An excellent, comprehensive, and very readable text, written by a true expert on the subject. I highly reccomend it.

nothing to say just read i

Reading this book inspired me to somehow get involved in the movement for Leonard Peltier. This man was convicted of a crime there was no proof he committed and the situation has gone largely ignored by our government for 20 years!!! Read this book, learn the facts, and then get involved. Whether it be by talking about Leonard Peltier to other people and informing them, or by writing letters to your elected officials, DO SOMETHING! A fellow American has been unjustly imprisoned and it's our duty to help him.

Imagine for a moment. A political prisoner has been languishing in prison closing in on 20 years. Evidence has pointed to his innocence. His extradition from another country was based on false testimony. Even the agency that arrested him admitted to the strong possibility of his innocence. Where am I? Nazi Germany? Communist China? Russian Gulag? NOPE!! I'm right here in the GOOD OL' U.S.A.!! For close to 20 years Leonard Peltier has sat in Leavenworth. His charges of killing a federal agent has been proven false. Appeal after appeal has gone against him. So why is this injustice allowed to continue? BECAUSE WE ALLOW IT!!! If this book doesn't get you motivated to do something about this, then you are part of the problem, not the solution

FOUR SCIENCE FICTION CLASSICS is an exceptional compilation of the absolute best the genre had to offer in the 1940s and 1950s. It is composed of six powerful stories which transcend the decades in which they were written, stirring the heart and mind as powerfully now as when they were first published.

While these stories would shine under any conditions, the narrations of William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy actually serve to further energize the prose. I was especially moved by the performance of William Shatner. Despite having been a fan of Star Trek for decades, I was completely unprepared for the depth and the brilliance of his vocal talents. Shatner's clear insight into the stories and their characters radiates with every word and intonation.

I could not more strongly recommend either an audio book or a science fiction collection.

I only wanted "Mimsy Were the Borogoves" and it did come separate on tape and even on vinyl at one time. It did not hurt to get the rest of the tapes. Foundation: The Psychohistorians is what the Foundation trilogy is all about and the newer foundation books you can read the separate reviews. The Martian Chronicles is ok but I do not want to spend time reviewing this section, as better reviews will be under the book description.

However Mimsy is a different animal. So I will say something about this. It is a small sci-fi story about a formula that allows you into an alternate universe that everyone used to have access to. The problem with getting there is that it requires a different paradigm and a formula. The paradigm requires a mindset that diapers as we get older and the formula is in front of us if we know where to look. An added plus is that it is read to us enthusiastically by William Shatner

This is not a book of one historian's view on past events, it is a collection of mostly firsthand accounts written by people who were experiencing the event at the time. The editors write a brief introduction to each chapter to fit it into the "big picture" and then allows the writer to tell his/her story. This approach was a much better way to hold my interest than it would have been to read one person droning on and on in the same writing style from front cover to back cover. The material stays fresh and interesting, and the firsthand accounts of events as they happened really hit home.

This book really paints a great picture of where the Babylonians came from. To purely appriciate it, you must open your imagination and be prepaired to embark on a fantastic voyage.

Beowulf is one of the oldest extant works in English, and a glorious, thrilling epic poem in its own right. Heaney's new translation does justice to the history, the spirit, and the poetry of the text.

The poem is written in Anglo-Saxon or Old English, which is vastly different from today's English language. Unless you are a scholar of Anglo-Saxon, it's unlikely that you will understand much of the original (which is, for the scholarly and the curious, reproduced here in facing-page translation style). Ergo, it needs to be translated. Heaney has done a remarkable job, capturing the energy in lucid and eminently readable prose. Reading this new translation of Beowulf is not like being back in Brit Lit I, plowing through another dry old text in order to regurgitate facts on the midterm. It's much closer to reading a fascinating fairy-tale or modern day sci-fi story.

Heaney, whose original work has earned him the reputation of being one of today's most important and influential poets, also must be lauded for his faithfulness to the spirit and conventions of Anglo-Saxon verse. He retains the typical caesura and, in most lines, the alliterative parallel between the first and latter halves of the line. His language is smooth, resonant, and expressive, without degenerating into pretentiousness or overt cleverness. At no point does his language become self-conscious, or interrupt the story, which moves as quickly in his capable hands as in the original.

The physical book itself, as well, is gorgeous: a streamlined cover design featuring a warrior in chain-mail armor and an unusual graphic approach to the page layouts. This is a book to curl up with on the proverbial dark stormy night, to savor reading, to save for re-reading. If only Heaney would turn his hand to Paradise Lost!

Lucretius isn't an author most come across, but nevertheless the DE RERVM NATVRA is truly a classic. In it he explains his version of epicureanism, taken from Epicurus and tweaked by Lucretius himself. Don't think our word 'epicurean' and this epicureanism are the same thing: epicurean has taken on a set of meanings that usually aren't present in the early philosophy, or in Lucretius's laying-out of it. Epicureanism should appeal to moderns as a very scientific view of the universe (L. offers scientific explanations of natural phaenomena, and isn't afraid to suspend judgement), including early atomic theory. On the other hand, the poetry and storytelling are moving. It is philosophy rimmed with the honey of poetry (as Lucretius puts it himself). As per this edition, it's pricey, but well worth it to completely understand the poet. The book itself is handsome and just the right size, and layed out well. The commentary is actually useful, unlike so many classical commentaries. It's advanced, but doesn't neglect or take for granted too much. At the same time, it doesn't concentrate on matters with a specialistic or only tenuous connection to the poem. In all, this is the place to study Lucretius, and to read a beautiful poem containing a beautiful (because thoughtful and insightful) philosophy.

This volume is a collection of studies written by a wide range of scholars, dealing with the culture, history, art and archaeology of the Ancient World, especially relating to the ancient near east. Written as a tribute to the Late Helene J. Kantor, one of the leading figures in the study of the art of the ancient near east in the 20th century, it is a tribute to the wide-ranging interests and expertise, outstanding teaching skills and warmth of the late Prof. Kantor. The various papers offer studies covering a wide range of topics, such as pottery from Bronze Age Syria and the Levant, Mesopotamian art, history and chronology, to mention but a few. Though this volume is not meant for the general public, the high scholarly quality of most of the articles insures it will play an important role in modern archaeological and historical research of the ancient near east, and serve as a worthy memory for the late Helene Kantor.

This is an unusual murder mystery set, as are most of William Marshall's books, in the fictional Hong Bay section of Hong Kong in the last several decades of British rule in Hong Kong. This time, Chief Inspector Fieffer, O'Yee, Spencer,and Auden are looking for a seemingly cold-blooded killer who is murdering Hong Kong residents who apparently have no connection to each other. As in other Yellowthread Street mysteries, it is up to Fieffer and company to figure out the connection between the crimes they are investigating. In this book, the connection is filled with irony, sadness, and greed, making this book far more than just a murder mystery. Marshall deserves to be much better known, and read, in this country than he apparently is. I hope, with Amazon.com's help, that he finds additional readers.

The two Mr. Safires express their joy in finding such concise expresions of good advice. Like poetry, good advice does sum up a whole lot of feelings and thoughts in one or two punchy phrases. Language is really neat that way, and I like the book for that, too. But what I love about this book, and why I bought it for myself and my littlest brother, is that each sentence reminds the reader that each of us is mulling over the same worries, and same concerns and the same desires... for success, for friendship, for self improvement. So the good advice is all the more useful, because it comes with a connection to other people who were thinking just like you at some point.