Nicholson Books

The language is truly beautiful in this book. Reading it feels like walking in a mysterious and luxurient tropical forest. Hoots, beeps, deep shades of green, flashing reds and yellows, sudden appearances - that is the undercurrent in this book. And just like in a rainforest, I got increasingly nervous the further I got and wanted to find a way out. The narrator in this story is a visionary young boy, who describes a couple of threatening happenings in his town. His father is aquitted for a murder he didn't commit, his mother rages through town to find him, the forest is being cut down and life flees from it. The fate of the two opposing characters - the black African Queen-like figure and the white Ambassador - is ornamented by the threatening and dreamlike (en)chanted events. A psychedelic combination.

Mil Millington's latest book is about time traveling. Not of the strict science fiction type, but of the type that occurs normally to every one of us without noticing.
Chris Mortimer is a 25 year old guy in the 80's who wakes up one day and all of a sudden realizes that he is 43. He finds himself working a job that he hates and next to a woman he barely knows but who has been his wife for fifteen years. He decides to reconnect with old friends and get to know his "new" self, and to try to find out what he has been up to for two decades. During his quest, he discovers that he has become a very different person from the one he hoped to become when he was in his twenties. On his way to becoming a grownup, apparently, life happened.
"Are you -are we, all of us - formed from a character that is innate, or are we the product of the experiences we've had? Nature or nurture?" - Chris wonders. The book is thought-provoking, funny, and brilliantly written. On the surface it entertains with its plot and characters, but on a deeper level it raises interesting questions. Are we the cumulative result of all the things that happen to us? How much of who we are inside is influenced by the body outside, and where that body finds itself?

The International Militaria Collectors Guide by Gary Sterne and Irene Moore assembles pictures and prices for military items including uniforms, helmets, weapons, medals, cigarette lighters, belts, signal lamps, and more--much, much more.

This work is mainly of interest to the collector of military history, but general readers will find the collection fascinating too. Items from several conflicts are presented, but the overwhelming focus is on the two world wars.

Of especial value to the collector is the information on replicas as well as original items. (It is possible to buy a replica of a Hitler bust for your living room if such is your desire.) Prices for the items are given in GB pounds, Euros, and US dollars.

The first time I took Abstract Algebra. I used Herstein's text the most cryptic text I have yet to use. I read the book cover to cover several times and still lacked a firm grasp on the material. Nicholson's book takes the time to present many examples and to thoroughly cover each topic. The examples of groups most frequently discussed are all placed at the beginning allowing the reader to have many examples to go on. While the book is not a terse reference it is a great introduction to the world of abstract algebra. It gives the undergraduate a chance to make that large step to this higher level of abstraction. However, the exercises are a little easy and the counterside to the above is that it is quite long.

I used this book on the economics subject during my university days. It enabled me to read the subject from an introductory level and to delve into a more in depth study of this fascinating science.

The book provides a comprehensive coverage of economics for first year undergraduate students. It provides an excellent foundation for those who wish to specialize in the subject.

The book has been kept up-to-date with current developments in the field to include risk analysis and assessment, decision making under uncertainty and incomplete information and has several informative examples that reinforce the student's grasp of the subject.

Just as Well, Really is a story about a little bear named Rumpus that likes to make messes but his family loves him so much that they always cleanup after Rumpus.

Little children will love Rumpus. They are sure to enjoy the colorful illustrations and the way the author tells the story with rhymes and silliness.

A story about family love, suited for children ages 3-7. The title of the book was badly chosen but is a cute story nonetheless.

This anthology introduces the reader to the fine points of the complexities of Karma and its variations among different eastern philosophies. In fact, one author points out all the characteristics of the western version and how it falls short of the intricacies of most of the eastern versions.

If nothing else, I learned just how subtle and far-reaching the topic is. I'm reminded of a scuba diver exploring the vast world beneath the surface, while the guy in the boat just sees waves.

Some of the essays deserve an A+, while most others are in the B to B- range, but overall I'm better off for having read it.

A Sufi classic here translated from Persian by Professor Nicholson (Translator of the Mathnawi amongst other things) needless to say, when you know that this is the same person who has translated the Mathnawi you know that it is a reliable translation.

The book itself deals with the principles of Sufism, some early and later day Sufi masters along with some of the original Sufi orders, their names, meanings behind their names and practices.

An interesting and useful work on Sufism well translated.

Nicholson, Helen. The Knights Hospitaller. (Woodbridge, UK: The Boydell Press, 2001).

Helen Nicholson is one of the leading scholars of medieval military religious orders. Her books are well known for providing new theories and insight into the history of the military orders, and The Knights Hospitaller is no exception. Though the nature of Dr. Nicholson's work is academic, and one that no scholar of the military orders should be without, her writing is uncluttered by jargon and un-translated items, making it accessible to all.

The Knights Hospitaller covers the history of the Order from its inception to the loss of Malta in 1798 and beyond to the standing of the Order in the present day. Dr. Nicholson does not look at this history in isolation, but rather sets the context for the Order's working by detailing pertinent events and mindsets over the course of the five hundred years of history the book covers. However, in doing so, the work raises some questions that are not answered by Dr. Nicholson. For instance, in discussing the Order's misty founding, Dr. Nicholson dismisses the claim made by William of Tyre that the Order was originally dedicated to St. John the Almoner, without really saying why or drawing any conclusions as to why William would have made this up. Though Dr. Nicholson seems to favor an Amalfian origin to the Order, there is no reason given not to believe that the Order was, at some point in its early days, dedicated to St. John the Almoner.

Despite a few missing answers, which may have been beyond the scope of the work, The Knights Hospitaller is an excellent introduction for anyone curious in learning more about medieval military orders. Dr. Nicholson has once again provided a book that is well worth the time taken to read it.

Review by Jennifer Regan and Dr. Carl Edwin Lindgren

Karl scetches the legendary Italian fashion icon Anna Piaggi and her fantastic wardrobe. Many photograghs of anna in her younger days