Pam Allyn is the founder and executive director of LitLife, an internationally recognized organization that trains hundreds of K-12 teachers each year in literacy techniques. She is also the founding director of Books for Boys, an award-winning mentoring and reading initiative at the Childrenâs Village. The recipient of a Points of Light Award from the Bush Foundation and two James Patterson Pageturner awards, Allyn speaks frequently to parents, teachers, and librarians at major conferences, and has also appeared on the Today show.   Visit her website.

Nancy Bachrach worked in advertising in New York and Paris, spinning hot air like cotton candy, glorifying her clientsâ beloved denture adhesives and powdered orange-juice substitutes.

Before that, she was, sequentially, a clumsy waitress at Howard Johnsonâs, an overzealous customer-service rep fired for making genuine apologies, a stenographer for an insomniac poet, and a teaching assistant in the philosophy department at Brandeis University, where she was one chapter ahead of her class.

She lives in New York City.  Visit her website.

W. Ralph Eubanks is the author of Ever Is a Long Time: A Journey Into Mississippi's Dark Past (Basic Books), which Washington Post book critic Jonathan Yardley named as one of the best nonfiction books of 2003. He has contributed articles to the Washington Post Outlook and Style sections, the Chicago Tribune, Preservation, and National Public Radio. A graduate of the University of Mississippi (B.A.) and the University of Michigan (M.A., English Language and Literature), he is a recipient of a 2007 Guggenheim Fellowship from the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation and is also a fellow at the New America Foundation. Ralph lives in Washington, DC, with his wife and three children and is Director of Publishing at the Library of Congress.  Visit his website.

Kimberley Kennedy, whose story was seen on ABC's Good Morning America and Primetime, is an Emmy Award-winning journalist and producer, writer, and host of a weekly newsmagazine show airing in Atlanta, Orlando, and Charlotte. A former news anchor in Dallas and Atlanta, Kimberley enjoys public speaking and is active with nonprofit boards.Visit her website.

Cynthia G. Last, PhD, is a clinical psychologist in private practice in Boca Raton, Florida. She has served on the faculties of the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and Nova Southeastern University, and is internationally known for her research on the diagnosis and treatment of psychological disorders. The author or editor of 13 books, Dr. Last has been widely quoted and interviewed in the media. She lives with her husband of more than 20 years, Barry M. Rubin.  Visit her website.

Honor Moore is the author of The Bishopâs Daughter (2008), a memoir, that was simultaneously released in paperback (May 2009) with a reissue of her 1996 biography, The White Blackbird, A Life of the Painter Margarett Sargent by Her Granddaughter.  The Bishop's Daughter was named an Editor's Choice by the New York Times, a Favorite Book of 2008 by the Los Angeles Times and chosen by the National Book Critics Circle as part of their "Good Reads" recommended reading list. It was also selected as a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. In April 2009, Library of America published Poems from the Women's Movement, an anthology edited by Honor Moore.

She is the author of three collections of poems: Red Shoes, Darling, and Memoir, and her play Mourning Pictures, was produced on Broadway and published in The New Womenâs Theatre: Ten Plays by Contemporary American Women, which she edited.

Moore has received awards in poetry and playwriting from the National Endowment for the Arts, The New York State Council for the Arts and the Connecticut Commission for the Arts and in 2004 was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship.

In addition to Poems from the Women's Movement, she is the editor of Amy Lowell: Selected Poems for the Library of America and co-editor of The Stray Dog Cabaret, A Book of Russian Poems translated by Paul Schmidt and teaches in the graduate writing programs at the New School. From 2005 to 2007, she was an off-Broadway theatre critic for The New York Times.  Visit her website.

SAM GOSLING, Ph.D., is an associate professor of psychology at the University of Texas at Austin. His work has been widely covered in the media, including The New York Times, Psychology Today, NPR, and "Good Morning America," and his research is featured in Malcolm Gladwell's Blink. Gosling is the recipient of the American Psychological Association's Distinguished Scientific Award for Early Career Contribution. This is his first book. He lives in Austin, Texas. Visit Samâs academic website at the University of Texas here.  Vist the Snoop website.

From the time of her birth, Jayanti Tamm, was declared the chosen disciple in the cult of Guru Sri Chinmoy. Jayanti lived inside the confines of the Guruâs inner circle, shuttling between her familyâs home, Sri Chinmoyâs Connecticut headquarters, and his ashram in Queens, New York. Sri Chinmoy assigned Jayanti to court celebrities, infiltrate the United Nations, and find elephants for him to weight lift, all in an effort to transform the world. At the age of twenty-five, after multiple attempts to leave, she was permanently exiled from the group.

After graduating Magna Cum Laude from Queens College, she worked as an editor for Tricycle: The Buddhist Review. She received her MFA in Creative Writing at American University in Washington, DC, where she studied fiction and playwriting. Following graduation, she had a number of stories published in literary journals in North America. In 2000, she was nominated for a Pushcart Prize. In 2005, her one-act play, The Suicide Bomber won the New England Academy of Theatre One Act Play Award. Jayanti is currently an English Professor at Ocean County College where she teaches writing.

She lives in New Jersey with her husband, daughter, and two cats where she is working on a novel.  Visit her website.

Kathryn Joyce is a freelance writer based in New York City. She is author of Quiverfull: Inside the Christian Patriarchy Movement, published by Beacon Press in March, 2009. Her freelance writing and reviews have appeared in The Nation, Mother Jones, Salon, The Harvard Divinity Bulletin, The American Prospect, Double X, Search, Religion Dispatches, The Massachusetts Review, RH Reality Check, Newsweek.com, Patheos, Alternet and other publications. She is former managing editor of The Revealer.org, a project of the New York University Center for Religion and Media, and currently writes and produces at the Revenue Watch Institute.  Visit her website.

Jennifer Scanlon, PhD, is Professor of Gender and Women's Studies at Bowdoin College. An award-winning teacher and scholar, she has published widely on consumer culture, popular culture, and women's history. She is the author of Inarticulate Longings: The Ladies' Home Journal, Gender, and the Promises of Consumer Culture; and editor of Significant Contemporary American Feminists and The Gender and Consumer Culture Reader. She lives in Brunswick, Maine. Visit her webpage.

Gary Stromberg co-founded Gibson & Stromberg, a large and influential music public relations firm of the sixties and seventies. He represented such luminaries as The Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, Muhammad Ali, Barbra Streisand, Boyz II Men, Neil Diamond, Ray Charles, The Doors, Earth, Wind & Fire, Elton John, Three Dog Night, and Crosby, Stills, & Nash. Stromberg also spent time in the film business where he co-produced the motion pictures Car Wash and The Fish that Saved Pittsburgh.

 He's also co-written three books, The Harder They Fall (Hazelden - 2005) and Feeding the Fame (Hazelden -- 2007 and a third book for McGraw-Hill Publishing, entitled Second Chances, which will be released March 2009.

He currently runs The BLACKBIRD Group, a small public relations firm in Marina del Rey, California.

Gary is also active is service work, having served as President of the Board of Directors of Positive Directions, a Center for Prevention and Recovery, as well as being a mentor for over eight years. He has two children, a son who's a junior at Cal St. Northridge and a daughter who's a freshman at the University of Michigan.  Visit his website.

Robert Mack has been many things in his life, including a corporate consultant, a professional model, an actor, and a life coach. After several years working as a consultant and executive coach for Deloitte & Touche, he returned to school to earn a masterâs degree in applied positive psychology (MAPP). He has appeared in numerous television commercials and magazines, as well as on the Today show, The CBS Early Show, South Beach, and MTVâs Fashionably Loud. The resident life coach for the Miami Life Center, Rob offers seminars and workshops and works with private clients, coaching them toward wealthier, healthier, and happier lives. He lives in Miami Beach.  Visit his website.

Sally Palaian, Ph.D., is a licensed clinical psychologist specializing in the treatment of addictive behaviors. She has spoken about the treatment of financial disorders for various therapy associations and has served as an expert in the media on mental disorders and spending, most recently for Real Simple Magazine and MSN Money. Spent is her first book. She lives in Bringham Farms, Michigan. Visit her website.

Cheryl Saban, Ph.D., writes extensively about women, children, and social issues. Using her background in psychology, she devotes a great deal of attention to philanthropic endeavors that focus on pediatric health and research, education, relationships, and the empowerment of women. In addition to What Is Your Self-Worth? she has written Recipe for a Good Marriage, Recipe for Good Parenting, and several other works. She currently lives in Los Angeles, California, with her husband, two of their four children (when theyâre not away at college) & her octogenarian parents. She receives regular doses of love and attention from her four grandchildren, too.  Visit her website.

Isabel Gillies, known for her television role as Detective Stabler's wife on Law and Order: Special Victims Unit and for her cinematic debut in the film Metropolitan, graduated from New York University with a BFA in film. She lives in Manhattan with her second husband, her two sons, and her stepdaughter.  Visit her website.

A new kind of self-love expert, Christine Arylo, inspirational catalyst, takes a fresh approach to redefining self-love for todayâs woman as hip, hot, and hers. Arylo traded in twelve years of creating powerful images for brands like Visa and Gap, to inspire women to bust through their limiting self-images and self-expectations. As an author, speaker, and coach, Arylo is an expert at helping women get the success and happiness they want by living and loving their most real and wise selves first.  Visit her website.

Thomas Maier is an award-winning author and investigative journalist. His new book, MASTERS OF SEX: The Life and Times of William Masters and Virginia Johnson, the Couple Who Taught America How To Love, was published in 2009 by Basic Books.

Previously, THE KENNEDYS: Americaâs Emerald Kings,was one of the top annual holiday books chosen by USA Today in 2003, and recently re-issued along with a Warner Home Video documentary based on this book. DR. SPOCK: An American Life, was a âNotable Book of the Yearâ by The New York Times. NEWHOUSE: All the Glitter, Power and Glory of Americaâs Richest Media Empire and the Secretive Man Behind It, won the 1994 Frank Luther Mott Award as best media book of the year. As an investigative reporter for Newsday since 1984, Maier has won several national and regional honors, including the 2002 first-place prize from the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists. At Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, Maier won the John M. Patterson Prize for television documentary-making and received a John McCloy Journalism Fellowship to Europe. He lives with his family on Long Island. Visit his website.

Bernie has been at the forefront of the medical ethics and spiritual issues of our day. He and his wife (and occasional coauthor), Bobbie, live in a suburb in Connecticut. They have five children and eight grandchildren.  Visit his website

John L. Turner, MD, served as the first neurosurgeon on the Big Island of Hawaii. He arrived with the desire to investigate the spiritual world and understand the meaning of life, death, and life-after-death. His metaphysical experiences began the first night he was on call and continue up to the present. Dr. Turner balances his time between stargazing from an observatory dome at his rain forest home and serving as a consulting physician for the Hilo Pain Center in Hilo, Hawaii.  Visit his website.

Mei-Ling has written for  the Detroit Free Press, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, National Geographic Traveler, the Miami Herald, and has worked in the Cox Newspapers Washington bureau. She has been a recipient of the National Headliner Best in Show, as well as several other national and international awards. She lives in Buenos Aires, Argentina, with her husband and their daughter. A newspaper feature she wrote for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch about the reunion with her birth family won a national award from the Asian American Journalists Association.  Visit her website.

Jessica Handlerâs nonfiction has appeared in Brevity.com, More Magazine, Southern Arts Journal, and Ars Medica. An essay derived from Invisible Sisters was nominated for a 2008 Pushcart Prize, and her work has received Honorable Mention for the Penelope Niven Creative Nonfiction Prize. A teacher of creative writing at the Art Institute of Atlanta, she lives in Atlanta, Georgia.  Visit her blog.

Arthur I. Miller is professor emeritus at University College London. He has published many critically acclaimed books, including Einstein, Picasso, and writes for publications such as the New York Times. He lives in London.  Visit his website.

Anne Harrington, Chair, is Harvard College Professor and Professor for the History of Science, specializing in the history of psychiatry, neuroscience, and the other mind and behavioral sciences.

Professor Harrington received her Ph.D. in the History of Science from Oxford University, and has held postdoctoral fellowships at the Wellcome Institute for the History of Medicine in London, and the University of Freiburg in Germany. For six years, she co-directed Harvard's Mind, Brain, and Behavior Initiative. She also was a consultant for the MacArthur Foundation Research Network on Mind-Body Interactions. Currently she serves on the Board of the Mind and Life Institute, an organization dedicated to cross-cultural dialogue between Buddhism and the science.

She is also co-editor of Biosocieties, a journal concerned with social science approaches to the life sciences.

Professor Harrington is the author of three books: Medicine, Mind and the Double Brain (1987), Reenchanted Science (1997) and The Cure Within; A History of Mind-Body Medicine (2007) She has also published many articles and produced a range of edited collections including The Placebo Effect (1997), Visions of Compassion (2000), and The Dalai Lama at MIT (2006). She is currently working on a new book, tentatively titled, When Minds Fall Ill. Other research interests include the history of the neurological case history, and especially changing interests in the "inner world" of brain disorder; and the origins and larger significance of current visions of partnership between Buddhism and the brain sciences - so-called "contemplative neuroscience."  Visit her webpage.

This distinguished Texas physician, deeply rooted in the scientific world, has become an internationally influential advocate of the role of the mind in health and the role of spirituality in healthcare. Bringing the experience of a practicing internist and the soul of a poet to the discourse, Dr. Larry Dossey offers panoramic insight into the nature and the future of medicine.

Upon graduating with honors from the University of Texas at Austin, Dr. Dossey worked as a pharmacist while earning his M.D. degree from Southwestern Medical School in Dallas, 1967. Before completing his residency in internal medicine, he served as a battalion surgeon in Vietnam, where he was decorated for valor. Dr. Dossey helped establish the Dallas Diagnostic Association, the largest group of internal medicine practitioners in that city, and was Chief of Staff of Medical City Dallas Hospital in 1982.

An education steeped in traditional Western medicine did not prepare Dr. Dossey for patients who were blessed with "miracle cures," remissions that clinical medicine could not explain. "Almost all physicians possess a lavish list of strange happenings unexplainable by normal science," says Dr. Dossey. "A tally of these events would demonstrate, I am convinced, that medical science not only has not had the last word, it has hardly had the first word on how the world works, especially when the mind is involved."

The author of nine books and numerous articles, Dr. Dossey is the former Executive Editor of the peer-reviewed journal Alternative Therapies in Health and Medicine the most widely subscribed-to journal in its field. The primary quality of all of Dr. Dossey's work is scientific legitimacy, with an insistent focus on "what the data show." As a result, his colleagues in medical schools and hospitals all over the country trust him, honor his message, and continually invite him to share his insights with them. He has lectured all over the world, including major medical schools and hospitals in the United States --Harvard, Johns Hopkins, Cornell, the Universities of Pennsylvania, California, Washington, Texas, Florida, Minnesota, and the Mayo Clinic.

The impact of Dr. Dossey's work has been remarkable. Before his book Healing Words was published in 1993, only three U.S. medical schools had courses devoted to exploring the role of religious practice and prayer in health; currently, nearly 80 medical schools have instituted such courses, many of which utilize Dr. Dossey's works as textbooks. In his 1989 book Recovering the Soul he introduced the concept of "nonlocal mind" -- mind unconfined to the brain and body, mind spread infinitely throughout space and time. Since then, "nonlocal mind" has been adopted by many leading scientists as an emerging image of consciousness. Dr. Dossey's ever-deepening explication of nonlocal mind provides a legitimate foundation for the merging of spirit and medicine. The ramifications of such a union are radical and call for no less than the reinvention of medicine. Visit his website.

The Reverend Dr. Michael A. Schuler serves as the parish minister of the First Unitarian Society of Madison. During his tenure, the society has grown to over 1,500 adult members, 500 children, and 200 active affiliates. He earned his B.A. in political science, received his M.Div. from Starr King School for the Ministry, and holds a Ph.D. in the Humanities from Florida State University. Visit his website www.fusmadison.org

Dr. Gretchen Lemke-Santangelo is professor of history at St. Maryâs College of California. She is author of Abiding Courage: African American Migrant Women in the East Bay Community and coauthor of Competing Visions: A History of California.  Visit her webpage.

Sandra K. Allgeier, SPHR, is a speaker, consultant, and trainer who helps organizations and individuals build trust and respectâand do it in a way that conveys personal credibility. Prior to beginning her consulting business in early 2000, Sandy had over 25 years of experience as a human resources professional. Her corporate human resources management experiences include Senior Vice President, Human Resources for Atria Assisted Living with 7,000 employees located in 26 states, as well as serving as Director, Human Resources for Providian Corporation, a Fortune 500 Financial Services company. Prior to this, Sandy was Director, Field Human Resources for KFC Corporation. She is experienced in directing all phases of human resources management, including recruiting and selection, compensation and benefits, employee relations, and training and development.

Sandy has solid experience as a speaker, workshop leader, and facilitator, and is known for engaging her audiences with a high degree of participation. Specifically, she has conducted hundreds of workshops/training programs for clients. Sandy also assists organizations by providing professional and executive coaching, utilizing a variety of tools including 360 feedback systems.

Sandy is recognized as a leader within her profession, and was presented the 1999 Award for Professional Excellence by the Louisville, Kentucky, chapter of the Society for Human Resources Management. She has been selected as a national faculty member and facilitator for the Society for Human Resource Managementâs (SHRM) Human Resources Generalist as well as the Recruitment and Retention Certificate Programs. Her major focus today is on assisting organizations with developing their leaders of today and the future.  Visit her website.

Susan R. Barry received her Ph.D. in biology from Princeton University and is a professor of neurobiology in the Department of Biological Sciences at Mount Holyoke College. She speaks regularly to scientists, eye doctors, and educators on the topic of neuronal plasticity. She has been featured on NPR and in a New Yorker article by renowned neurologist Oliver Sacks entitled âStereo Sue.â She and her husband have two grown children and live in South Hadley, Massachusetts. Visit her website.

Ask LaJoyce Brookshire who she is and quickly sheâll tell you sheâs, âGodâs Girl!â LaJoyce is an ordained minister, a Doctor of Classical Naturopathy, Doctor of Naturopathic Ministry, Master Herbalist, Certified Group Fitness Instructor, an avid lover of African Dance, and an advocate for literacy and abstinence.

As a graduate of Trinity College of Natural Health, Dr. Brookshire is a Classical Naturopath at the Robinson Wellness Center in East Orange, NJ and The Poconos. She is also the Executive Director of The Eugene J. Robinson Foundation which houses the HIV/AIDS prevention program entitled, "Scared Straight: What You Don't Know About AIDS Can Kill You".

In her former career, Dr. Brookshire was a high-powered entertainment publicist to the stars. As Director of Publicity at Arista Records, she represented Aretha Franklin, Sean "Diddy" Combs, OutKast, 112, Deborah Cox, Whitney Houston, and The Notorious B.I.G. until his death.

Dr. Brookshire, affectionately called "The Good Doctor", teaches that you ARE what you eat. Her most popular requested lecture, "If Your Doctor Is So Smart, Why Are You So Sick?" is a favorite amongst community organizations seeking better health practices.

LaJoyce Brookshire is also the best-selling author of the novels Soul Food (that was based on the smash hit movie), suspense drama Web of Deception, and her latest release the memoir Faith Under Fire: Betrayed By A Thing Called Love. This latest book breaks a decade of silence of how her first husband married her knowing he had AIDS yet never revealed his status, and how she is victoriously HIV-negative.

Dr.Brookshire conducts workshops and lectures frequently on wellness nationwide.  Visit her website.

Michael Perry is a humorist and author of the bestselling memoirs Population 485: Meeting Your Neighbors One Siren at a Time and Truck: A Love Story, the essay collection Off Main Street, and Coop: A Year of Poultry, Pigs and Parenting..

Perry has written for Esquire, The New York Times Magazine, Outside, Backpacker, Orion and Salon.com, and is a contributing editor to Menâs Health. His essays have been heard on NPRâs All Things Considered and he has performed and produced two live audience recordings (I Got It From the Cows and Never Stand Behind a Sneezing Cow). Perry lives in rural Wisconsin, where he remains active with the local volunteer rescue service. He can be found online at www.sneezingcow.com

After a close brush with the World Trade Center attacks, Paul Bacon joined the NYPD, serving as a patrolman from 2002-2005 primarily in Harlemâs 28th and 32nd Precincts. His true police stories have appeared on NPRâs âThis American Life,â John Hodgmanâs âLittle Gray Book Lecture Series,â and The Moth Mainstage (New York and New Haven). He currently lives in Maui, Hawaii, where he works as a surfing instructor and underwater photographer.

Previously a freelance writer and cartoonist, Paul has contributed to Cosmopolitan, The Dictionary of American History (Scribner), Inside.com, McSweeneyâs, Mother Jones, PBS Online, Salon, San Francisco Examiner, and Wired. He also worked as a staff writer for Might magazine and Modern Humorist.

Prior to freelancing, Paul worked in communications, editing a corporate magazine for Iridium, Inc. (Washington, D.C.), producing broadcast news releases for Hill and Knowlton Public Affairs (Washington), and interning in the creative department at J. Walter Thompson Advertising (Denver).

Paul graduated with honors in journalism from the University of Colorado at Boulder,with a minor in sociology. While at Boulder, he was an active member of the CU Program Council for four years, founding a graphic design agency under its auspices. In his senior year, Paul was awarded the 1990 Nonie Lann Journalism Scholarship.

The son of a pilot and a flight attendant, Paul was all but conceived in motion. He has lived in 15 different cities and towns in every corner of the United States, and visited 34 countries on six continents. His hobbies include bicycling, surfing, hiking and freestyle snow skiing. He is a licensed scuba diving instructor and CPR/First Aid trainer. He also speaks Japanese, with three years in-country language exposure in Osaka and Tanegashima. Visit his website.

Dr. Lisa Lahey is the co-founder and principal of MINDS AT WORKâ. She and her partner, Robert Kegan, have helped individuals and organizations achieve their goals for over thirty years. Co-authors of How the Way We Talk Can Change the Way We Work (Jossey-Bass) and Immunity to Change (Harvard Business Press), they join Warren Bennis, Edgar Schein, and Peter Senge as recipients of the Gislason Prize for contributions to organizational leadership.

She is also the Associate Director of the Change Leadership Group at the Harvard University Graduate School of Education. She is the lead author of the widely used method of assessing the developmental complexity of an individual's way of making meaning (The Guide to the Subject-Object Interview), and co-author of Change Leadership: A Practical Guide to Improving Our Schools.  Visit her website.

With over 500,000 of her publications in print and in five languagesâEnglish, Spanish, German, Portuguese, and ChineseâBrenda Schaeffer, D.Min., M.A.L.P., C.A.S., has already helped
thousands of people understand the difference between love and love addiction and to create and foster healthy relationships.

Schaeffer is a licensed psychologist, a certified addiction specialist, and holds a doctorate in Spiritual Psychology.

 Dr. Schaeffer has appeared on a variety of national television and radio shows in the U.S. and Canada. She has been featured in magazines such as Elle, Fitness, and Lotus. She is author of Loveâs Way: The Union of Body, Ego, Soul and Spirit; the bestseller, Is It Love or Is It Addiction?; Loving Me Loving You, and Love or Addiction: The Power and Peril of Teen Sex and Romance.   She is also the former host of the talk radio show âItâs All About Love.â

She is the founder of Healthy Relationships, her private practice in the Minneapolis area where she conducts therapy, training and workshops.  Visit her website.

Leonard Marcus is one of the children's book world's most respected and versatile writers, historians, and critics.

His highly acclaimed books about children's literature and the authors and artists who create them include: Margaret Wise Brown: Awakened by the Moon; Dear Genius: The Letters of Ursula Nordstrom; A Caldecott Celebration; Author Talk; Side by Side; and The Wand in the Word: Conversations with Writers of Fantasy.

Recent children's books include Oscar: The Big Adventure of a Little Sock Monkey (co-authored and illustrated by Amy Schwartz) and the forthcoming Pass It Down: Five Picture-Book Families Make Their Mark.

Leonard is one of the most trusted critics in the field. His incisive book reviews have been featured in Parenting magazine in every issue since the monthly's founding in 1987. In addition, Leonard has been a Parenting contributing editor since 1988 and has directed the magazine's annual Best Books of the Year Awards since their inception in that year. He has been a frequent contributor to The New York Times Book Review, Washington Post Book World, The Horn Book, Publishers Weekly, among other publications, and is a three-time judge of the New York Times Best Illustrated Books of the Year prize. He is a standing member of The Ezra Jack Keats New Writer Award committee and was a judge of the 1996 National Book Awards.

Leonard has been a featured guest of ABC's Good Morning America, BBC Radio 4, C-SPAN 2 Book TV, WOR's Rambling with Gambling, Fox Network's Good Morning Sunday, National Public Radio's All Things Considered and Talk of the Nation, the Loose Leaf Book Company, WNYC's Studio 360, Canadian Broadcasting Company's As It Happens, and WHYY Philadelphia's Radio Times.

He and his wife, the picture-book artist Amy Schwartz, live with their son Jacob in Brooklyn, New York.  Visit his website.

Phyllis R. Silverman has received many awards for her work and is recognized internationally as a leader in the field of bereavement. Phyllis Silverman has a Ph.D. from the Heller School at Brandeis University, and Masters' Degrees from Harvard School of Public Health and Smith College School for Social work. She is a Scholar in Residence at the Womenâs Studies Research Center at Brandeis University, The co-principal investigator of the pioneering Harvard Child Bereavement Study, her books include Widow to Widow: How the Bereaved Help Each Other and Never Too Young to Know: Death in Children's Lives.  Visit her website.

As the founder and president of First Signs Nancy Wiseman is dedicating her life to improving the lives of children and families affected by developmental disorders. Since 1999, Nancy has made a significant contribution to changing policy, improving awareness, and changing pediatric practice in how we screen, refer, and detect young children today.

Before devoting herself to First Signs, Nancy worked in corporate communications for over 20 years building brand awareness, educating the public, and generating qualified leads for international companies in the financial, travel, office products, computer, and software industries. She now utilizes her skills in fundraising and development, staff and financial management, film and video production, as well as public relations and education, to direct First Signs She has counseled parents worldwide and she has appeared in interviews with USA Today, Parents, and NBC's Today Show.

She is the author of Could It Be Autism: A Parent's Guide to the First Signs and Next Steps. and The First YearÂ: Autism Spectrum Disorders: An Essential Guide for the Newly Diagnosed Child.

During his sophomore year at Brown University, he met a group of students from Liberty University, the late Reverend Jerry Falwellâs âBible Boot Campâ for young evangelicals. Inspired by that meeting, he decided to leave Brown and spend a semester âabroadâ at Liberty, learning about his conservative Christian peers by living among them. He chronicled his experiences in THE UNLIKELY DISCIPLE: A Sinnerâs Semester at America's Holiest University, which is being published in March 2009 by Grand Central Publishing.

Since returning to Brown, Roose has continued writing for national publications like Esquire, SPIN, and mental_floss, on topics as wide-ranging as barbershop quartets, 19th-century magicians, and cell-phone ringtones. He is a staff writer for the College Hill Independent, a regular columnist for the Brown Daily Herald, and a Rose Writing Fellow. In 2008, he was given a Royce Fellowship for his journalism, and barring an act of God, he will graduate from Brown in 2009 with an English degree. He lives in Providence, Rhode Island. Visit his website.

Dr. Barry Gordon received his M.D. degree from the Chicago Medical School in 1965. He completed his training in Internal Medicine at the Jewish Hospital and Medical Center in Brooklyn in 1968, and in Hematology at the Montefiore Hospital Medical Center in the Bronx in 1969. Dr. Gordon has served as Chief of Hematology at two Brooklyn hospitals, and has been on the teaching staff of the Downstate Medical School (SUNY Health and Science Center at Brooklyn) as a Clinical Instructor in Medicine. Most of Dr. Gordon's career has been devoted to his Internal Medicine / Primary Care practice in Brooklyn which he continues to maintain. He is the author of, Get Well, Stay Well. Visit his website.

Nan Mooney was born and raised in Seattle, Washington, graduated from Scripps College, and has worked in both the film and publishing industries. Along the way, sheâs held numerous other jobs including, but not confined to: actor, nanny, office temp, exerciser of polo ponies, caterer, fact-checker, and â most dangerous of all â floor demonstrator for an at-home waxing device.

 Nan Mooney is the author of I Canât Believe She Did That: Why Women Betray Other Women at Work (St. Martinâs Press 2005) and My Racing Heart: The Passionate World of Thoroughbreds and the Track (HarperCollins 2002.) Her work has appeared in The Washington Post, Slate, The Daily News, The Utne Reader, The Seattle Weekly, Womenâs eNews and various other publications.

She lives in Seattle with her son, Leo, and far too much rain. Visit her website.

Noelle C. Nelson, Ph.D., is a psychologist, popular seminar leader, and author of nine books, including the bestselling Dangerous Relationships as well as The Power of Appreciation. A licensed clinical psychologist, she holds an M.A. and Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the United States International University, a B.A. in sociology from UCLA, and a MaÃtrise, Doctorat de TroisiÃme Cycle from the Sorbonne, Paris. Dr. Nelson lives in southern California. Visit her website.

Writer, wife, mother and animal wrangler, Kim Michele Richardson  spent nine years in the âcareâ of the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth in her native Kentucky in the 1960s. That grim experience and her subsequent legal action against the nuns are the subjects of her book, The Unbreakable Child. She has been an active community worker doing volunteer work for Habitat for Humanity and a local shelter for the homeless, as well as helping younger students with reading and writing. The Unbreakable Child is her first book. Visit her website.

Visit Jamie Mason's website and blog.

Jeremy Adam Smith is senior editor of Greater Good Magazine published by the U.C. Berkeley Greater Good Science Center. He is also the founder of Daddy Dialectic, a group blog that explores the experiences of twenty-first-century dads, which has earned praise from the Washington Post, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, and many corners of the blogosphere.

His essays, short stories, and articles on parenting, popular culture, urban life, and politics have appeared in AlterNet, The Nation, Mothering, Our Stories, Public Eye, San Francisco Bay Guardian, San Francisco Chronicle, Utne Reader, Wired, and numerous other periodicals and books, most recently the anthology Men Speak Out: Views on Gender, Sex and Power. Jeremy has also been interviewed by many media outlets, including The New York Times, USA Today, and Nightline.  Visit his website.

Dr. Rebecca Moore is chair of the Department of Religious Studies at San Diego State University. She is co-editor of Nova Religio: The Journal of New and Emergent Religions, and served on the Steering Committee of the New Religious Movements Group of the American Academy of Religion for six years. She has published extensively on Peoples Temple, her interest stemming, in part, from the loss of three family members in the mass deaths in Jonestown, Guyana, in November 1978.

Rebecca Moore has a Ph.D. in Religious Studies from Marquette University(1996), where her specialty was Jewish and Christian dialogue. She has written and published on medieval Christian theologians and their debt to Jewish biblical commentary. She co-authored the book A Portable God: The Origin of Judaism and Christianity, with SDSU colleague Risa Levitt Kohn. The book examines how first-century Judaic groups interpreted Israelite religion in a new historical context. Visit her website.

Martin M. Antony, Ph.D.is professor of psychology at Ryerson   University in Toronto, ON, Canada. He is also director of research at the Anxiety Treatment and Research Centre at St. Josephâs Healthcare in Hamilton, ON. He is President Elect of the Canadian Psychological Association. Dr. Antony is actively involved in clinical research in the area of anxiety disorders, teaching, and education, and he maintains a private clinical practice. Visit his website.

 Dr. Deanna Minich is an internationally-known nutritionist with more than fifteen years experience in the exciting field of nutrition. She has served food and dietary supplement industries since 2000 and began her private clinical practice in 2002. Her unique approach to nutrition originated from combining various facets of her background including academic training in medical sciences and human nutrition from the University of Groningen in the Netherlands (Ph.D.) and University of Illinois at Chicago (M.S.), along with her extensive study of energetic modalities such as Shamanic healing practices, Reiki, and intuitive assessment, and physical body cultivation through more than 20 years of yoga practice.

Her latest contributions include two books on food and spirituality: Chakra Foods for Optimum Health: A Guide to the Foods that Improve Your Energy, Inspire Creative Changes, Open Your Heart, and Heal Body, Mind, and Spirit (Conari Press, 2009) and Chakra Supplements: A Complete Guide to the Vibrational and Energy Healing Properties of Herbs and Supplements (Conari Press, 2010). She has also written a practical guide to deciphering food additives: An A to Z Guide to Food Additives: Never Eat What You Can't Pronounce (Conari Press, 2009).

Dr. Minich developed Nutrition for the Soul^TM classes and teaches them at colleges and in medical clinics. A dynamic presenter, she has appeared on radio shows and has presented extensively on nutrition topics throughout the country. She is very passionate about assisting others on their path to good health and balanced living. Currently, she lives on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington State.  Visit her website.

Dr.Robin Goldstein is a nationally known parent educator, specialist in child development, and faculty member at John Hopkins University. Her advice has appeared in Redbook, Working Mother, Good Housekeeping, and other national publications. She is a frequent guest on TV and radio, and a popular corporate speaker. As a parenting consultant, Robin advises families on their everyday challenges and helps parents understand their young child's behavior. Visit her website.

Edward E. Zine, once a prospective student athlete at Clemson University, lives with Mayada, his wife of nine years, and his two beautiful daughters, Alexandria and Isabella. An aspiring animator with an expertise in construction, Ed and his family currently reside on Cape Cod in the home Ed built himself.

Visit Jamie Mason's website and blog.

Born in 1977, Jerramy Sage Fine grew up in Western Colorado along with her little brother Ezra. Although she was raised by crazy hippy parents, she still maintains there was a dreadful hospital mix-up and she was switched at birth with the baby daughter of English aristocrats. Jerramy attended the University of Rochester where she spent her semester abroad working in the House of Commons, and later completed her masterâs at the London School of Economics. She now lives in London with her English boyfriend. Heâs not royal, but she forgives him. Visit her website.

Russill Paul is a world-renowned musician as well as a teacher of Eastern spirituality. He trained simultaneously as a monk and Yogi under the direction of the renowned sage and mystic Bede Griffiths in South India for close to five years and has taught in graduate and postgraduate spirituality programs for the past seventeen years. Born and raised in India, Russill lives in Austin, Texas, and runs a Yogic Mystery School. He performs and conducts workshops, retreats, and pilgrimages throughout the world. Visit his website.

Darren Littlejohn is a recovering addict and a practitioner of Zen and Tibetan Buddhism, as well as a former mental health specialist. He earned a BA in Psych in 1991 and worked in chemical dependency and acute psychiatric care facilities during college. Darren took 2 years of graduate school and earned All But Thesis of a Masterâs degree in Research Methods for Psychology. He has been a Buddhist practitioner since the mid 80âs.

A spiritual crisis led to a relapse in 1994 with 10 years of sobriety. After regaining sobriety in 1997, Darren worked on recovery with a new zeal, incorporating many years of psychotherapy, 12-Step work, Zen and Tibetan Buddhist practices. While relapse with long-term sobriety is common, returning for a sustained duration is extremely rare. Darrenâs program, which became the basis for the book The12-Step Buddhist, is an integrated approach that is hard one over a span of more than twenty years.

Darren, a jazz guitarist and dog lover, now lives in Portland, Oregon, with his life partner of more than 10 years, Tysa Fennern and their two dogs. Heâs been involved with many community projects, including the fight against smoking, creating dog parks, community television and a spiritually driven jazz program. Visit his website.

Duane Elgin is an internationally recognized speaker, author, and social visionary who looks beneath the surface turbulence of our times to explore the deeper trends that are transforming our world.  In 2005, Duane received the Japanese âGoi International Peace Awardâ in recognition of his contribution to a global âvision, consciousness, and lifestyleâ that fosters a âmore sustainable and spiritual culture.â

His books include: THE LIVING UNIVERSE: Where Are We?  Who Are We? Where Are We Going? (2009); PROMISE AHEAD: A Vision of Hope and Action for Humanityâs Future (2000), VOLUNTARY SIMPLICITY: Toward a Way of Life that is Outwardly Simple, Inwardly Rich (1993 and 1981), and AWAKENING EARTH: Exploring the Evolution of Human Culture and Consciousness (1993).  With Joseph Campbell and other scholars he co-authored the book CHANGING IMAGES OF MAN (1982).  In addition, Duane has contributed chapters to sixteen books, and has published more than seventy articles.

In the early 1970s, Duane worked as a senior staff member of a joint Presidential-Congressional Commission on the American Future.  He then worked as a senior social scientist with the think-tank SRI International where he coauthored numerous long-range, futures studies, such as: Anticipating Future National and Global Problems (for the Presidentâs Science Advisor), Alternative Futures for Environmental Policy (for the Environmental Protection Agency), The Future of the Automobile (for the Ford Motor Co.), and Limits to the Management of Large, Complex Systems (for the Presidentâs Science Advisor). 

Over the past twenty twenty-five years, Duane has co-founded three non-profit organizations concerned with media accountability and citizen empowerment; see: www.ourmediavoice.org.

As a speaker, Duane has given more than 250 keynotes and workshops with audiences ranging from business executives and civic groups to churches and college students.

He has an MBA from the Wharton Business School, an MA in economic history from the University of Pennsylvania, and an honorary Doctor of Philosophy for work in âecological and spiritual transformationâ from the California Institute of Integral Studies, San Francisco, CA.  Visit his website.

Jane Alison was born in Canberra, Australia, and grew up in the Australian and U.S. foreign services. She attended public schools in Washington, D.C., and earned a B.A. in classics from Princeton University. Before writing fiction, she worked as an administrator for the National Endowment for the Humanities, as a production artist for the Washington City Paper, as an editor for the Miami New Times, and as a proposal and speechwriter for Tulane University. She also worked as a freelance editor and illustrator before attending Columbia University to study creative writing.

Her first novel, The Love-Artist, was published in 2001 by Farrar, Straus & Giroux and has been translated into seven languages. It was followed by The Marriage of the Sea, a New York Times Notable Book of 2003. Her latest novel, Natives and Exotics, appeared in 2005 and was one of that summerâs recommended readings by Alan Cheuse of National Public Radio. Her short fiction and critical writing have recently appeared in Seed; Five Points; Postscript: Essays on Film and the Humanities; and The Germanic Review. She has also written several biographies for children and co-edited with Harold Bloom a critical series on women writers. She has taught writing and literature at Columbia, Barnard, Bryn Mawr, and for writers groups in Geneva, Switzerland; she currently lives in Germany and teaches in the MFA Creative Writing Program at Queens University, Charlotte.  Visit her website.

Kristin Celello is an assistant professor of History at CUNY, Queens College. She received her PhD from the University of Virginia and in 2006-2007 was a postdoctoral fellow at Emory University's MARIAL Center. She is a 2007-2008 Early Career Scholar. Visit her webpage.

Suzanne Guillette grew up in southeastern Massachusetts, where she remembers sledding on oceanside sand dunes in the winter and watching thunderstorms on the beach in the summer. Although she now lives in New York City, she still manages to spend a decent amount of time in or near the water.

A writer and occasional storyteller, Suzanneâs work has appeared in Tin House, Self, in addition to other publications. Suzanne teaches autobiography and memoir-writing; she is very grateful to the New York Writerâs Coalition, for its inspiring work in the NYC-area and its accessible, brilliant methodology, from which she has learned so much.

When sheâs not writing, Suzanne pursues dance, which has been a lifelong love. She also enjoys yoga and travel. And cheese. 

Suzanne holds a Bachelorâs of Arts in Philosophy from George Washington University and a Masterâs of Fine Arts in Creative Non-fiction writing from Sarah Lawrence College.  Visit her website.

Michael Stein is the author of The Lonely Patient, which won a Christopher Award and a Nautilus Award. He has also written five highly acclaimed novels. He has been treating addiction for more than twenty years and is a professor of medicine and community health at Brown University. He lives with his family in Providence, Rhode Island. Visit his website.

Azim N. Khamisa is Chairman, CEO and Founder of the Tariq Khamisa Foundation (TKF) and Sovereign Capital Markets, Inc. He is a successful international investment banker, advisor and consultant with over 30 years of experience. He has conducted business ventures in Africa, Middle East, Europe, Asia and the Americas. Mr. Khamisa was educated in England in Mathematics & Finance and is a well-traveled multilingual U.S. citizen residing in La Jolla, California.

Mr. Khamisa serves on the Board of Directors of various for profit and non-profit organizations. TKF (www.tkf.org) was founded by Mr. Khamisa in memory of his 20-year old son Tariq, who was murdered in 1995. Mr. Khamisa reached out in forgiveness to the grandfather and guardian of his sonâs killer, Mr. Ples Felix who now serves as Vice Chairman of TKF. He has committed his life to defeating the continuing cycle of violence amongst the youth.

Mr. Khamisa is a highly regarded and respected leader in the San Diego community and nationally for his exceptional leadership in finding innovative solutions to prevent youth violence. He delivers keynote addresses at a variety of local, national, and international venues. He has been acknowledged with luminaries like Desmond Tutu and Ted Koppel. He was a guest at the White House on three different occasions during President Clinton's term. He recently participated in the Synthesis Dialogues held at the Popeâs summer residence in Castelgandolfo, Italy with His Holiness the Dalai Lama.  Visit his website.

Alexandra Rutherford is an associate professor of psychology at York University in Toronto, where she teaches and works with students in the History and Theory of Psychology Graduate Program.  Although Skinner and his technology of behavior were her âfirst lovesâ in the history of psychology, she has now turned her attention to the feminist storylines of psychologyâs past. She has interviewed over 80 feminist psychologists to help document their lives and careers and understand the relationship between feminism and psychology.  She is also a clinical psychologist.  She lives in Toronto with her husband, Wade Pickren, also a historian of psychology, and their dog Benny.  Beyond the Box is her first book. Visit her webpage.

Lisa E. Scott is a native of the Chicagoland area. She lives and works downtown as a human resources professional. She has been published twice in academic journals related to her profession. "It's All About Him" is her first work of a personal nature. Visit her website.

]]> Narcissistic people Fri, 8 May 2009 19:40:00 GMT http://psychjourney.libsyn.com/index.php?post_id=476082# deborah@psychjourney.com 00:33:48 lisa e scott, narcissist male, narcissism, personality disorder, psychjourney, vain men, dating, romance, egotist Deborah Harper How to Identify and Avoid the Narcissist Male Clean http://psychjourney.libsyn.com/index.php?post_id=476052# Deborah Harper, President of Psychjourney, interviews Dr. S. Mark Young, author of The Mirror Effect: How Celebrity Narcissism Is Seducing America published by Harper.

S. Mark Young holds the George Bozanic and Holman G. Hurt Chair in Sports and Entertainment Business.  He is also Professor of Accounting and holds joint appointments as Professor of Management and Organization in the Marshall School of Business and Professor of Communication at the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Southern California. In addition, he heads Marshall's Entertainment Concentration. Previously, he served as Associate Dean and Academic Director of the Marshall MBA Program. He received an A.B. from Oberlin College (Economics), an M. Acc. from the Ohio State University, and a Ph.D. (Accounting) from the University of Pittsburgh.

Professor Young teaches management accounting in the Marshall MBA and Ph.D. programs at USC but is also in the process of developing a new course on entertainment management. His research has been sponsored by the National Science Foundation and he has published in a variety of business journals. Currently he is a member of several editorial boards and was past Associate Editor for the Accounting Review. In 2003, Young won the Notable Contribution to the Management Accounting Literature Award for his book, Implementing Management Innovations: Lessons Learned from Activity Based Manufacturing in the U.S. Automobile Industry (co-authored with Shannon Anderson, Kluwer Academic Press, 2001). Young and colleague Frank Selto also won the award in 1994.

Professor Young has been the recipient of four outstanding teaching awards at the undergraduate and graduate levels, including the Golden Apple Teaching Award at USC. In 2003 the fourth edition of his textbook, Management Accounting (co-authored with Robert Kaplan, Tony Atkinson) and the accompanying text, Readings in Management Accounting will be published in by Prentice Hall. He also coauthored Blast Off! Rockets, Robots, Ray Guns and Rarities from the Golden Age of Space Toys (with Mike Richardson and Steve Duin, Dark Horse Books, 2001), a volume on the social history of vintage space toys. Visit his website.

Author Richard Driscoll received his Ph.D. from the University of Colorado in 1974, and is in independent practice with his co-author, Nancy Ann Davis, Ph.D., who is also his wife. Driscoll is a media resource with the American Psychological Association. He is the author of two prior books on relationships, over twenty scholarly and popular articles, and four successful anxiety reduction trainings, including Tame Test Anxiety and Shield Out Hostility. Visit his website.

Susan Kuchinskas is a journalist with more than fifteen years of experience who has published thousands of articles on science, technology, and culture. She is fascinated by what science can tell us about being human. She has published thousands of articles in Time, Wired, and many other publications. Kuchinskas is also a gardener, a welder, and a beekeeper, and lives in Berkeley, CA, with her mate, a dog, and a frog. Visit her oxytocin blog online at hugthemonkey.com.

Joanne Stern, PhD, is a psychotherapist with a private practice emphasizing family and couples counseling. Sheâs a teacher, consultant, speaker, and expert guest on parenting and family topics, including communication, discipline, self-esteem, addictions, eating disorders, grief, and loss. In 2002, she also became an EEG neurofeedback practitioner to address a variety of childhood disorders, including attention deficit disorder, anxiety, and depression.

Dr. Stern is dedicated to helping individuals, couples, families, and groups learn, heal, change, and grow in their relationships with one another.

Parenting Is a Contact Sport: 8 Ways to Stay Connected to Your Kids for Life is her first book. A mother and grandmother, she and her husband, Terry Hale, live in Aspen, Colorado.  Visit her website.

Fr. Paul Coutinho, S.J. is an internationally recognized Ignatian scholar, author, and speaker who brings an Eastern flavor to Western spirituality. A native of India and a Jesuit from the Bombay province, he frequently leads retreats, gives spiritual direction, and trains people to lead the Spiritual Exercises. He holds masterâs degrees in both clinical psychology and religious studies, and he has a doctorate in historical theology from Saint Louis University, where he specialized in Ignatian spirituality and is now a visiting theology professor and on the Advisory Board of the Review for Religious and the Faculty Advisor for the Theology Club.

Terry Weible Murphy is a twenty-five-year broadcast veteran. She has served as executive producer of television programming for Telepictures, CBS/Eyemark, Twentieth Television, Multimedia Entertainment, and CNBC. She served on the board of directors for the Obsessive Compulsive Foundation for two years. A native of St. Louis, Missouri, Murphy is a single mother residing in New York City. Her son, Patrick, is a senior attending Boston College in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, and plans to study medical ethics law after graduation.  Visit the Obsessive Compulsive Foundation website.

Visit Jamie Mason's website and blog.

Jeff Johnson, Ph.D., is a trained psychologist and advertising professional frequently quoted in the New York Times and Wall Street Journal.

Paula Forman, Ph.D., became an adjunct sociology professor after her 25-year advertising career.

Visit their website.

Leslie Morgan Steiner lives in Washington, DC with her husband and three young children. She is the editor of the best-selling Mommy Wars: Stay-at-Home and Career Moms Face Off on Their Choices, Their Lives, Their Families.

From 2006-2008 she wrote over 500 columns for the Washington Postâs popular daily on-line work/ family column, âOn Balance.â  She currently writes the weekly column, âTwo Cents on Working Motherhood,â for Mommy Trackâd: Managing the Chaos of Modern Motherhood.

Steiner has been a guest on the Today Show, National Public Radio, ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox News, MSNBC, and has been profiled by Newsweek, BusinessWeek, Elle, Parenting, Parents, Self, Glamour, Vanity Fair, The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times and The Washington Post. Steiner holds a BA in English from Harvard College. Her writing was first published in Seventeen Magazine when she was 21.

In addition to years as a nonfiction magazine writer and editor, Steiner has an MBA degree in marketing from the Wharton School of Business.After graduating from Wharton in 1992 with an MBA in Marketing, she launched Splenda Brand Sweetener throughout Australia, the Mid-East and Latin America for Johnson & Johnson, the worldâs largest consumer healthcare company.

She returned to her hometown of Washington, DC in 2001 to become General Manager of the 1.1 million circulation Washington Post Magazine, a position she held for five years.

Over the years, she has turned her professional experience into advocacy for abused women as a spokeswoman at The Harriet Tubman Center in Minneapolis.  Visit her website.

Erin Prophet coauthored the New Age favorite Reincarnation: The Missing Link in Christianity. She also contributed to her mother's best-selling The Lost Years of Jesus. Her work has been translated into six languages. As spokesperson for her mother's church, she appeared on more than fifty local and national radio and television shows, including the Oprah Winfrey Show and Donahue. Today she lives near Boston, Massachusetts.  Visit her website.

Rupert Isaacson was born in London to a South African mother and a Zimbabwean father. Isaacson's first book, The Healing Land: A Kalahari (Grove Press), was a 2004 New York Times Notable Book. His journalism and travel writing has appeared in the Daily Telegraph, Esquire, National Geographic, Independent on Sunday, Conde Nast Traveller, Daily Mail and The Field. He has traveled extensively in Africa, Asia, and North America and now lives in Austin Texas, with his wife, Kristin, and their son, Rowan.

In addition to being an ex-professional horse trainer, Rupert is founding director of the Indigenous Land Rights Fund, a non-profit organization that helps threatened and displaced indigenous tribes obtain tenure of their ancestral land. Visit his website www.horseboythebook.com and Horse Boy Foundation.

Marilyn Lacey, R.S.M., has worked with refugees for the past 25 years, both in displaced persons camps in Africa and Asia, and as Director of Refugee Services with Catholic Charities in San Jose, California. In 2001 she was honored by the Dalai Lama as an "Unsung Hero of Compassion" and has long been an advocate for refugees and migrants. She holds an M.S.W. from U.C. Berkeley and in 2008 she founded the nonprofit Mercy Beyond Borders, whose mission is to partner with displaced women and children overseas in ways that help them move up from extreme poverty.  Visit her website Mercy Beyond Borders  and blog.

Jaime Buckley: President of WANTED:HERO STUDIOS, Creator, Artist, Writer, World of Warcraft Hunter (level 80 baby!), Chicken Rancher, Podcaster, Promoter, Father of 10 & Chore Hitler.

Jaime has been an âprofessionalâ artist for over 25 years, which started in shopping malls in California, where he would do caricatures of young couples and then sell them for $4 each. That is, until he finally got caught.

Born in Oakland, California, Jaimeâs life was filled with violence, anger and mishap. Fortunately, he was loved by his parents and siblings and had a good, calm home to escape from the pains of the world. The drawing started vigorously at age 2âand never stopped. At age 15, he created a comic strip character âChesterâ, which became two self-published works, selling more than 25,000 copies each (Chester: The End of Life as We Know It & Chester: Just Hand Me The Remote). Many copies were donated to librariesâbut they kept getting stolen.

Jaime is also Co-Founder of The Jubilee Project, a special company dedicated to helping families get out of debt in record time, specifically the accelerated payoff of their mortgages. Jubilee has also moved services into Canada, to help families there. Jaimeâs focus has always been on other people, the encouragement of the human spirit, and creating a better tomorrow, full of dreams, hope and love.  Visit his website.

Dr. Smith earned his M.A. from Antioch University and his Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of London Kings College where he worked on topics in the philosophy of mind and psychology.  Smith's earlier books include Freud's Philosophy of the Unconscious,  Psychoanalysis in Focus, and Why We Lie: The Evolutionary Roots of Deception and the Unconscious Mind.

He is co-founder of the University of New England's New England Institute for Cognitive Science and Evolutionary Studies and is an assistant professor in UNE's . He lives in Portland, Visit his website.

Adam Lankford is an Assistant Professor of Criminal Justice at The University of Alabama. He has also taught at Marymount University and The Corcoran College in Washington, D.C.

From 2003 to 2008, he helped coordinate Senior Executive Anti-Terrorism Forums for high-ranking foreign military and security personnel in conjunction with the U.S. State Departmentâs Anti-Terrorism Assistance program.  During this period, ATA hosted delegations from India, Pakistan, the United Arab Emirates, Indonesia, Malaysia, Uzbekistan, Colombia, Georgia, Armenia, Tunisia and Morocco.

Dr. Lankford received his Ph.D. and M.S. in Justice, Law and Society from American University and his B.A. in English from Haverford College.  Visit his website.

Saundra Pelletier is an Executive Coach, Keynote Speaker and Author who has contributed as a corporate vice president and global franchise leader at Fortune 500 companies. She has raised millions of dollars in capital, reorganized companies from the ground up, and advised sales reps to CEOs on strategic thinking, political savvy, and delivering results. She is an international marketing expert, having launched pharmaceutical and cosmeceutical brands worldwide. She has trained and motivated thousands of executives at every level within organizations, and her skilled communication style not only empowers but also changes the way people think about and achieve success. Her personal motto is Never Confuse Motion with Action^TM
Visit her website

Kathleen Taylor is a researcher at the University of Oxford, and the author of Brainwashing: The Science of Thought Control. She has a B.A. and a D.Phil. from the University of Oxford and a research M.Sc. from the University of Stirling. Visit her website.

Patricia Holloran, RN, has been a nurse for more than 30 years. She has served as Chairperson of the Recovering Nurse Community of Connecticut, a committee that oversees the anonymous support group, Nurses for Nurses. She speaks regularly about issues of addiction as a guest lecturer for various levels of nursing education and at conventions. She lives with her husband in Connecticut, and has three grown sons.  Visit her website.

Sybil Lockhart is a writer, teacher, biologist and mom. She was trained in psychology at the University of California, Berkeley, in science and education at San Francisco State University, and in cell and molecular neuroscience at Brandeis University, where she received her Ph.D. in 1994.

Sybil Lockart was a biologist at UC Berkeley before quitting her job to become a full time mother and caregiver.

Sybil is also one of the creators of Literary Mama Magazine, where she wrote her column, Mama in the Middle and still serves as Reviews Editor. Sybil is a member of the Society for Neuroscience, Northern California Science Writers Association, National Association of Science Writers, and Motherlode Writers. She writes from Berkeley, California, where she lives with her husband and their two daughters. Visit her website.

Neil Smelser is a University Professor Emeritus of Sociology and former director of the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford. His research has focused on what he calls the "macroscopic social structural level" of collective behavior, including economic sociology, social change, and the sociology of education. Smelser is a former president of the American Sociological Association, a member of the National Academy of Sciences, and a fellow of the American Academy of Political and Social Sciences. He joined the UC Berkeley faculty in 1958 and has authored fifteen books, including The Theory of Collective Behavior.  Visit his website.

Cynthia M. Bulik, Ph.D., FAED , is the William and Jeanne Jordan Distinguished Professor of Eating Disorders in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine, professor of nutrition at UNCâs School of Public Health, and director of the UNC Eating Disorders Program. She has been featured or quoted in Vogue, Newsweek, Self, the New York Times, and the Wall Street Journal. Dr. Bulik has written over 300 scientific papers and chapters on eating disorders and is author of the books Eating Disorders: Detection and Treatment (Dunmore) and Runaway Eating: The 8 Point Plan to Conquer Adult Food and Weight Obsessions (Rodale), and a CD-ROM for the treatment of binge eating disorder and overweight (POWER: Preventing Overweight with Exercise and Reasoning).

She is a recipient of the Eating Disorders Coalition Research Award, the Hulka Innovators Award, the Academy for Eating Disorders Leadership Award for Research, the National Eating Disorders Association Research Award, and the Carolina Women's Center Women's Advocacy Award. She is a past president of the Academy for Eating Disorders, Vice President of the Eating Disorders Coalition and Associate Editor of the International Journal of Eating Disorders. Dr. Bulik holds the first endowed professorship in eating disorders in the United States. To balance her life, she is happily married, a mother of three and a gold medalist in ice dancing. Visit her website.

Susan Isaacs is an actor, writer and comedienne with many credits in TV, film, stage and radio. She is an alumnus of the Groundlings Sunday Company and has an MFA in screenwriting from the University of Southern California.

Susan has read her essays on radioâs Weekend America and wrote DirecTVâs âSongs of Praiseâ specials, hosted by NASCAR champ Darrell Waltrip. She is a contributor to Donald Millerâs Burnside Writers Collective and has performed at the Comedy Central Stage, the Upright Citizen's Brigade Theater, Melt In Your Mouth, Standup New York, PSNBC and HERE in New York City.

Susan teaches screenwriting for the Act One Program and consults on independent script projects. She is married and lives in Los Angeles, California. Visit her website or blog.

Alva Noà is a writer and philosopher at UC Berkeley, where he is also a member of the Institute for Cognitive and Brain Sciences and the Center for New Media. For the last decade or so his philosophical practice has concerned perception and consciousness. His current research focus is art and human nature.

Alva is the author of Out of Our Heads: Why You Are Not Your Brain and Other Lessons From The Biology of Consciousness (Hill and Wang / Farrar Straus and Giroux, 2009) and Action in Perception (The MIT Press, 2004). The central idea of these books is that consciousness is not something that happens inside us -- not in our brains, or anywhere else; it is something we do.

Before coming to Berkeley in 2003, Alva taught in the department of philosophy at UC Santa Cruz. He received a PhD in philosophy from Harvard University in 1995; he has a BA from Columbia (1986) and a BPhil from Oxford Universiy (1986). He has been a fellow of the Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin (2007-2008). He is a research associate of the CNRS laboratory Institut Jean-Nicod in Paris. In the spring of 2003 he was a fellow of the Oxford Centre for Cognitive Neuroscience and in the 1995-1996 academic year he was a research fellow of the Center for Cognitive Studies at Tufts University.

Alva is from New York City; he lives in Berkeley, California with the artist Miriam Dym and their two children August and Ulysses. Visit his website.

Michael J. Burke practiced law for twenty-five years in Howell, Michigan where he was raised with his nine brothers and sisters. Michael and his wife purchased the family home and it was there that they raised their two daughters. He was actively involved in the community, enjoyed a successful law practice and was a devoted father.

On June 18, 2001, he was sentenced to 3 to 10 years in prison and ordered to pay restitution to his victims in the amount of 1.6 million dollars. Michael is a compulsive gambler.  Visit his website.

Raised in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, Elizabeth Savery Taylor graduated from Smith College in 1975, and earned her PhD in American Literature from Brown University in 1989.  Beth then taught in Harvardâs Expository Writing Program before returning to Brown in 1994.  At Brown, she teaches in the Nonfiction Writing Program in the Department of English.   Beth has been a feature writer and currently is a book reviewer for The Providence Journal.   Her publications include âFighting Pacifismâ in Friends Journal; âQuaker in Vietnam: Rick Thompson (1949-1973),â a Pendle Hill pamphlet; âCrossing the Line: Finding Butch,â in War, Literature and the Arts; âLost to Vietnam,â in Friends and the Vietnam War, and on the web site âWriting Vietnam.â   Beth is married to William Taylor and has three sons: Peter, age 24; Sam, 22; and Max, 18.  The Taylors live in Providence.  Visit her website.

Anthony DeLorenzo and Dawn Ricci are the founders of infidelity.com and are leading private investigators for All State Investigations, founded by DeLorenzo more than thirty years ago. DeLorenzo has appeared on the Oprah Winfrey Show, The Today Show, 20/20, CNN, and Inside Edition. They live in New Jersey. Visit his websites infidelity.com and All State Investigations.

Dan Baum has been a staff writer for The New Yorker, as well as a reporter for The Wall Street Journal, The Asian Wall Street Journal, and The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He is the author of Citizen Coors: An American Dynasty and Smoke and Mirrors: The War on Drugs and the Politics of Failure.

He has written numerous articles for such national magazines as The New York Times Magazine, Playboy, Rolling Stone, and Wired. While living in New Orleans to research Nine Lives, Dan wrote a daily online column for The New Yorker. All of his work is a collaboration with his wife and writing partner, Margaret Knox. Visit his website.

Bruce M. Hood is chair of the Cognitive Development Center in the Experimental Psychology Department at the University of Bristol. He was a research fellow at Cambridge and has been a visiting scientist at MIT and professor at Harvard. Hood has received many awards for his work in child development and cognitive neuroscience. He obtained his first degree in psychology at Dundee Universityin 1984 and his Ph.D. from Cambridge Universityin 1991. Visit his website.

Susan Jane Gilman is the best-selling author of Hypocrite in a Pouffy White Dress and Kiss My Tiara. She has written commentary for The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, and Ms. magazine, among others, and her fiction and essays have received several literary awards. Though she has lived most recently in Geneva, Switzerland, and Washington, D.C., she remains, eternally, a child of New York. Visit her website.

Deborah Harper, President of Psychjourney, interviews Ms. Mary Elizabeth Williams, author of Gimme Shelter: Ugly Houses, cruddy Neighborhoods, fast talking Brokers, and toxic Mortages: My three years searching for the American Dream published by Simon and Schuster.

Mary Elizabeth Williams is the cultural critic for Public Radio International's morning news show, The Takeaway, and a regular contributor to Salon.com. She has written for many publications including The New York Times, The New York Observer, and Parents. She has appeared on Court TV and has lectured on journalism and community at New York University and Columbia University. She lives in New York City.  Visit her website.

Diana Joseph has worked as a waitress, a short-order cook, a typist, and a teacher. Her essay âThe Boyâ won the Kentucky Women Writers Prize for Creative Nonfiction. Joseph currently teaches in the MFA program at Minnesota State University, Mankato.  Visit her website.

Jonathan Goldman is a writer, musician and teacher. He is an authority on sound healing and a pioneer in the field of harmonics. Jonathan is the author of HEALING SOUNDS: THE POWER OF HARMONICS (Inner Traditions), SHIFTING FREQUENCIES (Light Technology) THE LOST CHORD (Spirit Music) and TANTRA OF SOUND (Hampton Road), co-authored with his wife Andi. He has studied with masters of sound from both the scientific and spiritual traditions, including the Dalai Lama's Chanting Gyuto and Gyume Monks and has been empowered by the Chant Master of the Drepung Loseling Monastery to teach Tibetan Overtone Chanting. Jonathan holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Film Making from Boston University and a Master's Degree in the Independent Study on Sound Healing from Lesley College. He is a lecturing member of the International Society for Music and Medicine.

An internationally acknowledge Master Teacher, Jonathan facilitates Healing Sounds Seminars at universities, hospitals, holistic health centers and expos throughout the United States and Europe. He has appeared on national television and radio, including Art Bellâs "Coast to Coast AM" and has been featured in national periodicals including "USA Today" and "The New York Times". His annual Healing Sounds Intensive attracts participants from throughout the world. Visit his website.

Weyler married Glenn Jonathans in Nijmegen, Netherlands in 1971 and immigrated to Canada in 1972. He worked at the North Shore News in North Vancouver and with Greenpeace. Between 1974 and 1982, he served as a director of Greenpeace, editor of the Greenpeace Chronicles magazine, and was a co-founder of Greenpeace International. He sailed on the first Greenpeace whale campaign, and his photographs and news accounts of Greenpeace appeared worldwide.

Weylerâs photography and essays have been published in the New York Times, Oceans, Smithsonian, Rolling Stone, New Age Journal, Conscious Choice, New Times, Shared Vision, National Geographic, and other publications. Weyler received a Pulitzer Prize nomination for his Native American history, Blood of the Land, and he co-authored the self-help classic Chop Wood, Carry Water. He co-founded Hollyhock Educational Centre on Cortes Island in British Columbia â dedicated to environmental, personal, and professional studies â and which remains Canadaâs leading educational retreat centre. He co-developed the Justonic tuning software used by innovative musicians around the world and wrote The Story of Harmony about the history of musical tuning theory. His account of the first decade of Greenpeace is available in September 2004 from Raincoast Books in the Canada and Rodale Press in the US, UK, Australia, and New Zealand.

Weyler was married for the second time in 1990, to Lisa Gibbons. He remains active in environmental work. He writes for magazines and newspapers, is widely reprinted on the Internet, and appears weekly on Canadaâs Omni-10 News show, The Standard. He lives in Vancouver, BC, and has three sons: Jack, Jonah, and Liam.

Weyler and his wife, Lisa Gibbons, are foster parents for displaced teens. Weyler serves on several company and non-profit boards, including Greenpeace International Marine Services. He speaks regularly to schools and public audiences. For correspondence and bookings: Contacts.  Visit his website.

Dr. Bryant Welch, a nationally-prominent psychologist/attorney for thirty years, provides expert witness evaluations and testimony for psychological trauma, psychological injury, discrimination and civil rights matters, and malpractice. He also provides expert testimony in front of professional licensing boards.

Dr. Welch graduated from Harvard College in 1968 and Harvard Law School in 1972 before receiving the Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1976. He is a Research Associate graduate of the Washington Psychoanalytic Institute.

From 1986 to 1993 Dr. Welch initiated and ran the American Psychological Association Practice Directorate leading Organized Psychology through one of its most successful advocacy eras. Under Dr. Welch's leadership psychologists gained access to practice in Medicare, hospitals, and psychoanalysis. He was also one of the first critics to warn of the dangers of the managed health care system.

Dr. Welch is an outstanding public speaker. A past president of the Harvard debate council and successful national debater, he has provided testimony on psychological matters to all levels of government including the White House, Congress, and the Federal Judiciary. He has been widely recognized as an effective advocate for mental health services and for civil rights.

Dr. Welch has appeared on all major networks and been quoted in most major news sources on mental health related matters. He has received numerous awards from national and state mental health organizations and held academic appointments with several universities including the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, George Washington University, and the University of South Carolina at Beaufort.

Most recently Dr. Welch has published his first book, State of Confusion: Political Manipulation and the Assault on the American Mind, (Thomas Dunne Books, St. Martins Press, June, 2008).

Dr. Welch has been married to his wife, Debbie, for forty years. They currently reside in Hilton Head Island, SC and have two adult sons.  Visit his website.

Mark Robert Waldman is an associate fellow at the Center for Spirituality and the Mind at the University of Pennsylvania. He is a therapist, the author or co-author of ten books, including Born to Believe (with Andrew Newberg), and was the founding editor of Transpersonal Review. He lectures throughout the country on neuroscience, religion, and spirituality and conducts research with numerous religious and secular groups. His work has been featured in dozens of newspapers and magazines and on syndicated radio programs. Visit his website.

SaÃd Sayrafiezadeh is a writer and dramatist. He was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1968 to an Iranian father and a Jewish-American mother, both of whom were members of the Socialist Workers Party. He was raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. When Skateboards Will Be Free: A Memoir of a Political Childhood was published by Dial Press in March. It was chosen as one of the 7 Best Books of the month by Amazon. Barnes & Noble has selected it for the âDiscover Great New Writersâ upcoming summer season.

His stories and essays have appeared in The Paris Review, Granta, Open City, and elsewhere.

He lives in New York City with his wife Visit his website.

Hester Rumberg is an experienced ocean sailor, with thousands of nautical miles under her belt. When the tragedy befell the crew of the Melinda Lee, together with Judith Sleavin, she established The Sleavin Family Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting maritime safety throughout the world.

In her other life, Dr. Rumberg is a board-certified oral and maxillofacial radiologist. Hester was, and will always be, the godmother of Annie Rose Sleavin. Visit her website.

Lorna Martin is an award-winning journalist working until recently as a staff writer with The Observer, the Sunday edition of London The Guardian. She wrote a weekly column, âConversations with My Therapistâ, in the popular womenâs magazine Grazia, on which this book is based. She lives in Glasgow and is working on a first novel.Visit her website

Jennifer Baszile grew up in Southern California and resides in Connecticut. She earned a Bachelor's degree in history from Columbia University and a Master's from Princeton. While earning a PhD in history at Princeton, she received the Mellon Fellowship in the Humanities and the Ford Foundation Pre-Doctoral Fellowship, among other prizes. She went on to be the first black woman to teach history at Yale University, as an assistant professor of history, American and African American studies, 1999-2007.

Baszile is the author of numerous scholarly essays, papers, articles and reviews, and has appeared on public radio and television. She has been honored with the Columbia College Women Alumnae Achievement Award, the Yale College Poorvu Award for Outstanding Teaching; and the 2008 Strength Award from the Mixed Magic Theatre for The Black Girl Next Door. Ebony magazine recognized her as one of the "Thirty Leaders of the Future." Visit her website.

In his eight years of Clutter Busting in Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and New York City, Brooks has learned first-hand about the intense emotional connection most people have with material possessions, and has consistently found that internal clutter must be addressed before external clutter can be discarded. Since 2000, Brooks has been helping people through this process.

As a result, thousands of people have gained space in their homes, offices, and lives.

Brooks and his work have since been featured in articles in Time Out Chicago and the Los Angeles Business Journal, on the television shows Chicagoing, Living Live and the CBS Channel 2 Nightly News, and on the radio shows The Aware Show and Bruce Barberâs NPR show, Real Life Survival Guide. 

He speaks regularly to diverse groups around the country, including: womenâs groups, Kiwanis Club, Rotary Club, health expos, senior citizens groups & yoga centers. To schedule a talk about Clutter Busting for your work, church, school, or community group, contact Speaker Resource.

Brooks also enjoys writing cartoons, drawing pastel paintings, and performing comedy at live venues (www.betterlatethandead.com). Visit his website.

A graduate of Dartmouth College and Dartmouth Medical School, Dr. Phillips completed her psychiatry residency at McLean Hospital/Harvard Medical School. She has been the principal investigator of many research grants that focus on BDD. Her research on BDD has been continuously funded by the National Institute of Mental Health since she completed her research fellowship more than a decade ago.

Dr. Phillips has more than 200 scientific publications, and she lectures frequently on BDD. She has written the first and most comprehensive book on BDD for both professionals and the public, which was recently revised and updated, The Broken Mirror: Understanding and Treating Body Dysmorphic Disorder, published by Oxford University Press. She has received numerous honors and awards for her work on BDD. In addition to her research, teaching, and clinical work, Dr. Phillips is a member of numerous editorial boards, the American College of Psychiatrists, and the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology. Visit her website.

Corrine Morgan-Thomas became famous in the autism community when Lifetime made a television movie based on her autistic sonsâ lives.  A valuable resource for knowledge and experience, Corrine, along with her husband and sons speaks to many autism groups.  President of the Miracle Run Foundation for Autism, which raises funds for the medical needs of families with autistic children and promotes awareness, she founded a support group to provide information, networking, and emotional aid to these families. A mother of four, including the twins who are the subjects of her book, Corrine lives in Agoura Hills,California.  Visit her website

Heather King is a graduate of the University of New Hampshire (1977) and Suffolk Law School (1984). Born and raised on the New Hampshire seacoast, she did a 10-year stint in Boston and moved to L.A. in 1990. Following a disastrous 4-year run as a Beverly Hills civil litigation attorney, King quit her job, converted to Catholicism, and began writing. Today King is a commentator for NPR's "All Things Considered" and a personal essayist whose work has appeared, among other places, in  The Utne Reader, The Los Angeles Times Magazine, and The Sun. Heather's first book was titled Parched: A Memoir. Heather is a communicant at St. Thomas the Apostle Church in Koreatown, L.A.   Visit her website

Marc Lesser is the founder and CEO of ZBA Associates, a management consulting, coaching, and training company. A Zen teacher with an MBA, Marc speaks and leads workshops throughout North America. Visit his website.

David Meerman Scott is an award-winning online marketing strategist, entrepreneur, keynote speaker, and seminar leader. He is the bestselling author of The New Rules of Marketing and PR, also from Wiley. Visit his website and  blog.

Abigail Trafford, an awardâwinning journalist, is a columnist and former health editor at the Washington Post. In 2007, she was a visiting scholar at the Center for Longevity at Stanford University. The author of the best-selling and critically acclaimed books Crazy Time and My Time, Trafford lives in Washington, D.C. Visit her website.

Bernie has been at the forefront of the medical ethics and spiritual issues of our day. He and his wife (and occasional coauthor), Bobbie, live in a suburb in Connecticut. They have five children and eight grandchildren.  Visit his website.

Andrea Tone is Canada Research Chair in the Social History of Medicine at McGill University. She is the author of numerous articles and books including Devices and Desires: A History of Contraceptives in America, named one of the Best Books of 2001 by the Washington Post, and which inspired the Emmy Award-winning PBS documentary on the birth control pill. Devices and Desires received wide acclaim. The New York Times described it as âmarvelously eye-openingâ and American Scientist praised it as âremarkable...richly textured...[and] engaging to read.â Her work has been featured on ABC, PBS, NPR, and the History Channel, and in the New York Times. She lives in Montreal. Visit her website.

Barbara Fredrickson is Kenan Distinguished Professor of Psychology and principal investigator of the Positive Emotions and Psychophysiology Laboratory (a.k.a. PEP Lab) at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Her research reveals how positive emotions, fleeting as they are, can tip the scales toward a life of flourishing.

Winner of several awards for her research and teaching â including the American Psychological Associationâs inaugural Templeton Prize in Positive Psychology and the Society of Experimental Social Psychologyâs Career Trajectory Award â Barb created her broaden-and-build theory to describe how positive emotions evolved for our human ancestors and how, today, they vitally shape peopleâs health and well-being.

Barbâs scientific contributions have influenced scholars and practitioners worldwide, in disciplines ranging from education to business and beyond. Her research has been featured in the New York Times Sunday Magazine, CNN, PBS, U.S. News & World Report, USA Today, Oprah Magazine, and elsewhere.

Barb lives with her husband and two sons in Carrboro, North Carolina, where she continually seeks out new ways to raise her positivity ratio.

For more on her research, visit the PEP Lab website at UNC-Chapel Hill. Visit her website

Marie Etienne is the author of STORKBITES: A MEMOIR. Her work has appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle, Contra Costa Times, and Diablo magazine, among other publications. In addition to writing, Marie is a competitive springboard diver, an artist, and a three-time participant of the Oakland A's Fantasy Baseball Camp. She lives in Northern California with her two sons. Visit her website.

Hannah Holmes is the author of The Well-Dressed Ape, Suburban Safari and The Secret Life of Dust. Her writing has appeared in The New York Times Magazine, Los Angeles Times Magazine, Discover, Outside, and many other publications. She was a frequent contributor on science and nature subjects for the Discovery Channel Online. She lives with her husband and dog in Portland, Maine.  Visit her website.

R. REID WILSON, Ph.D. is a licensed psychologist who directs the Anxiety Disorders Treatment Center in Chapel Hill and Durham, North Carolina. He is also Clinical Associate Professor of Psychiatry at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine.

Dr. Wilson specializes in the treatment of anxiety disorders. He is author of Don't Panic: Taking Control of Anxiety Attacks (Harper Perennial), now in its Revised Edition, is co-author of Stop Obsessing! How to Overcome Your Obsessions and Compulsions (Bantam) and is co-author of "Achieving Comfortable Flight", a self-help kit for the fearful flier.  He designed and served as lead psychologist for American Airlines' first national program for the fearful flier.

Dr. Wilson served on the Board of Directors of the Anxiety Disorders Association of America for twelve years. He served as Program Chair of the National Conferences on Anxiety Disorders from 1988-1991.  Visit his website.

Terrie M. Williams is a licensed clinical social worker and founder of the Terrie Williams Agency. She has served as public relations advisor to clients such as Eddie Murphy, Janet Jackson, and the NBA, and many corporations. Her Stay Strong Foundation is dedicated to youth and mental health advocacy and mentoring. Visit her websites www.healingstartswithus.net and www.blackpain.org

Steve Ryals has published over 1,200 music reviews in the past 12 years in magazines such as New Age Retailer and Sedona Journal. He has been a student of philosophy, religion, spirituality, science, and human behavior for 30 years.  Visit his website.

Veronica Chater has written for national women's magazines and This American Life. Her stories have also appeared in the Los Angeles Times Magazine, the Guardian (London), and various anthologies. She currently lives in Berkeley, California.  Visit her website.

Benoit Denizet-Lewis is an award-winning contributing writer for The New York Times Magazine. Formerly a senior writer at Boston Magazine and staff writer at the San Francisco Chronicle, his work has also appeared in Sports Illustrated, Details, Slate, Spin, Out, and others. A former Alicia Patterson Fellow, Denizet-Lewis lives in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts.  Visit his website.

GILL JONES is Co-Director of Counselling Online Ltd, where she writes and directs training courses for qualified counsellors and psychotherapists.  She is a qualified counsellor, supervisor and trainer, and has also worked in universities and further education institutions.  Visit her website.

ANNE STOKES is Co-Director of Counselling Online Ltd, where she continues to draw on her experience as a counsellor, trainer and supervisor. She is also a BACP Accredited counsellor and and has also worked in universities and further education institutions.  Visit her website .

Annette Sym is a best selling author, low fat cooking expert, award winning businesswoman and media identity. With no tertiary education or previous business experience, she has turned the triumph over her own weight loss and health struggles into a multi-million dollar business in just ten years and to date has sold in excess of over 2 million cookbooks all self published. Visit her website.

Mr. Philip Cook is a noted journalist who has received awards for his reporting from the Associated Press and the Professional Journalism Society among others. His work objectively examines and explains relevant research results, the feelings and problems of interviewed victims, and provider and media response to the issue. He has examined scores of national and international domestic violence and family programs and evaluated their potential for helpful replication. His presentations on the subject of male abuse victims have received high praise from a diverse spectrum of society such as "Dear Abby", leading domestic violence experts, attorneys, physicians, law enforcement, and numerous mental health professionals.

He has served as a founding board member of Stop Abuse for Everyone, our organization dedicated to helping victims of domestic violence regardless of gender or sexual orientation.  Mr. Cook has appeared on numerous national radio and television shows such as MSNBC, Fox TV's "The Crier Report,"The O'Reilly Factor," "Montel Williams," "The Home and Family Show," and many others, He is the author of the pioneering book, Abused Men: The Hidden Side of Domestic Violence.  His articles on domestic violence have been published in several publications, including the Journal of Human Behavior in the Social Environment and the book, Family Interventions in Domestic Violence: A Handbook of Gender-Inclusive Theory and Treatment (Hamel & Nicholls, 2006).  Visit his website.

Stephen P. Hinshaw, Ph.D., is professor and chair of the Department of Psychology at the University of California, Berkeley. He is an internationally recognized psychologist and researcher whose work on troubled children has received ongoing media attention. Articles and interviews featuring him and his work have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, the San Francisco Chronicle, the Chicago Tribune, and USA Today. He has appeared on Today, NBC Nightly News, ABC World News Tonight, and CNN. Visit his website.

April Lane Benson, Ph.D. is a nationally known psychologist who specializes in the treatment of compulsive buying disorder.She has been in private practice in New York City for over 30 years; she works with individuals and groups, both in person and on the telephone for people outside of the New York metropolitan area.

Dr. Benson is also the editor of, I Shop, Therefore I Am: Compulsive Buying and the Search for Self, the first book for mental health professionals about this disorder, and appears widely on television, most recently on CNN's "On the Money," the Today Show, and MTV's True Life: I'm a Compulsive Shopper. She's also been quoted recently in The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, and the Boston Globe and been on Oprah and Friends Radio, the Jean Chatzky Show and the Brian Lehrer Show on National Public Radio.

Dr. Benson graduated cum laude from Barnard College Columbia University,and has earned a Master of Science in Counseling Psychology from Teachers College, Columbia University, and a Ph.D. in Psychology from Ferkauf Graduate School,Yeshiva University. She holds post-graduate certificates in Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis from the Institute for Contemporary Psychotherapy, in the treatment of eating disorders from the Center for the Study of Anorexia and Bulimia, and in Spirituality and Psychotherapy from the Blanton-Peale Institute for Pastoral Counseling.

Co-founder of the Center for the Study of Anorexia and Bulimia, the oldest outpatient eating disorders clinic in New York, Dr. Benson is also a supervisor there. She currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Institute for Contemporary Psychotherapy. Visit her website.

Meg Daley Olmert has developed and produced natural history and cultural documentaries for Smithsonian World, National Geographic Explorer, Discovery Channel and PBS. She and her husband live on the eastern shore of Maryland with their kayaking cats.

Emily Martin is professor of anthropology at New York University. Her books include "Flexible Bodies: Tracking Immunity in American Culture from the Days of Polio to the Age of AIDS" and "The Woman in the Body: A Cultural Analysis of Reproduction". Visit her website.

Dr. John Donohue, is vice president academic affairs, professor of social science, at Albertus Magnus College New Haven Conn. He is author of critically acclaimed thriller Sensei and sequel Deshi.

He's a nationally prominent writer on martial arts topics, an associate editor for the Journal of Asian Martial Arts and a member of the advisory board for the National Association of Professional Martial Artists. He holds black belt ranks in both karate and kendo. John Donohue resides near New Haven, Conn. Visit his website.

Shreve Stockton is a writer and photographer currently living in Wyoming. She received her bachelor's degree in photography in 2001 from Brooks Institute of Photography. She is the author of a cookbook, Eating Gluten Free, and of two weblogs, Vespa Vagabond and The Daily Coyote.

Hannah Pool, best known for her 'New Black' column in Guardian Weekend, is a writer and commissioning editor for the Guardian. This is her first book. Find her articles at www.guardian.co.uk)

Pastor Dave Carder currently serves as Pastor responsible for Counseling Ministries at the First Evangelical Free Church of Fullerton. His main task is the oversight, training and supervision of the extensive lay counseling program of the church. He also serves as a consultant to various support groups and gives pastoral oversight to COMI (Caregivers of the Mentally Ill) and Family to Family (the NAMI family training program). He supervises a leadership group that has developed The Gift Shop, a spiritual gift-based, computer-matched, volunteer ministry placement service. Dave also serves on the boards of The Center for Individual and Family Therapy and Marble Retreat Center, Marble, Colorado.

He holds graduate degrees in Biblical Literature and in Marital and Family Therapy as well as the Michigan Limited License in Psychology and the Marriage and Family Therapy license in California. He is a clinical member of the California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists. His publishing credits include Promises from Proverbs, Zondervan 1984; Secrets of Your Family Tree, Moody 1991, revised 2008; Torn Asunder: Helping Couples Recover from Infidelity, Moody 1994, revised 2008; the Torn Asunder Workbook, Moody 2001, revised 2008; Steps To A New Beginning, Nelson 1992 (winner of The Gold Medallion Award in Personal Evangelism for 1993); and Close Calls: What Adulterers Want You to Know About Protecting Your Marriage, Moody 2008. Dave and Ronnie have four adult children and five grandchildren who live locally; and in their "spare time", they jog together and have completed the Free Press International Marathon. Visit his website.

Dave currently serves as Pastor responsible for Counseling Ministries at the First Evangelical Free Church of Fullerton. His main task is the oversight, training and supervision of the extensive lay counseling program of the church. He also serves as a consultant to various support groups and gives pastoral oversight to COMI (Caregivers of the Mentally Ill) and Family to Family (the NAMI family training program). He supervises a leadership group that has developed The Gift Shop, a spiritual gift-based, computer-matched, volunteer ministry placement service. Dave also serves on the boards of The Center for Individual and Family Therapy and Marble Retreat Center, Marble, Colorado.

He holds graduate degrees in Biblical Literature and in Marital and Family Therapy as well as the Michigan Limited License in Psychology and the Marriage and Family Therapy license in California. He is a clinical member of the California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists. His publishing credits include Promises from Proverbs, Zondervan 1984; Secrets of Your Family Tree, Moody 1991, revised 2008; Torn Asunder: Helping Couples Recover from Infidelity, Moody 1994, revised 2008; the Torn Asunder Workbook, Moody 2001, revised 2008; Steps To A New Beginning, Nelson 1992 (winner of The Gold Medallion Award in Personal Evangelism for 1993); and Close Calls: What Adulterers Want You to Know About Protecting Your Marriage, Moody 2008. Dave and Ronnie have four adult children and five grandchildren who live locally; and in their "spare time", they jog together and have completed the Free Press International Marathon. Visit his website.

Dr. Lisa Renà Reynolds is a therapist specializing in marriage counseling and therapy with families going through divorce. She has masterâs and Ph.D. degrees in marital and family therapy, and she teaches a court-mandated divorce-parenting class for the State of Connecticut. Visit her website.

Brad Warner is the author of Hardcore Zen: Punk Rock, Monster Movies, and the Truth about Reality and Sit Down and Shut Up: Punk Rock Commentaries on Buddha, God, Truth, Sex, Death, and Dogen's Treasury of the Right Dharma Eye. 

 A Zen priest, filmmaker, and blogger, he lives in Los Angeles. He teaches Zen in Santa Monica and writes a monthly column for Suicidegirls.comVisit his blog.

Sue Johnson is Director of the Ottawa (Canada) Couple and Family Institute and the International Center for Excellence in Emotionally Focused Therapy as well as Professor of Clinical Psychology at the University of Ottawa and Research Professor at Alliant University in San Diego, California.

She has received numerous honors for her work, including the Outstanding Contribution to the Field of Couple and Family Therapy Award from the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy and the Research in Family Therapy Award from the American Family Therapy Academy. She is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association.

Dr Johnsonâs best known professional books include, The Practice of Emotionally Focused Couple Therapy: Creating Connection (2004) and Emotionally Focused Couple Therapy with Trauma Survivors (2002).

She trains counselors in EFT worldwide and consults to Veterans Affairs,the U.S. and Canadian military and New York City Fire Department.

She lives in Ottawa with her husband, two children and dog. She adoresGilbert and Sullivan, Monty Python, Argentine tango and kayaking onCanadaâs northern lakes.  Visit the Hold Me Tight website.

Please see the web site www.eft.ca Events menu for information on Dr. Johnson's upcoming appearances and training events.

Sue Johnson is Director of the Ottawa (Canada) Couple and Family Institute and the International Center for Excellence in Emotionally Focused Therapy as well as Professor of Clinical Psychology at the University of Ottawa and Research Professor at Alliant University in San Diego, California.

She has received numerous honors for her work, including the Outstanding Contribution to the Field of Couple and Family Therapy Award from the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy and the Research in Family Therapy Award from the American Family Therapy Academy. She is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association.

Dr Johnsonâs best known professional books include, The Practice of Emotionally Focused Couple Therapy: Creating Connection (2004) and Emotionally Focused Couple Therapy with Trauma Survivors (2002).

She trains counselors in EFT worldwide and consults to Veterans Affairs, the U.S. and Canadian military and New York City Fire Department.

She lives in Ottawa with her husband, two children and dog. She adores Gilbert and Sullivan, Monty Python, Argentine tango and kayaking on Canadaâs northern lakes.  Visit the Hold Me Tight website.

Please see the web site www.eft.ca Events menu for information on Dr. Johnson's upcoming appearances and training events.

Dr. George J. Thompson is the President & Founder of the Verbal Judo Institute, a tactical training and management firm now based in Auburn, NY. Doc Thompson, aka "Doc Rhino," has an eclectic background, having taught English on the High School level (4 yrs), English Literature on the university level (10 yrs), and served as a full and part-time police officer. Also a martial artist, he holds Black Belts in Judo & Taekwondo. Doc has created the only Tactical Communication course in the world.

Dr. Thompson has written four books on Verbal Judo, each analyzing ways to defuse conflict and redirect behavior into more positive channels. The Institute offers Basic & Advanced courses in the Tactics of Verbal Judo. Doc received his B.A. from Colgate University (1963), his Masters & Doctorate in English from the University of Connecticut (1972), and he completed post-doctoral work at Princeton University in Rhetoric & Persuasion (1979). Widely published in magazines & periodicals, his training has been highlighted on such national shows as NBC, ABC, & CBS News, CNN, 48 Hours, Inside Edition, LETN, In the Line of Duty, and Fox news, as well as in the LA Times, NY Post, Sacramento Bee, and other publications.

Aside from his well known Police & Correction courses, Doc "Rhino" has designed special courses for educators, medical personnel, government & business employees, and the airlines. The Verbal Judo Institute has branch offices in Australia and Canada, and a national Team of instructors who teach from coast to coast. Doc has taught over 175,000 police officers, and his course is required in numerous states across the country.

On a personal note, Doc and Pam are the proud parents of three-year old, Tommy Rhyno Thompson, and Doc, a survivor of throat cancer, has returned to active teaching. He also currently offers VJ training on the internet, at www.vjou.com., and has two more books forthcoming, Verbal Judo Leadership: The Hard Right (with Gregory Walker), and Hammett's Moral Vision, the book publication of his doctoral thesis.  Visit his website.

Carmella Broome works for a private counseling agency in the midlands of South Carolina. She holds an Educational degree in Counselor Education Marriage and Family Therapy from the University of South Carolina and is licensed as a Professional Counselor and as a Marriage and Family Therapist/Intern in the state of SC. She works with adolescents,adults, couples, and families and is passionate about relationship issues.She has a particular interest in young adults and all the transitions and choices faced during that phase of life.

Carmella's first book, Carmella's Quest: Taking On College Sight Unseen  describes a part of her own young adulthood.  It is the story of Carmella's first year at a small Christian college in upstate SC .  Carmella has been legally blind since birth due to complications related to  prematurity.  Her struggles with wanting to just be like everyone else while dealing with the day to day  limitations and frustrations of having limited vision are discussed in her book along with the usual college issues of  relationships,  academics, and differentiation.  Visit her blog.

Detective-Commander Joseph Petrocelli has spent over two decades in New Jersey law enforcement. During his career he has been assigned to the patrol division, the motorcycle patrol division, a Street Crime Task force and an Anti-Crime unit. He has received numerous commendations for pro-active narcotics enforcement and bravery. Detective Petrocelli has served as his departmentâs Training Coordinator and the Commander of a Resource Protection Unit.

Detective Petrocelli has earned a Bachelorâs Degree in Communications from Rutgers University as well as a Masterâs Degree in Education Administration from Seton Hall University and a Masterâs Degree from Rutgersâs University in Criminal Justice. He has taught classes at the college level for 9 years and currently travels the country teaching commercial vehicle interdiction for the 4:20 Group.  Detective Petrocelli is the author of two books- Anatomy of a Motor Vehicle Stop and No One trips over a Mountain, both published by LooseLeaf Law Publishers.Detective Petrocelli can be reached  at joepetro420@yahoo.com  Visit his website.

The guiding principles of Dr. White's scholarship are that it is to be rigorous, relevant, useful, and integrated into the other aspects of Dr. White's career. During Dr. White's almost 20-year career as a scholar and practitioner, her research has focused on social determinants of health and well-being, HIV/AIDS, community development, international social work and maternal and child health. Dr. White's research is community-driven with the community as equal partners throughout the research process.

Dr. White has also begun to create a body of work that expands her study of stigma into the mental health arena which grew out of her own experience with mental illness. The goal of this aspect of her work is to use her multiple positions as social work educator, researcher, author and person with mental illness to reduce the stigma of mental illness, empower those with mental illnesses to strive for mental well-being and advocate on their own behalf, and, to improve the quality and accessibility of services to the mentally ill.

Dr. White's expertise has been called upon by her colleagues to review work in the area of HIV/AIDS, maternal and child health for organizations such as the American Public Health Association, the American Journal of Health Behavior, AIDS Care, and the National Science Foundation.  Visit her website and blog.

Jay âJaybirdâ Dobyns is the unconventional, full-bore federal agent who achieved worldwide notoriety as one of Americaâs most daring and talked-about law enforcement officers.  After more than twenty years of undercover assignments that targeted the worldâs most deadly criminals and their organizations, Jay was infamously âoutedâ following an unprecedented and successful infiltration of the Hells Angels outlaw biker gang.

After a record-setting athletic career as a wide receiver for the University of Arizona Wildcats,Jay traded his football pads for abadge and gun as a Special Agent with Americaâs violent crime police force - the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF).  Jayâs introduction to the street was immediate, vicious and nearly fatal. Within a week in the field he was taken hostage and shot through the back and chest.

Feeling energized, or as he puts it,"bulletproofed" by the experience, "Jaybird" actively sought ever more dangerous undercover assignments, posing as gunrunner, drug dealer,enforcer and hit man.  Self-immersed in the violent underworld of criminal gangs, his obsession to bring down the worldâs most dangerous felons left him struggling to live up to his own ideals as a husband and father. Visit his website www.jaydobyns.com

A certified therapeutic riding instructor, Patricia (Trish) Broersma founded and directed the Saddle Light Center, a nonprofit therapeutic riding program in San Antonio, Texas. She went on to re-establish, direct, and act as head instructor for HOPE Equestrian Center in Ashland, Oregon. She has been a certified instructor with North American Riding for the Handicapped (NARHA) since 1997 and is president of the Equine Facilitated Mental Health Association. She lives in Ashland, Oregon.  Visit her website.

Jason Emerson is an independent historian freelance writer living in Cazenovia, NY. He has published numerous articles and book reviews in both scholarly and popular publications.

He has worked as a National Park Service park ranger at the Lincoln Home National Historic Site, Gettysburg National Military Park, and the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial (the Arch) in St. Louis; a costumed interpreter at the Genesee Country Museum in Mumford, NY, a professional journalist, a newsletter publisher, and a freelance writer. Visit his website.

Dr. John Sotos, a cardiologist, earned his MD degree and completed all of his medical training at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

He wrote the classic clinical text Zebra Cards: An Aid to Obscure Diagnoses, which catalogs unusual and striking manifestations of disease largely unknown to physicians.

In 2003 Dr. Sotos established that President William Howard Taft had severe obstructive sleep apnea during his Presidency. This grew from his larger work, the award-winning web encyclopedia of The Medical History of American Presidents. It has been the Yahoo! Site of the Day and has twice been a USA Today Hot Site.

Dr. Sotos is currently CEO of Apneos Corporation, a colonel in the Air National Guard, and a medical technical advisor for the television series House, MD.   Visit The Physical Lincoln website.

Marty Babits, a psychotherapist,has worked with hundreds of families and couples over the past twenty-five years. He currently supervises family and couples therapists at the Institute for Contemporary Psychotherapy in NYC and is a Board Certified Diplomate in advanced clinical social work. He has published numerous articles on the therapeutic process.

Certified as a reading specialist earlier in his career, the author became intrigued with understanding the family interactions that best helped his dyslexic students - children and adults - to learn to read and to improve their self-esteem. As a result of this interest in family work Mr. Babits obtained licensure in social work and earned certification in psychodynamic psychotherapy from Hunter College. Mr. Babits was then certified as a clinician in the practice of family and couples therapy at the Institute for Contemporary Therapy where he currently serves as a member of the executive training committee. He is in private practice in New York City. Visit his website.

Beth Wilson is a best-selling author, speaker, integrative life coach and women's empowerment expert. She is the best-selling author of five previous books, and the host of a popular Internet radio show, Quantum Leaps, on Voice Americaâs Womenâs Channel.

Wilson earned her B.A. in International Relations from Oberlin College. Upon graduating, she worked as a legislative assistant for former Congresswoman Pat Schroeder, who was the only woman on the prestigious and powerful Armed Services Committee.

Wilson conducts life coaching sessions over the phone and travels extensively to meet with clients in the U.S., Canada, Europe. She lives in the San Francisco area.Visit her website.

Debra Gwartney is on the nonfiction writing faculty at University in Portland, Oregon and is co-editor, with Barry Lopez, of Home Ground: Language for an American Landscape, published in 2006 by Trinity University Press. Her short stories, personal narratives, essays, and articles have appeared in numerous journals, magazines, and newspapers.

Debra is a former reporter for The Oregonian, was a nonfiction scholar at the Breadloaf Writers' Conference, and has received fellowships from Literary Arts, Hedgebrook Writer's Colony, the Wurlitzer Foundation, and the American Antiquarian Society.

She lives in Western Oregon with her husband, the writer Barry Lopez and is the mother of four daughters. Visit her website.

In 2002 he began collaborating on several projects with his friend and mentor Mr. Loren W. Christensen. He co-wrote three books with Mr. Christensen, with several more in progress, and has written numerous articles for books and magazines. In June 2006 he completed a video shoot at Paladin Press for a series of instructional tapes and DVDs titled âCombat Sanshou.â Since then he has gone on to release more instructional material.

Wim Demeere started his training in the martial arts at age 14 with the study of judo and ju jitsu with Mr. Roland Blanchaert. After a short while he switched to a traditional Chinese style called Hung Chia Pai with Mr. Jean-Louis Gonsette, a pioneer of Chinese martial arts in Europe. Mr. Gonsetteâs classes were physically and mentally challenging, which inspired him to train hard both during and outside of the classes. This brutal and effective style ignited his passion for the martial arts and he began a lifelong journey of study and training.

At age 18 he began competing in full contact tournaments and specialized in Chinese free fighting competitions called âsanda.â After obtaining his first national title he moved on to the international scene and participated in several European and World championships. Throughout his career he became the Belgian national champion four times and held the bronze medal at the 1993 Wushu world championships in Malaysia. He retired from full-contact competitions in 2000 when he became nationaltrainer for the sanda team of the Belgian Wushu Federation.

In 1997 he started his study of Practical Tai Chi Chuan with Mr. Patrick Couder and continues to do so to this day. This internal martial art complimented his experience in the external styles and became an important part of his training. Throughout the years he has studied a broad range of other fighting styles, including muay Thai, kali, pentjak silat and shoot fighting. He continues to practice and research martial arts daily in Belgium and across the globe. Visit his website and blog.

So it begins, at the age of 34, Mr. Darryl-James Johnson emerges from his sleep in a dream world where he cannot see most things and the few things he can see are a struggle to bring into focus. Later Mr. Johnson learns that he has been diagnosed with Retinitis Pigmentosa (RP), a degenerative genetic disease that typically starts with the loss of night and peripheral vision; and, over time total blindness can occur.

Darryl Johnson has been married for the past 15 years and has two kids.  Their ages are 5 and 10.  The support he receives from his family and the steadfast support he receives from Jesus Christ enables Mr. Johnson to cope with his eye disease.

Mr. Johnson is an advanced level martial artist however he does not consider himself an expert because he has not received his black belt. However, he has received a considerable amount of martial arts training and trains in isolation on a daily basis because Mr. Johnson believes martial arts helps to develop anatomical and environment awareness.

Mr. Johnson encourages others like himself to learn martial arts, both to cope with disability and protect themselves against attacks.  Although disabilities may make you vulnerable, Mr. Johnson does not believe that they have to make you helpless. To this end, Mr. Johnson produces the Internet-series Best Defense DEFENSE where Nine different martial artsâ masters from powerful and diverse styles have agreed to teach people who need them the most. This program is dedicated to helping people protect, defend, and project courage in every situation.

The Best Defense can be found on the following network website at Media Moguls,Inc.

Mr. Christensen was still a rookie on probation when his police agency recruited him to teach defensive tactics to new officers hired just a few months after him. Since then, he has trained countless police academies, in-service officers, transit system authorities,security agents, hotel security personnel, mental health nurses, and criminal justice students. Loren began his martial arts journey in 1965 and over the decades of continuous study has earned 11 black belts in three fighting arts: 8th-degree black belt karate, 2nd-degree black belt jujitsu, and 1st-degree black belt arnis.

As a writer, Loren has penned over 40 books and dozens of magazine articles on a variety of subjects. While his target audience is most often what he calls âthe warrior communityâ â martial artists, cops, soldiers âhis writing has become popular among high school and college students, parents, professionals of every kind, and people interested in a side of life outside the norm. Visit his website LWC Books.

A resident of Denver, Colorado, and a computer professional for nearly 4 decades, Bob Orlando was introduced to the martial arts while on active duty in the U.S. Marines (1961-1964).  However, it was not until after he left the service that the flicker of interest that was kindled there became his consuming fire.

Orlando began serious study in Chinese kenpo-karate in October, 1968.  Shortly thereafter he switched to kung fu, studying under Al Dacascos (then teaching in Denver, Colorado).  His training with Dacascos lasted three years until a back operation made it impossible to continue in Dacascos' high-kicking style of kung fu.  It was back to Chinese kenpo.  There Bob received his first-degree black belt from Dr. John P. Cochran.  Although Bob has subsequently earned additional rank, he prefers to say that he is a student of the arts and leave it at that. "Rank," he says, "is excess baggage.  It becomes a hindrance to learning because everyone expects that you already know everything."

Ever a student of the arts, Bob's quest for knowledge has taken him into aikido, Small-Circle Jujitsu, grappling, iaido, arnis de mano, and eskrima.  However, what has impacted him the most are the years he has spent studying Chinese kuntao and Dutch-Indonesian pukulan pentjak silat under Dutch-Indonesian master Willem de Thouars.  After a decade of training with de Thouars, Bob received his teaching certificate from him in 1994.

A graduate of a Jesuit university, Bob is the author of Indonesian Fighting Fundamentals The Brutal Arts of the Archipelago, Martial Arts America: A Western Approach to Eastern Arts, and four highly recommended martial art videos.

While not a "professional" martial artist (one who makes his living from martial arts), Bob still considers himself a "full-time" practitioner, for he studies and trains constantly.  His school is a small one, and that's just the way he likes it.  "Our school is our laboratory.  There, we test everything from the practicality of forms training   and techniques, to the latest craze in self-defense.  We have a formal curriculum -- from white to black belt -- although it is not cut in stone.  I guess that for us, the concrete is never quite dry, for we are constantly learning."

Of his own abilities, he says, "I have skills.  After some four decades in the arts, I ought to.  But my skills came not because I have any natural physical talent, but because I worked very hard to get to where I am today.  My strengths are my singleness of purpose (my unwavering dedication to personal excellence in self-defense) and my analytical mind.  My contribution to the art comes not from what I can do physically.  Rather, it comes from my God-given ability to share what I know with others.  I take the complicated and make it simple. Visit his website.

Kris has authored several books on the martial arts: The Way of Sanchin Kata; The Application of Power Lessons from the Dojo Floor and co-authored: The Way of Kata: A Comprehensive Guide for Deciphering Martial Applications, The Way to Black Belt: A Comprehensive Guide to Rapid, Rock-Solid Results. Kris lives in Washington. Visit his website and blog.

After graduation from Colorado State University, Dr. Miller settled in Thousand Oaks, California, where he founded the Conejo Valley Veterinary Clinic. Thirty-one years later, he retired as a renowned veterinarian and expert in ethology (the study of animal behavior). Dr. Miller has visited every continent giving lectures to colleges, conventions for animal groups, horse organizations, breed associations and other clients. He has received numerous professional awards for his involvement with equine associations, production of videotapes, and lecturing. He has authored several books, and his acute sense of humor and love of cartoons have provided seven veterinary cartoon books.

Dr. Miller has been on the editorial staff of Veterinary Medicine, Modern Veterinary Practice, Veterinary Forum, and Western Horseman and other horse magazines. He is internationally known for his lectures and seminars. To read past issues of his monthly column Mind Over Miller, click: Past Columns To order a copy of the book, click:  Mind Over Miller book

Dr. Miller retired from his veterinary practice in 1987 in order to devote his full time to the teaching of equine behavior and to support the revolution in horsemanship that began in the Western United States in the late 20th Century and is now a worldwide phenomenon. He is best known for his scientifically based system of training newborn foals. Called imprint training, if done correctly, it is the fastest, and most profound method of permanently shaping a horse's responses and attitude. Imprint training is now in use all over the world. Visit his website.

Helen E. Fisher, PhD biological anthropologist is a Research Professor in the Department of Anthropology at Rutgers University. Dr. Fisher is one of the worldâs leading experts on the nature of romantic love and attachment and is the chief scientific adviser to Chemistry.com, a division of Match.com.She has written five books on the evolution and future of human sexuality, monogamy,adultery and divorce, gender differences in the brain, the chemistry of romantic love, and most recently, human personality types and why we fall in love with one person rather than another. Visit her website.  Take Dr. Fisher's test.

Born and educated in London, Lane received his Ph.D. from the University of London and is the author of four books: The Ruling Passion (Duke, 1995), The Burdens of Intimacy (Chicago, 1999), Hatred and Civility: The Antisocial Life in Victorian England (Columbia, 2004, 2006), and Shyness: How Normal Behavior Became a Sickness (Yale, 2007, 2008; French, Japanese, and Korean translations are forthcoming with Editions Flammarion, Kawade Shobo, and Hankyoreh Publishing.

He has also edited two books: The Psychoanalysis of Race (Columbia, 1998) and Homosexuality and Psychoanalysis (Chicago, 2001). And he has written for the New York Times, Washington Post, Boston Globe, Los Angeles Times, Wall Street Journal Online, New York Sun, International Herald Tribune, and New Statesman and Society, as well as published more than fifty peer-reviewed articles in journals such as Raritan, Novel, Victorian Studies, Common Knowledge, the Oxford Literary Review, and the International Literary Quarterly.

Lane's work has been supported by fellowships from the British Academy,the Mellon Foundation, and the Guggenheim Foundation. He is completing a book on Victorian agnosticism entitled Failing Gods: A Century of Doubt (under contract at Yale University Press). Visit his website.

Colonel Thorsness enlisted in the Air Force at the age of 19, mainly because he had a brother serving in Korea. Though he didnât make it to Korea himself, he stayed in the military, becoming an officer and a fighter pilot. In 1966, he went to Vietnam as part of a squadron of specially modified two-seat F-105 âWild Weaselâ aircraft that had the job of finding and destroying surface-to-air missile (SAM) sites. On April 19, 1967, Colonel, then Major, Thorsness and his electronic warfare officer, Captain Harold E. Johnson, were on a missile suppression mission over North Vietnam. He and his wingman attacked and silenced a surface-to-air missile site with air-to-ground missiles and then destroyed a second site with bombs. In the attack on the second missile site, Colonel Thorsnessâ wingman was shot down by intensive antiaircraft fire and the two crewmembers abandoned their aircraft. Colonel Thorsness circled the descending parachutes to keep the crewmembers in sight and relay their position to the Search and Rescue Center. During this maneuver, a MIG-17 was sighted in the area. Thorsness immediately initiated an attack and destroyed the MIG.

Because his aircraft was low on fuel, Colonel Thorsness was forced to depart the area in search of a tanker. Upon being advised that two helicopters were orbiting over the downed crewâs position and that there were hostile MIGs in the area posing a serious threat to the helicopters, despite his low fuel condition, Colonel Thorsness decided to return through a hostile environment of surface-to-air missiles and antiaircraft defenses to the downed crewâs position. As he approached the area, he spotted four MIG-17 aircraft and immediately initiated an attack, damaging one and driving the others away from the rescue scene.

When it became apparent that an aircraft in the area was critically low on fuel and the crew would have to abandon the aircraft unless they could reach a tanker, Thorsness, although critically short on fuel himself, helped avert further possible loss of life and a friendly aircraft by recovering at a forward operating base, thus allowing the aircraft in emergency fuel condition to refuel safely. Just as Thorsness landed, his fuel ran out and the engine shut down.

Two weeks later, he was shot down over North Vietnam on his ninety-third mission. He bailed out and was captured and wound up as a prisoner of war for a period of six years during which time he suffered torture on a regular basis. He was released in March, 1973 and was presented with his Medal of Honor on October 15, 1973. Ten days later, no longer able to fly fighters due to injuries sustained in captivity, he retired from the Air Force.

During his career, Colonel Thorsness earned the Medal of Honor, the Silver Star, the Distinguished Flying Cross with five Oak Leaf Clusters, and the Purple Heart with one Oak Leaf Cluster. He currently serves as Vice Chairman of the Congressional Medal of Honor Foundation. He and his wife Gaylee reside in Saddlebrook, Arizona.

This is part two of a two part interview.

JOE CAMP is the writer, producer, and director of all the celebrated Benji movies and programs, and the creator of the canine superstar. He is the author of the inspirational memoir Benji & Me, and has also written several childrenâs books. He lives in California with his wife, Kathleen, his three stepchildren, seven horses, five dogs, and two cats and is a passionate advocate for children and animals. Visit his websites at www.Benji.com and Soul Of A Horse.

Siddharth Kara is a former investment banker and business executive with an MBA from Columbia University. He set aside his corporate career to pursue antislavery research, advocacy, and writing, and, more recently, a law degree. He currently serves on the board of directors of Free the Slaves, an organization dedicated to abolishing slavery worldwide. In 2005 he was invited to testify on contemporary slavery to the United States Congressional Human Rights Committee. Visit the Free The Slaves website.

Guy Finley's encouraging and accessible message is one of the true bright lights in our world today. His ideas cut straight to the heart of our most pressing personal and social issues -- relationships, fear, addiction, stress/anxiety, peace, happiness, freedom  and lead the way to a higher life.

Guy is the best-selling author of The Secret of Letting Go and more than 36 other books and audio albums that have sold over a million copies in 16 languages worldwide. In addition, he has presented over 4,000 unique self-realization seminars to thousands of grateful students throughout North America and Europ