While it can get a bit technical at times, overall, this book is very good at explaining why we should care about poor and hungry people in our country and around the world. It also gives people the tools they need to be citizen advocates on hunger -- going beyond helping at soup kitchens or donating money to good causes. It shows how we can use our power as citizens to affect the root causes of hunger and poverty, and not just put a Band-Aid on the problem. A great book for anyone who cares about this issue, but especially for Christians who understand the teachings of Jesus to mean that we are obligated to care for all of God's children.

If you are not put off by all the god-talk, this is a wonderful book, filled with important information and clear analysis. Ever wondered how much money it would take to feed, clothe, educate, and provide running water for all the world's people? About 40 million a year, or one-sixth of what America alone spends on National Defense annually. Ever wonder how the national budget breaks down: how much money is spent on international aid, or how the US compares to other industrial countries on these issues? It's in there. Ever wonder what practical steps you can take to alleviate national and global hunger? It's in there, along with many other important facts. My only complaint about this book: The authors of are too Christian and rather biased about the IMF and the World Bank, one of them having worked within the WB for many years. Even with its flaws, though, this book has a very important message. Check it out.

The insightful authors, both Lutheran ministers active with Bread for the World, start with a careful overview of the biblical teachings related to hunger and poverty and then examine the state of the hungry in the USA and throughout God's world. There is plenty in the book to celebrate: the percentage of those living in poverty in the USA has dropped in the last forty years, child mortality in developing countries is one half of what it was in 1960, world grain production per acre has doubled in the same time period, the global population's rate of growth is slowing, the proportion of hungry people in developing countries has fallen sharply, and the number of people who die in famines has also decreased in the last few decades. There is still far too much bad news: the percentage of U.S. children living in poverty (one in five) is triple that of other industrialized nations; thousands of children are dying daily in developing nations because of hunger (one child is dying for every breath we take); and less than one percent of our national budget goes for foreign assistance. The book's question and answer format makes for easy reading while its content can be troubling, but also inspiring for people of faith who can make a difference.

Arthur Machen's "Hill of Dreams" is not a very well-known novel, even among those well-read in 19th-Century English literature. And there are some good reasons for that. It is not a first-rate work of fiction. The writing is not tight and often lacks polish (despite Machen's 1890s pose as an aesthete and dandy); Machen is often as clumsy and obtuse as the social realists and naturalists he pretends to despise. "Hill of Dreams" positively drips with cloying sentimentality of the worst oh-poor-me-goodbye-cruel-world kind. It is almost like "Sorrows of Young Werther" without any ironic distance. And the story itself (the sensitive artist in conflict with a brutish and ugly reality), even as far back as 1900, was nothing new. The bildungsroman (German for "education of the artist") novel had been handled better by other writers.

But I must admit that the novel is indeed memorable for certain unique qualities. Probably what Machen does best in here is the evocation of the magical Welsh countryside, with its mysterious Roman Empire-era ruins crumbling in deep forests, and the vivid delineation of the young Lucian Taylor's solitary wanderings among them. That has stayed with me ever since I first read "The Hill of Dreams" in college ten years ago. It resonated with me especially then because I used to wander in the woods of central Florida where there were some ancient Indian burial mounds and they used to fire my imagination with mystery in the same way.

The novel had some devoted fans among the great writers of the 20th Century who also felt its power. Henry Miller included it in his list of the 100 books that most influenced him. F. Scott Fitzgerald read it, and in fact "The Hill of Dreams" probably influenced "This Side of Paradise." And John Dos Passos made a passing tribute to it in the USA trilogy as the book that Richard Ellsworth Savage and all his clever Harvard friends were reading in the years just before the outbreak of WWI.

Some companion novels in the same vein would be Frank Norris's "Vandover and the Brute", Stephen French Whitman's "Predestined", George Gissing's "New Grub Street", Thomas Wolfe's "Look Homeward Angel" and James Joyce's "Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man," to name just a few.

The Hill of Dreams is not "a second-rate Portrait of the Artist." First of all, the book a great enough achievement that it warrants its own consideration apart from any Joyce comparisons. Secondly, Machen's prose in this bildungsroman is hardly "lacking in polish"; rather, it reveals him at the height of his aesthetic powers, revealing him as one of the great prose masters in English, a distinction gradually lost in his subsequent works. Furthermore, Machen never "posed as an aesthete and dandy"; on the contrary, he had little interest in the Yellow Book crowd, and expressed particular distaste for Oscar Wilde, whom he called "a great mass of rosy fat." The association of Machen's work with decadence and aestheticism is in large part a result of The Great God Pan's publisher (John Lane, publisher of The Yellow Book) and its Beardsley frontispiece. Machen's works, in fact, are works of decadence almost by accident: their intensely individualistic metaphysical and arcane vision was fortunate to receive apt expression through an aesthetic/decadent mode, a form of expression naturally absorbed and appropriated by Machen.

Fused with this occult mastery of language is an intensely haunting visionary experience of the main character's emotional consciousness. Without Machen needing to resort to overt supernatural machinations, the overwhelming sense of ancient, occult forces emanating from the Welsh Roman ruins is almost tangible. And Machen achieves this through a tour-de-force of style as he interweaves the reader's consciousness with Lucian Taylor's.

If I were forced to compare it to Portrait of the Artist, I would say it is every bit the equal. I am hesitant to do this, though, because there is no real reason to compare the two books apart from the fact that they are both bildungsromans. Outside of this, there is no similarity between the two books. It is interesting to see the rash and imperious judgments passed by those who favor a canonical counterpart. In my view, The Hill of Dreams should be recognized as a high point in English literature: its obscurity is a shame.

Arthur Machen is better known for his "horror" tales such as "The Great God Pan". However, there is more to Machen that that. Machen believed in a quality of literature (and life) that cannot be pinned down - a sort of magic.

When he first came to London from rural Wales in the late 1800s, he was involved in fin-de-siecle "magic" circles - such as The Order of the Golden Dawn. He translated "fantastic" tales and in works like "The Great God Pan" created his own vision of them. However, like Harold Bloom today, he was perhaps at his best when he wrote about literature, and he did this is three forms: directly, in "Hieroglyphics", autobiographically in "Far Off Things" and "Things Near and Far", and in a fictionalized manner in "The Hill of Dreams".

The Hill of Dreams is about a young writer from the country who goes to London and wanders its streets looking for inspiration, but finds himself caught up in the city's past and becomes alienated from those around him. It is like a Peter Ackroyd novel set from 100 years ago. There is also a magic there that is all Machen's own.

Machen is a writer worth getting to know, particularly in the books mentioned above. In the end, though, "The Hill of Dreams" is his masterpiece.

This volume combines all five titles from the Hitchhiker Trilogy under one cover. If you are a fan of any or all of the Hitchhiker books, this is an excellent way to keep them all together. For those who have never read them but enjoy science fiction, it's a chance to discover a new Universe.

Titles combined include The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy; The Restaurant at the End of the Universe; Life, the Universe, and Everything; So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish; and Mostly Harmless.

You'll travel with Arthur Dent from the destruction of the Earth throughout the Universe in a series of adventures and misadventures. He meets some of the most uproarious characters in the Universe, and realize he's met some of them before. All of this to answer the ultimate question of "Life, the Universe and Everything".

The book moves comparably in speed speed and action to the Hobbit, and Trilogy of the Rings. And wouldn't we all like to go "There and Back Again."

Douglas Adams is a master of the farcical science fiction novel, and here are three perfect examples in one collection! The Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy, The Restaurant at the end of the Universe, and Life, the Universe, and Everything compose the first three novels of the Hitchiker's trilogy (yes, there are four, check out So Long and Thanks for All the Fish). In this series, Arthur Dent, along with a broad array of alien companions seeks to discover the great question to the answer to life, the universe, and everything (the answer is 42). Along the way, excerpts from the greatest book of books, The Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy (vastly more popular than the Encyclopedia Galactica), force readers to laugh out loud and annoy people sitting around them by repeatedly saying, "You've got to read this book!"

If you're looking for a comical way to spend a boring day, grab yourself a copy of this book. You won't regret it.

A modern-day masterpiece, Douglas Adams' "Hitchhiker's Trilogy" is a fast read that will leave the reader rolling on the floor with laughter. The characters are richly written, from the ego-driven two-headed Zaphod Beeblebrox to the manic-depressive robot Marvin, making the reader empatize with them during their journeys through space and time. A true must-read for all.

When I first picked up this book, I was interested in it because it was so old. As I read it, especially the first few chapters about his adventures in elementary school (I teach fourth grade) I was pleased. I feel better about the antics my students have gotten into. The rest of the book is an entertaining, yet infomative first hand account of the growth of the medical profession. We have come a long way. I am looking forward to seeing where we go.

I just finished this book last night. I have an interest in medical history, particularly american. The author gives a detailed insight into early american medicine. He was truely a wonderful man and physician. I am a physician and am surprised how many problems he experienced that are still currently problems in medicine. This book is a must read for anyone interested in early american medicine.

This book is excellent for understanding life in the mid to late 1800's, for understanding the speed with which the "practice of medicine" has grown, and growing in honesty with oneself. The humor and joy is the best! And I empathized with the pain and difficulty.

Arthur Waley is the most famous Sinologist this century, the man (other than Ezra Pound) who has done most in bringing Chinese poetry to the fore of Western public. Hence, no matter what, Waley's historical importance cannot be overestimated. And he is a competent all-round translator too, as this fine anthology demonstrates, one who has an uncanny ear of transforming Chinese rhythms and rhymes into naturalized English metrics.

Yet in the final analysis, most of Waley's work has been superseded by finer translations from Hinton and Watson. His English now strikes one with a certain archness (if still deceptively simple) which gives a somewhat falsified idea of the Chinese; in Li Po and Tu Fu, for example, his reproduction of their tone is uneven, seldom showing their difference in temperament or use of diction (incidentally, in Chinese one _can_ see the subtle differences in how either works). At times he "stretches out" Tu's metrics, making him less than succinct, or slurs over his use of an image.

Yet in his favorite poet Po Chu-I Waley does very well. Here is when his obvious talent in phrasing tastefully does the poet justice. Elsewhere, even if Waley can be faulted here and there, he is still very close lexically to the original.

To conclude, Waley's anthology is still worth getting, especially if you enjoy his translations. But supplementing it with either Watson's or Hinton's texts would probably give you a better idea of some poets.

Waley, who was one of the great Sinologists of the twentieth century, translated a wide variety of Eastern works but is perhaps best known for his translations of Chinese poetry. His '170 Chinese Poems,' a book which contains, among other riches, the marvelous poems of T'ao Ch'ien, Po Chu-I, and Wang Wei, has been reissued many times. And although we have seen other very fine translations of Chinese poetry from writers as diverse as A. C. Graham, Kenneth Rexroth, and Gary Snyder, none of them have had the impact of Waley. Chinese poetry, for many, is and always will mean Arthur Waley. His influence has been enormous.

I would attribute his success to two things. In the first place, there is the very special quality of his English, a quality impossible to describe. In the second place, Waley was a master at evoking an atmosphere, a feeling tone, that strikes one as authentically Chinese. So good was he at this that one sometimes gets the feeling, as one does when reading the poems of that other remarkable and far greater genius, the poet Emily Dickinson, a woman whose mind also had a very Chinese cast, that they must have been Chinese souls who had somehow strayed and ended up reincarnating in Western bodies.

My remark about Emily Dickinson's 'Chinese-ness' may raise some eyebrows. Perhaps it takes a certain amount of exposure to Eastern culture, particularly to Buddhist thought, to see this quality in her, but I find it everywhere. I find it, for example, in lines such as these, slightly adjusted since they should be set out as poetry :

"I cross till I am weary / A Mountain - in my mind - / More Mountains - then a Sea - / More Seas - And then / A Desert find -" (J550).

It is into this strange dreamscape in which a solitary figure moves through a vast, enigmatic, obstacle-filled, wearying land that, a few lines later, "Asiatic Rains" arrive to work their effect.

Perhaps it might not be too fanciful to suggest that the rains from the East which bring relief, and even understanding, to Emily Dickinson's persona in poem J550 can be equated with Waley's poems, poems which drifted through the Chinese sky of his mind to bring something needful to the "Desert" of the modern Western sensibility. Perhaps this was the real reason for his great success - he brought something that was missing from the mechanized and arid Western spirit, something that we all inwardly yearn for that has been lost in the West but that the Eastern tradition can provide in abundance.

I don't know, but whatever the case, Waley's Chinese poems do have a truly magical effect on all readers. Once you have been exposed to them you can never forget them.

The particular beauty of Waley's style, a style which despite its age still strikes one as modern, can be seen in a poem such as Po Chu-I's 'Passing T'ien-men Street in Ch'ang-an and Seeing a Distant View of Chung-nan Mountain,' a poem which has always been one of my favorites. It reads:

"The snow has gone from Chung-nan; spring is almost come. / Lovely in the distance its blue colours, against the brown of the streets. / A thousand coaches, ten thousand horsemen pass down the Nine Roads; / Turns his head and looks at the mountains, - not one man!"

Here is the infinitely precious color and marvel of a Nature that is blazing with life and beauty and consciousness, sadly set over against a busy-ness that is also ours, an obsession and total involvement exclusively with people and their multifarious doings that blinds us - a mindset that leads us to overlook the universe, to pass it by like Po Chu-I's horsemen without even noticing it.

Waley's Chinese poems captivate us. They are a gentle rain which trickles down to bathe and refresh the roots of our mind. I envy those who are coming to them for the first time.

Kenneth Rexroth cited this book of translations in his "One Hundred Poems from the Chinese" as among a handful that are outstanding sources for those interested in Chinese poetry. I love the directness of the old Chinese poets, particularly their simplicity and accessibility -- at least as they have been translated today by people such as Rexroth. Those same qualities can be found in Waley's translations, where they have a seductively "commonplace" feel that both belies and accentuates their delicacy.

What I hadn't been prepared for, however, were Waley's introductory essays which were, like the poetry he translated, direct and unpretentious and , so, wonderfully informative.

Waley was one of the very first Westerners to undertake translations of ancient Chinese poetry, so, quite apart from the beauty of his work, he also holds an important position historically. This particular volume was first published in 1919.

A very easy and sumptuous read.

As the conclusion to Bradshaw's Arthurian trilogy, this book serves wonderfully to tie up loose ends and terminates with the classic tragedy, Arthur's kingdom falls because of his wife's infidelity; however, Bradshaw adds new spice and flavour to the whole story by telling it from Guinevere's point of view and her names for the characters are Welsh. I highly recommend this book to those looking for a new slant on the Arthurian trilogy.

In Winter's Shadow is the third and final book of Gillian Bradshaw's version of the Arthurian saga, which began with "Hawk of May" and continued with "Kingdom of Summer." She manages to make this one of the most emotionally compelling novel re-tellings of this classic story, and to do so is no small feat. Because Bradshaw paints such a remarkable picture of sixth century Britain, has such a canny touch with magic, and creates such depth of character, the reader is drawn through this legend as if they've never heard it before. I highly recommend every book of this trilogy; it is one of the finest examples of fantasy/historical fiction I've ever read. And it will make you cry!

This is a book about the Legendary King Arthur, and Gillian Bradshaw uses her pen to draw you into the fear, mistrust, anger, love and all other emotions as Medraut tries to take over the throne from his father, Arthur. This book will keep you in suspense while you are reading it, and make you cry at the end.

Feel the tension build in this play (a short one, some seventy pages) as you wait to learn the fate of several detainees suspected of being Jewish detainees rounded up in occupied France. Courage and cowardice are the high and low roads chosen by the protagonists. These men are in a waiting room while, one by one, they are taken into the main office and interviewed by the Nazis as to their race. Life becomes cheaper and cheaper as the story builds. Will they sell each other out? Read it and find out. Read about and never forget certain of the characters.

Arthur Miller has captivated theater-goers for decades and his legacy will never grow short. One of his lesser known works, Incident at Vichy is perhaps the most chilling of his pieces. The play itself is entertaining enough to captivate audiences for about an hour (I know, I am directing it now). Its rhetorical power is absolutely amazing; its depth of coverage is inspiring. Most importantly, it begs viewers to think. That is, perhaps, its best trait. The energy of the performance coupled with the power of the dialogue makes Incident at Vichy a genuine treat.

I have never been more inspired by the dialogue in any book I've ever read. I know that everyone fusses about Miller's THE CRUCIBLE and DEATH OF A SALESMAN, but INCIDENT AT VICHY is definitely the best of the three. It is one of those books that makes you really think about what the author is saying. I have an entire list of breathtaking quotes especially from this book. I had to read it in AP English, 12th grade, and was blown away.

Arthur Schnitzler's play "Hands Around" was first published in 1897, but (according to the brief prefatory note in the Dover edition), its controversial nature prevented it from being performed until 1920. The Dover edition contains an English translation of the play.

"Hands Around" is a cycle of ten dialogues, each of which is linked to the previous and following dialogue through one or the other speaker. Thus, "The Girl of the Streets and the Soldier" is followed by "The Soldier and the Parlor-Maid," which is in turn followed by "The Parlor-Maid and the Young Man," etc. The couple in each dialogue is about to have, or has just had, a sexual encounter.

Through his characters, the Vienna-born Schnitzler holds up a harsh mirror to the dishonesty, hypocrisy, and loneliness of life. There are some passages of truly dark cynicism. Consider this statement of "the Count" to "the Actress": "Happiness? There really is no such thing as happiness. All the things that people talk about most, don't exist... for instance, love."

Schnitzler paints a rather bleak portrait of human nature. His characters' disturbing inner lives are ironically complemented by surroundings that are either sadly shabby or elegantly decadent. Overall, "Hands Around" is a fascinating, if uneven, work of European theater.

It was a pleasure to read this short play that involves 8 people whose affairs or near-affairs link to each other. (For example, A is the wife of B who is in love with the chambermaid C who has a passioa for businessman D who is still lonely and seeks out prositiute E....etc.) The writing is clear and concise, and full of tension and erotic suggestion. For eighty cents, this is the best bargain in the entire Amazon catalog.

Though the last reveiw was good enough to compel me to read this play, the writer is a bit off. Hands Around involves 10 people who each have affairs with two lovers. Each scene involves the dialouge between the lovers before and after they have sex. It starts with the "girl of the streets", who has sex with a soldier, who forces himself upon the maid, who is suduced by the young man, etc. and ends with the girl of the streets... I found the play not only intruiging because of its bold approach torwards promiscuity but also because of the time it was written; 1890. It was only first publicly presented in the 20's and even then was condemed for the scandal it created. I read this in one sitting, first because it's short and you could easily finish it in under an hour, but also because I couldn't put it down. If this play is ever performed near where I live, I will have to see it. Everyone should have the privledge of enjoying this work and now that it's in dover-thirft editions you can get it for less than a what a sandwich might cost you.

This is an A-Z encyclopedia of the people, places, events, and artifacts pertaining to the various derivations of the Arthurian legends. It is lavishly illustrated with artwork and is an exhaustive reference source. The author states upfront that, for purposes of study, he considers any literature written before the time of Thomas Malory's LE MORTE D'ARTHUR to be fair game and part of "authentic" Arthurian lore. Anything after Malory is either a modernization or a retelling of the original legends. Therefore, references to works such as Tennyson's IDYLLS OF THE KING and White's ONCE AND FUTURE KING are omitted.

This book is wonderful reference material. It alludes to many obscure source materials and attempts to explain the origin of many elements of the stories of Arthur and the Round Table. However, I would not recommend it for novice fans. Coghlan takes it for granted that most of the stories are familiar, and he spends most of his time explaining how the stories originated, how they were altered over time, and why inconsistencies exist. The format of the book makes it useful for looking up a particular name but not for browsing through a chronology of the tales.

This book is for the scholars and historians, not necessarily the readers and dreamers.

Ah, The Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Arthurian Legends: I was practically raised on this book! I have learned everything I know about Arthurian Legend with it. I have always loved it not only because I was able to study the literary aspects of Arthurian Legend, but also the historic background of the legends themselves. I understand it may seem a bit over people's heads at times (mainly because of its lack of detail on certain topics). Although, I am not sure it had much to do with the author. (Sometimes it is brief because there is not a lot of information available to us in some cases). I would agree that it is apparent in this book that his knowledge is extensive, and perhaps he does take some of it for granted. Personally, the only thing I can really complain about are his brief descriptions of some the alternate legends, as there was little mentioned as to WHY there were differing versions. I would have liked to have seen more on each subject in general in the book. However, so far I have not come across such a balanced book on Arthurian Legend: (not too hard a read, but yet not too basic). I would recommend this book to one who is getting started in the legends, as it is arranged in an easy elementary storybook fashion. I would also recommend, however, reading "La Morte D'Arthur" by Sir Thomas Mallory concurrently. "The Encyclopaedia" would be a great addition to any library of Arthurian Legends, and I think it's shame it is out of print.

If you or someone you know is a student of Arthurian Legend, this makes a beautiful gift. It is a rich "Who's Who" of the various strains of the tales copiously illustrated by the appropriate family trees, facsimiles of medieval illumination, photographs of the historical sites and Pre-Raphaelite reproductions. Lovers of the legend will treasure this book!

who don't have a strong background in Physics. The first "basic" example is a particle spin interaction that displays quantum entanglement. Well, maybe that's easy for a physics major, but a math and computer science major will be totally clueless! It assumes too much quantum physics for non-physics people, myself included. Quantum Computing by Mika Hirvensalo is a much better starting point for these who have traditional background in math and computer science. Also, if you want to build a good intuition about quantum systems before doing algorithms, QED by Richard Feynman would be a good reading for the same audience.

A handful of good introductions to ideas in quantum computing have appeared in the past two years. The present one stands out in being both friendly and brief. There is no way into the subject, getting around the fundamentals in quantum physics and in math. Through this little book, an uninitiated reader can get some insight into the ideas of Deutsch-Jozsa, and the algorithms of Peter Shor and Lov Grover. The author does his job, as well as any, and the book is pleasant reading.

Do a search for "quantum computing" on amazon and you'll find a lot of duff books. I wanted an exposition that begins with the simplest possible mathematics and the least possible necessary background in quantum theory, and progresses nicely into being able to comprehend papers in the field. Here it is. All you need to carry around with this is a nice, rigorous linear algebra text (I recommend FIS). Word 'em up.