This is a beautifully produced book, with contents that really deserve to be read, Packer should be commended for re-presenting it to a readership it may not otherwise have received. Packer's has written a semi-autobiographical long introduction (longer than Ryle's text, hence the title of the book I guess) to the first (considerably shorter than the second) edition of JC Ryle's classic 'Holiness'.
The first half or so is a large number of short chapters by Packer, appreciating JC Ryle, his life, work, theology etc. You get a good feel of the man who was an amazing Christian, who stood firm for truth, and truly believed in the Church of England despite it's massive faults and so didn't take the easy way out but stayed to do great good. Although his life wasn't the most exciting story (no dramatic conversion, no physical persecution) I found this made him easier to see in my reality, although he was definitely a Victorian. This means that Packer's 'appreciation' isn't as riveting as it otherwise would be, and the fact that Packer does nothing other than 'appreciate' makes it a little unbalanced a look at the man. It was great to see his concern at the number of nominal Christians in the church with no concern for personal holiness, and that really hit home because although this is not quite as big an issue in the UK now as it was then, it is still common. Ryle pleads for these people to change, and for us Christians not to become like them.
Holiness, the actual book, is wonderful, and really outshines Packer's contribution (I think). Packer choose the much shorter first edition because it was more coherent, not as much of a random collection of essays like the more common second edition, and I think he made the right decision considering the purposes of this book.

The book is basically an exploration of the titles/topics of the chapters (Sin, Sanctification, Holiness, the Fight, the Cost, and Growth), which are all relatively self-contained, although, as Packer notes, the flow of thought is obvious.
Ryle does spend quite a bit of time in the book refuting and explaining the consequences of a error about sanctification prevalent in his day, though not so much now, but it is not much of a distraction and in fact challenges us to think of our responses to similar problems today.
Ryle's writing confronts you with your life, and I don't think you will be left unchanged, and so I cannot fail to commend this book to you. The language is not hard, only a hundred years old, and style has not changed that much, and the different context in which it is wrote does not distance you too much from the points he makes.
This book is well worth buying, and reading, especially at this incredibly [low] price.

"I only know it is far easier to be a Christian among singing, praying, sympathizing Christians in a public room, than to be a consistent Christian in a quiet, retired, out-of-the-way, uncongenial home."
As the other reviewers have said, this is an appreciation and should be read sa such. Appreciation or no, Packer reaveals the facts and this makes Ryle enjoyable to read about. Ryle was a man among men in his day and would be a demi-god among men in our day, with so little doctrinal preaching in our midst. What caught me about Ryle was that he was widowed twice and he outlived his third wife, and yet still proclaimed the Word of God.
To be honest, his book holiness is not easy to read. BUt as John Piper said, "Raking is easy, but all you get is leaves. Digging is hard, but you might find diamonds." Ryle stands in the old Puritan tradition. Maybe tough to read, but extremely edifying to the saints when read. His view on Holiness stands in direct contrast with the view of Finney. But that is okay because the Bible stands in direct contrast with Finney. THis book should be read by all denominations: Anglican/Episcopal so that they may appreciate one of their own. Baptists, becasue he preaches like one. Charismatics--so that they might be rescued from their erring ways.
This is a good introduction to Ryle's life and hopefully will accomplish the task that Packer hopes, that one may read more of Ryle, along with the other puritans.

Faithfulness And Holiness: The Witness Of J. C. Ryle by J. I. Packer (Professor of Theology, Regent College, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada) is a superbly presented tribute to Bishop John Charles Ryle, a man who challenged his parishoners to seek greater holiness. Bishop Ryle's own testimony "Holiness," first published in 1877, is included in its entirety within the pages of Faithfulness And Holiness. A profound reflection upon Ryle's life, ideals, work, and legacy is a powerful and moving work of faith and joy, Faithfulness And Holiness is very highly recommended for Christian Studies reading lists and reference collections.

"Built to Last" is one of those rare non-fiction books you just can't put down. Unequivocally the best "business" book I have ever read, "Built to Last" by James C. Collins and Jerry I. Porras is a compelling, thorough, well-written, unprecedented look at what it takes to "create and achieve long-lasting greatness as a visionary corporation." Unlike many current "trendy" management and "business success" books out on the market, Collins and Porras differentiate "Built to Last" by using their own six-year comprehensive, well-documented research study as the basis for further analysis.

What separates "Built to Last" is that each visionary company (3M, HP, Procter & Gamble, Wal-Mart...) is contrasted with a comparison company founded in the same time, in the same industry, with similar founding products and markets (Norton, TI, Colgate, Ames...). Perhaps what I found most intriguing were some of the twelve "shattered myths" they go on to counter throughout the book:

1. It takes a great idea to start a great company
2. Visionary companies require great and charismatic visionary leaders
3. Visionary companies share a common subset of "correct" core values
4. Highly successful companies make their best moves by brilliant and complex strategic planning
5. The most successful companies focus primarily on beating the competition

As a current business student with a summer internship in a "visionary company," I was amazed as their careful analysis rang true. This is one book I can highly recommend to any student, professional, or business educator looking for those not-so-subtle traits that characterize a truly visionary company.

Built To Last was an extremely thought provoking and eye opening read. Built To Last studies some of the most successful (called the leading companies) and the following companies (non-leaders in an industry). The research for this book produced surprising results for the authors (and the reader). The authors found the there were at least twelve commonly held businesses beliefs that their research refuted. In essence these dearly held business beliefs were myths.

Here is a look at each of the twelve myths and a sound byte describing each:

1. It takes a great idea to start a company Few visionary companies started with a great idea. Many companies started without any specific ideas (HP and Sony) and others were outright failures (3M). In fact a great idea may lead to road of not being able to adapt.

2. Visionary companies require great and charismatic visionary leaders A charismatic leader in not required and, in fact, can be detrimental to a company's long-term prospects.

3. The most successful companies exist first and foremost to maximize profits Not true. Profit counts, but is usually not at the top of the list.

4. Visionary companies share a common subset of "correct" core values They all have core values, but each is unique to a company and it's culture.

5. The only constant is change The core values can and often do last more then 100 years.

6. Blue-chip companies play it safe They take significant bet the company risks.

7. Visionary companies are great places to work, for everyone These companies are only great places to work if you fit the vision and culture.

8. Highly successful companies make some of their best moves by brilliant and complex strategic planning. They actually try a bunch of stuff and keep what works.

9. Companies should hire outside CEOs to stimulate fundamental change Most have had their change agents come from within the system.

10. The most successful companies focus primarily on beating the competition. They focus on beating themselves.

11. You can't have your cake and eat it too. Decisions don't have to either or, but can be boths.

12. Companies become visionary primarily through "vision statements". Vision is not a statement it is the way you do business.

I would recommend this book to anyone engaged in developing and running a business at any level. If you want to design, build and run a lasting enterprise this book has some ideas and insights worth exploring.

This is "must" reading for senior managers!
Dr. Michael Beitler
Author of "Strategic Organizational Change"

Just as Clement Moore gave us the definitive Santa Claus in "A Visit from St. Nicholas" (a.k.a. "The Night Before Christmas"), Charles Dickens gave us the definitive Christmas spirit in his simple but charming novella "A Christmas Carol". First published in 1843, this supernatural story of an elderly man's redemption from his mean-spirited, miserly ways takes place in Victorian London, but its universal theme of charity towards our fellow man has endeared this classic to many a generation around the globe. In addition to its priceless role as a morality tale, the book colorfully describes the Yuletide customs practiced in England during the early nineteenth century. This Washington Square Press edition of "A Christmas Carol" is unabridged, yet you can understand why so short a book is yet published in abridged versions, especially for schoolchildren. Not infrequently, Dickens veers from the main story line and goes into tangents of a philosophical or descriptive nature, much like the converser who abruptly changes the subject only to return to it with the familiar "Anyway, ... ". I assume children (and some adults) may find these tangents cumbersome and distracting, but they are still useful in that they reflect Dickens' thoughts while writing the book. It may still be difficult for some of us to think that cold-hearted Christmas-bashers like Ebenezer Scrooge exist, but look at human nature around you, and it will be difficult no more. At a time when "Merry Christmas" is being supplanted by a more vague "Happy Holidays", and the season gives way to coarse behavior and unchecked materialism, "A Christmas Carol" is the perfect guidebook to put things into perspective.

Well, I finally read it (instead of just watching it on the TV screen).

This is what you can call a simple idea, well told. A lonely, bitter old gaffer needs redemption, and thus is visited by three spirits who wish to give him a push in the right direction. You have then a ghost story, a timeslip adventure, and the slow defrosting of old Scrooge's soul. There are certain additions in the more famous filmed versions that help tweak the bare essentials as laid down by Dickens, but really, all the emotional impact and plot development necessary to make it believable that Scrooge is redeemable--and worth redeeming--is brilliantly cozied into place by the great novelist.

The scenes that choke me up the most are in the book; they may not be your favourites. I react very strongly to our very first look at the young Scrooge, sitting alone at school, emotionally abandoned by his father, waiting for his sister to come tell him there may be a happy Christmas. Then there are the various Cratchit scenes, but it is not so much Tiny Tim's appearances or absence that get to me--it's Bob Cratchit's dedication to his ailing son, and his various bits of small talk that either reveal how much he really listens to Tim, or else hide the pain Cratchit is feeling after we witness the family coming to grips with an empty place at the table. Scrooge as Tim's saviour is grandly set up, if only Scrooge can remember the little boy he once was, and start empathizing with the world once again. I especially like all Scrooge's minor epiphanies along his mystical journey; he stops a few times and realizes when he has said the wrong thing to Cratchit, having belittled Bob's low wages and position in life, and only later realizing that he is the miser with his bootheel on Cratchit's back. Plus, he must confront his opposite in business, Fezziwig, who treated his workers so wonderfully, and he watches as true love slips through his fingers again.

It all makes up the perfect Christmas tale, and if anyone can find happiness after having true love slip through his fingers many years ago, surprisingly, it's Scrooge. With the help of several supporting players borrowed from the horror arena, and put to splendid use here.

Master storyteller and social critic, Charles Dickens, turns this social treatise on shortcomings of Victorian society into an entertaining and heartwarming Christmas ghost story which has charmed generations and become an icon of Christmas traditions. Who, in the Western world has not heard, "Bah, Humbug!" And who can forget the now almost hackneyed line of Tiny Tim, "God bless us, every one!" or his cheerfully poignant observation, that he did not mind the stares of strangers in church, for he might thus serve as a reminder of He who made the lame, walk and the blind, see. Several movie versions: musical, animated, updated, or standard; as well as stage productions (I recall the Cleveland Playhouse and McCarter Theatre`s with fondess.) have brought the wonderful characterizations to the screen, as well as to life. This story of the redemption of the bitter and spiritually poor miser, and the book itself; however, is a timeless treasure whose richness, like Mrs Cratchit`s Christmas pudding, is one that no production can hope to fully capture.

This book delivers on its promise of being a textbook on economic growth theory for undergraduates. It is not easy (as economic growth is not), but it is definitely within the grasp of economics undergraduate with knowledge of basic economic principles. It also provides sufficient advance material in the second half of the book to stimulate further study into economic growth. However, beware that this is not a book about policy prescriptions for economic growth, it is about the theoretical framework to understand it (necessary, but not sufficient for policy prescriptions).

This is a excellent book about the economic growth theory. I've read excellent books as "Economic Growth" by R. Barro, "Advanced Macroeconomics" by David Romer and "Endogenous Growth Theory" by Philippe Aghion, the principal problem is the level, if you don't have notions about economic growth theory, you'll have problems to understand. Charles I. Jones wrote a excellent introduction about all the modern economic growth theory. I recommend this book amply.

Since most intermediate-level macroeconomics textbooks - probably because of lack of space - usually decide to devote no more than a chapter or two to what is often considered to be the most important topic in economics, Jones' book serves as a very neat introduction to the field. Obviously, noone should expect to see the rigour one can find in advanced treatments, but - without doubt - it is easier to jump to advanced treatments if you see the intuitive explanation first. I could say this is one of the best textbooks I had a chance to read.

This book is reasonably helpful, but I wish I'd realized before buying it that it uses a Christian perspective.

I am a social worker. I had this book on my shelf for two years but it lay there untouched until today. I rediscovered it when I was going through my bookshelf to try to find something to help some friends who are struggling in their marriage.

I took the book home to read and couldn't put it down. The authors speak compassionately and from experience in a user-friendly style. I cried over the self-discovery of some of my own wounds that I have never let heal.

As a member of the LGBT community I would only be afraid that
people in all communities who could benefit from this book may never read it because the authors make assumptions about sexual orientation and nuclear families....but I will still enthusiasticly recommend it (with a grain of rainbow salt) to everyone I know. To the authors....THANK YOU...and best wishes with your continued recovery.

This workbook explains the concept of boundaries, helps readers learn how to identify unhealthy boundaries, and learn to set new, healthier boundaries on all levels. It doesn't shy away from the tough questions, like "How have you violated someone's boundary recently?" Although from a Christian perspective, and containing a full (and excellent) chapter on religious boundary violations, those of other persuasions--including atheists--could overlook the slight religious content and benefit greatly by working through the book.

Mark Zwonitzer traces the history and musical evolution of one of the World's most productive and loved Country Music families.

While the all 'original' members of the Original Carter family are no longer with us, this book will make you miss them as if they were your lifelong friends. This book is a must read for anyone with even a passing interest in American music and its roots.

Thanks Mark!

"Will You Miss Me When I'm Gone" is not only an exceptional history of the Carter family but also a fine history of rural America in the 20's, 30's and 40's. From the mountains of Virginia, the powerful radio stations in Mexico across the river from Texas, the great depression, and life in the 60's and 70's. If you have the slightest interest in country music this book should be on your must read list. You will not only read a great history of the Carter family but find stories of Johnny Cash, Chet Atkins, Tom T.Hall, Hank Williams and others. I have read this book three times thus far and each time I find it hard to lay the book down.

There is not a dull page in this 397 page account of The Carter Family. The writers manage to strike a happy medium between a scholarly treatise and a popular biography, something I find very appealing. In addition to being a biography of the Carters, the book also is a history of country music in the first half of the Twentieth Century roughly and a statement on rural Southern sociology of the time as well.

The book is full of information that I suspect is told for the first time as well as trivia many of us knew but had forgotten: For example, there was a time when soft drinks were called "dopes" in East Tennessee. I had forgotten that and that my aunt wore Blue Waltz perfume. (There is a funny account of Maybelle's breaking a bottle of this dreadful perfume she was using as a slide for her guitar in a recording session.) I laughed out loud to learn that Helen Carter, who could learn to play any instrument almost immediately, was having trouble with her first accordian. It took Pee Wee King's telling her she was playing the instrument upside down to get her on the right track. The Original Carter Family was the first group to let the women lead as opposed to being backup singers. The less than admirable Ralph Peer of the recording industry coined the term "hillbilly" for the kind of music Carters and other country Southerners played in the early part of the 20th Century. There is a good account of A. P.'s collecting mountain songs all over the South. That contribution alone would make him a giant in folk/country music. Finally we learn a great deal about both generations of this great family, from A. P., Sarah and Maybelle to "Mama" Maybelle and her daughters. I was pleased to learn, for example, that Maybelle was as good and kind a person as she always seemed to be. (She even sat with sick people for part-time employment at one point in her later life when country music was in an eclipse.) There is a poignant contrast between what apparently was the long and happy marriage of Maybelle and A. P. Carter's brother Eck and A. P. and Sarah's marriage that ended in divorce. Certainly there is nothing more heart wrenching than Sarah's dedicating a song over the radio (apparently in the presence of A. P.) to the man she married after her divorce. The song was "I'm Thinking Tonight of My Blue Eyes." Coy Bays, the intended recipient, heard the song all the way in California and came to Texas for his woman. In the many years that A. P. lived alone thereafter, he never stopped loving Sara. She was preceded in death by him. Both of them are buried, however, only two rows from each other (even though Sara died in California and had been divorced from A. P. for many years) in Mount Vernon Cemetery in Maces Springs, Virginia with identical tombstones. Above their names and dates in beautiful pink marble are perfectly round 78 records and the words "Keep on the Sunny Side."

This is a really fine book. Even folks not interested much in this sort of music should find it fascinating. It is the one by which later biographies of the Carters will be judged.

Decline of The West is a book squarely beyond the range of typical modern literary critique.

The fact that Dr.Spengler discovered a true existence of a living form in the history- and life-cycles of civilizations has been deliberately ignored by critics. The importance of this discovery for History as a science is on a level of Copernican helio-centric (Sun-at-the-Center) discovery in spatial sciences which inaugurated the modern advance of physical science. Yet it has not brought the official recognition that is its due.

Today, as it was 500 years ago in "The Middle Ages", the ruling spirit of the establishment feels threatened by the new revolutionary discovery and is trying to find ways to live with it without the consequences and implications of Dr.Spengler's discovery presented in this book. The Roman Catholic Church tried to spread ignorance of Copernicus as well, but will its modern-day equivalents be more successful in hiding the discovery?

It is up to the interested reader not to let this crime happen any longer.

Having in mind the huge scope and distance both in Time and Space that Dr.Spengler's book covers, the enormous energy and time spent by him in creating the material presented in this book becomes even more astonishing considering that the book is so deeply involved and touching upon the daily events of the times we live in.

Dr.Spengler in his work definitely belongs to the realm of the modern "TABOO," and precisely uncovers all the important facts and ideas, that our "accepted" intellectuals of the day DARE NOT touch upon, and prefer to avoid and misinterpret and misrepresent Dr.Spengler's thought and observations---for these are all too unnerving to them and too uncomfotably revealing about the character and direction of the times we live in.

Even though the Author has died many years ago, his insight and thought is squarely present in our every day problems, troubles and uncertainties.

Seldom will one find a philosopher, political scientist and a natural scientist-all in one and yet so penetrating in his thought and truly relevant and accurate to the daily life many years after his death.

Despite our civilization's boasting about the hitherto unheard-of levels of progress, creativity and prosperity unimaginable only a few dozen years ago, "Decline of the West" deals with the significance in them. The vision, understanding and practical forecasts of Dr.Spengler's scientific discipline of History encompass all of those and go beyond, at all times maintaining the "eagle's view from above" of life.

The 20th century is known for its false prophets and broken ideologies, yet amid all the storm and dust raised in the conflicts of this century, people have not noticed that all this time there existed a profound voice of calm unshaken in his beliefs and unmistaken, unshakeable in the strength of his experience and position, always proven right by facts beyond his control.

This is Dr.Spengler, and that makes him a lone example of a true scientist of politics.

This revelation then has to tell us something profoundly significant about the nature of our Western civilization's Information Age stage and the direction it is heading in, when a person from a 100 years ago can tell us so much more intimate and relevant things about the politics, science and life of people many years after his death, than the leading historians of the day can.

The average person's inability to tell truth from faleshood in the news goes beyond mere wealth of information phenomenon, and the popular Computer represents the vehicle of the Information Age, nothing more.

Today it is easy to be unaware of the profound and deep metaphysical roots underlying our advanced technical civilization's materialistic developments, yet Dr.Spengler in this work masterfully uncovers them.

That is why this book, Decline of The West is so important, and will help the modern reader understand much better, than through any other immediate means, the true scope, understanding and meaning of the age we live in and of the age our descendants will live in.

It is a true example of the intellectual nihilism of our times when works such as those of Dr.Spengler are deliberately passed by the intellectual elite keenly aware of its inability to deal with the disturbing insights of Dr.Spengler's mind, and consequently of its inability to rise to the rank of Spengler, prefering instead to sometimes select quotations from this great thinker in order to make themselves look bigger and wiser, --thinkers such as Hughes, Fischer and Connelly are among those.

To paraphrase Spengler, nobody can escape from History's all-encompassing reach, we humans only have a luxury of pretending that we can, and like a grotesque Ostrich we bury our heads into the daily mass-circulation media training our minds, making us increasingly less capable of exercising independent thought and judgement.

In the introduction, Spengler quotes his spiritual father, poet-philosopher Goethe with the description of confidence in life:"Inward form of significant life which unaware and unobserved inspires every thought and every action." That this description is no longer adequate for the life of Western Man provides a food for thought, since everything genuine in the way of feeling and thought is left open for unrestrained dissection and criticism by the standard-bearers of the modern intellectual inquisition which stifles any richness in the modes of thought in our universities, and has assumed the role of the judge, prosecutor and the jury in Media's daily virtual courtrooms, alias mass-circulation news. Hence the public truth of the moment holds sway.

The lack of inward form in our daily personal lives should not therefore come as a surprise since we are trained daily to seek programmable inspiration from the external world of the macrocosm, shunning away from our own inbred microcosm and the wealth of inspiration it could have provided us with, had we given it a chance.

At the very least "Decline of The West" enables the interested reader to form his or her own conclusion, which is something that Spengler's past critics could not afford to do.

Decline of The West is a book squarely beyond the range of typical modern literary critique.
The fact that Dr.Spengler discovered a true existence of a living form in the history- and life-cycles of civilizations has been deliberately ignored by critics. The importance of this discovery for History as a science is on a level of Copernican helio-centric (Sun-at-the-Center) discovery in spatial sciences which inaugurated the modern advance of physical science. Yet it has not brought the official recognition that is its due.
Today, as it was 500 years ago in "The Middle Ages", the ruling spirit of the establishment feels threatened by the new revolutionary discovery and is trying to find ways to live with it without the consequences and implications of Dr.Spengler's discovery presented in this book. The Roman Catholic Church tried to spread ignorance of Copernicus as well, but will its modern-day equivalents be more successful in hiding the discovery?
It is up to the interested reader not to let this crime happen any longer.
Having in mind the huge scope and distance both in Time and Space that Dr.Spengler's book covers, the enormous energy and time spent by him in creating the material presented in this book becomes even more astonishing considering that the book is so deeply involved and touching upon the daily events of the times we live in.
Dr.Spengler in his work definitely belongs to the realm of the modern "TABOO," and precisely uncovers all the important facts and ideas, that our "accepted" intellectuals of the day DARE NOT touch upon, and prefer to avoid and misinterpret and misrepresent Dr.Spengler's thought and observations---for these are all too unnerving to them and too uncomfotably revealing about the character and direction of the times we live in.
Even though the Author has died many years ago, his insight and thought is squarely present in our every day problems, troubles and uncertainties.
Seldom will one find a philosopher, political scientist and a natural scientist-all in one and yet so penetrating in his thought and truly relevant and accurate to the daily life many years after his death.
Despite our civilization's boasting about the hitherto unheard-of levels of progress, creativity and prosperity unimaginable only a few dozen years ago, "Decline of the West" deals with the significance in them. The vision, understanding and practical forecasts of Dr.Spengler's scientific discipline of History encompass all of those and go beyond, at all times maintaining the "eagle's view from above" of life.
The 20th century is known for its false prophets and broken ideologies, yet amid all the storm and dust raised in the conflicts of this century, people have not noticed that all this time there existed a profound voice of calm unshaken in his beliefs and unmistaken, unshakeable in the strength of his experience and position, always proven right by facts beyond his control.
This is Dr.Spengler, and that makes him a lone example of a true scientist of politics.
This revelation then has to tell us something profoundly significant about the nature of our Western civilization's Information Age stage and the direction it is heading in, when a person from a 100 years ago can tell us so much more intimate and relevant things about the politics, science and life of people many years after his death, than the leading historians of the day can.
The average person's inability to tell truth from faleshood in the news goes beyond mere wealth of information phenomenon, and the popular Computer represents the vehicle of the Information Age, nothing more.
Today it is easy to be unaware of the profound and deep metaphysical roots underlying our advanced technical civilization's materialistic developments, yet Dr.Spengler in this work masterfully uncovers them.
That is why this book, Decline of The West is so important, and will help the modern reader understand much better, than through any other immediate means, the true scope, understanding and meaning of the age we live in and of the age our descendants will live in.
It is a true example of the intellectual nihilism of our times when works such as those of Dr.Spengler are deliberately passed by the intellectual elite keenly aware of its inability to deal with the disturbing insights of Dr.Spengler's mind, and consequently of its inability to rise to the rank of Spengler, prefering instead to sometimes select quotations from this great thinker in order to make themselves look bigger and wiser, --thinkers such as Hughes, Fischer and Connelly are among those.
To paraphrase Spengler, nobody can escape from History's all-encompassing reach, we humans only have a luxury of pretending that we can, and like a grotesque Ostrich we bury our heads into the daily mass-circulation media training our minds, making us increasingly less capable of exercising independent thought and judgement.
In the introduction, Spengler quotes his spiritual father, poet-philosopher Goethe with the description of confidence in life:"Inward form of significant life which unaware and unobserved inspires every thought and every action." That this description is no longer adequate for the life of Western Man provides a food for thought, since everything genuine in the way of feeling and thought is left open for unrestrained dissection and criticism by the standard-bearers of the modern intellectual inquisition which stifles any richness in the modes of thought in our universities, and has assumed the role of the judge, prosecutor and the jury in Media's daily virtual courtrooms, alias mass-circulation news. Hence the public truth of the moment holds sway.
The lack of inward form in our daily personal lives should not therefore come as a surprise since we are trained daily to seek programmable inspiration from the external world of the macrocosm, shunning away from our own inbred microcosm and the wealth of inspiration it could have provided us with, had we given it a chance.
At the very least "Decline of The West" enables the interested reader to form his or her own conclusion, which is something that Spengler's past critics could not afford to do.

History ebbs and flows. The illusion that we are somehow at the 'end of history' and that civil organization and values as they now stand are beyond history's broader and deeper currents might be the great popular Myopia of our time. Spengler in this book has applied his voluminous knowledge and interpretive skills to the rise and fall of civilizations. Does the 'West' conform to the definition of a civilization in the age of global communications and entertainment? If so, are its prospects different than those of its predecessors? Schools no longer prepare the mainstream student for learning and argument at this level. Spengler's thesis hinges on the leading intellectual & aesthetic edges of the last 1000 years of our culture as compared to those of civilizations of antiquity, notably the Greco Roman.

There are scholarly contrasts to Spengler's study. William McNeill's 'Rise of the West' provides a direct challenge to many of its conclusions. Gibbon's 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire' or Werner Jaeger's 'Paedeia' (on Greek classical culture) might be good comparative reference books, but these have now been relegated in public familiarity to dusty and esoteric academic departments. Spengler's work, however, falls squarely and uniquely into the realm of a great work of the Deist tradition of Western social philosophy, from which its reputation for skepticism comes. Its apparent mysticism emanates from the deep investigation into the intellectual attitude of the Western mind. There are, of course, other traditions in the 'Western' mix which have broad and predictive implications. This opus should not be misconstrued of as a work of pessimism. Constructive action and faith are, in fact, its basis for the prospect of vigorous and sustained regeneration of the human cause.

This is an exacting study. It requires a critical attitude to penetrate and to see that it has a fundamentally human and hopeful (and debatable) message. Decline of the West does in fact provide drama, grandeur, context and understanding to the sweep of history. It is accessible, though, to the determined general reader and constitutes a significant contribution to 20th Century thought. Those who do not learn from history are bound to repeat it.

I really liked this book. It was funny and interesting, and the characters were really real. My favorite part was when Beth and Philip Hall caught the turkey theives. I wondered why it was a turkey farm, but I read that it's because Bette Greene was afraid of turkeys when she was little. I read that on her website, bettegreene.com. It was a really good site, too, and I even got to see the models that the book was illustrated from. You should go there if you read this book.

Beth Lambert is a lot like me, and I wish that she was here so that she could be my best friend. I mean she's so much fun to be with, and sometimes I don't like Philip Hall at all. This book was the most fun book I have ever read. I wrote Bette Greene a letter on her website bettegreene.com and she wrote me back. I showed the letter to my classs.

After reading this I found this book was to be classified under "CAN'T PUT DOWN" catagory.This book is a personal favorite of mine.Bette Green deffenitly has a talent for writting juvinile books.The way she places every verb,ajective and noun is amazing,for you feel that you are standing presicilly next to Beth,her friends,Phill and his friends.I will now end my review with one of my favorite paragraphs: 'Ester followed me out on the porch,where there was a rock the size of a crow's nest and sticking to this rock was a sheet of wide-lined paper.I pulled off the paper,which had been stuck on with a wad of gum, and read aloud: 'Dear Pretty Pennies, You ain't pretty! You ain't pennies! And you ain't never going to beat us neither! President Phillip Hall Bravest of all the brave Tiger Hunters and Lt. Gorden Jennings(also Brave) P.S Why wait for the church picnic to relay race? Meet us at the schoolyard on Saturday and we'll win!'

WHY DIDN'T I THINK OF THAT: THINK THE UNTHINKABLE AND ACHIEVE CREATIVE GREATNESS by Charles W. McCoy, Jr.

Reviewer: Dr. Bob Krone, Emeritus Professor, University of Southern
California, USA.

In drafting an essay for the American society for Quality on "Quality Thinking," Judge Charles W. McCoy, Jr.'s 2002 book title captured my attention. It turned a Los Angeles to Frankfurt flight into extremely valuable "Thinking Lessons."

The major problem with thinking in today's world of complexity, uncertainty, adversity and 15-second information media-bits is that we lose the ability to think rationally about thinking. Those of us in education leadership positions have the advantage of being continually challenged to think about the theories, concepts, judgments, assertions and ideas of our colleagues and students. Even with that requirement the dynamics of living and working force us to shortcut the "evidence-to-conclusions-and- recommendations" cycle we traverse frequently every day. Sometimes those shortcuts lead to "costly errors" as Judge McCoy points out in his Imtroduction (p. x).

Here's is why I recommend Why didn't I think of that ... to you, whatever your professional and personal roles involve:

•We all must solve problems daily .. whether it is freeway driving or
a decision on a heart surgery .... We cannot avoid the requirement
To think.
•Judge McCoy leads us to a systems approach to thinking that takes
inputs from all our senses: seeing, concentrating, asking penetrating questions,
using logic, analysis and imagination, listening, double-checking facts, and considering intuition, but cross-checking first impressions and feelings.
•And he does it with an impressive array of illustrative examples from his
own experience and his research.
•He advises us to "lead with your mind, follow with your heart" (p.33).
•He cautions us to "understand before judging" (53). ... that sounds
very logical but most of us fail to fully understand at some critical
decision points in our lives.
•Asking the right questions is a very special skill. Judge McCoy ends
each section with a set of critical questions to help you improve the
quality of your thinking.
•Being also a university professor he includes "learning from failures"
in our thinking. It's a fact that we think more about failures than
successes.
•Study the thinking processes of others and how they react to you
and thinking the unthinkable are valuable inclusions.

Having had considerable experience with book reviews I will end with a comment about the Frank LaForge review of this book also here in Amazon.com. The purposes of a book review are to accurately summarize what the author has done to help prospective readers make their own decisions about the book purchase and to help the author with constructive criticism. LaForge's personal attack on Charles McCoy and the other reviewers of his book fails to meet either of those purposes. I recommend discounting his review.

As a trial lawyer, my success depends on the quality of my thinking. Judge McCoy has tried lots of cases, and done lots of thinking. His engaging book enriched my thinking, and thus adds to my litigation arsenal. I am a Winston Churchill enthusiast, and I especially enjoyed the book's fresh insights into how Churchill, and many other great thinkers from Albert Einstein to Mahatma Gandhi, achieved the extraordinary successes we now admire. This book will help all its readers emerge as better thinkers in many ways -- clearer, more accurate perceptions of people and their motives; more focused concentration under pressure; a deeper appreciation of intuition and its vital contribution to sound thinking, to name a few. The insights on intuition were particularly inspiring. I enthusiastically recommend "Why Didn't I Think of That?" to people in all walks of life, from professionals to managers, teachers to students, homebuilders to homemakers, lawyers to, yes, even judges -- everyone who realizes the indispensability of top-quality thinking for achieving real success in today's highly competitive, fast-changing world.

As a trial lawyer, my success depends on the quality of my thinking. Judge McCoy has tried lots of cases, and done lots of thinking. His engaging book enriched my thinking, and thus adds to my litigation arsenal. As a Winston Churchill enthusiast, I especially enjoyed the book's fresh insights into how Churchill, and many other great thinkers from Albert Einstein to Mahatma Gandhi, achieved the extraordinary successes we now admire. This book will help all its readers emerge as better thinkers in many ways -- clearer, more accurate perceptions of people and their motives; more focused concentration under pressure; a deeper appreciation of intuition and its vital contribution to sound thinking, to name a few. The insights on intuition were particularly inspiring. I enthusiastically recommend "Why Didn't I Think of That?" to people in all walks of life, from professionals to managers, teachers to students, homebuilders to homemakers, lawyers to, yes, even judges -- everyone who realizes the indispensability of top-quality thinking for achieving real success in today's highly competitive, fast-changing world.

Charles (Skip) Stratton is well known amongst gun collectors for his articles on collecting Lee Enfields. I was interested to discover that he had published books on collecting Lee Enfields. His books is aimed (no pun) specifically at the collector whom needs to know how to pull the bolt apart and to put it back together again, without wandering into the sphere and expertice of an armourer. Stratton makes no attempt to explain how to undertake tasks best left to a gunsmith or amourer. By reading this book a collector will be able to say recognise the difference between an early and late production nose cap.

A positive feature of his works is that the text is supported by very clear uncluttered line drawings that reveal more detail than what a photograph would do. Even swivel screws have their own illustrations showing the difference between the first and second variations.

The book is written in a logical direct manner, and initially starts with how to identify the place of production, the range of serial numbers for each year and what various stampings on wood and metal indicate. Australian and other Commonwealth collectors must be mindful that collectors in the United States may not instantly appreciate that VR means Victoria Regina and not Vancouver Rifles.

The authors success is in my opinion is due to his setting out to do one thing, make a great hand book for collectors that anticipates the questions a collector will ask.

This book was great in helping me identify the details of my SMLE III, including decypering all the symbols. It also provided a nice history lesson on the rifle. I would recommend for collectors, those who own one, or those that just have an interest in them.

This is the the book to get if you want to know what the Lee Enfield Number One is all about. Read this book before and after you buy your Lee Enfield Number One(MkI or Mk III). Charles Stratton details much needed information for you to get a detailed understanding of your Lee Enfield. Stratton also gives expert advice on details for collectors. This advice centers around tips that describe rare and collectable models of the Lee Enfield. He simply tells you what to look for in detail. This book will also simply give reading enjoyment to any WWI and II history buff.