Product Description
Hinduism began in India about 1800 B.C.E. For millennia, it has been a vibrant faith in its own right while also acting as the parent religion of Buddhism, as well as the Jain and Sikh traditions. These latter two groups function primarily in India, while Buddhism predominates in southeast Asia. Vendanta another Hindu offspring is worldwide as are Yoga transcendental meditation and other spiritual and meditative exercises. Script by Dr. Gregory Kozlowski. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Comprehensive Introduction
This was the second audio book of this series that I listened to in the recent few months. I find this book to contain a comprehensive and informative, to the point that I ordered five more books of these series on different religions of the world. ... Read more

Product Description
Judaism is both a religion and a way of life. It has severalmajor forms or traditions (Orthodox, Conservative, Reform, andReconstructionist) it is also the parent religion of both Christianityand Islam. Jewish sacred literature preserves the ancient oraltradition through the Hebrew Bible (which Christians call the OldTestament) and other writings (in particular the Talmud). Judaismexalts the divine gifts of the Torah God's teaching or instruction.Script by Dr. Geoffrey Wigoder. ... Read more

Product Description
Since the dawn of civilization, religions have expressed the concerns at the core of human existence: life's meaning and purpose the significance of birth and death moral commitments the proper conduct of life...and much more. These concerns define our self-understanding though often with many doubts and uncertainties. Beyond the daily clutter and bustle and routine, religion transcends making a living to guide us in how we should live life. Religions are rooted in culture and history. Far too often religious differences and tensions have been the source of corrosive hatred and terrible wars... the ultimate clashes of ultimate commitments. Yet in the increasingly connected modern world knowing the beliefs and commitments of others is essential to cooperation understanding and good will. In this series you'll learn about religious differences and also about their many similarities. It describes the beliefs practices and spiritual and moral commitments of the world's great religious traditions. It also examines each religion's scriptures identifies its outstanding thinkers and discusses its attitude and relationship to society. Narrated by Academy Award winning actor Ben Kingsley Buddhism began in the sixth century B.C.E. and has developed two chief forms: Theravada (or Hinayana) predominates in Sri Lanka Burma and Thailand; Mahayana in Japan China Korea and Indochina. Zen a more recent form of Buddhism is found throughout the world. Script by Dr. Winston King ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Buddhism (The Audio Classics Series: Religion, Scriptures & Spirituality)
Very good for a fast basic history of Buddhism that touches on the basics of Buddhist philosophy. Easy to listen to and very nice when you just can't take the time to read.

Excellant presentation of the "Three Jewels"
Captivating production of the Buddha's life and later development of buddhism in many different areas to include India, China, Japan, Tibet, Sri Lanka.Includes differences between Theravada, Mahayana and Vajrayana traditions.Done in radio drama format with several different actors.About 3 to 3 1/2 hours long. ... Read more

Product Description
1 sound cassette (ca. 60 min.); analog, Dolby system.There is no detective in fiction as shrewd as Sherlock Holmes. His dazzling analytical abilities regularly put Scotland Yard to the blush. An accomplished violinist, adept at a dozen obscure sciences, and possessed of an acerbic wit, Holmes's adventures with Dr. Watson have delighted readers for more than a century. Read by Academy Award-winner Ben Kingsley, this tape features "The Adventure of the Six Napoleons" and "The Adventure of the Crooked Man." ... Read more

Product Description
Christianity arose within the social and spiritual dislocation of the Roman Empire. Jesus, perceived by authorities as a threat to public stability, was executed in about 30 CE; his crucifixion and belief in his resurrection became a defining symbol for world-wide Christian religion.

The fall of Rome led to a divided Roman Empire and eventually a divided church. Though Orthodox and Roman Catholic churches share virtually the same canon of scriptures, they have diverged through the centuries as each embraced different ideas about worship, ethics, and relations to politics and culture.

The Religion, Scriptures, and Spirituality series describes the beliefs, religious practices, and the spiritual and moral commitments of the world’s great religious traditions. It also describes a religion’s way of understanding scripture, identifies its outstanding thinkers, and discusses its attitude and relationship to society. ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (7)

Footprints (minature edition)
I had to smile when I recieved my "minature" edition of Footprints as I hadn't relize just how small it would be.However, I love the little book and it is just right to tuck in someone's pocket or slip into their hand when they are for some reason "down and out".Makes a lovely "just because..." gift.

Footprints: Scripture with Reflections Inspired by the Best-Loved Poem
I had given it as a gift and read part of it wanted to buy it for myselt.

Author shows class !
Being an author and a poet myself, I have experienced having writtings taken by others and posted on their own websites - without references back to the source;nor did they ask permission to use them. However, I have always managed to contact them and "gift" them to right to use my creations - as long as they credited me as the source. I am not sure how I would feel if someone had outright taken my creative works and said they were their own. That is what happened to Margaret Powers and her poem "footrprints". It is so hard to imagine that someone could steal the idea with a spiritual based theme and claim it as their own work.

I believe her story and find her a very loving soul - at least, that is what is projected from her book. The book is a simple a short read but well worth it.

She Wrote It
Margaret Fishback Powers is an extraordinary woman who has been through and accomplished extraordinary things. What's more is I know the woman behind the book and the poem. She is heartfelt and genuine. She and her husband, also an author, tour the world in the name of Christ and are not boastful in any way. I'm sad to see people deny her rights to the poem and I'm glad for her that she finally gets the credit (in most cases) that she deserves.

The REAL Truth about Footprints
Margret Fishback Powers did not write "Footprints in the Sand".It was written by Floyd Keaton of Red Oak, Iowa during WWII.There are many people who have seen his ORIGINAL dated manuscript writtin in pencil on notebook paper PRIOR to 1964.Please contact the Montgomery County Historical Society in Red Oak for more information. ... Read more

Product Description
When David Copperfield escapes from the cruelty of his childhood home, he embarks on a journey to adulthood which will lead him through comedy and tragedy, love and heartbreak and friendship and betrayal. Over the course of his adventure, David meets an array of eccentric characters and learns hard lessons about the world before he finally discovers true happiness.

“The most perfect of all the Dickens novels.” –Virginia Woolf


From the Trade Paperback edition.Amazon.com Review
Beginning in 1854 up through to his death in 1870, CharlesDickens abridged and adapted many of his more popular works andperformed them as staged readings. This version, each page illustratedwith lovely watercolor paintings, is a beautiful example of one ofthese adaptations.

Because it is quite seriously abridged, the story concentratesprimarily on the extended family of Mr. Peggotty: his orphaned nephew,Ham; his adopted niece, Little Emily; and Mrs. Gummidge,self-described as "a lone lorn creetur and everythink went contrairywith her." When Little Emily runs away with Copperfield's formerschoolmate, leaving Mr. Peggotty completely brokenhearted, the wholefamily is thrown into turmoil. But Dickens weaves some comic reliefthroughout the story with the introduction of Mr. and Mrs. Micawber,and David's love for his pretty, silly "child-wife," Dora.Darknights, mysterious locations, and the final destructive storm provideclassic Dickensian drama. Although this is not DavidCopperfield in its entirety, it is a great introduction to theworld and the language of Charles Dickens. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (104)

outstanding
I've read much of Dickens over the years.Great Expectations was and is my favorite, but DC is probably a close second now.It is magnificent, and has a different tone than most of his other novels.It soon captured my attention, and it wasn't long before my pace accelerated--so much so that I was really regretting coming to a rapid end to this very long book.I don't have much to add over what other good reviewers have stated already.This is a novel that can be read at many levels and at any age.Aunt Betsy was my favorite character.Absolutely unique!

4.75 Stars -- A Near-Masterpiece
David Copperfield came roughly in the middle of Charles Dickens' career, and it is unsurprisingly transitional in many ways. It is also perhaps his most controversial novel in relative merit terms. Many critics, perhaps most, put it with or near his mature, fully-realized later novels, significantly ahead of early efforts; many others think it significantly ahead of the latter but not far enough to go with the former. Readers of course have no such scruples; it has long been one of Dickens' most popular novels - which truly says something -, and its appeal has hardly lessened after more than a century and a half. Also, for what it is worth, it was Dickens' own favorite. The bottomline is of course that everyone should read it anyway, because Dickens' storytelling power is such that even his lesser novels are far above most writers' best.

There is certainly no denying the power of the story as a story; Dickens is hardly bettered in pure storytelling terms, and this is one of his preeminent examples. Virginia Woolf, not generally a Dickens fan, thought it one of English fiction's greatest works, and no less than Leo Tolstoy thought the famous shipwreck chapter the greatest ever written and the example for all novelists to aspire to. After a (by our standards) somewhat slow start, the book quickly becomes engrossing, and we are hooked until the end. As always, Dickens deftly guides us through various styles and sentiments; the book is often comic but also has much tragedy and hits practically every spot between the two. There is no great mystery or plot twist as in some of his later books, but we see a definite breaking away from prior works in plot structure terms. Dickens' essentially episodic style was ideal for an era when serialization was obligatory and lengthy novels expected, but many later critics say it keeps him from true greatness. The trend is most noticeable in early works and still here to a certain extent, but this is clearly the seed of more concerted later plotting.

The plot is of course dependent on the eponymous narrator and central character, and the novel is one of the all-time great bildungsromans - perhaps even the greatest and certainly the most famous. Those who highly value tight plots may still be unsatisfied, as David's life is not much less uneven than most, but the fact of being tied to a single life gives considerably more structure than some early Dickens. Essentially a fictional autobiography, the novel charts David's progress literally from birth, ending in what seems to be middle age. Though not quite a rags to riches story, his long and troubled path from obscurity to fame may make the cynical scoff, but it is important to remember that this is after all one of the template's founding texts. We must also keep in mind that Dickens' own story was much the same; some have even called this his disguised autobiography, and there are indeed many fascinating parallels. His knowledge of and sympathy with young men growing up in his era at any rate gives the book a great lifelikeness that made many of them strongly identify with it. Along with Dickens' usual precise attention to nearly all details of everyday life and his keen eye for social life and other cultural aspects, this makes the novel invaluable as a peek into early nineteenth-century English life.

Far more important, though, is how forcefully the novel transcends time and place. Because so many aspects of growing up are universal, it is easy for nearly anyone to identify with David, and many have. We share his exultant joy at childhood's carefree moments and suffer along with his first tastes of pain, disappointment, and regret. We recall along with him adolescence's exuberances as well as its challenges. His first experiences of education, love, friendship, work and many other rites of passage are familiar to nearly all, as are his adult interactions. Dickens portrays all this realistically and empathetically, letting us relive much of our lives through David. He runs us through nearly every emotion along the way; the book has almost as many tears as laughs. David's story would of course be interesting in only a very limited way if his life were just like most, but Dickens makes sure to include many interesting narrative experiences. These are so well told that we feel for David as he moves through life's ups and downs, changing and growing in ways both familiar and unfamiliar.

This alone would make the book more than enough for most, but there is plenty more. Dickens' typically great characters are perhaps most notable. He may be unequaled for consistently depicting unique and memorable characters, and this has some of his most enduring. It is often said that David is the least interesting, and it may well be true - not because he is dull but because the rest are so fascinating. This is usually called a defect, but is in this way quite a virtue. It is after all hard to argue with the characters for wealth of human interest and sheer entertainment value. As always in Dickens novels, there are so many characters - nearly all with distinct and usually eccentrically memorable personalities - that no review of anywhere near normal length could possibly hope to do them justice. However, several are absolutely unforgettable:the melodramatically mercurial Mr. Micawber and his eminently practical but naïve wife; the thoroughly despicable hypocrite Uriah Heep; the low-key but ever reliable Traddles; David's hilariously short-tempered but genuinely kind aunt; the dignified and strong-willed but fundamentally selfish Steerforth; the lovely but almost childishly hapless Dora; the industrious penny pincher Mr. Barkis; Mr. Dick, the madman with flashes of brilliance - and enough others to populate most authors' whole canons. Dickens' characters have entertained millions of readers all over the world for nearly two hundred years and are certainly notable for strength of characterization and sheer imaginative reach. However, a minority has long objected to them as hopelessly quirky to the point of being unrealistic and annoying. This certainly will not convince them, but the vast majority who take the characters to heart will find many to love.

This gets to the central critical debate about Dickens' work generally and this novel particularly - is it great art, or simply very well-written and astoundingly entertaining? Dickens' essentially unparalleled characterization and storytelling are more than enough great art for most, but some decry a supposed lack of deeper meaning and serious themes. Yet Dickens is at least as sociopolitically aware as most great authors and plenty of lesser ones without succumbing to the nearly always fatal fault of heavy-handedness that few serious writers escape. The story certainly has some serious themes, drawing attention to - and because of Dickens' popularity, raising awareness and sometimes even leading to reform of - problems relating to several overlooked areas. These include unregulated youth schools, previously addressed in Nicholas Nickleby; the plight of parentless children; the working conditions of inner city factories, also addressed in Hard Times; poverty, particularly debt; and more. Also, though there is much in the presentation of female characters for feminists to decry, there is also a highly notable focus on issues of immense importance to women:the delicate position of young widowed women, which made them prey to unscrupulous men because of their enforced ignorance and consequent naïveté; and the sad state of prostitutes, a group so scorned that almost no one looked closely enough at their conditions to see just how miserable they were or inquire about the often surprising causes. There is also thought-provoking commentary on perennial issues like corporal punishment. Readers must decide if such themes are substantial enough. As for the long philosophical discussions in narrative and dialogue that have made so many other nineteenth century greats famous and revered, they are not to be found in Dickens. Some may think this a significant flaw, but his incredibly moving and believable portrait of a representative life will be enough for most. David learns much over the course of his life despite all the struggles and hardships, and if the ending may be too pat for the most cynical, all others will be touched by its paean to love's redemptive power, which has some of Dickens' most beautiful prose, and it is certainly hard to begrudge David's happiness and contentment. However much our lives may differ from David's, the novel will remain popular and worthwhile at least as long as any parallels remain.

As for this edition, it is ideal for most; it is not only inexpensive but has substantial supplemental material. There is an excellent introduction with background on Dickens, the novel, and the historical context as well as some initial analysis; useful notes are also included.

Copperfield is a literary receipe for life...
When I first read Copperfield (I have increased my adoration and respect to the novel by lovingly reducing the title), I was so moved by the journeys of David and the lessons that he learns along his way. His 'way' allowed me to be wrapped up in a chamois and surreptitiously allowed to witness my own growing up and growing in of my own. I identified with Dickens' past youthful experiences through my own varied and emotional travails. I embraced every single one of the myriad of mankind that pummels and embraces every single human being through their own individual lives. The ups, the downs, the ins, the outs of Copperfield are not so much spectacular as they are personally meaningful.
I have read this novel twelve times. I suppose that people would roll their eyes at such a claim and wonder bemusedly why. I read the book twelve times in twelve years for twelve different reasons. I made the decision as "this time I'm going to read it for Steerforth, this time for Dora, this time for Peggoty. And every time I was that character I was more of what David was and consequently, more of what I became.
It must be said that it is my favorite book. I claim to be prolific in nineteenth century literature and though other books of that one hundred years span have touched my heart, made me laugh and cry; it is, and most likely will remain so until I die, David Copperfield that I love. If you love yourself, if you love someone else; you owe it to your spirit and consciousness to read this beautiful and loving experience, It is more than just a book. Bill Christensen

A wonderful (audio)book
I have read and listened to many of Dickens' novels, and this is, without a doubt, my favorite. In fact, this is my favorite audiobook bar none.

This BBC Radio adaptation is the perfect introduction to Dickens and to David Copperfield in particular for those who may be dissuaded from reading Copperfield because of its length. It is impossible to imagine that the BBC could have found better performers for the roles--I can easily hear their voices in my mind as I recall the story. Although the story is abridged, you don't get the sense that you are missing any of the important points of the story. In fact, it's a much more satisfying "read" than most books in their unabridged version.

Poor print quality for the price

For the price of the Everyman edition, one would expect the pages to be cleanly printed. Instead, the letters are faded and weak on many pages. On many pages, parts of some letters are missing altogether. ... Read more

Product Description
When Tarzan is orphaned as a baby deep in the African jungle, the apes adopt him and raise him as their own. By the time he's ten, he can swing through the trees and talk to the animals. By the time Tarzan is 18, he has the strength of a lion and rules the apes as their king. But Tarzan knows he's different and yearns to discover his true identity.Amazon.com Review
First published in 1914, Edgar Rice Burroughs's romance haslost little of its force over the years--as film revivals and TVseries well attest. Tarzan of the Apes is very much a productof its age: replete with bloodthirsty natives and a bulky, swooningAmerican Negress, and haunted by what zoo specialists now callcharismatic megafauna (great beasts snarling, roaring, and stalking,most of whom would be out of place in a real Africanjungle). Burroughs countervails such incorrectness, however, with somerather unattractive representations of white civilization--mutinous,murderous sailors, effete aristos, self-involved academics, andhard-hearted cowards. At Tarzan's heart rightly lies the resourcefuland hunky title character, a man increasingly torn between the civiland the savage, for whom cutlery will never be less than a nightmare.

The passages in which the nut-brown boy teaches himself to read andwrite are masterly and among the book's improbable, imaginativebest. How tempting it is to adopt the ten-year-old's term forletters--"little bugs"! And the older Tarzan's realizationthat civilized "men were indeed more foolish and more cruel thanthe beasts of the jungle," while not exactly a new notion, isnonetheless potent. The first in Burroughs's serial is most enjoyablein its resounding oddities of word and thought, including theunforgettable "When Tarzan killed he more often smiled thanscowled; and smiles are the foundation of beauty." ... Read more

Customer Reviews (101)

Tarzan Vs. Tophero and Earth Vs. Opalon
A boy who is lost in a savage jungle that was raised by the apes and learns to read and write. This book has adventure, action, love, vengence and makes you feel you are in the jungle. If you like this book see "Tophero: Son of Smilodon" where another boy named Jon Lone was lost on a planet called Opalon 3.5 billion miles away. His parents franticly searched the hidden jungle to find that the place was swarming with Prehistoric creatures. His chance of survival is dismal but a clan of sabre tooth tigers saved him. Later, he finds people that were from his home planet Earth. He falls in love in a zoologist Tiffany--only bandits took her away. It is up to Tophero to save her. This book has all the best things in a book.

sheer fun
I remain a big fan of the book and the Johnny Weismiller movies some 40 years later. However, there's only a vague relationship between the series of Tarzan books written over a 30 year period and the movies, which continue to be made in various forms even now. Any fictional character that remains fixed in the public's attention over a 100 year period is a powerful invention indeed.

Tarzan the creature of the books is far more than the half wild man of the movies, a highly intelligent, self-made superman, unfettered by the chains of civilization and its artificial morality and forged in the fires of the ultimate Darwinian environment, the jungle, which of course he not only survives, but dominates by force of will, intellect and physical prowess. Raised by apes from infancy, after the death of his aristocratic British parents, he has no concept of his own humanity for a substantial portion of his youth. It's difficult to say that he ever really comes to find the company of humans to be superior to that of the apes who raised him. At no point does he ever succumb entirely to the weakening charms of civilization. It takes relatively little to drop his civilized veneer and charge into action, knife bared.

Burroughs himself was a reporter and pulp fiction writer. Most of these works and others that he also wrote appeared in serial format in various magazines. The first few books of the Tarzan series remain highly readable and are very creative. Then they devolved into a highly formatted plot structure that he found commercial and easily repeatable. As a pulp fiction writer, he reflects most of the prejudices of his time, making them painful at times to the modern reader, as would many of the earlier works of Robert Heinlein, if anyone read them today. But they are generally better in this regard than many of the movies. None of the movie characters ever became principal chief of an African tribe. But for sheer fun, Tarzan has had few equals over the decades

pay careful attention to "adapted"
I have been hunting feverishly for a while for an original text for Tarzan.This isn't it.It does clearly state on the cover that it is adapted.Just be aware that if you are looking for an unaltered version, skip on by this edition.It is geared toward young adult readers, not the avid Tarzan fan.

great story, I wish it were all there.
I was a little bummed. I got this after reading an unedited version and was disappointed to find this one was censored. Not even the Modern Library Classics edition presents the entire, original text.

Apparently, sometime in the 60's, the Burroughs estate excised certain things to make it seem less racist. Reading it now makes me wonder what's the point.

Nature AND nurture create the greatest of fictional superheroes
I first encountered Edgar Rice Burroughs back in the mid-1970s, during the last period of his widespread popularity in the USA; at that time nearly all of the books in his most popular series - Tarzan, John Carter, Carson of Venus, Pellucidar - were readily available at most chain bookstores in mass-market paperbacks.I collected a good many of them, and though John Carter was, and is always my favorite, I'd have to say that after 30+ years and many reads this first Tarzan book has now ascended to the peak of my favorites list for this now almost forgotten writer.

It's strange that for a writer so talked about, and a character so psychoanalyzed over nearly a century both Tarzan and his creator have so faded from the public consciousness now.I suspect that there are many causes: political correctness has rendered the casual (rarely mean-spirited) racism in many of Burroughs' books anathema to many; the Tarzan character is best known from the films and TV, which nearly always have portrayed him inaccurately and too-simply; and the naivete and romance of the works probably seem old-hat now to those raised on STAR WARS, RAMBO and their progeny.

Oh well.To those willing to make the effort and approach the books for what they are rather than what they've become with a century of added meaning and iconography, a treasure might be found.Tarzan bears more in common with heroes such as Conan (probably his most direct and famous descendant) than with the kiddie fare that most people probably think he belongs to.This is a ferocious, always half-wild man caught between the worlds of the jungle and civilization, always in conflict, always a hare's breadth from danger - and often, particularly in later books, the perils from the world of man are clearly far more dangerous to our honorable "Forest God."

TARZAN OF THE APES recounts the upbringing by a fantastic, carnivorous ape species of the future John Clayton, Lord Greystoke - born to the status of "gentleman", of exquisite "breeding" as Burroughs reminds us over and over.The writer seems in many respects a social Darwinist, a believer in the inherent superiority of certain civilizations and ways of life - in this case the British Empire and France - and yet time and again both the omniscient narrator and Tarzan himself remind us that the black "savages" are no more brutal than many Europeans who may speak in cultured tones and read and write; and that the beasts of the jungle are more noble than all of us.So it's a mixed set of ideas on human nature that we have here, and I'm not sure Burroughs ever really came down in favor of any one of them.In this first novel, Tarzan's upbringing and his violent life as a member of the ape tribe - in particular his actions concerning the native African village that he regularly steals arrows from - are carefully presented as to be completely amoral - Tarzan knows no better - and yet when confronted with a white woman, Jane Porter, who he immediately falls in love with, he somehow finds the "instincts" of the chivalrous upper-class Englishman taking over.The books are replete with such contradictions - but you have to take them as they are, pulp novels written with just a bit more wit and grace than expected - and you'll find them more fascinating than infuriating.

TARZAN OF THE APES moves along at dizzying speed, but is really surprisingly well written and careful in its attempts to describe how this superhuman of high birth and animal upbringing grows up in physical might and in intellect, essentially on his own as almost a new Adam, juxtaposing the worlds of the primitive and the civilized with nearly equal alacrity, but almost always keeping the jungle in his heart.If ultimately the author comes down on the side of the apes, the jungle, the half-naked savage, he's made his case quite well in his simple evocation of a romantic world that was already being lost when he was writing it - and which, of course, was mostly a product of his imagination anyway.

And this first book has one of the best - and most infuriating - endings in pulp fiction; Burroughs had already learned from his first success, A PRINCESS OF MARS, to keep 'em hanging.And so he did. ... Read more

Product Description
The Time Traveller journeys to the year 802,700 and observes an utopian age in which creatures coexist in peace and harmony. 4 cassettes. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (443)

Traveling Into a Dismal Future
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002RKTH14/ref=cm_cr_rev_prod_img

H. G. Wells was, among other things, a pessimist. He could not believe that anything could get better than it was, and life as it was then was savagery barely curbed. This book, which has been imitated, plagiarized, made into movies, made into TV shows, parodied, and so forth, is a paean not to human good but to human bad. Neither the Morlocks nor the Eloi were really happy; they existed for each other's benefit, because the Eloi would starve without the supply of food and clothing largely supplied by the Morlocks, and the Morlocks would starve without the Eloi to eat. Such was the prevailing thought among the Socialists of his day, and a Socialist he certainly was. The book should not be assigned for junior high or high school, because the young students lack the proportion that will allow them to see what the book is about. But for an adult, or an advanced teenager, it is a poignant future of what could happen and, in Wells's mind, probably would happen in some way, in some dim future.

This is an adult book, and should be read as such.

Excessively imaginative and thought provoking read!
My review title says it all.
This is a very beautiful piece of Science Fiction.

Glad I gave it a read.

A perfect world crumbles
"A Perfect World Crumbles"
By: Cameron Wright

H. G. Wells, in his novella, The Time Machine, weaves a tale that at first seems like a simple science fiction. However, it contains many symbolisms about the lifestyle choices of mankind today. The main character's name is never given in the story; he is referred to as "The Time Traveler". He invents a machine that can travel back and forth throughout the fourth dimension of time. He successfully travels forward approximately eight-hundred thousand years into a time when humanity has been split into two groups: the Eloi and the Morlocks.


In the author's depicted future, mankind has undergone extreme favoritism of all living things. Plants, animals, food, etc, have all been winnowed into what is considered best. We act this way even in the present day. For instance, we decide which breed of dog is superior amongst the others and preserve and flourish these select. We feel that we have the right to judge and decide what has the right to exist and what does not. After eight-hundred thousand years of this practice, The Time Traveler has stumbled onto the result of a world with only "the perfect fruit" and the "the perfect animals".The Eloi live on the surface of our planet among those that have passed our critique.


The Time Traveler notices wells along the ground spread out from each other. For a time, he does not understand what they are. It seems too primitive that a well should exist in the future. He discovers that the wells lead to the underground world where the Morlocks live. The Morlocks act like slaves for the Eloi underneath the planet. They are only allowed to come onto the surface during the night. Earlier, the Time Traveler had noticed that the Eloi sleep in clumps huddled together during the night. This is because they are afraid of the Morlocks.


After living a life of carefree perfection, the Eloi have become witless and weak. They are unable to fend for themselves and depend on the Morlocks for their sustenance. The Morlocks, on the other hand, have become intelligent and strong. They have worked their entire lives and must fight simply to survive. If they attacked, they would easily be capable of defeating the feeble and delicate Eloi. A rebellion begins, and it is clear that the Morlocks will overtake and kill the Eloi. The Time Traveler is nearly killed, but escapes in his machine before the Morlocks kill him. He goes ahead much further in time and cannot find any human life. We have destroyed ourselves.


I believe that the Eloi and the Morlocks resemble today's society. The Morlocks resemble the poor who must earn their right to live through hard work and determination. Like the Morlocks, those that have to diligently work become capable and strong. The Eloi resemble the rich who are handed everything to them. When a person does not need to put effort into anything it is like the dulling of a blade. A blade cannot penetrate anything if it is not sharpened. Work and effort is our sharpener.

Another aspect found in this book relating to our society is the devaluing of what we do not think is perfect. Ultimately, if a society is made up of only who we believe is "the best-looking" or "the richest" or "the most useful", etc., while all others are diminished, the society will crumble. When the Time Traveler travels into the future, human life does not exist. We have ceased to live because we have lessened the value of life and imperfections.


The Time Machine was and still is a thought provoking novel. It caused me to evaluate the state of modern society. I think that H. G. Wells was ahead of his time. We have begun to see some of his predictions come to pass. The most obvious example would be the cause of World War II, the holocaust. Hitler implemented selective elimination of what he considered to be the weak. Even today, we see our society place value on what we believe is the most beautiful.


Reading this book has caused me to assess how I place my values. I have certainly put more value on what is most beautiful or expensive in my life at times. I do not believe that is the way God wishes for us to live our lives or view each other. In the Bible, 1 Corinthians 1:27 states, "But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong." This shows to me that we should not cherish only what we believe is best, but instead support the weak and less beautiful as well as the greater.

Classic of victorian science fiction
This wasn't the first time travel story in fiction -- it wasn't even H.G. Wells' first time travel story, that honor going to his short story The Chronic Argonauts -- but it's the first one to popularize the concept, and the single story generally pointed to as the archetype and progenitor of time travel in fiction. It isn't quite as riveting or fast-paced asThe War of the Worlds, but there's still a decently entertaining story here if you don't mind your sci-fi having a more Victorian pace to it.

Despite popularizing the concept of time travel as a story vehicle, it isn't really "about" time travel in the way that, say, Back to the Future is; the Time Traveler never goes into his past, and the future remains unchanged at the end of the story. As with all of Wells' fiction, he was trying to make a sociopolitical point -- here, he's critiquing socioeconomic / class divisions, and pointing out how destructive they could be in the (very long) term. (He made a similar point, with a 200-odd-year-long jump forward, in his later novel The Sleeper Awakes).

Considering that socioeconomic divisions in America are at a higher point currently that at any time since before the Great Depression, modern readers might find this book unusually, well, timely.

Different from movies
I wanted to see how this compared to the two movies.Surprisingly it is quite different.The pace certainly is much slower.The interactions with other charcters and the cause of future events makes it almost a entirely different book.The time traveler's observations and philosphy also makes it a stand alone book.I have always enjoyed the movie and its comination of adventure and peek into a possible future.This is more of a stroll where you have the time to see everything and think about what you saw.I would not say the movies were better...just different.I would say it was less Indiana Jones and more Sherlock Holmes. ... Read more

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A picture of the clash between ruler and ruled and of the prejudices and misunderstandings that foredoomed Britain's "jewel of the crown", this novel of society in India ranks high among the great literature of the 20th century.Amazon.com Review
What really happened in the Marabar caves? This is the mystery at the heart of E.M. Forster's 1924 novel, A Passage to India, the puzzle thatsets in motion events highlighting an even larger question: Can anEnglishman and an Indian be friends?

"It is impossible here," an Indian character tells his friend, Dr. Aziz,early in the novel.

"They come out intending to be gentlemen, and are toldit will not do.... Why, I remember when Turton came out first. It was inanother part of the Province. You fellows will not believe me, but I havedriven with Turton in his carriage--Turton! Oh yes, we were once quiteintimate. He has shown me his stamp collection.

"He would expect you to steal it now. Turton! But red-nosed boy will be farworse than Turton!

"I do not think so. They all become exactly the same, not worse, notbetter. I give any Englishman two years, be he Turton or Burton. It is onlythe difference of a letter. And I give any Englishwoman six months. All areexactly alike."

Arguably Forster's greatest novel, A Passage to India limns atroubling portrait of colonialism at its worst, and is remarkable for thecomplexity of its characters. Here the personal becomes the political andin the breach between Aziz and his English "friends," Forster foreshadowsthe eventual end of the Raj. --Alix Wilber ... Read more

Customer Reviews (110)

Pleased
The book was shipped immediately and arrived at my door very quickly.Product was exactly as described.Buying used books online is so much less expensive than buying them from the bookstore.I appreciate the amazing service!

Too long, Descriptive, and Uncreative
I honestly wish I had never read this book, a tremendous waste of my time. Of all the ideas Forster could have come up with for a novel he chose... the relations of Indians and Englishmen. Very dissapointing,never caught my attention.

????
This book is very confusing the first 6 chapters but it is slowly making more sense the more i read. I had to read this for school and would not recommend it to those with a small vocabulary or little knowledge of older English.

Interesting but not convincing
I enjoyed the book; I found myself engrossed in the story and eager to find out the ending.The 3 stars are more for character development.Very few of the characters, or their relationships, were believable to me.An example:Aziz develops a deep affection and respect for Mrs. Moore -- feelings important to the overall plot -- however, they have only met maybe 3? times.Ok, maybe Aziz is an open-hearted man but Mrs. Moore's son also says Mrs. Moore 'loved' Aziz.For me, it required the willing suspension of disbelief.Miss Quested's revelation about the case was surprising and not well explained.Convenient, it seemed.Even Aziz's and Fielding's friendship suddenly existed without much foundation amid a great deal of misunderstanding and awkwardness.

However, the picture the book paints of colonial India and the behavior of the British was fascinating.I felt despair on behalf of Aziz and intense frustration and dislike of the ruling British.The book certainly transported me, despite the issues I have with it.

"Oh dear.East and West: so misleading"
Seeking to fill some gaps in my literary education, I was referred to Forster's _A Passage to India_.It is a marvelous: beautifully written, and ahead of its time.Set in India at the zenith of British colonialism there, the fortunes of three Britons and an Indian cross.Miss Quested, a newcomer, wishes to see "the real India" in spite of her countrymen's disapproval.Taken, along with Mrs. Moore (also a new arrival) and Mr. Fielding by their Indian guide, Dr. Aziz, an incident occurs in the Marabar Caves that is never very clear; whatever happened (or did not), Miss Quested accuses Dr. Aziz of sexual assault.

The heart of the story isn't the accusation, nor its resolution.Rather, it is the subtle layers of misunderstandings, miscues and mistrust between Indian and Englishman, and even between Hindu and Muslim in India.The nuance and perspective Forster provides is simply sublime - the arrogance of the imperialist British, the anger and bitterness by Hindu and Muslim towards their occupier, and the mututal mistrust between Indian Muslims and Hindus is brilliantly illustrated.That what precisely happened in the caves is never wholly resolved allows the reader to insert themselves (and their respective prejudices and perspectives) into the story.

What particularly resonated with me (beyond the marvelous prose and variety of honest perspective through his characters) was how far ahead of his time Forster was.At the close of the book, Aziz - a western-educated physician (and therefore a "safe" Indian in the eyes of the British prior to the accusation against him) has a conversation with Fielding, his erstwhile friend, in which Aziz remarks, "Until England is in difficulties, we will keep silent, but in the next European war - aha, aha!Then is our time! ... India shall be a nation!No foreigners of any sort! Hindu and Moslem and Sikh and all shall be one! Hurrah!Hurrah for India! ... and then (half kissing Fielding) you and I shall be friends."This, written in 1924 - almost a full generation before India's independence.But it is not only Forster's prediction eerie, but his unabashed anti-imperialist voice suprised me.

This book rightfully belongs among the century's greatest works for the skill and beauty of the author's way with words as for his sentiments.Highly recommended. ... Read more

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ACADEMY AWARD WINNER BEN KINGSLEY READS NOBEL PEACE PRIZE NOMINEE THICH NHAT HANH'S INSPIRING MASTERPIECE

"When you are a truly happy Christian, you are also a Buddhist. And vice versa."-- Thich Nhat Hanh

World-renowned thinker and scholar Thich Nhat Hanh, considered by many to be a "Living Buddah," explores the spiritual crossroads where the traditions of Christianity and Buddhism meet. Living Buddha, Living Christ reawakens our understanding of both religions and the connections between them.

The bestselling author of Creating True Peace, and one of the most beloved Buddhist teachers in the West, Vietnamese monk Thich Nhat Hanh has been part of a decades-long dialogue between the two greatest living contemplative traditions. In lucid, meditative prose, he explores the crossroads of compassion and holiness at which the two traditions meet, and reawakens our understanding of both. "On the altar in my hermitage," he says, "are images of Buddha and Jesus, and I touch both of them as my spiritual ancestors."Amazon.com Review
If you have always assumed that Christianity and Buddhism areas far apart philosophically as their respective founders weregeographically, you may be in for a bit of a surprise. In thisnational bestseller, Zen monk and social activist Thich Nhat Hanhdraws parallels between these two traditions that have them walking,hand in hand, down the same path to salvation. In Christianity, hefinds mindfulness in the Holy Spirit as an agent of healing. InBuddhism, he finds unqualified love in the form of compassion for allliving things. And in both he finds an emphasis on living practiceand community spirit.

The thread that binds the book is the same theme that draws manyChristians toward Buddhism: mindfulness. Through anecdotes, scripturereferences, and teachings from both traditions, Nhat Hanh points out thatmindfulness is an integral part of all religious practice and teachesus how to cultivate it in our own lives. Nhat Hanh has no desire todownplay the venerable theological and ritual teachings thatdistinguish Buddhism and Christianity, but he does cause one toconsider that beyond the letter of doctrine lies a unity of truth. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (80)

This book exactly what I was looking for
This book is staying on my night stand. I have underlined so many things in it and I want to go back and re-read portions again and again. Very well written, easy to understand, a rather difficult subject made amazingly clear.Gives me lots to think about.I am liking it a lot.

Living Buddha, Living Christ
Thank you! This book arrived timely & in good shape!

Have a blessed day!
Kathleen S Vaccaro

All paths lead to God
After reading "Peace is every step" I had to know more of Thich Nhat Hanh. My search led me to this book. (My pastor led me to Peace is every step). This is a great look at the parallels between Christianity and Buddhism. In the end it seems to show that we aren't that different.

Promoting Peace Through Understanding
In the book Living Buddha, Living Christ, Thich Nhat Hanh hopes to promote peace between the Buddhist and Christian religions.He does this through comparing doctrines and beliefs between the two religions.By pointing out the similarities instead of focusing on the differences, it allows for education to occur instead of indifference.

One similarity Thich Nhat Hanh points out is the concept of mindfulness (in the Buddhist religion) and the Holy Spirit (in the Christian religion).In his book he tells us what he told a priest in Florence, "Mindfulness is very much like the Holy Spirit.Both of them help us touch the ultimate dimension of reality.Mindfulness helps us touch nirvana, and the Holy Spirit offers us a door to the Trinity." As a practicing Christian it helped me understand more about what Buddhists believe/practice.Because he compared it to something I understand, Christianity, I was able see things clearer from the Buddhist point of view.I enjoyed learning how much we have in common.There were many elements of the Buddhist practice that have helped me enhance and strengthen my worship of Christ.

Some strengths of this book were that the book content was evenly distributed between religions, the font and page size were optimum and there was a helpful glossary in the back.The author did an excellent job of not promoting one religion or the other, but rather focusing on the similarities between the two.He kept it informational so that all parties could gain something without feeling attacked.The book size is a little narrower than your usual novel and font is Times New Roman size 12.This makes for a fast and easy read because it is pleasing to the eyes.A nice feature was a glossary of religious terms found in the back of the book.There are terms from both religions which aid in the understanding of readers.Some examples of words are dharma, enlightenment, eucharist, etc.

One weakness is that the book lacked organization.Thich Nhat Hanh's writing was easy to understand, but I couldn't see how each doctrine/practice fit together as a whole.I felt like he was showing me bits and pieces of the picture during each chapter, but I never saw the whole picture.

All in all, Living Buddha, Living Christ helped enlighten my mind and my spirit.I would recommend this book for the practicing Christian and Buddhist.This book promotes peace through understanding and love.

A great read from a great master
Thich Nhat Hanh takes us beyond dogma and cultural narrowness to uncover the essential goodness that lies at the heart of all the world's great religions. He puts us in touch with our humanness and essential purity that is to be found when we open our minds and hearts to see our experience as it is, without judgement or the corrupting influence of belief and thought. He is a master teacher of the art of mindfulness; something we all need to learn. It is through mindfulness and openness that we can discover the essential goodness that lies within. I also recommend 'The Path of Mindfulness Meditation' available through Amazon. ... Read more

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Since June 2004, the law and regulation of money laundering in the UK have seen a number of significant developments. ... Read more

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This is Volume two of the CNN MM Millennium Box set that delineates a thousand years of history. It includes The Thirteenth Century, episode 3 (Century of the Stirrup) and The Fourteenth Century, episode 4 (Century of the Scythe). ... Read more

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This audio edition contains the complete text of Paramahansa Yogananda's life story, read by Academy Award-winning actor Sir Ben Kingsley. Footnotes are captured in an accompanying booklet. This acclaimed autobiography presents a fascinating portrait of one of the great spiritual figures of our time. With engaging candor, eloquence, and wit, Paramahansa Yogananda tells the inspiring chronicle of his life: the experiences of his remarkable childhood, encounter with many saints and sages during his youthful search throughout India for an illumined teacher, ten years of training in the hermitage of a revered yoga master, and the thirty years that he lived and taught in America. Also recorded here are his meetings with Mahatma Gandhi, Rabindranath Tagore, Luther Burbank, the Catholic stigmatist Therese Neumann, and other celebrated spiritual personalities of East and West. Autobiography of a Yogi is at once a beautifully written account of an exceptional life and a profound introduction to the ancient science of Yoga and its time-honored tradition of meditation. The author clearly explains the subtle but definite laws behind both the ordinary events of everyday life and the extraordinary events commonly termed miracles. His absorbing life story becomes the background for a penetrating and unforgettable look at the ultimate mysteries of human existence. Selected as "One of the 100 Best Spiritual Books of the Twentieth Century," Autobiography of a Yogi has been translated into 20 languages, and is regarded worldwide as a classic of religious literature. Several million copies have been sold, and it continues to appear on best-seller lists after more than fifty consecutive years in print. Profoundly inspiring, it is at the same time vastly entertaining, warmly humorous and filled with extraordinary personages. This edition includes extensive material added by the author after the first edition was published, including a final chapter on the closing years of his life.

Sir Ben Kingsley came to international prominence with his Academy Award-winning performance in the title role of Gandhi. He has received high praise as well for his work in other films - among them the critically acclaimed Schindler's List. Mr. Kingsley is also known for his inspired readings of books on tape, including a series on the great religions of the world. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (261)

Autobiography of a Yogi
This is such a great book, I recommend it to everyone who is interested in yoga or the power of thoughts!

Mr. Belize
This book has totally changed my life for the good. It's been five years since I first read it and to this day it continues to bestow great blessings. As I progress spiritually in calmness and realization this biography gives ever new meaning. I attest that this book and this path is not for everyone. After my initial excitement I wanted to share it with everyone but I soon learn that to some, it was just a story. For myself, my heart jumped after the initial read. I knew I found what I have been looking for after so many years. I had read many books from other paths and although I was intrigued, none made me feel the way I did when I read this book. The difference was that none of those were written by my Guru, Paramahansa Yoganada. Reading this book, I was able to understand the other books written by other writers. I was able to understand truths hidden within songs and poetry. Yogananda never asked anyone to take His word for it but rather, prove it to yourself by practicing the techniques. I am still but a student but I could say that I have proven enough in my life that there is absolutely no reason for me to doubt anything Yoganada wrote. And I will continue to reap the benefits of his meditational techniques, which is primarily a direct relationship with God, to the end of my stay here on Earth and into the after life.

A real life changer!
One of the VERY BEST books I have ever read!!!Please make sure it's this orange copy with the indispensable footnotes published by Self-Realization Fellowship founded by Paramahansa Yogananda and NOT the blue copy published by Crystal Clarity founded by J. Donald Walters aka Swami Kriyananda (google the words 'whoiskriyananda').

"In 1999, a Harper Collins panel of distinguished authors and scholars selected Autobiography of a Yogi as one of the "100 Best Spiritual Books of the Century."

Great Book
You will most likely read this book at one or the other point in your life. Highly recommended.

Autobiography of a Yogi
Autobiography of a Yogi is a remarkable book that profoundly changed my life.It is clearly written by one who has experienced the higher realms of consciousness that most aspire to, while founding a world wide organization.It is unique and remarkable. ... Read more

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This winner of the AudioFile Earphone Award includes: "The Invisible Man" by G. K. Chesterton, ""Haircut" by Ring Lardner, "Iris" by Stephen Greenleaf, "The Nine-Mile Walk" by Harry Kemelman, "The Red Headed League" by Arthur Conan Doyle, " "The New Girl Friend" by Ruth Rendell, "The Three Strangers" by Thomas Hardy, "A Retrieved Reformation" by O. Henry, "The Leopard Man's Story" by Jack London, "The Hand of Carlos" by Charles McCarry, "The Case of the Missing Patriarch" by Logan Clendening, "The Hands of Mr. Ottermole" by Thomas Burke, "A New Leaf" by Jack Ritchie, "Gentlemen and Players" by E. W. Hornung, "The Unique Hamlet" by Vincent Starrett, "The Infallible Godahl" by F. I. Anderson, and "Soft Monkey," written and read by Harlan Ellison. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A Lazy Man's Compendium
The lazy man is Penzler.I was caught bookless and had to have something quickly a couple of days ago, so I picked this up on the title alone. I read widely, but my weakness has always been mysteries, preferably of the who-done-it variety with psychological insights. I've read historial and contemporary, procedurals and cozies..lots and lots of English and American writers. So I figured...The 50 Greatest Mysteries! Edited by a Big Name in mystery fiction.I expected well written and carefully chosen mysteries, including lesser known fascinating puzzles. Penzler is well known in mystery literature: owner of the Mysterious Bookshop, compiler, guest lecturer...a Name in the Business.The "Best" of anything is always an argument, so even if the stories were not "the best" they would certainly be contenders.
The stories are arranged chronologically, and Penzler provides a very brief introductory paragraph.He does not suggest why the story is included (and in one instance, refers to a story that is not included as better than his example). He doesn't discuss or distinguish between a true mystery, a suspense story, a procedural or a cozy.Arguments abound as to what is a 'mystery' and Penzler doesn't attempt to add to or resolve the discussions. He adds no insights or points of view--nothing to justify his choices. Some of his dated pieces are charmless, so I have to assume they were included as exemplars of the period, but Mr. Penzler doesn't place the unfamiliar within a context.Instead, he seems to have included the oldest first, plodding through the genre to fill the pages before the next book, which will probably be called Another 50 of the Greatest Mysteries.The book seems complied haphazardly and named to sell.

Perhaps I ask too much.There are some lovely stories,and some that are interesting. He includes a brief suspenseful piece by Edith Wharton. She's a lovely writer, but not an ounce of mystery is involved in the tale.The Red Headed League is an early Sherlock Holmes which is fun but not the best of Doyle.I can't argue with The Purloined Letter (Poe), and am happy to known that writers not known for mysteries actually wrote a few (Jack London, Aldus Huxley, Thomas Hardy[and its a good one], Thurber, AA Milne, Ogden Nash) but they are not the GreatestMysteries.Fredrick Irvington Anderson's story is dated and tiresome--and Mr. Anderson is not a familiar name.Mr. Penzler doesn't crack stories from 1950 until page 327--two thirds of the way through the book. But it is probably cheaper to republish stories well past their copyright conflicts date.

They ain't The Greatest Mysteries.They are sometimes interesting. Some are truly fine.If you want context, insight or thematic consistency, look elsewhere. These are complied tales, not an editor's choice. On the other hand, if you are caught bookless and need 567 page of choices, you will find some good stories, some seldom published historical oddies to leaf through, some to skip and certainly, along the way,something to like. ... Read more

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When a gullible Brahmin takes a tiger at his word, he is soon in danger of losing his life, but a lowly Jackal comes to his aid and teaches him an important lesson not found in the holy books. ... Read more