check for me. All of sudden, I'm looking at breast cancer and my world
is spinning. You live your day, you live your past and cry about your future. Your past
comes up over and over. The book puts into perspective what you can do to "make it right"
before you pass away. However it is also what you can do as a viable living healthy person.
  It's almost "make your peace, before it's too late". But, it's a wake up call to say,
thank you to those who meant something to you, to those who made a difference in your day,
to those who listened, who cared or who you wronged.
  It's an interesting book to make you think...