After hearing that the LDS church recommended this book to the producers of the video "The Lost Book of Abraham", I decided to purchase it. It turned out to be little more than a pretty pamphlet. Gee says in the introduction that "references have been kept to an absolute minimum," as if that excuses the lack of real scholarship that I hoped to find in the book.

He does present many of the perceived problems of the Book of Abraham, but glosses over the solutions to these problems. There are also significant problems that Gee fails to address. For example, the inclusion of incorrect hieratic text in the border of the upper right quadrant of Facsimile No. 2 is a real issue. It is completely out of context with the other text in the outer rim, yet Joseph Smith never offered any explanation for it. For someone with Gee's education and experience, I expected far more.

The book does contain some nice color pictures of the papyrus fragments. However, you can get the same pictures in a more scholarly book, "By His Own Hand Upon Papyrus", by Charles M. Larson. If you want to know where Mormon apologists stand on the problems with the Book of Abraham, this is an ok primer. But you will need to dig a lot deeper to develop a true understanding of the issues.

John Gee received his PhD in Egyptology at Yale University. As an Egyptologist and long-time believer in the authenticity of the Book of Abraham, he is perhaps the best qualified scholar to discuss the history and meaning of the Book of Abraham. He is co-author with John A. Tvedtnes and Brian Hauglid of another book entitled Traditions About the Early Life of Abraham, which is a must-read for those interested in digging beneath the surface.

This is a must-read for anybody who wants to converse intelligently about questions relating to the authorship and historical authenticity of the Book of Abraham.

Merritt was a million-seller back when being a million-seller meant something. Think of him as a depression-era Stephen King. The parallel's not all that odd; _Seven Footprints_ was one of the first books optioned for film before it actually came out (the film came out in 1929, starred Creighton Hale as Kirkham and Thelma Todd as Eve, and is probably best remembered for featuring, in a very very small role, Loretta Young).

James Kirkham is a professional adventurer who's caught the eye of, yes, the diabolic one. Satan puts him to a test: he's got a game rigged up where there are seven steps from the floor of Satan's chamber to the top of this ziggurat-like thing. A machine randomly assigns four steps to be good and three to be bad. The person playing the game steps on any four of those seven, and depending on how many bad steps he steps on, he pays the piper (zero: you get to rule the world, one: you owe Satan one service, two: you owe Satan a year of service, three: you're up the creek). The person playing can stop, voluntarily, after any number of steps.

While in the custody of the big guy, Kirkham meets, and becomes enchanted with, the beautiful Eve, and the two of them try to hatch a plot to escape the clutches of the guy with the big trident, aided by an old friend of Kirkham's who just happens to have found himself in the same situation.

Yup, it's sensational adventure-type stuff, easy reading, G. A. Henty for adults. Good for escapism, but is kind of like sherbet; it's close to tasteless, goes down easily, and by the time you're done with the next course, you've forgotten it.

Abraham Merritt was one of the few good writers of the pulp era, and this novel is one of the few classics. It is not great literature by any means, but as far as escapism goes, one can't do better than this. Who can resist a plot where famous people are kidnapped and forced to gamble for their souls by a menacing satanic figure? In the right hands, this would make a great movie in the Indiana Jones vein.

I know that it is a bad idea to start an A. Merritt novel at bedtime, but I couldn't resist starting Seven Footprints to Satan. 4 hours later I had finished an amazing adventure breatlessly.

This novel tells the story of a man who meets up with Satan (who in a stroke of genius looks like Buddha) and is challeged by the evil one to play games of chance. To describe the game or give away much more would be terrible, but trust me to say that the suspense is intense.

This book feels like a 1930s Hollywood movie and probably would make a great modern film if only the industry knew about it.

It is one of those vivid and accurate biographies, which can not become old-fashioned with the years. The book describes the early boyhood and young manhood of Abraham Lincoln. It describes the long and not easy way, which Lincoln had to overcome to stay in history as the great and humane American President of the Civil War Years. I underlined the facts, which impressed me the most. Young Abe was the best wrestler for many miles along the midwestern coast. Several years ago I wondered: why sports should be important for politicians? They should be bright in something else - intellectwise. But now I understand that you have to be either in boxing or in karate or in wrestling like Lincoln when you are young. This will help you to overcome numerous defeats when you become older and go into political fights without any rules. Another fact from Lincoln's biography shocked me. He would walk miles to borrow a book. There was no Internet; there were no even libraries in the area where he lived. Why would he go for miles and I am sure it was not always easy for him. How many of my friends would go for miles to borrow a book? I do not know. In addition, the second thing about it. His parents were illiterate; they could not write or read. How and from whom he would know that you have to read books? I found out that one person influenced Abe a lot. That person was his teacher named Zachariaah Riney. From Riney Lincoln got a habit to read aloud to him and would do it for the rest of his life. The third fact from his biography is amazing. Lincoln read every newspaper, which he could find. I ask myself: do I always read New York Times, which I find at home? Alternatively, I prefer to watch cartoons with my brother Kevin. When I think about all of this I come to a sad conclusion: I will never become the President of the great country. However, I hope that at least I will become the Chief of Justice of the Supreme Court. The will power, this is what comes to my mind when I think about Lincoln while reading Sterling North's book. The life was not easy for him. However, he never gave up. I know that life is not easy for anyone. However, most people give up. In addition, they do not become the great Presidents. I was trying to find out what else influenced Lincoln and helped him to become what he became in the future. I am sure it was the environment of Cucumber Trail. It was a small place but Abe could see a larger world from his cabin. All sorts of travelers were passing by their cabin telling all kinds of stories about their life. Pioneers seeking for new land soldiers and even slaves in chains. It reminds me about the city where I live - New York. You can meet the entire world here and know much more about life if you are willing to talk to all these people like young Lincoln used to do. In addition, the last thing, which determined the future of Lincoln, was that his family moved a bit. This was giving to him an exciting feeling of constant adventure. I am sure that this feeling is extremely important for any politician otherwise he becomes and old and boring mosquito who fly's around and disturbs people with his monotonous songs.

I am 38 years old and my father bought me this book when we visited the Lincoln birthplace when I was approximately 6 years old. I still read it from time to time. This book started me on a lifetime desire to learn more about the man called "Abe". The book is well written and takes you from birth to his assassination (which is taken up by less than a page.) I found it fascinating when I was younger and, as I said, I still read it now and then. I have over 50 books on Lincoln and this is still one of my favorites. If you have a young son or daughter that likes to read, let them try this one, I think they might just do as I did the other day. My father is now 72 and visited and I showed him the book and thanked him again as I recalled the day he bought it for me.

I would heartily recommend this book for anyone, but it is geared toward children. (I would actually say from 9-12) depending on how much they like to read.

The power of Heschel's influence on the philosophy of Jewish America cannot possibly be underestimated. Dr. Kaplan's valient attempt to analyze and research the life os this great thinker is to be commended. His descriptions of the piety of the man he calls a Prophet, may be distasteful to some of his more liberal admirers, but remains the unadulterated proud truth. For the great liberal thinker and activist never swayed from his religous beleifs. Though considered a leader in the Conservative movement, he remained an Orthodox Jew. Though Kaplan's descriptions of Heschel's father, who was a Chassidic Grand Rabbi and miracle worker are lacking understanding in Spirituality and therefore rather inacurate, which is troublesome to his more knowledgeble Chassidic readers, I eagerly await Volume II, on Heschel's years in America.

Among the American intellectual community, Abraham Joshua Heschel is probably the best known Jewish spiritual leader. of the 20th century. This resulting from his activist stance on the issue of Civil Rights in the early 1960's and his active and vocal opposition to the Vietnam War a bit later. Yet as time goes by ,few Americans,Jewish and gentiles alike are aware of Heschel, the scholar, Heschel the particularistic Jewish activist, and Heschel, the spiritual seeker. This biography throws light on the youth and education of this prophetic figure. We learn about Heschel's Chasidic background, his "royal" lineage, his sojurn in Vilna among secular Jews, his education and activities in Germany as well as his foray into the world of Yiddish poetry, and his scholarly publications.The book is well researched and finely written, with many illustrations. I only feel that those parts dealing with Heschel the Chasidic Jew and Yiddish poet lack some authenticity. The authors seem to go overboard to stress Heschel's ritual observance in Vilna and Berlin, such as strict adherence to the Kosher code ,to the laws of Shaatnez and the like.Its ironic that at the same time that a number of books and articles have recently appeared about the Lubavitcher rebbe's stay in Berlin, subtly questioning his Jewish committment,this book about a future leader of the Conservative Jewish movement maintains Heschel's strict ritual observance in Berlin.All in all this volume is a fascinating portrayal of the life of an East European Jew seeking new horizons and an education in the West, yet never forgetting his roots. It is an important contribution to the study of European Jewish life and thought in the 20th century.

When my younger brother first saw this book, he was full of enthusiasm, reading it page by page. But slowly, he grew bored with it and just put it aside. It was very informative about American presidents but not engaging enough for him. On the other hand, the price is rather expensive. Those aside, I think this book is a great read (if your interested that is).

Even though it was published in 1988, the Abraham Lincoln volume, like all of those in the Encyclopedia of Presidents, looks like something that came out in the Fifties. The book is filled with historic photographs, engravings, posters, paintings and cartoons, but they are all printed in black & white. The cover has a painting of Lincoln and a strip of images from his life. In the world of the internet, CD-Roms, and cutting-edge graphic design, this book looks very boring; but it is also as informative of a juvenile biography of Abraham Lincoln as you are going to find without going up to the next young adult level.

As is the norm with the volumes in this series, Jim Hargrove begins in media res with the first chapter devoted to Lincoln's issuing of the Emancipation Proclamation (the complete text of which is provided in a historical broadside) as Freedom's Hour. The other chapters look at Young Abraham, covering his early life in Kentucky and Indiana; The Representative from New Salem is about Lincoln's time in New Salem; Springfield focuses on a pivotal period in Lincoln's life as a lawyer, congressman, and the Senate race with Stephen A. Douglas; The Sixteenth President is basically about the entire Civil War, covered in a single chapter; finally, Good Friday deals with the assassination, ending with the final haunted photograph taken of Lincoln earlier that week.

The strength of this book is the information it provides young readers about Lincoln's life and political career. Hargrove deals with Lincoln's suspension of habeus corpus during the early days of the war and the controversy that dogged his years in the White House. The point, of course, is that Lincoln was not an American saint until after he was assassinated, and that during his Presidency it can be argued that he was vilified more than any other person to hold the office. This is not the first book that a young student would turn to in order to learn about Lincoln's life and times, but it certainly provides more biographical and historical details than any other comparable volume.

Currently, I have this book for my undergraduate course in Abstract Algebra, and I really really wish that the professor picked another one. The main reason why I don't like this book is the fact that the explanations are very bad and there is like 2 pages max. for each topic and then around 30 problems at the end of each topic. I think that clearly this is not enough of theory and explanation for an undergradute text in Abstract Algebra. There are very very little examples, and if there are any then those would be proof of the theorems and that's it. I just don't feel comfortable with this book, and I had to search for other books in order to get through the class. I really like the contents, and I just wish the author would spend some more time explaining why and not just stating the theorem. That we can all found in Mathematical Handbook.

My first course in abstract algebra was from a pre-publication version of this text. I remember Professor Alexanderson rushing into class at the last minute with the next few pages of the text still damp from the mimeograph machine. I have used the text in my abstract algebra courses ever since the first edition became available. The most distinctive feature of the text is the extensive and well organized sets of problems; the problems are the course. The problems at the end of each section not only give practice which reinforces the material in that section, but also leads into the next. There are many cases throughout the text where the main theorem in Section N has already been discovered at an intuitive level by the class from doing the problems in Section N-1. All that is left to be done in Section N is to give a precise statement and a proof of the theorem. I have found that students who are serious about mathematics thrive on this text. Two groups who find this approach to teaching/learning mathematics to be particularly beneficial are the students who intent to pursue graduate school and those who are preparing for secondary math education. I recommend the text highly to all my fellow mathematics professors who are looking for just the right text for their abstract algebra course.

A very good book with the basics on addiction. I especially enjoyed the chapter on spirituality and the addict, although I would have liked to have seen a little more on this subject.

Twerski's book "The Spiritual Self" has what I was looking for and much more. I think it is a must read for ANYONE on the road to recovery. He explains how the role of the human spirit is essential in the addict's new life and how one does not even need to be religious (although it certainly helps!).

Finally, in plain English, this book explains how the addict thinks and why he treats himself and others the way he does. It doesn't solve the problem, but it does offer comfort in knowing that you are not to blame. I only wish the book went one step farther in offering some advice as to how to deal sanely with addictive behavior, how to react and perhaps what to expect when you do react. Overall, well worth reading.

Historian after historian continue to baffle me. These Phd's seem to base their historical assumptions upon a country that did not exist in the 19th century: America [Read: Alexis De Tocqueville 'Deomcracy in America."] The young republic had not yet, prior to the War Between the States (Civil War) forge an identity for itself. Noll fails to grasp the widening gulf that seperated North and South theologically and political (The Hamiltonian view of the Constitution which favored government banking, involvement in infrastructure and Jeffersonian states rights agrarian tradition.] Southern theologian James Henry Thornwell [Whom Cornelius Van Til said was the greatest American thinker ever produced on this continent besides Jonathan Edwards] got it right: the War Between the States was a theological war in many ways. Noll, who believes an "America" existed prior to the War Between the States fails to grasp that puritans in the North long ago abandoned anything good about their religion, except the need to control the rest of the country politically. Noll, however, gets Lincoln right in so far as declaring him a rather "odd Christian." This probably explains Lincoln's uncharitable attitude at invading fellow states who exercised the right of secession [sorry, I do believe in this doctrine: our founders did!.] Noll is right, evangelicals have no hero in Lincoln. I've always been perplexed as why many evangelicals hold him in high esteem? But, Noll, like any other Northern historian, fails to analyze the Southern intellectuals of the 19th century and completely glosses over President Jefferson Davis' Christian commitment as an Evangelical Episcopalian. "It is true that we are completely under the saddle of Massachusetts and Connecticut, and that they ride us very hard, cruelly insulting our feelings, as well as exhausting our strength and substance." Thomas Jefferson- a Virginian first. (May I suggest Anne Norton "Alternative Americas: A Reading of Antebellum Political Culture" University of Chicago Press, 1986.

What we have here is a remarkably comprehensive examination of the role formal religion played in the United States from the Colonial period through the Civil War. For various reasons, those who formulated the Constitution insisted on a separation of church and state as well as certain checks and balances within the federal government. What I found most interesting in Noll's book is his analysis of the transition from European Puritanism (after almost 200 years) to what could be called American Evangelism (emerging in the late-1790s) which not only allowed but indeed celebrated freedom of religion. Noll's primary subject is the evolution of American theology. He necessarily examines the historical context within which that process occurred. My only quarrel with him, probably more an honest difference of opinion than a complaint, is that he suggests -- or at least assumes -- a homogeneity in America's religious life which seems to be contradicted by what the separation of church and state made possible: religious heterogeneity protected by the Constitution and sustained by the checks and balances. Nonetheless, Noll succeeds brilliantly in explaining how and why religion was central to early-American history.

This book, a volume in the Time-Life Civil War collection, is a good basic history of Lincoln's Assassination. As with the other volumes in the Time-Life series, this book has wonderful photographs and images from the Civil War period. I would recommend this book to people with little or no previous reading on Lincoln's assassination.

"The Assassination: Death of the President" is perhaps the most poignant of the Time-Life Civil War Series. Author Champ Clark begins with Lincoln's "Haunted Dream" in early April 1865 of being told the president had been assassinated opposite a photograph of Lincoln taken that February where the glass negative broke during developing. The result is an eloquent beginning to the story of a national tragedy. Clark goes back to 1861 when Lincoln began receiving death threats as soon as he was elected. After sketching the security procedures with which Lincoln was provided, Clark begins the story of John Wilkes Booth and the conspiracy he built. There is also a photo essay on "The Stage-Struck Booths." This first of five chapters establishes of how this book is carefully constructed.

"A Kidnapping Aborted" covers the plan to kidnap Lincoln when he was away from the White house and included some of the "cartes de visties" taken of Booth at the height of his acting career. "Tragedy at Ford's" deals with the April 14th assassination, with photographs of the key people and places involved. This chapter ends with photographs of the clothes Lincoln was wearing and the items he carried that fateful night. "A Night of Tears and Violence" relates the deathbed vigil at Lincoln's side, the attempted assassination of Secretary of State Seward by Lewis Paine, and the flight of Booth. "The Grieving Nation's Long Farewell" is shown in photographs and engravings, including the only known picture of Lincoln after death. "The Harsh Reckoning" deals with both Booth's death as well as the trial and execution of the other conspirators. There is a photo spread of the items Booth carried when he died, forming an ironic counterpart to the earlier pictures of Lincoln's possession. However, the book ends with a photo sequence of the conspirators being hung.

For those who are well versed in the assassination of Abraham Lincoln there is probably nothing new here. But the presentation of the facts, coupled with the use of historic photographs, engravings, and broadsides, makes this one of the finer volumes in the Civil War Series. I do not think I have ever seen as many different illustrations dealing with the assassination as are collected in this volume; for me the most haunting is the picture of the bedroom in which Lincoln died, the pillow still soaked with his blood. Although the focus is clearly on the assassin and his victim, Clark works in the supporting characters with vivid details: one sidebar tells of how Edwin Booth once saved the life of Robert Lincoln when the President's son was accidentally knocked by a crowd onto railroad tracks, while another reprints the actor's anguished letter to the public following the assassination. The collected effect is quite impressive and this is an excellent penultimate volume to this first-rate series.

Reading the above book description compelled me to buy this book. The concept of two gods debating their own adequacy to the point they ascertain disbelief in their own powers intrigued me. However, the above book description and the absurdly long from the author notes does not do real justice in exposing what this book is really about. The Eclipse possesses more than one simple theme but most importantly what I discovered to be the overarching theme concerns religious responsibility. Chachamovits argues that one can reach God by following His laws. He does this by allowing the reader to eavesdrop on the dialectical discourse between the two main characters, Hades and Zeus. At first Hades offers the notion that they may not really be gods and Zeus responds that at least he knows that he is. They then debate what it means to be God by arguing the archaic paradigms of God. Those paradigms include, but are not limited to: God is Light, God is ominous, omniscient, and omnipotent, God is good, God is love, God is infinite, and of course the beaten-to-death-paradigm that may never flush away: God is Masculine. Therefore, the bulk of the story is about two gods having complicated dialouges about old notions of what God is. Reading this book was a laborious job for me not because of the depth that Chachamovits travels, but because I consider my self a free thinker emerging outside established religions. The Eclipse attempts to persuade the reader to follow the axioms and creeds of established religion in order to attain enlightenment and harmony with God. I felt a greater sense of imprisonment then of liberation.

That being said I must say there were five reasons I enjoyed the book such as the soul using the body to fulfill the soul's desires. 2.) There were some good evidence of pantheism. 3.) Chachamovits writes in plain English, and his syntax is easily discernible. 4.) The book is short and can be read easily in one sitting. 5.) What I liked most about the novel is the virtue of humility. Hades and Zeus endure a long mental journey to finally understand that they are immensely limited in their thoughts and powers. Nonetheless, these above strengths cannot subside the recurring and pretentious assumption of what God really is to the author's definition.

Therefore in simple sum: kudos to Chachamovits for writing a book attaining humility, but an unfortunate thumb down that here is yet another book that limits God and perpetuates the confinement of establishment religions.

One last side note. Those who are purchasing The Eclipse published by Adequate Ideas Publishing (first edition), note that there a few omissions of letters in various words (though the keen reader can easily assume what the missing letter is) and a complete omission of text on page 127.

I bought this book a while back, and I have read it twice already. I have decided it is time to comment on this mystical and philosophical work and its writer. It is quite clear that Mr. Chachamovits' ideas are an expression of his deep philosophical and Kabbalistic knowledge. His sense of (often allegorical) imageries and quite intense character psychology (enacted specially in the dialogues between the two main protagonists, the gods Zeus and Hades), are extraordinarily profound. His focus is clearly religious (or more like, of a spiritual-philosophical nature), with constant allusions to Jewish thinking with strong Chassidic overtones. The overtones are not always obvious, for Chachamovits' language is uniquely philosophical, dramatic, and loaded with vibrant potential. The musical markings on top of each chapter indicate (in Italian!) some other "dimension" readers may not easily be aware of, although I am happy to have recognized them. My take on it, as I speak Italian, is that Chachamovits wanted to bring out a sense of (musical) dynamics to this dialogue/play, as if the reader could appreciate a musical score. Assuming this is true, it is actually a shame Chachamovits did not make these dynamics more evident (in English), for reading his book with them gave me a sense of how he felt and envisioned its enactment (perhaps as a play). I had also noticed something structurally very interesting: the two gods, the (main) protagonists, start out in the play with "celestial sizes", and as they journey through the play, they get "smaller" (closer to human size) as they also get more humble. This is a great book. Passionate. From a philosophical thinking, one must give Chachamovits credit for the brilliance of his insights, elegant logic, and a deep structural reasoning. From a spiritual perspective, it is a book that claims that, at the end, only G-d is G-d, and all other entities are limited and subject to His will. Anyone interested in reading a one-of-a-kind work with much Kabbalah and philosophy, must read this book!