Brandon is the first I've read who widened the possibilities concerning Jesus and his immediate survivors in regard to the oppression experienced by the Jews in the first century. That the man of love portrayed in the Gospels - and his followers - could even tacitly support the Romans and their reckless, rapacious cruelty is impossible. Brandon's work showed that these men not only had to be deeply aware of the Jews' cause against Rome, they were likely part of the opposition to Rome's presence and influence. This work and Brandon's earlier "Jesus and the Zealots" made this very clear.

Brandon's conclusions are sometimes supported only by theory. Despite this occassionally lack of factual information, I found the conjecture he makes in these cases possible and even likely. You have to be willing to understand this stuff over a period of years unless you're already steeped in the jargon of the historians. But check it out.

Surrealist Freels scavenges his childhood, adolescence, and early adulthood and unspools an uncertain thread, monstrously sad and outrageously beautiful, in which biography becomes the sort of journey where the man walking ahead of you turns out to be yourself. Every step widens the decaying cavity between the world of possibilities and the desiccated life at hand -- with its insects and alcoholics, defeated love, sexual deviants, the dull and insane, creeps of all stripes, gnawing anxieties, combustible longings, conventions and daunting expectations, all stepping from a place where life is not yet free but getting so cheap it's nearly there. The scientist's hands wave over the detritus and the particles align toward the horizon.

Inside the molten prose-poetry the physical world and its psychic residue meld. Objects and scenes undergo a rapid succession of transformations, running a speed heat with perception: feelings are personified and objectified to play out their heavy-lidded dramas, people and objects continuously change into new things, prosaic experiences swap shoes with whimsical fables about fantastic beasts, cameo portraits of teachers and peers twisted by repressed sexuality flash by like traffic signs, everything snags and nags. With all his relationships malformed, the narrator questions his sanity, and the questions are just elastic enough to twist round his neck and flick him into the fluids of the next amniotic nightmare. Identity and sexuality become critically unstable; he becomes alien to himself and at times can't even quite make out what words he's speaking. Yet throughout a stable, constant and integral aspect of his consciousness acts the objective observer, a second eye calmly recording the delirium experienced by the first. Reconciliation between this touchstone and the defective world is a haunting possibility, vanishing through one trap door then reappearing as a rippling desert mirage. The doors leading in and out of this book are wide open.

"Freels Comes Alive" is a densely determined and refreshing work. When one wearies of the usual plot contrivances and escapist fantasies, this is just the book to cleanse the palate.

-- Parry Harnden

I loved this book. It demonstrated for me the real "art" of gardening. William Morris was a clever and far sighted man who advocated staying within the parameters of nature and natural beauty when making gardens. He also perpetuated the "garden room" theme which has been enormously popular since the eighteeth century. I refer to this book continuously and strive to design and construct garden rooms in my own garden which are as beautiful.

Good Women Of A Well-Blessed Land: Women's Lives In Colonial America by Brandon Marie Miller is an eye-opening presentation for young readers at the roles, struggles, and daily lives of women in colonial America from the 1600's to the beginning of the American Revolution in the late 1700's. The strife and challenges presented to African American, European American, and Native American women are all detailed in this fascinating and aptly written presentation, which is enhanced for children with simple black-and-white illustrations.

This is a great book for anyone who likes to laugh. Some of the puns are hard to understand at first, so you have to think about it, break it up or say it a few times before you get it - that's what makes this pun book so much fun to read.

I am Hawaiian, and was so surprised to see this book also printed in Japanese. Surprised and extreemly pleased as the collection is one of the best published. It is difficult for non-residents to understand just how difficult it can be to get any information about Hawaiian quilts, as families frequently are reluctant to be specific to "outsiders". This inhibition has relaxed over time, and the addition of the modern quilts, the inclusion of the biographies is especially wonderful, as some of these women are known to myself.The colours in the photography and the details included make this book a must have for anyone interested in this art form. It was in 1979 that my Mother-in-law took me to the American Art Museum in NY City, and we were thrilled at the exhibit. I had not since then seen such a collection of Hawaiian quilts displayed to such advantage. I only wish this was available in an hardbound edition, as mine is getting somewhat dogeard, much to my dismay, but also my delight, as my children are picking the one's they want.

I am a great fan of all "...for Beginners" books. Thanks to the great creative illustrations, they make something easy to understand without reducing the content's level of intelligence. Although this book cannot replace the actual Yi Jing (I Ching) text itself (which is at times rather cryptic), it serves a great easy-access starting point to the oracle that has outlived all others. There are also many useful resources online. My next step will be getting a copy of Wilhelm's German translation of the actual Yi Jing.

This book was used in an Intermediate Greek class (2nd year) for Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary.

It has some things that are similar to Bruce Metzger's "Lexical Aids to New Testament Greek," but somewhat updated. Metzger's Lexical Aids seems to be for the Revised Standard Version, whereas this reflects the UBS-4/NA-27 editions, so it has slightly different numbers of word occurrences than Metzger's Lexical Aids. We did use both books, but I found this one much more helpful at times. Metzger is more concise and lists cognates and helpful hints for memorization.

What is most helpful about this book is that it splits up word lists into manageable lists, about 40-50 words per list. It goes down to 10x word occurrences in the GNT (like Metzger). With verbs, what is also very useful is that it lists all the occurrences that lexicons (like Dr. Mounce's Analytical Lexicon) also have: Present Active Indicative, Future Active Indicative, Perfect Active Indicative, Aorist Active Indicative, Aorist Passive Indicative, and Future Passive Indicative, if they exist in the Greek New Testament.

There are some good diagrams, like a verb-chart for omega-class verbs (e.g., luw or luo), as well as preposition diagrams. Not every word is translated, but some of the more uncommon words in the Greek New Testament are translated, verse by verse (similar to Zerwick's and Grosvenor's "A Grammatical Analysis of the Greek New Testament").

Think of this book as an updated for NA-27/UBS-4 version of Metzger, with better diagrams and charts, plus a chopped-at-the-knees version of Zerwick and Grosvenor. Metzger still has better hints and helps for memorizing the words, and Zerwick and Grosvenor completely comprehensive in parsing New Testament words, verse-by-verse.

Too many couples in our society today head for divorce court, not knowing that there are resolutions to most relationship difficulties. Sex tends to play a big role in an unhappy coupleship, along with a lack of communication and an inability to know how to have a healthy disagreement. I wrote this book after working with thousands of couples suffering from such difficulties. My husband, a psychologist, and I always see couples, as a couple. In doing this we are able to provide a balanced theraputic setting. Such safty has allowed for indepth discussion of issues rotating around sex, love, money, kids and even inlaws. Included in this book is a workbook section, which a couple can use to look at their own relationship issues. Relationship break up should always be a last resort.

This book, although geared toward an adolescent audience, provided me not only with an excellent background in to Jefferson's life and decisons, but also addressed issues about his presidency which is rarely found in any book for young adults. The language of the book is pithy and clear, and hence appropriate for any age group. My Grandmother adores the series, after reading any of the books she feels as though she has really learned something. Also, the books themselves are very attractive.