After missing the first collection of essays on this brilliant recluse published soon after his death, I picked up the present version as soon as I was able. It did not disappoint.

The book is a collection of four lectures given in the subject's honor in 1995 on the tenth anniversary of his death. The final lecture and the latter part of the third are highly mathematical and technical and clearly intended for a professional audience.

But for me, the first lecture by Abraham Pais is worth the purchase price alone. Pais was not only a contemporary physicist, but also a close friend and as close to a confidant as was possible with such a reticent man.

Through Pais' eyes, we see a mathematician turned physicist who was very different from the man to whom Dirac is most frequently compared, Albert Einstein. Einstein was a physicist first, mathematician second. Dirac was exactly the opposite. Einstein became a social and political critic, Dirac never strayed far from his study. The two were similar in that both viewed mathematical beauty as primary and both hated the modern remake of quantum mechanics (after the initial theory) for very similar reasons. This last point was interesting as Dirac was the first one to combine all his contemporaries' work on this improved quantum physics into a formal mathematical structure. His resulting equation, called naturally the Dirac equation, is classic Dirac, short and sweet. It combined Einsteinian relativity with the new quantum theory and Dirac considered the result to govern most of physics and all of chemistry. Stephen Hawking, the renowned theoretical physicist, says in his introductory memorial address to the book, "If Dirac had patented the equation ... he would have become one of the richest men in the world. Every television set or computer would have paid him royalties." For this work, Dirac shared the 1933 Nobel Prize with German physicist Erwin Schroedinger. One unexpected consequence of this work was a mathematical conclusion that defined a "negative energy" matter (aka antimatter) solution. Simply put, he had discovered a universe noone had imagined. To this day, we see the effects of this discovery from medical necessities (PET scan imaging-Positron Emission Tomography) to science fiction (Star Trek).

The quotations and anecdotes Pais chooses are well placed and often very funny. They are also supported by the images of Dirac portrayed in the sketch on the cover and in the few photographs scattered through the first two lectures. They reveal his character well. He saw mathematical and physical realities so clearly that he simply could not understand why others did not see them as well. The photo of him "listening" to future Nobel Laureate Richard Feynman in Maurice Jacob's section is one of the most amusing of the collection.

In the second lecture, Jacob shows the path of discovery and effect on latter day experimental physics of antimatter. He goes too long in spots but is generally fine.

We were ourselves participating in the inauguration of the Paul Dirac memorial in Westminster Abbey. Especially the speeches of Stephan Hawking and Abraham Pais were very touching as they did not only touch Dirac's work but also his personality and life. He was a very complex person and a great physicist. This book reflects that more than others about him.

Volume 1 contains 170 queen pawn games between 1935-1970. Keres was one of the strongest Russian players between 1940-1955. This is a good games collection, but the analysis is often not deep enough.

The games are arranged by opening, and subdivided by variation so that the book works both as a collection of Keres queen pawn games AND as a manual of opening theory on queen pawn games- it can be used as an opening manual, and since the games are complete, you will see what middlegame/endgame positions develop from the openings, and how Keres, one of the best players in the history of the game, handled the positions. This book is essential for learning queen pawn openings- its better than the Mednis book on queen pawn opening strategy that is published by Dover. Originally published in 1987 this remains an essential chess book because its both a games collection and queen pawn opening manual all rolled into one. Contains 170 complete annotated games!

This book is an interesting and original way of looking at Paul's view of the Law, Israel, and Redemption through 2 Corinthians 3. Hafemann's thesis is that contrary to the traditional Protestant understanding of 2 Cor. 3 or the "law/grace" dichotomy, Paul wrote 2 Cor. 3 to tell the Corinthians that Israel could not obey the Mosaic Law and obtain salvation because their hearts were "veiled" or hardened. According to Hafemann, Paul did not oppose the Law, but opposed the Law without the Spirit. The reason why many Israelites throughout history were unregenerate is because they lack the Spirit to obey the law as it was meant to be. Many reject Christ and stumble because they want to pursue righteousness through the Law outside of Christ. However, the New Covenant doesn't go against the Law or change it, but provides the Spirit to New Covenant believers so that they can fulfill the demands of the Law and be saved on the Last Judgment. The practical implications of the author's thesis is alarming. This view downgrades the sacrificial work of Christ and undermines justification by faith alone. It is not surprising that Hafemann follows suit with his predecessor Peter Stuhlmacher. Stuhlmacher (who was taught by E. Kasemann) follows the "forensic/transformative" view of righteousness (as does Hafemann), rather than the purely forensic view held by Luther, Calvin and the Reformers. The view held by Kasemann, Stuhlmacher, and Hafemann is a compromise between traditional Protestant and Roman Catholic soteriology. This is very dangerous and can undermine the Reformation. In many places throughout the book, Hafemann does indeed say that we must obey the Law in order to be saved on the Last Judgment. Traditional Protestants say that we are already justified in Christ and that our stand at the Last Judgment is for that truth to be ratified apart from our works (however, works do define what degree of glory we will possess in the future kingdom as in 1 Cor. 3:10-15). Unfortunately, many within the "Protestant/Evangelical" tradition have been snared into this new view on Paul and justification. Recent works by Fuller, Schreiner, Thielman, Garlington, and Piper reveal where modern evangelicals are plummeting towards. Sola Fide is losing out these days because of these new trends. Also, Hafemann's work is hard to read. Many people will have to pay close attention to every word the author uses to understand what he is trying to say. This book is more geared towards seminarians doing their doctoral thesis. Finally, I would also suggest that people learn Biblical Greek and modern German before reading this book.

Scott Hafemann has done an excellent job in presenting a correct understanding of the Spirit/letter contrast in 2 Corinthians 3. The conclusion that he reaches has implications for a whole understanding of the Old Testament and the its relation to the New Testament. The essential message is this... The law was not inherently "bad" or oppression to the people of Israel. The problem resided with the people themselves. Only a remnant were true followers of Yahweh. For this faithful remnant, who had the Spirit operating in their lives, the law was good (cf. Psalm 119, et al). But for those without the Spirit (the majority of Israel), the law was simply "letter", and a burden. They did not want to keep it, nor could they. Seeing this helps us to understand both "good" and "bad" statements about the law in the NT writings.

Hats off to Hafemann!

Paul Jenkins presents four storylines in Spiderman: One Small Break...one of them is good. I'm a huge fan of Spidey but he has been portrayed in a much better style (both plotwise and artistically), look no further than J. Michael Straczynski's Spiderman: Homecoming for a perfect example. Jenkins stories seem to slide back-and-forth between serious and cartoonish way too easily, the artwork only emphasizes the cartoonish nature.

The storylines presented here cover Peter Parker: Spiderman issues #27-28 and 30-34. They include...

#1 - Spiderman battling his arch-enemy Stromm...and then being placed into a situation where he has to decide, "Is it right to kill someone if thousands of future lives will be saved?" Interesting question but it could have been presented in a much stronger light. The villain of Stromm is also not one of the stronger antagonists that Spidey has battled.

#2 - Spiderman battling a revenge hungry foe called Fusion. This storyline takes several interesting turns, the most interesting being when Spiderman receives that "One Small Break" of the title's name. Overall an average outing but there was plenty of untapped potential.

#3 - The best storyline of the bunch (and the only one worth reading in this collection) is a story dealing with Peter Parker (not Spiderman) and his past relationship with his Uncle Ben. The story focuses around an annual attendance of a Mets game and it works on several levels. Again there is some cartoonish nature that detracts from it and keeps it from reaching a "Best of..." level, but overall this one is a great read.

#4 - A silly and stupid and underdeveloped story about a man cursed with dangerous powers and who is being chased by some friendly monks (in the Monk-Mobile!). UG! Why was this story written in the first place...much less included in a TPB? What a waste of space and it doesn't say much if this is the higher level of story to be included into a mainstream TPB.

If you're "Jones-ing" for a Spiderman read then you may want to pick up One Small Break. But if you want to read Spidey in some of his top storylines then look for other TPB's available such as: The Death of Gwen Stacy, Power and Responsibility, or Untold Tales of Spiderman, you'll have a better time there.

While many people have been dissing Mr. Jenkins in favor of the current "Amazing Spider-Man" team, he actually presents a very good collection of stories. His tale on assisted suicide makes you think, and the baseball story was touchy. I for one also enjoyed the William story, due to it's inspiring ending. However, the highlight of the book is the Fusion saga- Fusion, an cool-looking villian, has a very personal gripe with Spidey, even though they've never met. What's this guy's major malfunction, and why is it driving him to kill hundreds? You'll have to read the book to find out!

I found the theories to be very interesting, but found the author tended to repeat himself. I also felt the wording was a little too "scientific" for the average reader. With that said; I still may look read more of his books.

"Plague Time (2000)" and Ewald's earlier "Evolution of Infectious Disease (1994)" advocate a new discipline called 'evolutionary epidemiology.'

One of the big shockers in both books is that: "Application of evolutionary principles does not lead to the conclusion that all parasites [including viruses and bacteria] evolve toward benignness."

Only under circumstances where new hosts are relatively hard to infect (due to a clean water supply or screened windows or condoms) are parasites forced to co-exist in a relatively benign state with their current victims. In both books, Ewald uses cholera as an example of a germ that has evolved to benignness in countries with clean water supplies, but is still a killer in countries with bad plumbing.

"Plague Time" takes this thesis a step further and concludes that many so-called chronic diseases such as atherosclerosis and certain cancers are also caused--or at least triggered by infection.

Peptic ulcers are a case in point. Even though some doctors back in the 1940s realized that antibiotics could heal ulcers, the technique never caught on in mainstream medicine. It was too easy to blame the patient's life-style and stress levels, and besides 'Helicobacter pylori' was hard to find. Four decades later, researchers in Perth, Australia discovered that patients with ulcers and gastritis improved after tetracycline. One of the researchers, Barry Marshall drank an infective dose of 'H. Pylori,' got gastritis, then cured himself with antibiotics. "Still, it was only in the mid-1990s that the medical establishment finally generally accepted the idea that peptic and duodenal ulcers are infectious diseases."

So what will the decisive medical technologies of the future be, if it is indeed accepted that many chronic illnesses are caused by infection? The author believes that, "Vaccines, antimicrobials, and hygienic improvements may control most heart disease, infertility, mental illnesses, and cancers, especially if these solutions are used not just to decimate pathogens but also to direct the evolution of the causative microbes."

"Plague Time" is a fascinating look at what may be the near-future of medicine if physicians can be trained to look at infectious diseases in terms of evolutionary epidemiology.

Although this book is full of great photos, interesting information about the plants and the worlds where they come from, the authors are clearly more interested in exploiting the knowledge of the natives than attempting to appreciate the unique tribes, their customs AND the plants they use. This book should be called "The Plants We Can Take from Less Advanced People Than Ourselves".

Balick and Cox's book provides an excellent introductory text for the field of ethnobotany. It covers a wide range of material, including medical ethnobotany, the origins of foods and indigenous stewardship of crop biodiversity, materials science, plant toxins and hallucinogens, and ethnobotanical approaches to conservation. Contrary to the last reader's opinion, the authors make clear their deep concern for indigenous rights. Cox, for example, personally took out a loan for the building of a school in Samoa, as described in Nafanua, another excellent book. Other issues discussed also reveal the authors' attempt to further indigenous well-being. In work with the Akimel O'Odham in southern Arizona, Gary Paul Nabhan was able to demonstrate the nutritional value of their traditional diet, which had been largely forsaken for all-American junk food, thus leading to severe obesity and heart problems in a people biologically adapted to a harsh desert diet. Thus in many cases, the results of ethnobotanical research can have practical, beneficial effects upon the lives of indigenous peoples.

I wish that they would have worked harder at actually teaching the language rather than just giving boilerplate examples

This is one of the most useful JavaScript books i have purchased. The combination of insightful examples and well-documented techniques had me up and running in no time. This book is most useful for people who want to actually USE JavaScript in their web projects, not just learn about it in a theoretical way.

I originally bought this book hoping to learn more about the so-called "poison widows." What I got was a book that devotes more than two thirds of its pages to the trial. There is alot of extra info about the lawyers in this case that I really didn't think helped the flow of this book.
The author only briefly delves into what life was like back in the early part of the century. There is even briefer mention about the women's lives. You are told in passing that some of the men beat their wives, for instance.
The main portion of the book, the trial, isn't told very well either. I understand that there were alot of women that went to trial, but most of them get a few pages. Two of the trial lawyers get more coverage than most of these women.
Overall, more of a general synopsis of what happened than anything with real depth.

Really interesting story. Good colorful, funny characters. I learned a lot about life in the Italian community of Philadelphia in the 1930's. I especially enjoyed the funny "voodoo" that the killers practiced and victims believed in. Very entertaining. I can't believe they got away with so many murders before they were caught. A good "gang that couldn't shoot straight" type tale. And it's all true!

I mean no disrespect for the FATHER OF POLYMER CHEMISTRY, but its really hard to follow this book especially the equations......they just come out of nowhere...

This book wears its age well. Experimentalists are still trying to disprove many of his gedanken experiments-virtually all fail. A great book to have in your library. If you are a Professor and want to give your students a challenge-have them solve an equation that Flory indicates "it can be easily shown..."

I agree with every sentence of acmuller's review. However, this collection of essays can hardly be appreciated without having read "The Awakening of Mahayana Faith", translated by D.T. Suzuki in 1900. This difficult text attempted to re-introduce Indian concepts to Chinese Buddhism, which had become loaded with Confucian and Taoist ideas. "Pruning" works at trying to untangle the resulting mess of metaphysical contradictions and their (apparent) consequences. Fun reading, but my time spent on these two books would have been more constructively applied on my meditation cushion. My final conclusion is that the entire discourse plows into matters that The Buddha repeatedly treated with silence. The redeeming value of "Pruning" is that it demonstrates the value and methods of modern scholarship in the never-ending process of developing Right View in our practice.

Although Buddhist thought is ostensibly grounded in a refusal to admit the reality of underlying, permanent "essences," such as a self (atman), the Buddhist tradition has continually struggled against the re-emergence of atman-like concepts in other forms. This tendency has been noted in the context of the notions of Tathagatagarbha and Buddha-nature, which came to hold great sway in East Asian Buddhism. The question is, does the appearance of such concepts represent a real break from the orthodox Buddhist tradition? Or does the East Asian tradition possess its own paradigms that allow such concepts to operate in an acceptably Buddhist manner? The editors have here selected a number of articles by leading Buddhist scholars treating this issue from various angles--an unusual treat for scholars of Buddhist thought. Please read this work for yourself, and take the chance to form your own views on this seminal problematic Buddhist issue. by Charles Muller, author of "The Sutra of Perfect Enlightenment