Although published in the early 1900s and outdated in certain areas, Prolegomena to the Study of Greek Religion is still an essential read for anyone interested in Greek Religion. Perhaps the best description of the book would be to call it the Greek Golden Bough.

In this classic work, Harrison sought to uncover the primitive substratum of Greek religion, so rather than focusing on the
Olympian deities, she spends the better part of the book discussing ghosts, 'demons', and the chthonic deities. The religious landscape that she illuminates is therefore nothing like the cheery and rational world of the Olympians. The dark, the creepy and the uncanny tend to predominate.

The book is very well-written, and the author's fascination with her material is infectious. I found it so powerful a reading experience that I can only describe Prolegomena in terms of a kind of anthropological prose poetry. Although its ostensible topic is a rather specialized and obscure field of enquiry, one comes away from the book with a feeling of having gained a deeper insight into that most general of topics, the human condition.

I have to agree with the other reviewer who emphasizes that this is not a book for those completely unfamiliar with ancient Greek religion. Moreover, parts of it might be frustrating and tedious for readers without knowledge of the ancient Greek language, since Harrison is constantly engaged in the elucidiation and discussion of Greek religious terminology.

All in all, an unforgettable book that, unlike most academic studies, is a piece of great literature.

This book is an indispensible classic for anybody interested in Greek religion. I was considering following up Prof. Harrison's weighty tome by writing the sequel: "Avgolemeno to the Study of Greek Soup Making," but I couldn't find an interested publisher, for some reason.

*Note: "Avgolemeno" is a well-known Greek, lemon-flavored soup.

Indispensable, for anyone interested in archaic rite, comparative religion, or ancient Greek culture.

Reading and studying Jane Harrison's Prolegomena was such a pleasure. Her brilliance and wide knowledge shines on every page! Even today (Professor Harrison died of leukemia in 1928) modern scholars and intellectuals such as Walter Burkert and Camille Paglia continue to draw on her magnificent work. There are particular passages -- on ecstasy and asceticism, for example -- of such beauty that they seem to transcend scholarship and border on the divine. Her work is so thorough one begins to understand the weight of a great and complex society which myth itself only brushes. Her other works, including Themis and the dazzlingly concise Epilogemena also enlighten and inspire, but Prolegomena is the place to start.

This book is a fascinating account of the life of Ravi Shankar. I was a little reluctant to pick up this book at first- -I thought to myself, "Ravi Shankar- pop star, a musician who lives on hype - who wants to read a fan book? If George Harrison hadn't stumbled across him, he would have been just another sitar player." But after reading this book, I have a much greater understanding and respect for Shankar and all that he has accomplished.

Shankar's early life was simply amazing. His first tour of the US was in 1932, when he was all of 12 years old. With that in mind, it makes perfect sense for Shankar to be the leader in bringing Indian classical music to the West, since he spent so many of his formative years in Paris and on tour throughout Europe and the US. During this time, he became familiar with Western audiences and their expectations, as well as with Western music traditions. It is this familiarity that has enabled him to be so successful at explaining Indian music to Westerners. But as this book details, Shankar was not only popular in the West, but long before George Harrison met him, he had built a very successful career in India. For example, he was the one who did the music for film director Satyajit Ray's Apu Trilogy, among so many other projects.

Shankar's influences on music in both India and the West are enormous and far-reaching. He was one of the first musicians to gain a following in world music, and he fought strongly against the marginalization of world music as a field only fit for ethnomusicologists. As described in this book, in India, he helped change attitudes towards musical performance and performers by demanding full attention from audiences and formal venues, much like classical performers in the West expect.

Interspersed throughout Shankar's text are short interludes from friends such as Yehudi Menuhin and George Harrison. The book includes hundreds of pictures that span Shankar's entire career, including the pre-World War II tours with his brother Uday. There is also a very informative glossary at the end, as well as a chronology and index.

Raga Mala is destined to be a classic of literature.
It is a biography, history, diary, and a basic primer
of Hindustani (North Indian) music.
As a beginning Sitar student under a Guru myself.
I appreciate Raviji's journey from student to master.
The life covers so many memorable moments of history.
His triumphs and pain are an inspiration to all who
are open enough to see it. There is not enough that
can be said to fully explain the depth of this book.
It is fair to say that most will not fully understand
it in one reading.
In closing, Raga Mala will be the textbook to be used
by all interested in Pandit Ravi Shankar, Indian music,
and how it has gained popularity in America since the
1960's. I recommend this book as in the top 5 of my
all time favorite books.

Regardless of how you come into this book, as a Beatles fan, as an admirer of Indian classical music, or someone who studies the Indian culture, you will come out of it thinking of Ravi Shankar as someone very special, but who shares the same passion for life as many of us. "Raga Mala" is his story through his words, from his days as a dancer to traveling out of India for the first time, and eventually setting a goal to spread his music and culture around the world. With celebrity comes fame, and with fame comes admiration, and there were many women who admired him, only for he to admire them back. His love of women is at times overshadowed by his love of food, which is something I never knew before this.

But he talks about his music as his core (at point during the book he compared the sitar to his wife), and gets in-depth about his mission to enlighten people with his music. He loved the hippies but hated their lifestyle, and felt that he could make them high, and higher, with his music.

"Raga Mala" shows a well-traveled and cultured man with the utmost respect for his culture, his people, his music, and life in general. At 81 years old, he knows his "old junk of a body" can't do the things it did when he was 15, but he refuses to slow down for anyone, including himself.

I'm not bilingual, so I wasn't sure how the accents over the letters made them sound, until I listened to the CD & followed along in the book.

It's an unapologetically whimsical story of a boy discovering a world full of color, & Grizelle Paz's pictures are delightful.

A fascinating way to listen & learn the sounds of another language, & I loved the sound effects, too!

What would it be like if the world had no color? Ruben knows, because he used to live without color. Who's Ruben, you ask? He's the young boy in the book, "Ruben's Rainbow," who lived in a black-and-white world. After being "plopped" into a new and colorful world, Ruben found a way to bring all the colors of the rainbow back home with him.

This book is special -- it is written in English and Spanish. The sentences are short and easily translated, so parents and children can read in both languages. Accompanying the book is an Audio CD, that recites the story out loud, first in English alone, then in Spanish alone, and then in both English and Spanish. For the dual version, I wish that one sentence at a time was translated instead of the whole page. Also, I would have preferred some silence after the translation, so the parent or child could repeat the words themselves before the next sentence began. Despite my own preferences, the Audio CD is a wonderful complement to the book, since it allows parents and children to actually hear how the words should be pronounced in both languages.

MyParenTime.com recommends "Ruben's Rainbow," by Carlos Harrison and Grizelle Paz - the story is sweet; the illustrations are colorful and simple; and it introduces another language to children. And with the Audio CD, children can have the luxury of hearing the story in English, Spanish or both :).

Ruben's Rainbow/El Arco Iris de Ruben is a bilingual full color picturebook for children. The text by Carols Harrison is written in both English and Spanish on each page, and it comes with a read-along audio CD that has three tracks: one in English, one in Spanish, and one in both English and Spanish. The warm and engaging story, artfully illustrated by Grizelle Paz, is about a young boy who is missing color from his life until he goes out and brings home a rainbow in his cap. The sentences of Ruben's Rainbow are of moderate length without being too complex, making it a superb book to help young children learn how to be bilingual. Highly recommended for family, school, community center, and public library collections.

I bought this as a reference guide, but found I had a great deal of difficulty putting it down. The explanations are comprehensive, informative and not only guide you through the bible, but give you a history of the people and their time.

If you are only going to buy one resource to go with your Bible then this is it! A Bible dictionary is very important for looking up not only key Biblical terms to help you understand an unfamiliar term, but this Bible dictionary has a vast amount of archeological & historical data, color picutes and maps, outlines and concise summarys for each book of the Bible and information about it's authors. This book has a nearly unlimited amount of reference potential. I highly recommend Nelson's Bible dictionary.

If you are a student of the Bible and you can only afford one quality Bible dictionary, get this one. If you already have another dictionary, get this one - it will soon become your favorite. Big, colorful, READABLE print and index - it is exactly what a student needs to find things fast and to have a clear explanation when he finds it. Worth the investment.

'50 in 50' was surprisingly enjoyable. Many stories from decades past are trite and out-of-date. Most of the stories in Harry Harrison's new collection hold up very well.

There are several overarching themes in Harrison's stories. The major theme is overpopulation. My favorite story in the volume is about a couple who breaks the law by having a second child. By law if you bring an unauthorized life into the world, another life must leave. So the government hires an assassin to kill one of the parents. This is a taut, chilling story of a man's desire to protect his family against a cold-blooded killer. The other overpopulation stories are equally memorable.

Included in this collection is the story that was the basis for the movie 'Soylent Green'.

Most of the 50 stories in the collection are entertaining. A few are dated, such as stories about interplanetary flights and space exploration, but on the whole they hold up quite well. I was disappointed with the lack of a bibliography telling when each story was published. The reader is left to guess at each story's publication date. The cover art is marvelous, which, though inconsequential, made the book all-the-more enjoyable for me to read. A solid collection. Though there are no award-winners in here, it's a good read.

A collection of stories but also a great insight into the scince and fiction trends.

This collection contains 50 stories written by Harry Harrison in 50 years of professional writing of science fiction. Most of the stories are well-written, but a few are outdated by subsequence events. Some are deliberately shocking -- Rescue Operation, Roommates -- and others are humorous -- The Man From P.I.G. -- and some supposed to be -- Space Rats of the CCC -- but some of the best stories aren't in this collection since they were expanded into novels and even into movie scripts.

Although already writing in other fields, Harrison originally came into science fiction as an artist and some samples of his works are included. Harrison also worked as an editor, first in comics and then moving on to science fiction magazines. He also edited the Best SF series with Brian Aldiss, the Nova series, and the SF Authors' Choice anthologies. He is probably best known for the Stainless Steel Rat series, which started off with a bang, but have become rather predictable. His Deathworld trilogy continues to be admired by his long time fans, showing the advantage of quitting while you are ahead.

Harrison and I are almost diametrically opposed on many political and social issues, so I wish I knew the man personally and could sit down with him for extented discussions of anything and everything. Reading his works is the next best thing and I have done so for over 40 years. I still think he is one of the best at his craft.

Having read Harrison for so long, most of these stories are old friends that I read when first published, but some were new to me. I bought it for old times sake, but I suggest you try this collection if you have never read any of Harrison's short works. It should be an interesting experience.

Generally, I agree with the high ratings that other reviewers have given to this book. After I obtained my bachelor's degree in philosophy, I took the end-of-the-book test. My thinking style at that time was primarily an idealist. But after I earned my master's degree in American Studies and took the test again, I was primarily an analyst. Both these test results made sense to me given that my two degrees were separated by six years. This is one of the "hidden" values of the book: that one's "Styles of Thinking" (the original hardcover and, in my opinion, the better title for the book) may change over a period of years.

However, I do not agree that the social scientific basis for the book and the test is well-grounded. The authors give a quite vague description for the validity of their five styles of thinking. And the only basis for the validity of the test is that they have given it to thousands of people. Purportedly, because they intended to write a follow-up book, and they wanted to keep their testing criteria secret at least until the sequel. To the best of my knowledge, neither author has written a second book on the same subject. And keeping the criteria for a test secret is simply poor social science.

Nevertheless, I find the book subjectively useful and still refer to it from time to time. I have also given the test to college students, and most of them identify with the test results. So four stars for usefulness but not five stars because of the lack of documentation.

it's a very useful books and practical. i've started applying and feel pleasure getting to know my thinking style and others as well. you can improve the way you think. useful...

Thinking-- a process we normal people are constantly doing in most of our lifetime. However, have anyone of us thought how do we think? It's an interesting question. Indeed, only very few of us have come across this question. This book have classified most people's styles of thinking into 5 main categories. Nevertheless, the book includes a test to help you identify your preference of thinking. If you do it seriously, you'll eventually find the result very accurate in helping you know more about yourself. Meanwhile you will identify the which classes do the people surrounding you belong to, in order that you will know how to deal with them using the most suitable approach. More importantly, you'll realize your own strengths and liabilities by reading this book. In such a way, you can develop the strengths that you already have and improve your liabilities. Hopefully, life can be a lot better if you can take the suggestions mentioned in the book into practice. Even if you are not preparing to take what this book alleges solemnly, it's still a great fun letting your friends do the test. You'll discover a load of things that you've overlooked! Thinking is a child's play, as well as a Herculean study.

Well were should I begin.... 1st of all I thought this book was ok becasue some of the symbols were a little mis-drawn but on the most part It explained how to hold the flute using the right fingerings. As a beginer I found it helpfull to buy the 2000 Methoid Flute book becasue the cd in the book is very help full, but that book needs this one to fill in were it assumes you already know. The author is very good in explaining though and gives alot of detail. I tought my self so I dont know how it will work for somone that is taking lessons.

I got this book because of the great reviews and I wasn't disappointed. I can't believe I'm actually playing the flute! I think it's a great beginners book which moves at the right pace and has a good solid introduction. It took me about 3 weeks to reach the end of the book and play 95% of the pieces most of which are popular so you'll know if you're playing wrong or not.. There are pieces like "Greensleeves" (my fave), "Swan Lake", a lot of classical pieces whose melodies I knew already but not their titles.
I'm now trying to look for a second book to continue with.

I bought this book when I decided to teach myself to play the flute. It does a great job of introducing the reader to the basics of how to assemble it, clean it, and get a sound out of it, gradually moving through the basics of flute playing. It even introduces beginners to some of the cool tricks (whistle tones and playing more than one note at once) that advanced flutists know, but can be fun for beginners to play around with as well. Whether you intend to advance to "serious" music, or just play in your living room for fun, this book is a terrific starting place. This book would also be a good reference for a middle-school flutist with a band director who is a trumpet player who hardly knows diddly about woodwinds.

This book comes from a time when the environmental movement was just getting under way, and Paul Ehrlich's "The Population Bomb" enjoyed pride of place on the bookshelves of environmentalists everywhere. It was also a time when it was easier to discuss overpopulation without drawing charges of racism. In the book (presumably), and in the 1973 movie Soylent Green (definitely), most of the characters and people seen in the street are white, as they would have been in 1966 and 1973. Hence there was no need to discuss issues of immigration and demographic shift, which are closely linked to America's soaring population today. As a result, in both the book and the movie, the issue of overpopulation is completely de-ethnicized, which makes it a universal, human problem. For that reason alone everyone should either read the book or see the movie.

Harry Harrison is normally a funny writer so reading this book from him was a bit of a shock. It's not funny at all and rather depressing actually, the ending isn't all that happy and nothing has changed, society keeps plugging along on the same path to oblivion, people have lived and died and in the end it's all the same. No wonder why it was taken out of print. But by the same token, it'll be one of the best books you've ever read. For those who watch movies, the film Soylent Green was based on this but the main point of that movie doesn't even come into play here. If anything it's a love story disguised as a mystery story, showing how people still try to live and love with too many people crammed into too many creaking, cold and leaky apartment buildings, the measures the police have to do to survive along with everyone and it submerges you completely in this world that makes you glad that you can go outside and not have to withstand the crush of millions of people. One of the best books in this line of reasoning, a very similar and probably better examination of this (though not by much) would be Thomas Disch's 334 and for a wider look at the entire planet with too many people try John Brunner's Stand on Zanzibar. All three form some of the keystone books of thought on the matter of overpopulation in fiction and if you want to do even more exploring, look for The World Inside by Robert Silverberg, which I haven't read but I think deals with the same issues. Make room for it on your shelf today.

The book starts off a little slow, but if you keep with it, you will find it is worth it. A great book even for thoes who don't like Sci-Fi. For thoes of you who say the movie (Soylent Green)Don't Be Fooled! The movie is NOTHING like the book! The book has great attention to detail and keeps you involved!Although this book is hard to find,it is well worth the time it takes to find it! For great suspense, real characters, and an exciting plot...READ... MAKE ROOM! MAKE ROOM!

This book is an awesome accomplishment but, as with many late model software books, it's riddled with mistakes. Apparently the example code was only eyeballed rather than run.

In the past year I have read a fair amount of Tomcat documentation, as well as the odd book on the topic. Tomcat is not simple - one must commit to understanding it, as it manifests its own view of the world. This book is what one needs to grok what Tomcat is and how it does what it does. It is far and away, hands-down, the best book I have read to date on the subject - no contest. The authors write intelligently, insightfully, to the point, and without the distracting (publishers: are you listening?) spate of vapid jokes that characterize so many works that pass for technical books these days.

I couldn't put this book down, I was so impressed by its quality of writing and relevance to what I wanted to know about Tomcat.

This book can safely and heartily be recommended to a friend.

First I bought the SAMS Tomcat Kick Start and was very disappointed on the poor job that they have done. I am happy to say that this book is great for both inexperienced users as well as experienced. There is a whole chapter on server.xml which gives enough information about tags and how to customize them. At the end of the book there are two sections (Appendix A and B)on server.xml and web.xml with tags and their descriptions which are extremely helpful.

A nice thing about this book is that I did not have to read in the order of chapter 1, 2,.... You could just go into any chapter in the book and use it as a reference. (if you are inexperienced, you should read the first a few chapters).

Before getting this book, I had no idea about security realms, and after reading chapter 8 and 18, I am doing container managed, formed based security using self signed certificates. The book also gives valuable tips on programming logic and programming practices. It was worth the money that I spent on this book.

-M-