Burns Books

"Funny as were George's previous efforts," says the Hollywood Reporter, "we found this one to be his funniest." And so did readers everywhere who snapped up nearly 200,000 copies of the Putnam hardcover edition.

Eighty-nine years in the making! The book he swore he'd never write. (So he dictated it!) Priceless pearls of wisdom from the man who played God three times and never got struck by a thunderbolt!

Wherever Burns goes, his reputation precedes him. (Well, nobody's perfect!) But some people aren't fooled by appearances, and these discerning men and women have written to Dr. Burns for help with their most pressing problems. They know they can count on him to come up with the right answers. He's sensible, erudite, compassionate, and does a passable soft shoe. He shoots from the hip, calls 'em as he sees 'em, and makes it all perfectly clear. His expertise covers a virtually inexhaustible range of subjects. Whether the topic is sex or girls, he can be counted on to zero in on the question and come up with the perfect, practical solution.

Neither an optimist nor a pessimist (nor a podiatrist), George Burns grinds no axes. His openmindedness (he likes readheads as well as blondes) is one of the very special qualities he brings to the role of counselor. Nor is he a snob. He'll shoot off his mouth to practically anyone. And he knows how to keep a secret. From the reader's pen to Oh, God's ears is a principle he sees as central to the art of helping others. And he's been giving advice for a long time. In fact, he was telling people what to do when Dear Abby was still in Mary Janes.

Perigee Books is honored to publish what must be regarded as a major breakthrough in the field of personal guidance. Dear George--a work whose universality extends from Anaheim all the way to Bora Bora and whose brilliant insights may well change your life. (Even if they don't, you'll still get a couple of good laughs out of it)

This is another of George Burns' greats. All the answers are funny and some have a bit of wisdom to them!

It was a great pleasure to read the book Differential Geometry and Topology With a View to Dynamical Systems by Keith Burns and Marian Gidea. The topic of manifolds and its development, typically considered as very abstract and difficult, becomes for the reader of this outstanding book tangible and familiar. This joyful aspect of the book was achieved by the authors by setting the advanced material of differential geometry and topology as if on a mobile bridge or a crossroad that associates a(n) (primarily) unfamiliar abstract part of the text with elementary math theories. The latter pedagogical approach was mostly carried out through carefully prepared examples, in which, for essentially abstract structures and mathematical topics, well known familiar elementary settings serve as obvious motivations, which make the transition to a higher level of an abstraction smooth. Nevertheless, the scope of the main topic in this book, differential geometry and topology, is pretty far advanced. Besides the basic theory, centered around analytical properties of manifolds (mostly endowed with additional, in particular Riemannian, structures and vector or tensor fields defined on them) and their applications, it also provides a good introductory approach to some deeper topics of differential topology such as Fixed Points theory, Morse theory, and hyperbolic systems throughout the rest of the book.
The main stream of the applications that always follow or motivate the theoretical context is dynamical systems. Excellent examples reveal the close ties of this beautiful mathematical theory with common problems in theoretical physics, classical and fluid mechanics, field theory, and, most importantly, the theory of general relativity.
The book by Burns and Gidea is also be strongly recommended for those readers who wish to enhance their mathematical tools to make possible a deeper insight into these fascinating physical theories.

Jerzy K. Filus

A very clear and very entertaining book for a course on differential geometry and topology (with a view to dynamical systems).

First let me remark that talking about content, the book is very good. Each of the 9 chapters of the book offers intuitive insight while developing the main text and it does so without lacking in rigor. The first 6 chapters (which deal with manifolds, vector fields and dynamical systems, Riemannian metrics, Riemannian connections and geodesics, curvature and tensors and differential forms) make up an introduction to dynamical systems and Morse theory (the subject of chapter 8). Chapter 7 is devoted to fixed points and intersection numbers. The last chapter is an introduction to hyperbolic systems.

This enjoyable and highly instructive book contains a large number of examples and exercises. It is an incredible help to those trying to learn dynamical systems (and not only). It teaches all the differential geometry and topology notions that somebody needs in the study of dynamical systems.
The authors, without making use of a pedantic formalism, emphasize the connection of important ideas via examples. It completely enhanced my knowledge on the subject and took me to a higher level of understanding.

This is a great Western story that is so good you just can't put it down. The chapters are short. The action is fast and it's just plain fun reading. I loved it!!!

Larry Smith is a common name for a cowboy. But it's not Larry's name folks remember. Everyone Larry meets feels like they know him from somewhere. That's how Larry and Jake Lambert happen to be begin riding together. This face recognition can be both good and bad. Like the time the shop keeper thought Larry always paid his bills on time and was willing to let Larry provision himself for the trail on credit. Then when Jake and Larry happened upon some rustlers, one of who thought he knew Larry. Smith was able to talk the rustlers into returning the cattle from the trail outfit Texas drovers and Jayhawkers in a saloon both thought they knew Larry. Both he and Jake were able to leave the saloon before the two sides had at each other. In Ft. Worth, Smith and Lambert meet up with Amanda Ruth, whose uncle Milt Black owns one of the largest ranches in New Mexico Territory. After taking Mandy to her uncle's ranch, Milt offers both Larry and Jake a job. Things are going along smoothly when a Deputy U. S. Marshall arrests Larry for the shooting of a judge's brother. Now Larry is on trial and since there are witnesses who will testify seeing Larry shoot judge Black's brother, it does not look good for Larry. Even though Larry was working on the M Bar B and has witnesses of his own, will the jury believe his testimony? Will Larry be set free or face the hangman's noose. Along the way Larry and Jake meet such notables as Cochise, Billy The Kid, Pat Garret and Wyatt Earp. There are more surprises in store for the reader of Terry's WONDERFUL STORY-DON'T I KNOW YOU? Terry Burns has done it again...written a very good inspirational western that I HIGHLY RECOMMEND!!!!!

Fortescue argues the essential Catholic doctrines of the early understanding of the papacy with great authority and learning. This reviewer found much I didn't know and reinforced many things I knew but could never have said so elegantly. The volume is detailed and comprehensive but mercifully short, and not full of jargon -- it was witten at a time when brevity and style were still in favor. If you're curious about the traditions and customs of the early Catholic church and the pope, this is the book you need.

This book is a brief defense of the papacy from common patristic sources prior to the Council of Chalcedon in 451. Fortescue wrote this book as a response to Anglicans and the date 451 was chosen because of the seemingly arbitrary inconsistency of Anglicans in the date ranges they will accept evidence from for something being a "practice of the Ancient Church." Depending on the time of day and the Anglican in question those of a mind to accept patristic evidence accept the first two, three, four or seven Ecumenical Councils or any number in-between. Most all accept Chalcedon so it was used as the criteria by the Anglicans Fortescue was responding to.

This book is a good introduction to the patristic evidence for and a very good explanation of the disputed papal powers. Fortescue does a good job of explaining how the big question is really the universal jurisdiction of the pope and how the primacy (less disputed) and infallibility (very disputed) stem from it. Because this book was written toward Anglicans the quoted Fathers are probably too Western for use with the Eastern Orthodox. At the same time the brevity will probably not convince an obstinate Anglican either. However, it does give a good explanation and introduction on the subject and is a good place to start for those who have honest questions on the matter and especially for those ignorant of the most common ancient sources.

I made this quilt for my bed! Following Eleanor's instructions, my quilt turned out perfect. Do you want your quilt to be perfect? This is the book for you!

I love this book. It's another one of Eleanor's Easy ways to learn to quilt. She's done a fine job and I'm delighted to add it to my library.

The Empowerment of You I found to be a positive outlook on one's way to hit the "Reset Button" in their lives. I found the recipes to be lean, hearty and tasty. Its a fast and easy way for one to start a healthier life style. Great job

I found The Empowerment of You to be very inspirational, and one of the best and most helpful diet remedy in a long time. What a wonderful start to a new beginning and a new year.

"A Grammar of Assent" by J. H. Newman is without doubt the most elegant, eloquent, and persuasive argument yet for the belief in God by any Christian philosopher. Despite its 19th-century origins, it remains one of the most modern of Christian philosophies yet. Gone are all references to Aristotle and Aquinas and their antediluvian methodologies of a priori logic to "prove" the existence of God and why it is supposedly "rational" to believe in such a God.

In its stead, Newman uses the Humean methodology of a posteriori inferences that lead one to believe that the "uneasiness" one feels (another Humean concept) about certain disturbances of the mind/soul that are attributable to the indwelling, or natural inclination, of the "conscience." From this natural inclination (again Hume) and by rational inference (Hume again), Newman posits step by step, and from different angles, that it is only a natural logical inference to assent to the belief in God. But it is the a posteriori experience of "conscience," not some a priori "proof," that leads the way.

Don't be put off by the rigorous prelude of the first-two chapters; they give considerable detail to the methodology Newman intends to use, which again is empirically oriented, not a priori logically deduced. The reading after that is a breeze, containing absolute wonderment at the level of perspicuity, rhetorical advantage, and logical nuances that infer God's existence from natural inclinations. It was, and remains, a revolutionary approach, and is a worthy work to include in any Christian's library.

This "essay" is a tour d'force of the force of the power of inferential versus deductive reasoning. This is an unique aposteriori argument for the existence of God, but unfolds an argument in a manner wholly different from the past, such as Aquinas, for example. Newman is a very persuasive author, who uses his evidence judiciously and validly. People of faith will find this exposition worth the perspective.

But, this book can stand on its own as a superlative example of brilliant exposition, using Newman's usually elegant style, and enjoying a journey that seems unlikely from its impetus. The first chapter is particularly difficult, but after that, the reading is engaging and remarkable.

This book is a collection of 19 articles, 13 of which have been previously published but have here for the first time been conveniently gathered. Despite the disparate and repetitive nature of such a collection, there is an underlying unity, and important things bear repetition. The first half of the book concerns the nature of prayer, the second half Carmelite history and the spirituality of Carmelites whose lives and doctrine illustrate those principles of prayer: Teresa of Avila, John of the Cross, Therese of Lisieux, Elizabeth of the Trinity. Burrows is a Carmelite nun whose works include Guidelines for Mystical Prayer, Fire Upon the Earth (about Teresa of Avila), and Ascent to Love (on John of the Cross). She reminds us in particular that prayer is much more what God does in us than what we do for God. Rather than spending time worrying about methods of prayer or seeking conscious experience of grace, we need to be present in faith, trust and surrender to the Lord, allowing God to work in us. "We must remember that prayer takes place at the deepest level of our person and escapes our direct cognition; therefore we can make no judgment about it." This, of course, is a blow to our ego, and that on the whole is a good thing.

Ruth Burrows provides an enlightening look at Carmelite Spirituality. And, illumines the reader to an aspect of prayer one might not think to consider, that one does not do prayer but rather, is the recipient of God's action. The book also provides for some very good history on Sts. Theresa of Avila, Elizabeth of the Trinity and Therese of Lisieux. Anyone reading this book will feel the time spent was of spiritual value.

Perhaps because Shakespeare, Swinburne and Homer are three of my all-time favorite poets, Robert Burns blows me away. His words (filled with an intriguing old Scottish dialect) are like lyrics, verses of songs--tumultuous one moment and subtle and serene the next, but always apparent that swarthy Scottish accent.

In this little, GIFT-SIZED book, THE ESSENTIAL BURNS, the most appealing poems for me are: "A DREAM," "A RED, RED ROSE," and, believe it or not, a short poem called "THE LOUSE" (strangely, probably his best known piece.) I was disappointed by the absence of his poems on the sea, what I consider to be his most compelling, inspirational work. But there is plenty here to dig in to.

Because of his thick, olde-Scottish dialect, many readers and students of literature finds him difficult to read and, sometimes, impossible to understand. But stay with it, I tell them, and when they do they usually end the term feeling much more amiable toward Burns and much more confident of their own poetry-reading abilities.

Perhaps because Shakespeare, Swinburne and Homer are three of my all-time favorite poets, Robert Burns blows me away. His words (filled with an intriguing old Scottish dialect) are like lyrics, verses of songs--tumultuous one moment and subtle and serene the next, but always apparent that swarthy Scottish accent.

In this little, GIFT-SIZED book, THE ESSENTIAL BURNS, the most appealing poems for me are: "A DREAM," "A RED, RED ROSE," and, believe it or not, a short poem called "THE LOUSE" (strangely, probably his best known piece.) I was disappointed by the absence of his poems on the sea, what I consider to be his most compelling, inspirational work. But there is plenty here to dig in to.

Because of his thick, olde-Scottish dialect, many readers and students of literature finds him difficult to read and, sometimes, impossible to understand. But stay with it, I tell them, and when they do they usually end the term feeling much more amiable toward Burns and much more confident of their own poetry-reading abilities.

This is a great pocket/ purse size book to take and reread over and over again. It is a wonderful reminder of our catholic culture.

This book should be a requirement for all Christians. In 144 pages Father Raoul Plus guides the reader through a blueprint of Apostolic attitude. The book focuses on Jesus and explains how we should live our lives in service to God and our fellow man. The book can be described as the "Book of Five Rings" of the Christian world. As the samurai's "Book of Five Rings" was adapted from a military strategy to business strategy, "Radiating Christ" should be used in the business world as a guide on how to treat your employees and clients. Add this one to your library.