ET Books

My Water Comes From The Mountains is an educational picture book by Tiffany Fourment that teaches young readers about the natural cycle of water. Looking at the nation's watershed, the Continental Divide, My Water Comes From The Mountains describes the water cycle from evaporation to glacier formation to the zones of life that water passes through, including alpine tundra, prairie, and conifer forest. Also discussed are how human society uses water, treatment processes for water, and what happens to water after it is used. Extensively researched, My Water Comes From The Mountains was prepared with the Niwot Ridge Long Term Ecological Research project of the Institute of Arctic and Alpine Reasearch at the University of Colorado, in honor of the International Year of the Mountain. The gentle and realistic color drawings of wildlife and nature by Dorothy Emerling complement this informative and enriching picture book ideal for inquisitive young minds.

This is a beautifully written rendition of the theology of history. Fahey postures with wonder and a proper sense of grace the importance of the Church triumphant as the foundation of Western Civilization and as the ultimate hope of this fallen world. He contrasts Jewish naturalism, through the articulation of the Talmud and the Kabbalah, with the Word of Jesus Christ, as the essential and, as yet unresolved, conflict of the ages. This is a truly great and important book!

Addendum: 21-Feb-07

Just this week, I have had the opporunity to reread this very important book. Now, it is important to keep in mind that I did so after a year of study of philosophia perennis, promulgated by the Saint Augustine Institute of Catholic Studies. This foundation has given me an even greater appreciation for the awesome wisdom contained in this terribly important volume.

Father Fahey was an expert in both Church History and Scholastic Philosophy. And, having now a foundation at least in the latter, his syllogistic reasoning is ever so much more penetrating and insightful than it is for one not previously so informed. This is truly a book that becomes more efficacious with the skill and knowledge of its reader. Read this very important book. Reflect on it in light of the essential ontological truths of life. And read, and savor, it again. God bless.

In the pursuit of lofty concepts, such as justice and fairness, activities of courts in adjudicating constitutional issues seem to be held sacred. But constitutional decision-making is not above the rough and tumble of politics with courts, interest groups, and other institutions pursuing self-interests. Such is the case with respect to Canada's Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms, according to the ten well-established scholars contributing to this volume. Their premise is not especially surprising. After all, where there are people, there are politics. It is, however, surprising to be presented, in one tome, with essays of the same breadth on the Charter; they focus on various judicial actors and interests, sometimes in relation to specific cases, to illustrate that judicial politics is not the realm of the sacred. It is also exceptional, in the context of Canadian judicial literature, to be presented with analyses of such depth, attached, as they are, to the theme of Rawlsian paradox in which justice-seekers, advancing fairness, actually promote an agenda of redistribution over fairness. This theme, analyzed from political philosophy and rational choice perspectives, is thus indispensable reading for philosophers, political scientists and legal scholars. Summing up: HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. Upper-division undergraduates and above. - A.F. Johnson, Bishop's University. From CHOICE.

"A more than encyclopedic master" is what Claude Levy-Strauss called Georges Dumezil in his speech in the ceremony of induction in the French Academy. And the description is only slightly exaggerated. This great scholar, rescuer of a lost language (Ubykh) and knower of more than forty, discoverer of a whole vast cultural complex, and capable, when he wanted to, of dabbling at will in Hebraic culture or Quechua language, was something the modern world had almost forgotten: the synthetizing, large-scale research historian, a Gibbon or Mommsen, writing enormous accounts that cover a nearly infinite amount of topics, and certainly not feeling excluded from any aspect of human knowledge. This titanic compilation, MYTHE ET EPOPEE, is an attempt at synthetizing his many and various discoveries; but, while in every other respect a masterpiece (including a prose that belongs among the greatest ever written in French), it fails to find a suitable form to contain discoveries so vast, so multifarious, so different in scope and significance. Therefore each of its three volumes has different structures. The first is a study of threee epic traditions - the Indian MAHABHARATA, the AENEID of Virgil, and the legends of the Narts of the Caucasus - treated as large wholes and encouraged to explain themselves. The second is a group of studies of single if important episodes of Indian epic and what comparison with other Indo-European stories tells us about their origin and meaning. The third looks at various episodes of Roman national legend in the same light. The wayward shape of the whole collection of studies is further reinforced by a generous helping of appendices, whose connection to the central groups of works is sometimes rather loose.
This is not even a quibble; it is a symptom of the sheer enormity of the field that Dumezil investigated. He had gone in so many different directions that a coherent summary of his work is neithr desirable nor possible. In every respect, this is a work to treasure. The amount of insights into the origin and significance of stories and other cultural features is literally beyond computation; every page will introduce you to something both new and fascinating. One cannot say that Dumezil was right always and everywhere, but the ultimate value of his work resides both in the immense amount of valuable insights he has had and in his quite unusual ability to engage with his sources, reading texts with a critical insight and empathy rare in every critic. A masterpiece, an indispensable work.

_This is the story of two very different young would-be monks in the medieval cloister of Mariabronn. Narcissus was a lunar type- introverted, a thinker and a scholar. On the other hand, Goldmund was a classic solar type- extroverted, a lover and an artist.

_Yet, these two beings of seemingly opposite temperaments became the deepest of life-long friends. This is because different strengths- and different weaknesses- complement each other. In this way two unbalanced natures may in strange alchemy fulfill each other. They may be able to see their shadow in the other- and their pivotal conflict.

_It was in this way that Narcissus saw his friend Goldmund's central repressed crisis. It was this shattering revelation that drove Goldmund out into the world beyond the sheltered cloister. It drove him to a life on the edge as a life-long wanderer. He started in a search for his nearly forgotten mother and ended by finding the eternal feminine in all women. Yet the years of hardship and horror (including murder, the Great Plague, and prison) took their toll on him. When after over a decade of wandering, he finally encountered his friend Narcissus again it saved his life- both literally and spiritually.

_I could not imagine a more Jungian novel. Nor could I imagine a better expression of the meaning of profound friendship.

In 1857 David Livingstone accepted the position of British consul at Quilimane and, at the same time, took charge of the "Zambesi Expedition", which the British government had established to further pursue the possibilities of mineral and agricultural resources of Eastern and Central Africa. On this expedition the Zambesi was explored, and lakes Shirwa and Nyassa were discovered. Livingstone's second expedition to Africa is not only an account of exploration of the Zambesi and its waterways but also a detrailed portrait of the local tribes and the consequences of the slave trade.

"Dr. David Livingstone, the Scottish medical missionary, is known to history as the greatest explorer of his age and a dedicated humanitarian who devoted his life to the eradication of the African slave trade. He was a national hero to his contemporaries and time has confirmed his reputation as one of the greatest, if not the greatest, of the eminent Victorians, both in his achievement and in his influence." He resigned from the London Missionary Society and accepted the position of British Consul at Quilimane; at the same time he agreed to lead an expedition, financed by £5000 from the British Government, to chart the course of the Zambesi and investigate the agricultural potential and natural resources of the region. In private Livingstone had hoped that the expedition would ultimately lead to the founding of an English colony in Central Africa. The expedition was plagued by supply problems, internal disputes, sickness (Mary Livingstone died on 27th April 1862) and problems arising from the unsuitability of the steamship and inspite of all of this, Livingstone reached Murchison Falls, Lakes Shirwa and Nyassa and the Victoria Falls. The expedition carried on for approximately six years. "Other explorers we have had whose fame rose as high, but it lasted only for a few years. The influences of Dr. Livingstone's life-work, on the other hand, are so far-reaching that his fame is above the passing feelings of the time."

Written by John M. Hill (professor of the English department, U.S. Naval Academy), The Narrative Pulse of Beowulf is a literary study of the classic Old English epic poem. Scrutinizing Beowulf as a social drama with palpable forward narrative momentum, The Narrative Pulse of Beowulf views a rhythm in the poem's numerous scenes of arrival and departure. Suggesting that such scenes are socially dramatic and crucial to understanding the poem's structure, density, and flow, The Narrative Pulse of Beowulf supports its position in part through comparing Beowulf to other epics such as The Odyssey and The Illiad. "Beowulf's move to call out the dragon and fight him alone, as we have seen, has been motivated by concern for the safety of his retainers as much as by a hero's turning of grief into martial rage and a hope for the luck of singular combats such as those he undertook and survived in the past. His is not a simple mood or a simple motive: in the course of his account, what I have called his apologia, he explains his decision in effect to his retainers in such a way as to minimize any sense they might have that he thinks little of them." A welcome contribution to literary studies shelves, especially recommended for college and university libraries.

Mary Daly's first book is an intellectual gem. It gleams with clear thinking and writing. It's a shame it's out of print. I got my copy on the used book market.

She examines Maritain's explication of "the intuition of being" in the context of classical Thomist interpretations of Aristotle. I have seen footnotes of recent work in France probing Aristotle at levels I can barely comprehend, so it would be an exaggeration to say that Aristotle has been superceded. But Maritain's struggle to preserve Thomism ends up, in Daly's analysis, raggedy at best. She suggests that what is needed is a new theory of induction. She anticipates Nelson Goodman.

Most valuable is the scholarly investigation of complicated philosophical and theological issues presented in a most readable style. On first reading, my only objection was that she relied on a misunderstanding of Kant from one of her sources. That complaint is mere nit-picking, because the whole work deserves praise.

I speculate that her turn to radical feminism not only reflects her protectiveness of women but also her discovery of the incoherence of Roman Catholic philosophy. No wonder Boston College was in an uproar.

This is a watershed book, scholarly enough to satisfy and wise enough to entertain alternatives. I do not yet know where she comes out philosophically now in 2008. As I cannot sing "I am woman, hear me roar," I miss knowing where our Western intellectual heritage leads, if anywhere, in the mind of such a brilliant scholar.

Contains Game Maps for Super Mario Bros 1,2,3, Legend of Zelda, Zelda II: The Adventure of Link, Mega Man I, II, III, Startropics, Disney's Duck Tales, Disney's Chip 'n' Dale Rescue Rangers, Ninja Gaiden I, II, T.M.N.T I, II: The Arcade Game, Castlevania I, II: Simon's Quest, III: Dracula's Curse

A great, handy reference book, "The Address Book: How to Reach Anyone Who Is Anyone" by Michael Levine is a helpful book for anyone looking to write celebrities, politicians, businessmen, and other notable personalities.

Each contact is alphabetized by last name, and contains the address, person's occupation, and in some cases, birthdays (for celebrities only) and webpages (for companies). As an avid letter writer, I found this book helpful in providing me with addresses at demand instead of hunting them down through the Internet by doing searches or going to company webpages.

A great book many will find resourceful, "The Address Book: How to Reach Anyone Who Is Anyone" will help many find the contact information they seek without the need for a major Internet search or many telephone calls. It makes a great gift for students, business professionals, and for anyone who avidly writes letters.