I bought this little book with the idea that, as a detailed map, it would supplement a guidebook. When it arrived, I was dismayed to discover that it isn't a map -- it's merely a highly condensed guidebook attached to a very small fold-out map. This guide tries to do two things in one small package, and unfortunately it isn't terribly good at either. For instance, the guide part of the book (comprising 30 skinny pages) lists only 4 possibilities for accomodations. The map section is compact and durable, and one map shows where the popular site-seeing spots are located. However, the map of the Berlin Metro System, an apparent replica of the one freely available from the BVG, is of limited use because it doesn't show how the system is related to street locations, which is extremely frustrating if you want to know how to get from one place to another via public transport. Furthermore, it shows only the train and subway system, but not bus routes.

In any case, my wife and I found that carrying a map was not necessary in Berlin. Virtually every bus, train, and subway stop has a very large and detailed street & public transportation map. These maps show all bus routes in addition to the train and subway. My bottom line is this: if you want a guide book, purchase a more comprehensive one. If you will be riding public transport and you want a map, don't bother buying one (and particularly not this one), because you'll have no trouble finding maps of Berlin when you get there.

My friends and I relied heavily on the Let's Go! Map Guide for our last trip to New York, so when I found out I was going to Berlin, a Let's Go Map Guide to Berlin was the obvious must-have.

These maps are great because not only are they laminated (which protects the map from sudden bouts of pouring rain), but their compact size isn't so embarassing; they don't make you feel too much like a tourist when you whip them out. The descriptions of sights and attractions in the Berlin version cut to the chase, and are sometimes, hilariously irreverent.

My only word of advice is that these map guides should only be used as a supplement to the larger, in-depth travel books.

I also relied heavily on the map guides I bought for Amsterdam and Prague.

This small travel guide/map of Berlin is very useful. The foldable map is very easy to use. The book also features a map of the Berlin subway system (including the U-Bahn and S-Bahn lines and stations). This information came in very handy. A word of caution: the admission fees for most tourist attractions are wrong in the book, so plan on spending at least twice what the book says. Overall, a highly recommended book!

I approached this book with much interest, but was ultimately disappointed. Rickey's basic thesis is that we must understand Heidegger's political activism on the basis of his earlier religious commitments. As it stands, this appears like a promising line of investigation. Rickey's analysis, however, ultimately fails to deliver on this promise.

Rickey is quite correct that many commentators have failed to fully appreciate what Gadamer once called the "religious dimension" of Heidegger's thought. He is also correct in calling for a deeper appreciation of the social or communal aspects of Heidegger's elusive concept of "authenticity." According to Rickey, the way out is to see Heidegger's political ideal as that of a "radical religious community."

Difficulties ensue, however, when a reader tries to learn what we mean by "religion" or "religious" here. "Religion," "religious experience," "theology," and "authenticity" tend to form a "tight circle" of ideas in Rickey's exposition, and one tries in vain to discern any differentiating content. For example, Rickey discusses an (alleged) contrast between religion and theology in Heidegger's thinking, while completely ignoring Heidegger's self-idenfication as a "theo-logian" and his idealization of theology in a 1927 essay.

Things become even more confusing as Rickey's discussion wears on. In his exposition of "Being and Time," Division Two, the main argument seems to be that Heidegger rejected Christianity in the name of an updated Aristotelian virtue ethic. How, one might ask, can such an ethic be "religious," much less Christian?
Yet, Rickey assures us that "Authenticity is the religious way of life which cares for the self."

Similarly, the use of "antinomianism," far from providing a helpful clarification, only further muddies the waters. Facile appeals to Luther's influence on Heidegger serve no clear purpose here, particularly since the question of Luther's (again, alleged) "antinomianism" is not something that has a self-evident answer.

On the whole, Rickey's account is marked by conflations, inaccuracies, and dubious scholarship. What could have been a fresh and insightful reading of one of the 20th centuries most controversial and exciting philosophers turns out to be yet another exercise in obfuscation. People who really want to understand Heidegger's views on religion and politics would do better to read the man himself.

This book is a very good attempt to piece together Martin Heidegger's political ideas and present them in a comprehensive fashion. Unless one is a Heidegger scholar and specialist, it would be difficult to do this on one's own because of the nature of Heidegger's very obtuse writings, which read like a riddle--a far cry from anything one could read straight through in a day or two. _Revolutionary Saints_, on the other hand, makes Heidegger much more accessible in this way. The end result, or big picture, given by Christopher Rickey is not the expected. In a nutshell, Heidegger was a self-professed National Socialist, however this brand of "nazism" was his private version that had little in common with the murderous totalitarian state that comes to mind. His use of the words national and socialist read like homeland (=national) community (=socialist), which he contrasted against "rootless" modern technological society. For Heidegger, poetic "shepherds of being" are the founders of a people and polis, hence the title: REVOLUTIONARY SAINTS.

Excellent, well-researched book. Rickey's writing is clear and concise. An essential reference work for the discussion of Heidegger's politics.

I give it the stars, only because it is the only English translation of the great Shaykh Al Alawi. The BIGGEST mistake of the book, and why oh why did they get away with it was when the story goes how Al Alawi was given the tariq. pg 68 says that he received the tariq in a dream. This is incorrect, and if it wasn't for that I would have given this book more stars! All in all, it was a nice read, there is a photo of him Rahimullah, Is it really him though?? Although it is a biography, at the end there are some of his wonderful poetry, and Mystical sayings to his murid's! That was the highlight of the book, oh and some nice brush ups on Islamic history of that time in the Maghrib area!

Though I don't know much about such things as whether this book is good in comparison to others, I can give my personal opinion. The first half of the book is more or less a biography, which is both entertaining and inspirational for anyone who likes to read about people and their lives...one interesting side note is that they compare his greatness to that of Ramana Maharshi. In any case...the second half of the book is absolutly amazing, and anyone who is new to the language the sufis use to explain universal truths will say "wow" more than once while reading this book...I would read a page or two and it would be interesting, and then I would suddenly read something that shifted me, made me give thanks and put the book down. This book is not for those who see themself as the judge..it is for those who are thankful for being gifted even the slightest desire to want to know and be with God. You will find something useful here. Peace.

In the introduction, the author tells the story of St. Francis in chronological order, and this is the part of the book that makes the most sense. Several reviewers have stated that this book is written in reverse chronological order, but it is not. Major sections of the book are in reverse order, but confusingly, the chapters within each major section are in chronological order. Adding to the confusion is that the first major section of the book is supposedly about the death of Francis, but it is actually only about his last days. His death does not occur until the next to last chapter of the book, and is followed in the final chapter by the earliest scene we are to see: when Francis encounters a leper in the road. If you think my review is confusing, just wait until you read the book. Is the author trying to say that the sequence of events is unimportant? In the case of Francis, who started off as the son of a wealthy merchant and ended up barefoot and penniless by choice, the sequence of events would seem to be all-important. Readers should know that the scenes from the life of Francis focus almost entirely on the physical: what he wore, where and how much he bled, how doctors branded him with hot irons, etc. Seldom if ever are we given any understanding of his inner life or spiritual motivations.

I was prepared to dislike this book, although for the life of me I can't quite remember why. Perhaps it's because I distrust fictional accounts of Christian saints, particularly when they're written by nonbelievers. But I was quite mistaken in this case. Martin's "biography" of St. Francis is a wonderfully beautiful series of sketches. She takes scenes from his life--those related by the two earliest biographies by Thomas of Celano, but also later accounts such as Bonaventure's--and imaginatively weaves them into a cinematic-like skein that offers glimpses of the man Francis. So the reviewer who carps about her chronological lapses really misses the point. Martin doesn't intend to offer a straightforward account of the saint's life so much as a string of meditations that take their starting point from specific events in his life. Along the way she offers prose that is breathtaking in its beauty. Here's an example, taken from Martin's description of Francis early encounter with a leper--the episode that he himself, in his Testament, describes as his "conversion." Francis has just kissed the leper's hand: "His ears are filled with the sound of wind, and he can feel the wind chilling his face, a cold, harsh wind blowing toward him from the future, blowing away everything that has come before this moment, which he has longed for and dreaded, as if he thought he might not live through it. He reaches up, clinging to the leper's tunic, for the wind is so strong, so cold, he fears he cannot stand against it. . . . The two men clutch each other, their faces pressed close together, their arms entwined. The sun beats down, the air is hot and still, yet they appear to be caught in a whirlwind. Their clothes whip about; their hair stands on end; they hold on to each other for dear life."

I just finished Salvation: Scenes from the Life of St. Francis and found it to be a provacative read. Martin is a captivating writer, who handles a potentially biased topic with journalistic objectivity. But still, she manages to relay the deep emotion that surrounded and continues to surround St. Francis and his life. What I appreciated most about Martin's writing was that it gave small pictures of St. Francis, some which showed clearly his holiness and devotion to Christ, others that made you wonder if he was a complete lunatic.

For those of us who have studied the life of Christ, we find an interesting parallel. CS Lewis once said that Christ was either the Savior of the world or a raging lunatic. Too often, people shy away from the uncomfortable when they approach such topics. Because of that, people miss out on the complexity of the people. Too many people think Christ floated 3 inches off the ground and acted like he was stoned most of the time. They don't talk about anger, despair, humor and the like. They often make the same mistakes regarding saints.

Martin shows here that St. Francis was a man who took a radical stand in his faith. Who knows...maybe he was holy AND insane!

Basic in its approach to writing, this book may be useful for high school English classes but is totally unsuitable for college students. Although it contains some worthwhile fiction, most of the non-fiction pieces are not very challenging for college readers. The text is extremely prescriptive, and leads students to write formulaic papers rather than original and creative college level essays.

As a freshman nutrition major, this book was required for my English 101 class. I found it to be boring, unhelpful, and plodding. The author's instructions for activities leave you depressed and annoyed, and teachers have to jump around a lot to instruct properly.

This might be a good reference book, and perhaps even a book for secondary/high schools, but not for a college English class.

I consider this book to be one of the best how-to-write books I've read. I'm not a college student, but a writer who wants to sharpen skills, and I have found many sections of the book to be extremely helpful--the section on writing profiles, for example, and the one on writing autobiographical essays, just to name two. I've also found the information contained in other sections--such as Narrating, Illustrating, Comparing and Contrasting, Field Research--to be invaluable. I'm so glad I came across this book! I highly recommend it to anyone who wants a detailed plan for learning to be an excellent writer.

Caputo tries to persuade us that Heidegger misses the point when accuses St. Thomas (along with the rest of the Scholastic tradition) of onto-theo-logy. The true is that Caputo has an agenda (to which he sometimes sacrifices his scholarship) to exonerate Aquinas from any metaphysical accusations (hence the subtitle "overcoming metaphysics"), but whoever knows his Thomas would agree that that is not quite the case. He even goes as far as to claim that one can find in Thomas an ontological difference centuries before Heidegger! His comments on the Neoplatonic tradition betray his incompetence when it comes to major neo-Platonic thinkers (such as Proclus or Dionysius) and their texts. Overall, it leaves a lot to be desired...

Caputo's book is the first tolerable exposition of Heidegger that I have come across. That may in part be due to the fact that I am a Thomist, but a good part of it stems from Heidegger's obscurity and verbosity. It must be credited to Caputo that he has grasped Heidegger well enough to introduce his thought to someone with no previous knowledge of his philosophy. He also has an adequate understanding of Aquinas and the centrality of the act-of-being (esse) in the latter's philosophy. The historical information about Heidegger's early development and relation to scholasticism was enlightening and adequately sets the stage for the confrontation that Caputo wishes to stage.

The author has shown beyond a shadow of a doubt that if Heidegger's critique is accepted, that Aquinas' philosophy does not answer to it. The oblivion of Being in Heidegger's sense is definitely not the oblivion of the act-of-being (esse) in Etienne Gilson's sense. Where the book is very weak, however is in refuting the counterclaim of Lotz that it is Heidegger who has fallen short of Aquinas and not vice-versa. Up to this point, Caputo faces the issues squarely, but here he turns away. Either he seems not to understand the counter-charge, which is difficult to believe after his fine exposition of thomistic metaphysics, or he simply has his heart set on the postmodern path. He cannot seem to muster much more than to fall back on stock terms, such as "radicality" of Heidegger's critique. Yes, radical it is, but true?

Caputo's final effort to discern a Heideggerian mysticism underneath Aquinas' metaphysics really is almost not worth commenting upon. To suggest that Aquinas' mystical experiences involved this kind of gnostic and historicist spirituality is absurd, bordering on the scandalous.

Finally, while the book is generally well balanced in tone, the author sometimes takes up a rather defensive and patronizing posture towards Aquinas when Heidegger's critique is on the rocks.

All in all, I got something out of this book, at least the first half. But it has the weaknesses I mentioned.

Caputo masterfully explains the fundamental perspectives of both Aquinas and Heidegger. As a follower of Aquinas, I found his exposition of Aquinas accurate and thorough. Before reading his book, I knew nothing about Heidegger, but I feel that now I have some sort of handle on his thought. Caputo is extraordinarily fair to both philosophers, granting both of them as much latitude as he deems viable. Only in one place does he take serious issue with Heidegger, when he wonders whether Heidegger's notion of being as "emergence into unconcealment" (or the event of appropriation and sending) finitizes or immanentizes God. This by itself, however, is a telling admission of the ultimate deficiency of Heidegger's notion of "Being". I would definitely recommend this book for a comparative study of both men. On the other hand, Sacchi's "Apocalypse of Being" offers a more polemical critique of Heidegger than Caputo's book, and may be more satisfying to someone (like myself) having a Thomistic view on reality.

Saint Martin's Summer is one of Sabatini's second-tier books, good but not great. The title refers to what we now call an Indian Summer, and in this novel it has a double meaning.

The soldier Martin de Garnache is dispatched by the Queen Regent of France into Dauphiny to retrieve Mlle. Valérie de La Vauvraye, who managed to write her begging aid and deliverance from the Dowager Duchess of Condillac. The Duchess, her guardian and quite a powerful figure in the province, was prepared to force de La Vauvraye's marriage to her son, even though the girl was betrothed to the Duchess's absent stepson, the new Duke. Valérie views that more as a matter of pledged word than something for enthusiasm, however.

Naturally, the Duchess is not thrilled about the royal intervention, and with the aid of the gross and besotted Seneschal of Dauphiny and some hired troops, she sets out to frustrate Garnache's mission.

The middle-aged (for the era) soldier, meanwhile, wants little to do with feminine nonsense and finds the whole mission humiliating. But for him, duty is duty, and he finds the young lady more endearing as he faces tremendous obstacles in getting her away from Condillac. That feeling is reciprocated, and as matters are resolved Valérie points out that the morrow is Saint Martin's Day and though it is November it is yet warm. She tells Garnache, who understands the allusion, that he is still a long way yet from the November of his life.

Though one of Sabatini's earlier novels, Saint Martin's Summer is pretty well done in terms of writing and story, and if you enjoyed some of his more well-known and more complex books, I would recommend this as well.

I bought this book because the label on the front said "#1 Best Selling Saint Bernard Book;" It was also the ONLY Saint book I could find in any of four major book stores. The overwhelming majority of information in the book is generic (camoflaged with Saint pictures)which is not what I expected from a breed specific book. I would NOT recommend this book to anyone looking for information on Saints. I was greatly disappointed.

This book deals with Saints for the first 30 pages, and only in the most cursory manner. The remaining chapters are quite generalized offering care tips for any and all breeds without mentioning a Saint's special needs. Look somewhere else if you really want to learn something!