Great fun-to-read book with nice illustrations

Chang Guo-t'ao (Zhang Guotao) was a founder of the Chinese Communist Party and one of its major leaders until he fell out with Mao Zedong during the Long March, and finally left the Party to settle down in the US. Although he had his own ax to grind, his memoirs are the best account of the functioning of the Chinese Communist Party during its early stages. Unfortunately, the book is no longer available outside specialized libraries.Its English edition was published about 20 years ago, a new edition would be welcomed by anybody interested in the history of one of the most important nations in our world. Barbara Barnouin

Roots of Wisdom (its real title, Vegetable Root Deep-Pool, doesn't really have it, does it?) is one book I always keep close by. Though I know no more Chinese than a cat, still in order to come closer to the real meaning I try with a Chinese dictionary to puzzle out the chapter titles in the front pages. I've never found a book I thought was more profound, yet this one, because it's in comic-book form, manages to be at the same time merry and charming and deep on the subject of religious contemplation (as well as the conduct of life). Like most things Chinese, it's very practical in its approach. But it covers the most fundamental things: being in the world vs. trying to be out of it, whether enlightenment must be sought, or whether all are already enlightened without (in most cases) knowing it, and the necessity to become detached from creatures, and it keeps your lips twisted in a sweet smile as you read it. This simple little book of 127 pages has within it all that any seeker needs to find ultimate enlightenment. It can be read and reread one's whole life long. Why, then, is it out of print? The answer to that question, I feel, is the answer to a great many more.

Years ago when I was in college in Philadelphia I encountered Won Buddhism and an earlier translation of the teachings of their founder, Master Sotaesan. With the guidance of Rev. Bokin Kim, I was able to see how Won Buddhism presented a very well-rounded, streamlined, and practical approach to enlightenment. She also showed me the deep connections which Master Sotaesan't teachings had to Korean Buddhism which were not immediately apparent in the previous English translation of the Won Buddhist scriptures used at her temple at that time. Dr. Bongkil Chung's translation and introduction makes those connections much more apparent. And while his introduction can't replace the warm and generous spirit of Rev. Bokin Kim (who is now the academic dean of the Won Buddhist Institute in Abington, Pa) reading it certainly reminds me of all the things I learned from her and even fills in some crucial historical and doctrinal details that I had not known about before. Dr. Chung also forthrightly reveals some of the difficulties that Won Buddhism has had in defining itself as a Korean New Religion. Is it a self-sufficient teaching of Master Sotaesan, or was Sotaesan just trying to create a reformed and progressive version of Buddha Dharma? The differences between the 1943 and 1962 editions of the Korean text show that Won Buddhism has been leaning in the direction of independence from the broader Buddhist tradition, but Dr. Chung's translation of the 1943 edition shows that the original intention of Master Sotaesan may have been a renovation of Buddhism rather than a departure from it. As far as the content of the text itself, I personally feel that it is very much in keeping with the best traditions of East Asian Buddhism as well as Taoism and Neo-Confucianism. I actually visited the places where Master Sotaesan grew up, and they are still very rural. His far reaching and progressive vision of what Buddhism would have to become to speak to the modern world amazes me when I consider how restricted his early life and education was. Sotaesan's teaching in this book are in two parts. The first is the Canon which gives a straight forward lay out of his system. I find it very practical, and I even think that many parts of it will speak to Buddhists and perhaps people of other religions who will find the guidance and perspectives presented very helpful even if they are not or do not want to become Won Buddhists. The second part is the Scripture of Sotaesan. This may be more interesting as it is a collection of talks, anecdotes, and Dharma verses collected from throughout Master Sotaesan's time as a teacher. I think this section compares favorable with the Platform Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch, and in many ways is more interesting and relevant because Master Sotaesan is addressing the problems of early 20th century Korea, including the problems of pseudo-religions, colonialism, technological advancements, and the encounter between Christianity and Buddhism. I think that Master Sotaesan't broad and magnanimous spirit, as well as his integrity and forward thinking can be an inspiration to all people, whether they are Won Buddhists, some other kind of Buddhist, or not even Buddhists at all. Master Sotaesan speaks to the sufferings and the aspirations of ordinary people who want to find out how to awaken in the midst of their daily lives.

Namu Myoho Renge Kyo,
Ryuei

There have been other translations of Shang Han Lun (the Treatise on Cold Damage) into English, but this is the first to preserve the original's clinical detail and precise terminology. It is also the first to include the most commonly encountered edition of the original Chinese text, both in characters and in Pinyin tone marks. Since the number of characters used in the original text is few, this book is a good text for those wishing to learn ancient medical Chinese as well as a useful clinical reference.

The text commentaries, while useful and appropriate, are limited to the original applications of the herbal formulas described in the Shang Han Lun. It is disappointing that the authors chose not to cover later applications of these formulas, as the inclusion of such material would have made the text authoritative. However, what the work lacks in breadth, it makes up for in depth by being the most comprehensive and unadulterated look at the original Shang Han Lun system of herbal medicine available in English.

Unfortunate is the adoption of coauthor Nigel Wiseman's exotic English terms for traditional Chinese medical phrases, which are uniformly neologisms or new, awkward usage of existing and often unrelated English words. This choice makes for difficult reading, but Mr Wiseman's terms are explained in detail both in situ and in the excellent glossary section of this book. Liberal use of the glossary will make clear to the reader words and turns of phrase which otherwise seem designed to obfuscate.

Despite a few faults, this book is a landmark translation for the English-speaking practitioner of Chinese medicine wishing to study the theory and practice of the Shang Han Lun, or to begin learning ancient medical Chinese. What it may lack in the details of execution, it more than makes up for with an overall solid translation, including the original Chinese text, and a useful glossary. The coauthors manage to convey a clear sense of this way of looking at infectious diseases and epidemiology, a way very different from the modern Western view, but also eerily similar on closer examination. This book will be welcomed, both by the clinician and the advanced student.

This is a very new and unique book that covers the gamut of statistical issues through all phases of drug development. Shao is a distinguished professor from Wisconsin and Chow teaches at Temple but is known for his long career in the pharmaceutical industry.

The book is good for biostatisticians and regulatory affairs specialists as a reference source. All the key statistical issues are addressed and the reader is given the perspective of the ICH and FDA guidance documents. The underlying statistical methodology that justifies the recommendations in the guidances is presented. This is a state-of-the-art book. Shao and Pigeot produced some of the recent research in individual bioequivalence that established a bootstrap procedure as an appropriate way to construct confidence intervals for the problem. Their method is recommended in an FDA guidance document.

But more than just this one example, all the key issues that have been the subject of FDA workshops over the past several years are addressed in this book. These topics include calibration, assay and assay validation, dissolution testing, stability analysis, shelf life estimation, bioequivalence, randomization and blinding, what constitutes substantive evidence in clinical development, therapeutic equivalence and noninferiority, Bayesian approaches in clinical trials, problems involving missing and incomplete data, longitudinal methods, meta-analysis, quality of life studies and instrument validation, and medical imaging.

Other prevalent issues in clinical trials include group sequential methods, hierarchical Bayesian models and multiple testing. These issues are not covered as much in this text as the others we have mentioned. But there is some discussion of multiplicity in the context of quality of life studies. An example of sequential testing is used to illustrate model selection in Chapter 2. The important issues of design and sample size requirements are presented throughout the book.

While not all topics are covered in sufficient depth, the book is remarkable in the breadth of material covered in just 350 pages of text. The authors also provide a very authoritative list of references and regulatory guidances and other documents.

It is no doubt Lowry initiates, scholars and afficianados at whom this book was and, therefore, this review will be, primarily aimed. I have no inkling as to why only Volume II is included here. It may be simply a slip on Amazon's part (I didn't realize myself that there were two volumes amounting to almost 2,000 pages until I ordered it) or that the first volume is listed as out of print. But this review applies to both volumes which, by the bye, may be ordered as one, if not from Amazon, from Edward R Hamilton booksellers.

It is difficult to put into words the boundless joy that accompanies the reading of these letters. Here is Lowry at his most winkingly self-deprecatory, literarily allusive and, above all, charming and downright funny. For anyone who values the English Language and English literature highly; as, in fact, necessary to life, as Lowry did, these letters will hold you spellbound. Here is indeed the record of a man who, quite literally, lived and died for language and literature. As his most famous letter here, the one to his publisher which ultimately led to the publication of Under The Volcano, has it, "...but just the same in our Elizbethan days we used to have at least passionate poetic writing about things that will always mean something and not just silly ... style and semicolon technique: and in this sense I am trying to remedy a deficiency, to strike a blow, to fire a shot for you as it were, roughly in the direction, say, of another Renaissance: it will probably go straight through my brain but that is another matter."

It is clear from almost every letter here, that Lowry was trying his damnedest,in all his writings, to live up to this manifesto; that, despite the continual tragedies of his life, he was always picking himself up and wringing from his life "passionate poetic writing", which, it is clear from these letters, was, to a great extent, lived as a literary endeavour.

That the shot did eventually go through his brain, so to speak, was not entirely unexpected by Lowry or anyone who knew him. - But neither was Sir Walter Ralegh's unjust execution. - Ultimately then, these collected letters live up to the title: Sursum Corda!-Lift up your hearts!-Here is page upon page of writing about things that will always mean something: Love of life, literature, words and a delight in language in and of itself.-

Unrealistic though my expectaation of their reading of these two massive tomes may be, I would recommend them to anyone who suffers from the peculiar fate of being human.

Chungliang Al Huang's book indicates this as a book for "beginners" in the Tao way - meaning the more "advanced" the student (in a western sense) the more beginner we continue to become. Al Huang's insights on a Tai Ji way of living are gloriously illuminated by the photography of Si chi Ko and his own calligraphy. Whether read all at once or in small pieces, this book is an emotional and spiritual experience that will inspire the reader into an "advanced" application of living in the Tao.

I am 14 years old and I've read this book a bizillion times in Chinese (it's also wicked long). It is written in "ancient prose" and I find it alot more attractive in theat style. I've also seen the TV series which I would recommend to anyone who understands chinese. You can find it in any local chinese video rental store. This is probably my favorite book. I'm a total fan.

I've just finished reading the whole book in Chinese for the XXth time. And everytime I read it, I get a different aspect of the book. I was first attracted by the television series on Romance of The Three Kingdoms, and started to read the book itself, it was fantastic, filled with action and tactics in military and politics. Then when I re-read the book again and again, it gave me a deep insight of the cunning of humans, and the philosophy of the Chinese at that time.

But the author Luo Kwang Chung wasn't being fair to every character. ChaoChau was written as an evil conspirator and LiuBei was potraited to be a great hero. But was it really that way? In real history, the time of the Three kingdoms didn't had a clear distinct between evil and good, but the author wrote it in this way as in his own sympathy to Liubei, which in ancient China was more popular for his loyal to the Han dynasty and sympathy to the peasants.

Nevertheless, that's why this is called a historic novel and not 'facts'. So any people reading this book: Read it as a novel and not a history textbook.

The most amazing book you can read. It will awe you with it's amazing plot!

I first became intrigued with the Three Kingdoms's historical events when I played the game Dynasty Warriors 2 for PS2. Afterwards I was desperately searching to find the best novel translation and finally bought the 4-volume box set translated by Moss Roberts which is the UNABRIDGED version(make sure to get this edition as it tells the whole story w/o leaving anything out).I then set out to explore the 2200+ pages of Chinese history and I must say, it was a fascinating experience. I initially grasped what was going to happen in time but there was so much other details to the story and idealisms portrayed. Leadership, loyalty, heroism, military tactics and warfare, treason, and even romance play such a significant role in this epic novel. "The empire long united, must divide" and "the empire long divided, must unite" pretty much opens and closes the novel perfectly. Heroes such as Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, Zhao Yun, and Huang Gai portray such loyalty that it would be kind of hard to imagine in today's society. From the other reviews I've read, most people think Liu Bei (Xuande) is the protaganist of the novel and this seems very true since Roberts lauds Bei's characteristics and portrays Cao Cao of the evil and cunning type. Personally, I think anyone can choose their personal protaganist and for me that would be Zhao Yun because of his undisputed bravery and loyalty. Another character that I admired was probably Zhuge Liang for his awe-aspiring military tactics. Zhuge was the best strategist of his time and he wrote several books on warfare but unfortunately, most were destroyed but you can still buy one of his famous books, "The Art of War." Warning, spoiler ahead:
This book has its sad moments particularly when someone important or someone who contributed a lot to his lord dies. You'll feel sympathetic towards those who fought hard as well as the ones who died. When the book starts, it's during the impending collapse of the Han then around 220 is when the real three kingdoms come into play: Shu, Wu, and Wei. It's sort of like a battle to the death of who would emerge victorious and indeed there was. Military tactics are exploited on each side and betrayal is widespread. In the end, it would be Sima Yi's family who would unite China under one rule, the Jin Dyansty.

Three Kingdoms is a terrific book on many levels. It can be read as a story book of the heroic culture of China in the past, or as a strategem. No matter how you may read the 3 Kingdoms, it is by far a book that almost any fan of literature will cherish. The book is centered around the destruction and rebuilding of a kingdom. The Shu in western China, led by Liu Bei; Wei in the northern heartland controlled by Cao Cao and Wu in the south that was established by Sun Jian, expanded by his son Sun Ce and later stabilized by his brother Sun Quan. The epic has at its core, filial duty, sacrifice, honor, and deception. I highly recommend reading Moss Roberts translation of the Three Kingdoms. By far it is the most comprehenisive edition translated into English. It is a must read to fully understand the ancient culture of China. By understanding the past culture of China, we can better understand the writings of post-modernist American-Chinese writers of the present.

First off, you have to read the full translation of this book. I read the 1976 abridged version of Three Kingdoms translated by Moss Roberts first and thought it was pretty good, but felt that the story wasn't developed enough and lacked cohesion. Then a few years ago I finally found and purchased the full unabridged version published by the University of California Press and also translated by Dr. Roberts. This is the full-blown epic from start to finish with all the details and many of the translation errors of the previous editions eliminated. The prose was also improved and flows eloquently throughout the book's entire 3000+ pages. Three Kingdoms is the tale (part historical, part legend and myth) of the fall of the Later Han Dynasty of China. It chronicles the lives of those feudal lords and their retainers who tried to either replace the empire or restore it. While the novel actually follows literally hundreds of characters, the focus is mainly on the 3 families who would eventually carve out the 3 kingdoms from the remnants of the Han. The Liu family in the Shu kingdom led by Liu Bei, The Cao family in Wei led by Cao Cao, and the Sun family in Wu eventually led by Sun Quan. The book deals with the plots, personal and army battles, intrigues, and struggles of these families to achieve dominance for almost 100 yrs. This book also gives you a sense of the way the Chinese view their history: cyclical rather than linear (as in the West). The first and last lines of the book sum this view up best: "The empire long united must divide..." and "The empire long divided must unite..." If you are at least a little interested in Chinese history (ancient or modern) and culture this book is a must read.