Charles Williams Books

I have read everything that has been published about the British Royal Family, past and present, for years. I have read a load of Diana books but this is my favorite. It is almost like talking to someone who was there.

After having read at least 8 Diana books, which were starting to get repetitious with the same information, this one was refreshing with new information and more information on topics I read previously. After Diana......and what transpired was very interesting. I personally can't see how anyone would be disappointed in its details.

This is a gift which has not been given to the person yet. It would be premature to rate it until it has been viewed.

I am offended by the new term "Diana fanatics" to describe people around the world who believe Diana was treated poorly by her royal husband and royal in-laws as well as courtiers. We merely suppport her and feel she was abused by a cold unfeeling royal system. Naturally any woman who exposed her husband as a cheat would be described as "mean or a trouble-maker" by her husband, her in-laws and the other woman.
In this book I sensed the author is padding the truth so as not to offend the royal family. Like many authors, the writer of this book went to great links to recognize that Diana, Princess of Wales was no longer a member of the royal family and that the Spencers were her next of kin.
Yet I am puzzled why no author to date has explained why Diana's ex-mother-in-law and ex-husband were the first to be notified!
Diana was not a member of the royal family any more so any excuse that protocol demanded the Queen to notified first does not wash.
If it was because of the boys, the decision was to let them sleep. And they were minors and had no say in the decisions concerning Diana body or anything else.
The proper adults to notify would have been Diana's brother, sisters or mother.
After all this, the Windors decided Diana being a commoner again was the Spencers' responsibilty and she did not deserve a public funeral.
There has always been too many inconsistancies surrounding Diana. She gets a bad rap for being inconsistant with her life but she cannot hold a candle to the media or the royal family.

I found this book to offer an interesting perspective less on the death of Princess Diana and more on the way that this death has changed the Monarchy and the way the media has reported on it. The book also reports in some detail on the lives of the two princess and offers insights into how their behavior may have been different, or not, had the Princess not died so young.

Still the work is weak because it relies on too many third party news article sources as well as unnamed parties. This in turn makes this work one of the weaker ones as the London tabloids are well known for being exploited by palace intrigue to bash one member of the Royal family for benefit of another. Not a bad read but basically fluff and not even close to a good biography or journalism.

3 1/2 stars: Coming to this after lay oblate Carol Bonano's "The Abbey Up the Hill", I wanted to find out more about the insider's p-o-v to complement that of the passer-by looking in that any of us outside the monastery must be limited by when wondering what goes on--inside a monk's mind as well as on the outside--each day of decades spent in the same place. The routine, as Bro. Benet shows, forces the follower of the Rule into patience, while sanding down--a bit at least--the monk's rougher edges.

The appeal and the predictability of life at Blue Cloud Abbey makes its sameness sound quite alluring to those of us out in the noisy urban crunch; it's a credit to Bro. B. that he also reveals the tensions and the dangers that lurk in such a life lived so much according to discipline, sharing with others, and putting up with not a spouse's but a whole roomful of other people's eccentricities and annoyances--without any external escape.

He starts his series of ruminations with the Abbey marketed as a tourist attraction, and this collection, although oddly organized and confusingly arranged in a seemingly haphazard fashion--after the more coherent (and previously published) title essay--does show what life's like on the inside, after the visitors leave. I would have wished a tougher editor; although this is a small book indeed, it's rambling and although you feel that you're sharing a couple of well-spent hours with a monk going ovre his four decades, you do wish that some of the content was less lightweight and conscientiously cutesy. These anecdotes undoubtably sound better spoken in person than scrutinized in print, removed from their engagingly lively teller...

When Bro. B seems dumbfounded why a more traditional monastery in France is booming with young vocations while those like Blue Cloud are dwindling mightily since the 60s, he loses a perfect opportunity to confront the value and the drawbacks of adherence to a tradition 1500 years and more in the making. He also would have boosted the value of his essays if he had paused more and shown more clearly how the Divine Office is the work of the monks, and how its changes in the wake of Vatican II have or have not helped the monks in their contemplative quest.

Finally, he seems to skim over a crucial problem in monasticism the past four or five decades: why those who like him have modernized and relaxed their observance as they attempt to return to the spirit of the Founder have also diminished the other-worldly, determinedly austere and therefore challenging life lived under "a conversion of manners". We get, perhaps inevitably, only the plus side of the ledger. Bro. B argues convincgly (if too generally) that the medieval accretions prevented monks from getting closer to the dynamism of the Rule, but he needed to prove this by better chosen examples than pajama-wearing, card-playing, and the institution of later rising times and bed times. I don't mean to sound petty, but perhaps relaxing the rules in the name of the Rule has dimmed (for others on the outside looking in to see if they could make the switch to the Abbey) the long-fostered distinctiveness of the monastic life?

Yet this book has advantages, even if many of its points in favor of modernizing monasticism are still all too fleetingly considered. It's rare I think in such types of books to treat what it's like to have to put up with so many visitors, retreatants, and fanatics all of whom happen to wander in to the Abbey for a few minutes or a few weeks, it seems. Certainly this must test the hospitality and good nature of the monks who are gawked at as quaint rather than as fully complicated, less idealistic and so all the more too realistic, fellow men. I closed this book hoping that a few good men would continue to be called to such a life too long misunderstood and caricatured. When so many younger people from the West the past few decades have entered the forbiddingly much more challenging life as Buddhist monastics, for example, this only makes me wonder if such monasteries as Blue Cloud will continue to thrive after they have loosened their ancient regimen in the name of broader appeal and greater relevance to the world that they both live in and live beyond. I wish the monks well as they like us all navigate through this perplexing world.

...they'd undoubtedly look at me curiously. This isn't standard reading for Christian folk, but hey, I gotta satisfy my curiosity. My fascination with hermitages and monasteries may be viewed as a strange one, but I find that I'm very drawn to the inner world of prayer, contemplation and simplicity. If but from a distance, I enjoy knowing the workings of the lives of people who live in hermitages and monasteries. This wasn't the best of books, but certainly not the worst. It was written in simple and straight-forward language, but seemed to take nearly the entire length of the book to answer the one question I had: what's an ordinary monastery day like? Finally I had that answer (near the book's end), and I felt satisfied, though I was pretty lost on the doctrine the author adheres to. I also felt a little confused about what called him to the monastery and, admittedly, am a bit suspicious of people who follow the leading of people (dead or alive) as opposed to the leading of God. I read little in this book about this brother feeling called by God Himself. He seemed more impressed and led by Benedictine teaching. It was like, oh yeah, and God just happens to be a part of that, by the way. Overall, though, it gave an insightful look at life in a monastery, and I did find it an interesting read.

This book is beautifully written and most definetly worth the money! However, I was surprised by this monk's very liberal application of the scriptures to controversial issues. I think St. Benedict himself would roll over in his grave if he knew how the monks of his order live nowadays. I'm not sure I understand Brother Benet's message but I was surprised at some of his beliefs. This book is still a nice little read and definetly an interesting peek into the lives of modern-day monks.

This book, 'A View from the Monastery,' written by the witty and compassionate Brother Benet Tvedten, is a wonderful view into a monastic life, despite the title's reversal.

Blue Cloud Abbey is one of the monasteries on Kathleen Norris' list of retreat centres. I have an affinity for this place (even though I've not been there) as they grew up and out of the southern Indiana Catholic community, practically next door (St. Meinrads is a seminary I will most likely take courses from before long). In this book, Brother Benet reflects on his choices, the monastery's choices, the world's choices, and the opportunities we all have for continuing our choices in the world. He shows that a monastic life is not 'unreal' or distant--in recounting the shopping trips and movie nights into the small town near the Abbey, and in the reactions of the visitors and monks to each other, he shows himself (and everyone around him) as remarkably human beings.

'Although Brother Felix had a temper which could be easily aroused, he was quick to make amends. He seldom said, 'I'm sorry,' but atonement was made through little gifts and unsought favours. Ordinarily he was friendly and jovial. Gemutlich. He had friends all over the countryside. Many of them attended his funeral, which was one of the largest ever held in our community.

'In his twilight years, he made several trips back to Germany. The last time he went home, he celebrated his eightieth birthday in the house where he was born. Brother Felix went his own way most of the time, but he never strayed away from us. He also loved his finches and spoke and sang to them all day long. Sometimes he played phonograph records for them of German polkas. They responded with their own kind of music.

'After saying good night to his finches one All Hallows' Eve, he covered their cages and then went to bed himself, and died. So did one of his finches the same night.'

He treats all of his subjects, be they human, animal, principle, whatever, with humour, insight, and a gentleness of spirit which shows many years of growth of feeling. He recounts the story of Patrick Sean O'Mahoney, a homeless drifter who specialised in the kindness of monasteries, with grace and warmth that only someone with a deeply inset hospitality could do (one of the conversions of life Benedict calls for is to be open and hospitable to all, for in many disguises does God come to call).

In retelling the frequent questions he is asked by visitors (especially school tours, where the children are painfully honest in questioning most times), he is able to show insight even when the answer doesn't conform to the way he himself would wish it. 'Are you ever given money?' 'Are you able to buy the things you want?' His honest answer to the later question is no. Once he had been to a museum and wanted to know if he could get a print of a photograph--the clerk explained that he could buy one in a book; he didn't have the money, or a cheque, or a credit card. Truly a disappointment, and to many of us who are blessed with more means than are necessary to procure a greatly-desired book, a frustration. 'But,' Brother Benet reflected, 'even though I may not be able to procure everything I want, I have everything I need.'

Such a wonderful revelation. A great spirit.

Brother Benet exemplifies the linear life path. While in high school, he saw his first Benedictines and decided that he belonged with them. He showed remarkable maturity as he chose a specific abbey to enter, right out of college, and chose to become a brother rather than a priest.

The author's goal seems to be a modest one. He describes his life in a monastery and how he got to be there. He offers hilarious stories of characters he meets along the way -- not always the easiest men to live with, but definitely a source of spiritual challenge.

Brother Benet can write. Each chapter is a self-contained essay, reminiscent of James Herriot. In fact, one of the most appealing chapters includes a description of "Katie the collie" and the efforts of the brothers to create a properly monastic canine.

Reading between the lines, Brother Benet seems to have the perfect quietly cheerful temperament to live in community. He finds humor in frustrating events and as well as changes in monastic life: don't miss the reference to "liturgical lingerie." In telling his story, he has the advantage of someone who dealt with visitors, and he remains aware of an outsider's perspective. He tells us, without fuss, of his own struggles and also his ownn joys.

Brother Benet also allows a glimpse of life in a contemporary monastery. In some ways, the "confreres" come across as a special fraternity. Watching a television show, they act like any group of males, using less than religious language. Yet there is caring, not only for themselves, for for those whose lives have touched the monastery. When a former postulant lies dying of AIDS, the monastery sends two brothers to be with him. And when two strangers, clad only in sheets, make the monastery a stop on their unique pilgrimage, the monks offer a washing machine as well as a room and meals.

As a career coach, I hear people talk about finding meaning in their lives. Here's someone who has found meaning in a particularly unusual and dedicated way. Reading this book helps define the concept of "vocation" and "calling," although the vast majority of us will not find ourselves called so openly to such an extreme. Brother Benet offes an insightful non-New-Age perspective on spirituality, purpose and yes, abundance.

This book has a good study of character and the mystery provides a chance to test your deduction skills. The depiction of life after WWI and the understanding the people had of the men who survived the blatant miss handling of the war stagtegy are well described. Up until this book the relationship between Rutledge and Hamish (his tormentor) was heavy handed but now it seems to add a wider dimention to the main character and the story.

I didn't think an Ian Rutledge book could get worse than the previous "A Long Shadow," but "A False Mirror" is MUCH worse. It's a 40-page short story that got dragged out to 400 pages, undoubtedly to fulfill a contract obligation. Let's see, where to start -- characters that are impossible to care about, a totally ludicrous "hostage" situation, and redundant writing (Rutledge goes back and forth between the town and the main house in the story like a ping-pong ball, and the descriptions are always the same). And for some reason, sandwiches make an appearance in almost every scene; they're as ubiquitous as tea. Hamish has faded to the point that when he does speak up, it's jarring. Overall, the plot and motives are so thin that it's a very unsatisfying murder mystery, but on the bright side, when I was done with the book I felt like having a good sandwich.

This is a readable book. I would not hesitate to recommend it to someone who enjoys mysteries. However, it is not as tightly plotted and written as the earlier mysteries in this series. It seems at times as though Todd was reaching for a certain length of book, and that the book could have been finished much sooner.

The book begins not with one mystery for Rutledge to seemingly solve, but two. One in London, and another involving a soldier who had served under him, who had managed to get himself involved in a missing person case. The mystery in London is pushed to the side, and is solved by others with no help by Rutledge. It seems to serve no purpose in the story at all.

As usual, Todd does a good job writing concerning the time period after WWI and the ongoing impact that war had on both soldiers and the people left at home. The impact on women was intense...women who had waited for soldiers to return often saw them come home in caskets, or expected this occurence and so married someone else who was older and not involved in the war. They also had to take on different jobs, and that changed women so the men who did return and expected women to remain in their usual positions in society, found that they could not handle those changes.

The plot meanders in the middle of the book, and often Todd reiterates the same thing over again unnecessarily. Several possible culprits for both the disappearance of a man and 2 murders in the town are presented. The ending returned to Todd's usual tight writing, leaving the reader not only with a surprise, but also leaving Rutledge with a bad taste in his mouth...

Karen Sadler

The Ian Rutledge series is one of my favorites, but I fear it might be nearing its sell-by date. Given the difficulty of sustaining a formula over time, it's a tribute to the authors' skill that the books remained strong for as long as they have. (There were a few earlier dips in quality, but nothing too serious.) Lately, though, the fabric is beginning to fray more obviously.

Various plot elements, especially in the last couple of novels, have strained credulity, such as the invisible stalker in "Long Shadow" and the nonsensical hostage scenario in "False Mirror." The narrative strategy of Hamish is becoming more problematic, too -- it worked initially, but since it has remained static over the last few books, it's less and less effective. (The device now adds nothing new, and it's becoming harder to accept: if Rutledge really felt the degree of guilt and self-loathing that Hamish verbalizes, he'd surely have cracked by now.)

And here's a minor point, but why doesn't Rutledge ever have to meet the press? He deals with the sort of sensational cases that would have been prime newspaper fodder even in the 20s (look how the press was all over Crippen ten years earlier), so it's odd that Rutledge pursues his investigations in almost total anonymity. I understand that the authors don't want to violate his character as a painfully self-contained isolato, so they can't really turn him into any sort of media star. But since the mode of the books is primarily realistic, the silence of the fourth estate is becoming rather deafening.

Another element that seemed intrusive in the most recent books is the time frame. I guess I hadn't been paying attention before, but now I realize that all of these stories are supposed to take place over a period of about 10 months. Evidently only a couple of weeks (at most) separate each of these intense, mind-scarring cases, meaning that Rutledge is pin-balling from one danger-packed denouement and devastating psychological trauma to another with barely time to wash his socks in between. Almost daily, it seems, new griefs and pains and losses are piled on top of those that still haunt him from the war and from previous cases. Even a mentally healthy person would have a hard time remaining sane after a such a year; someone as damaged as Rutledge would probably be totally barking, sitting catatonic and drooling in some lost veterans' ward. I'm not sure why this tight time frame is necessary; what's the rush? (Are the authors trying to suggest, perhaps, that "peacetime" is just another form of relentless war? Or do they think that they can't logically continue a war-related series [and Hamish] too far into the next decade? If the latter, I disagree -- it would make more sense to have poor Rutledge still be struggling with war memories in 1923 or 1924 than to keep up the current breakneck pace. Maybe Hamish could go, though.)

Still, the Charles Todd books are some of the best being written in the genre at the moment. (There are always a few Americanisms and anachronisms, but so far, I don't find them unbearable.) I suppose the plots aren't that important, anyway, when so many other elements -- the characters, the careful reconstruction of an ever-receding moment in history, the powerful exploration of the never-ending costs of war -- make this fine series worth reading. So, like Hamish, I'll stick with Rutledge. But I think I can hear Hamish saying to the Todds -- "'Ware! Ye cannae let things slide too far."

After eagerly awaiting this book and even having my husband pick me up a copy on a business trip to the US, I was sadly disappointed. I had noticed a downward trend in the last couple of books but the series seems to have taken a nose dive with this latest instalment. There were serious problems of logic and the plotline seemed to chase its own tail, going round in endless circles as if to stretch out the book. Many of the characters acted in an illogical and unrealistic manner and the whole hostage situation plotline was simply ridiculous. People just do not behave like that! This would have to be the worst book in the series so far.

Unfortunately, many aspects of this series are becoming repetitious. After solving so many murders one would think that Rutledge's superior, Bowles, would do away with his vendetta even if only to stop himself from looking ridiculous to others. His ongoing hostility towards Rutledge is starting to look trite.

And what about the role of Hamish? This is one aspect of the series that seems to have stalled completely. Whilst it began as an intriguing deviation on the murder mystery genre it seemed to reach it peak in `Legacy of the Dead' and has been in decline ever since. Perhaps the authors should try something different such as was hinted at in 'A Long Shadow' with the psychic Mrs. Channing.

What exactly is Hamish's role? Is he a genuine ghost, haunting his killer? Does he represent Rutledge's conscience which has become disembodied due to his war experience? Is Hamish the manifestation of Rutledge's sixth sense which makes him the superb Scotland Yard Inspector that he has become? Why not let Rutledge face his ghost and explore these possibilities, either through supernatural means such as at a séance or by scientific means involving medical therapy. Psychology was in its infancy and this in itself would provide an interesting sideline to a murder case.

There are so many aspects of this series that are yet to be explored and one can only hope that the authors do not settle for formulae writing and mediocrity. What started out as a fresh and exciting new take on an old Genre still has much untapped potential and I sincerely hope that the authors sit down, have a cup of tea and ask themselves where this series is heading.

The author David Brin got it right when he discussed the difficulties of writing Science Fiction set in the near future, say 80 years hence. The far future is easy: you just make up anything that's vaguely plausible. Tomorrow is also easy: you just extend current trends. But the near future is more difficult because 80 years is enough time for the world to change significantly. The world could be a very different place in 80 years... and yet it has to be immediately recognizable or it won't seem authentic.

Just as its important to have a good back-story when creating realistic characters, its important to have a history in mind, when creating realistic worlds.

And there lies the problem for me with "The Killing Star": I didn't believe in the history behind the world Pellegrino creates. I found my suspension-of-disbelief being suspended. Repeatedly.

The frustrating thing is that there's a lot that I really liked about the novel. Especially the central thesis: Carl Sagan was deluding himself - Any life we encounter around nearby stars will more likely be hostile than friendly. And First Contact could come in the form of complete Annihilation.

Makes Sense. I buy it.

But he's tried to compress about 500 years worth of back-story into several decades and the result is a world that isn't internally consistent or believable for me. And when you're talking about the end of the world, the world has to be worth caring about.

This book is a "War of the Worlds" meets "Titanic" meets "Jurassic Park" sci-fi thriller that you won't want to put down till the end. From out of the silent depths of space, relativistic missiles slam into our solar system at 92% the speed of light: fast enough to impact with the force of multi-megaton nuclear bombs. By page 30, Earth and nearly all her colonies are cratered ruins. The few survivors desperately struggle to escape ultimate annihilation.

As a thought experiment, this is both a scary and intreaguing story. The book offers a plausible answer to why we haven't detected signals from aliens yet. It seems that intelligent life must remain hidden to survive. If it doesn't, there is at least one species out there which will kill any emerging competitors on sight.

The book does have its drawbacks. It spends an inordinate amount of time discussing the Titanic through an survivor's VR program. It goes on a tangent about a Jurrasic Park-inspired future history. It does a fair amount of Christian bashing. On top of it all, the characters have the personalities of carboard cutouts. But the hardcore science provides a feel of "Wow! This could really happen!"

This is an excellent but under recognized work, with a great deal of exciting and creative approaches, that a few groups of surviving humans use in order to attempt to evade being exterminated. If you have a love of science, you will truly be spellbound as the novel unfolds the innovative methods each group of survivors use to remain undetected. The character development is not very deep, but it is more than sufficent to allow you to hope the players survive their ordeals. As many reviewers have previously mentioned, this is not a happy meeting of humans and aliens as we have been taught from the likes of gifted writers such as Sagan and Asimov. However, it is refreshing to have an alternative look from the idea of friendly mentor type aliens. This novel will cause you to wonder if perhaps we are better off alone, or we are hopefully too far away from other creatures in this universe to be detected.

...but that's hardly a complaint, though, since the science is exceptionally good and the scenario is fascinating. If you can live with the fact that characterization is pretty well light-to-nonexistent, it's a damn good read just for the concepts. It's not for everyone, but if you like this sort of thing, tuck in your napkin and dig in.

When the velocity in the equation approaches lightspeed, even a small mass can retain energy far beyond even the largest nuclear explosion.

Other reviewers have blasted Pellegrino as "sick" and "paranoid." Unfortunately, that does not make him wrong. The brutal logic of this book is impossible to dispute. The "hope" that we and other intelligent species evolve beyond warfare is just that - wishful thinking.

As a novel, it is a decent read. Not much character development but lots of interesting science.

There is so much information in this book, it takes a while to comprehend. However, it is a good overview of how Western society has been in decline and how it started with the ancient Romans. Some little known facts about Darwin: he, himself was troubled by the Cambrian explosion, the complexity of the eye and admitted that "if it could be demonstrated that any complex organ existed, which could not possibly have been formed by numberous, successive, slight modifications, my theory would absolutely break down." We never hear about this Darwin quote at all. Silence.

Recent scientists write in their books "appears to have been designed" due to the mapping of the gene and the lack of discovery of any fossil links. However, they still hold their faith in Darwinism, thinking that any time now, they will find what they are looking for. Instead, they find evidence to the contrary.

This book goes hand in hand with the books written by the intelligent design movement and exposes Darwinism as a moral movement, rather than a scientific one. In order to rewrite morality, Darwinists had to deny God so that they themselves could take on a god-like quality. Since man is now god, they can themselves determine right from wrong, decide who lives and who dies and when (abortion, euthanasia, cloning, stem cell research etc.) In order to soothe the message, beautiful poems and songs were written (we now have books, movies, songs to get the same message across).

I couldn't put this book down! It portrays how various philosophers, scientists, athiests KNOWINGLY deceived the public in order to push their own agenda. I will not look at our current culture the same way again!

I've read many books that have made similar points as this one, but the difference is that this book IS the point. Benjamin Wiker clearly and logically boils the culture wars down to the two primary foes: Christianity and Materialism. Once the reader understands this perspective, the reasons why we have experienced such disastrous upheavals in our culture become crystal clear.

For several hundred years, the Materialists thought that they had all of science to back them up. This is why the very word "science" has become synonymous with Materialism. But more recently, science is beginning to undue some of the most cherished and foundational assumptions of Materialist philosophy. For example:

Materialists thought science had proved the universe was eternal and infinite. (...wrong).

Materialists thought science had proved that atoms and cells were very simplistic building blocks of life. (...wrong).

Materialists thought science would very soon discover that the universe was teeming with life. (...wrong).

Materialists thought science would very soon discover an over abundant fossil record to fill in the gaps between species. (...wrong).

Materialists thought science would very soon discover a fossil record to explain away the Cambrian explosion of life. (...wrong).

The list goes on, but my point is this: Science, the very tool which Materialists claimed exclusively for themselves, and with which they bludgeoned Christianity for centuries, has now turned against them. It seems like almost every day, the closer we look in our microscopes, and the further we look in our telescopes, the more evidence we find showing that the Materialists philosophical world view is not accurate.

But these guys aren't going to give up without a fight. You don't think they're going to let a little thing like scientific discovery get in the way of their agenda, do you? To give you an idea of the ridiculous lengths these guys will go to in order to avoid the truth, I'd like to relate the following true story:

You all remember Jane Goodall, the woman who discovered and filmed chimps in the jungle sticking sticks into an ant hill. This, as we were all told in grade school and on PBS, was "proof" that chimps were almost exactly like humans because, after all, they were making tools. Wow. Well, not too long ago, it was discovered that crows (who have bird brains and no thumbs) could actually fashion fish hooks out of metal wire and catch worms in a long, thin beaker. In one fell swoop, the crows out did the chimps, making even more sophisticated tools, and utterly destroyed Jane Goodall's old assumptions. So what was the Materialists' reaction to this new, earth shattering, scientific discovery? They gave Jane Goodall yet another award for her outdated work (...I kid you not).

Take heart, these guys can't keep up this charade forever.

According to John Maynard Keynes, great intellectual and cultural movements frequently trace back to thinkers who worked in obscurity and are now long forgotten. But some thinkers are both famous and influential. This book focuses on two such thinkers, one largely forgotten, the other a household name. The largely forgotten thinker is Epicurus. The household name is Charles Darwin. The two are related: Epicurus set in motion an intellectual movement that Charles Darwin brought to completion.

Believers in God often scratch their heads about Western culture's continual moral decline. What was unacceptable just a few years ago is today's alternative lifestyle and tomorrow's preferred lifestyle. Abortion, euthanasia, divorce, sexual preferences and drug abuse are just a few of the moral issues that have undergone massive changes in public perception. Too often believers in God take a reactive approach to the culture war and throw their energy into combating what they perceive as the most compelling evil of the moment. In the back of their minds, however, is an awareness that something deeper and more fundamental is amiss and that the evils they are combating are but symptoms of a more underlying and pervasive evil.

Benjamin Wiker has done a brilliant job of tracing the roots of that evil in this book. Insofar as traditional theists sense an underlying cause for the moral decline of Western culture, all roads lead to Epicurus and the train of thought he set in motion. For Epicurus, pleasure consisted in freedom from disturbance. For Epicurus, to allow that God might intervene in the natural world and to take seriously the possibility of an afterlife, (with the moral accountability and judgment it implies) were incompatible with the good life.

To short circuit belief in such a God, Epicurus proposed a mechanistic understanding of nature. Accordingly, Epicurus conceived of nature as an aggregate of material entities operating by blind, unbroken, natural laws. God or the gods might exist, but they took no interest in the world, played no role in human affairs and indeed could play no role in human affairs, since a material world operating according to mechanistic principles leaves no place for meaningful divine action. Moreover, since humans belonged to nature and consisted entirely of material entities, death amounted to a dissolution of a material state and thus precluded any sort of ongoing conscious existence.

Epicurus' most prominent disciple is without question Charles Darwin. Darwinism is not only the most recent incarnation of Epicurean philosophy but also the most potent formulation of that philosophy to date. Darwinism's significance consists in the purported scientific justification it brings to the Epicurean philosophy. But the science itself is weak and ad hoc. As Wiker shows, Darwinism is essentially a moral and metaphysical crusade that fuels our contemporary moral debates. Further, Wiker argues that the motivation behind Darwinism today is its alternative moral and metaphysical vision rather than the promotion of science.

Is reality at its base purposive and intelligent or mindless and material? Wiker brilliantly traces this divide to its metaphysical foundations. In so doing, he shows how the challenge of intelligent design to evolutionary naturalism is not the latest flash in the pan of the culture war but in fact constitutes ground zero of the culture war. If you really want to understand why our culture is in its current state, you must read this book.

(Adapted from the Foreword by William A. Dembski.)

Philip Johnson's "Darwin on Trial" should be regarded as the quintessential example of a nonfiction genre in which Christians complain bitterly of modern America's moral ambiguity, lost to the sins of Godless evolutionism, liberal sexual mores, and liberal moral relativity. Indeed, for most Fundamentalist Protestant Christians, Johnson's book could be regarded as its philosophical "Mein Kampf"; a veritable "Bible" which has set forth the main objectives of those seeking to inject their narrow, intolerant religious values onto all facets of contemporary American society and culture. Benjamin Wicker has continued along the same dismal path, writing a somewhat less vitriolic book than any written by Johnson. However, "Moral Darwinism: How We Became Hedonists" is yet another sloppy example of extremist Fundamentalist Christian doctrine which has cleverly disguised its origins via superb Madison Ave-style advertising. Appropriately enough, William Dembski, whom I perceive as this movement's Josef Goebbels, has written yet another eloquent defense of his sanctimonious moral and religious beliefs, sounding quite righteous and convincing to those unwilling to look deeply at the underlying dark, devious motives of Johnson, Dembski, Wilker and others who wish to change American society into one more reminiscient of Taliban-ruled Afghanistan. In plain English, these religious zealots would prefer living in a theocratic fascist state which incorporated their bizarre notion of Christianity as the state-authorized faith, than in the still enduring, successful experiment in puralistic, yet ecumenical, democratic republicanism that is the United States of America.

Anyone who has read critically the superb histories of such eminent American historians as Gordon Wood - one of my college professors - Bernard Bailyn and others, should realize that the United States in its early Federalist Period was a state rampant with ample moral decay. Indeed, most of Wiker's criticisms could have been made back then, without having to trot out the dubious bogeyman of "Moral Darwinism". In many respects, contemporary America is a more vibrant, democratic state than the one established by the Founding Fathers over two centuries ago. It has enriched itself by extending the democratic franchise to women and racial minorities such as Blacks and Asians. If one wishes some thoughtful criticism of Liberal politics in the United States, then I can think of other, more profound commentators like journalists George Will and Charles Krauthammer, and eminent economist Thomas Sowell (Incidentally he is among the most distinguished alumni of my prestigious New York City public high school.). Unfortunately, all you will get from the likes of both Wilker and Dembski is sanctimonious moral moronic nonsense; if you insist on paying heed to their nonsense, then I strongly advise buying instead a superb book on Klingon Cosmology.

This is a bombshell of a book, not because it unveils radical new ideas or a shocking revolutionary viewpoint, but simply because it inconveniently unearths long-buried and decently dead history. In that sense it's less like a grenade than a ticking time bomb.

It's about a dirty little secret called Eugenics or social engineering, widely promoted at the turn of the century in America and reaching its culmination in world war II. It's heyday was the '20s in America when immigration was restricted by race, Germans being the most desirable immigrants. Margaret Sanger originally started Planned Parenthood to limit the number of blacks, Jews and Irish Catholics--considered undesirables. Later she travelled to Nazi Germany and gave their eugenics program her stamp of approval.

Fast forward to the '60s and an example of lying with statistics called the Kinsey Report. The so-called poll came from convicts jailed for sexual crimes and was extrapolated to provide a survey of the sexual proclivities of Americans. Kinsey decisevely divided sex from marriage and procreation, saying there were only six types of sex and including in that sensual activities which previously wouldn't have been considered sex. In doing so he led the way for pornography to separate sex from the person. Kinsey's many "findings" and statistics are still quoted today by both friends and foes to inflate the numbers of sexual adventurers when, if anything, the trend is the other way, with a rediscovery of marriage and a return to stable families.

It's not that you can't read the facts that Wiker has compiled elsewhere, it's just that you won't, if the so-called "progressive" media has its way. As Wiker shows, it's all been done before. Desperate Housewives-- that's so last Tuesday.

I finally get a book from Amazon that they packed properly so that it isn't destroyed on the way here. however. this book just lacks something I think the previous books had and I cannot put my finger on it.. I think it might be I did not give a darn about the victims . you may like it but buy it used so you won't risk paying full price for one that somehow doesn't quite come together.The setting is wonderful.

Charles Todd's Ian Rutledge, a man who is literally and figuratively haunted by his experiences in the first world war, remains an appealing hero. However, as the Inspector Rutledge series lengthens, several basic elements of the stories really need to find some resolution.

In "A Pale Horse," the Scotland Yard inspector is charged with determining, on behalf of the army, the whereabouts of a mysterious man named Partridge who lives in an isolated cluster of cottages near the famous White Horse--an outline carved into the chalk hillside in prehistoric times. He returns to London, only to be sent to assist the local police in a death in Yorkshire. Is the dead man in Yorkshire connected with the missing man in Tomlin? No prize for giving the correct answer. And certainly coincidences are aplenty here, oppressively so.

The first section of the novel is chiefly devoted to the story of the obsessively vindictive Inspector with whom Rutledge deals in Yorkshire. This portion is never satisfactorily joined to the main action of the book, which centers on the area near the white horse and the village of Tomlin. A subplot involving Rutledge's sister Frances moves fitfully through the work (involving yet another coincidence), only to be dealt with in a very cursory fashion at the end. A female character who has figured in another Rutledge novel makes a few brief and enigmatic appearances in this one. Perhaps these latter issues will be dealt with further in a subsequent series entry, but when this happens too frequently, it doesn't so much interest the reader in reading the future novel, as much as make him or her irritated at the present one. The book rolls on to its conclusion without particularly drawing us in to care very much about any of the characters, with the exception perhaps of the Tomlin blacksmith Andrew Slater, who is nicely fleshed out.

The single biggest problem in the series as it stands is Rutledge's relationship with his personal ghost, Hamish, the spirit of a man Rutledge was compelled to execute by firing squad during World War I. Hamish functions as scourge, advisor, and, on occasion, companion. Todd has developed this mechanism very thoughtfully, but it is beginning to wear thin. I feel like strangling Hamish myself. Will Rutledge ever be able to exorcise Hamish? Will Todd choose to open up the novels by resolving this issue and taking Rutledge in some new direction? I hope so.

I'd also like to see Rutledge turn the tables on his ever hostile supervisor. Bowles's enmity is growing tired as a device for maintaining Rutledge's status quo.

If you already are a Rutledge fan, "A Pale Horse" offers the usual very good entertainment of the atmosphere of post-world-war England, nice local color, good page-to-page writing, and an engaging hero. But if you haven't read any of the series before, I'd go back and start at the beginning. The early novels have a freshness and an inspiration this one lacks.

Charles Todd has maintained the high quality of interest and intensity shown in his earlier Rutledge novels. The book has fulfilled every hope I had for it, and I look forward to the next in the sequence.

This slow-paced mystery is set in early twentieth century England. The protagonist is Inspector Ian Rutledge of Scotland Yard, a man haunted by the ghost of a soldier named Hamish MacLeod, whose voice is his constant companion, conscience and advisor within his head.

The story begins with a group of schoolboys experimenting with alchemy by moonlight in the ruins of an abandoned Abbey. To their horror, they discover that they have apparently raised the devil himself, and swearing each other to secrecy, they run off into the night. The next morning, the body of an unidentified man is discovered in the ruins, dressed in a hooded cloak and gas mask, and next to his foot is a book on alchemy, property of the schoolmaster Albert Crowell.

Thus begins a long investigation into the identity of the dead man, the interrogation of the schoolmaster as a murder suspect, a couple of false trails, and the uncovering of a big cover-up by the British War Office. Along the way, sub-stories relate the circumstances leading to the death of Hamish and also the love life of the Inspector's sister Frances.

The trail takes Rutledge to a group of tiny houses in Berkshire, his job being to observe a man named Gaylord Partridge. The tourist attraction in the area is a huge figure of a horse, cut into the chalk in prehistoric times, and preserved in perpetuity galloping tirelessly along the hillside. Under the pretext of doing some horsing around on the cliffs, Rutledge learns that Partridge has disappeared, as he has been known to do on occasion, and that the occupants of the cottages all have secrets they'd rather keep hidden.

Amidst conflicts with the War Office, his own office politics and local law enforcement, Rutledge painstakingly pecks away at the armor of the residents of the Tomlin Cottages, and things start heating up both literally and figuratively when arson and murder go hand in hand.

A solid read, except for a few questionable plot contrivances, and packed with local color, this story starts off on a high note, and hastens to increase the pace as it wraps up at the end, but dallies too long in the middle for short attention spans.



Amanda Richards, April 13, 2008

The weakest of all the books. Does the author not know the law? Rutledge knows the identity of the murder victim (and has proof from independent identification of the sketch) and yet allows another policeman (Madsen) to hold an innocent man who could not have killed him (a phone call would have fixed this problem)? By sleight of hand, the innocent guy is then charged with a murder of a missing man(Shoreham)when no body has been found or whether he is really missing? What a major flaw! The book gives great evidence of being hurriedly written. What a big disappointment--this flaw is so major that I stopped reading at the halfway point.

The most overrated book in medicine. Ferri's is much more useful. I bought , rarely used. Not much useful information. Would not recommend to anyone.

The book is very thorough in the major areas of medicine, but there have been several things that I have tried to look up and there is only one line of info on it....I like the book b/c it is light and easy to carry around, and good for quick reference, but for reading and learning purposes I reccommend a REAL reference book

5 stars for what it's supposed to be used for:

Have used both Ferri's and the Washington Manual and would have to say Washington is by far tops (also Ferri's has unfortunately gotten so fat and its binder is terrible to boot!!). In terms of what to exactly treat your patients with and how to give it, as an intern this can be very nerve-racking. The Washington Manual helps lessen some of this anxiety with good recommendations and timely pearls. The Washington Manual is also nice for the quick jogging of memory as a more senior resident or for an attending treating easy or mildly-complex out-of-specialty problems. Nothing as of yet really beats this time-tested cook book like ole' Washington to get your bearings.

Once again, it's a cook book albeit a very good one. But obviously, as a chef is much more than the recipes he knows, it's assumed that the diligent clinician's "unwritten job" is to appraise the literature, read solid textbooks, go to conferences, use time-tested clinical experience.

The MGH blue / black pocket Medicine guide is also really good! Uses lots of new studies as evidence, excellent tables and algorithms, but doesn't cover as much. MGH and Washington complement each other quite well in many respects.

There are many more useful resources available. This book was of little use for my practice. Keep searching!

This reference is extraordinarily useful in multiple fields of medicine. Containing succinct information on disease states, therapeutics, and monitoring, this book should be included in every physician and pharmacist's library.

It took me 2 Months though..it will really teach you Sript Hosting..per se... Just be patient and eager enough to learn step by step...

I have read this books (majority of chapters) and found this books gives a good overview of the WSH. I think it is good starting book. I recommend to do a cursory read on this book and get more specialized books on specific topics.

Check also the Microsoft website for good presentation on WSH...
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/scriptcenter/webcasts/archive.mspx

The biggest problem with the WSH and VBScript is that it is marketed as being a powerful but simple "macro" language. Nothing could be further from the truth. VBScript is essentially VB without the forms and graphics. VBScript is just as powerful, has the same controlling capabilities, and uses almost all the same commands and syntax as VB. To think of writing scripts for the WSH as anything less than programming is a mistake.

When I first got this book, I read a ways into it, decided I didn't have the time or energy to go on, and put it aside. Had I written a review at that point, it would not have been favorable. Then I learned more about the WSH, what it was and what my expectations should be, what a person could do with it - and I picked it back up, and really applied myself. And apply yourself you must for this book. The first 154 pages of this 600 page book teach you the syntax and structure of VBScript (and some JScript). It's a little dry, and easy to get lost in. But once you have that down, the rest of the book can really open things up and show you quite a bit.

Besides an introduction to the language, the book covers "upgrading" your old batch files, writing logon scripts for users, automating network tasks, SQL server, IIS server, as well as showing you how to use ActiveX objects for the file system, CDO, ADO (Database), etc. The book even goes so far as to touch on ADSI scripting for Windows NT and Windows 200 Active Directory.

Even though at this point in time the book is a little out-dated (written in the Windows NT 4 time), it is still a good learning tool. Not so unlike other "... in 21 days" books, the average person won't complete the book in that time, and you learn just as much correcting the errors in the code and doing the workshop material as you do from the actual guided lessons. If you're looking for a scripting solution that is quick and easy, WSH and VBScript isn't it, and neither is this book. If you're looking for a powerful automation tool for network and services automation, and you're willing to spend the time it will take to complete this book, then this could be the title for you.

For a programmer who has used VB, Java, or any ASP, this book will boost your skills incredibly with a minimal learning curve. It shows the basics of the WSH objects and an overview of VBScript and JScript within the first few chapters- it is worth buying the book just for those chapters alone.

If you are not familiar yet with the concepts of OOP and looking at object models, you might need a primer found in another book before looking into WSH. It is built purely on objects that your code will refence and it can be a bear to take on unprepared.

It will be interesting to see how the .Net framework will integrate the objects in WSH- there is a significant chance that little in this book will be completely valid after Windows XP and Visual Studio .Net have become standard. Nevertheless, this book is an invaluable tool to the Windows programmer who wants to simplify life by automating as many tasks as possible.

This book is a great intro to Windows Script Host. A definate must-have for scripting newbies.

Some reviewers here complain some of the scripts dont work, but that's because WSH has been updated since then. After you purchase the book, you can download the scripts from the author's website.

If you want to buy the book, go ahead, just be careful of superbookdeals, they take your money but don't deliver and don't answer emails. Caveat Emptor.

Charlie D is a wonderful biography that I could not stop reading. It helps put things into perspective. Investing and making money is one thing, but you have to live life as well otherwise you won't be able to appreciate your work and money. This book will give some motivation and help your psychological frame of mind, but will not directly help your stock picking and trading like the other books.

Charlie D is a wonderful biography that I could not stop reading. It helps put things into perspective. Investing and making money is one thing, but you have to live life as well otherwise you won't be able to appreciate your work and money. This book will give some motivation and help your psychological frame of mind, but will not directly help your stock picking and trading like the other books.

I've had this book, for over five years. I pick it up, and read it again... every year. It's one of my favorite books.

The only "meat" for traders, is chapter six... "Charlie's lecture," and it's good.

But the book is much more than that, it's how to live well, and be good to people... with whatever "wealth" you have! Be nice to everyone, that's what Charlie is saying to me in this book! How cool.

The book has some boring spots, but still, I enjoy reading it; every year or so.

The meat is in Charlie D's lecture, a little foreplay before, nothing later on. The rest of the book looks like it is written for the Sports Illustrated book of the month club.

"The principles of trading are the same if you're trading 10,20,50 or 100 contracts at a time, or if you're simply trading one. But it takes less time to make more money when you're a larger trader."

When Charlie figured out trading calendar spreads was the most consistent way to make money he mastered the concept and started trading 50-lots at a time instead of always living in fear of losing money trading 1-lots.

He took little blips out (of the market) with enormous size.

Everybody's trading price relationships, you have to have a position on to earn a living. The bigger the position the less time it takes and the more you earn. Always challenge yourself to do it bigger and better and with more size.

"The longer time you serve ... with a position on, the more you know about yourself and the more you know about trading."

"One of the most important things you learn with positions on is how to get out of a trade. You have to take losses today so that you can come back tomorrow."

"The time you know you've become a good trader is that first day you were able to win by holding and adding to a winning position."

---0o0----

There are no investing secrets of masters here (the statisticians referenced were not investors). This reads instead like a Financial Analyst lecture or coursebook, and a badly written one at that.

I could have done without the ugly, hugely biased section on Adam Smith and the completely false assertion that Reaganomics (i.e. huge deficit defense spending) saved our economy. FWIW, Carter appointed Paul Volcker to the Fed, and the Fed cut inflation down and revitalized the economy.

The main idea is too invest money, make a profit, and get the money back. Losing the initial investment money to speculation is not acceptable. Investing is not speculating. High yielding stocks often correlate with higher prices.

The message is clear, investing is about risk management. Lets use the following example of five periods of returns: 8, 9, 10, 11, and 12. The total number of items is five. The mean=(8+9+10+11+12)/5=10. The mean represents the average. The Delta is the difference between the return and the mean: -2, -1, 0, 1, and 2. The Square or Power of 2 of the Delta is : 4, 1, 0, 1, 4. The Standard Deviation is the SQRT(Sum of Delta squared) divided by the (count minus 1). Variance is equal to the Delta squared divided by the count. The TChebyShev equation 1-1/k*k where k=[0..10] provides a percent probability of a number being in the negative and positive muliple of the standard deviation from the mean. This equation can be used too tell us the risk of loss. For example when k=1 their is no numbers in the range of 1 standard deviation from the mean, when k=2 the probability is 75 percent of the numbers are in the positive and negative range of 2 standard deviations, and when k=5 there is a 96 percent probability the numbers are in the range. The range represents the risk resistence and support parameters. The larger the standard deviation value the greater the risk.

To find the upper and lower range from the mean requires one to multiple the Standard deviation by the k coefficient then adding and subtracting the upper and lower value from the mean.

The most important part of this discussion is finding the odds of returns below zero percent. First, divide the mean by the variance. This produces a k number. Plug the k number into the equation percent=(1-1/k*k)*100 and then subtract from 100. The resulting percent is the risk associated with the returns. The close k approaches 10 the safier the investment.

This example demonstrates a small sampling of returns. However, it seems slow steady growth with low return volatility with steady returns produce the lowest risk. Its interesting to think about what types of stocks match such a profile.

Instead of investment secrets or unique skills of gurus projected by the book title and its cover design, it was the authors' free writing, primarily fundamental analysis oriented, of asset allocation, diversification, interest rate, GDP, tax, dividend payout ratio etc etc and their effects on investment return well supported by the authors' own unscientific choice of data within a 10 yr range skewed favorably towards the authors' points of view.

I dont mind reading just another investment book (and not the investing secrets advertised) if it "shows me the money", as I had already read over tens of them. However, I am disappointed by the authors' poor writing skill and the limited knowledge presented.

In research term: Sell.

Investing in IPOs describes the process behind taking a private company public in the United States. The book lists the players in an initial public offering and describes the documents that must be filed with securities regulators. It also offers suggestions about what characteristics lead to successful IPOs, such as a history of profits, a strong management team and a lack of strong competition. Also noteworthy are the advance warning signs which point to losers. These signs include pending lawsuits, low-price stock and recently changed business plans. We at ... recommend this book with its exhaustive and useful look at the IPO process to investors and to companies pondering an IPO. This clearly written book includes specific examples that use real-world companies to illustrate points.

Every once in a while a book comes along that opens a door to the future. This book is it! It is a simple, understandable road map to deal with investing for one's prosperous future. These sensational ideas are an asset to anyone that applies its lessons. It's definitely been the right book at the right time for me. By following the wise advice in this great book you'll be financially comfortable too!