This book entitled, "A History of Western Society" is the most informative book I have read in a history class. It describes the Revolutionary Era to the Present day. Vivid descriptions and carefully laid out photos bring history to life in this book. I highly reccomend anyone who ever thought history was boring to take a gamble and read this wealth of knowledge.

As far as world civilization textbooks go, this one proves to be the most useful. The book spans from Paleolithic icemen to the industrialized peoples of the 20th century all around the world. Included are timelines within each chapter summarizing major events for the chapter. They are short and to the point. Lovely and helpful pictures appear on every page. As a person reads through this book, the begin to be able to make connections between social, cultural, political, and economic ideas in each civilization and then follows up on how each civilization develops throughout time. It is an excellent textbook for people who want to start studing world history.

While studying this book, I wondered why I couldn't seem to "get it". I persisted because of the seduction of the subtitle, The Role of Attention in Spiritual Life. Were John G. Bennett's concepts too academic for me? Or were simple concepts presented as being complex? Then I shifted gears and looked at the chapter headings from my feminine relationship oriented perspective. It seems clear that the goals pursued in the chapters on sensitivity, consciousness, decision and creativity are required for conscious caring. HOW WE DO THINGS matters if a person intentionally nutures another, whether a plant, a pet, a child, a partner, a friend, a parent, or the rest of the planet and its population. Don't women practice all their lives what Bennett presents as news? Nevertheless, this collection of Bennett's ideas, based on lectures given in the 1950's and 60's, plus the cover illustration, Burrowing Skink Dreaming at Parrikirlangu, will probably lure me back for a second or third reading. This 3rd Edition of the 1974 publication is currently out of print.

From Abd al-Rahman III to zygian, this book is a wonderful resource of people and terms regarding ancient and medieval warfare up through the 1500's. It lists battles and wars, heroes, great commanders as well as ordinary fighting men. Some of the more important subjects are detailed in longer, separately boxed articles. The only reason I didn't give it a 5 star rating is due to its lack of illustrations. Otherwise, a great book.

Written as a series of lectures by Bennett before Gurdjieff died in 1949, this is an interesting journey into the past as well as yet another lucid account of the essential principles of Gurdjieff's ideas about man from Bennett's pen. Compare this to a later set of Bennett's lectures recently reprinted as "Making a Soul" to see how Bennett's understanding of these themes by the mid-'50's. Then read his "Deeper Man" to see what a rich harvest his understanding had produced by the mid-'70's. Intoxicating stuff!

When I wanted to learn C language, the second book I picked up was this same series on C [the first one being K & R, which I read later to comprehend].

This book on UML follows the same tradition of "Teach a concept then give plenty of exercises to practice what you learnt". It includes two case studies also. It also includes a chapter on Real time UML, another on OCL and another chapter on Design patterns. A very good buy for the money (16+ dollars).

Pros: Excellent book for beginners Lots of exercises to practice what you learnt. This can be a first book to read before moving into heavy weights like UML series [from awl] or Booch series [from sigs]. Coverage of Object Constraint Language

Cons: May be taking a case tool like Rational Rose or TogetherJ for implementation, as a side-by-side treatment would have made this book more comprehensive.

Overall I am very much satisfied with this book at a elementary level.

When Bennett first wrote this book he was unable to complete the manuscript, so in effect, this book is not complete. Neverthless, it represents a good introduction to spiritual practice in the Gurdjieff tradition, and also one that transcends the Gurdjieff Work into a wider arena. It covers different kinds of work on oneself, including Struggle, the often misunderstood form - Sacrifice and the magic and mystery of Grace. I first read the book back in 1982, and I find myself referring to it over and over again, both for myself and my students.

As a pest control educator, I have LOTS of pest control reference books. "Truman's Scientific Guide" is my most used book. While others may have some higher levels of specificity at times, Truman's is the best overall!

there are many personal anecdotes of Bennett's encounters with Gurdjieff and Subud here, but I personally found them less interesting than his accounts of his encounters with Sufism and dervishes. Anyone interested in the Mevlevi ceremonies should not miss his account of witnessing the ceremonies in Konya in the 1920s. Throughout the book he is running into dervishes of one sort or another, who reveal much personal spiritual experience to him, of a way of life that is now no more. alas.

Often it's hard to know whether a child is sick enough to take to the doctor's office. I found this book very helpful--it gives an overview of what to worry about (or not worry about), organized by the particular symptoms a child has. It's also written clearly, with common sense and intelligence. Now I have a much better idea when a fever or rash might be a problem, how to manage diarrhea through diet, etc. Until they start making kids with indicator lights that go on when they need medical attention, I'll be giving my friends who are new parents a copy of this book.