O Books

Going to an engineering school, we deal strickly with SI units. For the most part the book deals with them too. But often, it seems like the problems that would be good for me to try, are in inchs and mils and lbs and all the imperical crap.

Now i only gave it 1 star less. Considering most of the engineering world laughs at imperical crap, which i dont blame them.

Besides for that, the rest of the book is pretty good. The lack of explanations could be worked on. (not in the problems, but in the information prior to the questions). I luckily took a physics on electricity before i got this. Which helped me alot, especially when dealing with OhmMeters.


I would by this book if you want to great in your EE classes. But you may want to have someone who can explain some things. Or just do some demensional analysis to figure out why things are the way they are. And resistance and others like that will make sense.

If your having trouble with an EE Intro class - this is a good book to get

Great explanations and fully worked out problems makes it a great study aid

I initially picked up this book to do remediation on my first circuit analysis course, and have continued to use it through the second course. I call the Shaum Series my "secret weapon" for doing well in EE classes (and physics too, actually). The few pages of exposition at the beginning of each chapter are clear, concise, and mostly complete (Electric Circuits by Nahvi is more rigorous), and the problems, half with detailed solutions and half with just answers, are on-topic, perfectly-tailored, and numerous.

If you are taking circuit analysis courses, EE or not, you would be a fool to not have this book in your bag.

This is an excellent supplement for electrical technology and electrical engineering students taking a first course on circuit analysis. It is a particularly good companion to Boylestad's "Introductory Circuit Analysis", which is a standard circuit analysis text that has insufficient examples on several subjects. This outline starts with the analysis of DC resistive circuits, goes on to AC circuits, and also covers power circuits, transformers, and op-amps. There is a good chapter on complex numbers and phasors, an understanding of which is essential for the study of circuit analysis. There is no need of differential or integral calculus although the book uses derivatives in the chapters on capicitors, inductors, and transformers as needed for voltage-current relations. Even though there is not one integral shown in the book, the outline is still useful to engineers since circuit analysis courses mainly use only algebra.
This book also presents necessary tools such as PSPICE, the computer circuit analysis and simulation program for PC's. SPICE is the standard for analog circuit simulation across the electronics industry, and knowledge of its syntax is essential. The outline also covers the use of advanced scientific calculators in the context of solving actual problems.
Besides being a good source of examples and solved problems, this outline does a pretty good job of outlining the basic theory of circuit analysis. I highly recommend it.

Sharon Gilchrest O'Neill has assembled a collection of thoughts, quotations, and short exercises about grieving, inspired by work with the Connecticut Hospice, Inc. Each page contains a single thought or quotation, or a chance to express the reader's own thoughts or feelings about a particular topic. The book is divided into sections like Memories, Treasured Possessions, Happiness...Sadness, but it's sometimes unclear how the pages in each section relate to the section topic.

What struck me most about the book was that it would offer someone mired in the chaos of grief short bursts of thought, not requiring sustained reading or focused attention. For someone looking for a narrative thread, or a unifying philosophy, this book is not the place to look. I couldn't help but contrast it with Joan Didion's Year of Magical Thinking, a treatise on Didion's own process of grief, of working through the stages of feeling, thought, and emotion.

O'Neill's book, in contrast to Didion's treatise-like work, gives us bursts of thought, short quotations, and the chance to jot down a few of our own thoughts. About the quotations: I am often disconcerted by quotations in a book like this, where people are quoted out of context, and the reader is given nothing to put the quotation in context. Sometimes the quote is from someone familiar, like Carl Jung or Sinclair Lewis. We may not all be familiar with Jung's or Lewis' work, but we have something of a framework in which to place them. We can find their writings, read their novels. But, who is John Gray, and how does he relate to the experience of grief?

The writings of the author seem to be designed to provoke movement in grief, to give the grieving person a different perspective, a way to begin to think about how life has changed, and will change more.

Armchair Interviews says: For someone who needs some inspiration, a sense that they are not alone in this experience, and a way to find brief, accessible musings on grief, this book could be very helpful.

This book is a wonderful tool for those of us who are "challenged" when it comes to providing emotional support to others at a time of loss and desire to do more than give/send garden variety bereavement cards. Because the book is spiritually uplifting rather than oriented towards religious beliefs and teachings, it is appropriate for giving to everyone from business associates to close friends and loved ones. A nice touch is a page near the beginning of the book where the sender can dedicate the book to an individual's memory.

I wish I had a copy of "Sheltering Thoughts" to read after my dad died. His sudden passing was confusing and numbing to me and all of my family.

I now keep this collection of inspirational thoughts close at hand. Its passages continue to give me a great deal of comfort whenever I'm missing Dad.

This book is my first recommendation to anyone experiencing the deep feelings of grief and loss.

Genre: Grief/Inspiration
Title: Sheltering Thoughts
AUTHOR: Sharon Gilchrest O'Neill
For life and death are one,
Even as the river and the sea are one.
Kahil Gibran

Losing a loved one is part of life but a most difficult and emotional time for all of us.
Sharon Gilchrest O'Neill has experienced grief both personally and professionally. As a psychotherapist and consultant, she joined the caring group of professionals that founded the first freestanding hospice in the United States. This book is the result of years of professional experiences with those that have passed on and those that were left behind.

Sheltering Thoughts is the ideal little book for someone who has recently experienced the loss of a loved one. Although a sympathy card is appreciated, this book will help them deal with their grief in a positive way. Each page is filled with inspiration, encouragement and support. The rhythmic poetry and lyricism make this book an enjoyable read in a difficult time. Famous quotes add interest and retrospect to the message.

Filled with heartfelt emotion and a depth of understanding that only one who has worked with the grief stricken could have, Sheltering Thoughts is well written and well presented in 147 pages. The book is small enough to keep in a purse or pocket enabling it to become a comforting traveling companion. A portion of the proceeds will benefit hospice work.

Recommended by Reviewer: Shirley Roe, Allbooks Reviews.


Title: Sheltering Thoughts
Author: Sharon Gilchrest O'Neill
Publisher: Tate Pub.
ISBN: 1-9332904-3-9
Pages: 147
Price: $10.95 Feb. 2006

Like most `Baby Boomers', I find myself at more funerals than weddings lately, so (following the suggestion of an earlier reviewer) I have started keeping a couple of copies of Sheltering Thoughts on hand and at the ready. I never know what to say at funerals (what can you say?), so I simply give this gift book filled with words of comfort, support and peace. The author's hospice and family therapist experiences and sensitivities are evident in her tasteful assembly of sayings, poems, and lyrics and in her own personal comments as well. When I read it myself, I found it to be a very moving read that stimulated a surprisingly peaceful contemplation of my own mortality.

One of the things I like most about this book is the feedback I get from the recipients. Different people are comforted by, and hence remember, different passages but the book seems to be appropriate for anyone regardless of their religious beliefs (or non-beliefs), and in that delicate regard this book is a safe and universal gift.

The appreciation from recipients (three so far) has been heart-felt and they said that they too will give it as a gift when the situation arises. It appears that Sheltering Thoughts fills a void not addressed by the traditional bereavement approaches. It is more distinctive, intimate and lasting than a card or flowers, and it is easy to mail when I cannot attend personally. It was written just in time for my generation.

I've relied on this book for years and years. I'm recommending it to a relative who needs to lose weight. But I have to wonder why Amazon prices range from nearly $50 to around $72 for either new or used! That's way out of line. I've also seen a WW soft cover cookbook that was priced over $20, when the original cost was maybe $10. These are good, but they're not rare classics!

The book has the best recipes and they taste great! Try the Chicken Enchiladas and brownies, delicious!! Really helps you stay on your plan and breaks the boredom.

This is the only cookbook you will ever use and use again. Throw out all the others. You cannot go wrong with this cookbook. Love desserts? Even their desserts are low points value. If you like to eat, you will love this book.

Weight Watchers provides us with a great number of good recipes. The best thing going for Weight Watchers is their low fat recipes do not taste low fat. My husband and I have lost about 20 lbs with their program. We have never been disapointed in any of the recipes in this book. You do not have to be on the program to enjoy their recipes. For us WW folks ever wonder what you can do with 6 points? Well this book will help you!

This is the best cookbook I have ever encounter. I use it so often my pages are falling out. The receipes are easy to follow and very, very yummy. I was so saddened when this was taken out of print. I would buy this for everyone I have on my Christmas shopping list and an extra copy for me. I am glad to own one. This would make a great wedding gift, birthday gift. I think everyone should own this book. I wish weight watchers would put it back in print. I think they are doing their customers a disservice by taking it off the shelves.

In my own opinion, Elizabeth Barrett Browning at her best and most seductive; lie there reading them in bed and let them ravish you! To read them, so intimately sweet as they seem, is almost to feel EBB herself there, her small form snuggling happily in your arms. Of course nobody would have known better than EBB herself what dulcet love songs these sonnets were, since she had never intended them for publication. They were secret, often quite confessional, love poems she wrote about her Robert while he was courting her, all unawares, and then for awhile after their marriage, in which they continued carrying on as two of recorded history's most passionate lovebirds.

It was only after Robert Browning somehow discovered and read them that he managed to convince EBB that they were really too good not to be published. He was right, of course. Even so, Elizabeth was sensitive enough about the matter to want to screen the work off under a somewhat misdirecting title. SONNETS FROM THE PORTUGESE might hope to create a casual impression that they were foreign translations of some mysterious sort ... which, of course, obviously they aren't, but who's philologically analysing; read and enjoy!

In fact, the name settled on was a mere lover's in-joke. Because of her somewhat exotic looks and olive-colored skin, Browning's pet name for EBB, other than the baby-talk "Ba," was "my Portugese;" hence the title. The collection was tremendously successful and deservedly so, and this edition of it, gorgeously illustrated, is very nice indeed.

Elizabeth Barrett Browning wrote these sonnets for her husband and fellow poet Robert Browning. She is capable to move and haunt without saccharine kitsch & schmalz. Her sincerity and intensity are an example to everyone who wants to write poetry or song lyrics. Two thumbs up!

This book of sonnets and poems is just wonderful. Elizabeth Barrett Browning's writing is able to get to the very heart of the reader with honesty and beauty. This collection really speaks to the romantic soul with passion and truth. I find her writings to be incredibly moving and this volume touched me deeply.

These sonnets ease my tension when I read them.

My ex girlfriend, Ashleigh, gave this to me years ago, before she was forced by her family to marry this guy. Long story but she sent this book to me and signed the inside.
Next to Shakespeare, this is the most bittersweet and poetic
poems of love that I have ever read.
It was said that a husband and wife team wrote these so one can only imagine how passionate their marriage was, huh?

I ordered this book but was sent a book on grilling...I returned the grilling book but have not been credited for the st petersburg book..please refer this to the proper dept. thank you!

I ordered this book but was sent a book on grilling...I returned the grilling book but have not been credited for the st petersburg book..please refer this to the proper dept. thank you!

The most gorgeous, comprehensive photographic panorama of the treasures of St. Petersburg. Even if your exposure to St. Petersburg is limited to the Winter Palace, (now the "Hermitage" museum), BUY this book AND buy the unreal, almost surreal DVD "Russian Ark". Both are BREATHTAKING!

This is a gorgeous book on a beautiful city. My father would have loved this book, he had an interest in all things Russian, he and my mother toured St. Petersburg and loved it. The images in this book are crisp and text highly informative. St. Petersburg has a wealth of beautiful Imperial Buildings and they are shown at their best in this wonderful book. From Peter the Great's Peterhof to the Hermitage, to Catherine the Great's Tsarkoe Selo, the best of Imperial Russian architecture is on display. If you have any interst in Imperial Russian architecture or just enjoy fine books, then i cannot imagine you being disappointed. Highly recommended.

This can be an expensive book if you're not buying it used, but it's absolutely worth it. The beautiful pictures are excellent at presenting St. Petersburg's amazing architectural wonders. The text is well-written, and even if you don't have a great deal of knowledge of Russian history, you'll still be able to follow along without any trouble.

A gem - read and enjoy!

This is a great sg1 novel and I would recommend this book and the author to anyone. She captures the series perfectly. The plot is so well written and keeps you on the edge of your seat. When I found out that Cost of Honor was the sequel I instantly set out to by it. It was worth all the effort!!!! No matter what you have to do to get these books get them you will not be disappointed.

I found this book extremely difficult to put down. The story line is fantastic, the characters are almost perfectly captured in mannerisms and speech patterns. The author describes scenes vividly so that you can 'see' everything clearly. This is the second book in the Fandemonium SG-1 series that really focuses on the psychological aftermath of Jack O'Neill's torture by Baal. The TV show didn't make that big of a deal of this, but these wonderful tie-in novels use it as grist for a lot of internal angst. In this book we also again see Daniel's guiltly feelings for not helping Jack die when he was being tortured. More grist for internal angst. And then Sam is captured by Baal's Jaffa and receives her own package of angst. So far we don't really see Teal'c with baggage... perhaps in another book. Since this is just part one of the story, I recommend that you acquire SG-1 "The Cost of Honor" at the same time as this book so that you're not left hanging with the "To be continued" effect.

"A Matter of Honor" by Sally Malcolm is exactly what SG1 is about. I could not put the book down it was such a page turner! The characters were to a 'T', the humor, sensitivity, and loyalty. You can picture everything in your mind. It is written so well that there is enough description for you to picture what is going on, however, not too much to bore you. I can't wait to read part 2. I was captured from the very beginning. Also I didn't have to wait for action. It is loaded with it as well as suspense. It takes place in the 7th season after Daniel returns, which plays a part in the book. A must read for Stargate fans!

If you are a true fan of the show - then you will love this book. This reads just like and episode and the dialog is perfect and true to the TV characters. It will keep you turning the page.

The author did a fantastic job and would love to see more from them.

The story continues with the book "Cost of Honor" and picks up right where this one leaves off - it was just like watching a two part episode.

Fun read.

This book is sooooo good!!! This is the type of book that makes me love reading and never want to stop! This book has tons of excitement on every page! It never gets dull! I couldn't wait to pick up my book the next morning. And I couldn't put it down even at 10:00pm! I couldn't stop till I'd read a paragraph and not understand a single word! That's when I figured I should get some sleep. This book has everything Stargate fans have been waiting for! YOU SHOULD TOTALLY READ THIS BOOK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

After reading "Don't Ever Tell"-Kathy's Story by Kathy O'Beirne and "The God Squad" by Paddy Doyle, I felt the need to inform myself further on the subject of absolute corruption and power in the Industrial Schools in Ireland. "Suffer the Little Children" gave me all the information, and more, on the shocking, shameful, collective sadism practiced in Industrial Schools, orphanages, convents and reformatory schools where different religious orders carried out dehumanising brutality and savagery on innocent little children who were placed in the institutions either through the Courts or the parents themselves to be looked after by the religious and to receive an education.
This book gives us the history of such institutions in the UK and Eire but concentrates on the Irish scene where they continued to exist up to the 1970's. It is well written and a most revealing exposé of a very dark, sick side of Irish history. It also includes personal testimonies which make the book even more gripping as they exemplify and confirm vividly the revelations of such an appaling system.
It also discloses the indifference and conspiracy of silence on an official level which brings to mind Molière's words "It's not what we do, but also what we do not do, for which we are accountable". And for bad history not to repeat itself, we must keep informed. This book is a must read.

Ever since the movie .."The Magdalene Sisters" and Frank McCourt's book..."Angela's Ashes", Plus the fact that I am a quarter Irish and love Ireland and her people, I find I want to know more and more about her people and the TRUTH of how they have suffered yet have remained strong and vital and are proud and have given much to our world today!(England should be ashamed of what they have done for far too long, too!)
This book tells an awful story about the horrors of little children treated so badly for years and years. I know sadly that these wrongs can never really be righted for these victims or the words, "I am sorry" will erase the pain in their hearts, but I do hope eyes are open now and this cannot happen ever again to anyone....especially to children...no matter what country they come from and no matter what their color or race. Bless the children and keep them safe!! God bless Ireland...
Linda Steffey

This book presents a portrait of 20th century Ireland that will debunk any nostalgic or sentimental view of the so called 'Emerald Isle'. No shamrocks and leprecauns in this book, but a history of cruelty, abuse and power. It tells the story of how Irish children were incarcerated in huge numbers throughout the 19th and 20th centuries in reformatory and industrial schools which were managed by the Catholic Church. Based on detailed historical research and interspersed with gut-wrenching first hand accounts of survivors of these institutions, it shows how an alliance between a power hungry Catholic Church and an indifferent Irish State resulted in the incarceration of the children of the poor. Rather than helping poor families, Church and State removed these children to bleak institutions where large numbers were sexually and physically abused and tortured by their Christian carers. I don't think that I will ever think about the Catholic Church and Ireland in the same way ever again. Anger, saddness, frustration, disbelief, but above all anger - why did this happen? I experienced all these emotions when reading this book. If you want to really understand Irish society, this book is essential and harrowing reading.

This book is one of true meaning an excellent written book, which show's the through Ireland. This books explains the mentality of the religious and states minds. Truly deeply sad book but very much worth the read. This book is excellent in the sense of giving true awareness to the Irish state.
Highly recommended.

This book is comprehensive and deeply moving. I could not put it down. I was disgusted and angry by the end of it. I am ashamed to be Irish and ashamed to be Catholic. How this could have gone on for so long with no help for these children is beyond words. If there is a hell, then open arms to all those sick and sadistic Brothers and Nuns, all of whom were operating in the name of God....! How dare they call themselves charitable and merciful. They are some of the most vile human beings in existence. Between that and the sex scandal in America, the Catholic Church owes many people an apology and some sort of restitution. For shame the Church still chooses to cover up it's misuse of power. If the Nuns and Priests and Brothers were not so sexually frustrated, maybe they wouldn't be so evil. Sorry to vent so strongly. After reading this book, you will feel the same way. Also read Do Penance or Perish, but not as good as this book. Thank you.

Others have aptly reviewed this book. Personally, this book has helped me view God as a loving Father in the OT and NT, and it has enhanced my prayer life!!! Must read for any undergraduate, seminary, or Ph.D. student!!!

If you are an Old Testament professor, this book would challenge and transform your students subconscious, faulty assumptions about God in the OT and I would venture to say it would transform their personal relationship with God--it did mine!!!

This is the most important book I read in seminary because it has fundamentally changed my idea of God. Like most Christians, I was raised to picture the God of the Old Testament as a holy, transcendent God, perennially angry and punitive, distant and strict. I was a closet Marcionite in the respect that my image of the God of the Old Testament was discontinuous with the God Jesus calls Father. As Fretheim says
. . . the picture of Jesus presented often stands at odds with the commonly accepted picture of God. Attributes such as love, compassion, and mercy, accompanied by acts of healing, forgiving, and redeeming, tend to become narrowly associated with Jesus, while the less palatable attributes and actions of holiness, wrath, power and justice are ascribed only to God. . . . Jesus is friend and God is enemy . . . the atonement gets twisted so that Jesus is seen as the one who came to save us from God. [Fretheim, 2]
In The Suffering of God Fretheim wants to lift up Old Testament metaphors for God, particularly those that have been neglected, like nonmonarchical images that show a God more in line with the New Testament, a God so involved with humanity that God suffers with and for humanity. In order to do this, Fretheim rehabilitates anthropomorphic metaphors for God that have been discredited by Old Testament scholarship since Philo, in particular by scholarship that wants to focus on God as transcendent, immutable, free, sovereign monarch and therefore essentially "other" than human. In the continuity of anthropomorphic metaphors throughout the Old Testament, Fretheim sees an indirect but continuous portrayal of a God who gets ever closer to humanity until finally this God becomes incarnate in Jesus Christ. "In the incarnation, God has acted anthropomorphically in the most supreme way." [Fretheim, 6] By focusing in The Suffering of God on these neglected anthropomorphic metaphors, Fretheim wants to expand the number and kind of metaphors we use "so that our operative fund of them will be more congruent with the biblical witness and our experience of God in the world." [Fretheim, 9] In addition, Fretheim believes that these neglected metaphors are really canon within the canon and that they can help us interpret the whole of the Bible and bring together our thinking about seemingly polar opposites, like God's sovereignty and God's grace [Fretheim, 11]. Fretheim essentially redefines God's freedom, God's ability to change, how much God knows, and how God exercises power in the world by showing a God in continuous relationship with humanity from the very beginning.
. . . the Old Testament reveals a fundamental continuity between God and world. God is graciously present, in, with, and under all the particulars of the creation, with which God is in a relationship of reciprocity. The immanent and transcendent God of Israel is immersed in the space and time of this world. Such a perspective reveals a divine vulnerability, as God takes on all the risks that authentic relatedness entails. Because of what happens to that relationship with those whom God loves, God suffers. [Fretheim, 78]
Across the chapters of The Suffering of God Fretheim has delineated throughout the Old Testament a gradual intensification of the way God is present in and for the world. God is getting closer and closer, desirous of ever increased intimacy, until finally in Jesus Christ, God becomes one with humanity. As the last sentence in the book states, "God's act in Jesus Christ is the culmination of a longstanding relationship of God with the world that is much more widespread in the Old Testament than is commonly recognized" [Fretheim, 166]. Recognition of this image of a suffering, relational God in the Old Testament is Fretheim's purpose in writing this book. Fretheim characterizes God's choice to be in relationship to the created order as a "relationship of reciprocity" [Fretheim, 35]. What is more, Fretheim sees this God-World reciprocity as the predominant Old Testament perspective!
That is an exciting concept to someone who [in spite of familiarity with good Reformed thinking about a God involved in history] was more accustomed to thinking of the God of the Bette Midler song "From a Distance." The Old Testament God Fretheim documents is a God who has chosen to be involved in human history, in time and space, and is affected and can change because of this involvement. This is a God who listens to humans, who holds back judgment, who makes room for an unknown future based on the response of humans. This is not some great puppet master in the sky sadistically toying with us. This is definitely Jesus' Abba who treats us with integrity and profound love, and therefore a God I can respond to in the same way.
Fretheim has essentially given me back a whole God, a God for everybody no matter what gender or race or status in life. Fretheim's ideas of continuity and "canon within the canon" I find to be a more positive way of approaching the Old Testament than the feminist hermeneutic of suspicion. This approach allows me to accept more of the questionable passages of the Old Testament. Even in the wrathful warrior God, the God of the flood, the destroyer of Sodom and Gomorrah, I can now see the kind of God Jesus could call father and whom I, by adoption, can call father too.

As other reviewers have noted, the idea of God's vulnerability is often overlooked in church and theological conversations - the immutability of God and omnipotence of God would seem to contradict the idea of a God who feels, much less suffers, in the way the human beings can understand. Fretheim's wonderful text, part of the Fortress Press series of Overtures to Biblical Theology, explores images and situations found in the Hebrew scriptures that would indicate and illustrate this aspect of the divine.

Fretheim writes about God's relationship with the world - this includes aspects such as human understanding of God (anthropomorphic metaphors), the reality of God's relationship, God's internal relationship with the world, foreknowledge, and God's suffering. Fretheim expands upon this idea significantly - God is a God who suffers because, with, and for creation.

God's suffering because of creation has to do with the idea of covenant and relationship - much of the narrative of the Hebrew scripture is built upon the covenants God makes with humanity (the implicit covenant from the Garden of Eden, the explicit covenants with Noah and Abraham, etc.). The call of the prophets and the lamentations and sorrowful psalms all speak to the breach of these covenants, particularly the covenant of Abraham, and how this causes God to suffer. Fretheim uses passages such as the text of the prophet Hosea to show that God is not like a military leader or political leader dealing with insubordination or rebellion, but more like a loving parent dealing with a troublesome child. Fretheim states that this takes more of the image of mother than father.

God's suffering with the people has roots in the Exodus story, but carries forward in many situations through the narrative strand. 'God sees the suffering from the inside,' Fretheim states. God is not powerless in this situation, but God is intimately aware of the suffering of the people, and this has great implications for later understanding of God. Fretheim shows that this suffering-with is not reserved just for the Israelites - in Isaiah and Jeremiah, God's weeping and mourning for Moab is significant.

God also suffers for the people - while this takes on dramatic form in Christian contexts, where Jesus takes on the suffering for all people, the idea of God taking on the weight of sin and suffering for the wrong-doing of the people is also present in the Hebrew scriptures, particularly in the suffering servant imagery, but also elsewhere.

The comparison with Rabbi Abraham Heschel's monumental work, 'The Prophets', is very apt; companionship with authors such as Reinhold Niebuhr and William Placher ('Narratives of a Vulnerable God') are also worthwhile explorations. This book will expand the way God is understood in dramatic, and dramatically human, ways.

This is a wonderful book that explores how God relates to the world. It focuses on issues and passages that are almost always skipped over by preachers and scholars. So prepare to be shocked. I've the entire OT several times, but I guess I didn't realize what I was reading or read over it too quickly. For examples, he lists several passages where it talks about God crying. Amazing!

Many of the other reviews have already covered the strengths of this book, and I would join them in highly recommending it. I was first introduced to Fretheim's work some years ago in a class on Luther's theology of the cross, a theological tradition I think triumphal evangelicalism could benefit from reading. But having recently re-read the book, I was taken aback at how Freitheim's view of God anticipates the Open Theist arguments of Clark Pinnock, Gregory Boyd, and John Sanders by almost a decade. In many ways, Freitheim's book is better suited to presenting an Open Theistic view of things because he does so without the baggage that Open Theism now seems to carry in the evangelical community.

In any case, if your vision of God is one of a detached and cold First Mover, or of an angry Lawgiver and Judge, then I suggest you read this book as well as Kazoh Kitamori's Theology of the Pain of God. It may do you a world of good.

Throughout a dozen or so stories the reader is confronted with an evolution of sorts. Pirx, initially a cadet in some sort of a space pilot school, later becomes a full fledged 'space-man' with experience that others can safely and often rely on. Not much of his personal life is shown since the stories concern itself more with a particular plot of the moment. Because of that, Pirx sometimes appears to be a bit alien and emotionless and although what he does can be considered heroic by many standards the book underplays this aspect very well

Pirx is confronted with different problems (on earth and in different locales in the solar system), which he has to resolve or help to resolve. Some of them very mundane, some comical, the others quite heavy with ethical meanings.

Although the setting can be assumed to be far in the future, when space travel has become almost as common as a ride on a bus, the technology often seems like it's on a level of a steam-powered locomotive. The ship computers are mentioned, on-board nuclear reactors abound but all that somehow seems so amazingly ordinary and `everydayish' as an old car or a kitchen gas oven. It gives the stories quite a transcendent feeling

The ending of this sequence of vignettes hit me like a sledgehammer. Pirx strikes me as a typical guy working in the space service. Several years ago I met a former cosmonaut and I had a much deeper understanding of whom I had met upon reading this book this year. The banality of evil is one theme in Lem's 1970's work, in Communist Poland with its official worship of technological progress as the justification for that now defunct regime. The ending of the book (which I won't give away) screamed at me that being dumb and numb is no excuse, even for a space jockey with "the right stuff." A couple decades ago, my Polish language teacher mentioned that in his opinion, Lem was the best writer in contemporary Polish fiction. Lem addresses the dark side of humanity as a constant in society with an ever-increasing level of technological complexity. More technology simply gives us more opportunities to confront who we are along with the responsibility to be prepared to think about what we are doing and what choices we will make.

Tales of Pirx the Pilot, and More Tales of Pirx the pilot are two excellent sci-fi books! What is unique is that there is such a strong psychological edge to them. And the fact that Pirx is such an everyman - kind of unsure of himself, and from the outside, unassuming and apparently not especially competent. But Lem does something amazing with Pirx - with each story, he gains experience, confidence, cynicism, and most importantly, judgement and wisdom. Make sure to read the Pirx books, as well as The Invincible, and Solaris.

Lem's Pirx is compelling and cool. The science is barely fictional and always thought provoking. The plots, however, are a little more predictable than the sequel. If you're going to read one of these, I'd recommend "More".

This collection of stories by Lem is based around a chubby cadet by the name of Pirx. The character is plucky and gets into all sorts of fixes. I found the first short story the most surprising and fun to read. It's most vivid antagonist are two insects, and it's wildly creative. Another very good story is this one about a robot re-living over and over the last few hours before the death of an entire ship (this was before Pirx's time). A very haunting tale. Overall, a great collection!

The book is authoritative and well editted. At the same time it is impossible to accept the claims of the textual critics. There is an established tradition in Judaism of how to write the text and how to read what on the surface appears as a deviation from grammar or inconsistency in the meaning of the text. Criticism devoid of any tradition is unfortunately based on one's chosen ideology. The book perfectly explains this point, which is definitely honest and praiseworthy as the author E. Tov tries hard to be neutral. The book also shows that all the present day critics are familiar with the Jewish interpretation of the text. Hence, the main lesson one can learn from the book is that although there are many improper ways one can convince oneself why the Jewish interpretation is wrong, the final criticism is always reserved for G-d, the Author of the Hebrew Bible.

Although this work was certainly not written for beginners in the area of textual criticism of the Hebrew Bible, it is, nontheless the very best reference work on the subject available in English, and should be an essential reference book on the student's bookshelf.
Michael Jacobs

This book outlines the principles of textual criticism of the Hebrew Bible. Especially helpful are discussions of how this field is different than that of Greek New Testament textual criticism.

Note that this book is more of a manual for how to do textual criticism than it is a summary of the current state of knowledge in the field (although it does have a fair amount of that too).

As I started diving in translation and text criticism, I needed a pratical introduction to the matter. In such cases you need the BEST. You have to go to the great names. Prof Tov's book brought me where I needed to come! As I learned the jargon, I got acquainted with the state of the art. If not exactly the last word (new discoveries and studies are published every day), I now walk on solid ground on the matter, gained a critical view and can surf on this before unknown sea. I am no longer an absolute outsider. I know the words of the trade! Well used money.

A very thorough and scholarly work which is written in a lucid way for the layman and the boffin alike. It certainly has no theological axe to grind. However, I was dissappointed that the major differences between LXX and Masoretic were not pointed out eg. psalm 40:7, may be if a christian was to see its use in Heb 10:v? it might be a bit controversial? May be this would explain why Hebrews nearly did not make it into the canon of the NT? But this is not the purpose of the book! The plates are an excellent idea as you get to see the 'evidence' so to speak. A glossary of terms would be a good idea so that one can easily decipher what 'orthography' and 'morphology' are for example, without having to search for clues. On the whole a most pleasant book which certainly delivers the goods.