Halliday's functional grammar is a unique way of describing how language is actually used in a social situation. This is not a grammar of rules, but rather an analysis of language and its functions.

Tom and Meriel Bloor's book is the best introduction to this grammar. Written as a course textbook, with a clear, methodical presentation and exercises, it can also be read as a general introduction for the curious. It is complete and highly readable, and the grammatical theories it presents and explains can be useful to anyone who works with language, to better understand how language works. Language is not examined here out of context - in fact, context is one of the key factors in Halliday's grammar - rather, Bloor and Bloor show how isolated bits of text fit in with the larger perspective of language as a whole.

This book covers the handling, breaking and schooling of young horses. In a very easy to understand layout. This book contains some very good concepts and different approaches in the scholing of young horses. (It really helped me)

Alexander Thomas wrote about three towns in upstate New York, which has been having pretty bad economic problems. What makes this book worth reading is that he shows how what's happening today developed from the end of world war II. He talks about Utica and the urban renewal programs, the highways, the effect of companies moving out, and how the state of the city today is really the product of fifty years of events. Then he shows how small towns like Cooperstown and Hartwick have suffered the same trends but, because theyre small towns, they experienced them differently. Everybody interested in upstate New York needs to read this book! Anybody interested in social change needs to read it too.

Having admired Bernstein for many years, I have always felt that there was a lack of photos from his final years. Here, Seiler has provided a wonderful portrait of the master in his many moods. The close-ups reveal Bernstein in intense thought while his candid photos (eg playing ping-pong) allow us to see his more playful side. Rarely are there photos without the cigarette in hand but this surely is his trademark. The comments by those who knew him add to the mystique and wonder of a man who embraced life so intensely.

"The Papers of Ulysses S. Grant" is a project begun in 1962 for the purpose of publishing all the known letters written by Ulysses S. Grant. Volume one was published in 1967 and there are now twenty-four volumes in the series. People who follow Grant's career are aware of the inestimable value of this project. The Papers contain all known correspondence written by Grant and letters received by him. The editing of the series is unparalleled and the volumes represent primary source material at its apex.

Those who believe Grant was a "drunkard" or a "butcher" should read his own words, which show Grant's humor, pathos and unique personality. Masterfully edited by John Y. Simon, these volumes are a "must have" for anyone with an interest in U.S. Grant as a general, a politician and as a man

Quando Giovanni Reale ocupava-se da edição italiana das obras completas de Platão, sugeriu a Thomas Szlezák, sucessor de Konrad Gaiser na direção do "Platon Archiv" do instituto filológico da Universidade de Tubingen, uma obra introdutória que fosse, ao mesmo tempo uma síntese do magistral trabalho de Szlezák intitulado "Platão e a escritura da filsofia". O resultado foi uma pequena preciosidade fundada na moderna interpretação de Platão exercitada por mestres como Giovanni Reale, Hans Kramer e Konrad Gaiser. Centrada na perspectiva aberta pelos estudos filologicos daqueles mestres, que sistematicamente têm se ocupado em deslocar o eixo interpretativo das obras de Platão da forma como foi estabelecido por Schleiermacher para um novo centro interpretativo a partir das "agrapha dogmata". O livro de Szlezák é uma espécie de síntese das conquistas até aqui alcançadas pela "Escola de Tubinguen". Escrito de forma clara e elegante é atualmente uma das melhores introduções a Platão de que dispomos. Para quem quer se inteirar da moderna interpretação de Platão e a riqueza de sua perspectiva é um livro necessário e insubstituível.

The author shows that he masters the subject with insight and is able to reconstruct either chronologically or by problems, thesis, objections and possible interpretations, the philosophical work of T.S.Kuhn. He choices to present the reconstruction from a caritative point of view, wich allows him to concentrate into the internal problems of Kuhn's theory of science. In Part I he locates Kuhn's work in the context of the Historiography of Science. Part II concentrates in the problem of scientific knowledge and Kuhn's hard and highly misunderstood thesis about "the construction of the world". Part III develops the subject of the dynamic of scientific knowledge and Kuhn's point of view about scientific progress. It is particulary helpfull to have at hand Kuhn's books while reading Hoyningen-Huene's book because he has a gift for suitable quotation.

Samaras' book is an invaluable and rare resource for anyone wanting to explore the truths and myths around human height. We are all familiar with the assumption that taller is better, and have all lived with the consequences and prejudices (internal and external) of this assumption but height is a subject that is rarely discussed studdied or addressed.

As an engineer turned height researcher, Samaras takes a methodical approach to exploring this subject, showing that there are inherent advantages as well as disadvantages to all heights. Some of the chapters read like technical specs (complete with diagrams) so I cannot say that the book is a FUN read, but it does give the reader a multitude of tools for evaluating and appreciating the strengths of her or his body type.

For myself as a short person who had been given the message that my body was inferior this book gave me the essential tools to turn that view around and take my body back.

This is an excellent collection of essays by the greatest preachers in the Reformed tradition today. Some of the topics include The Primacy of Preaching (Mohler), The Teaching Pastor (Sproul), Evangelistic Preaching (Alexander), and The Foolishness of Preaching (Boice). John Piper's essay on Preaching to Suffering People is one of the best things he has ever written and by itself is worth the price of the book ten times over. Derek Thomas' essay on Expository Preaching is full of very good instruction. Joel Beakes' contribution on Experimental Preaching is also excellent. I highly recommend this book for pastors. If you are not a pastor, consider purchasing it for your pastor as a gift. He will be appreciative.

The Fact that this book is excellent should be no surprise, merely take a glance at the authors. This book will probably offend pastors who are in to the modern pop pyschology, but then they probably wouldn't be reading it anyway. Granted, that was probably unfair but...
Naturally some chapters are better than others, here are a few:

"The Lasting Effect of Experimental Preaching"--the essay on spiritual formation--worth the price of the book.

"The Primacy of Preaching"--by Albert Mohler--very good, a wake up call to the church.

"Expository Preaching"--good and bad examples of expository preaching, very fun chapter.

"Preaching to Suffering People"--by John Piper. It is by Piper, enough said.

"A reminder to Shepherds"--By John Macarthur, a fitting close to a fine book.

Absolutely essential reading for upcomming (as well as seasoned) preachers. A true gem, very informative, and a must for all who proclaim God's Word.

Can't say enough about this book. The subject's life is truly epic, spanning the Russian Revolution, World War II and the cold war. Thomas is right when he says that if you judge a writer by how he affects history, Solzhenitsyn is the greatest writer of our century. Plus his life is riveting. I loved this biography as much as any I've read since Robert Caro's wonderful LBJ Volume One. It's neat to have a novelist doing a biography too, as that seems to add a dimension here. Anyway, this is a brilliant work about a riveting subject. Can't say enough about it.

Tedious? Hardly! This critical biography of Alexander Solzhenitsyn is a brilliant and masterful piece of work. Solzhenitsyn's life and art, his epic and singular 20th century struggle, are persuasively treated with courage and truthfulness, and absolutely first-class literary accomplishment by novelist D. M. Thomas. Rarely have I encountered a more affecting piece of biographical literature! Solzhenitsyn's complexities seem to overload the century, and Thomas' patient and exceptionally intelligent narrative follows the thread of every turn with a novelist's master plan giving us, in the end, a scorching and beautiful appreciation of one of the rare writers of the 20th century. The book is a compendium of modern Russian history as much as anything else, and it serves its subject well in refusing to varnish either the man or his milieu; Soviet history, especially with respect to the jarred lives of most of its great artists, is already known as one of history's great tragedies, and Thomas traces Solzhenitsyn's life-long transformation from Soviet man to Russian icon with meticulous care, and with a miraculous understanding of the wayward chagrin of history not often articulated in the biographer's art. It's a massive book, yet because every word is made essential the narrative sails with genuine authority, and with a special beauty. This is an important book, I would say even a gifted book, as indeed befits the story of one of the authentic geniuses of modern literature. Highest recommendation without reservation.

If you're a student or fan of the Russian poet/novelist, then this book is a must-read. It is a superb critical biography of the man who is a giant in the literary world. The book enlightens the reader on Solzhenitsyn's life and politics, in his timeless as well as his contemporary significance.

As is the subject of being written about, this is a giant read - 559 pages in hardcover edition. This is not only a finely wrought literary biography but also a chronicle of twentieth-century Russian history.

Thomas was masterful in his research, ferreting out the myriad substance that forms the great Russian author/writer. A rich and rewarding read.