Mythology Books

In Athens, during the fifth century B.C., the Sophists were wise men. They were not philosophers, or scientists, they were itinerant teachers. Socrates was a moralist and a religious man. Plato was forty years younger than Socrates. THE APOLOGY and the CRITO are founded on fact, shaped by Plato's artistry, (he was a poet, also).

Socrates was indicted for impiety. A public action was brought against him as a menace to society. Orators and poets disliked Socrates's influence on the young. He asserted in THE APOLOGY that the true champion of justice must confine himself to private life. Socrates received the death penalty. He did not think he should stoop to servility because he was in danger.

Death is either annihilation or migration of the soul. Crito visited Socrates in prison. Crito urged him to escape. He claimed that Socrates was throwing away his life when he might save it. Socrates argued with Crito that he had no problem with the laws and, thus, he had a duty to be law-biding. Aiding Socrates's escape would be a breach of faith.

PHAEDO is the last conversation. Socrates believed a man should be cheerful in the face of death. A love of wisdom, not the body, makes a person cheerful. Soul resembles the divine, body resembles what is mortal. No soul which has not practiced philosophy may attain the divine nature. Pythagoreans have a theory of the soul. The soul is imperishable. Friends were admonished by Socrates to just be themselves. The philosopher faced death handily.

Amazing and wonderful, the three titles are a compelling work.

...a 2400 year old work of philosophy? The question, itself, is not without philosophic interest.

Rather than presume to judge Plato, or Socrates, or Plato-as-Socrates, I will simply add my own voice to the chorus of general opinion and say: TLDoS is as resonant and, in its way, relevant, today as it was so many aeons ago. Though hardly a work of unassailable logic it is, nonetheless, a deeply thoughtful, imaginative, and passionately argued one. As I made my way through it, I had to remind myself, from time to time, that what I had before me was a work of ancient literature. Tredennick and Tarrant are to be commended for their eminently readable translation. As I am not a classicist, I cannot speak to the quality of the translation, but if the quality of the endnotes serves as any indication, I would venture to guess that the translation is first-rate.

A very complex Socrates -- as remembered, as imagined, and perhaps also as invented -- emerges from the four dialogues in TSDoS. That this same Socrates still has power to reach across the ages to confound, inspire, frustrate, entertain, and teach is as sure a testament to his legacy, and to the legacy of classical Greek philosophy, as any.

Read and learn.

THE DEATH OF SOCRATES is a very inspiring book to read, especially now, when many of us may be facing the same situation he faced--though with a crucial difference. Whatever distortion of the real Socrates may have been introduced by Plato or other writers, enough comes through to paint a portrait of the first true individual in history-- the first person to be guided by his own individual conscience to do what is right, regardless of the consequences. Reading the Apology, one thrills to Socrates intransigence in the face of the Athenian jury which sentenced him to death. CRITO presents the best argument for government under law ever offered, and thus the beginning of the tradition of civil disobedience later taken up by Thoreau, Gandhi, and Martin Luther King Jr. When Socrates' friend Crito urges him to flee, saying that most people will think he was really guilty if he does not, Socrates says, "Why should we pay so much attention to what most people think?" Then he engages in a symbolic dialogue with the Law of Athens, which can be thought of as comparable to the US Constitution. It is clear that he is grateful to the Laws for having given him the opportunity to be a dissenter. The crucial fact is that they have permitted him the right to attempt to persuade his fellow citizens by permitting him free speech. Even when he was arrested for his teachings, he was allowed to speak in his own defense. Although the verdict was unjust, he was a victim not of the Laws but of his fellow men. (p. 95)

However, the tradition of civil disobedience which Socrates founded is only meaningful in a democracy, where people have the right to dissent and to have a fair and public trial. And it is rapidly becoming obsolete. For on October 17, 2006, President Bush signed into law the Military Commissions Act, initiating the gravest crisis in US history, not excepting the Civil War, Pearl Harbor, and 9/11 itself. Congress has had over a year to repeal or amend that act but has failed to do so. Now it is up for review by the Supreme Court. If that body, now nearly half-filled with "rubber stamp" justices, fails to strike down the law as unconstitutional we shall have to resort to a very different tradition than that of Socrates, one which has its roots in medieval England, and was transformed in the 17th century into John Locke's social contract theory. Jefferson expressed it in the immortal words of the Declaration of Independence: speaking of the American colonists, he wrote, "But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object, evinces a design to reduce them to absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government and provide new guards for their future security." Faced with the prospect of living in a society which would have made his dissenting individualism impossible, I'm sure Socrates would have agreed.

In this simply-organized compilation of Socratic Dialogues, I would offer that the way Penguin Classics presents them cannot be outdone. The playfully loquacious dialogues are pure-gold bricks of logic, and should therefore be cherished greatly. This book is easy to understand because there are endnotes on every page. Spanning the entirety of over 200 juicy pages, Harold Tarrant and Hugh Tredennick present The Last Days of Socrates to the reader in an easy to follow pattern of notes. These final works of Plato should not be thought of as poor entertainment, but rather highly intense and compelling Greek discussions. It is very well-done and should be read over and over again.



Although every Socratic dialogue is absolutely riddled with complacent people for Socrates to question, this collection actually reveals the largest variety of listeners. From crazy commoners to cynical and court-goers, a critical criminal and the crowd of conflicting friends, Socrates caught every category and class of character off guard. At first, the evidence that hints at Socrates' trial is a mere conviction and nothing more. He had been free then. He had boldly questioned commoners at the very steps to the courthouse that he would defend himself in later. This penniless philosopher inquired of many people during his spare time.



In this collection, the second and third dialogues are the ones that depict the powerful defense of Socrates using logic to its full extent. In brilliantly defending himself, Socrates caressed, persuaded, and rallied only just under half of the jury. Unfortunately, he had failed to win the jury over completely, but he had come so close. Sleeping in the cell that was later constructed for him, Socrates was aroused by Crito, a man who had been a believer in Socrates. The extent of the discussion is contained in the third dialogue titled Crito. Anyhow, the general public hated Socrates so much that only death would avenge their flaming lust for revenge. The second and third dialogues depict Socrates' infamous apologetics and must be read. That is not all, however.



In Phaedo, Socrates calmly awaited his own death by hemlock, in a full chamber of the courthouse. He first addressed his followers and comrades alike concerning the meaning of life. He wanted to reassure them that there was indeed life after death, and that he would be going to a better place. Before he drank the poison, however, Socrates spurred a discussion of the soul and its immortality, or at least as logic had presented it to him. (Of course he had to argue it.) When two of his followers timidly provided Socrates with their opposing views, he only smiled and destroyed each argument consecutively. This he did because he wanted to share his hopes with his friends and did not want them to doubt his reincarnation. Nobody could fight back tears as he took the poison and perished. Socrates' legend now carries from there on. In Phaedo, the philosopher convinced his pals that his soul had not been dying, but had rather been transcending.



I love how Penguin has organized these significant conversations. Socrates is much easier to comprehend because of this book. Socrates had been last heard saying, "Crito, we ought to offer a cock to Asclepius. (This is because Asclepius had been the god of pleasure.) See to it and don't forget." Buy this book. See to it and do not forget. When I purchased this book, which was in a used condition, it only cost two cents and has not disappointed me. Since it is known that Socrates is always welcome to thinkers, the price feels reduced even further for those who love logic. You will deprive yourself if you miss out on this intellectual classic of the Father of Greek philosophy.

Although many accounts of Socrates' trial are known to have existed for some time after the actual events described by Plato, only Plato's and Xenophon's accounts survive. Both writers were sympathetic to Socrates, and so are somewhat suspect as to whether they adequately and accurately describe the full nature of the charges against Socrates. Plato, a 27-year-old admirer of Socrates at the time of the trial, describes the charges as being impiety (questioning the state sanctioned [poly]theology) and, thereby supposedly corrupting the minds of Athens' youth. A similar charge had, years earlier, driven Anaxagoras from Athens, but many scholars believe there were probably other factors involved in the case against Socrates. Here we find an intractable mystery (and some unwarranted speculations that are merely libelous)*.

Plato's telling of Socrates' last days consists in four parts:
(1.) Euthyphro: Socrates in Action. (2.) The Apology: Socrates on Trial. (3.) Crito: Socrates in Prison. (4.) Phaedo: The Last Conversation.

Euthyphro, The Apology, and Crito are better paced and more interesting than Phaedo, which is a long Socratic argument that the soul must possess some extra-material existence, which continues, or is somehow renewed, beyond corporeal death. I suspect that most readers will enjoy the first three sections of this text, but find the last (and longest) more of a chore; at least that is my opinion. Throughout the text, Plato presents Socrates as a man of both relentless curiosity and an admirable ethical heroism.

* As to the rather facile side bar discussion that seems to have been present in earlier reviews in this forum (while noting the forensic evidence indicating that the worst of these comments was deleted): Given the full weight of the available evidence, Socrates' supposed bisexuality can add up to nothing more than idle speculation. As to his relationships with young men, it cannot be confirmed that they involved males that were considered to be below an age at which they could accountably assent--and even more importantly, IF any such relationships were of a sexual nature at all. Given the available accounts, arguments that these were NOT sexual relationships seem clearly more defensible than (slanderous?) accusations that they were. In other words, as regards this charge, we simply enter an arena of irresolvable facts and potential slander. Why go there?! What we CAN glean from the only extant accounts of Socrates' character is that he considered himself to be one who strove to consistently abide by the highest ethical standards, and that this is consistent with Plato's account here. As cited in Phaedo, these comments of Socrates' seem particularly relevant to this [particular slander]: ". . . true philosophers abstain from all bodily desires and withstand them and do not yield to them. . . those who care about their souls and do not subordinate them to the body dissociate themselves firmly from these others and refuse to accompany them on their haphazard journey; and, believing that it is wrong to oppose philosophy with her offer of liberation and purification, they turn and follow her wherever she leads."

I must prepare sermons weekly, so I look for books like this to help lay a framework for this task. The insights in the book are brilliant and easily confirmed through experience. To the more orthodox Christian and evangelical preacher I would say that if you are thoughtful and discerning with Peterson's material, you need not fear preaching heresy.

Other Amazon reviewers go into more description about the contents of the book than I will. But I endorse the book highly and am glad for the profound insights provided by the author.

I am going to take Prof. Peterson's "personality and its transformation" class next semester......expecting and excited............
This is a brilliant book, thought provoking and challenging...challenging not in the sense that the language is hard to read, but the thinkings involved are profound and require an open mind to understand and appreciate. Great Work...

Despite the shortcomings that have been adressed in the other reviews and that I must agree with, they don't overshadow the many bright and brilliant insights this book has to offer. Moreover, I think the former have much more to do with the technical side and presentation of the thesis than the content side of it, which stands strong, convincing and elegant nonetheless.

To put the latter (well, some of it) in a nutshell - it deals with adaptation, change and learning as it occures in the relation of culture and individual human beings from the comparative viewpoint of mythology and modern scientific knowledge. Having a background of neuropsychology and drawing extensively on thinkers like Piaget, Jung, Eliade and Nietzsche, J. Peterson builds an overarching framework that shows each individual as an active agent at the inexhaustible and laborous construction-site of his own cognitive structures, which is equipped with the tools but not the buildings provided by culture. Each step that is made there towards constructing a viable re-presentational model (a worldview) is a temporary equilibrium and unique synthesis achieved between the dual (inseparable) archetypal principles of order (The Great Father) and chaos (The Great Mother). To the like of a ropedancer, the maintenance of balance between them requires one to constantly shift between the opposing poles - to work out fixed and ordered patterns of thought and corresponding behaviour (or vice versa) on every level of experience on the one hand, on the other - to maintain a degree of flexibility to reorganize in time the existing patterns whenever the changing demands of changing environment make it necessary. Ability to successfully answer this dual challange constitutes the essence of the Hero archetype, a mediator between the Great Mother and Fother. However,
if this balance is not sustained, the system will either plunge into chaos which individually corresponds to psychosis and socially to anarchy, or over-compensates this risk by building impenetrable walls that, while protecting from the forces of chaos, at the same time "wall in" the system and cut it off from any impulse for change and development, and thus from its own sources. In either way, a pathology has occured that necessitates the emergence of the hero, who would heal the sickness first in himself and then in the culture by spreading the self-tested knowledge of cure.

This is certainly an interactional view that doesn't seem to be much cherished nor shared by the narrow "scientificism" of mainstream psychology. As I must confess my frustration with the tehnically (biologically) very complicated but philosophically equally simplistic ways the latter tends to conceptualize mind and its "products", I was most pleased with Peterson's general approach.

It resembles closely that of Hans Peter Duerr's "Dreamtime: concerning the boundary between wilderness and civilization", which is worth checking out if you liked "Maps..".

Another author who Peterson doesn't refer to but would be relevant to the topics he discusses is Gregory Bateson, whose concepts of "deutero-learning" (learning to learn) and "double bind" would offer a parallel framework for speaking about the aquisition of basic premises for communication or fundamental patterns underlying perception of reality and the conflicts inherent in situations when these are being challenged.

I am also a former student of Professor Peterson's, taught on the manuscript of this book, and it made such an impression on me that here I am, tracking it down three years later to reread. There are many significant positives to this book, as you can guess from the other reviews here. My main complaint is that the 400-odd pages could be vastly condensed and more tightly organized without weakening the thesis. When the subject matter is this dense, there is some argument for restating important points, but I do think the author sometimes errs on the side of excessive restatement.

Another area where the book could have been improved is in the use of more anthropological data to support its various hypotheses. An interesting follow-up read to Maps of Meaning is Wandering God by Morris Berman, which spends more effort tying the factual aspects of human and societal evolution to the way modern-day society is organized and the way people relate to the world around them. He also has some very strong opinions about comparative mythology a la Jung and Campbell.

Overall, Maps of Meaning is highly original, thought-provoking, and very well worth reading. Expect it to make a permanent mark on the way you see the world.

this is THE book to read! This puts into perspective any of the other books you might read, including religious books like the Bible! This book unlocks the symbolism used in profound writings of history. Talks about the deep symbolism of the deepest human aspirations--unlocks what has been hidden under these murky symbols. Jordan shows us the true nature of the heroic impulses for the individual and for mankind in general, and the failure and fear of the heroic that causes both individual and social atrocities. I cannot say enough about his genius for elucidating these things--gives me new hope for the world. I accidentally met the man at a conference on consciousness, and it was like I met a long lost brother--before I read his book! This is because he has tapped into a great ocean of truth underlying our most cherished symbols. If you are a truth-seeker--whether in science or about yourself and your soul--this is the book you have been looking for. These ideas are a large part of the keys to eliminating the most greivous ills of humanity. One of my top 10 books of all time, if not #1.

This has many unique images not found in a host of books available and reviewed on Amazon. One of my favorite paintings, one I haven't seen anywhere is of several Mermaids knitting! They're knitting their fishtales! It's a cleverly, sweet image. A fun book full of whimsy for those who thirst for Mermaidenry.

This book was worth the wait! Great pictures and captivating writing. My coffee table was waiting for this work of art. You will not be disappointed in this book.

I bought this book because of all the great reviews and because I desperately wanted good mermaid art. While the book itself is very creative and cool, a lot of the art disappointed me. I was led to believe that the art in this book was beautiful and rare, so you can imagine how infuriated I was to discover that most of the art was either ugly old sculptures or beautiful paintings that I already had in other books! I spent sixty-two dollars on this sucker, and I personally don't think it was worth half that amount. Don't get me wrong; it's not a bad book perse, it's just not the extraordinary work of art I thought it would be. And don't be fooled: most of the paintings in this book are NOT rare. You can find most of them in "Mermaids: Sirens of the Sea", or "Mermaids: Magical Beings" for much better prices. If you can find this particular book for a REASONABLE price, than I definitely recommend it. Just don't make the same mistake I did and spend a ridiculously HUGE amount of money on it.

I ordered this book sight unseen because of the 5 star reviews. They were right, it's a great book.

I COLLECT MERMAIDS AND THIS BOOK IS MY FAVORITE OF ALL THE MERMAID BOOKS I OWN. WHEN I FOUND IT ONLINE IT WAS SO AFFORDABLE I BOUGHT 2. GREAT GIFT IDEA!!

Heard this story as a child from my grandparents who were on German background. This story is just like they told it. Beautiful illustrations complete the story that swirled in my head so many years ago!!

Ok.I HAVE NOT READ THIS BOOK.I hope that you don`t hurt my reviews for this,but in a way,I HAVE read this book.I am in this play,so I have read this script.And since the play is going to be on Saturday,(5th) and Sunday(6th) and also for the next weekend,I have to read this script over and over and over again.I think that this book is a very good book.In the play I am Miss Applebee but I think that this book is very good it must be.

When I was about seven-years-old a family member gave me a recording, (78s) of the Pied Piper of Hamelin narrated by Ingrid Bergman. As I listened, I could see the characters in my head and never tired of the story.

A month ago I bought the book for my eight-year-old granddaughter who lives about eight hundred miles away from me, because I was afraid with the passing of one more generation, the story might be forgotten.

It is a lovely book, written by Robert Browning more than a century ago. The drawings are perfect, given the dated language used in this book. And the story has a simple message, about honoring our promises.

Sadly, my granddaughter glanced at the book and was clearly not interested. I wanted to read it with her, intending to make clear the English used by Browning.

So, a tale almost twelve hundred years old bit the dust, at least in our family it did.

But if you are a lover of this fable, it is worth your time to try it out on the children in your family. They will be the richer for it.

This book would be a wonderful treasure for the pictures alone. Kate Greenaway, noted children's illustrator, has created a magical world of beautiful children, innocent faces, and romantic, nostalgic costumes. The colors on these pages are breathtaking, and the details (although Greenaway is always faulted for not drawing hands and feet well) are superb. This story is not for very young children, as it contains some troublesome themes. For the older child, perhaps 7+, the story might provoke some interesting post-read family discussions about honesty, trust, and the actual state of the children at the end of the tale. This is even a beautiful book to give to adults, as the messages about human nature can be appreciated on a deeper level.

"Rats!
They fought the dogs, and killed the cats,
And bit the babies in the cradles,
And ate the cheeses out of the vats,
And licked the soup from the cook's own ladles,
Split open the kegs of salted sprats,
Made nests inside men's Sunday hats,
And even spoiled the women's chats,
By drowning their speaking
With shrieking and squeaking
In fifty different sharps and flats."

Robert Browning (1812-1889) first published his poem "The Pied Piper of Hamelin, A Child's Story" in 1842, based on an old German legend which may or may not have had some basis in historical fact. Browning was a serious poet; even in a poem filled with playful rhymes written specifically for children, he did not "dumb down" his language, but expected his readers to do a little work in understanding some of his "big words."

Kate Greenaway (1846-1901) was one of the most famous and popular illustrators of children's literature in the latter part of the 19th Century. She had grown up loving Browning's poem, and shortly before his death she requested and received his permission to republish it accompanied by her own illustrations. This edition was initially published in 1888 under the imprint of George Routledge & Sons, which was at that same time in the process of splitting between Routledge and Frederick Warne. Starting in 1889 all subsequent editions carried the Warne imprint. The book continued to be popular, and Frederick Warne has issued reprints from time to time, well into the late 20th Century. This Warne edition is not in print at present, but used copies with various reprint dates are available from Amazon Marketplace sellers.

However, two different reprint editions are currently available, each with the complete original text and illustrations, and each presented with loving care from an eminently respectable publisher, in well-made but modestly priced editions. The Dover reprint (ISBN 0486296199) is full-size, in a sturdy paperback; the Alfred A Knopf/Borzoi/Everyman's Library reprint (ISBN 0679428127) is part of their Children's Classics series, in a very sturdily constructed hardcover with sewn sections that will not crack with use, but the page size is somewhat smaller. Both are beautiful books, and either is an excellent value.

As noted in the Editorial Reviews above, there have been other editions of "The Pied Piper," with different illustrations, and at least one seems to have been issued with the poem itself "retold" to make the language simpler; neither of those reviews is discussing this original version. Some readers may prefer one or another of these different versions. But anyone wanting to stick with Browning's original full text and Greenaway's original charming, muted and subtle illustrations should choose between the Dover or the Everyman's, or visit Amazon's Marketplace sellers to look for a copy of the Frederick Warne.

This volume provided an excellent translation of a chinese text that was written many years ago. It describes the social mores and conventions of an era that has long passed. The translation of the story is accompanied by very comprehensive notes to each chapter and also an extensive bibliography. While the book should be regarded as a work of scholarship the story nonetheless is captivating and entertaining and the frequent descriptions of erotic and racy interludes throughout the story creates a certain charm and allure for a lost age. I was so impressed by the translation and intrigued by the story that I have progressed to the next volumes.

hard to rview..read the book 50 yrs. ago and am looking to replace it. orig. was lost in moving. question i have is why vol.1 ..am looking for the entire book...as i recall it was well over a thous. pages .. would like more info. fm. author re; future volumes..when can they be expected? th orig. book was a extremely interesting view into the way things were way back when in feudal china..as i recall it covered not only the rich but also the very poor and how each existed in their world

David Tod Roy's translation of the classic 16th century Chin P'ing Mei is awesome and right on the money. The story leaps off the pages - this is how this famous vernacular Chinese novel was meant to be read! Every element of the story is clear and concise in Roy's translation, allowing the reader to enjoy the plot and the fascinating characters.

To briefly discuss the storyline, Chin P'ing Mei is a "spin off" from the classic Chinese novel Outlaws of the Marsh, and focuses on the trials and tribulations of the conniving seductress Pan Chin-lien and the new life she leads after murdering her husband. Some scholars of Chinese traditional literature will not like this allusion, but the story reads like a modern-day soap opera. The characters are lusty and scheming, and the general climate is electric. The general plot follows the intricate daily triumphs and frustrations of Hsi-Men Ching and his `harem" of six wives and concubines (among them Pan Chin-lien). The story is rife with inter-household competition, infidelity, corruption, domestic abuse and eroticism. Characters are well developed, and the scenery is vivid. It provides a fascinating glimpse into the lives of the merchant class in 16th century China. It is easy to see how this novel has captured audiences for 400 years - and David Tod Roy's excellent translation will no doubt help it to endure for many more years to come.

This is the book to read if you want to taste medieval Chinese culture: Salty love poetry, sweet wickedness, sour decadence, bitter philosophy, oily sex, all rolled up in a ginger and garlic spiced, fleshy bun. Roy lets you savor all the ingredients and, with a healthy sprinkling of notes, let's you peruse the cornucopia that inspired the recipes. Bon apetit for this first course of five.

David Tod Roy has done Chinese literature proud by producing a scrupulously exact translation of this classic in Chinese erotica. Like what a previous reviewer says, it is "clear and precise", bringing out the naturalistic details of the novel fully to the reader; yet, for all its accuracy, it reads exceptionally well. For introduction, Roy has written a well-argued essay on why Jin-Ping Mei should be read as didactic literature, not as mere erotica, as it has for centuries. Jin-Ping-Mei's checkered history in Chinese literature doesn't disguise the fact that it is a very well written (and detailed) account of the rise and fall of an extended household, made obvious by corruption and its list of licentious dealings (both in Ximen Qing and his harem).

James Hall made me feel that I was an African. The view was from thse eyes.
Americans can really feel and see the people of that community.

A fine read to get a total world view and not the myopic view that we Americans have of the world and others.

Please let me know where I could find him now and get caught up on his life. His kids would be about 14 1nd 20 now. let me know bob huff
bob_huff@comcast.net thanks

From the back flap of the book we learn that James Hall has written a candid and dramatically personal account of his unique journey from a comfortable, predictable life in Los Angeles to a harsh and uncharted one in the tiny kingdom of Swaziland. His story shows how the pieces of life can fit together to balance people and nature, the mortal and the immortal, the physical and the spiritual. Sangoma weaves together the excitement of an adventure story and the wisdom of a deeply felt memoir from a man who has b1ended his roles as modern American and as diviner and healer of timeless provenance.

James Hall takes us on his personal journey as a midwestern America who slowly gets drawn into the world of African healers. The story is personal, poignant, and very detailed. It lets us look into several windowns we don't ordinarily get to look through - everyday living in rural Africa and the world of the african healer.

From 1977 to 1980 I taught at a major university in Africa and spent 2+ years working closely with sangomas. Most of my acquaintances were Zulu or Sotho, but there are not very many differences to the Swazi that Hall talks about. What does differ considerable is whether or not the spirits are from the river or from the land, but that's another issue.

Hall gives a precious insight into the role of the sangoma and the personal issues that sangoma must face. My own work was in the urban areas, and it's very different from Hall's rural adventures.

Anyone interested in africa, african healers, and stories of personal growth will find this book very interesting and informative. It is suitable for young adults as well as adults.

Another interesting book on indigenous cultures, this book tells the story of a westerner who underwent the rituals to become a Sangoma, a Zulu medicine man. What makes this excellent is that it is easy to understand the religion of the Zulu because it is filtered through a western view yet still understood. If you enjoyed this book, I also suggest that you check out Malidoma Patrice Some's "Of Water and the Spirit" as well.

This book depicts another white man's life journey in Africa. Miriam Makeba, the famous singer, suggested to James Hall (the author of "Sangoma") that there may be more than meets the eye in his fascination with Africa and African-American women. Hall followed her advice and consulted a Swazi witch doctor ("sangoma") who declared, to surprise of all, that Hall was destined to become a sangoma himself. This book depicts his travails leading to his initiation into the circle of Swazi healers.

It was a bittersweet path, filled with encounters with supernatural (Hall turned out to possess access to many different spirits, including those of a Native American, a NY advertising executive and - wait for this - a fetus). In addition to description of his training, Hall provides valuable accounts of his interactions with ordinary Swazis (some good, some bad; there seem to be as many racially intolerant people in Africa as everywhere else) and, especially, with women. Hall shows that relationships between men and women in Swaziland are pragmatic, based on exchange of material goods and services rather than sentimental.

Throughout the book we participate in Hall's inner life, his decisions and his torments as well as in his decision to adopt a parentless child and marry the woman he fell in love with. Hall now lives and practices in Swaziland and I think Swazis are lucky to have such a courageous, dedicated, life-affirming and generous sangoma.

I feel every person on earth should read this book ! I never realize how we don't know how wonderful love is until I read the series of this Book "Say Yes to Love" ! For those perfectly in love, please read to further understand how your love can help the humanity. For those struggling please read, for those searching please read, for those gave up please read ~ this is among the top 5 books I read in my life ~ ! Thank you so much Yael & Doug !

"How can I express through the mediocre means of verbiage what my heart has garnered from the Messages from God? Step by loving step, the lessons provided have gently guided me to a remembrance of how to create from pure love; allowing God to live and love through me beyond the limitations of ego. These profound communications, so passionately, consistently, and selflessly provided through the Circle of Light, have kept my heart on course as it has opened into unimaginable vistas of beauty and ecstasy. Without reservation, I claim this as the most critically important information flooding the consciousness of mankind today!" Vickie Moyle aka Angelina Heart, author of The Teaching of Little Crow, Virgin, UT, USA

This book is worth the time and meditation on the principles of love and in comprehending the soulmate connection. I enjoyed reading this book.

I have been given the greatest gift that I have connected physically with my Twin Flame in this life. So I would like to share about this book from the point of view of an awakened Twin Flame.

I was a great "seeker" who was looking for the answers about the Truth and the Essence of the Human being. That's why I also entered the study of Philosophy and obtained my PhD, and also studied a lot of other Religious and Spiritual heritage. I was still left "hungry" until I met my Twin Flame. "Seeking" was not necessary anymore. We have also discarded all accessible knowledge:

* because knowledge has become experience,
* because we couldn't find any references to what is happening to us and
* because we've also felt that we don't need any other knowledge anymore then the knowledge from the Source - which is revealing itself to us always at the right time (all information is also accessible in the Cosmos - it is matter of intention and capacity of being open to receive it).

This book, Say YES to Love, God Unveils SoulMate Love and Sacred Sexuality was given to us as a gift. As I read through it I can say that it is the most precious gift I can imagine. This is the first book that confirmed our experiences, and I can say also that it is the most powerful and mystical book I have ever read. You will get so much from it by reading through because the Truth you will read has the most powerful vibration and the most pure Wisdom. For me it represents the Holy Bible of the 21st. century. The old Holy Bible was written 2000 years ago. The consciousness has changed during this time a lot and we are blessed now that we have received God's words in so direct, precise and revolutionary a way. It is a MUST for all the "seekers of Wisdom" and followers of "the Path of the Heart." It is a MUST for all Twin Flames and all that are in a process of searching for/connecting with their Twin Flame. I recommend it for reading most passionately!
Twin Flame from Slovenia

This is a beautiful book which explains what the whole soul mate/twin flame phenomenon is about. The authors say that our twin flame or soul mate is the other half of ourselves. [Both terms are used interchangeably here. There is a difference. There are several possible soul mates, but only one twin flame, as I understand it] The two of us together make up one cell of God's heart. I love this analogy, as I have always seen our souls as cells of God, too.

What is new in this book Yael Powell channels, is that when twin flames come together in a sexual way, there is an atomic energy in the cells that gets released. This atomic energy is ecstatic Love, and as we know, that is a powerful force in this Universe. Love is the glue that holds the Universe together and it has the power to totally transform our world.

Relationship has always been one of the best methods for personal growth, although it has generally been more or less challenging for the majority of souls. It forces a mirror to our inner selves, and that exposure of our shadows, flaws, and insecurities has not always been something we wished to see. As we evolve and clear ourselves we become more capable of being with the other part of ourselves, instead of being freaked out at the intimacy of being really known.

As soul mates and twin flames find each other, there will be a massive shift towards love and compassion in our world. This book contributes to this new way of being. Instead of it being highly unusual to have twin flame union, as it has generally been in the past, it will become the norm very soon.

And to my twin flame---I know you are out there. Find each other soon?!?

Poe, Doyle, Christie -- none of their stories is better than "The Stolen Cactus," "The Crime at the Post Office," or "Footprints." This collection of crime stories had all the twists and clever resolutions I could ask for. Unexpectedly, it also has quite a few insights into human nature and coping with reality. I read "The Man Who Couldn't Sleep" after a night of disturbing dreams and felt as if Capek were writing to me from the grave.

I found this book in the English-language section of a bookstore in Prague, during my first visit to the Czech Republic, which is a surprising and wonderful place. I didn't know the first thing about Czech culture or history before then. I didn't even know that one of Capek's contemporaries in Prague was Kafka, who was Czech, not German.

Reading Capek convinced me that Kafka was -- like Capek -- a humorist; unfortunately humanities professors in the U.S. don't get the joke. In other words, Capek is Kafkaesque and Kafka is Capekesque. Both drew quirky little images, too. That's right: Kafka drew pictures in his manuscripts. A few of Capek's illustrations are reproduced in this book, as well. (Karl Capek's brother Josef was a member of the little-known and very odd Czech Cubist Movement, a group that abhorred right angles.)

The prose in this translation is a bit ponderous, though, so I recommend that when your first open this book you temporarily abandon your requirements -- if any -- that crime fiction be terse and gritty. Remember that you're reading a translation from a Slavic language written a decade after WW I. In addition, the stories are first-person narratives, a form that is little used these days.

I'm eager to read more Capek. And it would be great if the publisher would create a Kindle version of his work.

A superb collection of stories told in a simple, yet very descriptive and captivating language, each a different nugget. Some are very funny, others reach a quiet conclusion, others make you think, but not enough to rob you of your sleep. Nice to read just a few at a time, otherwise it's hard to remember them all. Can be read completely out of sequence. Enjoy!

"Tales from Two Pockets" should have a special place in the minds of its readers. That's the place reserved for works which are entertaining without being trivial, consistently amusing and delightful upon re-reading, and which appear to have been written effortlessly and on the spur of the moment (this latter characterization is probably an illusion, since even a rapidly written piece by the right writer incorporates a lifetime of craftsmanship and professional skill). The stories in this collection, which combines two different but related sets of stories ("from one pocket, then the other"), were written for Capek's newspaper columns during 1928-1929. Czech readers responded enthusiastically to these stories, which started out clearly enough as detective or crime stories but soon overflowed the boundaries of that category to become something very different: reflections on the human mind and character under duress and meditations on the nature of crime, punishment, and, most especially, justice. The difficulty of judgment which is fair to both the victim and the perpetrator is a theme returned to several times, leaving the question an open one, even in the most gruesome cases, e.g., "The Ballad of Jura Cup", in which the motive is highly personal and bizarre, or "An Ordinary Murder" in which the motive is routine but the results are unsettling. Also related to this idea is the story (from the first set of 24) entitled "The last Judgment", which seems to be the prototype of the stories in a completely different collection,"Apocryphal Tales", stories that veer off in the direction of "alternate reality" parables (this may be the story which Capek himself thought of as "the turning point" within the whole collection of 48 stories).

The second set of 24 stories is a continuous round-table conversation, organized along the lines of the Decameron. One story ends, and a thematically-related one begins (or a story is based on a stray remark or characterization in the immediately preceding story), something like a baton that is passed from one relay racer to the next. Often there is a smaller story within the larger one, recruiting another member at the table as a second narrator. From the formal point of view the most interesting of these is "The Confession", in which a priest, a lawyer, and a doctor are all told the same story by the same man over several decades - he has done something terrible (his deed is never specified) and must talk about it or implode, though he feels neither contrition nor guilt nor remorse, while he has a specific desire to avoid retribution (which is why he picks men professionally and ethically bound to keep his confession a secret). It's a large and eclectic collection of narrators that Capek creates - including policemen, businessmen of various stripes, a doctor, a priest, a "jailbird", a journalist, civil servants, and men of unidentified callings. Based on their names and their vocations they are meant to be a representative sample of inter-war Czechoslovakia's polyglot mixture of ethnicities, nationalities, religions, and social strata. This is the "social undercurrent" of these stories, an idealized picture of a hybrid, pluralistic society created by an admirer and strong advocate of T. G. Masaryk and the political system of the First Republic.

The translation by Norma Comrada is excellent, colloquial and fluent. As is her Introduction, which gives the background of the stories' creation and of Capek's familiarity with the detective-story genre in the literatures of France, England and America. On a light note, the musings of the lifelong bachelor, Police Captain Bartosek, on a kidnapped child (which I think of as "Bartosek on Babies") should be required reading for new mothers and new policemen as well. And it is in his portrayal of policemen that we see the breach that separates Capek's time and place from the grimmer post-World-War-II world of Czechoslovakia. We meet Captain Havalka who sympathizes with the inner turmoil of Jura Cup, and, more than once, we see at work the squirrel-toothed Inspector Pistora, whose unprepossessing exterior houses a first-class deductive brain that rivals that of Sherlock Holmes. Then there is Detective Holub, who, when recovering the funds that the confidence-man Plichta has defrauded from widows and lonely women, allows Plichta to deduct his "operational expenses" from the restitution he makes and admires his strict system of accounting (it is Holub who says,"We like ordinary criminals, not mysteries"). You can't imagine such empathetic portraits of policemen after 1945, though P. Kohout has tried his best to endow even State-Security policemen with admirable streaks in their characters.

The stories were written during the "calm years" of the First Republic, after the difficulties of setting up a new state had been dealt with, and before the Depression and the encroaching threats of international power-politics had arrived. This allowed Capek a respite to write as he pleased without an eye looking over his own shoulder at the political excitements of the years before and the years to follow. As Comrada points out, it would be incorrect to call these works "detective stories" or even "crime stories" (in many of them there are neither crimes nor solutions). However the reader characterizes them, it should be obvious that Capek displayed a relaxed freedom of spirit as he wrote them and took a great deal of pleasure in doing so, both of which are strongly communicated to the reader.

The fourth Earl of Chesterfield once admonished his son to "wear your learning, like your watch in a private pocket: and do not merely pull it out and strike it; merely to show that you have one." The stories contained in Karel Capek's "Tales From Two Pockets", unlike Chesterfield's watch, are worth taking out and reading again and again and again.

Karel Capek played a pivotal role in Czech arts, literature, and politics in the years of the first Czech Republic. He was a playwright and, with his brother, authored "RUR", the play that introduced the word robot to the world. His novel War With the Newts remains today one of the great pieces of dystopian fiction. His life and work during this period was inextricably linked with a strong belief in the newly born Czechoslovakian Republic. Capek's devout faith in democracy and his aversion to both fascism and communism was well known. His intimate socio-political relationship with Czech President Tomas Masaryk served as an inspiration to Vaclav Havel the artist who became president after the Velvet Revolution.

The 48 stories in Tales From Two Pockets first appeared in print in 1928 in a Prague newspaper. They were known as pocket tales because presumably the newspaper could be folded and placed in ones coat pocket after getting off the tram. Immensely popular the first 24 stories were published in book form as Tales from One Pocket. The remaining 24 stories were originally published as Tales From the Other Pocket. This edition, published by Catbird Press (which has done a marvelous job of publishing English editions of Czech masterpieces) and excellently translated by Norma Comrada, contain all 48 tales.

To call the first 24 stories detective stories would not do them justice. They do tend to involve a murder or a crime of some sort but Capek stands the genre on its head. They involve more than the solution of a crime. Capek tends to work around the crime to look and spin small stories that tell us a little bit more about human nature than about the crime business. Each story contains a snippet; they are too short to be an exegesis on humanity. But each snippet is worth reading and after you read one or two you can put them in your pocket and start all over again.

The second 24 stories each flow from one into another. Think of a group of people sitting around a table in a bar. One tells a story about a crime or some other foul deed. After one story is finished someone pipes in and announces, "I can top that". They stories flow seamlessly one to another. Again, no single story packs a huge `message' but cumulatively they are thought provoking and provocative. It should also be mentioned that the stories are also just fun to read. Capek was one of the first Czech authors to write in colloquial Czech. His writing style was not formalistic and stilted. He wrote the way people talked and his stories are all warmly told and engaging.

So, put these tales in your pocket and pull them out whenever you'd like to lose yourself for a little while in the world of little mysteries created by Karel Capek.

great stories to read a few at a time, not necessarily in order. they are like a whimsical sherlock holmes with a definite eastern european bent. i had never read any Capek before and I think this has been a great start.

This surprisingly neutral book compares the enormous variety of religious beliefs throughout history, with particular attention paid to Christianity. While not an in-depth text, it will serve as an introduction to critically examining the development and spread of religion.

Christians should definitely read his chapter on Christianity; Mencken considers the 1611 King James Version to be one of the most beautiful books ever written.

While his chapter hypothesizing the origins of religion is rather speculative, any such hypothesis is bound to be - at the very least it will pique your interest in the subject. The chapter on the variety of religions is particularly interesting, as it attempts to show how the same general ideas were molded into vastly different beliefs; in particular, the section on the various conceptions of heaven(s) and hell(s) will definitely be engrossing to anyone.

Pleasant, easy to read, and thorough overview of religion from the beginning of humanity, with an emphasis on Christianity, from the position of an atheist.

From the preface: "My book is mainly factual. Its purpose is simply to get together, in handy and I hope readable form, the material data about the embryology, anatomy, and physiology of theology, with an occasional glance at its pathology....Religion was invented by man just as agriculture and the wheel were invented by man, and there is absolutely nothing in it to justify the belief that its inventors had the aid of higher powers, whether on this earth or elsewhere....There is no purpose here to shake the faithful, for I am completely free of the messianic itch..."

Chapter I "Its Nature and Origin" - Mencken describes his view of how early priests came into being in prehistoric society: "One Spring there came great rains in the valley and on their heels a flood of melting snow...One night the flood rolled into the lowermost cave, cut off the occupants, and drowned a mother and her child...The rising water to them seemed like a living thing...One fellow steps boldly forth...He goes close to the edge and bombards his enemy with stones...Growing bolder, he stalks into the water and belabors it with his club...the next morning the flood begins to recede...This first priest could accomplish something that other men were incapable of...What more natural than to give thanks?...True religion was born at that moment...He took on the aloof, philosophical air of a dermatologist contemplating a rash: he learned how to avoid making promises and yet hold the confidence of his customers... He gave some thought to the form and content of his first incantations, and thereby invented the first ritual...The gift of blarney went with the sacerdotal office, in the early days as now...the new trade of priesthood had attractions that were plainly visible to any bright and ambitious young man...When he let it be known that there were certain things, done by the people, that would gratify the gods and insure their aid, these things began to be regarded as virtuous, upright, moral. When he announced that other things were frowned upon, they straightaway became sins...The priest found himself a law-giver...Did the fires rage and the sky remain dry? Then it was because the faithful had forgotten their plain duties...It was not the priest's fault...calamities were plentiful in those days, as they are now. They remain the most potent weapons in the armamentarium of the priest...Theologians, as a class, are practical men. Immortality, as they preach it in the modern world, is but little more than a handy device for giving force and effect to their system of transcendental jurisprudence: what it amounts to is simply a threat that the contumacious will not be able to escape them by dying...I am myself a theologian of considerable gifts, and yet I can no more imagine immortality than I can imagine the Void which existed before matter took form. Neither, I suspect, can the Pope."

Chapter II "Its Evolution," continues as an academic treatise, but sprinkled liberally with condescending and clever phraseology: About creation myths: "In no department of theology is there a vaster accumulation of amusing rubbish." About afterlife: "Even in India, the very gonad of theology..." About contradictions in the Bible: "The collection of tracts called the New Testament is so full of inconsistencies and other absurdities that even children in Sunday School notice them."

Chapter III "Its Varieties" is a study of comparative religions. This is a well-done academic piece with fewer "Mencke-isms."

Chapter IV "Its Christian Form" is a beautifully written history of Christianity, highly complimentary of the Old Testament as poetry and Literature, and is the best chapter in the book. He reviews the well-accepted J, E, D, & P authorship of the Torah, with brief mention of how it was compiled. (for more info on this, read "Who Wrote the Bible," by Friedman). This chapter alone is worth the price of the book. According to the bibliography, he gets much of his factual material from James Hastings' Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics.

Chapter V "Its State Today," resumes "Menckeisms," such as, "The church as an organization has thrown itself violently against every effort to liberate the body and mind of man. It has been, at all times and everywhere, the habitual and incorrigible defender of bad governments, bad laws, bad social theories, bad institutions."

I thoroughly enjoyed this entertaining and informative book and highly recommend it. For a different approach to the same subject, I recommend Atran's book, "In Gods We Trust."

H. L. Mencken was a rare man indeed. He was a hard headed skeptic of the theological arts, but took an intense, scholarly interest in it, and it was a boon to the universe of thoughtful men when he decided to report back to them on what he found there. The book he wrote will stand for a long while as the best of its kind--at once dispassionate and informative, with more than a little of his trademark wit thrown about with an undisguised glee. His enthusiasm for his subject bubbles out all over the place.

The book begins with an imaginary story of how religion must have gotten started among the first primitive men. It is a story well told, and reveals what Mencken imagines is at the root of men's heart much of the time--a fear of the unknown, and an understandable aspiration to master that fear by some means. Then, very early on, the con men step in to utilize the fear for their own ends--power and cash. To successfully create a job for himself, he proceeds to invent embellishments unintelligible to the poor saps, and rituals that only the initiated, such as himself, can perform.

The book continues with some comparative religion, basing most of it on what the Romans sneered at, that the Greeks made dramas about, what the Jews borrowed from the Babylonians, and what the Asiatics actually first dreamed up. He finds in all of this the roots of Christianity, and especially the stuff that Christ had never thought of, which the theologians later added for the most practical of reasons.

His account of the early church and the evolution of the bibles is gratifying in its scholarship and clarity of description. He makes the ancient theological quarrels come to life, imparting an understanding that is a valuable addition to any freethinker's equipment. Occasionally, the real Mencken peeks through, enlivening and enlightening as he goes.

The best part of the book, though, is when he shows how religion is inadequate for the job, and is in a full retreat before the onslaught of science and rational methods, leaving the truly civilized man with " a way of facing the impenetrable dark that must engulf him in the end, as it engulfs the birds of the air and the protozoa in the sea ooze....not perhaps with complete serenity, but at least with dignity, calm, a gallant spirit."

If you're used to the snappy quotables we've (all?) come to expect from Mencken and love, you may be somewhat disappointed. "Treatise..." contains more carefully fleshed out analysis and argument than his sociocultural criticism.

In this mode, without so much of the caustic wit, his writing style actually doesn't impress quite as much. But, to make up for it, his quality of argument and inventiveness is surprisingly rich. I'd always considered Mencken to be quite a philosopher, as well as a snappy come-backer. Here, he proves it: coming up with some quite brilliant hypotheticals about the origin of religion in early man, especially. And his re-telling of the concise history of Religion shows that he has a knowledge of considerable breadth. There are a few very dramatic turns of phrase here (the fun stuff), some awkward delivery, but a lot of interesting subject matter.

In this sardonic, blasphemous and sometimes ferociously cynical pamphlet, H.L. Mencken castigates the irrationality and incredibility of all religions, e.g. there are 175.000 discrepancies in the manuscripts of the Christian New Testament.
But he considers religion rightly as one of ( for him) the greatest inventions of all times, giving the clergy enormous economical (all the temples became extremely rich) and political power. For Mencken, their power comes from the fear of Hell. The God of love that they preach invariably turns out to be a God of harsh and arbitrary penalties and brutalities. Religion is not only cruel (human sacrifices), but also a source of enormous human misery: 'Is a Catholic bishop a good citizen, when he commands, on penalty of Hell, that poor and miserable women convert themselves into mere brood sows?'(p. 270)
'The priest is the most immoral of men.' (p. 271)
His major targets are Roman Catholicism and Protestantism.
'Calvin was the true father of Puritanism, which is to say, of the worst obscenity of Western Civilization.' (p. 245) His God is an 'appalling monster'. (p. 272)
The Churches are well aware that science is their natural enemy. Therefore, they try to control education. They are always on the defensive (Galileo, Darwin) and they are opposed to all attempts of rational thinking. For Mencken, religious education is the same as organized ignorance.
He lambasts those who defend religion for 'practical' reasons: 'the fact that threats of Hell have their social uses is ... simply an argument against the human race!' (p. 268)
However, H.L. Mencken has a dark side: 'the democratic pestilence'. Like Plato, he was disgusted with the masses which were a source of a cancerous proliferation of demagogy. More, 'the reigning theologians heated up the mob against the enlightened minority.' (p. 255)
It shows his deep pessimism: the masses could not be educated and the mighty priests kept them in an irrational darkness.
This is an important flaw in his reasoning and it turned out to be a false prophesy. In many democratic countries, the religious right is on the defensive and is losing (lost) important battles.
This treatise is one of the most violent pamphlets I ever read: a Homerian battle of the enlightened one against the powerful caste of the priests.
A must read.

I really enjoyed this book. I bought it to read to my four-year-old and the book well exceeded my expectations.

Here you will find classics such as the Three Billy Goats Gruff and tales you may never have heard of. They are all beautifully put together and could be told as a traditional story teller might or read aloud for maximum impact.

Great stories well told, and a treasure trove for children and folklorists alike.

I bought this book for my 9 yr old son who is interested in fantasy. The stories are really entertaining and he very much loves to read about the trolls, dwarves and other beings. The illustrations are also great! I would highly recommend this book.

I love children's books and I love sharing them with children. I have high standards... I like good writing. I expect illustrations that truly add something to the quality of the storytelling and which are truly artistic. Usually one or the other, and often both, is lacking.

Lise Lunge-Larsen brought my Scandinavian heritage forward in a respectful way when she retold these tales, and Betsy Bowen's well known woodcuts did everything art can do to encourage the telling of a tale. The art actually has a nostalgic feel that lends to how old troll tales are and seemed to have been dug out of the past with them.

I had begun reading about trolls to my son with D'Aulaires' Book of Trolls (New York Review Children's Collection), and while I love the d'Aulaires artistry and it's a well written book, it was as much the history of trolls as it was stories. My son sat through it, but he didn't beg for me to read like he did with this one. Lunge-Larsen takes the opposite approach with a little bit of Troll lore followed by mostly story. Having already read d'Aulaire aloud and taking my son's age into consideration, I read the commentary to myself this time and only read him the stories. He has continued to come back to this book to hear favorite stories again (which is good -- memory has its development in the early years and hearing stories repeated is beneficial) and asked for felt board characters to go along with the books and to aid him in narrating the stories from memory both for my benefit and when he is on his own.

I was so happy to find these wonderful troll stories told the way I remember them! My mother (who grew up in northern Minnesota) told us kids these stories when we were very small (that's a long time ago). Lately I thought the tradition was lost because I could only find watered-down versions of the the Three Billy Goats Gruff, not the fascinating and powerful tales I remembered. But all is not lost. Here is a collection of genuine Troll stories, with ugly, scary trolls in all shapes and sizes, and clever boys and girls who persevere through wild and strange adventures and eventually save the day. Great stories, wonderfully told. The illustrations are beautiful.

I first borrowed this book from the library, but of course had to then buy a copy of my own. I highly recommend this book.

My kids love these stories. Some of these I remember from my childhood but most were new to me. I love the intros to all the tales. They really describe what true Norwegian Trolls are like. The illustrations are perfectly done. They match the way the stories unfold and the ruffness of the illustrations really brings out that uncivilized Troll imagery.