Understanding a document in its context gives a whole new appreciation for that document. deSilva's book shows how significant honor and dishonor were in the society in which Hebrews was written. It was hard for Christians to be suffering because of the shame that the society around them managed to communicate to them. deSilva shows how the author of Hebrews crafts his document to encourage the Christians to whom he was writing (who apparently had grown rather discouraged in heart and whose lack of motivation was manifest in their actions) to be willing to suffer shame in the present world for a much greater glory. Society might try to shame them, but there were plenty of reasons for them not to be ashamed. deSilva writes about how ultimately Jesus as an example(as well as many examples of faith before) despised shame. He also writes about the significance of honor and gratitude in the patron/client relationship. Hebrews calls for a paradigm shift. If the world would shame you, does what the world think matters, or does what God thinks matter?

This is a short book and reads fairly quickly though the audience intended is somewhat scholarly. There are constant references to Biblical texts and some use of the greek words. The main themes the author wants to communicate are repeated frequently throughout the book, so you should have a clear understanding by the time you get to the conclusion. This book provides a helpful perspective for those who want to understand more about the background of Hebrews.

book is a little hard to get around in, useful but I can see where it could have been put together a little better for a beginner it is hard , If you already know a bit about what you are looking for it helps. Its better than some I've found but could use improvement. If you are already familiar with the counting of strokes and radicals you should be able to work your way around this book.Does contain lots of usefull info along with the meaning and pronouciation of characters

There was a time, long ago, when our image of Japan was shaped by books by the likes of Lafcadio Hearn and Pierre Loti (look them up!). That was also the time when Rose-Inness was considered indispensable for the study of Japanese, along with Naganuma's readers (remember them?)

Then came World War II. Actually, Rose-Inness survived that war and was still a mainstay of Japanese studies into the 1960's. There have been a lot of changes in the language since then, not to mention a lot of new vocabulary, but Rose-Inness is still useful in a lot of ways. Like the list of kana variations which he gives, which can be useful in reading old literature. Or the character variants, which can save you a great deal of head scratching.

I must admit that I never did understand Rose-Inness' attempt to classify kanji by the "sectors" of the written character, but that didn't hamper me in using the dictionary. Of course, for serious work you need Nelson. But Rose-Inness is a lot smaller and lighter than Nelson, and it's adequate for older literature. There are, of course, various dictionaries on the market produced in Japan, but you may want to compare them with this one and decide what serves your needs best before deciding on what's right for you. Rose-Inness certainly has the virtue of being inexpensive.

This edition contains 'The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes' short stories and the novel 'The Hound of the Baskervilles'. I actually stole this book from my High School library but I didn't want to read it until I had read the stories which preceded. Since I've already commented on 'Adventures' in another review I'll stick to discussing 'Hound'.

Written after Conan-Doyle's 'Final Problem' short story about Holmes' 'death' this book takes place before his confrontation with Moriarty at the Reichenbach Falls. Doctor Mortimer from Dartmoor comes to visit Holmes with the story of a beastly hound which has killed Charles Baskerville and will more than likely come after his heir Sir Henry.

Holmes promptly sends Watson off to Dartmoor to guard Sir Henry and report back with all developments. This is the point where Holmes disappears for almost half of the book. But he returns near the end to explain the mystery to all involved.

While it is better than Conan-Doyle's short stories in terms of a stronger narrative and a larger mystery 'Hound of the Baskervilles' still suffers from long, ludicrous and unrealistic monologues and superficial contrivances. As always the story is told from the point of view of Watson. But it simply isn't a unique enough point of view to make the first person narrative worth it. I can honestly say that if the story was told in the 3rd person perspective it would make hardly any difference.

I cannot for the life of me work out how this book is sometimes regarded as a horror. Nothing in it scared me at all. The hound doesn't even show up until the end. And even then Conan-Doyle's description doesn't paint a very vivid picture in your head.

There just isn't enough intrigue or reason to keep turning the pages. The human and reality-based side of the story comes thru too strongly to allow any sort of fantastical creativity. As a classic it's a disappointment but compared to the short stories it's definitely better than the norm.

Arthur Conan Doyle is most famous for his stories about Sherlock Holmes, however he wrote numerous other short stories and novels. The Best Supernatural Tales of Arthur Conan Doyle collects 15 of his better occult/supernatural stories. If you're not used to 19th century English as the British used to speak it you may find it a little slow going, however it's still quite good and I think you should give it a try. It is interesting to note that Doyle's writing style seems VERY similar to H.P. Lovecraft's. Since Doyle was already dead by the time Lovecraft began writing I can only surmise that Lovecraft learned something from reading Doyle's works. If you're a fan of Lovecraft I can safely say you'll like this book. If you don't like Lovecraft than you should probably spend your money on something else.

In his introductory remarks, LeGoff promises to situate the evolution of the concept of Purgatory in a broad socio-cultural context, and to show how it influenced and was influenced by developments in society's and individuals' self-understanding in the period ca. 1000-1300. Such a micro-analytic material-ideological hermeneutical exegesis would be, IMO, exciting indeed. Alas, where the connections are made, they are only cursorily asserted or alluded to. Although the topic of the birth of Purgatory, i.e., a certain focused change in medieval Christian cosmography, seems a narrow enough subject to cover in 350 pages, this book gives the feeling of almost being "out of breath" in trying to cover too much territory, so that the depth of engagement with the material is not satisfying.

We discovered Bubba and Beau BEST FRIENDS and it is a great family read. This book offers the same great illustrations but the author strays from her snappy short simple sentances that made the first book so good. She is also trying to find a 'catch phrase' for the books and I think it is "Sister....", which is done twice in this book. Loved the first book - 5 stars! While my son likes this book (but not as much as the first one) we are hoping the third book will go back to short, snappy and more fun.

What this version lacks is poster-sized illustrations...other than that, you'll find it here. While much time is spent on in-depth detail of information and explanation ranging from historical context and relevance, to the present day continuation of many of the ancient beliefs/practices, the inquiring reader won't have to worry about "treading water" here due to the well-defined, logical layout of the work. Rather than bounce from here to there and back again, the read and "look" is more like an entertaining, well-mapped history book; great lay out, fun, and informative. ;)

This is yet another collection of essays by science fiction grand master Arthur C. Clarke, but as the title suggests, at least this one is focused squarely on a topic sure to capture the attention of his loyal fan base. There are no new entries here; this is more like a greatest hits collection culled from his many previous books of essays, but this volume avoids some of the flaws of those earlier publications (repetitiveness and lack of focus), and stands as a forthright, though still modest, work.

"Memoirs of an Armchair Astronaut (Retired)" discusses the early days of the British Interplanetary Society and sets up Clarke's unique qualifications as an authority on Space and Space flight. This piece captures the spirit of fun and adventure that is missing from more dated articles on particular achievements of the U.S. space program such as "The First Scouts" and "Appointment with Mars". Those readers who are interested in learning about Space but haven't been keeping up might be interested in factual science pieces like "The Winds of Space", which discusses solar wind, and "Time for the Stars" which describes how time will be kept on other planets of the solar system, but given the pace of advancement in space science, many readers would probably rather see discussions of more recent developments.

The real reason for reading Clarke is, of course, his boundless imagination, and the best entries are those where he lets it roam free. "The Solar Century" catalogues the planets and the obstacles to human settlement of same, along with some possible solutions. "The Shores of Infinity" takes a hard look at the possibility of interstellar travel, while "When the Aliens Come" considers different scenarios involving contact with extraterrestrial life. No Clarke book is complete without his trademark sense of humor, and it comes through at its most dryly ironic in "The Meddlers", "Report on Planet Three", and the more personal "Dear Sir...".

Essays of the scientific kind appeal only to a very narrow audience, especially once they've passed their expiration date. While Clarke's imagination and humor often take these pieces beyond that vein, they still don't compare to his science fiction. So while this book is superior to Clarke's other collections, it still doesn't really merit a recommendation.

The Challenge of The Sea is a long-forgotten and, indeed, criminally-overlooked book in Arthur C. Clarke's vast repetoire. Of course, this may surprise many, as the first thing that one generally thinks of when hearing the name "Arthur C. Clarke" are visions of space and black monoliths. Those familar with Clarke's life, though, know that he harbors, if you will pardon the pun, a long-time fascination for the seas of earth as well as his well-known love for the depths and mystery of space. An enthusiastic skin diver, Clarke went on several diving expeditions and even helped excavate a genuine sunken treasure ship (see his "The Treasure of The Great Reef.") Though such writings declined after the coming of the 1970's, the early part of Clarke's career featured numerous articles as well as a handful of books, both fact and fiction, focusing on the sea. The Challenge of The Sea belongs to the non-fiction category, and is perhaps the best of the bunch. As always with Clarke's books of this type, it is an encyclopedic, comprehensive look at the entire subject: its history, accomplishments, inherent challenges, as well as prospects and projections for the future -- think along the lines of some of his more well-known space books of the same sort, i.e., The Promise of Space and The Challenge of the Spaceship. With Clarke, you know that you're never in store for a dry, boring read of the subject at hand, no matter what the subject may be: this book is in his usual well-written, highly poetic, more-than-occasionally funny, immensely readable and ever-interesting style. I found several of these articles to be particularly interesting, as the sea is a subject with which I am not overly familar with. The beauty of the book, though, is that Clarke shows what a fundamentally interesting (and almost wholly unknown) place the sea inherently is. By the time you are finished with this book, you, too, will find it an interesting and fascinating place, regardless of your prior views on the subject -- if you happened to have any at all. One problem with much of Clarke's non-fiction work is that it often suffers from a general sameness, and the same articles appear numerous times in various different books. As a long-time Clarke reader who has read upwards of 50 of the author's books, I was refreshingly surprised to not come across a single article in this delightful little book that I had previously read. Another good thing about it is that, unlike some of Clarke's more popular non-fiction works on space, the passage of time has dated it very little. Despite the fact that it was published in 1960, it is practically as applicable and fresh now as it was then. Consequently, this book is a worthy read for even the Clarke fan who has read almost everything the author has to offer. It is also one of his better and most oft-overlooked works of the kind, and deserves to be read by fanatics and more casual fans alike.