Bernard Books

This is an excellent reference of almost any Greek myth of importance, including the illiad and the odyssey. If you want an excellent reference, with better than dictionary definitions, each citation comes with a brief but detailed account of each "character's" significance, than this is the one for you.

This is by far the best Greek Mythology reference book I've ever used. It is in encyclopedia form, making information easy to access and decipher. Bernard Evslin has included all relevant information on each topic and goes even further by providing rare factoids in various entries. Although this book is very hard to find, it is well worth the price (I think I paid $3.00). Easy layout and complete information make this this book a treasure among a sea of look-a-likes.

Of all the mythology books I've read (which is quite an extensive list), this is by far the best of them. Bernard Evslin's book is extremely detailed and contains only known and proven facts and no minor little things that have no use to further a story. Now this is not a book with plot, so don't purchase it mistaking it for one with a story line. What it does do, though, is give you a list of Greek mythological characters and tell you about them, much in the form of an encyclopedia. Many lists of classical mythology characters include only major people and gods. Not this book. It contains so many more than just major ones. It has gods and mortals that I have not been able to find information about in any other way. It also includes many stories of Greek mythology. Besides mythological charcters, it alsoincludes major objects or events like the phoenix, Pandora's box, or the Trojan War. ALso, also, almost every mythology story is in here, from the birth of Zeus to the capture of Persephone. By far superb to all others. A great buy for a cheap price. Recommended for people who already know quite a bit about mythology, figuring it doesn't make things easy to understand for beginners.

Dr. Robert Bernard Hass' mind is a vast pool of information on the subject of Robert Frost. It is amazing to see the amount of information he found and interwove into his book. He sites intellectuals like Kant, Bergson, Thoreau, Emerson, and others, and enlightens us as to how each affected Frost's life and writing. Dr. Hass gives a lot of deep, explanations that clearly illustrate how the ideas of science and philosophy influence Frost's writing. (On a lighter side, Dr. Hass references William James several times. If you love William James the way I do, you will love this book!)

Dr. Hass' writing moves us to look at life in a different way. He shows us how intellectual ideas, both scientific and philosophical, affected Frost's writing. I love what Dr. Hass found and wrote, about Henri Bergson concerning intuitive vision. It is especially amazing to me how he finds the many ways to apply Bergson's, and other contemporaries' thoughts to Frost's poetry. Hass' ability to communicate this knowledge is amazing and each sentence is so full of thought. I find myself contemplating certain sentences over and over in my mind until a light comes shining through with illuminated intensity! "Going by Contraries" is a book that truly makes you think as you read, and I love that in a book.

"Going by Contraries" examines Robert Frost's poetry through the lens of nature by presenting Frost's conflict with science. Robert Bernard Hass, Phd., shows us the conflicts Frost wrestled with, by providing arguments of scientific and philosophical theorists, such as Darwin, Bergson, and many others. The book explores Frost's creative sources for writing and the inspiration behind his legendary poetry with examples such as "West Running Brook" from where the title, "Going by Contraries" was obviously conceived. Hass' book illustrates how scientific influence was inevitable in Frost's poetry because science was gaining popularity in the late 19th century and early 20th; the time Frost did most of his writing. If you are new to nature and travel writing, and literary theory or not, this book is a good place to start.
6/30/2008 Martha J. Rogus

Robert Hass not only recognizes the difficulties that Robert Frost encountered as a poet in such a technologically advanced environment, he further addresses the obstacles one must overcome in his/her aspiration to compose. He has written an eminently enlightening book that virtually any individual with an adoration of literature, philosophy, and/or science can appreciate and surely relate to. Along with an educated analysis of Frost's life and his works, particularly in regard to Darwinian concepts, Hass also recognizes the unfortunate fall of literature and its growing insignificance as technology replaces the need for aesthetics.

We loved this book so much when we checked it out from the library. I forgot to jot down the title and I couldn't remember the exact title. Here it is late March and I finally found it:)

We picked this book up at the library and read it last night. First off the illustrations are just beautiful! The writing is done very well. The story is so heartwarming and shows the true meaning of giving and selflessness. Just beautiful. My son actually had tears in his eyes at the end of the story. A keeper for sure!

The Horn Book review states this is no match for contemporary Christmas stories, but our family would very much disagree. This story transports one into a magical, old fashioned world that circumscribes todays commercialism. The verse is beautiful and leaves one with an emotional glow. We love The Polar Express, but The Good Little Christmas Tree is our family favorite!

This is a fascinating and thought-provoking book. The most interesting, I thought, were the chapters on children's cops and robbers games, where he concludes that "make believe" games are nevertheless games despite not having discrete goals, and wonders why no one has ever devised such pasttimes for adults. Gary Gygax and Dungeons and Dragons had been around for a while when this book was written; Suits doesn't seem to have heard of them, but in these chapters their development is predicted.

I first read this book in 1980. It was a gift from my best and wisest friend, the hardcover version which I still treasure to this day. I have since probably bought half a dozen copies of this for the distinct reason that I felt someone merited a copy as a gift. This book makes you stop and think about yourself, your life and your expectations. It does not criticize your path nor does it necessarily offer an alternative. It just makes you think....... in an easy, enjoyable manner. This book won't give you the "secret" to a fulfilling life of health, wealth or whatever else you seek, but it will make you think...... and every now and then you may actually catch yourself smiling as you do so. Recommended, highly - but more so, fondly remembered 20 years, university, failed and successful career prospects, failed and successful romantic prospects later. Yes so ever fondly remembered.

Suits' claim that he is not furthering the extensive work done in the field of game theory is correct, but i feel he underestimates his contribution to our understanding of the importance of liesure activities in our lives. i am not so interested in the mathematical proofs provided by Von Nueman and Morgenstern, and how game theory is applicable to life, as i am in discovering why i have such a fascination with games. Suits' Grasshopper, via a Platonic dialogue, examines the nature of the game, what it is, why it is employed, etc. This already effective narrative structure is further enhanced by the Grasshopper's many digressions and introductions of hypothetical characters and situations. Suits has created a meta-fictional forum for both discharging his ideas and entertaining the reader. i found myself compelled forward, relishing every word, and fascinated by Suits' logic process and conclusions. i recommend this title to anyone interested in a hybrid of game theory and actual game play; the book does not reduce games to a mathematical model but it also avoids describing any one game in particular. Rather Suits seems interested in analyzing the structure and nature of games as a whole. It is a philosophical outlook on a very intriguing subject.

Bernard Knight, or to give him his correct title, Professor Bernard Knight, CBE, was a pathologist to the Home office until 1980 when he was appointed Professor of Forensic Pathology at the University of Wales College of medicine, 1980. He has written the extremely successful Crowner John series of medieval mysteries, of which there are now ten or eleven books, His character Crowner John is certainly among my favourite characters in medieval mysteries.

May, 1195 and Sir John de Wolfe, better known to friend and enemy alike as Crowner John, Devon's first county coroner is faced with a series of serial murders. The first one is the suffocation of a Jewish money lender, followed by that of a London harlot and a priest and burgess suspected of abusing young boys. The common denominator that links all of the murders is a Biblical text left at the scene of each of the crimes.

Sir John knows that only one per cent of the population can read or write and for anyone to be literate and have knowledge of the Bible points to the fact that they are more than likely a priest. The problem is that there are a multitude of churches in Exeter, so the killer could be one of a large number of clerics, but Sir John takes his new post very seriously and will not let anything stand in his way of solving the crime, even the interfering Sheriff, Sir Richard de Revelle who is also John's brother-in-law and is not at all happy at Sir John being given the post of Devon's first coroner.

The Grim Reaper is the sixth Crowner John mystery. The series is set in the late 12th century with the establishment by Richard the Lionheart of the office of Crowner,or Coroner. This was partly a fundraiser for the Crown and partly an attempt to check the worst excesses of the Sherriffs. Sir John de Wolfe is the first Crowner of Devon, with home and office in Exeter.
In the Grim Reaper, a Jewish moneylender is found murdered. A scrap of parchment containing a biblical quotation is tucked into the corpse's hand. At a time when only 1%of the population are literate and fewer still familiar with biblical texts, suspicion immediately falls on the clergy of the town. There are about 100 priests and other clergy in Exeter - many of whom are decidedly odd so there is no shortage of candidates for suspicion, including the Crowner's clerk, who is a defrocked priest.
Other murders follow, all with biblical references left with the corpses in varying ways by the murderer.
Tensions mount, not only because of the increasing body count but also due to conflicts between the church and secular authorities,political factions, preparations for the arrival of King's Court Justices for the first time in three years, and, most especially, due to the continuing power struggle between the Crowner and Sherriff.

This series is very well balanced between solid history, clever mystery, entertaining characters and, as the author is a forensic pathologist,the murder and mayhem are very detailed too - sometimes startlingly so.
The author also manages to avoid two of the pitfalls of medieval mystery series - this book does not contain artificial antique language and it can be comfortably read without having read the earlier books in the series.
This is fun stuff for any historical mystery fan and might especially appeal to readers of Michael Jeck's Templar series which is set in the same area a couple of centuries later.

Bernard Knight again produces an authentic period mystery in The Grim Reaper. Characters finely drawn, meaning the reader feels as if (s)he knows the people; settings so realistic the reader can almost see, smell and hear what is going on. In addition to all this is an intriguing medieval mystery, true to the times, solved by that all too human protagonist, Crowner John de Wolfe, assisted by his cohort Gwyn and clerk Thomas de Peyne. The Crowner's unsympathetic wife and his mistress Nesta add to this continuing saga set in twelfth century England. A VERY good read!

The author loves to go barefoot and as the mother of four grown children, she has tied more shoes than she can count. She is the author of several picture books including The Seasons Sewn: A Year in patchwork, which won the Carl Sandburg Award for Children's Literature. Nadine illustrates with such flair and will make you smile...even though she would rather have all the shoes in this book and not go barefoot.

A little girl in pink pajamas awakens with the words: "Good morning, toes, Good morning, feet, tangled up between my sheets." She then puts on bunny slippers and bounces around to the closet door. The puppy dog in the story actually brings her the slippers.

The next page will make every little girl wish she had a closet filled with all these pretty shoes. Red high heels with bows, alligator sock shoes, fluffy orange slippers, boots and yellow sandals decorated with fruit. After clomping down the stairs in her polka dot red
high heels, she changes into something a bit more practical. Then the real fun starts.

She leaps and skips and goes down a slide, swings and points her toes up high, jumps across a creek and then heads home for lunch. While her baby brother naps, she walks quietly in her red boots and heads outside to shuffle along in leaves.

After taking off her shoes, she squishes her toes into muddy ooze and then dances in a puddle and cleans her feet off. She then takes a big bubble bath, dries her feet and snuggles between her sheets.

Completely Adorable and perfect for bedtime reading.

~The Rebecca Review

Really a delightful story that journals a day in life of a girl who from her feets' perspective. The illustrations are bright and interesting. My two year old just loves the book.

Really enjoy this book, especially for reading aloud to a group of children. I particularly like the rhyming and very "active" vocabulary. Colorful and charming pictures complement the text very well.

Lonergan's other famous work is "Method in Theology," which is another must for students of Lonergan. In both books, Lonergan essentially comes to grips with the mess Kant has left us and tries to rectify the problem. Lonergan wants to rescue morality and moral categories from the threat of skepticism. Kant tried to account for how we "know." Kant stated that, "upon the occasion of experience" we become aware of categories latent in our consciousness (actually, "consciousness" would be a misnomer: Kant's felicitous phrase was "transcendental Unity of Apperception"). Kant only allowed for non-moral categories. Karl Jaspers criticized Kant and asked why we should be limited by the categories (the source of unity of experience) Kant bequeathed to us. Almost taking his cue from Jaspers (I'm not sure he did), Lonergan postulated that the Platonic categories of the good, moral principles and such, were also discovered upon the occasion of experience. Lonergan uses Hegel as metaphor and shows how higher human awareness leads to philanthropic principles of morality. Lonergan exploits Kant's loophole and turns Kant on his head. It is well done. But, I find a stronger ground for morality in Matthew 22: 34-40. For, if we loved God and Man, we would not lie, cheat, steal, commit adultry, murder, and so on. For this reason, love is the fulfillment of the law. The law reduces to love. The Jews, who practiced revenge via "an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth" couldn't grasp this, and so observed the letter of the law ("thou shalt not...") but not the spirit of the law ("love God and your neighbor). That is why Paul says, in 1 Cor. 13:1-13, of faith, hope and love, Love is the greatest. Morality should be grounded in the first two commandments, not on some abstract epistemological argument. In love is the unity of all morality and the basis for all morality. Lonergan's philosophy blinded him theologically.

This classic book in epistemology by a leading scholastic examines the process of forming concepts from a subjective point of view in the long tradition of philosophy descending from Aristotle and others and continued by Catholic thought. This school does not utilize experimental data and does not offer neuron models. Accepting inner experience as prime scientific data, Lonergan examines the process of forming an understanding through its perceived specific instances. You will be led to an understanding of understanding, if you will, and only if you will.

This book is focused about three levels of study on human understanding: First Level. Cognitional Activity: What do I do when I meet knowledge? Second Level. Epystemology: Why that, what I do, when I say I know, is knowledge? Third Level. Metaphysics: What do I know when knowing? This is an oustanding book and analysis. I've read it for 5 times and still I am enjoiyng it. This book opens your mind in order to understand yourself and keep learning.

"The Intelligent Woman's Guide to Socialism and Capitalism" was published in 1927, when George Bernard Shaw was at the very pinnacle of his success as a playwright. (He had been awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature for "St Joan" two years earlier.)

It purported to be a political primer for the "intelligent woman" who knew little or nothing of politics. This literary device of addressing an imaginary, ignorant audience allowed Shaw to start from the beginning. Clear your mind of all preconceptions, he said, and let us first look at the facts. What are the conditions under which the mass of mankind lives in the industrialized world? What is "politics"? What is the real meaning of the words "capitalism" and "socialism" and "communism"? What is the present state of society if examined without any of these labels? Why is it like this?

Having cleared the ground, Shaw then addressed that most fundamental of all social questions, the question to which his entire adult life had been devoted. How is the wealth of the world to be divided up?

Shaw was (to put it mildly) a committed socialist. And The Guide pulled no punches in asserting that socialism is the only sane answer to that question. However, he played scrupulously fair in his presentation of the facts. He described with absolute clarity the causes, conditions and present (1927) state of private property, political parties, banking, revolutions, facism, the stock market, credit, the national debt, universal adult suffrage, investment, strikes and poverty.

In short, the primary value of this extraordinary work was its conceptual clarity. Whether or not readers shared Shaw's opinions, merely by reading the book they could not help but greatly - and usefully - increase their understanding of their world.

The question for modern readers, seventy-five years later, is whether The Guide can help us to understand the modern world.

The answer is Yes.

As a test, borrow a copy of the book and read the chapter entitled "Banking". Just that one chapter. If you do not understand at least twice as much about what a bank is, and does, than you did before, then you need not bother with anything else in the book and you can return it with thanks. Otherwise, as a clincher, read the chapter entitled "Revolutions". I will be very surprised if you do not then buy your own copy.

That said, there are a couple of traps. Firstly, Shaw's English is now somewhat dated. He often uses very much longer sentences, with more subordinate clauses, than we commonly do today. This is ultimately helpful in conveying his meaning, but not immediately so to the modern reader. The Guide is therefore somewhat wearing to read for any length of time. It is not an easy book to skim.

Secondly, since Shaw does have a definite polemical intention (he wants us to become socialists), and since few writers have ever been more skilful at delivering a message while appearing not to, the reader has to be permanently on guard against taking Shaw's statements as facts. He is expert at the art of covertly leading readers to his own conclusions. The effort required to resist all this is also rather exhausting.

These shortcomings aside, and they are significant, The Guide stands as one of the great literary political works of the twentieth century. It is also one of the few genuinely hopeful contributions to the discipline we now call sociology. This reflects neither an earlier, cheerier worldview (in 1927 in England there was every reason to despair), nor a utopian naïveté (Shaw had a clearer sense than most of the horrors of which mankind is capable). No, the sense of hope that suffuses The Guide derives from Shaw's own inextinguishable, strangely realistic generosity of spirit.

In comparing Shaw with his famous fellow-socialist author H.G.Wells, C.P.Snow commented that "Shaw was a kinder, but colder man". He was. And both his kindness and his coldness inform The Guide: matchless detachment, combined with the utmost charity and reasonableness.

"The Intelligent Woman's Guide to Socialism and Capitalism" was George Bernard Shaw's political magnum opus. He had spent much of the previous forty years writing about politics and society, often in the guise of drama, musical criticism or "prefaces" to his published plays. And he continued to do so for the remainder of his life, the last major political work appearing only a few years before his death in 1950.

But this book is It. "The Intelligent Woman's Guide" summarizes all his thinking, all his reading, all his public speaking, all his experience, all his hopes and all his fears for the future. It is the culmination of a lifetime dedicated to the betterment of mankind by political means. In his twenty more years of work - including "The Apple Cart", "Too True to be Good", and "Everybody's Political What's What" - Shaw never wrote anything as good again. There was nothing more he needed to say.

this guy shaw looks at a seemingly complicated matter the most convincing way i have ever encountered. from the very first page this is fascinating business written with clarity and in an easy-to-understand way.
read this book - it will explain much of the world we live in!
and in addition it will give you an excellent idea of how to approach any problem from a very practical and day-to-day point of view.

Absolute genius. Shaw gives a understandable and accurate explantion of socialism and capitalism. It seems particularly revelvant in today's societal struggles with class, race, and politics. A book everyone who is interested in social justice should read.

This Holocaust memoir stands out because of its remarkable
recall of detail, honesty, and depiction of human behavior. It
starts with the story of a promising Jewish child in Poland who
went on as a teenager and young adult to suffer the harrowing
experiences of ghetto, labor camp, escape and resistance---
bearing witness to some of the worst atrocities of the century.
Bernard Zelinger survived close calls through luck, courage,
and a drive to bear witness. He triumphed over adversity to
become a distinguished physician, family man, and steadfast
friend of his fellow survivors. He tells a great story that
must be read, that proves that truth is not stranger than fiction.

This account of one man's survival during the Holocaust is incredible. To have lost his entire family and endure severe mental and physical anguish, and to come out on top is a testament to his great physical strength and mental soundness. His journey, the trials and tribulations he suffered are so well accounted for and beautifully written. I highly recommend this book to anybody looking to research and receive a better understanding of the Holocaust and what a profound effect it has had on the Jewish population. Dr. Zelinger is a true hero. I admire him for rising above his haunting past, becoming a physician, and most of all for his bravery in testifying to his very harrowing journey to freedom. This book is a must-read!

Through Dr. Zelinger's unflinching eyewitness narration, along with his powerful and moving poems, this book serves as a monument to the 21,000 Jews from Kielce, Poland, who were murdered by the Nazis. Dr. Zelinger provides us with a glimpse at the perilous conditions in the ghetto in Kielce. He relates how he and a few close friends escaped from a labor camp, hoping to join up with Polish partisans in fighting the Nazis, only to be hunted by these same Polish partisans. Dr. Zelinger, for his efforts in joining up with partisans received a bullet in his chest and barely escapes the harrowing manhunt that killed several of his comrades.

This book gives us a clear insight regarding the relationship between Jews and their former Polish neighbors during Nazi occupation, as well as, in the years following the liberation of the death camps. Dr. Zelinger relates how the massacre of 42 Jewish survivors by ordinary townspeople in Kielce, one and a half years after liberation, was not an aberration, but the continued expression of their hate. Upon reading this book, one cannot help conclude, that the medieval "blood libel" is alive and well.

Dr. Zelinger, a retired Ostetrician/Gynecologist, has succeeded in life, as well as, in his commitment to bear witness to the greatest tragedy of the Jewish people and the greatest crime in the history of civilization. This eyewitness account will help to prevent historical revisionists from succeeding in rewriting Poland's history under Nazi occupation. I highly recommend that this book be part of every collection of books on The Holocaust.

My friend and I read this book while waiting for our food two summers ago, at a Friendly's in Providence Rhode Island. The book gripped us, and to this day we still talk about the story that changed our lives. If we hadn't taken that vacation, and hadn't chosen to eat at Friendly's, today we would be different people. I Love this book and will devote the up comming summer to finding a copy of it. Perhapes I will retrace my steps to Providence and reread the book that now is just a memory. I don't know if the book is still there or if that Friendly's is even still open, but my summer memories will live on as long as I remember the plot of this revolutionary book. Steve,you know it.

Mr. Potts not only looks like Abraham Lincoln but is a confirmed Lincolnphile who shares many other attributes of Mr. Lincoln's with his young neighbor who in turn shares Mr. Potts with his schoolmates for a special program on Lincoln's birthday. A clever story that presents pertinent facts about a beloved president for young children. As a school librarian I enjoy reading this to kindergarten students for Presidents Day.

Mr. Potts not only looks like Abraham Lincoln but is a confirmed Lincolnphile who shares many other attributes of Mr. Lincoln's with his young neighbor who in turn shares Mr. Potts with his schoolmates for a special program on Lincoln's birthday. A clever story that presents pertinent facts about a beloved president to young children. As an school librarian I enjoy reading this to kindergarten students for Presidents Day.