Believers in synchronicity train themselves to recognize moments when a certain turn of phrase, a particular quote, or a brief paragraph can trigger a life-altering insight. Life: A User's Manual is a collection of these kinds of inspirational quotes, poems, and short essays by the world's most respected thinkers and spiritual leaders. Anthologist John Miller (Legends: Women Who Have Changed the World Through the Eyes of Great Women Writers) has organized Life, A User's Manual into five parts: "Search," "Love," "Faith," "Meditation," and "Death." Some excerpts and quotes ring familiar, such as that passage from Isabel Allende's book about the death of her daughter Paula or the excerpt from Anne Morrow Lindbergh's Gift from the Sea. Nonetheless, packaged within this clean, tight anthology, each quote and essay sounds fresh and resonates with life-altering potential. --Gail Hudson