Benedict Books

This is the author's magnum opus, a scientific treatise wherein he critiques the classical Darwinian-Wallace theory of evolution and comes to the conclusion that it is faulty. Divided into two halves, Microevolution and Macroevolution, he postulates that Natural Selection can account for microevolution, so that the different subspecies that come into being are due to adaptation to the environment. Macroevolution, leading to new species, however, is due to major rearrangements of the genome. As a result, Goldschmidt became a heretic to neo-Darwinists. Nonetheless, many of his arguments are valid.

I become aware of Matthew Benedict's work a little over a year ago, and was immediately drawn to it. This book not only explores the sources that inform his work, but lavishly illustrate his talents which are not well known enough on these, his home shores. I hope this will serve to bring great recognition to an youthful talent whose technical ability is only surpassed by his imagination. For me the great delight is seeing the manifestations of this imagination transferred to the canvas. I highly recommend this book.

This book should be considered by anyone reading about the year 2012 and what it might hold. It has a perspective that is balanced and approaches the topic from a different perspective. A must for any 2012 library!

This book was first published in 1880. It tells you everything that you could want to know about this powerful crucifix against the devil. You can still get it at religious stores or the EWTN store for around 12.00.

I'm still trying to think of a sales topic that this book didn't cover. Believe me -- he covered just about everything. Enjoy.

This book is extremely thorough and covers most any topic in Cantonese phonology--if you want to know about homorganic substitutions, this is the book for you! For those with a less linguistic bent, there are excellent tables of page after page of words exhibiting change tones, the section on word and tone contractions is the first good coverage I've seen in English, etc. This book is referenced quite a book on Sheik's site so you know it's good.

This book is much more than a history of the space program from about 1957 to 1975. It includes the inspirational determination for Shepard to fly again and for Slayton to fly even once. I had the pleasure of meeting Alan Shepard and getting his autograph on this book.

The book captures the intensity of the space race. When Shepard saw Sputnik 1 (or, more probably, the upper-level rocket stage also in orbit), he chagrined at the fact that it didn't have "Made in the USA" written on it. Later, the Soviets were sad that the men circling the moon on Christmas Eve 1968 didn't have Russian names.

Some seldom-discussed information is provided in this book. For instance, the US could have orbited a satellite over a year before Sputnik (p. 45). Were it not for an overcautious NASA, Shepard could have beat Gagarin into space by a month (p. 89, 91). The dog, Laika, is said to have lived for several days in space (p. 44). We now know that she died several hours after launch--from an overheated cabin.

The authors discuss the politics behind the space program. For instance, the grounding of Deke Slayton had been for political and not medical reasons, as there was no evidence that Deke's heart irregularity would interfere with space flight. Rather, the fear was that, were Slayton's flight to end in disaster for any reason, his heart condition would automatically be suspected, and those who cleared him for flight would face automatic recrimination. The authors also allege that politics was behind the choice of Houston as the site for the Space Center. Both astronauts also had to contend with politics in the wake of the Apollo 13 near-disaster, notably the call, by some politicians, to cancel all remaining Apollo moon flights. Shepard also realized that, were his Apollo 14 to fail to land on the moon, there most probably would be no further Apollo flights.

One is thrilled by Alan Shepard finding a surgical treatment for his Meniere's syndrome, and getting restored to flight status. Up to that time, he had considered himself an eagle whose wings had been clipped and who had been forced to be a turkey--in more ways than one.

Then, over ten years after his grounding, Deke Slayton got his chance...in a joint US-Soviet flight that would have been equally unimaginable at the time of his grounding.

This book is a reprint of the English translation of a type of notice sent to Carmelite monasteries after the death of a nun. Such a notice typically gave a small biography of the nun, along with a discussion of her spirituality, if there was something particular to share.

These notices have come to the attention of scholars (of which I am not one) lately for several reasons: 1. Some of them date back to medieval times and are examples of Women's Writing. 2. Some of them, usually read to the community during dinner, were influences on more famous writers or saints (for example, St. Therese, Edith Stein).

The particularly interesting points about this biography are that Mother Isabel lived in the Lisieux Carmel just a few years after St. Therese and was the talent behind a number of books that were published by them in the years just before WWI. In addition, her life was easily fit within the usual structures for description of holiness for that period. Actually, she was a rather remarkable person in her own way, which is signalled by the size of this notice (they are sometimes only a page long; this one is close to 100 pages).

I happen to have a copy of the original French notice sent in around 1915 and was delighted to see this reprint of the Philadephia Carmel's translation. I recommend this book strongly to anyone interested in 1. the history of the Lisieux Carmel, 2. the biography of the women who actually wrote the early copies of the "shower of roses." 3. the spirituality of French Carmel in the early 20th century. It is definitely a good addition to my library.

Finally, I have to praise the publisher for presenting these reprints to us. Thank you!

While this book was not quite as good as the original one, it was a long-awaited treasure.

The Indonesian struggle for independence and survival in the tricky geopolitics of Cold War Asia is an extremely important historical topic, and one could do a lot worse than start with this book, which originally came out in 1952. George McTurnan Kahin spent a couple of years in the late 1940s in Indonesia doing research, fortuitously during the most tumultous years of the Netherlands Indies' struggle to become Indonesia. Incorporating not only secondary and primary sources, but also his own experiences, Kahin analyzes the colonial history of Indonesia and recounts the exciting story of its independence movement. Leaders like the fascinating Sjahrir (oddly, Soekarno does not nearly get as much airplay as some might think appropriate) come alive and frequently provide a personal context for the road to freedom for one of Asia's most important countries. While Kahin's book is obviously dated, it's still a useful and interesting text with which to begin a study of Indonesia, Southeast Asia, or postwar nationalist movements in general.