Curtis Books

Total Chaos is the first installment of the Marseilles Trilogy and is the best. Izzo's storytelling of immigration's impact to Marseilles is just spot on.

Hats off to Howard Curtis for his flawless translation evident in the fluidity of all three books.

Makes you wish Izzo were still alive to write more of these.

Zinedine Zidane

Jean-Claude Izzo, like French footballer Zidane, is a native of Marseilles. He was born in Marseille in 1945. Because he was the son of Spanish and Italian immigrants, Izzo was streamed into vocational school where he trained to be a lathe operator. After serving in the military he returned to Marseilles where he eventually turned to writing. His books have been remarkably successful in France and have been the subject of films and t.v. shows. He died, at age 54, in Marseilles.

"Total Chaos" is the first volume in the aptly-named "Marseilles Trilogy". The second, Chourmo, and third, Solea (Marseilles Trilogy)complete the triloy. There are two primary characters in Total Chaos. The first is Fabio Montale. Montale is a cop. The child of immigrants, Montale had a hard life growing up on Marseilles' mean streets. He ran with a "bad-crowd" a crowd that included the two friends. Manu and Ugu, with whom he shared a bond cemented by petty thefts and days spent in an around the harbor. There is also the girl, Lole, who they all loved in one way or the other. Montale escaped his childhood, joined the army and ended up a cop. The others never left escaped the life they were born into. That life results in Manu and Ugu both being killed. Montale spends the rest of the book seeking answers to the question of who killed Manu and Ugu and why. He is a cop and that is what he does. Montale knows there is no justice in the criminal justice system. He knows that life is nasty brutish and short. He knows that, even as intimate as his feelings for his city are that generations of immigrants to Marseilles from around the world (particularly now from the Middle East) are treated in much the same way as the children of Sicilian immigrants used to be treated. Montale (and Izzo of course) is both cynical and fatalistic but, nevertheless, he plods on.

The other primary character is Marseilles itself. I think it fair to say that Izzo loved his native place. Izzo's love for Marseilles imbues Total Chaos almost to the point of consuming it. However, Izzo's feeling for his city does not preclude his viewing his love through rose-colored glasses. Izzo's love for Marseilles is not the puppy love that a teenager has for his first real girl friend. No, Izzo's feelings are more those of someone who has lasted through a long marriage, who has hurt and been hurt. He sees the flaws and the pain but still can see the beauty and the passion.

I very much enjoyed "Total Chaos". This is noir, Marseilles style. While Izzo is a bit more expansive in terms of setting out in print the thoughts and feelings of his characters than a Georges Simenon for example, he does not get excessively florid. He is terser than most and that is to his credit. Izzo also provides some nice atmospherics. His references to both food (its preparation and its consumption) and to music (Montale's taste in jazz and music in general s both provocative and scene-setting) add some very nice touches to the writing. At the end of the day I think a reader's feeling about Total Chaos will depend on whether or not they like the idea of a city playing a central role in the story. It worked for me. Izzo does a remarkably good job of giving the reader a sense of place. You can almost feel the dark streets and smell the aromas of the cafes in the harbor as you read the book. In that sense Total Chaos reminded me of Naguib Mahfouz's The Cairo Trilogy: Palace Walk, Palace of Desire, Sugar Street (Everyman's Library) which left me feeling I'd actually been to the alleys in Cairo Mahouz wrote about with such passion. Comparing any writer to Mahfouz is higih praise.

Highly recommended. L. Fleisig

You want gritty noir with a sentimental twist? You've got it! This is the first volume in a masterful trilogy by French author Jean-Claude Izzo (unfortunately deceased). Taking place in and around Marseilles this story involves a retired cop, French mafia, North African immigrants and more. The main character, the retired cop Fabio Montale himself the son of Italian immigrants, has to deal with the death of a friend as well as unresolved childhood issues. While doing this he introduces us to Marseilles and we can almost smell the sea, the "pistou" soup and the mandatory pastis apéritif. The feelings are strong, the story is hard and people are hurt. If you like this book keep an eye out for volumes 2 and 3 of the trilogy which have now been published in English. The French title: "Total Khéops" comes from a Marseilles rap group called IAM. Highly recommended!

Picked this up on the strength of the reviews and in light of a general interest in police procedurals. The fact that the book was written by a French author and set in Marseilles (a city that in my experience is so unique that it almost qualifies as a country of its own) were added bonuses.

Given the expectations set by the reviews, I would characterize my reaction to the novel as muted and somewhat disappointed.

On the positive side, the prose is spare (reminiscent of Alan Furst in some ways, as a point of comparison) and strong, and the atmospherics are powerful. The author is in his element in terms of bringing to life the feel and specifics of Marseilles, and were the reader to be satisfied with Marseilles as the end all and be all purpose of the novel, he or she would leave very satisfied.

Unfortunately, when it comes to characterization of the personalities in the book, the spareness of the prose that is an asset elsewhere becomes a hindrance. Our protagonist is conflicted and taciturn; that's about it. He isn't brushed out fully, which in many novels is fine, but here, where his motivations and single minded purpose carry the plot of the novel, the unfinished portrait doesn't resonate properly with his actions.

In terms of plot, we have a police officer seeking revenge for the murder of two of his childhood friends who long ago turned into hoods, and as the novel opens meet or have recently met their demise. Alone aside from several women with whom he has various dalliances, our police officer negotiates his way towards his revenge through the Arab underworld, the mafia, and a crooked police department. The stage and background of the novel are powerful and tangible; the protagonist and the plot he follows less so.

Of interest to this reader in particular is the author's focus on the racism within French society, and Marseilles in particular. Themes of immigration and assimilation (successful and not) run through the proceedings. The disaffection of the Arab underclass is particularly compelling, and in light of the events last summer in France, are quite interesting and apropos in today's world.

This is the first of a trilogy. Interesting but not entirely compelling. Don't know if I'll pick up number 2.

I fell victim to the brilliant marketing of 'Total Chaos' by Europa Editions - great cover art with a hook line front and center calling it "the first book in the legendary Marseilles Trilogy" and an 'About the Author' blurb on the back flap telling me that Jean-Claude Izzo "achieved astounding and immediate success with his Marseilles Trilogy."

It's difficult to live up to hype like that...and this book doesn't. I found the storyline here to be confusing (new characters appear at random it seems) and formulaic (hard-boiled cop who can never love and denies closeness, etc.). The only thing of note and worthwhile is the descriptions of the teeming projects and streets of the city. It sheds some light on the roots of the recent riots in France.

As a beginner in Tae Kwon Do, I didn't find this book helpful for learning the basics. It did give some good advice though (assuming) for enhancing your abilities. However, if you are not familiar with all of the basics (i.e. punches, kicks, etc.) then most of this book will go probably over your head. Plus there are not many graphics and they are explaining different excersizes and techniques. If you are a person who learns by being shown like me, don't get this book.

I like this book. Most overview books on the martial arts are very disjointed. This book is not. Though it presents chapters written by various authors, it presents these chapters in manner that the reader can truly learn the various subtle aspects and techniques of Taekwondo. I believe this book is a good read, full of important information about how to become a better practitioner of Taekwondo and a better martial artist in general.

This book presents Taekwondo in a unique manner. It take ideas and techniques from various Taekwondo Masters and puts them all in one book. Whereas most books on Martial Arts only share the ideas and opnions of one individual or one organization, this book combines the thoughts of many. Thereby, making it a unique, all encompassing, way to learn about Taekwondo.

This is a very interesting book. It is made up of articles which first appeared in Inside Taekwondo magazine between 1993 and 1995. This magazine was edited by John Corcoran, who has made some notable contributons to the martial arts with his editing, writing, and his martial art encyclopedias. So, you can be sure the articles are pertinent and well written.

What this book provides the reader with is a excellent overview of Taekwondo from some of the great modern Masters, including: Hee Il Cho, Scott Shaw, and Keith D. Yates. Moreover, this book is not simply filled with pages of photo techniques. It details the history of Taekwondo, Trainning Methods, and Taekwondo Combat Techniques. This book is a great addition to the library of any discriminating reader.

First, I am a 2nd degree black belt and instructor in Tae Kwon Do, and I approached this book from that perspective. I guess that this book could be good for the beginner as an introduction to Tae Kwon Do, but you could probably do better just by going to your dojang. I certainly didn't buy it.

This book made me laugh(very hard), stare in shock, and almost cry. This comic book was unlike anything I have ever seen before. It immedietly hooks you in with its teenage humor and zest. If you buy this book I can promise it will not be a let down. The characters are very funny, well written/drawn. A definite five stars from me.

{MAJOR SPOILERS} a enjoyable comic, that at first has just id, ego and superego, fighting evil werever it lurks and soon the girls join in. I liked the story of "harm". a teenager who plans to be the worlds greatest super villan, and belive it or else, he is pretty stong, fast, and smart. his dad is forced to shot him, which is pretty bad because he was a cool villan.

this gets only three stars because robin is out of charicter, {he's smart but not THIS smart} and because the parent/teacher conference is just unreal. {wonder girl and arrowette's moms, nightwing for robin, dubbilex for superboy and max mercury for impulse.

heros: robin, superboy, impulse, arrowette, secret, wonder girl, superman, batman, wonder woman, martian manhunter, aquaman, flash, green lantern, max mercury, nightwing, oracle, supergirl {mentioned}, dubbilex, green arrow {illusion}, red tornado.

villans: harm, despero, mr. myxzptlk, tora, rip roar, mighty endowed.

I usually read comic books for the darkness and and angst and seriousness. But sometimes I just want to read something FUN. This was. When you're tired of angst, and melodramatic prose, check this out. Although it condescends to teens somewhat, I still enjoyed reading it.


If you really want to enjoy it, kick back and don't take it seriously.

I went into this expecting something funny and fantastic- Peter David being the genius behind the best novels of the Star Trek series, a phenomal run on The Incredible Hulk, and the longtime scribe of Captain Marvel- and I emerged, horribly dissapointed, from the burnt-out wreckage of this train accident of a graphic novel.

Reading this tripe is like being a teenager all over again: a grinding headache, an overwhelming urge to roll your eyes and a complete and utter contempt for your fellow human being sets in after less then five pages.

The characters are flat, the jokes revolve almost entirely around bad puns and are altogether lame, moments of angst are forced and uncomfortable to read, and out of four primary villains only one is actually defeated by this 'super-team'and not some other character or lucky circumstance.

The one shining moment in the whole book is a story taken, not from the series, but from the Young Justice Secret Files one-shot and is written and drawn by D. Curtis Johnson and Ale Garza, respectively. In this issue Robin and Superboy do not sport interchangeable faces, Arrowette is not an annoying priss who turns to submissive mush whenever she gets around a super-male and the story is actually engaging. I was dissapointed when this secton was over because it meant I had to go back to slogging through David's unfathomably bad mire.

For a decent read about teen superheroes try graphic novels of Marv Wolfman and Georege Perez's run on the New Teen Titans, Claremont's stint on Uncanny X-men, or (And believe me, it pains me to say this) even the Brandon Choi, J. Scott Campbell incarnation of Gen13, at the very least you'll enjoy the art.

As for Peter David, please don't let this sour you on his work. His talent is enormous and I'd like to think of this as just a minor misstep; spend your money on one of his great paperbacks or on any other of his graphic novels instead. I'd hate to think anyone passed on other highly entertaining works just because this drivel tainted their perspective.

While SUperman, Batman, Wonder Woman and the rest of the JLA seem to hog a lot of the DC spot light, we sometimes forget about the younger side of the DC world. Granted Robin continuaously teams wiht BAtman and we more often than not see Superboy help out Superman, but what about the other protoges that include Impulse, WOnder Girl, and Arrowette. This novel focus on these teen heroes as well as the return of Red Tornado and the joining of a rescued MEta human from a previouse Novel, Secret.

The book starts off with Robin, Superboy, and Impulse just hanging at the former JLA HQ when they meet a retired Red Tornado. From there the story leads to their battles with a young Mxplyx, Desparos ghost, rescuing meta human children, and facing off against their most dangerouse (and short lived) villian Harm.

The book features cool action that you would see in any DC story, but also features comical moments as RObin is as serioue as his mentor Batman (to the point he won't even reveal who he really is) Superboy is running on Hormones as he falls for Arrowette and inadvertadly makes Wodner Girl Jealouse, and Impulse is so childish and silly that one can't help but laugh.

Overall this is a really silly yet action packed novel that is fun to read and loaded with laughs and suspense. I would recomend this to any DC fan or any one in need of some cheesey fun.

After reading Stanley Lombardo's translations of the Iliad and the Odyssey, I decided to pick up his translation of the Aeneid as well. Both of Homer's epics were fast paced with the gods gently guiding each step of the way. The Aeneid, not so much. I found the romance between Aeneas and Dido interesting, but the whole time, one cannot help but think the whole poem is just an imitation of Homer. One thing I enjoy about Homer is that he is a blind bard who created his epics from the words whispered into his ears by the Muses, whereas Virgil most definitely composed the Aeneid simply because of Augustus' request. Though the story is interesting and Lombardo presents the poem in an exciting way, it simply does not compare to Homer. Furthermore, there are many references to Homer's epics in here so one ought to read the Iliad and the Odyssey first anyway.

W. R. Johnson's introduction alone makes this book a valuable contribution to Virgil studies. And Lombardo's translation, while sometimes more creative than faithful, is very readable.

I bow to no one in my love of Robert Fitzgerlad's translation of the Aeneid--the standard for the last 25 years. Stanley Lombardo's relavatory translations, however, nudges the older one aside. Lombardo has a history of actually performing the great poems of antiquity, not at fashionable coffeehouses but on sidewalks, plazas, parks, and other public areas to the accompaniment of drums or music. And let me tell you, these performances capture his audiences--including jaded college students who leave their hacky-sacks and stand mesmerized while the readings go on. This kind of percussive, driven performances carries over into the book form, and similarly to his translations of the Iliad and Odyssey, you feel like you're reading a WWII triller. That is not to say his translation is ugly or course, particularly in this most elegant of poems. No, he matches being relentless with being refined to create a story that actually matters--it is a gripping tale that covers the very social, political and moral issues we struggle with today. But the language is so immediate that you can't put it down.

The Aeneid's fortunes have waxed and waned over the centuries, and for a while it was in danger of being relegated to a second-year Latin grammar text. This translation transforms the work and win over a whole new generation of listeners.

Someone should really tell these modern American translators of the Aeneid that Virgil wrote highly metrical poetry in the high style, not prose in the middle or low style, and they have very little chance of translating the Aeneid well unless they learn what verse is.

For example, here are lines 693 and 694 from Book Four of the Aeneid:

Tum Iun(o) omnipotens, longum miserata dolorem
difficilisqu(e) obitus, Irim demisit Olympo,

which, like all Virgilian verses, scans quite regularly as:

-- -uu -/- -uu -uu --
-uu -uu -/- -- -uu --

Lombardo translates this as:

Then Almighty Juno, pitying Dido's long agony
And hard death, sent Iris down from Olympus

which is prose, not poetry. There is neither isosyllabism nor rhyme, which in accentual languages are virtually indispensable if verse is to be clearly distinguished from prose. If one attempts to scan these two lines, one has:

uu- u- u- uu- uu- u-
uu- u- u- uu- u

The first so-called verse mixes anapaests and iambs according to no discernable rule. But such mixtures have always been considered prose in English, unless they exhibit some alternating or centauric pattern such as uu- u- uu- u- uu-. Certainly this line of Lombardo's sounds like prose, not verse. Traditionally, English verse admits free substitution only of fourth paeons in iambic verse, for only this sounds like verse to English ears, the more so as such mixtures of anapaests and iambs separate the acute accents by an unpredictable (and hence prosy) number of grave accents. Also, mixtures of feet of three different 'times' such as uuu- u- uu- are forbidden, for the pattern is not simple enough to make the line sound like verse; it sounds like prose, but of a somewhat artificial or pretentious kind. Lombardo has many such mixtures, however, and it is fair to say that his translation is in slightly rhythmic prose, not poetry.

The second so-called verse is even worse, because it ends on an isolated grave syllable.

I will say that Lombardo's translation is in more rhythmic prose than Fagle's or Fitzgerald's, and generally his style is slightly less low and contemptible, but there are already much better translations of the Aeneid, such as Fairfax-Taylor's into Spernserian stanzas or Delabere May's blank verse. These are dull and frustrating to read, but at least the form is not offensive.

I refer the reader to my reviews of Dryden's, Fagle's and Fitzgerald's translations of the Aeneid.

Stanley Lombardo really catches the essence of Vergil. I have read parts of Vergil's Aeneid in the original Latin, and I agree with his substance. I have also read Lombardo's translations of Iliad and Odyssey, both excellent. The English is up to date, rhythmic and fluid.

This book gives a lot of good information about where to find deer and how to approach them, but a lot of the information if very basic and is repeated too often. Repetition is good to some degree, but after six or seven times, you just want some new information. Depending on where you hunt, the book gives information on a lot of different terrain. For me, I don't ever plan to hunt some of the terrain he addresses, so it was wasted space. Overall, not a bad book, just pick and choose which chapters you read.

This book is excellent. It is thorough in its description of mule deer behavior and hunting techniques under a wide variety of weather, seasons, and terrrain. Easy to read and well written. If you are interested in hunting mule deer and not just hoping to find one, this is for you.

I bought it as a gift & he really liked it

Although I generally believe in the axiom of "you get what you pay for", this book by Sam Curtis is an expensive lesson in exceptions to that rule. It is not so much that the book is really bad, it's just not very good. He does provide a lot of legitimate information on the biology of the mule deer and its habitat, but many of the conclusions he draws about tactics for hunting them are suspicious at best. I lived in Montana for 15 years and I have hunted extensively in many of the same areas Curtis talks about in the book, . He make HUGE generalizations about mule deer behavior which are supported by a few flimsy observations in the field. Many of these I have found to be arguable at best, and purely wrong at worst. This pattern goes on and on in the book. There are several books that are great resources for the serious mule deer hunter; this is not one of them.

I think Sam Curtis' book is excellent for several reasons. First, Curtis provides an extensive examination of mule deer hunting in different togographical regions. He analyzes how to hunt muleys in foothill/mountain regions, on the Great Plains, in coulees, in alpine areas, and elsewhere. Readers will likely find information relevant to their particular hunting region. Second, Curtis draws on both many years of personal experience as well as professional biological research. The combination provides a nice balance between ancedote and objective facts. Third, Curtis explains a number of very practical tactics to use when hunting muleys in a variety of situations. I found his advice on how to pursue spooked mule deer very helpful. Fourth, the book is clearly written. Finally -- and perhaps most importantly -- Curtis communicates not just disparate facts and tactics about mule deer hunting, but *understanding* of mule deer and their environment -- what their habits are, how they respond to varoius weather patterns and dynamics, how they react to hunting pressure, how bucks function in rut and non-rut times, how they use topography, what their core habitat is, and so on. So many hunting books today are largely 'how to' books; they do not take the extra step of communicating a mentality or cognitive strategy about how to think. Curtis does this admirably. I enjoyed this book as much as I did Dwight Schuh's Hunting Open-Country Mule Deer.

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.

How ridiculous. It's amazing to me that anyone would believe this nonsense. This is obviously a man who is a legend in his own mind. I think he needs help. I am amazed that anyone reads this nonsense.

Excellent story line and extremely important information. Not just the same old rehash of various facts but a real person with real eyewitness information. Information that shows the stark contrast between what we are led to believe and the actual attitudes of those individuals we elect to power. This book is a must read, not only before the election but anytime we want to know what really goes on behind closed doors.

This is a book where the author has put everything on the line in order to get out the truth. It left me speechless. If the world had more people like the author, it would be a much better world.

This is an extremely compelling book that focuses on the actual
eyewitness account of a verifiable whistleblower.

This man "names names" including present Congressman and a
member of the House Judiciary Committee that has committed treason
against this country as well as been instrumental in rigging the voting
system.

Every American that cares about this country (Democrat, Republican, or
Independent) must read this book.

I bought this book after reading about Clint Curtis on the blogs and
hearing about his story. Recently it was released that Mr. Curtis
passed a polygraph test given by one of the most respected polygraphers
in Florida. Mr. Curtis's story has been proven on multiple fronts
and he deserves the appreciation of every American for standing up
against those that strive to extinguish this country's democracy.
Indeed every citizen in any freedom loving country needs to be aware of
what can happen to their country's freedom unless they stay
vigilant.

Super book. It is scary to think of the information that is not made public. Without information like this and people willing to stand up to crooked politicians, this country would be in a much worse shape than it is today. Maybe a book like this can make a difference.

This book did nothing for me and after the third member of an Amish family went against his own priciples I finally put the book down.

The main character Alan was the only person true to his own nature of being jaded and cynical. Alan was beginning to experience a subtle transformation that was believable and held my interest. But the ease in which Susan set aside her own value system to be at Alan's beck and call was uncharacteristic of someone raised in an Amish community.

Sunshine and Shadow is one of those books that will stay with you where the other romances might be forgotten as soon as you finish the novel.

Alan Wilde is a jaded, been-there-done-that, forced-to-act-as-a-child-by-profit-motivated-parents, controlling but successful Hollywood movie director. He hungers for nothing, as he is well off yet his appetite for life is at an all time low. He is spiritless. Nothing can shock or surprise him. That is, not until he meets our heroine Susan Peachy. A pretty young Amish widow full of spirit who can marvel at all the wonders of God such as star gazing at night and laying in the grass observing the busy ants. Even the simplest everyday things we take for granted, such as being able to turn a lamp on and off captivate her attention.

He can't believe that someone so pure and untainted still exists on this earth. Nor can he help but be drawn to her simple goodness & her fresh look at everything that comes her way. When she looks into his eyes, she sees the complete opposite: disillusionment, boredom, sin and badness. But she is drawn to him nonetheless. She knows he's a sinner but sinners can be saved and that's a temptation she cannot resist. She calls him "English" as that is what the Amish refer to any non-Amish people and so in retaliation, he adoringly calls her "Amish". She shows him just by being herself that he does indeed have a soul and this is a book of his awareness of how it is to really live a full life. Life not full of material goods as that is the only world he knew but a life of just good itself.

This is a marvelous love story. Proof that opposites do attract. That good will beat bad. I don't ever recall describing a novel as "beautiful" but Sunshine and Shadow is a warm and beautiful book. It had an almost fairy tale sort of feel to it. Not because the story was unrealistic but because of the way it enchanted me. I was spellbound. If reading this book doesn't bring a little beauty and sunshine into your heart, then you might be as jaded and cynical as our weary hero used to be before Susan Peachy entered his life and changed it forever.

I had seen this book at my neighborhood UBS (used bookstore)for some time now and didn't know what all the hype was about, especially since it is out of print and hardly ever "in" so I decided to pick it up. It was a soulful read, the story was at moments heartbreaking and you sometimes wonder about the intentions of the Hero when he brings the Heroine into his world but the authors wrote this with much respect for the Amish community as well as not taking away from the love that came to be for the Hero and the Heroine. I cannot recommend this one enough, if you are lucky enough to find it... KEEP IT. It was remarkable. If you like this storyline I do also recommend "The Outsider" by Penelope Williamson (which is a historical)

Happy Reading

This is an amazing book - it instantly went on my top ten list. I was initially skeptical about the premise (Hollywood director and Amish woman) but was soon drawn into the story. The Curtises write beautiful, lyrical love stories -- not to mention create a great cast of characters. Sunshine and Shadow, like their other novels, is an absolute delight.

My only question is, when will they write another novel? Most of the other stuff on the market pales in comparison.

This book is told with the same touching poignancy of the WINDFLOWER. Sharon & Tom Curtis have a knack for creating "bad boy" heros you can empathize with and heroines who can redeem them without being annoyingly perfect or unbearably dippy. I found this to be a wonderful story - I only wish it had a sequel...

This product purports to dispense with all those old fashioned "nonsensical" Chinese medicine theories and teach Acupuncture with nice scientific western concepts.

And it purports to do all this in 232 Pages?

Now THAT is nonsensical.

Another expensive pretend book from CRC.

Insightful book that attempts to explain acupuncture from a scientific physiologic bent without the hocus-pocus found in a lot of acupuncture books written today.

After reading a lot of acupuncture books about the weird "pulse diagnosis," the mysterious "chi" (from those Kung Fu movies where the Kung Fu fighters all seem to have superhuman abilities--maybe the NBA should sign them up for a multimillion dollar contract, they should play a mean game of basketball), and those strange chi "meridians" that connect the "triple burner" to the "governor vessel" to the kitchen sink and how acupuncture should only be performed by a man with a red carnation at certain times of the day when the sun and moon and Mercury and Jupiter are in "harmony" with each other under the direction of an astrologist who is wearing green suspenders, I got so sick that I just wanted to vomit.

This book cuts out all those outdated, mystic, superstitious, ideas that were used to explain acupuncture in medieval times, and brings it more into accord with 21st Century thinking grounded on the laws of physics, chemistry and physiology.

It's been a breath of fresh air reading this book.

As a physician, I have found Dr. Dung's approach offers the most logical and reasonable means of understanding and using acupuncture as a pain relieving modality for everyday clinical practice. A simple review of a bit of gross anatomy (emphasizing the peripheral nervous system) is recommended. Any well motivated and prudent physician can begin using this information fairly rapidly and will soon see that allegiance to "Yin/Yang" theory and other philosophical constructs is unnecessary. Neuromodulation is based on basic science research and is the logical basis of this wonderful (but underutilized) modality. I highly recommend this book to any physician/dentist who has had interest in acupuncture but was turned off by the metaphysical baggage it has carried (until now).

I am an actively practicing Osteopathic Family Physician. I incorporate a lot of manipulation and trigger point injections into my practice. I have been studying acupuncture (Traditional Chinese Medicine) now for about six months. TCM acupuncture is difficult for my western trained brain to grab a hold of and to be able to put into practical application. Anatomical Acupuncture is a breath of fresh air. This is a book that I, again as a western trained physician, can immediately grasp and immediately implement in my own clinical practice. I have already begun treating a few select patients based on what I learned in this book and am already seeing postive clinical outcomes. I highly recommend this book to you. You won't be disappointed. Well worth the investment.

A very good book to anyone that desires to acquire a good glimmer about the subject of Near Earth Objects and their threat to our civilization.

It covers all aspects from technical to politics and is a real tribute to many dedicated professionals and amateurs astronomers, geologist and others various scientists which are making history in asteroid and comets hunting. It also make me disapointed to know that the Southern hemisphere, were I live, is like a blind concerning the NEOs search effort.

Only one aspect prevent me too score 5 stars: In my opinion, the too long discussion on chapter 8 about he streetlights issue of San Diego.

A wonderful start book for anyone who intend to initiate in the NEOs study.

Although it's a little dry in places and could use some more illustrations and a few more photographs, the book does a decent job of introducing the reader to the history of asteroids, their discoverers, the implications for mass extinctions on earth, and the efforts being taken today to detect them and deflect them before they have a chance to make a bad impression.

Once upon a time, asteroids were "the vermin of the skies," as Peebles indicates. However, with the success of the NEAR mission and with concerns over the cataclysmic effects of asteroid impacts making their way even into popular culture, they are of great interest today.

The book lives up to the title, providing a very brief background on the birth of modern astronomy with Kepler and Galileo before getting to the discovery of the first asteroids. The first clue was the large gap between Mars and Jupiter, where astronomers in the 1700s began looking for a missing planet. By early in the next century, they'd found several, though they were all too small. And by the early 1900s, astronomers were getting a little tired of them, there were so many (about 2,000).

Skipping up to modern times, we now have dedicated instruments that are all but swamping the system with findings: The Lincoln Near-Earth Asteroid Research (LINEAR) project, using automated techniques, found over 25,000 new asteroids in less than two years.

Peebles also focuses on different categories of asteroids, since not all are found between Earth and Mars: some approach the Earth (sometimes unnervingly closely), while others, in the Kuiper Belt, are beyond the orbit of Neptune. The discovery of each of these classes is described in separate chapters as well as, when appropriate, the theory behind the formation of each and how it was developed.

Two chapters serve as something of footnotes, one on the different sources of asteroid names (dead astronomers, Greek mythology, places, etc.), and the other on the controversy in San Diego over streetlighting. The latter seems somewhat out-of-place in this book, though the story is worth telling: basically, there was a great fight over whether the city should install streetlights with a low impact on the nearby Palomar Observatory or a higher impact. The former were disliked by some due to their orangish, unflattering lighting. To make a long story short, the astronomers win in the short-run but lose in the long-run as a new administration comes in and, at significant expense, votes to install the high-impact lighting. Peebles does not describe the resulting effects at Mt. Palomar, which is a great absence from the book and effectively undercuts much of his argument.

The final chapters cover the potential for asteroid impacts, the discovery of Shoemaker-Levy 9 and its subsequent impact on Jupiter, and the possibility of defending against impacts.

Some minor goofs: Minor Planet Center director Brian Marsden (one of the most significant figures in modern solar system astronomy) is referred to as "Bruce Marsden" once, and the NASA administrator during the Challenger disaster, James Beggs, is consistently referred to as "Biggs."

My only other criticism is that the recounting gets a little tedious at times: asteroid X is discovered, then asteroid Y, then asteroid Z, and so on. But that would be a little hard to avoid in this sort of history, and Peebles manages to provide enough background, covering theory, techniques, and historical circumstances, to stay out of that rut most of the time.

It's an excellent book for those interested in the topic.

An outstanding introductory and reference work on the current thinking behind the asteroid phenomenon, including the controversies over naming, geological studies etc. Covers in some depth the main periods of asteroid discovery, from visual to photographic to automated. Also deals briefly with issues of asteroid origin; a very interesting discussion of the analysis of "groups" of asteroids, identified by similarities in their orbital elements, as well as interesting treatment of Jupiter's effects on sweeping out lanes in the asteroid belt. Excellent treatment of the NEA threat, from its inception up through the SL-9 impact.

Quirky treatment of light pollution in the middle of the book, in the context of the naming phenomenon (an asteroid was named for the city of San Diego after a light pollution ordinance was passed, but later rescinded, though the asteroid kept its name). It was an interesting discussion, and a story that deserves to be told, but didn't belong in the middle of this book.