On-the-tape

The title at first hadnt seemed so appealing to me, but the contents of the novel is what matters the most. My mother had urged me to read this book saying it was both witty and funny. A optimistic novel, turning lifes issues into comedy. In her book " When you Look like YouPassport Photo" she writes about her travel experiences which you can both laugh with and at the same time relate to. It starts off with her never having left her home town, to renting the smallest and most unpractical home RV in the world to deciding to leaving her children home to explore Europe. Even if you havent traveled you can laugh at the way she describes even the weirdest things and if you have relate to the tour guides and horrible food services. The memeroable husband always thinking that there are consipiracies going on in the system. The Hotel rationing the same piece of hard roll for every serving. Then there is always your typical bus groups. The health fanatic upfront, the photo mania and your typical drunk always singing at certain stops. I found it funny when she explaned that she had more children than she had window seats and just basically how she compared her life to things. IN her book, she gives tips and rules on travel issues. I havent read a book that made me laugh from page to page liek this one, this is a book no one should miss reading. Her perspective is always fresh, always giving her own ideas her own opinios. " Food for the dangerous" isnt this a catchy yet dangerous phrase. Erma describes all things with a different look. I heard that the authot died a few years ago and i praise her. Having suffering so much illness and even althrough this, having the ability to narate such an optimistic and hilarious book.

Erma's funniest book yet! Every time I'm on a car trip and I'm stuck behind an RV, I think of her experience driving the "rig" with her hands clamped to the wheel, etc. I think of her regretting having more children than she had backseat windows and paying a fortune for a cruise only to spend half the voyage throwing up into a sink shaped like a seashell. Erma took mundane real life for mothers/wives and made it funny.

& this was the best. You can litterally place yourself in her shoes & experience comical things you could never have imagined happening to yourself. The way she narrates really grabs you into the book & won't let you go, & when your finished you need another of her books or you'll go into withdrawl syndrome. It was a horrible loss she died & took her comical genius that no one else has mastered with her.

This is by itself a magnificent book full of wisdom, but even as good as it is, buy "Discovering The Laws Of Life" instead by the same author.Avoid this one.
Why do I give this book a 5 star rating and at the same time I advise you to buy another one instead?
Well, It has the same laws, even the same paragraphs, but "Discovering The Laws Of Life" goes to the point in an easy way without adding unnecesary religious quotes or extra explanations to what has been already understood. However, the results are the same: You become a much better person and you see life very differently.
This book deserves 5 stars for that, but again, buy instead "Discovering the laws Of Life". That one deserves all the available stars.

As a college student at the age of twenty I have been in the pursuit of inspirational words and ideas to help lead me towards a successful adult life. This book contains so much wisdom and inspiration it is only necessary to read a few lines each day. It combines a diversity of ideas into one place which makes it a must have book for anyone trying to make the most out of their lives.

Several years ago I received Templeton's Discovering the Laws of Life, as a gift. Each day I read one of the passages of the book and received what can only be described as encouragement and direction. I yellow marked every word of wisdom and found at the end I had turned all of the pages in the book to the color of my highlighter. In Worldwide Laws of Life, Mr. Templeton has again completed a masterpiece which should be placed nexted to the Bible as a source of wisdom and reflection. Last Christmas I purchased three and gave one to each of my three children as a gift. Over the year they too have expressed to me the profound pleasure they get in reading book, especially in times they characterize as troubled, but Templeton characterizes as, simply..the questions that life asks you. I encourage every Father, or Mother, to give it as a gift for any occasion. The wisdom in the book, related by the World's elite, cannot but improve your childs outlook and encourage his or her positive participation in life's journey.

I listen to a lot of tapes. When I first got this tape series, I lent it, unlistened to, to a co-worker. She came back the next morning, saying "Wow! Are all the tapes you listen to like that?" Unfortunately, they don't. This tape series gives you a different, exhilarating, fascinating look at yourself, and business in general. In it, marketing expert Jay Abraham helps you multiply your best efforts, through identifying and concentrating the skills you have to offer. It's rare that I find a program that has generated the amount of excitement that this program does, each time I listen to it.

If you plan on succeeding in the new century, you must question the rules you have set for yourself and stop being a linear thinker. Jay teaches this and other result oriented concepts.

Every time I listen to these tapes I learn something new. If you want to grow your business, career or life, Jay will show you how. Not through fluffy motivation but actual meaty strategies that REALLY WORK!

This is a no-nonsense tape series. If you are action oriented and you want to see results from your efforts, Jay Abraham is the way to go.

a business marketing genius for helping business owners as myself, These audio tapes opened my eyes to be able to squeeze more juice out by gaining more money. These tapes will also help those professional business people employed in corporate America and sales people to get ahead.He has more books and tapes that I have bought and highly recommend, can reach his company at (800)635-6298

Hercule Poirot was a short, fat, dapper detective who solved his cases by exercising his "little grey cells".

"The Murder of Roger Ackroyd" was Christie's fourth Poirot novel, while "Murder on the Links" was her second. In both Christie adopts the motif of narrating the story from the point of view of someone who undertakes to assist Poirot in the solution of the mystery. Christie introduces the cast of suspects, gives each of them a dark secret and a motive to lie, and piles up the circumstances in such a way that the flying fickle finger of suspicion points to every one of them at some time or another. She compounds the confusion by supplying false leads and deliberatly glossing over hot clues.

In each case Poirot holds his cards close to his vest, tantalizes the reader/listener with cryptic comments, and finds the most inconsequential-appearing facts to be highly significant. Eventually Poirot airs everyone's dirty laundry, explains his chain of deductive reasoning, reconstructs the crime in all its improbable complexity, and gets a confession. The stories are less mysteries than they are sliding block puzzles. Though extremely short on realism, they are long on entertainment value.

Although the BBC radio play had excellent production values, audio cassette may not be the best way to enjoy a Poirot mystery. I listen to radio plays as I drive on business, and I find the Poirot plays hard to follow because of the large cast of characters and the complexities of plotting. Poirot could probably be enjoyed more readily in print. You could then read, re-read, take time out to mull over the complexities, and follow the story much better. Probably the best way to enjoy Poirot would be to read the story first, and then listen to the radio play.

The mystery is beyond our imagination. The background and characters truly victorian, and above all the narrative very gripping! Oh! I am re-reading and every time I enjoy even though I know the mystery! Once again, Poirot at his best with his passion for order and method.

As a Christie addict, having read all of her Poirot and Marple stories many times over, I can only say that "Roger Ackroyd" stands out as the best of the best. Even now, knowing the ending, I enjoy rereading the book, with all the delicious and subtle (but misleading) hints to the grand conclusion. And to the first-time reader, the ending comes as quite a surprise. The fabled Miss Christie leads the reader down so many lovely garden paths before the perfectly logical denouement! Delicious! The audio version is beautifully performed, and does proper justice to the book.

I'm not kidding, it took me almost a year read this book. It is at once, both intriguing and, how can I put this gently, boring. Before you zap me with a negative rating, let me explain. What Durant is attempting to do in writing the story of civilization is incredible. I just do not know of anyone who has come close to accomplishing what Durant (and his wife, Ariel) have done. But when one attempts to cover just a vast subject, it is difficult to communicate with clarity the sub-total of human achievement.

For instance, his discussion of the rise of Islam was both interesting and difficult to read. Intriguing because we see that the conflict between Islam and the Christian west has antecedents that go back over a thousand years. I discovered that it was nip and tuck whether or not the West was going to be able to defend Europe from Moslem conquest. The current tension between radical Islam and the West is only the latest chapter in a long and bloody struggle; but our inability to grasp Arabic names, geography and history, makes this reading difficult. Another area of difficulty was his discussion on medieval architecture. Just how does one communicate form in words that does the form justice? Durant gets and A for effort, but, once again, I had to plow my way through sections like these.

Is it worth the read? You bet. What we see here is the drama of human achievement. From the death and destruction that followed the fall of the Imperial Rome to the civilizing of a continent, Durant shows us the triumph of the human spirit. Durant also shows us the legacy of Roman law, language and civilization on the West. Rather than being a sharp demarcation between ancient Rome and the middle ages, we see the survival of Roman culture, law and institutions as they were morphed by medieval culture. Oh, by the way, the prose is magnificant. I found myself underlying sentence after sentence and reading them to my wife,friends or anybody else who would listen.

So after almost a year and 1100 pages, I finally completed the book. Lets see, volume five is next, The Renaissance. Another 700 pages. Um. I think I'll take a break and read some light fiction first.

Durant and his wife--who co-wrote all of the volumes although she didn't get credit until Volume 7, "The Age of Reason Begins") are simply the greatest writers of history since Gibbon.

The prose is engrossing, engaging, spectacular, pithy, witty, warm, inviting--in short, I am exhausting the vocabulary of praise for them. I read these volumes, especially this one, over and over again for the sheer joy of the prose.

Durant covers the period from the year 300 until 1300, usually considered the Middle Ages in the West. He covers so much material it is simply astounding and impossible to aborb in ten readings. This book is one for a lifetime of reading.

The strengths are in the cultural area--particular the coverage of writers. Durant was an academic specializing in philosophy so his coverage of subject as overwhelmingly dull as the Scholastic Philosophers makes it come alive. He gives summaries of dozens of writers and the major literary movements in Europe, the Middle East and Islam.

The coverage Islam is extensive but contains the word "Mohammadan" to describe muslims. This is understandably offensive to muslims because it implies whorship of Mohammad. However, Durant is no bigot, the word was simply the fashion when the book was written, much as the word "negro" was in fashion at the same period of time (1950). Muslim readers should not be put off by this. His treatment of your faith and civilization is honest, fair and free of prejudice.

The primary weaknesses of the book (and the entire series) is in the military area. Durant admits his relative lack of interest in this area and relies on secondary sources. He is too credulous of ancient historians--often printing fantastic figures for soldiers and casualties; e.g. he states that the militia for the city of Bruges was 189,000 when the entire town could not have had more than 50,000 inhabitants! He has little grasp of military science and falls back on the conclusion of others with little of the critical examination most every other subject receives at his hands. This is a minor quibble and will probably only be noticeable by those who are avid scholars of military history.

There are, of course, many mistakes--impossible to avoid in a book over 1000 pages of text covering 1000 years, three continents, and three religions.

All minor quibbles compared to the thrill of one of America's greatest writers. Sadly, the Durants are given short shrift by critics and scholars.

As I said, read this book for a lifetime. I have been doing so for fifteen years and I continually learn new things.

In his eleven volumes Mr. and Mrs. Durant come up with a wonderful history of Western Civilization that is simply stunning in its achievement and unflagging level accomplishment for a work that began in 1930 and wasn't completed until 1975.

Will Durant wrote like a force of nature, and this book is a fine expression of his power. The body of his life's work seems to have been an effort, albeit incomplete, to cover the entire history of mankind, and each individual volume covers it's time frame by sweeping through every aspect of civilization: politics, military affairs, economics, science, art, philosophy, religion, literature, architecture, and social customs. The Age of Faith opens with the death of the Roman Emperor Constantine in 337 and carries up through around the 14th century, the dawn of what has come to be known as the Renaissance. As implied by the title of this volume, it was the flowering of the three great Western religions - Christianity, Islam and Judaism - which dominates the story, and Durant devotes significant attention to all three, even though the birth of "Christendom" ultimately emerges as the defining event of the era. The charm of Durant's writing is the passionate love affair he seems to have had with humankind through all times and in all of it's manifestations. While he doesn't minimize the unspeakable brutalities that recur, he writes with an exuberant reverence for the spiritual and intellectual industry that he finds in every facet of human development. Like any competent historian, he also dispels historical stereotypes, and there is no real sense of a "Dark Age" at any point during this period despite Durant's occasional use of the term. However, what does become clear is that until late in the period, it was Islam, rather than Christianity, that achieved the most advanced civilization of medieval times. For readers, such as myself, who are largely ignorant of Islam, the lengthy chapters devoted to Muslim culture may be the most informative and interesting in the book. The Jews, who were scattered and lacked political or military power, are portrayed as bringing a degree of cohesion to European and Eur-Asian development, maintaining a cultural identity of their own, while making remarkable contributions, intellectually and economically, to the dominant cultures within which they found themselves. Inevitably the structure of a book like this is a bit chaotic. There's little chronology to it, and the author jumps from one geographic region and one topic to another in no particular pattern. The book closes with an entire chapter devoted to Dante, in whose writing and life Durant sees both the quintessence of the mediaeval spirit a bridge to the Renaissance. The book's limitations are probably inherent in the author's very purpose, since by covering everything, he's forced by the constraints of space to gloss over much. Even so, The Age of Faith extends over a thousand pages. For readers, again such as myself, who are primarily interested in the political history of the period, the lavish attention paid to cultural topics - e.g., page-long excerpts from obscure Islamic poems, or breathless and detailed descriptions of a particular Byzantine mosaic or a gargoyle on the wall of a French cathedral - are distracting and at times annoying in light of the cursory focus given to weightier matters. Allowing for all this, however, this is a fine book from an extraordinarily gifted writer, and I highly recommend it.

Newer books have been written based on more recently available sources, but this book stands the test of time. It is based on solid research, it doesn't spend entire chapters digressing into, for instance, the ins and outs of the Bowies' business dealings, and it keeps speculation on the motivations of Travis, Crockett, Bowie and Santa Anna to a couple of paragraphs each. Any speculation is just the author's guesswork, and I find Myers guesses to be kept more brief - and more to my personal taste - than, say, William C. Davis' in "Three Roads to the Alamo". It has been said that a revisionist is one who, lacking the notion of honor in his/her own character, cannot understand it when encountered in others. While Myers examines the actions of the three main personalities in a journalistic manner, the enormity of their patriotic sacrifice is never deprecated as is the fashion in modern, revisionist historical writing.

This book remains not only the best single volume on the siege, it provides a great introduction to the historic and social melieu of the era for those seeking to understand the background of the Mexican-American War. -

Mr. Myers wrote this book in 1948, and based it on careful research into the facts as they were known at the time. THE ALAMO is a story of heroic men, dedicated to the cause of freedom, sacrificing their lives willingly for that cause. Bowie, Crockett, Travis, and all the others with them, were the stuff of legends, and as such we should remember them. This is a story to rival THE ILLIAD in its nobility of character and cause. Sadly, later research has shown that these giants were, like the Trojans, at least partialy the product of myth, and their cause was not quite so noble. But this in no way detracts from the telling of a great tale, and, if the men of the Alamo were not quite as tall as we imagined them, they were still men deservant of our admiration. They died for what they believed in, and this is their story, from the first man who ever bothered to compile the whole thing in one place.

Although written in 1948, John Myers Myers "The Alamo", proves that he did his homework well way back then. As a result, the factual conclusions he arrived at the time of his writing, dovetail with those arrived at in later years by other Alamo authors, including Walter Lord. Myers writing presents the subject in a historicly accurate manor, but at the same time with the wit and insight of a newspaper editorial, bringing it to life on a human level.

I loved the main character, Alice Rose. Her adventures with Sam Clemens were both fun and educational. I learned quite a bit about the time period -- Lasky should be commended for her thorough research!

A while ago, I was faced with a decision: to read Alice Rose and Sam or another book for a book review. I decided, not really caring, to read Alice Rose and Sam. Now I am so happy that I did so I could tell other people about this great book. You just can't put it down! You learn about Alice Rose's time, too, so this is a simply marvelous book to read.

This novel is great fun. Alice Rose - never simply Alice - is a dynamic lead character who treads a narrow path between defying her era's gender roles and wanting nothing more than to go to Boston and be like her refined, petticoated cousins. Sam Clemens plays a supporting part, but does so memorably; his outrageous stories first land him a job on the paper, and then drive him out of town. Through the character of a Chinese immigrant, Lasky shows the reader the virulent racism of the time. Some readers may be put off by the novel's attitudes toward religion. Both Alice Rose and Sam rail against quotation-mark Christians, the sort who wear the name but do not live by the principles they espouse. However, both, also speak favorably of people they have known who have lived up to the name. The books only real flaw is a climax that may leave readers wondering for a moment just what has happened. The confusion is cleared up quickly, however. An author's note at the end describes the historical elements of the book and explains which are fact-based and which are totally fictional. All in all, an appealling heroine, the irrepressible Sam Clemens, and an exciting plot make this an excellent choice.

This timely, provocative book combines and shows the relationship between two large themes: a)the nature and importance of spiritual and religous values and b) the nature and spiritual character of American democray, with all its flaws. I was struck to find this book and the manner in which Needleman developed his themes. In broad outline, Needleman's preocupations are my own. Without agreeing with everything he said, I came away from his book with my own ideas clarified and strengthened -- and a bit envious of Needleman's eloquence and ability to put his ideas into print.

Needleman draws a double picture of American freedom and its use. One picture is that freedom means everyone does simply as he or she pleases. This is, for Needleman, an America which has been criticized by many for its materialism, its emphasis on growth, its sole focus on the profit motive, its greed, racism, and, sometimes, bellicosity.

The other America is a spiritual American whose ideas of freedom and democracy was founded upon religous and metaphysical ideas of the nature of man, human commonality, the uniqueness of each person, and the search inward of each person for what is valuable and important. The ideal of democracy on this view is not simple pursuit of material wealth but rather a turning inward so that each person may pursue life and truth in his or her own way.

And what is the relationship between these two concepts of America? How do we help transform the one into the other?
Needleman's answer is in part a study of the wisdom literature common to all religions and great philosophy of life. (Needleman evidences a great deal of impatience with standard church or synagogue-going. He argues that he himself has found such conventional forms of religion sterile and routine.) He finds such wisdom, in various of its phases, in the writings of the American founders.

Thus the larger part of the book is a discussion and creative discussion of the American founders and a reading of certain of American texts. Thus Needleman gives us a paragraph-by-paragraph discussion of Washington's Farewell Address, The Tenth Federalist Paper, Lincoln's Second Inauguaral Address, an Oration of Frederick Douglass, and Iroquois Indian creation myth, and Walt Whitman's late essay, Democratic Vistas. He tries to show how these texts show an America of spiritual values rather than money-making. His aim is, avowedly, to remythologize America and its past.

In a broad sense his project is carried through well. Some of his readings of the texts, particularly of Washington's Farewell Address and of the Iroquois myth, seem to me forced. Needleman would have done better to let Washington speak for himself rather than create a Washington with, perhaps, Needleman's own spiritual preocupations. The readings of Whitman, Douglass, and Lincoln work much better, even on Needleman's own terms.

In trying to get people to think about America -- and to reassess its values in spiritual terms --Needleman has critical things to say about America's treatment of the Indians and about the long legacy of slavery. These themes are valuable and important and Needleman is right to dwell upon them. I have some question about whether the treatment of the Indians is inself free from a degree of modern stereotyping. Be that as it may, Needleman's point is that we may see America with its flaws and crimes and love it and try to recognize and bring about the ideal in the sometimes shabby nature of the real.

There is a great deal of erudition in this book, both on spiritual texts and on American history. In addition to his treatment of certain standard figures in American history, Needleman has a fascinating discussion of the Ephrata community in Pennsylvania and its founder Conrad Bissel. This Protestant spiritual community flourished briefly during the period just before the Revolutionary War.

Walt Whitman has the last word in this book, as he properly should, with his vision of America and of the American person.
There is a great deal of interest, as best as I can tell, in American history, as evidenced by the many new books on the Founders and the unending interest in Lincoln and the Civil War, and in spirituality, which I myself have found in a study of Buddhism. This book combines these two broad themes in an attempt to help the reader rething and reunderstand America. It is a worthy goal and the book carries it out well.

This book captures what our founders had in their minds and hearts when they envisioned what America could be. While we have strayed substantially from the original ideals, and lost sight of the original "American Dream," reading Needleman's words reminds us of what possibilities we are sitting on. We still have the potential to become as great, as free and as inspiring - to ourselves and all the world. All we need to do is get ourselves back on track. This book offers reminds us of our roots and instills visions of new possibilities. This is the kind of American I want to be!

Going to school at San Francisco State University, I am often confronted with cynical views of America. After going through four years at one of the most "liberal" schools in the country I could say that I to was very discouraged with my country and at times disgraced by the fact that I was a citizen of a nation riddled with such hypocracy.

With Needleman's book "The American Soul" I received great hope for myself and my country. While acknowledging the crimes of America, Needleman shows that the roots of this country are based on the freedom of the individual to pursue their own growth of "character" in light of bettering the whole of America. The flaws we now see in our country are simply a drifting from this ideal and a reflection of the lost individuals which compose our vast nation. It is not a single corrupt politition nor some unjust law which taint this great country, but a compilation of individual citizens who have all, in some way, lost sight of their role and purpose in supporting the whole of our nation.

"The American Soul" is a philosophical guide book on how to be a better American citizen which transends the dualities of liberalism and conservativism. It is a light of hope in our often depressing world.

After reading a book of such depth and conviction, one may wonder if the man speeking of such high ideas actually has the ability to live in such a manner himself. For that I am truely fortunate to have had Jacob Needleman as a professor at San Francisco State and can verify that he is a man of more integrity, joy and dedication than any I have met. Anyone who has the chance to meet this amazing human being will see that for themselves.

I can't count how many times I've watched "The Thin Blue Line" and how many times I've read this book. Like everything else I become interested in, I became OBSESSED with the Randall Adams case and wanted to know everything about it. Randall Dale Adams is - in my opinion - a living hero; I hope to meet him someday and shake his hand.

Adams' memoir (1976-1989) reads like a fictional suspense novel... it's hard to believe, but it's true! The book includes a lot of things that viewers of Errol Morris's documentary haven't seen... we see how improperly biased Judge Metcalf was, as he drives from the courthouse parking lot in the same car as the prosecutors, laughing at Adams' family as he passes them! That's appalling.

I highly recommend both this book and the documentary film "The Thin Blue Line."

Other reviewers have expressed curiousity about Randall's life after prison. Here's what I know:
At first, he was hounded by the press; they followed him everywhere. He traveled the college circuit, getting paid for telling his story. He co-wrote this book, and went on a publicity tour to support it (which took him, briefly, back to Texas). Eventually things quieted down and Randall tried to lead a normal life; he got a factory job in his native Ohio and had a brief marriage. Then a friend encouraged him to speak out against the death penalty, and he began again to publicly oppose capital punishment. During another trip to Texas to support a moratorium on the death penalty, he met an activist named Jill. Three weeks later, he moved from Ohio to (gulp!) Texas to be with her. They're now married and speaking out against the death penalty together...

Passing through a law and order phase in my reading life I came across Adams vs. Texas and have to say it was amazing. Adams vs. Texas is the story of a semi-drifter who, a victim of circumstances, was charged with the murder he didn't do of a man he didn't know and as a result comes up against the State of Texas as a murderer and faces death in the electric chair. His contact with investigators, lawyers, judges, wardens, other convicts, the press, a painfully deluded prosecutor, and the real criminal of the case are combined to make a powerfully compelling story, spanning over twelve years of trial, imprisonment, hardship and finally; triumph. In the midst of this ugly line of events Adams believes that God has him where he is for a purpose and in the end that is true, but it's sad one man had to make such a sacrifice and wonderful that he was able to.
The fact that the events in this book really happened to a man is incredible, but they are presented in such and honest, down-to-earth manner that makes it a real tribute to the man who both went through this experience and survived, both physically and mentally to tell his story. Wherever you are, Randall Dale Adams, I'm sorry they did that to you and you deserve all the happiness in the world. As for the rest of you--go read Adams vs. Texas and remember another, much larger, sacrifice made for you over 2,000 years ago and accept and cherish His gift to you: Life--forever

This is an extremely interesting book, it's all the narrative background behind the documentary film "The Thin Blue Line." I hope Adams is doing okay now. I'm certainly glad the truth was brought out, and that he was properly cleared and freed.

One point I found most interesting was Adams' sideline exploration of the fact that someone who opposes the death penalty cannot be excluded (for that reason) from the jury in a capital murder case. It seems that juries are supposed to be representative of society, and a significant portion of society DOES oppose the death penalty -- thus it is appropriate for people who think that way to be allowed to serve on a death penalty jury.

This is one terrific book. Ken Myers delves deeply into popular culture. He does a great job of grounding his research and findings in a theological framework. He cites everyone from C.S. Lewis to Bob Dylan to G.K. Chesterton to Bo Diddley.

This book is so needed today. So much of pop evangelicalism and even the mainline churches have unwisely and unthinkingly schmaltzed the Church's glorious message into a dumbed-down, styrofoam, homogenized pop culture framework and are submerging the Church's heritage into it. (See Marva Dawn's book "Reaching Out Without Dumbing Down"). I refuse to listen to my local Christian radio station because they've pretty much pancaked their format to just watered-down pop Christian music, pretty much devoid of hymnody or anything with any history to it. What if the World War II generation had demanded that the Church's glorious history and hymnody be replaced by Lawrence Welk-style tunes? That's exactly what's happening today.

Read Myers' book to find out the values of popular culture and how they compare to high and folk cultures. This book will provide you with much great background, and, most importantly, helps you to think Christianly. It's creative, intelligent and a very enjoyable read.

From telling us what culture is and the various levels of it to what it means to be "in the world but not of it," Myers delivers the best to date analysis of culture and Christianity. Of the numerous insights he gives, one of the favorites is: schools do not just give knowledge, they do cultural assimilation. And we wonder why our schools are letting us down! This is a must read for Christians and those into popular culture!

I read this book when it first was published and it has helped me to frame my thinking ever since. I have yet to find the author wrong in his conclusions. Rather, as time goes by, he proves to be more and more on target. It is too bad more people are not aware of this work.