In addition to Allison's book on Kant's T.I., I recommend this work. While I think it is a bit too dogmatic in its defense of Kant, Collins has many points of merit. Off the bat, I appreciated the title, Possible Experience, as the fact that Kant defines a phenomenon as an object of possible experience, and not of subjective perception in a Berkeleian manner, seems to have been forgotten by most Kant critics. Collins' major argument is that Kant does not begin from a Cartesian skeptical stance on the existence of an outer world, but rather attempted to refute skepticism. In addition to refuting skepticism, Kant also attempted to refute its close friend, idealism. Collins attempts an interpretation of Kant which takes seriously Kant's claim that he opposed idealism and skepticism, and thus Collins' major task is to illustrate the differences between idealism and Kant's transcendental or "critical idealism." To a large degree, I think Collins succeeds, but he sometimes goes too far in defense of certain statements of Kant which are at least so absentminded that they deserve no defense. Overall though, a good readable work.

One of the great confusions of philosophic language is the term 'idealist', and one who suffers from it the most is the philosopher Kant. In a relatively brief and extremely clear commentary on the Critique of Pure Reason Collins attempts to set the record straight by an exposition of Kant's unique juxtaposition of 'transcendental idealism' and 'empirical realism'. This confusion began early, and has persisted, and one must wonder if the term 'transcendental idealism' can ever escape its history and find its real home in the language of 'possible experience'. One observes the many debates where the suggestions and insights of Kant might assist the clarification of issues gone metaphysically berserk, only to find discussion clipped by the muttering charges of 'idealism'. And that is a loss to the evolution of cultural thought, if it can be called that, as it endlessly recycles the elemenatary errors Kant was at pains to debrief. Hopefully, Collins' work can perform emergency ambulance service here in some aspiration to recover our own cultural belongings from oblivion.

The Provincial Lady books are fictitious diaries and as such, are written in abbreviated phrases, memos to the writer herself. This type of writing does get a bit monotonous, but the content, the account of an almost famous writer from one of England's southern counties (before WW II) is very diverting. Having achieved a modest success with her first diary, the Provincial Lady is now invited to international literary conferences, but must cope with the fact that she is still an unknown, and is often forced to fake acquaintanceship with books she hasn't read. Although her literary agent waits eagerly for her latest book (necessitating the renting of a London flat in order to have uninteruppted time to write) she still deals with an embarassing lack of funds in her bank account. This oscillation between the trajectory of her career and the earthbound concerns of money and child-rearing constitute a major theme. Anyone who has ever had to balance career and, say, laundry, will get a kick out of the conundrum. A witty read by an engaging writer equipped with senses of irony and absurdity. Imagine Erma Bombeck transplanted to 1930's England, and I think you'll get some idea of our heroine.

The Provincial Lady series are classics of social comedy and anyone who has not already discovered them is in for a treat. EM Delafield was a successful lady author who publised a weekly diary in Time and Tide which was a masterpeice of social comedy. END

Quentin Durward is good reading, right up (almost) to the very end. It's excellent historical fiction with very rich characterization, especially of Louis XI. Excellent, that is, except for the women. While two of the minor female characters are interesting, the female lead is as dull as dishwater. My real complaint is that the ending is bungled. After the tremendous buildup full of exciting action and convincing sets, you turn the page and...it's just over! Misses the crecendo and the denoument. Still, I enjoyed it, and recommend checking it out of the library, as I did.

I read this novel forty years ago in the Modern Library edition and I am amazed that it is out of print except in expensive library editions. It is one of Scott's finest novels, full of action and with a fine portrait of King Louis. It was the first novel to use a gypsy as a character. It was made into a movie in the 1950's. Scott of one of the most neglected geniuses in literature and the world is the poorer for it.

If you don't know Sze's work, this is a good place to start, and if you do it's a fine "Best of" collection with a few new poems added. I liked it a great deal, and kept picking it up and rereading some of the poems. However, Sze isn't one of my favorite poets, and after some thought I finally decided why. He belongs to the school of poets (both Western and Eastern) who see everything in the universe as interconnected and every part, from a dragonfly to a planet, as emblematic of the whole. In some of his more recent poems, I felt that he just presented lengthy lists of objects or events (however memorably described) and left it up to the reader to make the connection between them. While often the result can be enlightening, for me this sometimes injected too much intellectual effort into the process of appreciating a poem -- which, to my way of thinking, should be more like a lightning flash that illuminates the whole landscape. Also, the specificity of some of his allusions troubled me. He'll briefly mention an event that loomed large in local news, so I (as a local) will have an intense reaction to it -- but does he expect someone from (say) Dubuque to have as strong a reaction? Which reaction did he intend when he mentioned that event, and how does that affect the way a reader "takes" the whole poem? Again, his ex-wife is a well-known Hopi weaver; does knowing about this emotional connection change the way you read some of his allusions to Hopi beliefs? At one point he mentions her pulverizing bugs in a blender -- is the reader supposed to think that she's practicing a refined form of cruelty to insects, or are we expected to recognize that she's making cochineal dye? (He provides footnotes, but they're mostly translations of local Spanish words he uses.) In short, is my "local knowledge" something he calculated into the poem, or is it getting in the way of the effect he really wants? With a poet who's more explicit about what he/she expects you to "get" from the poem, the issue doesn't arise for me, but in this style of poetry I find his reticence rather confusing. Still, this collection is well worth reading and thoroughly enjoyable.

Arthur Sze introduces the reader to an original way of thinking embodied in the the old Hua Yen school of Buddhism. Hua Yen (Kegon in Japan) believes all places and times exist in all other places and times. Events are a reflection of an infinite set of dimensions -- each one relfelcted in the other. The "Redshifting Web" a collection of Sze's poetry has the sensibility of infinite dimension universal life, not a common perspective in any poet. If your are interested in this viewpoint you should look into the "Flower Ornament Scripture" a tanslation of a Buddhist sutra by Thomas Cleary. Another poet with a similar, but more zen/dadistic-inspired vista is Takahashi in "The of Triumph of the Sparrow." If you want to see and hear more ---Sze is your man.

The mouse has a white eye where the river rages not far from the orange on your table...

Kleinman brings an anthropological perspective to the field of psychiatry, examining the forces of culture and society on how deviant, nonconforming behavior is produced, labelled, and reacted to. Much like Gerald Erchak (The Anthropology of Self and Behavior), Kleinman considers what a diagnosis is and how it is influenced by a society's definitions of illness and disease.

The book addresses first the question, What Is A Psychiatric Diagnosis? It next addresses the question, Do Psychiatric Disorders Differ in Different Cultures, answering "Sometimes." The author asks Do Social Relations and Cultural Meanings Contribute to the Onset and Course of Mental Illness? Here he examines the connections between the economy of a society and the prevalence of psychiatric diagnoses. He also considers the role of social change in the prevalence and nature of mental illness.

A very interesting portion of the book is titled How Do Professional Values Influence the Work of Psychiatrists? Kleinman offers a transcript of an initial session between a U.S. patient and psychiatrist. The subsequently formulated diagnosis and treatment plan are provided. The patient's diary entry following the session shows the discrepancy in world views between physician and patient. Next is an examination of a session between a Chinese psychiatrist and patient.

How Do Psychiatrists Heal? is the title of the next section of the book. Here, Kleinman looks at the clinical tools of psychiatry as compared to the healing tools of other cultures. Considered are the institutional settings of healing, the nature of the healing interaction, practitioner characteristics, styles of communication, clinical considerations, cultural settings, and extratherapeutic factors. An examination of how symbols are used in healing in psychotherapy and other folk cures follows. The book concludes with thoughts about the question What Relationship Should Psychiatry Have to Social Sciences?

Dr. Kleinman offers an insightful perspective on the concept of psychiatric illness and healing that integrates contributions from many disciplines. This is a beautiful example of thinking "outside the box" that challenges traditional psychiatry while remaining respectful of the methodology of both psychiatry and anthropology. Dr. Kleinman elucidates a meaningful middle ground between the criticisms of the "anti-psychiatrists" such as Szasz and Goffman, and the traditional psychiatric hierarchy. This is an enlightening work which will appeal to those who find themselves frustrated with the limitations of traditional diagnostic categories and conceptualizations of mental illness as residing solely within the individual, and who are searching for ways to understand illness experiences as a social phenomenon.

I first read this book about four years ago, and continue to come back to it. The ideas expressed here have significantly impacted my understanding of my own field and have greatly influenced the direction of my subsequent research and teaching.

The soft-cover Wordsworth Classics edition of The Return of Sherlock Holmes reproduces The Hound of the Baskervilles and the short stories that make up The Return of Sherlock Holmes as they originally appeared in the Strand. It also contains the interesting, though poorly reproduced, illustrations that accompanied the stories. Because a page of the magazine is reduced to the size of a trade paperback page, typeface is very small.

As an Englishman. resident in the United States, what do I miss most? The BBC. As a little boy I looked forward to all the broadcast plays every week. The BBC cast performed about 6 hours of radio plays every week. They still do, haven't you also noticed the number of TV plays broadcast by A and E? Most of them originate in the United Kingdom, Hornblower, ETC.. Now we can enjoy the performances by means of these Bantam Double Day releases. Very well done, by a very experienced cast, you can let your imagination run riot as you picture the various scenes in your mind. These are the classic stories by Sir Arther Conan Doyle. They have been around for 100 years or so, and time has not diminished their appeal. On this Audio Book you have 4 stories, each about 45 minutes long. If you haven't heard these before, then I don't wish to spoil the story line. If you know the stories then you will not be disappointed. Each story is presented in the time period of around the 1900's, you can almost smell the gas lighting, not to mention the foggy november weather, the horses, and so on. Order these from Amazon, and search for more of the BBC plays, they are great.

So everyone thought he was dead, murdered at the hands of Professor Moriarty. Not so of course (although Conan Doyle had intended to cease writing about Holmes - but a public outcry forced him to reconsider). In this highly affordable collection Holmes and Watson continue to pit their highly developed intellect against the not so refined minds of the criminal underworld - although Holmes does give them due credit for their duplicity. The only problem I find with Conan Doyle's writing is that it is a bit lacking in decent female characterisation - rather a sign of the times than a fault in his writing however.

After his apparent death at the hands of Professor Moriarty, Doyle brought Holmes back for another installment of short stories (only because of public outcry, however). "The Adventure of The Empty House" is the first adventure that the newly returned Holmes embarks on, and it is one of the best. The way Doyle explains his survival actually seems real, not the usual cheap and cliched "surivival of the hero" stuff. Other good short stories in this collection include "The Adventure of the Dancing Men" and "The Adventure of the Missing Three-Quarter".

Anybody interested in Viennese culture before World War I and between the wars ought to read this book. It portrays the atmosphere of a city that was one of the most influential centers of European culture, where contributions by the Jewish community were epoch-making and masterful. A must for anybody wanting to understand the marvel that was Europe.

Ah, Schnitzler. That magnificent chronicler of old Imperial Vienna - the Vienna of sweet young things (usually working- or middle-class), slightly neurotic but charming young men (usually upper-class), and their fleeting love-affairs, terminated so easily once ennui starts to exceed pleasure, the Vienna of walks in the Prater and talks in the cafes (ever so full of interesting artistic types), the Vienna where the nostalgic strains of Johann Strauss provide a suitably bittersweet accompaniment to the beginning (or the ending) of the abovementioned love-affairs ...

All of which occur in The Road into the Open; nevertheless, the Vienna depicted here does not only consist of only the sweetened tableaux so frequently dismissively (and unfairly) attributed to Schnitzler. The easy charm of the Vienna here is extant, but by no means idealised - it masks the artistic impotence that seems to afflict nearly all of its inhabitants, haunted as they are by the sense of being epigonal; grandiose artistic projects are continually being talked about, but never executed, whether because of an aversion to actually setting them down on paper, or simply because of what is commonly called a "lack of inspiration". More sinisterly, it also masks the habitual anti-Semitism of what one of the characters wittily calls those of "indigenous physiognomy"; though written in 1908, there are passages that almost foreshadow the rise of Nazism. Schnitzler subtly intertwines the study of the individual with ruthlessly objective social commentary and evocation of the atmosphere (both artistic and political) of fin de siecle Vienna, to produce a fascinating book highly recommended not only for those with an interest in the period, but also for anyone who fancies a thought-provoking book

The late Dr. Asimov's clear wit and wisdom is taken to bear here on fools and the future. He begins by excoriating "Religious Radicals," in harsh liberal prose that seems rather outdated today. (For instance, there is a chapter called "The Reagan Doctrine" that pokes fun at tactics Ronald Reagan used in battling the Soviet empire.) Other chapters are also dated, including several chapters on environmental predictions that are informed by distinctly Malthusian notions of supply shortages. (To wit, "And in the mad scramble for food on your part and on the part of billions of others, the people of eath will further damage the world they live in and will begin to fight each other over scraps.") Still, Asimov writes lucidly on science in a number of historical and opinion pieces, which are carefully reasoned. Five essays at the book's end give perspective to the late thinker's personal life, and a number of inserted memorials (new to this edition) from other prominent scientists and science fiction authors really round out a book that shows Asimov's incomparable breadth of interest. The "Roving Mind" of the title is Asimov's own intellect; any thoughtful reader will find his own mind broadened for having read it.

Isaac Asimov was probably the best person ever to write science fiction. He was also one of the best people to ever write science fact. His death in 1992 was a great loss to the world.

This book provides a good look into how Isaac Asimov thought about various issues. With all the problems in the world, the views of Asimov might help to make the world a bit more logical place if we pay attention to him.

Following in the footsteps of Rene Guenon, Frithjof Schuon, Ananda K. Coomwaraswamy, Martin Lings, Titus Burkhardt (the modern one) and Seyyid Hossein Nasr, Mr. Versluis brings the analytical methods of these, the "new traditionalists," to the issues of Native American spirituality. Except for some relatively minor analytical flaws common to the methodology he adopts, his perspective on this subject is a generous and welcome one, and his writing opens out the fundamental qualities of this spiritual tradition for neophytes, as well as for well-informed students of other traditions. It is clearly intended for intelligent and well educated readers, but not for academics or intellectuals. This is an inspiring book, which reinforces my already great respect and reverence for the spirituality of this place, Turtle Island.

Get it. Read it. You'll understand