Another good read. O Forde makes a great case both from Luther's writings and scripture that Justification needs to be placed not only as a forensic/courtroom truth as in the Lutheran Confessions but needs also to be restored under the 'death/life' category as well. It's not until we come to the end of our own 'theological rope' and despair of our self efforts towards salvation (via the cross)that we can clearly see salvation hanging there for us. The author begins with our need to 'sit down, shut up, and listen' (to scripture) and the book goes uphill from there.

This is a great book! The book, which comes in a little black box shows all the friends of Karl Lagerfeld who he has photographed. They all have one thing in common, they all wear the same broch,which once belonged to a countess........

This book is a collection of scholarly studies of legislatures around the world. The goal of the book is that legislatures can learn from each other. There are global lessons to be found in the legislative process.
Among the universal traits is that the number of issues facing all legislatures is greater than there is time to look at each. One of the important decision each legislature faces is how to create a process that best handles this. Understanding this process tell us much about what type of legislature that exists. Who gets noticed and who gets ignored tells much about that government's societal power structure.
Nearly every legislature has to develop rules and procedures and to decide how to handle constituents. Further universal concerns include how legislators are selected, how they may retain office, and whether or not legislators should be career professionals. We also learn American legislators tend to have greater resources than legislatures elsewhere. Further, turnover amongst American legislators generally is less than turnover elsewhere.
Readers should develop an appreciation for the difficulties legislators face in different countries. One researcher claims it generally is in America where political institutions are created and improved and then the rest of the world tends to learn from American experiences. We need to go a good job, not only for our citizens, yet as an example for the rest of the world.

This book challenges all of us to look at ourselves in a new light. It wonders, what describes a physical human? What makes us physical, what makes us hurt and even kill? It answers many questions, and many could benefit from practicing the examples of this book. If your look for Light, this is the book. It also answers some aspects of the 'goth' generation that has passed through the world. What future is there for them? Read to find out.

The author's thesis is that the slow ascent of Man to a life of reason is best portrayed by examining the long history of secularization that religion has provoked in every age. To that end, he traces the history of secular thought in western civilization from pre-Socratic Greeks to the French enlightenment of the 18th century and beyond. Among the milestones he finds on the way are the Greek conquest of Rome, the transition to the Renaissance and the Reformation, the age of Copernicus, non-conformist thought, characteristics of the enlightenment in England and France, and sociology and secular humanism. He ends with the Triumph of Reason.

This is a magnificent reference work. It should be noted, however, that it is not for someone with less than a college education; the language is educated English.

That set of books is absolutely indispensable to any serious physicist doing research in molecular spectroscopy. I used these books for two courses in molecular spectroscopy and they are really going deep in the subject. The only "downside" is that the references given are not really up-to-date but they are still classics in the field.

I bought this book to help me understand MPLS-VPN's and the concept and architecture that make them work. I did not want a book that was vendor specific. Peter Tomsu and Gerhard Wieser delivered everything I was looking for. Both being from Cisco, they wrote the book from a neutral perspective and in a very easy to understand and follow through. Almost every page in this book I felt I had needed to highlight because it was just full of great points, explanations and tips. This is a book for beginners and advance engineers who just need a refresher or for those that needed to study for a certification like myself --Juniper.

I'm almost finished reading Gerhard Kopf's PIRANESI'S DREAM, a 1992 autobiographical novel written in German, and translated into English in 2000. So far it is a very good read, and very architectural in its content, with lots of surprises like Piranesi's wife having been a high class prostitute/whore and full disclosure of Winckelmann's homosexuality (i.e., 'art history' beginning because some man loved young testicles, etc.). The whole book is written in the first person, with that person being the present dead Piranesi. Besides enjoying all of Piraneis's thoughts, I also find the book a quite interesting comment on architecture and its aesthetics today in that the course of human events is often so easily misguided. Piranesi is not a happy dead man, and he tells you why.

Here's an excerpt I find most inducing:

"But even worse was to come. I was assused of reveling in the ugly. What humbug! The theory of the fine arts, the legislation of good taste, the science of aesthetics were already highly developed and thoroughly refined in my time. Only the concept of the ugly, although they touched upon it everywhere, had remained behind. And actually what is ugly exists insofar as what is beautiful does. What is ugly comes into being from and with the beautiful. It is indignant at what is beautiful and likes to form an alliance with what is comical. In Nature what is ugly exists as little as what is beautiful or straight lines do, and it is a mistake to consider disease a cause of what is ugly. The realm of the ugly is much larger than the realm of sensual phenomena in general. Beautiful and ugly are not value opposites, rather at best opposites of stimulation. Concerning anything that is ugly it must be said that the relationship to what is beautiful that is neglected by it is included. Only what is ugly guarentees the aesthetic correction of tradition."

Just think about how true (and perhaps even axiomatic) that last sentence really is.

Very well written and researched. This book offers a great look at the manner in which stratification develops in societies, and not just in capitalist societies. Lenski starts with the hunter-gatherer societies and builds up to the complex structures that we have today. Necessary reading for anyone who wants to be informed on the subject.

Christopher Angus has produced a fascinating collection of columns regarding his perceptions, favorite haunts and personal politics of the Adirondacks. His prose speaks fluently with great visual romanticism that resembles famous current and past Adirondack writers. Calmly floating on the motif of canoeing, his stories range from many serious environmental issues to simple whimsey's, such as marking the decades long travel of one trees root ball down the Oswegatchie River. His stories as varied as the seasons of which he writes, Mr. Angus gives the world a clear, honest portayal of one of America's greatest wilderness.