HOPE FOR THE WORLD - A CHRISTIAN LOOKS AT WORLD RELIGIONS wades through volumes of origins, descriptions and "whys" to present synopses of the world's six major religions. After telling of the differences and similarities of the religions, the major portion of this small book is spent very creatively displaying the parallel "conduct of life" principles the religions have in common. Readers who are not threatened by other religions will appreciate how Mays has scoured scriptures and other materials of the religions and categorized such principles as Love Others, Accept Personal Responsibility, Do Worthy Deeds, Seek Wisdom and Cherish Friends.

HOPE FOR THE WORLD is a small volume, but it is readily obvious that Mays spent much research and time writing the book and making it understandable to the average reader. I commend him for this project and recommend that everyone take advantage of what he has turned out.

As a Christian, Carl Mays writes, "Believing that Christ died as a sacrifice for everyone brings hope in any situation." At the same time, in referring to Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism and Confucianism, he also writes, "...when people live by the principles that are agreed upon by the major religions of the world, our global community will be changed in a very positive way." After describing the differences in the world's six major religions, he spotlights common ground within the religions' day-by-day conduct of life principles. Mays advocates builidng on this ground rather than attacking people of different religions. He then compares the similarities of the religions' beliefs in over 30 categories.

For example, one category is "Love Others." Words from the six religons include: CHRISTIANITY - "Little children, let us stop just saying we love people; let us really love them, and show it by our actions." ISLAM - "No one of you is a true believer until you love for your brother and sister what you love for yourself." JUDAISM - Don't take revenge on anyone. Don't bear a grudge. Love your neighbor as yourself." HINDUISM - Humans are like pillow cases. The color of one may be red, that of another blue, that of a third black, but all contain the same cotton." BUDDHISM - To the person in whom love dwells, the whole world is but one family." CONFUCIANISM - "Love everyone. Know everyone."

Mays does a commendable job in presenting synopses of the religions. These synopses have helped me to better understand how the different faiths began and what people of the different faiths believe. Mays also helps me to better understand the differences and commonalities of the religons.

Like the author, Carl Mays, I am a Christian. It is refreshing to read a Christian's description of other religions, without the religions being belittled or painted to be all evil. Mays points out that even though the various religions may have different beliefs regarding how to spend eternity with God, they also have many common "conduct of life" principles for the here and now.

The book begins with Francis of Assisi's "Prayer For Our Global Community" and, after presenting brief synopses of the major religions, shows parallel principles such as Put Faith Into Action, Love Others, Work For Peace, Be Considerate of Others, Do Worthy Deeds, Honor Your Parents, Have Child-Like Faith, Find Strength Within and Pray.

As a high school teacher, I have already recommended the book to my students. And, I am going to use it with my classes.

...to all the [stuff] one finds in the morning paper. This book gives us what the corporte-dominated media never has: VALUABLE INFORMATION. You will be suprised, shocked, fascinated, and downright angry by some of the stories you read. Which is good. Let it permeate your mind and transform your civil self. Concise, clear, unvarnished and highly informative -- 20 Years of Censored News is all that and a bag of chips! Finally, some first-rate journalism.

This is a great read. There are a great variety of stories (discounting the author's obsession with nuclear power) that should pique anyone's interest. Each of the year's stories provides interesting insights on what really happened that year (I found particularly enlightening the stories on the corporations, rich elite, and media empires that really rule American). This is a rare book that should be read by anyone who wants to be informed on current events. Rarely does such an important book come cloaked in such a simple cover.

You ever wonder if you are reading every news story or if some of the stories never make it to the paper? Do you ever wonder what you might be missing? Grab a copy of 20 Years of censored news and you'll be in for a surprise.

Carl Jensen takes you down the last twenty years with major headlines that were never seen. I was surprised and a little scared to think of what is held back from the public. I was amazed to see what was never told.

Proving the old adage "It's the media that control the people's thinking." This book certainly should wake you up to the fact that what you see isn't really what you get, because you get very little from the press.

I took just over two hours to complete the reading and I am very excited to read Censored 1999, to find out what I missed for the year. Overall this book will make a great gift for just about everyone - well done!

If you are an undergraduate and you want everything you need, this is the book. The lack of matrix mechanics makes this book unsuitable for serious graduate students, though.

In many ways, this is still my favourite quantum mechanics text. Why? Because the text is completely grounded in the quantum mechanics of atoms and molecules.

Historically, Linus Pauling spent his post-doc working throughout Europe where he absorbed the, then, new theory of quantum mechanics. However, the physicists that he learnt q.m. from only analysed the physics of, relatively simple, atomic systems. It would require someone with an immense breadth of knowledge in chemistry to make quantum mechanics come alive for molecules. This was Linus Pauling. Pauling first applied q.m. to such diverse topics as: the chemical bond, resonance energy, electronegativity, crystal structure of molecules and hydrogen bonds.

And it shows. The uniqueness of this q.m. textbook is that it gives immensely detailed references to the different ways the early physicists/chemists attacked the q.m. of bonds in molecules. Many different ansatz's and approximations to pertubation problems are given. And Pauling should know, for he was right in the thick of it. The historical value of these references alone is worth the price of this book. It's a real shame that most modern books leave these out, because a discussion of these approximations methods give a lot of insight to q.m. in molecules.

In contrast, I find modern textbooks on physical chemistry to be often lacking in deep physical insight. However, textbooks written by physicists run into all sorts of esoteric directions like quantum entanglement and the uncertainty principle and as a previous reviewer noted, Pauling's books says nothing about scattering and hardly anything on spin. This is probably because chemists aren't interested in what happens to particles in beams or Stern-Gerlach experiments. They are more interested in ionisation energy, enthalpies and bond energies.

Nevertheless, for out-and-out modern-day quantum physicists, Pauling's explanation of aspects of quantum mechanics will seem quaint, overly pictorial and concrete, e.g. discussion of *actual* orbits. And it is. However, for chemists and even atomic physicists, pondering such esoteric questions clouds the immense power of quantum mechanics in explaining the detailed properties of atoms and molecules.

Pauling and Wilson's introduction to quantum mechanics is an excellent text for students of quantum chemistry, and students of physics who are interested in the details of molecular wave-functions and perturbation techniques for extracting such wave-functions.

There is also a chapter devoted to "old quantum theory," which students of history of science may find interesting. In it, Pauling describes some incipient theories which predate QM, such as elliptical orbit corrections to the putative hydrogen electron orbit, the Wilson-Sommerfeld quantization rules and its apparently successful application to hydrogenic atomic spectra, particle in a box, and the rigid rotator.

A primer on classical mechanics and the Hamiltonian formulation is included, as is the standard wave mechanics treatment of basic quantum mechanics: Schrodinger's wave eqn, harmonic oscillator, hydrogen atom, etc. This exposition was clear.

Where the book shines is its several chapters on techniques of perturbation theory, and multi-particle theory. Pauling presents virtually step-by-step calculations, showing clearly what sorts of tricks and techniques one uses to calculate certain integrals, and what coordinate systems are appropriate for particular problems (e.g. elliptical coordinates for hydrogen molecule ion.) The Slater determinant is also introduced for the generalization of the multi-particle problem. For the biophysical chemist, there is a short section on van der Waal's forces from a QM perspective. And a chapter is devoted to QM in statistical mechanics. These chapters are indispensable for the aspiring quantum chemistry student, if even just for the sake of owning something from an old master. If you're poor, you should buy this book given that it gives a big bang for the buck. If you're not poor, you should buy this book given that you're not poor.

This book is extremely dense in terms of material. But that's not to say that there are a few shortcomings. The treatment of spin is not so clear- Pauling works completely in terms of wave functions and spin functions, and the reader does not have the benefits of Dirac notation in Pauling's treatment. There is also no discussion of scattering. The theoretically-minded student will also find that Pauling's treatment is lacking in explaining the deeper meanings of fundamental QM ideas, such as the commutation relations, or the time evolution of states. In short, this is not a heavily theoretical text, but rather a book of technical brilliance for applications of quantum mechanics.

Author and seeker Sidney Schwartz questioned the bible, and the roles of religious leaders, since his college years. His destiny of finding truth, began when meeting Carl Hewitt, a trance-medium. AWAN (Angel Without a Name), a highly evolved Spirit, spoke to the author using the entranced medium's vocal cords. Though a series of unique conversations, AWAN provided ancient knowledge and truth.

Eventually AWAN appointed Sidney Schwartz to be his messenger proclaiming, "You are to write down my teachings in the form of books that will help people raise their consciousness." The first of these books is My First Encounter with an Angel, the results of Dr. Hewitt's extraordinary mediumistic abilities, Sidney Schwartz's curiosity and scholarship, and AWANs astounding revelations.

AWAN's first revelation: "Religious leaders have altered the Bible for their own purposes," inspired the author to research 160 versions of the bible. Much to the author's disbelief, he discovered AWAN was correct. A two word Hebrew phrase was translated 52 different ways in 107 Old Testaments! Mr. Schwartz asks: "If there is so much diversity in the translation of two words, how accurate can the translation of the other thousands of words from the original Hebrew text into English be?"

Another of AWAN's revelations was that the bible is a book of psychic history. The events that theologians label as miracles were really demonstrations of psychic phenomena. What astounded the author was that many of the versions of the bible read
almost identically, however, "... as soon as psychic phenomena was discussed, there is a sudden myriad of differences." AWAN explained that since biblical times, priests were threatened by mediumship. The priest claimed to be the intermediary between God and the people, however, it was the prophet who had the psychic ability to conduct a two-way conversation with God (Spirit).

Sidney Schwartz has given us a mind-opening book. My First Encounter with an Angel offers insight to a new, yet ancient, understanding of God's word. Here is a well-written book that can alter your perceptions, and change your attitudes!

My First Encounter With an Angel is an eye opener. The authortells the story of his life and of his background in the Jewishtradition, and eloquently leads the reader up to his first meeting with the medium who passes on to the author a foundation of knowledge that ultimately changes the life of the author...knowledge that opened his mind to a world outside of the rigid rules and limitations of the dogma that he has been taught growing up. As time passed, and his mind adapted to the new teachings, the author was chosen to be a scribe for the teachings of the angel AWAN...Angel without a name, whose essence was channeled through the body of the medium. It was made crystal clear as to why this angel preferred not to give his name, expressing that he had no desire to be deified and worshipped as so many teachers who have tried to transmit knowledge in the past have been. He did not desire to have a religion created in his name. AWAN's message, like so many of the messages from other great teacher's of the past is both simple and extraordinary. He simply informs the author of the contradictions that exist in his (the author's)dogmatic understanding, and also expresses in that first meeting the central theme of the book-- that the Bible had been changed. This message does not sit well with the author,being from the religious tradition of Judaism, and so he decides to study and research until he finds the proof for himself. The proof he finds is enlightening, and brings forth a myriad of emotions from clarity to great anger. For anyone who feels like something isn't quite right when they go to church and go through the motions...for anyone who is looking for the truth about the religious foundation of the world we live in...for anyone who isn't afraid to look at the hypocrisy within themselves, embrace change, and take steps foward into greater joy...this book is for you without a doubt. Tune into the God within...

I commend Mr. Schwartz for his thoroughness in his research, which proves the Bible is a history of psychic science that has been intentionally misinterpreted. I also can relate to his frustration in regards to being wrongly taught by religious leaders. It is very disheartening when you realize that everything you have been taught is wrong; but I am so grateful to these three entities for enlightening me to the truth. Perhaps someday Mr. Schwartz, Reverend Hewitt, and AWAN can combine their talents and publish a Bible translated with the correct interpretations, so humankind can learn from one true Bible.

Abraham Lincoln comes to life through the words of his devoted and talented biographer, Carl Sandburg. This edition is an excellent compromise between Sandburg's six-volume edition and the shorter, incomplete texts that abound regarding Lincoln. Take your time with this masterpiece and follow Lincoln from youth through the climax of his political career in Washington.

Thousands upon thousands of Civil War books are available, as American readers seem to have a limitless appetite for that era. If you are looking for the best, read Sandburg on Lincoln. A major American poet takes on one of the best-known, best-loved, most tragic of American historical figures.

When I was a freshman in high school, our English teacher offered us a deal: Anyone who read Sandburg's biography (then in six rather daunting volumes) would not have to attend class for a semester. I took him up on that offer, and was blessed to find my way through Sandburg's gift to the American people. Here is the highly detailed, thoroughly researched, and articulately written story of Abe Lincoln's years among us.

If you have time to read only one of the Civil War books from that burgeoning genre, read this one. You will come to know, from the inside out, this prairie boy who became a towering figure in American history.

I believe Sandburg is the only author to win the Pulitzer for both poetry and history. Originally a multi volume history taking decades to complete, this single volume work is an appetizer. I read it in the 1960's and went on with relish to the full multi volume work.

This single volume is insightful, laser like in it's detail yet painting the times of Lincoln in a broad and beautiful brush. Did you know that in 1860 tools could be honed to within one ten thousandth of an inch of accuracy? That magazines and newspapers said the world would change for-ever because of the new "instant" communication nation wide?

This is more than biography. It is a woven fabric depicting the times and life of Abraham Lincoln.

I came across this book while on business over in Korea and decided to give it a try. Having spent many a summer on the beaches of Florida, Georgia, and Delaware, I have always been partial to the ocean and beach towns of my youth. As a result, one of my favorite genres is a light-hearted beach novel that you can enjoy while on the hot sand near the water. WDB was well written and fun to read. The characters were well developed and seemed to grow on you after every page. Even Bailey Ginch, the antagonist, grew on me by the end of the book. My favorite two characters in the book were two old friends who had been coming to the White Dolphin for many years and thrived off of one another's friendship, loyalty, and companionship. Burcham did a good job developing and chronicling the life of the main character, Rowena Muldoon, as she grew up in N.C. until she became the owner defacto of the quaint little beach bar called the White Dolphin. No story is complete without conflict and White Dolphin Blues in no exception. The town, the beach and the bar all seem to be in jeopardy of the wrecking ball all in the name of progress and profit. Muldoon musters a group of introverts, extroverts, and eccentrics to save the day and the Dolphin. This book would appeal to anyone who loves any of Jimmy Buffet's music or his two novels WHERE IS JOE MERCHANT and MARGARITAVILLE. A quick read and well done beach novel, WDB will reward the reader with vivid imagery, well developed characters and plot lines, a classic man vs. man struggle and conflict, and enjoyable conflict resolution. Overall, it was an A- book. I look forward to this authors next work.

A great cast of characters and easy reading make White Dolphin Blues a fun experience. Surprise twists keep you reading until the final (very satisfying) outcome. You can tell that Mr. Burcham, through his heroes/heroines, loves the beach life. Don't we all?

I usually read Westerns, but because I vacation at the beach in the summer, White Dolphin Blues caught my eye and I'm glad it did. This one had as many thrills as my Westerns, and as many colorful characters too. I recommend it highly.

I have been on my spiritual path for many years. This book showed the way in which a person can connect with their own spirituality and make sense of it. Wonderful ways to make your connection and work on your spiritual growth are within the book. The author gave insight into her own struggles and growth in finding her own spirituality. I have read this book several times and highly recommend it. A must for the serious person on their spiritual path.

The God-Mind Connection ( and the books which follow in the the trilogy) outline for us how to achieve all that we want - both spiritually AND materially.( No, they are NOT mutually exclusive!!) How to achieve true success and real peace of mind. The most amazing thing is that it is all available to us simply for the asking - no special exercises, no sacrifices. AND IT WORKS!!! This is a must read if you want to know how to have everything you ever wanted for yourself and for those you love. And you'll want to give a copy to everyone you care about, too!

I first read this book several years ago, and I credit it with helping me find a focus for my spiritual yearnings. It is well-written, in plain, easily understood language, with practical suggestions and exercises for the individual to learn to get in touch with their Source Within. The author shares some of her own journey, which helped me gain deeper insight to the wisdom given forth by those designated as The Brotherhood. This wisdom is practical and applicable to everyday living. As a practicing holistic consultant, I utilize many of the concepts and exercises in this book with clients in helping them learn to develop their own Connection Within.

This is a pretty useful book that gives you pointers on decoding the lies, mindgames, and doublespeak from all kinds of areas. This includes advertising, politics, media, and even car sales. That is, areas known to be populated by charlatans, influence peddlers, and con artists. Hausman's observations on these trends and especially his specific examples of chicanery in each of those areas are quite eye-opening and entertaining. But it's not exactly shocking that car salesmen and advertisers are trying to rip you off, or that politicians bend the truth in their campaign advertising. Most of us already have that figured out, and there's not much need for Hausman to introduce these problems as if we just crawled out from under a rock and should be totally shocked. Also, his occasional lapses into brutal sarcasm can be funny but tend to make him guilty of some of the behavior he's criticizing. Alas, it's hard to write a book like this, which is a media-driven exercise, and keep yourself totally detached from the bad side of media behavior that you're describing. Hausman does know this however, and instead of simply complaining then leaving you up in the air like other writers on this subject, he actually comes up with some useful solutions to the problem. The only true weakness of this book though, is that Hausman sees lies and doublespeak EVERYWHERE. If that's the case, then there's not really much reason for hope, is there? There's no need to be as pessimistic as him. Also beware of this book's low production values (at least in paperback), with illustrations that look like they came from fifth-generation copies off an extremely ancient copy machine.

Tired of double talk? Innuendo? Half-baked journalism and devious flim-flam speakers? Read Carl Hausman's brillant book. He highlights the extent to which misformation has permeated business, politics, medical practices, universities, presidential press conferences, and even those pre-approved credit card applications you received unsolicited in the mail, just to mention a few. He outlines what you can do to stop this onslaught of mis-information, and includes a list of publications and organizations already in place for that purpose. He presents his material in a comic way, so there are lots of laughs about this tragic trend. After reading the book, I would like to see Mr Hausman team up with Bill O'Reilly in the Factors no-spin zone. Now these two could really keep us alert. WAKE UP AMERICA!

A great expose of how decpetion works. I don't know whether to laugh or cry, though. The writing is funny but when you see the way that deception has become such a common part of politics it's truly depressing.

Wonderful and authentic, a great collection for any Sandburg devotee or any patriotic Chicagoan. I was a little disappointed with the actual quality of the book, binding and covers, but it is not an expensive edition and the collection is priceless. A must read!

In my reading of poetry I have developed a peculiar habit. In the Table Of Contents I pencil in an asterisk before the titles of poems that I especially enjoyed. I find that this helps me to quickly relocate special poems later when I want to re-read them. In my copy of Sandburg's "Chicago Poems" there are many asterisks. I think that one of the things that appeal to me about these particular series of poems is their "urbanity". As the title suggests, these are often poems about "city"... about the "cosmopolis". Sandburg had a way of animating concrete and asphalt, and making us aware of the inner life of things that millions of us urbanites walk past each day. In one of my favorites entitled "Skyscraper" he says "It is the men and women, boys and girls so poured in and out all day that give the building a soul of dreams and thoughts and memories." And it ends beautifully with "By night the skyscraper looms in the smoke and the stars and has a soul." It is as though if any of Sandburg's Chicago Poems were to just remain silent for a moment, we would hear the faint night-time "humming and thrumming" of "a copper wire slung in the air." (cf. his Under A Telephone Pole).

He writes with a solemnity that avoids being morose, which is refreshing. But take note... "you will be thwarted every time, you try to catch a Sandburg rhyme." (they never rhyme). As for metre, his poems are in a free-verse very much reminiscent of Walt Whitman. The perfect poetry to read while feeding the pigeons, or otherwise commuting to and from the park.

A few weeks after September 11 2001, I came across the poem "Skyscraper" by Sandburg by chance in a huge volume of American poetry. In the millions of lines written about that horrible day, I found his words from 70 years ago to be the most moving. Here are some lines from that poem:

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BY day the skyscraper looms in the smoke and sun and has a soul.
Prairie and valley, streets of the city, pour people into it and they mingle among its twenty floors and are poured out again back to the streets, prairies and valleys.
It is the men and women, boys and girls so poured in and out all day that give the building a soul of dreams and thoughts and memories...

Hour by hour the caissons reach down to the rock of the earth and hold the building to a turning planet.
Hour by hour the girders play as ribs and reach out and hold together the stone walls and floors....

Men who sunk the pilings and mixed the mortar are laid in graves where the wind whistles a wild song without words
And so are men who strung the wires and fixed the pipes and tubes and those who saw it rise floor by floor.
Souls of them all are here, even the hod carrier begging at back doors hundreds of miles away and the brick-layer who went to state's prison for shooting another man while drunk...

Ten-dollar-a-week stenographers take letters from corporation officers, lawyers, efficiency engineers, and tons of letters go bundled from the building to all ends of the earth.
Smiles and tears of each office girl go into the soul of the building just the same as the master-men who rule the building.

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I have never studied Sandburg, but it seems to me he shares that same love of humanity and fairness that Walt Whitman was so famous for, along with the ability to craft lines as amazing as "hold the building to a turning planet". His love of his modern city seems like a remnant from another age, but his absolute belief in class equality is as relevant as any 2001 street protest.

First let me say I am a New England Patriot fan.

Overall, this book was a disappointment. Nevertheless, any Patriot fan will find reading the book interesting and essential to get the inside story of the 2001 New England Patriots.

Starting with the book's shortcomings:

1. Very little attention is paid to most intriguing element of the 2001 team - the ultimate replacement of Drew Bledsoe with Tom Brady. Johnson gives very, very short shrift to this key story of the team. Maybe, being a coach on the team he was afraid of going into the kind of detail that appears in journalists' account of the relationship between Bledsoe, Brady, Belichik and the team.

2. There's too much I I I in the book. I didn't want to hear about Johnson's coaching philosophy or incidents that occurred specifically to him. I wanted to hear about the team.

3. It does a poor job of building drama and excitement. It has a very bland and unadorned writing style.

4. Not necessarily a shortcoming, but there are very few X's and O's talking about plays and play calling, as well as in-depth coaching philosophies.

Now why you should read it:

1. The book does a good job of walking the reader through the entire season in segments and has even greater detail on the playoffs and Super Bowl and preparations leading up to them.

2. It clearly demonstrates the importance of teamwork and less high profile players on the team for this particular squad to make the playoffs and win the Super Bowl.

3. It gives the reader a glimpse into the day-to-day life of NFL coaches.

4. It allows fans to re-live the 2001 season.

I loved this book. I hate to read but found that this book was just what I was looking for. I have never been more excited to read a book in my life. I am a big New England fan and so wanted a book to bring the whole champion experience out for me. If you are a hige Patriots fan this bookk is for you!!!!

WON FOR ALL:
The Inside Story of the New England
Patriots' Improbable Run to the Super Bowl
Pepper Johnson with Bill Gutman.
...(256p) ISBN 0-07-
140877-0
After losing three of the first four games in
the 2001-2002 season, the New England Patriots
roared back to finish the year with an 11-5 record
and completed the surprising turn-around by
beating the St. Louis Rams in one of the most
exciting Super Bowls in NFL history.
Johnson, who played linebacker for 13

years, joined New England as an unpaid liason
in 2000 and was the inside linebackers'
coach during the championship season. Although
Johnson does reminisce about his
playing days (particularly his years with the
New York Giants), he gives a first-rate account
of the Patriots' transformation from a 5-11 team
in 2000 to Super Bowl champs the
following season. Johnson, writing with Gutman
(Parcells: A Biography), picks up the story
at the end the 2001-2002 season, then backtracks

readers from training camp through
the Super Bowl. Along the way, he describes
how head coach Bill Belichick created a winning
team by weeding out players who did
not fit his playing style. Johnson does a terrific
job of bringing readers into the Patriots'
locker room as he discusses strategy about
each game while also providing an insider's
perspective on various members of the team;
an especially compelling chapter deals with
a week in the life of an NFL coach, illustrating
the pressures coaches face each week in
the season. Patriot fans will no doubt enjoy
this recap of the Super Bowl run, as will fans
who want a glimpse of what goes on behind
the scenes in professional football. (Nov.)