Signs Books

Abdulkader Tayob did a great job in writing a thoroughly comprehensive, but easy-going book introducing Islam. Not only does he cover the fundemental tenets of faith, and the '5 pillars', but he also covers many aspects of history, as well as more complex matters.

All are developed through the metaphor of visiting a mosque and travelling to the different areas in progression. It is very well written and structured, and lucidly covers many of the differing viewpoints within Sunni Islam itself. The author takes pains to not have any bias, and just presents differing views with no conclusion drawn. It is good to see.

It is a great little book, and I highly recommend it to anyone interested in Islam as the majority of us mainstream Sunni Muslims believe.

"Islam - A Short Introduction"

In my perspective, "Islam - A Short Introduction" is a great and an informative non-fiction book written by Abdulkader Tayob. Obviously from the title of this book, the reader can tell that the information in this book is based on the religion "Islam". It is a much-needed, concise and innovative introduction to the Islamic religion. I think this is a good book because it is a somewhat meandering tour that leads the reader from Islamic history on towards the modern Islam. Secondly, it describes in detail some of the Islamic rituals and methods that all Muslims have to follow. Last but not least, this book supports its information by providing evidence straight from the Quranic verses.

First of all, this is an interesting book because it is like a small tour that takes the reader right from the beginning of the religion Islam and all the way towards modernity in Islam. In the way, it talks about many of the important aspects of Islam, which all Muslims should be aware of. For example, "the call to prayer" is one of the important parts of Islam and thsi book explains its importance and significance. I liked the way this book provided a description about Call to Prayer because I remember that when I was young, I used to love hearing the Call of Prayer and watching believers making their way to the mosque, back in my country Pakistan. A statement taken from the book clearly indicates that this book has provided an excellent description about the importance of Call to Prayer: "The mosque may be a physical symbol of Islam, but the Call to Prayer is a ritual act which sets that symbol into motion by calling people together." (Pg. 3, 3rd paragraph)

Furthermore, this book covers up other Islamic aspects such as prayer, worship, and pilgrimage. Also, to give this book an interesting touch, the author compares other religions such as Christianity and Judaism with Islam.

Secondly, this book interests me or would interest any reader because it provides a great deal of information about some of the Islamic rituals and methods that all Muslims must or should try to follow. For example, the book states the major purification rituals in Islam, how to perform them, and their values according to Islam. Moreover, it also provides knowledge about acts that Muslims have to perform during their lifetime including at the stages of birth, puberty, marriage, and death. A statement from the book explains one of the Islamic rituals related to the birth of a child:

"Ritually speaking, it is the responsibility of the parents to declare the Call to Prayer into the ears of the infant immediately after birth." (Pg. 45, 3rd paragraph)

This statement and many others in the book prove that this book provides detailed and valuable information about the rituals of Islam. However, the content of this book could've improved if the author would've added some information about the five fundamental pillars of Islam and their importance. Afterall the five fundamental pillars are valued the most in Islam and are considered to be the first responsibility of every Muslim. Other than that, the content is very interesting and worth reading.

Last but not least, I like the way this book supports its information by providing evidence straight from the translation of Quranic verses. This is good because it allows the reader to better understand the content as well as some of the important issues and concerns the author is trying to take up. Providing evidence right from the Muslim's holy book "Quran" leaves the reader with no misconceptions and prejudice. It also makes it easy for Muslim readers, who are seeking a new perspective on their faith, to read this book and understand the content without any dissatisfaction. In order to prove my point, I would refer to one of the parts of this book where the author is trying to explain the importance of Purification in Islam. To better explain and support his words, he refers to one of the verses of Quran:

"God loves those who repent, and those who are pure (Quran 2:222)." Pg. 44, 1st paragraph)

Another situation where the author proved his point by referring to Quran involves the importance of the "Night of Power" during the month of Ramadan (Fasting). The author described its importance by indicating that the Quran was brought down during the month of Ramadan from the seventh heaven onto the first heaven. Then, he referred to Quran to prove his information:

" We have brought it down on the Night of Power And what will explain to you what is the Night of Power? The Night of Power is greater than a thousand months In it, the angels and the Spirit descend with the permission Of their Lord on every affair Peace it is until the break of dawn." (Quran 97:1-5) (Pg. 56 1st paragraph)

Not only did this book provided evidence from the Quran, but also included the sayings of Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon Him). I think that is a great step toward meaking the content clear and more understanding.

In conclusion, I would state that overall this book is interesting and informative because it takes the reader on a small tour from the beginning of Islam and on towards the modernity in Islam. It provides detaled information about the Islamic rituals and methods. It not only contains detalied content but also supports it by giving evidence from the Quran. It is a thought-provoking and accessible exploration of the key elemnts of Islam for students, Muslims seeking a new perspective on their faith, and all those interested in the study of religion in the world today.

By: Hina Jawed

Karma and Your Sun Sign was recommended to me by a friend. It has helped me to understand myself and my reasons for being on earth more than any self-help or psychology book ever has. Ms. Kilgen seems to truly understand the down-to-earth use of astrology and the meaning of Karma. You must read it.

This book was introduced to me as I browsed the shelves of a neighborhood bookstore. It has since become a permanent part of my collection as well as a monthly refresher in my pursuit to not only better understand myself, but more effectively utilize my personal strengths.

As a teacher, I am often pressed to recommend not only good writing, but inspiring text. I am happy to report this book accomplishes both. If it doesn't improve your self-imagine and renew your faith in your personal strengths and abilities, you're holding it upside down.

This is a funny book written in a poetry like style.The amusing illustrations are inspired on old wood engravings.But it's not only the story an the illustrations that are interesting. The book itself, the way it was published and distributed is also verry interesting and even romantic.In 1928 'spicy' books weren't allowed, not even in Paris France. So it was privately published in a small edition of which about 50 copies were hand coloured by the author. All books were sold by Djuna Barnes and some frends in secret along the Seine.With the help of Natalie Barneys copie the 1972 edition contains an explanation of the names used in the story and who they were in real life.

Djuna Barnes (June 12, 1892 - June 18, 1982) played an important part in the development of 20th century English language modernist writing by women and was one of the key figures in 1920s and 30s bohemian Paris.

Her novel Nightwood became a cult work of modern fiction, helped by an introduction written by T.S. Eliot, and stands out for for its portrayal of lesbian themes and distinctive style.

Barnes spent the last 40 years of her life as a recluse in New York city. Since her death, interest in her work has grown and many of her books, like this one, are now back in print.

Her books are lively, irreverent, and just plain fun to read in modern times. I highly recommend that you introduce yourself to this original author!

This is a thought provoking book about the teaching of Latin in traditional, mostly European, educational systems from the 16th through 20th centuries. The author cites numerous examples of the way in which the prestige of knowing or being forced to learn Latin shaped the educational process as well the sometimes unwilling students who needed to acquire a fair amount of Latin in order to be full participants in this "empire." Highly interesting as a social/linguistic history in its own right,much of what Waquet describes could also be applied to any number of other class/educational factors that seemingly separate those who are inside or outside the system. No Latin ("dead language") basher, the author actually provides examples for the continued utilty of the study of Latin, albeit in a more specialized mode than those who wish to restore the classics to a place of prominince might wish. Highly readable for a scholarly book of this sort.

As the XVIII century advanced, the Latin language tended increasingly to decline in favour of the French, which reigned for the whole XIX century, before itself meeting competition from English.

In a sense it was the end of an era, a long late summer appropriately marked by the French revolution, the Napoleonic wars and the ensuing spreading of nationalisms. The "death" of Latin was more a kind of slow fading away: while it was increasingly superseded by French in the Republic of Letters and in the international diplomacy, it knew his last melancholy bright days with the philological studies in the German universities and the creation of Gymnasium: dissected, revered and enshrined it was no more than the cadaver of that great sovereign who ruled the European continent for so many centuries.

Universal language par excellence, Latin never ceased to be used in Europe even after the fall of the Roman Empire and the spreading of the new national languages. But in the meanwhile its use had changed substantially: from everyday language, increasingly to universal language in the double role of "sacred" language (for liturgy and Scriptures) and language of power and diplomacy. Then with Renaissance it finds a new role as language of culture: it is a second spring, because it becomes the supranational official language of the humanism first, and then of the so called Republic of Letters. Decline is only slowed none the less. Parallel to these roles, others are less obvious: aristocratic language, with its power of exclusion, the power to "say and conceal" and its obvious immediate uselessness that can become a mark of distinction for a proto-leisure class (Veblen).

"Latin or the Empire of a Sign. From the XVI to the XX century" is an outstanding essay on the evolution and role of this language in the European culture.
Well written, in a lively and colloquial style, sprinkled with examples, citations and anecdotes, it successfully captures the attention of the reader.
Certainly, the theme is very specific and targeted to an readership interested in the development of European culture and in Greco-Latin philology, none the less the writer has been able to arrange a "reader-friendly" text: all Latin citations are translated, every theme is carefully expressed in a way that also uninitiated can fully understand.

I found this book almost by chance: a few years ago had read a very flattering review of it, but as often happens, I forgot and reading did not follow. This is a study that springs from a former essay written by Francoise Waquet with Hans Bots: "La République des Lettres" (unfortunately still not translated into English), of which Latin was the common jargon.

So why Latin could be such an alluring theme?
Well, because it was a common primeval language, a common mark in the identity of a culture before the Babel-like fragmentation of the Romantic period.
By looking at the story of the decadence of Latin, the development of the Continental culture can be understood more clearly: the decision of Louis XIV to favor a national literary language and the French great literary blooming (the age of Racine, Molière, Pascal,...) that precede the spread of French as common language of the European Enlightenment, the rise of bourgeoisie and the French Revolution, up to Vatican II Council in the XX century. But still in the XVII century Spinoza, by family and culture Ladino and Dutch-speaking , had to learn Latin to compose his treaties - and we can guess he did speak and write Latin with the Great Condé, with Leibniz and Oldenburg.
So first sacred language of religion and priesthood, then universal language for the Renaissance savants, diplomatic jargon in the European court and common idiom of the European cultural space, increasingly threatened by new national ambitions: the French decision to use national language for diplomatic treaties (to mark the national grandeur) and the development of true national cultures favored by the rise of a new middle class.

Mme Waquet is neutral in presenting the argument: she is neither against Latin nor nostalgic of the Latin golden age: she carefully gives voice to all parties in a well balanced and very convincing portrait. Most of the chapters actually deal with the pedagogic means used to learn Latin, and the contrabanded "virtues" of the fluency in that language.
Nevertheless sometimes the books presents passages of a great evocative force: the title in the first place with its suggestive "Empire of a Sign", the chapters dealing with the French Restoration (the "signe Européen" of Joseph the Maistre, Chateaubriand,...) up to scattered citations. One especially got my attention, and truly deserves to be fully cited:

"The writer Marie Noel, who regarded herself as "ignorant" ("I know no more Latin than my mother, my grandmother and their servants"), gives an admirable description of this experience which was certainly not hers alone: «The words, many times repeated, of Veni Creator, Miserere, De Profundis, Magnificat, Te Deum and all the others had become within us our family treasure». Her "Notes intimes" give a clear impression of what it was like to have contact with a language that - apart from everything else - was neither read nor-spoken, but sung, and that was therefore inseparable from its musical coating: «The little girl of Auxerre will begin ... on hearing Christmas carols, the moving monody of the Stabat, . . . to become aware of the power of words». Words, moreover, that resounded in the nave of a cathedral whose rich decor accentuated the impression they made.
«I had just turned nine, my grandmother took me with her. For me it the entrance to a sublime world, outside the other one, a world in which god and men exchanged unprecedented words that had no meaning in other countries. On the evening of All Saints' Day, at six o'clock, the two of us made our way into the great Night of the Cathedral which at that hour, under its prodigious vaults, had neither beginning nor end... In the tower the knell tolled... that admirable knell of Auxerre Cathedral, a tragic group of deep bells that burst suddenly into sobbing - five or six heartbreaking notes - and then fell back into silence from which, after a few minutes of anguish, they would break out once more in sombre tears drawn from some unknowable well of suffering and fear... Nevertheless, we sang along with the priests! »" (pag.102)

I did read this book because of my passion for the history of the European culture and also because of my old studies in Greco-Latin philology.
This book is unique in his genre, and while I strongly recommend it, it is not easy to suggest other books on the same theme. Nonetheless, I think that these titles could be excellent associates:
- "The Republic of Letters. A cultural History of the French Enlightenment" by Dena Goodman. Very interesting and well written, but uneven in the result, and sometimes with a too marked militant feminist approach (yet the author doesn't seem to appreciate the fact that Enlightenment was the first period in which women had a true relevant cultural role).
- "The Age of Conversation" by Benedetta Craveri - a must read for sure! Gripping like a novel and hugely learned, this is the story of the development of that culture of bonne manieres, intelligent conversation, informal culture and tact that we now tend to associate with Enlightenment and the last years of the Ancien Regime.
- "The Renaissance Bazaar. From the silk road to Michelangelo" by Jerry Brotton. One of the best presentation of the European Renaissance I had the chance to read: extremely lively and hugely learned (if interested, I have written a review on it)
- "Scribes and Scholars" by L.D. Reynold & N.G. Wilson, still unsurpassed introduction to classical philology. One of the few books in which academic and poetical are not incompatible adjectives. Extremely interesting the chapters dealing with the re-discovery of classical Latin texts, the struggle to emendate from errors and improve understanding.

You are truly welcome if you can suggest other readings or just share ideas and comments!
Thanks for reading.

Brilliantly simple. Made so that it's easy to learn some basic communication skills for both mommy and child!

Great pictures and the signs are easy to learn. My son & I both love this book.

Although this book is miniature it is packed with information about your sun-sign. The feature of this book I enjoyed most was that it paired your sign with each of the other eleven signs (including itself; Libra and Libra). For example Libra and Leo. It then described the chances of a relationship between the two. Another feature I enjoyed was the different chapters about Libra. Such as your talents and careers, body and mind, and Libra at a glance. I know that you will enjoy this small book as much as I have.

This pint-sized book about the Libra birth sign exceptionally covers in a concise, informative and very pleasurable to read style, all the basic information any astrology follower would enjoy having around in a single, beautifully illustrated, compact volume, more than suited to be carried around everywhere.
In merely eighty pages, it offers a fascinating look at many of the qualities and traits of the Libra personality as studied by astrology and their relationship to almost every aspect of daily life, including:
*The Sign of the Scales
*Character and Personality
*Signs and Symbols
*Health and Fitness
*Home and Family
*Careers and Goals
*Pastimes and Play
*Love among the Signs
As a bonus, it also contains a brief introduction to the history of Astrology.
This is a fun read for everyone.
--Reviewed by Maritza Volmar

Although this book is miniature it is packed with information about your sun-sign. The feature of this book I enjoyed most was that it paired your sign with each of the other eleven signs (including itself; Pisces and Pisces). For example Pisces and Leo. It then described the chances of a relationship between the two. Another feature I enjoyed was the different chapters about Pisces. Such as your talents and careers, body and mind, and Pisces at a glance. I know that you will enjoy this small book as much as I have.

This pint-sized book about the Pisces birth sign exceptionally covers in a concise, informative and very pleasurable to read style, all the basic information any astrology follower would enjoy having around in a single, beautifully illustrated, compact volume, more than suited to be carried around everywhere.
In merely eighty pages, it offers a fascinating look at many of the qualities and traits of the Pisces personality as studied by astrology and their relationship to almost every aspect of daily life, including:
*The Sign of the Fish
*Character and Personality
*Signs and Symbols
*Health and Fitness
*Home and Family
*Careers and Goals
*Pastimes and Play
*Love among the Signs
As a bonus, it also contains a brief introduction to the history of Astrology.
This is a fun read for everyone.
--Reviewed by Maritza Volmar

This "Little Book of Church Signs" is full of good sayings that are sure to brighten your day, and make you think, too! It definitely qualifies for a "Goody2Books" seal of approval!

Great little book filled with quotes and things to use for illustrations. Recommend this to all preachers and public speakers and writers. You will have to see and read it before you will understand what I am talking about.

I certainly could not rate this book good enough! It introduced me to the world of astrology in a smooth and almost unnoticeable way. I never felt compelled to read or learn about zodiac signs, until somebody put this book in my hands...I got hooked inmediately from that moment on. Easy to understand, funny, innovative and very useful in real life!!!

This book analize the different caracters of each zodiacs signs, you can find the general caracters of the signs behavior and later explain in each people, like woman, man, child, boss and worker, you can find all that you want about the different humans behavior by the zodiac sign eye, they explains them feelings, what did they like or not, the best and the worst about of each zodiac signs, how do they look phisically and psicologically with logic, this book leave you without any questions

"But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons." (1 Tim 4:1

This book was released in 1998, and still serves very well as a excellent book for anyone who may be searching for answers as to what a cult is, and what the danger signs may be. The author's writing is excellent in it's descripion of a cult.

As a example, here is a quote from the book in chapter - 1 Entitled: Why cults prosper; "A Cult is a religious perversion. It is a belief and practice centered in false doctrine in the world of religion that calls for devotion to a religious 'view' or 'leader'. It is an organized heresy. A cult may take many forms, but it is basically a religiouis movement that distorts or warps orthodox faith to the point where truth becomes perverted into a lie.

It is impossible to define a cult except in contrast to the absolute standard of the teaching of Holy Scipture." Each chapter gives a biblical sound definition of what a cult is. This book is an essential that Christians should know to inoculate themselves from false teaching.

Dave Breese hits the mark with this work, written from the point of view of a Bible Believing Evangelical Christian. He defines ten areas where most false teachers deviate from Biblical Christianity. By studying this book and comparing a religious group to it, you can easily tell if the group you are examining follows the basic tennents of Christianity or if it a false cult which should be avoided. For example, if a group denied the Diety of Jesus Christ, Breese would classify that group as a false cult. Dave and I come from different denominations, but I agree that his teachings on this subject are right on the mark. This book is written for High School age and up.