Anyone with any mathematical background will have undoubtedly heard of Pascal. His contributions to mathematics are well noted. Groothuis, who is exceptionally familiar with the philosophical work of Pascal, has done an admirable job in a short space of introducing the reader to Pascal the man, mathematician, inventor, and philosopher. The first four chapters lay out the historical background needed to understand Pascal and his work. Chapter 5 introduces the Pensees, the fragments of a grand work that was unfortunately left unfinished by Pascal's early death. Chapter 6 describes the rejection, in the Pensees, of arguing for God's existence from natural theology, the accepted apologetic of the day. Groothuis begins the next chapter by explaining Pascal's apologetic in that he "aimed to spark a philosophical and existential crisis in his readers that would be resolvable only by Christian revelation" (50). Groothuis explores two of Pascal's ideas, "deposed royalty" and his controversial "Wager". Groothuis helps those not familiar with or only passingly familiar with these two topics, as well as the Pensees, to better understand Pascal's thinking and intent. Groothuis' extensive work and expertise on Pascal shines through in this work. Anyone interested in being introduced to the genius of Pascal will find the time they spend reading this book to be well rewarded.

I am a guidance counselor, and I am trying to get an elementary careers unit up and running in our school, and I was appalled when I read the page in this book about the musician. At the end of the verse, the author says "If the neighbors complain, they can lump it." Do I want my kids going around telling people to "lump it??" Is this what we should tell our students???? I hope not!! I also agree with the other review about the violence in becoming strawberry jam if you fall off a ladder. I had high hopes for this book, and the rest of it I loved. Take out the firefighter and the musician and you'll have a hit!

Funny and easy to use book. The children stayed interested with the poems that were in the book. What was really fun about the book was that there was a place to put a picture, so there was a face in all the illustrations. You could use a picture of yourself or one of the children. The poems were very humorous and gave a brief idea of what would be involved in a career. The book mentioned some jobs thta might interest young children and was very simple for them to understand. I would recommend this book to any teacher attempting a career guidance unit with young elementary school children.

This was a most hilarious and good natured book. For all ages, young and old. My children got a kick of seeing themselves in the book on each page. A big Bravo!