Baker Books

It was funny and clean. Reminds me of Minnesota hunting season. Would recommend it to any one.

A game warden is murdered in Michigan's Upper Peninsula on opening day of bear season. Little Donny, Gertie's grandson, has gone missing. The warden was murdered at Little Donny's tree stand.

Gertie's son, Blaze, is the sheriff, but he is after Little Donny as he thinks he is the murderer. Gertie believes in her heart that he's innocent.

Gertie and her two friends, Kitty who also believes she is Gertie's bodyguard, and Cora Mae who is after all the men, set out to find Little Donny, prove his innocence, and find the real killer.

Grandma Johnson, Gertie's mother-in-law who lives with her (against her wishes), doesn't make things easy. Then when Little Donny's mother descends on Gertie to await word on her son, Gertie kicks it up into high gear.

Blaze keeps trying to get Gertie for driving without a license. She keeps working at dodging him.

Gertie and her associates are a hoot. I love this series. You never know what Gertie will do next. I wish I knew Gertie. She sounds like she'd be a lot of fun!

The setting of Michican'ts Upper Peninsula is great. It really adds to the story.

I highly recommend this book and series!

Deb Baker's MURDER GRINS AND BEARS IT has hero Gertie back in top form. Against the wishes of her son the local sheriff, she gathers her associates, her fake badge, and her stun gun and sets out to solve the murder of a game warden. You don't have to be familiar with Michigan's Upper Peninsula to enjoy Gertie's antics, but if you have been there, it will be no surprise to meet this little old lady who drives without a license and investigates without a qualm. Gertie is hilarious, she's fearless, and she's priceless.

The Stephanie Plum of the geriatric set is back in Deb Baker's sequel to Murder Passes the Buck. Having decided to create her own (unlicensed) investigative agency "The Trouble Busters," widow Gertie Johnson acquires the auctioned-off, vandalized sheriff's truck (that sheriff is Gertie's son and that she was the vandalizer is another story) and arms herself with a trusty bag of weapons that includes a taser, cattle prod, mace, and handcuffs. What she's not ready for is the body that is discovered near a hunting blind with the main suspect being her favorite - and missing - grandson. While her son is determined to keep her off the roads (Gertie never managed to learn how to drive or get a license), Gertie sets out to prove Little Donny's innocence with a posse that includes her single and predatory best friend Cora Rae, the police dog that Gertie unintentionally managed to get fired, and her self-proclaimed bodyguard Kitty.

Once again Ms. Baker has created a hilarious mystery that whips along to a dramatic finish. Gertie is plagued with family members who hinder her as much as they help, yet her love for them always shines through. Moments of laugh-out-loud humor are balanced by Gertie's vulnerability as she battles to protect her grandson and ferret out a murderer by following the clues that her son ignores. This Yooper Mystery series continues to grow stronger and readers will be eager for Gertie's next appearance.

This beautifully illustrated book set in Australia's outback has the most interesting animals I've ever seen! The multicultural theme can be used in classrooms and at home to promote an understanding of native animals of Australia, relationships with elders, women of independence, and travel. The story is beautifully written in prose and the illustrations are patterned in pencil/charcoal and brilliant pictures.

This is definitely the best picture i have ever read to my children and i would recomend it to all parents and children alike. It makes you smile and feel so content and happy as you reach the last page. The illustrations, superb, the story, edge of your seat stuff.

Recommend t for everyone, young and old.

My kids really enjoy this book. It was a gift from Grandma for my oldest son because he likes to say funny words. This book is full of funny words and names that all three of our kids love. At the end of the book, my daughter always wants to know "what happend to Grandma", so we come up with all kinds of possibilities. This is a wonderful book and is read often as our bedtime routine.

My Grandma lived in Gooligulch,
Near Bandywallop East,
A fair way north of Murrumbum
(Five hundred miles at least)...

In Sydney and in Melbourne Town,
They all knew Grandma's name,
And all about the animals,
That Grandma used to tame.

THe Australian place names and the premise of the Grandma taming exotic animals (exotic to most non-Australians kids) is as colorful as Grame Base's 11 2-page spreads. The story concerns Grandma (while we're told that everyone "knew her name," we're never told what it is), her taming, training, and befriending of wombats, kangaroos, dingos, goannas and local birds, including kookaburras, galahs, magpies, and coots. The color pictures are beautiful and often wonderfully improbable: A goanna (some kind of reptile) is shown in an easy cair, quaffing some type of drink (Foster's?), while he and a dingo (wild dog) watch a rat balance an Australian coin.

After introducing the animals who overrun Grandma's house, Base's brief plot concerns Grandma's journey (via pelican) over the desert sands and mountins, "until at dusk they reached a place, Where giant tree-ferns grew. There's a lush picture of this riverbank oasis, followed by a dark, fun/scary night illustration of the wombats--their eyes open in fear--"looking nervously around...for a wombat-eating snake." Grandma and pelican journey to next to the sea, where she dons "frilly bathing gear," and rides the waves on a blowup sea-dragon.

HOwever, things take an unexpected turn when Base decides that Grandma will be taken by the tide: "ANnd no-one's seen my Grandma/Even to this very day." This sudden disappearance is tempered by the narrator's speculation that Grandma probably landed on an island and thence to England , Spain, San Francisco, or Tingoor, or (her best bet), that Grandma's "back in Gooligulch, just like before." While the fantasy elements of the book make Grandma's fate less important, and the narrator's speculation more plausible, this turn of events may make the book somewhat unsettling for toddlers, restricting the book's audience to those around the ages 4-9 or so. You'll have to use your judgement. There's no hint that Grandma had a disaster, she pictured (in the narrator's fantasy taming animals "in thejungles of Tingoor" an d heading to San Francisco "On a Western Union train." Still, you might want to consider whrther the ambiguity of what happened to Grandma will be upsetting to your readers. Still, in keeping with the light, silly narrative poem (which is very imaginative and well-written), I think a zanier, more explicit conclusion would have been a better fit.

The other non-color picture are a monochromatic dark brown, made interesting by Base's lined shadings. Unfortunately, these are sometimes too dense, his most effective picture leave more "white space." In addition, Base introduces some of the animals without a nearby reference illustration: You have to go to the inside of the front cover to get the key to the two-page illustration of all the animals located inside the back cover! This is a little inconvenient. Overall, a very good book, with excellent color illustrations, and a clever poetic narrative that will draw engage individuals kids or in group reading.

Few are the fantasies so peculiar and satisfying as this, a deliciously weird mix of alien races, Native American culture and government intrigue.
Ishpiming picks up where the first in Baker's NeitherWorld series (Akiiwan, 2007) left off. This time around is the story of archaeologist Samantha Horner, an Ojibwe expert called in to excavate a singularly unique site in Minnesota. The site--which not incidentally piques the interest of crooked U.S. government agents--houses the body of 17th-century shaman Voice-in-the-Sky, a Native American leader who made contact with an alien race. Ten-year-old Orenda--herself a descendent of Voice-in-the-Sky--has mysteriously transported Horner and members of her dig team to a far-off world. Only here does Horner come to realize that the conflicts surrounding her excavation have taken on interstellar import. Dangers multiply, and Horner and her team learn that the nefarious designs of corrupt Washington bureaucrats are the least of their problems, for humanity is endangered by the Lupok, an alien race hell-bent on conquering Earth and enslaving all who live there. This volume is an even stranger and more ambitious work than its predecessor. Filled with strange creatures, extraterrestrial landscapes and a startling array of alien races vying for galactic ascendancy, Ishpiming taxes the imagination. But much to the author's credit, readers will remain entranced by this strange new world. Like the best fantasy authors, Baker has a knack for fleshing out his marvelous creations, making the oddest of creatures--e.g., the eerie pink caterpillars that inhabit the NeitherWorld--as real and believable as his human characters. He has a strong faith in the power of his fiction, and that faith is strangely infectious.
An audacious but thoroughly enthralling fantasy.

Few are the fantasies so peculiar and satisfying as this, a deliciously weird mix of alien races, Native American culture and government intrigue.
Ishpiming picks up where the first in Baker's NeitherWorld series (Akiiwan, 2007) left off. This time around is the story of archaeologist Samantha Horner, an Ojibwe expert called in to excavate a singularly unique site in Minnesota. The site--which not incidentally piques the interest of crooked U.S. government agents--houses the body of 17th-century shaman Voice-in-the-Sky, a Native American leader who made contact with an alien race. Ten-year-old Orenda--herself a descendent of Voice-in-the-Sky--has mysteriously transported Horner and members of her dig team to a far-off world. Only here does Horner come to realize that the conflicts surrounding her excavation have taken on interstellar
import. Dangers multiply, and Horner and her team learn that the nefarious designs of corrupt Washington bureaucrats are the least of their problems, for humanity is endangered by the Lupok, an alien race hell-bent on conquering Earth and enslaving all who live there. This volume is an even stranger and more ambitious work than its predecessor. Filled with strange creatures, extraterrestrial landscapes and a startling array of alien races vying for galactic ascendancy, Ishpiming taxes the imagination. But much to the author's credit, readers will remain entranced by this strange new world. Like the best fantasy authors, Baker has a knack for fleshing out his marvelous creations, making the oddest of creatures--e.g., the eerie pink caterpillars that inhabit the NeitherWorld--as real and believable as his human characters. He has a strong faith in the power of his fiction, and that faith is strangely infectious.
An audacious but thoroughly enthralling fantasy.

The second volume of Scott Baker's debut novel, NeitherWorld Book Two Ishpiming, continues the mystery uncovered by the archeological dig team, headed by Dr. Samantha Horner, in northern Minnesota. The team has now been transported to an alien world by Orenda, the ten-year-old Ojibwe child who finds herself with strange powers beyond her maturity to manage.

It is in this second novel that Baker reveals the angst of the aliens who have lost their original homes and now seek to survive through hosts of other species. This includes the animal world as well as the human race and the displaced aliens are both evil and good spirits. In Ishpiming, the bad spirited-aliens, known as the Lupok, take center stage in their quest to find hosts that will enable them to conquer all species and become the most powerful over all others.

With much of the action occurring on the surface of another place in the universe, the reader is treated to imaginative creatures and unique landscapes as the dig team works through its options to return to earth and complete their mission, which has now taken on far more significance than determining the historical value of an ancient shaman, Voice-In-The-Sky.

Baker uses the full range of dreams-to-visions to help the reader understand the strange beings while keeping the action going. This passage provides a good example: "Sam drifted into a dream, imaging herself high in the trees. She was moving as a yoboa yoboa, effortlessly gliding through the trees, as naturally as she had previously walked on the ground." Later in this passage: "She began to feel like she was intruding, intruding into the body she now occupied, like its true owner was waiting, somewhere in a corner of its own mind." Through this dream-vision, Sam pickups up the clue to follow for the next step of the dangerous journey. Her visions are more frequent in Ishpiming. They become the roadmap for the dig team to follow in resolving the conflicts stretching across the universes Baker has described as well as for understanding her own relationship to her ancestry.

The author brings this story train safely into the station without any serious derailments but it is also beleaguered by the editing and proofreading misses evident in the first book, Akiiwan. Even with fewer pages to read than the first volume, it still requires a strong interest in fantasy/science fiction to see it through to the conclusion. A parsimonious editing pen would serve this novel well.

Overall, the novel is entertaining and engages the reader's imagination effectively. Fans of the fantasy/science fiction genres will likely find it worthy of shelf space in their collections.

Paula Buermele is a reviewer for BookPleasures and is the author of "The Dream Catcher Tour."

Take a vast knowledge of Indian lore and archeology, mix it with an exciting contemporary adventure complete with government agents, a dollop of love, and top it with a sci-fi mystery--and then you might begin to imagine the challenge that faced Author Scott Baker when he undertook the complex task of writing these fascinating debut volumes.

Neitherworld Book Two Ishpiming (Neitherworld) is a sequel to Neitherworld Book One Akiiwan (CreateSpace Version), a book I read and reviewed earlier, giving it five stars and high praise. I considered the first book a gem and this sequel is equally as brilliantly faceted.

Blending archeology with Native American myth and alien wonder, Baker weaves a story so complex it will stun you ... and he ties it all together with grace and dexterity, like the best of wordsmiths. This story starts with a revered shaman of the 1600s, continuing on into contemporary times.

I was hooked with the first novel and couldn't wait to read this one ... to find out what happens to Samantha Horner, the archeologist called in by a real estate developer to examine and excavate a site found on Blue Heron Island in Minnesota where he was building a luxury housing community.

But is the developer what he claims to be? Why are government agents so interested in the project? Will Samantha be able to save the island the Native Americans hold sacred without a rebellion? And now that Orenda--a mysterious ten-year-old girl, descendant of a famous shaman--has spirited her and others through space to an alien world, will the earth people ever see their homes again? Can Orenda help them return? Does Samantha--who has a small amount of Native blood--have the supernatural "gift" that the child does? And what does the "black hole" have to do with the mystery?

To unravel the mystery, you will have to RFY (read for yourself); to say more would be to spoil the plot.

Although the first book tied up prominent loose ends, ending at a satisfactory place, Orenda appears to be threatening Samantha or about to reveal her true nature, so it was with great anticipation I awaited the second book. Since I discovered Neitherworld Book One Akiiwan (CreateSpace Version) late, I didn't have to wait long for the release of Neitherworld Book Two Ishpiming (Neitherworld).

In addition to exciting twists and turns and complexity of plot, there is also romantic intrigue between Samantha and Dr. Ron Griffith, a co-worker on the excavation.

The characters in these books ring true, the dialog is impeccable, and the intricate plot is carefully, professionally woven to form a block-buster book. Intriguing storyline! Likable characters with just enough villains to make for hours of good reading.

Scott Baker is a new talent, a force to be reckoned with in the literary field.

I highly recommend these volumes--in fact, I "dig" them--as in archeology, y'know.

Reviewed by: Betty Dravis, 2008
Millennium Babe: The Prophecy

I know this concordance and used it before many times. Although today you may get the same information on line or from software you can purchase, I find it much more convenient and faster to use a hard copy of a good concordance.

Michael Anbar, Ph.D.

This is a great, voluminous book(more than 1242 pages except introduction). It was written in Hebrew. Every word was fully vocalized in accordance with the Massoretic pronunciation. Every chapter, every verse, every word, and even every letter of the Old Testament was counted. (For example, there are 929 chapters, 23,191 verses, 304,901 words, and 1,159,705 letters in the Hebrew Old Testament. There are 16,344 Massora Beth notes in the text, with 27 occurrences of variation.) Words similar but have different meanings were marked by different frequency numbers. This is the most recommendable concordance for Hebrew Old Testament.

For a handy sized Hebrew Old Testament concordance, I would recommend "Gerhard Lisowsky, Konkordanz zum Hebraeischen Alten Testament, Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft." It is a very useful, small one.

For those who do not know Hebrew, I would like to recommend "George V. Wigram, The Englishman's Hebrew Concordance of the Old Testament, Hendrickson Publishers." Every entry word is in Hebrew with Roman transliteration, and the related verses are all in English.

If the typical Masoretic text of the Old Testament is your cup of soup, then this is the best Hebrew concordance for you. No question -- it is the best, superceding all previous editions. Make sure you purchase the second edition, which has the passage citations in English, and numerous corrections (i.e. 1990+).

The volume is firmly bound, though not smyth sewn, it does open and lay open nicely. The paper appears to not be high quality, nor ANSI certified, it is printed in Israel.

The Hebrew text is from the Koren edition of 1958, using Tiberian pointing. The font is usually clear. He presents all (or most defintions) for each word, in Hebrew only. He also shows synonyms and most phrases using each word! (especially the rather unique phrases, this greatly eases some word studies!).

Each occurrence is numbered, and thus statistics are easier to generate, and word counts are easy to view herein. All of these are fine innovations available in this great work. I only wish that he had used more English terms for some of his numerous Hebrew abbreviations. I also wish that he would have indicated each ROOT much more emphatically. With the volume is John Sailhamer's useful guide, which helps the new user get more from this concordance....

This is a great, voluminous book(more than 1,242 pages except introduction). It was written in Hebrew. Every word was fully vocalized in accordance with the Massoretic pronunciation. Every chapter, every verse, every word, and even every letter of the Old Testament was counted. (For example, there are 929 chapters, 23,191 verses, 304,901 words, and 1,159,705 letters in the Hebrew Old Testament. There are 16,344 Massora Beth notes in the text, with 27 occurrences of variation.) Words similar but have different meanings were marked by different frequency numbers. This is the most recommendable concordance for Hebrew Old Testament.

For a handy sized Hebrew Old Testament concordance, I would recommend "Gerhard Lisowsky, Konkordanz zum Hebraeischen Alten Testament, Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft." It is a very useful, small one.

For those who do not know Hebrew, I would like to recommend "George V. Wigram, The Englishman's Hebrew Concordance of the Old Testament, Hendrickson Publishers." Every entry word is in Hebrew with Roman transliteration, and the related verses are all in English.

In this brief book (125 pages) James Dunn argues that the quest for the historical Jesus has been incorrectly operating out of a default literary paradigm rather than an oral one. Dunn accepts the Q hypothesis, but argues that the gospel writers would have also relied heavily on the oral traditions of their respective communities. Even after the gospels were written this oral tradition would have remained primary due to high illiteracy in the first century. Oral tradition by nature had both stability and variation; it would not change dramatically within a community due to the commitment of its members to the ideas, but at the same time there would have been flexibility over details that were not considered essential.

Dunn explains a number of implications of an oral paradigm. For example, the "Christ of faith" and the "historical Jesus" cannot be separated, because the oral tradition was faith based from the beginning. An "excavation" method of trying to uncover the historical Jesus is doomed to failure because there is no single account to go back to. There would have been multiple faith based accounts right from the beginning, because different followers would have heard or understood various sayings differently. Also, to determine historicity scholars have tended to focus on what was unique within the first-century Jewish or early Christian contexts, but Dunn argues that emphasis should go onto what is characteristic of the oral tradition, and the events that could have given rise to it.

This book left me with a sense of the gospels as a snapshot of a dynamic oral tradition. My impression after reading this book is that the gospels are historically reliable providing one comes to them with expectations appropriate to this tradition. This book is highly readable, but those without any knowledge of the historical quests may prefer to begin with an introductory text, perhaps something like NT Wright's "The Contemporary Quest for Jesus."

"A New Perspective on Jesus" dares to ask the big questions. What if the entire long quest to find the historical Jesus was fundamentally flawed from the beginning? What if all those scholars, all those books, starting in 1832, had missed the very obvious?

This is a revolutionary book of biblical scholarship. Yet it is a mere 125 pages long. And it's written in Dunn's usual clear style, so that it's accessible to anyone interested in the subject.

For almost 200 years, scholars have been trying to find a different, more 'historical' Jesus from the Jesus of faith presented in the gospels. Their assumption was that the historical Jesus must be different from the Jesus of the New Testament, and that, with enough research, they'd be able to tease out this other Jesus.

But as Dunn points out, the quest was flawed. Where could they find this other Jesus? "The only Jesus available to us...is Jesus as he was seen and heard by those who first formulated the traditions we have--the Jesus of faith, Jesus seen through the eyes and heard through the ears of the faith that he evoked by what he said and did" (p 31). Yet there is an entire industry of alternatives to the actual gospels, suggesting all sorts of dark conspiracies. Jesus as a mushroom! Jesus as Caesar! Jesus as the hippie Cynic sage! Alll of them based on hot air and a vivid fantasy life.


The problem for all these desperate alternatives to the gospels is that "to discount the influence that Jesus actually had, to strip away the impact that Jesus actually made, is to strip away everything and to leave an empty stage waiting to be filled by...the historian's own imagination. If we are unsatisfied with the Jesus of the Synoptic tradition, then we will simply have to lump it; there is no other" (p 34).


This would make a terrific Christmas present to any biblical scholars you know.

James Dunn's small book on the origin of the synoptic gospels (Matt, Mark, Luke) is apparently a slice of his other work titled "Remembering Jesus." This is a helpful introduction to issues related to the character of, and indirectly the historicity of, the gospels. Dunn argues, against more liberal/skeptical scholarship, that the similarities and differences in the synoptic gospels are best explained by oral transmission of these events and teachings in the early church.

While not arguing against documentary theories (e.g. "Q"), he feels many avenues have not been suffiently explored in explaining the gospels. Specifically, he argues that scholars have not sufficiently reflected on the nature of a largely oral (as opposed to literate) society; also that Jesus' positive influence on his hearers has been likewise overlooked.

His view seems to honor the gospels as accurate, historical pictures of Jesus. This small book is useful for apologetics and for better appreciating the world of the New Testament.

JDGD sets a nice dichotomy between the historical Jesus and that of tradition, which he calls the Jesus of faith. He argues that those who follow the quest for the historical Jesus using modern science and research does not give them the "real" Jesus but gives them the Jesus of their faith. Their research tends to confirm the interpretation that fulfills their values and ideals. The Jesus of Faith, on the other hand, which is based on theological traditions of interpretation of the NT, turns out to be closer to the real Jesus, since how Jesus would have inspired a faith among his disciples is the closest we can come to avoiding our own values and ideals. This is a very nice ironic twist to the whole enterprise I think. I can also see value in interpreting the various interpretations along this interpretation! But what exactly is the traditional faith based Jesus and how is He to be interpreted? I had thought all along, despite the sharpness of JDGD's critique, that it was to improve the traditional interpretational faith based Jesus to an educated rather than merely protestant and dumbed down or fundamentalist view that was the goal of the quest for the historical Jesus. Shouldn't the Jesus interpreted from the Gospels be reconcilable with what our science tells us about our world? How do we know what Jesus meant to say to His audience unless we know something historical about the audience? In short, how can I hold two images of Jesus and try to view Him as either one or another, one of some sort of fantasy or one of what appears to me as what a person could really be like? Rather, let the dialogue represent the merging of what is best in narrative, food for the soul and source of value, and model for excellence, while at the same time believing that the narrative is coherent with what science tells about the world. Reading the wonderful introduction to "Jesus Remembered" I remember the conclusion that there is no non-interpretative point of view on this. I read JDGD and others in the hope that I will have the most reconcilable point of view.

After my Salvation the NIV was the first Bible I ever bought to bring home the peace and hope of God's word. I am aware of a few problems some have with the area of DE types of translation approach. I think these are often overstated. The NIV helped me find my way, I now have a number of translations and yet I am rereading Mark in the NIV right now. Cambridge did a great job with this edition and I am most pleased! Grace and Peace.

I have always enjoyed Cambridge Bibles. You cannot beat the quality, the binding, the leather, the Indian pages. Cambridge Bibles are simply put the best Bibles you can ever purchase.

This edition is much like the King James Version of the Pitt Minion edition. I purchased the goatskin edition and simply loved it. The Indian pages smell and feel like the old KJV Bibles of long ago.

The only drawbacks to this Bible are first the letters are small so if you wear reading glasses you might want to skip this Bible. Secondly, the books of the Bible overlap on the same pages in some cases. I prefer the a new book to start on its on page. And thirdly, I prefer not to have the words of Christ in red since all Scripture is God-breathed (2 Timothy 3:16-17).

Nonetheless this Bible is wonderful! I gladly give Cambridge five stars for this Bible.

This Cambridge Bible is one of the best bibles you could get. The construction is absolutely flawless. Some leather bibles need to be "cracked in" to shape. By that I mean the binding and papers are stiff (some papers typically stick together from the shine). Not so with this Bible.

The Black goatskin cover is very nice and protects the Bible very well. The pages are thin, but tough, and are not very transparent (words from the other pages don't clutter the page you're reading). The pages are sewn perfectly, it opens very, very nicely (the first open didn't have a single crack/noise). The ribbon to mark the page is wonderfully sewn and extends past the bottom of the page. As for the content, it's everything you would expect in a good bible that is not a study Bible. Just the very simplest of footnotes common to all NIV Bibles, a good cross-reference systems, and a good concordance at the back. The maps at the back are nice also. As for the Word itself, that's exactly what you get. If you're looking for a simple NIV Bible where the scripture is all you want, no fancy introductions or crazy footnotes, then this is it. Easy to read font, Christ's words in red.

The size of the Bible is perfect. It's very easy to carry, yet it's definitely not too small by any means. Just the right size, giving the impression of having some serious elegant significance. A truly beautiful Bible. The only downfall is the size of the font is very small, so if you have trouble reading small print this would not be a good Bible. It is the same print used in some dictionaries and encyclopedia's so you can check those as a reference. The font is bigger then most compact Bibles though, so if you are using one of those as your carry around, this will be a big step up in print and quality.

Overall, it is definitely worth the price. Being the instruction manual for our lives on earth, this is a very worthy edition if you're looking for NIV. Cambridge (being Bible publishers since 1591) do not fall short.

Cambridge Bibles in general are my favorite because of their superb quality. This NIV has all the basic features without any opinions or fluff. To me, it's worth spending the money for a quality Bible when we spend this much for a fuel fill-up for our car or day shopping for groceries. This is a once in a lifetime purchase. For me, I'm glad it will last that long.

I've got to give this a less stellar review than others. I have several Cambridge goatskin bibles and this is the least impressive of them all. While it is still miles ahead of most leather bound Bibles, the cover lacks in several respects.
1. The goatskin is much more stiff than any other premium binding Bibles I own. The main reason I love goatskin or calfskin bound bibles is because it is so limp and feels so good to hold in your hands. This binding just doesn't measure up. Hopefully the leather will soften up with use.
2. The inside of the cover is paper rather than leather. This is a departure from the other Cambridge Bibles I own.
On the plus side the single column text is done very well and is much easier to read than the standard "dual column" so common in Bibles. In that respect this is a very nice reading Bible. Thus, while still a very nice Bible I don't think it measures up to Cambridge's usuall high standards.

Well constructed! Everything from the paper to the goatskin is perfect! It is easy to read being single column and a decent sized font. I highly recommend it!

The Cambridge NIV Single Column Bible in black goatskin leather is a treasure for any person who is fond of the great old Cambridge traditon. Let's start with the cover. This Bible is bound in genuine goatskin leather. There isn't a better leather out there for the price than goatskin. It is soft and thick, tough and yet very pliable. This Bible just feels great in your hands. When you hold it open in your hands you feel like you are holding a real Bible made in the old tradition. And it smells great!

The binding is sewn and opens flat, which is really outstanding if you like to study at a desk or table. The page edges are art gilt, red under gold, a process that is more expensive for Bible makers but reflects a much higher quality Bible.

The paper is nice. Smooth, opaque, strong, and white but non-glare, so it is easy to read and doesn't tire the eyes. The print is simply outstanding. It's a 10/11 point palatino. Two big pluses for me are the single column and the black letter format. This is a text Bible, so there are no references other than translation notes. This format is perfect for devotional use or for anyone who wants a great general purpose Bible without distractions.

Two extras that deserve mention are the 24-page family history section in the front of the Bible (this is the best family record section I've ever seen - printed on parchment), and the fact that the Bible comes with two ribbon markers instead of just one.

If you appreciate traditional Cambridge quality, you will love this Bible. Designed to last a lifetime and pass down to your children or grandchildren, this Bible is worth every penny you spend.

Dr. Mike Kear

I know that I will enjoy this bible in years to come. The leather is really nice, the art gilt edges are beautiful, and the text is large so it is easy for me to read but yet the bible isn't to big for me to hold. I like the binding because it allows it to open flat.

Superb in every sense. If you are serious in your personal bible study, this will be one of your best companion in years to come. The workmanship is SO GOOD that I ordered a Cambridge NASB wide-margin too. Thank you Cambridge!

I ordered this Bible with the hope of room to write my notes. I am a pastor and I like to include as many notes as possible in my Bible. The margins certainly allow for that. It is a quality Bible with some positive surpises. I didn't realize they had so many note pages bound at the end of the Bible. I wish it were possible to have the print at least one point larger. Two would be ideal. I realize there are things that have to be sacrificed with every Bible. I do highly recommend this Bible as the ultimate in a wide margin quality NKJV Bible.

This is a fantastic Bible! There are 2 available, either the Goatskin, or the Morocco Leather. The goatskin has the red art-gilt pages, and the Morocco does not.
The big difference in the text between this Bible and the out of print Nelson Wide Margin is this Cambridge Bible is in paragraph format, and the Nelson one is verse format.
Also, the concordance in this Cambridge edition is FAR superior to the Nelson Wide Margin edition.
This is a beautiful Bible. You certainly won't be disappointed!

This review is a bit unusual. Typically a book review focuses primarily on the textual content. In this case, however, if you're considering a purchase, the content is already a given - it's the Bible! The value of this edition rests largely on its formatting and binding, although I will give some attention to the content, as well.

The translation used for this particular Bible is the New King James Version (NKJV). I was thrilled to see Cambridge begin to print this translation, as the NKJV is my personal favorite for study. It is a "formal equivalency" translation (meaning it is translated essentially word-for-word, rather than thought-for-thought) with a high level of accuracy. It is the only modern translation I'm aware of which uses the same textual basis as the KJV. The NKJV, however, avoids the unfamiliar "thee" and "thou." It replaces other archaic words with words in current use (which not only increases understanding, but decreases misunderstanding) and, in a few cases, gives a more specific or more accurate translation. Words which have been added by the translators for the sake of English text flow are italicized so they're easy to spot. Readers who dislike the triquetra will be glad to hear that it does not appear on, or in, this edition.

If you're looking for a Bible with "study notes," this is not the one you want. If, however, you are looking for a Bible suitable for personal study, this one is perfect. The center column contains textual notes and cross-references, but there are no commentary-style notes to distract from or influence your studies; the text is simply permitted to speak for itself. The wide margins (approx. 1-1/4" lower and outer, approx. 3/4" upper and inner) allow plenty of space for note-taking. The paper is a bit thicker than standard Bible paper, as well, to decrease the chance of bleed-through. I usually take notes with a pencil, myself, but a standard ballpoint pen seems to work fine on these pages. An additional thirty-two pages (sixteen sheets) of lined notepaper are provided at the back. These immediately follow alphabetized index space for indexing your notes (or making your own alphabetized references).

The concordance is extensive, for an in-Bible concordance, spanning a whopping one hundred sixty-four pages of three columns each! There are also sixteen pages of full-color maps. (I wish, though, that someone would create a better map of the Exodus. It seems that the same basic map has been in every Bible for the past fifty years, and it is clearly incorrect.) The maps are indexed, as well.

Aside from the Exodus map (which is no different from any other Bible), I only have two concerns with this edition. One is minor, and one will make a difference only to certain individuals. My minor issue is that this is a red-letter edition. If I were creating my "perfect Bible," I would use all black text, but the red-letter text certainly is not causing me a problem, and some readers will view it as a benefit. The other concern is that the text is a bit on the small side. It isn't what I would consider "tiny," but those with limited visual acuity (as, perhaps, those whose eyes are getting "older") will probably have some difficulty reading it.

Having looked at the content and the formatting, we now come to the binding, and, wow, I don't think I can say enough; I was oohing and ahhing before I even had it completely out of the box, the cover on this edition feels so nice! This is the softest, supplest leather I've ever felt - it is just amazing. Although this same wide-margin NKJV is also available in a hard cover if you're on a tight budget, I recommend one of the two leather options if you can possibly afford it. The durability of leather protects the precious contents better than any hardcover could, and the flexibility of leather, in my opinion, has a much better allowance for the movement of the pages, which helps the binding hold up longer. All of the Cambridge Bibles, however, are made of the highest quality, designed for longevity. The pages are sewn, not glued, so they will not fall out. This also enables the Bible to open up flat for ease of reading and note-taking.

If you're looking for a NKJV from which to study, I believe this is the best one available, hands-down.

...when you're of the belief that it's important to try and recreate the environment a plant came from in order to successfully grow an orchid, well, this book has it all...terribly interesting, the varied micro climates each species has...

This bulky volume contains a stunning amount of gathered information about (micro-)climate, habitat, distribution, flowering time, sizes and colors of plant parts about virtually every Oncidium alliance botanical species that exists, updated to present taxonomical insights. A wealth of knowledge for every grower or breeder that likes to try his/her hands on some Oncidium alliance botanicals. An amazing achievement of the authors and a very valuable posession!

This book is for the serious student of orchids, whether neophyte or experienced grower. It covers 87 genera in the Oncidium/Odontoglossum alliance, and provides a wealth of cultural information, based on the genus' origin and habitat. If a grower knows the altitude, day and night temperature fluctuations, humidity, rainfall patterns, light requirements, etc., of a plant, (s)he stands a much better chance of growing (and blooming) it successfully.

In addition to providing all of this information, the book gives plant size and type, whether the plant has a stem or pseudobulb, describes the leaves, inflorescence, and flowers, including size, number of flowers per inflorescence, and whether or not they are fragrant.

There is a discussion at the beginning of Cultural Recommendations in "captivity": light, temperatures, humidity, watering requirements, fertilizer, rest periods, growing media, cultural problems, etc.

This is not a picture book. The only pictures are the eight on the dust jacket. But there is invaluable information between the covers for the person who wants to excel at growing and blooming orchids.

I love Baker's books on orchid species culture. It's all the information that experts are always haranguing beginners to learn about species: "Know where it comes from! Learn its preferred temperatures! Lowlands or alpine!" Alas most beginners haven't a clue where to look for this kind of information other than the same old reference books that keep reprinting the same old outdated and sometimes outright wrong stuff. Use this in conjunction with Harry Zelenko's Oncidium book for easy identification, and you're all set to grow any oncidium alliance species that might come your way.

This long awaited book promises to be just what the (zen0 doctor ordered. Richard Baker, roshi, has a gift for the use of language and clarity of thought that is rarely rivaled. His grasp of zen, which he inherits from many teachers as well as his own, has mostly been accessed through direct contact with him , Zen Mind Beginner's Mind, and through his public talks. This long awaited book promises to be a clear expression of practice, and of zen in general. ALthough an inheritor of the Soto Zen Lineage, this teacher has also had extensive contact with Rinzai teachers and has fashioned his own approach to zen. We are all awaiting the release of this book. Thank you for putting insight to paper, roshi.

Richard: I was in Kyoto in 1973 and met people who knew you. Trudi is a name I remember. A friend was in a monastary there and your name flew by on several saki occasions. You must be magnificent at this stage of life. Judy Hurley was another name. Colorado here if you need a rest spot. Michael Kelly

As a long time zen dabbler, with a fondness for the zen-confessional ala 'Ambivalent Zen' and 'Thank You and OK', and an aversion for somber dirges by bald non-adulterous priestlets, this book, though it is not yet available and I have not yet even seen it, strikes me as just what the doctor ordered. Books relating zen to gardening and cooking and depression and quantum physicks have beaten all these issues to mush, if not death. What we need now is the real issue: What the Heck is Mind After All? And Can It Ever Be Truly Original? Is Baker's title playing off of Matthew Fox's 'Original Blessing'? Is the Original Mind identical with Original Blessing? Does a bear sit in the woods? Soon, though there is no such time as 'soon', I hope to buy this book and find out. If it falls short, as it must, perhaps the bear can use it after me. Cheers!

Dogen Zenji would be proud of you, Richard. This "book" that is no book has managed to digitally slake the thirst of multitudes of grasping samsaric keyboards by holding up the electronic mirror and showing how futile our desire for Original Mind truly is. However, you're the cook and we're still waiting for the rice cakes.