David E. Cooper shows how many of the popular views on existentialism are actually misconceptions about the philosophy - this book is very helpful in dispelling the dictionary definition of existentialism. The idea that Existentialism is irrational or an anti-rational form of philosophy is shown to be an incorrect interpretation of what existential thought is about. Cooper shows that the existentialists where not against reason or rational thought but where really against a narrow form of rationalism -also empiricism- which attempted, through non-involvement in the human world, to gain a god-like perspective; a detached and impersonal view from nowhere within the world. Against this the existentialists wanted to show that we are all participants in human affairs and not mere spectators. Other misconceptions mentioned in the book were; that existentialism is just a phenomena born out of post-war Europe; that existentialism is a form of subjectivist philosophy; and that there was a large gulf between Sartre and Heidegger, Sartre -it is often claimed- was a Cartesian while Heidegger was Anti-Cartesian etc.. Some other misconceptions are also mentioned.

I thought the book was missing many of the insights from literature into existentialist thought -although some people will think that is a positive thing. Dostoevsky was not mentioned; I don't remember Kafkas great existential novels (the Trial or the Castle) coming up; and Camus is only mentioned long enough for us to see that he was neither philosophical or systematic and therefore not included. Cooper is not as hostile towards Camus as Sartre was in his review of the Rebel in Les Temps Modenes, but if you are a Camus fan you might want to look away. Of course every book has to make some cuts and Cooper does give reasons for his omissions.

I found the book very helpful and enjoyable, it would probably make a good introduction, but I wouldn't base all my opinions of the philosophy on it.

This is the best of all exisiting introductions to Existentialism in English, and perhaps any language. The clarity is not bogus. It is exemplary in the number of confusions it clears up. Existentialism is far from a passing post-war fad, and Cooper shows why, chapter after chapter. This is a book that should be on every philosophy student's reading list.

I enjoyed the well-written book (and I came as a sceptic). Cooper not only synthesizes the different strands of existentialism, but nicely fills in weaknesses before showing how the existentialistic argument can deliver a reasonable philosophy to live by. To help you judge where I am coming from, consider two other books of practical philosophy that I liked: Peter Singer's "Essential Singer: Writings on an ethical life" and Stephen Batchelor's "Buddhism Without Beliefs".

This book starts with a extremely well explained chapter on the philosophy of control charts. This is really the most important part of the book. Other topics about rational subgrouping and myths are also very well covered. The book deals with interesting examples which should be a little bit more up-to-date. Presenting control charts on mm-paper is outdated in this computer era.

This is an excellent cookbook for participants in SPC. It helps you to avoid of miss-using the SPC.

For me, it helps me to prepare training material on SPC easier.

Unfortunately, the theory aspect in this book is not enough for expert usage.

It is a really great book about SPC methods. Clearly written, Dr. Wheeler's book explains the dos and don'ts of SPC techniques. I found Dr. Wheeler's style of writing simple, but always reaching SPC target. If you are looking for a sound and understandable information about SPC, read it. It is worthwhile book.

Finally a book anyone can understand not just those in the legal field. Being in the legal profession myself I find this book to be my bible. It's easy and takes you through the process step by step. The only thing you must watch out for are the forms which are constantly revised by the courts. Although this book gives you the names of the forms you will need, it is still your responsibility to check and make sure it's the most current one. One great way is to log onto the court's website where you can download the most recent forms for free. I find this book very helpful and hope you will too. Best of luck!

The earlier review is old. It was written in 1999. This book was updated in 2001. I found the book to be helpful, up-to-date and the most clear of all the CA divorce books.

I highly recommend it -- forms change all the time, it is always important to check copyright dates on any book when using the forms. Plus check on-line resources to make sure the forms are accurate.

The information and advice in this book is far superor than any of the other titles in the catagory.

The earlier review stating the forms were out of date is completely wrong and must be referring to an earlier edition of this book.

Plus, the review was posted in 1999. The new edition of this book came out in 2001.

This is an excellent book and if used right can save a lot of money.

This book certainly had a lot of potential. Unfortunatly there are too many errors. Some very obvious --- Samuel Cooper was not REL's brother in law. He was REL's brother's brother in law by marriage. And the photographs are not always correctly captioned. The dust jacket sleeve mentions over 70 some photos. But Lee was only photographed around 40 times. Some photos he counts twice when in reality they are of a same pose. And some photos could have been larger so the reader could actually see the beauty of the photograph. And some photos that have been discovered many years ago were simply not even in the book. This book could have great but the author did not do enough homework. He needs to go back and try again using better researchers.

Robert E. Lee was America's General. He was a great man who'd legacy is to be told forever. He did not support the radical slavery movements of the south but did love his native state. He was a calm and bold gentleman who's gentle face and lovig nature made him a legend in his own right. Lee deserves the honor that is preserved in this book. This book captures the true beauty of AMERICA'S GENERAL.

This text should be in every Civil War collectors library.

American Passages was the textbook used for one of my American History courses. As my instructor said, it was a much tougher book than the previous one that had been used for the course, and I can understand why. The chapters are very long, sometimes inordinately so, and even though I was interested in the material and a good reader, they often took an hour or more to read through. However, the material _was_ interesting, the pictures, maps, graphs, and additional information well done, and it was well written. It does not go into full coverage of some topics, but I found it to be well-rounded, exploring many of the diverse issues that influenced our history and culture. It's an awe-inspiring journey to look through the past of our nation and see how it has impacted the present!

The book covers history from pre-Columbian days all the way through Clinton's presidency and the various scandals. Not many books can claim to be that current! Certainly a beautiful addition to any collection, and a wonderful resource for anyone interested in American History - just don't wait 'til the last minute if you're reading it for school!

If you are looking for a text to supplement your AP History classes, this book has lots of good material, and many helpful readings. If you combine this with some history readers, you will have a great basis to get your program off to a positive start.

Buddhist texts trough the ages

Edward Conze, I.B. Horner, David Snellgrove and Arthur Waley are big names in Buddhology. As scholars they each represent a specific age and development in the history of Buddhist Thought.

Horner, member of the Pali Text Society, which publishes primary and secondary sources of Early Buddhism, takes her share with 'Part 1. The Teaching of the Elders.' This part deals with canonical texts from the Theravada tradition and aims to sketch a picture of the Buddha by collecting small 'crucial' fragments from the suttas. The main emphasis falls on the Samgha, though, as this was Horner's largest occupation. She also includes post-canonical works as the 'Milindapanha' (Questions of Milinda) and Buddhaghosa's 'Visuddhimagga' (Path of Purity.)

In the 'Second Part. The Mahayana' Edward Conze (Mahayana specialist) presents his selection of important Mahayana scriptures. Following the same theme as Horner, he too tries to 'reconstruct' the person of the Buddha, but, understandably, emphasising the symbolic function of the Buddha, proper to Mahayana exegesis. But he does more: he presents some of his own translations of the Ashtasahasrika-Prajnaparamita or 'Perfection of Wisdom in Eight Thousand Lines.' He also includes seminal texts of the Saddharmapundarika, more popularly known as the Lotus Sutra, and a biographical text of the Buddha called the Lalitavistara ('Played Verses'), both considered as early Mahayana texts. Other texts are, the Prajnaparamitasutra ('Perfection of Wisdom ') and the Sukhavativyuha ('Description of the Place of happiness'), all very important texts for the development of later Mahayanist philosophies as Madhyamaka and Yogacara.

In the 'Third Part. The Tantras' David Snellgrove ((Tibetan) Tantric Buddhism specialist) gives his overview of Tantric Buddhism (often mistakenly linked in the West with solely sexual practices.) Starting with a selection of Aryadeva, the foremost disciple of Nagarjuna (Madhyamaka), he proceeds with the very interesting 'Saraha's Treasury of Songs.' Other texts revolve primarily on practice and instruction. Not to forget Milarepa (11th-12th c.), the founder of the Kagyu-order.

In the last 'Part Four. Texts from China and Japan', Arthur Waley gives us an interesting selection of texts that originated in India, were lost, but still exist in Chinese translations, of which I take the Yogacara Bhumi Sutra as an example. Text 208 tells an interesting story of a Hinayana sext in China. We have some texts of the 'Dhyana-sect' (p. 295, = Zen) en Japanese Tendai-school (Ch. T'ien-t'ai.) To finish, we have a glossary of Sanskrit terms and a list of abbreviations.

So, what can we say about this book? It's an interesting selection of the vast quantity of Buddhist texts of (most) schools. We have all the 'phases' covered in Buddhist history starting from Pali, over Sanskrit to Chinese and Japanese. The bibliography is moderately impressive and it's admittedly a great task to make a good selection from the texts.

To make a selection in only 306 pages urges one to be selective, and that's where some texts unfortunately didn't make in the selection: for example, a selection of the Mahavamsa would have enriched Part One.

Some verses in the Second Part from the Nagarjuna's 'Mulamadhyamakakarika' would have been nice to 'embellish' the change in philosophical ideas on the Dharma. There are too many Yogacara texts in my opinion.

Part Three's Saraha's Treasury could have been a little bit more modest, now covering too many pages (15.) Part Four could have been so much richer if there were some texts from the Blue Cliff Record. Also texts from esoteric Chinese en Japanese Buddhist traditions like Hua-yen would have fitted nicely, not to mention Nichiren Buddhism. Also the terminology is a little bit outdated, showing the influence of Western interpretatory models, like 'The Buddhist Apocalypse' on page 45 (Don't forget it's a reprint from 1953.)

Students of Buddhology would also profit from it greatly if the compilers had added some explanatory footnotes, like the historical background, political situation, implicit references, and the like. Now the reader is left to interpret himself. Some guidance would help the reader a long way.

One last thing is that the texts are arranged in such a way that one might get the impression that we are talking about a historical evolution of Buddhist thought. This is not the case. Of course there is some chronology, but it cannot be sustained to claim the after one tradition the other one emerged. That is wrong. They existed, to some extent, simultaneous, represented in different schools and localities.

All criticism aside, general readers will be fascinated by the richness of the Buddhist tradition, the shifting and developing of the meaning of the Dharma, the sometimes stunning interpretations done by later teachers,... It is a possible starting point for an introduction to primary sources and could serve, although critically, as a textbook for courses of Buddhism. But if you just like a good selection of texts to get an impression of what Buddhism is all about, then this bundle of wisdom will surely do.

Edward Conze, I.B. Horner, David Snellgrove and Arthur Waley are big names in Buddhology. As scholars they each represent a specific age and development in the history of Buddhist Thought. Horner, member of the Pali Text Society, which publishes primary and secondary sources of Early Buddhism, takes her share with 'The Teaching of the Elders.' This part deals with canonical texts from the Theravada tradition and aims to sketch a picture of the Buddha by collecting small 'crucial' fragments from the suttas. The main emphasis falls on the Samgha, though, as this was Horner's largest occupation. She also includes post-canonical works as the 'Milindapanha' (Questions of Milinda) and Buddhaghosa's 'Visuddhimagga' (Path of Purity.)
In the 'Second Part. The Mahayana' Edward Conze (Mahayana specialist) presents his selection of important Mahayana scriptures. Following the same theme as Horner, he too tries to 'reconstruct' the person of the Buddha, but, understandably, emphasising the symbolic function of the Buddha, proper to Mahayana exegesis. But he does more: he presents some of his own translations of the Ashtasahasrika-Prajnaparamita or 'Perfection of Wisdom in Eight Thousand Lines.' He also includes seminal texts of the Saddharmapundarika, more popularly known as the Lotus Sutra, and a biographical text of the Buddha called the Lalitavistara ('Played Verses'), both considered as early Mahayana texts. Other texts are, the Prajnaparamitasutra ('Perfection of Wisdom ') and the Sukhavativyuha ('Description of the Place of happiness'), all very important texts for the development of later Mahayanist philosophies as Madhyamaka and Yogacara.
In the 'Third Part. The Tantras' David Snellgrove ((Tibetan) Tantric Buddhism specialist) gives his overview of Tantric Buddhism (often mistakenly linked in the West with solely sexual practices.) Starting with a selection Aryadeva, the foremost disciple of Nagarjuna (Madhyamaka), he proceeds with the very interesting 'Saraha's Treasury of Songs.' Other texts revolve primarily on practice and instruction. Not to forget Milarepa (11th-12th c.), the founder of the Kagyu-order.
In the last 'Part Four. Texts from China and Japan', Arthur Waley gives us an interesting selection of texts that originated in India, were lost, but still exist in Chinese translations, of which I take the Yogacara Bhumi Sutra as an example. Text 208 tells an interesting story of a Hinayana sext in China. We have some texts of the 'Dhyana-sect' (p. 295, = Zen), Japanese Tendai-school (Ch. T'ien-t'ai.) To finish, we have a glossary of Sanskrit terms and a list of abbreviations.

So, what can we say about this book? It's an interesting selection of the vast quantity of Buddhist texts of all the schools. We have all the 'phases' covered in Buddhist history starting from Pali, over Sanskrit to Chinese and Japanese. The bibliography is moderately impressive and it's admittedly a great task to make a good selection from the texts. To make a selection in only 306 pages urges one to be selective, and that's where some texts unfortunately didn't make in the selection: for example, a selection of the Mahavamsa would have enriched Part One. Some verses in the Second Part from the Nagarjuna's 'Mulamadhyamakakarika' would have been nice to 'embellish' the change in philosophical ideas on the Dharma. There are too many Yogacara texts in my opinion. Part Three's Saraha's Treasury could have been a little bit more modest, now covering too many pages (15.) Part Four could have been so much richer if there were some texts from the Blue Cliff Record. Also texts from esoteric Chinese en Japanese Buddhist traditions like Hua-yen would have fitted nicely, not to mention Nichiren Buddhism. Also the terminology is a little bit outdated, showing the influence of Western interpretatory models, like 'The Buddhist Apocalypse' on page 45 (Don't forget it's a reprint from 1953.)
Students of Buddhology would also profit from it greatly if the compilers had added some explanatory footnotes, like the historical background, political situation, implicit references, and the like. Now the reader is left to interpret himself. Some guidance would help the reader a long way.
One last thing is that the texts are arranged in such a way that one might get the impression that we are talking about a historical evolution of Buddhist thought. This is not the case. Of course there is some chronology, but it cannot be sustained to claim the after one tradition the other one emerged. That is wrong. They existed, to some extent, simultaneous, represented in different schools and localities.

All criticism aside, general readers will be fascinated by the richness of the Buddhist tradition, the shifting and developing of the meaning of the Dharma, the sometimes stunning interpretations done by later teachers,... It is a possible starting point for an introduction to primary sources and could serve, although critically, as a textbook for courses of Buddhism. But if you just like a good selection of texts to get an impression of what Buddhism is all about, then this bundle of wisdom will surely do.

I'd like to point out before I get into the meat of this review that I am not out to give the writer, sorry "compiler" a damn good ragging, but I am not at all sure this book is as good as you may have been led to believe by the reviewer before me. OK, first, the positive points. There are many well known proverbs in this book that will be useful to anyone who is interested and each proverb is illustrated by a cartoon. So far, so good. However, I have found that a couple of these proverbs are unknown to my Japanese collegues who doubt their authenticity. For example, one of the proverbs that I liked when I first saw it is "Ke bukai mono wa iro bukai". The translation being "A hairy thing is a sexy thing". Well, if you know anything about Japanese culture and attitudes and believe me, I do! I work and live in Japan and I speak Japanese and know a lot of Japanese people, then you will know that body hair is considered to be dirty and repulsive. So how can there be a proverb like that? It stands to reason! Another example of an "unknown" proverb is "He o hitte shiri tsubome" which is supposedly a Japanese version of "It's no use closing the stable doors after the horse has bolted". The Japanese version translates as "It's no use scrunching up you buttocks after you have farted". This is more or less how it is translated in the book. It is an appropriate image, however no one has heard of that either! It is a proverb I like to use from time tio time in English but when I tested out the Japanese equivalent amongst friends, they just thought I was being rude. In fact the word "he" is a coarse word to use in Japanese. "Onara" is more aceptable, well, about as acceptable as talking about farts can be!!! When I have to explain a Japanese proverb to a Japanese person, I can only conclude that the proverb is erroneous to start with. I don't think this is a reliable book. If you get it then check out which proverbs are authentic with a native speaker so you don't end up looking stupid or intentionally rude.

An uncle of mine passed away when I was only about ten. We were very close- even today, my mother and my aunts and uncles tell me how much I remind them of him. Two things immediately pop into mind when I remember my Uncle John- first, he was something of an oddball. And second, he had a passion for languages. Uncle John could speak just about any language you could name. He was particularly fond of Japanese, and I remember him reading to me from "Even Monkeys Fall From Trees." When he passed away, I inherited his copy, and it is to this day my most treasured possession.

What of the book, then? It is really quite simple- it is a collection of 100 Japanese sayings, written both in phonetic Japanese and with an English equivalent (Example- moshi wa moshiya- "for rice cakes, go to the rice cake maker"). Opposite each proverb is a full-page illustration, with the proverb written in Japanese calligraphy. A short preface by the author is included on the significance of the proverbs in Japanese culture, and a short appendix is also included which attempts to find an equivalent adage from our culture for each proverb.

This book is a rich source of inspiration, and I have continually found new meaning in the sayings contained within. The simplicity of its design affords a certain elegance, as it presents the proverbs in a manner which stimulates the reader to find his own wisdom in them. The illustrations are clever and appropriate, and yet do not force a specific interpretation.

This book would make a fine gift for anybody, especially a child, as it is the rare sort of book that one does not merely read, but rather grows with, like a close friend. Whether you're looking for an interesting way to learn some new Japanese, or merely searching for insight, BUY THIS BOOK.

I got this mainly for the information about Outlook and while the book is by no means useless, it is also disappointing. It's not consistent with Outlook 2000 Corporate or Workgroup (it can still help but the examples and screenshots are not entirely appropriate) and there are errors in the book, as well as downright bad English. Still, if you can get it cheap or for free, it might be worth something.

Although I have not read through the book completely, I have found that what I have read to be most informative and helpful to myself as well as the adults I teach Office 2000 to.

I have always found the "Bible" books to give you a bit more insight into the subject matter.

You will not regret this purchase!

Two things brought my attention to this book. 1) Edward Hoagland's introductions in well known works of Thoreau and Muir, and 2) my interest in the beautiful expanse of wildness that is British Columbia. The book might be described as "quirky," and I have to wonder whether it was an influence in the creation of the early nineties television series "Northern Exposure" (one of the few TV programs I have ever cared for). Published in 1969, it is the account of a New York* novelist become journalist in the great, wild watersheds of the Stikine and Skeena River systems, waters coursing from the Cassiar Mountains, "from sources known only from aerial photographs, some of them where nobody alive had ever been."
*By the time the footloose essayist Hoagland recorder these images in the summer of 1966, he was already quite widely traveled, and had lived briefly in Hazelton, BC in 1960.
Hoagland renders "portraits" of trappers, merchants, guides, clerics, bush pilots, prospectors, "discoverers", and of the waters and forests that are their homes. He himself often fades from the text, reemerging as a curious anomaly in a world unfamiliar and unusual. In northwest BC, a wilderness "the size of several Ohios" in which the majority of residents are caribou, moose, grizzlies, marmots, wolves, beaver, otter, and lynx, each of the perhaps 1000 human residents, whether Indian or white, might be considered an anomaly. The author gravitates to the old-timers, asking "a dabbler's questions that to me are fun."
This volume is not for every reader. It is very unlike the wilderness travel accounts of Thoreau or Muir (who investigated closely a landscape's flora and geology). Hoagland's attentions here are mostly directed to the local "characters" and to the nuances of the human history of a great wilderness: "... airplanes have made mapping easier than naming nowadays. ... The surveyors of forty years ago did a much better job because they were actually on the spot. Being men of good intentions, they were glad to incorporate Indian names on their maps when they knew them." However, "it's an exceedingly accidental process ... if no Indian accompanied the mapper, or if he wasn't unusually expressive, all the native names slipped through the sieve and were lost right then and there."
The author admits, "I'm no outdoorsman, really," but he is taken with the beauty of northern BC: "Swaying and bucking as on a life raft, we scraped over a further series of ridges and peaks. This was the highest flying we had done; we were way up with the snow so that the cabin was cold. But the sunlight washed the whole sky a milky blue. Everywhere, into the haze a hundred miles off, a crescendo of up-pointing mountains shivered and shook. A cliff fell away beneath us as we crossed the lip. ... There was no chance to watch for game; the plunging land was life enough. It was a whole earth of mountains, beyond counting or guessing at, colored stark white and rock-brown. To live is to see, and although I was sweating against my stomach, I was irradiated. These were some of the finest minutes of my life."
Unlike most books of wilderness travel, this is not a record of the author as a man in the wilderness. It is a series of portraits of the true men and women (mostly men) of the wilderness. At Atlin Lake, for example, we meet three vigorous men in their nineties, one who came to the country during the Rush of 1899. We meet others who had first come to these mountains and rivers in the 1890's. In Hoagland's Journal from British Columbia, the century -- now centuries -- before, seem not so distant.

I just read this account of the author's three month exploration of northwestern B.C. in 1966 after it was recommended as one of the best 25 books of the last 25 years by the magazine Outdoor Canada. Edward Hoagland is a real find for me. I had never heard of him before, but his description by John Updike as "America's best living essayist" is close to the mark. His descriptions of the country and the people go far to preserve the early days of this wild and untamed corner of Canada. I love to read travelogues, and this one rates right up there with the best of them.

This book really helped me prepare for Algebra II. With the help of this book, I had a 97% in the first semester and a 94% in the second. Then at the end of the year, this was a great tool in reviewing for the final.