Mr. Knapke has given us the ability to go back in time and see what it was really like living and working on a caboose. Not only does he explain the jobs and conditions for the workers, but he includes all aspects of life as a train conductor. The book also includes mysteries, murder and stories of love - all the interesting things that add to the intrigue of life on the railroad.

Anyone that wants to know the true tradition of railroading - should definitely read this book.

I read this book when it was first published in 1987, when Greenberg Publishing Company was well known for its books on the history and operation of toy electric trains in the United States and before its acquisition by Kalmbach Publishing, known for its high quality magazines such as Model Railroader, Classic Toy Trains, and Trains. The book provided an informative, detailed history of Williams Electric Trains, known earlier as Williams Reproductions, Ltd., established in 1971 to make reproductions of old, collectible toy trains which were no longer easy to come by.

The book, of course, is no longer a complete history of Williams Electric Trains, for it predates the company's more recent history as a marketer of modern O-gauge electric trains (i.e., models in a scale of 1:48 operating on 3-rail track and being compatible with Lionel, K-Line, MTH, Weaver, and similar brands). However, the book may now be more significant than ever, for it provides the historical background not only for the Williams Electric Trains company but also for the MTH Electric Trains company, one of the largest and most successful marketers of toy electric trains in the United States today, a formidable competitor of the venerable Lionel company.

You see, one of Jerry Williams' earliest employees was a high school student named Mike Wolf. Employment at Williams Reproductions, Ltd. in the early 1970's gave Wolf his start in the toy electric train business, and several pages of this book deal with Wolf and another youthful employee, Andy Edleman. Wolf went on to found Mike's Train House, which has evolved into MTH Electric Trains. And Edleman? He is now the Vice President - Marketing at MTH Electric Trains.

Even though it is now 13 years old, The Story of Williams Electric Trains is required reading as "Chapter 1" in the history of not one but two of today's successful toy train marketers in the U.S. Any student of the domestic toy market, of the history of modern-day toys, of electric trains in general, or of the Williams or MTH electric train companies should have this book in his library. Married with the brand new book A Toy Train Story, the Remarkable History of M.T.H. Electric Trains, Hubbard's work on Williams will give a fascinating picture into the background of an intriguing and exciting hobby that has enthralled children and adults of all ages for over a century.

This is the second volume of Lane's tremendous work on Hebrews. If the work of Attridge (1989, Hermeneia), was ground breaking, Lane's work is earth shattering! The best detailed and technical work available, yet it is quite lucid for the informed layperson. If you know the Greek alphabet and can use an interlinear, you can use this work with great benefit. It is a goldmine for Greek students, pastors and teachers.

We are living in a day where absolute moral values have been reduced to "relative guidelines" cleverly manipulated by the media. In A Clash Of Values, William Mandelaris succinctly outlines what every parent needs to know to minimize the risk of children being exposed to an unbridled culture of smut, gratuitous violence and ungodly conduct operating under the guise of entertainment. This book is right on target. It is honest, evocative and passionate. Chapter 5 regarding the incremental breakdown of the family and Chapter 11 revealing how we are empowered to fight back were particularly profound. Read this book and you will become convinced as I was, that only a purposeful approach to parenting will do. William Mandelaris cares deeply about what kind of world our children will inherit. I highly recommend this book to everyone with the same heart for our kids and their moral destiny.

Just finished reading the book by Bill Mandelaris ("Greg") entitled 'A CLASH OF VALUES' and have to admire his sense of values and his wide knowledge of the media and its negative affect on the average person. The chapters on the electronic media, trash talk, and a broken moral compass were much to the point. I thought that the chapter captioned 'empowered to fight back' was especially inshghtful. Also, I was very pleased to see the dedication page showing the picture of Jerry, who was like an older brother to me in my youth. As a former teacher of junior high school kids in the inner City (1992-1997), I can related to what Bill says about the media and other outside influences undermining our family principles.

I have a two-and-a-half year old son, and this book really hit home on the importance of taking control of teaching our families the values we want and not defaulting the responsibility to the media. It should be used as a text book for families on things we need to do in order to take control back from the media in raising our families and teaching them correct principles. It is written by someone who has worked within the media circle who clearly understands the negative influence that must be proactively overcome and the author gives a clear way of doing so. I think every parent needs to be aware of the constant battle that is being waged every day for our families moral values. "A Clash OF Values" has not only made me aware that there is a war being waged but has given me the knowledge and insight to win the every day battles and long-term fight for my families moral well being. I also appreciated the authors candid and honest belief in God. He is a true Christian and is not afraid to admit that this is the true way to our families happiness.

In a very general sense this is a good book. However, the authors suffer from a lack of good philosophy. Let me explain. I agree with the author's assertion that meaning is derived from the text and we should not try to figure out what the author intended when he wrote (this is next to impossible to do since all the authors of the Bible are dead). However, the authors of this book give lip service to that idea but seem to stray from it in their overall philosophy. This book also smacks of "postmodernism." For example, on page 116, the authors declare via D.S. Ferguson that "all knowledge is elusive, and to grasp it demands a great deal of effort on our part . . ." If all knowledge is elusive then what about the knowledge of the statement "all knowledge is elusive?" Is that elusive? And if so, then how do we know this for certain. There are dozen of statements throughout this text that are very similar to the one I mentioned. I was also confused as to whether these authors were in favor of the "sensus plenoir" or opposed to it. This was yet another downfall to the text. Moreover, the authors were sympathetic to the reader-approach method of interpretation (another sign of postmodernism - ala Derrida.) The reader does not "give" the text meaning and this definitely runs in diametric opposition to the author's assertion that meaning is found in the text (and not the reader). Therefore, this was an apparent inconsistency on the part of the authors. It seemed to me that the authors lacked a strong foundation in logic and metaphysics which hurt this otherwise good text. But I must confess, compared to some of the other Hermeneutics texts I have read, this one is in several ways fairly solid.

All in all, very good. From a conservative perspective the authors discuss the major issues of biblical interpretation, including applying hisorical criticism and modern hermeneutical theories to the Scriptural text. Though conservative, it is not fundamentalistic. The authors provide a balanced treatment of most subjects and give good principles and examples of doing careful exegesis. This would be an excellent work to use in an intro. to biblical literature class. My one reservation is that not enough attention was given to Patristic and medieval exegesis and its modern day application to Scripture. Also, the Treatment of the Deutero-Canonical books and the question of the Canonicity of Scripture was superficial and inaccurate. Catholic and Orthodox readers should keep this in mind when reviewing this book. To conclude, though it has the deficiencies mentioned above and could not serve as a standard for Catholic and Orthodox exegesis, it is a refreshing work that shows that not all evangelical protestants are biblical obscurantists who are unable to engage in dialogue with modern biblical scholarship and present well-reasoned opinions.

Klein, Blomberg, and Hubbard, Jr., have created an extremely well-informed, easily understood volume on the hairy topic of Biblical Hermeneutics. I truly believe that every Biblical exegete should have this book in their library.

This text is used as a college textbook in my Bible and Theology Batchelor of Science program. As such, I expect a college level text to be challenging reading. However, even for the best reader this book is tedious, unless reserved strictly for use as a resource. Unfortunately to use it as a resource, a good index is necessary. This book has only an index of names and an index of authors available, making the indices hardly worthwhile.

It does have some great charts as sidebar content but without an index to them they may be missed. Illustrations are in black and white or blue and white. Color photos are reserved for the book jacket only.

The book, while maintaining a fairly conservative theological approach holds rather closely to a JEDP theory regarding the formulation of the Old Testament. This may be confusing to some who were taught to believe that Moses wrote the books of the law. No alternative theory is given that I could find.

If you are purchasing this book for a resource, there may be one which is better indexed and more visually appealing. If for casual reading or basic instruction in Old Testament history or literature, please choose something written for this purpose. You will not be satisfied by this book. My readability score for this book is zero!

This is a wonderful text for the student of the Old Testament. The authors are very detailed in their descriptions of each Old Testament book. Not only do they provide a fairly lengthy section in each chapter about the historical setting of the book, but they also provide a review of the message, certain criticisms, theology, date and composition, and certain scholarly events surrounding the text (i.e. hypothesis, theories about the text, etc.). Moreover, the book is filled with photographs, maps, charts, and many other visual aids. The authors have also provided the reader with geographical aids via descriptions, maps, etc. Another important element about this book is the authors' handling of Hebrew poetry. The authors give a description of what Hebrew poetry is, how it works, how to read it, and what its purpose was in context. So as you can see this is a very detailed book. If you are wanting a text that focuses solely on the Old Testament, is detailed and very descriptive, then I don't believe you will find a better text than this one.

Old Testament Survey quotes the New Revised Standard Version in order to take advantage of the most recent biblical scholarship. While previously scholars thought there was a first, second and third Isaiah OTS makes a stong case for the unity of Isaiah (chapter 22). OTS follows the general modern consensus that Ecclesiastes was written 700 years after King Solomon died and thus was not written by Solomon. The comments are interesting and accompanied by photos and maps. If you enjoy this book you may also like THE COMPLETE GUIDE TO THE BOOK OF PROVERBS by Cody Jones. Many of the mysteries and riddles of Proverbs are explored with some surprising new answers. Among them is the identity of King Solomon's ghostwriter who was one of the "officials of Hezekiah" mentioned in Proverbs 25.1. Six translations of Proverbs in parallel aid understanding and numerous drawings and photos give you a sense of the culture of the time.

Engaging book, especially in the way architecture is being perceived and regulated. From other outer sources, such as scenographic architecture, typography, games and laws...although still using conventional/inevitable things. Because Hubbard believed that good models for an architecture of convention can be found elsewhere, outside the realm of architecture.
For example, the correlation between games and architecture lies in the way we live in buildings in an unconscious patterned way.
"Kids given a playground, will at once begin to create a new sport based on the relationships of trees, posts, benches, and the availability and shape of objects to be thrown or kicked..."
They create a pattern of acting that makes sense, by making up rules that provide a kind of reality and so architects try to make up rules and use them while designing buildings as reflections and records of unintended patterns.
In his book "The structure of the ordinary", Habraken has a chapter on patterns and how patterns play an important role in our structuring and understanding of environment. This idea of "pattern language" helps when an architect is attempting to recycle a built environment and transform form within a social body. Because society employs a variety of vehicles of understanding, and patterns represent continuity....

Now, the title, I like. Complicity and conviction! After searching the two words in the thesaurus, I understood the meaning behind the book. Complicity means taking part with another person, in committing a crime for example, or as Hubbard suggested "meeting the illusion halfway", and conviction is the act of convincing or assuring a certain belief, like judges for example. So, who are we trying to convince and make beleive? Our client? Ourselves? Is the architect a manipulator? A manipulator who consciously shapes a building to manipulate what we will later do there unconsciously? Is the architect so powerful? Or is the architecture of today intangible and self-evolved like natural selection, or is it tangible and manipulative?
Could an architecture of the past be used as an architecture of convention and restart it in our own day, as a design base for today's architecture, that reflects and responds to change, yet gives the impression of continuity?
The idea of recycling an idea that was abandoned has particular interest to the way we think today. Is it because we have run out of ideas?
These are questions that the book raises, consciously or unconsciously. These are concerns of the moment, concerns that we have when we are dealing with recycling an idea, and what we do will influence what is put upon that blank sketch book that so often terrorizes the architect.