Richard Books

This book is the BIBLE for understanding and building your telescope. An absolute must read.

Even though I ended up making a solid tube, I bought this from Mr. Kreige with the expectation that I would end up with a truss setup for my 16". The book is well laid out and the instructions are clear. However, they are also not very simple and it's not just a matter of throwing a bunch of stuff together to get a truss setup.

In my case, I had the deck stacked against me for several reasons. My 16" mirror is f6.4 which would require a little more than a 9' tube. This presents several balancing and wobble challenges. Then there are the complex angles that must be cut for the trusses to line up properly and consistently. However, the real clincher for me was the cost of the materials. To make a really on-spec Dobsonian as described in the book would take a lot more money than I had available. So I ended up using plywood and Sonotube. Thing was built like a Russian tank, but wasn't exactly light and as portable as a truss design.

All in all, this is an outstanding book and should be a mandatory addition to any telescope makers library. Highly recommended.

I am a beginning amateur astronomer, and this book has helped me immensely in understanding how telescopes work and what goes into building a quality telescope. Though I won't be able to afford the optics for my dream telescope for some time, this book is excellent for either the aspiring telescope maker or an amateur like me who wants to understand what makes telescopes "great" vs. "so-so".

The book is well-written and is a very easy read, even though it goes through some fairly complicated stuff at times. I highly recommend it!

One of the hardest things a beginner faces when jumping into amateur astronomy is "Where do I start?". That question has been answered in great depth by this book. Considered by almost everyone to be "the bible" of amateur telescope making, if this book doesn't inspire you to start cutting wood, then you need to find yourself another hobby!

One of the authors is responsible for the "Obsession" line of high-end Dobsonian telescopes. This book is almost a step-by-step guide on how you can build your own large Dobsonian, with optics and performance nearly as good as an Obsession. Yes, you probably won't save much money over a purchased 'scope, but the pride of being able to say "I built this myself!" more than makes up for that. Plus, you will know (and understand) every single square inch of your telescope, so modifications and changes won't be as frightening to you as they would if you had to cut into a $3000 commercial telescope.

If you think you're going to use this book and build an 18" 'scope for $500, you're going to be in for quite a shock. The authors in this book both stress the importance of premium optics, and these do not come cheap. Expect to spend roughly $1500, or more, for a good quality 12.5" primary mirror alone. Quality doesn't come cheap, and with the only commercial Pyrex production line in the US shut down for the next several years, expect mirror prices to rise, drastically.

For those who can afford it, a scope like this can last for a lifetime. But if you can't afford such a huge investment, this book also covers construction of an 8", closed-tube Dobsonian (The larger sizes in the book are all truss tube models), which can be assembled for roughly $600.

Right now, several of my friends and I are starting to plan our dream scope, using nothing but this book as a reference guide. We're going to build slowly, completing one major piece at a time. This both insures that the finished unit is as high a quality as we are capable of producing, plus helps to defer construction costs over a longer period of time.

Even if you have no intention of every getting a Dobsonian, you will find many things of value in this book.

Why are you still reading this? Go and order a copy for yourself. Experience firsthand just how well written and useful it really is, and I'll bet you also start dreaming of cutting wood and aligning optics.

If you are interested in building a Dobsonian with professional results, this is the book for you. It even excercises pragmmatic guidance on what aperture should one choose by describing a series of scenarios one would not contemplate before building, but would clearly regret in the after.This is specially useful for those suffering from "aperture fever".

The author wisely leaves aside the craft of making your own optics. He reduces it to one chapter. The reason: if you you want to build a serious and large aperture telescope; buy the optics. This, with time and experience, comes as the best option.

Nothing is left aside on what building a Dobsonian may concern. I honestly didn't look for anything else after this book. (The only thing I surfed the internet for was for more images on Dob designs).

This is a rare book, for it accomplishes to fill virtually every doubt you may have on the subject.

Elfquest - Fire and Flight has to be one of my favourite fantasy books that I have read. At first I was skeptical about reading a novel based on comics, and it has been sitting on my shelf for about 2 years before I thought about reading it. At first I thought it was very childish and rather silly but after the part about the meeting with the trolls, I started to get into the story. To summarise the plot as simply as possible, the story is basically about a group of elves (Wolfriders), driven from the forest after it has been destroyed by humans, and their journey across a desert to a place known as Sorrow's End, which is inhabited by another group of elves. There Cutter, the leader of the Wolfriders, meets Leetah, a healer from Sorrow's End and they know each other through what the elves call "Recognition".(Read the book to find out about this!). An elf, called Rayek, who is in love with Leetah, is hateful of Cutter and is jealous of him.

I really enjoyed how the authors drew out all the characters, especially Cutter and Leetah, and because of this and the simplicity of the story, one can guess how the story would evolve and pan out as one can guess how the characters would behave. That is not a bad thing. Believe me. Even though the story is short, it is an engrossing and entertaining read.

I believe the reason why I liked this book a lot has to deal with the emotions and feelings the Wolfriders undergo, especially the part where they travel through the desert. We have Cutter trying his best as leader trying to hold his tribe of Wolfriders together, Skywise and his trust in the "magical stone" and the love Nightfall has for Redlance, and the anguish of the elves and wolves. All the emotions are portrayed briefly and powerfully. You see many examples of the good and bad side of elven nature which can easily be translated into our lives and which makes the reader feel good all over.
I recommend this story/comic to anyone who wants to read an inspiring story, abut the strength of the elven (human) spirit and how love overcomes all.

I bought this one for my 9 year old son who loved it but ended up reading it myself. I plan on buying all of them!

I first read this book ten years ago, and I have read it at least twenty more since. Aside from being the best comic book ever written or drawn, it is a sensitive, exciting, and fantastic epic anyone can enjoy. If you are not into fantasy just yet... don't worry. You will be after reading the story of the Wolfriders. The World of Two Moons does not let go of its captives easily! Happy reading!

I picked this up about 9 years ago and have been hooked ever since. At the time i was not a comicbook or fantasy fan, but this book has changed that. This is a series that can keep you glued to the pages for hours. Wendy Pini is an amazing author, and her artwork is just as great. You will love this series.

ElfQuest impacted my life in ways I'll probably never be able to comprehend. I first read the comics that make up this graphic novel when I was 13, and I was hooked. I collected all the reprints of the original series I could find, and then found my way to more. This story of love, honour, betrayal, and being one with nature is a must-read for anyone from 8-80. If you find comic books a little daunting and/or simplistic, there are novels as well. Perhaps read those and then come back to the comics and allow them to fill in the blanks. A marvellous gift for a creative kid or an adult who hasn't lost that gleam in their eye.

This was a good story. But there was nothing great in it. It was not a "page-turner", and there is nothing thrilling or intriguing in the book. The book was kind of typical and predictable, but not so much so that it caused me to rate it lower than a 4. If you are seeking thrills and something eventful, do not get this book. However, if you are looking for a good leisurely read, do get this one.

Ain't no drama like family drama because family drama don't stop.. You will certainly enjoy this book along with others by Marcus Major!! This is a feel good book about how we deal with family, friends and relationships.

Marcus Major has written an eloquent tribute that delves into
the intricacies of family life, especially the nuances & intimacies of marriage. I also enjoyed his candor with the male aspect on views of marriage and friendship. I love this book! I can't wait to see how Jasmine evolves as a young woman.

I have been following Marcus Major since his first short story that was published in "Got to Be Real". Once again I have to say that I am pleased with his story telling abilities. Reading this book was like talking to an old friend telling stories about his families trials, tribulations, but the unity and love that keeps them together.

I would recommend this book to anyone, and I already have!

This is a very good read. The Moore family had real good members that made the story enjoyable to read. I would recommend this book to others.

I can write pages about how good this book is, but why when I can summarize it in one word. Excellent!

Peter's The Fifth Discipline Fieldbook is a must have for everybody who has read the original The Fifth Discipline or are in anyways interested on building learning organization.

In short, the book itself contains useful real life examples and tips & tricks on building learning organization. It really opens new point of views to see and solve problems. It has helped me at work and at personal life, it is 'more than asked I for'.

I recommend this book for anybody.

It seems to me that The Fifth Discipline (the previous publication of the series) is more attacting to me. The second book can be more precise and concise in content. Generally speaking I still like these two books as a foreign reader.

This book is a collection of theoretical summaries, reports, analyses, and strategies all quite useful to anyone interested in generating some thinking and action around change. The team of five writers (Peter Senge, Richard Ross, Bryan Smith, Charlotte Roberts, and Art Kleiner) provide some original work, but also serve as editors to a vast quantity of material drawn from practitioners, theorists, and writers in the field of organizational improvement. According to Senge, "great teams are learning organizations - groups of people who, over time, enhance their capacity to create what they truly desire to create." (p.18) This book is really about creating and building great teams. The learning organization develops its ability to reflect on, discuss, question, and change its current and past practices. To do this, people and groups in the organization need to meaningfully pursue the study and practice of the five disciplines - personal mastery, mental models, shared vision, team learning, and systems thinking.

The learning organization - Senge's vision for the productive, competitive, and efficient institutions of the future - is in a continuous state of change. Four fundamental questions continuously serve to check and guide a group's learning and improvement (see page 49): (1) Do you continuously test your experiences? ("Are you willing to examine and challenge your sacred cows - not just during crises, but in good times?") (2) Are you producing knowledge? ("Knowledge, in this case, means the capacity for effective action.") (3) Is knowledge shared? ("Is it accessible to all of the organization's members?") (4) Is the learning relevant? ("Is this learning aimed at the organization's core purpose?") If these questions represent the organization's compass, the five disciplines are its map.

Each of the five disciplines is explained, and elaborated in its own lengthy section of the book. In the section on "Systems Thinking" (a set of practices and perspectives, which views all aspects of life as inter-related and playing a role in some larger system), the authors build on the idea of feedback loops (reinforcing and balancing) and introduce five systems archetypes. They are: "fixes that backfire", "limits to growth", "shifting the burden", "tragedy of the commons", and "accidental adversaries". In the section on "Personal Mastery", the authors argue that learning starts with each person. For organizations to learn and improve, people within the organization (perhaps starting with its core leadership) must learn to reflect on and become aware of their own core beliefs and visions. In "Mental Models", the authors argue that learning organizations need to explore the assumptions and attitudes, which guide their institutional directions, practices, and strategies. Articles on scenario planning, the ladder of inference, the left-hand column, and balancing inquiry and advocacy offer practical strategies to investigate our personal mental models as well as those of others in the organization. In "Shared Vision", the authors make the case for the stakeholders of an organization to continually adapt their vision ("an image of a desired future"), values ("how we get to travel to where we want to go"), purpose ("what the organization is here to do"), and goals ("milestones we expect to reach before too long"). The section offers many strategies and perspectives on how to move an organization toward continuous reflection. In "Team Learning", the authors rely mostly on the work of William Isaacs and others, and make a case for educating organization members in the processes and skills of dialogue and skillful discussion.

This book is enlightening and informative. It has already found a place on my shelf for essential reference books.

Peter M Serge, The Fifth Discipline Fieldbook

To quote the first few paragraphs at beginning of book:

Among the tribes of northen Natal in South Africa, the most common greeting, equivalent to "hello" in English, is the expression: Sawu bona. It literally means, "I see you." If you are a member of the tribe, you might reply by saying Sikhona, "I am here." The order of the exchange is important: until you see me, I do not exist. It's as if, when you see me bring me into existence.

This meaning, implicit in the language, is part of the spirit of ubuntu, a frame of mind prevalent among native people in Africa below the Sahara. The word ubuntu stems from the folk saying Umuntu ngumuntu nagabantu, which from Zulu, literally translates as: "A person is a person because of other people."


"I bow in honor and reverence that place within you where to the Universe resides, when you are in that place within you, and I am in that place within me, there is One." ~namaste


The five disciplines are at the CORE of a Learning Organization

1) Personal Mastery: expand your personal capacity and ability

2) Mental Models: see how our internal pictures of the world shape action and decision

3) Shared Vision: group commitment

4) Team Learning: group ability is greater than the sum of individual talents

5) System Thinking:


"When we try to bring about change in our societies, we are treated first with indifference, then with ridicule, then with abuse and then with oppression. And finally, the greatest challenge is thrown at us: We are treated with respect. This is the most dangerous stage." --A. T. Ariyaratne (Speech made at International Community Leadership Summit, Winrock, Arkansas, March 1983. This quote paraphrases and expands upon a well-known statement made by Mahatma Gandhi in his book Satyagraha in South Africa, 1982, 1979, Canon, Me.: Greenleaf books)


"An [organization] is not a machine but a living organism." --Ikujiro Nonaka /****
Fundamentals of epistemology: what is knowledge, the nature of knowledge, and what constitutes learning.
understanding is achieved after internalization.
Without experience, we cannot truly understand.
Internalization: transformation from explicit knowledge to tacit knowledge, habits and culture that we do not recognize in ourselves.
Innovation is a process to capture, create, leverage, and retain knowledge.
What is your belief? A belief about images of the world - you may call it a mental model - is a very subjective thing

information is the flow of a message, while knowledge is created by accumulating information. Thus, information is a necessary medium or material for eliciting and constructing knowledge.

The second difference is that information is something passive. When we switch on a TV set, information comes regardless of my commitment. But knowledge comes from my belief, so it's more proactive.

And the organizational knowledge or intellectual infrastructure of an organization encourages its individual members to develop new knowledge through new experiences.

This dynamic process is the key to organizational knowledge creation - that is, socialization (from individual tacit knowledge to group tacit knowledge), externalization (from tacit knowledge to explicit knowledge), combination (from separate explicit knowledge to systemic explicit knowledge), and internalization (from explicit knowledge to tacit knowledge) [...].

[...]

Three Guiding Ideas

1) The Whole. When you are pointing a finger at the problems, notice how many fingers are pointing back at you. If you fixed the symptoms and ignore the root causes, the problems have not gone away. Another way to look at this is treat the person, not the disease. Of course treat the disease if the patient is dying, but know that the patient will get sick again because the "root causes" are stil there.

2) Community. The self is "a point of view." "The essence of being a person is being in a relationship [with] other people." You will not believe this, but each person before you is there for a reason. The reason this person is there at this moment is for you to learn something about yourself. If you ignore the person, do not ignore or forget the lesson.

3) Language. The map is not the territory. We cannot contain every bit of information that comes to us in the world, so we have to create a "map of the territory" and then refer to the map for our information. By changing a person's map, we change their reality. Language is the map, not the reality.

Give it a try it is a good book, very informative and a bit witty. makes you think a bit deeper about life, the universe and... everything! as we all should.

An excellent read in itself, but largely a reprint of Dan's previous book "Losing Faith in Faith" with perhaps twenty percent new material. If you have not read Dan before, have no qualms. So 5 stars for the book as it stands minus 1 star for no warning that this may be a case of deja-vu.

From spreading the word of god as an ordained minister to speaking out against his existence as an atheist -- how does this happen? "Godless: How An Evangelical Preacher Became One of America's Leading Atheists" tells the personal story of Dan Barker, who was once a respected preacher and highly supportive of the Christian religion. With an unwavering candor, Dan tells his story of how he began to doubt his faith and why he thinks so many continue Christians to believe. An iconoclastic and intriguing criticism of faith, "Godless" is worth consideration for both those who want a better understanding of religion as well as those once dedicated Christians who also are feeling doubt about their faith.

This book, along with "God Is Not Great (by Christoper Hitchens), and "The God Delusion" (by Richard Dawkins) it rounds out an "Atheist Trifecta" of MANDATORY reading for anyone who considers themselves worthy of the term "atheist", "freethinker", or just plain non-religious! While some of it is a "re-hash" of the book "Losing Faith In Faith" (which Dan Barker wrote in 1989), it is still an excellent treatise on the issues that all atheists should have a MINIMUM of knowledge in. As I e-mailed Dan Barker, it should have been nominated for (and RECEIVED the 2008 Nobel Prize in Literature!). An excellent, scholarly-researched, and articulately arguementing read, every ahteist should RUN, nor walk to their nearest bookstore for an immediate copy!

Dan Barker's enthusiasm as a child-preacher is apparent in the opening pages of his book, as is his emerging dismay at the inconsistencies of the Bible and the realization that he had been duped by the Christian religion. Barker carefully and thoroughly dismantles the Bible, providing hundreds of proofs of its inconsistencies and showing that the events described as "miraculous" could not possibly have happened. This book is an excellent resource for those who have that vague feeling of unease that something is not "right" with the Bible, yet they cannot put their "finger" on it. Barker provides that "finger" in a well-thought-out, intelligent book that is easily grasped by the ordinary person with an inquiring and open mind.

This book was awesome! It was purchased as a gift for my 13-year-old son who loved it. It was full of interesting pictures, facts, and stories about the great white shark. He considers it one of the best books in his "shark library".

This is an excellent work about the most feared creature in the ocean. I've always had an interest in marine biology, and sharks in particular, and this book embodies both biological and cultural information about one of my favorite animals. McCosker and Ellis give the great white a fair shake, and while they acknowledge "Jaws" as an excellent film, they also debunk the fallacies of it (i.e. great whites are not 30 feet long, and only very rarely do they attack humans). I appreciated the considerable section of the book that discusses "Jaws"; I feel as though it was necessary to include this information in a book about great whites since that film is the only source of information about sharks that some individuals have been exposed to. Great book, great read...and well worth the price!

A wonderful, excellent, magnificent look at the natural history of the Great White. Written from a scientific perspective but easily accessible to everyone, this book covers biology, feeding, fishing, filming, attacks, and the exploitation of great whites. Nearly every page has superb photos and/or illustrations, and the authors do an excellent job of making the sharks an animal to be respected but neither irrationally feared nor glorified. The text covers all aspects of the shark's natural history, but never gets so in-depth as to be boring. Highly recommended.

I'm not sure why, but I'm a bit of a shark freak. I got this book for Christmas, and I read it all the way through without putting it down. Granted, a lot of this information wasn't new, but it was presented very nicely. The pictures are fantastic, and I enjoyed the extras about other sharks.

I think children as well as adults would enjoy this book. I wound up getting other people (who don't much care for the subject) interested in the pictures and short articles in this book.

Subjects treated include biology, geography, behavior, history, and interaction with man.

The book is great with its info. I could not believe the horror of the picture of the beautiful woman Shirley Anne Durdin and when they describe her being eaten alive...what it must have felt like. The people who watched the shark swim away from their boat said they could see tattered wads of her once-beautiful flesh dangling from its teeth and her arm sticking out. Worse than any scene in "Jaws."

Human All Too Human and Daybreak can be considered as volumes one and two of the same work. As Nietzsche said in Ecce Homo, a careful reading predicates a full understanding of his later polemics. Here, the bombast is not yet as evident but the seismic rumblings of the will to power, the eternal return, the death of god, the over and last-men all are all foreshadowed in Nietzsche's grand, classical deftness and precision of thought. Nietzsche's largest printed work, HAtH has perhaps the broadest and best sustained discussions of nearly every topic of importance to thoughtful and reflective thinkers. This, together with Dawn is a great place to begin reading Nietzsche.

If you like aphorisms and philosophy, this book will become one of your bibles. If nothing else, it's just plain fun to read for his incredible wit. Of course you have to put his ideas in the context of the period in which he wrote and understand that he has his own odd prejudices, but the brilliance of his understanding of the human condition really shines through. The biggest mistake any reader could make is to think Nietzsche was an anti-semite---far from it. He was anti-neanderthal. In this book especially the reader sees his low tolerance for received wisdom. This book is nothing less than part of the origin of Western psychology as practiced today. It also represents the demolition of science and philosophy polluted by the received Western theological framework. Some of the best parts are when he skewers religion. You have to love his style even if you do not agree with his pessimistic disgust for piety. This is the kind of philosophy book you need not fret over, unless you harbor wishful thinking about a supremely benevolent deity. Instead of making an elaborate argument about the number of angels that can dance on the head of a pin, as preceeding systematic philosophers did literally and figuratively, Nietzsche bends the pin and throws it in the trash. I wish I had read this before his Genealogy of Morals, as knowing his thoughts here would have made that book far more interetsing and understandable. I highly recommend philosophy students first approaching Nietzsche pick up Human, All Too Human to start their study. And if you are religious and want to bolster your faith, well, you should stay far away from this book.

O.k. So I have a minor in philosophy and Nietzsche was one of my inspirations to pursue this as a degree in college. Nietzsche deals with androgony. In more modern terms, men and women are crossing over the line of androgeny with their jock image. They are getting more and more androgynous you can't distunguish between even basic differences between the sexes anymore. While my philosophy professor and classmates dismissed Nietzsche as "not being a first rate philosopher," he does have his points about god and androgeny. This is part of our changing world and in philosophy class I did make my points.

In response to some of the prattlings below-only those who do not know the first thing about Nietzsche think that he was at all anti-Semitic. He wrote clearly, very clearly, against that and against nationalism. In one of his books he stated that Germany should not admit any more Jews inside of her borders. Why? Because he felt that the German people lacked an identity, and knew that Jewish people had a very strong identity. He did not think that Germany, weak and unrealized as it was, could stand an influx of a people that he repeatedly characterized as remarkable.

I am somewhat obsessed with Nietzsche, and this book started it all. Do not dive into his later, more well known masterpieces (Beyond Good and Evil, the Genealogy of Morals, The Gay Science) without acquainting yourself with this book. It is an introduction to his style, and there is no better example of his mastery of psychological observations. In this book he comments on all elements of social reality ("no one thinks to thank the clever man for restraining his wit when in the company of those who cannot practice wit" for example), going into love, friendship, the tenor of social gatherings, absolutely everything that is psychologically investigatable. He brings this method to his later books, in which he tackles larger issues, like the history of religion, philosophy, morality, and other things. But it all starts here-his later critiques of Christianity and everything else are far more understandable after a thorough acquaintance with his psychological method, first and best presented here. If you are at all sensitive and introspective, this book will move you to tears more than a few times.

if you want to have your moral foundations knocked out from under you, read this book - and then build upon the ruins - Nietzsche's, in my opinion, most accessible work, as his aphoristic style floats over many different topics - don't stop here however, i recommend Kauffman's "Nietzsche, Philosopher, Psychologist, AntiChrist" as a starter if you find the complexity and diversity of Nietzsche's thought to be overwhelming or incomprehensible - he's frequently ambiguous and contradictory but it's more a positive trademark of his works and shouldn't dissuade one from further readings.

Unbelievably inspiring. I challenge you to compare his reading with any one else's or your own in your head. He makes it alive. Not perfect, mind you. You'll find yourself suggesting to him in certain spots that he missed the meaning by putting some emphasis or other on the wrong words. Nevertheless, you know you couldn't do better overall. A real treasure.

Great for a long drive or while driving cross town in Manhattan. You can debate the issues of suffering with Milton in your head.

Sure do wish it were the whole work.

First off, let me say that we're not talking here about the famous Qi gong instructor named John Milton. We're talking about the famous 17th-century English poet who wrote _Paradise Lost_ and _Paradise Regained_, two of the most wonderfully overlong Christian poems in the history of Western literature.

Your English teacher will tell you that _Paradise Lost_ "narrates the story of Adam and Eve's disobedience, explains how and why it happened, and places the story within the larger context of Satan's rebellion and Jesus' resurrection." And you know that can't be far wrong, because SparkNotes says the exact same thing.

But the main reason everyone should read Milton's grand epic is that it contains certain secrets about prayer.

In PL, Milton reminds us how important it is, when we pray, to be absolutely specific. The Lord has a strange, often disturbing, sense of humour (PL, books I-XII). If you leave Him wiggle room, He will answer your prayer in a way you never intended, and then say it was your own damned fault, because your prayer contained seven types of ambiguity.

John Milton writes from experience. Example: Almost every time a good-looking woman passed within view of John Milton, he suffered an involuntary erection. Daniel of the Old Testament might well have suffered such a condition without complaining, but John Milton found it onerous. John was both a Puritan and a student of Saint Augustine. He was not happy when he suffered an erection, he hated it, and he especially resented the women who made that thing happen to him.

In a Latin letter to his friend, George Wither, John Milton reports that, in his youth, he would sometimes see a pretty woman even in his dreams at night, and suffer, not just an erection, but the whole nine yards, up to and including a nocturnal emission; which he trained himself to handle according to Scripture, thereby to purify himself (Deut. 23:10); but sometimes he was unable to wait that long before he handled it, which filled his soul full of Puritan remorse and self-reproach.

At age 33, the poet took to wife a 16-year-old lolita named Mary Powell; and you may already have guessed the reason why, which is that she gave him an erection -- more accurately, she gave him "one damned erection after another," without remission. (Giving John Milton an erection was not the girl's conscious intent, but it just happened to him, every time they met.) And since Christian marriage is Saint Paul's only approved method whereby to deal with that kind of torment, John Milton (being an honourable man) thought it best to marry the girl (1 Cor. 7:9).

Frailty, thy name is woman! After two years of marriage - after just two years of witnessing those insufferable erections that could not be beaten down, or at least, not for long - the poet's young Puritan bride ran away and skipped back home to live with her mother, Mrs. Anne Powell, who likewise gave John an erection; which is why John Milton resented his mother-in-law as well as his estranged wife.

Those were the hardest years of the poet's life - nothing but a daily struggle against involuntary erections, yet here he was, trapped in a loveless marriage to a barely pubescent teenager who lived with her entirely-too-attractive mother. Which is partly why John Milton wrote those four revolutionary Christian pamphlets, correcting Moses' and Jesus' hardline policy on divorce (Mark 10:11-12).

In his Latin correspondence, some of which is preserved in the Bodleian Library, John Milton reports that he was fine when alone in his study, or when hobnobbing with Parliamentarians, or even when having a hasty pudding, or a figgy one, over at the Inns of Court; but let just one good-looker cross his path, showing good ankle between the hem of her dress and the top of her shoe, and it was boing! - instant erection, just like a spring-loaded mechanical device; causing John to exclaim bitterly, "Oh, God, please, not again! Save me from this penal fire!"

It even happened to him once when Oliver Cromwell's wife, Elizabeth Bourchier Cromwell, bent over to pick up a handkerchief that had fallen to the floor. On that occasion there was a lamentable accident ("an hard mishap" [verbatim quote]) with John's ordinarily modest codpiece - an incident so humiliating that John never even wrote a poem about it, although he did apologise, profusely, to Oliver Cromwell, and to Mrs. Cromwell, who saw the whole thing, and then fainted. (John at the time was employed as Cromwell's Latin secretary.)

By the way: It was modesty, not arrogance, that moved John Milton, after that embarrassing incident, to wear a baggy codpiece, with plenty of wiggle room.

Which brings me back to the beginning, when I was explaining why you should give the Lord no wiggle room when you pray: John Milton took his problem to the Lord in prayer, stating in his journal, "Father, I pray Thee, let me not suffer a stiffe joynt when I see a beautifull woman."

And here's how the Lord answered that prayer, in 1651: He struck John Milton blind.

At first, John thought that his blindness was a punishment for his own bad behaviour - which is how that whole thing got going, in Anglo-American Christianity, about how, if you are a boy who does what John Milton used to do, it could make you go blind. But God revealed to John, by means of a dream, that his blindness was actually an answer to his own prayers ¬- because the poet had said, "Father, let me not suffer a stiff joint when I see a beautiful woman."

John Milton then said, "Lord, that is not what I meant, at all" - but it was too late to change the outcome, because the prayer was already answered.

The erections that John Milton suffered in the years 1651-1674, and there were many, even after the Lord answered his prayer, were not from seeing a beautiful woman, it was actually because John had a condition that modern physicians call PSAS ("Persistent Sexual Arousal Syndrome"). So the chronic "stiffe joynt" problem was not really the women's fault, and it never was; but John Milton never knew that. Even when he wrote Paradise Lost (by dictation, from 1652-1667), John was still under the impression that women, seen or unseen, were to blame for his condition; which is why he makes all of those snide remarks in blank verse about your mother, Eve, in Books IV-V and IX-X of Paradise Lost. Because whenever he pictured Eve in his mind's eye, it was boing! - the same old problem. And there would come no more blank verse to his head for the next twenty minutes or so, until things settled down. John Milton hated that.

But it all turned out for the best: if God had not answered John Milton's prayer in that unusual way, by blinding him, Paradise Lost might never have been completed, and sold to the publisher, Sam Simmons, in 1667, for £5 - which was a tidy sum for a religious poem during the decadent Restoration era.

It was while writing the early books of Paradise Lost that John was introduced to Katherine, a ship captain's daughter, a fat woman whom he had never seen (because he was blind); whom he nonetheless married in 1656, but not for the same old reason as before: John asked fat Kate to marry him (a.) because he needed secretarial assistance with Paradise Lost, and (b.) because Katherine did not have the same pernicious effect on him as Mary Powell and her mother Anne had done. John could dictate blank verse to Kate all night long without feeling so much as a tingle down there.

Kate's surname was Woodcock. Beelzebub made a little joke about that: he said, "The Lord finally gave John Milton just what he always wanted."

- L.

My review is of the library binding edition released by Buccaneer Books. It is a very plain and small volume which is wonderfully bound. It contains nothing but the poem itself (including the prose arguments) with the original spelling and punctuation. That means no notes, commentary, or introduction, so if you're looking for lots of in-text help, this isn't what you want. The Fowler, Hughes, or Norton editions are all laden with helpful material like that. But if you just want to experience Milton's masterpiece alone, this is a lovely edition. I found that the book could be purchased much more cheaply if I ordered directly from the publisher's website.

Milton in Paradise Lost unfurls a morning star banner heralding the cosmic story of the fall of angels and men in language eminently civil. I am sure that Homer and Dante were Milton's schoolmasters yet Milton almost exceeds them in the slendid language and poetry of this epic creation. Philip Pullman said "No one, not even Shakespeare, surpasses Milton in his command of the sound, the music, the weight and taste and texture of English words". This is a poem of majesty and sublime lyricism as in Milton's description of Mulciber falling:
"from Morn
To Noon he fell, from Noon to dewy Eve,
A Summer's day; and with the setting Sun
Dropt from the Zenith like a falling Star".
Each book of Paradise Lost is introduced with an argument, or summary. These arguments were written by Milton and added because early readers had requested a guide to the poem. Milton's purpose in this masterpiece is to tell about the fall of man and justify God's ways to man. When the angels battle in heaven at one point they pull up mountains and hills and throw them at each other: "So Hills amid the Air encounterd Hills Hurl'd to and fro with jaculation dire, That under ground, they fought in dismal shade." After their coup attempt in heaven Satan and the other rebel angels are lying stunned on a lake of fire. Satan rises from the lake and makes his way to the shore. He calls the other angels to do the same, and they assemble by and above the lake. Satan tells them that all is not lost and tries to cheer his followers. Led by Mammon and Mulciber, the fallen angels build their capital and palace Pandemonium. They decide to get at God through his new creation and Satan sets off on this mission. In reading Paradise Lost the poem reads the reader while being read. What I mean is that Milton lets his readers go awry in their affections and he corrects and instructs those misreadings as well as anticipates them. In this way the poem becomes a live text with meaning apprehended through the interplay between the peruser of the poem and the text itself. Milton allows the reader to subjectively question the justice of the current religious paradigm and then leads them back to the perspicacity of deity. Ultimately Paradise Lost is Milton's paean to a vast pattern in the universe, the disruption of that pattern by rebels, and the weaving of those rebellion threads back into an ever more beautiful tapestry.

I got this book because my 2 1/2 year old couldn't get enough of "The Bear's Toothache." (also highly recommended.) I love the colorful pictures. My son has learned what bagpipes are and what begging is because of these illustrations. My friend who teaches 1st grade was around when I was reading this book with my son and she informed me that this kind of rhyming book is so good for children. (I pause before the last word of the paragraph which completes the rhyme and my son finishes it for me.) I am getting this as a gift for a few people this year.

This is a fun book to read! I have twins who are almost 2 and they love the book and the way it rhymes. The first time my husband read the book to our kids he was laughing and both of us consider this book one of our favorites! Definitely a good one to add to your collection!

I teach kindergarten and my students picked out this book for me to read to them during snack time and I fell in love. Now it's one of their favorite and I have it memorized. I'm buying one through amazon to have at home to read to my own son. Not only is the text funny, flowing, and interesting... but the illustrations are absolutely hilarious! My students love to act out the pictures and point and laugh at pigs in their underpants and a cow tied down to train tracks. Did I mention that I love this book?

We checked this book out from the library and it has become one of the top ten requested reads from my daughters (4 & 2-years old), so we've decided to purchase a copy.

Not only are the story and rhymes great, but the pictures are incredible for playing "I spy". "I spy a pig in a kilt! Who else spies him?" There's alot of action and detail, so it's a lot more than just a good reading book or a great picture book.

I think this book should be on the book shelf of every kid!!

This is an excellent and hillarious poetry book. I used to work in an elementary school library. The kids would love it when I would read it out loud to them. This also makes a good oral language book. My own kids love it as well. The pictures are great.

This was my daughters' favorite book while they were growing up. I can't wait to see my one daughter's face when she receives it as a gift for her first baby. I even bought a book for myself to keep at my home. The rhymes are classics and the illustrations are so eye catching. I try to purchase this book as a baby shower gift for my family and friends. I highly recommend this book.

Good book. The little kids love this book, and I do too. I first read this book when I was a little kid. This book has all the great stories.

I liked the book just fine, but for some reason I ended up with 2 instead of the one I ordered.

So many mother goose out there, and most are very nicely done. This one, however, caught my attention because it utilizes the familiar busytown characters which I feel children so easily identify with as opposed to books with illustrations of children from long ago. Those are great too but this one should not be overlooked.

We had a lot`s of fun reading the book.It contains 50 well known nursery rhymes, has funny pictures and was not too long even for my 2 year old.There are days he wants me to read it twice in a row.