history

Can I just get in line behind everyone else here? This is a unqiely excellent book. I highly recommend it. There are soooo many books about Daoism, except that almost none have any real relevance to Daoism whatsoever. Here we have a scholar who seems to have a deep understanding of Taoist practice. But this is a book about his training at the hands of a true Daoist Master, so I guess that's to be expected. Nonetheless, this is a real, authentic, detailed view of Taoist practice. Not highflying philosophy or navel-gazing, but real descriptions of real practices. Some of the activities described in this excellent book are astoundingly complex. It's as if someone realized the concept of yin-yang, and kept developing it without cessation for a long, long time. Eventually, detailed practices regarding ritual, spirits, magic, personal transmutation and more arose. This is basically the history of Taoism itself, as reflected in the knowledge of one intensely experienced Master, as told by his spiritual disciple. My only complaint with this book? I wish it were twice as long.

I have an MA in Taoism, and I'm considering going after my PhD. I've spent lots and lots of time reading through dusty books on Taoism, and I can assure everyone that I think this is one of the best. In an area where translations of the Tao Te Ching abound, this is one of the few works that provides real detail regarding Taoist practice. Instead of philosophy and spiritual fluff, this book really relates what it is like to be a Taoist in the world of dust. Only after reading and re-reading this wonderful book could I really begin to see how Master Chuang captures the heart of Taoism in concrete actions, and how he does this on behalf of his community. Everyone interested in Taoism should read this book!

This is a totally unique book in that it provides copious details as to how a Taoist priest actually functions. Not theory but an actual diary of sorts. That's unique. For anyone who wants to go beyond the beautiful words of the ancients and discover how Taoists apply them, this is the book for you. That's important.

I give it my full support, and all 5 Stars.

First of all, if Martin Moe said it's good, right here on Amazon, that means a lot already. But I didn't see his review before I bought this book, or until I starting writing this. And it really is as great as all the other reviewers say it is. It's definitely not just another catalog of corals. With so much wonderful, easy-reading text to curl up with and enjoy, and so many terrific photographs... It's right up there with "Natural Reef Aquariums" (Tullock), "The Conscientious Marine Aquarist" (Fenner), and "Clownfishes" (Wilkerson).

In addition to the taxonomy and identification, the book includes small but helpful sections on husbandry, including feeding, disease/predation, equipment, chemistry, selection, etc.

To balance with at least ONE negative, I would comment that some of the photos seem a little over-saturated, but in fact, that's pretty typical in these books!

My Sincere Thanks to Eric Borneman for a wonderful addition to my aquarist's library.

Wow, what an awesome book. At first I thought it would be just another Coral ID book, but it is A LOT MORE! It's an easy reading text, while providing some good in depth technical meat. The pictures are top notch, and He actually has corals in there that I feel are common or have seen for sale in stores, yet no other book I have ever seen covers them, until now. Eric's experience and knowlegdge is top notch. He provides some really good information based on radical new discoveries as well as more current accepted practices etc.

My advice: this is a must buy for any reef aquarist, both novice and expert. The information is modern and up-to-date. If you don't have time to read all the current information on reef aquariums and coral husbandry online on the Internet, you might want to get this book, as it will give you a nice summary of current information.

Excellent book for the serious reef aquarist and anyone interested in corals. Provides technical, but easily understood information on the husbandry and care of these beautiful organisms in the home aquarium- from identification, propagation, lighting, and all techniques needed to keep these beautiful creatures not just surviving, but thriving in your tank.

The information on stony corals, zoanthids, gorgonians, corallimorphians, and other cnidarians is exhaustive, but easily digestible by the normal aquarist.The book chapters are sensibly divided and there is so much wonderful information packed into each paragraph that it is difficult to stop reading it once you get started.

The book introduces technical terms and defines them, even providing a pronounciation key for each genera. Nothing is forgotten. The photography is beautiful. The paper that it is printed on is thick, glossy, and weighty.

All in all, this is one of those must-have books for the aquarist, especially those who are interested in reef keeping. For the fist time marine tank keepers, I must add that this is one of those books you must purchase to read to help prevent mishaps when first starting out. There are no questions left unanswered. For the advanced marine keepers, I think you will find this book a true gem, insightful and covers all those relevant propagation questions one might have. For your money, you will not find a better book!!!!!

Ivan Doig's "This House of Sky" is one of the most moving books I have read. Raised in Montana myself, I can relate to almost every segment of this well written book. I have given it as gifts to several family members, all who have raved about it. Thanks, Ivan, for special memories and sharing your life.

Thank-you Ivan Doig. This book is wonderful. I had started the book and then put it down realizing that I wanted to savor this book. I picked this book up again after reading Close Range by Annie Proulx. What a relief House of Sky was. Great way to see Montana, the writing takes you there.

This is Ivan Doig's story of growing up in Montana. It was not an easy life. His widowed father kept Ivan close, made sacrifices, taught him everything he knew. The father even made a truce with his mother-in-law for Ivan's sake. Ivan was raised by two strong characters! Which made Ivan a strong character.

I would highly recommend this book. It touches all the parts of your heart.

As a writer, Ivan Doig is something of a favorite son in Montana, and for good reason. His memoir is a rhapsody of affection for the land where he grew up -- the small towns, homesteads and ranches in the Smith River Valley, along the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains, extending north to the Blackfeet Reservation on the Canadian border. It's also a wonderful and often touching story of a father and son. Born in 1939, Doig begins his tale with the emigration of his forebears from Scotland to Montana. At the end, in the 1970s, he has emerged as a writer with a graduate degree, living in Seattle, with rich and deeply felt memories of the people and the land he has known -- the house of sky.

An only child, his mother dying when he is six years old, Doig is raised by his father, Charlie, who works various jobs, sheepherding, haying, moving from place to place, and for a while leasing a small ranch of his own, his son in tow. Charlie is a hard-working man, with a big heart and tender love for his son. Concerned by a turn of bad health, he is reconciled to his mother-in-law, who did not approve of her daughter's marriage to him, and the three of them become a family that remains together until Charlie's death at age 70.

The book captures and preserves in detail a way of life that has almost vanished from America. Doig tells of growing up in wide open spaces among livestock and wildlife, learning from his father the skills of making a living off the land and surviving against the odds. He attends small town schools, spending the winters in rented rooms, seeing his father and grandmother only on weekends. Much of his time spent with adults or alone, he grows up more quickly than his peers and learns to love solitude.

At 300+ pages, this is not a long book, but it's no page-turner. You find yourself reading it slowly, relishing the rich prose style that captures the poetry in this landscape of mountains, valleys, and plains, as well as the people, with their personal quirks, habits, ways of talking, and often eccentric behavior. In fact, the book reads much like a novel, full of stories, colorful characters, humor, pathos, suspense, and adventures. The vividness of Doig's writing reflects his training as a journalist, and I suspect that he may have been influenced more than a little by the novels of Thomas Wolfe. I recommend "This House of Sky" to anyone with an interest in the West, nature writing, books about growing up, family sagas, ranching and rural life. As a companion volume, I recommend Wallace Stegner's "Wolf Willow," about his boyhood in southwestern Saskatchewan.

This book is an investigation of the relationship between Wagner's art and his intellect. Bryan Magee, who has been both an academic philosopher and a music critic, is uniquely qualified to describe this relationship. The book is based on Magee's careful analysis of both Wagner's music and Wagner's voluminous writings, including his autobiographical works, letters, and polemical writings on art theory. Magee is also an expert on 19th century German philosophy.

Magee presents Wagner as both a great creative artist and a substantial self-conscious intellectual. Magee shows that Wagner made a conscious effort to shape his art to match philosophical/ideological concerns. Wagner's philosophical/idoelogical preoccupations did vary over the course of his life and this resulted in differences in content and forms of his operas. Magee is careful to demonstrate consistent themes (dare I say leitmotifs) throughout this artistic career. These include disgust with contemporary society, strong belief in the importance of love, and a conviction that Wagner's art could have a transforming effect on contemporary life.

Magee shows well that Wagner was initially a political radical and German nationalist with strong anarchist leanings. Under the distant influence of Hegel and the more immediate influence of Feuerbach, Wagner rejected contemporary society, conventional religion and mores, and believed strongly in the redemptive power of love, particularly sexual passion. Along with the idea that he could create an integrated music drama with equal roles for poetry, dramatic expression, and music, these ideas strongly color his early successful operas and writings about artistic theory. Wagner began the Ring cycle with these ideas in mind and intended that the Ring cycle would be an essentially revolutionary document, an incitment to the destruction of contemporary society.

Midway through the lengthy gestation of the Ring cycle, Wagner underwent a conversion experience after he encountered the work of Schopenhauer. Magee treats Wagner's experience with Schopenhauer sensitively. He shows that Wagner's embrace of Schopenhauer was based on very careful reading and analysis of Schopenhauer's work. Magee shows also that Wagner's enthusiasm for Schopenhauer resulted from the fact that Wagner's considerable intellect was already moving towards conclusions reached by Schopenhauer. Wagner's later work is shown to be a combination of Schopenhauerian ideas translated brilliantly into powerful music and opera.

Magee is an excellent writer with a warm, conversational style. As intellectual history this book is first-rate and it is highly accessible. A bonus of this book is that it is an excellent introduction to 19th intellectuals like Schopenhauer and Feuerbach whose work is largely unknown here. As an aside, Magee makes it clear that important ideas usually associated with Freud originally derive from Schopenhauer and Feuerbach. Magee provides also a very good chapter on Nietzsche's relationship with Wagner and an appendix on Wagner's anti-semitism. The former contains what I think is Magee's only misstep. He attributes Nietzsche's descent into insanity as being partly due to Nietzsche's realization that he would never be the creative artist that Wagner became. This is unlikely. Better explanations are that Nietzsche suffered from dementia due to tertiary syphlis or simply developed severe and probably idiopathic depression. The section on Wagner's anti-semitism is clear, unsparing but also vigorously attacks those who judge Wagner solely on this basis. Magee puts Wagner's anti-semitism in context and rebuts claims that his operas exemplify anti-semitism.

This book, 380 pages in length, is a perfect book for those people who love Wagnerian operas and want to learn more without having to plough through a heavy tome which 9 out of 10 readers never finish. The author, Bryan Magee, intelligently wites to the lay reader. His explanation of philosophers such as Nietzche, Hegel, Marx, Schopenhauer and others who helped form Wagner's thinking, is easy to follow and brilliantly shows how Wagner developed and merged philosophy and music. Wagner changed music. One cannot recommend this book more highly to those interested in learning what made one of the great composers tick and how he is often misunderstood. It is a treasure trove of information and is well laid out. A great read. Bravo, Mr. Magee.

I read this at the same time as J. Kholer's Wagner's Hitler (q.v.) and the result was partial dialectical collision. It is difficult to know how to take Wagner in the midst of so much revisionist detective work. But Magee's book is, in the realm of pure Wagner limbo, a splendidly done piece which shows Wagner to be one of the most complex and significant figures of the nineteenth century. This is not the same as the usual oulala about genius since Wagner and Nietzsche both did a lot of bungled work, among them fixing culturally inadequate views of tragedy. They both failed their own tests, and if you can't figure out the essence of Greek tragedy you can end up in the middle of one yourself. Worth keeping in mind in the tiresome eulogies of these two failures of genius. What a waste.
As a musical peon in the Verdi bleachers with the old rotten cabbage in reserve I can do without hagiographies of this period, but find the subject interesting in a different way. With the Marx brothers A Night At The Opera under one's belt maybe the right methodology to deal with all this is at hand: this complete shambles is important!
Thus it is worth looking at a book such as Josef Chytry's The Aesthetic State for a history of the context of attempts to produce a tragic theatre, and/or the Gesantkuntswerk that Wagner so heroically pursued. But in the context of the overall history which starts with the ancient Greeks the question (which haunted Hegel) is why modern society simply can't match that great other chord of the 'aesthetic state' proceeding from Homer to Euripides. Here Wagner, good or bad, fails his own test, but is the most remarkable self-appointed guinea pig putting the whole issue to a test. It is hard to believe a man of such talents and heroic endeavors could be so unlucky as to fall into the whole occult shebant leading into the emergence of the lunatic far right. Watching him fail is significant in itself, especially next to the stupefying things he manage to accomplish in the process.
But in the final analysis, Wagner was coopted by the society he was and we see a great success in the middle of a great fiasco.
Anyway, Magee's book is a really good snapshot of Wagner. It is good to see the bright side first in trying to get the riddle of Wagner straight.

During the 2nd WW, I spent a good deal of time selling newspapers in the days before vending machines took over. I now live in Huntsville, Al. so thought I should read something by this author,who is best known for "Rocket Boys." However,when I came across this title, I decided to go with U-boats. It was a subject which had great news exposure in the papers I sold . Well I never realized how close the sea war really was to our shores in the early going. This is an well documented account of Nazi sub activity which was apparently kept quiet at the time. As a matter of fact there are so many accounts of ship sinkings that I almost gave up reading Torpedo Junction; rather like having to endure a losing football team for several seasons. This all changes at about p.200 when Hickman proceeds to give a most exciting account of a battle twixt the 'Icarus'(coast guard cutter) and U-352 which was the first German submarine sunk by our side . If you are interested in this aspect of the war which was a critical effort in which we were losing badly, this is your book. For those who like their desert first, start on p 200 of the paperback edition. If you are a "senior" like me get the nore expensive edition with larger type!

Torpedo Junction was an area off the eastern coast of the United States. During World War II, a handfull of German U-Boats sunk more tonnage than the Japanese fleet sunk in the pacific. War material being transfered across the ocean was the target and many items were lost. In the first days alone, one U-Boat sunk just under ten transports before returning to reload.
This part of the war is largely unknown, but played a crusial part in the war.
Homer Hickam wrote out this book wonderfully, making it seem if you were right there with the submarine commanders in battle. What I found interesting about the book is the detail and accuracy of the book. Hickam used sources from the commanders to military officials to write this, providing a complete and accurate history of the U-Boat wars.

I read Hickam's The Keeper's Son first then noticed in the back where he mentioned writing this book, too. It is the true story behind The Keeper's Son and what a story it is! Like the other reviewers, I never realized the tremendous damage the u-boats caused along our shores. The book, Hickam's first, is written with such skill, it seems like you're right there on those little cutters or the con of the u-boats. High recommended for all those interested in World War II or true sea tales.

For the most part I love this book. It is informative, and relatively simple to understand. This book is an "elementary approach to ideas and methods" for the whole field of mathmatics. In fact, this book is one of the reasons I changed my major to mathmatics.

However, there are two main problems with this book. First the quality of the print varies. Occasionally, whole sets of subscripts are blurred, which makes understanding the equation of the moment difficult, if not impossible.

Second, the order of steps for solving or understanding a problem are in an unexpected order, which is confusing. Often, I find that a difficult passage doesn't deal with difficult concepts, its just that the concepts are explained in an unusual way.

Aside from those problems, this is an extraordinary introduction to mathmatics.

I read this book while in high school, before enrolling in college. I was captured by the beauty of the subject. Every concept seemed alive: a triumph of imagination, intuition and intelligence. I chose Physics and Mathematics thanks to this book. Without exaggeration, this book had a big influence in my life. Still today it has no equals, and is an enjoyable yet challenging reading for any reader armed with a good hig-school-level math knowledge, and some curiosity.

A very interesting exposition of some of the main branches and ideas of mathematics. This is a book for beginners and experts, students and professors. The authors exposes number theory, algebra, geometry, topology and calculus. (For the last topic I recomend the great book of Courant and Fritz, Introduction to Calculus and Analysis.) The mathematical concepts are introduced and motivated by real problems, it seems to me very applied and connected to physics. I have been learning much things with this book. It is very interesting and I recomend for all people that want to read about mathematics.

I thought this book was suberb. Having read the official Board of Inquiry report( available on the City of Worcester web site), the author accuratley places human faces on the brutal facts of this disasterous fire .

Note to who ever wrote the Publishers Weekly review. Get a map. The second largest city in New England is Worcester Mass. not WorcHester. Those of us born and raised there pronounce the city to rhyme with mister.

The title at the beginning of these comments is from St. Florian, and was on a medal recovered from the spot where one of the men fighting this fire died. The medal should not have survived, silver melts at 1,600 degrees, a body is incinerated at 1,800 degrees, and the heat in the building had reached 3,000 degrees.

I came to read this book from a rather unusual direction. Worth Magazine just did a profile of the most generous Americans, not necessarily those who gave the most money, but as a percentage of what they have, their reasons, and other intangibles beside the traditional yardstick of amount only. Actor/comedian and member of this very special group is Dennis Leary. Of the 6 men who died in this fire, one was his cousin and another was a childhood friend. His foundation has raised $2 million for firefighters in Worcester MA and NYC. His organization was cutting checks 3 months after September 11th in NYC; he has no use for bean counters.

Sean Flynn's book, "3000 Degrees", is easily one of the most powerful books I have read in 2002, it is the first of many books I will now read on Firemen, and others who put themselves in lethal harm's way, for the rest of us. As I read this book, I asked the same question I often ask when men and women put the lives of others before their own, not for a single moment, but every day, for years and often for decades. Some members of a team are the rescue members, and these men enter the building without any fire fighting equipment, like hoses, to protect themselves. They go in looking for victims and are unprotected against flame and other lethalities except by their experience and luck. They are in a burning building looking for you and me before the houses may even be turned on.

Firemen are not drafted; they are not military, although some served prior to becoming Firefighters. The serve their own communities, but adjacent ones when needed, and generally walk in to situations that may kill them to save people they do not know, or to be sure a building is empty of persons. The latter was the case on December 3, 1999. Six men died in a building that was boarded up, and devoid of human life. It had many lives within it for several hours, and then 6 lives became the only bodies that the building would ever contain.

Tim Jackson, Joe McGuirk, Paul Brotherton, Jay Lyons, Tom Spencer, and Jerry Lucey died, because as one person involved in the fire wondered, that 6 of his friends had died because, "two misfits were too scared to dial 911". These misfits not only started the fire, accidentally, they did not report it, but because it is not against the law to fail to report a fire in Massachusetts, even if you started it, neither person was convicted of anything.

Now Julie and Tom continue to live their lives which up until the night they started this fire were notable only for the similarities they shared. They were the personification of life's losers, living illegally, living in filth, living any way they chose as long as it required nothing from them, no effort. And if that meant going to jail, breaking the law, and living in their own filth like no animal would do, that was what they did.

They killed these 6 men by their actions, even if you call their act one of omission as opposed to commission, the men are dead, and Julie and Tom started the fire, Julie and Tom ran, and Julie and Tom did not bother to let anyone know the building they illegally were squatting in was empty. That their illegal residence was barely worth the water to contain the blaze, much less the lives of 6 men, a host of new widows, and a large number of now fatherless children, never occurred to Julie and Tom.

They went to Media Play and listened to music while the fire spread, books were out for Tom, he's illiterate. And while the candle falling over and causing the fire was called an accident, it probably would not have fallen if Tom did not try to force himself on Julie. Tom was in the mood, Julie was not, so 6 men died.

The men who fought this fire and died and those who fought it and lived are all remarkable people. They are people that few of us can measure up to. Are you willing to take a job where you place your life at risk every day, not for fame, or money, or even job security? I don't think you are; I'm not.

Firemen are willing to make the sacrifice, so are Policemen and women. So the next time you are tempted to park in front of a hydrant, don't, next time you get nailed for speeding, take the ticket, call the officer sir or mam, and act like an adult. Don't whine because your radar/laser detector did not allow you to get away with speeding. Want to speed, pay the ticket; don't blame the officer who stops you.

30,000 Firefighters from all over the world came to Worcester to pay their respects to these men and the families that were left behind. So the next time you pass a Firehouse, think about the people in side, you probably don't know them, and they don't know you. Would you die for them, they are prepared to die for you, every minute of every day.

I was lucky enough to sneak a peek at an advanced copy of Niven's book, Ada Blackjack, and found myself swept away by this riveting story about an Inuit woman who was the lone survivor of a grueling expedition. If you are tired of the Arctic genre, don't despair-- this transcends Arctic adventure. Although part of it is set in the Arctic, it is really the story about an amazing, extraordinary woman and her journey to survive, both in the ice and in civilization. I was a fan of Niven's first book, The Ice Master, and am even more of a fan now. Her prose is immediate, accessible, gripping, and skilled, and I love the way she weaves a story, making this reader forget he is receiving a history lesson as, all the while, he is speeding to the last page, desperate to see how it ends.

If you like inspirational stories, this is a great one. Ada Blackjack is an amazing woman, every inch a hero, even though she is also a flawed, fallible person. That makes her even more likable and easy to identify with. I highly recommend this book to anyone craving a good story, a good adventure, or inspiration. I will think twice about complaining about the mundane daily details of my life now, after reading what Ada and her colleagues endured.

I'm not done reading this book yet but am already willing to give it five stars. This is a great read, and while the author doesn't get too bogged down in details it actually helps what could have been a boring book move along very nicely. I'm definetly going to check out her other books now because this is a real talent to watch.

I want to thank Mike for writing this life story to share with others seeking some peace and happiness. The author shows a deep sense of despair over a life seemingly not worth living,and gives a personal account of his growth and recovery through native american ceremonies, specifically, the sun dance. His story is filled with elders' teachings and anecdotes that offer a glimpse into a path at once ancient and new. I honor those on this path and those seeking recovery from lifeways that no longer work. Read this and find hope for your own life through Mike's story.

Reading Sun Dancing took me to another level...the book goes beyond the issues I expected it to, and without lapsing into shallow debate, addresses issues of universal spirituality, race, redemption, and the search for meaning. The Native American presence is such a strong undercurrent in American culture, and Michael Hull's journey speaks to this, and at the same time is authentic and truly inspiring.

I highly recommend this book. I've read it four times and I've already given away six copies as gifts with rave reviews in return. The delicacy with which the author writes is quite evocative. Each time that I read it he takes me on a journey that offers excellent insight into what it means to learn how to walk with grace in my everyday world, which is at times completely foreign to me. The author's deep connection to God, to Spirit, is very apparent, highly moving, & emotionally encouraging because I see in his stories how he trusts that connection on a daily basis. I particularly like how throughout the book he gently weaves the theme of how sacred life is to behold. And his insightful description & imagery of a sweat lodge and being inside the womb of the earth next to the seat of God was exquisite. I certainly look forward to reading more of this author's work.

Spanning from WWII to the 1980's is a very difficult task. To do this in 180 pages is near impossible. Mulisch does this successfully with The Assault. This story follows Anton as his family is murdered for simply having a member of the Nazi party dead in front of their house. Anton suppresses the memories of the events and restarts his live with his aunt and uncle. Through out his life though people continue to show up and jar his memory and desire to understand what happened.

Mulisch could have made this story longer and no one would have complained. He is poetic in his language and lets his readers find the details instead of revealing them. The 5th star is absent because I felt the book had some political preachiness and it seemed unrealistic for the Anton character to move on the way he does.

All in all it was a very good and quick read. Suggested for all ages.

In Dutch highschools, this is one of those works which is read by everyone. Especially in the Netherlands this book has been analyzed to death, and I certainly won't add anything significant to the debate. The truth is that this is an incredible peace of art. Harry Mulisch is well known for his ability to write a great novel, but this is by far his best one. The story of the man who slowly discovers the truth about the events that killed his family is deeply touching, as well as telling. This book is not only about a man finding out a lost truth, it is about a country devastated through war, finding its way back on track. This story will tell you more about the spirit that lived within the Netherlands and the events that followed than some history books. I would greatly recommend this book to anyone who has a love for good literature as well as a wish to find out more about the Netherlands as a country during and after the war.

Last year in english class this was the last book we had to read. It was amazing. Mulisch draws the reader into the book with amazing skill, slowing bringing the reader into a spirrial of consindences and chance meetings.
It follows the story of a biy called Anton, towards the end of the war a important official is killed outside his house. It takes the reader through the rest of his life and although Anton attepmted to forget, the past kept coming up until he discoved the truth about what happend.
This has to be one of the best books I have ever read. I would recomend it to anyone.