"A Wall For San Sebastian" is a moving and entertaining novel set in early 19th Century Spanish Mexico. The principal character, Padre Leon, is a Spanish Franciscan missionary who, passed over for assignment to the missions of California, is assigned to the obscure village of San Sebastian. This veteran of the Spanish Army takes up residence in this dusty village held in the grip of terror by the feared Commanche warrior, Golden Lance.

Padre Leon undertakes the task, not only of rebuilding the Church of San Sebastian, but that of uplifting the entire community. Undertaking a myriad of projects, religious, engineering and agricultural, Padre Leon gradually wins the hearts of his parishioners. Recognizing that only with some security from the annual Commanche raids can San Sebastian lift itself out of its lethargy, Padre Leon undertakes his greatest task, that of building a wall for San Sebastian.

As the story progresses toward its climax, Padre Leon is torn between service to his people as a Son of Cortez or greater service to God and his people as a Son of St. Francis. Ultimately the son of Cortez restores his village's spirit and prosperity while it is through his response to his higher calling as a son of St. Francis that he secures peace for his people.

In this book we see Padre Leon as a a soldier turned priest, in the mold of St. Ignatius of Loyola, a builder of missions in the spirit of Junipero Serra, a defender of villages after the model of Padre Kino, and a bulwark against barbarians as was his patron, St. Leo the Great. The story combines history, the flavor of life in colonial New Spain and soul searching of people trying to do right in their lives. It is a book well worth reading.

Especially relevant with today's political world climate, this interesting autobiographical account of a young man's exposure to the rise of the Nazi party. A small book with a heavy message, altho' I feel it could have benefiited from some editing by or because of the translation into English.

Sebastian Haffner's "Defying Hitler" is a rare gem that explains what is was about those in Germany between 1918 and 1933 that found a hearth in Hitler's promise of a glorious Fascist future.

1933 is the story's kernel when, as Haffner says, the dual begins. Hitler comes to power. It's the state versus the individual; the struggle for one's soul. It's the ordinary person (Haffner) up against Big Brother, Nazi style, with fangs exposed, talons sharpened, ready to strike.

Haffner probes the riddle of motivation and explains how for some Hitler was the hero for the hour to restore German's stature among the leading rank of nations. For others, it was join the cause or to yield to the alternative temptation of rejection or resistance. For Haffner himself the Nazis are a deadly pestilence that overturns the individual's capacity to live, to love, and enjoy life as one wants. For Haffner, this foot soldier for nondescript humanity, what does he do?

This is the real tease. Haffner later becomes a celebrated German writer and commentator. Written in 1939, he never actually completes this early work which his son Oliver only discovers after his father's death in 1999. Thankfully Oliver fills in the blanks and we are not going to spoil the story by revealing the outcome here.

Despite the abrupt end, it's not hard to see why this book became a best seller in Germany. Haffner writes with a beautiful cynical wit and has a grasp for history and the human condition. Champollion's Rosetta Stone provided a key to unlocking the secrets of Egyptian hieroglyphs. In its own way Haffner's "Defying Hitler" is the Rosetta Stone for Nazi Germany. It's a carriage for meaning and insight into not just a dark chapter of German history, but perhaps our own.

This is an elegant book, written in 1939 but not published till after its author's death in 1999. It throws light on the endlessly absorbing question: How could Hitler take over the country so completely as he did. I found absorbing the account of the child growing up during the first World War, living thru the inflation of 1923, attaining manhood in the 1920s, and then all at once the ridiculous Nazis are in power and the nightmare begins. This is a well-told account, and of great insight.

The Three Investigators series is MUST reading for all kids. As a teacher I encourage all of my students to delve into the adventures of Jupiter Jones, Pete Crenshaw, and Bob Andrews. None of my young readers has ever been disappointed!

This (the second book in the series) mystery is one of the best. It's a fast moving story that gives readers a lot of mystery and action. All the familiar Investigators charms are here: bad guys galore, red herrings, riddles and clues, chases, and the fun of the revelations in the last pages.

I strongly encourage anyone who reads (no matter their age) to pick up this series. It'll put a smile on your face and make you glad that you shut off the TV and dove into a book.

In this second book about the Three Investigators, Robert Arthur has exceeded the achievements of the first. Whereas The Secret of Terror Castle detailed the boys' attempt to prove their investigative powers, The Mystery of the Stuttering Parrot relates the story of the boys' first real case. Having been charged with finding a missing parrot, they soon find themselves intimately involved in a search for a valuable work of art. The story is much fuller and more satisfying than that of the first book. Here we see the case evolve from a seemingly simple, far from dangerous search for a missing pet to an expanded search for seven mysterious parrots (the significance of which are not at first apparent) and finally to a race against an international art thief to acquire a lost masterpiece. Along the way, they face mysterious foreigners working against them, make sense of an enigmatic coded message, and ultimately triumph (albeit somewhat by accident). Admirably, they also go out of their way to generously help a young Mexican immigrant and his uncle establish a more comfortable life for themselves.

This is the Three Investigators at their finest. The mental acumen of Jupiter Jones is put to the test, and once again his mental prowess proves up to the task. For an adult such as myself, some of the obvious clues are not picked up on in as timely a fashion as I would expect, but one must remember that even Jupiter Jones, genius that he is, is only a lad. This book is an unqualified success, eminently enjoyable to both young and old alike. I feel just as I felt twenty years ago upon first reading these books--anxious to read about the boys' next case.

This book and other books in this series are excellent reading material. I am 25 now and still find the same thrill and excitement on reading these books as I found 10 years back. These are simply unputdownable at any stage of life.

The Mystery of the Silver Spider is in many ways the quintessential Three Investigators book in my mind, mainly because this title stands out the most from my childhood memories. It really is a good, exciting story, full of political intrigue, international espionage, a dastardly conspiracy, very real danger, a mad flight to safety, and other thrills along the way. After a chance meeting with the young prince of Varania, the boys find themselves invited to the prince's coronation in his home country. They are ostensibly contracted by the U.S. government to serve as secret junior agents--while the feds know some type of trouble is brewing in the small yet important European nation, they have been unable to ferret out the information they need themselves and thus turn to our intrepid young heroes for help. Once in Varania, the prince confides in them the fact that the invaluable silver spider, the symbol of Prince Paul, the most important leader in their history, and the symbol of the very nation, has been stolen and replaced with a fake; without the true silver spider, the prince will be disgraced and his coronation will be postponed--perhaps permanently. Much to the boys' surprise, Bob finds the precious spider stashed among his handkerchiefs. Realizing that the evil plotters mean to blame them--the young prince's friends--for the theft, Jupe, Pete, and Bob are forced to make a run for safety; fortunately, they are aided by some Varanians loyal to the young prince. Poor Bob bangs his head during the escape and cannot remember where he stashed the real spider. As events build to a climax, the boys race to free themselves from capture and somehow alert the Varanian people to the prince's danger. With Bob still suffering partial amnesia, it is up to Jupiter to find the silver spider and thus save not only the prince but the entire nation of Varania.

This one is action-packed from front to back and may well be the best book in the series. If you have not yet been introduced to the Three Investigators and are wondering which book to try reading first, I would recommend this book. You might as well buy the other available titles, though, because you are surely going to want to keep reading these adventures. For the life of me, I can't figure out why there has never been a Three Investigators movie--this story in particular would be terrific on the big screen.

The Three Investigators and Mystery of The Silver Spider is great. It has full of suspense and plot twists. It is my favorite Three Investigators book. The book is written by Robert Arthur, the origanal Three Investigators author. His three investigator books are better than the ones written by the later ones.

This was an excellent novel by Arthur and one of the best in the series. It details the exploits of the three sleuths as a chance encounter with royalty leads them to another nation where they become embroiled in an attempted governmental coup. Everything hinges on the Silver Spider--the key to the throne--and the suspense is immense when the only one who knows where it is can't remember! Mystery,suspense,and more action than in most of the books, The MYstery of the silver SPider takes you on a rollicking ride that culminates in an explosive climax.It will keep you glued to your seat and sweating with the characters!

Absolutely reccomended.

Maverick

Another incredible bargain from Dover. Although I think their edition of the Beethoven complete string quartets (in a single volume!) is probably the best buy in all of music, this edition of The Well Tempered Clavier is a strong competitor. (If only it had included The Art of Fugue!) This is the edition I recommend for my students because of the clarity, absence of artificial or misleading editorial markings, ease of page turns, and cost. It is not perfect; what edition EVER is--in this case, one of my quibbles is that of all the minor key fugues, only ONE (g# minor) ends without a piccardy (raised) third--it simply must be an oversight, and interestingly the accidental already present in the key signature is repeated unnecessarily. Surely B natural should have been B sharp in the final measure. Regardless of the slight problems, this is the single best tool to learn Baroque counterpoint in general and fugue specifically. No textbook I know of is capable of demonstrating the fluidity of form, nor describing the sophistication of melodic and contrapuntal writing that Bach employs. Every book I know of oversimplifies or even avoids the issues that Bach so admirably handles. The answers are here, in the music, not in a text. Absolutely invaluable for the serious music student.

This is the text to get if you're studying Bach's preludes and fugues. As both a pianist and an organist, this is a book i can take from one instrument to the other. It has a no-nonsense approach and gives you just what you need to play. I had used another text of the Well Tempered Clavier and prefer this one above it. At this price, it should be a must in any pianist's or organist's library.

When I saw that The Well-Tempered Clavier had only received four and half stars, I asked myself "if one of the supreme masterworks of one of the greatest composers of all times only gets four and a half stars, what the heck gets five stars?"

I love this music, and I like the Dover edition. It's true, it's not quite as legible as the Henle Urtext edition (what is?), but it's about as good a version of the score, there are fewer page turns, and, since it's a fraction of the price of the Henle edition, you can afford to buy two copies, one for writing in, and one for when you want to look at a clean score.

Amazon's current price comes out to less than five cents a page. You can't photocopy it for less!

I've bought several copies over the years, so that I could give them away to people I thought would enjoy them.

No single work of music, by any composer, has brought me as much enjoyment. I'm buying another copy today so that I can have one in my office and one at home.

I'll stop raving now ...

As pure Art, as magnificent intelligence incarnated as absolute beauty, this is the greatest book ever written by human hands. It is a terrible thing to contemplate that 150,000 people die every day without having read this book. Don't let it happen to you.

This book dramatically illustrates two things: First, that truly fascinating subjects and truly beautiful works of art require fundamental concepts from cognitive science and an implicit understanding of the Universe. Second, that no matter how deep a scientific idea is, it can still be explained to any intelligent reader, without using obscuring clouds of mumbo-jumbo.

Artificial Intelligence, mathematics, cognitive science, computer programming; art, music, language; it doesn't matter whether you know them, or you want to know them, or you just want an unlimited amount of amazing fun - read this book. I could spend the rest of my life reading this book and I would still be noticing wonderful new gems.

If you're just an ordinary guy and you read this book, you may not understand some of it. But when you're finished, you will no longer be ordinary.

This is a unique book written by an even more unique author. If you are one who likes to dwell on the big idea of this world this is the book. Like a modern day Pythagoras, the author shows how mathematical properties or themes are expressed in various media. The title shows it is mainly concerned with the underlying relationship in the works of Godel, a mathematician, Escher, an artist, and the composer, J.S. Bach. This book also intertwines a host of other fields to demonstrate the same underlying concepts are prominent in such areas as the genetic coding, fractals, computer language, logic and philosophy. This is definitely a book that will leave an impression. The author, Douglas R. Hofstadter has developed well thought out concepts. He demonstrates a deep and intimate knowledge in many diverse fields. Only a modern Renaissance person could realize the connections and write this book. Heraclitus should have said you cannot read the same book twice. I read this book in the early eighties and it astounded me. I had the same impression reading it twenty years later. Although this book is well written, because of the subject matter it is not always light reading. It is helpful to have a pencil ready to work out the logic problems. The artwork must be viewed and the related concepts considered. A second reading of this book has spurred me onto purchasing his other books.

It seems highly appropriate that Douglas Hofstatder should re-release his epic work now. His central theme plays so eloquently in this place and time: Every system folds in on itself, be it physics, mathematics, or any form of language. All these systems are inherently self-referential, and as such, take on a life of their own. A life their creators could never imagine. Many reviewers have focused on the explicit messages of the book, their likes or dislikes, but the great beauty of this work lies within the realm of what it does not say. It is, no doubt, the most difficult book I have ever read, and I have to admit it took me several false starts to finally get through the thing. It is so incredibly deep - one cannot simply wade through it like a sci-fi novel. But if you take your time, spend, say about a year on it - work through the TNT exercises, discover the hidden messages the author has left, read the bibliography - and at some point it will strike you; the incredible richness of the message. The book, you, the world, all of it IS open. The pages of this universe are blank, unwritten. Dr. Hofstadter has woven a message of eternal optimism, one that transcends even the infinite depth to the tapestry of topics spread before us: The great freedom that we, nature's most remarkable matrix, are part of a future without destiny. Even if we were created, any purpose impressed upon us is lost in a cacophany of unexpected relationships. Deterministic, yet infinitely complex and unpredictable. We can never understand anything completely, and thus every life can experience the magic of observing that which cannot be explained. This is a book of wonders, and you will never regret the time you spent on it.

From the other reviews, I gather this book is useful to some people, so I'll try to be balanced in my criticism. Perhaps this book is helpful for those who have extremely mainstream, fastfood tastes. no experience with vegetarian food, and no cooking background. For others, however, this book is useless. Much of it involved (1) descriptions of premade vegetarian meat substitutes that can be purchased in supermarkets and (2) elementary cooking ingredients and techniques. The recipes include instructions on how to "pizzazz" a commercial frozen pizza with Green Giant hamburger crumbles. I'd like to see vegetarianism spread in this country so perhaps this book can perform a public service. But it's not for the serious cook, and I am going to return it.

I really like this cookbook. It opens up a whole new way of cooking and eating.The recipes are great and don't take hours to prepare. Tastes that are wonderful and healthy, too! What more can you ask for? Great for vegetarians and meat eaters who choose not to eat meat all the time.

I love the recipes in this book. They are both easy and delicious, and are geared to living in the real world. The ingredients are readily available and good for you. Plus, the recipes don't require the kind of time commitment required by many vegetarian dishes. It is a great book for busy families who want a healthy vegetarian lifestyle.

this book is just a collection of too many thing without a deeper insight. at least for circuit design, john uyemura's book will give you a much organized presentation.

I strongly recommend this book after I read the first half one.
It contains lots of stuffs you need to understand if you are a circuit designer, or device engineer designing test structures.
The format in this book is very comfortible to readers, and you can also make notes on each page (lots of space for readers)!

Great book for beginners. I would recommend reading the first half of the book and then reading "Skew Tolerant Circuit Design" and then "Logical Effort." These books will give a circuit designer the basic tools to circuit design.

To update my previous comments, though I still haven't gotten this book in the series, I did obtain #1 (Terror Castle) and #6 (Skeleton Island), and I was pleasantly surprised that my boys, aged 10 and 8, both love these books as well as Animorphs! This was a consistently exciting and entertaining series. Mr. Spock-like genius Jupiter Jones, research specialist Bob, and athletic but nervous Pete were the original ghostbusters, in sneakers, hired by the famous English scary-movie director Hector Sebastian (read as "Alfred Hitchcock," who played this role in the series' original run) to investigate various haunted locales and mysterious phantasms to appear in his films. The stories are well-written and age-appropriate for juveniles. The characterizations are strong (as opposed to the Hardy's, who I couldn't tell apart), the dialogue is witty, and almost every chapter ends with a breath-taking cliffhanger. Quite simply, if you know a young man aged 8--12 who reads a little bit, I can almost guarantee you'll make him an avid reader with one of these wonderful books. One warning--be prepared to be bugged by the young man to buy more books in the series!

While I did not find this story quite as satisfying as the previous three books in the Three Investigators series, it featured some of the most compelling scenes thus far. The chapters describing the boys' dangerous flight through a maze of old mines and caves had me squirming in my seat. Being a claustrophobic-type person, I found Arthur's descriptions of the tight squeezes through spaces barely large enough for a youngster to be quite harrowing and intense. That part of the story really "made" this book for me. While the mystery of the green ghost is fascinating and interesting, I just did not find the conclusion to be 100% believable, although it is certainly adequate and in step with the details of the case. The plot itself basically has two story lines converging into one; while there was some danger of the two story lines not intersecting properly at times, Arthur managed to overcome these potential pitfalls and keep the plot on an even keel. It may be that a youngster reading this book (or having it read to him/her) might get a little confused as the story begins wrapping up, but I don't think such confusion would detract from his/her enjoyment of the book. As I said, the description of the mines was just intense and should produce some pretty wide-opened eyes in youngsters (and adults) following the action. Any parent reading this book to a child should certainly anticipate some "just one more chapter" and "can you leave the light on?" remarks around bedtime.

I loved this book when i was a kid and avidly read all the three investigators books that I could find in the Library. I am so glad that with kids on the way that I can still get some of these books for my children to read. They are probably the most remembered books from my childhood.

This is a very detailed book covering a great deal about the life of Bach. A great deal of insight is on offer regarding the great man's life and times as well as the likely basis under which he produced his work. I have found that reading and re-reading this book has significantly enahnced my understanding of Bach's world - Thuringia in the first half of the 18th century.

There is more detail here in terms of how Bach lived and his day to day relations, both personal and professional, than anyone could possibly need. In terms of factual aspects concerning Bach and his life one could not expect or need anything more that this book and in this regard the book is successful; Christolph Wolff has been more than thorough in his research. So many points of detail are listed that I thought that I would come across one of Bach's laundry lists if I read for long enough. It could be said that there is actually too much detail here which doesn't significantly more forward one's understanding of Bach the man or Bach the musician. However, in an academic book such as this it is generally accepted that a surfeit of information does not constitute a lapse of quality. Concise is not an adjective which could be applied to the author.

However, there are two drawbacks for me in this book. The first is a relatively minor point but the second is very significant.

The first drawback is that the content of the book is, at times, meandering. Wolff seems to move around subjects and themes within a single chapter leaving the reader confused and unsatisfied. While there is plenty of information - sometimes too much even - the underlying structure is confused and confusing. This can appear as a meandering text which sometimes seems to lose the idea of the point it is pursuing. This is more a matter of style than an outright criticim however.

The second drawback is far more significant for me. Most people who would go to the extent of buying and reading this book would have a specific interest in Bach; that is his music represents something special to them. Many such readers will view Bach as a great genius; I am in that camp myself, no doubt so is Christolph Wolff. The main point about Bach is his musical, expecially compositorial skill. Why then is there no analysis of Bach's genius? How and where did it originate and how did it develop in his lifetime? How, in the view of the author, does Bach's genius manifest itself in his works. What is it about Bach which has raised his work to such an exalted level - how is this different to his contemporaries? The author scant regard to where Bach's creativity ebb and flow and how this manifested itself in his work. Little effort seems to be made in this book to consider the work of Bach in terms of how it could be analysed and contrasted - surely this is of primary importance in understanding Bach and his music.

I'm afraid that the dry factual/quantative approach which Wolff takes with regard to Bach's creative process is ultimately unrewarding for me. Most people who listen to Bach would be interested to hear the different musical aspects of, say the Masses. Why is the B Minor Mass considered great and how could it be compared in musical terms to the Mass in F for instance.
Which of Bach's cantatas are the ones to focus on when trying to expand one's understanding of his oeuvre? Merely listing the various Cantata cycles is not sufficient in terms of understanding the qualitative aspects of the music.

While this book gets behind the day to day Bach it does not give any insight into the creative core of Bach. This is certainly not easy given the essentially unknowable aspects of creative genius and the elapsed time since Bach's life - however I would have appreciated some effort on this front.

No book can serve the purposes of all potential readers and what this book covers it does in quality and detail. However an analysis of Bach's life should never be divorced from an analysis of his genius which the author seems to have done here.

Christolph Wolff is clearly a man who understands the life and times of Bach in great detail but I would have preferred to see more focus on the qualitative aspects of Bachs music.

In summary, then an informative and useful factual book but one which misses the opportunity to inform the reader as to the practicalities of the works of the great genius Bach.

With this new Bach biography, Wolff presents us with his thorough establishment of an updated Bach image that might well become the new standard work! Although Wolff's writing style is very readable, it might be a good idea to thoroughly study the Appendix and the Table of Contents of this book before venturing into reading. Thus equipped, one will find that Wolff proceeds very systematically and logically. Let me not describe to you what this book is not but rather what it is: An excellent biography of the development of Bach's musical mind and of all his musical gifts--those of the harpsichordist, organist, organ expert, music teacher, composer, conductor and music director, as this is also reflected in the sub-title of the English original: The Learned Musician. Wolff relies on original documents, early records such as the Necrologue (started by Bach, completed by his son C.P.E. Bach and Agricola), Forkel's biography of 1802, still relevant findings of Spitta and later writers, however, also on his own research of several decades, including his 1999 discovery of the Bach family documents in Kiew. In tracing the musical heritage of the Bach family, Bach's own development during his childhood at Eisenach, his youth at Ohrdruf and Lunenburg, Wolff carefully develops before us a picture of the basis upon which Bach could build his musical career as an adult. Also in his further description of Bach's development as organist at Arnstadt, Mühlhausen and at the Weimar Court, in his Weimar promotion to Concert Master, in his work as Kapellmeister at Köthen, and right into his activity as Leipzig Thomaskantor, Bach's musical growth and maturation is described to us in a clear, systematic and understandable manner, since the development of every pre-requisite of ever musical progress is described just as systeatically and understandably. As a serious musicologist Wolff concentrates--of course!--mainly on the history of Bach's musical development, and in doing so, the biographical-anecdotal is only referred to in such a manner as it, first of all, can be considered reliable and, secondly, is relevant. Since the appendix also provides a thorough time table, one never needs to be at a loss with respect to mere bare-bone facts of Bach's curriculum vitae. Wolff's manner of proceeding, however, ensures that the musical-biographical tension of his argument never lets up! Thus we learn easily how Bach, during his early adult years (at Arnstadt, Mühlhausen, Weimar and Köthen), developed into a master composer and music teacher who would also continue to challenge himself in his (by others often considered a 'decline' of sorts) position as Leipzig Thomas Cantor, such as in his extensive Cantata work and the Passion works of the 1720's, but also his additional activity as Director Musices of the Collegium Musicum during the 1730's. Wolff argues very convincingly and understandably that Bach's alleged stubbornness might have been mainly motivated by his striving for musical excellence and only rarely left those boundaries. Only after the description of Bach's career up to 1740 do we find a chapter on his family life which I enjoyed very much both on the basis of its factual accuracy as well as on that of its great sense of tact. The Muscial Biography finds it conclusion with the description of Bach's last decade in which he mainly concentrated on the Mass in B and on the Art of the Fugue. The entire biographical core is framed in by Wolff's preface, prologue and epilogue. One of the main ideas presented in these sections is that of Bach's role as musical equivalent to Isaac Newton's striving as a physicist in this era of exploration of the turn of the 17th to the 18th century.

This is unquestionably the single volume Bach biography for non-specialists, although musicologists will find it invaluable as well. Wolff has done a lot of debunking of various Bach myths (i.e., "Bach died while writing the final fugue in Art of Fugue, and dictated the chorale in his last breath"), but stilll has never lost his sense of wonder about this giant. Wolff also does a better job than most of placing Bach in European intellectual history as a whole, not just musical history. His comparison of Bach to Newton, while not original, is apt and insightful. The best thing about this book, however, is that it led me back to the music with several new insights. For example, Wolff's analysis of the famous d minor tocatta (BWV 565) led me to realize just how advanced this very early work is. Highly reccomended.