This is a bleak novel recounting the tale of Peter, a young man in a catatonic state. At times it is humourous, but you feel you are reading a satire or, even harsher, an indictment. But of what ? The failure of Social Services to care for a boy in an abusive household who is not able to speak ? Mental health services ? Whilst the treatment is often brusque and uncaring, with Peter perceived as an opportunity for the Director of the new fangled institute to make his name, generally they seem to be doing the best for him. Finally they "experiment" with euthanasia, but in the circumstances one can but feel that it a justification of assisted death. He has nothing to live for, is in physical pain and deteriorating and has been rejected by his sister. If this was a novel written in the former Soviet Union this could be read as an allegory for the citizen under Communism. In the west you are left wondering where the target lies. Notwithstanding this it is a fine piece of writing. The judgement of publishers and booksellers has to be questioned allowing this titile to go out of print it won the Whitbread Prize in 1988

"Commentary on Saint Paul's Epistle to the Ephesians" is a collection of lectures on Ephesians given by St. Thomas Aquinas during his tenure as a lecturer at the University of Paris. This book consists of five chapters, each chapter consisting of 5-10 lectures. Each lecture begins with a section of the Epistle. After a brief explanation, St. Thomas gives a few phrases in which he tells what St. Paul says in the quoted section. He then proceeds to provide a few pages of his exegesis of the quoted section.

The lectures give the reader an insight into St. Thomas' explanations for the scriptural texts. The explanations vary from insightful to difficult to understand.

One of the best parts of this book is the Introduction. The Introduction explains St. Thomas' approach to Biblical exegesis and his view toward understanding of the Scriptures. The distinction between the literal meaning of a passage and its distinction between the literal meaning of a passage and its mystical meaning are explained. From the introduction and the lectures I gained an understanding as to how an intricate explanation of mystical interpretation could encourage a backlash of strictly literal understanding. By the end I felt that I had a better understanding of Ephesians. All in all this book is an excellent portal to Scriptural study.

Every serious Bible expositor must get a hold of John Eadie's NT commentaries while they remain in print. As Pastor Jim Butler said " If it takes mortgaging your house to get Eadie, do it!"

Overall good reading material from a writer who knows his subject. You can almost feel the hot Mexican sun on your neck. For those who have been in the military, you will recognize the problems Mark Isen has with the U.S. Army and Mexican Government policies. Good reading for a plane trip, it will keep you reading the entire trip.

I am currently enrolled in a Criminal Justice Progam at Pfeiffer University, NC. I wanted to let instructors know that this is a very well written and EZ to understand book for some of us hard headed average students. There is plenty of valuable information given in each chapter which is written in a way that I can understand without difficulty - Thank You !!!

Competition (or in the US, "antitrust") laws were among the first set of market-friendly laws enacted in the advanced transition countries -- Poland, Czechoslovakia, and Hungary. Some conservative critics argued that such laws were an unnecessary and even harmful interference with the operation of new markets, but two powerful arguments successfully pushed in the opposite direction: 1) transition governments noted that both Europe and the United States had competition laws as part of their economic law regime, and 2) the public was suspicious of freeing enterprises from state controls and demanded some kind of residual protection from enterprise abuses. The result was a set of fairly similar laws in all three countries -- later four as Czechoslovakia split -- that were in turn imitated in other Eastern European countries and the countries of the former Soviet Union.

The authors of this book examine the laws of these three, then four, transforming countries and then evaluate their enforcement experiences. Their conclusion is mixed: the laws were probably necessary and have indeed safeguarded the public against monopoly abuses; on the other hand, they have sometimes been used to directly regulate enterprises by government authorities, and this has slowed rather than hastened the development of normal market relations and competition.

The book is quite readable -- not a small achievement for a book written by economists and lawyers -- and full of interesting and useful information. My main objection is an inadequate focus -- and a questionable point of view -- concerning the regulation of so-called "natural" monopolies. The authors treat this form of regulation, performed in the US by independent regulatory commissions, as a distraction from the real work of the competition authorities, and yet in these countries, with a complete absence of regulatory commissions, it is difficult to imagine who else was available to act as a regulator. Yes, things will be neater when and as regulatory commissions are created, but in the meantime someone must keep an eye on enterprises like the telephone and electric companies that may face little or no competition.

The other good book on this topic is Ben Slay's De-monopolization and Competition Policy in Post-Communist Economies (Westview Press, 1996). This is a collection of articles by numerous authors rather than a single treatise; thus its coverage, while excellent in places, is lacking in others. The two books fit together nicely as a very complete (combined) source of information and references on this interesting topic.

The views expressed in this review are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the U.S. Department of Justice

'Complete Book of Calligraphy' is a very colorful and easy to understand book. I would suggest this title for anyone, new or well versed in the art of calligraphy. This book shows the endless possibilites that lie right at the end of a pen. Calligraphy can be used in so many creative ways, more than I even imagined! I thought calligraphy was just pretty words, but this book shows me that it goes well beyond that. This would also be great for gift-giving!

I have heard Paul Stevens speak and was impressed by his incredible wealth of knowledge. I am pleased to see that he and Robert Banks have got together to share this knowledge with believers in the massive compendium of interesting articles.

More than just a series of issues the authors want to speak on, they have brought many well known Christians together to write on everything from politics to masturbation, technology to rest, and celebration to even chocolate! Some of the topics are done somewhat tongue in cheek, but they help a Christian understand that the Christian life is to be lived in everything around them, that it applies to all aspects of life.

This is a great reference book for those who are leading Bible studies, asked to comment on something or who have their own questions about certain issues. It is helpful to get a person's though processes going.

Of course, the problem with this is that, though huge, it cannot hope to be exhaustive. Moreover, in doing as much as it has, it rarely explores an issue in depth. Its intent, though, I think was met: it helps the Christian to see that Christ is truly Lord of ALL.