Owens Books

This was a great book. Can not wait until Sailors Take warning comes out. A book you do not want to put down until you have finished it.

This is a book of The X-Files episode "Leonard Betts". It is one of the scariest episodes, and the end of it leads to the revelation of Scully's cancer, which is obviously a very important event in the history of The X-Files, as any fan of the show will know. It is also hardback, which I greatly appreciated, and is well worth the money.

Barbara Owen succeeds in condensing more than 200 years of registration practice in a working volume. The book is organized by time period and nationality, allowing the reader to assimilate the trends of each of the organ "schools." Each chapter is prefaced by a list of the relevant composers, as well as stop lists of representative organs. Perhaps Owen's signal accomplishment is a combination of historical awareness with the practical needs of the performance. For instance, after giving the background on the Italian voce umana stop, she suggests that one can replicate the sound on a mechanical action organ by coupling two 8' principals, with one detuned (half drawn). Overall, a practical reference for the performance of 16th, 17th, and 18th-century organ music.

A brief, highly readable and very powerful critique of Stanley Fish, Richard Rorty and, to a lesser degree, John Rawls. Owen focuses on their treatment of religion, and shows how little serious attention these very famous thinkers pay to a fundamental part of American life and democracy. Extremely helpful.

Owens's words on composition must be read to be believed. A must own for all teachers of composition, writers, and bibliophiles. Resistance is futile!

I was so happy to find this book after thinking that 'Claudine and Annie' of the four Claudine books was the last we could read of her. In this book, Colette expands upon the friendship between Claudine and Annie, and shows what becomes of the latter's timid personality and what stepson Marcel has developed into. But Claudine is the same delightful Claudine, who writes of pain, of friendship, of personal relationships, of nature, of animals freely now, uninhibited by society. For how flowing and relaxing the book reads, there are some major changes to the plot, most noticably in the end. A lovely book for anyone who wants to keep up with Claudine, or who enjoys the later works of Colette.

especially calum colvin is a brilliant visionary!

I am Balinese, have a restaurant and love food.

Rice is the most important food in Southeast Asia. It is the basis of all of our dishes and in Bali is regarded as sacred.

The recipes in this book are excellent.

The writing style is clear and there are beautiful line drawings.

Particularly interesting is a long introductory survey of rice throughout the world, including a number of myths, by Sri Owen's husband, Roger Owen.

I have no hesitation in recommending this book.

This particular book on Anglo-Saxon Heathenism is unique to my knowledge in that it extends its subject matter to all the religions known to have been practiced by the Anglo-Saxons, and thus discusses their practice of Catholic Christianity as well. It sets the stage for the arrival in Britain of the peoples who became the Anglo-Saxons by pointing out that Celtic and Greco-Roman Paganism, as well as Christianity (both the form which due mostly to political patronage eventually became the "catholic" i.e. "universal" form and various "heresies") predated in Britain the Germanic Heathenism brought in by the Anglo-Saxons.

In the first chapter, the use of Scandinavian sources to elucidate the fragmentary remains of Anglo-Saxon Heathenism is taken for granted. Tacitus' Germania is also consulted. As in all books of this sort, the role of place-names in determining which Gods the early English worshipped receives due attention. More information can be extracted from the writings of the venerable Bede and other Old English authors. Quotes from these are supplied both in the original Old English and in translation. English runic inscriptions and art and artifacts hinting at Heathen rites and beliefs are also important sources of information.

The second chapter, "Everyday life in Pagan times," looks at both literary remnants and the archaeological record. The results of the excavation of a likely Heathen temple at Yeavering in Northumberland are described. A brief exposition of the possible religious/cultural significance of the individual Runes of the Anglo-Saxon Futhork adds to the value of this book for the modern Heathen reader.

The third chapter discusses cremation and inhumation burials, mostly of the common folk. The fourth chapter describes ship burials, the probable howe of King Rædwald at Sutton Hoo being of course the best known. This custom was likely of Scandinavian, specifically Swedish derivation and was reserved for the upper tiers of society.

The remaining chapters deal with Christianity among the Anglo-Saxons but still hold much interest for the Heathen reader. Happily, the British/Welsh were quite content to leave the English in their Heathenism as an easy way, from their jaundiced perspective, to consign their hereditary enemies to "hell." They only got in on the burgeoning missionary enterprise after the Italians under St. Augustine began the whole conversion process. This entire sad story is told in more detail than you'll probably want to read. However, many interesting tidbits of information come to light in the process. For instance, the Catholic Christianity of that time was not all that much more homogenous than Heathenry was!

Heathenism enjoyed a brief and initially promising renaissance when Vikings settled in England, but was in steep decline by the Norman conquest of 1066, which ended the Anglo-Saxon period. One likely reason for its failure was that, unlike in the Harry Harrison alternative history trilogy beloved of many Heathens, the Vikings failed (or more likely never even tried) to interest the native English in their religion. A Benedictine-led renewal of Christian religious life, patronized enthusiastically by the last Anglo-Saxon kings, was instrumental in the extirpation of Heathenism. On that sad note, Rites and Religions of the Anglo-Saxons draws to a close. This is just as well from a Heathen viewpoint as the centuries which follow hold little of religious interest to us.

The England which would emerge at the end of Norman rule, I should elaborate, would be a far different place both culturally and linguistically. There would be nothing "Heathen" left there besides the names of a relative handful of places, most already worn down to the point of unintelligibility, the days of the week, and some originally Heathen folklore and customs, many of which would be suppressed by the Puritans following the establishment of the Protestant Reformation in that nation.

While it is sometimes lacking in depth and detail, I nevertheless recommend this book as a good general overview and introduction to its subject. Rites and Religions of the Anglo-Saxons was originally copyrighted in 1981, while the edition I purchased came out in 1996. Although this work is out of print, there were a couple of copies listed on amazon.com at a reasonable price if you cannot obtain it via interlibrary loan.

I find this book to be one of the best I have ever seen on the topic of building robots. Why?
The author covers all the basics of just what a robot is and how to build 5 different ones including a rare gantry type.
The real strengths of this book other than its clarity is the programming of the PICs-his microntroller of choice. Excellent, excellent, excellent. He shows you how and why-even if you don't have a lot of experience
Also-and this is the real gem part-he shows you how to interface the different active electronic components that make up a robot. This is rare in any robot book and Mr. Bishop does it well with lucid explanations and very good diagrams.

Not often does one find a book that gives an outstanding overview of the subject but also goes into the specific nuts and bolts.