Ames and Hall have pulled in the often-neglected cosmological origins of the DDJ, inspired by strips found with the Guodian strips.

The authors have been meticulous in picking through the intricacies of some fairly complex terms in a thorough, yet succinct, way.

I really really like the holistic perspective in the authors' interpretation of the verses. Instead of feeling like I'm being preached at from the pulpit, it feels like I'm sitting at a table over coffee and listening. It is with great sorrow that I read of Hall's passing. Knowing this team of writers will collaborate no more makes me sad.

I am now in my third decade of Taijiquan and Qigong play. I teach both of these Chinese forms. I have 14 different translations of the Dao De Jing, four of the Art of Warfare and five of the I Jing. For many years, I have been trying to make sense of the variations in translation. My experiences -- physical, mental and spiritual - from taijiquan and qigong have not always been congruent with my "rational" understanding of the written works.

Roger Ames translation s of the Dao De Jung, Yuan Dao and SunZi has dramatically changed everything. Ames has done what no one else has done. He has attempted to understand the Daoist writings within the classical Chinese mode of thought and then translate that into English without the accompanying Western dualistic (Cartesian) baggage that has imbued all previous translations.

Ames insights into classical Chinese "cosmology, ontology and epistemology are exemplary and amazingly revealing. No previous translation had achieved his depth of insight.

I am indebted to Roger for these wonderful translations and explications of traditional Daoist thinking and being. My "new" understanding of Daoist being in the world or as Roger says, "way-making", has allowed completely new insights and abilities to emerge from my taijiquan and qigong.

Anyone who has an interest in Daoism can do nothing better than to obtain copies of Ames Dao De Jing, Yuan Dao, Sunzi and Thinking from the Han. You will be, as I am, delighted with the concept of the Wu-forms and the idea that much of the Dao De Jing derives from traditional folks songs. Imagine singing or chanting the Dao! This connects, sympathetically, for me at least, to Australian songlines and to Dineh "harmony & beauty".

Ames work is essential reading for anyone who hopes to understand the classical Chinese worldview and become realized.

The Franconia, New Hampshire, farm of the American poet Robert Frost was turned into a museum and center for poetry and the arts in 1976. From that time, "The Frost Place" has been annual event wherein an emerging poet has been invited to spend the summer living in the house where Frost once lived and wrote some of his greatest poetry. The Breath Of Parted Lips: Voices From The Robert Frost Place, Volume One is a remarkable anthology of twenty-four poets, each of whom won that honor of a summer's residency and document the success of the original concept as a means of generating outstanding poetry while nurturing the poet's muse in the rooms and views that were once the inspiration of the great Robert Frost. Poem At 40: Windwashed--as if standing next to the highway,/a truck long as the century sweeping by,/all things at last bent in the same direction./An opening, as if all/the clothes my ancestors ever wore/dry on lines in my body:/wind-whipped, parallel with the ground,/some sleeves sharing a single clothespin/so that they seem to clasp hands,/seem to hold on.//And now that I can see/up the old women's dresses,/there's nothing but a filtered light./And now that their men's smoky breath/has traversed the earth,/it has nothing to do with them./And now that awkward, fat tears of rain/slap the window screen,/now that I'm naked too,/cupping my genitals, tracing with a pencil/the blue vein between my collar bone and breast,/I'll go to sleep when I'm told.

Barta's exploration of the construction of the mexican subjectivity is superb. His is a sophisticated analysis of the process by which the State legitimates itself through nationalism. This work constitutes a devastating critique of the icons and myths constructed by nationalist discourse. It is also an invitation for us, mexicano/as, to rethink ourselves as subjects and to live our mexicaness in new and subversive ways.

This is a crazy book that cat lovers will enjoy. There is actually a Cat Hall of Fame in New York, and the story behind the woman who started it (included in the book) is fantastic. It is also really interesting to see who has been included in the hall of fame. Very entertaining and funny book.

Democracy of the Dead: Dewey, Confucius, and the Hope for Democracy in China is an impressive attempt at dialogue between Confucianism and American Pragmatism on the subject of fostering democratic reforms in China. It is both a history of philosophy text, highlighting Dewey's thought and subsequent Pragmatist scholars, liberalism, and Confucianism, and a polemic about the limitations of liberal thought in China. Although some acquaintance with the texts interpreted by the authors is recommended, the authors' synopses are trustworthy and ably and judiciously given. There are also generous quotes and and a and a nine-page bibliography provided.

Admittedly, I was skeptical about the authors' project, which seemed like a desperate attempt to bridge two subjects, pragmatism and Confucianism, that are both equally unprofitable, with a popular item in the news, China. I wanted an appealing interpretation of Confucianism, that would allow me to understand the cultural divide between east and west more easily. I was also interested in any study about pragmatism, which, as the authors also argue, deserves more respect. Last, I wanted a framework to understand Korean and western dialogue, since Korean interpretations of Confucianism are also relevant to Chinese reform historically, and are also a factor in Korea's relations with western countries. The book satisfied my demands more than satisfactorily.

Some readers may be angered by the authors' use of Deweyan Pragmatism to criticize traditional liberalism, but the authors have good reason. Dewey did have a small role in Chinese educational reform before the Communist Party assumed control in 1949. Dewey, and pragmatism in general, are both better exemplars of distinct American realities than liberalism. Also, using pragmatic terms, the authors couch Confucian concepts in a way more palatable and approachable.

The authors argue, that a Confucian interpretation of democracy is possible. This Confucian democracy is useful as a tool for political reform. And then, by using Deweyan thought, it is possible for Chinese and American reformers to share ideas for reform in both countries. The book, therefore, is ultimately a practical one.

The authors eschew nationalistic and philosophical bias, which is necessary for productive dialogue. This is not a book that celebrates western values over eastern ones. It has relevance also in Korea, yet, ironically, it will not convince Americans of the need for reform in their own country, especially if readers refuse to abandon implicit faith in liberal thinking. This is not a book about dead things, but a very lively, well-written, timely offering..

Remember reading poetry in high school? (It doesn't matter if you liked it, just recall.) The teacher would ask questions like "What does line 17 mean?" You'd struggle to explain.

Well, it really DID mean what you said. But, it also meant something else, a connection with line 34, perhaps, making it richer. It was more complex than you'd realized, a bit of a process of discovery, correlation. It had connectivity. Oh yeah, line 34. Then, you learned that pesky line alluded to a phrase in Shakespeare, the Bible, something else. All of a sudden your brain was reeling in a really big fish. For all of that and perhaps yet more, "line 17" was the focus of a field of meanings. And then in later years some new connection was formed to "line 17." The meanings grew, the connectivity grew, the process continued.

Thus we find this new publication of the Zhongyong. It is a translation, certainly. It also is informed by recent archaeological discoveries. The earliest written version of many standard classical texts date from centuries later than the original. These new discoveries are of much earlier versions of standard texts, with less of the patina of age than subsequent versions.

Even more, though, it incorporates awareness of the philosophical filters for classical Chinese thought and modern Western thought. The overlay of one filter on another may create an interference pattern. Such a pattern is discrete. It may be attractive, but it does not convey the original. In honoring both philosophical filters, Chinese and Western, Professor Ames offers greater insight into complexities of meaning, nuances of context, a glimpse of the continuity and poetry distilled in this ancient text.

It grows on you.

The glossary of key terms is a treasure mine. Here, you can take a bath in the meaning of a term, really get wet, see it from the inside. As so often happens on emerging from a bath, insight and appreciation grow.

Consider the term "cheng." Ames adopts "creativity" as cheng's focal meaning within this work. At the same time he connects "cheng" with "integrity" and "sincerity." Here they are lesser-included concepts, supportive of the classical meaning and our modern, fresh understanding of "cheng." In context they sometimes are even the primary sense.

How many Westerners would connect sincerity with creativity? In a lesser translation we would never make the connection. But there it is, and we're enriched thereby.

Section 9 of the Zhongyong, as translated, reads: The Master said, "Even the world, its states, and its clans can be pacified, even ranks and emoluments can be declined, and even flashing blades can be trodden underfoot, but focusing the familiar affairs of the day (zhongyong)-this is no easy matter."

Two and a half millennia show little change in the ease of the affairs of the day. Our understanding of that classical thought, however, is newly focused.

The poetry is back.

Grandma Moses In The 21st Century is a catalog of an elderly painter's folk art and provides an excellent survey of her works including an intricate examination of her working methods, her interpretive process, and her role in the context of modern art and social movements of her times, in the 1940s and 50s. The result is an excellent catalog which features important analyses of her achievements and displays her notable works in lavish, full page color.

Perhaps the best study of Confucius' thought available. There is a very detailed study of all the key terms in the Analects, with an emphasis on the capacity of the individual Confucian to use his better judgment in specific situations. In other words Confucius does not recommend blind obedience to the rules of etiquette (Li). The book also includes an in-depth comparison with Western philosophy, even post-modern. One of the authors, Roger Ames, has also recently written a splendid translation of the Analects together with Henry Rosemont. Both of these books are musts for a deeper understanding of the Analects.

A must read for anyone remotely interested in the Trinity. Easy to read but not simple. In this work, Olson starts from the beginning of the Trinitarian debates and leads you through an amazing ride through history as new thoughts on this essential doctrine develop. One of the things that is made evident is that what we have now is trully a develpment of doctrine, the Trinity is not something that was defined overnight. In the last chapter, Olson covers three contemporary theologians and how they define the Trinity today.

Never coming to any conclusions, Olson allows you to taste all that he's given you and chew on it. The best book on the Trinity that I've read in 2002.

The poetic prose is very beautifully written by two experts in American western frontiers. No complicated plots but lonely struggles of two guys' survival experiences