Dale Wright has engaged with the Zen Buddhist tradition with a powerful and sophisticated hermanuetic analysis. Based on Blofield's influential translation of Huang Po's Transmission of Mind he delivers a masterful exploration of Zen thinking. Zen's traditional claims to transcending words and concepts is closely scrutinized. Wright cleverly uses the Buddhist concept of dependent origination to add a further explanatory dimension to the role of language and its context in reading and understanding Zen. He rightly points out that Zen Buddhism is deeply intwined with language and that whilst Zen Koans are presentations of extra-ordinary human experience, their oddness is not meaningless cryptic, but instrumental in communicating insight gained through meditative practice using ordinary language in non-ordinary ways. The book challenges romantic and historicist conceptions of Zen which hold to something like a universial "spirit" or experience which transcends historic time and location. And it challenges the disembodied "objective" analysis of scientific approaches which set upon "facts" and "historical data" as though they can be simply "read" without reflection on the frames of interpretation of the observer. Instead Wright exposes the reader to an important dimension of reflexivity which comes with a post-modern sensibility. Zen emerges the wiser, without a romantic and naive sense of transcendence and a firmer understanding of importance of understanding the historical context of Zen writing. We are also reminded of how our own modern context colours how we make sense of Zen as well as nonsense of it.

My sense is that this book it is a major landmark in the meeting between Western Philosophy and Buddhism. The complexity of the hermanuetic circle of understanding something like Zen, I suspect, means we have many more rounds to go. My sense is that, like Zen, this complexity trangresses the boundaries of language in ways we are yet to grasp. Zen's lack of reflexivity and historic resistence to critical reflection are great limitations, and yet western linguistics too does not fully appreciate how words themselves can be brimming with emptiness. There is work to be done on both sides and hopefully this book will serve as the basis for a mutually beneficial dialogue.

Overall, Dale Wright has written an important piece in understanding the rich vein of knowledge that Zen inquiry uncovers. It links into to new developments in the cognitive sciences which, as the late Francisco Varela suggests, opens up a door to a new mode of human experience that has hardly been explored in the West. Wright explains how our language, not only needs to develop in radical ways to meet this marvelousness Zen experience, but even just to begin the inquiry. It is essential reading for anyone taking eastern philosophy seriously.

If you have wondered WHY you are "reading Zen" sutras or koans, your spirits will be lifted with optimism by the first 40 pages of this book. You are doing more good than you realized. This book is a freight train full of provocative and attractive ideas about the relationship of study to practice. If you have been practicing Zen for more than a year, get this book and re-read once a year. Even if you disagree with it, it can agitate your point of view beneficially.

The text is marvelously well structured, building up to the argument of the final chapter and Conclusion. Good clear writing. No academic gobbledegook here.

The Combat Engineers served a dual role in the army. While fighting with the infantry, they also performed vital functions such as building bridges, clearing minefields,and keeping the roads open as the US Army advanced. "The 51st Again!, An Engineer Combat Battalion In World War II" provides a rare insight into the lives of American soldiers serving in the Combat Engineers during the second world war. Authors Barry Fowle and Floyd Wright bring to life the heroic role of these men through first person accounts, official records and a wealth of photographs detailing the history of this typical engineer battalion as they fought the war in Europe. The 51st's story is filled with moments of the intense emotions of men at war, touching personal insights and even a few humorous antics. "The 51st Again!" rewards it's reader with an absobing narrative as well as all the detailed facts an historian demands.

This book explains how the Rasch model imposes a measurement system upon data. It explains how counting is misleading and how the Rasch model permits sample-free item calibration and test-free person measures. The concept of fit is explained as well. While the formulae are included in this book, one does not have to be a mathematician to understand the ideas. This book will serve the novice and the veteran well.

This book is wonderfully illustrated book that tells all about the behavior of calico cats and cats in general. I loved reading it. It is not a counting book, but does have the munbers 1-20 at the top of the pages.

Way To Go Syd, This is Patty Robedee
I know Mom is in the Heavens Smiling down on you

This is not a "how-to" book on dowsing, but more a spiritual guide directed towards dowsers. It may, however, have fairly practical value to many dowsers who are struggling to master this etheric art. This is because beyond the Zen "Beginner's Mind" or colloquial "Beginner's Luck" stage when everything seems to work, comes a more difficult phase when deep struggles emerge between the logical and intuitive facets of the mind.

At this point one must honestly review one's motivations and goals, and decide to "put one's heart into it" or not. Without this honesty, commitment, humility and dedication, I don't think the necessary connections can be established and maintained in one's psyche to be a good dowser. This is because with dowsing it's an all-or-nothing issue - once confronted with the true nature of dowsing, one can no longer claim ignorance to its underlying miraculous nature. At that point one must decide whether to surrender one's ego, or simply give up the game.

There are many ideas presented in this book in a rather friendly and rambling style, like an after-dinner conversation in the living room. But any book that recommends starting the day with the prayer "Allow me to be of service today" shows its true colors.

Few books can be described as truly essential for all organizations involved with polymers, but this one is!

This book helped me though the toughest parts of the game. Without it I would be toast!

This book, written quite some time ago, is an excellent story of the spiritual meeting of the 2 authors, their apprenticeship with a shaman influenced by many indigenous traditions, and then their initiation into spritual healing amongst humble psychic surgeons and healers in the Philipines. The book is easy-reading and contains basic truths about the path of a healer. It escorts the reader into the unseen dimensions of how spiritual healing happens and why. A Course in Miracles' teachings are interwoven throughout the book, giving spriritual anchor to the spectacular they experienced and witnessed. For anyone interested in healing, learning more about the Philipines psychic surgery and the paranormal, it is a must-read.

I always use one or two statements from this little handy book, to inspire or encourage my colleagues and or friends. Now, a friend of mine wanted to buy it, I think I have to buy one and airmail it to her in Israel.