This book analyzes three of the amazing group of Eranos scholars who gathered annually in Ascona, Switzerland to explore new horizons in overt revolt against the petrified academic stance in view of everything that doesn't carry the benediction of natural sciences. These three scholars are Gerschom Scholem, the foremost scholar of Jewish mysticism and Kabalah, Henry Corbin, a leading specialist in Iranian Sufism and Shiism/Ismailism and Mircea Eliade, a generalist researcher of world religions and mythologies. What distinguishes all these men from the typical academic stance is the way they all inverted the assumptions of cold and disinterested schoarship, into whose purview mysticism does not enter but as a phenomenon peripheral to orthodox religions, by placing mysticism in the very core of their scholarship. This inversion also demarcates their anti-academic stance. These three men were especially remarkable in that their scholarship, especially in the case of Corbin and Scholem as exemplified in their translation or recuperation of inaccessible or difficult texts, towered by the standards of traditional academia, as such flying on its face downtreading its pride. The book is not long enough to treat every aspect of the lives of these men, which task has been done individually for each. The primary objective here is to thematize the common denominators that molded the perspectives of these men, who also were close friends that saw themselves as brothers in arms against materialism, social sciences, almost all the ingrained presumptions of modern mentality, modernism, the myth of eternal progress, and the modern academia as presiding over the theology ensouling this essentially soulless fallen state. Some common denominators are Heidegger's existential phenomenology, various Western esoteric currents, especially German romanticism as in Hamann, and Martinism, Rene Guenon's traditionalism, and his Italian disciple Julius Evola, coincidentia oppositorum as shaping their worldview, antinomianism of an almost Kierkegaardian type, the rise of Schelling against Kant in Jewish Weimar thought as giving the impetus to the intellectual currents of the time, and maybe most importantly an accurate understanding of "symbol", which should by no means be confused with allegory, and which denotes a revelation of an irreducible Ur-phenomenon in a form particular to a subject. The experience of the symbol is inextricably entwined with reintegration and totalization of being, which marks the essence of their esotericism. The book can be regarded as a good introduction to how to understand the interrelationships and influences between these great men and their time, since one should not forget that Eranos is a product of the aura surrounding the world war, even though these men were blatantly opposed to a notion of rectilinear temporality. The indices and bibliographies provide invaluable information for further study.

Steven Wasserstrom's brilliant and fascinating book is a marvellous study of three of the most brilliant and fascinating twentieth-century scholars of religion. All too often, readers are unaware of the human, idiosyncratic elements that inevitably shape the perspective of writers in various fields of the humanities. Dr. Wasserstrom gives us an objective view of these elements, and brings a new sense of depth to the background that contributed to the interests and, ultimately, to the published work of Corbin, Eliade, and Scholem.

Mr. Staguhn's writing is in turns dry detail and conspiratorial conjecture. Reading the book, I felt as if some revelation was imminent. I plowed through the tedium toward ... no grand revelation. In the end I realized I had encountered many small discoveries instead. While ideas in "God's Laughter" are original, if at all, only as a collection, they make fertile material for contemplation. This is a book not enjoy reading but to enjoy having read.

GOD'S LAUGHTER: MAN AND HIS COSMOS by Gerhard Staguhn was originally published in German in 1990 as *Das Lachen Gottes.* While I consider this book worth reading, the contents make the most sense to me if the book is read as a prelude to the question whether God might properly be considered as a person who suffers most from the status "until then he is always condemned to comedy" as described in section 273 of BEYOND GOOD AND EVIL by Friedrich Nietzsche. GOD'S LAUGHTER is quite sophisticated about physics, which advanced in a truly spectacular fashion in the early twentieth century up to the point when further developments became secret, mostly due to Soviet and American military applications, or subject to more than the usual hypothetical doubt. The idea of Stephen Hawking that finding at least one complete theory which accounts for the creation of the universe "would be the ultimate triumph of human reason--for then we would know the mind of God," (p. 239) is subject to the conclusion, "In the end, all theory up to and including the quarks can be seen as a specific form of mythology." (p. 239). The physics of subatomic particles and high energies is at least as difficult to grasp as modern theology, or even philosophy since Kant, so the real question might be who is more adept at dealing with the usual level of confusion about things.

The index of this book lists only the names of particular people, not their ideas, so it is difficult to use it to locate signs of decline like neutron bombs or the ultimate collapse of a star "into some kind of neutron slush." (p. 210). Chapter 7, "Even Stars Must Die: Red Giants, White Dwarfs, Black Holes," describes what is expected to happen in "star ovens" as their density and temperature keep climbing. The ultimate description of ourselves as previous stars is "With the exception of hydrogen, all the atoms--or rather atomic nuclei--of which we are made were once located inside stars that subsequently exploded as supernovae." (p. 209).

Nietzsche is in the index, and gets credit for the desire "to regain this world after God and the next world had been lost." (p. 32). Written a hundred years after Nietzsche's books, this book is not afraid to admit that German ideas "betrayed his own life-affirming philosophy; thus providing a direct path to the nihilism of our century, which found its most terrible manifestation thus far in Nazi ideology." (p. 33). Some of the results of physics were pretty terrible in the twentieth century, too. Instead of taking such a gloomy view of reality, it is more cheerful to admit that Nietzsche had some amazing ideas that relate directly to the title of this book, and to the novel, LAUGHING WAR by Martyn Burke:

*Todlachen* said Sam Senior one day when they sat together in a booth too close to the jukebox. It means laugh till it kills you. It's a German word. Oi, God too has a sense of irony. (Burke, p. 34).

Nietzsche pictured that laughter most powerfully in Part Three of THUS SPOKE ZARATHUSTRA, at the end of the section called "Of Apostates." (Penguin Classics, translated by R. J. Hollingdale, p. 201. THE PORTABLE NIETZSCHE, p. 294).

The conclusion of this book exhibits a modern level of sophistication. "As with relapses into mythical and mystical thinking in past epochs, here, too, a deep religious exhaustion leads people to expect solid proof for the unprovable. In a way, modern science adds fuel to this hope." (p. 238). Though it is rarely mentioned, theology is still ticking, and Paul Tillich gets credit for saying, "This is the God Nietzsche said had to be killed because nobody can tolerate being made into a mere object of absolute knowledge and absolute control." (p. 246). Readers of this book might not be aware of how limited any outlook based on ideas seems in a comparison with a monstrosity of teeming feelings which exceeds the scope of consciousness even more than this book, for GOD'S LAUGHTER is rather puny compared to the vast scope of Nietzsche's work. The funny thing is that any decline in philosophy since the time of Nietzsche might have been intentional as far as everybody was concerned, so help me God.

I was flipping through the library stacks yet again on my continuous quest for knowledge. Just when I gave up, I spotted this strange,little book. I didn't think it would be much, being that it seemed to be one of those religious-type books, and anything that involves religion just turns me off. Boy, was I mistaken! "God's Laughter" turned out to be one of the most eye-opening books I have ever read. It not only gives a fascinating account of the history of metaphysics, but asks an interesting question: do the seemingly unrelated disciplines man has used to understand Ultimate Reality have more in common than we think? Are they really different points of view, or are they really pieces of an even larger puzzle? This question is at the heart of Staghun's book--to eradicate the prevailing Western prejudice that science and religion, two ways of seeing the world, are somehow mutually exclusive of each other. By finding and demonstrating commonalities in Zen Buddhism, Einstein's theory of relativity, and the discoveries of certain noted astronomers, Staghun makes a convincing argument that it is only when we combine science and religion in our search for our understanding of the universe that we will finally get any real answers. If you want a beginner's guide to metaphysics, especially one as moving and well-written as this (Staghun really wants you to see the world as beautifully as he does), get this book! It'll be worth your while!

The book Kaballah by Gershom Scholem is certainly an extensive, and complete (to my knowledge) examination of the kaballah, however, it contains some major drawbacks that prevent it from recieving my full recommendation.

As a high school junior doing an independent study on religion, I chose this book from the recommendations that said that it was a good overview, a good book for a beginner. I found, however, that this praise was highly misleading.

The book is divided into sections: history, basic ideas, topics, and personalities. Each of these sections are subdivided into chapters, each a few pages long.

Many of these chapters are interesting, but they lack full explaination of the ideas included. Often, there was just a list of facts and opposing viewpoints, and when i found a sentence that was interesting, Scholem would immediately move on to another source, another name, another viewpoint. Pages would go by before the point of the chapter could be discerned, and even then, was often revealed only vaguely. The hebrew transliterations were also difficult to navigate, for after the english translation was given once, it was as though the reader was simply expected to know it. The chapters often consisted of page after page of other books to look at, other authors to read.

As a general overview for a beginner, Kaballah certainly does not qualify. I later learned that the book was written as an encyclopedia, a reference book for scholars. For someone who already had a knowledge of the Kaballah and its ideas, as well as a knowledge of hebrew, Kaballah is most likely a much more interesting and useful book to own. As for someone beginning their studies into this esoteric and mysterious branch of judaism, a more simple, fact based book would serve a much more useful purpose.

This book is an essential component of any would-be library of Kabbalah, Jewish mysticism, or Jewish history.

The topic of Kabbalah studies has recently been overloaded by a spate of publications that vary in scholarship and accessibility from the arcane to the truly pathetic. Scholem's book, while slightly older, is definitely a cure for all of the smarmy new-age occultism that threatens to turn the study of the Kabbalah into a subject on par with palm reading or UFO abductions.

Scholem is a first-class scholar, and what he provides here is a thorough history of ideas that surround the Kabbalah. He treats the subject with all of the respect that the best religious scholars would give to a subject, and he's extremely well-versed in the materials upon which he comments. He guides the reader through the history, development, and transition of the Kabbalah through European intellectual history, and through the changes in the Jewish tradition. For that reason, it's as much an interesting story of the history of Judaic thought as it is an investigation into 'mysticism'.

Scholem is consistenly clear in his terminology, precise in his historical references, and honest in his accounts. He provides excellent bibliographies to help the read get at some of the essential issues and personages.

This isn't a 'how-to' book on Kabbalist 'magick' as so frequently appears on the shelves of esoteric bookshops. This is a critical work that is written in strict academic style, yet is highly readable, challenging, and very thorough. It's the sort of book that, if you read it, you'll know more about the topic than %99 of the people out there currently babbling about it. It does a genuine service to affirm the proper importance of Jewish theology and Jewish spiritual traditions in the world of scholarship. And, to be honest, I'd highly recommend it students of religious studies, to the current crop of occultists who're looking for the genuine article when it comes to the Kabbalah, and for those who're keen on studying theological enquiry.

Especially nice, I thought, are the glossary at the back and the second section of the book, which is a collection of 'topics' which are read much like large encyclopedia articles. One can look up 'evil' and see the theodicy of the Kabbalah; or you can find 'Torah' and see a discussion of Kabbalistic midrash (commentary).

I've read lots of rubbish with the word 'Kabbalah' on the cover. This book made me forget about all of that.

Read it - and get the heart and root of a glorious endeavour of human communication with God.

I have learned a great deal from KABALLAH. It is a cross-section of the research of Herr Doktor Gershom Scholem. Each topic is given a concise explanation, including personalities and bibliographic references. When I first read this book, I found the explanations a bit terse. The density of information was overwhelming. Now, that I am more familiar with the work of Professor Scholem, I find this text to be an excellent review. If you are interested in the research of Professor Scholem or in the Kabbalah's historical development, this will be interesting to you.

This is my third book on SAP R/3. This book is another example of poorly written book on SAP. Though the topics are categorized very carefully and intelligently, the text in the book is in the language that requires 'translation in English.' The terms are either ill defined or if defined, then they have been used inconsistently. It was hard to get out the concept behind a topic, since authors give scattered information without focusing on main idea. Also, authors could have written the business processes (SAP modules) in more like step-by-step (or recipe) method, rather than in 'composition' format.

This book gives a general insight on SAP R/3 functional (and a little bit of technical) model. This book can be very good introduction for the corporate executives with very little or no SAP R/3 experience. However, the contents of this book can be too obvious for those who already have worked with SAP R/3 system.

This is the ideal book for anyone who is either directly involved with the implementation of an R/3 sysetm or who is planning on implementing it in the near future. I showed it to a couple of my friends who are SAP consultants & IT project managers and they found it to be an invaluable source of information.

"Let us wash our hands of their blood." (Speaking of priests and nuns) Spoken by Martin Luther. Glad I don't follow him. His teachings are fundamentally wrong and mainly from trying to ease his soul and fears.

While not the most complex and challenging of devotional materials and while it uses a Scripture translation not among my favorites, the book combines the vitality of the Reformer and the ability of the translator to provide a series of brief yet compelling devotional reflections. This Luther speaks kindly and directly to heart and soul.

Luther understands human nature and man's condition. He knows how Christians are and how they live...imperfectly! But, it is faith alone that justifies you in the eyes of God. Don't worry my brothers and sisters in Christ, God loves you in spite of your sins. He knows when you're hurt and He knows that you may be confused; but have faith in God, even when you don't understand it. Place all your anxieties on Him, and live your life at Peace. This book helps make Scripture come alive, and it's a great into to Martin Luther's thoughts. Here's a sample (based on Luke 18:13):

"Some say, "I would feel better about God hearing my prayer if I were more worthy and lived a better life." I simply answer: If you don't want to pray before you feel that you are worthy or qualified, then you will never pray again. Prayer must not be based on or depend on your personal worthiness or the quality of the prayer itself but on the unchanging truth of God's promise. If the prayer is based on itself, or on anything else besides God's promise, then it's a false prayer that deceives you - even if your heart was breaking with intense devotion, and you were weeping drops of blood. We pray because we are unworthy to pray. Our prayers are heard precisely because we believe that we are unworthy. We become worthy to pray when we risk everything on God's faithfulness alone."

Hoel, Port and Stone put together a three volume series on probability, statistics and stochastic processes. In 1975 I took the first year graduate course in stochastic processes and my Professor at Stanford Yash Mittal elected this text for the course out of a number of possibilities. This book was particularly good for an introduction to Markov chains, the backbone to stochastic processes. I learned a lot from it and found it easy to use as a text. I then bought the other to books to complete the trilogy. At the time Hoel and Port were at UCLA and I believe Stone was already at Berkeley.

This is an excellent text for a graduate course that stands the test of time. If it has been revised, I am not familiar with the new edition and any possible changes that may have occurred.

This is the last volume of a series of three excellent texts by Hoel/Port/Stone on probability, statistics and stochastic processes. The way they write should be the standard for all of other authors. Concise, clear and intuitive. Lots of worked examples and exercises with answers help readers go through those topics. If you are lack of knowledge in probability and want to know stochastic processes or even financial mathematics. These three books can be your short cut.

This is the last volume of a series of three excellent texts on probability, statistics and stochastic processes. The way they write should be the standard for all of other authors. Concise, clear and intuitive. Lots of worked examples and exercises with answers help readers go through those topics. If you are lack of knowledge in probability and want to know stochastic processes or even financial mathematics, these three books can be your short cut.

This book has some good cookie recipes and techniques,but the decorating style is very sloppy.If I walked into his bakeshop and found the pictured items for sale,I would pass.

Many of the recipes and designs are useful for a springboard of ideas for the cake and cookie designer, but if you're an experienced cake decorator, you will find much of his work sloppy. While he uses simple equipment and ingredients, you can do so much more careful work with the same parchments and frosting. I was looking for something whimsical and fun to add to my collection of formal cake decorating, but the sloppy work just turned me off. If Jenne took a little more time to slow down, his fun designs would be so much more inviting.

I stumbled upon this book in my public library but am looking for a copy for myself. Jenne's base recipes are great no-fail recipes and earned me rave reviews at work when I turned up with shortbread and then the chocolate sponge and ganache. The technique is simple using parchment paper rather than lots of fancy equipment.My attempt at the sunflower cookies was a great hit and was fun. And having fun is the spirit of the whole enterprise.

I bought this book because it was supposed to be a good intro into Alchemy. WRONG!!! I've had exposure to some basic terms and concepts from other books, but this author immediately begins with terms and processes that no beginner will have knowledge of and which the author never explains. It ends up being mumbo jumbo for the first 75% of the book. The rest of the book is in English but the first 75 % is never explained and will still remain incomprehensible. If you're a beginner forget this book.

This has some passages illuminating for the working lab alchemist. The development of the Azoth as an intermediary between the upper light and the lower light (i.e., your body & the water, that is, the two dragons, emerging as a tincting oil during their dissolution) helped me. This middle substance partakes of both, and is the priest or go-between that accomplishes the marriage.

It was somewhat difficult for me to get through the first part of this book (everything before part III). Once I got past that part, though, things started to be more clear. And now since I've re-read the first part, it's much more understandable. I'm sure that I'll be referring to this book while reading other books down the road. This book is an introduction/summary that ANYONE should be able read to get a good idea of Alchemy.

These old volumes [I own the 10 vol. set], and those that use it uncritically, suffer from several exegetical fallacies.

The first is known as the "root fallacy." The ancient origin of a word [100-5000 years earlier] has little if anything to do with its use or meaning in a particular text in the New Testament. This is also known in modern semantics as the 'etymological fallacy.'

Similarly, there is an enormous difference between diachronic [through time] linguistics and synchronic linguistics [same time]. The use of a word 100-5000 years earlier or later has little if anything to do with its use at a particular time by a particular person.

Another now classic fallacy has been called the "illigitimate totality transfer." That is when a reader of a particular N.T. text illigitimately imports or includes all possible uses found everywhere else throughout all time into a particular text in the N.T.

The reader is referred to excellent books on the subject by James Barr [who broke the grown in applying modern linguistics and semantics into Biblical exegesis] and more recently D.A. Carson ["Exegetical Fallacies"].

Several of the other reviews listed by Amazon under this Volume 2 of TDNT by Kittel&Friedrich seem to refer to the single volume abridged edition or some volume that is indexed in English. In my personal study of NT Greek, I have invested in some 25 references or so (lexicons, concord., word studies, dictionaries, grammars, etc.) and I have not found anything that approaches the scope and completeness of the multi-vol. TDNT. It is a very worthwhile investment for serious NT study.

This is the 10-volume "Kittel" dictionary minus the footnotes. The history of each word from the Greek New Testament is surveyed beginning with its Hebrew roots and usage in the Septuagint. Its usage is then decribed in secular Greek. Then its use is surveyed through the New Testament, grouped according to Pauline use, Johanine use, use in the Gospels, etc. In the process the reader can see the scope of meanings of a given word, and how those meanings developed, revealing the rich "flavors" attached to many Greek words.

Regarding the Nazi affiliation of its editor and some of its authors, we are all a mixed bag. Do we refuse to listen to music conducted by Herbert von Karajan because he was a Nazi, or of Strauss because he was a womanizer? As James Sveda said on a "Record Shelf" program on NPR years ago on this subject, "Perhaps the last word on this subject was said by a carpenter who lived two thousand years ago, 'Judge not, lest you yourselves be judged.'"

This is a wonderful resource, especially for those lacking the expertise (or the $$) to tackle the full 10-volume work.

The idea behind this book, of presenting the topics involved in calculus in the order in which they were developed in history, is commendable. However, the explanations, at least in the first few pages, are far too concise and confusing for my liking.

This book's aim is really to teach analysis. It is not a book on history of science, the kind you read like a novel. The difference with a standard text is it proceeds after the historic evolution. It's quite an audacious approach, for mathematical rigor flowing from axioms towards theorems through lemmas and hypothesis doesn't fit well with historical connections which are chaotic, incomplete and abstruse. It's really not like the (many) books which have great concern for historical context discussed in appendices or footnotes. Here the history is underlying everything, but--once again--it isn't an history book anyway. Theorems are proved.

I do not recommend it, not even to beginners, though it can be a good introductory book. It indeed is much less abstract than a classic text of the same level, with many illustrations, and in depth detailed explanations (for beginners serious after the idea of doing Mathematics, I suggest Rudin's "Principles of Mathematical Analysis"). It has many things at its advantage anyway. It shows for instance how many astoundingly insecure results were granted, and thus illustrates well the experimental aspect of mathematics, often denied. It comes with false proof (for instance Euler's taking limit of series or Ampere's theorem about derivatives of continuous functions), and reveal the difficulty of such giants like the Bernoulli, Cauchy or Weierstrass with the problems of convergence. It sure helps understand how mathematics are partly a science of discovery, not a science of just invention. It shows mathematicians are mere people, after all, and that one's difficulties have little significance. In the overall, it sheds light on the genuine mathematical world, which is often seen as a cold topic where one makes its way to the solution through lengthy linear computations. This a book that can definitely make you love mathematics, and ask once you caught the hint for more abstract, deeper texts (Rudin for instance).

Thus while the merging (once more not the simple association) of the theory with its development's history was not necessary, it has been _very well_ done. If this approach pleases you, this book is for you.

I wish there had been books like this when I was at (high)school! It is one of those rare books that bridge the yawning gap between the popular personalised history books that are so inspiring to the young mind, (eg. E.T.Bell's "Men of Mathematics", Kasner & Newman's "Mathematics & the Imagination" or Kak & Ulam's "Logic and(?) Mathematics") and the terse, somewhat desiccated university text books. This can leave the undergraduate not fully appreciating the motivation for exhaustive rigor and also losing any perspective of where the abstract theorems and lemmas are ultimately distilled from. This book links the historical characters, controversies and challenges with the modern techniques that gradually emerged to deal with the pathological behaviour of sets, series and functions. It would be a mistake to confuse this book, as some of your reviewers have done, with the many first-year undergraduate texts that are available. It could be regarded as a sophisticated high school book that gives a real flavour of how the classical problems are treated in modern rigorous style, or alternatively as a colourful motivational aid to early undergraduate analysis courses. I hope that the publishers encourage similar ventures in other branches of the subject, for instance algebra, differential & integral equations, probability and perhaps even quantum theory.