There are two audiences that this book might possibly interest. One is the student of medieval Islam, for whom this book is certainly worth a read. There is a great deal in here regarding the development of Islamic thought during the Abbasid period, and the central role that Al-Hallaj played as a focal point in that period. This was a time when much of Islamic theology was just starting to be articulated, the mihna was in operation and the great Islamic scholastics had not yet appeared. It was also a time before most of the major Sufic schools that we know today came into existence, and Al-Hallaj's legacy was to be central to a great deal of later Sufic material. However, it is not a book for the beginning student in this era, and if you are one, you are better off starting with a more general history of the thought of the era before tackling this book. This may be due to the fact that it is an abridgement of Massignon's original opus, and perhaps a lot of his supplementary explanation has been deleted. The Islamic sections of the Cambridge Medieval History wouldn't be a bad place to start. The other audience that would be interested in this book are those interested in the spiritual content of Al-Hallaj's teachings, and while Al-Hallaj is a central figure in the Sufi traditions and Massignon was certainly in sympathy with those traditions, I feel that if this is your interest you will have to work through a great deal of detail that will be extraneous to your interest. In short, it's a book for the serious student of the man and the era, and if that's what you are, go for it.

I am working on translating the book from French to Arabic since 5 years, and Mr. Mason -although never met with him- was kind enough to send me his English translation of the 4 volumes book.
The book: It is a kind of encyclopedic bibliography with a great aim. Massignon believed that Hallaj, by becoming "the perfect Muslim" was leading himself all the way to be crucified for the mercy of mankind. And by trying to proof this theory, Massignon was hoping to unify all the people who believed in Abraham (Jews, Christians and Muslims) in one "spot of light", which is the violent death of a man in the attitude of "Qur'anic Christ" (according to the account of Jesus Christ in the Muslim's holy book).
The book is a useful reading if you are interested in history, sociology, monotheistic religions or knowledge in general.
The translation: Mason definitely made a fine job. Reading the English version is much easier than the French one, and most of the very complicated ideas of Massignon have been put in more comprehensive way, always without deteriorating the "unique flood" of Massignon writing. A lot of useful notes have been added and some important references have been corrected in the English version.
An important note: It is not an easy reading; Vol.2,3 & 4 are purely academic. The abreviated version (by Mason) is fair enough if you are not a specialist.

I have read much of the original series that this book comes from, and taken a class by the author. Mason is a brilliant scholar and has done an excellent job of bringing to life the writings of one of the most important and fascinating of the sufi mystics.

"The Case of the Blonde Bonanza" is one of the popular crime fiction write by Erle Stanley Gardner .
Beautiful blonde Dianne Alder signed a contract that she would get a hundred dollars a week to put on weight so as to promote a new line of fashion for "firm flesh " ladies . In return , the modeling agency would get 50% of whatever income she might get in her future career as a model .
Perry Mason , the famous American lawyer who sense the contract has a trap . Dianne was a friend of Perry Mason , he did not want to see naive Dianne who was taken advantage by the bad modeling agency , so he interfered in this case to protect her interest . As Perry Mason was investigated into the man who signed the contract with Dianne , Dianne was involved in a case of murder . Because of Perry Mason clever plans and reason , he was found out the real murderer .
This is a typical Perry Mason fiction ---- the story is simple but the plot is attractive . The readers can¡¦t guess who is the murderer if they do not finish the whole story .
Gardener could successfully created a powerful character ---- Perry Mason , because he was a lawyer before be a author . The fiction was written before forty years ago , therefore , some method used in the story may be old fashion and out date today , nevertheless , the wisdom show on Perry Mason like his debates skill in the court was the things that I am very appreciate .

The only reason I'm giving this 4 stars instead of 5, is that the solution to the mystery seems a little contrived compared to Gardner's other Perry Mason stories. But don't take that to mean the book is bad or has a disappointing ending. Gardner, as always, managed to create another unique murder mystery that leaves you wishing he were still around to create more.

Wealthy Witherspoon's only daughter is engaged to Marvin Adams, a son of a man convicted and executed as a murderer. Witherspoon asks Mason to investigate whether Marvin's father was really a murderer. However, in Witherspoon's mind, Marvin is already a potential killer, and he strongly inclines to pull them apart by any means. The young lovers are sensitive and nervous. And a blackmailer is hanging around...

The strained beginning attracts me, the situation which Mason describes as "loaded with emotional dynamite". Very well-plotted mystery entangled with past and present murders, and the development is unpredictable. It's a pity that the climax is not so dramatic.

One thing that interests me besides the story; Mason says that arrogant Witherspoon should get jolted and adds that the whole Americans also should get jolted because they take it for granted that they are the strongest in the World. It is a little surprising that such a statement was written in 1942 when the America was fighting the World War II. I wonder how American people feel if they read such a statement NOW.

I love Perry Mason books. Mason is a little bit fast and a little bit dangerous and always on the edge of making a risque and witty joke that the slightly cynical Della Street would be sure to get-- even though the clients he defends wouldn't. The Case of the Drowning Duck has all the elements that make Gardner books great. Even if it's not exceptional, it surely is enjoyable.

A typical Gardner Perry Mason mystery. The plot is clever, but built just the same way as every other Mason story: A client who doesn't tell all the truth to his attorney; an attractive woman with a secret; an unpleasent fellow who dies; a policeman who merely functions as an example of how not to do police work; a D.A. who is mad at Mason; and a twist that comes out all right for our heroes. It's written with Gardner's typical style, too: He uses words inaccurately ("commenced" for "began" is the one that always annoys me), and has dialogue no one would ever use (Mason always, inevitably, calls his detective "Paul Drake" ~ never "Paul" or "Drake", or even "him" as a real person would). That all being said, i still read Gardner, occasionally. Why? Because he is fun, and an entertaining way to spend an evening. That's all the time he takes (all he took, too, to write each book, i think); all i'm willing to give him. But, for that evening, he's worth it.

Horace Wallen retained Perry Mason to protect his wife from somebody who was trying to blackmail her. He provided a single clue, a fingerprint. Mason investigates, only to find that Lorna Wallen, the wife of Horace, made the fingerprint in question.

Mason reveals what he knows about the ways to deal with a blackmailer; pay off (never works; the blackmailer always wants more), go to the police (wise in some cases), or kill the SOB. So he gets a police sketch of the blackmailer in question, then pays off to allow him to ditch the shadows of both the feds, and the government.

After the blackmailer ditches his witnesses / alibis, Mason simply has his sketch shown to witnesses of major crimes, and scores a match. When shaken down for a "final payment", Mason just tells him that a police sketch identified him as an attempted killer. The end result- the blackmailer is killed, but Mason's client is picked as the killer.

To win the case, Mason has to find the evidence require to both clear his client... and that of a witness tampering charge. He does both, in his usual manner.

This novel has the most surprising ending. But unfortunately,"surprising" doesn't always mean "excellent". Because in this novel, too much tricks are used to lead this surprising ending. It might be better if the tricks were used by Mason or by the real murderer(s), but it seems to be Gardner (the author) that uses the tricks. I don't appreciate that very much.

I think it is one of the best written by Erle Stanley Gardner. I have heard so much about it and I finally got it from Amazon.com. I could never put it down.

Mason covers the history of legal custody with the exacting detail of a trained scholar. However, her conclusion that the "best interest of the child," is best served without regard for the best best interest of the parent will give an entire new generation of judiciary the opportunity to vacate parent's civil rights in favor of their children and the state.

Her idea of giving each child in a divorce their own legal representation will most certainly serve the best interests of attorneys everywhere, while leaving middle-class parents pennyless in their pursuit of justice.

For legal education and precedent this book rates a 10. For the long-term health of civilization, it deserves a 0.

This book is fair and comprehensive and, thankfully, free of feminist cant and propoganda. I learned much even though I know the material fairly well. My major insight was that custody has always been based on finding someone who will support the child, indentured servant or divorced wife and protect the State from having to pay. The change from father custody to mother custody has forced the State to become increasingly effective at requiring the parent with money to give the money to the other parent, allowing custody to be given to the less economically viable parent.

After I read this book the first time, I donated it to a local nature center library. But a part of it stayed with me, and I found myself thinking about it and occasionally sharing it with others. So when I saw another copy of this volume in a used bookstore, I scooped it up for myself. I stood there and thumbed through the pages until I found it -- Chapter 10, "Flying Squirrels: Phantoms of the Night," the story of a young flying squirrel named Hepsey. John Terres had the opportunity to keep Hepsey almost like a pet for most of her life. While that kind of arrangement is generally not a good one for human or for wild creature (and would easily have been fodder for a 1960s Disney film), Terres learned quite a bit about squirrels that a more formal study might not have revealed. He wondered about her nut-hiding talent, for example. So he put 100 hickory nuts out on a table and left the house. When he came back, each nut was hidden somewhere -- in a shirt pocket, in a shoe, etc. He put another 100 nuts out that same night, and they disappeared as well. Based on Hepsey's behavior, Terres projected that a typical squirrel could probably store 10,000-12,000 nuts in one winter season. A fascinating tidbit of information like that sticks in your head. But the fun of it all is in his narration of the escapade and of other Hepsey happenings. That chapter is arresting enough to warrant reading aloud during a nature center program.

Terres' ruminations and nature observations are based on his rambles through the North Carolina landscape. "How Vultures Find Their Prey" is another interesting test (by sight or by smell?) that you will remember. But it's Hepsey who will capture your imagination.

Terres, who was editor-in-chief at Audubon, spent a decade wandering the Mason Farm Biological Reserve in Chapel Hill, NC. The former farm was donated to the University of North Carolina to allow students to observe the wildlife there. Terres, likewise, set out to chronicle the life he found there, hiding in blinds, perching in tree stands, etc.. & he offers a wonderful account of his observations.

He describes each of the seasons & then gives detailed descriptions of the lives and habits of some of the farms residents: flying squirrels, turkey vultures, wild turkeys, cottontail rabbits, and the like. He came to know some of these creatures individually, including a heroic black turkey and his own pet flying squirrel. He endows them with personality and character and, like him, we start rooting for them in their struggles to survive.

GRADE: B+

Wowsers. The main character is strong-minded feminist, who at the beginning of the novel is arrested and sent to 1890's San Francisco. There, she's put in a sitation where she's forced to live a degraded lifestyle in a house of prostitution. Despite her radical feminist background, she easily falls into a masochistic relationship with a drug-addict who starts things off by raping her. Through it all, she's an active participant in both the masochistic relationship and the degradation of prostitution.

These serious themes are dealt with oddly, as the author downplays the ugliness inherent to the situation. The rapist is also the romantic interest, and is depicted as a pretty good guy trying to get over a troubled past. The rapes are generally inferred, to the point that it's easy to not realize them. Lip service is paid to the faults of prosititution, but it comes off as a pretty good career choice for women. Zhu's mental state through all of this is unclear, but seems stable.

Overall, the story gave the feel of a soft-core masochistic sex fantasy, written in the form of a sci-fi novel. That's weird enough, that although I don't have any desire to read more by this author, the book itself maintained interest. Also, I live in Oakland, and am interested in the history of San Francisco and Oakland (actually, that's why I read the book). This novel did a so-so version of invoking the times.

Lisa Mason's Summer of Love and The Golden Nineties both have this quality - you want to reread them as soon as you've read them. Her writing conveys an abiding love of San Francisco, and interesting bits of California history are woven into the storylines. The writing is so compelling that you feel as though time travel were a possibility. I hope she writes more of these San Francisco fantasies, and I'm sorry to see these are evidently out of print!

This book reads quickly as if it were a sit-com. I know,I know, the book is based on a sit-com, nonetheless, you would expect it to have slightly more actual content than it does. The book would be good a good starting point for young boys who are reluctant readers or for anyone who just wants to quickly get through a book, not have to think while reading and be done with it.

If you want to read a book that will make you laugh, get this one. It's just like watching an episode of the television series and is perfect for young readers. The tone and style are exactly like the show and we really have the opportunity to get into Malcolm's head. Great fun!

This is a reasonably good, though dry, effort at examining the life of the mellifluous-voiced British actor, James Mason. The book is paced well and there is a fair amount of information on most of his movies. However, there is a lack of information on Mason's personal life, especially regarding his unusual first marriage to the ascerbic Pamela Mason.

Though Pamela Mason was a loud-mouthed and shrewish adulteress, she was also extremely witty and interesting in her own right. Anyone who recalls her appearences on L.A. TV shows from the 60's and 70's will still chuckle at her endless tirades, usually ending with the predictable sentence, "James was so dull."

This book actually provides convincing evidence that James *was* boring. Mason comes off as depressed, rigid, indecisive and inrodinately unhappy. He makes many poor choices and instead of getting over them and getting on with his life, he broods about the negative consequences of his actions. For example, he moves to Hollywood and instantly detests California and American life, yet he inexplicably continues to live in the States for another 15 years. Hello, James... what was the problem?

It is never explained why James stayed with Pamela for so many years, even when he was miserable in her presence and unhappy living in America. When he finally does divorce her, he ends up shilling out millions in alimony and making a succession of wretched movies in order to pay off Pamela.

Ultimately, the real tragedy is that a man as intelligent, urbane and handsome as James Mason (not to mention his stupendous voice!) handled his career in such a haphazard way. He was a marvelous screen actor, but wasted his talent in many potboilers. This book doesn't really explain these poor choices and doesn't reveal enough about Mason's private life.

I really enjoyed this biography by Sheridan Morley on James Mason. It is really good, and tells much about his life, but more about his career. It's a very good read though, and you will learn about him from it. It's well written and really is an interesting read for any fan of James Mason.