James Armstrong, in his _Monument in a Summer Hat__, makes an impressive debut. Intellectual without being pedantic, classical without being pretentious, his well-crafted poems are profound in their depth but accessible. His major theme here is the opposition of nature to civilization, nature consistently being the victor, as Armstrong criticizes the mercenary, utilitarian, quick-pop-psych-fix tendencies of our modern world at the expense of our more spiritual impulses. At times reminiscent of Stevens in his profundity but rooted in the the concrete quotidian, the collection has many strong poems, my personal favorite being "Paradise."

This is a buoyant, wise, and witty book, a record of wrestling with powerful forces that sculpt our lives, among them order and chaos, time and history, desire, locality and land.

"Monument In A Summer Hat" is not only brilliant, it is a delight. The poems have wonderful music: of "scantling light" and "neon scripture," a night that "presses her migrant face against the glass," of trees that hiss silver. In the jazz world, this poet's counterpart might be Marian McPartland. Armstrong's language has the balance of elegance and edge, emotion and intelligence that marks McPartland's memorable keyboard. Such equilibrium is a dynamic state, and Armstrong's "Saltwater Snails," for example, is a small masterpiece about how to move through a world in which uncertainty is "the first rule of order."

Armstrong has an eye for the absurd and haunting tones of our age (women pondering psycho-pharmaceuticals in the Café Triste; a crew of migrant leaf-blowers who arrive like a "divine wind"), but he is never curmudgeonly. His chosen tools are the more creative and compassionate ones: wryness, patience, wit, and scrupulous attention. He can also be very funny; "Meditations" is a hilarious, moving portrait of the tussles of Mind and Body. There is a benevolence and honesty in this language which give some of the poems a nearly ceremonial feel. Cumulatively, the poems of Monument offer a rich set of proposals about how to be.

Here, the American provincial landscape of small town barrooms, barns, and hilltop prospects are proper places for contemplation, and Armstrong's poems about place are among the most penetrating in his book. Monument In A Summer Hat opens with "Granted," a poem that acknowledges the "terror of this age," and states a faith in the moisture and steadiness of the earth itself. Emblems of frontier, forest, and deer are rescued from nostalgic amber, are precise and factual strokes in an eerie American scene, a disjointed culture in which an older world ghosts about rooms, stares glassily from the walls.

The natural world that Armstrong encounters is a source of a quiet and ongoing abandon, and his television poem, "Dump," seizes the chance of a found image--a cast-off television tube being slowly entwined by vines--to play with the tension between the organic and technological realms. "Leaf Blowers"--a characteristic appeal to proportion--locates the human within a vast aliveness, an order beyond the specifically human world. Elsewhere, Armstrong relishes that fact that, although the mass media's lines "suture every hamlet to the national ear"--"no field is uniform from the air," and "furrows trace purely local contours." Like Horace, Armstrong is an urbane lover of nature who moves fluently across temporal and geographical space.

The occasion of an airplane trip gives Armstrong a perch from which to meditate on abstraction and specificity, on the global and local. It is telling that even when cruising at 30,000 feet, Armstrong stays grounded, locating his metaphysics in the corporeal, plying a reader with sensory detail: "a blue tile in a little Portuguese chapel," "an angel in stiff garments," "the haybale swagger of Autumn." He states his preference clearly in "After Rilke:" "The soul grows heavy from the / irritants in paradise, / and falls of its own specificity / into the gutter." Here is a poet who feels the breath of the absolute, but who, even in extremis, throws in his lot with the particularities of our world. His Christ on the cross thinks "not of the silver towers of Paradise," but of "his mother's garden in Nazareth, a sunny patch by the wall where butterflies hovered above the melon blossoms."

The limits and borders of language also fascinate this poet: his "Heron" is a portrait of a mute, yet eloquent "blue messenger," and "The Language" is rueful about what we shrink from saying, what we ask floral emmisaries to convey on our behalf.

Perhaps one reason Armstrong is so alive to life's abundance is precisely because he has acknowleged the tragic dimension of life, the "way of sorrows." Among the most poignant poems in this collection are those about time, and the passing of time. We like the past, Armstrong says, because it has "dwindled to a purer form." In "Time" (for L.), he suffuses time with sorrow and desire, likens love to a gentle ruler. Graceful as a minuet in its music and tone, this is a grown-up account of how our loves tell time, how the blessed weight of love shadows each heartbeat. And, in "Omnia Vincit Amor," Armstrong muses that after passion is spent "Time re-enters the clocks" and one is left with only one god, "the bleak one, the one with the hammer." (That would be Hephaestus, the lame smith, with his ringing hammer of craft; and what a moving observation to find in a poetry suffused with the power and pleasures of craft.)

"Monument In A Summer Hat" marks the debut of a remarkable poet, one steeped in history, with a vision all his own.

First and foremost, Armstrong's collection effectively proves that contemporary poets publish works deserving of canonization. Any one who reads "Summer Hat"--whether familiar with poetry or not--will feel, at the reading of the last word of the final poem, elated and hungry for more. Armstrong's works owe their magnetism to his ability to investigate those mundane experiences--taking a picture, going to the airport, observing a pile of junk rotting in a backyard--we fail to recognize, or at least on any significant level. It is as if Armstrong observes the familiar through bewildered and curious eyes (like those of an infant observing a goofy relative's antics); he is seeing things for the first time.

The imagery that prevails throughout "Summer Hat" is simple and poignant. I think often, since reading the collection twice over, of the "wet lead" of the gutted trout in "Eros Turannos."

Armstrong does not inflate his poetry with academic conventions that would otherwise repel the the non-academic reader. This book will convince all who read it that poetry--while a rarefied art--provides "easy" access to the healthy introspection to which we each defer when so moved.

Meet the Bennet sisters: demure Jane, witty Elizabeth, bookish Mary, impressionable Kitty, and lusty Lydia. It's the usual story: they don't have much in the way of dowries but need to marry upstanding English gentlemen...

Elizabeth Bennet quickly emerges as the heroine with her wry sense of humor and take-no-prisoners attitude to social life. She puts all twentieth century heroines to shame when she tells off Mr. Darcy (while maintaining perfect decorum). Unusual twists and turns spark up the "marriage plot" of the book. There are some great villains, too.

Austin lays out all of her witt and charm within the first three pages of this novel and by the third and fourth chapters you won't be able to put the book down. If you find yourself unable to keep up with Georgian style of writing (or if you are guy), however, this may not be the best book for you. ;)

Jane Austen is tricky; most people have to develop a taste for her style, and I was no exception. I tried to read this book three times before I finally completed it. When I did finish it I immediately read Sense and Sensibility, Emma, Persuasion, and I'm reading Mansfield Park right now. In many ways Pride and Prejudice remains my favorite of all her books. Jane Austen always creates brilliant characterizations and Elizabeth Bennet is the best of all of them; she sparkles just as I imagine Austen did among her friends.

Dr. Schmidt and the distinguished contributors to The Changing Face of God offer very broad perspective in an easily approachable package. Thanks and admiration to Dr. Schmidt are in order for having the wisdom to share in book form for all to experience an important lecture program at the Washington National Cathedral. I think it serves equally well for group or individual study.

My own "Spiritual Journey" consists of picking up pieces along the way from clergy and lay alike, and seeing how they fit into my personal doctrine puzzle. Comparing and contrasting these perspectives to my own about who God is has helped validate some of my feelings, delineate others, and even dispense with a few. That these learned scholars have some of the same doubts, concepts and questions as I do is compelling; and when presented in so much more eloquent terms than I am capable of thinking in, it is captivating.

No doubt there are many theological authors, lecturers and homilists who can strike a chord in each of us. To me, the distinguishing characteristic of The Changing Face of God is the broad spectrum presented that might, in other circumstances, pose more questions than it answers. Instead, despite the eclectic backgrounds and experiences of the editor and the contributors, a pattern of new thinking about God emerged that helped me reach a new comfort level with my picture of God.

This is a great book both as a simple cookbook (best oxtail soup recipe I've found) and just for fun. It takes the dishes mentioned in ULYSSES and gives recipes as well as putting them in the context of the book. Most of the recipes are period; no microwaves here. But I'm no great cook, and I've found that I can do just fine with most of the recipes, though many are too time-consuming for everyday use. But for special occasions, the recipes are wonderful to actually use and the rest of the time the book provides a historical reference and insight into Joyce's masterpiece.

I really enjoyed reading this book. It is very well-written and thought provoking. Like Armstrong and Sheard's first book, In His Grip, the illustrations in Playing the Game are beautiful.

This is an excellent collection of essays by the greatest preachers in the Reformed tradition today. Some of the topics include The Primacy of Preaching (Mohler), The Teaching Pastor (Sproul), Evangelistic Preaching (Alexander), and The Foolishness of Preaching (Boice). John Piper's essay on Preaching to Suffering People is one of the best things he has ever written and by itself is worth the price of the book ten times over. Derek Thomas' essay on Expository Preaching is full of very good instruction. Joel Beakes' contribution on Experimental Preaching is also excellent. I highly recommend this book for pastors. If you are not a pastor, consider purchasing it for your pastor as a gift. He will be appreciative.

The Fact that this book is excellent should be no surprise, merely take a glance at the authors. This book will probably offend pastors who are in to the modern pop pyschology, but then they probably wouldn't be reading it anyway. Granted, that was probably unfair but...
Naturally some chapters are better than others, here are a few:

"The Lasting Effect of Experimental Preaching"--the essay on spiritual formation--worth the price of the book.

"The Primacy of Preaching"--by Albert Mohler--very good, a wake up call to the church.

"Expository Preaching"--good and bad examples of expository preaching, very fun chapter.

"Preaching to Suffering People"--by John Piper. It is by Piper, enough said.

"A reminder to Shepherds"--By John Macarthur, a fitting close to a fine book.

Absolutely essential reading for upcomming (as well as seasoned) preachers. A true gem, very informative, and a must for all who proclaim God's Word.

Though I have heard much praise of Jane Austen, this is the first time I've actually sat down and read one of her books. I was impressed. Though the plot would seem shallow now (it centers around marriages); then that was central to most women's hopes and desires. Besides the plot, the characters are amusing and Elizabeth is finely drawn. She is very self-confidant and will not allow others to look down on her for her ill upbringing. I don't believe men would enjoy this book, because the male figure is not drawn very realistically. I seriously doubt that all men thought or talked about were marriage and love. Walter Raleigh phrased it correctly by saying that "Austen's men wouldn't be allowed in any club in England!". I didn't find it to be at all boring, rather, a page-turner to see how everything was going to turn out (though in the end it became predictable). The formal language is confusing at times, but provides a bit more color with it's detail. Though many parts of the book are obviously contrived, and I feel as if Austen is trying a little too hard to invoke emotion within me, in many ways the book is ahead of it's time, and for that, it is commendable to be certain.

I have always loved the style and social politics of the Regency period (the time of Jane Austen.) But when I read "Sense and Sensibility" in 7th grade I found the first few chapters lifeless, dull and hard to read. Two years later I was encouraged by a friend to give "Pride and Prejudice" a try. I did and have since become a complete Janeite. I am now able to peruse joyfully through "Sense and Sensibility" with a new understanding and appreciation of Jane Austen. The reason? "Pride and Prejudice" is fresh, witty and is a great introduction to Jane Austen's writing style without the formality of some of her other novels (unlike S&S and Persuasion Austen does not give us a 10 page history of each family and their fortune.) If you have never read Jane Austen or have read her other novels and found them boring, read Pride and Prejudice. The characters, and the situations Austen presents to them, are hysterical and reveal a lot about Regency society and morality. This book perfectly compliments a great writer like Jane Austen and is essential to every reader's library. The Penguin Edition of the book is stellar and I personally recommend it not only for the in-depth and indispensable footnotes, but also for the cover that is non-suggestive of any of the characters' appearances. In summary "Pride and Prejudice" is a great book for beginner Austen readers and seasoned fans, and Penguin Classics is a great edition for fully enjoying and understanding the book.

You will find Jane Austen in high school classrooms, as inspiration for contemporary movies and fiction (Clueless, Bridget Jones' Diary), and at a book club or two. Otherwise, she is not part of us: Her laser-eyes, scathing commentary about society, and merciless fun at the expense of over-the-top piety are missing. In our current Press-Release era, where ads blanket our cities, and celebrities alter their image every other week, Jane would have a field day-- her observations would have been invaluable, her sharp humor liberating.

"Pride and Prejudice"-- the story of independent-minded Elizabeth Bennet's journey to a happy marriage and her rousing rebellion against the stultifying and stale social system of 19th-Century England-- is an adrenaline-rush of a book.

As Elizabeth battles the defenders of society (her marriage-obsessed mother, a condescending suitor, and several members of the "upper-class" trying to stem her promising relationship with the affluent and handsome Mr. Darcy) we sample a world where family, money, and class dictate your friends and suitors.

When Elizabeth and Darcy move to his stunning home, they leave the hostility of an uncaring society behind. Through rebellion and stubbornness, they have found Eden.

I have been doing computer programming from six years. I have been most of the time a windows and GUI guy. But lately I have been using Unix extensively.I bought this book 8 months back and I cant thank the authors and SAMs enough for this great book.

The title might sound silly, but the essence is 'Unix in 24, one hour sessions'. Unix can be very intimidating for a beginner. You dont even know what to learn. In my case, this book helped a lot.

Highlight of this book is its chapter on vi editor. It is the best example and tutorial on vi I have ever seen. As you go through vi features along with the author, you will get a sense of purpose and orientation for each and every command in vi. The first chapter tells us the history of unix and different flavours of unix. From there the every important feature is explained in simple, concise manner. Telnet, ftp, c shell, basic shell programming, file ownership and permissions etc are explained very well.

The only draw back is a missing command reference. The book has a quick one page command reference at the beginning of the book, which you can tear out. But for a regular programmer, this is not enough. For reference, I have supplemented this book with 'Unix Complete'.

Anyway, at [price] this book is all worth it. This book is going to be with be forever.

This book is awesome. I started a new job where I needed to use Unix and had very little usage prior. I was given this book and started reading it...within a week I was using Unix like an old pro. This book possibly helped secure my job.

I knew no UNIX when I got this book. It was so helpful in getting me started in the UNIX world that I never had to graduate to the O'Reilly books after reading it. Instead the use of man pages and google was enough to supplement this book when I needed to do more serious stuff. (I often find searching for stuff on google to be the quickest way to debug difficult
problems!)

So if you need to get started in the world of UNIX, get this book!

This is a good book to get if you want to know what is involved with designing chips today using VHDL. It starts slowly, first establishing a taxonomy for the design process and very carefully defining its terms, then picks up as it moves into more depth. Combined with a good book dedicated to synthesis and a VHDL language reference (I recommend Chang for the former, Ashenden for the latter) you can come away with a very good understanding of VHDL and its uses.

Things that would have made it better are appendices with the NUMERIC_STD libraries and STD_LOGIC libraries detailed. A bit more depth in the synthesis area and some answers to at least some of the chapter questions in the back. Thus if you are teaching yourself VHDL as I am you will need to talk to a VHDL expert to verify your understanding.

With all that being said, I have no reservations recommending this book. You can probably skip chapters 1 & 2 if you are not a beginner and jump in at chapter 3. The use of comercially available FPGA design boards was a plus as well since I could "follow along" with the examples. Now if I could only find the student guide/lab book ...

For the new beginner or senior engineer in electronic field, learn this new knowlegde is essential.

This childrens book by William Howard Armstrong digs into the life of a young black boy, his father and their dog, Sounder. It is set in the old south and details the struggles of an African American family of this time. The usual struggles for this family are getting food and staying warm until one terriable night that changes the family forever. The father is taken to jail and Sounder is wounded in the struggle. From that night on the boys life is faced with even more struggles to survive, as he is hoisted to the head of the house. He worries about his fathers well being, which sends him onn many adventures looking for him. Through all of the bad the boy does manage to find the good in all occasions.
This would be a great read for fourth to eighth grade students. It is a truthful and detailed insight into the history of the African-American race.

I read the book Sounder by William H. Armstrong. This novel is about a poor dad who has to steal to feed his family and he gets caught and sent to jail. It is also the story of the coon dog named Sounder who loves his master. This book takes place in the South a long time ago. It is about a poor family of farmers. The main theme is that the family must go on without the father and they are very poor. The father is sent to do hard labor and they don't know where he has been sent. The boy tries to find his dad for many years.

The boy is sad that his dad is in jail. He goes to town to bring him a cake. The jailers squish the cake. The dad says, "tell her not to send you no more". He doesn't want his boy to come and see him in jail because he doesn't want his son to see him in this environment.

The main characters are Sounder, a young boy, his mother and his father. Sounder is a dog. He is white with brown dots, and he is a coon dog. He is good at hunting. The boy is black. He is about11, and he likes to hunt with his dad. The dad is a farmer, until he goes to jail. The family is very poor. The dad works very hard to get food so that the family does not starve to death.

This book is a great book. The characters were very neat. It is a sad book. It is an adventure book. The part I like the best was when the boy and the dad go off hunting. It was funny when the dog was chasing the animals around. I also like when the boy brought the cake to his when it the cake to his dad when it was his birthday. The police smashed up the cake and the dad got only a little piece. The part did not like was when they were shooting the animals.

The ending was kind of sad. The dad has wanted to have a happy life when he was young. I think he should have tried to have a little fun before he died.

I think the book, Sounder, by William H. Armstrong, was very good. The story is about a boy who has a dog named Sounder. The family is poor so the father must steal to feed his family. His father is taken to jail and Sounder tries to protect him but gets hurt. What I thought was interesting about this book is the story is based upon William Armstrong's teacher's life experience of this. I enjoyed the way it made me think about the story in different ways. I enjoyed the characters because they had distinct personalities. For instance, the boy was very determined to find his father, and the other characters thoughts and emotions were very well described. All of the story elements together helped me picture the story as if I had witnessed it. The setting was described in great detail just like the plot and the characters were also. It was amazing that everything about the book could seem so real. The thing I enjoyed most in the story was the way the dog's bark was described. It was described with beautifully written similes and metaphors to portray how it sounded. The dog, Sounder, was named for it's bark because people could hear the bark louder and richer than any other dog's bark. For all of these reasons I will highly recommend this book with five out of five stars. There were only two things in this story I did not like very much. One is the abruptness of the time periods. In one paragraph it went from seasons to years. Another is that not very much detail about the boy when he was searching for his father was given. Overall though, I felt this book was one that should be read more than once.