Edwards advances the idea that in every snapshot of human life, we make decisions in accordance with our nature and disposition. Free will is compatabilist in that we have no autonomy other than to follow our greatest desire in any given instance. Not only does this exposition rule out the chance for true virtue--some good thing we do which we might not have done--but Edwards also has a hard time explaining how God is not the author if evil, given that human decisions are consistently determined according to a divine decree.

This is truly one of the greatest works written. Daniel Webster wrote: "The Freedom of the Will" by Mr. Edwards is the greatest achievement of the human intellect." The London Quarterly Review wrote about this work: "His gigantic specimen of theological argument is as near to perfection as we may expect any human composition to approach. He unites the sharpness of the scimetar [sic] and the strength of the battle-axe." A former President of Princeton said that Edwards was "The greatest thinker that America has produced."

This wonderful work is a good tool in learning of the greatness of Christ's grace, in overcoming our minds and hearts, and loving us to the uttermost. This should be in the library of every Christian family.

Biographies often waste time describing things like the "childhood home". While this book gives an overview of Williams' early life, it focuses on his historical impact on baseball and his attitudes toward the game. Linn does an excellent job of measuring Williams statistically and creating the perspective of his career that, as a 34 year old, I did not get to experience first hand. An understanding of each season, his teammates and adversaries, creates for me an appreciation that did not exist before. Some great segments on Ted's mentality toward the game and hitting specifically, was great not only for me but also my 10 year old. Note: this is a biography NOT an instructional manual - see The Science of Hitting for the "other half of the story.

If you want to know everything you possibly can about Ted and his effect on the game you need to read this book.

This is an absolutely FABULOUS book. It details not only the career, but also the life of the greatest hitter who ever lived. I am generally not a big book reader, but I could not put this one down, reading it in a little over a day. I guarantee that if you are a baseball fan, you will love this book!

I'd be tempted to call this revisionism, but I really just find this to be bad history. Besides an obvious anti-Southern agenda, I don't know where the author is "going" with this. One page he bad mouths Lee-staffer Walter Taylor for deflating the number of troops Lee had/has available at a particular time - then he contradicts his argument by outlining those who are constantly deserting!@? Gosh, does Lee have the "numbers" or not? Likewise, Taylor is "guilty" of inflating numbers of Federals. Of course, Marvel then throughout the text outlines the outlandish amounts of Federal troops that were indeed available to Grant!?#@ A second folly is his contention that the FEDERAL troops were starving! Of course, this is followed by accounts of the Southrons having no forage and eating the ol' parched corn routine. Much like Wiley Sword's hatchet job on John Bell Hood, there is nothing Lee can do to "satisfy" W. Marvel in this inconsistent, contradictory effort. I'm sure to be wary of any other W. Marvel book.

Lee's Last Retreat: THe Flight to Appomattox written by William Marvel is history at its best... not filled with untruths that spring from imagination, but from actual diaries of those who fought and were there... this book is devoid of major attempts of participating generals at the art of fabrication and embellishments, therefore this is an attempt to write history with primarily from comtempory source material.

There is a lot of literature written about the Civil War and most of it is excellent historical fiction, but there is an honest attempt to write the truth about the final days of "Lee's Last Retreat." This book has a goal in mind and it is to tell what happened in the last week of the Civil War from Spring 1865 and on into the final week Monday, April 3 to Sunday, April 9, 1865.

This book has limited the scope to mainly just the final seven days of the war as Grant is chasing and closing ranks around Lee and his Army of Northern Virginia. The final day at Appomattox Court House, the day the Grant accepts Lee's total surrender.

The truth is that Lee made at least one fatal mistake during his last campaign, and his subordinates were guilty of errors and omissions for which another commanding general would have been held responsible. For all the ultimate good it might have done him, Lee could actually have escaped alone the line of the Danville railroad had the administrative framework of his army not disintegrated, and with it the morale of his men. Had his engineers not failed to provide a pontoon bridge for the escape of the Richmond column, or had they warned him of that failure, he might have avoided the final delay at Amelia Court House. These and other errors of omission could have swayed, if corrected, the final out come of the war and a much different result.

The book has a rapid paced narrative that brings to light the final week in the campaign of Lee's Army of Northern Virginia the finest army to be ever assembled and fight on American soil. This book is full of actual accounts, letters, diaries and other contemporary documents. This is a welcome addition to your library for this time period.

This book has been hyped as a myth busting history of Lee's retreat to Appomattox. As such I feared that it would be a bashing of Lee and the Southern viewpoint of the war. Instead Marvel has written a very even-handed account of this story that has become an epic of American history.
"Lee's Last Retreat" is a fast paced book retelling Lee's retreat and Grant's relentless pursuit. Unlike so many recent Civil War books, Marvel does not get lost in the details nor does he make his book too long. He tells the story in 199 pages including 23 pages of photographs. To use a term seldom used to describe works of nonfiction, this is a real page turner. That is not to say that this is a "light" work. The author spices his account with a lot of detail from diaries and letters. His research and documentation is first-rate. For those wanting more he includes @40 pages of appendices and an order of battle. This is Marvel's second work on Appomattox and he is very familiar with the material. His other book was "A Place Called Appomattox".
Marvel does not hesitate to state his opinion and I found his insights fair and refreshing. I found myself laughing at some of his characterizations. For example, on page 87, he refers to George Custer as "the insufferably arrogant Custer." He spares neither Rebels nor Yankees where it is deserved.
"Lee's Last Retreat" adds to the excellent reputation that Marvel earned with his book on Andersonville. Add this book to your library.

For anyone who has read any of the other historical mystery anthologies, this latest will seem weak in comparison. I'm trying to recall at least one story that stood out from the rest...can't do it!

Much Ado About Murder is a collection of seventeen mystery stories stiched together by the common thread of Shakespeare's plays. All were written especially for this anthology edited by Anne Perry. Some put new twists on characters or plots lifted from the plays while others are about the actors performing the plays or about the Bard himself.

In the former category, Marcia Talley tells a humorous tale starring the three witches from Macbeth. In the title story, Kathy Lynn Emerson transports Beatrice and Benedict from Padua to Bloody Mary's England for an adventure. Lillian Stewart Carl has Twlth Night's Duke Orsini send Viola/Cesario to Olivia's castle as a spy rather than an intermediary. Posing as a kitchen maid, she solves the poisoning of Olivia's brother. The Tempest, Henry V and VI, Hamlet, and Anthony and Cleopatra serve as launch pads for other writers' imaginings.

In the latter category, my favorite is P C Doherty's The Sperpent's Tooth which offers an interesting answer to the puzzle of Shakespeare's death and his epitaph. Also enjoyable is Peter Tremayne's Elizabethan sleuth, Master Hardy Drew, solving the murder of an actor in the first production of Henry V. Perry herself contributes a mystery set in a Victorian production of Othello.

The only story that seems out of place is Richard's Children by Brendan DuBois. It's connection to Richard III is tenuous and the plot belongs with the likes of Robert Ludlum.

Kudos, applause, and a standing ovation for Anne Perry and this fantastic book of short stories. There are so many truly unique and amazing stories that it's hard to choose which is best. Some involve actual Shakespearean plots, including two of the funniest: Too Many Cooks, which is a hilarious take on Macbeth from the point of view of the three Weird Sisters, and The Fall of the House of Oldenbourg, which will assure that you never think of Hamlet the same way again. Those Are Pearls That Were His Eyes combines characters from The Tempest with Portia & her husband Bassanio of The Merchant of Venice as the most brilliant and beautiful Doctor of Laws solves a murder with Caliban as the accused. The beautiful Viola (disguised as Caesario disguised as Viola--shades of Victor/Victoria and Shakespeare in Love!) solves the murder of Olivia's brother in A Dish of Poison. Even two of the lesser known plays, Cymbeline and Measure for Measure feature in the stories. Some, like Anne Perry's excellent Ere I Killed Thee, deal with the players who perform these works. The bard himself appears in several of the stories, including Exit, Followed. . .and All the World's a Stage, and his death is investigated in The Serpent's Tooth. And Richard's Children can only be described as chilling. I wish that there had been stories based on Romeo and Juliet, The Taming of the Shrew, and Midsummer's Night's Dream, but perhaps there will be a volume 2. One can only hope. This is a fantastic book for mystery lovers and for Shakespeare lovers, but heaven for those who, like myself, love them both. Buy it, read it, and recommend it to your friends!

The old adage applies to this book. There is no management method inside. Walton's work is long in the tooth. Her superficial, journalistic treatment of quality and productivity is poorly understood. She attempts to cover too much ground with too little understanding. It is a stretch to claim Deming's lecture circuit talking points contains a management message.

Deming's genius was as a statistician. He was also a humanitarian. He integrated himself into the Japanese culture to better understand and develop lasting relationships with his hosts. His was generous in donating publication royalties to the fledgling Japanese Union of Engineers and Scientist (JUSE). JUSE's prize bearing Deming's name is a measure of his generosity and humanity, not his management competence. His Japanese lectures on statistical methods, along with the standardization movement were influential in setting Japanese quality efforts in motion. JUSE soon realized that quality, productivity, customer service management, and zero defects required more than Deming could provide.

American publishers elevated Deming to guru status. Written during the mid eighties, this book's target was the US manager starved for some direction with which to combat the Japanese methodical implementation of quality and productivity. The publisher simply cashed in on an American name that had a Japanese quality prize attached to it. Deming's message may have been innovative for the forties, but today statistics-based productivity programs like Six Sigma incorporate a true management method. If you need to learn management statistics, consult "Introduction to Quality Control" by Kaoru Ishikawa.

The Deming "cycle" and statistical analysis is taken from Dr. Shewhart's 1932 work. Deming's 14 "points" and 7 "deadly diseases" are simply exhortations, talking points for the lecture circuit. Two diseases are explained as "beyond the scope of his present discussion" with one sentence of explanation given to each. It is evident that neither Deming nor Walton have the simplest grasp of US labor law.

The case studies include a company that is on the corporate bone pile for failing its environmental management responsibilities, and another in bankruptcy for managing its bottom line with emotion rather than reason.

To be fair, Walton's reportage of the bead demonstration taken from a Deming statistical lecture is worth reading. If purchased used, the value of the bead vignette will recoup the $[money]spent.

Serious students of management philosophy, productivity, and quality should look beyond this meager work toward Ishikawa, Crosby, or Juran.

Mary Waton does the impossible. She tells you about the life of the great Business Guru the late W.Edward Deming. The first part of the book is a short biography of the great man. Then she goes into his 14 points in detail. Another chapter is on Deming's ways to get improvement in any business.

And the following chapter shows the many companies that the Deming method and philosopy help in TQM.

I would recommed these method for any business, small or large.

You can tell the companies that use these methods ....there services and products shine with quality and more

What I really liked about Mary Walton's book is that it is ACCESSIBLE. While I certainly sympathize with Dr. Deming's eschewing simplistic slogans and posters to institute the notion of quality, I felt like Ms. Walton broke Deming's theories down into manageable chunks. Having survived reading Deming's "Out of the Crisis", I would have to say that Mary Walton's slim little volume is a much better way to glean the priceless gems of Dr. Deming's wisdom. This ranks right up there with "Liberation Management" as one of the best business books ever written.

Romeo and Juliet is a great book. It's an interesting book to read. It is about tragic love during Shakespeare's time. Their love was impossible because their families, Montagues and Capulets, hated each other. The book shows how a couple fights against everything for their love. It has a tragic end in which both, Romeo and Juliet die, because nobody accepted their love.
You must have a very good English, to understand it. Because it is written in old English, what, in some parts may confuse the reader.
Though for some moments it may be boring, because it gives too many details, we enjoyed the story, and we recommend it.
It's definitely one of the best books written by Shakespeare.

Romeo and Juliet is an amazing book, about two starcross lovers have never read a book like this one. What attracted me about the story was that they both killed themselves because of the strong love they had.
Kids from the age of 10 to 13 will understand it without any difficulty. The adult's will like this book but not as kids will do. This book has a lot of emotions from the beginning to the end. I think that Shakespeare was inspired when he wrote this book. He would have been inspired with one of his loves or in England's daily life. I think he is the most important English author of time.
I think it's a great book and I recommend it to anyone that likes tragedy books and like's Shakespeare books.

I think that this is a great book because it tells you how much two people can really love each other and they gave up their lifes for their love.
I have seen the movie version about Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet and still love the book every time I revisit the story. Every word fascinates the reader into truly feeling the passion and tragedy of these two lovers. Even a character such as Tybalt Capulet won me over as far as description goes. Shakespearean writing is very much complex and confusing but it has a touch romance and anger which adds to the emotion of the story.
Is an excellent story for teenagers, read this classic book of love, hate and tragedy!

When this book was published it was hot stuff. A decade later it seems rather tame. Why did Burke write it? He seems to have no rancor against Kennedy and admits that everything Teddy did, he tried to outdo so the question is never really answered. The portraits of Joan Kennedy and Rose Kennedy are gentle, almost tender ones. The best part of the book is when Burke gets out of Kennedy's bedroom and starts talking about the political goings on behind the scenes. The chapters on the failed 1980 campaign and Kennedy's relations with the Carters are fascinating.

Burke tells an exciting story in a book that is hard to put down. I was unaware of Teddy's sexual and otherwise illegal exploits, so if you were like me, this book will prove to be very informative. Burke reveals much about the character of the man for whom he worked and worshipped.

Richard Burke provides highly personal look into the life of Ted Kennedy during the years he spent as a staffer for him. He describes what it was like to work for Ted Kennedy in their professional and personal relationship. He also talks about the personal side of Kennedy's 1980 primary race against then President Jimmy Carter.

Kennedy was a hero to Burke and although he sees Kennedy for what he really is and at times, at his worse, he still doesn't try discredit the man or put him down for what he's done. Burke sometimes tells about how he tried to save Kennedy from himself in his overindulging in drugs, sex, and drinking.

Sometimes you might wonder if its all true though, but Burke admits that during his years with Kennedy, he was no angel either making it more plausible. Its not really a dirty little kiss and tell book. Its more of a personal look at Ted Kennedy by someone that was close to him and knew him well.

In the end, as Burke says, Kennedy for all his flaws cannot do a lot of harm as the respected Senator that he is now, so long as he doesn't become President, but his chance has already passed.

I would like to say this book has a pretty good overview of tourist attractions, accommadations and travellers tips. It is however at times just rude to India and Hinduism in particular. It always mentions Buddhism first such as "Buddhist and Hindu temples" and the like. It also has the nerve to say of Varanasi, "before it was the most sacred place in the world for Hindu, the Buddha preached his first sermon near here". Besides this and incorporating the bogus Aryan Invasion Theory in the history section, I would recommend this book to readers but beware of some of its facts

I took this book on my first trip to India and once there didn't even use it. We didn't go to the tourist-y places so didn't need the book, and the places we went weren't in the book. The history and culture sections were useful in pre-trip preparation. We found clean and inexpensive hotels and restaurants on our own; it wasn't difficult. While in India I did find a book called Culture Shock: India. This is the book I wish I would have found and purchased before my trip and it's the one I've been recommending to everyone (even if they don't ask me!). Go to India without a guidebook!

I have a different perspective on this book than a "regular tourist". I was looking for the following -
a) a reasonably clear overview of each city or historical site, when it was built, and by whom, and why it is of importance to tourists and to India
b) reasonable detail for cities, outside of the usual tourist attractions
c) some attractions/ towns not listed in most tourist books.

I was checking the sections on West Bengal and Orissa in particular (having lived and travelled in both states). I used those sections to compare between this guide (the 1999 edition) and Lonely Planet etc. For my purposes, Rough Guide was the most helpful - in describing places, in offering different ways to get around (with notes on how safe it is for women etc), in evaluating the historical and/or tourist appeal of places, and so forth. I think I fell for this guide when I noticed the level of detail it had on eating places and places of worship in a residential area in South Calcutta (not to mention a critique of the Pipli handicraft industry).

The little vignettes on getting around in a Hindu holy site (and in temples, where allowed in) were also quite interesting. I have never been one to make pilgrimages, but if I wanted to do so, this would be useful to have along. The history section was surprisingly thorough and balanced - and I learned new things not covered in Indian history textbooks in school.

Is this book perfect? Of course not. But a guidebook generally cannot cater to all tastes equally. For me (a non-tourist but an NRI returning home), it did quite well (even though Jammu & Kashmir were omitted but Ladakh was included). It sparked in me the determination to visit Madhya Pradesh (one of the few states I have never visited) and parts of the Northeast. I would love to see a Rough Guide or the equivalent that focuses more on Eastern and North-eastern India, but until this, this works fine.

I bought this book for its snappy cover and intro on Hammett's fascinating life. But the stories themselves are mostly a let-down. Hammett really hit his stride with the novels, and it's hard to tell from these early magazine pieces how good a writer he'd become. Still, the violence, corruption and sexy seediness that make his other work so much fun are here in embryo. If you're already a Hammett fan, reading these stories is like watching an all-star's warm up swings before he nails a home run. If not, let "The Maltese Falcon" or "Red Harvest" knock your socks off before you make the trip to Nightmare Town.

As a long-time fan of 'classic' noir/detective fiction (Hammett, Chandler, MacDonald, Thompson) and it's stylistic roots in the pulps, I have to say I'm somewhat disappointed with this volume. There's alot here in terms of sheer number of stories, but aside from the very worthwhile Sam Spade shorts (which bump it to 3 stars), it's very uneven in quality. Your taste buds will like the delicious descriptive and atmospheric elements (particularly for hard-core Chandler fans like me...his inspirations via Hammett are in good supply) but the story construction leaves much to desire. The better part of the book is made up of hastily conceived vignettes that will remind you just as to why most of 'pulp' writing was considered disposable.

These stories were printed in the 1920s by "Black Mask" magazine, one of the monthly pulp magazines that entertained America before radio and television. Some of the stories were repeated in later works ("Who Killed Bob Teal") and never reprinted in Samuel Dashiell Hammett's lifetime. The stories are still entertaining today, and also provide a glance at a life that few of us know.

SDH worked as a Pinkerton detective for years, seeking fun, travel, adventure. The stories reflect his life as a private detective would see it: a world of crime and corruption. Would this work damage an operative expecially when de didn't have a normal family and home life? Does this reoccur today?

I was surprised to find that I was often very interested in the topics within this book and Confucius' handling of said themes. Having read Plato only a short time ago, Confucius seemed like a breath of fresh air. His concerns are how to live a virtuous life and achieve benevolence. Unlike much ancient philosphy, many of the sayings have their impact undimished by time. In each book (consisting usually of about 3 pages) there would generally be at least two or three sayings that struck me as truly meaningful and pertinent. Naturally, there were also some that seemed out of place or irrational, but that is to be expected in any text which is so old. If one is able to mine the gold from the rocks, Analects of Confucius can be quite a rewarding experience. However, I found the introduction and essays in the back of the book to be superfluous and felt that they did not shed much additional light on who Confucius was or what his teachings meant, choosing instead to focus mostly on minutue that was mostly uninteresting to me. This book is not a long read, and almost certainly worth a curious person's time.

THE ANALECTS IS A GOOD BOOK FOR ANYBODY WHO WANTS TO UNDERSTAND CONFUCIAN PHILOSOPHY. THE TRANSLATION IS CLEAR AND UNDERSTANDABLE, EASY TO READ, BUT IT DOESNT EXPLAIN WHAT EACH ANALECT MEANS AND BEGGINERS ON THE SUBJECT COULD MISUNDERSTAND THE MEANINGS. GREAT REFERENCE BOOK FOR PEOPLE WHO ALREADY KNOW CONFUCIANISM OR A LITTLE OF CHINESE HISTORY.

D.C Lau's Translation of Confuciuan Philosophy and "The Analects" is perhaps the best I've ever read. Lau brillantly enuciates the most important tenets of Confucian thought in a clear and concise manner, while at the same time not forsaking any of the intellectual or scholarly integrity that often happens with certain translations of Confucius. Lau 's introduction gives a wonderful introduction to the goldmine of wisdom that one encounters while reading Confucius and helped me to understand the teachings of Confucius better than any other translator. As for "The Analects" itself, I could write 20 pages on why it is the most beautifully constructed philosophy ever written, but I won't and will simply say this. The wisdom in "The Analects" is worth more than 10 of those so called "New Age" books that attempt to give insight but in fact only give rhetoric. Confucius wil open your eyes to the joy of living and the joy of a life of the pursuit of what TRUE wisdom, truth and virtue really are. READ THIS BOOK, IT WILL CHANGE YOUR LIFE.