This is the best introduction to the field of mythology that I've come across.

Ms. Lowry starts off by defining what myths are, and what they do. She discusses how they provide personal guidance, support (or challenge) the social order, how they provide us with a sense of physical order, and how they help us face life's mysteries. She differentiates myth, legend, and folktale, and outlines the "diffusion vs. archetype" argument. The following sections cover the heroic pattern, the tension between chaos and an ordered cosmos, and the mystery of death. This is not merely an anthology of snippets from around the world; she discusses in-depth the underlying motifs, and the disguises they take on as they appear in different ages and cultures. The breadth of her scholarship is impressive...she's equally comfortable with Theseus and Gilgamesh, Horus and Beowulf. More than just a dry anthology, this book challenged me, taught me a great deal, and made me want to learn more. And you can't ask for much more than that.

If you are involved in helping families in crisis, I believe you will find this book an essential resource for your work. Although a little technical, It's pages are filled with "Real World" information necessary for delivering good counseling services while maintaining your own well-being. This book is an outstanding contribution to the mental health community, and should probably be a mandatory text for anyone working with families in crisis.

This is a very readable book. The essence of this book is proposed changes to the Social Security System and marriage/divorce laws to restore some of the incentives to get the neccesary work of caretaking of the children and the aged done.

With some very simple back-of-the-envelope calculations (She goes through the numbers in a bit more detail in an appendix), Burggraf makes clear the extent to which the Social Security system functions to socialize the benefits of a well-reared child while many of the costs of raising a productive citizen remain privatized. At the same time she also makes the point that the once-hidden opportunity costs of having a full-time parent at home are now quite apparent since women have the option of becoming lawyers, doctors and managers. The combination of these two features of our economic system provides a compelling incentive for both spouses to work and not to invest themselves in themselves in having or rearing children. The result is an entirely predictable decline in the parental resources devoted to children.

A second interesting and important point that Burggraf makes is that Social Security is not and has not for decades been a savings plan but a transfer payment system which (ideally) functions to provide for the persons who have lived beyond their working years. Other people have of course made the same observation, but Burggraf's treatment is atypical in that she argues that the transfer payment aspect is neither surprising or bad. Instead, she argues it is right and proper that it is right and proper for adult children to provide for their aged parents, but that the current system muddles this relationship. She notes that the way for a couple to maximize their Social Security benefits is not by investing themselves in their children (who will be paying the FICA and medicare taxes to support them) but to maximize their own earnings in the paid workforce and put little or no energy into child rearing.

One final point of her book which deserves mention is consideration of the point that "family wealth" for all but the richest Americans consists not of tangible assets but in the earnings power developed through years of education and experience in the paid workforce. In essence, she advocates bringing back some form of alimony payments which would continue for approximately the same duration as the marriage in order to give a caretaking parent some security in exchange for the loss of earnings power for forgoing the opportunity to develop one's own earnings power.

Burggraf proposes some interesting changes to the Social Security system and marriage/divorce laws in an effort to restore some of the traditional incentives to get the necessary work of care-taking of the young and old done.

This book was an excellent resource for choosing an Alaskan cruise!!!!!

Much Shirley Temple material is out there. But this is truly the most pictorial of them all. And if a picture is worth a thousand words, this book proves to be the most informative. Every Temple film is covered, from her War Babies years to Kiss for Corliss, her last around 1950.

If you love to see rare pictures, this book shows at least 2 pages for every film she's ever made. There is no book like it. Very little of the hardcover's were ever produced. I had the oppurtunity of studying it cover to cover. The paperback is just as great.

If you love Shirley Temple, it probably all began with her films. Robert Windeler, through this book, presents this sparkling star, in no better way---through her films.

You cannot describe a child the way Shirley was in words alone, she was born to excite the eyes with her serene beauty, rare charm, and God-sent personality.

I urge you to consider purchasing this book if you have the least bit of interest for Shirley Temple because this is the ULTIMATE BOOK.

Im at GeoCities in the Hollywood-Cinema-4260 section on the web should you want more information. My website is called starsights.

We have had this book (among hundreds) for two years now, I have yet to see anything else like it. My young children continuously go back to this book for storytime. It is completely interactive, slightly spooky and totally fun! All you need is a dark room and a wall to shine the flashlight on, everyone can join in the fun.

This is a wonderful story about a little girl who was chosen to be a frog in her school play. The problem is that Flora does not want to be a frog because she believes frogs are fat and ugly. Flora's mom makes her a frog costume for the play, but Flora is not interested and throws the costume in a tree. Towards the end of the story, Flora finds a pond that has three frogs in it. The frogs are glistening with their silvery spangles and Flora realizes that frogs are not fat and ugly and decides she wants to sew spangles on her frog costume.

This is a beautiful book. At the beginning of each chapter there is some information about the flowers in the designs. The book includes many well-detailed projects,(for example: a clock,sampler,cushion,greeting cards,tablecloth,...). There is a photograph for each end result. One can also adapt the designs to use in one's own projects. The floral designs are beautifully simple and not time consuming to stitch, the colors are very life-like. The thread charts include DMC, Anchor and Madeira. Though the design charts are in black & white they are real easy to follow. I hesitate a lot before I order a book with no review, but I'm glad I ordered this one.

It is about world war II. Jay Smith has tons of adventures such as romance, saving peoples lives, and risking his own life for someone else. He owns part of a saw mill. He fell in love with a girl who likes him, but the problem about that is she is the daughter of his father's worst enemy. it is a cool book. the coolest part is how Jay has to find his uncle Mathew in the Valley of Lost Planes. Jay searches for him and finds his plane crashed thinking him dead. Though Jay sees a sign that says his uncle is okay .He climbs out of the plane. He looks over him seeing a plane that has a pilot named Mr. walker and he also sees his father and his Uncle Mathew. He relized his uncle walked to the alcan highway and was picked up by Mr. Walker and his father. His uncle and Jay's family is much closer now.

I'm very passionate about Japanese cooking and have many cookbooks. This is the best, it does not only give you all the classic recipes from sushi to terriyaki and tempura, but the book also contains a lot of healthy excellent dishes.
The background of the ingredients and the recipes the author gives is so interesting you keep on reading. Unfortunately there are few pictures but that should not keep you from buying this book.