- in fact, I bought it on the strength of reading a couple paragraphs at random in a bookstore. But this book, in spite of being heavily footnoted, giving the impression of scholarly depth, is not especially good. After a couple of chapters, wading through unfinished sentences, poor grammar and spelling, you begin to realize that this is little more than a college term paper based on breathless enthusiasm over the works of other scholars. Truthfully, anyone seeking information about ancient astronauts, religious politics, Knights Templar and Atlantis would be better served by reading the originals from which this poorly organized pastiche came. Until this person does primary research on his own, please read Zechariah Sitchin, Helena Blavatsky, David Hatcher Childress, Bruce Rux and Baigent, Leigh and Lincoln instead.

The premise is fascinating, however. I really DO want information on the religious and occult background on World War II, and I'm even prepared to accept that WWII is a modern continuation of political and religious divisions set up many thousands of years ago. But this book is entirely too wild-eyed and ill-organized for even my credulous nature. Don't buy it.

Excellently researched and very well written. William Henry has done his homework on this subject. I was fascinated with some of the facts that he uncovered. He is a very interesting author who has begun to get some radio airplay. He is fascinating to listen to. I highly recommend this book to any open-minded reader.

William Henry has put together a wealth of information connecting ancient religions with current belief systems. As a student of Ancient cultures, beliefs, and writings, I feel that this will be a great research treasure. William Henry also has a writing style that is easy to read and understand.

The contents' probably great, but what happened to the cover of the book? Did Young & Bernbach over-squeezed their "creativities" and left the cover of this book out cold? Wake up guys...bright yellow is a definite NO-NO for a book cover...leave the "neons" for Las Vegas...!!

How to Get Ideas and other books on the subject of creative thinking are mainly just elaborations on the core thoughts laid down by James Webb Young. This is a classic read; short, pointed, and truthful. If you are in the business, you will find your hunches confirmed in simple, memorable language. The other books on the subject are very rah-rah; this book just tells it like it is. Not a self-help book, more like an instruction manual for your brain.

without giving too much away, the "technique" is so darn commonsensical you will no doubt whack yourself on the head at the simplicity of it all

i have tried his technique and shared it with close friends and it has become (so far) a fail proof way of striking creative oil. won us a fair amount of new business.

another plus is the book so small and concise it fits in most purses and can be read cover-to-cover during your morning latte.

The one book by William S. Burroughs you should buy. The unique genius that William truly was-yes, indulgent, odd and unsettling at 80, but how great it would have been to have known him young and probably pretty in 1950-is best understood with the direction of J. Grauerholz, although a bourgeois beatnik, for sure, who did love him and is the world expert on him. Ira Silverberg is a true young publishing genius, the new Ferlinghetti, and most responsible for the book. My earlier review I withdraw. Although true, it did not reflect the genius and truth of William-and Jack, Allen, Anne, Philip, Lawrence, Gregory, Gary, even Neal and Huncke, et al. View their literature with a full and clear understanding of their weaknesses and that we, the readers, are almost certain to have less ability to 'drive-on' pass the drugs, sex, parties, confusion-to produce as they could or can. At least be warned. A lot of souls have been lost on the beat road.

Every book that anyone owns will, upon reflection, remind them of the period of their life in which they read the book. Sort of like music.

If I look at my bookcase, I can run my eyes over the spines of a hundred or so spines, and by extension, a hundred or so feelings given to me from those books.

'Word Virus' is by no means an exception to this rule. If anything, it proves it. Simply due to its extensiveness, and the complexity (or stupidity depending on how you look at it) of Burroughs' writing, it took me a few months to hack through in my final year of high school. Even now, the glaring red spine amongst my other books manages to evoke my feelings of that time even now.

But by god it's worth it. There is nothing more frightening than Burroughs' prose. Everything he writes cannot be understood intellectually, but rather emotionally. You read his words, trying to make head or tail of what is printed in front of you, but that's not the point. You just have to let his ideas, his experiments simply wash over you and you'll understand them in due course.

A true shining light in literature.

Belive the myth.

A very exspansive and definitive collection for the Burroughs enthusist. This does not have it all, but it does offer a generous portion of this man's work. Including the forementioned, in the other reviews, colaboration with Jack Kerouac. Grauerholz really put togther this labor of love. I'd recomend it for first timers as well as old time collectors. Inbetween each chapter biographical information pertinent to that era is included. Also features a cd spoken word sampler, that pulls material from the Giornio boxed set. I'd also recomend that hefty delight.

I recieved this book and was very disappointed. I have a 2 year old who is becoming very curios about his body and I wanted to purchase a book that would help my husband and I to teach him about healthy sexuality. Since it shows a toddler on the cover and when we purchased the book there wasn't any customer reviews at the time, I purchased the book. However, when I received the book, I was very disappointed. Not only does it not give any truly helpful information, but I found it almost pornographic. It is not a book that I would want to share with my 2 year old child and probably wouldn't want to until my child is a teenager. Bodies are a beautiful creation, and this book should have a description stating what this book actually entails....pictures and very little information. It is not a book that will help people who are wanting to read plenty of information on helping to mold their children's ideas on healthy sexuality.

Some people think this is a "sex education" book for kids. I don't, necessarily -- although it certainly is a great item in the toolbox parents can have for this topic.

"The Curiosity Book" starts with a nice introduction by the author, which is helpful, but he then does something wonderful: he stops the wordy text, and lets beautiful photos and carefully-selected captions and quotations carry the message. [In fact, this could almost stand alone as a photobook.]

Old and young; white, black, yellow, brown, and all shades in between; male and female; clothed and nude. The beautiful black-and-white photos present a wide array of people from all over the world. They are presented as they are, with no explanations or apologies for how they look, what they wear, who they are. The accompanying captions reinforce the message that we are all wonderfully-created, we all share similar bodies, and we all deserve respect. This is not so much "sex education" as "self education."

If only we could all receive this message every day!

Enlightening...Insightful...Compassionate...Courageous. These are some of the attributes which, in my judgment, describe The Curiosity Book. Calling upon his diverse and rich professional experience with children and adolescents, the author, James Hunter, has developed a unique and extremely practical guide which should be of invaluable help to both parents and a wide range of professionals within the mental health and education fields. The Curiosity Book is written with a great deal of sensitivity and respect for the human body itself and, more importantly, the need to promote positive attitudes involving the human body. It is ironic that while most of us in today's society who consider ourselves to be caring adults frequently encourage children to be curious about their learning, their environment, and their friends, we, at the same time, typically discourage, ignore, or even punish children when they express curiosity about the human body -- their own or others. Thus, many children learn to view this type of curiosity as bad or as shameful. The Curiosity Book provides specific, sensitive suggestions whereby parents and child care professionals can engage in effective, healthy communication with children about the human body - developmentally, attitudinally, and spiritually. The photos contained in this book have been carefully selected to convey tolerant, respectful, and meaningful messages. They are inspiring and beautiful both in their simplicity and in their poignancy. As is the case with the narrative material contained in this work, the photos reflect a very well-balanced perspective relative to attitudes involving the human body - age, gender, and cultural diversity. I enthusiastically recommend The Curiosity Book to all parents and to all professionals in their efforts to help children develop more positive attitudes toward, and a more respectful appreciation of, the human body. William E. Davis, PhD Director of the Institute for the Study of Children At Risk University of Maine Orono, Maine

Without going into detail criticing the book, let me just say this: It is easy for people to take relatively ambiguous statements out of the Bible ("there will be wars and rumors of wars" is rather vague for one) and present them in a manner to prove your personal point. It is extremely easy for certain authors, such as these, to gather up a bunch of scary facts (like this is the only time the world has been a scary place), try to match them to the Bible, and then conclude the end of the world is near. I would argue that the reader should take into account what these authors say, but not take them seriously until they've found good reason. (For one, the notion of a one-world government the anti-christ will impose upon the world and use to attack Christians is always a favorite.... but not entirely founded in Scriptural reading either). If one remembers just one thing when reading this book, it should be that a good and truthful book does not have to use their evidence with the obvious intention of scaring you into their idea.

This book makes it frighteningly clear that the end of time is fast approaching. This book covers every insight ranging from the technological aspect (e.g.- TV, the Internet, etc.) to the Middle East struggles that continue as we speak. Without a doubt I recommend this book for anyone into studying prophecy. This book does get rather in depth, but is well-suited for those who have studied Revelation before. I fully recommend it.

This is an amazing book. It made me realzie that the end of the world is, in fact, upon us. I was not so wise two years ago, and I missed my ride on the spaceship with my fellow San Diegans, but this book has made me realize that I must now repent and save my soul before the world pays for its sins.

A good basic review of the Critical Text position as held by Bob Jones University. Somewhat simplistic, with some misleading and/or false statements. However, it is not as abrasive or misleading as most KJVO books, and it does a decent job of being fair to the other side.

The primary purpose of this work to help local pastors and lay people understand the historical, Biblical facts concerning the Bible's text, translation and transmission.

It has good chapters on the textual transmission of the Bible, the Textus Receptus, and the history of the English Bible including, in particular, the King James Bible. Where it comes across a little wobbly is its review of modern versions. In its chapter on versions since 1880, linguistic concepts like "dynamic equivalence" and "paraphrase" are inadequately treated. Hence, translations like the TEV, NIV, CEV, NLT, and The Message come off rather undervalued, and unfairly so in my view, while the NASB, NKJV, and RSV receive much praise.

This was one book I had eagerly anticipated and would have loved to commend unreservedly. It was with considerable excitement that I opened the paperback when it arrived in Singapore. While I think that the book answers its authors' primary concerns over the King James Only controversy (e.g. unity, pseudo-textual criticism, historical revisionism and superstition over the KJB's pedigree and transmission, unjustified criticism and hatred of the RSV), it comes across a little weak in translational theory, which happens to be a very crucial area.
Its strength, doubtless, is in laying the theological groundwork, explaining key concepts of textual criticism to university-level minds, and exposing the inconsistencies of KJBO. May those who will listen, listen.

I believe that From the Mind of God will fulfill its purpose of holding its ground against KJBOism. It may just be the stop-gap measure needed for such a time as this. But it won't move the train forward. I look forward to a book that would take the issue beyond the good progress made through the KJB, that would leverage on the progress made in sound modern linguistic research, and that would bear fruit in once again bringing the Scriptures to the ploughboys of the new millennium, if Christ tarries, with practical pointers of using modern English Bibles in memorisation, evangelism, teaching, missions, reading, drama, music, and all other aspects of Christian and church life.

THis book contains excellent scholarship and the attitude that is communicated is above reproach. I have personally listened to some of these writers in various teaching postions, and they are men of excellent character and wisdom. This book is written with the intent to inform and correct faulty information, not necessarily to persuade someone to convert to their same position. I whole heartedly endorse this book.

This is a good source too see what Arminius really thinks, and where he fall in the bible, because he was influenced by the hummanist thinking, he accept the idea of Free Will, but is isn't the think of the Bible. I strongly recommend you too buy or read if possible the Institutes of Christian Religion (John Calvin).

James Arminius (1560-1609) is undoubtedly the best-known critic of Calvinism, and one's perception of him often depends on one's view of Calvinism. A Calvinist has contrasted Arminianism and Calvinism by describing the former as "the religion of common sense" and the latter as the religion of St. Paul. By contrast, however, Arminius has also been called the greatest of the church's three great theologians. According to one of his admirers, Athanasius understood God, Augustine understood man and Arminius understood the relationship between God and man. In spite of all of this, Arminius' his actual words are rarely quoted and his views are often distorted by those who comment on him. After all, not many writers tell us that Arminius recommended Calvin's "Commentaries" to his students or that he "sat on the fence" on the Perseverance of the Saints (or Eternal Security) issue. Even fewer would know Arminius believed man does not have the free will to come to God for salvation, but requires the grace of God to draw him.

What then were some Arminius' views? On the first four points, he clearly rejected Calvinism. He believed (1) no one can come to Christ of his own free will, (2) God predestined to salvation all who, by faith, believed in His Son, (3) even though only those who believe obtain the benefit of that death, Christ died for all, and (4) the grace by which a man is drawn to Christ can be resisted so that the man ends up perishing. With respect to the fifth point (that of perseverance of the saints), he ended up stating he was unsure as to whether Scripture teaches that a true believer cannot fully or finally fall away from the faith and become lost. In addition to those doctrines, Arminius advocated infant baptism, the existence of the church since the Fall, Erastianism, and the view that whereas Galatians 5 describes the struggle between the "spirit" and the "flesh" in the life of a Christian, Romans 7 describes the struggle the "mind" and the "flesh" in the life of a person who is not yet saved.

For someone wanting to read only one work by Arminius, the "Declaration of Sentiments" (in Volume 1) is the one. Written only one year before his death, this work provides a detailed attack on the Calvinist view of Predestination and briefly sets out Arminius' own views on Grace, Predestination, the Free Will of Man, the Perseverance of the Saints (where he sits on the fence) and the Perfection of Believers (where he simply defers to the opinion of Augustine). Arminius' disputation on "The Free Will of Man and its Powers" is the next to read, and for those looking for good short works to read, the "Reply to 31 Defamatory Articles", the "Answer to Nine Questions", the Public and Private Disputations, the "Letter to Hippolytus a Collibus", the "Analysis of Romans 9" and perhaps the "Certain Articles to be Diligently Examined and Weighed" should be turned to (most of which are in Volume 2). When reading the "Certain Articles to be Diligently Examined and Weighed", however, one has to be careful as the marginal notes Arminius made in the original to indicate whether he agreed or disagreed with the position being weighed do not exist.

Of the longer works, the "Analysis of Romans 7" (from Volume 2) is a must-read for all those who may worry that the dominant twentieth-century interpretation of that passage may unwittingly aid the easy-believism of folks like Hodges, Ryrie and Stanley. Only someone intensely interested in the Predestination debate or determined to finish all three volumes will be likely to read his lengthy examinations of the works of Junius, Gomarus and Perkins in Volume 3, though.

All in all, this is a classic work that ought to be in as many libraries as Augustine, Anselm, Aquinas, and Calvin.

James Arminius was a great theogian, no matter what theological perspective you read from. The reviewer who said how terrible this book was seems to be writing from with a personal bias; and, I doubt he has even read these works. If he had I'm sure he would have rated it much higher even if he didn't agree with the position Arminius takes.

Calvinist or not, these works are a must for anyone who studies theology on a deep level. You can just believe your pastor, or you can look into the Arminian viewpoint for yourself. And for you pastors out there, as a ministerial student I reccomend it to you as well. It's good reading, but it takes commitment to get through it (and much thought to digest it).

Like the fella with the bias, I would suggest adding Calvin's Institutes to your library as well. Read them both, compare them, you'll be blessed!

This book was really really borring

Bartram's "Travels" is an odd, idiosyncratic, and highly original book. There is really nothing else like it in all of English or American literature. Certainly there are scads of chatty travel narratives by later explorers who wrote of more exotic regions and more dangerous adventures, but there are none I can think of that rise to the level of Bartram's. Its rich and colorful images, the poetic quality of its language (in places), the strange juxtapositions of prosaic discussions of the habits of certain animals or features of certain plants with profound analogies between the physical world and the spiritual realm, and the narrator's frequent speculations on the meaning of human existence and humanity's relationship to nature and the creator mark it as distinct a contribution to American letters as Melville's "Moby Dick."

The world Bartram writes of is late 18th-century (just after the American Revolution) Southeastern America: mostly East Georgia and East Florida. Some of the places he visits, if you are a Floridian or a Georgian, you will recognize: Augusta, Savanna, the St. John's River, the area around Gainesville, Archer, and Micanopy; the Suwannee River and its tributary springs (specifically Manatee Springs). Below Savanna, it is a sparsely populated wilderness inhabited by various Indian tribes (such as the Seminoles and Muscogulges) and where whitetail deer, racoons, black bears, rattlesnakes, alligators, turtles, and various species of bird and fish grace the fields, woods, lakes, rivers and streams.

If you love good descriptive writing infused with a passionate appreciation for natural beauty, you will be moved by Bartram's descriptions of Florida, which comes off in the book, quite convincingly, as a sort of prelapsarian paradise. Bartram entering Florida is like Adam going back to the garden of Eden before the fall (I am admittedly a little biased, being a native Floridian): he sees seemingly endless vistas of sawgrass and sabal palms under amethyst skies, crystal-clear springs of the purest water bubbling up out of the forest floors, emerald hammocks of palmetto, sweetgum and cypress; groves of massive liveoaks and wild orange trees. All of this is taken in and recorded in an attitude of childlike wonder, and a deep awe and respect for the mysterious but benevolent power that fashioned all of it. Bartram is a scientist (botanist), able to engage (sometimes, to the detriment of the book) in detailed discussions of biology, so his effusions about the majesty of the deity seem all the more genuine and sincere.

Lastly, what endears the book to many of its readers, I suspect, is the personality of the author. The "William Bartram" of the book is a kind, gentle, reverent, simple, generous, tolerant, and quiet person. The great thing is, he doesn't really tell us about himself--we get an idea of what he is like mainly from his observations on the people and things he encounters. His Quaker faith in the wisdom and omniscience of God undergirds all of his observations and speculations.

Regarding the book's place in literary or intellectual history, it stands at one of the turning points when one episteme is giving way to another. In the "Travels" we can see the influences of the Enlightenment: an emphasis on empirical observation and data-gathering, and the emphasis on the role of reason in securing man's betterment--but at the same time we can see the influences of the then-ascendant Romantic worldview: a belief in the "noble savage," that all people are basically good but corrupted by institutions, and a pantheistic sense (looking forward to Wordsworth) of God as immanent in nature.

Belongs on the shelf with Jefferson's "Notes on the State of Virginia," Thoreau's "Walden" and "A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers", the "Journals" of Lewis and Clark, and Melville's "Typee."

This Dover edition is the best buy out there. It has an attractive cover (some unknown artist's rendition of a Florida hammock) and has all the illustrations included, plus Mark Van Doren's short but helpful introduction. It's also a very durable volume--you can keep it in your rucksack to pull out and gloss over choice passages as you hike the wilderness trails of Florida.

This is a wonderful book for anyone interested in the nature, landscapes, Indians, and early settlements of Georgia, Florida, South Carolina, and Tennessee around the year 1775. I haven't read this book in about 10 years, but I do remember checking it out of the library about 3 times, and I'm going to buy it for my birthday. The landscapes the Bartram describes will by and large never be seen again. Bartram described seeing a 45 square mile forest made up of nothing but magnolia, and dogwood trees. He saw forests that were covered by grapevines for miles. The trees were sometimes 20 feet thick, and the grapevines were so old that the vines were more than a foot thick. He saw canebrakes that covered miles, and some of the bamboo cane was 40 feet high. Canebrakes are practically extinct as an environment. He saw virgin forsts, abandoned Indian fields, overgrown Indian villages, open pine savannah forests, and uninhabited swamps. He saw wildlife which today would be scare, or extinct. He reported seeing a bobcat stalk a turkey. He pleaded with a market hunter not to kill a mother bear, and lamented the reaction of the bear cub to it's mother being killed. Bartram also reported seeing wolves, and bison skulls from recently killed buffulo. Bison were just rendered extinct in eastern Georgia at that time. Bartram took literary licence with some events. He exaggerated his encounters with alligators in Florida. After enjoying a meal of fish, rice, and oranges from the Spanish missionary orchards, he battled "fire breathing dragons." Bartram had many encounters with the Creeks, and Cherokees, and most were friendly. He feasted with Indian cattle raisers. Bartram also gives a good account of early settlements. If you decide to get this book, also get a copy of a tree guide with the scientific names, because Bartram tells exactly what kind of trees he came across in each forest. What I wouldn't give to see what Bartram saw?

As promised, I am coming back to you with my observations after having read through most of the book.

Sadly, for all the hype and all the praise the book has received, I am beginning to wonder if a) reviewers actually read the book, and b) if they did read it, did they actually question the merits of the authors research and conclusions. After having read most of it, I conclude that they did not.

I could go point for point, but alas, because of space I can not. A number of troubling points however -

First, the authors take liberties with anecdotes and too frequently back up their claims with them. For example the discussion about the Williams College Lacrosse team, or the Ivy League Lacrosse player.... I think it is a mark of dishonesty that the authors quickly point out the poor state of collegiate athletics because they read a story in a university newspaper... as was the case in the Princeton players instance.

Second, in graduate school we were always told never to overlook footnotes. After reading through most of them, I am glad I did. In a number of instances, there conclusions are based upon data that was compiled at one school in their universe of thirty. Or that an anecdote used as an illustration, was actually from a instance taken from outside the universe of schools they used.

Third, I think they demonstrate a disdain for athletes when they question at length their value to the diversity of campus. In their mind, because of a whole host of issues, they don't add to the amount of diversity in a university.... what are some of those issues? Political inclination (Not Liberal or Far Left), choice of major (economics or Poli Sci), tend to group with other athletes. Which begs the question, what type of student do the authors believe add to the diversity of university.

Finally, there is a terrible lack of balance. If you knew nothing else before you read this book, you would finish by thinking athletes are a lower caste of intellectuals that for some reason were admitted into these universities, not based on their academic abilities of course. That universities have made some sort of deal with the devil to accept these sort of intellectual anchors to improve their markting and PR machines that are built solely on athletics.... which begs to ask....

Where is the critique of these institutions and their pactices? And why is it only athletics that is responsible for losing money, while all the other departments are deemed as critical elements in the mission of the university? Sadly, these are questions that aren't answered but should... if athletics is going to be put under such scrutiny, shouldn't the rest of the university be submitted to the same rigours?

Anyhow, I will be back. If you are interested in my notes, feel free to email me ...

Let me start out by saying, I am only about a third of the way through. I am also a former student athlete and current coach. But it seems as though someone should chime in with their views on the book since no one else has. So with that in mind, take my initial observations as such.

While I am struck by the depth of analysis and the thoroughness of their methodology, I am also struck by the sense that the authors have decidedly taken the view that college athletics, in of itself, is an entity unto itself. And that in the instances cited, are incongruent with the mission of an educational institution. While there certainly is merit in the academic performance analysis, it is unfortunate that they fail to see the merits of athletics in the educational environment. While it is easy to quantify the development of a student in a classroom, it is impossible to quantify the role of collegiate athletics in the development of the individual student. Does devoting 12 hours a week to studying for Western Civ. add something more, something more fundamental to the student that spending 10 hours a week on the practice field does not? Regretably, academicians have spent more time dismissing the value of athletics, rather than creating methodology to judge its worthiness. And while classroom performance remains something tangible and quantifiable, no one has endeavored to quantify the merits of working within a team for a common objective, experiencing leadership within a team environment, and all the ancillary benefits that are brought about from participating in collegiate athletics. Instead, they are quick to point out and highlight everything that is detrimental, but not unique to, collegiate athletics (alcohol, violence, etc.).

My overriding concern is one that may or may not have merit and could potentially be dismissed by the end of the book. Written by and for academics, it is with great concern that this will be adopted by institutions of higher learning to justify the alienation of student-athletes based upon quantified generalizations. This could very well become the classic coffee table book that so many quote and act on, but have never read.

I will be back for another review when I am struck with the additional thoughts that inevitably come from reading a book of this nature.

Higher education is full of many injustices. Prior to a 1991 antitrust ruling, Penn, Harvard, MIT, Princeton, Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, and Yale conspired together to ban all merit scholarships and set tuition artificially high. When Princeton awarded $1000 research scholarships to top students, the Overlap met in January 1987. Princeton denied that it had violated the Overlap pact. Dartmouth called the denial "sophistry." Yale's president, Benno Schmidt said, "This looks like a blatant merit scholarship to me." The president of Princeton, defensively replied, "I would really not have thought a person as well trained in the law as Mr. Schmidt would make such a blatantly foolish assertion." Now, William Bowen, no longer president of Princeton, has co-written a much more courageous defense of intelligence and merit, The Game of Life.

It couldn't have come at a more critical time. UC president Richard Atkinson has recommended abolishing the SAT I from college admission considerations. Seattle public schools are considering abolishing the letter-grade system. Defenders of Affirmative Action are calling the notion of merit, itself, into question. It should be obvious that we, as a society, have grown very uncomfortable with the very idea of intelligence. Yes, intellect can be subtle compared to a touchdown, but to read The Game of Life is to bear witness to pure genius.

Don't be fooled by the multitude of facts and figures. This book is a thought-provoking work of art. Bowen and Shulman commit blatant acts of philosophy regarding such subjects as the definition of "leadership." (Can a pushy leadership style compensate for a lack of vision?) They slay myths that fools so glibly declare, such as the myth that athletic success inspires alumni/ae giving. The book is worth every penny alone for offering a window into different professional strategies.

Everyone should read this book, but it is especially essential for anyone in a position to make important decisions in higher education. If one seeks to uphold the mission of a university, then it is important to learn from this book what athletics cannot do. Then, one should put down the book and consider what athletics does do. For instance, it is proven that athletes contribute to a culture of binge drinking on campuses. In recent years, I've watched in disbelief news reports of university students literally rioting in the streets for drinking privileges. How many more alcohol poisonings does it take before we shall change the culture of higher education?

The Game of Life proves that, in our current system of athletic scholarships, the stereotype of the dumb jock is absolutely true. So long as we continue to waste educational resources on these sub-par students, I can't believe that we are a truly civilized nation.

Mary Barton is the first novel of Elizabeth Gaskell, a female writer who left her influence upon other English writers of the 19th century, like, for instance, Charles Dickens. The book is only an average view about Manchester life in the 19th century, focusing its attentions over the extreme poverty of the working class, the first labor conflicts in the pre-dawn of the Industrial Revolution, all this connected with a tender love story between the young Mary Barton and his old time friend Jem Wilson.
In fact, the murder of the young mill owner, Mr. Henry Carson - he too an admirer of Miss Barton - is not well developed and is not the central point of the novel because the reader knows all the time who is the real murderer. So, it's not a surprise at all the ending of the trial and the revelation of the real murderer in the last chapters.
Miss Gaskell has a simple and an almost näive vision of the social problems that harassed the working class in England when the Industrial Revolution started. Even though, we must recognize that she made a good work trying to denounce the insensibility of the English government about the problems of the workers and their families and the inflexibility of the mill owners and other high economic classes to negociate with their subordinates.
Mary Barton is a book that will hold the attencion of the readers, men or women, because Miss Gaskell has an elegant style and really knows how to tell a good story. Another great vintage of this novel are some great characters portrayed with flavour and undeniable charm, like the old and friendly Mr. Job Legh and the hard and anger John Barton, Mary's father.

Gaskell wrote one of the most vivid descriptions of the gap between rich and poor in this novel of the Manchester 'hungry forties'. The plot is driven by the device of a murder of young factory owner's son, but this story line is more an excuse to present the story as a novel (and to serve the demands and expectations of the novel form as it was understood at the time) than it really is the center of the book. The romance and the mystery (although still well-written) are cursory in comparison to the loving detail that Gaskell lavishes on Alice Wilson, the temptation of Esther and all the little points of life in deep poverty.

Worth reading, particularly if you're a fan of the novel (or history) of the period.

Actually I read this book in three days' time (it can be even faster if I don't have to go to school). Anyway, Mrs. Gaskell's depiction of the working class people in Manchester during the 19th century was so vivid that you can just *see* and *feel* how the rich and the poor's lives were like back then by turning the pages. I believe no one who had read this book will not to some extent feel pity for the tragic hero, John Barton, in the story. But aside from this formal social theme being presented in the novel, there is also a very strong sense of religious/moral theme in it (espeically near the end of the story), as well as some drama and romance in it. Definitely worth a read, especially to those who are interested in Victorian Literature.