Concentric Circles of Concern serves not only as a method of evangelism it issues a challenge to all that read it. Making evangelism a component of each relationship of our lives is truly "an assignment that you cannot finish . . . until God takes you home." Thompson's process not only shows how to improve evangelism, it shows how to improve life and the lives of others.

I read this book in school and I was blown away. The book made me think! It has radically changed the way I treat my family, neighbors, and those I may only meet once. This book also made me rethink ministry and do things 180 degrees differently. I highly recommend this book for anyone who wants to learn how to better deal with people, and who wants to grow in wisdom and sensitivity in the area of people skills. It will give you a passion for your life and ministry. As I teach others how to minister to people and how to tell others about Jesus, I use the principles in this book.

If after reading this book your prayer life isn't affected you are blue and twitching on the ground, and breathing your last! Dr. Thompson does a comprehensive and Biblical job treating Intercessory Prayer interspersing each chapter with personal, practical experience. This is NOT a dry discourse, but a book filled with energy to change your life. It did mine!

I like this book because there are a few little interesting short stories in it. The fairy tales want to tell us something about social problems. If you read this book it opens your eyes so that you can see that there are these problems in our society too. But the book is also good for little children, because the fairy tales are written in a nice language. They are very pretty,
My favourite story in the book is „The Selfish Giant". Because first the Giant is very selfish and doesn't want the children to play in his garden but afterwards he sees the happiness of the children when they play in his garden and this gives him happiness too. Also the relationship between the little boy and the Giant is great.

I am no expert on Oscar Wilde, but I've been reading fairytales long enough to be able to tell the difference between an enchanting story and a bunch of pap. The nine magically airy yarns in this small collection are definitely in the first category.

"The Happy Prince" and "The Selfish Giant" are perhaps the most famous of the nine. In the first story, the golden statue of a prince weeps for all the suffering people he sees and begs a swallow to strip him of his riches and distribute them to the masses. In the second tale, a giant builds a wall around his beautiful garden to keep out the noisy children, only to find out that he has also locked out the Spring.

"The Young King" is a variation on the theme of "A Happy Prince". When a young monarch learns of the suffering and misery caused by his requirement for a robe, a crown, and a sceptre, he refuses to handle any of these riches and is given a more fitting raiment by a Divine Power. Keeping with the royal theme is "The Star-Child", about a beautiful but horrible young boy whose physical appearance grows to match his ugly spirit. Another little bird appears in "The Nightingale and the Rose", to help a young man win the heart of the woman he loves.

The stories' themes include beauty, tragedy, agony, compassion, innocence, and (Platonic) love. Some characters give their lives, or sell their souls, in the name of love. There are also the same archetypes that appear in dreams: the Divine Child, the Trickster, the Wise Old Man or Woman, the Number 3, and more. Add all this to Wilde's delicate writing and gilded imagination, and you get some of the most original tales ever written.

Though most of these stories end happily, all end tragically. That is to say, even when the endings are happy, someone always dies. Each story manages to associate everything thrilling and exquisite about beauty with the starkness of death. Accordingly, not all of these tales are suitable for children. For example, one scene in "The Fisherman and His Soul" features witches dancing before the devil and the princess in "The Birthday of the Infanta" is a heartless child whose mockery leads to the death of a little dwarf. Though the stories are moral at the core, and often explicitly Christian, they do not always make sense.

Despite the faults, the keening, poignant loveliness shines through, making me want to read each story again and again and again.

This is the best book I've ever read.It is great for children as well as for grown ups,who shouldn't forget that they were children once too.

Amazing! When a man takes the plain words of Jesus to heart, when he preaches them and practices them, the poor flock to him, and the powerful fear, despise, and execute him.

"The poor are a sacrament who can transform our lives if we are willing to open ourselves to them, to accompany them." (p. 14)

This book briefly outlines the story of Oscar Romero, his message, and his death. It touches on the violence and injustice taking place in El Salvador. It contrasts the Christian commitmen to life with the Capitalist/materialist commitment to death. The book cites his writings and journals on nearly every page. These passages touched my heart deeply.

But, this book was week on discussion about =HOW= Romero converted to the poor. I would have liked to know more about that--this was the primary reason I purchased the book, and I felt disappointed that it seemed to take a back seat to Romero's teachings and praxis.

"There is nothing pretty about Christian hope. Whatever Chiristian hope is, it begins in terror and utter disorientation in the face of the collapse in all that is familiar ... It is no longer the hope of a rescue, but a fixed surety of that which is not seen, where there seems to be no way out, and where death and its system seem absolutely dominant; and it is this fixed surety of that which is not seen which empowers us to the forging of a counterhistory to that of the domination of death." (p. 84)

As Romero's story is told, he is held up as a christ figure, walking in the steps of his Master, proclaiming the gospel of the poor, to the poor, rebuking the powerful, and finally, executed at the altar during mass.

If only this book sold like "The Jabez Prayer" or some of the other, shallow, Christian best-sellers. That would reflect a transformation of mind and heart, one that is sorely needed in a land that condemned Clinton's sexual escapades, but not his policies of economic and structural injustice.

Five stars for broad coverage of Romero's thought. Four stars for telling the man's story--I wanted to feel how he wrestled through the issue of conversion to the poor, how he wrestled through his inevitable martyrdom.

(If you'd like to comment on this review or discuss the book more, please click on the "about me" link above and drop me an email. Thanks!)

As a biography, this book is a mere introduction - but a good one. Latino country boy works as carpenter, enters seminary, studies in Rome, becomes priest, lives comfortable and respectable life of cleric hobnobbibng with the elite of El Salvador, becomes Archbishop of San Salvador, loses priest-friend to assassination, has conversion experience, condemns elite for oppressing the poor, loses support of elite and fellow Bishops, is assassinated while saying Mass for cancer patients, and is proclaimed a saint by his oppressed poor.

As a story of a conversion experience and life thereafter, it is an outstanding and soul-stirring book. Dramatic conversions are not new. St. Paul had one. Constantine had one. Both changed the world. Romero had one and, once again, the world will never be the same.

Romero's conversion makes this book possible. The authors' skill makes it exciting. Romero, a moderately conservative Catholic Bishop, friend of his country's oppressive economic, social, military, and ruling elite, is installed as Archbishop of San Salvador. Warmly welcomed by this elite, he is opposed by the oppressed poor who view him not as a friend of the oppressed but as a supporter of the oppressor. Within weeks of his installation, his friend, Father Grande (supporter of the poor and oppressed), is assassinated by this elite. Big mistake! Romero begins his conversion experience.

He joins the oppressed poor. They become his spiritual sustenance. In his commitment to them he finds the Sacred. His spirituality increases. His mysticism deepens. He becomes a prophet. He is an outcast from the elite and from his fellow Bishops. He enters his dark night of the soul and emerges from it finding God not in the desert cave, or the isolated monastery, or in the stained glass cathedral, but among his tortured and suffering poor. There he finds the sacred, the spirit of God.

This is the message of Romero. It is the message which this book conveys with such power, clarity, and depth. It is an onion book whose layers can be peeled back to satisfy every category of reader: the intellectual, the casual seeker of information, the mother at home in her kitchen, the subway rider on the way to work, the solitary monk or nun, the activist in the street, the powerful of the world, and the ecclesiastic in the church. It is a book that will leave no reader unchanged.

Obviously, i have a great affection for the martyred archbishop of san salvador.Reading and re-reading theses essays,one can only marvel at the man.For anyone who does not know his story, the bare bones are like this; A studious,fastidious young cleric slowly moves his way up the ladder,never negelecting the poor and outcasts, though never being thier champion. At the age of 60, when all of our mindsets are firmly entrenched, he becomes archbishop of san salvador{1977].After a close friend{and Jesuit priest] and two companions are brutally executed, he undergoes a transformation ,a dark night of the soul if you will,and emerges chnged ,transformed,the only true and popular hero El Salvador has known.Champion of the poor, the dissappeared, he begins to read the names of the dead each sunday from the pulpit of the cathedral. The 8 families[a collective name for the oligarchic powers that rule El Salvador]would have none of this. as atrociites piled up from left and right, Romero went along,going from shanty town to village, baptising, comforting listening praying exhortingin his harsher and harsher ministry. he wrote letters to President carter begging him to stop the military aid that was killing so many of his people.{interesting in regards to the former presidents championing of human rights] abandoned by the bishops conference{save for Rivera y damas,his immediate successor] ostracised by the vatican {Pope John Paul had decided to replace him with a more pliable soul], Romero trudged on, towards his obvious martyrdom[which he dreaded]. Finally, In march 1980, two days after his final homily from the catherdral when he demanded, pleaded ORDERED the repression to stop, he was shot through the heart while saying Mass in a chapel for cance patients. The Civil war which he worked so hard to dispel was to go on with over 80000 deaths,countless wounded,and the ultimate indifference of the Us afetr the immediate threat of communist takeover diminished. These wirings about not by Romero, tell the story well,and movingly. I once saw a quote bu m.k. gandhi"my life is my message'tHE WORDS COULD BE THOSE OF oSCAR aRNULFO ROMERO.

In 1903, there occurred an outbreak of animal maiming; farm animals were found horribly mutilated and left to die. Obviously a sick hand was at work. George Edalji, a 30-year-old solicitor became the suspect of authorities. At best George can be describes as a shy, anxious and physically quite frail, not exactly the hardened criminal type. On the evening of the grave event George returned home from work to take a short stroll before dinner, that night in the field less than a mile from his home, someone disemboweled a pony and left it to die. The police under pressure to apprehend the culprit arrested George and charged him with the crime. Conan Doyle on looking at the evidence decided a grave miscarriage of justice had occurred. Conan went out on a campaign to set the record straight and in doing so staked his reputation on the innocence of Edalji; condemned to seven years penal servitude by a country magistrate.

Oscar Slater a pimp, hustler and a draft dodging German, had abandoned his wife and ran away with his mistress. On the eve of December as Oscar was planning to migrate to America, a few blocks away Marion Gilchrist was murdered by an intruder after he jewels. The case against Slater was circumstantial at best. Oscar was found guilty for the crime and sentenced; despite mountain evidence proving his innocence. In this case Oscar began a letter campaign and appealed to judges to re-open the case and correct the wrongs done.

In both the cases Conan Doyle has shown his immense observation and deduction techniques to illustrate the grave injustice done.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the creator of Sherlock Holmes, was not only a writer: he was a scientist, physician, political activist and an amateur detective himself. Two actual criminal cases same to his attention and inspired him to become involved: these two cases are documented in the True Crime Files Of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle for the first time and will represent a 'must' for any avid Doyle reader surprised to find something new.

I believe this book is more than a book just for Sherlock Holmes fans or Conan Doyle fans. It is for anyone who wants to match his or her wits against the Great Detective himself, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The authors or editors of this book have taken articles, letters to the editor, trial transcripts, and even handwriting samples and reproduced them from the pages of the Daily Telegraph of London, a paper that is still going strong today. They can match wits with Conan Doyle as he tries to solve the mystery of George Edalji. In a similar fashion they can follow along with the reasoning of Sir Arthur as he probes the case of Oscar Slater, a German-born jew convicted of jewel theft and murder in Glasgow. This is a book that lets anyone interested in mysteries, particularly true ones, be the judge of whether the men were innocent or guity as charged.

I am an avid collector of film books and films and I usually rely on book reviews in such trades as Publishers Weekly and Kirkus.

I recently bought Emanuel Levy's new, updated version of his old Oscar book, All About Oscar: The History and Politics of the Academy Awards (Continuum International, 2003).

I own the previous version, whose title, Oscar Fever, was better (Continuum, 2001). There's no doubt in my mind that All About Oscar is a better, more comprehensive, more up-to-date, and more illuminating book than Oscar Fever.

Yet when I consulted Publishers Weekly, I was shocked to realize that Oscar Fever had received a much more favorable review than All About Oscar. The reviewer of Oscar Fever wrote: "Levy draws an extraordinarily detailed knowledge of Hollywood history, providing intriguing factoids to supplement his assertions and analysis about subjects such as gender, age, and race in Hollywood, probing such essential questions as whether the Oscars are a "popularity contest." His analysis of why films about race receive Oscar nominations is thoughtful and savvy. No sociological question escapes Levy's notice, and he's got an answer for everything."

The review of All About Oscar was lukewarm, but not as favorable as that of Oscar Fever, even though the latter is a better book. What has happened to book reviewing? Is it that subjective? Does it entirely depend on the reviewer's personality and taste" The least a respectable publication like Publishers Weekly could have done is to assign All About Oscar to the same critic who had reviewed Oscar Fever. This would have been the only way to avoid the problem of subjectivity and arbitrariness in book reviewing.

If I were asked to rank both version, I would give Oscar Fever 3 stars and All About Oscar 4.

If you want to understand which movies are nominated for and win Oscars, and which kinds of screen roles are considered "Oscar stuff" I highly recommend that you read Emanuel Levy's new book, All About Oscar: The History and Politics of the Academy Awards.

But Don't expect to get many insights about the screenplays nominated for Oscar and their writers. Though Levy analyzes in great depth at least ten of the Oscar categories, the only place where writers are mentioned in the chapters dealing with the various films genres (dramas, musicals, historical epics, comedies, Westerns).

But don't writers deserve their own chapter? After all, there are no movies without ideas, stories, narratives, and the Academy acknowledges this fact by honoring not one but two kinds of screenplays: original and adapted.

I do understand that a single volume about the Oscars can't deal with each and every category, anbd I myself don't care much about art or costume design. I learned a lot from reading All About Oscar, I can't fully praise or embrace a book that is more concerned with directors and actors than with screenwriters. For this reason, I give All About Oscar the grade 4.

If you want to understand which movies are nominated for and win Oscars, and which kinds of screen roles are considered "Oscar stuff" I highly recommend that you read Emanuel Levy's new book, All About Oscar: The History and Politics of the Academy Awards.

But Don't expect to get many insights about the screenplays nominated for Oscar and their writers. Though Levy analyzes in great depth at least ten of the Oscar categories, the only place where writers are mentioned in the chapters dealing with the various films genres (dramas, musicals, historical epics, comedies, Westerns).

But don't writers deserve their own chapter? After all, there are no movies without ideas, stories, narratives, and the Academy acknowledges this fact by honoring not one but two kinds of screenplays: original and adapted.

I do understand that a single volume about the Oscars can't deal with each and every category, anbd I myself don't care much about art or costume design. I learned a lot from reading All About Oscar, I can't fully praise or embrace a book that is more concerned with directors and actors than with screenwriters. For this reason, I give All About Oscar the grade 4.

I am one of those people who loves the Oscar show and reads everything available about the Oscar Award. I just finished reading Levy's latest book on the subject, All About Oscar: The History and Politics of the Academy Awards. In my view, it represents a vast improvement over his previous, Oscar Fever.

Let me explain. For one thing, there is new information that was not available before about the Oscar's discrimination against women and ethnic minority artists (not just blacks). In fact, the chapter "Is the Oscar a White Man's Race" reveals that many of the biases that operate in the Oscar awards simply reflect biases that exist in American society, and that the Oscar is just a microcosm of a much larger problem that we Americans need to deal with.

The second new chapter that I like is the one titled, "Oscar's Middle-Brow Sensibility," which documents why, year after year, the Oscar-winning films are not necessarily the best ones artistically, but those that contain uplifting and hopeful messages in their stories. Prime example: A Beautiful Mind, which in the guise of a biopicture was presented as a struggle and triumph of the mind against all odds.

In short, one of the great merits of All About Oscar is that it approaches the subject not just from an artistic or cinematic perspective, but from a social and political one as well, showing that both the Oscar's are much bigger than the movies they recognize. I therefore gives Levy's Oscar Fever the highest rank, 5, and recommend that it be read by anyone interested in American pop culture.

As one of those people who has always found Oscar Wilde an interesting and inscrutable character I had great expectations and an insatiable desire to finally peruse the epistolary output of this remarkable man. Sadly and I will add through no fault of the editors of this opus this compilation will probably leave most readers still searching for insight. Many of these letters (if not the majority) deal with very mundane issues (e.g. business arrangements,inquiries to publishers, very conventional thank you notes and in the post-gaol notes a good number of entreaties for money). Of course this book does contain De Profundis which does present some fascinating insights about the way his mind was functioning during his incarceration as well as the great indignities attendant with this. I would still recommend this to the diehard Wilde fanatic but to the novice would recommend a good standard biography (Ellman's for example).

This book is an absolue delight, a most wonderful portrait of one of the most interesting figures in history. When people think of Oscar Wilde, they think scandals and love affairs. Wilde has most certainly been made into a larger than life character. This book humanizes Wilde, gives him a chance to speak for himself, to show what he really was. His business corrospondnce, letters to his children, these simple writings from his everyday life show a sign of Wilde that people do not think about. I can't recommend this book highly enough.

Though Mr. Wilde is indeed dead, his memory and writing is still with us. With this new book, "THE COMPLETE LETTERS OF OSCAR WILDE" you get a total new insiders glance on Oscar Wilde and his life. If you are a fan of Oscar Wilde, merely just heard of him, or a fan of literature, this is a must-have!

BEFORE TRAVELLING overseas, I always try and read some literature from the places I'm visiting, so I certainly applaud the spirit of the "Traveler's Literary Companion" series. As there doesn't seem to be much in the way of Costa Rican literature available in translation, this anthology is invaluable. However, I'm afraid I didn't find it as illuminating as the reviewers below. While the idea of grouping the 26 short stories by geographical region sounds like a good idea, in practice, I didn't find regional differences embodied in the stories to be distinctive enough to warant such arrangement. Perhaps a better grouping would have been coastal, inland, mountainous, and urban, I'm not sure. Another possible reason I might not have found the selections very evocative is their length. There are 26 stories by 20 authors (six have two stories in the collection) over 220 pages, so one gets more a sense of vignettes with fleeting impressions than a solid sense of what the people or places are like. The one aspect that does appear in the many of the stories is the importance of nature in Costa Rica, both as a source of beauty and as something to struggle against.

A fascinating variety of styles and topics. We especially enjoyed the way the stories are arranged, by region. Sleepy, pick a short story. If you wonder what it might be like to labor with a machete or to live in a small house in the jungle. If you want to know what it might be like to be the only white girl, or the only brown boy. Read this. This book will change the way you see the uniformed schoolchildren, the mysterious round rocks, the lizards... There is more to Costa Rica than identifying birds and eating mangoes.

This small compilation of short stories was a priceless companion on my trip to Costa Rica. The philosophy of the "Traveler's Literary Companion" series is terrific: one of the best ways to really understand a country and its culture is through that country's literature. I highly recommend this book for anyone planning a trip to Costa Rica, or just curious about this glorious and inviting place. ¡Pura Vida y Tuanis!

I AM STARTING UP A PHOTOGRAPHY BUSINESS. AS THE BOOK MAY HAVE TECHNICALLY CORRECT PICTURES,THEY DO NOT TELL THE READER ANY OF THE CAMERA TECHINIQUES USED AT ALL. THE ONLY TECHNIQUE MENTIONED IS HIS USE OF LIGHTS. IT DOESN'T GO IN DEPTH OF THE TYPE OF LIGHTING. IT JUST TELLS THE READER OF THE POSITIONING. ALL OF THE PICTURES IN THE ENTIRE BOOK ARE BASED UPON CHARACTERS OF THE MEXICAN RELIGOUS HOLIDAY OF "DIA DE LOS MUERTOS" DAY OF THE DEAD A.K.A ALL SOULS DAY. IT IS A FESTIVAL DATING BACK TO THE ADVANCED AZTEC INDIANS. IT IS A VERY BEAUTIFUL HOLIDAY IN WHERE THE DEAD ARE HONORED AND DEATH IS VIEWED IN A HUMEROUS MANNER SO NOBODY MAY LIVE IN FEAR OF THE NATURAL PROCESS OF DEATH. PEOPLE DRESS UP IN COSTUM AND MAKE-UP REPRESENTING DEATH AND DANCE WHILE THEY PARADE THROUGH THE STREETS. OSCAR LAZOYA DOES AN EXCELLENT JOB IN CATCHING THE ESSENCE OF THE CHARACTERS. HIS IMAGES ARE EXPRESSIVE AS WELL AS POWERFUL. LAZOYA THOUGH FAILS TO DISCLOSE ANY OF THE TECHNIQUES HE USED TO CAPTURE THESE IMAGES. THE DESCRIPTION OF THE BOOK THAT IS UNDER THE TITLE CAN BE VERY MISLEADING TO THE WOULD BE PERSON BUYING THE BOOK TO LEARN TECHNIQUES OF PHOTOGRAPHY. IT IS RATHER A BOOK MORE TOWARD A GALLERY OF IMAGES. PERHAPS THE TITLE SHOULD HAVE BEEN"LAZOYA'S IMAGES OF ALL SOUL'S DAY" BUT THEN, THE COMPANY THAT PUBLISHED THE BOOK MIGHT NOT HAVE FOOLED AS MANY PEOPLE INTO BUYING THIS BOOK UNDER DIFFERENT PRETENSES.

I very much disagree with SkyHunerV about the absence of technical details. The Author illustrates what lights went where, plus what camera and lenses were used. Yet I highly recommend this book for its glimpse of Mr. Lozoya's bold photographic and cultural vision. It's not "about" Dia de los Muertos, or even the Hispanic Southwest, although these are often its subjects. This is "about" Lozoya's unique perspective on our cultural myths of love and death and innocence. It's playfully bright and solidly graphic. No, this is not (strictly speaking) a how-to book, although most techniques are clearly explained. It's more about talented vision, personal passion and having fun with your camera, family and friends.

Oscar Lozoya's book is an outstanding body of work that very few people can duplicate. The lighting, the posing , the attention to detail is absolutely marvelous. It is a unique style that Mr. Lozoya masters very well and I strongly beleive that it does not matter if you are a beginer or an old timer at photography, this book is worth it. This is what great Black and White photography is all about. Perfect lighting, perfect poses, perfect negative equals a perfect print. A great Master no doubt.

Most first time authors know ZERO on how to write and sell their first book. This book tells you how. If you are even thinking of being an author- get this book!
Rick Frishman Pres. Planned TV Arts (NYC) Co-author GUERRILLA PUBLICITY & GUERRILLA MARKETING FOR WRITERS

I have had an idea for a book for several months but I couldn't get it off my mind. I didn't know how to go about preparing the manuscript or submitting it to a publisher.

Oscar Collier and Frances Spatz Leighton's 'How to write and sell your First Nonfiction' book made a lot of difference for me, and took the pains to carry the reader step by step through all the phases.

I would never have stepped out into the print world without the common sense guidance I was able to take advantage of from this book. I highly recommend this delightful book - its so positive and encouraging as well as giving you all the tools you need to actually publish your first book! Its fun reading and the absolute best 'how to' book I have ever read.

I loved this book it was so great I can't even explain how great it was!

The book might have a misleading title. I bought the book thinking that it is about the mind-body problem (where body refers to mainly brain). It is not. It describes mind and brain largely separately.

Otherwise, it is a decent book. Like many others in the "Introducing" series.

Watch out for the following amazing books is the same series:

Introducing Philosophy
Introducing Quantum Mechanics

The book is short, illustrated and aimed at the general audience. It's not in-depth but does cover quite a bit of ground. It's no replacement for the various case studies by Oliver Sacks, Pinker' _How The Mind Works_ or even Dennett's _Consciousness Explained_, but it does have material worth reading. On the negative side, it's not quite as easy to follow as some other illustrated guides, but I'd still recommend it to anyone interested in neurology.

Pretty much everything you need to know about brain physiology, perception, and psychology of consciousness, presented in easy-to-read cartoon form!

As an emotional intelligence trainer, I found it a lot better than many other books from this rather patchy series. I recommend it to my students.