An Important Reference Work
340821
There are not many handbooks of this sort, and I am filled with anxiety, because we need more of these textbooks.
995977
This book is a real find: a full scholarly edition, in Latin with translation, of a work that is incredibly important historically but almost totally unknown to modern readers.  It is an herbal, roughly contemporary with Dioscorides (1st century CE) and drawing on the same general store of knowledge, but not derivative of Dioscorides.  It is also separate from Pliny, and in spite of the name has nothing to do with Galen.  (The name is one of those medieval labels to give prestige, like the naming of a roughly contemporary Chinese herbal after the God of Agriculture.)  The book is an alphabetical guide to major drugs, mostly herbal, many mineral, a few animal.  It is a memory aid for practitioners, not a full textbook like Dioscorides, and therefore gives very brief accounts--often describing the plant merely by saying it "is known to everyone."  Medicinal values are very briefly indicated.  The book is practical and accurate when it does give details; most of the indications are not too far from modern biomedical findings, and the few excursions into magic and exaggeration are rather trivial.  On the other hand, the book would be unusable to a non-expert, because compounding and quantities are not generally indicated.
The real point here is that the book was known for centuries, and ranked with various editions and extensions of Dioscorides as the basis for learning drugs and medicines in medieval Europe.  It was a slender reed, but thousands (or millions) leaned on it.
What really astonishes me, personally, though, is that we have here a full scholarly edition of a major medical work that is actually offered in paperback at an affordable price!  Usually, such editions forthcome from scholarly European presses, at prices that bankrupt even large university libraries and result in the books becoming unavailable to students or researches.  A million thanks to University of Toronto Press for making this one available even to people like me.
3123991
This is the ninth edition of Arthur Goldschmidt's classic textbook. Goldschmidt is emeritus professor of history at Penn State and a specialist on Egypt. Lawrence Davidson has been brought in on this edition to bring the text up to date with current developments in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and the latest Gulf War, a task for which Davidson is eminently suitable.

Previous editions of this textbook had become unwieldy because of the sheer volume of work that has been produced on Southwest Asia in the last two decades and, of course, in light of current events: 9/11, the Iraq War, and the breakdown of the peace process in Palestine. The authors in my opinion have done an excellent job in trimming the text and fashioning what is once more the most succinct and clearly written history of the Middle East, one that is free of overt bias--that is to say, the authors do not shy from offering arguments based on evidence, but they avoid an overt presentist, political agenda.

The new edition also has an excellent chronology of events, useful, clear maps, a thorough glossary of terms, and bibliographic essay with suggested readings on everything touched on in the book. The chapters are divided into short sections on specific themes, which also makes the work an excellent, easy-to-use reference book. Finally, they have included short--usually one page--accounts of key figures and events. There may be a lack of primary source material in the text; but this book is for students, who, in my experience want clear explication and a lively presentation of the material and often ignore the primary source "blurbs" provided in most textbooks. If you want to read primary sources, there are any number of good source readers on the Middle East, Islam, etc. from which to choose.

Unfortunately, some reviewers below have suggested that the authors are somehow anti-Zionist and pro-Muslim ideologues. This is a gross misrepresentation. Neither in this work, or in their other more focused studies do Goldschmidt or Davidson adopt a one-sided perspective on Middle Eastern politics. They offer us a sympathetic account of Islamic civilization, but not one that overlooks the conflicts within the Islamic movement throughout history. This is the greatest strength: they do not treat "the Muslim World" as monolithic or its history as a single narrative of violence, backwardness, or "anti-modernism." Just because the authors do not endorse the view that all Muslims are militant radicals bent on world domination and that Israel has the god-given right to absorb all of Palestine--Gaza, West Bank, Sinai, and who knows what else--does this make them apologists of Islam? To those who wish to see propaganda rather than history, I suppose the answer would be yes. But the authors are not the ones with the axes to grind; it is these intemperate, narrow-minded readers, who wish only to read things that affirm their identity politics rather than works that might challenge or, better, complicate their myopic, simplistic view of the world.

If you are looking for a text to use as an instructor, or just someone interested in a general history that is not over-burdened with scholarly jargon, this is it.

On the other hand, if you are looking for in-depth treatment of certain areas of Afro-Eurasia and specific aspects of Islamic culture, then the work's concision is also perhaps a drawback. However, there are so many specialized studies, one cannot hold it against these authors that they did not write a ten-volume history that deals with absolutely everything. I would look into the authors' extensive, annotated bibliographic essay for specialized works if you want to read more on any of the topics covered in their book. These authors should be lauded for their succinct analysis and the ability to focus us in on key themes without becoming bogged down in detail, or overt presentist biases.
4067564
A comprehensive, important volume in outstanding condition.
1228436
InterVarsity Press has been establishing itself as a leading publisher of scholarly reference works for the last several years.  After the completion of the four volume Dictionary of the New Testament series, they have embarked on a matching four volume set on the Old Testament.

The editors have assembled an impressive list of nearly 100 individual contributors representing a full spectrum of evangelical scholars.  There is a helpful list of the contributors by name with a listing of the articles they authored.  The editors have included a useful section on "How to Use this Dictionary" (xi-xii) that details the structural features of the work.  There is also a listing of abbreviations, which, although it is a duplication of the Society of Biblical Literature guidelines, it is still a handy quick reference for this volume.  The volume is arranged in a helpful two-column format and each article is outlined at the beginning and all have rather extensive bibliographic support.

It is impossible to discuss even a small portion of the nearly 200 articles in this massive volume.  Some are worthy of special note however.  The article by B. T. Arnold on "History of Pentateuchal Criticism" (622-31) is an excellent survey of the major issues and personalities in Old Testament historical criticism.  The articles on the "Date of the Exodus" (258-72) by John H. Walton and the "Exodus Route and Wilderness Itinerary" (272-80) by Peter Enns are exceptionally detailed with excellent charts.  There is also a thought-provoking article on "Preaching from the Pentateuch" (637-43).

The publisher is to be commended for commissioning this new addition to Biblical reference as are the editors for the end result, which is a work that should serve as the standard reference work on the Pentateuch for many years.
4097158
It is a reference work by a classic author which is a welcome addition to my library and well worth the free price!
742670
This work has become the classic work on the structure of Celtic mythology.  The work consists of three parts, each of which is an important work in itself.

The first part is an overview of Irish and Welsh mythology, as well as a demonstration that some of the material which first appears in Irish Christianity is of pagan origin (this is demonstrated by showing a common origin of themes with the Vedic tradition, suggesting a common root going back to the early Indo-Europeans.

The second part is a look at various themes in the mythology, such as the dualism of darkness and light, the five divisions of the provinces, and the like.

The third is a look at the main elements of hero cycles in the Irish and Welsh traditions.

For comparative studies, this work provides a tremendous amount of information, which could be used to push the boundaries of our knowledge both regarding the Celts and also other Indo-European peoples.

The only fault I can find with the book is that the authors often assume that the reader understands the use of the comparative method between Indo-European traditions.  However, the analysis does seem solid to me and I would highly recommend this book to anyone studying Celtic material.
1788749
This is an excellent reference work which provides great detail as to the technical theological nuances of many changes that have occured over the years from Russell to Rutherford to Knorr.  Summed up the author's assessment of Russell is mostly good, Rutherford mostly bad, and Knorr is both good and bad.  He has endeavored to be objective however he appears partial to most of Russell's views as if they were empirically correct.  Curiously he doesn't discuss Russell's extensive use of Pyramidology to support his chronology, and Rutherford's rejection of it.  Likewise it seems evident he views the lack of organization under Russell is superior from both a biblical and practical standpoint as compared to a structured organization with central control which Rutherford and Knorr implemented.  I think this point is debatable as anyone who has been involved with the practical matters of managing any business or church would know.  He also seems partial to P.S.L. Johnson theologically as compared to any of the organizational decendants of Russell including Jehovah's Wintesses.  Net net anyone who is not familiar with the history of Jehovah's Witnesses will find the information quite eye opening.  Nevertheless I think whether one studies the history of the nation of Isreal as recorded in the bible or the first century christian congregation one will see clearly the imperfections of men.  It would be interesting if the author would update his work at some point as this material is 40 years old.
4355704
This is volume 1 of a 2 volume reprint of a work originally published in 1923. The original publication date is not mentioned on the title page, back cover, or anywhere else and may only be inferred by reading the author's preface. Dover would really do its customers a service by mentioning the 1923 publication date somewhere. The reprint itself is adequately done, though it would have benefited from some pre-press touching up as small bits of text have dropped out in a few spots.

Overall, this is an extremely useful book for the researcher of the Late Roman/Early Byzantine empire. Bury covers all aspects of the empire during this period in adequate detail--enough to maintain a full and compelling narrative, but not too much as to drown the reader in minutiae. As with many scholars of his time, Bury was extraordinarily learned and an expansive researcher. The breadth of the sources he cites is indeed impressive, and every page is heavily footnoted. A 20 page bibliography is included at the end of Volume 2 that includes ancient historical and literary sources, inscriptions, and modern historical, literary, and artistic works up through the 1920s. This is very useful for pointing the serious researcher toward resources to provide additional detail on specific subjects of interest.

Readers should beware, however, that this book was written during a time when it was assumed that most folks trained in the liberal arts would have a working knowledge of both Greek and Latin. This may be a source of some frustration to modern readers, as Bury retains many short passages in the original languages.

The greatest weakness of this work is one that afflicts many scholars of the Anglo-American tradition up to the present day--a barely concealed animus toward the Roman Catholic Church in general and toward the Papacy in particular. Sadly, this bias permeates Bury's work, along with a not-quite-dispassionate attachment to Greco-Roman paganism that borders on the romantic. For Bury, it gets so thick in sections that it completely eclipses any semblance of scholarly objectivity.

An example may suffice: In a long tangent from his main narrative, Bury presents a harsh critical analysis of "City of God", the monumental work of St. Augustine of Hippo which seems distinctly out of place. As part of his critique, he writes, "The main argument itself, although it has a definite architectural scheme, is marred by diffuseness and digressions." It seems that the irony of such a statement, contained as it is in a diffuse digression from Bury's central theme, was lost on the author. And indeed, this statement makes for an accurate criticism of the whole of Bury's work.

It is indeed unfortunate that many of the most celebrated modern resources in English for this time period were written by protestant/agnostic/atheist scholars with an axe to grind. Few works exist to hold up the Catholic argument--at least in English. Perhaps someday, a press will see fit to translate the truly monumental Ecclesiastical Annals of the 16th century apologist and historian Cardinal Baronius into English to provide some much-needed counterpoise to the easily available histories of Gibbon and Bury.
1807522
The study of spaces of holomorphic functions brings together techniques of complex function theory, real analysis, harmonic analysis, and functional analysis.  Anyone engaged in this study should have a copy of this book, which does an excellent job of laying out the subject from all of these perspectives.  The main body of the text serves as an excellent reference, and the exercises add much more.  As far as this reviewer can tell, the book is cited more often in the literature than any other book on the subject.  The only problem is that the book is out of print.  The reviewer's (faint) hope is that this review will help convince a publisher to republish the book.
1485243
This is a serious book for those wanting to learn more about the historical context of the new testament. It is an academic text that should be part of a reference library.
1209879
This is really a book intended for academic studies, and it would not be an easy read especially considering that this book is a collection of academic papers that some may be written in German, while others in English or in French. But otherwise this book is excellent in term of its use as reference and source of information in academic studies. I place 5 star for its academic value, not its easiness to read.
4675237
In an era where no one seems to know their spiritual ancestors, this is a much needed work.  It complements sourcebooks like Lumpkin's _Baptist Confessions of Faith_ by excerpting theological works by major Baptist (and related baptists) theologians over the centuries.  While I am disappointed at the neglect of 2 17th C. Baptists of major importance, Richard Overton and Gerrard Winstanley, overall I think this was one of the most inclusive collections.  I am known to disagree with the interpretation of E. Y. Mullins held by one of the editors, Curtis W. Freeman, and, for that reason, wish that a different selection had been made of Mullins' work.  Likewise, in addition to the Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "Letter from a Birmingham City Jail," which is reprinted in many places, I would like to have seen some other selections from King.  Since there is a tendency for white Christians to "tame" King, excerpting the portion of _Where Do We Go From Here?_ which analyzes the strengths and weaknesses of "Black Power," might have awakened many to the radical nature of King's thought.  A selection from his posthumously published _The Trumpet of Conscience_ might also have been useful in that regard.  Still, caveats aside, this is an excellent collection and, with the exception of Mullins, the editors' introductory remarks are usually excellent in helping beginners to interpret baptist theologians with whom they are not familiar.  This "reader" should become a textbook for courses with titles like "Baptist Theologians in Historical Perspective," and should find its way to church libraries and pastor's shelves as an essential reference.  One of the editors, James McClendon, himself a very creative baptist theologian, unfortunately died in 2000.  Hopefully Freeman or Velloso da Silva (now Velloso Ewell) will take up the challenge of the next step:  Convincing a publisher to reprint some of the major works of these baptist thinkers in full.  That way, readers of this volume who get excited by one or more of these "roots" can explore it further without spending months in the "rare book" sections of major theological libraries.
3027195
There is a reason this book keeps being reprinted:  It is very important.  Graves's seminal work has been widely assailed over the past century, yet it holds enough germane information concerning the world that is remains a classic, despite its perceived and real flaws.

I view "The World's 16 Crucified Saviors" to be so salient that I wrote the foreword to this edition, defending it against unwarranted criticism, of which there has been much, and much of which, it is shown, has been illusionary.  The criticism Graves does warrant is that he failed to cite his sources often and carefully enough.  Despite the fact that Graves was not a meticulous record-keeper, or, at least, what we have of his is hasty in its citation, we nevertheless possess significant, worldwide religious correspondences that go well beyond this one tome.

In spite of this difficulty, it turns out that many of the claims made popular by this clearly classic work are accurate to varying degrees, thus absolving Graves from the untoward characterization of his labor.  The book is not fallacious--perhaps overly ambitious in its declarations, although it is not hard to get caught up in the moment when one discovers the real significance of comparative mythology.  In that regard, this one small freethought book, written by an ex-minister, may have done more than practically any other in the past century to explore the odd correspondences among the world's religions and religious figures.  These correspondences reveal a unity of thought that is extremely important today.

Acharya S, author of "The Christ Conspiracy:  The Greatest Story Ever Sold" and "Suns of God:  Krishna, Buddha and Unveiled"
2102413
Dr. Bucaille's book is an extremely important one. Not so much for his interpretations of the Quran, but more so because of his criticisms and reflections on the Bible.
His research is meticulous, that cannot be denied. He learnt Arabic for the sole purpose of examining the Quran, and his research into the Bible is thorough. It is clear that he knows his Biblical history. Also, he quotes many theologians, including the Vatican Council.
His conclusions are that the Bible contains historical errors that have largely been ignored for centuries, as well as some contradictions. Mainly his criticisms are towards the contradictory genealogies of Jesus given in the Bible, as well as the statements on the flood of Noah. Bucaille then delves into the history of the Old Testament, as well as into the authors of the Gospels.
He concludes that the Old Testament went through centuries of oral tradition and repetition, where it picked up embellishments along the way, and lost its original veracity. He also finds that the Gospels were written long after the death of Jesus, and that the Gospel authors plagiarized from each other.

The second half of the book consists of his interpretations on specific verses from the Quran. He provides scientific data to back up his statements, but at the end of the day, a scientist sees science just as others will interpret the verses in their own ways. However, he does make an important statement with this book, which he repeats often and is the clear purpose for writing the book: that the Bible has outright falsehoods within it, whereas he was unable to find similarly glaring inconsistencies in the Quran. He is of the opinion of St. Augustine, that God could not teach man things that do not correspond to reality.

Whether or not his interpretations of the Quran are correct, I cannot say. But what I can say, is that the kernel of the book does not lie in these interpretations, but in his conclusions, where he makes a powerful statement.
4797680
This work is a valuable tool for anyone interested in early French engineers, particularly those that worked before the coronation of Henri IV.

Buisseret has created an admirable synthesis of previous work on the early engineers of France. He addresses the period that started at the beginning of the 16th century and ended with Vauban and Louis XIV. Buisseret's seems to be the first comprehensive review that attempts to provide biographical details about every practicing engineer of the period. The work draws from secondary sources for biography and provides additional guidance on relevant primary sources.

The book is informative, but not without faults. It could have used more copy editing. There are several sloppy errors such as mistaking "Besson" for "Bachot" and getting the title of Ramelli's book wrong. It is also suffers from omissions. Buisseret misses several very important secondary sources for the biography of engineers like Jacques Besson and Solomon de Caus while providing direction on heretofor unknown primary sources. Regardless, the comprehensiveness and convenience of the work outweighs these few problems.

Many readers may be intimidated by the language of the book. Buisseret--despite being a professor at the University of Texas--wrote the book in French. Perhaps an English translation is in the works. But those readers that can't wait to get their fix of Renaissance engineering goodness shouldn't be intimidated. Buisseret must be commended for writing a French book that is tremendously accessible to an English audience. My highschool French was sufficient to get me through with a fair degree of comprehension (I think).

n.b.- The title on the cover of the work is "Ingeniers et Fortifications avant Vauban: L'organisation d'un service royal aux XVI-XVII siecles".
3287500
"Taking with the Left Hand" is an important book on both the collective and individual levels. On the collective level it addresses three distortions of the Gurdjieff Work head on: the Ennegram Craze, People of the Bookmark, & the Mouravieff "Phenomenon."  For serious students of the Gurdjieff Work there is the concern that misunderstandings and false ideas arise when the undiscerning seeker takes these misrepresentations to be the teaching that Gurdjieff brought.  On the individual level William Patrick Patterson's book pointed out for me how easy it is for parts of oneself to be seduced by various temptations.
The Ennegram Craze illustrates what happens when an esoteric symbol, the ennegram, is taken out of context, leveled and poularized.  Being told one's 'personality ennegram type' and thereby having a neatly described system that categorizes the person and the rest of their world leads only to imagination and a crystallization of a wrong foundation.  When Richard Burton's book, "SelfRemembering" came out, I bought it not knowing that the author had taken ideas and mixed them with his own.  After reading it, I realized that is was antithetical to the Work as I knew it.  I was not really familiar with the work of Boris Mouravieff/Robin Amis until reading "Taking with the Left Hand."  It may be comfortaing for some to attempt to connect the Gurdjieff Work with the early Christian church, but Mr. Patterson's point that the teaching Gurdjieff brought is completely self-supporting and not connected to other lines is one well worth pondering.  This book helps to reveal and clarify many points concerning distortions of Gurdjieff's teaching which are important to understand. I recommend it highly.