Charles Williams Books

The text was as described with no issues. The delivery was prompt and handled in a professional manner. I recommend this seller.

My professor suggested this book and deemed it the "Bible on Evidence". I bought it and it is. A great book that will clear up many of your questions. If you don't understand what your law professor is saying, this book will make it clearer.

Passionate Conviction is a collection of essays gathered from several Christian apologetics conferences which were held by the Evangelical Philosophical Society, "the largest society of Christian philosophers in the world". Counting the president of the society, their membership is now up to three.

That's a joke. Relax. Actually, there are a significant number of Christian philosophers.

The book is divided into six parts with each part containing at least two essays:

Part 1, Why Apologetics?
Part 2, God (which includes arguments for His existence)
Part 3, Jesus
Part 4, Comparative Religions
Part 5, Postmodernism and Relativism
Part 6, Practical Application

It is a good and helpful book, although, it is typical of books on apologetics in that the writing can be a little dry. In fact, if you will quickly fan the pages of the book you will actually get a little poof of dust. (I know, the jokes are getting worse as we go along, but I'm amusing myself, slightly.)

My favorite chapters were:

In Intellectual Neutral, by William Lane Craig. Craig argues for the importance of deep thinking and study--in other words, "the intellectual life"--to the life of faith. He quotes J. Gresham Machen, "The church is perishing to-day through the lack of thinking, not through an excess of it."

Living Smart, by J.P. Moreland. This deals with "integration" which has to do with unifying areas of our lives that involve diversity and yet, are part of the whole of who we are and what we believe as followers of Christ.

Christ in the New Age, by L. Russ Bush. It's interesting how many really old ideas have become part of what is now considered to be "New Age" thinking. It's also interesting to see how effectively New Age thinking has penetrated and influenced American culture; including the Christian church.

Reflections on McLaren and the Emerging Church, by R. Scott Smith. I found this chapter interesting because I find the "Emerging Church" movement to be interesting. I'm somewhat fascinated by what "catches on" and captures the thinking of a group of people. By the way, for a very helpful book on the subject of the Emerging Church, check out "Why We're Not Emergent", DeYoung and Kluck.

Dan Marler

Although most of these articles could mostly be found in their own writings published in other publications (which is typical for a book like this), the authors of Passionate Conviction do a great job overviewing some of the basics in Christian apologetics. There are six parts, including evidence for the existence of God (emphasis on cosmological and moral arguments), Jesus, comparative religion, and Postmodernism. In the first chapter, William Lane Craig writes on "In Intellectual Neutral," and he points out the encouraging point that more and more Christian thinkers are "coming out of the closet and defending the truth of the Christian worldview with philosophically sophisticated arguments in the finest secular journals and professional societies." This is awesome. Yet he later points out how Christian laypeople are not exercizing their mental faculties and need to become "intellectually engaged." He writes, "Our churches are filled with Christians who are idling in intellectual neutral." His article was a great way to get this book started, and I think many laypeople would benefit from an overview book such as this. (I highly recommend Lee Strobel's writings as other good places to start, as he deals with many of these same issues in a layperson-friendly format.) However, some of the articles are going to go over the layperson's head as several authors delve into some deeper philosophy. But, overall, I think this book would be a good primer for a Christian who wants to tackle the issues of faith and understand how we can make a better case for Christianity in the marketplace of ideas.

I like that you can select a disease or procedure, and a list of drugs that are commonly prescribed will show up. Beware though that the "Add User Topic" function may not work. Others in my medical transcription course have the same problem.

I'm a former Saunder's fan, but when I saw this book I knew I had to have it! Being a new MT, it is helpful that the drugs listed also list their 'sound alike' names, as well as giving you an appendix in the back with diseases and drugs prescribed for them accordingly! :) It's an awesome book, and I'm a loyal Quick Look Drug Book fan! You won't be disappointed with your purchase.

As a medical transcriptionist, there are many times when a doctor will say the name of a drug incorrectly or I cannot quite understand what the doctor is saying. In the Quick Look Drug Book, there is a section in the back of the book called the Indication/Therapeutic Category Index. In this section, you can look up the patient's diagnosis and it will list the medications used for that illness. Most of the time I am able to determine what drug the doctor is referring to by using this method. It has saved me a lot of time and effort over the years. I highly recommend this book if you are a medical transcriptionist.

Great book! Use it a lot, but would like to have the latest vesion..

Sam Price

I have found the book to be easy to navigate through and to obtain stamp values. The information about stamps is very informative however I was not able to find information on Winnipeg tagging or phosphor tagged stamp issues. Overall, I think that it is a very good issue.

As a lifelong stamp collector specializing in older stamps world-wide, I appreciate having all countries covered from the beginning of stamps 1840 through 1940 in one book. To purchase all 7 or 8 volumes of the regular Scott catalogue would cost many hundreds of dollars. I had this same catalogue for 2000 but that was black & white, it is now in full color! Very Happy!

I found this book to be a most interesting look into secret societies, some of which I never knew existed. Some may be obscure but many are well known. Fascinating!

This book is probably one of the best around for a comprehensive view of many of the past "secret" societies of mankind, all over the world. Heckethorn presents both the historical background as well as the forms and ceremonies of initiation of these societies in a concise yet highly interesting manner. However, the book suffers from the fact that it was written in the late 19th century. Many, if not most, of the societies are long since defunct. A notable exception is Freemasonry & kindred Orders.Heckethorn presents a British and Continental view of that Fraternity which is about 90% accurate. He also does not treat other prominent fraternal orders of the period such as the Red Men, Knights of Pythias, Odd Fellows, Knights of Columbus, or American nativist orders.
But, all in all,his presentations are extremely lucid and practically indispensible to anyone interested in the history of
covert worldwide political and fraternal societies.

This dear book gives a carefully thoughtout and inspired interpretation of the Twenty Third Psalm in the context of the shepherds who lived among the Syrian hills over 2000 years ago. The beloved Psalm comes alive anew as one understands the words as they applied to life then and even now. The spiritual meaning of the passage is explained and a wonderful sense of the Father's care for each of us is unfolded. This is a very worthwhile book for any sincere student of the spiritual meaning of the Bible.

The publication noted 1904, 1905, 1906, and 1911, by The Pilgrim Press, Boston, is by far the best publication. Not only are the main title and the verses of the 23rd Psalm within the book in a beautiful red script, but especially interesting "Author's Notes," beautifully giving more information begins on Page 43 and continues through Page 59. The 1904 book does not include this.

The late Charles Williams is perhaps best known as a writer of taut action-adventure novels usually with a nautical tie in (Dead Calm, Scorpion Reef, etc). He also wrote the very compelling noir masterpiece entitled The Hot Spot. The Wrong Venus therefore represents a 180 degree departure from William's usual literary fare. It's an over-the-top comedy about Americans in Paris.
This very funny book is populated with a number of interesting characters. A spinsterish authoress of best selling sex drenched novels, some thoroughly inept kidnappers, a ruthless French gangster and a six foot tall blond beauty of a ghostwriter who's pretty good at judo... to name only a few. There's also plenty of slapstick action and an abundance of very clever dialogue.
The Wrong Venus is a wonderfully entertaining showcase for a surprisingly different side to Charles William's substantial talent.

Why should one bother to review an out of print book? Because it is one very funny book. The plot is too convoluted to describe but involves a writer of bodice rippers, a blonde beauty and her Western novel writer buddy, a French gangster who gets shot with a crossbow... Order it and wait for it or search used bookstores for it

When I started reading Oliver Twist, it was an assignment for school and nothing more. However, I was soon intrigued by little Oliver, a quiet, naturally pleasant little boy, and who is apparently a magnet for bad company and lives in a workhouse. I wondered how he could remain so sweet and childish through all he'd been through.

Dickens kept me turning the pages with cliffhangers and anticipation. It's witty and it has hilarious moments concerning the band of thieves. Master Charley Bates' laughter is infectious even from the pages of the book, The Artful Dodger's proposed `genteelman behavior' is amusing, and Fagin's witty remarks always manage to entice a chuckle from me and my dad as we read it together.

The only thing that irritated me was that Dickens leaned a little too far to the left and the right , and didn't have any middle ground. Oliver Twist is a perfect boy. He does nothing wrong. Ever. Not once. I don't think it portrays people with a sense of morality well enough, because even those people are not perfect(coughRosecough). However, the way the little robber gang is written represents the underside of human nature very well.

Dickens' sense of description was astounding. It really made everything come to life, from the dirty, disgusting streets of London to the beautiful country lane. It gave me a vivid and detailed picture in my head.

All in all, Oliver Twist is an excellent book.The story was very well put together, and he leaves no loose ends to be tied up. There are dull moments in the book, but Dickens brings us back with a sudden twist at the end of a chapter that will leave us at the edge of our seats, begging "Please sir, more?"

Charles Dicken's classic tale of Oliver Twist and the people he comes across is a definite must-read. The poor orphan is one of the most memorable protagonists in English literature. The supporting cast is something worth mentioning, also. The distinctive portrayals of Master Bates, the artful Dodger, Fagin (who is sadly a Jewish caricature), and Bill Sykes make this novel a page-turner.

Much of the satire in this story involves the 19th-century English social class, political upheaval, and daily life in the slums of London. And they work so well here.

A-

Originally published in a serialized format, OLIVER TWIST represents some of Charles Dickens very first writings. It is easy to imagine his first readers eagerly (and impatiently) awaiting the next installment of little Oliver's saga. Evocative of so much compassion, this powerful tale has reached the hearts of readers for over 150 years, and is every bit as powerful now as it was originally. Both its message of personal triumph despite overwhelming odds, and its broader admonishment for us all to look more closely at the plight of the destitute and homeless, speak powerfully to every reader.

This book gives you a very disturbing glimpse into life in England during the early 1800s (or at least Dickens' view of that life). Dark, cold, dangerous, and filthy are some adjectives that are nearly always at the fore when reading OLIVER TWIST, as Dickens employs his unparalleled talent for bringing his settings to life with words. The worst in human attributes are also on prominent display in this work, with Bumble, Fagin, and Sikes being the epitome cowardliness, cruelty, and brutality, respectively. Rather uncomfortably, this book also highlights the all-too-common failures of society in general. While we may have come a long way since the time of Dickens, there remains much that we would rather not have to face about our own culture. Abuse and neglect of innocent children has not altogether faded away, but maintains its evil hold on parts of society.

Not to make you think that this book is all about the negatives of humanity. It is also a tale of triumph over evil, goodness coming from love and compassion, and innocence being preserved. Oliver's friends in the second half of the book represent all the best things about humankind and turn this tale into an essentially happy one. That being said, I actually liked the first half of the book (prior to the failed house-breaking attempt) better than the second, primarily because from that point on, while events occur at an increased rate, they are essentially taken out of Oliver's hands.

This is a great book, highly enjoyable, humorous, and evocative of powerful emotion. The famous wit of Charles Dickens is in full display here, with puns (Master Bates), sarcasm, and all manner of plays on words and phrasings, being found throughout. It is also a good example of Dickens' penchant for overly verbose writing. Sentences that simply HAVE to be run-ons are found in nearly every paragraph, to the point where you forget the subject of interest as you get lost in flowing descriptive writing (was that a run-on?). For that reason only, I'd suggest this book for more experienced readers looking to sit down and enjoy one of my favorite classics.

When I had to read this book in my adolescent years, it was literary torture. Today, reading with 25 more years of life behind me and greater appreciation for literary art, it's a great story. I never would have picked this story back up had it not been for the review/referral from a friend. In retrospect, I'm not really certain this story is best read, comprehended and appreciated by an adolescent. The story, and the seedy sides of life exposed, might be better processed by an adult.

In addition to the story woven by Dickens, I think what I appreciated most about this writing was how Dickens used the novel as a commentary on life in England at the time of the writing, e.g., society's treatment of the paupers and impoverished, the caste system that existed and condemned a pauper child to destitution at birth, and the judicial system with its corruption and brutality, to name a few. Even as a mature adult reader I winced at how Oliver and the young paupers were brutally treated by "the system" in the first half of the book.

I loved how in the end all the characters, excepting Nancy, received their just rewards and ends in accordance with how they had lived life. The only mild criticism I have was the almost too remarkable coincidence of the relationships of Oliver, Brownlow, Rose and Monks, and how life had brought them together prior even to the discovery of the existence of their relationships and ties from the prior generation. Nevertheless, it's a feel-good ending and the story kept me turning the pages with anticipation.

What is it about Oliver Twist that keeps people coming back to it so often and for so long? Oliver Twist is actually one of my favourite all-time reads. I try to read it once every few years, and every time I decide to re-read it, I go in search of a copy that I don't already own because it's fascinating the different publishers, typefaces, bindings etc, that this book has gone through. Maybe I'm like Mel Gibson from Conspiracy Theory, collecting all those The Catcher in the Rye copies, but at least I'm reading them. Mel was just trying to save the human race ... or something like that. Poor fool.

A few years ago, I thought that I had run my course with the young Rascal and had actually come away feeling pretty badly about the development of the ending of the story, which, in my honest opinion, is not as strong as the beginning or the arc of Mr. Brownlow. But Dickens was writing in a time when books were not as prevalent and Twist, as we all may know, was a Newspaper column that had developed into a bound and published work due to its popularity. Standards have changed and agents and publishers are more discriminating. But in no way should anyone let that stop them from the experience of reading Oliver Twist as it really is a masterpiece before its time.

Recently though, watching MSNBC (a new hangout for me, I admit), I saw a documentary regarding the global sex trade of young woman forced into boarding, shipped around, mistreated, taken advantage of, stolen, uprooted, you name it ... and my mind wandered to a comparison of Young Oliver and the Ageing and scheming Fagin. In the lives of the girls they covered, there always seemed to be the `Artful Dodger' character who would start off as the mentor, but meet a bad end eventually, and the `Fagin', who controlled the roost and kept the girls feeling dejected and trapped, thus benefiting monetarily from their toils and of course the 'Sykes', who was the one who met head-first with the law. I felt incredibly bad for those girls and disgusted about the habits of some of my fellow "men".

It really is a shame that in 150 years, this year, Dickens moralist tale of child abuse is still just as prevalent, just as relevant and unfortunately just as insidious and heart-breaking as it was on the cold night that he penned the first article.

I really why this book is rated so high. To me, this book is not that great. The plot is ok; however, the writing style is sloppy. The author, an English professor, who keeps mixing between present tense and past tense in the same paragraph. The book contains so many unnecessarily lengthy sentences.

I've read and enjoyed lots of long books, but quit several hundred pages into this one. The plot is very repetitive and confusing. In addition the overall tone is depressing. I cannot recommend it.

I read this book more than 13 years ago while living in London. I have to say that reading this kind of broad,lengthy,sweeping yet historically detailed novel, on site as they say, about so very much more than just a mystery in a bygone time in Britain really did transport me into the heart of this engrossing novel. There are passages that will cause the reader to wince from what he or she will instinctively recognize as a painfully accurate description of the harsh realities of those who lived in abject poverty in this period of time. The searing descriptions of their agonizing daily struggle with poverty and disease will leave the reader with an unshakable understanding of why many people in these circumstances had no choice but to do the unthinkable to survive while others knew nothing but comfort and luxury. It may cause some to take a break in their reading to come to emotional terms with what they'll feel they've experienced alongside the characters in this book. You won't be able to easily distance yourself until the conclusion of the last chapter. You'll cry, you'll grieve, you'll suffer betrayal as if it were your own and you'll cheer the indomitable spirit of a young boy as he makes his way in a murky world and through the perilous maze of the ranks of British society to solve a fascinating mystery. You'll be reminded of Dickens and Wilkie Collins,and should you be lucky enough to someday walk the same streets as the narrator and seek out some of the locations mentioned in the roughly 800 pages, you'll never forget this rich tapestry of a book of mysteries and the complexities of human nature. Settle in for a great read!

I only made it about 150 pages into this book, which I was prepared to like, based on its Amazon reviews and the fact that I'm a confirmed Anglophile. It's well-written---what I read of it---but the most depressing book I've ever had the misfortune to pick up. I kept thinking "Okay, they've had some bad fortune, but things will look up." Or "wow, what a string of bad luck, surely their latest decision will be a good one." WRONG! It just gets more and more gloomy, more and more bad things happen, and I just couldn't take it. I skipped ahead to the last page (no spoilers coming) and found all kinds of ADDITIONAL rotten things had happened in the pages I'd fortunately skipped. About enough, as a friend of mine once said, to make her "cut her wrists and bleed at the vein." (She was kidding). But honestly, why read a book where everyone is a scoundrel, criminal, villain, or bounder? Or all of the above? After this misadventure, I picked up a book about the London Blitz (another potentially depressing story), and found it wonderfully inspiring. So there.

I just want to assure readers, that if you get a few hundred pages into this dog and feel like you've invested too much time to quit, you are wrong. The ending does not redeem this interminable mess, but will only leave you more frustrated. So after 200, 400, 600, even 800 pages into it, you will still gain a few hours on your life if you just walk away. Yes, take it from one who did finish, it is that bad. Would that I could get those hours back and invest them in ANYthing else.

Understand, I am not uneducated, nor am I shy of long books (recent reads include The Stand, Pillars of the Earth and Atlas Shrugged) I've read War and Peace, I can even follow along in Umberto Eco's books, but this book promises only to frustrate and confuse. Don't even start it, but if you already have, do yourself a favor and quit now. You can never get the time back.