Anderson uses easy to read sentences and aims his OT introduction at the lay person, but will be useful more to students and pastors because of the content. I was somewhat disappointed that he has nothing on Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement). R.K. Harrison's Intro to the OT is much more comprehensive, including discussion using both historico-critical methodology and conservative approaches, whereas Anderson assumes that the historico-critical method is the only way to go. Nevertheless, the information is readily accessible and easy to read, and illustrated well.

An amazing, descriptive, objective, factual read about the beliefs, people and events that went on in ancient biblical times. Some great pictures too! I was captivated and fascinated!

No question the Old Testament is a great read, but face it, the original audience for this work is long dead and buried. Anderson's standard text on the world of the Old Testament is excellent in bringing the ancient world and the context for the collection that is the Old Testament to light. Reading the Bible without Anderson you get a story about some guy named Abram who took a walk one day and had some trouble with his new neighors. Reading it with Anderson, you get a deeper understanding of where Abraham came from, where he was headed, and how the belief of early Judahism developed through and in conflict with those of the neighboring Canaanites. The agrarian focused religion of the Canaanites get's it's own hearing as a people's attempt to make sense of the life around them. "Understanding the Old Testament" then provides this level of insight and background for all the other books of the Old Testament. How and why we now have the expression of the Jewish people's understanding of God gains more texuture and depth.

The first time I saw this publication was on a book fair in São Paulo and I found it amazing from the very first moment. I bought it from Amazon some weeks later and it really paid its value.

It covers the story behind each building that have become world famous landmarks.

You can go directly to a specific building you're interested in or read it throughly from beginning to end. Both ways you'll be pleased and surprised with the information provided.

The only thing that disappointed me was the very little coverage on South American landcaspes such as Machu Pich ruins Oscar Nyemeyer's Brasília

However, it's an excelente book anyway. If you do appreciate good architecture, you won't regret buying it.

I was enthralled in the book. Buildings that Changed the World is a spectacular photographic adventure. For anyone that loves history and architecture it is a fantastic book to look at. Reading, however, is different. The author, understandably, has little room to explore the different intrigues of every building. There are fantastic stories to some of these buildings that are not mentioned. Again, I do understand the limited space but I would love to see a second edition to this book that goes into the buildings more in depth. The author uses the Kremlin as a whole but, I believe that the buildings individually should have been addressed. Specifically, St. Basil's Cathedral which has a fantastic history of construction under Ivan the Terrible.

'Confessions of a Pretty lady' consisted more of observations than of confessions, but the wit of Bernhards writing made this a pleasureable book to read. Like a emotional journey through Bernhard's personal life I felt a divine sense of identification with her (which is stange as we are worlds apart - she a sexually ambiguous jewish comidienne - me a Huyton socialite). My only problem with the book was its minimal length, the book con be easily read in one evening, but dont let this stop you as 'Confessions' is one of those books that you can read again and again. Dont be put of by Bernhards often uncomprimising image, this book will be rewarding to all who have chance to read it. ciao,

Maureen Farquhar (maureenfarquhar@yahoo.com)

Don't get me wrong, but it just seemed as though the book was based on past (not healthy) relationships. This is not to put down a single person in this book. My problem was that when I first read the book, I had put myself in a serious mode, and I should've read it in a less serious tone. The book was fabulas the second time around. Way to go Sandra! By the way..what are you really like? I know you aren't as defensive as you want everyone to think. You are amazing -- and I know that!

It's really difficult to describe Daniel Libeskind's works when he doesn't profess himself to be an architect & yet, claiming that he's not a non-architect either. So, what is he? Anyway, his work is very abstract & cerebral. Daniel is a very eclectic & talented individual, with degrees in music, mathematics, architecture & upon submitting his pieces for competitions, he actually used music sheet! Then, he questioned if the outcome of the competitions was decided by a panel of jury, & was that the rite thing to do. In many instances, readers might feel that we're getting somewhere in understanding his works & subsequently, a curveball would be thrown & we would end up just as confused as when we first started. Suffice to say that he's an urban planner, looking at the overall picture, believes in evolution of designs which would benefit future generations. He argued that his high profile work for the connection between the Berlin Museum & the Jewish Museum might be nicknamed "zigzag" but in actuality, in real life, its presence conveys something otherwise. If readers could look beyond his supposedly desconstructive work, he's in fact a traditionalist & a realist. Daniel is forever arguing with himself & there's nothing more enjoyable to him than engaging in discussions. I wish that there were more pictures of his works but most of them were taken in a hurry, or that they were pictures of models. There were also descriptions of some kinds of his modern art works & sculptures (or machines)? The writings at the end of the book is intensive reading, but there's undeniable of Daniel's depth & it's about time someone of his calibre racks up the architecture world with his avant-garde thinking. Other projects worth reading here are Alexanderplatz, Berlin; The Spiral: Extension to the Victoria & Albert Museum; Jewish Community Centre & Synagogue, Duisburg; & so forth. Not for the faint-hearted but highly recommended.

Fans, just for fans,ONLY for those who had a previous approach to libeskind's work. (results as to much for first-timers) advanced desconstruction followers will feel satisfied of owning this piece. The "plus" comes in the writings, the way they are writen is pure and simple "congruence" something worth to be digested.

The book itself was very informative. Of course I had to do it as part of a homework assignment, so I can't give you an honest opinion on it's entertainment value.

Very interesting book on the invention of Dynamite. Great book for young readers. A short book that covers history, chemistry, and biography of Alfred Nobel. Fourth or fifth graders will find this book easy to read and very interesting. They will want to know more about explosives and more about Alfred Nobel

Thomas Bernhard is a wonderfully engaging author, although at first glance, a depressive. He is (or was - he died in 1989) Austrian, and this unusual autobiography is written in one long go - there are no chapters or even paragraphs! It is hard going at first, until you suddenly click into Bernhard's point of view, which is a grim, often tragic take, and some readers might consider his remarks on life, death, marriage, education (especially in Austria!) to be offensive. But since he is a master of irony, his life's sad and terrible situations do become very funny. At the age of 18, he was hospitalised with pneumonia, and since the doctors thought he was going to die, he was put in a ward amongst the old and chronically ill, what he called the 'death' ward. Upon his recovery, he wasn't moved to another ward - the doctors, he said, seemed affronted that he hadn't 'gone under' as expected! On the daily round, he recounts how they grew progressively ruder, as his health improved. To Bernhard, doctors are marginally more criminal than teachers, but the greatest crime is that of parents who thoughtlessly "bring new human beings into the world," and then try to bring them up, in even more thoughtless ways. He went to a Catholic boarding-school until 1938,the year of the Anschluss, when of course it became a National Socialist school overnight - the great thing he writes is that there was no discernible difference - the brutally cruel school routine went on just the same, except there were different uniforms, beliefs, songs & decor!! Later, trapped in a sanatorium with TB, he discovers books, and they "became my best and most intimate friends," thus the act of reading became a decisive factor in his life, for he saw that literature could be applied to life, "as a form of higher mathematics." (not entirely sure that makes sense out of context - he's immensely quotable, but in chunks rather than odd lines). It's a very good translation, but as already said, it's not an easy read - apparently, in Austrian German, it reads as a marvellously-poetic prose; even so, for English readers, it's well worth persevering with the life-story of this saturnine character. I found a second-hand copy of this book, which is out of print, and was so impressed I've bought two more (new, from Amazon!)by Bernhard, "Wittgenstein's Nephew" and "The Voice Imitators."

The version I read was in three parts and each part was like a whole so there was a fair bit of repetition. If that wasn't the case the book would get 5 stars as the man is clearly an inspired writer with an almost perfectly free intellect (much to the horror of Germans, Austrians, organised religions and the medical profession amongst others). Like JG Ballard he opens one's mind up to ideas that one would never have dared to dream of. Best of all, despite it all (his life was quite depressing due to growing up in Nazi Germany and contracting TB) he's very funny. Makes you feel that with humour you're safe from everything.

As a commercial GPS user, I was looking for a book that would offer a fairly basic overview of GPS, but that would still go into significant detail. This book does exactly that, but it also covers a lot of the mathematical theory behind GPS. This book certainly isn't introductory and I think would be more suited to a surveyor with a good knowledge of surveying techniques who was interested in GPS. The mathematics gets a bit heavy for a non-mathematician but Chapter 7 (Surveying with GPS) is an excellent introduction/review of the practical uses of GPS in the field. A good intermediate-advanced level book, probably very suited to students.

This is an excellent book for anyone that works with spacecraft geometry and/or timekeeping. It contains concise descriptions of coordinate systems, orbital elements and timekeeping. I've been using it as an algorithm 'cookbook'. This is not a book for a casual GPS user, or someone who is sqeamish about math. It's much easier to use than the Astronomical Almanac for basic algorithms. Like a fool, I lent it out. Now I need to buy another one.

This is a collection of papers presented at a NIPS workshop held in 1997. So it provides a good entry point for access to forefronts of this rapidly developing field. Many leading researchers have contributed to this volume including V. vapnik who wrote a very succinct and readable survey. The introduction (Chapter 1) is also very useful. Though all chapters are written by leading experts in their areas and are enjoy to read. Personally I like particularly Part II on implementation in large data sets. G. Wahba provides some background on RKHS theory and a statistical perspective from GACV, for which she is mainly responsible for its popularity in statistics. I recommend this book for researchers and practitioners who may want more details and update recent developments.

This is the first work that I have found that lends equal credence to the Cantonese pronunciation of characters as it does to the Mandarin pronunciation of characters. The transliteration system used by Bernhard Karlgren is very unlike any of the current systems in use for either of the Chinese dialects in question. However, with work, the pronunciations can be worked out and there is room to pencil in the transliterations in whatever system the user is familiar with. The pronunciations given for the Cantonese readings of the characters are the literary pronunciations. The dictionary only lists the characters singly so multiple character phrases and words are not included. If these caveats are born in mind while using this dictionary, it will prove very useful. The main use I have found, is being able to give close Cantonese readings to Chinese characters as the Cantonese speaker may not be familiar with the Mandarin readings of the characters in question or their English transliterations of the Mandarin. There are a few minor errors in translteration in Bernhard Karlgren's system of transliteration that are not dealt with in the Errata section. One glaring error is that when signifying the Cantonese tones he shows the level tones as falling and the falling tones as level. This book also does not allow for the Cantonese middle tone.

"Don't miss these engaging tales of the ways of the