Lull's work is, perhaps, one of the most often quoted and referenced works in all studies relating to medieval chivalry. Looking at the bibliographies of medieval researchers such as Maurice Keen and Peter Coss, you find Lull's work featured prominently. THE BOOK OF THE ORDER OF CHIVALRY (its English title) is valuable to have simply because it is good, simple prose that details the virtues of chivalry as they were espoused in the Midde Ages. However....

My rating for this book is not as high as it could be. I take issue with the price of the book. For its size, far fewer pages than any standard novel, approximately 25$US was far too much money. The quality of the physical book didn't seem warrant the cost. It was sturdy and nice, not cheap. But I get the distinct impression the publishers were trying to cover up for the short amount of text. This could have easily been remedied in other ways.

I was disappointed with the fact that the book was so terribly short. Certainly the original manuscript text from which the work was translated was short. To combat the problems of printing a short manuscript, it would have been very easy to include the original manuscript text side-by-side with the translation. This would have allowed researchers to judge for themselves the validity of the translation and bulk up the book at the same time without driving up the price. Some of the finest translated books on medieval manuscripts have this feature and they're often equal in at 5 times the size.

Perhaps my biggest issue is with the work itself. While certainly a very important work in terms of "chivalric behavior" and "codes of conduct", I was left with a certain sense of dissatisfaction when I was done reading it. I expected something a little more...definitive...compelling, especially considering how many researchers prominently reference this work. When I was done reading THE BOOK OF THE ORDER OF CHIVALRY, I couldn't help but wonder if there was something more to be said that didn't get said. I think that had I read this book before I had read military manuals like Vegetius's "Epitomie of Military Science" or the Bushido conduct manual, "Code of the Samurai", I wouldn't have been left with the feeling that I'd missed something terribly important.

If you're looking for a work that tells you how to behave like a knight was supposed to, this book might be it. At the current price, consider well if you couldn't instead just do without it and read the secondary sources, books that discuss more about the historical aspects of knighthood (Keen, Coss, et. al.). Researchers wishing to complete their collections with a primary sources such as this one? By all means, buy this book, but again, consider the price. See if one of your friends will buy you a bookstore coupon and use that toward the purchase. You might be more satisfied that way.

This book provides excellent insights into the concept and ideals of Chivalry and Knighthood. Thorough discussions of the symbolism of the Knights weapons and armor provide a wealth of material for those interested in chivalric orders or the mindset of the middle ages.

While I have always found Garcia Lorca both depressing and pretentious (despite his considerable reputation), I was dazzled by the poetry of Juan Ramon Jimenez which I saw here for the first time. It is really unfortunate that he is so unknown in North America. His poetry will open your heart.

I was in college, was poor, had heard of Lorca from a movie and this book had the same poem in it. I hadn't particular cared for many of Bly's men's movement stuff, but his translations of Jimenez and Lorca are phenomenal. To me Jimenez gives you a glimpse of life in it's beauty, while Lorca opens the shadow like a door. One of Jimenez's poems called'"I was sitting", mentions him reading "the bitter and melancholy book of the poet who knows my dreams", this book of poems has become that same book to me. After 7 years, I still read it on a regular basis. I have the 1973 edition, but the pages are falling out and coffee stained. I was elated to know it has been republished, and will purchase the 1997 edition to replace my older one. I'll say again that I haven't cared for Bly's other work, but his translation of these and other poets is breathtaking.

This is an interesting but somewhat strange book. It provides a really amazing view of what it was like to do science in those days, in particular about the various political maneuvering that was required to navigate the old spanish academic system. It also provides interesting insight into the personality of one of the greatest pioneers of cell biology. Unfortunately, part of his personality involves telling us all how great he was, so sometimes I found the book a little tiresome to read. I was also kind of disappointed in that it took a long time before he got around to covering the time when he actually made his important contributions to science. Still, for anyone interested in cell or neurobiology, or in the history of science, I would recommend this book fairly strongly as something they will enjoy.

This book contained many valuable insights into the life of one of the most influential neuroscientists ever. This book was an excellent read.

This is a fine and interesting collection, but as good as some contributions are, others are quite poor. The overview of neurosciences by Kandel is quite good, as are the papers on quantum consicousness by Penrose and Hameroff (although they do appear in every consicousness collection out there). Wolf Singer presents a strong approach to consicousness based on neuronal assemblies and synchronization. P.Stoerig presents THE review of the neuronal correlates of visual consicousness, using neuropsychology, single cell recording and imaging experiments to probe the contributions of visual cortex to phenomenal vision. The best paper in the book, i my opinion. Changeaux and DEhaene present their model for a neuronal global workspace, in my opinion one of the stronger consicousness models out there (see Dehaenes The congitive Neuroscience of Consicousness). Llinas presents his neuronal ocillation theory of thalamocortical interactions, and Arbib a very thought provoking approach to consicousness and language that uses as its starting point the action of mirror neurons.

Not all is solid in the contributions, as one can see from Edelmans re-printiong of a chapter of his 1992 book on consciousness. His more recent work is stronger. Other contributions add almost nothing to the debate, like 2 pagers by Jacob, Morowitz, and a very abstract paper on single celled organisms by Margulis. Gell-Mann offers interesting thoughts on emergence and makes a very good point and potential argument against quantum theories of consicousness like Hameroffs. IT simply points out that these depend on an interpretation of quantum mechanics thas is itself without proof.

Those interested on consciousness would be better off by reading this book, and those curious about neuroscience and Cajals work in general would too. However the collection lacks a little coherence in my opinion, as well as stronger and more original contributions.

This book is meant to be a reference and basic resource to provide quick explanation and answers to situations that are likely to be encountered relating to pacemakers and implantable cardioverter defibrillators. It presents the terminology and language used by the professionals who deal with these devices and provides examples of basic and advanced pacemaker function. Example figures of normal and abnormal functions of pacemakers are provided. The indications for use of pacemakers and defibrillators are discussed as well as the contraindications. Common malfunctions are described and a approach to the diagnosis and remedy of these problems are presented as well as surgical issues and patients concerns.

Cardiac Pacing will be useful for physicians, nurses, students and technicians that occasionally come in contact with patients who have implanted heart rhythm control devices.

Cheri tells a story of the end of a six years affair between a middle-age woman, Lea, and a young man, Cheri. The funny thing is that stereotypes are turned upside-down, it is Cheri who wears silk pyjamas and Lea's pearls. He is the object of gaze and Lea gives him lessons in love. But Cheri marries a young woman looking for her money and Lea is emotionally destroyed. The story continues in The Last Of Cheri, written six years later, which contrasts Lea's strength and Cheri's fragility. The two books recount the rise and fall of a spoiled, capricious and handsome man, who already as a child was called "petit chef-d'oeuvre" by the American ladies. The end is perhaps the punishment to passionate love, a feeling which seems to be condemned for the author as well.

This book contains seven essays by various scholars on the development of democracy in Taiwan, Hong Kong and the PRC. Each of the essays is readable and well-researched. In two cases -- in an essay by Richard Baum on the real meaning of Hong Kong's 1998 legislative elections and in the essay by Tianjian Shi on the compatibility of democracy with modern cultural values in the PRC -- I found the book changed the way I previously thought about the issues.

Unfortunately, Taiwan's stunning democratic development over the last two decades is ignored. Of the seven essays in the book, four are about the PRC, two are on Hong Kong, but only one deals with Taiwan -- and that piece is about the development of democracy during the martial law era, which ended in 1987. This is an important and interesting subject, but why wasn't anything added to the volume dealing with more current developments on the island? Given that Taiwan has gone much further along the path to consolidating its democracy than either Hong Kong or the PRC, it seems a fuller treatment of its experience should have been provided.

WHEN I READ THIS BOOK, IT SEEMED LIKE I WAS READING A STORY OF MY LIFE AND I WAS THINKING OF THE THINGS THAT I SHOULD OF SAID BUT DIDNT. HE WRITES IN HIS OWN FORM OF POETRY TO EXPRESS HIS FEELINGS AND THOUGHTS, UNLIKE SOME OTHERS BOOKS I HAVE READ.
AND YES I THINK MANY OTHER PEOPLE CAN RELATE TO HIS WRITINGS.
AND SHOULD PICK UP THE BOOK.

This monogragh opens the door for the English reader to an important,brilliant and much neglected christian theosopher in the tradition of Jakob Boehme.

Ramon Gil Navarro, age 22, an intellectual and writer exiled by an Argentine tyrant to Chile came to California in 1849 looking for gold. Instead of riches, what he found was a riveting multicultural maelstrom of a new society struggling to be born. With his excellent command of languages (English, French, Spanish) Navarro was able to interact with most of the cosmopolitan population of the California gold fields. In this exceptionally fine diary, he paints a vivid and memorable portrait of early California and its mesmerizing cast of characters: adventurers, entrepreneurs, fortune hunters, bon vivants, cowboys, outlaws, cold-blooded killers, wandering Indians, dispossessed Mexicans, and many others. There is an especially a moving portrait of African-American slaves brought by their masters from the warm regions of the US South to the snowy mountains of California to work in the mines. Appalled by their plight, Navarro visits the shackled, freezing, famished slaves while their masters are away and describes his attempts to warm up the slaves, to feed them, and to cheer them up by playing favorite songs on his guitar. Highly recommend primary source for historians and a marvelous account of a bygone era for the average reader.