ET Books

This book is by far the best French book that I've read. I have taken French from Ms. Harrington and the way that teaches using the book is extraordinary. I recommend it to all teachers, college and high school alike.

The authors of the Notre Dame Sympsium in the summer of 1999 worked toward the goal of helping people understand and appreciate a profound document from the Holy Father in Rome. Pope John Paul II introduces the 1998 encyclical "Fides et Ratio" with a question. He wonders whether philosophy makes people feel sick and queasy? The immediate answer is to say, Yes, philosophy does make people feel sick, because of a "widespread distrust of the human being's great capacity for knowledge" (paragraph no. 5). Try a simple test and read the following questions: "Who am I? Where have I come from and where am I going? Why is there evil? What is there after this life?" (no. 1). Do these questions of John Paul II bring about feelings of sickness and light-headedbess? If you are like some college students in philosophy class, then your anwer may be affirmative.

Sadly, philosophy and the above questions should be attractive to us and should cause us to relax. "These are questions which we find in the sacred writings of Israel, as also in the Veda and the Avesta," writes John Paul. "We find them in the writing of Confucius and Lao-Tze, and in the preaching of Tirthankara and Buddha." These questions have been confidently addressed in every place and every time history. "They appear in the poetry of Homer and in the tragedies of Euripides and Sophocles, as they do in the philosophical writings of Plato and Aristotle."

Unfortunately, we do not find these questions at Disneyland or Las Vegas. Disneyland in Anaheim has 60 major rides among eight themed lands: Main Street, Tomorrowland, Frontierland, Fantasyland, Adventureland, Critter Country, Mickey's Toontown and New Orleans Square. However, Philosophyland is excluded from the park. Las Vegas ignores the tough questions and provides "escapist fun" with colossal hotels and casinos: Excalibur, Luxor, New York-New York, Circus Circus, MGM Grand and Treasure Island. As the AAA Tour Book says, "Las Vegas became a city that thrived on illusion and fantasy" (California/Nevada 2000, p. 262). Sadly, there is no Philosophy land at Disneyland and no philosophy casino in Vegas.

After visiting Dineyland and Las Vegas a person might ask, Where can I find answers to the tough questions on page 9 in the encyclical? The Pope replies by saying that "the Church is no stranger to this journey of discovery" (no. 2). The Church is good place to investigate the philosophical questions, because the Church "received the gift of the ultimate truth about human life" from the Lord, and the Lord is "the way, and the truth, and the life" (John 14: 6).

Families Of The King: Writing Identity In The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle by Alice Sheppard (Assistant Professor, Department of English, Pennsylvania State University) directly addresses the central interpretative question with respect to the student of five primary manuscripts that together offer a contemporary history of Anglo-Saxon English ranging from the ninth to the twelfth centuries, and materially contribute to understanding the body of Old English prose and poetic texts which in turn, enabled scholars to document how the Old English language evolved and changed. The question is how those five manuscript function as history. Professor Sheppard shows just what has been read as a series of disparate entries and peculiar juxtapositions are upon closer scrutiny a compelling articulation of collective identity and provide academia with a coherent approach to writing the secular history of invasion, conquest, and settlement. The central theme for Families of the King is that the king's performance of his lordship obligations was recorded and transformed by annalists into literary representations of a political ethos offering insights and an understanding of the Anglo-Saxon aristocratic culture and the impact upon that culture by the Normans who conquered them. A work of impressively articulate scholarship , Families Of The King is an invaluable, core addition to academic library collections and will prove to be of immense interest to students of Medieval Studies.

I am a Family Therapy graduate student who has greatly appreciated this book. It includes many basic definitions with practical applications for many theoretical orientations. It is a great buy.

excellent book for allpurpos

'Fat Chunk - Volume One: Robot' is a collection of illustrations and strips from dozens of different writers and artists on the simple subject of robots. Over 130 pieces by over 80 artists are included, from one page illustrations to several page stories presenting robots in various action, humorous, or dramatic stages.

The design is crisp and to the point, just pages after page of art in an easy to handle size perfect for a quick laugh, restroom run-throughs, or before bedtime sampling. The styles represented range from classic comic book, to minimalist, to very edgy 'street' designs.

So much content is included, it's impossible to anyone not to find something they'll enjoy in this collection. Some of the gags fall flat, yes, but the art is so fresh and outstanding that a fantastic read is only a page or two away at any time.

A great comic at a great price for any art or sci-fi fans... I look forward to what Fat Chunk has lined up for Volume 2.

This is a worthwhile read. It details the effect of European expansion on Pacific cultures, and the southern hemisphere in general. It is divided into three parts-
1) Tahiti, which chronicles the successive voyages of Captain Cook and later explorers, and their effects on the supposed 'Noble Savage' existance (not altogether noble when Captain Cook attended a human sacrifice, for example). A detailed discussion is made of the way of life of the Tahitians before the arrival of Europeans, which is revealing and refreshing. It wasn't altogether noble, but there were many aspects of societal and family arrangements, which was envied by the Europeans.
2) Australia, and the effect on the aborigines-especially the Tasmanians. A good discussion is made of aboriginal culture here also, and finally
3) the Antarctic, and the effect Cooks' search for the elusive southern continent had on the abundance of whales and wildlife which he saw, decimated from 1790 onwards.

The title sums it up-the effects of exploration and expansion was devastating. Introduced diseases, misguided missionaries, imposition of inappropriate culture, alcohol-without the attendant level of acquired tolerance, one-sided treaties, indiscriminate slaughter of wildlife such as whales and seals, and so on. Painters such as Ganguin try to capture the loss of spirit of the Tahitians for example, after having their life and culture withered away, and the arguments for and against the 'noble savage' existance are revealing. This was the time of Rouseau, Diderot, and the French Revolution, and there were many myths propagated in Europe about the southern seas. Island paradise, or voyage of the damned?

It is *very well written*, balanced and refreshing-something often lacking in similar texts. (Never under-estimate what a good writer can do with a good story, and what a bad writer can do to a good story). Also, the best edition is definitely the illustrated version-with a number of paintings from Ganguin and others, and original sketches from those who travelled on the voyages of exploration themselves etc-these add much to the text, and it is recommended one search around to get the colour illustrated edition.

It is suprisingly and refreshingly good.

Expert translator Mary Dibbern presents Faust/Romeo Et Juliette: A Performance Guide, an in-depth translation of two of Charles Gounod's great nineteenth-century operas, which were in turn based on the classic parables of "Faust" by Goethe and "Romeo and Juliet" by Shakespeare. Faust/Romeo Et Juliette juxtaposes each line of the original French dialogue with a pronunciation guide for the French indicating which phrases are stressed in performance, and the English translation. Though footnotes noting where the libretto is an exact quote or a paraphrase of its original literary source are present, Faust/Romeo Et Juliette is far more than a simple scholarly or literary reference; it is intended especially for anyone determined to faithfully produce, conduct, or perform Gounod's great operas regardless of their level of fluency in French, and to this end includes literary source footnotes and essays explaining the development of the libretti. The definitive resource for students, teachers, scholars, and performers of Gounod's masterpieces.

Collaboratively selected, compiled and edited by Kfir Luzzatto and Monica O'Rourke, as well as enhanced with an informative introduction by Chelsea Quinn Yarbro, Fear Of The Unknown is comprised of thirteen outstandingly horrific stories of madness, mayhem, murder, contagion, and the occult. These are short stories by thirteen of the best writers currently working in the horror genre and range from "The God of Dust" (Michael R. Colangelo), to "Don't Look Back" (Christine Morgan), to "Mask and Blade" (Paul Finch), to "Infections of its Taboo" (Terri A. Jacobs). Each of these hair raising, flesh creeping stories features a black & white mood enhancing illustration by an accomplished artist. If you are a fan of deftly woven, original tales horror fantasy, then Fear Of The Unknown is the anthology for you!

This book is quite rare among literary theory books in being easy and pleasant to read. It is a great book for any beginning writer or fiction or anyone majoring in English. It introduces the idea that fiction serves social and psychological functions related to play, learning, and identity (in the tradition of Aristotle, who compared fiction to a form of play in his Poetics).