I am qualified to comment on Marfan by Peter Reading because I live in Far West Texas and know most of the people and places Reading addresses in his poem. There is, simply, nothing so utterly surreal and yet completely real as life in the Big Bend. Reading's acerbic, outsider-as-insider observations of the contradictions of life there are wonderful. He juxtaposes visions of the baby Jesus on a tortilla with Border Patrol abuses, flaring sunsets with tumbleweeds, and hip, urban artists with donkey-riding transients. Reading, a poet from England, only lived in Marfa for a year, yet he manages to touch on the concerns of the people, especially the gradual encroachment of the outside world upon this somewhat forgotten and neglected area. This book-length poem is a compendium of observations, experiences, and musings. No doubt Reading had never experienced such a crazy place and it's unlikely Marfa will ever be the object of such a fun literary tribute again. Even though Reading thinks he's persona non grata in Texas, he's welcome back any time. We need the occasional reality check.

The myth of the immortality of the soul and of reward or punishment in an afterlife has haunted human culture for millenia. Despite the comfort of this vision and its usefulness in creating sanctions for ethical values, many thinkers have denounced it down the ages, often in opposition to prevailing social and religious mores. In this book, editor Peter Heinegg gathers some of the more poignant and forceful of these voices into a collection of accessible readings well suited for literature or philosophy courses covering the theme of death, or the nature of the self.

The texts cover the span of western culture from Gilgamesh to Nietzsche and beyond to a contemporary DNA researcher (William R. Clark)and include readings from philosophy (Plato, Epicurus, Lucretius, Marcus Aurelius, Pascal, Hume, Schopenhauer, William James,and more), as well as literature (Shakespeare, Emily Dickenson, DH Lawrence, Tolstoy, Proust, and more), and even the Bible. Heinegg, who teaches comparative literature, gives brief introductions to the authors that whet our appetites for the readings and situate them nicely in historical context.

While the book offers little consolation for those who grieve, it does cultivate a heightened sense of the importance of our brief moment in the sun, or as Heinegg says of the poet Wallace Stevens' work, it reflects "the paradoxical fact that death is "the mother of beauty," since it alone gives shape and intensity to the pleasures of the world."

This is an excellent collection of contemporary and classic essays dealing with people's sense of place, the vernacular landscape, perception of the environment and wilderness, and the meaning of community. The book began initially as an effort by the Trust for Public Land (TPL) to better comprehend the core social values imbedded in its land conservation mission and how to better apply these to strengthening communities (natural, social, and cultural) and to promote and foster a more healthy, sustainable natural world. After exploring these issues, TPL decided that there would be great value in including the greater community in its discussion of these issues and subsequently published this collection as a means to that end. Included our writing by Aldo Leopold, Wendell Berry, Wallace Stegner, Harry S. Truman, Gary Snyder, Annie Dillard, Linda Hogan, James Howard Kunstler, John Steinbeck, Mary Oliver, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Bill McKibben, to name only a few.

As a professional conservationist, I was familiar with the themes and issues raised in this book, but had not read many of these essays beforehand. I would recommend this book to anyone with an interest as to why we should preserve open space, wilderness, parks, and wetlands and anyone curious at to how individual lives and communities relate to the natural world; the message is so rarely delivered as eloquently and effectively

This is suchhhhhhhhh a coooool book!

---Ben

This was thought-provoking and very interesting - really gave me a different perspective on how to understand the Chronicles of Narnia, and tied in Schakel's new way with all the chords Lewis' books have ever struck in you.

This book contains many high level, concise and relevant documents. The publications cover many aspects of IR from liguistic algorithms or suggetions to actual testing systems. When is the sequel coming out?

Peter Ludlow has also edited a volume on the Philosophy of Mind, and has written a book on Semantics. In this volume, he offers perhaps the best single volume compendium on the subject.

'A central theme of this collection is that the philosophy of language, at least a core portion of it, has matured to the point where it is now being spun off into linguistic theory. Each section of the book contains historical (twentieth-century) readings and, where available, recent attempts to apply the resources of contemporary linguistic theory to the problems under discussion. This approach helps to root the naturalization project in the leading questions of analytic philosophy. Although the older readings predate the current naturalization project, they help to lay its conceptual foundations. The main sections of the book, each of which is preceded by an introduction, are Language and Meaning, Logical Form and Grammatical Form, Descriptions, Names, Demonstratives, and Attitude Reports.'

I learned that a snake can eat an egg without cracking it! A snake from Austrailia is the most poisonous snake in the world. A snake can swim in the water. They can also fight in the spring. You should read it too because I learned lots of new facts.

As a media specialist, I have thoroughly enjoyed using SHOES with my first graders and kindergarteners. The children love to take off their shoes and wiggle those toes. They also enjoy anticipating the next page. This book is a must for any elementary library and for the home.

Reading has been...and will always be...my passion, and I read voraciously. Hence, I always scout for and pursue high-performance reading techniques. It is now my lifelong learning pursuit. I approach them with an open mind as my primary focus is on what works for me, with playing, exploring and experimenting as my evaluation tools.

This is one book, I must say, contains the best and most comprehensive collection of text organisational (writing) patterns I have seen so far. In a nut shell, understanding and mastering text organisational (writing) patterns at the onset after your initial preview allow you to navigate the given text at very high speeds.

In total, this book introduces eleven (11) patterns:

- enumeration pattern (listing);
- time sequence;
- example pattern;
- cause & effect pattern;
- problem & solution pattern;
- compare & contrast pattern;
- spatial pattern;
- definition pattern;
- process pattern;
- classification pattern;
- description pattern;

In any kind of reading, a quick preview is imperative. This book also introduces you to a variety of preview techniques, just like any other reading technique books.

Understanding the text organisational (writing) patterns makes your preview much more efficient and effective.

All information has shape. Just take a close look at the word INFORMATION. The root word is FORM. So, if you want to read fast, you must learn to shape or form your understanding quickly. If you can see this FORM at the onset, it becomes much more easier for you to understand how the information in the given text is organised. With this understanding, it become easier and also faster for you to pick out the key ideas or details.

The author has done an excellent job in illustrating all the eleven text organisation (writing) patterns. There are also a lot of reading exercises or practices for you to play, explore and experiment with the patterns. They are really worth the cover price for the book.

I teach kids and teens as well as adults how to read at very high speeds. In other words, I help them to survive...and thrive in...the information overload! From my own personal and professional experiences, the purpose of reading is to GATHER INFORMATION...IDEAS to be more precise. I always advise them ...using Pareto' Law...that 80% of the meaning of any given paragraph are often captured in only 20% of the words...these are the key ideas! (In fact, I have read from somewhere...an empirical study...that 4 to 11 % of any given text contains the key ideas!)

Knowing how to discern text organisational (writing) patterns in the first instance gives you the turbo boost to locate the key ideas very quickly and eventually navigate the reading texts at very high speeds.

If you combine these reading techniques with mindmapping or using graphic organisers and/or other visual tools, your ability to organise and synthesise ideas...and generating insights...from all your reading become very powerful.

So, if you want to be a masterful reader, just like me...this book is a must read!