Borrow

Jasper's intimate expose of family lifeand history of the mysterious Tacho Drom..the Way...is music to my ears andeyes. I truly was enchanted and couldfeel the people in their journey fromIndia and the thousands of miles andyears that led them to North Wales. For me this book was healing and beingwhat he calls the diddiker, one quarterGypsy, made sense. The courage it tookto go public, and make a book availablethat the Gypsies and Gaujo world canparticipate with the fairy tales of ourIndo-European childhoods...is a greatconnecting link in a pluralistic society, here racism is a political wayof creating hatred and fear. Jasperdeals kindly with all aspects of religion and spiritual practices of theindigenous tribal people. There areeleven million gypsies of the Rom whobelong to the Romany Union, worldwide.I wish they knew about this book.Suzette Lynn Price...aka Sophia Mubarak

Fascinating, warts-and-all first-person account of Gypsy life and traditions. His experiences are rich and his meditation suggestions make the Otherworld far more accessible than most books related to "magickal" studies. In this respect, it's a breakthrough book for shamanic explorations. However, even if you're simply interested in the context of Gypsy life, this can be a tremendously insightful book.

The Romani drom (path) calls individuals to believe in themselves and their imaginations. Not a book of initiations or techniques or an anthropological report of a tribe's practices, "We Borrow the Earth" vividly depicts key concepts and experiences in the development of an indigenous Romani Chovihano (shaman) as well as many examples from his students' own journeys to self-discovery. Through a gradual, grounded, earth-based process students of this path face challenges with the aid of fairy tale characters and structures familiar from childhood. Sleeping Beauty, Jack, ogres, castles - the characters and places which populate these journeys resonate with the ancient blood memory of those with Indo-European roots. Through these journeys, exercising our wits and senses, the students can find within what was always there - the courage, honesty, trust, and confidence to deal with the problems and opportunities in their everyday lives. We can learn to believe in ourselves again, as we did when we were children. If you read this book and if your heart is open, I believe you will find a magic key, an ancient memory. And you will find yourself longing to return to your 'wild,' natural and joyous self.

Writing and publishing this book required courage, honesty, and trust in the guidance of his Ancestors for Jasper Lee faced opposition and obstacles to sharing the Romani inner world. Having found the book even more enriching on a second reading, I thank him for facing these obstacles and not allowing his culture to be lost.

Beverly Billingsly loved books, and she loved the library. On this special day, she finally got her very own library card. She searched the shelves until she found just the book she wanted, a big shiny dinosaur book full of pictures and information. "She couldn't put it down. On Wednesday, after school, she studied the iguanodon. On Thursday and Friday, she read about the ankylosaurus..." Beverly read everywhere, at the table while eating, in bed before sleeping, and even in the bathtub. "On Monday morning, Beverly woke up early to finish the final chapter, "Eating Habits of the Triceratops." As she turned the last page, she saw, stamped inside the back cover: RETURN BY APRIL 7." It was April 8th..... Alexander Stadler has written a delightful and humorous, true to life story with a reassuring, satisfying ending that is sure to put a smile on every little library-lovers face. His gentle and entertaining text really captures the essence of a preschooler as Beverly works herself up into a panic over the consequences of an overdue book, and his charming, bold and bright artwork adds to the fun. Perfect for preschoolers, Beverly Billingsly Borrows A Book is Mr Stadler's debut picture book, and hopefully the start of a new and marvelous series.

This handy device consists of a bound set of bookmarks with stubs. Slip a bookmark, with your name added, in each book you lend someone, then write their name on the stub. It reminds them to return your book and gives you a record of borrowings. Very clever.

These would make wonderful gifts for teachers or professors who lend books all the time.

This book is full of important, hands-on advice and information, it shows a step-by step process of buying, selling or managing rental real estate. Great book for both newbies and pros of the real estate.

I found this book compelling in lots of ways. I could see the wonderful scenery and feel the wind in my face. I could taste the wonderful food served to the writer as he sat in comfort in the warm cosy Inns he frequented along the way. The writer has conjured up the mystery and magic of a true Celtic country.

Ron Nash's book is more than an introduction into the topic of Christainity and the Mystery Religions of the Greco-Roman world, but not so detialed as to loose the laymen. Although most scholars, including liberals, have now discounted a complete comparision between Christianity and Mystery Religions, a small, but vocal neo-pagan and feminists goddess practiciners have re-ignited the debate, partly I think due to the openness of comminication provided bt the internet.

This book introduces the major issues invol and places emphasis in three areas: (1) Hellenistic Philosophy, (2) The Mystery Religions, (3) Christianity and Gnosticism.

All sections involve clear, concise, yet thorough refutation of many Christian/mystery religions as proposed by some individuals, some of whom are academics largely behind the most current standings in the debate. Further, Nash, in order to provide a road map, uses the introducing paragraphs for each chapter brillantly. He gives a clear objective statement and explains where he'll be heading with the material. This I think helps in a text likes this and demonstrates that Nash is knowldgeable on how to present possible new material to people (for many, this is probable the first they have read about the subject).

He also provides a great selection of resource material on the subject. His endnotes provides nice explanations when neccessary and he also has additional non-cited footnotes to give a little additional, though non-esential information.

There is one small crticisms of the book and it is significant enough to deduct a star. Nash barely deals with the idea of defication among many mystery cults and the Christian tradition. He largely glosses over this section almost forgetting that much of Christainity does practice a deifciation commonly called "theosis." He settles to quickly with the Western idea of salvation in refuting salvific issues. While I think it is propoer of him to use this approach, he relies to heavily upon it. The Eastern Tradition is different than the mysetry cults teachings in this area, and a solid refutation here would have been helpful I think for Eastern Christians, regardless if Nash agrees with the Eastern tradition of theosis or not (since Nash is a Reformed Protetstant, I think he probably would not agree with the theosis doctrine, but nonetheless, it was a teaching of the early Church and is distinct from the mystery cults idea of union with God.

A must have book for any Christian who wants to learn more about this subject!

A Christian philosophy professor's refutation of scholarly claims linking the canonical Gospels with Greek philosophy. Believers will be convinced, non-believers will be interested and educated.

An honest, well written book by a fellow who seems like a nice guy. Eighty percent explanation of the scholarly dispute; twenty percent gentle Christian refutation. Good chapter's explaining the monotheism of the Platonists and Stoics, the Mystery religions and the Gnostics.

Does not cover the savior-myth and some other topics.

I consider this book to be a 'must have' because of how critical I think the subject matter is, and how well I think Nash analyzes the subject.

On the surface, many folks might think that the topic is very obscure or not all that important. And while it's true that the subject matter is somewhat complicated and can initially appear pretty irrelevant to present day Christianity, it is nonetheless a topic with enormous present day relevance and deserves to be explored. In a nutshell, this book attempts to analyze whether early Christianity was influenced by pagan philosophical systems or by ideas that existed in the pagan mystery religions. There are a number of reasons why such an examination is so important. First, as this book mentions, a link of influence of paganism on early Christianity has been a common tactic among various folks in academia who are looking to discredit the Christian faith in front of an impressionable audience, and while not mentioning it, the Jesus Seminar has also been diligent in advancing such arguments in an effort to dedeify Jesus. And the reason is clear. One can make major inroads in discrediting the authenticity of Christianity if they can demonstrate, for example, that the resurrection of Jesus as described in the Gospels was really a mythical story copied from allegedly similar recountings in the pagan mystery religions. If this could be demonstrated, any number of additional negative ideas could be argued with greater force, such as that Jesus wasn't really God because the resurrection recountings of the Gospels are not historical but mythical and parallel other myths of the time, or that Jesus is no more special or unique than other supposed gods or deities in other religions. It is clear that the ramifications of these kind of theories, if proven, would be devastating to Christianity. Thus, the importance of this book.

Nash carefully divides the book into 3 sections; analyzing the possibility that early Christianity was influenced by pagan philosophy such as Platonism or Stoicism, analyzing the possibility that early Christianity borrowed some of its stories from the pagan mystery religions such as Isis/Osiris or Mithra, and analyzing whether Christianity was influenced by Gnosticism. In each case, Nash does a good job of beginning his analysis by clearly defining the terms of the debate, and fairly representing the claims made by those who positively assert pagan influence on Christianity. These introductions give the reader a very good starting point for seeing how these arguments, when left unscrutinized, can on the surface appear to be compelling. By presenting the arguments fairly and completely, Nash does a good job of peaking the interest of the reader to read on in order to find out whether these arguments really hold water once we get below the surface. And particularly in the analyses of pagan philosophy and the mystery religions, Nash's analyses are very detailed and meticulous. Nash's analyses are very effective in meticulously discrediting these arguments and in most cases, showing very clearly the lazy scholarship that often fuels such arguments. By doing this, Nash not only puts these arguments in their place, he affirms the historical reliability, uniqueness, and truth of the Christian faith as described in the New Testament and clearly demonstrates that there is absolutely no evidence of a pagan influence on Christianity, and in fact, there is sufficient evidence to suggest a Christian influence on paganism.

In summary, after one reads this book, it is likely that they may scratch their heads in wonder when one thinks about why this book had to be written, given the lazy and even contrived scholarship that is the basis for so many of the arguments affirming a pagan influence on early Christianity. One might reasonably wonder how such ideas ever had any credibility to start with when Nash so completely destroys the arguments with very simple facts and analysis. I applaud Nash for being so thorough in the topics covered and in the analysis. There are over 30 pages of footnotes at the end of the book for the reader who is interested in conducting additional research and examining other pertinent resources. I completely concur with what Nash says in this book when commenting on the alleged influence of the mystery religions on early Christianity, "These..arguments against Christian syncretism help us understand why biblical scholars today seldom claim any early Christian dependence on the mysteries. They constitute an impressive collection of reasons why scholars in such other fields as history and philosophy should rethink their methods and conclusions and finally put such views to rest." This is an excellent book, and one that can greatly help any Christian easily and effectively counter the claims of pagan influence on the early faith. A 'must have' for any apologetics collection.

Having recently discovered the wonderful works of J.otto Seibold and Vivian Walsh I went ahead and bought this title, one of their earlier works. Neither the art nor the writing are as fully developed as their later works, such as the exquisite Gluey, but all of the trademark elements are in place. J.otto's art is still irrestibly charming and full of humorous details to find and enjoy. Walsh's writing is simple enough for youngsters to understand, but subtly includes whimsy and benevolence in her typically unforced manner. All ages will enjoy the dog Mr. Lunch's downstream journey to Venice.

i find the mr. lunch books very inventive and humorous. my 4 year old son loves them. i first bought "mr. lunch takes a plane ride," prior to our family flying to california (from new york). it was a perfect primer to the ride. the canoe story is even funnier than the plane story. of course it is absurd and tongue and cheek, but kids don't know that, so it feeds into the invention of fantasy that kids at this age should foster. the drawings are hip as well...very modern...highly recommended!

Yet another masterpiece by J. Otto! The story (as well as the pictures-which you can see from the cover) is very cute and your child will definitely love it. do NOT hesitate to buy!

Since announcing my pregnancy, I have been given books from several friends and family members regarding everything from pregnancy to nursing to the terrible twos. I ended up flipping through each book once and never picking it up again. Yesterday, a friend gave me this Girlfriend's Guide. My husband and I happened to be on our way to the baby store to shop for car seats, and the timing couldn't have been more perfect. Without this book, we never would have been able to navigate the jungle of car seats without going insane. In addition, it made us feel like we were prepared to look at cribs and other baby items--we just referred to the book whenever we had a question about what was good, what was unnecessary, etc. It was a godsend. This book got more use yesterday than all of my other baby books have in the past several months! I am determined to give this as a gift to every expectant mother I know.

I am the mother of a one-year-old and recently purchased this book for a pregnant friend. I read the book before giving it away and wish I would have had it a year ago. It's easy to get overwhelmed when shopping for baby, especially when you are clueless but I think this guide would really help. It cuts to the chase and helps you focus in on what you really need. It recommends some brands where necessary and tells you what you need, what's optional and what to skip. After just completing my first year of motherhood, I consider myself a pretty good expert on babygear and I agreed with most everything in the book. A big plus is that it was released just a few months ago so everything is up-to-date. I would recommend this for all first time mothers-to be.

This is one of the best books I've read during my pregnancy! Iovine's sometimes offbeat humor and no-nonsense approach the the labyrinth of baby stuff have kept my sanity intact, me laughing, and our budget considerably less strapped. The strong emphasis on practical and safety considerations have been a must as we entered our first baby superstore and were ready to run screaming back to the parking lot. Just the chaper on cribs alone saved us hours of heartache and confused wandering around baby stores, not to mention helping us to avoid some potentially hazardous mistakes. The book has accompanied us to every store we've visited. Perhaps most importantly, my knowledge of and confidence in what we need and where to find it has increased exponentially -- which is invaluable, as there are more than enough other things to stress and panic about!

I thoroughly enjoyed Borrow and look forward to meeting this character in heaven, where I believe he and Tolkien are having a great time talking philology. This is one of those books that, when you are done reading, you feel that you have made a friend and you miss him now that it's over. I am eager to read his other writings.

This book (including Romany Rye, the sequel) is not an example of high-minded literature, but rather the account of Borrow's early life, and the beginning of his adventures. All escapades take place in the United Kingdom, of which he is admirably patriotic. As a character, he is actually somewhat quiet; but the situations and especially people he meets are both tangibly real (to a degree that I find unusual in a work of that time) and outlandish by any standards, Victorian (?) England's or ours. Above all the stories were fascinating, and are stamped permanently in my memory.

While one needs a taste for the "philological" to enjoy and understand these adventures, they are still only marvelous anecdotes, including brilliant character portraits and memorable descriptions.

One small quality that I appreciated, particularly since he writes so much of his experiences with Gypsies, is that Borrow is probably less rascist than many of his contemporaries seem to b! e.

By the way: while The Bible in Spain has the same qualities as Lavengro and Romany Rye, it is not nearly as well written; he indulges his taste for dry ramblings much more, and the interesting stories seem almost arbitrary in when he tells them and when he ends them; were he still alive, there would be much that I'd like him to elaborate on.

If anyone can tell me about his other writings (I have the impression that the quality can vary) I'd really appreciate some advice through email.

When two gay men set their sights on an unhappy honeymooner in Italy, a disturbingly funny series of events take place. The story ends on a similar note, hilarious, and yet somewhat frightening.