Don Isaac Abravenel lived at the juncture of the Medieval and the Renaissance, and through the expulsion of the Jews from Spain. His writings help preserve the Jews through this troubled time, but also delayed the resettlement of the Land of Israel.

Ben-Zion Netanyahu (father of the hero of Entebbe, and of the recent Israeli PM) first tells of the life of Abravenel, and then discusses his outlook and religion. This unusual treatment works very well. Netanyahu first introduces us to the attitudes and assumptions of the people who lived at the time, which are so often very different than our own, and then discusses how Abravenel fit into, or differed from, that zeitgeist. By building step by step -- World Outlook, View of History, Political Concepts, and finally Messianism, the author educates us about Abravenel's world, as well as his beliefs. I was surprised at Abravenel's prediction that the coming of the Messiah would be immediately preceded by a war between Christians and Moslems.

The endnotes, bibliography, and index are all very helpful.

[This review is based on the original 1953 edition.]

Don't be fooled by the cover. This book is funny. It is insightful while extending a true message a the same time. The message is remember parables, stories heard from your youth. Upon gaining adulthood, you usually understood what your elders were saying. It is hard to explain without giving away the details of the book. This book reminds us of the familar and funny parables heard when growing up as children. Great message from a funny author. I am sending copies to all my friends.

One love!!

This is a fascinating book! Written as the first person reminiscences of Isaac Mylar during his childhood and adulthood between 1855 and 1880 in the quaint mission town of San Juan Bautista, California. One visualizes a droll and grizzled Mark Twain-ish narrator describing the day to day goings-on in San Juan ... an important crossroads town and stagecoach depot in old California. While being entertained by Isaac's homey narration, one learns a lot about California history. We meet the Breen family, survivors of the Donner Party, Encarnacion Sanchez, the richest woman in California, an assortment of famous outlaws including Tiburcio Vasquez, and various nineteenth century entertainers passing through on their way to the minefields. We learn about the tensions that developed in this small California town, peopled by both northerners and southerners, at the outbreak of the Civil War. And finally, we learn about the effect of the railroad on small town economies in California. I have a much better feel for California history after reading this book ... and I think you will too. I highly recommend it.

While Easy Design On Your Computer is intended for young audiences, its easy instructions will reach all ages: any who want to use Microsoft Word and Office 97 to design newsletters, leaflets, and projects on the computer. 48 pages of instruction include tips on everything from making stickers to producing newsletters. Young users with some Microsoft Word knowledge who want to fine-tune it for projects will be delighted with this easy approach.

I purchased this book back in 1995, began reading it, but never finished even the first chapter. I came across it neatly packed away during a recent move and decided to give it a try. WOW!!! I could not get over the results. After reading the entire book and years of NEVER winning the Florida "Cash Three", following Isaac's system, I won the next 5 out of 7 "Boxed" Cash Three games! This book is written in eveyday language and does not require an accountants degree to understand. The author is not beyond reproach either, as I have found in other systems I've read, and is more than willing to help or advise through his listed WEB site. So if you want to waste your money on "Horoscope Readings" or some other scheme that is based on obscure data like a friend's, mother's, cousin's, pet dog's birthday that's ok. But, if you want an honest-to-goodness system that WORKS, then this is the book you want to read. T. L., Davie, Florida.

This is an inspirational book that brings a comforting feeling to the soul.

Four years did I search for this book. Finally, a friend of mine surprised me with it one day after succesfully bidding for it on ebay. I was ecstatic. I have always wanted this book because I love Egyptian history and I love Asimov's writing. He did not disappoint. I remember reading at one point that Asimov wrote these history books with a younger audience in mind, "writing down" so to speak. Although admittedely the book was not full of his usual quarter-and-dime vocabulary words, I did not feel as though I was reading a child's book at all. His style remains supurb throughout. I highly recommend this book to any Asimov fan or anyone interested in an overview of Egyptian history.

This is quite a fun little book - a must for any serious collector of Asimov stories. A lot of the stories in here are pretty easy to find elsewhere - Let's Get Together, Lenny, Satisfaction Guaranteed, and Galley Slave are all amply anthologized in other books. But Victory Unintentional, Robot AL-76 Goes Astray, and First Law are relatively hard to find. Nearly all of the stories are high quality (they chose the best), and the book is small enough to squeeze anywhere. A personal favorite among Asimov anthologies.

New York Mayor Isaac Sidel is up in the Bronx, watching a baseball game. The street wise Mayor knows that just outside the ballpark are run down neighborhoods, filled with junkies of all ages. The gangs own the borough with the dead ones immortalized by Alyoshas, a pre-teen graffiti artist. The owner of the Yankees plan to move the team, even though Isaac hopes to talk him out of it. The owner is helped by the power-hungry father of Marianna Storm, a child who tries to help the Mayor in his fight against her father. Isaac soon realizes greed is the real game. A phoney corporation is pulling off a land scam that brings together strange partners, who all share two things in common. They want to make a large killing at any cost and want to get rid of Isaac, who is in the way. Only hiz honor the mayor can stop them, but this group is willing to do anything to feed their avarice thirst. EL BRONX is the ninth Mayor Sidel novel and like the previous eight is a fabulous, fast-paced book. As good as the others are (they all are very good), this may be the best one yet because it is extremely complex without losing the ability to tell an intriguing tale. If the reader wants to understand the mean streets of New York from their living room, Jerome Charyn's series is one of the best ways to go a streeting. Harriet Klausner

I think this book is excellent. It covers much of the theory relative to vibrational coupling in molecules, and is very readable.