I released a new ebook on Amazon Kindle today.  The book is computer buying guide titled “What Computer Should I Buy?” I have worked in the computer industry for over 15 years, and I often get asked for advice when friends and family plan to buy a new computer.  For that reason I put together a guide to help everyone navigate the technical jargon that is so prevalent in the world of computers.  I’ve maintained a version of the book over the years, and I finally decided to convert it to Kindle format to sell on Amazon.

For the next two weeks I’m offering a free copy to the readers of Eden Journal.

You can download a pdf version or the kindle version.

Click here for pdf version

Click here for Kindle version

If you have trouble downloading either version, leave a comment below and I’ll email it to you instead.

All I ask is that if you like the book, you take a few minutes to review it on Amazon.  Here is a link to the Amazon page where you can leave a review.  A positive review will help immensely as it will enable me to stand out from similar books that have no reviews.

Also, as you are reading through the book, if you notice any typos, find it missing any important info, or find any sections unclear, please leave me a comment below so I can address the issues and update the book.  (Ignore the extra table of contents in the Kindle version, I am playing around with the TOC formatting.)  My goal is to produce the most useful guide to buying a new computer, and your comments and suggestions will help greatly.

I often like to look through the 100 most popular books and kindle ebooks on Amazon, but it seems like every time I try to find the link on Amazon to their best seller lists, it is nowhere to be found.  I usually poke around for a few minutes, and either give up or get distracted and move on to look at some other books.

With Christmas right around the corner I thought some of you might find these best seller lists helpful to pick out some great books for your loved ones.

Top 100 Best Selling Books

All Books

Personal Development / Self Help

Top 100 Best Selling Kindle eBooks  (with a bonus of the top 100 Free Kindle eBooks)

All Books

Fiction

Non-Fiction

Personal Development / Self Help

Top 100 Best Sellers – Main Category List

Here is a link to the main category list where you can see the best sellers in any category of merchandise that is available on Amazon. Here you’ll find everything from appliances to jewelry and clothing to lawn and garden.

Main Category Best Sellers

One final link for you.  This one shows when you need to place your order to receive it in time for Christmas.  Christmas Ordering Cutoffs

I’m feeling like giving away some ad space to some of my readers as a thank you for being here.  If you have a website, blog, or product you’d like to advertise, you can grab some free advertising space in my sidebar.  If you don’t have any of those things, you could just put up a message for someone special.

I’m giving away five (3 slots left) 125×125 ads and 10 text ads.

Click the “Advertise” link in the menu bar at the top of the page and then click any of the “Purchase Now” links.  When you click the link you’ll be taken to a page where you can enter all the details for your ad, upload an image, and enter a link.  After you complete the ad entry I’ll have to approve the ad before it goes live.

Use coupon code “friends” (without the quotes) during checkout to get your ad for free.

This will get you a free 125×125 ad or a text ad.  If you end up at a paypal screen, then the all slots are filled.  Free ads are one per person, for a duration of 30 days, and I’m doing this on a first come first serve basis, so grab your ad space quickly to ensure you get a spot.  I’ll update this post when the ads sell out.

You can also use that same coupon code to get $10 off one of the larger ad spaces.  These normally sell for $25, so you’ll be able to get one for just $15.

Thank you for reading and for supporting Eden Journal.

 Photo Credit

Recently I sent love to a small herd of goats.  Sending love to goats sounds a little weird, right?  Maybe… but I wanted to experiment with sending out a vibe of unconditional love and acceptance.  I have been thinking about how often humans hold onto feelings of greed, anger, hatred, and jealousy.  It’s the kind of thing you see every day in the people around you, at work, on the highways, and in the news.  These feelings that people hold onto are sometimes seen in obvious manners when they make rude comments or say nasty things about someone.  More often, though, these feelings are seen in not so obvious ways, or may not even be seen at all, but rather just sensed.

It is a little depressing to look around and see how we treat each other on a daily basis.  I sometimes feel like life must be a constant state of competition, with a continual process of one-upmanship.  I think it’s something most of us struggle with, wanting better for ourselves, seeing others that “seem” to have better, and then feeling jealousy develop.  One trick to combat that is to understand that things are not always as they seem, but that’s a topic for another day.

Today we are talking about love.  As I thought about all the negativity that seems impossible to escape, I considered this: Is there anyone that lives in a state of love?  Love is the exact opposite of all these negative emotions and actions.  Love is pure positive energy, thus it should be able to counteract negative energy.

Living in a State of Love

I came up with a short list of people that live in a state of love.  Jesus, the Dalai Lama, Buddha, Mother Theresa.  It’s a pretty short list, and I don’t know for a fact that these people maintain a constant state of love, but I’d bet they live it more than not.  Of these, Jesus is the easiest for me to relate to.  I grew up hearing many stories of Jesus doing good things, and it’s easy for me to imagine him loving everyone he meets, and even loving those who hated him.

It’s not necessary to worship Jesus or to believe that he was the son of God for this exercise.  What is important is to see what can be gained from using him as a role model.  You can use any of the other people I listed or think of your own role model for living a love centered live.

One of the amazing things about the people I listed is that people feel different when they are in their presence.  They have an aura of love and peace.  Every time I have read an article or book about someone meeting the Dalai Lama or Mother Theresa, they always mention how peaceful they felt.  I always get the feeling the love just flows out of them and fills the room, washing over everyone in the area.

This is the feeling I wanted to experiment with – Filling myself with love and letting it wash over everyone around me.  This idea floated in and out of my mind for a few days.  The weekend came and we decided to spend the day at Disney’s Animal Kingdom.  The afternoon was beautiful and it had been a peaceful and fun filled day.  Late in the afternoon we made our way to the petting zoo.

Two Goats React to Love

The petting zoo has a wide open space where goats and sheep can mingle with people.  It also has some other animals in adjacent pens that are fenced off.  In the center of the goat and sheep petting area is a small roped off area that provides a sanctuary for the animals, where the goats and sheep can take a break from all the kids chasing them with brushes.  It also has a structure for the goats to climb on.

Most of the animals spend their time hanging out in the sanctuary, and every once in a while a goat or sheep will wander around the yard or get near to the rope where the kids can reach them and pet them.  They are mostly ambivalent towards the humans that enter their little domain.  They tolerate us, but they don’t seem to care for much attention the way a dog or cat might.

I hadn’t planned to do anything silly like sending love to goats, but the thought just popped into my head as I stood watching the goats play in their sanctuary.

I started thinking of love, and how love feels.  I thought of how I feel when first I see my daughter after being at work all day.  I thought of my wife and the love I feel when staring into her eyes.  I thought of big snuggle piles with my wife and my daughter.  I really tried to get the feeling of love rather than just the thought of it.  Then I imagined that feeling flowing out like an overflowing fountain.  I imagined it running out in all directions around me.  I walked around for a few minutes holding onto that feeling.

After three or four minutes of that I stopped focusing on the feeling of love.  The feeling was still there, it just didn’t require my attention.  This exercise actually made me feel very peaceful.  I started watching some of the goats butt heads as they tried to become king of the sanctuary.  I watched my daughter as she watched the goats and sheep mingle.

All of a sudden I felt something rub my leg.  Quite to my surprise a goat started rubbing the top of his head up and down my pant leg.  He was doing this quite vigorously as if he had an itch right on top of his head and the best way to sooth it was by rubbing his head on my jeans.  At nearly that same instant another goat walked up behind me and started nibbling on my shirttail.  A small crowd gathered rather quickly to view the spectacle, and I’m sure it was rather amusing to watch.

We’ve visited this petting zoo many times in the past and I’ve never seen the goats behave that way.  I chalked that up as a success for love, but I wanted to repeat the experiment to make sure it wasn’t a fluke.

A Second Test of a Love Meditation

It was a couple months later before we found ourselves at Animal Kingdom again.  We played in the park for a while before making it back to the petting zoo.  Once there I tried to resonate the same feeling of love as I had before.  One goat in particular seemed to feel it.  He stood in the sanctuary, but right by the edge of the roped off area, so he could still be reached.  He stood there for a really long time and let me pet him, much longer than most goats in the petting zoo typically stand still.  I knelt down and looked him in the eyes as I pet him, all while sending out feelings of unconditional love.  He even posed for some pictures when I asked him to.

At some point while kneeling and petting my new friend, another goat walked up behind me and started rubbing against my back.  My wife laughed and said I should maybe turn it down a notch.  Test number two of unconditional love was a success.

Cats Feel the Love Too

I got another confirmation on the affect of the love meditation a few nights later.  Late at night, just before we headed off to bed, my wife and I sat together.  We were both feeling content and having some good conversation.  The topic of my love meditation experiments came up and I described to her the process I used.  She gave it a try, and started thinking about love.  About all the people and pets she loved.  About the situations in which she felt love.

As she was doing this, our two cats came walking into the room.  Typically at this time of night, they are full swing into chasing each other, rolling around, and playing.  Tonight was much different.  They walked out and set nearby on the floor.  Then one cat started licking and grooming the other.  He did this for a full ten minutes at least.  Usually if there is some licking, it lasts about 30 seconds and ends in a chase across the house.  Tonight was much different.   They sat there grooming each other for a long time and looked quite content.

Applying Love in Life

The big question is how we can apply this with a wider perspective to include people instead of goats and cats, and how can we do this on a daily basis?  Can we follow the example set by Jesus, Buddha, The Dalai Lama, and Mother Theresa?  Can we feel love for everyone regardless of their thoughts, feelings, beliefs, and actions?  I don’t even know if we are even capable of this, but I do know that we can all start by feeling and sharing love in small chunks.

Practice by thinking of examples of love, and holding the feeling you get with those thoughts.  Then imagine that feeling flowing out and touching everything and everyone around you.

If you have a petting zoo nearby and want to replicate my experiments, I’d love to hear your results.  If not, then practice anywhere and see what changes you notice in those around you.  Let me know what you find.

Registration is closed.  Thank you to everyone that signed up.

I’m looking for some volunteers to test the methods for falling asleep that will be featured in my upcoming eBook about learning to fall asleep.  Last month I sought volunteers to share their favorite methods for falling asleep, and this month I’m looking for some folks that would like to test these methods.

Most of you have probably seen the junk that passes for suggestions to fall asleep.  Like avoiding caffeine is some big secret.  Rather than regurgitate the stuff you already know, I’m sharing some real techniques to fall asleep.

While I think the techniques are fantastic, I really want to prove that these techniques to fall asleep really work.  To do that I need your help.

I need you to test a sleep technique for 30 days, and log your results.  Pretty simple really.

In return, I’ll send you a free copy of the eBook when it’s completed AND you’ll be getting a share of profits made from the sale of the eBook.  I’m splitting 25% of the sale price among the folks that contribute to the eBook.

I am using a mailing list to stay in contact with participants.  The mailing list is exclusive to the participants of this Sleep eBook project.  If you would like to participate or would like more details, sign up below.

Registration is closed.  Thank you to everyone that signed up.

Registration is closed.  Thank you to everyone that signed up.

I’m starting a new eBook project and I’m looking for 10 to 25 bloggers to participate in my upcoming eBook about learning to fall asleep.

Unlike most eBook authors that simply offer you credit and a link in the back of the book, I am offering you a share of the profits. I will be splitting 25% of each sale among the contributors to my Sleep eBook.

If you are interested in helping people learn to sleep while also earning a little spending money then read on for more information.

I want to help as many people as possible learn to fall asleep at night.  I am very fortunate to have learned a method for falling asleep during my teen years that has served me well to this day.  I am able to fall asleep within minutes, sometimes seconds even.  While I like my technique, I’m sure there are many others out there, and I want to be able to provide a few different methods so that readers may choose the method that resonates best with their own ideas and philosophies.

I’m looking for two groups of people.

Group A

Group A will be the Sleep Masters and will consist of people that fall asleep as soon as your head hits the pillow. Your challenge is to document your method for falling asleep. How did you learn to sleep? Do you have a pre-sleep routine? Was there ever a time when you had trouble sleeping, and how did you overcome it? Basically I want you to tell me everything you have learned about falling asleep.

Group B

Group B will be the Sleep Testers and will consist of people that have trouble falling asleep at night. Your challenge is to test the methods provided by Group A. I want Group B participants to commit to 30 days of testing a sleep solution. During those 30 days you will journal your progress and then write a summary and review of the sleep method you tested.

Profit Sharing

I will be splitting 25% of each sale among the contributors to my Sleep eBook.  My goal is to have 25 people participate meaning each person would earn 1% of every sale.  The actual percentage per contributor may fluctuate based on the number of actual participants.

With the intended sale price being $20, if we sell 1000 copies you could earn a nice little profit of $200.  If we sell 10,000 copies, that could earn you $2000.

To keep the quality high, I will be choosing only the best submissions to be included in the eBook.  Only those chosen to be included in the eBook will be eligible for the profit sharing.

How to Participate

Registration is closed.  Thank you to everyone that signed up.

If you have visited Eden Journal in the past week or so, you may have noticed some changes as I prepare for the addition of many new authors and bloggers.  In my last post I talked about moving to a multi-author format here at Eden Journal.  To get ready for this, I wanted to change some of my sidebar components, move some things around in the header and menu bar, and make some changes to the back end so that authors’ names appear with their posts.

I also added some ad space in the sidebar where, for the next three months, I’ll be giving away free ads to anyone that submits an article that gets approved for publication.  I encourage everyone to click these links to see what our authors have to share.  Some are sharing links to their blogs while others are sharing links to their very own products.

I’m extremely grateful to everyone that has submitted guest posts.  I have several queued up and I’m in the final stages of inputting, formatting, and scheduling them.

I’m excited to announce the guest posts will begin next week!

Here is a sneak peak of what to expect over the next couple of weeks.

• Josh Hanagarne of the World’s Strongest Librarian writes about how he packs so much stuff into his day.
• Nathaniel W. of A State of Mind discusses the spiritual path of a psychic.
• Thomas Maurer of Luxury Organic Mattresses shares his views of the modern environmental movement.
• Steven Papas of Very Best Software tells us about the hurdles of a starting entrepreneur.

These great posts are just the beginning.  I have a few more great bloggers lined up, and I’m actively pursuing many more.  It all starts next week, so make sure you check back.  Better yet, sign up for free updates in your RSS reader or in your email inbox.

The February campfire topic is: Destiny vs. Legacy.

These two terms aren’t mutually exclusive, but they are not often discussed together.  I think it would be fun to compare and contrast the two terms.

If you’re a blogger and you’d like to participate in our campfire, then plan a post around the topic, and then publish that post on February15.  (The campfire actually keeps burning through the end of the month, so if the 15th doesn’t fit your schedule, you can jump in anytime between the 15th and the end of the month.)

If you are new to the Personal Development Campfire, click here for the details.  Any and all  bloggers  are welcome to participate.

For those of you that aren’t bloggers, be sure to check back here on February 15, and in the days that follow, to see lots of great posts about Destiny vs. Legacy .

Here is the code to include at the end of your post (in html.)

<hr /><strong>What is the Personal Development Campfire? </strong>
This post is participating in the Personal Development Campfire series.  Imagine all your favorite personal development bloggers gathered around a campfire. Campfires are great center pieces of relaxed and free flowing conversations. Think of all the wonderful conversations and the wealth of topics that might arise. That’s the idea behind the Personal Development Campfire. Your favorite bloggers all gathered together discussing a new topic every month. (Bloggers click here for details on participating in the <a href="http://www.edenjournal.com/personaldevelopmentcampfire" target="_blank">Personal Development Campfire</a>.) 

<script src="http://www.inlinkz.com/cs.php?id=34097"></script>

Hey everyone.  I haven’t felt like writing over the past week and a half – so I haven’t.  I figured I’d jump back into things with a mish mash post.  I have a few things to share and talk about.

Cherry on Top Award

I have been extremely remiss in sharing this.  I was presented with the Cherry on Top Award towards the end of last year.  The award is intended to highlight, share, and recognize some super awesome blogs.  Each person that receives the award is instructed to award it to six other blogs.  Since I neglected to announce that I received the award, I ended up receiving the award from three different people.  Here are the folks that bestowed this award to me and Eden Journal.

Patricia of Patricia’s Wisdom

Preeti of Happy Heart and Mind

Raul of Alien Ghost

Thank you all for this, I truly appreciate being recognized.

Apocalypse Series

I was really excited about discussing some wonderful theories of the Earth’s demise.  For some reason though I’m finding it hard to write about.  I think it is because I want to provide thorough explanations which require more research than I expected, and I’m having a hard time putting it all together in a post.  It seems like I could write a book on each form of apocalypse.

Here is what I’ve decided to do.  For the first time outside of the original campfire series, I’m going to open up Eden Journal for guest posts.  If you have an apocalypse theory you’d like to write about, contact me and we’ll work together and make this fun.

Here are some of my ideas.  You can choose one of these or come up with your own.  Be sure to contact me before you start writing so we don’t duplicate effort.

• Future Apocalypse predictions (2012 and others)
• Past Apocalypse predictions
• Teachings and predictions of religion
• Econopocalypse / Global economic crash
• Foodpocalypse / Food shortages
• Fuelpocalypse / Fuel costs / Fuel shortages
• Planet crushing asteroids
• Global warming / Climate change
• Pole shift
• Animal extinctions
• Zombie apocalypse / Disease / Petulance
• Alien invasion
• How to prepare for an Apocalypse / Pack clean underwear

I hope we’ll get at least a few people on board for this fun little project.  If we don’t then I’ll just tackle these whenever I feel the motivation to do so.

February Personal Development Campfire Topic

The February campfire topic is: Destiny vs. Legacy.  These two terms aren’t mutually exclusive, but they are not often discussed together.  I think it would be fun to compare and contrast the two terms.  I’m looking for people to share ideas on this topic your own blogs.  Post should go live on February 15 (although you can jump in anytime between the 15^th and the end of the month.)  Here’s all the info about the Personal Development Campfire.

The Personal Development Campfire Topic for January is “Winter”

Hey everyone.  This is just a short post to tell you that the Personal Devleopment Campfire topic for January will be Winter.

Feel free to write whatever you like around that topic.  You can talk about what Winter means to you, how to stay happy during the winter, positive aspects of winter, or anything else you desire.  I look forward to seeing what everyone puts together.

If you’re a blogger and you’d like to participate in our campfire, then plan a post around the topic, and then publish that post on January 15.  (The campfire actually keeps burning through January 31, so if the 15th doesn’t fit your schedule, you can jump in anytime between the 15th and 31st.)

If you are new to the Personal Development Campfire, click here for the details.  Any and all  bloggers  are welcome to participate.

For those of you that aren’t bloggers, be sure to check back here on January 15, and in the days that follow, to see lots of great posts about Winter.

Here is the code to include at the end of your post (in html.)

<hr /><strong>What is the Personal Development Campfire? </strong>
This post is participating in the Personal Development Campfire series.  Imagine all your favorite personal development bloggers gathered around a campfire. Campfires are great center pieces of relaxed and free flowing conversations. Think of all the wonderful conversations and the wealth of topics that might arise. That’s the idea behind the Personal Development Campfire. Your favorite bloggers all gathered together discussing a new topic every month. (Bloggers click here for details on participating in the <a href="http://www.edenjournal.com/personaldevelopmentcampfire" target="_blank">Personal Development Campfire</a>.) 

<script src="http://www.linkytools.com/basic_linky_include.aspx?id=61248" type="text/javascript"></script>