The priests who wrote their stories for this book are so real and inspiring that I wanted to be able to meet them all in person. I loved reading about how they overcame struggles in their vocations in order to find the true and deep Joy and Love that initially attracted them in their inmost hearts. This would be a great gift for any priest to have on his book shelf, or for anybody interested in understanding the personal side of the vocation to the priesthood.

The selections in this book are very good, but unless you're up for a little bit of a challenge this book isn't for you. There were an excessive amount of typos, but that is bearable. The first and last thirds of the book were most down to earth. I would strongly recomend reading some commentary along with this, though not having read any on Sartre myself I can't recommend any. There's a good chance I will re-read this book again in the future, particularly as I now want to take a class in existentialism this fall. Really, the only drawback was how hard and next to incomprehensible the reading was at times, which is typical of philosophy. I don't even agree with most of what I read, but I still value the struggle to understand it.

As far as collections of Sartre's philosophical works go, this one is the best I've come across. The book is broken down into sections such as "Existentialism", "The Other", "Nothingness", "Politics", and so on. 16 chapters in all, each offering key excerpts from Sartre's entire corpus, especially focused on a specific philosophical matter. The editor, Stephen Priest, does a good job of introducing each chapter and his contributions offer excellent insight both to those who haven't gotten too far into Sartrean philosophy as well as those of us who occasionally need a refresher course. This book reminds me of why I first got interested in reading Sartre. It brings out the exciting spirit of Existentialist philosophy by focusing on the most poignant passages of Sartre's works. I do feel the book to be a bit pricey for a paperback, but all in all it is a rather aesthetically pleasing book. The binding and layout are high quality, as is usual for Routledge texts. Also, this book offers the complete "Existentialism and Humanism" lecture, including transcript of a question and answer forum which you will not find in most editions. Priest also does a decent job of providing biographical information in the chapter "Sartre in-the-world."

A brilliant study of how the ancient social and technical aspects of water management systems in Bali, inextricably bound with nature and religion, undermined the Green Revolution in the 1980s. Highly recommended

Lansing shows, through Balinese irrigation, that technology is simultaneously social and political, but often not in the ways imagined by Western academics and development experts. A dispersed system of water temples and priests successfully managed the irrigation of multiple valleys and plots through a process in which ritual served the regulatory function of feedback. Development projects decoupled the elements of the system and led to declining yields and increased pest damage. A computer simulation of the system was eventually developed, which effectively translated the system functions into a media that development experts could understand, and led to repairs to the damage done to agriculture following the implementation of Green Revolution techniques, revealing the role of ideology in presumably technical knowledge. The study also disproves Wittfogel's hypothesis that "oriental despotism" or extremely hierarchical and centralized states grew out of the expansion and control of irrigation systems. Highly recommended.

Lets think of why one uses a dictionary. First, to define terms. Alright, this book deals with many terms from epistemology to metaethics. Philosophers are given thorough biographies: everyone from ancient stoic Epictetus to the recently deceased Robert Nozick. Second, we use a dictionary for summaries that are objective. This book is extremely even-handed in its treatment in the gamut of terms, ideas and people.

Third, we use dictionaries to get definitions that are clear and understandable. This is the books weakness (-3 *s). In fact, I was suprised to see Antony Flew's name on a dictionary because, despite being a hell of a thinker, his writing is terrible. Yes, philosophy is technical. Yes, the language is grande, using words like schism and epiphenomenon but the point of a dictionary is to explain and clarify meanings of unfamiliar words. Large and vague words are used, probably so as to create the detatchment required when writing dictionaries. Still, there are many other philosophical dictionaries on the market that are more user friendly. My suggestion, pick a term and compare how the available dictionaries define them.

As a beginner in studying philosophy I found this book of great value and the price is fantastic too! I've seen other Philosophy Dictionairies but they failed in comparison to Antony Flew's version "A Dictionary of Philosophy" You will find yourself searching for one thing and before you know it you're off on a dozen different delightfully written tangents. I wouldn't hesitate to purchase this book for any friends or family members who are interested in philosophy. It IS worth the read and I do NOT say this that often when it comes to books. *wink*

I have just logged in 30 hours of studying this book, and it has given me, a philosopher by hobby, an unprecedented level of insight into the extremely challenging but highly rewarding study of philosophy. This book is well organized, and impressively written. I would recommend it to anyone who is interested in learning about philosophy.

There appears to be a movement among black and liberal American Catholics to create a "black Catholic" history that rightfully belongs to multiracial Americans. Louisiana Creoles are the victims of this attempt to create "black" Catholics, but the most prominent victims are three brothers born to an Irish-American father and a mulatto mother in antebellum Georgia. James Augustine Healy was bishop of the diocese of Portland, Maine from 1875 until his death in 1900. Patrick Francis Healy served successively as professor, prefect of studies, vice-rector, and, from 1874 to 1882, as rector of Georgetown University. Alexander Sherwood Healy served as rector of Holy Cross Cathedral and, for a few months before his death in 1875, as pastor of St. James Parish in Boston. Ochs admits that the Healys did not identify with blacks but with their Irish heritage and were not considered "black" by others. Indeed, not only were the Healy brothers only one-quarter "black" and of caucasian phenotype, but it was their Irish father who reared them as Catholics and paid for the educations that allowed them to rise to such high positions in their Church. Nevertheless, hypodecent fanatics like Ochs claim that "blacks" deserve all the credit.

Philosophy is really a research project involving the mind. No matter how much recent philosophers have tried to reverse an old tradition, the immaterial and the mental are really the domain of philosophy. Strange, then, that Merleau Ponty's ramblings on the "Phaenomenologie des Koerpers" should have been treated in a way which makes no attempt to distance itself from the reductive strategies of "mind" based philosophy. Priest is very much a man for whom the analytic tradition still reigns supreme, perhaps not in the scope of his work but in the methodologies he utilises. Rather than provoking interesting syntheses, Priest has rather botched the job. Avoid.