I compiled my own reading list after reading this book, and so far have found Van Doren's opinions to be right on the money. Everything he's recommended has been worth the time I invested. It is also a great way to get some diversity in learning. Most of us raised in the US don't really get a first-rate liberal education- Van Doren's book offers a way to do it on your own. I highly recommend it for anyone who really wants to broaden their horizens.

A warm survey of many classic texts and why each are worth reading. I enjoyed it very much.

Beethoven's 32 sonatas are the glory of music written for the piano. They are music of Beethoven's lifetime in that their composition spans the period from his early days in Vienna to near the end of his life. In another sense, Beethoven's piano sonatas are the music of my lifetime. I first was exposed to them as an early adolescent through concerts, records, and my own early attempts at playing the easier of them. Today, all too many years later (I am 55), I still try to play the sonatas and I go to recitals. I listen to them on CDs now instead of records. And I read about them, particularly Charles' Rosen's edudite and eloquent study. With short periods away, Beethoven's piano sonatas are probably the most lasting interest I have had in my life.

Rosen was inspired to write this book by giving a performance of the sonata cycle and to lecture on Beethoven at a summer music festival and school. The book is, on one level, a continuation of Rosen's study, "The Classical Style" with application to the Beethoven sonatas. The book is marked by its wide-ranging references. There is a great deal of specific discussion of Beethoven's piano sonatas, of course, but the book is enriched immeasurably by examples from and discussions Mozart, Haydn, and Schubert, as their works are compared and contrasted with Beethoven's.

The book is divided into two Parts. Part I, "The Tradition" begins with a discussion of the nature and development of the sonata form. Rosen describes well how Beethoven's sonatas have, until very recent years, been a bridge from the world of performance of classical music in the home to its appreciation in the concert hall. This was certainly the case with me.

The book discusses various ways in which the sonatas have been interpreted over the years and attempts to find that elusive quarry -- the manner in which the composer would have interpreted the sonatas. Rosen devotes a great deal of attention to questions of tempo and questions of phrasing, with examples from Beethoven's predecessors. He concludes that modern performers place more emphasis on a smooth legato style than would have been the case in Beethoven's day and that Beethoven's tempos would be somewhat different from those at which we now hear the music. In some cases, tempos would have been faster, but I get the impression that in the main tempos were taken at a slower pace. The book comes with a CD recorded by Guiilio Caesare Ricci which illustrates helpfully many of Rosen's musical examples. Rosen stresses that there is no single way of performing these complex, wonderful pieces of music. His discussion of performance practices still is highly useful in understanding the sonatas and in listening to them.

The second part of the book consists of a chronological discussion of each of the 32 sonatas. The discussion is arranged in five parts: a)the early 18th Century sonatas (the sonatas from opus 2 to opus 22); b) the sonatas of Beethoven growing in popularity and independent style (the sonatas from opus 26 to opus 28) c) the sonatas in which Beethoven attained mastery (the sonatas from opus 31 through opus 81a) d). the sonatas composed during Beethoven's years of stress and personal difficulty (the opus 90 and opus 101 sonatas and the "Hammerklavier" sonata, opus 106 ); and e)the last sonatas (opus 109. 110,111)

In each instance Rosen offers some general comments on the character of each sonata followed by detailed thematic, harmonic and pianistic discussions.

I found it useful in this section of the book to read first Rosen's discussion of the sonatas with which I was most familiar, either by attempting to play them or by repeated hearings over the years. Thus I began with Rosen's discussion of the opus 26 sonata and followed it the the "Waldstein", the "Pathetique" and the opus 90 sonata. I then went through Rosen's discussion work by work as it appeared in the book. There is much to be learned, and Rosen's discussion will be useful in listening to the sonatas and following along with the score or with Rosen's discussion.

It is worth noting that Rosen spends a great deal of time on sonatas which are relatively little performed, particularly the opus 54 (which is given in full on the CD that comes with the book) and with the opus 31 no. 1 sonata. His discussion of these work illuminates them and illuminates Beethoven's output. He also gives thorough discussions of more familiar works particularly the "Moonlight" sonata and the Hammerklavier -- with respect to the latter, he follows-up upon the lengthy analysis of this work in The Classical Style.

Beethoven's piano sonatas are indeed music of a lifetime. If you love them, by playing or by hearing them, you will love this book. If you want to learn about them, this book will be an outstanding guide.

Imagine assembling over 300 missionaries, mission leaders and professors of missions to ask them any question you wanted. Now imagine that they addressed over 1400 topics. This new encyclopedic dictionary has done just that. With 700 topical articles, almost 500 short biographical articles, and hundreds of country profiles, the Evangelical Dictionary of World Missions is a veritable goldmine of up-to-date information on missions.

The authors include people from East and West, North and South; practioners and teachers. All have written in non-technical vocabulary and evaluate their assigned topic(s) in light of evangelical thought. The book is decidedly Christian and missiological in tone.

There are short bibliographical notes at the end of many articles and a good indexing system.

Dive in anywhere and enjoy the learning experience.

I searched for this book for a long time. It contains many images of Lucy in her little psychiatric help booth, and gets to the core of her personality with chapters focusing on Lucy's bossiness, crabbiness and imperfection. Additional hands on goodies make it the perfect Lucy book for any age.

I have used this book for several years because it provides some of the best measures of library effectiveness I've been able to find. It includes measures that are easy to use (and I have used many of them). It is comprehesive, covering everything from facilities use to user opinion. Best of all, it provides examples, sample forms, calculation instructions, etc. Although it is focused on academic libraries, there are many effectiveness measures that can be adapted to other types of libraries.

This book starts from the basic physics of superconductivity and deals with superconducting devices, such as SQUIDs, SIS mixers and Single Flux Quantum devices. The treatments of each device are based on the current research, so that readers easily get the front of the fields. It also includes a prenty of important papers as the references and thus you can easily get into the deep level. I found one disadvantage that there is no statements on single electron/Cooper pair tunneling phenomena. I recommend this book for the persons to study superconducting electronics from students to the experts in this field. This book is valuable even for the persons who read the first editon because each treatments are updated.

I must catch my breath before I begin... I am completely overwhelmed by this fine textbook. Did I say "fine"--oh, how limited our language is. What Van Horn and his partner in scholarship have here done for the legal community is beyond measure. I never before imagined that real estate foreclosure could be at one time so interesting and so utterly entertaining. I attribute both to the eloquent style of the authors, who weave one of the finest paralegal tapestries to be found in ink. Once I picked this book up, I could not put it down (and my arms became very tired after the 22nd hour). I toast you, Grayson Van Horn. You have bestowed upon the world a rare piece of writing. I would read absolutely anything (at least the cover page of absolutely anything) you wrote; and not just because I am your son.

I have this book and the matching software. It is excellent! Significantly increased my typing speed from about 25 words-per-minute to 60 words-per-minute. I highly recommend this program and book. NOTE: You have to get the program!

This will disprove Mark Twain's adage that a claasic is a book that everyone talks about but no-one reads. Not only talk about, read but also enthuse about! A first recommendation for all professionals involved with stroke care, honest, practical and beautifully presented. They don't come much better than this....

This book was incredible: helpful, cohesive, and stunningly written. However, the most attractive part of the collection has to be the photography. Each photo not only captures the spirit of the image shot, but captures the imagination as well. Mayer does a fabulous job of grasping the essence of Trulove's verbal images in his work. This book is a must-have, not only for the coffee table anthology, but as a feast for the eyes.