F Books

Bob Cassaro is my father.
My name is bret branon.
b@westparkfoundries.com
Yesterday was fathers day, and we didnt talk.
Sometimes I wish things were different.

An absolute must read for anyone interested in Viet Nam War History, flying and adrenaline. First hand stories from the pilots who flew recon and rescue missions in Nam. Repetitive? Absolutely not as each person tells his story, as it happened to him. You get a well rounded view of each mission. I couldn't put it down. It is an adrenaline rush just to read. Bess Carnahan

This book is, in my view, a companion to another book entitled "Bury Us Upside Down: The Misty Pilots and the Secret Battle for the Ho Chi Minh Trail." That book took a slice in time through the "Misty" mission and discussed the actions of a narrow group of flyers, apparently those with whom the author served and with whom he was most familiar. This book takes a broader view and essentially presents the complete history of "Commando Sabre," termed "Misty," as told by many of the men who flew in that top secret unit during the Vietnam War. As such, it is a valuable piece of military history and well worth reading.

The book did, however, come across as a little repetitive, but in all probability that couldn't be helped. For many of the stories were written in 1970, seemingly for some other purpose, while others were written in response to solicitations by the author/editor, apparently without specific guidelines (e.g., Don't tell us how the unit was formed or why, how many missions you had to fly in the back seat to qualify, etc.). Furthermore, since "Mistys" flew in pairs and when in heavy action were often supported or replaced by other Mistys, more than one story author often wrote about the same event from his own perspective.

Nevertheless, this is a great read, particularly for those interested in military history or the Vietnam War. For all others, I would suggest that you at least check this book out of the library and read the following excerpts: "A Trip to North Vietnam," by Don Jones (pgs. 162-170); "Combat Photographer," by Wells Jackson (pgs. 240-252); "Rescue in POL Valley," by Steve Amdor (pgs. 280-283); "What Was That?," by Bob Bryan (pgs. 306-309); "Tidbits," by Bob Cassaro (pgs. 314-319); "Gutsy Gunner," by Tony McPeak (pgs. 338-341); "War," by E. Lynn Farnsworth (pgs. 411-419); "The POWs" (pgs. 435-477); and "Then and Now," by P. K. Robinson (pgs. 523-537) These are the best written stories, and most are told in an entertaining way. They will give you the flavor of Misty and tell you much about the brave men who flew in the Vietnam War, in general, and those who flew in this top secret unit, in particular.

This is the companion book to "Bury me Upside Down". Any complaints that you might have about that book not staying on message are immediately dispelled in the more than 600 pages and 81 personal "stories" by the Misty pilots. The stories would seem fantastic if fictional, but these are real life stories. From the training in the US to the POW camps in Hanoi, from the multiple ejections to the "Mig sweeps" at the officer clubs, you will be fascinated by each person's stories. The references in the back are beyond useful. I found myself constantly flipping back to see what this pilot was doing today or who the other pilots were in his "generation" at Phu Cat.

And the ultimate farce of war is also present. Joseph Heller did not even com,e close to the truth in "Catch 22". When Colonels from Saigon would complain about the FACS getting their F-100 "damaged" by ground fire and write up the pilots and maintenance people for not taking better care of the US Government equipment, you had to wonder how we ever made any progress in that war.

If you want a read on what the "real" war was like for the US Air Force in Vietnam get this book and read it. You will not be disappointed.

This book is terrific, plain and simple. Any person interested in the courage and bravado of true fighter pilot heros in the VietNam War will be well-served reading this work.....you'll be glad you did!

Mrs. Muddle celebrates more then holidays- community, diversity, and acceptance abound in this well written, charmingly illustrated book. Not only do I love the story, but even my 3 year old and 18 month old appreciate the fun, colorful watercolors that guide us through the adventures of Mrs. Muddle.

My family just loves Mrs. Muddle's Holidays, and our children ask us to read it to them again and again. We have even read it to their elementary school classes. The writing is wonderful and the illustrations are delightful. We highly recommend this book for all ages. This feel good story encouraged us to look for any reason to celebrate life. Mrs. Muddle is the best neighbor, and we wish she lived on our street!

Every child should have a Mrs. Muddle in their lives. She is the grandmother, teacher and friend they need. Beautiful story; beautiful illustrations.

This is a heartwarming story with vibrant illustrations. My children have enjoyed listening to it again and again.

I've loved reading and rereading "Mrs. Muddle's Holidays." It celebrates the diversity of people and customs, and encourages each person to make discoveries and celebrations of their own. The writing is perfect for a read-aloud, and the illustrations enhance the text with beautiful splashes of color and warm-hearted appeal. This is a wonderful "holiday" book that is perfect all year round.

Aquellos que les guste un poco de historia es un buen libro para conocer más alrededor de Napoleon Bonaparte

Delerfield's engaging history of the men who led Napoleon's armies across Europe is essential for anyone who is interested in this period of history. While not an in-depth study, the author did an excellent job of bringing the marshals to life, especially the larger-than-life Ney and Murat. These men made their imprint upon Europe as no one before or since. The reader practically becomes a part of the great campaigns of the Grand Armee across Europe and the torment of the Peninsula War.

While this book is not exceptionally well written it is very readable and keeps the reader engrossed in the events of the time. Even for any accomplished student of the Napoleonic Wars this is a must read.

My only gripe is that it wasn't 2000 pages so it could have really covered all of the ground. As it was the book offers lots of good insights into many of the lesser known Marshals like Suchet and Davout, two fighting marshals who were sorely missed at Waterloo.

Buy and read this book.

You will give Delderfield credit for his vision, his ambition and his broad coverage to the Age of Napoleon. This book is a synthesis of the age, and a complement to all your other Napoleonic reading. It is an enjoyable book which weaves back and forth and round and round, as the author tells about the personalities of, and interrelationships among, the 26 men who became Marshals of France.

There are many reasons I like Delderfield himself. The leading reason is that he values selflessness, effort, merit and ability. Though British, he could have hardly been more American in that respect. He was not the often-encountered British snob who promotes the view that Napoleon was an ogre.

I share Delderfield's view, unabashedly, because I am a Son of the American Revolution, and I hope also a true Patriot. While we owe our cultural heritage to the English in very large measure, I believe we owe our freedoms mostly to the French.

Delderfield is critical about the 26 men and their Emperor when needed, but he understands the great achievements of the time. He appreciates the blows that the French made and took in the name of liberty and progress.

I thought I was buying a book of biographical portraits like Aubrey's Brief Lives, Seutonius' Twelve Caesars or Plutach's Lives. What I got instead was the whole story of the Age of Napoleon retold in a dramatic serial fashion (it would be a great HBO story), and in the action story form of Delderfield's own fiction, Seven Men of Gascony.

The book is organized according the normal conventions around the coalitions and campaigns. The story line begins at the end of the Age of Frederick the Great in order to bring the early lives of the oldest Marshals, such as Augereau, into focus. The story finally ends about 70 years later with the Funeral of Napoleon led by Marshal Soult to the tomb in the Invalides.

The story revolves around the twelve or so basic campaigns and the role of the respective Marshals. The book is fresh and it does not repeat known erroneous myths or trite cliches.

From this book, we get insights into the interacting character of the 27 men, (Napoleon included and chief among them). Very few of the faults of the Marshals are left unexposed by the end of the story. Those who achieve the highest place in Delderfield's pantheon, and remain relatively unscathed, are Davout the Iron Marshal; Ney, the Bravest of the Brave, Lannes, the Roland of France; and Poniatowski, Prince of Poland.

The other Marshals are treated well and complimented for their roles and abilities -- though depreciated for their weaknesses and vanities. They are put on a lesser shelf, revealing more than anything the values of the author. I happen to agree with Delderfield that adherence to duty, bravery and loyalty are the three highest standards to judge these men.

All of the Marshals have an interesting personal story. We have to give all of them credit for ability and bravery beyond the common varieties. None of them became Marshals of France because they were incompetents or cowards. The abiding values of the Napoleonic Creed were merit and joie de virve or elan. The Marshals, on the whole, personified these values.

The Emperor could forgive vanity as in Murat; disloyalty as in Bernadotte, and greed, as in Messena. He forgave them all, and many times, in the name of merit (also probably in the name of necessity which is often a reflection of the same thing).

I recommend this book for three reasons. First, it is organized - it gives a compact lucid picture of the chessboard of the age. It tells us about how the campaigns and politics were structured. Second, it is complementary to other work such as Gallo, Tolstoy, Chandler and so on. It provides an additive perspective on the events which can enhance and enrich your reading of all the other literature on Napoleon. Third, it is literate and enjoyable. As I have already said, I share strongly the values and sensibilities expressed by Delderfield.

I suspect Delderfield's perspectives on the French and Americans were shaped by interactions in World War II and World War I. The 20th century Delderfeild, if placed in the 18th Century, would have been a political sympathizer in the American Revolution, and he might have crossed the Channel to march with Davout, Lanne, Bessieres, Oudinot or Ney.

I don't mean to say he would be a traitor to England - I do not wish to dishonor him that way. What I mean is, from the benefit of perfect hindsight, he would have seen the vision of marking men by ability. He would have marched off of the old Road to Serfdom, as Hayek called it, and onto the new Road to Freedom which was then being beaten across Europe by the French.

As with all books about this age, the principal subject is Napoleon himself, who by any objective standard was the greatest leader of men in battle the world has ever known. As is usually the case with a leader, you will see in this book that any given leader cannot do everything in a complex enterprise, and so must organize around himself a way that expresses his own goals, interests and competencies.

By examining the complexities of the individual Marshals and their interactions, you will be looking into the heart and mind of the Emperor himself. You will see why, at Waterloo, Napoleon was no longer himself. He was no longer able to articulate his visions without his Marshals of years gone by. You can speculate, for example, that if Berthier was present at Waterloo, the calvary would have stayed in reserve for the coup de grace, and that Grouchy would have not been lost, hence blocking Blucher from the field, while Napoleon finished Wellington -- who was at the time already beaten on the hillsides of Waterloo.

While Richard III would have given his kingdom for a horse, Napoleon lost his Empire for want of his Marshals.

I flew through this book. The narrative style of writing lent itself to a quick and enjoyable read. I came away with a better overall picture of those who were surrounding Napoleon.

Although the subject is broad in the sense that the author tackles so many people. He none-the-less does an excelent job of rounding out a solid picture of Naploeon's marshals, their personalites, their ambitons...flaws and credits.

There are several marshals that I would like to read more about based on the information gleaned from within these pages. Understandably the author could not devote as much time as he may have liked to each and every member of this group. He did, however achieve the goal of introducing us to all of them and more than just a basic glossing over.

What I liked most is that the author took the events and let time itself introduce and develop the marshals rather than simply lining each one up and giving the reader an encyclopedia type synopsis of each individual. This really brought each marshal into better focus in terms of what was going on at the time and why they entered the picture whent hey did, as well as what they were doing prior to entering into the service of the Empire.

I would recommend this book to anyone interested in Napoleon and also intersted in getting a better feel for those around him and what drove them to thier positions.

The Seth material is an indivisible whole. It is so difficult to grasp in its implications that I feel quite accomplished to have a fingernail- hold on some small part of it. The Nature of the Psyche posts some indespensible chapters. Chapter nine, "Characteristics of Pure Energy" is so clear about the nature of creativity and dreaming that readers will never again be able to think of these matters in their old way. It's that good. It really is. Of course, if you're a reader of Jane roberts you already know this. Do you not agree that Jane Roberts is one of the bravest people of our modern age?

Among other things this book proffers a very touching, and original, view on love--in its various manifestations. I cannot recommend this book highly enough!

This book could be called the psychology of Seth. Where his other books are geared toward describing non-physical reality and it's relation to physical reality. This book describes from Seths' unique higher perspective human psychology and is truly outstanding even among Seth books. I can't recommend this book highly enough. It ranks as high as the Eva Pierrakos channeled works from a human psychology perspective.

How we create our reality, psyche, sexuality, dreams, simultaneous time, dimensions, love, and our past are some of the more in-depth points in this Seth book. Although this is just the beginning.

In beginning, my view, this book explains the "nature of sexuality" more completely than any before. I am euphoric Seth shared his opinion because it is a very important subject. Many, many people may be shocked at Seth's view of sexuality, homosexuality, or lesbianism. Seth helped me understand this hot topic much better. Anyone interested in this area should read. This is but a small portion of this book.

Some of Seth's explanations do seem repeated from previous material, however there is much new material. The way in which Seth explains the subjects in new wording tones and sentences are far enlightening. I find there is some great info regarding dreams. In my opinion, Seth has always been outspoken on the importance of dreams. What I exuberantly enjoy about Seth are his explanations of dreams and the dream reality, this is how I correlated Seth's information into my belief of Seth. By having a foothold of my own dream experiences I have correlated them with Seth's view of the dream world.

In addition, Seth can explain how we create our reality like no one else.

Something beyond the words, and the symbols of this book. A feeling, tone, or a transcendence sense that I come away with Seth's spoken, then written words. This perception been commented on many of times within Seth groups, and as I look back and write about this sense, it still feels strange and unknown. Any person having a fond love for a book will understand.

The Nature of the Psyche is not as detailed or long as "The Nature of Personal Reality" but amazingly to the point, the chapters are shorter and gave me an excellent explanation of the topics presented. I like the fact that it is shorter.

I left much out of this review but I do believe this book would be a good starter for beginners interested in Seth's concepts. A+ material thanks Rob, Jane and Seth.

I love most of the Seth books, and this one was not too bad, its a shame tho, alot of it, just seemed to be repeated over and over again, till you kinda lose interest. Of course its interesting and has alot of good points, but takes a turn with the constant repeating of the same thing. If your an avid Seth reader, then its okay, but you may be lost if your not.

The book was very informative and certainly convinced me to keep drinking water and avoid soda pops, etc. It really made sense.

This book is wonderfully well written and I gained a lot of understanding from reading it. I was afraid of cancer before reading this book. Now I know cancer does not have to be something we dread or have to go through proceedures that kill more than the cancer to help us overcome it. I am rereading and rereading to gain the understanding on the obesity section of the book . The depression section also helped me to understand what I had gone through all those long years and why those drugs messed me up further. I don't have to go there again. Read all of the books written by F.Batmanghelidj, they are all very well written in laymans terms and encouraging. Blessings to you and yours... love ,Kay

If one desire health that is the book of first choice to getting better..

This interesting clearly written book gives insights into how the human body actually requires considerable amounts water, salt and exercise, when these are adequately supplied the changes that the practitioner can expect. Helpful asides are given in various places including how to calculate your water requirement using your actual weight, and how to use salt as a sleep inducer. A carefully written work which will be useful to both the professional and layman alike. The clear style almost pedestrian pace will allow all readers to gain valuable insights in how to manage their water and salt intakes to facilitate health improvements.
Having changed nothing in my diet except follow this book's guidelines on adequate water consumption for two months my cholesterol level and weight have significantly changed for the better, the diabetes sugar readings have lowered and the acidic perspiration has gone (we live in a humid rather hot area).
I recommend this book to those discerning people who having tried to follow the present day hype and found their health deteriorated as a result. The healthy water intake requirements of our bodies today are often needlessly ignored to our detriment and this book addresses the imbalance that exists in many peoples busy lives. It was so simple to read, understand and implement but the benefits have been excellent, I recommend this book to all who are concerned about their health and want to do something safe and beneficial that will either impact on problems which may already trouble the person, or prevent deleterious conditions developing in the first place.

Let's see. Our body is 75% water (so is the surface area of the earth). Our brain is 80% water. Need we say anymore?

This book is a treasure. The photography and text are super, and extremely enjoyable. When I get homesick I pick up "Embrace", having been a resident of New Orleans from 1978 to 1988.

Congradulations to Morgana Press for 2 fine books. My sister, jenniferporterartist.com did the illustrations for Morgana Press's 2nd book "Hearsay From Heaven and Hades" also by T.J.Fisher.

I'm proud to own both books.

Thank-you, Kristina

This beautiful book with a purpose deserves the 10 national awards it has won. It is poetic, haunting, poignant and touching. The prose and the pictures transport you to another place. Anyone who loves New Orleans will not want to miss having this book on his or her coffee table! But read it, too! The author won the PMA Benjamin Franklin Award 2007 for "Best New Voice Nonfiction" and the book also won the "Bill Fisher Award for Best First Book." A treat for all the senses, the eyes and the heart.

This is a great book: it is a passionate "love song" dedicated to New Orleans. The photos and text will tug at your heartstrings.

No ordinary coffee table photography book, "Orleans Embrace With The Secret Gardens Of The Vieux Carre" is a 388-page memoir of the New Orleans French Quarter featuring 49 historic black-and-white photographs and 320 full color illustrations. While the overall book draws from the previous work of Roy F. Guste, Jr., the photographs by Louis Sahuc are bonded with a personal and compelling narrative text by T. J. Fisher. Readers will encounter a work originally intended to be of local interest, but in a post-Katrina world, has emerged with universal attraction as a memorial and a motivation to restore a once great American city to its unique and original glory. Enthusiastically recommended, "Orleans Embrace With The Secret Gardens Of The Vieux Carre" will prove to be of immense interest to several categories of readership including: gardening enthusiasts, historians, architects, photographers, and anyone who has every walked along the avenues and admired the parks, gardens, and buildings of the New Orleans French Quarter.

WOW...what a big beautiful book! For anyone who has a connection to New Orleans...buy it...give it...treasure it...well written, throughly researched, amazing photos and layout...sure to be an award winner! Thanks for putting your heart into this volume!

I found Path Crossing a very delightful and insightful book to read. In many ways I had to go back and search myself for answers regarding the people that I came across, and if took the time to tell them about Christ. This book allowed me to see that people cross our paths for reasons, and not by chance. I am reminded after reading this book that being a christian is not just being a chrisian on Sunday's, but that everyone that I come in contact with, I should tell them about christ. I will truly view all of my encounters differently from this day forward. Thank you Dr. Horstemeyer

If you want to read an encouraging book, that reveals the true value of those chance encounters you had; at the store, at work, at a business meeting, at school or on vacation, then this book is a must. It's a quick read.

i read this book a few years ago and still remember the scenarios that Mark Horstemeyer experienced and wrote about. it has had a lasting effect on me.
i found his view of loving people encouraging. he didnt just package it as 'telling everyone you know about God so you win big up in heaven', he put love back where it belonged and has been missing.
his writing was clear also. at the age that i read it at i was not reading very many books, but this book met me where i was at and encouraged me to move forward.
this is most likely a book that a will read a couple of times over.

Path Crossings is a wonderful journey that I did not want to end. It chronicles some of the most interesting chance meetings, or encounters that the author has had in his travels and how God used him in a powerful way in these circumstances. The cast of characters is compelling and very diverse. The author Dr. Mark was A good and kind listener and would offer a gentle word of encouragement, but would also sternly and intelligently defend and evangelize his Christian faith when necessary. If you believe in God and his passion for our lives, you will quickly see that these many "Path Crossings" we have all experienced are not by random chance. I hope you enjoy this book as much as I have and that you'll look at your next "Path crossing" as an opportunity to plant productive seeds of hope in the lives of spiritually tired and weary travelers. I highly recommend this book to all Christians and those who have a heart to be a blessing to others. Well Done.

I found this book to be a quick read that challenged me to think differently about daily situations. I am now looking at each encounter with other people as an opportunity to touch a life, to share God's love or the truth of his word. I found this book stimulating and thought provoking.

This book has almost, if not everything you would like to know concerning veterinary pathology. It is huge and a bit bulky and it kind of sucks if you have to carry it with you for every class session, but it definitely holds a lot of interesting information.

The book is easy to read, learn and understand, A+, great photos, all veterinary diseases covered

This is a very great book. Every day I read a little bite of it. You can be sure you'll learn a new thing in each page. A must read for all species Clinicians, not only Vet Pathology students.
A great book. One of the best I know in this area.

Simply the best veterinary pathology book ever made. It's the bible. There's no other definition for it. Easy to read and high quality images for students and veterinary pathologists.

Hi friends
I receieved my book and start the minute I received it to read through it, it is very nice book, well written and I encourage all veterinary students to buy it.

They told me exactly what it would be and it came just the way they said it would. I received it much sooner than I expected.

This textbook is an excellent resource for any medical professional interested in how medications work and their possible adverse effects or effect on patient behavior.

Excellent book! Well-written, very easy to understand. This book covers basic neurology, anatomy, and physiology, thus provides an excellent review! It also explains very well in details how drugs act on the body. Highly recommed to physical therapy students, medicine students, and the other medical discipline students.

I am currently using this textbook for a pharmacology course for a tDPT pharmacology course. This book provides a lot of in depth detail about every drug category and tries to give some insight into how it affect therapy assessments and plan of care. It works best as a reference versus a full book read in my opinion. Ciccone does a good job of really explaining the drug classes mechanism of action on the body. It gives a more in depth explanation of than just a drug reference book or what can be found online and it is tailored to things therapists care about(postural hypotension, exercise tolerance, alertness, etc). This book certainly makes a good buy for any therapists reference section but with the constant change in drugs and new findings it will be outdated easily even with the 2007 edition. I recommend some type of online update drug program in conjunction (such as Epocreates).

I would assume that the majority of people who would buy this book are taking a class in pharmacology. I have had alot of recommended text books that were not worth even taking out of the wrapper, but this book is not one of them. The author's actually spent the time to organize and gather relatively current information and then put a hard cover on it. It's getting harder and harder to get that combination. I gave this a 5 star rating because it really will be a book you will keep and reference after the class is over.

I guess the main idea here is whether or not the soul is immortal.

Does the soul exist outside of this physical, earthly experience ?

I've only begun reading Plato after years of reading a lot of other new age type books such as the Edgar Cayce material and Dr. Brian Weiss.

Plato is often consistent with those new age ideas but he expresses his thoughts in a more poetic way.

Plato and those others believed in reincarnation and even being reborn as an animal.

A new age theory about this is that if you go back to 10,500 BC and beyond you had a lot of people running around with for example the body of a human being but the head of a horse, tree branches for arms, etc..

Most people had tails back then.

This was a result of people projecting themselves into this physical dimension and getting entangled in the animal and plant worlds. As they did this across multiple incarnations they started to develop those animal appendages in their physical bodies.

It was in ancient Egypt around 10,500 BC that the priest Ra Ta and other Atlanteans helped these "things" to rid themselves of these animal characteristics.

That "mystery of mysteries" the sphinx is a creature that is part human and part lion. Don't think this doesn't have some very deep and hidden meaning.

Another key point in the book is the death of Socrates. He dies like a true philosopher, not in fear, but calmly.

At one point Socrates actually proves that one plus one is not equal to two. That's power.

Jeff Marzano

Same Soul, Many Bodies: Discover the Healing Power of Future Lives through Progression Therapy

Lives of the Master: The Rest of the Jesus Story

The Lives of Edgar Cayce

Edgar Cayce's Egypt: Psychic Revelations on the Most Fascinating Civilization Ever Known

Initiation

Initiation in the Great Pyramid (Astara's Library of Mystical Classics)

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What happens at death? Is the soul immortal? Why does the philosopher seek death but avoid suicide? What is so attractive about death to Socrates?

This is a masterpiece of a book. While Socrates does not prove the immortality of the soul, his arguments for such, as in the "law of opposites," the "theory of recollection" and the combination of the two, make way for a very interesting and mind enhancing read and is a hell of lot more valid, intelligible and religiously inclusive than any of the biblical literalist's security hold in fallacious illusion, or was Socrates and Plato infallibly inspired? Was Homer infallibly inspired? Of course not. In turn, Socrates is counter-argued with the "theory of attunement" and subsequently argues back for the immortality of the soul.

His thoughts which entail the body as the inhibitor of obtaining true wisdom, that philosophy aids a man to go beyond his body, so that at death he can be released from the body and use his wisdom to achieve a higher realm of true wisdom, as the body acts as a place of desires that prevents men from perceiving the world of ideas apart from the world of appearances. The death of the body is the release of the soul and the condition of the soul, either that controlled by desires or that of philosophy that has brought it to a higher realm, will determine where the soul travels to after death.

Socrates further gives us a description of the round, spherical earth. This exposes the fallacy of biblical literalists who attempt to prove biblical divinity by quoting Job 40:22 and Isaiah for the spherical earth, or does that make Socrates inspired? His further description of the earth's hollows by water and the place called Tartarus brings us to the identical words of St. Paul, who certainly was influenced by many non-Christian teachings, which permeated his entire belief system. Also Socrates gets Eastern in the reincarnation of the soul back to the world of desires, including that of animals and insects, which makes this book a fascinating read to say the least. This book is a gem and great masterpiece to contemplate on. I love Plato - and Socrates too.

I will not quote myself, but I'll evoke the words that I have written here before in the review of Krishnamurti's book. Since you're reading this I guess you're interested in Plato's philosophy and this work in particular. I'll just say few words and then will let you to dive into the book and find the meaning for yourself.
This is the book that belong to Plato's later works, and debate continues whether Socrates in this book is historical Socrates or just voice of Plato. If you take into consideration few Aristotelian lines than first option would be the true one. But, no matter which one is right, Socrates here is presented as few characters of world literature are. I can not speak about philosophy here, so I shall speak about style. Bearing the posture of romantic poets, and if you picture ancient greek dungeon as some reneiscance castle dungeon, you'll have the setting. And tht's it. No quarells, no fightning and vicious murdering, just one of the most beautifull speeches conserning human soul, and only one, diginified, death.
Books like these give me hope that there is still a chance for a world to become the better place.

If it was up to me to preserve just one of the dialogues of Plato for posterity it would be the Phaedo. That is because this is the metaphysical core of the teachings of Socrates (the main character) as told by Plato. As is emphasized in the text, death is the main topic of concern for the true philosopher- and that is what is covered here. However, there is nothing morbid about it. This is a message of hope, for Socrates establishes the divinity and immortality of the soul. The good man, he who has purified himself through the love of wisdom (Philosophy) goes to a higher, purer realm to be with like-minded souls and the gods themselves. The bad man also goes to his just reward with those of like character.

If I was to abstract the core truth here it would be that the true philosopher is always trying to free his soul from the body- for only then is the soul free of the distractions and distortions that can corrupt it and keep it from direct perception of the Ideals (Absolute Truth, Good, Beauty, and Justice.)

You easily see where the Church borrowed so much of its basic theological underpinnings. In fact, reading this work abolishes forever in your mind the idea that the pre-Christian pagans were in anyway necessarily savage or barbaric in their deepest spiritual beliefs. This is spirituality more pure than anything preached by the Church- and it is supported by reasoned argument and not appeal to empty faith and authority.

The closing of the dialog is probably the finest depiction in Western literature of the death of a great and good man. You truly concur that Socrates was indeed the wisest and justest and best of all men.

Socrates is unique among philosophers, not just for his place among the early Greek philosophers, but also for the fact that he is the most famous philosopher to never write his own books. What we know of Socrates comes from contemporary accounts and students, most particularly Plato.

Set in 399 BCE, the Phaedo is a reconstruction of Socrates final conversations with friends on the day he died. We do not know when this dialogue was written, but it was probably before The Republic (Plato's most famous work, also featuring the figure of Socrates). Like The Republic, this dialogue features a well developed theory of Forms -- these are introduced gradually here, slowly filling out the details of each step. This develops the story of the caves idea from Plato's earlier work in epistemological, metaphysical, moral, and semantic terms. Plato also advances the 'imperfection argument' here -- the idea that when we sense something, it is never perfectly the thing we are thinking of, and that idea or standard to which we relate what we see, hear, feel, etc. is tying into a more perfect Form.

However, the idea of the soul is rather less developed here than in The Republic. The soul is simply mind, or intellect - all emotions are here placed as bodily aspects. This is rather Pythagorean in a fashion, that only the soul grasps the perfect Forms, and so should consist of nothing but reasoning ability, for emotions distort and cloud the perceptions and judgments.

In the end of the Phaedo, we witness Socrates drink the hemlock, without fear or trembling, as a philosopher should know the value of life and welcome death with a firm hope. The story is almost religious in nature here.

David Gallop's translation is good and true to the original (in as much as I can tell from my small Greek learning). It is somewhat tending toward the formal side. This is serious stuff, but in a small number of pages manages to capture much, and this makes it all the more relevant.