Westerns Books

This is a great collection, especially for any student. It is by far the most complete set of translations of Kant's work available to the English speaking audience. Plus, it is a tribute to Mary J. Gregor that this edition exists. That Allen Wood inserted a dedication to her shows the importance of her life's work for anyone interested in Kant's ethical theory.

There is, however, one thing that I, as a student of philosophy, found troubling about this edition--it lacks adequate indexs. Don't get me wrong, it has indexes, but they are not nearly complete enough.

If you need a convenient, relatively light-weight volume of Kant's ethical writings, go for this edition. But if you are interested in in depth analysis of any of the texts, I'd go for the editions pubilished in the Cambridge Texts in the History of Philosophy set. The indexes here are much, much more complete. These editions also include thorough and detailed introductions but such respected Kant scholars as Christine Korsgaard and Roger Sullivan.

This volume should become the indispensable English-language edition of Kant's practical works. The translations contained in this edition are top-notch, which is not to say that I agree with all the decisions made by Mary Gregor, the primary translator. However, unlike, say, the Cambridge Edition translations of the First and Third Critiques, Gregor's translations are arguably categorically better than all other English translations. I personally do not believe that to be the case, but the point is that such a case can plausibly be made, whereas it cannot be said with equal plausibility that the Guyer-Wood translation of the First Critique is categorically better than the Kemp Smith translation (I know others would beg to differ, but this is not the place to take up my disagrements with them; I would merely stress that I do not deny that Guyer-Wood have made many improvements over Kemp Smith).

Furthermore, the inclusion of The Metaphysics of Morals in its entirety ought to alleviate a certain one-sidedness in most treatments of Kant in introductory survey courses of the history of moral/political philosophy. These courses typically concentrate on the Grounding and the shorter essays--understandably so, given time contraints. Occasionally the Second Critique will be touched upon. Nor is this one-sidedness confined to survey or even advanced undergraduate courses. I have taken three graduate seminars on Kant and one on German Idealism in three departments at two different universities, and not once did I ever read The Metaphysics of Morals in its entirety. The student who wishes to gain a complete picture of Kant will be glad to have this important work included.

The convenience of having good translations of foundational works, unabridged and collected in a single volume, cannot be overstated. Every serious student of Kant, German Idealism, or moral or practical philosophy ought to own this book.

Served my purpose for class. Helped summarized important points and helped me cram for tests.

Returned item because the description did not say it was an atlas. I needed the book

Ethics is a towering work by an absolute genius, a mathematical definitive explanation of G~d, the universe and man's place in it. Read it not because you think you must fight through `great philosophy', but for its beautiful symmetry of ground breaking rational thought. I eagerly recommend this work to anyone interested in exploring their thoughts on philosophy, religion and psychology. If anything, Ethics obtains renewed relevance in the post-modern 21st century and its unfolding events.

Imagine setting out as an objective to describe human existence and the "journey to inner freedom." To accomplishment that feat, we must first begin with G~d and the universe, then work our way through nature, religion, society, science, and evolution until we can frame the essence of man. Imagine then that we wish to make sense of the human paradox of violence, hate, love and passion, fear and hope, and give it a framework through which to view the world and gain serenity and purpose.

Imagine further that we do not wish to merely write yet another philosophical or Eastern spiritual text. We wish to supersede and encompass all these earlier attempts, including current thinking on Judeo Christian practice. While doing so, we shall set our bar high. We will extrapolate these beliefs and universal relationships as a geometric treatise in the manner of a mathematical proof, with definitions, axioms and propositions, and so demonstrate the possibility of reducing philosophy and the pursuit of human fulfillment to a scientific exercise.

Now imagine that we shall set out on our metaphysical journey during the Inquisition, when espousals contrary to the Church result in execution. Imagine that our thoughts are so revolutionary that even the heretics (mainly Protestants) and evolving philosophers with whom we must find safe harbor view our thoughts with alarm. Imagine ourselves cut off from public discourse, excommunicated from family and friends. Lastly, imagine we are frail and suffer from ill health, our views necessarily rendering us relatively penniless and unknown, hiding in modest obscurity. Now dear reader, we are ready to begin our book on the meaning of life despite the fact that we will never publish it for fear of death.

Most great thinkers name `Ethics' among their largest influences. Einstein espoused himself a Spinozan. It is certainly one of the most astounding and important books ever written.

His work changed my life. He not only filled in pieces of the puzzle I had missing, he rearranged them and gave them sense. I view almost all important constructs in life within his tautology. Please read Spinoza.

One last note: Readers may find one of the translations of his work more approachable. I plead with the reader not to allow the geometric treatise of his work to get in the way of accessing this most incredible accomplishment.

His astounding work is a testament to the blinding power of rational thought.

It seems almost impertinent of me to review Spinoza's masterpiece. I would give it ten stars if I could.

In this age of theological chop-logic and political spin, Spinoza's Euclidean method of arguing for God-or-Nature as the self-causing, single, infinite substance conceived under infinite attributes (or aspects) of which we humans have knowledge only of two (thought and matter soars far above the heads of most contemporary academics and bewilders first year philosophy students, who are routinely advised to leave Spinoza well alone and settle down with Descartes instead. What a great deal they miss!

The book is in five parts: 1. Of God; 2. Of the Nature and Origin of the Mind; 3. Of the Origin and Nature of the Affects; 4.Of Human Bondage, or the Power of the Affects; 5. Of the Power of the Intellect, or On Human Freedom.

It is not easy reading, but studying it with an open mind will pay huge dividends.

Spinoza takes us step by logical step, from basic axioms via propositions, demonstrations and explanations, to a world view which inspired Einstein to formulate his theories of relativity, which started the romanticist movement, and which provided the foundations for modern existentialism.

Spinoza was excommunicated by the Catholic Church, booted out by the Quakers and expelled from the synagogue; he was cursed, reviled, and anathematized. Matthew Arnold begins his essay 'Spinoza and the Bible' with the full force of the rabbinic vehemence, "By the sentence of the angels, by the decree of the saints, we anathematize, cut off, curse, and execrate Baruch Spinoza...cursed be he by day, and cursed by night...the Lord pardon him never, the wrath and fury of the Lord burn upon this man.... The Lord blot out his name under heaven.... There shall no man speak to him, no man write to him, no man show him any kindness, no man stay under the same roof with him."

This cheap penguin edition is nicely produced with an attractive cover, though it's a pity the proof reader didn't spot that Spinoza's name is spelt `Spinza' on the copyright page.

Stuart Hampshire's introduction is very helpful, and Edwin Curley's translation is superb.

Basic Flying Instruction: A Comprehensive Introduction to Western Philosophy

If you ever heard of Spinoza, you have probably heard also of his "Ethics". This book is simply Spinoza's finest and most valuable book. One could say many things about the "Ethics", but they would be unnecessary: if you want to know about the book, buy a guide or read a compendium on the history of philosophy.

But this is the actual text; here there is no talking about the book, only the actual getting inside it.
The "Ethics" were first published in 1677, in the "Opera Postuma", right after Spinoza's death. The first reaction to it was of disgust; later on, with the german idealists, Spinoza was recuperated from a mistreatment, and was even considered to be the true beginning of all good Philosophy (Hegel). In the end of the 19th century, Elwes published the "Ethics" in the english language for the first time; in the 20th century, 2 new translations appeared, the one by Samuel Shirley, and this one, by Edwin Curley. Edwin Curley, actually, decided to publish, in the 1980s, the collected revised works of Spinoza in english, where in the first volume was included his translation of the "Ethics". This is the translation included in this Penguin volume.

Edwin Curley is a reputated scholar on Spinoza and his translation of the "Ethics" surpasses any other ever written in the english language: it is the most quoted and consulted translation of the "Ethics" by the english-speaking scholars, and it well deserves its success.

If you want to read Spinoza's "Ethics", this is your edition.

Spinoza worked through his ideas using his mathematical background. He diligently recorded his postulates in a very studied order. Remember, he wrote this in the 1600's under trying circumstances.

Anyone can pick up the "Ethics" today, randomly open the book and find meaning on just about any topic. For example, I'm opening the book now, Page 132, the first thing I read in Italics is:

"Only insofar as men live according to the guidance of reason, must they always agree in nature."

At the top of that same page it says, "Peter has the idea of a thing he loves which is already possessed, whereas Paul has the idea of a thing he loves which is lost. That is why one is affected with joy and the other with sadness, and to that extent they are contrary to one another."

Spinoza teaches us to be moral without religion, but with a total belief in God. His view is that there is nothing that cannot be known. Try it, for this book will end up being well worn by you.

Although I haven't read Michener's classic, "Hawaii", "Texas" is my unquestioned favorite of Michener's works. Yes, it's formulaic but it's a formula that works. Some of it is so accurate it hurts. The part where the two friends go together on a hunting ranch and wind up enemies is way, way too close to home.

I won't try to synopsize what is a long and fascinating novel but I learned [I think I learned] things I hadn't known before. Did you know that the Texas longhorn became extinct in Texas and had to be reintroduced from some remnant herds in Mexico? No? I didn't either. It might not even be true but if the reader THINKS he was learned something new, he'll probably be interested. Did you know that only the longhorn steer gets really long horns? Me neither. As a matter of fact, it really isn't true but it's a fascinating falsehood.

Hey, Michener, at his best, can really write, twisiting fact and fiction into a tale worth reading. If you like Michener and you LOVE Texas, you can't miss this one.

Ron Braithwaite author of novels--"Skull Rack" and "Hummingbird God" on the Conquest of Mexico

This is a good overview of Texas history. It was written by Michener, so is, as one would expect, very long. It is a slightly different format than others of his novels, though. It flips back and forth between the current day and stories of history. Current day has folks from a representative set of backgrounds. The history story takes each of those people and frames historical tales around their ancestors. At various points the histories of the ancestors intermingle and the current-day folks realize that they are linked with each other.

An enjoyable book but don't bother reading the last two chapters. I don't know what the author was thinking. Maybe he had seen too many episodes of 'Dallas'! Ransom Rusk was a little too 'JRish' for my liking.
Apart from that glitch the rest of the book is a great read. Some of it extremely hard to come to terms with from all sides, Mexican, Anglo/German, Black and Native American. But nevertheless very worthwhile if you have the time to read it.

James A. Michener manages to educate you a little while also creating interesting enough stories around the State of Texas United States of America. He covers the natives, the influence of Mexicans in the area, and more modern issues like the obsessions with oil and gridiron. Pretty interesting book, in general.

Got to be a lot of research in something this long. This is a pretty cool trick to pull enough. I wonder how many library chairs he wore out back then while working on it.

I have a goal to try to read all of Michener's books. Three of the best so far are Centennial, Chesapeake and Hawaii. Have not completed Texas yet.

I have really enjoyed many of the books written by Lori Wick, but this one was written in a very choppy way that did not flow. I enjoy books that share perspectives from the different characters, however in this book it jumped from character to character within each chapter and the depth of each character was not developed as well as the author usually does. I was looking forward to the fact that there were three books in this series but I probably will not order the next one.

I was disappointed in this book. It's just not Lori's best. In fact, it left me feeling like why bother reading the other two books in this series. No plot until about three-fourths of the way through it. No character development, no intelligent conversation. Perhaps a good book for a fifth grader, but certainly not written on the adult level.
My teeth were set on edge every time she would write, "that man" or "that woman" or "the women." Has she not heard of the pronouns he, she, they?
As a Christian, I felt let down. I hate to say it but Christian novelists have a reputation in the world of books as being poor writers. If I were reading this book as a first time example of s Christian novel, I would have to agree. Ah, for a writer like Eugenia Price! There was a Christian woman who knew how to write!

The overall story of Cassidy was very romantic and contained some good action and suspense and I liked it. I did not like it as much as some other Lori Wick books I have read however. There was an awkwardness in the writing that I did not understand, every so often it would say "that lady" instead of "she" and it always made me stop and pause losing where I was because it stood out so much. I do look forward to reading Sabrina soon.

I came to love Lori Wick about ten years ago when I first read "The Princess". I read and enjoyed many of her books after that, but lately, I've been continually disappointed. They're all the same! Predictable, boring, goody-goody, and unintelligent. I seriously feel as though I'm dumbing myself down to read them. The characters are so unrealistic...sugary sweet and unbelievably wholesome. Real Christians aren't like that 100% of the time. I prefer a more relatable character (like in "Pretense" for example). I feel like I'm experiencing deja-vu with every Lori Wick novel now. Is there no Christian "romance" writer who can tell an intelligent, thought-provoking, relatable story with complex characters and a moving plot? It doesn't have to be perfect, Lori, but it's time to explore a new formula. PLEASE!

Cassidy had to run from her past. She ended up in Token Creek, Montana. She finds a welcoming church family and friends. She establishes a business. Then her past catches up with her.
Trace defends her reputation, and he wins her heart. He thinks that she is in love with another man. Will he finally understand that she loves him--not the other man?
I love the ride that Lori Wick takes the reader on. There is never a dull moment, and the characters come to life upon the pages. I recommend this.

Colleen has done it again! Another great book! I have suggested it to my friends and no one has been disappointed!