Henry Scougal, a typical Puritan, speaks to the modern ear words of such theological depth in a thoroughly Puritan manner, that of intense, passion. After Jonathan Edwards and John Owen, Scougal should be the first Puritan read by any student today. As I glance over my copy of underlined and noted pages, I remember the impact this book made upon me. Where else could I receive a lengthy dissertation on what "love of God" meant? I recommend that every churchgoer read this to understand that "love of God" is not a gratitude for the many gifts from God (salvation, a nice car, healthy children, lasting marriage, etc), nor is "love of God" a dependance on God when life gets tough (when the children aren't so healthy and the marriage isn't going as well), but the "love of God" is a satisfaction and delight in God Himself, rather than in His gifts. This "divine life" is what we are called unto and is what all true obedience from out of. Where else can today's church receive this teaching? We must turn to Scougal, and I hope that you will join me now in doing so.

All I can say is WOW! I fell flat on my face after reading this young man's terrifying insight. I cannot express in greater terms the absolute need to read this book. Look at the title of it. That's it isn't it? Galations 2:20: "It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and delivered Himself up for me".

A quote by George Whitfield in the preface: "How did my heart rise and shudder like a poor man that is afraid to look into his ledger lest he should find himself a bankrupt. 'Shall I burn this book? Shall I throw it down? or shall I search it?' I did search it; and, holding the book in my hand, thus addressed the God of heaven and earth: 'Lord, if I am not a Christian, for Jesus Christ's sake show me what Christianity is, that I may not be damned at last.' I read a little further, and discovered that they who know anything of religion know it is a vital union with the Son of God -- Christ formed in the heart. O what a ray of divine life did then break in upon my soul!"

Reading this book terrified me because I had to ask "Now that I know these things, what shall I do?". And that began the process where the Lord ripped me open down to the very essence of my nature and furiously broke into my existence.

Thank God for His Son and the relationship They have with each other. Feel free to write; I would love to discuss further.

In his book, Henry Scougal concisely, yet powerfully, spells out what a true Christian looks like. Though our society is mostly a Christian one, not many (including me) live their lives like Scougal's generation of true believers did. Our society has taught us to be relative - as long as we are more "holy" than most of the others in society, we are ok. Scougal teahces us how to be objective - with our focus on God and who He wants us to be. I highly recommend this book for those believers who have realized that their watered-down faith needs to be made strong in the Lord's eyes.

This book is really excellent and helpful.
Sr. Mckenna make us see her devotional life in every pages and it's incredible the way we can feel God's presence....

Sr. Briege McKenna's simple style and her faith make me feel that I am having a conversation with the author. She appeals to faith and simple logics, instead of theology and doctrine, to bring Christ to us.

I grew up with a lot of Catholic educational background, but it was only after reading Sr. McKenna's book that I really appreciated the Sacrament of the Eucharist and of Confession. Her language is simple but her words are powerful. You can really feel Christ's healing presence just by reading the book....

Escape the frantic pace of the holidays by sitting down with your child and reading about it in this book. Margie Palatini's wild, rhyming writing style will keep kids entertained. They may recognize their parents' yuletide behaviour in Moose's manic preparations -- and his inevitable forgetting of a key Christmas element. The moral of the story is a tribute to those who will do anything to make everything just right.

What an amazing Christmas book! If there was only one Christmas book I could recommend to you, it would be this hilarious book. The 2nd class that I read this book to was laughing the whole time and joined in when it was time to say "perfectly perfect". As a teacher, you know that your students love a book when they can join along and read parts of the story with you. I love reading this book and I know you will as well. I agree with the other reviews, this book is very well written. But let's not forget about the terrific illustrations that will spark the children's interests. This will be a holiday story that will humor hearts of all ages.

Mr Moose is back with his amazing and unrivaled handlebar "moosetache" to help us get ready for the holidays. He wants Christmas to be "perfectly perfect" for his family and so he's armed with his checklist to make getting ready easy and simple. First he writes and addresses all his cards, check. Then he shops 'til he drops, check. Then he wraps and ribbons, bakes and cooks and even roasts the chestnuts, check check check. And on and on, decorating and singing and checking off his list. On the night before Christmas he hangs the stockings, just so and calls his family in to see that everything is "perfectly perfect". But his kids notice a BIG problem...he forgot the Christmas tree. Off Mr Moose goes in search of a tree, any tree, but he's out of luck. There just aren't any trees left. As he comes home empty handed, he has a very clever idea to solve his problem and before you know it Mr Moose and his moosetache are decorated and standing in the corner, waiting for Santa. Margie Palatini has written an imaginative, amusing story that will charm and delight youngsters from 3-7. Her rhyming text and Henry Cole's bold, colorful and very expressive illustrations will have your little ones giggling, as they enjoy watching Mr Moose get ready for Christmas. This is a picture book filled with holiday joy and cheer and a wonderful addition to your home library.

After finishing "My Contract with Henry," I let out a sigh. Not only did this book pull you in with a captivating plot, it also had a complete ending. I guess you could say, all the "i's" were dotted, and all the "t's" were crossed. The book gives you satisfaction of reading it. Having read many, many books in my life, I do not have a favorite all together. Sure, i have favorites per genre, but this book left me with out a doubt. This IS my favorite young adult novel. Robin Vaupel is a very accomplished writer, and I can not wait for the next of her books, "Austin's Orbit." I know hopefully that one day, this great book, "My Contract with Henry," willbe a major motion picture!

My 11 year old son read this book and wrote a review for the school newspaper. This is what he wrote. "This excellent novel, tells of a ninth grader, Beth Gardner, who is assigned an experiment that would change her life. As she lives in the woods trying to relive the life of Henry David Thoreau she learns to love the wilderness. When a building company buys the woods, Beth does not know if she can save her beloved sanctuary. Mrs. Robin Vaupel is a devoted teacher and a promising author. Her hard work and dedication, that she put into this book has paid off with fabulous results. This was the best book I have ever read and it was a privilege to be allowed to read this magnificent story before it hit the shelves. I would recommend this book and if I had the authority I would not hesitate to award it he Newberry Medal. On a scale of 1-10 I would give this book a 10."

You really have to read this you'll love it. I think that Robin Vaupel will be the next best selling auther. This book really should be made into a movie.We really need to tell as many people as we can about it!

TASTE A HAPPIER REALITY
The Utopian fantasy is reinvented for the 21st Century
in this dazzling
collection of short stories detailing
the eternal life and times of the
denizens of Bullford, a place beyond our recycled human psyche
filled with laughter, hope, and eccentric wisdom.
Written and brilliantly illustrated
by international artist Melissa Henry.
A generous portion of food for hungry minds.

"A remarkable and revealing piece
of work."
(Professor Ronald Comer,
Princeton University).

Just have to say: I adore "THE NOBLE SOCIETY". These very unusual stories put me in a wonderful funny mood.

These "adult fairy tales from another dimention " have a quality characteristics of the best literature: they shimmer.You will get something different from them upon each new reading.

This book is a collection of political columns, written mostly for the Baltimore Sun, that H.L. Mencken penned in the early twentieth century. In virtually every piece, Mencken advances the view that politicians are third-rate men, devoid of convictions, willing to follow any platform that will make them electable. The only politicians Mencken likes are those that he believes have spine. He detests politicians that waver, particularly those that try to sit on both sides of the fence on the abolition issue.
Mencken is at his best when he covers presidential campaigns, as he does in many columns in this collection. He revels in the empty rhetoric he hears, and describes the bilge to the reader in truculent and uncompromising language. The whole art of politics, to him, is circus-like. The pols are clowns and their election speeches are the main act.
Anyone looking for sober commentary should look elsewhere. But anyone looking for extremely witty, well-written and combative columns should pick up this collection. There is probably no better example of attack-dog journalism out there, nor is there likely a more entertaining way to get a quick history lesson on the important political figures and issues of the early twentieth century. Enjoy!

If you are looking for a book on H.L. Mencken, I would highly recommend "On Politics." This book highlights Mencken at his most acidic through his constant verbal jabs at the "holy" Woodrow Wilson, "Silent" Cal, the "royalist" Hoover, Roosevelt Minor and the stupidity of Warren Harding.(Note: Take a look at what Mencken writes about Harding's mangling of the english language and then compare it to what some modern columnists write about George W's handling of the language. It is truly scary how history repeats itself.)

Besides being an utterly hilarious look at the aforementioned presidents and American society in general, this book is quite eye-opening in terms of showing Mencken's political leanings. I always thought that Mencken was a pure liberatarian with his constant attacks on the New Deal and FDR. Actually, Mencken somewhat liked FDR up until he was elected. Mencken also sides with progressive politicians such as Robert M. LaFollete and expresses sympathy (or as much "sympathy" as the great misanthrope can express) for jailed socialist leader Eugene Debs. Nevertheless, all of the aforementioned people also receive Mencken verbal lashings.

I would highly recommend this book for anyone interested in early 20th century American politics or for anyone with a slightly cynical bent. On days when you feel slightly misanthropic and (mad) at the world, read "On Politics" and you feel much, much better.

Favorite Mencken Quote: "All artists are idiots."

Buy everything you can find that was written by H. L Mencken, this collection is no exception. Mencken was one of the most influential and popular men of letters in America. He covered the Scopes Monkey Trial as a reporter for the Baltimore Sun, and was editor of two literary magazines: Smart Set and the American Mercury. His popularity waned for a variety of reasons. While he teased presidents Harding, Coolidge and Hoover, he gave no quarter when it came to FDR, referring to him "Dr. Roosevelt" and "Roosevelt minor." He had little use for the New Deal. "The New Deal began, like the Salvation Army, by promising to save humanity. It ended, again like the Salvation Army, by running flop-houses and disturbing the peace." This and his pro-German attitudes didn't go over too well in the depression and war years. But over the last twenty or thirty years Mencken has enjoyed a resurgence or interest and popularity. As a journalist, a wit and a social critic he has no peer today.

"ITS A GREAT PLACE TO LIVE
IF YOU CAN STAND IT."

Anthony G. Hendricks

LEAVES for the raking,
By Henry Swain.
1st Books 146 pp.

Henry Swain planted himself in the forested hills of Brown County with his wife in 1947. He's a retired builder, a pacifist Quaker, a cracker barrel philosopher, a humorist, an observer of the seasons and his neighbors. In the autumn of his life, Henry Swain has collected some "leaves of his imagination" comprised of essays, poems, and witticisms. For example: The worst thing about growing old is there is not much future in it.
The first essay "Aspirations" communicates the intentions of Henry Swain. His class laughed at him when he said he wanted to be a philosopher.
In high school I daydreamed of finding a girl to love who would become my life companion. We would live a peaceful life in a place of natural beauty somewhere on the edge of things..... There we would have a family that would grow up along with us among the trees.
Five daughters and 55 years of marriage to wife and place, proves a dream lived to fruition.
Raised as a pacifist, the author had his nonviolent beliefs tested early in life. Today his comments have a striking relevance. In the essay "December 7, 1940," he sketches the time he spent as a Conscientious Objector in work camps during World War II. Near the end of this essay the philosopher speaks.
War becomes a bad habit... The CO position regarding war is often said to be idealistic and impractical. If war is a practical solution to human conflict, why do we repeat it so often?
Henry built the road they live on and his wife named it, Less Traveled Road. The naming of the road refers to Robert Frost's poem, "The Road Not Taken." The name demonstrates the connection and influence one generation of writers and poets may have on succeeding generations.
In "Daffodils," the author quotes Wordsworth's poem. In spring, clusters of daffodils mark abandoned homesteads. The author muses that these living legacies represent, "Love, Beauty, and Hope." And that the woman of the house had been the one to order the seeds in winter for planting in the spring.
The author's sense of humor is displayed in "Trouble In Paradise," where he discusses a few of the pests like, Chiggers, Ticks, and Noseeums. On the subject of snakes he says, "I don't know why some people dislike snakes. I don't even know why I do. I generally leave them alone except when I find them in the house. It then becomes a territorial matter."
In "The Barber Shop," I can feel the straight razor on the back of my neck as the barber finishes. This barber always said to the author, "Don't get to killing sheep." An old farm saying, that means be careful of the company you keep. In Chapter 3, "It Could Have Happened" are tall tales of Brown County. Some center around the incredible power of the native mud. There's "The Scuprats of Salt Creek" a local legendary critter that used local sandstone in bridge abutments to sharpen it's teeth. In the "Shook Rick" the newly arrived city slicker learns about Brown County time, gets a strange lesson in logic, and learns the difference between a normal rick of wood and a "shook rick."
Many essays are written tongue in cheek, while some work as a well told joke. I laughed at the conclusion of "Mail Order Bride." Did you ever wonder why the grading scale goes, A, B, C, D, skips E and goes right to F? The author has thought mightily on the subject. In "Our Strange Language," he contemplates and elucidates upon... our so called native tongue... "It is fortunate that I was brought up in a country where English is spoken; otherwise I am not sure I would ever have learned the language." In the "Clover Effect," he uses the analogy of a four leaf clover to promote tolerance in different sexual lifestyles. About politics, he writes, "Elections always seem to bring out the worst in candidates."
Chapter Five, The Seasons of Change, Henry Swain, 83, lies on his back in fall's leaves to contemplate the beckoning end of his years. These essays convey an enduring sense of life going on. He comments on the need to simplify since: "There's a relationship between time and things. Both can be disposed of, but only things require purchase." Henry muses on "A Century of Change," "... if we are unable to create a better understanding between nations, the next 100 years may decide the fate of humankind."
Henry discusses smells as memory, and the natural universal rhythms of life. He muses about life after death in "Is That All There Is?" and in "The Walk" he dreams about his life -- and we learn that he's enjoyed most of it and is in no hurry to journey on. In the "Circle of Friends" when two old twin oaks die, the ones he thought of as a married couple, he notices they've left a circle. Around the perimeter of that circle are their sapling offspring.
He closes by comparing his life to a book. "If, however, my earthly death does not represent a chapter of a continuing story, but the whole book, I hope I have left a book worth reading." He's included poetry, witticism and essays in this book. The essays draw the reader in, as if sitting down with an old friend to jaw, make wise cracks, and discuss life. Only his loved ones may evaluate the whole book of his life, but those parts he shares with us in Leaves For the Raking certainly rank as worth reading.

Anthony G. Hendricks is the author of two books, a satiric protest, Democracy Bushwhacked, Election 2000, Florida Theater of the Absurd, and a collection of poetry and prose, A Journey In The Human Dilemma, Living A Koan. Both available @www.amazon.com

Reminding us of an interesting past, Henry also shows us a way to make the future a better "place" for all of us to live. This comes from words of wisdom about life. Worth reading by anyone who is interested in either past or future.

Mr. Swain spoke of wanting to become a philosopher. As far as I can tell he surely has become one. I so enjoyed his book and had too many favorite essays or stories to choose a favorite. I hope many, many people will be intelligent enough to buy his book.

Don't be put off by the title. This really is the best introductory book on philosophy. Very readable. It was the first philosophy book that I read (I was in high school at the time). I subsequently went on to study philosophy at Oxford University (England) and Cornell, where I got my PhD in philosophy. Later, I wandered into the field of "computers" where I've had a long and happy career. But I still remember PHILOSOPHY MADE SIMPLE.

This is the best among several introductory books on the subject that I have read. Philosophers and related terms are clearly explained with the support of historical background. Nearly all philosophical ideas are introduced with both sides of the arguments. Sort of the story telling approach make those ideas easy to follow. I highly recommend it to those who want to learn more on philosophy, even for advanced students. I agree with the previous reviewer that one should consider it to be the only book on philosophy carrying aound with for reference. As the preface of the latest edition says, this subject can't be made simpler. Many thanks Mr. Popkin and Mr. Stroll for your great effort.

I am a 4th year philosophy major and it was a great reference book for me. It is really hard to travel with all your books so this one made it easy to look up theories that you made need a little extra help understanding. Or for those out there that have never taken a philosophy course this book would be an easy way to begin to understand philosophical theories.

Very well written, includes lots of interesting information, excellent resource. Highly recommended and I'd definitely buy it again. I've learned a lot about our fox neighbots.

Unlike most animal books I have read this one is on the top of my list for best information. David goes into great detail about foxes, his experiments to test hypotheses and the complete follow up of results. David is not like most animal researchers in that he tells about his private thoughts and times out in the field, and makes an emphaze on how he wants other researches to test his theories and hypotheses. This book is great and very inspiring to get out, watch wildlife and observe.

This is an excellent short revision of a Smithsonian publication from ten years hence, which was also highly acclaimed. The text and illustrations are excellent for those intending to understand or study the fox in it's natural environment. While a short 140 pages of text, the book is crammed with exccellent insights and just enough human empathy to explain how the fox conducts it's life.

I read this one in high school and never forgot it. I recently reread it and was very impressed by the amount of research that went into writing it. While the heroine is sympathetic, I found that my interest lay with the hero. He was easy to picture, but a complex character study. There is quite a bit of humor in the book, usually at the hero's expense, and the supporting characters were wonderful, too, namely the heroine's three knights that have struggled to look after her since the death of her parents. The heroine isn't afraid to get dirty, and has a love for the lost and stray animals of the estate. It is her compassion that wins the hero to her for life. It was also one of the first books I read that begins with a love scene that takes place many years into the couple's relationship, an interesting perspective.

This book, along with "Love,Cherish Me", is one of her best novels. Again, I read this novel years ago and remember it still. Isabelle, the main character, is small but determined, and has a rare gift healing wounded animals. This comes in handy as she is forced to wed a man she doesn't love, who is so scarred mentally that a lot of healing must be done! Warrick, the male lead was complicated, wounded but yet appealing. As they fall in love it is magical. They go through years of adversity and pain, but love gets them through it all. I was moved to tears through some of their problems. The backdrop of the War of the Roses puts them on opposite sides, and almost ruins everything. However, the ending is marvelous. The story is told as a flashback and then back to the present time of the book's beginning. RB has done wonderful research and the backdrop of the book is so descriptive. Buy it if you can find it. I'll never forget this one.

A super read: romantic; well-plotted & well-written. I read this in one day! I like Rebecca Brandewyne when she writes historicals, not Westerns.