This book is really beautiful.

It tells how some time-travellers went back to old Jerusalem and ended up seeing Jesus Christ taking the Cross. They are all very touched by his death and then what comes after.

I think this book should be read by everyone, it is just amazing.

Very insightful review on what is required to be a master manager in today's global businessphere. Mr. Lessem re-introduces us to the four worlds of management--primal, rational, developmental, metaphysical--and how the four spheres--East, West, North, South-- and their combinations, linking core to periphery via a knowledege spiral. Excellent rendition on where organizations should be to accomplish constant renewal and transformation for survival.

When I moved to Mexico one year ago to run a division for my company, I read many books -- this one is the best!

It clearly outlines differing cultural norms and pitfalls.

I did feel some of the "case study" scenarios were a bit contrived and awkward, but this book nails the central issues facing American managers in Mexico.

Mexico can be a great place to work and live, particularly if you are sensitive to the business culture and its nuances.

Experience is the only true teacher, but this book makes the lessons far less painful.

Enjoy!

I had the honor of studying with Professor Ross. There are few better in the country. That being said, you still have a chance to be exposed to this man's genius. While you won't have the chance to discuss baseball or sitcoms with him, you can get something more valuable, his academic insights.

This is one of the few college texts that sits on my shelf today. This book, battered, highlighted, and often consulted, changed my worldview.

I can't tell you how many times this book has helped me in day to day life, to diffuse potential conflict. Of course, it's intentions and purpose are much larger than everyday life, but that is where the lessons linger for me.

The book covers the literature of conflict management studies quite well and the case studies that go with it. It is insightful and potentially outlook altering. You'll quote it in more papers than you can even imagine. Even if you aren't a student, this is a worthy read.

If you're going to manage in a country and culture different from your own, you're going to make some serious mistakes. Hickson and Pugh teach us a lot about cultural values that we assume to be given, but which are a reflection of our own native culture, and which are not necessarily appropriate in a different culture. Things like formality vs informality, hierarchical cultures vs. flat cultures, power-distance, etc. are communicated and explained. I recommend this book to all expatriate managers.

Marc Delrez's critical study of Janet Frame's novels draws from the wide range of discourse her work has generated over the past three decades. Although Frame herself has denounced such academic pursuits, many readers and fans of her work will find Delrez's study quite helpful in illuminating the beautiful and complex tapestry that is the writing of Janet Frame.

Gundry's Commentary on the Second Gospel is simply the most thoroughly researched and meticulously documented study in print! His thesis is relatively simple: The Second Gospel presents an apology for the circumstances surrounding Jesus' death.

All commentators on Mark end up dealing, in one way or another, with the fact that there exists two distinct types of literature within the narrative. The first kind, largely toward the beginning, consists of success stories in which Jesus works miracles, casts out demons, heals the sick, forecasts the future, draws large crowds to himself and so on. These characteristics were highly estimated in the first century Greco-Roman world. The second kind of literature, largely towards the end of the Gospel, consists of Jesus' passion in which he is betrayed, forsaken, denied, and ultimately crucified. Such characteristics would bring shame upon a person.

Gundry goes to painstaking detail to show how Mark appeals to the various success stories in Jesus' life to immerse a shameful death, a death by crucifixion, in a sea of glory. Jesus' death on a cross then turns out not to be a thing of shame, but instead, the opposite turns out to be the case. According to Gundry, the Gospel of Mark presents, however paradoxical, a cruciform shaped theology of glory.

Two concerns a potential buyer may have: 1.)This commentary assumes some knowledge of Greek and technical terminology in exegesis from the reader and, 2.) the author's Pre-Millenial interpretation of the Olivet Discourse may seem strained to those whose interests fall outside the well worn millennial arguments.

This is a substantial work that simply must be consulted for any academic study in the Second Gospel and which should also prove a valuable tool for most who are interested in a detailed understanding of Mark.

MASTER DOGEN'S SHOBOGENZO - Book 2. Translated by Gudo Wafu Nishijima and Chodo Cross. 304 pp. London : Windbell Publications Ltd., 1996. ISBN 0 9523002 2 2 (Pbk).

The works of Zen Master Dogen (1200-53) are profound. They express the point-of-view of an enlightened Master. Such works, especially when written in a sinograph-based language such as Japanese or Chinese, present very real problems of interpretation, and there are few who are equal to the task of competently translating them. Of these few, Nishijima Roshi would certainly seem to be one.

Born in 1919 in Yokohama, he is a graduate of the prestigious Law Department of Tokyo University. Between 1940 and 1973 - when he became a Zen priest - he combined a career in the Ministry of Finance with daily practice in Zazen and study of the 'Shobogenzo.' In his brief but extremely interesting Preface he writes:

"I think that reading Shobogenzo is the best way to come to an exact understanding of Buddhist theory, because Master Dogen was outstanding in his ability to understand and explain Buddhism rationally" (page ix).

In comparing the present translation with three four others I have on my shelves, I was struck by what seems to me to be its greater clarity. Here, for example, is Norman Waddell's translation of the closing lines of Book 1, Fascicle 11 - Uji - Existence-Time :

"Such investigations in thoroughgoing practice, reaching here and not reaching there - that is the time of being-time" ('Eastern Buddhist,' Vol XII No.1, May 1979, page 129).

Here is the Nishijima-Cross translation of the same lines :

"When we experience coming and experience leaving, and when we experience presence and experience absence, like this [i.e., as in the immediately preceding scriptural quotation], that time is Existence-Time" (page 118).

One of the reasons for the difference between these two readings may have to do with Nishijima Roshi's expressed preference for a literal, as opposed to a more literary translation, as when he commented : "I like the translation from which Master Dogen's Japanese can be guessed" (page xi). But whatever may be the case, whereas the Waddell reading conveys little to me, the Nishijima-Cross reading immediately evokes such things as the felt presence of the absence that is death.

Besides its greater clarity, there are many other fine things in this book. These include the use, where appropriate, of Chinese characters, and the fact that all passages have been keyed to the 'Gendaigo-yaku-shobogenzo,' Nishijima Roshi's 13-volume edition of the 'Shobogenzo' in Modern Japanese, features the advanced student will greatly appreciate. In addition, all of Dogen's extensive quotations from the Chinese Buddhist scriptures have been italicized, and the value of this becomes instantly apparent once one starts reading.

The book is rounded out with three Appendices: 1. A table of the Chinese Masters; 2. A detailed Glossary of Sanskrit terms; 3. Four Bibliographies.

The book is bound in a strong glossy wrapper, stitched, and well-printed on excellent paper. Those who may be new to Dogen would probably be better off starting with a book of selections such as Kazuaki Tanahashi's 'Moon in a Dewdrop,' but advanced students will certainly want to have this set.

All in all, it has to be one of the finest and most useful translations of the 'Shobogenzo' that we have ever seen. But since this second volume contains only fascicles 22-41 of the complete 95-fascicle text of the 'Shobogenzo,' to get the complete text you will of course also have to acquire Volumes 1, 3, and 4.

This little book has wonderful country patterns, many ducks, teddies, bears and barnyard buddies. There is a large sampler, celebration gifts, christmas cross stitch. A very nice alphabeth is included as well as stitch basics, sewing hints and finishing tips. A fun book for any stitcher's library!

Here's a book for anyone interested in learning more about the wide range of topics involved in translation. The author applies her years of practical field-based translation (and linguistic) experience to explain the various ways ideas are expressed in the world's languages. Although the author uses many English examples, she also refers to dozens of other languages as they illustrate a point.

An interesting addition to the normal texts on translation is a chapter on checking and improving a translation from first draft through to publication.

A helpful index and an extensive bibliography complete the volume.