Mike Bryan's sincerity is evident in almost every word of this heartfelt account of the author's term spent at the evangelical-fundamentalist seminary Criswell College in Texas. With no detectable trace of ulterior motive, guile or superiority, he became a part of the life of this small (about 350 students) Christian college in the heart of the Bible Belt. The book takes us through his many experiences, including conversations with college faculty and students, chapel services, a trip to the Southern Baptist Convention and a mission to El Salvador. Interspersed with these recollections are his own reflections on faith.

He is disarmingly honest, and one would be unusually hard-pressed to rake up evidence that he had any particular axe to grind, or that he set out to do an expose of Protestant fundamentalism: Indeed, he is candid about the inadequacies of his own particular agnosticism, and does not try to set them against the often seemingly naive and foolish world of fundamentalism. What he discovers are real people who don't fit the stereotype, and his genuine intentions towards these people (who became real friends during his time at Criswell) are clearly visible.

His most interesting observation is that the apparent distance between these fundamentalists and unbelievers - the former are heavenbound, while the latter are wicked sinners destined for hell unless they repent - is only intellectual; on a deeper, more human and heartfelt level the author finds that most of his evangelical friends and acquaintances are accepting, and there is little sign of any real distance in their relations.

Bryan is gifted in that, although he is no Christian, and remained unconvinced by the arguments and claims he was faced with at Criswell, he can see others first and foremost as human beings. Thus, Chapter and Verse is no anti-fundamentalist polemic; rather it is one man's account of what he really found - minus all the trappings of labels and stereotypes - when he got to know a group of fundamentalists for themselves.

As is common with books written about theological, biblical or ecclesiastical issues by people who are foremost journalists (I am reminded of Bruce Bawer's far less charitable Stealing Jesus: How Fundamentalism Betrays Christianity), the author reveals himself as something of a dilettante on some religious matters. He makes a number of elementary mistakes: His definition of the Chalcedonian formulation of the two natures in Christ is misleading; He wrongly includes premillennialism as one of the five fundamentals published by the earliest fundamentalists; there were a few others.

He also draws one or two puzzling conclusions, such as that fundamentalists (apparently) are uniquely representative of "biblical" Christianity; that non-evangelicals cannot lay claim to following the Bible as closely and consistently as evangelicals. Such an inference is only true within the fundamentalist scheme of interpretation; nevertheless, Bryan is so transparent and genuine that one can overlook a few errors made in good faith. Chapter and Verse is one of the more nuanced portrayals of fundamentalist Christianity in recent years, and Bryan's compelling manner had me hooked from start to finish.

Mike Bryan, enrolled in Criswell College, a bible college, this book tells of his learnings while there. And the works thereof. I am so glad I purchased this book. All should read this. K. Foster, Oklahoma.

This is an entertaining account of a skeptical journalist who spent a semester as a student at the staunchly evangelical/fundamentalist Criswell College. Bryan tells of his encounters with: - Paige Patterson, now the prez of the SBC but then the head of Criswell various 'Green Berets' - very evangelistic students - who did their darnedest to win him to Christ

- Jim Parker, the philosophic ethics prof, who presented the intellectual case for Christianity

- Danny Akin, now dean of School of Theology at Southern Seminary, then theology prof at Criswell, who taught Bryan the evangelical view of the Bible and Biblical doctrine

In the process, Bryan sat through numerous chapels and evangelistic meetings, met hundreds of believers and heard their stories, attended a preaching conference in Florida, and tagged along on a missionary trip to civil war-torn El Salvador.

Throughout this fascinating book, a journal of sorts really, Bryan gives a sketchy autobiography of his disbelief. In the end, Bryan, though challenged mightily by the witness of the sold-out Criswellians, chooses to stay in the comfort of his 'soft agnosticism.' He made this decision not ultimately because of intellectual difficulties - indeed, he couldn't come close to answering Dr. Parker's attacks on atheism/naturalism - but because he valued his current lifestyle, what he calls the lifestyle of frozen margaritas and R-rated movies.

Bryan is surprisingly objective and very generous in his portrayal of Criswell and the Christianity represented by its students and faculty. It is obvious to any reader that he enjoyed his time there and learned quite a bit as well. The book provides numerous insights into the unbelieving mind, especially as it comes into contact with the Gospel and thus is very useful reading for apologists and evangelists.

Altogether, a good read.

A little over a year ago we bought our first house. We also began a serious look at our investment portfolio. One of the tools that we have found invaluable in our financial education has been The Complete Investment & Finance Dictionary by Howard Bryan Bonham, CFA.

This easy-to-use dictionary proved to be a great resource as we examined several possibilities for our 401(K) plans, invested in real estate, and considered market risks. This impressive dictionary cuts to the chase, and we found the cross-references particularly helpful. We also appreciated Mr. Bonham's humor as he speaks to the novice and experienced investor (i.e. consider a potential investment in Sour Grapes Vineyard).

No longer is the Business section of the daily paper a hassle or challenge to read with this handy resource by our side. We highly recommend Mr. Bonham's insightful dictionary to all students of investment and finance, in offices, a classrooms or homes. We continue to purchase copies as gifts for friends, family and associates.

At last, a wonderfully user-friendly resource for gaining an understanding of investments and the financial market. Many folks consider the language of Wall Street to be intimidating jargon. This book, step by step, clearly explains concepts and phrases found within the financial world. Due to the author's discerning manner of writing, the reader is able to follow along without difficulty. Here is a book I am both proud to own, and lucky to have come across. It sits within easy access.

This is a response to Karin B. Bonding's review of September 2, in which she criticizes certain aspects of "The Complete Investment and Finance Dictionary." While I appreciate her taking the time to review the book, her review could have been more useful had it not misquoted the text; and also recognized any attributes of the book. But, perhaps I dream on that score. Readers should find it useful to read the review by Booknews.com and "Financial Analysts Journal".

* As to the omission of certain topics she mentioned, they are statistical concepts, more applicable to sophisticated capital market theory. However, some of those she noted do appear in other topics in the dictionary.

* The dictionary does not say, as she suggests, "beta value [is] the percentage return ..."
It does say, "In the statistical analysis of stock prices, (the Beta is) the percentage return experienced by a stock during a period attributable to general stock market activity." That means that a regression analysis estimates that the S&P 500 Index influenced the return of the stock by an amount that is represented by the Beta coefficient.

* The dictionary does not say, as she suggests, that the Beta moves between zero and one.
It does say, "The closer to "one" the value is, the more it moves with the stock market. Conversely, the closer to "zero" the value is, the less it moves with the stock market."

For this reader, "Human Values in a Changing World" proffers ineffectual discourse and prosaic insights into the many ethical dilemmas facing society today. The sections on responsibility and ethics were especially didactic and narrow in scope, all but evading such weighty issues as the seperation of Church and State (much to the relief of co-author Daisaku Ikeda, I would expect).

For those truly concerned about the role of religion in society and are looking for answers to the many ills facing society today, I recommend reading Hans Kung's "A Global Ethic" which lists four "irrevocable directives": commitments to a culture of nonviolence and respect for life; of solidarity and a just economic order; of tolerance and a life of truthfulness; and of equal rights and partnership between men and women -- all areas where "Human Values in a Changing World" fails to deliver.

This is a fascinating and intelligent book that trancends typical notions of how religious philosophers guide and influence. Both Wilson and Ikeda reveal their own true wisdom by commenting about life and death issues in an intelligent, thorough and responsible way. It is a riviting dialogue between two great humanitarians.

I agree with the reader from Miami that this is one of the best books I've ever read. It is loaded with timeless and priceless advice on everything from sex to the church to war to economics to abortion to the essential nature of life and the universe itself. These two remarkable men, Wilson and Ikeda, have outdone themselves. I hope you can find a copy of this rare gem somewhere and see for yourself! I just found two copies of it in the zShops here at Amazon which I bought to give to other students at my university. I've also heard it is available at SGI-USA community centers.

This book has a very clear objective. It wants to get you from W95 to Linux on your PC and show you that you can get the same functionality you are used to on a PC in Linux.

It succeeds in that narrow scope. I am typing this from my newly running Linux system. However, this book is not enough to really get you running smoothly.

Linux is still not ready for the average user -- though the book would argue otherwise. There are enough gotchas to take you out of the narrow path of the book pretty quickly, and then you will need other resources. In my case, I need to learn how to get my sound card working and my Zip drive running, and the PPP dialer working. The paths suggested in the book didn't work.

Fortunately, the author points you to other resources on the web so you can continue your search.

The book comes with a copy of Red Hat 6.0. So it gives you everything you need to get started. However, I would also buy a reference type book as well.

I am a Computer Science professor at a community college. This is the fourth year I have taught Linux as a Unix system administration course. My biggest headache has always been selecting a text book that clearly explains the installation process.

Linux, Clearly Explained lives up to its name. This book was written by a teacher who outlines each procedure in a step-by-step manner. Not only was the installation a breeze, but the book carried you along from configurations to manipulations. It is very detailed in the use of the gnome desktop.

The only shortcoming for my class was the lack of information on NIC configuration. The book assumes that all users have modems for their online connections. However, configuring the NIC was easy and part of the installation process.

This book is also an easy read. Technical terms are explained before they are used. The book is written for the novice and remains true to its audience.

This book comes with a RedHat 6.0 cdrom. This version is now over a year (probably more) old. This means if you have a computer that is the same age, the cdrom will probably have the necessary drivers. Newer computer owners may need to download drivers off the Internet. The RedHat web page is a good source.

A second cdrom contained WordPerfect 8.0 for Linux. I loaded it and I am now using it as my main wordprocessor. I can save files in the MS-DOS format and transport them to any MicroSoft Windows platform.

Finally, as an educator, the only improvement needed to satisfy me would be questions and exercises at the end of each chapter. Bryan, I hope your listening.

Note: I was one of the technical editors for this book. These are my true thoughts and are not a result of my involvement with the production of _Linux Clearly Explained_.

One of the problems with many Linux books I have seen is their generality. Most try to appeal to the largest possible audience by merely including generic information and using only universally known (and often archaic) commands and tools. This often confuses the reader and greatly decreases their learning and productivity.

LCE has taken a single setup, Red Hat 6.0 with the GNOME user interface, and thoroughly explained how to use it. A book including _everything_ related to Linux, from beginner to guru, would have to be thousands of pages long. LCE concentrates getting the fundamentals across clearly and coherently. It is written on a level that is neither way above an experienced computer user, nor so beneath them that no useful information is presented.

I believe the most important aspects of this book is its treatment of GNOME. Many formerly command-line tasks are explained using GNOME-related tools. Before reading the book, I was unaware of how robust GNOME had become and was inpressed by how much it could do.

Overall, I highly recommend _Linux Clearly Explained_ to anyone starting on their path to Linux enlightenment.

It is the paradoxes that keep us honest in mathematics. Tarski with Banach found a basic flaw in the axiom of choice in set theory. Zeno has puzzled children for two thousand years... Time travel paradoxes are the modern "new" problem of tacyonic loops and the Hawking conjecture. Without examples of critical thinking doctrine rules and men become fools!

I would recommend this book to anyone interested in Mathematics. The fallacies are interesting, including the author's. For example, on page 94 regarding Oscar Wilde's epigram : "The only way to get rid of temptation is to yield to it". Mr. Bunch suggests this to be a fallacy due to the key word "only", and offers an example such as suicide to show "only" to be invalid. But would not suicide be a temptation as well? Or for that manner, anything one would try?

This is a great book for people who love mathematics, including: recreational math enthusiasts, math teachers, professors and other university level math instructors, curious and self-motivated students, etc. This book provides numerous examples of how seemingly logical steps can lead to mathematically fallacious results. The level of math ranges from advanced high school to college level math, but the level is not really important ... what is important is the insights one can get from looking at common mathematical mistakes.

This book may also be of interest to neuroscientists, cognitive scientists, and psychologists who are interested in how human beings learn and apply mathematics. On a somewhat related note, I have noticed that (for some strange reason) this book has attracted a set of rather bizarre reviewers (see below). Please ignore them and buy this inexpensive and insightful book on math.

Though never having owned an Airstream, I've always been interested in its development and history as the 'Cadillac' of travel trailers. This book was, for the most part, a disappointment. I was primarily interested in the trailers themselves. There are very few illustrations of floor plans over the years, of the development of the interiors and exteriors--after all, today's trailers are quite different from 40 years ago! A great deal of space is dedicated to a few Wally Byam caravans with some large, page-filling photos.

In the end, this can make a nice coffee-table book for Airstream fans. I'd still like to see a more comprehensive research into the trailers themselves and their development.

This book is wonderful. I'm going to have to purchase a new copy for my dad's Christmas present, I've worn this copy out reading it. The photographs are vintage, the text facinating and informative.

Well, although this book does talk a lot about Wally Byam (how can you not when refering to Airstreams), I found it to be very interesting, and a lot of fun. The book is designed beautifully, the pictures are fantastic, and it is a visual feast.

I just bought my own used Airstream, and love it. If you've ever owned an airstream, or if you've just admired them from afar, this book is just too much fun to own. It makes a great coffee table book, or a great gift for the enthusiast.

Business books tend to gravitate toward one of two poles: the must-reads - those that involve fundamental rethinking of traditional business models - and the no-reads. Regardless of whether a must-read turns out to be right, this category of book establishes a vocabulary and logic of action that people will discuss and attempt to implement for years to come, as did "The Fifth Discipline" and "Reengineering the Corporation." In contrast, the no-read books, which are far too numerous to count, serve principally as resume builders or as crude promotional plugs for consulting firms. As cynical public relations gestures, the no-reads are entirely derivative, repackaging someone else's ideas while implying that you need to hire the authors to gain deeper insights. Indeed, what they have to offer can be summarised easily on the book flap, beyond which only captive student audiences or gullible clients would ever venture.

"Race for the World," another in the series of books by McKinsey & Co. consultants on how to operate in the global economy, straddles the great grey area in between these two poles. The book starts off with a strong analysis of the "transition" economy, in which geographic barriers are rapidly falling before the globalist wave: world's financial markets converging and digital technologies are lowering communication costs; national governments are "under market pressure" to remove the old legal and regulatory barriers to global competition; consumers are gaining unprecedented power, both to find the best prices through some convenient dot.com company and to vote via their investment dollars. This ongoing race (or "midgame") will determine which corporations can position themselves to become the "shapers" of the next century.

The midgame, the authors assert, offers extraordinary, though rapidly vanishing, opportunities around which to build new corporate strategies. With their new-found access to foreign markets, corporations can create "virtuous cycles of geographic expansion," simultaneously increasing their scale of operation, lowering their costs, and using new incoming profits to continue to invest elsewhere. Finally, by setting up their own networks of information, corporations can take advantage of cross-arbitrage opportunities, that is, buy goods and services from whatever country offers them cheapest.

So far so good. While none of this is particularly new or original, it is in the formulation of strategies that the book will stand or fall. According to the authors, global firms must invest in a variety of intangible capital, including intellectual property, talented managers, networks of able partners, and brand image. If a corporation can integrate these intangible assets into a system that operates as of a piece, the authors maintain, then it will have established "a compelling global value proposition": while single elements in the system may be replicable, imitating it as a whole is far more difficult for competitors. Furthermore, the authors argue, global firms should "control, [though] not own" the value chain, which represents a reversal from the practices once praised in large, vertically integrated firms. Sensible advice.

Unfortunately, at this point the authors cross the line that separates lack of originality from banality. Firms must, the authors solemnly inform us, approach potential deals with the appropriate risk assessment techniques, many of which were developed for investment bankers. These techniques include: 1) "disaggregating" the many risks involved in large business decisions, that is, breaking them down to examine who bears what risks and for what, etc.; 2) focusing on those risks for which the firm enjoys "familiarity advantages"; 3) portfolio theory, i.e. diversification spreads risks; 4) options theory, or the ability to acquire a firm at a specified date in the future for a known price. These techniques, the authors conclude, will allow firms to "overcom[e] confusion (lack of necessary knowledge), complexity (unknown interdependencies), and uncertainty (unknowable future events)." While top executives are perhaps too busy to reflect on these strategies systematically, it is difficult to imagine that they haven't thought about these things already.

However, there are deeper flaws at the core of the book. For starters, the seductive rhetoric of globalism is accepted as a given and fails to realistically anticipate any other contingencies, which is a disservice to business readers. The authors' insistence on proper risk analysis techniques cannot capture these complexities. Instead, the authors treat us to a simple extrapolation of current economic conditions. It remains unclear whether the current boom represents a structural trend (a "new economy") or another speculative financial bubble. Confusing the two can lead to terrible mistakes. Unfortunately, though its purpose is to devise better strategies for managers overwhelmed by global change, "Race for the Future" offers no useful guidance in this regard.

Even worse, evidence that contradicts their vision is ignored. The authors naively assume that globalisation is an unalloyed good, that consumers will prefer cheaper, more uniform goods to traditional indigenous varieties.

Many of these shortcomings can be explained by the poorly hidden agenda of the book. How, one wonders, could four intelligent co-authors ever agree on a detailed analytic framework? The answer is simple: the book is part of the McKinsey & Co. publicity machine. It promotes a company methodology, the conclusions of which come straight from McKinsey "research," a kind of parallel universe of jargon, anecdotes, and fierce internal competition for attention between young "associates" fresh out of university. I suspect that, under the steady hand of good ghost writers, "Race for the World" was cobbled together from disparate articles from the McKinsey Quarterly with over-confidence and little critical regard. As a result, the book's "authors," imbued with the company's mystique, fail to recognise the mediocrity of their ideas and advice.

Nonetheless, "Race for the World" is no no-read. As long as the reader is aware of its limitations, it offers a solid introduction to gung-ho globalism. While the book contains more than could be written on a book flap, its ideas could have been resumed in, say, one article in the McKinsey Quarterly.

This is another McKinsey book on strategy , which looks at strategies for market dominance in the context of globalisation. It covers an important subject well, but it is not in the same class as the earlier book from the Mckinsey stable Baghai et al. The Alchemy of Growth. It is concerned with financial, market segment, and arbitrage (taking advantage of geographic differences in productivity and factor cost) strategies to achieve dominance on a global basis within a preferred field. There is no doubt that these are important, but it is equally clear that they do not provide a full basis for a successful strategy. There is very little sense of concern with customer satisfaction or customer intimacy and surprisingly little concern with attracting and building skills other than to say it is important. Further, little attention is given to strategic partnering - alliances between equals - which is currently the focus of a great deal of strategic attention.

My overall impression is that this is another example of a very good extended article that has been expanded into a 300 page book. It also suffers from a lack of summarisation of the main points. The overall impression is of a sharp but rather narrow focus on a few key elements in a successful global strategy, representing itself as the whole.

I appreciated very much the clear analisys of the world economic trends. It suggests you a way, a light to manage business in a world of dynamic transition and complexity.
It is a very useful tool to understand what is happening in the global market and especially if you work in a global company like me.

I purchased the collected stories of the "Best of Crank" based upon an early... review from Mike Swanwick: "CRANK! has been, from its inception, a scream against the dark night of genre and a haven for chimeric literary forms and writers who take chances. Here are stories that dance right on the edge of the abyss of the Unsayable. Some fall over, while others spread unexpected wings and fly. Here are the works that are shaping the future of science fiction."

Sounds exicting right? True, one of the stories was rather compelling, "Food Man" by Lisa Tuttle, was interesting. The rest of the stories I just could not get into.

I agree with T.Ross' most intelligent and excellent review (who was much kinder in his/her review). In sum, The Best of Crank is a little too cute for my taste. Agreeing with T.Ross, I too feel that the time reading this book could have been better spent. Others however might enjoy these works that cater to a certain type of personal preference. Maybe I'll come back to this collection of stories with a new set of eyes in the future.

I should preface this by saying I'm only a dabbler in science fiction, and had never heard of Crank prior to reading this anthology. However, I'm always interested in trying out fiction that's attempting to push the edges of genre. Of course, it should be noted that in his somewhat whiny and facile introduction, editor Cholfin rails against the concept of genre (which I'm actually rather in agreement with) and presents this anthology as "a deliberately antigenric selection" of stories. In any event, the 17 stories range from a few pages to 40+ pages in length and, as with any anthology, vary considerably in quality. Like many short stories, many are built upon gimmicks--some of which work, and some of which don't. Lisa Tuttle's ""Food Man," about the intertwining of anorexia, food, and sex is a gem, easily the best of the stories. "The Matter of Seggri." Ursula Le Guin's description of a world where women live normally and men are raised as breeders, explores many of the gender themes her novels do, and with equal success. Robert Devereaux's tale about Tinkerbell and her human-sized boyfriend is another notable contribution, albeit a little cutesy. With his two and half stories here, Jonathan Lethem continues to befuddle me. I loved his books Motherless Brooklyn and Gun, With Occasional Music and hated Amnesia Moon. Similarly I quite liked his story "Mood Bender," and very much didn't like his story "The Happy Prince," or his cowritten piece, "Receding Horizon." In the end, I can't say I feel reading this "Best of" was time well spent, but I'm sure others with different tastes will find much to enjoy within.

I got this book as a gift from my girlfriend -- turned out to be the nicest gift I've gotten in ages. I am a really hard-to-please reader. Books don't usually make me laugh out loud in pleasure. This book made me laugh in surprise/pleasure/disorientation about 200 times. It kept leading me down paths and then switching course, which I love. And most of the paths momentarily pursued were really pretty inventive. So yeah. Read this book. It's got BRAINS and it's got a SOUL, or whatever the sci-fi-book equivalent of a soul would be. Every story in it is intense, challenging, contains a wallop, speaks for itself, changes a worldview, or is somehow UNIQUE. If you thrive on kookiness, if you are bored with mainstream pulp and shudder at artsy self-conscious pretentiousness, if you gasp with orgasmic pleasure upon having your expectations truly defied, and if your ultra-super-big-brain is getting tragically stale with a general lack of input, then darn it pick up this book of short stories and romp away.

Worth every penny.

These are some of my favorite short stories:

Mood Bender: set within a disturbingly familiar future, this dark little story of puppets and economy is my favorite. The author zooms through dozens of crazy-true ideas about art, advertising, audioanimatronics, mood, money, religion, and lots more.

Clap if You Believe: if you've ever been over to your girlfriend's/boyfriend's house for dinner and been suspiciously scrutinized by your lover's parents, well, this story will twist your heart in all the right places. Ouch.

Nixon in Space: All I will say is, I have never read anything remotely like this weird short story in my life. The lunatic way McCleary mixes history and humorous fiction makes the head swim; I got tickled in a mindspot I hadn't known existed. "We want to go to the mooooooooon!!!"

I, Iscariot: Errr, I wouldn't have expected a long short story about Judas to be interesting or engaging, but this one was beautifully crafted and contains so many inventive details that I got really sucked in. Let's face it, Christianity can be so darned BORING since our culture is SATURATED with the stuff. To those of us outside the religion, most attempts by ministers and screenwriters to update the mythology for the 21st century come across as crippled in their conception. Maybe more stories like this one could rejuvenate the enterprise, make it more accessible to people who are too lazy to be atheists or run all the way to Buddhism for their worldviews. Anyway, this story is about what would happen if computer programmers designed a virtual trial for Judas (resurrected after 2000 years of posthumous infamy) to be broadcast live to a skeptical audience of millions.

I Don't Care Who Keeps the Cows: What if the world suddenly got really smart? What if everyone had more brains than they knew what to do with, more brains than could fit inside their head? What if somewhere outside this new supersmart consciousness, a group of kooks WITHOUT much intelligence came to be the puppeteers of the human race? What is this story really about?

My advice is, buy the book. Feed your brain! Booya.

This is a very interesting book, with great insight into the making of contemporary Mormon culture. Of particular interest is the influence of Earnest Wilkinson during th 60s and early 70s (and later Presidents) in creating much of what we think of when think of modern BYU, such as "anti-feminism," the standards and honor code, air-brushing out things that "we just don't like," etc. When you consider the preponderance of BYU graduates out there in the world of the LDS church serving in leadership capacities, it is clear that BYU shapes the church.

This book deals with several controversial issues, is probably a little one-sided, but overall a very interesting read. I recommend it highly!

One review above suggested this book by Waterman and Kagel is "one-sided." That's incorrect. In fact, one side -- the one comprised of BYU administrators and orthodox faculty -- apparently had little to say in defense of its (largely indefensible) actions. The other side was imaginative, thoughtful, and embattled. No wonder the authors focused on them rather than their brain-dead persecutors.

The faculty fired or forced out at BYU were not "attacking the beliefs" of LDS students. In fact, all of them -- Konchar Farr, Gail Houston, D. Michael Quinn, and others -- are card-carrying LDS, and most of them have paid a price in academic status for their continuing commitment to the Mormon religion. Yes, some of them had minor doctrinal and political/social differences with the LDS Church, but their removal has cost the university some of its most energetic and promising faculty members. (Other professors left in disgust, including Margaret Nibley Beck, a sociologist and daughter of orthodox Mormon icon Dr. Hugh Nibley.

Reading this book makes one realize what an academic wasteland BYU has become. In the history of the U.S., exactly one Mormon woman -- a professor at the University of New Hampshire -- has won the Pulitzer Prize. This scholar was not allowed to address a feminist group at BYU. Why? Apparently because the university would not be able to control what she said. That is shameful, the product of an intellectual deathwish

The key issue in the book is whether a "religious university," one where thought and enquiry must be congruent with a particular doctrine, is an oxymoron. From the analysis of Waterman and Kagel, it appears that BYU is a university in name only. It's mainly a "seminary," designed to train people how to be unquestioning Mormons.

BYU's motto is: "Intelligence is the glory of God." Perhaps it should be changed to: "Ignorance is bliss."

It's worth reading this book if only to determine exactly what a university should not be.

Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS, or Mormons) sustain their prophets as the literal representatives of God on earth. Since the board of trustees for Brigham Young University (BYU) is composed of the First Presidency of the LDS Church and the Quorum of Twelve Apostles, it follows as a natural corollary for many Mormons that BYU, is literally the Lord's university. Thus the title for the book, and the strange story of the suppression of academic freedom in an institution supposedly directed by men who speak personally with the premier intelligence of the universe.

The authors wrote the book largely from personal experience and are sometimes characters in the story they tell. As a younger man Waterman wrote for the "Student Review," a banned independent newspaper that catered to BYU's more independent minds. Kagel wrote for BYU's official "Daily Universe." Their book is of the highest quality in its presentation and research, and the documentation is simply amazing, all the more so since they were denied "access to accounts from administrators and board members."

The book is divided into two parts. Part one is background information for those not familiar with Mormonism, and helps to present the context in which later controversies developed. Chapter 1 describes Mormonism's historical development of schools and seminaries, not so much out of commitment to the truth, but from a practical need to forge a civilization in the wilderness and to maintain control over members.

Chapter 2 is a history of Feminism at BYU. I found this chapter particularly interesting because I still remember the massive political opposition the LDS Church mounted against the equal rights amendment and title IV. I recall the fiery speeches warning of the evils of women working outside the home, using birth control, etc. Waterman and Kagel describe these teachings of the LDS Church in historical context to bring greater understanding to the environment in which BYU later terminated feminist professors and how teachings of the LDS Church promote gender-based discrimination in the work place.

Chapter 3 is a brief history of BYU's student newspaper, and how the administration has gradually forced its way into the position of censor. A key theme throughout the book is the Church's heavy-handed aversion to any form of criticism.

Chapter 4 describes the evolution of BYU's honor code. Begun as a true student honor code, it was quickly appropriated by the administration and morphed into a tool for controlling unwanted behavior and thoughts. Today the honor code consists mostly of a dress code and prohibitions against doing anything that would embarrass the LDS Church. There are some interesting stories here, like the BYU coed who was refused admission to the testing center during finals because she was wearing jeans (a violation of the honor code at the time). It was winter and she was wearing a long coat, so she went to bathroom, removed her pants, buttoned up her coat, and was promptly admitted to the testing area.

Part two describes specific controversies in greater detail. Chapter 5 discusses BYU's statement on academic freedom and their policy of discouraging teachers from participating in certain symposia. For example, "[f]ollowing the 1992 Sunstone Symposium, Scott Abbott was warned by his stake president, BYU religion professor Keith Perkins, that his analysis of BYU and academic freedom showed 'potential for apostasy." [p. 264]. Perkins was told to apologize to Mormon apostle Packer for the sin of critiquing the Mormon leader's ideas.

Chapter 6 describes the firing of Cecilia Konchar Farr and David Knowlton. It's fascinating to read of the unethical behavior of BYU's administration as they fabricated their case against these teachers and forced them out of the university. The book is a tribute to those individuals who's professional reputations were tarnish by an administration that lied about their worth as intellectuals in their headlong rush to purge the university of teachers who did not follow the administration's party line on how to think, and what to say.

Chapter 7 touches slightly on a covert committee that spies on church members and keeps tabs of their public statements regarding the church. It also describes briefly the excommunication of historian Michael Quinn and others for uncovering and publishing information to which the General Authorities objected. In other parts of the book they describe the firing of David P. Write, an assistant professor of Near Easter studies, for privately admitting that the Book of Mormon is not literal history. Steve Epperson was fired for spending time on Sunday supporting a non-profit music conservatory for children instead of going to his Church meetings. Chapter 8 describes the firing of Gail Turley Houston and Brian Evenson. Brian is the son of William Evenson, a professor of Physics from whom I took theoretical mechanics while at BYU.

The book ends by documenting the influence of right-wing organizations on the thinking and behavior of BYU's administration and the leadership of the LDS Church. I was unaware of how deep some of the connections go. After reading this chapter much of the propaganda to which I was exposed growing up in the LDS Church made a lot more sense. It was particularly interesting to see these influences in Dallin Oaks, who was BYU's president when I attended. [Oaks, who is now a member of the Quorum of Twelve Apostles, was in my ward during the first summer semester after I got married. On one occasion I had the chance to introduce myself to him after a Sunday-school class we attended. These experiences make accounts of his behavior even more intriguing.]

One of the book's unstated values is the insight it gives into the behind-the-scenes behavior of what it means to be a Mormon. If you want to understand Mormonism by observing Mormon behavior, then this book should be an integral part of your study program.