Richardson Books

This is an OLD book, and the delightful thing about many of the older books is the purity of content and purpose the author imparts. Some of the opinions are definitely out of date, but there are so many constant and profound maxims that it is worth plugging through the parts that tend to be a little more dry.

The author captures the true feelings behind being gay and being in a male dominated line of work. The excitement of the capture is exceptional I really enjoyed the book.

An excellent reference even though it has been superceded by a newer edition.

This is one of those books that people should take some time to read solely for it's historical significance, since it truly is a touchstone in the development of the novel as a distinct literary form. Released in 1740, it created a tidal wave of what we would now characterize as "media attention" and "popularity." Pamela was the right book at the right time and this confluence of time/place/text adds importance to the book itself.

The author, Samuel Richardson, was a commoner, without the aristocratic background of his rival, Henry Fielding or contemporary Tobias Smolett:

UNLIKE his great contemporary and rival, Henry
Fielding, Samuel Richardson could boast of no connection, however remote, with an aristocratichouse. He himself has informed us that he came
of a family " of middling note," in the county of Surrey, from which we may conjecture that his ancestors were small landed gentry or respectable yeomen. (Samuel Richardson
By Clara Linklater Thomson)

Thomson's biography mentions that in the 1740's, people were still a tad fuzzy on the concept of a fictional story, "Richardson was at once overwhelmed with
letters from eager readers who longed to know
whether the story was true." (Thomson, Samuel Richardson) It is against this back drop that you need to consider the development of the english novel as a real step forward in terms of the cultural sophistication of the readers. You can literally see the human mind moving away from the simplicity of the middle ages (and its literary forms.)

I think it's fair to say that the contribution of Pamela, in a nut shell, is the depth of psychological complexity of the characters. That is what the novel is all about: adding psychological depth to the depiction of character.

And so it is that the reader finds himself/herself relating to these characters, written three hundred plus years ago. Pamela tells the story of Pamela Edwards, a serving girl of 16. Her mistress dies and his son takes over the estate. The son has a thing for Pamela, so after she rejects a couple clumsy advances, he does what any 18th century nobleman would do: Has her kidnapped and imprisoned at his remote estate.

Now, anyone reading the above will understand that the activities depicted aren't in any way contemporary, but the depiction of character is. What we are witnessing in Pamela is the birth of literary consciousness of self and identity. It's interesting to read about but at the same time at 500 pages Pamela turns into a slog at time. You can see where it is an EARLY version of the novel as literary form- sine there is a resolution/climax half way through the book, followed by 200 pages of material that would no doubt not reach print these days.

An excellent book providing Information on the MRCP Examination, it is Concise to the point and provides hand on techniques to prepare for the Exam.

If you can at least read Greek (which, if you're getting into specialist material like this, you probably do), you will find that this book is an excellent contribution to the world of Pauline Theology and Christology (the latter expounded upon mostly in ch. 5). Richardson is most definitely an expert on Paul's "Christological grammar" and is correct to say that to understand his though processes, we need to understand little details in the words he uses to describe what happened in Jesus. This is, I suppose, what most would call a "functional Christology", which is of course the only Christology of the very earliest Christians, and of the Pauline community. After his deeply detailed study, he can declare that the doctrine of the Trinity can indeed be found to be rooted in Paul's words. This book is fascinating for those who like details.

Again, for the specialist, this is essential reading that is to be complemented with something like N T Wright's Climax of the Covenant, which again requires a knowledge of Greek (and Hebrew). I give it only 4 stars because there are times that he is simply too cautious in his conclusions, and the fact that he bases an incarnational Christology on II Cor. 5:19. There is more than one way to translate this verse, and the one he chooses, he does so hastily.

Nevertheless, Trinitarians and Unitarians alike will profit from this book because, if one follows Richardson on all his conclusions, he shows how Paul held neither a belief in the incarnation nor in the Trinity. Unitarians will undoubtedly find great comfort in this. Trinitarians will also profit because Richardson shows how Paul's language could logically lead us down a Trinitarian road. In other words, Richardson forces you to make your own conclusions about Christ, and what Paul's opinions of him were.

I bought this book in April 1998 with no regrets. I could sense that I am destined to be the deck owner when I held the box. As I had previously got another pack of Tarot in less than a month, so I was hesitant to buy this pack. I held the box throughout my shopping in the bookstore as it was the last one and I was reluntant to put it away. Then suddenly over the announcement, it announced that the store was having a 10min 20% discount storewide. Without thinking much, I rushed to the nearest cashier. The queue was long and luckily I could still get the 20% discount (and I was the second last person for the counter queue before the 10mins were up). Whew!

Sasha advised on keeping the deck in a wooden box and I was worried spending more on buying a wooden box. Then a fren of mine asked me out with her to shop for a gift for her aunt, and I obliged. At Raffles City shopping mall, we came across a shop having closing down sales and to my surprise, it was selling 2 wooden boxes for the price of one at SDG$9.95! And my fren also liken the wooden box so we shared the cost. See, aint that more than a coincidental.

I bought a black cloth with similar experience as the wooden box except the store wasn't closing down. I got it at a bargain.

About the deck accuracy, i must say it is pretty accurate. But the reader reading kung-fu must be adept, otherwise, what is there any accuracy to say? I find the deck pastel color alluring and vision-friendly and the pictures are very decent and approving. Unlike some cards, which are loud in colors and obsence in pictures, only paint bad reputation on Tarot's name.
The guide book is very useful too and has alot of suggestions in interpretation of the cards.I've been using this deck since then.

Novices can depend on the guide book which come together with the deck. But I think, some amount of research is still good.

To a student of British history, or a fan of the Plantagenets as I have always been, this book is a boon. It might be a bit dry to anyone selecting it for a pleasure read. It is rich with descriptions of John of Gaunt and Katherine de Roet's relationship and children that followed.

As far as the history of the book goes, Richardson's area of concentration is much more exclusive and circumscribed than, say, Eisenstein's. Rather than attempting to explicate the rise of vernacular literature from the point of view of the demanding reading public in traditional epochal terms, he turns his attention to early Italian editors and attempts to chart the role that they played in creating a wider readership through exegetical, paratextual additions (prefaces, notes, etc.) to various works. The rise of vernacular literature is seen through the narrow lens of pragmatic business decisions. The main themes of his overall inquiry center on the role that editors in Venice and Florence played in transforming the physical presentation of an author's production, their efforts at standardizing a Tuscan-based vernacular, and the cultural rivalries that often emerged between competing centers of print the in the first 150 years of the press. Richardson notes in his preface that the editorial functions of correcting a text and providing "help" for the reader have a history that stretches back to antiquity. However, a style of language that suited one's targeted audience became increasingly important to the success of an edition with the advent of printing and the additional overhead that was incurred in the form of labor, materials, and transportation. Care and thought had to be given to a book's choice of words in order to maximize its audience and its chance at becoming a financial success. With authors of less stature than Petrarch, Boccaccio, Ariosto, and Dante, editors often took great liberty in correcting style and grammar. The editors' efforts, along with their contribution to the publishing of numerous grammatical works, are ultimately construed as helping to standardize a literary vernacular. With the works of the great Italian writers, editors did not take such great liberties. Yet, in attempting to make the reading of these authors easier, glossaries, annotations, summaries, indexes and biographies were added. As the texts of these authors began to serve as exemplars of the expected use of the Italian vernacular, explanations of the Tuscan vocabulary that were often related to spoken regional dialects also began appearing in some editions. Richardson is explicit in holding that these efforts were ultimately quite formative in the expansion of the reading public, but he does not parlay this point into a commentary on the Renaissance, in general. Despite the extremely interesting and nuanced analysis, overall, the style of the book is aimed at the level of an expert, and this is probably not the most productive place to start an examination of the history of publishing.

What a great concept. I had the opportunity to purchase this book while at I-Con in Long Island. I read it in one sitting, quite an accomplishment with an RPG manual. The layout is very impressive and very easy to follow. The are rules comnplex enough to allow for a realistic type of game play, yet simple enough to learn and follow. In short the rules do not get in the way of the game itself. I can't wait to play this.
All in all I would definately recommend this to anyone.