An unusual treatise by a non-Chinese on a very Chinese preoccupation. The author understands Taiji well. Studied the art in China - practising madly 6-8 hours daily and madly over 5 years. Good teachers taught him the competitive modern wushu and the older traditional forms. Now understands Taiji weaponry better than even some Chinese in China. Quite accomplished by Chinese standards but believes he needs another 25 years to go. Has a good grasp of the language and the idioms. Therefore, he has an advantage, over even the Western-educated Chinese with poor grasp of idiomatic Chinese, to familarise himself with the greater subtleties of higher Taiji. Not Tom Clancy but infinitely more informative about real Taiji.

If you are serious about horseracing and want to beat the public, this is the book for you. Tom Brohamer introduction to the reader of Dr. Howard Sartin's methodology on pace handicapping will change the way you look at horse racing forever. After reading this book you may want to find out more about Sartin methodology, and eventually obtain an easy to use computer program to make your handicapping job much easier and more effective. I hit a $2400 trifecta using this method last month.

Whether you subscribe to one handicapping theory or many, Tom Brohemer's explanation of modern pace handicapping is the best I've read.

Brohamer clearly and succintly outlines his tenents of pace handicapping and makes it easy to convert running times into meaningful handicapping information. He uses charts from actual races to illustrate his theories. The book is easy to follow and understand for semi-experienced handicapper, but takes a bit of practice to convert 1st and 2nd call fractions into pace numbers. The book covers modern tenents of pace handicapping, including running style,class drops, energy distribution. Even if you chose not to do the arithmetic, Brohamer's explanation of pace will increase your profit.

If you want be a winning horseplayer you need an understanding of pace. This is the BEST explanation of pace I have ever read. The method takes work and does not pick winners but gives you an analysis of the race the average bettor does not have. You can find the true cotenders which gives you the opportuntiy to find overlays. The analysis helps to identify underlays which can result in big payoffs in exotics. I have been seeking and reading as much as I can find on handicapping and rate this #1.

This book does an excellent job in pointing out some of the real stuggles of Thomas Merton. It is very helpful in seeking to understand the person Thomas Merton. If one reads Merton, it is evident that Merton loved God and was committed to his vocation. However, it is very clear in this work that love for God and commitment to vocation does not eliminate personal struggles with right and wrong. Griffin does a good job showing a side of Merton that so many seek to ignore. Also, the book has many good pictures. This is a good book to read.

I purchased this book after reading the review from the reader in New Orleans. This is a loving look at the final years of Thomas Merton's life. (1965 - 1968) I have only recently delved into the writings and life of this incredible man. John Howard Griffin was a close friend of Merton's and writes about his friend from within Merton's hermitage and Merton's personal journals. It is a shame that Grifffin's health prevented him from completing what was to be an authorized biography of this fascinating mystical monk. The photographs taken by Griffin are a terrific addition to a very readable book on a man and a spititual figure that I greatly admire. If you have any interest in Thomas Merton the man, then you will cherish this book. One of Griffin's lines is a nice summary of Merton, if Merton can be summarized - "What mattered was to love and to be in one piece in silence and not to try to be anybody outwardly".

This book is a must-read for those seeking to understand the final years of Merton, whose importance for contemporary spirituality cannot be underestimated. Based on Merton's own journals (to which Griffin had full access during extended stays in Merton's hermitage after the latter's untimely death in 1968), the material in this book was originally intended to be part of the officially authorized Merton biography, which ill health prevented Griffin from completing. This book is not for those whose love of Merton is confined to such early works as The Seven Storey Mountain and The Sign of Jonas. However, those who seek insights into the struggles underlying the writings he produced from 1965-68, encompassing subjects such as the Vietnam war, the evils of racism, and the practice of Zen, are likely to find this book very rewarding. John Howard Griffin (author of Black Like Me) was an excellent writer in his own right, a skilled photographer, and a friend of Merton. All three of these characteristics contribute to Follow the Ecstasy, which includes a number of intimate photographs of Merton and his hermitage. Griffin's own contemplative bent shows itself in empathic descriptions of Merton's hermit existence, with well-chosen quotations from the monk's journals. Of particular interest to some will be the very detailed account of Merton's extended involvement with a young nurse he encountered while hospitalized following back surgery. This relationship, which is referred to in very vague and sometimes sinister-sounding terms in other works on Merton, is laid bare here in all its emotional splendor. Those who love Merton may be astonished at both his vulnerability and his capacity for self-deception. For most of us, to fall deeply in love with a young woman whose feelings are reciprocal, and to arrange trysts that do not include sexual consummation of such love, would not constitute a major moral dilemma. But most of us are not world-renowned spiritual writers vowed to lives of celibate chastity. To top it all off, Merton had only recently (the year was 1966) been granted long-sought permission to live as a hermit on an isolated piece of monastery property, in order to deepen his experience of solitude. Anyone who has ever fallen in love can identify with much of what Merton went through, but few can ever have known the exquisite anguish engendered by his circumstances at the time. It is almost comical at times how he struggles both to rationalize his behavior and to see through his own rationalizations. He is a man deeply and painfully torn. On the one side, he is beset by a tide of emotions he has never before experienced and is ill-prepared to handle, while on the other, he is solemnly vowed to a life he not only loves, but believes is his divinely given vocation. Although some would be scandalized by such revelations, others will see in them yet another poignant example of the divine mystery played out in the arena of human affairs. What Griffin makes clear is that Merton fully expected this episode to become public knowledge after his death, and that he wanted those who might have idolized him to see him, warts and all, in all his human frailty. It is plain that Merton was less interested in adulation than in honesty, even regarding events in his life that show him in a less than flattering light. If there was some degree of duplicity in the machinations he undertook for the sake of spending time with his beloved, I believe it is offset by his ultimate fidelity to his Beloved. Griffin handles all of this with consummate sensitivity and grace, explicitly noting that he obtained full permission from the woman in question prior to publishing details of her relationship with this celebrated monk. Although this chapter alone, with its touching descriptions of Merton's internal spiritual combat, would've made the book worthwhile for me, there are gems scattered throughout, and an informative introduction by Robert Bonazzi. A must for real fans and/or scholars of Thomas Merton.

We use this as the main text in my US History AP course. It's a good, fairly comprehensive, yet easy to read text.

I used this textbook as a junior in high school and recently purchased a later edition. Although the wonderful charts plotting the states and electoral numbers of the Presidential elections are long gone it is still a great reference book on our nations history.

My students really enjoyed this textbook because it was so inclusive of all American heritages. It is up-to-date with current trends in American history and has a little bit of everything your students might be interested in.

This book vividly brings to life the story of two young men in love in rural America. The author does an excellent job of recreating the details of the time period. Worth reading. This is a forgotten treasure of gay literature.

This book reminds us of what it is like to love and realize that the feelings that make up the sum total of who we are, are forbbiden. Those feelings are first forbidden by the society that we live in and then by ourselves. No matter how we live, our love, our passion haunts us behind whatever face we put on for the public

This book seems to be one of the most in-depth books of Hughes's life and business dealings. Noah Dietrich, Hughes's right hand man and effectively CEO of most of his companies, wrote it. Mr. Dietrich presents excellent stories about Howard which both make you laugh and make you wonder.

Out of all the books I have read about HH, this one is the best. The one negative point about the book is that Noah Dietrich uses it more as a platform for his successes while working for HH rather than crediting them to Howard.

Whether they are true or not, I have no idea. But if you are a Hughes Fan, you should love this book.

Noah Dietrich is witty and informative. He gives incredible personal insight into Howard Hughes, and he does it in a way that makes one laugh or gasp on occasion.

It takes courage (some would say audacity) to write a book that plays on the title of C. S. Lewis's most famous work, Mere Christianity. But Longenecker has succeeded in writing a work of Catholic apologetics that pays homage to Mere Christianity and explains Catholic doctrine with verve and joy.

Longenecker is no stranger to both Fundamentalism and Evangelicalism. He attended Bob Jones University, and while studying there became acquainted with the writings of C. S. Lewis. Longenecker eventually moved to England, attended Oxford, and became an Anglican priest. Years later, after much study and consideration, he entered the Catholic Church and has been writing about Catholicism and apologetics ever since.

The goal of More Christianity, Longenecker states, is "to help non-Catholic Christians who are interested in historic Christianity to understand the modern Catholic Church more easily." Clearly he has written his book with the curious, well-read Evangelical in mind - the sort of informed Protestant who relishes reading C. S. Lewis and has questions about the Catholic Church. "Now at the dawn of the twenty-first century," Longenecker argues, "that simple Gospel that Lewis branded 'mere Christianity' and that Evangelicals call the 'old, old story' is more fully and universally presented in the Catholic Church than anywhere else."

Longenecker understands that Mere Christianity was not meant to be promote a minimalist Christianity, as some critics suggest. "Lewis's Mere Christianity is good as far as it goes, and as a first step in Christian apologetics it probably has no equal. To be fair, Lewis denied that his use of 'mere' in the title indicated the lowest common denominator." The major flaw of the famous book is its lacking ecclessiology. The problem, Longenecker argues, "is that Lewis and other well-meaning non-Catholics believe the fundamentals can exist as objective truth outside the dynamic life of the Church. . . . The basic truths of the Christian faith cannot be separated from the wholeness of the Church. Catholics believe those basic truths can be most fully known within the bosom of the Church."

After establishing these and other core premises, Longenecker works his way through the major issues separating Catholics from Evangelicals: eccelesiology, authority, the papacy, salvation, the sacraments, the Eucharist, the saints, and Mary. While not breaking any new apologetic ground, but he does a fine job of comparing Catholic doctrine with common Evangelical notions and misunderstandings. His chapter on the Real Presence is one of the best. He correctly observes, "I believe most Evangelicals deny the supernatural dimension of the Eucharist through an inherited misunderstanding of the Catholic position combined with a concession to the spirit of the age that is skeptical of anything supernatural. The way forward is to remind Evangelicals that they do actually believe in the supernatural; they do believe God is at work in the world in wonderful ways."

Longenecker's discussions of salvation and Marian beliefs would have benefited from a greater emphasis on grace as the supernatural life of God. Catholics agree that grace is divine favor, but go much farther and deeper than do Evangelicals in holding that grace is the Trinitarian life that truly infuses the soul. And the issue of confirmation is clouded by comparing the sacrament to "personal conversion." Unfortunately, this suggests that confirmation is about an individual decision, not the conferring of further supernatural grace and the gifts of the Holy Spirit upon the person - whether they are an adult, a teen, or a baby.

A balanced, engaging, and charitable work, More Christianity will go far in helping Evangelicals (and Catholics) better appreciate the riches and glories of the Catholic Church.

Note to fans of C.S. Lewis's Mere Christianity: There's more. In this book, Longenecker ventures a good part of the way into the minefield of the 'More'. The book emerged from his own story, of finding his way to Rome, on a path that started out fundamentalist/evangelical Mennonite-influenced and led to Canterbury and Anglicanism and, eventually, to Catholicism. Unlike a lot of conversion stories, though, this one refrains utterly from even the least disparagement of Protestantism. Not once coming across as superior or sneering at the values of Protestant Christianity (in this respect he seems to have perfected the benevolent manner of C.S. Lewis, the eternal kindly uncle of evangelical Christianity), Longenecker writes with both perspicacity and genuine affection for the days of family altar, revival meetings, and youth camps in Pennsylvania. The hymns and stories remembered from his youth and favorite Scriptures, all become, in this rendition, an overture to something else deeper and more dynamic, like a great opera that is ready with the stage set and just waiting for the curtain to rise.
Somehow in the search for and propagation of 'mere' Christianity, a lot of Christians seem to have forgotten to ask what else there is to the Christian experience: to Longenecker this is an almost unimaginable pity, like walking away from a banquet after just sampling the hors d'oeuvres. 'More Christianity' orients the seeker of the More to historical Christianity in its full expression, in particular, as found in the Roman Catholic Church, and fully addresses the stereotypes and misgivings that Protestants have about Rome, without resorting to strident theological polemics. Protestant readers who devoted to the truth, and are curious and really open to understanding the teachings of historical Christianity and who are ready to forsake some dogmatic misconceptions, will be surprised at how amicable and uncomplicated the way back to Rome could be after all. Definitely the best book of its kind.

This books isn't bad on PL/SQL, but if you want to write Java programs with Oracle you'll also need a JDBC book.

This one is great book for anyone who's beginning to learning oracle programming.
I bought this book after the T kyte's expert one-on-one so to me I could brush faster thru (some) pages. I guess i'm a sucker when it comes to wrox books.

But a good starting point for beginners!

I am a Web Developer (ASP) with an MS SQL background. I got throw into a project that uses an Oracle database for its backend. If not for this book I do not know where I would be. This is the best book I've seen for a newbie to Oracle. BUY THIS BOOK NOW!!!

Fans of Tudor history will enjoy this meaty volume which delivers a very different take on the life of Queen Katherine Howard...she is hardly the hysterical and promiscuous girl so often depicted. Especially interesting characterizations of "Bloody" Mary Tudor and Henry VIII, as well. Strictly for fans of the subject, however, or otherwise tedious reading.

Ford Madox Ford's "The Fifth Queen" - actually a collection of three separate novels - is a fictionalized account of the fifth wife of England's Henry VIII, Katharine Howard. As A.S. Byatt explains in her Introduction, "This figure bears little relation to what we have about the real Katharine . . ." and thus the reader should be conscious that Ford's Katharine - a young, pretty, pious woman who yearns for a return to Catholicism after Henry's split with Rome - is strictly fictional. That said, the only real failure of this work is that Katharine is the least appealing, least interesting character; we first meet her as a dispossessed ingenue seeking entrance to Henry's court around the time of his disasterous fourth marriage to Anne of Cleves, and it is this description which will follow her throughout the book. Even as she becomes Queen, it is almost by accident, surviving the machinations of Cromwell, Lord Privy Seal and the recklessness of her devoted cousin Culpepper. She is Queen by default. She constantly protests that all she seeks is a Catholic England - the "old ways" - and yet throughout she resigns herself to letting events happen to her, as if she cannot control the consequences of her own life. Indeed, her final speech to Henry where she confesses to an adultery which did not occur, becomes her last fatal act of passivity, for which she pays with her life. She cannot see that there are those who wish to help her and that her naive, narcissistic piety does not have to be her ruin. What holds these novels together is the rich supporting cast: the aforementioned Cromwell, who has his own sovereign Protestant image of England, free from the entanglements of Rome. There is the brooding Princess Mary, Henry's daughter by his first wife, who knows how to carry a grudge for her mother's divorce, the super-spy Throckmorton, the lecherous Magister Udal and more. Ford uses Katharine to show that the blind commitment to an ideal - any ideal - will only result in failure, that this world is more than ideas and faiths, but of people who are imperfect, people who will fail. It is a world five hundred years in the past, but it is also our own.

Intrigue and romance in the court of Henry VIII
Katherine Howard, armed only with education, wit and honesty, becomes the Fifth Queen, Henry VIII's fifth wife in this amazing historical trilogy. The plot-ridden court comes to vivid life as everyone high and low maneuvers for advantage. Everyone except Katherine Howard, whose unwillingness to scheme will make her queen and defenseless at the same moment. Even knowing the general story this is a fascinating and occasionally shocking novel, with a stunning ending...

This book is the story of one man's journey from Evangelical Protestantism to Roman Catholicism. It is a highly personal and deeply reflective account of one person's search for a deeper and fuller expression of faith in Christ. He details his own spiritual journey without bashing those whose experiences have been different. I thought the title was a bit misleading, as he does not really portray Evangelicalism as doctrinally or morally deficient. Also, I would caution readers interested in a more historical celebration of the faith to not think of Roman Catholicism as their only option. My own journey led from the Southern Baptist Convention to the Anglican Church, and I am very content in the Church of England. The various Eastern Orthodox churches should also be studied by those interested in an ancient expression of the faith. This book is excellent and thought-provoking, and should be widely read.

Tom Howard has written an excellent book here. It does not have to be read by a Catholic in order to gain great meaning from the work. As an evangelical, I can identify with what he discusses as lacking in the Church. He does a good job at identifying exactly the issues he sets out to work with: worshipping God in liturgy and sacrament. It is not a This-Is-Why-You-Should-Be-Catholic book, or at least does not necessarily have to be taken as a work of Catholic apologetics. He is aiming at the need in ANY church to identify its roots and appreciate 2,000 years of history in the communion of saints.

It was valuable to learn about the reason behind many traditions. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who sees the traditional liturgy as rote memorization, boring and irrelevant to their life. Tom Howard breaths life into doctrines and practices of the Church, both traditional evangelical and Catholic, that many people can lose sight of.

What I liked, though, is that he took it to the next step, claiming that worshipping God is not entirely subjective, i.e. it is objectively GOOD to have roots in tradition. So often Christians are comfortable with "whatever size fits" in worship, and don't consider that WHAT they do may be as important as how they FEEL when doing it.

As an evangelical deeply interested in and sympathetic to Catholicism, I found Thomas Howard's "Evangelical is not Enough" to be one of the most moving religious books I've read in years. Howard was born into an evangelical family, moved into an Anglican communion as an adult, and subsequent to the first publishing of "Not Enough" became a Roman Catholic. This is NOT a Roman Catholic apologia. As noted, Howard's famous (and, within evangelical circles, highly controversial) conversion post-dates this book. Instead, is an apologia for all the apostolic liturgical starins of Christianity (including the Anglican and Orthodox traditions).

Although the story is obviously colored by Howard's faith journey, this is not a biography or memoir. Instead, it is an exploration of the liturgical tradition written by someone deeply sympathetic to the evangelical tradition. Howard explores such controverted issues as Mary, the authority of scripture and church teaching (sola scriptura), justification (sola fide), and liturgy.

I believe (with Howard) that the evangelical churches have gone too far in rejecting liturgy. A traditional High Church service touches my soul far more deeply than the modern praise worship so common in evangelical services. (I was recently in one of those mega-churches where they serve Starbucks coffee and everybody takes their latte into the pew. I'm glad there are churches like that for people who prefer that style of worship, but its not for me.) The hard questions for me are the touchstones of Reformation theology--sola scriptura and sola fide. Does the apostolic tradition have authority or is only scripture authoritative? Is salvation by faith alone or by faith and works? Howard has struggled with these issues too and has given us a fair, balanced, honest, and deeply scriptural set of answers. In sum, HIGHLY recommended.