In A Guide To Argumentative Writing, Byron Stay (President of the National Writing Centers Association, associate professor and chair of the Rhetoric and Writing Department of Mount St. Mary's College in Emmitsburg, Maryland, and member of the editorial board on a number of professional writing journals draws upon his many years of experience to emphasize the role critical thinking and reading skills pay in the development and execution of persuasive writing. Professor Stay also introduces several effective methods to teach argument as a way of giving students and writers the freedom to find the system that works best for them, and to find ways of incorporating these systems into their writing and thinking. A Guide To Argumentative Writing is informative, illuminative, effective, "user friendly", and highly recommended reading for any writer seeking to successfully persuade or challenge his or her readership regardless of the subject, topic, or issue they are writing about.

In Quest Of Lost Worlds: Journey To Algeria, Ethiopia, Yucatan And Beyond is the rousing memoir and self-described journey of Count Byron de Prorok, an Anglo-Hungarian archaeologist and explorer who researched occult subjects and visited a wide variety of fascinating sites with metaphysical implications during the 1920s and 1930s. From his uncovering of the tomb of the Queen of the Tuaregs Tin Hinan, to his dedicated search for King Solomon's mines, In Quest Of Lost Worlds showcases amazing adventures, reveals ancient legends, and relate what were occasionally quite perilous discoveries. Enhanced with twenty-four pages of special illustrations, In Quest Of Lost Worlds is very highly recommended reading for students of archaeology, metaphysics, and anyone who enjoys great true life adventures!

This is a very helpful book in understanding the Japanese religious experience, due to its historical focus. Rather than merely describing Shinto, Confucianism, Buddhism and Christianity, it follows the history of these religions as they are introduced into Japan, interact with each other, and become indiginized. This allows the reader to see the context within which different aspects of each faith were accepted, rejected and changed. You end up not only knowing what happened, but why. The book concludes with an assessment of how the religions have changed under the impact of modern culture. Crowning a job already well done, there is an extensive, topical annotated bibliography to guide you in further study.

This book is a must for every Jewish library and household. Rabbi Sherwin tackles scholarly materials and presents them in a way that is highly relevant for today's readers. This book gives the reader real tools and a new appreciation of the timelessness of Jewish wisdom.

this is a classic that can be read over and over. well worth finding a copy for your library. it illustrates perseverence, will to live, and above all...compassion of spirit

George Gordon, Lord Byron, gave the rights to his autobiography to his friend, Thomas Moore -- and Moore, thinking to protect his friend and benefactor's reputation, consigned the work to the fire. With it, went Byron's only chance to answer the accusations of his estranged wife, Annabelle Milbank -- who spent the rest of her life displaying the wounds she received in their one year of marriage.

In return for destroying Byron's autobiography, Moore was assured of cooperation from Annabelle and others in his preparation of a biography. Reader's of Doris Langely Moore's "The Late Lord Byron" will know how that prospered. Still, Moore's biography is a valuable start to understanding Byron. Although Moore's portion of the book is typical of the period, stilted and dull, the book itself is largely a collection of Byron's letters and journals, all delightful. Anybody who has met Byron through Childe Harold and any of the poetry written before Don Juan will get a new view of this wonderful writer and charming personality in his own words. Other biographies may offer more insight into Byron's psychology, but none can provide the same pleasure of his conversation. It contains many of his occasional pieces, short rhymes and amusements. The unaffected Byron is a delight, and his political views are remarkably fresh, even for our own time. Short of reading Marchand's collection of the letters, which is rather more expensive, this is the best way to get to know Byron as he was, and not as Belle wanted him to appear.

Lord Byron's parting gift to his friend, Tom Moore, was the publication rights to Byron's autobiography. Moore, however, yielded to pressures from Lady Byron, and burned the autobiography, thereby assuring, among other things, that Lady Byron would have the rest of her life to vilify her late husband without the risk of contradiction. (Do get a copy of Doris Langley Moore's The Late Lord Byron for the details of this story.) In return, Moore was given the rights to prepare an authorized biography, which would say nothing to harm his friend's reputation. The result would have been a long, tedius book, of interest only to scholars and insomniacs -- if it weren't for one thing: in addition to Moore's writing, there are large collections of Byron's letters and journals. Byron was to letters what Pepys was to diaries, and his prose is fresh, sprightly and gossipy. The letters reveal more of Byron than any of the poems, with the obvious exception of Don Juan. They can be read for fun as much as for literary or historical insight. For the modern reader, there are far better biographies of Byron, but for anybody who has become interested in the poet, this volume combines a passable biography with an excellent collection of Byron's own writing. For those wishing to do more detailed studies, the fact that this is the closest thing to an authorized biography makes the Moore volume an essential starting point.

Forget "Jurassic Park," "We're Back!," or "Land Before Time" I through VII. For a truly wondrous dino-adventure, dig up a copy of "The Little Blue Brontosaurus."

The voice-acting is stellar, and the music and sound effects pull you right into the lush jungles of the early Cretaceous Period!

When Li'l Blue faces off against the mighty Gorgosaurus, I had to cover my eyes, even though it was only an audio tape!

When I was younger, the adventures of Li'l Blue made me wish for a pet Brontosaurus!

You'll never look at (or listen to) herbivorous thunder-lizards the same way again.

History is full of examples of ecclesial disconnect -- the lack of a connection between the ideas of the church and the worship of the church and the social responsibility and action of the church. This still is a problem in many denominations and individual churches within denominations -- just what is the connexion between how we worship and how we act outside of worship? Shouldn't there be some connexion? Shouldn't what we do in church both influence and reflect what we do outside of church? Shouldn't our worship transform us, and, if yes, what is the nature of this transformation in the world?

This book, 'Liturgy and the Moral Self: Humanity at Full Stretch Before God,' edited by E. Byron Anderson and Bruce T. Morrill, is a tribute and witness to the work of liturgical theologian Don E. Saliers, who challenged both the church and the academy with finding the ways in which prayer and worship form the Christian life, and ensuring that the rhetoric and the reality match.

'In a day concerned more with promoting "good" feelings, enthusiasm, self-certainty, and self-fulfillment, Saliers' concern for the formation of the deep affections of the Christian life is perhaps most radical in his attention to the formation of those affections that address the apparent lack of certainty in the Christian life. In summoning the Christian community from what he calls "presumptuous prayer", Saliers summons us to liturgical practices of invocation, beseeching, lamentation, and confession by which, in addition to thanksgiving and praise, we name the fullness of human life, our experiences of God's absence as well as God's presence.'

The book begins with an essay by Saliers, in which he lays forth some guiding ideas for beginning the search for a connexion between liturgical practice and ethics, most especially as they reflect upon the prayerful formation of the self in community, and the development and expression of the ethics of Christian character.

From this beginning, the book proceeds in several parts. The first part begins exploring the tradition, practice and beliefs behind liturgical theology. This might well be summed up by the essay title by James F. White: How do we know it is us? The essays in this section different traditions, high, low and broad in liturgy, and the attendant assumptions and expressions that are valid for the communities.

The next part explores the formation of character. Many parts of the liturgy are deeply reflective of who we are as individuals and communities. Are we musical? Are we movement-oriented or stillness-oriented? Are we contemplative? Anderson's essay in this, subtitled Hymning the Self Before God, discusses the importance of hymnody, the style of hymnody, the reasons why changing music or hymnals is so volatile: the music is an integral part of the soul. We sing because it expresses who we are, Anderson writes. Later, he writes, 'We know that the act of singing identifies us as singers. But in singing a hymn, we identify ourselves also with a particular text and tune, even in only momentarily.' Further essays on prayer also serve to illuminate this topic.

The final section discusses the connexion of words and music, including a discussion of liturgical music and and essay of reflections on writing, prayer and practice entitled Clunky Prayers and Christian Living. In this essay, Brian Wren writes: 'Do they matter, these clunky prayers that spill out Sunday by Sunday onto worship bulletins in so many mainstream Protestant churches?' By exploring the spirit of worship, what works and what doesn't, he begins to details that do not occur to the regular parishioner, even the one who recites the clunky prayers week after week for years.

Saliers claims the last word, clarifying at the end of this work yet more questions, foundational and ongoing, as well as his concern that the knowledge of God cannot be without a form of recognising how God is known. Sustaining aspects of the knowledge of God are either upheld or drowned by liturgy; the glory of God is expressed or masked -- the community needs to be aware of what is happening in what they're doing. Saliers calls for an always-reforming spirit (semper reformanda) that is akin to the very call of the gospel itself, to a radical reconnexion with God made new in each place, by each community, in each time.

Ron Anderson is a professor and friend of mine, teaching at Christian Theological Seminary. It has been honour to have been instructed by him, to assist in teaching with him, and to be able to review this book.