Swami Vivekananda was one of the greatest thinkers and teachers the world has ever produced. His talks are not for Hindus only. They transcend all barriers of religion and caste and are helpful for anyone who wants to realize God. His books are a must for any serious student of Philosophy.

Vivekananda, disciple of Ramakrishna, conducted a retreat for seven weeks with twelve followers near New York, a hundred years ago. One pupil noted down several of his inspired talks. This book contains those talks plus some additional material, mostly lectures of Vivekananda.

The talks are spiriutally very deep going, but not systematic at all. They are based on hinduism but use christian und buddhist terminology, as well. The book is very helpful if one practices hinduism. If one does not do so, the book would be rather meaningless, because the sayings were meant for close disciples, who knew what he meant and what it was all about.

Daniel Cole's path-breaking study of the myths and realities of environmental regula tion in Poland is "must-reading" for anyone concerned with how the former communi st countries can become modern democracies. At last, From Red To Green provides the West w ith a clear-eyed and definitive exposition of falacy of environmental protection during the communist era and the efforts to achieve genuine reform in Poland's post-Soviet political life. Cole masterfully synthesizes the historical, political, socio-economic factors impac ting on environmental policy in Poland's past, providing a base to assess environmental pro tection today. Cole has established himself as one of the most penetrating analysts of adm inistrative law in the former Soviet bloc, and here he harnesses his strengths to produce a provocative analysis of a country which has probably engaged reform and modernization more aggressively than any other former sattelite state. For those involved in research on poli cy in the post-communist world, From Red To Green offers a pragmatic and compelling vision. For those in charge of environmental policy-making in the region, it is required reading.

Mark Brzezinski, Hogan & Hartson LLP, Washington, DC

INSTITUTING ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION is excellent. Of the handful of good studies of the environmental degradation inflicted on Central European countries under communism, Cole's book is one of the best. What sets it apart from other examinations of environmental problems is its focus on the legal rationalities and irrationalities of "real socialism" in Poland. This is a topic much neglected by social scientists and economists, who tend to assume that communism was, if not exactly law-less, at least a social order in which the law mattered much less than dozens of other factors. Cole's book has convinced me that socialist law is a necessary and important variable to be considered, that the law in communist Poland was deeply intertwined with the other political, social, ideological, and economic variables to which most analysts devote their attention.

It is one of the finest in-depth case study I have encountered of the problems of establishing the rule of law during the last years of a communist regime trying to implement reforms and during the more fundamental transition from communism to democratic government and a market economy. It will stand as a model for any future studies of such non-environmental topics as communist and post-communist labor law, property reform, and so on.

Quite apart from its status as legal analysis, this is a superb study of the relation between politics, economics, social interests, and ideology. Its audience will extend far beyond legal scholars. In fact, this book should have an impact on such disciplines as Environmental Studies, Political Science, Economics, History, and Sociology. Needless to say, this is more than most legal texts achieve.

This book is as thoroughly researched as any I have read on the topic. Hardly a source is left untouched. At the same time, never is there a hint of the problem afflicting all too many academic studies, the needless compiling of bibliographic references for the sake of displaying the references. Cole has obviously read everything that is worth reading (and more!), and integrates this material into a coherent whole.

This is a great book! Very easy and yet very profound & deep. It is good to read and re-read most of the little pearls of wisdon offered in this book and try to live them in our daily lives. Have fun with it.

The back cover has the quote, "I have no message... The wise one will not give you a message, but will simply awaken you." So much love and grace in these pages. It has helped me to open up. It pulls the darkness right out of me and leaves me in a beautiful blissful state of being. This is a Divine book. The new format is nice.

Amazing book that greatly helped my struggle with my spirituality. I found it clear and concise with no fluff. I loved this book and have read it multiple times and will continue to do so as I learn more about my spiritual awakening. Enjoy....

This book converted me to the dharma! Written in a very simple, almost simplistic style, Introducing Buddhism is a very brief, non-technical, introduction to a potentially baffling subject. After struggling to grasp the essence of buddhism from numerous other sources, this was the book that did it for me. Not a textbook or scholarly treatise, just a wonderfully clear explanation, from a practitioner, of what it actually means to follow the path of the buddha. I now lend my copy to friends who ask me what I believe, confident that they won't be intimidated by ancient languages or arcane philosophies, and may just appreciate what buddhism is about.

An extraordinary book, that can make all of us to think deeper to what we can do that things like those not to happen again... A book that could be written only by someone who lived in the free world and spent enough time in the now-in-transition countries, to understand exactly what happened there and what could be done to help these countries. It is very difficult for people from there to find by themselves the answers to their questions, and it is difficult also for somebody who didn't live there to understand how communism changed the people's minds. This book has exactly these answers, presented in an elegant manner and in an easy to understand way, by study cases. And the question from title has not an easy answer. I lived there, I didn't like communism and so almost all of the population, but this still existed for 45 years. The communism destroyed any knowledge or instinct of freedom and made the people to be afraid of major changes until 1989, when the contradictions grew so much that erupted in a popular riot, there where the governance was so blind to accept any change - Romania. And now, those people discovered the values of free market and democracy, but they have also to learn again the rules of the game. The book helped me to understand this and to see what it could be done many years ago, when very few of us had the courage to predict these events. I recommend this book to everybody, both for study and personal knowledge.

This book provides a graphic description of a crumbling communist power and the stumbling steps toward capitalism that followed. The detailed descriptions of real people and their lives under both old and new regimes keeps the reading interesting. If you've ever wondered why, now that communism is dead these countries can't just pick up the pieces and move on you should read this book.

The second book I read on Islamic Art. Was very impressed. It's very comprehensive and well organized. Starts coverage in chronological order (from the start of the Islamic empire) and covers Architecture, Calligraphy/Book art, Paintings, Ceramics and Textiles for every major Muslim Empire(Spain to India inclusive) from 560AD to the fall of the last great Muslim empire-the Ottomans in modern times. The pictures are great and complement the subject matter well.

Blair and Bloom do a great job explaining classic Islamic arts. They give equal attention to architecture, calligraphy, weaving and decorative arts, and suplement their accessible yet intelligent text with attractive photographs. I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to begin learning about Islamic art, as well as to those who already know the basics.

This book contains selected and annotated documents, in English translation, pertaining to the autonomy of the Jewish community in Poland and Lithuania in the 16th and 17th centuries. The scope of this autonomy, the communal and extra-communal institutions and their modes of operation are covered. Through annotated excerpts from original Hebrew source material, the author describes the structure of Jewish self-government in those countries, illuminating the social and economic problems that Jews faced in everyday life: deserted wives, loans at interest, rights of daughters in their father's estates, organization and maintenance of elementary education, and many other questions. The book includes an in-depth introduction describing the historical period, a lengthy epilogue explaining the workings of the Jewish educational system, and extensive glossaries and indexes to help find individual points of interest. There is a detailed map of Jewish population, showing how Jews were spread throughout Poland and Lithuania during this period, as well as sixteen pages of photographs of Jewish sites. The reader will savor the flavor of Jewish life in the Middle Ages, that flourished despite oppressive surroundings. The book will appeal both to the learned scholar and to the layman interested in Jewish history of the period. As noted, the documents are in English translation, and provide access to information that untill now was available only to Hebrew language speakers.

This book contains selected and annotated documents, translated into English, relating to the autonomy of the Jewish Community in Poland and Lithuania in the 16th and early 17th centuries, its scope, communal and extra-communal institutions and their modes of operation. Through annotated excerpts from original Hebrew source material, it describes the structure of Jewish self-government in those countries, throwing light on the social and economic problems that the Jews faced in their everyday life: deserted wives, loans at interest to Jews, rights of daughters to inherit their father's estates, organization and maintenance of educational systems, and many other questions. There is an in-depth historical introduction, a lengthy epilogue describing the functioning of the Jewish educational system, and extensive glossaries and indexes to help locate individual points of interest. Included are a detailed map of Jewish communities, showing how Jews were spread throughout Poland and Lithuania during this period. Sixteen pages of photographs of Jewish sites are also included. The flavor and intensity of Jewish life in Eastern Europe in the Middle Ages, despite the usually hostile and oppressive surroundings, comes through very clearly. The material presented in this book has until now not been available to non-Hebrew speakers, and will be of interest to both scholars and laymen interested in Jewish history of the period. A fuller review of this book was published in the Los Angeles Jewish Times (October 1998).

Dr. Tamas Ungvari has written an extraordinarily special book discussing the "Jewish Question." Dr. Ungvari communicates nothing but truths in his work. There is little given toward opinion, at the heart here is fact based upon what one must suppose is hours and hours of first hand, 20th Century, research. The Jewish Question is a treasure for generations old and young.

Dr. Ungvari has made an important contribution to the study of Jews in Europe, especially in Hungary. This is particularly with regard to his examination of the forces which argued for "assimilation" as well as for the retention by Jews of their necessary ritual and communal observances. Since Jews were prominent in the cultural, scientific, and economic elements of European (and Hungarian) life, their responses to the pressures that were exerted, often of an anti-Judaic nature, are given vivid and profound consideration by Dr. Ungvari. I have found this book to be an invaluable source of information for readers who wish to know the conditions under which Jews worked and lived from before World War I and since then. Dr. Ungvari gives a clear view of the concerns and disputes which often erupted and which saw the diversity of arguments and considerations which took place, among Jews and non-Jews, and always with the looming and threatening power of long-ingrained anti-Judaism in that part of the world. I offer my highest recommendation to all readers.

I read about this book in the August 2000 issue of National Georgraphic magazine, and grew very eager to read it. For years I've been searching for ways to explore family roots in Shepitikava, Ukraine, around and prior to 1920. This book provides details I would not have found anywhere unless I did the on site research the author Weiner has done. What a find! Aunts born in Shepitivka prior to 1920 still live today and will be mesmerized by the details I will soon point out to them. For that matter, their father, my grandfather, may well be pictured in one 1920 photo of Jewish men in Shepetivka at the cemetary's new gate.

I recently received my copy of this long awaited work by Miriam Weiner. In addition to providing the first tangible inventory of what the regional archives hold, in regard to the history of our Jewish families, this book gives a wonderful pictorial overview of the area. One which most of us could only imagine until now. It does so by providing photos of the places our families inhabited in the past, contrasted, in many instances, with how those same places appear now.

The vivid past jumps off the pages of this beautifully formatted book, just as the lure of the book's vast archive document inventory tempts the reader with its research possibilities for the future.

This book is a must for anyone contemplating research into their family history in Ukraine and Moldova, and a treasure for those who are merely curious about the world our ancestors lived in and left behind.

Andrew Fort has done it again! He has come out with yet another fantastic book. I have all his books and I recommend them to everyone of my colleagues. In my Hindu studies class, I suggest to all my students to read this book to further understand this fascinating topic. there is only one word to describe this man and his books:

BRILLIANT.

Andrew Fort has done it again in his spell-binding journey through Jivanmukti in Transformations. Not only is this work of art informative, but refreshes both the body and soul. 5 Stars!