This is a great book for anyone interested in this subject, whether initiate or not. It provides insight from a number of the initial 20th century pioneers, as well as gives us a window into the inner ritual as performed by the more rural indian "initiates". I would recommend this book to anyone interested in using entheogens, writing about entheogens, or anyone who has used them previously and would like a better understanding of their experience. I especially liked the different perspectives such as referring to their experiences as just that-personal experiences rather than simply hallucinations, which implies something false or nonexistant. It provides a profound respect for these experiences rather than a complete dismissal of the experience as nonsense, as our governments and "health" agencies may be tempted to do.

If you want a number of perspectives on the serious use of psychedelics, this is the book! Christian, Buddhist, spiritual, scientific and legal considerations on the subject are presented.

As an anthology, it will familiarize you with key figures in the contemporary psychedelic scene.

This is an intelligent book for people wanting to explore psychedelics for spiritual purposes. It is not a book for "stoners" who just want to trip to see "pink bunnies"

I'm an undergraduate student in Biology and I was looking for the best book on the subject... after a hard selection of the best ones available, I came up with two great items: Lodish's Cell Molecular Biology and Alberts's Molecular Biology of the Cell.
When I spoke with my older colleagues in college and asked my Cell Biology teachers (they're both career researchers) for their opinion about what should I buy, I always received the same kind of answer: «Well, they're both great references, Lodish's is a very insightful text on the matter, as well as Alberts's. But you know... Alberts's is the real thing, the one to go for: It gives you the most wonderful and comprehensive view of the cellular world!»
So, I decided to buy Alberts's and indeed, it is a terrific book: accurate, up-to-date, really enjoyable to read (for those avid for scientific knowledge), the English is quite accessible, illustrations are excellent, a truly great achievement! From now on, this book will be my «bible»!

I've just finished reading this book and i feel this new edition is even better than it's predecessor, which is already not far from perfect. This well-known textbook is a comprehensive overview of what we have known about molecular cell biology, and what's more important is - every material here are treated very clearly and carefully, and this is where this book really shines - I even believe a layman with some elementary knowledge about chemistry and biology could not only read this book from cover to cover but also actually *understand* them.

Both the material and the references are quite up-to-date (not surprising), so don't hesitate to buy if you have the third edition.

I give it five stars because:
1) the authority is doubtless;
2) it's comprehensive, wide in scope;
3) the text is written in plain english, thus won't confuse students in the non-english speaking countries;
4) the figures are *really* excellent, IMHO better than any others that I have seen in other books;
5) the index is nice;

and some minor flaws:
The typesetting of "List of Topics" is somewhat... odd. There are no page numbers associate with the individual topics in that list too. Also I think the reference sections could be better.

So... let it be 4.5 stars.

Molecular Biology of the Cell is one of the best surveys available on the status of current information about cellular biology. The authors skillfully accomplish the difficult task of combining detail with readability while conveying the excitement of this dynamic field. Clear, concise, and colorful illustrations assist in this task and the book is a fine collection of splendidly dramatic photos of "molecular biology of the cell" in action. They covered an enormous amount of material with a style that is simple enough for a college-level biology student to follow with enough detail and references to be of use to an experienced research scientist. Bravo for a job well-done!

This is an excellent collection of essays by the greatest preachers in the Reformed tradition today. Some of the topics include The Primacy of Preaching (Mohler), The Teaching Pastor (Sproul), Evangelistic Preaching (Alexander), and The Foolishness of Preaching (Boice). John Piper's essay on Preaching to Suffering People is one of the best things he has ever written and by itself is worth the price of the book ten times over. Derek Thomas' essay on Expository Preaching is full of very good instruction. Joel Beakes' contribution on Experimental Preaching is also excellent. I highly recommend this book for pastors. If you are not a pastor, consider purchasing it for your pastor as a gift. He will be appreciative.

The Fact that this book is excellent should be no surprise, merely take a glance at the authors. This book will probably offend pastors who are in to the modern pop pyschology, but then they probably wouldn't be reading it anyway. Granted, that was probably unfair but...
Naturally some chapters are better than others, here are a few:

"The Lasting Effect of Experimental Preaching"--the essay on spiritual formation--worth the price of the book.

"The Primacy of Preaching"--by Albert Mohler--very good, a wake up call to the church.

"Expository Preaching"--good and bad examples of expository preaching, very fun chapter.

"Preaching to Suffering People"--by John Piper. It is by Piper, enough said.

"A reminder to Shepherds"--By John Macarthur, a fitting close to a fine book.

Absolutely essential reading for upcomming (as well as seasoned) preachers. A true gem, very informative, and a must for all who proclaim God's Word.

This is a beautifully presented book. My students like it enormously, because of the conversational style, the illustrations, and the overall readibility -and this is perhaps the highest aim a textbook can aspire to achieve.

However, I find that the authors have gone too far in their attempt to abridge and simplify their previous opus -Molecular Biology of the Cell (MBOC): some topics are insufficiently or superficially discussed. Also, the style is slightly verbose at times. Finally, I think that the book could benefit from some reorganization.

The following examples illustrate my point.

*Osmosis is given a very brief mention.(p 382).
*The repulsion for anything mathematic continues the tradition started by MBOC. The Nernst equation, is given just a little box in page 393. The Donnan effect doesn't even have a walk-on part.
*The discussion of action potential contains the usual story of the voltage gated K+ channels, when these channels are not found in myelinated mammalian neurons.
*Myelin itself is not even mentioned.
*The discussion on G protein-linked receptors -a key topic- is very superficial.
*Membrane potential is introduced in a rather convoluted fashion. Furthermore, the concept is used several times before it is finally explained.
*Certain sections may leave the reader confused. For example p53 is described as a gene regulatory protein which arrests the cycle when DNA damage occurs (p 580). But when tumor suppressor genes are discussed, only retinoblastoma is given as an example, which would tend to convey the mistaken idea that p53 is not a tumor suppressor gene.

I recently bought the book "Essential Cell Biology: An Introduction to the Molecular Biology of the Cell" and studied it from cover to cover, including all the questions and answers. It was one of the greatest and most well-organized textbooks I have ever encountered. The language was very fluent, and especially some of the example questions were quite entertaining and witty. I haven't had any education neither in biology nor in molecular biology nor in biochemistry (my major is chemical engineering), still I didn't have any difficulties in understanding all the concepts presented in the book. The knowledge I gained from the book was a great help to me during the "GRE Subject Test in Biochemistry, Cell and Molecular Biology" which I took just yesterday. I am applying to graduate schools in the US for a Ph.D. degree in Molecular Biology or Bioengineering, and the test I took yesterday was crucial for my applications, in which (thanks to Essential Cell Biology) I believe I did quite well for a person without a background in the subject except a two-months-long self-study. This is a great and concise introductory textbook to the molecular biology of the cell, and I highly recommend it to anyone who has an interest in this subject with no or little background.

I read this book during the summer prior to me senior year in high school, and literally could not put it down. I read the whole work cover-to-cover in a week.

Going in, my background in biology was an introductory cell biology course and my background in chemistry was an introductory chemistry class. That I had little formal training in the sciences was irrelevant when reading this; it explains all the concepts so clearly that I think even a person with no background in science at all could understand it. The diagrams and photos are well-done and highly pertinent.

This is not to say that this book is only for non-scientists. Indeed, I even used knowledge gleaned from this fantastic book to teach my teachers a thing or two. Perhaps the section on muscle contraction is the best written of all - no other book I have ever seen comes close to this in clarity, and this section was one that I recommended to my Anatomy and Physiology teacher for clarification about a few concepts.

I am soon to be a sophomore in college, and this book continues to inspire me on my path to be a professor (I study chemistry with an emphasis on chemical biology). This book was invaluable even in a rigorous microbiology course, not to mention other introductory courses.

In summary, I rarely leave home for extended periods without this text (literally). If there is ONE BOOK that you should buy for studying cellular and molecular biology, let it be this one (or, if you are so inclined, its larger brother, Molecular Biology of the Cell).

Summerhill is a good book for anyone that deals with children because the author gives several stories of expereince in dealing with kids. The Summerhill method of dealing with kids is based on psychology. The basic teaching philosophy of A.S. Neill is undeniably true: All people will respond to the most basic human emotion - love. If you give children love and acceptance, they will return it, if it is genuine.

This book would be good to use as a model for setting up a student government. How would student government be effective you ask? Neill states that students show amazing loyalty to their own democracy.

This book was easy to read and had plenty of stories to keep me interested. From time to time, the author would ramble on and get completely off the subject, which he admits that he does. However, this book is not for people who are easily offended by open-mindedness. Neill allows the students at his school to have a lot (A LOT) of freedom. Swearing, sexual activity, nudity, and smoking are just some of the extra-curricular activities that Summerhill students are allowed to participate in. I think Neill allows this stuff to take away the glamour behind it, and teaches the kids why its stupid to smoke, etc. instead of just saying its off limits. Every one knows that the off limits activities are the ones you want to do most, because it is off limits.

The whole idea behind Summerhill is release, allowing children to live out their natural interests, and encouraging them to find out who they really are and to be comfortable with that.

I recommend Summerhill because, well, you just have to read it. Some of it is absolutley insane, and some of it is absoultley ingenuis!

In my reading of Summerhill, I found myself doing some hard thinking about what A.S. Neill's philosophy of education is really about. I do not agree with his philosophy of children being able to establish their own rules and changing them as they go along to fit the way that they live. However, I do feel that children should have an input into setting up rules. In reading this book, it is hard to believe that the ideas A.S. Neill had were 75 years ago.

I will admit that I was not overly thrill with the independence the children are given at Summerhill, but as I continue to research for the education class I am taking, I begin to rethink some of my ideas of education and what type of independence children might have. There may be something to Neill's philosophy regarding children and their right to free thinking. Summerhill's success in providing a happy environment for kids, producing happy, well-balanced men and women, stands as continuing proof of Neill's idea that "The absence of fear is the finest thing that can happen to a child". Summerhill has survived 75 years and a lawsuit, yet as the world has changed their fundamental principals have remained.

Again, I do not agree with his total philosophy, but Neill does give one something to think about regarding children in the classroom and at home. I recommend the book for reading especially for those who are already in the field of education or plans to make education part of their career. Summerhill gives a person another view of education and ideas of what may or may not work.

When I first read A. S. Neill's Summerhill, I was moved by what I saw as a brilliant and innovative solution to the problems of public school as I saw it. The intervening years, some research and a few degrees in psychology showed me something entirely different.

Neill's Summerhill was not exactly what he portrayed it to be; some students flourished there, and many did not. The same sort of petty schoolyard bullying and favoritism that occurs in any school went on at Summerhill. Neill was very much a typical utopian socialist who, like many before him, started with a theory and refused to let experience shape it.

Summerhill was the right environment for some of Neill's students, but it was by no means the right environment for all of them. While some flourished there, many spent years without obtaining any education whatsoever. The overall philosophy of a child-centered education is a good one, but letting the child decided what and when to learn is not a good preperation for the adult world, where we can't all be petulant children all the time.

So read Summerhill as a philosophy of how to love your child, or what a caring family could be like, or even as a utopian fantasy. There's much good in it. But don't take Neill's claims at face value.

THIS IS A SHORT NOVEL BY ONE OF THE RUSSIA'S GREATEST AUTHORS. IT'S THE TALE OF A RUSSIAN PEASANT'S DREARY LIFE IN A SOVIET PRISON CAMP NEAR THE END OF WWII. SOLZHENITSYN'S DEPICTION OF THIS MISERABLE LIFE IS A VIEW INTO A COLD HELL. ITS LOW-KEYED NARRATIVE CONVEYS THE HOPELESSLY OVERWHELMING ODDS TO WHICH ONLY HUMAN WILL AND INTEGRITY CAN TRIUMPH.

It's nice to see lefties like Cockburn and St. Clair and Sam Smith from the Progressive Review go after Clinton/Gore. It's heartening that right-wingers aren't the only people who recognize what a cynical and corrupt administration we're living under. My own views have strayed from some of the liberalism the authors espouse, and I think part of the reason for that has been watching a lot of people on the left blindly defend these crooks. I don't agree with everything Cockburn and St. Clair believe, but they're smart guys, and they recognize hypocrisy and corruption when they see it. AND IT'S SO BLATANT. I do agree with one of the other reviewers that there's a conspicuous lack of sources, but a great deal of what the authors discuss has been out there for a while (Elk Hills, Occidental, Armand Hammer, Buddhist Temple, uncountable fabrications, etc), and a lot of their attacks on Gore are based on his votes in Congress and as VP, not unsubstantiated rumors or accusations. I learned a great deal from this book, but most of it confirmed my intial beliefs...

This book reveals Al Gore's pervasive dishonesty and rampant hypocrisy. Undermines his phony environmentalism by exposing his close ties with Occidental Petroleum and other polluters. Demolishes his credibility on civil liberties by recalling his actions on behalf of Tipper's PMRC. Attacks his credibility as a 'War Hero' by revealing how he used his connections to keep out of danger. Shows his flip-flops even on guns and the choice issue. Clearly establishes Gore as a man who pretends to be everything to everyone while acting as toady for the corporate state. No one could support Gore for dogcatcher after reading this book. It will not be outdated by the election, however, since it serves as an example of the failure of the Democratic Party. Why are there now two big business parties? Because of Democrats like Al Gore. BUY IT.

Find out in this book how Al Gore while vice president helped companies loot millions of acres of our forests, fastened the extinction of the spotted owl, blocked efforts to make companies pay more than little or no royalty fees to loot taxpayer owned resources, helped increase contractor fraud at the Pentagon, helped strengthen the racist and civil liberties destroying criminal justice system, supported drilling off the coast of Mexico and in the National Petroleum reserve in Alaska, supported stripping mining, especially that of the mountain top removal variety, supported the setting of emissions standards well below that of the Kyoto protocol which were never met, helped George W. pollute Texas by his support of Nafta, helped strengthen fossil fuel producers, helped weaken Affirmative action in government, supported the slaughter of hundreds of thousands of Iraqis, supported what will perhaps one day be the destruction of the U'wa people in Colombia through his very extensive relationship with Occidental Petroleum and support for the death squad government there, supported Monsanto's crusade to dump genitically modified foods on Europe, presided over an economy of stagnant and declining wages and greater insecurity for American workers. The list can go on and on.

They give a good outline of Gore's congressional career. They portray him as pro-gun (not too different than Mr. Cockburn's views of course), pro-tabacoo, pro-Reaganite arms buildup (he was a prime mober for the midgetman missle), a consisten support of the Jesse Helms line on the homosexual question, someone who while occasionally roaring against the more blatant corporate criminals turned a blind eye to the radiation tests that gave children leukemia ( killing at least one) at the Oak Ridge nuclear lab in Tennesse and helped establish a precedent by getting a waiver on the Endagered species act against the snail darter species for a worthless dam that only benefited construction and cement magnates. In the 88' campaign he campaigned as right wing demagogue because that is what Patrick Caddell, the pollster, told him what the "silent majority" were looking for. Actually a not insubstantial part of that group was inclined to support Jesse Jackson and Gore did very badly in the primaries but not before travelling to New York for the party elite to help ruin Jackson's canidacy along with the demagogue Ed Koch.

The section on Tipper's crusade against obscene lyrics is rather amusing--the supposed Gore family encounter with the music of Prince which originally spurred Tipper on her crusade and Gore praising the music of Frank Zappa during a senate hearing.

The authors could have done a little less of the "tell-all stuff"==e.g. how policy was supposedly made and interactions in the white house e.g. Bob Woodward's account of Clinton's alleged reaction to having to break his campaign promises and support Alan Greenspan's neoliberalism--and expanded on some of the more important issues. They say absolutely nothing about a very important issue, about Gore's working to pressure African countries, paritcularly South Africa, into complying with drug company patents which block countries from producing genereic AIDs drugs at very substantially lower cost. They repeat the canard about Gore claiming he invented the internet, that he and Tipper were the inspiration for "Love Story" and so on.

But overall this book is so much more substantive than the book put out by Cockburn's former friend Christopher Hitchens. The latter's book was fawned over by the likes of Chris Mathews, David Horowitz and Larry Klayment of Judicial Watch. Rush Limbaugh called Hitchens, a self-declared hardcore socialist, "our favorite liberal." The authors have gotten no such attention and that is very telling.