My 15 month old loves this book. She does not have a long attention span, however when we pull this book out she does. The flaps are very easy for her little hands to open up. The pictures under the flaps are adorable and always seem to bring a smile to her face. The story is cute and toddlers will understand what is going on inside Barney's house. I hightly recommend this book.

This deeply contextualized ethnography of possession deals with women, migration, and power as frames for both spirit possession and the construction of identity in the booming migrant town of Ambanja, in the Sambirano valley of northern Madagascar. The Malagasy word for the possession experience is tromba, which refers as well to the royal ancestral spirits of the Sakalava (the ethnic group under study), the institution of possession, and the spirit mediums themselves. Sharp is particularly sensitive to issues of power and political agency, and examines possession as a mode of political consciousness that is embedded in religious experience. Possession among the Sakalava is highly formalized, and spirits who are the agents of oracular possession are often part of family inheritance. Thus, it is important to identify and name spirits, a phenomenon which is important elsewhere in Africa as well. This naming provides a link with the local culture, including political and religious traditions, as well as with the land itself. With the rise of "Malagasization" in the postcolonial period (following a revolt against the French in 1947), tromba possession has increased and the number and variety of tromba spirits has expanded. It is no accident, then, that the prestige and power of tromba spirits, suppressed by the French, has been enhanced. Perhaps because tromba rituals have been a primary instrument for preserving and interpreting the history of the island, Malagasization has brought the tromba spirits and institution closer to the centers of Malagasy political authority and economic production. Indeed, the surprising power and prestige of the female tromba spirit mediums has enabled them to dictate the direction of national economic development projects. One of Sharp's observations is that contrary to the dominant assumptions in anthropology, Sakalava possession is not necessarily a province of the marginalized and weak. Though Malagasy women are chiched as weak or soft, while men are regarded as strong or hard, it is the women who, through their spirit voices, determine the pace and organization of the culture. Tromba mediums are also widely consulted healers who appear to have an amicable and respectful relationship with other medical practitioners on the island. Tromba are not the only spirits on Madagascar. There is another category of volatile and unpredictable spirits (njarinintsy) responsible for negative, unwanted possession, as well as for mass possession, largely of adolescent migrant girls, in the public schools. In one instance documented by Sharp, a powerful healer (moasy) was consulted. He reported that the local ancestors were angry because the French paid no regard to the sacredness of the ancestral ground on which the school was built, moving and destroying tombs. The healer recommended the performance on the school grounds of a ceremony honoring the deceased ancestors, including the sacrifice of an ox. Following this performance, the possession diminished considerably. Another interesting feature of this book is that it addresses the topic of the interface of local possession with Christianity. The Protestant Church is dominant in much of Madagascar, and has highly developed forms of healing rituals and exorcisms, even sponsoring exorcism retreats. Sharp has demonstrated that the clientele, whom she calls the dispossessed, consists to a great extent of those who cannot cope with either the status or the multilayered identity of the Sakalava defined through the dominant institution of tromba mediumship. In short, anyone with an interest in the phenomenon of spirit possession will learn quite a lot from this book.

Gene Sharp's The Politics of Nonviolent Action is a landmark study of nonviolence in three volumes: Power and Struggle, The Methods of Nonviolent Action, and The Dynamics of Nonviolent Action. Power and Struggle begins with an analysis of the nature of political power. Sharp, Senior Scholar at the Albert Einstein Institution, reveals that political power is not intrinsic to rulers but derives exclusively from citizens. Thus political power requires social support. And therein lies the key to nonviolent action: "Political power disintegrates when people withdraw their obedience and support" (pg. 63). Next Sharp attempts to correct some common "misconceptions" about nonviolence. Among these corrections, he insists: "Success with nonviolent action does not require (though it may be helped by) shared standards and principles, a high degree of community of interests, or a high degree of psychological closeness between contending groups" (pg. 71). Finally, Sharp outlines a brief history of nonviolent action, from plebeian noncooperation in ancient Rome to modern movements like the Czechoslovakian civilan resistance of 1968. Power and Stuggle is an important step in the study of nonviolent political change and an indispensable reference for its practice.However, many scholars and activists criticize Sharp's otherwise execellent model for its deevaluation of nonviolence's spiritual dimension. All societies will inevitably require change not only at the political level, but also the social. And to believe political change will, in turn, affect a social change is to deny Sharp's model of political power, which states that the political power of states resides in their citizens. Therefore, in order to affect social change it becomes necessary to utilize methods of "shared standards and principles," that is, to utilize the spiritual dimension of nonviolent action. Indeed the required depth of spirituality appears proportionaly equal to the depth of social change to be affected. If government is the will of the people manifest, then the nonviolent activist must change the will of the people, not the government. When viewed in this light we see why both Gandhi's and King's movements ultimately failed. Both successfuly affected political change but were assassinated before social change could be completed. Thus the strained relations between Hindus and Muslims in the Indian subcontinent and the remaining emotional segregation between blacks and whites in our own nation.Is then the aim of nonviolence not to change the politics but the people, or will Sharp's model work to successfully affect social change?

This book is a must-have for the professor of mathematics. My Dad, Joe Sharp, and my uncle Jack Sharp, with their Auburn buddy Phillip Bean worked for years and years on this book, and their effort, as the reader will see, was very much worth the time they spent.

"Purple Is Part of a Rainbow" is a good book for children with developing vocabularies. In this book, the simple rhymes of Carolyn Kowalczyk are well complemented by the lovely artwork of Gene Sharp.

The rhymes follow a standard format: "A petal is part of a flower. / A rainbow is part of a shower. / A feather is part of a bird. / A letter is part of a word." Each sentence is accompanied by an illustration. The colorful illustrations have a soft, gentle quality to them. Another nice touch is the fact that the artwork depicts people of various racial/ethnic characteristics.

The educational value of the book is enhanced by a word list at the end. Overall, a well done collaboration, with a wonderfully poetic title.

New Testament Greek grammars refer to the Granville Sharpe rule, with a short definition of the first of his six rules. For the Greek exegete's library, this volume is as important as BAGD, Kittle, Thayer's, or the TDNT. Every seminary library, and each serious student of the Greek language, should have a well-worn copy of this volume on their shelf. The minimal price of the volume does not reflect it's true value.

As the mother of an 8 year old boy who has ADHD (only recently diagnosed), this book has been a lifesaver for my son and me. My son was literally failing to learn to read, almost living in the principals office, and struggling socially. His reading is now at or above grade level (with some remaining phonemic challenges). Four weeks ago, he started at a public charter school where he is no longer labeled as being "bad" for his "ADD" behaviors. And socially he will be part of a structured program to teach him appropriate behaviors. This book not only explains the challenges that interfere with these children's abilities in all areas of their lives but gives solutions. Solutions that schools and parents can implement for success. My son is living proof of how important this information is to changing the direction of a child's life.

Scientific creationism and its insistence upon a literal reading of Genesis 1 have been dismissed by secular materialists and liberal Christians alike since the advent of Darwin and the infamous Scopes Monkey Trial, which was a public relations disaster for fundamentalism.

In this interesting and informative volume, G. Thomas Sharp -- president of Creation Truth Foundation -- looks at the cultural and social implications of this paradigm shift in science and theology from a theistic creationist to a materialist (either theistic or atheistic) approach.

Sharp's historical analysis of the impact of Darwinism on virtually every intellectual discipline is first-rate, and he traces the subsequent rise of social Darwinism and its broad influence in economics, education, law, politics, psychology, and of course science.

Although Sharp is clear about his presuppositions (he is a staunch creationist), and while his writing style sometimes exudes the enthusiasm of the true believer, the book is a well-researched piece of historical scholarship. As the subtitle suggests, Sharp offers this work as a corrective to what he perceives to be the pernicious effects of evolutionary materialism.

Despite one's opinion of the author's religious beliefs, one can hardly argue with the facts he persuasively presents. The legacy of Darwinism is, as this book clearly demonstrates, a very mixed bag indeed.

Scientific creationism and its insistence upon a literal reading of Genesis 1 have been dismissed by secular materialists and liberal Christians alike since the advent of Darwin and the infamous Scopes Monkey Trial, which was a public relations disaster for fundamentalism.

In this interesting and informative volume, G. Thomas Sharp -- president of Creation Truth Foundation -- looks at the cultural and social implications of this paradigm shift in science and theology from a theistic creationist to a materialist (either theistic or atheistic) approach.

Sharp's historical analysis of the impact of Darwinism on virtually every intellectual discipline is first-rate, and he traces the subsequent rise of social Darwinism and its broad influence in economics, education, law, politics, psychology, and of course science.

Although Sharp is clear about his presuppositions (he is a staunch creationist), and while his writing style sometimes exudes the enthusiasm of the true believer, the book is a well-researched piece of historical scholarship. As the subtitle suggests, Sharp offers this work as a corrective to what he perceives to be the pernicious effects of evolutionary materialism.

Despite one's opinion of the author's religious beliefs, one can hardly argue with the facts he persuasively presents. The legacy of Darwinism is, as this book clearly demonstrates, a very mixed bag indeed.

Imagine that Michael Crichton really was a real brain surgeon. This is the book he'd write-- a fascinating mystery in a totally realistic setting. This author may be new, but his thriller blows away anything in the genre.