Bishop Books

Great book. Very clear explanation of what manifolds are and how to use them. Also, the prerequisites are minimum. You'll get a lot of mileage out of this book if you have a semester or so of advanced calculus and some topology and linear algebra under your belt. I wish there was there was a chapter on bundles because I would love to read what these guys have to say about them. Very readable. Definitely a good buy.

I have been using this book to study differential geometry for many years - a little bit at a time. This book is a fairly complete introduction to the subject. However, it does a poor job motivating and explaining the subject. I found it necessary to supplement with several other texts to really get a good grasp on the material in the book. A number of times, I have picked up something in another book and have gone back to this book and realized that I had not "gotten it" the first time through. If the book had more examples and concrete calculations it would go a long way to clarifying the material.

I would recommend getting a book like Guggenheimer's Differential Geometry and reading it first. This book then does a good job of generalizing the ideas to many dimensions.

The amount of material this book manages to cover is phenomenal, and while the explanations are very clear, the summation convention notation is horrible. The idea is that things are clearer if we assume that we are summing whenever we see two of the same indexes in an expression (which sometimes has 5 or more), which leads to many headaches when trying to sort out when we are summing and when we are not, because it's not always very clear, and sometimes very important to a particular proof or concept. Maybe I learned so much from this book because I was forced to rewrite all of the notation, guessing whether sums were needed or not, and finding out when the sums made sense.

If you have zero background on differentail geometry, this book will be a tough starting point. It's basically oriented to math student, not physicist. However, for those not happy with Frankel's application-oriented approach to differential geometry, this book is a perfect companion, a true classic with full math rigor.

The only complaint I have this the print quality (you gonna risk hurting your eyesight reading the small print), but that's what you paid for.

I came to this book with the minimum background--calculus and advanced calculus, differential equations, and some linear algebra, and found it a bit tough going, but still enjoyable. In fact, for me, not being a mathematician but a math hobbyist, really, whose education is mostly in biology and art history, I found it pretty difficult but also quite fascinating and even mind-blowing. I only had the vaguest ideas about tensors, fields, and manifolds before this, although I knew that the theory of manifolds underlies differential geometry and Einstein's famous General Relativity theory.

I understand that the notation in this book is considered old-fashioned and may contribute to the difficulty of reading it. Not having had anything different I don't know if it was harder for me or not, but overall I didn't find the notation too bad. The authors make the interesting point in the introduction that notational developments have occupied much of the work in manifolds, which I found funny. This implies that you can be good at math notation but not that good at the math. So maybe there's hope for me yet. :-)

That issue aside, I found this a very complete and well presented discussion on the subject. Some of it seemed pretty abstract and even counter-intuitive; for example, the concept of distance between two points isn't necessary to have a manifold, and yet having a coordinate neighborhood, or a manifold consisting of differentiable functions is, or other similar properties. It is a little strange to consider that one can perform differentiation on a manifold without the concept of spatial distance, when to my mind taking delta y over delta x at the limit is just shrinking the distance down to nothing in order to obtain the derivative of a function, not to mention that this seems problematic given the requirement of either uniform or non-uniform convergence. How do you know the function converges without some concept of distance? If you're better at this stuff than I am perhaps you could leave me a brief comment if I'm getting something wrong here.

But I still learned a lot, and much of it is pretty amazing and even mind-blowing stuff. People wouldn't need psychedelics if they knew enough to be learning about tensors, manifolds, and topology. They could blow their minds just on this stuff. :-)

So go out and get yourself a book on tensor manifolds and blow your mind the natural way. Higher mathematics is just awesome stuff even if I'm not quite smart enough to really understand it, but I can at least appreciate it, and I probably got a lot further with it than most biology and art history majors. :-)

This is one of the cookbooks I pull out every few days, and have no hesitation in cooking from it
even for the first time for guests -- Ingredient lists are simple, so you will have an idea of the tastes to expect from just reading the recipes. And yes, that means you use top quality fresh ingredients as another reviewer mentioned because there are no rich sauces etc usually to hide mediocre produce. Its great everyday healthy fare, that you don't mind repeating, and truly kid pleasing as well.

Because its arranged seasonally, I usually realize that I've picked up some ingredient which stars in a nearby recipe that week at the farm market and thats a great way to combine menus when we have extra folks at the table and also to please picky eaters who may not like a particular flavor...

And his salads have such lovely unique flavors, everyone at the table is asking for seconds and recipes to take home.

I also love his menu combinations listed at the beginning which are a fool-proof way to combine for entertaining friends. I find that I turn to his cookbooks the most because the base ingredients like olive oil are heart friendly. I used to love Mollie Katzen and then Deborah Madison, but while I still turn to Deborah Madison for the truly wow cooking occasions, I stick to this for everyday because of the light, family friendly approach and the fact that you can usually put a meal on the table in a couple of hours.

It's not that hard to find a cookbook that has one or two of the following:
* vegetarian food
* not overly-reliant on tofu/meat substitutes
* seasonal ingredients
* slow-food/from scratch cooking
* doable recipes for beginner/intermediate cooks, where you still might learn something

But it is hard to find all these things in one book!

It's very intimidating to try to learn to cook and eat seasonally/locally at the same time, since as a beginner I'm totally reliant on recipes. "A Year in a Vegetarian Kitchen" has become my go-to cookbook for figuring out what to do with that CSA share/all that stuff at the Farmer's Market.

Most importantly, the recipes taste good - ranging from satisfying weeknight meal good (B) to I can't wait to serve this to dinner guests (A++).

Many of the recipes do take a bit more time, though they vary quite a bit. The dishes I've made have taken anywhere from 30 mins to 2 hours - then again, I'm really slow in the kitchen. I think Bishop mostly aims for about the hour mark.

The recipes are a nice mix of cooking styles from all around the world, with a smattering of traditional American favourites, like grilled cheese sandwiches with garlicky mushrooms & creamy tomato soup (yum!).

This is a book that makes me want to head to the kitchen on a weeknight - and I highly recommend it!

Outstanding recipes that are very approachable, without compromising complexity or complementarity of flavours. Will purchase every book by Jack Bishop. Seasonal recommendations/recipes are great for the environmentally-conscious who wants to purchase seasonal and regional produce (which also happen to have the best flavours) that do not require cross-country shipment!!! The book is a necessity for all cooks!

I am not a vegetarian, although I try to eat lots of fresh fruits and vegetables and like the idea of reducing saturated fat (meat) in our diets. This book is written in the characteristic Cook's Illustrated style of giving information along with measurements and cooking times. The recipes here are delicious, as well as accessible to someone who doesn't mind a small cooking challenge. I especially enjoyed some of the salads in this book, and his recommendations on which of the recipes his young children enjoyed.

I really like everything that I have cooked from this cookbook. But, for some of the recipes, the ingredients are difficult to find (for example, zucchini blossoms) The ones I can find are the ingredients to are delicious and not difficult to make.

Set in 1943, Brittle Innings is the story of a 17 year old minor league shortstop from Tenkiller, Oklahoma named Danny Boles. If it weren't for baseball, Boles would have very little going for him. He's short (5'5"), has big ears, stutters (only to lose his voice altogether early in the novel due to an assault while on board a train), and he has no idea where his father is. While most of America's young men (including players like Joe Dimaggio) were busy fighting overseas, Boles is invited to play for Georgia's Highbridge Hellbenders.

Boles' transition from playing for his high school to a potential lauching pad to the big leagues is not easy one. For some his teammates, the Hellbenders is their last chance to make a living playing baseball, and for others, it's a means to avoid the draft. And some of these players care little about a mute 17 year-old boy playing a "grown man's" game. Come Hell or highwater, they'll do what they can to keep playing the game.

That's when Boles' roommate "Jumbo" Hank Clerval enters the picture. Clerval is in many ways Boles' antithesis. Clerval is over seven feet tall, is extremely articulate, and he's nearly 150 years old. He is also a vegetarian and a pacifist, the latter of which was not a popular stateside belief after Pearl Harbor. Despite their superficial differences, Boles and Clerval are both able to forge a friendship that is rooted in their internal similarities - one of them being how both men endured turbulent relationships with their fathers. Clerval protects Boles from the bullying from some of the teammates, and Clerval places his trust in Boles to write the missing chapter from his life. The first chapter of which was in real life written by a woman born Mary Godwin (who is known better by another name, but I'll let you figure that out).

This is one of those novels that should have for all intents and purposes been a colossal failure. It could have been played like a cheap B-movie with the unbelievable inclusion of two vastly different plot devices. Instead, it is in my opinion an unheralded triumph in late 20th century American literature. This book is like Newton's Law in reverse: everything that can work DOES work. Michael Bishop, who is mostly known for writing science fiction, channels William Faulkner, W.P. Kinsella, and the aforementioned Godwin in ways that compliment rather than clash. It truly speaks volumes for Bishop as a writer the way in which he changes perspectives from Boles' 1940s southern dialect as opposed to Clerval's sesquepedalian vernacular (YIKES, Now I'm beginning to write like Clerval talks - Help me) while staying well within the context the story. But what's best of all is how he humanizes Clerval, even if he is a construct of cannibalized body parts. Even though Clerval has had well over a century of practice at being a human being, he still sometimes fails - like the rest of us. As far as Michael Bishop goes, I'm sure he's had failures in his life. This book is most certainly not one of them.

This is a terrific, literate, well-researched book. It is evocative of To Kill a Mockingbird, and you might swear that it was written during that same era, yet it was published in the 90's. I don't care for baseball, and I loved the book. The characters will draw you in, and the plot unfolds--again--like the best literature from the 40's and 50's. The meaning behind the title is finally revealed late in the book, and it fits incredibly well with the story of young Danny Boles.

Adults of all ages will like this, but surprise someone who likes literature from the mid-20th century with a gift of this book. Find an English major whose specialty is literature from that era. People like this will be especially appreciative of the language, the tone, and the feel of the book.

More than anything else in this novel,which is presented as a semi-biography
is Bishop's ability to weave together the lives of some many disparate people who all have one thing in common...they are outside of the normal limits. They all are involved with a WWII (1943)Class C minor league team in the Alabama/Georgia region, the Highbridge Hellbenders.

The three main characters are a young okie (seventeen) who is signed out of high school to play on this team of misfits. Daniel Boles daddy teaches him to play baseball, but one day while fighting with his wife, hits Danny so hard that he doesn't speak for two years. By the time he leaves home he has developed a major stammer. After an encounter on the train to Georgia with an army DI who knew his dad, he lapses back into silence.

Jumbo Henry Clerval is a giant, over seven feet, and so ugly that people cross the street to get away from him. In reality he is a gentle giant, a vegetarian and autodidact, with a whopper of a secret (it comes out early in the book), who becomes Danny's roomate and mentor.

Lastly is Darius Satterfield, the illegitimate negro son of the owner of the team. Darius has great talent but can't play on a 'white' team in the Deep South, so he helps to coach and drives the team bus.

The lives of these three men are wrapped around different machinizations that include a sodomy rape, the death of Danny's father, adultory, a presidential visit, more adultory, miscengation, another death, a self-immolation suicide, a murder and a few other situations thrown in to make the book interesting.

The story is interesting for Bishop's ability to make everything that is happening seem plausible, but the book is no great shakes.

I thought I was getting a book about baseball when my in-laws gave this to me for Christmas. Frankenstein's monster? Who'd a thunk? And to imagine that he's a vegetarian power hitter for a minor-league club in Georgia. Well, don't that just beat all.

The strange thing is that, though I should have hated this, I didn't. I was charmed.

Or maybe they did. Or maybe nobody ever thought of it before. If you had a contest of either the most unlikely types of books or ideas that you just didn't think would work, this would probably top the list. Baseball and Gothic horror? Taking place in WWII-era South? In the summer? But oh man is it good, in large part to Bishop's attention to period detail and his creation of a unique and feisty narrator in the young (and old) Danny Boles. The premise is that a young reporter has tracked down Mr Boles in an attempt to write a book about his life (he's a well known baseball scout) and Danny agrees, only if the first book the reporter does is a story of his only season playing in a professional fashion, with the Hellbenders. Thus the story begins, winding along, following Danny and his attempts to fit in with his team. The team consists of some of the most interesting characters, nay, people to come by in a long time. There is no one there that you can either straight out love or hate, the worst person has an endearing trait, the best of them hides a secret of some sort. Towering over it all literally is Jumbo Hank Clerval, the man who winds up being Danny's roommate (partway through the book he loses the ability to speak, which makes it even more interesting because Danny is forced to watch without acting more often than not) and the focus of the book itself. If you don't know how Mr Clerval is, well I won't spoil it for you, but that's where the unlikely concept comes in. The rest of the book is pitch perfect summer baseball, I don't even like sports that much and I loved this book. You sweat with the team as they win and lose game after game, fighting for the pennnant, trying to get some dignity and recognition in a country where everyone else is focused on the war effort and using baseball just as reason to forget their worries. Against this backdrop the summer falls and you are immersed into the South, warts and all, racism and truimph, tragedy and heroism. It's all there, this book breaks genres and it's a book you can recommend to most anyone. And I suggest you do.

The writers reviewed here in this work are great men of faith and explorers of truth. If you want to become mildly acquainted with these men, this is an ok start--but little more than an expanded wikipedia biography. These writers are worthy enough to be looked at directly, not through this sort of heavy filter. Go buy their books, not this one.

This is an excellent read, especially for those not familiar with the writings of the people discussed. It is a kind of survey, an easy way to be exposed to a wide range of beliefs on spirituality. However, keep in mind that "spiritual wandings" is only one aspect of each person; there is much more than that to each. If one reads the writings of all these people, one will realize that there is much more to each, and some are very complex. For example, you would have to read a lot by Tolstoy to begin to really understand what his thoughts were, which covered many aspects of life and thought beyond spirituality. I suggest you read the book, then buy others on someone you especially like. Perhaps read a bit about them (the internet is a good source) before reading a bit by them.

That's the value of this classic. It gives you a sophisticated introduction to several great thinkers and prophets who searched for God. Muggeridge was, as others have noted, himself a prophet of the madness of his century and the twenty-first century. Here we have the sort of sensitive and perceptive introduction to great thinkers that induces us to read their original works. For a detailed review, see my blog above for Oct. 3, 2006. (Note: the older hardcover edition I read did not include Dostoevsky.)

Muggeridge gives almost an insiders view of what shaped the lives of these great men of the faith. Its almost like he was there witnessing their lives and tagged along with them in their "good times and bad times".

Honestly, I didn't finish this book. I didn't even get very far. It sounds wonderful, a book about some of the greatest Christian minds. It reads like a 4th-graders research paper. Muggeridge inserts so much of his own thoughts and experiences its almost like we're reading his biography. His bios of these brilliant men are muddled, not described chronologically or in any other apparent order. If you want a VERY basic overview of these men, maybe this book is for you. If you actually have the intelligence to read anything written by any of them - this book is far beneath you.

A superb biography about one of America's most talented personalities. The book is a milestone in the annals of Americana. We will never see his likes again. The author has done a most splendid and complete job in his portrayal. Best bio I have read in years.
jw
nyc

Thomas Reeves deserves kudos and credit for a very fine biography of a man much admired by millions. The high points of this book are as follows: the meticulous gathering of much information simply unknown by his admirers; the careful balancing of sanctity and human frailty of Sheen's character; the fascinating recreation of the Golden Age of Catholicism in America; the personal relationship between Cardinal Spellman and Bishop Sheen; a superb ability to synthesize and bring new insight from the wide variety of materials cited; a great bibliography and excellent notes. The weaknesses are minor: a tendency to repeat some stories, and the maddening tendency of Sheen himself to destroy and misplace correspondence or simply not document his personal life. Despite these minor drawbacks in the book, I was deeply moved by much of this biography and, indeed, brought to tears by the account of the last years of Sheen's life, his meeting with Pope John Paul II, and his funeral. Few will be disappointed in this book; it is a true accomplishment. Many thanks to Professor Reeves for this profound and necessary commentary on the life of a truly great person of the 20th century.

Fulton J. Sheen will never be canonized a saint in the Roman Catholic Church for two obvious reasons: his sins are bright scarlet and we know them too well. Sheen established a television intimacy with the American public in the 1950's that only a few individuals have achieved-Walter Cronkite and Johnny Carson come to mind-through his apostolic use of that explosive new video medium. I was a lad in Catholic elementary school when Sheen delivered his prime time homilies from 1952 through 1957. While I remember little of the content of those shows, I was captivated by the style. Sheen, I noticed, paused to let the audience think. None of my local priests did that, nor did they have Skippy the angel to erase the blackboard.

Thomas Reeves is to be commended for the manner in which he tells the truth, the whole truth, about Sheen without defacing the Bishop's many good works and his positive influence upon a wide and diverse American public. Sheen's life was indeed a message "written with crooked lines" and one is reminded of Christ's words to the penitent woman, "her sins, many as they are, will be forgiven because of her great love." Though haunted by the pride and ambition that would seem to stalk nearly all television evangelists who followed, in the final analysis Sheen did love his God, though he himself ran a close second.

Born in 1895 on a farm in rural Illinois, the youthful Peter John Sheen was devout, smart, and disdainful of manual labor and farming. He was hardly the first country boy to see the cloth as a step up from shoveling manure. We forget that he was originally a priest of the Peoria, Illinois, diocese, possibly because of his distinguished academic record at the Louvain.

There is an air of mystery about Sheen's academic status, though. Desperate to escape a life in Peoria, Sheen joined the philosophy faculty of Catholic University in 1926 but never became "one of the boys" of the staff. In fact, tenure was denied him for some years, in part because the young priest was away from the campus three days a week for his growing number of speaking engagements. [In 1928 he hired a clipping service to track his press notices.] Catholic University itself was in academic, political, and organizational disarray. The school was frankly under-funded and underachieving. Perhaps to ease himself out of the philosophy department and into theology, Sheen invented for himself a second doctorate, an S.T.D. that suddenly appeared after his name in 1928 and which remained on his letterhead as late as 1966. Reeves speculates that Sheen got away with this massive deception precisely because it was so audacious and no one would have expected it of him.

Reeves wonders if Sheen is under-appreciated today as a scholastic. Although brilliant and prolific, Sheen was not original, and added nothing of substance to twentieth century philosophy. Sheen's strength was apologetics: the presentation of Catholic faith and devotion in simple, straightforward, and yet cosmopolitan ways. For about forty years, from 1928 through 1966, Sheen was arguably the best preacher in the United States, dividing his time between public appearances, radio and television, prodigious devotional writing, and fundraising for the Society of the Propagation of the Faith [and, surprisingly, acting as an "observer" of sorts for J. Edgar Hoover, who admired his fierce anti-communism.] His work for the Society earned him the title bishop, appointed auxiliary to Cardinal Francis Spellman of New York in 1951. Reeves finds that Sheen was a holy priest who made a daily holy hour before the Blessed Sacrament and spent hours personally instructing converts, including numerous celebrities of the entertainment and publishing industries.

Having said that, it cannot be denied that Sheen shocked his clerical brethren with a champagne lifestyle. While a faculty member at CU Sheen built a magnificent home in NW D.C.and entertained frequently and graciously. As a fund-raiser, millions of dollars passed through his hands, though there is no whiff of impropriety. Reeves does comment upon Sheen's total absence of fiscal management skill, his arrogance and petulance that insulated him from sound advice, his unfettered cash charity, and his pride of bestowal, so to speak. These factors, coupled with Spellman's own devils, led to an estrangement between the two that produced one of the strangest episcopal appointments of our lifetime.

In October 1966 Fulton Sheen was appointed bishop of Rochester, NY. To church observers it was clear that Spellman had orchestrated the transfer for ultimate humiliation effect. In public, at least, Sheen put the best face on things, explaining that his tenure would be an experiment with the reforms of the recently concluded Vatican II. In truth, Sheen was a pre-Vatican II autocrat who alienated nearly every local constituency. His unilateral decision making cost him his priests, and his explicit criticisms of racial policies at Kodak the support of the city's largest employer. He was deeply wounded that Rochester did not recognize the celebrity in its midst, and within three years "America's best preacher" withered into retirement.

If the Rochester years were his crucifixion, they also brought Sheen into communion with his best self. In retirement he publicly regretted his earlier opulence and vanity. He became less dogmatic and more open to philosophical systems other than that of St. Thomas Aquinas. Although not entirely shedding his theatrical instincts, he lived the last of his 84 years with an optimistic piety that belied the sufferings of multiple illnesses. Appropriately, he was found dead in his private chapel. Throughout this remarkable life, with its graces and glosses, Sheen's prayers were always sincere. His arrogance and sense of self-importance are perhaps the less desirable fruits of his utter certainty in the truth and goodness of God and the holiness of the Roman Catholic Church.

I really enjoyed this book. I thought that it did a number of things well. For one it helped me to get to know Fulton J. Sheen, a name I had heard about from the past and brief mentions from my parents, but had never known except the author of one book on my shelf ("The Life of Christ"). I felt that I not only got to know who he was, but also about the times he lived in. Reeves seamlessly blends the historical reality of Sheen's time with Sheen's actions as well as his thoughts.
I felt that Reeves had presented Sheen as entirely human, he did not try to portray him as a distant saint, nor try to deconstruct him in a voyeuristic way. He attempted to accurately present the man and his message. Based on his liberal number of interviews and sources I think he did a good job. He stated that there was simply a lack of a good biography on Archbishop Sheen and I think that he filled it.
I appreciated Reeves working in numerous quotations from Sheen's writings and talks which sent me to Amazon.com to see if many of these books were still in print. However, many are not, which seems a shame, because Sheen seems to me (as a 26-year-old) to have much to say about the current age.

This is a book that has been ignored by the media which does not want to hear about good Catholic clergy. The media only wants to know about scandal in the church - because the Catholic Church and that which it really stands for(as contrasted with the deeds
of the fallible priests,and lay Catholics that can be found within it) is the mortal enemy to secular humanism, sexual license, abortion and the "if it FEELS right, do it" philosopy that is held so dear by much of the media.
The book is a great inspiration because Bishop Sheen, with all his human failings, is an inspiration to us all.

I bought this book because I love cats and am always in search of good cat books. This one was disappointing though, despite the good reviews. The inconsistent and poor grammar was distracting. And even though I love cats, this book managed to turn me off Siamese ones. Through the book, I now understand that they are very loud troublemakers. For those who love Siamese cats however, this book may be entertaining.

I read this book what seems like a thousand years and a million miles ago... but I love it still, and remember my own dear friends Tao, Lua, Charles, Misty, Mia, Ting, Tang, Dylan, Sasha, and Blue, when I re-read it again for the umpteenth time. Winston and Simon respectively leaning on my arm and chewing the corner of the book that is taking my attention from them.

This story will make you laugh over and over, and if you aren't yet one, will make you yearn to be the slave of a Siamese cat.

I would reccommend it to children and adults.

When I read this book, I was in an airport, and I had to hide my face in my coat because I couldn't stop laughing. If you have ever been owned by a siamese cat, this is a book you just have to read, I loved it!

No matter what you think of cats, sitting down with this book will give you a quiet chuckle.

If you are among those unfortunates who have yet to discover the joys of being owned by a cat, you will be able to indulge the ever-pleasant pass-time of feeling smugly superior to this poor deluded couple who find themselves willing slaves to their delightful but demanding Siamese.

If you are one of the lucky ones currently living under the paw of a common or garden variety moggie, you will be able to breathe a sigh of relief and think "it could be worse" as you search the supermarket shelves for their favourite brand of cat food (without which you dare not show your face at home).

And if you are one of the fortune-favoured (?) few who have lost your heart (and possibly your reason) to a Siamese, you will enjoy the consolation of knowing that at least you're not alone.

The book is a delight for cat lovers and non cat lovers alike. Warm, wry and witty, it encourages empathy without expecting conversion. One of my absolute favourite cat books. And if you enjoy it, there's also a sequel - "Cats in May".

I got this book on Friday and read it through twice within 48 hours, laughing more loudly the second time, and rushing to find someone that I could share excerpts from the book. Even though the book was first published 45 years ago, it has not gone out of style. Anyone who has Siamese cats today can still identify with Ms. Tovey's experiences with Sugeih, Solomon and Sheba. I can't recommend this book enough and encourage an enterprising publisher to put all of Ms. Tovey's books back in print so everyone in the world can read them.

This book is a valuable resource for any Dark Ages historian or anyone seeking good primary source material on early Germanic peoples. It requires, however, that you understand why Gregory writes this work in the first place. Gregory's goal, from what I interpreted, is to distance the Franks from other Germanic tribes such as the Alamanni and the Goths. Gregory lived his entire life under Frankish rule and of course is a bishop, and it would only be natural for him to want to portray the Catholic Franks as more noble or righteous than other tribes. But once you swim through the pro-Frankish bias and the musings about various martyred saints, this book can reveal a great deal about the political and social conditions of Europe immediately after the fall of the Western Roman Empire. I would recommend it to any student seeking to learn more about the early foundations of the Middle Ages.

I have been very fond of this book for a long time and after repeatedly checking it out from my local college library, I finally decided to buy a copy. I'm not sorry I did. St. Gregory of Tours takes the reader deep into an era about which very little is known. A world where the power of the Roman Empire in the West had crumbled to dust and real power had fallen into the hands of the warlords, some of them Roman, others German Clan Chiefs. But even as the walords sacked and pillaged the provinces of the former Empire, the Roman Catholic Church, with it's hierarchy dominated by the old Roman nobility, continued to function as a check to the chaotic rule of the warlords. The German Clan Chiefs and their families read like the most entertaining parts of Seutonius's Twelve Caesars. Atfer they "conquered" the Roman Empire, the German Royals whiled away their time with depravity, debauchery and greed. Princess Amalasuntha of the Lombards, after her slave boyfriend was murdered on her mother's orders, put poison in her mother's communion cup during the Arian Rite Mass. Princess Clotild, after using mercenaries to sieze control of the Convent of the Holy Cross in Poitiers, proceeded to run it in a manner that makes Charles Manson look like an amateur. One other reviewer compared St. Gregory to a 6th Century gossip columnist. I couldn't agree more. The only beef I have with this book is with the translator. For some reason he chose, when St. Gregory quoted the Holy Scriptures, to write out the quotes as they appear in the King James Bible instead of the Douay-Rheims which is much closer to the original Latin Vulgate that St. Gregory would have quoted from. It may not seem like a big deal but it had me wondering how accurate the Biblical quotes were. Aside from that, this is an utterly enjoyable book that I would recomend strongly for anyone interested in the Dawn of the Middle Ages.

I first ran across Gregory of Tours years ago in an Early Medieval History course at the University of Houston (Go Haskins Society!). Under the tutelage of a great instructor (Dr. V~) the class read primary texts instead of the usual dry drivel that history teachers resort to. The History of the Franks was one of these.

And it's a great book no matter how you approach it. First, if it was not for Gregory's tome we fans of barbarians would have to resort to the rather sketchy coda (or laws) and archaeological data of that era to ascertain what was going on. (Okay there were those dry church records too.)

With Gregory of Tours we get sort of an "Examiner" newspaper view of earthly events.

For example, about the Bishop Cautinus:

Once he had taken possession of his bishopric, Cautinus began to behave so badly that he was soon loathed by everybody. He began to drink heavily. He was often so completely fuddled with wine that it would take four men to carry him from the table.

For example, mother-daughter relations:

Rigunth, Chilperic's daughter, was always attacking her mother (Fredegund), and saying that she herself was the real mistress, whereas her mother ought to revert to her original rank of serving-woman. She would often insult her mother to her face, and they frequently exchanged slaps and punches. 'Why do you hate me so, daughter?' Fredegund asked her one day. 'You can take all your father's things which are still in my possession, and do what you like with them.' She led the way into a strong-room and opened a chest which was full of jewels and precious ornaments. ...

... Rigunth was stretching her arm into the chest to take out some more things, when her mother suddenly seized the lid and slammed it down on her neck. She leant on it with all her might and the edge of the chest pressed so hard against the girls' throat.... (well you'll have to go to page 521 to see how it turns out - lol.)

Five Stars. Interesting and exciting reading - at least for barbarian fans and historians. One should note that there is a great deal of violence so that the book might not be for everyone.

Pam T.

I just skimmed through it for a class but it is not on the top of my list for reading though over the summer, not very interested.

Ho comprato questo libro per una ricerca di storia medievale. Penso che mi sarà utilissimo. E' uno dei documenti più importanti per conoscere la storia di quel periodo.

Enjoyed the great tips on how to build a Hot Rod. This book helps you get more ideas than you already have. You will definately be informed.

Very well written; one of the only books I could find on "traditional" hot rods.

As a mere hobbyist, this was the book that made me realize "Wow! I can do this!". I found the enthusiasm of the writer to be contagious, the directions relatively clear (despite my lack of experience), and the advice to be sensitive-yet-consistent. Mike Bishop uses plain language and gives enough history to justify technical and aesthetic decisions without wasting words on superfluous background and gratuitous information. It's a short read that is chock-full of the exact knowledge I need to complete my build, but yet leaves plenty of room for individualization. If you are going to build a Model A hotrod, start with this book.

As of Saturday, 25 Feb. I had not received the book. This was ordered priority mail. Is there a tracking number to check on this item?

This book is very well done. It is mainly a one style book of ideas and those opinions and style come from the Bay Area of California so they may not exactly jive with So Cal or East Coast or anywhere else, but the info is very useful and well written. Don't necessarily agree with things like the stock 32 center cross member (too hard to change trans) or statements about the strength of stock trans and rear axles (have broken both with 304" flatty). Overall highly reccomended for Real Hot Rodders, if you aren't sure of the difference, look in the trunk - if there are tools, it's a Real Hot Rod, if there are only lawn chairs, it's a Street Rod.

A casual glance at the cover with accolades only from Oregon sources (at least in my edition) might give the impression that this is one of those local market books of dubious quality. This is far from the case. The text is clear and informative with good depth and appropriate caveats on how speculative or contentious a conclusion may be that treat the reader with respect.

The photographs are world class and far more than what you get in a the Roadside Geology series or most other books of this type.

For non-Oregonians not familiar with the state geography, more maps would have been helpful but not really an issue unless you are actually driving state roads trying to find these formations in which case a map and the Roadside book make a fine accompaniment.

As an illustration of the the in-depth geology of a region, this is an excellent book for anyone of any region interested in geology. For those interested in Oregon geology, compared to the Oregon Roadside Geology book, you will find the pictures much more informative and the text more thorough especially in its treatment of alternate theories (The Roadside authors seem to have an agenda, especially in regard to the origin of the Oregon flood basalts.)

This book is beautifully illustrated and well written, making it easy to grasp the geological concepts. I feel like I found a treasure. I have lived in Oregon all of my life. Now I am looking at the view of the mountains and river valleys--as well as that pile of "pretty" rocks in my yard-- with new eyes...

I gave this book to my husband, at his request. He's an engineer, so I figured that this would be a book that interested similar minds. :) It turns out to be really facinating - our extended family and friends have enjoyed sharing it, and the photos are beautiful and interesting for all ages. My only wish is that it still was easy to find in hardback, as I think that would be nice.

The book is written "story-style," which makes the information a lot more palatable to those who don't have a geology background. The historical and environmental perspectives are woven together with very thoughtful writing. There is a lot of data in this book, but I don't think it reads like a textbook, which is nice.

Overall, this is a great book. It makes a wonderful gift for just about anyone who appreciates the environment or anyone who has an interest in understanding the land formations they see or live on.

This book reminds me of an good meal at a restaurant ruined by the waiter forgetting your drinks. So much of it is excellent: the text is quite thorough and fairly well-written (if at times a little overwrought), the geological processes are well-explained, and of course the photographs are magnificent. What ruins the meal for me is the complete lack of a useful map. There is a map of Oregon at the back of the book, but it fails to include many of the locations mentioned, and the scale is so small and the notations so tiny that it is often impossible to locate the places that are labeled. I found myself flipping back and forth between map and text to figure out what the devil the author was talking about, but each place name required several minutes of searching to identify. After a while, I just threw my hands up in defeat.

The book should have provided small-scale maps on the same page as the text. This would have made it much easier to figure what the author was discussing. Alternatively, the author should have abandoned her detailed geographical descriptions and fallen back on much looser descriptions.

Here's an example of the kind of text that drove me crazy:

"The first Columbia River basalts to reach western Oregon were the extensive flows of Grande Ronde Basalt. Some followed the ancestral Columbia's broad valley. Others may have flooded through low places in the Cascades. Today, Grande Ronde flows are exposed along the Clackamas River, and at least four can be counted at Silver Falls State Park... Some of the lava covered portions of the Willamette Valley and what would one day become Portland. Today, about eight flows of Grande Ronde Basalt have been mapped in the West Hills..."

Wouldn't it have been much better to simply show a map presenting all this information rather than foist this avalanche of place names upon the poor reader?

Another failure was the absence of any geological map. I realize that full-bore geological maps are impossibly complex to present in a book, and very intimidating to the reader, but there's no reason why the author could not have included simplified geological maps to illustrate her points.

There are also no aerial photographs. Let's face it, some geological formations are best understood from the air, but the author seems determined to insure that nothing competes with her beautiful photography.

Lastly, there's the absence of diagrams. I'm sure that many readers would have appreciated a line drawing showing how a graben is formed, or how subduction works. But not one single diagram graces this book. There are some concepts that are best presented in a diagram, and no amount of colorful prose from the author can substitute for such diagrams.

It appears that the author may have wanted to present a nice coffee-table book that was informed with some serious geology; if that were the case, then she should have kept the geological explanations at a much simpler level. I myself enjoyed the detailed treatment, but the lack of any supporting material rendered the reading far more difficult than it should have been.

I recommend "Roadside Geology of Oregon" or "Geology of Oregon" by Orr and Orr, in preference to this book.

In describing the events and processes in Oregon's geological history the author repeatedly references and explains familiar landscape features. (E.g. Alameda Ridge is a gravel bar left by the Lake Missoula Floods entering the Portland Basin. Mt. Scott, Rocky Butte and Powell Butte are all remnants of Pleistocene volcanoes. ) This makes the geology lesson both clearer and more interesting. Likewise, descriptions of flora and fauna further illustrate extant conditions during our state's evolution. With its many excellent photos, the book could easily succeed as a 'coffee table book.'

In short, I have read "Joshua" and now "Joshua & the Shepherd", and I was more inspired by "The Shepherd" than even "Joshua". It reinforced my own vision of what the Catholic Church can REALLY be like, and SHOULD be like, if only some things would change in the Church today. It has a wonderful ecumenical tone through it too. It was very hard to put down!

Joseph Girzone has written a fantistic story on how Jesus can, and does, touch each of our lives. We can all relate to the shepherd as he takes his journey through live. He goes from highs and lows, in and out of the desert. I thought it nearly impossible to write at story as good as the orginal Joshua. Girzone did it!

Like all of Joseph Girzone's books, Joshua and the Shepherd is extremely well written. It is easy to read (excellent prose), and Girzone weaves such a detailed story that it is hard not to get swept up in the flow of the story. This book is definitely a story about the universal love of Jesus (Joshua) for all of His creation. The book is definitely idealistic in its ecumenical storyline (different denominations establishing a strong single community), but Girzone does leave one with the impression that there is definitely hope for such a possibility if people truly listen to the Word. Overall, I liked the book. Being an advocate of ecumenism myself (though I must state that I would not want unity by sacrificing Truth) I could relate to this book and thougth the message was truly inspiring. My one problem with the book however was that at times, Girzone writes so simply, you feel as if the book was actually written for grade schoolers. Then again, perhaps it wouldn't be such a bad idea to expose children to this message (the one of ecumenism) anyways.

I have read a few of these books and they never cease to surprise me! This book goes a little deeper into the social aspects of Catholicism, but still delivers it's message quite clearly! Joseph Girzone tells a wonderful story of a priest whose life is forever changed upon meeting Joshua. Perhaps the conclusion is a bit far-fetched and somewhat guessable, it is still a good read!

Having read several of the other Joshua books, I can say this is the one I liked the least in the series. I disliked it not so much because of a poor story, because I did like the story. I was disappointed to see that Joshua does not make many appearances in this book. The book also seems more focused on changes Girzone sees as acceptable in the Catholic church. While I have little disagreement with anything the author promotes, the book just was not what I expected.

A hard-line dogmatic priest, David Campbell is elected to the status of bishop. Yet on the night of his installation into office, a dream in which Joshua appears encourages him to change his ways. The people are more important than the dogmatic views of the church. Rules can not always be applied because times changes the needs of the people and circumstances often require changes. Campbells sets out on an unlikely path that initiates radical change in the church with relative ease. Even more unlikely, Campbell attains the support of the pope. But even I could not believe the level of ascent the author puts David Campbell in as he ends this book.

Fans of this series will still enjoy this book. Truthfully, I enjoyed the book though I believe the author is far too idealistic in this book. I suppose this comes with the simple yet wonderful prose with which Joseph Girzone writes.