This is a delightful slim volume giving a complete picture of one of the most important mathematicians of all time. The biographical information is accurate and clear, the organization is easy to follow, the translation into English is good, and the illustrations are magnificent and plentiful.

The summaries of Gauss' work are clear to any reader who is tuned into mathematics in general, and Gauss the man comes across as eccentric but basically good and definitely productive.

Werner Hofmann's new monograph on Caspar David Friedrich benefits from superb colour reproductions as well as Hofmann's own discursive brilliance.

Selections from Friedrich's letters are a neat fit, bowing to the idea that his transcendental painting ultimately eludes scholarly discourse.

This book lands with authority, passion, and a keen sense of the vistas of silence that Friedrich communicates to admirers everywhere.

A bargain. Snap it up if you come across it...

Koerner has written a philosophical masterpiece in the form of an art book. Caspar David Friedrich is one of the most complex and thought-provoking of nineteenth-century artists, whose whose exploration of perception shows up in his most mundane paintings as well as his most grandiose.
Koerner shows us how even a painting of something as simple as a bushy thicket in the snow contains many subtle contradictions and complexities that baffle the eye as we examine it more closely. The apparent simplicity and underlying intensity of many of his works is similar to that of Edward Hopper, on whom he seems to have been a major influence (and this book bears comparison with Kranzfelder's "Hopper").
Friedrich specialized in painting the human figure seen from behind (rueckenfigur), and this ties in with sense of nostalgia that is a major component of his art. A really notable example of this is "Abbey Graveyard under Snow", a painting of a ruined mediaeval monastery with a spectral procession of monks from a bygone age; this painting was destroyed by bombing in 1945 and exists only in reproduction - a ghostly painting of ghosts.
Koerner's dense prose is heavy going, but well worth the effort because it contains so much; the author evidently has a thorough grounding in philosophy as well as a great sympathy for his subject.
The last chapter is entitled "deja vu", and this sums up one of the main feelings aroused by this art. The last sentence is worth quoting:
"And it arrests you on the Dresden heath, before the thicket in winter, when what you thought were just alders in the snow are fragments of your darkest history".

This highly illustrative tome includes pencil sketches and tracings showing lines of force for Friedrich's major works. In addition, an in-depth discussion of his life, including cultural and socio-political influences, is discussed concurrent with a review of not only his major masterpieces, but his minor, early works as well. An absolute must for anyone who has become enamored with his work, or the work of other similar sublime, landscape artists of the period.

Sabine Rewald's Caspar David Friedrich is one of the most striking discussions to evolve from recent art books: it presents the works of a major German painter who included pictures of the moon in practically every painting he produced in the 1800s. A number of his works are featured along with details about what was known of the moon in Friedrich's lifetime, and the artist's Dresden friends. A gorgeous presentation.

The Cautio Criminalis is a classic in the literature on witchcraft. It is both intensely logical and passionately involved with correcting the injustices of the witch trials. Marcus Hellyer has produced a highly readable translation which transmits both the clarity and the passion of the original. He has also included an introduction on the work which reflects the current state of historical knowledge. This book belongs to the classics of the struggle for human rights; it ranks with Johann Weyer and Beccaria. Hellyer also indicates, at the end of the introduction, that this is not only a historical question; where crimes that we consider heinous are concerned, we are only too ready to abridge the rights of the accused. The appearance of this book is more than welcome.

Heer's text is scholarly and readable. The numerous visuals of Carolingian items--everything from Charlemagne's Aachen cathedral, to photos of the Rhine-Danube canal site, to tapestries and metal pieces--enhance the content and give a feel for life as it was at the time. The content is organized by topic and includes (among others) the wars, economic organization, Church-state relationship, and Charlemagne's education/arts agendas. I found the description of the impact of the stirrup on military strategy especially interesting. Writing is clear and appears mostly unbiased. This text is a must for anyone wanting to build a Charlemagne library. With copies of Charlemagne biographies by Einhard and Notker the Stammerer, the Heer text would give the collector a well-rounded account of the 9th Century. The index is also helpful and the bibliography includes reputable sources.

In my extensive research in the field of Christology, I only recall about three mentions of this book, including Robinson's The Human Face of God, and all of the references were to quotes of Martin Luther, not to Gogarten's own thinking! Yet this book is one of the singularly important works ever written on the subject.

Some of the reasons for its neglect would include: 1) Very few other scholars are cited; the over- whelming majority of citations are to Luther. 2) The approach is atypical of such studies: there is no systematic treatment of traditional titles for Christ, no exegesis of key biblical passages, etc. 3) His treatment is largely cast in his own highly stylized, existential historical framework, which is somewhat difficult to follow. 4) This was, I think, his last work, written with age, and he repeats himself incessantly.

What makes it one of the greatest treatments: 1) It is an excellent presentation of Luther's Christology--extremely insightful, revealing, and objective. 2) He clearly shows that proper relation between faith and history. 3) He pinpoints the main problem with Bultmann's theology and points the way to a proper approach to understanding Christ. 4) His handling and interpretation of many of the synoptic passages shows a depth of understanding. 5) He reveals the "core" of Jesus' message--what it was all about. 6) He shows the essential continuity of Jesus & his message with the theology of Paul--a major feat in itself. 7) He demonstrates the uniqueness and distinctiveness of Jesus and his destiny to be the Christ for the world, but without bringing in some artificial supernatural (deist) explanation. He fully expounds what has been traditionally called the "divinity" of Christ in terms of the relation he shared with God--in a way that shows it was God Himself present to us in Christ, precisely in and through his humanity.

The Christ presented to us is a fully human historical person, but in whom God uniquely comes to us, thus confronting us with a crisis of decision to choose death or life, the piety derived from the way the world exists or from faith in God, as the one who he is, with whom all things are possible.

This collection should get SIX stars. Having sampled one of Audio Connoisseur's other recordings, and being hugely impressed, I went out and purchased this one. I had always wanted to know a little about German literature, assuming that a nation that can build fabulous cars could also produce a few good authors. Before I say anything about the stories, let me just tell you that the narrator, Charlton Griffin, is probably the greatest reader now living. I say that in all honesty. Never have I encountered recorded literature in which ALL the characters, including women and children, have been performed with such utter believability and astonishing acumen. You will shake your head in disbelief that only one person is performing all these voices. I differ with the above AudioFile reviewer who castigates Griffin for his pacing. The pacing is perfect, almost stately. In the appropriate places it has a dreamlike quality. The stories are a very good cross section of German literature over a period of 150 years, beginning with Goethe and ending with Lampe. Every single one of these little masterpieces has a jewel-like quality and a sparkling intelligence behind them. I approached this subject with mild trepidation and came away astonished at the variety and depth of German writers. My favorites in this volume were the stories by Mann, von Hofmannsthal and Schnitzler. Not content with merely great stories, Audio Connoisseur has tastefully added music and sound effects...but only in perfectly suitable places and without distraction. They seem to fit in organically, as though a film were rolling in your head. If you are an educator, this would be an indispensable teaching tool. My admiration for Audio Connoisseur knows no bounds at this point. May they continue this level of quality forever.

This book is not funny. Higgins is not funny. Nietzsche's Joyful Wisdom is not funny. This book, as discussed in the preface, was contracted by a silly university press -- one of the silliest of them all. Then Higgins sat down to force the thing into shape. The entire thing has a constant feeling of being forced. There is nothing here that is smooth, natural or even very insightful. Higgins is constantly saying 'I think that is funny' as though her opinion could be worth anything at all. She has to think that in order to fulfill her contract. And who cares about her mental state anyway? The only proof that something is funny is that people find it funny, perhaps. But Higgins is an interested party, so her opinion is irrelevant. In fact, her opinion is worthless here, and so is her book.

Nietzsche is a "Paradigm of Playfulness" in my opinion, and Professor Higgins has done an excellent job of teasing out the entrenched humor of his Gay Science. Also, the importance of humor in philosophizing not only in Nietzsche's work but in general should be taken into consideration by those who kick their heels up on the playground of ideas. In this unprecedented work Higgins shows us the multi-faceted nature of Nietzsche's way of doing philosophy, and with this approach a new appreciation for Nietzsche's depth as a philosopher should be noted.