Drews wrote this book in German and it was translated to English with sometimes difficult sentence construction, but the ideas are good and essentially clear. The ideas are not at all outdated. I've read the recent Christ-myth books, such as The Jesus Puzzle, The Christ Conspiracy, The Jesus Mysteries, The Jesus Myth, and Deconstructing Jesus. This book and The Jesus Mysteries are my favorites because instead of only refuting the historical Jesus and discarding the whole of the Jesus story, they ask what is the meaning and value of the myth, in terms of religious experiencing and insight into the relation of self and world.

The conclusion of this book is that given the choice between Jesus as myth and the historical Jesus, the right path for religion as religion is to choose Jesus as myth. If all we have is the historical Jesus of liberal Protestantism, then we no longer have religion, just mundane morality divested of both myth and the supernatural. But if we retain Jesus as myth, then we retain the religious redemption that is possible. He asserts that the Catholic Church could become legitimate by abandoning the historical Jesus and emphasizing the mythic Jesus as redeemer. Despite his elevation of redemption as the true essence of religion, Drews does not define redemption. (I'd define redemption as reconciliation between the self as moral agent and that from which it emanates.) Drews does not explicitly define this reconciliation and explain specifically how the Jesus myth assists this reconciliation.

He explains a main motive for creating the assertion of the historical Jesus. The early Jewish Christian leaders used a strategy of trying to limit authority to themselves and shut out competitors such as Paul and his Gentile/mythic Christianity by creating historical requirements that would serve to exclude others and restrict authority to themselves. Drews shows that this is the same strategy the Church fathers used: assert that the only spiritual authority is that of the person who spent time with the historical Jesus. If Jesus is allowed to be purely mythic, religious authority is potentially spread evenly among all people, but if Jesus is historical as well as mythic, the profitable and advantageous possibility of excluding other authorities arises.

Drews emphasizes the sacred meal as central to early Christian worship and compares it to the central role of soma (= "body") in Vedic religion, thus this book is useful for the entheogenic theory of religion.

You must take a carefull look on this book originally writted at the turn of the century (1910). How actual are the views of this eminent German philosopher.

To my surprise, The Christ Myth is not at all a rant of Christianity and Christian theology, but rather simply a comparsion between Christian beliefs, similar pagan belies, and the essential meaning behind the motiff of the suffering god image that has persisted religious faith in a number of different ways from Mithras, Odin, and on to the sacraficial vegetation god worshipped by modern pagans. That is at least the first part of the book, the second part takes a look at the Jesus figure himself, apart from his pagan influences, and relates how the character of Jesus came about, meaning what went into him, what sources were used, and the eventual product character that is today the centerpiece of Christianity. But all throughout this, the book is still not work of religious forgery of deception, but rather a book about literature and poetry, and how these two elements forged the image of Jesus Christ.

We received this book as a gift for our son's first birthday, and he has loved it to death! He loved to fill in the missing words as we read to him, and quickly learned all of his nursery ryhmes. Now at age 2, he is rediscovering this treasure...he has fallen in love with the illustrations all over again, and he understands the meaning and humor in these wonderful rhymes!

I got this book when I was little and now I want this book for my little girl. My favorite nursery rhyme is the one about the Crooked man. I reccommend everyone buying this book for their children.

The Classic Mother Goose is the perfect book to introduce nursery rhymes to kids of all ages. The illustrations in this book captivate the smallest children and they will choose this book over and over again as a favorite for bedtime stories. My kids read our first copy to death. That is the true test of how good a book is.

The cornell architecture journal is really coming to maturity with its sixth issue. A school which has for a long time relied on its superb theoretical foundations presents here an intersection of theory with practice, a subject that must be adressed by more architects before the chasm between architects who use theory, and those who do not become too big to traverse. Buy this journal if you are an architect, and make Mark Pasnik's "Who's afraid of Architectural Theory" The first article in it you read.

The latest installment in the series of Cornell's journals of architecture raises the bar on student architectural work. Not only does this well put together journal wonderfully display student theses, its articles are well written and very relavent to the practice/study of the profession of Architecture.

I found this book to be both interesting and informative. The section writen by Jason Tapia was not only enlightning but extremely well written. As a Dean of Freshman, for a small college, I focus my attention on acedemic journals that are thought provoking and original!! I must say I was very impressed by the content of this journal!!

I wish I had this book when my father died. Even now, eight years later, it's a Godsend

Creative Grieving signals a turning point in the literature dealing with loss. Psychiatrist Art Samuels joins his 40 years of experience with age old techiniques from the East to create an effective healing process. It helps the reader transcend the fear of impermanence and teaches how to turn major losses into an ever available source of strength and joy. Separate sections in the book address losses due to death, divorce, money, status and moving to a new location.This book is strongly endorsed by eminent scholars in Buddhism and psychoanalysis.

I felt lost and abandonded until I read this book. The person I loved the most was gone. I was unable to love myself or anyone else and was sinking in despair.The book enabled me to get back in touch with the loving part of myself. It helped me nurture myself through the pain of my loss. What is most awesome about the book is that it helped me to identify what I was most missing about that person and use that quality to strengthen myself and share with others. It was a Godsend in helping me through the death of my mother and my divorce.

...Desert Town, written by Bonnie and Arthur Geisert, is an overview of life in a town in the middle of the desert. The story goes through what daily life for the residents is like and shows some interesting details that separate them from AnyTown, USA. The people of the town have to alter their lives to adapt to their environment. They change many daily activities to avoid the blistering heat of their locale. Yet through it all, the people do not seem to mind their unusual lives. The illustrations are simple and direct and seem to display accurately the desolate feel of a real desert. The text unfolds an interesting and informative story and informs the reader of what life in a desert can be like. A delightful combination of text and pictures, the book gives an accurate account of desert life. The story is simple but allows for the reader to discover a different ways of life in a different kind of town.

Kids ages 4-8 will relish this very simple, realistic story of small town living. A dry desert town is filled with life year-round in this fourth story of small town living, which is thin on words and big on pictures filled with fine detail.

The Geiserts have woven a wonderful story for children. It educates about life on the desert along with providing incredible etchings. A perfect addition to the collection.

Everyone's read the oft-accepted story of King Arthur's boyhood, right? A seemingly orphaned fosterling is raised by kindly Sir Ector, doesn't really know who he is. This story gives a mild but enjoyable twist on the old tale.

Artos is a young orphan in Sir Ector's castle, whose only playmates are the sons of Sir Ector, who often look down on him. One day, as he chases the dog Boadie into the woods, he comes across a cave that appears to have a massive dragon inside it. Though Artos is initially afraid, he befriends the ancient dragon. The dragon, in exchange for foodstuffs from the kitchen, will teach Artos wisdom.

The teachings that the dragon give Artos unconsciously change his outlook and his treatment of other people - even those below him. But after a strange incident in which the dragon temporarily vanishes, Artos discovers the truth about his friend.

Aside from the works of Gerald Morris, I don't think I've found a more likeable version of King Arthur than Artos. The lessons that he is taught are mild but creep into the mind and take root, transforming him effectively from a "bulky, unruly, illiterate boy" to a thoughtful and compassionate soul (he isn't perfect, but who is?)

The supporting cast is sparkling, from "Garlic" Meg the kitchen maid, ancient Druid wiseman Linn, and the cheerful smith who provides Artos with his first sword. The writing style is admittedly a bit bare at times, but not so much that it is difficult to read. The dialogue and visualization of the final chapter are perhaps the best part, almost mystical.

A small note to those reading this book for the first time: Read carefully what the supporting characters say, and you might just guess ahead of time what is up with the dragon.

A magical tale without real magic, this is an enjoyable tale for lovers of a darn good story and a must-see for Arthuriana nuts!

I loved this book and it was so cool because I liked the dragon he was cool looking and his teeth are a little bit long and sharp. The book isn't scary at all and the boy meets the dragon in the begining of the book.The book is pretty cool. You should read it it's good. The three main characters are Mag, Sir Ector, and Artos. What I liked about this book was that they're is a dragon in it and a red diamond, and what I didn't like about this book was that all they did was talk about Mag, and Artos. The author is a very good writer. This book was very good you should read it.

When I first read this book I had no clue it was about King Arthur, as a young boy or otherwise, because the copy at my library didn't proclaim in bold letters "A Tale of Young King Arthur." Not until the very end did it dawn on me that this wonderful book I was reading had anything at all to do with the legendary King Arthur I had already read so much about. But this book is not about King Arthur until the very end. For the most part it is about a boy named Artos and his trials and tribulations in growing up and meeting a dragon. This dragon teaches him things he would have no chance to learn anywhere else and balances out his life in a most peculiar way.

Professor Shapiro has provided a first rate addition to the disability literature in this wide ranging and very readable volume. From the need to change attitudes to the historical roots of the oppression of persons with disabilities to the unique problems of special education and many practical suggestions, Shaprio's work is impressive in scope. He has written both a textbook for the field of special education and a reference work useful to all scholars examining disability issues. This book is also a "must read" for policy makers, both in and out of education. As a graduate student in the cultural and intellectual history of disabilities, I expect to make repeated and substantial use of Shapiro's book in the years to come.

Where has this scholar been hiding? Shapiro has written a tome on disabilities and the education of teachers and students--the book has sources, resources and is written in a way that engages the reader immediately. a must have for those involved in education

Dr. Shapiro has written an excellent book on an important topic -- how to successfully promote positive attitudes toward students with disabilities.

Unless teachers and parents plan for the social as well as the physical and academic integration of students with disabilities, the concept of inclusion in regular education classes will not work. Students with disabilities will be rejected, teased, and ignored.

"Everybody Belongs" is a sensitively written, practical book for making inclusion work. Shapiro's ideas are based on years of experience and a detailed, insightful understanding of the relevant research and the history of disabilities. It is also based on a keen understanding of schools, teachers, and children.

I have read this book over and over. Astrid Varnay has so much to offer readers who love opera. It is a great book to read through, but there are parts that take a couple of readings for a trained musician to understand. Her intelligence is evident in every word and so is her humanity. She is most knowledgeable about the works of Wagner and Strauss, so those interested in lighter opera may not be as well served, but her concepts are important for all opera singers. This book is quite honest and those who want some "dirt" on old singers, conductors and impressarios will be well-served. Go for it.

In the pantheon of twentieth-century Wagnerian sopranos, Astrid Varnay ranks very high, though she is woefully underrepresented on available recordings today. Through the efforts of friends and supporters, detailed in the preface, her autobiography has been made available in English, and music and opera fans everywhere should be grateful.

Varnay's story, told calmly but with frequent flashes of wit, begins with the tale of how her parents, both opera singers, met, married, and made their careers in Europe before coming to the U.S. and settling in New York. Young Violet Varnay, as she was dubbed by a teacher who could not cope with her Hungarian name Ibolyka (little violet), worked as a secretary, waited in the Met standing room line and quietly prepared herself for an operatic career. She prepared so well with her coach and eventual husband, Hermann Weigert, in fact, that her resume was met with astonished laughter at her eventual Met audition. The powers that be were quickly won over upon actually hearing her, and her stage career began at the Met in 1941 as a last-minute replacement for Lotte Lehmann in Die Walkure. Before retiring in the late 90s, after a career spanning more than five decades, her voice and dramatic presence would take her to Bayreuth and all of the great opera houses of the world.

It is of course difficult to say how much of the structure of the book stems from the singer herself, and how much from her co-author, Donald Arthur; but one of the attractions of this memoir is the skillful mix of narrative, anecdote and self-analysis of Varnay's numerous roles. She draws portraits of her husband, family and colleagues that leap vividly from the page, without ever descending to mere bitchiness, though she does allow herself some jabs at Herbert von Karajan and Rudolf Bing. The ultimate impression is of a strong, self-aware but not overweeningly arrogant personality--someone one would like to meet and talk to in person. One is touched by her inexhaustible eagerness to perform, and her capacity for discovering insights into roles usually dismissed as worthy only of comprimaria singers. She is also not above laughing at herself, and includes some amusingly informal photographs. Highly recommended.

A lot of opera singers have published their autobiographies the last few years, but almost none are as good as what Astrid Varnay and Donald Arthur have given us here. Yes, we get some dirt (the problems with Bing and von Karajan, for instance) but, unlike others, Varnay never comes across as either bitter or bitchy. Instead it is her story and that's that. She is straightforward, tells her side of things and moves on to another subject.

She also pays the reader the compliment of assuming that if we are interested in her and her career, we will be interested in her roles, some of her reseach on the roles and why she feels the way she does about the characters she played on stage. That is not to suggest for one minute that she gets bogged down in endless tedious details. Far from it! For all of the wonderful digging into her roles, there is also always a delightful quip to go along with it. The humor is there, the talk about colleagues, but it is a refreshing departure from the usual "And then I sang in Vienna and they loved me, and then I went to Berlin and they loved me even more" story. This is obviously the very real story of a singer whose life was the theater.

What stays with me, long after finishing the book, is the enormous amount of work and unrelenting dedication Varnay put into her honeing of both her voice and her dramatic instincts. It took constant hard work, but it was a labor of love--and that love shines through on every page here. The book is the perfect companion to the live performance CDs of Varnay in her prime that are now available. And the world is a better place for having both.

This is a great book for a beginner Java programmer. Many of the concepts are clearly explained and are easy to understand.

However, considering that this is the Second Edition of this book, one would think that they would have addressed the errors in the programs. It is as if no one bothered to compile these programs after they were written.

For example, in Example 2.9 on pages 53 and 54, line 20 states:
"JOptionPane.showMessageDialog("The result is " + result);"
when it should be:
"JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(null,"The result is " + result);"

Looking for a book to teach with? Looking for a book that discusses data structures, JDBC, Algorithm design, pretty much everything? This is the book for you. I was looking for a text for new classes I am teaching in Java and this one fit the bill. Buy it!

"Dear Mr. Gittleman: Congratulations for publishing a wonderful textbook of "Computing with JAVA: Programs, Objects, Graphics". ISBN: 1-57676-023-5 It is the best book I have seen so far in Java books: I like your sense of humor, interesting examples, assorted end of chapter problems, non-threatening, and easy to follow book. Best wishes, Theresa Park, Instructor Computer Science Department Texas State Technical College