This book is filled with the unpublished teachings of Dr. Ernest Holmes, author of the Science of Mind and Founder of the Religious Science movement. As you read this book you feel a sense of sitting in the classroom with Dr. Holmes. His inspiration, enthusiasm and dedication to Truth is infectious! This is a brilliantly edited masterpiece. This book truly illustrates why the Science of Mind is the Philosophy for the New Millennium. No one has given us the Truth of Being as clearly and easily understood as Dr. Holmes since Jesus. Thank you and bless you, Marilyn Leo!!!

Though no scientist, I had heard the name of Lysenko passed about for years. He seemed to have been a mad scientist, creating bizarre hybrids and ecological disasters that plague Russia to this very day. That one man could do so much damage intrigued me, so I sought to learn more about him.

In this book, Dr. Soyfer, a former Soviet scientist who had met Lysenko, documents the destruction of science and scientists under the influence of Lysenko. Contrary to numerous opinions, Lysenko was an poorly educated agronomist who happened to have been in the right place at the right time: In the '30s, "Pravda" wrote him up as a pioneering scientist. Recognizing that newspapers and popular support could fuel his rise to the top of Soviet society, he set about making a name for himself as a scientist in non-academic journals and periodicals. His peasant upbringing and miraculous findings--never empirically proven or duplicated--made him a star proletarian scientist, the kind needed to bring about true Communism.

Along his way to the top, he was assisted by many people who thought him a sincere, but ill preparted, scientist; he later had many of these people purged after gaining the almost total support of Stalin and Khrushchev. His grand claims of producing superior cattle and wheat, among other things, consistently failed, yet no one dared oppose or even question his policies. Whether to propel himself upward, bring down the academics he apparently detested, or protect himself and his "science", Lysenko nearly eliminated all serious work in genetics, agriculture, and biology from the '30s into the '60s. Numerous scientists were exiled, fired, or executed during his reign as the people's scientist; according to the author, the effects still linger in Russia.

An amazing story of how, when politics decrees what science is acceptable and how it is going to work in the political paradigm, the results can be tragic.

Marx's book is roughly 50 years old now, but it still sparkles with insight into the myth and symbol discourse surrounding America's fulfillment of the 18th century idea of the "Garden of the World," a new Eden that would redeem mankind. Starting with "The Tempest" as reflective of the West's view of the geographic discovery of "primitive" and "unspoiled" lands, and moving through Hawthorne, Emerson, Thoreau, Melville, Twain, to Fitzgerald "The Great Gatsby" as an exemplification of how the simple"pastoralism" of the Enlightenment (based on the Virgillian pastoral form), Marx shows how the American artists and writers slowly came to grips with the penetration of the machine into the garden. He talks about the idea of the "middle landscape" a notion poised halfway between primitivism and progressivism, about the apparent perversity of "lazy" early settlers who, in the view of some commentators like Jefferson, never cultivated their own gardens, unlike the English aristocracy. The section on Melville's rewriting of the pastoral ideal in "Moby Dick" is a masterful excursion into the imagination and motives of Melville, as he questions the boosterism for industrialism which has infected even Emerson, who apostrophizes about how industry will forge a newer, better millenialist garden.

At some point before the industrial "take-off" there was hope that technology would extend and even democratize the garden. Stunning inventions one after the other -- the railroad, the telegraph, the industrial weaving machies -- and their introduction so soon after the American revolution portended a great unemcubered American future. But still Emerson noticed the change when he wrote in the 1840s that "Things are in the saddle and ride mankind," and Thoreau pointed out that men had become tools of their tools -- focused on the means but not on the ends, and instrumentalist view without ideals.

James in his notes on trip he took to America in his later career was struck by the "acquiesence to monotony" in the small New England towns. The railroad crossing had made them all the same. Thomas Carlyle had warned America about the insidious effects of industrialization on the spirit. So did Blake and Wordsworth and other Romantics. However, many Americans like Emerson, believed the degradation of the "dark satanic mills" would never happen in America. None could believe that the apple-cheeked farm-girls of New England working in the first mills would ever fall so low as the wretches in London. The "Garden" would not permit it to happen that way.

Some other highlights: his keystone use of a Hawthorne essay in the Virgillian mode penetrated by a railroad whistle. The mixture of Thoreau's hard-headed "empirical" approach to pastoralism, Melville's skillful metaphors, particularly the skeleton of the whale on an island of natives which looks half like a hanging garden and half like an industrial loom. Twain's pastoral America in Huck Finn, Twain's recognition that the pilot (as he was) had an entirely instrumental view of a sunset on the river (with its hidden dangers that required constant attention), while the passenger could actually enjoy the sunset. Finally, although short, Marx's retelling of Gatsby whose "Country House" on Long Island is founded of the spoils gained by factory workers a little bit up the railroad line, is compelling too.

Science fiction writers have exploited the machine in the paradox ever since the genre began. Indeed the genre began with Mary Shelley's whose monster was a creature of technology. And also, the myth is everywhere apparent in the suburbs of America -- the middle landscape between the country and the city. The myth and symbol approach of Marx and Nast was attached by the next generation of historians, but now that the dust has cleared we can see how influential a book this really is. Great stuff!

A gorgeous coffee table book of the most incredible mountains on the planet. Filled with stunning color pictures of the best mountain peaks on 6 continents. Published by Harry N. Abrams, 1989

This book is a great starting place for anyone in a Judeo-Christian tradition to explore their spiritual life. The backgound is Catholic, but the focus is on experience and the emphasis is on dilemmas and transformations that are universal. Leo is gone now. We are blessed he left us this book.

I am fairly familiar with the art work of Leo & Diane Dillon from the covers they have done for various collections of the work of writer Harlan Ellison. Consequently, I knew even before I really looked at the cover of "Mansa Musa: The Lion of Mali" that the two-time Caldecott Medalists are particularly well-suited to illustrating the story of one of Mali's most celebrated kings in the 14th century. Author Khephra Burns tells the story of young Kankan Musa, who is taken one night by slave raiders. However, ironically, this is a story of self-discovery for the boy who has become a slave. When he was younger and asked his mother about his father, she told him "To know your father, you must first give birth to yourself." Now he is told by the man who betrayed his village to the slave raiders, "You are your own slave...You don't know who you are." Although a slave, Kankan begins to discover "Il-Rah," the Way, the Path, on which he will be tested. The story of "Mansa Musa" tells of the adventures Kankan had upon his journey through the grandeur of Africa's ancient cities.

The Author's Note in the back of the book addresses the question of how much of "Mansa Musa: The Lion of Mali" is fiction and how much is fact. The history of the Mali Empire is well documented and there are several scholarly sources that tell of Mansa Musa's golden caravan crossing the Sahara. When Burns has to fill in the gaps in his narrative, he does so with places and customs that are historically accurate (e.g., the salt city). Consequently, what we have here is a philosophical story of self-discovery, invested with the rich cultural history of a land most young readers have never heard about, and illustrated by gorgeously crafted paintings. "Mansa Musa" is a real treasure of a book, which will impress even older readers.

This is the book on manufacturing processes I have always wanted. It has great taxonometric charts of how all the different processes relate to eachother. It also has good drawings and explainations of evey process I know about and many I have never known of. Perfect reference for me as a designer...

This is Southeast Asia as you will really see it if you walk the streets at random. There is nothing romantic here, only dispirited people in a decrepit urban landscape. All the photos are fascinating and are the next best (worse) thing to being there. Totally real!

Leo Mellor, apparently 'director of the Linienstrasse School for the Gifted' in Berlin, has revealed himself as one of the most promising poetic voices of his generation. We will certainly hear more from him. Along with Sophie Levy, in this collection he deals with traditional themes such as landscape with a vital modernist sensibility. The fens of Cambridgeshire and the beaches of England are evoked in all their grey beauty. We can expect not just more poetry from this young man (only 25), but also it seems more scholarly work.

I bought this book in 1973 when I was in eighth grade. It kept me from having to repeat eighth grade math and was a wonderful resource through high school, college and beyond. I use it now to help my 6th grader with math. I recommended it to a friend and he asked if it was still available, since I refuse to let our copy out of the house. We were tickled to see that, though out of print, copies are still around. The math in this book is simple, sound and perfect for the math-terrified.