Ashley Johnson Books

A text that aids your understanding of Christology that is well written and informative. Good complementary book to "Jesus the Christ: A New Testament Portrait" by Thomas Zanzig, ISBN: 0-88489-621-8. Both text used in our dioceses Lay Ministry training program.

I have been using Elizabeth Johnson's Consider Jesus in introductory theology courses for at least a decade now. As far as I know, there is no book in its class for introducing undergraduate university students to contemporary theological issues in language that is understandable and stimulating.

Indeed, one of Johnson's great gifts as a theologian is her crisp, clean writing style. Her work is a model of clarity.

I always appreciate Johnson's ability to work on the boundaries of contemporary issues (e.g., religous plurality, theodicy, sexism, political and economic injustice, environmental abuse) with full and rich recourse to the wealth of Christian tradition. She's just good at it!

For a readable, introductory text on the doctrine of Christ during the past half-century, you cannot improve on Johnson's book.

"Consider Jesus" is a rather short, deceptively humble book that covers every theory in answering that crucial question Jesus asks his followers and those who may have heard of him: "Who do you say I am?"
I have studied this book as part of a college theology class and then more slowly read it on my own. Elizabeth Johnson presents a well-considered feast for the intellect and the soul in presenting her own theological reflections in answer to that important question.
This book is small but it is a classic in modern theology.

Elizabeth Johnson presents a very well written and easy to read introduction to Christology for the new student of theology. She clearly explains the Christological definitions at the early Church councils, showing the errors that plagued the early church.

She presents a clear explanation of the meaning and implications of both: Ascending Christology and Descending Christology.

There is also a clear trace of the developments in Christology from the 50's up to the present time with Liberation and Feminist theology.

Johnson writes in the end, "Out of our own experience of salvation, our own telling of the story, our own praxis and prayer, we must name Jesus Christ again and claim him again for our own people, so that a living christology will be handed on to the next generation into the twenty-first century." I found these words to be encouragement for the reader to apply the story of Jesus of Nazareth to our everyday lives.

This is a MUST reading for any student of theology.

In 24seven, Vol. 2, Ivan Brandon has once again gathered a wondeful stable of writers and artists from the comics biz who inhabit our very real world to weave tales about a city-world where robots are its inhabitants and robot sensibilities guide their lives. As before in Vol. 1, the list of contributors reads like a who's-who of talented, soon-to-be and established comic book illuminati who've been given free reign to their imaginations and in many instances, improve on the work that was done in the first offering.

In Vol. 1, the stories often used robots to provide insight as to what it means to be human. In that book, more than a handful of stories could have been played with human characters, but in Vol. 2, we're shown what it might be like to think and live more like robots and to understand a futuristic "robot-ness". By that, I don't mean stoic, unfeeling, homogeneous and mechanical. These robots have very human qualities and foibles but their existence and abilities (and foibles) are enhanced *because* they are robots. Their robot-ness is capably exploited in these stories as we see robots age, deal with broken relationships, become victims and participate in crimes, and very likely work through malfunctioning circuits.

It's easy to relate and equate the experiences of the mechs in these stories, but moreover, we're given more of an opportunity to imagine how we, as human types, could react to the human condition as robots. Losing your memory because of old age? Plug in and reboot from a back-up file. Feeling the loss of former lovers? Bolt on bits of metallic ephemera to your robot wings. Always wanted to be a dancer instead of say, a doctor (thereby disappointing your hopeful parents)? Submit to a kind of robotic genitoplasty to be the diva you've always dreamed of becoming.

And so on.

Some stories rise above the others as with any collected works of this nature, but there is well enough to please everyone. Writing and artistic styles vary from story to story, and that's the way it should be as we are provided a broad, imaginative vision from some very gifted human types.

In a novel approach to an understanding of the everyday phenomenon that we call "play," Professor Sutton-Smith tackles this slippery subject by analyzing the persuasive techniques that researchers use to define play. "We all play occasionally, and we all know what playing feels like. But when it comes to making theoretical statements about what play is, we fall into silliness," claims Sutton-Smith. In his attempt to bring some coherence to past scholarship of the ambiguous field of play studies, Sutton-Smith not only challenges conventional definitions of play but manages somehow to succintly summarize all major and minor theorists in a mere 231 pages. The text is laced with numerous examples to support Sutton-Smith's contention that all theories of play to date fall into one of seven rhetorical categories. He clearly points to the problem of consensus on the definition of play in a field that is divided among different disciplines each claiming that its own kind of play is the one that is central to the phenomenon. Although the book is not directed to a popular audience, it is an excellent text for classroom use in many academic disciplines.

The book was nicely packaged in bubble wrap to prevent damages. The book itself was presented in a used, but very good condition for such a cheap price. In the end, I highly recommend!

This book is way more informative than my professor. Also, since introductory biology doesn't change within a couple of years, I'm really glad I saved money and purchased the seventh edition rather than the eighth.

The textbook was in very good condition, just as described by the seller. It arrived very quickly and saved me money by not having to purchase new.

Sometimes text books can be so fascinating that you can't wait to read the next paragraph and learn something new. This is not one of those text books. It is filled with lots of junk that only makes the book thicker and heavier but contributes nothing to your understanding. So you must actively read and take notes on the important stuff or you will fall asleep a lot. This book contains some very nice images and helpful diagrams so know them and use them as a guide when you take notes. This is just a general introductory text, so it's a shame that it's so large. Future editions should be released in cheaper smaller volumes that deal only with certain topics, or they could just cut out all of the junk. You might consider buying an earlier edition or a cheaper international paperback edition because they aren't much different from this edition. I haven't seen the latest edition, but I'm sure the only changes were the pointless interviews and some new and more expensive pictures.

Good Condition, no scratches, pages perfect, slightly bent corner of the cover but nothhing big. Fast shipping

i read some of this book for a class.. but it is well written.. but its history,,,, so its boring.. u know?

I purchased this book from Richard Taylor and received the book in a speedy manner. The book was in new condition and it was stated on Amazon.com that the book was in new condition. I had questions about the order and emailed Mr. Taylor. He responded to my email in a speedy, excellent manner! I'm very happy about my purchase.

The reading structure allow the reader to visualize and understand American History from outside and inside. Wonderful maps, statistical charts, great photos, and a very good section titled: historical question. If you are the type of person in exploring new perspectives of the American History, do not hesitate to look this book.

As far as textbooks go, it was the formatting that make it what it is. Lots of pictures & primary sources compliment the information being covered in the text. Makes it not as boring a read as most history books. You actually find yourself reading all the little extras.

What makes this series truly great? The fact that they give you a choice on book format to purchase. In a college this textbook would be for a US history 1 & 2. You can chose to purchase the expensive and heavy Hardback if you know you are going to take both parts. Or you can buy a softback of Vol 1 or Vol 2, depending on which class you are enrolled in.

As an adult student, who only recently returned after over 10 year gap I had no reason to want to buy the big textbook. Already had US History 1 credits from the last time around. Through Amazon.com I was able to find the correct edition of the book, while the college bookstore refused to carry it!

Thankful that Amazon.com exists. :)

Unlike a lot of readers, I read Angels and Demons before reading The Da Vinci Code, so I can't really compare the two books directly (although I've been told they are pretty similar).

Angels & Demons introduces the reader to Brown's protagonist, Robert Langdon, professor of religious iconology and art history at Harvard University. A&D begins with Langdon being awakened in the middle of the night by a phone call from the director of CERN, the world's largest scientific research facility in Geneva, Switzerland. One of their top physicists had been murdered, with his chest branded with the word "Illuminati." Langdon, being an expert on the ancient secret society known as the Illuminati, is called upon to help solve the murder.

The murder victim is Leonardo Vetra. One of the world's leading physicists and a Catholic priest who has adopted a daughter, Vittoria (who ends up being Langdon's foil for this story). She is also a scientist at CERN. Vetra and his daughter created the antimatter to simulate the Big Bang. In his mind, this would show proof that God exists, being able to create new matter and antimatter in the same way God created the universe. Vetra's murder, though, allows one of the canisters to be stolen. The question of who stole the canister and what they planned to do with it is soon answered. The canister is quickly found on a security camera in Vatican City, with its LEDs counting down the time until the batteries run out. The security camera, however, is nowhere to be found, leaving the canister's whereabouts a mystery too (this is one of those plot holes that Brown gets a lot of heat for -- it would be easy for someone to triangulate the signal from a wireless video camera and locate it quickly, but I digress). Langdon and Vittoria quickly set off on a chase through Rome and Vatican City, to help find the canister and return it to CERN before it explodes at midnight.

The story takes a while to get going, with a lot of introduction and history and exposition about science and religion at the start. But once Brown gets down to business (around page 75) I found the plot engaging and pretty good. So much stuff is happening at once, and so much of it is amazingly involved and cool. I literally didn't want to stop reading to take a short bathroom break on a couple of occasions. This is the sign of a good story (that I was to read more of it) in my estimation. So I have to say that A&D is one of the most effective page-turners I've read in quite some time. You can argue with me all you want about the religious iconography and historical interpretation of the story, but in the end, it is just that, a story. An easy to read, fun story -- not great and meaningful literature (I try not too look for meaning in things where there doesn't have to be meaning).

As Langdon and Vittoria set off on their investigation, they follow a trail of multiple ritualistic murders, the threatened obliteration of an entire country, the potential death of a major world religion, secret societies that go back 500 years, new scientific discoveries that will change the world, and much more. Besides the cult murders taking place and two mysteries to try and unravel, Brown's plot takes us on a frantic chase through the churches of an ancient city following secret symbols left behind during the Italian Renaissance, a countdown to the destruction of an entire nation, and much, much more. It was easy to stay up and finish reading this book over the long 4th of July weekend.

The plot is the strength of the book, it's is easy to get lost in the involved (some say convoluted) intricacies of Brown's story... from about page 50-500. Unfortunately the last 50 pages are over the top melodrama and enclose multiple endings, conveniently wrapping up lots of loose ends in a rather perfunctory manner. These last 50 pages should have been sent for re-writes by Brown's editors, but as a fan of the SF genre I am used to reading books that require a reader to suspend their disbelief for periods of time so these last 50 pages were not bad enough to ruin the very enjoyable bulk of the story (but I am hoping that he's fixed that short coming in The Da Vinci Code).

If you liked The DaVinci Code then I guarantee that you like this one better. I highly recommend this book.

I'm excited to get going on this book.. I know it's going to be great..

Purchased for my mother who is blind. She enjoys exciting novels and this was during the new Pope's election making it very pertinent. She enjoys books on tape and throughly enjoyed this bestseller. I read the novel and wanted to share it with her. I would recommend to friends.

I like Dan Brown's work. Admittedly, it's not what I would write--normally, I'm not big on fiction that's too "scholarly." I read nonfiction to be informed, fiction to be entertained, but he's the exception to that rule. His plots are so outrageous they make me forget the novels read like textbooks at times. Okay, his characters are a bit too shallow, but if you're looking for a great, fast-paced story, here it is.

I read this one after The DaVinci Code, and I think it's a much better book than DaVinci.

NOTE: to the reviewer who commented that Brown had not explained how the camerlengo was so crazy after being raised by someone as sane as the Pope, I would suggest that his background spoke for itself. Nothing about his life was normal. He was born to two people who wanted a child but didn't want to have sex to get one (right there, he was cursed by genetics). His father never acknowledged him as his son--the papacy meant more to him than his own child. Even when his mother was alive, he didn't appear to have ever had a normal childhood. Then he saw her killed by a terrorist bombing. Psychologically, you just don't walk away from that sort of thing unscathed. I'll suggest that he was a sort of split personality--trying to live up to his beloved mother's wishes, but struggling with his resentment toward the same. No wonder he was as nutty as a bag of trail mix.

www.myspace.com/raven0805

I bought this book freshman year of college and have used it well into my senior year. It's a great book to keep for reference and contains information covered in all the biology classes I have taken. Pictures of mechanisms are easy to understand and very helpful.

This text does not go into enough depth. I found myself going to other sources in order to further grasp required concepts. There is also an error in figure 45.17.

I utilized this book for my college biology classes. It was very complete and had great details on photosynthesis, Krebs cycle, glycolysis. I even liked the chapters on animal structure and function, quite interesting. However, the chapter on genetics was the hardest to read. I had to re-read pages over again to understand what Raven was trying to teach. If you want to know what is the best study guides for college biology to study from, get the following by Patrick Leonardi--
The Ultimate Study Guide for Biology: Key Review Questions and Answers with Explanations (Vol 1)
Topics: Organziation of Living Things and Chemistry of Life, Structure and Function of the Cell and Energy Pathways, Reproduction and Heredity, Genetics.

The Ultimate Study Guide for Biology: Key Review Questions and Answers with Explanations (Vol 2)
Topics: Evolution, Ecology, Kingdom Bacteria, Kingdom Protista, Kingdom Fungi, Viruses, Plant Form and Function

The Ultimate Study Guide for Biology: Key Review Questions and Answers with Explanations (Vol 3)
Topics: Kingdom Animalia, Organization of the Animal Body, Animal Form and Function, Animal Reproduction, Development and Behavior.

The last three study guides prepared me for the kind of questions that were asked on my college exams. This helped me cut a lot of time in my studying because now I new what to focus on. Raven's book is a also a must buy.

The graphs summarize lots of important information in a clear and easy to understand format.

Some part of the text is wordy, not very concise. It helps to develop the breadth and depth of the text but meanwhile it's quite distracting and sometimes confusing for grasping the key concepts.

I absolutely love this book. The explanations are thorough and understandable and the pictures and diagrams cannot be beat. Truly a great read. The book goes into enough detail, but not too much that you get confused. Thank you Purdue bio department for choosing this book!! Highly recommended!

This is a very readable and useable text for undergraduates, business students, and general readers who want to learn or brush-up on basic statistics. There is a tremendous amount of information in its 1200 pages, but it is well laid out, amply illustrated, with lots of practical work. The answers to the odd numbered questions are provided in the back to aid self-study. There are several appendices that provide important tables and the methods for calculating important statistical formulas. The index is also quite helpful.

I think the book has a good balance of the technical with the practical. It is easy on the eyes and though statistics necessitates the use of a significant amount of math, it is well explained and never overwhelms the reader.

Very good text book with very useful and practical real cases, which make the boring theory interesting. I think it is very useful for my job and daily life.

I did not have much statistics background while in undergrad or through my job experiences and found this book to be quite easy to understand. The problems at the end of the chapters were quite useful in that they seemed applicable to the real world. I thought the most useful section was on regression so if you are interested in learning about that topic, this textbook is quite useful.

I didn't buy this book because writing arguments fascinates me. I picked it up because I needed it for my freshman composition class. For that, it serves a purpose, but I do not particularly like this book.

I love to write. Absolutely love it, and I am always interested in books that can help me become a better writer.

This book, however, is a confusing read. It has a monotonous design: chapters are not easily distinguishable from one another. Sample essays are, of course, always nice, but they are peppered throughout the book to an exhausting degree. The writing is technical and uninspiring. I found that I learned more about ethos, pathos and logos by listening to my instructor than by browsing through the overly-complicated text in this book.

Some books are designed to look interesting and to excite you into reading them. This one is unfortunately not one of them.

"Writing Arguments" shines like a beacon in the dark and murky waters of composition textbooks. Although some have critiqued it for its "passive" approach, I support both the approach and the layout as the best way I've found to approach basic argumentation. A solid understanding of audience (in particular) is vital for successful writing, and it's also something inexperienced, self-focused writers often lack.

Rather than pushing a "win at all costs" or "go with your gut" victory-based approach to rhetoric, the authors promote rhetorical writing grounded in Perelman's audience concepts, Toulmin's warrants, and Aristotelian enthymeme. By encouraging students to locate common ground (warrants) between themselves and their real or imagined audience, this book sets them up to engage in rhetoric as participants in a broader civic culture. And this is the rhetoric that will ultimately equip them to survive in the real world--where knowing what a client or an opponent wants and believes is critical to "winning" the argument in a lasting and productive way.

No theory or approach is perfect (not that I've found so far at least), and a rigid application of the Toulmin model or the schema as outlined in this book will inevitably bog down writers as they move into more advanced composition. But that, afterall, is why we teachers are there. By focusing students' attention on the basic principles in the book--audience awareness, orderliness, situational groundedness, etc.--rather than forcing them to memorize rules or endlessly construct Toulmin models, I may just be able to help my students develop a new respect for argumentation as discovery (and themselves as rhetors) in the public sphere. And if we can do that, maybe there's a little civil light in the civic culture tunnel after all.

Presented in textbook fashion, WRITING ARGUMENTS: A RHETORIC WITH READINGS, doesn't exactly make for compelling reading, but is certainly a critical source for argumentation documents. Author's Ramage, Bean and Johnson guide the reader through the process both deliberately and succinctly, covering every aspect of argument presentation, beginning with definition through source documentation.

Mine is an older edition and the technology aspect is dated, but nonetheless, I turn often to this book to guide me through argument preparation. Though certainly intended for classroom study, this book is also useful outside the classroom. I have prepared a fair number of arguments for political presentation and have found this to be a useful volume.

To me historical mysteries are so much more pleasant than contemporary ones. Perhaps it is because the historical ones are not in the least threatening. This book of short mysteries is not only very pleasant to read, but it gave me a list of new authors to look up in the library.

This volume, published in 1993 as The Mammoth Book of Historical Whodunits and in 1997 as Historical Whodunits, contains 23 historical (that is, set before the author was born) mysteries. The foreword is by Ellis Peters, who discusses how she created the Cadfael character.

Many of these stories were written specifically for this volume. Unfortunately, quite a few of these stories aren't very good. Often, the historical setting has nothing to do with the mystery, and is just used to set up the MacGuffin. Furthermore, the majority of these stories are not ones where the reader can follow along and guess at the culprit. Rather, it seems that many authors were more interested in thinking of ridiculous scenarios, which their protagonists would then explain.

There is a great proliferation here of authors using both other authors' characters and real historical figures. Poe's Dupin and Doyle's Holmes appear here in stories from other authors, and other detectives include Leonardo da Vinci, Poe himself, and William Shakespeare.

There are a couple of good stories here, and some good authors, but a great many of the stories in this volume aren't particularly interesting. I suppose they can't all be Cadfael.