It is difficult to write a good book on a subject one dislikes and, clearly, Johnson is not fond of the Irish.

This is an eminently readable, informative history of Ireland from the twelfth century up to the late 1970's. Unlike many histories, it is not a list of statistics. Nor is it an appeal to our sensibilities. It is swift, yet comprehensive.

This seems to treat the various causes and factions in Ireland with fairness. It is a very readable account with interesting quotes from persons who observed things first-hand.

R.A. Montogmery could never equal the mastery of the "Choose Your Own Adventure" genre that Edward Packard did. Too often his books were preachy and overly arbitrary. This book may be his best effort, however, telling a fairly gripping series of adventures of your search for the lost city of Atlantis. The series was new and fresh at this point, and many of its best books were among its first nine.

In my opinion I would like to recommend this book to anyone who hates reading.

This book takes place in the deep Atlantic in the lost city of Atlantis. In this book you are the character. What happens in the book is that you are an underwater explorer. This is your biggest mission. You must find the lost city of Atlantis.

Journey Under the Sea is one of the classic Choose Your Own Adventure books, and among the best ever written. Combining the elements of the unknown with that of high-adventure, the book involves the reader from the start and, depending on your "fate-altering" decisions, will end with a wallop. Find the Lost City of Atlantis, or explore the other mysterious locales of the ocean. But no matter where you turn, danger awaites you in this exciting multi-path quest of never-ending suprise and suspense.

Hengeller is not only a redundant writer but an extremely poor one. If you need a sleeping pill, I urge you to read this book.
It has some scholarly value. I'll give it that much. But with all the more interesting works done on the same subject matter, who really cares to read this. The only people who should read this must really love this subject, anyone else should consider this a rip off.

Typically Henggeler, this book is solidly researched, brilliantly thorough, and provides a fresh perspective. The reader is left with much food for thought and a hunger to discover further evidence of his theories as history evolves. Personality nuances and strategic planning is demonstrated with fantastic depth and insight. One of the most enjoyable and thought provoking books available.

Superbly researched and well-argued analysis of how the Kennedy "mystique" took hold. The interviews and anecdotes presented are quite revealing in their own right. By far, this was the best book I have read on Kennedy and his political legacy to date. A must read for anyone seeking to understand how Kennedy's image has helped shape American politics over the last few decades and why it persists today.

Having read the book, I find I would agree with this comment from Pius XII: Greatness Dishonoured, 1980, by Michael O'Carroll, p. 243-244 (epilogue):

There is another great lady deserving a salute in this period of papal history, Sister Mary Pascalina Lehnert. She had been Pius XII's housekeeper for fifty years when he died in 1958: in Munich, Berlin, the Vatican. Since his death she had lived in retirement, not from work but from the public gaze. She had set down some memories of him soon after his death, on orders from her superiors -- not a diary, but recollection of striking events in the Pope's career.

The prediction of a notorious critic of Pius XII, the ex-priest Carlo Falconi, that the nun's 'diary', if published, would be explosive, has not been fulfilled. There are certainly revelations but they do but serve to enhance the Pope's reputation. The book was published early in 1983 and already in that year went through four editions. Translations are being prepared. Sister Pascalina died on 13 November, 1983 returning to Rome after a ceremony in Vienna organised to commemorate the twenty fifth anniversary of Pius XII's death. (...)

What is one to say about a concoction allegedly based on her life, appearing in the United States under the title La Popessa? This is a world apart from the genuine memoirs of the nun; it is a world of arbitrary invention, carried at times to the wildest extremes. I refrain from giving examples, with which I could fill scores of pages of this book. Sister Pascalina was simply the Pope's housekeeper, yet to her is attributed a throughout [sic] knowledge of the most involved Church affairs, a memory of conversations of sixty years earlier, a brashness in dealing with high ecclesiastics, and power and influence over the Pope, all utterly without documentation, utterly unbelievable: she actually composed with the Pope one of the greatest theological encyclicals in the history of the Papacy, Mystici Corporis Christi! "The pseudo-Pascalina book", says Fr Graham, "is at best a practical joke on an unsuspecting public. At worst, it is a new low in U.S. book publishing."

I actually only wanted to encourage everyone to try to read this incredible book. Also, please feel free to visit my web site at lapopessa.com and let me know what you think. Finally, contrary to one of your guest reviewers, I can assure you that the title given to Pascalina, "La Popessa" was not one of endearment or honor. Cardinal Tisserant and others are said to have created this name as a statement of their venemous hate for Sister Pascalina. This remarkable woman, who ran the Vatican as well as oversaw the day to day activities of Pope Pius XII, is one of the great women of the twentieth century. Pascalina is an earlier pioneer of the women's liberation movement in that she made a conscious decision as to how she would live her life. That, she decided, was to walk in the shadow of a man who she was determined to one day see become pope. I truly hope that everyone can read this remarkable book. "La Popessa" has never been publically acknowledged by the church for fear that Pascalina would then have to be credited for so much good that she did during her years in the Vatican. They also feared the nature of the relationship between a nun and a pope - though it was pure and chaste in my opinion. While Pascalina lived in the shadows, and many in the Vatican never even saw her or knew of her existence, she clearly helped change the course of world history. Pascalina is only one of the many millions of couragous women throughout the world who richly deserve credit for making a difference each and every day - whether it be in politics, business, health and human services, the classroom, or as the invaluable homemaker who creates the "sanga". In the end, "La Popessa" tells of one of the great love stories of our time, that between a nun and a pope. It is a story of a rich yet platonic love that was honest and respectful of its limitations. "La Popessa" is but a footnote in history, but a remarkable one at that. Of the thirty books that I used in researching my musical, it is clear that this is an exciting story that affected the course of world events. Let me know your thoughts. I think Bernadette Peters would be a great lead!

For about five years I had a bookstore which attempted to meet the needs of both Jews and Catholics in our University town. My interest in books which build bridges and tear down walls created great diversity on my shelves, of which I remain proud. THE POPESSA came highly recommended by the Paulist priests who staff the campus Newman Center at WVU. It tells the story of a religious woman who's work was in Vatican City, a person of considerable intellect and insight which was acknowledged, if grudgingly, by Pope Pius VII as she attempted throughout WWII to convince him of the enormous evil of Hitler & Nazi Germany. Unfortunately, she was unable to accomplish the rescue of Jews from the Shoah. But she was greatly respected for her efforts throughout the Vatican, and was called La Popessa as a title of honor. With the recent release of HITLER'S POPE, I hope this excellent book covering the same time period and subject will become available again and receive the recognition it deserves for taking a courageous stand against the Church, who was even less repentant in 1986 when La Popessa was published than it remains today.

I am a Lamborghini owner so I have researched every possible factabout the car. Not because i plan on selling or replacing parts forworn ones, but for the fact that this car is truly a mark ofexcellence in the super car genre. I've read many books and this oneis about a five when compared to all the others. It gives facts butits mainly for the beginner lamborghini ethusiasts, not those that hasindepth details on the cars. As anyone Lambo ethusiasts knows, itshard to find Accurate stats on the car's performance numbers, but thisbook has all of its facts and numbers correct. For the guy at thetop,..that little four door that dodge produced for lamborghini is nota "True lamborghini" , go to this sight and have your eyesblown from there sockets from cars your eyes wouldn't believe.

As an owner of a Lamborghini Diablo VT (which I'm still timid to drive above 70MPH) I would have to say that this is one of the best books on the famous italian cars I have ever seen. It offers complete color pictures and some interesting information that I never knew, and made me go peaking under the hood. If you have a Lamborghini, or wish you did (like who wouldn't!), this book is money well worth spent.

This book is so beautiful good information for persons that love Lamborghini, so beatiful pictures, good print quality. No bored information about every part only interesting information. In the book you will found a surprise a car called Portofino, that I have never saw in any place.

I am very worried about this book and its impact on people who haven't been trained in how to study the Bible. The number one rule that someone needs to know is that we should not read our own presuppositions into the text of Scripture. And this is exactly what Mr. Hegg has done. It is a challenge that every theologian risks when they publish an article, but is is paramount to good theology.

Everyone knows that the Jerusalem council in Acts 15 is not speaking about how Jewish people should observe the Torah (Law). Its very clearly speaking to Gentiles who have been taught that they must observe the Torah. The decision of the council was that Gentiles do not need to keep the Law or the commandments.

Trying to read the text from our 21st century mindset and specifically messianic issues is a mistake. This text was not written to Messianic Jewish people in the 21st century; different issues for a different time. Jewish people in those days had to keep the Torah to certain degrees. There was still a temple. They still lived in Jewish communities. They did not want to become Gentiles, so they lived the way every other Jewish person lived. The concept of how or in what manner a Jewish believer should keep the Torah was not even a thought. And it certainly is not spoken about in Scripture. Anyone who claims that it is reads their presuppositions into scripture. We call this "isogesis" and it is a major theological error.

Mr. Hegg's book misses many points. It explains that there is no new convenant but a renewed convenant; its basis, the word new doesn't really mean new. I'm sorry, but this just isn't true. These words means new and every lexicon as well as the great scholars around the world agree that they mean new. Two convenants are clearly referred to in Gal 4:24 and Jer 31 for starters. I appreciate Mr. Hegg's attempt to clear up some of the difficult issues of today with biblical teaching. But I cannot agree that this book gives the right answers. There are many other mistakes that are made and they can't all be addressed here. But clearly the error lies in Mr. Hegg's presuppositions guiding his reading of the text. If you share those presuppositions, than I would advice you to read very cautiously, if at all.

Tim Hegg gives perhaps of of the most well balenced and accurate portrayals of who the Apostle Paul was and what is was he is really saying. He makes use of the Scriptures, the Mishnah, Dead Sea Scrolls, and much more ancient Jewish literature in his work.

I especially appreciate how Hegg explains what the Jerusalem Council did for non-Jewish believers because unlike some Messianic Jewish scholars, Hegg does NOT believe that these were an early form of the Noachide laws, but rather that they were fences around the Torah in order to help non-Jews from falling back into their former-pagan lives. The Torah is not replaced by the Acts 15 decision; the Torah remains as a foundation. Which only makes sense because the Tanakh was the only canon of Scripture for the First Century believers.

I am at Bible College now (infact I am in a Pauline Epistles class right now) and this has been a tremendous help for me. I have yet to hear any rebutals of the things I bring up from Hegg's work.

Hands down, this book is to become the foundational book for Messianic Pauline scholarship. For those who are pro-Torah for all of God's people, Jew and non-Jew, Hegg,s book will give you and even greater foundation for your walk. May you be blessed.

This book is a must read. Tim Hegg will clearly explain
(a)Paul did not start a new religion nor was he a convert to Christianity.
(b)He remained to his death a Pharisee
(c)He remained to his death a Torah-submissive Jew
(d) Paul did not teach Gentiles to avoid living a Torah submissive life let alone that they were free from the Commandments of G-d.
(e) The Jerusalem council (Acts 15) did not reduce for Gentiles G-d's commandments, laws and statutes to the "four instructions" (verses 19-20).

A careful reading of Acts chapter 15 will show that some believed that Gentiles had to be circumcised and follow the rules of the rabbis to have a place in "the world to come" (to be saved). The issue for James and the others meeting in Jerusalem was never a question of whether circumcision should be abandoned but whether Gentiles coming to G-d through Messiah Yeshua had to convert to the Judaism of that day which meant conversion and as such included the oral traditions (see Mark 7). Would the leaders of the Messianic community instruct Gentiles not to circumcise their children? Not on your life. Did James instruct that Gentiles should no longer consider circumcision? No again just as they would not have said that the four rules covered it all so Gentiles could now lie, steal, or murder.

As Tim Hegg explains in this book, we find in the Apostolic Scriptures that Paul respected the traditions taught by the rabbis and Paul taught traditions that were consistent with Scripture.

This book challenges the view common among Jews and Gentiles alike that Paul taught the Torah was for those born Jewish and "The New Covenant" was for "The Church."

Tim Hegg has written a wonderful book and all who give it careful study will greatly profit.

I had doubts ordering and reading this book. I even feared that it might be one of those books where someone nicks stuff off the internet and publishes it to make a quick buck. I was happily wrong.

This book was an interesting peak into the strange and interesting world of Doctor Who fandom. I've been a fan of Doctor Who for many years but never really got into 'fanzines' and conventions, so it was very interesting to read about the world of fandom.

The book is a selection of passages, readings and amusing comments by various authors. This means that some sections are better than others. Some sections are well written and contributed by such luminaries as Kate Orman and Tom Baker (the man himself!). However, others are contributed by people who seem to want to see how many times they can use the word "zeitgeist" and how sad they can sound slagging off fandom one second and praising it the next like some insecure neurotic. But even these strange passages are enjoyable, at least for me since I'm a fan too.

This book is definatley intended for the die-hard fan of Doctor Who. The writing style, as most contributions come from the UK and are written in a relaxed everyday voice, can be difficult for us Americans as the lingo and slang takes a while to be deciphered. Favorite quote so far: "Sylvester McCoy's Doctor and Sophie Aldred's Ace are definate products of the fin-de-siecle 1989 zeitgeist..." Whew, How many times I've said the same thing myself!

Tom Baker's interview is the high point of the book for me. He's his usual philosophical and witty self, saying something deep and meaningful and something vaguely shocking back to back in that disarmingly nice way that only Tom Baker can. I liked the "Analysis" section of the book, and the section with the Gallifreyan University Exam. As the Brigadier himself might say "Great reading selections, all of them."

Licence Denied is a collection of articles, cartoons, jokes, and other extracts from Doctor Who fanzines produced mainly in the 1980s (there are some from later eras, but the emphasis is on this period).

This is a good book for anyone who wasn't there, i.e. people who came to Doctor Who fandom in the 1990s and afterwards, but it's also good for those of us who were there, as we remember just how funny, clever, or downright silly some of the articles were. My own personal favourites are the do it yourself Pertwee adventures and the Tat Wood intellectual essays about the series.

I found myself getting annoyed with one writer who made assumptions without backing them up in support of a point of view that I profoundly disagreed with. Then I realised that this is the point of these articles, they get you thinking about different aspects of Doctor Who which you may not have considered. You may even want to write your own article to rebut the original.

There is a disproportionate amount of material taken from Cottage Under Siege, however as I missed that particular periodical at the time, I was grateful for the chance to catch up.

An informative, educational, and entertaining book.

Paul Cornell, a fanzine editor and writer who hit the big time with several NA entries, has been writing about his favorite TV shows for years. He has published program guides for The Avengers, X-Files and Star Trek, and his "Discontinuity Guide" is, no doubt, sitting next to the VCRs of many obsessive-compulsive DW fans. But this book is a breed apart. It is a celebration of fanzines and the people behind them - but it's a wild, funny, broadly sweeping celebration that glories in the strange and often ridiculous world of fandom.

Concentrating on DW fans in the UK (with nods to Canada and Australia but no US material), Cornell does a simply magnificent job of introducing the zany spectrum that modern DW fans encompass. He describes early fanzines of the sixties and seventies as "gosh wow!" - and proves it with a visit to the set of "Carnival of Monsters" so breathless it nearly dies of asphyxiation. From those days of innocent reverence to the sarcastic, sardonic scribblings of university students and professional conventioneers is a long, windy road. Cornell sketches merely the outlines of that journey, collecting works from various times and people (mostly favoring the mid 1990's), to show off some of the best writing he could find. That it leaves the reader hungry for more is precisely his goal.

Highlights include the infamous TARDIS review from 1976 of "The Deadly Assassin" (which I'd heard about for years but never actually read). To say that it rips Robert Holmes a new one is being too kind; it wasn't until I began catching up on Doctor Who websites that I recalled how people could be so morally outraged over DW in the 1970s. Compare this to David Darlington's impassioned defense of Davison's work, or Kate Orman's love-letter to Sylv McCoy, to see how fans can revel in the pleasure of their experience with little or no shame over the fact that we are, after all, talking about an admittedly silly TV show.

He doesn't shy away from the dark side of fandom, including several articles that snipe at fellow fans or the show's producers, but that sort of material is easy to dismiss for the whole that fanzines have to offer. So he balances the arcane with the mundane, the intellectual with the grotesque, and the fanboy with the fangirl. The examples of analysis run the gamut from brilliant (Tat Wood on the use of science in the early years, Thomas Noonan on conventions in televised narratives, Matt Jones on the gay subtext of "The Happiness Patrol") to flat-out bizarre (articles on the symbolic uses of hot beverages, Adric's nose and why the "Trial of a Time Lord" season was merely our imagination). There are wonderful spoofs and gags, including mock exams, a scandalously funny form-letter for inviting former stars to your convention, and, one of my faves, a guide to writing your own Jon Pertwee story. There are pieces that indulge the continuity commandos (how many regenerations were there before Hartnell?) and for closet cases (how to let your roommates know you're a DW fan before they catch you at it). All this and an entirely accurate index!

What these disparate bits have in common is, simply put, terrific writing. It's imaginative, articulate and engaging throughout. At some points the subject matter becomes almost incidental to the enjoyment one can take in reading well-written, personal essays by people with endearing personalities and generous senses of humor.

There is, incidentally, a lovely interview with Tom Baker that, unusually, is written in the form of a continuous monologue. Usually, the Q&A format is employed to demonstrate the cleverness of the interviewer, but Ness Bishop allows her side of what was obviously a conversation to go unrecorded, and as a result Baker's essence is presented undiluted. Anyone who was not already enamored of him before reading this piece could not help but be charmed.

I could complain that the book is too brief, but that's really beside the point - and for the price, it's more than a bargain. A familiarity with British slang isn't required but it doesn't hurt: he defines "menky" and "Olympiads" helpfully, but if you don't already know what "A4 format," "BSB" or "taking the piss" mean - not to mention half the acronyms for various fan and SF publications or people like "Mr. Benn" and "Su Pollard" - you're on your own. ["A4" is a size of paper, slightly longer than US standard 8.5x11. "BSB" is British-Sky-Broadcasting, Rupert Murdoch's satellite network. "Taking the piss" is what David Letterman does to his guests.] He hints that a similar collection of American fan literature may be forthcoming. One can only hope! In the meantime, especially for us Yanks who rarely if ever got to see the original 'zines Cornell has scoured, "License Denied" is a delightful excursion to a universe that is still thriving outside of Shepherd's Bush.

Lonely PLanet makes fine books but this is NOT one of them. I have toured the island several times and apparently the author and I have not been to the same places. Or rather the writer merely went as far as the nearest tourist office and copied the local brochures. I found his descriptions of all of the historical sites inaccurate -- museums the size of 10 x 10 room are described as "large" and worth half a day; sites are described as "near the village" when they are right in the middle -- hence the author was never there. The language glossary doesn't even include "Please, Thank You or Excuse Me."
BUY another Cyprus book

This is an excellent guide book to the island. However, contrary to the previous reviewer's comments there are many other guide books to Cyprus, some of them quite fine - and Amazon sells them too. The Rough Guide is also excellent.

You can't go to Cyprus without the Lonely Planet Cyprus (Travel Survival Kit) by Paul Hellander. It is literally the only travel book in English on this part of the world! Though part of the ancient world and visited by such luminaries as the Apostle Paul, almost nothing is written today in the guidebook area except this! Used books? None. New books? Try to find them. About all you can find are political analyses of Cyprus and its recent past. While many books exist on the Carribean, few exist on the Mediterranean! There are books on the Greek Isles, but not Cyprus. Thank you Lonely Planet for this guide book. It is like gold for the tourist to Cyprus!

With some regret, I have to say this book is disappointing. Lonely Planet has taken a long time to find Crete, but on the evidence of this it could have been written from reviewing all the others. I bought it yesterday and got a third of the way through before reading anything useful about the island rather than Greece. On the plus side, the website references are useful, and the prices are reasonably accurate still - except for the buses (I arrived back from this year's visit three days ago). Crete is still crying out for a guide that tells you how to get about in a practical sense - not everyone is pretending to be an explorer in a land with no tourists. For example, getting to anywhere in the south west by bus from Chania/Rethymnon areas requires careful planning, but it's safer and cheaper than the extortionately priced car-hires in Crete. The benchmarks for guidebooks to Crete are still the blue and yellow German one (can't remember the publisher) and the Greek one 'Unexplored Crete', pub 1996, and now about 4500 Dr. Not a bad guide, just disappointing from Lonely Planet.

Lonely Planet, for me, are "the" tried-and-tested guide books. Usually very thorough and accurate.

This Crete edition is therefore somewhat of a let-down. I can only put it down to having a single author rather than the multiple authors in most editions.

It does remain a very useful source of information but it seems to be more targeted at the casual holidayer rather than people looking to get off the tourist trail. Some areas are completely uncovered, or only very briefly mentioned.

Worst is many mistakes along the lines of "16 km west of..." where if you went 16 km west you'd be in the sea, and 16 km EAST is where you need to be. I'm OK as I have other books and maps, but the fact that these errors are repeated throughout the book is quite unacceptable.

You may still find this a useful companion guide, but don't depend upon it alone. I'm off to buy the Rough Guide and hoping it will be better or at least fill in some gaps. I also have had to buy a 1:100k map and a hiking book for the region.

An ok book, but a let down as far as LP books go.

Lonely Planet has finally got its act together and upgraded the badly flawed and messy 1st edition of its traveller's guide to Crete. The 1st edition while 75% there just had too many inaccuracies and inconsistencies to be considered a good guide: directions were often 180 degrees out, maps were incorrect, recommendations were strangely pitched at travellers with more money than taste and that front cover ...urrgh!

All that has changed with the new edition of the Crete guide, published in February 2002. This book, after an initial review by this critic, is a stunner and a winner. With a striking Minoan fresco painting as a front cover the book looks immediately tight and controlled. The two new special sections on the 'Minoans' and 'Back to the Hills' - a guide to outdoor activities - are well written and informative. Restaurant reviews now recommend dishes and give prices and hotel listings give much more useful information like email addresses and web pages. There is a whole new selection of sidebars that range from the funny to the cerebral. Some chapter re-structuring is now in evidence and information is that much easier to follow. New destinations are in evidence including the hitherto 'undiscovered' village of Mochlos near Agios Nikolaos. I thought only I knew about that place! Hats off to Greece specialist and veteran Lonely Planet author Paul Hellander who updated this guide: the expertise shows. I for one will be looking forward to my annual vacation this year with the Lonely Planet guide to Crete as my companion. Thank you LP!

Only an "intellectual" can defend the mass murder of tens of millions by those trying to fulfill the communist "ideal". But then, of course, you got to break a few eggs...

This is an excellent work on the labor theory of value and its implications for social, economic and polictical policy. Contrary to what properly belived, this Baran's work is not in defense of Stalin, but rather the worker in a capitalist's society.

One of the major facts of the last 40 years, in terms of the history of thought, has been the fight of liberals and conservatives against marxism and dialetics. It has been an ideological struggle, a great effort directed to eliminating any and all contributions of marxists from schools, universities and social movements. This Longer View of Paul Baran, undoubtedly, is a master piece of, at the same time, sociological imagination and critical approach to many of the themes that, yet back in the 60's and nowadays are of great relevance to understand much of the social and economic process under monopoly capitalism.