Burns Books

An extraordinary book. With it you can educate and teach your children. You learn how to create stories that will stay in your children minds. Frequently they will remender them and ask you to tell again.

Its nice,

Stories are verygood for children specially if you want to tell them something, or change something in there behaviour.

For therapists, for psycologists, parents...

deserve to have it in your home or office library to use when needed.

Therese Taylor succeeds in drawing a full, persuasive portrait of Bernadette Soubirous, a nineteenth century French girl who made the village of Lourdes famous throughout the Christian world. But Dr. Taylor carries the story to its end, finishing not with the immediate aftermath of the apparitions, but to the close of Bernadette's difficult life in a convent in Nevers. This Bernadette was far from what one would imagine a visionary to be. She was sober, honest to a fault, and vehemently set against becoming an object of adoration herself. Curious prelates and nuns tested her patience when they demanded more and more details of what Bernadette had seen. She refused, saying that to embelish is to distort. This laconic posture cost her some popularity in the convent, but Bernadette rejected the notion of having an audience to whom to play. In a sense, her almost flinty integrity gives the best witness to the truth of what she reported she saw. And what she saw or not remains a matter of faith. Dr. Taylor adds this volume to the small library of books that honors the saints through thorough and respectful biography, not sentimental hagiography. She is also as fine a writer as one could wish.

Historical, incredibly detailed and scholarly account of the life of Bernadette Soubirous and the history of the Grotto at Massabielle.

These lucid stories of creation, nature, ethnic relations and ethnic conflicts, related to Victor Montejo by his family and the elders of his Guatemalan village, are illustrated with images reproduced from ancient Mayan artifacts. Although useful in reconstructing the history and anthropology of the Maya, the tales can also be enjoyed by readers of all ages and backgrounds.

"The book's illustrations...help connect ancient Mayan myths with the oral tradition that persists today. Mr. Montejo's introduction to this tradition is a gift that outsiders should treasure." --The New York Times Book Review

"...all the stories offer a satisfying blend of humor and wisdom. This engaging anthology provides adults and children with rare insights into one of the cultures that make up the tapestry of contemporary Southern California." --Los Angeles Times Book Review

"Interesting graphics from Mayan sources help underscore the essential originality of this volume." --Library Journal

"...THE BIRD WHO CLEANS THE WORLD is one of the few books to capture the oral Mayan tradition, making it also a crucial study of pre-Columbian beliefs." --The Bloomsbury Review

This short book tells us stories which tell us a great deal about Mayan culture and values amongst the Jakaltek-Maya in Guatemala. These stories reinforce values of community, ecology, the perils of laziness, and above all...RESPECT for elders. Sometimes these fables seem to have no moral whatsoever, but nonetheless, are usually entertaining. As the importance of the oral tradition amongst Mayan peoples is gradually deteriorating due to modernization, Montejo gives us a wonderful glimpse at Mayan fables, and the values they pertain to.

They have been doing very good job of updating ever since Burns didn't involve hinself directly in recent editions. Adding, updating the content yet maintaining the unique tone of Burns writing.

But with 14th edition, they changed the layout to two-column page layout. And I absolutley hate two-column page in any textbook or any book for that matter.

This book, while I realise its a text book, has given me great insight into the latter portion of western culture. This book provides more verifiable references then any other book of this type I've read. Quality color pictures and easily followed footnotes, provides a respectable index and is very easily understood and appreciated.

Written by John Henry Newman in 1855, Callista is a fictional tale of life in the early Christian church. One of only two novels from his pen, this tale is set in northern Africa, near Carthage, about the year 250 AD, during the reign of the Emperor Decius. The talented and lovely young greek native Callista, along with her brother Aristo ply their handicraft in the shop of Jucundus, in the small provincial town of Sicca, by finishing and decorating the pagan images of gods, idols, charms and other items of superstition. Jucundus, appreciating her many talents, attempts to play the matchmaker between her and his poor befuddled nephew Agellius. This nephew, much to his continued dismay and consternation seems to be obsessed with the notion of Christianity, and worse, considers himself to be of their number. As the story unfolds, we become aware of the strange status Christians held in the Roman World. Rather than being hated for their zeal toward God, they are thought to be atheists, anarchists and traitors. Callista, though not a Christian, feels the emptiness and insufficiency of the Roman, and even the Greek world of morality and philosophy, and never did believe in their gods. Agellius, with much internal turmoil, because Callista is not Christian, wishes to propose marriage. But these are troubled times, natural disasters, Imperial edicts, demonic possessions and the breakdown of civil order bring this story to an exciting conclusion. Obviously Newman wishes to use this story as a sort of parable, while at the same time painting a picture for us of what the early Christian church was actually like. And while he may succeed in this aim, some may think the story occasionally bogs down in pedantics. For this reason I gave the story 4, rather than 5 stars.

John Henry Newman's CALLISTA, especially as introduced in this fine year 2000 edition by Alan G. Hill, stands on its own merits as a rollicking good love story, almost gothic in its plague of locusts, demonic possession of the young North African Juba, realistic depiction of mob violence, state torture and intolerance of the rising Christian religion whose adherents refused in the year 250 to worship the persecuting emperor Decius.

It is the story of a beautiful 17-year old Greek orphan who finds work as an artisan in Roman Africa, mainly fashioning statues and other adornments of various pagan cults. The evils of third century Roman imperial life depress her. She is tempted by the beauty of Christianity as hinted to her years ago by a Christian slave. Later she is wooed by the Christian Agellius who gives her another slant into his religion--though he fails to persuade Callista to marry him. Finally, Saint Cyprian, bishop of Carthage and the Gospel of Luke which he persuades her to read in a prison where she languishes falsely accused of being a Christian, tip the scales. She is baptized, confirmed and takes the Eucharist in one ceremony in prison. Shortly thereafter she is brutally martyred. The story stands on its own feet. It is a great read independently of any external impact or uses.

But CALLISTA is also, in my opinion, the most illuminating first book which any serious or prospective student of ALL the works of John Henry Newman should read (or now re-read). For CALLISTA opens the door to Newman's spiritual autobiography of conversion, APOLOGIA PRO VITA SUA. It also adumbrates DEVELOPMENT OF CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE, RISE AND PROGRESS OF UNIVERSITIES, his sermons and Newman's many musings on the echo of God's voice definitively heard in conscience. And what CALLISTA does not lead into, Newman's earlier novel LOSS AND GAIN most certainly does lead into: ARIANS OF THE FOURTH CENTURY, THE IDEA OF A UNIVERSITY, A GRAMMAR OF ASSENT and literally every serious thing the great Cardinal ever penned. Fortunately, the best edition of LOSS AND GAIN is by Alan G. Hill who gives us the best CALLISTA as well.

CALLISTA, perhaps the greatest of "Christian Romances," indeed deserves to be read both internally for itself and also externally as a first step into the huge ocean of Newman's essays, poems (e.g. "Lead Kindly Light"), sermons, histories, satires, educational theory, philosophy, theology and more than 20,000 letters. CALLISTA, set in Africa, paradoxically invites readers to step into the almost as little known spiritual world of 19th Century England, one of the most creative times and places the world has yet known.

-OOO-

After picking up a few of these College Prowler books, I can definitely say that they're a great resource for college searching. They're written by students at the schools, and the bulk is made up of survey style quotes from students, so they give you a real, unbiased, inside look at each college. If you're just interested in academic rankings and stats, there are probably better places to look, but if you want to know stuff like how good the dining halls are, or what the nightlife/local scene is like, then these books are your ultimate source. Highly recommended.

I find these College Prowler books very helpful. Gives way more details about the colleges than you find in college review books. The breakdown on academics, dorms, food, activities, and so on - with comments from students followed by a summary from the editor is particularly helpful.

Although each book is about $13 at Amazon, once you get you're list down to a few schools it's way cheaper to buy several books than travel to each school. My son is in the process of deciding on which school to attend and the College Prowler series has allowed him to contract his search to just a few schools. An outstanding investment.

A great overview of the ice climbing available in Colorado. The best book on the market.

I have all the ice guides to colorado, and this one is about the only one I trust. Ratings are, in my experience, slightly conservative, which is better than being the other way, particularly for ice climbs where getting in over your head can be very serious. Route information is, for all the routes in the book I've done, very accurate.

I happened to meet the gentleman this story is about, and his lovely wife, while shopping in the PX at Ft. Lewis. They are good people and this book is worth the read. It's a good reminder of what really matters.

This biography of a man who survived a horrible crash was very interesting, I really enjoyed this book.

Mark Prime's poetry is not for the weak of heart. His poetry fleshes out the blood and tragedy of war in language that is both vivid and concrete as is brings to life war's gore and carnage, the blindness of its perpetrators and the toll it takes on women and children. His slender volume is a valuable addition to the antiwar canon.

I've known this author as Poetryman through his wonderful blog. This book is an incredible work of art!! His words have taken me through all aspects of this emotional roller coaster administration we are currently living through. The expressive prose always reminds of where we have been and what took us to this cesspool democracy/corporatism. One of the brightest, sharpest minds speaking out against the injustices today in America.

This book is instrumental in helping us to look at the preschool programming we already have and in guiding us in our growth. We have been looking for something that is steeped in research and practical in application. This is a rich book.

The free, available executive summary gives a nice introductory to his books bursting at the seems with research information from the most notable names in early childhood education.

It may not apply too much to classroom teachers, but it will greatly help higher education scholars.