One probably still can't imagine what it was like to serve time in VietNam even after all the high budget Hollywood attempts to bring some understanding of that war home. Mr. Bishop brings us closer however than any war movie could with his brief yet poignant memoir of his time "In Country" He states early on he is not a writer but this serves him well as his emotions ring true and heartfelt. One hopes this book provides the author the catharsis he seeks as well as for any Vets who read it who struggle to this day with their service to their country. I heartily recommend it.

This book should be required reading for all active military personnel, families, Viet Nam veterans and their families. The book has the ANSWER to all of our problems, both past and present. As a Viet Nam vet, this book addressed my hidden problems that I have been denying. Life is better for me now. All vets need to experience this awakening. MUST READ

This story tells the true horrors that these young men have gone through and still go through even after the war. The fact of the matter within the book is the story of one mans struggles with life before, during, and after the war. If only the real story of the life of a war VET was easy. However the war is never over in there minds. Maybe some day he will find the peace that he needs to live a so called normal life. This book had me on the edge of my seat I couldn't put it down.

This is a highly interesting book, although it presents the President as a guy that just goes from swimming to sitting in bed all the time. It's probably not entirely accurate, but is still a good one.

I read this book when I was in Junior High. I still remember it after all this time. I think I must have read it at least five times. It is my most favorite of all Kennedy books because it is about his life on a day to day basis as a real person. I highly recommend this. It would be great to do one of these on President GW Bush.

Bishop Spong is one of those select individuals I love to hate and hate to love. His books, whether I agree with him or not, are very engaging. His writing style is easy and provocative.

In this latest compolation of essay, Spong tackles many subjects such as his family and mentors, social issues, religious issues and much more.

The strength of this book is by far the way he writes about himself and the people close to him. I found this "celebertism" to be interesting and enlighting.This is howevevr, the really only good thing about this book. The rest of the book, though engaging, is overy wrought with logical errors and self-refutation. He spin doctors for his cause as well as any White House spokesperson. He mentions the 80s as a decade of greed. However, he is largely silent when a liberal is in office. After all, what are the 90s? I assert more greed.

Of course, Spong addresses his "pet" issues such as his views on "Christology", homosexual rights, abortion, and many more. It is provoking, yet, empty: emotional, reflective, yet, very illogical.

Probably the most controversial person I have seen still inside the Christian leadership, Spong never ceases to amaze me. Whether you agree with his views, theology, or his process, you must respect his strength. What amazes me is how someone of his generation and age can be so openminded and fight so hard to try to change a religion that he feels will crumble without such change. This book is a great overview of his writings and the evolution of his principles. If you are interested in Bishop Spong, but are not sure where to start, these essays are usually under 10 pages, and are a great look at a great mind.

Throughout his 24-year career as an Episcopal bishop, John Shelby Spong has always been a vocal spokesman for liberal Christianity. Over the years, he has acquired a very distinct writing style with which he passionately explains his favorite theological issues. It suffices to say that he definitely has his own "voice." "The Bishop's Voice," the title of this book, could not be more fitting for Spong. This book contains a collection of essays written by Spong over the course of the last twenty years. The essays seem to cover every topic imaginable. In this book, Spong tackles core theological issues such as the nature of God and the role of Jesus, political issues such as the emergence of the religious right in American politics, social issues such as abortion and homosexuality, and personal issues as he writes about people who have influenced him and people of whom he loves very deeply. Needless to say, this book is an excellent summation of what Spong believes and why he believes it.

My favorite essay from this book is called "Yes, Virginia, There is a God!" In this essay, Spong compares the conservative Christian image of God to a child's image of Santa Claus. Spong says that our prayers to an external deity often resemble a child's letters to Santa. Similarly, we often attribute impossible tasks to God when we claim that "God" refers to a heavenly parent figure that interferes randomly in our world to accomplish a certain purpose. Spong says that this is akin to Santa Claus' magical journey around the world in one night. The bottom line is that it simply isn't possible. Just as many children "grow out" of believing in Santa, many teens and adults are even beginning to "grow out" of believing in God in this scientific age -- myself included. The answer, however, is not to abandon belief in God altogether. Instead, Spong says that we must seek new ways to articulate the way we experience God in this postmodern world. Spong's primary task in this essay and in his overall vocation is to help Christians rediscover God when the God-as-parent-figure of the past becomes inadequate. He does so with candor, integrity, and love. Because of this, he has quickly become my favorite theologian.

I highly recommend Spong to all Christians that find themselves uncomfortable with the religious symbols of the past. His theology is comforting, refreshing, beautiful, and easy. Its greatest strength, I believe, is realizing that scientific knowledge is our asset in faith and not our enemy. It's also about realizing that people are generally good, not sinful. Reading Spong has been, for me, profound and life giving. It has allowed me to capture a new theological perspective that makes use of both my brain and my heart. Although this book of essays is only a tiny taste of one of Spong's other books, it is still incredibly powerful. By exploring a variety of issues, it paints a portrait of Spong that is sure to appeal to both his greatest fans and those discovering his enchantment for the first time.

I have used this study guide (along with the companion book) to lead several small-group studies on issues of sexuality. It has been a welcome aid to my work as seminar facilitator.

Passionately agree, vehemently disagree, or remail blissfully unaware of the questions Spong raises. The fact remains that Christians every day are living out the very real questions raised, and they demand (and deserve) to be addressed by Christian clergy and laity.

Perhaps the most useful function of this study guide (and companion book) is that it makes all sides "aware" of the changed playing field. We no longer live in a world that believes God lives just above the sky (whose dome has many tiny pinholes -- the stars), nor that women and children are the property of men, to do with as they please. There are an enormous number of scientific and cultural elements which have changed since the time of the early Church -- it's time the practice of the Church addressed this, with regard to human sexuality.

Love it or hate it, it will make you closely examine what you believe and why you believe it.

Written in 1988, way ahead of its time, "Living in Sin?" continues to ask tough questions about sexual ethics in what is now the 21st century. Spong, clearly fed up with the church's naive view of human sexuality, proposes some ideas to the church that are not all that radical in today's changing society. Pointing out the flaws of the bias towards patriarchy shown in the Bible and the church's ongoing reluctance to accept new ideas, Spong calls on the church to bless same-sex relationships and permit sex outside of marriage in some instances. He also petitions the church to permit divorce and encourage divorced persons to worship in full communion with the church. In the book, Spong also asserts that the Bible is not a valid "textbook" for sexual ethics in today's society. He says that what was considered moral in the first century is not necessarily moral today and vice versa. He calls on church leaders to "wake up and smell the coffee" - the church cannot continue to proclaim outdated sexual ethics into the 21st century without losing it's authority. Although a great deal of controversy surrounds John Shelby Spong, this book demands the reader's attention as we are forced to question what we believe is sexually moral and why we believe it. If we believe something just because "the Bible says so," Spong asserts that we are in for a rude awakening. "Living in Sin?" is book that will change the way you think about the relationship between morality and sexuality, as it will certainly help to permeate new doctrines in the church over the coming years as they begin to realize that maybe, just maybe, they had it wrong about sex.

Even for the devoutly secular, the influence of the Judeo-Christian tradition on Western culture's sexual morality is inescapable. This very well-thought out and well-written book challenges outdated church doctrine that is at best is out of synch with the realities of modern day life along well-argued socio-biological and spiritual grounds. Spong's ideas are long overdue and offer a way for the religiously alienated, offended or otherwise disinterested to either for the first time or once again see relevance in or consider organized religion, (specifically Christianity) while maintaining their dignity. Fundamentalists are either ignorant or mistaken (or are reading what they want to rather than giving the text due consideration) if they think that book advocates promiscuity and sins of similar ilk--the author clearly and vigorously does not in any way condone such behavior. But he does challenge the inerrancy of the literal words of the Bible, and shows that certain passages are easily taken out of context to support any number of prejudices (both sexual and otherwise), so be prepared to be challenged and enriched if that is what you believe. Spong simultaneously demonstrates that certain scriptural laws and moral codes written centuries ago are no longer valid in today's age, but also that there is a transcendence to the Bible that upholds the goodness of humanity in all ages. Quite an achievement for a relatively short book that is easy to read.

Thomas Reeves deserves kudos and credit for a very fine biography of a man much admired by millions. The high points of this book are as follows: the meticulous gathering of much information simply unknown by his admirers; the careful balancing of sanctity and human frailty of Sheen's character; the fascinating recreation of the Golden Age of Catholicism in America; the personal relationship between Cardinal Spellman and Bishop Sheen; a superb ability to synthesize and bring new insight from the wide variety of materials cited; a great bibliography and excellent notes. The weaknesses are minor: a tendency to repeat some stories, and the maddening tendency of Sheen himself to destroy and misplace correspondence or simply not document his personal life. Despite these minor drawbacks in the book, I was deeply moved by much of this biography and, indeed, brought to tears by the account of the last years of Sheen's life, his meeting with Pope John Paul II, and his funeral. Few will be disappointed in this book; it is a true accomplishment. Many thanks to Professor Reeves for this profound and necessary commentary on the life of a truly great person of the 20th century.

Yes, Fulton Sheen had problems. None of them, mercifully, overshadowed his greatness, although they all had the potential to. His fake degree alone could have brought him down, embarrassing a leader of the Church and horrifying his followers. Reeves is very smart in focusing on these problems, and thus, understanding that hey! Sheen was a man too. He wasn't infallible, he was a man like us. But it's hard to avoid writing glowing stories about a man who helped so many people (he wasn't one for possessions-or keeping track of his cash). The story of his death is one that should inspire people looking for a modern role model. Reeves, who is Catholic, manages also to keep the book respectful about his problems, instead of attacking the Church. Why is this good? The actions of one man are not generally representative of an entire institution. It would be a logical fallacy for Reeves to do such a thing. In short, Reeves has written a fine book on an eccentric, loved figure.

This is a book that has been ignored by the media which does not want to hear about good Catholic clergy. The media only wants to know about scandal in the church - because the Catholic Church and that which it really stands for(as contrasted with the deeds
of the fallible priests,and lay Catholics that can be found within it) is the mortal enemy to secular humanism, sexual license, abortion and the "if it FEELS right, do it" philosopy that is held so dear by much of the media.
The book is a great inspiration because Bishop Sheen, with all his human failings, is an inspiration to us all.

This book is a very serviceable biography of John Chrysostom, the most famous preacher of the ancient church. It chronicles the entirety of John's life, from the monasticism of his youth, to his subsequent tenure as a priest in Antioch, his bishopric in the imperial capitol, and the quarrels with the bishop of Alexandria and the empress that eventually brought about his downfall.

Kelly does an excellent job of showing John's character. We get to see that those things which in some ways were the best of John's traits, his forthrightness and lack of fear, were the very things which due to his intemperate nature led him into conflict with those who were easily made jealous and those who did not care for their misdeeds to be honestly spoken of.

There is, however, one serious flaw in this book. Kelly seems undecided about who his audience is. He alternates between gripping narration and lengthy passages (sometimes several pages in length) wherein he dissects the arguments for and against the authenticity of a particular sermon of John's or the dating of one of his writings. In my opinion, the book would have been strengthened had Kelly simply based the main text on what he believes to be correct, and moved the disputation either to end notes or to an appendix.

In this account of St. John Chrysostom's life, J.N.D. Kelly does an excellent job of gathering a thorough and balanced biography of John's rise to fame, his role as a bishop and preacher, and his subsequent deposition and exile. He details how John began his life as a humble monk with a startlingly severe lifestyle, and gradually became a deacon in Antioch, where he was to earn renown for his remarkable preaching (and hence the nickname "Chrysostom", i.e. "Golden Mouth"). Not long after filling that role in Antioch, John was assigned the office of bishop of Constantinople, one of the primary sees in Christianity. His preaching was characterized by sharp denunciations of the rich and powerful, and advocacy of aid to the poor and downtrodden. Thus he was the champion of the common people, but he developed many bitter enemies among the rulers and clergy in the government and church.

Kelly tells the story of John's relationships, the bitter controversies he was caught in, and his eventual exile in a lively manner, but without embellishing the facts. His book is very well written from a historical perspective, but I had a few minor complaints. First of all, since Chrysostom was primarily famous for his preaching, I was disappointed to find meager quotation from his sermons. There were many terse references to various sermons in the book, but none of them gave any extensive examples that helped the reader to understand their popularity or controversial nature. Instead the reader must rely on his brief paraphrasing and summarizing of the sermons' content, and the occasional excerpt. Secondly, the evaluation of John's personality was very focused historically, but barely described John's theological viewpoints. That would have been something of considerable interest in a biography of a Father of the Early Church. Otherwise the book is certainly recommended, and with few exceptions the author remained objective in his treatment of the historical evidence.

This is a superb, thorough, scholarly life of one of the key figures in the political-religious turmoil of late antiquity. Like Kelly's equally fine biography of Jerome, it is not a hagiography or a critical study of John's voluminous works; rather it concentrates on telling the story of his eventful life as revealed through often fragmentary sources. As a narrative it succeeds very well indeed. My only criticism is that the book gives very little sense of the tremendous secular upheavals against which the turmoil in the church was taking place; it is perhaps significant, in this respect, that the one time the Gothic sacker of Rome is mentioned, he is called "Alaric the Hun." However, that is a very rare lapse in a work that I can recommend without hesitation to anyone with an interest in this fascinating period.

I have almost finished the book now (up to chapter 8). It is an excellent introduction to VB.Net and the authors explained the concepts very well. The code samples are easy to follow and accurate, well sort of. Although not the fault of the authors, some features are now superceded by Beta 2 version of the software. The most noticeable difference is in the data access area.

All in all, I find the book very useful and is a good introduction to VB.Net. The only exception is chapter 8 where the authors tried to cover too many topics at once.

Since the release of Beta 2, you need to be mindful of the differences between Beta 1 and 2 (the book understandably only covers Beta 1 but it does try its best to alert readers of potential changes). If I buy the book now I will use this book as a guide but also go through the walkthroughs and sample codes that come with Beta 2 installation which is more up to date.

This book was not meant to teach VB.NET. It gives a very nice overview of the new VB.NET. You have to be a very experience VB developer to rip the benefits out of this book. Chapter 5 explained OOP and how it works in VB.NET. I expect when Wrox writes VB.NET OOP or VB.NET Professional, it will delve deeper in the concepts of OOP. So far this is the only book I’ve read that explains VB.NET and how it works with the .NET Framework.

Overall, this book is for experience VB developer who is not looking for VB training but the changes and how to deal with them. Good Book.

I was very skeptical of this book, as WROX has dropped the ball before, with their "intermediate" type books.

Fortunately, this book did a nice job of presenting the new concepts, that we all have to look forward to, and backing them up with concrete examples of how we will have to change our current "code thought" to make them work.

I was a bit disappointed with the lack of discussion about some of the larger issues that may present themselves in .NET, like late-binding not being supported; however, all in all, the book covered most other "rumors" that I had heard, and questioned.

One other plus, was the coverage of Object Oriented Programming with VB.NET. Having never programmed C, I was glad to see a good deal of attention given to explaining concepts like "encapsulation" and "inheritance", which I, for the most part was unfamiliar.

I'm very pleased with this book, and have recommended it to several co-workers, who also purchased it and were happy with it. It's a good buy, and it's good preparation material, for what's to come.

Last year I read John Shelby Spong's book, "Why Christianity Must Change or Die: A Bishop Speaks to Believers in Exile" and was moved. I had thought that about the most I could expect from the Anglican tradition was a good cup of coffee after the service and yet here was an Episcopal bishop whose book fed me intellectually and, rarest of all, spiritually. In December I learned that his autobiography was to be published and bought it as soon as possible. I thoroughly enjoyed "Here I Stand: My Struggle for a Christianity of Integrity, Love and Equality".

The book moves along at a fast pace, blending the facts of his life with the stories that give them meaning. And the stories are fascinating. We read of the experiences that shaped him as a child, as a youth, as a young man. The racial conflicts he sought to ease in his early years as a priest. His stimulating approaches to preaching and education. His acceptance of gay and lesbian people and his support of them even at personal cost. And throughout the book, insightful looks into the workings of the Episcopal Church in America and the worldwide Anglican Communion.

I like the way he looks at himself, indeed it is his frank portrayal of his own weaknesses and mistakes that makes his descriptions of the weaknesses and mistakes of others believable.

Spong closes his book by saying, in part, "But above all else, I was throughout my life and am still today deeply convinced of the reality of God. Indeed, I am more deeply convinced of this reality at this moment than I have ever been before. I walk inside the wonder of this God in every experience of life. I have become more of a mystic than I ever thought possible for a rationalist like me. I still meet this God in the life of the one I call Lord and Christ, who is supremely important to my spiritual journey".

A wonderful man, a great book.

Last year I read John Shelby Spong's book, "Why Christianity Must Change or Die: A Bishop Speaks to Believers in Exile" and was moved. I had thought that about the most I could expect from the Anglican tradition was a good cup of coffee after the service and yet here was an Episcopal bishop whose book fed me intellectually and, rarest of all, spiritually. In December I learned that his autobiography was to be published and bought it as soon as possible. I thoroughly enjoyed "Here I Stand: My Struggle for a Christianity of Integrity, Love and Equality".

The book moves along at a fast pace, blending the facts of his life with the stories that give them meaning. And the stories are fascinating. We read of the experiences that shaped him as a child, as a youth, as a young man. The racial conflicts he sought to ease in his early years as a priest. His stimulating approaches to preaching and education. His acceptance of gay and lesbian people and his support of them even at personal cost. And throughout the book, insightful looks into the workings of the Episcopal Church in America and the worldwide Anglican Communion.

I like the way he looks at himself, indeed it is his frank portrayal of his own weaknesses and mistakes that makes his descriptions of the weaknesses and mistakes of others believable.

Spong closes his book by saying, in part, "But above all else, I was throughout my life and am still today deeply convinced of the reality of God. Indeed, I am more deeply convinced of this reality at this moment than I have ever been before. I walk inside the wonder of this God in every experience of life. I have become more of a mystic than I ever thought possible for a rationalist like me. I still meet this God in the life of the one I call Lord and Christ, who is supremely important to my spiritual journey".

A wonderful man, a great book.

All scholarship should be like this. It was so funny. I confess--I have something in common with most of the Rt. Rev. Spong's fans. Like them, I've read very little of what he's written. (For example, "Can A Bishop Be Wrong" has two five-star reviews from Spong fans who are under the impression that Spong wrote this book-- apparently, they feel comfortable praising Spong's work sight-unseen).
Don't get me wrong. I've tried to read Spong. But, alas, the Rt. Rev. S. is a ghastly writer. After a while, the charms of Spong's writing-- his relentless self-congratulation, his presenting of hackneyed 19th-century pop-biblical-criticism as his own daring innovation, his use of the passive voice to hide sweeping and questionable assertions ("...there is surprise at how insignificant were the theological issues dividing the two sides [of the Reformation]"), his utter lack of a sense of humor, his unforgivably poor skill with words-- begin to pall. I haven't yet met someone who can read an entire chapter of Spong at one sitting.

That's where another book comes in handy- "Can a Bishop Be Wrong?". The authors don't exhaustively categorize the intellectual sins of the Rt. Rev. Spong-- such a task could never be worth the trees killed. But they provide a good survey of his looking-glass kingdom. "Can A Bishop Be Wrong" isn't a work of Christian apologetics, because it doesn't have to be. Spong's main contention-- the foundation of all his work-- is his claim that no intelligent person of the twentieth century can be an orthodox Christian. To respond, one doesn't have to prove Christianity-- one just has to provide a counterexample. This book categorizes his errors and logical lapses with admirable thoroughness. Not an exhaustive thoroughness, to be sure, but sufficient to the silly task at hand.

This book has its flaws. As others have noted, it is a collection of essays, and they repeat some of the same points over and over. The authors sometimes let Spong goad them into anger. And they don't argue much against Spong's theological outlook-- but since Spong's outlook is just rehashed nineteenth-century "modernism", you can find plenty of orthodox arguments against heavier intellectual forces than Spong. (Try Chesterton's _The_Everlasting_Man_, for starters.)

This book has a limited market. Spong's fans will not be moved by what they read here, if they were inclined to try reading it. But to the traditional theist of whatever religion, who wonders whether he ought to read Spong and find out what all the fuss is about, this book offers a strong and well-reasoned answer: "Nope."

This book gives insight into an interesting way of interpreting the meaning of Biblical content and also provides its authors conclusions. I think that the title "Born of A Woman" characterizes the theme of the author's research pathway regarding the origins of Jesus of Nazereth, the man, as told in the gospels. The title does not reveal much about his conclusions regarding the negative effects of masculine church leadership and perpetuation of the 'Virgin Mary' myths which have dominated the Christian churches since their original formulation.

The reader of this opus does not have to agree with the author's conclusions. For those, like me, who feel the need to embody Christian principles in real life as important contributions to human(e) endeavor but feel skeptical in the face of literal interpretation of Biblical stories, Spong provides a lens to view the information authored nearly two thousand years ago that is refreshing and revealing. Undoubtedly, his perspective is not totally original but it is very useful to me and I think it will be to many others.

I have seen just a bit of the orthodox and fundamantalist critics of Spong's work. I can understand their points intellectually but I cannot agree with some of their intolerence toward adjusting our understanding of Biblical meaning and Christian faith as civilization unavoidably marches on.

For insight as to my thoughts as I read this book: I believe in the approach to the Bible that emphasizes seeking an answer to "What does the story mean?" Personally, I am not very interested (any more) in "Why did it happen?" or "Is it literally true?" Spong's book is aimed at impressing folks who recognize the differences among these questions and want to seek answers to all of them.

Even though I have already read three of Spong's books, his scholarship continues to surprise and enlighten me. Each one of his works is a treasure, and "Born of a Woman" proved to be no different. In this book, Spong takes a look at the reasons why Matthew and Luke invented the biologically impossible "virgin birth." He contends that the virgin birth was never an historical event, but merely an attempt to explain the origins of Jesus's divinity. He also stresses the Jewish literary device known as midrash that was used to make an unlikely story out of a simple truth. The simple truth of the Bible's birth narratives is that Jesus was divine in the way that he perfectly embodied God's love. The unlikely story is that God negated physics in order to create Jesus. Spong also explains how this "virgin myth" has resulted in the dehumanization of women and shows how the myth was used to label normal human sexuality as "sinful." Even for those churchmen who still give lip service to the Bible's improbable tales, Spong presents a convincing argument -- one that is certain to make the reader question not only what he believes, but also why he believes it.

In the end, the reader will discover that Christianity is not about believing in questionable stories that have no basis in history. Instead, Christianity should be centered in love, the incredible gift of grace that Jesus shared with us! Whether or not one believes in the virgin birth is insignificant and trivial when compared to Christianity's greater truths -- the ones that really count. Even if Spong does not change the reader's belief about the origins of Jesus, he will most certainly bring out the significance of the story -- the meaning behind the midrash.

I continue to recommend Spong to everyone that claims to be a Christian. His lucid, down-to-earth, no-nonsense writing style demands attention from those on both sides of the argument. I firmly believe that everyone, regardless of his or her position, has something to learn from this book. That's just the way that Spong is . . . it's no understatement to say that you should read everything that he writes.

Much of the time I feel that I am exactly the kind of person that Christians love to hate, in that I find it very hard to disconnect my brain and accept uncritically things that are clearly at variance with reality.

It was therefore a huge relief to find a theologian (and a Bishop!) who espoused the same doubts as myself, and who didn't see anything wrong with rationalism, or even being an intellectual. If Christianity is to survive it needs more people like Bishop Spong.

The book brings a reasoned, historical and thoughtful approach to bear on the issue of the Incarnation and comes to an interesting conclusion that salvages much of the mystery and majesty of Christ, while ditching the myth. It will be challenging reading for traditionalists, but they should not find their faith damaged. If anything their faith should be deepened by the removal of mythological crutches. For doubters the book should be a revelation, and make Christianity look rather more attractive.

OK, first of all, I can't help but notice that in many of the negative reviews of Finnegans Wake the reviewer admitted to "not getting past the first page" or some such thing. I think that anybody trying to read this book needs to realize that it's not nearly as difficult as it seems on first impression. You need to approach it with an open mind, though. Don't expect it to follow any familiar rules, and don't feel lost when it doesn't. People who couldn't get past the first few pages probably let their biases of what a novel "should be" interfere with their enjoyment of the book.

Example: I just started reading FW for the first time, and I'm about halfway through it. So far I've enjoyed it thoroughly. I'm also a 17 year old senior in high school. I don't have the background to understand many of Joyce's allusions, I only speak two (English and Spanish) of the sixty languages he uses. But I still understand enough to know that I like what I'm reading. And even when I don't understand, it doesn't matter - simply the sound of the language is enjoyable. "As we there are where are we are we there from tomtittot to teetootomtotalitarian. Tea tea too oo." What the hell does that mean? Who knows! But it doesn't matter, it rocks!

The point is that with an open mind and occasional extra research, I've gotten something out of Finnegans Wake. I know I haven't even scratched the surface, but it just goes to show that as inaccessible as this book may seem, there is something in it for everyone.

James Joyce's last novel, and incidentally the one his wife considered his best, is, as they say, unreadable, in that if you sit down and go through the book from cover to cover (as I have done) you'll only get the vaguest idea of what was going on. So if that's your idea of the all-time downer reading experience then spend your money on something else, because this is one of those books that is liable not only to change the way you look at life, but the way you read and think. Joyce called it a night book - the "action", such as there is any (and the action comprises pretty much all of human history and civilisation) takes place while the characters (a Dublin pub owner, his wife and family and sundry other unsavoury types) are asleep. But you'd never know that if I hadn't told you, because the language is a punster's dream (literally), a braided and twisted weave of most of the various tongues in the world, based on an idea by the English language, all to be spoken with a fairly strong Irish accent. (Non-Irish people often don't notice this, but the rest of us can hear it.) It's not a book to while away a plane trip. It's a book to spend a few dollars on and then spend the rest of your life dipping in and out of it for profit and pleasure. Some of it is pretty straightforward, such as the visit to the Willingdone museyroom or the episode about the chicken scratching around in the rubbish heap (a lot more gripping than it sounds), while other bits are maddeningly opaque. But if they read novels in heaven they probably read this one. The best way to get the most out of it is to have read every book ever written, but failing that, an open mind, an active imagination, and a sensitivity to the buried layers of meaning in words will get you through. Frank Zappa fans ought to love it; this is conceptual continuity with a vengeance. (Wow. I never thought the day would come when I'd get to review a novel by James Joyce.)

Here Comes Everything. Not Everybody. In terms of quantum reality theory and cyborg anthropology, The Wake is structured around a recursive temporal spiral, overlaying an archetypally-driven consciousness matrix.

While one could break the book down into a basic linear story, which weaves and meanders through the seven-stage structure, like a river, the reductionism or deconstruction approach is itself vulnerable.

While there are many serious threads, FW is also a minefield of literary and linguistic-phonentic puns. I once read a review in which the writer dismissed the word "upfellbown" as one of Joyce's many nonsense words. Nope. Upfellbown is a phonetic portrayal of the German word apfelbaum, or apple tree, which Joyce had mentioned slightly earlier in the text. Where people often go off the deep end is in attributing undue significance to these individual words.

If The Wake is about anything, it is about phenomenology or holism versus reductionism. The significance of the whole versus the sum of the parts. You don't understand The Wake, you experience it. On a vastly simpler level, the superb Bruce Willis movie 12 Monkeys brilliantly captures the beauty of the recursive temporal symmetry that underlies Joyce's re-entrant epic.

For those who have never read FW, it is basically about an Irish bricklayer called Tim Finnegan (Finnegans Wake being a traditional song, of sorts) who falls, probably drunkenly, from a ladder. The 'story' that follows is either his Death Dream or Near Death Experience, in which the entireity of Earth's history cycles through his mind. (There has even been debate about the identity of the Dreamer.) Symbolically, Finnegan's fall from the ladder could be representative of the Fall of Lucifer or the Fall of man.

The Wake means whatever it means to the individual reader at that point in his or her lifetime. For me, the many references to the Triple Goddess and Masonic ritual leaped out of the text. Yet had I not read so much about these things, the references would mean nothing. Yet, I have probably missed thousands of things that others will see.

Quick example... The three main female characters, Kate, Issy (Isis) and ALP form the principle references to the presence of the Great Mother/The Triple Goddess. Both Ulysses and Finnegans Wake are about return. The return to the cosmic womb of the Great Mother. The beginning and the end of Time.

Issy is Isis, who is in herself the Mother Goddess. Issy's room is blue with a ceiling of stars - "the twinkly way". A classic feature of the ceilings of Masonic lodges. Sirius, the Star of Isis is the Blazing Star of freemasonry, whose square and compass logo can be extended out to form a pentagram, depicting the four elements, plus the fifth element - the Creatrix. The third degree ceremony of freemasonry is a symbolic death and rebirth, symbolized by the skull and crossbones - the sign of Osiris risen. The Wake, which itself is about rebirth and resurrection - Finnegan = Finn Again, has many esoteric references, and even obvious ones, such as PHOENIX Park, and the fact that the book is set on March 21st, the Spring or Vernal Equinox - the beginning of the pagan New Year.

Aw hell, I'm rambling. That's the trouble with The Wake. It sucks you in. Give it a shot, but don't try to understand it from the outset. Try to just read it all the way through first and then maybe do some dissection. Whereas Ulysses is 24 hours out of Bloom's life, allegorically interwoven with the Ulysses myth (instead of returning to Ithaca, he returns to Number Seven Eccles Street), FW is just too massive to see a linear series of exact correspondences. There's also a great deal of literary chaff. The man had a sense of humour, after all.

The bottom line for me, is that The Wake is about the transforming power of the Feminine - like Mary Poppins, like Chocolat, like A Midsummer Night's Dream, like Alice In Wonderland and Through The Looking Glass, like Cities Of The Red Night...

Here Comes Everything...