I would recommend this to anyone who wants to save time and become efficient at working out.

As I've said of other Missing Manuals, if I were to write a guide, I'd want it to read like this one. Highly recommended.

Enough with silly sunday School classes about stories and opinions; THIS should be the textbook of sunday School classes of the truly justice-minded churches of America.

As good as this book is as an introduction, I think an exploration of the fundamental principles of Catholic Social teaching would round off the presentation. Also, there is a need to discuss practical application of Catholic teaching such as Princpled Nonviolence and grassroots praxis.

The range and depth of the book is a welcome addition to a growing attempt by Catholic theologians and ethicists to apply the Gospel to the "signs of the times". Kudos for a job well done ! One will eagerly await the second volume of Christian praxis.

Kara is a symbol for St. Paul, the former Saul known for his persecution of Christians. The gentle dove is a symbol of the Angel who appeared to Paul and who helped him rethink his priorities and become a Christian. (The dove, long recognized as the symbol of peace is often referred to in Scripture). The woodland creatures could be the Disciples or as a Christian community of caring. The end of the book reinforces the Christian theme beautifully by describing Kara's ultimate sacrifice -- he eats Manna (communion, perhaps) and takes a swan song (falcon song) flight into the sun. At the end of his life, he is transformed into a myriad of beautiful colors that his woodland friends know as being him. It is one of best books in Christian literature. It is a heart warmer. Please read it. It will really touch your heart.

Indologist Heinrich Zimmer provides an easy to comprehend text taking four time-out-of-mind-myths and relating them to the esoteric "grail" path! It makes an excellent study for the seeker/student who would wish to follow Wolfgang Von Eckenback's "I learned my ABC's without the use of black magic".

In this writers opinion very few scholars have been suited to blend eastern thought processess into western concepts. Zimmer adeptly crosses this void as if stepping over a puddle of water, making "The King and The Corpse" highly informative and a joy of the heart to ponder.

If you are a seeker on any esoteric path you will find yourself and your 'map' within it's cover.

Shri Rajeshwari Pujari Maharaja

The author discusses Concept Mapping (Entity Relationship diagrams for computer people) and Vee Diagrams, a template for structuring knowledge on specific concepts.

He shows how these two tools can improve learning in students. His examples start with a science class that uses a laboratory to teach practical skills and scientific method learning to students. For these students, the two tools become important for structuring knowledge and directing future research.

His results show that students need to make learning relevant to their existing knowledge and these tools will help do that. His results show an initial drop off in standardized testing after applying these tools, but then the scores pick back up and exceed standard rote-learning. I would agree with this -- if you're talking about the upper 20 % of the students. But I can't see the class laggards buying into these tools, as they require the student to be in love with their subject. These tools show you how to go deeper and how to find new knowledge.

I would recommend these tools for advanced classes and motivated students. I agree with the author that they will help researchers push back the envelopes of knowledge on their fields of specialization.

The Vee tool forces a template of things to "Think" and "Do" when you are formulating questions on a topic. Although perhaps tedious for some, it appears to work very well. I liked it very much. Students in a science lab can use these templates to decide what questions to research, what tests need to be run, how to know if they are successful, etc.

It is in this scientific area where the big payoff for these Vee charts are. I doubt that John Q. Public is going to find them as a useful tool on everyday learning decisions. For this reason I recommend this book for any type of researcher. The author describes how these Vee Charts have been used successfully by graduate students on their theses.

But John Q. Public can easily apply the Concept Maps. And, the author uses these maps as a tool to interview and assess students. The author also uses them to help develop books, articles and learning materials.

This book would be excellent for someone who has read Kuhn (scientfic revolutions) and wants to find some tools and methodologies for extending knowledge in his field.

I think the author is correct in most of his work. This book is particularly recommended for graduate students doing any kind of research papers.

John Dunbar
Sugar Land, TX

The author's writing style is both engaging and informative. "Leather Relationships" has an intimate quality to it, including an interesting interview with the founders, and another with the author's late boy. The latter interview and writings around it answer, as best I've seen, the question "What is a 'boy'?" "Playing with Pain" included information on some techniques for pain processing and storage that I'd not run across in book form before. "Leathersex and Spirituality" is a short but welcome chapter.

The book flows well. The author does not shirk from addressing edgy topics when relevant. The index is exhaustive.

I particularly recommend "Leathersex" to a gay male leather audience.