History Books

This book is a great reference and historical record of the emergence and use of remote viewing from inside the military machine. A great addition to all serious remote viewing researchers library, its well written and one of those hard to put down books. There are a few good books on remote viewing and this is so far the best in trying to create a historical overview of RV and address many of the inaccuracies of the previous historical overview book (The Secret History of America's Psychic Spies).

This is also a great reference tool for anyone trying to fathom the 89,000 pages of CIA remote viewing documents released through the Freedom of Information act.

Paul Smith has produced a wonderful book here. It captures so much detailed information that it should make a wonderful documentary source. Yet, it is written so clearly that for those who have read other books on the subject (like me) it is very easy to skim to the parts that contain new information, insights, and details (and there's a whole lot of ALL of those throughout this book!) This book is a must for anyone who wants a more complete picture of the subject matter, as well as a feeling of greater familiarity with the fascinating and enjoyable personalities of the players involved.

I'd suggest Paul Smith's book to students of self discovery and military historians alike. Reading the Enemies Mind provides a concise and engaging history of our nation's remote viewing program. Those seeking to further advance their potential will discover many advanced concepts that have yet to reach mainstream society.

What I most enjoyed about this book was the author's optomistic view of the future of remote viewing. The abilities to tap this newly discovered area of human potential have yet to be fully explored. This newly discovered science holds great promise and may someday lead to a cure for disease, advanced education and furthering our intelligence and understanding. Perhaps someday our political and military leaders will use this potential to advance our civilization rather than simply using remote viewing as a military intelligence gathering tool.

While various forms of remote viewing have existed since the dawn of civilization, Paul Smith carefully documents the proven effectiveness and scientific reality that refutes serious critics and encourages those with a limited understanding. I'd recommend this book to anyone seeking a more advanced understanding of their human potential.

Reading the Enemy's Mind is a fascinating history of the Star Gate program. I've read accounts of a couple of other former Star Gate participants and they are either sensational and fictionalized (David Morehouse) or short on history (Dale Graff). Paul Smith's account is comprehensive and doesn't make wild claims. His tome is a level-headed treatment of the program. He's very upfront that for every success there are many failures.

Some of my favorite successful remote-viewing stories from Reading the Enemy's Mind include viewing Aldrich Ames - the CIA traitor, the USS Stark attack, and the capture of rogue DEA agent Charles Frank Jordan.

In 1987 Star Gate was tasked with finding the mole in US intelligence. CIA sources in the Soviet Union were disappearing or being executed and people wanted to know who was giving them away. Star Gate came up with a composite of the traitor. Among the details was that he drove a gray European car and was involved with a Columbian woman. While many of the other details were off, Smith wonders what might have happened had the Star Gate information been used:

"The fact of the car alone might have significantly narrowed the field of possible suspects in the CIA. How many CIA employees owned grey European luxury cars in 1987? Certainly some, but percentage-wise not that many. And how many CIA employees had a significant relationship with a Latin American woman, especially a Columbian?" (p. 340)

Smith remote viewed the "accidental" Iraqi missile attack on the US destroyer Stark 50 hours before it occurred. He described the colors of the attacking military ("tan uniforms with black belts and bits of red and green."), the unprofessional nature of the attackers ("they reminded me of a militia as opposed to a professional military"), and the explosion itself ("The structure/vessel shivers, shakes, quivers. 'There were a 'clang,' a 'screech,' and a 'metallic squeal...'").

A final story I'll share is that of the rogue DEA agent, Charles Frank Jordan. This agent had turned bad and escaped custody. The DEA was convinced he was in the Caribbean. A remote viewer thought he was in Wyoming. "This information was so out of line with where Jordan was thought to be, that at first the authorities were inclined to ignore it. Finally, one agent decided that it would do no harm to alert police in that part of Wyoming.(p. 384)" Jordan was apprehended shortly after that - in Wyoming!

I highly recommend Reading the Enemy's Mind.

I have read a lot of books and articles about Stargate, but the majority of the material here was a surprize to me. How did this all start? What were the early days like? Why did the CIA pull the plug? What kind of results were they really getting?

The history is exhaustive, with many exact dates names and locations. However, the book is not dry at all. A nice touch is Major Smith's own story woven in. Yes history is about people.

There's a great section in the beginning that calls to task the so-called skeptic James Randi, and how his research is flawed, slanted, inaccurate, and often made-up. The book mentions specific falsehoods and areas where Randi just made stuff up to support his point. This is ironic because the psychic research is strongly controlled here while Randi is guilty of the falsehoods he projects on all things paranormal.

RV works. The book cites a lot of research, some published in per-reviewed journals. There's an amazing comment from a peer-reviewer who didn't want a study to appear in the IEEE journal who said something like, "I don't care if it is real, I don't want to believe it." This gives you an idea of what so-called legit science does with research outside it's accepted box.

Major Smith has written a great history of the psychic spying program. Cold War buffs will find it fascinating. Paranormal researchers should find it fascinating. Anyone who likes a good story will enjoy it.

It's been a few weeks since I finished this book but the message still sticks in my brain. Randy did an incredible job researching the history and comprised a gripping story that glues you to each page. The plot is so intense and twisting that there's no way of knowing what's going to happen next. The messages are powerful and life-changing. Everyone should read the "City of God Series". Now I'm sad they're over but maybe Randy would see fit to write a fourth book. I'm keeping my copies to read at another time so don't ask to borrow them. I ordered "Oxygen" from Amazon since Randy's writting is so impressive.

1 Star = I've been robbed!
2 Stars = Why'd I finish it?
3 Stars = Good
4 Stars = Excellent
5 Stars = Life changing

The book arrived in excellent condition within the scheduled delivery time.

Thank you,

Francine Keehnel

If you've read Premonition, you already care deeply about Ari, Rivka, and their friends, and the trials they undergo will at times leave you in tears. If you didn't read the previous volume, it won't take many pages for Ingermanson to suck you fully into the action and into the hearts of his characters. Amazingly, the author's command of plot and character shows even more confidence and maturity than in the previous novel--which I highly recommend--and the historical accuracy of the details he weaves into the story is absolutely riveting. Thankfully, his straightforward style steers away from any hint of histrionics, which makes the searing action all the more powerful. This book will haunt me until the series reaches its final resolution--and beyond.

Randall Ingermanson blends fictional and historical characters and events so masterfully that you forget what is real vs. imagination.
The constraints of historical fact didn't deter Ingermanson from weaving a tale of intrigue, mystery, romance and friendship that bends the boundaries of time and space to both entertain and enlighten the reader.
I pray there is a fourth book in the City of God Series.

Randall Ingermanson is to be commended for the diligent work that has gone into putting together a somewhat elaborate and at times believable work of historical fiction. I have read through the series and finished Retribution, yet I was unable to give it more than three stars for the following reasons (don't worry, there are no real spoilers here):

Pros: The plot is captivating, as many have pointed out. Ingermanson knows how to throw in a twist here and there and to keep the pace of the events relatively arduous. There seems to be a nagging problem to solve at the end of almost every section. He develops most of his characters with smoothness and many of them grow on you so that you care about what happens to them. Even one of the 'villains' evolves with a bit of depth and it is notoriously difficult to create a realistic and workable villain. I also like the way in which many of the historical facts are interwoven skillfully in the story and, of course, much of the cultural differences are played out with flair. Ingermanson has an interesting touch with that aspect. However, this brings me to the other side of the coin...

Cons: Historically speaking, the work is sketchy. In his attempt to create an elaborate setting for Messianic revisionism, Ingermanson relies too heavily on post-Second Temple rabinnical writings and far too little on the Biblical information. Historians who spend most of their time on this subject these days recognize that the rabbinical works that were compiled a couple of centuries after the events in which the story takes place are often enough not so very reliable because they are written with post-70AD (not to mention post 135AD) polemical concerns in mind. They can be of some help in reconstructing life before the destruction of the Temple, but it takes a rather sensitive and cautious student to make his way through and even some of the most respected historians, like Jeremias, have fallen far short. Unfortunately, Ingermanson is influenced by precisely this kind of work.

Even though I have a healthy sense of the Jewishness of the early Church in Jerusalem and have studied the literature on the subject, I found that, in developing the characters of those in the assembly of the Jerusalem Church, particularly historical figures--like James, the brother of Jesus, and Paul--this is where Ingermanson breaks down the most. Again, in relying upon the voice of more provocative and liberal studies, he ignores the Biblical account of the same period. The Christians in Jerusalem are, for him, essentially unaltered Jews who accept Mashiach as their Rabban. There is hardly a noticeable difference between them and the Orthodox Jews around them. They attend the Temple sacrifices, celebrate Jewish feasts and festivals, including Passover, circumcise their children, worship in the traditional Jewish manner, repeat the usual Jewish prayers to "HaShem" at the circumscribed times as though ignorant of the exemplary prayer of Christ ('The LORD's Prayer'), treat their women with the same diffidence as every one of their neighbors, bear a great hatred of their enemies, encourage a very personalistic and mystical religion contrary to much of Christ and His Apostles, and generally carry on as though they hadn't heard much about any 'New Covenant.' Even the teachings and the writings of the Apostles are neither discussed nor circulated and the believers in Jerusalem seem decidedly ignorant that a canon has been in the process of formulation as well as Gospels being written. All they know is Torah and even that is so extremely rare in their mouths that, beyond the Shema, it might as well not exist. Even the scribes among them never reason from Scripture when discussing religious difficulties. They argue from emotion and personal convictions or from confusing visions and personal revelations from "HaShem" which everyone seems able to tap into.

Ingermanson never allows his Christians to witness of their faith to any of their neighbors. They wouldn't dream of converting anyone and seem to accept unbelieving Jews as basically on the same path. In fact, even though the couple of Christian tsadikks are exceptional men (while certain leaders are lunatic fanatics and murderers), Ingermanson spends far more time extolling certain Rabbinical Jewish sages as the pinnacle of faith in GOD or developing them into virtual super beings with the most miraculous prayers and profound insights into the "Other Side." The Christians seem in many cases a rather desultory step down from the epic wisdom and power of the Judaic stalwarts and many of the followers of Christ are almost without interest in His teachings on righteousness and the love of one's enemies. They have the hardest time struggling just to feel anything beyond what a decent unbeliever experiences in his moments of triumph.

There are a few other difficulties... including Ingermanson's insistence on demonizing the Romans at every turn (whom he paints rather one-dimensionally) and repeating ad nauseam the fiction that the Jews in Jerusalem at the time had nothing to do with the crucifixion of Christ, whatever the Scriptures might say about it. There is also his insistence on writing the script for GOD and drawing rather less than knowledgeable conclusions as he engages certain theological and philosophical conundrums. To be fair, the reader should appreciate that Ingermanson is not well studied in either of these fields and it is quite impossible to write a good novel without trying to resolve thicker philosophical dilemmas. Nevertheless, though he makes the attempt with more ability than the usual novelist, he too often stumbles over himself in contradiction and empty rhetoric. Somehow, this makes certain of his characters more believable and realistic while others are more stilted and inconsistent.

All in all, the books were enjoyable to read and at times even gripping or emotionally moving, yet they contained too many speed bumps along the way that threw this reader off (and sometimes were a little infuriating when favorite historical persons were abused or maligned and distorted). It was particularly saddening to find so little to connect with in Ingermanson's early Christians, even with a full appreciation of the Jewish culture that they surely grew up with and took part in, yet reinterpreted and some cases altered or resisted and abandoned. There was never any seeming cognizance of other Christians around the civilized world, many of whom (according to Scripture) sent money to Jerusalem to aid the Church there during the drought.

Biblical history takes a distant back seat in these works, so if that consistent perspective is what you're hoping for, you will be disappointed.

This book is easy to get lost in. The art has alot of stuff in it to absorb.

This book is filled with incredible art by Alex Grey. The only problem with the book is the fact that it is listed on Amazon as a HARDBACK and it is not. This is no fault of the artist but Amazon should be sure to correctly list their products.

I bought this for my fiance because he LOVES Alex Grey and He LOVES TOOL. He absolutely loved the book and actually I DID TOO!!! If you are a fan of either or (Alex Grey or Tool) it's a MUST BUY!!!

the images of sacred body - energy currents are incredible! Nowhere else will you find this kind of anatomical imagery. This is an incredible book. Alex Grey is a genius!

Alex Grey's art is unique, provocative, visionary and striking. The anatomical detail, overall composition and beauty is uplifting. While this type of art may not be everyone's cup of tea, it is undeniably creative and powerful.

This book is based on a series of paintings that are approximately 6'0" tall. They were meant to be used as a mirror for an individual to experience different aspects of themselves. In other words, to serve as a lens for a different perspective on what it is to be human. In general, the book proceeds from an outline of the body made up of elements, through the skelton system, blood vessels, nerves, etc. What is unique is that it goes beyond this to subtle and causal realms based on the experience of Alex Gray and the testimony of various mystics. It is meant to evoke awareness of these more subtle dimensions and even in book form could be used for meditations.

This book also contains images of Jesus, the Boddhisattva of infinite compassion and other enlightened beings. Again, these are meant for contemplative experiences where you look for these energies in yourself as part of a contemplative practice. There are also some beautiful images of a couple kissing, making love, a small family, etc. These latter category of images are similar to the cover in that they represent the various spheres of Being from the gross body through the spirit.

This book is on the large side, is printed on very high quality paper and contains a lot of color plates as well as contextual information. It is a bargain at the price it is being sold and some of the text is written by Ken Wilber.

If you are not familiar with Ken Wilber's work, either Kosmic Consciousness or A Brief History of Everything would be a great place to get started. Either of these resources will help you to appreciate Grey's art in more depth and understand what he is trying to achieve.

Every question is answered with clarity and right to the point. For those who would like to learn about our present Pope and his beliefs this is the book to buy. The church and the world should feel blessed to have a man as Joseph Ratzinger . Tremendous insight into the church and his own life before he became Pope. Peter seewald is a great writer and Ratzinger really comes through in this interview. Catholics around the world should thank God that this man speaks on behalf of us.

Without a doubt, this new Pope Benedict XVI is the most brilliant man in the world!

That probably does not need to be said, does it? What is more important than being brilliant is that the "then" Cardinal Ratzinger, is seen as one who can and does communicate with the people. We are those people! Anyone can understand what Cardinal Ratzinger means when he answers Peter Seewald's questions - one would never go away saying, "What did He mean by THAT!" Brilliant!

Peter Seewald asks great questions - for a starter, "Do you pray when you and the Pope (then Pope John Paul II) meet?" "What do you wear?" Silly? Maybe, but we learn about the setting of the meeting of the Pope and the Prefect - we see the picture - we ARE there with them! You seem to take a chair here with Seewald and the "then" Cardinal Ratzinger, now Holy Father - who is also fondly called the German Shepherd and/or B16. You can take him anywhere! Later Peter Seewald's questions become deeper and more profound, but never more profound that the answers.

I swooned over the first 20 pages. I began putting green stars to mark things that were amazing - then green exclamation points to help me locate great comments - then began to underline - now I have a book that is almost totally green in ink! What a heart for God this Cardinal had in 1996 and to think that 10 years later he was our new Pope. Get out your markers!

Purchase this book and, at the same time, order God and the World: A Conversation With Peter Seewald - the next book dated 2000. At least, put these books on your Wish List for Mothers' Day or Fathers' Day. Actually begin by adding everything Pope Benedict XVI has ever written to your library.

I believe Mr. Seewald went "Home" to the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church shortly after this book. They were a great team!

After all the costly legal expenditures (and the lack thereof) have, in the majority of cases, been accounted for, Ratzinger now no longer feels pressured to provide us with the keys to the Kingdom of Secrecy relegated above. Is this "upper surface" really all that remains of his famous sight outside, or is it nothing more than a considerable reputation that has been established for reliable books? And how can such an author hope for so long that Ratzinger's new book, by its absence, will have cultivated anything like it? Seldom, the beginner thinks, will the work of such an author--lacking the reserve or the aesthetic control of the above-mentioned colonels--be captured immediately. Nor will it be completely convincing. But that, of course, was precisely the experiment that was forced on them after Ratzinger's consideration was ceded in 1960. The impact of this first impression shows the entire direction of the book. In the library, after which I was completely in agreement with his single new worldview, one could see signs that it would soon disperse. With the relative lack of English letters on Ratzinger, I, for one, would like to gather a summary and a consideration of Ratzinger's body of work, under one flag, as completely as possible. And on the general topic of any official meetings, if each report made a first impression as written, then what prospect does the neophyte have, when he comes for the first time to these books. The catch is that, as a unit, I can only hope that these pieces will be useful as an inspiration, mostly so that our readers will freely choose the work of an author who has spent too a long time in negligence.

Contrasted to Vittorio Messori's breakthrough interview of Cardinal Ratzinger, the famous Ratzinger Report, this book at first glance does not seem to stand up as well. Messori is Catholic, prepared, and focused. The interviewer here, Peter Seewald, is a contemporary journalist and while obviously a man of good will, comes on too often with cliched assumptions about Catholicism. The gracious Ratzinger sidesteps this as consistently as Lou Gehrig could hit singles, but the overall result can become monotonous, tedious, and diffuse.

Yet many will doubtless prefer this book as an introduction to the new pope's thinking. The reason, simply, is that for all its flaws the book is more human, intimate. It often looks just like straight transcription of a conversation about the faith between two men, who for whatever different reasons do care about the subject and the answers. There is a thus, finally, a certain glow of Christian fellowship to the whole undertaking. The Ratzinger Report, in contrast, now begins to betray something of the hand of the editor -- on both sides. Thus however stumbling and sometimes clumsy, this book is more than a "semi-official" report: it is something that might even convert somebody -- as the meetings apparently did Seewald.

The focus here is less on the Catholic Church as an institution, more on the burden of Christianity and belief at this precise moment of history. Seewald stands for the contemporary mind. Ratzinger's replies both exhibet a bounty of patience and a dogged persistence to be understood with as much accuracy as his questioner can glean. For once, the theologian is out of his skin, and must become catechist -- to a most unlikely candidate. As perfectly chiseled as the Ratzinger Report was, one suspects that this book, then, will for now on find the wider audience, perhaps even endure.

Simply, when the voice of the modern man is modulated, as befits an interview -- and not screaming in protest or assault -- the Cardinal's responsive voice, densely civil, jam-packed with informed response in defense of belief -- and poignant questions of its own for the modern man -- levels the field like a superhighway. Disarmingly, while Ratzinger seems to play a long hand, at the end one is no longer even listening to modern man's wailing. The man of quiet belief has known all along it was a but a feisty baby's howl for real food.

Read this book.

There are so many things that are wonderful about this book; it is hard to know where to begin. First and foremost, this is a fantastic comprehensive synthesis of Ratzinger's views regarding much of the current concerns of the Church and of the world.

Additionally, the question and answer format makes this book extremely accessible, even for those who might think they are too busy to read about the new Pope. I would even say that the topics that are discussed in this interview are of interest to everybody as they do not necessarily revolve around interior Church issues.

Like I said earlier, I suggest that you read this book. It's a great way to start learning more about what Joseph Ratzinger (Pope Benedict XVI) is like and how he thinks.

This book explores Christian beliefs and practices, shown in its major Latin and Greek writers, through the first seven centuries of the church's history.

Each of the twelve chapters is devoted to a particular theme, such as worship or social ethics, but the discussion is wide ranging, and themes tend to flow into one another. "Spirit" is a good word in the title since the material isn't treated in a systematic way. At the end, the reader has less an analysis and more an aroma of early Christianity.

The book isn't a critical appraisal--it's a loving appropriation. And it's clear Wilken loves his subject matter deeply. This is a beautiful book, written with depth and style.

I am impressed by the writings of Robert Louis Wilken in this history book. He tells us that the purpose of his book is "to depict the pattern of Christian thinking as it took shape in the formative centuries of the Church's history."
His purpose leads me to believe that he understands that the Bible is the central factor that appeals to all the religious writers from the very beginning to the present time. I cannot help but to be aware that the central theme for anyone will be to understand what God has helped man to write in this great book, The Bible. Readers should come to an awareness in the introduction of this book that we need to understand the history, rituals, and the text to have the proper knowledge of Christian history in order to convey facts and thoughts to all concerned people.

It is hard to believe that this book is by the same man who wrote "The Christians as the Romans Saw Them". What a difference 19 years makes.

This is one of the most inspiring books I have ever read. I must have highlighted the whole book since I found almost every sentence edifying.

I had become accustomed to reading the Church Fathers from an apologetic or polemical standpoint. This book made me realize how I had overlooked the faith and piety of the Early Fathers. Prof. Wilken shows among other things how they sought to ground their all their arguments Biblically, and how little Christian doctrine actually owes to pagan thought, other than perhaps a few philosophical terms.

If you really want to understand how Christian doctrine was shaped by faith and inspiration, and not by cerebral distillations, you simply MUST read this book.

In a previous volume called The Christians as the Romans Saw Them (1984), Robert Louis Wilkin, professor of the History of Christianity at the University of Virginia, explored the broad and deep antipathy that developed in the first five centuries toward the Christian movement, at least as that was expressed by the cultured elites. He presented the views of the pagan critics with both sympathy and understanding, devoting one chapter each to the views of Pliny the Younger, the physician Galen, Celsus, the Neoplatonic philosopher Porphyry, and the Roman emperor Julian. In a short epilogue, Wilkin acknowledged that Christians responded to their critics: "There was a genuine dialogue, not simply an outpouring of abuse. The credit goes as much to the Christians as to the pagans." In this present volume Wilkin explores the emergence of what eventually became a distinctly Christian view of God, the world, the self, and human history.

Although his task requires him to consider the history of theology as it developed in the early church, and its relationship with thinkers of Judaism, Greece and Rome, Wilkin warns us not to be be overly preoccupied with intellectual ideas. The Gospel, after all, does not intend to make us smart, but to transform our hearts, minds, and our very lives. Early Christianity appealed to history, reason, ritual, experience, and most of all to the Scriptures, all with the goal of authentic faith expressing itself in true love. What we seek is not barren knowledge but the very face of God (see Psalm 105:4). In his panoramic survey Wilkin describes how we know God in worship, the sacraments and the Scriptures; the struggles to define the Trinity, the nature of Christ, and creation; the relationship of faith to reason and the church to broader society; poetry and icons; and then the nature of Christian virtue and the spiritual life. From start to finish the book is a feast of the early Christian fathers, with special emphasis on Origen, Gregory of Nyssa, Augustine, and Maximus the Confessor. These forbears are, as he says in the last sentence of the book, "still our teachers today."

This book left me feeling very torn. On the one hand, it was really a great read. On the other hand, it seemed that there was an underlying agenda that the author refused to admit (or realize). At times, it seemed a little like Bart Ehrman's book--only half the story gets told to bend the conclusion. Of course, Wilken admits that he is not telling the whole story, but he leads the reader to believe that he is being fair. Allow me a few examples. Wilken admits that Augustine is the giant of early Christian thought, and quotes him in every chapter, and on almost every subject. However, when he begins to talk about free-will, there is no talk of Augustine, and Wilken says that all the early fathers believed in free-will. While Augustine may have been in the minority, the average reader (to whom the book is written, as purported by Wilken) would have no other idea. Also, Wilken talks about the monothelite controversy. Usually, he deals with all the bishops and emporers on both sides of a debate. However, in this discussion, he fails to mention Honorius, prelate of Rome. This would be unknown to the average reader, but seems (to me) that it would be important enough to mention. There are a few other, mostly minor, examples of things like this. It all seems to be an apologetic for Roman Catholicism. While that's fine to write an apologetic for your church, telling half the story is deceitful.

That being said, the book is a good read. It flows well, and is enjoyable. Technical terms (usually Greek or Latin words) are explained and used in useful ways. The book contains a good amount of information, yet is presented in an understandable way and is made easy to remember. It isn't just another book on early church history--it traces other things like poetry, etc. Another underlying theme is that knowledge of God is not true knowledge until it is experienced. It seems simple enough, but Wilken explains it quite well. And to this end, I agree with another reviewer, that there is a devotional, not just academic, use for this book.

The negative side of this review shouldn't deter anyone from reading it. This book is a great read, but it needs to be read with discernment (of course, everything does).

A "must read" for any boy who craves adventure stories. No elves or dragons or monsters - just a real picture of life of a small boy on the Indiana frontier. If you enjoyed the Little House on the Prairie books you'll love this.

This is such a good book to share with modern Hoosier children. It gives them a taste of what life was like for some of the early pioneer children living in Indiana. I have read this book to my fouth grade classes for years, and they always love it.

The Bears of Blue River is a book I can heartily recommend parents to buy and read to their children. This book, about the many pioneer outdoors experiences of young Balser in the 1820's, is a great way to introduce youngsters to life in a simpler, yet challenging time. My children are captivated as they hang on every word of Balser's bear hunting exploits in the forests of the then-young State of Indiana. My Mother, who is 91 years of age, purchased the book for my young son, and wrote in the forward "Your Grandpa Wayne liked these stories when he was a boy". Eighty-five years later, his 12 year old and 4 year old grandsons are equally enthusiastic. Don't miss this one for your sons!

What a great book! My husband enjoyed the book when he was a boy. We shared it with our children. They loved it,too! Great adventures.

In 1953 I started first-grade in southern Indiana. My teacher, Pearl Monroe, read Charles Major's 1900 Bears of Blue River to us. She, also, read it to my father in a one-room school house. It was my favorite book. There was one sad part in the book where Mrs. Monroe always cried. She would have an older student finish the chapter. In about 1980, I read it to my kindergarten age son. I also cried when the Polly died in an explosion that killed the dreaded Fire Bear. About five years ago, in a used book store in Colorado. I read it to my father who was in his 80's. Together we enjoyed the memories it brought back. This year I started teaching fourth-grade at the Odessa Christian School here in Odessa, TX - having just retired after 21 years with the pubilc schools. I just finished reading this marvelous adventure story to my class. They all acclaimed that it was the best book they ever heard read. I highly recommend this book and the sequel, Uncle Tom Andy Bill. Donald Potter

I grew up on the south side of Chicago during the 80s and had many friends who were "taggers" and got up every chance they got. They had spray-cans, hollowed-out deodorant sticks somehow replaced with ink, fat markers, Griffin, and who knows what else. Though I myself wasnt a graffiti artist or writer or tagger, this book is a great ride down memory lane for those of us who grew up on the streets. For those of us of a certain age, this book, "Subway Art", along with movies like Breakin' I AND II, Beat Street, original hip-hop and old school house music were all of a specific time and place. This book will make you want to break out the Pumas with the fat laces, bring out the tile and start back-spinnin', but it is also one of the the earliest, most definitive and detailed books on graffiti ever.

Wow, this book just took me back to my days in the Bronx and the 2 line.
All the greats are in this one..Doing those T and B's and hitting the yards, and dodging the DT's Now those were the great days of the BRONX.
Long live
MIKE170..TAV 1..ALE..AJAX..SUPER SEX..BLADE..COMET..FUZZ..POPEYE..
MIKE 170....

I started doing graff back in the late 90's; I was 14 at the time and to be honest with you; like all great writers we were all toy's at one time but has time went by and we got better with our skills, we all have read this book at one time or another. On with the book review.
This book is just simply AMAZING...you have old school pieces from the Godfather of Graffiti: SEEN, BLADE (which he has painted 5,000 trains during the golden age of the MTA in NYC; since I saw the graffiti scene on the trains at the tender age of six and seven in NYC, I was simply amazed at that age on how people could sneak in at night and do this with spray-paint but I digress), LADY PINK, and the list goes on. If your just starting out in graffit, this is a great book on to connect letters, bubble letter's, block's, and some old school color schemes, though I would not call it the Bible of Graffiti, it is pretty darn close to it. Check it out.

This classic book, along with "Broken Windows: Graffiti NYC" is all you need to know about NYC graff. Anyone up needs both of these books. Knowledge is king!

Subway Art. What can I say? This, Style Wars, Beat Street, Break Dance... they all had their influence on me (& a whole generation) back in the day.

Hip Hop isn't what it used to be, though. Most of what we hear these days is mixed up with R'n'B, commercialised, repackaged and shipped for your dissatisfaction. If you ask me... when it comes to Hip Hop, stick with the old school.

I was brought up in Melbourne, Australia, and did quite a bit of graffiti there during the 1980s. Melbourne had plenty of weird & wonderful characters who were into graff back then. The vast majority have gone their separate ways. But there's always the rare psycho who's still bombing (I'm not referring to the younger generation - but to old school dudes who are still around). There's also those who got into graphic art and made a career for themselves out of graff.

I recommend checking out some of the original Vaughn Bode cartoons for yourself through a simple Google search.

Additional to this, I recommend Getting Up: Subway Graffitti in New York" by Craig Castleman. It has some pictures of trains and so on, but it is more for the reader. A copy was stolen from a local library near me - go figure.

And if you're ever in NYC... Check out the Hall of Fame. It's located on the corner of 106th Street and Park Avenue.

As an above average undergraduate math major(by no means exceptional) I always had some nagging questions in the back of my mind. Questions like: what is the connection between e, pi, 1/x? Why does the Taylor series expansion work? How did we come across complex numbers? I found a lot of good answers in this book. This book is totally worth the price - I think I can speak for (and speak to) all who have at least an undergraduate preparation in math (and have some knawing questions).

Overall a great, broad overview of the discipline. Spread the word.

Nevertheless, this book does in fact deserve 5 stars. I wanted to be the first to give it less than 4 stars, but the quality of the presentation of ideas is just too damn good.

An engineer or physicist would be quite happy with this book, which makes sense given Courant's career focus on applied mathematics. Still, a lot of "pure" mathematicians obviously enjoy it too. lol.

(By the way, this review really refers to original. No doubt Ian Stewart crapped it up a bit.)

Whether or not you are a mathematician or if it is just a hobby, this book is fantastic!!! You can open it up to any page and just begin reading...there is no need to start beginning to end. A great work to read as time allows!!!

We all have done math and have had math classes,but this book will open your eyes as to what math really is.It is a language that can show you the beauty of the world.

Perfect for someone like myself starting advanced mathematics from scratch.

Buying a classic again. This is the U of New Mexico Press version. The earlier publisher had the picture of the baby in a coffin on the cover. That was better, but the contents are the same.

This is an interesting and slightly macabre book which is strangely beautiful. My son, who is Sam Witt, the poet, told me about it because he had been so moved by it that he wrote a poem associated with it in his soon to be published book, SUNFLOWER BROTHER. The old photos are stunning from the horses to the dead children. I am hoping to get the dvd soon.

"The pictures you're about to see are of people who were once actually alive." So begins historian Michael Lesy's masterpiece - a by turns touching and disturbing examination of life and death in a small Wisconsin town during the final 15 years of the nineteenth century. Lesy stumbled across a cache of 30,000 glass plate images made by a local town photographer named Charley Van Schaick and spools of microfilm from the local newspaper - and combined the most compelling of these images and newspaper excerpts to create a vivid examination of Victorian prairie life. Although there are numerous post-mortem memorial photographs to add morbid appeal to the book, the newspaper and insane asylum excerpts are what I find absolutely enthralling. If ever anyone tries to suggest to you that times were better "before", you might want to refer them to these matter-of-fact tales of murder, suicide, insanity, and lethal pestilence. Death was a constant threat and entire families of 6 children could be wiped out by diptheria in a matter of days. It's no wonder that so many were driven to suicide: the depth of despair that these people must have gone through is at times palpable.

To give you an idea of the sort of macabre fascinations you can find in these olde newspapers, here are some excerpts:
"The 60 year old wife of a farmer in Jackson, Washington County, killed herself by cutting her throat with a sheep shears"
"Mrs. James Baty... died suddenly of a hemorrhage of the lungs. She leaves a husband, her family of 6 children having died of diptheria last summer"
"Mrs. John Larson... drowned her 3 children in Lake St. Croix during a fit of insanity... Mrs. Larson imagines that devils pursue her"
And my personal favorite:
"Mrs. Carter... was taken sick at the marsh last week and fell down, sustaining internal injuries which have dethroned her reason. She has been removed to her home here and a few nights since arose from her bed and ran through the woods... A night or two after she was found trying to strangle herself with a towel... It is hoped the trouble is only temporary and that she may soon recover her mind"
You don't see entries like that in newspapers anymore!!

"Wisconsin death trip"is an accurate documentation,not only of "agrarian white"culture at the end of the 19th century but,in many ways,the whole of white culture in america at that time..Contrary to popular belief,the"good"old days were not really so good..Yes,they may well have been less complex,but infant mortality was very high,illnesses which today are highly treatable being killers not only of children but of adults as well,daily life being,for most,a drudgery,with little to show for one's efforts...There were few saftey nets,no antibiotics,no pensions to speak of,no recourse against the harshness life,or against a system that,like today,favors the wealthy..
Insanity was not understood,and "treatment"such as it was,often did little to help the afflicted...Wisconsin did not have a monopoly on such things,anymore than,say,los angles has a monopoly on street gangs,or newark has a monopoly on ghetto housing...
The novelty is perhaps in the seeing of the photographs and the documents all together in one volume,so that one can peruse the sorrowful aspects of that period as it affected one particular area...

I read this book over 16 years ago. It left a lasting impression that will stay with me forever. It may not have the same affect on others but reading some of the reviews posted here, I know that it has on most. You can't really ask somebody "did this really happen?" becuase they either died then or in the 100 years that have past. We have no perspective on these people, places and times other than to read books like this. If any of these folks were alive today and heard someone say, "those were the good old days." They might be inclined to give the speaker a quick education. This book will do it for them. I have pictures just like this in a family archive. You wonder how anybody lived into middle or old age. Disease, starvation, hypothermia, and farm accidents all took their toll. Winters are hard enough in the south. Why did these people decide to stop the wagon in Wisconsin or if they lived thru their first winter there, why didn't they head south? I went to a Brewers baseball game at the end of May some 25 years ago and wore a down parka and was cold. You can still see houses in small towns outside of Milwaukee that look like the houses in this book and you can feel the desolation, pain and suffering looking out at you thru 100 year old panes of glass.

I must admit I was surprised and a little skeptical when the RZA, whom I have always seen as a stoic hardened man, decided to assemble a collection of his favorite recipes from his childhood as well as a few exotic dishes from around the world. My skepticism quickly evaporated upon receiving this charming tome, however. The Wu-Tang Manual provides the reader with a wealth of quick and easy (and cheap!) dishes that will leave your mouth watering. Whether you're planning a quiet, intimate time for a couple to relax, or a lively group gathering for a shower, graduation, or holiday, there are recipes here for all occasions. You'll learn how to turn out perfect renditions of classics with a twist such as Brown Butter Pecan Muffins, Baked Banana French Toast, and Smoked Salmon Benedict on Potato Pancakes, as well as new dishes to add to your repertory such as Tea-Smoked Trout Salad, and Baked Eggs with Fresh Corn "Polenta" and Slow-Roasted Tomatoes.

Though only 26 pages from start to finish, The Wu-Tang Manual is a decadent feast of a read, with usually dry recipes spiced up with some personal cooking anecdotes from the RZA and friends from the Wu-Tang clan. One such tale about the RZA and Method Man's disastrous first attempt at a crab bisque literally had me laughing until I was in tearz.

With mouthwatering photos and sections on menus and sources, The Wu-Tang Manual is all you need to throw a stylish and sophisticated dinner that any chef would be proud of.

I loved this book, my brother loved this book and I thought the Rza did a great job.....its the Wu FOREVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

if you like the wu this is for you. if you like hiphop its a good read. so many little fill ins for missing wu knowledge. the best bits will depend on where you come at hiphop from, as an mc i liked the annotated lyrics section. it is fairly comprehensive overview of the wu and well worth the price. buy it or stay a sucker mc forever.

I bought this book because I have been an avid fan of the Wu since high school. I had a feeling it would be good but little did I know that it would be in the tops of the bests books I've ever read in my life. If you've ever listened to a Wu song and wondered what this line meant, or what this word means, look no further. Who knew that there was actual rhyme and reason to ever since word picked for their lyrics.

If this is truely only a volume 1 out of many, I can't wait for the others. No matter what level of Wu fan you are, this will double it at least. Get this book.

The Wu-Tang Clan has been of the primary influences in my life, starting my interest in Hip-Hop music and culture as a youth through adulthood. This book is amazing; however, a novice listener of the Wu will not truly understand this book. A bandwagon listener of the Wu will not truly understand this book. This book is for the true heads, the people that have been intrigued with the sound, slang, style and charisma of the Wu-Tang ever since they first dropped on the music scene. If you're one of these fans, buy this book; you won't be dissapointed. For all you corny,wannabe, Johnny-come-latelys that claim to be a Wu fan and only own The W and Iron Flag, do us all a favor and don't buy this book; it will be a piece of genius that will go to waste collecting dust.

Witty Unpredictable Talent And Natural Game!