I'm a high school student and I plan on majoring in music as a career. I bought this book because the one area tha I felt was most lacking for me as a musician was my knowledge of music history. This was a really great buy. The format of the book makes it interesting to read, so you really learn a lot from it. It's been great for giving me the "big picture" of the history of music and how we got to where we are today in music.

Be advised, this is not an in-depth encyclopedia. It's designed for easy reading. Still, it provides a great starting point for music history. From this book, you can go to more in-depth books, already armed with a working knowledge of music history.

Johannes Quasten may be the only known scholar who understands the facts and symbols of instrumental music in paganism and later Christianity. Quasten reviews many of the church Father's opposition to music as worship. He discusses the cultic purpose of sacrificial music and the struggle of Christianity in resisting the strong appeal of music in inducing a certain "feeling" confused as "spiritual." Music was a powerful tool in magical rituals such as divination. Quasten also discusses many of the paintings and statues. For instance, in explaining the harps in the book of Revelation he notes that "heaven" was the place of total joy and the lack of human responsibility. Therefore, images on tombs of the living offering instruments to the dead is their testimony that earthly trials are over. As David calls upon his harp or lyre to "awaken" Quasten speaks eloquently of the awakening or arousal ceremonies in connection with funerals. Others have noted that Amos, the prophet against Israel, condemned the Marzeach which was a feast with and for dead ancestors. I have owned this book for many years and find it an indispensible cross reference for personal reasearch from documents ranging from the Ancient Near Eastern Texts to the latest unwitting attempt to restore ancient pagan rituals in Christianity.

The most magnificent book of neurology published within the last 10 years. If you haven't read this you should not be dabbling in neurology

It is one of the best book I ever read with fantstic photo and detaiols descrioption of more than 250 apples

Fabian works industriously to get behind the "Indiana Jones"-type figures who opened Africa up to European enterprise. His general thesis is obvious if correct: that explorers were not the rational beings who used scientific reason to conquer the wild African landscape and the wilder Africans. They were scared, drunk, pompous, open to seduction, tied to creature comforts ... . They resemble the late 20th-century American who cannot imagine living without civilization. What makes the book entertaining is the encyclopedia of sensual experiences that Fabian offers: how they saw, herd, felt Africa, how they interacted with people and the world, how they established their authority and leadership. Fabian thereby produces an extensive and detailed image of the personalities of explorers as they worked their way across Africa. Perhaps the most amusing image is of heavy phonographs and bottles of wine carried along jungle paths that they followed rather than discovered and the extent they relied on native Africans as guides, porters and interpreters to learn about the "dark" continent. Some sense of Central African exploration might help, but it is by no means necessary.

The book was extremely sensitive and informative. It gives insight into the strange and unknown world of another culture and society but at a more focused point. Also I found the book to be very interesting in its approach in teaching the reader as well as capturing the tone of what it means to be of a particular culture and how particular groups lives. The books helps us become more aware and sensitive to various cultures. As an American I find it to be very important for to be very aware because everyday the U.S. is becoming more and more diverse. Multiculturalism is apart of American history rather negative or positive. In any event, this book helps me do just that, become sensitive and respectful for others and their traditions and cultures. It is through various forms of information, like this book, that opens us up and exposes us to the unknown.

_Philosophical Fragments/Johannes Climacus_ is essential reading for anyone who wishes to read the sequel, _Concluding Unscientific Postscript_, which is arguably Kierkegaard's most important work. This first volume, even taken by itself, is still a valuble, well written, and entertaining work. But its primary purpose is to establish the personality of Kierkegaard's infamous, neurotic character "Johannes Climacus", the pseudonym under which he wrote this book as well as the monumental _Postscript_. It is very important that any Kierkegaard scholar realize the author's intentions behind the creation of the Johannes Climacus character, and the exact relationship between Kierkegaard's real views and the often-antithetical, illogical, absurd, and even farcical views of his pseudonymous alter-ego. In this book, the character of Johannes Climacus is established, and the careful reader should be able to identify the discrepency between Climacus' ideas and Kierkegaard's real ideas. This characterization process is very interesting and makes for a good read, but to get the full effect you must also read _Concluding Unscientific Postscript_, in which the reader is treated to the full effect of the neurotic ramblings of Kierkegaard's alter-ego.

Inspirational. Profound. Practical. A companion.

A one page/three-minute read every day. And an opportunity to plumb the depths of what it means to be a man or a woman.

Philosophy has been called: The Queen of all Sciences. These meditations are from the mind of a brilliant philosopher. A great intellect. An extraordinary human being. A man who has used his mind to reason to Truth. A Truth reflected in his personal life. A life that has transcended and soared above personal tragedy, Naziism, Communism, and Modernism.

This book provides the reader with a few minutes each day to reflect on what is most meaningful to each of us: relationships, work, marriage, family, sex, education, success, failure, suffering, tragedy, death, life.

"Prayers and Devotions: 365 Daily Meditations" is a reflection of other writings by John Paul, such as "Fides et Ratio", which is a treatise discussing the interdependence and complementarity of Faith and Technology. "Faith and reason are like two wings on which the human spirit rises to the contemplation of truth; and God has placed in the human heart a desire to know the truth---in a word, to know himself---so that, by knowing and loving God, men and women may also come to the fullness of truth about themselves."

From "Veritatis Splendor": "The splendor of truth shines forth in all the works of the Creator and in a special way in man, created in the image and likeness of God. Truth enlightens man's intelligence and shapes his freedom, leading him to know and love the Lord. Hence the psalmist prays: 'Let the light of your face shine on us, O Lord.'"

And from "Evangelium Vitae": "The Gospel of life is at the heart of Jesus' message. Lovingly received day after day by the church, it is to be preached with dauntless fidelity as 'good news' to the people of every age and culture."

"Prayers and Devotions" capsulizes much of the thought of John Paul. It is a rich treasure with each page providing jewels to be discovered, polished, and reflected upon. A book to be read, enjoyed, shared, and re-read.

This is sophisticated material that is understandable to any thoughtful adult. The topic is the beginnings of monotheism, a rise that happened to occur under the Egyptian empire, evidence of monotheism's older roots and how it managed to survive. The author convincingly (to an amateur - more about this below) musters evidence from seemingly unlikely places as to how monotheism began and why it survived. It turns out to be no accident that its stable emergence about the year 1200 B.C. coincides with a difficult social transition from the bronze to the iron age.

The book is more compelling that it would seem from reading its table of contents. For example, an early chapter titled "The Evidence of Names" doesn't sound like it could possibly contain data both significant and compelling but it surely does. The next chapter, "The Crisis of Polytheism", lays the groundwork for the entire rest of the book. Throughout the book evidence from the bible and from archeological records are meshed together with some extrapolation at the end, all clearly labeled with its source. For the record, I am neither Christian nor Jew yet I find the author's use of the bible compelling.

An ancillary but fascinating section proposes the identification of the biblical Moses with a person known from archeological records. As the author plainly states, this identification is not proven and also is not central to the book's thesis, yet it captures the imagination with seemingly convincing reasoning. Here I must relate the skepticism that a seminary professor mentioned to me saying that he found the reasoning of this one section less compelling that did I based on his far more complete knowledge. Nevertheless he was using the book in teaching one of his graduate classes.

This is a book with little competition. As a history buff I am quite selective in my readings and this is one of my most memorable books.

Hello! I am medical student. I bought Sobotta a couple of months ago and I found this book very helpfull in my studies. It contains very much information, and the material is easy to understand. This atlas really helps you to study human anatomy!