Nicholson Books

As an American journalist who has worked in Australia and the author of travel, language, and history books about Australia, I find this gem to be a wonderful resource. It has been updated several times, with my most recent copy dated 1995, purchased in Australia. Margaret Nicholson has filled a niche with a well-designed, easy-to-use concise guide to everything Australian. It is helpful for reasearchers, travelers, and ex-pats trying to keep up with info from home. Much easier to read than an almanac. Bright and cheery enough for school kids to find helpful as well. I hope Ms. Nicholson is planning another update prior to 2000.

As an American journalist who has worked in Australia and the author of travel, language, and history books about Australia, I find this gem to be a wonderful resource. It has been updated several times, with my most recent copy dated 1995, purchased in Australia. Margaret Nicholson has filled a niche with a well-designed, easy-to-use concise guide to everything Australian. It is helpful for reasearchers, travelers, and ex-pats trying to keep up with info from home. Much easier to read than an almanac. Bright and cheery enough for school kids to find helpful as well.

This will be the most important book you will ever read. If you want to know the real TRUTH of the 'meaning' of Life and what actually happens when you die, read this book. Not for beginners, dabblers or dilettantes.
I also recommend Guenon's "The Reign of Quantity" as crucial in unveiling our current miasma of amnesia of this Cycle of Time.

Coomaraswamy called this work the best account of the Vedanta in any European language. Coomaraswamy would have known.

Guenon points out that the Vedanta is neither religion, nor is it a philosophy, in the Western sense. What is it then? It is a complete way of life. More than this, it is in and of itself, the totality of existence. It is the true Metaphysic. You see, Western thinking always categorizes and systematizes. It views what it studies from outside- and manages to sterilize and kill it. This is why the western man finds it so easy to put aside his "religion" and "philosophy" when comes the opportunity for exploitation and war. You cannot put aside the Vedanta, for it is the totality of existence- including you. It is Reality. And the farther you separate yourself from it, the less "real" you become. The end result of a profane society is a world of shadow with no real substance at all.

The goal of the Vedanta is unity with the Universal. You seek alignment with that which was before all else. More specifically you seek to realize this union consciously, for you, and everything and every being, emanated from this Source. You still contain a Divine spark or seed at the core of your being. You realize this with your heart through Intuition and not through your brain and its lesser form of knowing. The more you rely on the brain and its elaborate ego constructs the farther you stray from the Ultimate Source and Goal.

There are many subtle variations on finding the path back- many schools of Yoga. Just remember, in all of them Yoga still means "Union"- the goal is the same. To reach it is to rise above caste through transcendence.

If you are already familiar with the teachings of Taoism, Neo-Platonism, or Hermetism then you will digest this study more readily. This is because these other branches of tradition drew from the original Tradition expressed first by the Vedanta.

Anyone that attempts to use the Tradition for profane and veiled ends that ignore the inherent divinity within all beings will no doubt deserve what they will inevitably get.

Very funny and entertaining, I especially like Maggie! Can't wait to find out what happens next!!

This book is great. It kept me intersted right up until the end. I cant wait until the sequel comes out to find out what happens to Annie, the main character. I loved it. Its a very easy read.

very comprehensive especially for shopping. needs an updated edition. tells you where everything is.

I used this book extensively when visiting London during a study-abroad in 1995. I was hoping to find a newer, updated version, as I am planning to return to London this year. Instead, I will drag out my well-worn copy and use it!

This biography is the most accurate and indeed, critical. It dealves into the life and thought of one of the greatest thinkers in Western Europe. Anyone who wishes to have a good introduction into Friedrich Nietzsche should read this book...by all means, read it!!

This is a great, however brief, look into the life of one of the world's greatest minds. Hayman opens with a fleeting glance at Nietzsche's genealogy before diving into the seemingly bright life of the future philosopher. He cites Nietzsche's pendulum-esque nationalistic devotion prior to his near-death collapse from a horse. He then charts Nietzsche's intellectual progress from the life-altering secondhand bookstore find of Schopenhauer to the later critique of previous idols Wagner, Kant, and Renee. Hayman, however repetitiously (though nonetheless factually), outlines Nietzsche's incessant battle with illness throughout his life. The key to this text is that is does not attempt a definitive stance at the perpetual enigma as to the cause of Nietzsche's demise, but rather outlines possibilities starting from birth until his death. For those unfamiliar with the German titles of Nietzsche's works, it will require a bit of page flipping to the appendix until one grows accustomed to Hayman's methodology. Also, all passages from the philosopher's works are translated by Hayman that, in some cases, are clearer and more concise than the renounced Kaufmann readings. My only complaint is that Hayman didn't spend more pages in his great explication of the philosopher's life. I rate this alongside Monk's biography of Wittgenstein.

Stories from Where We Live focuses on regional experiences from dwellers on the North Atlantic coast ages 9 and older, but is recommended in our adult issue because the entire family will relish these stories. From netting crabs on the Jersey shore to outdoors experiences in Delaware, this gathers regional experiences told through stories, poems, and journal entries to provide an inviting collection of tales.

This anthology is a collection of stories rooted in the North Atlantic Coast, beginning with Newfoundland. It includes the genres of poetry, short story, fiction and creative non fiction. Intended as a teaching tool for children, I found the book to be compelling in the imagery it evoked, particularly of the sea and its inhabitants, both human and animal.

IBEX has done the reading public a great service by reprinting this 1898 edition of a bilingual collection of Rumi's poems. The table of contents shows the wealth of material covered by this compact volume:

Preface
Introduction (includes biography of Rumi, Persian poetry, Sufism)
Addenda and Corrigenda
Selected Poems
Notes (over 100 pages)
Additional notes
Appendices
--I. Illustrative passages from the Divan with a list of the historical and autobiographical allusions
--II. Translations in verse
--III. Table showing where the Selected Poems occur in other editions of the Divan
--IV. Comparative table of passages quoted from the Masnavi
Indices
--I. Persian and Arabic
--II. English

The format with English translation facing Persian text is very helpful. The Persian text is partially vocalized, to a degree well suited to those who have an intermediate, but not advanced, knowledge of the language. Among other things, ezafes are shown, along with the vocalization of otherwise ambiguous forms such as "bovad" (a poetic form of 'to be') which has the same consonants as the much more common "bud" (simple past tense of 'to be'). Each poem begins with the name of the meter in Persian followed by a schematic representation of the meter using macrons and breves.

If you want to introduce yourself to some of the finest of Persian poetry in its original language, this is an excellent book to use.

Rumi's poetry, as brought to us by the brilliant and moving translations of Nicholson, represents one of the highest forms of mystical romantic outpourings. Like Fitzgerald/Khayyam, one is judging the poetic expression of Rumi through the translation of Nicholson. The end result is one of the most remarkable collection of poems, full of emotional impact, weighty with philosophical import. This book is not easy to find, so is a must-have for anyone interested in this subject.

Bitov, as one of the original members associated with the Metropol group (imagine a Bloomsbury in the former Soviet Union whose members faced very real consequences for expressing their views), a literary and arts association whose works literally transcended the unthinkable oppression, survives as do Aksyonov and Ratushinskaya. Pushkin House, which takes place in Petersburg, is as Nabokovian yet expressive as they come. The book assumes the guise of a sort of collage, expertly pieced together with incident and memory, the effect being something like studying the dizzing yet always stable and infinite array of refractions emerging from a well-cut gem when held up to the light. For anyone interested in or seriously studying Russian history or literature, Pushkin House, along with Solzhenitsyn, Aksyonov or Brodsky is essential; The book to end all nomenklaturas. A joy to recommend as much as to read

Pushkin House is a novel full of fiery intelligence and is a work of formidable complexity. It is not until page 92 that the reader is informed by A. B., Andrei Bitov's alter ego, that the novel is 'about disorientation', by which time I, the reader, was thoroughly disoriented. The experience of the young hero of Pushkin House, Lyova Odoevtsev, when inebriated, or lurching drunkenly between moments of clarity and a clouding over of understanding corresponded closely with my own experience of reading this novel. Pushkin House is the name of the literary institute in which the hero works. It is also Russian literature as a whole ('the house that Pushkin built'). It is also this book itself, which houses not only Pushkin, but also Gogol, Lermontov, Dostoyevsky, Turgenev, Tolstoy, Tyuchev and Chernyshevsky. The book is crammed with allusion to all these writers, together with seemingly bizarre metaphors and ludic liberties on the part of the author. These all serve to compound the reader's feeling of disorientation. Bitov's work is metafictional in nature. He uses text and fragments from works of different writers of the Russian cannon and also the works of fictional characters within the framework of the story, as well as chapters in which the narrator discusses the process of creating his hero and deconstructs the common methods of writing novels, thus entering into dialogue with other writers. This use of metafiction creates a multi-layers mirror of reflection and refraction in Bitov's text. The text uses many allusions, associations, situations, characters, themes, literary forms from the works of writers and self-quotations in accord with established literary tradition. To quote James Zebroski in his book review of Pushkin House 'the first impression of an informed western reader exposed to Pushkin House is that the author seems to have used the subversive literary devices of every post-modern writer he has read as well as some he has not'. Bitov's critique on concepts of reality and his experiments with alternative approaches to his hero's life, and speculations on their relative truth and reality, are necessarily involved and non-linear, and so contorted and self-subverting that any summary account of it is bound to be misleading. Indeed, this method of critique contributes to the readers overall disorientation, as reality and realism itself is being examined. But Bitov names his hero, Lyova, as 'a thoroughly contemporary young man', whose life boundaries are also historical boundaries, indicating that he is commenting on comtemporary Soviet life at the time of writing.

An awe-inspiring collection of mystical poetry by 13th century sufi master Jaladin Rumi. Gorgeous, compact musings on time, god, love & nature by the Willaim Blake of medieval Iran.

This is a delightful edition which includes an introduction into the life of Rumi and each selection of poetry is accompanied by copious explanatory notes. Long out of print, this text is now included as the first half of the new "A Rumi Anthology" published by OneWorld.

SEE FOX RUN exposes the underbelly of the innercity world of drugs and prostition. But one Inuit minister of a rundown mission doggedly does his best to make a difference. An intricate plot, well written and poetic leaves you thinking about the characters long after you've finished the tale.
Highly recommended.

See Fox Run by Lorna Schultz Nicholson is a grim but deftly written murder mystery. When a prostitute in downtown Vancouver comes to Intuko, an Inuit minister who runs a barely-solvent church, she asks him to take her daughter should anything bad happen. Soon afterward the terrified mother is found murdered. Intuko becomes enmeshed in a deadly web of lies and deceit, as he teams up with a con artist of with heart of gold, or at least a heart of pyrite, on the trail of a ruthless muderer and an innocent girl. Their search will take them to the streets, behind prison walls, and into the maw of terrible danger before the truth can be revealed. A gripping and suspenseful saga.