Dear Stefi, Now that there is a slight lull in the happy Chestertown merry-go-round, I want to write a paragraph or two explaining why is one of the most interesting books I have ever read. This is why it is so interesting: It was written about 1906 and covers U.S. intellectual and political history from about 1860 to 1906. What is clever about it is the cynical, humorous sophistication (very unAmerican) with which he, an insider, regards all of these events. The book, like Montaigne or Rousseau's is an autobiography and, like Montaigne, Adams is of the view that life should above all be amusing, so that any great enterprise should be undertaken only if it is indeed amusing. The driving idea of the book, however, is where to find the truth (you guessed it--he is still searching on the last page). The places where he searches are very intriguing. He begins at Harvard, where, says he, he learned nothing from books and only one thing from the classes: how to get up and talk in front of large crowds of people about nothing. He was required to do this routinely, and his speeches were, like everyone else's, greeted with hissing and criticisms, so he learned not to expect approbation from an audience. Adams got heavily into the debate about evolution (Darwin being the hot topic at the end of the nineteenth century), because he thought it was the main amusement of his era. His position on evolution is "reversion" rather than progress. One of his proofs is a comparison of George Washington and Ulysses S. Grant. He admired Washington (a great general who became a great president); he voted for Grant (a great general). He knew personally the members of Grant's cabinet, thieves or incompetents at best. QED: things are getting worse not better. In his old age (sixty), after many other amusements of a busy lifetime, he decided to do what I did at the age of twenty-two: to visit all the important medieval French cathedrals. (In 1958, I bought a car in Saarbrucken--VW bug--and drove to seventeen of the greatest cathedrals, Guide Michelin in hand, staying at the youth hostels.) His book is peppered with well-digested quotations from French literature; he apparently knew it from top to bottom. His goal was to understand the Middle Ages (unity in the Virgin) and to write two books, one about the unity of the Middle Ages (title: ) and another about the diversity of the twentieth century, . Adam's book has a number of difficult spots (confusing original philosophy and historical references that mean something only to the well-informed historian), but the good parts are worth going on to find. I hope this vignette will persuade you to get through the boring chapters at the beginning of the book on his childhood in Quincy. The narrative becomes interesting only with his stories about the Court of Saint James where he spent his early twenties as a diplomat during the U.S. Civil War. From that point on, I think you will love it as much as I did. Cheers! Claire

Henry Adams starts off his autobiography with a description of how tough he's had it living up to the standard of his president great-grandfather, president grandfather, and ambassador to the UK father. Lest the reader who was not born so high-brow as this laugh at the self-absorption that would permit such an upbringing to be conceived of as deprived, Adams then admits that being born with a silver spoon in one's mouth to coincide with such a lineage makes his a minor difficulty compared to the world's real problems. It is this self-awareness and honesty that makes this as excellent a book as it is. Sure, Adams had to live up to a high standard but he also was in a situation where it was possible to do it, and where even failure would be in comfort. Adams' descriptions of his life's longing for education are remarkably honest throughout, and his ability to step outside of the 'holy writ' of entrenched teachings shows that his was a mind that constantly sought answers actually worth their merit. He waxes philosophical (as opposed to autobiographical) at the end, but it is here ("The Virgin and the Dynamo," for example) that he may be at his most profound. Even if you don't agree with his thoughts, he does stimulate consideration of ideas that you may not have previously broached. Lastly, Henry Adams is/was a profoundly arrogant man, although not entirely condescending. I find this refreshing; that he knew his abilities and was comfortable enough in them to not feel the need to fake humility.

The title of "The Education of Henry Adams" sounds like an autobiography, but the book is really about the development of a man's conscience and theory of human history, using the world events of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries as a backdrop and a laboratory. Henry Adams -- whose great grandfather was John Adams, the second American President, and whose grandfather obviously was John Quincy Adams, the sixth -- is more than just a presidential legacy; he reveals himself to be a great thinker and writer, the brilliance of his "Education" ensuring him a permanent place in the American canon.

The book has a few attributes that distinguish it from a typical autobiography. The most noticeable is that Adams writes in the third, not first, person. He repeats the word "education" like a mantra throughout the book, referring to it in its literal, not formal, sense: the "bringing up", or development, of a person's mind, manner, and outlook. The narrative is very personal and is not, as some may expect, a rigid historical perspective, although it does offer plenty of commentary on contemporary historical and political events, from the Civil War to two presidential assassinations (Lincoln's and McKinley's, but not Garfield's) to the Industrial Revolution's impact on the American commercial landscape.

Adams writes like a novelist, and this book reads like a novel. His lyrical prose is all the more amazing because it seems like a product of the very education he finds so evasive. Growing up in Quincy, Massachussetts, he hated school; he even confesses that he got little to nothing out of his years at Harvard. Always hopeful to be educated by new experiences, he serves as a secretary to his father, an ambassador, in London during the American Civil War, where he learns about diplomacy from high-ranking British politicians. He proceeds to dabble in various arts and sciences, start a career in journalism, and become an instructor at Harvard, noting the irony of teaching while still searching for his own education.

Throughout the book we get a very vivid picture of Adams as an idiosyncratic mixture of humanism, modesty, shyness, erudition, and a polite sort of cynicism. He has a rather socratic tendency to dismiss all the previous knowledge he has collected as worthless for his continuing education, resolving to start from scratch with a new source. A curious omission in the book is the twenty-year period in which his marriage ends with his wife's suicide; perhaps this event was just too painful to write about, because it's difficult to believe that this experience could not have influenced the pursuit of his education.

If Adams's education can be said to have a culmination, it is in his development of a "dynamic theory of history," in which he compares physical forces (gravity, magnetism) acting on a body to historical forces, produced by the conflict of the sciences ("The Dynamo") against the arts ("The Virgin"), acting on man. With this initiative Adams embodies the nineteenth century American intellectual and political conscience: He proves in this book that he was a greatly informed man, but also that he was wise because he understood the difference between information and wisdom.

How sad to see this bit of sadistic thuggery reissued. This is a book about the poetic joys of torturing dogs. One sample: Hearne describes how she helped her dog dig a hole, while dancing playfully around with the dog, filled the hole with water, still acting playful with the dog, then suddenly, without any warning, forced the dog's head under water and subjected her to near drowning. What the dog must have thought of that hideous and incomprehensible betrayal I cannot even begin to imagine. And yet reviewers prattle on about what a lovely book this is. I think dogs would disagree. The book is also nauseatingly pretentious.

I would like first to praise Donald McCaig for his entrancing introduction to Adam's Task. As I began the book I soon felt that Mr. McCaig had not read it after all. In the first chapter alone there were seventeen undocumented names scattered through a syncitium of undisciplined prose. Pedantics masquerading as wisdom paint a sorry picture of the writer. Pretentions to culture separate the sheep from the goats (sic.) winning the praises of its worshipers, and alienating the more clairvoyant. I am reminded of a biochemist who lectured biochemistry to physicians, and medical bioethics with biochemists, thus putting himself beyond critical examination by either. Name dropping is not scholarship. Endless, many-branching sentences are not good writing. Hearne is pretentious in both areas, and seemingly grossly ignorant of both. I, too, am an animal. I identify with them. I even believe they are as entitled to souls as are humans. Indeed, American Indians, who saw the life ebb out of each kill, were poignantly aware of that fellowship. Mrs. Hearne has only muddied the waters.

This is one of my favorite books of all time.

Vicki Hearne - animal trainer, poet, and philosopher - talks about her relationship with the working animals she trains. She presents her philosophies by illustrating them with stories of animals she has trained.

If you have deep respect for animal intelligence, this book will confirm and deepen your beliefs.

Training, she says, is the creation of a shared language. But language has many ambiguities. For example, trainers haven't a clue what the world smells like to a dog, for whom "scenting" is a primary sense. Yet humans and dogs can learn to work together across the gap of their differences by coming to share the vocabulary of trained scent work.

Animal training, says Hearne, is as challenging for the trainer as it is for the animal. Trainers must learn humility, and learn to communicate in new ways. For example, horses take in information through touch and are extremely sensitive to the motions of the rider. Once a trainer comes to understand this (and other things about horses), she or he can begin to understand the way a horse understands its world and its self.

Of course I don't do justice to the book by summarizing a few of its philosophical points! Hearne writes gracefully, and shows a great mastery of a variety of disciplines - psychology, philosophy, literature, animal training. Her anecdotes make the philosophy much easier to understand, and the philosophy makes the implications of the anecdotes much richer.

After having read some of the reviews given to this Bible, I was concerned about the issue of mercy and grace. Paul teaches us that grace can be taken as far as holiness can be lived. The articles that are found here really urge you toward holy living. It has to be recognized that even though we are free from the law, God hates sin. We cannot go forward and press into the throneroom of grace without a right heart. The Bible helped me recognize that God accepts me despite my sin, but at the same time requires me to press on in holiness. I would recommend it to anyone that wants to be blessed by the Pentecostal/Charismatic theologians of the twentieth century. I have had many of these men as professors one time or another, and even with their hard stance on holy living their love is beyond compare.

I read the reviews of the Full Life Study Bible and felt I had to respond, especially to the woman from Georgia's view that this study Bible is filled with "hate."

This study Bible reflects the work of a Pentecostal missionary, the late Donald Stamps. Various other Pentecostal scholars also worked on the study Bible including prestigious scholars such as Dr. Stanley Horton, Dr. French Arrington, and Dr. Robert Shank.

My only complaints against the Full Life is that the notes were written by one man so they are not as plentiful as say the NIV Study Bible. I also would favor a more literal translation such as the NASB or the NKJV then the NIV although I am not opposed to the NIV. The study notes reflect the theology of the classical Pentecostal movement. For a more charismatic study Bible see the Spirit-Filled Study Bible published by Thomas Nelson and edited by Dr. Jack Hayford.

I enjoyed this Bible. I have been looking for a Bible that contained the pentecostal/charismatic notes. It also helps me understand the Arminian theological perspectives on different passages of the Bible.
This study Bible has great articles like "The ministry leadership gift for the church", "Election and predestination", "sanctification", etc...
This study Bible does emphasize holiness. But do not misunderstand this study Bible as a "legalistic" study bible. This Bible does not emphasize that good deeds grants you salvation. But it does emphasize how Christians should live in a dark world and how we are to be a light.
I do recommend this if you are looking for a study Bible with pentecostal/charismatic/amrinian perspectives.

I have been told this is the leading book on wildland watershed management. I do have a complaint though, I believe with a little creative thought any book can be made to be interesting or atleast bearable. This book tends toward the extreme side of dry. It does have the information needed, but the graphs are very dull, nothing here to break the tedium of this book. For the cost of this book (...) there should be colored graphs, if for know other reason than to stop the strain on the eyes, bigger font, to help with not falling asleep and if you HAVE to read it like I did. ANYTHING would have helped.
But like I said it had the information you need, just not in a good format.

I have no idea where this author got their information, but it's presented with an air of authority (which should _not_ be present) and -ZERO- of the examples using sensors of any sort funtion in production release VRML2.0 browsers. Additionally, the description of Nodes, Fields, and the related ilk are merely warmed over without passing any substantial understanding or attempt to pass these concepts. Please, for the love of God, save your money and spend it on The VRML 2.0 Handbook or other resource.

The author of this book appears to have stopped short of actually completing it. The content is based on a Draft specification of VRML 2.0, and the examples will not work in final draft browsers. The publisher should have paid attention to the quality of the contents on this book. I hate to say this, but don't waste your money!