Open Books

This is a spectacularly beautiful book. Hundreds of exquisite photographs of Indian pottery and other pre-historic artifacts, plus maps, drawings, and paintings illustrate the text.

The illustrations accompany about 20 essays on the Indians of southern and midwestern United States from archaic times until contact with Europeans. The essays vary in quality and interest, but most are well written in scholarly but accessible prose. The contributors include anthropologists, art historians, folklorists, and members of several Indian tribes. Footnotes and a substantial bibliography round out a scholarly and artistic book of real merit.

Throughout the book the continuity of ancient Indian cultures with those known to the Europeans is emphasized. One of the most interesting essays concerns the people of Cahokia, the largest Northamerican archaelogical site dating from about 1200 AD, in which the author speculates about the identity of the inhabitants, relating them to present day Indian tribes. Other essays concern the Bread Dance of the Shawnee Indians -- written by a Shawnee -- and the cultural continuity from pre-historic to present day Caddo Indians. Hopewell, Poverty Point, Moundville, and other important pre-historic Indian cultures are also given meticulous attention.

Smallchief

The sheer number of gorgeous images in this book is breathtaking. But for many readers I suspect the most astonishing image might be a fairly simple one on page 17: a rendering of a orderly semicircle of structures facing a river, it is a city in Louisiana----in 1500 B.C. This book reveals Native American civilizations rivaling what we know of the Maya and Inca, but in the heartland of North America.

In the south and Midwest a series of sophisticated cultures left behind artifacts and even structures that we are just now beginning to study and understand. For example, the Hopewell site in Ohio, where "the most dramatic" sacred structures were "geometric in form and combined circular, oval, square, octagonal, or other elements in compositions covering hundreds of acres."

The artistry of the artifacts presented here is amazing, and this book has a generous selection of large, excellent photographs. But the prose is equally good: intelligent but intelligible, often with an interesting narrative. Even the occasional semiotic language is used as vocabulary rather than jargon. Not only does this book explore so much about these next-to-unknown cultures, but it provides an exemplary context of explaining a worldview shared by many Native cultures and peoples. Although this is a scholarly presentation based on a traveling art exhibit, it is pretty graceful about integrating contemporary Native views and information. It's only in recent years that scholars have taken the testimony of contemporary Native Americans about their own culture as seriously as they take their own theories about old artifacts that survived.

For all of these reasons I count this book as instantly one of my most treasured.

I saw the show in Chicago!!! Amazingly, the book, due to the excellent phothgraphy and printing comes close to the gallery experience. The text is insightful. A definite buy. I bought the book at the museum shop($60) and immediately purchased two copies for friends from my favorite bookseller - Mother Amazon!

Jan Greenberg's guide came in handy last weekend when I took my visiting family - kids, grandparents and everything in between - on a two day trip through the Hudson Valley. This is a great area but it is hard to get off the beaten track , particularly if you want to do more than just look at historic sites and state parks. Even though it was early in the season, this book got us to some beautiful farm and country sites; the restaurant recommendations were right on; and we actually learned a lot as well. Don't visit the Hudson Valley without this book.

We bought this book before a weekend trip to the Hudson Valley and can't imagine traveling to the area without it. It has everything you would want to know about the farmers and what they are growing and producing. It tells you where and what to eat and how to use what you buy at a farmstand or local farmers market. It also made us really think about the people who grow the food. Their stories are uniformly interesting, even moving. The author has a pleasingly gentle touch when she writes about issues so much in the news today like organics, the humane treatment of animals and keeping small farms viable. Even if you aren't visiting the Hudson Valley, this is definitely a worthwhile book to have and read.

This is THE book for anyone who lives, works, visits or is even thinking of a trip to the Hudson Valley, this bucolic but agriculturally threatened area, just an hour north of New York City. Jan Greenberg not only tells where to buy and eat these outstanding (and tasty) products but in a non-preachy way makes the reader understand why it is important to support these local farmers and producers. Her profiles and stories of the farmers who grow the fruits and vegetables and raise the livestock are truly heartfelt and gave me, and will do the same I think for anyone else who reads them, a new understanding of what is like to be a grower where everything, from weather to the economy, is out of your control. This is the high risk profession!! It makes Wall Street look safe.

Above all, though, this is a book about enjoying food --buying it, serving it and tasting it. As Danny Meyer, owner of New York City's Union Square Cafe and other restaurants known for their support of local farms, writes - "This book deserves a place on the bookshelf (or in the glove compartment) of every itinerant aficionado of New York's bounty." He's right.

This book from Ideo authors shows a creative approach to exploring New York City. Some of the recommended visits are unusual and out-of-the-ordinary, but are ways of seeing the unusual. I look forward to similar reviews of other U.S. cities.

Not just an unusually thoughtful collection of places you'll want to eat, shop, and play. IDEO's keen observations and photos spark curiosity about how our improvisations and adaptations shape public space. A hip crash course in the cultural anthropology of modern NY.

I'm posting similar reviews for this pair of Ideo Eyes Open guides, one for Ideo Eyes Open: New York and one for Ideo Eyes Open: London, because they were released at the same time and share a common approach, with some promise of more guides to follow in the series.

Ideo is a design and image consulting firm that has created this series incorporating some of its more general design approaches and hoping the reader will slow down and look at usual things in an unusual way: "It's really just a matter of getting out there and opening yourself up to it all." Both books are beautifully designed, handy in the back pack or purse, with some clever "for your comments" stickers to highlight your own favorites.

The firm made its name in designing products, including the Palm V, but more recently has focused on environment design. Fred Dust is team leader of Smart Space, the company's real estate division and the editor of this series. One of Dust's first projects was Dilbert's Ultimate Cubicle designed in consultation with Scott Adams. It featured a boss monitor, an electronic window, a fold down Murphy chair, an Aquarium module and a roll up hammock.

In their projects, the team the starts with a "deep dive," during which "Smart Space designers, anthropologists and researchers spend days -- sometimes weeks -- shadowing people to observe how they live: when and where they eat, what time they go to bed, what their hobbies are, how they spend their money." The Eyes Open website and guide books follow the same approach: they publish unique experiences shared by IDEO staff and friends, and offering site visitors the opportunity to submit their own unique experiences in text and imagery.

Here are a couple of examples from the London guide of suggestions:

"Instead of taking high tea at a hotel lounge, go to Coffee@157. The light fixtures in this coffeehouse, as you can see, are made of to-go cups. Outside, a yellow vending machine dispenses artworks for less than 5 pounds each."

"Crumbs and Doilies is a boutique cupcake shop in the Sunday UpMarket, which is a spontaneous gathering of people selling arts and crafts and playing carom."

I'm not entirely sure who these guides will appeal to; there is precious little of the traditional guidebook information about prices, opening hours, travel directions, etc. But the goal is certainly worthy: opening yourself to your surroundings while traveling can be a wonderful experience. I remember once sitting in a shady cave high above a canyon in Utah one hot summer day enjoying the scenery. Suddenly, I realized my body fit the hollow perfectly, and saw to my surprise that the rock had been hollowed out to make a comfortable seat. All at once I was engulfed in a culture several hundred years old, re-living the life of sentries watching for approaching enemies.

These guidebooks promise the same flashes of discovery, and so far they have delivered on a couple of occasions in New York City. I can hardly wait to try out this edition in London later this year.

Robert C. Ross 2008

By describing TNC actions involving large tracts of land, the author illustrates the industry -- NGO cooperation that is required if we wish to take land protection beyond the token tracts that are are the norm for actions using only conservation funding.

William J. Ginn's Investing In Nature: Case Studies Of Land Conservation In Collaboration With Business is a valuable discussion linking business interests to environmental concerns to show how conservation investment banking can work. Ginn's background in both business and land conservation issues at The Nature Conservancy allows him to reveal collaborative efforts which work for both in this inspirational guide of real-life achievements.

This is a book for people who are ready to get very creative! Prepare to learn how to braid industry, energy, and conservation into a plan for America's future. Bill GInn begins the converstation with a great and very practical story about his own inability to grow food on his own farm in Maine because his soil was too acidic. Lookiing for solutions led him to his discovery that the " cheap miracle" he needed was in the waste product the paper mill in his own backyard was spending millions of dollars trucking out of the state. From this beginning, he saw a new life for waste materials, and an industry growing from it. Realizing he could do as much as an " eco-business man" than he could as the head of Maine's prestiges Audubon Society, he launched on an odessy which will inspire and ignite the interest of others looking for a new way to move ahead in our quest for a future for America's Conservation Movement.
Hooray for Mr. Ginn's documentation and careful focus. I look forward to his future and his next book!

Doug's book is an informal guide, almost like having a friend giving you the inside line on travel. We took his advice and stayed in the city of Frascati when visiting Rome. It is a charming city and only 30 minutes by train from the hustle and bustle of Rome. We stayed in a hotel recommended in the book and it was lovely, and the town has some delightful restaurants as well. The views of the aquaducts, mountains and vineyards on the train ride are memorable.
Check this book out, and get a copy of the "Streetwise Rome" map to help you around the city.

We are the authors of Eating & Drinking in Italy. The author of this Italy guide, who lived in Italy and seems to visit often, has written a guide that can be used by budget travelers and those looking for luxury. This guide is opinionated and thorough. It's the only guide we used in Italy on our last three trips. Don't want to carry a lot of guide books? Just take this one.

I planned a self guided tour of Italy this past October/November. In addition to the Open Road guide, I purchased Frommer's 2001 Italy guide book. The Open road book is very well organized and written, providing an overview of Italian history, food and culture. A suggested itinerary is provided for each major city and the recomendations contained therein are invaluable. The reviews of hotels and restaurants are accurate and reflect a range of prices and styles, with an emphasis on the off the beaten path local joints. They even have suggested dishs to order and the best rooms to request.

My trip was a smashing success and I used this book for the majority of my planning.

i have read almost all the books of j.k.His writings helped me to question myself and explore the complexity within myself. i'm still going on reading his books repeatedly to get self-knowledge and deep insight.

One thing I have learnt from reading j.k. is that my searching is in fact escaping.. from no depths and from no hights will we recieve nor discover anything that can make us free. we already are as free as we see ourselves fit to be. escaping and compensating with new points of wiews under the false pretence that you have "matured" over time is wonderfull however, because it keeps you occupied, and tucks away the creeping feeling that you're missing something. and the doubts and the fears, the urge to become and overcome,- it keeps sticking to you, so you start wanting it. that is our balance-act. take it too seriously and you'll feel more dead than alive.

Krishnamurti dares to go beyond all kinds of limitations caused by our education, be it religion, culture, tradition.
Maybe it seems hard in the beginning to drop some values which seemed to be very important before, but it is the only way if somebody is searching the absolute !

If you have ever seen any of Albrecht Durer's woodcuts on the Apocalypse or have read the works of Swedenborg and can relate to the central figures, then perhaps this book is one you might find helpful. If you have experienced what is colloquially called "madness" or frequently undergo mystical experiences which a doctor has told you constitute a psychotic disorder, then I believe that reading this book may be profitable to you. The book relates several tales of individuals and their experience with the mental health establishment. The book is written from an "anti-psychiatry" perspective and includes commentary by Seth Farber and Thomas Szasz (famous libertarian) on the dangers of the mental health system, the harm it has done to many sensitive souls, and the psychiatric survivor's organizations and mental health liberation leagues which have fought coercive treatment. (I generally tend to be somewhat sympathetic to the point of view of the author, although I'm not sure that it would hold true for all individuals and I do believe that medicines and drugs can sometimes be helpful. Afterall, it is very painful to be truly "awake", wakefulness takes energy and thus drains the body, so if you are fully awake all the time you probably will need a medication to sedate you.) If you have ever experienced hallucinations, paranoia, or delusions, and believed they have been improperly handled by a psychiatrist or in a mental health facility then perhaps you can recognize some of what is discussed in this book. My personal experience is this. I went to a very select and intensive math and science academy for undergraduate school and many individuals and friends of mine underwent severe crises and breakdowns as a result of the stress. I have undergone several breakdowns myself or existential crises and have had my fair share of otherwise "mystical experiences". I believe that this sort of thing is not adequately understood by modern science which is biased in a materialistic, scientistic manner. In particular, for example, I believe that the soul can be severed from the body and the body can become a mere "puppet" or "robot" during extreme stress. A psychiatrist has described this experience as "psychotic"; however, a quick perusal of most ancient religious sources will show it to be a fairly common one. If you have these sorts of experiences, believe you have ESP for example, or feel that you can communicate with angels, that the television may speak directly to you, or that God talks to you, then you are not "abnormal" as a psychiatrist or mainstream society may say. Rather, you may merely be a particularly sensitive individual who picks up cues from his environment and perhaps has access to higher levels of being, other dimensions (read for example the book _Flatland_ by Edwin Abbot), or even parallel universes. I believe that the brain is like an antenna that can be tuned to different radio stations (a spike on the energy graph which is "you") and may occassionally pick up some static. Unlike the author however, I disagree with him about the role of psychiatric medications. While it is true that many of these medications do have certain harmful side effects they can be helpful in certain ways. For example, speaking for myself I know that without the drug depakote I am nervous as a cat, paranoid, believe that people are talking about me, have ideas of reference, cannot sleep, do not want to eat, and sometimes cannot even leave the house. With it I have the side effect of cotton mouth and feel sluggish, but otherwise I believe the drug does calm my nerves. So in this sense I feel it may be good for me, despite its long term side effects (a chance I am willing to take, for the peace of mind it seems to offer me now). The choice of course is entirely up to you as far as medications go and they do not work for all people. Otherwise, this book offers an excellent opportunity to examine the role of mystical experience in the lives of those deemed mentally ill and looks at some individuals who are at the higher functioning level of mental illness. Mental illness I believe may ultimately be a disease of civilization. The pressures of social conformity work their way into the minds of people and ultimately cause them to undergo breakdowns, breakthroughs, or transformations. Afterall, civilization has certain cracks.

Also of interest: If you are interested I suggest you consult the book _Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind_ by the late Professor Julian Jaynes, which is one of the most mind-shattering books I have ever read in explaining consciousness.

Although Robert Robbins makes insightful comments about psychiatry in his review,his comments would lead someone who read MHRA to conclude that he did not read (or not read very carefully) the book he is ostensibly commenting upon. The focus of Madness, Heresy and the Rumor of Angels is not biological reductionism--which has become the well-deserved target of many authors--most prominently Dr Peter Breggin. But Farber's focus is reductionism in the broader sense--that is, the refusal to recognize--in fact the determination to suppress--the spiritual dimension of human existence. Thus what lies outside the ordinary schemata that determines consensually-validated "reality" (or one might say the consensually validated delusional system) is "reduced" by mental health professionals to pathology, to "mental illness." The (true) stories of "schizophrenics" in this book reveal that "schizophrenia" is not only a breakdown but also a breakthrough (as R D Laing said long ago) to the realm of the extra-ordinary.This book, contrary to Robbins, does indeed elaborate on the idea of a spiritual dimension. Like Laing, Farber attributes the typical unhappy outcome IN OUR SOCIETY of the schizophrenic experience --to the practices of the mental death system--to sins of commission--e.g. zombifying "anti-psychotic medication" and degrading psychiatric labeling, i.e. "diagnosis") and perhaps more importantly the the primary sin of omission
--- the failure of "mental health professionals" to act--as they would if they were genuinely committed to helping their fellow human beings-- as companions (not as jailers and judges) to persons who are typically lost and frightened, having found themselves thrown into the unfamiliar spiritual domain of life.
While the spiritual world --alien to the age of "reason" as Max Weber pointed out--is being re-discovered lately in various circles (eg "new age"), in the mental health system it is still regarded as pathology to be stamped out--along alas with the "patient."

This book brilliantly illustrates the ethical and moral dangers of biological reductionism. The mental health system has adopted a philosophy of biological reductionism. They see human beings as clockwork oranges. They consider the psyche to be an outdated myth. They don't consider psychotherapy to be a valid treatment option for any form of emotional distress. They don't even subscribe to basic psychology anymore. The mental health system has reduced all forms of human behavior to brain chemistry and they define mental illness as a chemical imbalance in the brain which MUST be treated with drug therapy. The mental health system has become a mindless, soulless menace to humanity. Mindless because they are anti-intellectual and soulless because they have no respect for spirituality.

I was intrigued by a vague hint of "intimations of a spiritual reality" mentioned in the blurb but the book does not elaborate on that topic.

I would also recommend the play "Equus" by Peter Shaffer, a now forgotten critique of psychiatry and the threat it poses to spirituality and our humanity.

With this 328 page Workbook edition of "The Master Key System", you don't have to read hundreds of books... just one! Now, for the first time since Charles Haanel first introduced this enlightening home study course material, you can now study it the way it was originally intended and distributed.

In addition to the complete 24 part Master Key System you will have sections like; "Reflection" (which will serve as time markers), "Hourly Helps"(which will instruct you on how to handle the things which wear soul, spirit, and body almost to the snapping point), a section entitled "Interpreting the Word" (Glossary of certain terms) and an explanation of "The 12 Universal Laws" (as described today).

The secret to all you need to get what you want out of life; Health, Wealth, and Love, is already within you.

Now is time to open It!

This is an amazing book that teaches you the keys to connecting with your inner spirit, controlling what goes in and comes out of your subconscious, and ultimately opening the door to unlimited abundance

I have read many books on secrets to success, etc. This book actually has a daily reading and meditation that does not take much time and it truly has helped me to stay more focused and relaxed in my life so that I can receive health, wealth and love. This book contains a storehouse of valuable information that is easy to understand and well explained. I highly recommend this book to anyone who truly desires to learn, grow and expand their life.

I always appreciate the careful reviews of Mr. Marold. I see he has fallen into Mr. Thorne's trap. I myself did until I figured out that Mr. Thorne is a bona fide crank. He is a cranky writer and a bitter observer of the food scene. Hence his appreciation of bitter marmalade. And then he turns right around and gives you new direction on good jams and preserves that he now prefers.

Now that am poor again, "Mouth Wide Open" is the perfect book for me in these miraculous times of ours. I have not yet bought this latest book of his, I but keep renewing from my library as I slowly work through it. He makes hash of our cult chefs and turns on the kitchen sink disposal for our kitchen celebrities. He is looking to pick a fight. He does not like to spend money. He wants to play with his food. Bravo!

There is nothing much more fun than a food fight. So long as you hang in with his extended diatribes, Mr. Thorne eventually gets around to his points. He got me so excited with something he got from a box of De Cecco fusilli pasta that I went out and bought a box. I had been buying boutique pasta at three times the price, but there it was with the same dang "Fusilli with Tomato and Green Olive Sauce" on the back. Thorne turns the makings inside out and upside down (NO TOMATOES!!), but he works into a variation that rhymes pretty well.

His chapter on Cod and Potato is for the ages. This is a book for reading, argument (even if only alone) and only then cooking. He likes powerful cooking concepts that can play out in different ways without quite loosing touch.

Try his fooling around with making mayo on a plate with a fork. You could learn sumpin'.

What finally sold me on him and this book is how often he sent me scurrying for more information before making anything. Two dozen searches on the internet and nearly as many in the local low brow market. He gives credit to all who have helped him on his way and lets fly against all those who presume and posture.

Spend much pre-cooking time with him and argue along the way, but never fail to give a fair hearing. I notice tag suggestions include Alice Waters and California Cuisine. Guess again...

At the end of each workout has transformed an inspiring recipe into a new incarnation. His hope is that you can develop the same knack. Worth every star.

What a truly pleasurable book. John Thorne continues his ongoing conversation about cooking, food, and life, and the rest of us are privileged to listen in. His intellectual rigor is notable, but there is no element of pretention in it. Rather, he tuns his attention to good things and gives a great deal of careful thought to their history and how best to do them justice. It is also a very funny book, and the best antidote I've found to the current depressing parade of egomaniacal chefs'compendiums and "smile big and get your cooking over with in a hurry" non-cookbooks. Highly recommended for any serious cook and for anyone who likes to think about food. Lovers of good essays will like it too.

`Mouth Wide Open' is John Thorne's fourth book, each volume being a collection of articles from his self-published journal `Simple Cooking'. I cannot be more delighted in seeing this book, as I was just recently wondering whether we would ever see any more from the good Mr. Thorne and his distaff collaborator and wife, Matt Lewis Thorne.
Even more than in all his previous books, Mr. Thorne validates exactly my approach to reading and reporting on cookbooks. At one point, he states that the most interesting kind of writing a professional chef can do is to describe how they cook at home. This fits exactly my feelings about books such as Jacques Pepin's `Chez Jacque' and `Fast Food My Way', Alice Waters' `The Art of Simple Food', and Eric Rippert's `A Return to Cooking'.
Thorne's own food writing embraces an approach to recipes which matches my own reading and writing, and which probably drives some of my readers to distraction, when I don't get around to actually cooking the recipes. This approach may be compared to Biblical textual criticism, where scholars adjudicate the authenticity of many different versions and fragments of versions for the canonical works in scripture. My favorite Thorne exercise of this sort is his essay on New England clam chowder in an earlier book, `Serious Pig'. If there is any lesson to be learned from his many exercises in this form, it is that one may never find the `genuine' version of any traditional recipe, but it is certainly fun to make the journey. You come out the other end with an enormously improved understanding of a cuisine and the needs of the people who created it. Thorne's essays in this genre in this book start with that rather unfamiliar sauce native to the Piedmont in Italy, bagna cauda. Among his researches are `depositions' from twelve different modern recipes for the sauce, including such notables as Elizabeth David, Faith Willinger, and Jeffrey Steingarten. And, lo and behold, each one is different from one another, and different from Thorne's eyewitness of a preparation in Piedmont.
It is no surprise that Thorne cites David and Steingarten, as his work owes much to David's style of writing, as is also allied to the writings of Patience Gray and Richard Olney. As the title of his newsletter attests, Thorne is a great proponent of `simple cooking', which, however, is different from either fast or easy cooking. Thorne presents an excellent exercise in `simple cooking' when he describes his first exposure to making homemade mayonnaise. Like an omelet, it is utterly simple, involving nothing more than an egg, oil, some lemon juice, and some dexterity.
Another evidence of Thorne's great orthodoxy is that his conception of good cooking is to make the best with what you have. This is virtually identical to Tom Colicchio's elegant description of cooking creativity in his `How to Think Like a Chef'.
In the course of my rambling, I have not taken the time to point out that Thorne's books are definitely meant to be read from cover to cover and enjoyed in their own right, and not from the incidental recipe one may glean from it, as you might do from a celebrity chef cookbook. In doing so, we may discover that Thorne may actually have some opinions with which we may rightfully disagree. Thorne takes issue with the replacing of books (and TV cooking shows) by cooks with books (and TV shows) by `entertainers' such as Rachael Ray. I am sympathetic with his primary point that the TV Network approach to food has tended to drive out the kind of writing done by Thorne and Steingarten and (formerly) by Gray and Grigson and David. I disagree on two counts. First, Thorne and Steingarten and Nigel Slater and Amanda Hesser are still going strong in this kind of writing. Second, people like Rachael Ray address a particular audience who has no time for a contemplative approach to cooking, and Miss Rachael does have some reasonably serious credentials as a food professional. She is NOT just an engaging talker who fronts culinary staff who do the real work.
In spite of those little quibbles, I am enthusiastically in Thorne's camp when he talks about a meditative approach, as profound in its own way as Alton Brown's metaphor of culinary teaching which replaces the directions of the recipe with the explanations comparable to a map of the whole city. While Brown gives us a map, Thorne gives us a history, seen from a very personal point of view.
Thorne includes in this book some reviews of notable books on culinary subjects. Most notable are reviews of Eric Schlosser's `Fast Food Nation', `Amanda Hesser's `The Cook and the Gardener', and Raymond Sokolow's `The Cook's Canon: 100 Classic Recipes Everyone Should Know'. I'm delighted less by Mr. Thorne's opinions of the books, all of which I reviewed, than by the fact that approaches each review in a manner very similar to `The New Yorker' style, which I often consciously emulate.
The book does contain many recipes, and Mr. Thorne does us the great service of listing them all at the beginning of the book. And, unlike recipes in other culinary memoirs, these are integral to the story and need to be read; however, they are `examples', almost footnotes to the main line of narrative. One reads the book for how John Thorne got there, not for a description of the destination.
A really, really great read for foodies.

Excellent study helps combined with a very readable translation has made this my favorite reading Bible.

The translators have done such a good job of rendering the original languages into a very classy English that I believe this translation to be a good choice for public reading as well.

(I own 0785205462.) If you read my other reviews of Bibles, you'll see I'm a stickler when it comes to various printing and Bible construction methods. I'm not the biggest fan of Thomas Nelson because they always seem to have trouble printing up their Bibles with an even ink color from page to page. This one is no exception, but I'm very pleased by it being available in the New Living Translation.

The Open Bible overall is very good. But if you're interested in investing in only one study Bible, I strongly suggest Thomas Nelson's "Nelson Study Bible."

I'm happy to have this one in my library.

[addition] Almost forgot; another great plus is there's a very good dictionary in this Study Bible. The great this is they've placed it before, not after, the Bible. I really like this idea because now Genisis, Exodus, etc. have a nice buffer between themselves and the front cover. This will greatly reduce the wear to the front books of the bible because your opening Genisis 1/4 into the book! Well, I think it's great. Cheers!

You will love the New Living Translation! It is so easy to understand. Finally God's words in the way we speek, "Today". You won't be able to put it down.