To sum up - disappointing. This is little more than a glorified coffee table book, and I would actually have preferred more pictures and less text. I read it in an a couple of hours, and was little the wiser, though with my appetite for more information whetted. Compared to some of the excellent French books on the subject, the content was negligable. "Hornblower" is thrown in every so often, but not in a consistent way, and eventually comes across as an irritating gimmick rather than a theme or thread. An intelligent reader could probably infer much of the information from a careful reading of the Hornblower series. Not recommended.

I bought this book hoping for more than I found. There is information on the hierarchy inside a ship, as well as (very) brief historical accounts of the mutinies at Spithead and the Nore, and a little background information. Although interesting at times, e.g. when pointing out that the Glorious First of June was actually a strategic defeat for the Royal Navy, it is much too brief on its accounts of famous battles such as Trafalgar and the Nile. Some information on the ships is provided, but not enough for a non-sailer to get his bearings in a Hornblower book. The author keeps going out of his way to mention the defeat of the Royal Navy at the Battle of Lake Eerie (which is at best tangential to the subject matter), and to namedrop Hornblower whenever he can. The book contains some nice illustrations, mainly paintings, and some interesting information, but it reads like nothing more than a coffee table book, superficial in its infomation, merely hinting at things I was hoping to learn through it. There are also a number of typographical errors that ought to have been corrected but weren't, giving the entire book the air of something dashed off in a hurry and with little care. I was hoping for much, much more than I received.

Dudley Pope has written several naval adventures. _Admiral_ is one in a series about Ned Yorke, an English Royalist in the West Indies during the Cromwell's Protectorate.

With Cromwell's death, Ned turns from a rebel to a privateer. Attacking the Spanish with his beautiful lover and buccaneer allies, Ned shows his skills as a commander against a background of tropical nature, sailing, treacherous politics and dangerous but declining Spanish Empire.

The characters are fairly likable, but there are no interesting villains, and few true challenges, which make the successes in the story less than exciting. The overall lack of suspense, and lack of a motivating cause on the part of the heroes (other than love of excitement and need for money) prevents this book from rising above a mild entertainment.

In Catholic tradition, the Book of the Gospels is a symbol of Christ as Teacher, instructing his Church by his word and example, especially within the liturgical context. As such, the Book of the Gospels was very early seperated from the other books in the Church, and designed and crafted with great care. The designs, artwork and craftsmenship of the book witness to the Church's devotion to Christ's teachings and her veneration of the Word of the Father himself.
This edition uses the revised American Lectionary of 1998. It contains the gospel passages for all Sundays of the year in their three-year cycles, as well as gospels read during solemnities and some special feasts. It also contains the gospel readings for the celebration of various other rites, such as ordination, confirmation, marriage and Christian initiation etc. This makes the Gospel Book useful for all major and solemn celebrations in a community, except Ash Wednesday since it does not contain the gospel passage for that day. This edition is approved by the US Bishops for use in the USA.
This edition of the Gospel Book however stands in stark contrast to the venerable tradition of the Church. The cover design, though potentially excellent, is now stark, being decorated only by a fanciful cross. [According to the publisher, the size of the book fits most ceremonial covers. Maybe that will mask the starkness of this book.] The print is easy-to-read, but there are no pieces of liturgical/religious art in the book. This runs counter to our tradition where words and art both help communicate the Gospel of Christ to all people. The Lectionary published by the same company is better than this Gospel Book and this makes the latter a very disappointing book.
This book is the cheapest of four editions to choose from, from different publishers. But it is so different from the Church's heritage that it would be more worthwhile to save some more money and obtain a better edition of the Book of the Gospels. If one can afford it, the Deluxe edition published by Midwest Theological Forum is the most exquisite and beautiful. This edition features many full-color art pieces, and a cover with Christ the Pantokrator(Teacher). The same publisher also produces a similar Standard edition that is much cheaper [...]; its cover has the four evangelists from the Book of Kells. If not, the edition produced by Liturgy Training Publications works too. This edition features contemporary full-color artwork based on Ethopian Christian styles. All these editions makes use of the revised American Lectionary of 1998, and are all approved by the US bishops. I would obtain this plain edition only as a last resort.

The misinformed and dis-informing book propagates caricatures nonwestern socieies and their Christian communities, in service of American/Western pride and a false sense Christian charity.

First, a misinformation example: "Many ... religions ... began in Asia: ... Confucianism ... in eastern Asia.". Confucianism is NOT a religion, if by "religion" one refers to the supernatural or the transcendent, as is common. Please ask Voltaire, if you would rather not take this ethnic Chinese person's word for it. If the authors cannot get such basics straight, how I can take their other claims seriously?

When European colonizers came to sub-Sahara Africa, ... they succeeded in replacing African way of life with European political, economic, social, and religious institutions." Pardon me --- "replacing"? Or do the authors mean "superimposing"? Such carelessness is ridiculous.

Second, an example of misleading categories: "Although Christianity was founded in Asia (Palestine), it "left Asia very early and forced its way back several centuries later as a stronger and 'intruder' which Asia consistently refused to entertain." Please, exactly what has Japan in common with Jordan, and Korea with Kuwait? That is, besides that none of them is western? May be the following details are irrelevant to the authors' mind: Korea has a very sizable and dynamic Christian minority; and the Philippines is actually Christian.

Third: an example of caricatures of the "other" to (subconsciously) serve American pride: In the chapter entitled "Jesus in Asia", I note a section entitled "Asian Poverty" but no sections called "Asian Affluence". Yoo-hoo. Have the authors perhaps heard of a country call Japan, and places like Singapore and Hong Kong? Perhaps Asian success is irrelevant to the authors so that American Christians may humbly self-appoint themselves as world-saving heroes, to demonstrate their self-sacrificing sensitivity for the "other", by consigning Asians to caricatured poverty and by interpreting Asian theology as primarily reactions to the West.
Much of the authors' mischaracterization cannot be simply attributed to random carelessness, because their mischaracterizations are almost invariably exaggeration of nonwestern negatives and exaggeration of American/Western power and impact. This systemic mischaracterization reveals the authors' psychology and mindset and (subconscious) motivations

I would respectfully suggest to the authors that they can perhaps best serve nonwestern Christians simply by stop writing and publishing in the name of Christian service their misinformation and disinformation.

I've only used this book a few times and find it hardly useful. There are quite a few brands and products that I use that aren't listed in this book. This book is small and difficult to use. There also seems to be a stong bias to certain brands only. You'll get just as much use reading the back of packages yourself or reading the plastic bags in the produce department. Don't waste you money.

Deborah Pope is a Poetry Literature Professor at Duke University and is required to publish every so often. Her poetry is well written, but the reason she has written it and her talent are not very good. It was not even really published, she paid to have it published. A few of the poems are good though, and for that she gets two stars. If you have money to burn, buy this book.

Catholic social teaching took an important turn when Pope John Paul II promulgated his magisterial encyclical Centesimus Annus in 1991. The Pope dealt with a wide range of topics, but focused special attention on economic justice. While there is much that a democratic capitalist (to broow Michael Novak's useful phrase) might quibble with in the encyclical, it nevertheless rewards careful reading. Unfortunately, this book does not do it justice. The book is in two parts. First, a poorly edited condensation of the encyclical itself. Second, a collection of essays. The commentaries mostly appeared in a 1991 issue of National Review. They average 3-4 printed pages. The analysis is uniformly shallow and even trite. In short, there is little here that would be of interest to the serious scholar or even the informed layman.

How frustrating that Wildside Press didn't include more with their complete text of Pope's translation. Not only is there no mention of Fenton and Broome, the two men who actually translated 12 of the 24 books--not only are none of Broome's notes included, but there is no annotation whatever, no bibliography of recommended further reading, no criticism, not even a decent history of the translation or of Pope himself, aside from a single reductive paragraph by Theodore Alois Buckley (who edited the text and wrote the rather flowery introduction--in fact there isn't even a date for the introduction--it's Victorian but Wildside doesn't make that clear). Even the back cover is misleading, attributing a Samuel Johnson quote to the Odyssey, when it referred explicitly to the Iliad. Finally, there is no line-numbering, so this edition would be difficult to teach or reference in a paper. Not a scholarly edition.

There are few books more disappointing than a history book that doesn't adequately explore its thesis. Such is the case with Pontiffs. Hughes mentions in his introduction that he selected popes who "...made a difference." He then goes on to profile eleven pontiffs, from the obvious (St. Peter and Gregory the Great) to the more controversial (Pius VII and Leo X). However, these profiles barely, if ever, explain the reasons why these popes "made a difference." As a result, one finishes the book wondering why Hughes chose these eleven instead of others who have made equally powerful impacts on the papacy.

Pontiffs is good as an introduction to the accomplishments and failures of the discussed popes. If read on that level alone, it serves as a handy, easy to read primer on their lives. But, the book advertises itself as an exploration of popes who "made a difference" in the Church. By failing to explore the thesis more fully, Hughes ends up diminishing his power of his subject.

I'm glad to have this volume in print again, but it's perhaps the most disappointing in the series. It's the last installment in an unfinished saga by the late Dudley Pope. Everything here is MUCH too easy for Ramage (still a captain) and his trusty, rich, and invulnerable Calypso crew, now shipping out in the Dido, a formidable 3rd rate "74" ship of the line. In some ways (simple lingo, explanatory vignettes, lots of action) this last volume is an easy introduction to nautical fiction. Or one could say there's lots of padding, one too many books in the series. After the unique setting of the penultimate novel #17, fighting the exotic Saracens, Pope is so tired that he even has Ramage return to the scene of one of his greatest accomplishments in the Caribbean (#7 Ramage's Diamond) and substantially repeats the same achievements to a still finer degree. Ramage fights five nearly bloodless ship battles and leads a cutting out expedition in boats. It's pretty incredible, Ramage is never at a loss for tricks and the French always are. I never felt much tension, suspense, or terror in the story, not strong points in Pope's prose anyway.