For anyone who has quit a job to move on, but had mixed feeling when doing so, you'll find emotions in this book that you can relate to. David Loader writes "some sense of the emotional loss that I was about to experience swept over me," realizing how many of his friends were not going to be a part of his daily life anymore.

Then there's the "Stumble Principal." Stumbling kind of reminds me of brainstorming. You start with one topic that triggers other thoughts and pretty soon you're at a completely different spot -- but maybe that's a better place to be. If we don't experiment, and aren't open to trying new things, life would be pretty dull! David Loader states "stumbling has one other dimension, falling on your face! Sometimes this may be appropriate." This is how we learn.

You'll find that David Loader brings such reality to his writing - so many things that trigger learning experiences in your own life. He has great insite into the educational ! process, and seems to be a leader who doesn't present an illusional image.

This is a book, once read, that you will keep on your shelf and grab often.

David Loader invites us on a journey of new ways of thinking about education. He exchanges the four walls for more refreshing images such as circus, Cinderella, and Frog Prince'pals. As a teacher who loves his art, I could never imagine giving it up for an administrative role - until reading this book. I could actually consider an administrator as maybe having something valuable to offer to the educational enterprise. Loader's insights regarding technology provide thought-provoking possibilities for more creative and effective education located within home, business, and community contexts.

If you enjoy French literature in translation, you should already be familiar with the name of Norman Shapiro--one of our pre-eminent French-to-English translators. Quite simply, whatever Mr. Shapiro chooses to translate results in a highly enjoyable, entertaining addition to my French lit. bookshelf! If you find pleasure in Richard Wilbur's Moliere, Donald Frame's Montaigne and Rabelais, Richard Howard's Stendhal and Baudelaire, Burton Raffel's Chretien, or Merwin's Song of Roland--then you owe it to yourself to investigate Shapiro's La Fontaine translations--four volumes to date: "Fifty Fables" and "Fifty More Fables" published by Illinois, "La Fontaine's Bawdy" published by Princeton, and the present book, "Once Again, La Fontaine" published by Wesleyan. These books are--alas!--one of the best-kept secrets of High French Literature to Read for Pleasure.

Also, Shapiro has translated volumes of Verlaine and Baudelaire for the University of Chicago press (two very handsome paperback editions), and do be on the lookout for his edition of Ronsard/Marot/Bellay from Yale University Press!

The publisher's annotation fails to mention *anywhere* that the CD included with the disc features 26 fables read by actor Douglas Sills, of Broadway's The Scarlet Pimpernel fame. He does a delightful job of interpreting various characters.

This book is absolutely a must read for anyone who wants to succeed in tomorrow's totally-electronic trading environment. Like it or not, technology is the future of trading and the sooner you learn about it the better.

I found this book to be very helpful - and plan to buy a copy for everyone in our trading group. A soup to nuts guide to the business and technical aspects of the electronic trading arena. Whether you are a seasoned trading professional, new to the area or looking to implement an Electronic Trading System, there is something new for you to learn in this book and much to help gain a competitive edge - before the others catch on.

If you want to know more about Lord Norman Foster's contribution towards Germany, then, this book would be it. It tells you all you need to know about Reichstag, probably the most controversial building ever built in the history of Germany. Along the way, you get to learn more about Germany as a country. This book was well presented with high quality pictures abound, taken by several prominent photographers of all aspects & angles of Reichstag, pictures of Lord Foster's previous works (to understand his way of seeing things), pictures of Reichstag's past and present (to let us appreciate how far that building has gone through). Moreover, to enhance diversity & to understand Reichstag from many prespectives, Norman Foster invited several scholars to complement his own writings. The final result was simply spectacular. I wouldn't find this book academic. Rather, I found it highly entertaining & I came out of it a better knowledgeable person. Definitely a must-have for architecture enthusiast or if you want to have a cerebral hard bound book to display on top of your coffee table. Among the highlights of the book was reading about the competition stage, about Lord Foster pitching against other international superarchitects (such as Santiago Calatrava) and local architects from Germany, & of his reservation if Germany was sincere towards its invitation of international people other than Germans to participate or the whole thing was just for show; his emphasis of 4 points, ie. Parliament being intertwined with Reichstag's history, an understanding of the institution & its inner workings, economics in terms of meeting the budget in the restoration of Reichstag & the savings achieved through reduced running costs via technology advancement & clever planning, & lastly the emphasis on energy ecology by using sustainable environment friendly for sources of energy other than its reliance on fossil fuels- reinforcing Germany's image as the country that takes the lead in fostering better technology that would reduce the unfavourable impacts towards our fragile environment; a project all on its own for Lord Foster to design the eagle or better known as the "fat hen" that signified Germany; Lord Foster's involvement with avantgarde artists such as Jenny Holzers (American), Christian Boltanski (French), Gerhard Richter & Sigmar Polke (German) & many others -reminding readers that Reichstag is not merely acting as a Parliament but also as an important Art Gallery (3% of the construction cost of the building, already 1% higher than the norm); the evolving stage of deriving the iconic dome, which was deemed as a 'boiled egg' by some critics at one stage but eventually, being deemed as the icon that all Germans are proud with in the end; Lord Foster's invitation of Danish graphic artist, Per Arnoldi to look into colour coordination of the place; the intensity (at times, heartbreak) but effectiveness of constant dialogues with the Building Committees, the techniques used in the restoration process re the graffitis left behind by the Allies armies after WW2, Claude Engle (lighting consultant)'s invaluable contribution of the lighting design by channelling xenon lights towards the cone & thus, channelling them through all corners of German, symbolising the democracy at work & spreading thru all corners of the land, & so forth. The book also contained a proper Reichstag's chronology, end credits, postscripts to bombard us with even more information. Lord Foster stressed the significance of getting in touch with the past, to live the present, & anticipate the future with optimism, sensitivity towards the history of a building to come up with a building solution that is appropriate for its time rather than having to resort to brutal reconstruction, the necessity of having transparency & lightness interior in contrast with the solid mass exterior to show the passage of time & the changes made in terms of thinking. Highly recommended.

I recently spent a month in Europe. I was suprised after visiting Berlin, Vienna, Prague, Budapest, and London- that Berlin emerged as my favorite place.... that despite what I thought beforehand, I left my heart in Berlin, not Prague.

I only went to Berlin because I studied many historical events that took place there, and Berlin was the epicenter of The Cold War! West Berlin was THE capitalist showpiece and East Berlin was THE communist showpiece. United, Berlin will become (when all the construction has been completed) Europe's showpiece and greatest city- WITHOUT A DOUBT.

This book is the story of the awesome history of Berlin, a history that seems more embedded in tragedy than triumph. But, alas, Berlin has survived two devastating wars and the harsh reality of the WALL. Now, it is Berlin's turn. It's Berlin's turn to show the world what a magnificant place she was, is, and will become.

The Rebuilding of the Reichstag not only talks about the post-Wall renovations, but illustrates in great detail the history of the building, and thus the history of Berlin- you are taken on a journey of the history of a city and it's people....the people of Berlin who always seem to have to pick themselves up, dust themselves off, and begin again. In this book, the Reichstag shares with you what she has witnessed. You are there in 1945 witnessing the hollow shell of the war damaged Reichstag. You are there witnessing the division of the city as the Wall ran directly behind the building. You are there witnessing the divisions end as the wall comes tumbling down, and you are witness to the jubilation outside the Reichstag upon German unification.

After reading through this great book, I realized what a centerpiece to Berlin's history the Reichstag truly is. It's not just a parliament building- it's Berlin! The Reichstag speaks for Berlin's history. The fate of the Reichstag seems to run parallel to that of Berlin. What has happened to the Reichstag has happened to Berlin.

This book is full of awesome illustrations, from grand photos, to models, to architectural plans. Not only does it show the evolution of the Reichstag- it shows various plans for the building from the beginning and throughout its history. That is perhaps the most interesting part- the plans that people came up with. It's really too bad the "Big Roof" idea didn't pan out- because it would have been truly awe inspiring.

Even if you are only interested in architecture and have no interest in history- this book is still definitely for you.

That is why this book is so great.... I thought upon first seeing it, it would be pure architecture... it is pure architecture, but Foster has managed to capture something huge and so great. Foster has managed to capture Berlin.... a city on the verge of finally becoming.

This bilingual edition (masterfully translated by Norman Shapiro) carefully transposes the French originals into a formal, poetic English idiom, which captures both the meaning and the music of Baudelaire, the fallen angel and champion of evil. Though conventional in terms of his metrics and poetic forms, Baudelaire is arguably the first great Modernist poet. One dives into the murky miasmata of these pages to discover a world of perverse pleasures, wrathful and sordid imagery and unregenerate vice glorified by one of its most eloquent spokesmen. Baudelaire, a tortured personality, in which profound guilt is contraposed with carnal lust, Satanism, delight in cruelty and a longing for hell, is one of the towering giants of modern European literature. His poetry is a bitter fruit that few can savour with impunity.

Shapiro manages to capture Baudelaire's essence without sacrificing his form. These versions read like English poetry. They are the best I have read--and I have read them all, past and present. Highly recommended for admirers of Baudelaire and students of the craft (and art!) of literary translation.

I think an author has done his job when I want to enter the pages of his novel and talk to his characters. That's a testament to the complexity and realism of the personas you meet in this book, and to the vividness and high stakes of the struggles they face. Aside from that, no writer I know has a keener eye than Mr. Poyer for details that create verisimilitude. I was not alive in 1936, I have never been to Pennsylvania, never been to an oil field or oil refinery, and never participated in a hard-fought wildcat strike. But after reading this book I felt like I had been there.

Poyer has written his best novel to date, and I've read almost all of the twenty published. Set in the Northwestern Pennsylvania oil fields during the great labor conflicts of the Thirties, it details the struggles of the working man as well as the dilemmas facing management during the development of organized labor. The characters are finely drawn and the action and the suspense continues throughout the novel. I knew labor leaders from that era and lived through that period. The mood of this novel is absoluetly authentic. The character of Doris Golden stepped right out of that movement. Red Halvorsen, the hero, is a young Tom Joad who gradually understands corporate coruption and class struggle, and has to choose sides. Both male and female characters are gritty, believable, and alive. An excellent read for all ages, will take you far into the night before you can put it down. Daily life in the Thirties comes alive here. Not simply history, not stuffed with technical material or trivia at the expense of character, but loaded with interpersonal struggles, a fast-moving plot, and even a touch of romance. A first-class novel.

Easy reading. Focuses on sound management and marketing techniques & theories while providing examples of business people who took risks to promote their business in a positive way and for the good of their community and society as a whole. I am reading this for a MBA Leadership class.

...This book, unfortunately, went out of print rather quickly. This was probably because of its specialized and intellectually-advanced treatment of an otherwise popular subject: The New Age Movement (NAM). The same thing happened to another valuable Christian book on the NAM by Tom Snyder called "Myth Conceptions: Joseph Campbell and the New Age" (Baker Books, 1995). The target audience for both books was Christian, but most Christians seem to prefer the more popular and less-specialized treatments on the subject. For those Christians, however, who want to exercise their minds with good, critical analysis of some of the principal intellectual influences on the NAM, then there is no better place to begin than with "Apologetics in the New Age," provided that you can find a copy.

After a general introduction to the topic and its importance, Part 1 expounds the thought of some of the primary historical roots (including those within the last century) that influenced the NAM. The first three thinkers (Suzuki, Shankara, and Radhakrishnan) are Eastern whereas the last two (Plotinus and Spinoza) are Western. Suzuki (1870 - 1966) is known for his key role in introducing Zen Buddhism to the West. Shankara (c. 788 - c. 820) and Radhakrishnan (1888 - 1975), on the other hand, were Hindu thinkers. Plotinus (A.D. 205 - 270) was a Greek philosopher whose influence was profound. As our authors point out, Christian theology felt the effects of his work through Augustine and, by way of Proclus, through an unknown monk known as Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite. Pseudo-Dionysius, because he was mistaken as the convert of Paul (Acts 17:34), has had a pervasive influence on medieval works of theology and devotion (mysticism). For further exposition on the thought and influence of Plotinus and Pseudo-Dionysius, see Bernard McGinn's "The Foundations of Mysticism". I must also add, since the authors don't, that Plotinus had a significant influence on Jewish Kabbalah (see Isaiah Tishby's The Wisdom of the Zohar, Volume 1, pg. 237). Kabbalah is highly regarded by occultists (and the NAM in general). Occult orders of the late 19th century such as The Theosophical Society and The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn utilized, with modification, its doctrines. Spinoza (1634 - 1677), a philosopher of Jewish descent, is known for his pantheistic naturalism with its anti-supernatural bias. The authors point out that Einstein said he believed in the God of Spinoza and both thinkers shared the belief that whatever happens in Nature happens by necessity.

Part 2 (Evaluation of New Age Pantheism) opens with Chapter 6 which "summarizes pantheism's common threads" and "ties together similar themes in pantheism and shows how these ideas manifest themselves in the thought of typical New Age advocates" (pg. 13). These themes are fleshed out and analyzed in Chapters 7 - 10. I particularly liked the authors' seven "presumably exhaustive" logical alternatives regarding evil (pgs. 204 - 205). Chapter 8 closes the book with a short review of the arguments and a positive (although too short) presentation of the strength of Christian theism. This chapter points out that one does not have to denigrate rationality to cultivate a sense of divine mystery. This is true, I might add, not only for pantheistic mystics but also theistic (and Christian) mystics.

Another book I recommend reading and critically comparing with this one is "The Mystical Languages of Unsaying" by Michael Sells. This book points out that apophasis (which literally means "speaking away") works as a mode of mystical discourse rather than as a negative theology. He points out that the radical claims of apophatic writers, which have usually been written off as hyperbolic or condemned as pantheistic, are essential to understanding the mystical languages of unsaying. Personally, I think that one of the keys to divine mystery is the doctrine of creation ex nihilo. The relationship between the Infinite and finite involves the paradox of nothingness which is essential to God's transcendence and immanence (not withstanding Moreland's analysis of "nothingness" as used by atheistic scientists to mean "zero energy," see "Scaling the Secular City," pgs. 38 - 41). One of the names that the French mystic Marguerite Porete (burned as a heretic by the Inquisition) attributed to God was "FarNear" (see chapter 84 of her book "The Mirror of Simple Souls"). God is infinitely near and infinitely far away because of the nothingness that ontologically (and epistemologically via ignorance or "unknowing" - see "Mystical Theology" by Pseudo-Dionysius & "The Cloud of Unknowing" by an unknown English mystic) separates and unites us to God. Because God created us out of nothing, there is "nothing" that separates us from God. This "nothing" is not equivalent to space or mere emptiness (The Indian term for zero was sunya which meant empty or blank, but had no connotation of "void" or "nothing", see Dantzig's Number: The Language of Science). My point is that one doesn't have to be a pantheist (all is God) to appreciate some of the profound mysteries that ground Christian theism and can, in a significant way, contribute to a Biblical Christian Mysticism. As a closing note, I recommend replacing, in the Suggested Reading section, Arthur Johnson's "Faith Misguided: Exposing the Dangers of Mysticism" with Winfried Corduan's "Mysticism: An Evangelical Option?" The latter, although at times too critical or shallow in understanding, is at least more sympathetic than Johnson when it comes to acknowledging a mystical element in Biblical Christianity.

This book was my introduction to crafting with beeswax. The book has detailed instructions and beautiful detailed photographs to follow along with. Six areas of beeswax crafting are introduced to the reader: candle making, beeswax modeling, making cone shaped crayons, encaustic art (melting crayons onto an iron and then "painting" it onto paper), furniture polish, and making beauty creams and soap.

As I said this is a great introduction, and as such, sometimes there is only one project per category. I think this book is helpful for a beginner and if you find that enjoy these crafts and you want to do more of one the same, then you may either custom design your own projects (when applicable) or find other recipes or instructions from other books and/or sources. If you know and understand this before buying the book I think you will be very happy.

The photographs are wonderful and I found them very helpful. The different kinds of beeswax are explained and important melting safety tips are clearly written. Many different types of candle making are explained, some using sheets of wax that are rolled by hand and others that used melted beeswax. Dipping candles, hand modeling candles, and using molds, both hard and flexible are all included here. Five recipes for creams are included, and one soap that uses beef tallow (fat). Five wood/furniture polish recipes are here, one of which is made with beef tallow. Instructions to make the crayons are here along with tips for successful sketching with them. Encaustic art is clearly explained although it still seemed a difficult craft, and requires specialty equipment, which does not make it easy or inexpensive to try out. (I had previously read about it without accompanying photographs and didn't understand what was being communicated. Other instructions I've read elsewhere don't fully outline the proper materials needed, so this book did a great job of explaining it.)

A great introduction if you've never watched these crafts being made in person or if you are a visual learner and have a difficult time following directions that are not accompanied by photographs.

Norman's Dinosaur! brings the Paleontology to life by telling this science history with vivid descriptions of the first dinosaur fossil hunts and interpretations in the first charpters, so the reader may follow how the facts and toughts about the dinosaurs evolved and understand their importance to the modern man and it`s an almost unique approach. Norman proceeds by showing how the dinos arose, how they lived, their classification and some extinction hypotesis. The book is very well written and beautifully ilustrated, presenting scientific information for all kinds of readers that whant a better general view, except if you are looking for a real schoolar text. Due to all of it, it is an excellent book by this price and a must for everyone who would like to know more about the terrible lizards.