I was rather interested by the Library Journal critic concerning "A Brief History of India"(128 N° 2, February, 1)
With regard to the point of view expressed about Moghul and British colonisation, I feel that the critic has an unconscious Western bias, which is one of the main sores in India even today.
Of course, both these invaders also brought something positive with them, but we must remember that prior to their arrival India was one of the richest countries in the world and after their departure one of the poorest.

When you see the destruction made by the Muslims and in particularly by the Moghul Emperor Aurangzeb in Benares, you understand some of the material effects of these invaders, but their permanent attack on the Hindus' social and religious system was even worse.

In any case, I deem Daniélou's point of view is much more realistic that that of the French writer Guy Deleury who wrote recently in 'L'Inde continent rebelle - Le Seuil 2000'

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The Indian sub-continent can look back with neither regret nor shame on its short century of British domination, to which it owes its telegraph, its railways, its neo-gothic railway stations, the gaudy uniforms of its sepoy corps d'élite, its metropolitan ports, masonic lodges and even - the supreme paradox - the Congress Party, which led it to independence

What is the purpose of human life? In tradition Hindu society, there are four answers - the right one depends on your stage in life. These four goals are: (1) *dharma* -- virtue, duty; (2) *artha* -- success, wealth, family life; (3) *kama* -- pleasure, sexuality, sensual enjoyment; and (4) *moksha* -- total spiritual liberation. Alain Danielou, one of the greatest scholars of ancient India, discusses the implications of a society based on these four goals. Danielou argues persuasively that this four-thousand year old system of the Four Aims of Life gives us deep insight into human nature, a level of insight sadly lacking in many modern conceptions. This small book is brief and clear, an accessible introduction for someone not familiar with Hinduism or traditional Indian society. I highly recommend it for anyone considering question of life purpose.

Durkheim sometimes gets a bad rap for his politics, but this is a good book that laid the foundations for much of the sociological work that has followed it. Using the case study example of suicide rates, Durkheim undertakes to show that social structure has a profound and powerful influence on almost everything that individuals do. While the translation is sometimes awkward, Durkheim's work is impressive in its methods, ambitions, and execution. I'd recommend this book to anyone interested in the hstory of sociology or just the power of social structure.

Emile Durkheim's classic work tells us more than just details about suicide. Studying a powerfully individual phenomenon from a sociological perspective was, in its own right, an impressive undertaking. But what interests me more for sociology of media is the way Durkheim handled statistics. In the first chapter, he gives a series of examples that illustrate the danger in placing too much unexamined value in numerical data. He shows first that married people commit suicide more than singles, but then notes that single people include children who are unlikely to commit suicide. Therefore this data does not necessarily indicate a causal relationship between marriage and suicide. He adjusts the data, taking only people of marriage age and computes the data again. This time, single people commit suicide more than married people. However, Durkheim then notes that single people will automatically include a larger portion of mentally or physically defunct people. He therefore concludes that there is not sufficient data to make a conclusion about a causal relationship between suicide and marital status. This is really little more than mental exercise, but it is a critical one for any one employing survey methods and statistical analysis. The researcher must be vigilant in analyzing data to ensure avoiding errors in logic.
Durkheim's study in sociology contributes much more than this detail to the social sciences, but for my purposes of analyzing the sociology of media, this is the most critical point.

Emile Durkheim is called a Father of Sociology, and rightly so. He was the first man to work on all of the problems and issues, unresolved by other known sciences at the time ( in 19-century), to combine many of the already known scientific methods in one, and to call it sociology. Surely, there were other theorists, his contemporaries, who were starting to wander in the same direction at the same time with Durkheim, but he was the one, who put his own and other people's theories to practice. That is what "Suicide" is all about: gathering data and putting it to test with the theory (suicide, being the subject of the study in this case, of course). The best part about Durkheim's work presented in "Suicide" is that it is still an incredibly potent and groundbreaking manuscript. One, who reads it today, can't help but notice that human nature and human problems have largely remained the same: they are universal and ageless and they still need to be studied by competent sociologists.

Prince Ilango Adigal wrote Shilappadikaram as an erotic verse romance trilogy novel. He also wrote it as moral values, marriage, religion, art, music, dance, caste, myth, intercultural behavior, politics, military tactics, and idiom instruction. Although written about 1,700 years ago, it has numerous parallels with, as well as contrasts to, present day Indian society.

Karma (Sanskrit for action) dominates the four moral lessons of Shilappadikaram: Divine Law takes the form of death when a king abandons duty, all must bow before a faithful wife, the ways of fate are mysterious, and all actions are rewarded.

A modern reader of Greco-Roman background faces five major difficulties in understanding Shilappadikaram: India's culture differs substantially, the book was translated from a foreign language, it was written ages ago, further complicating the first two difficulties, the three major religions, Jainism, Brahmanism, and Buddhism, are unfamiliar to most readers, and the reader hears none of the original music. This is comparable to watching the "Sound of Music" with the sound turned off; much of the splendor is lost.

Writen at the end of the third ancient Tamil literary epoch (sangam), Shilappadikaram is only one of three surviving Great-Poems. No texts survive from either of the first two sangams. Coupling this extraordinary rarity with rich cultural information makes Shilappadikaram irreplaceably valuable in understanding both modern and ancient Indian thinking. The reader starts Shilappadikaram acutely aware of the cultural differences between the two worlds. He finishes it reflecting on the similarities.

Tamil is the language of the state of Tamil Nadu in Southeastern India ... or the Tamils are the rebels in the news regarding civil unrest in Sri Lanka.

Shilappadikaram is the primary epic of Tamil literature; it is an epic still alive orally as well. The epic is of a woman wronged by her husband. The loss of one breast has mythic implications, tying the rightful wife to the rain goddess. Unlike the major epics of North India, this epic is short and has a straight storyline i.e. none of the "Baroque" qualities of the Mahabharata, for example.

If the term "epic" puts you off, just consider it a very old love story. It is simply a lovely story.

When I first read this book I thought that it wasn't bad, it just needed more detail. Then I thought about the title and its contents: "Everything a Fan Needs to Know." That's true if you are just getting into Anime. Usually when I pick up an Anime book I learn a great deal more than the previous Anime book. But this one just repeated the same stuff I'd already read elsewhere. I'll admit that there was maybe a small amount of new info that I was unaware of, so of course there is something new for everyone. However, I'll stick with other books for reference first, but that doesn't mean that you shouldn't read it if you're new to the concept of Anime or not.

Good for beginners, but definitly not EVERYTHING a fan needs to know. Though it has great detail and a great section on conventions I (a beginner) still feel a little lost. It's a wonderful book all the same.

First viewing this book I had my doubts, but reading through it proved it was worth it cost. This book is for just about anyone who is interested in becoming an otaku, or even someone who has been an otaku for some time. It gives references to an anime entitle "Otaku no Video" throughout. Also excellent hints for starting your own anime club in your area. Fallowed by a list of anime titles, web site, etc... It gives you infomation, and alows you to come up with some of your own ideas. If you are looking to become an otaku this book will put you well on the track.

simple is the key to success !this book helps make it easy to set up your new business and keep it simple sweetie "kiss" very inexpensive for a small investment to gain so much information.

As someone brought up on western music and untrained in indian music, I was able to follow what the author was saying. This book is an important piece of the puzzle, in understanding the expressive power of music in gerneral and intonation in particular. Aspiring composers should check this book out. Probably best for instrumentalist with continuous control of pitch, (violinists trombonists etc.) and singers accustomed to singing against a drone.

I read " Necessary Losses"and I thought this book would be its equal or better. Like most sequels, though, it falls short of the mark and left me wanting. I kept thinking, " ... and the point is?" The book is probably OK if you haven't read the first one. Otherwise, read the children's books.

This book has very good summaries of psychological research on the issues of power and control. It would be a particularly helpful book for a student writing a paper in an undergraduate class. The book is not hard to read; I finished it in 2 days. I found her chapters on romantic relationships, parenting and work relationships helpful and gained insight into my own behaviour.

I saw Judith interviewed on Oprah and decided to read her book. I was finishing up my master's degree at that time and found it to have a lot of theories of control that went on and on. Her interview made the book seem more practical for info on control issues. If you are into theories and origination of how issues evolve, this is the book for you!