Book Description
Eating wholesome foods as part of a well-balanced diet is one of the most precious gifts a pregnant mother can give to her unborn baby. By maintaining good nutrition before, during, and after pregnancy, a mother will help her child begin life with a healthy advantage. Nutrition and Pregnancy provides information on a pregnant woman's increased demand for calories, nutrients, and wholesome foods and how to ensure the delivery of a healthy, well-nourished baby.
Customer Reviews:
Waste of time & money.......2002-06-28
I could not have been more disappointed in this stupid stupid book. I purchased it during my first trimester and could not believe how worthless it was. Essentially, the book's mantra is "follow the food pyramid." What to eat in the second trimester? "Follow the food pyramid!" What to eat post-partum? "Follow the food pyramid!" They could have simply printed a one-sentence flashcard rather than a book. The book lacked detail and cohesion. It was poorly written and simply annoying. Any single issue of any pregnancy magazine can give you every bit of information offered in this useless book.
I agree with the review below........2002-04-07
Don't waste your money. My book will immediately be placed in the Goodwill sack.
I agree with the review below........2002-04-07
Don't waste your money. My book will immediately be placed in the Goodwill sack.
Don't waste your money.......2001-08-17
I bought this book when I was about a month pregnant and I haven't been able to use it once. It's not written in an organized manner, the diets they suggest are too hard to follow and unrealistic for the average working woman. I was also looking for a month by month suggestion of what to eat or even by trimester and this book didn't have it. It's too complicated. I was better off just asking my doctor.
A great reference guide for pregnancy and for life.......2000-09-14
I got this book as a preface to actually getting pregnant in an effort to improve my eating habits. Much to my delight, I found that this book was very easy to read, extremely informative, and overall, just made very good sense. It's a great basic, "bottom-line" outline of the types of things a woman (from pre-pregnancy through post-delivery) needs to eat, and why eating these things is important. Knowing the "why" part was of great help to me.
Despite feeling like I was well versed on nutritional needs before picking up this book, I most certainly learned quite a bit. I feel like it will become a very useful reference guide for me through my pregnancy and beyond. From the pre-pregancy standpoint, I have already begun to lose some weight and feel much more energetic. Hopefully this is a change for life!
My one criticism of this book is that the author seems to downplay the importance of taking a prenatal vitamin. To some extent that concerns me only because I wonder if I'm truly getting all of the minerals and vitamins necessary for a healthy pregnancy in my normal diet, regardless of how hard I try. Therefore, I strongly suggest, as did the author, that any woman reading this book use it in conjuction with advice from her own doctor.
Amazon.com
Scarcely had the dust settled on NATO's 1999 bombing of Serbia when prolific political commentator Noam Chomsky brought out The New Military Humanism, which raises incisive, unsettling questions about the motives of the United States and England--the two most vocal proponents of Operation Allied Forces--and the efficacy of their handiwork. Chomsky pulls together much damning evidence, including testimony from the military commander who led the attack, to demonstrate that the assault was not intended to bring an end to Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevic's "ethnic cleansing" of the disputed territory in Kosovo; it seems very likely, in fact, that President Bill Clinton and Prime Minister Tony Blair knew full well that their actions would ultimately exacerbate the situation. Chomsky also points out that if the United States was genuinely concerned with ending the horrors of genocide, its continued financial and military support of repressive regimes in countries like Turkey and Indonesia is at the very least extremely puzzling. (The New Military Humanism was written and published before the international community decided in September 1999 to intervene in East Timor, which had been subject to Indonesian occupation for over 20 years.) Ultimately, Chomsky suggests, such contradictions exist because what the United States claims to be a "humanitarian" mission is--no matter how glowingly the mass media portrays it--nothing more than American muscle flexing. "The contempt of the world's leading power for the framework of world order," he concludes, "has become so extreme that there is little left to discuss." --Ron Hogan
Book Description
Analyzing the NATO bombing, Chomsky challenges the New Humanism: Is it guided by power interests, or by humanitarian concern? Is the resort to force undertaken in the name of principles and values? Or are we witnessing something more crass and familiar?
Customer Reviews:
Another great myth of our time exploded.......2006-12-24
In March 1999 NATO forces, mainly British and American, began their 11-week onslaught from the air on Yugoslavia, supposedly to forestall Milosevic in his campaign against the Albanian Kosovars. According to the once reputable Vaclav Havel NATO's avowed intent to protect the underdog was appropriate in an age when `it is simply not permissible to murder people, to drive them from their homes, to torture them and to confiscate their property'. The intervention thus signified a radical, top-to-bottom reappraisal of moral values, a great sea-change in the human condition, no less. Wars could after all be waged for altruistic ends, it was claimed, and the New Humanism's morally cleansing effect would be so far-reaching as to invite comparison with the abolition of slavery in a former age. When even journalists of the calibre of The Guardian's Polly Toynbee can fall for this nonsense we have to wonder how. Here it is subjected to Professor Chomsky's customary razor-sharp analysis, to eye-opening effect.
The New Humanists' claims to the moral high ground can be judged fairly if we note, with Chomsky, how selectively the principle has been applied. Vaclav Havel's evocation of a parallel moral universe which we should all ideally inhabit rings hollow when contrasted with his belief in facing down the so-called communist threat by fair means or foul, even when the means are as foul as the US-supported death squads in El Salvador during the Reagan years. Likewise, when Madeleine Albright sanctimoniously proclaimed `in 1999 we cannot have this kind of ethnic cleansing' we were, and should still be, reminded of her edifying declaration that the deaths of thousands of Iraqi children were `a price worth paying' for maintaining the pressure on Saddam. As one other glaring example of the double standard Chomsky analyses in some detail the case of Turkey; despite the torture, ethnic cleansing and destruction of some 3,500 Kurdish villages - all of this documented by Human Rights Watch - US arms shipments were not withheld from the Turkish military. Meanwhile, over here the Blair Government fell into step with the New Humanism, seemingly oblivious to the contradiction between Robin Cook's much-vaunted `ethical foreign policy' and a willingness to sell arms to Indonesia despite its appalling human rights record.
Turning to the conflict in former Yugoslavia, `The New Military Humanism' shows how the Western powers regarded Serbia as the least worthy recipient of their philanthropic largesse. The 1995 Dayton Accords, which partitioned Bosnia-Herzegovina between Croatia and Serbia, gave rise to the violent expulsion of thousands of Serbs from the region of Krajina at the hands of Croatia's Franjo Tudjman. As events unfolded the Kosovan Liberation Army, a bizarre rag-tag assortment of old Stalinists in the pay of Albania's Enver Hoxha and Nazis looking back to the glory days of the Third Reich, became useful in drawing out Serbian forces into the line of US fire. That the KLA's methods might earn it the standard designation as a terrorist organisation was, in the obvious circles, too embarrassing to contemplate. Chomsky's familiar theme of news being filtered through a largely craven and unquestioning media gets another airing with quotations included from columnists Thomas L Friedman and William Pfaff to illustrate an utter lack of compunction about demonising the Serb population. Having elected a leader like Milosovic they were presumed to be fair game, a deserving target of NATO's onslaught, precisely the rationale espoused by those who masterminded and carried out the London bombings of July 2005.
Another deliberate obstruction of the information flow concerned the 1999 Rambouillet Agreement which effectively called for total military occupation of Kosovo and the rest of former Yugoslavia by NATO. It was so brazen that it was certain to be rejected, which the Serb National Assembly duly did on March 23, calling upon the UN to facilitate a peaceful diplomatic settlement. Predictably there were no negotiations and on March 24 the bombing began. Chomsky's account contains the disquieting revelation that these two proposed agreements were not even presented to the American public, and in the same chapter (`The Diplomatic Record') he notes the bombing of Serbian radio and television for their refusal to parrot NATO propaganda.
It is conceded that Serb atrocities in Kosovo were real. However, according to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees and other sources the Blair/Clinton bombing caused more mass slaughter and population displacement than it prevented, both in its immediate effect and through Milosevic's bloody response to the provocation. Moreover, internal opposition to Milosevic was undermined. The Vojvodina region, once a hotbed of resistance, effectively changed sides after the NATO aggression put paid to any pro-Western sentiment among the population. As usual, Chomsky's historical perspective ranges far beyond the subject immediately under discussion. The sheer scale of the terror and destruction caused by NATO's `humanitarian intervention' puts him mind of other episodes where benign motives have been claimed, including Mussolini's invasion of Ethiopia, Hitler's occupation of parts of Czechoslovakia and President McKinley's 1898 invasion of Cuba.
Some suggestions are made in Chapter 6 (`Why Force?') as to the genuine underlying reasons for the conflict. Blair's rhetoric about NATO credibility could only have made sense if it referred to Big Power geo-political aims and the danger of the one rotten apple, Serbia, spoiling the entire barrel and compromising US dominance of the region. The strategic location of the Balkans in relation to Europe and the Middle East seems to have been decisive, and the European Union's decision to follow a more independent defence policy may have caused concern among US planners. (Mark Curtis in his excellent, Chomsky-approved `Web of Deceit' focuses on NATO's attempts to expand eastwards while the former Soviet bloc countries pursued a neo-liberal economic ideology, thereby being useful to Western business.) Chomsky admits that this is largely speculation, but when fantastical scenarios are conjured up by Vaclav Havel and others to explain major crises extreme scepticism is in order along with the need to consider more plausible explanations. Far from being magnanimous in intent NATO's action is seen as one more cynical exercise in realpolitik which would probably never have been contemplated if, like North Korea today, Belgrade had possessed an effective deterrent against outside interference.
Far from exhaustive.......2005-12-05
The New Military Humanism, Noam Chomsky
Chomsky's take on the situation in the former Republic of Yugoslavia is the most successful rejection of NATO's intervention I have read thus far, yet it is still a superficial and ultimately unsatisfying work of political science. Chomsky insists on rehashing earlier work from his political writings in which he simply cites his own books as evidence; he devotes an entire chapter to investigating entirely irrelevant US military intervention in Indochina and Central America, pointing out the cruel imperialistic motivations of the campaigns while failing to appropriately relate them to the FRY. Unfortunately, just because the US has acted with illegitimate intentions in the past (and it certainly has), it doesn't mean that NATO's intervention in the future is necessarily motivated by imperialism, hence "the New Military Humanism," but Chomsky fails to reconcile this fundamental dilemma, and the chapter seems to imply that the Albanians should have been killed in higher numbers to necessitate NATO intervention. This section of the book simply does not work.
However, Chomsky does provide fair evidence (far better than Parenti or Johnstone), that NATO was totally aware that military air strikes were going to escalate the intensity of the atrocities. He cites General Wesley Clark (about a dozen times), to the fact that the bombing's consequences "were entirely predictable." But more importantly, Chomsky investigates a US State Department which reveals that higher level planning circles were aware that NATO's bombing was likely to make Serbian aggression more aggravated. His scholarship in this section is good, keeping to totally mainstream publications like the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and the State Department Document in question. It appears as though NATO intervention was in fact quite reckless, though Chomsky seems to believe the conflict would have been resolved through diplomacy while providing little evidence that it was a possibility.
Chomsky's scholarship in the New Military Humanism is generally good, although he does rely way too heavily on his own writing, usually on irrelevant military campaigns. And he does make some citations which are a bit curious. For example, on page 106 he discusses the illegitimacy of the Rambouillet Agreement and cites a document (footnote 6), without an author or organization and simply states that it is "widely circulated on the internet." Also, he cites the ultra-left wing Z magazine on page 69 (footnote 63), which is very unreliable. As a final qualification, Chomsky's book didn't include much of the context of the Balkans which is crucial to our understanding of the situation there; instead he preferred to rehash old US crimes which tell us little about the people, history, and culture of the various peoples in the FRY. The New Military Humanism does begin to strike at some of the problems with NATO and the US's proclamations of moral intervention, mostly in the examination of NATO's expectations of bombing and the diplomacy that followed as described above. But it is far from a complete study of the situation there, and Chomsky doesn't adequately make the case that intervention was motivated for the sake of the business elite as he was so able to do in the past.
A peek inside the lofty rhetoric.......2004-07-26
This book should not be approached as a history or an account of the Kosovo conflict. There is little background to the wars in the former Yugoslavia. That is for other works to present. The focus here is the 'new military humanism' of the West as an idea, and as a practice, with the Kosovo war of 1999 serving as the example. The examination takes into account the Orwellian notion that in free societies, it 'wouldn't do' to mention certain facts, namely the facts that contradict the lofty ideals we profess to be upholding.
The book is not an outright condemnation of the intervention in Kosovo, and it does not propose hard solutions or alternatives. This is an examination of the conflict, and of the implementation of a 'new military humanism'. Given the impressive amount written about the war, and the support it was given by intellectuals (from across the spectrum), this is a serious look at whether or not our aims and justifications really hold up. There are few works that actually explore the conflict from this angle, challenging the canned version of the events.
Chomsky asserts that the humanitarian aims and effects of the Kosovo war do not hold up to any scrutiny. Chomsky's position is thus: in a crisis, we can choose to do nothing, choose to mitigate it, or choose to escalate it. He believes that NATO, in fact, chose to escalate the crisis through the bombing campaign. Did we choose to engage the army on the ground, and the forces committing atrocities in the province? No. The bombing escalated the crisis, and indeed, after Milosevic failed to cave in, the civilian population was targeted, and of course, devastated, as an already impoverished country was made to pay for the crimes of its corrupt leaders. Did Milosevic have to put a 'horseshoe' operation into action, once the bombing commenced? No, he didn't. But when you bomb someone, you don't expect them to throw flowers at you, you expect them to react, and the reaction here was cynical, and 'entirely predictable', in the words of Wesley Clark.
Chomsky examines the 'official' version of the events, challenging the chronology while exploring how a certain depiction of current events will morph into a story that supports certain actions, particularly when those actions and interventions are undertaken by the 'enlightened' states of the West.
The Kosovo war is slipping down America's impressive memory hole; of course it's never discussed in the endless considerations on the 'War on Terror'. In fact, if we really cared about ending terrorism around the globe, we would explore our own actions. Milosevic claimed he was fighting terrorists. The KLA were considered terrorists by the US and the West, it was explicitly stated before our involvement. Acting to preserve our 'credibility', we armed and supported said terrorists, and demonized not only the Serbian government, but the whole people, wrecking a country that will take decades to recover, if it ever does.
Hmmm. Perhaps if the situation took place after 9/11, we would not only stand by, but would support and indeed laud Milosevic for his excellent efforts in fighting terrorism.
Self evident but important.......2004-04-24
What is truly sad is that books like this have to exist. Indeed, apart from 'barking' about human rights abuses, if we look at Slobodan Milosevic clones, both Croatian and Bosnian, we notice that each side had blood on its hands. While Chomsky is never popular, this work should be self evident. How can we say the humanitarian mission on Kosovo was justified while NATO turned a blind eye to the biggest exodus of all previously: the ethnic cleansing of Serbs in Croatia.
The recent developments in Kosovo, with the escalating violence proves that things are never so simple. And while the media still pretends this can be explained by revenge, the truth is that the KLA was, and is, a terrorist organization of the al-Qaida vein.
Illusions.......2004-01-12
Chomsky's assertions as regard the Bosnian war and the subsequent war in Kosovo are completely unfounded and in many cases highly outrageous. Like Diana Johnstone, Chomsky claims that these wars were civil wars and not genocides. As is well known, civil war implies collective guilt. This postulation is a flagrant misrepresentation of the actual events. The war in Bosnia was a clear and unequivocal case of a Serbian aggression, as was the war in Kosovo. Evidence refuting Chomsky's preposterous revisionism is overwhelming and indisputable; for rebuttal see books by Noel Malcolm, David Rieff, Roy Gutman, Michael Sells and the winner of the Pulitzer Prize David Rohde who in his book A Safe Area offers a brilliant account of the gruesome massacre in Srebrenica. In his analysis of the war in Bosnia, Chomsky deliberately overlooks many crucial facts. For example, the fact that it was Serbia that attacked Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and ultimately Kosovo is not even mentioned. As far as I recall, Serbia was not attacked by any of the neighboring countries. In light of this fact, how can anyone even begin to talk about collective guilt? Milosevic's principal objective was to create a "Greater Serbia" and in order to achieve that it was necessary to exterminate all non-Serbs. Milosevic was driven by ardent nationalism and an ancient hatred for the Turks (read Muslims), for corroboration see for example Michael Sells' The Bridge Betrayed. Sells explains how the Serbian propaganda played a pivotal role in enabling the genocide of the Bosnian Muslims. The Serbs were blinded by highly sophisticated propaganda, the goal of which was to depict Muslims as a grave threat to the very existence of the Serbian people. For a meticulous and elaborate analysis of the Serbian nationalism, see for example Tim Judah's The Serbs and Noel Malcolm's Bosnia. Another absurd assertion made by Chomsky is that the atrocities perpetrated by the Kosovars and the Serbs were almost identical in nature. Facing a much more powerful adversary, the Kosovars did not stand a chance. The war crimes committed by the Kosovars do not even come close to those by the Serbs. Once again, Chomsky makes no mention of the fact that it was Serbia that attacked and invaded Kosovo, thereby ignoring the very reason the war began. If one country invades or attacks another then it is an aggression, not civil war! Chomsky further holds that the NATO's intervention only escalated the atrocities and the ethnic cleansing. The only thing that we know for sure is that it stopped the aggression, this is irrefutable. Sitting in his cozy home somewhere in the U.S. it is easy for Chomsky to constantly advocate diplomacy and peaceful resolutions. Believing that all conflict can be solved peacefully is naïve. You cannot negotiate with everyone since certain individuals just do not want to negotiate. Known for his intransigence and malice, all negotiations with Milosevic were futile, it was either his way or no way at all. How many people have to die before we conclude that negotiations do not work? When in extreme danger, negotiation is hardly the first solution that comes to mind. If there is a reasonable chance to subdue the assailant then there is no need to negotiate, after all we all have the right to self-defense. Also, why should you reward a tyrant like Milosevic by negotiating with him? Give him an ultimatum and unless he complies, punish him severely. I am rest assured that the war in Kosovo would have lasted much longer if the NATO had not intervened. When negotiations fail as they did in Croatia, Bosnia and Kosovo then the use of force is morally justifiable and warranted. Those claiming otherwise have never experienced horrors of war. Even though I am a staunch opponent of unilateral and unwarranted military interventions, it would be naïve to think that we can always negotiate an end to every conflict. I agree with Chomsky about the Middle East and the U.S. foreign policy but he is entirely wrong regarding Bosnia and Kosovo. For honest and well-documented analyses of the wars in Bosnia and Kosovo, see books by Roy Gutman, David Rohde and Noel Malcolm.
Book Description
The American Revolution gave birth not just to a new nation, but to a new landscape. America was paradise to its native inhabitants, while to the colonists, it was an unlimited land of opportunity, a moral and physical wilderness from which they could create paradise. Powerful people like Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton struggled to shape it to their opposing visions. Over the ensuing two hundred years, many other visions shaped the American landscape. Today, their imprints form a complex layering of messages--past and present, physical and cultural, public and private, local and national--that tell a story of many interwoven meanings. John Warfield Simpson traces this fascinating story in Visions of Paradise, providing a fresh perspective from which to understand not only our landscape but also the way we steward our environment.
Simpson describes the transformation of America from wilderness into an agrarian and suburban landscape as the nation expanded westward after the Revolution. He highlights the role of influential people in this transformation and the critical policies and programs they used to acquire, survey, and dispose of the public domain. He shows how their actions reflected changes in our traditional values that considered land as property and a commodity primarily for functional use.
This transformation in values has yielded a landscape of contradictions: It is at once a landscape of freedom and opportunity, order and disorder, permanence and transience. Ours is an egalitarian and litigated landscape shaped by reason and mobility, he argues, one that reflects our historical sense of separation from and superiority over a limitless land of endless abundance and resilience. These perceptions, he shows, have blinded us to the environmental consequences of our actions and created a people who behave as though they are temporary occupants of the land rather than residents who enjoy a deep connection to the land. That connection, he concludes, holds the key to our contemporary environmental debate.
Customer Reviews:
very wordy.......2003-03-11
The book has some good content, but the auther him-haws around. I enjoy a good book that can get to the point and drive it home. This book does not do that. It jumps around a lot and is hard to follow in places. I wouldn't recommend this book to other readers.
A Revelation.......1999-06-04
I am not a 'landscaper' in the grand or even minimal sense (tending to let my own backyard become overgrown), but I do have a layman's interest in history. Perhaps for those reasons I found 'Visions of Paradise' to be an enthralling introduction to the history of our American landscape. Simpson was able to engage my interest quickly with his obvious feeling for and sensitivity to our culture's rather short-sighted treatment of the natural landscape. As a native midwesterner I was particularly interested in his regional references but really found the entire volume to be captivating. He truly helped me to understand the national landscape as 'ours' in a collective sense. For the first time I have an informed appreciation of our land and believe that I have a role, however small, in its future. I will never be able to take a trip by car or plane in the same way again - Simpson's book has helped me understand the importance of my examining the nuances of all parts of our landscape, and being able to take a stronger position regarding its appropriate uses (even my own yard, which I am now cultivating more carefuly).
Quick, but not a light read,...........1999-06-02
..it's a great book. The personal anecdotes will speed you through a book more scholarly than it first appears. With the clean slate that North America presented the world upon it's discovery, it's amazing how well it's held up, considering all the different hands on the chalk!
Excellent landscape book.......1999-05-12
Every now and then a book comes along that evokes our experience of the landscape, books by authors such as William Least Heat-Moon, John Hanson Mitchell, Donald Meinig, John Stilgoe, or J. B. Jackson. With Visions of Paradise, John Warfield Simpson joins the group and goes beyond. He offers a wide ranging and readable description of the forces that shaped our landscape from conflicts in landscape values to public policy and law. Visions is a wonderful book filled with personal anecdotes that engage. Anyone interested in cities, suburbs and environmental stewardship hould have a copy of this handsome book
Wonderful look of USA's beginnings, transitions, and present.......1999-03-08
Mr. Simpson's book is an unparalleled look at this nation's beginnings, transitions, growing pains, and its current situation. To understand today's problems and land-use ethics, one must read this book. Through elbow grease, endless research and a fascination with the land, Mr. Simpson has created a classic that anyone involved with the land must read. On a personal note, Ohio residents will find this book particularly interesting, the development of Columbus is used as a typical example of settlement and expansion.
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Visions of Savage Paradise: Albert Eckhout, Court Painter in Colonial Dutch Brazil, 1637-1644
Rebecca Parker Brienen
Manufacturer: Amsterdam University Press
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Still Life and Trade in the Dutch Golden Age
ASIN: 9053569472 |
Book Description
Visions of Savage Paradise is the first major book-length study of seventeenth-century Dutch artist Albert Eckhout to be published in nearly seventy years. Eckhout, who was court painter to the colonial governor of Dutch Brazil, created life-size paintings of Amerindians, Africans, and Brazilians of mixed race in support of the governor’s project to document the people and natural history of the colony. In this study, Rebecca Parker Brienen provides a detailed analysis of Eckhout’s works, framing them with discussions of both their colonial context and contemporary artistic practices in the Dutch republic.
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Captive of the Vision of Paradise
Ivan Arguelles
Manufacturer: Hartmus Press
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Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 0915868024 |
Amazon.com
Almost all the major religions have a version of the Garden of Eden story, which is studied and illustrated extensively in The Quest for Paradise. The idea of paradise has inspired the human imagination for millennia, and the full-color artistic renditions of life in the hereafter enhance the ambitious narrative. Biblical scholar John Ashton and comparative religionist Tom Whyte span a multitude of religions and myths while remaining completely accessible to a general audience. While readers will discover many intriguing similarities, there is also a satisfying diversity of stories and beliefs. The Aztecs thought warriors spent eternity on Earth as brightly colored birds. In Islam, an "Angel of Death" named Izrail has enormous wings that "embrace the faithful but crush the wicked." Rastafarians believe that paradise can be re-created on Earth if humans learn to commune with nature. Readers can ponder the many possibilities while savoring these beautifully illustrated pages. --Gail Hudson
Book Description
In every culture, in every epoch, human beings have yearned for heaven -- the dwelling place of the gods, mirror of our hopes and desires. Now, in The Quest for Paradise, renowned scholar John Ashton and his colleague Tom Whyte offer an intriguing look at how we have thought of and envisioned heaven and the afterlife, from the ancient cultures of Egypt, Greece, and Rome, to the Christians, Jews, Buddhists, Hindus, and Muslims, as well as the indigenous peoples of the Americas, Australia, and Africa.
Lavishly illustrated with extensive depictions of heaven in art from around the world, and drawing on scriptures, myths, epics, poems, novels, philosophy, and other writings from many cultures, The Quest for Paradise illuminates the vast spectrum of beliefs about the world beyond. The book also explores the concept of utopia, or paradise on earth, from the perspective of such diverse thinkers as H.G. Wells, D.H. Lawrence, Margaret Mead, and Aldous Huxley.
Ashton and Whyte present a fascinating array of ancient and modern views of heaven. Included are extraordinary inhabitants and geographical features, representing scenes from works such as The Odyssey, the Bible, the Quran, and the Sukhavativyuha Sutras, and from the works of writers such as Hesiod, Ovid, Virgil, Dante, Milton, and Yeats, highlighting both the diversity and the universality of reflection on heaven.
Customer Reviews:
A little of everything.......2006-01-21
but not enough of anything. Curious mixture of a broad survey with the arcane. Written by scholars, but vitiated by political correctness. Sumptuously illustrated, sometimes irrelevantly. Amused, sometimes by its own cleverness. A coffee table book on Paradise. A quick read on a cold night.
Share Heaven and Eternity in Utopian Quest.......2005-07-17
"The Egyptian afterlife, like many Egyptian conceptions, was characterized by a contrasting duality: a dark and mysterious netherworld presided over by Osiris, Lord of Resurrection, and an astral dominance, in which sun god Re was supreme." Dr. Ogden Goelet, NYU
Origins and Eternity:
Almost all religions pose the question; "From where did we come, and where are we having our ultimate destination?" with Different answers to these eternal questions. In Visions of Heaven and Eternity in the World's Myths and Religions, John Ashton, a Biblical scholar, and Tom Whyte, a comparative religion expert, take the reader of "The Quest for Paradise:" in a visual utopian journey that explores the afterlife of the Ancient Egyptians and all who followed the mystical quest for eternity since ancient times, from all around the globe.
Visions of Heaven:
Belief systems of Buddhists, Christians, Hindus, Jews, and Muslims, are probed while ancient cultures of Egypt, Greece, Rome are explored to compare the similarities and contrast the differences on the afterlife myth and religious folklore. Greek to Celtic Paradise are linked to the Garden of Delights. The comparative treatment of Adam, Eve and the Tree of Life, is particularly intriguing to those who are exposed only to the Genesis story, while the Heliopolitan Cosmology stands clearly as the origin of the creation drama. Exploring the common historical roots and discovering the mythical fables of Alexander the Great, Gilgamesh, to the ride on Buraq are fascinating. Beautifully embedded with spectacular visual arts in drawings and photos, the book pages look real for the young and challenging for all readers.
A Pictorial History of Paradise by its seekers.......2005-06-17
"Paradise has inspired the human imagination for millennia, and the full-color artistic renditions of life in the hereafter enhance the ambitious narrative. While readers will discover many intriguing similarities, there is also a satisfying diversity of stories and beliefs." Gail Hudson
Afterlife Paradise:
How did traditions develop on various Paradise doctrines and beliefs, sometimes similar and in many ways different? The answer you could enjoy the richly illustrated book that explores these questions about various beliefs in the "afterlife," and its expected location: Paradise, and the journey in between.
Every paradise seems to have a sort of entry requirements, but they are different in nature. While some are limited to brave warriors, other paradises are restricted to the righteous and pious adherents to religious virtues. Although the monotheist conception of paradise, involves a blissful garden with different dwellings, where one might relax peacefully some other human cultures would not figure it that way.
The Historical Quest:
Based on Oriental beliefs, of which I acquired some knowledge it is clear that the authors presentation of Ancient Egyptian beliefs in the after life, their variety, and their development is far from superficial. Paradise lost and regained narrates the Judeo- Christian, history of Salvation from Genesis to John's Revelation. The Islamic concepts of Eden, Hell and Satan is well rounded in less than ten pages. The early Church, of Apostles and desert Fathers is extended into middle ages. The book is concluded with the global Garden: Earth.
The Quest in Word & Color:
John Ashton, a Religions expert and Gardens authority, with Tom Whyte, a comparative religions scholar inform you in word and picture on a multitude of religions and mythical concepts in a legible and entertaing rich tour, integrating information about particular religious traditions with myths and practices from all around the world and through the ages.
The pictorial Quest flows throughout the book without any boundaries, while the subject is developed in three parts: "Immortal Longings," from the dawn of human history covering with Ancient Egypt other ancient cultures, which emphasized the concept of paradise in their search for eternal happiness; "The Eden Story," focuses on the traditional Semitic visions of paradise emerging from Judaism: Christianity and Islam. Thirdly, "Other Worlds," explores ideas; from Utopia to primitive and ultimate traditions of New Age. Fables, lesser circulating stories and myths, are blended with major faiths expositions, and analysis, adorned with beautifully designed insets and vivid illustrations rich in content and colorful in essence. Although proposed as a good coffee table book, due to its vivid presentation, it brings to the table a scholarly content in a non-academic rendering accessible to all readers.
Editorial Review:
"From carvings and sculptures to paintings and frescoes, the visual tour of afterlife imaginings alone could absorb readers for hours. Although each segment is necessarily brief and inevitably oversimplified, the broad, comparative sweep across so many traditions and worldviews draws out some fascinating similarities (and contrasts) in the concept of paradise. In particular, the comparative treatment of Adam, Eve and the Tree of Life across several major world religions is intriguing to those who have been exposed to a single Western view of the story." Publishers Weekly
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- Memories and Visions of Paradise
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Memories and Visions of Paradise
Richard Heinberg
Manufacturer: Emissaries
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
General
| Religion & Spirituality
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 0932869009 |
Customer Reviews:
Memories and Visions of Paradise.......2007-03-17
I was very disappointed in this book. I had read a book with the same title and by the same author, but it was almost 300 pages long. This book had very little of the information that the one I had read had. I don't know how a book with the same title and by the same author could be so different!
Average customer rating:
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A Vision of Paradise: Robertson Ward and the Mill Reef Club
Elizabeth Ballantine
Manufacturer: The Derrydale Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
General
| Architecture
| Professional & Technical
| Subjects
| Books
General
| History & Periods
| Architecture
| Professional & Technical
| Subjects
| Books
Antigua
| Caribbean & West Indies
| Americas
| History
| Subjects
| Books
Travel
| Writing
| Reference
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Travel
| Subjects
| Books
All Titles
| Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007
| Stores
| Books
ASIN: 1586670921 |
Book Description
Renowned for being a haven of the rich and famous, Mill Reef Club has been an exclusive destination for American millionaires seeking serenity under the tropical sun for almost 60 years. It has been the winter home of the Mellons, visitors such as Jacqueline Kennedy, and many other prominent people.
Customer Reviews:
Almost the family album.......2003-02-07
This book is very personal--my late mother- and father-in-law were two of the founding members of the Mill Reef Club (they are both buried on the island in St. Philip's Parish) and it's wonderful to study the old photos and see the genesis of one of the most beautiful places anywhere. Robertson (Happy) Ward created something unique and lovely in the club itself and in the houses--the open uncluttered living spaces, the soothing pastel colors and, always, the inviting views of the beach, the bougainvillea, the expanse of impossibly unique blue of Caribbean water. If there is a paradise, for me always it will be the remembered aspects of the club; the mornings under the huge thatched umbrella on the beach when everyone gathered to visit--periodically getting up to walk into the shallows to cool off. In the struts supporting that umbrella were stored flippers, snorkeling gear, forgotten sunglasses, suntan lotion, odds and ends. Residents and guests, visitors invariably found their way to the umbrella--an ever-elastic gathering that was the focal point of the farthest end of the beach from the club. Everyone made the long walk along the sand, back and forth to the club, admiring the houses fronting the water--those pastel creations that looked almost edible. It was an intimation of what heaven might be like. And this book offers portraits of the original members, insight into Ward's creative gifts, and a singular view of another time in another place.
Average customer rating:
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Apocalyptic Vision in "Paradise Lost"
Leland Ryken
Manufacturer: Cornell university press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
British
| World Literature
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
| 18th Century
| 19th Century
| 20th Century
| Classics
| Contemporary
| General
| Historical
| Humor
| Letters & Correspondence
| Middle
| Old
| Poetry
| Renaissance
| Shakespeare
| Short Stories
General
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
| Classics
| Comic
| Contemporary
| Literary
ASIN: 0801405467 |
Book Description
Ann Price provides a brief description of what separates raptors from other birds, their evolution from prehistoric forebears, and distribution throughout the Noth American continent today.
Customer Reviews:
5 year old loves this book!.......2005-02-27
My 5 year old daughter recently became interested in eagles and this book is perfect in helping her learn more. Each page is dedicated to a bird, and information is written in small amounts so she actually reads everthing about a particular raptor and learns someting too. There are also "cool facts" on each page, and they are exactly that, cool.
Excellent Intro For Adults.......2003-04-20
If you love raptors, then this book is a great way to get you started learning about them. The drawings and full color paintings are superb. The information is more than enough for a good introduction, and if you like bird carving, then this is one of the best reference books you can have. I got one for myself, and gave the kids their own. It's not just a coloring book, the activities are designed to get the reader thinking and doing, especially observing nature and not television. Perfect for home schoolers.
A truly fantastic coloring book.......2003-03-08
This is the only children's book I've seen that does a comprehensive job portraying the richness and diversity of birds of prey that exist in North America...As a scientist, this is certainly the kind of coloring book I'd be happy to give my kids. And, as a raptor biologist, I'd be proud to give it to a colleague's kids.
A simple, appealing coverage.......2003-01-11
Coloring books are not appropriate for library lending and are typically not featured here; but Raptors: The Eagles Hawks Falcons And Owls Of North America is a very fine educational guide and a highly recommended pick parents will want to pick up for their children and that librarians could utilize as a reading prize incentive for their summer reading program promotions. Color drawings of hawks, eagles, and owls accompany basic information on North American raptors, with complex and detailed black and white drawings kids can fill in. A simple, appealing coverage.
A must have!.......2002-09-26
Wonderful facts and great drawings! Excellent natural history information. Great fun for children of all ages.
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