The music is amazing, the book is incredible, the story is haunting; these are all things credited to make this musical spectacular. Sweeny Todd tells the story of revenge, love, death, and ofcoarse pies. Sweeny Todd is a Barber who seeks revenge on all man kind. Mrs Lovett is his assistant who hides the evidence, in her delicious meat pies. "Have you seen the Priest?" asked the Judge. "No, I havent." replied the Beadle Bamford smaking his lips. "By the way judge have you tasted this delicious PRIEST PIE."

In 1979, Stephen Sondheim had a long and illustrious career on the Broadway stage, with "Company", "Follies", and "A Little Night Music" to his credit. "Sweeney Todd" capped that career with an extraordinarily inspired score, ably seconded by Hugh Wheeler's insightful and clever book. A triumph on all counts.

Not only does the music book capture many of the aspects of the tale of Sweeney Todd, it captures Stephen Sondheim's brilliance in the world of music as a writer. This music book is well worth the price paid for it.

good sci fi tale of the reluctant hero. I really enjoyed it, once i wrapped my brain around the folks in the tale. Great work, Todd.

This is the story of Aston, a space scavenger/pirate who gets more than he bargained for when he boards an apparent derelict space freighter for what seems to be easy pickings. After meeting and being shot at by the enigmatic woman Rione, he finds himself drawn into the midst of Toris civil war. Exciting space battles, along with realistic characters of a variety of species makes this book action packed. This would be a good read for a youngster, or anyone who enjoys science fiction.

I read Who Needs A Hero with a sense of dread from the beginning, because I could tell from the size of the book that it wasn't going to take me nearly as far into the life of the main character--Aston West--as I wanted to go. Aston is such an engaging guy who keeps getting heroism dropped into his lap no matter how hard he tries to avoid it, and although he does his best to convince us that he's a cad, his true character shows through in everything he does.

Who Needs A Hero is a fast-paced trip into Aston's world of space in the future that is sure to make the heart of any fan of Star Trek or Star Wars beat with joy. The plot is easy to follow without being simplistic or predictable, and the author's attention to detail puts the reader right in the middle of the action. I just hope Mr. Hunter gets the sequel done in hyperspeed.

Peter DeVries was a very popular writer who contributed many stories to the New Yorker in the fifties and sixties and who wrote several very funny novels. This autobiographical novel describes the growth to maturity of Don Wanderhope, member of a strickly Calvinist Dutch Reform family, whose brother becomes a heretic, whose father becomes addicted to drink and goes insane, and whose wife commits suicide after giving him a child whom he loves deeply. At age eleven, his daughter contracts leukemia, initially does quite well, but then succumbs to a staph infection in the hospital.
Wanderhope - I suspect the name is no accidental choice - in grief stricken anger rails against God and man. "I made a tentative conclusion. It seemed from all of this that uppermost among human joys is the negative one of restoration. Not going to the stars, but learning that one may stay where one is. It was shortly after the evening in question that I had a taste of that truth on a scale that enabled me to put my finger on it." The happiest moment of his life comes when the doctor lets him know that his daughter will be all right - a mistake as it turns out. "The fairy would not become a gnome. We could break bread in peace again, my child and I. The greatest experience open to man then, is the recovery of the commonplace."
The book has many humorous moments and profound insights, as Wanderhope struggles with religion as he tries to deal with the death of his only child.
"I believe that man must learn to live without those consolations called religious, which his own intelligence must by now have told him belong to the childhood of the race. Philosophy really can give us nothing permanent to believe in either. It is too rich in answers; each canceling out the rest.. The quest for meaning is foredoomed. Human life means nothing. But that is not to say that it is not worth living. What does a Debussy arabesque mean, or a rainbow, or a rose? A man delights in all of these knowing himself to be no more. A wisp of music and haze of dreams dissolving against the sun. Man has only his own two feet to stand on his own human trinity to see him through: reason, courage and grace and the first plus the second equals the third."

The book is moving, witty, involving, and wise. It is hard to believe that this was published way back in 1961. This book sits now on my most beloved shelf. There is wit and sex and social commentary here, but the book rises above that. It is ultimately a book with a message, about stoic courage and grace, although not everyone is ready for the wisdom here. The book's ultimate message is that we should appreciate the moment and cherish those whom we love while we can. That, as Marcus Aurelius said, life is just loaned to us and, we ought to be ready, at any time, to gratefully say, "Here, I return that which has been loaned to me."

Peter De Vries's *Blood of the Lamb* is a novel of singular depth and humanity. De Vries was America's greatest humorist in the fifties and sixties, but in this work, he deals, from autobiographical experience, with his young daughter's struggle against leukemia. Overflowing with love, wit, fury, energy, and human grace, this book goes to the core of things. It ranks with the greatest works of 20th-century American literature, and it will surprise you. De Vries is best known for his great work for *The New Yorker* and for comedic novels (many made into films) rich in puns, the anatomy of absurdity, and the depredations and joys of libido....but *Blood of the Lamb* is his transcendent work. It's out of print now, and used copies are often hard to come by. It's an exceptional and humanizing experience. It is a moving sublimation of irredeemable tragedy.

I gave this book 4 stars mainly beause here is nothing out there like it. Power tennis training is not even close to the coverage of this book. This book is for serious players in good shape already. I would say it is designed more for Juniors and Satalite hopefulls than the weekend player. If your working on the gut and hoping this will bring your game up you need to do more work before getting started on this book. It has great streching tips and fantastic agility drills and explains how to train based on playing tennis. What it contains is very good. The training programs however are written by people with no real world lives. They are all pros or have been around pros without I would suspect a normal 9-5 family and job. It references a lot of weight training equipment that must be in a nice gym. It covers and gets into more tournament fitness building strategy rather than an average weekend game. A modified version for the average guy would be nice. A very big dissapointment was nutrition. I was really hoping to learn when to eat, what to eat before a match etc. This book covered nothing about nutrition. It talked about water and sodium, thats it. If your really into tennis and run three times a week already and work out some, you can benefit from this book. The fitness test is good and gives you goals to shoot for but you better be self motivated. If they add two more chapters; nutrition and a modified weekend players life, home workout system this book would be perfect.

Paul Roetert was formerly the Head of Sport Science for USTA Player Development in Key Biscayne. He has been instrumental in advancing US tennis scientifically and shows why here. This book was created for the tennis player and coach and perhaps is the best book on the market regarding conditioning for tennis (there are 3 or 4 other inferior books). For myself, I think it is a bit basic (a primer) and doesn't cover enough scientific applications and how to scientifically create a conditioning program. Anyhow, I think that is for the German DTB (e.g., look up Richard Schoenborn books). Otherwise, Paul and Todd (a top trainer) would limit their audience. The authors produce an excellent resource for most serious players perhaps applicable to all. This book should rank among the top ten tennis books written in the past decade.

I personally tried tried this book and it did wonders on my tennis abilities. This book not only kept on your toes but it made wont more.

I liked this book, particularly since it deals with the best character from the original Star Trek, Spock, and the second best character, his father. There have only been glimpses of Spock's family in the various series (e.g., "Journey to Babel", the animated episode "Yesteryear"), but this novel provides more of an insight into the difficulties Spock had as a child straddling two worlds, human and Vulcan. Nice book, but I've never been terribly impressed by Todd Cameron Hamilton as an artist..., and his work here is particularly derivative, obvious and uninspired.

This book is very well written it shows spock at a young age being the intellegent and also stubborn vulcan we all know. After a Diplomatic trip with his father a young vulcan seems to be a target for assination. Do you think Spock sits back and hides? Not our Spock.

From the strict Vulcan academy to saving diplomats, Spock does it all. Spock the half human, half Vulcan, he feels as he doesn't belong. Spock befriends a son of a diplomat and the conspiracy just flows through. It is refreshing to see young Spock and his dealing with his father.

Robert Sternberg is one of my favorite psychologists. This man, who once admitted that, as a school child, he scored low on intelligence tests, later became one of the leading intelligence researchers and theorists in the world (if not THE leading one). He reached this status by applying highly original and unconventional ideas and research approaches (for instance, each day, on his way to work, he once interviewed laymen about how they defined intelligence!). The unbelievably productive Sternberg is probably most famous for his so-called triarchic theory of intelligence, but he also wrote about creativity, widom, love an other subjects in a highly original way.

Defying the crowd, written together with Todd Lubart, is about creativity. The book compares achieving creative success to achieving financial success as an investor. I think, the central idea of the book is reflected in the following quote: "In the realm of ideas, a person who buys low, metaphorically, is willing to generate and promote ideas that are novel and even strange and out of fashion. This is not necessarily easy to do. Other people react to the creative person the way they react to the investor who swims against the tide: 'What's the matter with you?'Others often see him or her as irrational or even stupid: if the investment or idea were any good, other people would already be using it, right?"

One of the reasons I like this book so much, is because Robert Sternberg is perhaps the most credible person to have (co-)written it, being a living example of achieving incredible success by defying the crowd.

Certainly a good book, though somewhat lightweight. People truly interested in creativity will need to look further into Sternberg & Lubart's articles, and into the wider literature on creativity. Furthermore, it is worth noting that the above two reviews are either nonsensical, fanatical, or drivel. Science certainly involves creativity, and often tremendous amounts. Though one review talks about scientific bias, if you ask Sternberg which epistemology he bases his work on it will certainly be science. Don't be scared or dissuaded to try other books - Csikzentmihalyi's is a good intermediate one, and the Sternberg-edited Handbook of Creativity is a comprehensive text at a level both deeper and wider.

This book reveals the we must not always follow societal norms. Nonsycophants will delight in this classic.

This is a great "quick reader". If anyone is totally aware that they have a character defect and wants to make a change in their life, this book really helps on spiritual level.

I've had a character defect for a long time, knew about it, wanted to take the necessary steps to make it better, but procrastinated HUGE!

This little book provides that one thing we all need - SELF ESTEEM and the tools necessary to change our lives for the better.

We must all remember.... once you turn it over to the Lord, it's amazing the path he has paved for you.

If you're in recovery, this is a great, great read. It takes a hard and quick look at this most elusive of steps.

The BB tells us that 'alcohol was but a symptom of our disease.' If that's the case, how do we change the balance? We now have a happy liver. How do we get a happy soul?

This book is the real deal. Highly recommended. I can't give it more than 5 stars but it deserves more.

This book is WONDERFUL! I'm almost at 1 year sober, after reading this book I felt like I hadn't worked the 6 & 7 steps properly and didn't understand the way they should be worked. I recommend this book to ANYONE in recovery.

I am an ordinary 14 year old teenage girl. I read this book and I really enjoyed it. It brought out some really good points about acting as jesus would. In the beginning I didn't know what to expect from this book. The characters are great. The story really gives you the actual idea of what the characters thoughts and feelings are. It gets you thinking about being a Christian and what it really means to be a Christian. After reading this story, i want to get one of those bracelet's they sell at the store that has "WWJD?" on it. hehe =)

this book was great. It taught me the difference between a being a good or bad christian plus it was realistic. The characters messed up sometimes and weren't perfect. it gave me an idea of how hard it would be to try and be like jesus. Hey, i might even try to do what jesus would do myself.

I really liked this book. It was something I could actually relate to, with realistic characters and real-life situations. It is about a popular Christian girl and a grunge Atheist who participate in a seemingly simple experiment only to find that doing what Jesus would do is not even as easy as it seems. They find more about themselves and Jesus in two weeks than they have in years. I think this book will be a winner with anyone.

drive me crazy. bad movie. but it has all the same characters and plot as this book. which was pretty good. Isn't it weird how sometimes, totally unknown books become movies?

Nicole is a great lead character. She and her friends are at a fun time of life - the end of high school, and the start of everything else. Nicole is a little "obsessed" with making sure she has a perfect senior prom, but she realizes it, so it's funny. She gets dumped by her boyfriend, and decides to fake "fall in love" with the boy next door. She has to improve him first, and get him to go along with the plan. This book is a lot of fun to read, and it is not full of sex and drugs as some other popular teen books are. I highly recommend it.

Girl gives birth to own prom date is a great book. If you liked the movie, Drive Me Crazy, you'll love this book! The movie is based on it. It has the same characters and everything. It's romantic, funny, cool, and interesting all at the same time! A great book for all teens! I give it two thumbs up!

This book has both a "special introduction" section (covering date/authorship,etc of each book) and a VERY brief general commentary on whole sections at a time in each book. For example, the commentary for the entire Gospel of Mark is only 10 1/2 pages.

I would definitly recomend getting a book with a better special introduction (Carson,Morris,Moo - "Intro to the NT") and a seperate book for a commentary (Expositor's Bible Commentary is the best!!!).

EBC has a better special introduction and a MUCH MUCH better and more detailed commentary written by more competant scholars.

If money is an issue, buy Carson's Intro to NT instead of this book. -- You will save some money and get a better quality Intro to NT. Granted, you won't have the brief commentary, but I don't think you'll miss much in this commentary. If you want a commentary, go with EBC!!! EBC is hands down the best NT commentary you can get for the price ....

If you want a more detailed and thorough Commentary of each NT book than EBC gives, you'll have to pay WAY more money, and still in some areas will not get the quality of info that EBC gives you.

I have to give this book 3 stars, because I don't see anything wrong with the writing. This book is much more elementry than Carson's. So for a brand new Bible student, this may be better suited.....But I would still recommend Carson's!!!

Eric

The Writings Of The New Testament: An Interpretation By Luke Timothy Johnson (Robert W. Woodruff Professor of New Testament and Christian Origins, Candler School of Theology, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia) is an erudite, scholarly, yet thoroughly "reader friendly" commentary on the New Testament text, in relation to history of the ancient world, Christian beliefs, and a page-by-page analysis of the scripture itself. An accompanying CD-ROM provides ready access to cross-referenced text. The Writings Of The New Testament is highly recommended as an exhaustive study enhanced with extensive bibliographical annotation and thought-provoking questions.

I bought this for a course on the Gospels and have gone back to this book every time I go to study another part of the New Testament. Johnson covers the NT extremely well and gives insights into the text and the context that is helpful to students, preachers and teachers. This updated version includes significant current NT scholarship. It is very well written, making the reading enjoyable.