If you thought they just build the Hubble Space Telescope and launched it, you're wrong. This book let you see what all such projects got to go through from the first bright idea and to the actual launch of an earth orbiting space vehicle. Sander Elvik, aerospace engineering student

This book is a non-sensationalistic, rather fair account of Joseph Stalin's life. The author goes out of his way to try to find actual documentation and explanations for Stalin's rise to power and subsequent life as dictator of the Soviet Union. This work is refreshingly free of the anti-communist hysteria of other more famous accounts. The only thing that rings untrue in the book is the possible 6 million victims of one year's famine in 1932- but look up the reference and we find that Mr. Mcneal used Robert Conquest as a source, thereby negating the aforementioned incredible number.

It's a shame that this book is out of print. It's an excellent book by an excellent author. This book contains all of the things you would expect from a biography of Stalin, including all of the stories of his childhood, etc. What makes this book interesting and controversial, however, is that Tucker dares to explore what effect his childhood might have had on his future personality (always dangerous ground for a historian) and detail his motives as well as his tactics in the struggle for power in the post-Lenin Soviet Union.

That said, it should be noted that, as is common with Tucker's books, this is the middle book in Tucker's biography of Stalin. It's focus is on his rise to power and the consolidation of that power in the Soviet Union, although it does deal slightly with other periods. Also useful is the chapter on Lenin. A very useful book for anyone interested in Russian studies, as Stalin was one of the shaping figures of the Soviet Union.

Those who remember being rankled or reassured by the political columns of the Alsop brothers during the 1950's will appreciate this thorough study of two of the most prominent journalists of their time, Joseph and Stewart Alsop.

This well written, well researched book is more than just a dual biography. It is a fascinating walk-though of the times which the Alsops reported with intelligent insights drawn from their unparalleled contacts.

Sons of a privileged Northeastern WASP family, the Alsops had the best of everything: education at Groton and then at Harvard; they had money; their cousin, Franklin Roosevelt, reigned supreme in the White House; their a great-uncle, Teddy Roosevelt, had become an historical monument. With these resources behind them, they applied their great talents as writers and their high intellects to make the most of it.

As partners in the syndicated newspaper columns, their contacts and influences put what they reported at the top of the list of "must reads". When they separated to go their separate ways, the flamboyant Joe remained a highly influential daily columnist while the more reflective Stewart won even greater praise for his Saturday Evening Post features in the days when the Post was the preeminent weekly family magazine.

The lives of the Alsop brothers paralleled the history of the United States during the mid-part of the 20th Century -- from the Depression to Reagan's election and finally the fall of the Soviet Union. It was because they participated in and reported history in the making that their biographies resonate with so much interest. We see Stewart parachuting behind enemy lines during World War II while Joe -- with General Chenault -- was chased by enemy troops over the rough terrain of China. We read of their many dinners and parties with their cousins the Roosevelts at the White House; their mutual abhorrence of Senator McCarthy; the benign acceptance but not idolatry of President Eisenhower; their love of Jack and Jackie Kennedy; their awful sorrow at President Kennedy's assassination; their encouragement and then their discouragement of the Vietnam war; the Watergate fiasco -- American history of that time in the raw -- from their perspective.

Through it all, Mr. Merry is able to paint good, memorable pictures of the flamboyant, often outrageous Joe and the down-to-earth Stewart and how they became important to the Washington of their times. This is a fine book, worth reading and owning.

A good if somewhat dated book on telephone survey methodology.

I admire the author's thoughtful words, but by ignoring the Reorganized LDS church, which the Prophet's son Joseph Smith III founded in 1860 with Emma Smith's assistance, a huge part of church history goes unmentioned. The RLDS (now called Community of Christ) has in it's headquarters in Independence MO, two portraits, one of Joseph Smith Jr, and one of his wife Emma Smith. I believe these were painted during Joseph's lifetime, thereby making the statement in the back of this book's jacket that the cover portrait is the only one painted during Joseph's lifetime inaccurate.

This short biography of the man now considered "My Joseph" by author Robert Remini, covering the life and death of the Mormon prophet Joseph Smith, is a well-researched, even-handed and concise examination of the life of a unique and great American. Drawing from sources as far apart as Joseph Smith's Personal Writings and John C. Bennett's Expose of Joe Smith and Mormonism, from scholars across the spectrum such as Fawn Brodie, Richard Bushman and Donna Hill, Remini has synthesized the important historical, biographical and often controversial information to be found about the life of Joseph Smith. The work is brief, as necessitated by the series, and can easily be read in one sitting.
Divided into nine chapters, Remini first introduces the reader to the American political and cultural context of the early 19th century, as the extent, fanaticism and individual, similar occurences to those of Smith during the Second Great Awakening are not a well-known part of his story. Indeed, Mormon readers well versed in the subject matter may find these interjections scattered throughout the book some of the most interesting and challenging material. Here and throughout the rest of the work Remini casually implies that Joseph Smith, the Book of Mormon and much of what has become the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was a product of timing, a product of the unique American environment during the nation's infancy. Tracing and lightly touching Smith's ancestry, the author mentions episodes from Smith's adolescence he believes helped shape the character and disposition of later years. Smith's angelic and divine visitations are covered, along with the origins of the Book of Mormon and the beginnings of the Church. The reader is present during the fantastic events of the Church in Kirtland and its near subsequent collapse, for the wars with the old settlers of Missouri and during the flourishing, while controversial, period of Nauvoo and polygamy. The biography closes examining and ultimately denouncing the assassination of Joseph Smith, not as a slain prophet, consistent with the author's non-partisan stance, but as a great American, a victim of a society that bordered on the fringe of lawlessness.

As already mentioned, the book is even-handed and mostly accurate, the occasional detail, a misquotation from the Book of Mormon, for example, excusable for a reputable scholar undertaking this kind of endeavor. Mormons will disagree with some observations while non-Mormons will others. Not uncommon verbage found throughout the book often reads, "Mormons support or agree...while critics point out..." and vice-versa. All readers will find an entreating and page-turning presentation of Joseph Smith the man, innovator, prophet, politician, leader, family man, military leader and American.

"Smith admitted that some accused him of 'pretending to be a Savior, a worker of miracles, etc. All this is false...He is but a man, he said; a plain, untutored man, seeking what he should do to be saved.'"

To readers interested in a similarly unbiased, scholarly appraisal of the Book of Mormon, I would suggest the recent book By the Hand of Mormon by Terryl Givens, a professor of English at the University of Virginia. While Joseph Smith reads like an artistic biography, By the Hand of Mormon scrutinizes the possible origins of the Book of Mormon, internal and external evidences of its veracity, arguments on both sides of the divide and other topics.

I found this book pretty interesting because I was never really exposed to Mormonism and its prophet before. Most people have a very superficial view of the Mormons. If you asked the common man what they knew about Mormons, the first thing they would say is probably "polygamy". Of course, the truth is much more intriguing than that. This book is a good place to start, for it concerns the man whose "visions" sparked one of the most fascinating entries in American religious history.

Author Robert Remini does a great job of importing his wealth of knowledge concerning Jacksonian era America and using it to really explain the social context of Mormonism. His brief but interesting description of the Second Great Awakening really sets the stage for Joseph Smith's transition from failed farmer to holy prophet. At the time, especially in upstate New York, many Americans were swept up in religious fervor that involved fiery preachers and large-scale public rituals that seem to resemble mass exorcisms. Smith's family was very intoned with this sense of religious longing, and it no doubt influenced his future pursuits.

Remini is fair when he tackles some of Smith's religious "visions". This is hard because, frankly, if you look at the situation in a purely rational view, Smith is only a few degrees below a David Koresh figure. In fact, as I read the book, I could not help but to draw parallels between the two American messiahs. But that's my opinion, and Remini holds his own as an impartial historian. I felt, however, he sometimes looked too sympathetically on Joseph Smith. Although Smith does not seem to be a bad man, he did makes some "revelations" that could easily be identified as self serving, such as the amount of money he would take in, his unpaid debts, and his legalization of polygamy. Remini also treads too lightly on some of the Mormon's historical views, which are blatantly false.

Remini had a very hard job though, and these minor complaints I have do not take away from the books overall quality. I am sure Mormons will probably complain that Remini was too hard on Smith, so he really is stuck between a rock and a hard place. In summation, if you want a good starting place to study Mormonism and its early history, this is as best place to start as any.

You'll know what the summary means if you read the book, folks...I suppose for those out there who need to get their history with a touch of juvenile thrill, 'Archangel' does have something to offer. (Although, truth be told, everything Harris used as reference can be found in David Remnick's outstanding works 'Lenin's Tomb' and 'Ressurrection'--and Volkogonov's captivating biographies of Stalin and Lenin.) The first clue that 'Archangel' was taking a turn for the worst was just past midpoint, when Harris uses his 'pushy american journalist' character to spout out his grammar-school thesis on contemporary Russia: "It's the Weimar Republic...waiting for their Hitler." Please. History has revealed to us that we are all dangling upon the fragile thread of geopolitics--The aftermath of this century's tension has left many potential heirs of destruction. In such an unstable circumstance, singling out Russia as such a powder-keg is an exploitative cheap-thrill for those sorry few who miss having "The Reds" to conveniently justify their limited worldview. Without giving away Harris' ending, I will say that it was laughably pathetic. Ridiculous. If you're a Russian, I would wager it's downright offensive. I can just imagine what the pitch-meeting will sound like when Harris' agent tries to sell Archangel to film or television, "It's like The Manchurian Candidate meets Bigfoot...!"

A setting that chills the bone; a premise that chills the heart. These are the pillars of Archangel, a tension driven third novel by former BBC correspondent and London Times columnist Robert Harris.

As in Fatherland (1992), with its disturbing thesis that Nazi Germany had been victorious in World War II and Hitler still lived, Mr. Harris skillfully blends fact and fiction to craft an equally frightening tale of contemporary Russia.

"There can be no doubt that it is Stalin rather than Hitler who is the most alarming figure of the twentieth century.....Stalin, unlike Hitler has not been exorcised....Stalin stands in a historical tradition of rule by terror, which existed before him, which he refined, and which could exist again. His, not Hitler's, is the specter that should worry us."

These words are spoken by "Fluke" Kelso, an antithetic hero, to be sure. Thrice divorced, an unsuccessful writer, he is a historian, a Sovietologist who greets alcohol with enthusiasm and his colleagues with ennui.

In unforgivingly frigid Moscow, where "air tasted of Asia - of dust and soot and Eastern spices, cheap gasoline, black tobacco, sweat," Kelso is a part of a symposium invited to view recently opened archival materials.

He is visited in his hotel room by Papu Rapava, an older man, a drunk, "a survivor of the Arctic Circle camps," who claims to have been an eye-witness to Stalin's death. Rapava says he was once bodyguard and chauffeur for Laventy Beria, the chief of the secret police. Rapava claims to have accompanied Beria to Stalin's room the night the GenSec suffered a stroke, and to have assisted Beria in stealing Stalin's private papers, a black oilskin notebook, which was later buried.

As Kelso decides to spend his final day in Moscow either refuting or corroborating Rapava's story, the writer comes face to face with Mamantov, a Stalinist who feels "the force of Comrade Stalin, even from the grave," and lives amidst the ex-dictator's memorabilia - miniatures, boxes, stamps, medals.

Surveying the collection, Kelso shudders, remembering that today one in six Russians believe Stalin to be their greatest leader. "Stalin was seven times more popular than Boris Yeltsin, while poor old Gorbachev hadn't even scored enough votes to register."

As Kelso becomes convinced that Stalin's secret papers do exist and obsessed with finding them, he is dogged by R. J. O'Brian, an overly zealous reporter whose beat is the world.

But, once the notebook is found instead of holding answers, it poses more questions. The last piece of the puzzle may lie in Archangel, a desolate White Sea port where "Everything had decayed. The facades of the buildings were pitted and peeling. Parts of the road had subsided."

Together Kelso and O'Brian drive 800 miles across an eerily deserted frozen landscape to reach Archangel before a storm rolling in from Siberia buries them or pursuing government agents capture them.

What the two find, Stalin's long hidden secret, is more appalling than either of them could have imagined.

With ever escalating suspense Mr. Harris catapults his mesmerizing narrative to a shocking denouement

Film rights for this unsettling tale have been sold to Mel Gibson, and it will surely capture a slot on bestseller lists.. Archangel is too close to possible for comfort, and too spellbinding to put down.

Harris' Archangel is one of the best political mysteries I have read. The novel explores a horrifying possibility that one of the darkest figures in modern history has offspring. While the preposition is quite far-fetched, Harris manages to bring it to reality.

What strikes me in this novel is the way Harris promotes the idea that a monstrous and powereful figure cannot by itself usurp and keep power. It requires an unstable, chaotic society that will not only intall this leader, but also be unable to demolish him/her. In this respect, the book is highly realistic in describing the chaos in Russia. That is what makes it scary too--not the ficitious element of Stalin, but the slight possibility that a person like him might come along and take advantage of the misery and desperation that rule in Russia.

'Hades Factor' is the first Ludlum book I have read in a very long time. I greatly enjoyed his early books but stopped reading the late Mr Ludlum's novels after his stories became too incredulous to believe. 'Hades Factor' has many of the fine characteristics of an early Ludlum but seems to have been hastily written. After I was half way through the book, I had to look back to find where the story lost me as a reader; where I started to back away from the story and no longer believed any of the characters. It was around page 70.
Sophia, Jon Smith's love of his life, dies in his arms after being injected with a virus, and in his grief, Jon ... performs an autopsy on his beloved, removes tissue samples and travels the next day to California? Huh? Wait a minute. From this incredibly unbelievable response to death onward, I read this novel from a critical distance, noting the inconsistancies in plot and lack of logic of character motivations. Yet still, I recommend this book for a quick read. Not a great Ludlum, not even a very good one, but some of the good stuff that made a Ludlum novel so appealing still manages to peek through every now and then.

Three people in different parts of the U.S. die suddenly and dramatically of a bizarre, unknown virus. What connection could there be between them? And how can this virus be stopped before it claims more victims?

That's the set-up for this collaboration between thriller-meister Robert Ludlum and relative newcomer Gayle Lynds. This is something new for Ludlum, a series written in conjunction with other authors (ala Tom Clancy's Op-Center books). This is to be the first in a series of adventure-thrillers about a government action squad called "Covert One." I'm withholding judgment on the concept until more books come out, but for now I'm cautiously optimistic.

The story is solid, although familiar. It's obviously reminiscent of Richard Preston's "The Hot Zone," along with dozens of thrillers. That's not to say it's bad, though. I enjoyed the swiftly-moving plot, and found the characters to be interesting. The protagonist is Lt. Col. Jon Smith, a medical doctor, expert on killer viruses, and all-around man-of-action. He's a fairly typical lead character for a book of this sort. Smith is interesting enough, though, and smarter than the norm, which was a nice change.

Even better was the character of Smith's sidekick, Martin Zellerbach, a computer genius with a rare form of autism. I hope he returns in subsequent books because I found him fascinating.

This reads like Ludlum-lite, featuring his brand of paranoid action and suspense, but without the depth of plotting and sophistication that characterizes his best work. It's noticeably different from the rest of his output, although maybe that's a plus given the quality of his last few books.

"The Hades Factor" is recommended for thriller lovers and anyone looking for an exciting summer read.

I am a Ludlum fan (read them all) who loves a good story...not one of those fans who thinks they are a book critic and nitpicks every phrase or fact. If you like a good suspense/espionage story with solid characters that is hard to put down then you will enjoy this book. Lt. Col Robert Smith, MD. is a strong lead character and Marty Zellerbach is an extremely interesting supporting character. Watching Marty battle his Asperger's Syndrome (type of autism) really adds an interesting wrinkle to the story. I highly recommend this book to anyone who wishes to read a good story that is hard to put down..I read it in three days! I look forward to the second book in the series and to reading co-author Gayle Lynds other works.

McNamara and his so called Whiz Kids really botched things up in Vietnam. Though, McNamara makes for an interesting read... The same arrogant McNamara that sunk us into the quagmire in Vietnam, with his poorly planned strategy, is still somewhat defiantly arrogant in this book. Yes, he humbles himself at first, but his true self comes out in the book. To me, he is still apt at making excuses like 'America was overzealously concerned about containing communism' and the 'domino theory is bogus.' McNamara is right in pointing out how we alienated the Vietnamese people, but he was complicit in the policy to do so.

Vietnam was a farce, because Vietnam had no clear-cut strategic objectives... Gen. Westmoreland succinctly summarized its failings when he stated that the overarching strategic objective is to 'rack up the body count.' Killing people and breaking things is a means to attaining an end, but it shouldn't be the only end.

Also recommended:
No More Vietnams by Richard Nixon
A Bright Shining Lie
Vietnam: The Neccessary War

McNamara vividly tells the reader what the realities of Vietnam politics were in the 1960s.These realities examined in the book are:1)The United States' containment policy was severely tested at this critical time.Should the U.S. stay in Southeast Asia and contain communist expansion or should the U.S. withdrawl and focus on Western Europe,Cuba,and South America? 2)Cold war tensions made it very difficult for the U.S. to discern China's and the Soviet Union's motives about communist domination.Was the communist movement a nationlist movement confined only to the eastern world or was it striving for global domination?
Putting the Vietnam crisis within its proper time frame,McNamara felt that the U.S. took the proper approach to containment.The tragedy in Vietnam during his tenure as defense secretary lie not in U.S governmental subterfuge,but in tricky interpretations(listed above)of the cold war.

One cannot help but wonder what our current Secretary of Defense will write when his time comes. One has the feeling that the subtitle of McNamara's retrospective, "The Tragedy and Lessons of Vietnam," will be a good starting place for that "sequel." McNamara writes, "We were wrong, terribly wrong. We owe it to future generations to explain why." Americans today will have to decide whether or not we have actually learned our lessons and are now more wise than the last generation, more able to predict the tragedies that will arise during and after today's war. Anyone who recalls the Kissinger scheme to achieve "a decent interval" while bugging out of Southeast Asia will likely recall Eric Von Marbod comparing the logic of that process to that of "a man who impregnates nine women in the hope of getting a baby in one month." How can one not think of Afghanistan, Iraq, (and now Iran) without thinking of the Vietnam era? Despite all the criticism directed at him, the author reflects great credit upon himself and the country by even attempting to set the record "straight." One can indeed be wrong even when totally convinced one is "acting in the principles and tradition of this great nation." How could we have slipped out of Vietnam if we had really believed in the domino theory used to justify that war? What will become of the "nexus of WMD and terrorism" that is today's rationale for preventive war? As we watch to see how we extricate ourselves from the war on terror, there is much to be learned from the old political schemes of Robert McNamara's era.

Life is torture, all of us die (hard to argue with that one) Hell is inevitable; it's here on earth right now, death is the end, suicide is a comfort. We are very insignificant beings essentially powerless to effect any real change and the best we can hope for is to embrace despair. And then there are the really depressing parts of this book.

However, like Blanche Dubois it's wonderful to depend (or at least be surprised) by the kindness of strangers.

Life is a Siberian concentration camp, but a fellow inmate may give you a flower and bring tears to your eyes in the realization that compassion exists amidst the damned.

Well, this is a fun book to give to anyone who annoys you by telling you to cheer up .

One might keep it by the door in case any Jehova's Witnesses knock, especially if they've been having a good day. It would also make an interesting Valentine's Day gift for your beloved, just in case she's nagging you into a wedding and you'd like to offer the alternative of a double suicide.

Itsuki writes about pain, sometimes eloquently, as in his narrative of The Dalai Lama , sometimes verging on obscenity as in the story of the mother whose terminally ill child is gasping for breath and Mom observes that "The gasps seemed like labor pains. . .the mother cheered her daughter on in death . . .Hurray!"

It's weird but Isuki's advice at times sounds like a self-help book turned upside down yet equally hoaky. Instead of telling us to smile and look on the bright side because it'll make us feel good, he tells us to weep and look on the dark side because it'll make us feel good.

This ain't profound but it sure sounds elevated as soon as he brings in Amida Buddha.

An entity which, from what I can gather exists in the archetypal Platonic realm (unlike Siddhartha, the Buddha, a human who actually lived) yet whose Presence is far more Real to his followers than a mere flesh and blood being.

Amida is the Buddha of Ultimate Compassion, and-- though there is no hope, really-- intoning his mantra 'Namu Amida Butsu' puts us in touch with compassion, frees us from the futile desire to escape our doom and best of all----

--Well I'm not sure. According to Itsuku, Zen was for the aristocracy who had time to enage in 'self-salvation' unlike the peasants who had to rely on 'Other Power' (Amida) and followed The Pure Land Sect.

(Actually I doubt it was that simple, having met a Korean Zen master who began each day by prostating himself 106 times and invoking Amida's help. It seems a human need to ask for divine compassion. Likewise I suspect that even the bravest of Stoics would have snuck a prayer to Zeus now and then.)

It seems the peasants believed they would be reborn into a paradise, a "Pure Land" unlike those intellectual Zen types who sought for Enlightenment a la Siddhartha while they still had breath to fight.

But Itsuki rejects this interpretation of The Pure Land. There will be no paradise or re-birth, you'll just be a kinder person and take refuge in Amida's light while you spend time in your own hell of a Siberian prison, etc.

I'm not sure as to how this reinterpreatation of The Pure Land sect came about. Judging by Itsuki, it does appear to be normative today. Perhaps the original was considered too primitive and literal ( by intellectuals, of course) or perhaps it cheered the peasants up too much, thus blinding them to the truth that Suffering is All, etc.

Well, it's an interesting book, though I believe the point was better articulated in C.S. Lewis' masterpiece "A Grief Observed"
not because Lewis was a Christian, but precisely because he had -- unlike Itsuki--a happy childhood. Consequently he was fairly optimistic, sure of his religion, and in late in middle age found true love-- only to have his wife die horribly of bone cancer--whereupon his world and his faith came tumbling down.
Lewis's attempt to cope with having egg on his face after a lifetime of naivete, and his brutally honest soul searching strikes one as far more poignant than this gloom and doom autobiography.

Oh, and BTW, 'Sad To The Bone' really is the title of a section in Itsuki's book.

In the final analysis, while Itsuki's philosophy embraces pathos and sympathy for our fellow sufferers endorsing a lofty charity towards all, given his metaphysical premises arguably loftier concepts would be rendered meaningless.

There is absolutely no room for heroism, triumph or, in the classical Western sense, tragedy.

Have a nice day.

First of all, it should be noted that this work is NOT a 'beginner's book' on Shin Buddhism. While there are parts which address the 'mechanics' of this school of Mahayana Buddhism, the real fact is that Itsuki's work is more directed to those who have already accepted the Nembutsu-faith as their own, or to those who wish to see the impact which that faith can have on those who are sometimes in the deepest and darkest places in their lives. As such, "Tariki" succeeds magnificently and powerfully.

Often very bleak and dark in places, "Tariki: Embracing Despair; Discovering Peace" is a sobering examination of how faith in Amida Buddha as held by those of the Shin faith can be both an anchor and a comfort to those in grave infirmity, grief, or facing death. Since much of the tenets of Shin deal with "resolving the question of the afterlife", it is natural that the book dwell in such heavy territory for much of its material. And while Itsuki does concentrate on such darker issues, it's important to note that...as would be appropriate for Buddhism in general...ultimately one comes to a realization that the duality between the 'dark' thoughts and the 'light' ones is really false. In this, Itsuki creates a very interesting and thought-provoking 'map' of the harsher aspects of life and how this harshness can be resolved through faith in the "other power" of Amida Buddha to unfold these experiences as ones of personal power and meaningful depth.

Again, this is no "starter" book for those wishing to learn more about Shin Buddhism; for those seeking that sort of information, I would suggest either Rev. Taitetsu Unno's "River of Fire, River of Water" or Dr. Ken Tanaka's "Ocean". But after absorbing the teachings set down in one or both of those, returning to Itsuki's book for a sober look at how those teachings affect and ground the lives of Shin Buddhists is a must.

Hiroyuki Itsuki provides a lucid and powerful explanation of Pure Land Buddhism in the Japanese tradition and supplements it with the lessons derived from his own suffering. Mr. Hiroyuki is to be commended not only for providing a spiritual essay with universal implications but also for drawing upon his own difficult experiences in a relevant, helpful manner that deftly avoids sentimentalism and self-pity.

Hiroyuki describes his childhood as the son of a Japanese teacher in occupied Korea before and during World War II. When Japan was defeated, Hiroyuki's world fell apart. After losing their home and belongings, Hiroyuki's mother died, his father became an alcoholic. Ultimately it was the then thirteen year-old Hiroyuki who cared for his siblings and dragged them to safety in South Korea. The trauma of these experiences and others caused Hiroyuki to develop a very negative view of life. The significance of this development, which was clearly missed by one reviewer, is the fact that Hiroyuki's negativity is not nihilistic. Instead, Hiroyuki argues that when we accept the negative facts of life (primarily that we will experience loss, pain, sickness, old-age, and death) we are better able to lead a positive life. Hiroyuki goes on to describe the Buddha as "the ultimate negative thinker" and explains how the Buddha gave up His life of wealth and privilege in order to comprehend and then address the suffering that comes with existence.

In explaining the differences between Zen and Pure Land Buddhism, Hiroyuki addresses the common misconception that the latter is based on blind faith. Zen, according to Hiroyuki is a religion of action that involves meditation and other exercises while Pure Land Buddhism simply requires a simple belief in and verbal acknowledgement of the Amida Buddha. This belief is not an attempt to find the Amida Buddha, for according to Hiroyuki He has already found you and has reached out to you with countless subtle mechanism that can include the kindness of complete strangers and the pages of Hiroyuki's book. Hiroyuki refers to these countless mechanisms as the "Other Power" and contrasts them with the "Self Power" associated with Zen. According to Hiroyuki, the practice of Zen involved time and activity to perform self-development that was simply not available to anyone beyond Japan's privileged classes. Pure Land Buddhism appealed to the commoners because it did not require developing the "Self Power" of Zen. Instead they merely had to believe in and acknowledge the "Other Power" of the Amida Buddha's commitment to save them. More to the point, the Amida Buddha already had saved people; they simply needed to wake up to this fact.

If Hiroyuki's writing only focused exclusively on the suffering and despair of his personal history then readers could justifiably find his negativity appalling. But Hiroyuki contrasts these experiences with the surprising kindness of strangers and other positive experiences that he eventually came to attribute to the "Other Power".

Ultimately, "Self Power" and "Other Power" are parts of the same thing. "Other Power" is faith, and it is also a required foundation for "Self Power". Hiroyuki convincingly argues that you cannot practice any form of self-development without a faith to precede it. Hiroyuki draws a parallel between the two schools of Zen Buddhism and the differences between Catholicism, which stresses salvation though one's works and Protestantism, which bases salvation upon faith alone. Hiroyuki concludes that the relationship between faith and action are universal to practically all of the world's religions and cites a recent accord between the Vatican and Lutheran council that acknowledges the primacy of belief in Christ and the importance of supplemental good works in His name.

So why do we need negative thinking to have a positive life? Hiroyuki argues that if we are driven by optimism alone then we are fooling our selves and are only going to suffer in the long run. When we acknowledge the normalcy of suffering, we are better able to cope with it. We are also more likely to appreciate and less likely to be fooled by the cycles of our own happiness. For me the most interesting part of this Hiroyuki's thinking is that fact that it is an equal blend of faith in human salvation and deep existential courage. Hiroyuki also gets right to the spiritual heart of religion rather than its alienating social and political elements.