Humanities Books

When I first picked up Pajo, I was skeptical. What made this book different from everything else I'd read?
As the story of a hideous creature who is convinced to go along on a journey to save an infant prince, while at the same being hunted down by a crossbow-toting psychopath, I was wondering where the originality was. I mean, stories including ancient lands, magical kingdoms, spells, secrets, and creatures have been done to death. However, there was something about Pajo that really brought it to life for me. First of all, the thought put into the kingdom of Straemier itself was amazing, from the history of the cities and regions to the geography and layout of all the locations. I also loved the debate scenes between the characters. Everyone was really smart, which is good since smart people seem to be a dying breed. The characters themselves were beautiful, woven and crafted into people I'll remember forever (I <3 Crimson to death!!).
So in other words, Pajo owns. Hands down, this is one of my favorite reads, which I highly recommend.

It seems the Kingdom of Streamire is at a loss of what to do now that the Queen has passed on during childbirth; leaving the only heir to the throne in the hands of his nursemaid. It is obvious that an infant can not assume the royal crown to rule over the people so someone must be chosen to step in until the Prince is of age. There are three applicable men that are in line to rule, but it is not in the stars for any of those men to claim what is not rightfully theirs. With an attempted assassination on the Infant Prince, the nursemaid has hidden him away in her rooms unknowing what else to do. She had to trust in the last words of her friend the Nirdehnian Monk, and hopefully this Bamatojasi would save the Infant Prince.

Pajajopi Bamatojasi is the last of the Potheem; a breed of long ago creatures covered in fur, bearing many animal characteristics, but still is educated enough to speak, walk and do most things a regular human can accomplish. Except the flaw in his speech, he can not pronounce the "th" in words so they're substituted with d's or t's. He was raised by a Nirdehnian Monk from the age of 9, but now four years later at age 13 he is orphaned. He truly thought he was to be "just" a forest creature for the rest of his life, little did he know there was much in store for him. Starting with meeting The Healer, Jetha and her Nirdehnian escort.

Pajo, Crimson, Jetha, and the escort monk, Boqad are being tracked by an assassin Malluk Dominier; in hopes that they will not make it to the castle to rescue the Infant Prince. Along the way two other young men, Mikah, and Talm join the Healer's entourage; when Malluk and Boqad are at war against one another they children are told to run and that Pajo would lead the way. The journey to Melasure is a long one, being tracked, as well as being visited by the apparition of a Healer past, Pajo is unsure of what to do, only he knows that he's life now has a purpose filled with something he has never known; friendship.

Pajo written by Karl L. Kruger is a phenomenal fantasy that young adults and adults are sure to enjoy. Masterfully detailed scenes and characters bring the book to life right before your eyes. Mr. Kruger excels in storytelling, although a bit slow to get into, once past the first couple of chapters I was hooked! I can tell the story was left open, so I do hope Mr. Kruger continues with the sequel to Pajo, I will be sure to add it to my shelf. 5 Hearts

WOW! Once I started reading, I couldn't put it down. It was fantastic! Such a great read, wonderful story and an exceptional job with the four main characters. I loved each one more than the next. I had such a fun time reading it and imagining each character in my head. It's a cross between Harry Potter meets Lord of the Rings meets Lion/Witch/Wardobe. Thanks for a wonderful story that I will enjoy sharing with my children. I am looking forward to the next 2 installments. Get busy writing!

Reviewed by Spencer Zaborowski (age 13) for Reader Views (2/08)

"Pajo" by Karl L. Kruger is a very interesting book about a fantasy creature named Pajajopi Bamatojasi. In this book, Pajajopi Bamatojasi, called Pajo for short, is the last of a hated race of hair-covered, smelly creatures called potheems. While Pajo was out one day finding food with his new friend Crimson, he was led by a spirit to a monk named Boqad and a famous twelve-year-old healer named Jetha. Pajo went along with Jetha and Boqad to try to save an infant prince from an assassin who had failed at the first attempt to kill the baby. The killer was still trying.

On their way to the Darkwood, where Pajo lives, they meet twelve-year-old Mikah and fourteen-year-old Talm. While they are on their way to the Darkwood, they soon learn that a crazed killer named Malluk Dominer was there in the Darkwood trying to stop them. Finally, when the children try to make it out of the Darkwood, Malluk Dominer had tracked them and was now trying to kill Pajo. The children fled to a small town, and then left again. During their journey Pajo learns that the name that he was given might actually mean more than he imagined!

Pajo has to run to the royal city to save the infant prince at the same time that he has to get past the crazed killer. This book is very exciting, so you will have to read the rest of it to find out if he makes it alive and in time to save the prince.

I liked this book, "Pajo," because it was exciting and full of adventure. The map in the front of the book showed the fantasy kingdom and helped make sense of some of the places that were mentioned in the book. The vocabulary and grammar were harder than some of the books I am used to reading, but I could still understand it. This is a great book for teens and adults, because it has a little bit of action, fantasy and mystery all mixed together. It is also funny in some parts. "Pajo" is a thrilling book that once you read the first page, you won't want to put it down until you find out the ending.

Pajo is an amazing fantasy that is therapy for the soul! I loved it! The characters are unique, and yet so real you feel you are on the journey with them. This book teaches friendships and loyalty as well as heroism and how to love someone not like yourself. I am anxiously awaiting the sequel!!

When I was writing a follow-up to my first book, 'Be gentle with the dog, dear!', I was recommended this book by my agent. This is a great book and certainly relatable having 2 kids. I didn't think much of hand-me-downs but suddenly they became precious to my oldest daughter.
It's fun to see peters innocent rebellion when his 'things' turn blue to pink. I think, as an adolescent, we have thought about running away from home with nowhere to go; the author captures this well.

My daughter is over thirty years old. But when she got "Peter's Chair" at 18 months, she asked that it be read to her - over and over - so much that she could open the book, turn the pages, and "read" it to herself. She did it almost verbatim except came up with the word "crocogator" when she saw Peter's favorite play animal. The story is about Peter's acceptance of the fact that his new sister was with the family to stay. Ezra Jack Keats's books are all good, but this is my favorite to give to any child who has a new sibling.

One of my favorite author...love all of Keats books. Great for children who have a new sibling in the home.

I don't know what ken32 is talking about but Peter's Chair has nothing to do with gender difference. It is about a boy, Peter, who is disgruntled at the change that is occuring around the house for his new baby sister Susie. Peter sees that his baby items are being painted over in pink, which is the color that will identify if the baby is going to be a girl. Babies don't care what color their furniture is.
But Peter feeling that everything he has is going to be given to his sister, takes his childhood chair and runs away from home. But he realizes that he isn't a little boy anymore. He is a boy but not a baby. He has to accept change in the household when a sibling is born. Peter is not seen as a spoiled brat. He just doesn't want to have to give in to Susie. Peter learns a valuable lesson and is willing to help his family any way he can.
Ezra Jack Keats, rest in peace, is a good storyteller. His stories are centered around the urban areas. He doesn't paint a negative view of the city. He rather illustrates it as a community of supporting and close-knit citizens. His books dispel the media misconception of the dying city.

This is a wonderful story with delightful illustrations about a young boy who is feeling displaced because he has a baby sister on the way. He is upset to see his old layette painted pink for baby Susie and his infant toys passed down to her.

The one thing that has escaped the fate of the pink paint is his old toddler chair. Peter stashes his chair away and later sets up a clever trap to fool everyone into thinking he is hiding behind the curtains. Peter tries to reclaim his old seat, but he has long outgrown it.

Sadder, but wiser, he accepts his new sister and even gives her a prized gift. This is a wonderful classic!

Truth and method is a magnificent project about social sciences and it affected the social sciences deeply. After you read this Gadamer work it makes you feel that all beliefs about methodology of social sciences have to be reviewed again and we must repeat and repeat think about what really science is.And also we learn from this text that living is interpreting (hermeneutic).

Hans-Georg Gadamer's Truth and Method must be considered alongside the great works of Dilthey, Husserl, and Heidegger as a major treatise on hermeneutics, defined by Gadamer as understanding and the correct interpretation of what has been understood. More commonly, people define hermeneutics as the study/theory of interpretation.

Two major contentions that help frame his analysis are: (1) rejection of the view that proper understanding calls for eliminating the influence of the interpreter's context; (2) rejection of the view that the author's intent in writing a text has any special weight to it.

As to the first point, he argues that it is simply not possible for the interpreter to escape his present situation. He advances the concept of the "horizon." For Gadamer, the horizon is ". . .the range of vision that includes everything that can be seen from a particular vantage point." It is the grounding of the interpreter, including that person's language, that fixes the possibilities of what that person can see and understand. In Gadamer's words, it is

". . .the way in which thought is tied to its finite determination, and the nature of the law of the expansion of the range of vision. A person who has no horizon is a man who does not see far enough and hence over values what is nearest to him. Contrariwise, to have an horizon means not to be limited to what is nearest, but to be able to see beyond it. A person who has an horizon knows the relative significance of everything within this horizon, as near or far, great or small."

To interpret the words of the past, Gadamer says that:

"Just as in a conversation, when we have discovered the standpoint and horizon of the other person, his ideas become intelligible, without our necessarily having to agree with him, the person who thinks historically comes to understand the meaning of what has been handed down, without necessarily agreeing with it, or seeing himself in it."

In interpreting texts, two horizons are involved--one is the horizon of the interpreter and the other the particular historical horizon into which he or she places him or herself in trying to understand the text. Thus, the two horizons interact to produce understanding.

The historical horizon of the text is not fixed; it cannot take on a meaning that is unchanged for all times and places. Here, he gets to the heart of successful hermeneutic inquiry--the fusing of horizons. He says:

"Hence the horizon of the present cannot be formed with the past. There is no more an isolated horizon of the present than there are historical horizons. Understanding, rather, is always the fusion of these horizons which we imagine to exist by themselves. . .Every encounter with tradition that takes place within historical consciousness involves the experience of the tension between the text and the present."

But what of the intention of the original author of a text? That leads to another of Gadamer's major points, by now clearly implicit in his idea of fusion of horizons. In short, it is not particularly important in trying to interpret a text. Once a text is created by its author, it becomes, so to speak, freed from the creator and begins to take on its own meaning, based upon its historical horizon, continually evolving as circumstances change. It is the text's horizon that interacts with the interpreter's horizon.

So what? To the extent that "reality" is the subject of inquiry, our understanding of "reality" will change as the historical horizon of a particular claim about reality changes. We can, then, never come to a satisfactory conclusion about a transcendental reality, about an absolute truth. Is relativism the end product of the endeavor? The hermeneutist in the Gadamerian tradition would simply note that there is no way out.

This is one of the most historically important works available on interpretation. It is difficult and challenging as a work; however, the effort to learn from Gadamer is well worth it.

Gadamer's _Truth and Method_ is both very profound and very readable; it is a vast improvement over other more widely-read philosophical texts from the same region and time period (such as Heidegger's _Being and Time_ and Husserl's _Crisis of the European Sciences_). Unlike the aforementioned philosophers, Gadamer is actually willing to stick his neck out and reveal to us the true nature of his own personal spiritual beliefs. Believe it or not, Gadamer has the audacity to tell us that we "must take the Old Testament literally" (!) That's right, folks. Adam and Eve, Noah's Ark, Moses, Abraham-Isaac-Jacob-Joseph-ect. We have to take all of that literally. Now I've been to north-Georgia, backcountry, hillbilly Baptist churches where they didn't believe in that stuff anymore. And that is precisely what makes Gadamer's philosophy so revolutionary. The age of reason has quite literally come full circle. People were completely caught off guard by this shocking new assertion, that we must once again turn to the literal interpretation of the Old Testament in order to explain the dawn of temporal conciousness in man.
It seems as though modern phenomenolgy has uncovered far more new questions than it has answers. Hegel was one of the first to attempt an in-depth systemization on how and why the "spirit enters into time". Heidegger was one of the first with a specific answer, stating that the phenomenon of spirit is attributable to a type of "care" and "being-unto-death". Sarte countered that this phenomenology is in fact a result of "being-unto-other". But if we believe Gadamer's historical theory, we may have a concrete solution to all of these problems. Rather than be stuck with a narrow and one-dimensional theory of the phenomenon of soul (which could easily be diluted with other contingencies and unforeseen contributing factors) Gadamer brings us back to a very viable, believable, and comprehesive system of the historical birth of the spirit. Granted, it is impossible to empirically prove the historical accuracy of the Old Testament, but Gadamer points out this historic text's uncanny ability to account for and eliminate every possible obstacle to the coming-into-being of spirit. Once we understand Gadamer's system, we realize that not only is the Old Testament a sensible, fitting, and believable way to account for our existence, it is actually one of the most solid and inarguable existential theories out there. Yes, it does seem shocking and surprising at first, but the more you think about it, the more believable you will find the Old Testament to be. Apparently, the modern philosopher must go down every dead-end, back-alley historical theory known to man before he can finally come to terms with the wisdom of the ancients.
So the only question remaining is, should you buy this book? If you are open minded enough to at least consider the possibility of the historical theory described above, then you will probably find this book to be interesting and intellectually stimulating. If, on the other hand, you are horrified and appauled by what I just said, maybe you should instead ask your college professor for his latest recommendation.

I hate to admit it...especially because all the other reviewers have raved about it...but I find Truth and Method to be a real slog. Yes -- there is some good stuff here. But be warned - you will really, really have to work to get through this book!

Now at this point you may be thinking "well, you are probably lazy or were unprepared." But the thing is - I was neither. I have read Being and Time (which I think is an easier - yes easier - book) and have done much prepatory work for T & M including Introduction to Philosophical Hermeneutics by Jean Grondin -- which I highly recommend).

This book is brilliant. But I think it is very interesting that all the reviewers have such high praise for a text that is so very difficult. Great ideas do not need to be inaccessible. Don't believe me? Look at Plato, Aristotle, Nietzsche.....

First, Truth and Method is a true classic. Basically, it sees Gadamer revitalise 'nonscientific' truth, i.e. the experience of truth inaccessible to method and irreducible to bare statement. The book itself does have a structure/setting that makes it difficult to get into initially (it is usefully read in tandem with a good commentary eg. Joel Weinsheimer's 'Gadamer's Hermeneutics'), but it is simply worth the effort.

Second, the review below is mistaken when it attributes to Gadamer the idea that the Old Testament should be read literally. Gadamer refers to Luther's position that "the Scripture has a univocal sense that can be derived from the text", but he does this as part of an historical overview of hermeneutics and, on the very next page, Luther gets refuted by 18thC historicism. Gadamer moves beyond both these positions to reveal how 'literalism' (and - more pressingly - 'historicism') is a projection of unproductive prejudices. It is an "obstruction", that gets in the way of the truth Gadamer seeks. Also, while T&M is relevant to theology, it should be made clear that Gadamer is writing of a philosophical-universal hermeneutics and not something regional.

I recieved Aeschylus: Agamemnon right on time and it was crisp and new!

First in a trilogy about the return of the Greeks after the Trojan War. Powerful stuff. Such horrors and tragedy as only the Greeks can master. Agamemnon's father killed his brother's children and set their flesh before him to eat, unknowingly. Agamemnon himself killed his own daughter as a sacrifice to the gods for success in the Trojan War, and when he comes home after ten years (which is where the action begins), his wife, Clytemnestra, stabs him to death in a plot with Aegisthus who was the son of the father who ate his children, and in the next part, Orestes, Agamemnon's son will return and kill them both. Please don't think I'm giving away plot here. Plot is not the point, the writing of it is all. To see it staged by first-rate actors must be a real thrill indeed.

It would be good to have two years of college Greek behind you before starting on Denniston and Page's AGAMEMNON, a Greek text with modern commentary. As a single-volume edition for students, this one could not be bettered: everything is explained and difficult passages are translated in the notes -- about three lines a page are difficult enough to require this treatment. And I mean difficult for everyone, the world's greatest Greek scholars included. The difficulties are very thoroughly discussed. Another reviewer here has said Denniston and Page are dogmatic; not at all: they point out where passages are unclear, disagreed about by scholars, or outright lost. Most of the choruses contain passages so distorted scholars have to guess at what was written, and (assuming their guess is right) exactly what the passages mean. Aeschylus writes a little like Shakespeare in MACBETH: very poetically and not always clearly. In spite of all this, passages, sometimes quite long, of powerful poetry leap out of the page. The play has been compared to KING LEAR and called, along with LEAR, one of the two best tragedies of all time. What's more, it makes you feel, even with Denniston and Page's constant help, that you can really understand Greek if you can understand lines from this play.

I always liked Homer and Sophocles, but I still have a preference for Aeschylus. What makes "Agamemnon" such a great story is that not only is it a story in itself, but it is only part 1 of the trilogy. (Part 2 is "Libation Bearers" and Part 3 is "The Eumenides.") Now "Agamemnon" was of course written centuries before Shakespeare's "Troilus and Cressida." Nevertheless, the events of "Agamemnon" take place after Shakespeare's play. If you read that play by Shakespeare, you know that it deals with the last stages of the Trojan War. In Shakespeare's play, Agamemnon is pictured as a reasonable and competent king who is frustrated at the length of the war, is repulsed by the vanity of Achilles, and shows reasonable strength in diplomacy. Onto the material at hand. The chorus is basically a group of older men who can comment on the situations, but they can't really interfere. (Kind of like the narrator in a play.) The chorus tells us that Troy has fallen and Greece is triumphant. We then meet Agamemnon's wife Clytemnestra. She blames Agamemnon for the death of her child Iphigenia. So, she naturally wants to kill Agamemnon. The chorus seems to admit it was strange that the war was fought over the abduction of Helen who was a willing prisoner. Nevertheless, the chorus sides with Agamemnon when he arrives. But an Isaac Asimov proverb seems to explain this nicely: "Such a keen sense of honor is often praised by those who are safe at home." But of course, it is a different story to those who are directly involved. But of course, almost any time romance is involved, the voice and sense of reason take a vacation. Moving on, Agamemnon seems to be a good king in showing his piety in the light of victory. But there is one flaw. He has kidnapped Hector's sister Cassandra. (She was a virgin priestess to Apollo, and that would be the equivalent of kidnapping a nun for the purposes of pleasure.) Cassandra has the gift of prophecy, but because she tried to run with Apollo's gift 'without paying for it' Apollo cursed her in that no one would believe her prophecies. Showing reason, she curses Paris for starting the war with the utterly stupid kidnapping, and she tries to tell that Clytemnestra is plotting against Agamemnon, but of course no one will listen. She also tells of how Orestes will avenge his father and kill Clytemnestra (in Part 2). But back to the main plot. Clytemnestra plays the devil and uses Agamemnon's vanity against him which leads to his destruction. (How disturbing that vanity was the downfall of many men centuries ago and often still is.) In comes Clytemnestra's Aegisthus. He talks of the crimes of Agamemnon's father against his father. What happened was Aegithus's father slept with Agamemnon's father's wife. In revenge, Agamemnon's father tricked Aegithus's father into eating the flesh of his own son. The theme of revenge is further emphasized. It is of course a never ending circle. Though I do find it interesting that Aegithus finds it fit that Agamemnon suffers for the crimes of his father. (YET IT WAS AEGITHUS'S FATHER WHO STARTED IT!) So Aegithus and Clytemnestra can be together now. But of course, we know in Part 2, they will get their comeuppance. Overall, it's a great story that emphasizes the evils and the seeming eternity of revenge.

[Note: This edition is a text in ANCIENT GREEK with notes in English. It has no text in English if you are looking for one. There are many to recommend. The best translation of the Oresteia, of which this work is the first part, is in Tony Harrison's Collected Works; the worst, in my opinion at least, was written by Ted Hughes. All the rest are good.]
This is a superb edition with one caveat. At the moment, educated consensus generally holds that a line of poetry seldom has one meaning. Denniston and Page's text plus commentary of Agamemnon apparently was written before this consensus formed. Denniston and Page are feisty, dogmatic, and insistent that they are right, and are largely reacting to Fraenkel's massive text plus commentary to the same play. They take issue with Fraenkel on a number of points while acknowledging his immense erudition. I have no reservations, however, recommending this edition. It was very useful and well-thought out. I give it a high rating.

I LOVE this book! I haven't found a better kids' craft/idea book than this. Very cute ideas, the instructions are very easy-to-follow (nice illustrations that children can understand and views of the "finished product" to motivate kids), and I love that most of the projects only require items that I already have in the house. My three year old daughter has loved everything we've made from the book and it always keeps us busy when things start to get dull.

This book is FABULOUS!!! All the crafts I have used from this book have been excitedly anticipated and completed by my students from the very young to six years old. It is brightly illustrated and filled with a trove of ideas.

"I'm soooo BOOOOOORRRRED!"

You'll never hear this again from the kids in your circle. If you are Mom, Big Sis, Babysitter or Favorite Auntie, you need this book in your arsenal of tools to keep kids (and you) enthralled with many and varied activities to pass the time happily and productively!

There's something here for the holidays, different media, clear, detailed instructions, illustrations, a color wheel and an index!

THIS BOOK IS GREAT! Turn free time into happy time -- I guarantee you'll find tons of stuff that you and your kids will love to make and keep as treasured keepsakes. The best part is that wonderful feeling of pride and accomplishment that even very young children can have from completing a project.

Very highly recommended!

Exactly what the editorial review and all the reviewers said, bottom line: this book is absolutely amazing. I get most of my material from dollar store or everyday home item. Pictures are vivid and clear even my kids understand what is going on (3 and 4 years old). I'm a very neat, tidy person and these ideas are not messy at all. My kids can do most of these activities

I love this book! I am not a crafty person at all but my kids like to do it. There are so many easy crafts with things you should have around the house. Plus most of them don't make a huge mess!

One can have the best grammar in the world, but if the writing is still horrible, it's going to be very technically sound horrible writing. "The Curious Case of the Misplaced Modifier: How to Solve the Mysteries of Weak Writing" looks at all the causes of bad writing and how to repair them and revise them. Touching on passive voice, abuse of the suffix -ing, run on sentences, and many other common accidents of writers, "The Curious Case of the Misplaced Modifier: How to Solve the Mysteries of Weak Writing" is an essential guide for novice writers with its unique and entertaining approach to improve themselves.

Bonnie Trenga has created a fun book that also helps you hone your writing skills. The seven most commonly corrected errors editors fix have been disected into seven interesting and fun chapters complete with exercises to help you stop the errors and create a more readable, intriguing story. I have been using this book while editing my manuscript, and find it indispensable. I highly recommend it for anyone serious about honing their writing craft.

I am an avid writer. I have written several novels and some nonfiction. As part of my writing regimen, I read at least one writing instructional book between each draft of each project.

I picked up a copy of Curse of the Misplaced Modifier and read it. I enjoyed it, but it wasn't my favorite grammar book. In this book, Bonnie Trenga tackles 7 of the most common writing problems; passive voice, nominalization, -ing words, weak verbs, misplaced modifiers, long sentences, and wordiness. She worked as an editor and has drawn from her professional experience to narrow most writing errors into these categories.

I enjoyed the examples of bad and corrected writing. I enjoyed her selection of common errors and her advice to writers about how to correct these errors by forming better writing habits. I wasn't so enamored by the cuteness of her prose. I am more of a nuts and bolts man. I like to roll up my sleeves and get right down to the rules of good writing without a lot of fluff. However, for some her lighthearted approach might be just the thing.

Good job, Bonnie.

-Craig Nybo, co-author of Total Human: The Complete Strength Training System

This is, quite simply, a wonderful book for writers of all levels; whether high school, college, professional, or otherwise. If your writing is sick, because of weak sentence structure and improper grammar usage, reading this book will help heal it. The lessons found here will mend your words, and they will flow strong and true right from the heart of your writing, coursing through every sentence, bringing new life to your meaning.

I'm a professional writer who is always in search of ways to improve my craft, and have shelves of writing books; many of which are on the subject of grammar. They, for the most part, are dry, lifeless, and make for very dull reading. But 'The Curious Case Of The Misplaced Modifier' is different. It presents explanations of seven common grammatical mistakes in an easy to grasp, personal, and thoroughly enjoyable way. It's almost as if the author was sitting on the couch next to me, sipping tea, while explaining why and how to build better sentences through the proper use of grammar.

Although a physically small book, measuring just 8"x5" with some 150 pages, it packs a huge wallop.

Yes, Gracie, good things do come in small packages. Buy it, you will not be disappointed.

Barry Gluck

A decade as a professional copyeditor and proofreader prompted Bonnie Trenga to write a reference book. She noticed that beginning and experienced clients alike made the same mistakes. Sometimes the mistakes lay with grammar or punctuation, but usually sentence structure was the problem.

At the time, none of the available grammar books addressed the problems she continually encountered. She felt that writers needed a guide covering the seven common writing mistakes she saw most often.

The Curious Case of the Misplaced Modifier is the result of her effort.

Writing well takes more than correct grammar. A sentence with ackward phrasing can cause readers to lose interest. So, instead of focusing on grammar, Misplaced Modifier concentrates on writing clear sentences that inform and entertain readers.

Each chapter begins with a short mystery story full of the writing mistake addressed. The chapters are short, direct and supported by examples. Each one is concluded by a recap and a summary. Trenga tells us what she's going to tell us, tells us what she told us, and then tells us again.

The problems discussed in the book include passive voice, nominalization, vague -ing words, weak verbs, misplaced modifiers, long sentences and wordy prose. Although the example stories are mysteries, the information is useful for any form of writing.

After the seven chapters on writing felonies comes a list of ten writing misdemeanors. The list covers punctuation, clichés, spelling and vocabulary. An answer key for the mistake-ridden mysteries and a glossary follow.

The book concludes with a weak writing rap sheet. The rap sheet repeats the information presented in the book in a graph form. It's format, which lists problems, examples and fixes, makes it easy to find the answers to specific questions.

If you like female detectives you must read the Kat Colorado series. They keep you guessing till the very end. Great story! I can see why this book won an award..

Loved this book. Very reminiscent of Sue Grafton's Kinsey Milhone series or even Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plumb.

Kat Colorado is a private investigator looking into her best friend's soon to be ex-husband's financial dealings in Las Vegas. In typical "girl in over her head" style, she bites off way more than she can chew and lands herself in the middle of a mystery involving casino skimming, real estate pyramid scams, and even murder.

Luckily, Kat is a take care of herself kind of girl and usually manages to land on her feet. But it certainly doesn't hurt the storyline when she meets up with local cop, Hank (or is it Hunk?)

Can't wait to read the next in the series

First book in the Kat Colorado series. Sacramento-based Investigator Kat Colorado tries to help her good friend Charity, who is going through a messy divorce. Charity suspects that her husband Sam has siphoned off $200,000 of their money and hidden it somewhere in an investment scheme in Las Vegas.

Kat goes to Las Vegas and meets an old friend from her youth who appears to be connected with some seamy characters in Las Vegas. She also meets a hunky copy named "Hank", although she frequently has a Freudian slip and calls him "Hunk". (Hopefully we will see more of "Hank the Hunk" in future books in this series!) This book has lots of laughs in it! Kat Colorado is a strong (and funny!)female protagonist who reminds me of Kinsey Millhone and Stephanie Plum. I can't wait to read the other books in this series!

I quite enjoyed reading this short, fast paced mystery introducing Kat Colorado, a female Sacramento PI.

Kijewski has defended setting her series in Sacramento, and I was quite interested in reading a book set in a smaller Californian city, but in fact Kat's debut case takes her off to Las Vegas in pursuit of a friend's no-good husband. As befits a mystery, things soon take a more murderous turn.

I liked the main character and was carried along by the energy of the narrative, though I think Kat does some rather silly things along the way. I will read more in the series.

After reading 6 of the 8 Kat colorado Novels I can honestly review them.


Kat Colorado is a former Bartender turned private Investigator in Sacramento CA. Like Many Mystery or suspense Protagonists she has a troubled past which she seems to wear like a badge of honor with her don't mess with me attitude. Surronded by quirky friends and hangers-on Like Alma her adoptive grandmother or Rafe her sort of cousin brother friend or Bill Henley her cop friend. But Katwalk Involves her best friend Charity and advice columnist who life is more troubled than her readers. When Charity's Husband Sam runs off to Vegas with $200,000 She asks Kat to Find out why. and Kat finds a plot in which Sam has got himself Involved and Kat Can't Leave well enough alone. SO begins a Recurring theme in the Kat Colorado Novels..... Kat finds a Plot, Kat sticks her nose in deep, Kat gets hurt, then Kat solves mystery usually picking up a new Hanger on... this time Hank(whom she called Hunk in a Fruedian slip when they first met) Katwalk Is a fun and easy read.. but the Usual mystery cliche's appear. but doesn't detract from the fun.

I stumbled onto David Loy's work after years of reading books concerning Heidegger, phenomenology and (recently) Buddhism. And I will have to say that I am now a very enthusiastic David Loy fan. This book has provided a kind of philosophical "glue" that has suddently made sense of the past 15 years of Heidegger. If you are interested in Buddhism and phenomenology I strongly suggest you buy up everything David Loy has written and read it twice. Very accessible. Very creative.

I am a great admirer of David Loy's work, especially his book "Lack and Transcendence." This work is chock full of fascinating information and discussions, and I have learned a great deal from it, but the material Loy presents for discussion is a good deal better than the conclusions he draws from it. Loy's philosophical background is in the Heigegger/Derrida continental tradition, and unfortunately he has inherited some of the logical sloppiness of that tradition. Worse, and this is a flaw that pervades just about the whole book, is that he seems not to fully understand that the Nagarjunian theory of the two truths means that you cannot meaningfully mix the conventional mode of discourse with the ultimate. Certainly you cannot draw logical conclusions from such a mixture. This failure to grasp the most foundational point of Madhyamika leads to a variety of confusion, such as his discusson of the role of sense organs in non-dual perception. Worse, it completely undermines the thesis of his central chapter, the Deconstruction of Dualism, in which he tries to show that fundamental identity of the different non-dual traditions he discusses: Mahayana Buddhism, Sankara's Advaita Vedanta, and Taoism. Loy's is certainly the most sophisticated attempt I have seen to defend this "perennial philosophy" blenderized view of eastern religions, but all Loy succeeds in doing is to create the proverbial the coal bin at midnight in which all cats are black.

But I still recommend this book. It is full of treasures, and it is a pleasure to enter into a mental discussion with a writer as sharp and learned as Loy.

This book is absolutely brilliant. If you're grappling with the subject of nonduality then this should put you straight (at least intellectually!) - I've read parts of this book numerous times, and the sections on the deconstruction of nonduality and Derrida are mindblowing stuff. Loy has nailed 'it'.

Flawed? Only in the sense that it uses language to describe something that subverts language and avoids description. That's saying a lot, but Loy can be forgiven for that - even Lao Tsu and Nagarjuna wrote a book!

David Loy has done a superb job of being true to the standards of academic comparative philosophy, true to the traditions, and true to direct pointing to transconceptual awareness, all at the same time--which is every bit as rare as it is desperately needed. But then, I would expect nothing less from a philosophy professor who is also a spiritual teacher in the Zen tradition. Don't pass this one up.

David Loys book is simply too far ahead of its time. That's why it is so under-appreciated (see the lukewarm editorial reviews).
In 20 years this will be a classic. If your "on the verge" this book can help you do the quantum-leap.

This is probably THE greatest book I've found for re-examining & inspiring your teaching. The author's tone is friendly, coversational, and humorous, and ideas are clearly outlined--you can read it page by page or skim it for a small dose of inspiration. I reread it every summer & frequently leaf thru it throughout the year--there's TONS of great ideas in here, and even if some wouldn't work for your program it might help you brainstorm something that will. It's an educational book without the academic jargon & without the over-flowery language of someone who doesn't understand the science behind teaching. It's by a band director who just wanted to give his kids the best possible education he could, and just reading through the book makes me wish I'd grown up in his program.

A must read. Anyone searching for that positive influencial attitude in affecting their students should read this and apply the techniques. Believe me, this book will inspire the most jaded of teachers.

Pathways is a really good book. I mean it. It helped me a lot.

Pathways assists teachers in running their daily music programs. There are lists of practical ideas, and ideas for doing things like taking roll to rehearsing - and everything in between. Depending on your teaching experience you may want to skip some of the information, for example a veteran teacher might want to focus more on creating music at a high level, while a new teacher might focus more on rehearsal technique. I used some of the techniques in this book in my class and found them to be effective and indeed they helped my students improve. Overall this book is good!

Simple, easy to use ideas and strategies that address real-life in-the-classroom issues of student motivation, attrition, and creating enjoyable and energetic learning environments. I have been using only a small handful of ideas and strategies listed in this book (about 5 of them right now out of thousands) and it has made a noticeable difference in my classes. This book should be required reading for any music education major, beginning or veteran teacher. IT'S THAT GOOD!!!

The book is not preachy or touchy-feely at all. It's just full of awesome ideas and really gets to the heart of what makes students tick. Worth it's weight in gold!

The author has an agenda to bash America in this work, all the more incredible since one would think the nation of Japan, which has never officially apologized for the atrocities described in this bood, would more than suffice as a punching bag for him, the author. His determination to get that bashing in, in the second half of the work, distracted him from delivering the proper scope and balance in telling the story the author is probably capable of. Worth the price though (especially if you can get it at a discount).

This is why my mother won't visit China. Although she would like to learn more about Chinese culture, she discouraged my visiting China because she was afraid something would bite me or I would bring vermin back not because the Chinese are inherently dirty but because she accurately remembers the strength of vermin warfare inflicted upon China and is convinced that the poisoning of China's water system and soil makes Chinese products suspect even before the industrial accidents in recent news. It takes a widespread intense campaign to deal with this problem. I didn't read this book before visiting China but I believed that she was being practical in her advise and not political. This problem needs to be researched. One must satisfy the most critical person in order to solve the problem correctly.

I came from the city where the Japanse secret germ army operated during the second world war. What the author stated in the book is true. The truth can not be denied by the Japanese Government. Don`t judge anything as lie or truth, unless you find out with yoru own eyes.

I recently attended a lecture by Daniel Barenblatt in NYC. The subject was of course Barenblatt's new book A PLAGUE UPON HUMANITY. Whereas the use of human medical experimentation is now a well known aspect of the Nazi extermination program, the fact that
Japan innovated these same techniques, as well as implementing a lethal biological warfare unit, directed by Dr. Ishii Shiro & imposed upon the Chinese population in Manchuria & Occupied China, prior & parallel to the Nazi regime, is less known in the Western World.
Whereas some books on this topic have been published, Mr. Barenblatt, with integrity & the detachment necessary to cover the terrain, has written a contemporary & updated version of the material That he does so fills an important gap in our historical understanding but moreover, underlies the situation in which we now live.
The 25 photographs speak without words. The 10 chapters & for this reader, in particular the last chapter `What The Deal Brought' wherein the implication of this program for our current policy is clear become apparent.. In an era of lethal indifference , poisoned ambients, both intellectual & environmental, a voice such as Barenblatt's must be heeded.

The author Dan Barenblatt has his special background in chemistry and the most precious common human values to complete such a wonderful book. I can image how much efforts he put to overcome the difficullties since the auther does not read and write Chinese.
The most impressive from in this book is the auther try to understand the facts of the history and the cause of it. Unless we understand the cause of the historic tragedy, it will repeat again.
For example he spent a good amount of efforts to analyze what cause the head of Unit 731 - Dr. Shiro Ishii to commit such a huge crime on germ warfare from his family, social background and political environment at that time and how America knew about it, how the secret deal was made later. The auther wanted to present the whole true history base on the individual has right to know, without knowing the fact, the justice and human values are easily betrayed by interest or other purpose.
You will be touched by this most forgotten or unkown history presented in the book; but as a Chinese auther I was touched and amazed by his efforts and unbiased humaneness