Walsh Books

Move onto something else... This book is crap... Keep going... When you thought you had found a good book... You didn't sorry... Move on... Hey... Look I'm serious... Stop looking... MOVE ON!... Don't waste your money...

The first 3 chapters are the most accurate and detailedoverview of 3D and the web I have ever come across in print.

This book is one of a kind, and the one the buy! Some of thebest minds and technologies in Web3D are packed between thecovers...

The first 3 chapters are the most accurate and detailedoverview of 3D and the web I have ever come across in print. Whilethese chapters give clear history and context for Web3D technologies,and their applications, they also provide a great foundation forlaunching into 3D computer graphics with principles of perception,rendering, and modeling being covered as well as fundamentalterminology.

Now the book launches into the chief Web3D technologiesin use today: VRML, Java3D, MPEG-4, and the forthcoming X3D. Thebiggest strengths in these treatments are not only the detail- enoughfor implement even the more obscure features- but the organization.Each has an overview, fundamentals, and then authoring sections.There is a LOT of info here and a lot of code! ...and all in oneplace!

If you are a professional or hobbyist gearing up to deployor refine 3D content for the web, this book may become your bible. Inaddition, each section is packed with links and online resources. Iparticularly liked the concise descriptions of how to integrate VRMLscenes with HTML since this is currently the most accessible mediacombination...

So hats off ot the authors and the publishers fordelivering a forward thinking, comprehensive book about thedimension-breaking technology we can use today!...

I'm half way through this book. This is a very nice and comprehensive book to overview the history,future and competition development environment. But ,redundantly and redundantly, you will find the same description repeated and repeated all over the book (that's why 1142 pages). With more than 400 pages devoted to VRML, what you can learn is just very introductory, though the explanation is very clear but reduntant. To my frustration,most of the specificaions you need to know are not listed in this book. Instead you need to logon its web site to find out.

Though it's quite comprehensive as far as the overview is concerned, it's not worth spending your time through more than 1100 pages to just learn a introductory skills. If you need practical real-world skills, look somewhere else, just like me.

This book is one of a kind, and the one the buy! Some of the best minds and technologies in Web3D are packed between the covers...

The first 3 chapters are the most accurate and detailed overview of 3D and the web I have ever come across in print. While these chapters give clear history and context for Web3D technologies, and their applications, they also provide a great foundation for launching into 3D computer graphics with principles of perception, rendering, and modeling being covered as well as fundamental terminology.

Now the book launches into the chief Web3D technologies in use today: VRML, Java3D, MPEG-4, and the forthcoming X3D. The biggest strengths in these treatments are not only the detail- enough for implement even the more obscure features- but the organization. Each has an overview, fundamentals, and then authoring sections. There is a LOT of info here and a lot of code! ...and all in one place!

If you are a professional or hobbyist gearing up to deploy or refine 3D content for the web, this book may become your bible. In addition, each section is packed with links and online resources. I particularly liked the concise descriptions of how to integrate VRML scenes with HTML since this is currently the most accessible media combination...

So hats off ot the authors and the publishers for delivering a forward thinking, comprehensive book about the dimension-breaking technology we can use today!

n_polys

Technical Writer, Producer [...] - the 3DEZine

Webmaster, Board of Directors for The Web3D Consortium

I have some experience with programming (from school and from a few programs back in the 80s and early 90s.) but did not have any object oriented programming experience. This book brings you up to speed on OOP and teaches Java at a very basic level. I was able to skim through the sections that were too basic and learn what I needed to learn. Lots of great utilities on the CDs. You don't have to shop around -- one set of books and software will get you started. If you like Java programming, you can move onto other tools or get the professional versions of the software provided. Great package for the beginner or for a refresher!

Comes with 2 books and 2 CD-Roms. It is so easy to understand. Overall, 2 great books, and 2 great CDs.

This book is honestly the worst programming book I have ever read in my entire life. I've been programming with other languages for years, and never have I had a more horrible experience learning from a book. I thought that being a "Dummy Book" that it would be easy, but I was wrong. The author makes it hard to understand...And the REAL kicker is that the example code included on the CD ROM for the book, does not even match the code that is in the book! Some of the code that is written in the book will not even compile with out errors. Please, do yourself a favor, and do not buy this book.

Most of the information contained in the book can be located online for FREE! Don't waste your money, instead learn how to search the net for programming tips and tutorials.

Java 2 Toolkit was a good book it really helped me out. I learned all I know about Java.

I purchased this book in hopes of gaining insight into the mind of a pathological liar. With bad diction and poor writing, there is little substance to this book. Not only is it amature, there is no clinical analysis and apparently the author does not possess any credentials. This book was no help to me and was a waste of my time and money.

If there were a zero star rating for this book, I'd give it! The book itself is very poorly written, and was clearly published without the advice of a qualified editor. There are several grammatical errors and syntax mistakes which make the book difficult to follow at times. As the "target" of someone who is/was a pathological liar - serial infidelity, verbal/mental/physical abuse, stolen identity - I was looking for information about a condition that has received very little attention. The book is written for two different audiences - those who "offend" and those who are in contact with the "offender". Karl's thesis is that the offender has received little or no correction as a child and is therefore not responsible for his/her actions as an adult. Those who do not approve of the "offences" are to be avoided by the offender and he/she is to surround themselves with supportive persons. I found the book to be offensive to my own sensibilities as a responsible adult in contemporary society.

I guess it all depends on how you look at it. If you want some sound advice on how to help someone with that problem then it's fine. Being that the condition itself is ambigious, I believe the author made an attempt to help without going to far. His book is very short and rushed compared to the in-depth advice he gives through emails. I think Karl took a step forward in this field and will receive "heat" from all sides. It has, however, helped my family tremendously and offered hope.

I really enjoyed this book. I have a daughter who is 22, that has lied to everyone about everything for years. After reading this book, she came up to me, told me to read and apologized for everything. She told me that she needed help and that she was a compulsive liar. Hearing those words hurt me, I simply told her to stop lying. After reading the book it helped me understand. My only complaint about the book is that I wished he wrote more. It's an excellent book.

This book really explains in detail what exactly is going on in the mind of someone who is a pathological liar. I've always thought that this "condition" wasn't true. I've been skeptic into believing that someone who constantly lies may have a mental problem. This book really opened my eyes. The book is small, but the book is definately worth the read. The author writes as if he's speaking directly to you.

I respect Feuerstein as an expert in his field. His analysis of Bhagwan is rather astute, and he tries to be objective. But I question his TRUE motif. He writes the book the same year as Bhagwan's death, so it seems to me that he is just part of the cumulative bandwagon that jumped off. Bhagwan writes himself it is much easier to follow dead people, because they are no longer alive and no longer controversial/dangerous. To me, it seems Feuerstein is comfortable knowing that Bhagwan is gone and couldn't confront him. Rather cowardly. In honesty, maybe he feared Bhagwan's followers. I don't know. But what disappoints me most about the analysis is that Feuerstein does not mention Bhagwan's talent for literature. The fact that he had/has authored over 600+ books (many Darshan diaries). Bhagwan covers everything from Jesus, Hasidm, Zen, Bhudda, Sufism, Nietszche, Taoism, the works with expert skill, sometimes comedic, sometimes perhaps controversailly wrong. To me Feuerstein is a subjective conformist and has an agenda. He is not authentic.

This book talks about important issues but, to my mind, suffers from a terrible blindness to abuses both subtle and blatant. The author does recognize that many observers willcondemn the antinomian "shock tactics" he thinks are so valuable. He himself seems ambivalent about the more blatant abuses, but mostly he excuses them as necessary in the holy war against "concensus trance", which seems to mean any state of consciousness which opposes cosmic or "oneness" consciousness. Feuerstein's attitude seems to be that the avowed purpose of rascal gurus -- to bestow"enlightenment" on the lazy-minded -- is of such transcendant value that merely mundane ethical values are expendable. This is another version of the end justifying the means. Cult leaders are expert manipulators and "shock tactics" are useful weapons in their arsenal. One might well question the spiritual attainments of gurus who are oblivious to thepsychological reality of personal boundary violations. One might also question the motivation of self-appointed teachers who enjoy giving others "difficult lessons". Victor Frankl, the psychiatrist, learned some very difficult (and valuable) lessons from his enforced stay in the NAZI concentration camps. Are we to conclude, then, that his captors were his benefactors? It is useful to have a long recitation of the many abuses perpetrated by gurus over the years. Read them and weep, not least for the author's blindness. Let me give examples: One Zen Master gives his disciple a koan to solve. A koan is a verbal puzzle not soluable by rational thought. Its purpose in Zen ideology is to force the student to abandon reasoning, which is devalued by Zen, and snap into a state of awareness valued by Zen, namely "satori" or enlightenment. This particular koan was: "Stop the train from Tokyo." The disciple wrestled with the koan for weeks. Finally his frustration led to what I would guess was despair. In an ironic suicidal gesture, he obeyed literally the koan's injunction; he laid his body on the tracks and was killed by a train. Feuerstein's remarkable comment on this tragedy is the glimmer of hope that the poor fellow may have attained enlightenment in the seconds before the train smashed into him! No mention of the Zen Master's insensitivity to his disciple's state of mind, nor any thought that an overly brutal teaching method might be partly at fault. This is an example of valuing transcendance over worldliness, a cruel result of what Alice Miller has called "salvational ideology". It was particularly painful to read the account of a young husband whose wife was sexually seduced by the guru Adi Da, after the guru befuddled the husband by getting him drunk. The husband has a vague sense that he has been wronged, but is focused on the lesser issue of his sobriety being violated. He is still asleep to the greater violation because he is still deluded by the guru's claim to perfection and holiness. Surely the selfless guru is teaching his disciple a valuable lesson in giving up attachment [attachment to his wife, no less!] Surely that has to be the explanation, ....doesn't it? Since Feuerstein pooh-poohs the idea of mind control, he is blind to the power relationship operating here, a kind of confidence game that can lead to spiritual slavery. The guru mind-rapes the husband in order to sexually use the wife. I pray for this man's deliverance from domination by his guru, but I pity the pain and rage that will likely accompany the dawning of the truth. To his credit, Feuerstein is at least trying to grapple with the troubling manifestations of religion's incestuous and confusing love affair with obedience and authority. I believe his worldview suffers from the hidden dualism so well explained by Kramer and Alstad in "The Guru Papers: Masks of Authoritarian Power", which I recommend highly as a useful antidote to the present book.

This is a penetrating and impeccable book, and it's a shame that it's out of print. The author's comments above are a start at the necessary postscript addressing the controversies of the last ten years; it remains, however, a gift of rare integrity and objectivity from personal experience.

The author seemed to be analyzing the subject matter from a seemingly armchair analytic point of view rather than allowing the reader to explore the odd behavior of these spiritual individuals and come to our own conclusions. I would have preferred not to have the author pose his hypothesis as to why these individuals do what they do in that who is he to judge such "crazy behavior" if he himself is not "Enlightened"!

Despite the fact that some of the materials in this book are in fact on the companion CD, the quality of the book and CD are excellent and have been much more useful than other materials available on AutoCAD map. This book is an excellent stand alone tutorial and reference manual which actually exceeded my expectations. In fact, it covers most basic AutoCAD functions that a person would need to get started and thus eliminates the need for having to bone up on AutoCAD basics and having to buy other books. Try it, you'll like it.

I have been utilizing AutoCAD for more than 15 yrs and must say my best reading material for gaining the knowledge needed to do my job came from a supplemental CD, internet papers, etcera & etcera - and not a full fledged book. In any case, I have always enjoyed ONWARD Books such as Inside AuotCAD Map - even if it means succumbing to technology and reading the rest from a CD. Finally, a big thanks to Mr. Gish for a response. After spending countless hours on the phone with questions and concerns to others (normally about software) that ordinarily end up nowhere. It is certainly nice to know someone is out there, listening and responding.

I received my copy of this book just today, so I can't yet comment on its content at this point. However, I am so outraged by one aspect of its publication that I felt it necessary to comment on it immediately.

The last 100 pages of the text aren't published! Rather, they are included on an accompanying CD-ROM as PDF documents! Chapter 14 - "Plotting Maps", and Appendices A and B simply aren't there! The last page of Chapter 13 says "Book Continued on Companion CD-ROM", and that's it!

It is one thing to include supplemental, extra, or "bonus" materials on a CD, but quite another to put integral parts of the text on one! When I ordered this book, I thought I was purchasing a BOOK- a printed and bound volume! Instead I got *part* of a book, despite the fact that I paid *all* of its selling price!

I can think of only two reasons why the publishers would chose this method of publication. Either they did it to wring extra profits from sales of this title (it is much cheaper to press a CD than to print and bind 100 pages of text), or they took this book to press before the authors had completed the text. I consider neither of these reasons acceptable, and will never again purchase another book produced by OnWord Press.

And as a final insult, the companion CD-ROM is sealed in its jacket with a sticker that reads, "If the disk package seal is broken, the purchaser forfeits all return rights and privileges to the seller." That's right, in order to examine the text of this "book" that you've paid for, you must forfeit your legal right of return! I doubt very much that this is even legal, but the audacity of the publisher to try to take away my legal right is appalling!

I, too, was outraged by OnWord Press' packaging of the last chapter and appendices of the book on CD-ROM. By breaking the seal of the jacket to review and examine the contents of the rest of the book, I give up my rights to return this so-called "book"?

It is one thing to put the full text of the book, or accompanying programs/files on CD-ROM with a shrink-wrap license, but it is quite unacceptable to hold hostage part of the contents of the book in order to have a firm grasp on the money in your wallet.

Never again will I buy another OnWord Press INSIDE book.

A "beer n pretzel game" is a war game that is easy to learn and fun to play. While they do not require a great deal from you, you can have a good time with them. George Walsh's Civil War books are "beer n pretzel" books, easy to read, informative and great fun. They are an excellent introduction to a subject. While providing the more experienced reader a good review relaxation and enjoyment. My expectations are that I will enjoy myself without having to think overly much. "Whip the Rebellion" meets my expectations while surprising me a couple of times. First and foremost, this is a fun read while being informative.

The book provides a good overview of Grant's rise to command without burdening the reader with all of the complex side issues. The book gives us a glimpse of the early relationship between Grant & Halleck, with enough details to help us understand it. Did Grant drink? This book has a simple but very good and complete coverage of the subject. The complexities of Mead's command problems are not given adequate coverage but are mentioned in passing, as they did not change the main story line. The book lacks maps but this is to common lately. Faulting Walsh for not writing a complex history is like faulting Pfanz for not writing "beer n pretzel" history. You need to know your author or look the book over.

If u already know the history of GRANT in the CW, this book adds nothing. ZERO. With the provocative subtitle of Grant's rise to command, I expected tactical and strategic analysis and evaluation of grant's development as commander. This is just another rehashed history of Grant's campaigns with a few vignettes thrown in. By the way, it has NO MAPS or PICTURES.
USELESS. DO NOT BUY THIS JUNK!

I have been a Civil War buff for over 30 years and have seldom paid attention to Grants western phase of the war. I am more of an army of northern virginia and army of the potomac aspect. HOwever, this book not only filled in many blanks for me, it also has opened me to wanting to read many of the books referenced in it's covers and to explore this aspect that I have largely ignored.

The book was well written and easy to read, and I recommend it to any enthusiast.

If the name "Ulysses S. Grant" means nothing to you other than "that bearded dude on the fifty dollar bill," this book might serve as a decent enough "introductory" volume. Otherwise, it is nothing more than yet another dismal waste of dead trees. The author (working, I assume, under an extremely short publishing deadline,) merely spliced together material from older, weightier books on Grant and the Civil War--and I'd be shocked to learn that he bothered to read any of those books more than once.

Call me finicky, but when did original research and intellectual curiosity become unfashionable in historical circles? I am not a professional historian, but even I am aware that there is a wealth of unpublished and/or ignored primary source material on Grant's personality and career, just begging to be mined. Why do so many writers instead settle for cranking out lazy retreads of the same old books?

Let me add another, admittedly less significant complaint--this is yet another Grant book that features one seriously ugly cover. Why is it that the covers of so many recent books about an attractive man like Ulysses Grant perversely display pictures that make him look like a dyspeptic werewolf?

I read this book for the first time in the university book store when shopping for a class. I ended up not taking the class, but the style was so accessible that I got a copy of the text anyway.

It isn't a rigorous text as noted by another reviewer, however that reviewer I believe missed the point of the text completely. Somewhere I recall the audience was suggested to be 2nd year college student. Electrical Engineers rarely have had quantum mechanics by that point, if they take it at all. A course our of Kittel, Ashcroft and Mermin or similar would be needed first to truly be rigorous. The class that covers many of the topics in this book is a 400 level class at Cornell, one that assumes both solid state, and quantum as previous courses. Clearly no book that starts with what an electron is will get to how a superconductor in so few pages, in a rigorous manner.

No the point of this text is to introduce some rules and wave ones hands a bit to see why they should be true. While a greater number of rules and postulates may be less satisfying to some, it can be ever bit as useful if you can remember them all.

Solymar and Walsh do this. Not flawlessly, but in a text that is readable. Readability is important. This book is readable in the sense that Feynman's books are. The book is good for someone in another field or as a basic intro, as long as you understand you are getting a sketch. Sketches are useful, this book is also. Recommended.

Along the way, Dr. Solymar proves time and time again that he has not mastered many of the chemistry and physics topics that he attempts to explain. The uncertainty relation is proved via an arbitrarily chosen width for a wave packet without mention of the correct way to derive this relationship (found in any number of quantum mechanics books), and the final uncertainty relationship is stated incorrectly. Bragg's relationship is stated wrong. I guess he does not care to differentiate between greater than or equal to and greater than; nor between h and hbar (nor between the inclusion or exclusion of a factor of 2). However, for an introductory text, I would see it appropriate to get the equations and proof-approaches as correct as possible. If ugly algebra is what he is trying to avoid in this introductory text, he should at least provide the correct setups for each derivation, provide the relevant results, and guide the reader to alternative texts for a full-on mathematical work-up. Instead, what Dr. Solymar resorts to are cute, but useless stories, and arbitrary or unconventional approaches to 'prove' equations (usually not proofs at all, but a sequence of equalities showing that one result is consistent with another).

You wouldn't use arithmetic rules and algebraic laws learned in secondary school to prove the more basic set theory (which can be derived from a basic set of axioms); nor would you use Pauli's exclusions principle to prove the form of a multi-particle wave equation for identical/indistinguishable particles. Yet Dr. Solymar does exactly this: 'prove' things in the wrong direction, or start at a certain arbitrary result (without making explicit the assumptions), using this random starting point to 'prove' a very critical result.

Clear logic flow in this book is very much lacking. The book is however, rich in useless anthropomorphic analogies such as:

"Perhaps melodrama would be the right category [to characterize the Quantum Confined Stark Effect] considering the touching affection between electrons and holes. If we consider, however, how they stave off brutal intervention by the electric field with their backs against the potential wall, and how quickly all these things happen, then melodrama might give way to a thriller."

Bad does not begin to explain this book. Overall, it is not impossible nor difficult to learn from this book. However, your understanding of how to interface your mathematical toolset to physical problems will have serious holes and flaws if you follow this book too closely. If you want a firm grounding in electronic materials, take a look at Simon M. Sze's books. You might also want to consider Charles Kittel's introductory text in solid state physics (much more mathematically involved than Solymar however). Finally, I could also recommend Banerjee (Solid State Devices), which is also sometimes verbose. However, in the case of Banerjee, the verbosity is always in an effort to describe the nuances of the subject rather than as in the case of Solymar, the verbosity is usually an attempt to make a fairytale masterpiece out of a technical subject.

If you still have doubts about the quality of this book, please re-read the unedited quote I have taken out of the book above. If you want personified charge carriers, and violent electric fields, this book is perfect for you. This book is filled with enchanted and animated particles and forces and perilous land analogies you might expect in a fantasy book. I think for most, these ludicrous attempts at humor get old really fast and impede the reader's ability to get to the core of the concept.

This work demonstrates that scientists are people too! Solymar and Walsh offer a survey of a difficult subject in a manner that is easy to follow, and sometimes funny. The quantum mechanics of electronics are explained in sufficient depth to be useful, but not overdone enough to be boring. I especially loved the section on superconductivity! The book offer may not be the most in-depth on individual subjects, but it presents each subject in a clear, understandable way. Wonderful for the student.

This book is an outstanding, concise work on the impact that each of the major world religions has had in shaping our still-current attitudes on urban life, sex, money, etc. Through telling the stories of the ancient origins of the religions themselves we learn how views on morality and other subjects came to be pounded out and made influential. The scholarship, based on a multitude of biblical and other textual references is unassailable, and the reading, as fast-paced and enjoyable as any good human-interest drama. Read it to gain a much clearer understanding of religion's role in mankind's story. Read it because it's an important story, knowledgeably, good-humoredly, though sympathetically, and vividly told.

[This is a reposting of a review I submitted a few years ago.]

George Walsh's _The Role of Religion in History_ was touted, upon its publication, as the first major Objectivist work on religion. I rather hope it's the last.

In the first place, this book suffers from extremely poor editing. That may not be Walsh's fault; the book is assembled from his lectures, and I gather from other sources that the state of his health may not have permitted him to do his own transcribing and editing. Still, it's a very patchy job by whoever _did_ do it -- with jarring shifts into informality, odd grammatical constructions, and annoying repetitions of major points.

There are also errors that somebody didn't catch. For example, on p. 182, while trying (sloppily) to maintain (incorrectly) that the Kantian notion of 'duty' exemplifies 'the Judeo-Christian ethic', Walsh refers to W.D. Ross's _Foundations of Ethics_ -- but calls it _The Principles of Ethics_. A small complaint, perhaps, but this is not the only such blunder.

In the second place, the book's title has little to do with its content. There's hardly anything here about the role of religion in history; the book is little more than a summary of what the major religions are about, as construed from a (more or less) Objectivist point of view.

In the third place, it's far from clear why anyone would care what Objectivists think of religion, any more than one would care what tone-deaf people think of music. What could Objectivism possibly have to say on this topic?

Very little, it appears. Objectivism, we recall, is the philosophy of Ayn Rand -- who denied that the well-being of people other than oneself is in any way a direct source of normativity; insisted that Christianity demands the 'sacrifice' of greater values to lesser ones; and objected to God on the grounds that His existence would pose an insurmountable obstacle to man-worship. One would expect a discussion of religion from such an outlook not to be especially enlightening.

And one would be right. Here, from the very first page, is Walsh's definition of religion: 'a system of beliefs and practices resting on the assumption that events within the world are subject to some supernatural power or powers such that human needs, either physical or psychological, can be satisfied by men's entering into relations with such powers' [p. 3]. I shall leave it to the reader to deal with this definition, but by my lights it exemplifies what Rand herself would have called definition-by-nonessentials.

Now, granted, Walsh goes considerably farther than many Objectivists -- this isn't saying much -- in at least trying to understand the views of non-Objectivists; indeed that's probably what got him ejected from the movement in the first place.

But apart from some sketchy history, Walsh never really comes to grips either with religion itself or with its influence on history or philosophy. Oh, there is a bit of elaboration on the views of this or that religious tradition and some interesting discussion of the occasional philosopher. But when it is all boiled down, it doesn't tell us anything we can't learn better elsewhere. And importantly, Walsh doesn't even present arguments for the Objectivist dismissal of religion; apparently he simply assumes that the reader knows those arguments and agrees with them.

The book really adds little to the Objectivist view of religion with which we're already familiar from Rand herself (and Leonard Peikoff's nasty piece 'Religion In America', reprinted in _The Voice of Reason_). In the final analysis, Walsh takes 'religion' to be based on what Rand called the 'primacy of consciousness' as opposed to the 'primacy of existence' -- and I say 'opposed' advisedly, as Objectivism takes these two as representing a genuine dichotomy. (I argue in my own book that they do not; Rand's 'arguments' on this point are question-begging, self-serving, and just plain wrong.)

In general, then, this book is a sermon written for the choir, and not a very good one at that. It's not so much that Walsh's 'insights' are always mistaken (though they are questionable at times, and rarely very penetrating even at their best); in fact I cited Walsh's book myself in an article I wrote a few years ago (on the role of reason in Judaism). It's that even when they're right, they're usually presented carelessly and even flippantly, as though Walsh is simply poking fun at his subject in the company of people he knows will agree with him.

Some of this is just the informality-of-tone problem I mentioned above -- but not all of it. Even with competent editing, the problem would remain; a good deal of this dismissive, epistemologically-holier-than-thou snideness is just built in to the philosophy itself. Since Objectivists already (think they) _know_, on the basis of Rand's footless arguments, that 'religion' is just wrong from scratch, all that really remains to be discussed is how in the world people could be so silly. This sort of village-atheist condescension is hardly likely to impress anyone with the scholarly profundity of the Objectivist movement. (Nor is Walsh's little teeny tiny 'bibliography', which includes exactly 22 items, about a quarter of which seem to have been culled from the late Gordon Stein's Rolodex.)

This book is therefore not recommended as a source of information about religion; for that, Huston Smith's _The World's Religions_ already exists and is far, far superior to the present volume. (And it is _a fortiori_ not recommended as a source of information on its nominal topic.) But as a source of Objectivist _views_ of religion, it might come in handy.

The amazing thing is not, of course, that tone-deaf people write _good_ books about music. It is that they have sufficient hubris to write on the topic at all -- let alone to claim, on the basis of their tone-deafness, that there is no such thing as harmony.

The late Ayn Rand developed a philosophy which she called "Objectivism." As Mr. Scott Ryan has shown, the foundation of this philosophy is not "reason" or "objective reality" but the denial of God in order to make man his own god. Objectivists dismiss all religious beliefs (other than their own) with pejorative terms such as "mysticism," "irrationalism" and denounce its advocates as "witch doctors." Indeed Rand, a master of her own "argument from intimidation," said that religion teaches "the damnation of life and the worship of death." [For the New Intellectual, p. 18.]

Dr. George Walsh, himself an Objectivist philosopher (although not always allied with "official Objectivism"), gave a number of lectures about religion which have been transcribed in this book.

There are all sorts of problems with this work. The first problem, as others have noted, is that this book is not really about the role of religion in history; rather it is a discussion of the history and teachings of various religions (with occasional naturalistic evaluations), a somewhat less grandiose topic. Second, it appears that these lectures were given to an Objectivist audience, so it is assumed that the listener knew about Objectivism, but Dr. Walsh shouldn't have assumed that such would be the case with readers of this work . Third, the lectures are given an informal style that sounds silly at times when written. Fourth, there are numerous errors and typos. Take for example the following sentence: "Think of the traditionalist Archbishop Lefevre and his ordinations disapproved by the pope." [p. 5.] Well, the name is "Lefebvre," and it isn't even mentioned in the book's index.

Taking these limitations and oversights into account, this book still isn't particularly useful. What the various religions teach has been presented before and much better. OK -- but what about as a critique of religion? Dr. Walsh tells us "[t]he outlook governing the work is naturalistic and seeks to interpret religious phenomena in light of Objectivism." [p. vii.] While that may be true to a point, there are only a hand-full of references to Rand or Objectivism and virtually no analysis of what a specifically Objectivist critique of religion would be as opposed to a generic naturalist critique. So, this book isn't much of a contribution to Objectivist thought. In fact, Leonard Peikoff's treatise, Objectivism: The Philosophy of Ayn Rand, contains a more detailed evaluation of religion than Dr. Walsh's. Unfortunately, Peikoff -- in attempting to show that the various "axioms" of Objectivism preclude belief in God or the supernatural -- never rises above the level of ipse dixit. [See OPAR, pp. 31-33; see also Gotthelf, On Ayn Rand, pp. 48-50.] For example, Objectivists argue that because "existence exists," God cannot exist. Got that? Well, I suppose we'll have to wait for the definitive Objectivist critique of religion (what a loss).

Any reader who wants to learn about the role of religion in history might start with the works of Christopher Dawson (such as Progress and Religion and Christianity and the Rise of Western Culture).

"My work is not representative of dreams but comes from the same place as dreams" -- This is perhaps the best explanation of the work of photographer Diana Thorneycroft.

Using a range of sometimes disturbing props and masks, and naked or semi-naked models, including herself, Thorneycroft creates images in the dark using a flashlight and long exposures. Bypassing the visual, rational world, the often nightmarish images created explore issues of sexuality and vulnerability on a subconscious level. As she puts it, "The body speaks a language the mind doesn't."

Intriguing, but not everybody's cup of tea, which probably explains why this book is so expensive.

This beautifully produced hard cover volume of Winnipeg artist Diana Thorneycroft's self portraits is not for the faint at heart. By playing with light, mask, found items- (broken dolls, hospital equipment), Diana distorts the human form- (her own), and challenges the viewer to re-evaluate sexual and familial stereotypes.

This book is about 70 pages of recruiting information and 125 pages of addresses and phone numbers of schools. Given the fact that 25 pages are made available with the "look inside" feature, you can read 1/3 of the book online and get the names, phone numbers, and addresses of schools using the web or at the library.

The book provided some decent information at best, but when I got to page 80? and realized the book was over, I didn't feel very good and I certainly didnt need 125+ pages of addresses of schools I have no need to call or no desire to call..

"Everything you need to know about college sports recruiting" is a very thorough presentation of the college sports recruiting process. The chapters are ordered in a logical and easy-to-read format.The pages are filled with invaluable information to help the prospective recruit make sense in an often tumultuous process. However, this book is not just a descriptive analysis of the reruiting process. The author, Jim Walsh, shows the importance of planning the whole recruiting experience. The author challenges the reader to set goals, and to realistically evaluate these goals. Co-inciding with this, Walsh offers many insights into what standards coaches at various colleges use to determine a successful recruit. Another major appeal of the book is the emphasis Walsh places on academic performance relating to the recruiting process.The author shows that academic performance will likely be a determining factor in the quality of the school that is attained.In fact,Jim Walsh shows that strong academic performance will open many doors not otherwise possible with mediocre athletic performance. Emphatically, the author embraces the "student-athlete" philosophy. The "student-athlete" philosophy make this book an ideal purchase for both the prospective high school recruit and the parents of the prospect!Additionally, the book offers a number of insights for parents to be aware of during the sports recruiting process. Finally, the author does an excellent job in

matching a player's talent with a particular school program. He encourages readers not to overlook the Division two and three schools, offering a number of personal stories of players who went on to have successful professional careers. This is a comprehensive book that offers many insights for the prospective college sports recruit.It is highly recommended for the prospective high school recruit and to the parents of the recruit.