Dear Thomas,

You have done a wonderful job! The material is clear and concise. Easily understood by all. I have the utmost respect for your work in the field and as an author.

Sincerely,

Starrie

Yes, the author does let us see into himself, but does not deign to "interpret" the men and women who inhabit these pages. Old, old age is a stage of life who's voice we all need to heed. Hints at the kind of life lived "being" rather than "doing" can lead us all to a kind of "spirit" long held "other" and thus leaving us deprived of the balance of long life's wisdom.

This book is a gift.

Open City consistently publishes great stories, poems, essays, and artwork. I look forward to each issue, because each one is so different, and because this magazine continues to be vital and relevant, esp. because many literary magazines are so staid and dull....

Recommended in "A Basic List of Recommended Books and Journals for Support of Clinical Dentistry in a Nondental Library" in Bulletin Of the Medical Library Association, July 1997.

Our Town: Images and Stories from the Museum of the City of New York presents--in the highest quality four-color and duotone reproductions--an amazing range of New York City images, from urban scene paintings, to the renowned Stettheimer Dollhouse, to the phenomenal 20th c. photography of such artists as Berenice Abbott and Edward Steichen. The essays capture glimpses of the City and its history from the widest range of noted authors--Robert A.M. Stern, Oscar Hijuelos, Hilton Als, Louis Auchincloss, Elizabeth Barlow Rogers, etc. Don't miss it!

Are there demons behind every tree? It would seem so according to some people. Every problem is caused by demons some say.

The problem is that blaming demons for everything shifts the responsibility to someone or some thing else instead of taking personal responsibility for our sins and problems.

Robert Dean handles this topic very well. He identifies the true culprit for our problems, ourselves. While the devil is active and powerful, he cannot make us do anything. We make our own choices. If we blame Satan, we are just reacting to circumstances rather than living in reality.

Born in 1951, I was a child of the JFK generation. The Peace Corps, the growing Asian war, the idealism of a few good politicians, protests in the streets greatly influenced my upbringing. All of this was a jumble until I met Dorothy Day and then read A PENNY A COPY. My encounter with Miss Day was very brief, but I do remember the intensity of her eyes. And that intensity flowed into her writings from the Catholic Worker which are contained in this book. The desire to be Christian was burned into every page. Because of this book, my great heros became and still are Peter Maurin and Dorothy Day. In great part I became a Catholic Priest because of A Penny A Copy. Voluntary poverty, Community, and communicating the Good News is what I have sought now throughout my life. Since reading the original, I haven't missed an Issue of the Catholic Worker, which still sells for A Penny a Copy. I am buying an extra copy of the book to give to a friend.

This publication is a must have for anyone dealing with pest of native conifers of California! It is the perfect size to carry in the field while looking at the health of your trees as it fits into your vest or pocket. The photos are excellent, and the guide is one that most anyone can use to determine just what is wrong with your conifers.

With the current catastrophic pest outbreaks in Southern California this is a book that everyone living in the forested areas should purchase, read, and follow up with the other references. It lists which agencies are involved and how to contact them.

A long overdue publication!

Brian Barrette, Staff Chief
California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection
Retired

Robert Waldron's introduction to the poetry of Thomas Merton is a splendid tribute to the late Trappist monk; more, the book itself is a small cavern of light where spiritual wanderers can find refreshment and restoration. The book begins by telling us how poetry can be read as prayer, as "secular psalms" if you will, and provides some valuable quotations about the connection between art and religious meditation, from Simone Weil and Pope John Paul, among others. There is a brief biographical chapter on Thomas Merton, as well as a survey of some of his more notable prose works. (We are especially grateful for the excerpt describing Merton's "Louisville Epiphany.")

But the book is devoted to the poetry of Thomas Merton, and three poems are selected for extended exegesis: "Elias," "Night-Flowering Cactus," and "Stranger." These poems are from a kind of middle period in Merton's verse-work, after the early declamatory hymns of devotional imagery and stentorian phrasing, and prior to the jolly anarchy of "Cables to the Ace." These middle poems are especially well-chosen, spare without being stark, musical without being flowery.

Waldron's patient stanza-by-stanza interpretation teaches us much, and convinces us that "Elias" is a great achievement, unfairly overlooked. (The reader is even invited into the red trailer where Merton composed the poem!) "Night-Flowering Cactus" must be read aloud, slowly and reverently; it is perhaps the poem in the book worthiest of comparison to a scriptural psalm. "Stranger" is a quietly luminous verbal icon, seeming to rhyme without actually doing so, with softly secure lines of a Blake-like or Roethkean simplicity.

The book ends with suggestions on how best to read poetry in a prayerful fashion, and with an ample syllabus of poems by a variety of authors whose words instill the serenity (and sometimes the tumult) of religious contemplation. With boldly natural artwork by Helen Kita, a laudatory introduction by Sister Macrina Wiederkehr, and deeply respectful -- if not reverent -- exploration by Robert Waldron into Merton's verse, this book is perhaps the best in the "Poetry as Prayer" series. This reader is most grateful.

This edition of the Bible, Possibility Thinkers Bible, the New King James Version, was made available through the Sunday TV program by Robert Schuller who said that it contained the most beautiful English translation of the Bible available. Dr. Schuller was correct, in my view. This translation is quite beautiful and very easy to read. Previously I had read another translation in English which was frankly quite poorly and unevenly done. This New King James Version, Possibility Thinkers Bible, brought the Bible to life for me in everyday, beautiful English. My thanks go to the translators of the New King James Version. You did a wonderful job for the Lord God/Jesus Christ.