As I flip through this wonderful piece of scholarship that is "Melville from A to Z," I can't help but wonder the time, talent, and work ethic that went into producing it's contents. The authors are to be commended for making this book helpful to the serious scholar as well as the lay person who is intrigued with Melville's writings. I will most certainly use it in my studies, which is the primary reason why I purchased the book. There are great anecdotes, summaries on each book and poem, and plenty of pictures to give a physical property to Herman Melville, most of whom only know him through his works. There is a comprehensive bibliography, covering a panoply of subjects that will prove useful to one desiring further study. A useful index also accompanies this volume. One of the more stronger qualities of the book is that there exists an unbiased centrism with each item that is described, which makes it ostensibly more authentic. I am sure that others will find the work appealing, helpful, and constructive.

This book fills a void in Melville Studies. It is a fairly comprehensive reference guide to Melville's works, their plots, characters, publishing history and critical reception. There are also entries on his family, contemporaries, Current Events of his time, and many different pieces of information a reader might need to know. This book is perfect as a Reader's Guide and the price, especially compared to the other "Melville Encyclopedias", namely those by Robert L. Gale (1990) and Kathleen E. Kier (1995), which were over $100.00 each, is excellent. The authors are also able to make use of the recent Melville Biographies by Laurie Robertson-Lorant and the first Volume of the Melville Biography by Hershel Parker (both 1996). To what extent the recent discovery of 500 Melville family letters, which are acknowledged by the authors, were used, or if at all, is not made clear.

The organization of the book is well done, beginning with a Chronology. The entries, which follow, are probably out of neccessity quite brief, yet for the most part helpful. I would have preferred if their sources would have been cited, as then the Book would have been of use to Scholars. The plots of the Novels are given, sometimes Chapter by Chapter, but there is little interpretation. I have found so far, several minor errors, which are not too serious, and hope will be corrected in subsequent editions. There follow a Melville Family Tree, a Caterogical Index, a useful but not comprehensive Bibliography and finally a General Index.

I think on the whole this book is well done in its scope. It is easily accessible and well priced, but is not useful for Scholarly Research, which is, I gather not its intent. Still, the concept is a good one and I can think of at least twenty Authors for who I would like to see a similar Guide.

Our book should appeal to both new and seasoned Melville readers. How many of you have read his epic poem CLAREL? It is very long and even scholars have shied away from it. But for all of its flaws it is a magnificent work, and we provide a detailed (canto by canto) summary. We do the same for ALL of Melville's poetry and fiction. As an introduction to his work, or as a guide that can help the reader to review or refresh his or her sense of the range of Melville's work, our book will be--as the publisher promises--the "essential reference book." We also include illustrations from the collections of several museums and the Library of Congress.

Carl Olson has provided Catholics (and others) with an excellent study on the doctrine of the rapture and those doctrines related to it. Carl -- himself a former Fundamentalist and Evangelical -- has given us more than an introduction... this book is a true piece of scholarship. With copious documentation from acknowledged experts in the doctrine of the rapture and premillenial dispensationalism, Carl fairly and accurately shows the theology of the rapture, etc., before demonstrating the foundations on which those doctrines are built, foundations insufficient to support the structure of doctrine built upon them.

For instance, Carl shows how a deficient ecclesiology (theology of the church) and a misunderstanding of the Israel-Church relationship reverberate throughout the theology of premillenial dispensationalism, with eschatology (theology of the end times) being greatly effected.

This book helped me to better understand not only why some Christians believe in the rapture, but also why they separate themselves so strongly from the world, instead of seeking to transform it (Chuck Colson is an excellent example of the latter).

Truly a great, great book, well worth a place on your bookshelf.

Often when I question the "rapture" mania with folks, I get treated as if I'm making a personal attack. This book gives me hope that I can direct the conversation to a different level, and talk about things that enthusiasts have never considered, all in order to demonstrate the trap of thinking that we can know when Jesus is returning. So often, when I say "the Bible doesn't say Jesus is coming now," people hear me saying "He cannot be coming now," and the distinction is too subtle for people to hear.

What Carl Olson has provided is a thorough analysis through excellent scholarship. He shows how the whole world-view of the rapture, while emotionally appealing to some, is a long way from the truth. Taking the emotion out of the equation allows exploration of all the ancillary assumptions that lead to the emotional buy-in to what is at best a questionable doctrine.

Along the way, the depth of theology explored here ultimately leads to a renewed faith in the true doctrines of the Church, a better understanding of our place in the Church, and the reality of the Church itself, the Church that Jesus personally established on Earth. What a wonderful gift that is!

A thorough reseacher and a graceful writer, Carl Olson has managed to combine readability with scholarly depth in a book that brings calm and order to the End Times fervor that is so rampant in our day. Olson knows the subject of The Rapture from two personal perspectives: Protestant Fundamentalist and Catholic. This fortuitous vantage point provides a richness of understanding and vision. Protestants, Catholics, Orthodox, and people of other faiths (or no faith) will find much here to ponder.

This tape set tells the truth about the rapture and the left behind books. Exposes the nonsense that writers use to sell books and make themselves rich.

This book is not a harsh discourse on deconstructionalism and the radicalism associated often with youthful postmodernism. Rather it is a beautiful discourse on the many parallels of Zen and philosophy in the 1900s. Strongly recommended. Also see Benoit's Zen and the Psychology of Transformation.

An interesting addition to the world Aberrant, this sourcebook gives further detail to The Directive . An international inteligency agency made by some of the worlds most powerful nations to counter and analise the growing powers of Novas(superhumans) and the changes and treaths they represent. It gives a good perspective of how the world's superpowers feel about the sudden rise of Project Utopia and the novas in general . They recognize their need for more information and new ways to deal with te Nova world.The Directive is their answer. This organization has the staded purpose of protecting the baseline(normal) majority of the world and their countries interests in face of Nova threats. They do their mostly normal human best to come up to deal with their superpowered opponents. It maybe not be always enough, but they do have a lot of aces and tecnology up their sleeves, and they will surprise more than one narrator and player. And if you want to run a campaign where normals face off against Novas this is the bedt book to go to. I heartily recommend this book for Aberrant fans since it gives good material to make the Directive either your protagnists or the antagonists in your Chronicles.And even if you plan to run other superhero Rpg, it may prove very useful in fleshing out an inteligency agency( like SHIELD marvel fans)in a world of superhumans.

Unlike the rest of the Aberrant books, I didn't order this one as soon as it came out. I waited until the "Elites" book came out and ordered them together. This book actually turned out to be the better of the two.

Unlike the "Elites" book which relies on bang 'em up, shoot 'em up high-powered combat (not that there's anything wrong with that), this book takes a low-powered thoughtful approach to the campaign. Most of the organization is made from normal humans who are forced to match wits with Nova's who can tear cities apart with their bare hands.

If you thought the Directive was another "Big Brother" organization, like I did, you are partially right, but compared to Project Utopia and many of the high powered psychotics running around, they are the lesser of many evil's. The Directive is not above invasion of privacy or even torture, but when you are facing down bad guys who could kill you with a glance, it is supposed you will do what you have to do.

This is definitely the book for a thinking man's party. The players must rely on subterfuge and strategy, and there are a few new rules, skills and backgrounds to complement this game-play along with a slew of new weapons. Low powered Nova's suddenly become far more interesting in this type of scenario.

If you like James Bond, Ronin (the Robert DeNiro movie) or X-Files, chances are you'll like this book. These guys are more than just spy's though. They are humanities first line of defence against the gods who live among us.

This book is wornderful for learning about concepts of Goddesses from Prehistoric time to the Present. It is a historical overview with well researched information. The book is an anthology of experts on the subject by anthropology, religious studies, archaeology, and other fields. This is a must have book in anyone's library of Goddess information.

The cover of this book says "How to identify helpful, harmful, and venomous insects" but only about half of the insects in the book have an illustration. Many of the insects are common species that most folks can already identify from experience (house flies, mosquitos, fleas, centipedes, millipedes, house crickets, etc.) It may be useful for children, but as I mentioned, there are limited illustrations (and they are not in color). If you are looking for something along the lines of a key to identifying insects, this book will not help you.

the book is just what i wanted......information was a little short, but covered the basics. the only thing that could have made it better would be to have had actual pictures of the real species. it wasn't disappointing at all!

This is a nice book to own if you live in the southwestern deserts. The next time a strange creepy-crawler dashed across your kitchen floor you'll be able to find out what it is and determine if it's dangerous. The illustrations in the book are well done. The text tells you a lot about each insect but does not bore you with information that only an entomologist would care about. In short, its a nice reference to have around the house if you want to learn more about the 6 and 8 legged creatures of the region.

This is a bad book. The two authors, who between them have about 1/100th of Sontag's intelligence, integrity, and imagination, written in the most pedestrian prose possible, set about to undo her reputation.

Each time they credit her with something, within the next sentence or two they somehow take it back, or cast doubt on it. Only her battles with cancer are described with anything like sympathy.

Apparently it is beyond them that a woman, and a beautiful woman at that, could produce some of the most important essays of our time. That she has changed her position on some issues is treated as some sort of betrayal, hypocracy, or attempts to jump on a particular bandwagon. Perhaps, like the intelligent woman she is, she re-thought some of her earlier positions.

Why they wrote this book is beyond me.

Always an admirer of Ms. Sontag's work, but admitting all the time I probably didn't know half of what she talked about, this book made me realize I bought into the Role, the Persona of Sontag. My admiration of her was a guilty pleasure, an enjoyment of the image. What she did do however was make me pursue the writers, the works of art she mentioned and gave those people and objects a validity that insured me of their importance even if I didn't understand what that importance was. I cannot image how these two writers managed to write this book. Their research material must be overwhelming. It is a rivieting mesmerizing account I am greatly enjoying. One major omission: no mention of her siblings. What happened there?

This is a book equal to its subject. Few intellectuals are as interesting as Susan Sontag, and the authors are fair and balanced in their presentation of the facts and controversies that make up the life of Sontag. The authors point to many facts that can only engender admiration of Sontag. For example, her fierce independence-- forsaking the safety of academic appointments to enhance her freedom to write on her own terms. Sontag's refusal to be labelled a "woman writer" or "lesbian writer" is a rejection of the simplistic logic of the "identity" crowd now so dominant in the academy. There is much to criticise in the life of Sontag (e.g., her fatuous enbrace of Hanoi) but far more to admire and emulate. Both authors and subject are better off for this book.