Gregory Books

Many books have tried to make a case for the Zen Buddhist influence on Japanese haiku. But Zen influence on haiku is largely an American and British invention--mainly following on the misguided heels of R. H. Blyth. Contemporary American promoters of the "Zen view" of haiku generally don't "get it" at all. On the other hand, this book provides the absolute best example anywhere of a total interpenetration of Zen and haiku, in simply wonderful poems in Japanese with outstanding English translations. If you think Zen has something to do with haiku, or want to see how it might, toss all those assertions by blindered critics, and get this book in your hands, in your "hara". Then, maybe, you'll understand that it's not Zen influencing haiku, or haiku as an aspect of Zen practice, but simply poems that flow like ink from the brush, beautifully, simply, meaningfully.

Mitsu Suzuki, wife of zen master Shunryu Suzuki, is a true master of haiku in her own right and this is an outstanding collection of 175 poems. The book puts the haiku in English in three lines followed by the season, year and location. At the bottom of the page, it has a one line romanji above a one line Japanese version. I only wish that she had published more!

Spring loneliness
night mist embraces the stupa
soundlessly

Spring 1981
San Francisco

This is a great book. It has each personality theorist followed by their biography, history, personality development. I am going to keep my book for future purposes.

I actually liked this text. Each chapter is broken into bios of the theorists and elements of their practice. They also combine various theorists if they have something in common or worked together.

I would definitely keep this text to use as a reference in future Psychology classes.

This book is really quite charming. It beautifully blends science, philosophy, history, and fiction into a format that is accessible to children and entertaining for adults. Highly recommended

Tibaldo and the Hole in the Calendar is a fictional story with a historically and scientifically correct setting. In 1582 Pope Gregory XIII proclaimed a reform of the calendar, including the omission of ten days--Oct. 5 through Oct. 14 of 1582-- to correct the inaccuracy of the Julian calendar. Tibaldo Bondi's twelfth birthday, on Oct. 10, 1582, would be omitted, to his distress. He imaginatively and courageously fought to recover his birthday, by asking help from his teachers and the governor of Bologna, and eventually from the Pope himself. The Pope was so amused (laughing for the first time in eight years!) by Tibaldo's daring and clever arguments that he issued a special decree restoring the celebration that would have been lost in 1582. This fictional decree is printed here in authentic papal Latin, but a translation is given. Tibaldo goes on to become a famous physician, pioneering in the use of the microscope and in preventive measures against the spread of infections. He also pioneers in the education of women, marrying a woman astronomer and ensuring that one of his daughters becomes a midwife, one a physician, and one an astronomer. As the background for the story much information is given about astronomy, medicine, midwifery, the history of the calendar, and the religious and political history of Italy. The book is printed in a Renaissance format and the beautiful etchings by Jonathan Shimony are in the style of Renaissance book illustration. The story and the factual background are accessible to children of age ten years or more but are also fascinating reading for adults. It is a particularly instructive and amusing book for a parent to read with a child. Tibaldo has been translated into French, Italian, German, Japanese, Chinese, Polish, and Greek, and is due to be translated into Spanish, Portuguese, and Hebrew. Tentative plans are underway to make a movie of it, to be set in Bologna, Italy.

This is an excellent book on sniper training. It takes you week by week through the military's sniper training academy and dispels many Hollywood myths.

This book is very informative and well illustrated. A must for anyone who enjoys the finer arts of weaponry !!

Rome - the single greatest influence upon western civilization. "To Be a Roman: Topics in Roman Culture" is a complete and comprehensive guide to what's usually glossed over about this great civilization - the day to day life of its citizens. Touching on the family life, the religious rituals, the homes in which they lived, and the cities they called there own, both Rome and its other cities - and so much more. The perfect resource for anyone who wants a more complete understanding of the Roman culture, "To Be a Roman: Topics in Roman Culture" is a must have for them and community library reference collections.

The authors of this book have created something very useful for both classroom teachers and parents who homeschool their children. To Be A Roman is one of best "Roman Culture" books that I have read and used in the classroom. Many books discuss the topics in this text (ranging from family dynamics, politics, and the ancient economy), but they are either dreadfully boring or cursory in their coverage. What is great is that this text can fit with almost any learner. For those new to Roman culture, it provides enough preliminary explanation to bring the ancient world to life. For those who know a little about the Romans already, this book provides details that make the Romans seem more human than we accustomed to.

The chapters are delineated by subject. At the end of each chapter there are a variety of exercises. Some test knowledge, others give ideas for projects or research. All of the chapters and their activities are suitable for middle school and high school students.

I would encourage any parent looking to homeschool their children to use this book as part of their curriculum, just as I would encourage any Latin teacher to use it in the classroom as well. The authors are well-respected Classicists who have done a very good job consolidating a lot of information. They also treat the information without adding critical, judgmental comments. Ultimately, this is a well written book that easy to use and should be a part of any Latin teacher's resources.

First of all, this book is a good look at an African-American activist for peace who preached racial unity long before Martin Luther King was born. Secondly, although this book is about a prominent member of the Bahai Faith and the author (whom I met recently) is a Bahai, the book benefits by being objective about the Bahai Faith as it does not propagandize, but matter-of-factly discusses some of the internal problems within the faith during Mr. Gregory's lifetime. So it's a good read as you see Mr. Gregory's efforts to preach a good message of unity to a country and world that had (and still has) a way to go in accepting. People who are objective about religion will be inspired by Mr. Gregory's story through Ms. Morrison's telling.

"To Move The World" is the fascinating story of the life of Louis Gregory, the son of slaves and one of the first African-American Baha'is. Gayle Morrison places the life of Louis Gregory within the context of the struggle of Black Americans to achieve racial equality and the growth of the Baha'i Faith as an interracial community in North America in the first half of the twentieth century. Gregory, a lawyer, was an eloquent advocate of racial unity and bravely demonstrated that belief in his own life by marrying a white woman at a time when such cohabitation was illegal in many U.S. states. He helped to organize some of the earliest racial unity gatherings held in the U.S. Although Gregory is well known by Baha'is (for example, a Baha'i radio station - WLGI - in Hemingway, S.C. is named for him), his achievements deserve to be recognized more widely. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in the struggle for civil rights or Baha'i history.

I was fortunate enough to meet Gregory Pardlo tonight at a reading at the College of St.Rose in Albany, NY. He is as personable as he is brilliant. His smooth melodic voice will resonate for me as I read the rest of his pieces from Totem. I couldn't resist the purchase after hearing him aloud this evening. I literally shook my head in wonder and my jaw dropped in awe after his poem "Double Dutch." If you purchase this, which you definately should--if you enjoy poetry and all things literarily devine--go straight to page 36. Enough good things can not be said about this book!

Pardlo has an inimitable style, language--he cannot be classified. Not that any genuine poet can--but Pardlo for example would be particularly difficult to parody. Brenda Hillman in her Introduction tries to cast a net over him: "[Pardlo's] work brings together philosophical musings, abstract thought, rhetorical heightened diction, odd metaphors, and intense emotional utterance".

For this African American poet presently teaching at CUNY, the title "Totem" is "a word, an idea, a figure [of] two syllables [emblematic] of the poet's spiritual origins. It also connotes a shared guardian nature a family might hold in common; it is a symbol that draws the individual into collective consciousness." [also from Hillman's Preface] In Pardlo's more complex poems, one does find the dualisms of struggle and surrender, conflict and serenity, concern and hope, wandering and revelation.

"What odds/do those birds stand to chances anyway?/Prevention is akin to greed. Say recovery/and a sermon salts the air.../Jersey's domed capitol looks like a junkyard/of Church bells/a reliquary of Sundays/wracked and laid to rest...Another prays the next wet pebble/be the one that makes a beach./Paydirt. We should be so lucky." [from Atlantic City Sunday Morning] The heterogeneity of objects, images, and language of Pardlo's poems is more than inventory, discursiveness, or observation. He sees the earth will be redeemed in its entirety or not at all.

Although this is a thin booklet, only 43 pages, it is to the point, scholarly, and balanced. If you're looking for a dual between to great theologians, this isn't it. Both Fahey and Meyendorff are faithful to their respective traditions without slinging theological mud. To give you an idea of its contents, I'll quote Maximos Aghiorgoussis' forward: "Our theme deals with ecumenical problems between East and West. Faith in the Holy Trinity is both the main mark of Christianity and the main problem in the relations between Eastern and Western Christendom. The Eastern and Western approaches to the doctrine of the Trinity go back to the patristic period. The entire patristic tradition of the East has a "personalistic" approach...whereas in the West St. Augustine authored the so-called "psychological" approach. This difference in approach is one of the main theological factors which played- and continues to play- and important role in the "estrangement" between Eastern and Western Christianity. [In this essay] two contemporary experts in these differing approaches examine the issue. On the Eastern side, the focus is placed upon St. Gregory Palamas. On the Western side, the focus is placed on the doctrine of St.Thomas Aquinas."

This is one of those gems that you are so thankful to find in the field of theological writings. It's a bit technical, but it's worth the struggle if you are just beginning and very illuminating if you're familar with the issues, since it poses the question from the point of view of St. Palamas; an often overlooked theologian from the often overlooked Eastern Church.

It is OOP but let me know if you are interested. Enjoy!

Although this is a thin booklet, only 43 pages, it is to the point, scholarly, and balanced. If you're looking for a dual between to great theologians, this isn't it. Both Fahey and Meyendorff are faithful to their respective traditions without slinging theological mud. To give you an idea of its contents, I'll quote Maximos Aghiorgoussis' forward: "Our theme deals with ecumenical problems between East and West. Faith in the Holy Trinity is both the main mark of Christianity and the main problem in the relations between Eastern and Western Christendom. The Eastern and Western approaches to the doctrine of the Trinity go back to the patristic period. The entire patristic tradition of the East has a "personalistic" approach...whereas in the West St. Augustine authored the so-called "psychological" approach. This difference in approach is one of the main theological factors which played- and continues to play- and important role in the "estrangement" between Eastern and Western Christianity. [In this essay] two contemporary experts in these differing approaches examine the issue. On the Eastern side, the focus is placed upon St. Gregory Palamas. On the Western side, the focus is placed on the doctrine of St.Thomas Aquinas."

This is one of those gems that you are so thankful to find in the field of theological writings. It's a bit technical, but it's worth the struggle if you are just beginning and very illuminating if you're familar with the issues, since it poses the question from the point of view of St. Palamas; an often overlooked theologian from the often overlooked Eastern Church.

How many books do you pick up and read in one can't-put-it-down" sitting? This book describes tomorrow's anarchism for the everyday, progressive, planet-minded citizen. Refreshing. Honest. Direct. UNCOMMON SENSE makes a helluva lot of sense! If this book speaks for you, you'll give this book as gifts to friends and relatives. I did. I said "refreshing" because Sams breaks old-tired-ways of looking at our social system and offers some paradigms that I am sure will become the norm when humanity evolves to ... to ... its next level of organization ... which will be a much simpler, more human organization. High school juniors and seniors will love this book ... if we could only apprise them of its existence. READ THIS BOOK. It'll change your world-view ... or give your current outlook some new ways to talk about it.

This book offers a unique insight into the overworkings of the "system", and sheds a unique perspective on how things "ought" to be, despite how they are. Given the authors' propensity to immerse himself in the middle of controversy, for example, protesting some of the brain-damaged decisions of the British Government, one might expect a heavy-handed moral tome. Instead, Gregory gently attempts to analyze the reasons why things happen, and offers alternatives that even we as mere mortals can employ in an attempt to bring on change by our individual and collective efforts.

Gregory Nicoll has a sure touch with horror--and it's an icy hand, the kind that sweeps down your spine when you least expect it. This is a wonderful collection of fantastic pieces that range from the whimsical ("When Titans Move") to the downright terrifying (the title piece). My favorite in this collection is "Dead Air," a story that with great economy and grace nails the atmosphere of growing dread. Other stories that resonate include "Athens, Georgia" and "Beer Run," for different reasons. If horror is your cup of grue, try this--and by the way, it has an excellent design, a cover that more than hints at the uneasy tales to come.

I know Gregory Nicoll very well and have read most of his short horror fiction, including the stories in this book. His story 'Dead Air' is considered a classic of the form, and his ability to create atmosphere in a tale is damn near legendary...so much so that his contribution to one of those Writer's Digest books about writing horror was about that very subject. Few other horror writers can weave words together into sentences as gracefully as Nicoll. His descriptive prowess is second to none. If you buy this book you will not be disappointed, unless of course you're looking for the hackneyed, faux Goth, 'counter-culture' excrement that 'masquerades' as horror these days. Gregory Nicoll is the real deal. From Poe, to Lovecraft, to Bloch...to Nicoll. That's how it goes.