Andrew J Bernstein

There are literary reminiscences that reek of self-congratulation over the authors'proximity to famous movers and shakers. Andy Bernstein's California Slim aspiresto far more than that-and achieves it. Andy was there, at the onse...

There are literary reminiscences that reek of self-congratulation over the authors'proximity to famous movers and shakers. Andy Bernstein's California Slim aspiresto far more than that-and achieves it. Andy was there, at the onset of the post-'50srevolution that, as a beat poet once put it, roared as it ripped the threadbare fabricof an age. Andy was no distant, casual observer during the tumultuous '60s and'70s; he was at the heart of the maelstrom, and writes about it with candor, humor, and originality.The story begins, for God's sake, with Andy and his then unknown banjo teacher, a young Jerry Garcia, fingerpicking in a back room at Dana Morgan's Music Studioin Palo Alto in 1962. A skinny six-foot-seven-inch Jewish kid (later known as "CaliforniaSlim"), Andy divided his time between the usual adolescent interests andmusic, for which he would go on to provide a capital M by promoting and stagingconcerts throughout the San Francisco Bay Area. His Palo Alto nightclub, Homer'sWarehouse, across the street from the Stanford University campus, brought revolutionarymusicians (among them, Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee) to youngsensibilities hungry for new driving rhythms and thought-provoking lyrics.The early chapters of this book set the stage for Andy's eventual hooking-up withWillie Nelson and his Family-which felt, Andy said, "like reading a really goodbook that I couldn't put down." That feeling led directly, if gradually, to CaliforniaSlim. And you, dear reader, won't be able to put it down, either.-Tony Compagno...

Where does stress come from? For more than half a century, we've been told it comes from 'adverse external influences', that it's a by-product of our ancestors' fight-or-flight response, and that because life on earth has changed radically, stress is inevitable today. All of this, according to Andrew Bernstein, is wrong.In The End of Stress, he shows you exactly why it's wrong. He takes readers back to the 1930s, pointing out a fundamental error in how the stress concept was initially formulated, and how this mistaken formula has resulted in people relying on inefficient tools such as relaxation and positive thinking. Bernstein then reveals the truth about where stress comes from and introduces a 7-step process that transforms common challenges - including relationships, money, success, weight loss, heartbreak, uncertainty, interpersonal conflict and the loss of a loved one. The End of Stress offers a complete re-education in the nature of negative emotions, training readers in how to transform any issue - at home, at school, at work - in order to live happier, healthier lives.