I was a huge fan of Trixie Belden while growing up and could not wait to go to the bookstore to get more! This one was my personal favorite! It is the story of a young girl who moves into a house rumored to be haunted by the spirit of a witch who was burned to death many years before by angry townspeople. Trixie Belden and her best friend Honey help to solve the mystery of the house and the mysterious witch! A ghost story that I still love to pull down from the shelf and read!

This was the first Trixie Belden I ever received and I'll never forget reading it. In a nutshell, a young girl friend of Trixie and Honey is disturbed by 'ghostly' activity at her new home. A seance held by the Bob-Whites and other characters from the book proves devastating. Kept me awake and really got me interested in this series oh so many years ago. I still have my entire collection.

A must read for anyone in or about to enter the vast realm of Maintenance Management. John Campbell takes you through the strategies with easy to understand terms and concepts. All the buzz words are there TPM, RCM, CMMS, .. etc.

This book is a very good introduction in order to know what the maintenance meaning

This book is recommended for ages 9-12, but my 6-year-old ate it up and my 4-year-old enjoyed it too. I bought it because my girls are going through a knights and castles thing, and this was recommended as a good place to learn about them. I thought we'd just read that section and put it on the shelf until the other subjects came up. Well my 6-year-old saw things differently. She loves this book. She loves the way it is laid out and what she is learning from it. She had no interest in Vikings or Romans or Egyptians before this, but now she wants more on all these topics. And it is a fun book for me to read too. It is reminding me of things I hadn't learned since I was a child, and the diagrams are so clear that maybe I am learning things better than I did when I was a child.

WOW, this is a compilation of four different civilizations, it includes ALOT of information on understanding how these ancient groups lived. I have learned alot of interesting facts every time I haved looked through the pages. The illustration in it is amazing, there is not a corner left empty in this huge book!

Campbell again shows himself to be a master of mood and atmosphere with a collection of tales of a wide variety of setting and tone. Studied and effective, understated horror. In fact, he accomplishes better than horror (revulsion at something that has happened) and instead achieves terror (fear of something that *may* happen), which is Stephen King's stated highest goal. Thouroughly recommended.

Ramsey Campbell is the scariest writer of fiction there is. This collection of short stories once again proves that well known fact. A student from the H.P. Lovecraft school of horror, campbell takes the reader on a phsycological journey through the most sacred and untouched realms of our minds, the realm of fear. If you read one book of horror short stories this should be it, because once you've had a taste of campbell you're hooked.

If you have any questions on your call, this book can help you narrow your goal. I recently experienced a call from the Lord and this book helped me to find out exactly what type of ministry I want to pursue.

Not only helps you decide if the ministry is for you, also explains the the roles and responsibilities of ordained ministers and a true picture of the sacrifices that must be made.

John Campbell is to the Winchester Single-Shots as Frank Sellers is to the Sharps. This book, and its Volume II, are outstanding books about John Browning's first gun. It covers EVERYTHING you will ever want to know about this rifle, and then some. It is a must for anyone interested in the history of John Browning, Winchester and the famous Model 1885 Single-Shot Rifle. The book is FULL of pictures, diagrams and information about the 1885, including every modification and improvement this rifle went through during its long years in production. It also gives unbelievable details about every customized option or version that the rifle was ever made into. So if you are interested in the Winchester Single-Shot and its history, this book is the one, of two, to read.

This book has it all for the 1885 enthusiast, as well as for anyone who has an interest in John Browning, Winchester Repeating Arms, single shot rifles, and/or the beginnings of the modern gun industry here in America. Highly readable, with plenty of facts, figures, and illustrations. Well-edited, and excellent graphic presentation. A beautifully written, edited, and executed book, and one that you will read several times for the sheer enjoyment.

The quality of this book is a standard to which all others of its genre should be written to, but unfortunately too often aren't. I salute the author for a job truly well-done, and I unreservedly recommend this title to anyone who has even a remote interest in the subject matter; the cost of the book is money well-spent. The book is that good.

It has been a few years since I read this book. I remember the cover notes saying that I would never look at the world in the same way again and I must say that it fundamentally changed my world view. It is a very intelligent book that is wide ranging in scope but uses time as a central theme. The author convinces us that nothing exists alone and that there are clocks and cycles everywhere. I recommend to any science reader.

A fascinating, and largely undiscovered masterpiece purportedly addressing the Nature of Time. If you've read Grammatical Man, don't let that turn you off. This one reads like a different author

After what seems too long a wait, the obnoxious GSD mix and his slave are back in action. Foxhill Academy, Annie's Alma Mater is holding it's annual winter festival. Annie is to give a speech to the senior class, and participate in as many events as she and Claudius can fit in. Her good friend's car is burgled, the thief taking some clothes and her grandfather's good conduct medal. They spot the guy on the street and chase him, losing him in a seedy neighborhood. The same guy turns up dead in a semifrozen lake on the grounds of Foxhill. On the bright side, Annie has two men in her life, the homicide detective and an instructor and part time EMT from Foxhill, that is if she lives to enjoy the situation.

As usual, this was a fun, quick moving mystery. Claudius is too obnoxious not to love, and the new characters introduced in this story add a great deal to the series. I can't wait for the next one.

In Lee, New Hampshire Anne O'Hara owns the Thurston Tavern a bed and breakfast antiques store. Ex-prison guard dog Claudius, a Husky German Shepherd mixed breed, in turn owns Anne. In the few months they've been together they have solved two murder investigations and made the husky acquaintance of the new detective in town Gus Jackson.

Anne's closest friend Cary hires her to locate the man who broke into her car and stole her jacket with her grandfather's medal pinned to it. Claudius finds the perp, dead in the middle of a frozen lake. When they go to retrieve the jacket and medal, Anne finds a miniature that was stolen from the nearby Fox Hill prep school. The dead perp's sister is killed shortly there after and Anne believes all these acts are linked, including the death of an elderly teacher shortly after the robbery in the school. Annie decides to do a little investigating, aggravating Gus while getting herself in deep trouble.

It's too bad that dogs don't read because Claudius is a credit to his species and would make canines very proud. His human is a terrific person who knows that no matter how hard she tries to hide it from herself, Claudius rules the roost. The mystery is lighthearted fun that will appeal to amateur sleuth lovers everywhere as Ann Campbell's latest novel stars a well-matched sleuthing duo.

Harriet Klausner

Since Berkeley is best remembered as a philosopher and it is therefore highly likely that anyone interested in this is interested in that part of Berkeley's collected works, that is where I will focus this review.

The most important work of Berkeley is "A Treatise Concerning the Principals of Human Knowledge [Part I]" (there is no part II - the partial manuscript for it was lost while Berkeley was travelling). "Principals" has two principal sections: one epistemological and the other metaphysical.

In the epistemological section of "Principals", Berkeley argued that when we use words to describe entities which we literally cannot imagine, we block our own understanding - "that we have first raised a dust and then complain we cannot see." We can use words to stand for a multiplicity of different entities (such as "triangle" to stand for all possible triangles), but that an abstract triangle, one that is "neither oblique nor rectangle, neither equilateral, equicrural, nor scalenon, but all and none of these at once", (here he was quoting Locke) is an impossibility. The significance of this is subtle, but critical to his argument since he came back to it again and again throughout his works to differentiate between meaningful and meaningless words.

Having laid out a differentiation between meaningful and meaningless words in his epistemological section, Berkeley then proceeded to the metaphysical section, in which he attacked the idea of matter, principally as expounded by Locke. Berkeley argued that matter is a meaningless word, signifying nothing that we can imagine. He argued that all of the properties that materialists ascribe to matter are either perceptions (non-existent in the absence of a perceiver) or utterly meaningless. Thus, Berkeley argued that a theory of matter to account for our perceptions was a meaningless proposition. Our perceptions of the world (our ideas of it), however, still required an explanation. To this end, Berkeley argued the things we perceive are ideas that are put into our minds by God. They differ from things that we imagine by our lack of control over them, and in their consistency and vividness - properties that are the result of their being the product of a mind other than and vastly more powerful than our own. In this argument, Berkeley felt that he had discovered a powerful counter to atheism, that his theistic idealism could account for the world whereas atheism, with its dependency on matter, could not.

"Principals" did not meet with the acceptance that Berkeley had hoped for it (to say the least), so he presented his metaphysics again in a more accessible form in "Three Dialogues Between Hylas and Philonous." "Dialogs" is easier to read, but not as good a source as "Principals" for really understanding Berkeley. In either form, the critical side of his argument against matter had and has great force, even if his proposed alternative has never attracted many adherents.

Berkeley also presented his metaphysics again in less detail in two other works: the fourth dialogue in "Alciphron; or, the Minute Philosopher" and in "The Theory of Vision, or Visual Language, Shewing the Immediate Presence and Providence of a Deity."

"Commonplace Book - Berkeley's notes from 1705-08." is a collection of short notes that Berkeley jotted down while he was working through his philosophical ideas and preparing to publish them. "Commonplace Book" itself was never intended for publication but is of interest in understanding how Berkeley's thought developed.

Berkeley also wrote on scientific matters, consistent with his views as laid out in "Principals", on vision in "An Essay Towards a New Theory of Vision", (which he actually wrote before "Principals" which he hoped would soften the audience for the presentation of the full theory in "Principals" and also in "De Motu" (On Motion).

Berkeley also wrote on mathematics, again consistently with his philosophical writings in "The Analyst; or a Discourse Addressed to an Infidel Mathematician" and the follow-on works "A Defense of Free-Thinking in Mathematics" and "Reasons for not Replying to Mr. Walton's Full Answer". "The Analyst" - an attack on the foundations of Newton's calculus, set off a furor in British mathematics that lasted a century.

"Alciphron" alluded to earlier, was a work of Christian apologetics, and was Berkeley's longest work. It is not without interest today, but it has not aged as well as his other works mentioned above.

"Passive Obedience: or The Christian Doctrine of not resisting the Supreme Power", was a work of political philosophy. It is not at all connected with his other philosophical works and was regarded as dangerous and somewhat subversive.

The last work of Berkeley that deserves individual mention is "Siris: A Chain of Philosophical Reflexions and Inquiries Concerning the Virtues of Tar-Water and Divers Other Subjects Connected Together and Rising From One Another", a curious (to put it mildly) work on both "tar-water", which Berkeley held to be a panacea, and metaphysical speculation inspired by reading classical sources (if you don't know what tar-water is, don't worry - you can get the recipe in "Siris"). "Siris" was written near the end of Berkeley's life. The metaphysical speculation in it did not constitute an abandonment of his earlier ideas, but it did not strike me as at all developed - he was going somewhere new but had not yet arrived when he wrote it.

Apart from his intellectual endeavors above, Berkeley also led a full life and was an active Anglican clergyman. He travelled, wrote on purely religious matters, and also wrote in support of social justice and tolerance. These works round out the man, as does "Life of Berkeley", Fraser's biographical essay at the start of the collection.

The collection is not without its flaws. Chief among these is that "De Motu" is left in Latin and untranslated both it and "The Analyst" really require more extensive introductions to be easily understood by a contemporary reader. Douglas Jesseph's "De Motu and The Analyst", Volume 41 of "The New Syntheses Historical Library" is a highly recommended supplement to the "Works".

So what do you get for your money?

Volume I:

Life of Berkeley - by Fraser.

Commonplace Book - Berkeley's notes from 1705-08.

An Essay Towards a New Theory of Vision.

A Treatise Concerning the Principals of Human Knowledge [Part I].

Three Dialogs Between Hylas and Philonous.

De Motu - this is in Latin and is NOT translated.

Volume II:

Alciphron; or, the Minute Philosopher.

The Theory of Vsion, or Visual Language, Shewing the Immediate Presence and Providence of a Deity.

Volume III:

The Analyst; or a Discourse Addressed to an Infidel Mathemetician.

A Defense of Free-Thinking in Mathematics.

Reasons for not Replying to Mr. Walton's Full Answer.

Siris: A Chain of Philosophical Reflexions and Inquiries Concerning the Virtues of Tar-Water and Divers Other Subjects Connected Together and Rising From One Another.

Three Letters to Thomas Prior, Esq., and a Letter to the Rev. Dr. Hales, on the Virtues of Tar-Water.

Farther Thoughts on Tar-Water.

Volume IV:

Arithmetica Absque Algebra Aut Euclide Demonstrata - this is in Latin and is NOT translated.

Miscella Mathematica... - this is in Latin and is NOT translated.

Description of the Cave of Dunmore.

The Revelation of Life and Immortality.

Passive Obedience: or The Christian Doctrine of not resisting the Supreme Power...

Essays in the Guardian.

Two Sermons Preached at Leghorn in 1714.

Journal in Italy in 1717, 1718.

An Essay Toward Preventing the Ruin of Great Britain.

Verses on the Prospect of Planting Arts and Learning in America.

Notes of Sermons Preached at Newport in Rhode Island and in the Narragansett country in 1729-31.

A Sermon Preached before the Incorporating Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts...1732.

The Querist, containing several queries, proposed to the consideration of the public.

A Discourse Addressed to Magistrates and Men in Authority.

Primary Visitation Charge Delivered to the Clergy of the Diocese of Cloyne.

Address on Confirmation.

A Letter to Sir John James, Bart., on the Differences Between the Roman and Anglican Churches.

Two Letters on the Occasion of the Rebellion in 1745.

A Word to the Wise: or, an Exhortation to the Roman Catholic Clergy of Ireland.

Maxims Concerning Patriotism.

Appendix: The First Edition of the Querist.

General Comments:

The books are very well produced. Cloth bound, acid-free paper, burgundy colored, with a simple and elegant design. All in all, this is a handsome edition that will physically grace your library.

Fraser's commentary and footnotes are helpful and abundant (note: this is a reprint of a 1901 work, so there is of course no commentary on how Berkeley has been read in this century).

The only thing I would have wanted different than what I got would have been translations of the Latin essays into English.

Insofar as Berkeley the philosopher, he is one of the major philosophers of history, and one of the clearest writers. He is also often scathingly funny.

This is a wonderful book to have even if your four-pawed friend is just a youngster, as well as being a good guide if you have an older cat, and you need help taking care of all the changes that can take place quite rapidly as an animal ages.
Among the many instructive chapters, the one on health care is detailed and extensive, covering all the common ailments, with useful diagrams and treatment solutions.
There's also a chapter on home care, with good tips on how to administer medication, flea control, and how to take care of emergencies such as burns, choking, etc.

Chapter 5, "Physical, Mental, and Emotional Well Being" is a short but valuable one. It will tell you how to deal with the stressful situations in a cat's life, like moving, travel, and the introduction of a new pet into the family.

Being a "cat person", I much appreciate the care and research that went into this book. The layout is excellent, with several nice b&w photos, easy to read print, "Veterinary Tips" at the end of each chapter from veterinarians across the country, and an occasional side-bar with highlighted and very helpful information.
This is an intelligent, well written book that will serve your cat well and keep it purring from youth to old age.

This is a wonderful book, written with love and lots of essential information for the owner of an older cat. Great sections on nutrition and age-specific health problems. -- Gina Spadafori, co-author of "Cats For Dummies" (with Dr. Paul D. Pion)