Fee

I've knitted for years. But I found this book really useful for the following reasons:

1. The sweater "sampler" is a fun project to learn decreases, increases, the effect of types of ribbings on shape, how to do edgings and more--all in one handy reference project. When it's finished, it looks like a fish that mated with a windsock but that makes it fun to mystify your friends. Hang it proudly where people can see and exclaim over it.

2. You can knit any sweater you like--cardigan, pullover, raglan, using a percentage system that Jackie Fee explains (based on the original by Eliz. Zimmermann.)

3. You can knit anything in any yarn in any gauge and size you want. So this is a great thing for designers and those who spin their own yarns.

I can't think of anyone who knits who wouldn't benefit from this book. It should be a "must" in your knitting library. I hoarded my copy and was really glad to see this back in print because now I can share it with my friends who want to learn.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

I am part of the new generation of knitters so I had never seen the famous Sweater Workshop, only heard about it. So, when it was reprinted, I bought a copy immediately.
First reaction: Wow
Jacqueline Fee has created an incredible, complex-yet-simple system for creating seamless sweaters from the bottom up. All you need is your yarn and some basic math skills to make one-of-a-kind creations that you are sure to love since you designed them.
First though, is the sampler. It's sort of like sweater boot camp. Everything you could need to make a basic sweater. Yes, it's true, it does look rather silly but what fun! I hung mine up on my wall for inspiration.
With the sampler done, you're ready to start knitting your own sweater. This is whrer the fun begins.
Advice to newly designing knitters is sprinkled throughout the book and is greatly appreciated. We learn how to make perfect k1 twisted, p1 ribbing in the round, how many stitches should be in various sleeve styles and learn the glories of the reversable knitted belt. Then there is a whole section on making your sweater unique, by playing with color, using music to make a striping sequence (!) or using yarns that were not meant for knitter. A wealth of information and a great bibliography to back it up.
Fee has a chatty, outspoken writing style that is easy and enjoyable to read. She had plenty of knitting opinions that may open up new options. (I too am an English-style knitter who doesn't mind purling!) Naturally, I don't agree with absolutely everything (I am very fond of my interchangable tip knitting needle set) but it is refreshing to hear new opinions.
Not all of the designs pictured in the book appealed to me personally but what does it matter since we will be customizing our own? This and the fact that I am a big spiral-binding fan are the only reservations I have about this book. Other than that, a wonderful book for knitters!
So, if you have ever had any thought of knitting your own sweaters or if you have some yarn you bought on sale but can't find a pattern for, I hope you will try this book.

This book is great! I had never knitted a sweater before (all the pieces were too scary), but this book made it easy. The sampler is a great learning experience . . . do it! Plus, I don't have to be intimidated by all those pieces, since the sweater is basically worked as one piece. This is by far the best sweater book out there.

I had the same problem most of you reading this have. But after reading this book from cover to cover, I was awashed with a new vigor and confidence to launch a strategic war of words with the credit card telephone handlers. As you read thru the transcripts of the author's actual calls, picture yourself talking on the phone with the same savvy as he. Then close the book, put up your over charged, over penalized, and over interest rated bill and MAKE CALLS! Show them that you are taking CONTROL of your finances and relish the experience of sticking up for yourself.

I unexpectedly run into high debt. So far, I just got this book 2 days ago. I made three phone calls, saved $85 dollars fee for a credit card and about $3,000 in interest charges on one credit card. And this is just the beginning. Extremely helpful book. I honestly recommend it to people like myself because there is always a solution and this book gives me hope

"Talk Your Way Out of Credit Card Debt" provides solid advice on getting your rate reduced, annual fees waived, removing a late payment fee, handling disputes, and many other common problems when dealing with credit card companies. More than just advice, it is a collection of detailed examples of phone calls including complete transcripts. Each transcript demonstrates how the author handled a particular issue and the results of the call. Not content to just give one example of getting an interest rate lowered or removing over limit fees, each type of problem has several transcripts so you can get a good feel for what to expect and how to handle it. Most people are not aware of how much power they have when dealing with a credit card company and how to get things changed. This book walks the reader through the process from beginning to end and is a recommended read for anyone looking to gain control of his or her credit card situation.

This book is about the real world that they did not teach me or my classmates in law school! I have been in the business of real estate brokerage and buyer agency for close to a decade and I still found myself highlighting throughout the book.

Six years ago organized real estate was still in a struggle to preclude real estate brokers and agents from representing buyers. Today, every part-time, know-nothing with a license is a "buyers' agent." (The organized real estate industry is still fighting laws that force them to tell sellers and buyers who they represent!) What do you really know about agents, selling real estate, or buying real estate? What does "buyers' agent" really mean? What are the agents' and brokers' duties? What does "your" agent owe you? Why is a dual agency too often dual fraud?

If you are about to enter the real estate game, this book will tell you the rules. Every homebuyer and seller needs this book for his or her financial self-defense and for his or her peace of mind. Will it matter to you if "your" agent harms you from malice and greed or harms you from simple stupidly? Trust me, it is going to hurt either way. You can pay attorneys thousands of dollars after the problem or you can read this book and preclude the problems before they happen.

BOUGHT, NOT SOLD will help you recognize the consumer quality revolution in real estate -- it's all about customer awareness and empowerment. You now have resources at your disposal at an unprecedented level when you engage the services of an exclusive buyers' agent. Note: the term exclusive is most important.

As a buyer, your purchase prospects should be unlimited -- don't accept anything less. An exclusive buyers' agent will make available properties for sale by owner and even properties that may not be listed for sale. You didn't know that? Neither did we, but now we know that an agency's listings, or even those in the local Multiple Listing Service are not a complete presentation of what is really on the market!

For example, as a seller, you employ a real estate agent to help you sell your property; as the employer, you determine the level of service to be provided by your employee, as well as the fee you agree to pay for those services. Ray Wilson advises you on how to select a real estate agent to represent your interests -- and gives you information that empowers you as an employer, with practical advice on defining your service expectations. Insight into avoiding traps set up by the traditional commission set up in favor of listing agents is invaluable -- this is where you really can save by understanding details seldom revealed to sellers or buyers.

This book is highly recommended by the webmasters of pru-florida.com -- Prudent Florida Home Buyers and Sellers, the realty web site for consumers.

Author describes the ultimate in real estate buying service. Hiring a real estate company to represent you the buyer instead of using an agent who drags you around to all of the "in house listings". The exclusive buyer agent works only for your best interest. You hire the agent to help you buy the best home, save money, and avoid surprises. Having bought three homes and using an Exclusive Buyer's Agent on our last home, I know from personal experience what a godsend this is. A true EBA tells the buyer everything. This is so popular now that almost all agents claim to be Buyer Agents, look for the company that does not represent sellers, hence "exclusive" buyer agents. All others try to get you to buy the in house listing and think you shouldn't mind their conflict of interest.

God's Empowering Presence is not a small book, nor light reading. In developing an article for the Dictionary of Pentecostal and Charismatic Movements, Fee realized very little secondary literature existed on the topic of the Holy Spirit as seen in the letters of Paul of Tarsus. Because of the dearth of Pneumatological studies in general, no one had ever thought to write a text specifically focused on how Paul viewed the person and work of the Holy Spirit. So, Fee sought to remedy this. In doing so he realized that he could not simply make assertions without first having a firm foundation of Biblical analysis with which he could base his findings. Understanding that this had not been done in a way which focused on the broader understanding of the Holy Spirit in the Pauline corpus, he felt he had to create his own body of textual analysis which went through the various letters and analyzed verse by verse, use by use, Paul's understanding of pneumatology. It is this textual analysis which comprises the great bulk of God's Empowering Presence.
Having exegeted the great bulk of the Pauline Epistles, Fee then feels able to make some observations and conclusions about Paul's general pneumatology in the last 100 pages of this nearly 1000 page book. He concludes that the Spirit was for Paul more real and evident than we can possibly imagine in our day and age, that the presence of the Spirit was an assumed reality, because of which specific theological discussion is limited. But in the off hand remarks, asides, benedictions, and other such casual comments Gordon Fee is able to discover and lay out eight primary conclusions about Pauline pneumatology. These conclusions are not meant as simply academic points of interest, but are in keeping with Fee's profound pastoral sensitivity and seek to point out ways in which the modern church can regain some of the liveliness and fullness that is found in Paul's understanding of the Holy Spirit. If you don't care about the exegesis (though as a reference I can't imagine not caring) Fee has another book called Paul, the Spirit, and the People of God which consists of just his conclusions and insights.

This was the most excellent book I have read discussing the work of the Holy Spirit,and it's importance to the Christian. Fee caused me to do a lot of thinking about my previous beliefs. He challenged me. THe one problem with the book, and Fee admits as much in the introduction is that the first section of the book is absolutely exhaustive. Not only is it an exhaustive discussion of the Pauline texts dealing with the Spirit, but it will "exhaust" you in reading through it. However, don't let that stop you from reading this fantastic work. It could change your life and appreciation for the wisdom of GOd.

In the Pauline scholarship, Paul's pneumatology is often overlooked. One purpose of Fee in writing this book is trying to show how significant the teachings of the Holy Spirit is in the Pauline theology. It is related to various theological themes in Paul's theology such as Christology, soteriology, eschatology, anthropology and Paul's view to the Law. This book is divided into two parts: the first part, two-third of the whole book, is devoted to careful exegesis of all the Pauline texts about the Holy Spirit. I find it inspiring especially in his exegesis on the 'Spirit's' text in Romans. The second part is his systematic treatment/ exegetical synthesis of Paul's pneumatology based on the exegetical results of the first part. In this part Fee interacts with recent NT studies on the Holy Spirit such as Dunn and Scott, protesting against their approach of reducing the Holy Spirit as but equivalent expression of the experience of the rised Lord Jesus Christ. The most interesting part is his "pneumatic criticism" against "The New perspective on Paul" proposed by Dunn and alike. Before you are immersed into this 'great book', about 1000 pages, you can read first Fee's essay 'Paul's conversion as Key to His Understanding of the Spirit' in the book "The Road from Damascus: the Impact of Paul's Conversion on His Life, Thought and Ministry", edited by R.N. Longenecker, p.166-183. This essay may give you a quick look on Paul's pneumatology, which may give you more motivation to read, at least, the second part of this his commentary as well as NT theological book on Paul.

Ask any seminary trained pastor who Gordon Fee is or about this book and you'll get an answer. This has been most important text on this subject for the past couple of decades. There are newer texts. They also need to be read, but this one continues to set the standard.

Who should own a copy of this book?

SEMINARY STUDENTS (if it is the text for your homiletics class)

PASTORS WHO ARE HAMPERED BY LACK OF LANGUAGE SKILLS (The book will help you work around a lack of Greek skills.)

PASTORS WHO HAVE NOT HAD THE BENEFIT OF A SEMINARY EDUCATION (There is an excellent section on sermon preparation with a minimum of 10 hours for study per week.)

LAY PERSONS WHO WANT TO LEARN HOW TO STUDY THE NEW TESTAMENT (Most of the time what we read in books and learn in Bible studies is more inspiration than scholarship.)

This book is a perfect text for the laymen and the pastor. I love how Gordon Fee writes in a way in which it helps the layman do some real study of the bible and how he teaches step by step on how do exgesis of the passages of the Holy scripture. It has great recommendtions on other resources in which will spark the laymen to study like a student of the bible not just a church goer. Gordon Fee a HIGHLY respected scholar and he knows what he's talking about. Praise God for this man in which God raise up...
God bless Dr. Fee

Fee's handbook is probably the best guide in doing Exegesis available today. It is useful both for the one who knows Greek and for the one who is forced, by lack of language skills, to work around this deficiency. His technique for doing so will enable any diligent student to work around this and still use many of the best helps in the field.

Fee also guides you step by step through various projects for which one would do exegeis. Whether that be a scholarly paper, a Sunday morning sermon, or other types of research.

As noted above, the resources he guides one to are indeed worth the price of the book in itself, as it is an indispensible tool in library building.

Warrior Scarlet is one of my favourite Sutcliffs, and Knight's Fee is also a good read, but The Mark of the Horselord beats them both. It's one of those "Wow" books - ones that you keep thinking and thinking about for long after you've read it. Rosemary Sutcliff portrays excellently how a person, even coming from and living through some terrible situations, can rise to the occasion and truly make a difference in the lives around them, making choices not because they are comfortable, but because they are what must be done. I like characters whom I can really respect, despite our differences in situation.

I agree with another reviewer: We MUST reprint this book!

I have been an avid fan of Rosemary Sutcliff for at least 30 years...Her novel Sword at Sunset is,to me,the finest and the most believable of the accounts of King Arthur without all the romanticism attached to most versions..She has such a rare gift that I read this book at least once a year and never tire of it!...Mark of the Horse Lord comes a close second but I have read all her books...even junior novels like The Witches Brat etc...I will be forever grateful to Ms.Sutcliff !

I have read all three of the books in this collection, and they are all really wonderful. Warrior Scarlet is still in print here in the U.S. and is a marvelous introduction to Bronze Age Britian for young adult readers. Knight's Fee is still in print in the U.K., and I ordered it from an online dealer there. It is set in Norman England, and while it is not my favorite of her novels, it is well written and interesting.

I read Mark of the Horselord 30 years ago, and I have been searching for it since 1995. It is set in Roman Britian, and tells the story of a gladiator slave who becomes a king. This book was written for teens/young adults. It is much more challenging than the muck being written today. The characters are well-fleshed out and memorable (I remembered them for 30 years). It is simply the very best of her novels, and I have read them all. Why this book is not in print is a mystery to me. I know there is a market, at one point the only copy I could find was a paperback that was priced at more than $150.00.

I found a library bound copy through Amazon's Z Shops at a very reasonable price, and reread this book last week. The intervening 30 years has not robbed this book of it's power. I read it slowly, and savored every minute. Find this book. Harass publishers ( I have!). Let's get this book reprinted!

Gordon D. Fee has done everyone a favour. This is a scaled-down version of 'God's Empowering Presence', without all the pages of Greek exegesis. Suitable reading for the lay-theologian, a good devotional read.
Particularly interesting are his comments on the flesh-Spirit theme, and he certainly deserves to be heard in this regard. He competently expounds Paul's theology of what it means to be 'in the Spirit' and 'walking in the Spirit' (though the reader will have to go to GEP for the full exegetical background)and exposes the shallowness of the prevailing evangelical view that flesh and Spirit is about the unceasing internal battle between two natures, a doctrine which can be used to cover up sin and obscure the reality of the freedom believers have in Christ.
Fee's findings make great pastoral theology, and I have found his insights invaluable, both in my own life and in teaching others. My only concern is that his emphasis on the Spirit may tend to promote a corresponding de-emphasis on Christ, who is the central figure in Paul's teaching.

This book is required reading

This is an excellent book and written by a scholar. This book deals primarily with the presence of the Holy Spirit in the individual life of the believer and in the church. Fee examines the presence of the Holy Spirit in the Old Testament and shows how God dwelt amongst His people and how the presence departed and was renewed again.

He describes the eschatological nature of salvation, showing that salvation has a past tense aspect, a present tense aspect and a future tense aspect. Anothre theme shown in this book is that God is still saving a people for His name describing how salvation is corporate as well as individual and cites various scriptures to back this up.

Fee's teaching influences the way one reads the New Testament. Upon reading this book one can't help but see when ope reads the New Testament, the perspective the Early Church had on Salvation and their existence.

At the back of the book there is an appendix dealing with Spirit and Water Baptism.

For a clear balanced and uncompromising book dealing with the Holy Spirit and the Early Church this book is a must read.

This is a good choice if you feel skittish about following thru with the largest transaction in your life. Much of this book didn't apply to me because I'm buying just land in NC with cash --a transaction that's much simplified from the stuff she covers here. Much is made of escrow, but in NC, as far as I can tell, escrow is not as central to the closing process. There is an appendix on the differences between the closing procedures between all of the US states, but it would be nice if this was beefed out a little more. Still worth it, comprehensive, and good links to web resources.

"This book has all the information anyone needs for all aspects of a closing. It tells you the right questions to ask, when to ask them, and includes helpful checklists, which are really user-friendly. I used this personally in my latest closing, and it was the best guide I could have had. The list of documents needed to be sure the closing goes smoothly was great. Sandy Gadow is the leading author and expert on closings and escrow and I appreciated the easy to read style of her book. Worth buying this book!"

I really enjoyed this book. The book is written very clearly, with great illustrations and examples. The easy to understand way in which closing was explained made sense and was easy to follow. I have read many real estate books, but never one written by a closing professional. Someone who really knows the subject matter from first hand experience. This book prepared me for what to expect at closing, what fees I was allowed to question and how to negotiate lower closing costs. I realized that settlement errors just don't happen at the mortgage level, they also happen at the title company. This book delivered on it's title. It really is a complete guide and a handy reference book. I went to closing with less worry and more confidence than ever before. I understood what I was doing and what to question. This is the only book I could find that really helps you with the final and most critical part of a real estate purchase (or sale).

Gods, Heroes, and Kings: The Battle for Mythic Britain

Gods, Heroes, and Kings, written by Christopher R. Fee and David A. Leeming and published in 2001 by Oxford University Press is a fine overall introduction to the mythologies of the pre-Christian inhabitants of the British Isles, who can be divided into two groups, each of which, in turn, has two subdivisions. First came the Celts, both Goidelic (Ireland, Scotland and the Isle of Man) and Brythonic (Wales, Cornwall and the French region of Brittany).
Most of the mythology of the Celts was written down long after the coming of Christianity to Ireland and Wales. Many Deities appear in both literatures, but the precise relationship between the religions of the two main branches of the Celts is not completely clear.
Long afterward came the arrival of the Anglo-Saxons, a loose assemblage of Germanic tribes who became the English and transformed most of the island of Great Britain into England (Angle-Land). These newcomers wrote down little of their mythology, but a fair amount of it can be reconstructed by comparing off-hand references in works such as Beowulf with the much more extant mythology of Scandinavia, many of whose inhabitants raided and later settled in the British Isles during the Viking Era.
While closely related, certainly more so than the religions of the Goidelic and Brythonic Celts, the precise relationship between the Troth of the Heathen Anglo-Saxons and that of the Viking-Age Scandinavians, as well as the relationship between both of them and the pre-Christian beliefs of the Continental Germanic peoples (German, Dutch, and Frisian speakers) will probably always remain a bone of scholarly contention.
Despite being a work of more recent scholarship, Gods, Heroes, and Kings reflects in many ways the scholarship of the 1970's and 1980's, with considerable influence from the work of the late Joseph Campbell, author of the book The Hero with a Thousand Faces and the Masks of God series. The prominent influence of this scholar rather surprised me, as his ideas seem to be at the present time somewhat out of favor. However, just as in mythology and in clothing fashions, the popularity of ideas and theories in Academia can also have a cyclical element.
The writing style is very readable, and the combination of a section retelling a myth with a section commenting on it is both effective and enjoyable to read. The main idea of this book is that the battle for mythic Britain was not "a struggle between factions of ancient gods and heroes, but rather a war of attrition, a continual reformulation and assertion of age-old archetypes in the garb most appropriate for the audience who heard their stories" (p. 192). Many of the mythic themes survived Christianization amazingly intact, and contributed to the uniqueness of the Christianity of the British Isles.
Much attention is given to heroic themes, and the authors hold that the mythic Hero is actually Everyman (and Everywoman), and the Gods, including by implication Yahweh, are "competing masks of the same ancient beings," and that the masks are just the surface of what they represent (p. 220). Obviously, this is not a theological idea which most Heathens, nor for that matter most Christians would embrace wholeheartedly, but nevertheless it does open the door for fertile theorizing on such topics as the nature and essence of Divinity and the relationship between the Pantheons and Deities of different religions.
The persistence of these mythical themes, both mythological and heroic, is due to the fact that "certain universal concerns remain constant: proper planting, fertile soil, a timely and sufficient harvest (p. 220) and so "the battle for mythic Britain represents the ongoing attempt by humans everywhere to make sense of their present reality by drawing on those aspects of past traditions that fit the most appropriate mask" (p. 221).
The chapter headings of this work provide a good idea of what it contains: The Pantheons, already alluded to in this review, Deity Types, Sacred Objects and Places, Heroes and Heroines, Creation and Apocalypse, and The Sagas (in the broader sense of the term, not just the Icelandic ones). The conclusion of the book is "Five Reflections on the Face of the Hero in the Medieval English Romance - Trials, Tribulations, and Transformative Quests."
As I read Gods, Heroes, and Kings, I found that my overall impression of the book kept going up and down. The lack of footnotes is at least mildly disturbing in a scholarly work. However, the inclusion of fine a "further reading" section together with an impressive bibliography partly makes up for this serious flaw. I am left with the impression that it is trying to be both a scholarly and popular work, with mixed success.
For the Heathen reader, this book is a fine introduction to some of the major extant Celtic myths, and a good overview of our own lore. It is also a good beginning to the important and fascinating Heathen scholarly task of comparing and contrasting Germanic lore with that of the Celts, whose languages are related to the our own tongues, and in terms of geography, history and culture are even more closely our kin. This is a question which most serious Heathen scholars will sooner or later find themselves looking at. The book also provides much material for unraveling how ancient mythological themes continue to influence the core ideas of our culture, and shows one way in which our Gods and Goddesses managed to remain active among us during the centuries in which their worship, where it continued at all, was the furtive undertaking of a very few people.
All in all, I do recommend that you read Gods, Heroes, and Kings. It can be read and enjoyed on a number of different levels, and the fact that Oxford University Press chose to publish it says much. In addition, it is nice for a change to review a book that is in print and readily available at a reasonable price!
Patrick "Jordsvin" Buck
http://home.earthlink.net/~jordsvin

Drs. Christopher Fee and David Leeming have crafted an extraordinary work examining the marriage of Celtic, Germanic, and Norse cultures and religious beliefs in Britain (particularly as they are seen via the literary traditions that chronicled them) in an effort to understand how the impact of pre-Christian peoples influenced the unique Christianity of Medieval Britain. While Dr. Leeming has provided extensive retellings of pagan myths, Dr. Fee has written insightful analyses of these myths and their import to the creation of a British religious ideology. Beginning with a scrutiny of the various pagan pantheons, the work then moves through detailed examinations of, among other things, types of deities, heroes and heroines, and the different sagas of the individual cultures. As an apocalypticist, I found the retellings and subsequent commentaries on Ragnarok and the Anglo-Saxon Fire of Judgment immensely informative and useful.
This is an extraordinarily accessible book. It is intended for the non-specialist and, as such, would be perfect for an undergraduate survey course, for an upper-level topical course on British mythology/religion, or for any scholar seeking an understanding of Britain's pre-Christian culture. I would also recommend it highly as a handbook for any medievalist who needs quick and informed accounts of any and all of these topics. Not only have Drs. Fee and Leeming eloquently opened up the field of pagan Britain to further inquiry and discussion, but they have done so in a work that is, above all, easy and enjoyable to read.

This book is a great read. It's obviously well-researched, and filled with intriguing facts. Furthermore, Fee has a writing style that draws the reader in and keeps him/her interested throughout. Highly recommended!

"No-Load Stocks" was a very informative book. What it teaches you could be very worthwhile when you go to invest in the market. It uses great real-world examples to relate the stock market and investments to the "novice".

I didn't realize many things before reading this book. It cleared up some very murky waters for me, so to speak. First off, it tells you just how much the brokers take away when you have to go through them to invest. I didn't realize that you have the ability of making so much more money with no-load stocks. Some of the only drawbacks it points out are no-load stocks have maximum amounts you can invest, and the administration fees they charge for them tend to be high on average.

Overall, I would highly recommend this book to first time investors. Perhaps even well-schooled investors looking to "freshen up".

After reading this book and following through with the information it gives, ANYONE can invest in the stock market. Not just second rate stocks either, FIRST rate companys. Research and patients are all that it takes.

Like "Buying Stocks Without A Broker" This book is a must read for new and experienced investors. After reading it, I have contacted three companies and am waiting their prospectus and application.