Good--Assuming It's True
920372
This is NOT introductory Aramaic, but rather a book telling us why Jesus spoke Aramaic, and why knowledge of the language is necessary for biblical scholarship.  I found it good and interesting, written by a guy who has both studied about the issue and even lived and worked among modern Aramaic speakers.  I have three pages of notes taken from this book typed out on my computer.  It certainly beats Bivin and Blizzard's "Understanding the Difficult Words of Jesus: New Insights From a Hebrew Perspective" on why the authors think that Jesus spoke Hebrew and not Aramaic, a book that I have reviewed which seems based more on emotion and preference than on real scholarship.

Now is it true that Jesus spoke Aramaic?  An academic mind seemed present, but not a Jewish mind.  Did the author ever consider Jewish languages like Yiddish or Ladino, and think that maybe what Jesus spoke was a spoken language no longer extent, a mlange of Hebrew and Aramaic?  And did he consider that the fact that some phrases or clauses in the New Testament having been written in Aramaic and translated into Greek really shows us that it was the exception rather than the rule that Jesus spoke Aramaic?  These are two considerations absent in this book.

By the way, I read the Kindle edition, so I had to put up with the misspellings and other problems of Kindle, such as not being able to highlight specific sections in the presence of an ellipsis (...), as the ellipses blended into the words and made specific highlighting impossible in those areas.  But this is a Kindle problem, not the author's fault.

All in all, it's good reading, and reasonably good scholarship.  But without examining the Jewish talent for mixing Hebrew with other languages resulting in new languages such as Yiddish and Ladino, the book's thesis is still not fully convincing.
4237863
I'm quite knowledgeable about the literature concerning Home (past, present, long-past) and I would say that Dr. Lamont gives him a very fair treatment. His reservations are withheld until the end, where he asserts that he thinks that Home was a fraud whose "feats have never been adequately explained". However, he admits that he may be wrong (a truly skeptical position).

  In this book he evaluates some of the claims made by others in the past about Home and the attempts to discredit him, ranging from Podmore to Stein. This is essential, as the earlier books made a lot of unbridled assumptions (and even misrepresented facts at times -see Hall, Stein, etc) one way or the other -strictly supporting Home's authenticity as a medium or simply discarding that possibility in spite of the seemingly strong evidence that he may have been psychic.

  Anyone who wants an enjoyable and good read on the life of Home and the controversy underlying his "case" should buy this book -I'd be surprised if you'd find the time to put it down. It certainly is the most thorough compilation and evaluation of the case that I've yet come across.
1688080
I got this for my wife.  She actually uses it.  That means it must be good.
3592421
I have not read all of the book, but Dembski so far has shown the arguments against I.D. to be rather weak.  One section of the book was especially interesting to me.  It asked (to me at least) why the Darwinian account of how everything is where it is today should be treated as the default position.  Until it can be proven wrong, it's right.  Huh? Darwinian origin accounts are going to be synthetic judgements just the same as the I.D. account.  Neither should be the default position.

So far a good read.
1695966
I have been following this case closely. This is Mrs. Styler's view of the case and some of this might be true. It is good reading, if nothing else.
3345005
Bible Code II's premise is straightforward and simple: encoded in the original texts of the Bible, specifically the books making up the Torah, are a series of codes that predict future events.  Drosnin's book explores the evidence supporting this thesis and along the way provides a good brush up on recent events in and geography of the Middle East.

While the current events discussion is valuable if you haven't been paying a whole lot of attention to the conflicts there, the evidence for the Bible code (or at least this version of it) is questionable.  Drosnin never explains his methodology in depth, so understanding how some results were achieved becomes a little difficult.  The conclusions he draws from those results also tend to be tailored to what actually happened in real life, even though entirely different conclusions could have been reached with the same results.  Sources for other information he brings to the table aren't always specifically named, so finding them to verify what he says is another issue.

Drosnin doesn't reveal predictions for the future aside from a statement that terrorists will launch attacks from a base.  First of all, terrorism is a tactic and not a nation or tangible object.  As such, it will exist forever so the idea that terrorists will have a base and launch an attack from it is hardly rocket science.  He then declines to name the base, and in the chapter notes he says he intentionally left it out.  That's nice, but if this code is real then he should take the time to be more specific regarding other future events.  Instead, it's the only future event he names aside from saying the world may end in 2006.  Everything else he names already happened.  He also says what's encoded is just one possibility out of many.  If he's wrong, all he has to do is point back to that and say we averted the future he claims he saw.

Despite the problems with the code, the book is an entertaining read.  It's short, it's to the point, and the concept is certainly intriguing.  As I said earlier, Drosnin's explanation also includes background on recent events and information on major players who had some kind of role in those events, giving Bible Code II at least some of the legitimacy it otherwise lacks.
1769004
Dr. Winter's arguments are, dare I say it, *too* convincing, and seldom gives leverage for other opinions (despite the fact that throughout, his tone suggests that he wants his own opinions not to be the final word).  He gives cites compelling evidence (by that word I mean "data," not "truth" or "facts") as to which excerpts of Paul's letter are subject to changes in cultural milieu, and which are not; although even here, I had expected his notion that Paul's letter as a snapshot (i.e., events occurred beforehand leading up to what is reported in the letter, other events occurred afterward but obliquely anticipated by Paul).  Granted, producing a text that would have satisfied my expectations would had certainly doubled the length of this book.  I also appreciated how he didn't get bogged down on interpreting the theology of the culture, thus producing potential filler to his evidence (although peculiarly, I would have imagined Dr. Winter is certainly equipped to posit such opinions). But Winter's text is a very good first step, as it introduces evidence otherwise neglected.  And the presentation reflects half a life's labor of research.  I could never discourage this book, but neither could I ever propose it to be the final word, either (as I'm sure Dr. Winter would concur).
569565
It's easy, especially for idealistic folks, to confuse "ought to be" with "is." This can lead to severe breaks with reality. It can also lead to impassioned, fight-the-good-fight historically-speculative fiction like this, which takes something that damned well ought to bethe prosecution of George W. Bush for sanctioning the torture of prisonersand presents it as a contemporary fact. There may be no real justice in this universe, planet, or country, but lets thank Joseph Suste for presenting us with the illusion of justice, one that just might inspire us to pursue it in real life. This novel is honest and sincere, and not as one-sided as it might at first appear to be--though it does take sides, without apology. It's worth a read for anyone who wants to imagine this important event, and best of all, it provides a template of action--including a legal presentment--for any lawyers of good conscience out there who just might take inspiration from its pages.
46085
but the one of these I saw wasn't bad if you keep in mind that it's fiction. I think it was New Evidence" that I saw on TV, anyway- the recreations of "sightings" looked good, came out much better than the interviews with the "scientists".
It's worth a look.
2139840
Fairly good read....but one has to wonder if it was actually true...to stay so long in a situation like that - moreso with a baby....but a good story
274656
First let me say that I'm an agnostic, and the last thing I believe in is things like Christs or Antichrists....my philosophy of life has no use for such things.  But I usually find stuff like this interesting and amusing, and here Mr. Hanchett's book delivers much satisfaction in both areas.  Methodical and well reasoned is the text, his writing style is only fair but competent, and his conclusions are reasonable for the mountain of evidence provided, ( if you go in for this sort of thing that is... ).  I was almost believing the deadly serious argument the author was providing, it was reasonable enough that if any other topic had been argued so well that the world would have hailed the author as a genius.

Obvisously, this is a work of passion and hard research, and if your open to such ideas as "antichrists" in general then I'm sure you will find this a well organized and reasoned little tome.  And if your interested in some...well, "interesting" documented and verifiable but weird little secrets about our rather disapointing "commander and cheif", you will find this book of some interest as well.

As both "political satire" and a well reasoned and fact filled argument, this book just works well, ocasionally dry in the details but more reasonable than most books of this nature.

If you find this sort of thing interesting, or if you have a rather low opinion of our President, ( I must admit my opinion of the man has greatly dimished in the past few years, no doubt it was a factor in buying this book in the first place, ), you too stand a good chance of enjoying this book as I have.
352259
This book's main concept is a good one--ask yourself why anyone cares about the point you are about to make, and you may decide to present your case differently.  I had higher expectations based on all the five-star reviews...now I'm wondering if the reviewers may be colleagues of the author?

Suspicions aside, this book is short, to the point, and a worthwhile read.  I recommend this text if you are not making the sales you hope to make or if your audience is not giving you the response you were hoping for. I did learn something from this book, but it could have offered more real world examples of how asking "So What?" resulted in significant change.
451195
I was trying to see the point of what current times say on monetary trends and found the author had plenty to say. It was unfortunate, that his proofs and theories on who will replace who has no premise, other than "I said so."  Your mileage may vary.
3571776
The author's experience in large scale Oracle development is obvious. I don't agree with everything he says, but there is some good food for thought and some helpful revelations. All things considered it is worth the  price.
2075371
so far . . .  it's good. Time will be a better judge if it endures as expected.
1370835
Interesting, though these kinds of books have a horrible record for actual projections. So, that old saying really is true, that predictions are difficult, especially ones about the future. Wouldn't it be fun to ask each contributor to "50 Years" to back his/her predictions with a  ten-buck bet? But then we would have few "far out" articles to read and guffaw over! Mr. Mike Wallace was able to shanghai several dozen notables to pen their thoughts and conclusions, and the final finished production of all these is admirable enough. We can suppose having Mr. Wallace as the drawing card turned out to be a useful enough feature for the book publisher.

The reader should be forewarned that vastly many of the short chapter-articles tend to the fairly pessimistic, although most of these put a sardonic or brave face on their gloomy outcomes. We can suppose that this "covers" the author when times turn out better (they always seem to, don't they?), whereby the author can be pleasantly surprised that things went so well; this tends to make readers think better of them, unlike the reverse situation! Not until chapter five, John Christy's contribution, that we are finally treated to an optimistic piece. Five cheers for Mr. Christy, no reward for the earlier ones. The final chapter by Ross Gelbspan is a terrible book-finisher: "The Earth in 50 Years: Rescue ... or Ruin?" Mr. Gelbspan picked "ruin." The tone was thinly disguised sarcasm, probably at us humans for being so evilly human. Good grief!

In spite of this review's relatively low rating for the famous Mike Wallace, the book does flow well. If you favor a book that do make you ponder, reads smoothly, and can be understood half-seriously, then "50 Years" is a pretty good pick. At least check it out from your local library.
4264258
The evidence presented seems supported by good science.

The author's passion is however cause for some skepticism. The heavy use of anecdotes, though concrete and instructive, illustrates this point.

Even so I find my eating behavior has been affected.