This is an easy to use reference guide packed with information on golf courses in central Florida. It includes maps and detailed information on the courses, cost, the names of the golf pros etc... A must if you are a golfer planning a trip to Florida.

This is a very useful book with 340 different course descriptions and easy-to-read, color maps showing where the courses are located. In addition, it lets you in on how to obtain discounted greens fees so you can play a lot of courses--at least come of the time--for less than $25. And it fits in your pocket or golf bag.

Publications about Freemasonry and its history tend to fall into two classes - the first written by and for Freemasons and of little interest to anyone else; the second sensational and denunciatory, portraying the Craft as a diabolic conspiracy against God and man. Academic historians have mostly paid little attention to Freemasonry, perhaps because it has seemed the province of dabblers and fanatics. Christopher McIntosh is neither, and has treated an interesting period in history during which offshoots of the Craft had significant social and political importance, in a sensible and factual way, and with impeccable scholarship.

Much has been made by conspiracy theorists of Adam Weishaupt's Illuminati, attributing to it all manner of sinister influence. Yet, as McIntosh shows, a system of hautes-grades Freemasonry called the Gold- und Rosenkreuz both had a longer life and achieved actual political influence the Illuminati never did. Two cabinet ministers of the Prussian King Frederick William II, Johann Christof Wöllner and Johann Rudolf von Bischoffswerder, were the chiefs of this order, and the king was a member. Under the ministry of Wöllner and Bischoffswerder, the Prussian government sought to enforce a rigorous Lutheran orthodoxy against the rising tide of "enlightened" scepticism and scientism. Wöllner and Bischoffswerder have been described as "the first self-consciously conservative politicians in German history." Throughout the Holy Roman Empire, Gold- und Rosenkreuz circles found themselves in rivalry with Illuminati groups, as McIntosh describes in his chapter on "The Polemical Stance of the Gold- und Rosenkreuz."

While this episode of Masonic history has understandably been neglected by the conspiracy theorists, because it does not fit their preconceptions, some German historians have represented the Gold- und Rosenkreuz as a completely reactionary, anti-Aufklärung force. McIntosh shows that this was really not true, and that the Gold- und Rosenkreuz represented a different size of the phenomenon we refer to as the Enlightenment. The philosophical ferment of the eighteenth century incorporated Adam Smith, Samuel Johnson, and Edmund Burke as well as Voltaire, Helvétius, LaMettrie and Rousseau. It is facile to equate the Enlightenment with the views of a few French philosophes.

While the political influence of the Gold- und Rosenkreuz petered out with the death of Frederick William II, its cultural influence lasted well into the nineteenth century and extended as far east as Russia, and as far west as Great Britain, where the Societas Rosicruciana in Anglia was founded using the ritual and grade structure of the Gold- und Rosenkreuz. This, in turn, gave rise to the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, which attracted a curious blend of literary and artistic figures, wealthy dilettantes, and a few charlatans like Mathers and Crowley.

What I wish McIntosh had pointed out more explicitly is that the importance of secret and semi-secret groups in politics is inversely proportional to the degree of freedom in the body politic. In Great Britain, the wellspring of speculative Freemasonry, the Craft never developed a political character, because the country was a constitutional monarchy. Representative government (if not complete democracy) and substantial latitude in public discourse (if not perfect freedom of speech) already existed there by the eighteenth century. Prussia, in contrast, was an absolute monarchy. Public dissent from the policies of government was suppressed as thoroughly as possible. In such a climate, masonic lodges became hospitable refuges for those having political aims, which were facilitated by members' pledges of secrecy and mutual assistance. Everywhere "political" freemasonry continues to exist in continental Europe and Latin America similarly had or has a comparable pattern of repressing open political dialogue.

Furthermore, as Eric Voegelin has pointed out in his "New Science of Politics," there is an affinity between gnosticism and totalitarianism. The latter has philosophical roots in the former. On the continent of Europe there are two streams of gnosticism that arguably have led to competing totalitarian systems. One, flowing from French philosophes like d'Alembert and Rousseau, through Weishaupt, to early nineteenth-century German rationalist philosophers, ultimately ends in the swamp of Marxism. The other, represented by the occultism of the Gold- und Rosenkreuz, flows through German romanticism, antiquarianism, and pseudo-scientific philology, among others to Nietzsche, Lanz "von Liebenfels," Glauer "von Sebottendorf," as well as through Blavatsky, Guénon, Evola, and empties into Fascism and Nazism. However different these systems may seem, both propose to build utopian societies in which men will be "as gods." It should be no surprise that they have come a-cropper even more disastrously than did the efforts of Wöllner and Bischoffswerder.

If you're here because you're looking for it--then you've found it. "The Rose Cross and the Age of Reason" provides a much needed re-evaluation of 18th century esoteric movements in Continential Europe, especially in Germany. The study is an evaluation of the structure, rituals, and doctrine of the Gold und Rosencreutz, an esoteric but politically powerful Rosicrucian order in Germany from about 1760 to the end of the 18th century. Many governent officials, as well as merchants and other professionals, were members of this order, which practiced an austere Christianity, but one powerfully symbolic as well. Alchemy and masonry also came to the fore in this study.

McIntosh's judgment is that the evaluate literature so far has painted occultism, especially German esotericism, as anti-Enlightenment in structure, doctrine, and function. This is commonly explained by the pietism of its members, who were resistant tor openly hostile to Cartesian science and metaphysics. The "G und R" also became involved in a conservative, perhaps even reactionary monarchy in Prussia (King Frederick William II). As this Rosicrucian movement gained power, it drew the ire of a number of Enlightnment critics, and a secret society, the Bavarian Illuminati, was formed in part to oppose it.

McIntosh demonstrates conclusively that simply judging the G und R as anti-Enlightenment is not the case, and he suggests a more nuanced view. To do this, McIntosh identifies three modalities of thought that were operative at the time in 18th century Germany, an Enlightenment mode, represented by Kant and others, the Orthodox churches (Catholic, Lutheran, and Reformed) and a variety of Hermetic Neoplatonism, informed by Kabbalistic (both Jewish and Christian) discourse and alchemy, both theorectical and practical. Between the Orthodox religious views (the Counter-Enlightenment) and the Aufklarer, the Neoplatonic intellectual mode argued for a metaphysics illuminated by divine quintessance at every level. Drawing on classic Gnosticism and German Protestant Pietism, this Hermetic strain that gave birth to the G und R shared some characteristics with each of the other two movements. Like orthodox Christianity, the G und R held to a mostly world-negative cosmology and pessimistic epistemology, and taught that before all else men must fear and rever Jesus Christ. However, Pietism, Kabbalah and other influences gave it a strong emphasis on self-development towards the Kingdom of the Paraclete, and as such nationalistic development toward this idea as well. Reason and Science were encouraged so long as they took place within this religious telos, and many of the G und R and associated occultists found themselves on this list of prohibited books in Rome. Relations with the clergy were sometimes tense, and the G und R at times made moves to silence Counter-Enlightment clergy when they felt their interests threatened.

What this text adds to a dicussion of esotericism and intellectual culture is a better framework of understanding the relationship of these metaphysical and religious movements and their influence on culture. In much of the scholarly literature and popular imagination, such religious and magical movements represent a return to "irrationality" and as such can easily be dismissed by Enlightenment discourse as unworthy cultural productions. McIntosh's text recontextualizes occultism and shows that it can (and has) had a pervasive cultural impact at crucial times and places.

This book wasn't exactly what I was wanting, but it will undoubtedly be helpful for many pastors and church leaders facing a multi-staff situation for the first time. McIntosh offers an excellent overview of the rationale for having more than one staff person, and the pitfalls to avoid in hiring additional staff. For anyone leading a church from a single staff to multi-staff ministry, this book is not one to miss. The graphs and tables he offers are particularly insightful.

When I purchased this book, I was looking for an aid to keep a multi-staff church moving smoothly, not something to start it effectively. McIntosh's work is very weak in the help it offers to senior pastors who are looking for insights into better leadership of existing staff. If you want that kind of volume, then look elsewhere.

This book is an easy read and yet is packed with useful and informative material. My copy is now dog-eared on almost every other page as I marked the key points to share with colleagues and to follow-up. The contents may be common sense and obvious if you are a church consultant or have many years experience in managing church affairs, but they can also be viewed as being insightful and brilliant to those of us new to this challenging topic. I highly recommend this book to every board and staff member of a church, whether you are considering hiring a new staff member or simply want to do more/better with those you have. This book will help you hire better, manage your existing staff better and make the most of the volunteers you have to support your staff (including board members). The advice in this book would cost thousands of dollars from a consultant and you can get it for about $10. A heavenly deal!!!

This is a must both for current and prospective teachers! It is well-written and well structured. It encompasses effective methods and guidelines that will optimize teaching. The book is divided in chapters which facilitates reading. To exemplify, if you are not a native speaker of english language and you intend to teach english as a foreign language, there is a special section only for you. This has helped me a lot and it will help you too, believe me! This is a comprehensive yet lucid account of the most effective approaches to teaching. I highly recommend this book especially to prospective teachers!

This is a truly splendid book! I am an experienced ESL teacher, and I wish someone had passed this book along to me when I was beginning in the field. The main areas of the book--teaching methodology, language skills, integrated approaches, focusing on the learner, and skills for teachers--are daily issues for ESL teachers. The fact that the book is an anthology is also very good, as it provides a variety of perspectives. I found the earliest entries--dealing with the history of the field--superb. Similarly, I found the sections on the different levels/situations in which ESL is taught also very useful.

Well worth what I paid for it.

This is a helpful book. I've got a couple of Mr. Sydow's other books. He's good at clarifying complex topics. Maybe it's because he's a computer programmer, or maybe it's because he's written a few "For Dummies" books (I've got "Mac Programming For Dummies" and "Internet For Macs For Dummies: Quick Reference" by him). In any event, he writes clearly and it's a good book.

I've used Windows a lot, and the Mac only a little (my brother's had a Mac for a long time). I've had an iMac for a few months now, but I didn't feel like I was putting it to its best use. This book helped a lot. It has basic information, such as how to get the most out of the Macintosh operating system and your Web browser. It also covers some things which are aren't in other books I have, like how to connect the iMac to another Mac to have a small home network. I connected my iMac to another Mac and a printer, and it worked. I'd recommend this book to anyone with an iMac.

I consider this book to be one of the most interesting and BEST books of all-time. It's original and intriguing and a must read for those who like books that try new things.

"Well" is a hard-earned marvel, and Matt McIntosh is a nothing less than a prodigy. His book focuses on a tapestry of broken lives in Federal Way, Washington, outside of Seattle, drawn together by the common ailments of discontentment, disillusionment, and a yearning for some small redemption. The chapter (or story) "Fishboy," about a young man suffering from the break-up of his family, has a raw, wrenching power like something I've rarely encountered in contemporary fiction, somewhat like the stories in Denis Johnson's "Jesus' Son," but wholly Matt McIntosh's, wholly unique. His work has a kind of poetic integrity that signals a rare talent, a new voice.

This book is an absolutely beautiful celebration of angels. Breathtaking full color pictures bring the book to life, and the poems and quotes included add to the book's stunning effect.

This is a fine collection that mixes surrealism and humor with finesse. As a result, many poems are both funny and poignant -- a combination that makes the poems linger in memory long after they've been read. Plus there is much energy in how the poems unfold -- this book will enervate!

Excellent resource for the beginner, step by step photos take you thru the entire project. Excellent section on tools. I would recommend this book to anyone wanting to get into chainsaw carving. Cant wait for his next book

I've spent the last year daily exploring the wonderful territory that is von Balthasar's theology. From the Glory of the Lord through Theo-dramatics. McIntosh takes you directly to his heart. There are other helpful introductions and guides, but none captures the beauty of his work with such skill, precision, and depth. Don't even try to tackle von Balthasar without this book.