Since the nineteeenth century, the absolute integrity of the text of the Pentateuch as the letter-for -letter accurate revelatory message of the Divine to Moses on Mount Sinai has been an article of faith for Orthodox Judaism. Prof. Levy shows with meticulous scholarship that from early Rabbinic times onwards, through the Middle Ages and even into more modern times many rabbinic scholars acknowledged and discussed the variations in the Masoretic and other texts of the 5 Books ( particularly in the context of the accuracy of the Scrolls used in synagogue). What was commonplace discussion in early times turned into sensation in our own times; what was never at issue turned into heresy, and, conversely, a view that was never espoused turned into an article of faith. The book is a superbly documented window onto the history of Judaism, and on to the history of the transmission of texts, with restrained but pointed relevance to some contemporary causes celebre - eg Bible Codes, whose basic premise this books elegantly demolishes. Should be in every theological and Jewish library!

I basically found this one at a garage sale. I had never heard of it, but was intrigued by the description on the back cover. The book deals with everything from Cryogenetics to cloning to global warming, to behavior modification. Though the book was written in 1970, it was hard for me to find anything in it not relevent today. It is amazing that it is not spoken of in the science fiction community these days.

The book centers around Stephen Walker. He works for a company called Foxcroft who uses cryogenetics to freeze terminally ill patients (and also volunteers) until a cure is available for their disease. Walker finds himself frozen for 500 years. During that time science has made incredible leaps, society as he has known it has totally changed, and the goals and objectives of Foxcroft have totally changed.

Walker rejects most attempts by Foxcroft to physically and mentally alter him and clings to old traditions. However, Foxcroft no longer follows the antiquated principals that Walker holds so dear. Walker is placed in a situation where he must be conformed willingly or be transformed against his will.

I do not want to give too much more information because it would spoil the plot. The book is written is a sequential fashion as Walker learns more about his world. Therefore, the reader tends to figure out what is going on in the new age as Walker gradually learns.

This book could easily be made to film and should be as good as The Matrix. The Amazon web site shows that there is a year 2000 version of this book now available. I highly recommend that it be gotten.

For a mind-blowing companion to, and crucial expansion of, this theme, see the superb *Lost Literature of Socialism,* by George Watson.

Nathan Rosenberg, Department of Economics, Stanford University, says: "Levy's scintillating volume offers a startlingly original reinterpretation of Carlyle's well-known characterization of classical economics as 'the dismal science.' Levy examines the positions of classical economics and its nineteenth-century Victorian literary critics, as seen through the specific prism of the antislavery debate. He argues, persuasively in my view, that it was the economists, and not the poets, who were the 'true friends of humanity.'"

This book would be very helpful for clinical psychology and counseling psychology students. It provides a great framework for thinking about cross-cultural psychology. Specifically, it provides comprehensive information about issues in cross-cultural psychology, such as research, intelligence, human development, and mental disorders. Moreover, I found the activities and exercises throughout the chapters very helpful for applying the material.

I loved this book!! I could relate to her problems and I just loved reading it! And I love how fast I got these books, I love amazon.com!!

Amateur Astronomer David Levy is best known as co-discoverer of Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9, which crashed into the planet Jupiter in 1994. However, David is not only an avid amateur astronomer, but a student of English Literature and History as well. His recently published book, "More Things in Heaven and Earth," takes it's title from a quote in Shakespeare, in which Hamlet says to Horatio, "There are more things in Heaven and Earth than are dreamed of in your philosophy ."

Although David is known as a comet hunter, he stresses that astronomy is not just the study of heavenly bodies, but actually the "study of everything." For the science of astronomy embraces physics, mathematics, chemistry, and biology, just to name a few scientific disciplines.

But just as poetry is not just for poets, he says, astronomy is not just for astronomers. It is for everyone. As amateur astronomers, and poets, we are entitled to enjoy the beauty of the universe, just as scientists are entitled to describe it in scientific terms.

Poets are often astronomers, and astronomers are often poets. David's book shows the inter-relationship of scientists who made great astronomical discoveries: Tycho Brahe, Copernicus, Galileo, Kepler, and Newton, with the great poets who wrote about the spiritual and emotional impact of astronomy, people like Robert Frost, Henry David Thoreau, Fances Bacon, Alfred Lord Tenneyson, and Gerard Manley Hopkins.

In his free flowing text, David has selected some of the best examples of astronomical poetry in the English Language, and assembled and described them in an attractively laid out book. Illustrations include not only astronomical photos of comets and other objects taken by David himself, but historical photos of both astronomers and poets. There is even a color section in the front of the book which includes some of the more spectacular images from the Hubble Space Telescope, illustrating not only the science of astronomy, but the endless beauties of the universe.

As amateurs, moving through the beauties of the night sky, we come to an interest in astronomy from varied backgrounds. And all of these viewpoints are equally valid in their own way. Just so the union of astronomy and poetry. David's unique viewpoint as presented here allows us to explore this relationship, in a way that no other book published today can do.

One of the most commonly recited verses in the English language is "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star." But how many of us know the complete poem written by Jane Taylor in 1806? The entire poem appears on the frontispiece.

In this book, David reminds us that, "Ideals are like stars. You cannot touch them with your hands. But if you follow them, they will take you to your destination." This book can act as a travel guide for your journey.

Edward P. Flaspoehler, Jr., REFLECTOR Editor, Astronomical League

This is a information-packed book. It's divided in nine chapters, but in fact you can see three parts:

The first part, with text and a lot of color pictures covers the basics of every subject you can imagine regarding sky watching: Binoculars, telescopes, cities and urban skies, software, history, every planet, binary stars, eclipses etc. etc. etc. always in just two or four pages.

The second part covers every constellation in the sky, in
alphabetical order (one constellation per page), with stars up to 6th (I guess) magnitude, highlighting the most interesting stars, nebulae etc., each one of the included features has a symbol (in the text below the map) so you can know at a glance if it is to be seen at naked eye, with binoculars or with a telescope. I should mention that it also has a 12 general skycharts, so you can always use the one according to your latitude and time of the year.

And the third part ("the Starhopping Guide") are 20 selected sectors of the sky, including stars up to 8th magnitude (deep-sky objects up to 12.5) with text and photos regarding deep sky features, double stars, nebulae etc. etc. Useful: constantly the text points out what you can expect to see with a given telescope (4", 6", 8" lens diameter).

And I have some mixed additional comments:
-I think every picture has been thoughtfully selected (no pictures just to fill space, as I've seen in other books).
-The sky maps are made by Will Tirion (so you can expect that

there is what should be there, and nothing less).
-There is a small map showing the path of sun eclipses until year 2015
-The moon is covered in 8 pages, featuring some 300 craters, mares etc.
-I liked the section about "in store test" for choosing binoculars.
-I was a little bit disappointed that the "Starhopping guide" includes many features for telescopes with an aperture of 8", and up to 16"... (of course, this is because I have a 5" aperture telescope!)
-The book itself has an uncommon size: about 6 1/2" x 11", so it's still handy to take it outdoors, but large enough to include sky maps of reasonable size.
-I see that this book includes in few words a lot of information that I've read in more detail somewhere else. I wonder how this will be taken for someone who this is her/his first skywatching book. It could be preciously treasured for years... or it could bore the the poor reader: Who knows?.
And finally, at the price offered here, it's a steal!

This is a user's manual to the sky. It is very enjoyable reading, and guides you pleasantly through all the important sights of the night sky. Excellent - one of my favourites

I love this book! Constance Levy does it again with this delightful, refreshing and thought provoking collection of poems. Her skillful use of rhythm and rhyme, and her keen observations of nature earn her a place among the upper echelon of children's poets such as Emily Dickinson and Lilian Moore.
Thorougly enjoyable, and it's both fun and educational for my children.

This is a useful reference and particularly good for people who prefer detailed observation of objects. For people like me who prefer quantity over quality (i.e. if you don't spend an hour looking at the same object), I'd recommend Kepple's Night Sky Observers guide. Kepple's guides offer a combination of the most useful and comprehensive guides I've seen for intermediate and advanced observational astronomers.

The hardback format of this book isn't particularly good for the field, even though I've seen people referencing beaten-up copies with their red flashlights. It has good quality paper stock.

In sum, this is a standard work on the Messier objects and has substantial value despite its somewhat high price. However, I could think of other books I'd buy first -- Nightwatch for beginners, Kepple's set for more advanced users.

This book is an interesting change from the stereo-typcial astronomy guide which so often tends to be technical to the point of dryness. O'Meara lets fly with some artistic hyperbolae and isn't afraid to let the imagination loose. The result is a refreshingly different perspective on sky viewing. His descriptions of the Messier objects have caused me to look differntly at what I thought were familiar friends until now. The book is best appreciated if delved into - trying to read it cover to cover is not recommended.

This book is a tremendous help to those of us setting out to find the Messier objects. The biggest problem with finding objects is figuring out what they should like like in a telescope -- sometimes I've got something in the finder or telescope and I'm not certain what it is. O'Meara solves that problem by providing photographs and his terrific drawings, not to mention is verbal paintings which could make a blind person see the objects. He devoted hours to each single object, waxing poetic at times about the merits and downsides to every single object. The first few chapters give some good history and background of Messier and other famous comet hunters. As a final plus, the book is printed on very high quality glossy paper so it's a pleasure to read. As a field guide, it would have been helpful to have it spiral bound, but that's my only suggestion for improvement. The author even includes a helpful appendix of other interesting sky objects that are not Messier objects, all of which are worthwhile telescope targets. A winner!