Comes with a classy-appearing binding: dark navy with gold lettering. I've ordered several copies over the years for wedding gifts. A nice memento for achieving togetherness

I first head excerpts from this book years ago on NPR. It is a wonderful tribute to all forms of friendship, and makes a marvelous gift.

Science is exploration, both systematic and creative, and as such, it is an activity innate to humans.

"Oxygen" offers an insider's glimpse into two facets of science often shrouded in mystery, but filled with expressions of human splendor--and folly: the struggle for recognition of ones scientific discoveries and the awarding of a Nobel Prize for discoveries deemed singularly important.

The playwrights, Carl Djerassi and Roald Hoffmann, have each contributed their own singular scientific discoveries and literary creations to the world. They use the occasion of the centenary of the Nobel Prizes to mirror fictional experiences involving the historical chemists Lavoisier, Priestley, and Scheele--and the women in their lives--with the arguments and self-reflections of a committee of modern-day Swedish scientists trying to award a retro-Nobel for the most important discovery in chemistry before 1901.

Both sets of characters, those of the 18th Century who discovered oxygen and those of the 21st who seek to honor that discovery, act out the passions that drive the men and women who pursue science--and do so in ways at home in either century. The play reveals to the reader, whether a student of science (of any age) or not, the issues and emotions that underlie a scientist's compulsion to question, and hopefully to understand, the workings of the natural world, all the while striving for primacy in discovery. The book offers a voyage of discovery worth taking.

The year is 1777- the American Revolution and the chemical revolution are both burning brightly. In a Stockholm sauna, Mary Priestley and Marie Anne Pierrette Paulze Lavoisier, the wives of Joseph Priestley and Antoine Lavoisier, and Sara Margaretha Pohl, the companion of Carl Wilhelm Scheele, open this imaginative play and set the stage for the scientific, emotional and ethical struggles that follow. It is a tempestuous period: the wealthy Lavoisier was guillotined during the Reign of Terror in 1794. Joseph Priestley, a founder of the Unitarian Church and also a friend of Franklin, was forced to flee England for America, as a mob burned his church to the ground.

The authors of this play comfortably inhabit both of C.P. Snow's "Two Cultures". Roald Hoffmann is a winner of the 1981 Nobel Prize in Chemistry and Carl Djerassi performed the first synthesis of a steroid oral contraceptive. Prior to "Oxygen", Hoffmann had published widely acclaimed poetry and other "cross cultural books" for scientists and non-scientists while Djerassi had published successful novels as well as a play and a book of poems.

Nobel Prizes are awarded to living practioners and the practice has been, where sharing is appropriate- usually in the sciences- no more than three co-awardees. But in 2001, the hundredth anniversary of the Nobel Prize, Astrid Rosenquist, the first female chair of a chemistry Nobel committee springs two surprises on her three male committee members. The first is that the Swedish Academy of Sciences will begin a new Retro-Nobel Prize for early discoveries. The second is the participation of a mysterious and alluring recorder or "amanuensis" named Ulla Zorn.

The play alternates scenes between the Court of King Carl Gustav the Third and the Stockholm of 2001. The discussion of candidates by the modern committee rapidly converges to the discovery of oxygen and the understanding of fire that transformed chemistry into a modern science. The problem is this-we now know that Scheele first discovered oxygen around 1771-2; Priestley discovered it totally independently in 1774, disclosed his discovery to Lavoisier during a visit to Paris in that year and published first. History proves that Scheele also disclosed his discovery in a letter addressed to Lavoisier two weeks before Priestley's visit. Lavoisier never responded to Scheele's letter. But Priestley and Scheele did not understand the significance of their discovery. They believed that the new "fire air" sucked an essence of fire (phlogiston) from burning matter. It was Lavoisier who understood that burning, rusting and respiration all involved addition of oxygen (oxidation) rather than loss of something to the air. One committee member, Bengt Hjalmarsson, is reasonably fluent in French and is assigned Lavoisier. Scheele is assigned to Sune Kallstenius, comfortable in the German language frequently employed by Scheele. Ulf Svanholm is assigned Priestley. Not surprisingly they each become advocates for their "charges". But other human frailties emerge. Bengt and Astrid have a history. Ulf harbors a grudge against Sune, who he is convinced, caused him to be "scooped" on his major discovery. The stage has been set to play off the issues of scientific priority, ambition and motivation, complicated by human passions, among powerful women and men of the eighteenth and twenty-first centuries. Indeed, it is the women who, according to Ms Zorn, are "...usually expected to clean up the dirt" and so they do by clarifying history and moving the modern committee to an acceptable concensus.

The issue of priority for the discovery of oxygen is to be settled in The Judgement of Stockholm. Did Lavoisier, Scheele and Priestley ever meet together? Probably not- but what an exciting thought. And in the best tradition of modern science, the critical experiments of one must be performed by another. There are thrilling scenes here: Lavoisier performing Scheele's generation of "fire-air" under the latter's supervision; Antoine confiding his intuition about Scheele to Marie ("I trust him"); Joseph to Mary about Scheele ("I trust him"); Carl Wilhelm to Fru Pohl on Lavoisier ("I do not trust him"). And there is an extra bonus. There is evidence that to celebrate their chemical revolution, Antoine and Marie performed a brief play or masque. Alas, the script, if one ever existed in writing, is unknown. But Djerassi and Hoffmann offer us a delight- Marie, as "oxygen" publicly humiliates and vanquishes Antoine, as "phlogiston", in a performance witnessed, with amusement, by King Carl Gustav and with increasing discomfort and then consternation by the Priestleys, Scheele and Fru Pohl.

The twists, surprises and the denouement will be left for the discovery of the reader. The authors have succeeded wonderfully in combining solid history, with the informed nuances and rich humor of two of the world's most accomplished scientists. Hoffmann and Djerassi do not recognize the boundaries of the "Two Cultures" and readers of this play will be the richer as a result. One last thought- the number of actors in this play is quite small and the settings simple. A reading of the play can be readily staged by high school or college chemistry classes. What a way to enliven chemical history and bridge the sciences, humanities and fine arts!

I liked this book! Mr. Armstead really pushes the envelope of modern horror with this strange and bloody tale of madness and vengeance. The characters are realistic and they act logically (not in your typical horror story manner where smart people do stupid things that get them killed just so you can have a high bodycount) and the story progresses in a fast-paced manner. There are a lot of real world situations thrown in so the reader can get a sense that even though this book has a lot of fantastic and kind of science-fictioney elements in it, it is grounded in reality. The violence is used sparingly, but when it comes -- WHAM!-- it's in your face and scarey! The villainous "Infernals", the supernatural bad guys in the novel, are GREAT and so different from other horror villains!

I want to see more! Mr. Armstead subtitled PAINMAKER, "The First Tale in the Book of Dark Memory", I hope there are quite a few MORE entries in this series!!

PAINMAKER is a truly original, very dark, very literate horror novel, perhaps one of the best from the "New Wave" of horror writers that I've read in the last three years! Mr. Armstead's prose is tight and descriptive and the overall tone of the book is geared at thinking adults who like suspense and thrills. The novel is imaginative and violent, but it never panders to prurient tastes or to the lowest common denominator. The author keeps the plot on track and his characters are believable and, in some cases, downright memorable. Scenes from this novel continue to pop into my head unexpectedly even after reading it weeks ago.

Mr. Armstead's villains, The Infernals, are particularly vile and loathsome creatures, somewhat reminiscent of Clive Barker's "Hellraiser" Cenobites. They are grand beings, dark and devoid of human compassion. I look forward to seeing them appear in other stories.

I highly recommend this novel to anyone who wants to read an exciting, well-written horror novel free of cliches.

What A delight, Clear and concise.I carry it around in my shirt pocket.Do the authors give individual sessions about their book?

"THOUGH OUR MINDS MAY BE COMPLICATED, BEAUTY IS NOT. WE DON'T HAVE TO STRIVE TO MAKE BEAUTY IN OUR LIVES, OR LOOK FAR TO FIND IT. WHEN THE MIND IS STILL, WE CAN SEE A MAGNIFICENCE IN EVEN THE MOST ORDINARY THINGS--THE VIVIDNESS OF A SUNSET, THE WARMTH OF A SMILE, THE SIMPLICITY OF SERVING A CUP OF TEA. WE CAN SEE NEW LIFE AND GROWTH. EACH THING IS DIFFERENT FROM ALL OTHERS, EACH MOMENT IS UNIQUE." [from page 152.]

Here are the chapters: 1) Discovering the Heart of Meditation 2) Meditation Instructions 3) Difficulties and Hindrances 4) Suffering: The Gateway to Compasion 5) Integrating Practice. (Each chapter is amazing but chapter five to me is the best. I have probably 85% of it highlighted!)

This is a life-changing book. It's small enough to carry on your body and profound enough to envelop in your heart. I will cherish this always. My wish for all who read this is on page 170, paragraph one.

Thank you Joseph and Jack!

Probably in effort to make up for failure to produce "Papers of Joseph Smith vol. 3," Jessee here republishes his long touted necessity of all LDS scholars' personal libraries "Personal Papers of Joseph Smith." The new edition removes some of the Hofmann forgeries (Patriarchal blessing of Joseph III, Anthon manuscript, etc.) and updates some of the erroneous footnotes of the first version, as well as the introduction of a new letter or two sent by the Prophet. The reader will be especially interested in the letter correspondance between Governer Thomas Ford and the prophet prior to the martyrdom. This is an expensive book, and I recommend it only for the Joseph Smith history enthusiast, as the casual reader/learner may find his personal writings difficult to navigate or search. Those interested in the doctrine taught by the prophet should continue to seek the usual sources (TPJS, WJS, etc.) as this book is predominately historical.

I am glad that the renaissance of Joseph Smith Manuscripts is still going on. It hit a high mark when Mark Hoffman was deftly producing his forgeries, and seems to have petered out a bit. As Jesse says in the introduction, "Since the first edition, a team of scholars has commenced preparing for publication the complete papers of Joseph Smith, which, it is anticipated, will fill a dozen volumes." (xvi) Good! The Church of Jesus Christ has put a lot of time and money into Islamic Classics translations, and the Dead Sea Scrolls, that it is high time they remember their founder and prophet!

The book itself is a gem. It has some materials that were previously published in "The Papers of Joseph Smith, vol 1-2," such as the 1832 account of the visitation of God the Father and the Son Jesus Christ, and his early journals. The bulk of the book is devoted to letters and epistles Joseph Smith wrote in the process of his life and mission.

Some of the letters are interesting, such as his letter to Oliver Cowdery discussing his early childhood. Others, such as his letters to Edward Hunter (my great-great-grand uncle), are rather boring and incidental to the greater work. This book also includes several letters to his wife Emma. I feel like a voyeur as I read these letters, but I am also very curious about this aspect of Joseph Smith's life. We see him as a Prophet, Seer, Revelator, and Translator, but not as a husband, father, and lover. These letters open up this aspect on to the man's life.

Jesse has also included photographs of the manuscripts, so if you are into eyestrain, you can compare the transcription against the original document. This becomes important in the 1832 account of the First Vision, where Joseph Smith give his age when the events happened. He wrote the age in a "between-line" insertion, and wrote the age in Arabic numerals. The age has traditionally (habitually?) been transcribed as "16th year of my age," but as the manuscript showy, the "y" from the "heard my cry" in the immediate above line crosses over the "16" in the insertion, so it is possible that the "16" may actually be a "15," which corresponds to the other accounts of the First Vision.

The maps are absolutely incredible, and the mini-biographies help us keep track of who's who. The paper is very sturdy archival paper, and the binding is reinforced, so the book should really last the ages.

Hereward Carrington was a noted Psychical researcher and author of many books on psychic subjects. Sylvan Muldoon was a young man who had the ability, since childhood, to leave his body and travel around to other places. This book was first published in 1929, long before the current interest in Astral Projection, and is a classic in its field. Subjects covered include different types of astral projection, the astral cable, the hypnagogic state, falling and flying dreams, dream control, cosmic energy, telekinesis, consciousness, methods of projection, and more. This book is quite complete and densely written, much of it in the first person by Mr. Muldoon. The only criticism I really have is the tendancy for Mr. Muldoon to say, in effect, "Well, you probably won't believe me, but...." Remember, this was written in the first part of this century, before the New Age had captured public attention.

Hereward Carrington gave in this book the oportunity (for the reader) to Mr. Sylvan Muldoon tell us his experiencie on astral projection, from a practical point of view, from someone gifted to have it early in age. Mr. Muldoon could not control when or how it was happenning and his many years practical work and experiencies, managed to learn how to do it, by will, and to see what really matters to teach others how to make it. This is the truly value of this book: a life experience on how to make it work.

Good book to inspire the imagination! My daughter enjoyedbeing able to use the stickers to think about different opportunitiesfor the future.

I really enjoyed reading this book with my five-year-old grandchild. Living about an hour away,I don't get to see him very often, but he has that book with both of our pictures in it to remember me. It's great.

Pipe and Pouch is a great book for people who love poetry and an occassional smoke. In an age when tobacco users are a group of almost outcasts, this book gives pleasure and comfort to the stalwart smoker. Light that pipe or cigar and join Daniel Webster, William Cowper, Lord Byron and others as they sing odes and sonnets to the joys of tobacco.

If Amazon would check books in print, you'd be able to tell your patrons that this book was reprinted in the early 1970s and is still available.

Joseph McElroy, who claims with this book an attempt to write shorter books for a reading public with less time on their hands, has written in "Plus" an incredibly ambitious and experimental novel. He does no less than discuss the emergence of consciousness; he attempts to explain, or at least propose, the first instances of conscious intelligence. If he has, as suggested, reduced the size of the novel, he has in turn increased its complexity and density.

"Plus" is by no means an easy novel to read. In fact, it challenges the reader at every turn. However, to read it through, to contemplate its implications, and to finally understand it, is to take part in its achievement.

One of McElroy's most endearing works: it is at once strange and familiar, as much of his other stuff, but its brevity makes it one of his most powerful and haunting novels. The prose is phenomenal--like Imp Plus, the narrator, it expands and grows as his bizarre mind-building experiences accumulate, turning into something more real (his voice carries him like a parent, and not the other way around) than poor Plus himself, who can only circle around the earth and never join it. His identity becomes his voice, assimilating each of his experiences and serving to sustain or remember them somehow by reporting on them. Communication here is a metaphor for being--our voice is our consciousness--and it is beautifully done.

If you've never felt backed into a corner, lost, and with no hope, this book will show you how it feels. The comedy takes the edge off of the harsh reality of the truth as Joseph Connolly knows it. If it wasn't for dark humour, this book might be too depressing to read.

Connolly is a major comic talent of a certain vintage: British, Thatcher-bred and entirely without hope for the future. His characters are comic masterpieces of self-sabotague. Connolly, while well-respected and even downright trendy in Britain, awaits mass-market discovery in North America. Connolly takes place alongside Tibor Fischer, Martin Amis, Will Self and Irvine Welsh as the best of the comic glooms: unlike these other authors, Connolly plumbs the entirely realistic to produce surreal humour. A gem!