P Books

I can add little to the other positive reviews here but that I was deeply touched by the beauty and sensitivity of this short novel. It is simply something I will always remember and I envy the reader who discovers it.

Fields of glory is the most beautifully written book I have read in more than a decade--maybe ever. Virtually every page, every paragraph, is wonderfully crafted. How I wish I could read it in French, although I can't imagine that it could be any better. Mr. Rouaud is a genious.

This gentle book floats you through the life of a French family between the wars, as seen through the eyes of children. Human foibles are observed with a naive humour, and events are often described without the full understanding of the narrator. Much of the subject matter could be overpowering, but the depiction in this book is beautiful.

In what begins as reminisces by the narrator of a seemingly eccentric family the author slowly unravels the reasons behind each of the characters' actions. This masterpiece of writing develops into a powerful study of aging and childhood memories, and of the long lasting impact of World War I from one generation to another, even when the succeeding generations aren't aware of it.

By the end of this book I felt that I knew the family members intimately. This is beautifully done. The story unravels the lives of family members through the memories of a child, tracing their tragedy back to the ultimate tragedy of war. In some ways this book is very French but the feelings are universal and I strongly recommend it.

Loaded with information that you typically will not find elsewhere. This would also make a great book for someone looking for wilderness survival skills. This is also a great book for identifying early frontier tools and equipment. Carl Russel has a real winner here. If this genre of information appeals to you then get this book and learn about life in the frontier days..

Great resource for study of mountain men, early contact between Indians and whites. Useful in the study of metal artifacts of the fur trade, axes, traps, spearpoints, arrowheads, harpoons, knives and daggers, highly recommended.

Russell has done exhaustive work on this subject and this book is a must have for anyone interested in the Mountain Men and fur trade era.

I used this book for my graduate seminar paper on the Fur Trade. I loved all the information it gave about the tools of the Mountain Men. Don't let the fact that I'm in grad school scare off the read though. My father-in-law wants a copy now and he only has an Associates and is a down home kind of guy. It's definitely not just for students. This is an absolutely wonderful book.

This book is chucked full of great fur trade information. It has many, many line drawings and could only be better with a collection of photos of actual artifacts.

If you are a fan of the Rocky Mountain fur trade era of the early 19th century like I am, you will find this book to be a valuable resource.

This book is a gem with exciting stories and/or experiments with elements. Written in a simple manner with cartoon illustrations, parents and teachers should have fun sharing this with children and everyone will learn some chemistry!

When my son's third-grade teacher said the students could get extra credit for doing science experiments in front of the class, I began a search for a great book that would not only give simple, interesting experiments, but that would provide information about the concepts behind the projects. This book fit the bill perfectly! We've done two or three of these in front of the class already -- the kids were interested, and my son was able to convey some interesting scientific principles. Great for teachers, home schoolers, or parents intent on getting their kids extra credit. :)

I bought this for my 3rd and 4th grade homeschooled children. There are no concepts that make the Periodic Table seem dull or uninteresting in this book. Instead, it uses simple language for the elementary aged - middle school student, nice black and white drawings, and silly rhymes to make it seem so understandable and fascinating. You'll find it loaded with facts that interest children to help them draw it all together. The idea my kids are left with is that science is "so cool!" Many experiments, using everyday items, are throughout the book. This enhances the fun and learning. Science should be interesting and not boring. This book exceeded my expectations. I'm sure we'll continue to use this book for several years.

If you teach the elements and/or the periodic table to elementary students and want to make them come alive, this book is a definite must have. It is chock full of easy to prepare investigations as well as "element essentials" thumbnail sketches of various elements. Most materials are ones you have on hand either at home or school. Without a doubt, it is the best elementary chemistry book I have ever seen.

Calling all home educators! Here is a way to teach the periodic
table to your children using witty text, amusing illustrations, and
fascinating do-at-home experiments. Dr. Brandolini really helps
young and old alike to understand the science found in our everyday lives
through this intriguing book. This is one of those books that your kids will WANT to pull down from the home library shelves to enjoy.

"Follow Your Dreams: The Story of Alberto Santos-Dumont" has a website. Go to www.followyourdreams.cc for 5 packets of activities for children, material for teachers, and a detailed discussion of the book's design and colors. "Follow Your Dreams" was featured by the Smithsonian Museum of Air and Space in Washington, D.C.

Written and illustrated by Elisabeth P. Waugaman for young bilingual (English/Portuguese) readers, Follow Your Dreams/De Asas aos Seus Sonhos: The Story Of Alberto Santos-Dumont is a biography of the intriguing life and incredible accomplishments of Alberto Santos-Dumont who grew up in Brazil. Following Alberto's child-hood dream to fly in a time pre-dating the Wright brother's famed accomplishments, Follow Your Dreams/De Asas aos Seus Sonhos will captivate the rapt attention of young readers from first page to last with the encouraging story of Alberto Santos-Dumont's inventive mind, ambitious aspirations, and fulfilling passion to design, fabricate and fly the smallest passenger balloon, and create a plane with wheels he called "The Dragonfly". Highly recommended for school and community library Bi-Lingual collections for ages 6 to 10, Follow Your Dreams/De Asas aos Seus Sonhos is very highly recommended for all young readers as an inspiring tale of pursuing a dream and the amazing accomplishments of what may come from such persistence.

The story of Alberto Santos-Dumont is one that needs to be told to young and old alike. What Elisabeth Waugaman has done is to provide a beautifully told and illustrated story for younger readers, bringing Mr. Santos-Dumont's philosophy of keeping on trying and learning from one's mistakes. And the writing is, at times, magical, particularly in Ms. Waugaman's description of when Santos-Dumont saw a rainbow in the clouds during his first baloon flight.

For those who are new to Alberto Santos-Dumont, he was a Brazilian who settled in Paris at the turn of the twentieth century to pursue his dream that "man flies." Although Santos-Dumont was enthralled by the experience of his first baloon ride, he set out to build an airship, a powered lighter-than-air craft that could be steered. In this he succeeded admirably and quickly became the talk of the town, as "the little Brazilian" was spotted across Paris in one of his ingenious craft. In 1906, he became the first person in Europe to pilot a powered, controlled heavier-than-air aeroplane, known as the "14-bis." However, there has been much controversy in that most people in Brazil feel the credit for the first powered, controlled, heavier-than-air flight should go to him, as the Wright Brothers' 1903 flight at Kitty Hawk was not officially documented.

My only misgiving is that the book takes the side of Brazilian popular culture, crediting Santos-Dumont with what most scholars feel rightfully belongs to Wilbur and Orville Wright. As Sir Peter Wyckham pointed out in his definitive biography of Santos-Dumont, this controversy had the ironic effect of making the Brazilian aviator almost unknown outside his native Brazil, which is indeed unfortunate, because Santos-Dumont really was a hero for his many accomplishments as well as his personal idiosyncracies. In addition, the translator for the Portuguese text, faithful to the English original in every other way, exaggerates Santos-Dumont's fame.

Nevertheless, Dr. Waugaman does an admirable job in presenting both sides. Her artwork is beautiful, alone well worth the price of the book. That Dr. Waugaman loves children and respects their dreams is evident in both the text and her sympathetic treatment to an eccentric hero; moreover, her deeds speak as loudly as her words: she has kindly donated proceeds of her book to children's charities.

This is a very special, unique book, one to treasure for a long time (which, in my mind, justfies its high price). Read it and enjoy the colorful illustrations. As Alberto Santos-Dumont did, may this book inspire young and old to fly and follow their own dreams.

"Follow Your Dreams, The Story of Alberto Santos-Dumont", by Elisabeth Waugaman, is far more than a fantastic children's book, but is immensely educational for children and adults alike. My family bought this book for my two young cousins because it not only looked interesting but it is written in both English and Portuguese, so we figured they could pick up some of the foreign language by reading it. Much to my delight, the book contains beautiful drawings and paintings that evoke 19th century Brazil and France, and give the book a characterization that many children's books lack. However, the images of the book are only a prelude to the wealth of information that I actually learned from reading it. The story section, which is written with the ease and simplicity that a child will enjoy, details much of the life of Alberto Santos-Dumont, a man I did not even know existed. Learning of his genius, his character, and his contributions to the beginning of air-travel left me spellbound. This man might have had just as immense of an impact on flight as the Wright Brothers, yet I knew nothing of him before reading this book. It is written in a way that is educational without being too serious, it is fun, and will leave everyone who reads it throwing in little facts from it into conversation (such as, "did you know that the wrist watch was invented for Alberto Santos-Dumont so he could check the time while he was operating his aircraft?"). The afterword and timeline are also useful for adults, because it recounts the story in a more professional manner and puts it in its historical perspective. Overall, I was very impressed with Elisabeth Waugaman's book. Not only will my little cousins find it enjoyable and learn to speak a little Portuguese, but they, as well as any adult, will learn about a fascinating character that should rightfully take his place with the Wright Brothers in history.

This is a beautifully illustrated book about a young man's quest to find a way to fly. The young reader visits Brazil and Paris through the story and pictures, as well as learning about perseverence. A good book to begin introducing the early grades to biography.

I had this book when I was a teen and lost it. I've read it a few times. I can't say that about many books. I've also read More Forgotton Town a few times as well. A must have for anyone interested in Jersey history.

Including Forgotten Towns of Southern New Jersey I also owned 4 other books by Henry Carlton Beck.
I purchaded these books in 1982 and read them over and over until the pages became worn.
There is no better way to study and get to know the ghost and forgotten towns of southern New Jersey than through these books.
Henry Carlton Beck put his heart into every word and deed, the information coming from that is wonderful.
There is no better reading on southern New Jersey that can be found on book shelves.
These books will live on forever and to experience his windom in these is a real blessing.
I lost all my books to a fire but plan to replace them next month.
If your interest is in southern New Jersey these are the books to have on your shelf.

Beware that once you read this book, you'll be hooked on trying to find these towns.

An excellent reference for those looking to disover the history of Southern New Jersey.

Henry Charton Beck spent much of his spare time in the 1930s traipsing around the rural areas of New Jersey searching out local history and lore. He wrote about what he learned in newspaper articles and then in full-length books. This book is the first in a series, published in 1936 (always in print since then, but never revised).

Beck is concerned with the tiny settlements that grew and died mainly in the Pine Barrens, a huge, sparsely settled area that stretches across a good portion of southern NJ. Beginning with Ongs Hat, he tells about 37 different places, one per chapter. The chapters are short, and all the places were visited by Beck, with much of his narrative told through his own eyes. Many of the places are still identified on larger topo maps (there are no maps in the book, unfortunately); very few of these places were ever large enough to support a post office and were merely placenames. Photos grace the book, though what is depicted in them has long disappeared for the most part. Also missing, though it would be very helpful, is an index.

Beck's style has the effect of drawing the reader out into the field to see what he's seen. I've been to quite a few of the places mentioned in the book and have enjoyed having the book along with me. Being almost 70 years old, the book is somewhat outdated (some isolated areas he writes about outside of the Pine Barren reserve are filled with housing developments and strip malls now), but it's still a great book on the local history of southern NJ of long ago.

Need a brief escape from the modern world? Want to know what life was like a hundred years ago in Southern NJ? This is the book for you. Mr. Beck wrote in a beautiful, yet folksy style about the people and places that once existed in what we now call the Pine Barrens. After reading this, I am anxious to go back and look for some of these places myself.

Although P.G. Wodehouse's non-Bertie and Jeeves novels aren't as well-known to the casual reader, they're in many ways, even better than their more popular counterparts. FRENCH LEAVE is an ingeniously constructed farce that, unlike so many attempts in the genre, doesn't feel excessively dependent on random coincidence and implausible events. I will say, however, that I found the denouement slightly disappointing.

I highly recommend this book. It's one of my favorites by P.G. Wodehouse. It's very entertaining and funny!

Why, in Heavens name, should a modern reader take the time to read the novels of P.G. Wodehouse?? Is it because he was the funniest writer of the 20th century? He was. Is it because you will marvel at his complete mastery of the English language? You will. Is it because his heroes and villians are equally likable persons?? They are. The star of every Wodehouse novel is not Bertie or Jeeves or Lord Emsworth or Psmith or even Mr. Mulliner; the star, of course, is Wodehouse himself. And when he speaks, you should listen!

French Leave is a non-saga novel (meaning no Jeeves or Uncle Fred) with very appealing characters and wonderous and hilarious misunderstandings. It is the story of three American girls and their adventures in France: a story of love at first sight, of mineral-water millionaires, of rascally French policemen, and of a breach of promise suit that never happens. And like all Wodehouse settings, France seems like Heaven on earth. Warm sunshine seems to glow from each and every page. It is almost as if Wodehouse is speaking directly to his audience saying: Wouldn't you like to be here and spend time with my friends? I think all readers of French Leave would transport themselves there in a minute.

If you've never read Wodehouse before, I cannot but strongly encourage you to join the millions who have discovered this wonderful writer. French Leave is just as good a place as any to start. Because it is a later novel (written in the mid-fifties), it will prime you for some of the even wackier masterpieces of the 20s and 30s. Read on, ladies and gentlemen, and even you may find that song lurks in the depths of your heart.

I've read over 100 Wodehouse stories and this one is one of my favorites. The harmless phrase "Where is the dossier Quibolle?" had me rolling off the floor (you have to read the book to find out more...). Wodehouse also weaves in French pronounciations and hilarious interactions between the French and non-French characters in the novel. This book makes you laugh right from the Preface to the last page.

French Leave is the epitome of Wodehouse writing. Everyone gets into more scrapes than any other author could pack into 250 odd pages. I enjoy reading all Wodehouse books and this is an especial favorite. Mr. Wodehouse has a command of the English language we could all do well to emulate. You will enjoy this light look at love and foriegn countries!

Readers versed in the Wodehouse canon will recall a delightful episode titled "Extricating Young Gussie." This installment in the Blandings Castle saga could be titled "Gally extricates everyone." It's not much about Lord Emsworth, and the perennially prize winning pig, Empress of Blandings, features only in a bit part. The usual bevy of imperious aunts cause the usual sackfuls of trouble for numerous tangled hearts. But the plot, such as it is, turns on Lord Emsworth's resourceful brother, the loveable rogue, Galahad Threepwood, and his Jeeves- like power to make things come right. While some of Lord Emsworth's behavior seems uncharacteristic, this later novel from 1965 is nevertheless prime Wodehouse and a ripping good read.

This story by P.G. Wodehouse is very entertaining and a really good read. A great escape into the magical world of Wodehouse.

Galahad at Blandings is a book part of the Blandings Castle series, but I wouldn't call it Wodehouse's best book. It is a about a couple, Sam and Sandy, and how they come together. They have a fight, and Sam comes to Blandings Castle as an imposter, to resolve the fight, as Sandy won't talk to him at all. Then in the end, money is given, fights are resolved, and everyone is happy. It is a tremendously funny book, as many of the main character are quite eccentric, so I suggest you pick up a copy quickly. Enjoy!!! Cheers!!!!!!!!! : )

The Hon. Galahad Threepwood is back. This time he has assigned himself the dubious task of bringing three different couples together. The setting is England, Blandings Castle, of course, complete with the amiable dunce Lord Emsworth and his prize-winning porker, the Empress, infamous for her role in `PIG-HOO-EY'.

On his way to London to pick up his brother Clarence (Lord Emsworth), Galahad, a dapper middle-aged man eyes the name on a sinister package that Lord Emsworth's secretary Sandy Callendar has asked him to post. The parcel is addressed to a chap named Bagshott. This detail excites Galahad's curiosity because he used to be bosom with a fellow named Bagshott. But the Bagshott that the Hon. Galahad knew (Boko) had long since retired from the earth. Discovering that the contents of said package are a pile of letters that will effectively sunder Sandy Callendar's relationship with Boko's son, Samuel Galahad Bagshott, Gally becomes determined to keep the sparring couple afloat. Having been staunchly opposed to sundered hearts since he was a boy, Galahad Threepwood is resolved to put matters right.

Sam and Sandy's dispute happens to be related to gambling and, well, naturally, the Drones Club. You see Sam stands to gain a sackful in a sweep if Tipton Plimsoll (fellow Drones Club member) weds the pretty dolt Veronica Wedge, Lord Emsworth's niece. But Sandy is diametrically opposed to the whole enterprise, urging Sam to part with the debatably generous syndicate offer. And she still hasn't forgiven Sam for telling her that she looks like a "horror from outer space" with a particular pair of glasses on. Plus, Sandy is a redhead, making the task for Gally that much more difficult - as we all know, redheaded women have short and irrational tempers. Enter the "pint-sized bozo," Wilfred Allsop, cousin of Veronica Wedge. On a bender one night in New York with his new friend Tipton Plimsoll, Willie, who somewhat "resembles the poet Shelley," reveals his affections for Lord Emsworth's pig lady, Monica Simmons. Tipton Plimsoll endorses the arrangement despite his belief that Ms. Simmons has the appearance of an "all-in wrestler."

As it is, all three of these impending alliances are dependent upon each other and the Hon. Galahad Threepwood knows it. You'll have to read the story to find out whether or not Gally is successful with his scheme to reunite the warring couples. Just know that he is a skilled raconteur and "teller of the tale." Gally will never miss a beat and he stays on top of it all, undoubtedly aided by his fondness for cocktails at all hours.

Galahad has many passions in life. One is to protect the reputation of one of his oldest and greatest friends, whiskey. Disgusted and offended by "coloured slides" and "temperance lectures" Gally goes on an anti-Tea tirade, accusing "the muck" as he calls it, of being responsible for the death of his poor, dear old friend Buffy Struggles, who "got run over by a hansom cab as he was crossing Piccadilly." Evidently, tea had sapped Buffy's strength.

Recalling another seemingly outrageous send-up, the Hon. Galahad exclaims, "The only safe way to get through life is to pickle your system thoroughly in alcohol." The story to prove the aforementioned theory involved two brothers, Freddie and Eustace Potts. Their French chef once served them a hedgehog while pretending that it was a chicken just to save some money. Well, Eustace, who was a "teetotaler" nearly died, but Freddie, who "had lived mostly on whiskey since early boyhood" showed no ill effects at all after consuming the carcass.

A large part of Gally wishes he could go back to his days at the Pelican Club. There, he would fascinate the members with his inimitable wit, and tireless devotion to mopping the sauce up like a vacuum cleaner in London pubs. Galahad happily recalls his days of getting pinched by the gendarmerie for being drunken and disorderly, vaunting that it would always take three of them to drag him away to the jug.

I recommend this book, especially as a device for teaching English. As the plot thickens, and it does thicken, especially when the Empress gets pie-eyed, and Gally is stretched not quite to his limits, the reader becomes aware that the Hon. Galahad could have been the Prime Minister if he had wanted to. Threepwood is a leader of the first rank - truly a man that we can all look up to. What Ho, Gally?

P.G. Wodehouse once said that you could write about life as it is or as musical comedy. He chose to do the latter. As a result, I strongly prefer to listen to audio recordings of Mr. Wodehouse's novels. The dramatic portrayals add a great deal to the humor of the stories. This is the first one that I have heard by Jeremy Sinden. He is very talented and flexible in his characterizations, moving easily from men to women, from one English class to another, and even to including Americans.

If you are familiar with the stories about Jeeves and the gentleman he serves, Bertram (Bertie) Wooster, which Mr. Wodehouse also wrote, you will feel at home with this tale, as well. Galahad plays the Jeeves-like role, but with greater elan than Jeeves ever did. You'll like Galahad. He's never let a pal down, and he has lots of them from his days carousing at the old Pelican Club. He's the bright, ne'er-do-well younger brother of Clarence, Lord Emsworth (who is fond of pigs, especially his prize-winning, Empress of Blandings, and his peace and quiet).

The story begins with a misunderstanding (not unlike the ones that Shakespeare used in his comedies -- it must be something about the water in England). An American millionaire, Tipton Plimsoe (I apologize for the fact I may have the spellings wrong in this review, since I have only heard the audio cassettes), runs into his fiancee's cousin, and they imbibe a bit too much. In the middle of the night, he awakens to find himself in jail. Someone has taken the millionaire's wallet, so he has no money to post bail. The cousin remembers that Lord Emsworth is in New York, staying at the Plaza, so they call him. Lord Emsworth is a little simple and has a poor memory. Although he dispatches the $20 by messenger to release the two, he mistakenly interprets this as meaning that the millionnaire has lost all of his money in the stock market crash of 1929 (the backdrop of this story).

The consequences of this misunderstanding almost cause three sets of lovers to be kept apart and Lord Emsworth to become engaged to a most unsuitable person. Worse yet, the Empress of Blandings herself is put at risk!

You might think that such a story would have a very predictable plot. Nothing could be less true. Just when the plot seems to be comfortably taking you left, Wodehouse puts in a complication that suddenly causes a u-turn. Then, when you get settled into that direction, he sends you off suddenly at a 45 degree angle. And pretty soon, you are overwhelmed with complications to keep you amusingly occupied with how in the world this can ever be straightened out . . . even though you have a pretty good idea of how things must turn out eventually.

But the complications serve an important purpose beyond keeping up the suspense. They also provide wonderful chances to show the true nature of the characters, and to flesh them out. This I found to be particularly well done in this book. Basically, Wodehouse likes to contrast those who care about others in a sincere way with those who are only concerned with their self-interest. The self-obsessed people unwittingly do themselves in, while the caring people somehow muddle through. The caring people have to also clean up the messes the self-interested ones make.

This book includes two of P.G. Wodehouse's most intimidating and unstoppable older women, Clarence's and Galahad's sister, Lady Hermione, and her friend, Dame Daphne Winkworth, who has her eye on Clarence. The upper class men are, as usual, very unintelligent (except for Galahad), which makes for much of the humor.

I suggest that you use your experience with hearing the narration of this story to think of a story that you would like to read aloud to a child you know. Then do so. Be sure to pick one that you can make very entertaining and which teaches valuable lessons.

See the humor . . . even in the worst circumstances!

There is humor and self-deprecation in The Gardener's Year...This is a book that will appeal to the gardener, the philospher, and the Zen deotee, the reader of self-help books, as well as the humorist. Here are quotes: "After his death, the gardener does not become a butterfly but ... a garden worm tasting all the dark, nitrogenous and spicey delights of the soil." "I find a real gardener is not a man who cultivates flowers; he is a man who cultivates the soil". "The life of a gardener is active and full of will." There are easy references to German philosophers, campanula alpina, Tolstoy, the perfume of manure. All this is presented with humor but there are no fools in this book. It could easily be subtitled "Zen and the Pleasant Art of Gardening." It didn't change my life, but it made it better. For Godsake, by this book!

I don't know much about Czech literature, so I don't know if the Prague Spring had anything to do with the writing of Karel Capek, but I would not be surprised to discover a connection. "Leaves wither because spring is already beginning, because new buds are being made, as tiny percussion caps out of which the spring will crack....if we could only see that secret swarming of the future within us, we should say that our melancholy and distrust is silly and absurd and that the best thing of all is to be..living.."

Karel Capek wrote those words in 1929 when he was 39 years old. By 1938, the year the Nazis invaded Prague, he was dead. His brother Josef died a few years later in Bergan-Belsen. But this book is not about those sad events. This book is about a year in the life of a good gardener, how ever extraordinary a writer he might have been.

During his lifetime, Capek realized that humans were becoming enslaved by fascism and run-amuck technology. The ancient and cyclical daily practices of humans were dying before his eyes --the beet farmers stacking their fall harvests at the railroad stations; the wagon loads of manure that could be delivered for garden beds; the nursury men who understood plants giving way to "market garden centers" staffed by those who regularly misidentify plants and stocked with items that "move" (produce a high volume of sales).

THE GARDENER'S YEAR is a reflective book. You don't have to garden to appreciate it, but if you garden, you will probably laugh on more than one occasion. Where is the gardener who has not struggled with a hose; Who has not looked with greed on a bald spot and attempted to squeeze six more phlox plants in, only to discover a dormant sping plant; And, where is the gardener who has not wandered about the yard with a plant in each hand trying to find just one more place for a perennial. Capek understood the gardener's soul. We are a greedy lot, obsessed with dirt, happy in a wagon load of s___, and hostile to many-legged life forms, but, we are also the best sort of human beings who understand the meaning and importance of life.

Capek's writing reminds me of that of Henry Mitchell who wrote two columns (one on gardening the other on "everyday" philosophy) for the Washington Post. Like Mitchell Capek had the gift of converting his own gardening experiences into tales that inform, enlighten, and illustrate the best and the worst of human nature. "I tell you there is no death, not even sleep. We only pass from one season to another. We must be patient with life, for it is eternal."

I brought this as one of those suggested sells, you know the "people who brought blah blah blah also brought this book" . . . so I did. And boy am I glad I did! Karel Capek is a wonderful author who struck a resounding chord in the heart and soul of this gardener. It was not only wonderfully clever but inspired me to tend to my little rooted, green outdoor children and give them bushels of attention, care and compost ASAP!!! Loved it!

I bought this book for a friend, as a gift upon her achieving Master Gardener certification. I expected something a bit different, a bit more practical, perhaps, but after leafing through the pages, I read the entire book before I gave it to her. Written by the man known to most of us as a European author of the early 20th century on more weighty subjects, this man's witty description of himself as the sometimes manic master of his small domestic garden both amuses and somehow comforts those of us who share his enthusiasm. I laughed long and loudly at Capek's description of what ensued from his planting of the seeds from just one packet, at the many dozens of little plants in little pots, all of which became bigger and bigger, and had to be taken outdoors, finally, to find places in a tiny garden patch. This is a short book, with short chapters, just right for picking up in odd moments during the winter months when we are only dreaming about the coming of gardening season once again.

This is the best book about gardeners I know of. With grace and humor, this book delightfully explores the glories and foibles of serious amateur gardeners. Any garden nut who reads this book without laughing and almost crying over this inciteful outing of the gardener's soul is a callous person indeed.

A beautifully written book which should be entitled "quantum gravity primer for the practical man". Clear and self-contained, this book will serve aa a small survey of mathematical physics, giving the reader tools in particle physics and gravity. Excellently motivated topics. Compact enough to bring with you anywhere. The only thing it fails at is dicing a proper tomato.

I really enjoyed reading this book! A must have if you are interested in mathematical physics. Every page is a pedagogical masterpiece.

Covers many topics in Mathematical Physics with great clarity. Highly recommended for those who are interested in a modern approach to Mathematical Physics.

I think the review above by J. Pullin puts it very well. This is a great book, and a good place to get started (it also provides suggestions for further reading). The authors have done a fantastic job, and I highly recommend the book!

This book should be at the top of anyone's reading list who is planning to get into serious mathematical physics. It deals with a good deal of complex material, but the presentation is easy to follow, and shouldn't be beyond most advanced undergraduates. There are a lot of good exercises which fill in most of the gaps. (If you want a book heavy on detail, this book may not be for you. If you want a book that gives you all the tools you're going to need to get start understanding quantum gravity and other areas in a short time, get this book immediately!) It's a shame the paperback edition doesn't seem to be available anymore; it's half the price, and checking with the publisher reveals that the paperback edition is still in print.

C. John Collins (Professor of Old Testament at Covenant Theological Seminary) has written an excellent study of Genesis 1-4. After introductory material and a description of his methodology, the heart of the book is a chapter each on The Creation Week, The Garden of Eden, The Fall, and After Eden. Each of these four chapters includes sections on translations & notes, literary-theological exposition, extra notes, and reverberations (ways in which the material from Genesis has been taken up in the Psalms and the New Testament). Extra Notes include topics like creation from nothing, "evening and morning," the meaning of kind, the image of God, use of the words create and make, the goodness of creation, what were the two trees, how long was the creation week (he favors the analogical days interpretation), was Adam made mortal, the curse and nature, are Adam and Eve the parents of all mankind,where did Cain's wife come from, etc.

These are followed by chapters on Sources, Unity & Authorship (in which he discusses the arguments for the Documentary Hypothesis, then gives his reasons for concluding that Moses is the primary author), The Communicative Purpose, questions of history & science, and appropriating Genesis 1-4 today.

He even explains why he chose to include Genesis 4 in this book about "The Beginning." I found Genesis 1-4 to be a well-documented, well-reasoned study that is eminently suitable for a layman like myself.

Dr. 'Jack' Collins, a professor of Old Testament at Covenant Theological Seminary in St. Louis, MO., has made accessible to laity and laymen alike, a very sound explanation and commentary on perhaps the most important chapters of the Bible. Writing from a conservative, Reformed viewpoint and with an eye of assisting pastors, other scholars and the layman who wishes to educate himself with a sound interpretation of the text, Collins is careful to avoid extremes and his writing is balanced. As he indicates in the introduction, he could have made a very long volume with his notes, but his text is tightly written, with an outstanding bibliography for those who want to dig deeper on the subject.

Collins writes about the Biblical text from what is called a discourse-literary approach, which he judges to be his most important contribution to this first section of the Bible. He wants to show how the ancient languages and literature apply to not only us today, but especially to their first audience, how it fits within the whole of the Bible's canon and what its theological point is. In a sense, he writes and explains the Genesis 1-4 as a story, told to a particular people, with certain language markers that would have mattered greatly to them. This book would fall under the category of Biblical rather than Systematic theology, regarding the text.

It is absolutely essential for the reader to grasp the first section of the book, where Collins explains why and how understanding the literary nature of the text matters. Collins does spend about 200 pages specifically interpreting the text of the four chapters, which makes up the middle section of the book. He concludes the book with a discussion on the authorship (which he asserts was Moses about the time of the Exodus), what the point of Genesis 1-4 was, and finally of special interest to our particular age, a discussion on Genesis 1-4 through history and science.

Collins was a MIT educated engineer before pursuing a ministerial and academic career in theology. His principle comments about modern creation science, that Genesis 1 - 4 neither agrees or disagrees with attempts to force to highly literalistic approach beyond what is in the Bible is consistent with his exegesis of the Bible. Collins, certainly an advocate for special, supernatural creation, is careful to not make the Bible say what others have made it say.

This is an excellent commentary, for pastors and interested laymen alike. The reader will gain fresh perspectives on the text by attempting to understand it first as literature with a theological point, about how the God of the Bible wants to interact with his people, through space and time. The reader probably will not be able to find a more contemporary and accessible book of this kind available today.

If interested in Dr. Collins thoughts specifically on the role of science, faith and origins, the readers might be interested in Science and Faith: Friend or Foes.

Having just begun a study of Genesis when I purchased this book, I must say that it was money well spent. Collins is the general editor of the Old Testament translation of the English Standard Version (ESV), a newer and highly 'literal' Bible. His proficiency in ancient languages and literature, philology, theology, exegetics, source studies and theories, and biblical scholarship generally (ancient, modern, recent, and current) is evident throughout this volume and is consistently a necessary antidote to dogmatic and sometimes reckless expositions by supposed experts of both the conservative and liberal varieties. At once Collins is orthodox, cautious (appropriately tentative), informed (scholarly), and given to carefully analyzing the interpretational assertions and shortcomings of all commonly touted exegetic and scholarly schools. Most importantly, he rightly asks that we not defer so readily to our post Enlightenment expectations of 'normal' narrative and instead cooperate with evidences of the author's intent.

There have always been questions and disagreements as to the correct understanding of these texts, and, for the last two centuries, questions and disagreements as to the sources and motives involved in the texts. For Collins, all of these issues, as they relate to the chapters being studied, are scrutinized. After explaining why we must reject the expositional assertions of some readers and scholars--that these texts not be viewed through the lenses of subsequent ancient writers, Collins examines the "allusions, echoes, and reverberations" relating to these texts that we find in later Old Testament, inter-testamental, and New Testament writings.

As must be expected, Collins' expositions and conclusions may not please those who enter into Biblical studies with firm conclusions already demanded at the outset. Some may disapprove of his frequent examination of the inter-testament writings, but to do so would be to misunderstand the larger expositional process. Some may dislike his conclusions regarding the meaning of the Genesis 1 creation "days," but his position seems well supported and appropriately tentative (as I believe any honest treatment must be). He finds the "literal" (i.e., "normal day" or "24-hour day" theory) understanding to be inconsistent with, and uncooperative with, immediate texts and later reverberations. He seems to take a position that embraces the "literary" understanding as to the "days" being structural literary devices, but also goes at least part way with the "day-age" theory in that he sees no reason to set aside the abstract sequence of the discourse. (Collins shows no interest in the "revelation" theory of Genesis 1 days, and it seems that none may be warranted). He is correct that we need not trenchantly encase our understanding in any single theory (if you think you understand how creation worked/works, start reading at Job 38, smarty-pants!) His exposition on the nature of the genealogies of Genesis 4 is informed by a relatively quick but [I believe] decisive examination of echoes (OT, Apocrypha, NT), supporting a conclusion that if one looks to the genealogies as being intended to produce mathematical sums, sharply defining temporal history, one must then choose not to cooperate with the author's intent, which, without doubt, was about lineages and relationships and not about modernist expectations of 'history'. That the genealogies permit (and contain) gaps, even significant gaps, is demonstrated beyond reasonable doubt (by direct comparison of echoing accounts). That none of the Bible's writers had any interest in calculating genealogical sums toward the modernists' concept of history, should, of itself, be instructive. This was never their intent.

Having read Richard Friedman's articulation of the Documentary Hypothesis (source criticism, "higher criticism"), I found Collins' treatment of source criticism to be quite valuable. S.R. Driver's positions are critically analyzed as well as Friedman's, and the Documentary Hypothesis receives serious damage from Collins' examination of the literary clues found in these four chapters (the focus of this book), although he suggests that the same result applies to the entire scope of the Documentary Hypothesis if subjected to literary analysis. (As Collins points out, while source criticism traces its inspiration to assumptions that the materialist MUST posit concerning sacred texts, apart from the "motive" aspects of source theories, source criticism, per se, is not inherently incompatible with theistic expectations of scripture.) Before summarizing his treatment of source theories, Collins writes: "Do these pericopes come from separate sources or not? There is no way to answer this question, since the putative sources no longer exist. But for each feature that is put forward to support the source theory, it turns out that literary and grammatical considerations supply a better explanation in terms of the overall flow of the narrative. In other words, if someone produced this text by stitching sources together, he left the seams smooth indeed." pg 231 Stepping briefly beyond the four focus chapters (but with an eye to a tie-in), Collins also discusses the expositions and arguments that K.A. Kitchen has recently brought to bear against the Documentary Hypothesis, showing that, at least certain specific texts within the Pentateuch would have to have been composed in the 12th or 13th century BC, and further, that the texts containing features that can only be explained rationally by placing then in that era would have to have been written by someone with a conspicuous high education in that era's best literary art and style. Among the Hebrews (slaves in Egypt), who could fit this description and be capable of producing the kind of literary eloquence we find in Genesis 1, for example. The obvious candidate is inescapable, his name is Moses ("educated in all the learning of the Egyptians. . . a man of power in words" [Acts 7:22], see also Ex. 2:10, Heb. 11:24-27). No, this doesn't establish, or necessarily even support, the traditional viewpoint that Moses was THE author of the Pentateuch. This traditional view is unwarranted in its extremity, unsupported from scripture, and certainly not Collins' understanding. The full picture of authorship/editorship of the Pentateuch cannot be painted, but the Documentary explanation is unwarranted (though interesting).

A properly informed understanding of these first texts of the Bible is of tremendous value in understanding the whole of scripture (and, as any good contextualist would note, the reciprocal is true as well). This is probably the best book of its kind available.

Collins has produced a truly scholarly and masterful exegesis of the opening chapters of Genesis. With careful attention to the language and conventions of the text, and with an eye towards historic Reformed theology, he argues that the narrative is an "exalted prose narrative" that is at once historically grounded in and analogical to the ordinary human experiences of the text's original readers. This is a useful corrective to those who insist, for example, that the "days" of creation are "ordinary" days, as well as to those who hold that the text is merely mythopoetic. He does this while addressing other views critically but respectfully. Whatever position you hold on the meaning of the Biblical creation narrative, you should admire Collins' work for both its substance and spirit.

Genesis is the most important book of the Bible. If you take Genesis away, then the Bible would be a mystery. It is the foundation that gives rise to all that we see of covenantal history (from the Adamic Covenant to the Abrahamic Covenant, from the Davidic Covenant to Christ's Covenant with the church, i.e., both Jew and Gentiles). To take away, to strip away, the importance of Genesis (and for that matter, the whole of the Torah) in the Church has helped to decay the church. Thus the need for the church to reexamine and again explore the beauty of the Torah, starting with the most important book, Genesis.

Thus the reason I come to this book by Mr. Collins, out of desire to know and learn. This book has helped me to see even more the different levels of messages God, Yahweh, has for us the church, in the first few chapters of Genesis. With painstaking detail and examination, Collins explores every nuance and message and foci from Chapter 1 through Chapter 4 of Genesis. Every rock is turned over, every stone allowed to sing praise to Yahweh. When you combine the information that we see in Collins work with, say, works like A Biblical Case for an Old Earth by David Snoke, we are truly blessed by God's message.

And more so, this book by Collins helps us to once again understand the foci of Yahweh's message through Moses. Genesis, mind you, was not written for modern readers to help us debate such topics as evolution, instead it was a message from Yahweh to the Jewish people to help them realize that the same Creator of the universe, of this world, of them, is the same Creator who rescued them from Egypt...and who would one day rescue them from Sin (through Yeshua, Jesus Christ). And yet, Genesis DOES have so much to tell us today, so much to help us realize that is TRUE in this postmodern "who cares" world we live in now.

Of course, mind you, at times the work might seem a bit dry to those who are not fully interested in the subject matter. You have to know what you are reading about, thus a casual reader would probably not understand the theological and historical and literary implications Collins is describing in his work. I would suggest that this book be read, not by the casual reader (for that person you should read "How to Read Genesis by Longman III), but instead a healthy reading by at the very least a Seminary student. If not, some of the important nuances will just pass you by and you will not understand.

But for those who do understand, much wisdom can be found in Collin's book. Again, I highly suggest that a true scholarly student of Genesis should pick this book up. If he or she likes this book, then I suggest the above mentioned work by Snoke and Longman, along with others like Kline. The Old Testament, starting with the Book of Genesis (and all through the Torah), is a true important work that the Christian church of today will be lost without. We must once again seek the Jewish roots, and, even more precise, the Abrahamic roots, of our religion, Christianity, where we come to Yahweh through Yeshua/Jesus Christ.