This is a wonderful book. This is a great book. This book is spectacular

The content of Milton's works is hardly a topic of debate, the repute and critical analysis of his poetry rivaled in modern times only by that of Shakespeare. I have found the Everyman's Library collection to be a wonderfully formatted and delightfully collectible series, the pocket poems as well as the basic classics set. I am working on extending my collection of the classics in this particular series, and recommend them to anyone who enjoys a fine set of literature for personal use or as gifts to cherished friends.

If you want to read great articles, look at some great photos and illustrations and learn about the current state of our understanding of the civilizations that became what we call the Olmec, then this book is for you. It is simply fascinating stuff for anyone seriously interested in understanding these people.

If you've never been exposed to the "Great Books" movement in higher education, you probably don't know who Robert Hutchins was. I only knew him as a dazzling champion of this almost-forgotten ideal of learning, as did his contemporaries. Milton Meyer showed me a man superhuman in his aims and yet tragically flawed. He espoused the Classics without being a true student of them, and yet was he not more Shakespearean than any of the professors he governed? Anyway, the book moved me. If you have any ability to be inspired by the story of an imperfect man, read this book.

If you are interested in creating more harmony, balance and authenitic peace in your life, spend some quiet time with this tape series! I learned how to relax, be present and rest with an open radiant heart, moment by moment...These audio tapes and the extensive study guide (practically a book in itself) provide the listener/reader with all the resources one needs to rediscover a deep sense of belonging to the Natural world. Drawing from many ancient wisdom teachings and time honored spiritual paths, John Milton provides gentle, reassuring guidance necessary to connect with one's true essence and the extraordinary healing energy of the Earth. If you are at all like me, you may be concerned about damaging human relationships that harm our immediate surroundings, perhaps you've noticed how the fields you once played in as a child are being gobbled up by tract developments, shopping malls and urban sprawl or, you may wonder why you feel so depleted and uninspired after a day at the office. If any of this is true for you, Sky Above Earth Below is the perfect antidote for the pervasive alienation and separation many of us are experiencing. in this high-tech, artificial, consumer driven culture we sometimes call civilization. In addition to learning wonderful new contemplative practices for my own personal growth and spiritual awakening, there are many practical recommendations about how to contribute to a healthier and happier world... how to embrace Nature and all the animals, birds and trees as part of one's intimate family. These tapes and the challenging study guide provide a firm foundation for becoming a "spiritual warrior" on behalf of this beautiful Earth. You will learn how you can courageously participate in turning the tide away from massive ecological and human imbalances that are causing so much harm around the world. Recorded live in the Chiricahua Mountains, Sounds True did a magnificent job of editing and producing a powerful message for our times. I wish I had the support of a foundation to send this tape set to every Civic Leader, elected official, Fortune 500 CEO, Public Library and School across this nation and around the world!

I purchased the Study Guide from a local bookstore the other day. It is very informative for the modern high school student, as I am. Although it is very detailed, I imagine the reader should read the poem for themselves, and interpret it to their views and use the guide as a reference guide. Somoene who loves poetry, I highly reccomend Paradise Lost as long as Paradise Regained. Both beautifully done, as I said in a previous review, "Milton is an absolute genius"

According to Fish, "Paradise Lost" operates according to a mechanism of rhetorical indirection that works on all rhetorical levels, from depiction of character to deployment of tropes. Milton wants to show us how our fallen state corrupts and distorts our responses to poetry and instruction; the poem is constructed as a series of interlocking traps for the reader, who is lured into reacting in tempting but "wrong" ways to tropes ("with serpent error wandering") and characters (the apparently admirable Satan and his cohorts, the apparently tyrannical and odious God). The chapter on the poetics of prelapsarian Eden ("In Wandering Mazes Lost," I think it's called) is a masterpiece. Fish backs this all up with plenty of solid research into the theological doctrines Milton was known to endorse or was likely to have been familiar with.

This approach to Milton was regarded as radical when the book first came out, rather oddly, since Milton's tactics of indirection had already been noted by several critics, though not foregrounded as here. What's new is the thoroughness and clarity of the treatment, and Fish's sheer intelligence as a reader. This is criticism at its best: lucid, engaging, responsible, illuminating.

This is a new, updated version of the book originally published by Eerdmans in 1996 (which is out of print) and now available from FaithWalk Publishing. An incredible amount of research went into this book. In easy to understand language it provides reasons for the decline in the mainline church and then gives several ways that a local church or even a denomination can address the issues causing the decline. Not only does this book deal with today's challenges, it also gives an historical context on what led to the problems in the first place. A good place to start when looking for ways to grow the church. Fascinating reading for pastors and lay people alike.

"Can You Forgive Her," the first of the Palliser novels of Anthony Trollope, deals with two romantic triangles, each with a lady who has difficulty making up her mind between an honorable man and a charming rogue. Lady Glencora Palliser is married to a highly respected Member of Parliament who is obviously destined for a top position in the government. However, she is still in love with an extremely handsome ne'er-do-well whom she had earlier barely been dissuaded from eloping with. Alice Vavasor, after an entanglement with her cousin George, has become engaged to John Grey, a perfect man in every respect, perhaps too perfect for the adventuresome Miss Vavasor. The two ladies come perilously close to deserting the worthier men for the scalawags, whom the reader can see becoming worse and worse scoundrels as time passes, especially George Vavasor. Alice even breaks her engagement with the perfect Mr. Grey, whom she really loves, and becomes engaged to her self-centered cousin, to her almost instant regret. A subplot deals with yet another triangle, the rather absurd rivalry of farmer Cheeseacre and self-styled hero Captain Bellfield for the hand of a wealthy fortyish widow. This sometimes distracts from the main plot, and yet the reader is left with the idea that perhaps the flirtatious widow might be the best catch of them all; at least she knows how to have fun. The chief merit of the novel is the brilliant characterizations. No author in fiction can surpass Trollope in creating real people with motivations which can be throroughly understood, no matter how the reader might disagree with the characters' actions. The novel's length is perhaps necessary to permit Trollope to fully develop such a vivid, believable and engrossing cast.

Lady Glencora McCloskie is "cumbered" by great wealth, Mr. Palliser though wealthy enough can use more for his political ambitions. A marriage is arranged between these two, though Lady Glencora loves a charming ne'er do well. So far it might be a Harlequin romance, but Trollope, whose generosity of spirit is matched only by the clarity of his eye, makes these stock figures and those around them real, odd as all humans are, and yet familiar. Thus Mr. Palliser at a climactic moment, "You are wrong about one thing. I do love you. If you do not love me, that is a misfortune, but we need not therefore be disgrace. Will you try to love me?" Then he is called from the room."He did not kiss her. It was not that he was not minded to kiss her. He would have kissed her readily enough had he thought the occasion required it. "He says he loves me," she thought, "but he does not know what love is." How they learn is a process that extends thru the six "Palliser novels." worth reading for students of life, writing, or love

This is a great Victorian novel, and the first by Anthony Trollope that I've read. After reading Can You Forgive Her, I was inspired to buy the entire set of Palliser novels; I plan to read and savor each volume in the series over the years. Can You Forgive Her introduces us to Alice Vavasar, her father, cousins, and fiance. Alice struggles with the question of whom she should marry. George is brandy; John is milk and honey. I love that! What a choice! Trollope has a wonderfully amusing style, evoking with great clarity 19th Century life in Victorian England. It's a time so very different from ours in the U.S., and yet, one can learn a great deal about the roots of some American cultural obsessions with love and politics. A hint: if you don't know British parliamentary history, you may want to review a little. However, don't let this deter you from trying out this splendid, enjoyable novel.

I read Philip Pullman's "The Golden Compass and "The Subtle Knife", the first two books of the His Dark Materials trilogy, which is based around the idea of a second War in Heaven and another Fall. They are really incredible. While waiting for the third book to be released, I decided to read Paradise Lost, one of Philip Pullman's main inspirations and the source of a lot of the allusions. Paradise Lost is surprisingly readable for a book that was published in 1667. I understood it, even with the older edition I read which didn't have much of a readers' guide, and I'm only 15. Even though you don't always understand every word and every mythological allusion, you can always get the basic idea, especially with some help from the footnotes. If you read it alone, you might find it boring, but I would strongly recommend reading the His Dark Materials books first. They discuss a lot of the ideas in Paradise Lost. (Was Satan right to rebel against God?) Then when you read P.L., you will enjoy seeing where Philip Pullman got some of his ideas. You can't help but like the His Dark Materials books, then when you read Paradise Lost you understand them so much more. Everyone over the age of 14 should read them both.

So important in modern literature that a lot of people credit the Bible with things that were actually the imagination of Milton in "Paradise Lost." A long twisty tumbling poem that never loses its meaning from the first word to the last. The characterization of Lucifer is unlike any I've ever read, and the most powerful passage in the story is Lucifer addressing the legions of hell, ordering them to do whatever they can to thwart God, while tears of sadness at the loss of heaven stream down his face. Milton played with both typical and atypical views of sin and damnation and created something so timeless that lots of us don't know he imagined it.

In any discussion of religion, I wouldn't leave home without it.

I'm 16, and I had to read this book for school. In the beginning, I really didn't get any of it, but once I got into it, and really concentrated on Paradise Lost, it was incredible, to see Milton's view of Satan. Really, a must read.