Independent Books

This book was indispensible when it was first published. Though there were numerous ommissions, and possibly a few errors, the editors of this work did far more than yeoman's work in the compilation. Unfortunately, a decade has passed since publication and no update has been forthcoming, making it of little more use than a 10 year old computer reference manual would be. The information presented is mostly accurate, but is now woefully outdated.

In the past century, there has been a proliferation of dozens, if not hundreds of churches claiming relationships to "Old Catholic" or "National Catholic" bodies. This book is a veritable "Who's Who" in this rather specialized field. Although the author is unbiased in his organization, arrangement, and discussion of the various persons purporting to be "bishops" in various churches, it is easy to see that there are many pretenders in this arena.

Any scholar who is interested in tracing claims of Apostolic Succession can not afford NOT to use this book. It is, by far, the foremost work on the subject.

This being said, this is the sort of volume which needs to be updated on a regular basis. It's been a decade since it's publication -- it's time for a new edition.

It is the nature of directories to go out of date; indeed, many directories of all sorts are out of date even as they roll off the presses, given the mobility of people in the modern world. However, there are fewer more mobile and metamorphing groups than that population of people who fall under the categorisation of bishop in Old Catholic, Independent Catholic, Liberal Catholic, Independent Anglican, Independent Orthodox and other such labels. Few things bind them together; indeed, many regularly disavow and even excommunicate each other. One thing that does seem important to most, if not all, is the apostolic succession and historic episcopacy (however, even these terms are subject to question and interpretation among the many groups).

Prior to the advent of the internet, such directories as this one by Ward, Persson and Bain were very hard to compile, and notoriously difficult to find. Published infrequently and having to rely only upon the voluntary efforts of a few dedicated compilers, the 520-pages of entries here cover bishops past and present throughout the world, but largely focusses upon North American and European settings. Entries for bishops can be as short as a sentence fragment indicating no information or another cross-reference, or can span up to two pages, showing a progression of churches and affiliations (another fairly common trait among these individuals is a tendency to either switch jurisdictions and groups, or to re-invent themselves anew every so often).

The preface, by J. Gordon Melton (author and researcher in American religion), gives a little history of discovery of the whole phenomenon of independent bishops. He states that his first contact was primarily with two, Bishops Pruter and Fris, who typify the various extremes of such bishops in many ways, from the serious and pious to the tragic. Melton talks about the different ways of studying the phenomenon; Ward and co.'s methods are different from Melton's own.

Ward's introductory essay is also worthwhile, giving historical perspective, a discussion of the geographic nature of authority, the idea of modern bishops, terminology, and methods for compiling this volume. Perhaps the most valuable piece of this portion of the text is the listing of resources used to make this edition, including Bain's prior text, 'Bishops Irregular'.

Most of the contact information in the directory is out of date; as an historical document, it does have some value as another link in the chain of data. However, it does not give source citations for the information it contains, and this limits its value as an authoritative listing.

Worth having for those in the Old Catholic/Independent Catholic/etc. movements if it can be found in an inexpensive manner. Most of the information is available now on the internet, and even that has difficulty with being up-to-date, but has a greater likelihood of having current information.

I read all three of the books in this series and really wanted to see more. its best to read them in order or a lot of thiongs might not makes so much sense.

I am enjoying this series very much. I held off at first thinking that it was trying to just build on Mr. Doohan's reputation and that it was a "trekkie" book. I was so wrong. It is a series all of its own and a good one, at that. Try it, you'll like it!!! BUT--begin with #1 and proceed in order. Much better idea.

It's a nice book with not much to say about. I felt good reading it. A bit short perhaps. I recommend it fore those who want a story with ht "sparkle" in the eye.

This book provides allot more detail than your average island guide book including town maps, ferry schedules and details about numerous tourist activities. I have seen no other books with town maps such as these. Of course this level of specific details will change frequently, so reconfirm the data you find here. For instance, a previous reviewer complained that ferry schedules were a year old. Of course that is to be expected; really you should not even trust schedules more than a week old!

If you are somewhat self-sufficient and able to confirm what may be out of date, this is a great guide book. If you are not, maybe you should consider a vacation in Orlando.

My experience of this guide book is the exact opposite of the previous reviewer. I have travelled to more than 30 islands and found the guide to be accurate and extremely useful. If you know what kind of vacation you want (quiet beaches versus lots of nightlife, for example) the pages which rate the islands are worth the price of the book. The page which shows how the various ferry lines interconnect with one another is indispensable for planning an island hopping tour. And once you get to an island the description of the island is almost always accurate. However I have found that the names of hotels and restaurants sometimes change over the winter and the guide may not have have caught up with the change. Of course, ferry timetables do change but even a one year old timetable helps you to understand whether the ferry runs everyday, or perhaps only twice a week.
Finally, the brief guide to Athens and accompanying map, is also very helpful. I highly recommend the book.

Initial impressions of the book are good. The author has even included ferry timetables. Closer reading however reveals that most of the book is a waste of paper. The ferry timetables are last years which have very little bearing on the current yar - why bother including them? Additionally the author does not appear to have visited some islands and others have had only flying visits so a lot information is incorrect or sketchy in detail. To cover this lack of research he seems to make up detail some of which is wrong or just irrelevant - e.g. he has a fascination with windmills. The worst aspect of the guide is the authors negative phrasing - he does not seems to rate any island, his attitude is that some are better than others but still not up to much! Would not bother with this book.

The author robs INDEPENDENT VIDEO PRODUCERS of their money, which should be spent on buying miscellaneous items such as video tapes or anything else of the same price. Unless you are an absolute idiot, there is nothing you can learn from this book. If the book was titled "The complete idiot's guide to..." or "... for dummies", you could not have been reading this review. Anybody with a modicum of common sense knows what the author has to tell you. If you don't even have this modicum of common sense, you had better give up being an independent video producer.

I now understand why Bob Jacobs won an "Emmy" award. I picked up a copy of the THE INDEPENDENT VIDEO PRODUCER and was amzed! This is a complete manual-- a how-to manual--- on going into the video production business for oneself. In this day of emerging opportunities for video producers who know their stuff, this book is the key to unlocking a profitable future, indeed! The author demonstrates his "Emmy" winning skills throughout. The material is presented clearly and in terms that anyone can understand. All you have to do is read this thing, put what the author tells you into practice and get to work--- for yourself! As an engineer and private businessperson myself, I wish I had come across something like this when I took the entrepreneurial plunge and opened the doors to my own company. I recommend this book highly.

I am launching my own video production company with one employee (so far) - myself. This book did a good job of covering basic fundamentals from how to find clients to how to prepare a proposal to how to maintain professionalism, etc. A few good examples are given throughout the book as well. It could have gone into each of the topics in more detail with more examples, but this is a very good reference to start with.

I found this book nice and clear in information besides of that alot of exercise in it.

This is a good book, but I bought it because of the Audio with it. Still waiting. I have called and emailed Syngress and have yet to get any response from them. The web url listed on the book does not work, and the site has no reference to this book. So much for the extra questions, and audio the book promises. I will definately not recommend Syngress after all the bad luck with this book and false advertisement!

Grabbed this book in a pinch to see what I might need to know for 70-648 besides what I knew from hands-on implementation. I agree that it covers exam objectives, at least I passed with a decent margin. There were a couple "out of left field" questions on the exam that weren't in the book but that's not too bad considering this isn't from Microsoft Publishing.

Sometimes the book drags on covering knowledge that a MCSA 2003 cert holder should already know, but at the same time, the refresher can be helpful. My biggest disappointment is in Syngress' web team failing to deliver the online companion site in time for the book's publishing (and my scheduled exam, natch). As of this review, [...] yields 404. This URL is published on the cover and should have hosted the free practice exams and other supplemental material like MP3 audio covering the "Fast Tracks" (which are in the Study Guide too...handy items). I can't even find the book after poking around Syngress.com.

Still, I found this item helpful.

I like this text. It uses the same order of cases as I use in some of my other grammars, namely, nominative, genitive, dative, accusative and ablative. It makes mention of the vocative case but doesn't include it everywhere to hinder our learning and memorisation. Why is case ordering so important? I believe our memories adapt to things we see. I don't think we should even LOOK at a declension with the nouns going in a different order to that which we're used to. Writing this reminds me of those police line-up cases in which the victim of crime begins to think that someone innocent in the line-up is the person who committed the crime, simply because our memories graft new input onto old experiences.

The other grammars I'd use this in association with are Moreland & Fleischer's Latin: An Intensive Course and John F. Collins' Primer of Ecclesiastical Latin.

A lot of drills, vocab and especially grammatical information have been condensed into a handy, readable volume.

As for errors, as mentioned by "a reader" subsequent reviewer, it would have actually been a "helpful review" if s/he'd actually told us exactly where the errors were.

Thoroughly recommended alongside your other Latin grammar (if you use the same case ordering).

We know the author of this title, Alan Fishbone. He is truly a cool guy, and his Latin books are even cooler.

Goooooo LATIN! YEAH!!!!

Like other Schaum's Outlines books, this one contains hundreds of exercises that offer the reader continuous practice. However, in this case it is obvious that the editors failed to check the exercises and answers before publication. I made it to exercise 11 in chapter 1, where I hit the fourth error. In this case the answer key has a declension for a different noun than the one in the main text! As an unreliable answer key is fatal for self-study - particularly in an introductory text - I discarded this book and started reading another. Latin is difficult enough as it is: Slapdash editing is simply unacceptable.
A corrected version of this text might well be worthwhile for Latin students, but I strongly recommend against the purchase of this book until the book details clearly state that it is "corrected" or "revised". Schaum's Outlines ought to recall and destroy their stock immediately and reprint the book with corrections.

I just received the book today and I already have it in an envelope to send back.

There is nothing cute or funny in my opinion, just negative. Her view on family is extremely dysfunctional. My family and that of my single friends is hardly perfect, but unlike the author's advice we don't need to get drunk to be around them. Also, there is an attitude that if you do anything more than bump into your mother in a public place and you actually have a friendship, there is something wrong with you.

Very negative and snarky British attitude.

I must be honest and admit that I've only read the UK version of this book, but when I saw it had come out in the US, I thought I had to let all you US single girls out there have my top tip for surviving single life: Buy this book!!!

Imogen Lloyd Webber manages to be both very funny and very wise. She divides her book into chapters, each dealing with a different issue that a single girl might encounter on her epic journey through boyfriends, parents, friends, work etc etc etc. A book you can, as I did, read straight through in one sitting, or one to dip in and out of when you need a little friendly advice. I can't recommend it highly enough.

I have this book and have recommended it to ALL of my single girl friends. It's cute and funny with a touch of a girl power attitude and imparts words of wisdom about being happy with yourself and taking advantage of the delights of being single (and there are quite a few!) rather than wallowing in being alone. Imogen Lloyd Webber offers some good advice to ANY girl, not just the single ones and I found so much advice that I have applied to my single life!

Absolutely devastating

Sadly it chronicles both what this depraved politico (your choice) did and what the voting public will accept and put up with from its beloved leaders. Talk about your "teflon" presidents; Clinton is your poster boy. The greatest shame is that his presidency crippled us in a period of our burgeoning strength and influence. Left us vulnerable to the diseases of complacency, egocentricism and true selfishness. He epitomozed those characteristics and the country lionized him. Too bad for us....

I absolutely cannot believe this piece of crap was picked as one of the 100 best non fiction books of the century! It is not much better than porno---it is little more than evidence of the American obsesssion with sex and the obsession Star has had with Clinton since he entered the White House. What was described in that report was nobody's buisness. Those details are between the President, his family,and Moncia Lewinsky. They are not anything the American public needed to know.

In response to the sole review for this book, having been at the exhibit I have to say that both the catalogue and the show did very well in sharing honest and intimate perspectives about personal relationships with divinity. While more political venues consistantly discuss God solely in relationship to religion, church, and state, _100 Artists See God_ serves both as a breath of fresh air and a reminder that the human relationship with the divine is individual and personal, transcending faith and political alignment.

Art more than any other discipline has the ability to break open new intellectual and emotional ground. It an be a powerful tool. Governments and religions have tried to guide and or control artists since artists began translating their world view’s onto the pictorial and sculptural plane.

Religion has universally been a major control element in the sociology of artists, and the depiction of god is a major taboo in both the Christian and the Muslim world. Between religion and art is a fertile ground for the imagination, it is a ground that is still potentially loaded, a fertile ground for the artist to shock, or stimulate an audience.

You would think that a subject such as the depiction of god (given the military industrial religious complex which is currently so dominant) would engender more than a very light weight response from artists.

Sadly this is not the case. There are no compelling images of faith and devotion nor any compelling criticisms of god and religion, no overt discussion of the grotesque coupling of government and church, and so I can only say that this is a very disappointing book.

It is potentially an interesting project and the curator really ought to be dismissed for their lack of vision and inclusion. So many artists to choose from but they really have filled the book with mediocre works. Sadly evident in the bulk of the work displayed in the book is a lack of insight into the subject and a lackluster commitment to aesthetics.

Do not pick on Bangladeshis, Mr.Green Tiger. To me as a foreigner a completely new world opened up with this book! I never use obscenities myself, but it is good to be aware of signs and gestures that can be interpreted as such in different cultures. After all, where else will you find so many "bad words" printed legally on a paper?!

Great book if you're an ESL student. For writers and research, though, it sucks (author's term). If there's an American out there who doesn't know EVERYTHING in this book by the time they've reached 18, they're either in a convent or heavily drugged.