The book has good detail, but the detail can be so much that you fall asleep reading it. There are some great examples, but for light reading I would not recommend it. Most of the articles are from actual sociology and medical type journals, so you can imagine how in depth they can be..

Kern calls for a better understanding between Christians and Jews, yet she practices discrimination against Jews in Hebron. Brazenly active in favor of Hebron Arabs against the Jews and their children, she has antagonized the Jews so much that children have turned against her because of her bias. I suggest she go back to Scripture and relearn the truth and practice it.

I must admit, the title _We Are the Pharisees_ made me do a double-take. I'm a good, church going, Bible reading Christian. I wasn't sure I could believe I was one of those religious bad guys I've heard so many sermons about.

Exactly. If nothing else, Kern's book shows how the Pharisees weren't what I've heard most references of them to be. In fact, they are more like me than I wanted to see. That alone is worth the read. However, the book later also delves more deeply into how that bias might affect our view of the Jewish faith today.

The book is written in a book study format, with seven chapters. The format is as engaging for the individual as well as for any group. The questions are thought provoking and personal. The text of the chapters is littered with plenty of dry humor and real-life examples, while also being an intelligent discourse on cultural viewpoints of the day. I often imagined a teacher trying to convey the different historical viewpoints in a lively, animated way.

The first part of the book deals with what the Bible says about the Pharisees. "Admittedly," Kern writes, "we find no passages in the New Testament that one could subtitle, 'The Pharisees: What a Swell Bunch of Guys!' " (p. 42) But, I appreciated her pointing out the "value-neutral" passages, and elaborating on those which were actually complimentary to the Pharisees.

She then explores the Pharisees in the light of legalism. I think this quotation summed up how the book impacted me the most: "God gave us these laws because he [sic] _loves_ us. Following these laws makes it easier for us to become complete human beings. Abusing our bodies or alienating other people in the end will always lead to unhappiness, which God does not want for us." (p.84)

Christians or other interested readers of the Bible cannot view the Pharisees today without also bringing in their presumptions about Jews, whether positive or negative. It is this point that enables Kern to open up the book to the next logical step of the issue of Jewish-Christian relations on the whole. Indeed, in the Preface she states outright that she prays that "a deeper understanding of Scriptures will facilitate better relationships between Christians and Jews."

There were just two things I wish could be different. First, the book is written to an Anabaptist audience, and those not familiar with the religious history of that sect may find the repeated references too narrow. Second, as who the Pharisees really were came to light, a tangible, meaty definition of Sin would have enhanced the comparisons of them to us.

Having many of my misbeliefs proved false by the Truth of Scripture itself was challenging and renewing to my mind. This small volume is jam packed with scholarship and encouragements to help anyone do just that.

Kerns's book presents issues in a thoughtful, readable manner. The material is really too basic for people working in the field and the publisher's price probably will keep it out of the hands of the lay public who should read it. Christine Grady's book on this subject provides a more comprehensive background and more authoritative references. Kerns relies heavily on newsmagazine and newspaper reports, where more authoritative (and accurate) sources could be found in very readble journals. Similarly, he greatly exaggerates some of the problems, for example, over estimating HIV prevalence in Thailand, by using data (which was dated at publication) from one atypical province and extrapolating to the country as a whole.

At first glance this text appears to be comprehensive and informative. But if you are an instructor looking at this text for a class, please take the time to read the first three chapters completely, and then do the problems at the end. The text is often too generalized, and the examples are not helpful. Too little time is spent developing the basic concepts, and the advanced concepts are presented matter of factly. The problems do not have solutions, and are difficult to solve, leaving you with more questions than comfort. Example problems were typically very easy to solve, and problems were more complex, and often misleading. The preface states no prior knowledge of electronics or electrical theory are required....I wonder who wrote the preface. I have extensive practice in simple circuit analysis, Thevenin, Norton, Superposition, and Source Transformation. This text confused issues rather than supported them. The subjects were written in such a modular framework, that the relationships between theories were missed. I found previous texts on circuits and other information to use as references.

The book would be completely deserving of a 5 star rating if there would have been answers to chapter questions in the back of the book. A few samples are worked out in the book, but the lack of a significant number of problems with solutions(or answers) leaves the reader unsure of progress. This book is definitely not recommended for self-instruction or for use as an introductory college text.

This book is absolutely not recommended for self-instruction. Without answers, how can one know if you're doing the problems right? If there is a solution manual, it should come with the book.

There is nothing special about this book. Kern's book "Model Release" was much more original!

The paperback book by Demetrio Paparoni is NOT the book Model Release but another book altogether. Don't buy this book if you want a copy of Model Release.

I kept waiting for something to happen. There is no moral to this story. It narrarates a duck's wedding, period. There is too much text for the physical size of the book. The story does not engage the reader. There is no focal point to the illustrations; they are too complex, faded, and crammed together (also because of the book's small format). The author should have familiarized herself with current children's picture books before tackling such a project.