Important for its non-conventional translations and its profound Hebrew etymologically-based commentary which affords many a Spinozistic innsight. There is much you will not agree with or even be turned-off. However, partake of the work as you would a pomegranate; relish the flesh, but spit-out the pits.

Also recommended to be used with Hirsch:

Gesenius 'Hebrew and Chaldee Lexicon to the Old Testament Scriptures' - ISDN 0801037360.

James Strong 'The Comprehensive Concordance of the Bible' - ISBN 0529063344.

R. Hirsch's goal is to learn the Torah from itself. He shows you through an intricate dissection of the text how, when read very carefully, the Torah provides the same conclusions as taught in the Talmud. The logic is compelling. I find studying his commentary to be intellectually breathtaking. Additionally he takes you across the entire landscape of Jewish law providing both a logical and ethical support. Above all he reminds you what a tremendous gift Jews have and what it means to be a Mensch!

Hirsch's natural genius, rigorous religious education and secular studies provides indepth insight into the five books of Moses. He takes the reader deep inside the meaning of the book; constantly providing illumintaing insights from the Oral Law to the Shulchan Aruch. His knowledge base is vast and his writing ability is surgical.

As a close friend of the author's grandson, I have become familiar with the town of Natchez and have a new respect and connection with my history as a Southerner. An incredible book to say the least. Pilgrimage is among one of my favorite books, and I must say that my grade at school has been caught up in the "splendor of the Old South in Natchez as a result of reading it! I believe all ages should read this extraordinary book as it stimulates the imagination of the reader.

As a frequent vsitor to Natchez I am well aware of its grandeur and mysterious intrigue. As the sister of Charleston, Memphis, and New Orleans, Natchez has become the symbol of steadfast glory in the Old South. Mrs. Collier has captured the story of the Walworth's in extensive detail. Based on the events which actually did occur in Natchez from the early 1830's to the 1920's. Thius fabulous novel expresses trully the joy, beauty, great tragedy, and majesty of the Walworths in the little rivertown of Natchez.

I loved this book about the old south and the before- and -after of the civil war. Louise Collier's personal family saga captured me and transported me back to fragrant gardens, dusty roads, magnificent mansions and a family I fell in love with. Add this to a tour of the historical homes of Natchez for a wonderful treat.

a must for anyone who will be visiting Montana's Indian territory. It not only describes the lifestyle of Indian Tribes, but also how modern times took away that lifestyle during that era.

To put it bluntly, this book changed my life! I found the old chief's stories mesmerizing and this has inspired a life-long interest in Native American culture and its preservation. The story is well written and easily followed. I first read this book at about age 10, and still find it stirring now, at age 37. A MUST READ for folks wanting to know more about the plight and past of the Crow.

One of the best books I've ever read. Plenty Coups recounts his life growing up in the Crow tribe during the 1800's. Beautiful. Mystical. Heroic. It's an easy read but will keep everyone from 10 to 100 spellbound.

This book is a profound indictment of many churches and synagogues today who fail to recognize the "counter-cultural" prophetic voice of the Biblical faith. Exploring the lives and teachings of Moses, Amos, Isaiah, and Jesus, Brueggemann rightly contends that our religious roots call us to be passionately critical of the cultural status quo and to embrace an energetic, optimistic vision of the future. A very readable, relevant critique which will challenge the views of liberals and conservatives alike.

this book will open the eyes of anyone who touches it i personally like the way it distinguishes the everyday culture from a now present but subtle counter-culture.

This book is counter-cultural in the best sense. It looks at Jeremiah, Isaiah and Ecclesiastes to demonstrate the need for different attitudes and expressions to begin the turn from sameness and despair toward change and hope. It remains one of the most important books in my life and often in the lives of people I have recommended it to. It is filled with astute observations in a clear, deliberate writing style, and it is not preachy. Phil Hey (hey@briar-cliff.edu)

In addition to very fascinating excursions to Mesopotamia, where the author sends a camera up in a kite to take photos of the scorched lines in the earth left over from what he suspects may by either Sodom or Gomorrah, and the profile of ancient Ninevah including a canal system inside the city walls, Pellegrino takes a moment to let us know that prior to the elimination of coconut oil as an ingredient, Twinkies would burn for 20 minutes, and were a great back up source of light for underground explorations. Now, he makes do with giant Cheetos, held with a tweezers, which will burn for maybe 10 minutes. I tried it, and it's true.

With wit and humor Dr. Pellegrino and his companions today led me on the most stirring and provacative tour of my life. Places once disconnected in my mind's eye are now alive, and full of fascination for me: the straight, steady Nile River Valley and its sluggish culture; the now-you-see-them-now-you -don't peoples of the fertile plains of Mesopotamia; and the ancient ancestors, cousins over the centuries from Asia, Africa, and Europe, woven together in the Middle East. The Gulf War, its rising up and falling down, make sense to me now, historically if not humanly, as does the conflict between Israel and Palestine, and the cyclic nature of life. Thank you, Charles, for a most interesting and illuminating day.

Dr. Pellegrino welded my eyes, and mind, to his fascinating archaeological journey thorough the Holy Land. I enjoyed reading a book where the author doesn't use religious bias. His knowledge of the Bible is extremely extensive, which combines with his archaeological expertise to produce a book that gives the reader a better understanding, in clearer terms, of the fascinating stories of the Bible. Read this book with an open mind, and read it again once you are done with it. For those who are non-practicing Christians (like me), this book is an excellent companion guide to the Holy Scriptures. Once your mind is saturated in its informative content, you'll want to recomend it to the rest of your friends and family, and just about anyone else you meet from that day on. --Andrés Goyanes--

I am sad to see that most of Barry Fell's work is either out of print or going out of print. If you think you have American pre-history "wired", you better think again. This is not pseudo-history; it is the work of a chair of University history department and it is based on well-founded research and documentation. Forget the "Siberian Ice Bridge" and other things that are the distant past and consider the evidence for Libyan sailors on the Mississippi River - and Hebraic script transcriptions in a "prehistoric" cave in Los Lunas, New Mexico - I could just go on and on.... in short - get this before it cannot be had anymore. I am just amazed that such things go out of print....

I worked with the author of Saga America because I lived nearby one on the sites he discussed, the source for the INYO ZODIAC. Originally, I was quite skeptical, but became convinced that Fell was correct. Besides the recognition of the Zodiac, Fell also found a notation that seemed to refer to the Vernal Equinox. That led to the discovery of the functions of a complete solar observatory. This book is a true landmark in epigraphic research. The good Professor Fell is no longer with us, but this book will help his memory last forever.

Barry Fell's 3 books on European and Mediterreanian peoples exploration/colonization of North America are the best and most important work on this subject I've ever seen. I am trying to find copies of Saga America and Bronze Age America, having purchased America B.C. a few years back. It isn't politically correct writing that he did, but it was all true.

"Satan Says" is the first collection of Olds' poetry which I have read (although I've come across her poems once or twice in anthologies). I found the poems in "Satan Says" to be not only startling and brutally honest, but beautifully crafted as well. Her work reminded me greatly of Marie Howe, another female poet writing on (among other things) the body's oft-ignored sensuality even in the face of an abusive world (or family). Her poems seem to fuse the simple craftsmanship and obersational talents of haiku with the frankness of Anne Sexton, giving us a treatise as much related to the body, childbirth, sexuality, dying, and agression as to metaphysics. Genuine and powerful, highly recommended!

This collection handles even the most disturbing personal matters in ways which are both accessible and enlightening to the reader. As human and inspired as her later books.

This is a brilliant, sad and utterly endearing first collection of poetry by one of North America's most amazing and blistering narrative poets. Michael Ondaatje says, "Sharon Olds's poems are pure fire in the hands--risky, on the verge of falling, and in the end leaping up. I love the roughness and humor and brag and tenderness and completion in her work as she carries the reader through rooms of passion and loss." --look also at Gary Short's "Flying Over Sonny Liston"--wonderful boyhood poems set against a flat Nevada landscape--

Isaac Asimov (the coy Dr. A who authored this book) is well known, not only to science fiction readers but many others as well, given the astounding breadth of his interests and his writings. With several hundred books to his credit, Asimov wrote on subjects as diverse as science, science fiction, literature, the Bible and so on. Sadly, few people know him as the author of The Sensuous Dirty Old Man (SDOM). Sadder yet, this book is very hard to find.

From start to finish, SDOM is a laugh riot as Asimov mercilessly parodies all and sundry. Ostensibly a guide for the Dirty Old Man to indulge his fascination with the female of the species, this little volume is a great helping of tongue in cheek humor at its best. Always outrageous but never really offensive, Asimov takes aim at fashions, at politics and just about everything else. Nor does he spare history or literature - witness his re-naming of the famed picture of the signers of the Declaration of Independence as the Bosom Rehabilitation Associates (or BRA!) and his hilarious send-up of the Verdi aria Oh Mammamobile from Rigoletto.

Asimov's well known writing strengths shine here as well. Written almost in conversational style, the book includes numerous vignettes of history, art and literature, all twisted by the author to his wicked purpose! No matter whether you are dirty, old or male: you will find yourself laughing helplessly all the way through and wishing there was more.

A couple of weeks ago I finally got hold of something I had been looking for since a year ago, a book you wouldn't believe: "The Sensuous Dirty Old Man", by Isaac Asimov (writing as "Dr. A").

Like I said, you wouldn't believe it. One of the people who had recommended the book to me thought that my web site ...was inspired by it, and I don't blame him. It is written almost 30 years ago, and it is philosophically so similar to DOMAI that I was shocked, but very pleasantly so.

Isaac Asimov was one of our great authors, and had published over 400 books on science, science fiction, and numerous other subjects. He was a respected scientist and the president of Mensa. The Sensuous Dirty Old Man is a small book, out of print unfortunately, and it is not only a sane and wonderful look on being a DOM, but also funny as heck.

The book describes how Dirty Old Manhood is something high and honourable that one should aspire to, in order not to become that pitiful creature, the Clean Old Man (like for example president Nixon).

It does take courage, sensitivity, and a lot of practice, but with enough intention and hard work, one might become a Dirty Old Man at a very young age.

The very famous quote: "Sex is dirty, if you do it right" is from this book.

Asimov tells us that the most important tool the Dirty Old Man has is his eyes. Eyes are for use. When you look at a woman with a brief, stolen glance, you are insulting her beauty. He says: "Don't peep at girls, STARE!"

A Dirty Old Man is far more attractive to women than young men, because of his sophistication and experience, his wisdom and his honesty.

From The Sensuous Dirty Old Man:

===
Let us imagine that you are a dirty old man but are dedicated to keeping it a secret because you are a bank vice-president and are interested in exuding an odor of sanctity so that no one will notice, until it is too late, that you are preparing to abscond [run away].

Now a lovely girl walks past you with a dress whose neckline is generously loose and under which there is clearly and obviously no bra. What do you do?

What you do is roll your eyes briefly in their sockets with the eyelashes lowered so that no one will see what you are doing. The result? You don't see anything at all, except perhaps for one flash of quiver that is far more upsetting than sating.

And what is the girl's reaction? She sees that flicker of eye even if no one else does (since she's watching for it) and despises you as a rotten little coward. You see that look of contempt in her eye (for it goes through you like an ice pick) and your self-esteem is shattered. Indeed, there is a very good chance that the girl will instantly realize that a man who would look at her with so miserably sidelong a glance is a man who would abscond with every cent of the banks property and she will inform on you at once.

But suppose you are not only a dirty old man, but are proud of it, too, and suppose the same girl walks by in the same condition. Now it is possible to be joyous and open. You can emit a melodious whistle or a snort of pleasure. You can stare openly. You can walk over to get a closer view. You can address the girl in friendly fashion.

And how does the girl react? She is pleased that she has created such an obvious stir in a gentleman of such substantial and prosperous appearance. She realizes that you agree with her own opinion of herself and this can't help but impress her with the excellence of your taste.

Seeing in you a person whom she can respect, she will think, "What a nice, gentlemanly old man," and will smile at you. From that to a friendly word or two is but a step, and from that to a pat on the cheek or some slight pressure on the upper arm is but another.

You own self-esteem will shoot up and if you are the vice-president of a bank, you will be so buoyed up by all the this that you will go right to your office and put back all the money. This is only one example of many I can cite in which being an open and honest dirty old man is an enormous aid to public morality.

[... and from later in the book:]

Oliver Wendell Holmes, the great Supreme Court Justice, in his last years (he lived to be ninety-four), was walking down Pennsylvania Avenue with a friend, when a pretty girl passed. As all dirty old men must, especially when the dignity of the Supreme Court is at stake, Holmes turned to look after her. Having done so, he sighed and said to his friend, "Ah, George, what wouldn't I give to be seventy-five again?"
===

Isaac Asimov tells us that after the eyes, the verbal skills of a Dirty Old Man is his most important tools, so he better can give compliments to the girl to let her know how beautiful she is.

So you see, fellows, we are not alone, and have never been. The wisest men up through history have always been Dirty Old Men as well.

I picked this book at a used book store on a whim because of its quirky title and even more amusing was the authors name who was attached to it. Something was not right, so I was curious to check it out. I began reading (like all my books) and soon discovered the hilarity and wit that Dr. Issac Asimov can convey. From what I understand from talking to some films is that Dr. A was indeed a Drity Old Man. The book is a guide book for the young and old alike, the male and female (but mostly male). It acts as a handbook for the pickup artist. To ogle at women with a smile. To take your hand off her knee if she asks, and to put it on her thigh. Clever and indeed insightful, even if its all tongue-in-cheek. Dr. A., and his photographic memory of quoting some wacky moments of history past is just perfect for the confidence level that one places when seeing a hot broad strutting down the street. Afterall, if she is showing cleavage, should not men look at it? What else should we do? As it states: "Don't peep at girls - STARE!" Other anecdotes to those who are inferier to approaching good looking women are those with morals. "Many regard the matter of mammary display as a frontal attack on our standards morality. Sometimes, I tend to agree with them. Many is the occasion on which I have looked down on low-cut dresses." Dr. A's historical satire is wonderful, as mentioned earlier, is not just a remark on the confidence level one should have, that a man who peeps, leers, looks or smiles in the direction of a female, but also a gesture to the woman that your confidence equals that of the female who is looked upon. Dr. A. says "[Joe] Green, having emigrated to Italy, adopted the Italian version of his name, Giuseppe Verdi. For reasons known only to opera buffs, the Italian name is actually better known today than the name he was born with in Pughkeepsie, New York." Verdi was a Dirty Old Man. And Vice-President Charles Curtis was a Dirty Old Man. Oliver Wendell Holmes was not. Asimov fans may not appreciate this book as much as his science-fiction or works of non-fiction, however, those who are looking for a genuine laugh, and those who love literature would surely find this little book a gem. Unfortunately, now it is out of print, and unless you want to pay heavily for first prints, a paperback would suit the purpose.

Sisters At Sinai: New Tales Of Biblical Women by Jill Hammer (licensed clinical psychology and an ordained Conservative rabbi) is a collection of 24 fascinating, illuminating, and inspiring short stories based on the women of the Torah, and the men they shared their lives with. These original and engaging stories reveal a new look at Lilith and Eve, Sarah, Hagar, Rachel and Leah, Miriam, Lot's Wife, and many more. A unique, amazing anthology that reinterprets ancient parables in a new light, Sisters At Sinai is a welcome contribution to the growing library of Judaic literature and recommended supplemental reading for students of the Torah in general, and the role of women in Israelite history in particular.

This is an amazing book, a must-read for all fans of Biblically-based fiction. Hammer's readings are wildly creative and revisionist but at the same time grounded in classical Jewish Biblical interpretation. Her background in Midrash gives this book a depth rarely seen in modern rewritings of Biblical stories. The stories work as stories, though - the Midrashic grounding is almost invisible unless you know the works she's quoting from. Her Biblical characters are compelling and memorable. If you are reading The Red Tent or Queenmaker, read this instead.

I loved Sisters at Sinai. The book consists of 23 short stories with a wide range of themes. But these aren't just any short stories; these are Midrashim, tales which weave in and around the text of the Bible. With some, Hammer takes a well-known passage in the Bible (Lot's wife is turned into a pillar of salt) and brings it to life. Others take a passage which even close readers of the Bible have probably overlooked and turns it into a gripping narrative. While Hammer writes from a woman's perspective, both the men and the women in the stories are treated with respect and are three-dimensional. The notes section at the end of the book grounds this modern rethinking of Bible with traditional (and modern) Jewish thinking about the Bible. This is Hammer's first book, and I can't wait to see more from her fertile imagination.

It is apparent that Mr. Morrison spent many long hours slaving over this book. It is well written, interesting, and a must have for civil war buffs. I only wish Mr. Morrison would write more books. It's heartwarming to see that Mr. Morrison credits his parents Al & Joan Morrison, and his siblings - Chris, Nancy, Jim, and Tony with the fortitude, intellegence and support to get this book completed. Keep up the good work, Mr. Morrison. I want to read more of your books in the future!

An incredibly well researched, well written account of the causes of the American Civil War! It's actually worth the high price!!!

This book is remarkable. It is very apparent that Mr. Morrison did his research well. A must read for any history buff.