Good library edition, valuable reference work
597709
Reference material necessary for understanding the topic. Have not yet given it much attention but the information contained is background to understanding the subject.
1313390
As with any historical work, this edition of Plutarch should be reviewed for two things: the quality of the edition, including the translation, introduction, notes, etc, and how enjoyable reading the work is. Of course, anyone who wants to read Plutarch is going to do so. Therefore this review is targeted at people looking for the right edition of Plutarch, and those looking for a book that's simply fun to read.

This edition is perfectly adequate and a great value although the introduction and maps are both meager and largely unhelpful. The translation by Ian Scott-Kilvert is easy to read and clear. The notes are helpful and are put in as footnotes, rather than endnotes, so the reader doesn't have to flip to the back of the book constantly. The selection of Lives is great for anyone interested in classical Athens. It includes Theseus, Solon, Themistocles, Aristides, Cimon, Pericles, Nicias, Alcibiades, and Lysander (the Spartan). Price-wise, the book is also quite cheap.

Plutarch is not one of the most popular Greek writers, but for anyone interested in the history of ancient Greece or in the classics more generally, he is very helpful. His Lives make it easy to learn about the history without reading the longer books of Thucydides, Herodotus, and Xenophon. Plutarch does tend to view his subjects through rose-tinted glasses, but overall his portrayals are fair. He gives both sides to a story when there is disagreement among the sources he used. All in all, he is a great historian and anyone interested in ancient Greek history should enjoy reading him.
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.
2919497
An important book, actually: very useful for a collector.
587669
A definitive edition of this work would require separate critical editions of its 5 parts, based upon a thorough examination of all extant manuscripts in many languages. That such a Herculean task might ever be accomplished seems set to remain a rather improbable eventuality, and until such a time we are lucky to have Peterson's slightly less ambitious volume.
Peterson has produced a reliable English version based on Sloane 3825 in the British Library, giving some variant readings from other manuscripts in the same collection, and testimonia from such authorities as Trithemius. The result is an edition superior to any previously published. The Ars Notoria section, however, is just a reprint of Turner's widely available translation. At the back, the index omits the many Angelic names which comprise the essence of the text. You can get a preview of this edition at his website esotericarchives.com.
Aside from the question of scholarship, the physical book is quite a nice production. One might wish that the many sigils had been professionally redrawn for this publication; or, failing that, at least some regularity might have been brought to their size. The text might have benefitted from wider outer margins also, but these are minor quibbles.
At the time of writing, April 2008, this edition has just gone out of print. Second hand prices have skyrocketed. Perhaps this will give incentive to the publisher to bring out a second edition.
4097158
It is a reference work by a classic author which is a welcome addition to my library and well worth the free price!
4127712
I have reduced to tatters two copies of Klaeber's third edition, a text I have literally lived with since 1977.  This fourth edition, which I am now working my way through in preparation for teaching the poem in the coming academic year, is a worthy successor to the third.
The discussion of the manuscript and its hands is clear and balanced.  The treatment of the analogues and sources may strike some as conservative, but appears to me exactly the line to take.  The glossary - for which generations have students and their teachers have been profoundly grateful -  has been enriched by reference to the half century or more of scholarship that has accumulated since the last revision.
I look forward to working through Beowulf 4 (with Beowulf 3) to see what Klaeber himself hoped to see - the ongoing recovery and elucidation of a noble text.
I think Klaeber himself would be pleased.
Although I believe he would have recalled that the Cotton emperors have among them the fascinating Cleopatra, p. xxvi footnote 5
4067564
A comprehensive, important volume in outstanding condition.
339265
This book, despite its age is an excellent reference source for cheesemaking. It is designed for the commercial cheesemaker, but has valuable information about the chemistry and microbiology of the milk transformation. My copy was pre-owned, and had a number of recipes stapled to some of the pages. The book is out of print, so, what you see is what you get. A worthwhile addition to any library.
1715372
As a Rome-based freelance writer who frequently publishes articles about the Vatican and its history, I knew I needed a good reference book to help me recognize saints in history, art, and tradition and understand why they are important. I did some research to decide between this volume, the Oxford Dictionary of Saints, and the Delany's Pocket Dictionary of Saints and I decided to buy this one.

Then some time passed, and I decided I needed still more information and so I bought the Oxford version about a year later. And six months ago the Delaney edition found its own place in my book shelf. And do you know what? After familiarizing myself with the new additions to my religious library on their arrival, I have hardly opened either of the Penguin edition's rivals.

To be clear, none of these books contains all the information in the other two, but I believe this edition -- in terms of authoratative (even if sometimes brief) biographical information, good organization, data on symbolism related to saints, a helpful glossery of terms, and an impressive bobliography -- is the best to have if you'll only buy one book.

As another reviewer here pointed out, the book's great weakness is its lack of significant information about patron saints. And that's important, because many lay people first decide to learn more about the lives of saints because of the patron saint of some area of interest (the Delaney book is best in that regard).

But I believe that flaw is more than compensated for by the book's strengths. At the risk of envoking a tired cliche, the book is written in a fact-packed and yet accessible style that makes it a good option for the novice and a valuable resource for more experienced saint watchers.
1131020
Very informative, a nice supplement to other titles in my library.
3829390
Michael Holmes has updated the brilliant J.B. Lightfoot/J.R. Harmer translation of the Apostolic Fathers for the 21st century scholar and interested reader. The works which are included are: 1 Clement, II Clement (correctly labeled here as "An Ancient Christian Sermon"), the Letters of Ignatius (the seven genuine letters in the so-called middle recension), the Shepherd of Hermas, the Letter of Polycarp, the Martyrdom of Polycarp, the Didache, The Epistle to Diognetus, The Epistle of Barnabas, and the numerous fragments of Papias. The critical Greek text is of course also included (with textual variants) in this edition, and so is the Latin when the text only survives as such.
For each book there are helpful footnotes, textual variants, introductory material, and a bibliography. There is a subject/author index, a scripture and non-canonical literature quotation section, and a few maps for those who wish to know, for instance, where exactly Ignatius' letter to the Trallians would have been read. Michael Holmes has also updated the translation and Greek texts based on recent findings and textual discoveries.
Overall, "The Apostolic Fathers" is a fine resource for the Patristic scholar. However the works are also useful for the non-scholar who wants to read about the infant, developing, and persecuted Church. As the title suggests, these writers lived close to the Apostolic Age; some (Clement, Ignatius, and Polycarp) even probably knew an apostle or two. Their writings, theology, and ethics are important clues into developing Christian Orthodoxy. The affordable one-volume price, the modern translation, and updated Greek text render this book superior to the other translations of the Apostolic Fathers available, including Staniforth's, Lake's, and volume one of the Ante-Nicene Fathers (however the other editions certainly still have great value; the ANF set has the longer recension of Ignatius' letters, which the Holmes edition lacks). If you wish to begin a study of Christianity and Christian history, after reading the New Testament, start with these texts.
3895445
"The Blackwell Encyclopaedia of Anglo-Saxon England", edited by Lapidge, Blair, Keynes and Scragg, is a collection of 700 articles by 150 different scholars, covering almost every conceivable aspect of political and social life between the Roman departure from Britain and the Norman Conquest.

The articles cover subjects in political, social, economic and ecclesiastical history, linguistics, literature, archaeology, historiography, and even science (for example the article on Astronomy). The material is not heavy-going either: each piece is concisely written, covering on average less than half a page (although some extend to as much as two), which is long enough to provide an introduction to a topic without being overloaded with detail. In addition, every topic is followed by its own mini-bibliography, which opens up possibilities for further research - although this may be more of use for students than the lay reader, since many of the references point to academic journals rather than general texts.

Context is provided by a comprehensive and highly useful list of the rulers of the English kingdoms, as well as four pages of maps demonstrating the changes in England's political landscape over these centuries. The Encyclopaedia is organised in alphabetical format, making navigation easy, and all the articles are extensively cross-referenced. A further useful feature is the index, which classifies all 700 pieces by subject, so that it is possible at a glance to find all articles on, for example, art and architecture, or language, or kings and queens.

All in all, the "The Blackwell Encyclopaedia of Anglo-Saxon England" is a tremendous resource. For students it will prove an excellent first port of call when engaging with the academic literature, as I found out when studying at university. For the casual reader with an interest in the period, there is much that can be learnt simply by dipping into the material, although for someone approaching Anglo-Saxon history for the first time, it might be more worthwhile beginning with a conventional narrative account of the period - such as John Blair's "The Anglo-Saxon Age: A Very Short Introduction", or Frank Stenton's "Anglo-Saxon England".
3311928
Kleene's textbook is one of the fundamental texts of mathematical logic. It is easy to see why it is (supposedly) the most cited book in the mathematical logic literature. It is a model of clear explanation, and it does a better job of motivating the subject than any other textbook I have read (I mean deep intellectual and historical motivation of the subject, not the kind of motivation found in introductory logic books about what deduction is, and why learning logic is a good thing to do). Ishi press are to be thanked for making it readily available again at a low price. This edition however is a little on the cheaply made side; this edition was scanned from an older edition, and there are faint copy lines on most pages, so it looks like a photocopy. The pages are glued to the spine, and the binding is not flexible and does not appear all that durable. This means this edition is probably not ideal for serious study as the book will not lay out flat, and forcing it to do so may crack the spine. Nevertheless, if you are interested in mathematical logic this is a must read, and this edition makes it much easier to do so.
2299550
This is a nice reference book in English to the miracles of St. James. Lots of good notes and references to related works provide the scholar with other sources to explore.  While this is a scholarly work, the stories can be enjoyed for their own sake.

I only have one fault with this work in that  it caused some confusion with the statement that the manuscript has been cut down at least once or twice and that one of those cuts occurred in the 17th century perhaps as a result of King Philip's ambassador, Ambrosio de Morales' comments. "When Morales viewed the Codex Calixtinus, he reacted with such disgust  at Book IV's contents that he convinced the archive to rip the Turpin story out of the Codex Calixtinus."  It didn't happen with Morales since Morales died in 1591 and the Book was ripped out around 1619.  Perhaps Morales was a catalyst in getting the debates going on this Book,  but it was not ripped out on his authority. The authors have an endnote on this referring to Manuel C. Diaz y Diaz's work, El Codice Calixtino  in which he states that the removal of Book IV probably happened between 1610 and 1619 which also shows that Morales could not have been the one to have it removed.

In spite of this confusion, the book is a well needed resource for scholars. I would recommend the book to anyone doing research on the Codex and for anyone interested in the Middle Ages.
2148115
I first reviewed this edition as a disappointment because I thought a key tale was missing.  A fellow reader corrected me, pointing out that the tale I was looking for was indeed in the collection, but titled differently.  I had not previously encountered the tale titled as such, and am glad to know it's included. (THANK YOU, Wolfgang!)

Now that I note my mistake, I'm happy to change my review from 2 to 4 stars, and add that the book itself is a pleasure to have. The collection is mostly complete, --if I'm not mistaken again!!  There is a censorship matter, regarding one or two tales currently excluded and being considered for deletion from the collection entirely, due to overt antisemitic content--consider the Ortgeist.)

As far as I can tell, these are accurate translations, and certainly not the sanitized versions commonly foisted on readers.  I wouldn't mind an alphabetized table of contents, but that seems to be a common challenge in these collections, so it's not a problem specific to this edition.  I'd say if it had included that and the commentary by Joseph Campbell found in The Complete Grimm's Fairy Tales, which I got for $0.99 on Kindle, it would've hit a 5 star rating, but that's just my personal preference.  As for form factor, I'm still old-school and I like the feel of an actual book--clean, crisp paper pages, good hard-bound cover and binding...This edition is produced in a comfortable size and weight, and I find the design attractive.  Overall, it's quite a nice book at a very reasonable price.
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.