This is a concise statement of the interaction of three parallel lines or planes of development: phylogenetic, ontogenetic, and cultural. Necessary reading, together with other works of Vygotsky, for anyone interested in cognitive tools, extended cognition, development of intelligence, or the role of language in social action and cognition. Contains an extensive discussion on anthropoid chimpanzees (based on Köhler, 1912-20), tools that augment cognition, and cultural development of memory and thinking. Two chapters written by Vygotsky, one by Luria.

"The behavior of contemporary civilized man is the product not only of biological evolution or childhood development. In the process of man's historical development, external relations between people, and relations between mankind and nature are not all that has changed and developed. Man himself has changed and developed; human nature has changed." (p. 41)

"Just as in the process of man's historical deve! ! lopment, man changes not his natural organs, but his tools, so also in the process of his psychological development man has enhanced the workings of his intellect through the development of special technical 'auxiliaries' of thinking and behavior." (p. xiii)

Davina Graham is still mourning the death of her great love, Ivan Sasanov, who died in a government-related car-bomb. Davina blames the British government (for whom she and her Russian defector husband worked as spies) for not protecting them, but knows she must get on with her life. Oppurtunity knocks on her door in the form of her former commander, James White. Mr White has a case for her which involves the wife of one Ian Fleming who happens to be a close personal friend to the U.S. president. Mrs Fleming claims her husband threatened her and when Davina reluctantly comes to investigate she discovers a web of spys, agents, double-agents and the like more intricate than she would've ever imagined. With the help of her colleague, Colin Lomax (to whom she subsequently takes a likng) the bottom of the whole saga is reched. A greatly riveting spy thriller, with many wonderful (yet not detracting) side-streams and many unexpected turns in this river of great writing.

As an orthodox Catholic convert with a fondness for high quality British fiction, I had to have this book of Evelyn Waugh's gripes and barks at poor Cardinal Heenan concerning the end of the Latin Liturgy following Vatican II. As you would expect, Waugh comes off as witty, sardonic, and somewhat tenderly brokenhearted. It is rare to see Waugh in this mode, but you can tell he felt the changes in the Mass on a personal level. Modernity drove Waugh to drink & bouts of fantastic & biting satire, but in these letters he comes across like a very intelligent child who has lost it's mother. Heenan is the villain of the piece, though no fault of Waugh: the Cardinal's letters show him to be a smooth liar firmly bent on pursuing the Gospel of Trendiness with little regard for the feelings of his flock. All in all, a poignant chronicle of one man's dealings with a Bishop-as-Bureaucrat.

Burleigh recounts a brief but traumatic period of RichardByrd's life based upon Byrd's diary and book "Alone." Foralmost six months, Byrd observed and recorded the Antartic night, while based in a manmade tunnel where temperatures could drop to 60 degrees below zero. What could the man have been thinking about? The intense cold and dark are nicely illustrated by Krudop's somber colors. A good initial introduction, for the younger reader, to the life of Admiral Byrd.

Plot summary: "I will never marry!" Lady Caroline Waverly was but a girl when she vowed to remain unmarried, and even as a lovely young woman, she refuses to change her mind. Why should she? She is mistress of her own estate, and needs no man to support her. She has passionate, intellectual pursuits that a man would only mock. Let the handsome and gallant Lord Nicholas Daventry find his perfect match in the dazzling Countess Lavinia Welham. Caro would not dream of trying to best such a bewitching creatures -- until she finds the voice of reason drowned out by the longings of her heart...

What distinguishes Richardson from most Regency authors (and indeed from most romance authors) is the development of the relationship between the two main characters. In this case, Caro and Nicholas are both interesting, well-educated, intelligent people, and the development of their friendship and love is well-written and thoughtful.

"A Book Lover In Texas" is an engaging and forthright memoir.

Evelyn Oppenheimer pulls no punches as she chronicles her five decades as a poet, literary agent, essayist, book collector, and book reviewer (her radio reviews hold the record for forty-five years on the air).

Oppenheimer writes about the books of and encounters with such literary figures as Louis L'Amor, Katherine Anne Porter, Larry McMurtry, and opera star Renata Scott, of whom Oppenheimer called "charming [and] utterly unpretentious" (doctor-novelist Frank Slaughter didn't fare as well).

Book lovers everywhere will revel in this laudable work.

This is a first rate academic introduction to Buddhist environmentalism. 'Buddhism and Ecology' is one of a series of volumes on world faiths and ecology produced by the Harvard University Center for the Study of World Religions. It contains 19 essays from a variety of perspectives, all seeking to make a Buddhist contribution to the ongoing discussion of the environmental crisis.

While a number of essays are philosophical in nature, practical outcomes are not neglected. The essays consider Buddhism as practised in Thailand, Japan, India, America and elsewhere. Theravada, Mahayana and Zen traditions are specifically considered, as is 'engaged Buddhism'.

I would recommend this work as an excellent introduction to a continuing discussion, with only the following two reservations. First, most of the essays are written by American, or American based, authors. This is not necessarily a problem, and it reflects the nature of the conference which produced the papers presented here. But given the wealth of writers on Buddhism around the world, a greater breadth could have been represented. This leads to my second minor gripe, which is that there are no essays specifically on Tibetan Buddhism. This is a great shame, although, clearly, not everything can be considered, even in a fairly weighty tome such as this.

There is an extremely useful bibliography, and I now recommend this book to interested people, alongside 'Dharma Gaia', which covers similar ground, but in a more populist, less academic way. 'Dharma Rain' is another recent work covering similar ground in a slightly less academic fashion.

I bought this book in a petstore, and it helped me get a good introduction to budgies! I recommend it!

Brie thought the Burning Times were over...she was wrong

Brie and Steven Peabody are a normal couple-except Brie is a witch and an evil has entered their house, tearing this couple apart and destroying their love with it's hate....
Brie is a hereditary witch, who made a vow never to tell anyone with a closed and cynical mind about her secret-that means her husband.
How can she save her husband from the evil that has entered their lives-an evil without body, without soul who has entered Steven's mind turning him into a person who abhor's witchcraft and is bent on destroying anyone who practice's it. Brie is in danger...from the man she loves. With the help of her three circle friends can she help send this evil out of their house, out of their lives or will their once loving house become the devil's playground?
This is a great book, imo. I'm always looking for a good book on magic and witchcraft and though I am not a witch myself I love reading books where witches are portrayed as normal people, albeit magical. Burning Times was a book I couldn't put down till the last page.

This book extrapolates that a popular rumour of 1630s France was true, Queen Anne of Austria was the lover of Cardinal Richelieu. Richelieu, typically portrayed as a selfish or evil figure is shown in this book as a master statesman, a brilliant politician and a reluctant, if successful, member of the Catholic church. His rise to power is more of a by-product of his goal, to united the disparate factions and provinces of France into a single, powerful authority under the king. Unfortunately, Louis XIII is a weak-willed child figure dominated my his mother Marie de Medici, who resists Richelieu's efforts to reform the state. In the end, Richelieu defeats all of his enemies except for himself. In Anne of Austria he finds the one weakness that he shouldn't allow himself, but one he must satisfy. For her part, Anne is a spoiled, selfish and politically ignorant girl. Having been raised and pampered in the Spanish court, she expects much of the world. She, however, is disappointed by her new husband, Louis, who enjoys the company of his favorite, Cinq-Mars, more than his queen. Richelieu is smitten with her, despite his better sense, and confesses his feeling for her early on. She is greatly offended, as he is a man of the cloth, and she is a queen. She has seen Richelieu exile Marie de Medici and have her lover executed, so Anne merely smoulders.

Rejected by her, Richelieu redoubles his efforts, putting down a near civil war championed by Phillippe, Louis' younger brother, who desperatly tried to enlist Anne in the effort to depose her brother. Finally, through careful statesmanship and personal maneuvering, Richelieu protects Anne from being found a part of the revolt, sparing her life for becoming her lover. It is the final break of her will that she succumbs to his mastery of her world. Initially, his visits are polite meetings, but ventually she sees him for the great man that he is, and returns his love equally. Anne, through her association with Richelieu, grows in wisdom and maturity, becoming worthy of the title of the Queen of France. When she finds herself pregnant, Richelieu even manages this well, prompting the king to make the attempt to sire an heir, assuring him of the queen's love. The visit goes well enough, for to everyone's satisfaction, Anne gives birth to Louis XIV.

This novel will forever change your perceptions of characters that you remember from popular films; although the 1972 version of the Three and Four Musketeers captures much of this book's Richelieu and Louis XIII.