Religion Books

I salute the Dalai Lama to have the courage to say "I don't know" on confronting with common human problems, such as a self-destructive woman mentioned by Dr. Howard Cutler. But His Holiness did answer the question, in a more unhurried way, which he called The Art of Happiness. In the book he raised more questions than a psychiatrist could raise and answered some of them which not even a neuroscientist would like to try. Life is not mysterious, but to be happy is. We need medical sciences definitely, but a humanly love or concern, no matter how faint, should not be slighted.

Happiness is a core state we all seek to achieve. Thanks, in part, to the Positive Psychology movement, happiness has taken center stage and is now the focus of a significant amount of attention. On a recent visit to a large, chain bookstore, I noticed one whole table devoted to books related to happiness. It appears that a happiness movement is underway.

It is said that happiness can be achieved through external and internal means. Happiness achieved through external means is, unfortunately, short-lived. Life long happiness is derived from internal sources - positive states such as kindness, compassion and tolerance.

The value of this book lies in its presentation of a framework the reader can use to attain these positive states - a framework based on the integration of scientific psychological research and Buddhist philosophical principles. In addition to the framework, each of the chapters contains exercises the reader can use to reinforce the learnings presented in the chapter.

Due to our survival instinct, negative states of mind often predominate our thinking. Negative states impede or dilute our happiness. To increase your level of happiness, the authors argue that these negative states need to be combated through the greater cultivation of positive mental states. The content of this book will help guide you towards developing these positive mental states.

Seeking greater happiness? This book represents a good starting point from which to start your journey.

A very simple, yet enjoyable, read, but I especially enjoyed hearing his voice on the audiobook.

I am about half way through this book and am a bit dissappointed. I wanted to see what others thought of the book and BlueJack's review, unfortunately hits the nail on the head. This is Cutler's book. This book is not by the Dalai Lama. While I do think the concepts of a right to happiness, compassion, non-reaction, etc., are great for personal spiritual growth, I feel that the Dalai Lama's true message has been filtered through a much less able interpreter. I find Eckhart Tolle much more transformative. If you are interested in how Buddhism can help a non-Buddhist read "The Naked Buddha."

If you are unfamiliar with Buddhism, then this book is a good place to start. Also, if you believe fully in the scientific method, as I do, but are interested in Buddhism, then again, this is probably the best place to start.

Instead of overwhelming you with a bunch of Buddhist lingo and ideas as some books do, this book is very gentle in introducing Buddhist ideas and philosophy. Written by a western psychiatrist, it is very good at bridging the gap between western thought and the Dalai Lama's Buddhist wisdom. Cutler asks all the typical questions that westerners have when first exploring Buddhism, so you're not left thinking "Well what about this?". He also adds anecdotal evidence from his private practice to further explain the Dalai Lama's points, which is very helpful.

One of the best things about this book is it's PRACTICAL advice, just little things you can do every day to be a happier person. I think it would be impossible for anyone to read this book and not get something out of it, not be able to make meaningful changes in their life to be a happier person.

If you want to delve a little deeper after this book, I would recommend getting "Healing Anger: The power of patience from a Buddhist's perspective" by His Holiness, which is a translated version of the actual talks that the Dalai Lama gave in Arizona- which Cutler attended and discusses in the Art of Happiness. If you're new to Buddhism like I am, then you'll be glad you read the Art of Happiness first and Healing Anger will make much more sense thanks to Cutler's practical introduction to these ideas.

Catholic Social Teaching - Student Text (Revised)
delivered in promised time frame

The book arrived earlier than expected. It was in very good condition & package.

The book is like new, it is in perfect condition. I am relly happy with the service

I read this book in two days. It was a very good book. The only part of this book that I didn't agree with was when he said that children do not go to hell when they die. The scriptures he referred to did not literally mean people in childrens' bodies...it meant you must have 'child like faith' in order to enter into the Kingdom of God. In the bible it clearly states that God is NOT a respector of persons...meaning - in this case - that a child can go to hell if they die and neither one of their parents are saved. It says in Gods word that one saved person in a house can save the entire house....meaning if a man and woman are married and one of their children die when they are under the age of accountability - if one of those parents are saved (accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as their personal savior) then that child will go to heaven. On the other hand if neither of the parents are saved then that child will go to hell when they die period. There was only one innocent child born on this earth and that was Jesus Christ. He was innocent because He was and is the Son of the Living God, born and lived without sin.

This is a very good book and I do believe that this man did experience what he said he experienced. A lot of people have experienced similar or the same thing he did. It really doesn't matter if a person 'chooses' to believe him or not..or even if they believe in hell or not; but Gods truth is what it is...the TRUTH! A lot of people - due to their ignorance - will not accept Gods' Truth no matter what and when they die they will go straight to hell. They will suffer. This man did what the Lord told him to do. He did his part now it's up to the reader and the listener if they choose to accept Jesus Christ as their personal savior and change their wicked ways! Repent! Jesus is coming back very soon!

I was happy when the Lord said unto me come into my house! I'm so happy that I accepted Jesus Christ as my personal savior when I was a very little girl! God is awesome! He is worthy to be praised at all times!

Amen!

This is a great book and I would advise everyone to read it.

I found the book very interesting. It's probably the most descriptive book I've ever read on the subject. I'm amazed how detailed the author's description of his experience in hell was. The details etched a vivid image in my mind that I still remember. I'm a born again christian and the book terrified me. I always had my own image of what I thought hell was like, I assure you it was nothing even close to what Bill Weiss described during his 23 minute experience.

Reading this book gave me a stronger desire to share my faith with other people. I can't imagine spending 1 minute in hell, I truly fear for anyone that has to spend all eternity there.

I strongly recommend purchasing this book for yourself or as a gift for you friends and family. I thank God for allowing Bill to visit hell and for Bill's willingness to share his experience with others.

Last night I purchased the Kindle edition, and I read the entire book into the wee hours of the morning. I just could not put it down...

Send everyone you love a copy of the paperback. I am going to send my mother and three sisters each a copy of this book asap.

Thank you God for showing Bill Wiese the depth of hell and what one can expect if they do not follow your 10 commandments. I hope that you find this book helpful in your search for the choice one makes in this world. Choosing God's Kingdom sounds like more fun even more now. :)

Fun for kids and adults alike, "23 Minutes in Hell" is populated with adorable characters and silly descriptions of a magical place author Bill Wiese calls "Hell." You'll fall in love with the silly monsters and goofy creatures as well as marvel that the way Wiese squeezes comedy out of any situation. A COMEDY CLASSIC!
PS - There's no shame in mentioning both 9/11 and the Holocaust to make your point and sell books. No shame at all!

Books make great gifts. This is the one I give most often. I love Palmer's writing style and his message. As with his other books, Let Your Life Speak is well-organized and the concepts well developed.

In this era, in this culture, there are countless forces that urge us to ask the wrong question-- What should I do with my life? That question and related ones are evidence of the distorting, external pressures (oughts) that surround us. A more organic approach is, in Palmer's words, "Before you tell your life what you intend to do with it, listen for what it intends to do with you."

"Vocation," or calling, is a birthright gift to be received, not a goal to be achieved. Enabling its receipt requires that we listen to the voice inside each of us. True identity results from listening well, with effective service the extension of that knowledge.

The search for true self must not end with one's gifts. The journey into darkness, one's shadow, must be undertaken to complete the quest for authentic self. Those that befriend what they discover become whole and are least likely to project onto others. Finding one's vocation benefits everyone.

Palmer rightfully connects authenticity with social movements. Having found and united with other authentic individuals, those in a movement "refuse to sit at the back of the bus." The perturbed system yields to the logic of the movement, with many benefiting from the shift. The individual path toward true self not only rewards the pilgrim, its positive effects radiate in every-widening circles to even influence nation states.

I highly recommend this wisdom-filled book.

--Jack H. Bender, author of Disregarded: Transforming the School and Workplace through Deep Respect and Courage

A fantastic book!

This book has been my default purchase for people that are going through tough times, or people that are at a point of change in their lives (or should be). It is free of the "you-can-do-it-all" fluffiness. It brings a real, truthful and deep approach to life.

This is the kind of book that you not only read the words, but the spaces between the words. Great, great stuff. One of my all-time favorites.

A wonderful little book, and easy to read. This reflective little book looks into what "God's will" means in a practical modern life through a personal exploration of the author's own life. If you are looking for an insightful meditation on vocation and work, you will very much enjoy this book!

This book is life-changing. It is a small book packed with concentrated wisdom. Anyone who is looking to understand who they are and how they fit in this world, will benefit greatly from spending the time to give this one a read.

This book has made me think about a lot of what is going on in my life. It is making me question many things. This was recommended to me by my spiritual director. I am glad he did recommend this book.

This is a wonderful, practical book on Hermeneutics, the art and science of interpretation. It gives you simple steps to easily unlock the meaning of Biblical passages. The book doesn't needlessly use technical terms and is very practical for your everyday Christian walk in reading Scripture. I personally have been able to use its principles in my personal devotional times, and I have never understood the Bible as much as I do now.

If you want to know how to really study the word of God without defaulting to your own interpretation, get this book. You will learn how not to take the word out of context (i.e. women can't be a Pastor, Peter had a dream that all meat can be consumed), understand what God is saying, and how to apply the word to now. I can't recommend this book enough. Get it, and learn how to handle the word of God.

This book is excellent for those who want to know How to study the Bible for all its worth. I highly recommend this book for lay memebers as well as seminary students.

Will Wilson

I have learned so much about ancient writing styles from reading this book. For example, ancient writers were not focused on the chronological order, but the thematic order. I don't want to give away the milk for free, but there are so many ways that the authors did this. It has helped me tremendously when teaching Sunday School and to understand the Bible for myself. If you want to dig deeper, I would be hard-pressed to find a book that has helped me more in seminary than this one.

I am so disappointed in this book, what a waste of money. This is a direct quote from the book: "Make observations, Dig deep! Think hard. This is not an easy passage. Spend time on this. Make dozens and dozens of observations. Read and read! Looik again! Observe! Observe! Observe!" This quote is repeated in the first assignments. I am an avid reader of all kinds of books and I am old enough to know that hard work is necessary in many aspects of our lives, but surely this is not one of them. The bible is too complex even for educated theologians. I don't want to work that hard. The book is supposed to be "hands on". Maybe it gets better later in the book, but frankly, this author's writing style is not engaging at all, and I find it so laborious to read it, to the point where I just can't make myself read any further.

After I read this book I attended a book signing where all three authors were present. Apart from signing the book, they gave a 45 minute lecture. Richard Turley informed the audience that when Ronald Walker was approached, 7 years ago, to begin work on this book, he (Ron) said that he would not be involved with the project unless complete disclosure of the massacre was the proposed goal of the book. That goal was achieved.

Massacre at Mountain Meadows is, as has been pointed out by other reviews, written by 3 faithful Mormons. However, they do not hide any fact, no matter how poorly it reflects on the Mormons of the time. For instance, concerning Brigham Young they write: "We believe errors were made by . . . Brigham Young and other Mormon leaders, . . . and most of all by settlers in southern Utah who set aside principles of their faith to commit an atrocity. At each point along the chain of acts and decisions--especially in Iron and Washington Counties--a single personal choice or policy might have brought a different result" (p. xiv). The "errors" committed by "Brigham Young and other Mormon leaders" are not glossed over, or hidden behind the skirts of any LDS public relations committee. The men who wrote this book completely admit and demonstrate, through their writing, that the culpability for the murders can never be placed at the feet on one particular person. Indeed, the writers allow the reader to determine, by a full disclosure of facts, how much blame Brigham Young and other Mormon leaders deserve for the Mountain Meadows Massacre.

Though the three men who wrote this book are faithful LDS members, they condemn the Mormon murderers and absolve the Arkansas emigrants: "The emigrants did not deserve what eventually happened to them at Mountain Meadows. The massacre was not inevitable. No easy absolution for the perpetrators is possible. Their later posturing and rationalization could never overcome one irrefutable fact: All the purported wrongs of the emigrants--even if true--did not justify the killing of a single person" (p. 115).

This book is one of the best researched and well written books on an aspect of Mormon Church and American History. The writing is superb, the flow of the text and ideas are very readable, the ending--though known to the reader beforehand--is as gripping as any novel on today's market.

Those who simply focus on the culpability of Brigham Young in the massacre miss the undercurrents that were at work in Utah during the 1850s. One man, not even if he is prophet of a Church, "during a time of uncertainty and possible war" (p. 115), hundreds of miles away from the actual killing site, in an era where the fastest way to convey information was via horse and letter, could cause so many followers to violently kill men, women, and children. The proof is in the pages of this book. There were forces at work that we, in the comfort of our air conditioned homes and relatively peaceful surroundings, cannot possibly understand. This book gives us a glimpse at how "some of the Mormons, like other men and women throughout history, did not match their behavior with their ideals" (p. 115).

In conclusion, for those clamoring to know the truth surrounding the Mountain Meadows Massacre need to read this book. Those who accuse the LDS Church of withholding facts and figures to keep their members in a trance of belief need to read this book. Mormons believe that truth aleviates suspense and doubt and this book of truth does just that.

This book is written by three LDS historians who claims that they had the full support of their church in writing about this incident. The book covers the subject of Mountain Meadow Massacre that took place in Sept 1857 where 120 white settlers of a wagon train passing through Utah were murdered by white Mormons. Majority of the victims were women and children. This was the worst case of mass murder by Americans on Americans until the Oklahoma City bombing.

The book is well written and it appears to be well researched. There are 438 pages in this book but the actual narrative is only 230 pages long. First half the narrative relates to persecutions of the Mormons before they fled to Utah and second half dealt with the massacre and its environments, like the Utah War. The book set up excuses for Mormon atrocity while stating that there is no excuse for it. Remaining 208 pages of the book are filled with appendixes, notes and index. The three authors obviously wanted to show off their massive research effort in writing this book.

The book faithfully and surprisingly recount the story of the Mountain Meadow Massacre. The three LDS historians did not shy away from the fact that it was indeed the white Mormons who maintained the main attacks and tricked the doomed settlers into surrender by using a false white flag and had them murdered in a very efficient Nazi style massacre. Of course, all this have been recounted before by Will Bagley, Sally Denton and Juanita Brooks books. Interestingly, despite of their massive research, this book really don't say anything really new.

The maps proves to be quite good and there were nice historical photographs to go with it.

The authors did not appears to be surprise that local leadership of that area took it upon themselves to attack and massacre large numbers of white settlers in such major scale. Usually in a theocratic society like the one under Bingham Young, local leaders don't act on something this big without some sort of approval from their leaders. Authors did not think it was strange that Indian leaders who after meeting with Bingham Young, some of them were involved in the initial attack the wagon train that turn out to be was just a prelude to the Mormons' participation that was the main event. Nor the authors thought of injustice that these Indians got the total blame for the massacre there after. It is also funny that these LDS historians insisted that most Mormons who took part of the massacre were good people who led exemplary lives before and after the incident. The authors should read Christopher Browning's Ordinary Men. That book shows how ordinary men could turned into evil murderers when given a proper environment and lack of morals.

The book overall acknowledge Mormon participation but avoid Mormon responsibility. As the authors see it, it is a work of the few good but misled men who strayed morally for a moment. It say nothing about the effort of the church to cover up this crime and protected the men who took part of it. The book ends with the massacre and there is one additional chapter on John D. Lee, the official sacrificial lamb of the church who was executed for the crimes of so many others. Why the book did not go into the aftermath more closely is strange considering all the research the authors have done. In the criminal justice system, those who sheltered, protected, aided and abetted a crime is just as guilty as those who pulled the trigger. This is where many who blamed the LDS Church point their fingers and this is one subject that this book totally failed to address. Maybe the authors are looking for more profits and seeking to write a second book....?

Of course, as church historians, these authors will have a hard time if they actually did point out how responsible the church was for their part in the aftermath of the massacre. I do understand that but that do taint any book regarding the subject of objectivity!

Its hard to recommended this book if you have read the other three written by Bagley, Brooks and Denton. Their books are more complete. Whether you agreed with these three books or not, at least they presented the whole material. Massacre at Mountain Meadow does not. Its an incomplete book with a lot of unfinished material yet unwritten. Considering the shortness of the narrative, this is a very strange. For the price, I would recommend you wait for the follow up book if any. The material is basically introductionary in nature and considering all the research done and shown, there appears to be very little in print to show for it.
(PS: I did some revision work on this review, I think TWO stars is more worthy then three.)

I felt this book gave a fairly unbiased account of what happened at Mountain Meadow although the authors are members of the Morman church. They give both sides of the events leading up to the tragedy. It is by far the best information I have found on this subject. I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in learning the facts surrounding the Mountain Meadow tragedy.

This book is an astute history of a painful episode in Mormon history: the massacre of an immigrant train in southern Utah while it was on its way to California in September 1857. This has been a difficult subject for members and leaders of the LDS Church to deal with, but these three Mormon historians and scholars write with candor and great detail about the incident in ways that will not necessarily be entirely comforting to their co-religionists. I recommend the book highly. REB

I took a class where we only focused on this subject for the entire semester. Like a lot of history subjects, there is no such thing as an unbiased look at this subject. You either are looking for every reason to blame Brigham Young and prove the Mormons wrong or you are looking for a reason to blame the locals for acting stupidly and prove Brigham Young had nothing to do with it. After reading journals and trial proceedings and primary documents (which Bagley hardly uses) there is no evidence that Brigham Young ok'd it. There is a problem we have now-a-days called presentism. We see things in the past with our current ideas. Things were much different in 1850's Utah. The authors try to portray that so we understand where everyone is coming from, not from our peachy "everyone loves each other" 2000's. Everyone didn't love each other then. Mormons had people massacred too, including the founder of the church. They were probably a little on edge considering the US army was coming. The caravan wasn't blameless either. They made violent threats against the Mormons.
I am not trying to justify what they did, it was wrong, but it is not as cut and dry as we think it is today. There are so many factors that the authors try to help us see besides a detailed account of what happened that day.
It is an excellent book.

It's nice to read a book these days that's actually well written.
Easy to read. Love Black Elk's sense of humor!

I purchased this new, and expected it to be sealed. Not only was it not sealed, but a couple of pages were folded. I would have returned this item. However, I bought this as a gift and was on a timeline. I also purchased a new CD which came in a busted case. I have always trusted Amazon, and been very satisfied in the past.
Very disappointed.

I have to disagree with some people's assessment of this title. I found this book to be very insightful and very intimate in nature. I suppose for non-fiction I do tend to a have preference for books that have an approachable, if not conversational style. And that is really what this feels like. Black Elk recounts his life and spiritual experience with beautiful imagery that proves to be quite profound in its simplicity. While the Native American culture is highly romanticized through many works by people not of that ethnicity, I think this book gives readers something that the others don't. A look into the lives of Native Americans through their eyes. Real, flawed, but genuine. While many might think that Black Elk may despise the white man for his ways and the treatment of his people, there is a great understanding that underlies his words that displays a great respect for his fellow man regardless of skin color. Neihardt and Black Elk were kindred spirits and this comes through. In the end, like Chief Seattle said before him, Black Elk serves to remind readers of man's connection to the earth and to one another.

This book is very different from many others that I have read about Native Americans. It feels as though Black Elk is there having a conversation with you. A very personal book. Provides valuable insights to life no matter what your ethnic background.

I really hoped that this book was some kind of visionary look at what actually happened to the American Indians, but it is not that!

Mostly it's just bad writing and a rather obvious con-job, and that makes me really sad, because what the American Indian has endured, is much more than this..the metaphors that are needed to really understand what happened to native humans in this country, are NOT in this book...

This book is soul-wrenching. A Must for everyone, regardless of religious affiliation. Brings together both priest and artist: Rembrandt's insights and those of Henri Nouwen. . .

Henri Nouwen had a truly God-given gift - the gift of explaining timeless spiritual truths in very clear, ordinary language in a conversational and deeply captivating way. His words and his explanations imprint themselves into the memory and stay in the heart, and truly help to change lives. Much of his wisdom surely comes from his own struggles, which he admits to in the book - he personally struggled with depression, pride, desire for success and fame, envy, etc. - common human ailments. He also struggled with feeling unworthy of God, and with feeling distant from God. Yet, he learned to overcome his struggles (though he admits that he is still on a journey), and he describes how.

This is the third book I have read by Neuwen. After reading Life of the Beloved I really didn't think that anything could compare, but this book, if not better, is at least just as good. It is an instantly timeless spiritual classic. The whole book is a reflection on Rembrandt's painting, The Return of the Prodigal Son. First Nouwen reflects on the younger son who came back from a foreign land. Then he reflects on the older son who witnesses his younger brother's return. Finally, Nouwen reflects on the father figure. His insights are deep and beautiful. He leads the reader to a natural and yet incredible insight: that after identifying ourselves with both the younger and older brother, we must realize that rather than being either of these two brothers, we are called to become the father!

"Return of the Prodigal Son" is a wonderful opportunity to hear the gentleness and genius that was Henri Nouwen. The book was originally a talk given at retreat when Nouwen was 57, about 8 years before his death, in the time following his famous service at Toronto's L'Arche Daybreak facility for severely handicapped adults. Nouwen's humility is on display, as are his deep spiritual and psychological insights.

The impetus for Nouwen's reflections was Rembrandt's "Return of the Prodigal Son," painted when the artist was elderly, and following multiple tragedies in his own life. Nouwen's inspiration is less the painting, though, than the parable. His lecture is split into three parts, focusing on the younger son, the older son and the father. Nouwen's take on the parable is Jesus's radical break with interpretations of God that held sway in his own day as they still do in ours. The God that Jesus defines is not angry, vindictive or retaliatory, but completely open in love and forgiveness. While many will agree with this description of the Father, fewer will agree with Nouwen that this image of the Father exists the rest of Holy Scripture (both OT and NT) as well. While many of us are willing to accept Scripture's seemingly schizoid vision of God, Nouwen does not. He is completely committed to the loving father portrayed in this parable. For those committed to the God of condemnation, hell and judgment, Nouwen will be a disappointment (or a challenge). Human beings separate themselves from a God who is always anxious to take them back, teaches Nouwen.

In Nouwen's take on the story, the younger son teaches the journey from dissolution to containment. Dissolution includes dissipation of the kind associated with the younger son in the parable -- insults to parents, arrogance, squandering of resources, immorality. But dissolution extends to other activities and attitudes that spread our energies beyond our capacities. We spread ourselves too thin, spiritually, usually out of a desire to impress those in our lives whom we want to impress or influence. But by recognizing our sonship with God, we realize that we do need to impress of fathers (whether heavenly or worldly) into loving us, allowing us to bring our spiritual energies into containment and focus. The elder son often lives in our hearts alongside the younger son. The elder son's error is in resentment and separation. He cannot rejoice that "this son of yours" has returned from death, whining about his own ceaseless and unrewarded labors. But his error also speaks to a misunderstanding of the Father's love. He feels he will be loved *because* of his obedience (evidently given grudgingly) and has missed that his gift is to have been in the presence of the Father all along.

Nouwen's deep insight into the parable, whose subtlety and profundity become apparent the more listen, is astounding. The parable has the power to heal as well. For any who have felt conflict or hurt in family situations, as has Nouwen himself, the parable points the way toward a recognition of our true place in the world, and in God's eyes. This is not a dewy "I'm OK, You're OK" insight, but can lead to a profound shifting of our existential relationship with ourselves, our parents and our God. What false fronts and defenses we might shed if we truly believed in a God who loved us as beloved children -- no matter how far astray we had gone?

Nouwen's style and delivery belie the intensity of his own struggle and the wisdom of his teaching. Yet the insights continue rolling in, like waves following the passage of a ship, long after the book is over. A fascinating and potentially life-changing book.

This book opened up so many different ideas on the well known story of the Prodigal Son. I loved reading this book. It was my first Nouwen read, and it definitely will get me reading more of his books. If you are not familiar with Nouwen, this is a good first read.

This is an excellent life changing book. Presents the core truth of the Christian Gospel in a way that touches everyday attitudes and struggles. A book so personal and touching you may find that Nouwen is addressing your own unique circumstances. I certainly did. You may find yourself thinking about a new way to live. This book changed my life.

Order arrived 2 days later than expected, but I was very pleased with the price I paid and the book was in excellent condition

As a long time mathematics tutor and teacher I know this book very well. I don't think the material is presented or explained in a way that is especially helpful for young people. As a tutor I have to constantly reintroduce the topic and/or try to stay ahead of the student's class. Beyond that, the students are asked to do only the simplest of proofs. Additionally, a new topic will be introduced and then no problems appear in the exercise portion of the section to help the student test and practice his or her understanding of the newly introduced topic (and of course, those problems invariably will show up on the chapter exam and the final).

Moreover, I think the book just fails the kids. It seems to omit certain standard concepts by being "accessible" and undemanding of even the most minor critical thinking skills. I believe that both of these shortcomings will leave the student unprepared for the challenging problems on standardized tests and on college entrance exams. Not to mention any sort of subsequent advanced work in high school and college. Another thing about the Larson book is that the answers to many of the problems are so arithmetically peculiar that the student has no feeling that maybe they actually got the right answer. Good problems reassure the student that they are on the right track. Also, once a new concept or definition is introduced it is never repeated.

Overall, I think that the more capable students will be shortchanged and misled into thinking that they know more than they actually do and the less capable student might pass geometry but will perform poorly on college entrance exams and be unable to successfully progress in mathematics if they need to do so.

This is a must have for students that purchased the text book, gives them an opportunity to practice what they learn in the theory.

This textbook is more useful for the flashy (and admittedly very good) teacher's ancillaries. But this review is not for the ancillaries. It is for the text itself.

The text's treatment of proofs is very cursory and not rigorous enough. The diagrams for the algebraic problems are too confusing, compiling numerous different concepts into one problem. While I agree that students must learn to differentiate one property/theorem/rule/postulate from another, it doesn't make sense that most, instead of some, diagrams are over-complicated. Personally, I don't like the format with the examples, mainly because it downplays the necessity for students to become LITERATE in math, not just a good "example comparer." The text has little actual TEXT to speak of.

I have not been teaching HS for very long, but I do not like this book. I am not a textbook dependent teacher, but I do (woefully) recognize that students have poor study skills and don't reference notes all the time. I do not teach out of the textbook and I spend many hours planning lessons, lecture notes, my own examples, etc. I had many complaints that the problems were confusing, included too many ideas at the same time, etc. Some may be successful in "teaching themselves" from the examples, but I am very disappointed that textbooks no longer have TEXT. I may be a math teacher, but I understand the importance of reading and how it helps a person to process the material.

On the other hand, the teacher resources is a great set of worksheets, study masters, note taking guides, etc. Perhaps the authors spent more time on those resources instead of the text.

Our school uses this book for all Geometry classes. The book is quite thorough, but serves the teacher more than the students. The students for the most part don't read it; just use it to find the assigned homework problems.

One glaring weakness is on page 306 where Postulate 7 is proven from Postulate 5 in problem 24. After hammering into my students that postulates cannot be proven, there goes the book proving a postulate!