Bruno Books

Kids will love this account on how people bury and mummify the dead, gore and strange details seem to intrigue them. Great photographs too. Turn your students into archeology nuts.

This book, written by an awe-inspiring young woman, is a great read for anyone of any age. It is decidely upbeat, yet candid about the realities of growing up a little different. While Ms. Bruno technically has a disability(it is important to note that her track times are faster than most good high-school men with both legs), the book really is less about that issue and more about surmounting the obstacles that we all face in every day life, whether moving from place to place and trying to make new friends or excelling and failing at the sports we love, or simply trying to figure out what we are all about. Ultimately, for Ms. Bruno, it is about making the choice every day that life is pretty sweet, and that all limits are self-imposed. Written by a woman with a never-quit attitude and an unabashedly youthful outlook on a life (who also seems to be clumsy despite her athletic prowess), this is a really fun read!

Perché un film come "La morte corre sul fiume" ("The night of the Hunter", 1955), letteralmente adorato da manipoli di agguerriti cinefili, è pressoché ignorato dalle storie del cinema? Forse perché è l'unico diretto da Charles Laughton, orgogliosamente deluso dall'accoglienza riservata alla sua opera prima. Forse perché lo stesso Laughton parla del film con impagabile spocchia - quella che gli riconosciamo quando indossa le ampie vesti dell'avvocato Robarts ("Testimone d'accusa", B.Wilder, 1957) - deprecando un cinema che permetta agli spettatori di non "stare con gli occhi fissi sullo schermo", o addirittura di tenere "la testa piegata all'indietro per poter meglio ingoiare popcorn e dolcetti" e ripromettendosi, con il suo film, di far riacquistare agli spettatori "la posizione verticale". Il bel libro di Fornara fornisce, indirettamente, molte spiegazioni della strana sorte del film, dicendone la bellezza assoluta della costruzione ma, appunto, anche la complessità di lettura. Laughton, infatti, crea un'opera al tempo stesso esteticamente riuscita e così ricca di significati e suggestioni che davvero il cinema (che pure all'epoca quanto a mirabili artigiani non scherzava) ne prende le distanze. Come a volte ci allontana una persona tanto bella ma il cui senso - il cui mistero - non possiamo cogliere compiutamente. Richiamo alcune delle tematiche più approfonditamente trattate da Fornara: l'uso della luce, e la lotta tra luce e buio, nella sua perfetta coerenza con le situazioni narrative; la struttura di "racconto raccontato", che se non avvertita può davvero disorientare lo spettatore, subito dichiarata ma complessa nella sua implacabile applicazione (noi, ad es., vediamo i bambini protagonisti del film fare delle espressioni eccessivamente caricate, ma appunto stiamo seguendo il racconto di chi ha ascoltato la storia dai bambini stessi, e ne riproduce la vivezza); il sistema di rinvii tra le diverse sequenze, indispensabile per cogliere appieno i significati più profondi della narrazione. A mio parere, il testo di Fornara è davvero onesto e intelligente: lavora a fondo per scovare simboli e rimandi, ne fornisce interpretazioni ragionevoli, ma lascia ampia libertà di percorrere altre strade, indicandole apertamente. In questo l'autore sembra assai vicino allo spirito di Laughton, volendo che i lettori non si accontentino di spiegazioni già preconfezionate. Vorrei segnalare in particolare l'acutezza del capitolo "Cambiare la storia" , dove è data ragione della statura morale del "piccolo" John, il quale si sottrae, con coraggio e sofferenza, a quel destino fatto di denaro e sangue che sembra dover fatalmente raccogliere dal padre, e dai maschi adulti in generale. Infine, assai pregevole l'analisi della sequenza della fuga sul fiume (una delle più belle della storia del cinema, a mio avviso), incantata dalla stupefacente fotografia di Stanley Cortez e dal misterioso canto infantile della piccola Pearl ("once upon a time, there was a pretty fly...") : una sequenza così emozionante che solo vedendola e rivedendola possiamo capire quali "doni" (per dirla con Fornara) ci riserva.

Visually a delight...an inspiration....a journey into the sometimes forbidden....taboo...HOW FUN!

I read this very well written book describing an early kibbutz in Israel many years ago, when it was first published. Bettelheim's careful and fascinating description of life in this kibbutz and the impact of the lifestyle there on the children of the kibbutz, as well as the adults, seemed complete and led to considerable information concerning the needs of children and families in a small society and how these needs can be met, while at the same time meeting the needs of adults in a situation where women, as well as men, participate in the real work of the community. Much of what he described in the kibbutz could be highly relevant to us, given our modern social difficulties. given the need of most families for two incomes, the breakdown of our sense of belonging to communities and the alarming response of many children left to their own devices as they find themselves lost in searching for a road to adulthood and survival in an increasingly complex world. While the early kibbutz is not appropriate as it existed as a literal answer to our difficulties, we can possibly gain many ideas from this book that we can adapt in our efforts to overcome much of the social disruption that we find in our lives. With this in mind, I would hope that this book might find renewal in reprint soon, as its readership might at this time be far wider than it was when it was it was originally published. Sharan M. Ramsauer, Ph.D.bru

The fact that the writings of Bruno Bauer (1809-1882) are only now being translated into English is cause for celebration and so I highly recommend this publication. Bruno Bauer is one of the great unsung intellectuals of history. He was imitated by many famous minds of his time, including Karl Marx and Friedrich Nietzsche. This book, CHRIST AND THE CAESARS (1877) was the last of his dozen great tomes on Christianity.

What is most remarkable about this book is that Bruno Bauer goes down to text-by-text comparisons of the New Testament and the Epistles of the great Stoic writer, Lucius Seneca (tutor to Nero Caesar), in order to research keywords and key phrases common to both.

Actually, this had been done many centuries ago to some degree, but with a different twist. The Early Fathers of the Christian Church had presumed that Seneca's writings resembled New Testament writings so much because Seneca 'must have been' a secret Christian. There is even an ancient forgery that claims to be a cordial, personal correspondence between Seneca and St. Paul.

However, Bruno Bauer cited the latest 19th century scholarship to show that if there were identical words and phrases between the writings of Seneca and the writings of the New Testament, the copying was all on the New Testament side, because Seneca wrote his Epistles a full generation before St. Paul wrote his.

That only gets us to chapter two.

Another remarkable fact about this book (a fact that I recently brought to the attention of Elaine Pagels) is that Bruno Bauer demonstrates that St. Paul's texts were clearly Gnostic in many essentials. Now, Elaine Pagels says she did not read Bruno Bauer, and I believe her, but every single citation made by Bauer about St. Paul's alleged Gnosticism is included in Ms. Pagels work on St. Paul (although Ms. Pagels goes on to give three times more examples than Bruno Bauer did in 1877). To me, this says a great deal about Bauer's insight so long ago.

This writing by Bruno Bauer has a key theme - that the writers of the New Testament were influenced to a significant degree by the existing Roman philosophers of the day, including Seneca, Philo, Josephus and others. Bauer does not just state this or give a few examples, but he provides a rigorous textual analysis and a penetrating historical analysis to make his points.

This book, like most books by Bruno Bauer, was not translated into English until a century after his death. This was unfair because he was so influential in his own day, but it is understandable when we recognize that Bauer was attacked by both the left wing as well as the right wing. Bauer's anti-communist stance earned him the total rejection of Marx and the Marxists, while Bauer's demand that we take a scientific approach to the Bible earned him the total rejection of fundamentalists and the right-wing regime of Prussia in 1841.

Although this translation has many typographical errors and the wit, wisdom and genius of Bauer's prose does not shine through this translation, the fact is that this is the first edition of the first time that CHRIST AND THE CAESARS has been translated into English, and if a second edition will ever come, this first edition must be successful. That is why I give it the highest rating. I believe in Bauer, and I want him to have more attention.

Christopher Makos has always been one of my favorite photographers. Ever since I discovered his photography for the first time in Interview Magazine, I was hooked. Now we are lucky to still see his candid and beautiful photographs of young men & male models in the pages of Genre Magazine. This postcard book is a sampling of his black & white photos of beautiful young man that goes along with his book �Absolute Makos.� This is a must for anyone who enjoys his photography or would like some cool & sexy postcards to send to friends, etc. Very Hot & affordable, too!

The best book to read about CICS if you are just learning
to program CICS Command Level COBOL. Unfortunately the book
is out of print.

Close to Home is one of those family-time books that I love, because the stories are not long enough to bore my kids into restlesness. We try and do one per week, and work a special activity around it. I really like the memory verse tags at the back. It's a good way to hide God's word in our hearts (together!).

I wish they'd come out with a followup, though, because we're nearing the end!

David Cantero is a master illustrator of the male form as well as the club life scene. His images sparlle with life, joy and love. A very pleasant sight!