Hal and Sidra are doing unique, exciting and pioneering work in the area of relationships. They have helped me tremendously in my own personal life and have given me new inspiration in my work. I think this is the most fascination and useful book I have ever read on the subject of relationship.

This is a big book, about 9x12" and thick, with 304 pages in this edition [reviewer suspects that most editions are very similar; this is based upon the 1983 edition]. Its subtitle on the dust jacket says it is a complete reference work on collecting and fashioning minerals, but it is even better than the subtitle indicates. This gives an explanation of just about every aspect of the mineral world that is of interest to the collector.

Its introduction includes an interesting history of the study of minerals. It contains a chapter on the chemistry of minerals, written for the layman yet accurate. The chapter on the Crystalline State considers how crystals grow, with helpful diagrams, habits, crystal structure, symmetry, systems, and optical properties, an otherwise difficult subject written simply for the layman. Another chapter deals with geolgy and the types of deposits minerals are found in, and how to collect, label, etc. A section on ecomonic geology and the interaction of mineral collectors and mines. A chapter on identification of minerals, mostly by their various physical properties (a superb diagram of a home-made specific gravity balance is included!), and a chapter on the fashioning of gemstones. A chapter on conserving and displaying mineral specimens, along with cleaning hints (Note: despite the book, hydrofluoric acid, HF, is NOT recommended for any amateur as this is extremely dangerous; this is the only disagreement or fault that the reviewer found with the book). Also storage, display, and cataloging.

Nearly half of the book is descriptions of minerals, many accompanied by color photographs. This is, however, not an identification guide (use the recommended guide by Pough for that), nor does it cover all species, but the more common ones. This is, instead, a sort of encyclopedia to simply learn by and to enjoy. This is followed by a bibliography containing over 60 excellent references for further study, and an index.

Although not an identification guide, nor a college text, it yet intelligently explains in layman's language some aspects only covered in technical jargon in the usual textbooks, aspects which the amateur may have been curious about but has not studied. This is a superb book for the one who wished to be guided, as if by a museum tour, through the world of minerals. The photographs are wonderful, mostly correlated with the text. The text is accurate, respects the intelligence of the layman, and is clear. It is obvious that the author knows and loves the subject, and has spent a great amount of time and thought in the preparation of this book. I hope he is a mineral museum curator, as his tours would certainly be booked up full. For a tour of the world of minerals and of their collecting, this is nearly as good as a trip to a museuma, and you won't have to wait in line! -DM

This book gives a description of numerous rock & gem types, along with characteristics, pictures, geography, etc. Good book for someone just starting out in the world of rocks. However, it is not helpful for someone with prior knowledge. It is a beginners level book and a really good one at that.

This is an outstanding book on life in ancient China, Egypt, Greece and Rome. It is well-written and easy to use with outstanding illustrations. The information is broken down into useful areas suitable for both adults and children. It deals with all areas of life and beliefs in these ancient cultures. I would recommend this book for anyone interested in reading and learning about life in the ancient world.

I came new to this subject but became rivetted by Pateman's engaged and engaging style. He writes in an easily, understandable but profound way about one of the most significant struggles for nationhood in the XX century. He covers many centuries of history but convinces me that Eritrea is indeed a special place. An enduring sense of nationhood developed during the liberation struggle a sense which has deepened during the cowardly Ethiopian attacks of the last few months. Pateman has helped me understand why the Eritreans have survived and why thay may become very important actors in Africa in the next century.

This book contained vast amounts of information on every gem topic there is. It helped me tremendously in learning about gems. It also saved me a lot of money when I went out and purchased a ruby bracelet for my mother and diamond ring for my wife. I probably saved at least a thousand dollars just from using the knowledge obtained from this book. It is a great book and I recommend everyone buying it. It is a great investment!

This is excellent for those who have travelled to Greece and wish to learn more about the people & the culture through interaction. It goes beyond a traditional phrase book, and contains very useful phases that other phrase books do not include. Most concern real personal issues that people really want to talk about such as family, beliefs, social issues. The translation of each phrase is phonetic, and is ideal for those who struggle with the Greek alphabet & pronunciation. The author also includes comments concerning culture next to the relevant phrase. A section on cultural subjects at the end of the book is helpful to explain the gestures, comments, & activities that a non-Greek traveller might find strange. I believe it is helpful for anyone interested in interacting with the local people when they travel. for someone interested in learning the language, I woould consider this as a necessary suppliment to a formal language course.

All human knowledge, however antiquated, possesses some value for the present. True, such knowledge may not yield pure gold, but there might still be a few nuggets one can mine, specks of gold ore that can be used to enrich one's knowledge of human history and of human ideas. It is perhaps ironic that what Max Muller had observed in his "Lecture on the Vedas" became true of his own scholarship. For while he thought the Vedic hymns "tedious, low, commonplace," he still believed that "hidden in this rubbish there are precious stones." In the same way, one will find some "precious stones" hidden in the writings of Max Muller, but only if that person is willing to mine them.
Compiling an anthology of the essential writings of E Max Muller is no mean task. While the aim throughout was to include Muller's best-known and most often cited essays and addresses, page limitations have restricted the number of selections to fewer than twenty. As a result, those that have been included represent a mere sampling of his voluminous output, but a sampling, nevertheless, that presents to the reader the range of Muller's research interests in the origins of language, mythology, and religion. In addition, in view of Muller's wide-ranging interests in the comparative study of religion, mythology, folklore, linguistics, metaphysics, and human cognition, it is hoped that the selections in this "essential Max Muller" will be of interest to scholars and students in fields as diverse as religious studies, philosophy, anthropology, early linguistic theory, and the history of Western ideas.
There were a number of problems Stone encountered in editing this collection of essays that needs to be mentioned. The first has to do with the problem of multiple editions of and revisions to his catalogue of works. For instance, there are two published versions of Muller's famous 1870 "Lectures on the Science of Religion," an original edition, first published in 1872 under the title Lectures on the Science of Religion, and an expanded edition, published in 1873, that Muller retitled Introduction to the Science of Religion (as a point of interest, the latter edition was dedicated to Ralph Waldo Emerson). Further complicating matters, each version ran through several printings in Britain and the United States. Worse still, with each printing, Muller suggested corrections and revisions. In absence, therefore, of a definitive edition, for the selection included in this current anthology, "Lecture One," Stone decided to use the 1872 edition, which is closest to the actual lecture his audiences would have heard him give. It is shorter, "edgier," and less circumspect than Muller's revised and expanded versions.
With respect to other essays in this anthology whose originals were not available to me, Stone has had to content myself with using Muller's later and sometimes final versions, such as those essays he himself had selected for his Chips from a German Workshop, which by 1881 had grown from two to five volumes, as well as those he republished in his two volumes of Selected Essays (1881). Additionally, the three chapters from Muller's Lectures on the Origin and Growth ofReligion (1878) reprinted here are from his new edition, published in 1882. For this new edition, Muller updated some of his sources as well as tightened up his prose.
A second set of problems the editor encountered were numerous stylistic and mechanical incongruities. Muller was sometimes inconsistent in his spelling, in English transliterations of foreign words and phrases, and in his use of accent and stress marks. In addition, at least by modern standards, Muller made awkward use of commas, colons, and dashes and tended to write highly complex and overly long sentences and paragraphs. Many of the inconsistencies, of course, can be accounted for in the stylistic differences between his several British and American publishers. But his awkward use of punctuation was probably idiosyncratic. Though, for the reader's benefit, Stone has attempted to bring some consistency in both spelling and punctuation and have sought to reduce and simplify other res extraneae, in the end, it seemed inappropriate to "restyle" Muller's essays to fit modern tastes. For one thing, Stone did not want to dilute the nineteenth-century "flavour" of Muller's writings; and, for another thing, because a large amount of his published work had been written for lecture audiences, retaining most of the original accent and punctuation marks may preserve for the reader Muller's own speaking style; that is, it may allow the reader to "hear" his voice-which, according to contemporary reports was clear, passionate, erudite, and engaging. For instance, as Nirad Chaudhuri relates, after presenting a lecture on the Science of Language in the Council Chamber at which Queen Victoria and the royal family attended, Muller wrote to his wife that the Queen "listened very attentively, and did not knit at all, though the work was brought." When his lectures are read aloud, Muller's punctuation does indeed add variety to the pacing of his phrases and underscores their aural intensity. What is more, his indulgent use of commas and semicolons lends greater coherence to his long but carefully constructed sentences.

Being in the medical field, all too often I have heard the term "borderline" used to describe just about any patient who might be considered difficult. Just what does it mean to be a borderline personality ? I read this book as an assigned text for a graduate class in Narcissistic and Borderline disorders. No wonder we're all confused about this disorder !!! I found this book to be an excellent compilation of key papers on the history and development of the concept of borderline disorder. The book is divided into sections with seminal papers from each decade. The preface of each section, written by the editor, is informative and entertaining, placing each paper in it's historical context and making for a fascinating story of an aspect of the history of psychoanalysis and psychiatry in America. Highly recommended. Many typo's

This is a very informative collection of articles covering many aspects of South Asian music. It includes articles about North and South Indian classical traditions, folk traditions, dance, and popular music. There are also many articles about the role of music in society, women in music in South Asia, and South Asian music worldwide. Each region of South Asia is also covered with individual chapters. Many of the musical concepts and structures are exemplified in the accompanying CD; the relevant CD tracks are clearly noted in the text.

Living in Dubai, I have found myself immersed in South Asian culture, and recently started studying carnatic music on the veena, simply because it was here. Lacking all knowledge of the contexts in which the veena is played, I found myself floundering in my studies. The first teachers I worked with here either haven't had enough English or enough music theory studies to explain the music. I searched on the Net for information about carnatic music, but found that most of the information was written by Indians for Indians, using terms that I don't understand or can't make sense of. What makes this book different is that it is written for Western audiences, and the Indian terms are fully explained. As a result, this book has been a tremendous resource for me in explaining the music theory that I was struggling with, as well as the context of the music in Indian society. I've never read an encyclopedia cover to cover before, but once I got started reading this one, I couldn't stop.