If you are looking for a meaty and engaging review of Baptist thought for the past four centuries, avoid this book. It is a dry and boring compiliation of various essays that put you to sleep. In fact, as a Baptist myself, I found it not representative of our faith except for the more liberal/heady fringe. Mild or conservative Baptists should not even think about buying it. Bottom line: Save it for the classroom critique.

In an era where no one seems to know their spiritual ancestors, this is a much needed work. It complements sourcebooks like Lumpkin's _Baptist Confessions of Faith_ by excerpting theological works by major Baptist (and related baptists) theologians over the centuries. While I am disappointed at the neglect of 2 17th C. Baptists of major importance, Richard Overton and Gerrard Winstanley, overall I think this was one of the most inclusive collections. I am known to disagree with the interpretation of E. Y. Mullins held by one of the editors, Curtis W. Freeman, and, for that reason, wish that a different selection had been made of Mullins' work. Likewise, in addition to the Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "Letter from a Birmingham City Jail," which is reprinted in many places, I would like to have seen some other selections from King. Since there is a tendency for white Christians to "tame" King, excerpting the portion of _Where Do We Go From Here?_ which analyzes the strengths and weaknesses of "Black Power," might have awakened many to the radical nature of King's thought. A selection from his posthumously published _The Trumpet of Conscience_ might also have been useful in that regard. Still, caveats aside, this is an excellent collection and, with the exception of Mullins, the editors' introductory remarks are usually excellent in helping beginners to interpret baptist theologians with whom they are not familiar. This "reader" should become a textbook for courses with titles like "Baptist Theologians in Historical Perspective," and should find its way to church libraries and pastor's shelves as an essential reference. One of the editors, James McClendon, himself a very creative baptist theologian, unfortunately died in 2000. Hopefully Freeman or Velloso da Silva (now Velloso Ewell) will take up the challenge of the next step: Convincing a publisher to reprint some of the major works of these baptist thinkers in full. That way, readers of this volume who get excited by one or more of these "roots" can explore it further without spending months in the "rare book" sections of major theological libraries.

In a time when being a baptist (the small "b" is no accident) is left to those who have no historical understanding of baptist roots, this book is a breath of fresh air. Don't let the scholarly leanings of this volume get in the way - it is a straightforward account of the baptist heritage and its meaning and impact on contemporary theological thought. From the separation of church and state to the autonomy of the local church this is a helpful guide in navigating the current milieu of confused understanding which equates being baptist with being a member of the religious right or the politically correct. This third way charted by Freeman, McClendon, et al, will resonate with anyone seeking a better way to understand church history, present and future.

I spent many years living in China and found too many flaws with this book.

Shapiro obviously has had years of experience negotiating. He writes clearly and it would be a beneficial book for anyone, students or those already in the field, to read. If I were to teach a course on joint ventures, this would be the text of choice.

Anyone considering negotiating any joint venture would benefit from the checklists and other considerations raised by Shapiro who actually negotiated the showcase Xerox-Shanghai joint venture

While I've written both VB & C++ components, I must say that this book is written solely for VB programmers. In that context, the ADO coverage is good for beginners & reaches as far as paging, batch processing & disconnected recordsets albeit the coverage is light. From there on, the book runs dry with samples out of context & disconnected. Enter the C++ programmer & you are certain to lose interest rapidly. MTS & MSMQ coverage is a drudgery while parts II & III as they pertain to design & architecture are an endless toil. Am I alone in thinking that VB & enterprise should never be mentioned together due to the fact that they constitute an oxymoron?

Helps in developing concepts about ADO, MTS, MSMQ and DNA in general. Lacks connectivity in examples. The source code that I downloaded from site lacks comments, which make it easy to get lost. Some of the examples don't even compile.

I picked up this book with an expectation of finding a discussion (and examples) of applications that uses ADO with MTS and MSMQ all together -- I am disappointed. It talks about MSMQ only marginally.

Builds concepts, gives solid reason of using certain techniques not covered anywhere else, but lacks effective code examples.

This book is very well organized, easy to use, and actually amusing in parts. The authors did a nice job. The best I've seen so far on the subject. I've recommended it to co workers.

I read the first several chapters of this book and found the author didn't have a grasp of the Calvin's basic theological teachings which plainly contradicted some of Bouwsma thoughts. I do not question his historical expertise, but i doubt very serriously that he knew John Calvin In his book he called Calvin a pagan and anybody who knows Calvin knows he was a man of God. He also took a passage from the Institutes that Calvin was addressing the Catholic church and applied it to Calvin to support his claim that Calvin was anxious. I tried three times to get something out of this book and failed all three times. I appreciate Calvin too much to keep this book in my library.Also I crossed referenced some of his notes he claimed he quoted Calvin from and found discrepricancies. If you want a secular oppion of who Calvin was not based on his Theological mindset, then read this book. Otherwise disreguard it.

Bouwsma's work on John Calvin is exciting and entertaining. He opens the mind of Calvin and conveys an image of his thought that is incomparable when contrasted with the immense and lengthy volumes you find in other works. I found this book to be clear, concise,and authoritative. Bouwsma places his focus on Calvin's thought rather than his life, and gives a more in-depth understanding of the man whose doctrines and aspirations changed the modern world.

This is one of the finest academic historical biographies to have appeared in the past couple of decades, and will provide nearly anyone with an insightful and in depth introduction to one of the most important figures of the early modern age. It must be stressed, however, that Bouwsma will not please everyone. He is a professional historian, and not a theologian nor an apologist. Many hardcore Calvinists might not enjoy the style with which he deals with his subject matter or his theologically neutral stance in discussing Calvin's work and thought. But most students of theology and all students of history will discover in this a study of Calvin that not only discusses his thought, but relates it to the particular period of history in which it was produced. Too many Calvinist treatments of Calvin discuss him in almost ahistorical fashion, as if his thought were developed in a vacuum. As Bouwsma demonstrates, however, the was very much the product of the Late Renaissance as much as he was the Reformation.

One review below states that Bouwsma claims Calvin was a pagan. This is an important misunderstanding, the correction of which will take us to the heart of Bouwsma's central argument. Absolutely nowhere does Bouwsma assert that Calvin was a pagan, but his central argument in the book is that Calvin was deeply entrenched in renaissance humanism. The humanists went back to the pagan writers of Greece and Rome as literary models as well as alternative sources of inspiration to medieval Catholicism. As Bouwsma quite correctly points out, humanism was in no way antithetical to Protestantism. Calvin was absolutely not a pagan, nor does Bouwsma make that claim, but he did study the pagans such as Cicero and Quintillian, and modeled his writing style on them.

Many biographers delight in the smashing of myths of their subjects. While Bouwsma might not please hardcore Calvinists, in that he isn't deferential or assuming that Calvin articulated truths nearly as authoritative as those of the New Testament, he also does not try in any sense to defame or criticize Calvin. On the contrary, he goes out of his way to debunk many of the negative myths concerning Calvin. What he does try to do is provide the most accurate portrait he can of a major figure of the 16th century, both his positive and negative traits, and situation him in his time and place. In this he succeeds marvelously. This volume could stand for some time as the premiere biography of one of the two most important figures in the history of Protestantism.

Author has included some email and web site information for ski area accomodations, tourist offices, etc, but it just touches the tip of the iceberg.

Verbier, Switzerland, one of the top ski areas in Europe, only gets 5 pages in the book. Does not provide any commentary on accommodations in Verbier other than number of stars in rating and prices. Some other large ski areas get better treatment. The Arlberg region gets 9 pages of coverage.

Book lacks maps of Europe and of ski areas.

Overall the book is a good starting place for researching a trip, but descriptive information is brief and basic. Still this book is the most recently published on the topic as of 10/98, so the currency of the information should be decent.

I live in Munich and use this book often as a reference. It contains very accurate information on lodging, prices, and qualities of the resorts. Very accurately summarizes the differences in the ski experience between the different countries.

Needs more detailed maps of the resorts and slopes with hotels, restaurants, etc. clearly marked. Needs to be more critical of some resorts so the reader can make a better decision about which one to visit.

Ski Europe was a great book for my winter stay in europe. The thing i liked most about it was that it was the only book i needed. It offered all the skiing info i needed for each resort (even a scection in each resort on snowboarding!), but it didn't stop there. Its an all around guide with info on the night life, hotels, and restaurants. it gave concice information about all the aspects of a skiing vacation, which made my off the slope hours much more productive. i strongly recomend this book for any skier or snowboarder, any level.
=Z

The KJ21 is an updating of the KJV. But IMO, it does not update the KJV enough. For example, consider the following question and statement by Jesus, "Why make ye this ado and weep? The damsel is not dead, but sleepeth" (5:39) This is English; but not the kind of English that I speak. The only time I have ever used the word "ado" is in the Shakespearean phrase, "Much ado about nothin'." And I have heard of "a damsel in distress" but a damsel that sleepeth?

For comparison, the New King James Version (NKJV) renders this passages, "Why make this commotion and weep? The child is not dead, but sleeping."

Moreover, the KJ21 is not consistent in updating words that have changed meaning. And it does not seem to update some of the inaccuracies of the KJV.

For example, Mark 1:34 reads in the KJ21, "And He healed many who were sick with divers diseases, and cast out many devils; and He suffered not the devils to speak, because they knew Him."

Compare the NKJV rendering, "Then He healed many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons; and He did not allow the demons to speak, because they knew Him."

Note the use of the word "suffered" in the KJ21. Today, "suffer" means to experience pain. So the NKJV has "allow" here, which fits the context much better. Note also the word "divers." The only time I have ever used this word is in reference to people who jump headfirst into water. The NKJV's "various" is much more understandable.

Lastly, note the word "devils" in the KJ21. The Greek word is "daimonia" and is better rendered "demons" as it is in the NKJV. The Greek word for "devil" is "diabalos" (Matt 4:1). There are many demons, but only one devil ("diablos" is always singular in Scripture when referring to the devil).

So the KJ21 seems not to have changed the wording of the KJV when it would have been prudent to do so. However, I am pleased that the KJ21 did not change a couple of aspects of the KJV. First off, the KJ21 appears to be based on the Textus Receptus that the KJV is based on. I believe this Greek text is truer to the original manuscripts than the "Critical Text" that other most modern-day translations use.

Also, the KJ21 follows the same "formal equivalence" (word for word) translation principle of the KJV. This principle differs from the "dynamic equivalence" (thought for thought) theory that most other modern-day versions use. I much prefer the "formal equivalence" principle. However, the above two points are also true for the NKJV.

So my impression of the KJ21 is not very good. If you are going to "update" the KJV, then update the KJV. But the KJ21 seems to only go part of the way; it updates some of the language but leaves much, well, "dated."

This conclusion is especially pointed as there are alternatives. In addition to the NKJV, the "Modern King James Version" and "The Literal Translation of the Bible" provide formal equivalence or literal translations of the Textus Receptus, but do so using modern-day English. And my own "Analytical-Literal Translation" provides a literal translation of the Majority Text, which is very similar to the Textus Receptus.

For a detailed discussion of the different translation principles and Greek text-types mentioned above, see my book "Differences Between Bible Versions." My book also reviews the other versions mentioned above, along with many other Bible versions.

I don't have this particular bible but it is possible to read or download the whole of Mark's gospel, and some other selections... I quite liked the idea but I tend to agree with Gary's review: the update didn't always seem consistent. But anyway, Noah Webster did much the same thing back in his day. I can't understand why his bible isn't in print. I have it on a CD and what I have read of it seems excellent. This guy was larger than life, he put together a dictionary and seems to have been one of the fathers of the American education system. Shame on you, my American friends, this chap Webster was one of your greats. Someone out there ought to start printing some of his stuff and especially his update of the Authorised Bible. When you do, let me know and I'll put in an order!

The single column layout is less distracting than the double colmun, traditional layout. The page design is the main reason I chose this Bible. There are minimal, well-abbeviated references. Also, there are three text types for emphasis and chapters summaries are nice. I have read from it daily for the past year. I'm hooked!

Larsen's /Embryology/ is not a very good embryology book at all: it has little overall organization, lots of pedantic and unclear language, and does not convey much of anything concisely. Reading it is the same as reading a laundry list of terms. If you want to get a good embryology book, this one is **definitely** NOT the one.

I am professor of Embryology and I like this book because it covers all the itens. This is an update book: It covers the molecular aspects of this beautifull science.

This book covers the basics of embryology including outstanding diagrams. In places, it has too much detail, but it is very well written and the illustrations (essential for learning embryology) are beautiful.

Even today, in the year 2002, it's hard to find any American who hasn't heard the name Jesse James. All types of wild stories have been passed through the years about him, some saying he was nothing more than a cold blooded killer and some swearing he was more like Robin Hood. In William Settle's book, "Jesse James Was His Name", he chronicalizes the events of Jesse's life starting with his boyhood home on a farm in Missouri, through the bloody years of the Civil War where he fought in Confederate guerrilla bands, and then on to his outlaw career.
The book, in my opinion, was too lengthy, it was full of facts a lot of which were unnecessary, and it didn't flow very well. So as Jesse James himself was an exciting person, this book was far from it. If you want to find more about Jesse James, don't read this book.

The research in the book seems to be first-rate. However the author doesn't seem to present the information in a way that leads to the the implied conclusions. He gives information on various robberies, implying they were conducted by the James/Younger gang, but the information doesn't support the conclusion--I wouldn't convict them based on the info presented. In fact, I was left leaning far more toward the James' and Youngers' own statements that they _weren't_ involved in most of these robberies and were convenient victims of post-war, anti-Quantill sentiments. Evidence of the James/Youngers' guilt struck me as being rather shoddy. Sorting out which robberies really could be attributed to whom is largely left to the reader.

Though well worth reading, I would view this book as a suppliment to other reading and research rather than the sole, final statement on the events.

Author Settle (true name: Dr. Robert Parker) was a college history professor from Oklahoma who spent 20+ years researching his subject - the notorious James Brothers of Missouri. His book, first published in 1961, still stands as the resource work in the "Jesse James" field. A historian, Settle refused to use or dwell upon anything except fact when dealing with his material. His research included developing a friendship with Frank James' only son, Robert - who lived on the James brothers' Missouri farm until his death in the 1950's. Settle leaned on family history, but primarily used grass roots documentation in reporting all of he known facts - through the time of publication. His work is the most often cited reference used by current authors. His research and book opened the way for the current boom of writers and researchers in the field of the James Gang. Nicely written and easy to read, the book not only discusses the family history and known criminal activities of Jesse and Frank, but tells how and why Jesse James - a known murderer and thief - has crept into legend as a hero. If you are interested in outlaw and lawman history of the Old West, this book is a "must".

In fact, it's been said that likely didn't write most of it. The production of this play performed at my university is generally considered to be the worst play performed on our stake in the last five years. Plot threads are left untouched, dialogue is uninteresting for the most part, etc. People in the audience either slept, left during the intermission, or pretended they were enjoying themselves. When you are in a play, usually people you run into on campus have something polite to say about the play. The best comment I got was, "You were OK, but I didn't understand what the play was trying to do with your character." Pericles does have some good scenes, but they are so scattered that the play isn't worth sitting through to get to them. Only for those who feel a compelling need to read all of Shakespeare's works. Even those may want to avoid it, because it isn't wholly the work of the bard.

I don't feel "Pericles" represents Shakespeare's best efforts. It lacks the profound aspects and suspense of his better (4-5 star) works. In my opinion, some characters like Cleon are handled less than fairly. The play seems to delight in his death, when he had nothing to do with the wickedness of his wife. Nor did he approve of it. Nevertheless, it is easy to see why this play has always been very popular. Pericles is a well developed character. First we see him as a youth jousting for the love of his life. Although not much time passes, we are somehow given the impression that he has aged. He becomes a father and he 'believes' he has become a widower. It is interesting how he changes from a typical teenage lovestruck youth to an adult concerned over his 'motherless' daughter. When he thinks his daughter is dead, he is reduced to an old man's solitary state. When he is reunited with his wife and daughter, it is almost as if he is young again. Marina is memorable as Pericles' virtuous daughter. Helicanus is striking as Pericles' loyal servant who is no flatterer. Cleon is sympathetic as the decent man who is destroyed by his wife Dionyza's wickedness. So, we have some interesting characters, a man's growth, good images, comical touches, a sudden dilemna, and a happy ending. In my opinion, this was Shakespeare's attempt at a fairy tale. If you read this (knowing not to expect his best efforts) you may be pleasantly surprised.

This least known of Shakespeare's romances was enormously popular during his day judging by handbills and other evidence--though not, of course, as much as his all time blockbuster; Romeo and Juliet.--And Pericles continued going strong for quite a while.

Immediately after the Restoration, when the Puritans (bless their hearts) fell from power and the theaters opened for business again, guess which play was the first the court wanted to see?

-----------------------------------------------------------------

So what happenned?

Oscar Wilde once said there were two ways of disliking poetry. One was to simply dislike it and the other was to like Pope.

Preicles did not do well with the 18th century pundits because it deviates from the 'Aristotalean unities'. Unlike The Tempest, for example, which takes place in one locale over a couple of days, Pericles takes place over 10 to 15 years all over the ancient Mediterranean. It has the form of an epic. What can I say? Homer would have dug it.

It's the story of a prince who screws up. Partly from his fault, mostly not. It's got tyrants, incest, treason, murder, knights, wizards, teenagers, kings, pirates, brothels, young love, a great hero and The Goddess Diana.

Oh yeah, the poetry's not too shabby either.

The theme is what to do when everything goes horribly wrong. How to weather sorrow and get through your life. How to be honorable and not give in to despair.

Someone once remarked that the romances are tragedies turned upside down e.g; The Winter's Tale begins as Othello and then has a happy ending. At least if it's performed by a good cast who commits to the miracle of the statue coming back to life.

If they 'apologize' for an outlandish miracle, it's doomed. Likewise, Pericles also has a happy ending if it's produced by a company who loves the play rather than by a group who views it as a rare curiosity in the Shakespeare canon.

It might interest some readers to know that the nonsense about Shakespeare only writing part of it is, God help us, a compromise position from a few scholars who don't want to get into an argument with unorthodox loons about who really wrote Shakespeare's plays.

Pericles was left out of the first folio. For that matter so were 100 lines of King Lear and there's 300 lines that appear in the folio version of Lear that aren't in the quarto (having fun yet?) which, of course, is positive proof that de Vere or Queen Elizabeth or Bacon or Lope de Vega was really the true writer and never mind that while William Shakespeare lived and for 200 years later no one thought to question his authorship, what did those Elizabethans know , anyway?

Besides he never went to college, so there.

(sigh)

As James Barrie, the author of Peter Pan once remarked: I do not know if Francis Bacon wrote Shakespeare' plays, but if he didn't he missed the opportunity of a lifetime.

In the hands of the right director, Pericles, Prince of Tyre is pure gold.

These two books were a waist of my time and money. I highly recommend that you not buy these. I did not like them because it was about nothing. I read and read (waisting time and time) trying to find something. "Did I?," you ask....NO! these are horrible books. Thank you.

Some people did not think much of the play, but I thought it was an excellent play. The charecter laura in the play is a crippled girl who feels that she is unable to do anything because she is crippled. Laura keeps a glass menagerie and is very attached to it because she feels they are like her, fragile and transparent. One of the glass charecters resembles her because it is different from all the other animals. Tom, who is Laura's brother wants to leave his house and do something adventurous with his life, but can't until his sister finds a suitible match. Amanda is their mother, who feels self-pity because her husband left her and she has to take care of two children. She keeps reminding Laura of how she always had so many gentelmen callers and Laura has none. This play ended sadly but made a good point.

This review is of James L. Roberts' Cliffs Notes for "The Glass Menagerie" and "A Streetcar Named Desire," and not the plays by Tennessee Williams. Roberts begins with a look at the Author's Life and Background to explain how Williams' personal life and experiences are directly related to the subject matter of his dramas. His look at "The Glass Menagerie" offers a Synopsis and a list of Characters, as well as an introductory section of Structure Through Memory teachers/readers will find useful before they start reading the play. The Scene Summaries & Commentaries make a point of signposting the analysis (A, B, C, etc.), which is also quite useful. As always, those dealing with these yellow books with the black stripes can make the best use of the analysis if they look at it after they have read the corresponding section in the play. This is a tad difficult with Williams since he does not use traditional "scene" divisions, leaving it to Roberts to make those divisions. A Character Analysis of all four characters follows.

Roberts follows the same format in looking at "A Streetcar Named Desire," setting the play up in terms of Structure Through Contrasts. I do want to point out that his Character Analysis on this particular play shows as much depth as you will find in any Cliffs Notes. Even thought he has to deal with two plays in this one volume, Roberts presents a lot of useful analysis that underscores the importance of character in these classic plays by Williams. "The Glass Menagerie" is almost a forgotten play at this point, but "Streetcar" remains a classic drama of the American theater. A minor complaint is that Roberts does not deal with the "happy" ending tacked on the celebrated film version, but that will just be another fascinating class discussion you can have if you screen the film (the "restored" version, of course). Give your students the opportunity to see Brando's performance, the finest in cinema history.