I purchased the Vatican II Sunday Missal several years ago and was very satisfied with my purchase. Recently, when I decided to go to Mass everyday, I decided to buy the Weekday Missal as well. I purchased it for the same reasons that I bought the Sunday Missal: I wanted to have my own personal copy to study at home. I didn't like handling the pew copy since so many people (with colds, flu) handle it. It is a great bargain since it lasts for years!

I thought this was a great reference for the basic VBA programmer. I have just begun working with VBA and found this very useful.... It justs catagorizes the different statements and functions and has a sample for each one. As long as you know the basic VBA grammer, you should have no problem using this as a vocabulary guide.

Venice, Italy, surely one of the most vaunted cities on our planet has again been exalted in this folio-size volume of unforgettable photographs.

The poet Byron remembered Venice as he stood on the Bridge of Sighs, "A palace and a prison on each hand." Another bard, Shelley, described it as "Ocean's nursling......A peopled labyrinth of walls, Amphitrite's destined halls."

More contemporaneous writers may link Venice with Harry's Bar, a watering hole for the wealthy, or perhaps with the legions of pigeons that shroud St. Mark's Square.

Now, German photo-designer Gunter Derleth captures Vicenza with unerring eye and unique vision in photos remarkable for their quality of light. This effect is achieved by the camera obscura, which is "basically a box with a very small hole in it.....Light comes through the hole and is placed directly onto the paper." The results in this volume are dreamlike, sometimes almost surreal but always beautiful.

Derleth opens with fog cloaked figures from Carnevale, the celebration that calls for Venetians to dress in elaborate costumes and masks. We find the facade of Florian's, a restaurant bordering St. Mark's Square recognizable by its battery of miniature tables and decorative chairs. Whether a view across the Grand Canal of the glorious island of San Giorgio Maggiore or a simple apartment building, each photo embraces both the beauty and mystery of Venice.

Brief accompanying texts are excised from the works of great writers who were entranced by the city. Each amplifies and underscores its partner photo.

Italophiles will relish this lush volume, and photography buffs admire Gunter Derleth's art.

Gail Cooke

This book offers some really insightful pieces on the Pope John Paul II's "Veritatas Splendor." Especially thought-provoking was O'Keefe's piece on Augustine and perfectionism. A great resource for those who really want to think through this Vatican document.

In The Very First Christians, twelve-year-old Christopher is taught by his grandfather about the drama of Pentecost and the powerful changes God brought to the world through Peter, Paul, and the very first Christians following the death and resurrection of Jesus. Paul Maier (professor of ancient history at Western Michigan University) ably retells a classic and engaging story drawn from Christian history, and one which is superbly enhanced throughout by Francisco Ordaz's "museum quality" paintings. The Very First Christians is an enthusiastically recommended picturebook for family, parochial school, Sunday School, Bible Camp, and community library collections.

This book is highly recomended to those of us who must struggle through veterinary microbiology. It makes the subject decipherable, and does not slip into the jargon that is so often found in science textbooks. The book begins with intrductory "How viruses work" material, before moving onto the various virus groups. Each section of the book starts out with a general introduction on how that group works/attacks, wheteher they need intermediate hosts, lifespan in the outside environment, etc. Then, it delves further into each virus within that family (genus/class?) with sections on pahtology, epidemiology, etc. All in all, a very nice reference book for veterinary students. There is not much info on West Nile, but there is a nice section on Foot and Mouth. Generally, those viruses which are important in the West, plus a few that are important for other reasons arecovered. Other viruses are mentioned. There is also a small section in the back on prion diseases, which may not be important currently, but will be important to know about, even in te USA (Scrapie, Chronic Wasting Disease, just to name a few.) I highly recomend this book.

This is a must-have for anyone who lives within driving distance of the Twin Cities. I have the 1984 edition and have been looking for an update, but, surpisingly, most of the '84 information is still correct. Information and directions to every conceivable bargain on every conceivable product can be found in this book. I bought ceramic tiles at half price, refinished a sofa for less than half price, discovered little-known discount and outlet stores, and more! Recommended reading for any Twin City-ophile.

One of my favourite books. The Victoria & Albert Museum is the world's foremost (and oldest) museum of decorative art. This book covers British, European and Oriental art, including textiles, jewellery, paintings and furniture. The standard of photography and the production values of this book are superb. I use this book for reference and inspiration

This survey of Victorian beauties of California's San Francisco Bay Area provides a blend of regional history and architectural insights, surveying the changing Victorian house styles of the region and featuring a wealth of fine color examples. From architectural roots to hybrid styles, Book Of The Courtesans is packed with detail.

French slavicist Paul Garde has written a superb assessment of the death of Yugoslavia in his trenchant examination titled La Vie et Mort de la Yugoslavie published in about 1993. A Balkan specialist myself, I picked it up in a Paris bookstore brought it home and and studied it carefully. At the time, it was the most insightful discussion of the complexities of multicultural Yugslabvia and the pressures and foibles that led to its demise I had seen. Putting to rest the notion of "ancient hatreds" in the Balkans, Garde doucments the first real violence and killing between Serbs and Croats to a riot in Zagreb in the early 1900s. Commenting on the manipulation of history, specifically Milosevic's denigration of Croats as not really Slavic, Garde notes a linguistic theory that the their name "Hrvat" may have come from a Persian term for these early Slavic people who migrated from the east. Garde's is a truly illuminating and readable studt that deserves translation into English.