This is a great set of books for the serious Hebrew student. but not for the Bible teacher or pastor who is rusty on Hebrew.

There are two flaws in these books. One is that the editors have taken so much trouble to give so much information about the structure and meaning of the Hebrew, and yet have provided often mediocre, and even often, lousy, inaccurate translation. They have relied on the RSV, and have stated that where they felt necessary, they have given a more literal meaning. The interesting fact is that in many cases, they have let stand those translations of words which have NO basis in the Hebrew text. They have, in fact, gone beyond dynamic equivalence (conservative paraphrasing), and used straight paraphrashing. Why would one go through so much trouble to get to the root of the langage, and then provide a translation that misses the mark virtually or totally. So keep your Hebrew lexicons available, because you are going to need them.

The second error shows up mainly in the verb descriptions. Just looking at the 7 major verb stems, they are clearly classified in error quite frequently. I have found that this is usually between the Qal and Hiphil stems, and often on weak verbs which loose a consonant (e.g., hollow verbs). The pointing of the text will usually be a clear Hiphil, but the editors have classed it as Qal. This is quite a problem, both for understanding the emphasis of the verb stem, and at times the actual meaning of the verb.

I do not recommend this set except for those who are studying Hebrew seriously, using, for instance, Waltke & O'Connor, Gesensius, and other authoritative works. One without a decent knowledge of Hebrew grammar already in the brain will end up teaching inaccuracy in certain areas.

Moving through every Hebrew word from Genesis to Malachi, this work provides for each word its grammatical identification, its page number in the BDB Lexicon, and its English translation.

If you are like me, your Hebrew skills aren't where you would like them to be. Owens gives an abundance of help in this area.

Word-by-word, the masoretic text is analyzed and translated. Especially helpful is the verb analysis. However, one should not expect to see any commentary, since that is not what these volumes are designed to give.

This set of books won't teach you Hebrew, but it you are a little weaker in that area than you would like to be, these books will help you out greatly.

This is a collection of mysteries set during the summer or on vacations (or both) from 20 of Signet's mystery writers. Ranging from well known to new authors, the list includes the following: Jeff Abbott, Lydia Adamson, Ann Campbell, JoAnna Carl, Edie Claire, Max Allan Collins, Selma Eichler, Hazel Holt, Peter King, John Lantigua, Sam McCarver, Tamar Myers, Dana Stabenow, Andy Straka, Denise Swanson, Peter Trenayne, Judith Van Gieson, k.j.a. Wishnia, Matt Witten, and Wayne Worcester. Most of the authors write stories using their series sleuths, but a few take the opportunity to introduce a new character from a new series.

With only a couple exceptions, I enjoyed the 20 stories presented here. This book confirmed my opinion of several authors I had already read and introduced me to several new authors I'm looking forward to trying. I will be watching anxiously for the new series introduced here.

This is a great way to get a feel for many different authors. If you like cozy mysteries, this book is fun summer reading and will introduce you to some new friends.

Well, to start off, the 5 stars were given just so that you would pick up the book. Try to get "And..." at the library if you can, but if yours doesn't carry it, then you might think about buying it.

Now on to the stories. Out of the 20 stories I read and enjoyed 4 of them. Yes, only 4 and they are: "Salt On the Rim" - Jeff Abbott; "Chocolate Kidnapping Clue" - JoAnna Carl; "Unreasonable Dout" - Max Allan Collins; "Porridge and Bess" - Tamar Myers. These are well written and enjoyable stories.

I read these stories and thought they were OK, but nothing special: "Let Sleeping Dogs Lie" - Ann Campbell; "Murder Can Hurt Your Ears" - Selma Eichler; "Loch Ness Mystery" - Sam McCarver.

You are advised to skip the rest of the stories in the book. I still think that Denise Swanson is a good author but this story is not among her best work. All in all a very good collection.

Being a mystery writer with my first novel in its initial release, I have met many (and know well some) of the authors featured in this collection. I freely admit to this bias, but I still assert AND THE DYING IS EASY provides an excellent introduction to contemporary mystery short fiction. Some big names are featured--Dana Stabenow, Max Allan Collins and Tamar Myers among them. Some reasonably new authors are also featured. There is a wide variety of story types in this collection--some as cozy as cozies get while others reach the level of gritty to the extreme. Various authors use historical and contemporary settings. I particularly enjoyed Matt Witten's, Andy Straka's, Sam McCarver's, and k.j.a. Wishnia's tales. AND THE DYING EASY is such a fine introduction to short form mysteries that I, in my role as university professor, have made this book part of the assigned reading for my writing short mystery fiction course this fall at California State University.

As an Architecture Student this book has come in very hand. It gives many details of design guidelines and is a wonderful resource book to own.

This book offers a great way for architecture students to get a handle on some of the issues related to building design. It deals with basic issues of construction including structural systems, mechanical systems, and code considerations. It gives "rules of thumb" and basic descriptions which are great for preliminary design. For example, if you need to roughly size a truss or floor system during schematic design, go the appropriate section for the system you are using, and you'll find handy charts for basic sizing. This is a great book for students who need rough "guestimates" for studio projects.

Having this book is like having a half-dozen of the best engineering consultants at your elbow-ready to answer any question that may come up during design. It reduces all the complex technical issues in building design to simple formal elements of know size that are easily merged into the architectural design process. A must-have for professionals and students alike!

I think it is wonderful. In one afternoon I learned everything I needed to know about how to shop for a new car that would be easy on the insurance rates and how to buy a great policy from a great company.

for the very first time in my 36 years as an automobile owner, I finally, finally, finally understand my car insurance thanks to this book! I also am in the process of following the author's simple steps to finding the best vehicles to insure and the best companies to insure them. I can't wait to say good bye to my broker!

I reviewed my policy and my daughter's policy after reading this book and we saved a combined total of $600 on our premiums with the secrets and helpful hints we learned! I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to finally understand their insurance policy!

It is always somewhat disappointing to have to buy yet another sourcebook just to complete your RPG system. This one is no exception and you really can't consider running a serious Babylon Project game without having this in hand.

On the upside, it is in full color, just like the main rulebook, and is full of the same deep descriptions that give a clear sense of how it "feels" to be part of Earthforce.

The book is organized in a logical fashion similar to the rulebook comes complete with information on at least one ship from every major race (except Vorlon) and a quick system for ship to ship combat. This includes two pages of full color cardboard cut-outs of ship markers.

You will also find information not only about Earthforce's structure, but a full cast of important characters in Earthforce.

While I cannot list their URL, as per Amazon's review policy, the publishers of _the_Babylon_Project_ (Chameleon-Eclectic) have a wonderful intro to! the system in general on their website.

*They also include a vital addendum to the first printing of this book*, and other useful PDF's.

While it would be nice to have more specific geographical information, (in both this sourcebook and the rulebook) my only major complaint is that this isn't so much as sourcebook as a integral part of the system, and it should be sold as such.

Either way, the book is *still* one you really can't do without.

Lots of useful info and background, particularly useful if you are trying to run a campaign on the magnificent world Babylon 5 created for all of their fans.

It is a pity all the game supplements are so hard to find, I would love if someone reprinted them.

This sourcebook is very important if you have any EF personell as characters. Furthermore, it adds more equipment, skills and charactaristics. More importantly, it includes the Starship combat system for the Babylon Project. I like this system, although I have not had a chance to play it yet. It is fast, easy to understand and tactics are important. Moreover, it is one of the very few starship combat systems I have seen where ships obey the Newtonian Laws of Motion (except gravity drive ships, of course). The weapons chart was accidentally omitted from the book, but it can be downloaded from Chameleon Electric's web site and it was included in the Gamemaster's Screen, below.

If you want to learn Workshop, buy this book! By the end of the book you will be flying thru the tool.

The early chapters go easy and introduce the development environment. This is extremely well written.

And the examples in the early chapters work! You can easily create the web services yourself.

The later chapters loose focus on examples and more just explain how to do the task using workshop. And then the final chapter, "An Online Ordering System", seems to be written by an alein; the one web services does not work and will not work the way it is declared, one of the jave files is missing completely from the text but is provided on the CD. This is the reason for only four stars.

And then when you go to SAMSPUBLISHING web site, they have lost the book completely.

This is a excellent book and does a terrific job taking you through the WorkShop and using it to create Web Services.

I could have probably stumbled through the stuff without going through this book but it would have taken me much longer and I wouldn't have learned as much.

If you want to get up and running quick with this WorkShop tool buy this book and you will be rocking in a short time.

The Workshop Kick Start book makes it easy to begin using WebLogic Workshop to build and run web services quickly. It has lots of valuable code samples, describes the underlying concepts like asynchronous communications and conversations well, and stays concise in its descriptions.

This is for developers of all skill ranges.

This book covers all the important manuscripts of the early Church. This volume excells in its coverage of the earliest Church documents. The only draw back is the lack of Justin Martyr's Apologies. Other than that this book is an excellent source for reading about the Apostolic Fathers.

Being both a neophyte in the faith of Christianity and the history of the Church, my hunger for reading both the Bible and other early Christian manuscripts has flourished. How does one come to the truth in a faith that is so full of opinion in doctrine, and misunderstood tradition? I guess if I knew that answer, I wouldn't be so involved in searching these texts. Regardless, I do trust that the truth is there, and that the Spirit has both lead and will lead me to it.

This book has been one of those occasions in which I feel that the Spirit and God's timing were working in me. At a time when all of the negative parts of the Church were bringing me down, this text has helped me to focus on what is really important in my faith, my walk with Christ.

To begin, the works of such early martyrs such as Polycarp, help one to see just what was going on in the mind of a man of faith who knows that he will be honored to recieve the same persecutions as his Lord. In this day and age, the idea or desire of such a sacrifice is alien to the majority of Christians, and other than 2 Maccabees, is only hinted at in the Bible.

Also, to have a glimpse of what was happening in the church shortly after the demise of the apostles, is very enlightening. Although the scraps that make up quotations of the lost letters of Papias are less than adequate, one finds that early after the distribution of Revelation, the argument over a millenial kingdom raged. Since Papias was under the tutilage of John (the elder, or the apostle, I won't argue that one) in Ephesis, his point of veiw on this matter should not be ignored, though he was proclaimed a heretic later on.

Finally, the most important aspects of this text is the concern that these early Church leaders had in the direction that the Church was leading. Questions that popped up at these times were and still are very important to the understanding of how one walks in the faith after one has come to it. These texts are strong in explaining the importance of a life of good works and the importance of unity amongst the congregations.

Also, we get a glimpse of what was happening at that troublesome Church in Corinth after the apostles were no longer an influence. In a way, some of the most practical instruction has been written because of this Church, and they didn't stop in needing more after Paul's demise.

This book is a must-have for any Christian who wants to know the historical and theological roots of his/her faith. It shows that many "recent controversies" in the church were present from the very beginning--and answered effectively by men steeped in the Old Testament and the Gospel.

The Army of Francis Joseph is a scholarly examination of the Hapsburg (Austrian) army during the period 1815-1918. This army was primarily designed to safeguard the stability of the Hapsburg Dynasty and during this period, the Dynasty was primarily reflected in the 68-year reign of the Emperor Francis Joseph. Gunther E. Rothenberg, a professor at Purdue University, is an acknowledged expert on the Austrian military and he has unearthed a wealth of information from Austrian archives about this heretofore-neglected army. Furthermore, the examination of Austria-Hungary's security situation from 1867-1914 is critical in understanding much of the political and military background to the First World War. Rothenberg concludes that in the end, while the Hapsburg army was never among the best armies in Europe, it fought hard and did it's professional duty to the dynasty despite difficult circumstances.

The Army of Francis Joseph consists of fourteen chapters and an epilogue. The author also provides a detailed list of sources and endnotes. However, the lack of any maps, charts or photographs does not make this a "user-friendly" book. For example, while the author provides considerable data in the text on important items like Austrian military budgets, army strengths, and ethnic composition of the military, he does not compile this information into tables or charts. Thus if the reader wants to determine how Austrian military spending changed over the 19th Century or the army demographics changed, one must be prepared to flip a great many pages and keep a notepad handy. While the author's intent was an organizational study rather than a campaign history, a few maps of the main campaign areas would have been appreciated. Professor Rothenberg went to a great deal of effort to assemble this fine study, but it is unfortunately not well packaged. Furthermore, the middle part of the book - which mostly concerns Hungarian nationalist agitation and the establishment of the Dual Monarchy - is extremely tedious and slow. Essentially, this book is not for novices and should only be read by someone with considerable background and interest in this period. That being said, this book is also indispensable for understanding Austrian participation in the First World War.

Reading Rothenberg's book, it is hard to feel sorry that the Hapsburg Dynasty and its army were consigned to the dustbin of history. The Army High Command was typically over-age and almost suicidal in its resistance to doctrinal or technological innovation. The leadership resisted the creation of an effective general staff organization despite being taught hard lessons by the Prussian General Staff in the disastrous Six Weeks War of 1866. New technologies, such as breech-loading rifles, modern artillery, and aircraft were consistently denied funds and approval. In one instance, the aged Emperor Francis Joseph stated that armored vehicles would never have any military value after a prototype spooked his horse at a demonstration. Indeed, despite the well-known construction of a handful of super-heavy artillery pieces by the Skoda firm, the Hapsburg army never relied on technological or doctrinal innovation for its combat power. Instead, the Hapsburg leadership maintained an antiquated fixation on bayonet attacks and massed cavalry charges up to the start of the First World War. The emphasis on physical bravery did produce a tough army that was able to endure a steady diet of defeats in most of its wars, but the Hapsburg army had very few victories to its credit during this period.

Rothenberg's book also sheds much light on neglected aspects of 19th Century military history, such as the suppression of the Revolutions of 1848, which hit Austria hard and required nearly two years to fully subdue. The Austrian occupation of Bosnia in 1878 was a major operation that cost the Hapsburg army over 5,000 casualties. Austrian leaders like General Conrad, Crown Prince Rudolf and the Archduke Francis Ferdinand also appear in much greater detail in these pages compared to standard accounts. After reviewing the combination of bigotry, idiocy and reactionary attitudes in Francis Ferdinand, few readers will mourn his assassination. Conrad, the Austrian Chief of Staff, is also cut down to size in this account; on the one hand, he pressed for reforms, but on the other hand his actual decisions resulted in one catastrophe after another.

The fate of the Hapsburg Dynasty was inherently tied up with the strength of its army, and this army steadily deteriorated in relation to the other great powers during the last half of the 19th Century. Rothenberg cites two primary factors for this military decline: limited budgets and an inability to fully utilize the empire's manpower resources. During the entire period 1870-1914, Austria-Hungary was spending less than half the amount on defense that the other great powers were spending; Rothenberg attributes this partly to an anemic economy, partly to parsimony by a divided legislature but primarily due to the fact that the army was intended for regime security. Indeed, during much of this period the Hapsburgs were more focused on external security missions than matching foreign enemies. Furthermore, the nationalities problem - particularly with the Hungarians - consistently undermined the effectiveness of the Hapsburg army. One of the few advantages that the Hapsburg Empire enjoyed - a large and growing population - was negated by limited conscription and lack of an effective reserve system.

Given the inherent weaknesses in the Hapsburg military system, it is a wonder that Austria-Hungary pursued such aggressive policies in the decades prior to the First World War. The empire was constantly confronted with real or imagined threats of war with Italy, Russia and Serbia after 1870 and Austrian leaders frequently beat the drum for pre-emptive attacks. Germany was enticed into supporting aggressive Austrian Balkan policies well before 1914 and this only further emboldened the regime. Essentially, Rothenberg asserts that the monarchy's leadership sensed that the dynasty's days were numbered and sought to utilize their dwindling military resources to stave off disintegration, although it was this preference for active measures that brought about the conditions for a general European war.

This is probably the best available treatment of the last seventy years of the Hapsburg Army. Rothenburg has in essence waded through an immense amount of material that would otherwise have remained undigested in unreadable regimental histories or official studies, and the result straddles the line between popular historical entertainment and readability. Few books that try to do this succeed, but Rothenburg manages it pretty well, particularly when you stop to consider what a truly esoteric subject he's covering. The real value of the work is, however, not so much in the style- M1A1 military-political history- as it it in the fact that Rothenburg is almost the only modern scholar to study it. While the book itself is a good general guide and outline to the politics and (to a lesser degree) the doctrinal and technical development of the kUk Army, it is an essential starting point for the more serious scholar. The bibliography and endnotes are a goldmine of references, not only memoirs but some archival information that will be useful to the researcher interested in doing work in the field.

this is a truly wonderful book that will appeal to two types of readers. those who want to understand the decline and fall of the hapsburg monarchy will treasure a detailed and lucid explanation of the political and social role played by the army. against the rising tide of nationalism in the 19th century, the army was a source of unity for two reasons. one, the army used force to keep the empire intact. two, the army was a symbol of unity and an institution in which, generally, the various ethnic groups of the hapsburg lands were treated equally. rothenburg does a very good job of explaining how this symbol was able to keep the empire intact, despite loosing major wars, yet how it ultimately succumbed to separatist sentiments, especially those of the magyars.

those who want to understand why the hapsburgs lost three consecutive majors wars (austro-italian, austro-prussian, ww1) will also be enlightened. the hapsburg role in these three struggles makes little sense unless one understands the political role of the army, a point that rothenburg stresses. the hapsburgs were a declining power hopelessly trying to hang on to great power status and this was reflected in the army. the army's failure to modernize and to learn from past mistakes were clearly noted by rothenburg. this failure ultimately led to final defeat in ww1, after which the empire was in such disarray that it could not prevent its dismemberment at the hands of its enemies.

this book is not an account of the campaigns of the hapsburg army. it is, however, a detailed study of its operation, structure, funding, recruiting, and role in the life of the empire during its decline. i highly recommend this book for students of 19th century military history and general central european history.

Great images and descriptions. Even includes alot of the original artwork used in promoting the streamliners. Great buy!

This book is a marvelous insight into a stylish form of travel that is lost to time and progress (almost lost). The book explores the genius and ingenuity of the industrial designers and railroad men and women that took ideas and forged them into beautiful machines. Graceful, yet practical trains designed with features to lure travellers back to the rails and away from the roads and the ever increasing airports. The book explains how competing railroads teamed up together to provide continuous through service to popular business and vacation destinations there by reaping the benefits of economies of scale. It did indeed increase ridership, however it could not stave off the mounting losses in passenger service. While operating losses continued to rise, service quality and luxury remained high right to the end, which demonstrates a pride in business that may seem uncommon today. Finally the book touches on the resurgeance of streamliners with Amtrak's new trains. After reading this book, you'll probably want to run out and book a trip on the next Acela Express, as I do, instead of piling into a United Airlines cattle car.

This is the second book about streamline trains for authors Welch and Schafer. Their first book, 'Classic American Streamliners', told the history of these trains in words, photos and plenty of graphic material, now this latest book takes a slightly different approach and looks at the art and design of the streamliner. There are 175 pictures including reproductions of color brochures and lovely artwork which the railroads used to sell the trains to the public. As it turned out it was a losing struggle as increasing car ownership and planes beat the rails. Also included are several side-bars of designers involved in engine and train design, John Harbeson, Paul Cret, Raymond Loewy, Henry Dreyfuss and Otto Kuhler. The last chapter Renaissance Streamliners, about the latest Amtrak trains, seems rather out of place. American streamline was a specific design style at a particular time and modern train design is more organic in its treatment of mass and curvature. I think the rather odd looking General Motors Aerotrain was perhaps the last of the streamliners.

Two more books about these trains are 'The American Streamliner', the Pre-war and Post-war Years by Donald Heimburger and Carl Byron. A very comprehensive study, with great photos and plenty of graphic material (all with excellent captions) but I was disappointed by the bland layout of these two books.

All four books are the same landscape size and amazingly although they all cover the same subject there is very little duplication of photos and graphics. If you want to see how these wonderful trains were marketed have a look at the two hundred ads in 'Classic Railroad Advertising' by Tad Burness. Also I don't think any of the books have enough photos of the great steamliners of the day (Commodore Vanderbilt, Hiawatha's, Crusader, Blue Goose, Coast Daylight, Mercury and Twentieth Century Limited) admittedly they were just steam engines with a covering shroud but they looked so good, especially the Dreyfuss designed Twentieth Century, the ultimate travelling experience, whose engine wheels were floodlit at night!

Finally 'The Art Of The Streamliner' is different from the other three books because of its bargain price. Railfan books always seem to be rather expensive, no doubt because of limited sales, so it is refreshing to see a quality product costing so little.

This book is really only for serious music students or musicologists - I would bet that most normal musicians or instrumentalists would have a difficult time even understanding it. As far as deep analysis and technical/structural interpretation goes, this book is probably one of the best available for the subject matter it covers. It is not for the "casual listener" or for those of you who are interested in the quartets and want to just read amusing anecdotes about their composition. This is a serious, scholarly study of the music itself, not a biography or history - although those subjects do play a part, of course, in relating the music to Beethoven's personal psychology. As such, I think it is vital for most Beethoven scholars or advanced music students to have - for reference if not for pleasure. Those of you who just want to read about Beethoven, his times, the genesis of his music, and to lightly touch on some technical matters might want to try a standard like Burk's "The Life and Works of Beethoven" or some of the more recent volumes.

Don't be scared away from this book, which is actually very interesting and well writen. I don't have a degree in music but have read little bit about music history, hamony, fugue and some music forms, which seems enough to comprehend this book. I do prefer the music analysis in detail rather than a few sentence of descriptions or generization of a piece of music, especially from the great composer like Beethoven. I just got this book and have read only a few pages, but it already attracts me. It has very detailed historical background of each Beethoven's string quartet and the analysis of it. I am really pleased to have this book!

I am unqualified to write a review of this highly acclaimed book, because I am neither a musicologist nor a student of music.

If you have training in music, please ignore this review. I give it 5 stars merely because it is highly acclaimed.

I'm writing this mostly because it is not mentioned here on Amazon, or elsewhere, what the book consists of, and whether "casual listeners" can read it. The answer is "no".

I purchased this book because I love the late quartets intensely, and I was looking for something that would be a pleasure to read, and something that might deepen my understanding of the quartets (especially the late quartets).

I found that I could not comprehend more than a few sentences in the entire book. Almost nothing is said about the non-musicological aspects of the quartets; nothing that evokes wonder or inerest - for the casual listener, of course. Although I would not use the word "casual" to describe myself as a listener - I've been listening to the quartets for more than a decade now, and find something new every time - it remains that without formal training, this book is entirely incomprehensible. It is a series of technical analyses, and might as well have been written in Japanese as far as I am concerned.

If you're like me - someone who loves the quartets but does not have a formal grounding in music - this book is not for you. Read Sullivan's "Beethoven" if you haven't read it already.