H Books

Christians weren't and aren't necessarily "right" when it comes to art. Often uninformed and bias, Christians tend to pigeon-hole art, making it have no place in the lives of humanity. This book takes a look at art through a historical and biblical viewing glass. Rookmaaker does not just say "sin is the problem" and leave it at that (though he speaks plenty on the root of the problem which is sin). Rather he looks to history, the artist's intentions of a particular "movement", and both Christian and secular mentalities that pervaded the times. Rookmaaker ends the book splendidly, answering questions that are left in the Christian's mind (concerning faith, morals and art, good and bad art, beauty, aesthetics, what is art, and more), calling Christians to take courage, and finally charging Christians with the responsibility to go out and make good art.

Rookmaker uses words like existentialism, nihilism, anarchy, irrationality, and anti-art to describe a lot of what we call Modern Art. He has good reasons for saying this as he gives a great overview of art from medieval times, the Renaissance, the Enlightenment to now. The art started going downhill, in his view, from about the time of the Impressionists, when art became "non-thematic" or "art for art's sake". He sees Post-Impressionist Cezanne as the father of Modern Art who fostered movements such as cubism, abstract, expressionism, and fauvism; Picasso then picked up the artistic baton from him and greatly influenced the rest of 20th century art.

I liked the author's overview of art probably the best, followed by his philosophical take on what each phase means. It's an interesting debate as to the value of art for art's sake, which I personally like, even if it does give equal value to everything in a given painting and 'does not say anything'. I also still admire the clever imagination of the modern artists, while shuddering a little more at what they are trying to express after reading this book.

If you like art, and want a Christian take on what's really going on, you should read this book. But if you're like me, you'll still decide for yourself what you like and don't like about Modern Art, even if you don't agree with the world view. Besides, isn't it important for Christians to understand what the world stands for?

I used to really like this book. Finding it at the Dales Bible Week in Harrogate was a stroke of exceptional good fortune. Together with various texts by Schaffer and Guinness, I found a good deal of clear explanation for the kinds of encounters with literature I had had in recent years.

However, I think that in later years I became somewhat anxious. Oddly enough there was the coincidence that nearly all the actual content of the Dales Bible week was suddenly coming under very close scrutiny and rightly being found wanting, I re-read quite a few of the texts I picked up in that period (which was the late 70's and early 80's), this included.

What passes for scholarship in this book is quite hard to resist, and requires the most detailed knowledge to refute. I have some friends who have tried to do this. It takes years to absorb the whole impact of 19th century machinations in the arts, and the 20th century is far more difficult. I found that Rookmaakers analysis still held up, though it is hard to rationalise how this book has now become the sole element in far too many arts and literature courses in Christian establishments. Not every stream of arts development led entirely to despair, and not every artist abrogated their responsibility to truth quite so wilfully as the author seems to suggest.

The book has become, in fact, far too embedded in the Christian subculture now. And this of course is a dreadful trap. In some institutions this form of criticism has become an alternative and if fact, vicarious alternative to real scholarship.

At the risk of being classed as a reckless fool, I would suggest it would be best if there was a concious attempt to point focus away from the L'abri fellowship for a while and to allow people to develop and sharpen real critical skills. This should never compromise real faith. Once again, what is happening in the real world is a loss of dialectic clarity among those who should be the salt and light.

Another concern is that now the arts are so degenerate, it is now almost certainly the case that the canary is now thoroughly dead, and very little, if anything is to be gained from it's postmortem. I suspect that far more is to be gained by shifting the focus of action to other spheres.

I'm afraid I must sound very critical of this - I don't mean to really. The book contains invaluable truth and should be read. However, things in the secular world are changing rapidly and it is important for us all to think on our feet.

One of the joys of fathering a bunch of boys is taking them fishing. My oldest is only eight, so as of yet we have not had a lot of success actually catching fish! Nontheless, there is a lot of joy in teaching them about bobbers, hooks, bait, casting the line, etc. - there is truly an art and a science to the task. One of the difficulties that little hands have is pulling all the information together and using it properly.

Just as little children need a good teacher to help them integrate a lot of facts, so do we often find ourselves in the same condition. In writing Modern Art and the Death of a Culture, the late Hans Rookmaaker comes alongside us to explain how a lot of different topics intersect and interact with each other. Art, aesthetics, culture, theology, philosophy world history - these various areas are laid out on the table for discussion, and then integrated together to make a strong point.

Rookmaaker, a lifelong friend of Francis Schaeffer, provides us with a biblical perspective on the modern world, focusing specifically on the philosophical agenda behind modern art. Beginning his overview with the dawn of the Renaissance and Reformation, Rookmaaker quickly covers a lot of historical ground in the journey toward the modern era. In the end, he reveals the roots of modernity's despair. The autonomous reason of mankind put God outside of the box of the world, and as a result began the slow descent into subjective meaninglessness.

Don't let the topic of the book scare you. Even while addressing heavy themes, Rookmaaker writes with great skill and passion. He is not trying to impress you with ivory tower gibberish and a specialized insider's vocabulary. Although he knows his material exceedingly well, his aim is to edify Christians. He wants to teach you how to pull a lot of cultural data together in order that you understand the times in which you live. If you have ever been puzzled at the message, or lack thereof, of modern art, Rookmaaker will help you understand and discern what you are seeing. I highly recommend this work, and wish that many more works like this will be written that help Christians to understand the worlds of high culture, popular art, and music.

Note: This 1994 Crossway edition is actually a reprint of this classic work originally written in 1970, about seven years before the author's death.

Modern Art and the Death of a Culture by Rookmaaker

This is one of the most powerful books I've ever read. I heard a lecture by Rookmaaker in Amsterdam in 1972. I thought a lecture on art would bore me to death. Instead I was on the edge of my seat even after an all night plane ride. The book shows through art how our culture has moved away from the concept of a transcendent God since the 1300s. It is an exciting read because it takes the words of the artists themselves right up the the 1970s to explain their art and their spiritual beliefs. It is very hard to put this book down even for someone like me who is not all that excited about art. It is ominous in its predictions of what impact this has on our present culture.

You can get it used [...]. I value it so much I don't even loan my copy out.

An authority in the field of artificial intelligence and computer science in general, Joseph Weizenbaum provides insight in proceedings in that area but mainly warns about what these developments may lead to. It is very entertaining to read this book some 20 years after original publication and see how many of what we believe are recent developments were actually implemented back then already (on one or two priceless "super" computers).
Very dogmatic and patronizing at times, it still is a good read if only for the thought provoking ideas like: if electronic computers would have been used in the manhattan project, today we would assume that development of the atomic bomb would have been impossible without it.

The computer and natural language is a sub-domain of computer science in which one of the major aims is to imitation of man, focusing on two topics: psychology and linguistics. If we wish the machine to do something, we must tell it what to do and it must be able to understand us. The easiest way to tell a computer what to do is to give it a program to run. "Humans, if they are machines at all, are vastly general-purpose machines and what, is most important, they understand communications couched in natural language." Work must be done for a machine to understand natural language. "Man's capacity to manipulate symbols, his very ability to think, is inextricably interwoven with his linguistic abilities." A machine must be able to extract semantic content from the messages impinged upon it, adopt a syntactic structure of a visual scene and adopt a certain conceptual framework. The question of what comprises a visual symbol is in question. The developer defines the elements of the machines primitive vocabulary. Robert Lindsay said, "high quality translations could be produced by machines supplied with sufficiently detailed syntactic rules, a large dictionary, and sufficient speed to examine the context of ambiguous words for a few word in each direction."

Eliza was a program consisting mainly of general methods for analyzing sentences and sentence fragments, locating so-called keywords in texts, assembling sentences from fragments and so on. Eliza created the remarkable illusion of having understood in the minds of the many people who conversed with it.

In ordinary two person communication, each has a working hypothesis, a conceptual framework, concerning who the person is and what the conversation is about. The hypothesis serves an indicator of what the other person is going to say and what he is going to mean by what he is about to say. Often, the erroneous prediction is falsified before the sentence is completed and the listener makes corrections on the fly and virtually unconsciously. Each brings into mind an image of the other person, the image consists in part of the other's identity, attributes based on evidence derived from independent life experiences of the participant. "Our recognition of another person is thus an act of induction on evidence presented to us partly by him and partly by our reconstruction of the rest of the world; it is a kind of generalization". Eliza starts with the hypothesis that the system does understand.

Rogar C. Shank, based his theory on the central idea that every natural-language utterances is a manifestation, an encoding, of an underlying conceptual structure. Understanding an utterance means encoding it. The theory proposes a formal structure for the conceptual bases for making predictions. The theory creates formal rules for converting utterances into a conceptual base. One difficulty is that every individual's belief is constantly changing mean that an individuals entire base of conceptions is changing. "When a person enters a conversation he bring his belief structure with him as a kind of agenda."

Terry Winograd, of M.I.T, was working with a group were building a computer-controlled "hand-eye" machine; the computer could see its environment and manipulate objects in its environment by means of a computer-controlled mechanical arm. Winograd design and coded the software to enable humans by natural language, too instruct the computer, how to manipulate and explain events with respect to the toy world of blocks, in a natural language. "The robot can manipulate toy blocks on a table containing simple objects like a box." The robot could be ask to manipulate the objects, doing such things as building stacks and putting things in a box. It could be questions about the configuration of blocks on the table, about events that were going during the discussion, and it could be told simple facts about the objects which could be stored and used for reasoning later. The conversation goes on within a dynamic framework - "one in which the computer is an active participant, doing things to change his toy world, and discussing them."

This book is a basic philosophical treatment of computing. I think that it should be included as a basic part of any Computer Science / Computer Engineer curriculum in respectable universities, along with Roger Penrose book, The Emperor's new mind, it creats a better understanding of what is human and what is mechanic for all those who need to know it.

Should Computer Science / Engineering freshmen/women in universities know? My answer is YES, in their first year !

I read parts of this book, thinking highly of it. I thought one particular passage from it, as quoted in Gates by Stepehen Manes and Paul Andrews, particulary stood amid the limelight: [t]he computer programmer . . . is a creator of universes for which alone is the lawgiver. . . .No playwright, no stage director, no emperor, however powerful, has ever exercised such absolute authority to arrange a stage of field a battle and to command such unswervingly dutiful actors or troops.

This is perhaps the best book ever written on issues of computer technology and modern life, in the sense that it says a lot of really important things and is also very readable by both lay persons and technical persons. People like Jacques Ellul, Arnold Gehlen et al. have written very important texts in this area, but are much less "accessible". If the truth only counts when it is absorbed by persons, Weizenbaum's book stands out as being engrossing and a pleasure to read, as well as saying what needs to be said. It is very sad that the second edition which was supposed to be out a year or so ago has not appeared. But in no way has 20 years "dated" the present text. _Computer Power and Human Understanding_ explains why we have such problems as Y2K, etc.

While devouring this book, I really felt that I was getting close to, quote unquote, "The Answer." That's how powerful it was on both me and, as I see, some of my fellow reviewers. So much of it has to do with making decisions, and making decisions is an integral part of Soren K's definition of truth. But you have to get at it subjectively, not objectively. There's one part where, let's say, you (the reader) are in prison, and you will get your head chopped off by the guillotine tomorrow. You are afraid, naturally. I, as your friend, can talk to you and say (objectively), "Oh, you're worried about the guillotine tomorrow. You see, it's very simple: you just walk out to the scaffold, put your head down on the slab of wood, making sure to put your neck in the appropriate neck hole; they will cut a rope, the blade of the guillotine will come down, your head will be chopped off, and it will all be over in a minute." You, the subjective decision-maker, do not see it in the same way.

Be warned! The Princeton edition of this book comes in two volumes. Volume 1 is just the body of text to Kierkegaard's book. There is no historical introduction in the first volume, just Kierkegaard's satirical introduction that was intended for the original book. The historical introduction and scholarly apparatus are in the second volume. If the reader does not wish to inquire beyond Kierkegaard's text, he need not worry, the second volume is for the person who did not find Kierkegaard mind numbing enough and sees need to go behind the text. I am one of those kind of people, but you might not be.

This is Kierkegaard's most important work - the real meat of his writings. It is more difficult then most of his works and should be approached with caution, but it is absolutely essential to achieve a full understanding of Kierkegaard. Keep in mind that _Concluding Unscientific Postscript_ was originally written under the pseudonym of Johannes Climacus, the sceptical and pessimistic alter ego of the real Kierkegaard. Not to spoil the surprise, but in reading this book you should remember that much of what is being said is contradictory to Kierkegaard's real beliefs. In my experience reading this book, I only began to realize this gradually. This is because not EVERYTHING in this book is antithetical or diametrically opposed to Kierkegaard's real views; only portions of it are antithetical. Kierkegaard truly engages and challenges the reader by exposing views that make sense at first, but then after letting Climacus get riled up, his rantings and ravings become increasingly illogical and pessimistic. The challenge consists in discovering where the real Kierkegaard leaves off, and where the pseudonymous Johannes Climacus picks up. The reader must constantly be on alert for antithetical and contradictory statements, and must approach this book with a highly critical mindset. The end result is one of the most fantastically thought-provoking, creative, original, and entertaining books you will ever read. By forcing the reader to take this critical approach, Kierkegaard gives us an opportunity to formulate and fortify our individual beliefs in contradistinction to those of Climacus, forcing us to truly think for ourselves. The reader is bombarded with profound philosophical statements which are oten true and sensible, and can be proven consitsent with Kierkegaard's real beliefs. But sandwiched between these logical statements, Climacus will say something so off the wall that the reader must subject these statements to a critical re-evaluation. This is what makes the _Postscript_ such a profoundly thought-provoking and personally enriching experience.

One more thing to consider before you read this book: As I said, this book was written under the pseudonym Johannes Climacus. To fully understand the inner workings of this character, you must also read _Philosophical Fragments/Johannes Climacus_, which is the precursor to _Concluding Unscientific Postscript_. This first book helps the reader understand the pseudonymous and sometimes antithetical beliefs held by Kierkegaard's neurotic alter-ego. Taken together, the _Johannes Climacus/Philosophical Fragments/ Conlcuding Unscientific Postscript_ series is the be-all end-all philosophical work of the 19th century. It is a monumental achievement of epic proportions and will go down in history as the most important and profound work of literature to come out of Europe during that time period.

Along with Nietzsche's The Gay Science, this book had the most impact on me of any philosophy books I have ever read. For those who find themselves running around in cirles looking for objective proof of this or that, Climacus (Kierkegaard) insists you are just wading out into the sea of life. Take the leap onto 70,000 fathoms of roaring ocean! Live!

After Hegel's reduction of the individual to a cog in the grumbling historical machine, it is refreshing to read of the individual and the individuals concerns. As mentioned, Climacus ridicules objectivity and focuses the reader in on subjective truth, encouraging us to be authentic and take responsiblity for life. Christian or non-Christian alike, this book will challange the reader in many ways. It was a major influence on existentialist and Continental thought for a good reason. Unconditionally recommended.

To begin with, the title is a joke. This is the in keeping with the putative author of the piece. Johannes Climacus (who is named for the Seventh Century Hermit and Monk, St. John Climacus) is a humorist. A humorist, as he will point out, is someone on edge of becoming religious, but is not yet religious and, in fact, may never become religious. That being said, back to the title. "Concluding," as is obvious, implies that SK intended this to be his last book (in a separate declaration published with the book he acknowledges all the previous pseudonyms with the proviso that no one should quote him directly unless it is from a book that bears his name as author and claims that he has no privileged access to the pseudonyms than any other reader). However, as the result of a religious conversion after it's publication, it became the middle child of his authorship, recapitulating all that had come before and pointing forward toward new things yet to be imagined. "Unscientific" is a dig at Hegel. If one wishes to over-simplify one may say that SK's position is Either/Or: Either there is a God and the world actually means something, Or there is no God and the world is absurd, meaningless and accidental. Hegel abolished God and attempted to find meaning in historical process. This is the "science" for which SK has such contempt. For this reason, SK refuses to call himself a philosopher, content to call himself a "poet." If a fraud like Hegel is a philosopher, then he wants no part of the designation. "Postscript" is where the joke comes in. This book is a "Postscript to the Philosophical Fragments." The "Philosophical Fragments" is, therefore, a 100 page book with a 600 page postscript attached (that's the joke ha ha) Of all of SK's books this is my favorite. It is his funniest and either you keep your eye carefully peeled or you will miss a joke (the first time you read it you will miss hundreds of them). And in typical SK fashion the more he jokes the more deadly serious he is (by the end he is claiming the book, in its entirety, is a joke). The central distinction is between our ideas about things and the things themselves. If you have any trouble, there is always Merold Westphal's "Becoming a Self," a good commentary. The only problem is that he probably takes SK more seriously than SK would be comfortable with. That's not necessarily a good thing. You lose too many good jokes in the process.

Good book. It's one of the older George stories and drawings, not one of the newer George stories and drawings.

I love curious George and have them all. A great edition to the series

Author of "Hobo Finds A Home"

I've always enjoyed Curious George as a little girl. There's never a dull moment reading all of the clever and fun adventures of Curious George. It is amazing of all the lively humor this little monkey can bring to so many young children. I highly recommend the Curious George series to anyone for a child who enjoys a good story.

Cynthia Marie Rizzo, children's author of "Julie and the Unicorn," "Julie and the Unicorn 2," and "Angela and the Princess"

As usual the mischievous monkey, George, gets himself into lots of trouble at his visit to an ice cream shop. Also, as usual, everything ends well... This is a perfect bed-time reading for your baby. My children always ask for new stories about the monkey George. This one is only one of many others that we all know in our family. Although we can practically recite George's adventures one after another, my boys are always ready to read them again and again. Another great, educational children series that I highly recommend is Why Some Cats are Rascals ( Book 3)

My son is two years old, and loves this Curious George book. Curious George Goes to an Ice Cream Shop was not written by H.A. Rey, the creator of Curious George. Rather, the book was adapted from a Curious George video.

Still, it's a great story.

The Man With the Yellow Hat leaves George in the custody of Mr. Herb, at Mr. Herb's new ice cream shop. When George is unattended, he jumps on the counter, and begins adding scoops of various flavors to Mr. Herb's order! Later, he hops onto a counter near a window looking into the street. His antics draw a crowd of onlookers, and suddenly Mr. Herb has more ice cream orders than he can handle!

As always, the mischievous George escapes any real trouble, while having a lot of fun. Everything turns out well. While this book is no masterpiece, I think most Curious George fans will enjoy it.

We bought this book for our slightly-more-than-2-year-old twin grandsons, and they loved it. At this age, they're more interested in identifying the pictures than associating the drawings with the letters, but that's ok. There's something about the monkey image that is endlessly fascinating to them. Go for it!

I love all the curious George books. Who Doesn't?

author of "Hobo Finds A Home"

This was a gift to my son when he was five months old, and it was a fast favorite -- if only because there are so many more pages to turn than in your classic board book! Mom and Dad enjoy the clever, letter-incorporating illustrations in this romp through the alphabet and trust that in time, our boy will, too.

Great book for a two year old boy who loves Curious George. He imitates and watches him daily on television.

In "Curious George's ABCs," one of the most famous characters from children's literature guides the reader through the alphabet. Each entry is illustrated by a noun that begins with that letter. To reinforce the alphabet, each letter is actually incorporated into the illustration. For example, the alligator's mouth opens in an angle that physically encloses the letter "A".

Curious George, the loveable monkey of the title, shows up as an observer or participant in most of the entries. As illustrated by H.A. Rey, George is as appealing as ever. I especially liked the illustration of George, bundled up in a snowsuit, looking at an "icy icicle." This is a good book for children learning the alphabet.

We bought this book for our slightly-more-than-2-year-old twin grandsons, and they loved it. At this age, they're more interested in identifying the pictures than following the concept, but that's ok. They seemed more interested in the water picture than getting the difference between wet and dry, or jump up and jump down. But there's something about the monkey image that is endlessly fascinating to them. Go for it!

My 11-month old boy laughs every time I show him this book. I also enjoy reading this as you can actually create mini stories with each set of opposites so it's much more entertaining than usual oposite books.

I have read this book over one hundred times, no kidding! This is one of the finest literary and illustrative works ever made. The anticipation and excitement of the page where George lets the pigs out will make your kids squeal with delight!

My 16-month-old daughter has loved this book since she was around 8 months old. I'm not sure what appeals to her, but I think it must be the clarity and charm of the illustrations, the easy to understand concepts of "up", "down", etc. and the sweetly naughty behavior of George. Who knows -- it works!

Tag along with George as he explores opposite ideas in this charming little board book. "Curious George's Opposites", demonstrates contrary concepts "George climbs UP, and then jumps DOWN," in an amusing and pleasing fashion. The colorful images and simple text will capture babies attention while entertaining small children too. Birth and up.

This is one of the five volumes that any Lovecraft fan MUST have in his or her collection.

The Library of America's Lovecraft collection contains all of the classic tales of Lovecraft's maturity. S. T. Joshi's exhaustive and elegant bio tells all you need to know and more about the man and his world. One of the volumes of Lovecraft's collaborations and revisions (i.e. THE LOVED DEAD AND OTHER REVISIONS) brings together that little-known but fascinating aspect of Lovecraft's career. And TALES OF THE CTHULHU MYTHOS brings together the best of the multi-faceted tales inspired by Lovecraft's creativity.

This volume is surely unsurpassed as a collection of Lovecraft's earlier tales--both his conventional "fright tales" and his apprentice "weird tales"--many of which appear to be influenced by one of Lovecraft's idols, Lord Dunsany.

And it includes his classic (and seminal) essay, "Supernatural Horror in Literature." Nobody interested in Lovecraft or in weird fiction in general can afford not to have this essay in his or her library.

May this anthology always remain in print.

I highly recommend everything Lovecraft wrote. Few people are ever blessed with the talent for writing about the macabre and the fantastic. Lovecraft was the greatest. He explored the deepest secrets beneath and went to realms unfathomable. There will only be one H.P. Lovecraft and he should be acknowledged world-wide for his accomplishments. This book is one of three hardcovers that contain most, if not all, of his work. Turn out the lights and spark a flame while reading this one. Explore the unknown and dare places feared by man...

In my humble opinion, there are two ways to read Lovecraft. The first, and best, is to get your hands on an original "Wierd Tales" or other pulp. There is something about the musty smell that adds to the tale. For true conisours, read them under the covers with a flashlight, late in the evening hours.

Realizing that original pulps may be prohibitively expensive, the Arkham House Editions are the next option. These hardback treasures are as much a part of Lovecraft's legacy as the stories themselves. Lovecraft would be all but forgotten if it were not for the small circle of friends who founded Arkham House, with the sole mission of keeping his writings in print. Arkham House is the definitive Lovecraft volume.

The stories in "Dagon and Other MacAbre Tales" are classics, including "Herbert West Re-Animator," "The Doom That Came to Sarnath," "The Strange High House in the Mist," "The Cats of Ulthar ," "Dagon," "Facts Concerning the Late Arthur Jermyn and His Family ," "The Lurking Fear ," "The Transition of Juan Romero ," and his acclaimed essay "Supernatural Horror in Literature [revised] ."

This collection of work ranks as my second favorite, falling just short of "At the Mountains of Madness" also published by Arkham house. It contains most of his earlier works, and does a better job providing the reader with a glimpse of the forces which shaped his work through the years than any other collection could hope to. If you are new to Lovecraft, these works would probably not be appreciated as much as others. They are much more enjoyable when one has a better understanding of what Lovecraft is all about. I would suggest starting with the collection "The Dunwich Horror and Others" also by Arkham house. It contains most of Lovecraft's most popular work, including "The Call of Cthulhu" and "The Colour out of Space". For any fan or collecter of Lovecraft, however, this book is an absolute must have.

This book contains such greats as Herbert West - Re-animator, and The Strange Case of Arthur Jemyem and his Family. The Arkham House editions are the definitive Lovecraft Library. A definite must have.

It's great to hear from Authors on REAL supernatural experiences they've had. I thougt this was an awesome book, a great find if you come across it!

this was a excelant book, but some of the stories were pretty unbelivable.

My nephew is an aspiring horror writer. This book, including segments by his favorite authors, was the perfect gift at this early stage of his writing career.

I discovered a few authors in this wonderful collection and enjoyed these stories tremendously. I really enjoyed this collection o stories and I didn't expect to as much as I did. The book is worth its weight at least in sterling silver with about sixty tales - TRUE tales of the macabre and paranormal.

Okay, so they spelled Stephen King's name wrong on the cover. So, what? If found this book fascinating and entertaining at the same time. It is filled with stories by famous authors, both past and present. The one that sticks out the most is Ramsey Campbell's "The Nearest to a Ghost." He goes to the cemetery to scatter his mother's ashes and feels a powerful sense of grief that isn't his own. The feeling vanishes after a moment, his own grief returning. Creepy, huh? This is one of about thirty true-life experiences these people came face-to-face with. A great read.

Reviewed by Ian McCurley (age 14) for Reader Views (4/08)

Life in 2120 A.D. is much different than you would expect. People live in huge domelike cities called Daroks, water is rationed severely, and to top it all off, everyone lives on the moon. After a nuclear war, humanity left a polluted earth, divided the moon into four quadrants and built the Daroks. Then there is Hank Havard, a First Quadrant scientist who is working, along with his assistant Lydia Grant, on a drug called SH33. This drug, when administered correctly, gives one the ability to survive without water. Hank and his Lydia had been working in a first quadrant laboratory and had been attacked by the dreaded fourth-quadrant. When they attacked, he had put all his research on two memory cards. They had escaped on the Bullet, or lunar subway, and had ended up back in Darok 9. Upon arriving at his apartment Hank discovers that Lydia has been severely beaten. He then heads to his nephew's house and asks him to copy the memory cards. Can Hank, with the help of his nephew Will and Will's friend Maddie, find out who is trying to steal SH33. And, when Will is injected with a tainted version of this drug, can he find out fast enough.

In this book of stolen government secrets, foreign conspiracies and double agents you will be so enraptured that you won't be able to put the book down until it's finished. H.J. Ralles writing style is unique in that it keeps the reader excited and attentive while leaving room for character development. "Darok 9" is for readers who enjoy science fiction or books about post-apocalyptic happenings. Look out for H.J. Ralles next book, "Darok 10."

DAROK 9 is another wonderful science fiction book for young adults by H. J. Ralles... Filled with nonstop action and suspense, it tells the story of a young scientist, Hank Havard, and his quest to keep his big discovery out of enemy hands.

World War III has been fought, and has rendered the Earth uninhabitable. The surviving humans have divided the Moon into four quadrants, and each of these quadrants are divided into cities, called Daroks. All are dependent on large shipments of water from Earth, and this must be decontaminated before it can be used. Hank has developed a vaccine which eliminates the human body's need for water. But his research is incomplete, although he has discovered that he has to keep the vaccine at a temperature of no more than forty degrees Fahrenheit for it to work.

The Fourth Quadrant was the last one settled and is the poorest in resources. ...
The language in this book is clean, as it was in KEEPER OF THE KINGDOM, something I found refreshing. Also, the message that violence doesn't pay is strong. The characters are believable, and the plot is solid. DAROK 9 is a can't-put-it-down, go-away-and-let-me-read science fiction thriller, sure to please any reader of any age!

Creative writing workshop educator H.J. Ralles as set her science fiction novel Darok 9 in the year 2120. This is an exciting post-apocalyptic story about the Earth's last survivors, barely enduring on the harsh surface of the moon. A top scientist perfects a drug that removes the body's need for water, making survival that much easier; but his discovery brings treachery and murder, and the teenagers Will and Maddie get swept up in a dangerous game with the welfare of humanity's legacy at stake. An enjoyable and recommended novel for science fiction enthusiasts.

Darok 9 is another wonderful book for children by H.J. Ralles. As with Keeper of the Kingdom, the story is fast-paced, the action is relentless and the excitement of the story carries you right through to the end. The gripping plot combines the mystique of the lunar environment with computer wizardry in a way that cannot fail to captivate today's high-tech kids. The strong role of 13 year old Maddie is a delight to see in a science fiction novel. I bought this book as a present for my niece who had persuaded me to read Keeper as an example of what a "cool book" is "these days". I was just going to read a few pages but found I couldn't put it down myself!

H.J. Ralles is the author and creator of this science fiction book for kids. However, Darok 9 certainly can hold its own in the adult world as well. This very entertaining book is hard to put down. Once you start reading it you just want to know how it will end. Filled with action and surprises around every bend this book keeps your attention.

Darok 9 is set in the no so terribly distant future of 2120. The setting is a settlement on the moon. Humans were forced to leave the earth after a devastating nuclear war, but the fighting has not stopped and the hardships continue.

It is up to Hank Harvard, a young scientist to find the answer to the shortage of water with his top secret formula, SH33. His task is made even more difficult by the attacks and the danger he has placed his family in. Can Hank find the answer before his nephew falls deathly ill? Who is behind the plot to steal his formula? Can war be diverted? Or will humans finally do themselves in?

While, Darok 9 is certainly written for the younger generation sci-fi fans of any age will find this story entertaining and delightful. My only concern about the book is the glorification of computer hacking. In these very trying times where kids know more about computers than most adults is it really wise to let them think it is a courageous act to hack into government computers? All in all it is an interesting look into what life on the moon could be. And I look forward to reading H.J. Ralles' other book, Keeper of the Kingdom.

This two-volume work by Murray is surely the definitive biography on the life of the famous Welch preacher, D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones. In nearly 1200 pages of text Murray traces the life and ministry of this man of God, who in many ways was the final link between the modern church and the great eighteenth century English preachers.

Lloyd-Jones' legacy is somewhat uneven. On the positive side, he welded enormous influence in the effort to return evangelical preachers to sound doctrinal and theological preaching. His expositions of the New Testament epistles are legendary. He preached almost 400 sermons on the book of Romans before his health broke while preaching through chapter 14. The Doctor was an enthusiastic Calvinist and a strong supporter of the writings of the Puritans.

On the negative side, MLJ was at times influenced by his Calvinism and Puritanism to go beyond Scripture. This is most evident in his views on revival. He cut his spiritual eyeteeth in the Calvinistic Methodists denomination, which, while being relatively sound doctrinally, takes a highly mystical approach to the Christian life and the ministry of the Holy Spirit. The Calvinistic Methodist were deeply involved in The Welch Revival of 1904, and although he was too young to be involved there is a sense in which MLJ never "got over" this revival. He spent the rest of his life looking for another such "movement of the Spirit." This pursuit greatly affected his view of the Christian life and the church. MLJ's commentaries on Romans vividly proves this point. Having read the first six commentaries on Romans, covering chapters 1 through 8:4, I was quite impressed with how biblical most of the teaching was. I could not believe that within a few years after his death the very church that MLJ had pastored had become Vineyard. But volume seven which contains MLJ's teachings on revival and the Holy Spirit explained it all. At this point MLJ all but laid his Bible down and turned to the experiences of past revivals of the church. He then developed his pneumatology on the back of these experiences. The result was calamitous. What a lesson for us all. Here was a man who attempted to base his whole ministry on Scripture but he had a blind spot. And unfortunately that blind spot has caused great damage.

Nevertheless, if you are a fan of the Doctor, and want to understand his ministry, these two volumes are without peer.

I've known about Martyn Lloyd-Jones for years. I knew he was a medical doctor who gave up a promising career to become a pastor. I knew he was stern and a gifted preacher who could take years to work through a book of the Bible. I remember being captivated listening to a cassette tape of him preaching on two words: "But God..." But when I kept hearing Tim Keller mention the influence of Lloyd-Jones on his own ministry, I had to learn more. I'm glad I did.

The first thing that struck me as I read this volume is how little things have changed. Sometimes I make the mistake of thinking that we are the first to encounter some of the trends and fads that everyone writes about. The landscape of this book seemed familiar to me: churches in decline, a massive rethinking of theology, an emphasis on pragmatism, a loss of confidence in preaching, a desire to be relevant, and an old version of the attractional-incarnational debate. Anyone who is familiar with books and blogs on church life today will recognize many of the same issues in this book, even though Lloyd-Jones lived a century ago.

Lloyd-Jones became an oddity within this context. He believed that the solution to the decline of the church was nothing less than a rediscovery of the Gospel, and a reawakening to the identity of the church. In other words, Lloyd-Jones pressed for a return to first things. He seemed radically out of step with his times, but the result was a greater relevance and impact than if he had tried to be relevant.

Here's an example of the problem as Lloyd-Jones saw it:

"We are not declaring the Gospel with power to a dispirited and disillusioned age; we are not living in the discipline of Gospel fellowship; only in a very imperfect degree are our churches God's resting place and holy habitation. The depressing and alarming thing about our churches is not their tiny congregations, their shabby buildings, their social insignificance, their political impotence. If our churches are in peril it is not because they are less crowded than cinemas, less powerful than the promoters of dog-racing, less correct than Sunday golf, less fashionable even than Romanism or Christian Science. If our churches are in peril, it is because they have forgotten what they are."

Surprisingly, Lloyd-Jones didn't believe in evangelism programs. He believed that when the church understood the Gospel and who she was, and lived in light of that reality, that would have more of a missional impact than any Gospel program. This reminds me of what Dallas Willard said about not making outreach a primary goal.

Even though Lloyd-Jones violated everything that his contemporaries said about effective ministry, his impact was enormous and is still being felt today.

Besides this book's message for today, there is lots to appreciate about the story of his life. I was surprised to read that Lloyd-Jones almost moved to Winnipeg as a boy. As a resident of Toronto, I loved reading of his visits to this city, and how we confronted T.T. Shields, the polemical pastor of Jarvis Street Baptist Church, and told him to stop being so negative. While staying at 74 St. George Street in Toronto, Lloyd-Jones discovered a series of books across the road at Knox College that significantly shaped his life. And we read that he never tired of visiting Niagara Falls.

A good biography is humbling. This one helped me realize that our problems and the proposed solutions aren't so new, that God uses individuals who are somewhat out of step with the times, and that the solution involves, more than anything else, the Gospel.

I'm looking forward to reading Volume 2.

If Martyn Lloyd-Jones' life was fiction, it would be a good novel. The fact that it is real and that Ian Murray was personally acquainted with Lloyd Jones and his family makes this a must-read biography, even though it is quite long. Highly recommended!

The First volume of this work by Murray shows the dynamism of a man who strived for Christ-Exalting Power. After reading the is biography I can only ask myself, "Can such men live again?" What made Dr. Lloyd-Jones so used by God?

I suggest at least three factors:
1) He placed the origin of revival at the proper source, God. His theology of revival was supremely theocentric. He knew that true revival is when a Sovereign God awakens the hearts of his people. Such a revival proves real conversion.
2) Second to his power was the need for holy study. At a time when the academia in Britain were denying the sacred text, and with no conservative alternative, Lloyd-Jones filled the gap and held high the Scriptural banner. What was said of Edwards could be said of him: "He put fidelity to the Word of God above all else." Also was his constant study of great theologians like the Puritans, Jonathan Edwards, and Warfield.
3) Although this theme is brought out more in the second volume, he was more concerned with pleasing God than appeasing men. This is seen in him giving up a medical career for a pastorate. Would to God that there were more preachers who lived before an audience of one!

At times his theology will challenge one. His view on Baptism in the Holy Spirit is worth dialouging and debating. And for some, he will appear odd in that he was a Calvinist evangelist, a model for men to come. His message is desperately relevant for us today.

Wonderful account of the mighty workings of the Living God through the Holy Spirit in the life of a humble Harley Street Specialist-Preacher.
Praise the LORD.

What a challenge - not to lesser mortals, but to equally mortal lessers to be "Strong in the LORD and the POWER of HIS might.