Karen Armstrong's short biography (though longer than most of the other books in the "Penguin Lives" series) is simply the story of the Buddha's life. She does not mean to explain the teachings of Buddhism per se, though by reading about the Buddha's experiences, you can't help but implicitly learn his basic philosophy. As such, I felt that Armstrong's book adequately introduces the reader to the life of Siddhatta Gotama. She explains most unfamiliar concepts with care, and often makes comparisons to other religions with which the intended readers are probably more familiar. She discusses the limitations of the sources she used to piece together Gotama's life, and tries to keep the essence of the story true, even at the expense of historical accuracy or scientific possibility. And for these things, she will invite criticism. But her attempt was noble and even successful, and if you're curious about the Buddha, I recommend her book.

Karen Armstrong is by far one of the greatest authors of our time. In "Buddha" she presents an easy to read as well as easily understood biography of the Buddha, as well as a whole lot of insight into Axial Age India (and much of the rest of the world at that time, for that matter) and Buddhist thought.

My only problem with the book is that she leaves out us Mahayana Buddhists. I'm guessing that the reason she focused so much on Theravadin Buddhism and the Pali canon is that her sister (to whom the book is dedicated) is a Theravadin Buddhist. Nonetheless, I definitely felt deserted. Two of the things that really got me are her statements that (1) only monks can reach nirvana and (2) that once one has attained nirvana they cannot lead the life of a householder. Both of these greatly contradict mainstream Mahayana thought. I was also bothered by the use of Pali words, instead of the more well known (and easily pronounced) Sanskrit ones, although that does fit in with the Theravada theme of the book.

If you want to learn more about the Buddha (and already have a fairly good idea of Buddhist beliefs), this book is for you. If you're looking for a book to learn about Buddhist beliefs, get "Essential Buddhism" by Jack Maguire.

Karen Armstrong tackles the life of Buddha for the Penguin Lives series with very good results. It is a difficult life in which to write a biography as the only sources for the life of the person were written down much later (centureies even) and are entirely part of a religious canon. The author does a superb job of handling this challenge, treating the subject's religious significance with the care she shows to the more Middle Eastern monotheistic religions (Judiaism, Christianity, and Islam) that she usually tackles. This book may frustrate those interested in the Buddha the man without a examination of the religion of Buddhism (impossible) or those looking for a book essentially on Buddhism in addition to a biography of Buddha (not possible in this small format). This book is a wonderful compromise that should get readers excited about Buddhism and having having them explore further. It not, the reader will still be left with the wonderful story of this incredible man and his beliefs.

You will never find a book that will give you a better insight into the Supreme Court. This book explains many of the rulings that have come out of the Supreme Court as well. You will also gain better insight into the personalities of some of the Justices of the Supreme Court. The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court is also given excellent coverage as well. The functions of the judicial body as a whole are very well explained by this book. This book could be used to teach a course about the functions of the Supreme Court. Read this book if you can You will gain a better understanding of the Judicial body.

Although "The Brethren" was written a quarter of a century ago and it covers the Supreme Court sessions from 1969 to 1975, there are two reasons to hunt down a used copy of this book and read it today. The first is its examination of the important Court decisions of Warren Burger's early years, all of which still reverberate with their controversy and implications. The second is to learn how, in spite of its famously left-of-center decisions, the Court began taking a sharp turn to the ideological right, spurred by the appointment of Burger and by the ascent of the young William Rehnquist.

"The Brethren" gave the Burger Court a reputation from which it never quite recovered. Although the Supreme Court has historically had its share of in-fighting, incompetence, and inanity, its internal meltdowns in the 1970s were occasionally beyond the pale. Woodward and Armstrong portray Burger as a well-meaning but ultimately misguided man obsessed by the legacy of Earl Warren, concerned far more with image than with principle, unskilled in management techniques that would have helped bring the Court to a consensus, and unashamed of his repeated attempts to assign the Court's decisions in a fashion insured to thwart the will of the majority. Even today, most historians, regardless of ideological bent, view the Burger years as a mediocre and often inconsistent transition between the liberal Warren Court and the conservative Rehnquist Court.

It's not a perfect book, by any means. Woodward and Armstrong are at their page-turning best when they examine in detail some of the more famous decisions and controversies faced by the Court (busing, obscenity, abortion, the death penalty, and--especially--Watergate). And the account is surprisingly balanced: anyone expecting a "liberal" flogging of an increasingly conservative court will be surprised, on the one hand, by the authors' depictions of the increasingly unfit and ornery Douglas and the unsophisticated yet affable Marshall and, on the other hand, by their open admiration of Rehnquist, who comes across as (by far) the most likeable and amiable of the justices. Nevertheless, their account is a bit too heavy on office gossip. True--this journalistic style brings the fourteen justices who served during these years to life, but what's lacking is the necessary detailed legal background that would make sense of the Court's day-to-day work rather than its scandalous backbiting and personality conflicts. Overall, though, it's an admirable piece of journalism that makes the Court seem as human as it really is.

It is really a shame this book is out of print! I have had my students read it for in-depth, inner knowledge of the Supreme Court. It is a book that holds the interest of the reader whike giving factual information about our highest court. Now I must find some sort of alternative, equally as intriguing. I truly wish the publisher would consider returning the book to print!

Like all devoted lovers of Jane Austen, I have long pondered why she chose to write this, of all books, at time she was experiencing the intoxicating success of Pride and Prejudice.

The protagonist is a loathesome little priss. Austen herself says so in her letters. Fanny Price is neurotic and oversensitive where Austen's other heroines are brash and healthy. Even Austen's own family found the ending as odd and disappointing as do subsequent generations of readers.

So there's a puzzle to be solved here. The answer may lie in the fact that this book was written when, after a lifetime of obscurity, Austen found herself, briefly, a huge success. As is so often the case with writers, the success of her earlier book may have given her the courage to decided write about something that REALLY mattered to her--and what that was was her own very complex feelings about the intensely sexual appeal of a morally unworthy person.

This topic, the charm of the scoundrel, is one that flirts through all her other books, usually in a side plot. However, the constraints of Austen's day made it impossible for her to write the story of a woman who falls for a scoundrel with a sympathetic viewpoint character.

So what I think Austen may have decided to do was to write this story using Edmund--a male--as the sympathetic character who experiences the devastating sexual love of someone unworthy. Then, through a strange slight of hand, she gives us a decoy protagonist--Fanny Price, who if she is anything, is really the judgemental, punishing Joy Defeating inner voice--the inner voice that probably kept Jane from indulging her own very obvious interest in scoundrels in real life!

In defense of this theory, consider these points:

1. Jane herself loved family theatricals. Fanny's horror of them and of the flirting that took place is the sort of thing she made fun of in others. Jane also loved her cousin, Eliza, a married woman of the scoundrelly type, who flirted outrageously with Jane's brother Henry when Jane was young--very much like Mary Crawford. The fact is, and this bleeds through the book continuously, Austen doesn't at all like Fanny Price!

To make it more complex, Fanny's relationship with Henry Crawford is an echo of the Edmund-Mary theme, but Austen makes Henry so appealing that few readers have forgiven Austen for not letting Fanny liven up a little and marry him! No. Austen is trying to make a case for resisting temptation, but in this book she most egregiously fails.

2. Austen is famous for never showing us a scene or dialogue which she hadn't personally observed in real life, hence the off-stage proposals in her other books.

Does this not make it all the more curious that the final scene between Edmund and Mary Crawford in which he suffers his final disillusionment and realizes the depths of her moral decay comes to us with some very convincing dialogue? Is it possible that Jane lived out just such a scene herself? That she too was forced by her inner knowlege of what was right to turn away from a sexually appealing scoundrel of her own?

3. Fanny gets Edmund in the end, but it is a joyless ending for most readers because it is so clear that he is in love with Mary. Can it be that Austen here was suggesting the grim fate that awaits those who do turn away from temptations--a lifetime of listening to that dull, upstanding, morally correct but oh so joyless voice of reason?

We'll never know. Cassandra Austen burnt several years' worth of her sister's letters--letters written in the years before she prematurely donned her spinster's cap and gave up all thoughts of finding love herself. Her secrets whatever they were, were kept within the family.

But one has to wonder about what was really going on inside the curious teenaged girl who loved Samual Richardson's rape saga and wrote the sexually explicit oddity that comes to us as Lady Susan. Perhaps in Mansfield Park we get a dim echo of the trauma that turned the joyous outrageous rebel who penned Pride and Prejudice in her late teens into the staid, sad woman when she was dying wrote Persuasion--a novel about a recaptured young love.

So with that in mind, why not go and have another look at Mansfield Park!

Mansfield Park is the work of a mature Austen. Compared to her earlier book, Pride and Prejudice, it features a particularly complex plot structure (complex for Austen, anyway) that works especially well in the first volume, and somewhat less well in the second. The book also features Austen's characteristic nicety of interior character description, her really superior ability to follow the subtle nuances of thought and feeling. This ability is raised to a whole new level, however, in Mansfield Park since the heroine, Fanny Price, is a particularly sensitive, selfless, and considerate girl. Austen is up to the challenge, though, and develops stylistic techniques uniquely and perfectly suited to evoking all of Fanny's moral and emotional struggles. It is simply a joy to follow Fanny through all her travails.

The weakness of the book is the structure of the third and last volume. Here, Austen falls back a little to much on the technique of letter writing to move her story forward. This weakness IS offset somewhat by the wonderful scenes in Fanny's hometown of Portsmouth - scenes that evoke one of Dickens' favorite themes, the impoverished family - but overall, the structure here is not up to the standards of the first two volumes.

Another weakness, though this is more a comment on Austen's style than on this book in particular, is the paucity of vivid imagery, of truly original metaphors or similes. Compared to Dickens or Flaubert, two of her near contemporaries, Austen is decidedly inferior on this score. Her strength really lies in her ability to describe the subtleties of the emotional and intellectual lives of her characters with a fidelity and clarity that I think is superior to Dickens and the equal of Flaubert.

Finally, a comment on Fanny's 'likeability'. While I don't want to deny that a character's likeability can influence our enjoyment of a book, I also think that it should not be a consideration in our judgement of the book's merit as a work of art. Madame Bovary, the book by Flaubert, is populated by unlikeable people and there isn't any one we can 'identify' with (or so we hope), yet that book is certainly a great work of art. In the same way, our gut reaction to Fanny may not be favorable, but this should have nothing to do with our assessment of Fanny as a character or the book as a work of art. The only consideration should be, 'did Austen succeed in creating the kind of character she set out to create?'; NOT, 'did I like Fanny Price as a person?', or, 'would I like to have Fanny Price as a friend?'.

Anyway, a good book, flawed only by the somewhat weak final volume. Certainly one of Austen's best.

I am a new reader of Jane Austen and after reading the other reviews of this book, I was a little scared to read this one so I saved it for last. I was so surprised how much I liked it. Fanny, the main character, is someone I could relate to in ways that many other readers apparently have not been able to. Unless you grow up in a home where you are made to feel unwanted, and have a Mrs. Norris as an aunt in Fanny's case or a stepmom in my case, it would be hard to understand Fanny. Take it from me,the character is very real in many ways and not the wimp or doormat that many other reviewers find her. Alot of people said this book of Jane Austen's is her deepest because of the social issues she tackles. I will have to read it again to pick up on more of that, I was so busy focusing on Fanny's situation and understanding her feelings, knowing how her situation affected her responses, that I missed things. I look forward to reading it again. I think others will enjoy it too,don't be put off by the other reviewers. Of course, I look forward to rereading all my Jane Austens.

Stephen Ambrose is an amazingly prolific writer of history. I cannot speak about his other books, as I have not read them. This book, however, is simply a regurgitation of old research trying to be unique by juxtaposing the lives of the two men most associated with the Indian Wars. The only thing parallel in these two lives is the time period in which they lived. Anything else is a stretch.

Indeed the underlying premise that these were two great warriors destined to meet on the field of battle is the stuff that drama, not real history, is made of. By all accounts the Indians didn't even know Custer was there until the fighting was over, and while Crazy Horse was known as a great warrior amongst his people, there were many respected warriors on the field that day. Crazy Horse was, at most, a first among equals.

Indeed, in trying to popularize his history, Ambrose makes the common mistake of portraying Crazy Horse as a general leading his troops into battle. Phrases like "Crazy Horse stuck to his command post," may help to bring the battle to life for WWII veterans, but it is not a truly accurate rendering of how Indians fought.

Ambose does do a good job in the first two chapters of showing the vast differences in the cultures these to men grew up in. For this I give the book two stars. It's also not a bad introduction for someone who has no previous knowledge of the topic. Only, however, if it encourages them to go on to read better and more accurate works.

I got this book as a gift and I just finished it recently. I have to say I loved the book...a lot. Before this book, I had absolutely no knowledge of this history and now I find myself starving for more.

The reason, however, that I cannot give this 5 stars is because of the other reviews I read here. After viewing some of them, I begin to realize that Ambrose does indeed contradict himself in various points when he says things such as, "The Sioux generally had no leadership and thus was the doom of the culture as the future would show us." He then turns around and says something to the effect that, "Crazy Horse led his troops amazingly well in outflanking Custer..."

You see the problem here. Ambrose does indicate enough that this was out of the ordinary for the Sioux in general. But to say that it happened only one day out of the hundreds of years of this culture's existence is certainly, as one other reviewer has mentioned, a romantic view.

After reading someone say that Ambrose's book is a romantic view of the situation, I would tend to agree in part to that. But then again, Ambrose goes through great pains to not make this a biased and unfair recollection of the times and lives of these two very interesting men. He does also tell us when he is guessing. I think Ambrose is fair, knows his limits, and does a great job retelling the story that he obviously painstakingly researches.

Those are my complaints about the book. On the other hand, I could not put this down. I found the book, from cover to cover, riveting and if anyone is looking for an introduction to the subject matter, this is definately the book to get. I have already ordered more material on this.

I will say again that this is my first book read on the matter. In time, I may come to think of this as trash or one of the best books ever written about the subject. I cannot say. So take this review for what it is.

One reviewer who gave this book 2 stars (who, by the way, was the reader who made me think twice about giving this a high and mighty rating) said that this is a good book for beginners...only if it makes you go on to read better and more accurate stuff. That is exactly what it has done for me.

Stephen E. Ambrose really brings history to life in this book about Custer, Crazy Horse, and the culture of plains indians and American expansionism. Ambrose is able to elquantly put down on to paper both sides of the story without becoming bogged down in what is so popularly reffered to as politically correct revisionist history. After reading this book I really feel as though I have a much better understanding of both the indian side of the story which is to preserve their way of life as well as the unstoppable expansion into the west. Anyway no matter who's side you take Custer's or Crazy Horse's it's a great book and was fun to read.

I decided to read this book because I've read a few other books she has written (notably: Holy War). She has a wonderful way of writing about history and I was hoping this one would also be a good read. I was somewhat disappointed and found this book a bit boring... she examines the history of fundamentalism in the three monotheistic faiths. She proposes that religion fulfils the role of "mythos" in our daily lives, and science fulfils the role of "logos". Both have to be present for mankind to feel a sense of purpose and to progress. It would be a good read for someone who is having a hard time understanding why religion is still playing a role in politics. As a muslim, this book gave me a good understanding of jewish and christian fundamentalist concerns. If you're really interested about understanding religious fundamentalits, this book would be what you're looking for.

This is the second book by Karen Armstrong that I've read, the first being her short history of Islam. This book is somewhat longer, and is in some ways a more ambitious book: the author attempts to examine fundamentalist views in the three monotheistic religions (Christianity, Judaism, and Islam) and contrast and compare how these three have developed in modern society, demonstrating that they aren't the reversion to "old-fashioned" beliefs that they would have people believe. Instead they are deliberately irrational responses to a modern world that they see as too secular, or conversely not religious enough.

Armstrong starts with four chapters presenting background for the heart of the book. This extended introduction runs to 130 pages, each of the first three chapters dealing with one of the religions in question from the middle ages through the early modern era, with the fourth chapter catching Islam and Judaism up with Christianity. The other 240 pages of text are chronological, with subsections dealing with each of the religions involved. It reads (to my mind) unusually well for a religious book of this sort, which I usually don't care for that much.

The author's main premise is that there are two ways of thinking of things: mythos and logos. Mythos deals with unreality: legend, superstition, ancient religion. It's more emotional, and deals with the intangible. Logos is more specifically book learning, mathematics, engineering and the like. It deals more with logic and solid truth. The problem is that the two ways of thinking conflict, and religion tends to reside more comfortably with mythos while logos is the seat of modern society and technological progress. This leads to a conflict, especially when religious people feel left out of society for one reason or another, usually having to do with progress and mainstream society's secular nature.

The author expounds on these themes very well, and makes it clear why fundamentalists have prospered in all three religions. I did start out with a basic misconception: I assumed that the battle for God she would be talking about would be between the three religions involved. Instead, it's within each of them, not between them. Once you're over that hurdle, this is a wonderful book

Karen Armstrong has contributed another fine volume to the understanding of the Western religions, specifically, in this case, on the growth of fundamentalism. She focuses on Jewisth fundamentalism in Israel, Muslim fundamentalism in Egypt and Iran and Christian fundamentalism in America. This volume bears all the hallmarks familiar to readers of Ms. Armstrong, such as thorough, broad-ranging reasearch, a passion for different forms of spirituality and a plea for understanding. She presents a balanced account of this growth, beginning with a long look at the impact of modernity in the West (starting in the pivotal year 1492) before tackling this complex century. The reader is, thus, able to understand the why and how of the upsurge of fundamentalism at its origins until it has represented itself in recent times as a religion of such fear, anger and hate. It is a fascinating topic that is handled beautifully and fairly. An interesting and important read.

I got a smoothie machine for Xmas and decided to pull out this book I had purchased a few years ago. I have NO complaints. The smoothies I have tried are delicious and I have lost 10 pounds (need I say more). I use them as a meal replacement and am full and satisfied. I even cut down on some snacks so I can have a smoothie instead!! The recipes are easy, and you can substitute canned fruits and make other substitutions (milk and canned peaches instead of peach yogurt) and it still tastes great! Many of the recipes use the same fruits over so I just buy some bags of frozen fruit from the store and I am good to go for a few recipes. Great for those wishing to lose a few pounds or up their nutrition.

I absolutely LOVE this book! I think the receipes are creative and fun with easy to find ingredients. The book starts with descriptions of each ingredient and its' health benefits and goes into preparation techniques and even explains the job of 'binders' in smoothies. I really love the way each smoothie has a 'job'; they list smoothies for PMS, for extra energy, for weight-loss, morning sickness, snacking, and for kids. The book also has receipes for specific male issues, like virility.

I think this is the best beginner smoothie book on the market. The receipes go from basic banana-strawberry to exotic tomato and avacado smoothies. And each receipe lists detailed nutritional information, which is great if you're trying to cut back on fats or carbs, for example.

This book proves smoothies aren't just a treat anymore, they can be a beautiful addition to a healthy diet as well as curing what ails you! Try the "Constant Craving" apple smoothie- it's my favorite.

Buy it!! Trust me, you won't regret it!!

I bought this book on a Friday afternoon ~ by Sunday evening I had already made and tried 12 of the 50 recipes! Each one seemed better then the next!

Summer is here and if you're looking for a GREAT smoothie book THIS IS IT! The recipes are THE BEST I've ever tried not to mention A FRACTION of what juice bars charge!

They have the recipes broken down into sections; Energy, Immune boosters, Weight-conscious, For the gals, For the fellows, For the kids, Stress reducers and (the authors) Favorites.

Every recipe I've tried so far has been WONDERFUL ~ not one was disappointing AND you don't need to run out and look for exotic ingredients ~ you can find everything @ your grocery store!

GREAT job Mary and Sara ~ thanks so much!!

The authors have written an interesting and timely book. I liked all of the factoids and descriptions they gave about life one thousand years ago in England. Fascinating to see how our ancestors did it (life) facing challenges we have long ago conquored. The organization of the book tends to break up the narrative. It is mildly annoying in places, as are comparisons to current news that will, unfortunately quickly make this book look dated. This situation is caused by the author's using a period calendar as a backdrop to their story and organizing the book around the twelve months of the year and the seasonal activities of the Anglo-Saxons under study.

A quick read and overall enjoyable.

The book is written by journalists, not historians, and that in itself makes it all the more valuable for the general reader. Alas, too many historians write for other historians, and their prose is so stilted and dry as to be unreadable. But this book is a joy to read. Using the Julius Calendar as a device to introduce us to the everyday life of Anglo-Saxons in England in the years leading up to the first millennium, the authors present us with a perfect picture of what life must have been like on a seasonal basis, from January through December. I highly recommend this book to readers interested in the social history of that period who do not wish to wade through a thousand pages of scholarly boredom.

The authors have written an interesting and timely book. I liked all of the factoids and descriptions they gave about life one thousand years ago in England. Fascinating to see how our ancestors did it (life) facing challenges we have long ago conquored. The organization of the book tends to break up the narrative. It is mildly annoying in places, as are comparisons to current news that will, unfortunately quickly make this book look dated. This situation is caused by the author's using a period calendar as a backdrop to their story and organizing the book around the twelve months of the year and the seasonal activities of the Anglo-Saxons under study.

A quick read and overall enjoyable

I work for a leading on-line community and for me this book was required reading. The concept of virtual communities and the transfer of power from the provider to the consumer through the control of information is spot-on.

Check out sites like Deja.com, Zagat.com, Restaurantrow.com, Consumerreports.com and Comparenet.com and you'll see the evolution of the transition to a member generated content community. There is a reason NBC just bought 66% of Xoom and Yahoo paid $4.7 billion for GeoCities. Today these community web-sites are built around sharing interests and ideas, in the future they will have a much more practical utilitarian function - the sharing of information which leads to an enlightened experience and purchase decision. The companies that foster this developement will surely profit from it.

Notwithstanding the many new books on on-line communities, I still keep this book on my bookshelf as a useful reminder of the conceptual framework around which many new businesses - failed or otherwise - were subseqently developed.

It has been nearly six years since I attended a seminar organized by the consulting company McKinsey at which the two authors (both McKinsey consultants)presented their book and what seemed, at that time, to be its somewhat radical proposition about profitably developing self-organizing on-line communities around the passionate interests of their memberships.

As I become more familiar with Amazon and how it is organizing the community through which you are reading this and other reviews, I am reminded about the fundamental concepts that Hagel and Armstrong laid out in their book regarding the economics of virtual communities. Amazon attracts member-generated content which is a key part of its business model which uses the passionate interests of its own customer base to increase its business value. Many doubted the vailidity of this proposition when this book came out, but the evidence does appear to increasingly support it.

Arguably, many might now say that this book is dated, on-line businesses having mushroomed and failed since this book appeared, yielding new lessons that this book could not have foreseen. Many of its claims now seem overhyped.

While this and other criticims may all be well and true, I suspect that this book will come to be regarded in future business histories of the on-line business as one of the seminal pieces of strategic business thinking in the late 1990s. I shall keep it for posterity, if not profitability. In any case, there must now be enough second-hand copies for you not to have to make the investment at the full original cost!

I read this book pretty much cover-to-cover and found it very thought provoking. It does a great job of explaining the opportunities in creating "Virtual Communities". Virtual communities are described as areas where a group of users sharing common interests gather to learn about and discuss information. These communities create an information source that shifts power from the vendors to the customers. Longer term, vendors can capitalize on this community by selling directly to the community members, and more importantly by using the customer interaction to create word-of-mouth advertising. Who are you more likely to trust: another user of the product or some sleazy salesman?

Up until this book, I have seen little written on the longer term business models on how to make money by aggregating users. This book will explain the rationale of why there is enormous value in web sites with a large base of users.

The book has a very interesting chart which describes the return on various strategic investments for a startup trying to build a virtual community. The conclusion was that far and away the most important investments were vendor acquisition (i.e. companies wanting to sell products to the members of the community), member-generated content, and member acquisition. Interestingly, usage fees for the site had an enormous long-term negative impact for the site (despite their short term ability to generate revenue).

There are a couple of points that I think were not well addressed in this book:

1) I don't believe that the authors make a compelling argument about how to sell the first vendors on the advantages of being a part of the virtual community. From my experience, vendors don't sign up for a new product or service because "that's where the market is going". They need to be convinced that there's an advantage for them to be first, and that reason was not adequately described in the book.

2) The book states the importance of member-generated content as a way to build up the community and keep traffic coming to the site. It was never clear to me from the book how to do this through a commercially sponsored newsgroup versus the already existing Usenet newsgroups today (which already have a pre-existing and active community). For instance, there are already many Usenet newsgroups related to Travel. Why should potential travelers use a commercially sponsored site instead of a Usenet group? Clearly there are sites that have been successful at creating their own newsgroup areas so I believe that there are justifiable reasons. I'm just not sure what those reasons are and the book didn't explain them.

Overall, an interesting book and well worth your time.

Call it courage is a well thought out book. It is about a boy name Mafatu. His mother died in the sea because she did not listen to the fishermen's warnings to her. His homeland called him a coward because he was afraid of the sea. So when he was feed up with the teasing he left to prove himself worthy and gain respect from his father. You will have to read the book to find out what happens to Mafatu during his journey. I would recommend this book to people that love the sea. Keep in mind that about 2 chapters out of 5 are about the time he was in the sea. But it was adventurous. You used for shadowing to guess what would happen. One thing I did not like about the book was that the boy always won his battles. He needs defeat to so he does not think he can win every battle or obstacle he comes to.

I like the book Call It Courage because it was about a boy named Mafatu and his way of life . It also told about how Mafatu had courage and how he was brave and strong after his mother was taken by the sea. This book was full of adventure.

The best part of the book was when Mafatu found the statue on the forbidden island. He was walking through the woods and was surprised to find this statue in the middle of nowhere.

The two story elements that were the most vivid were the theme and the characters. The theme was cconguering your fear. Mafatu needed to face his fears of survive on his own. He was successful throughout the story. The author did a good job of describing Mafatu and the people he met. I was able to see in my mind what each person looked like.

Call it Courage is about a young boy named Mafatu. Mafatu is afraid of the sea because it killed his mother. He is always made fun of by the other Polynesian boys his age. Eventually, he decides to sail away. Mafatu lands on a cannibalistic island. He escapes the cannibals and returns home a courageous boy. I read this book at school and thought it was great. The only problem was all of the foreign words, most of which were not explained. Otherwise, this was an awesome book and I thoroughly encourage you to read this it. You will not be disappointed!

While it's a good thing that there are books out there on Islam that counter the "make big bucks by bashing Islam" trend, Ms Armstrong could have gone deeper.

The primary example to me is her handling of the so-called "Banu Qurayza Massacre." Robert Spencer (_Islam Unveiled_) and his imitators love to recount the story of how Muhammad had 900 Jewish men executed without telling why it happened; Ms Armstrong puts it in context to explain it (Spencer neglected to mention the seige of Medina which preceded the "massacre" -- pagan Meccans had surrounded Medina, bent on destroying the Muslim community, and a group of Jews in Medina called Banu Qurayza were about to let them into the city).

The problem is that the "massacre" never happened. There was no massive slaughter of Jews. Only the tribe's leaders -- a dozen people at most -- were executed for this treacherous act. (For the truth about this incident, check out W.N. Arafat's pre-9/11 article, "New Light on the story of Banu Qurayza and the Jews of Medina," available through your favorite search engine.) I hope a future edition of the book will correct this mistake, but for now, I can only give it four stars.

Karen Armstrong scored big with Muhammad. Having read her History of God, I read her biography of the Prophet believing I would be treated to some genuine insight, and I was not disappointed. I highly recommend this, especially to Western readers!

Muhammad, his story, his religion, and his people are among the least understood elements of world history to your average Westerner. The information we are bombarded with today portrays Muslims as terrorists, anti-western, blood-thirsty savages. This book endeavors to release the Western mind from the bonds of ignorance and the blinders of propaganda, and reveal a Prophet, and a people, with a real, sometimes tragic and sometimes triumphant history, with a conclusion of remarkable success. Whether you agree with Muhammad or not, you will finish this book appreciating his genius, his faith, his leadership, and his accomplishments.

Most importantly, you will read the story elegantly portrayed within the context of the cultural dynamics of the Arabia of Muhammad's day. Without that context, it is easy to cast Muhammad's actions as barbaric. Additionally, Armstrong does a fine job of demonstrating the demise of much of Muhammad's most original thinking by zealous, but culturally constrained leaders who followed him (most notably the emancipation of women).

Because most Western Christians don't read Arabic, we will never understand nor appreciate the Koran, Muhammad's crowning achievement. But with the help of Karen Armstrong, we can gain an appreciation of the origin of that great work, and the meaning it has in the lives of nearly a billion people in the world today.

A substantial number of biographies of Muhammad have appeared in the last 50 years. Some, especially the more recent works of W.M. Watt, M. Rodinson, and M. Cook, are excellent and represent major contributions to our understanding of the rise of Islam. In her introduction Armstrong argues, however, that despite the importance of previous work, none of the current biographies gives sufficient attention to the specifically religious dimension of Muhammad's life; in particular, none addresses with sufficient specificity the long history of Western bias against Islam and its prophet. Armstrong sets out to remedy what she sees as the inadequacies of the existing literature. Although she might be accused of a certain romanticizing tendency in her treatment of some aspects of Muhammad's life (e.g., his polygamous practices), on the whole she has done a quite creditable job. The result is a fresh, well-written, and often insightful account whose ten chapters give special attention to the religious roots, experiences, and motivations of Muhammad. It is based on the best scholarship currently available in English and contains rather full notes, selected bibliography, carefully prepared index, maps and genealogical tables. Despite its quasi-popular style, it is a work from which specialist and nonspecialist alike will benefit. Recommended to all college and university libraries as well as most public libraries.