Funny, funny, funny. What surprised me most was finding out it was based on actual events (meaning that they did go on a camping trip). I enjoy everytime I listen to it.

This book was a very pleasant surprise. It's an ably written, and brief account of the two intertwined lives of the men who served Henry VIII prior to and during the Henrician Reformation. Williams argues that Thomas Cromwell was just as much Henry's "prime minister" as Cardinal Wolsey. The author seems to be more of an admirer of Cromwell than Wolsey, but he doesn't shut his eyes to either man's faults. Of especial interest to me, were Cromwell's correspondence with Wolsey, his loyalty after Wolsey's fall, and his stated wish that Luther had never been.

This is " Huxley's Essays on Hume and Berkeley," spoken about by Aleister Crowley in " Liber OS ABYSMI vel DAATH " -- a short paper which talks of a method to end the reason for the purpose of its replacement by higher, ultimately higher, faculties. This is an excellent treatise reviewing Hume and Berkeley in an exceedingly subtle manner. Huxley's literary style is utterly fantastic. A rare classic to come by.

Certainly photography is a matter of composiotion and light and having your head in the right place at the right moment. But in the end what is photography really about? What are these photos really about? Pain, poverty, community, despair, abuse, childhood, church, worship, hysteria, joy, silence, praise, noise, solemnity, life and death. Faith. Faith as a matter of life and death. Yes, I suppose that's it.

First of all, I am surprised no one has bothered to review this book! I used it in a seminar on the American Civil War at the Japanese university where I teach English and history. It was excellent as an introduction to the subject matter it describes. The chapters were not dauntingly long and Thomas's gift for language presented an abundance of ideas and episodes with a striking economy of words. My students, who are not native speakers of English, were very satisfied with the book and had a sense of accomplishment once they got through it. A Japanese language version of Ken Burns's celebrated documentary on the Civil War was helpful in making much of the book understood; but even without that useful aid, Emory Thomas's book offered a gripping narrative of the Confederacy's short and turbulent history. Having read Confederate Nation my students have a firm and intelligent grasp of the single most tumultuous episode of the American experience.

For those searching to understand the relationship between the conscious, sub-conscious and super-conscious self, this book is a "must read". Henry Reed takes the reader logically through each state and explains how one works with the other. He does so in a way which any reader can relate in the most personal sense. Then he leads the reader to understand how we can apply our ideals to create the reality and direction we wish for our lives in future. This book made absolute sense to me in my search for spiritual understanding. I have given over 40 copies of this book to friends and acquaintances and it has transformed the thinking of many of them.

Even as the Clinton presidency draws to a close, Arkansas remains the undiscovered state. Fishes of Arkansas is a visual treat--a species by species documentation of the incredible diversity of freshwater fish found in that state's streams and waterways. Arkansas is an inland state, so one might imagine that a fish survey would document only a narrow array of green and brown game fish, of little interest to those outside the bait and hook hobbies. Fishes of Arkansas demonstrates instead the incredible biodiversity found in the numerous fish species located in Arkansas. Here are pictures of gorgeous fish, large and small, including many of intense beauty and tremendous color. The darter section of the book, featuring many species endemic not only to Arkansas but in many cases to a single river in Arkansas, shows the reader spectacular, unforgettable fish. The narrative is simple and straightforward--each entry is a separate species, usually with a picture. The grouping is organized by family, and the authors provide judicious use of light explanatory and summation material to tie the individual entries together. If you need something on your coffee table or shelves which is light, pleasant picture-filled reading but not fluff, try Fishes of Arkansas.

Tom Pendleton's collection of essays on Shakespeare's "Henry VI" plays provides interesting and helpful commentary on texts unfamiliar to most readers and audiences. Pendleton's introduction offers perceptive discussion of the plays, their place in Shakespeare's canon, their significance in the Elizabethan period, and their critical fortunes over the centuries. The essays that follow examine the plays from a variety of perspectives, perhaps most interestingly in terms of performance, including Pendleton's own interview with a contemporary actor who performed recently in productions of these plays at the New York Shakespeare Festival. But there is also interesting coverage of filmed versions of the plays and of various critical issues surrounding these earliest of Shakespeare's works.

This collection of essays has a rather tight focus: it was compiled to mark the centennial of the "Shaw Memorial" in Boston by examining the events which inspired that sculpture, how the artist joined other media in celebrating the courage of black soldiers and their white companions, and how the saga of the 54th has moved out of Boston to take on a national life since the Civil War and especially since 1897. Thus the various essays present a nuanced picture of a widening cultural movement. Especially in the past half-century, black contributions to our national life have stepped forward to take their rightful place in our national consciousness, though much remains to be found out and held up to American society. Hopefully this volume marks the beginning of a national pride in which all can celebrate what blacks have achieved (generally at dreadful personal cost). I would have been interested in learning more about the poetry and fiction this regiment--and "the Shaw," its memorial--have inspired over the past 140 years. Whether they're wonderful or dreadful (and there have been plenty of both), stories and poems also demonstrate how our consciousness of black achievement has developed. We need all the help we can get, to learn from the past and move beyond it, but this book is a good start.`

I became a Christian in 1978. Though not a Catholic one of the first books I read after my conversion was Merton's Seeds of Contemplation. I don't claim to have understood it all at that time. As a new Christian I was just trying to learn. I didn't even have the slightest idea who Thomas Merton was, I just found the book in the community college library and started reading. In the intervening years I have gone through many changes and have read many Christian authors. I have come to the point where I am not so concerned with the denomination of the writer or whether or not he or she shares my particular background. What has become important to me is that if I can detect true reverence and submission to God in the writer's words then I will read and benefit. Though I am Protestant and, theologically speaking, Reformed in my thinking, I love Thomas Merton with all my heart.

A few months ago I listened to his autobiography The Seven Story Mountain on tapes. Before that I listened to The New Seeds of Contemplation. Merton stirred up things in me and gave a voice to private thoughts that, unfortunately, can hardly be expressed even in most churches. When I ran across this new book, The Inner Experience, I bought it immediately. I finished it in a couple of weeks, savoring it slowly. Merton is not bound by any lables, denominational or otherwise, yet he remains Christian. This does not make him an enemy of the non-Christian and he never comes off that way. He is wide ranging, yet Christian. In this new work Merton is like someone who pulls you to the side and fills you in on all the details that are really important but were left out of what we've been told is really important. He never hides weakness, never claims to have the definitive answer. He let's you know he's acting as more of a guide, as someone who is clearing mental debris so that you can get a better picture of not so much what he is telling you but what you can become by following God yourself if confusion is lessened. I found myself constantly underlining passages and putting the book down just to let cetain words sink into my thoughts. When I finished the book I knew I would have to read it again. I felt a tinge of sadness as if I was saying goodbye to a friend, but also joy that one who has been dead for over thirty years still spoke with such quiet strength. And isn't that precisely what Scripture says about those who were truly faithful, that they being dead yet speak?

I also found William Shannon's scholarship and guidance helpful. He relates to you the circumstances surrounding the writing of this book, which was actually a rewrite of an earlier work of Merton's (What is Contemplation?) that took on a new form and thrust. Mr. Shannon used different type fonts to let the reader know when the words were part of Merton's revision. These are cataloged neatly by chapter in the back of the book. Merton speaks to our time just as poignantly, maybe even more so, than he did to his own. There are certain people who are ready, indeed who hunger, for the words in this book. You will know who you are when you read it. As Merton says on page 3...

"But if in some sense you are already a contemplative (whether you know it or not makes little difference) you will perhaps not only read the book with a kind of obscure awareness that it is meant for you, but you may even find yourself having to read the thing whether it fits in with your plans or not. In that event just read it......and pray for me, because from now on we are, in some strange way, good friends."

Though Merton is gone I do feel that in some stange way we are good friends. And I feel a little saner in a mad world.