Wilson Books


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

Wilson
The Castaway Pirates: A Pop-Up Tale of Bad Luck, Sharp Teeth, and Stinky Toes
Published in Hardcover by Chronicle Books (2008-04)
Author: Ray Marshall
List price: $19.99
New price: $102.11
Used price: $102.11

Average review score:

Great Pop Up About Pirates
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-10-03
My two-year old loves this book! Great pop-ups and story. If your child is into pirates, or not, get this book. My toddler loves reading this over and over again.

Great Children's Book
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-09-24
My children enjoyed reading this book and looking at the beautiful illustrations. Very talented illustrator!! Highly recommend this book!

An eye-popping and hilarious pop-up book
Helpful Votes: 2 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2008-05-27
I've had this book at home now for a couple of weeks and it gets rave reviews from everyone in the family. Kids will be enthralled by the artwork and the clever storyline told in rhythmic fashion will leave them in stitches. And I should add it's really quite amusing for adults as well. The pop-ups are so jaw-droppingly elaborate and detailed I'm amazed every time I flip through the pages. Highly recommended!

Wonderful book!
Helpful Votes: 2 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2008-05-23
Both my 7 year old daughter and 4 year old son love this book. It is now a regular feature in our nighttime reading routine! The pop-up illustrations are great. Our kids love the story as well - now any mention of "stinky toes" has them giggling!

Wilson
Common Birds of North America (Midwest edition)
Published in Paperback by Willow Creek Press (2001-08-01)
Author: James D. Wilson
List price: $22.50
New price: $15.85
Used price: $6.88

Average review score:

A Great Resource
Helpful Votes: 2 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2006-11-05
Common Birds of North America (Midwest edition) is an excellent resource for identifying all the birds I see in my Wisconsin home yard. One page per bird provides a good and simple overview to identify the birds and how to attract them to my back yard. It explains the differences between male and female coloring, nesting habits, food preferences, migration, etc. My book is all dog eared now from use. I bought one for mom for Christmas along with a birdhouse and feeder.

Common Birds of North America
Helpful Votes: 3 out of 3 total.
Review Date: 2005-07-24
After you locate the bird you see using the Peterson Flash Guide, then you will want to utilize this book so that you can find out all the specifics about the bird, like what they eat, nesting and what time of year they are likely to be observed in your area.

An invaluable resource for birdwatching enthusiasts!
Helpful Votes: 7 out of 7 total.
Review Date: 2002-03-28
Filled with exquisite full-color illustrations, Common Birds Of North America: Midwest Edition by James Wilson (Missouri Department of Conservation State Ornithologist) is an excellent guidebook for birdwatchers of all experience levels. Each species features a fine full-page portrait showing male and female specimens if the plumage is very different, and a one-page summary of the bird's habitat, call, typical behavior, and more. A concise, elegant guide, Common Birds Of North America: Midwest Edition is an invaluable resource for birdwatchers.

A Great Natural History of the Midwest's Common Birds
Helpful Votes: 7 out of 7 total.
Review Date: 2001-11-19
Wow. Having watched Jim doodle birds and landscapes in pen and ink during staff meetings at the conservation department, I should not have been surprised at the accuracy and quality of his illustrations in this book. Aside from the gorgeous images of the birds and their settings, Jim also manages to capture elements of the birds' songs and behavior in easy-to-read text. It's a great book for people who are interested in learning how bird species make their livings as well as how to identify them. I bought one for my Mom (who loves to watch her bird feeder visitors), and she loved it.

Wilson
Consumer Guide to Home Energy Savings
Published in Paperback by American Council for an Energy-Efficient Econ (2000-01)
Authors: Alex Wilson, Jennifer Thorne, and John Morrill
List price: $8.95
New price: $6.99
Used price: $0.01
Collectible price: $11.95

Average review score:

A terrific book
Helpful Votes: 11 out of 12 total.
Review Date: 2002-08-26
I have a house under construction and I need information on windows types, heating and cooling appliance options as well as insulations. This book is over 5 stars. I borrowed a copy from a library and am planning to buy one for reference collections.

Consumer Guide to Home Energy Savings
Helpful Votes: 17 out of 18 total.
Review Date: 2006-03-11
If you want to replace your appliances in your home this is your book to find the most energy efficient products on the market. It rates the products as well as explaining how they work. Tons of information for the everyday consumer. We have used it to help us decide upon which kind of washer & dryer to buy as well as the installation of a heat pump, which replaced the 30 year old forced air furnace. It covers all the types of heating systems as well as cooling systems.
For the washer it compares vertical axis with horizonal axis right down to cost per load, electric and gas, wash and rinse cycle options and even laundry tips.
There is a whole chapter on lighting, both incandescent and compact florescent bulbs.
Hot water heaters are covered: gas or electric, storage types, demand, water pump, tankless, indirect and even solar. It discusses replacing & sizing water heaters for your home and how you use hot water, insulation and how to lower the water temperture. We went as far as to put a timer on our hot water heater so that it only heats water when we need it most, early morning for showers and evening for cooking and dishes.
It even covers windows, home insulation, energy audits and how to read the Energy Guide labels on all products.
We have found this book both informative and a keeper. We have had friends borrow it and some have even gone and purchased their own. This is our 2nd one, we almost wore out the first one which was the 7th edition. The new 8th edition brings us up to date. We gave the old one to friends who were happy to have it.

Practical energy savings information
Helpful Votes: 18 out of 19 total.
Review Date: 2001-06-19
This book covers both the house itself (insulation, windows, etc.) as well as appliances, furnaces, and lightbulbs. Written in 1999, it lists major appliances, windows, furnaces, boilers, and air conditioners by brand name and model number in table format showing the energy ratings of each one. This saves you the time of running around town or making dozens of phone calls to collect this info.

It also explains all the information contained on energy labels when you go shopping. In particular, I found the section on windows most beneficial. It details what tests are done to obtain the ratings, which tests are most relevant and which ratings you should pay particular attention to, as there are several ratings on each window.

It also was bold enough to say which things you should be spending your money on and which things are nice to have but not absolutely necessary.

Save money on energy bills with this big little book
Helpful Votes: 18 out of 20 total.
Review Date: 1999-12-14
I bought this book from amazon for research into healthy houses and I skimmed it for my deadline. I'm reading it closely now. Well written, easy to read, detailed, comprehensive. Even if you haven't a speck of money for new appliances, much less a new heating system, you can save money on energy. It's small--you can fit in your bag to take to the appliance store, but it's packed with stuff. Well worth the price.

Wilson
Coyote Kill: A Carol Ward Mystery
Published in Paperback by iUniverse, Inc. (2007-08-14)
Author: Karen R Wilson
List price: $16.95
New price: $7.49
Used price: $7.47
Collectible price: $16.96

Average review score:

I highly recommend
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-04-05
Karen Wilson has written a masterful mystery. She picks you up and plants you in middle of the far suburbs, somewhere between Ann Arbor, Lansing, and Flint, Mi. A place where folks are city sophisticated, but live on sprawling country farms with their horses, dogs and cats. Of course, a murder mystery is the central plot but the story keeps you turning pages with real world character development of her neighbors, BFF, and local officials. Add to that her strained relationship with her husband and handsome new neighbor and you've got everything the makings of a great book.

Engaging Mystery
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-03-03
Reviewed by Olivera Baumgartner-Jackson for Reader Views (2/08)

A good mystery is the perfect way to pass a rainy afternoon and they do not come much better than Karen R. Wilson's "Coyote Kill." Showcasing Carol Ward, a rather involuntary amateur sleuth, this fast-paced and thrilling story will take you for a roller-coaster ride you won't forget quickly.

Carol Ward happens upon a grave and the killer's calling card nearby - a tree decorated with the personal items stolen from the victim. After she starts to investigate the crime, she quickly realizes that the killer is watching her and definitely does not want her to discover his true identity. From a message written on her mirror to a boxed snake delivered to her, Carol is more and more aware that she's in danger. She does not have many clues to help her in her quest, but she believes that the killer is wearing a long, waxed Australian coat and she also suspects that the crimes are somehow linked to rain. The trouble is that at least five people in her community wear such coats, and the rain is not an uncommon occurrence either.

When the weather forecast predicts rain again, Carol is alarmed about it, realizing that the killer is likely to strike again. And he does, this time much closer to Carol... Can she stop him on time or will she become his next victim?

Tightly written, with complex and believable characters, "Coyote Kill" is a riveting read. From the female bonding to the interesting and quite surprising profile of the killer, this book provides enough food for thought to make it interesting beyond the simple mystery level. There are touches of well-placed comic relief as well as some minor romance, which stays as an undercurrent throughout the story. I found the variety of very strong female characters particularly engaging. I would highly recommend this book to the mystery lovers of just about any age, particularly those who enjoy female sleuths and their adventures.

TB
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2007-09-09
Ya gotta just love the spunky Carol Ward in this, the second, in a series of hopefully more to come mysteries. I laughed out loud a few times and it kept me guessing right up til the end. I look forward to the next!

Outstanding
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2007-09-07
I thought the book was very thrilling and kept me guessing until almost the very end. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who loves a good mystery. Once I started it I couldn't seem to put it down.

Wilson
Crazy Curves
Published in Paperback by Elisa's Backporch (2003-10)
Author: Elisa Wilson
List price: $21.95
Used price: $74.99

Average review score:

Crazy Curves
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-04-06
I went with my sister to a quilt shop. A gorgeous guilt was hanging on the wall that had just been machine quilted. The quilt top had been done by a man. I told my sister, I can do that. Each block is made up of only 8 pieces. I bought the book with the pattern in it. The instructions are very clear and easy to follow. Can't wait to see what my sister's little brother can do.

Crazy Curves
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2007-02-19
Very nice example of the block combinations that can be made with her templets.

However, the instructions are not very clear, you must have an understandign of quilting to calculate the amount of fabrics needed.

Great book
Helpful Votes: 5 out of 5 total.
Review Date: 2007-01-09
I have lots of quilting books, but I love this one, if you like something a little different, buy this book, its great for the beginner or experienced quilter, really well explained techniques. The pictures are great too.
Highly recommended.

Makes it look easy.
Helpful Votes: 7 out of 7 total.
Review Date: 2005-07-19
This is an enjoyable book that is full of easily understood, worthwhile information.

Wilson
Creative Finishes: Step-by-Step Techniques for Leafing, Sponging, Antiquing & More
Published in Hardcover by Sterling (2006-04-28)
Author: Kass Wilson
List price: $24.95
New price: $7.47
Used price: $4.23

Average review score:

Best Creative Book Ever
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-03-19
This book is excellent. The pictures have before, after and some close-ups. The instructions are simple and percise. These finishes are truly inspirational. We just purchased our first house and I can't wait to give my rooms that special pop with the techniques shown in this book. If you can't afford to purchase new cabinets this book shows you have to achieve that brand new look for a fraction of the cost. Additionaly, she has instructions to give your stairs and ballast that special touch. I have to say this is one of the best books I've ever purchased. Truly a keeper!!!

Highly Recommended
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-01-14
I love this book and look through it over and over again for inspiration. My husband and I refinished our cherry dining room set using the techniques described in this book. We have gotten tons of compliments on the finished set and best of all, we spent about $300.00 on supplies, a fraction of the cost of buying a set like the one we created. Step-by-step instructions using many photographs as well as what color paints to buy to achieve the results pictured in the book. The reason I am looking again on Amazon was to find any other books published by this author as we have some projects in the works. No other books, but reviewing this book for anyone intersted was worth my time.

Exactly what I was looking for!!
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2007-09-19
I have always wanted to learn how to create beautiful furniture using different finishing techniques and this book provides exactly that! There are step by step instructions, before and after photos, and numerous ideas throughout. If you want to give your furniture new life or an elegant look and be able to say that you did it on your own, then this book will provide you with all the tools you'll need.

fabulous book
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2007-07-11
I love this book for inspiration and how to techniques. All in my van pppol lked this book too. Well worth the money and I own many many craft and paint books and this is one of my favorites. I am an artist and crafter and make furniture.

Wilson
Dances With Wolves: The Illustrated Story of the Epic Film (Newmarket Pictorial Moviebooks)
Published in Paperback by Newmarket Press (1990-11)
Authors: Kevin Costner, Michael Blake, Jim Wilson, and Ben Glass
List price: $16.95
New price: $0.72
Used price: $0.01
Collectible price: $16.95

Average review score:

A nice addtition to the movie
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2006-08-26
Dances with wolves is one of my favourite movies ever. Once you see the movie as many times as I've seen it :) you try to find something else to continue the story. The ilustrated story of the epic brings you back to the movie and has very nice photos and comments of several scenes. I reccomend it to any fan of the movie.

Brilliant
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2004-07-19
I got this book at Waldens ages ago and have enjoyed looking it over repeatedly. Dances With Wolves is truly a masterpiece and brilliant work. Kevin Costner is simply the best in acting, directing, and entertaining us.
Penni Weston
Author of Accidental Outlaw a novel written for Kevin Costner.

About the movie!
Helpful Votes: 2 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2001-08-03
If you liked the movie then this book is a must! Not only was Kevin Costner make one of the best films in history but he followed it up with this great book! My daughter picked this one up for me at a library sale. I didn't even know it existed to be honest or I would have purchased it myself. The book is a bit tattered so I checked out the local bookstore and although they didn't have it on the shelf, it can be ordered. If you liked the movie then consider this book for your collection. I fully recommend this great work of art by Mister Costner and friend.

If you hunger for more this book will satisfy
Helpful Votes: 5 out of 5 total.
Review Date: 1999-09-08
I wonder if Kevin Costner even realizes the artistic and historic contribution he has made with this film. As an artist I found this book to satisfy my graphic appetite and as a romantic I have, once again, been allowed to travel back in time. Mr. Costner has shown us his artistic brilliance in so many ways and I thank him for his efforts. Enjoy the book; it is a treasure.

Wilson
Dangerous Markets: Managing in Financial Crises
Published in Hardcover by Wiley (2002-09-13)
Authors: Dominic Barton, Roberto Newell, and Gregory Wilson
List price: $49.95
New price: $6.00
Used price: $5.00

Average review score:

A Good Book to Understand Financial Crises
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2004-03-15
Contrary to conventional belief, the authors propose that roots of a financial crisis lie in microeconomic rather than macroeconomic factors. Their evidence is convincing.

This is a good book for anyone who wants to know why the past financial crises happened and how to cope with them from both the public and the private perspectives. The authors also present the "ten warning signs of a financial crisis" based on macroeconomic data that can be used as a guideline to predict a crisis in certain economy. But the problem is they cannot predict when it will happen.

The authors' objective to "offer some unique perspectives, case examples, and practical solutions, and an actionable, strategic blueprint that our clients can tailor to meet their specific needs" is well presented.

A must read for crisis management
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2003-07-14
If you have no other book on financial crisis management, you must have this one.

The authors succinctly and clearly explain why economies in crisis do not behave the way economies normally do. They then identify key weaknesses in the financial sectors of crisis economies, and explain why they occur.

The book then goes on to provide a thorough and clear exposition on how crisis economies can be turned around, and what needs to be done, both politically and financially.

At this point the book turns to consider bank restructuring (a very specialised subject) and recovery of NPL portfolios in crisis economies. It concludes with recommendations for strengthening the international financial system to limit early economic collapse and prevent international financial contagion.

I really like this book, both as a guide for students, and a "how to" for CEO's and the financial sector. It is brilliantly clear and practical.

If you want to protect yourself and your organisation from financial crisis, or understand what happens when the economy you're operating in suffers collapse, get this book.

A unique and intriguing book
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2003-01-03
If you are interested in financial crises in emerging markets, or have to manage a company during one, you will learn from this book.

Two features make the book unique in the financial-crisis literature. First is real-world experience. While the authors are up on their economic theory, the book's real contribution is the fruit of years of practice. From poring over the innards of banks' loan books to working out a national re-structuring plan, these guys have actually done it, and done it in multiple nations. Until now, the theoretical works of academia and the IMF/World Bank have had the field pretty much to themselves. This book is a refreshing break, and a vital complement.

Second is that the book speaks not just to policymakers, but to the private sector. There's plenty of advice out there for central bankers and finance ministers for crisis-management; there hasn't been anything for corporate executives and bankers. This book fills that void. If I were a CEO managing during a crisis, I'd want this book on my nighttable.

A must-read for managers and investors.
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 3 total.
Review Date: 2002-10-31
Very timely. In today's world, managers should be worrying about how to anticipate and avoid financial crises. An important read for both proactive managers and investors.

Wilson
Death and Life: An American Theology
Published in Paperback by Wipf & Stock Publishers (2003-09)
Author: Arthur C. McGill
List price: $15.00
New price: $14.84
Used price: $4.32

Average review score:

Worth Any Christian's Time
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2007-06-20
Arthur McGill is a relative unknown in American theology.

His works have mostly been consigned to the "out-of-print" stacks. A quick Google search for "Arthur McGill" turns up only 1700 results, while Google Scholar weighs in at a whopping 47 and Google blogsearch turns up 7 results, 5 of which don't have to do with the author.

Imprecise measurements of a person's relative popularity, to be sure, but indicative nonetheless. McGill is firmly lodged in the back of the theology closets, piled behind tomes better known thinkers.

But popularity is no indicator of value, and in Death and Life: An American Theology, Arthur McGill has composed a gem that is worth serious reflection by theologians and laypersons alike.

This relatively short work--95 pages--is broken into two parts. In the first, McGill analyzes America's attitudes toward death, where death means not the biological end of man, but rather the "losing of life, that wearing away which goes on all the time." In the second, he articulates what he takes to be the Biblical understanding of death in this broader sense. Throughout, he is poetic and provocative as he works to tease out how American Christianity has been co-opted by a secular view of death and the resurrection.

His first section, while interesting, is simultaneously stimulating and problematic. He argues that the American view of "life" means "having." It is "always optimistic, always affirmative." Death is, in this sense, a disruption, a mangling of the normal. Poverty, sickness, disease and unanswered needs are abnormal and accidental. Wealth is a fundamental state of mind, not simply a fact. As a result, we work hard to become what McGill calls "the bronze people," people who maintain the appearance of life without having the substance of it. In doing so, we avoid the fundamental reality of sin and pain, a reality that is "intolerable." "The world is awful," writes McGill, "but Americans do not usually say so."

McGill is almost right on this point. Reality is not awful--goodness is. It is goodness that we hate and avoid, a tactic which drives us to believe that the perversion is the deepest reality when it is still a perversion. The world is not awful--it is good, but the sort of good that is demands the redemption and defeat of sin. Sin is the lesser reality--goodness the higher.

While equally provocative, McGill's second section is somewhat more successful. Despite continuing his error of making sin "a matter...of our basic identity," McGill demonstrates how Jesus' identity comes from outside of himself and how as Christians, we must "die" and discover that our identity comes from outside of ourselves, from God. We must let go of the "tecnique of having," of possessing ourselves and cultivate a posture of gratitude and acknowledgment that our being is in God, not in us.

What compels us to possess ourselves, our possessions and our relationships? The fear of death, in which we refuse to acknowledge that all that we have is God's, not ours. This fear of death is conquered in the resurrection which "discredits one fearful possibility--that perhaps there is some fatality in the world, or some historical agency, some cosmic necessity or some other power which will disengage us from God's constituing love, which will establish itself as the source of our identiy, and which will thus give us an identity that will be marked by loss, disintegration, and death."

What does having an "ecstatic identity" look like? For one, it is a position of worship to the Father. Because the Father "engenders and communicates life," He is worthy of worship. It is in the death of Jesus that the Father is glorified. John 15:8 claims that the Father is glorified by the bearing of "fruit," which is what happens when Jesus dies on the cross. It is as a result of this self-giving act that Jesus is to be worshipped. When we acknowledge our own position of dependance and need, then we are prepared to worship the Father and the Son, whose "identity does not depend on and does not consist in the life which he holds onto and the life which he offers....Without detriment to his true self, [Jesus] can give away everything of himself."

It is at this point that McGill demonstrates how the message of Scripture is in tension with the spirit of our age. If we are to follow in the footsteps of Jesus, we must give out of our abundance to the point where we too are in need, as it is in his position of need and dependance that the Son glorifies the Father and the Father glorifies the Son. In perhaps the most personally challenging part of McGill's work, he argues that the love of neighbor demands the impoverishment of ourselves--that we have more in order to give more away, even to the point of poverty.

McGill's work is never perfect--he is at points repetitive and at other points obscure. His notion of "reality" could be improved significantly by the resources of Augustinian or Thomistic thought. At points I wanted him to be more clear in his writing. But the subtitle "An American Theology" perfectly captures is project in this work. By setting his theologizing in the context of American beliefs and values, he attempts to convict the reader as much as instruct. In this, he is highly successful.

McGill's work seems to be forgotten, but it should not be. By approaching Christianity and our culture through the lens of death, he is able to drive beneath the surface of our lives to the heart of our fears, our desires and our actions. Death and Life: An American Theologyis 95 pages of theologizing that is worth any Christian's time.

A tantalizing peak at a new ontology of compassion and reception
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2006-02-11
If there is anything negative to say about this book it is its length, which is just long enough to tantalize without fully going into a system of analysis. As the other reviewers have already noted, McGill critiques traditional metaphysics that understand life and being as essentially "persistance," or form (eidos). In fact, though not explicitly mentioned, McGill thinks that systems of metaphysics or ontology that are set up a priori and then used to analyze the cross always come up empty. And rightly so, because if the Christian system is correct, then the magnitude of the ontology of the Cross shows that if "existence" or "man" or "God," are to mean anything, they will only mean what they mean in relation to this event. So that, while we may take a traditional stance and attempt to ontologize the cross with it, if the cross and the crucifixion are true, then they will modify the traditional conception.

This is indeed the result that McGill sees. He doesnt consider "being," or "life," as persistance, or inherently opposed to death, but rather all forms of existence include death within them. That is to say, my existence in relation to God is continual only becuase I continue to recieve myself from God at every moment (what McGill and others like Pannenberg term ek-stasis or ecstatic relationality, essentially recieving onesself from outside the self from others) In fact, the ultimate irony is if I attempt to procure security for my continued existence I break the cycle of continual recieving, and so ironically in an attempt of self-preservation, I have eliminated the very possibility.

McGill takes this conclusion from Christ's life, seeing in Christ's self-consciousness not conciousness of himself per se, but immediately of the Father, so that in knowing Himself He knows immediately God. Christ then comes to die (McGill adopts the Johannine Christic quotation that a seed must die to bare fruit) peacefully giving himself, so the essential power and life of God is in self giving/self-recieving to communicate and engender life. Hence the very basis of self-identity is self-dispossession and constant recieving, rather than hypostatically contained being.

McGill contrasts this to what he calls "The Bronze People," namely those in society who attempt frantically for perpetual youth through beauty products. In this instance McGill rightly notes that the irony of this position is that it is inherently negative rather than positive. What he means by that is "perpetual youth," is not so much a positive attribute (i.e. being actually perpetually young) as much as it is a deliberate self-deception and avoidance.

In fact, this frames what McGill sees as the technique of "having," and the method of "avoidance," that is, when problems arise we attempt to secure our identity against change by taking into our posession goods and things and skills that we have "power," over and so may cope with disaster. Hence part of our consumer ethos is undeniably based upon a type of anxiety that seeks identity as self-posession or inherent wealth (McGill disturbingly notes the economic metaphores that go along even with love, e.g. I must "attract," someone, that is, I must have inherent wealth to be attractive to them) This is, of course, disasterous that we even teach our children that failure is merely incidental rather than essential, so that they themselves engender this idea of trying harder to achieve sucess, or knowledge, or whatever object/idea may be utilized to guard against failure and death.

Even further, he traces an conceptual path that links two commonly held and represented notions of death: 1.) that death itself is a type of hypostasis, that is an entity, obscure and cryptic, that kills and strikes at us, he terms this the "demonic," view of death. Secondly, it seems taking a cue from Niel Postman's "Amuzing Ourselves to Death," that the 2.) view is that death is represented (especialyl by the media) as inherently unexpected and unnatural (hence the bronze peoples strive to avoid perpetual signs of decay...it is telling how plastic surgery, cosmetics, and fashion are at an all time high. Not necessarily that these are bad in themselves or generally, merely that they reflect a certain socio-economic belief system.)

Briefly, I did have some problems with this book. Firstly, as another reviewer poited out, McGill's analyses of the Bronze People is not entirely convincing, and it seems to certain extents that McGill is almost deluding himself as to the actual intensity of his descriptions of this ignorance of death's inherent part of life. This may or may not be due to the fact that it was written almost twenty years ago (at least the original essays) and so media conceptions of death, with 9/11, and the many tsunamis and hurricanes, that death is now becoming more of a regularity in life. There could be other sociological factors as well, but the main point is, is that despite the profundity of the analysis, it must be taken with a grain of salt.

My second criticism is (although based on a minute portion of his book) based upon what almost seems to be a critique of the church's buying into this idea of "avoidance," that the marks of death should be removed and resisted from situations where they are present. Now, in light of the rest of McGill's argument,s this does make some sense, and the church (viz a viz McGills understanding of being and life) should approach other need not with a position of faux "un-neediness" that is, as an entity with all the answers, but rather with humility and expression of its humble need. That said, McGill's criticism is ambiguous at best, and I for one had trouble with mcGill's conception of just what the church should look like. Should we not erase signs of decay? Should we not engender some inherent value? Does not now Christ and His Spirit dwell in us so that despite our neediness we now have a center of inherent value that at the same time is constantly recieived?

This brings me to my third criticism. It seems that McGill has somewhat overstated his position on ecstatic identity, that is constantly recieving ourselves from another. This is, of course, a brilliant theory when taken moderately. However there are certain times when McGill seems to have the person devolve into merely a passive relation of need.

It seems implausible on many grounds that we merely constantly recieve ourselves from God because just who is recieving if the act of recieving is the full extent of our identity? Do we not have to precede this giving to some extent in order to recieve at all? McGill's implicit answer is that since God so irreducibly precedes us that His act of Giving posits us as a being that recieves, so that we would not have to precede the constant act of recieving because our priority over recieving is itself gift that cannot be preceded. This is an acceptable answer that both respects the priority of the person (which must exist to receive, and so doesn't dissolve into the relation itself) while also maintaining the idea of reception and gift (in that our preceding is itself a creation and gift of God as a positing of identity itself), but it then brings up the problem that if our very existence is described as gift in this sense, one has to wonder why merely existing as the identity given (which McGill would reject as a form of concupiscence) is not then a form of receiving? Why, if the basic underlying core of our identity is gift, should not the living of this identity be reception of the gift so that no further reception is needed?

Again, these questions are implicitly answered by McGill's understanding of the crucifixion, that the only true response to gift is not acceptance and self posession of the gift, but rather, taking a cue from Jesus steadfastly setting Himself towards the cross, that the very act of recieving reorients our awareness of identity into a constant recieiving from the gift giver. How radically this would alter how we deal with eachother! That in recieving from someone, this does not nullify my neediness to that person, but sets up continual and repeated neediness to them, and vice versa, those who recieve from me now constantly receive. This on the surface sounds like a violent system of dependency that many Feminists and Marxists would dismiss as empty and inherently moving towards hegemony and struggle. But the beauty of the system is that it basis itself not on our strength (which would indeed lead to hegemony) but on the constant reception of Christ's love, so that our neediness and constant reliance upon eachother is a function of our reliance upon the ultimate Source. So what then is exactly my compaint to McGill? It is that I had to extract this argument, that it, while in some areas a glimmer of its light shines forth, for the most part is vaguely implicit (more explicit in the last chapter, but nonetheless...)

The same criticism is level at his explanation of Jesus' self consciousness being outside of himself. Again I understand and wholly support what McGills apparent intentions were, that we should not draw a boundary around ourselve and label everything else "not me," but rather, "I am by virtue of a constant recieving. My "I am" exists by virtue of a recieving that constantly comes from beyond myself." But nonetheless McGill doesn't outline how this applies to the Father? Is the Father in Himself ultimate source and so the ultimate giver of gifts while Himself being un-needy? Again, the implicit answer given by McGill is that the Father makes Himself dependant on the Son, and so in Giving the SOn the gift of the SPirit, the Father is now reliant upon the Son giving the gift back through a new cycle of dependance that culminates in the cross. But again this is speculative as McGill doesn't go into it.

These are small complaints however, and McGill should be applauded for his enormous contributions. I can only hope that this line of thinking is taken seriously in the coming theological discussions. For more detail on McGill's thought, I recommend his "Suffering, a Test of Theological Method."

A Very Good Little Book
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2005-05-10
This book is absolutely amazing, as the other reviewers have already pointed out. I would like to add that the book is a pretty easy read and does not require a great deal of prerequisite theological knowledge, so it is accessible even to new explorers of the Christian faith. That doesn't mean it sacrifices content; the book offers fresh insights for even the well-educated Christian.

My one problem with the book is that the argument for his diagnosis of what he calls the "bronze people" is somewhat weak and not entirely convincing. The second part of the book, however, where he begins to discuss the idea of a decentralized and dispossed identity, is very good and makes up for all the deficiencies in the first part.

This book offers fresh ways to think about the nature of sin, worship, atonement, and other concepts central to the Christian faith. I only wish that someone would expand on the ideas presented here.

There is nothing else out there like this book!
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2004-08-30
This thin book is packed with unique insights about how American society "worships death" by giving death and growing old the ultimate power over almost everything we do. McGill argues that we must live from an "ecstatic identity," receiving all as gift and grace, even suffering and death. He writes this book like a novel, with multiple references to pop culture and literature to make his point. One of the best, most challenging theology books I have ever read for a general population. Enjoy!

Wilson
Destiny Revealed
Published in Paperback by Lulu.com (2005-06-23)
Author: Kit Wilson
List price: $12.92
New price: $7.78
Used price: $7.20

Average review score:

Excellent
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2007-03-09
Deep and emotional. I think everyone could identify themselves within the words of each poem.

Great Women's Read
Helpful Votes: 2 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2005-12-04
A great women's read. The author related many poems to things going on in my life now. I would recommend this book for every woman.

Husky Book Promos
Helpful Votes: 2 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2005-12-04
A must read book for both men and women. Kit Wilson goes indepth with her poetry. She is the next Poe.

A GreatInspiring Poetry Book
Helpful Votes: 2 out of 4 total.
Review Date: 2005-08-13
A great inspiring poetry book. I would recommend it for anyone to read and collect. Kit Wilson is my favorite author.


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