Bishop Books

Nice cover and an acceptable content. However, the data and the layout could be more detailed and better designed. The large book format is also a disadvantage when you look for a reference to use on a day-to-day basis. The most commonly used weapons are listed, but interesting details are missing and a more extensive list of weapons is desirable. Ok reference to start with, if you have no or limited knowledge within the area.

Very comprehensive. It includes most NATO and WarPact smallarms, but fails to mention anything about the M240 general purpose machinegun. It does mention the the FN product from which it was liscensed, however.

This was a gift for my son who has a great interest in weaponry. He loved it.

I have read many books on small arms and this is the best. Unlike some books that are all specs or all pictures, this has a good blend of both, plus it contains entertaining and illuminating anecdotes about many of the weapons. The most popular weapons have extended treatments.

The pictures of the weapons are in color. Black and white pictures of the weapon in action accompany many of the articles. There are color drawings illustrating usage of some weapons. In a few important cases, there are detailed drawings showing parts. The book is intelligently organized with a good layout.

This is truly an encyclopedic work. It covers all of the models of each weapon, noting important differences. Origins of designs are given. Key specifications, such as caliber, weight, and rate of fire, are listed. Multiple country usage is indicated along with current usage, where relevant. Pros and cons of a weapon are often given, including production changes that either improved or degraded the weapon.

If you like military history or weaponry, you will find this an enjoyable book to read and a useful reference.

I just got this book to fill an order for a gift card I have had for over a year. I have just flipped through a few pages and have noticed many inaccuracies mostly with pictures and their captions. As an example on page 262 the article on Chinese type 56 shows some girls that are each obviously holding a SKS and the captions says they are type 56 carbines. This is just one of many I have noticed and I have just flipped a few pages.

One of the most frequently forgotten biblical truisms is Solomon's repeated assertion that "there is nothing new under the sun." Christians, certain that their age and their time is unique, struggle mightily to devise "new" responses to "new" challenges. Modern Christians seem particularly susceptible to believing that the past cannot inform the present. In this information age, how can the indecipherable volumes of the ancients speak to the sound-bite interests of the postmodern generation?

In his brilliant, clearly-written work, Curtis Chang has demonstrated how the strategies and even the words of Augustine and Thomas Aquinas can bring hope to ministers struggling with "creating" a way to relate to the present age. At the mere mention of the names Augustine and Aquinas, the eyes of today's "hip" and "relevant" pastors and evangelists often begin to glaze over. This is a mistake. As Chang clearly demonstrates, the "great cloud of witnesses" that has gone before us not only observes but also reaches through the centuries to provide wisdom that is critical to today's challenge.

Do not be dismayed by the book's scholarly title -- it is written for the scholar and layman alike. The writing is crisp and, at times, poignant. Through the power of Chang's pen, difficult and complex works become accessible and inspirational. It is this accessibility that is perhaps Chang's greatest triumph. Even a small mind can read the complex and then "explain" it through equally complex prose. The good mind can take the complex and clarify it so that its ultimate answers seem almost simple. If you are confused by the challenge of reaching today's alienated and tribalized culture, read Chang's book -- and allow the past to illuminate the present.

The author points out Christianity has faced prior challenges from a hostile culture. The first after the fall of Rome, when pagans sought to blame social problems on Christians, the second from a rising Islam.

The challenges stimulated Augustine (413 A.D) and Aquinas (1260 A.D.) respectively, whose responses took the written form of "The City of God" and "Summa Contra Gentiles", two key works in the history of Western civilization.

The author compares the two responses and concludes they share methods that allowed successful disarming of the threats: "entering the challenger's story", "retelling it", and "capturing" it in the broader logic of Christianity.

This is the natural thing to do: understand the challenger's position better than they do, show how it doesn't answer the questions they think it does, then demonstrate your position encompasses theirs. Easy to do when on the side if truth (what "is"), impossible for opponents to duplicate.

Thus chapters 2,3,4 are golden. But sections of chapters 1 and 5 aren't. The author, based in academia, asserts post-modern denial of human ability to determine truth is the dominant threat; that utopianism suffered a shattering blow in WWI and WWII and is dead.

A stronger case can be made post-modernism is a minor linguistic procedure; take the leading post-modern theorist from the ivory tower, put him on a dude-ranch, away from TV, baling hay for a few months and post-modern pretensions vaporize.

One can't function in the world while taking seriously the idea there are only myths people fabricate to avoid cognitive dissonance, or dominate others. That truth is not knowable. It is simple to see through post-modern gamesmanship, once language methods they use are understood. Post-modernism seems credible because it is poorly explained. And the other academics confronting it are also verbalists.

The college student, leaning against a pillar, vexing the author by asking "How can you know anything is true?" will, even if no one is there to answer, one day graduate and get a job. 5-10 years later, the campus nonsense will be a dim memory, lost in real-world experience. Time will have been wasted and a life diverted from greater richness, but it needn't be terminal.

By contrast, utopian idealism, the denial of human sin, has been reformulated on the assertion humans are only mechanically derived animals; complicated bits of matter to be manipulated to a higher state by an elite which believes it has higher vision (replacing God with their own desires).

This idealism has spread far from academia. It shapes nations, political parties, education, law and people's lives, on a moment to moment basis. From Darwin to Marx to Freud to Stalin to Hitler to the 60's culture to modern hate groups, socialists and activists; all linked by the belief humans can "progress" to a perfect world they imagine. Christians understand a fallen humanity cannot. Utopianism IS a virulent threat, corroding the culture as a now invisible assumption.

So one must keep the book's title in mind; it's about engaging "unbelief", not disbelief. But the author dismisses disbelief, the greater threat, too readily. Unbelievers go quietly into the night, like a forest of deadwood clearing itself. Disbelievers do not.

Another concern is an author too far gone "entering the challenger's story". He seems to accept the premises of post-modernism; that life is about myth-making and story-telling, seemingly conceding the concept of truth. He urges incorporating the opposition's beliefs, which he apparently has done.

If the author saw in Augustine the idea of taking captive opponents' ideas, a clearer picture of how the Church in Rome became the Roman Catholic church snaps into view; the praying to Mary more than God (goddess worship), rituals involving physical objects (rosaries, statues), papal (human) infallibility, icons such as paintings of Jesus and other human-built objects of veneration.

Protestants have historically seen this as idol worship of false images, contrary to biblical law, but similar to pagan customs. It seems one can enter the opponent's story a bit too much. There is the impression Augustine's battle with Roman pagans was not conclusive, trading away some of God's laws for the church, so as to cease hostilities. Is this why we have thousands flocking to offer prayers to a tortilla whose shadows look like Mary?

In the end, the author suggests addressing the post-modern era in its own language: film-making. Protestants would say this a call to create false images of worship; idolatry. That there is a good reason there are no physical descriptions of Jesus. That Christianity needs spiritual doctors, not herding people into dark isolation rooms to see human contrived, out-of-context images flashed before them for emotional manipulation.

The author says the post-modern Augustine or Aquinas probably won't be one of the white male Christians with impeccable credentials, but will most likely be someone on the margin, as Augustine and Aquinas were: "...a single Pakistani woman who has an abortion before coming to Jesus and is a budding film-maker."

Ruinous conclusions drawn from an interesting comparison. Perhaps the problem lies in misuse of the sources he returns to for inspiration. Or far more likely, perhaps the problem is intrinsic to the sources. Because there is a pattern.

A more comprehensive and practical presentation from the Protestant understanding (marginalized in this book) is "How Now Shall We Live". Christianity needs to be understood as a comprehensive world-view before one can easily deal with the disbelievers and unbelievers. And you don't have to give up on truth in the process.

Postmodernism is a notoriously slippery subject, but in this book Curtis Chang does a good job of introducing and explaining it; he then proceeds to give a plan of action for engaging it, based upon his reading of St. Augustine's CITY OF GOD and Aquinas' SUMMA CONTRA GENTILES.

To me, the most important facet of this discussion is how the Christian faith, which claims objective truth, can be communicated to people who do not admit the existence of such truth (at least in theory). The apologetic method of the past hundred or so years, the "evidence-that-demands-a-verdict" approach, isn't particularly successful anymore. Is there something that can replace it, so we can better communicate the faith to those that have rejected Enlightenment rationalism? That is the question that Chang attempts to answer here.

There is, as one reviewer below says, a danger in falling under the sway of postmodernist presuppositions oneself when attempting to engage with postmodernists. He believes Chang has taken this fall to a certain extent; I do not. By emphasizing the faith as story (or as myth even, remembering that it is a myth that happens to be true) rather than as a set of propositions that need to be embraced rationalistically, one need not tumble into subjectivism or relativism. To me, Chang does a good job of maneuvering between this rock and hard place.
I must also say that the previous reviewer's claim that Augustine himself fell into this trap, thus paving the way for Roman Catholicism's acceptance of devotion utilizing images and physical objects, is more than slightly wrongheaded. This reviewer is repeating (whether he knows it or not) old iconoclastic arguments that have been dealt with by both the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches, and it would do him well to read some of the works that Chang refers to when discussing this subject.

If there is one complaint about the book, it is Chang's reliance on contemporary, critical church history works. One is given a picture of the church of both Augustine's and Aquinas' times as muddled, ignorant and compromised. Undoubtedly there were some elements of the church that were like that (as there are today) but one needs to balance that picture by reading more positive appraisals such as Rowan Greer's BROKEN LIGHTS AND MENDED LIVES, which includes a valuable discussion of Augustine and his times.

All in all, though, this is a work well worth reading by anyone who is interested in the clash between Christianity and postmodern culture.

The Christian church has faced a variety of "epochal challenges" during its existence over two millennia. Author Curtis Chang, InterVarsity campus minister and apologist, defines an epochal challenge as a "paradigm shift" or the emergence of a new weltanschauung (German for "worldview"). This new worldview perspective, or comprehensive outlook on life and the world, directly challenges how people once understand such critical concepts as truth, reality, knowledge, goodness, meaning, and purpose. The Christian church through the centuries has felt somewhat unsettled during such shifting times with its accompanying changing norms. Accordingly, Christian thinkers have had to strategize as to how to best confront these new perspectives with the enduring truth of the gospel message. Today's epochal challenge is postmodernism, which, according to Chang, "now challenges all norms and truths." Postmodernity as a philosophical outlook is broadly characterized, critically speaking, by such views as religious pluralism, multiculturalism, relativism, and literary skepticism, all of which challenge Christian truth-claims.

Is there an effective Christian strategy for confronting the multifaceted challenges (metaphysical, epistemological, moral, literary, etc.) raised by postmodernism? How, for example, does one effectively present the universal and unchanging truth-claims of Christianity to a culture that rejects the idea of absolute truth? While there have been an assortment of Christian books written in response to postmodern thinking, Curtis Chang provides a provocative and substantive answer to this question in his book Engaging Unbelief. Reaching back into the apologetic works of two of Christianity's greatest thinkers, Augustine (354-430) and Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274), Chang has indeed uncovered an interesting strategy to respond to the postmodern quagmire.

Chang's view is that if evangelicals Christians are going to be genuinely successful in responding to the postmodern mindset they should heed the Apostle Paul's imperative in 2 Corinthians 10:5. "We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ." Specifically what does Chang think this imperative actually involves? Since postmodernists prefer to speak in terms of one's individual "story" (perspective or narrative) rather than in terms of objective truth, this apologetic strategy involves engaging unbelief through penetrating the challenger's story.

Chang identifies three points that he broadly derives from two classic apologetic works, Augustine's City of God and Thomas Aquinas's Summa contra Gentiles. First, the Christian apologist must "enter the challenger's story" (competing worldview) by becoming thoroughly familiar with its language, categories, and authorities, and thus speaking from a shared perspective, though always guided by the gospel. Second, the apologist engages in authentically "retelling the story" from the inside by using again its own language and paradigms, but specifically exposing the story's explanatory incompleteness and highlighting its so-called "tragic flaw" or inevitable downfall. Third, the apologist engages in "recapturing that retold tale within the gospel metanarrative," thus showing how the Christian gospel uniquely solves the story's intrinsic flaw.

The real substance of Chang's book consists in his detailed and careful explanation of just how Augustine and Thomas Aquinas used this broad strategy to confront the epochal challenges of their respective times. Augustine, living in late antiquity, faced the real possibility of an emerging post-Christian society if the pagan Romans were able to successfully blame Christianity for the decline of the "Eternal City" (Rome) and ultimately of the collapse of the Roman Empire. Augustine's massive work City of God systematically refutes this pagan story and lays the foundation for an enduring Christian philosophy of history. Thomas Aquinas, living in the high middle ages, faced the possible challenge of an enduring religious pluralism if the Islamic intellectual tradition was successful in positioning its religious philosophy as a viable alternative to, and possibly even superior to, a Christian religious philosophy. Thomas's masterful philosophical treatise, Summa contra Gentiles, sought to set forth a genuinely Christian philosophy that properly integrated the important areas of faith and reason.

For a relatively brief paperback (187 pages), Chang presents a detailed and substantive analysis of Augustine and Thomas's monumental apologetic works. His rhetorical strategy drawn from the writings of these two great Christian thinkers is thoughtful and should prove helpful in responding to postmodern thinking. Certainly his intuition to look to Christian apologetic history for answers to today's apologetic challenges is insightful and refreshing. This reviewer, however, would go further than Chang in advocating that evangelicalism would benefit greatly from embracing much of the theology of these two theological and philosophical giants.

There is no consensus among evangelical scholars as to just how to view and respond to postmodern thinking. For some, however, Chang may grant more credence to postmodern epistemology than many would find warranted. A minor weakness in this overall very good and scholarly work is the absence of a good definition for postmodernism.

Curtis Chang has an excellent idea: read Augustine and Aquinas, two great Christian thinkers, compare how they explained their faith to non-Christian contemporaries of their eras, and see what we in the "post-modern" world can learn. Overall, I think he pulls it off well. Chang is a thoughtful writer, and the book is well-organized and clearly (though not eloquently) written. (Chang seems to be one of those writers whose diction remains structured and careful even when he gets a bit passionate.)

I was happy to learn a bit about Aquinas (whom I had not read) and to bask in Chang's exposition of one aspect of the thought of Augustine (whom I have long appreciated). He argues that the two men entered into the stories of their non-Christian opponents, deepened them, and retold them as facets of the "metanarrative" of the Gospel. This subject particularly interests me because I am doing research on the fascinating (and long) story of how Western, Indian and Chinese Christians have related the Gospel to their cultures. Also, I wrote a book a couple years ago, Jesus and the Religions of Man, that relates the Gospel to modern religions and ideologies in a way rather similar to Augustine's approach in City of God -- maybe more by accident than by design. I think the period in which Augustine wrote resembled our own diverse, multi-cultural society in many ways, and we have much to learn from him. (And, it seems, from Aquinas as well.)

I also learned a bit about "post-modernism" here, at last. (The term being unnecessarily ugly, I have previously tried to avoid finding out what it referred to. Ignore it, and it will go away!) I don't think, as one reviewer below seems to, that Chang accepts the "post-modern" view wholeheartedly, nor ask us to. "Both (A+A) . . . enter the pagan and Islamic stories still retaining their distinctive Christian identities. They refuse to give in to some confusing syncretism or an intellectual appeasement that would change the essence of the gospel." I don't think Chang is unconcerned about truth, just because he emphasizes story. (Which he calls "narrative," yikes.) Story and truth need not conflict. The Gospel marks where the two cross and become one. Chang's approach is to find truth in non-Christian philosophy, and show how the Gospel deepens and supplements it. I think that is a valid, Biblical, and rational approach to any worldview that contains truth, as "post-modernism" undoubtedly does.

Chang talks about Islam in an indirect way, because he thinks Aquinas wrote Summa Contra Gentiles to help missionaries reach the educated, philosophical Muslims of his day. Islam is of course on a lot of peoples' minds, my own included. I think Chang is a bit hard on the Crusaders -- it would only be fair for us to enter their story, too, if we are going to enter that of the Muslims. Not everyone has the luxury of responding to armies with words alone. And I am not sure Aquinas was always entirely tolerant either.

I was really excited to read this. In fact, I bought the big three-in-one trilogy Fiends of the Eastern Front, expecting to devour all three, but since I couldn't stand to read more than the first novel, I'm just writing a review for it.

First, there's no mystery in the book. Right away, the reader knows what's up and why. And I think the same could be said for the main characters, despite the occasional protest that they don't want to believe the obvious, which they do in a paragraph or two anyway.

Second, the vampires are stock. There's nothing new here except that they now wear Nazi uniforms and pilot tanks and planes.

I think there was and still may be lots of room for some good stories here, but this book didn't live up to the potential.

This definitely has the flavour of the strip I remember. Complete with the can come back from a speck of ash head vamp, Constanta. The pitched battle at the end, vamps v germans is most excellent. Running throughout all this, of course, is the horror of the actual historical panzer battle along the Eastern Front, with the accompanying infantry. Fans of both war and horror should enjoy this one.

This book and the second one are works of art.They would make a great movie.I recommend the book,as well as book two,to anyone who likes horror novels with a little history sprinkled in.The way Mr. Bishops writes keeps you engrossed in the story and craving for more........like a blood-lust.His words makes your imagination take over and go wild.Can't wait for the third novel to come out...Ill b the first one to get it.

Hans, Klaus and Ralf are all brothers fighting the Russians on the Eastern Front for Hitler during World War II. Hans, the youngest, is the most dedicated. Hitler and the 3rd Reich enthralls him. His other brothers have seen enough of war to know it's not all it's cut out to be. None of them are prepared for what they run into. Klaus, a pilot, wonders why the Rumanian pilots' canopies are black. How can they see? Ralf, in the Panzer division, finds dead Russians with bite marks on their necks. Hans of the Infantry sees wisps of smoke rise up and kill attacking Russian soldiers. What's going on?

Klaus finds out after he is shot down by a Rumanian plane and ends up in the hospital close to a Russian POW camp. What he sees horrifies him and he knows that he and his brothers must do something. But what? The monsters appear to be all-seeing, all-knowing but Ralf and Hans have seen enough to know that it must stop. So the brothers begin to plan. Will they be successful against Hauptman Constanta and his hoards?

David Bishop has written a plausible story of World War II from the point of the German soldiers who are more terrified of their supposed allies than they are of their enemies, the Russians. It's a well-written, scary little book that will keep you on the edge of your seat as you wonder what Constanta will think of next to torture not only the Russians, but also the German soldiers. If you like the unknown, this is the book for you.

Reviewed by Alice Holman
of The RAWSISTAZ Reviewers

The German invasion of Russia in 1941 is underway. As they smash through Russia defenses, German units unite with their allies, the axis Romanian soldiers. That is when one young German soldier comes to realize that the Romanians in a platoon led by the young nobleman Constanta are vampires. When Romania switches sides and joins the allies, the young solider has the fight of his life trying to survive as Constanta and his vampires try to protect their dark secret from both sides. Operation Vampyr is the first in the new "Fiends of the Eastern Front" trilogy by David Bishop, fantasy action enthusiasts will be left looking eagerly toward the second volume, Blood Red Army, schedules for release in April 2006!

Donald Hilliard, Jr. gives excellent advice on how to seek God's guidance and mercy in everything! Wonderful reading!

I checked out one of the Bible stories that he told in the beginning of the book and it was exaggerated so it took away his credibility. I checked several versions of that story. I couldn't finish the book after that. I really like him as a preacher but I don't want to relay that story to someone else and have them check it out in the Bible and find out that I have exaggerated as well.

Not a lot of preaching, just straight talk on how to rely on God when the pressures of life get you down. We all have stress...but God's mercy is what keeps us from totally falling.

Reading this book will lift your spirits and take your spirituality to a new level in God. I read it twice in one month!
Excellent. Better than Chocolate!

Pam Perry
Chocolate Pages

This is the book that will break all of those strong holds. This is really a wonderful book I am tremendously proud of Bishop Donald Hilliard. Thank you for poring yourself into a book that will pour into the lives of everyone who reads it.

THIS BOOK IS THE BEST ONE YET! THE OTHER BOOKS BY THIS GREAT AUTHOR WERE GOOD, BUT THIS ONE IS FAR MORE THE BESTEST!

ALTHOUGH I'M NOT COMPLETING FINISH, I JUST HAD TO COMMENT ON THIS BOOK...I CAN'T GET PASS THE FIG TREE.....

FOR SOME OF US, WE ARE THAT FIG TREE THAT HASN'T PRODUCE ANY FRUIT, YET WE ARE GIVEN ANOTHER SEASON/CHANCE TO GET IT RIGHT, TO BEAR GOOD FRUIT. QUOTE FROM PAGE 33 "IF YOUR TREE IS DISEASED, THEN A CORROSIVE AND EROSIVE AFFLICTION IS EATING AWAY AT THE ROOT OF YOUR LIFE. IT IS TIME TO WAKE UP AND TELL YOURSELF, I MUST DEAL WITH THIS DISEASE" ASK YOURSELF, WHY AM I NOT BEARING FRUIT?
THIS BOOK TALKS ABOUT EVERY SITUATION THAT YOU GO THROUGH. I MEAN EVERY STORM YOU HAVE AND STILL MAYBE GOING THROUGH THIS BOOK HITS IT ALL!

THANK YOU MY BISHOP FOR A WONDERFUL LIFE CHANGING BOOK THAT HELPS ME TO UNDERSTAND A LITTLE MORE OF THE THINGS THAT I EXPERIENCE IN MY LIFE THAT MAKE ME GO MMMMMMMMMMM...OH NOW I GET IT!.

GO GET IT! GO GET IT! GO GET IT!

I find the book very informative and easy to read. However, the book has a number of exercises that refer to a CD that ships with the book. I received no CD, so following some of the examples and performing the exercises can be quite difficult. If a CD is required, I suggest that it be included with the book.

virtual instruments good tool

virtual instruments good tool

Excelente para empezar con LabVIEW. Introduce al lector en forma gradual y con muchos ejemplos ya hechos y probados. Trata temas muy importantes a nivel superficial como procesamiento de señales. Es de fácil y rápida lectura. Lo recomiendo para un primer curso de LabVIEW.

This book takes you step by step from the beginning. A must for the beginning programmer and a good reference for the advanced programmer. I read it straight through and never got bored or confused.AWESOME!

I stumbled on this book while looking for "Broken Trust" after having read a review of that book. After reading the reviews of "Lost Generations" I thought I should order both books. What a mistake. I had hoped for a good telling of the Bishop Trust scandal. This is more of a diary of the life of a Hawaiian than any description of that scandal. If you like lots of Hawaiin slice of life stories then you will probably like this book. If you would like to read a coherent description of the Bishop Trust scandal, then look elsewhere.

"Lost Generations" is a personal and engaging story of how the charitable mission of the Bishop Trust to provide educational opportunities to native Hawaiians was corrupted by political appointees and greed but redeemed by the perseverance and resolve of the graduates and friends of Kamehameha Schools. It is a grassroots thriller told in a conversational style of why the mission went awry and the determination of the Schools beneficiaries to save the mission.

From the foreword to the last page, this amazing true story is a page turner thriller. J. Arthur Rath's beautifully told personal tale intertwined with that of his classmates from Kamehameha Schools and the Bishop Estate scandal is a heart warming and equally wrenching story of reluctant heroes and unscrupulous villains. Although the events take place in Hawaii, the story and its conclusion are universal. The heroes of this book are proof that high integrity and strong personal conviction can overcome even the most overwhelming odds. In an era seemingly devoid of both, this book is a refreshing read.

A fascinating history/memoir. Charming, entertaining, and a revelation. It covers a side of life and the culture of Hawaii one would never know from the colorful images of TV, movies and tourist attractions. When Hawaii became the 51st state, it was heralded as a mirror of the world of the future. A true rainbow of races, cultures, etc. Mr. Rath's book tells a story of a life that saw little of this future judgement. It is charming in its details of one boy's life, the influence of the missionaries, the repression of the native culture and the power of the Bishop Estate--the good, the bad, and everything in between. Especially interesting were the stories of the Japanese attack and life during World War 2.

Pulitzer worthy non-fiction complete with heros, villans, true love and loves lost, family secrets, forgiveness, pride, and overflowing with the true spirit of Aloha! A book that quite simply will compel you to be the best person you can possibly be and to treat others as all should be treated.

A true story that continues to live even in this week's headlines. The hero's are real. The history is amazing. Learn of old Hawai'i, new Hawai'i, and learn again how your heart sings out loud when good vanquishes evil and the common man rises quietly and with great dignity to do what is right.

Princess Pauahi and Oz Stender - non-contemporary partners - committing all they have and all of their love for the children of Hawai'i, eternally!

This book belongs in every household. Give it to a child and that child will grow to make you proud. Give it to an adult and you might change the world.

Imua.

This book was not what I thought it would be . I was lookong more on the lines of a text book on Introduction to Psychology.

I am so impressed. I was hessitant about purchasing a used book online, but I had a great experience. The book was just as described and was to my door 3 days after I ordered it.

First of all, I am a computer scientist and I picked this book without taking a course. I was reading books like "Your erroneous zones", "Too much control", "Do what you are" and some others like those, when I decided I wanted have a deeper understanding of psychology.

This book is great. I was first surprised to discover there was much more to psychology than Freud, Jung and the psychoanalysis. Just look at its table of contents.

1. The Science of Psychology.
2. The Biological Basis of Behavior.
3. Sensation and Perception.
4. States of Consciousness.
5. Learning.
6. Memory.
7. Cognition and Language.
8. Intelligence and Mental Abilities.
9. Motivation and Emotion.
10. Life Span Development.
11. Personality.
12. Stress and Health Psychology.
13. Psychological Disorders.
14. Therapies.
15. Social Psychology.

Reading this book helped me understand myself and other people, and it has a lot of sources. There was not a chapter I found uninteresting. A great buy.

I thought this was a great book...Also because I aced the course. This book is clear and is worded so you can remember things easily. Gives great examples!

At my school we use this textbook for our AP Psychology class. It is very clear and understandable, a great introduction to Psychology.

Witch is a story based upon the life of Bridget Bishop. Bridget Bishop was the first woman executed for witchcraft in Salem in 1692. This book depicts the woman's life from her education as a teenager in London where she meets, falls in love, and marries her first husband, George Wasselbe. The book also describes Bridget's converts to Puritan beliefs, her sea journey to the United States, and her life in Salem. The author even includes the testimony of Bridget's trial at the end of the book.

I enjoyed this story as both a work of historical fiction and as the testimony of the life of Bridget Bishop. The author has obviously done a good deal of research not only into the life of the characters but also into the culture, norms, and daily lives of those living in Britain and in the Puritan colonies of the 1600's. These aspects intermesh perfectly allowing the reader to travel back in time to experience life as if he or she were a dear friend to Bridget Bishop, a friend who saw both her kind creative qualities and her manic destructive tendencies.

"The novel is a well-crafted story of Bridget's downfall. The author writes skillfully of the time period and sheds light on some of the feelings a woman of that time may have had...Wilson tells a story of one woman's life as an outcast in a society of outcasts. Most of the story deals with the times, the woman, and her society; the witchcraft theme is hinted at almost from the beginning, and prejudice and man's inhumanity to man is at the core of the novel." - Naomi Theye, Historical Novel Society

"Bridget's story is as important for the backdrop it presents as it is for the telling of her life. The harsh sterility of the Puritans in the colonies stoked a powder keg of repression lit by the anxiety of economic and political pressures. Witch hunts have become more sophisticated since then - McCarthy went after godless Communists, not dabblers in the paranormal, for instance - but are still around in one form or another. As long as powerful people promote a culture of fear and dare name the bogeyman of the hour, and as long as society at large allows itself to be sucked in by exaggerations and lies, Bridget Bishop's story will ever be repeated, the only difference in the details. The only way we can combat such hysteria is through, as Frances Hill's A Delusion of Satan suggests, 'constant reminders of common humanity.' " - Curled Up With A Good Book Reviews, 2005

"I enjoyed this story as both a work of historical fiction and as the testimony of the life of Bridget Bishop. The author has obviously done a good deal of research not only into the life of the characters but also into the culture, norms, and daily lives of those living in Britain and in the Puritan colonies of the 1600's. These aspects intermesh perfectly allowing the reader to travel back in time to experience life as if he or she were a dear friend to Bridget Bishop, a friend who saw both her kind creative qualities and her manic destructive tendencies. " - Tami Brady, TCM Reviews, Jan. 2006

While being a well researched book about Salem, this novel goes much further than a simple re-hash of the witchtrials. It examines women's issues, interpersonal power struggles, and takes a closer look at elements of religious fundamentalism.
The main character starts out quite naive and wide eyed and is swept up in the Puritan movement, later finding herself disillusioned and eventually persecuted when she decides to break away. There are a few typos, as is the case with some pod imprints, but nothing worth passing on the content for.
I recommend it for anyone who enjoys women's literature, or the sort of historical fiction that really makes you think.

If you're looking for over the top writing that would be better suited for a monologue on a stage--in an elementary school gymnasium--complete with velvety dress and a pointed hat with foil stars. I've lived in Salem, MA and seen ridiculous displays of foolery, and this fits right in with the rest of the kitsch. A useless waste of time for any reader older than 10.

Also, the author spent a bit of time living in Seattle, where the first five-star review hails from; anyone want to bet they know one another?

I thoroughly enjoyed Ms Wilson's writing. Finally we have a book that represents this long over-looked figure in American history. Bridget Bishop was a woman unfairly persecuted in a wave of colonial histeria. Now her story can be told.

I've read each of the Jecks "Templar" books in order, so this is my 10th one and the weakest so far. It is so convoluted, with so many characters milling about, that it's hard to keep track of the multiple plot lines. Jecks also appears to have tried to fit in every detail he'd learned about Cathedral life -- much of it irrelevant to the story.

Of course, it's important for writers to research their subject, but they need to know which material to discard as well as which to include. Jecks piles up minutae until it overwhelms the characterization and plot.

There is a repetitiveness about the book, too, with the main characters going over (and over and over) the same information and questions. He probably could have told the same story in half the length.

I've also noticed that, in the last few books, the focus is placed less and less on the main series characters -- Baldwin and Simon, and their respective families. Having invested so much time in getting to know these protagonists, it's annoying to have them play background roles.

Yes, I'll go on and read number 11, but I'm not sure how many more volumes I'll wade through if things don't improve.

Sir Baldwin Furnshill, Keeper of the King's Peace and ex Templar knight and his friend Bailiff Simon Puttock have been summoned to Exeter to receive a prestigious award. Within hours of arriving they find there has been a savage murder and then another person dies a suspicious death, but was it murder or suicide. The Dean and the city Coroner ask the pair to solve the riddles surrounding the deaths. As they dig for the truth they find that many of Exeter's prominent citizens are not what, or who they seem to be. Excellent plots, read them all, you won't regret it.

There is always two things that you can count on when you pick up a Sir Baldwin Furnshill & Bailiff Simon Puttock West Country mystery: an exquisitely well crafted and cunning murder mystery; and that Michael Jecks has peppered the novel with all kinds of interesting bits of medieval facts and history. This latest Furnshill & Puttock murder mystery, "The Boy-Bishop's Glovemaker" takes place during the Christmas festivities of 1321 in the cathedral city of Exeter, and chronicles one of the most chilling and deadliest of cases that Sir Baldwin and Simon Puttock have ever taken on.

One of the many festivities celebrated during the Christmas season, is the election of one of the choristers to be "Bishop" for a day. Discipline is relaxed, and the Boy-Bishop and his friends are given some money, food and allowed to wonder about in the city, and to take part in harmless bits of mischief and mayhem. It is also on this day that leading members of the community are presented with special gem studded gloves to mark their service to Church and city. Both Sir Baldwin and Simon Puttock are to awarded these gloves; and when they first enter the city, they little expect that such a festive and joyous occasion would lead them to cross paths with one of the most ruthless of killers that they will ever come across!

Within hours of their arrival, they are summoned to the cathedral by the Dean. It turns out that the cathedral's glovemaker, Ralph, had been robbed and murdered a few days before. Ralph's apprentice, Elias, had been arrested for the crime mainly because it was Elias's knife that had been used to murder Ralph. Elias of course proclaims his innocence -- not that any one believes him. Now however, a Secondary from the cathedral, Peter Golloc, who had dealt with Ralph in the commissioning of the special gloves (he delivered the money and jewels for the gloves) has been found poisoned. The Coroner of the city cannot help but wonder if perhaps Elias is innocent afterall, and that Peter, and an unknown accomplice, may have robbed and murdered Ralph, with Peter in turn being murdered by his confederate. The Dean is appalled by the Coroner's allegations, and asks Sir Baldwin and Simon to investigate. Both men reluctantly agree since they both believe that the two murders are unconnected. However the more they dig, the more deaths they uncover, and it isn't too long before both men realise that they are after a truly cunning, cold blooded and single-minded killer. Will Sir Baldwin and Simon Puttock be able to successfully unmask the murderer before (s)he strikes again?

"The Boy-Bishop's Glovemaker" is a really riveting read, full of twists and turns and red herrings that will keep you guessing until the very end! The novel is a well crafted and well written one, and the level of suspense and tension was well maintained and sustained. I enjoyed this latest Sir Baldwin & Simon Puttock murder mystery immensely, and recommend it as a great read, esp if you are an avid reader of medieval mystery novels. A truly fantastic read!!

I'll probabley go back and finish reading it at some point but it didn't grab me in the same way that the previous stories had. I think part of it was that the the sexual tension between baldwin and his wife is gone. They seem to have settled into a comfortable groove and that made it kind of boring. Also I like to have some idea of what's going on but from reading this it seemed so random and I hadn't a clue as to why the man was killed. I must say I was disappointed.

The Ceremonial of Bishops is not a liturgical rites book, as a Sacramentary or the Rite of Baptism would be. Rather, it is like a "how to" guide for priests, deacons and other liturgical ministers when participating at a Mass or other liturgical events where a bishop presides. It is particulary helpful for deacons and acolytes, they who would interact with the bishop most frequently during a particular liturgy, especially the Mass.

Documents like the General Instruction on the Roman Missal (GIRM) and the General Instruction on the Liturgy of the Hours (GILH) would tell you why it is theologically and liturgically important for the bishop, as chief shepherd and liturgist, to preside at the liturgy. The Ceremonial of Bishops is great because it says, given the GIRM and GILH, here is what you do.

The Ceremonial of Bishops is the most complete book of its kind, which is somewhat unfortunate. As another review has noted, it does not contain a complete ceremonial, but frequently refers the reader to other texts (e.g., GIRM, Rites, etc.); however, for a liturgist/MC/archdeacon, these should all be handy and familiar, making the omission more an inconvenience than a serious flaw. Having said that, the user of this book MUST have and be familiar with these references.

The overall format will be familiar to anyone who has picked up a standard Roman Catholic book of this type (paragraphs are numbered for easy reference). The book review those items, actions, and liturgies that are proper to a bishop. This means that services which are also performed by a priest are not covered in their entirety, but only where the pontifical rites differ. Thus, there is no full discussion on the celebration of Holy Eucharist, but there are specific differences noted (the full discussion can be found in other rituals).

The audience of this books is necessarily narrow, as it is really useful only to those who are Bishops, those who will become bishops, those who serve bishops, and those researching things about bishops. It really does not need to be in every parish sacristy, although it would not be a bad addition. It need not be reviewed by all clergy either; they would be better served by reading St. Gregory's "Pastoral Care" (Vol. 11 in Ancient Christian Writers series), or the letters of St. Ignatius (vol. 1 in the same), which will be more practical.

I bought this book with the hope that it would be an actual ceremonial, its not. This book only contains parts of ceremonies and prayers and then refers to other texts for the complete ceremony. I did like certain parts of this text but all in all it really lacks the information which the title boasts. If you are looking for a true ceremonial then buy The Rites vol. 2 that particular text has most of the complete ceremonies which the ceremonial of bishops begins. The Rites vol 2 also costs half of this one.

This typical volume is for all who are interested in the proper way to conduct liturgical celebrations. Eventhough the title is 'Ceremonial of Bishops', the contents of this book can also be applied to liturgies at which the bishop does not preside over. Very practical. After studying it, I have learnt just how taken for granted a properly conducted liturgy is in many churches in where I live.