Westerns Books

Ambrose Bierce said that the title of this review is as close to certainty as any philosopher can get. Descartes, of course, thought he got a lot closer than that. Two things are certain about this edition of his "Discourse." 1. They got the title right. Most editions call it "Discourse on Method." Descartes thought he had the only method, therefore he titled his work "Discourse on THE Method." 2. A tremendous amount of scholarship was devoted to this edition. The introduction is longer than the text, and the work is heavily annotated.

Descartes' work consists of six parts, which can be summarized thus:

Part 1: Descartes echoes the opening chapters of Ecclesiastes in lamenting that learning and worldly experience are empty. He then says that when he achieved this realization, he devoted himself to introspection.

Part 2: He outlines his method of introspection as follows: 1. Accept nothing that is not incontrovertible. 2. Break large problems down into their component parts. 3. Solve the easier components before tackling the more complex components. 4. Be careful to be thorough in your assessment of the problem.

Part 3: He outlines his plan for a life of virtue: 1. Obey the laws of God and man, but do so in moderation. 2. Be firm and resolute in your actions, whether right or wrong. He would have approved of my high school football coach, who taught us, "If you're going to make a mistake, make it at full speed." 3. Master yourself, not your circumstances. 4. Pursue the best of occupations. Descartes decided that the best of occupations was that of the curious idler. He formulated these maxims at age 23 and spent the next 9 years idling curiously and introspecting.

Part 4: The core of the work. Here Descartes begins by rejecting as untrue everything that he has ever been taught. Assuming that as a given, what can he know for a fact? "I think, therefore I am." From this dictum he deduces the the existence and immortality of the human soul, the existence and nature of God, and the nature of reality. His proof of God's existence reminds one of St. Anselm's ontological proof of God.

Parts 5 & 6: The weakest part of the work. Here Descartes describes a book he wrote in which he solved all the problems of the universe. He then explains that he decided not to publish it because somebody might find mistakes in it. If his description of how the heart works is any indication of the accuracy of the rest of his book, he was quite correct that mistakes would be found by others. He then talks about other books he actually published more or less at the same time as this work.

Parts 1-3 seem somewhat trite and arrogant. Parts 5 & 6 reveal a man whose ego cannot stand being shown to be wrong. Part 4 is brilliant and worth the tedium of the rest of the book.

I used this book to teach a course in the philosophy of human nature and I loved it. Searle touts his brand of philosophy in this work called "biological naturalism." It is the view that all of our conscious states arise from neurobiological processes. The book is also an introduction to the common problems in philosophy of mind. But you better come prepared for a somewhat technical (in some places) discussion of free will, mental causation and the mind-body problem. As usual, however, Searle is crystal clear in his explanations and arguments. Moreover, he appears to be pretty convincing in his refutations of materialism. This book is informative and a pretty good read.

Searle does an excellent job of logic on all that he says. However, as his basic premises are erroneous, so is all that follows. Neither Will, Consciousness, Mind, nor Intelligence come from the physical universe. These are properties of LIFE itself, which is anterior to and creator of the physical universe. LIFE first creates Matter (out of Itself) and then intelligently evolves forms within Matter in which to inject Itself for the purpose of experience and play.

This book served as my introduction to the mind/body problem, and his introductory material (the first 100 pages or so) was actually quite decent. He explained the issues, gave the differing views on the issues, and was rather comprehensive and fair for the most part. The only complaints I had about that section were (1) that he often gave the reader the bare minimum of information and left the reader to figure out what it meant instead of giving a clear example of what he was saying (the issues he was discussing were ofter very difficult to understand, and I would have to read a section and sit and think about it for five minutes to figure out what exactly he was saying, when he could easily have given examples to significantly speed up the process), and (2) I think he unfairly dismissed dualism without really giving many reasons why it was not correct. I agree that there are significant problems with dualism, but I think his treatment of it was far too brief and not especially fair.

The rest of the book, however, was not so great. The position he takes is called non-reductive physicalism. This means that he thinks the mind is nothing but physical processes but is not reducuble to physical processes. The whole rest of the book is about how this theory explains things like consciousness, free will, etc. The two main problems I had with this part of the book are far more significant than those I had with the first part. They are (1) the failure to adequately explain how a mind which is entirely physical processes can escape being reduced to physical processes, and (2) his section on free will.

The reason he wishes to escape reducing the mind to physical processes is that if we do that we are left with determinism. Everything we think, and thus do, is then reduced to the outcome of physical processes leaving no room for free will. The problem is that Searle offers no legitimate explanation of how we escape reductionism if the mind is "just physical processes" (that is exactlty how Searly says it). Other non-reductive physicalists like Nancy Murphy do go into detailed explanations (which I find unconvincing as well), but Searle just passes it off as plausable then moves on, effectively skirting the issue by changing the topic to how this theory explains mental phenomenon like free will.

The problem with that is that when he gets to free will, he is forced to admit that his system does not seem able to account for free will, so he calls it a mystery and appeals to quantum mechanics. He acknowledges that randomness does not amount to freedom (which many who advocate quantum mechanics as the basis of free will fail to acknowledge, so at least it's a step forward), but he is forced to look there for help because, as he notes, it is the only non-determined field of science we know about. Since he has already decided that nothing non-physical can be a part of our minds, he is left with no choice but a listless appeal to quantum mechanics, though he openly admits he has no idea how this solves anything and that it does not really seem to work. Perhaps this is a good indication that his starting point of physicalism is lacking.

In short, this is a good introduction to the mind/brain topic, but his own ideas about the subject are largely unconvincing and seem to me to be rather lacking in evidence. That said, I would recommend it to anyone wishing to learn about these issues, as the non-redcutive physicalism is a growing position you would do well to know about and understand, and Searle presents the one of the most comprehensive discussions of that position in this book. He also presents an excellent critique of reductionist philosophies of mind, from behaviorism to functionalism to the newer theories about how the mind is to brain as computer program is to hardware.

Overall grade: B

Edit (April 11th): In the few months since I read this book, I have actually come to adopt Searle's position (or something very close to it). A number of other sources played in my "conversion," making me wonder whether this really is a good introduction to the topic or something which should be read after a working knowledge of competing positions is already known. It could be that Searle's position was so radically different than my own that I would have rejected it no matter how it was first presented to me, or it could be that Searle's presentation of it was just not as convincing as the positions of Nancy Murphy and Kevin Corcoran in The Search for the Soul (a survey of four views of the soul [or lack thereof] from a Christian perspective), which played a significant role in my shift of positions.

I'm not going to present Searle's thesis (or criticize it) here. That's what the book is for. I will point out how many comments this book has, which discuss its critical points--good evidence that it is wonderfully accessible! If you majored in philosophy, went on to other things, but still have an interest in the field, this is the best book on the Philosophy of Mind you can buy. The same goes for high school students looking to explore the subject. Searle consciously aims his book at "young John Searle," so he presents philosophy clearly without dumbing it down. In my opinion, we of the educated public are not looking for "philosophy of the Matrix" written by nobodies; we're looking for book like this: great ideas aimed at an intelligent audience (think philosophy major graduating seniors at Princeton), written by the leading experts in their fields. Come on, old philosophers...your name and ideas might be circulating in the wider public (outside the APA) long after you are!

John Searle provides what he thinks is a corrective to other introductory works in the philosophy of mind. In traditionally Searlean prose, he guides us through what he sees as the major problems of philosophy of mind, giving a background and providing some solutions of his own to the major problems. The writing style is clear, simple, and concise, which makes the book quite readable and indeed pleasant at many points. It is when you begin to dig beneath the words and extract Searle's arguments that the book falls apart.

In the beginning, we see a rather good explication of Descartes' views on the mind, which lead into contemporary approaches to the subject. This is where the book runs into problems. The first approach other than dualism that Searle considers is behaviorism. Here, he betrays philosophical superficiality by completely ignoring the valuable points made by behaviorists and painting a terrible caricature that barely qualifies as a straw man. As he continues, it becomes obvious that Searle has failed to understand virtually every argument in the history of the philosophy of mind. His treatment of functionalism is terribly vague and while his outline of various anti-functionalist arguments is useful, his characterization of their rebuttals is not.

As the work goes on, we get more into Searle's positive work, which is even more muddled than his critical work. He freely contradicts himself, such as in the chapter on free will, where he goes against one of his core philosophical principles (common sense). There is also his theory of consciousness, in which the brain causes the mind, which is separate and sits on top of the brain, but it is not dualism. Such conceptual muddles plague this book, making it difficult to even make sense of what Searle wants to say.

In the end, the book deserves two stars because it causes violent disagreement and is a suitable starting place for discussions and inquiry. However, anyone reading this book would do well to get another introductory book (I recommend Kim) or a good anthology (I recommend Chalmers) to accompany it, because alone the book is wholly inadequate at mapping the field or providing a positive position. It is probably more valuable as an introduction to John Searle, and someone interested in Searle's philosophy of mind would find this an easy way to get acquainted with his ideas.

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Amazing book! Proves that not all Germans were rabid Nazis. A personal journey through a unique perspective on how and why the Nazis were able to assume power, as well as why the Germans were unable to stop them. Highly recommended!

This is the story of Sebastian Haffner, a man who lived in Germany during Hitler's rise to power. I loved hearing the story from the perspective of the average German. I can't imagine living in such tumultuous times, but reading this book gives me a glimpse. The best part about it is the fact that it tries to answer two very important questions: how on earth a regime like the Nazis could rise to power, and how almost the entire nation where corrupted by them. It's a wonderful story that I would recommend to anyone that is the bit interested in that period. Remember, it's by understanding the past that we can best keep from repeating it.

Excellent book on the rise of the Nazis by an author with a very humane and sensible view of life who lived through the events. Haffner gives voice to the average Germans who witnessed the rise of Hitler and did not approve - the majority, as it turns out - but who could simply not make sense of the madness around them nor could they find a way to realistically oppose the Nazis.

Haffner's narrative is often touching as he discusses personal events of his own, friends' and family's, illustrating how the sphere of their private lives was affected by politics. The result is that it reads like a 'non-fiction novel', and one extremely relevant for contemporary world events.

It is a pity that Haffner never actually concluded the book. In the last section, his son briefly explains what happened after the abrupt ending of the narrative, thus we miss the detail and richness that Hafner's own perspective would have undoubtedly provided. Still, it is an unmissable book, packed with lessons for present and future generations.

Sebastian Haffner's "Defying Hitler" has an ambitious initial scope - to chronicle the rise of Hitler from 1918-1939. The memoir is "unfinished" in that the narrative leaves off in 1933 as Haffner put down writing the manuscript with the advent of World War II and never came back to it. Haffner's son, Oliver Pretzel ultimately had the work published after Haffner's death.

Even in its "unfinished" condition, the work is a masterpiece. Haffner's purpose is not to excuse the average German in germany to succumbing to Nazism and to Hitler but rather to EXPLAIN the phenomenon. Excusing it would simply be post hoc. Explaining it serves the additional function of future application.

Defying Hitler was a difficult thing to do in practice. One could certainly not do so in public. The repression of Nazism in Germany was all the more pervasive by its reach into the private sphere and by doing so, obliterating the prior German distinction between public and private. The only safe way to defy Hitler was, ultimately emigration.

Haffner's narrative is frank, honest and ironic. It was a joy to read.

Finally, a word about Robert Whitfield, the reader of the Audio edition of "Defying Hitler." I believe there are instances in which the audio edition of a work is equal to or superior to the printed version. These instances of "audio excellence" are directly related to the quality of the reader. Robert Whitfield repeatedly accomplishes "aduio excellence." Whitfield's diction is spot on, his tone fluctuates to match the text. If the text is ironic, so then is Whitfield's tone. If the text is frank, so then is Whitfield's tone. If the text contains italics for emphasis, that emphasis is contained within Whitfield's voice. In short, his contributions always enhance a book and never detract from it. For other texts read by Robert Whitfield, I would recommend Bleak House by Charles Dickens, and The Abolition of Man & the Great Divorce: Library Edition by C.S. Lewis.

This is a powerful story of the rise of the Nazi movement with scary parallels to modern day events. The question has often been asked how the Germans could allow this to happen and Haffner does an amazing job at describing how. Along with a controlled media, one method was to turn the volume of fear and intimidation one little almost imperceptible increment at the time. Most people just laughed at the antics of Hitler and his crowd in the beginning, but by the time that people caught on to the seriousness of the issue it was too late. By this time many secretly just hoped that it would go away like a bad dream, but history tells a different story.

The difference with this book is that it is told from a very human perspective from an ordinary German who was living through those times and who saw the transformation of German society and social interaction.

Along with this book I would recommend the movie V for Vendetta (Two-Disc Special Edition), and the book Political Ponerology (A Science on the Nature of Evil Adjusted for Political Purposes), which describes the process by which a society is taken over, and by what kind of people.

Those who do not learn from history are bound to repeat it. This book is an important book to read so as to be better able to read the warning signs before it is too late.

Ms Anderson has an amazing talent for making her heroes lovable. She proves it again here by making this preachy, bible spouting hypocrite seem tolerable. He was no worse than most romance novel heroes except that he spent the first 2/3 of the book ranting about the sin of pre-marital sex. The heroine,albiet a 31 year old virgin, did not join his rant but listened to it. Still, she jumped right in and joined him at the drop of his stetson. I never thought of Catholics as Holy Rollers. Apparently, the author does. I agree with other reviewers that the story would have been much improved by editing out the majority of the preaching. Like real life preaching, it wins a lot less converts than good examples do. I gather the Harrigans are to provide a new family saga like the Kendricks and Coulters. Good. She was running out of siblings in those families. Soon she'll need a more complex family tree to keep them all straight.

This book is excellent reading! Couldn't have enjoyed this book more. I'm new to Catherine Anderson's books having only read 3 thus far. This is the book that grabbed me and has me seeking out all Mrs. Anderson's other books. I am hoping they are written with the same 'religious zeal' I saw with "Morning Light"... just a touch in all the right places.

I enjoyed being able to read a book without being overwhelmed with 'sex here... sex there... sex everywhere'! I skip these pages in other books, not because I'm a prude but because the sex usually has little to do with the story line! If you don't like the 'religious scenes'... skip them. Personally, I found it refreshing to read these scenes and I really would like to see more books depicting less sex in every chapter and verse. Besides, saying grace at a meal is hardly 'overzealous' religion.

They take advantage. I don't like it when an author starts weaving in her/his actual beliefs (religious or political) within storylines. I don't care what they believe in real life - just write a good story, OK? Without proselytizing or jumping on the soapbox. I would venture to say that most of Ms. Anderson's fans are 30ish and up, and we pretty much have our belief system in place by this time...

Mixing psychic abilities with the Catholic faith angle didn't work for me. And the deep, profound love found by these two within a few short days was just stupid. There were so many holes in this story that I had to laugh.

The Kendrick and Coulter men were awesome. I found this author with Baby Love, loved it, and have read everything of hers since. Hopefully, the rest of the Harrigan mens' stories will not follow the same path as Clint's. But I will not buy this author again - I will check her future books out of the library. I do have to say though that I bought this book at my library's book sale for $2.00. And tucked inside was a very small note from the original owner that said "this book sucks, you can have it".

First off I want to say that up until this book I was an avid Catherine Anderson fan (even bought this in hardback!)She was until now one of my "keeper" authors. Second off let me say if I wanted a sermon I would go to church. Third! If I wanted to read inspirational books I would of bought one that was stated as such not wasted my money on a book that isn't what its stated to be. Book is all about Catholic's and God and VERY POORLY DONE!! You get page after page that is nothing but Catholic & God ranting in every paragraph then get a couple of pages where you think you might get to what is supposed to be the story but NOOOO right back to the Catholic and God rants! ABSOLUTLY HORRIBLE! Prior book was bad enough with the Catholic stuff but this one is way overdone and will be the last Catherine Anderson book I buy new and if this is what her writing has become also last one I read. I won't even buy the next one used if its the same religious ranting much less new.
Do yourself a favor and don't buy it new, go to library or buy it used that way you won't feel so ripped off by author and publisher. If you like inspirational books you might enjoy it but for those of us wanting what was a typical Catherine Anderson book AVOID and re read an old one you'll get more out of it!

I really enjoyed this book. This is the first Catherine Anderson book I've read. I didn't feel the religion was stuffed down my throat as mentioned in other reviews. I enjoyed the religious aspect. The fact that they talked marriage after a couple of days is a little unrealistic but, I truely believe when you know, you know. If you've read all of Catherine Anderson's books in the past, maybe you won't enjoy this one, but if you're a newbie to her novels like I am I think it's definitely worth the read. And who wouldn't want their dream cowboy to come after them when they ran??

We used this book in our class on Western Heritage. It is really useful in explaining the differences in current world views as well as the development and historical aspects of our own.

This is, and excellent treatment of Worldviews and, covers in enough detail all those general categories into which all people must fall.
Though some dislike his "bias" or find this work unfair - this is only due to a clash of Worldviews (not issues of truth).

This catalogue is well written, displays enough content and descriptions to be reliable and finally, points out the logical ends of our systems of thought. One can choose to disagree but must ultimately make peace with the logical and honest "ends" of each Worldview presented (we cannot all be right when presenting opposing truth claims).

I recommend this book to anyone confused or questioning the plethora of religious, spiritual or naturalistic beliefs intended to govern life!

The Universe Next Door
James W. Sire
This review is on the Second Edition of the book, copyright 1988. That being the case there may be major changes in the book that address some current trends in worldviews (I hope that's actually the case).

What's the Point of The Book?
To give us a basic overview and introduction to several worldviews beginning from the author's own worldview (Christian Theism) all the way through the New Age Movement. The author is not trying to indoctrinate us in every point found in the worldview or even the major divisions throughout but he wishes to underscore some major features and question some major problems.

The Good
This is tough because it could also be a "bad" and only that because of the date of the original publication (1976). The meat of the book comes in 219 pages with bibliographical notes that bring the count up to 241 (The remaining 5 pages are devoted to the index). Those biographical notes are a godsend for anyone wanting to dig further into the material and are stated as such by the author. This edition actually features a much appreciated rewrite of the New Age movement section in light of how much has happened from 76 to 88. The worldviews are given pretty fair treatment considering what the author is doing (overview and not in-depth apologetics). The language is fitting with the subject and as worldviews grow increasingly complex the author stands with that view and exposes us to the language being used.

The Bad
The theistic section should have covered different theistic worldviews. I know his purpose was to give an overview and finally summarize how each of these fall short but by ignoring alternate theisms he doesn't really underscore how Christian Theism stands out. In this book it seems that it's either Christian Theism or Naturalism and all that grows out of that. Failing to mention, say Islamic Theism, is a huge oversight and one that can leave the reader saying "fine, naturalism is wacky but why not believe in {X Creator God} instead of the Christian God?" I also think that the nihilism section may have consisted of some ungrounded generalizations for instance he opens that chapter with "Nihilism is more a feeling than a philosophy. Strictly speaking, nihilism is not a philosophy at all." After this he proceeds to show how nihilism leads to despair and despair is the teaching of nihilism that grows out of a naturalistic framework. If he established it up front I wouldn't be as critical.

The Ugly
The cover illustration is dated but that is to be expected with a 1988 title. The book could have been longer and still accomplished its overview goal while simultaneously shedding some light on alternate worldviews.


Star Rating
All my remarks aside, I still think this book is well worth reading as an introduction into worldviews and understanding that the author doesn't intend for the book to do any more. I would warn the reader that the section on Eastern Pantheistic Monism is utterly confusing and demands a second and third reading but that is no fault of the author. Some of the things being dealt with in that philosophy are so outside Westerners' thinking that he or she may have to saturate themselves with the words so as to understand what is wrong with them.

If your question is "which God?" this is a great place to begin. If it weren't for this amazing book, I might still be floundering around in search of the truth.

There are a number of reviewers who are under the impression that the only way to write a world-view catalog is from an objective position which has no bias at all.
This is unfortunate, because the book tries to show us how everyone has a presuppositional bias: there is no objective middle ground from which to weigh up the others.

This was required reading as a theology student, and I found it useful. His 7 questions are powerful and useful in deconstructing longer texts, but other sets of questions are more useful and easily deployed in analyzing world-views on a regular basis, such
1) what is my relationship to creation in this view
2) what is my relationship to other people in this view
3) what is my relationship to God in this view.

Another useful one is
1) What is the problem
2) What can save us/them from the problem
3) What does the world look like once it is saved?


Personally, I found it helpful to realize that not everyone thinks like me, and to use this book as a very useful quick guide to the way others may think. Of course he generalizes. Of course he is simplistic. But he is also helpful.

I recommend.
To those who criticize this book as validating Christians in their blinkered view, I suggest finding a different book to validate them in theirs. But isn't that rather Sire's point about us all having a world-view based on a series of assumptions which may or may not stack up?

This book Introductory Statistics for Management & Economics is very good. It covered all the applications of statistics. Though the title says that this is introductory Statistics for Management and Economics, It has covered from basics to real life applications of Statistical Analysis in all areas. The Statistical Decision Theory is explained very well and that can be applied in every area. Statistical Quality Control explained the importance and how you can control the variance. Time Series analysis is very much useful for Economists and Speculators. It helped me a lot in teaching Statistics for Under Graduate students, with specialization in Economics and Statistics.

I bought this book to help inform other women about composers for our church. It is basic enough that anyone can get a brief history of the composer. It also gives a background though on the composers and their relationship to God. The Author did a great job though in making the composers real. There was something about each one that I could relate to in my own life.

It is laid out chronologically by birthdate of the composer. It also gives a list of music that will help you get more of a feel for what that composers music sounded like.

I had many women ask me about the book after I did the first "lesson" from it.

I greatly appreciate this book--it's a wonderful introduction to famous composers, plus a valuable resource for Christians who want to start or add to their collection of GOOD Christian music. Be a counter-cultural Christian--toss out the CCM and fire up Schutz, Bach, Handel, and the rest! Your mind and spirit (not to mention your neighbors) will thank you for it.

This is a superbly written book that contains 36 intriguing biographies and profiles of some of the great composers: from Baroque masters like Vivaldi and Bach ... through the pioneers of Classicism like Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven ... to the Romantic-era greats like Debussy and Liszt ... up to modern composers like Prokofiev and Bartok. The essays are crisp and flow like a good novel without getting bogged down in musicology terms (so good for young students and non-musical readers). Also their occassional comparisons through philosophy, art and Christian perspective makes for a deeper experience versus a overly "dry," academic treatment of mere dates and milestones. I have come to really appreciate this book's depth and have to admit this humble paperback is probably my favorite reference for studying a new composer (Schonberg's legendary "Lives of the Great Composers" being the other).

It would help to first say what this book is NOT: (1) A complete survey of the history of classical music, (2) A book on music theory or analysis of major works, (3) a presentation of ALL musical styles like Jazz, Pop, country etc. (4) A book ONLY about composers who were of Christian faith. Rather, the focus is on a sampling of the most famous composers of "classical music." Their lives and music are presented in factual, historical and non-judgmental way with the clear emphasis being on the gift of music they left the world. There are some references as to how their Christian faith influenced their music - which some will appreciate and others not. However, if your primary interest is the spiritual aspect of these men, then Patrick Kavanaugh's book, "The Spiritual Lives of the Great Composers," would be a better choice. But, where Kavanaugh offers more specific insights of the composers' spiritual lives (often quoted from letters written), authors Smith and Carlson in this book give a broader, more general overview of these composer's lives and most significant music that changed the world. Through their biographies and insights, Smith and Carlson show "people of faith" how purely instrumental music like classical music can be truly "Christian" and "spiritual" without any overt reference to diety (like in a church hymn). In doing so they show how classical music is a language not unlike how nature or the heavens speaks to us in their magnificance and unfathomable glory.

In common for both authors are musical academic backgrounds and working with the L'Abri Fellowship in Switzerland - a Christian center promoting the study and appreciation of music, philosophy and the arts. In the preface, the authors state their goal of this book: "There are many things in the Christian world which cause us to be sad. One of these is that for many classical music is a complete vacuum. This robs individual Christians and their children of one of the very rich areas of joy in this world. Most of all the purpose of this book is to encourage listening to the finest music with understanding and pleasure, and to stretch one's ears and imagination. The more we acquaint ourselves with that which is truly great and beautiful, the more we will dislike and turn away from that which is shallow and ugly."

If you have never listened to much classical music or casually studied its jewels or great composers, then this book is an ideal guide to grow in one's "understanding and pleasure" of such music. I started such a journey into the wonders of classical music over two years ago, and it has truly been one of the most personally rewarding things I have done - and one that will stay with me for decades (as classical music doesn't quite ever go out of style). So, I think the authors are right when they conclude the pursuit of the arts and the finest, most enduring music are part of a healthy, whole and - dare we say - enriching spiritual life. Even getting a couple of low-cost CD's of Bach and Mozart and just reading the chapter on these composers to start will go a long way ... and possibly begin a lifetime exploration and enjoyment of the gift these great composers left the world.

This book is complete with each classical music composer, history of the life and works of music. It is written to aide people in historical facts of the composer, facts that are not normally shared in education. For example, many of the composers had a deep Christian influence in their music, and wrote for the Glory of God and stated so on origional music sheets. The book can be used for a complete classical music history education from early ages all the way up to senior high students. This is the only book needed for music education. It works extremely well in tying in facts in all areas of history. It is very well put together and informative.