"Still Life in Crete" by Anthony Cox is a humorous and off-beat look at migration from Kent to Crete by an early-retired British couple. It is big on food and wine and toungue-in-cheek observations of life away from the grey skies of England." - Extract from the "Lonely Planet Guide to Crete" (second edition).

"Recommended for lovers of Greek cuisine, Crete and 'enthusiastic' prose!" - ATHENS NEWS book review

It's early days yet to bracket Anthony Cox with genially acerbic Bill Bryson, but "Still Life in Crete" is in the same companionable genre as the glib globetrotter: full of sharp observation visually and verbally, with a nice line in cynicism this side of world-weary. Understandably, neath drear British skies in his unmodern cottage amid cabbage stench, ex-journalist Cox dreamed of escape. Crete, with its siren promise of flower-decked, sea-girt vistas, distinctive culinary delights and £-cowed currency, sounded just the job. The Kent sale proceeds and pension, plus his wife's tele-cottaging, would guarantee comfort with style.

Realising the dream was less easy, but constantly challenging, as he entertainingly reveals with a relish for every facet of the odyssey, from madcap outward journey and the usually warm, sometimes maddening character of his new neighbours near Hania and their coffee, olive oil and grape-fuelled lives, to the vagaries of local building regulations and lawyers' little ways, and the impact of tourism on this history-rich island. Plus the way his two dogs put the "pug" into repugnant.

Nonetheless, the scene-stealer amid the beguiling abundance is Cox himself, not too innocent, too knowing or too pushy and self-righteous. Just the classic, ever-welcome Englishman abroad. Not Hellenic, just differently civilised, happy to share his insights into a richly diverting culture and a life-changing experience.

The book is guaranteed "100% Greek myth-free", but it offers the tasty PS of a handful of recipes.

Next book Cox must let his sketching skill run beyond thumbnail modesty, perhaps illustrating a broader descriptive canvas. How about "A Funny Thing Happened on the way to Athens..."?

Broken Wings is a simple story which serves as a canvas for Kahlil Gibran's flights of beautiful prose and philosophical insight. Gibran's prose is simply redolent with images. His evocative narration paints pictures with words which both took me away and taught me. Gibran's point is so much more clear and simply arresting for the crispness of his imagery, such as when he writes: "Those ample treasure chests that the energy of the father and the thrift of the mother fill up are transformed into dark, narrow prison cells for their heirs. That mighty deity whom the people worship in the form of money metamorphoses into a horrifying demon who tortures the people and kills the heart." (p.51)

There were several thoughts of Gibran's that I found similarly significant. In talking about the blossoming of love, Gibran writes that love is not "born of long association and unbroken companionship." Instead, he writes, it is "the daughter of a spiritual understanding, and if that understanding is not achieved in a single moement, it will never be attained -- not in a year, not in a whole century" (p. 41). My limited experience leads me to believe precisely this. Likewise, I agreed with Gibran when he writes that "Limited love demands possession of the beloved, but infinite love desires only its own essence" (p. 97).

If Gibran has a fundamental message in Broken Wings, though, I think that it is surrounding the tension or balance between putting everything that we can into our love and our endeavors, and the need to contextualize that love or endeavor in such a way that it does not consume that which we are. Gibran's narrator struggles with this tension. He wants to spirit Salma away to a life of true love. He wants her to break her word to her father and follow her heart. Mostly, he doesn't want her to give up on their love. His defense of this course of action is passionate: "For the soul to experience torment because of its perseverance in the face of trials and difficulties is more noble than for it to retreat to a place of safety and calm. The moth that contines to flutter about the lamp until it burns up is more exalted than the mole that lives in comfort and security in its dark tunnel" (p.73).

The imagery is again evocative, and certainly, I think, speaks to me: if you are to pursue life, pursue it like the moth -- soaring to unimagined heights and experiences. Don't be a mole who attempts to prolong his life by simply hiding himself away -- but never really experiencing life. Live, don't simply preserve an unlived life. Such a good reminder for us.

Love (and any endeavor, I imagine) isn't always so black-and-white, though. Salma's understanding is deeper and more complicated: before even her emotions and her love, she places her commitment to her father and to her (unloving) husband. There is incredible power in her choosing integrity over running away to a love which Gibran paints as being the fulfillment of all of our hopes for love. There is some unspoken insight here about integrity and commitment, I think. It is, perhaps, part of the foundation of love itself, a necessary ingredient for its presence.

In the Broken Wings, Gibran touches a variety of subjects like love, plight of women, hypocracy of self serving religious heads, false values on which human socities are built, and true prayer and sacrifice. And all is told in very few majestically beautiful words without malice to any one.
"Love is the only freedom in the world because it so elevates the spirit that laws of humanity do not alter its course."
" Love is the offspring of spiritual affinity and ..........is created in a moment."
Gibran says of the plight of the women by describing them as
" the bird with broken wings in a cage."
Of heads of religions, Gibran says, "Thus the Christian Bishop and the Moslem imam and the Brahman priest are like sea reptiles who clutch their prey with many tentacles and suck their blood with numerous mouths." How true are these words!
Gibran tells how "in some countries, the parent's wealth is a source of misery for the children."
Yet the woman in the story, although falling in the abyss of miseries, prays "help me, my Lord, to be strong in this deadly struggle and assist me to be truthful and virtuous until death. Thy will be done, oh Lord God."
And finally she sacrifices her own life fot he sake of her beloved thus bringing glory to "sacrifice."
Tears rolled down my cheeks while reading the tragic end of the story. But I felt these tears have cleansed my spirit.
The reading of The Broken Wings is a must for any one who wants to experience a tearful smile or a sorrowful joy or miseries for a true prayer.

The power to love is God's greatest gift to man, for it never will be taken from the blessed one who loves.(Gibran) I am a fan of Kahlil Gibran and more than that I get steered spiritually when I read his books. As for Broken Wings well that book is surely one that has the greatest love story ever told. This first love of his was inspirational and has brought him along way into many many books. All of them written with emotion and with what we would say as of today with truth. How many of us would agree to social norms? Well as teenagers surely we hated society as they curbed our very life style, but this man with his first experience has really written so many books. He was truly an inspired person as no one could write so much on spirituality. Whatever his lifestyle, we are no judges for that. The books are what matter most. Most authors till date are not as young as he was and probably envy his being young and gifted into the world of TRUTH. We are still seeking what he already had.

I read the second book first as I had to order this one. On the whole, this is a good book, and my uppermost thought is, I wish more souls on the "Other Side" would undertake more such books so that we could gain a more balanced perspective. This book (and it's companion) are very unusual as it is written from the perspective of one who has passed to the Other Side...a real treat! I am not aware of another such book which is written from the perspective of the soul on the Other Side.

Since what I have read to date have been books on past life regressions, prolific NDE accounts, and books by mediums and psychics about the Spirit Worlds and the Afterlife, much of the content of this book confirms what I have learned from the others. So I am encouraged, about its contents.

However, in fairness, I do have a few concerns. Foremost appears to be any perception on the part of the writer of reincarnation. It is not only NOT mentioned, but presented with the sterotypical view that we only live once on Earth and then live for eternity in the Spirit. This is in contradiction to all else I have learned.

The author is very verbose and has a tendency to overstate and add considerable text where less would have been sufficient...thus I found myself skipping text which was redundant or excessive.

The author had at times a very defensive tone, with his many, many references to our human ignorance (which I found lacking in spiritual understanding, as we are all born into this world ignorant of our true spiritual selves). I would have expected an author whose mission it was to enlighten us with the facts, less defensive, and at times, condemning of us here on Earth who struggle to make sense of life or what is to come hereafter. What humanity needs is more understanding, especially because we do NOT have the facts at hand of these higher truths.

I found it hard to be critical of such a wonderful, and unique attempt, and wish to not do injustice to these works...but rather encourage more souls on the Other Side, to contribute similar works, which in their entirety, would constitute more enlightenment for us all.

My singular impression overall, is a job well done, with some reservations of its content, as I have noted above. Both books, this one and its companion, are well worth the read! : )

This book just proves what I have been reading before.Written in a very colourful language, easy to understand. Very powerful!! Gives you a piece of mind and hope.
I encourage you to read this book and compare to your own knowledge of the Spirit World and its laws.

Thank you very much,

Alex

If you ever feared the after life, then this book may answer many concerns you might have. It gave me a sense of hope, and something wonderful to look forward to. While reading the book, I felt a kindship with the protagonists, and a friendship that transcends time, and spiritual limitations.

Do yourself a favor, pick up a copy of the book, and enter a new dimension in your life.

I don't think this book is the right tool for someone who is taking on the study of the I Ching. The book "interprets" a bit too much for me. Every reading must take on it's own meaning for each situation, person, age, etc. Wilhelm's (book that opened this up to the world at large) while difficult to understand allows the querent the ability to "see" things for themselves. However, I will say that my dear friend would rate this book 5 stars. So, like many things with divination you must find the tools that work best for you.

This is by far one of the best books that I have purchased on the subject of the I-Ching. Its translations are quite extensive and give in-depth interpretations of the hexigrams and changing lines. If you buy this book, be prepared to read its translations with patience. I am currently a newer student of the I-Ching and have to really sit in quiet and prepare for long contemplation of the readings. It is well worth the time and effort. I highly recommend this book, but also purchase a book with less detailed interpretations to augment this incredible piece.

Ms. Anthony has obviously used the I Ching in her life and in this book shares its' usefulness, and her love for, and insight into, the meanings. Also,she uses the Wilhelm/Baynes translation with which so many of us are familiar and writes this as a "guide" to the use of that. Her paraphrases are exquisite in their ability to simplify for us, the more literate translations.

This is Nietzsche's first, and in some ways the best, philosophy book. Prior to Human All-Too Human, he penned The Birth of Tragedy and Untimely Meditations. But it is only in this book that Nietzsche comes into his own as a philosopher. The book was written soon after his retirement from teaching, due to ill health, and Nietzsche suffered a lot from physical pain, while writing the book, having to take hashish to relieve it. The book contains opinions on almost everything under the Sun. Although it is clearly broken down into distinct chapters, the thoughts within chapters are not arranged systematically. This is intentional and represents Nietzsche mistrust of grand theorizing and excessively systematic thinking. He retained this aphoristic writing style till the last days of his productive life. Thus in his approach, Nietzsche anticipates both existentialism and post-modernism. He views life personally, passionately, and with distrust to grand system(narrative) building. Thoughts slither through the labyrinth of human life, revealing strartling insights and forcing us to reconsider received opinions and conventional wisdoms.

By Nietzsche's standards, the perspectives presented in the book are fairly measured, and the author's voice is not nearly as shrill as it would become ten years later, in his last books. Because Nietzsche settles at a high level of generalization, some opinions do sound narrow-minded and prejudiced. In this, Nietzsche was also a victim of his time and culture: his comments on women and "the youthful Jew of the stock exchange" are not intellectuals gems, to put it very mildly. Some of his other opinions, on marriage, for example, also strike me as strange. Overall, this is a book by an all-too-human philosopher, yet it is a path-breaking work, a precursor to existentialism and post-modernism, written in a style that can appeal to the reader sheerly as good literature.

In this book, actually an anthology of three books, Nietzsche anticipates and comments upon social, cultural, political and psychological issues most of which are still current and troubling. A central theme is the human tendency to look for comfort, stability, and easy answers. He seemed to foresee that this tendency would become even more maladaptive as the pace of change increased, than it was in his own time. He offers an analysis of its causes, and a treatment, in the form of a relentless series of verbal shock-treatments, delivered in one-half to one page essays. The reader is constantly stimulated to take another look at issues that he thought he had settled.

Another issue for Nietzsche is the examination of the appropriate roles for science and art in human development. Anticipating contemporary thinking,he proposes that the brain has two competing/complementary functions. One, whose main product is science, brings an immediate sense of power to be able to understand what was not understood before, and what is not understood by many others. As an after-effect, however, it brings a sense of despair and depression, that previously-held illusions have been destroyed. The other half of the brain, the artistic sense, which he also calls the will to falsehood (not in a negative sense)presents possibilities, creative syntheses, or holistic images.

For Nietszche,human evolution proceeds by each individual maximizing the potential of each part of his brain, constantly generating new creative ideas, and then subjecting them to relentless analysis and criticism. This is the method Nietszche himself uses. He warns, however, that it requires incredible energy and strength to constantly be aware of and examine one's basic assumptions. Many who try will fall, (as Nietszche himself did) but, anticipating Darwin, he describes a process whereby the strongest, those most capable of enduring physical and psychological adversity, are the ones who survive and pass on the benefits of their growth.

Read this book if you are feeling depressed, read it if you are feeling strong, read it if you are feeling bored, read it if you are feeling overstressed, read it if you want a really good time, read it one page per day, read it all at once, read it in your own way, but my recommendation is READ IT.

In order to give form to his Overman, Nietzsche had to call to account many human failings and weaknesses, and then reveal their baseness to the world. Nietzsche identified so much that had to be rejected in human life and affairs, (and so much that constituted greatness), which is the reason for the sheer scope of "Human, All Too Human". In 638 short aphorisms it covers politics, warfare, ascetics, morals, art, poetry, marriage, crime & punishment, the soul, and the gamut of human feeling, emotion, motive, instinct, will to power, habit and need.

In Human, All Too Human", Nietzsche outlines the basis of his later, more focused works. It is distinguished from these by its lack of arrogance, lack of aggression and its lack of real direction. Chapters are harnessed together by titles such as "A Look At The State", "Man Alone With Himself", "Signs Of Higher And Lower Culture", Man In Society", and "Woman And Child".

The book was written just after Nietzsche gave up his professors chair at Basel in Switzerland, and around the time of his break from his erstwhile father-figure, Richard Wagner. Nietzsche had now lost the shackles of youth and employment and was at his most free-spirited and this book is testimony to that fact: "Human, All Too Human" is dedicated to deliciously-malicious free-spirits everywhere.

Less intense than some of his later work, this book evokes a walk in the mountains enjoying pleasant conversation with one of the most penetrating and enlightened minds in history. Less intense perhaps, but no less compelling or unsettling.

Powerful Prayers is a Must Read Reading Powerful Prayers provides you amazingly simple examples of commuincating with God through personal everyday prayer. It opens the door to an otherwise complex arena of thought. The discussion between Larry King and Rabbi Katsof is sensitive and thought provoking. The interviews add incredible depth to the discussion. They also legitimize informal prayer, and the many different ways people have found to communicate with their respective spiritual beings. I recommend this book to everyone who is open to exlporing their individual communication with God. It is a must read. It has changed my entire understanding or paradigm in regards to my relationship with God outside of a house of worship.

Unlike most "religious" category books, this book lacks the preachy quality that causes most readers to not absorb the text. This book insightfully breaks down barriers between different religious beliefs and simply brings forth the universal belief in a higher power. The people that Larry King and Rabbi Katsof chose to interview are made more personable and are made more tangible through their everyday prayers, which are similar to ours, and their quest to be closer to God. This book would make a fabulous holiday gift that is sure to please a recipient of any religious background.

Mr. King delved into the foundation of Spirituality and Religion and made simple an otherwise complex and controversial issue. The book focuses on the individual and his or her communication with God, while setting aside religious beliefs. I would like to recommend to friends who are too formal about prayers and to those who maybe agnostic such as Larry King in his book.

The Red Fox is a great spy novel, which we all love. It takes place about ten years ago, so the KGB is still out there and that's a lot of fun. The main character in the book goes to many places including Toronto, Georgetown, and Leningrad (St. Petersburg). He even goes to my hometown of Detroit, and I must say that having dead bodies in garbage bags is pretty accurate for Detroit. A word of advice: READ THIS BOOK!

Hyde makes his characters come to life, and weaves an intricate story based on past connections. He leaves excellent clues, but one has to watch for them. I read this book in Hawaii. I started it and didn't put it down until I was done.

I've read several spy and espionage stories, some very good ones. None hold a candle to this one. The story's main character is trying to locate the missing father of his friend/lover. His journey takes him all over the globe. Action, suspense, intrigue and mystery hit you on every page. It just never lets up and the plot constantly twists and turns. Just when you think you're figuring something out, Hyde throws something new into the mix. And if you can see the end to this one coming you are one clever cookie!

This may have been Hyde's first novel but he is certainly no stranger to writing, he's done his homework. The characters are authentic and well-fleshed out. The storyline, which takes place back in the late days of the Cold War, is superbly thought out. His prose moves along very well. The whole point here is that's it's real tough to criticize much of anything with this book. One of the 10 best books I've ever picked up. Hard to find any more, its out of print and disappears from used bookstores right now. If you see it, grab it!

This is a very complete and good book on NT 4.0 device drivers. The book takes you through lots of architectual issues in the first 400 pages or so, then walks you through details of drivers. The authors have a readable style and know what they are talking about. The biggest short coming in the book is a lack of real information on NT 5.0 drivers. Paul Lever, BlueWater Systems, Inc.

Before this book, I have written several NT drivers based on DDK samples and another book from Art Baker. Although I could make my drivers work, there are many mysteries to me. It is a little frustrating experience, coz NT driver is much different from those old VxDs in Win95.

This book is surprisingly clear. Chapter after Chapter, It is such a joy for me to get answers to some questions which perplexted me for a long time. :)

Strongly recommended!

David

I began developing NT drivers during the NT 3.1 beta days and saw an immediate need for a book like this. I have been begging people to write this book for over 3 years. In those days the only place to get help was on Compuserve and guess who always responded to questions and provided valuable information for people delving into this new operating system. (The two authors) I am thrilled that the two best NT kernel developers I know found time and dedicated themselves to the task of writing this great book.

This book is probably more important than any other technical programming book written to date. The reason is drivers can crash the computer and poorly written drivers do it on a regular basis. With Windows NT becoming the worldwide server operating system of choice it is very important that drivers work and work well. This book not only discusses all phases of driver development, but teaches the audience correct methods of developing robust drivers. In a matter of weeks you will learn techniques and kernel programming practices that normally take years to develop.

The granularity of the book is well thought out and will serve the kernel programmer well. If you have been given the task of developing a bus master DMA driver simply turn to chapter 17 and you will learn more than you ever wanted to know about DMA with examples! If you just want to learn about how NT manages memory turn to Chapter 3.

This book will become the de-facto standard for NT device driver development and must have on any serious developer's bookshelf.

Technical Reviewer
Mike Barry
Sr. Vice President-Development/Engineering
T/R Systems