Francis Books

I'm recommending this book to all my clients. It provides a 'scientific' confirmation of parents' inner wisdom, and many people need that.
Trusting and knowing how to access our own best instincts (and sometimes that instinct is to seek help from a professional or other outside source) are solid and effecive parenting tools. I'm glad to have more confirmation that learning to express love and affection in all its many forms to our offspring is the essence of good parenting.
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I've found this book a great insight to many areas of human brain development and all its "issues".
This book should be read in conjunction with many other books which also look at psychology. I do not feel this book will answer questions standing on its own as you will get a one sided view - as in the author talks about her situations within her life. But in saying that MANY people will relate to what she is talking about and many people will find her scientific information very interesting.
I enjoyed this book and found that I was able to explain to many others who "poo poo" our parenting methods the reasons why...but you will always need more information so don't stop at just this wonderful book.

Everyone has seen a mother kiss her infant. Who would have thought such a simple gesture would be needed--very much needed.

Gerhardt explores all the recent scientific research on infant brain growth, and has come up with a book that's desperately needed.

Mothers who are angry, depressed, or cold, can alter the actual structure and growth of their child's expanding brain. "Early experience has a great impact on the baby's physiological systems, because they are so unformed and delicate...Even the growth of the brain itself...may not progress adequately if the baby doesn't have the right conditions to develop" (p 19).

There are some scary facts here. Mothers who do not adequately love and interact with their children create babies with a smaller than usual prefrontal cortex, babies likely to grow up to suffer from depression and social problems.

Another consequence of poor mothering can be narcissistic personality disorder (p 157).

One third of our children today are born illegitimate. How many of those poor mothers can cope, work jobs, and provide a truly loving and interactive home for their children?

An excellent source of information for everyone. Would be extremely helpful for mothers-to-be. Helps you understanding your developmental psychology. Gives you more information on you and why you turned out the way you did. Should be required reading for high school students who will be parents of the future. It would give them a better overview on how to interact with their children in a more positive way.

This book really opened my eyes to the fundamentals of brain development in infancy. I had no idea how much the actual physiology of the brain is affected by infant experience, not just the psychological. Sources are well cited, ideas are well backed up in scientific research, and the information is presented in a way which benefits lay readers as well as researchers (with an introduction about brain structure and development).

I suggest every parent-to-be get a hold of this book. One reviewer was dissapointed by the lack of specific exercises to play with. However, I don't think they are necessary because this book gives specifics about why certain strategies affect infants. I think understanding why certain types of parenting work better than others makes parents more likely to come up with the kind of adaptive spontaneous strategies which come out of such a way of thinking. You could also check out Brazelton for more specific info about exercises to do with your baby.

As a side note, once you read this book and make decisions about parenting based on the exhaustive research cited within, you will not only feel more confident about your parenting, but you will be able to defend against attacks from helpful but persistent grandparents, in-laws, and friends - should you want to engage in such discussions.

All three stories were well written. These stories deserve their own stand alone novel! They were great. All the stories pulled you in and you hated to see the characters go! I would love to hear more about Erin and Raimi as well as Tre' and Dr. Summer Lane.

All three stories were great. Francis Ray's story was about Samantha Clark, a former manager of a bed and breakfast. Samantha answer an ad for a housekeeping position and never expects to find the handsome Ethan Rawlins, a man still in pain. Shirley Hailstock's story is about a woman that was hurt when her prom date stood her up. Now he has returned and she is trying to fight the attraction that still lingers. Donna Hill's story is about a radio relationship expert that has no relationship of her own, when she meets the handsome program director, will all of that change?

If you only had one wish for Christmas, what would it be? Would it be something materialistic, or would it be to find love with that special someone, on the day that is set aside to celebrate the birth of the one who is the epitome of unwavering love? In WINTER NIGHTS, an anthology with stories from such notable authors as Francis Ray, Donna Hill and Shirley Hailstock, we are treated to three endearing stories of true love at its finest.

Though each story was your typical romance with the happily ever after ending, the authors managed to portray deep emotions that have you rooting for the characters as they embark on that often bumpy, but ultimately rewarding, road to love and happiness. Next time you're feeling blue and need a little something to bring a smile to your face, or you want to escape from the pressures of life, pick up a copy of the newly re-released WINTER NIGHTS. You're sure to come away with a full heart and the knowledge that true love really does conquer all.

Reviewed by Renee Williams
of The RAWSISTAZ™ Reviewers

Again my girl Ray out did herself with another great read! "Winter Nights" kept me up all night! I encourage everyone to go out and get a copy. They even have it in paperback now!

Francis Ray's, "Until Christmas" is a touching novella about a young woman who not only touched the heart of the high school principal, Ethan Rawlings, but Samantha also won the hearts of Ethan's twins, Alan and Alex. Samantha, aka "Sam," was hired as a combination housekeeper, babysitter temporarily, but only until Christmas. At least, that is what Ethan told the twins and Sam, as well as himself. However, it was much too late for all of them to abide by this decision. Each was starved for the other's affections and each had become too attached to give up. The twins, not only saw Sam as their housekeeper/babysitter, but they saw her as a friend. She could play ball and was not afraid of their dog. The twins' affection went deeper still. Although they were in contact with their grandmother, they were still minus a mother figure. Sam with her winning ways, not only because she was a good cook and let them help her in the kitchen, but because it was who she was, had become special to them and they wanted her with them full time. Not only had Sam become special to them and the twins had become special to Sam, but Sam had also affected the twins' dad. Ethan's feelings for Sam were more than that of an employer, more than that of a friend. Somehow, in that short time, Sam had imbedded herself into Ethan's heart. Was he willing to allow a new love interest into his life or was he still shadowed by the deceit and experience of his ex-wife and the deceased mother of his twins. Ethan thought he had a solution to the problem when he reluctantly agreed to keep Sam, "but only until Christmas." However, love does not have a set time to go away. Therefore, until Christmas, turned out to a lifetime of love for Sam, Ethan, Alan and Alex. "Until Christmas" was the best. Way to go, Ms. Ray.

"Kwanzaa Angel" was a sweet remembrance into the past with a chance to correct the future. Erin had been hurt in the past by Raimi, who had reentered her life. Would Erin give in to her feelings that never dissolved for Raimi and become involved in a new relationship or would she revert back into the past? "Kwanzaa Angel" was about the Kwanzaa celebration, but with a twist of love for Erin and Raimi. Good story.

"'Round Midnight" was about the New Year's celebration. I loved the story of Dr. Summer Lane, the psychologist who now has a job at the radio station as a counselor on the air. Her show airs around midnight. It is at the radio station where Summer meets Tre Holland, one of the bosses. Everyone thinks Summer is a snow or ice maiden because Summer stays to herself and does not socialize with the others. However, Tre is attracted to Summer and sets out to melt the snow. Summer also has feelings for Tre and wants the ice to melt from around her heart. However, after getting together, somewhere while the ice is melting another freeze comes along and the ice around Summer's heart becomes another block of ice. Summer and Tre suffer heartship and are temporarily separated. Tre sets out to recapture Summer's love and to permanently melt the ice. He knows a new year will be approaching and is determined to be in Summer's life when the new year begins. So, he sets out around midnight to make it happen. Will Tre succeed in his endeavor? Read "'Round Midnight" and see what the New Year has in store for Summer and Tre. Great story with just the right amount of heat.

I bought this volume of stories simply to get a copy of Fitzgerald's "May Day" which I'd read in one of my college texts and then could not find for years. I have always felt that "May Day" would make a superb film--and the screenwriter could lift most of the dialogue right out of the story. It is that good and simple and dramatic. Actually every one of the stories in this collection is first rate. Here is Fitzgerald, only in his 20's, writing of American aspirations before, during and after World War I. And no one wrote about this subject better than he did. The characters are rich and complex, all of them dissatisfied with the bones that life has thrown them, all of them desiring what others have. The reader sees their foibles and loves them anyway. These are not perfect people. They are real people in a time of trouble--fighting, most of them, simply to stay afloat in a world changing faster than anyone would have thought possible. I cannot recommend these brilliant stories highly enough. There is also a brief life and appreciation of Fitzgerald in this lovely Scribner edition.

The literary voice of the ninteen-twenties' "Jazz Age," F. Scott Fitzgerald was out of step with the grimmer thirties. Facing his wife's insanity, increasing alcoholism, and his own obsolesence as a writer, the stories collected here show Fitzgerald facing his demons in bracingly honest prose. If "Crazy Sunday" and the other tales of the adventures of Pat Hobby, down-and-out screenwriter, feel a bit like autobiographical wallow, and "Family In The Wind," about a doctor in the midst of a country tornado, is an interesting if uncharacteristic journey into Steinbeck country, it's the title story of the collection that's worth the price of admission.
Charlie Wales is an ex-broker, returned to Paris after all the good times have gone, with only the goal of regaining custody of his daughter after the death of his wife. A thinly veiled take on Fitzgerald's own troubled relations with daughter Scottie after wife Zelda's madness, it's at once a suspenseful, moving, and lyrical story. All his powers are at work here, as if he knew this was his last shot at literary immortality, and he was just about right.

The Book of Revelations in the New Testament is the most likely source from which F. Scott Fitzgerald draws his "Babylon Revisited". In Revelations, Babylon the Great (also an ancient Near Eastern city of materialism and sexual excess) is the `mother of whores' and the source of all evil in the Roman Empire. She is said to have been defeated by God and judged for her excessive sin. Upon her destruction, the saints rejoice while the merchants and hedonistic pleasure seekers morn. Symbolism abounds in this revision of the timeless tale and the choice of Fitzgerald's title could not be more appropriate.

Charlie himself is the regeneration of Babylon. During the economic boom of the 20's, Charlie and his wife lived life to its fullest and most shallow degree. They partied until sunup. They squandered wealth. We even get the impression that there was a significant amount of infidelity existing on both sides. As with Babylon, Charlie is punished: The stock market crash in 1929 liberates him of a fortune, "his child [is] taken from his control, [and] his wife escaped to a grave in Vermont."

As with Babylon, Charlie's fall had its rejoicers and mourners. Marion, his wife's bereaved sister, saw Charlie's fall as an opportunity to gain control of his child, and with sincere intentions rid her family of the sinner. Though she doesn't expressly rejoice in her brother-in-laws demise, she does blame him for her sister's death and understands why his life has turned out askew. Duncan and Lorraine, on the other hand, mourned the loss of their sinister partner in indulgence.

This story is complete with all of the historic reference and symbolism that has come to define F. Scott Fitzgerald. What a fantastic, unbelievably creative writer. It's amazing how timeless his writings are, and "Babylon Revisited" is the perfect example of that fact. It really makes you think about your own life.

The king of the 1920's Lit World wrote short stories for big money in Scribner's Magazine, Collier's, Esquire, and Saturday Evening Post. His first novel made him famous, This Side of Paradise, but his subsequent novels including The Great Gatsby sold meagerly. Zelda and Scott went through dough like drunken sailors, so Scott wrote short stories for a quick buck. This group of stories is among his best and though some or all were written commercially, Scott's talent was so huge that they rival his chief competitor's: Hemingway, Parker, Anderson, and Larder in charm and precision.

Above all, Fitzgerald is charming. The drunken rich boys of May Day are close to the authors experience and poignantly revealing. Scott was the son of a failed businessman. His mother's family was well to do and Scott associated with rich beauties that seemed always just beyond a snow covered golf course as in Winter Dreams. His experience with his future wife, Zelda Sear, an Alabama debutante is cloaked in fantasy in Ice Palace. Surely newlyweds are surprised to find they have married strangers. In that there is no secret, but Fitzgerald gives his bride a hysterical nightmare in a St Paul carnival ice maze. The reader loves Sally Carrol and is genuinely caught up in her dilemma of Minnesota in-laws and a suddenly stern husband.

Fitzgerald was a dreamer and The Diamond As Big As the Ritz is a parable about a family so rich, and so self-centered in their luxuries, they murder their guests less the secret of the their wealth be known. In an era where a million dollars could buy a country, Fitzgerald's fascination with success and the rich permeates his work.

F. Scott Fitzgerald is one of our greatest writers. He is best known today for his many wonderful novels, especially The Great Gatsby. As time has passed, his marvelous magazine stories have faded from sight . . . even though those were more widely read than his novels when they were written.

In Babylon Revisited: And Other Stories you will deepen your understanding of the novels . . . and of their author in these often semi-autobiographical tales. The best stories have as much impact as any of the novels in a spare exposition that adds to their power.

Each story deals with the same general theme: We live on hope which is based on illusions about reality. When faced with reality, we happily escape into new hopes based on different illusions. We are sort of like Peter Pan: We don't want to grow up.

The theme comes across with startling persuasiveness as Fitzgerald unpeels the many forms of hopeful illusions that will seem familiar to every reader.

The stories build chronologically across the backdrop of the United States after World War I in the 20's and 30's. That shift in authorship times also inadvertently adds the drama of seeing how the psychology of the young and educated changed as American went from mindless boom to seemingly unending bust.

Fitzgerald has a rich imagination to makes his world open up for readers so that you can feel both the physical sensations and the emotions of the characters . . . and become the characters while you are reading.

The stories themselves have that delightful quality of exaggeration that makes his points indelible.

The Ice Palace explores a Southern beauty's pursuit of an advantageous marriage in the frozen tundra of Minnesota in winter. May Day recounts the pursuit of pleasure and accomplishment by those of various social classes and beliefs. The Diamond as Big as the Ritz is a wild tale of a mythical place and the consequences of unlimited wealth. Winter Dreams deals with the painful consequences of acting on the illusions of romantic love. Absolution is an amazing story about how we can carelessly end up being untrue to God and ourselves. The Rich Boy considers how being rich and powerful can get in the way of being close to others. The Freshest Boy looks at being an awkward teenage boy and how he came to make peace with the world. Babylon Revisited shows how our mistakes can come home to roost after we believe we are invulnerable. Crazy Sunday is an astonishing look at the psychology of how we connect to one another through others. The Long Way Out is about a woman who suffers from a mental collapse and is now ready to return to her husband . . . when fate steps in.

My favorite stories in the book are May Day, The Diamond as Big as the Ritz, The Freshest Boy, Babylon Revisited and Crazy Sunday.

If you haven't read these stories before, you have a great treat ahead of you. If you can find a copy of George Guidall's narration for Recorded Books, your pleasure will be even greater.

This is a concise and easy to understand book on the catholic faith. Read it and know it better.

This book was recommended to me by my Spiritual Confessor as a book to be studied on a daily basis. He said that is should be well understood and memorized. What I really love about this book is that it's question and answer format along with commentary and Scriptural references makes our Catholic Traditions easily understandable. Since it is a question and answer format I can also take a couple of questions a day and memorize them. This is an ideal book for New Catholics as well as Cradle Catholics. This is a great investment for the price.

The Baltimore Catechism No. 3 with Mass, Father Connell's Confraternity Edition, is one of the best catechisms you'll ever find. Clear and concise, this book can be trusted to contain the fullness of the truth, the Catholic Faith, without adulteration. These aren't just dry questions and answers; rather, each answer is detailed, expounded upon, and exercises are provided at the end of each Chapter/Lesson. A must-have for every Catholic library!

We older Catholics have labored through countless liturgical and attitudinal changes in our churches' dogma since Vatican II. Recently, my daughter asked me if there were anything she could read that spelled out the basic tenets of the Catholic faith.

Being less than connected to the faith myself anymore, I remembered the Catechism I was forced to learn as a youth, along with the simplicity and surety it inspired. I ordered it and I am glad I did. Classical in its simplicity and earnestness, it is a return to the roots of the basic belief system that no one ever seems to discuss anymore.

I have seen all the catechisms out there, and this is the very best! It is the most complete and the most educational and also has beautiful artwork (with explanations) and a comprehensive prayer section added to the original edition. It is great for adults and young adults, including high school students.

This thorough but not exhaustive work (like the bible) of the flow of biblical history in the book of Genesis is hard to put down----it's that good. All main areas are covered. Where Schaeffer brings in controversy he gives us fair warning. This book should be read as a unity with "No Final Conflict". "If we won't listen, we won't understand."

There is a basic mystery that holds true, that we came into being: 1. from nothing to something 2. everything began with an impersonal something 3. everything began with a personnel something, or 4. there is and always has been a dualism; there are no other choices, and 1,2, and 4 quickly erode when analyzed. The bible gives us structure, without it we are only left with an "existential leap"----a blind faith. Schaeffer says, "we who are finite can never exhaust the finite". Yes, even the finite.

Wish you well and blessings
Scott

This was my first Schaeffer book, so I was unsure of what to expect. I consider myself rather picky with regard to religious subject matter. Mr. Schaeffer's book was enjoyable, and I will try another one. While "Genesis" did not really have any significant new ideas, it was well communicated and easy to follow, even for laymen or the casual reader.

If you are unfamiliar with Genesis and the conservative approach to its interpretation, this is a good book. It is not scholarly or philosophical, in my opinion, but it remains substantial - which many people will find refreshing.

This is a great book for all Christians to read. It puts creation back into perspective and establishes all the solid biblical proof for why creation had to exist in both space and time. Unbelievers will scoff but in this book believers will be reminded of who they are and where they came from.

One of Schaeffer's best that I have read.He looks at the start of time for us not God, since God is eternal.It really made me stop and think. Also to look at Genesis in a whole new way

Francis A. Schaeffer (1912-84) was an American Evangelical theologian and philosopher whose works were very influential on Evangelical thinking. In this fascinating book, Dr. Schaeffer takes a look at the first eleven chapters of the book of Genesis, which many Christian thinkers seem to find irrelevant to a truly Christian worldview. On the contrary, Dr. Schaeffer shows that the early history of man, as contained in the beginning of Genesis, is crucial to understanding why man is the way he is, and how God works with and through man.

I must say that this is a truly mind-expanding book that goes a long way towards giving the reader a truly Christian view of the man and the world that he inhabits. I mean, how is man "fallen," and what was and is his relationship with God? These are crucial questions to understanding the very foundational concepts of our religion, and the answers are contained in this book.

This is a great book, and a true classic of Christian thought. I do not hesitate to say should be read by all believers.

If I could have just one book on map collecting this would be it. The book is an enjoyable read, and written in a crystal clear fashion. The book contains much essential information for collectors: map terminology, printing methods, translation of common phrases into English, how to judge condition, and blunt advice on the workings of the marketplace. All of this plus great reference material on map makers, styles, and periods. I've had this book for several years now and find myself reaching for it time and again. Thank you Dr. Manasek!

Got this book for Christmas and read the whole thing through. Unlike other map reference books in my collection, I actually read this one cover to cover! It is a remarkable book and the author shares what is a vast knowledge with us in a very unusual and direct way. The illustrations are really great and there are lots of them. Where else, for example, can you learn the names of the different parts of a folding map, with each part illustrated with real examples? Every page seems to have several. It is a big and very beautiful book. I will now go and re-read it.

A book of substance. "Collecting Old Maps" really deals with the subject and is not a watered-down survey of old maps someone thinks we should collect. This book breaks with the old way map books were written and is a refreshing "out of the box" way to look at old map collecting. There is no other book like it and I don't know where else one can get the information that is in here. Very well written, a delight to read and not dumbed-down. There is even some sly humor in here! I agree with the earlier reviews so there is no point in repeating everything they said.

Love the book! Well written and very informative. I agree with the previous reviewers. I thank the autor.

This is truly an outstanding book. It is exceptionally well-written and the number of illustrations is exceptional. Unlike most map books, this one uses illustrations to make specific points about maps, as well as to show what the map looks like. There is a huge amount of information in here - including such things as illustrated details about pocket map construciton, microscope pictures of paper, information about acids (for the non-chemist!) and a wonderful section of over a hundred maps, one per page, arranged chronologically. I found the CollectingOldMaps website a very valuable collateral since it shows up-to-date prices for all the maps in the book. The readability and info in this book make it a bargain - it is beautiful, also!

Very well written
Extrodinary life of Lois Gibson
I would recommend it to all

I sat down and read the entire book in one night, it was a Christmas gift from my husband. It ranks as one of the top 5 books I've ever read, and I am an avid reader. It was excellent, raw human emotion, but at the same time, like talking to a girlfriend. I just loved it. I felt a strange sense of inadequacy after reading it, like I wasn't doing enough in my own life. It really made me stop and think about my own life. If you get satisfaction out of watching "Forensic Files", "The New Detectives", "America's Most Wanted" and the like, then you will love this book. Lois is an author with a rare combination of sass, softness & wisdom - she knows her stuff but still makes you remember she's a mom and wife.

Truly amazing book. If you are interested in Forensic Art, Compositry or are just a crime story buff who loves to see the bad guys get caught, read this. It's an easy read and completely engrossing.

The Faces of Evil is a very compelling book about how a tenacious forensic artist can help to put murderers, kidnappers, and rapists behind bars. The story of Lois Gibson is a very interesting one, as a victim of a violent crime herself, she brings much more when she visits when a crime victim than a person who was not a crime victim.

Lois Gibson fell into becoming a forensic artist. Her early training was drawing portaits at an amusement park. In her early career she spent time specializing in portraits, not foresenics. She would go on to pester the police department until she could prove that she could draw someone from description. Once allowed to do this, she proved she could do the job. While she wasn't immediately hired on at the Houston police department she would convince them to hire her full time, and later they did so.

She has drawn pictures of many different criminals that the end result was bringing many different criminals to justice. At times these pictures were the only way to bring in criminals. She has helped to catch abusive parents, murderers of children, rapists, and so much more. This is a story of one woman's journey to aide the public is solving crimes as well as a personal story of what can happen if you set your mind to succeede.

Welcome true crime lovers to an inside treatment of a forensic artists' skill and tenacity in bringing down the bad guys. It is refreshing to see that some very special people are out there fighting crime, one stroke at a time. Together with the Houston Police department, this forensic artist is taking her brush against crime. The story is well written and insightful. Don't miss this exciting inside account of what is good about our law enforcement professionals!

Francis Turretin's Institutes of Elenctic Theology

This large 3 volume work is a gold mine of precise and careful thought. Turretin has been the object of odium in some (even Reformed) theological circles, but the one who takes time to read Turretin will find such sentiment to be unwarranted. Turretin was not a rationalist, merely rational. He was a seventeenth century Reformed pastor and theologian who clearly articulated Reformed doctrine in the midst of those who were opposing such doctrine. I have found Turretin to be biblical in his doctrine, delicate and precise in his thought, clear in his articulation, and powerful in his argumentation.

Turretin organized his Institutes into 20 topics (loci) that range from "Prolegomena" (that is, very necessary introductory considerations) to "The Last Things." Each topic (locus) is organized by specific questions. For example, locus 20 is divided into 13 questions. Question 2 reads, "Are the same bodies numerically which have died to be raised again? We affirm against the Socinians." Turretin raised this particual question because he wanted to defend the biblical doctrine of the bodily resurrection from an error that was being taught in his day. Turretin's theology is indeed elenctic (that is, polemic or argumentitive), for a great portion of his Institutes is written against the Roman Catholics, Arminians, Socinians, Anabaptists, and others. Turretin's Institutes is not merely a negative work (exposing the errors of unbiblical doctrine), but is positive. He builds up and defends biblical doctrine in every locus.

As for the edition, Dr. Dennison has blessed us all in editing and indexing the whole work. He has also provided a 19 page biography of Turretin, the message given at Turretin's funeral, and a short biography of George Giger (the translator). These volumes are sturdy and will last for decades.

As for the translation, this edition is a publication of George M. Giger's translation of the Institutes. Giger died in 1865 having produced this translation at the behest of Charles Hodge. The translation strikes me as unduly bulky and difficult at times, yet clear and quite understandable at others. There are other translations of particular loci, but one cannot find the entire work in English except in this translation.

Francois Turtetin's _Institutes of Elenctic Theology_ is arguably the most systematic and nuanced works of High Calvinist Scholasticism. A copy should grace every serious historical (and systematic) theologian's bookshelf no matter what the theological tradition. (Personal disclosure: I am an "orthodox" Thomist and a Catholic priest.) Easy 5 stars.
That said, this translation needs revision and a new edition. G. M. Giger (Prof. of Classics at Princeton Univ.) whipped off this translation at the request of Charles Hodge in the 1850s. It was kept hidden behind the charge desk at Princeton Seminary so that Hodge's Latin-defective students could consult it when they tried to puzzle through the Latin original. Although some corrections and enendations have been made, this translation bears the marks of its hasty origins and is mostly a typescript of Giger's hand-written manuscript.
While the editors are to be commended for tracking down the citations to Church Fathers and a handful of famous writers, for whom they usually also include indication of modern translations, little has been done to identify Turretin's citations the the hundreds of contemporary authors (Catholic and protestant). These authors' names are left in their Latin dress: "Toletanus" "Bannes" "Sixtus Sennensis" etc. The editors needed a copy of Huerter's _Nomenclator_ and so does the user. A shame because Turretin's wide and ecumenical reading is one of the strong points of his work.
One would hope that a future edition will track down who the all the authors cited and add indication of their books and the pages in point. Knock off two stars (sorry).

You can't go wrong with Turretin. This is one of the best Systematic theologies you could ever buy. Makes much of the current stuff seem quite fluffy!

I really loved it! Wasn't by grace that Turretin was called "the best systematizer of the reformed doctrine in the world! This is a wonderful set, with a good translation, well arranged, theologically sound and deep but devotional/experimental as well. A great addition to the library of the serious students of the God's Word! If you are an overseas customer, Amazon.com has the best price (already including shipping costs)on this set on anywhere of the Internet!May God raise up more theologians as Turretin in our age!

Turretin has, arguably, the best systematic understanding of scripture ever. He draws on the foundations that Calvin built and makes irrefutable arguments. Baptists should take note of his arguments for baptizing infants. He makes an argument unlike any other I have seen. If you read Turretin honestly, you will see the genius of this man's mind in his 3 volumes.

His elenctic approach means that he sets out to refute his opponents in order to prove his own position. I think the modern reader may find some of his wording cumbersome, but, like Owen, he is worth plowing through.

He unifies his systematic theology by the use of theology proper. Inman (Westminster PhD) has done a good service of bringing out the rich covenantal strain in Turretin's works.

This book is ahead of its time in looking at the link between environment and humanity, and what happens to us when nature suffers. It illumintes the blow to all living things that takes place when the earth suffers. The final section on the interface between western medicine and Navaho healing could be a stand-alone book.

In his book Living in the Borderland, Jungian Analyst Jerome Bernstein provides a fascinating account of the development of the Western ego from an historical interpretation of the Bible down to our present post-Cold War environment. The author posits that this development has moved the Western psyche away from its roots in Nature into an ever more abstracted intellectual consciousness. As the human species approaches the very real potential for self-annihilation through nuclear assault and ultimate environmental degradation, an evolutionary shift in psychic consciousness has begun, a shift that appears in a growing number of individuals. In a Darwinian sense, it is an evolutionary manifestation of species survival. This shift is evidenced as the psyche's reconnection with Nature, to Nature in all its forms, animate and inanimate, that over the millennia the collective Western ego has neglected as it has developed increasingly toward abstraction of thought and the illusion of control. Through the years of his therapeutic practice Bernstein has seen many patients who are exhibiting this psychic shift. He calls these people Borderlanders, they live in a borderland between rational intellect and an emerging transrational consciousness.

For some Borderlanders, this awareness of the transrational as a dominant and controlling force in the psyche can be traumatic, not infrequently causing the individual to worry that he or she may be "crazy." Traditional psychological approaches to therapy often exacerbate this fear in that most therapists are unaware of the "normalcy" of this evolutionary shift in consciousness. They therefore tend to consider their Borderland patients as suffering from a psychic pathology. And herein is a major emphasis of this book: to alert psychological and medical practitioners as well as the patients themselves, that certain patients' experiences, while evidencing symptoms of psychic trauma, may not be pathological. The situation is often complicated, however, when a patient may evidence psychological illness that is genuinely symptomatic of traumatic experience, yet is unrelated to a patient's borderland consciousness. In this case it is the formidable task of the therapist to differentiate the pathological from the new evolutionary consciousness that is beginning to manifest.

The book is extremely well researched and thoroughly documented with personal testimonials, bibliographic references, and case studies, and contains an exhaustive bibliography. It is essential reading for all psychotherapists and medical practitioners and their patients, and is especially relevant to those suffering from or treating environmental illness. Individuals interested in Jungian psychology and early childhood educators who may be encountering this psychic phenomenon among children will find the guidance of this book invaluable.

Reviewed by Mari Graña, writer. Santa Fe, NM

This author clearly describes what constitutes a Borderland Personality and the effect having access to non-ordinary states of consciousness may have on the lives of individuals. The description of his work as a Jungian Analyst, also utilizing Navajo healing modalities expands the horizons of Western psychotherapy. I was interested in the differentiation between dissociation occurring as the result of personal trauma and the transition into Borderland states. He addresses this issue by noting that Borderland Personalities find acceptance of their Borderland states by a healing professional extremely healing in itself and that these states are experienced as sacred. Bernstein also utilizes his own countertransferential bodily sensations as clues. I found his hypothesis that Borderland Personalities' intimate experiences of nature such as communication with animals represents an evolutionary correction to the human ego's development and split from nature, especially in the West, interesting.

There are lots of reviews listed here which endeavor to summarize Mr. Bernstein's book. I found his thesis thoughtful and revolutionary, and comforting..since I've considered myself a borderlander for years. His treatment de-pathologizes us space cadets who have been shocked into retreating from the harsh cultural milleau of American society into an unworldly misty place. Spending time in Nature is often our only calming option.

At the same time, living in a borderland brings with it...it seems to me...a peculiar paralysis in dealing with economic and other social realities we can't avoid. It can be a form of escape from lovelessness and confusion which stifles the ego. Egolessness is not the answer, in my own opinion for healthy individuation and living a life of purpose.

I would complement Bernstein's book with Richard Lind's "The Seeking Self" and Greg Mogenson's book, "A Most Accursed Religion" to help reframe our view of ourselves and the Universe/God. Individuation requires that we be able to take responsibility for ourselves and maturing. Is it really a God we are experiencing in breaking the gateways between ego and the Unconscious, or is it the destruction of consciousness and ego?

Great read though. Don't miss it!

This is an important work, both in a psychological and cultural sense. Bernstein is writing about "Borderland" personalities and environmental illness but these two issues also relate to a sea change going on below the surface of the Western psyche. Bernstein is one of a very small number of people who is trying to track this sea change -- pointing us to its possibilities and its potential dangers. Living in the Borderland is a big picture book that dares to ask the really important cultural questions of our day.

I must prepare sermons weekly, so I look for books like this to help lay a framework for this task. The insights in the book are brilliant and easily confirmed through experience. To the more orthodox Christian and evangelical preacher I would say that if you are thoughtful and discerning with Peterson's material, you need not fear preaching heresy.

Other Amazon reviewers go into more description about the contents of the book than I will. But I endorse the book highly and am glad for the profound insights provided by the author.

I am going to take Prof. Peterson's "personality and its transformation" class next semester......expecting and excited............
This is a brilliant book, thought provoking and challenging...challenging not in the sense that the language is hard to read, but the thinkings involved are profound and require an open mind to understand and appreciate. Great Work...

Despite the shortcomings that have been adressed in the other reviews and that I must agree with, they don't overshadow the many bright and brilliant insights this book has to offer. Moreover, I think the former have much more to do with the technical side and presentation of the thesis than the content side of it, which stands strong, convincing and elegant nonetheless.

To put the latter (well, some of it) in a nutshell - it deals with adaptation, change and learning as it occures in the relation of culture and individual human beings from the comparative viewpoint of mythology and modern scientific knowledge. Having a background of neuropsychology and drawing extensively on thinkers like Piaget, Jung, Eliade and Nietzsche, J. Peterson builds an overarching framework that shows each individual as an active agent at the inexhaustible and laborous construction-site of his own cognitive structures, which is equipped with the tools but not the buildings provided by culture. Each step that is made there towards constructing a viable re-presentational model (a worldview) is a temporary equilibrium and unique synthesis achieved between the dual (inseparable) archetypal principles of order (The Great Father) and chaos (The Great Mother). To the like of a ropedancer, the maintenance of balance between them requires one to constantly shift between the opposing poles - to work out fixed and ordered patterns of thought and corresponding behaviour (or vice versa) on every level of experience on the one hand, on the other - to maintain a degree of flexibility to reorganize in time the existing patterns whenever the changing demands of changing environment make it necessary. Ability to successfully answer this dual challange constitutes the essence of the Hero archetype, a mediator between the Great Mother and Fother. However,
if this balance is not sustained, the system will either plunge into chaos which individually corresponds to psychosis and socially to anarchy, or over-compensates this risk by building impenetrable walls that, while protecting from the forces of chaos, at the same time "wall in" the system and cut it off from any impulse for change and development, and thus from its own sources. In either way, a pathology has occured that necessitates the emergence of the hero, who would heal the sickness first in himself and then in the culture by spreading the self-tested knowledge of cure.

This is certainly an interactional view that doesn't seem to be much cherished nor shared by the narrow "scientificism" of mainstream psychology. As I must confess my frustration with the tehnically (biologically) very complicated but philosophically equally simplistic ways the latter tends to conceptualize mind and its "products", I was most pleased with Peterson's general approach.

It resembles closely that of Hans Peter Duerr's "Dreamtime: concerning the boundary between wilderness and civilization", which is worth checking out if you liked "Maps..".

Another author who Peterson doesn't refer to but would be relevant to the topics he discusses is Gregory Bateson, whose concepts of "deutero-learning" (learning to learn) and "double bind" would offer a parallel framework for speaking about the aquisition of basic premises for communication or fundamental patterns underlying perception of reality and the conflicts inherent in situations when these are being challenged.

I am also a former student of Professor Peterson's, taught on the manuscript of this book, and it made such an impression on me that here I am, tracking it down three years later to reread. There are many significant positives to this book, as you can guess from the other reviews here. My main complaint is that the 400-odd pages could be vastly condensed and more tightly organized without weakening the thesis. When the subject matter is this dense, there is some argument for restating important points, but I do think the author sometimes errs on the side of excessive restatement.

Another area where the book could have been improved is in the use of more anthropological data to support its various hypotheses. An interesting follow-up read to Maps of Meaning is Wandering God by Morris Berman, which spends more effort tying the factual aspects of human and societal evolution to the way modern-day society is organized and the way people relate to the world around them. He also has some very strong opinions about comparative mythology a la Jung and Campbell.

Overall, Maps of Meaning is highly original, thought-provoking, and very well worth reading. Expect it to make a permanent mark on the way you see the world.

this is THE book to read! This puts into perspective any of the other books you might read, including religious books like the Bible! This book unlocks the symbolism used in profound writings of history. Talks about the deep symbolism of the deepest human aspirations--unlocks what has been hidden under these murky symbols. Jordan shows us the true nature of the heroic impulses for the individual and for mankind in general, and the failure and fear of the heroic that causes both individual and social atrocities. I cannot say enough about his genius for elucidating these things--gives me new hope for the world. I accidentally met the man at a conference on consciousness, and it was like I met a long lost brother--before I read his book! This is because he has tapped into a great ocean of truth underlying our most cherished symbols. If you are a truth-seeker--whether in science or about yourself and your soul--this is the book you have been looking for. These ideas are a large part of the keys to eliminating the most greivous ills of humanity. One of my top 10 books of all time, if not #1.