Arthur Books

I'd like my review to correct what seems to be an over-hasty, unreflective lionization of Golding's translation by the other reviewers. Yes, it is a "great translation," in the sense that Marlowe's translations from Latin are, or Motteaux' Don Quixote is, or Pope's Iliad, or Robert Lowell's Imitations, or Pound's Chinese "translations," or even Ted Hughes' Tales From Ovid: that is, it is an powerful, compelling, wholly literary work in its own right, but it is nowhere near the original in terms of accuracy. The Latinless reader would do much better to buy Melville's excellent Oxford translation (which lacks nothing in poetic splendor) or perhaps Allen Mandelbaum's. As for the poetic "quality" of Golding's verse, that's of course subjective, but I could easily think of at least ten Elizabethan poets who are more satisfying to my taste. Golding's chief literary interest, as Nims points out, is his absolutely odd-ball English; attentive readers will find him a veritable storehouse of strange, funny, quaint Elizabethanisms that didn't quite make it into Shakespeare or the other mainstream writers of the period. (Much of the same joy can be found in Chapman's marvelous translations of Homer, reprinted by Princeton.) And the much-quoted Pound maxim comes from his wonderfully cantankerous ABC of Reading, certainly a fascinating book, but one in which Pound indulges in various critical pronouncements that seem, at times, merely whimsical or rhetorical. Much of Golding is rough, much dull, much of its interest is linguistic rather than poetic. He also adds a lot to round off his fourteeners (which I can't imagine are palatable to most readers for long stretches): his additions are fun, but they're not Ovid. Golding "Englished" Ovid to a great degree: his imagery often comes from English culture, not Mediterranean. Of course, any translation is fallible, and Golding's faults as a translator are, in my view, his greatest strengths as a poet, but he's definitely not a good place to start reading what is certainly one of the world's greatest books. This is a fine book, well worth the five stars, but emphatically NOT for the reasons cited by my colleagues. If you want Ovid, go for the original; failing that, Melville's your man.

Buy this book before it goes out of print for another thirty-five years!

If Golding's Ovid is not, "the most beautiful book in the language," it's among the top two-dozen "most beautiful books" you can find in English. I've searched for a second-hand copy of the 1965 Simon and Schuster edition since the late sixties, ever since I read Pound's ABC of Reading. I never had any luck finding it, though I did come across a non-circulating copy in a university library once. Its title page explained that only 2500 copies had been printed and that the previous edition -- the one Pound must have used -- was a small, deluxe Victorian production, itself unattainable by 1965.

After all my years lurking in second-hand bookshops, Paul Dry Books has finally done the decent and brought Golding's Ovid out again, this time as a beautifully printed, well-bound, but inexpensive paperback. I grabbed up my copy at first sight.

Is this an "accurate" translation of Ovid? As a previous reviewer has said, if you really want accuracy, you should read Ovid in Latin and leave the wild Elizabethan translators alone. Unlike that reviewer though, I'd say that, if you want Ovid in perfectly accurate modern English, with his poetry and voice included, you should read him in Mandelbaum's beautifully rendered version; but if you want an accurate modern English translation -- the type of thing your Latin prof would give you excellent marks for -- then read him in Melville's able, though sometimes sightly flat translation.

But if you love Elizabethan literature, then you should read Golding. You read his Ovid for the ripe, quirky, full-on Elizabethan English, deployed in his long, rambling fourteeners. Golding's metre was becoming antiquated in his own day but, as with a good deal of his rustic vocabulary, he didn't seem to care much about literary fashion. Reading him now, I find it's his joy with his original that matters. Open the volume anywhere -- at the Cyclops Polyphemus singing to the Nymph Galatea for example -- and there is Golding rolling magnificently on:

"More whyght thou art then Primrose leaf, my Lady Galatee.
More fresh than meade, more tall and streyght than lofy Aldertree.
More bright than glasse, more wanton than the tender kid forsooth.
Than Cockeshelles continually with water worne, more smoothe."

Where "forsooth" is outrageous metrical padding, and "forsoothe/smoothe" was probably a forced rhyme even in 1567. But who cares? Golding's music carries the reader past any such concerns, and the beauty and energy of the thing are undeniable.

So buy the book! Make sure it sells tens-of-thousands of copies! Give the publisher a reason to keep reprinting, so it never disappears again.

For an account of Golding's Ovid, see Ezra Pound's essay on Elizabethan translators. Uncle Ez was excessive to call it "the most beautiful book in the English language," but not by as much as you'd think.

The De Vere comment by the previous reviewer is a reference to a fringe element that ascribes Shakespeare's writings to De Vere. Consider it to have the scholarly value of ascribing authorship to the Men in Black (see Schoenbaum's *Shakespeare's Lives* for an account of this movement).

A wonderful work of the imagination disassembles to a pit off cess when mundanely told. If one is seeking word - for - word accuracy in a translation, pass on, but if you seek the bowels of OVID but lack skill in Latin, as I do, tarry. If Pound's translation of CAVALCANTI and DANIEL `tickle your gizzard' this edition is sure to do so also. This translation is to others what a live performance of a Bach Concerto is to the drone in a bus depot. And who cares the translator. They are safely dead, anyway, and "One graveyard is as good as another if your dead." [Hemingway]

This is probably the most unique, nay, outrageous translation ever. (And it wasn't by Golding--it was primarily the work of Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford [1550-1604]. Golding was as witty's a menu. Clears up some confusion in the prefatory material, eh?) I've wanted this translation for a long time; buy it now. Reading it aloud is the way to go, as the language flows along in a flood of words which will entertain till the world ends. Highest recommendation.

Pink really lays down the bones of the christian faith in a way that will make you search your soul. Through the prayerful reading of this book you will have to chose to either put it down or conform your life as the Holy Spirit will convict. I have grown tremendously both spiritually and practically through the reading of this book.

How to rightly apply the truths of Scripture in our lives is the essence of practical christianity. Pink gives us a Biblical perspective on how to view Christian doctrine on p.135,"There is no doctrine revealed in Scripture for a merely speculative knowledge,but all is to exert a powerful influence upon conduct. God's design in all that he has revealed to us is to the purefying of our affections and the transforming of our characters." The Christian ought always to have this in view,that my desire to know more of God's truth is that by His grace I may walk in the light of it. Some of the most helpful things Mr.Pink has written on experimental christianity are found in this book. The keeping of the heart is rightly set forth as the great concern that it ought to be in the life of every believer. Pink gives some very helpful definitions as to what the keeping of the heart is. For example on p.100 "To keep the heart means striving to shut out from it all that is opposed to God...God is a jealous God and will brook no rival;He claims the throne of our hearts,and requires to be loved by us supremely." This book will be of immense help to anyone who would like to know how they may so live,as to increasingly honour God in their daily lives.

GOD measured much light to A. W. Pink. Chapter 13 of this book is the substance pointed to by the previous 12 chapters. In it, Pink compares and contrasts GOD's decretive and preceptive wills, His foreordination and providences, and the relationship between these concepts and His sovereign decrees and His Divine governmental ways over His creation. He makes a strong case throughout both administrations of the covenant of grace for the providences of GOD being regulated by the righteous conduct, or lack thereof, of His peculiar people (not towards merit but to the reception of blessing or chastisement). It is a masterpiece on the doctrine of the obedience of faith. Increasing in holy conduct is not an option for the people called by His Name, and Pink drives this concept home.

GOD measured much light to A. W. Pink. Chapter 13 of this book is the substance pointed to by the previous 12 chapters. In it, Pink compares and contrasts GOD's decretive and preceptive wills and His foreordination and providences. He makes a strong case throughout both administrations of the covenant of grace for the providences of GOD being regulated by the righteousness, or lack thereof, of His peculiar people. It is a masterpiece on the doctrine of the obedience of faith. Increasing in holy conduct is not an option for the people called by His Name, and Pink drives this concept home.

Arthur W. Pink's unique ability to bring God's Word to practical application for the Christian believer is best described in one word, "conviction." Practical Christianity starts with the process of salvation and walks you through how to live a God pleasing life. Pink's Calvinistic theology will drive you to your knees in prayer and repentance and then show you the blessings God has for you in this life and the next. This is a must read for every Christian.

The collapse of the Berlin Wall and the symbolic moral victory of American capitalism has been viewed by the US mainstream literature as the onset of a new era; one of global prosperity and peace. Although the end of state socialism has led to the spread of liberal democracy in Eastern Europe, it has also marked the beginning of numerous political and social crises that have precipitated an unprecedented growth of refugees and internally displaced peoples.

Arthur Helton's THE PRICE OF INDIFFERENCE astutely analyzes the emergence of the past decade's refugee crisis and the inability of the international political and legal framework to adequately address it. Using what sociologists call the "extensive field work methodology," Helton not only presents a succinct history of the recent refugee crisis; but also the "refugees' experience" through personal accounts and in-depth interviews with important policy-makers of the international refugee community. The result is an instructive analysis of "what went wrong" and what can be learned from the past, all presented in a style that captivates the interested reader.

As a scholar, legal practitioner and one of the international authorities in the field of migration and refugees, Helton's unique insights and inside resources illuminate the roots of the current crisis. By showing that prior policy responses were the outcome of emergency situations that lacked a systematic understanding of the diverse origins of the contemporary crisis, Helton proposes the creation of two institutions-one inside the US government and the other within international institutions-to anticipate and proactively respond to future refugee emergencies. While this approach is likely to attract the criticism of those who advocate a lesser role of the US government, it is a realistic and feasible solution that takes into consideration the fact that no refugee crisis can be resolved without the cooperation of the US government. At the same time, in order to devise a solution for current and future refugee crises that will be effective and long lasting, US policies must have international legitimacy which can be achieved only through international cooperation.

In sum, THE PRICE OF INDIFFERENCE is a "must" for any specialist in the field of refugee policy and for any person interested in future international policy on displaced peoples. Refugees matter not only because "they are there" or because "it could be me" but because refugees are here to stay and, in the process, how the U.S. helps to shape international policy will profoundly influence the political, ethical, and racial/ethnic future of our future global society.

The author of this book, Arthur C. Helton, was killed on August 19, 2003 in the suicide bombing of the United Nations headquarters in Baghdad. Helton was meeting with UN officials at the time of the bombing.

Smallchief

The collapse of the Berlin Wall and the symbolic moral victory of American capitalism has been viewed by the US mainstream literature as the onset of a new era; one of global prosperity and peace. Although the end of state socialism has led to the spread of liberal democracy in Eastern Europe, it has also marked the beginning of numerous political and social crises that have precipitated an unprecedented growth of refugees and internally displaced peoples.

Arthur Helton's THE PRICE OF INDIFFERENCE astutely analyzes the emergence of the past decade's refugee crisis and the inability of the international political and legal framework to adequately address it. Using what sociologists call the "extensive field work methodology," Helton not only presents a succinct history of the recent refugee crisis; but also the "refugees' experience" through personal accounts and in-depth interviews with important policy-makers of the international refugee community. The result is an instructive analysis of "what went wrong" and what can be learned from the past, all presented in a style that captivates the interested reader.

As a scholar, legal practitioner and one of the international authorities in the field of migration and refugees, Helton's unique insights and inside resources illuminate the roots of the current crisis. By showing that prior policy responses were the outcome of emergency situations that lacked a systematic understanding of the diverse origins of the contemporary crisis, Helton proposes the creation of two institutions-one inside the US government and the other within international institutions-to anticipate and proactively respond to future refugee emergencies. While this approach is likely to attract the criticism of those who advocate a lesser role of the US government, it is a realistic and feasible solution that takes into consideration the fact that no refugee crisis can be resolved without the cooperation of the US government. At the same time, in order to devise a solution for current and future refugee crises that will be effective and long lasting, US policies must have international legitimacy which can be achieved only through international cooperation.

In sum, THE PRICE OF INDIFFERENCE is a "must" for any specialist in the field of refugee policy and for any person interested in future international policy on displaced peoples. Refugees matter not only because "they are there" or because "it could be me" but because refugees are here to stay and, in the process, how the U.S. helps to shape international policy will profoundly influence the political, ethical, and racial/ethnic future of our future global society.

As noted by Arthur Helton, refugees matter. However, they matter not only for humanitarian reasons but also because they are intimately tied to questions of national and strategic interest. By extending the argument beyond the realm of humanitarian charity, Helton effectively makes the case for state intervention in the field and elevates scholarship in the realm of refugee studies.

Moreover, the perspective of The Price of Indifference is a fresh one. Addressing crises from Africa to Afghanistan, Turkey to East Timor and Haiti to the former USSR, his work constitutes a comprehensive account of a decade that was perhaps the most dynamic one in recent memory. And from a discussion of the Cold War models of humanitarian action to the "Mogadishu syndrome" and the CNN effect, Helton covers the prevailing dynamics of all periods. What is more, the book goes so far as to model potential futures depending on which prevailing ideology is adopted (e.g., cooperation or containment).

Not only does the book discuss shortfalls in the national system of humanitarian action (calling for a new separate civilian agency, the Agency for Humanitarian Action), but it also entails a discussion of the international system and its inability to effectively mediate refugee-related crises. In doing so, Helton makes the case for new institutional structures (e.g., the Strategic Humanitarian and Research Entity, or SHARE) which effectively consolidate the fragmented humanitarian components in the UN system.

As we know, the Cold war changed responses to refugee and migration emergencies in fundamental ways. Yet, for all we do know, there is no single answer. Rather, a more varied and comprehensive "policy toolbox" is required. To be helpful, policy needs to be more proactive so that "international coordination" and a "preventive orientation" replace the "selective apathy" and "creeping trepidation" that currently animate refugee responses.

No longer can states hide behind the out-dated Westphalian notion of absolute sovereignty. Rather, certain concerns are obligations erga omnes and the concern of all those within the international community. As a result, a significant attention and backing is given to humanitarian intervention (and its reform).

As Helton notes, recent experience teaches us that expectations should be modest. Yet with a thorough review like the Price of Indifference, one cannot help but hope for a better future for refugees and internally displaced persons worldwide.

Every notable disaster of the past century -- war, famine, civil unrest, earthquake and ecological catastrophe -- has resulted in the massive displacement of people within and across borders of their home countries. The June 7, 2002 New York Times reported that 14.9 million civilians were driven from their countries by war alone last year, and an additional 22 million people uprooted within their countries. It is a natural phenomenon in its own right, yet there has never been a systematic or comprehensive approach to anticipate, gather resources (both financial and intellectual) and make available workable solutions to this devastating predicament. This universal lack of foresight has taken its toll on untold numbers of refugees; some of whom waste years of their lives in flight or languish in refugee camps fearing for their safety, struggling for mere survival; while others achieve the relative fortune of starting their lives over in a new environment.

Now, the reader with even a passing interest in the plight of these unfortunate wanderers, and the expert alike, can explore an extraordinary trove of information on refugee policy and a startling new solution to this monumental problem. THE PRICE OF INDIFFERENCE: Refugees and Humanitarian Action in the New Century, by Arthur C. Helton, sets forth a concise modern history of refugee crises and the structural mechanisms and varied policies that have emerged for dealing with them. Helton depicts numerous strategies such as temporary protection, safe havens, asylum, evacuation, humanitarian corridors, resettlement, internal protection and repatriation, explaining why States have chosen some "solutions" over others as well as revealing the lapsed policy of states that have chosen to remain uninvolved. By analyzing diverse crises of the last decade in Bosnia, Cambodia, East Timor, Haiti, Kosovo, and Rwanda, Helton reveals the full array of policy tools and astoundingly problematic realities of managing refugees.

With an uncanny ability to capture the big picture, Helton also evokes vivid, personally observed details of a wide range of specific refugee crises, often in poetic terms. This book gives you the insider's view of what refugees actually experience:

It was a late Sunday evening in November 2000 when our plane landed in Nairobi, Kenya. As I walked on the runway through the sultry air to the airport arrival hall, I became an unintended witness to the conclusion of the infamous journey of the `lost boys of Sudan', some of whom I had visited in 1993 at the Kakuma refugee camp in northwestern Kenya. There, a remnant of some 17,000 children had come to rest after fleeing in 1988 from fighting in Sudan to Ethiopia, where they were attacked again after the regime of Mengistu Haile Mariam fell in 1991. This prompted a harrowing 600-mile trek by foot to Kenya, with many dying from attacks by wild animals and exposure.
p. 183.

In Helton's words, "[a]t the outset of the twenty-first century, the policy debate is driven by selective apathy and creeping trepidation." He reveals rationales for employing the various options including political motivations, notions of sovereignty, and practicality, among others. With a comprehensive overview of policy options that have been employed in recent history, their successes and failures, Helton envisions putting an end to such inevitable recurring suffering.

Unsatisfied with unpremeditated, unsystematic and less than ideal solutions that spring, almost ad hoc from crises as they arise, Helton offers a striking proposal for two organizations dedicated to assembling resources and a base of experts to anticipate, prevent and ameliorate future predicaments - one inside the U.S. government, and one internationally-based. While some may bemoan a proposal for new agencies, Helton's suggestion is innovative for the policy underlying these proposed organizations: a vehicle for prevention of mass displacement and for proactive, anticipatory mitigation when prevention is impossible or inappropriate. The new national security and foreign policy agenda he presents reflects his heartfelt and lifelong quest for states, organizations and individuals to view the protection of refugees as an obligation to humanity; an obligation that merits foresight.

Arthur C. Helton, one of the world's top experts on refugees and the migration of displaced persons, is Senior Fellow for Refugee Studies and Preventive Action at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York. He previously directed the Refugee Project of the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights for twelve years and has written more than 80 scholarly articles on refugee and migration subjects. Helton's book will educate and fascinate policy makers, statesmen, relief workers, and humanitarians, as well as advocates for refugees and enthusiasts of migration, foreign policy, history, diplomacy, politics, and human rights. This comprehensive volume poses important questions and will undoubtedly take its place among the seminal literature devoted to the topic.

This is just a fantastic book on combinatorics. Although not as long as most combinatorics texts it packs in a great deal of information. Very well-written with a lively style. Probably, the best thing about it for me is how clear the exposition is. I really learned a lot from this book.

I was introduced to this book by a talk that one of the authors (Arthur Benjamin) gave at the MAA Mathfest in Albuquerque in August of 2005. The talk was one of the very best mathematics talks that I've ever attended. Everyone in the audience could follow what was going on, and we all left with an understanding of the basic approach to combinatorial identities used in this book. The authors' approach is to prove combinatorial identities by defining a quantity and then obtaining different formulas for that quantity. One formula becomes the left hand side of an identity while another formula becomes the right hand side.

When I read the book I found that it was just as clearly written, with lots of beautiful examples.

I haven't read this book yet, but I have a signed copy after seeing Jenny Quinn speak at the 2005 meeting of the Northwest chapter of the Mathmatics Association of America. If her written work is anything like her speaking, then this should be a great book. Her combinatorial proofs are an interesting approach to old equations, and she presents them in a very clear manner. A most enthusiastic lady.

The proofs in this book are easy enough for a bright high schooler or even an exceptional middle schooler to understand, while still making use of insightful tricks that keep the solutions far from being obvious.

"Thoroughly engaging... Accessible to a very broad audience... While the theorems covered may not be new to research mathematicians, I would wager that very few of us have seen them proven in quite this way." -- American Mathematical Monthly [http://www.maa.org/reviews/reallycount.html]

I am not a mathematician and I learn something cool and useful from this book every few paragraphs. Highly recommended.

This book is great. It is a nice story that also teaches children about migrant farm workers. I love reading it.

I really enjoyed this well-written story about migrant workers going from place to place to pick crops. Instead of being isolated, the young man in the story listens to the Spanish-speaking stations wherever he goes and the radio gives him a sense of connection to his friends. It reminds me of the power of the radio stations across Mexico, especially San Miguel de Allende, where a tourist lost all his money by dropping his wallet and within minutes someone found it and took it to the radio station. He cried when he got his money back--all of it.

Radio Man is a book that as a teacher, I can't wait to use in my classroom. So often, students do not understand what it is like to live the life of a migrant worker. Using Artur Dorros' story as a road map, one can bring to light and discuss with children many issues that afect the migrant workers. Why do they always move? Where do they live? What happens to their friends? Why do kids have to work? Questions such as this might arise as you read the book with your child. I feel it is a great book because it allows you to expose your children to a part of life that is not discussed very often but definitely afects the Latino population.

A touching story. Everytime I tell this story (I am a storyteller) when I visit schools, I get comments from the teachers and the students. A little fourth grader came up to me her eyes shinning with pride and a big smile and said: "I am one of them, I pick cucumbers and tomatoes in Ohio." Teachers, and even a principal, have come to me with tears in their eyes and said: "That was me, thank you for the story." It is a great book to share with students, to give a voice to the migrants who do so much for us, who pick the crops all over the United States so we can then enjoy them!

In a family of migrant farm workers, Diego's life is different than that of other children, as his parents, brothers and sisters travel all over the southwestern states picking crops. Known by his friends as "Radio Man", Diego is never without the radio, the voice of the announcer trumpeting the states they pass through, the weather and the news. Diego's radio his constant companion, it is a reminder of where they have been and where they are going, repeating the familiar names of towns along the way, from Texas to Arizona to California, even to Washington, where the apple season is ripe for the picking.

In Texas, Diego becomes friends with David, but the boys know they may not meet again for a long time. While he sees cousins in other worker camps, Diego is disappointed when he fails to find David among the familiar faces. One day, when the radio announcer urges listeners to call in with messages, Diego has a brilliant idea: he calls the station and sends a message to David, "Are you there?" Happily, David is listening to the radio that day and answers his friend's call.

Written in English and Spanish, the story accentuates the very different world of migrant farm workers, where friendships are often difficult to maintain as families move from place to place earning a living. But thanks to his radio, Diego is able to locate David again, thrilled that his message is heard by the very person for which it was intended. Although the bilingual format isn't as user-friendly in the English as the Spanish, the story is poignant and instructive, a rare peek behind the many faces of our society, revealing the everyday concerns of a young boy searching for his friend. Luan Gaines/2006.

In this book, Young describes a "Theory of Process" which takes Spirit into matter and back out again. It is elegantly written, the prose is effortless and along the way he gives insights into the entire spectrum of science, philosophy and metaphysics. Young has been recognized as a genius on the level of Einstein, but I can tell you, Young's theory is far more coherent. You know how a genius can make a remark on a subject, just toss off a remark, that just opens your eyes because it is so succinctly phrased? This book is like that. I consider it to be a work of genius, highly recommended, if you are into the Big Picture.

I found a 76' Delcourt copy with "geometry" as part of it in a breakfast cafe in Arkansas for $1.25, it was held together with a rubber band but complete and intact. I would equate this moment in time in my life to John Smith finding the Morman Bible, except this find actually had value to me and humanity. This book permanantly affected my thought process relative to so many dynamics I encounter daily in life. In my top 3 non fiction books of all time.

Its a shame there aren't more penetrating and expansive minds like Young's. He makes one of the best arguments for teleology in nature that I have read. The arguments between religious fundamentalists with their hopeless textual literalism and arrogant scientific materialists shouldn't keep the rest of us from seeing a reasonable and cohesive synthesis between the physical and metaphysical worlds.

Arthur Young was one of the most original and penetrating minds of the 20th century, as well as being a gifted and provocative teacher, who had a major influence on my thinking. Primarily a cosmologist, interested in the big picture and the foundations of knowlege, he disciplined himself and tested his insights by spending 17 years on the design and invention of the vertical take-off helicopter. His wide-ranging explorations into the foundations of the natural sciences, as well as the great spiritual and esoteric traditions, led him to formulate an integrative evolutionary cosmology that will, I believe, turn out to have a lasting influence and value.

Truly an all-encompassing work that bridges the gaps between such diverse fields as: biology, physics and psychology.

Anyone who can expertly discuss both helicopters and consciousness deserves a read!

I highly recommend this book, and I'm a cop. Which basically means I'm not that bright, and even I could comprehend this book.

Asimov is easy to read and understand. He takes complicated issues, and simplifies them. He possess a brilliant mind, and views the world from a different perspective than most other humans. As I read this collection of essays, I found myself time and time again saying, "that's so true, why didn't I think of that". It's an enlightening book, a good read, and it's cheap.

I highly recommend it.

In agreement with the rest of the reviews to date, Asimov is very good at showing people how creative thinking and logical reasoning can be applied to various topics. This man has had a large influence in my life through his books on science fiction, and science facts. He was wiser than most, and very skilled at teaching.
He was an atheist however, and so some of his viewpoints especially in the first part of this book, could rub a religious person the wrong way. It does no harm to hear another's viewpoint however, if not to learn something new, then to at least bolster up why you feel differently about certain issue's. His book covers many different subjects, and so if you enjoy reading and flexing your mental muscle by having your mind rove about on different topics, then you are sure to find many of his essays, very interesting.

Isaac Asimov was probably the best person ever to write science fiction. He was also one of the best people to ever write science fact. His death in 1992 was a great loss to the world.

This book provides a good look into how Isaac Asimov thought about various issues. With all the problems in the world, the views of Asimov might help to make the world a bit more logical place if we pay attention to him.

No intelligent person needs to be told (surely?) that Isaac Asimov's name on a book is a guarantee of excellence. And most are aware that Asimov's science essays (62 in this collection) cover the multitude and variety of subjects that Robert Heinlein had in mind when he coined the word "synthesist." So instead of trying to gild fine gold or paint the lily, I will simply reproduce Asimov's words on three of the issues he discusses.
On religious doublethink: "If there is an earthquake and a thousand people die, and one person is uncovered in a ruined house, unhurt, the Moral Majority types cry, 'A miracle!' and fall to their knees in gratitude. And the thousand who died, whose deaths, indeed, were necessary to convert the one surviver into a miracle, what of them?"
On overpopulation: "Motherhood is a privilege that we must literally ration, for children, if produced indiscriminately, will be the death of the human race; and any woman who deliberately has more than two children is committing a crime against humanity."
On skepticism: "I believe evidence. I believe observation, measurement and reasoning, confirmed by independent observers. I'll believe anything, no matter how wild or ridiculous, if there is evidence for it. The wilder and more ridiculous something is, however, the firmer and more solid the evidence will have to be."
Other topics to which Asimov devotes essays include resurrected gods, creationism's demand to be taught in public schools, argument from consensus, scientific illiteracy in politics, sexual equality, pollution, and hyperspace ("There is no evidence for its existence").
Want to encourage your offspring to pursue a career in science? Buy them this book.
(see my unabridged review in A Humanist in the Bible Belt.)

The late Dr. Asimov's clear wit and wisdom is taken to bear here on fools and the future. He begins by excoriating "Religious Radicals," in harsh liberal prose that seems rather outdated today. (For instance, there is a chapter called "The Reagan Doctrine" that pokes fun at tactics Ronald Reagan used in battling the Soviet empire.) Other chapters are also dated, including several chapters on environmental predictions that are informed by distinctly Malthusian notions of supply shortages. (To wit, "And in the mad scramble for food on your part and on the part of billions of others, the people of eath will further damage the world they live in and will begin to fight each other over scraps.") Still, Asimov writes lucidly on science in a number of historical and opinion pieces, which are carefully reasoned. Five essays at the book's end give perspective to the late thinker's personal life, and a number of inserted memorials (new to this edition) from other prominent scientists and science fiction authors really round out a book that shows Asimov's incomparable breadth of interest. The "Roving Mind" of the title is Asimov's own intellect; any thoughtful reader will find his own mind broadened for having read it.

Yet another pen name for the author known as Trevanian, this book is a precious satire of Medieval legends and their less than accurate and often embellishing storytellers.
Anyone might appreciate the rude and glorious side, but this book is actually funnier if the reader has had any contact with medieval thought, History or other academic near misses...

I finally received, from an endearing, if not downright useful cousin, a copy (hardbound , first edition in fact) of Rude Tales and Glorious -- the elusive print of an equally elusive author named Nicholas Seare (aka Trevanian aka UT Professor Rod Whitaker -- he of the numerous PhD's and other alphabetically-induced suffixes).

At the risk of waxing quotidian, my only regret is not having read this piece of literature sooner. This is an irreverent, audaciously humorous send-up of Arthurian history -- albeit Arthuriana's numerous manifestations and interpretations (and those are just the "ations," as Trevanian would say.)

Chaucer finds a more than worthy if not altogether brilliant extension of his idea in Seare's work.

The novel, in classic Trevanian-esque jest and joust (similarly used in Incident at Twenty Mile) purports to have had a solid foundation in history -- Rude Tales and Glorious claiming to be a contemporary translation of the author's ancestor's work.

Set in a Welsh knight's castle on a wintry evening, two beggar's claiming to be Launcelot and the Lady Elaine(of 600 years past) regale the dinner party with tales of the "real" Arthurian history in exchange for the orts and leavings of the feast -- "generously" given by a tale-thirsty lord.

Completing the cast at dinner are the typical suspects of this genre; the bungling knight and his warped-sense of valor (along the liberal democratic tradition), a hypocritical lothario of a priest ( also along the same liberal democratic tradition), lusty maidens (thus given to same previously-mentioned political affinity), and the servile servants (as they should be..being of the conservative republican staff). All complemented with similarly-inclined characters in the tale (of Arthur) within a tale.

All this is told in melliflous euphony evidenced in the English gentry's pedant in vocabulary and Twain's subtle comedy. Existent too, are Seare's/Trevanian's distaste for his perpetual foe -- the merchant, coupled with light-hearted jabs (though painful enough) at the Academic Illuminati of which Seare/Trevanian/Whitaker was, for a considerable portion of his life, a part of.

The entire body of work is prefaced with the autumnal sentimentality that Seare/Trevanian allows to epiphanize quite rarely though elegantly (inspired, no doubt, by the aesthete on poetic melancholy, Kawabata Yasunari) in his other works.

The tale is charmingly irreverent, and the telling is valiant and inspired!

Hope everyone has the opportunity and the pleasure to read this fine work.

Boy, do I consider myself lucky to have found a copy of "Rude Tales and Glorious". Any book that has me laughing aloud as often as this deservs to be the foundation for a religion. Douglas Adams and Terry Pratchett should be so funny (and they nearly are, but that's another review).

Since the original story of Arthur was published by Geoffrey of Monmouth, way back when men were men and women were grateful, there have innumerable retellings of the story. But none quite like this! Arthur as a stripling lad of 15, Merlin a ountry fair potion seller and Guinevere as the nymphomaniac queen are merely some of the colorful characters who we are given an entirely fresh view of in this bawdy version of the well known tales. The story is narrated by two beggars claiming to be Launcelot and his lady some 600 years after the reign of Arthur--so we have it straight from the horses mouth. The tale is bawdy and full of life, with no holds barred. The men are dumb but brawny, the woman plump and lusty, and both live life to the full. It is not only what Seare says but the way he says it which makes the book so funny. Highly recommended for a witty, well written, sometimes subtle laugh fest

This is the only book to date that I have had to stop reading
to wipe away tears of laughter. A proper, laugh out loud riot
that takes the Arthurian legends, and adds a new perspective
to the myth and magic .. lusty maidens, beggars, a overbearing
oaf as the Lord of the Manor, a priest who 'shrives' the sins of
the Lady and her Daughter by trials of the flesh ...it's not what
Errol Flynn portrayed at all. Imagine the 3 Musketeers films
(the ones with Olly Reed & Michael York), and the humour is in
a similar vein to these cinematic classics. If you like your
olden day heroes untarnished, clean and honourable, then don't
read this book. I'll never think about the Knights of the Round
Table in the same way again. Very funny, very well written with
some memorable phrases that I have used to good effect in the
years since reading it. Not recommended reading for funerals
or other such solemn occasions. Messrs Pratchett and Adams have
written some excellent books (I've read the lot) but they pale
when compared to this 'laugh until your face hurts' masterpiece.

This book was a favorite of mine when I was a teen. I'm in my forties now and I have acquired this book for my daughter. I've had to pay a lot for a used copy, but it is worth it! Another great teen read of my youth is "The Changeling" by Zylpha Keatley Snyder.

and it distresses me that someone wrote an inaccurate review of it. This book has nothing to do with Eleanor of Acquitane or her court.

Instead it begins in the 1300s with Melisande who comes over from France, bringing the Saracen Lamp, considered to be the house's greatest treasure, which is stolen by Alys in the Elizabethan age. Perdita is the one to bring back the life of the house.

The characters are well-written and Ruth M. Arthur was very good at providing atmospheric scenes, imbuing nature and buildings with a sense of human-like presence.

The other reviews on Amazon of Ruth Arthur's novels sound very similar: best book(s)I read, Remember it vividly since I read it when I was twelve, etc. I heartily agree with all of these sentiments. Her novels were distintinctive in their characters and settings and most memorable for their unique plots. The Saracen Lamp in particular is unique because it uses the Lamp, a parting gift from a slave-friend to follow the life of Alys and her descendants through the centuries-through the Plague and into modern times. Ruth Arthur's novels aren't terribly challenging reading, but they were deeply engrossing and as I reread some of them now as an adult, they are still intellegent and engaging...even as famili1ar old friends. Being that they are out of print, they aren't always easy or cheap to aquire, but I still find them frequently at public and school libraries 1and are worth seeking out for the strong female protagonists 1and dramatic plot lines.

I am now 40 and looked up to see if this book is still around. I read it when I was about 16 and thought it was the best book I ever read. Hopefully, new technology is going to enable these out of print books to be ordered by individuals.

I read this book YEARS ago and it has stuck in my mind as one of the top 10 books I have ever read. For parents looking to introduce youg readers to history this book is exceptional. The focus of the story is a young girl named Alys, she happens to live in Eleanor of Acquitaines' court. Through her (and others ) we learn of Eleanors life and times, which are fascinating enough not to need embellishing. The author does a superb job of setting the scene, you can practically smell the incense!

As a High Priest of the Wiccan religion, I read the cover with some trepidation - was this going to be another re-hash, trashing my religion?' Thankfully, the answer was a resounding "NO!" Mr. Lyons, in the first few pages of the book, immediately put my fears to rest, as he describes the differences between the Goddess-worshipping, Earth-centered spirituality of the Wiccan religion and the beliefs and practises of Satanism today, "as they themselves define it." Re-assured, I immediately read on, and was impressed by not only his scholarship, but his general neutrality in writing about this religious movement. Several chapters are devoted to the development of the concept of 'the Devil', and its rise in popularity from the Middle Ages to the present. One chapter that was especially well-thought out was the "Urban Legends" chapter, detailing several instances of 'ritual abuse' that had made headlines in recent years. Although somewhat dated now, this is one book that I feel does the subject justice, and is both entertaining and well-researched.

I bought this book several years ago in a second hand book store, I originally bought it just becuase of the title but once I started reading I became quite engrossed, the book is very factual and to the point and not at all like alot of the so called satanic or occult books on the market that glorify perversion and depravity. If anyone wishes to find out about satanism historically as this is quite an old book or just out of general interest I would recommend this as a thoroughly good overview and actually made quite alot of sense as it takes a hedonstic view on the subject. If you enjoy an alternative lifestyle or if you would like something a bit different to read you should read this book. It deffinently gave me a view on life which I had already started on but made me feel much more confident in the process.

This book belongs on the shelf next to LaVey's Satanic Bible, for it puts Satanism in more of a historic and modern context. The chapter on heavy metal was particulary interesting. While the public's "fear" of this type of stuff has abated during the 1990s, this book remains a must-read.

This is an absolutely wonderful book about Satanism. The author actually has a sense of humor, such a rare thing when writing an exposition on modern Satanism... Read this book.

This is one of the best or the best book on satanism ever written. It's a shame it's out of print. this is a must-have for occultists and Christians, who will learn negative accustions against satanism are patently untrue. I enjoyed the chapters on Crowley, LaVey and the Temple of Set the most, though the Crowley chapter should've been longer. Aquino left the Church of Satan partially because LaVey was selling priesthoods wheras Aquino thought it should be on basis of magickal merit. Also Aquino didn't put anything on world merit in satanists where LaVey drew on popular entertainers and respectable world jobs. Satanic serial killers are covered, as are witch hunts. This book is excellent, and holds a very high place in my occult library.