Although Duffield and van Cleave's work is a due overview of pentecostal theology, it is also rather superficial, if not to say a bit simple.

I would recommend the work to anyone who is interested in a clear overall pentecostal theology. However, the book could be improved by a lot. Opinians are given as 'biblical facts' and hardly any accountance is given for the philosophical, theological and cultural demise of Christianity for the last three centuries.

This is a book that I believe will be on the bookshelf of any standard Pentecostal seminary and institution. Co-authored by one of the tradition's foremost scholars, this is a book packed with information for anyone who is interested in the tenets of the Pentecostal tradition of evangelical Christianity.

However, solid exegesis is somewhat lacking in this work in that many of the interpretations of certain passages lack a research into the cultural, historical background of the contexts. Though mostly sound, controversial issues like the Pentecostal Baptism of (or with) the Spirit and tongues have weak polemics that could be easily refuted based on biblical grounds. A thorough look at all the passages in regard to a doctrine is lacking.

I believe that if scholarship is to be evaluated based on the thoroughness and skill of the exposition and exegesis, the Pentecostal faith stll has a long way to go.

Still, I recommend this book to every Christian interested in the Pentecostal tradition, whether charismatic or not.

Simple and well laid out book for your shelf. A very easy and quick reference book that can help point for more study. Obviously the authors have a certain doctrinal stand but have managed to still produce a balanced book. I use it anyway and recommend it to anyone.

I downloaded this e-doc for my son, but I can't figure out how to give it to him. What is the name of the file, so I can copy it for him, so he can do his homework on his computer?

Assuming he can read it -- hopefully, tonight, before his test Monday -- it seems like a good product. We really need to find the name of the file, however.

Not to sound pretentious, but I had no trouble understanding "The Scarlet Letter," but I still found immense value in this companion text from Cliffs. It helped me by confirming what I myself had thought about the book and giving me interesting ideas for the term paper I was writing. Its usefulness comes from the ease of reading and the volume and quality of its contents. Of further value to the student is the rapidity with which the Cliffs Notes are read, making it indispensable for last minute paper-writing!

One closing comment: Cliffs Notes, however useful, are an aid for the reading of the full text and are no substitute for it.

Since the Bible is not taught in most schools, this Cliffsnotes is quite handy. There are so many biblical references and ideas driving the theme of Hawthorne's splendid novel, that without this guide, few teachers would understand the full context of Hawthorne's book.

Oh, students will find it helpful as well!

I fully recommend "Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter (Cliffs Notes)."

Anthony Trendl

In search of novels about Native Americans for my seventh grade classes, I recently read this work. The story of Dark Elk's struggle to make sense of his world in the critical historical period leading up to the battle of Little Bighorn is filled with a realistic mixture of hope, sorrow, strength, and futility. Benchley had my attention right up until the ending. After the big battle scene, however, I felt that Benchley must have run out of ideas. He summarizes the rest of his character's life in two short, un-enlightening paragraphs. Whether this listless conclusion symbolizes the emptiness of Dark Elk's remaining years or not, I found it to be unsatisfactory.

this was an excellent book because it tells the life of the native americans who lived here before us. I recommend it to any age reader.

In the story, the main character lived in an Indian settlement. He saw a beautiful girl named Lashuka there, and decided that he wanted to marry her. He asked Lashuka's mother if they could be wed, but she saw no reason to let him marry her. She said that he didn't have anything to offer, so he went to join with the warriors and prove himself. He attacked a small number of white men with them, but something horrible happened. Agency warriors, Indian warriors that lived on the Bluecoats' land, attacked them and saved the white men. The thought of Sioux fighting Sioux disturbed him so much, he set out in hopes of ending it and proving himself to Lashuka's mother.
I enjoyed this book because it was really descriptive and its set a picture in my mind. It was interesting and I thought that it was a good topic for a book. It was exciting to see the plot unfold. I really enjoyed it, and I think that anyone who enjoys a good, adventurous book would really enjoy it, too. The beginning was good at preparing you for the rest of the book, and the middle and end was really exciting. It showed me what Native Americans went through, and I thought it was really interesting. Overall, it surprised me at how adventurous it was.

The Birthmark written by Nathaniel Hawthorne examines the need for the main character to always be perfect. He tries to make up for his less then perfect self by changing the one quality that is not perfect about his wife. This has a very sad ending. His obsession for being perfect is what was his doom in the end. It was a good book to read and I recommend it. It has a conflict between nature vs. science.

[H]e was confident in his science, and felt that he could draw a magic circle round her within which no evil might intrude.
-The Birthmark

Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.
-J. Robert Oppenheimer, quoting the Bhagavad-Gita, July 16, 1945, Alamogordo, New Mexico

Eyebrows were raised and feathers ruffled this week, when Leon R. Kass, appointed by George W. Bush to head the President's Council on Bioethics, asked the newly chosen members of the Council to read Nathaniel Hawthorne's short story, The Birthmark, prior to their first meeting. Even the English majors among us were sent scurrying to find this less well known work, which thankfully is available on-line. And what do you find when you track it down? Well, it turns out to be a well turned American Frankenstein tale that obviously appeals to Mr. Kass for its portrayal of a "man of science" with more than his share of hubris. Condescending sniping from libertarians and the Left has already begun.

The scientist, named Aylmer, is married to an almost perfectly beautiful woman, whose one slight imperfection is a birthmark on her cheek. Despite her near flawlessness :

[H]e found this one defect grow more and more intolerable with every moment of their united lives. It was the fatal flaw
of humanity which Nature, in one shape or another, stamps ineffaceably on all her productions, either to imply that they
are temporary and finite, or that their perfection must be wrought by toil and pain. The crimson hand expressed the ineludible
gripe in which mortality clutches the highest and purest of earthly mould, degrading them into kindred with the lowest,
and even with the very brutes, like whom their visible frames return to dust. In this manner, selecting it as the symbol
of his wife's liability to sin, sorrow, decay, and death, Aylmer's sombre imagination was not long in rendering the birthmark
a frightful object...

Convinced that his mastery of science will surely allow him to remove this blemish and bring her to perfection, Aylmer convinces his wife to allow him to experiment on her, to improve upon nature :

'Aylmer,' resumed Georgiana, solemnly, 'I know not what may be the cost to both of us to rid me of this fatal birthmark.
Perhaps its removal may cause cureless deformity; or it may be the stain goes as deep as life itself. Again: do we know
that there is a possibility, on any terms, of unclasping the firm gripe of this little hand which was laid upon me before
I came into the world?'

'Dearest Georgiana, I have spent much thought upon the subject,' hastily interrupted Aylmer. "I am convinced of the perfect
practicability of its removal.'

'If there be the remotest possibility of it,' continued Georgiana, 'let the attempt be made at whatever risk. Danger is nothing
to me; for life, while this hateful mark makes me the object of your horror and disgust,--life is a burden which I would fling
down with joy. Either remove this dreadful hand, or take my wretched life! You have deep science. All the world bears witness
of it. You have achieved great wonders. Cannot you remove this little, little mark, which I cover with the tips of two small fingers?
Is this beyond your power, for the sake of your own peace, and to save your poor wife from madness?"

'Noblest, dearest, tenderest wife,' cried Aylmer, rapturously, 'doubt not my power. I have already given this matter the
deepest thought--thought which might almost have enlightened me to create a being less perfect than yourself. Georgiana,
you have led me deeper than ever into the heart of science. I feel myself fully competent to render this dear cheek as faultless
as its fellow; and then, most beloved, what will be my triumph when I shall have corrected what Nature left imperfect
in her fairest work! Even Pygmalion, when his sculptured woman assumed life, felt not greater ecstasy than mine will be.'

'It is resolved, then,' said Georgiana, faintly smiling. 'And, Aylmer, spare me not, though you should find the birthmark
take refuge in my heart at last.'

How perfectly Hawthorne, even 150 years ago, captures the deluded pride of the man of science, certain that this figurative mark of Cain (it is even shaped like a hand) will yield to the ministrations of reason and science and that he will be able to improve on God's work, will be able to make a perfect human. That peremptory "doubt not my power" is particularly devastating.

As Aylmer whips up concoctions that even he doubts the ultimate wisdom of using, Georgiana can't help but be alarmed :

He more than intimated that it was at his option to concoct a liquid that should prolong life for years, perhaps interminably;
but that it would produce a discord in Nature which all the world, and chiefly the quaffer of the immortal nostrum, would
find cause to curse.

'Aylmer, are you in earnest?' asked Georgiana, looking at him with amazement and fear. 'It is terrible to possess such power,
or even to dream of possessing it.'

Note that her warning is not simply about the power of such an elixir, but that the very ambition to possess it is "terrible."

But, of course, having opened Pandora's Box, Aylmer will not be deterred from his course of action, so he foists a goblet of some foul liquid upon her and, sure enough :

The crimson hand, which at first had been strongly visible upon the marble paleness of Georgiana's cheek, now grew more
faintly outlined. She remained not less pale than ever; but the birthmark with every breath that came and went, lost somewhat
of its former distinctness. Its presence had been awful; its departure was more awful still. Watch the stain of the rainbow
fading out the sky, and you will know how that mysterious symbol passed away.

'By Heaven! it is well-nigh gone!' said Aylmer to himself, in almost irrepressible ecstasy. 'I can scarcely trace it now. Success!
success! And now it is like the faintest rose color. The lightest flush of blood across her cheek would overcome it. But she is so pale!'

Ah yes, except for that 'pale' part, well might he be ecstatic. But as the reader will have guessed by now, all is not well :

'My poor Aylmer,' she repeated, with a more than human tenderness, 'you have aimed loftily; you have done nobly. Do not repent
that with so high and pure a feeling, you have rejected the best the earth could offer. Aylmer, dearest Aylmer, I am dying!'

The key here is the "more than human" and its suggestion that such perfection is not compatible with humanity. So did one of the great American authors warn us, at the dawn of the industrial age, of the dangerous allure of science and, more specifically, of the belief that mankind is perfectible by Man's own hand and mind.

I have read many books before. I thought this one is a very very good book. It keeps you entertained and has a lot of suspense from beginning to the end. It never gets real slow in parts unlike some books. The book is very realistic and is a historical fiction book. The only thing that I have against it is the details lag and it sometimes skips a month or two between chapters. I do however recommend this book to read. It is very interesting to read.

An enthralling story possesing all the important componants of a good novel, danger, love, adventure, and the best part is, it actully happened. Well, not really, the caractures are fictional but the plot is not. It's the story of a young man living in Denmark during world war II and the German occupation. He, like almost all of the youth in the country, becomes part of the "resistance". The resistance is responcible for doing almost everything possible to irratate, or in some cases kill, the Germans. They were responcible for everything from illegal newspapers to factory bombings. The hero must face death of friends and the terrible feeling that he is responcible for his fathers fate. Nathaniel Benchley has obvioulsy spent a great deal of time on reserch, as this book is almost a resource for information on World War II. The amundance of historical facts may lose the intrest of some but will greatly increase the enjoyment for others. Related books for younger readers are "Code name Chris," and "lisas war," by Carol Mathas and "Number the Stars" by Lois Lowry

This is really a scientific work, but anyone with a knowlege of "Flora's" will find thier way around these books with ease. Although some of the nomenculture is outdated it is still a "Must" for the serious Cacti Species collector.

The Cactaceae by Britton & Rose is a massive, semi-technical study on cacti. It is in fact the largest collection of cactus descriptions and illustrations ever compiled. It was first published in the early 1900's and has since been an indispensible classic for anyone seriously interested in cacti. Various reprints have been made since the original publication when the four volumes have been bound into two hard cover books. The four volumes (in two books) contain 1048 pages and 1250 black and white plates and illustrations. It goes without saying if one is interested in The Cactaceae, purchasing all four volumes (two books) should be considered in order to have total coverage of the subject .. and to retain the value of the publications if you should decide to sell them at some future date. The discounted price offered here is an excellent buy in today's market on these publications.

Most people know Hawthorne's 2nd novel "The Scarlet Letter" (1850). The only reason I was exposed to his first novel "Fanshawe" (1828) was that I majored in English. I think when we are only exposed to their selected best works, we fail to remember that even the BEST writers like Marlowe and Shakespeare were human. And as humans, NOT EVERY SINGLE THING they write can be a masterpiece. So why read "Fanshawe?" Well, this first novel shows us the greatness to come. We are presented with memorable and chilling images. Ellen is memorable as the typical damsel in distress. Fanshawe and Edward Walcott are captivating as the rivals for Ellen's love who put their differences aside to save her. The Angler is captivating as a villain who offers some interesting passages and is not quite a monster. And Hawthorne manages to speed things up with a wild chase and bitter confrontation. To be sure, this does not represent Hawthorne's best efforts, but do we really know an author if we only read his best works? This novel helps us see the greatness that was to come.

None of these texts, having been written by Hawthorne in the last three years of his life, were ever completed. Nonetheless, they provide a view of the author not often recognized in reading his other works. Key issues in these texts are scientific research, the progression of life to death, and succession after death, either through legacy or inheritance. Unfortunately, the author was never able to polish this dicussion in one distinct title, and thus we are left with four drafts to ponder. (Only three are included in this volume; the fourth, which I would also recommend, is Dr. Grimshawe's Secret.) There is no loss in this, for Hawthorne's difficulty in writing these works is a testament to their complexity, and each provides separate details wich lead to the reader's complete understanding of the author's inetentions. As romances, Septimius Felton, and Dr. Grimshawe's Secret stand apart as complete and entertaining texts, most intriguing for the scientific research ethic that Hawthornes implies. Until these works were published, similar issues could only be found -- less completely developed -- in the author's short stories (such as "The Birth-Mark," "Rappaccini's Daughter," and "Dr. Heidegger's Experiment"). Enjoy.

Richard Woodman has spent most of his life at sea, is an eminent Naval historian and the author of several books on Naval history, plus many fictional books. This background and a superb command of the English language make his books a joy to read. His intimate knowledge of square-riggers takes you inside the ship - you are THERE with the crew, battling the elements or the enemy, feeling each blow.

This book expands on the theme of the struggle against Napoleon, plus the new threat from the fledgling United States.
Nathaniel Drinkwater, now Captain, is increasingly involved in espionage and subversion as the Secret Service draws on his special talents to undermine Napoleon's empire-building. It is apparent that Lord Dungarth is grooming Nat as his successor, which lies uneasily on Nat's uneven shoulders.

After a few months R&R, Nat finds himself in command of a crack squadron with a remit to dissuade the US from assisting France. This involves some dissembling on Nat's part - incidentally assisted by an amorous interlude - which causes Nat a torment of conscience, and his colleagues to have doubts about his sanity. The subsequent astounding success of the mission restores his colleages' faith in his uncanny ability to correctly analyse a confusing array of facts and supposition.

This book is in 3 parts, and each could stand alone, but the constant US thread running through them ties it into one story.

As usual, excellent descriptions and tension-building make the pages fly by - and the author's notes fill in the facts behind the tale. A series to read, savour and re-read.*****

Richard Woodman's Nathaniel Drinkwater series is my favourite from the age of fighting sail. Beginning with the brilliantly Gothic Eye of the Fleet set during the American Revolution and through 20 plus years of the Napoleonic wars Woodman has rounded out the flawed but fundamentally decent Drinkwater. In The Flying Squadron Drinkwater faces some of his most difficult challenges to date.

The year is 1811 and the reader, with the benefit of historical hindsight, knows that Napoleon's reign is nearing its end. However, the situation appears far the opposite to Britain. Napoleon's Continental System has severely damaged trade and unemployment in England is rampant. To make matters worse war with the United States of America is looming; a war the embattled Royal Navy neither needs nor wants. As usual the reader can count on Woodman to produce a unique perspective on the times.

The Flying Squadron is constructed in three parts; the first set in 1811 as Drinkwater supports a peace envoy to the USA, the second set in 1812 after war is declared with Drinkwater patrolling the American coast and the third set in 1812-13 where the naval action takes place. It is very much in keeping with the series; covert actions leading to a climactic naval encounter at the conclusion. In my opinion The Flying Squadron is one of the series' best entries.

American readers may find this work difficult to read as the USA is portrayed as the enemy in the novel, especially when the reader sees in the first part that the English envoy is attempting to find a peaceful solution and that London is willing to meet Washington's terms. However, like men of other nationalities who Drinkwater has fought, the Americans are portrayed fairly with one possible exception. Woodman points out that war is a waste and the tragedy of America and Britain fighting while a tyrant rules Europe is subtly made. Perhaps Drinkwater's most effective statement in the first part is his referral to an atrocity from An Eye of the Fleet. I found its reference more shocking in The Flying Squadron than the act was in the original. Woodman savages the idea of a war of gentlemen played out like a schoolyard game.

The first part has a number of lyrical passages where Woodman gets his pen rolling. He can write well and exercises his writing in a number of philosophical areas. A reader expecting more action will be disappointed although there is much dramatic tension. Drinkwater commits an uncharacteristic betrayal and is tortured by his conscience. Perhaps after becoming fond of the Drinkwater character over the last few years, Drinkwater's problems become much more serious than any naval battle. The reader can appreciate the toll on Drinkwater after nearly 20 years spent away from home and family.

In the second part Drinkwater returns to the American coast as the Commodore of a Flying Squadron with open-ended orders. The briefer second section brings to a conclusion some of the events of the first. The action is similar though being more cloak and dagger or cat and mouse. This is the area where Woodman has carved his niche for Drinkwater, in covert actions. There is always more going on than meets the eye and Drinkwater eventually figures it out.

In the third part Drinkwater is off to the South Atlantic fresh with insight from his two previous trips to the USA. In this section we see that his insight has paid off leading to a climactic naval battle. We also get the big picture of the war.

The historical perspective of The Flying Squadron is fascinating and one gets a new angle on that war. However, I don't think a couple of the characters' reflections are accurate. For instance, before war breaks out the view is expressed in the English quarters that they should be able to hold onto Canada for some period of time. I doubt that reflects the realities of the situation at the time. Also, at the novel's conclusion in March 1813 the word from Canada is not good. Historically it was. By March 1813 Fort Michilmackinac had been captured, Detroit had been captured and Americans pursued into Ohio, and the Americans repulsed in Niagara albeit with the loss of the brilliant General Isaac Brock. Woodman might want to consider a revision in any reprinting.

The Flying Squadron may not be to everyone's taste. The vocabulary is such that some of the passages are on the level of O'Brian's in his Aubrey/Maturin series. It could be challenging in a way that one wouldn't expect in this type of historical novel. I'm looking forward to Woodman wrapping up the series if he can maintain his writing at this level.

I, for one, loved this book. I enjoy good characterization and this book has some of the best character development I have read in any novels of this genre...it alone convinced me to buy the rest of Woodman's novels.

Even the Queen of Crime turned out an occasional clinker, and while this particular novel is not actually down-right bad it certainly isn't particularly good.

The premise is interesting: a snowbound group of friends amuse themselves with a "psychic" game of table-tapping, during which they receive a message from the spirits that a friend has been murdered. And so he has--but Christie does not follow her very original-sounding premise with an equally original story; she instead very blatantly recycles a plot twist from an earlier work that most Christie fans (and probably a lot of newcomers as well) will spot almost immediately.

Moreover, the novel feels leaden, completely lacking in the sense of fun and puzzlement with which Christie endowed her finest works. Fans determined to read everything by their favorite writer will no doubt wish to read it, but others would do better select an entirely different title.

You'll be able to tell who did the dirty deed in this one but the snowstorm plot device is very ingenious. A goofy seance begins the story and from there, the amateur sleuthing begins. The main characters seem somewhat like the enjoyable duo from Why Didn't They Ask Evans? Not a masterpiece, but as usual, Agatha tosses an extra red herring into the plot to throw you offguard.

Ahhh. This is more like! A mystery reader/fan must, every now and then, return to the books of the great Dame Agatha. Yet, it becomes harder and harder to find one that perhaps hasn't been read for a while. It's important also, not to get sucked into a recently read title now masquerading under a new name.

I'm sure that at some time in my past, I've read The Murder at Hazelmoor, but not recently enough to have given the subsequently-named The Sittaford Mystery a familiar aura. S'wonderful, indeed.

No one captured the thirties quite so eloquently as did Christie, and this book is a prime example of her art. There is no Miss Marple or Hercule Poiret in this episode, however. Rather we have an intrepid young woman named Emily Trefusis, who has the misfortune to be engaged to the nephew of a man who is found murdered, after his death had been exposed by a 'table turning.' This is a version of the Ouija Board, which was enormously popular in the first decades of the 20th century.

Captain Trevelyan, who was rather fond of money, had been prevailed upon to let out his own Sittaford House to a widow and her daughter, apparently just arrived from South Africa. Never married, the Captain had few heirs: one sister and the three children of another, now deceased. It is James Pearson, one of this latter group, who has captured the fair Emily, and finds himself in jail under suspicion of having done in his uncle.

Emily knows better, however, and with the aid and assistance of a live-wire newspaper reporter, Charles Enderby, sets out to prove his innocence. Emily and Charles quite put in me mind of Tommy and Tuppence with their humorous bantering. (Perhaps they were the inspiration for Dame Agatha, as well.)

The prevalence and importance of trains and their schedules take one back to that time when almost no one owned an auto of their own, and walking twelve miles (round-trip, to be sure) for a visit was hardly any kind of bother at all. If one was fit, that is.

Village life along the moors is captured perfectly, along with the various eccentrics who reside there. It's a cracking good puzzle, with all the clues neatly laid out for the intrepid sleuth. A visit to Agatha Christie's England is good for us all every now and then. I'm looking forward to the next one!

If this book were written in hieroglyphics or Greek, it would be easier to understand, at least if you're not in at least your third year of physics or electrical engineering. I purchased this book after reading the other review and felt the need to add my opinion.

This is one of the finest books on E&M. Uses SI units, ... units cause much confusion in E&M, this book was one of the first to use SI units. As most introductory Calculus based courses now use SI units this is a good second course. Very good example using the "method of images," a topic that confused me my first time through. I had a Physics prof. that gave me good advice at this point, ... I am a good, not a gifted science student, my prof. had the modesty to tell me to move on, ... "nobody understands Physics with one reading, ... or even two, sometimes it takes years, or even a lifetime."
This book reads well and treats a few difficult topics with the simplest examples possible. You need only basic calculus and desire, and possibly more than one reading. I stick this book in my back pocket, just in case a little insight comes my way.

This is a very good book to follow the study of, say, Haliday. Slater was, in writing it, worried about teaching methods of theoretical physics, as well as of electromagnetism. The text is brief and to the point, with the elegance typical of the master Slater was. Maybe the strongest point, however, are the exercises. These are the best you will find in any book on EM.