This book is "The Thinner Aquinas," a targeted text specifically focusing on Aquinas's political and ethical writings.

Incluced are obvious selections from Summa Contra Gentiles and Summa Theologica (Five Ways of God's Existence and Essay on Law), but also included are excerpts from "De Regimine Principum."

There are hidden treasures in the back, excerpts from backgound sources and essays that influenced and were influenced by Thomisitic thought.

This book is geared towards a poltical scientist and poltical philosopher. For the theologian or the philosopher, however, I would reccomed Penguin Classics "Selected Writings."

PS--Nice picture on the cover!

This is a truly excellent selection of Thomistic writing, both by the Angelic Doctor and his critics and modern-day followers. It is not only comprehensive on the subject of Aquinas's politics and ethics but it is a good introduction to Thomism and natural law theory in general. Mortimer Adler's spanking of Bill Moyers on the subject of objective ethics is worth the price of the book just by itself.

I really enjoyed Walden, it's a very deep philosophical book. Thoreau is very insightful, and he is also very intelligent. I admire his capability to digress on different subjects and expand on the topics. His profound statments make an individual contemplate and search his inner soul for his true identity. This book, if read carefully and with much thought, can really impact one's life. It can help one search themselves and think differently about life in general. I would encourage people to read this book if they have a good grasp on their life because it could be confusing and somewhat depressing at times, depending on the maturity level of the individual. If one has an interest to read this, it can be very enjoyable, and challenging at the same time.

Mind you, this isn't idle worship - this book is a masterpiece of American Literature, and along with 'Civil Disobedience', represents one of the greatest literary minds America has ever known. Thoreau stands with Dickinson, Emerson, Hawthorne, Melville, and Whitman as one of the greats of his era. Indeed, in the 1850's when 'Walden' was originally published, it occasionally sat beside 'Moby-Dick' and 'Song of Myself' on book shop shelves. In reading Thoreau, one comes to understand the scholar and the naturalist that have so profoundly come together next to Walden Pond; their combination seems to express some of the most basic underpinnings of American life. More than that however, their intertwining through insight and spiritualism evokes a thoughtful reverence for life in its entirety. Thoreau's ruminations are striking, not merely for their deep beauty and sentiment, but for their delving examination of the human soul. The way in which he blends the substantive and the sublime, bringing the reader to Walden Pond in mind, body, and soul, deserves praise as one of the highest forms of art. One cannot help but wonder at the depth - of Thoreau, of the spirit, and of Walden Pond.

Death in Venice has at times a spellbinding atmosphere. At times it is also displaying Mann's magnificent register of using the language, actually more often than rare, that alone enough to make the book worth reading. But I don't find the story strong and gripping enough. That the main character with the mind and soul of an artist is falling in love with a pretty boy is an interesting angle of approach, and would have been even more chocking to the reader in 1911 when Mann wrote the novella. To me the weakest parts seem to be the beginning of the book, before he is approaching Venice by sea, and the ending of it. On those crucial parts of the book I find Mann as the author and creator too much present, while the fifty pages in the middle are superb craftsmanship, where one is taken away by the atmosphere and his wonderful descriptions. Still, the book is a classic and well worth the reading.

Is there a finer experience than reading Thomas Mann? Death in Venice is his masterpiece, in my view (and arguably, one might add, Britten's greatest opera!), and, though the Russians come to mind, its pages, soaked in the majesty of the greatest art, reveal probably the greatest writing artist of the modern age. Aschenbach's passion is our own dilemma, and no other artist but Thomas Mann could leave him so lean and broken in our arms, and capable by that condition to fill us with consuming humanness. The philosopher Mann takes a language of human wounds and shows us ourselves, giving witness thereby to the essential power of literature. I consider it an act of religion to read Death in Venice every couple years. Religion is where, perhaps, we meet our heart; at the very least, art of this solicitude prompts a kind of faith that we still have one, after the wearing of the years, and all our private griefs. I hope the high schools and colleges are yet keeping Mann near, our children must yet gather and collect the food necessary to feed them all their lives. To 'recommend' this books seems almost pseudo-messianic! but if one commends it, let it be called not the work of a great literary messiah, but the cry of one of our brothers- a cry inextinguishable and provident.

A few pages into this literary classic and one might be tempted to put this novel down in search of less challenging fare. Beginning with an in-depth description of the main character Gustav Aschenbach, the story follows Aschenbach's degeneration from respected moral beacon to a obsessed stalker. After being struck with wonderlust by the sight of a roughened traveller, Aschenbach, a man who has never let himself be free of his own internal discipline, is driven by some inner need to travel to Venice. Once he arrives, Aschenbach begins to loosen decades of emotional repression as he allows his aesthetic appreciation of a fellow vacationer, a young sickly boy, Tadzio, to grow into a lustful obsession. Tadzio's beauty so captures Aschenbach that he ends up dying for his love, as his need to be near the young boy becomes his all-consuming priority. The subject will strike many readers as sickening as we read of a man's lust for a pre-pubescent boy, yet one can appreaciate Mann's remarkable ability with the written word, and the realism he creates as we delve into Aschenbach's mind.

Want a book with an adventurous twist? Then Huckleberry Finn is the book for you. Not only is Huckleberry Finn an adventurous book, it is also can be comical and light, though the book has a grave meaning, showing the wrongs in society at the time in the late 19th century.
The book The Adventures of Tom Sawyer precedes Huckleberry Finn, where in the beginning of Huckleberry Finn, Huck lives with the widow Douglas, though doesn't like the high class living, and frequently leaves to see his father, who's always drunk, or just hangs out in the woods. While in the woods, Huck meets Jim, a slave who escaped and needs to cross the Mississippi River to the freedom on the other side, in Illinois. Although this book portrays a serious meaning, it can also be funny and witty.
I liked this book because it was witty and comical, though it had an important message at the same time. I really liked this book because of this, though the southern accent complicates the understanding of the book. Overall, I thought this book is definitely a classic and a must read for all age levels.

I wasn't too looking forward to the reading Huck Finn at first, particularly after glancing at the dialect of the first couple pages, but once I got started and more used to how the characters spoke, I loved the tale! Huck Finn is an extremely well-written novel that uses silly situations to explain how living was back then, and how slaves were treated. Jim is in the beginning of the book coming across as the stereotype of a slave, but as the novel continues, you really begin to see the real person, not just how Jim was "supposed" to be... Also, throughout the book, you see Huck mature and begin to get his own mind; among other things, Huck develops his own set of morals different from those of society... The Adventures of Huck Finn is a funny, exciting, and at times sweet book that everyone should have the chance to read... :):)

After reading many of the reviews below, I have come to the conclusion that perhaps this novel should not be taught at the high school level. Personally, when I read "Huckelberry Finn" my junior year, I thought that it was an enjoyable break from reading other early American classics, but judging from some of the reviews, others didn't agree. I don't understand exactly what was considered so "boring" about this novel. This book provides the reader with action, humor, and morals; what any 'classic' should do. For those who think of themselves as highly intellectual and felt that the novel didn't have a point, you may want to check your IQ, because I think your ego is in for a massive let-down. Although Twain clearly states at the beginning of the novel that he doesn't want his readers to try to find a point in his 'coming of age' story, the theme of the novel almost smacks the reader in the face. The 'point' is that friendship is more important than social standards and sometimes you have to put yourself at risk in order to save those that you care about. This classic will remain so as long as those who are forced to read it lighten up a little and actually open their minds to a great piece of literature.

At first I was forced to read "The Mayor of Casterbridge" in school more than 12 years ago. Reading it slowly made an impact on my life. This book always served a special purpose in my life. It introduced me to the wide world of Literature. It sort of enlighten my interest and liking for English literature. Now re-reading it not only brought back fond memories of my yester school days but also renewed my liking to one of the greatest writer of all time Thomas Hardy.

Through this novel I came to the understanding of Irony and oxymoron. Hardy totally wrote with a sense of awareness of human characteristic and he had a amazing style of mixed humour with tragedy.

His protagonist,Michael Henchard's life was under the microscope of Hardy.

I love the way the story began I quote:"ONE evening of late summer, before the nineteenth century had reached one-third of its span, a young man and woman, the latter carrying a child, were approaching the large village of Weydon-Priors, in Upper Wessex, on foot. " I love the Englishness and the sense of intriguing events that would follow...

In brief, Michael Henchard was a drunk who sold his wife and daughter at the fair. Later he realised his mistakes he work real hard and eventually became the mayor of Casterbridge. His life took another twist 20 years later when his wife and daughter came back to his life plus a few more other characters adding on the complexity of his life.Soonafter events unfolded and many things became to go against his way and then came his downfall. Indeed Michael Henchard's rise and fall were filled with compelling details and his encounters with numerous intestering people.

What I love most about this novel was the way Hardy depicted Henchard's behaviours and thoughts and totally enhanced his weak character and irresponsibleness with dashes of ironies. His sardonic literary style were brilliant and at the same time he also vividly described the scenery and situations. Another greatest of Hardy was his ability to create innovative characters still account for in modern contemporary days and he was a pioneer in analysising human's weakness and blended it into his creation. It's a vintage classic,psychoanalytic and intriguingly written ,a must read for all books lover.

I remember having read this book in high school. I immediately fell in love with Hardy. (I was also fond of Hardy Boys at that time, so in my opinion the name Hardy acquired a special significance.) Unfortunately, though, I never liked another book by him quite so much. I've read Tess of the d'Urbvilles, Under the Greenwood Tree, Far from the Madding Crowd(which was perhaps his second best novel, as others here have affirmed), and perhaps a few others. It is strange, or perhaps significant that I remember the exact circumstance when I was reading this book. It must have been about ten in the night. I had cleared my study desk, and unlike my common practice of lying on my stomach on my bed to enjoy a book into the night, I sat down on the straight-backed chair at the desk to read it. Very soon, I was overwhelmed by the narrative of Mr. Hardy. My father came in to see what I was up to, saw the tears streaming down my face as I turned the pages of my book, and quietly went away. I have never before owned any story books- my parents told me to read out of libraries. But now I am 22, and have started earning some money of my own, and I'm going to start a little collection of my most beloved books, to pass on to my children, perhaps? And this is among my very best.

I read this novel in English class, like most people probably did. It was one of the best assigned to us.

Hardy is a gifted author. He writes in a clear style with vivid descriptions that really bring the setting alive, without making the reader (at least this reader) feel inundated with borning, unnecessary detail.

The thing that I look for most in a novel, however, is quality characterizeations, and this book had them in spades. Dialogue was used effectively to flesh out characters. These are not stock characters, either. These people have flaws and shades of grey. They seem as though they could be real. I found that I could relate to the characters, and I did empathize with them, even when I didn't agree with their choices. Everyone had clear motivations. The characterization of Henchard shows that Hardy clearly understood the notion of the tragic flaw and the tragic hero/anti hero.

Students who have to read this book as part of their English class may find it a bit on the long side. I would urge you to stick with it; once you get through the initial chapters the book will pick up (a commonality that all British classics seem to share). The book is easy to follow and understand. It is a key novel that marks the shift from Romantic Age to the Victorian Age, so it's an important read for anyone who has a serious interest in English Literature.

Peter Norton is tradirionally a great "teacher". His use of everyday expressions to explain complex technological terms, his choice of illustrative examples and his selection of graphical illustrations make the book easy to understand. If you are like me, seeking to take an exam on the subject, then you will need other materials to supplement the areas that were not included in the book. The areas of Windows 2000 Server that were covered will be my only source of future reference.

Peter Norton shows the way to Windows 2000 networking. I found this book easy to refer, understand the concepts and install. The fine tuning and upkeep of the server has been extensively shown.

I have normally associated Peter Norton with his computer disk utilities which have certainly saved my bacon a few times. O f late he has turned to producing high quality reference books

I was extremely impressed with this publication. Having read the companion book Windows 2000 Professional, this book follows on nicely. I guess it is not a book for beginners but it leads a lot of us lapsed network jockeys through detail we had messed with but not fully comprehended. There is a very good sections on IIS which is little understood by most and one on the Internet which everyone thinks they understand.This book gets to the heart of Internet networks, though not as comprehensively dealt with as in his Windows 2000 Professional, it concentrates on the server aspects. Security and management of the server are covered well.This is a must read for Administrators. In fact he and his co authors seems to cover everything very nicely with as much nitty gritty to make it a reference book to be held in the ready.

All in all this is a very good book for those familiar with networking but not so familiar with Windows 2000 Server. There is also enough detail for newbies to get a good understanding .

The price is very reasonable.

Thomas More dreams of a world of tolerance and antimilitarism, but also of collectivism and anticapitalism (a world without money). For him, a world based on private property cannot be prosperous and just. He considered all treaties between prosperous states as a conspiracy of riches.
So, he was more radical than the most diehard leftist of today.
His principal targets are kings, religious authorities and the landowners with their disastrous policy of enclosures, driving all farmers and their families into certain poverty and death.
He gives us also a juicy mockery of the Swiss, who sold themselves as mercenaries to the highest bidders.
This book is still a worth-while read.

Generally, this is a very good edition of utopia. The translation from Latin is clear and very readable. Furthermore, the critical texts are a great help to the student. Now I don't have to run off to collect them from various magazines. In principle the inclusion of other utopias is a good idea as well. However, I was somewhat disturbed by the editorial notes on "Looking backward". It does not seem to me as if Mr. Adams has read very much of the novel. For instance, I found his comments on the role of women in the book misleading.

Thomas More's incredible, influential work, has one foot in the Middle Ages and the other in the Renaissance. More reflects on the Middle Ages, but was not yet ready for the Lutheran reformation. More offers both humor (for example, using gold as chamber pots), and political thinking on capitalism. I however think his Utopia is a reflection of the monastic system (without severe asceticism) rather than communism. I'm sure it is no accident that geographic the island of Utopia is similar to England. It is ironic that More did not heed Raphael's advice about servitude to the king. The inclusion of the humanist letters adds further to the humor.

This fine edition includes important predecessor such as Plato's republic and the Acts of the Apostles. Description from Amerigo Vespucci's first voyage, calls to mind Rousseau's "Noble Savage". With the inclusion of selections from Ovid to Brave New World this book includes almost two millennium of utopian thinking.

A collection of essays assembled by type and style of writing.
The book instruvts how to write common essay types by presenting the reader with a few examples of each kind. The cool part is the commentary by the authors of some of the essays as to what they were thinking when they wrote them and how they went about the writing process.

Good use for an Intro to Writing college level class.

Norton Readers have long been a staple of university literature and composition courses, which is no doubt the original purpose of this volume (hence the extended title, "Short Essays for Composition"). If you don't let this deter you, you will be rewarded with a collection of some of the best of American essays with a plus. This is not only a collection of well written essays spanning early and modern nonfiction, but you have the bonus of modern prose stylists such as Annie Dillard and Barry Lopez talking about the pieces that are included: how they get ideas, how they craft their work, why they write in nonfiction. A satisfying and interesting collection, well worth reading and passing along to others. Great for teachers and students interested in learning about nonfiction as well, as nonfiction as a genre is the organizing schema of this volume.

This is the central question explored by Conrad in Lord Jim. Jim is ultimately a character who inspires our sympathy due to his inability to find reconcilliation for his one tragic moment of weakness. In him we find a person of tremendous potential that remains unrealized as the tragic circumstances of his abandoning his post aboard the Patna continually haunt him and the associated guilt drives him to isolation.
Conrad successfully explores the concepts of bravery, cowardice,guilt and the alternative destinies that an individual may be driven to by these qualities.
The narrative can be a bit confusing at times as Marlowe relates the tale by recalling his encounters with Jim. The book reminded very much of Somerset Maugham's THE RAZOR"S EDGE" in style. However I believe that Maugham did a much better job of incorporating the narrator into the flow of the story. Overall LORD JIM is a wonderful classic novel that I highly recommend.

This is the fifth book I have read by Conrad, and through these readings I have come to deeply appreciate his literary power and the perfection of his stories. Conrad has the skill to border about several similar subjects, without repeating himself. "Lord Jim" is truly a Shakespearean tragedy, mainly because of the Shakespearean nature of the main character. Jim is a young naval officer with high hopes of heroism and moral superiority, but when he faces his first test of courage, he miserably fails. While 800 Muslim pilgrims are asleep aboard the ship "Patna", Jim discovers that the boat is about to sink. There are not sufficient lifeboats for everybody. Should he wake them up or not? He gets paralyzed with fear and then sudenly jumps into a boat being set up by the rest of the officers. He is taken to trial and disposessed of his working licence.

Ashamed and humiliated, Jim dedicates the rest of his life to two things: escape the memory of that fateful night, and redeem himself. This agonizing quest to recover his dignity in front of his own eyes leads him to hide in a very remote point in the Malayan peninsula, where he will become the hero, the strong man, the wise protector of underdeveloped, humble and ignorant people. Jim finds not only the love of his people, but also the love of a woman who admires him and fears the day when he might leave for good. The narrator, Captain Marlow (the same of "Heart of Darkness") talks to Jim for the last time in his remote refuge, and then Jim tells him that he has redeemed himself by becoming the people's protector. Oh, but these things are never easy and Jim will face again the specter of failure.

Conrad has achieved a great thing by transforming the "novel of adventures" into the setting for profound and interesting reflections on the moral stature of Man, on courage, guilt, responsibility, and redemption.

Just as in "Heart of Darkness" the question is what kinds of beings we are stripped of cultural, moral and religious conventions; just as in "Nostromo" the trustworthiness of a supposedly honest man is tested by temptation, in "Lord Jim" the central subject is dignity and redemption after failure.

A great book by one of the best writers.

After reading this book (along with several other of Conrad's books) I am under the impression that Joseph Conrad may very well be my favorite author. Here is another masterpiece, a deeply incisive study of character of the motivation and the ultimate failure of all high-minded ideals. Granted my own personal world view falls directly in line with this realization and therefore prejudices me towards anything the man might write, but, when considering such a lofty title as 'favorite author' one must regard other aspects of the novelist's creation. As with the others, Conrad wins by the power of his stories.

Lord Jim is my least favorite of the the four books I have read by Conrad. The story is rather scattered: a righteous young man does something wrong that he holds himself far too accountable for and the public shame the action brought him exaggerates the reality of his failure and makes him believe the rumors swirling around about his so-called cowardice. He spends the remainder of his life trying to reclaim his self-regard, mostly exaggerating his own importance in matters he hardly understands. His goal is to liberate the primitive people of the jungle paradise he inadvertantly finds himself in (due to an effort to escape every particle of the world he once inhabited) and his once high-minded ideals and regard for himself lead him to allow those people to consider him almost a God.

Jim likes being a God and considers himself a just and fair one. He treats everyone equally and gives to his people the knowledge of modern science and medicine as well as the everyday archetecture and understanding of trade that those primitive folks would otherwise be years from comprehending.

Of course everything ends in failure and misery and of course Jim's restored name will be returned to its demonic status, but the whole point of the novel seems to me that one can not escape their past. Jim, for all his courage in the line of fire has tried to avoid all memory of the once shameful act of his former life and by doing so becomes destined to repeat his mistakes.

Lord Jim is far more expansive than the story it sets out to tell, ultimately giving a warning on the nature of history and general humanity that only a writer of Conrad's statue could hope to help us understand.

If there is a flaw it is not one to be taken literally. Conrad was a master of structural experimentation and with Lord Jim he starts with a standard third person narrative to relate the background and personalities of his characters and then somehow merges this into a second person narrative of a man, years from the events he is relating, telling of the legend of Jim. It is a brilliant innovation that starts off a little awkward and might lead to confusion in spots as the story verges into its most important parts under the uncertain guidence of a narrator who, for all his insight into others, seems unwilling to relate his personal relevence to the story he is relating.

Nevertheless (with a heartfelt refrain), one of the best books I have ever read.

Crane's first book is always a pleasure to reread for the new discoveries I have always made; it might be a sentence I had not seen before, a humorous line, or simply, the wonder that an semi-educated writer--really just a boy--could write this short novel, one that was so instinctive in its forebodings of genius (Anyone wishing to chat about this book or Crane's "Red Badge"--I have a review there--or simply literature, please send e-mail: it will be pleasurably read and commented on).

If I were pressed to use one word to describe this book itwould be dark. However, Crane's novel is a moving piece with momentsof transcendence and rampant dark humor.

Basically, it is the story of Maggie, an undeveloped character who takes the back-seat to her loud and abusive parents, her swaggering, self-confident brother Jimmie and his friend, the boastful Pete.

The novel chronicles the injustices that surround Maggie, who is quiet and doesn't fight back. A chilling look at poor, urban life in the late 1800's, it is also a tale critical of society's judgmentality and questioning of morality. A more complex novel than it seems on first look, it is wonderful to take apart and examine the relationship between Maggie and Pete, Maggie and her mother, and Maggie and Jimmie.

Most importantly, however, are the quiet moments of transcendence in this novel.

Hart Crane's first novel is the tale of a pretty young slum girl driven to brutal excesses by poverty and loneliness. It was considered so sexually frank and realistic, that the book had to be privately printed at first. It and GEORGE'S MOTHER, the shorter novel that follows in this edition, were eventually hailed as the first genuine expressions of Naturalism in American letters and established their creator as the American apostle of an artistic revolution which was to alter the shape and destiny of civilization itself.