When the Beginning Began: Stories about God, the Creatures, and Us Review

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(More customer reviews)Wearing simultaneously the hats of story-teller, dedicated scholar, and observant Jew, Professor Julius Lester has crafted an engaging clutch of stories which present the Bible's account of the world's creation. These stories use as their point of departure many of the "midrashim", the rabbinic stories of centuries past, which came into being to amplify and clarify what is sometimes only implicit in the text. He does so utilizing the same skills he has used so effectively before: humor, imaginative language, and a willingness to flirt with irreverence for the sake of opening the reader up to new possibilities to be found in this ancient recounting of how God brought the world and its creatures into being.
Rabbi Marc Gellman's excellent book, "Does God Have A Big Toe?", explores similar territory but Professor Lester's work lends itself especially well to oral presentation. The conversations amongst the minstering angels are hip, funny and thought-provoking, and will send readers of any religious persuasion back to the opening chapters of Genesis with eyes and minds opened wide. Emily Lisker's droll full-color illustrations do a lovely job of opening up the text even further.
This book will find a place of honor on my shelf, alongside others which serve as gateways to a deeper understanding of our Scriptural legacy.

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Joseph and His Brothers: The Stories of Jacob, Young Joseph, Joseph in Egypt, Joseph the Provider Review

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(More customer reviews)Joseph and His Brothers was Thomas Mann's "Humane Comedy" of the 1930's and 1940's. As his European world was collapsing in ideological extremism and descending into chaos, Mann turned his imagination to the Semitic and Egyptian worlds of 1600 BCE and invested the prodigious gifts of his ironic imagination in the all-too-human desires and deities of that world. Though it is enormously long--over 1400 pages of smallish print--the Joseph Saga unfolds its treasures of humane perception to the patient reader who savors Mann's delicious comedy. Read it slowly for full effect.
Formerly available in Lowe-Porter's impossibly stilted Biblical prose, John Woods continues his Mann-cycle of translations here in what must have been a labor of love. No doubt the audience for this work is only a tiny fraction of that for his earlier Mann translations--especially Magic Mountain and Buddenbrooks. Let's hope Woods is still game for Felix Krull or, perhaps, a large selection of the shorter works. Woods' English is smooth and agreeable most of the time (consistent with Mann's German) and tart and biting when Mann's irony deserves it.

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NIV Holy Bible Review

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(More customer reviews)This is the only Kindle Bible I have found (including free Bibles from non Amazon sources) which has a full table of contents. Each Book is easily accessed from the TOC and there is a clickable numeric list of chapters in each book when you open it.
I don't understand how T.Heyn could have misread this. Maybe he had an earlier Kindle version which has since been updated.
I can find John 3:16 or any other verse in this Bible in just a few seconds. Buy this one and you will not be disappointed.


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The Gods of Egypt Review

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(More customer reviews)I have always considered Traunecker's work to be of the highest quality. He has an insight into the mechanics of ancient Egyptian cosmologies, theologies, and mythologies that is both direct and free of unnecessary random (and rambling) thought. His assessments are clinical but always interesting, and his work on the El Qa'la temple site is NOT to be missed by anyone who can get their hands on IFAO's pub. Be that as it may, this short book packs a scholarly punch. All of Traunecker's hard-earned, on-site assessments of the gods of ancient Egypt -- their cults, qualities, relevance, and destinies -- can be found in rather tidy, enlightening fashion. A must-have quick reference for many of its tidbits...though Dr. Traunecker does contradict at least one or two minor points he previously asserted in some of his published work. Bottom line -- Immortals (and Immortalettes) of Ancient Egypt from one of the best pros in the business! Get it.

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Alexandria: City of the Western Mind Review

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(More customer reviews)One wants to like a book that one has spent some deal
of money to have bought. Perhaps one should also do a
bit more intensive reading in the book before one
purchases it. "Let the buyer beware."
This is a book for the general reader, not for the
scholar, nor for anyone who wants reliable information
reliably presented. The first perplexing thing is that
the publishers have put the map of the ancient city in
such a two-page layout that the mausoleum for Alexander's
body which forms such a central axis for the city and
for this book, is hidden in the folds between the two
pages. This is certainly provocative, but also a bit
irritation producing.
Then comes the author's recounting of Alexander's
career. The events are mixed up, in the wrong
chronological sequence. He has put the Egyptian
experience of Alexander at the beginning of Alexander's
invasion (as a prelude, seeking of wisdom from the Oracle
at Siwah), before the invasion even starts. One hopes
that this is just a slip of the Word Processing program.
It seems like parts have been inserted in wrong places...
so that the final draft should have been more closely
scrutinized by author, copy editor, and someone in the
know about Alexander's career. The author thanks many
people at the beginning of this book. After reading
the book, some of those people might not want to be
thanked.
A nice helpful addition might have been an Appendix
or two containing such things as a chronology of the
Ptolemy rulers of Egypt -- and a chronology of the
significant events of the ancient city itself.
The intended target for this book seems to be the
general reader who might know next to nothing about
Alexander the Great, the ancient city of Alexandria,
or its cultural history. If that is so, then the
book might be a "worthy" buy for such a person, as
a beginner's introduction; but then one should move
on. And certainly one should not take this book, nor
recommend this book as a definitive treatment of either
Alexander or Alexandria.
As an alternative, or addition (depending upon the
reader's tastes and decisions) I would recommend
a compact, well illustrated, well written paperback
book titled -Alexandria: Jewel of Egypt- by Jean-Yves
Empereur, published by Harry N. Abrams, Inc., (English
version, 2002).

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Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament with Supplement Review

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(More customer reviews)Prichard's ANET is a standard reference for those examining the cultural setting of the Bible. It contains translations of many important inscriptions which shed light on otherwise mysterious Bible customs.
Generally regarded as a scholarly work, it's worth checking out for the layperson as well. Some of the jargon may be a little tricky, but there's no substitute for original source material, which makes up the majority of the book. Besides, some of the stories are just a plain old (very old) good read.
Included are such things as the Epic of Gilgamesh (containing our oldest Flood parallels), the Nuzi Texts (which help us understand the life of Jacob, among others), and various of the ancient law codes which have parallels to the biblical code.
Tremendously useful for study!

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This anthology brought together the most important historical, legal, mythological, liturgical, and secular texts of the ancient Near East, with the purpose of providing a rich contextual base for understanding the people, cultures, and literature of the Old Testament. A scholar of religious thought and biblical archaeology, James Pritchard recruited the foremost linguists, historians, and archaeologists to select and translate the texts. The goal, in his words, was "a better understanding of the likenesses and differences which existed between Israel and the surrounding cultures." Before the publication of these volumes, students of the Old Testament found themselves having to search out scattered books and journals in various languages. This anthology brought these invaluable documents together, in one place and in one language, thereby expanding the meaning and significance of the Bible for generations of students and readers. As one reviewer put it, "This great volume is one of the most notable to have appeared in the field of Old Testament scholarship this century."

Princeton published a follow-up companion volume, The Ancient Near East in Pictures Relating to the Old Testament (1954), and later a one-volume abridgment of the two, The Ancient Near East: An Anthology of Texts and Pictures (1958). The continued popularity of this work in its various forms demonstrates that anthologies have a very important role to play in education--and in the mission of a university press.

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Sticks, Stones, & Shadows: Building the Egyptian Pyramids Review

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(More customer reviews)Pyramid building, according to the author, should be placed not in the context of only Ancient Egyptian technology, but rather in that of Near Eastern technology. This book is devoted to understanding the methods used by the Ancient Egyptians to build the pyramids. Numerous illustrations and excellent evidence complete this professional, believable and backed-up discussion, which will be of much use to interested readers.

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What do the pyramids of Egypt really represent? What could have driven so many to so great, and often so dangerous, an effort? Was the motivation religious or practical?

Richly illustrated with more than 300 photographs and drawings, Sticks, Stones, and Shadows presents an entirely original approach to the subject of pyramid building. Unlike other books discussing these majestic structures, this book reveals the connection between devices that served both a practical need for survival and a spiritual belief in gods and goddesses. Few have closely examined Egyptian technologies and techniques from the origins of pyramid development to the step-by-step details of how the ground was leveled, how the site was oriented, and how the stone was raised and placed to meet at a distant point in the sky.

Nevertheless, this is much more than a how-to-do-it book. Martin Isler also asks and answers questions virtually ignored for the last century. He discloses, for example, the ancient use of shadows--now denigrated to the ornamental back-yard sundial--but once an important tool for telling the height of an object, geographical directions, the seasons of the year, and the time of day. Isler also reinterprets the ancient "stretching of the cord" ceremony, which once was thought to have only religious significance but here is shown as the means of establishing the sides of a pyramid.

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The Throne of Fire (The Kane Chronicles, Book Two) Review

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(More customer reviews)First off, let me say that this is no Percy Jackson, in case you're going into this with vaulted expectations. However, these books do have their place, but the pacing is slower, the back stories a bit more longwinded (particularly in the first book in this series), yet the characters in both Percy and Pyramid are equally well drawn. Go figure. If you haven't read the first book, don't worry, the author does a decent job of catching you up on important details and plot points that lead to this book.
This time around, the book opens with a bit of action, as the kids, along with their new "special recruits" sneak into a museum and try to steal an artifact. This is typical, as a first book in any series tends to start off slow or include a lot of exposition and foreshadowing. Since we more or less know the characters in this book, the action plays out on a grander scale without sacrificing character development. There is another world-at-stake scenario in this book, via the chaos snake Apophis, who is a major threat to the Kane family, and he is planning to conquer the world once he is freed from his prison. But of course there is a plan to stop him. While not exactly a rehash of the events that involved the defeat of Set from the first book, you can tell that these books are in the same series, and take place in the same Red Pyramid world.
We get a lot of action and adventure in this book and loads of Egyptian myth that is presented in a fun way. But for my money, the book lacked a certain something. For one thing, it is drawn out in spots, and I'm a believer in tighter more streamlined storytelling. Another book series I started reading recently, which involves ancient temples and a thrilling artifact hunt, actually tells a rather compelling, tightly woven story. It also involves characters with unique abilities. Check it out here: The Crisis Artifact (The Crisis Trilogy) So while The Red Pyramid series can stand a bit of tightening up and trimming in spots, there are currently less well known epic series on the market that are begging to be read!


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