Not a biography of Gurdjieff, but an elucidatory analysis on the development and significance of Gurdjieff's ideas and how they relate to the modern world. Bennett does his valiant best to wade through the obfuscation of Gurdjieff's teaching, to make it as clear as is humanly possible, without surrending his master's conviction that any struggle for insight can only come at a huge price both personally and spiritually. The book reveals volumes of obscure names, concepts and vocabulary, that will require intense study on the part of the reader, and sow the seeds of debate. Still I am not convinced that Gurdjieff was much more than a guy who read some esoteric books and had a bunch of unrelated bits of wisdom to proffer. For one thing, Bennett shows us that all of Gurdjieff's stories in Meetings With Remarkable Men were mere fables - fictional characters created by G. to get a point across. Learning this took a lot of the wind out my assumption that G. was some kind of well-travelled mystic seer. Nay, no real proof is ever given that G. ever studied with, or even visited the places inhabited by, those secret orders he professed to know about. Thus, the more I learn about him the less I trust anything which comes straight from his mouth, which is not the way to instill faith in a student. Bennett however is straightforward, his approach to teaching being more suited to how we in the West interpret our world. For that I can say that I learned a lot that I would never have gleaned from either G. or Ouspensky. Bennett fortunately gives us the meat and potatoes of the final "meaning of life" according to Gurdjieff, so to speak, probably the most valuable aspect of the book. In the end ironically, while G's philosophy has lost much of its charm (not because ignorance is bliss, but rather that the substance of his viewpoint is hard to swallow - and still leaves questions unanswered), Bennett's plight and search for insight have piqued my interest enough to want to explore his writing in more depth.

This book offers well-researched background information on Gurdjieff and his ideas. A previous review indicated that this book either proves or strongly suggests that Gurdjieff's adventures as a "seeker" in the "Meetings" book were mere fantasy or fable. This excellent book by Bennett does not suggest this at all. But it does point out inconsistencies in terms of the specifics and does not hide the fact that exaggeration may have been employed in the retelling of Gurdjieff's travels. Overall: this is a well-written and thought provoking presentation of G.'s ideas, as well as the man himself.

This book covers some theories about how Gurdjieff recieved his knowledge. Specifically from Naq'shabandi sufi orders, and Tibet.

My personal favourite from Bennett...as Bennett was chosen by Gurdjieff, as one of the few people who could realistically carry on the "work", and "initiate" others.

After picking this book up at a Sam's club out of curiosity I found that I couldn't put it down and ended up putting it in the cart. My companion is a begining Astronomy buff and he couldn't get enough eighther. We were reading it to each other and trying to read it at the same time. We have learned alot from this book and have put it to good use with his new telescope. I highly remommed this book to the person who has always wanted to get started in astronomy!

This beautifully produced book is a superb addition to the library of any backyard astronomer or anyone from eight to eighty. It's a best buy for several reasons.
The first is its outstanding quality. The second is the BEWARE!.
This book is actually a softcover, otherwise identical reprint of "Advanced Skywatching", ISBN: 0783549415, published in 1997, also by Time-Life.
Perhaps Time-Life used this subterfuge to catch unwary on-line shoppers that already own "Advanced Skywatching" (as I do), since you can't view the contents on-line to discover you already own the same book under a different name.

The complaint on the star charts about this book (or its twin) not covering the entire sky is not critical.
There isn't room on anyone's bookshelf for all the possible fun sky-hops, of which this book and its twin present abundant excellent examples. There are more and different, also challenging and instructive ones in another fine volume, "Turn Left at Orion", and many others.

Not to worry if you get sucked in. This one makes a fine gift for your favorite grandchild as mine will.
Add this to your "must have" list if you don't already own its twin. If you do, buy it anyhow and give it to someone special.
The price is astonishingly low for the fine content.

The book should read to "Letters by Theo. Goldin" to and from various different people, E.A. Brinistool, Albert Johnson, Phillip Cole, Fred Dustin and eventually Capt Frederick Benteen. Most of the letters were written when Goldin was very old and blind. Interesting insight into Benteen and a scathing by Benteen of Custer and his preported "conduct". Worth the reading if you truely "understand" what happened on June 25th 1876. Not for the first time reader... you'll be lost within a matter of pages unless you understand the "who, what and where" of different people.

This book is the printing with minimal commentary of letters between Goldin and Benteen. Frederick Benteen was an officer and Goldin an enlisted man in the Seventh Cavalry at the Battle of the Little Big Horn. Correspondence between officer and enlisted man is unique in itself. In the case of first hand participants their direct insights into events is always fascinating. This book does not answer any outstanding questions but it does add insights especially relative to Benteen. Anyone interested in the history of the Seventh Cavalry and the personality of Frederick Benteen, a major participant in the Little Big Horn scenario will be interested in this book.

This is one of the better verse by verse commentaries on Revelation. It is very readable making it suitable for the layman and there is sufficient information to make it a good introduction for the student. He assumes the traditional late date and uses a mixture of the preterist and futurist interpretation in which the beast is both Rome and the eschatological Antichrist. He sees Revelation as a prophecy about the destiny of the church, the 144,000 being the church, although he sees the two witnesses as two eschatological prophets rather than the church. There is little or no Greek and footnotes are kept to a minimum.

George Eldon Ladd has written a highly informative and readable overview of Revelations in the form of a verse-by-verse commentary. While Ladd presents his understanding of Revelations from a non-dispensationalist premillenialist (and post-tribulationalist) position, there is no trace of polemics in his discussion of alternate interpretations of particular verses, or of the philosophies underlying different readings of the book as a whole.

The book opens with a brief introduction to the authorship, date, and setting of Revelations, then proceeds with a discussion of four possible methods of interpretation-preterist, historical, idealist, and futurist. While he describes his understanding as "a blending of the preterist and the futurist methods", those who consider themselves preterists might be surprised at Ladd's definition of preterism. Ladd describes preterism as the view that apocalyptic literature contains "tracts for hard times", but no prophecy, and that the apparent prophecies of Revelations neither were fulfilled, nor will be. Given this definition, it is difficult to understand why Ladd describes himself as a preterist-futurist in his understanding of Revelations. From his own definitions, it would be easier to see him as an idealist-futurist.

Following the introductory chapter, Ladd proceeds directly to a verse-by-verse commentary of Revelations. I am not usually fond of this format in theological works, but nevertheless found this book very stimulating. Clearly well versed in Greek and Hebrew, Ladd goes into depth on many specifics of theology contained in Revelations. Most satisfyingly, he constantly links his interpretations of the text to passages found elsewhere in Scripture, in the process offering a fresh new view of the message of the book as a whole.

It is possible that some readers, accustomed to a highly literal reading of Revelations, might find this book troubling. Pointing to "the fluidity of apocalyptic language", Ladd interprets the visions of John as representing real future (or in some cases past) events, but visions to be understood more in terms of their underlying meaning, than in terms of specific details. In additon, at a number of points, Ladd is also critical of the underlying Greek text or English translation of the Authorized Version, preferring the Revised Standard Version or in some cases the NEB. While these factors may displease some, I came away from the book with the impression of an author convinced of the truth and importance of Scripture, and a man with important theological insights. Certainly I plan to read more of his books!

My son has a passion for Ancient Egypt. As a homeschool mom I have tried to encourage this, however, I felt that he should understand that history did not come to a screeching halt in Egypt after the death of Tutankhamen. In reading this book we not only enjoyed a page turning adventure that we couldn't put down, we also opened up an entirely new line of study. My son even wrote mock news paper articles in the, "Language of the time," bearing the sad news of the defeat of the Gallant Gordon. This book was invaluable in our study.

My son has a passion for Ancient Egypt. As a homeschool mom I have tried to encourage this, however, I felt that he should understand that history did not come to a screeching halt in Egypt after the death of Tutankhamen. In reading this book we not only enjoyed a page turning adventure that we couldn't put down, we also opened up an entirely new line of study. My son even wrote mock news paper articles in the, "Language of the time," bearing the sad news of the defeat of the Gallant Gordon. This book was invaluable in our study

John Bennet is one of a very small group of individuals who actually managed to 'get' some of what Gurdjieff was on about. In Deeper man he combines his insights into The Forth Way Tradition with his explorations of Sufism, Subud, and other Wisdom Traditions to present a number of independently valid systems or models of Cosmology and subtle Corporeity and their inter-relation(s).

Bennet, quite unlike many other commentators, never 'believes' in the models. He understands the functions and limitations of maps and mapmaking. If one comes away from a reading with no more than this one has spent one's money wisely.

Deeper man focuses on the nature of Participating in Reality rather than merely reacting to it.

Dive in!

There is such a vast amount of understanding offered here that one might easily read this book cover-to-cover nearly two dozen times and find fresh insight with each venture. I have. If there is any author that could communicate practical realities of the spiritual search and the work of transformation with Bennett's clarity and focus, I have never heard of him (and should very much like to). The theme of this book is the study of man -- that is, the worlds we inhabit both without and within, the various selves that can open us toward or restrict us from higher worlds or indeed, the higher parts of our own nature, the laws that consciously or unconsciously determine our behaviour, and the possibility of death and resurrection that we need to understand concretely if we are to be genuinely transformed. Permeated with the teaching of Gurdjieff, imbued with the influence of Sufism, this book speaks to that in us that yearns to journey toward a reality that transcends the limits of what our discursive reason can make sense of. It speaks FROM the life-long experience of a man who most certainly had journeyed far on that path himself. I treasure this book, though I recognize that it cannot likely be a popular one.

OK, mabye this book never made it onto the best seller list, but it does contain a wealth of information on spark ignition engines. Though it is a little dated, Hilliard does an excellent job of explaining the igntion process in great detail.

Maly's chapter on spark ignition is one of the finest compilations of theory relating to spark ignition in the known world. This is a good comprehensive book, though a little on the expensive side. I would recommend borrowing it from Mesa College in Grand Junction, CO.

If you've read one John O'Hara short story, you've read them all. All characters are obsessed with their status in life, and if a man and a woman are alone together, you just have to wait until one will try to get the other in the sack. If you had a 95 year old grandmother in a scene with an 18 year old male high school student, you could almost expect that one would make a pass at the other. THE DOCTOR'S SON is the best O'Hara short story I've read. It is excellent. Read that one, enjoy it. But you need read no more, since everything in that story is in every other O'Hara story.

If John O'Hara isn't one of our greatest American writers, who is? O'Hara, along with writers like John Cheever and Irwin Shaw, chronicle the American suburban experience during the middle part of the twentieth century and we should not miss out on their observations. But what do you see when you go to Barnes & Noble or Borders? Racks and racks of ridiculous drivel hoisted on us by greedy publishers and other fast-buck artists. Mindless entertainment rules while O'Hara, Cheever, Shaw and their like are pushed off the book shelves and out of circulation. The tone and empathy of these Masters will forever provide an insight into our American experience that you won't get from the trash that we now seem to be preoccupied with. OK, OK, OK. I read some of this current trash, too, but I haven't forgotten the great American Triumvirate.... O'Hara, Cheever and Shaw!

If it was not for the fact that this book was assigned for the course, I would have thrown it onto the wall in utter frustration for the periodic-style prose in which it was written. Yet in that moments of painful reading I never let my intellect be neglectful of the realization that what lies before my eyes belongs to the highest canon of ethical philosophizing. Mill's ornate style of writing most probably was appropriate for his time, but to the modern reader it sometimes takes several readings to understand a difficult passage.

I agree with the reviewer who noted that Chapter IV, unlike the rest of the book, is singularly almost intelligible, not only for its long paragraphs, but also for its rambling diversions. Nevertheless, Mill's Utilitarianism should be a required reading for anyone with pretension for interests in issues of morality and social policy.

Now that Amazon has changed the product description and recognized that it is soft cover, I can, perhaps, give a decent review.

The text is, as are all Mill's writings, quite good. Regardless as to your agreement or disagreement, it cannot be argued that Mill does not present his points clearly, logically, and understandably. The editor's introduction is nice, though short. It is also nice that Mill's speech regarding capitial punishment was included as an appendix.

The actual binding is rather flimsy, but for this low price, I'll not complain too loudly.

As usual, Oxford put out another great edited classic work. J. S. Mill's Utilitarianism can be sometimes confusing, and as Roger Crisp notes, even scholars disagree on what Mill thought. Nevertheless, this book gives you a good introduction to Mill's thought prior to reading the actual text, Utilitarianism.

For example, I was able to converse with friends in the philosophy program about Mill's ethical theory without even reading his text; but I did read Crisp's edited notes about it. So I applaud Crisp for doing a good job on that. He also includes a summary of each paragraph for every chapter in outline form (located before the text). This was extremely helpful to me.

Located in the back of the work, like other Oxford editions, were text references that clarified persons who Mill spoke of, referred to, etc. It also clarified difficult passages (most of them anyways).

About Mill's ethical theory, you will have to read him yourself to come to a conclusion. I think the guy was totally wrong, but I'm not criticizing him; I'm reviewing this book :) But I should add that Crisp tries to deal with most of the criticisms (some of which are good responses) so that you can read Mill as charitable as possible.

Because of the work put into clarifying Mill, I highly recommend this book.