Naxos audio maintain their high reputation with this excellent production of Milton's classic; wonderfully read by Anton Lesser, with Laura Paton as Eve.

Paradise Lost can be a difficult read. Personally, I could never get round to comitting myself to the book, but this reading really brings it to life, and is well worth spending the time and money. Milton creates many wonderous and fantastical images and characters. Satan is shown as a tragic hero, tormented by the innocence of Adam and Eve, and prompted to revenge. Milton actually uses his characters to play 'devil's advocate' (literally!) by asking many paradoxical questions of the biblical story. Considering this book was first printed at the height of the witchcraft paranoia of the seventeenth century, it's amazing he managed to get away with it.

Full of allegory and layers of meaning, this is a CD set you can enjoy again and again.

Merritt Hughes was a Quaker??
Anyway, despite the date of publication (1962) which leaves the commentary a little outdated, in that it doesn't really address Stanley Fish or Joseph Wittreich or some other big Milton scholars' recent contributions to the subject, this edition is great, for beginning milton readers and more advanced alike. The introduction and footnotes are among the most complete available anywhere with good references to hebrew, classical, and other motifs within the poem. It addresses the ptolemic vs. copernican debate (sun round earth or earth round sun) and Milton's astronomy in some depth in the introduction, maybe beyond what will be interesting until you've finished the poem.
A timeless edition, I would say, which is why its still popular after 40 years, much better than the penguin classic edition.

Who are these presumptuous people who are reviewing Milton??? They just want to see themselves in print. I'm just reviewing the printing itself. I like it a lot. It's a small reddish hardcover. It is VERY plain. No forward, afterward, footnotes, line numbers, or ANYTHING. And that's what I wanted. It's just the poem! (with milton's beginning paragraphs of course). Pretty high quality job. I don't recommend it for the first time reader, but for more experienced ones that want to read it without dealing with everyone else's interpretations, etc. I want to read a poem not a textbook.

This is a great book! I read it for the first time about a year ago, and it is still one of my favorite books! It is very helpful for school projects!

Kinderlager was a great book. It dipped into all the senses. In the book the feelings of three different people were expressed in three different books. The books were all about the time they spent in the Holocaust. In some way or another they all met up with each other in the labor camps. The book explains these peoples' experiences and grieving in great detail. The reason why I liked this book so much was because it was real. Just knowing those people really lived through those harsh conditions... it made the book more effective. I recommend this book to anyone don't miss out on the chance to read it!

This book is one of the few such non-fiction works thataccomplishes several goals while still reaching an audience that, inmy opinion, spans in age from the old to the very young. The graphicaccounts and descriptions may seem too harsh at first for youngreaders, however, the subtle tone and easy language turns a tragicstory into a recognizable tale of pain, perseverance, and ultimatestrength. I've been around these stories my whole life, and though Ifound it very hard as a child to read such accounts, I would recommendusing this book as a tool to teach children about the past so they canbetter direct their future...I hope you read my mother's story andhelp your children understand what happened, what can happen, and whatshould never happen again.

We've seen enough pictures of Marilyn Morone, but this book unveils some of the rarely-seen backstage and real life pictures of Marilyn taken by her favorite photographer Miller Grenne. In addition to her normal sexy appearence, Marilyn looked natural, stunning and relaxed in these pictures. A must buy for Marilyn fans!

OK. This book is really magnificent. Alone the cover and the back cover are to frame. The Black Sitting is indeed breathtaking and belong on billboards.
However you want to be aware that there are different editions of this book. This one is a tiny hardcover edition, very small. I don't know why it was made. The regular one was a regular sized coffee table book, of around 10 inches height. It looks as though this may be out of print.

As the previous reviewers commented, I found this book to be a superlative photo album of one of America's foremost photographers. Mr. Green truly captured Marilyn Monroe's candid beauty. Green brought forth Monroe's innocence as well as her sensual and goddess like images through the lens of his camera. You see her playfully swimming and frolicking in a pool. You see her riding atop an elephant in Madison Square Garden, NY to help benefit Children's Charity. The closing photos in the book of her portrayal of Elsie Marina, in the Prince and The Showgirl and "Cherie" the "Chanteuse" in her first movie production of "Bus Stop" are memorable as well. I truly recommend this magnificent work for anyone who enjoys seeing a creative master photographer and the beautiful legendary Monroe.

Although Gregory's intended audience is those who would teach children and youth, the laws he outlines are equally applicable to teaching adults. Having taught children in Sunday Schools, and adults in software training classes and programming classes, I can verify that ignoring these principles is significantly deleterious to the outcome of teaching.

Gregory's observations are organised into explanations of seven laws (hence the title):

The Law of the Lesson
The Law of the Language
The Law of the Teacher
The Law of the Teaching Process
The Law of the Learner
The Law of the Learning Process
The Law of Review

His key insight is that knowledge is not a commodity that can be transferred from mind to mind in the way that a physical object is transferred from hand to hand. Thus teaching is fundamentally a conversation, and the object of the teacher is not to directly transmit knowledge. Rather, the teacher's goal is to excite the student to self discovery and to direct him or her in that process of discovery. The teacher should only resort to direct communication of the material when it is necessary to quickly provide context for the main lesson to be learned.

The stress upon review done properly is equally important. For Gregory, review is not successful if the teacher merely elicits a verbatim recitation of the lesson imparted. Review should be structured in a way that requires the student to have internalised the lesson and be able to apply it experientially.

Even though the book is thin, Gregory gives many practical tips for making teaching work and many of examples of what doesn't work. In fact, the thinness is a virtue. One can easily read a chapter in a very short sitting, but then spend the rest of one's day evaluating one's own teaching by his standards and pondering what changes could be made to improve one's teaching.

I had taught Sunday School for a few years when a seasoned elder recommended this book. I was immediately hooked when I began to read it. I had to learn to teach the hard way, and I wish I had gotten ahold of this book earlier. I am now the Sunday School superintendent and I asked all the teachers to read this book. They loved it too! The amazing thing about this masterpiece of a book is that he follows his own advice. He starts simple and works to the more complex. He gets the readers attention and interest and keeps it until the end. Even if you don't like to read that much, you will savour this well written book. I was inspired and equipped to be a better teacher after reading this book.

As much as I enjoy The Seven Laws of Teaching, I also enjoy its orderly lay out. Each law of teaching is paced chapter by chapter, which makes reader easy to follow the flow of the concepts. In another word, its structure gives an effective communication to the readers. Another strength of this book is the paragraph number and the key word next to the paragraph. The paragraph number and the key word are two effective reading tools in reviewing the concepts for the reader.

The authors present a simplistic notion of therapy and hypnosis. Their talk of "mini-minds" reminded me of the movie Austin Powers. You won't find sophisticated theory here, but there is much of practical value. This book is definitely worth owning as a reference manual, but it is overpriced for what you get.

The book has a a variety of inductions, emerging scripts and scripts for dealing with assortment of situations a hypnotherapist may encounter in his practice. Most scripts contain metaphors which may work more effectively in one-on-one practice if they are adapted to the one's that may be more meaningful for the client.

Here's a sample script from this collection:

SWEET DREAMS SCRIPT
Tonight, perhaps tomorrow too,
your unconscious mind
can give you a dream,
a very special dream
that clarifies the problem
indicates the source perhaps,
but tells you quite clearly
how to solve that problem now.
And each night afterwards,
until you understand it,
until you decide to do it or not,
that dream can return to you
in one form or another.
And every day
as you go about your business,
your unconscious can find something,
some thought, perception, awareness,
a taste perhaps or a sensation,
or even a color,
that seems familiar
and reminds you of something,
reminds you fo what your unconscious mind
is trying to tell you,
until you fully understand
and use that understanding for you.

I really began appreciating this book after attending an Ericksonian hypnotherapy workshop. The induction scripts are good examples of the different kinds of inductions and are usable as written. The metaphors (where the work gets done) are also very useful as is but as you get more experienced they make great bases for customized scripts. The chapter "on doing hypnotherapy" is one of the best introductions to the art I've seen. This is the one book I use regularly while doing therapy with clients.

Superbly written, page burning, riveting book. All of the excitement and word craft of a Tom Clancy novel but real history from a man who lived it. This book is a great read and about a subject that anyone interested in history, politics, or current events should absolutely read.
The Main Enemy chronicles the secret war of spying from 1985 until the end of the cold war. What makes this book so interesting, and different, is that one of the authors lived the story. In addition this book shows how men make history while not even knowing the ultimate consequences of their actions. Milt Bearden puts the stories and the lessons learned in a global context. Instead of being simply a collection of anecdotes or a another narcissistic (and self-serving) biography, this book opens up a very poorly understood period of history and of a profession.
The Main Enemy also clearly shows us the debt we owe countless men and woman who protect and serve this country whose actions and sacrifices will never be known. The authors show how the information acquired by these brave people contribute to saving lives on the battlefield, contribute to better US-World negotiations, and impact every American's life, without our even knowing it.
Not only have Mr. Bearden and Mr. Risen written a great book, but they have served this country by better educating us on how the world really works and what is needed in the future. I believe that this book should be required reading by every student and politician. It could save grave errors and costly mistakes in the future.

This reviewer served in Embassy Pakistan for two years from the week the author arrived in mid-1986 as Chief of Station, Islamabad.

In a government career that spanned twenty-five years, he was, without a doubt, the best Agency operator and manager ever encountered. Looking back on events, what was accomplished under our watch was not only important, it was truly exciting.

This book, especially the middle third that deals with the war in Afghanistan, is right on the mark. In fact, I learned things in this book that I never knew about at the time as I did not have the "need to know."

This book has a very important story to tell on a critical junction-point in the resolution of the Cold War told by the man at the tip of the spear. In all areas where I have direct knowledge, there is not one instance where I felt he was less than totally objective. Most remarkably, he made what he did seem effortless and, more importantly to me, he did it with elan. His troops relished every minute of every day -- unless they dropped the ball. One lapse and there was all hell to pay.

The seriously broad scope of this book is such that, clearly, there was simply not enough pages to encompass all the many peripheral stories that might have been mentioned. Anecdotes and telling detail abound throughout but there are many more tales that could have been told that would make the reader drop the book in sheer glee. Of the many that do make it into the text, the one on the exchange of cables between the field and Langley on the "specifications" for mules delivered to portage materiel into the Afghan war zone, is, without a doubt, a classic.

For those of us then in Islamabad who fought in Viet Nam and saw it as a correct but completely mishandled affair by both the Pentagon and Capitol Hill, we all understood on that crisp, Fall day in 1986 when a Stinger missile brought down the first Soviet aircraft, that their arrogant adventure in Afghanistan was the death-knell of their perverted philosophy and totally-flawed and simplistic system.

One had to be there. To date, for the armchair warrior, this book is as close and as good as it gets.

Milt Bearden's second book is a must read for those of us baby boomers who lived through the cold war, but had no idea how hot it really was. For the first time, we get the straight story on the possible link between the Russians and the Kennedy assasination, as well as a true understanding of the deep seated fear of Regan that permeated the Kremlin. If we had only known how close we were to real disaster, it might have been more difficult to mindlessly enjoy the Beatles, Woodstock and Disco.

The story evolves to fully describe the roots of the Afganistan situation, and the impact that the US-backed campaign to oust the Russians had on the future of that region.

For those who are seeking to understand the real geopolitical forces that shaped the second half of the 20th Century, and be caught up in the facinating global chess game we played with the Russians...read this book. You will not be able to stop thinking about it.

Milton's "Paradise Lost" is the best work of literature in the English language, bar none. Christians and non-Christians alike should marvel at the vision presented by Milton. He is not a Satanist, as the Romantics would have you believe. Indeed, he is a devout Christian. This is what makes the work so extraordinary. Milton's vision of the astral world invokes various responses from the reader, all of them genuine and some contradictory. No matter who you are or what you believe, you will thoroughly enjoy this imaginary look into the events surrounding the fall of Lucifer and the beginnings of man in the Garden of Eden.

I was assigned to read Paradise Lost on my own over the summer and I am so glad that I chose the Norton Critical edition. Obviously, reading Paradise Lost is a daunting task for anyone who isn't a religious historian and without the Norton Critical edition, I might not have finished the epic at all (which would be much of a loss, not only in my grades.)

This edition has a vast array of extremely helpful footnotes (have a Bible at hand for all those cross-references) and it has large margins for taking plenty of notes of your own. More than half of the book is a collection of various literature, excerpts and explanations that are also quite helpful.

Certainly, there is no doubt that Paradise Lost is an excellent work, but the Norton Critical edition is invaluable for any average person (like me) who wants to truly appreciate it. I highly recommend this.

Paradise Lost was not part of my core curriculum in science and mathematics. I was of course aware that scholars considered it a great work, a classic. But it seemed a bit daunting - long, difficult, dated, and possibly no longer relevant.

A few years ago I made two fortunate decisions. I elected to read Milton's Paradise Lost and I bought the Norton Critical Edition (edited by Scott Elledge). I read and reread Paradise Lost over a period of three months as well as the 300 pages of the Norton critical commentary. I was stunned by the beauty and power of Milton. Why had I waited so long to even approach such a literary masterpiece?

Make no mistake. I had been right in several ways. Paradise Lost is difficult, it is long, and full appreciation requires an understanding of the historical and religious context. But Paradise Lost is a remarkable achievement. It explores questions regarding man and God that are as relevant today as in the 17th century. And the genius of Milton has never been surpassed.

I found the Norton footnotes extremely helpful - definitions for rare or archaic words and expressions, explanations of the historical context, and links to the critical commentary section. The footnotes are at the page bottom, making them readily accessible.

The Norton biographical, historical, and literary commentaries were fascinating in their own right. I may well as spent as many hours reading commentary as with Paradise Lost itself.

John Milton led a remarkable life. His enthusiastic euology on Shakespeare was included in the second folio edition of Shakespeare in 1632. This was Milton's first public appearance as an author! While traveling as a young man he "found and visited" the great Galileo, old and blind, a house prisoner of the Inquisition for his astronomical heresy. Years later Milton, a close supporter of Cromwell, barely escaped the scaffold at the Restoration and was at risk for some period afterwards. Many considered Milton no more than an outcast, now old and blind himself, a republican and regicide who had escaped death by too much clemency. Within a few years this aging blind outcast created one of the masterpieces of the English language.

Milton broke all English tradition by writing Paradise Lost in blank verse. Homer in Greek and Vergil in Latin had used blank verse, but English demanded rhyme. Although others failed to imitate Milton's blank verse (I suspect that none wanted to be compared directly with genius), the praise was without exception. Dryden, a master of rhyme, is attributed with saying, "This man cuts us all out, and the ancients too".

Milton's characterization of Satan, Adam, Eve, the archangels Raphael, Michael, and Gabriel, and even God himself are masterful. The debates and arguments that evolve around free will, obedience, forbidden knowledge, love, evil, and guilt are timeless. And fascinating. And thought provoking.

Paradise Lost will require commitment and patience and thought. The commitment in time is substantial. (I enjoy Samuel Johnson's subtle comment: "None ever wished it longer than it is.") But the return is a personal experience with great literature, one of the masterpieces of the English language. I consider myself fortunate to have made such an investment.

Basic and fun to read. Lots of good info to make anyone an AOL expert. From the novice to the expert. Plenty of info on getting started and learning to use the different applications on the program. A real winner!

Although the title suggests otherwise, John Kaufeld will not make you feel like a "dummy" as you breeze through the pages of his America Online handbook. I purchased this book right after I got online, and using AOL like a "pro" in no time flat! Kaufeld has a special knack for writing to the average Joe that is not well-versed in technical terminology, hence the "dummies" title, but as you read the book, the jargon will come to you. If you're feeling a bit frustrated with AOL, or even if you just want to learn a bit more about it, I would definitely advise investing in a copy of "America Online for Dummies". You'll set this book next to your computer, read a chapter or two every day, and even keep it next to your computer even after you finish it as a reference guide - it's an invaluable resource, to say the least.

After several years on AOL, I have come to realize that they do not make anything simple or easy. I thought I knew on the in's and out's of shortcuts and tricks on AOL but I was mistaken. The authors did a great job of compiling every question members have ever asked and answers that actually explain themselves. Rather than simply telling the reader this is how to achieve this goal, they walk you through each process. I also have the quick reference for work and I wish I had about forty copies for each of our salesmen who all seem to be computer illiterate. lol

This is both a great read and an important historical document.

Very entertaining read of the author's trip through 19th Century America, full of wonderful description and enlightening observations. Despite the griping below, Mrs Trollope simply reports what she sees - men spitting tobacco on the floor, ladies off in another room while the guys have a good time, etc. She reports accurately on our forefathers' rugged pioneer spirit, but points out the lack of education everywhere. We want to shout "lies!" but Mark Twain wrote about the same thing, and the aspects of our society that haven't changed much are still being commented on with the same frankness by writers like Saul Bellow, Gore Vidal, Dawn Powell, Paul Theroux and Joan Didion. Many true-hearted Americans will enjoy this book no end. Mrs Trollope clearly loved America and simply wrote truthfully about; she is simply beholden to no one - the essence of good writing. A thoroughly refreshing read.

This is an extremely entertaining commentary on American manners and well written. I agree, however, with Mrs. Trollope's son, Anthony, who commented that Mrs. Trollope is a keen observer but she understands little. Certainly her complaints about the lack of gentility among Americans is valid but she completely missed the wonderful lack of class restraints endemic to English society which afforded Americans "class mobility"--freedom of opportunity (except for native Americans and slaves).

This is a great book if you are interested in the more analytical and theoretical side of hypnosis and/or hypnosis used in therapy. -- A linguistic perspective. --

Volume I covers the model overall
Volume II goes a little more into dealing with incongruent clients, and a linguistic model of representation. [the 4-tuple, R-Operator and C-Operator]

THE GOOD -- [Although] It is not a very quick read... because everything in this book is actually useful. You will not want to rush through this one, and it is a book you will want to go back to. It does a good job covering the Milton Model, the language patterns and non-verbal communication.

This book is not for everybody though...

THE BAD -- Personally, there isn't anything I dislike about this book, but I do realize that some people have different interests and reasons for wanting to learn about hypnosis. First of all, this book is probably not for beginners. If you are, it would take a little longer to finish thoroughly. An book on Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) that covers both the Meta-model and the Milton Model (consider "Introducing NLP", by Joseph O'Connor et al. -- it has a green cover) will provide a great introduction/pre-read to this book.

This book (Volume I) is worth reading by anyone interested in hypnosis. The authors present the major linguistic techniques that Erickson used to induce and maintain hypnosis, as well as his methods of doing hypnotherapy. They approach Erickson from the discipline of linguistics, so the reading is a bit technical at times, but perfectly understandable if you stick with it. They review the same material many times to make it very clear to the reader. I wish there were an accompanying audiotape of Erickson so that the reader could hear the analogical markings that Erickson uses with his speech to clients. Anyone seriously interested in Erickson's approach to hypnosis should read this book.
Volume II is nearly incomprehensive to someone who does not have a Ph.D. in linguistics. The authors in Volume II appear incapable of expressing their valuable ideas in simple English, which may be a sign that they really don't understand what they are saying well enough to communicate it to others. Rather than spending your hard-earned money on Volume II, you might read other authors like Steve Gilligan (Therapeutic Trances) who covers the same material in plain English rather than quasi-mathematic formulas and mumbo-jumbo about 4-tuples, etc.

Learn about Milton's Strategy of hypnosis and the expert modeling of John Grinder and Richard Bandler, co-founders of NLP. Learn directly the patterns of hypnosis used for creating change. A book chock full of metaphors and stories to weave change in personality.