One of the world's longest running friendships is viewed, reviewed and analysed in a very innovative way. Unlike the usual boring textbook type material one might expect to read on the subject, this book seems to be in a more informal, user-friendly layout. It should be enjoyed by layman and academic alike.

This is a great book for beginning photographers interested in learning photographic techniques. Every topic is easy to read and filled with great tips and illustrations. The book includes a chapter on digital photography. It also has many examples of beautiful artistic photos by famous photographers. If you only get one book about photography, this is the one. Make sure you get the latest edition though (7th edition, 2002)!

This is my choice of the best text book available for all levels of photography. This sixth edition is well illustrated with examples from a variety of photographic disciplines.It provides excellent coverage of topics such as the zone system, history of photography, digital imaging, color, view camera, and seeing photographs.

You would think since this book was considered curriculum while I attended College, one would be apt to think it boring, uninteresting. Although it is a reference book, it is a well thought and documented evalutaion of the art of photography. Anyone involved with the art, whether it be newbies or pros, will find this an extremely valuable text. Not only does it describe step-by-step the different techniques deployed and invented by photographers, it also explains the science behind the wonderful art. This is a must-own for anyone even remotely interested in the field of photography; a rule book that provides valuable information, as well, to spawn individual ideas and thoughts on photography.

Secret Agent 007 first encounters SPECTRE in this exciting tropical adventure. This spy novel reads like a mystery as Bond gradually puts together the pieces of SPECTRE's plot to hold the world hostage. As always, the tale takes place in exotic locations and is filled with beautiful women and thrilling action. Fleming includes another tension-filled casino showdown, too. In addition, the titles in the James Bond Classic Library are inexpensive but very nice-looking hardcover volumes

After reading some of the recent works of Raymond Benson, I thought it might be fun to go back and read one of the classic 007 novels. I had never read THUNDERBALL before, but I thoroughly enjoyed both movie versions; especially "Never Say Never Again".

Thunderball is one of Fleming's best! The scuba diving battle beneath the Caribbean between Bond and Largo is epic, but the most enduring feature of the novel is it marks the first appearance of the criminal organization SPECTRE, and it's diabolical leader, Ernst Stavro Blofeld!

Did Ian Fleming have any idea how much impact this character would have on the rest literary world when he created him? Blofeld started out as just an arch rival for James Bond, but his character became the role model for all evil genius villains with megalomanical dreams of world domination!

Thunderball is a must-read for all 007 fans.

A thrilling story with James Bond finally meeting the sinister orginization, SPECTRE. From the meeting in the Shrublands Health Facility to the final underwater battle against Largo, there is action, suspence, and thrills that no one can do better than James Bond. One of the best novels in the series. Content is thought out to the last detail, leaving little to question. Bond, as always, is smooth, suave, the debonair 007 we know and love. Even the villians live up to their name. Cunning, ruthless, everything that makes a villian. The locations in the book are some of the best on earth, and Fleming describes them to a "T". If you never read a Bond novel before, this would be a great place to start

This short, engagingly written book is a welcome antidote to the unfortunate and even dangerous stock market euphoria of recent years. Galbraith, as usual, is accurate and fair. The only problem with the book is that is that it never dives below the surface. Galbraith, like many left-wing critics of capitalism, has a keen eye for interesting facts, but he has little if any theoretical sense of the basic economic principles involved in market euphorias. It is gross credit excess that is fueling the current stock market bubble. The obverse side of credit is debt, and that is precisely where the problem rises. As credit expands, debt expands with it, especially bad debt. Eventually, the bad debt leads to a crisis; if a sizeable amount of debt cancellation occurs, you get deflation and a crisis of epic proportions.

IN THIS SMALL but witty and well-crafted book, Galbraith chronicles the major speculative episodes, from the seventeenth-century tulipmania to the junk-bond follies of the eighties. The book was first published in 1990 and thus the recent dotcom-bubble burst is not covered. Nevertheless, the Harvard professor's book is still worth reading. A reason is that he claims to have identified common patterns in the history of financial euphoria. 'In small ways the history of the great speculative boom and its aftermath does change. Much, much more remains the same', he predicts.

The perennial features are these. Some seemingly new and desirable artifact or development captures the financial imagination of a large number of people (say, group 1). The arrival of tulips in Western Europe, gold in Louisiana, the advent of joint-stock companies (corporations), real estate in Florida, or the economic designs of Reagan are all examples. The price of the object of speculation goes up. The object when bought today is worth more tomorrow. This attracts new buyers and assures a further price increase. Those in group 1 are persuaded that the new price-enhancing circumstance is under control, and expect the market to stay up and go up, perhaps indefinitely. The individual or institution that discovered the novelty (in group 2) is thought to be ahead of the mob. Fewer in number, individuals of group 2 perceive the speculative mood of the moment, try to get the maximum reward from the increase as it continues, and plan to be out before the eventual crash. The affluence of group 2 is wrongly associated, by group 1, with a miraculous financial genius. When something triggers the ultimate reversal, group 2 decides now is time to get out. Group 1 finds its illusion abruptly destroyed. Both groups sell or try to sell. The market collapses.

Galbraith observes that, in this process, 'speculation buys up the intelligence of those involved'. The crowd converts the individual in group 1 from possessing reasonable good sense to stupidity. Those in group 2 also make errors of vanity by thinking they will beat the speculative game. It seems that 'all people are most credulous when they are most happy'. Reputable public and financial opinion reinforces euphoria by condemning those who express doubt or dissent by warning of a crash. The celebrated Yale economist Irving Fisher, for instance, spoke out sharply against Roger Babson, who foresaw the crash of 1929. But the critic must wait until after the crash for any approval, Galbraith laments.

Despite the fact that common features in speculative episodes recur, history counts little because a financial disaster is quickly forgotten by a new, self-confident generation. Something is perceived as a financial novelty merely because the financial memory is short: 'financial operations do not lend themselves to innovation'. Insightfully, Galbraith notices that all financial innovation involves the creation of debt leveraged against more limited assets. This is the case of banks, whose debt is leveraged on a given volume of hard cash. This is also the case of the holding companies created in the 1920s, whose stockholders issued bonds and preferred stock to buy other stocks. And this is the case, too, of the junk bonds of the mergers-and-acquisitions mania in the 1980s, when high-risk, higher-interest bonds were issued in greater volume against the credit of the companies being taken over. As Galbraith puts it: 'the world of finance hails the invention of the wheel over and over again, often in a slightly more unstable version'.

However a crisis may strike at any moment whenever a debt is perceived to become dangerously out of scale in relation to the underlying means of payment. After the crash, group 1 expresses anger against the 'financial genius' of group 2. 'Financial genius is before the fall', Galbraith prophesies. Group 1 finally realizes that having more money may mean that a person in group 2 is indifferent to moral constraints. Group 2 could have even gone beyond the law, as far as leverage is concerned. Incarceration of some individuals of group 2 may follow. Leverage is seen as morally disputable at last.

Talks of regulation and reform follow. However, the speculation itself or the aberrant optimism that lay behind it will not be discussed. 'Nothing is more remarkable than this: in the aftermath of speculation, the reality will be all but ignored.' Why? Because it is easier for group 1 to blame one individual or a few individuals in group 2 than to take responsibility for its own widespread naivety. And also because there is a need to find a cause for the crash that is external to the market itself. After all, the market is believed to be 'a neutral and accurate reflection of external influences; it is not supposed to be subject to an inherent and internal dynamic of error'. The deficit in the federal budget was, for instance, blamed for the 1987 crash. Another anecdotal account of Black Monday has been that the crash was caused by portfolio insurance computer programs which sold stocks as the market went lower.

Galbraith's book is compulsory reading for economists, especially those working on behavioural finance or econophysics. Being an antidote to illusory financial euphoria, the book is thus of interest to the general public as well. Galbraith's own sense of déjà vu towards speculative financial bubbles enabled him to predict the crash of 19 October 1987. People really seem to be intrinsically unable to prevent getting stuck in the error-prone dynamics of bull markets, as in his 'bubble story'. But perhaps they have already learned some minor lessons on how to better protect themselves in the aftermath of crashes. Indeed despite the fact that the Black Monday crash was nearly twice as severe as the stock market collapse of 1929, it did not trigger a depression. Likewise the internet-bubble burst of 2000 had a surprisingly modest effect on wealth. Will we finally learn to learn from history?

Reading about the history of speculation is a way to broaden one's critical views of investing. Galbraith presents the material in an entertaining way and doesn't oversell the important points he makes about mass psychology and market reform. His self-deprecatory moments are very engaging indeed. I would go so far as to suggest that this book should be required reading for any investor.

Only Kipling's Jungle book, rivals this as the classic talking animal book for children. With his beautiful prose, Grahame evokes laughter, suspense, pleasure and even awe. Water Rat, Mole, Badger, Otter, and the insufferable Toad quickly gain our interest and sympathy. If you buy it to read to children, beware! You may not be able to resist reading ahead a few chapters after you put them to bed. This is a book not to be missed. The scene in which Pan appears as the animals' protector inspired a song by Van Morrison, and a mention in Jane Goodall's book, A Reason for Hope. From it a child of any age will get fun, wonder, and a demonstration of the beautiful possibilities of the English language.

I, a reluctant grown-up, confess that my life has been enriched through my meeting of these four Edwardian animal bachelors. This is a classic that should be read TO or BY anyone YOUNG or OLD enough to have an imagination! Grahame created a wonderful pastoral world where the River-Bankers (consisting of Rat, Mole, Badger, and Otter) and their friends form a close-knit community of leisured landowners who observe an extremely strict code of responsible behavior. Uh... then there's Toad. Toad, although he is one of the River-Bankers, continually distinguishes himself as one who is conceited and irresponsible, a spendthrift megalomaniac who disgraces his friends by even landing himself in jail. Because of his incarceration, the stoats and weasels of the Wild Wood attempt to invade Toad's ancestral home, and this threat to River-bank society is the one thing that can rouse Badger out of his cosy retirement. Together, he and Rat lecture Toad with the inflexible moral fervor of Alcoholics Anonymous. Will Toad ever come to a sincere repentance and reform? Well, that is the question.

Throughout the whole book there runs the leitmotif which may be roughly described as the conflict between Us and Them - or more specifically, the attempts made by Grahame's ideal rural society to defend itself against encroachment. I personally believe that this subtle theme can be a great vehicle to instill in the young reader (or listener) a sense of the importance of peaceful living, and of how our actions affect others. Adult readers will definitely have lived long enough to clearly recognize themselves in one of the main animal characters. Alas... I am undoubtedly Toad!

While looking at my bookshelf for books, I picked up a book that seemed like new. I looked at the bottom of this book, it said, 'by Kenneth Grahame'. Above those letters were written the words, 'Illustrations-Helen Ward'. I examined the picture on the cover; it was vividly drawn, with colors ranging from birch white to algae green. The book was called The Wind in the Willows. When I flipped open the front cover I looked on the back of the title page. It wasn't like any of the other copyright and publishing pages I've seen. They were based on the edition I had. The edition I acquire is copyrighted 2000 by Templar Company plc, and published by Borders Press.

After flipping over the cover of this wonderful book, I started reading it. I found out that this astounding book is about the adventures of Mole and his friends. Mole, dwells in a small house in Wild Wood. He met many friends including the gentle Water Rat, the kind Badger, and the foolish but friendly Toad. The Badger hates society, and the Toad daydreams all day and his foolishness leads him to endless trouble yet Toady is still proud himself for everything he does. One day Toad was walking and his eyes caught a deserted car. He couldn't resist it, so he hopped in and took a ride. In time he got caught and sent to a jail in England. Eventually Toady escaped and returned to Wild Wood. There he found out that the weasels and stoats, the Wild Wooders, had taken over Toad Hall. The friends came up with a way to repossess Toad Hall. Thus one night when the Wild Wooders were having a grand feast, Toady, Ratty, Mole and Badger went through a secret passage past the guards and attacked the feasting stoats and weasels. After that battle Mole and his companions could finally live peacefully in Wild Wood.

There are plenty of high-quality chapters in this book but my favorite chapter is the last chapter, The Return of Ulysses, which is approximately 15 pages long.
It's the most exciting part of the book because it has the section where Mole and his friends defeat the Wild Wooders. I also like the ending of the chapter because it really sounds like what a mom would say to her kid in real life. The mother weasel tells the babies that if they don't behave, the terrible gray badger would get them.

Though there are many good parts, the part I hated was a chapter called the Wild Wood. It was all about the tedious subject of finding the hole of Mr. Badger. Half of the part was walking in the woods doing absolutely nothing! It also had a great deal of complex words, which made it kind of hard to understand. It was so boring; you could fall asleep just reading it! However, this is still a superior hardback.

Anyone who likes books with animal characters with human traits would thoroughly enjoy this book. The book has series of events that don't really fit in to the main problem but those events are what makes this book interesting. What made this book special to me is that each creature has a different personality. For example, there's the foolish Toad, the Badger that hates society, and Ratty who is obsessed with poems and river life. If this article interests you, why don't you try to read The Wind in the Willows yourself?

The NASB Study Bible is simply the NIV Study Bible adapted for those who prefer the translation of the NASB to the NIV. It therefore includes all the strengths of the NIV study Bible: copious notes, cross-references, concordances, and maps, et al. Few would dispute that in a world of competitive Study Bibles, the NIV Study Bible is perhaps the finest produced by evangelicals.

Why then am I less enthusiastic about the NASB Study Bible? One simple reason: The NIV Study Bible works because the translators of the NIV produced all the notes. Many of the comments focus on the translation of the NIV itself and provide justification for difficult decisions in translation made by the translators. Adapting the notes for another translation almost seems pointless.

Admittedly, Kenneth Boa has admirably adapted the new edition for use with the NASB. Yet doubts remain. Why use notes principally designed for use with another translation? I suppose the obvious answer is that the market lacked a critical study Bible that uses the text of the NASB and that this was the cheapest route. But that raises another question: Must a Study Bible be made available in every translation to cater to everyone's diverse tastes?

Bottom line: If you want the NIV Study Bible, I recommend the NIV edition. If you absolutely must have the NASB then this compromise is certainly acceptable, even excellent, but not ideal. The NASB is one of the few translations that actually works well on its own, without an accompanying study notes because the footnotes and additional readings are so extensive.

If you love the NASB, and are a serious student of the Word, this is the bible for you. It has the award-winning study notes of the NIV Study Bible plus the reliable New American Standard Bible translation with the 1995 update, hailed the most accurate word-for-word (while extremely readable) bible on the market. It has exhaustive center-column references. Charts on almost every bible subject possible are included. Introductions to every book of the bible are extensive and include information on the following: Style, Date, Author, Subject Matter, Cultural Information, and very indepth outlines. There are hundreds of intext maps and a very extensive chronology of the bible included at the beginning of the bible. The best thing about the study notes is that they are not biased to any particular denomination. When more than one view exists on a subject, generally at least three views are presented. Information from all kinds of archaeological and historical sources offers much needed insight to difficult passages. This is your one-stop for cultural, historical and theological information for almost every verse in scripture. I'm a youth minister and this bible is my main source of study and lesson preparation. I find that I don't need much more than this. If you're a minister or just a student of the Word, then you can't go wrong with the NASB Study Bible.

This is the bible for which I've been waiting. I have always been fond of the study tools in the NIV Study Bible, but I have never been satisfied with the NIV translation. The NASB is credited as the most accurate and literal translation. With the 1995 update it's even more readable. The study notes cover historical, archeological, and devotional information. The center-column references are exhaustive. There are very detailed in-text maps and charts that provide supplemental informtation. The book introductions provide extensive information on the background of each book as well as providing a detailed outline. In the back of the bible there are three indexes. There is a subject index, an index to the study notes and the NASB concordance/dictionary. In the front of the bible there is a very detailed chronological timeline. There are also several essays on selected subjects. This is a very useful study tool and by far the most complete study bible in the New American Standard that I've ever seen.

The Fortunate Pilgrim By Mario Puzo is an excellent novel to read. The story is about Lusia Santa and her immigration to America from Italy. Throughout the entire book, it talks about the tough times that Lucia Santa and her family endure in America. The family of eight were tenants of a small apartment building in New York. Many of the children had to get jobs to help support the family when they were old enough. The book tells the readers a lot about the American dream and how much of a struggle people had to over come to acheive it. People came to America searching for better lives and freedom. To meet the American dream you had to work hard and you would suceed. Lucia Santa didn't know the price that she would have to pay to meet the American dream. This book shows us what it was like to live in America. It shows us what some of our ancestors went through, and their determination to live in America. I thought that this book was well written and well organized. You got to see, through reading the book, what it was like to immigrate to America and how hard it was to try and start a new life in America.

The book I am reviewing is "The Fortunate Pilgrim" by Mario Puzo. I chose to read Fortunate Pilgrim because I had heard from numerous sources that this book was actually better than Mario Puzo's most known and best-selling novel, The Godfather, which I had read and enjoyed greatly. I found it hard to believe a book so over-looked from the public could be better than the masterpiece, The Godfather, and decided to read "The Fortunate Pilgrim" myself and draw my own conclusion.

"The Fortunate Pilgrim" tells the story of a single mother, Lucia Santa, holding together her split family of six children and no husband. Lucias every day life is a struggle, to make sure there is enough money to feed her children and prosper during WWI and the Great Depression. Lucia's first husband died in an industrial accident, and her second husband ran away, leaving her with his 3 children. I personally found the Mother-Daughter relationship between Lucia and her oldest daughter, Octivia very sad yet interesting to read. Octivia wants to become a modernized American and schoolteacher, and discourages her mother for "living in the past". I find the dialogue between Lucia and Octivia on page 23-26 an important passage in the book, as Octivia denounces her mother and fiercly tells her "He's not my father!" when Lucia brings up the hard topic of her stepfather.

"The Fortunate Pilgrim" is indeed a great book. I still cannot decide whether the Fortunate Pilgrim is "better" than The Godfather, but they are both great in different ways. The Fortunate Pilgrim really makes you grateful for things over-looked by many, such as shelter, health, life, and most of all family. The Fortunate Pilgrim made myself, being Italian, think about the struggle everyday life was to my great grandparents. It makes you think of how, in the end, Lucia Santa overcomes overwhelming odds, but to much heart ache. It is hard to contemplate now what these people had to go through, the hardship of daily life.

I would recommend this book to anyone who wants a good, meaningful read. The beginning starts off slow, but by the end of this book you can have a new perspective on some aspects, if not all of life. This is a book I will remember for years.

This book is really anti-Puzo. It doesn?t have much to do with the mob, crime, casinos, or gangsters, and it doesn?t have killings, executions, or any other street warfare. Heck, it doesn?t even have a plot. Instead, it?s about a family living in New York, and how the mother has learned to survive and raise a family alone.

Sounds boring, right? Wrong. This could actually be Puzo?s finest work. From the family?s struggles through poverty and near poverty, to the fights of mother and daughter, to the disobedience of one son, and the suicide of another other, this book is a touching chronicle.

Though not a novel you would expect from Puzo, it?s definitely his most poignant work, and shows that he can live past his Godfather typecast.

As a big fan of Augustine's writing I give this book five stars. The way that he has interwoven his thoughts, feelings, and personal experiences with the humble eloquence of repentance will have you as the reader very exuberant. In reading this work you will learn more of Augustine's life, the spiritual turmoil he faced, and how he came to knowledge of the truth in a most triumphant manner. Although, that's not all that you will find interesting in the Confessions. In fact once Augustine converts to Catholicism and discovers the mystery of the faith, he then proceeds to fill in the blanks philisophically were he had once been left in error. Finally Augustine ponders on the book of Genesis and discourses a respectable point of view on the creation of heaven and earth. Oh Yeah! I forgot to explain how Augustine corresponds the subject matter of this book with a profound emphasis on the Holy Scriptures. So I recommend this masterpiece to anyo ne who has a love for great Latin literature, or to all that wish to read the prestige of Christian writings.

I was asked to read this book as a freshmen in college and I loved it. It is not an easy read, but once you read over a part once more, Augustine's logic makes perfect sense. If you've read any other Augustine, such as "Freedom of the will", this book fits right in there and explains it perfectly. In fact, this book explains most of Augustine's tenants perfectly. If anyone wants to know why Christianity took such a harsh stand against sexual sins...it's Augustine lashing out at his past. He was really tormented. Worship God or worship sex. He chose God and I'm sure he thought about going back. Augustine also developed the full Christian idea of free will, which is manifested in this book as well. Augustine is an incredible figure and a role model for modern Christians. His trials are not much different from ours, seeing as we live in a society so obsessed with sex. Augustine's Confessions is one of my favorite books. A must-read for any theologian and philosopher.

St. Augustine's Confessions is a treasure of Western literature, and, much like the book of Job and the Psalms, really belongs to the heritage of the entire culture and has transcended sectarian importance. That is not to say that these books are not religiously important--of course they are, and the Confessions perhaps even more so to a confessing Christian. Much of what the entire Western church still believes comes straight from the mind and pen of St. Augustine, and to understand his mind one really needs to read the Confessions. Nearly the entire orthodox Catholic tradition of fall-redemption theology sprung full-formed from Augustine's mind, which can be seen in his allegorical interpretaiton of Genesis 1, the section that ends the Confessions and gives them an "unfinished" quality. Augustine was a well-known and revered man when he wrote this book, and rather goes out of his way to depict himself as a youthful deviant to his followers. This is both a heuristic device and what Ausgustine really believes about himself; he is interested in his flock realizing his own fallenness and finitude, and seeing it in themselves as well. A brilliantly modern book for fourth-century fare, it is amenable (at the risk of anachronism)to a multitude of interpretations. Here one can find existential angst, control-dramas, the quest for and the overturning of the ego-self, and an almost pathological study of human guilt (it has been quipped that if the Saint from Hippo had had a good psychotherapist, the Church might have been spared nearly two millennia of sexual dysfunction). Augustine's conversion in the garden reads almost like a kensho experience in Zen. Read the book and draw your own conclusions, but never forget that, as you read, you are sitting at the feet of (and in judgement of) one of the sharpest minds ever produced in Latin Christianity. He writes, "For although I cannot prove to mankind that these my confessions are true, at least I shall be believed by those whose ears are opened to me by love" Book 10.3, and whether or not your ears are open to him in love, they should at least be open. Augustine always has something to say to the careful reader, and no less a careful reader than Derrida lui-même is an inveterate reader and student of Augustine's. Quite a compliment from a reader who certainly does not share Augustine's faith concerns....

I don't normally read "books of the film" but after reading Benson's other two original Bond novels ("Zero Minus Ten" and "The Facts of Death") I decided to give this a try. I did not care much for the film. Benson, however, must have added his own bits (unless they were dropped from the final film) which made the book much more entertaining than the movie. The characters were more fleshed out and the plot made more sense. Not as top-notch as Benson's two original books, but still a surisingly good read. Well done!

Granted, a Bond movie can give you only so much characterization, but Benson's book makes much more sense in the characters' backgrounds and motivations. Benson also has a far better handle on the Bond character that was lacking from John Gardner's efforts. Benson manages to reintroduce you into the elements of Fleming's Bond world without attempting to copy Fleming's writing style. Given the terrific results of Zero Minus Ten and Tomorrow Never Dies, I'm eagerly awaiting The Facts of Death.

Raymond Benson really makes the story and characters of "Tomorrow Never Dies" his own in this adaptation of the script. He adds tons of background information on the rather thin characters from the movie, including a wonderful chapter introducing Wai Lin, the Michelle Yeoh character. (It makes you wish EON would let him write a novel just about her!) Compare this book to "Goldeneye," a novelization written by John Gardner. Gardner just went through the motions, didn't inject any style or substance into the script, did your basic awful movie adaptation. Benson, on the other hand, goes above and beyond and makes a wonderful book out of the script. In my opinion, very few novelizations are worth reading. This one is an exception. It adds to and embellishes on the movie. Read it!

The NIV Study Bible has many excellent features. The notes provide historical context, helpful cross-references, and personal application suggestions. There are also numerous color maps and an abridged concordance at the back that comes in handy in looking up scriptures you can generally remember but can't place.

All contributors to the NIV are Christians who confess the Bible as the inerrant Word of God. They are very good at what they do, and their lack of scepticism is refreshing in comparison with more liberal study bibles, such as the Harper-Collins. The overall approach, however, is awfully conservative, sometimes at the risk of intellectual credibility. For example, traditional attributions of authorship are invariably accepted, including Moses as the author of Genesis through Deuteronomy--a view uniformly rejected by more moderate scholars. [Even the NIV gives a grudging concession that other writers in addition to Moses seem to have been involved in at least limited additions to the text inasmuch as these books relate Moses' death and describe Moses as "more humble than anyone else on the face of the earth" (Nu. 12:3)--an unlikely self-description by the world's most humble person!] To me, it is easier and more intellectually honest to simply admit that these books were the work of many inspired hands and that we don't know who wrote them.

The doctrinal notes are similarly traditional and conservative. For instance, in 1 Ti. 4:10, the author proclaims that "God is the Savior of all Men, and especially of those who believe." The note pours theological cold water on the optimism expressed in this verse by sternly observing, "Obviously, this does not mean that God saves every person from eternal punishment...." To the contrary, I hope and believe that's exactly what it means--but I guess God will be the judge.

To my admittedly liberal way of thinking, the notes tend to take the Bible literally where it fits in with a conservative view point, but, as in 1 Ti.4:10, they brush aside the plain meaning when it does not suit them. Because I found myself fighting with the notes too often, I have moved on to the less dogmatic NRSV Access Bible, published by Oxford University Press. But for conservative evangelicals who hold fast to the doctrine of Biblical inerrancy, this is an excellent resource.

I own a first edition of The NIV Study Bible. The Bible was a gift from my grandparents on my 25th birthday. It is the best Bible I have ever owned. The study notes are outstanding and send me on a journey of discovery everytime I follow a cross reference (no pun intended). I find it impossible not to follow the references on any subject throughout my NIV Study Bible. The New International Version translation makes scripture understandable to the lay person. Each book of the Bible is preceded by an introduction and outline. There are many maps and outlines throughout the NIV Study Bible. Most verses have a study note listed at the bottom of the page and references are listed down between columns. At the end of The NIV Study Bible are indexes to subjects, maps and color maps as well as an extensive concordance. I have left out many features of this excellent scriptural resource. The best recommendation I can give is that I am at this writing ordering copies of The NIV Study Bible for two of my sunday school students.

I think many evangelicals know the Bible only in terms of life application. They don't know the difference between God and God the one and Only (see John 1:18 NIV), nor concern themselves with theological or historical aspects of the Bible. The NIV study Bible should help change this. Its notes are concise, numerous, and very informative. When I got this Bible, it opened up a whole new area of fascinating biblical study that perviously I had overlooked. The translation of the NIV is readable and for the most part accurate (though they sacrifice literalness for the sake of readability a lot). The notes represent the conservative side of theology and I agree with most of what they say, though I always have other versions on hand to broaden the depth of study. My only real big complaint is the lack of the deuterocanon. Though I do not consider the books to be 'inspired' scripture, I do believe for a complete study of the Bible they should be consulted. Maybe in a future addition they will be included. If people ask me which Bible to buy, I usually say this one.