Greens Books

I am a children's pastor and I highly reccommend this book. I use it for my lessons and also in class.

The NIV Study Bible is very popular with adult readers because of its easy readability and the excellent study notes on every page. This wonderful New Adventure Kid's NIV Study Bible is a colorful, involving study Bible with many inserted pages that are personal to young kids, relating to their lives and families. There are question pages, lists of facts interesting to kids by category, and a page in the front where the child can write his or her name, who gave him/her the Bible, and for what occasion. I found this Bible for my youngest godson (age 9), and his mother tells me he is reading it often! I'm getting it for my daughter who turns eight this summer, and I'm certain she will love it! Your kids 8-12 will also, whether they are already Christians, simply interested, curious, or actively seeking to learn more about God's word. God Bless anyone reading my review- hope it helps you made a decision!

You can call me StoryMaker. The New Adventure Bible is a great Bible for kids. The features help kids like me understand the Bible! It also has just-plan-interesting features. They also explain each book of the Bible, witch helps you learn too. Plus, just plain Bible text is good. Bibles are good books, even without a bunch of features. The features really help me understand and the features are just plain fun! Overall, if you are/have a kid who wants to understand the Bible, this is a great choice. Signed, StoryMaker. "Gotta trust the kid's review!"

This Bible is great for young readers and will keep them going well in to High School. There are many graphics throughout this Bible and special interest comments that explain why people did things the way they did or why they wore a particular type of clothing. Our church gave this New Adventure Bible to all children graduating into the third grade. The NIV translation is pretty understandable to young readers. Each book has an introduction that is designed towards the young reader. There are also special pages to enhance a childs understanding: for example in addition to the actual text of the ten commandments - is a special page with pretty graphics that re-word the commandments in language for youth. A special page explains "How to pray" - another summarizes Old Testament Prophets, and yet another page called "Getting to know Jesus" helps kids understand what it means to be a Christian. Just like the 'grown up' Bible - this book is a Red Letter edition. My fifteen year old still loves this Bible.

The one and only King James Version. This Bible has everything that a growing child needs. There is the original text combined with easy to follow descriptions and explanations to help your child understand the ideas that are presented. There are special sections such as "Words to Remember", "Let's Live It", "Life in Bible Times", and trivia in the "Did You Know". This is a must have for yout child if you are concerned about what text your child is reading.

The Rosary was in my grandmother's library when I was a young teenager, and it's been my favorite book since then. The heroine inspired me to name our daughter, Jane. In my retirement years, I dreamed of writing romance novels as pure and memorable as Barclay's. Steeple Hill has published four of my books. Most have won awards, but none of them come close to being as good as hers. -- Patt Marr

The Rosary is simply the book I love most, if I had to choose one book from my library, to have till the end of my life, this would be the Rosary. I read it every few months.
The Rosary takes you to delicate gardens of England mansions in 1900s and tells a story about two most loved people of the British high society. They are Jane Champion and Garth Dalmain who are in love but face a great obstacle. The story is about those two and their struggle to come together. It also gives a taste of lives of British socielites at those times. The language of book is especially delicious, and it has its own sense of humor. I love this book!

Written in 1910, THE ROSARY still proves to be a very successful story in the year 2003. By today's standards, it may be described as quaint but still very enjoyable. The writing is lyrical, descriptive, and charming; the love storyline is ageless.

The story revolves around Jane Champion and Garth Dalmain. Jane is talented, smart, good-natured and independent. However she is a unique heroine because unlike the female protagonists in many romance stories, Jane is described as homely-looking. She is also older than the hero, Garth - a vibrant, energetic, gifted, and extraordinarily handsome man.

The title refers to a popular song written in 1898 by composers Ethelbert Nevin and Robert Cameron Rogers. Garth realizes that he is in love with Jane after hearing her sing the song at a public performance. When he declares his love to Jane and wants to marry her, she turns him down, although she also loves him; Jane doesn't believe that Garth will be truly happy living with a plain-looking woman for the rest of his life. Broken-hearted, the two part ways but reunite, later, under sad and unexpected circumstances.

How do Jane and Garth finally accept each other? Writer Florence Barclay writes a story that makes you want to keep reading till you find out how the lovers reunite.

I first heard about THE ROSARY, a few years ago, on a T.V. program that reported a true story of a woman who always mentioned the book. A relative of hers decided to search for the then out-of-print book and give it to her as a surprise gift. Through what could only be described as a miracle, the relative eventually found the book. Fascinated with the story of the woman's attachment to the book, I decided to look for it. I couldn't find the book anywhere. Years later, I happened to mentioned THE ROSARY to a friend. Guess where she found it? On Amazon.com! I think it's great that anyone can find the book (and many other things) here!

If you like stories like Jane Eyre, Pride and Prejudice, Persuasion, and Sense and Sensibility, you'll enjoy this tale. Reading THE ROSARY is like taking a breath of fresh air.

Fafa Demasio

The book is the story of how, with the help of God and godly friends, a seemingly star-crossed couple face misunderstanding, heartbreak, and tragedy.

Love stories often disappoint these days, perhaps because the characters seem smaller than life, but The Rosary satisfies because the characters are larger than life. When I first read this story many years ago, even though I wasn't old enough to fully understand or appreciate it, since I didn't even know what a rosary was at the time, I do recall that it stirred me deeply. Now, having just re-read it for the first time in decades, I am amazed at its continuing power to touch emotions and inspire ideals, even though it was written almost a century ago.

Admittedly, the author is no Charlotte Bronte. The writing is weak in places, and sometimes the dialogue drags. But it doesn't matter; the hero and heroine are so appealing, you have to keep reading. The heroine Jane Champion is on the surface a plain Jane, somewhat like Bronte's Jane Eyre except that she has a larger frame than Eyre's and a far more assertive personality. Indeed, she has such great inner strength and beauty that one wonders how so many men can overlook her. When an unlikely man unexpectedly catches a glimpse into her soul, he responds by falling deeply in love with her. But having so little experience with love, she doesn't recognize it, or trust it, when it finally comes.

The hero is the opposite of Bronte's Mr. Rochester. He is extremely goodlooking, youthful, lighthearted, artistic, and in high demand in society. Surprisingly, it turns out that he too has great depth of character. His love, once given, appears irretractable and untarnishable.

The Rosary is a reminder that the love between The One Man and The One Woman, as the author expresses it, can be an ennobling sacrament that, if given the opportunity, can empower them to become the full persons that God has created them to be.

This is what Literature is supposed to be. This book will have you wishing you lived 150 years ago or more. The characters exude class and right living, compassion, faith, and a love of all things right. It will take you away on flights of fancy without all the vulgarity and sexuality in today's books. This is a book for a "Lady's" reading and reposing.

This delightful collection of short stories was based on Rose Wilder Lane's life as she was growing up. She accurately
described the issues women faced at around the turn of a century, especially that of being an old maid! An old maid if
you're not married by your mid-20's? Wow!

The stories in this book was a combination of humorous and some seriousness. The characters were realistic and seem to come to life for that time period.

I bought my copy at the museum in Mansfield because I always wanted to read Rose's work. This book is a gem. The essay introducing the book is worth getting the book but each story is a gem on its own. Her voice is fresh and rings well today. You would not know she lived in the first half of the 20th century.

I have loaned this book out to 2 people now and all of us are knocked out at how good Rose was. Purchase it, read it. Rose was well known in the early part of last century for good reason. Let's bring this author back to the audience she richly deserves today.

This is a hidden jewel in american literature: a detailed portrait of life before women's right to vote was a federal law, before Margaret Sanger, before Rosie the Riveter. The author survived small town life, and lived to tell and in her own way celebrate it. I will be giving this book to all the tweenager girls I know (and my own daughter when she is old enough!).

This book is wonderful, funny and hearwarming. My great aunt was born in the same era and used to tell me similar stories in this fashion. What a life women had in the olden days, there are not many real life accounts in print that are honest and true. This one is. What a fun book to read.

Rose is just as gripping a writer as her mother, although with a far more adult narrative style.

To be honest I'm not a pool player, I don't like reading and I don't really read books in English unless I have to because English is not my first language. But in spite of these facts I read this book at once and really enjoyed it. The story is easy to read and it takes you to the world of kindness and real friendship, two things everyone wants to have in his or her life but not everyone has. Bob Watson is talking about pool with such respect that it makes you respect the game. The story teaches us that this game is more about gathering together and having a good time rather than winning regardless of anything. Author makes it clear that pool is not shooting balls in the pocket, it's painting on the canvas and to be a real player you'll have to be an artist.
Thanks to this book now I'm trying to play pool myself and of course it's not easy but I met a lot of great people in the pool hall which makes the learning process easier and much more fun.

i'm not a big time pool player, but after reading this book i suddenly cought myself on the idea that i just wanna go to poolhall and spend an hour or two hitting the balls. the passion for the game, all the caracters in the book have, is very addictive. they so truly enjoy just beeing in that athmosphere, just holding the que, just playing the game! it's not about competition, it's about the love to the game, sharing that love to others.
i couldn't stop reading, coz the language is so easy and the caracters are so real - it's true life and i'm sure you'll find a lot in common between the caracters in the book and the people you know (even if they don't play pool :))))
by the way, i was trying to use some of the techniques discribed in the book, and i got news for you - it works!!!!
so if you are just starting to learn how to play or you already big pool fan or you are just looking for a good book to read - "PAINTING ON GREEN CANVAS" sould be your first choice :)))

the passion and enthusiasm with which the author writes about the game of pool are both obvious and infectious. i challenge anyone who reads this book to not run right out to your nearest pool hall. this book is simultaneously an easy-to-read guide for people who wish to master and an open love letter to the game of pool. the writer's skill level is evident but more impressive is the ease with which he is able to make that skill level seem attainable. it is clear that whoever taught this guy how to play also infused him with a great respect for the game and has in turn made him an excellent teacher.

This is a fantastic story and very inspirational! Its a captivating and fun read, I could not put the book down... great work!

I have shot pool very few times in my life. It was just something to do at the time along with hanging out with friends. But this book makes me want to play for real, to try some of the tips mentioned, maybe to hunt up Bob Watson for lessons! I never dreamed there could be so much camaraderie, so much fun, within the game itself. The book offers a lot of insight into the game and the characters themselves are so genuine...A must read!

Miss Read's novels capture the best aspects of the small town provincial novel--the sense of connection, the wry Austenisms--while leaving the sentimentality and pollyanna-ism sometimes afflicting the genre to her lesser imitators. A Peaceful Retirement brings us another step--perhaps a final step--nearer to the end of this series. I recommend this series, and this book within the series, to anyone who wishes that a novel might have both a 20th C. awareness and a somewhat 19th C. sense of perspective....Most people have not discovered Miss Read, and one somehow wonders if "most people" really ought to. But I am certainly glad that I did....

Miss Read has written over 40 titles, with this final tome describing how her headmistress heroine copes with her new-found life of leisure.

In an afterword, the author says she is laying down her pen "with a thankful heart". It is all the more surprising therefore that these final tales show no sign of staleness. In fact, "A Peaceful Retirement" is quite playful in tone as Miss Read copes valiantly with a series of unlooked-for marriage proposals.

Given that the school year is so regular the author manages to describe events such as Christmas celebrations and harvest festivals with no sense of repetition, and as ever captures the tensions between town and country living, children's and adult worlds and men and women beautifully.

With this book Dora Saint, the real-life Miss Read, can take her own retirement from authorship knowing that she has served her readers well.

I just finished reading "A Peaceful Retirement". Just like her other books, it was excellent reading. I was sorry when the book ended because I wanted to read more. Few years ago I wrote Miss Read a letter stating I loved all her books. She was kind enough to write me a handwritten letter in reply. After a hetic day, I look forward to reading her books and revisit the loveable characters in the quiet town.

I enjoyed this book just as much as I have all the other books written by Miss Read. The reason that I enjoyed this book so much was that it was like catching up with old friends and being transported back to the Village and all the surrounding scenery which captures my imagination. I recommend that you read not only this book but all those that Miss Read (Dora Saint) has written for anyone that enjoys people and a very descriptive story which includes the lovely countryside that one can only imagine. I will miss my friends very much. Thank You Dora Saint for giving me many hours of pleasure.

I just finished reading "A Peaceful Retirement". Just like her other books, it was excellent reading. I was sorry when the book ended because I wanted to read more. Few years ago I wrote Miss Read a letter stating I loved all her books. She was kind enough to write me a handwritten letter in reply. After a hetic day, I look forward to reading her books and revisit the loveable characters in the quiet town.

It would be silly to say that you NEED to read this book before entering into the ministry. God has used many a man who have probably never even heard of Baxter or "the reformed christian."
However, if you are considering purchasing this book, then I would say dont even think twice. Besides the "pastoral epistles" of Paul (1st & 2nd Timothy, and Titus) I know of no other piece of work that will prepare you and teach you the way that those who lead the church ought to be. I would recommend it to anyone who has a heart for the Lords work, not just pastors.
Richard Baxter was a man full of the Holy Spirit. The words in this book will illuminate your soul, and convict you to the point of crying out to God and running to the cross of Christ. It can be a very painful book in many areas because it will cause you to look at yourself and wonder if you are really walking the life that The Lord wants from those who lead his people.
Its very difficult to find the words to describe how incredible this book is. I have to read it in tiny little sections instead of by chapters because there is so much depth to it. and each small section will bring me to tears.
Physically, this book weighs about as much as any other paper back. Spiritualy, you wont be able to lift it off the ground, much less turn a page

Baxter's time was not too unlike our own. Despite there being a large theological agreement that there must be discipline within the Church, very few leaders in the church are willing to carry it out. Baxter reminds us, and convincingly so, that we must do so for not only the good of the soul of the individual, but for the rest of the Church, and even ourselves. Most of the book rotates around the subject of discipline in the pastoral ministry. It also contains many other details concerning the ministry that would be good for any aspiring, or current pastor to read.

The only reason I give the book 4 stars instead of 5 is because this version is the abridged version of what Baxter wrote years ago. However, there is nothing that would tell you this unless you read the preface. I was a little disturbed upon originally reading the preface that this was the case, and that the original work is closer to 700 pages (depending on margins and type settings). This book has a rather tiny font size, and very little margin, so even though it is only over 100 pages, if it were in the typical type setting you see in most books, it would probably be closer to 3-400 pages.

Also, the ancient Elizabethean english has been revised for the modern reader, which probably accounts for the shorter number of pages.

Don't let any of this distract you from getting this book though, there are still many redeeming qualities to it.

The Reformed Pastor was actually very different than I anticipated, being nothing about reformed theology or even theology at all. "Reformed Pastor" actually means reforming pastors, using the word the same way we would say "reformed hardened criminal." Hmmm. I guess that already tells you this book isn't one of those "feel-good" books.

Richard Baxter was famous for two things: being a tremendous pastor to a town in England, and getting constantly into trouble for being so blunt that he would make enemies of his friends. This book is about being a tremendous pastor, and it is very very blunt.

It is an extended lecture he proposed to give to a local ministerial association in 1656. The book uses as its foundation and framework Acts 20:28: "Therefore take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood." The book first deals with pastors "taking heed" to their own spiritual state and life, and then turns its attention to taking heed to all the flock.

As to the topic of taking heed to their own spiritual lives, Baxter starts at the beginning, with making sure the reader is truly a Christian, and progresses through disciplines, qualifications, and indwelling sin. He next emphasizes the reasons why a pastor must be rigorous in his own spiritual life. He expounds reasons such as how many eyes are on the man of God, how difficult the work is, and how the honor of Christ depends on it. He reminds his reader of many practical insights, such as "all that a minister does is a kind of preaching" and to avoid the error of men who "study hard to preach exactly, and study little or not at all to live exactly."

After dealing with the pastor's personal life, he tackles the pastor's responsibility to shepherd his congregation. His most radical recommendation, radical back then and almost unthinkable to American churches today, is for a pastor to personally visit and catechize people (for those unfamiliar with the term, it means to teach a list of several hundred questions and answers of basic theology). Specifically, he says a pastor should catechize each and every family, in the pastor's entire town, each and every year. In Baxter's town that meant 2000 people in 800 families, that he and his associate pastor took two full days every week to go through the whole town every year.

He bluntly states, "If the pastoral office consists of overseeing all the flock, then surely the number of souls under the care of each pastor must not be greater than he is able to take such heed as to here is required." Yea, and I'm sure the pastoral staff of most churches personally know every member of their flock. And yes, I know that we consider Sunday School teachers or small group leaders to be "overseeing the flock"- but how many of those leaders in our churches see themselves as shepherds, have been theologically trained and commissioned as overseers, one-on-one ask them regularly about their spiritual life, and are seen by the members of their class or group as having spiritual responsibility over them?

But it was a radical idea even back then, so much so that Baxter takes dozens of pages to specifically give all the reasons why every pastor should devote himself to this universal visitation and dozens more pages to specifically answer a whole series of objections to the work. In short, he says that he had found that an hour of focused questions concerning a person's spiritual state was often more helpful than years of listening to sermons for their spiritual growth. It's hard to argue with that conclusion, and harder to argue with the marked growth (in both numbers and spiritual maturity) that history shows that his church had under his pastorship.

As to objections to why not do it, he says that they all are variations on the theme of "I'm too lazy or greedy" which he viciously attacks as unworthy of any follower of Christ, let alone a pastor. To laziness, he asks "Are these works to be done with a careless mind, or a lazy hand? O see, then, that this work be done with all your might!"

To greed, he states that if a pastor has too many families in his church for him to visit individually, then he should hire another pastor out of his own salary to help him. He challenges, "What! Do you call yourselves ministers of the gospel, and yet are the souls of men so base in your eyes, that you had rather they eternally perish, than that you and your family should live in a low and poor condition?" Whoa there, Baxter must have never read Your Best Life Now!

The book is chock full with other helpful insights and wry comments, such as "All our teaching must be as plain and simple as possible." "Is it not a pity, then, that our hearts are not as orthodox as our heads?" "It is a contradiction in terms, to be a Christian, and not humble." "We must study how to convince and get within men, and how to bring each truth to the quick." "In the name of God, brethren, labour to awaken your own hearts, before you go to the pulpit, that you may be fit to awaken the hearts of sinners." And my list could go on and on and on. I have already discussed his specific instructions on personal evangelism in another article.

After reading The Reformed Pastor, I have to agree with Spurgeon, Packer, Dever and all the other big kahunas- this is absolutely essential reading for any man called to the ministry, to pin him against the wall and make him take stock of his ministry, his priorities, and his life before God, and to make him deeply consider about how best to "take heed over" himself and all his flock.

This is no candy or soup for the soul, its solid and challenging real world meat for the work of the ministry. Baxter challenges us to a kind of ministry that exceeds human ability alone. Such a ministry drives us to our only hope for that ability and keeps us returning to the everlasting arms of our heavenly father.

I read this book because so many people have spoken of it as a classic. Having now finished it, I must say I am a little disappointed with the content. I expected profound and striking ideas. In these pages however, were no new principles I have not already learned.

The smallness of Baxter's content however, is far exceeded by the substance of his character. It is his character, his pastoral passion for ministry that makes this book the classic it has become. His single-minded devotion to God and his tender, shepherd's heart for his flock have inspired pastors for over 300 years.

This book is not an easy read. The English language has changed substantially over 300 years, and as a result the essence of Baxter's pastoral passion is undoubtedly distorted. Still, this volume IS a classic, and is a must-read for any pastor wanting to refine and/or restore his motivation for ministry.

This book provides lots of good info on what's really going on in the food supply, as well as suggestions on getting good food.
It also made me feel better knowing that there are lots of other people who care about the quality of our food.

"What is for supper?" is a short question with a long history of many answers. "Why is it for supper?" is more recently and less frequently asked. One long answer is The Revolution Will Not Be Microwaved, a fresh evaluation of how the other half of America eats, that is, the other half of one-percent.

Sandor Ellix Katz, author also of Wild Fermentations, examines our food choices, challenging us as would a moral philosopher, and inspiring us as might a romantic poet. But unlike poetry and philosophy, his texts are thoroughly researched and extensively footnoted. Scholarly without being stuffy, he ponders the social, political, ethical and environmental consequences of the foods we choose to eat, of the foods we choose not to eat, and of even our very acts of choosing. Food for thought about food.

Each chapter offers a wholesome essay that can be read independently of the others. Though inexpensive for a book of nearly 400 pages, its binding is especially durable. If separated physically from the whole, the leaves of each chapter stay bound together. This reviewer speaks from experience, having extracted entire chapters in this manner to distribute among friends.

Such portability is an appealing feature precisely because the topics are so diverse that few readers could possibly find the entire book relevant to their lives. Chapters such as these: Seed saving as political statement. Seeking and drinking raw cow's milk as acts of civil disobedience. The corporate takeover of natural foods, and the USDA makeover of organic foods. Whole food as healer, and processed food as killer. Medicinal herbs, including marijuana, as not just alternatives to pharmaceuticals, but their very basis. Pure and free water as birthright, now imperiled by pollution and privatization. Gardening as a means of reclaiming Eden. Vegetarianism as an act of compassion in contrast to carnivorous cruelty.

Vegetarians will be especially sensitive to and maybe even appreciative of the author's discussion of vegetarianism. Katz, a lapsed vegetarian, weighs the significance of life as a vegetarian among omnivores. The reasons for his own vegetarian apostasy are especially edifying. The chapter "Vegetarian Ethics and Humane Meat" begins almost with a confession: "I love meat. The smell of it cooking can fill me with desire.... At the same time, everything I see, hear, or read about standard commercial factory farming and slaughtering fills me with disgust." Whether filled with desire or with disgust, the author writes with humility and clarity. And charity. He continues: "I hold great respect for the ideals that people seek to put into practice through vegetarianism."

Katz acknowledges that vegetarians will brand "humane meat" a contradiction of adjective with noun, yet he nobly and duly presents the gist of vegetarian ethics and effectively distills into a few pages what we'd expect from an entire book.

This emerging moral vocabulary is one whose etymologies can be attributed to vegetarian evangelists and animal liberationists. Their shouts of protest and their cries of lamentation have been heard. Many meat eaters grown uneasy with their own complicity now seek the lesser of several evils. Michael Pollan, the eloquent author of The Omnivore's Dilemma, too deserves credit for expanding this lexicon.

Pollan, however, is less forthright about his own omnivorism than is Katz. Instead, Pollan applies his considerable intelligence merely to rationalize and bolster his considerable decadence. For Pollan, meat's taste trumps its waste. Rather than renounce meat as a superfluity, he chooses to denounce its cruelty. So thanks to Pollan and to his readers whom he has rallied to the cause, many herds of open-pasture cows and many flocks of free-range hens are now being spared the horrors of the feedlot and the factory farm. But that is small comfort to the cows and the hens still prodded on their death march to the slaughterhouse.

Pollan hunted a feral pig to write about it. Katz slaughtered a farm-raised pig to eat it. For Katz, writing is an afterthought to eating, as when he describes in necessary detail the physical difficulties of slaughtering a pig or a chicken. And Katz's book, in contrast to Pollan's, is one of few about food in which narrative use of the first person is welcomed and warranted. This is because Katz's life experiences and his resulting perspectives both are so very unique.

For instance, Katz expresses disillusionment with the pharmaceutical industry, yet he admits to his dependence upon their pills and potions for treatment of his AIDS. He even chronicles the long struggle of his unsuccessful attempt to survive and function without those pills and potions. Such candor about being poz is rare, and a testament to the author's integrity. Let's hope that Katz copes well with AIDS, and that he lives a long and healthy life, long enough to complete his third book, and fourth and fifth and sixth.

- Mark Mathew Braunstein [[ the reviewer is the author of Sprout Garden and of Radical Vegetarianism ]]

I loved reading this book and feeling like a radical because of my food choices! Sandor Ellix Katz writes well and has great stories relating to food. This is a great book for those interested in healthy fermented foods and local, seasonal eating.

in a time when spinach could be deadly, and cloned animals might be ground into that next Big Sandwich,
there is an underground revolution happening, and it's happening all over the world. folks are making possibly-unnoticed-but-radical choices about food. they choose not to let corporations and government dictate what and how they must eat, because when food choices are taken out of the hands of the people, the people lose.
in this textbook for the revolution, Sandor Ellix Katz examines the intricately interwoven web that is our food supply. from water and land rights to bake sales, "free trade," and free food, he shows the damage done when big government (big brother) and big business make our food choices for us. the book uncovers a whole lot of the story that they would prefer we not know, and shows how tied together it all is ~ history, ecology, economy, ethics, civil rights, big vs. small, corporate vs. community, seed laws and plant prohibitions, down to even the most basic right of putting in your mouth something you feel like eating, and maybe sharing it with a friend. the picture seems mighty bleak. but that's where the revolution comes in; people everywhere continue to join around the table ~ the very basis of culture itself ~ not to let the powers-that-be separate them from their food supply. for survival, for nutrition, for connection, for charity, for protest ~ for pleasure (!), folks are keeping food traditions alive, or exploring them for the first time. they're holding onto age-old agricultural practices (like seed saving), and creating new solutions to food waste (like dumpster diving and road-kill salvage!). but Katz doesn't stop there; each section (as well as including extensive resources for further study and connection) extends a personable and encouraging, do-it-yourself helping hand to guide the reader to take steps to becoming a revolutionary herself. because choosing to be aware about food at all has become an act of rebellion.
The Revolution Will Not Be Microwaved is concentrated, intelligent research as well as compelling, passionate storytelling. it is manifesto, cultural catalyst and cookbook, promising a place for each of us at the revolutionary table.
a fan of Katz as soon as i opened Wild Fermentation, i highly recommend this book. if you are interested in food politics at all, or even just love to eat good food, this is a must-read textbook and reference tool for our time.

Katz has a charming style of writing - frank, yet humble and highly readable. His book "The Revolution Will Not Be Microwaved" is a well-documented compilation of the issues we face with regard to our food, and an account of those individuals and groups who are making positive steps toward curbing an erosion of culture and nutrition. If you only read one book about food and activism, this should be the one - I wish I could afford to give a copy to everyone I know.

Along with "Wild Fermentation" Katz's books are both inspiring non-manifestos, and practical guides to revolutionary living. Katz has quickly become one of my favorite authors and persons.

Green is in an expert in the area of neurocognition, a concept that he explains with clarity and humor in this wonderfully written book. For instance he describes one neurocognitive test (startle blink or PPI: p. 116) as a procedure that "can be used aross an entire mammalian spectrum from mice to rats to college sophomores". He goes on to explain why this test is an important research tool for schizophrenia.

Green presents a well reasoned argument that underlying neurocognitive deficits are the key factor causing disability (functional impairment) in schizophrenia due to their links to poor social skills for example. He advocates both for new drugs to address the neurocognitve deficits and training and therapy to address neurocognitive deficits, social skills, and functional impairment. Green is optimistic that combining these approaches will lead to better lives for those living with schizophrenia. While he is primarily a neuroscientist, Green uses excellent examples ranging from the biblical Nebuchadrezzar to long-term psychiatric case studies to illustrate the important social aspects of good outcomes for schizophrenia.

In conclusion (p 167) he states: "Fundamentally, schizophrenia is an illness of disrupted neural connections and these problems in connections lead to neurocognitive deficits. The neurocognitive deficits, among other factors lead to functional impairment and its striking disability. In addition the illness has characteristic symptoms (psychotic, negative, and disorganized) during the active phase that are the focus of treatment. Though the scope of the explanation is sweeping ranging from neurons to social interactions, there is nothing particularly mysterious about this formulation."

The discussion of technical details of neurocognitive tests such as functional MRI and PET brain imaging veers into the highly technical; this will be challenging though informative for readers with less medical-technical background. Overall, you should read this book for the breadth of insight and balanced approach to treatment that Green presents here.

I was just looking for a layman's book on schizophrenia. This one is just too technical for me.

This book is very informative. It presents neurodevelpmental, genetic, neurocognitive, and brain imaging insights in recent schizophrenia research. Evidence suggests that schizophrenics have have smaller brains and larger cavities in their brains. Also they experience neurocognive deficits particularly in social situations which partially explains the finding that they have trouble maintaining continuous employment.

Schizoprenia Revealed is a well-written and informative book about this often misunderstood illness. Michael Foster Green gives us some insight into some possible causes, what's physically going on at the neuronal level, the social and functional issues, the various treatments over the last century and much more. The content flows well and should be able to be understood by laypersons and professionals alike. It is not filled with incomprehensible jargon but is descriptive enough to convey the science behind the illness, it's research and treatments etc. I recommend this book to anyone who suffers from Schizoprenia, patient's families and anyone who is interested in learning more about the illness.

This book was an excellent review of schizophrenia and I recommend it to anyone interested in gaining general knowledge about this severe mental disorder.

I read this book some years back, and my memory may fade. But a conversation with a friend brought it to mind. The book is an evolutionary psychological view of human sexuality, and some of the laws & customs that pertain thereto. The discussion on homosexuality is long, but interesting - even for me, a dedicated heterosexual. The account about the birth order in determining homosexuality is the first I had read of that. I've since seen it elsewhere, though never with numbers attached.

Personally, I'm more interested in prostitutes than homos, not least because I find the (adult female) former attractive. Posner's discussion of this phenomena is brief. I recall two points: that prostitution is one of the few cases where one woman shares many men; and prostitution, by its very nature, selects for "pervert" customers, since the stranger your tastes, the harder they are to come by without paying for them.

However, Posner's book is not the final word on the evolutionary psychology of prostitution. That book has yet to be written. I have not written it; what I have written is a fiction about prostitution - good, sexy fun, to be sure - but nevertheless a book that considers the morality and politics of the business. EvoPsych is somewhere in the background. The book is called Naked in Haiti: A sexy morality tale about tourists, prostitutes & politicians. Enjoy.

Chief Judge Posner's book is an erudite and interesting one. Whilst often regarded as a conservative for his scholarly analysis of economic issues in a market economy, this book is not conservative. It appears basically supportive of the sexual revolution. Its utility is at its greatest when it applies neutral economic analysis to the social aspects of sex. It is at its weakest when in the enthusiasm for the novelty and power of its analytical insights, it at least appears to derive moral or normative conclusions that do not necessarily follow from the positive analysis. It reflects the dangers that both libertarian Austrian economists, such as Ludwig von Mises and social democratic economists have both seen in trying to apply insights derived from markets to non-market transactions - here sexual ones. Accordingly, whilst Chief Judge Posner speaks supportively of certain aspects of Swedish policy in relation to sexual matters and expressly and by inference against the traditional conservative Judeo-Christian attitudes to sex in those areas, economic analysis does not dictate that viewpoint. Values dictate that choice, but economics can illumine the consequences of those choices. In sum, an able, readable, but a very personal work, which could be read by those who are not familiar with the limits to the economic analysis of law - an area Posner has brilliantly contributed so much to - as conclusively determinative of issues which cannot be resolved by that positive analysis alone. Whilst less accessible in view of the use of math, Professor Becker's works are closer to a neutral analysis of many of these important questions.

Judge Posner is the finest legal mind of the current age, and "Sex and Reason" is precisely what you'd expect from him. Bemoaning the lack of empirical study that supports modern day sexual jurisprudence, the author takes it upon himself to correct the oversight. Empiricism is not wanting in the book; footnotes are omnipresent, filled with broad support and delightful nuggets.

The book begins with an investigation of sexuality throughout the ages. Sociobiological principles are explained and taken as postulates (women, on average, seek quality, whereas men seek quantity). Posner builds his model of rational sex--dismissing easily typical objections to economic modeling of human behavior--and usng it, attempts to unearth truths about some of the more risque periods of history. We are treated to an analysis of Greek pederasty, the rise of companionate marriage in the Christian church, prostitution throughout the ages, countless other subjects.

Modern sexual jurisprudence is investigated: Griswold is discussed, critiqued, defended. Utilitarian approaches are ventured forth in an attempt to justify Roe. Posner discusses cultural policy issues at the helm of modern debate, and offers us his own bright proposals: a free market in adoption, for instance, coupled with a thorough and unabashed defense.

Richard Posner's mind is nimble. His arguments are fun, light, powerful, thrown forth quickly into the crucible. So criticize what he says: one gets the feeling Posner wants nothing less. Be fascinated as insights are bred from left field. The book will make you think (about sex, no less, as if a person needed any prodding in that direction), make you smile, and it will make you, as it made me, quite impressed with a certain seventh circuit jurist.

Judge Richard Posner's 'Sex and Reason' has influenced me more then any book I recently read, lead me to a complete reevaluation of what the Law is, and what it should be.

In this review I wish to concentrate less on Judge Posner's approach to the regulation of sex, although we will get there, but to his general approach to Jurisprudence. Becuase if 'Sex and Reason' taught me anything, it is that the way lawyers 'do' the Law is in need of thorough revision.

From my perspective as a third year law student in Israel, most of what the Law deals with is the meaning of words. Lawyers and Judges argue about whether or not various actions fall into various legal categories, and, particularly, about ways of interpreting statues and precedents. The main questions are 'how should one interperate the law'? and 'By what method does one decide which interpretation of the Law is best'?

In the United States, the main 'field of battle' regarding these questions are between the various Originalist positions (roughly, those who believe that words in statues mean what the people who wrote them meant), textualists (those who believe that texts should be read to be internally consistent) and living conbstitutionalists (the ones who believe that times change and the constitution - indeed, all laws - change with the times).

In Israel, the main contribution is by former Supreme Court Chief Justice and professor of Law, Aharon Barak. By Barak's lights, statutory interpretation is not originalist, nor is it textualist ("the interpretor is not a linguist" is his famous catchphrase - sounds better in Hebrew). Rather, Barak subscribes to a form of Living Constitutionalism which for want of a better term I'll call contextualism (Sometimes, misleadingly in my view, refered to as 'Purposive appraoch') - Barak argues that you can learn about the meaning of laws and decisions from their wider environment - the principles, laws and mores of the society. When faced with a legal question, Barak will strive for Harmoney not with the language of other statues, but with their intentions, so that all Law would create a single, ideologically cogent, fabric. In paraphrasing Hillary Rodham Clinton, one may say that according to Barak, It Takes a Village to decipher a Law.

I emphasises these different approaches in order to demonstrate that the criteria by which we decide whether an interpretation of the law is good are very unclear. But accept, for the moment, that one of these goals is superior to the others, and that we can evalutate various interpretations based on these criteria; We are still left with the question of what the marginal untility of trying to improve our interprative approach according to one of these criteria is.

Suppose a new study slightly imroves our understanding of the original meaning of the U.S. Constitution. Let's say that after a great deal of historical study and analysis, professor A has improved our understanding of the meaning of a certain clause by 5 %. Now interpretations are 5% more likely to correspond to the original understanding of the terms in question.

Well, so what? Are we, as a society, better off because we get a slight improvement in statue interpretation? That is highly unlikely. Even if we accept that one method of interpretation is correct, that does not mean that its outcomes are good. Indeed, it is unlikely that s study of 18th century political philosophy, or a comperative study of the spirit of law, will lead to good social outcomes. If you accept that it will, congratulations: you have just passed from the domain of Jurisprudence to the realm of theology.

From of social point of view, imrpoving stuatory interpretation based on any of the above criteria is a huge waste of time; a great deal of effort and resources are spent on things that will not, frankly, matter.

What I glimpse in Richard Posner's 'Sex and Reason' is an alternative: Pragamtism. The alternative is implicit here; I assume, not having read any of his other books (but I do frequest his excellent Blog, written jointly with econmist Gary Becker), that this approach is developed further elsewhere.

'Pragmatism', as I understand it, is about making positive statements about the consequences of various legal rules, and then chosing the best one. This requires sound theoretical analysis (Posner, and I, see the foundation of it in economics, but in principleit can be founded on psychology, anthropology, sociology, or many other fields, and Posner used reasearch from all these fields in his book) of the situation, and especially empirical research to find if the theory holds. Thus, a pragmatic approach to the questions of legal interpretations and doctrine requires first making positive inquiries into the subject; Only then should we make a normative judgement.

An example for this kind of reasoning would be the case for the supply of contraception to Teenagers. In the United States, some conservatives oppose supplying sexual education and contraception to Teenagers, and promote abstinence instead (in prgrams such as "The Silver Ring Thing", "True Love Waits", and "Free Teens"). Reasearch, however, demonstrated that such programs rarely decrease the negative side effects of Teenage sexuality such as unwanted pregnancy and disease (pp. 270-271). As Posner writes "the idea that puritanism may actually increase ... unwanted births is difficult to accept, but ... only because effective puritanism... would have the oppositve effect. A Puritan ethic that has only a modest effect in reducing the amount of teenage sex may produce more teenage pregnencies and unwanted births than moral indifference to such activity would" (p.272).

Now, in my view, this kind of analysis should be paramount in deciding legal questions such as whether government support for abstinence programs should be deemed constitutional. Perhaps the legal rethoric allowing the government to fund such projects is powerful - but legal niceties should not obscure the underlining realities.

Reading Judge Posner's book is a humbling experience. Much of what I thought I knew about sex is a tiny fraction of what this book has documented, analyzed and argued.

I have known that many early Greek luminaries, such as Plato, Socrates and Sophocles were homosexual. This book puts these mere points of interest in a wholly different light by exploring the social settings of the early Grecian (Athenian) society: that the early marriages were not companionate, that women in that society, including wives, were sequestered, that boys and girls were raised separately, and not by the mother, that pederasty was almost an accepted social institution, etc.

I have always believed that homosexuality is a rooted genetically, although it is not binary factor. This book puts homosexuality, through the use of the "Kinsey scale", into different degrees and clearly distinguishes between homosexual tendency and homosexual activity, and defines the opportunistic homosexual in economic terms. With very simple reasoning, this book explains why urbanization seems (only seems) to foster homosexuality and the emergence of homosexual enclaves such as San Francisco and New York.

This book also explains, again through an economic model, why the black men in this country seem (again, only seem!) to be sexually aggressive and promiscuous, whereas sexual abuse of off-spring children (girls) have a higher incidence in white households.

I am also enlightened on how the child birth, which in the early days often caused the death of the mother, created serial polygamy (polygyny, to be more precise) and that the widower, who were older and more economically established men, puts young bachelors at a competitive disadvantage in securing a mate, especially in the early industrial society where the cost of marriage was high.

I am enlightened to the role of the Church as the promoter of companionate marriage and how its fairly profound effect on this social institution. And also why the Church "overtly condoned prostitution and covertly condoned monastic homosexuality."

There are many other issues, such as infanticide, fornication, adultery, divorce, coercive and abusive sex, pornography, adoption, surrogate child-bearing ... to which Judge Posner gave interesting and informative treatment.

The thoroughness with which Judge Posner analyzes a problem is unmatched. Although I am not always completely convinced by his reasoning (because some of the arguments are necessarily qualitative and intuitive,) but the plausibility is striking. And I am frequently amazed by the different angles with which he looks at an issue, and the amount of facts and data he brings forth to support his views. When facts contradict what his theory predicts, he graciously points that out. In the conclusion of the book, Judge Posner, with scholarly grace and modesty, points out that his work was exploratory, a learning process for himself, and was not being presented as definitive.

Judge Posner's writing style is very good. The book is never boring, though some of the information and arguments are repeated due to the inter-relatedness of many of the issues. Throughout the book, the Judge's remarkable analytic skill can be felt. At one point, the Judge mercilessly took apart the New Jersey Supreme Court's opinion of the Baby M case (Stern vs. Whitehead) and clearly showed how judges, lacking knowledge on the subject matter and often ignorant about economics, proceeded to vote their own prejudices, and substituted rhetoric and sloppy logic for judicial analysis. This one episode, which clearly illustrates the reason he wrote this book, as he stated in the introduction, is worth the price of the book.

How many judges are as good as Judge Posner? Since he has published so much, chances of his ever being nominated and confirmed to be a justice of the High Court must be pretty slim, considering the infamous borking effect. This is just as well. I wishfully think his publications probably has a greater influence on the society, especially the legal community, than if he were appointed a justice.

Having read several of Judge Posner's books, I mark him down as one of a handful of top-notch intellectuals in my estimation.

Michael P. McGarry has provided the necessary and useful lists of essays on all 6 of the Papers from the Eranos Yearbooks, edited by Joseph Campbell. I only wish to add a few comments on Volume 6 since I finished reading all of the essays in this volume today.
There is a good amount of information by Gilles Quispel in his 37 page essay "Gnostic Man: The Doctrine of Basilides" and in the impressive 68 page essay "The Concept of Redemption in Manichaeism" by Henri-Charles Putch. However, the literary prize in my opinion goes to Erich Neumann for his wonderful 41 page essay "Mystical Man." This is a distinguished piece of essay writing, worthy of an Emerson. It is the only essay that is wholly Jungian in approach, and he does a magnificent job of presenting the concept of mysticism in strictly Jungian terms. He proposes man as "homo mysticus" for whom the mystical experience is not something distant or rare but a part of the normal human experience. "The reality of this encounter is one of the fundamental facts of man's existence . . ." I found Neumann's essay to be very inspiring, which is something one does not often find in academic papers of these kinds. To me, it was worth the price of the entire book.

Since 1933, the Eranos Conferences have gathered the world's leading scholars of religion and mythology. This set consists of Joseph Campbell's selections of the best papers from that conference. This is Volume 3, "Man and Time". The twelve papers include: Erich Neumann, "Art and Time"; Henri-Charles Puech, "Gnosis and Time"; Gilles Quispel, "Time and History in Patristic Christianity"; Louis Massignon, "Time in Islamic Thought"; Henry Corbin, "Cyclical Time in Mazdaism and Ismailism"; Mircea Eliade, "Time and Eternity in Indian Thought"; Carl Jung, "On Synchronicity"; Hellmut Wilhelm, "The Concept of Time in the Book of Changes"; Helmuth Plessner, "On the Relation of Time to Death"; Max Knoll, "Transformations of Science in Our Age"; Adolf Portmann, "Time in the Life of the Organism"; and G. van der Leeuw, "Primordial Time and Final Time."

Since 1933, the Eranos Conferences have gathered the world's leading scholars of religion and mythology. This set consists of Joseph Campbell's selections of the best papers from that conference. This is Volume 6, "The Mystic Vision". The fourteen papers include: Boris Vysheslawzeff, "Two Ways of Redemption: Redemption as the Solution of the Tragic Condition"; Wilhelm Koppers, "On the Origin of the Mysteries in the Light and Ethonology and Indology"; Heinrich Zimmer, "The Indian World Mother"; Erwin Rouselle, "Dragon and Mare, Figures of Primordial Chinese Mythology"; Ernesto Buonaiuti, "Christ and St. Paul", "Christology and Ecclesiology in St. Paul", and "Symbols and Rites in the Religious Life of Certain Monastic Orders"; Gilles Quispel, "Gnostic Man: The Doctrine of Basilides"; Henri-Charles Puech, "The Concept of Redemption in Manichaeism"; Louis Massignon, "Nature in Islamic Thought" and "The Idea of the Spirit in Islam"; Jean de Manasce, "The Experience of the Spirit in Christian Mysticism"; Friedrich Heiler, "The Madonna as Religious Symbol"; and Erich Neumann, "Mystical Man".

Since 1933, the Eranos Conferences have gathered the world's leading scholars of religion and mythology. This set consists of Joseph Campbell's selections of the best papers from that conference. This is Volume 5, "Man and Transformation". The eleven papers include: Mircea Eliade, "Mystery and Spiritual Regeneration in Extra-European Religions"; Fritz Meier, "The Transformation of Man in Mystical Islam"; Henry Corbin, "Divine Epiphany and Spiritual Birth in Ismailian Gnosis"; Paul Tillich, "The Importance of New Being for Christian Theology"; Daisetz T. Suzuki, "The Awakening of a New Consciousness in Zen"; Ernst Benz, "Theogony and the Transformation of Man in Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schilling"; Lancelot Law Whyte, "The Growth of Ideas"; Jean Daniélou, "The Dove and the Darkness in Ancient Byzantine Mysticism"; Adolf Portmanm "Metamorphosis in Animals: The Transformations of the Individual and the Type"; Heinrich Zimmer, "Death and Rebirth in the Light of India"; and G. van der Leeuw, "Immortality."

Since 1933, the Eranos Conferences have gathered the world's leading scholars of religion and mythology. This set consists of Joseph Campbell's selections of the best papers from that conference. This is Volume 2, "The Mysteries". The fourteen papers include: Paul Masson-Oursel, "The Indian Theories of Redemption in the Frame of the Religions of Salvation" and "The Doctrine of Grace in the Religious Thought of India"; Walter F. Otto, "The Meaning of the Eleusinian Mysteries"; Carl Kerényi, "The Mysteries of the Kabeiroi"; Walter Wili, "The Orphic Mysteries and the Greek Spirit"; Paul Schmitt, "The Ancient Mysteries in the Society of Their Time, Their Transformation and Most Recent Echoes"; Georges Nagel, "The `Mysteries' of Osiris in Ancient Egypt"; Jean de Manasce, "The Mysteries and the Religion of Iran"; Fritz Meier, "The Mystery of the Ka'ba: Symbol and Reality in Islamic Mysticism"; Max Pulver, "Jesus' Round Dance and Crucifixion According to the Acts of St. John"; Hans Leisegang, "The Mystery of the Serpent"; Julius Baum, "Symbolic Representations of the Eucharist"; Carl Jung, "Transformation Symbolism in the Mass"; and Hugo Rahner, "The Christian Mystery and the Pagan Mysteries."