Happened upon this nifty book in the counterculture section of my local bookstore and bought two copies.

The author takes us on a spirited, insightful sojourn through the backalleys of America's true icons and offers up zillions of interesting sidetracks along the way.

He doesn't mince too many words when disclosing the nitty gritty opinions that each of the protagonists has of one another - this makes for a more interesting read than many works which simply glorify all their subjects.

Additionally, somehow the author has an uncanny finger on the pulse of what we really want to hear about on the way, such as the piece on James Dean - his significance and his death. The section on Hunter S. Thompson is a riot!!!

This is a nice addition to your psychedelic editions.

Next to Jay Stevens' classic "Storming Heaven" and Don Snyder's wonderful photographic essay "Aquarian Odyssey," make room on your bookshelf for Peter O. Whitmer's seven-dimensional biography "Aquarius Revisited." Combining well-written history and targeted recent interviews, we meet seven of the elemental forces who shaped the counter-culture of the Sixties as the outrageous, facinating, and above all intelligent souls that laid the groundwork for the last great movement our century will see. William S. Burroughs; Allen Ginsberg; Key Kesey; Timothy Leary; Norman Mailer; Tom Robbins; Hunter S. Thompson: some are gone, some are still with us, but all come together here to make a biography not only of seven people, but of a way of life, thought and hope.

Others Unknown put into print what the majority of thinking Americans sensed about the Oklahoma City Bombing.

There had to be more people involved.

It all started with the FBI drawings of mystery man number 3, who was described by no more than 3 people to have been with McVeigh. He looked Middle Eastern. Hmmm, nope no terrorist acts would ever occur on American soil right. Then the second little facts that weren't put to light, the bomb making materials that they had receipts for would never have been enough to do that sort of damage. And on it goes.

The interesting thing is that Stephen Jones (the author and McVeighs attorney) even points the finger at Osama Bin Laden back in 1998. Hello is anybody listening. Hindsight is great, but I think we all knew there was more than meets the eye about this ordeal.

The weakest part of the book is that MR. Jones never delves deep enough into why the government cover-up. He barely scratches the surface, but I think that is the real mystery. Why was the government not screaming that we know there was at least one other person involved and we need to find him? Is it simply that Bill Clinton didn't want to rock the boat? Could it have been that he was trying to create a legacy for himself, other than ????gate (you fill in the scandal)? Did he think naming an Arab as a suspect might destroy peace talks with Israel and Palestine? These are all only conjectures but the book should have hit these issues harder.

Overall a good book, especially for the ignorant Americans who are spoon-fed their daily dose of propaganda from CBS, NBC, ABC, CNN, Etc., and think its news.

Stephen Jones, the lead counsel for Timothy McVeigh, writes an engrossing book that is not only about his client's case, but gives equal treatment about a nefarious government reminescent of Rome of the Roman Empire. In his writings Jones not only presents many deficiencies in the Federal government's case against McVeigh in the Oklahoma City bombing, but also paints the picture of a government agency completely hell-bent on "winning." Jones, in advocating for his client, contends that the prosecution's case was incomplete and circumstantial; exculpatory evidence was either withheld or stalled that could have helped in giving McVeigh a fair trial.

In his analysis, Jones does raise enough doubt in McVeigh's "direct" involvement in the bombing, and more that one can of worms is opened. For example, an extra leg is found in the Murrah Building rubble that does not belong to any victim. Additionally, several red flags that are discovered by Jones and his team may imply that the bombing was planned from abroad. For example, how can only two men plan and execute such a bombing of such magnitude, something said to be impossible by bomb experts in other countries where this kind of thing is routine? Jones questions Terry Nichols' ignorance of the OKC bombing plans. Nichols made several trips and many telephone calls to the Philippines, a hotbed of terrorist activity -- that's never taken seriously in connecting Nichols, much less in mitigating McVeigh.

Jones' book is also his own biography foray into a high profile case that transformed his life and his beliefs about U.S. justice. His book, as he writes, is not meant to cash in on this case, but to expose the truth. Jones believes McVeigh should have been found not guilty (Read especially the acknowledgements!), and portrays his client as a man, not the demon characterized by the press. Although Jones does not offer why McVeigh was involved at all, this would seem to be covered by attorney-client privilege. Despite this, whether or not Jones convinces the general public of the facts that McVeigh did not receive a fair trial and that the government successfully hid the truth is left for the reader.

This spring I enrolled in PSCI 398 Domestic Terrisom. As part of my outside reading, I came across this book. I found that it was very informative and offered a new insight into what happend in Oklahoma City. Though I read this book on my own time, it gave me lots of good ideas on how to explore the question that plagued my class "What is domestic terriosm?" This books explains why everyone including the guilty deserve a defense.

This was a disappointing book. It's only 64 pages, and each page has a single quotation on it - nothing in-depth, no context, nothing. It might be cute as a gift book to someone, but doesn't have much value on its own.

If you are looking for an extensive, scholarly discusion on the teachings of the pagan philosophers, then you might be dissappointed by this little book. However, if you are looking for a small, beautifully illustrated and designed, art book, that also happens to be packed with truly profound spiritual wisdom, then you couldn't do better. Infact, if I wanted to cheer a friend up, I would send this little book to them as a gift, instead of wasting their time with some beautiful, but meaningless, greeting card. What this little book lacks in size it more than makes up in weight of meaning.
This is a collection of wisdom teachings organised under The One, Lovers of Wisdom, Know Thyself, Ethics, and Death and Reincarnation. There are sayings from Pythagoras, Plato, Epictetus, Aurelius, Plotinus, Hermes Trismegistus, etc., etc., etc.
Perhaps most importantly, Freke and Gandy clearly get across the reality that the great philosophers were not "dry as dust" scholastics. These men were powerful spiritual teachers; true lovers of the goddess Sophia.

Freke and Gandy have edited a thought-provoking little art-book compendium of the best and most concise axiums of the Deists. It is not really a kid's book, but a mini-book, well worth the think necessary to read and reflect on its quotations and marvel at the art work. My only real objection is the use of the use of the word pagan in the title. Pagan is Latin for "country" and it has the connotation of "hick" or supertitious. It meant not of the imperial City(Rome), and thus, after Constantine's official adoption of Christianity as the state religion, not directly derived from the Judeo-Christian tradition. But Lucian and Marcus Aurelius would have been shocked to have heard themselves described as "pagan". Recommended for adults and mature children. Dietz H. Ziechmann (No, I am not under 13, but where else could I post a review?)

Stephen Jones, lead counsel for Timothy McVeigh, writes an interesting account that hypothesizes that his client and Terry Nichols were not alone in planning and carrying out the Oklahoma City bombing. Jones not only presents many deficiencies in the Federal government's case against McVeigh in the Oklahoma City bombing, but also paints the picture of a government agency completely hell-bent on "winning" its own case. Jones, in advocating for his client, contends that the prosecution's case was incomplete and circumstantial; exculpatory evidence was either withheld or stalled that could have helped in giving McVeigh a fair trial.

In his analysis, Jones does raise some doubt in McVeigh's "direct" involvement in the bombing, and more that one can of worms is opened (Cannot mention here because that would kill interest in the book). Several red flags imply that the bombing was planned from abroad. That is to say, how can only two men plan and execute such a bombing of such magnitude, something said to be impossible by bomb experts in other countries where this kind of thing is routine? Jones questions Terry Nichols' ignorance of the OKC bombing plans. Nichols made several trips and many telephone calls to the Philippines, a hotbed of terrorist activity -- that's never taken seriously in connecting Nichols, much less in mitigating McVeigh.

Jones' book is also his own biographical foray into a high profile case that transformed his life and his beliefs about U.S. justice. His book is not intended to cash in on this case, but to expose some theories that had not sufficiently been discussed. Jones believes McVeigh should have been found not guilty (Read the acknowledgements! Although Jones does not offer a satisfactory explanation as to why McVeigh was involved at all, this would seem to be covered by attorney-client privilege. Despite this, whether or not Jones convinces the general public of the facts that McVeigh did not receive a fair trial and that the government successfully hid the truth is left for the reader. At the very least some interesting theories grounded in fact are presented. A limitation is that there is only one illustration within the book; however, an overall good book.

This book is not really about whether Tim McVeigh was or wasn't guilty in the Oklahoma City bombing on April 19th, 1995. This is not a "true confessions" sleaze piece told by a self-aggrandizing "ambulance chaser" lawyer. All of that is really moot now that McVeigh has been executed.

What this book is about is the fact that Tim McVeigh and Terry Nichols could not have pulled off a bombing of this scale off by themselves (not because the author says so but because unimpeachable terrorism experts say so). It is about a government that seems blind to evidence pointing to a much broader conspiracy; possibly even foreign backed. It is also about the lengths to which your government will go to get its way. Truth and justice have NOTHING to do with what went on in United States vs McVeigh and this should concern every American deeply.

The author, McVeigh's appointed defense council, takes it from the beginning and walks the reader through the entire sordid process of trying to conduct a fair, Constitutionally guaranteed trail against the U.S. Justice Department who basically are in control of the whole process. This is like putting the fox in charge of the hen house.

He explains how the prosecution made every effort to unfairly deny and or delay the defense's access to vital FBI evidence (remember the 3000 pages of documents that the prosecution "misplaced" that came out recently?) He tells how the prosecution lied and tampered with evidence. He tells how the FBI refused to let the defense examine the crime scene in detail and then demolished it before the trail began forever burying its secrets. He explains how the government manipulated and changed their stories to fit their version of the crime without any real evidence. He explains how the judge appointed by the government to preside over this case refused to let the defense bring witnesses and introduce evidence that would most certainly have brought reasonable doubt to a fair-minded jury. He explains how the same judge changed much of the way the Nichols case was handled which resulted in a verdict of life without parole instead of death and much more.

In short he lays out the blueprint for a government run lynching that spits in the face of everything we have been brought up to believe our justice system is about. This book will disgust anyone with the least bit of fairness and decency and it will tarnish forever any remaining belief that our government is above reproach.

Now, one might say that this is just "sour grapes" on the author's part because he lost. I suppose it could be but that's not the way the book is written and it is not the way the author comes through. He does not engage in any sort of bitterness one would associate with a "sore loser". In fact, he goes out of his way to congratulate and acknowledge many of his detractors and opponents despite their attacks on him before, during and after the trail. In every way the author comes across as a fair and decent man who is only interested in the truth. Read this book and also read "The Oklahoma City Bombing and the Politics of Terror". There is more to this than we are being told.

Forget or ignore the fact that Jones was McVeigh's lawyer. This book is an excellent historical account of the event, and a great accessory to another interesting take on the bombing, the book "The Secret Lives of Bill Clinton," and articles on thenewamerican.com. Unavoidable facts detailed clearly in this book include the extra human leg found in the ruins (combat boot and sheath intact -- all 168 dead had both legs recovered), numerous eyewitness accounts/testimony denoucing nearly every point of the Justice Dept.'s ludicrous "lone-bomber" theory, and the cirus McVeigh and cohorts launched in the months before the bombing which exposes McVeigh for what he is -- a willing 'Patsy' who could never have pulled this off alone.

If you don't want to be up at nights thinking about the case, then read American Terrorist -- the McVeigh-sanctioned lie-a-thon that gives him the twisted glory for the attack, and the book that will let you sleep at night knowing the only person you believe responsible is behind bars.

If you want the truth, read this book. You'll realize that McVeigh is laughing at the latest FBI fumble with the recently turned over 3,000+ pages, he is pleased with the new FBI embarrassment and will probably ask for a new trial just to make the gov't look even worse (even though he'll still be convicted), and that the recent release of the documents was probably delayed by the sophomoric Clinton-Reno administration in order to pass the blame onto Mr. Bush.

Regardless of your beliefs about the bombing, you won't be albe to ignore the facts about the extra leg found, and the facts about ANFO bombs and their inability to be driven 300 miles by anyone. And you'll be glad that McVeigh stupidly criticized Jones, endangering McVeigh's legacy, so that more facts about the case could come out.

This is a concise intro to catastrophe theory that is aimed mainly at undergrad level folks, or those who are looking for a streamlined version of Rene Thom's groundbreaking _Structural Stability and Morphogenesis_.

Most terms and concepts are explained adequately. The text is essentially a narrative for the algebra and differential equations that comprise the primary explanatory mechanism of the book. There is far less reliance on topology in this book than Thom's, and it tends to appear mainly in the things like the visualization of the obligatory seven elementary catastrophe types.

The applications given are intended to be fairly simple to understand (in keeping with the lack of specialization of the intended audience), so they are fine for an intro book, but I would tend to call them only "examples" rather than "applications".

I contrast this book with Thom's by saying that this intro book will give you the mechanics of catastrophe theory and some examples, whereas Thom's book paints a much broader conceptual picture with many profound speculations on the applications of catastrophe theory. Both books have their respective value and I feel they are good complements to each other to the newcomer to catastrophe theory.

This book is an excellent compellation of the myths concerning the foundation of the Roman empire. It is an excellent starting point for anyone interested in exploring these myths.

Because this book is a collection of essays on 140 films by diverse authors, it suffers from the lack of a single vision of South American films. A better book is Ronald Schwartz' LATIN AMERICAN FILMS 1932-1994 (McFarland) which popularizesa over 300 films from Mexico, the Caribbean, Central and South America, has 70 fascinating stills a Chronology and Video Sources and availability. Both books deserve to be purchased by customers and libraries because in the aggregate, their ultimate aim is to impose a critical cosmos on that elusive theme of Latin American film.

At first I feared this would be another book in the Michael Baigent or Barbara Thiering mold. But the fact that John Shelby Spong, George Wells and Alvar Ellegard were all willing to say nice things about it convinced me to give it a go. I'm glad I did.

Christianity developed, according to the thesis, as a Jewish adaptation of the mystery religions that were common in the First Century. Jesus was a mythical figure with no solid historical existence. Gnostic Christianity was truest to this original understanding, but the growing literalist tradition ultimately supplanted it.

Sound a bit hairy? The case is put strongly, and builds on the work of scholars like Elaine Pagels. While the authors are not specialists in the field of Historical Jesus/Early Church studies, they have produced a well documented and tightly argued case that can't be dismissed too lightly. This book will reach an audience not usually exposed to concepts like these, and it seems to mesh in several essentials with earlier studies. After completing it I had the same mixture of astonishment and conviction that I felt after reading Ellegard's Jesus - One Hundred Years Before Christ. If you want a swift kick in your Christian comfort zone, this is the place to start.

The evidence these guys present looks pretty solid to me - every point they made was backed up by not one but several references to experts in this field.

It is clear the evidence points to a big hole in the heart of "Literalist" Christianity, and it is ruthlessly exposed, but Freke & Gandy never once attack the truth of the spirit behind it all.

No wonder the authorities the authors refer to have kept their heads down over this.

As an open-minded Christian, I was rocked and then uplifted by the revelations held here. There are many other Christians who require the certainty of the outer forms - and an authentic history - for their belief. They'll have to either ignore The Jesus Mysteries completely, or do the "Please Close Your Mind Before Opening This Book" trick.

This is a well written, easily read book that every thoughtful, spiritually-inclined Christian will read.

It is a book that every Christian should read!

The facts are o.k., but some of the inferences are a bit tenuous. Like a lot of writers in this genre' they have part of the truth or 'big picture' Those of us who seek the truth, who want to understand our world and society, come to understand that there are spiritual mysteries that are real.
Sadly major institutions like the church, have hidden these things, through misunderstanding, ignorance, and lies. It can be hard to overcome the apriori beliefs that are conditioned into our minds from birth onwards. I suggest you read this book, but also look further into the origins of the christian religion.

Speaking from the perspective of a fundamentalist Christian, this book has a lot of very revealing information concerning one of the most influential collections of literature on early Christian philosophers such as Clement of Alexandria and Origen. It's just one more reason that Christians should avoid philosophy altogether (Col. 2:9). Even so, it's well worth the time to read it. Did the idea of being "born again now" have its origin, in part, in the Hermetica? Possibly. Did the idea of mystic contemplation of the unknowable god, in contradistinction to Jer. 9:23-24, have its origin, in part, in the Hermetica? Again, possibly. This book is a good place to begin such investigative studies.

This book gives only an overview of the material contained in the Hermetica. For more advanced studies, I would recommend "The Egyptian Hermes" by Garth Fowden and "Giordano Bruno and the Hermetic Tradition" by Frances Yates. What's annoying is that a bibliography is given at the end of the book, but there are NO FOOTNOTES in the text. Comments such as "The pyramid texts of Saqquara...are over 5000 years old and yet contain doctrines that are identical to those expounded in the Hermetica [which were composed, most likely from pre-existing material, in the 2nd and/or 3rd cent. AD]" may or may not be found in the texts in the bibliography. There's no easy way to tell, other than purchasing and reading the listed titles. It's even more annoying that one of the books in the bibliography is badly misrepresented. The author's name is Lucie Lamy, not Lucy Lamy, and the title is "Egyptian Mysteries: New Light on Ancient Knowledge" not "The Mysteries of Ancient Egypt." This is the one that the aforementioned comment most likely came from, but it took me several weeks to realize the authors' mistake.

Okay, I'm done griping now. Enjoy the read. :-)

The Hermetica at only 160 pages can be read in only one day if the reader chooses to rush through it. Mr. Freke and Mr. Gandy has a casual writing style that makes it possible to do so if the reader desires to just glean the surface of the contents. It's highly inadvisable. This is a book to own and meditate on the deeper meanings of its contents. The works of Hermes were collated in the city of Alexandria in Egypt during the second and third centuries CE. Alexandria was a cosmopolitan city and the citizens were known for their desire for knowledge. But the golden age of Alexandria ended when the Christian 'Holy' Roman Empire came into power and a millennium period came in known as the Dark Ages. The owners of the Hermetic books continually had to find a sanctuary where they could feel safe. One place was the city of Florence, which ended the Dark Ages and started the Renaissance. The main idea in Hermes' teaching is God as Cosmic Consciousness. Similar ideas seems to me to be in other mystic outlooks of other religions.

As a person who has an interest in all religions and spiritual writings and traditions this is a great little book. You can take this book and read just a few pages a day and ponder its meaning on different chapters. Over time, your understanding will increase and deepen. The only part I personally didn't care for is the astrological parts of the writings. This is inherent to the Hermetica and not the fault of Mr. Freke and Mr. Gandy. They are the interpreters. Due to my own personal tastes and beliefs I choose to ignore that part but it is still a beautiful way to explore the meaning of life. I also like to compare religions and I see many other mystical viewpoints in it and it helps expand my understanding of life. I highly recommend buying this book.

The book is very easy to read and follow: which is the intention of the authors. The chapters are excellently introduced and short. I liked also the authors arguments that the Hermetica is an ancient Egyptian wisdom, and NOT Greek. Hermes is a Greek god equated to Tehuti: Tehuti (Egyptian) is the author of the "Hermetica", who is also called Thoth, or Hermes. The focus of the book is on the origin of existence and its intricacies. A good summarized book on Hermetic wisdom.

For anyone who as ever thought that the story of Christ is the product of the human mind and nothing more, then the confirmation of your suspicion is within this book. What's more, the authors argue, it's not even an 'original' product of the human mind.

The authors demonstrate that what most Christians believe to be the true and inspiring story of their Lord and Saviour is actually a Judaicised version of the oft-told pre-Christ tales of the dying and reviving God-man known variously as Mithras, Osiris and Dionysus to name a few, a widespread Mediterranean mystery cult. Virtually nothing that Christ said or did wasn't already said or done by these metaphorical God-men before He supposedly existed. In fact the only real difference between this Gnostic pagan religion and Christianity is that Christians happen to believe that their version is literally true. Something comparable to every culture having written a version of Moby Dick but one group claiming that Ahab and his whale were real. A history of church building shows that a lot of Christian churches throughout Europe were built on top of the sacred sites of these mystery cults.

It has long been argued that Christianity has acquired pagan overtones wherever it has spread. This book turns that thesis on it's head by producing evidence that this pagan cult actually acquired Jewish characteristics when it tried to penetrate Judaea. This is probably why the Jews (who let's remember were expecting a Messiah two thousand years ago) never recorded the existence of Jesus and quite rationally do not acknowledge the credentials of a Messiah who is but a new facet of a religion they were familiar with because of the spread of Greek culture.

Sure, this book is written in the usual "hidden conspiracy" style displayed in Holy Blood/Holy Grail but that's just to shift the book from the shelves. An awful lot of detective work has gone into this book and, as others have pointed out, serious scholarship and that's what makes it a must read. If Creationists are going to argue Genesis alongside evolution in classrooms, the least we should expect is this book alongside relgious insruction in our churches. Then we'd see just who is right.

Neither Christianity nor mysticism holds my loyalty, so perhaps I can at least claim not to have an axe to grind or theology to defend. I found the book utterly fascinating. I would recommend it to anyone interested in the historical foundations of Christianity, in Greek and middle eastern philosophies, and in general anyone who likes to ask questions about how belief systems get started. The picture the book paints of the early centuries of Christianity, with its disputing factions, persecutions, and changing political environment is excellent. It is instructive to realize that what is "gospel" now was controversial then--and the winners, who became the Roman Catholic church, wrote the history. Sometimes, in spite of obvious attempts to organize their vast source material, the narrative is confusing, but it is still a great read. The authors dig into a great wealth of sources which are hardly spoken of elsewhere. I find their thesis that the Jesus story was compiled from pre-existing mythology quite believable compared to the more traditional interpretations.

This book is a revelation - not about the truth or fiction of an historical Christ, but about the phenomenon of Mediterranean culture known as Mystery Cults and their impact on the formation of Ancient Christianity. This thesis is not new with the current authors, but never has it been carried with such clarity for the general reader interested in Ancient Christianity but largely ignorant of its cultural milieu.

The influence of the Mystery Cults on Judaism didn't start with Christ. It may have even predated the influence of Alexander the Great; there's a strong argument that it reflects the influence of Egyptian religion and older religions that arose in the Mediterranean family of tribes and nations. These arguments cannot be discounted or dismissed because of the use the authors have put them. The book relies on the most recent studies by archeologists and Bibical scholars, two fields that have virtually exploded in the last 20 years with more accurate pictures of the Meditarranean cultures and writings and more accurate datings of familiar events. In fact the notes and the bibliography alone are worth the price of the book.

This book has led me on a wonderful voyage of exploration and discovery. If there are any out there who would like to plot their own voyage, I encourage you to get the book and start now on your trip. You won't be disappointed.