B Books

The Coffee Cup Bible Study Series by Sandra Glahn is presented in a convenient format. Since the Biblical text is included in each easy-to-carry book, it is a series ready for women on the go. There is ample room for recording your thoughts and conclusions. I like to work on mine in a local coffee shop. Both the scholarship that went into the study and the author's insights are thought provoking and inspirational. I have finished two of the studies so far and look forward to continuing the series. Espresso With Esther prompted me to look further into the commentaries available for this book of the Bible. Whether you tackle the book alone or with a group, I think it is worth your investment of time and money.

This 5-week study of the Book of Esther is just right for a summer Bible Study with a small group of ladies. Since it contains the scripture passages covered in each lesson, it is easy to take along during the week for study at breaks during one's day. The women find it interesting and stimulating for discussion and application. Not everyone will agree with all of the author's premises (ie. that Esther may have been a girl with a secular view point, and may have compromised some of her convictions) but even that adds to the liveliness of the discussions.

Last summer we used one of Sandra Glahn's other study guides, Java With the Judges, for a summer study. We enjoyed that study very much as well.

Sandra Glahn's "Espresso With Esther" is a delightful study that is truly portable! She has included all scripture referenced in the study, which makes it easy to carry your book with you and fill it out as you have time during the day. Her style of writing makes you feel as it you are sitting in the room with one of your best friends. Bravo for a great, in-depth, make-you-think study!

Sandra Glahn once again weaves theology and practicality together to give us a Bible study we can learn from and live out.

At the end of each session, I would record a Wow Factor, something that especially blew me away: (I'll share a few here)
God of great reversals. Glahn writes: "Only God can use our sins for good, and the Book of Esther is a book about such a reversal."
Choose the path of courage. Glahn writes: "When we walk in the Spirit...what's inside is so radiant that people see beyond us to Him. And if you feel weak, you're in the ideal situation for God to show His all-surpassing power through you."

Glahn reveals Esther beyond the whitewashed heroine we've come to accept her as. And we take the journey to God's great triumph over evil, as we see Esther's courage grow.

I can't wait to dig into Java with Judges!

My wife is doing this study with her women's group and she said the whole group agrees that the divisions of this book contain way too much content to cover in a week. The author is a very knowledgeable person, but the average women doesn't have the time read and dig through and research all that is required in the book each week. While the study is good, perhaps dividing each chapter in half or thirds might be better represented by a coffee cup series.

Special Forces Captian Roger Donlon was the first Medal of Honor winner in the Vietnam War. I read his book, 'Outpost for Freedom,' quit College, and signed up for Airborne. This seems to be a little known book and was obviously not on any Best Seller list during the Sixties. Col Scott must have read it because he uses it as the backdrop for the first part of 'The Expendables.' He Changed the names slightly but the everything else is pretty close to Donlon's book. The rest of the book is about the Ia Drang Valley. It follows 'We were Soldiers Once' pretty close.
I have read all of Col Scott's books and most of them twice. The only complaint is that I wish he would write some more. He has a very readable style and he does his research very well. I'd put him up with 'The Biggies',

When I got done with this I was inspired. I wanted to make a group of my friends and call ourselves The Expendables. This book is so well written there isn't a single dull moment. When I graduate high school(I'm a freshman) I want to go Airborne!

Scott is the Master. I've owned several copies of all of Scotts books, from wearing them out to lending them out and this is one of the best. I served with every one of these guys (it seems), Scott's uncanny ability to create the character as someone you know is incredible. Even the places his characters come from are described perfectly, having lived or served in a lot of the places (stateside) that Scott writes of I can attest. For example anyone who lives in or around South Philly would feel right at home with Vinny his girl and the Hoagie stand. Georgia and it's simplicity out in the boonies is captured perfectly by Lee Calhoun and his family. Eugene Day will give the folks a taste of what it was like for a young black to live and serve after the race riots. Young men with any kind of stature who had to live up to their familiys' impossible standards will relate easily to Blake. Old vets will appreciate the professionalism of Quail and Flynn. Anyone whose ever donned a uniform will love how they all come together to become the Expendables. You will laugh out loud (if you served) going through basic training with these guys, You will remember the professionalism of the fearsome "Blackhats" and get chills at how well Scott captures the feeling of elation after that first jump, You will realize you're holding the book a little tighter in anger at self important ticket punchers who leave there men out to dry for no good reason and finally you will cry at the Memorial Day Ceremony, a promise made by each brother to another. This is the absolute best novel on the Vietnam war.

I have read them all from Clancy to Brown and LtCol.(Ret) Scott is by far one of the best military writers to date. My father served in Vietnam and after he came back my mom said he was never the same and I always wondered what it was like, why men like my father and Col Scott, why they went when they were called knowing they might not return and those that did would be forever altered. I joined the infantry at 17 to see for myself and after serving in Panama and Somalia I understand. Col. Scott says it best in the books with way he connects you to the characters you come to realize they did it for the men to their left and their right, not so much for America, but the men who represent America. Sad to know that he won't be writing anymore books but the four vietnam books he wrote are some of the greatest military fiction ever written and in my opinion should be required reading for all young soldiers and leaders.

As a Marine infantryman, the characters in this book were as real as the grunts as I served with. No other author has ever connected with the real comraderie of men under arms as well as Scott has. I can not read this book with a dry eye and I challenge any man who has ever served to do so, especially the last five pages. This book is written with the first hand knowledge of a man who has faced the elephant and understands the warrior ethos. It ranks with "The Forgotten Soldier" as a gripping narrative of men in combat. Although these men are fictitious, they are as real as any name on the Wall because they could have been any one of them. For anyone who wants to understand the truth of what our fighting men did in Vietnam, indeed did in any war, they must read this book.

Spiritual authors and teachers just seem to fill you up with spiritual materialism. Krishnamurti says what you're self does not want to hear. That is why his stuff can be difficult to take in. Unlike others who talk about ultimate reality and what not, he does not speak like all the dharma, and new age enlightenment, awakening books. I can imagine the Zen ancients agreeing with him, the zen masters that existed before Zen became full of tradition and baggage.

Krishnamurti should be taught in all the schools as an example of how to think clearly. The effect would be astonishing. This is an excellent introduction to his methods, and you will be well-rewarded if you read this book and take it to heart. If you were to break with tradition and attempt to explain Zen in logical terms, this book could be yours. K's robust sanity is a symbol of hope for an ego-ridden humanity.

This is another collection of short pieces that doesn't do Krishnamurti's teachings justice. To fully grasp & enjoy his teachings, you must go into each & every subject slowly & carefully, as he himself states in many different works. The pieces here are too short, & Krishnamurti's vocabulary & philosophy aren't fully explained. If you've read several of his other works, & are familiar with his vocabularu & philosophy, then this is a fairly decent book. If you're not, this isn't a good place to start.

I am reading these books in sequence so that I will be aware of any shifts in this philosophy as he progresses.

The reading here is easy, but the thinking is more difficult. Krishnamurti doesn't attempt to speak what people might want to hear, but speaks from his heart, from his innermost being. So he doesn't give an easy path to follow nor does he promise such a path. Actually, to provide a path for others to follow would contradict his philosophy.

The answer according to him is in self-knowledge, but that knowledge can not be gained through effort. Nor, says he, can it be passed on to you by a guru. It won't be found in books. (I can't help but be amused by those who emphasize that the Truth isn't revealed in the printed word, and of course they use the printed word to share this message with us.)

The first half of the book is comprised of writings and portions of talks. The second half consists of questions asked after his talks, and in his answers you will find repetition sometimes as he clarifies. He has a way of emphasizing the main points by asking "Is it not?" or words to that effect.

I admit to having difficulties with much of what he says, but this isn't criticism as much as a compliment. The very difficulties I might have benefit me so so that I learn through resolving them. If you don't get this book, do at least read some of his other material. You will be rewarded.

JK was a mystery. His life story was dramatic and his teaching controversial - so many people found his talks transforming and yet many also were disillusioned. I myself, who was too young, foolish and too far away to see the man when he was alive, have been puzzled by the fact that supposedly no one who studies his talks was deeply transformed, sadly admitted by JK himself.

But how could we measure his merit as a teacher by that fact alone? Twenty years after he died, everytime I read his words, the man came alive, sharp, passionate, uncompromising and compassionate.

He came to the earth pure and clean, and he learned the mess of the human psyche in order to teach; he was a deeply religious and poetic man, evident from his few talks after his realisation and before he disbanded the Order, but in order to talk to a wider audience, "his beloved" was reduced to "the nameless" or "that immensity" in his later talks, with only a very slight touch at the end of talk; he didn't study any religious traditons, not even the Bhagavad Gita, and his talks were all his own, which perhaps explains why many people found his talks hard to grasp, because they can't be put into any familiar systems which we have learned before.

How can we judge him or measure him? He reached and touched more people than anyone else in modern times; his talked "from the ground up", from this drab of life everyone lives instead of exclusively to long time spiritual seekers; and his words are the best guards against superstition, which goes hand in hand with spirituality.

I salute to you, Sir !

I met Karen Ford at a book signing in Knoxville, TN. Her enthusiasm and confidence inspired me to read her book. This book follows through... Karen and Tina don't just throw ideas out there, they gave me practical usable techniques that are changing my life!
Great book, I recommend it!

Free to Be Beautiful is a great gift book for any woman. It will help to inspire and bring out the beauty in any woman. The authors write from their hearts, and that comes out in the book. You feel like they are writing it for you. What a great way to honor all women.

Karen & Tina did such a great job writing this book, and being so honest and upfront. It makes you feel so good about who you are and to help you realize just how special you are, because God made you and we His daughters - WOW - why wouldn't you feel special!! Karen & Tina also help you to realize you can achieve your dreams and goals. I also loved their stories they shared - what a great addition to the book. I highly recommend this book to everyone - it is easy to read and will be one that you will want to highlight those special thoughts and read it again.

I loved this book because of the simple, no nonsense approach to how we should look at life. Karen and Tina's stories mixed in with their awesome advice made this a book that you could really relate too. You actually got to know them as people and authors and could laugh as much at the stories as you do relating yourself to the situations. I recommend this book to anybody!!!

I am a busy, now single, stay at home mom, who owns her own business. Initially I fell in love with this book because the chapters are "snippets"--I can easily read and grab enough to go on for the day simply reading for 10 minutes while waiting in carpool! I enjoy making the most of my time, and this book affords that luxury!

On a more inimate level, over the past couple of years my self confidence has grown in leaps and bounds because of my accomplishments and the accomplishments of those I work with. However I found that many times I have avoided dealing with "life's complications" by staying busy. Through their book God has used Karen and Tina to very gently peel away the proverbial bandaids from the wounds, and allow the healing process to begin. I am learning not to ignore the hurts and disappointments of life, not to pretend there are no struggles, but to face them head on--actually embrace them, and find myself and my children more empowered for it! As difficult as it can be to do this, it is worth the effort...I am loving who I am becoming, and what I can offer to others--especially my daughters!

I highly recommend this book to any woman, as it speaks to females at any age or time in life...teaching us to take an honest look at our lives and our thinking, and challenging us to become who God intends us to be. Karen and Tina have given us the tools to define the core of feminity--and it's a beautiful place to be!

What an absolute miracle! Thank you, Annie for a great book! Buy it, everything you need to know is in here.

Excellent book with great, user friendly ideas to improve the quality of your life and your home. Recipes for cleaners are excellent. Some of the rituals described are a little far out there but are thought provoking and are worth exploring.

I use this book as a home reference all the time and it has been extremely helpful and chock full of wonderful ideas for your life, home, body..inside and out.

I do not have a lot of time to read with four kids and this book was a easy fast book to get through. Lots of information that was displayed easily. Not the big words either. And in the back it a huge wonderful list of resources I could look up on the internet. Wealth of information. I gave this book to our school hoping when they remodel they consider what was written.

This book helps you take better care of yourself and your love ones. We are concerned about what we eat and if it's safe. We also need to be concerned about what we use to clean our homes with and what we use on our skin. In this book there is lots of good, practical receipes for a toxin-free home. This book will be on that I will use often.

Have you ever wondered about the long-term effect of cleaning products in your home? What about pesticides, chemicals and all the other potentially toxic goods that invade our lives?

Twice poisoned by such things, author Annie Bond, host of "Annie's Healthy Living Network" online, offers realistic remedies for a natural and nontoxic lifestyle that include everything from eating and cleaning to gardening and dressing. A comprehensive path toward ecologically-healthy living.

I really enjoyed the book, it was fun and made me laugh. But more so than making me laugh, it also taught me. It taught me about running and how strange we runners can be. It also reminded me not to take myself too seriously as a runner.

The chapters are short, making it an easy read! Whether you are a hard-core runner or a newbie (like me) you should enjoy it!

I was looking for a little humor to go along with training for my first marathon, and I found it in this book! Schwartz takes all the small quirks of a runner, things you may not even think twice about, and has you laughing all day. Nice, light, fun reading.

I may be one of the few runners who had not yet heard of Bob's wonderfully written book. Thankfully I came upon it at the bookstore and I could not put it down. It's filled with rip roaring laughter as Bob takes us on a hilarious romp through all things (and then some) near and dear to runners and provides some insight as well. I enjoyed all the many chapters but some stand out so well that just thinking of them makes me break out in laughter (from Introduction to Ingurgitation to Trick or Feet to Lifetime Taper for a Masterful Peak).

If you want to laugh, this is the book for you. Tremendous!

This is a fantastically funny book and although dealing with running, it provides a lot of laughs for non-runners as well. Bob presents a terrifically humorous look at runners and races and training and lots of other subjects associated with running. The book makes a great gift and the accompanying illustrations are a perfect compliment to each chapter.
It's rare to find a book presented so very well and Bob should be highly commended for this welcome addition to a runner's library. The chapters on stretching and cross training and his satirical look at rules to run by are simply hilarious!

Finally, a humorist who is a runner takes a wonderfully funny look at all runners. This book had me laughing out loud from the moment I opened it as each of the short, snappy chapters are filled with wonderful humor in a very well written, easy flowing and creative manner.
Bob is a skillful author and very funny and entertaining. I've read many of his articles on family life as well and would love to see a similar book on that subject.
I highly recommend I Run, Therefore I Am - Nuts! to all runners. The book is simply great! I've actually read it twice now and had the same amount of laugh out loud chuckles along the way.

I haven't laughed so hard from reading a book ever. Jenny B. Jones' debut novel, In Between, is a hysterical read.

Katie Parker's mom is in prison, and Katie is shipped off to live with pretend-o-parents, James and Millie Scott in the small town of In Between, Texas . When Katie discovers her new foster dad is a pastor, she dresses Goth for the first day of school, certain Millie won't let her out of the house. Her plans backfire and Katie is not only forced to go to school with black fingernails, but ends up sitting at the Goth table at lunch, seeing as that's where she looks to fit in.

Unfortunately, a couple of her new friends are not the best influence, and Katie unknowingly is recruited for a midnight vandalism jaunt to the local vintage theater. Katie is the only teen nabbed by the coppers, who take her down to the station and inform her that the Scotts are the owners of the theater. Humiliated, Katie waits for her foster parents to send her packing. They don't, however, and Katie experiences some awesome tough love for the first time in her life.

Katie struggles to adapt to her new, strange world, which includes church, smart friends, a massive dog, and a crazy foster grandma who rides a bicycle built for two. She tries out for the school play and falls for a cute and troublesome senior guy. Her new friend doesn't approve, foster granny doesn't approve, but Katie's of the opinion that what the Scott's don't know won't hurt them. It's a good thing God is watching out for Katie Parker, even though she doesn't have a clue.

It's one comical situation after another with Katie Parker, whose fun, sarcastic voice keeps you turning the pages so fast they catch fire. This is a must read for teen girls...and girls of any age! Looking forward to book two titled, On the Loose: A Katie Parker Production, Act 2.

Highly recommended.

When her mother was given a prison sentence for selling drugs, Katie Parker was sent to the Sunny Haven Home for girls. She'd been at the home for six months and had just started to figure out how to survive there when she had to move. Pastor James Scott and his wife, Millie, had agreed to take Katie in as their foster daughter.
Katie had felt alone most of her life and she had to deal with difficult situations beyond her control, so for her there was no hope for a better day. She questioned God's love for her and she wasn't too sure about this couple in their fifties; especially since her new foster father was a Pastor. Residing in the home of a man of God certainly wasn't something she'd agree to if she'd been given a choice. But Mrs. Iola Smartly, the woman who ran things at Sunny Haven, knew she had taken Katie to the right place.
Occasionally I do judge a book by its cover. I saw this one and immediately thought it'd be a fun read, and it was. As I read Katie Parker's story I was entertained by her wit, and although her foster grandmother, Maxine, seemed a little off (not quite there, looney tunes, peculiar, downright strange) her unique personality and shenanigans brought even more enjoyment. Again, this was a fun read!

I LOVE this book...i laughed the whole time i was reading it and the thing that i like the best about it is that i felt like i could have been right there next to Katie and that i was seeing her and her friends. I love Maxine and her wild ways i also love the fact that it is a clean book and i would tell anyone out there that wants just good laughes and clean fun to read this book and the other two that go with it

This story is incredible! It took me nearly a year to find this book in my pile and now I'm asking myself why I didn't search for it sooner. This story is addicting and funny and a total delight to read. Loaded with laugh-out-loud moments on nearly every page, In Between also has a lot of depth and tenderness within it's pages. I've rarely seen fiction this interesting and well-done. For an author to capture the mind of a teen foster child and package it so precisely is amazing by itself, but then to create the right mix of characters and believeable situations to bring out the best in this girl is nothing short of sheer genius. That psycho grandma is so hilarious! And Katie's personality and inner "voice" is a scream.

As far as craft goes, inner dialogue does NOT get any better than this. Sweet and sarcastic, Katie managed to grab my heart from the first chapter because she was so genuine and so lost. But this book is not a downer at all. It choked me up at the end, but also made my heart soar. This is what Christian fiction should be...real enough to make you "get it" and insightful enough to change your heart. And the character arc of this teenager who didn't know anything about church or Jesus was so believeable and well done that it is probably the best thing about this book. That, and the psycho grandma. As for me, I am now officially a Jenny B. Jones fanatic. This is one author I will not miss. I plan to read everything she writes. Not kidding!

If all books could capture the heart like this one . . . Wow! This book was a highlight of my book-reading year. Memorable, touching, hilarious . . . just a few words to describe the wit and winsomeness of Jenny B. Jones's first novel for young adults. This is a quality read for any age. I'm well past the young-adult age, but I was thoroughly captured by the story and Jones's well-developed and quirky characters. Jones is an author to watch; this book is just a taste of more great things to come.

This review mostly concerns the Enquiry. The Letter is primarily a defense of Hume's earlier Treatise of Human Nature, while his Abstract is an anonymous review of the Treatise. It strikes me as very funny, though not surprising, that Hume would review his own work. Funny because any author would give his right arm to get at least one favorable review when all the other critics are completely missing its point. Unsurprising because Hume was probably one of the only people alive at that time who could truly grasp all the facets of his radical philosophical claims.

The Enquiry was written after the Treatise. Hume, though he claimed the opposite, seems never to have really recovered from the blow he took from seeing his Treatise "fall dead born from the press." As a result, his Enquiry is far more cautious in the steps it takes. (For those of you who have read both, yes, I swear, Hume IS more cautious. Compare the claims.) A more robust philosophical stance is taken in his Treatise, while a more focused stance is taken in his Enquiry.

The Enquiry is mainly a work of epistemology and as such, scrutinizes our methods of acquiring knowledge. Making perhaps the most radical (and poignant) claim in all of modern philosophy, it posits, and supports, that there is NO causation, only conjunction. That, for example, when we see a glass drop and break, we cannot say we know gravity caused this (in the way we know two plus two equals four). All we see is constant conjunction. The connection is lacking, i.e., it is not inconceivable that the glass wouldn't bounce, turn to ash, or dissolve into sand (the way it is inconceivable that two plus two equals five). This, in effect, nullifies all the so called "laws" of nature that are formed by science. (Note that this does not state that there are no laws of nature, just that we really can never make the claim that we ever really know there are laws of nature.)

This could be thought of as the philosophical shot heard round the world. Agree or disagree, Hume must be answered. Hume has historically been charged with creating an intellectual and philosophical cul-de-sac with his skepticism. To paraphrase Bertrand Russell, Hume makes a claim which none can refute, but at the same time one which none can accept. In effect, Hume's philosophy seems to bind the human mind, stopping its journey of discovery and ultimately accomplishing what his predecessor, John Locke, set out to do, i.e., map the extent of human knowledge.

However, where one may see Hume's philosophy as shackles and fetters in the search for truth, one could also equally see his philosophy as liberation. Implicit in his philosophy is the idea that ANYTHING is possible. There are no shackles, no fetters, no limits; only those that we create for ourselves. Our limits are self-imposed, constructs of our observance (and inference) of connection. In this way Hume appears in the same light as the Eastern masters seeing that reality is not what we have (through experiential knowledge) believed it to be. It is something much more wondrous. In Zen, our causal thinking is the only barrier between the person and enlightenment. Hume could be seen as implying that when the idea of causality is removed, with only conjunction remaining in its place, the state of true knowledge and wisdom (true zen) is achieved.

This, of course, is only idle speculation. But it is stated so as to demonstrate the richness and immense possibility Hume's philosophy possesses when seen in the correct light. Instead of saying, "Nothing is certain," after reading Hume, one can say, with equal validity, "Anything is possible." The first statement approaches philosophy with despair. The second approaches it with a sense of childlike wonder and hope at the immense possibilities of reality. It approaches life as a beginning, not an ending. It approaches life as the philosopher approaches it.

If one accepts the methodology of Descartes in applying scepticism to reason and the senses, in effect denying the existence of all things but a "thinking thing," two entailments are logically consequent: Either Berkeley's idealism or Hume's scepticism. I don't accept Descartes' starting point, so I find the entailments confused and incoherent. But if one does accept Descartes' starting point, then the two extremes must be heeded. If for no other reason than observing the absurdity of either man's conclusions, it is valuable to read both entailments. But in their confused process, both men bring certain salient features to light.

Hume accepts Descartes starting point, making it his own. But to Descartes method, he adds Pyrrhonist scepticism: That all reason leads to infinite regress, and that all sensations (or impressions) can not be trusted.

Hume begins with the conclusion that all sense perception is either an impression or idea. Even memory and imagination, two other faculties of the mind, are conflated into these two species of perceptions, as impressions. Their difference is one of degree (vivacity), not of kind. Hence, Hume is the author of what is known as the "Copy Principle." Instead of unmediated, direct perception through the ordinary senses, all perception is mediated by the imagination into impressions and ideas. From this follows certain resemblances, contiguity, and causal associations between impressions or ideas, and from this association we develop a sense of self. But even the notion of causality here is one of implied inference, not of actual inductive reason. Hume denies there is any real causality that can be known, although we operate "as if" we infer cause from effect. Even probability is reduced to a mere association of ideas and/or impressions; because neither reason (which always leads to infinite regress) or senses (which can always be deceived) can actually be true. The Enquiry also treats of miracles and the testimony of others derisively; but don't we rely on the testimony of others who claim the earth is round rather than flat, just as we rely on others who testify to miracles in a byegone era? After all, few of us have direct experience with a spherical earth (Popper makes this observation).

Hume's method incorporates five kinds of scepticism: (i) methodological, (ii) conceptual, (ii) nomological, (iv) explanatory, and (v) reductive empiricism. His commitment to scepticism is not without some capitulation. While he denies absolute causality and inductive inference and probability in an actual senses, he relies on them for practical purposes. One can't remain a pyrrhonist for long; some elements of reason and some degree of confidence in impressions is necessary for ordinary life. But if one starts with Descartes' starting point, extreme scepticism is a necessary entailment. Which, after seeing Hume deny so much intuition, is it really worth starting with Descartes' scepticism? Answering that question is what makes Hume interesting.

David Hume was perhaps the leading light in the Empiricist movement in philosophy. Empiricism is seen in distinction from Rationalism, in that it doubts the viability of universal principles (rational or otherwise), and uses sense data as the basis of all knowledge - experience is the source of knowledge. Hume was a skeptic as well as empiricist, and had radical (for the time) atheist ideas that often got in the way of his professional advancement, but given his reliance on experience (and the kinds of experiences he had), his problem with much that was considered conventional was understandable.

Hume's major work, 'A Treatise of Human Nature', was not well received intially - according to Hume, 'it fell dead-born from the press'. Hume reworked the first part of this work in a more popular way for this text, which has become a standard, and perhaps the best introduction to Empiricism.

In a nutshell, the idea of empiricism is that experience teaches, and rules and understanding are derived from this. However, for Hume this wasn't sufficient. Just because billiard balls when striking always behave in a certain manner, or just because the sun always rose in the morning, there was no direct causal connection that could be automatically affirmed - we assume a necessary connection, but how can this be proved?

Hume's ideas impact not only metaphysics, but also epistemology and psychology. Hume develops empiricism to a point that empiricism is practically unsupportable (and it is in this regard that Kant sees this text as a very important piece, and works toward his synthesis of Empiricism and Rationalism). For Hume, empirical thought requires skepticism, but leaves it unresolved as far as what one then needs to accept with regard to reason and understanding. According to scholar Eric Steinberg, 'A view that pervades nearly all of Hume's philosophical writings is that both ancient and modern philosophers have been guilty of optimistic and exaggerated claims for the power of human reason.'

Some have seen Hume as presenting a fundamental mistrust of daily belief while recognising that we cannot escape from some sort of framework; others have seen Hume as working toward a more naturalist paradigm of human understanding. In fact, Hume is open to a number of different interpretations, and these different interpretations have been taken up by subsequent philosophers to develop areas of synthetic philosophical ideas, as well as further developments more directly out of Empiricism (such as Phenomenology).

This is in fact a rather short book, a mere 100 pages or so in many editions. As a primer for understanding Hume, the British Empiricists (who include Hobbes, Locke, and Berkeley), as well as the major philosphical concerns of the eighteenth century, this is a great text with which to start.

Hume, I and many others think, was the greatest philosopher to have written in English, and this is the book to pick up if you want to introduce yourself to Saint David's distinctive brand of classical empiricism. This is a must-read for anyone with even a passing interest in philosophy, and it's hard for me to see how anyone interested in the history of modern thought can avoid reading this book or the corresponding sections of Hume's Treatise.

As is well-known, the Enquiry concerning Human Understanding was intended as an encapsulation and popularization of the views Hume defended in Book I of his magnum opus, A Treatise of Human Nature. Hume assumed that book's commercial failure could be accounted for by its length, difficulty, and lack of accessibility, and so, being a man who desired literary fame, he hoped to acquire commercial success by presenting the same ideas in a more appealing and accessible manner. Unfortunately, it seems Hume misunderstood what the literati of his day were looking for in a philosophical treatise. For the Enquiry, like the Treatise before it, didn't bring him the fame he sought. Still, Hume did understand what goes into writing excellent philosophical prose, and consequently this book is a much easier read than Book I of the Treatise. Indeed, this book constitutes an excellent introduction to Hume's thought, and, except for maybe Berkeley's Three Dialogues, I can't think of another primary source that would serve as a better introduction to classical British empiricism.

Now, let's get to the ideas here. Hume, like the other classical empiricists, was primarily concerned with the psychological question of the origin of our concepts. About the answer to this question, the empiricists were all agreed--our concepts are furnished by experience, which includes both sensory experience and introspection (i.e., the experience of our own mental states). And the empiricists also agreed about the way we can justify our beliefs. Some beliefs are true (or false) in virtue of the ideas they contained, and we can know their truth (or falsity) simply by thinking about them; other beliefs are true (or false) in virtue of how the external world is, and we can know their truth (or falsity) only by drawing on our experiences of the world. According to Hume, all substantial conclusions about the world fall into this second category. That is, the truth (or falsity) of all substantial claims about the existence and nature of things in the external world can be discovered only by checking those claims against the evidence of our senses.

The traditional way of placing Hume within the story of empiricism goes something like this. Hume takes up the empiricism of Locke and Berkeley and pushes it to its logical conclusion. Whereas Locke and Berkeley hadn't been wholly consistent empiricists, Hume, the true believer, demonstrates that classical empiricism leads to a pretty thoroughgoing skepticism. Since he's wholly convinced of the truth of his empiricist premises, Hume is willing to accept the skepticism that goes along with them. However, those who aren't convinced of that his empiricism is obviously correct think that Hume has actually demonstrated the implausibility of his empiricism. If this is where empiricism leads, they think, then it's clear that we need to reject empiricism. Indeed, some, like Thomas Reid, view Hume's arguments as constituting a reductio ad absurdum of his sort of empiricism. On this interpretation, Hume's philosophy essentially presents a dilemma for all future thinkers: abandon empiricism, or accept empiricism along with Humean skepticism.

But a different view of Hume, one of Hume as proposing a wholly naturalistic account of the human mind, has recently emerged as a competitor to the general conception of Hume's place within philosophy sketched in the previous paragraph. This interpretation downplays Hume's skepticism and emphasizes his professed intentions to provide a positive account of the operation of the human mind that appealed to nothing beyond the evidence of our senses. According to proponents of this interpretation, Hume is most interested in a description of the operation of the human mind. He's describing what human nature allows us to know and what it doesn't allow us to know. Furthermore, he argues that our nature is such that, where it fails to provide us with the resources to acquire the knowledge we might want, it provides us with a natural habit of forming the right conclusions anyway. Even though our nature limits our knowledge of the world, it ensures that we possess the habits of mind needed to make our way in the world. Hume dubs all these habits of mind "custom."

If this view is correct, then Hume has abjured many of the normative aims of traditional epistemological inquiry. He isn't attempting to show how we can answer a skeptic or why we have good reason to believe what we think we know. Instead, he wants us to stand back from our everyday beliefs and think about the natural processes that result in them. How, exactly, do our minds operate? How do we come to think what we do about the world? Hume thinks that this sort of inquiry will lead us see that, at some point, the explanation of why we think what we think reaches certain brute facts about the operation of the human mind. When we reach these points, there is nothing more to be said. We simply can't help thinking in these ways, and we lack the resources to demonstrate that these ways of thinking constitute an accurate way to represent the operation of the external world. And, Hume claims, it turns out that many of the fundamental elements of our conception of the world--the belief that things stand in causal relations to one another, the belief that we can know that there is a world outside our minds, the belief the future will resemble the past--end up not being open to ratification by experience. With respect to beliefs of these sorts, we ultimately have to appeal to custom in order to explain their existence and popularity. Hume, then, can be seen as demolishing the pretensions of reason in order to make room for a wholly naturalistic account of human thinking.

First I would like to commend the excellent review of this book by CT Dreyer in which he correctly shows how Hume extended the empiricism of Locke and Berkeley to the point where skepticism seemed our only honest way of thinking about our knowledge of the world. Hume's questioning of induction, of how we can be sure tomorrow will be like today , his questioning of how we can trust our senses to know the outside world, his questioning of how we can hold our world logically together when analysis reveals that there is no necessary connection between ' cause' and 'effect' in everyday life action means he wakened not only Kant from his dogmatic slumber but Philosophy itself from the sense that it will provide absolute understanding.
Hume is a very clear writer. I remember reading the famous billiard ball account of causality in which our common sense view of ' before' and ' after' is questioned and taken apart. I believe Hume says after this account, something to the effect and ' still when we leave the room we leave by the door and not by the window'. A friend of mine in this class when the class ended opened the window ( on the ground floor ) and went out that way.
This is difficult and great philosophy. I do not pretend to understand it or its implications fully. A test of the mind and a necessary read for anyone who would know Western Philosophy.

All Christians will benefit from the message that Dr. Peterson so clearly and compellingly presents. The Way begins earlier than I thought, is narrower than I thought, is more clearly marked than I thought, and is certainly more full of life and adventure than I thought.
I'm pushing this book. It is very, very good.

I am not going to go into what this book is about because others have done it very well. I have to tell you, this book is so incredibly delightful to me that I have read it like I have never read another book. I will read a paragraph and be so moved by it, that I will read that paragraph over and over and sometimes it has taken me days to get past that one paragraph. I have done this with several pages as well. The book just comes off so honest to me. This book is just so practical and honest, I don't really know how else to describe it. I highly recommend it.

This is a wonderful book, flowing from one of the greatest Christian writers of our time. I clung to every word.

Once again, Peterson delivers an insightful book. Eugene Peterson is one of the best contemporary Christian writers and his work provides timely and powerful theology that drives for application in the life of the individual Christian.

It is my opinion that everyone should read anything by Eugene Peterson and I would rank much of his work to be just as high on the reading list as C.S. Lewis's work.

This is an excellent read and incredibly valuable for those who are concerned about improving the way they live their life out daily for Christ, or want to know what that looks like.

Eugene H. Peterson, The Jesus Way: A Conversation on the Ways that Jesus Is the Way (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2007).

There are two kinds of spiritual writers: mechanics and artists.

Mechanics focus on how spirituality works, on tightening the nuts and bolts of prayer, meditation, fasting, and the like. By showing us how these means of grace work, they help us draw closer to God and godliness. Richard J. Foster is a mechanic of the spiritual life. His Celebration of Discipline is a masterful user manual of spiritual practices.

Artists, by contrast, show us what spirituality looks like. They don't write user manuals; they paint portraits. Not landscapes, mind you - portraits. For spiritual artists, spirituality is personal, biographical, narrative. They show God in human form, and godliness in human form - warts and all. Eugene H. Peterson is a spiritual artist, and The Jesus Way is an exhibit of masterfully drawn portraits.

It is also a frustrating book for our mechanically inclined, North American souls. Unlike The Celebration of Discipline, The Jesus Way includes no three- or four-step guidelines for prayer and fasting. If you're looking for that kind of guidance, don't bother reading this book. It will not give you The Seven Habits of Highly Effective Christians or The Secret of Becoming Like Jesus. It is not about How to Win Souls and Disciple People. It is, instead, "a conversation on the spirituality of the ways we go about following Jesus." It is a gallery of portraits in which the artist's perspective paints his subject in a new light.

The portraits in Peterson's gallery are biblical and historical figures: Abraham, Moses, David, Elijah, Isaiah, Herod the Great, the Pharisees, Caiaphas, the Essenes, Josephus, the Zealots. And, the centerpiece of the exhibit, Jesus. But Peterson's perspective on these subjects, his unique angle of vision, forces us to see through them the various ways in which North American Christians should but do not follow the God-Man who is the Way (John 14:6).

Indeed, what Peterson's portraits show is that North American Christians have adapted a variety of spiritual ways and means that have nothing to do with Jesus, indeed, that contradict and subvert the way of Jesus. We are a consumer-oriented, mass produced culture; and our spiritual ways reflect our cultural predilections. We are felt-need driven, without considering that a consumer's felt needs might be artificially manipulated or authentically mistaken. We are mass produced, without considering that Jesus' ministry is concrete, not abstract; personal, not impersonal; individual, not cookie cutter.

Peterson's portraits of Jesus' Old Testament predecessors show a spirituality that revolves around "faith and word, imperfection and marginality, the holy and the beautiful." His portraits of Jesus' New Testament contemporaries are diptychs, Herod and the Pharisees, Caiaphas and the Essenes, Josephus and the Zealots. Or rather, perhaps we should say that they are contradictory diptychs: Herod versus the Pharisees, and so on. Jesus aligns with neither side of the diptych; rather, his way subverts both. He neither builds a kingdom of political power (Herod) or legal precision (Pharisees). He neither uses institutional religion for selfish ends (Caiaphas) nor rejects it entirely (Essenes). He neither lacks principle (Josephus) nor embraces principled violence (Zealots). His way is different.

It is irreducibly personal. God is a Trinity of Persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in eternal, indivisible union. Their way with one another is personal. And consequently, their way with us is personal as well. God relates to us a Person to persons. His way is personal. His way is Jesus.

Contemporary North American spirituality, by contrast, is impersonal. It focuses on abstract, mass produced principles that do not know what to make of humanity's warts and all condition. They don't know what to make of King David, for example, whose imperfections Scripture draws in such meticulous details (violence, adultery, murder, polygamy). Call this the Way of Imperfection. David's seven penitential psalms (Psalms 6, 32, 38, 51, 102, 130, 143) contain no three-step program for personal holiness. They simple call upon God for forgiveness. "In dealing with God we don't do it on our own," Peterson writes; "we deal with God as he deals with sin."

The Way of Jesus, you see, is the personal way of dealing with God, of relating to him not as consumers seeking personal benefit but as servants seeking divine direction. The consumer mentality warps North American spirituality; if we are to follow the Jesus Way, we must submit to a necessary "purification of means." If the end of spirituality is personal - communion with the Triune God - then the means to that end must be personal as well. Peterson's portraits show us what that personal way looks like.

I mentioned that The Jesus Way is a frustrating book. I should say that it is a frustrating book for me personally. I have a mechanical soul. I favor the user manual approach to spirituality. And anyone who has read anything by Richard J. Foster knows how spiritually fruitful that form of writing can be. The mechanics of the spiritual life are as necessary as the artists, but in a different way and for a different reason. The mechanics think for us. The artists force us to think for ourselves. The mechanics show us how to do things differently. The artists show us how to see things differently.

At any number of points in The Jesus Way, I disagreed with something Peterson wrote. Is Christian spirituality always a spirituality of people on the margins, as the chapter on Elijah suggests? Peterson seems to agree with historical criticism's reconstructions of the multiple authorship of the Pentateuch and Isaiah. Is he right? Perfectionism is without a doubt a spiritually deforming doctrine, but does David's example mean that no spiritual and moral progress is possible?

The Jesus Way raised many questions in my mind for which it did not provide definitive answers. But the questions forced me to look differently at my own ways, to look at my life and spirituality, and the spirituality of my church. That is what spiritual artists are supposed to do, to help us see differently. And Eugene H. Peterson is nothing if not a master artist.

I bought this for my husband as he went crazy on composting. I read it as well. And it provided more info. A must read for anyone wanting to start or even seasoned rotters. Good book to leave on the table gets lots of funny looks

Great book for those who have a compost system going. We are on Cape Cod and recycle everything! This book tells us how to compost everything.

Composting, in case you aren't terribly familiar with it yet, is simply the practice of allowing waste matter to rot and decompose until it's fit to be tilled right into the soil. However, while the basic concept is as old as mother nature and often very easy to execute, it also helps to know more about it. What materials should you compost, and which should you avoid? Do you have to worry about animals or flies in your compost? How do you make sure your compost will turn into dirt and not a slimy, stinky sludge?

While nearly every gardening book these days has a section on composting and most of these are enough to get you by, Stu Campbell's Let It Rot! is an entertaining, folksy and in-depth take on the art that will see you through nearly any foreseeable difficulty. I was certainly able to successfully compost with the simpler directions in other books, but there's information in here I wish I'd had back when I first started. For instance, now I know the cobweb-like stuff that I feared was mold was the natural activity of Actinomycetes, a part-bacteria, part-fungus organism that aids decomposition in certain parts of a compost pile.

Mr. Campbell's book also introduces a great many different types of compost piles and composters that you can use, depending on what you're trying to accomplish, what area you have to work with, or what you're trying to decompose. He also suggests many ways to use compost in and around your garden, and how to get the most out of it. I'm glad I picked up Mr. Campbell's book, because I learned an incredible amount of new material!

This book is a quick crash course on composting. I learned things about composting that I never new before. The other great thing, it is an easy to read book! Totally satisfied!

I have never tried composting before, so I wanted the big picture. I researched online and this seems to be the undisputed classic book on the subject. It seems to tell ALL you need to know to manage your composting, and in as few words as possible.