Ireland Books

Read it and weep at how far the West has deteriorated since Medieval times.

The book is intended to give the reader an idea of how people thought in Medieval times, which it does. It is also a sad commentary on how much of its values and backbone the West has lost since then.

Readings in Medieval History is a terrific book for a number of reasons. Many students today encounter only secondary source materials in their history courses; in other words, students are immediately presented with a particular historian's opinion of a given source document before he or she is allowed to dive into the readings themselves. Secondary text books frame (and limit) one's readings with phrases such as "the Anglo-Saxon chronicle was significant because..." Patrick Geary presents the material in their raw form and allows the reader to draw his or her own significance.

This text allows the student of history to read primary documents, which are mostly presented unabridged, exactly as they were written by their medieval authors. Other than the inherent problems of translation (most of these texts were writen in medieval Latin, Old English, French, or other vernaculars) this book offers the most direct contact with the past that an individual can reasonably hope for. This book allows you to hear the medieval voice without modern contextual hindrances. Readings in Medieval History situates its wonderful texts in their own particular cultural milieu, and allows the reader to appreciate these documents in their own right.

I had the opportunity to use this book as a text for a course while studying at UC Riverside. It serves well as a secondary souce; for those unfamiliar with the term, this kind of source is historical documentation written by contemporaries. So it contains accounts written written by medieval Europeans. It does primarily contain translated documents, in modern english, from Western Europe. Readers will find all the usual suspects and many more: Tacitus, Charlemagne, Gregory of Tours, King Louis the Ninth, King John, and a plethora of papal thought. Additional gems include the memoirs of a Byzantine princess, the Domesday book, the Concordant of Worms, and the interpretations of Aristotle by the Muslim philosopher Siegbert (my favorite). Naturally, the writings are challenging to read for those who are unfamiliar with medieval prose and style, but as a student I found reading the documents remarkably similar to reading today's Common Law documents. For anyone who is interested in building synapses geared for the study of law, this thick book is a springboard as most of its documents pertain to canon law, divine law, theology, Roman law, and English law. Worth your pennies!

Every Jewish fanatic who thinks they know everything about Wagner's relationships w/Jews and who base their opinions on the fact that he was an anti-semite ought to read this book. Loads of stuff not previously known, at least not by me. jww

Having read many books on the life of Wagner over the years, I can safely say that this biographical sketch by Brener ranks among the best. The author is a retired attorney who is also a music and art critic. Like most of us who love Wagner's music, Brener is troubled by the composer's less than admirable traits -- his manipulation of his friends, his skipping out on debts, and particularly his anti-Semitism. How could a man who wrote some of the most moving music and insightful music dramas in Western civiilzation be such a defective human being? Brener sets out to understand Wagner the man in human perspective and succeeds admirably. He focuses mainly on Wagner's public views of "the Jews" and his private, long-standing and meaningful friendships with many individual Jews. A retired lawyer, he has done his homework, deposed all the key witnesses, and developed an argument that leaves no stone unturned. Brener makes a compelling case for Wagner as a nuanced human being rather than the black and white monster as some biographers portray him. In addition, the book is extremely well written and hard to put down. I came away with a greater appreciation of Wagner and a deeper understanding of the nature of prejudice. Highly recommended.

This is not the usual diatribe that we expect on Wagner's Antisemitism. Instead it is a biography focusing on the composer's relations with the Jews. Brener makes a sharp distinction between "the Jews" in Roman type and the same phrase in italic, the former representing Wagner's Jewish friends, the latter the Jewish community that he despised.

The main characters are Karl Tausig, Heinrich Porges, Joseph Rubinstein, and Hermann Levi--all close associates of Wagner and all Jewish. The chapters on Levi are especially revealing, a sharp challenge to orthodox opinion by such scholars as Peter Gay. The analysis of Wagner's major tract on the subject, "Judaism in Music," is adequate.

Brener is a good writer with a refined sense of tone and wit. He knows the primary literature backwards and forwards. His mastery of the secondary sources seems less secure but still sufficient for his purposes. Obviously he has visited most of the places he discusses, for his descriptions of them (both then and now) are vivid.

His theme is summed up in a concise sentence that concludes his preface: "I do not beleive that, at the deeper levels, the man who created Tristan und Isolde, Parsifal, and Der Ring des Nibelungen could possibly have been the monster that so many have painted." He proves his point well.

I enjoyed this book and learned much from it. I recommend it wholeheartedly to fellow Wagnerians.

Despite a few notable exceptions, Milton Brener's Richard Wagner and the Jews is nearly the only book that deals fairly with the famed opera composer's anti-Semitism; and as such, this book is a welcome corrective to some of the more shrill anti-Wagner screeds of the last few decades. Brener does not intend to excuse Wagner; he merely comes closer than most in explaining him.

Besides being probably the greatest artist who ever lived, Wagner was also a bundle of contradictions. However, this bundle of contradictions never seemed to be able to realize that he was just that. Indeed, Wagner did possess anti-Semitic attitudes, but his anti-Semitism was of a different stripe than that espoused by the Nazis. Wagner called for Jewish assimilation within the German population, which certainly did not conform with later Nazi policy. Like many a 19th-Century anti-Semite, Wagner seems to have seen Jewishness as almost an abstract, metaphysical concept. Of course, that does not excuse him. He did indeed say vile things about Jews, and he needs to be held accountable for those attitudes, but to simply (and wrongly) call him a proto-Nazi is not only intellectually dishonest, it wrongly stains the reputation of an artist who created stupendous, deeply human works-of-art.

As Brener also points out, there is nothing inherently anti-Semitic in any of Wagner's great works of art. Unfortunately, some writers, such as Robert Gutman, seem to have a compulsion to find even the most tenuous, implausible Anti-Semitic connections in Wagner's work. It is simply impossible to find such links. There is not the slightest overt connection to anti-Semitism in any of Wagner's works, and if there are any such covert links, then one would have had to have entered the composer's mind to see them. Wagner's many genuine friendships with Jews complicate Gutman's position even more.

This is simply a fabulous book. And, along with The Darker Side of Genius and The Ring of Myths, it is also the most responsible volume available that deals specifically with Wagner's most famous character flaw.

Also included, as an appendix, is the composer's infamous essay, "Judaism in Music". While the essay is bitter and paranoid, it is helpful for a frame of reference to the preceding 300 pages. Needless to say, I find Wagner's argument that Jews are incapable of generating higher culture to be utterly worthless. Schoenberg & Mahler (and many other Jewish artists) obviously dismantle that argument, and as for Wagner's claim that Jews are incapable of high art because they are "rootless", we only need to look at Aaron Copland, a man of Lithuanian Jewish heritage, who used Appalachian & Mexican melodies and rhythms to create incredible works of art.

Sacred Space: The Prayer Book 2006 is an inspired, and inspiring prayer guide arising from the increasingly popular website www.sacredspace.ie. Sacred Space offers a unique and enlightening way for the reader to self-reflect, meditate and pray each day of the year, as well as providing opportunities to quietly connect with God, affording a space in which the reader can become spiritually nourished, involved, healed and enriched. A strong recommendation for Christians seeking a higher sense of spiritual self or contentment.

Millions of people around the world have benefitted from the experience of praying on a daily basis with the interactive web site "Sacred Space". In my own daily prayer rituals, my reading of the day's scriptures at Sacred Space creates a quiet time for reflection and contemplation. Now, through this new book, the same experience is available without the need for a computer.

Organized around weekly themes, the readings for each week actually commence with the new liturgical calendar in November, 2004. A reflection at the beginning of each week supplements the daily readings and questions. Whether you are looking to establish a daily prayer ritual or to enhance your existing spiritual journey, you will benefit from this wonderful book.

The website www.sacredspace.ie may be one of the best kept prayer secrets on the web. Started by Alan McGuckian and Peter Scally, two Irish Jesuits, the site offers prayer suggestions based on the daily Mass scriptures used in the Catholic Church and the basic methods of Ignatian prayer. The site also offers seasonal retreats and newsletters to better help people pray. People can sign up to receive newsletters, participate in online retreats, and share feedback. People can also log on to use the daily prayers, but for those of us who do not like sitting at a computer to pray, there is a companion volume: SACRED SPACE THE PRAYER VOLUME 2006.

The book is set up in an easy to use format. It follows the liturgical calendar and begins with a monthly reflection. For each week there are reflection questions that vary from week to week to help the person focus on scripture and God's movement in his/her life. The method is rather basic. First the person reminds him/herself that prayer is being in the presence of God and clears the mind. Second, the person asks for God's help in the time of prayer, remembering that while prayer is a free act, it is only fruitful with God's help. Third, we bring ourselves to prayer, bringing our thoughts, feelings, moods, etc. to prayer and sharing them with God. The fourth step involves reading the scripture for the day, the fifth is reflection and conversation with God about the scripture. The prayer ends with the sixth and final step, praising and thanking God.

SACRED SPACE is almost the perfect guide for personal prayer. Since it uses the daily Mass gospels, it is a prayer that unites members of the Church throughout the world. It is easy to use so a person beginning a prayer routine will not be intimidated yet since it is based on God's word through the scriptures, it is both simple and sophisticated. It is a method that can be done in a rather short period of time yet can easily be extended to longer periods. It's also a method that can be used at any time of the day. It could easily be something that begins the day (probably the ideal way to use the book), be a refresher for midday, or a good way to conclude the day.

P.S.: For people who have to prepare a homily for daily Mass and run out of ideas, the reflection questions in the book can be a wonderful way to sound new and fresh, and since it stems from prayer and reflection, it is what a homily is supposed to be.

Since its inception in 1999, the popular website sacredspace (www.sacredspace.ie) has drawn over 16,000,000 pilgrims to pray through its simple, yet effective, six-stage prayer process. The website is currently translated into twenty different languages and is the most popular online prayer site in the world. The success of sacredspace led its creators, the Jesuit Communication Center in Dublin, Ireland, to develop a book form of the website in conjunction with Ave Maria Press. This year's edition is Sacred Space: the Prayer Book 2006, retail price $12.95.

The genius of Sacred Space is the six-stage process that is part Ignatian prayer and part lectio divina. Through simple meditative techniques and imaginative/reflective interaction with Scripture, Sacred Space gently leads you into genuine encounter with the Living God. The first stage of the process is entitled the Presence of God. This stage is designed to gently remind you that God is as present to you as your own breath. The second stage, Freedom, helps to create a space of openness in your heart to hear and receive the gentle voice of the Spirit. Consciousness, the third stage, is essentially an Ignatian Examen of the past day. It is a time to give thanks for blessings received and confess sins committed. Fourth, The Word is a lectio divina reflection on a short Scriptural text. Conversation, the fifth stage, is a period of simple intercessory prayer and conversation with Jesus. The process ends with a benediction or Conclusion. The entire process for each day can be completed in as little as ten minutes.

Sacred Space: The Prayer Book 2006 covers the entire liturgical (church) year beginning with the first Sunday in Advent, and includes weekly versions of the six-stage process (the wording varies for more variety), a brief meditation for each week, and lectionary based Scripture readings with reflection questions for each day of the week. I highly recommend this excellent resource to anyone interested in a daily devotional process that if faithfully practiced, delivers day after day.

We used this book in a "Five in a Row" style the week before St. Patrick's day and my kids got so much out of it. It's a little book full of great information about a great Christian. It was an introduction for them to missions, persecution, slavery, Ireland, the Trinity, and more. We followed up our study with Celtic music and a meal of corned beef, cabbage, potatoes, green shamrock-shaped honey rolls and green lemonade just for fun.

Ann Tompert, an excellent author of children's books, has done it again in her wonderful style of writing. It will be most enjoyed by those 5-10 years old, with 3rd to 5th graders being able to read it for themselves. She wrote this book based on the facts present in one of St. Patrick's letters. It is primarily about his life to when he got home from his slavery, and prepared to return to Ireland. Only one page is spent on his ministry in Ireland. Then it talks about his days of slavery and incarceration later in his life ending with how his being in Ireland has continued to affect it. There is only one page of writing for every two pages open. Most pages of writing only have 7-12 lines of typing on them. The illustrations are great. As the School Library Journal Editorial Review states it: "It is mounted in an exceptionally handsome format, with a formal presentation of the text on yellow backgrounds richly framed by borders of brown and gold, facing full-page, mixed-media illustrations of power and distinction, gleaming with brilliant color. The artistic style is decorative yet forceful, with an interesting variety of landscapes and flat, simple, but very expressive human figures."

This is a great book for people who wan't to know a little basic information about the life of St. Patrick. It explains wonderfully for children and adults! It talks from birth to death. There is little information about his childhood, but Ann Tompert covers it best she can.

Long ago in the forth century a boy was born in Britain,his parents called him Succat but later in his life he was called Patrick. He grew up with his parents in Britain they thought him about God. He was not a religious man until he was captured by the Irish pirates and sold as a slave. His master was very kind to him. He tended his flocks and while doing that he prayed to God and started to communicate with him. God deliverd himfrom his bondage and show him the way home back to his parents. There he thought people about God after a few years he went back to Ireland and spread the word of God,he was captured and put in prison but he still teach people about God and started many churches and stayed there until ha died.

"Scandinavia Since 1500" is a scholarly history of the area encompassing the modern nations of Denmark, Norway, Sweden, and Finland, along with what were then outlying possessions such as Iceland. Nordstrom focuses on the major governmental, economic, and social trends from the Reformation to the present day. What is emerges is a nuanced survey of a region with a more complicated history than may be commonly thought.

The biggest single thread in this history is the growth of nationalism and the gradual deconstruction of the Danish and Swedish empires that once dominated the region. The interaction of various portions of the Nordic area with sometimes exploitative central governments in Copenhagen and Stockholm is the context for the development of local governance, economies, and feelings of nationalism. Nordstrom makes a point of keeping his analysis fairly objective and of including lesser known areas such as Iceland and the Faroes in his analysis.

"Scandinavia since 1500" clearly represents extensive research and analysis. The tone of the book is relentlesses academic and extremely dry but will be of value to those looking for more information than may be found in popular histories or the average tourist guide.

Scandinavia, an often overlooked and opaque faction of affluent modern countries that never seem to capture the spotlight like its modish Western European neighbors. There is a lot more to this unheeded part of Europe then the common images held today: Scandinavia has a proud and rich history. In bygone times, Denmark and Sweden were two of the mightiest naval powers in Europe that ferociously contended for supremacy of Northern Europe in the Early Modern Era as well as significantly contributed to the Continent`s great wars of the age. Although quite contrary to the existing welfare states plagued by immigrants today, an abundance of great thinkers, reformers, scholars, inventors, writers, painters, and scientists from the region once contributed to the greater development of European and Western society as a whole.

Bryon Nordstrom, a professor of Scandinavian History at Gustavus Adolphus College, examines all five of these fascinating Scandinavian countries with emphasis on how the interactions between each other and the rest of the European powers have transformed the countries of today. From the beginnings of the first Paleolithic nomads to the modern contemporary states, the bulk of the significant historical events are covered with special attention to an in-depth analysis of the complex times from the 16th Century to present.

Nordstrom accomplishes, quite commendably, the strenuous task of providing readers with the historical highlights over the past five centuries, as well as elaborating and clarifying any ambiguities or misconceptions one might have. Although his delineation of the major events comprising Scandinavian history is much in the diction of a 300 page lecture, this does not hinder the effectual illustration of this intricate subject. As long as you, have any spark of interest or appetite for knowledge of the region, a modest comprehension of the book will likely contribute to a greater and more complete understanding of how these countries were shaped and exist today.

Being a history professor, Nordstrom's writing is rather straightforward. He delivers his message clear and straight to the point with no frills and with little personal bias in his writing which is rare for his profession these days. It becomes evident he has strong appreciation for his subject and an thorough, almost encyclopedic knowledge of the region.

The events that have transpired in the timeframe which the book is centered around (1500 to present) are presented in an adequate introduction which outlines the fundamentals of the region but also further elaborates on scholarly details. If you aren't already familiar with the basics of the Kalmar Union, the Hanseatic League, and the Nordic countries' involvement in the Thirty Years' War, Nordstrom provides a thorough overview. He also breaks down the perplexing Dano-Swedish wars during the 17th and 18th centuries which number around eight and were sparked by a multitude of reasons. Professor Nordstrom organizes the past five hundred years into three sections; Early Modern (1500-1800), Nineteenth Century, and the Twentieth Century. Special emphasis is placed on each country's political, economic, and social progressions. While all five modern day Norden countries are covered, a majority of the book deals with countries with a paramount role in the region's progression, which is mostly Sweden and Denmark.

Although "Scandinavia Since 1500" is not without it's low points: the economic evolutions of Norden during 19th and 20th centuries do certainly drag down the pace a bit, and a recurrent stress on peripheral topics such as "women's rights" and environmentalism are quite common. However, his purpose of creating a straightforward history of Scandinavia for the past 500 years is accomplished exceptionally well and worthy of five stars for a meritable effort of meticulous research and a diverse encompassment of little known details. With no other book of it's kind available today geared especially towards Americans, "Scandinavia Since 1500" makes a compelling read for any student of history, and especially Scandinavian-Americans, who hope to gain a familiarization with a part of the world that holds a rich and considerable history well worth a thorough examination.

Having been born and lived in Denmark till age fourteen, I was taught history in a most subjective fashion.
Many years later when visiting Stockholm I saw an enormous monument celebrating a battle in which Sweden defeated Denmark. I was aware of the battle, but obviously no monuments to it existed in Denmark.
Years later I stood on the battlements of Kungelv castle watching the Gotaelv running below. The loss of Bohus county to Sweden was but a minor footnote to Danish history, but obviously very important to Sweden as it controlled access to the Western oceans.
Professor Nordstrom's book has succeeded in putting events such as these in a subjective form and is a must for anyone seriously interested in the history of Scandinavia.
PHT
Branford, Connecticut

My Scandinavian history professor recommended this book to me. What he didn't tell me is that he was mentioned in the preface of the book (the author obviously used my professor's book for a reference). Anyway, the book does a great job detailing the economic, political, and cultural situations in Scandinavia dating from 1500 to the present. If I were a professor teaching this kind of history, I would definitely require this as a text because of it's comprehensiveness and how relatively short it is. It's a good book for those interested in Scandinavian studies.

This book is about common sense: the way ordinary people have reasoned about the world since the beginning of recorded history. It is a compendium of anecdotes, about anecdotal thinking. I find the insights engrossing, entertaining, and scholarly-if not scientific. This book hopes to rigorously analyze the processes that thinkers have followed throughout recorded history in order to reach rational conclusions. These processes are interesting in their history of use as official rules of thumb, but they are fatally flawed. The fundamental flaw is that the nonscientific processes are not reasoning- they are persuasion, as in rhetoric. Being nonscientific in nature, "The Science of Conjecture" is misnamed, but quite worthwhile to those of us who would like to understand the lawyer and jurors' mind.

If you read "Sophies World" by Jostein Gaardner and wanted something with more bite, this book is it. It's one of the few truly intellectual books I've read without being academic or boring. I had no idea how much we take certain things in our 21st century thinking for granted. One example is juries and innocence until proven guilty. The book is a marvelous history of legal and ethical thinking and how we came to civilized methods to deal with charges of guilt. It makes me aware of the manipulative power of different styles of logical arguments. Buts it's not only about law. The author explains why Islam is fundamental (God can't be wrong) so why bother considering pros and cons of situations. Christianity was lucky to have the reformation and counter-reformation to challenge why there is probability/chance or unknowing. There are great sections on scientific theory - reasoning for hard sciences like physics and astronomy. Why cannot astrology be a science? Because there are no hard rules; too much depends on the art or experience of interpreters who "explain" exceptions to rules, because so many situations don't follow their rules. The sections on soft science describe biology and medicine, and the impact of clinical trials. How did we arrive at "scientific thinking" to establish proofs? Its all here. I'm not into mathematics and the title sounded so boring to me - mathematics and before the 16th century ie Pascal. If ever there was a case for "don't judge a book by its cover" this is it. Its solid reading, but it is also deeply satisfying and fascinating in understanding a little bit more about how and why we think like do in the 21st century. As an aside the author is also a Latin scholar who translates many texts, correcting false interpretations. But he does it in subtle ways; nothing show-off. James Franklin dazzles us with his humility one moment and superb, accessible writing on complicated subjects the next moment. I never knew that "like" and "probably" were introduced from Greek. Medieval Europeans did not have sophisticated languages that included "like" or "probably" but with medieval enlightment they were introduced. What an impact these two words had. The author corrects cultural misthinking of how poor medieval thinking was. It was an explosion of brilliance in virtually a person's lifetime from 1150-1200. The Renaissance was mild in comparison. This book touches and explains our human development of consciousness and thinking in so many fields eg law, medicine, science, ethics. The author draws on Ancient Greek texts, Roman texts, the Talmud, Jewish philosophers, Islamic philosophers, Christian theologians and even Sanskrit writings. The subjects discussed heavily affect my daily life and thinking. Understanding a little bit of what we take for granted, makes me reconsider glib, slick arguments I'm confronted with in newspapers and television every day. If you buy the book, it's a great read over 1-2 months that can be savored and sipped like a great wine.

Franklin has done a brilliant job of showing that the concept of probability used by practically all civilizations throughout history[for instance,Hebrew(Talmud),Greek(Aristotle),Medieval(Scholastics),etc.],prior to Pascal's attempt to mathematicalize the meaning of the term probability so as to help out some French noblemen who were trying to find a way to get an edge in certain types of gambling ,was the inductive,qualitative,comparative concept based on recognizing probability as being a primarily nonnumerical,vague concept that could not be precisely defined.Its usage was built into the common languages that human beings developed over time.Franklin's book supports the original logical interpretation of probability first put forth in published form in 1921 in the A Treatise on Probability(TP) by John Maynard Keynes.Keynes's theory is a general theory which analyzes probability from the most general use of the term(qualitative,nonnumerical,comparative) to its most specialized forms(quantitative,numerical,interval,mathematical,statistical,frequency,subjective).There are a few places in this book where the author could have given a substantially better analysis.One place is where he discusses Keynes's concept of the weight of the evidence.He bases his discussion only on chapter 6 of the TP,ignoring Keynes's additional discussions in chapter 14,section 3 and chapter 26,where Keynes became the first scholar in history to both define weight,w,on the unit interval between 0 and 1,and to invent a decision rule,his conventional coefficient of risk and weight,c,which solves a number of the paradoxes of decision theory, as well as a number of the anomalies rediscovered by Tversky and Kahneman.Franklin also fails to point out Keynes's original development of an interval valued approach to probability in chapters 15 and 17 of the TP.The scholar who comes closest to Keynes in incorporating a clearcut role for a vague,comparative,qualitative understanding of probability is D.Ellsberg.

This is the sort of book whose indispensability creeps up on you: you start it without any idea that you'll require it to broaden your mind, but it insidiously works its magic. Totally unclassifiable -- it mixes the disciplines of history, mathematics, philosophy and jurisprudence -- it also happens to be a rivettingly lucid read, notwithstanding the outwardly abstruse nature of its materials.

This book was extremely informative and I would recommend it highly for any scotch whisky aficionado. The book allows you to create a vivid mental picture of how old distilleries must have been, plus the illustrations are great. Scotch Missed will further your knowledge on the history of this fascinating industry.

....when did Brian Townsend change his name to Michael Jackson? Is it possible that "magellan359" got a wee bit off course from one wee dram too many? Other than that, it's an ok review except for the fact that it's more about him than about the book, not what one would expect from one of Amazon's "top" reviewers. Oh, well...

Highly informative paperback on scotland's lost whisky distilleries, including those which have closed in recent years and whose whiskies can still be found in specialist shops or the occasional liquor store that doesn't realise the gems it has on its shelves. Definitely a must for the whisky enthusiast looking for a dram of a book.

Many of Scotland's distilleries had closed in recent (and not-so-recent) decades, and I thought I'd mention some of my favorites, which Townsend discusses in his book.

Some, like the heavily peated Islay, Ardbeg (which I understand has been re-opened, fortunately), were justly famous; others, like Dallas Dhu and Millburn, were more obscure, but their closing was still a loss. People used to make jokes about the Dallas Dhu name (which means "black glen" in Scots Gaelic), but it really did produce a fine malt, and I had fun doing tastings of it with friends back in the late 80's, when it was still readily available in independent bottlings at different ages and from different independent bottlers. It was notable for some semi-sweet chocolate notes, a rare flavor and essence in scotch whiskey, and I used to enjoy it very much. The only other malt that comes to mind with a chocolate flavor to me right now was a 25-year-old bottling of Scapa, a 1968 or therabouts issue, if I remember correctly. But anyway, it certainly was a fine malt and worthy of comparison with the Dallas Dhu. One time I put on a tasting for other single-malt afficianado friends and acqaintances of almost nothing but "vanished malts," of which I had bottles of about a dozen at the time, and we all had a great time tasting their whiskies and talking about single-malts and whatever.

Although bourbons and cognacs are impressive spirits too, if there is one thing that separates single malts from the others, it's the sheer spectrum of diversity and intensity of the many qualities that they possess. The intense, crystal-clear essences and flavors of this great distillate are unique, and in truly appreciating a fine dram of one of the great single malts at the end of a day, even life's more pressing problems seem to themselves vanish for a moment. As someone once wrote, life is still worth living as long as there is a good single-malt available. And perhaps that's why it translates from the Gaelic as "the water of life."

But getting back to Townsend's book, here he gives a nod to the history and scotch of the many famous and more obscure distilleries and whiskies of Scotland that are no longer with us. I consider myself pretty knowledgeable about all the different distilleries, even the defunct ones, but I still learned some new things from this enjoyable book, and I would recommend it to any and all single-malt enthusiasts who are looking for something different in a book about scotch.

The Scottish-Irish Pub and Hearth Cookbook is probably the easiest cookbook I've ever tested and reviewed. My family has gotten used to my cooking experiments. They always know when I have a new cookbook. Everyday for a week or two, I'll spend hours cooking up a storm. Then, they'll tentatively try the dishes and give me their verdict on whether I should make it again sometime.

With The Scottish-Irish Pub and Hearth Cookbook, I completely confused my family. I cooked and they tried the dishes but the majority of the meals, snacks, and desserts were already familiar to them. They were my old standbys many of which I learned by watching my mother and grandmother cook. I even found a few dishes that I remember enjoying as a kid but couldn't find a way to replicate. Now I have the recipes and I can pass them onto my children and grandchildren.

`The Scottish-Irish Pub and Hearth Cookbook' by Scottish / American culinary writer, Kay Shaw Nelson is another cookbook offering by the relatively low-priced, low profile publisher, Hippocrene Books, Inc. which has a large selection of cookbooks about many of the lesser world cuisines in `The Hippocrene Cookbook Library' as well as several books on Scottish and Irish subjects.

I have reviewed a few of these Hippocrene Books and compared to those offerings, this volume is superior to most, although it may not be the very best source for traditional Irish or Scottish recipes. On the other hand, I especially like this book for the fact that it seems to have very good versions of many recipes that may be so common that many flashier cookbooks may not even deign to cover them. My favorite here is the recipe for Scotch eggs, which recently came to fame as a dish prepared on `Iron Chef America' by the `Too Hot Tamales' (Mary Sue Milliken and Susan Feniger) in a battle against Bobby Flay. The recipe made such an impression that while I remember it, I don't remember the secret ingredient or who won the battle.

I also like the fact that there is a much greater similarity between the two Celtic culinary cultures of Scotland and Ireland than there is between, for example the modern cuisines of Spain and Portugal, which some have lumped together. The biggest difference between the two may be the time at which each was influenced by contact with the French. For the Scottish, during the era of Catholic Mary, Queen of Scots, when Scotland and France were active allies against Protestant England. For the Irish, it seems to be much later, beginning in the early 20th century, when Ireland first became independent, and preferred to trade with France than their former colonial masters, England.

While every culinary tradition on earth seems to make a case that they are more congenial entertainers and friends of travelers than anyone else, the Irish can document the fact that not only do they really enjoy a good gathering over beer or spirits, there were actually LAWS passed, the Brehon laws of the Gaelic Celts of the 5th century AD, enforcing hospitality toward strangers and travelers.

The chapters in this book are a great reflection of what is important to these Celtic cuisines:

Starters, including meatballs, lots of oysters and prawns, and the famous Scotch eggs. I'm surprised to find a perfect recipe of the shrimp cocktail, which may have come to these shores from Scotland or Ireland instead of the more easily suspected French.
Soups, especially featuring leeks, which seem to be a native and not a French import. The most famous, of course, is Scotch broth, which is heavy with lamb and barley.
Egg and Cheese Dishes, featuring many dishes from the famous Scottish and Irish breakfasts, including that mysteriously named cheese dish, Scotch Rabbit.
Barley, Oats, and Cornmeal with lots of porridges and cold cereals, such as Muesli.
Seafood, including lots of finny animals from freshwater lakes and streams such as salmon and trout. The most famous recipe here may be kedgeree, a rice, fish, and egg casserole. I just wonder exactly how old this recipe actually is, as two important flavorings are Worcestershire sauce and curry powder, two very British ingredients which may be not much more than 150 years in the British Isles.
Poultry and Game recipes look suspiciously like recipes from southwest France (See Paula Wolfert's great study of recipes from this region). This may either be primordial Celtic influence from Europe or later emigration from Protestant France to the British Isles.
Meats includes a lot of beef as in corned beef and cabbage, corned beef hash, and beef tartare, plus lots of lamb dishes and, oddly enough, several hamburger recipes. Makes me think our favorite meaty fast food came from Ireland rather than northern Germany, as its name suggests.
Vegetables is lots of mashed potatoes and what to do with mashed potatoes the day after. It also shows that the Gaelic cuisine is one of the very few outside Japan that features seaweed.
Bread, especially quickbread based scones and soda bread, which don't use yeast, plus boxty, that famous refuge of day-old mashed potatoes.
Cakes and Cookies, oddly, is separated from desserts, possibly because these are recipes for things served at tea and not after a late supper. The highlight is oatmeal cookies and Scottish shortbread.
Desserts features lots of apples, pears, and berries, especially the classic blackberry fool
Drinks, of course.

As a source of both culinary lore and classic recipes, this may be the best available book I have seen on Scotch / Irish comfort food. It may not be quite as good as `Irish Traditional Cooking' by leading Irish cooking school owner, Darina Allen, which the author recognizes as one of the leading authorities on Irish culinary practice, but for a nice little inexpensive package, this book is very, very good. For more information on the intertwining of culinary lore and ancient Celtic celebrations, see `Celtic Folklore Cooking' by culinary writer and folklorist, JoAnne Asala.

This book is easy, warm, and satisfying. Reminds me of home with family, freinds, good food and good conversations. If you like good "pub" feel, buy the book.

The recipes are great! I've done extensive research on Celtic dining and spoken to many a Scottish friends that grew up with the old Celtic Traditions and they agreed this cookbook is great! So far, the recipes i have tried have been outstanding! If you're looking for authentic recipes and enjoy great food... try this cookbook out!

Yeats lives in the minds of most lovers of great modern poetry through lines of incredible beauty.

"And we will wander hand in hand
Through hollow lands and hilly lands,
And pluck till time and times are done,
The golden apples of the moon,
The silver apples of the sun.

"We must lie down where all the ladders start
In the foul rag- and- bone shop of the heart"

"But one man loved the pilgrim soul in you,
and loved the sorrows of your changing face"

"An aged man is but a paltry thing
a tattered soul upon a stick
unless soul claps its hand and sing..

Yeats believed in much nonsense in his life, and apparently was not the kindest of human beings but he wrote some very great poetry.

I picked up this book of poems as an introduction to Yeats and found it to be wonderful. It contains major works from all of his periods and four plays as well. Highly recommended, for poetry lovers and those with only a passing interest.

In 250 years the mass of pablum we currently pass as literature will be blown away like chaff in the wind.

One of the hard and nourishing kernals left on the threshingroom floor will certainly be Yeats.

These are poems not to be read, but learned by heart.

Among my favorites from this collection (with years of composition) are: "The Stolen Child", "To an Isle in the Water" and "Down by the Salley Gardens" (1889); "The Lake Isle of Innisfree" and "When You Are Old" (1893); "He Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven" (1899); "The Folly of Being Comforted" and "Adam's Curse" (1904); "All Things Can Tempt Me", "Brown Penny" and "To a Child Dancing in the Wind" (1910); and "The Cat and the Moon" and "Two Songs of a Fool" (1919).

During a recent fright when we were escaping our apartment down a ladder, I took two books with me, thinking that perhaps I would need something strong. Happily Yeats's SELECTED POEMS AND FOUR PLAYS was at hand, together with, well, something private. This book, edited by the late M.L. Rosenthal, is an expanded edition of a previous book by Rosenthal that had the same title except it was called, SELECTED POEMS AND TWO PLAYS. This present edition doubles the number of plays it prints in one stroke, adding the very late THE DEATH OF CUCHULAIN as well as the strange, feverish THE WORDS UPON THE WINDOW-PANE. Previously we had only the two plays PURGATORY and CALGARY. Did I say CALGARY? I meant, CALVARY, and neither of them are worth the paper they're printed on. In college my professor used to tell us that Yeats, together with his patron Lady Gregory, invented the Abbey Theater and kept it going by writing plays annually and encouraging their society friends not only to attend but to pledge money in exchange for participation in a community-based theater. However, according to Rosenthal, some of Yeats' plays were distinctly unpopular even with this sudsidized theater and neither the actors nor the audience loved them to death.

As a boy, my dad used to quote Yeats on every occasion and he (Yeats) was a patron saint to many Irishfolk. Today not so much, but as I made my way down the ladder I was glad I had the Yeats book tucked into my pants. He is the epitome of the artist who keeps changing through circumstance, open to new influence, even partial to drugs, for many credit his late flowering to the monkey glands he took in Switzerland to rejuvenate his sex life, the precursor to today's Viagra. In his youth he became a member of a secret band called the Order of the Golden Dawn, and spiritualist interests fueled his poetry and politics both. On his honeymoon he discovered that his wife, Georgie, had mediumistic leanings, and they spent many night holding seances and conversing with the spirits of the dead, all of whom, or so Yeats claimed, had arrived to dispense new metaphors for his poetry. He later wrote up these events in his book A VISION.

Rosenthal was a superb editor who went back and checked all of the original manuscripts and who could distinguish Yeats' handwriting in all its different avatars, and this helped him date the poems to within an inch of their lives. His task was made no easier by Yeats' habit of revision and by his need to provide an income for his sisters, who wound up producing elaborate private, limited printings of much of his work to sell to collectors only at absurdly inflated prices. These books are beautiful but useless, like so many of the romantic Irish flourishes the poet's late work commemorates only to condemn. It is a poetry of questions, which always appeals to young people, those who know the answers. "What's water but the generated soul?" (That one always threw me.) "How can we tell the dancer from the dance?" "Is every modern nation like the tower,/ Half dead at the top?" (Makes you think about our nation, caught up in a senseless war against Iraq.) "Those masterful images because complete/ Grew in pure mind, but out of what began?" "What voice more sweet than hers/ When, young and beautiful,/ She rode to harriers?" Riding to harriers doesn't sound so fabulous now, but we've all got something we look back on and say, everything's been changed, changed utterly.

FROM THE BACK COVER:

The Sheriff and the E-Mail Bride by Liz Ireland:
Caught for good! Does Heartbreak Ridge have a romance curse? No Way! says Sheriff Sam Weston...but he isn't taking any chances. Online, he rounds himself up a lady far from his hometown. The lonesome lawman thinks he's found himself a foolproof courting method-until Shelby, his cyberfiancee, arrives eight months pregnant. Now it looks as if the town's curse may strike again, if Shelby can't win Sam over, and soon!

Stray Hearts by Jane Sullivan:

It's a dog-eat-dog world...Kay Ramsey believed her ex-fiance deserved to pay for cheating on her, so she shaved his prizewinning cocker spaniels! Her punishment? A hundred hours of community service at a local animal shelter. Scared silly of four-legged furry animals, Key knew she wouldn't be able to stick out her sentence...until she saw veterinarian Matt Forester. One hundred hours wouldn't be nearly long enough...

I really enjoyed this book! Jane Sullivan has great skill at telling a story that makes you not want to keep reading until the last page and even then you wish that there was more (I can't wait to read her next book). There was a great mix of emotions both tears and laughs and plenty of romance too. I highly recommend this book to anybody who likes romantic comedy.

Jane Sullivan hits it big and hits it funny with STRAY HEARTS. In a fit of revenge, Kay Ramsey has a grooming service shave Up You into her cheating ex-fiance's prize purebred. The insult should have read Up Yours, but the artist ran out of dog. Her sentence to a veterinary clinic and her fear of animals keep the laughs coming and the chemistry sizzling between Kay and the resident vet. This book is a definite MUST READ. I can't wait for the next Jane Sullivan Novel.

This book contains two complete novels, and I've so far only read STRAY HEARTS by Jane Sullivan, but I had to stop and write a review. Stray Hearts is about a woman, Kay, who is terrified of animals. When she catches her fiance with another woman, she hires a dog groomer to shave naughty words into the coats of his prize cocker spaniels. She gets caught, and the law comes down hard--she has to do volunteer work in an animal shelter.

The hero is the vet who runs the shelter, and he puts poor Kay to work scooping cat boxes! He's skeptical about her, and she's terrified of the animals. I won't tell you how they work it out, but I can assure you it's funny! A great, fast read, very well written, with lots of reasons to smile and sometimes laugh out loud. Especially fun if you like animals.