I'm an avid BSC fan, but this book just doesn't cut it. The book seems like it goes too fast. At the end of the book, I was looking for the rest of the pages- it left you hanging. The book was a big bore. Spend your moola on other BSC books, no this one. I recommend "BSC FRIGHT NIGHT." Check it out.

Kristy's family adopts a guide dog so that they can train her. Scout is very smart and Kristy tries to teach the new dog old tricks. But the book isn't all like some kind of fantasy. The BSC is sitting for a problem child who just happens to be blind. It's a really good book.

This casebook contained all the usual cases that are typical in a patent law/intellectual property casebook. Unfortunately, there should have been more content which described the patent process as well as the patent prosecution procedure in order to allow the reader to fit the case law into the appropriate scheme of things.

Like his 'English Spirituality', this book, 'Christian Proficiency' is written for the English context but is capable of speaking to Christians everywhere. Thornton acknowledges that certain literary accommodations have been made for North American readers in the Morehouse-Gorham edition (1959). These accommodations do not alter the book's premises and this review is based on that edition. Thornton reverses the perspective of his writing in this book compared to his approach in 'Pastoral Theology: A Reorientation' (1958). 'Christian Proficiency' is addressed to the faithful laity, not to clergy and theological students. Thornton warns of a lay tendency to over-rate devotion in the Christian life which takes on the character of a particular age and culture. What is needed currently is a pastoral theology not a devotional theology. In typical English fashion, he writes: "My assumption is that the faithful, the serious but perfectly 'ordinary' Christian to whom I write, does not want to be particularly 'pious' or 'devout' or even vaguely 'good': he wants to be efficient." This is truly a pastoral (practical) book for developing the spirituality of a Christian life. It is a prayer book, not a book on praying. Engaging and digesting the content of this book illustrates how secular and pseudo-prayerful our present Christian thinking has become. The book contains a valuable theological glossary which lists 200 entries succinctly and clearly.

You are not buying this to sit up at night for a little bedtime reading. It is a college textbook about administration. However, the book is to the point and researched based about a broad spectrum of issues facing the principalship. It provides a background and starting point for discovery about issues ranging from finance, politics, public school law and the emergence of the leader's role. These are all topics students in ED ADM will deal with once they enter the world of adminstration.

I was a little disappointed with this collection of Swiss photographer Karlheinz Weinberger's work because I expected more photos from the 1950's that he published under the pseudonym "Jim" for the gay magazine Der Kreis. There is only a small section of about 20 pages devoted to his gay photography for this magazine. However, what black & white photos there are of his gay models are very good. The rest of the book is broken down into sections showcasing his involvement with rebels-1960's Zurich youth that were rebelling (like the youth in America) against the established authority, and sections on Rockers and Bikers (Hell Angels, etc.). This book is filled with wonderful black & white, and many large color shots of the youth (male & female) from that era. It is a great look back into the history of the confused and turbulent 1960's. The introductions are a great asset and help in explaining the photos of Karlheinz.

Karlheinz had a unique way of capturing real people in natural surroundings, in provocative and sometimes humorous situations that will live on in history because of his special talent. I learned a lot about this Zurich photographer I didn't know already, so I can say I'm better off than I was before I bought this book. I just wish they would have included more of his work from the time he started in1948 at Der Kreis.

Martin separates Aquinas into 5 areas: logic, metaphysics, God, ethics, and knowledge.

He approaches each with an introductory commentary on Aquinas's teachings about each topic, followed by an excerpt from Aquinas himself. The approach works, but the passage selections seemed limited as most were taken from commentary on Aristotle. Though this is no doubt a key part of Aquinas's philosophy, the passages selected are rather dry in their diversity. Martin would have been better off to drop his excluding qualifier against the Summa Theologiae. It could also use more historical background.

Jean-Luc Marions fast schon berühmt zu nennende Studie über "Reduction and Givenness", im französischen Original in 1989 veröffentlicht (Originaltitel: "Réduction et Donation") liegt nun in englischer Übersetzung vor. Das Buch war wohl v.a. deshalb insbesondere in der französischen phänomenologischen Szene so einflußreich, weil es seinem Autor gelang, auf originelle Weise verschiedene, vieldiskutierte philosophische Stränge (Husserl, Heidegger, Levinas, M. Henry) zu einer umfassend neuen Darstellung von "Reduktion", hier verstanden als das Grundverfahren der Phänomenologie schlechthin, zusammenzufassen und sich damit einen eigenen Standpunkt in aktuellen Auseinandersetzungen u.a. mit Derrida zu erarbeiten. "Reduktion" wird hier in erster Linie als reine Methodik begriffen, deren sich die Phänomenologie - genauer jede philosophische Bemühung, die sich phänomenologisch nennt -, bedient, ja bedienen muß. Umfassend ist Marions Darstellung in diesem Licht v.a. deshalb, weil er eine allgemeine Deutung der Reduktion vorlegt, die, so die These, von der Anfangsgestalt bei Husserl ihre immer radikaleren Schichten enthüllt und so in Konsequenz zu dem kommt, was Marion "reine Gegebenheit" (donation, givenness) nennt. Hierbei ist die Reduktion weniger als operativer Methodenschritt thematisch, sondern vielmehr die Weise, wie radikal und worauf die Reduktion reduziert. Wird selbige erstmals bei Husserl "entdeckt" und angewendet, so versucht Marion nachzuweisen, daß sie dort zwar eine, über die natürliche Einstellung hinausgehende, Radikalität besitzt, aber doch nicht radikal genug vorgeht: Mit der Reduktion auf die weltkonstituierende transzendentale Subjektivität bleibt Husserl im modernen reflexionstheoretischen Paradigma und dem Subjekt-Objekt-Dualismus befangen und setzt ein allzu rigides Verständnis der Phänomenologie als bloßer Wirklichkeit (anstatt, wie Heidegger, als Möglichkeit) voraus.

Radikaler dagegen ist bereits Heidegger, der genau diese Voraussetzungshaftigeit der Husserlschen Phänomenologie kritisiert und dagegen auf das reine Sein, das nicht mehr Sein von Seiendem ist, reduziert (!). Damit wird vorausgesetzt, daß es auch bei Heidegger so etwas wie eine Reduktion gibt. Oder anders gesagt: Marion unterstellt ein Verständnis von Reduktion (ein sehr allgemeines, notwendigerweise), das es ermöglicht, auch Heideggers Verfahren als Reduktion bezeichnen zu können. Der Leser vermißt leider eine methodologische Reflexion, die - bei Heidegger, wie beim Folgenden - die Möglichkeit einer solchen Lesart von Reduktion begründet oder zumindest diskutiert. Der Begriff "Reduktion" bleibt leider "operativ verschattet", statt daß er - dem Titel des Buches nach eigentlich erwartungsgemäß - ins Thema rückt.(1)

Wie der Titel bereits programmatisch verheißt, wird auch die Heideggersche Reduktion kritisiert mit dem Nachweis, daß auch sie nicht radikal genug sei; denn das Heideggersche Sein, das sich gibt und dem Menschen in einem Seinsgeschick offenbart, setzt wiederum voraus, daß es sich gibt, supponiert das pure Daß, oder mit Marion, seine Gabe selbst. Sein setzt seine Gebung voraus, und auf die Frage, was die Gabe denn gibt, so wird geantwortet: sich selbst. Die Gabe gibt nichts anderes als sich selbst. Wenn das keine Tautologie sein soll, muß sich dies näher bestimmen lassen. Marion meint hiermit offensichtlich eine reine Gegebenheit, die noch jenseits aller Gegensätze (subjektiv-objektiv, aktiv-passiv, Sein-Nichts) angesiedelt ist und eine Art radikaler Ur-Passivität (offensichtlich nicht mehr als in der Opposition von aktiv-passiv) darstellt, hinter die nun wirklich nicht mehr zurückzugehen ist. Dieser Schritt ist sicherlich von Michel Henrys radikalem Rückgang (in diesem Sinn vergleichbar mit einer Reduktion, zumindest in der Lesart Rolf Kühns) auf die absolute Passivität inspiriert, wenn auch Marion sicherlich diese direkte Identifikation ablehnen würde.

Die kritische Frage wäre dann, was über dieses "Phänomen", das eigentlich jenseits aller Phänomenalität angesiedelt ist, noch ausgesagt werden kann im Rahmen von Phänomenologie, die doch das Paradigma von Evidenz und Zur-Anschauung-Bringen nicht aufgeben kann, ohne sich selbst dabei aufzugeben. Die Radikalität der radikalsten aller Reduktionen müßte zur Konsequenz haben, sich nicht mehr als phänomenologisch bezeichnen zu dürfen. Doch die Grenzen und Konsequenzen dieses Vorgehens können auch nicht mehr phänomenologisch reflektiert werden. Diese Undeutlichkeit läßt es zuletzt fraglich oder zumindest unklar erscheinen, worin sich Marions philosophischer Versuch noch als phänomenologisch rechtfertigen läßt. Nicht, daß "die Phänomenologie" über alles ginge, aber was ist es, womit Marion über die Phänomenologie (hinaus)geht?

Dieser Kritik ungeachtet, ist "Réduction et Donation" ein beeindruckendes, gelehrtes und v.a. einflußreiches Buch, das man gelesen haben muß, um von sich behaupten zu können, etwas von französischer Gegenwartsphilosophie zu verstehen. Daher ist es höchst verdienstvoll, daß dieses Werk nun auch in englischer Sprache verfügbar ist, was ihm so evtl. sogar zu einer Wiedergeburt verhelfen wird. Die Übersetzung ist hierbei als gelungen - elegant und technisch-präzise zugleich - zu bezeichnen, und Northwestern hat sie auch zu einem vernünftigen Preis im Verlagsprogramm. Angesichts des Interesses an französischer Philosophie in amerikanischen kontinentalphilosophischen Kreisen hat Northwestern sicherlich klug daran getan, gerade dieses Buch aufzunehmen, sofern es eine ganze Diskussionslage in ihrer Breite auf kompaktem Raum (261 S.) bündelt.

Sebastian Luft (Leuven)

(1) Rudolf Bernet hat - m.E. sehr plausibel - den Versuch unternommen, den Reduktionsbegriff auf eine solche Weise zu verallgemeinern, um sie mit der Idee der Phänomenologie selbst, unter Absehen von einem bestimmten Denker, in Einklang zu bringen; vgl. seinen Text: "Phenomenological Reduction and the Double Life of the Subject", in: Reading Heidegger from the Start. Essays in His Earliest Thought, ed. by Theodore Kisiel and John van Buren, State University of New York 1994, S. 245-267.

This VHDL book is targeted more to the VHDL beginners. It contains a quite good html-based VHDL workshop and the VHDL '93 online reference. It covers only a little bit the new emerging analog mixed-signal extension to VHDL which is called VHDL-AMS. The VHDL-AMS chapter was very disappointing to me.

If you are looking for a book about VHDL-AMS you're better off with the following book:

"The DESIGNER'S GUIDE TO ANALOG & MIXED-SIGNAL MODELING" "Illustrated with VHDL-AMS and MAST"

Author: Scott Cooper (Avant! Corporation)

While it is extremely questionable that this book is non-fiction, it manages to fail either way. If it is, indeed a true account, the author's "ethical and moral dilemma" is the result of his own fuzzy morals. He is content to chat weekly with a man who appears to be killing folks in his spare time, that is, between "therapy sessions" with Dr. Obler. His overconcern with patient confidentiality and "loyalty to his patient", overide the long standing requirement that therapists have to report such knowledge. Not until the probable killer seems to be focusing on the good doctor's family does Obler suddendly decide to reconsider his ego-driven moral stance. By then, numerous people have perhaps needlessly died, at the hands of a monster. If this is a work of fiction, instead of "A true story of professional privilage and serial murder", as advertised on the book jacket, then it is contrived and sappy. It contains such laughable content as, "a steel edge in my voice" and "I gave him an approving smile", which underline the need Dr. Obler has to embellish his standing and status in the field. This from a therapist who passively conspires with a sick patient, while striking up a romance with another patient who came to group therapy to save a relationship. All in all, though, it may be worth it to purchase this book, especially for aspiring writers or therapists. It is good primer as far as technical and ethical pitfalls that should be avoided if one is to be succesful and honest.

I'm puzzled as to how this book can be described as non-fiction. The authors' note states that "names, events and locations" have been changed and "chronology has been altered." That doesn't leave much does it? What more is there to a story beyond names, events, locations and chronology?

The most infuriating aspect of the book was Dr Obler's obsession with remaining "objective". I was puzzled as to what exactly he meant by "objective" and eventually reached the conclusion that for Dr Obler it was synonymous with "very, very stupid". As the evidence began to mount that his client was a serial killer, Dr Obler valiantly and "objectively" pushed such thoughts from his mind. It was only when his patient started to threaten members of Dr Obler's own family that it slowly began to dawn on him that perhaps he should do a little bit more than have a weekly chat with this man. Very "objective".

I thought this was a wonderful book because, aside from the moral issues involved, from the aspects of psychiatry, the intelligence in the method used to turn this psychotic individual into a non-murdering member of society is fascinating to say the least. Dr. Obler attempted to use the process of transference so that the subject could sublimate his homicidal compulsions into more productive activities. Considering how many of these people are loose in society, Dr. Obler did the right thing. I would probably feel differently of I was a close family member, however. I hope Dr. Obler writes many, many more books because this, in my opinion was some of the best reading I've done in a long time.

After reading another book about this case and recently watching the Court TV rerun of the 1991 second trial, I was hoping for some additional insight (objective) into the background of Betty, Dan, and Linda Broderick. There was a little of that, but overall this was a disappointing book because of its strong bias toward the defense's theory of the case. Taubman apparently bought into the idea that the venom-spewing woman on the stand was "emotionally abused" by her ex-husband and his new wife to an extent that made murder expected and understandable. While she agrees that Betty Broderick deserved punishment, the author seems to think Broderick's actions made sense in the context of the bitter divorce. They didn't, they don't, and nothing I read in this book convinced me of this position.

This book is a good read if you want something fast with not a lot of details about the Broderick case. It does not compare with Bella Stumbo's "Until the Twelfth of Never", which should be top choice if you want a very thorough (but not in the least boring) read on it. The author gives a good representation of Betty's point of view, while at the same time stressing the total wrongness of her acts. With a double murder, high society, and the intriguing character of Betty Broderick you can't go too wrong picking this up. Can we ever get enough of this one?