Like many Americans, I didn't know much about our country's principles of government or its legal system. This book helped me to become more knowledgeable about both. I admit, this is not reading I would choose to curl up with in front of the fire; this was part of a requirement for my MBA. However, I will remember what I've learned in this text long after my class ends. Having previously been clueless about the legal system, it is now exhilarating to read about, say, how the nine US Supreme Court Justices are dealing with the aftermath of the Gore vs. Bush debacle and actually understand what is going on. The chapters are well-organized and easy to understand. There are even helpful study tips and ways to brief a legal case in the beginning of the text. After completing this book, I not only feel better equipped to handle business decisions, but also feel empowered and enlightened for better understanding our great country.

This was the classic work on the limbic system when I was a doctoral student in neurobiology. After about 50 pages of pretty intense neuroanatomy on the various areas, the author gets into the real meat of the book, discussing the functional aspects of this important area. Many of the studies concern results from classical ablation-type and electrophysiological experiments.

The concluding and final chapter of the book is the most interesting, because here Isaacson proposes a general theory of the limbic system and what it really does. His idea is very subtle--the limbic system is concerned with the selective inhibition of retroactive interference. This means it is involved with an extremely pervasive but subtle aspect of learning. He mentions Lethe, who was the Greek god of forgetfulness. He suggests the limbic system has a comparable role in the overall functioning brain. I thought this was very interesting idea.

I have been out of the field for some years now. At the time I predicted that the limbic system and cognitive neuroscience would become a big area. This was back in the late 70's. I can only say that this prediction was right on, based on what has happened since, what with books like Joseph Ledoux's The Emotional Brain and others having been written since that time.

But back when I was a grad student Isaacson's book was one of the only overall survey of limbic system research I could find, and it made for fascinating reading. It was through this great book that I first acquired a detailed understanding of structures such as the amygdala, hippocampus, septal nucleus, cingulate gyrus, and the other important limbic system areas.

I loved this book! I am researching a novel, and this book helped me understand this area so much better--and I live near it. It is well-written and informative and reads like a bestseller! A must for anyone living in the Texas valley or anyone wanting to know more about that area.

Robert Gibbings was an artist whose etchings are still on display in major English universities. In the 1930s and 1940s, as he traveled the British Isles in search of scenery, he began taking notes and wrote a number of lyrical, gentle travelogues. He brought to the printed page an artist's delicate sensibility and sentimentality. "Lovely is the Lee" is the book he wrote after visiting his ancestral homeland, the area around Cork, Ireland. It is illustrated with dozens of his fine sharp etchings. It seems that in this case, the sentimental family attachments and his natural empathy for the people resulted in an especially fine book. It was a Book of the Month Club selection in 1945; more than two decades later I found a copy in a book case belonging to my grandmother. I read the book and realized it was something special. I asked my grandmother for it, and it is still on my bed stand today. If you are high strung, worrisome or neurotic, this book is almost therapy in itself. The descriptions of the landscapes are beautiful, and the people described are open, honest and unaffected. You almost feel Gibbings got a last glimpse of a world that has passed away amidst the technological ruckus of the 20th century. Once you read about how he was fitted for a suit by Taedy the Tailor, or listen by the fireside to Patsy Whelan's ghost stories, you'll want to cash in your CDs, burn your computer and take off for the back roads of the Emerald Isle as fast as you can. It is only the realization that Ireland, too, has changed that will stop you. "Lovely is the Lee" is a lyrical, gentle, and haunting book about a man who visited a land almost like Brigadoon. Except that it was real and unlike Brigadoon, it is never coming back.

If you are looking for a reference book on quotes from past leaders or if you just need inspiration from these leaders, this is the book for you. My husband is in the military and he uses examples from this book frequently, along with a lesson in history that corresponds and I also have given a copy of this book to my father-in-law. He is a civil war buff and he loved my husband's book. I highly recommend this book to historians, students and people who are just interested in the civil war and the heroes of the south.

"Method of Rhetorical Criticism: A Twentieth-Century Perspective" remains one of the standard collections of essays in the field. The primary reason for this is that for each critical perspective, from the traditional to the postmodern, the editors provide an essay laying out the theoretical premises and then a second one which puts that particular critical theory into practice. So, for example, the Dramaturgical Perspective is covered in Bernard L. Brock's "Rhetorical Criticism: A Burkeian Approach Revisited" and then the theory is applied in David S. Bridsell's "Ronald Reagan on Lebannon and Grenada: Flexibility and Interpretation in the Application of Kenneth Burke's Pentad." This format works very well with students, both undergraduates and graduates, because whether they are more comfortable with the abstract theory or the critical application, they can use the one to better understand the other. Furthermore, included are some of the most honored essays in the field by not only the editors but Lawrence W. Rosenfield, Ernest G. Bormann, Walter R. Fisher, Karlyn Kohrs Campbell, Kathleen Hall Jamieson and Celeste Condit Railsback. Unless you can put together your own packet of essays for your students, this volume will serve you well in providing a foundation for a class in rhetorical criticism.

The six major categories of rhetorical criticism covered in this collection: (1) The Traditional Perspective, which includes the Neo-Aristotelian Approach (and Marie Hochmuth Nichols classic look at "Lincoln's First Inaugural") and the Historical Approach; (2) The Experiential Perpspective consists of the Eclectic and Epistemic approaches; (3) The Dramaturgical Perspective covers the Dramatistic Approach, Fantasy Theme Analyais, and the Narative Paradigm; (4) The Sociological Perspective presents the Sociolinguistics, Generic, Social Movements and Feminist approaches; and (5) The Postmodern Perspective has both the Constructionist and Deconstructionist approaches. These sections are bracketted by an introductory essay on rhetorical criticism and a concluding piece on "Decisions in Rhetorical Criticism."

Historical mysteries abound--and why not? There’s such a large subject matter--not to mention characters--from which to draw. In Robert Lee Hall’s “Mudrder at Drury Lane,” we find none other than Benjamin Franklin “trodding the boards” and solving a mystery at the venerable Drury Lane Theatre in London. And for none other than David Garrick, London’s highest rated actor! Besides incorporating a special twist to American history, Hall adds another most interesting ingredient--the world of the theatre circa late 18th century!

Told in first person by young (and I mean very young!) Nick Handy, Franklin’s young (and I mean very young) secretary, ward, and constant companion, the story moves along at a rapid pace, as Hall seems to be able to present the period--and characters--in a most interesting manner and fashion.

Ben and Nick are engaged to find the murderer (or murderers) in a series of slayings that threaten to close down the theatre! Franklin uses his

incredible powers of logic and deduction to get at the bottom of this and before a “final curtain” is drawn, naturally, he solves the case. “Murder in Druy Lane” is the third in this series and a good one it is. A good blending of fact and fiction, coupled with a excellent portrayal of his characters, makes Hall’s book one not to be missed.

In this story, people save some trees by hugging them, so they don't get chopped down. The pictures are like from a famous artist. They are magnificent. I know this story from a camp. I read it to another kid and myself. Also that other kid liked it too.But I loved it!

I have read other books from this author Robert L. Maril. This book is not only informative and grounded in social fact; which makes it a great text book for students, but it is also a good read. Dr Maril has the ability to write in such a way that it challanges the academic mind, and at the same time the book is relatively easy to read for the none academic. I happen to live in the Lower Rio Grande River Valley of South Texas and really did not realize many things about the Valley, as we call it, until I read this book. I did not realize just how poor this area is becaue you have to get off the beaten path to see it. It is a great book and will leave you wanting more.

A real find for those who love poetry about nature and humannature--and humor: "I took a book with me to bed--and on the lastpage that I read--I found a little bookworm dead. It makes me feel so insecure--to find a worm could not endure--the current taste in literature..." RLB