I first acquired this book after learning it was used, as a textbook, in a local seminary. It does not go into great detail, but rather, gives a good survey of the major points of Biblical Interpretion. I especially liked the chapter on Hebrew poetry. The author has included a good bibliography and documentation for the ideas put forth.

The only drawback, that I can see, is the fact that the work is now a bit dated, and would, therefore, not be my first choice. Other than that, it has been a good read, and I have enjoyed it a great deal.

My husband and I took this book with us (along with other some other guides) on our 5-week honeymoon to Italy a few years ago, and it ended up being the one that we used the most. The prices in the book were current, and the reviews of accommodations and places to eat were right on, unlike some of the other guides that we used. This turned out to be true throughout our travels in Italy, even in areas that are not typically frequented by Americans. We are planning on returning soon, and this will surely be one of our "essentials."

Set in a faraway land that looks Arabian by the architecture, a town learns a lesson about the value of wisdom. A wise old woman travels to their town to sell them 12 wisdom books containing all of the knowledge of the world, but they decline. "We have everything money can buy." So, the woman sells her wisdom to others. But the town soon learns that wealth is ephemeral and money cannot keep the world from changing. Famine hits the country, and the mayor regrets his mistake of not investing in wisdom. The wise woman returns and sells the mayor her last book of wisdom. He then goes on a quest to the city that acquired the other 11 books of wisdom in order to learn to live wisely. The illustrations give it a dreamlike quality, and the tale may be a springboard for reflection on material values.

A weird, dreamlikle book, almost impossible to describe - makes Gravity's Rainbow look like Biggles, in terms of complexity and non-linearity. It basically deals with the exploits of PaPa LaBas, voodoo detective, and his attempts to find and destroy Louisiana Red - an insidious force that causes anger and pain. But really, as far as literary descriptions go, this is about as comprehensive as "Finnegan's Wake is about this guy who's having a dream." The book's more like a kaleidoscope of American (specifically black) culture, leaving nothing out.

The quality of the writing can't be denied, and it's so full of brilliant images and ideas that it'll leave your head buzzing.

This is a very good study of religious narratives in medieval China. While one might quibble with Gjertson's conclusions, the work does provide one of the few English-language analyses of a fascinating collection. This book belongs in any serious scholar of Buddhism's library.

George Berkeley's early 18th century treatise "Of the Principles of Human Knowledge" was written in response to the current popular philosophical leanings of Locke, Descartes, Hobbes, Malebranche, and others. Berkeley's major problem with the philosophy of his age was in its materialist leanings. Berkeley at base had issues with the indefinite nature of philosophical terminology, and the ways in which the foundations of knowledge seemed to be centered on unknowable concepts like 'abstract truths,' 'matter,' and 'absolute' entities. The solution?

Berkeley reasons that philosophy has gotten away from common sense, and that the way to make philosophy and natural science more accessible is to use the vocabulary and understanding of the 'vulgar' masses. Berkeley's philosophy is called Immaterialism. He holds that the only things that can properly be said to exist are 'ideas' and 'spirits.' Ideas are all objects perceived by our five senses or by logic and inference from those objects. Spirits are our minds or souls, those things that perceive, think, and exercise will. He says that all other philosophical terminology only tends to confuse us. We cannot doubt the real existence of anything in the world, because we see, feel, hear, touch, and taste these things every day. What we can doubt are philosophical quandaries like abstract ideas - for existence, while we can think of a particular person in motion, we can neither conceive of a person in abstract nor of motion in general. This, Berkeley contends, is all that common sense gives to the plainest of people. Ordinary people do not doubt the existence of trees or gloves, nor do they conjecture about matter or substrata underlying the things they interact with everyday.

The 'Three Dialogues between Hylas and Philonous' serve to support the philosophical arguments that Berkeley made in the 'Principles.' Hylas is a materialist, while Philonous represents Berkeley's immaterialist argument. Their three dialogues are extremely entertaining and informative. They compliment the technical philosophy by providing concrete examples, which are many times missing from Berkeley's treatise. While the treatise and the dialogues can be read and understood on their own, the fullest appreciation of Berkelely comes from reading both. One limitation of Berkeley is that his 'vulgar' notions are almost too simplistic. He takes Occom's razor almost to the point of absurdity, which causes him to dispute notions like gravity, which these days one may well frown upon. Other than matters of advanced mathematical or scientific complexity, however, Berkeley's immaterialism seems, on the surface, to make great sense.

Another interesting facet of these two works is their religious component. An Anglican bishop, Berkeley makes use of his belief in God both to support his arguments, and uses immaterialist arguments to simply (far more simply than Descartes) prove the existence of God. Not quite an enthralling read, but, who reads philosophy to be enthralled? The arguments are interesting, the arguments well-supported, and possible objections deftly handled.

As a student of Dr. Luc Beaudoin, I found that his work reflects his passion for the romantic period of Russian Literature. As is evident in the book, Luc is a master at analysis, going deep into the story, into the words, and into the meaning of the word, those obvious, and those not so obvious. His interest and thorough research very clearly shows through in this work, and the academic world is indeed lucky to have such a valuable resource as this book is.

Six years later I'm still finding this book useful. The savings I've gained from this book has paid for itself many times over. My girlfriend bought me this book so I would take her to more places.... it worked. Many weekends, especially the weekends that we couldn't figure out what to do, we would open up the book and choose something new. 90% of the time the book's recommendations were useful, fun and cheap. This book takes a city and bay area which is known to be expensive, and shows you all the fun and great inexpensive places and things to see and do.I've read the 96' but want a year 2001 updated version.

Ok - this study guide totally rocks, especially when you dont want to read the actual book. Provides character analysis and summaries to make your life a little easier. Buy it, dudes!

I have this book and use it at school. It is great for teaching students about different kinds of rocks. You will need a set of rocks to do the activities in this book. Once you get you set of rocks you have lots of fun and exciting activities to do with your children.