Nicholson Books

The Phaedrus is among Plato's deepest and most moving dialogues. It is full of myth, poetry, insight and thought. Even more than is the case with most of Plato, it is difficult to pin this work down to consider it as a treatise on a single subject matter. The dialogue form and Plato's own thinking do not allow such reduction. Broadly speaking, the dialogue deals with the nature of love with this question threaded in with a discussion of the nature of speech and writing and their respective roles in thinking about important questions (such as the nature of love.) The main body of the dialogue consists of three speeches, one a written speech by Lysias, and two oral speeches by Socrates. The speech by Lysias and the first speech of Socrates argue that it is more advangateous for a young person to be wooed by a person who does not love him. Socrates second speech, the pivotal portion of the dialogue, strongly takes issue with this in a discussion of the nature of love, passion (madness), the human soul, and the world of Platonic form.

Graeme Nicholson is a professor of philosophy at the University of Toronto and a fellow of Trinity College. His book is a study of the Phaedrus prepared as part of a series of Purdue University Press' History of Philosophy Series, each volume of which is devoted to a detailed consideration of a specific philosophical text. The Phaedrus has received such consideration in other studies (by Charles Griswold, Luc Brisson, Seth Bernadette, among other scholars), but the work is inexhaustible and well deserves the extended treatment it receives here. Nicholson, properly and commendably, philosophizes with Plato. He sees the ancient character of the texts but does not stop there. He tries to show how the Phaedrus, with all its antiquity, addresses problems of modern readers in an important an elucidating way.

Nicholson's focus is on the nature of love. Many readers understand Plato to argue that eros is a step on the way to a broader, rationalistic understanding of the ideas. But Nicholson argues well that the Phaedrus reverses this pattern. Plato here sees eros and passion - a commitment to study and to understanding and a fire within one -- as a precondition to any serious endeavor, philosophical or otherwise. Nicholson proceeds to show how this understanding of eros allows Plato in the Phaedrus to take a broader view of the nature of myth, poetry, rhetoric, and music as themselves contributing to and enabling the process of philosophical understanding. I find this a valuable insight into the Phaedrus.

Nicholson also has challenging things to say about Plato's concept of being (or of being-beyond-being). He sees this as a spritual and valuable concept, to simplify broadly, and as an important and, with current explanations and explications, viable antidote to much of the scientism and materialism in contemporary thought and in the assumptions of many people. This too is a valuable and thoughtful way of approaching the Phaedrus.

The core of Professor Nicholson's study is Socrates's great speech on love which he presents in Part II of the book in a fresh translation. This translation is followed by a long, careful, exploration in Part III of the various themes of the book. Part I of the book gives backround on Plato and on the Phaedrus's relationship to Plato's body of work. There are introductory chapters on myth, rhetoric, dialectic, and writing. All these themes are important to the Phaedrus and they are developed with good use of authority to other Platonic and Greek texts, and to the work of modern philosophers and scholars.

The book suffers somewhat but ignoring Plato's own order of presentation. There is this a lack of attention to the dramatic development -- to the manner in which Plato tries to show the interrelationship of the themes of the Phaedrus -- how one leads into another. This is no small task. Thus in the early sections of the book, Professor Nicholson discusses themes that Plato reserves for the end of the dialogue -- such as the nature of dialectic and the relative merits of writing and discussion. (The story of the god Theuth and his gift of writing to the King of Egypt is discussed early in Nicholson, for example, but it appears only at the end of the Phaedrus.) The presentation thus misses some of the opportunities to discuss how Plato and the reader should view the development of the themes in the dialogue.

It is good to read the Phaedrus -- or to reread it as the case may be -- in the context of reading and studying this book. I thought the book helped me understand and appreciate the Phaedrus and Plato. This great ancient philsopher has much to teach us.

First off, this is one of the rare books which shows the Libyan leader and what he stands for. It was written in 1987, and does not take into account Libya's role in destroying Pan Am 103. Desite being somewhat dated, Qaddafi's biography is depicted here. For those who want to know why the world should be careful of this dictator, this is the book which shows the terrorism, murder, and cruel behavior of Qaddafi. From the murder of dissidents and a police woman in London, to the bombing of a Berlin disco, the authors depict the nature of Qaddafi and his regime. He has much in common with Saddam Hussein, even though Qaddafi hates him.
I found the life of Qaddafi interesting. He sometimes defies description. He is a womanizer, but believes in Islam. There are many contradictions in his character. Nevertheless, he is a threat to the United States and western nations.

The title of this book is Ride the Red Sun Down and the author is Thomas Nicholson.
The main character in this book is Marty Keller. He is a bounty hunter who is looking for 3 killers. He does not have any friends at first, but he does get the trust of some people that he meets. Five of the people, if the book went on or had a sequal, he most likely would have become friends with.

The plot is kind of difficult and long. Marty is a Texas ranger and one time when he had been gone for a few days his wife and son were murdered. The people had shot the field hand 1st, but he ended up living for a few more days, so he was able to tell Marty's friends what had happened. When Marty got home his friends told him what his field hand had told them. There were 3 guys, but the only thing he could describe is that the oldest guy was missing a finger on his left hand. The next day Marty quit his job and went out to find his family's killers.

The time is frontier days and the place is in the southwestern region of the United States and Mexico.

The theme of this story is mystery.

I really like this story because I love western and mystery books. When they're put together I can hardly get my nose out of the book.

Beasley does a great job in this second edition of the rise of modern japan. Unlike the 1990 version of the book, he concentrate more on the empires that came to power in the early 20th century and also covers thoroughly in today's political ups and downs in Japan. I love this book, because I get a great sense of Japan's history.

This is a review of the 1988 hardcover edition published by Rizzoli. After an Introduction which gives a history of the man and his approach to design, the book is divided into two sections, HOUSES AND APARTMENTS and LOOKING AT ROOMS. Born in Cairo to Greek parents, Stefanidis settled in London and opened a design practice in 1967 with no formal training, first concentrating on modern international styles and then more traditional. Attractive, very expensive rooms in England, the U.S. and Canada, and are among those presented along with his take on simple vernacular designs in Greece. This reviewer is only disappointed when the designer concentrates on clunky furniture and less-than-stylish fabric of his own design. Later introductions, after this publication, of graphic interpretations of designs for fabrics were more successful, however, it must be said. Despite that twenty years have passed since publication, readers can still find inspiration in the spirit and some of the details of these rooms.

"There never was a Beecher who was pious or conventional enough to qualify as a saint, and yet they could hardly be confused with sinners since they were always pursuing them with a sharp stick." Lyman Beecher Stowe.

Mr. Stowe's chronicle of the remarkable Lyman Beecher dynasty is a fun and enlightening read. His lively, wry familial portraits, however, are a mere gloss on a larger picture: the struggle to define the social and moral identity of our new nation during its first century. Some consider the Beechers to be American heroes. For example, Lyman Beecher was considered the father of Temperance and revivalism; Henry Ward Beecher was a famous preacher & militant anti-slavery activist; Catherine Beecher was a well-known feminist; Harrier Beecher Stowe fought for racial and sexual liberation. Drugs & alcohol; social, sexual and political equality; public religion and national mores are all social questions we struggle with today and were defined by the Beechers in the 19th century. Mr. Stowe paints a colorful picture of the famous family with revolutionary ideals. This was a family fighting for our national soul (with a very pointed stick), and, ironically, battling their own very human fallibilities at the same time.

I would recommend this book to lovers of biography, ethics, social and political history, and any one who just likes good story telling. I was enjoying the book so much, I had to stop and read excerpts to my spouse (who was watching the Stanley Cup Finals at the time). He was as delighted by them as I.

Review by Cheryl L. Colson

This comprehensive collection of short stories by women authors is both a must as an academic companion and as an everyday reader looking for the best of women's contemporary writing. Nor is it just for the staunch feminists. Lee chooses stories that do not alienate men from the enjoyment. The book contains wider issues than protests against men, motherhood and menstruation. Anita Desai's touching story 'Private Tuition by Mr. Bose' sympathetically shows the male experience of fatherhood and marriage. Muriel Spark's clever and intriguing story 'The First Year of my life'is, also, equally appealing to a wide audience.

The colloection covers cannonised writers such as Margaret Atwood, Nobel Prize Winner Nadine Gordimer and the superb Angela Carter. Refreshingly, the collection encompasses more than just Anglo- American work including international authors such as Pauline Smith, Ruth Prawer Jhabvala and Katherine Mansfield. The collection, however, does under represent a growing wave of Far Eastern women's writing.

Overall, though, a good and accessable representation of contemporary women's short stories for both the female and male reader.

I'm not quite sure how to categorize this book. Its really a nice little collection of brief essays concerning Shamanism in some way shape or form. I believe no few of which appeared in Shaman's Drum (a wonderful magazine in and of itself). There are alot of names you'd expect to see in such a book: Mihaly Hoppal, Joan Halifax, Mircea Eliade, Michael Harner, Serge King, etc. Overall thats a pretty broad scope there, from New Age neo-shamanism to social scientists, so you get a variety of perspectives.
Each article contributes something else to the overall books. There are articles about shamanism and madness, the ecstatic state, ESP and other paranormal phenomena as relating to shamanism, dreams, the question of whether shamanism is archaeic or modern, Native American prayer pipes, shamanism and Theosophy, the role of shaman as adventurer (filled with info on traditional African and Hawai'ian culture) and so forth. Other articles focus in on specific traditions, so that we get articles on the Tamang Shaman of Nepal, Australian aboriginal medicine men, and perhaps most unusual of all an article by Rabbi Yonassan Gersham on Jewish Shamanism, interperting Prophets from Ezekiel to the Baal Shem Tov (founder of the Hasidic movement) as shaman. There are also a couple articles on famous healers such as Rolling Thunder and Wallace Black Elk (who is actually more New Age pseudo-Shaman than anything else).
Overall, this is a very nice book to read, especially if you are interested in history, religion, archaeology, anthropology or so forth. The articles are all relatively short and easy reads, and many of them present some very unique perspectives. Overall worth getting.

Okay, I picked up Starlight because it was written by my Fiction Writing professor and I wanted to read something he had written, but had only read a short story that I didn't care much for. I started reading it Friday morning before class and finished it during supper. While it's not a novel that I'm likely to read again (at least any time soon) it was captivating and I simply needed to find out what happened.
The characters are definitely unlike most I've encountered in my readings, particularly the pair of soldiers who were constantly hyped up on speed, the one of which never speaks except to play Hendrix songs on his M-16.
I liked the novel and plan on getting my very own copy over the summer and would recommend it to others. However, there are, admittedly, a few scenes that might be too graphic for the faint of heart or stomach. :)

It is a great book to have for learning the principals of interventional radiology. I have read since I started my fellowship last year. Dyet's Textbook of endovascular procedures is a complete solution to getting up to most daily interventions,and also including recent procedures, like carotid angioplasty and stenting and uterine fibroids embolization.