If you've ever wondered why someone would shut themselves up in a small cell with only minimal contact with a group of similarly shut-up men, then read this book. It is a biography of St. Bruno, who founded the Carthusian order of monks in 1084. Of all the religious orders of the Catholic Church, none has changed so little as the Carthusians. This is due to the extreme simplicity of the life they have chosen to lead: most of their time is spent in study or prayer ALONE in their cells, they do some manual labor, and eat a very sparse, meatless diet (many also live into their 90's). The Carthusians are the ultimate in monastic withdrawl from the world (at least in the Christian West), and this is undoubtedly why they are fascinating. This book, a biography of their founder, shows how one might come to freely choose this life. Bruno himself lived and taught in the Cathedral School in Reims, France (or was it Chartes? I don't have the book immediately available). Since he was connected to the Cathedral he worked and lived in the busy midst of medieval town life. Along with some of his friends, he wished for a more solitary life of prayer and scriptural study, and eventually he found this in a small valley where he started his monastery. Carthusians are still there today at La Grande Chartreuse, the motherhouse of about 25 monasteries worldwide (one in the U.S.). I enjoyed this book because of the very human portrait it gave of St. Bruno. After reading this I could better understand what might motivate someone to take up such a hard life. In our age we tend to see such a life as negative inasmuch as it involves denying almost everything we have. The considerations that led St. Bruno to it, however, were positive: he did not seek to give up the world so much as he sought to grab hold of the "pearl of great price," and seek out the Infinite and Ever-Loving God. To this end, Bruno was willing to set aside all else. Only when we see what Bruno was after do the austerities of the monks seem reasonable. In this light Bruno is akin to a modern Olympic athlete who puts everything at the service of his training and sets his sights upon one thing: the Gold. Bruno was no escapist, but this book does prompt the modern reader to ask what it would be like to have one, and only one, priority in life, and to give up everything for it. What would it be to give up our rushed lives, to be "far from the madding crowd" and yet be content? Tolle et lege: take up and read.

Substantially revised, this book is definitely a must have for chromatographers who practice static (and even dynamic) headspace technique. All key aspects and factors influencing headspace were thoroughly discussed. Strategies in gaining sensitivity and selectivity were proposed - heat, mechanical shaking, sonication, addition of various salts to name a few. All in all, a great book to keep for reference

This Was a really good Book

I am a twenty year old budding artist, and i have found this book to be an excellent source for clay sculpture. I highly recommend this book to anyone new or intermediate in sculpture, or even for someone who's trying to find a new technique to save time. It's especially beneficial to the experienced artist who hasn't done much in the media of sculpture. Due to the step-by-step illustrations and simple instructions it is especially instrumental to those who are more visual learners.(as we artists tend to be!) Best of luck in your sculptural endeavors.

At only 128 pages and mostly pictures, this book can easily be read in a single sitting. This is an interesting book, but I suspect its appeal will be limited to students, alumni, and faculty of Vassar. The authors detail the growth of Vassar College under its various Presidents. They include some very interesting little historical facts and the photography is wonderful. While the authors address changes occurring on the campus of the college over the years, the focus of the authors is upon the campus and its students. This book tells the story of people, buildings and groundbreaking ceremonies. If you are looking for a more interpretative history of Vassar College and how this institution has affected higher education in this country, particularly the higher education of women, you will not find it in this book. Although it was not what I expected when I purchased the book, I did enjoy it and I do recommend it to those individuals wishing to learn more about the campus.

The reviewers who praised this book didn't check the facts and neither did the author. In fact, the book is highly inaccurate both in its facts and conclusions. The book merely applies the same pseudopsychoanalysis as the subject applied to his "patients," including me.

I was a source for the book and nearly everything in it about me is totally wrong. I shared considerable information with the author following a 1990 article in the Washington Post I wrote detailing Bettelheim's unsupported claims and physical and psychological abuse of his wards. The author promised that I could control anything that appeared in the book about me. But the book came out with all sorts of unsourced untruths about me that the author never bothered to check with me. From the looks of them, I suspect some she made up and some she heard from Bettelheim's defenders who worked at the school and broke their professional code of silence to reveal "information" about a "patient." It evidently never occured to the author that these people may have wanted to smear me to save their own reputations. The author even had the nerve to state as fact how I was feeling, which is amazing because she never asked me. In fact, I never felt the way she said I felt.

The book just amounted to the same type of Freudian nonsense I was subject to at Bettleheim's school -- someone else telling you that you don't feel what you feel -- you really feel what I tell you you feel. The book even managed to completely misrepresent what I wrote in the Washington Post. I have been quoted in many publiciations on this and other matters but I have never seen anything so far from the truth. The author didn't like my thesis and couldn't get me on the facts, so she apparently made up her own.

Immediately upon the book's publication, I notified the publisher by letter of the book's errors, but the publisher never corrected them in subsequent printings. And no one even had the decency to answer my letter. To this very day, the company continues to sell a book it knows is inaccurate.

I simply wish to say that there would no controversy if thoughtful, sensitive people were in control of their own emotions and were objective enough to put Bruno Bettelheim and his times in perspecitve. This is one of the implicit themes of the book.The author, a journalist, has study the facts and has the intuition to understand as much as any biographer can at this time a complex suffering personality. I hope only that the time will come when such a understanding can be objectively drawn. But meanwhile the biographer has made at least this attentive and by no means unskeptical reader understand the controversy and the facts of the case are not always one and the same...

This book moved me deeply. Not only did it tell me a fascinating story about a man whose life span the century, but it moved me deeply. It's not a funny book, but it is a riveting one. Rather than pretending to know it all, the author takes her reader on an investigative journey: Who was the true Bettelheim? She shares her doubts as well as her discoveries some of which I shall never forget. And in the end, everything seems to fall into place - the good, the bad, everything human, I guess.

If I start writing now when I'm not really rested it could upset my thinking which is not good at all. I'll get a fresh start tomorrow, and it's not due till Wednesday, so I'll have all of Tuesday, unless something should happen.

Why does this always happen, I should be outside playing, getting fresh air and sunshine; I work best under pressure, and they'll be lots of pressure, if I wait till tomorrow... I should start writing now. But if I start writing now, when I'm not really rested, it could upset my thinking which is not good at all.

Peter Rabbit is one of four rabbits in his family. Very much curious as well as disobedient, Peter decides to wonder off into Mr. McGregor's garden. He has heard the warning given to him by his mother of what Mr. McGregor does to curious, wandering rabbits. Peter slips away from his brother's and sister's while they play in the fields and decides to see this wonderful garden. While in the garden, Peter fills his stomach with delicious carrots, lettuce and other various vegetables. While eating, Mr. McGregor finds the somewhat stuffed rabbit and chases him around his garden. Peter, realizing the mistake he made, only wishes to be free, that he might not make the same mistake again. This book is very well written and can capture the heart of even the oldest person. Filled with detailed pictures, Peter comes to life in this classic tale of tales.

The pictures in this book are absolutely wonderful. It was my oldest nephews favorite book, his little brother also loves it, unfortunately after five years of hard use I just replaced it with a new one. This is the first time we've ever "worn out" a book!

If my two nephews could write a review, (they are boys, 5 and 2 yrs old), they would tell you that this book is a treasure!

One of the worst books I read last year.

I have read many Cynthia Ozick books, and have found this one to be one of the most memorable, equally for its compelling subject and for its somewhat confounding narrative. It is a slender book, more of a novella than a novel. As other reviewers have pointed out, it's based loosely on the life and works of Bruno Schultz, who has often been compared to Kafka. To have the most rewarding experience with The Messiah of Stockholm, I would strongly recommend starting with Schultz's The Street of Crocodiles, and any other material about Schultz you can get your hands on. Familiarizing yourself with Schultz's fiction as well as at least the rough outline of his life story will be important in understanding Ozick's references in The Messiah. I would also recommend starting with the Pagan Rabbi and Other Stories - another Cynthia Ozick book that might be a more digestible and enjoyable introduction to her intellectually powerful writing and philosophies than this one.

I am a slow & easily bored reader yet I finished the book in 2.5 days. I couldn't put it down! Cynthia Ozick crafts a great story with the remains of enigmatic Polish Jewish writer/artist Bruno Schulz. She fulfilled my wishes, by adding modern substance to the life of this fragile, ephemeral visionary. Ms. Ozick creates a fictional path, using landmarks from Schulz's life. I was interested to see how the WW2's aftermath redounds upon Sweden (I naïvely say,"of all places.")

Our view of Bruno Schulz & so many other creative artists--our very patrimony--remains blocked by the ramifications of the Nazi Holocaust. This novel provides a glimpse of that as well as intrigue, Stockholm newspaper office politics, orphancy,deception & Ozick's eidetic extrapolation of Schulz's lost Messiah. I recommend it!

Do you want to write your own games?
Then learn C++ (if don't know it) and buy this book. Game Programming All in One features introduction chapters on physcics, math, DirectX8 Graphics/Audio/Input, game design, AI and a lot more. This could've been the best book i ever bought if it wasn't for some minor errors in the source listings and other trivial problems.

If i could, i would give it 4.5/5, but i can't so i give it a strong 4/5. I wont give it 5/5 because the book isn't perfect and then its not worth a 5/5 rating.

This book will be a good introduction for anyone who is interested in programming computer games and knows very basic C++. It does give you a tutorial on C++, but there are a fair amount of errors that would bewilder a complete newbie. One of the things I noticed right away was that many of the screenshots are in the wrong spots, and many times in different sections! This would definetely have confused me had I not had basic skills in C++.

I also thought that it was strange that the author teaches about Direct3D BEFORE he teaches about DirectX. Another issue is that some of the programs on the CD from later chapters will not run, but rather will give you a run-time error. A few programs have syntax issues as well.

The content of the book and the teaching style makes up for these errors however. The author writes with a style that explains the details, not giving you the "You don't need to know how it works, just that it does" line LaMothe is famous for. I found the "pointers" section to be very well-explained and it gave examples of situations where they would be useful, which is something I have not seen in other C++ books. The book also gives you complete game examples throughout the book, utilizing many of the covered topics, which I found to be a plus compared to other books which teach you the techniques, but leave you clueless as how to use them. The author also lists his e-mail address and invites you to contact him with any questions you may have, which I thought was a nice gesture.

Overall, I would recommend that you get this book if you have competent enough computer skills to overlook these basic problems. I would also recommend that you have BASIC C++ skills, or that you at least be able to recognize where there is a mistake and be able to work through it.

This is a great introduction book that touches on all the topics, from a simple intro to C++ programming all the way up to graphics sound and input handling. If you know how to program but you think that games may just be a bit beyond you this book is probally the best if not the best place for you to start.

Other reviews say the only hitch is the wording because the author's first language is not english and while I will say this is noticeable here and there, it will not hinder your progress in the book at all. There is never any confusion over the topics discussed and so while you may want to keep that in mind, certinaly do not be worried about it (as I kinda was when I ordered the book :))

And to top it off, in the book's introduction there is a web site it gives, which will now lead you to a message board where a good number of us, along with the author, check on a nearly daily basis to give a hand and just chit chat about games and what not.. Not only is the book great and informative, but the supporting online boards for it make this a no lose situation.