In Translation Books

Fantasy literature is my favorite genre; has been for many years. So when I finally got around to reading this book, after perusing some of the 5 star reviews, I was very much looking forward to a great fantasy/adventure.

This is the tale of a young boy (Bastian) and a quest that takes him into the fantasy world of a book that he is reading.

It is a story that is generally well written, but despite having some good qualities, I just could not get into the 'flow' of this story. Though the quest was indeed a noble one that does have some dramatic and touching moments, I found the writing was somehow geared for a definitively younger audience than myself.

I've cut my fantasy teeth on Tolkien's 'Lord of the Rings', Asimov's 'Foundation', George R.R. Martin's 'Ice and Fire' series, Erikson's 'Malazan' saga, also the likes of Bakker, Abercrombie and J.V.Jones, just to mention a few. These aforementioned authors tend to pull no punches when it comes to gory battles, horrific acts and clandestine plotting etc. and I must admit that these are the type of tales to which I've become addicted.

'The Neverending Story' was OK-ish, however, it was tame, too tame for my tastes. It lacked for me that subtle excitement, that propensity for the unexpected that my favorite fantasy books just seem to exude almost from page one. I hesitantly admit that I found myself actually skimming some parts (not a good sign) because I was bored and uninterested in what was happening to the characters within this tale.

Conclusion:

A fantasy story with qualities reminiscent of a faerie tale; meant, I believe for the kinder, gentler and probably younger, fantasy lover. If your looking for battles, deceit and treachery, the chilling unexpected etc. then look elsewhere. In all honesty, this is one of those books that I have difficulty understanding the huge popularity it has achieved. Also somewhat difficult to rate; I can understand a 5 star rating if you loved this book, but to me...1 1/2 to 2 Stars.

Ray Nicholson

This book was for a younger group of readers. It would have been a great book if I was a bit younger.

Great book for all ages.
One caveat though ...
If you love the movie then the book may confuse or even frustrate you. The movie ends at about the halfway point of the book. If you haven't seen the movie I recommend reading the book first.

This is the story of ten year old Bastian. Bastian's mother died, his father is grieving and not paying him any attention, and he gets bullied all the time by kids at school. Bastian uses reading and making up stories as an escape from his life. One day, running from bullies from school, Bastian finds himself hiding in a bookstore. There he discovers a book called "The Neverending Story" that transports him to another world literally. Bastian finds that in this new world he is able to be the person he always imagined himself being. But, is that the person he really wants to be?

I have loved the movie version of this book since I was a kid, so needless to say I was looking forward to reading it. The book was great! I was quite surprised to find out the movie only covered the first half of the book though. After that, the story was all new to me! I thought it was neat that my copy of the book is written in red when the story is taking place in the human world and in blue when the story is taking place in Fantastica. The story actually became quite a bit darker in the second half and the movie would never lead you to believe that. I did start losing interest in the last few chapters, but all in all, it was a pretty good read.

The Neverending Story (Die unendliche Geschichte) is a 1979 young adult fantasy novel by Michael Ende, translated from the original German by Ralph Manheim and illustrated by Roswitha Quadflieg. In our world, Bastian, a fat, unpleasant, unloved bookworm of a child, steals a book called The Neverending Story from a shop. This book chronicles the adventures of the child hero Atreyu, who embodies all the virtues that Bastian does not, as he attempts to save the world of Fantastica from total destruction. But their two worlds, as Bastian comes to discover, are connected.

By now, most people coming to The Neverending Story for the first time will already be familiar with the 1984 Wolfgang Petersen film. The movie covers the first half of the book, and The Neverending Story II is only loosely based on the second half.

Ende has created dozens of imaginative lands and creatures - perhaps too many, as the reader is taken through them all so quickly that few are able to make a lasting impact. This is probably The Neverending Story's biggest flaw. There is material here for numerous books, but all packed together, it reads like a whirlwind, and often feels like the literary equivalent of looking out the window of a high-speed train, moving from one fantastic situation to another without a pause to soak in the scenery (or have a little character development).

Bastian is the only character who receives significant development (Atreyu has the monomyth pattern stamped all over him; he is a two-dimensional, archetypal hero to the core), and Ende does some surprising things with him. Bastian evolves from an unlikable child with low self-confidence to an arrogant bully to a villainous tyrant, and it's a gutsy move on Ende's part to take Bastian as far down that path as he does.

Ende touches lightly on a number of mature themes, including life and death, morality, love, belief, and desire. Again, though, one wishes he had spent a little more time developing them, which would have given the book a deeper and more lasting impact.

The book itself is artistically done and well-presented. The text is presented in two colors: one for scenes on Earth and one for scenes on Fantastica. The book is divided into twenty-six chapters, each with its own illustrated frontispiece featuring the first letter of that chapter's text (they go from A to Z, in order) and that chapter's events.

On the whole, The Neverending Story is an entertaining and highly imaginative fantasy that will appeal to fans of the genre of all ages, even if its brisk pace holds it back somewhat.

I feel this is a wonderful book whether you are a new believer or have been a Christian for years. This wonderful book makes sense out of things I have often been confused over or even wondered about from time to time ... it also refreshed my mind as I read it ... it is certainly easy reading and I absolutely love it and enjoy every minute of reading it. It is EASY reading and SO very, VERY enjoyable! I recommend this book for anyone from teenage or even pre-teen to 80 something ... it has no age parameters ... which also adds to its enjoyment from my standpoint ... what an enjoyable book! I previously bought and tried to read another one of this type and try as hard as I could I just could not get into it and was so very disappointed in myself as I wanted so desperately to read it ... this book makes me feel so good ... in fact ... I bought a 2nd book for my husband and my daughter, who has has a pre-teen bought it for her son, she had already read it and enjoyed it as well. How I wish I had bought this years ago ... I am sure I will continually pick this up and re-read it throughout the years!

i like to call this my 'bible for dummies' because it's so easy to read...i really love it!

Every teenage should have one. I recieved mine as a young teen and it makes reading the Bible easy and fun. I also gave this to a young woman I was helping along. She loved it.

This is a MUST for especially NEW Christians & all Christians should have this Book in their Library. It makes you READ, READ, and just hunger & thirst for more. It also helps you understand the Holy Bible more. The Book is not replacing the Holy Bible it gives you a much better understanding of what the Bible is saying. For those who have a hard time reading the Bible, Please, Please get The Book. It has helped me so much to understand the Miraculous wonders of God from the Holy Bible. Thank you for the Book, it is a God send.
Being Bless'd
Sister Carolyn M. Chase
Owings Mills, MD

THIS IS THE BIBLE FOR PEOPLE WHO WANT IT IN MORE CURRENT LANGUAGE.IT WILL EXPLAIN IN MORE UP TO DATE TERMS THINGS THAT YOUR CHURCH THINKS YOU ALREADY KNOW.IF YOU TRY TO READ THE BIBLE BUT YOU'RE JUST NOT GETTING IT,TRY THIS ONE.THERE IS ALSO ONE FOR TEENS.

Great study version. This version breaks down the names and defines their meaning. It does not supply a commentary.

Sargeant W's efforts are helpful to Sanskrit lovers/learners. Sargeant Krishna & Sage Vyasa's message is made more transparent to sanskrit learners.

I have read over a dozen translations of Bhagavad Gita over the past 25 years. IMHO, this is the best English translation. The "inter-liner" translation is really a neat idea and I wish someone does inter-liner translations for other ancient works such as Thiru-Kural.

The book is a translation from Sanskrit to English. Excellent if that is what you are looking. However, if you are looking for interpretation or an understanding of what it means then better buy some other book like the Bhagavad-Gita As It Is by A. C. Bhaktivedanta. Some may call it biased, but I think it is better for a new reader.

This book is meant for scholars or students looking to translate Bhagavad Gita and have a reference point for those difficult verses. There is nothing more to the book than an intro., and the Gita translated word for word. Even the verses themselves cannot be found whole. That is not to say that this isn't an excellent book. I have another similar book but he has some different opinions on the names: winthrop's Gudakesha- "thick haired one" but the other guy says: Gudakesha- "conquerer of sleep" This also happens with Hrishikesha: (don't quote me on this one) "spiny haired one" and the other guy writes Hrishikesha: "conquerer of the senses" I'm leaning toward the other guy (forgive me for not having the name) because the rest of the "nicknames" refer to past achievements and such. So, if you want to learn sanskrit and you're ready for the Gita this will be excellent, or if you're memorizing verses and want to know the exact meaning behind them, this is for you.

The book arrived in a timely fashion and it was perfect, untouched! Good price.

Hey Amazon

I think you have the wrong Editorial Review at the top of this page!

F

This book contains a novella as well as several short stories by the prominent Palestinian author Ghassan Kanafani. Kanafani is known in the Arab world as a literary master, and "Men in the Sun" is deemed by many to be his masterpiece. The book was a tremendous pleasure to read and at the same time intensely thought-provoking. Kanafani's original writing style is brought out beautifully in this excellent translation. In these stories, Kanafani experiments with various literary techniques that were revolutionary in the world of literature at their time (1960s). I particularly enjoy the twists of plot at the end of each story, and how the very last sentence forces me to re-think and re-evaluate my entire understanding of the piece. Seeped in the author's struggle for freedom and for a homeland, these stories reflect a deep understanding of human relationships and the human condition. Yet despite (or perhaps because of) this depth, the main characters tend to always be ordinary human beings - usually from the lower classes. Another feature of "Men in the Sun" is the variation of voice and perspective from paragraph to paragraph. For a moment we are in the head of one character, an old man crossing the desert to Kuwait. The next we're taken back in time to 1948, when that man was forced to leave his country by the ravages of war. Then we're transplanted into the shoes of another character, a young man hitching a ride from Jordan to Iraq. All this is done smoothly enough not to interrupt the narrative, but instead, the perspective of the plot wanders as thoughts naturally wander in one's mind. Truly Kanafani was a master of literary techniques. Few have been able to pack so many ideas and characterization and so much change into a short story.

Recommend: "Palestine's Children: Returning to Haifa & Other Stories" and "All that's left to you", both by Kanafani

Written and published in the 1950s and 1960s, this slender volume of stories by Ghassan Kananfani speaks of the displacement of Palestinians in ways that are timeless and still fresh today. They speak of loss more than hope, and although the author was an activist and spokesman for the Palestinian Popular Front, he seemed in these writings to simply bring attention to the human cost of political struggle in the Middle East. He himself was killed by a car bomb in Beirut in 1972.

The most compelling of these stories is the novella "Men in the Sun," which tells of the efforts of three men being smuggled into Kuwait from Iraq and the truck driver who has offered to help them across the border. The fierce desert heat represents the terrible odds against their ever being able to escape the consequences of war and loss of homeland. But this is only one theme among many, as Kananfani explores traits of Arab character which seem to intensify inner conflict and erode the ability to act purposefully. The story "If You Were a Horse" concerns itself with superstition, fear, and overwhelming regret that divides father from son and leads to misfortune. The book includes an informative introduction by Hilary Kilpatrick.

Ghassan Kanafani was born in 1936 in Acre, northern Palestine, and his family was among the Palestinian diaspora of 1948. Kanafani became a leading member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, but since his assassination in 1972 (in a car bomb most probably the handiwork of the Mossud) Kanafani's impact as a writer has grown so that by now his literary fiction is a much greater part of his legacy than political theory or activism.

The title novella, MEN IN THE SUN, is one of the most powerful stories I have read in some time. Written in 1962, its subject is three Palestinians trying to get from the dead-end refugee camps to Kuwait, where there is work. The smuggler they ultimately choose is yet another Palestinian, who fought for the Palestinian cause in 1948 and was emasculated (literally), and now drives a lorry with a water tank back and forth between Basra, Iraq, and Kuwait. You can probably intuit the horror that unfolds, but in Kanafani's telling the reader is spellbound. Significantly, blame is not parcelled out (it is more that no one and everyone is to blame). Rather than focus on the causes, in MEN IN THE SUN Kanafani focuses on the effects, as they are absorbed by various and sundry everyday people.

The book also contains six short stories, four of which also deal directly with displaced Palestinians. "The Land of Sad Oranges" and "Umm Saad" are the best and most effective of these. Finally, the story "The Falcon" is worth reading for the impact of its last few lines.

Kanafani is inescapably a Palestinian writer, but he should not be pigeonholed as some sort of novelty act or relegated to being the token Palestinian in some sort of multicultural literary survey. This book, while not great literature, is literature nonetheless, and I believe the reader who approaches it with an open mind will find it both humane and universal in its scope.

A lovely book. Translations from another culture and time that we can still relate to. A pleasure to read and reread.

Wonderful poems showing the power and of two woman poets of the Heian Jidai. Exposes the "nature" poetry prejudice that derives from the unfortunately all male cutesy pie abbreviations of Westernized haiku. Waka yes, Haiku no.

The Heian period of Japan was artistically fertile time that produced numerous classic works of literature. It was even more remarkable in that most of the major literary figures of the time were women. Among those great women, Ono no Komachi and Izumi Shikibu were two of the best. Their waka poetry (now called 'tanka') is some of the best literature ever written in Japan and the poetesses themselves have become the stuff of legend.

Doing justice in translating ancient Japanese into modern English is no easy task, but Hirshfield and Aratani have created translations that are as beautiful as the originals. Anyone who enjoys poetry, who loves love, or who is interested in other cultures and finding the universal passions of the human heart will enjoy this book.

--M. Kei, editor of Fire Pearls : Short Masterpieces of the Human Heart

Jane Hirshfield and Mariko Aratani have done a marvelous job with the translation of these lovely tanka-- manages to capture both their fragility and robust complexity. I had an acquaintance who was a scholar with a focus on Japanese literature. She explained to me a little bit about the complexity of translating waka. I have nothing but admiration for those who can do it well. Hirshfield actually has an essay at the back of this book called "On Japanese Poetry and the Process of Translation". I recommend it highly, even if you do not normally read this kind of essay.

I am a little bit afraid that the focus on the love poems and the emphasis on Ono no Komachi and Izumi Shikibu as female writers may give the wrong idea about the strength and importance of the poetry. Shikibu is widely considered the greatest poet of her period and Ono no Komachi was one of the Rokkasen-- the six best waka poets of the early Heian period. The reason that I am not giving this volume five stars is because of this packaging and not because of the poetry itself.

These poems are a joy to read aside from any issues of scholarship. They are strong and sad and very affecting. There is actually no stronger recommendation to read this than the poems themselves, so I will close this review with one of the poems by Shikibu:

What is the use
of cherishing life in spring?
Its flowers
only shackle us
to this world.

Unlike other reviewers, I am not an aficionado of Japanese poetry or culture, nor have I ever studied this period in Japanese history. I found this book entirely by chance buried in an obscure corner in my college library. I read a couple of random pages and fell in love. I checked it out repeatedly throughout my academic career, then bought it.

These women so effectively communicate, in few words, universal feelings of love. While the poems are deceptively simple, they manage to be so beautiful that I am amazed every time I pick it up.

Even more impressive than the writing is how easy it is to relate to the emotions behind it. As I have grown older and experienced so much more of life, I am surprised to find my own feelings mirroring one poem after another. What once seemed pretty words are eerily my own thoughts. It's amazing, considering they were written one thousand years ago!

If you're thinking about buying this, I suggest using the preview to read the few sample pages. If you like what you see, just get it. You won't be disappointed.

The Message is made available to the members of our congregation. It has greatly incresaed Bible study, especially for those who listen to it as they commute to work. For any who are more comfortable listening than reading, I highly recommend it.

like my title this version is amesome. it's cheap enough to buy it. i have listened to it at work and learned so much, i also have been listening to it as i read the bible, so i am hearing and reading it. for if i listen i can drift thoughts, or things of many other things, if i just read it late at night i can fall asleep, or realize the last 2 chapers, i don't know what i was reading. so by doing both i have been getting heaps out of the old testament, which is hard for people to get warmed up to. But i sure have. you'll like it.

"The Message" is a paraphrase of the Bible. It is easy to read and understand; however, readers should be cautioned that this is one author's interpretation. "The Message is not THE BIBLE and is marketed as a paraphrase. This is also not a verse by verse paraphrase but rather a chapter by chapter look at how Eugene Peterson interprets the scripture. Therefore, it changes the meaning of scripture that is conveyed in trusted translations of the BIBLE.

The Message is a great translation for listening to the Bible. The 5 MP3 CDs are an economical and convenient way to get the material. As others have noted, the readers are very easy to listen to. The production is very well done.

I hate to be the one to nitpick, but I noticed several dozen numbering errors in the file names and in the MP3 meta data. Perhaps I'm handicapped by a poor media player but I had to correct some of these files by hand for the chapters to sort perfectly. I'm certain that in most cases the errors go completely unnoticed by listeners because the files themselves are in the correct order on the CDs. The files on CD 4 are arranged in a completely different manner than the other discs.

So while I found the MP3 arrangements imperfect, the content itself is superb and deserves 5 stars. Buy it.

Having enjoyed the hard copy versions of The Message for years, I decided to invest in the CD version and was very glad that I did. Each chapter of The Message has a brief snazzy musical intro (which I *really* like) with a woman's voice giving a background about the church, the times and the general history. I suppose I glossed over this part in the written form, but I surely do enjoy listening to it on tape. It really helps put the whole thing in context.

I'm always hesitant to invest in these "books on tape" because sometimes, the reading so dry and boring, but the reading on The Message is strong, clear and interesting. The intro to Matthew even features Eugene Peterson himself, explaining a little background about how he wrote "The Message."

I am *not* an audio-based learner but more of a visual learner, yet my thoughts don't drift whilst listening to these CDs. I find it very easy to stay focused and really pay attention and soak up the meanings.

I've listened to these CDs for several years now and they never grow old. I love the layout and organizations of the tracks, the little case (very handy), the narrator's voice, the music and above all, I love listening to The Message.

It is the first book by Isaac Singer I read and it won't be the last. A wonderful tale about the strengths and weaknesses of the human heart and mind masterfully written.

New York after the Jewish Holocaust in Europe. Herman Broder lives a frantic life between 2 wives, and soon to be three. He writes books for a rabbi. His life is a lie, a big lie to which he's grown used. His mind is a mess, just as his life is. The women around him are products of their survival experiences in Europe during the war, as he is too. Religion is present in every page, almost every line, whether it's mentioned with hate or with hope. Things Jewish are ever present: one gets to learn a lot about Jewish customs and terminology.

The story, however chaotic and improbable, almost ridiculous, doesn't fail to be interesting. The author sure knows how to move on between scenes and keep the pace of the changes in Herman's life. The overall impression is of confusion in all areas of live: sentimental, business, psychological, and of course, religious.

These characters behave so weird after their painful experiences, their loss of loved ones, and their witnessing of so much suffering, that they don't believe in anything anymore, not even in why they keep living. Seems they are bewildered and just make most of what they've got at that very moment: which for Herman is most of the time sex. But that is a temporary refuge from insanity, not permanent. People here are lost, drifters melting into the human masses of New York City.

The book is readable, well told, but the story ain't much fun. Herman just annoys me. And the others aren't very likable either. It's a mess of a book that leaves a sweet-sour taste.

Isaac Bashevis Singer writes a novel of sheer absurdity and yet, page by page, he makes it very believable.

Herman Broder is a Jew who managed to escape the gas chambers of the Nazi Holocaust by living in a hayloft with his mother's servant Yadwiga from Poland for three years. His wife was not so lucky.....she and her children were all killed by the Nazis......at least that is what we (along with Herman) are led to believe early on. Herman manages to make it to the United States where he marries the peasant girl servant Yadwiga out of sheer gratitude for her saving his life, not out of any kind of a love or fondness for her. And while he is married to Yadwiga, he is carrying on an affair with Masha, who also went through her own camp horrors in Russia. Herman identifies more with her, not to mention the fact that an attraction also exists there, both physically and intellectually.

But just when you think the suspension of disbelief Singer creates cannot get any more bizarre, it does, when Tamara, his ex-wife, shows up in New York, after surviving the Nazis. Herman now has two and sometimes three women after him, and still he is unable to commit to any one of them. Singer creates a novel of absurd proportions, and then has the temerity to keep it growing! And the arrant brilliance in it is that it works on the reader to the very end.

Along the way the characters reveal thoughts which make one think more of a philosophical treatise than of a novel, a mark of a great writer and one of the reasons I could not put this book down:

"How peculiar that a panful of brains should be constantly wondering and not able to arrive at any conclusion! They were all silent: God, the stars, the dead. The creatures who did speak revealed nothing."
-Isaac Bashevis Singer, from the book "Enemies, A Love Story"

There are few writers such as Oscar Wilde to whom I can say they are unequivocally brilliant......Singer is certainly one of them.

How does one cope with such a thing? You know? The Holocaust.

It was the Holocaust that took Herman's parents, wife and two children. He manages to survive by hiding in a hayloft. For three long years, a former servant in his home, Yadwiga, a plain, uneducated but loving Polish woman, keeps him hidden and alive. After the war, we find Yadwiga and Herman married and living in Brooklyn. For other Holocaust survivors, Brooklyn represents opportunity, a sense of re-birth. All around him, new families are being formed out of what is left of old ones. Old customs are being renewed. The old prayers are said. Feasts are held. Traditions prevail. Life goes on. The future is hopeful, but not for Herman. Herman merely exists. He has a job as a ghost-writer for a famous rabbi. Herman is good at writing inspirational messages, messages of hope. But, Herman is not a believer. Not anymore. Not since the Holocaust. To Herman, God is either dead or an enemy. God is out to get him. Herman has a mistress, Masha, a camp survivor. His life is complicated. Then, as it turns out, his first wife who supposedly died in the camps, she's alive. Now Herman has two wives and a mistress. Complicated. They all want a piece of him. Emotionally, he retreats to the hayloft. But, emotionally, Herman is already dead, as dead as he would have been had he been found and sent to the camps, as dead as the rest of them, as dead as his faith in God. In the hayloft, minute by minute, day by dragging day, Herman was exterminated.

In New York

The hotel staff

gave me the chair

that

Isaac B Singer

used to

lean his back against


years before he died




custom made


produced

out of gentle wings of butterflies


that circled his first wife's head


every day and night in Treblinka


before she finally

went

up in smoke




So

I went down at the front desk


A weird occurence

of

that strange and powerful thing

I certainly

wanted to bring to their attention



Of course they say


I. B. Singer

never stayed here

never had a first wife

nor she died in the concentration camp



But what's metter?



My back

feels better


way better



ever since

You should check out Jade Sol Luna's "Hecate: Death, Transition and Spiritual Mastery". He swears by the INVOCATIONS IN THIS book!

Professor H. D. Betz has filled a lacuna in ancient Graeco-Egyptian scholarship for the English speaking world. At last, the formidable erudition of the Papyri Graecae Magicae ["Greek Magical Papyruses"], edited by the German scholar Preisendanz with German translation, is made available to the vulgar human herd.

This unruly herd still will not understand the content and context of the majority of these magical spells, incantations, charms and wish-fulfilments by the ignorant and under-educated people of late antiquity. As the purpose of Egyptian 'magic' [Eg. heku] was to learn the 'law of the god' [Eg. hp n ntr], as one was 'pursuing wisdom' [Eg. mre rhw], so as to (1.) control the world, (2.) learn timeless secrets, and (3.) see the divine; this was the core of Egyptian scribal culture from its beginnings (c. 3000 BCE) to its collapse in the 4th century ACE [After the Common Era].

The vile superstitions of the people of the book, Hebrew, Christian & Islamic, destroyed this magnificent perspective, which when mingled with Babylonian, Persian, Greek and Indian learning, eventually gave us our scientific revolutionary experimental culture.

To understand properly this devolution in cognition and perception, one must go back to the lector priests or 'reading' priests of the ancient Egyptian temples and shrines. These were the elite magicians of ancient Egypt [2700 BCE to c. 600 BCE]. They literally wrote their rites, rituals, and incantation spells on the walls of their great temples, for the Pharoah or Hem-Netjer Tepey [High Priest] to enact or perform. This was the source of these fantastic spells and magical incantations---ten centuries before our present texts were committed to writing. There were, of course, seventeen centuries before these ten centuries, as this magical priestly culture built up from its crude African beginnings.

My suggestion is mastery of competence in Egyptian Hieroglyphics [Classical Egyptian of the Eighteenth Dynasty, New Kingdom, 1567-1320], BCE], as well as Classical Attic Greek before you devour this delicious treatise. You will then have the mental framework to enjoy these tidbits which Professor Betz gives you.

The author of the first review here gave young scholars correct insight as to the strength and weaknesses of this particular edition. We still do not have a competent Egyptologist to review this material to paginate the ancient magical formulae [Eg. hp] that monotonously re-appear over and over in these scattered texts of two centuries (essentially, 4th and 5th centuries ACE). This would require twenty years of concentrated scholarship by a savant; this should not be too demanding of a task in our filthy, ignorant age---what else do savants have to do?

So, beside editorial scholarship (copyists, redactors, etc.), this massive amount of erudite, arcane information requires a brilliant Commentator. The intellectual Research Scientist, Garth Fowden, has begun the task in his charming Princeton University Press "mythos" treatise, "The Egyptian Hermes". Now we need an Isaac Casaubon! [See his 1614 treatise, "De rebus sacris et ecclesiasticis exercitationes XVI. Ad Cardinalis Baronii prolegomena in Annales.] What he did for the Hermetic literature needs to be done for this magical literature.


Respectfully,


John E.D.P. Malin,
Chairman of the Board & Chief Executive Officer
Informatica Corporation
Executive Division
P.O. Drawer 460
Cecilia, Louisiana 70521-0460

[...]

--

The Greek Magical Papyri have had a profound impact on a wide range of historical topics, from esoteric traditions of magic to the shaping of Christianity (see Morton Smith's book "Jesus the Magician"). Hence this work is invaluable for anyone studying the history of religious and magical thought.

I found the translations here to be accessible and to the point, Some of the charms were rather amusing (to have an erection anoint your "thing"---translator's words!---with a mixture of honey and pepper), to fairly well outside what I would consider ethical (large numbers of charms requiring the drowning of animals).

All in all though this is an unappreciated and important work. I would highly recommend it.

A must have for anyone interested in Hermetic magick, this edition of PMG is fantastic, easy to read , very tidy clean work with many useful notes and references. Even if you're not into to the occult this edition of PMG will help you uderstand what religion was for people back then. Great work I really enjoyed reading it.

This book isn't for the casual reader, it is both hard to read as well as understand, if you are looking for a book on witchcraft there are much easier reads and the spells and rituals in this tome are not really going to be possible to recreate without serving time.
As a look into the everyday lives of our ancestors and how they saw magick as an everyday event it is amazing, worth the hard read to see just what the modern world has lost in it's rush to dismiss what we have difficulty in explaining or are to afraid to ask.

This is a beautiful edition of the Greek New Testament, it's affordable, and the copyright is down-right shocking (click on the 'look inside' and take a look!). NA27 is still a must for serious academic work, but this should be right along side it. Excellent for reading, teaching, studying, and preaching.

I bought this book because I want the original text of the bible. There are a lot of 'versions' of the translations of the bible:New International Version, King James Version, New King James Version, American Standard version, New American Standard, etc, only in English. Why not only one version? The original one. The original text from which all the versions come from. That's why I think all the Christians should try to learn a little bit of Greek and read the first texts of the Christianity. That's what you can find in this book
Viorel Oprea from Romania
(vioprea@yahoo.com)

This is an all-round excellent edition of the Greek New Testament.

The text font is large and highly readable; similar to what you would find in a Biblical Greek textbook. Overall, the external quality of the book is very high, especially taking into consideration the retail price.

Variant Byzantine readings are included in the margin where they have a significant amount of textual support (although no detail is provided in regards to specific manuscript support of each variant). ALL variations between this text and the NA27/UBS4 base text are also included in the footnotes, even when these are only very minor such as word order (I did a quick comparison of one chapter between this text and the NA27 and all variants were definitely noted).

Accents, Breathings, capitalization and punctuation have been added to the text to improve readability (although these were not included in the original manuscripts they are certainly helpful for those of us who are not experts in Koine Greek). Paragraph divisions and chapter/verse numbers have also been added. Subject headings are not included in the text.

This edition also contains a good introduction and appendix outlining some general introductory information about the various text types and presenting the editors reasons for their choice of texts. Even if you are a NA27 proponent these articles still contain valuable information, and alert the reader to the methodology utilized by the editors when choosing between competing manuscripts.

Conclusion: If you are after a well-priced and highly readable edition of the Greek New Testament, this is a highly viable option.

Setting aside for the moment the issue of the underlying text, this is a GREAT Greek NT to own. The other reviewers are absolutley correct; The font on this text is by far the best available, large and clear and dark, printed on nice white paper. It is almost as large as the large print Nestle Aland and larger than the UBS 4. Both of those books for some reason have yellow paper, the white paper is much nicer. The binding on this book is MUCH better than the NA or UBS stuff which is known to fall apart with any use at all. The cover on this book is a nice red/gold/black. Because there is more Greek text per page than anything else available, this book is thinner and more light weight than others which does make a difference. All this at an excellent price!

Now as far as the idea that the Byzantine text is closer to the original than the primarily Alexandrian text underlying NA27 and UBS 4, I would say that even if you don't beleive this to be true you should still buy this text because at the bottom of the page you have every reading from NA27 which differs from this text. Thus if you are an enthusiast for NA27 you can see all the places where it disagrees from what is more or less a modified version of the Textus Receptus. When you do this I think you will be struck with a few things. Number one, both texts agree most of the time, say 95%. Where they disagree a lot of the differences are very minor, DE for KAI, a different word order, maybe an article missing or added. More importantly, you will note that MANY of the readings in this text appear shorter and more difficult according to the traditonal criteria and therefore on the surface would appear more likely to be original. Robinson points out in an appendix that NA27 excludes these readings because they come from a "late" texts, but you can't have it both ways. If more difficult readings are likely to be original, how come Robinson's text has so many more difficult readings. What all this does I think is lower your confidence in textual criticism. You are left with the impression that this text for the most part is likley to be as close to the original as NA 27. Maybe it does make sense to read instead of a text which is a hodgepodge of speculations from modern scholars to read a text which at least represents readings that are found in a textual family that is earlier enough. Particularly when again you have all the readings of NA 27 in footnotes.

But even if you think this text is late and secondary, it still is nice to have as a resource. You can use it more closely with a KJV or a New KJV translation if that is your preference, and it is kind of nice to have a text which for example includes the doxology in the Lord's prayer right in the text. But above all, for pure joy of reading the external features of this text as so superior to UBS or NA that I would at least get it to supplement one of those, again considering the price is so cheap.

I have long believed the Majority Text (MT) to be superior to the Critical Text (CT, i.e., the NA/ UBS text) and even to the Textus Receptus (TR). My first introduction to the MT was via the textual footnotes in the NKJV. These reference Hodges and Farstad's Majority Text.

Later I became aware of Robison & Pierpont's MT, and having studied their differing methodologies, I came to believe that R&P's was even more accurate. However, it should be noted that the differences between these two texts are minimal. This is even truer for the Second Edition of R&P's text as some of the changes between editions brought R&P's text into alignment with the H&F text. I discuss in detail my reasons for preferring the R&P's MT to the CT and TR and even to H&F's MT in my book Differences Between Bible Versions.

So when I felt God was leading me to produce my own translation of the NT back in 1999, I naturally used R&P's text. The First Edition of the text was available on my BibleWorks program, which I used extensively in my translation work. But I was also able to contact Maurice Robinson, and he graciously emailed me a digital copy of his text, with changes that had been made to it at that point in preparation for his Second Edition. So the First Edition of my Analytical-Literal Translation of the New Testament: Third Editionwas as up-to-date as possible.

In 2005 I began work on the Second Edition of my ALT, and Dr. Robinson once again helped me out by sending me a list of changes between his First and Second Editions, so ALT2 could be based on the new edition. He also sent me a list of all of the Byzantine alternative readings that would appear as footnotes in his new edition. These indicate places where the Byzantine Greek manuscripts are closely divided. But I wasn't able to include those in ALT2.

In 2007, I published a Third Edition of the ALT, along with an accompanying Companion Volume to the Analytical-Literal Translation: Third Edition. In this volume, I was able to include translations of the Byzantine alternative readings. In many cases, the difference between the main text and the alternate reading is so minor that it does not show up in translation. But my "Companion Volume" lists all of the alternate readings where the difference is translatable. But even then, most of the time, the difference between the main text and the alternate reading is very minor. So the reader can have full confidence in the integrity of R&P's Greek text.

So I have been working extensively with this Greek text for some time, even before it was published. But it good to see that Dr. Robinson was finally able to get his text published in a very readable and usable format.

I think that the translation of a novel (or any book for that matter) is almost as important as the production of the "original" production. Thre is a large amount of thought necessary in doing a translation well, and it must be sublime. I feel that in this case, Mutis was well served. I have started a blog in his honor, I read the book originally in English, and then in Spanish. My blog switches back and forth freely between the two languages, much as Mutis freely uses french quotes in his writing (that the reader must then translate on his own, or ignore). This is far and away my favorite novel.

I find that I agree with all of the positive reviews, but indeed what most haunts me about Mutis is his deeply introspective writing style. I read the book in Spanish (my native language, btw) and the language is enthralling and personal... If you took away the background, most of Macqroll's fears and feelings are rather universal, and as you read the book (especially that WONDERFUL! first chapter) the book becomes an introspective exercise, made bearable simply because Mutis takes you there with the gentleness of his writing, the magic of the geographical settings (and their descriptions) and the company of the most human and flawed characters (Ilona being my personal favorite).

Yes, I agree with the other reviewers who have asseverated that this is a great book. But they don't seem to want to spell out why exactly it is a great novel, or, rather, series of picaresque adventures. - Perhaps they're simply tired due to the 700 page literary trek. - But, come now, a great novel because of tramp steamers and the sea? While the sea is certainly the element in which Maqroll feels most at home, there are, literally, hundreds of novels about the sea and the love of it (In particular, there's one author who's made himself into a multi-millionaire by churning out these books like a sausage-machine).

No, what makes this book great is the underlying fatalism of the work sweepingly on display in Maqroll and the several other characters, and in the finely wrought passages on what this life offers us, picaresque vagabond or not. Many comparisons have been made to Don Quixote. - But not in the right way - Maqroll is Don Quixote's Twentieth Century doppelganger, or spectral double: Spectral, as is the case with many doppelgangers in fiction, in that he is the Knight's opposite. Where Don Quixote is chaste, Maqroll is licentious, where Don Quixote is naïve, Maqroll is instinctively wise to the ways of the fallen world etc. etc. --- In literary terms, Don Quixote is a Romantic. Maqroll is Tragic.

I wonder, reading the other reviews, if the other readers may have just possibly skimmed over the philosophical passages that glower at one on every other page or so. It is these passages, these lyrical, defiant, essentially dark reflections that make this much more than any mere sea novel or rollicking picaresque.

For Example, for starters:

"...it's not worry I feel but weariness as I watch the approach of one more episode in the old, tired story of the men who try to beat life, the smart ones who think they know it all and die with a look of surprise on their faces: at the final moment they always see the truth - they never really understood anything, never held anything in their hands. An old story, old and boring." P.24

And again:

"He thought that the real tragedy of aging lay in the fact that the eternal boy still lives inside us, unaware of the passage of time. A boy whose secrets had been revealed with notable clarity when Maqroll withdrew to Aracuriare Canyon, and who claimed the prerogative of not aging, since he carried that portion of broken dreams, stubborn hopes, and mad, illusory enterprises in which time not only does not count but is, in fact, inconceivable. One day the body sends a warning and, for a moment, we awake to the evidence of our own deterioration: someone has been living our life, consuming our strength. But we immediately return to the phantom of our spotless youth, and continue to do so until the final, inevitable awakening." P.261

And again, and again, and again...

Yes, there are mad illusory enterprises throughout the book- And jolly fun they are to read - But, like a requiem continually droning in the background, we are given, in Maqroll's reflections, that he is aware exactly how mad and illusory these enterprises are.

Fatalistic literature has never been popular, in America especially, which was founded on principles contrary to it, and where the recurrent mantra is, "You can be anything you want to be." This book shows, time and again, that you can't. It's no wonder Maqroll is enamoured of, among others, the Ancient Greeks.

Summing up, this is a great book because Mutis does the seemingly impossible here, giving us the pleasurable, lilting melodies of the sea yarn and adventure story, all the while beating the steady drumbeat of mortal doom.

Ah, this is a wonderful book for a sunny or rainy day. It is so perfect in all does. The stories are fascinating and amusing -- often poignant. You will never forget ANY of the characters, especially Maqroll. And Bashur. And the Mirror Breaker. And Jamil. If, since childhood, you have dreamed of tramp steamers and ports around the world, as I have, your ship truly has come in in this book. Well, I could go on just spitting out adoring adjectives, but, like all the other reviewers here, I enjoyed this book immensely. It won't be long till I pick it up and read it all over again. A book I'll always remember. A classic.

Alvaro Mutis wrote several superb short novels about the travels and trials of his creation, the wandering sailor Maqroll, gathered here in one volume in an excellent translation. Adventure, friendship, obsession, loyalty, bad judgment, and hilariously (sometimes tragically) desperate situations play out in obscure and exotic locations. "Maqroll" is an excellent companion for your own world travels.