I highly reccommend reading this book! I especially found the Voice Of Experience movies very helpful! It was as if the authors were sitting next to me while I was programming!

Knight's theories have become commonplaces. The idea that Hamlet is a bad guy? The theories the Duke of Measure for Measure and Timon of Athens are Christ figures? All those are propounded for (as far as I know) the first time in this eloquent book. Aside from having famous theories, Knight supports his claims, which at first can seem absurd, with mountains of evidence gathered from a fine-toothed reading of the text. He never makes obvious points or fallacious arguments; he starts out by noticing fine details in the text and then draws these into a coherent, convincing whole. I don't agree with every word he's ever written, but all his words are brilliant. Knight is the best literary critic I have ever read, by a wide margin, and this may be his best book.

G. Wilson Knight's book, The Wheel of Fire, examines Shakespeare's later tragedies in the light of what Knight calls "spatial" correspondences. Through the examination of such works as Hamlet, Othello, Macbeth, King Lear and others, Knight shows that the themes considered in the plays are worked out not merely in the plot, but spatially as well, that is in the relationship of the characters to their background. This is to say that the characters and plot alone do not construct the theme, but the setting and other circumstances surrounding the chain of events of the story are also key to an understanding of the play's meaning. As Knight says, the idea is not to see the plays as realities but rather as artworks, which is to see them as expanded metaphors. Therefore all things contained within contribute to the overarching theme, and not the plot and characters alone. Knight suspects that this is what Aristotle means when he refers to the "unity of idea," where all elements hinge on their relation to the whole. Any serious study of Shakespearian tragedy ought to contain a reading of this classic scholarly work.

Organized in a natural accumulation of chapters, Will Power! uses the lessons learned in Shakespeare's great works to illuminate our personal behaviors as well as the behaviors of others. In addition to illuminating, authors Dr. George Weinberg and Dianne Rowe offer tips in the form of bulleted lists on how we can better improve our behavior to acheive the results we desire--results from better communication to more aggressive control of our lives. Will Power! leaves the reader feeling enpowered and more in control of their lives. Above and beyond any other self-help book, Will Power! uses Shakespeare to help us remember what we've learned and practice what we we've been taught. Will Power! is a must for anyone who wants to better and more effectively interact with employees, friends, family, and associates

This book was originally written in 1935 and published by the Senate of the State of California. It is a short history (63 pages) of the life of William B. Ide, President of the Bear Flag Republic, and the American party revolt against Mexican authority in 1846.

As a member of the Ide family, it is a wonderful reference to add to our geneological history. As a lover of history, it is a facinating look into the everyday lives of our early pioneers and the events that lead to the establishment of California.

This short, though concise and informed critical biography of William James is a good introduction to his life and thought. The text predominately is a historical analysis concerning the era in which he lived, providing us with the necessary social influences that shaped the man's philosophy. One of the arguments in this text is that all philosophy is a biographical expression of the philosopher. And James wanted to express philosophy in the most accessible terms possible. As Cotkin suggests, James was a public philosopher, he wanted '...philosophy to be a conversation, a playful yet serious and enlightening confrontation with philosophical and cultural issues.'(14) He brought philosophy into the public arena and made it his life's mission to combat systematisation and abstraction, the "abstract rigmarole" that can riddle this subject. The subject of philosophy has been exiled to the academy - a specialized technical area of learning designed for the insecure elite. James wanted philosophy to be a 'passionate vision', not a complex array of problematic terms and ideas. He believed professional academics and their writings "obscured the truth". As Cotkin writes, 'Through his public philosophy James codified his revolt - and enlisted himself among those who practiced philosophy as edification - against the pretensions of professional philosophy.'(15)

This text presents us with a man who is the expression of a generation. He was a man of the times. Cotkin then moves on to James' family influences, his brilliant and eccentric father as well as the intellectual relationship with his brother, Henry. What begins to unfold is an individual who achieved the ability '...to universalise his private universe into public discourse, as well as the reality that his turmoil was the common cultural property of other Americans.' This convergence of public and private indivudual, Cotkin suggests, defined or translated into what became James' philosophical doctrine.

The most interesting chapter is 'The Discourse of Heroism'. Here Cotkin explores the philosopher's value on maintaining an on going 'passionate engagement' with life. In this chapter the author takes the reader through the many arguments concerning James' call for excitement and strenuosity in one's approach to existence, but with a warning: one must also remain committed to "courage weighted with responsibility."

~William James Public Philosopher~ is well researched and well written, presenting us with the man, the times in which he lived and his refreshing view of philosophy which continues to be important and relevant in the 21st century.

Though a difficult work, Piers Plowman is definitely worth reading for anyone studying English literature. This allegorical dream-vision follows the narrator, Will, on his journey though the world and into the depths of the human consciousness. Always vivid and imaginative, sometimes even humorous, this poem is a fascinating glimpse into mid fourteenth century England. Economou's translation of the lesser-read C text is often poetically quite beautiful and always easy for a modern reader to understand.

I approached this book from, I suppose, a biased standpoint. I was a student of Dr. Joss Marsh's at Indiana University this past year. Through her brilliant lectures and subsequent private office conversations, I became very fond of both the person and the scholar and eagerly purchased her book. I was not disappointed! As a student of both history and english (my major and minor respectively), I approached this book with that frame of mind, as a scholarly excercise and a completed study. And while the book is that, Dr. Marsh also writes with the skill of a most accomplished writer, keeping the mind actively engaged in the book's study of the past, the present, and indeed the future. This book is a valuable addition to both the study of blasphemy and the Victorian Age generally. It also paints a staggering portrait of "justice" gone awry under the Javert-like prosecutors of the Royal Court. A triumph for Dr. Joss Marsh and all those interested in the freedoms of speech.

What really attracted me to this book was the gripping cover graphics. Beyond this, the content was very relevant to my own endeavors, but the cover! A classic for any library!

In reading Yeats , one comes upon so many issues of content and style. Reading this may give you a clue. It is important for stylistic interpretation, thematic analysis, and discussions or how Yeats began his career and the topics he chose. It is refreshing to think of Yeats as an extension of Shelley. Hopefully , our generation may develop writers and philosopers with links to Yeats. This will give you ample time to reflect on the issues. It is not light reading.