Wagner Books


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Wagner Books sorted by Average customer review: high to low .

Wagner
God's Cleansing Stream: Deliverance in the Local Church
Published in Paperback by Wagner Publications (2003-04)
Author: Chris Hayward
List price: $11.95
New price: $3.29
Used price: $2.85

Average review score:

Great Discription of God's plan for deliverance.
Helpful Votes: 3 out of 4 total.
Review Date: 2004-03-06
I would recommend this book to every pastor and person who wants to see others set free from the things that have held them back from living a successful life.
This book explains clearly what Cleansing Stream Ministries is and how it works in the church to bring freedom to everyone who desires freedom.
A must for every pastor!

Highly recommend this book
Helpful Votes: 3 out of 4 total.
Review Date: 2004-02-23
Cleansing Stream Ministry has changed my life more than anything I've encountered since becoming a born-again believer. I have been set free from overwhelming fear, rejection, abandonment, and shame. I just finished reading Chris Hayward's book, and it did a wonderful job of explaining how Cleansing Stream is designed to work in the local church. It would be especially helpful for pastors to read if they are considering getting involved, but good for any believer who just can't shake those things hanging on from their past.

As for the bad review by another "reader" (I don't think they read the book): As you go through the Cleansing Stream study, you pay for your study materials. You pay another fee to cover the expenses of the retreat. Then, at the retreat, you are given the opportunity to give an offering (no pressure!) to help take this ministry around the world (even into prisons). Most people have been so affected by going through this process, they can't wait to help the ministry take this to others, and get involved themselves. I highly recommend the book and the ministry. If you could hear the testimonies, you would have no doubt that God is using this ministry to set His people free.

What a crock.
Helpful Votes: 3 out of 14 total.
Review Date: 2004-02-02
I went through Cleansing Stream Deliverance. Twice. The only thing that I lost was money. It cost $300.00 to go through a 4 month seminar which ended with a weekend retreat. Even at the retreat they were asking for money. It seems to me that if these people have the gaul to say they are providing deliverance and ask for this amount of money for it that they'd do a better job of checking out who leads the groups. If you ever try to ask them for help (aside from buying their products) you will quickly find out how truly unhelpful they are. Cleansing Stream? More like Cleasing of Your Bank Account.

Much needed info
Helpful Votes: 4 out of 5 total.
Review Date: 2004-02-23
Deliverence is a much needed though much misunderstood ministry.I have seen it administered in many different ways over the years and never has it made so much sense. Cleansing Stream Ministries is Bible based and as gentle and loving as you can imagine. God has used (and is still using) this ministry to set me free to do the work He has called me to do. By keeping the ministry under the leadership of local pastors Chris Hayword honors God while keeping the ministry (and ministers) highly accountable. I reccommend that you not only buy and read this book, you should also buy a copy for your pastor.

Wagner
How to Enjoy Your Retirement, Second Edition: Activities from A to Z (How to Enjoy Your Retirement)
Published in Paperback by Vanderwyk & Burnham (2002-07)
Author: Patricia Wagner
List price: $12.95
New price: $2.00
Used price: $0.76

Average review score:

Not the best resource.
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 6 total.
Review Date: 2007-03-19
I did not find this to be very helpful in planning for my upcoming retirement. To be fair, I have looked at several retirement advice books and not found any to be of much help.

Excellent resource!
Helpful Votes: 25 out of 29 total.
Review Date: 2002-07-03
Being newly retired at age 53,I figured I'd better find a way to keep out of trouble.This book is it! There are so many things,even little things,that I had not considered as part of my retirement activities. I have been engrossed in the book since it arrived,and as soon as I get organized,I will be off and running.I would recommend this jewel of a book to anyone who might need a little help getting used to a new life..retirement!!

This book is a keeper!
Helpful Votes: 33 out of 41 total.
Review Date: 2000-04-11
I borrowed this book from the library and liked it so much that I had to buy it. It has ideas, quotes, resource leads, and an index. This book will continue to serve throughout life.

Fun, quirky book
Helpful Votes: 6 out of 6 total.
Review Date: 2007-03-03
Reviewed Kathleen Dowdell for Reader Views (2/07)

"How to Enjoy Your Retirement" is a provocative, well-written book about activities you can do to help you enjoy your retirement. This third edition, published in 2006, keeps pace with constantly changing information that is available at our fingertips. In the introduction, the authors advise taking a personal inventory of what you think you will need or desire in your retirement years. Appendix A contains questions such as: Who Are You?, What Do You Do Well?, Why Are You Retiring?, and How Do You Feel About Retirement? This is a useful tool to evaluate your situation since your life will be dramatically changed with an abundance of free time on your hands (unless you plan on babysitting for the grandchildren). If you do decide to spend lots of time with your grandchildren, Appendix B lists numerous activities that you can do with them. Appendices C through I are broken down into additional resources, activities, tips and suggestions that will aid in the transition into retirement. An appendix dedicated strictly to travel provides names, addresses, and phone numbers of airlines, car rental agencies, cruise lines, hotels, vacation homes, and state visitor bureaus as well as internet sites related to travel. There is a wealth of information in these sections alone.

The meat of the book is found in the list of activities alphabetically listed from A through Z which offers a wide variety of ways to spend free time in retirement. There are over 1000 ideas sure to spark the creative side of any brain. Topics such as Chatty Cathy - "get your Chatty Cathy doll fixed by e-mailing Chatty Cathy's Haven" and Seasonal Contests - "start seasonal contests for guessing when the first measurable snowfall will occur" or this is your life - "make a video for yourself or someone else" are sure to motivate anyone to action for activities and further research.

This is a fun, quirky book that can be used for the serious undertaking of searching for activities to do during retirement or as a book of light reading to pass the time. The book can be used as a resource to brighten your mood on a dreary day or to find further information on the web for a topic you wish to pursue. Authors Tricia Wagner and Barbara Day compiled the A to Z activities from ideas and experiences of friends, family, neighbors as well as themselves because they saw how individuals' perceptions of retirement have changed over the years. They felt a need to address the variety of feelings people approaching retirement experience and to share information to help with these ambivalent feelings. Their success is apparent in this 3rd edition. "How to Enjoy Your Retirement" book would make a nice gift for someone approaching retirement or for someone who has been retired for a few years and wants to add some excitement to life by pursuing new avenues and areas of activities.

Wagner
Mission Furniture You Can Build
Published in Paperback by Dover Publications (2007-06-26)
Author: John D. Wagner
List price: $12.95
New price: $7.86
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Average review score:

Recommended with Reservations
Helpful Votes: 104 out of 105 total.
Review Date: 1999-12-12
This book included chapters on Gustav Stickley, joinery and woodworking techniques, wood finishing and upholstery. The heart of the book is ten projects, complete with large color photos. They range from a hall mirror to a Morris chair. Some designs may be original, one is from Popular Mechanics' Mission Furniture, How to Make It, and the rest seem to be based upon articles from Stickley's The Craftsman magazine.

Not surprisingly, since most of the general designs are based on Stickley, they are on the whole quite attractive. They are simplified versions of production designs, and were originally meant for the home woodworker. Unlike the reproduction book Making Authentic Craftsman Furniture, there is a wealth of detail and all of the pieces have a place in the modern home. The author has included two pieces that I call Neo-Craftsman: a coffee table and a hall or foyer magazine table.

The engineering of the pieces, beneath the facade, may cause some problems. In particular, Mr. Wagner seems to be unaware of the problems that seasonal wood movement can cause when large panels are tightly secured. For instance, his coffee table top is doweled in place. I should be mentioned that the author is very fond of using dowels EVERYWHERE in the furniture. He even uses them to assemble drawers.

I recommend this book, with reservations. Like most similar books, you must have a shop full of power tools, and be familiar with their use, so it really is not for the complete novice. Knowledge of doweling and making mortises and tenons is a must, and it seems that one would have to have a jointer and a planer (or be accomplished with the hand tool equivalents) for the majority of the projects. There are a wealth of exploded drawings of the parts, but they are poorly drawn. I suspect that the illustrator Ms. Barbara Smullen is not a draftsman or a woodworker. Some of the perspectives are drawn wrong, and one would think that some tenons are haunched when they are not. However, all of the measurements seem to be correct, so one can go by them.

Note For The Advanced Woodworker:

It is useful to see completed pieces from the Stickley book. I don't like some of Wagner's joinery techniques, but you can use proper tabletop fasteners and can properly dovetail the drawers, etc. Another thing he has done is skip tenon shoulders for some spindles - I guess to make construction easier. Of course, then the edges of the mortises have to be perfect. One odd thing that I noticed in the photos is that he doesn't seem to use quartersawn oak anywhere. I wonder whether this book was a project assigned by a publisher...

Not the best book of mission furniture
Helpful Votes: 15 out of 15 total.
Review Date: 2003-01-14
After reading Blair Howard's "Arts and Crafts Furniture", I was expecting a lot from this book and it didn't deliver. I agree with all of Donald Thomson's complaints above. The joinery seemed questionable and he took short cuts I would not have made. Additionally, I felt his pieces lacked the elegance that the better mission designs have, both by Stickley and by others. However, the book is very detailed and easy to follow, so it should be easy for a beginning woodworker to follow. Joining boards and cutting mortices appeared to be the most advanced things he ever did, and he avoided cutting mortice and tenon joints whenever possible.

Excellent
Helpful Votes: 26 out of 29 total.
Review Date: 1999-10-17
When I became interested in building "Mission Style" furniture I purchased this book. The designs are wonderfully illustrated and easily followed. I particularly appreciated the comments provided by the author as to the skill level required to complete a specific project. The beginning of the book provides a brief but informative history of Gustav Stickley and some important techniques that are required in building the projects.

I would highly recommend this book to any beginning interested in building "Mission Style" furniture. This book has inspired me to read more about Gustav Stickley and to build more challenge pieces of furniture. Absolutely Excellent!

Great book for beginners
Helpful Votes: 9 out of 9 total.
Review Date: 2001-10-03
Wagner has done a great job explaining wood working techniques for the beginner. This is a great book for beginning woodworkers to use when building this Mission furntiure. I built the table. Had great results. (A nice historical introduction makes the best reading in the book!)

Wagner
A New History of Korea (Harvard-Yenching Institute Publications)
Published in Hardcover by Harvard University Press (1985-02-15)
Author: Ki-Baik Lee
List price: $25.00
New price: $97.88
Used price: $4.60

Average review score:

Important omission
Helpful Votes: 2 out of 3 total.
Review Date: 2007-03-25
In the original Korean version of this book, there is a very significant final chapter on elitism in Korean society. This chapter is omitted from the translated versions.

Excellent introduction
Helpful Votes: 25 out of 26 total.
Review Date: 2000-08-18
This book provides an excellent overview of Korean history. It is neither too skimpy nor too detailed. It also contains a number of useful photographs (black and white) and illustrations (black and white), which helped me read this book through. While many books (either written in English or translated into English) on Korean history deal almost exclusively with Korean War, only a few books are available that describe the history of Korea from its prehistoric beginnings to the modern colonial occupation of Korea by Japan. Although Korea is the most important neighboring country of Japan, the history textbooks used in Japanese schools spare very little space for this topic. I recommend this book to anyone, who is interested in learning Korean history, as a first book to read.

This book is too detailed
Helpful Votes: 6 out of 19 total.
Review Date: 2002-11-18
This book is very difficult to read because it is not well-written and also because there are too many details. Furthermore, the author introduces so many characters in each chapter but never talks about them again later in the book. So it is difficult to determine who is important and who is not important.

I find it impossible to believe that one reviewer found this book "neither too skimpy nor too detailed." How else do I know that this book is truly too detailed and inaccessible for most readers? One of the translators, Edward Wagner, concedes in another book ("Korea: Old and New") that this book was, in fact, too detailed.

a very comprehensive overview
Helpful Votes: 9 out of 10 total.
Review Date: 2003-05-09
I read this book to get an understanding of the history of korea in the greater sense, and also as one of a group of books on Korean history. It is very comprehensive, coverinig gthe range of Korean history from a brief synopsis of the prehistory of Korea, through the major part of ancient Korean history to the bulk of more modern history. I enjoyed this book finding it to be an interesting read, with a lot of details, would make a good history text for a class on korean history, which is exactly what I wanted from this book.

Wagner
Radical Hollywood: The Untold Story Behind America's Favorite Movies
Published in Hardcover by New Press (2002-05)
Authors: Paul Buhle and David Wagner
List price: $29.95
New price: $14.04
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Average review score:

A fascinating journey
Helpful Votes: 14 out of 20 total.
Review Date: 2003-10-03
"Radical Hollywood" is both fabulously entertaining and enlightening. For movie fans (who isn't) and students of American history, it provides a fascinating behind-the-scenes look at the radical politics of the directors, screen writers, and actors who were part of the Hollywood mainstream until McCarthyism drove them out. When you reflect on the greatness of their work, you realize that the witch-hunt was our loss as well as theirs.

The cover photo of "Radical Hollywood" suggests that many of these figures were not ordinarily associated with the left. With James Cagney placing his hand somewhat menacingly on Jean Harlow in "The Public Enemy", you have to wonder what the connection is. As it turns out, the script was written by William Bright, who was one of the first left-wing innovators in Hollywood. Hailing from Chicago, he was part of a group of youngsters around Dr. Ben Reitman, Emma Goldman's longtime lover. During the Great Depression, he worked for a time as a smalltime bootlegger and was inspired by this experience to write about criminal life, emphasizing how social relations are distorted by capitalism.

Cagney threw his support to the burgeoning labor movement in the 1930s on Bright's prompting. He signed on to a support committee for strikers in the San Joaquin Valley in 1934. When the Hearst press began to redbait Cagney, he pulled back from future involvement with the left. If witch-hunting had not been a factor in Hollywood from the beginning, it is not too difficult to imagine much more willingness on the part of movie stars to speak out on social and political questions.

To see how figures such as Ed Asner, Susan Sarandon and Sean Penn are stigmatized in the equivalent of the Hearst press today for having the temerity to speak out about US foreign policy, you can only appreciate the scholarly effort that went into "Radical Hollywood". For in the final analysis its authors demonstrate that radicalism is very much a phenomenon that grew out of the American soil and was not imported by agents of a foreign power.

Hollywood's Travels -- and Travails
Helpful Votes: 7 out of 10 total.
Review Date: 2004-03-28
Radical Hollywood, by Paul Buhle and David Wagner, is an exhaustively (if at times exhaustingly) comprehensive and, as far as I can tell, mostly accurate (if at times chronologically confusing) catalog of the many U.S. motion pictures created during the brief cinematic "Golden Age" from roughly the beginning of the New Deal to the onset of the Cold War by what could loosely be called the Hollywood Left -- or the Left in Hollywood, such as it was.

The fact, though, that Buhle and Wagner had to write a book largely to explain the alleged "radical" subtext in these films by their non-monolithic screenwriters illustrates how the "threat" posed to U.S. society (read: the capitalist class) by such pictures was wildly exaggerated by right-wing anti-communists for political reasons. (Was Lassie Come Home, for example, going to undermine the foundations of capitalism simply because it was adapted for the screen by a Communist?) And yet, maybe that perceived subtlety (where present, enforced perhaps at least as much by studio economics and cultural restraints as by national politics) was the kind of "subversion" the inquisitors found so dangerous to the interests of the social class they actually represented.

Or maybe it was a case of guilt by either membership or association, with the work of any Communist -- or anyone associated however remotely with a Communist or the Communist Party -- being cast under suspicion, whatever the nature of his or her work. But just as Freud is reputed to have said that sometimes a cigar is just a cigar, sometimes, say, an expressly comedic film is just that, and nothing more. And even from a Leftist perspective, that is not necessarily bad. Consider, though, Sullivan's Travels, which oddly political yet intriguing picture instead of self-consciously being "an answer to communism," actually makes a case for it in spite of itself, and which despite its intentions (or perhaps because of them), may be more politically effective than many a more tendentiously political piece of cinema, even when the title character keenly observes that, "There's a lot to be said for making people laugh," it being "all some people have." (Curiously, the opening scene-within-a-scene of this 1941 comedy -- written and directed by Preston Sturges, who, like this film, is not mentioned by Buhle and Wagner nor is he identified by them as being a part of the Hollywood Left community -- anticipated the ending of the 1948 drama Ruthless, co-scripted by one of the Hollywood Ten and discussed by the authors.) Indeed, there is nothing inherently wrong or reactionary with making people laugh, provided one sees that culture can and should be for the edification as well as the entertainment of the public. And this is where skilled and honest Leftist cultural workers are in their element. But just as an artist must elect to fight for freedom or slavery, according to the great Paul Robeson, so, ultimately, must an artist's audience.

However, Buhle and Wagner betray a kind of not so much discernibly anti-communist as anti-Communist (or anti-Communist Party) subtext of their own throughout the book -- typical of that tendency of neo-Left thought developing in the 1960s which, by intent or in effect, sought the very break with the historical continuity of the Communist Left that Buhle and Wagner see as a consequence of the Hollywood blacklist, as when they blame "Party bureaucrats" for the demise of the Hollywood Left (or what passed for it), when were it not for the (albeit imperfect) agency of the Communist Party (often in the midst of internal struggle as well as external attack, the effect of the former evidently not sufficiently and fairly understood or appreciated by the authors), most of those who became the radical screenwriters and filmmakers of Hollywood would likely never have even thought of attempting what they somehow managed in some form to bring to the movie screen.

Encyclopedic
Helpful Votes: 8 out of 11 total.
Review Date: 2002-07-18
This is a good look at the often ignored early radicals of hollywood. It gives a good history of the time leading up to and the aftermath of the Blacklist and it's antisemitic tendencies. Paul Buhle, et al seem to have an encyclopedic knowledge of the subject but I found their method of sharing the information a little overwhelming and pedantic. Every page is dotted with references to very obscure films, many with alternative titles, that are impossible to find. It's difficult to envision many of the situations and influential aspects of the films when you can find no more information on them much less see them. Taking all of the authors information on faith is not the usual film studies method. In contrast to many books about hollywood this one dosn't have many salacious details about harlets and moguls. I would recommend this book to serious film/hollywood history buffs only.

Man the pumps, it's too thin to shovel
Helpful Votes: 9 out of 26 total.
Review Date: 2003-01-17
It's quite true that the authors' knowledge of Hollywood film history is encyclopedic, and this alone makes the book an indispensable reference to the stories behind the stories of innumerable great and less-than-great films. Described elsewhere as "the Abbott and Costello of film studies," these two spew forth gallons of embarrassingly wrongheaded and outmoded leftie humbug; nevertheless this is exactly what makes their work so useful. Yes, all those "paranoid" right-wingers were right all along about the real motives and agendas in Hollywood "back then." And not much has changed...it's still "Fantasyland" in more ways than one, which ought to be an important clue to the etiology of leftism. My only real objection to this work is that being so thoroughly deluded by their own political fantasies as they are, the authors attempt to claim almost everyone in Hollywood as a real, potential, or lapsed leftie, whether or not there was ever much actual evidence of it...a kind of triple-reverse McCarthyism. One final tip: buy this book second-hand. I'd hate to think I'd given one red cent (no pun intended) to either of these authors or their publisher.

Wagner
Rugrat's Potty Book: A Baby's Got to Go! with Sticker
Published in Hardcover by Tandem Library (1998-08)
Author: Kathi Wagner
List price: $9.02

Average review score:

Good For All Ages
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 15 total.
Review Date: 1999-03-21
I think this book was a very nice well written book. It is good for cildren of all ages. My daughter is 15 and she really enjoyed it. [Her favourite rugrat is Chuckie.] I think you should get yours today!

wonderful new author
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 13 total.
Review Date: 1998-12-09
Kathi Wagner has a great future. Share this book with a child

Too Silly!
Helpful Votes: 4 out of 5 total.
Review Date: 2000-08-09
This is a silly book that little ones will think is fun, but for a parent trying to introduce potty training it leaves one wondering....... For instance, I did not appreciate the part where Chuckie is supposed to be using the toilet paper to clean himself after using the potty because it shows a chaotic mass of toilet paper all over the place. I'm trying to encourage my child to use a few sheets & not to unravel the entire spool of toilet paper! Also there's not much in the way of a story to read. I've read a half dozen other potty books and they were heads above this one.

Don't Have to be a "Rugrats" Fan, but It Helps
Helpful Votes: 4 out of 5 total.
Review Date: 2000-07-08
Whether you're child loves Chuckie, Tommy, Phil & Lil and Spike or not, the pictures and situation in this book will delight. The only thing missing from this wonderful paperback is Angelica's devious influences. In several short pages, author Kathi Wagner and illustrator Ron Zalme capture the babies' individual personalities and send Chuckie on the quest of a toddler's lifetime. Pure fun, whether you're potty-trained or not!

Wagner
What's Love Got to Do With It?: A Critical Look at American Charity
Published in Hardcover by New Press (2000-02)
Author: David Wagner
List price: $25.00
New price: $12.10
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Average review score:

waste of a time
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 3 total.
Review Date: 2006-05-01
this book is utterly useless. the author makes good points, but he would have been better off just writing a short essay. the book drones on and on, every paragraph feels exactly like the one before it. saying something over and over again, hammering it in like that works sometimes but this authorly surely cant. go to borders, read the introduction and the last chapter, and then move onto something better.

dont waste your money on this.

from Frank Browning salon.com review
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2000-02-10
"Wagner's concise and vivid chronicle of the rise of paternalistic American charity is a valuable handbook for anyone who wants to challenge the duplicitous nostrums that the vapid stars of both political parties have lately offered up on everything from welfare to the widening class gap to the impoverishment of public education to the more and more degraded public-health system"

Baltimore Sun 2/6/00
Helpful Votes: 3 out of 3 total.
Review Date: 2000-02-19
"Wagner's book will be interesting reading for donors, policymakers and advocates for the poor...with charities' influence growing, the time is right to raise red flags -- and Wagner's (criticisms) are largely on target....His book attempts principally to raise questions in an unquestioning age."

Excellent and incisive critique of American charity
Helpful Votes: 4 out of 4 total.
Review Date: 2000-04-08
David Wagner's book What's Love Got to Do With It, provides the reader to an insightful perspective on American charity. Penetrating the veneer of "do-gooderism," Wagner exposes the abuses, distortions and deliberate social control mechaisms that have been a part of the American charitable entrprise since its inception. This book is a must read for anyone involved in philanthopy, social welfare service provision, or social work education.

Wagner
All Rise: The Criminal Trial of 4 Teens
Published in Paperback by Writers Club Press (2000-04)
Author: Paul Wagner
List price: $10.95
New price: $6.84
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Average review score:

A book for all teens that have been falsely accused of criminal activities
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2007-07-09
Francis Kelly, a typical teenager at the wrong place at the wrong time was blamed for a crime he did not commit. Although this kids world was turned upside down, he learns that in life sometimes what appears to be is not always what it seems to be.

Adra Young/Ardannyl
Author of: The Everyday Living of Children & Teens Monologues

COMPELLING PAGE TURNER
Helpful Votes: 2 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2000-04-27
I read "All Rise," loved it to death and could not put it down. What a great story for all ages. I passed it oo to my Teenage Granddaughter and she loved it. I was surprised when she told me she read it in two days and passed it on to her girl friend. This is the kind of stuff we used to love when we were teens so I guess things haven't changed as much as we thought.

It Is Like I Found Some New Friends
Helpful Votes: 2 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2000-04-21
I couldn't put this book down! It is a fast-moving story of a teenager who is falsely accused of a crime. I felt like I got to know the characters in the story, especially, the hero. It has a twist at the end that I didn't expect. I also liked the book because it supports causes that are important to me, such as anti-racism and the importance of being loyal to your friends.

Wagner
Augustine for Armchair Theologians
Published in Audio CD by Hovel Audio (2005-07)
Author: Stephen Andrew Cooper
List price: $23.98
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Average review score:

Accessible Commentary on The Confessions with Quality, but Slightly Disconcerting Illustrations
Helpful Votes: 3 out of 3 total.
Review Date: 2006-10-01
This text is more of a chapter by chapter commentary on the confessions than an introduction to Augustine's thought in general. There is very little mention of his other great works. Cooper pretty much tells Augustine's personal story rather than produce an accessible intro to his works. But reviewing the book for what it is rather than what I thought it would be: This is an accessible commentary on the confessions that does a very good job highlighting the major themes and unpacking how Augustine theological assertions emerge from the telling of his story. He is obviously very familiar with the text and selects numerous and appropriate, poetically translated excerpts that convey a sense of Augustine's accessible and conversational style.

As for the illustrations: I found them to be well done, humorous, and have used a couple of them in presentations on Augustine. This distinguishes the `Armchair Theologian' series from the `For Beginner's' series, whose illustrations are almost always disappointing. I do have one critique. The illustrator had no qualms about portraying God in flippant, somewhat irreverent cartoon form which I think Augustine (along with much of the Judea-Islamic-Christian tradition with their great discomfort regarding images of God) would be pretty uncomfortable with. I found them just a little disconcerting myself.

Sit right down...
Helpful Votes: 5 out of 6 total.
Review Date: 2003-11-02
Stephen Cooper, associate professor of religious studies at Franklin and Marshall College in Pennsylvania, has produced a very readable and practical guide to Augustine in this text, 'Augustine for the Armchair Theologians'. At first glance, one might think that the text is not a serious text (not always a bad thing to assume, mind you), as there are line-art drawing of a cartoon-ish nature throughout, but this is no book for dummies (although it is very accessible). Cooper does not dishonour the text of Augustine's 'Confessions', instead following very closely the autobiographical portion of the 'Confessions', deviating only to bring in outside material (from Augustine or from other sources) to further enlighten the reader.

Augustine remains a pivotal figure, both in church history, and history of the world generally. A man of great passion and great intellect, he combined these in fascinating ways, producing what many call the first real autobiography (in his 'Confessions') and putting together a mammoth collection of practical and philosophical theological writings, such that the scholar Isidore of Seville wrote that 'he who claims to have mastered all of Augustine is a liar'.

Augustine lived at the time of the fall of Rome and the initial breakdown of Roman society, a time when the primary surviving institution was the church, and the world longed for stability of 'the good old days'. Augustine himself was a man of great passion who had in his youth no problem of acting out of that passion; he had deep, powerful relationships and a keen intellect and personality that attracted people to him. It is perhaps this social aspect, Cooper states, that is the primary aspect of Augustine, both in his relationship in the world and his desiring a relationship with a God who also desires to be in relationship.

Cooper follows the first nine books (chapters) of 'Confessions' closely, and gives a brief overview of the rest of the 'Confessions', to some extent doing in some regard what he criticises others for doing - Cooper mentions that often when 'Confessions' are assigned as reading in college, only the first nine books are required. The tenth book is a remarkable piece of psychological self-study (centuries before psychological study was born), and the rest give insights into the way Augustine read scripture (a vitally important piece in understanding Augustine's overall thought development) as well as the kinds of unanswered questions that followed Augustine throughout the rest of his career.

Cooper's concludes with an overview of Augustine's life as a bishop (after the death of his mother, his best friend, and his son) and some of his actions, particularly with regard to controversial issues such as the dealing with the Donatists (an officially heretical group still in vogue in northern Africa). Cooper gives some discussion of major issues and writings in Augustine's life post-'Confessions', but given the massive amount of work Augustine produced, this could be in Cooper's book little more than a sampler and outline.

One might wish for a few more chapters to give depth to the issues in Augustine's later works, including some of his sermons, biblical studies, and his work in the massive 'City of God'. Hopefully the easy and energetic writing of this text will inspire readers to further study in Augustine's works, and to that end, Cooper provides suggestions for further reading, which includes brief pieces (Chadwick's 'Augustine: A Very Short Introduction') and magisterial works (Fitzgerald's 'Augustine through the Ages'), as well as the scholarly standards (Brown's 'Augustine of Hippo: A Biography'). There is a brief index as well.

The illustrations by Ron Hill give to a certain extent the same kind of comedic pause in the drama that a short scene by a fool would give in a Shakespearean play - never detracting from the text, they highlight certain points while relieving the reader in key spots of any monotony of text-on-page that might be developing. Hill has also illustrated other 'Armchair Theologian' volumes.

Confessions for the Armchair Theologian
Helpful Votes: 9 out of 9 total.
Review Date: 2004-09-07
I was disappointed in this book...not because I found it inaccurate or a painful read. Rather I was hoping that this book would serve as an introduction to Augustine AND his theology. Instead, this book essentially just goes though Augustine's early life, following the outline in Augustine's Confessions.

The other books in this series spend most of their time focusing on the theological ideas of their subject, and while it is impossible to divorce theology from a person's biography, Augustine's ideas take a back seat to the narrative of his life. Because this book focuses so heavily on his life as described in Confessions it fails to really wrestle with any of the issues that Augustine was so influential on later in his life (for example, the problem of grace and free will).

If you have the time, I would strongly suggest passing by this book and reading Peter Brown's Augustine of Hippo...an exceedingly accessible and thorough theological biography of a great Christian.

Wagner
Boeing 777: The Technological Marvel (Jetliner History)
Published in Paperback by Zenith Press (2001-06-15)
Authors: Guy Norris and Mark Wagner
List price: $16.95
New price: $7.99
Used price: $4.50

Average review score:

Excellent book!!...
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 3 total.
Review Date: 2002-12-28
This was a great book in every aspect, it had many photos and was very imformitive. The one thing that i didn't like about the book was that it didn't have very many photos of the interior of the 777. That's a small detail though. Overall it was great book.

Best 777 book so far - title says it all
Helpful Votes: 4 out of 6 total.
Review Date: 2001-09-19
The title of this book couldn't be more appropriate. The Boeing 777 is truly a technological marvel, and the authors have done a wonderful job describing it. Where this book differs from most is that piece-by-piece, component-by-component the aircraft, it's design, it's testing, it's entry into service, and it's future are discussed in great detail, all the while keeping the reader entertained and wanting to learn more. The photography is outstanding as well - the only thing that would make it better is if there were a way to order copies of the photos. Norris and Wagner have written some of the best aviation books available, and this seems to be the crown jewel in their collection. It certainly is in my aviation collection.

Leaves me wanting more detail
Helpful Votes: 7 out of 8 total.
Review Date: 2002-08-20
OK, I will admit it up front. I'm a (computer) techie, so I am always sitting there watching television wondering how they accomplished some effect, wondering "how" something happens, or how something works. I am not, though, very knowledgeable about aviation, but I do fly a *lot* for business, and was very interested in the 777. (They look really cool taxiing around O'Hare, for instance.)

The pictures in the book are outstanding, and the description of the details of this airplane are just incredible. I did notice, though, that after about every other page, I had questions that were raised by the statements made on that page. And maybe none of the questions I had were worth asking - I really don't know! It just seemed like a good deal of the "story" about the development of the 777 wasn't there.

I did enjoy learning that the 777 was developed because Boeing and United came to an agreement which they wrote on a cocktail napkin. Or the testing of the wings (bent upward 24 feet for several days, and snapping in two within 20 seconds of when the engineers predicted it). But the claim that "everything changed, from the way Boeing design and built the aircraft, to the way the systems were integrated and tested" wasn't backed up with much real depth about how a huge monolithic company like Boeing actually created - and lived through - changes of that magnitude. Or, for instance, I would be reading along, and it said that "plans to build a mockup of Section 43 were scrapped", but who knows that Section 43 really meant? Plus, I guess I thought the book would be a little larger.

For the diagrams, details, pictures, and the details that are there, I certainly recommend the book. I wish it were slightly larger and had a little more detail.


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