I don't know much about Czech literature, so I don't know if the Prague Spring had anything to do with the writing of Karel Capek, but I would not be surprised to discover a connection. "Leaves wither because spring is already beginning, because new buds are being made, as tiny percussion caps out of which the spring will crack....if we could only see that secret swarming of the future within us, we should say that our melancholy and distrust is silly and absurd and that the best thing of all is to be..living.."

Karel Capek wrote those words in 1929 when he was 39 years old. By 1938, the year the Nazis invaded Prague, he was dead. His brother Josef died a few years later in Bergan-Belsen. But this book is not about those sad events. This book is about a year in the life of a good gardener, how ever extraordinary a writer he might have been.

During his lifetime, Capek realized that humans were becoming enslaved by fascism and run-amuck technology. The ancient and cyclical daily practices of humans were dying before his eyes --the beet farmers stacking their fall harvests at the railroad stations; the wagon loads of manure that could be delivered for garden beds; the nursury men who understood plants giving way to "market garden centers" staffed by those who regularly misidentify plants and stocked with items that "move" (produce a high volume of sales).

THE GARDENER'S YEAR is a reflective book. You don't have to garden to appreciate it, but if you garden, you will probably laugh on more than one occasion. Where is the gardener who has not struggled with a hose; Who has not looked with greed on a bald spot and attempted to squeeze six more phlox plants in, only to discover a dormant sping plant; And, where is the gardener who has not wandered about the yard with a plant in each hand trying to find just one more place for a perennial. Capek understood the gardener's soul. We are a greedy lot, obsessed with dirt, happy in a wagon load of s___, and hostile to many-legged life forms, but, we are also the best sort of human beings who understand the meaning and importance of life.

Capek's writing reminds me of that of Henry Mitchell who wrote two columns (one on gardening the other on "everyday" philosophy) for the Washington Post. Like Mitchell Capek had the gift of converting his own gardening experiences into tales that inform, enlighten, and illustrate the best and the worst of human nature. "I tell you there is no death, not even sleep. We only pass from one season to another. We must be patient with life, for it is eternal."

There is humor and self-deprecation in The Gardener's Year...This is a book that will appeal to the gardener, the philospher, and the Zen deotee, the reader of self-help books, as well as the humorist. Here are quotes: "After his death, the gardener does not become a butterfly but ... a garden worm tasting all the dark, nitrogenous and spicey delights of the soil." "I find a real gardener is not a man who cultivates flowers; he is a man who cultivates the soil". "The life of a gardener is active and full of will." There are easy references to German philosophers, campanula alpina, Tolstoy, the perfume of manure. All this is presented with humor but there are no fools in this book. It could easily be subtitled "Zen and the Pleasant Art of Gardening." It didn't change my life, but it made it better. For Godsake, by this book!

I'll make this short. These essays are simply the best ever about the act of gardening and the gardeners themselves. Anyone who has ever tended a garden for any length of time will immediately relate to the situations and the people in these writings. They are humorous as well as accurate. You'll laugh at yourself and your friends through these wonderfull essays.

If you are considering a career in gems and Gemology this book is a MUST HAVE. It shows you what the text-books describe in words. The images are so incredible. A reference, Interesting to read (even cover to cover) and a wonderful addition to a professional's library.

I need an italian translation of this book Where can I find it

I purchased this book shortly after graduating from the Gemological Institute of America. As a professional Gemologist and apprasier, I can't afford to make mistakes. This book is a priceless reference. I highly reccomend it to all gemolgy students and professionals.

Pieper, in these three essays, describes what we have to learn from the works and life of Aquinas. The essays detail the scholastic arguements of the day and how Thomas, in the true spirit of open mindedness (his life and method are the definition of this oft abused term) brought some peace ond understanding to the various sides, a very serious matter in his day. The book explains how much of an Aristotilian Aquinas was, and more importantly how much he was not. Mainly by showing how the charactoristics of the Latin Averroists have been unjustly attributed to Aquinas by his detractors - the Latin Averoists (Averoes was an Arab) were whole hearted Aristotilians.

This book is an excellent addition to reading Etienne Gilson's "Unity of the Philosophical Experience" as Pieper gives further explanantions as to the behavior of the Augastinians and Latin Averroists. It could explain also why modern Muslims are so singularly textually dogmatic - it is in reaction to Averroist's attempting to rid religion of faith altogether - and thus the violent reaction in nixing reason and rationalism. It tells how Aquinas circumvented this problem. The last essay also compliments Gilson's book in that it shows what Existentialism has in common with Aquinas, some interesting things, despite some gapping fundimental differences at their very root and conclusion.

The first essay vividly descibes what an attitude of accademic pursuit and teaching should look like. Too many teachers are dogmatic and are only interested in pursuing and supporting an idea that is presently clear in their minds and propogating it, rather than treating the moment as an active pursuit of truth. Thomas was a model teacher and the book is an active discripition of his method.

The book also argues, with supporting evidence and reason, that Thomas' main work The "Summa Theologica" was intentionally left unfinished. Why it was left unfinished is at the root of what Aquinas was all about concerning philosophy and metaphysics - it is a process not a conclusion. Gilson's book describes what a conclusion is, as sometimes philosophers have rejected the idea that they have reached a conclusion, when in fact they have. Gilson effectively defines what a conclusion looks like.

Both are highly recommended books for Teachers, Historians, and Philosophers.

St. Thomas Aquinas, needless to say, is not easy to understand. In this little guide, which makes nice supplemental reading to get a look "behind the scenes" of the saint's philosophy, Josef Pieper first sketches a biographical outlines of Thomas' life and then delves into the negative element in his philosophy and concludes with the "timelessness" of Thomism, which makes it a perennial philosophy.

This book is primarily concerned with St. Thomas' epistemological assumptions (which were taken for granted, hence the "silence"), what knowledge meant for the saint, and how and to what extent it can be achieved. Pieper tackles Thomas' seemingly paradoxical stance on essences, and whether or not they can be known, for Thomas maintains both that we cannot know God in His essence and that God's essence is His existence.

Pieper shows St. Thomas' beautiful conviction that "it is part of the very nature of things that their knowability cannot be wholy exhausted by any finite intellect, because these things are creatures, which means that the very element which makes them capable of being known must necessarily be at the same time the reason why things are unfathomable" (p.60).

All in all, this book is a fine look at Thomas' profound epistemology, so rarely discussed in philosophical courses today. If you have an interest in the philosophy of St. Thomas, don't pass this one up!

The unifying theme of the three essays composing this book is the paradox that the intelligibilty of things and their incomprehensibility both derive from their being creatures, that is, from their possessing natures that are communications of the ideas in the mind of God. Things can be known only because they are created, but at the same time, things are unfathomable because they are created: "one and the same factor explains both why things cannot be entirely grasped and why they can be known" (pp.95-6). Why is this so? I'll not deprive the reader of the pleasure of reading Pieper's book to find out.

For me, this book ended a long struggle to discover what St. Thomas Aquinas really taught about our knowledge of things. Pieper succeeds in reconciling Thomas's frequent statements that we cannot know the essence of any created thing with his repeated claims elsewhere that our minds are receptive of the forms (i.e., essences) of things.

While my attitude toward Pieper's understanding of St. Thomas's thought is not uncritical, I must concede that he is one of the best and most original (the two are not the same) of twentieth century Thomist philosophers. Unfortunately, he is sometimes (unjustly) put down by scholars as a mere popularizer. Let them read this book and be disabused; Pieper has much to teach them.

My ratings of other books by Josef Pieper: Guide to Thomas Aquinas ****; Leisure the Basis of Culture *****; Scholasticism *****

I found innovative ideas that I had not thought of before. The tips worked when I tried them, and the stories had me laughing!

Very well written and has helped me tremendously.

Excellent book educational, very informative. All you wanted to know about bird hunting. Fast and easy to read.

I spotted this book in a museum exhibit--it was related to the paintings being shown. Since the museum didn't have any copies in its bookstore, I ordered it here. If you're interested in related insights and learning to draw yourself, you should order Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain and Drawing on the Artist Within, by Betty Edwards. Nina Keilin

In this now classic work, Gombrich uses his command of the history of art to reflect deeply on how creators and viewers of illusionistic, that is representational art, do what they do. While he wrote this in the 50's, and is deficient when it comes to issues of abstract art (which is really outside his stated purview) he comes close to what might now be termed a post-structuralist view of seeing, certainly an extremely careful and sophisticated one. Old-fashiioned as some of the language is, the book remains fresh and well worth reading or re-reading. The numerous and very well-chosen illustrations are unusually well coordinated in their placement, so that the reader rarely is forced to lose her place while thumbing back and forth in search of them.

Of all the stories my father read to me as a child, this was my favorite. Its endearing story of self-discovery is timeless, and not to mention quite humorous for a six year old boy. It reminds me of a time far less complicated and will thus always hold a special place of affection for me. This was the Catcher in the Rye of my Elementary years. I would highly recommend this to anyone with children looking for quite simply a flat out good story to read them that they will enjoy.

The Breman Town Musicians is a simple story that involves setting goals and team work. It has two things that children love, music and animals. What a combination!

As a 17 year childcare veteran, I highly recommmend this book. Kids today can use all the inspiration they can get. A great way to learn is to read. I read this book to my daughter when she was a child. Now I am getting a new copy for my grand daughter.

This book is perhaps the most important book written on cancer in the twentieth century. This is because Josef Issels demonstrated in his Cancer Clinic in Bavaria the most successful results ever achieved with late stage cancer patients (16.6% five-year survival and 15% fifteen-year survival - more than 5 times better than any orthodox therapy before or since.
Recent evidence continues to question the current paradigm that cancer is a local disease that later spreads. Issels instead saw cancer as a systemic disease that in its later stages showed observable symptoms, the tumours. Treating the tumours was therefore a waste of time unless the cause was tackled. He saw the causes as many, including physical, emotional and spiritual so he tackled all possibilities with dedication and a caring approach. The only contributing factor he apprently underestimated was the emotions. Four well-run randomised trials have since shown that simply tackling the emotional causes can have dramatic results, typically 50-70% increased survival times. But his Wholebody-therapy he used in the 1960s has still not been matched by any of the other alternative cancer therapists since. The book gives a history of the treatment of cancer over the past few thousands of years and goes into a lot of well-documented factors that make up his total treatment. For those who want to understand the cancer process this book is essential reading.

The one word that can ruin your day, actually ruin your life is Cancer. My wife and I are fighting and I mean fighting! We are very careful who we talk to and what we read and listen to. This book is for fighters. If your fight currently involves that nasty word (cancer), get this book and strengthen your fight. Also check out the Oasis of Hope Hospital and Cancer Treatment Centers of America. Keep Fighting!

Probably the highest compliment I can pay to this amazing book is that right after I finished it I started listening to Dvorak nonstop. So many themes are explored here, and each with disarming subtlety. Skvorecky is a musician with the pen.

This book is told from the point of view of many different narrators, all of whom have some connection with Dvorak and his American sojourn. Some chapters are virtual novellas, others are just funny stories. As ever, Skvorecky's range is prodigious. He can speak with the voice of Czechs and Americans, men and women, blacks and whites, the old and the young. Dvorak himself is glimpsed only from the outside, by those around him, and it is not necessary to know more about him than that he was a great musician in order to enjoy -- and be moved by -- this comic novel.

If the Nobel Prize committee made decisions based on a writer's skill and range and mastery of literary form, Skvorecky would have won years ago. He's without doubt the funniest great writer alive. If you haven't read him yet, you have a treat awaiting you.

Koudelka is an amazing photographer! Every young photographer must see these pictures.

In the past couple of weeks, with the war in Kosovo, I was reminded of these photographs...seeing the images of the refugees, Albanian Kosovars in exile, day after day on the news is a stunning experience...I'm curious as to how other people process these images, what kind of individuality they attribute to the people that make up the masses in flight....if they have any way of identifying with them or forming true sympathetic feelings. I remember that seeing these photographs by Koudelka was a lesson of sorts in processing this kind of experience that is impossible to imagine in any real way unless you ever find yourself in the middle of it. News photos don't do enough to bring the reality home...Koudelka's photos and poetry fill in the gaps.

This book really cannot be praised too highly. Pieper's discussion is more deep and insightful than any psychology text I've seen, and he's not even trying to do psychology.

He uses traditional and technical words (like "sloth"), but this is necessary to distinguish shades of moods, emotions, and actions. I used to think of "slothful" as synonymous with "laziness" -- but this book made me realize what a huge difference there was. You could work hard every day, but if deep inside you know you could do great things, and you simply don't bother to do them, then you are guilty of sloth. Many Christians (and non-Christians) that I know, including myself, will recognize this as a part of their lives.

And that's just from one paragraph of "Hope", the least powerful of these three essays!

This book is a compilation of three essays by the popular Thomist, the late Josef Pieper, on the theological virtues.

Though Pieper writes from a Christian perspective, he is doing philosophy not theology. (The theological virtues are so called not because they are for theologians only, but because they derive directly from God.)

The richness of these essays is their thoroughgoing personalism. Pieper defines all three virtues in terms of relationships. In faith, "the will of the believer is directed toward the person of the witness, toward the warrantor." "Hope says: it will turn out well....It will turn out well for us." And "to love means to rejoice in the happiness of another."

As always, Pieper writes clearly, logically, at times movingly. This book reminds us that while the source of these virtues is beyond human reason, the practical understanding and practice of them is not.