I highly recommend this book for someone who wishes to have a greater understanding of social history and economy in medieval Iceland. Written by an anthropologist it uses a good combination of historical record, written literature (sagas) and anthropological technique to describe the economic conditions of Iceland during this period.

It is a very short book but is nice to have for the collection:

Chapters include: Production Chiefly Consumption Politics Exchange Kinship, Church, and King Ideology

In the conclusion it has a nice justification for the use of the saga as source for social information.

As a rule, I am scornful of books that attempt to psychoanalyze public figures from afar; indeed, I am skeptical about psychology in general. In this case, the author himself points out that his analysis should only be taken so seriously considering he has never seen the 'patient'. I am also dubious about the notion of 'syndromes' in general. Certainly Bill is a liar and a vacillator who denies personal responsibility, but are these traits really caused by the fact that his father was an alcoholic? So I came to the book a skeptic. That being said, I found the book very compelling. The most amazing thing about it is it seems to predict the Lewinsky scandal, and Clinton's reaction to it. Those that loath Bill Clinton will certainly enjoy it, and find it very convincing. Those that love him will dismiss it out of hand. Those who are in between will be very disturbed.

David Paul Henry, The Early Development of the Hermeneutic of Karl Barth As Evidenced by His Appropriation of Romans 5:12-21 (National Association of Baptist Professors of Religion Dissertation Series, 1985)

Karl Barth is something of an enigma: a self-styled Roman Catholic "simple country preacher" before and during World War I who took up the task of theological hermeneutics (at its most simplistic level, hermeneutics is simply the interpretation of text) as a means to the end of finding a more effective way to get the Christian message across to his parishoners. He ended up as, basically, the voice of Pauline thought acorss the Christian religion by the time of his death in 1968. David Paul Henry, in his doctoral dissertation, looks at the differences between the first two editions of Barth's book _Der Romerbrief_, published in 1917 and 1920, in an effort to trace the development of Barth's interpretive skills and methods during this period-- in which, it can be inferred, Barth's theological underpinnings did more changing than they did at any other time during his life. Henry also includes an epilogue pertaining to Barth's 1959 release Christ and Adam, which is in many ways a second revision of the original Der Romerbrief.

Barth as a subject is an endlessly fascinating person. His writings, on the other hand, can be something of a trial for the casual reader (I've heard they're actually worse in the original German). Thus, when Henry starts his book with a forty-page excerpt of the first edition of Der Romerbrief (Henry's own translation of the work-- which, in his own words, "attempts to render Barth's phrases in literal English equivalents." Oh, the pain and suffering.), the reader can get the feeling of being quite overwhelmed, even if he has been immersed in the writings of Barth before. Henry's translation does, however, achieve his stated goal of allowing the forcefulness of Barth's personality and conviction to come through; Barth, compared to most of today's well-known American evangelists, comes off as the Mephistopheles to a legion of wan, undernourished Fausts.

The remaining hundred-fifty-odd pages of the book are Henry's own writing, which is quite a bit more readable than Barth, and the book picks up speed. Henry first devotes two separate chapters to the two steps Barth took in his exegetical writing-- the historical interpretation of the text first, and then the (as J. T. Beck put it) "pneumatic exegesis," best described in cimplestic terms as the spiritual interpretation of the text. The fourth and last chapter compares the differences in the second edition-- not so much differences in text as differences in Barth's thinking that led him to rewrite the manuscript (the textual differences are, for the most part, differing translations of the original Greek which Biblical scholars have been arguing over for centuries, are still arguing, and will likely never stop arguing).

If you're a fan of understanding methods of textual interpretation, you don't need me to tell you it's fascinating stuff. Trying to get at the thought processes of a writer makes for great history. Henry had an inroad that most authors don't, in that Barth left two distinct editions of one work in his corpus, and so Henry's book is more cpaable than most of tracing those thoughts. As this is his intention, he also stays away (until the last few paragraphs of chapter four) of value judgments of the work itself, a refreshing change from most exegetical histories.

This isn't light reading, and those completing the book are likely to crack a smile at the irony of Henry's last sentence in Chapter Four: "The task of theological hermeneutics, as Karl Barth recognized, is not simple." Indeed. But that doesn't make Henry's work any less worth reading. I would suggest, however, that novices to the intriguing world of exegesis (either of original texts or exegetic texts such as Barth's) find a slightly less difficult subject to address first, e.g. Stanley Fish's exegesis of Milton, _Surprised by Sin: The Reader in Paradise Lost_. If you find it to your liking, Henry should be right up your alley. (Tackling Henry before tackling Barth is much advised.) *** 1/2

This synopsis of our evolutionary roots is great for someone like myself who has only a casual interest in this subject. It is of course a short volume that quickly gets to it's many points with the lastest (circa 1999) findings and research available, in an easy to read writing style. It has been a long time (decades) since I took a university anthropology course, this book brought me basically up to date.

Paul Jordan in this book clearly illustrates our evolutionary relationships with early primates, and onwards with proto-humans such as Australopithecines, Homo ergaster and erectus, Homo heidelbergensis, Neanderthalers, Cro-Magnon, and others, up to modern Homo sapiens sapiens. I found the new research concerning mitichondrial DNA fascinating. Jordan also discusses the types of artifacts, including tools and weapons, used by early man, and in addition covers man as the social animal and the invention of religion and art, and many other of the activities of early man, including hunting, dwellings, fire use, and agriculture.

This is a book that is firmly based in reality but I realize does conflict with the world-views of most people, as a result these types of books tend to be not read widely, and that is a shame as this volume is very informative. I would have given this book five stars instead of four, but this book is in terrible need of some illustrations, there are none.

As one of the contributors to this book, I would like to heartily recommend this volume to any interested in the most recent scholarship on East Germany. The book results from a conference in the spring of 1998 at the University of Birmingham at which doctoral students presented their research on topics ranging from East German literature, film, society, politics and history. My own contribution examines the role of the Protestant Church in East Germany and the interesting dynamic between this sizeable institution and the communist party and secret police which sought to destroy it.

East Germany is a remarkable area for study. Alone of the formerly communist Eastern Bloc states, it has completely disappeared from the map with no "successor state" to replace it, being absorbed (practically by Anschluss) into the Federal Republic of Germany. Also unlike the other states, its archives have been completely opened to scholars, meaning that we can now look into the state and party files -- including those of the Stasi -- while many of the main actors are still alive. The result has been that -- far from an abandonment of East German studies following that state's disappearance -- scholarship is continuing in exciting directions by young and upcoming researchers, as this volume testifies.

This is an excellent book about a comic book known as a "bookdope book" which has a narcotic affect upon the reader. It is either a narcotic effect or it causes the reader to experience alternate dimensions of reality... The way Eating Eight is written, it has a similar effect on you, the reader, thus the book is a deconstruction of itself... Ok this might not make any sense but if you read the book you would understand because it is nonsense that makes perfect sense if you read it carefully.

This is one of my favorite books and it is a crime that it is out of print.

This is a good book. But the publisher (intentionally?) forgot to mention it is a translation of the 1990 French version. Instead, the publisher dated the book 2000. The lastest paper cited in the book was 1987. The publisher failed to mention the book's origin anywhere on its own web until you buy the book and find it on the inside cover.

I'm an undergraduate student in Finance and Economics. I picked up this book for a term paper for my Public Economics class.

If there's one thing to say about De Grauwe's book is that it seemed very useful, down to earth, in contrast to other economics books I've read. The concepts covered in the book were explained very clearly, and for someone interested in the area, the theories seemed ready for use for application in understanding the important issues of monetary integration.

Whether there are flaws in the theory are--honestly--beyond my grasp; I'd have to read more. The book seems written and revised fairly enough and hasn't received negative comments from the faculty at my university. If someone else has a contrary opinion, I'm sure it'd help for people to hear.

Check the sample pages if you want to see if this book would be good for you.

One of the goals of this book is to determine if the information provided in the Cayce psychic readings could have been obtained by Cayce from conventional sources such as books or contact with other people. Also the accuracy of the psychic info is examined.

The general conclusion as I understand it is that Cayce had little interest in reading about esoteric subjects in his normal (non trance) life. In any case he wasn't that much of an intellectual. So there is very little verifiable evidence that the psychic info was influenced by existing sources to any significant degree.

The psychic info about things like Atlantis and past or future events is presented as being less than completely accurate and reliable. However I disagree with this.

Problem: Cayce said earth changes and other historical events would occur in 1958 and 1998 such as New York City would sink under the ocean.

Answer: He didn't say '1958' and '1998'. He said '58 and '98. This could mean any years such as 2058, 3198, etc. (Other supporters of Cayce have said that he was correct but people changed so the future events didn't occur. However this is not an accurate description of a prophet. Prophets only say things that happen. Anyone can say something 'might' happen.)

Those 20 years cycles come up in relation to the time travel experiments that were performed by the navy during The Philadelphia Experiement which later became The Montauk Project.
The earth is on some type of 20 year cycle.

Problem: It is highly unlikely that such a high percentage of those who received psychic readings would have personally known Cayce and Jesus Christ in past lives.

Answer: It was Cayce's hope and prayer to help people understand themselves and their relationship to God in his own unique way. God answered his prayer and sent those people into his life to help him accomplish his goal. (Cayce said he wrote the gospel of Luke in a past life.)

Problem: If a highly advanced civilization such as Atlantis existed we would have some evidence of their advanced technology.

Answer: Such evidence does exist. It's called 'the great pyramid'. In his book The Giza Power Plant Christopher Dunn proves that the great pyramid was a machine like a form of nuclear reactor. The gigantic granite blocks inside the pyramid contain crystals which transformed energy to generate a cosmic energy beam. This is eerily similar to Cayce's description of the temple in Atlantis with its crystal technology and death ray.

Any other discrepancies found in the Cayce readings can be attributed to misunderstandings which occurred when the information was recorded or to misinterpretation.

I think I have demonstrated that everything Cayce said while he was in the trance state is true.

Perhaps more detail has been written about Tesla, than his arch rival, Thomas Edison. The former was in the real sense, an inventor, while Edison, for all intent, was a tinkerer; that is, he took objects and concepts and made them better or workable. Sure, we have all heard about the Phonograph, and the Electric light bulb that Edison made workable, but most accounts summarize his dealings rather than scrutinize them.
The Authors of this book, wrote a highly detailed scholarly account of the 'inventor' Edison, in a way few other authors have ever accomplished.
As for the Tesla/Edision rivalry, I think it fortunate that Tesla won over the world with A/C electric Current rather than Edison's D/C; makes for less electrocutions in the home. Perhaps, fate was that all these inventors and tinkerers were at bat together, but I sometimes wonder what would have happened had they been spread out a little so that more detailed notes could have been made of their work and contribution.