"Metaphysics" has been in print and used in classrooms since the 1960s, and for good reason -- it is a clearly-written introduction to central metaphysical issues such as the mind/body problem, determinism and free will, and the existence of God. Here and there, author Taylor seems to get carried away with the "heaviness" of his subject, which leads him to immitate the tone of Ecclesiastes, or to succumb to faux-Spinoza-isms about how "untutored and vulgar" people lead impoversished lives as a consequence of their inability to understand metaphysics. But otherwise the book is excellent. If you wanted to introduce a smart teenager or college freshman to the subject of philosophy, you couldn't do better than "Metaphysics."

This book is excellent for getting a good grasp on some of the contemporary problems involved in metaphysics. He seems to take sides in the determinism section, but maintains the other side to a degree that keeps the problem (barely) alive. The text is straightforward and very readable.

This is the text book for many college philosophy-knowledge and reality courses. A small book that one can read over a few times and think about the tough questions of epistemology and metaphysics. The mind-body relation(or lack thereof), freedom and determinism, fate, space and time,temporal passage,causation,God,and polarity, are among the topics touched upon. This is a book in which you must think as you read,and watch out for assumptions the author makes at points. Go for it.

The book I read was Teetoncey. It won eighteen books for young people`s award. The author is Theodore Taylor.I liked this book a lot ! I give book a 4 stars. I think this book is exhilarating beacause it is surprising and you don`t know what going to happen`s next . It has an exicting ending . I can connect to this story beacause the named Ben O`Neal was very brave and I am brave too. This story is about a brave boy searches in the darkness for signs of suvivors. I recommend this book to anyone who likes an exhilarating,don`t know what`s going to happen next book! Pick up this book now!!!

I read this book (a trilogy actually) when I was in junior high school, sixth grade I believe. I loved it then, but forgot the title of it amidst the rediculous quantities of books I read. Yet as I got older, I found myself occasionally thinking of the wonderful story and characters. Unfortunately, I could never remember the name of the book or the characters. But finally, I have managed to find it after much frustrated searching. If you have any question as to rather you would like to read this book, just remember that I spent fourteen years or so looking for it because I enjoyed it so much in my childhood...and that's a pretty good recommendation!

Young Ben O'Neal finds a girl who has survived a shipwreck off the coast of Cape Hatteras and his family takes her in. She is shrouded in mystery, having forgotten her identity in the trauma of the shipwreck. They nickname her Teetoncey, in reference to her petite size. But her spirit is huge! One day, when Ben's friends are trying to impress her with their knowledge of swear words, she floors them with a string of curses that would make a sailor blush! There is speculation as to whether she is from a rich family or not, and is there treasure that went down with the ship she was on? Will they find it? Ben evolves from a boy who feels stuck in the Outer Banks culture to a young man who begins to appreciate the world at large, as he gains respect for the young girl they call Teetoncey. Engrossing; excellent for 9 to 12 year olds.

There are amongst the hundreds of styles of short story, those that hug the side of pure narrative and those that offer a snippit of the complexities of human life. Of the latter, there is none greater than Anton Chekov, but modern masters also abound... Tobias Wolfe comes to mind. In my reading of Peter Taylor's "The Old Forest and Other Stories", I couldn't help but feel that his audience has passed. I enjoyed many of the stories, some quite alot, but they did not speak to me. They did not resonate. Personal favorites like 'Promise of Rain','The Scoutmaster', and 'The Gift of the Prodigal' contain more of an element of a narrative style, sprinkled with those ominous gaps that lie behind a person's mind. The titular story is perhaps my favorite except for its being bogged down with expository literacy. I have a distinct feeling that I have read a book that added to my knowledge of writing and reading as a whole, but I have not read a book in which I have thoroughly enjoyed.

With full acknowledgments for the differences in taste, I must express a total dislike of many of the other stories: the final play, 'The Death of a Kinsman' in particular. The underhandedness disguised as cleverness on the writer's part is obfuscating and patronizing. In fact, I think patronizing is a good word to sum up the collection. However, good writing intentionally raises opinions. If you've come so far as to read the reviews on this page, it might just be worth investigating these stories yourself.

I have a confession to make. I don't like these stories. I recognize the strengths of Taylor's story telling - the elegant language, the depiction of emotional tension in simple things, the clear progression of 'story' or theme from setup to inevitable conclusion, but I can't get past a deep dislike for his characters. This is a personal failing. Taylor's fiction depicts a world that is inhabited almost exclusively by a certain class of affluent, white, middle class city dwellers whose lives are bounded on the upside by manners, fashion and ritual (in imitation of an upper class to which, presumably, they aspire)and on the downside by a stiff reticence and correctness of behavior to insulate them from their inferiors (not only their black servants but also whites of a lesser social and economic standing). I grew up in Nashville, TN at a time when this world was rapidly passing away, but I have met people, more than a few, who could have stepped from the pages of these stories, and almost without exception developed a deep antipathy for them. Their overt arrogance which seemed to mask a great fear of the world 'outside' always made social intercourse with such people strained and unsatisfying. There is nothing like being politely condescended to to make the recipient want to deliberately break convention and strike through the mask. So it's personal.

I have read, and reread, these stories enough to see that Taylor's characters are frequently as frightened of change and the possible corruption of contact outside their little world as I had sensed in the real Taylor-type folk I have met. There is great skill in his presentation of this tension, but it doesn't lead me to empathize, much less sympathize, with his characters.

Any given person's response to a piece of fiction is going to be colored by a host of factors over which the author has no control, and no writer ever had universal success at generating the response he desires the reader to have. In the case of my response to Taylor's stories, I fear that my dislike of the specific milieu (and its inhabitants) that is his chosen subject will forever keep me from a full appreciation of his work.

I have trouble with assessments of great writing that tend to subordinate every concept to setting. We know that Chekhov wrote about the Russian provinces, Cheever wrote about WASPs in New England, William Trevor writes about lower middle-class Ireland, and Faulkner wrote about Mississippi. We also know that Taylor writes about the upper South (not the so-called "Deep South" that some others have mentioned). So what? What many of us realize, but often fail to mention, is that Taylor is writing about the human condition, as all of these great writers have. I'm a firm believer in the notion that the setting is incidental--a product of the world Taylor understood. So, as we can say with Chekhov, Cheever, and Trevor, Taylor writes about people. We appreciate these stories because they are about us, whether we're from Maine, Mississippi, or Maryland. If you have any belief in a universal human condition (whatever that may be), in the truth inherent to archetypal stories about people, you'll find that the setting only serves as the metaphorical framework in which the author works. It's our own problem if we have trouble shedding our regionalism, not Taylor's. Also, this book is not an obituary to the death of any particular culture, but a celebration of life and universal human relationships. How can "The Gift of the Prodigal" be about anything but that? Who would say that "The Gift of the Prodigal" is about Charlottesville, VA? So, by all means read this book. Don't be turned off by its Southern setting or its WASPy characters anymore than you would be turned off by Chekhov's rural Russia.

This book is too all encompasing of the design process for anyone who works in design. It is probably good for techies who have never done graphics before to get a grounding in "look and feel", but for me, it was a waste of time. I'm throughly familiar with the design process, I need generator specifics. It is a good book, just not as technical as I needed.

A complete how to book, from start to finish. Walks the reader through every aspect from design to datasource to the code linking the two together and lots more. It is based upon a real world site/application, which in my opinion increases its value and merit. It's a book for anyone of any skill level & will have at least one thing that will make owning the book worth every penny.

Considering the lack of material available on Generator at the present moment, this may prove to be the best book on the topic for some time. And once again, since it's based entirely in offline Generator, it appeals to any flavor of Generator, Developer or Enterprise. In fact, you may never have a need for online Generator, after reading this book.

Wait no longer, get the book, and open up new worlds for your customers, employers, or just for yourself. :)

With the publication of Generator/Flash Web Development, the technology world has found a new bible. From conception to completion, this book will take projects to new heights. I feel the book is a great learning tool (and interesting enough to keep even the neophyte's attention). The fourth chapter, Building the Template, proved to be most helpful. The care and precision taken by the authors is extensive. The knowledge demonstrated by Alvarez, Taylor, and Groch is vast, as are the possibilities that this book will open.

Often the focus of screenwriting books is 'how to get your movie made' when, as most pros know, a huge percentage of scripts are purchased and left to languish in a drawer somewhere.

That's why it's refreshing to have a book of actual, real-life, purchased scripts to ease the pain a little. After all, if these decent scripts never got made, maybe YOUR stellar idea has a chance- well, at least a chance of an option.

Big points to Taylor for keeping the realist point of view alive. And the scripts really aren't that bad, either. I din't find much that other screenwriting books offer, but I think the key element here is a 'killer hook' within the book itself- most Screenplay gurus haven't sold much themselves. Add this one to your collection if you are serious about making it in Hollywood.

I actually didnÕt buy this book, but IÕm going to. It was loaned to me by a friend. IÕve purchased other books containing produced scripts, and IÕve downloaded them from the internet, but this was the first time that I got a chance to read screenplays that were successful enough for a production company to pay for, but werenÕt produced for some reason.

Richard Taylor, the author, is not a big-name screenwriter, as he points out in his foreward. HeÕs very experienced in the way Hollywood works, though, and he tells a number of stories about his experiences that I found enlightening. He answers the one question IÕve heard aspiring screenwriters ask the most, about having material stolen. HeÕs had several screenplays ripped off and provides advice about what to do when that happens. He also throws in a little philosophy about it, too.

Of the three screenplays, I liked American Mythic the best. ItÕs better than most of the produced screenplays IÕve read. Actually, on second thought, itÕs the best script IÕve ever read. Psyche has a great beginning and some good moments, although it lacks enough action for todayÕs audiences. ItÕs a little too people-oriented. Unknown Causes shows its television pilot origins. The author says that Unknown Causes was ripped off for a major feature film, but he only hints about which movie that was.

If youÕre a screenwriter want-to-be, or someone with a casual interest in writing scripts or in Hollywood itself, then IÕd say 3 Screenplays is a must read.

This is a collection of essays which compare [homosexuals] in the US with those in Latin America. It looks at male homosexuality from a historical, pre-colombian, and tribal perspective as well. Murray is an erudite anthropologist and therefore does not fall into the loopholes in scholarship that many white men who "study" homosexuality in Latin America have. The author is a bit of an essentialist and that may rub constructionists the wrong way. Of his books on international male homosexuality, this is the best one buy far. I think every [homosexual] Latino who wants to know their own [homosexual] Latino history should own a copy.

There are some excellent books on male homosexuality in particular sites (Hector Carrillo and Joseph Carrier on Guadalajara, Mexico; Richard Parker on (Rio) Brazil; Manuel Fernandez on (San Pedro, Honduras)) but this collection ranges much more widely, including material on indigenous cultures as well as the dominant machista one that varies only slightly from Texas to Tierra del Fuego, and incipient "modern gay" homosexuality.

About half the chapters are by Stephen Murray, who has considered reports from many societies and done fieldwork in Mexico, Guatemala, and Peru. He is very critical of the romantic view of "tolerance" ("anything goes"/ "there's no sin south of the border") but includes chapters by the two main purveyors of that view (Paul Kutsche and Richard Parker). The book contains a multiplicity of scholarly views and data ranging from the usual literary texts to ethnography and survey research on sexual behavior of males who have sex with males in Latin America.

This book is essentially an argument against Calvinism. If you like the idea of re-visiting well worn theological arguments, read on. If you desire to better understand and to overcome your sin, you would do better reading John Owen's "Sin and Temptation" (ISBN: 1556618301) Taylor obviously has a high view of right living, or a life that is righteous. And this is commendable. But for a person who is STRUGGLING with sin, the answer is not to work harder at being good; that person needs grace. (The biblical book of Galatians would be helpful, read along with Martin Luther's commentary on Galatians.) In seeking a "right conception" of sin, Taylor would have done better to do some biblical thinking rather than just "right thinking" which (in the case of this book) turns out to be just "wishful thinking." By the way, it is clear that Taylor doesn't really understand Calvinism. I hope that it's not that he wilfully misrepresents it; rather, I think that he seeks to understand it based on his own preconcieved views and describes it based upon human reason (and also largely upon his view of human experience). In some ways you can't help but reach his conclusions when you build the arguments the way he does. The problem is that Christian theology should be biblical, not based upon the faulty observations of human experience and the shifting sand of human logic. Some of what he says might "feel right" but it doesn't stand up to biblical scrutiny at all. As soon as he claims that "right thinking" rather than "biblical thinking" is the way to a right conception of sin, he starts with a wrong premise, and slowly, step by step, veers way into misunderstanding and misconception.

This book is the definitive resource for understanding and communicating the Arminian viewpoint. Although it is scholarly, it is not beyond the reach of the average Bible student.

I could not recommend it more highly.

This is very interesting book or rather a research report. More than 300 appointments are analysed scientifically for success. Such factors as, internal versus external appointments, the use of a committee to make the selection versus a single person , the selection steps, what candidate qualities are most important for success, and much more have been examined using statistical methods. The book is not an easy read but fortunately it is short, 77 pages. Even when it may in some cases hard to understand, the findings are thought provoking, and the list of questions asked is excellent.

FILM FACTORY is a thoughtfully selected collection of primary documents relating to events in Russian and Soviet film. Brightly translated and well-annotated, it is both an ideal introduction to the period for advanced students--and a gold mine for the researcher.

Worx have once again come up trumps with this book - although not as biblical in usefullness as there Professional ASP Series this book is a excellent starting point for those new to WAP and an intersting read for those that are familiar with it or internet technologies and wish to get up to speed with this area. The only dissapointment is that there is no cd supplied with the book and many of the toolkits and SDK's that are essential for the succesfull development of WAP applications are quite large downloads. Overall a good buy and usefull for anyone interested in the area.

This is my first book on Plain WAP and I found it very easy to use and to read! - I also bought the XML for Professionals by wrox which gave me a very good WML Background.

The writing style is absolutely excellent and gives clear tips on code optimization and performance. I have read literally dozens of different books on WAP, and none has been so specific. Although this book is not for total beginners, it is, in my opinion, good for anyone who wants to advance their career on the web or become an WML developer. This is definitely a book you will want to read from cover to cover, and use as a reference!

For those who know any web based programming languages, this book is for you. It gives you the scoop on WAP and what makes it tick. It presents the basic syntax of WAP in a fairly easy to understand format (put it this way, if you know HTML you practically know WAP). It also has an awesome section on how to integrate it with what you already know (In particular the Cold Fusion section was awesome! I leave it to those who know ASP, JSP, and XML to judge the other pieces).

In short, don't buy this if you're just starting web development, I would recommend you learn HTML and one server side language (ASP, ColdFusion, etc.). If you do that, then you're ready to learn WAP with this book and build some truly awesome stuff for the ever blooming wireless world!