This tremendous book opened with a "message from the publisher", declaring that two of their five associate editors quit over the decision to publish this book and included a written statement from each editor about their opinion of the book. Even though that set up the book (in my mind) to be much more raunchy and heathenistic than I thought it actually was, it was an extremely amusing addition to an already great book.

The story begins in a goat barn and we meet our hero Billy, George and GILES, alternatively. Max, an old Moishian (Jew) brought up Billy as a goat intentionally in order to shield him from human misery. After meeting a human woman, Billy decides he wants to become learned.

This story uses a university as an allegory for the Universe and everything within - religion, politics and literature - follows that same allegory. One is "passed" instead of "saved" and "flunked" instead of "damned". The political leader is, of course, the Dean. God is the Founder and Satan is the Dean O' Flunks. Oedipus Rex and the Emperor's New Clothes (which both figure strongly in the story) are, respectively, Taliped Decanus and the Chancellor's New Gown.

Throughout the story is mention of the "Quiet Riot" New Tammany College is having with their neighboring Student-Unionist College. Both have Super computers, one WESCAC and the other EASCAC, that can EAT (steal the vital energy) of humans.

It turns out the goat boy decides he is the next Grand Tutor (messiah) and travels to New Tammany College to declare himself as such. There he meets a handful of memorable characters (including another Grand Tutor) and must complete a list of assignments given him by WESCAC to "commence" and "graduate" so he can go on to graduate others.

This book includes bestiality, rape, incest, homosexuality, and many other things some may consider objectionable, but it is amazing how normal it sounds coming from George's viewpoint.

The writing is engaging as Barth's essays deal with three different subjects, yet, compliment each other. The first essay is "Evangelical Theology in the 19th Century." Barth concisely examines the dangers of liberal theology and the effects it had on the 20th Century.

The second essay is "The Humanity of God" of which the book is titled. This essay is a Christological work and is well worth the read.

The last section, "The Gift of Freedom", deals with the Christian life i regards to God's gift of Freedom. Frredom is a gift from God that He alone can bestow on us.

This is a great work which is very easy to read and quick to get through (only 96 pages). This book will inspire to read more works by this great Christian thinker. Whether one agrees with him or not, Barth is always engaging.

I suppose it is inevitable that, as the post-war boomers approach the big six-zero over the next decade, we will see a tidal flood of tender, soul-searching narratives. Boomers want to understand rather than simply experience life, and most have been frustrated by life's refusal to obey our expectations.

John Barth seems to have made such soul searching his life work, and I seem to have followed him book for book, life experience by life experience over the years. A clever "academic" writer (read: "he writes like a dream but his wit sometimes overwhelms the story"), Barth has addressed boomer experience and frailty .

Seeming to be five to ten years ahead of boomers, his books have ranged from the tragedy resulting from a terribly botched abortion (long before we openly spoke of this horror), through the visionary and usually misguided quest of the idealist (Sot-Weed Factor and Giles Goatboy), the terrible pain of realizing one is an adult (the clever but exhausting Letters), to more leisurely and accessible mid-life reassessment as protagonists take "voyages" on the emotional seascape of middle age (Sabbatical, Tidewater Tales, Last Voyage of Somebody the Sailor, Once upon a Time...).

Each five years or so, I eagerly await his newest offering, devour it, and then feel frustrated when his literary games seem to detract from his story.

But, then, each time I realize (as if for the first time), the essential nature of his writing. Like the age-old games from which his writings spring (the quest/redemption stories of the Iliad and Oddessy, the "doomed" prophet stories of the Old and New Testaments, the mistaken identity games of Shakespeare and thousands of authors since, and the metaphor of story as voyage and voyage as growth from Chaucer, 1001 Nights, etc), Barth plays his games to remind us that the act of story telling *is* the experience, it *is* the reason we read: the experience of hearing ghost stories around the camp fire remains with us long long after we have forgotten the actual story.

And then I remember that, as a reader, I have no more "right" to expect neatness and closure in a Barth story than I have the right to expect neatness and closure in my own life. Try as we might, our own work, our own story is always in progress. And like Barth's beloved Tidewater, the ebb and flow of our own story defies our attempt to capture to master it.

In the end, life and Barth's stories remain as delightfully cleansing as the tide itself.

KRH www.umeais.maine.edu/~hayward

The photographs are accompanied by some introductory information on each warbler and this book would serve as a richly illustrated guide to these birds.

Bird species include water birds, birds of prey, hummingbirds, songbirds, etc. that residents or visitors to the southwest may encounter.

The book is very well organized and is useful as a quick reference when viewing birds.

Each of the three novellas is a gem in its own way, and the trio work beautifully together. In each, the basic idea is to show a legendary figure as a real human being. We see Perseus after his glory days have passed, for example, and also meet Bellerophon who secretly feels that he has been a faker all along. But it's much more than yet another retelling of old legends.

It will make you think. It will probably also make you laugh in places and move you in others.

The wrapup is unexpected. Some will love it; some will hate it.

Do yourself a favor and read this. It's well worth the price of the paperback.