This book will change your perspective not only on The Lord of the Rings, but on life in general. I know it has done mine. The idea of language developing from mythology, and not the other way round as has been the common conception, was a new one to me when I read this book. Though I had always held the belief that God, myth, and language are interconnected ("In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God") I had never fully grasped the impact and full meaning of that until I read this book.Owen Barfield's theories, whilst interesting, were always just slightly abstruse for me: Verlyn Flieger has done me - and the rest of the literary world - a great service in setting forth and clarifying such excellent reasoning.

Though it is highly technical in some parts - most specifically in the chapters on the etymology, significance and meaning of names - it is as riveting as a first-rate mystery. I found myself unable to put it down. As all good books do, it definitely warrants a second, third, fourth, and fifth reading, and will not get old with repeated study. Hobbyist philologists (like me) and anyone interested in language, myth, religion, philosophy, or The Lord of the Rings (which adroitly combines all four) must read this book. It will change your life and your outlook on the world and our relation to it and its Maker.

J.R.R. Tolkien claimed that he transcribed, not created, the tales of Middle Earth. He also said that Middle Earth is not pure fantasy in time or space, but depicts our earth and its inhabitants in some remote time. When I was sixteen and had read Tolkien for the first time, I didn't know this. I only knew that I wanted middle earth - its air, its mountains and magic - to be real. I tried once, with my best friend, to pretend we were running from Black Riders as we headed out on an errand one day. I only tried this once, because the pretense failed completely. Many years later I read Owen Barfield's Saving the Appearances: A Study in Idolatry. Then I read his Poetic Diction: A Study in Meaning. Soon after, I reread Tolkien, and read The Letters of Tolkien. It was then that I entered middle earth. It was real, and has been ever since. I suspected that Barfield had something to do with my entrance into middle earth. Now I find that another has made a similar connection: Verlyn Flieger. She argues for and documents the connection as she sees it in Splintered Light: Logos and Language in Tolkien's World. Therein she confirms that Tolkien knew what he was up to writing the middle earth history - in particular the accounts gathered in The Silmarillion - and knew it was not sheer fantasy. Flieger argues that these accounts were profoundly influenced by the work of Owen Barfield - in particular his Poetic Diction. Her linguistic claim, that the languages of middle earth develop just as Barfield says our languages did and do, is an ingenious hypothesis, and she demonstrates this. Arguably, on only literary/critical grounds. Conclusively, with biographical notes and her discussions of Tolkien's essays "On Fairy-Stories" and "Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics." It is with those that she demonstrates convincingly the connection between Barfield and Tolkien. And that connection is nowhere more beautifully and surely captured than in a biographical note: "C.S. Lewis's comment that Tolkien `had been inside langugae' was thus no figure of speech, but the literal truth. He had been inside the word, had experienced its power and seen with its perception. Others who knew Tolkien came to much the same conclusion. Simonne d'Ardenne, one of Tolkien's Oxford students and herself a philologist, found antoher way to put it...Mlle. d'Ardenne recalled saying to him once, apropos his work: `You broke the veil, didn't you, and passed through?' and she adds that he `readily admitted' having done so." [p. 9] Logos - as living Word, in which one may get, may live and move and have one's being - connects Tolkien with Barfield as nothing else will. That, though, means one might need to read Barfield too. Flieger brings Tolkien's Silmarillion to life; she brings Tolkien to life; she points one to both Tolkien's and Barfield's philological and philosophical thought and work. Most of all, she gets one as near to being `inside language' - inside Logos - as one has reason to hope, at least by individual effort alone. In that regard, Splintered Light is worth far more than its price just for the above quoted passage alone. - Danny Smitherman (djsmitherman@msn.com)

This book makes you understand, learn, think and treat spinal problems in a racional way.

This represents a substantial improvement from the first edition, which was a good text in it's own right. The subject matter is more complete, and virtually every topic has been updated. I recommend it highly.

. . .when paging through this delightful book. The Master, JRR Tolkien, obviously shared the hobbitish characteristic of great love for family. It appears that his children shared this love as well. In this wonderful book, family photos and stories are presented with text provided by the Master's youngest child (and only daughter) Priscilla.

Many thanks to Priscilla for allowing the rest of us to share in the joy of your family.

Heartwarming and joyful, this book is a precious gift. It provides a loving look into the heart, the life, and the love of the Master -- JRR Tolkien.

Many thanks to the Tolkien children for the labor of love.

A MUST have for the Tolkien enthusiast. Totally concur with the first reviewer. Serious fans must get this book. Hard to find book since it is out of print.

A good book for the die-hard fan, lists on Gollum and everyone, like Elves, too. Definatelt worth the price, though, and a nice gem to the collection. (Yes! I'm the first reviewer!) Anyways, yes, it is a very good- yet old- book. But it's not dated or anything like that.

Well, what're ya waiting for? GO AND BUY IT!

There is no longer a need to pay some lawyer $400 to research basic human resources legal questions. This book anticipates hundreds of frequently-arising human resources problems and provides answers in easy-to-read charts. You don't have to have a legal degree to read it, either. All fifty states, as well as United States Territories, are covered in a thoroughly-researched manual. Its a bargain. Every company with employees should own a copy.

Don't be mislead by the title. The Armed Robbery Orgasm is a serious piece of sexological research, which delivers an important message. In order to cure a sexological disorder, you must first expose it. Mr.Keyes' book is a candid account of how an untreated sexologic disorder can be damaging to one's self and sometimes others.

As a therapist, I hand this book to patients that had hinted of any sexologic problems that were reluctant to say too much. After reading The Armed Robbery Orgasm, they arrive at their next session primed to discuss openly their sexologic concerns.

The authors'willingness to be completely open about behavior, thought, and feeling, especially relative to material which causes most people extreme embarrassment has paved the way for others to expose their secret lives in order to be helped.

I would recommend this book to anyone who has a sexological question, as well as, to professionals to treat sexologic impairments. This book gives individuals permission to be honest with themselves and others, especially about taboo topics.

Grammar tends to be a boring topic, still it's something you must learn to speak a language well. Eastwood's book is an exception: the exercises are so cleverly written and so different from one another that you can actually ENJOY YOURSELF while learning English grammar. Enough said, try it!

You can use the book for self-study or for classes. (I used it for self-study and did most of the exercises. It helped me an awful lot.)

As for the grammatical review part, it is also excellent (See my review on " A Basic English Grammar" by Eastwood and Mackin)

Of all the English grammar books I know, this is the BEST one for INTERMEDIATE level students (that is, for those who know some English but need a systematic review of the grammar).

Eastwood and Mackin's book is PRACTICAL: it contains most of the things necessary in everyday speech or simple writing, but not more. The structuring of the chapters is great: on the left you find SENTENCES illustrating the key point, on the right they are EXPLAINED IN A SIMPLE WAY.

I recommend that you GET THE EXERCISE BOOK too (A Basic English Grammar Exercises by J. Eastwood) and use them together: do the exercises, check your answers and if you made many mistakes, review the corresponding chapter from the grammar book. I used this method for self-study and I found it very efficient.

Although Basic English Grammar does teach you the vast majority of the practical grammar, you may also want to get "Practical English Usage" by Michael Swan to check some of the more advanced points that you come across now and then. These three books are all you'll ever need on English grammar, unless you want to be professional in English (like a translator, university professor, etc.).

Warning: contrary to what the publisher says, Basic English Grammar is NOT FOR BEGINNERS! Since all the explanations are in English, those who cannot read English relatively fluently, may find studying from this book frustrating. I believe beginners should learn from books that explain the basics of grammar in their native language.

This book is a much longer, easier to read version of Tolkien's famous 1936
lecture of Beowulf, called "The Monsters and the Critics." I've read
"Monsters and the Critics," and liked it, but Beowulf and the Critics is
much better, not only because it is easier to follow, but because Tolkien
puts in a lot more interesting material, including two very good poems
about dragons. According to the editor, Tolkien started writing this book
for his students at Oxford, and it shows.

Tolkien argues that Beowulf is a great poem and that the monsters in it (a
troll named Grendel, Grendel's mother, and a dragon) are essential to the
poem's theme. I think he makes his case. He also provides a summary of
the study of Beowulf, from the discovery of the manuscript until he wrote
this book in the 1930's, which is actually much more interesting than it
sounds.

The editor has written a good, clear introduction that explains how all
this scholarly material relates to Tolkien's other work in Old English and
to his Middle-earth books. The notes are unbelievably extensive, and while
I didn't read straight through them all, the things I did look up were
explained very clearly.

While there aren't any Hobbits, dwarves or elves, I still strongly
recommend this book to anyone who really wants to know how Tolkien's mind
works.

It has been nearly a century since Books 1-10 of Origen's Commentary in John have been published. Heine's translation of the last extant books is clear and readable, an achievement given Origen's propensity for dense prose. In any case the Commentary in John shows Origen at his best, digging deeply into the text, trying to make the Gospel relevant to his contemporaries. Since less than 200 years passed between Gospel and Commentary, he has insights that, in spite of his much critized method of interpretation, we tend to lose today. Origen, for the weaknesses of his system, still deserves Jerome's moniker as "the greatest teacher since the Apostles."