I first read this book at about age 35. Then lent it to my 66-year-old father. Just as was I unable, so, too, was he unable to put it down for more than a meditative moment to complicate Asimov's musings.

After Dad read it I loaned it to my older son, then aged 12. He had the same addiction as Dad and I.

The three of us are not prone to dwell on science, history, or anything of great consequence often, but we still frequently discuss topics first brought to our attention by probably the greatest, and certainly one of the most prolific and diverse writers in history.

I challenge any reader to not contemplate many of the thoughts expressed by Asimov in this fascinating and intriguing book.

Asimov and Hawking were probably the two most intelligent science writers of the 20th Century. Asimov alone, however, also was a skilled writer of history and fiction.

This is the quick reference handbook for our universe, written in simple and concise language (only 252 pages). It should be required reading in high school. Everyone should possess this knowledge. Read this book and see the big picture.

If you've ever looked up in wonder at the stars in the night sky, or puzzled over the origins of the Earth, this is the book for you. A fabulous journey through centuries of scientific curiosity and discovery that left me wishing for more!

Isaac Levitan was one of 19th Century Russia's greatest landscape painters, and this book offers beautiful reproductions of his paintings and drawing, most in full color. There is also a long introduction providing biographical and historical information, as well as numerous photographs of Levitan, his friends and colleagues, and the Russia he portrayed.

I don't know of another book in English which represents Levitan so well, or a book which offers a more palpable view of the Russia written about by Turgenev, Tolstoy, and, especially, Chekhov (who was friends with Levitan and may have based a few of his characters on him).

This is a beautifully published and illustrated account of the work by a great Russian painter Isaac Levitan. The book has lots of excellent colorful reproductions. Levitan was definitely the biggest Russian lanscaper of all times, and arguably one of the best landscape artists that ever lived in the world. "The Mystery of Nature" by Aurora/Parkstone might be the only serious book of pantings by Levitan currently on sale to the English speaking public. I bought it, and I am very happy that I did.

I am down to the very last few chapters and I have savored every word of this book. I am a fast reader but I found myself reading this book slowly. One reason was pure enjoyment----like fine wine;sipped slowly. The other was because at times it became to techinical or lagging. I am not sure which. I get excited thinking about how this wonderful state that I live in (Indiana) was in the time frame of this book. I am also saddened by the atrosities that the American Indian went through. I know that all nations, all countries have witnessed the same or similiar treatment of those who "got in the way of progress" but this still makes me shudder at our ability to envoke cruelity upon our fellow man. If nothing else this book should be the topic of the day in all Indiana history classes in our school systems. I really would not have to finish the book because I know the whole story---when I began the book I knew very little--thank you Carol Spurlock Layman for giving us light. Remember:Peace begins with one smile.

I have always had an interest in the early 19th Century history of the midwestern states, and particularly the Native Americans that lived there. I learned much about how the Native Americans lived during these times, and how they were treated ( and mistreated) by their white neighbors. The book is an historical account of the various tribes, their Chiefs, and their life styles. This is a great story about Isaac McCoy, his family, and their struggles to help save the American Indians. I thoroughly enjoyed this wonderful book.

Resurrected? The ram was in the Garden of Eden before it appeared in the thicket?

These are all stories derived from the Akedah throughout Jewish history, some older than others, some really stretching the text of the Bible. The process of midrash, answering those nagging questions about puzzling texts, filling in the spaces of various Biblical stories, has a long history, much of it written down in the various writings of the Rabbis after the fall of the Temple in 70 CE. One of the prominent stories which had taken on a life of its own after the writings of the Hebrew Bible had ceased (c. 165 BCE or so) was that of the sacrifice of Isaac.

If anyone is interested in the 'Jewish legends' (to borrow Ginzberg's title) and the lost art of story telling this is a wonderful addition to your library. Shalom Spiegel does a remarkable job in summarizing these stories as the pertain to the Akedah in great detail and at great length for such a small book.

This book reveals, to a degree, just how the development of thisparticular story led to the interpretation by the Christian movement and, though it is not discussed in this book, that of Islam. The word of God is not static and is not confined to text. It lives and breathes and in this little book reveals proof of such life.

In this fascinating book, Spiegel traces rabbinic interpretations of the Akedah (the Binding of Isaac) from the earliest sources through the Middle Ages. He begins at the end, with the remarkable fact that during the Middle Ages, European Jews looked to Isaac as a martyr, the prototypical sacrifice and an inspiration to those Jews who killed themselves rather than convert to Christianity under the threat of the Crusaders. Despite the plain language of Scripture -- in which God ultimately tells Abraham *not* to sacrifice (or even harm) Isaac -- many aggadic interpretations suggested that Isaac was actually sacrificed and then brought back to life. In the 12th century rabbinic poem that inspired this book, Isaac is actually killed (and resurrected) *twice.* Spiegel asks how medieval interpretation of the Akedah could have strayed so far from the plain meaning of Scripture, and in particular whether the theme of the redemptive sacrifice of the first born should be traced to Christian influence. Spiegel looks to rabbinic, Christian and pagan sources to try to answer these questions.

This is a scholarly work and assumes familiarity with classical rabbinic literature. Some arguments are hard to follow if you do not know the generations of the Tannaim; and if you've never read any midrash, you will find the style very hard going at first. Even so, as a non-scholar with only a beginner's knowledge of rabbinic literature, I felt that I got a lot out of the book, particularly in terms of the history of ideas and the contrasts between Jewish, Christian and pagan notions of sacrifice, redemption and ancestral merit.

One of the most beautiful works of Latin-American literature. A young man discovered the power of love when he fallen in love with the virginal Maria. A story to read only to remember how difficult being human can be.

Una de las bellas historias de la literatura romantica hispanoamericana, nos lleva a revivir una y otra vez ,en el magico ambiente del Valle del Cauca, la fuerza del amor de Efrain y Maria. Un libro para leer tan solo por el placer de recordar lo que se puede sentir estando vivos.

These stories were originally published ,in serial form, in the Jewish daily Foward. They are short almost precise stories of IB singers youth in Warsaw and his Fathers "court',the BETH DIN, a combination court,synagogue ,advice for the lovelorn, place of talmudic debate,etc. The stories,vignettes drawn from memory,tell these so well. None of these stories are in the collected stories,so it makes the purchase of these 2 volumes essential{the other is IN MY FATHERS COURT]. From Old widows wanting to remarry, to overly pious mates, to pseudo-intellectual rabbis trying to show off their'learning".,I.B. Singer has left us a record of a vanished civilization, in a place and time less then 70 years ago.Essential stories from the gratest short story writer of our time.

These are vignettes, really, scenes remembered from Singer's youth when he served as a messenger errand-boy for his father who conducted a beth din in Warsaw. Although often ambiguous and seemingly inconclusive, they are the works of a master who can effortlessly create a powerful scene in only four or five pages. He avoids all the popular flaws of the short-story genre. There is not a trace of vanity or judgment in his narratives. He is the perfect short story writer.

The articles written by some of the best baseball writers in the country and collected by editor John Thorn represent the best of "The National Pastime," the publication of the Society for American Baseball Research. The result is what I want to think of as more of an academic journal than a collection of sports stories, because "The National Pastime" is never going to put out a swimsuit issue.

Within these pages you will find G. H. Flemin's "Kaleidoscopic View" of the infamous Merkle Blunder, Bill James's statistical analysis of the relief pitcher's ERA advantage, and David S. Neft asking that immortal question: "Is Ozzie Smith Worth $2 Million a Season." This is a book that does not talk about Babe Ruth, Joe DiMaggio and Mickey Mantle but rather Hack Wilson, Dick Allen and Roger Maris. For culture there are the poems "Van Lingle Mungo: An Elegiac Ode" and "Baseball Rhyme Time." and then for fun a Ballparks Quiz and Acrostic Puzzle. These are articles that want to talk about the almost no-hitters, newly discovered RBI records and expansion-era managers. But there are also stories about the St. Louis Cardinals planning a rebellion rather than playing a baseball game against the Brooklyn Dodgers and Jackie Robinson and Bob Carroll's argument for 12 players who should be in the Hall of Fame, most of whom are still not there.

This is not a sit down and read at one sitting book. This is a spring training book, to get you ready for the season by getting you to think of the first game lost by the Cincinnati Reds in 1870, the importance of on-base percentage, and a ballplayers name to rhyme with Snider. It is also an effective subscription advertisement for "The National Pastime." I have been rereading a couple of articles from this book every spring (okay, when spring training starts since we have snow on the ground up here until well after Easter) for several years. This is not a book to leave unprotected on your must have list.

It's always difficult to find a book that isn't cloaked in modern day cinicism, and that's why THE NATIONAL PASTIME is one of the most refreshing books I've read in years. If you lazily daydream about your little league days, big league chew, and your first triple, then this will stoke the fires of nostalgia for you as it did for me. What i liked most is that I got the sense that the author is probably not that different from you or I--just a life-long fan who wants to share his passion for the greatest game ever played. The only difference may be the remarkable skill and wit with which he chronicles our nation's pastime. He'll make you want to get a stick ball game gong in the back yard.

How does it feel to be left alone as a seven year old. Your mother is taken by the authorities and your father is away in an interment camp and you are left in a cherry orchard in southern France. Isaac Levendel captures his feelings and shares them with us in his spell binding book, "Not The Germans Alone" published by Northwestern University Press (ISBN 0-8101-1663-4).. The amazing reality of the roundups after the invasion of Normandy rings with the madness of the Germans and the French establishment. Levendel gives us insights into the workings of Vichy France and the large amount of collaboration. While we were led to believe that most French were in the resistance, Levendel's book makes it clear that very few Frenchmen were in the underground and very few Frenchmen helped Jews escape the Nazis. Those few that risked their lives were simple people acting honorably. What I found most interesting is the description of his emotions about his mother and the description of her actions are sometimes inconsistent. He shows her virtues and her flaws. He writes about her love, her intelligence, her caring, her stubbornness, her bad judgement in not fleeing sooner, her mistake not taking all her money with her, and then going back to get it. I got the whole picture of her and that makes the book rich and touching. Levendel describes the peasant family that adopted him. They were heroes who risked their lives to help. Some scatological material gives us an earthy feeling of these people struggling to feed themselves as they helped others and thought nothing of it. They were truly pious. l loved how Levendel writes about his experience during allied bombings, "The bombardment did not feel or sound like it does in the movies. The heavy smoke smelled like dust and fire. The explosions were much more violent that I expected. The earth trembled under my body, and I could feel the shock wave of the explosions on my neck and chest, as if the bombing were happening inside my shirt. There was nowhere to hide. My mother had reached the limits of her power and could do nothing more to help me." The tracing of the official Vichy documents to verify what really happened is itself a real mystery story.

This is a very beautiful and honest book about what happened to the Jews in France during WWII. It gives rare details about the French quiet acceptance of the deportation of Jews. It also reveals how difficult it is to get basic information from the French archives 50 years after the facts.

A must read for everybody who desires to know.

Gilpin et al. aptly depict and identify what has made Yale's workers and the movement they have created so vibrant and strong. This book is all the more pertinent given last month's strike of all four unions.

I had to read this book for a US Labor History course at the University of Colorado. It was absolutely incredible. The authors trace the events leading up to the strike but, more importantly, they describe how the community of New Haven came together in order to defeat "Corporate Yale." I highly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in labor history and the struggles faced by American workers.

Certainly there is no one who can match the breadth of Asimov's writings, although there are a few who can match the volume. The man truly can be described as "the human writing machine." This is a book about books, being a summary of the first 99 that he wrote. To be more precise, it is a collection of excerpts from several of those books interspersed with Asimov's personal commentary concerning his writing and how he came to write about that particular topic.
I found the commentary to be more interesting than the excerpts. He writes in a very personal style that seems to be directed to you as you read it. His tactics and even occasional humility, a rare thing for Asimov and something he readily admits, gives you a great deal of insight into how he could be so prolific and broad. He sums up his career very well when he admits that the only thing that he is expert at is in sounding like an expert.
I confess that I learned more science from reading Asimov's books than I did in satisfying the requirements for two majors in areas of science. He writes very well, making the complex understandable. If you are unfamiliar with his work, then this book is a good place to begin. If you have read nearly all of his over 300 books, then you can still read this for pleasure, something I just did for the third time.

In this book Mr. Asimov reviews his first 100 books. He presents a chapter from each one with some comments about the way the book was written, the characters (if it's a fiction story) or the research if it's a Science book. Compulsory reading for anyone interested in Science and/or Fiction.