The book is printed in France, the the paper quality is very good. The focus of the book is on the visual rather than the written word, containing mostly photographs (black and white as well as color).

The book also includes photographs of artwork owned by the Colombe d'Or. As well as being a top notch restaurant and hotel, this establishment could also be counted as a museum.

My only complaint is that there were not more photos of the hotel itself, or the surrounding town. The focus seems to be on the social life of this establishemnt.

This would make a beautiful gift for a Provence-ophile, cook, or art lover.

Some of the different concepts and persons covered are:

Empiricism

Ethics

Karl Jaspers

Continental Philosophy

Argument ad hominem

Absolutism

Materialism

Philosophy of Education

Rationalism

Rene Déscartes

John Locke

Pantheism

Meaning

Existentialism

Naturalism

Free Will

Deduction

Egoism

Metaphysics

Objectivism

My criticism of the book is that if occasionally explains a term via an analogy or scenario but then fails to provide a clear definition of the term itself. However, only a handful of the entries are like this.

In ethics, I think I would affirm Absolutism and Objectivism which are defined as: Absolutism: "This is the general philosophical view that there are fundamental truths about the world which are independent of the opinions of individual people or of different societies... Ethical absolutism is the view that there are moral principles which are true in all cultures and societies, and at all times in history, irrespective of whether human beings do in fact adhere to them." (page 2)

Objectivism: "This is the contention in ethics that there are certain moral principles which are true and which are quite independent of the beliefs of individual human beings." (page 69)

Some of the other frankly illogical and dangerous ideas are emotive theory ("... the view that moral judgments are fundamentally an articulation of feelings..." page 32) or relativism ("Relativism takes the view there are no fixed or absolute standards in relation to knowledge about the world, moral behaviour, social organization, or any other aspect of human life." page 84). Emotive theory is apparently a representative of the non-cognitivist school of ethics.

The series, as far as I know, is British. Both this series (101 key ideas) and the other "Teach Yourself," books are British. Their style is somewhat different from American or Canadian writing but as this is a ready-reference work, that is not really an issue.

The end of the book is a one page long, "Further Reading," section.

Two excellent Christian books that cover some of these ideas and provide a Christian response are:

The Baker Encyclopedia of Christian Apologetics by Norman Geisler

Relativism: Feet Firmly Planted in Mid-Air by Francis J. Beckwith and Gregory Koukl

One of the drawbacks of this book is that it tries to be something for everyone, and I was nearly turned off by the first few chapters, which were far too basic for my needs (eg. what can a word processor do?). However, as I got deeper into the book, I found many useful ideas and concepts. Application programs and computer-based instruction are examined in detail in separate chapters, as well as choosing software, classroom management, and administrative concerns.

As a textbook, the book is very well designed. The language of the book, while academic, is readily accessible by undergraduate students. Each of the regular chapters starts with a list of objectives and ends with a short summary and review. Each chapter also includes a list of suggested activities of varying difficulty, as well as recommended software and Web links. The book includes an index and list of references, but no glossary.