This is clear, easy and understable book about polyphonic style of sixteenth Century. There describes modal patters, examples, styles, since two-two notes to a complete mass.

A landmark achievement still unsurpassed, a companion to the author's earlier published scholarly investigation of its matter--he knows whereof he speaks. If one wishes to understand late Renaissance or "modal" counterpoint, this book is requisite. Among its many pleasures is its lucid and pithy account of the history of music theory.

Also recommended: PENTATONIC SCALES FOR THE JAZZ-ROCK KEYBOARDIST by Jeff Burns.

I am a music student at the University of Saskatchewan, Canada. I am currently reading, Counterpoint by Knudd Jeppesen. I feel that Counterpoint is a must read for any serious music student. I am currently at page 20 with 15 pages of hand made notes. The historical facets of this book alone are amazing. Also the ease at which one is able to read Counterpoint is very pleasing. I strongly urge any theory/composition major to read Jeppesen 's book "Counterpoint."

Those who are looking for an answer to the age old question, 'Why should we be moral?' will be, in a sense, disappointed by this book. Smith from the get-go, shifts the question. Instead he asks, 'Why ARE we moral?' Subtle difference? It's bigger than you may think.

Smith takes our moral nature as a given. Humans are born with an innate capacity for sympathy. We identify others as like ourselves and unless otherwise provoked, do not want to hurt others. We also have an innate desire for esteem. We learn early that treating others kindly gains us admiration in the same way that we naturally admire kind people. This is the core of Smiths thesis and from here he puts examines these principles across an array of human behaviors. Why do we tell truths when we could tell undetected lies? Why would we do kindly to others even if esteem of peers is not gauranteed? Why would some die for their family members or their country?

Probably the trait Smith admires most is prudence; the art of knowing what is and is not appropriate action both in our subjective judgement and that of an imagined 'impartial spectator.' The prudent person is able and willing to put herself in the context of other people. 'Although an action seems justified to me, would others see it that way?' 'Would satisfying small desire X of mine be an obstacle to other's fulfillment of larger desires?'

It goes on from there. Smith puts these ideas well to the test going through scenario after scenario. Because of this, I would say this book should be shelved in psychology, not philosophy as it simply tries to give an account of the way we think. Thus the philosopher looking for a forcefully stated, internally consistent and completely reasoned 'moral system' will not find it in these pages. Smith takes us only so far but when asked 'Why do we have these inclinations to be moral and gain esteem,' he simply answers that it is in our nature. This may be the best answer we can hope for, but it will leave some philosophers unsatisfied.

Regarding the length, IT IS TOO LONG!! With a good editor, 200 pages could've easily been cut. I would even say that the last section, examining flaws in existing moral systems is not necessary and can be skipped. Aside from length, it is a joyful read, though. Smith is an excellent writer and certainly better than Hume, Locke and others of the day. As a conclusion, those looking to bridge the chasm in the 'Wealth of Nations' between Smiths simultaneous advocation of free trade and his disdain for unchecked greed in all it's forms...look no further than "Theory of Moral Sentiments."

To truly understand Adam Smith's economic masterpiece "The Wealth of Nations", one must understand its moral foundation. Without Smith's essential prequel, "The Theory of Moral Sentiments", the more famous "Wealth of Nations" can easily be misunderstood, twisted, or dismissed. Smith rightly lays the premise of his economics in a seedbed of moral philosophy -- the rights and wrongs, the whys and why-nots of human conduct. Smith's capitalism is far from a callous, insensitive, greed-motivated, love-of-profits-at-any-cost approach to the marketplace, when seen in the context of his "Moral Sentiments." [Note: This book is a "page for page reproduction" of a two volume edition published in 1817, which is reflected in my pagination references.]

Smith's first section deals with the "Propriety of Action". The very first chapter of the book is entitled "Of Sympathy". This is very telling of Smith's view of life, and his approach to how men should conduct their lives. "How selfish soever man may be supposed, there are evidently some principles in his nature, which interest him in the fortune of others, and render their happiness necessary to him, though he derives nothing from it, except the pleasure of seeing it." (p 1:1). Later Smith asserts that this "sympathy, however, cannot, in any sense, be regarded as a selfish principle." (p 2:178)

This propriety of conduct undergirds all social, political and economic activities, private and public. When Smith observes that "hatred and anger are the greatest poisons to the happiness of a good mind" (p 1:44) he is speaking not only of interpersonal relationships but of its moral extensions in the community and world. Smith treats the passions of men with clinical precision, identifying a gamut of passions like selfishness, ambition and the distinction of ranks, vanity, intimidation, drawing examples from history and various schools of philosophy. He extols such quiet virtues as politeness, modesty and plainness, probity and prudence, generosity and frankness -- certainly not the qualities of the sterotypical cartoon of a capitalist robber-baron. Indeed Smith is contemptuous of the double standards employed by cults of celebrity: "The great mob of mankind are the admirers and worshippers...of wealth and greatness" paying lip-service to wisdom and virtue, yet Smith oserves, "there is scarce any man who does not respect more the rich and the great, than the poor and the humble. With most men the presumption and vanity of the former are much more admired, than the real and solid merit of the latter. It is scarce agreeable to good morals or even good language...that mere wealth and greatness, abstracted from merit and virtue, deserve our respect." (p 1:79) Tragically, the wealthy celebrity foists a dangerous pattern upon the public, "even their vices and follies are fashionable;and the greater part of men are proud to imitate and resemble them in the very qualities which dishonour and degrade them." (pp 1:81-82) For Smith, wealth is not the criteria of real success. He laments the political-correctness of his day: "Vain men often give themselves airs...which in their hearts they do not approve of, and of which, perhaps, they are not really guilty. They desire to be praised for what they themselves do not think praiseworthy, and are ashamed of unfashionable virtues....There are hypocrites of wealth and greatness, as well as of religion and virtue; and a vain man is as apt to pretend to be what he is not, in the one way, as a cunning man is in the other." (p 1:82) Smith, the moralist also warns that taken too far such trendy fashions of political-correctness can wreck havoc on society: "In many governments the candidates for the highest stations are above the law; and, if they can attain the object of their ambition, they have no fear of being called to account for the means by which they acquired it. They often endeavor, therefore, not only by fraud and falsehood, the ordinary and vulgar arts of intrigue and cabal; but sometimes by the perpetration of the most enormous crimes...to supplant and destroy those who oppose or stand in the way of their [supposed] greatness." (p 1:83)

With such salient observations Smith embarks in a survey of vices to avoid and passions to govern. He describes virtues to cultivate in order to master one's self as well as the power of wealth. These include courage, duty, benevolence, propriety, prudence and self-love [or as we would say, self-respect]. He develops a powerful doctrine of "moral duty" based upon "the rules of justice", "the rules of chastity", and "the rules of veracity" that decries cowardice, treachery, and falsity. The would-be-Capitalist or pretended-Capitalist who violates any of the rules of moral duty in the accumulation of wealth and power in or out of the marketplace is a misanthrope who may dangerously abuse the wealth and position he acquires. Smith describes a moral base rooted in sympathy not selfishness as the basis for an economic system which has been labeled Capitalism. The real Capitalist operates without purposely harming other men, beasts or nature; in this sense capitalism is more a stewardship than an insensitive, mechanistic mercantilism or a crass commercialism. This book is a vital component to any reading of "The Wealth of Nations". "The Theory of Moral Sentiments" is the life-blood or soul of "The Wealth of Nations". Without "Moral Sentiments" one is left with an empty, even soulless, economic theory that can be construed as greedy and grasping no matter how much wealth may be acquired.

In contrast to extreme rationalists and proponents of the selfish gene theory, Adam Smith argues that the beginnings of morality are innate, in the sense that our connection to other human beings makes us sensitive to their needs and sentiments. Morality is thus learned through experience of feeling (sentiments) that connect us to others (thus the title: theory of moral sentiments).

This is an outstanding book, full of magnificent observations about human life and values. Smith provides the theoretical underpinnings for the workings of a capitalist system by rejecting the idea that selfishness and self-interest are synonymous. For Smith's ideal to exist, humans would have to pay attention to the development of moral conscience. It is a startling conclusion, and allows us to comprehend more fully Smith's other great work, The Wealth of Nations. If the Amazon.com rankings allowed a ten, this would be a ten!

My fellow Wyo resident Gretel Ehrlich has never been a personal favorite of mine - I have found her writing a bit bloodless and strident. This Cold Heaven is no exception. Fortunately in this case, bloodless not only works, it is preferable. The native residents of Greenland are a hardcore bunch of seal-eating, dog whipping, communal living Last Best Men and their stories rival any on the planet for sheer toughness. Ehrlich packs her book with tales of ice explorers like Peter Freuschen and Knud Rasmussen, who make the cowboys, Marines and murderous I have known seem as simpering as Boy George and Anne Heche off their Wellbutrin. The author weaves their tales cleverly among her own personal accounts of more modest contemporary adventures, although we never really get to see what drives Ehrlich to this place. Maybe that doesn't matter. Ignore the Luddite whining that stains books like these and you're in for a treat.

There are books and then there are "fulcrum" books. "This Cold
Heaven" is one of those that tips the reader into a place and
people that changes the light with which the world is seen.
The Greenland that Gretel Ehrlich describes will never
be experienced by the vast number of us
(thankfully so, for its own sake), but no reader will ever
doubt the impact of the beauty and harshness of the
Arctic environment on those who live there. To convey
to us a sense of that remote place and its animals and
the Inuit people is Ehrlich's passion and her genius.
Unlike some writers who spend a few months in research
and then write with mock authority, her voice has been
Greenland-seasoned seven times since 1993. Her view is
subtle and encompassing, yet leavened with the humility
of one who comes from the outside looking in.

Ehrlich's writing style is richly poetic, strong in metaphor
and allusion. By interrupting her own lyric voice
with the deliberate descriptions of early Arctic
explorers, she creates a blend of the fanciful and the
matter-of-fact that broadly reflects the Inuit
view of life, past and present. In the end, however,
and inspite of her admiration for the subsitence hunter,
she squarely questions the viability of the traditional lifestyle
in the face of modern consumerism. The answer, Ehrlich suggests,
is the one we've come to expect and, tragically, to accept.

Lest the reader fancies that traveling to Greenland to sample
a subsistence life is a good idea, hold on to this: you
don't belong there. Let this book be your window and your
mirror. Use it to visit a wisdom that, with any luck, may
affect you at your very core.

This woman truly loves the high north, with all its paradox and ambivalence . . . Erlich paints the beauty and complexity of northern Greenland (before reading this book it never occurred to me to think of Greenland as HAVING a "north" and "south"!) and the struggle a tiny minority are having to maintain their ancient -- and sustainable -- ways of life. I'd classify this first of all as a love story between woman and land, but it is a love story in which the sentient observer is aware of the problems with the beloved, and yet still remains committed.
This is not a "been there, seen that, got the T-shirt" travel book -- Erlich is drawn to Greenland no fewer than seven times, in various seasons, and she lives with the people in traditional housing (including tents on the ice). She encounters the brutality of bureaucracy as well as the incredible hospitality of the Inuit -- and at the same time she does not shrink from the pervasive alcoholism and domestic violence that are a sad feature of northern life, nor does she neglect to mention the impact even in Greenland of the growing pollution in "the south" (i.e. North America). Her thesis is essentially Romantic in a philosophic sense . . . subsistence living was/is hard but authentic. The coming of modernity, with its internet connection, TV, store-bought goods, etc., has removed both the means and the incentive for a life of integrity. She leaves it to the reader to see the Greenlandic experience as paradigmatic of the wider world.
Read this book - it will lift your heart and trouble your mind, and leave you wanting more.

This book is a good road map to Danish...it does an excellent job of explaining grammar and sentence structure.

What makes it frustrating for a beginner like me, however, is the way it approaches vocabulary. I've learned several other languages, and I like to learn new nouns in groups ("animals" "professions" "rooms of the house")

This book throws huge groups of unrelated words at you as it goes about explaining sentence structure, and I found them almost impossible to keep straight.

I ended up keeping a separate notebook to organize them myself!

Another important point: Pronunciation is the most difficult part of Danish, so I'd recommend buying this book WITH the cassettes. I bought the book alone, and now to get the cassettes - which are really necessary - I'm going to have to buy another copy of the book!

This book is an excellent introduction to learning the Danish language. However, several misspellings are present within the text. As this can be a problem, I would recommend to EVERYONE to get the accompanying cassettes which compliment the course. This would also act as a good precautionary due to the fact that at the beginning, Danish is often very difficult to understand until your ear has been finely tuned to the sounds of the language. Aside from the mistakes, the text gives a simple and easily understandable approach to grammar and also to the vocabulary. The course uses such things as humor and fairy tales to teach the language, along with several model sentences and short dialogues to hear the language spoken at a normal rate of speech. Having the cassettes comes in handy the most with these dialogues. All in all, this is an excellent intro to the language, and one can deal fairly well with Danish after completing the course, as it expresses both formal and informal usage of the language.

I have tried just about all of the beginning Danish language courses on the market and this one is my favorite. It moves quickly and covers a lot of material, so I'm glad I tried some of the other courses first, to give me a basic introduction. This program does a good job of teaching conversational Danish while introducing the essential grammar rules a little at a time. The authors have a good sense for what is essential and what can wait. It teaches many colloquial expressions and rules of Danish sentence construction, so I am now able to create my own expressions and not just parrot back the ones I have memorized. The book has a few misspellings, as other reviewers have mentioned, such as "hi" in chapter one--it should be spelled "hej"--but I catch the occasional errors because I also work with a dictionary. (There are very few). The four cassette tapes are an absolute must. We English speakers will never get Danish pronunciation right unless we hear it spoken by a native. You will find that native speakers in Denmark slur their final t's more than the speakers on the tape (Danes make a a sound on some d's and t's that only Danes can make--it is NOT "TH," as all the books claim). But the extra careful pronunciation on the tape is useful for learning the language. This is the only tape that enunciates carefully enough so that I can tell the difference between words like "dansker" and "danskere." Another reviewer complained that the word lists are not grouped by topical subject type. That reviewer missed the fact that the words are grouped according to which spelling and conjugation patterns they follow. That is very useful for memorizing all those confounded endings on Danish nouns and adjectives. This program makes me hopeful that learning a foreign language is possible and easy with a little daily effort on my part. It is fun! I'm driving my family nuts, talking in Danish around the house. The other excellent beginning course that I am using is from Rosetta Stone--but it is a lot more money.

Reading this account of Knud Dyby's numerous acts on behalf of Danish Jews during World War II is like listening to a storyteller. Dyby's specific story is told within the framework of the general Danish resistance to Hitler's anti-Semitism.

Denmark, unlike many other European countries, did not have a tradition of treating its Jewish citizens differently. However, great courage was required for Dyby, Georg Duckwitz, and countless unnamed Danes, to resist Nazi oppression of Jews. It is remarkable that they succeeded in actively arranging for the escape to Sweden of nearly two thousand Jews late in the war, primarily on small boats. The details of arranging transport on fishing boats through a web of discreet individuals are fascinating. It also reminds us how much difference one person can make.

This book would be very accessible to high school students who are learning about the Holocaust. Mrs. Loeffler expains historical references such as "Krsytallnacht", so the reader can follow the story even without having much background knowledge about events before and during World War II.

I certainly got more information about programming the 8051 microcontroller from this book than from Predko's 'Programming and Customizing the 8051', or for that matter, any other 8051 book I've managed to get my hands on (Steve Sokolowsky's "Assembly Language Basics" and Boyet and Katz's 'The 8051 Programming, Interfacing, Applications. Ok, that's only 2 more, but hey- it's the best out of 4). I couldn't figure ANYTHING out from them. Most of it is handled in a nice, logical manner. I wish SOMEONE whould just make a SHORT, CLEAR, CONCISE, BARE-BONES book of just what is important. If they did it write, you'd have EVERYTHING that was important and it wouldn't even be 30 pages long. These people all spend SO many words descriping a few simple concepts that are OBVIOUS, and then when I try to find what's important, I get an impenetrable bog of words. Even when I find it, then, it's explained in a manner much more complicated than the underlying concept, and if I finally get it, I just say to myself "ALL he had to say was THIS, and he only had to say it ONCE!". If I had could FIGURE OUT everything I wanted to know from the effusive sea of words comprising any of these sources I'd tried, I might even write a book myself, but you can't write about what you don't know, and if I could find a good book OUT THERE, the world wouldn't NEED another one! Well, maybe I could get all the info I needed from a good one and make a great one. But still. You'd think someone would do a better job than this.

Well, to start of with - it was ONLY written by Karakehayov, the others are just there for show. Which means that the English language in the books is a bit bad. And the author (or publicher) didn't take the time to structure the book very well. BUT if you can live with that the books got GREAT diagrams, which if you can understand them, makes the book invaluble for designing a complicated embedded system or software.

The book also takes emphasis on assambler, only one of the chapters is a review of c programming.

The book may be considered as a basic tool for designing an embedded system. It spreads in almost all the areas of nowadays microcontrolled devices. The book is based on Intel's 8051, but the algorithms described may be implemented basically for any microcontroller. The book is not suitable for people who doesn't have basic knowledge in programming in Assembler and C, but it may be used by people who are making their first steps in embedded design. At the end of the book there is a full list of all the Assembler commands for 8051. My recomendation is to put an example after each command. It will be very helpful.
As a whole, the book is great expecially with all the diagrams in it and my opinion is that every engineer involved in embedded system design should have it on its bookshelf.