I actually like this book quite a bit and use the topic suggestions as journal prompts, because it is easier to write in a separate notebook than in this actual volume.

Raeburn begins with a summary of the different beliefs held about Mars before the spacecraft era, including the widely held one initiated by Lowell about canals constructed by intelligent Martians. Raeburn spends the bulk of the book taking us through NASA's various missions to Mars: Mariner, Viking, Pathfinder, and Global Surveyor. The book was published in 1998 and hence only provides a "preview" of the Global Surveyor findings. Today, of course, we have a complete global map of Mars in astonishing detail.

Also, Raeburn optimistically looks forward to NASA's continuing "faster, cheaper, better" program of Mars exploration. We already know that the orbiter and polar lander failed, so let's hope that the craft to be launched this year fare better. Raeburn also notes that in 2005 a craft will be launched that should bring rocks from Mars back to Earth!

Overall, definitely worth the price of entry for the pictures alone. There are even some neat 3-D pictures inside and the book provides 3-D glasses!

The sessionography and discography are excellent, especially Tingen's analysis of Teo Macero's groundbreaking use of editing. Through interviews with people like Lenny White and Billy Cobham, we get a great glimpse into the way Miles thought about music, the way he ran sessions, how he recorded, and how he interacted with his band - often they were downright afraid of him!

Some minor gripes: I just disagreed with some of his assessments of some Miles tracks over others, but that is a personal thing. The other drawback is Tingen's analysis of Miles' music through Buddhism and other exotic philosophies. Thankfully these are brief, but probably would have drawn some chuckles from the Man himself.

The book accurately delivers everything a developer would need to get
started in writing and designing production quality applications. I cannot
say enough about how well organized the content and examples are with this
book. Below are only a small handful of the reasons I will be recommending
this book to my colleagues.

1.) Great flow. Many books with multiple authors don't effectively flow. In
some cases, the authors often contradict each other. Not the case with this
book. The writing style is extremely consistant.
2.) In depth coverage on BC4J, application development methodologies with
JDeveloper, debugging, Java Client / JSP development, and deployment
considerations.
3.) The examples are first-rate. All of the examples accurately clarify the
subject matter.
4.) It covers EVERYTHING you would need to know and nothing more.

In short, this book is the most efficient way to learn Oracle JDeveloper.

Regards,
-- jeff
---------------------------------------
Jeffrey Hunter, OCP
Senior Database Administrator..

trevi

I soaked up every detail of the battle set-up, the day-to-day struggle in the field, and the bureaucracy, frustration and hypocrisy the soldiers had to deal with by being involved in a non-declared war. The guts and courage the soldiers (on both sides) displayed in some of the battles described in this book is almost impossible for me to comprehend. All of the action, machismo and old-fashioned fighting is dampened by the descriptions of gore, waste of life and guilt the author so eloquently shares with the reader.

I am fortunate to have never had to see or experience the events described in this book. I am also fortunate to have had the pleasure to meet the author. We are all fortunate that he has taken the time to record his experiences and share the romance and horror of U.S. Operations in Cambodia.

***** Paul Maier does an excellent job of exploring these questions in his novel that was published decades ago, but due to the timelessness of the subject, has held up well over the years. Pilate's choices are seen as both political and perhaps even divine necessity as the day that will become Good Friday unfolds. With the use of real figures and well researched customs, Dr. Maier sweeps readers back two millenia. Calling it fiction is almost an insult, because it is so very realistic. One complaint is that there is not a sequel exploring Pilate's wife, a woman who stands beside Caeser's wife in fascination.

This book taught me more about the New Testament than 20 undergraduate and graduate classes in Biblical Studies.

Rejecting the carelessness that dominates the genre of historical fiction, Dr. Maier created his own genre which could be called "documented historical fiction". He adopts 3 rules,
1) He doesn't invent characters and only uses names of real people 2) He uses information in the primary sources whenever possible and only speculates on plot features where the sources are lacking. 3) He includes documented footnotes for a great number of events in the life of Pilate, these not only lead you to the primary sources, they also give the author's justification for how he interprets them and incorporates them into the story.

If you want to read the Christ story from a new perspective, this book will give you an eyewitness account from the eye sockets of one of the key players in Christ' life. You will understand the political background to the New Testament and gain a new appreciation for how the miraculous events in Jesus ministry were interpreted.

The writing is accessible to beginners, and the content is a useful reference for experienced professionals. I also highly recommend Tavakoli's "Credit Derivatives & Synthetic Structures."

If there is a weakness to Dr. Witherington's approach, it is simply that the book begins with some very poignant arguments regarding Paul's use of rhetoric in his speaking and writing, but seems to taper off toward the end when the discussion has turned to Paul's theology. Dr. Witherington also does not really include the Pastorals in his discussion of Paul's theology, due to the controversy surrounding the authorship of those letters. This is understandable; however, whether one subscribes to the Pauline authorship side of that debate or not, the Pastorals could provide another perspective on Pauline theology that should earn them a place in any discussion relating to that topic. Other than this, Dr. Witherington has crafted a very balanced treatise of Paul the man. It is a fine introduction and tribute to the second most influential person in Christian history.

This is a great read, and is recommended as a good place to start learning about the apostle Paul.

Witherington structured this book into 8 nearly equal chapters dealing with what he sees as the essential elements of a quest for the historical Paul. Along with a very brief introduction and conclusion, he includes a very informative appendix, "Timely remarks on the life of Paul," which attempts to devise with a timeline for Paul's life. The eight areas that Witherington considers foundational are as follows: 1) On Constructing an Ancient Personality, 2) The Trinity of Paul's Identity, 3) Paul the Writer and Rhetor, 4) Paul the Prophet and Apostle, 5) Paul the Realist and Radical, 6) Paul the Anthropologist and Advocate, 7) Paul the Story teller and Exegete, 8) Paul the Ethicist and Theologian. This book is second in sequence to The Jesus Quest and, in some ways, is also a continuation of Paul's Narrative thought World. (Steve, I'm assuming that these are books and therefore should either be in all italics or underlined, not in quotation marks. Quotation marks are only used for article titles.) As Witherington states the quest for this historical Jesus, leads us to Paul since he is one of our greatest sources about Jesus. It is, therefore, logical to leave The Jesus Quest and embark on a new search that leads to The Paul Quest. As a result, it has many aims and goals. Those goals are best summed up as follows: a short study on the four sources for Paul, exposing readers to new developments in the quest for the historical Paul, and an examination of Paul's different roles and how those would have shaped him. Witherington also proposes to sample relevant Pauline literature in each of his eight foundational areas. I have often heard it asked, "Why another book on Paul?" With the quantity of books published yearly, it appears that no one in the publishing industry is asking the same question. However, I would say this is a book of great value to the large canon of Pauline literature. It is a very good book written in a fun and engaging style. Witherington tends to present a few of the different opinions on each topic and then states his personal view. He uses the Scriptures as his primary starting point, but then supports his views and premises from a historical perspective. I found it invaluable to have Witherington begin with his study of the ancient personality, specifically in regards to the three aspects of Paul: Paul as Jew, Paul as Christian, and finally, though of lesser import, Paul as Roman citizen. This sets all readers on a level playing field for the rest of the work. Each reader has a very clear view of how Witherington is approaching Paul, why, and where he intends to lead us as we search for the historical Paul. In presenting his different topics, Witherington draws upon numerous sources that include both modern and ancient. When criticizing an outside source, he does so in a fair way, evaluating both the strengths and weaknesses of a particular book or theory. He then goes on to support his opinions with Pauline sources or other contemporaries. I believe this would be an ideal book for a new student to Pauline studies. It has a strong historical approach. It includes a valid use themes and archetypes; not those of modern psychology, but instead those of the ancient world, Prophet, Storyteller, Jew, Greek, etc. It raises many of the contemporary issues in Pauline theology, as well as those necessary for an understanding of the man himself. It deals with the opposing views in a balanced way, presenting both sides of an argument fairly. For example on women, it presents both views of Paul as liberator and feminist, and Paul as the patriarchal repressor of women. In Paul's Narrative Though World (Westminster/John Knox Press, 1994), Witherington was hard to read and even harder to understand. However, in this effort he is a masterful wordsmith who leaves you hungering for more. It was hard to put the book down; it is such a compelling read. Through its many referenced sources, it also allows you to continue further into any area that piques your interest in an easily accessible way. The greatest strength of the book is its balanced approach and equal treatment of the different topics and views. I was very impressed that he did not over-focus on the storyteller or "narrative thought world" given his previous writing in this area. The greatest weakness is the last chapter. In my opinion, Witherington does not do a good job of presenting Paul the theologian, or of presenting a clear view of Paul's theology. (Steve, you may want to include an example here that illustrates your point or at least some further explanation as to why he is unclear. It would make a stronger statement then simply stating your opinion without any obvious backup.) Since he has made an strong presentation in every other section, I would still say that this is an excellent book which is a good read, and well worth anyone's time and money to pursue it. I believe this book achieved its stated aims. Much like a gemologist working with a raw diamond cuts and shapes the stone into a beautiful thing that radiates and reflects light from its many facets, so too has Witherington shown each of the differing views of the separate facets of Paul, and through them brings clarity, light and vision to the reader.

As a 4th generation native of Arizona, I thought I knew my way around, but this book has paid off in directing me to a lot of out of the way trails I never would have found or even heard of swapping ideas with local riders. Do not overlook or underestimate the many "honorable mention" rides included in each chapter.

There's another popular book on Arizona mountain bike trails that is sort of a cartoon. Buy that if you want laughs, but buy Mountain Bike America: Arizona if you want a serious reference tool to get the most out of your visits to and around Arizona.