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Swami Nikhilananda was a genuine Hindu holy man who was also a scholar and he brings to this translation rare insights that can only be found from the actual experience of what he is writing of.
Be careful of premature comparisons between the Upanishads and the teachings of Buddhism: While there are similarities between both traditions, they are each distinct and have their own value and integrity as religious systems and both make a decided contribution to the wisdom of the religions of the east.
So if your purpose is to try to understand this volume just by itself, there are chances you'll get struck by the depth of its meaning. So please first get into some other medium to advanced books in Hinduism and Buddhism before trying to absorb this volume, because the other previous three volumes are not enough to get across this one...but the essence is there, Gotama relied on the content of this volume for his Teachings, no doubt.
When you'll be done with the four volumes, you'll understand where the Buddhist Teachings come from...these Upanishads constitute the essence of the Hindu and Buddhist philosophies.
Unfortunately, they are probably the most cryptic texts that deal with the Ultimate, the style is so crude that one should not read them nor teach them to people that have not spent many years at studying the basics of the Indo-aryan philosophy (be it Hinduism, Buddhism,...) and are not prepared to approach the Absolute. Find a qualified teacher before reading them, unless you could be mislead and loose more time than if you had learned the basics before. So unless you know what you'll find in there, don't read them. If you feel prepared to it, get into it. If the Vedanta considered them as the secret teachings, it's not for the sake of hiding them, but rather because their use should be restricted to the most advanced scholars. There is no discrimination in this, only a will to prevent misunderstanding and misinterpreting of this difficult topic, nothing else. If you don't trust me, get into it and you'll understand very soon what i'm talking about. It's useless to begin learning a subject with the most advanced textbooks, except making you disgusted of it, so please don't try to catch the Ultimate directly with the Upanishads.
This volume is less abstract than the previous two volumes so people that prefer metaphors and more practical stories will be more at ease with this volume.
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The book lovingly covers all of the regions of Italy. Each chapter is a self-contained essay on an individual Italian region, with wine as the focal point. But don't think that the wine commentary is the only reason you will enjoy owning this book. It's full of absorbing discourses on Italian life, told through anecdotes that illustrate the character of a region's wines, food, people and history. For example, you'll go on a Tuscan boar hunt, watch a soccer match between Lazio and Roma, learn about the art of making Balsamic vinegar in Emilia-Romagna and discover where the Italians hid Mussolini under house arrest in the mountains of Abruzzo.
Each chapter is organized in the same fashion: an introductory essay that illuminates something telling about the character and history of the region; a simple map locating the DOC areas; descriptions of white, red, sparkling and sweet wines grown, highlighting significant producers; wine production statistics, including recent successful vintages; a few select restaurant recommendations; a guided tasting that compares and contrasts flights of wines within the same DOC's; and a recipe or food indigenous to the province with wine selections to match. Throughout are portraits of key people and properties that set the tone for the Italian wine scene today. A data bank at the end lists all major grape varieties grown in Italy and an index of 700 producers who represent a solid if subjective list of Italy's best.
One of the most interesting aspects of Italian wine today is the emergence of (and backlash against) the so called "international style." In most regions, this means a shift in emphasis from native grapes and vinification techniques towards extracted wines made from classic French varietals (e.g., cabernet, merlot, syrah) and the use of new oak. Vino Italiano tackles the subject head-on in an even-handed and relatively dispassionate manner, including several passages on the style of the prolific modernist consultant Riccardo Cotarella. Is he a force for good or evil? Vino Italiano gives you the background, you get to make the decision. There is also a wonderful little digression on the improvements wrought by adoption of modernist techniques on the wines of Barolo and Barbaresco. As, usual, Vino Italiano makes the subject clear and entertaining.
Negatives? Well, the words are so vivid I would have paid twice as much for the same book with some beautiful color plates that capture the places, people, and food described. Some of the recipes were a little too complex for me, but maybe not for you.
If you love Italian wine, food, and/or Italy itself, this is the kind of book you can grab off a nightstand, open at random, and happily lose yourself in for hours. Put another way, if the authors ever sponsored a wine and food tour of Italy, I'd be first in line. Highly recommended.
I stand and applaud the efforts and acheivements of David Lynch and Joeseph Bastianich, and eagerly anticpate the next bounty from their vine.
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This one took me by surprise by taking place at the very height of the Cold War in the 60's, when the art of submarine warfare was being written and re-written daily. The game of cat & mouse under the sea was as dramatic as ANY fictional story, and although this IS fiction, it reads almost like an on-sight account of what actually happened. America, while far superior in sub design and nuclear technology to the Russians, was behind in one crucial area: subs made out of titanium. It is SO expensive that the Navy never actually made use of it...but the Soviet's made many subs that could dive amazingly deep BECAUSE of their titanium hull-design. The undersea game of kill or be killed takes on a new dimension when a Russian sub is thought to have imploded after having gone too deep...but did she really go down...or did they 'fake it' by playing sound efx that only sounded like a sub breaking up at extreme depths--places that no U.S. sub could go...this is what we get to enjoy on this very exciting and realistic portrayal of naval life on a Skipjack class sub in the 60's. Mr. Joseph is to be commended by giving us a top-notch techno-thriller which succeeds on EVERY level. Simply wonderful. Highly Recommended.
This is truly the best of the techno-thrillers/military-thrillers I have ever read. Believeable, detailed (but not bogged down by details) and exciting. Great characters. If anything, this book is better than anything Clancy has written.
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