The Apocrypha are 16 books (or parts of books) contained in and accepted as canonical in one or more Christian Bibles (Roman Catholic, Orthodox or Slavonic), but not contained in the Hebrew Bible. (The Roman Catholic apocryphal works are often printed in Protestant Bibles, but are identified as the Apocrypha and are not considered canonical.)

Harrington provides a concise introduction to each of the books in the Apocrypha. For each book, he provides a one or two page summary of scholarship on the historical origins and themes of the text. He then summarizes the text itself. Finally, he gives a *very* brief indication of the "significance" of the text -- what theological issues does it address, what concerns has it raised for commentators, what influence has it had (both for Christians and for Jews).

The summaries of the texts account for 80% or more of the book, and while the summaries help identify themes and structure, they add very little to the texts themselves. I found the book disappointing, because I was looking for more depth on the historical background and subsequent significance of the Apocrypha. If you are looking for a very basic, short introduction to these texts, however, this book fits the bill.

This book represents the first survey of the Apocrypha since Bruce metzger's Introduction to the Apocrypha in 1957. This is also the only survey of the Apocrypha that includes 3 and 4 Maccabees and Psalm 151, which are included in the Bible of the Orthodox churches. Daniel Harrington only very briefly discusses the history of the canonical status of these books; one should look elsewhere for further information on this subject. The focus of the book is a summary of each of the 18 books of the Apocrypha. Here the author does an outstanding job; providing for each book background information, a well written and thorough summary of the contents, and the significance of that book. The author is clearly knowledgeable about and familiar with these books. The author's focus on the issue of suffering in the books of the Apocrypha further adds to the value of this book. I would strongly recommend this book to anyone interested in finding out more about the contents of the books of the Apocrypha.

KF: I like Peaches Dann, the amateur sleuth with the faulty memory. But this is not the best of the lot. Actually, it is fairly confusing - giving one the impression of hasty writing and inattention to plot and transition. Certainly not fascinating or intriguing. Actually, not even very interesting.

Peaches Dann has such a faulty memory that she constantly has to create ingenious ways of reminding herself of what is important to her. Her methods are so effective, Peaches decides to help other people suffering from the same problem. She writes a book and starts a tour to promote it. Unfortunately, the book tour is interrupted by her rapscallion of a father, who, though wheelchair bound, has eloped with some woman he has only known for a few weeks. Peaches feels guilty because she introduced her lonely father to the colorful Azalea Marlowe.

She only finds out that they were married when Peaches receives a call from a Tennessee hospital spokesperson who informs her that Azalea has fallen down a ladder at the family homestead she was renovating. Her dad wants Peaches, who has demonstrated some crimesolving ability in yhe past, to investigate the incident because he suspects it was not an accident. When Peaches arrives at Azalea's place, she learns that the family's home has had several mysterious occurrences, including the unsolved disappearance of a groom and his future brother-in-law in 1849. That mystery reaches into the present day as someone is murdering people trying to learn what happened in the mid nineteenth century.

IS THERE A DEAD MAN IN THE HOUSE? Is the fifth book in the Peaches Dann series, starring a unique heroine whose faulty memory makes her crime solving abilities a delightful counterpoint. Elizabeth Daniel Squire creates a realistic murder mystery that is only solvable if the reader is a genius or an expert on amateur sleuths. Ms. Squire has created a charming series that successfully combines the best of a cozy with the elite of a literary mystery.

Harriet Klausner

Don't get me wrong, there is some good insight in this book. However, you have to wonder if this commentary is really "spiritual" as in the Christian tradition, or if he's just a burned out hippie-protestor.

This book seems to have been written by somebody who is still living in the 60's and 70's war mentality. It seems somebody forgot to tell Berrigan we are living in the post-cold-war and post-vietnam days.

Granted, this book has probably become a little more relevant in it's message since the events of 9/11, but still, seems that all the time Berrigan has spent in prison for his activities in protest has left him a little out of touch with reality.

Also, Berrigan seems a little "liberal." I come from a "christian fundamentalist pentecostal" belief, and it seems to me that Berrigan supports the "homosexual lifestyle," which is well, not biblical. However, I do agree with him that we should not pinpoint homosexuals, and make them objects of wrath and such.

While Berrigan does a decent job at showing an understanding of what Jeremiah probably went through, and what God was saying to the people that had turned their faces away from Him, he takes an extreme "poetic license" when it comes to quoting large sections of scripture. Berrigan really cuts out a lot of words out of the mouth of Jeremiah, and makes him sound as if He is suffering from schizophrina. He does this in an attempt to amplify a few key words, but well, seems to leave out all the other words that actually make a sentence intelligible. Also, the hack job on the words of Jeremiah seem to be to make what Jeremiah says more poetic.

The way he quotes passages might make sense if you are use to that coffee shope mentality, where you have somebody playing the drums really fast before a poet reads a broken up verse, with candels burning in the background, strobe lights of many colors composing a backdrop, and Isaac Hayes lightly playing the theme song for "Shaft" in the background. Or in otherwords, if you enjoy smoke and mirrors, with superficial meaning behind the words, then this will all be ok with you.

Also, just a warning: plan to read this commentary with a Oxford dictionary at your side. Berrigan uses a lot of "big words," which will lose many people. Keep in mind, I say this as a sophmore in college.

This book will probably also lose you half way through, because eventually, "you get the drill." Granted, it's not a heavy read, and it's surely not very long. Just do yourself a favor, leave this book in the warehouse at amazon.com. Eventually it'll collect enough dust that they will have to remove it because it becomes a fire hazard.

Jeremiah: The World, the Wound of God,is another In daniel Berrigans'series on "old Testament" prophets. His exegesis is not limited to Biblical times, as he attempts [with great success] to connect Jeremiahs' time with ours. Weapons of mass destruction,,aids,poverty,dicrimination are all still with us, despite what another reviewer wrote,and Fr.Berrigan shows us Jeremiahs reaction to like minded situations, and by default, ours. The book is an indictment of apathy,of governments and churches and NGO's ,etc. and corpoartions athat watch idly by ,wringing their collective hands, as innocents suffer.And Die. If you are willing to be challenged,to be unsettled,to look at things differently,then buy this book and savor it.Highly recommended,even more so in the present climate.

I had expected the author-resident of this book to reveal much more about the Hamptons rather than just a compiliation of names and addresses. In my estimation the book doesn't reveal much insight or short-cuts as the name ("Short-cuts") might infer.

Is does give you a shortened version of the yellow pages.

Jodi's Shortcuts is an excellent guidebook to the Hamptons. It has great reviews of all of the latest restaurants (including new ones that do not appear in other guidebooks), it has a great calendar of events that I could not find anywhere else, and it is chock full of every other service and listing you could ever want, plus lots of secrets, backroad maps, etc.I keep one in the car and one by the phone in the house at all times - it's the perfect resource! It's also got great tips from many famous people - their favorite restaurants and things to do. I loved it, and would highly recommend it to anyone! I hope they do guidebooks to other areas in the future!

This was a beautifully done book with wonderful pictures! The major problem I found with it is that it only covered four or five of the major brands of collectible kitchen ceramics. I ordered it under the impression that it covered a vast range of kitchen ceramics. What proved to be even more disappointing was that there was no price guide! I guess if you're an experienced collector of yellowware, redware, ironstone, etc. this would be a great book. For a novice such as myself, it proved to be relatively useless.

As a novice collector of yellowware bowls I found this book to contain much general information from the history of kitchen ceramics to specific styles. The detailed color photographys are simply outstanding, showing numerous styles within each category of ceramic, and even goes so far as to point out the individual characteristics of pieces made my specific potters. This quickly became my favorite reference book and one I will never part with.

This is a children's book about Larry Ellison. The hard cover is thicker than the 80 pages contained within. If you want a few hour read to get some info about an amazing and interesting man, you've found it. If you want any depth at all, go elsewhere.

Which is surprising because it is supposed to be a children's book. Written for readers between the ages of 9 and 12, it is part of the Techies series, offering small-format books introducing significant figures in high-tech businesses. Other volumes in the series are about Marc Andreessen, Steve Jobs and Jeff Bezos.

In fact, it is far better than any other book published to date about Mr. Ellison, which range from the tedious ("The Difference Between God and Larry Ellison" by Mike Wilson) to the ridiculous ("The Oracle Edge" by Stuart Read and "ebusiness or Out of Business" by Mark Barrenechea). Note: "The Oracle of Oracle" by Florence M Stone has not yet been published as of the date of this review.

This book is a masterpiece of simplicity, presenting clearly in 80 brief pages (small pages, large print) everything worth knowing about Larry Ellison.

Mr. Ellison, of course, is not a particularly admirable character, which caused me to wonder why anyone would write a children's book about him. Be that as it may, the authors do not pull any punches in describing his checkered past. An example:

"Occasionally, Ellison's shaky business practices caught up with him. In 1990 the Securities and Exchange Commission investigated Oracle for 'pervasively inadequate accounting and billing practices.' It was a complicated way of saying that the government thought that Larry Ellison was a criminal. The investigation ended up costing the company $24 million. But the bad press was much worse. People began to doubt Oracle's honesty. The stock price plummeted, and Ellison personally lost more than $3 billion. But as he had in the past, Ellison simply refused to fail. He turned the company's image around-improving its customer support, halting the sale of 'vaporware' (at least temporarily), and generally apologizing for being careless."

If only Mr. Ellison's other biographers would write so clearly, honestly and succinctly.

Daniel Easterman is the Nom de Plume of Denis McEoin, professor at Univ. Newcastle-upon-Tyne, an embittered ex-Baha'i.

The Last Assassin is a real thriller. I am amazed at the authors knowledge, in this case with Islamic sects. Although the problems of the late seventies between Iran and United States are part of our history, this story goes a long way in explaining the way of the Islamic fanatics that made up so much of Iran's history. The story involves a secret religious sect whose intent is to bring about a Holy War. The political and religious intrigue really gets the reader's haert racing. You have to ask yourself, bearing in mind the inability of the US to deal with this problems politically, if a plot as described in the book was possible. Whoever reads this book will be definitely entertained

The subtitle claims "Modern Rhymes and Limericks..." and I bought the book for the latter. There is not a single limerick in this book. If you're looking for limericks, look elsewhere.

If it's your present day fate I pity you. If its in your past I'm sure you'll laugh with yourself and others about the situations and relationships people put themselves in. A great articulation of human predicament. I look forward to the next one.

I spent a few weeks this summer in Cambodia and relied heavily on this book. While this may be the definitive Cambodian guidebook, it is dangerously outdated. So much has changed in Cambodia since the second edition was published in November 1996. Much of the basic information and maps are helpful but I would not rely on any of the places to stay reviews, prices, or schedules. The Cambodia section of the Lonely Planet SE Asia on a Shoestring has a more recent review and was much more helpful. Hopefully an update is in the works.

I used the first edition. It had so much important and interesting information. I wore its maps out, the finest maps available. There was no other source for the information. People living there didn't know what bank could get wire transfers. I left the book with NGOs in country for their use as a valuable resource. If you are contemplating any independant exploration your biggest help will be this book. How did they get so much information. They must have gone everywhere and did everything. Small country, small book I'ld have missed much without. WOW!!

Although a solid guide overall, I would recommend that travellers to this region of the world consider the Footprint guide and/or the Let's Go. LP looked to me to be up-to-date, but sadly this was certainly not the case when I hit C.A. last summer (especially in Costa Rica). Busing and transportation information were generally accurate. Costs though were often way off the mark. After looking through the Let's Go guide at the end of my trip, I noted that their prices were much more up-to-date. Don't be fooled into thinking that the LP online updates for this book are helpful.

Also, the LP book lacks serious detail about hotels. Their wording is scant and weak, and I often found myself wondering why they couldn't just get to the point. The Footprint guide is considerably better in this area, as their writers seem to be not as afraid to say what they really think of these places (i.e. they will tell you if a hotel has a reputation for petty theft - LP won't bother).

Overall this book has some good points, but I would recommend that you take another book along with it as a backup (or use this one as a backup). I should point out that this is a great book for someone with a very limited amount of time in each major place, as their agendas are solid. Also, I highly recommend their Latin America Phrasebook. Easy to use and it got me out of a few jams.

The Lonely Planet Shoestring Guides are great for backpackers: cheap hotels, restaurants, bus schedules, etc. This book was no exception. The information included was generally very up-to-date and thorough. That said, the LP writers must have been directed to gild the lily whenever possible. More than once I decided to visit a place that LP gushed about only to find myself in either a backwater or a noisy charmless city playing cards until the next day's buses rolled out.

Halfway through my trip I found a used copy of Fodor's UpClose Central America Guide (used to be the Berkeley Guide, remember those?) and bought it. The UpClose Guide, while incomplete, provided much more honest commentary on the places I wanted to visit. The book is no longer in print but you might be able to dig up a used copy somewhere.

I'd still recommend the Shoestring Guide: you need to know where to catch your bus!