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This book literally launched my CG animation career. I later took a class in CG animation and modeling and the tutorials in this book were in that class. Its was an excellent class, since it helped you learn the book's content is covered in 3 weeks instead of 2-3 months of night time after work animation. But this book is $30 not $2k.
What a great book. It does assume you know the basics, so learn the basics first and then dive in head first.

not even worth giving it up to my dog to chew on.

I have read several books about 3D Max but I consider this book one of the best books ! and I have learnt a lot from it ...If you want to make professional media animations logos you have to own one !

I have read several books about 3D Max but I consider this book one of the best books ! and I have learnt a lot from it ...If you want to make professional media animations logos you have to own one !

Finally a book that merges great tutorial writing and impressive content. Going through this book, I was intrigued with every sentence. Not only did I want to read what Chismar had to say but I would learn things at random times. New techniques and tricks sprawl throughout this book, were at times I even felt a little guilty getting all this info for just a few bucks. Don't keep us waiting too long for the next one, John.

Madame Doreen Valiente has written an excellent Witchcraft text that has stood the sands of the hour-glass.She offers a critical review of all the major famous people associated with classical and modern witchcraft.It's omnificent story-telling without any fluffy piffling tales presented.It's serious reading for any neo-pagan,who wants to expand one's Craft knowledge. From that of a mere novice to a higher level of a trusted Occult scholar. This book has more persuasive and insightful opinions on the British Witchcraft-Gardnerian traditions and customs,than any other recent English Craftbook.So i can only recommend this classical work on historical and near present British Magick.I have the original edition,with the moon priestess,around the witching midnight hour.The newer copies offer a sky-clad witch, that may turn some serious wiccans, widdershins away from it.This book is not a 'pig in the poke',short-changing the true followers of Wicca.Read the book and judge for yourself.You will not be disappointed.Also check out www.highcrossquarter.com for current information about today's British witches & wizards.

I'm always suprised when I see really great books on the Craft have few reviews compared to a lot of the "junk food" type stuff that is constantly published today. This isn't a how to book for beginners, but a great history that's set up in a dictionary type way. There's so much info and so much to learn here. This isn't just a book for practicing Witches, but for anyone interested in witchcraft. I could see this book being a great resource for anyone doing a paper on witchcraft. It can be a little dry in some spots, but not very many!

This is a great little encyclopedia on witchcraft and occult topics that relate to the pratice of both witchcraft and also Wicca. If you are looking for a good book to help expand your magical vocabulary or a great book that will help you become a more well-rounded witch, this is the book for you..... What I recommend is that you get the book and you start reading the information presented here-in. Then if you are looking for more information or updated books about any articles what you see, come online and see if you can find any specific books relating to the topics presented or look around on the web. It is easy to read and Doreen keeps your interest peeled!

Any books by this author is highly recommened!

Much Love & Many Blessings,
Thorn Nightwind

This book was so full of information from the very first page, I just couldn't put it down.It was certainly a important addition to my Wiccan library.If you want to find out what, where, and why ,this book will give you all of that .I have been a student of Wicca since I was thirteen ,and am now forty-eight ,having this book all those years ago would have definately been a blessing.

Doreen Valiente was always interested in the truely old craft. Here she gives us interesting factiods on various topics. Most concern pre-revival traditions like the witch balls, holed stones, flying ointments and the like. Also matters of historical importance like the minibiographies of the revivalists (Garder, Crowley, etc.), laws against witchcraft and some of the more famous witch trials. Several important dieties and holidays are also covered. And of course, the witches' tools. The articles are mostly 2 - 5 pages in length, so they depth as well as breadth.

Far more than an alphabetical reference book An ABC of Witchcraft takes you in and gives even an experienced witch food for thought. I highly recommend.

Simply put - this is the most comprehensive and easy-to-understand text on Yoga I've found yet. Everything is explained in both esoteric/spiritual and exoteric/anatomy-based manners. The chapters are arranged to lead the reader through their own practice, adding new techniques as one progresses. Yogani has clearly spent many years learning and practicing many style of yoga. Now he has compiled the best into one complete text.

Unfortuntaly his mini-book don't have the same power as this original AYP book.

Put your ego aside and follow this Path to self-fullment. Clear, concise and practical ancient methods of clearing out all of your past emotional and karmic baggage. For the beleivers in traditional Christianity, you will be surprised at the relationship between Jesus Christ and ancient Yoga. Remember Yoga is not an religion but in a nutshell it is basically the science of the human nervous system and the refining and purifying of that system. Yoga complements and enlightens all Beleifs and Yogani brings it to you in clear and easy to follow instructions. The most complete single book on escatic Yoga available....

After reading these fine reviews I have nothing more to add other then to encourage you to join us on this marvelous spiritual adventure. We now have the tools to complete the journey, only the will remains. Thank you Yogani. Namaste

These advanced yoga practices are a great treasure.

The lessons aim to make the practitioner fully responsible for the basic tools of spiritual development.

This manual is for absolute beginners as well as veteran yogic practitioners.

Basic instructions in deep meditation, spinal breathing pranayama, samyama, asana(postures),light excercise, self-pacing and balanced managing of techniques, tantra and much more than can possibly be mentioned.
Included are many question and answer dialogues which bring more clarity to the lessons and temper this system of practices with the context of our modern everyday life.

These advanced yoga practices are meant to be integrated into your everyday life, but not necessarily the center of your life. You practice the simple techniques for a short duration everday and then get up and be active in life in whichever way that you choose.

When I first read the reviews for Advanced Yoga Practices, I worried that they may have been faked since they were so glowing. I decided to buy the book anyway. It was a pleasure to discover that the book is even better than the reviews. Unlike much of the yogic/spiritual tradition that shrouds advanced techniques in secret, Yogani spells out yogic meditation practices from the basic to advanced, giving complete, easy to understand instructions. At the same time, he reminds readers that they must take responsibility for their own spiritual progress with respect to the advanced practices. To apply those methods before having the proper level of understanding and training can create problems. I suppose an analogy would be that you wouldn't ask 16-year old to drive a race car 200+ miles per hour when they are first learning to drive. That is a recipe for disaster. Rather you idle slowly about a parking lot or side road until you get the hang of driving a car. Similarly, Yogani introduces the basic meditation and breathing (pranayama) practices and gradually introduces more advanced techniques.

Since the lessons first originated with some website lessons, there are lots of questions and answers from seekers who have written him, and he gives very practical advice, and always reminds people to self-pace with respect to how deeply they delve into the more advanced practices. It is a very refreshing approach.

I have a large library of spiritual books, many of which did not deliver as much as I had hoped. That said, I would whole-hearted recommend Yogani's Advanced Yoga Practices to anyone who is very serious in their pursuit of meditation and advanced level practices.

P.S. May I add, that although I have purchased a ton of books from Amazon, especially in the spiritual genre, I have never written a review of a book. This book was so good, I felt compelled to write a review. I send my most sincere thanks to Yogani!

I own this book, my sister gave me this book after the death of my son who passed at 18 1/2 weeks. Some of the topics don't pertain to my situation, but the overall book is a blessing. What a wonderful idea. I know when I am old and there are certain things I can't remember I can go back and read my journal and will be able to smile. It is also great to know that someday, my other children will be able to read about their brother and read about memories they don't have or can't remember. This is so great to give as a gift as well. Beautifully done!

Having lost my husband recently I was drawn to the idea of Angel Catcher. I purchased three of the journals, one for myself and one for each of our children, who are adults and live away from home.
I plan to purchase the books to give to family and friends who lose a loved one in lieu of flowers or other forms of expressions of sympathy.

I only have one problem with the journal. I am 62 years old and don't see as well as I used to. The print is so small and light in color that I cannot see unless I use a magnifying glass in addition to glasses to see it. I have had others look at it and they have to strain to see the print also. I hope this can be improved in future editions.

Susan McCarthy

this is an excellent book for anyone who has had a loss. I run a support group and highly recommend this book to help work through the hard times experienced through grief.

One of my friends gave me this journal after the death of my father in 1998. It has helped me "cleanse my soul" of the grief and heartache and pain of losing someone who your world revolves around. It has helped me so much so, that I have purchased large quantities of these journals to give to people as my own personal ministry to them. Somehow the "giving" of these journals makes my father's death a little easier to live with - in fact almost 6 years later - it still does. There are days I just go back to read the things I wrote and am conforted by my progress in healing and hope others I have given them to along the way are as well.

The greatest thing about this journal are the open ended questions and statements for you to fill in with whatever your feeling and thoughts are right then. And it leaves enough room for you to come back later and write more - it gives you a look over time of how you WERE feeling versus how you ARE feeling. The REALNESS of this journal is what draws me to it. Personally though, I hope you never need it.

A few weeks after my mom died, I ordered this book. I reviewed it in the book store and decided it was a fit for my loss and mourning process.

It has been a great source of comfort and relief for me. When I write in the journal, the words just flow and the pages fill; sometimes I continue writing on subsequent pages. Not all of the headings/topics fit the subject or reflection I am writing, but I find a fitting topic and the words flow.

Since her death, this journal has helped me through the entire year to express my inner feelings. At first I would cry a little after competing a segment. Now, it's a comfort and like a friend to go to--a solace away--hidden garden away from the world who doesn't have time or the empathy to hear my inner thoughts (I wouldn't share these thoughts or reflcetions with just anyone). They are private reflections and thougts for the book, my mom, and myself. The results: I am free to live, love, and be myself again.

If I had the time, I could sit and write in this book for hours. I am a believer in journaling and I have written on a professioanl basis.

As well as an informative program on how to use the Law Of Attraction in several specific areas of life, David tells you how NOT to use the LOA, outlining specific pitfalls to avoid in order to make the LOA work for you!

This is extremely valuable since many of us don't realize how we may be undermining our ability to attract the things we want and fulfill our dreams and ambitions.

Thanks, David!

I was surprised at how it is organized in 7 simple steps for 7days for each aspect of your life. Money, Health Relationship, Business. There is a wealth of knowledge. I bought the book also. Thanks

First - what a fun book! I was listening to the audio version and suddenly had some deep insights about my relationship with money.

I'd been trying to collect some late payments from a client. I thought I was taking action, but nothing was happening.

Listening to this book, I realized I had been thinking about it the wrong way, and the action I had been taking was ineffective. I immediately knew what to do, took a more appropriate action, and collected all the outstanding debt, not just the late part - $16,000 altogether.

I listened to the CD and I most enjoyed the career/bussiness section when he asked the questions in those parts they clicked like others never had. I am stay at home mom and last kid is almost in school so wanting to find something useful and satisfying to do-well when he asked the questions I finally got a clear idea of what it is I want to spend my time doing, which is huge given that I have not been able to figure that out for the last 10 years! So my take is that it is basic info. for the most part, but it takes hearing it in a different way by someone different sometimes for it to click with you. He has you ask yourself some questions that may trigger the same "awakening" in you that it did for me.

The author does a wonderful job in telling the listener what to do daily. If you do this program as he says you will see a difference.

Awake and Dreaming is a book that helps us understand just how much we should be thankful for. It also helps us see that no matter how bad our situation, there is always someone in a worse predicament.
The story is about a girl named Theo. She and her mom live in Vancouver, Canada. It is safe to say that they are poor. Theo's life was very hard and she was going through a lot. So her mother decided that she needed to go stay with some relatives for the time being.
While aboard the ferry that Theo is taking to her aunt's house, Theo falls asleep and the real action begins. Theo goes into a deep sleep. She wakes up to find herself in a big comfortable bed. In a big house with a wonderful family. Theo
is confused at first,but eventually she grows accustom to her new family. She has everything that she ever wanted. Then all of a sudden she is awken by a strong gust of wind and her dream family is gone. She knows that she cant live without them so she goes in search of them and is amazed at what she finds.
If you like imaginitive books, then you'll love Awake and Dreaming!

Awake and Dreaming is a book that helps us understand just how much we should be thankful for. It also helps us see that no matter how bad our situation, there is always someone in a worse predicament.
The story is about a girl named Theo. She and her mom live in Vancouver, Canada. It is safe to say that they are poor. Theo's life was very hard and she was going through a lot. So her mother decided that she needed to go stay with some relatives for the time being.
While aboard the ferry that Theo is taking to her aunt's house, Theo falls asleep and the real action begins. Theo goes into a deep sleep. She wakes up to find herself in a big comfortable bed. In a big house with a wonderful family. Theo
is confused at first,but eventually she grows accustom to her new family. She has everything that she ever wanted. Then all of a sudden she is awken by a strong gust of wind and her dream family is gone. She knows that she cant live without them so she goes in search of them and is amazed at what she finds.
If you like imaginitive books, then you'll love Awake and Dreaming!

I recommend this book. I read it for a book report. It is very interesting. It teaches people what life is like for some in poverty. It also has the right amount of fantasy to go along with the realistic side of the story. It was a great read. Kit Person has outdone herself.

Awake and Dreaming is a book that helps us understand just how much we should be thankful for. It also helps us see that no matter how bad our situation, there is always someone in a worse predicament.
The story is about a girl named Theo. She and her mom live in Vancouver, Canada. It is safe to say that they are poor. Theo's life was very hard and she was going through a lot. So her mother decided that she needed to go stay with some relatives for the time being.
While aboard the ferry that Theo is taking to her aunt's house, Theo falls asleep and the real action begins. Theo goes into a deep sleep. She wakes up to find herself in a big comfortable bed. In a big house with a wonderful family. Theo
is confused at first,but eventually she grows accustom to her new family. She has everything that she ever wanted. Then all of a sudden she is awken by a strong gust of wind and her dream family is gone. She knows that she cant live without them so she goes in search of them and is amazed at what she finds.
If you like imaginitive books, then you'll love Awake and Dreaming!

Kids get to go on some fun field trips these days, and a couple of years ago I decided to tag along and chaperone when my son's grade 7 class was going to visit Ross Bay Cemetery located here in Victoria. It all had to do with this book they had read in class, whose plot involved the cemetery, a house across the street from it, and other nearby landmarks that I knew of.

Theodora and her mother live in Vancouver in utter poverty - if you can call it living. There's never enough to eat, and her shoes are too small and falling apart. Theo's mother is never home, either working or out with a boyfriend, and leaves the young lady on her own far too often. It's enough to have Theo taken away and made a ward of the court, but the secret is very well kept. Theo changes schools often so that nobody in a position to do anything about the situation can help. Sometimes she's lucky and the schools have meal programs, sometimes she isn't. Then she must try to learn while her body devours itself from the inside out.

Things suddenly change when Theo's mother runs into an old friend and the two begin a relationship. Naturally there isn't any room for Theo who wants a kid hanging out when they are trying to party anyhow?! So Theo is left on her own, more and more, until the day her Mother decides to move in with this new guy. The invitation didn't extend to Theo, of course, so she is unloaded on an Aunt in Victoria who she hasn't seen in years. The deal is that Theo's mom will send money, and that it won't be for long, only until she talks the boyfriend into accepting Theo.

Theo has dreamed of belonging to a real family for so long that it has become a familiar and easy dream to fall into. There will be four children, two older and two younger, so that Theo can be in the middle. Then somehow the oddest thing happens - Theo is very mysteriously adopted into her dream family. The Kaldor's are filled with love and warmth, and for the first time in her life, Theo is not only happy, but well dressed and fully fed. She even relaxes enough to build friendships with her new siblings.

Tragically, something goes horribly, horribly wrong and Theo slowly fades from the life she has found. She finds herself back with her mother, traveling on the ferry to Victoria. The Kaldor's couldn't have been a dream, it was far too real to Theo, and she is filled with anguish at the loss. How could this have happened to her?

What really hits home is the reality involved here. Aside from the fantasy elements, this book holds some cold hard truths that children face today. It is well deserving of winning The Canada Council for the Arts Governor General's Literary Awards. This is a ghost story with some real substance.

Review Originally Posted at LinearReflections.com

If you have trouble reading the bible this is great it's like listening to a play being acted out, only it's the bible word for word.

I absolutely LOVE this Bible. I have had the New Testiment for almost a year now. But I couldnt find the old Testiment for the life of me at a resonable price. I got it as a Birthday gift and havent stopped listening to it since. This is a great Bible for kids to listen to before they go to sleep so that they can fall asleep to something positive and they will actully soak it up faster than reading the Bible alone. Instead of falling alseep to cartoons or anything else of this world.

I have been trying to read the bible for years; I've tried many different strategies and was unsuccessful. I am so grateful for this format. To hear all my favorite actors read and project the emotions, the background sounds of animals and the crowds are great.
The actors speak as if they are experiencing the events they are reenacting. I have a better understanding of the context of where most of the phases and exerts that I have heard of most of my life come from. I am more engaged in listening then I was in reading it myself. I would recommend this for the sheer entertainment value alone.

When I first heard that this project was being created and that only the New Testament would be available I was a bit impatient. I started hearing about this project in so many places and by several different people. To cap it off, my church showed a promo in service one Sunday that was end-capped by a certain surprise for our congregation- our very own pastor was going to be on the recording. (In addition to a few other pastors familiar with our congregation.) When I received the NT, I certainly was not disappointed.
I could hardly wait for the Old Testament and finally I got the notice in my eamil that it was going to be available. I got it and have been listening to it more and more. I find the Psalms and surrounding books to be especially wonderful when I am having a hard time sleeping or the devil is trying to discourage me. God be glorified- at any time and always!
Now for the funny thing- when I got to the OT, I skipped right to Ecclesiastes because I knew that was the book my pastor had spoken for. To this moment- after several listens- I am truly not sure that his voice is his voice. (I kinda figured it out...) I'm used to the whole sermon and then some. ;) I decided to finally get the guts up to tell him this Sunday, "Happy Birthday and by the way- I am totally not sure that I heard your voice on The Bible Experience." That should go over so well... LOL (BTW- His name is Reverand Lawrence Powell. You can find his book, The Power of the Seed, here on Amazon.)
Just a caution/quick word of advice- do not get hung up on the voices. So many of them are recognizable but if you pay too much attention to that you will lose the essence of the WORD of GOD. God uses whatever tools necessary to ensure the spread and ingestion of HIS WORD. Don't forget that. (I wil be honest though and say that hearing Eartha Kitt's voice primarily takes you a little aback but you get over it quick enough.)
Happy listening and Be Blessed!

I have wanted to purchase this collection for quite a while.I was not disappointed. The music and the voices actually bring the Scriptures and passages to life.I am especially pleased with Yolanda Adams. I wish she could have read more!It is refreshing and even though we know the bible it causes you to look at it in a new and even fuller light as you imagine more the situations and the joy and even the sorrow that the artist show us in their deliveries.The book of Psalm takes the listener through so many emotions. Everyone will have a favorite from this collection.

J.L. Price

I have had this tiny little book for 20 years. I treasure it as one of the greatest books filled with a cutting wisdom that reminds me of the simple and profound truths of God's Wisdom. Not written in religious tones, but carrying such deep spiritual healing wisdoms. Big Truths are simple, and we humans do seem to have an addiction to complicating life, and creating chaos when quiet reflection would reveal the simple nature of truths so well revealed in "The Book of Qualities". It has a centering quality about it, making one go, "Ah yes, that's the truth of it".....after reading a one page passage on anything from "COURAGE" to
"GREED", to "AMBIVILENCE", to "GUILT", to "POWER" and too many more to list here. Give yourself one of the greatest books you will ever own. I expect that you will put it in a special place,easily accessible, and always quitely waiting for that moment when you might need to remember what "truly matters" about being human in this life we create. As soon as I post this review I am heading straight to Amazon again, and purchasing 2 more copies to keep tucked away as I have worn the pages of this wonderful little book over 20 years of re-reading it.

I was given this book several years ago by a dear friend. As is always the case when someone gives me something, it sat untouched for almost a year.

When I finally picked it up... I devoured it. I plotted the relationships within the "community" and also used it to journal, hanging out with the characters in the book for a day or so and seeing how they lived in my life. Ultimately it made my understand just how life and time can affect us all. It's helped me be more tolerant of others... and myself.

This year I was the person who gave it away... It's funny the look on some people face... "Oh... GREAT... Yeah, thanks!..." When they actually open the BoQ and spend some time with the characters, they'll understand.

It took me longer than it should have, but it was there waiting for me when I was ready. I LOVE THIS BOOK! I wish I'd written it.

I owned this book for many years often quoting from it to friends. I either lent it or lost it in a move. I missed it. An old friend returned.

I absolutely love this book, and everyone I show it to falls in love with it too. Gendler had the idea to take qualities such as anger, complacency, joy, and contentment and write about them as if they were people. In so doing, she has captured their essence in a poetic and powerful way. Once in awhile you encounter a writer who reveals things that were right in front of you but went unnoticed for years, and in so doing enriches your vision and your world. Gendler is one of those writers. Every time I read it I experience the same sense of wonder and discovery. If I were stranded on a desert island, I'd want this book with me. I don't usually seek autographs but I am honored to have an autographed copy. Gendler is also a visual artist and has illustrated her own work.

April is National Poetry Month. Yeah, I know: there's a national month, or special week, or weird celebratory day, for every topic and group in the universe now. There's even a book up at WNBT that lists, by month, everything from "National Dental Health Care Week" to "International Talk-Like-A-Pirate Day". (Although those two topics might not be so unrelated as they first appear, har har.)

But I actually look forward to National Poetry Month. I love poetry. Poetry challenges me, feeds me, shocks me, makes me giggle, soothes me in songs, comes to me from sacred texts and coffeeshops and in emails from friends. And, unlike many genres of literature, I believe there is a poetry book for everyone. There may not be a story from the thriller group that you'd like, or a biography, or a book on investing. But I'm fairly certain if we looked, and probably not even for that long, we could find a poem or two that you would love.

I told Kevin I was prepared to write two or three columns for National Poetry Month, or even do the entire month of reviews. He gave me a look. He thought one column would be enough. "People just don't like poetry all that much," he told me, gently but firmly - although he writes fine poetry himself.

So how do I choose one book to focus on? Actually, it was a clear and easy choice. There is one poetry book that fits all of us.

When I had to be in the hospital for a while during my college years, a friend brought me this special book - J. Ruth Gendler's "The Book of Qualities". Since then, I have turned around and given copies of this book to all different people in my life. I've shared this beautiful little book as a gift for graduations, wedding showers, birthdays, major illnesses, surgeries, and as a thank-you note. I've read selections from it at open mike nights, support groups, and memorial services.

In "The Book of Qualities", poet and artist Ruth Gendler dedicates one page to each of almost one hundred human characteristics and feelings. These are the Qualities. With playful and insightful words, she describes each Quality as though he or she were a person you know. Change becomes your unwelcome houseguest; Honor could be your grandfather; Courage may be the woman who befriended you as you faced your divorce. Each of the Qualities has a favorite color, or a hobby. They have faces and hair and cars and clothes and jobs. And in those characteristics, in each Quality, you will recognize yourself and those you know - often in delightful and startling new ways. This little book is truly a classic: one of those books that you will find yourself revisiting time and again, once it has become a part of your life. Every time you re-read it, you'll find something new.

Editor,"Of A Predatory Heart"

I was given this book as a gift from my son. I read it on an airplane and laughed and cried so much that at the end of the flight, the man sitting next to me said, "you are quite an emotional lady!" I bought a copy of this book for the lady that helped me when I got stranded when the flight was delayed a day. She read one of the stories in it while I was changing clothes and I found her in tears when I returned. It's a great feel-good book.

In this collection of stories from and about mothers, there is something for everyone. Whether you need to be inspired, comforted, or amused, whether if you are looking for a laugh or a cry you can find a story for your mood. The Chicken Soup authors always know how to pick a collection of stories that truly brings the subject to light, a tear to your eye, and a smile to your lips! This time, what a worthy topic: mothers. As a positive psychologist in private practice I certainly know the powerful and permanent importance of our mothers in all of our lives!

I CAN NOT PUT THIS BOOK DOWN! Some real tear jerkers too. A must for all moms.

my family got this as a gift about 8 years ago. I don't remember much about it but I remember the stories about the mother losing her son during a skiing accident, the girl who bought her mom bobby pins for her birthday and the story where they're celebrating a grandmother's birthday and she dies at the end of the party after seeing her entire family at the celebration.

AFTER READING THIS I AM REASSURED THAT GOOD HONEST BOOKS ARE FINALLY MAKING A COME-BACK!!!!!!

This was the text for my college Shakespeare classes over 20 years ago (different edition of course) I still have it and still use it. A wonderful book for students and those who want not only the complete works but some well written and authoritative information about Shakespeare and the world in which he lived and wrote.

The texts of the plays are well foot-noted and the type is easy on the eyes. Well worth the investment.

If you can't afford the Oxford Edition of Shakespeare's complete works than this is the next best edition you can find.

I purchased this book as a birthday present for a graduating high school student who is a big fan of Shakespeare.
This volume has a lot to offer to both students and casual readers. In addition to very readable text of all the plays and sonnets, the fifth edition provides historical and literary context, including drawings and photos, as well as insightful essays on each of the plays. The essays include background, plot summaries and discussion of major themes and would be very useful to anyone seeing a play, especially for the first time. The helpful glossary is extensive, so the reader doesn't have to look up unfamiliar words or feel intimidated by the language. Professor Bevington's fifth edition of the Complete Works is a gem, authoritative and attractive. The birthday girl thinks so, too-- she gives it an A+.

This is truly a great book. Not only does it contain all of Shakespeare's works but it also has an enormous amount of information. There's a little bit on his life and a bit more about the theater during his time. There are also some great drawings in the beginning of the book.

While reading reviews of this edition elsewhere on the Web, I came across this review by David Allen White, professor of English @ the U.S. Naval Academy and editor (with Charles Boyce) of Shakespeare A to Z:

"Re-writing Shakespeare is nothing new. The Nahum Tate version of King Lear--with the happy ending--held the stage for nearly a century and a half. The great actors of the romantic age, Kean and Booth and Macready, not only spotlighted the heroes in the tragedies but felt free to beef up their roles. Directors began more than 50 years ago to monkey with the historical settings of the play, often with imaginative and instructive results. Scholars, critics, and directors have ridden various hobbyhorses through the plays for years, introducing us to Freudian Hamlets and Marxist King Lears and feminist Tamings of the Shrew.

"Recent Shakespeare production and scholarship, however, add a perverse twist to this long tradition. We no longer care what the Bard actually wrote. Years of deconstructionist theorizing have taught us that words are needy and we, readers or actors or scholars, have the right, indeed the obligation, to give them the gift of meaning--our meaning, the more bizarre the better.

"For the 23 years that I've taught Shakespeare at the United States Naval Academy, I have always used the same text, The Complete Works of Shakespeare, edited by David Bevington of the University of Chicago. Professor Bevington is an old-school scholar with a distinguished career. The book he edited had many advantages: large print, full character names before each speech, specific indications of settings, modernized spellings, solid introductions that connected the plays to the students' experience of love and politics, morality and order, passion and faith, and comprehensive but not overwhelming notes. Every few years a new edition would appear, and I would open it with interest and a little apprehension. But the changes would be minor--thinner paper (approaching the substance of tissue, a malady afflicting many recent books), hints here and there of encroaching academic perversity in the notes--nothing sufficient to make me seek another text. The 4th edition's introduction to The Tempest caused me to swallow hard: We learn there that Prospero's authority "is problematic to us because he seems so patriarchal, colonialist, even sexist and racist in his arrogating to himself the right and responsibility to control others in the name of Western and Christian values." But this is an imperfect world, and I soldiered on.

"Notified that a 5th Edition would appear this fall, I took time to examine it closely. Many of the introductions remain the same; but new editors and commentators have significantly altered others. Despite the myth of progress that reigns in all the disciplines of modern academia, "new" is often far from "improved." Apparently, Professor Bevington has either ignored the changes or allowed the young scholar-colts to have a romp. In some of the new introductory essays, especially under the guise of new brief histories of stage performance, questionable judgment, to put it mildly, has crept in. For example, the introduction to Othello ends with the following observation:

'In another recent development, Emilia has stood out in several productions as the raissoneur and heroic figure in the play, speaking as she does on behalf of maltreated women, urging Desdemona to stand up for her rights. One recent Chicago production went so far as to rewrite the ending: Othello and Iago both survive unpunished for what they have done, while Desdemona and Emilia lie dead as their innocent victims. This deliberate and provocative overstatement might seem extreme to some viewers, but unquestionably did signal the direction of recent performance history of the profoundly disturbing play.'

"It may be time to stop buying tickets to that great play.

"The current obsession in academia is "queer theory," and the homoerotic is everywhere, not just in Shakespeare studies. But this particular perversity fills the introductions to the new Bevington, especially the introductions to the comedies. Compare the following passages, the first from the introduction to As You Like It in the 4th Edition, essentially a carry-over from earlier editions:

'Rosalind's disguise name, Ganymede, taken from Jove's amorous cupbearer, has homoerotic connotations that are easily misinterpreted today. Shakespeare delicately acknowledges the suggestion, to be sure, both in Phoebe's pursuit of a young lady (but really a boy actor) in male attire, and in Orlando's courtship of "Ganymede" as though addressed to Rosalind. Yet this innocent titillation, found also in Shakespeare's source, is not meant to hint at homosexual attraction as we understand it. On the contrary, the point is that Orlando can speak frankly and personally to "Ganymede" as to a perfect friend, one to whom he can relate in platonically spiritual terms without the distracting note of sexual interest.'

"These are eminently sane and sensible remarks. Now from the Introduction to As You Like It in the 5th Edition:

'Rosalind's disguise name, Ganymede, has connotations that suggest ways in which human sexuality can be partly understood as socially constructed. If Rosalind in disguise as Ganymede wins the affection and eventually the love of Orlando, while her father and the others are equally taken in by the disguise, are maleness and femaleness chiefly matters of sartorial convention and superficial appearance? When Phoebe falls in love with Ganymede, is not her infatuation a way of showing that the roles of the sexes can be put on and off? Theatrically, the device of having a young male actor play Rosalind who then disguises him/herself as a young man adds to the witty confusion of sexual identities by introducing homoerotic possibilities. Not only can the roles of the sexes be put on and off, sexual desire itself is unstable...'

"This is ideology masquerading as interpretation.

"To be sure, the range of possible interpretations of Shakespeare's work is wide, for he encompasses all of humanity and tells profound and mysterious truths about human life. Such inexhaustible expansiveness invites discussion and dispute and differences. At the end of the Introduction to Richard II in this volume, for example, there is a brief but superb account of various interpretations of that rich role by leading actors. Professor Charles Forker of Indiana University provides that account; another old-school scholar, he knows more about that play than any other living soul. Too many of the revised introductions, however, are more interested in advancing the latest academic-political orthodoxy than in discovering and illuminating the natural and conventional moral order so abundantly on display in Shakespeare's works. Nothing is more orthodox--still--among contemporary literary critics than the alleged truth that there is no truth, that all interpretations are valid except the author's own.

"Thus Puck in A Midsummer Night's Dream can be presented as "the denizen of a drug culture, with the love potion as the weed he gleefully distributes. The experience of the forest becomes a drug-induced 'high,' for audiences as for the actors. The fairies, sometimes played by adult and hairy males, can exhibit a streak of cruelty." And, indeed, in a recent production at the Shakespeare Theater in Washington, D.C., the fairies were hairy males who carried something like miners' lights. So much for lightness and charm and magic. This same Dream introduction gives the game away in words that are echoed in many of the other essays: "These modern interpretations are arguably neither more nor less 'true' to Shakespeare's text than earlier or more 'traditional' versions. What they do demonstrate is the play's remarkable permeability and openness to differing views."

"The new Bevington retails for $90; in good conscience, I cannot ask students to fork over such a sum of cash for a book that is now rife with nonsense. So next fall I'll assign The Riverside Shakespeare, which fortunately is still in its 2nd edition. I fervently hope it is not soon updated.

"Of course, the Bevington volume has come to reflect the universities it serves, where young students pay small fortunes to be taught that there is no enduring meaning or beauty to be found in the poetry of Shakespeare, no tradition worth preserving, no "truth" other than personal whim and innovative foolery. If the price of the new Bevington is petty theft, the tuitions charged by these institutions have become, at least for the study of the humanities, highway robbery.

"I know a father who gave his son the equivalent of a year's tuition and told the lad to go to Europe, to travel, to observe, to learn for as long as the money would hold out. The young man came back after two-and-a-half years, mature and educated, and instantly found a good job. The time has come for imaginative, alternative learning. I talked recently with a very intelligent young woman who loves literature; she is completing her sophomore year at Yale, where she had hoped to pursue an English Literature major. She informed me with sorrow that she was abandoning that plan. Her reason was quite simple: she had already sat through too many classes where lunacy prevailed. She mentioned the possibility of looking at traditional Catholic convents. Could this be the first refreshing drop of a wave of the future? It would not be the first time that civilization was preserved in the convents and the monasteries. Nymph, in thy orisons, be all of Academia's sins remembered."

(Allen, David White, "An Unweeded Garden," The Claremont Institute, http://claremont.org/publications/crb/id.959/article_detail.asp [originally published March 22, 2004])

I guess it's safe to say that, based on his review, Professor Allen'd give this edition 1 star...right?