Future Books

I really thouht the book was wonderful. It gave a great review on his teachings and life.

"Galileo: His Science and His Significance for the Future of Man" by Albert G. DiCanzio should be required reading for each physics student starting at the high school, for some, or college freshman, for the rest, level. After reading several dozen books either translated from Galileo's work(s) or written about him, I find this book the best for the student of 2000. A better lesson for my engineering physics students to understand a sense of basic physics relative to that of the last twenty years does not exist.

The extensive amount of material, coupled with a concise writing style, led me to read the book a few pages at a time. There is not a word or phrase that is not needed. I found the book exhilarating.

I have occasionally wondered how trigonometric functions were conceived as infinite series. As an engineer I have been used to using the results, but it is fascinating to be taken through the process of discovery. My field has been mechanical engineering, and I rather assumed (without having investigated the mattter) that Newton framed his "laws" of motion largely on his own. I now appreciate better what towering contributions Galileo made to science.

Readers with some technical background will find the analytical and mathematical sections significantly enhance the descriptive material.

The book's treatment of the impact of Galileo on his contemporaries, and in turn of their reactions to him, is absorbing. Anyone involved in scientific research should have no problem understanding what Galileo confronted.

Dr. Stuart W. Greenwood

A very helpful and enjoyable read. The stories really helped to bring the book into the context of our daily lives. It was easy to relate to many of the families in the book...and Bempechat's advice was reasonable and easy to follw. She didn't make the reader feel like there was an absolute "right and wrong" way, but points out some of the pitfalls we, as parents, all find ourselves in when trying to motivate our children in school.

This book is wonderfully informative and entertaining. Bempechat speaks in language accessible to all parents about the struggles we all face trying to do the best for our kids' education. Her anecdotes and suggestions for dealing with everyday problems, such as homework, are right on the mark. Not at all preachy, Bempechat urges that we think about what works best for us and our families, to help us help our kids do well in school. A must read!

A very helpful and enjoyable read. The stories really helped to bring the book into the context of our daily lives. It was easy to relate to many of the families in the book...and Bempechat's advice was reasonable and easy to follw. She didn't make the reader feel like there was an absolute "right and wrong" way, but points out some of the pitfalls we, as parents, all find ourselves in when trying to motivate our children in school.

Mr. Labbance has shown us his humorous side as well as a realistic vision as to what we all may expect in the coming decades. Even if the USGA manages to sort out the equipment and impose limits, golf course and equipment designers and technicians would do well to read Golf In the Year 2100 to get a sense of the direction we all may be going. Moving fairways, weather control? And we thought the home course was an advantage. X Golf has already arrived and I don't think any of the concepts are unrealistic. I especially like the bunker technology, given that I have so much trouble with sand anyhow. What really sets this book apart is the wonderful story that is woven throughout. As a hickory golfer, I especially loved the ending which gives us with a classic golf mentality something to hope for along with those of us with a more technical leaning. Its a great book and can easily be read while waiting on the first tee.

Thought the concept was fantastic! Both my 18 year old son and myself loved the book....sparked some interesting conversations!

One of the things that makes a great book, in my opinion, is its ability to transport you to a completely different place than the one your rear end presently happens to be occupying. Bob Labbance's wildly imaginative book, Golf in the Year 2100, does that and more. As the author of several nonfiction books on golf, as well as editor of Turf Magazine and Editor at Large for New England Journal of Golf, Labbance knows the game inside and out. And it shows in this hilarious look at where the game might go in the next hundred years. It's science fiction made fun, and it takes the game of golf to places never before imagined. Golf has always been a complex game - part physical challenge, part mental exercise - and with Labbance's imaginary inventions it becomes even more strategic. My favorite Labbance addition to the game is the future player's ability to change the weather on a course from one hole to the next. Feel like playing in a snowstorm? You can. Prefer cartpath-melting heat? Just punch a button on the tee and you've got it. There are dozens of wild ways that the game of golf changes in this book, and they're all great fun to see unfold. But at its heart the story is really about the 20th-century man who wakes up after a 100-year coma to encounter them all, and Labbance handles the character development well. I heartily recommend this book to anyone who likes golf, or reading, or both. It will make you smile.

This is a phenomenal book!!!. The best part of the book are chapters 2 & 3 where there are the yoga type exercises and illustrations of these exercises that you can do anywhere, anytime and these really help combat everyday back pain and they also help by stretching your body. On page 122, he talks about reducing stress and this is also a great chapter. Page 77 is about nutrition and that was really interesting especially the piece about orange juice.

Many people simply choose to live with back pain. They think having back pain is normal - but it is not. This book really hit home in getting that message across. Being able to determine what type of pain I was having, where it was coming from and what type of doctor would be the best for me based on the self-diagnosis portion was so enlightening. I sought the care I needed and am now pain free. The exercise section was also helpful in teaching me what I need to do to stay pain free. Chances are everyone you know will need this book at one point in their lives - make sure you tell them about it! An easy and informative read.

This book was very helpful to me it described my problem exactly, and helped me get the help I needed for a pain I'd had for a long time. The book is very informative. I highly recommend this book to anyone who suffers from back pain.

Eli Brown's "Great Days" is a compelling novel with profound undertones.
I can't imagine a better account of what it feels like to be a loyal lieutenant in a spiritual cult. Or to experience any of the other conversions into political and metaphysical hierarchy that we are plagued with. I was unable to put this book down ...so to review it in a clinical fashion seems disloyal. There is never a trace of contrivance in this narrative; it reads as if dreamed or lived at the border of dreaming. Along the way I was often struck by brilliant descriptions of the desert, of the small towns, the look of people in passing. Struck in the same way one would be if reading a poem occasionally while taking a bus through the desert. Its art in describing inner states is just as genuine and poetic. This is lean, original prose, always in service to the pressure of the main character's story, whose dilemma is powerful and archaic. A young man flattered with his closeness to the guru is suddenly aware of the lurid side of his master - and the rationale for the cult's asceticism starts to crumble. What happens to him (and the plot) never feels tinkered up to give the reader a 'lesson' about cults nor a satisfying redemption and cure.
We're observing thirty years since the Jonestown disaster and we need to know that no one associated with these kinds of events will ever completely `get over it'. "Great Days" goes deep into the allure and moral complexity of utopian fervor. But the reason I urge you to read it is that it's a work of art.

As devastating as it is deeply moving, Eli Brown's ability to paint an unflinching portrait of the ravenous demands of cult life and the psychological vulnerabilities it preys upon, is matched only by his love and empathy for his own characters. Brown's depiction of August, the central character's, search for decency and truth, speaks to something we all know about the desire for comfort, clarity and the hope of being good enough. Elegantly structured, rich with imagery and impossible to put down.

Bold and beautiful, harsh and haunting, The Great Days is the compelling story of August, the heir-apparent to a religious cult, as he struggles to find his own will and truth. The reader accompanies August on his poignant and painful journey towards self discovery. The stark beauty of the story's desert setting is matched by Brown's breathtaking descriptions and glimpses into moments of emotional and ethical clarity for August. With stunning imagery, a gripping pace and a powerful plot, Brown urges us all to examine the use and abuse of persuasion in our world and the integrity of our own responses in our daily lives.

Shannon, a priest and professor emeritus in the religions studies department at a Nazareth College, makes an important point in his introduction that informs much of what follows. He offers dictionary definitions for "death" and "dying," each dealing with endings. He then gives the Christian definitions: "Death is the beginning of life, life at its best, at its most real" and dying is "to start living in a most wondrous way." He also takes care to explore death and dying as two different experiences that reflect continuity (existence continues after death) and discontinuity (existence after death is radically different from existence before death.)

Against that background, Shannon addresses the form of life after death, comparing it to resurrection (Jesus) not resuscitation (Lazarus) and posits that the "the resurrection of the body and life everlasting" expressed in the Creed are experienced at the end of each person's mortal experience, "which, for that person, is the end of time."

These are but a few examples of the richness Shannon brings to this imminently readable and thought-provoking work. Other topics include funeral rites and organ donation, diminishments of old age with practical advice on living wills, hospice care, and medical decisions. As one would expect, the author also looks at questions of hell, and purgatory, limbo, and reincarnation. The final section, What We Believe about Heaven, tackles questions about heaven as a family reunion, a garden of delight, the Garden of Eden, and the Glorious Royal City. The book closes with answers to frequently asked questions about heaven, nearly 100 notes, and an index.

Thoughtful, easy to understand, relevant to today's everyday life in America. This book, written by a theologian is a wonderful book for 'all' Christians and non-Christians alike.

I sat down on Friday night, figuring to spend most of the weekend "working through" Here on the Way to There. I finished before I had lunch on Saturday. It was not exactly in one sitting, but i read the book through in one "go" as it were, following its points and even anticipating some of it, but most of all, appreciating, deeply feeling the truth and gentility in what it said.

This book is so very much like Shannon's other writings and his public addresses in tone and pace that you can actually hear his voice in the words. The same mix of deep intellect, and easy understanding, putting next to each other Milton, Joyce, the Doctors of the Church, and quotes from your aunt! and they all fit and flow and create a "seamless garment" that fits so comfortably.

I was very impressed ,and very moved by many of the things that Shannon said. Let me refer to some of them.

The idea of passion as something that is endured, or suffered. Yes, that is exactly what passion is, in any of its forms, and to think of dying as a passion is something that never occurred to me, no matter how many times "The Passion of Jesus" ran through my ears (page 7).

The necessity of "the person... to forgive himself or herself and open the depths of his or her heart to God" is something that I have seen in those I have seen die (page 9).

It never occurred to me that "death is ....something that we do....an action." (page 13) but of course it is. It is something that takes all our concentration. And that is why death is often precedes by more than a week the cessation of biological functions.

Shannon says "In death we at last cease to live the illusion of a separate, self-centered existence and realize that our life is -- and always has been -- lived with God in Christ and without sisters and brothers ( page 14)." And that is precisely why suicide is not an option, it seems to me, because suicide is a self-centered, self-absorbed act. What we want, what we think we need, a kind of ultimate self-centered existence.

The fact that "you cannot see your own face.... The reflection of your face is not your face....." (page 15) is very much like that painting of a pipe by Magritte that is labeled "This is not a pipe." It never occurred to me. And so, the "Beatific" vision is not only seeing and recognizing the face of God, it is also seeing and recognizing our own face! As the Rabbi you tell of did not at first recognize his name when it was read at the gate of Heaven.

And so on, and so on, there are just too many things I want to say about the book, too many passages I want to talk about for me to go over them all here.

Fr. Shannon's book is a comfort and a blessing, beyond words.

The book is an edited volume of some thirteen chapters that are arranged within four major subsections plus an introduction. The book covers a very wide range of topics and each chapter is written in its own style. The climatic time scale is from about AD 1000 to close to the present day. The book is accessible to the advanced undergraduate onwards. The book would be useful for undergraduate and postgraduate teaching as well anyone with an interest in past and recent climate change or variability and to some extent its impact on past societies.

"The book has been well edited, with tables and figures well integrated into the text; the standard of English is also uniformly high. Each chapter is also followed by its own extensive references list... Overall, this book is an invaluable addition to any climatologist's bookshelf, but is best read selectively, depending on your own interests, rather than slavishly from cvoer to cover." - Ian D. Phillips, University of Birmingham, UK.

"Many books have been published on climatology although few are dedicated to the study of climate and history, which makes this book worthy of investigation for those interested in such a subject matter... Overall, the book contains much interesting, useful material that students and researchers from a variety of disciplines will benefit from reading... A flick through the chapters will almost certainly find something that suits your interests, and... it should retain a place in every library where there is an interest in either climate or history, or maybe even both."
-Pete Langdon, University of Exter

I am an MIT engineer (BSME MIT, 1978) and Author of When Technology Fails, and I highly recommend this book. Meticulously researched, this book provides the best information that I have found anywhere on the Spanish Flu epidemic of 1918, Bird Flu, and the use of homeopathic medicines for fighting influenza of all kinds. A valuable book to have on hand in any flu season, this book might save your life should the future repeat the past when some new flu virus mutates into a virulent form that spreads across the world in a global pandemic. Highly recommended!

I read this book with great interest. It offers a great historical background as well as covers the symptoms of influenza very well. Liked how it covered for instance coughs in many different ways - under the sounds, expectoration, etc. for quick reference under the individual headings for those symptoms rather than just naming the individual remedies. Very good reference book which is easy to turn to in case of fevers, coughs, body aches, etc. to differentiate. I would not necessarily recommend this to someone without homeopathic training as they might not know how to properly use the remedies and might be overwhelming, but I would recommend to other practitioners to add to their book shelf. Glad I bought it.

This book provides the most detailed information on how Homeopathy helped save lives during the 1918 Spanish Flu and will be invaluable in finding remedies to treat symptoms of the next pandemic. This book is for anyone that is convinced the traditional medical community will not be ready to treat the next outbreak of Influenza that is being predicted. Anyone interested in protecting their families from the high mortality rate of an influenza pandemic should have this book in their home. It is reported that even if a vaccine is found for the ever changing virus, it will be months before it could be produced and distributed. Homeopathy is readily available and since most people of the Spanish Flu era died within 24-48 hours, immediate treatment is essential.

First let me say: This book is AMAZING. I highlight important passages that I want to remember for later, and I have done a lot of highlighting in this book. There are a lot of things that I find wrong with the world in general and people in particular, and this book hits every single topic I've ever thought about and many that I haven't. It gives the reasons why our society is changing and changing faster than ever before. If you've ever felt overwhelmed by the myriad of choices at the supermarket, or wondered why some people get so mad when they have to wait in line for 5 minutes, or can't understand the populace's obsession with the newest gadget, you need to read this book. Hyperculture has made me more aware of things I haven't thought about and why I do what I do. I have shared this book with my family and friends, and I feel that I've helped them by getting them to think about why they do what they do too.

Dr. Stephen Bertman, a Classicist, from the University of Windsor in Canada has shone light upon the affliction of modern culture. The speed at which we travel through our daily lives is exposed for what it is able to do. The centripital force that rips at the very fabric of society is examined from the micro to the macro and it is quite alarming to see that what we take for granted is actually part of what damages us. Technology moves faster and faster which pushes the human ability to cope with life to the limits. Culture as we know it is being changed before our eyes and it moves so quickly that we do not have time to adapt. The simplicity of a family gathering is no longer something that the power of now allows us to enjoy, but it pushes us to only live in a superficial realm. At the end there are some sound suggestions to what one is able to do to control the speed at which one travels through daily life. A must read if you are serious about learning how to navigate this constantly changing world. I have not only read the book, but have had the good experience of being a past student of this professor. He lives what he imparts in the book and in the lecture hall. The heights that I have aspired to have been in part due to his teachings. Currently I am working on a PhD in Classics.

Bertman gives us a rare blend of deep historical understanding and clarity of view of our own times. Page after page, recognition chimes go off. He has said what we have all felt in our moments of doubt about the breakneck speed of our own lives and the lives of our neighbors. I am recommending this book to all my friends and acquaintances who have any questions at all about why it is we have so much more stuff and so little satisfaction. People all over the country, who are struggling in so many ways to cope or drop out, should find help in this book.

This forms part of a set of four. I have posted my review on Part 1.

This forms a part of a set of four. I have posted my review in Part 1.

This book in the words of the New Oxford DNB is "a massive compendium of astrology, occult philosophy, and magic". What is offered here is incredibly good value: a readable facsimile reprint of a rare work at a very low price.

To start with what is not well explained, parts 1, 2 and 3 of "An Illustration..." need supplementing with the single volume "A Complete Illustration..." which provides pages 619-914, which are otherwise missing. That extra volume no matter what it says on its title page is in fact Volume 2 of part 2.
These four books form a whole, even though each is taken from different editions, and you will need to buy the full set. There is an index at the end of Part 3, and the page numbers of entries all correspond to the pages as they exist in this reprint.

If you are looking for a book on the art and practice of astrology, this is not for you. If you are studying the history of astrology in England c.1780 - 1800, this is a key text. One of Sibly's claims to fame is his chart of the American Revolution of which he was a supporter, and he also predicted in 1787 the advent of the French Revolution. He was involved in Free-Masonry of a radical kind that interpreted the revolutionary spirit of the age as an impending spiritual transformation of humanity.