Owens Books

This is the kind of story we don't get enough of in America today. On the surface, it's about a poor California boy who grows up battling adversity and, through determination and showmanship, makes a name for himself as a Dodger Stadium peanut vendor. But it's also about the healing power of family and friendship, and the importance of faith and a positive attitude. This kind of life story is getting harder to find, as society gets more hectic and we get more and more insulated from one another. How refreshing it is to read about a man who dedicated his life to connecting with people -- by tossing them a bag of peanuts -- in the classic setting of the old ballpark. It may sound corny, but we'll miss it when it's gone. Books like this can inspire us to maintain values and traditions that are sadly slipping away.

The Perfect Pitch is a biographical portrait of Roger
Owens, the famous Peanut Man at Los Angeles' Dodger
stadium. Owens has been expertly trick-tossing bags of
salted peanuts to enthusiastic baseball fans for over
40 years. He began working as a peanut vendor at the
age of 15. In 1962 he moved right along with the LA
Dodgers into Dodger Stadium. His arsenal of throwing
tricks (behind the back, overhand, underhand,
between-the-legs) and general friendliness had made
Owens into something of a celebrity, which was
cemented in 1976 by an invitation to appear as a guest
on The Tonight Show hosted by Johnny Carson.

The eldest of nine children, Owens struggled in his
youth with issues that many readers will be able to
relate to. His mother's battle with a mental illness
sent him and his siblings into foster care for some
time. In his twenties, Owens was involved in a Jeep
accident that nearly cost him his life. But even in
the face of poverty and distress, Roger Owens never
let it crush his optimistic and warm spirit.

This is a delightful story of an underdog coming out
on top, and you don't have to be a baseball fan to
enjoy it. (Although baseball fans will love the
detailed descriptions of the games). It is a story
about real people persevering throughout the struggles
of life. You can put yourself in Roger Owens' shoes
and feel his excitement radiating from the pages. A
moving tale with plenty of photographs, it is a fast
paced and engaging story for all readers.

Review by Gretchen Olson of BookReview.com.

You might be thinking to yourself...why would you want to read a book about a peanut vendor...but this isn't any ordinary peanut vendor, this is the famous Roger Owens who has thrown peanuts at Dodger games for the last 46 years and is still going strong.Roger's story is heartbreaking and uplifting. It is inspirational and engaging. He came from a very large family and spent a very tough childhood trying to find himself and help support his family who were very poor.His mother suffered from mental problems and Roger and his siblings were placed in different foster homes.Baseball and the LA Dodgers turned out to be Roger's saving grace. He began his long career at the Coliseum and moved with the Dodgers to Dodger Stadium in 1962 and he has been there ever since.Roger developed quite a following in the sports and entertainment world with his humor and special ability to throw peanuts behind his back and between his legs and hit his mark every time.Roger also experienced a life threatening jeep accident early in his career. Roger's nephew Daniel wrote this book about his uncle and it is indeed a labor of love.If you read one book about a peanut vendor make it this one.

This is the best photographic book every printed. I bought two, because one day they will be worth a lot of money. Try and get one for yourself, and keep it in pristine condition as part of you superannuation fund.

As I started to leaf through this epic; tears welled in my eyes; Tears for the the art, tears for the subject, tears for the artist and tears of joy.

The destruction of life has never been so beautiful.

Peter Beard is one of few artists whose life is art, in the truest sense.

Five Stars for the best Big Book effort
since Helmut Newton's SUMO.
If you can not afford Peter's six figure
art creations this is the way to go.. if?
you can find a copy for sale.
Additionally, a classic document of overpopulation's
tragic consequences for any species including our own.
When you have it get a glass of wine
and settle down for two hours of life
and death in another world.

While some further elaboration on his theoretical background and how it is applied to his analysis would be welcome, I can't say I've found a better reading of this period in Occultism. The highlight is certainly the chapter on Aleister Crowley in the Desert which gives the reader the most succinct treatment of The Beast's career that one could ask for in 35 pages. Structurally, the book is divided well between chapters, enabling the scholar looking for a particular tidbit to access without having to read the other parts for context, although anyone interested in one of the chapters would be well rewarded to read all (if not simply for pleasure in Owen's excellent narrative and careful consideration of his subject).

Dave

This is a fair to good overview of the people & the period, although I think Owens makes over much of her "women's rights" notions. It is well researched & footnoted. Owens could have done much more on the influence of the GD at the turn of the century.

An exceptionally fine piece of work. Owen's use of sources is excellent - published and unpublished accounts of magickal workings and the documents of occult orders. Her understanding of magickal subjectivity and the reflexivity of modernism is very insightful. Her argument that occultism was central to the formation of modernity is brilliant - in opposition to the usual idea that modernism was opposed to spirituality.I'd reccommend reading Joy Dixon's fine "Divine Feminine", Judith Walkowitz' "City of Dreadful Delights" and Leon Surette's "Birth of Modernism" as well.

Since Wesley wrote in a different era, his style requires some adjustment but once one gets past that there is a lot of edifying content in this book. The key point of this book is the issue of "perfection." He sees it as living what Jesus said was the greatest commandment and its accompanying commandment, i.e., to love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your mind, all your strength, and to love your neighbor as you love yourself. Wesley's life demonstrates that he reached the goal. He traveled extensively, read widely, wrote inspiringly, and influenced many people to believe in Jesus as their Savior. Thank God for his legacy in words and deeds. He truly practiced and preached.

Wesley's brief treatise on the important yet overlooked Christian doctrine of perfection is a "must read" for all Christians interested in growing in Christ. The fact that this book is not mandatory reading in every seminary and Bible school is a travesty, making a mockery contemporary Christian education. This book is excellent for anyone serious about their spiritual journey.

John Wesley (1703-1791) firmly believed that God continued to work in the life of the believer subsequent to justification. In A Plain Account of Christian Perfection, Wesley provides an account of the development of his understanding of the doctrine of Christian Perfection. This short work contains a lucid explanation of the doctrine with special attention not only to the Biblical promises and commands that are the basis of the doctrine but also the practical way that "perfect love" works in the life of the believer. While this work was certainly intended to instruct those who were seeking "perfect love," it also attempts to answer those who would deny the doctrine.

The essence of Christian Perfection, for Wesley, was clearly defined by Christ when an expert in the law asked him, "Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?" He said to him, "`You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: `You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets." (Matthew 23.36-40 NRSV)

Here one sees that, for Wesley, the main point of Christian Perfection is "perfect love." "Perfect love" thus defines our relationship to God and others.

This book is essential for those in the Wesleyan tradition and a worthwhile read for those from other Christian perspectives that wish to understand what Wesley thinks Christian Perfection is and is not.

Private Voices, Public Lives is one of those rare books that manages to cross the boundary between "academic" and "real world" writing with consummate ease. Each of the contributing authors has focused squarely on Nancy Nelson's subtitle, "Women Speak[ing] on the Literary Life," by demonstrating with both clarity and grace how the act of writing is not only part of life, but often *is* life when the ineffable must find expression. Beverly Conner's essay, "Search and Rescue," is wihout question the most devastatingly candid writing I have ever read, showing how writing to express can become, in our darkest moments, writing to survive---and each of Conner's co-authors rises to the same mark of excellence in contributing fresh and insightful takes on not only 'the literary life' but the ways in which women both live and write the events that define them. As a teacher, I find Private Voices, Public Lives magnificently suited for any course in Women's Studies, Narrative Theory, or Literature---but as a reader I find it an equally magnificent bedside reader in times when the overwhelming number of male voices still represented in canonical and even journalistic texts requires a set of refreshing counterparts and counter-voices to represent the other half of human experience.

I love this book. Twenty-four wonderful autobiographical essays by women writers, teachers, and literary scholars in which each one shows how her work and her personal life intersect and enrich each other. The essays are fascinating and so are the complex lives that produced them. No one should miss "Search and Rescue" in which Beverly Connor, tells how her grief over her murdered daughter found expression and a degree of release in her teaching and her reading of Anne Tyler's novel "The Accidental Tourist." Other favorites of mine are "Love, Work, and Willa Cather" by Ann Fisher-Wirth; "In Search of the Androgynous Self," by Nancy Owen Nelson; "Literary Criticism with a Human Face," By Elsie F. Mayer.

This fine collection of essays explores the effects of literature in women's lives. I was particularly delighted with essays exploring writers such as Willa Cather and Laura Ingalls Wilder. These authors have had an enormous impact on American girls for generations, but they have not yet received adequate scholarly attention. Nelson's volume continues the feminist literary project of recovering "lost" literature, as well as defining the ways in which women are affected and even changed by what they read.

Private Voices, Public Lives is exemplary of feminist literary theory in its rejection of an objective interpretive stance, frankly acknowledging the subject position of the interpreter. It is an ideal companion text for women's studies and women's literature courses.

This book, along with D.A. Carson's "Becomming Conversant with the Emergent Church" are both NECESSARY critiques; and I m glad that someone has made them. If Christians cease to believe in the propositional truth-claims of Scripture, or at least cease to believe that they have any bearing on our lives, it will be giving up on alot!

Grentz's Primer is singled out by the articles in Reclaiming the Center because it is an important contribution to formulating a coherent view of postmodern thought; however, the direction that Grentz suggests in his conclusion is well-intentioned but misguided. A survey of recent intellectual thought within the Christian church shows the Grentz is within the missionary tradition of the church: he embraces certain aspects of postmodernism in order to reach postmoderns. The same desire gave rise to liberalism at the beginning of the last century: to reach adherents of enlightenment rationalism the gospel needed to accommodate itself to an intellectual world in which rational man was the center. Toward the middle of the twentieth century, neo-orthodoxy sought to communicate the gospel to existential man through a program of demythologizing the gospel, and form and redaction criticism. Likewise, Grentz seeks to convert postmodern individuals to Christianity by framing the gospel in postmodern terms. Like earlier attempts to convert people through by accommodating the message, there is a reaction. Some will embrace Grentz's program as a means of reaching the unchurched. Others, like the contributors to Reclaiming the Center, will reject Grentz's proposal as an unacceptable accommodation.

The fundamental question is whether postmodernism is compatible with historic Christianity. I do not believe that it is. First, Christianity makes universal truth claims. Jean Francois Leotard, the most famous European postmodern, in The Postmodern Condition defined postmodernism as "incredulity toward meta-narratives" because meta-narratives promise but cannot deliver. Christianity, like all philosophical systems, is a meta-narrative (cf. 1 Cor. 15; John 14:6f., 8:31f., 1:1ff., etc.). The gospel is a target for postmodern deconstruction because these truth claims are total and exclusive. Second, the Bible is a text that purports to be the word of God. Jesus said, "Thy word is truth" (John 17:17). For postmoderns, the authorial intent is impossible to assertain (contra E. D. Hirsch, Validity in Interpretation). And if intent could be assertained, it should be deconstructed because it is necessarily oppressive. Furthermore, if "every scripture is inspired by God and useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the person dedicated to God may be capable and equipped for every good work" (2 Tim. 3:16f.), then the subtext of scripture is oppressive. Postmoderns feel the need to deconstruct these oppressive elements to become liberators of a radical (Nietzschean) kind. Third, from its inception to the present, Christianity is fundamentally a belief system that can be expressed propositionally. The scriptures contain propositions or statements that can readily be transformed into truth claims. The historic doctrines and creeds for Christendom are expressed propositionally. Postmodernism rejects the validity of such claims. They are the social products of communities rather than discovered or disclosed truth. Grentz's evangelistic zeal leads him to seek accommodation with a school of thought that is antagonistic with what he holds most dear.

Experience over doctrine. Inclusivistic instead of exclusivistic. Discomfort with propositional truth. Synergistic. It may sound like ordinary heterodoxy, but it is a movement posed to take over normative church life--indeed, in some circles, it has already done so.

Reclaiming the Center seeks to reclaim what is being lost through the influence of "postconservative evangelicals" like theologian Stanley Grenz and pastor Brian McLaren. This recovery is presented from a wide-range of viewpoints--from philosophy to theology to historiography to third-world perspectives.

This theological pilgrimage begins with a concise and informative introduction to the issues (written by Justin Taylor), as well as an overview of how the book is organized and what each chapter is about (which I have in turn summarized in the next few paragraphs). Next is a chapter by D.A. Carson "summarizing and critiquing the broad outlines of Grenz's vision for evangelicalism" (p. 26).

After the introduction, a philosophical framework is begun. The three chapters in this section take a philosophical approach to answering postconservative accusations by discussing the correspondence theory of truth (Goothius, Ch. 3), foundationalism, reliabilism, inerrancy (Moreland and DeWeese, Ch. 4), and finally with epistemic/linguistic access to the real world (Smith, Ch. 5).

After setting up the philosophical framework (for every theology needs a foundation), the book moves on to theological assessment. Two of the chapters have to do with postconservative's view of Scripture. The postconservative cultural-linguistic model of Scripture is shown to be unreliable and the canonical-linguistic is put forth as a biblical alternative (Caneday, Ch. 6), and then Steve Wellum (Ch. 7) shows how "their doctrine of Scripture is incompatible with the Bible's own claims for itself and weakens the possibility of doing theology in a normative fashion" (p. 28). The final chapter in the section evaluates postconservative theology from a Third World perspective (Ch. 8, Donkor).

After the philosophical framework has been set and theological assessment made, the book moves on to historiography. Paul Helseth leads this section by showing that postconservatives have become a new brand of fundamentalism that they sought to remove themselves from (Ch. 9). Bill Travis then shows how orthodox doctrine has been a central concern throughout the centuries--even by those who have influenced postconservative ideas, contrary to the postconservative claim that commitment to orthodoxy is a relatively new "neo-evangelical" idea (Ch. 10). Finally Chad Brand wraps this section up by defining evangelicalism and showing what has been its historic doctrinal beliefs (Ch. 11).

The final section deals with the future of postmodernity. Jim Parker predicts a transmodern period, one that embraces the strengths of modernism and postmodernism but avoids both extremes (Ch. 12). Millard Erickson concludes with a prophetic vision for the future of evangelical theology that will help us navigate through the current "theological fog." It is a global, objective, practical and accessible, postcommunial, metanarratival, dialogical, and futuristic vision (Ch. 13). Such a vision is extensive and time will only tell if such a theology will result.

There are many strengths in this book. It is edited by three highly skilled theologians who promise to give you a fair and balanced look at the issues. The diverse nature of the chapters give the reader a taste for the many implications that such a shift in "evangelicalism" has.

This could also not be released at a better time. More people than ever are hearing about the "emerging church". Relevant magazine continues to grow in popularity. The interest of laymen continues to peak--especially with the younger Christians (whose culture has been "lobotomized by television" and the ever-present image), who realize some of their mumbo jumbo postmodern theology has a name.

All this brings me to two criticisms, both minor. The first is its highly academic nature. This is, of course, their intention because "as goes the academy, so goes the church" (p. 31), however, it would be helpful if it were a little more in reach of the average laymen who does not have extensive theological or philosophical training. I do believe most of the chapters are accessible to the majority of Christians, but for some of the more philosophically oriented chapters (especially 3-5) I recommend having something like the Oxford Dictionary of Philosophy or the Pocket Dictionary of Apologetics & Philosophy of Religion handy.

My second criticism is the book does not deal with the practical church and dialog issues as much as I would have liked. How are we to interact with postconservative evangelicals in church settings? What is the best way to combat these tendencies from taking over our churches? In what way should we use medium--such as the Internet, one of postconservative's major strengths--to our advantage? Questions like these might take a sequel to answer. However, we may have to look to the upcoming Becoming Conversant with Emergent by D. A. Carson (expected April 2005) to address these questions.

While Reclaiming the Center is a thoroughly academic work, there is no reason for the book to be read only by those in academia. But don't just take my word for it. This book has endorsements by famous scholars such as J.I. Packer, Albert Mohler, Timothy George, Richard Mouw, and David Dockery. And, with them, I conclude that anyone who is interested in the emergent church movement will find this helpful and enlightening, and I highly encourage you to examine it and consider the devastating effects of postconservative theology in our calling to "test all things" and "hold fast what is good" (1 Thessalonians 5:21).

Josh Sowin
fireandknowledge.org

I have seen risotto prepared in many different ways, unfortunately there is only one way to properly go about the task. Arborio or Carnaroli rice depending on your choice requires a certain method to extract all of the creaminess from the rice while maintaining a good al dente texture. In this book, the author here has done a wonderful job of illustrating the proper way to produce a quality risotto. Nice photos to give you ideas as risotto leaves much room for experimentation once you have mastered the basics.

Risotto is a wonderful, filling, nutritious meal and can be simple or sophisticated, served at family meals or dinner parties. (It also makes great left-overs!) Whether you're browsing or planning a menu, this book will fulfill your appetite. Each recipe is beautifully illustrated and presented on a separate page with easy-to-follow instructions. Several of the recipes I've tried have become family favorites. Just serve with a fresh baguette, and some can be considered one-dish meals.

This is a really good book about Risotto. The recipes range from light to deliciously heavy and creamy. There are also very basic instructions and tips for the beginning Risotto maker.

Although I loved the Rough Riders movie on TNT, they got the character Buckey O'Neill wrong. This book will set you straight on a forgotten hero, who did more in 38 years than most men would do in a life time. Just how far would he have gone had he not been killed at Kettle Hill? The next time that I'm on Whiskey Row, I will give a toast to William Owen O'Neill. This is a great book.

Buckey O'Neill was a legendary lawman, a gallant soldier, and a Democrat when being one meant fealty to the flag and country. Even in a Republican state like Arizona Buckey O'Neill is a state hero - and much revered in Prescott.

This son of an Irish immigrant and Civil War Veteran risked death many times, chasing outlaws across the deserts and praries. If he hadn't recklessly strolled along the front lines facing the Spanish emplacements on San Juan Hill, O'Neill might very well had gone on to bigger and better things, including possibly being territorial governor. He was a particular favorite of Theodore Roosevelt's, who took his death very hard.

Dale Walker has already written a superb book about the "Rough Riders" in the "Boys of '98" and here he sets the record on the man who is arguably Arizona's favorite son - above and beyond t Goldwater, the Earps, and perhaps even John McCain. Only the late hero Pat Tillman's life and career might be as adventurous and as legendary as O'Neill's was.

Dale L. Walker's biography of O'Neill, one of the early West's most fascinating figures, is richly drawn, authoritative, and distinguished. O'Neill is best known as one of the Rough Riders of the Spanish-American War, but Walker meticulously depicts all the other facets of this legendary Arizonan. This is surely the standard work on O'Neill.

Please know that this edition of the book was not authorized by Dr. Moore. While the information is the same, he is not getting his due compensation for it. The authorized version has a slightly different title which is, "The Science of Melanin." When encouraging others to read this book, please direct people to the authorized version to be respectful of Dr. Moore's hard work.

Melanin is not just something that gives color to the skin it is used thoughout the body for everything from agility to eyesight. This book should be required reading for all afrocentric people. The way the book is written makes it very readable and understandable. This book has things in it that the majority population in america dosen't want you to know. for example:
A black body is physiologically much stronger than a white body.
There is a physiological basis in blacks being smarter, faster, and a more intelligent than whites. This book has made me ask the question if this is true than what else is true about blacks in the light of the significance of melanin. The author dosn't just tell you blacks are better he takes you step by step through the reasoning and it actually makes sense.

I own this book and the author does not do what the reader wayne says. In fact Mr. Moore explains in great depth about the differences in the different functions of melinin and melanoycte found through out the human bodies of ppl of different colors, and as well with other volitional and nonvolitional things. In no way does this author suggest that Black ppl are superior over White ppl and vice verse. If anything he clears up the misconceptions of the supposable experts as well as the laymens. I would give Mr. Moore's work ten stars if i could because he did not choose sides but only shared his observational emperical research. Which is quite accurate with most scientist in this field who do not share the same color.

A Scrap of Time is a collection of short stories that masterfully presents the Holocaust experience from the perspective of survivors, witnesses, and victims in the villages of occupied Poland. Acts of personal courage, the day to day decisions that meant life or death, personal attempts to carry on with dignity, are all expressed here in powerful language and moving tales that evoke the Holocaust as it is not often told: as an experience that was as personal as each person who lived it. I have read and re-read this book several times. Each time, the stories seem to resound with their original power. Ida Fink, a Polish survivor of the Holocaust, is a master storyteller. With the very first sentence, she has the ability to create scenes of astonishing clarity and suspense. You simply cannot put the book down until you finish the story. With simple, lyrical language, she creates scenes of tremendous emotional impact. I don't believe I will ever look at the Holocaust in quite the same way. No television documentary could ever do justice to the Holocaust experience as these unforgettable stories of the personal lives of human beings in the most impossible of situations.

Ida Fink uses vivid langauge and impectable details to bring faces to the Holcaust. She tells haunting stories about Jewish life in Poland before and after World War II. Fink's stories are beutifully told and evoke every emotion; from fear to joy, hatred to pity. The book tells about individuals and gives faces and lives to the often impresonal Holocaust.

Though the concentration camps are never mentioned, these 23 short stories are a haunting collection about life in Poland at the time of the Holocaust. The theme of the anthology is on the excruciating agony of life in a broken world. These are stories of resistance, submission, betrayal, hope, regret and remembering.

Each story is the nightmare of an otherwise quiet ordinary people, previously living a secure and ordered existence. What is most striking is the uniqueness of the tone and style in each short story; and that none of the stories talk of the camps, only the horror before and after.

Perhaps, the author's own words (see below) taken from the first, title story captures why this collection is ultimately crucial to an impression, an understanding of those times. [Recommended for Young Adults/Adults]

[quote]
I want to talk about a certain time not measured in months and years. For so long I have wanted to talk about this time, and not in the way I will talk about it now, not just about this one scrap of time. I wanted to, but I couldn't, I didn't know how. I was afraid, too, that this second time, which is measured in months and years, had buried the other time under a layer of years, that this second time had crushed the first and destroyed it within me. But no. Today, digging around in the ruins of memory, I found it fresh and untouched from forgetfulness. This time was measured not in months but in a word--we no longer said "in the beautiful month of May," but "after the first "action," or the second, or right before the third." We had different measures of time, we different ones, always different, always with that mark of difference that moved some of us to pride and others to humility. We, who because of our difference were condemned once again, as we had been before in our history, we were condemned once again during this time measured not in months nor by the rising and setting of the sun, but by a word--"action," a word signifying movement, a word you would use about a novel or a play.
[/end quote]