Robertson Books

Great detail. Lots of action. Very easy to read. Great drama in bombing raids that put you in the cockpit. A must for all WWII enthusiasts.

The author, former B29 pilot in WWII, tells us about his 35 missions with the 29th Bomber Group, 314th Bomb Wing, 21st Bomber Command, 20th US Army Air Force, from March thru August 1945. Besides his own career as a military instructor and pilot, Robertson presents several curiosities about the day-by-day life, inicially in several training bases in ConUs and later, in a huge air base on the island of Guam. Included is an epilogue, where are related the post-war fate of several of his crew members and other people related to his combat tour in the Pacific Theater of Operations.

I purchased a copy of this book when it first appeared on the booklists. Being a pilot and an aircraft historian, I completed the book in one long night. To say that Col. Robertson is a terrific writer is an understatement. This book is extremely well writen and holds your attention throughout. I have read many books on WWII and the air engagements within that conflict. I can say without equivication that this is the finest book of that genre. Do not miss this outstanding story!

This is unquestionably one of the very best books written about the aerial battle over the Japanese homeland that eventually defeated the Japanese Empire and brought about the end of World War II. Airplane Commander Gordon Benett Robertson, Jr. eloquently describes his training and the missions of the B-29 Superfortresses of the 20th Air Force. The story of this magnificent aircraft and its crews is must read for all historians.

David Braden, Past President
20th Air Force Association

For me Steinhauer's series of book's started out great and slowly devolved to where I can no longer read them. This is one of the good ones. He evokes the cold war and eastern Europe better than any other author I know. Its this evocation that makes these books stay with you long after you've read them. The characters are full of the sad tragedy of their world but seem to rise above it all to become fully realized humans. Highly recommended.

Steinhauer's latest novel, The Confession, proves that his first critically acclaimed novel Bridge of Sighs was neither an accident nor a flash in the pan. With his second mystery based in communist-era eastern Europe, Steinhauer displays his continuing growth as a novelist, and his considerable ability to mix the psychological tension of his characters, and plot. The emotional backdrop of the story is the deteriorating marriage of his main charcter Comrade Inspector Ferenc Kolyeszar, and all the angst, betrayal, paranoia, and helplessness that comes along with this. While Kolyeszar struggles to learn the identity of his wife's lover, he takes up the case of a murdered artist. The keynote crime in Steinhauer's first novel was the killing of a proletarian songwriter. That the deaths of a social realist art dealer, painter, and the painter's former lover form the core of this mystery is great fun, and allows Steinhauer to explore of of literature's most compelling themes: the mercilessness of art, and flawed, complex nature of the world's most prevalent form of justice -- vengeance. The Confession is multi-layered, but Steinhauer skilfully balances these subplots and cleverly brings them together at the story's fascinating conclusion. A rarity among mystery writers, Steinhauer is both a gifted writer and storyteller. He has created a corking mystery peopled by extraordinary and rare characters. His prose is eloquent and stiletto sharp. As another Amazon reviewer has pointed out, Kolyeszar's alienated and defiant posture in this mystery is not new to the crime genre. But Kolyeszar is a fresh face, and impressively real. Nothing he does in The Confession is anticipated. Like the very best novelists Steinhauer constantly surprises. Although Steinhauer does not name his east European nation, he also gives a sense of life in the dreary, disappointing, and cynical post-war years of the East Bloc that few histories have been able to capture.

The result is one of the best crime novels to emerge this year. The second instalment in a five-part series, The Confession elicits only one response: impatience for books three, four and five to hit the shelves, and a keen hope that somewhere Olen Steinhauer is typing as fast as humanly possible.

This is an ambitious attempt to produce a combined psychological novel and Chandleresque mystery novel. As with all Chandler-type novels, the hero is an alienated individual seeking some kind of truth in a corrupt milieu. In this case, the corrupt milieu is an Eastern European Communist state. This is not an original version of the Chandler idea, Martin Cruz Smith did this fairly successfully in Gorky Park and Phillip Kerr has a series of good PI novels set in Nazi Germany. Steinhauer attempts to combine this style of mystery novel with psychological exploration of the effects of totalitarian rule. This attempt is not successful. Steinhauer is a decent writer but presently lacks the skill to bring off a complicated task like this. The mystery per se suffers from excessively complex plotting and characterization is only moderately good.

Now turning thirty, seven years has passed since an idealistic Emil Brod joined the police force as a Comrade Homicide Detective, but now by 1956 he is like his peers, grim and ever looking over his shoulders at the KGB representative. Emil has learned survival means trust no one and gingerly investigate whenever the Party is involved.

Meanwhile Police Officer Ferenc Kolyeszar prefers to be a novelist, but in this small Communist nation getting anything published is controlled by the Party. Though Ferenc has talent his résumé shows one paperback. Now he writes a book about the depressing world of artists representing Everyman behind the Iron Curtain. Any creativity typically leads to work camps that even in the post Stalin era remains dehumanizing and deadly. Besides the censorship that haunts Ferenc, he suffers remorse over a recent assignment involving college students. As he investigates the murder of a party bureaucrat, KGB agent Kaminski watches Ferenc looking forward to destroying the wannabe author.

This 1950s Communist police procedural is a terrific tale that provides the audience with insight into life inside a Soviet satellite country just after the death of Stalin. The strong story line surprisingly relegates the hero of the first novel (BRIDGE OF SIGHS) to a cynical secondary role. This allows comparison to Ferenc, a tragic Shakespearean character who knows that his latest case will personally cost him dearly; yet he cannot adapt to the party line especially after he carried out a recent assignment to bash the heads of protesting college students. This is a great Eastern European Communist historical police procedural that should provide Owen Steinhauer a strong fan base.

Harriet Klausner

Crimes against humanity is a very comprehensive review of the human rights directed at readers not well versed in law. The author, Geoffrey Robertson, an accomplished lawyer and advocate of human rights, does an superb job of discussing the origins of modern human rights, and their development to the present day, (the updated edition covers the Iraq war.)

He laments the repeated failures of members of the international community to uphold human rights when it is in their interest. Yet he does so with reason, fairness and empathy (not sympathy) for countries who abuse human rights as well as the UN which has failed to protect human rights so often. For example he blasts all of the big 5 members of the security council at various times for abusing their veto powers. He also criticises the small enclaves such as Lichtenstein, Monaco and the Vatican who abuse their voting power in the general assembly which is equivalent to that of China or India.

At the same time he talks up the progress that human rights have made in recent years, something that is rarely acknowledged. The leaders of nations now fear that they might one day fall into the grasp of justice, and the US can no longer support despotic regimes throughout the world.

This book serves as an excellent introduction to the broader issue of human rights for those who are not well read on this subject. It is a quite long, and can become tedious at times, but it is not dry like I assume a law textbook must be. Nor is it a one sided attack by some commentator which seeks to popularise the author's agenda.

After readinbg Geoffrey Robertson's book "The Justice Game" (which was just so good.....) I again wanted to have some more of his personal style, wit and in-depth knowledge of his subject - in "another terrifIcally good read".

At 609 pages this is a lengthy read on a difficult subject; Robertson deals with it logically and often with charm and wit (perhaps a useful coping mechanism for such a depressing subject). We clearly have a long way to go to achieve a more humane world. Robertson traces the history of the concept of crimes against humanity from the trial of Charles I in 1649 and the landmark work of Grotius, in particular focusing on developments post Nuremberg, to the present day (2006). Obviously the Bush administration cops a bit of a flogging on its more recent demurring as a human rights leader but it is pleasing to see the people of America reaffirming their common decency and insisting the US resume this role. Robertson's book will help us all think more clearly on this complex subject and make the world a better place.

Now in its third edition, this mainstay textbook on the subject just keeps getting bigger, and one might say better. Whereas in earlier editions, the author was known to write in a somewhat dry, analytical tone, with some excellent categorical or structural analysis, I might add, the tone is now almost conversational, with the author telling "the story of human rights." The "story" pervades the first five or six chapters, and consists of little snippets or witty comments lamenting the fact that someone didn't do this or that. The meaty stuff includes chapter 8 (the Pinochet case), chapter 9 (the Milosvic case), chapter 11 (Kosovo), and chapter 13 (the last chapter, on Saddam Hussein). There is only one chapter on terrorism (12) and it's mostly devoted to the Guantanamo Bay issue. Overall, the book may be essential reading, and it does make the complex simple, but it is an overview book and the kind of thing which is sufficient only for beginners because there are lots of areas where the reader might want to do some more research and all they are given are little snippets or emotive hints of something.

Spider is still working underground, for an independent web publisher, to get his work out there. The government would still censor him in a hot second, and he has pretty much pissed off everyone, including his filthy assistants.

That is not the only problem he has, while people would like to get rid of him, his own body may just do the job for them.

It seems like Ellis wanted to stretch out the story over by one book, because this one does very little to further the story. Don't get me wrong it was still what you would expect from Transmet, but it just wasn't as intense.

This most recent Transmetropolitan collection takes a distinctly darker turn as Spider and his 'filthy assistants' go underground and Spider's health begins to suffer. More than ever before, Ellis' social commentary on his dystopian City hits close to home. Previous collections have satirized the decadence and sloth of modern American life by exaggerating it in daringly hilarious ways, but _Spider's Thrash_ descends to address modern-day social problems more directly. Although the issue on child prostitution presents a still more corrupt and degraded world than the one we live in now, the issue on the deinstitutionalization of the mentally ill and their subsequent homelessness is not exaggerated at all. Ellis' demonic president, The Smiler, also seems creepily relevant to the post-9/11 attack on civil liberties, particularly when Spider quotes the newsfeeds as saying, 'The President is officially 'studying the constitution to protect the people from outmoded language and ideas therein.''

If it sounds like this collection gets a bit preachy, it does, and plot continuity suffers as a result. But those of us who have come to know and love Spider and his mad quest for the truth aren't likely to stop reading. As director Darren Aronofsky (_Pi,_ _Requiem for a Dream_) says in his introduction, 'Profanity + anger + revolution + cynicism + drugs + cigarettes + truth + justice - fair = Spider Jerusalem. . . . A true original.'

Your friendly neighborhood outlaw journalist is back. Warren Ellis combined the humor of Palahniuk, the prose of Hunter S. Thompson, and the anarchic sensibilities of British punk rock into the greatest comic book character of all time: Spider Jerusalem. The comic is consistently funny, satirical, and eye-opening. Ellis uses the medium for his trademark brand of cynical social criticism...and it shows more than ever in this collection. Spider gives the big F-YOU to the government, and corporate America in this trade. He branches out on his own, publishing his column illegally for no money. This time neither the president nor the paper can censor him. God help us all. I definately recomend this trade to any fans. You must read this, it's Ellis and Robertson at their best.

Fiddle Game by Richard A. Thompson is a debut novel, but Thompson writes like an old pro. His protagonist, Herman Jackson, has been in the bail bonds business a long time, long enough to have seen it all. Or, nearly all, as he is flummoxed by a Gypsy woman trying to pay for her brother's bond with an antique violin. Even as Jackson suspects he's the victim of a con, he goes along with the proposal, hoping to work a few angles of his own. But although Jackson is an extremely savvy player, nobody has been running cons longer than the Gypsies. In fact, the mystery and intrigue of the violin goes back fifty years, to World War II Europe.

Herman Jackson is only 43, but seems older, not so much old fashioned as old school. And I mean that in the best sense of the word. Jackson has a sense of justice, a knowledge of the right way to do things, a low-key manner, and a healthy amount of chivalry that gets him into trouble as much as it endears him to the reader.

Jackson is soon on the run from both the gypsies and the law, which brings me to my only quibble about this fine novel. Jackson's allies in St. Paul---Agnes, Wide Track Wilke, and the Prof---are so wonderful that I wanted to see more of them, and was a bit sorry when Herman Jackson's adventures took him away from St. Paul, to Skokie, Illinois, home of the largest community of gypsies in North America. I just hope that these fun minor characters appear in a sequel!

For a first novel, "Fiddle Game" is quite an accomplishment. The author has led quite a varied career, including a 45-year stint in construction. He is a civil engineer, a certified Minnesota Building Official and a registered professional engineer. But nothing in his biography indicates he has ever written anything prior to this novel.

An Amati violin plays a central role in a con game conducted by a gypsy family and going on since World War II. Herman Jackson is a bail bondsman in St. Paul who becomes the latest victim of the con. A woman enters his office offering the valuable fiddle as security for a bond for her brother. Unfortunately she is soon the victim of a hit-and-run and dies. The killer escapes with the violin. Herman quickly attracts the interest of the police as the possible perpetrator. The plot then has Herman attempting to solve the murder and retrieve the fiddle.

The story is extremely well-told, moving to a most unexpected conclusion. It is a surprisingly welcome debut, and we hope it is not a one-shot from this author.

Amy Cox visits bail bondsman Herman Jackson to arrange bail for her brother. She offers her violin that she claims is an original Amati valued at $60,000 as collateral. Although he normally would reject such an offer as he runs a cash-only business, he accepts the instrument in lieu of money even as he is not sure why he does.

Upon leaving his office, Amy visits a pawn shop to buy a replacement violin. Soon afterwards, someone kills Amy and the violin Herman held is stolen. Nothing adds up to Herman who wonders what is going on as he consults with waitress Rosie while worrying if the "brother" he bailed out will split and the violin he had is genuine; the truth lies in the past before either he or the late Amy was born.

Although too many twists make it difficult to accept the plausibility of the story line, readers will enjoy this fine bail bondsman mystery. The Herman-Rosie duo is a fabulous pairing as she pulls no punches when she advises him on the case. However, what is fascinating with this fine crime caper lies with the deep look at this particular segment of the private side of the government incarceration warehousing industry.

Harriet Klausner

Reviewed by Olivera Baumgartner-Jackson for Reader Views (8/07)

Richard A. Thompson's "Fiddle Game" is a nicely nostalgic read. Although it is set in 1996, it resembles the vintage detective stories in many ways - and I mean it as a compliment. The hero, Herman Jackson, might have a spotted past and has to keep looking over his shoulder at all times, but he also has a refreshingly old-fashioned sense of what is right and what is wrong, as well as an unshakeable code of honor. His secretary, Agnes, is indispensable to his operations and can even manage a computer - not a mean feat back in 1996. Together they run a rather sedate, low-profile bail bond operation.

Life gets immensely more animated after a young woman, Amy Cox, brings in a priceless antique violin as a security for her brother's bail bond. Shortly after she leaves the office, Amy is murdered and Herman is believed to be the prime suspect. So Herman is on the run, being helped from afar by Agnes and a couple of very interesting characters from St. Paul, named Wide Track Wilkie and Proph. While on the road, he picks up an interesting traveling companion, Rosie. Rosie is a truly mysterious dame, sizzling hot and able to do a bunch of unexpected things. She also carries quite an arsenal...

The search for the truth about the "cursed violin" takes Herman and Rosie into some very wild waters, meeting quite a few members of Rom people, who are better known in the USA as Gypsies. When the reader thinks all has been revealed already, there is anther twist - and then another. Who are the good guys? And are the bad guys really bad?

I found "Fiddle Game" an immensely entertaining read, one that had to be finished in a single night. There was violence and romance, a lot of intrigue, vivid descriptions of chases of every kind and tons of deception, dead bodies and sweet deeds, all of it nicely balanced out with enough humor not to be too gruesome. Very believable characters, well-controlled writing and an exciting plot all contributed to my enjoyment of this book.

"Fiddle Game" is a brilliant, engaging book. I highly recommend it to any lover of a good detective story with solid characters and fast-moving action.

Salvation has come. To this end is God now glorified. No further revelation concerning redemption is required, and that truth is there to be believed or to be rejected. This was the message then, as is so now. And our Maker does not wish us to be ignorant of this.

'The NT consistently represents a 'mystery' (Gk mysterion) as a truth about God's redemptive programme once concealed, but now revealed. This 'mystery' now has been revealed by the Spirit to God's holy apostles and prophets (Eph 3:5). The two offices of apostle and prophet joined together as the vehicles of divine revelation. Those extraordinary offices were the instruments by which God made known His revelation in the new covenant context. The substance of this 'mystery', once concealed but now revealed, is that the Gentiles are fellow-heirs, fellow-participants, fellow-members in the body of Christ (Eph 3:6).' pg 16

'It is rather interesting that Paul does not speak about a prediction of the future when he refers to the 'mystery' that has been revealed. Instead, he describes insight about a theology of the church. He declares that the 'forth-telling' of the apostles and prophets was revelational. The basic truth they taught about the role of Gentiles in the church was not a prediction about the future, but a divine declaration about the present. Yet it clearly was regarded as 'prophetic' in nature.' pg 16

'Twenty eight times the term 'mystery' is used in the NT. If we set aside for a moment the occurrence under consideration, twenty seven cases explicitly talk about a 'mystery' as something once hidden but now revealed. Christianity emphatically is not a mystery religion.' pg 26

'Tongues illustrated dramatically the universalistic nature of Christianity. God was not limiting Himself to one people. His wondrous works could be heard in all the languages of the world. Tongues were a dramatic sign of a change of direction. Christianity was not exclusively a Jewish religion, despite its clearly Jewish origins. The need for a sign of transition exists no longer. Tongues, as in the case of all other workings of God in the world, find their significance when located properly in the history of redemption. When seen in its unique historical setting as a sign of transition to a world-wide gospel, tongues give the greatest glory to the universal gospel.' pg 48 - 50

'On the contrary, the evidence supports a continuation of the same kind of 'tongues-speaking' as occurred on the day of Pentecost. In Acts 10 Peter justifies the baptism of the Gentiles who had spoken in tongues, for 'the Spirit came on them just as it did on us' (Acts 10:47). In reporting his action to the church at Jerusalem, Peter calls special attention to the same point: 'The Holy Spirit came on them just as it did on us at the beginning' (Acts 11:15). The experience of the Holy Spirit at Caesarea corresponded to the Spirit's baptism that came on the apostles on the day of Pentecost.' pg 34

'The first letter to the Corinthians was composed at a time when very little of the NT had been written. The church at that stage needed an authoritative word from the Lord to direct the pattern of their life under the new covenant. Very likely, none of the inspired manuscripts of the NT were available to the Corinthians at this point in time.' pg 18

'It destroys the necessary distinction between the true and the false prophet, and makes God's people the helpless victims of error mixed with truth.' pg 19

'We believe in a wonder-working God, but not in a wonder-working church.'
BB Warfield, Counterfeit Miracles, pg 58 (Kessinger)

If you are interested in the controversy over the role of the charismatic gifts in the church today, you owe it to yourself to read this book. The writing was excellent, and the author managed both clarity and concision. He managed to explain quite a few key concepts without using too much jargon, too long of a length, or many of the other issues that often turn laymen off to theology-related books.

The arguments were, for the most part, quite compelling; although there are a few arguments I'm not sure I find that convincing (such as his argument that the gifts played a less prominent role in the Apostles' ministries and in the early church), he brought up many good points as well.

His arguments against the Third Wave view of prophecy (which teaches, among other things, that ordinary congregational prophecy can legitimately be a mix of truth and error) and for the continuity between Old and New Testament prophecy (some claim that New Testament prophecy is fundamentally different from Old Testament prophecy and thus must be held to a different standard) are especially compelling. These arguments alone make the book worth the price. I honestly don't see how anyone who has read his critique could maintain that the Third Wave view of prophecy is Biblical.

As I said, although I found this section of the book to be the strongest, this isn't to say that the other sections aren't strong too, or that he doesn't bring up good points there too. He does. In fact, most of his arguments for cessationism are quite strong and clearly presented. For you non-cessationists, no, his case does NOT depend on 1 Corinthians 13:8-10; he presents arguments from many different angles, none of which are dependent on this text. In particular he looks at why we would even need the gifts anymore.

I'd recommend reading this book with "Perspectives on Pentecost" by Richard B. Gaffin. They compliment each other very well, and these books could easily revolutionize your understanding of the Bible's teaching on the spiritual gifts. These books are perfect if:
- You're not sure what the Bible teaches on the topic
- You're convinced that the Bible doesn't teach cessationism (these books will show you that it does)
- You want to learn more about the controversy over the charismatic movement
- You want to understand how to answer the arguments for the charismatic movement and defend cessationism. Robertson's book is very good for this and ably answers many of the common arguments and misunderstandings found in the charismatic doctrines of the spiritual gifts. I fall into this category, as by the time I read this book I was already convinced that the Bible teaches cessationism (which I wasn't always convinced of, as I was charismatic for a number of years).

In short, this is a compelling book that I highly recommend to both charismatics (at least those who are prepared to test their beliefs in light of Scripture) and to non-charismatics (especially if you want to know how to defend your beliefs). Unfortunately, the charismatic movement and in particular the Third Wave has made massive inroads into evangelicalism lately, largely due to a lack of understanding of the issues involved in the pews and in the pulpit, and this book is a welcome antidote.

O. Palmer Robertson has written a very succint book on the doctrine of the cessation of revelatory gifts. He deftly traces the prophetic office from the Old Covenant into the New and finds its completion in the "prophet like unto Moses," the Lord Jesus Christ. He also correctly identifies biblical "tongues" as a subset of prophecy from the Book of Acts and demonstrates biblically how the gift of tongues and prophecy were anticipated to cease even in New Testament times with the completed canon of Scripture. Biblical theology at its best - highly recommended.

Robertson has produced a fairly careful book with an irenic tone. However, insofar as he argues for cessationism as an entailment of the sufficiency of Scripture, it had better be the case that Scripture permits cessationism and that Robertson has the right notion of Scripture's sufficiency. But the former is not so obvious, in view of I Corinthians 1 and 13. Absent a demonstration that these passages permit cessationism, Robertson's doctrine of the sufficiency of Scripture will appear to contradict the authority of Scripture. John Piper has proposed an alternative notion of the sufficiency of Scripture, namely, that Scripture tells us the means of grace to be used in every situation. Robertson's book is pleasantly brief and certainly worth reading, but I doubt that it will persuade those not already inclined toward its cessationist position.

This book was wriiten by Caspari and only translated into english by Wright. It is by far the best book on this subject in the english language. Nothing like it has been produced as the days of orientalist scholarship that was able to appreciate and understand classical grammarians as those upon whose work Caspari based this on have gone. Modern arrogance has left this book on the shelves getting dusty when it should be the basis of all arabic study. The book is at times difficult to read as the english has not been edited since 1923 however this is good as it keeps out unwanted comment.

All in all if you buy this book (despite its price) I assure you, you will never grow out of it- and if you do you most certainly won't consider that money other than well spent- Good Luck!

Dover publishes books that are classics and charges far less money, so save yourself the money, it's the very same book. This is a reference book to grammar, not the kind of book to read from beginning to end if you want to learn the topic as a beginner, but very good if you want a particular issue clarified. The plentiful use of actual examples to illustrate the use of a grammatical function can be very handy. There are other very good grammar books, such as Haywood's A New Arabic Grammar of the Written Language (one of my favorite because I could also learn from it as an intermediate beginner and it contains exercises), but Wright's book is considered to be one of the most comprehensive Arabic grammar books. Most other grammar reference books, though quite good and comprehensive in some cases, focus either on Quranic/classical or Modern Standard Arabic (MSA). I prefer to know mostly the classical style, that is based on Quranic but doesn't require reading of the Quran, for there is much classical Arabic literature, though I prefer to converse in a modern style.

First, anyone considering this book needs to understand that this is a reference grammar, not a textbook for learning Arabic. The material is arranged by parts of speech and by grammatical concepts, not as a series of lessons going from simple to more complicated. There are no exercises and no excerpts for reading practice (although all discussions of grammar and semantics are illustrated by examples). The level of the book is not for beginners.

The main drawback is a level of unneeded complexity that is maintained in many sections of the book by the use of Latin grammatical terms and by trying to look at Arabic through the concepts of English grammar. The chapters on Syntax are especially notable for this. It is there that we find such gems of clarity
as :

If two *correlative* clauses follow the
hypothetical particles law (if), law 'anna
(if that), lawlaa, lawmaa and lawlam (if not), [*]
the verbs in both clauses have usually the
significance of our pluperfect subjunctive
or potential, though occasionally too of our
imperfect subjunctive or potential.

This is further "clarified" by the footnote:

[*] The protasis of a sentence, when introduced
by lawlaa, although it may not have a verb
actually expressed, yet includes a verbal idea,
viz. that of the verb kaana.

This creates the impression that Arabic hypothetical sentences are super-complex, and their meanings are difficult to grasp. In fact, there is nothing particularly hard about the sentences used to illustrate this discussion, and most of the difficulty comes from trying to arrange English and Arabic into parallel structures. I find it hard to recommend the Syntax section of the book, which has pages upon pages of such explanations. But many other parts (such as the discussion of the forms of the verb) are lucid and helpful, probably because there aren't any English parallels to get in the way.

I also find that the fonts and the typesetting are not great. Looking at the pages for a long time fatigues the eyes.

I feel that I must mention that the price ... seems unreasonably high to me.

In summary, the book is good, but make sure that this is what you want.

Wright has been the standard reference grammar of Classical Arabic for over a hundred years, and is still the most comprehensive generally available for the Classical language. Wright's knowledge of Arabic and his use of Arab grammarians was vast, and he's worth persevering with. The traditional Western terminology is a positive advantage to anyone who's used to it, and I must say I think Jacob Minsky's examples are among the most extreme in the book, tho' his point is well made. However, Wright introduces the Arabic terminology almost everywhere, which is a great boon - modern writers tend to ignore Arabic terminology, which is rather pig-headed as it leaves the student unable to discuss language with Arabic speakers, and at a disadvantage when trying to understand books in Arabic on language.

Fischer's "A Grammar of Classical Arabic" is much more accessible to those unused to traditional Western grammar, even if it is rather less complete in its coverage. In particular, it has nothing on Arabic verse, for which you still neeed to use Wright.

As to editions, the Cambridge edition is really a bit over-priced (it always was expensive, costing 18/- [= £0.90 or about $5.00 at the time] in the mid 1930s just for volume 1!). Librarie du Liban does a hardback for much less which is at least as well produced and a sight better bound. At least one Indian publisher does a two-volume hardback edition as well. As for the unclear typography, that's at least in part due to poor reproduction of earlier letter-press printing.

Stop Press: I see that Cambridge have just re-released the book in a new printing. The good news is that the margins are wider. The bad news is that it's more expensive and they've made the decision to perfect-bind the book.

This author is superb as a writer but I give this book only 3 stars because of the story line. I felt betrayed by the ending. I thought I was reading a raw and honest account of a man sinking into grief for the loss of his wife, the loss of all he had held onto as sustaining memories of his son, who died in childhood, for the terror of seeing the end of his own life on the horizon and thus looking upon the phony assurances of those around him with a growing anger and emotional release, letting go of the normal social niceties of putting up with intolerable situations. However, as the book ended, I realized I was seeing a descent into madness and the guy ends up a mass murderer.

This book should be among the classics, not the out of print. It's full of vulgar language and vulgar acts, but it is also raw and real. This novel is complex and poignant. And will have you thinking about a great many things once your able to put it down. I bought this book because I found out Robertson is one of Stephen King's favorites. It's easy to see the influence in style. I've ordered two more out of print Robertson novels and eagerly await their arrival. Robertson is a modern genius. I'm still trying to figure out why he's out of print. This guy should be read in the colleges of America. Robertson can outwrite Don DeLillo any day of the week. And I like DeLillo.

I too bought the book because Stephen King not only recommended it but actually published it through his Philtrum press. King's recommendations (e.g., John MacDonald, Richard Matheson) are always to my taste, and Don Robertson may be the best of the bunch. One interesting feature is that he has many multi-page chapters that are a single long paragraph. Normally, long paragraphs make writing hard to read, but Robertson successfully uses this unconventional style to add drama and breathless urgency to his writing.

I, too, first became acquainted with Don Robertson via a second-hand bookstore bargain... and I admit I only picked it up because it had a foreword by Stephen King. Once I got past King's effusive praise and guarantee that I would "never read a book like this. Never." I became totally hooked on Don Robertson. This book really IS like nothing I've ever read. His characters are dowdy and dumpy and troubled and fat and maybe not the most dazzlingly brilliant people you could read about, but who wants to do that?

This book stayed in the back of my mind for months. I started reading all of Robertson's books in order, and while they differ widely in plot, setting, point of view etc., his basic techinique is usually there: there are good people and bad people and the good people suffer but the bad people get theirs in the end. Robertson writes a morality play but because he doesn't make his good people TOO virtuous, you are always surprised by what happens. The conclusion to The Ideal, Genuine Man was completely believable and true to life, although certainly extremely unsettling.

In short, I can't say enough about this brilliant and talented man, and I must wonder as well: why are these books out of print? You can still get copies of A Confederacy of Dunces and Catcher in the Rye. Don Robertson's work should be required reading in all Freshman Lit. classes!

P.S. I loathe having to read a 40 year old library book with 40 year old drips and stains and suspicious blots on them. Ick.

This book had me totally absorbed from page 1. An extraordinary and remarkable true story of a familys' trip around the world and astounding tale of survival at sea after their schooner was attacked by a pod of Killer whales and sank, leaving the family of 6 adrift for 38 days without food or water. Eloquently written, it presents with clarity and coherence scenes and events that pluck at the heart strings in describing their ordeals. The author has managed to place the reader at the centre of the action as their nightmare unfolds. This book will make you smile and even cry as you share the emotional turmoil and unyielding dynamics of a family living in close confines aboard the yacht as well as when they were fighting for survival in their raft. Based on his father's classic book "Survive the Savage Sea" Douglas, a young adolescent boy who was forced to become a man overnight, has added almost 60% of new material including pictures, maps and illustrations to create a real masterpiece that has already been screened on the National Geogrphic Channel as a docu-film. Once started you wont put it down till your finished.

The Last Voyage Of The Lucette is the complete and previously untold true story of an event first described by the author's father, Dougal Robertson, in "Survive the Savage Sea." Here, the son interweaves his own perspective - he was eighteen years old at the time - with the original narrative of a harrowing nautical voyage. In January 1971, the Robertson family set sail from England in an attempt to circumnavigate the globe; eighteen months later in the middle of the Pacific, their 43-foot schooner Lucette was holed by killer whales and sank. Four adults and two children survived for 38 days adrift in a survival raft, then a 9-foot dinghy, until a Japanese fishing vessel rescued them. A gripping narrative of survival, and especially, the difficulties of getting along together in extremely cramped quarters and desperate conditions. A handful of black-and-white and color photographs illustrate this amazing story of family togetherness under the most unusual and trying situations.

An awe inspiring account of the family journey. Compelling reading for all! I couldn't put it down.

I thought this was going to be a retelling of the story first told by Dougal Robertson in his excellent Survive the Savage Sea. But his son, Dougal, is incorporating most of the text from the earlier book, and is even writing from his father's point of view throughout this book. So 30 years later he's writing as his father to offer additional observations, which are now mixed in with his father's observations. I'm returning this book to Amazon.

You don't need to be familiar with Robertson Davies' work to enjoy this set of insightful talks and essays about reading, writing, and life in general. This has been my first exposure to his work (a gift from my mother-in-law), and I loved it. I'm now deeply interested in reading his other work. In fact, I bought the Deptford Trilogy, but haven't gotten to read it yet since my wife got ahold of it before I did.

When I read this collection it was as if the old friend was still alive. He is most certainly alive and kicking in this book. The book gives not only his honest view of books, authors and the literary world but also includes yet another ghostly tale of mythological origin. Not only was this an informative read, as most of Davies' work is, it was also a heartfelt pleasure, and continues to be so, again and again and again.

It is usually a pleasure to sit down to a Robertson Davies work whether it be a novel, a collection of speeches, ghost stories, essays, or newspaper articles. The Merry Heart is a felicitous adddition to the Davies canon, containing his usual eclectic selection of literary topics and sparkling ideas. Each chapter has a few introductory comments (often including excerpts from Davies' diary) by the book's editors that paint the background for each piece. Readers enjoy comparing notes about favorite books and biographical history, so for avid readers, The Merry Heart will be like reading a series of letters from a funny, witty, learned friend about some of those events and books that have shaped his life. This fine 385 page book of 24 chapters is easy to read in bits and pieces, either during a lunch break, before bed, or on a weekend next to the fire. (One note of caution: for those unfamiliar with Davies' worldview, do not be surprised to see elements of gnosticism popping up from time to time.) All in all, this book was a real pleasure to read.

Two years after Robertson Davies' death, here is the unexpected gift of "The Merry Heart," a collection of essays, speeches and autobiographical reflections pulled together by his wife and daughter. They proceeded knowing Davies himself had considered such a project, and in doing so, they honor both his memory and his intentions.

Page after page, "The Merry Heart" offers delight and dissertation. From the charm of the opening essay, "A Rake at Reading," to the storytelling wit of the last piece, "A Ghost Story," Davies' distinctive voice covers as wide a range of topics as a sparkling dinner party. From the seriousness of Canada's continuing preoccupation with its sense of place and history in "Literature in a Country without a Mythology" and such timely discourses as "Literature and Technology" and "Literature and Moral Purpose" to the gems of "Christmas Books," "A View in Winter: Creativity in Old Age" and "An Unlikely Masterpiece," he is by turns critical, thoughtful, playful, reverent and above all, a proud bearer of the literary standard.