The best part of this are the early letters dealing with Hemingways first novel The Sun Also Rises and second novel A Farewell to Arms(Maxwell Perkins was an expert on war fiction). The exchanges between Ernest and Max over these books are priceless and very good reading to anyone who loves these books. From arguements over curse words(Hemingway one of the first to break ground in using them in his work) to discussions of Jake's predicament, from questions of how to present a reissue of Hemingways first story collection to reactions to reviews(more good reading) the correspondence is at this point one of mutual respect and admiration, Hemingway seems to need the great presence of Max Perkins even if for nothing else than reassurance. Later when the great ones literary reputation is established the letters become less and less interesting. The friendship remains a strong one but Hemingway no longer needs or asks for any input into his literary decisions. Perhaps the most astounding thing about Maxwell Perkins in relation to Hemingway is that he was smart enough to leave talent alone. With others like Fitzgerald and Wolfe there was always much to be done but with Hemingway the talent seems to have been there whole from the beginning. Hemingway fans that want to know everything will read and enjoy every detail even the letters which are just Hemingway complaining about his finances. Bitching about money can be funny when its Hemingway bitching about money. Probably a smarter purchase would be a collection of Perkins correspondence with all the authors he worked with. That way you get only the letters which count.

Hemingway was an indefatigable letter writer and as editor Bruccoli's introduction states he "wrote more words in letters than he wrote for publication, and letter writing became part of the mechanism of his literary career." This collection of correspondence between legendary Scribner's editor Max Perkins and his star author offers their personal insight into the writing and editing of Hemingway's works. Although Hemingway is now almost as famous for being a son of a bitch as he was for being a writer, he comes across here as a loyal and trusting friend-at least to Perkins. But most importantly these letters reveal him to be an artist first and foremost. The shooting, fishing, and drunken bravado that mark the Papa Hemingway persona are present but inconsequential here and what shines through is EH's complete, total, and unfaltering dedication to writing and how for him producing great literature was the only thing that counts. That insight makes this a valuable addition to Hemingway scholarship and an aficionado's delight.-Michael Rogers

The best thing that can be said about this volume of Epstein's essays is that he usually chooses good subjects, and he quotes from their writings judiciously. This is not to say that Epstein always writes about well-documented writers; several of the pieces in this volume examine the achievements of nineteenth-century literary titans whose fame has faded with time. Epstein's other strength is that, while his writing is often fussy and over-cute (he frequently reads like an unfunny Calvin Trillin), he abjures jargon.

When it comes to originality of ideas or interpretation, however, the Epstein bag of tricks is empty. He takes an instant dislike to any writer whose politics don't toe the neo-con line; and he draws his findings from a demonstrably shallow series of researches. In writing the essay on Sydney Smith, for example, Epstein appears to have done no more than flick through the biographies of Hesketh Pearson and Peter Virgin. And while I approve of Epstein's championing of Henry James as a writer, I find his method -- a diary record of a class he taught, that opens with a series of glowing student evaluations -- bland and sometimes embarrassing. Lionel Trilling is insulted a few times by Epstein in the course of this collection, but any discriminating reader will find more illumination in a paragraph of 'The Liberal Imagination' than is present in the whole of 'Pertinent Players'.

Pertinent Players was where I discovered Joseph Epstein. His books are among the few that I can read and re-read and that continue to give me pleasure as the years pass. Possibly this is because the tone is friendly and conversational, while the judgments are precise without being cutting. Put simply, Epstein loves books, loves literature, and it is difficult not to share his enthusiasm. He is also one of the few critics I trust because he avoids falling into any of the traps of the contemporary critic or reviewer. That is, he has no ax to grind, no cause or movement to promote.

His method is to read, and re-read, the books by a particular author, preferably the entire corpus, before proceeding to write the essay. He looks for a defining characteristic to unlock his subject: Sidney Hook's pragmatism, for example, or Italo Svevo's pessimism. The essay then builds, occasionally with some suspense, to something like biographical detective work. Epstein rolls out one anecdote after another without condescending to amateur psychologizing.

His subjects in this collection include Robert Louis Stevenson, Henry James, H.L. Mencken, Carl Sandburg, Robert Hutchins, George Orwell, and H.W. Fowler & Ernest Gowers.

I have read my share of literary essays and book reviews. They are not the most stirring work known to man. But I can say with confidence that book lovers will derive much pleasure from Epstein's essays.

I ordered this book along with, "Police Officer Exam California : The Complete Preparation Guide (Learning Express Law Enforcement Series. California)," for my brother as he was taking the test to enter the academy. I must say that he did pass his test with help from these books, but it took him a couple tries, and I don't think this book accurately prepared him for testing. But it did help a little. I would say that these a generous three stars.

Most of the stuff in this book is some of the things you would hear from a law enforcement officer, like I do (dad is a cop and I will be the 1st female in the family). This book is pretty good if your want to see what a real exam will look like. It also give alot of tips for you application and interviews. It tells you what your training will probably be, and gives you tips on how to do some physical training, with alot more information on other things. So, if your getting into law enforcement, I can say this is a right book to get. But if you know a police officer asks them for some insight on the field, too.

AND FOR ALL THE WOMEN OUT THERE IF IT'S YOUR DREAM OR THIS IS THE PROFESSION YOU WANT TO GO IN TO I COMEND YOU, FOR I AM A WOMAN, AND I BELIEVE IF YOU FEMALE OR MALE GO FOR YOUR DREAMS AND THE THINGS YOU WANT IN LIFE!!!!!!!!!!

While many of Porphyry's works were copied in Christian times, and Christians were generally interested in Neoplatonism, his work in 16 books rubbishing the Christians is lost. Works calculated to annoy both readers and copyists have few chances to survive. It was condemned as a mischievous libel by Constantine, without much effect, and again by Theodosius (448AD). The refutations by Apollonius, Methodius and Eusebius are sadly also lost. However fragments exist in various works by the church fathers, about half of which come from the Apocriticus of Macarius Magnes, preserved in a single 15th century MS (now lost). These are the fragments presented here.

The book isn't aimed at the specialist - the issues of dating, the MS tradition (less info than in this review!), the many philological issues with the text are not addressed, and footnotes are only for the translation, and mostly simply summarise Macarius' response. However references to the Apocriticus are given (an improvement on the same author's Celsus).

There is a rather pointless essay occupying the second half of the book, which the author admits is not for specialists and has not a single footnote. The introduction is unsatisfactory - for instance it does not even list the works of Porphyry. On the first page the quote from Tertullian from Ad Scapulam (title not given but obvious) is inaccurate; the lack of footnotes makes it hard to check others.

The translation is very crisp, and much the best part of the book. It is not always very accurate. For instance he translates "The evangelists were fiction-writers - not observers or eye-witnesses to the life of Jesus" (p.32) where the Greek (and Crafer) says "The evangelists were inventors, not historians of the events concerning Jesus" (p.38, Crafer, p.20 of Blondel's text). Hoffmann's version suggests they were not eye-witnesses, and consequently he can make no sense of Macarius' reply. The correct translation allows us to see that 'Porphyry' has no opinion on this - a 20th century idea - but just says that their accounts are invented.

I had wondered whether the book was worth doing. It is hard to imagine a series of reconstructions of lost anti-semitic literature being made. But somewhat to my surprise, it does have a contribution to make - a definite picture of the nature of Porphyry's work emerges, which makes it plain why it no longer exists.

The arguments of Porphyry will appeal to Christian-haters - apparently the target audience (in the first couple of pages of the introduction almost every statement by a Christian writer is labelled a 'boast' or 'brag'). Porphyry's method is to highlight by pretending an 'idiot-boy' obtuseness to what used to be called quaintly 'bible difficulties'. A few pages of this will be enough for most readers, other than the anti-Christian believer.

But the power of the work lay in its silent appeal to the embarassment at being different that any minority feels in a society that does not share its values. He sneers at Christian respect for the poor, for instance. Frequently he does not argue - merely assert that such an attitude is shameful. Of course once times changed, this process worked in reverse, and his appeals to the shibboleths of a vanished society were at best meaningless, and the obtuseness embarassing even to his admirers in Christian Greece. This then is the real reason the work had power, and why it is lost.

This book suffers because the editing is not up to standard, and the statements made are usually undocumented and too often have not been verified. I missed any discussion of the many interesting problems of philology posed by the text. It would have been nice if Hoffmann had gone to look for the MS, as I suspect it is only lost because no-one has seriously searched.

It is always nice to see a new version of any ancient work, even if a popularisation like this, particularly for so obscure a work as the Apocriticus.

Note: This text has not been considered an academic work by the scholarly community; it is not listed in the academic bibliography l'Annee Philologique, and so I presume was not reviewed by any academic journals.

The pagan reactions to Christianity are not as well known as they should be. In the eyes of many people, Christianity unfolded on a blank page--guided by providence and assured of victory. The words of {Porphyry of Tyre, the neoPlatonic philosopher-scribe who preserved the writings of Plotinus, give us a whole new slant on the struggle. I recommend this book highly.

This book contains the same translation of the Psalms that is used in the official English version of the Catholic Liturgy of Hours. It has all 150 Psalms, complete and unedited. (The Liturgy of Hours omits several imprecatory Psalms, and some imprecatory parts of Psalms that were retained. Compare Ps. 109 from this book and Ps. 110 from Sunday, Evening Prayer II for an especially bad example.) It is a useful companion to the Liturgy of Hours.

This is the original Grail Psalter, and not the recently published "inclusive-language" edition.

This book of psalms is a great addition to any prayer time. Music is also easy and understandable!It's definitely worth it...

Viktor Frankl has presented us with snap shots of the key events in his life. These recollections were never intended for publication but through the encouragement of his publisher this slim volume was made available for readers. Thus begins our journey in looking at the life of the founder of Logotherapy and the author of "Man's Search for Meaning."

Frankl's life is filled with interesting portraits. We learn of his mother's patrician background and the fact that she was descended from a family of prominent rabbis. His father was a struggling student and was director of the government's Ministry of Social Services.

We get to see this inquisitive young man as he is impacted by Freud, Hirschmann, Schilder and Adler as he begins to step int the field of psychoanalysis. Through his philosophical questionings and debates with these giants in the field we find Frankl developing his own methodology. March of 1938 became a turing point for the young man as his country is invaded by the Nazis and he is placed in a concentration camp. From that experience wee see a new personality arising who meets the psychological, emotional and spiritual tensions in his life with utmost grace.We see a man who has the opportunity to leave Austria and avoid the concentration camps but he elects to stay and care for his parents.

Unfortunately this memoir is not a full autobiography of Frankl. You receive sketches of his life and end up wanting more. Read in conjunction with Man's Search for Meaning, the reader can gain further insight on this great personality. I believe this book serves as a supplemental text for the author's Man Search for Meaning." Hopefully a full scale biographical work will come out on Frankl. Until then, this slender volume will whet your appetite to learn more about this great man.

"Recollections" is episodic, much like sharing a cup of coffee with a casual acquaintance and trying to divine their life story from those conversations. Dr. Viktor Frankl's "Man's Search for Meaning" is a landmark book for many seekers--including me--and I jumped at the chance to read this so-called autobiography of a giant in the field of diagnosing modern society's malaise. The book is a pleasant read, with Dr. Frankl's humor guiding the narrative. There's not much in the way of how Dr. Frankl coped with returning from concentration camps to find every member of his family--including his young wife--dead. The late Dr. Frankl's narrative is light and episodic, like afternoon conversations instead of Freudian analysis.

I needed to write a report on Shiloh, and this book gave me some information which I greatly needed. It gave me the points of view and opinions of some of the new recruits used to fight at the Battle of Shiloh.

Seeing the Elephant takes the historiographical tactics of McPherson or Power -- close study of participants' own writings -- and applies them to a specific group at a specific moment: green recruits at the Battle of Shiloh. While the conclusions the co-authors come up with are more or less what one would expect, the book is still highly interesting and gives a good picture of the mentality of the average Civil War soldier before, during and after the battle. One thing I'd point out is that this is *not* a tactical study of Shiloh -- you'll have to go to another book for that. I would recommend this not only to students of the specific battle/campaign but to anyone interested in the battle experience and soldier mentalities of the period.

A harrowing and often poignant recount of the trials and trivulations of the Simon and Garfunkel team. Chronicling everything from their days in Queens as the teenaged duo Tom and Jerry, to their triumphant reunion concert at Central park, this book is truly a dedicated fan's guidebook. Although the stories were cleaned up quite a bit and it is a little out of date, (it leaves off at Paul Simon's 1986 album 'Graceland') the book's stories are relatively honest accounts of Simon and Garfunkel's careers. Although, I'm not a huge fan of the group's work, I found this book to be an informative and interesting read.

As a devoted fan, it's been difficult for me to accept the breakup of Simon & Garfunkel after all these years. Sure, you can go see their solo concerts every now and then, but it's never the same. Thanks to Joe Morella's detailed explanations on what was actually happening between the two singers, I can now understand and accept what eventually had to happen, no matter how painful. It was particularly heartbreaking to learn that their relationship was such that Simon destroyed the sound track of Garfunkel's voice when they were initially producing "Hearts and Bones" as duo album. That's important to me as I still expect to live several more decades. Talking in the same vain, The Beatles Anthology (the book) served a similar purpose, as far as I'm concerned. I can now live with less frustrations.

The doctor's plot would make an interesting 30 page chapter in a larger book on Stalin's life, but there's just not enough material of interest for it to sustain a 300+ page book. There is quite a bit of repetition and tedious exploration of obscure documents and characters. The author demonstrates that the book is well researched, but in this case that does not translate into a well crafted story.

This book will change the way that anyone thinks about the doctors plot. It has new evidence to the poisoning of Stalin (probably by Beria) and also opens up documents lost in KGB archives since the death of Stalin. It is very well written and is worth the making of a movie for because of all the newly unveiled plot sequences. For example- General Vlasik was questioned by KGB because they thought all the people with lines next to their names in his address book were spies. It turns out that he changed all of his many lovers names to their masculine form (which is very easy in Russian) so that his wife wouldn't know and he put lines next to their names so that he'd know which ones they were. Come on people that's great! But that's far from the best here. This has all of the correspondense between Timashuk and KGB higher-upers, all the interrogation files of the Jewish doctors, everything you could possibly want to know about the Doctor's Plot and don't get any of the other books on it. Trust me, they're all lies. This is the real deal.

I own both Shigley's books on Machine Design, Mechanical Engineering Design (which I would rate 5/5) and this handbook. I find this handbook is very extensive in the topics it covers, just about everything pertaining to Machine Design, but fails to elaborate in many of the key areas. Furthermore, many formulas are presented, but there are not enough examples on their use. My greatest complaint though, has to do with the print, it seems as if I had in my hand a book written out in the 60s. Drawing are dirty and unclear in many situations, tables seem as if they were cutout from another book and pasted here, then photocopied (the first drawing in the book, a man, seems as if it was photocopied on a lousy photocopier from an old newspaper), and the typeface in the graphs is plainly outdated. I understand late J. Shigley is no longer among us, but Mischke should modernize the quality of presentation when deciding to launch new editions. Overall, I recommend Rothbart's handbook over this one.

This text is an excellent reference for any design engineer working in the machinery field. It fills in where the Machinery's Handbook falls short. The text is basically (I am oversimplifying) an expanded version of the Shigley McGraw-Hill Machine Design Textbook. My only complaint is that the discussion on the strength of welded joints is missing.