H Books

If you are serious at all about hiking in the White Mountains of New England, then this is a "must have." It literally is the Bible of hiking in the whites. I cannot believe the monumental effort that it took to compile this guide. I have several other hiking guides to the area, and each has its own approach, but they cover a limited number of hiking trails. The AMC Guide is "the reference standard" and I believe comes very close to addressing all the hundreds of trails that exist in the Whites with the only exception being some of trails in the Randolph Mountain Club on the north slope of the Presidentials. In the a pocket in the back cover are 6 topographic maps, covering the White Mountains with all the trails shown. If you are a hiking enthusiast and a map-hound like me, don't even open this until you have a 3-day weekend!

Whether you're planning a backpacking trip through the Presidentials or a series of family oriented dayhikes, this book is a neccessity. I just returned from a week long camping trip in the White Mountains and this book never left my side. It includes 100's of detailed trail descriptions as well as suggested hikes for different abilities and the maps for each region. In addition, the introduction includes some very useful information about the park.

One problem I had with this book is that the difficulty of the trails is sometimes understated. This is not really the books fault as difficulty ratings are very subjective. I would highly recommend looking at the maps in conjunction with the trail descriptions to understand the elevation changes. I'm from Maryland and did not fully understand what a 4000 ft. elevation change in 4 miles meant until I got up there (it's not fun and could be dangerous to someone not in good shape). I cannot stress enough that if this book says something is difficult or dangerous, it most certainly is. It might be prudent to talk to a ranger about a certain trail if you are unsure BEFORE you attempt it.

One other fault with the book is that it does not tell you which parking areas require a pass. The best advice for this is to just spend the 5 dollars on the week long pass to avoid the 100 dollar fine.

This is by far the 'hiking bible'. Every trail you can think of in this jampacked 500+ page book with 4 maps is here! Little hikes to backpacking hikes for days and days...its all here.
The details are rich and very accurate. The levels of difficulty I found very on the mark.
I used this book to plan my first hike up Mt. Washington via, Tuckerman Ravine and it was invaluable. It was very accurate and when I reached the top, I felt if I hadn't had this book, I never would've tried this scenic and challenging trail. I would've missed out and taken the less interesting Jewell Trail!
We went back and did it again a month later using this book and took the Ammonoosuc Trail and my goodness...was I glad we did. The scenery was breathtaking...
We've done probably about 50 or so trails from this book so far and they were ALL very detailed and informative, with info on difficulty which I like very much.
The book gives alternate trails to the same places and where the AMC huts are and shelter. Mileages and information on dangerous spots. Even whether to try it in slippery conditions.
Don't hike without it!

Tracy Talley~@

This is a really nice trail guide. You will find all informations about trails in the White Mountains. Three maps are included. The only negative point is that there is no photos in this book. Photos are very important for me.

If you are going to hike in the White Mountains and only have room for one book, then this is it--hands down! It is no surprise how good this guide is when you look at the two editors.

Firstly, Gene Daniell, who, among many other things, has climbed all 48 four-thousand footers in the state of New Hampshire in EVERY month of the year. On top of this, Gene has donated many years of his time as Secretary of the Four Thousand Footer Committee. This club offers guidance and direction for the thousands of avid hikers who yearly strive to climb NH's high peaks.

And Steve Smith is a devotee of the Whites as well. I once bumped into him, accidentally, while shopping in a hiker's enthusiast store in Lincoln, NH (The Mountain Wanderer). As we conversed, it became clear I discovered a rich hiking resource. When he offered to autograph my copy of the AMC Guide, I then realized who he was and that he owned this store.

The AMC White Mountain Guide, whose first edition released in 1907, clearly has as its objective to provide the most accurate, thorough and up to date account of trails in the Whites. Towards this end, with Steve and Gene's expertise, they have refined and packaged the 27th edition in a manner worthy of the most avid hiker's respect.

Excellent topographical maps accompany the guide, offering extensive coverage of the trails discussed. A discussion of how to prepare safely for hiking the Whites is also present. Elevation gains are provided for the various trails and destinations. Moreover, a high level of forethought, in the form of potential alternate trails and escape routes, is all here for the novice and expert alike.

All this is done, thankfully, while adhering to succinctness, since few hikers want to waste their precious and sacred hiking hours reading flowery digressions. Not surprisingly then, the result is a piece of literature of which the owner quickly and particularly grows fond.

I have wandered through the forests of the Whites for over 40 years. I now hike in all twelve months of the year. Through the years I have invested money in many different items which promised to enhance my experience. I can honestly say, without a doubt, none of the dollars were better spent than the ones which went into the purchase of my first AMC White Mountain Guide.

Great product. Great customer service and response time from Amazon.
I had ordered this product from another vendor and it never came. Thankfully, Amazon came through. I'll remember that next time I make a purchase. Thank you!

If you are going to do The White Mountains, here's your book. Useful, hold that, extremely useful trail maps... If you want to do the 48 4000 footers in NH, this is a great tool to plan your travels!

This is a great set of maps and trail descriptions, though its not much for planning or suggesting anything in the white mountains. The trail maps are very well detailed, complete, and having the mileage on them directly is a nice addition. The book is a hard to use for planning, though it works for simply looking up a particular hike and reading some about the difficulty and anything you need to know to not get lost.

"THe White Mountain Guide" is the Appalachian Mountain Club's 28th and Centennial edition of its popular and indispensible hiking guide to New England's top outdoor recreational area. The guide itself, once past a few introductory chapters on safety and geography, has descriptions of each of the established trails in the region. Each description tells how to get to the appropriate trailhead, a narrative of the trail itself, and a breakdown by distance and elevation change of the major segments of the trail. These trail descriptions, updated for each edition of the guide, are invaluable in planning anything from a day hike to a multi-day trip in the beautiful White Mountains.

The guide comes in a small cardboard box with three double-sided color maps that provide coverage of all the trail routes. The maps are detailed, easy to read, and at a usable scale for the White Mountains. Inexplicably, the maps included with the guide are paper and unlikely to stand up to repeated field use in the conditions often found in New Hampshire. Dedicated hikers are recommended to invest in the waterproof and tear-resistant versions of these maps, also published by the Appalachian Mountain Club.

This guide is very highly recommended to hikers and walkers planning an outing in the White Mountains of New Hampshire.

This is the first edition of the WMG that I have owned, but owners of previous editions have pointed out that the maps in this edition are superior to theirs because the new maps include mileage on every single trail in the White Mountains. It is too bad that they are paper and not Tyvek or some other waterproof material, because they are already falling apart. If you are an avid hiker in the Whites, I suggest getting the Tyvek ones sold seperately.

The guidebook itself is exhaustive and lists every detail of every trail, which is useful if you already have a route picked out but not if you are trying to find a good hike and aren't sure where to go. For that, I recommend Michael Lanza's New England Hiking or New Hampshire Hiking from Foghorn Outdoors.

This 100th anniversary edition of WMG comes in a box that came unglued fairly quickly and then again after I reglued it. I would get rid of the box altogether except that the book doesn't have a pocket in the back for the maps like other AMC guidebooks do and I don't want to lose them. I hope that future editions of this guide will do away with the box and go back to the pocket.

If you do not have your own copy of WMG and are looking to purchase one, this is definitely the product to buy. If, however, you already have an older edition of this book, I would suggest buying the Tyvek maps seperately and wait for a few more editions to be published before replacing your book.

Degenhardt et al. have produced a first-rate treatment of New Mexico's herpetology. Their book should be on the shelf of anyone with more than a casual interest in the state fauna. Species accounts are thorough, describing the history of the species names, and excellent overviews of the natural history of each species. Even with difficult groups, such as the whiptail lizards, the keys seem to work well. There are color photographs of each species as well.

Detailed information for the herps of NM. Excellent dichotomous keys. Highly recommended.

Amphibians and reptiles abound in New Mexico: the state holds over 123 species, with almost fifty snakes alone. For a detailed, college-level review which includes technical art supplements, identification keys, distribution patterns, similar species outlines and more, make sure William G. Degenhardt, et.al.'s Amphibians And Reptiles Of New Mexico is on your bookshelf. Though a centerfold does pack in color photos, the meat of this study lies in its detailed natural history coverage, suitable for college-level study.

This book covers all known New Mexico herpetofauna (circa 1990's). Salamanders, snakes, lizards, etc, it's all here. There may have been some changes in the last decade, but this book is still the best I've found; the information it has is accurate, the diagrams, photos, descriptions, etc. are all clear enough to aid in identifying animals. Habitat descriptions are precise enough to actually be of use, etc. The language isn't full of technical jargon--it's actually accessible and understandable for people who didn't major in biology! All animals are dealt with as thoroughly as possible; sometimes there are gaps, but that's because we just don't know how common some animals are, or what they eat, etc. If the info for the animal is there, this book has it. Feeding, mating, size, range, behaviour, etc. It serves as my main (almost sole) reference for herps in NM. I bought it in the middle-late 90's in a bargin bin in some state park, and have used it to help me plan herping excursions everytime I've been there, and to help me ID dozens of herps. It's been worth every penny.

This is an excellent state work, with detailed and accurate text, excellent photographs, precise maps, and up-to-date scientific nomenclature. Common names are those standardized nationwide since 1978, with the exception of the names used for snakes of the genus Tantilla. Purchasers of this book should go to page 307 and simply cross out the tongue-twisting "black-headed" and replace it with Blackhead (so much easier pronounced; it just rolls off the tongue -- truly a common name). Highly recommended. Certainly the best book on the subject, and a must for all herpetologists. Buy it quick before they run out of copies.

I stayed awake until the wee hours of the morning to finish this book. I could not put it down! Well-written and suspenseful, this book will keep you turning the pages. Once finished, you will want to read more of James Pence's work. Excellent read, I highly recommend it.

A serial killer is roaming the halls of Sentinel Health Systems. Is he a doctor faithfully making his rounds? Is he a grief counselor comforting a weeping family member? Or could he be an unassuming nurse prepping someone for surgery? The Angel, as he's dubbed himself, could be anyone. And he's dedicated his life to setting people free--with or without their permission.

Dr. Lori Westlake is a general practitioner at SHS whose euthanasia sympathies have already landed her in hot water. So when she's secretly invited to become a member of the Circle of Peace, a clandestine euthanasia society operating within SHS, she sees it as venue for her convictions. But Lori's sister, Dr. Katharine Bainbridge who also works at SHS, suspects something's amiss in the facility. She believes people are dying who shouldn't be dying, and she's determined to find out why.

Caught between her core beliefs and Kate's suspicions, Lori struggles with whether to join the Circle. To do so means breaking the law, and she's not sure she wants to risk her reputation. How far is she willing to go? Before she has the chance to find out, one of her own patients dies for no apparent reason, and Lori is accused of murder. Her only hope of finding the truth comes from an unlikely source: a retired police detective who's dying of Lou Gehrig's disease.

Anyone who's read James Pence's previous novel Blind Sight already knows he's a capable thriller writer. The Angel continues in the Pence tradition of character-driven suspense, but takes it to an even higher level. The scenes are short and punchy, which keeps things moving at a comfortable thriller pace, and there are enough clues for savvy readers to possibly guess the Angel's true identity (always a fun game), but not enough to be completely certain until the tense climax.

And even though the story is predominantly Lori's, Pence also gives numerous scenes to his detective character, Charles Hamisch. Through Charles's eyes, we catch a glimpse of just how devastating and unpredictable Lou Gehrig's disease can be as sufferers become trapped inside their own bodies, mental faculties fully intact. "That's what drove him [Charles] crazy. Each day was different. Some mornings he woke up feeling strong and on top of the world. Other days, just climbing out of bed required Herculean effort."

The Angel tactfully explores both sides of the euthanasia debate. Only toward the end of the story are we led gently to the Biblical perspective of the sanctity of all life, no matter the challenges. Lori's transformation from skeptic to believer might seem slightly abrupt, but it's still a nice moment of hope amidst her dire circumstances.

Part mystery, part thriller, and part issue novel, The Angel will have you pondering even as it leaves you breathless.

--Reviewed by C.J. Darlington for Infuze magazine

"The Angel" is a wonderful book. I had a hard time putting it down. If you are a reader that loves suspense, this is the book for you.

The book, "The Angel," by James H. Pence, is a thought-provoking and chilling story on the subject of euthanasia. The story begins in a hospital in Dallas Texas, called Sentinel Health Systems (or SHS). It all begins when a woman who has had a massive stroke and is in a perpetual coma is admitted into the hospital for treatment. One of the young workers there sees how it has impacted the woman's husband, and notices how that, as long as she stays alive yet incapacitated, he remains in a stupor, and can't seem to function well as a father. The worker then decides to help end that indecision. Sneaking into the patients room at night, he empties into the woman's IV tubing a large dose of insulin, killing her by morning. He then attends her funeral, and observes that, though deeply sad, the woman's husband is no longer struck with indecision, and can resume his role as a father.
The worker is encouraged by what he sees, and decides to devote his life to setting people free of suffering. He takes the name "The Angel" as an alias and begins his new career. He starts an organization in the SHS facility known as "The Circle of Peace," which is devoted to help euthanize any patients in the hospital if they request it, or if they are unable to express their own wishes (such as in a vegetative state), their family members can request it for them. Unbeknownst to the other members though, the Angel gradually reaches a level of action far greater than the "death if wanted" policy held by the group. It isn't long before he sets about "mercifully killing" disadvantaged people such as the homeless... whether they wish it or not.

At first, the opinion that is conveyed in the novel seems to be that euthanasia, or mercy killing, can be the wise choice, especially for incidents like the one in the preface of the book. But as the plot goes on, euthanasia seems to become less tame and more of a self-gratifying game of playing God with other peoples lives. I hope you will read the book and decide for yourself what might be right or wrong about the controversial subject of euthanasia.

Martin
Age 15
Richardson, Texas

I had a hard time putting this book down--trite phrase, but very true. The plotting was tight, the characters well-drawn, and the story line gripping, with a great ending. As a physician, I was pleased to see all the medical details accurately depicted. Although published as "Christian fiction," this one doesn't hit you over the head with its message--but you do get it. I want to read more by James Pence.

Once again, an Angelina winner! My granddaughter's favorite character, after Angelina herself, is Alice so she is delighted to find a whole book about just the two of them. As usual, a small crisis (a hiccup the Aussies would call it) and then as usual, a happy ending. Loud applause from a delighted child and her grandmother.

Don't pay $45 dollars for this new book with character doll. I was told it was discontinued by a local book store today, 12/7. I went to two other stores and found 1 Angelina and Alice with the character doll. There were a couple Angelina Ballerinas left too. It only cost me $27.95. Shame on the book store listed on this website charging $45! Check your bookstores they are going fast.

This is a wonderful book and we have enjoyed it very much. I have checked it out of the library repeatedly. So I very much wanted the book with the doll to give to my daughter for Christmas. Thankfully, I didn't give up today!

beautifully illustrated, heartwarming childrens stories. Even though the Angelina stories are geared towards girls, my little boy, at 8, enjoyed these as well, especially when mom read to him. These are good stories to read to your child at bedtime.

The artwork is detailed and delightful to look at-you'll see new things each time you look, and children love that that every scene is filled with many little mice.

This Angelina story deals with how it feels when we are sometimes left out, bullied, or when a "best friend" chooses to play with other children. Each book is filled with wonderful life lessons told in a gentle, non preachy way.

I highly recommend this series for any child.
5 stars!

Whoa, has Amazon got the age range wrong here. I think some teenage girls might even enjoy this story. Certainly my children did -- 3 and 5 years of age.

"Angelina and Alice" is a lovely story about friendship and how even the best of friendships can hit a bump or two along the road. In this tale Angelina is made fun of because she can't do a decent handstand. The older girls hurt her feelings by laughing at her efforts on the playground, but what really makes her sad is when Alice joins the other girls in making fun of her.

We don't know what thoughts Alice has, but soon she repents her harsh actions and is back to help Angelina as she practices and practices to get the handstand just right. And when the school puts on a show at the Village Festival even the older girls have to give a hand to the great performance of Angelina and Alice.

Five Stars. A good read-aloud and a fine story of friendship. I particularly like the fact that importance of practicing is emphasized. And far from being a book for preschoolers, I think this is a book for 5 year olds on up. In fact, even a mommy can enjoy it.

That's exactly what this book is. Cute. The illustrations are absolutely beautiful, and the story is enjoyable. Angelina and Alice are both mice. One day they meet each other and become friends because they both like the same things. When other kids (mice) at school begin making fun of Angelina, Alice joins in. Angelina is left with no friends, and no partner in gym. I won't tell you what happens in the end. You'll have to find out for yourself.

I recommend this book to children and adults alike.

Bradley had the misfortune to coincide in his later years with Russell and Whitehead, whose monumental work redirected Philosphy towards the realm of Mathematical Logic and Scientific Materialism. Yet, Bradley's revised version of Hegelian Idealism, strengthened by judiciously chosen elements from the British Idealist tradition, still stands as a practically inexpugnable bulwark against the inroads of those tempted by a spontaneous, unreflective materialism, namely, most of the scientific community today.
Also extremely well written, witty, sharp and captivating in parts. Well worth a perusal, especially the early chapters.

I completely disagree with his conception of reality, but I enjoyed this book. Bradley was a precursor to the language philosophers. Everyone seems intrigued with Wittgenstein; however, Bradley is far more comprehensive and profound. Plus, he writes very good English. Bradley distinguishes subtle naunces in meaning between words and in this way is a precursor to language philosophy. I also recommend C. S. Lewis's book, A Study in Words.

I'm amazed that all the books I have on language philosophy exclude F H Bradley. He did everything language philosophers did before they did it.

This book, written in 1893, is one of the most important books in the history of English language philosophy. During his lifetime, Bradley was one of the best known of British philosophers, but before he died (in 1924) his metaphysical position dropped out of fashion, in part because it was attacked (and misrepresented) by Russell and Moore. In spite of their hostility, Twentieth Century analytic philosophers were profoundly influenced by Bradley. For an excellent discussion of this matter, read the first chapter of Tom Rockmore's book, Hegel, Idealism, and Analytic Philosophy. I recommend reading _Appearance and Reality_ before taking on Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit (Galaxy Books). Bradley's argument for absolute idealism is the best written in English. His writing is lively, frequently pointed and sardonic, a "good read". This version, a reproduction of the 1893 edition, is sturdy, well bound, on good paper. It is a bargain and a must read for anyone with a serious interest in philosophy.

Something must have _happened_ to Francis Herbert Bradley.

He seems to have been something of a curmudgeon; at least, he was extremely reclusive and had a reputation for shooting cats. But at some point in his life he must have come to some sort of deep mystical realization.

Otherwise he couldn't have written this book, which reads like a Western version of Shankara. This is philosophy in the grand old style, and it's one of the high points of British idealism.

Bradley's argument doesn't always hold up in its precise details. He doesn't, for example, think that "relations" are real because (he says) they lead to an infinite regress. But Royce replied to this pretty adequately in an appendix to _The World and the Individual_. He also states firmly (and I think correctly) that there's no conceiving reality apart from experience and there's no duality in experience between subject and object. But support for this claim isn't exactly forthcoming. (Timothy L.S. Sprigge does a much better job with it in _The Vindication of Absolute Idealism_.)

But the essential structure of his argument is sound and could be carried through again with a different set of examples (the standard logical paradoxes, say): the world of our ordinary experience turns out upon inspection to be contradictory, so it can't be fully and finally real; what _is_ fully and finally real is a nondual Absolute in which all those apparent contradictions are resolved through that very nonduality.

Well, Bradley puts it better than that, of course, and his prose style is very pleasant to read. This work is also excerpted in James W. Allard and Guy Stock's collection of Bradley's _Writings on Logic and Metaphysics_, so if you want to read a shorter version, check that volume out.

Anyway, the point is, don't ever let anybody tell you there isn't any nondualistic wisdom here in the West. In a different time and place, Bradley would have been revered as a guru -- a prospect that in all likelihood would have made him cringe, so it's probably just as well. But he's clearly trying to articulate a vision here, and few writers have tackled "rational mysticism" with such philosophical flair.

I doubt that Shankara would have shot cats. Fortunately the similarities run deeper than that.

This book is indeed extremely important for analytic, continental, and mystic philosophers alike. Bradley's positive view, the Absolute, is proposed here as the _only way out_ of those messy analytic debates regarding topics such as appearance vs. reality, plurality, quality, and causation. Bradley's starting point: what is absurd (logically impossible) cannot exist.

Wow! I didn't even know my computer could do that! Yes, I finally downloaded the e-version of your book and began playing around with it this afternoon. I hadn't realized that I could zip around your book through the internal links but also zip all over the country to learn about the sites you visited through external links. It's dizzying! But great fun.

-- Michael Lund, author of the Route 66 Novel Series, including "Growing Up on Route 66" (also available through Amazon.com)

Wow! I didn't even know my computer could do that! Yes, I finally downloaded the e-version of your book and began playing around with it this afternoon. I hadn't realized that I could zip around your book through the internal links but also zip all over the country to learn about the sites you visited through external links. It's dizzying! But great fun.

-- Michael Lund, author of the Route 66 Novel Series, including "Growing Up on Route 66"

Bill Lohmann's wonderful "Are We There Yet?" is a must-read for anyone who appreciates life - and travel - with children. Anyone who has driven more than five minutes in a car with a child can relate to this book. With crisp detail, moving stories and side-splitting anecdotes, Lohmann takes readers along with him and his family on their excellent adventure across the country. This book is a great piece of writing that highlights family and fun and all the lessons learned by being together on the road. In reading "Are We There Yet," I felt like I was on the ride with the Lohmann family - and I enjoyed every minute of it.

This is a wonderful book. It's a travel book, of course, but it's also a family relations book, an adventure book and, above all, a humor book. Bill Lohmann, working for one of those rare newspapers that rewards a reporter with imagination, convinced his editors to send him, his wife and his three children on a seven-week motor trip to California and back. It must have been a rare treat for readers of the Richmond Times-Dispatch to read his dispatches every few days, wondering what disaster might befall before the next report reached print. A lot of families might not have survived a social experiment like this. Lohmann's trip put the family through plenty of trials, but insofar as onew can tell no blows were struck and no one was left behind. Indeed, as Lohmann put it, good luck always seemed to follow bad. The family camped out in Yellowstone, where Lohmann professed himself greatly in fear of bears, without any sort of encounter with the local fauna. But upon pitching their tent on a Florida beach, every critter in the neighborhood came to examine them. Lohmann is a graceful writer with a fine, self-deprecating sense of humor that infuses every page. By the time they get back to Richmond, you feel as though you know his children very well. Buy this book, and read it one chapter a day.

"One van, two parents, three children, seven weeks, 28 states, 10,000 miles": that's the summary of a cross-country trip writer Bill Lohmann and his family took in the first summer of the new millennium. That blurb only begins to summarize the great adventures Bill, wife Robin, and children Melissa, Alexandra and Jack had in the mother of all family vacations chronicled first in Bill's articles in the Richmond Times-Dispatch, where I first read them, and now in his book Are We There Yet? This is a wonderful book by a wonderful writer. Lohmann as a reporter has covered Southern politics, religious fights and prison riots. But as fearless as he, I don't think he understood what he was getting into when he talked his editors into letting him take not just a two-week traditional family vacation but a seven-week odyssey in a conversion van named Big Blue, packed with everything three children could con their parents into letting them bring along. He didn't realize what sleeping five to a tent or even five in an occasional motel room could do to his constitution. But he and his family got a vacation they will never ever forget, and his Richmond readers got an account of America they hadn't seen since they last read John Steinbeck's Travels with Charley or William Least Heat-Moon's Blue Highways. Now the rest of the country can read about characters Lohmann discovered along the way, like Will Harbut, Man o'War's groom, dead like Man o'War since 1947. We can watch Mark McGwire slam batting practice home runs in St. Louis; sit in the stands at the Iowa field where "Field of Dreams" was filmed; become dude cowboys or cowgirls at the Western Pleasure Guest Ranch in Sandpoint, Idaho; ride along the "world's crookedest street" in San Francisco; peer at the stars in Yosemite National Park; stand on a corner in Winslow, Arizona; ride a boat through a New Orleans swamp; see the Big Chicken, the mechanical bird looming over a KFC in Marietta, Ga.; and reminisce about our own family vacations. Inspired readers can even get cracking on their own adventures. Website addresses throughout the book and a "Looking Back" final chapter make vacation planning a snap. I recommend this book to those who were kids in the backseat of a car or wagon or van and to the parents who drove and navigated in front, and to all those others whose great family vacations are about to begin.

Kahn offers the fragments of Heraclitus in solid translation, with an extensive and thoughtful commentary that both takes account of a great deal of secondary literature and provides the author's own valuable insights.

Kahn's approach to the interpretation of Heraclitus is orthodox but sensitive. He appreciates Heraclitus' intentional and artful prose style, including his use of ambiguity and wordplay to create a multiplicity of meanings in many of the fragments. He also gives proper attention to the resonance between fragments, often picking up an echo of a word or image from one fragment while interpreting another.

I enjoyed and learned much from Kahn's commentary, though I would rate his overall success at drawing a systematic Heraclitean worldview from the fragments a limited success at best. In this I think he is surpassed by Roman Dilcher and perhaps M.L. West as well. However, Kahn's command of the ancient material, the secondary literature (in several languages), and the history and culture of the ancient world in general, is truly impressive. His erudition serves the reader very, very well, opening up a wealth of other sources and making connections that only someone with such a mastery of classical and archaic literature can. I would also strongly advise interested folks to hunt down the hundreds of footnotes in his already weighty commentary, as they frequently provide a gem of a comment or an important bibliographical reference.

All in all, this book is essential for any serious study of Heraclitus. Its staying power is testament to Kahn's superb work. I personally feel deeply in Professor Kahn's debt for his fine volume, and I'm sure I'm not alone in this. My one and only complaint has to do with his decision to reorder the fragments and number them with Roman numerals...it's truly and deeply annoying, but if this is the only fly in the ointment, I suppose we can forgive Charles Kahn. A wonderful book.

Rather than Charles H. Kahn's 'The Art and Thought of Heraclitus: An Edition of the Fragments with Translation and Commentary' (ISBN: 052128645X), I would suggest that those who are interested in acquiring an edition of Heraclitus which gives them the Greek text with translation and commentary look for a copy of Philip Wheelwright's possibly more interesting 'Heraclitus' (ISBN 0199240221).

I would also suggest that the more scholarly inclined turn to Thomas McEvilley's 'The Shape of Ancient Thought: Comparative Studies in Greek and Indian Philosophies' (ISBN 1581152035) where, in Chapter Two, 'The Problem of the One and the Many,' they will find a fascinating treatment of Heraclitus which goes far beyond anything Kahn has to offer. On page 149 of this same book they will find a valuable footnote (92) which will provide them with a good idea of the quality (or lack of it) of Kahn's 'scholarship.'

As for the general reader who simply wants to read an English translation of Heraclitus, their needs will perhaps be better served by a book such as Guy Davenport's '7 Greeks' (ISBN: 0811212882) which gives an excellent translation of the complete fragments.

Davenport's translations really are superb and the 124 fragments he gives us, which are tragically all that remain of Heraclitus, take up a mere 12 pages of his book. As a bonus, the remainder of '7 Greeks' is devoted to equally fine translations of Archilocus, Sappho, Alkman, Anacreon, Diogenes, and Herondas.

Davenport's Heraclitus is pithy, pungent, and very much to the point:

16. "Awake, we see a dying world; asleep, dreams."

82. "Defend the law as you would a city wall."

97. "Life is bitter and final, yet men cherish it and beget children to suffer the same fate."

107. "Having cut, burned, and poisoned the sick, the doctor then submits his bill."

Another of Davenport's 7 Greeks, Diogenes, was for me a wonderful find and I'm still chuckling over this one:

Diogenes 109. "I've seen Plato's cups and table, but not his cupness and tableness."

The affluent student who simply must own every edition of Heraclitus should by all means acquire Kahn (and also McEvilley who translates and comments on many of the fragments). Others may find Davenport's translations adequate to their needs, somewhat more memorable than Kahn's, and his book better value for money.

One of the things that is most interesting to me about this book is the way it illustrates how we can know so much about someone whose main book is not available to us. By writing about nature in a way that emphasized the power of fire, war, and strife, Heraclitus produced a book that was so well known to ancient writers that many of them lifted ideas for their own purposes. This combination of the knowledge that we have from many sources produces a picture of the permutations that basic philosophy is prone to fall prey to in a history which never finds any particular idea useful for long. I find the application of such ideas most interesting in the field of deep politics, where the idea of "killing the killers," mentioned in connection with the riddle which Homer couldn't guess at the time of his death according to the tradition explained in this book, could be related to some modern despicabilities.

Devoid of all "Slave Morality" influences from Semitic thinking, Heraclitus is pure European thought at its finest. It's usually proclaimed, that all Western philosophies are but a footnote to Plato. I disagree. Even Plato is subjected to Heraclitus. These fragments shine through, and Charles Kahn does an excellent job of giving his opinions about each fragment without forcing them down your throat and proclaiming his opinions as 100% the ONLY way they can be understood (but, in my opinion, he makes a good case for this reasons). After reading these 123 fragments, you'll see that philosophers such as Plato through Hitler among others owe much of their thinking to this one man. An Excellent Read.

This text is not for the beginning student in philosophy or philology. As someone interested in the history of philosophy, works like this compilation/commentary by Kahn are always valuable. The aim of this text is to provide a method for organizing the fragments of Heraclitus' philosophy in a manner that differs from the original Diels-Kranz method. Kahn's translations are markedly different from the now standard translations of Kirk and Raven; the differences are intertwined with the method of organizing the order of the fragments. In assessing any particular fragment in this work, one should always consult the Kirk-Raven text on the Presocratic Philosophers, have at least a passing knowledge of Greek, have read some Heidegger, and know a good bit about the controversy surrounding the arranging of the fragments. The arrangement of Heraclitus' fragments is a project that is just as perilous as attempting to ascertain the order in which Plato wrote his dialogues. I don't particularly find this sort of lexicography to be very fruitful in terms of having definitive answers, but Kahn's arrangement here is very good at placing itself within the context of what has come before in the way of scholarship. Referring back to any particular fragment in Diels-Kranz or Kirk and Raven is easy because Kahn cross-references each of his numbered translations with their numbering systems. It is hard to challenge the authority of this work, but it is by no means the final word on Heraclitus.

Excellent deal! This textbook is one of the most complete I've known. It explores some important issues in anatomy and about the precise technique application with a very well explained step-by-step. If you want to start dealing with athletic taping, it's a must have!

It has been a long time since I had classes on athletic taping. This is a good book to remind you of the different wraps.

Great pictures and illustrations not only of techniques but of anatomy as well. Overall a really good book.

I am an Athletic Training Student and this book is amazing. It was not required for the class that I bought it for, but It helped me so much. The pictures are very good and the step by step instructions make taping a breeze!

With so many books on How TO it's really great to find one that shows you just how without making you feel like you'll never understand the basics. If you are seriously thinking about doing a lot of sports related taping and handling of those injuries this is the book you want to add to your library.After doing sports med for 2 years now with college teams and marines i feel a lot safer knowing this book is out there for others to go by.

Pincus weave a fascinating, true tale of what makes killers tick in this 2001 book. Pincus himself interviewed hundreds of killers during his career as a neurologist. He combines his knowledge of the human body and psyche to draw his own conclusion about why people kill. Whether or not you buy into his theory, Pincus offers a solid case in a well-written, slim book that is an excellent, quick reference for fiction crime writers.
Angela Wilson
Author

This is a well written, well researched book that should be required reading for all professionals involved with adults and children who exhibit anti-social behaviour. It will be invaluable to educators, psychologists, attorneys, police officers,psychiatrists and more. Why wouldn't anyone who can do so not want to be aware of new findings that could lead to identifying, intercepting and possibly changing the course of a future serial killing or classroom tragedy? Take the time to read the book. It's worth it.

The point of this fairly slim volume is to convince the reader that many (perhaps the vast majority) of our most dangerous criminals have neurologic impairments, and that brain dysfunction, along with child abuse and paranoid thinking, is at the heart of much violent behavior. This is not an entirely new message, but it is one Pincus approaches with a great deal of authority -- he's a professor of Neurology at Georgetown, was formerly at Yale and has studied dozens of death row prisoners along with his colleague Dorothy Ortnow Lewis.

Dr. Pincus clearly decided not to risk alienating readers with scientific terminology or complex explanations of brain physiology. The book follows the familiar "casebook" true crime format used by various ex-FBI profilers, coroners, and cops. Most chapters focus on a particular criminal Pincus had dealings with (many of them in his role as an expert witness) and what that criminal's life story shows about the origins of homicidal violence.

The coversational writing style (and oddly cheery alliterative chapter titles) stand in contrast to the horrific nature of much of the material. The crime scene details will be familiar to any reasonably hardened reader in the literature. What really stood out for me was the descriptions of childhood abuse endured by many of the perpetrators Pincus has studied. As a former inner-city teacher, I taught kids from pretty screwed up homes, and had some friends from abusive families while growing up. But the stories Pincus recounts (corroborated by siblings and others) remind us that there is almost no downward limit to the depths of human depravity.

What's rather odd about all the better works in the study of violence and homicide is the sense that this field is under-funded, under-appreciated and obscure. Pincus and other pioneers in the field have answered some important questions, but their work raises hundreds more. If, say one percent of the money our government has spent trying to prove that marijuana is dangerous were instead spent on studying the roots of violence, perhaps we'd have more answers.

I just finished "Base Instincts: What Makes Killers Kill" and I am adamant that our society shows so much more monetary respect for crime and punishment than early childhood education. We have had recent headlines about men, here in Austin, spiking babies and toddlers like footballs after a touchdown, in anger, killing or maiming them and ending up in prison for life. While this outrage is profoundly disturbing, professionals dither at whether or not early childcare intervention is ethical, cost effective or necessary in our society. Paying attention to parenting of the young child uplifts not just that family, but our societies future well being. Child abuse is the single most important determinant of future violence, and it is endemic and epidemic in our frontier based national mind set. We need to launch an all out campaign to raise the national consciousness about the importance of the nurturance of women, and the children that they in turn nurture, in the first three years of life, and beyond.

"Base Instincts: What Makes Killers Kill?" by Jonathan H. Pincus, MD, ISBN 0-393-32323-4 pbk, Norton & Co. 2001: a 225 page disquisition plus 13 pages of notes by a NYU Professor of neurology & psychiatry and graduate of Columbina CPS who investigated some 150 murderers over a 25-year period and tenders his unified theory that "killers kill for the same reasons," regardless of their classifications (single, mass, serial, & perhaps genocidal).

Pincus observed that killing arises in the milieu and troika of disturbances which generally discloses (1) childhood abuses (sexual, verbal, physical), (2) frontal lobe damage (birth trauma, chromosomal, genic, infectious, toxic as alcohol & drugs), and (3) a medley of mental (neuro-psychiatric) impairments e.g. bipolar depresssion, paranoia, ADHD, CD, ODD, etc. He hypothesizes that single, mass, and serial killings have similarities with the Nazi/Hitler's paranoid anti-Semitism, Gaza Strip atrocities and various terrorist factions of more recent vintage.

He opines the only feasible remedy would be prevention of child abuse and cites pilot studies underway, and also specifies factors impeding implementation of other remedies including treatment of convicted murderers. He details his basic neurologic testing format including specific tests directed at eliciting impairment of the frontal lobes, the latter being somnething he states most/many neurological examiners fail to do. Dr. Pincus has worked successfully on a number of defense cases aimed at getting death sentences switched to life without parole.

The treatise is not overly technical, the writing style is a bit wordy, and very minor detractions were noted (i.e. XYY in not a chromosomal deficit but a chromosomal excess or defect; Trisomy 21 is no longer referred to as mongolism but Down's syndrome; and this reader is skeptical that someone could & would drink a 12-pack of beer and a pint of whiskey in 45 minutes (one can every 3.75 minutes & not counting the hard liquor).

This study is an important contribution to the study of homicide and it provides engaging thought-provoking commentary on what makes murderers murder and also a workable solution to the problem of homocides. This book gives ample graphic grisly details of physical & sexual abuse, sans pictures, which some readers will find disturbing, but so then is murder. This is a must read.