David Akin Books

This Ecclesiates commentary is one of the best I have seen. It contains remarkable insight into life as revealed by this great biblical text. Moore's observations about "diversion" are worth the price of the book alone -- very profound! The book is designed for someone who is teaching, preaching, or in a small group Bible study -- very practical.

We agreed with Siskel and Ebert: Two Thumbs Up ... Way Up! Sorry it took us so long to watch this truly inspirational family movie. This proves that there are stories out there that are suitable for viewing by the whole family and are not sappy! Loved every minute of this film.

These are the funny parts of Fly Away Home. When Thomas (wearing his underwear) screams at the bulldozer wrecking trees, you'll scream too-with laughter! I wonder why the fish-spout in the shower spouted soap? Well, I don't know-but it sure was funny! I hope Thomas's insurance could fix the fence the airplane made a hole in! Amy has a bad day at school and she comments it was "very awful thank you" and you'll have a "very awful thank you" case of the snorts! In short, it's a pretty good movie for the whole family!

I loved this movie so much I bought copies and sent them to youth shelters and to neighbor kids. It is especially good for teaching girls' empowerment but all ages and genders enjoy this movie.

I have watched this movie many times since it came out. It is one of those movies that just makes you feel really good about life.

This is a great, touching family movie. To be enjoyed with the whole family.

We agreed with Siskel and Ebert: Two Thumbs Up ... Way Up! Sorry it took us so long to watch this truly inspirational family movie. This proves that there are stories out there that are suitable for viewing by the whole family and are not sappy! Loved every minute of this film.

These are the funny parts of Fly Away Home. When Thomas (wearing his underwear) screams at the bulldozer wrecking trees, you'll scream too-with laughter! I wonder why the fish-spout in the shower spouted soap? Well, I don't know-but it sure was funny! I hope Thomas's insurance could fix the fence the airplane made a hole in! Amy has a bad day at school and she comments it was "very awful thank you" and you'll have a "very awful thank you" case of the snorts! In short, it's a pretty good movie for the whole family!

I loved this movie so much I bought copies and sent them to youth shelters and to neighbor kids. It is especially good for teaching girls' empowerment but all ages and genders enjoy this movie.

I have watched this movie many times since it came out. It is one of those movies that just makes you feel really good about life.

This is a great, touching family movie. To be enjoyed with the whole family.

Ghazali's personal spiritual journey exploring various school of thought.While Ghazali was analyzing philosophical,theological and spiritual thoughts he faced various challanges and difficulties. This book is about his deliverance from error.Great work written in scholorly fashion.

As someone who enjoys al-Ghazali's work (espeically the Kimyaet Saada- Alchemy of Happiness, entirely translated into English by Jay Crook), I felt necessary to read this autobiographical work to further understand this great scholar. This book was much more than I expected. Although short, it conveys the development of one of the most brilliant minds of human history. One is most struck with the intellectual fearlessness of al-Ghazali- particularly towards Hellenist philosophy, the greatest challenge to faith in his time. His sincerity is something rare in any age and an example worthy of emulation.

Almost all of the works of al-Ghazali have been translated so far. The entire Ihya has already been translated (though not very well) by a Pakistani translator and the Islamic Text Society seem to be translating (one over priced chapeter at a time) the Ihya again to a much higher standard. This book, the Munqidh known as the 'Deliverance from error' has also been translated by W Montomery Watt (called the 'Faith and practice of al-Ghazali') I was not aware that R.J. Mc Carthy (another famous orientalist and author of several books on Islamic law) had also written a translation (This seems to have been translated in 1970 and based upon an Istanbul manuscript, it does not mention which library but I would assume the famous Sulaymaniyye) so I was interested to see what this was like.

This is not a bad translation at all, the beauty in it is that it is al-Ghazalis personal biography, his own soul searching and how he finally came to the Sufi path. It is an interesting read in that he seems to have examined all of the available Islamic paths at the time before finally finding comfort in Sufism. His 'crisis of faith' so to speak his teaching, his leaving his post and then returning to it. It truly is a journey of a life of a man of faith and conviction who wished to submit to a belief that he could both feel at one with and submit to heart and soul.

An exellent book recomended for all.

This text is good in principle. However, I find that it has several typographical errors which reduce its value as a tool for learners.

If you want to get rid of much of your reluctance in tensor calculus and fight powerfully with Einstein index summation and relief your pains with Christoffel symbols and Riemann Curvature Tensor, essential for General Relativity understanding then, I think this book, with solved problems and many others for practicing, is a good guide to make General Relativity and Cosmology more pleasant. I am a self-learner of Cosmology and of these kind of mathematical topics, I used many books from the more theoretical to the simplest ones and think that this and the Sokolnikoff's (Tensor Analysis and Its Applications) are a good couple of references to understand this branch of tools for Physics and making me more happy dominating the practice with these objects. Later on, if you are more interested in going deeply in the axiomatic bases of tensors (possibly by using Gravitation of Misner, Thorne and Wheeler), at least you'll already have the calculus foundations to go on. I know many others would say that there are many other wonderful books, but to me this is the one I found the best to condensate the most of all my doubts in the subject and.... go on.

It's a pity Amazon doesn't declare the age of books that sells (date of edition).
This book - in spite of its oldness - is very useful to everyone that needs to know something about tensors.
Lionello Cantoni

I have found it to be an excellent refernce for an otherwise difficult subject.

I've many books about tensors and this one is the best one to start learning such a difficult subject. It does not omit the things that are assumed you must know. It explains everything, even the simplest things in a easy way. However, you should know vector analysis and multidimensional calculus in order to understand the complex things in the last chapters.

first off... the art is very well done.. as is most of the writing. the story is about arceologist(prolly not spelled right) who stumbles on a village that has been decimated by evil.. after traveling to a temple near by indiana soon learns of the dark crafts being pratcised deep below. his missions... to save the villages magical stones, thier children who have been kidnaped, and rid the temple of evil forever. this book follows the movie nicely and still has most of your favorite lines and scenes.

Even in this new era of Russian and American friendship
into which this film came, there are still atomic bombs on both sides.
Technically the handling of people in the bomb area in this film is very wrong : at the hospital and on the streets.
Everyone is taught that the ashes from the bomb are as deadly as the bomb itself. No one was doing decontaminations here.
The brinkmanship here was classic and the Jack Ryan as good as ever.
Tom Clancy is a very good spy/ suspense writer, he just doesn't seem to know that much about atomic bombs.

Other reviews already written go into specifics about the film. So let me just add my two cents. The movie is awful. It is not anywhere in the same league as the other Tom Clancy novel films. It's boring, poorly paced, not true to the book, cliche, and all together lacking any depth or originality. I never felt on the edge of my seat or worried about any of the characters. The actors are excellent in other films (esp. Morgan Freeman) but in this film cardboard cut outs. Don't waste your time.

I enjoyed the first hour or so of this film, but then it turned into a replay of War Games. The last 30-40 minutes jumped around and were so rushed that all that remained was the predictable outcome.

This film could have been a good one. It came out after 9/11 but before Iraq, at the time of Afghanistan. It is about the "final" confrontation between the USA and Russia. A nuclear terrorist attack is organized in Baltimore so that the USA may believe it comes from the Russians and may start the procedure leading to a full out nuclear war. From the very start the theory that is illustrated here is that terror in the world is organized by the Israeli secret services with the help of some western autonomous adventurers and with the complicity of the hard liners in the Russian and Ukrainian armies. Then the whole story is difficult to believe because of the total lack of real believable hard facts. The American president appears as quite manipulated by his own military personnel and his State and Defense Secretaries, without speaking of the CIA. The Russian president appears just as much manipulated but with maybe a little bit more nerve. The whole plot fails because a small CIA intellectual agent manages to speak to the Russian president directly via the red telephone and make him take the decision to halt his alert, a decision that the US president immediately imitates. How can we believe that. The Weapons of Mass Destruction are quoted in some remote small sentence somewhere unimportant but the propaganda is clear. The various actors of this plot are then eliminated one after the other in the most radical way possible. That's a shame in a way because the film is rather well made and acted but it is obvious war propaganda that supports the theory pretending the world is being manipulated if not controlled by the Israelis, a resurgence of sorts of the old hitlerian anti-semitism of old. I guess some believe that good old hate-theories can always be revived in a way or another, with a little bit of upgrading if necessary.

Dr Jacques COULARDEAU, University Paris Dauphine, University Paris 1 Pantheon Sorbonne & University Versailles Saint Quentin en Yvelines

Nobody writes military thrillers like Tom Clancy. A handful of the movies made from his novels are worthy of the original manuscript. "Hunt for Red October" is my key example.

If I had to sum up the problems for "The Sum of All Fears", I'd first mention acting. I really like Ben Affleck, but he simply doesn't define the role like either Alec Baldwin or Harrison Ford. Perhaps if he were cast in an earlier portion of Jack Ryan's life, he might have worked, but Affleck simply lacks the authority and competence inherent in Ford's manner--and being a MUCH younger man following Ford just seems out of sync.

This was also one of the rare roles where I saw Morgan Freeman as Morgan Freeman. Usually, he transports me to the place and time he's inhabiting in the character--not in this film.

The plot is interesting--but nowhere near as well done as the book. Just read the book. It's available here on Amazon and well worth the price.

Even in this new era of Russian and American friendship
into which this film came, there are still atomic bombs on both sides.
Technically the handling of people in the bomb area in this film is very wrong : at the hospital and on the streets.
Everyone is taught that the ashes from the bomb are as deadly as the bomb itself. No one was doing decontaminations here.
The brinkmanship here was classic and the Jack Ryan as good as ever.
Tom Clancy is a very good spy/ suspense writer, he just doesn't seem to know that much about atomic bombs.

Other reviews already written go into specifics about the film. So let me just add my two cents. The movie is awful. It is not anywhere in the same league as the other Tom Clancy novel films. It's boring, poorly paced, not true to the book, cliche, and all together lacking any depth or originality. I never felt on the edge of my seat or worried about any of the characters. The actors are excellent in other films (esp. Morgan Freeman) but in this film cardboard cut outs. Don't waste your time.

I enjoyed the first hour or so of this film, but then it turned into a replay of War Games. The last 30-40 minutes jumped around and were so rushed that all that remained was the predictable outcome.

This film could have been a good one. It came out after 9/11 but before Iraq, at the time of Afghanistan. It is about the "final" confrontation between the USA and Russia. A nuclear terrorist attack is organized in Baltimore so that the USA may believe it comes from the Russians and may start the procedure leading to a full out nuclear war. From the very start the theory that is illustrated here is that terror in the world is organized by the Israeli secret services with the help of some western autonomous adventurers and with the complicity of the hard liners in the Russian and Ukrainian armies. Then the whole story is difficult to believe because of the total lack of real believable hard facts. The American president appears as quite manipulated by his own military personnel and his State and Defense Secretaries, without speaking of the CIA. The Russian president appears just as much manipulated but with maybe a little bit more nerve. The whole plot fails because a small CIA intellectual agent manages to speak to the Russian president directly via the red telephone and make him take the decision to halt his alert, a decision that the US president immediately imitates. How can we believe that. The Weapons of Mass Destruction are quoted in some remote small sentence somewhere unimportant but the propaganda is clear. The various actors of this plot are then eliminated one after the other in the most radical way possible. That's a shame in a way because the film is rather well made and acted but it is obvious war propaganda that supports the theory pretending the world is being manipulated if not controlled by the Israelis, a resurgence of sorts of the old hitlerian anti-semitism of old. I guess some believe that good old hate-theories can always be revived in a way or another, with a little bit of upgrading if necessary.

Dr Jacques COULARDEAU, University Paris Dauphine, University Paris 1 Pantheon Sorbonne & University Versailles Saint Quentin en Yvelines

Nobody writes military thrillers like Tom Clancy. A handful of the movies made from his novels are worthy of the original manuscript. "Hunt for Red October" is my key example.

If I had to sum up the problems for "The Sum of All Fears", I'd first mention acting. I really like Ben Affleck, but he simply doesn't define the role like either Alec Baldwin or Harrison Ford. Perhaps if he were cast in an earlier portion of Jack Ryan's life, he might have worked, but Affleck simply lacks the authority and competence inherent in Ford's manner--and being a MUCH younger man following Ford just seems out of sync.

This was also one of the rare roles where I saw Morgan Freeman as Morgan Freeman. Usually, he transports me to the place and time he's inhabiting in the character--not in this film.

The plot is interesting--but nowhere near as well done as the book. Just read the book. It's available here on Amazon and well worth the price.

Tons of movies are being made today based on television shows from the recent past. Well, at least it's recent to me. CHARLIES ANGELS, MCHALES NAVY, SGT. BILKO and more have made the transfer over the past few years. And there are more on the way. But for now, let's look at S.W.A.T.

The old show had a hardened veteran in Steve Forest as Hondo, leading an elite team of police officers into harms way, solving situations that regular officers couldn't handle on their own. The group became known and the fans began to love each of their favorite S.W.A.T. team member.

This movie does the same thing, with one exception. Gone are the days when police officers were respected and well liked. They have been replaced with images of police beating men brutally and without mercy. They have been made out to be the bad guys more than the bad guys by the press. And with that in mind, we begin to understand the theme here, the underlying current laid out by the Capt. Fuller (Larry Poindexter). They need a team that is special, that can get the job done, but also a team that can garner the respect and admiration of the whole city.

The main story revolves around an S.W.A.T. member, or ex member, named Jim Street (Colin Farrell). When his partner goes down for disobeying orders and getting a hostage shot, Street stays on the force, being subjected to the lowest duty possible for a man of action, taking care of the cage. There, he cleans boots, checks out guns and waits for the day he'll get a chance to prove himself once more. Had he turned on his partner, he would have walked and stayed with the team. But now....this.

Six months pass and a new team is being assembled. Brought in to shake things up and train the team is Sgt. Dan "Hondo" Harrelson (Samuel L. Jackson). A veteran of the original teams in their beginning, Hondo is brought back to whip into shape a new team, the team that they are looking for to not only get the job done, but to look good doing it.

Hondo recruits his own team, putting his reputation and job on the line for them, and sets out to train his team. Included are L.L.Cool Jay, Josh Charles, Michelle Rodriquez, Brain Van Holt and Farrell. Hondo does get the team up and running and it doesn't take long for them to see action, as does the audience.

A converging storyline follows a foreign mobster who has been arrested for a broken tail light. Once recognized, he is about to be escorted to prison. Along his walk into the jail, with the assistance of the ever anxious press, he calls out that he will give $100 million to anyone who breaks him free. With most of the city contemplating the idea and with gang bangers looking for easy money, the attacks begin.

Does he get rescued? Does he go to prison? Does the S.W.A.T. team gel? Watch and see in this action packed film.

I never saw this movie in theaters, but after watching it on TV i had to buy it, it has a lot of fun scenes and is generally good.

I would have rated this as 5 stars if it was released in the unrated version which what my DVD is. Transfer was very good.

This a better film than what most people will lead you to believe although not spectacular it is very entertaining in its own right. Has some subpar acting and a weak dialouge, but if you like action and colin farell then you should see it.

S.W.A.T. DVD

Samuel L. Jackson stars as the leader of a S.W.A.T team with Colin Farrell as his assistant in a high action, thrill a minute movie with more exotic guns and other weapons than you can count. Supposedly a very realistic movie, I wouldn't know, I`ve never been a member of a a S.W.A.T team and wouldn't want to be either.

The Team escorts an international criminal to prison who has publicly offered a very large reward ($100 million) to anyone who can get him free. Highly recommended to fans of Samuel L. Jackson and S.W.A.T teams.

Gunner March, 2008