Natural Reef Aquariums: Simplified Approaches to Creating Living Saltwater Microcosms

Natural Reef Aquariums: Simplified Approaches to Creating Living Saltwater Microcosms
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Understanding Reef Aquarium keeping

review ??

Three Thumbs Up!

Great general Reef book

Reef keeping is NOT easy!

Natural Reef Aquariums: Simplified Approaches to Creating Living Saltwater Microcosms
John H. Tullock
Manufacturer: TFH Publications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Fish & Aquariums | Animal Care & Pets | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books
General | Animal Care & Pets | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books
Coral Reefs | Oceans & Seas | Nature & Ecology | Science | Subjects | Books
Fish & Aquatic Pets | Pet Supplies | Categories | Home & Garden | Aquarium Accessories | Aquariums & Fishbowls | Food & Treats | Health Care Supplies
Pet Supplies (12923371) | Refinements | Home & Garden | Color (color_map) | Flavor (feature_browse-bin) | Food Format (feature_two_browse-bin) | Leash Length (size_browse-bin) | Material (material_browse)
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ASIN: 1890087009

Product Description

336 pages, paperback. By John H. Tullock. Debunking the myth that reef aquariums need to be wildly expensive and technologically complex, the author offers a new, radically simple approach to producing beautiful, captive microcosms

Customer Reviews:

Understanding Reef Aquarium keeping.......2007-01-15

This is a very good book for those wishing to begin reef aquariums. Some of it is theory and some is opinions. Other sections are a little deep for the common person but overall it is a solid basis for those wishing to begin reep keeping. Reading this book should go a long ways to being successful keeping the different types of reefs.l

review ??.......2006-11-10

i am expecting the book to be a good one giving the inside i want to living filtration and a completely natural aquarium with very little artificial filtration help! i can not say yet if it will meet my expectances since i have order the book more than 2 months ago and i am still waiting for it....

Three Thumbs Up!.......2006-08-31

Recently I've read several books pertaining to the tropical marine hobby and after reading this book by Mr. Tullock I rate it an eleven out of ten. Very informative, easy to digest, excellent format, and one to refer to in the future. A quality production by the publisher. Thank you Mr. Tullock!

Great general Reef book.......2006-07-14

Well written and a good book to read for general information.

Reef keeping is NOT easy!.......2005-04-18

Buy and read this book twice before you decide to enter the hobby. Check it out at the library.. This is the book I loan to any friend who sees my aquarium and thinks of starting a tank of their own. Mr. Tullock presents the current natural methods of reef keeping in a very entertaining read.

A PocketExpert Guide to Reef Aquarium Fishes: 500+ Essential-to-Know Species (Microcosm/T.F.H. Professional)

Average customer rating:

Read before you buy fish!
Good guide
A wealth of succinct information on over five-hundred species

A PocketExpert Guide to Reef Aquarium Fishes: 500+ Essential-to-Know Species (Microcosm/T.F.H. Professional)

Manufacturer: Microcosm.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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A PocketExpert Guide to Marine Invertebrates: 500+ Essential-to-Know Aquarium Species
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A PocketExpert Guide to Marine Fishes: 500+ Essential-To-Know Aquarium Species
Reef Invertebrates: An Essential Guide to Selection, Care and Compatibility
Reef Secrets: Starting Right, Selecting Fishes & Invertebrates, Advanced Biotope Techniques

ASIN: 1890087890

Book Description

Brilliant photography by the world's best underwater photographers and leading international aquarists highlights detailed profiles of more than 500 species of reef aquarium fishes in this new title in the Microcosm/T.F.H. Professional Series.

Organized by family for easy reference, each profile includes all essential care, feeding, and husbandry advice. The species profiles include all available reef aquarium choices, with scores of seldom seen, rare, and recently discovered species.

Written by the world's most-read, most-respected expert on marine fishes for the home aquarium, PocketExpert(tm) Guide to Reef Aquarium Fishes is a must-read for any fish enthusiast.

Customer Reviews:

Read before you buy fish!.......2007-09-27

What can I say? This is the best book when you're ready to stock your saltwater tank. Do the fish a favor and read this BEFORE you buy a Naso Tang for your 90-gallon tank. Helps avoid many costly mistakes. And it's not just the cost: this book saves fish lives!

Good guide.......2006-11-04

This is an updated edition of this series of guides. It does contain more fishes and is a little more organized but I did notice that some fishes were left out that were in the older edition. Otherwise, this is a great guide for aquarists and reefers alike.

I rated it four stars because it a great guide, but not perfect.

Ejoy your fish!

A wealth of succinct information on over five-hundred species.......2006-07-05

Part of the outstanding "The Pocket Expert Guide" series from TFH Publications, Reef Aquarium Fishes by Scott W. Michael is a comprehensive and in-depth guide and reference for a vast number of fishes suitable for home or office aquariums. Enhanced with colored key codes for aquarium suitability and reef compatibility, Reef Aquarium Fishes knowledgeably presents a wealth of succinct information on over five-hundred species. Reef Aquarium Fishes is profusely illustrated with color photographs of the fish and offers aspiring aquarium owners with intricate and detailed descriptions with expert coverage of all the most popular and commonly available reef-appropriate species, along with up-to-date information on their selection care, and feedings. Simply put -- no aquarium owner should be without a reference copy of Reef Aquarium Fishes.

Our Solarian Legacy: Multidimensional Humans in a Self-Learning Universe

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Expanding Science
A bold call for a new and more inclusive "Science."
A Book on Modern Paradoxes
Our Solarain Legacy
A very informative, encouraging look at ourselves

Our Solarian Legacy: Multidimensional Humans in a Self-Learning Universe
Paul Von Ward
Manufacturer: Hampton Roads Publishing Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 157174214X

Customer Reviews:

Expanding Science.......2007-04-22

We are children of the world, the universe, the solar system, and ours is a solarian legacy. We are not mere products of natural selection or clay worked by a Maker. We are instrumental parts of a conscious, self-learning universe. The longer we ignore the implications and obscure the facts, the longer we will grope blindly (and dishonestly) through a narrow alley of conscious awareness.

What causes this blind groping? What causes us to block out the idea or realization that we, as holographic portions and children of the universe, are probably endowed with the same miracle producing power we delegate to gods and angels? The cause of our blindness is our steadfast refusal to take responsibility for who and what we are. We deny our identity and buy into the notion that we are victims and lowly creatures... and for all we know, there may have been such a thing as alien intervention at some point in our evolution, which may have fostered this feeling. Nevertheless, we seem to feel secure when we conclude that our best minds have everything figured out. The truth is, we avoid responsibility every time we argue that, "experts say," "science says," "the bible says," "God says!" How many people are in mental chains because of someone who claims to speak for God?

Thousands say they have had encounters with aliens or advanced beings (ABs), yet, instead of seriously studying these encounters in an attempt to develop some understanding of life and consciousness, governments and mainstream scientists write off such claims as delusional or fraudulent. Meanwhile, believers may secretly worship/fear ABs as our good or bad superiors instead of viewing them as our other-dimensional siblings.

Myths, stories and channeled histories of Atlantis persist, yet we make no formal effort to uncover evidence or shed further light. The same goes for investigating the paranormal, uncovering our relationship to plants and animals, or finding whether there was ever life on Mars. These are just a few of the many things written off as unscientific (or at least, not financially profitable). If we study the connections rather than the differences between things, we might uncover important patterns and hidden laws. We've had science, now we need a metascience that looks for dynamics. We need a 21st Century discipline that includes rather than excludes evidence-- in fact, we need to develop a perspective that transcends science and religion. For the remainder of this summary of the book, go to [...]

A bold call for a new and more inclusive "Science.".......2007-03-29

Being an avid ancient history buff has taken me in some really interesting directions lately. So much is being discovered so fast that it's a real challenge to keep up. It has become quite evident that mankind has been heading down a deteriorating road ever since the stuff really hit the fan somewhere around 11,500 to 13,000 years ago. There is so much of human experience that has been lost. This whole caveman\stone age thing until the birth of civilization 6,000 years ago is ridiculous.It is refreshing to see the disconcerting habit of 'mainstream' science to ignore whatever doesn't fit its entrenched consensus, posing as fact, so rigorously assaulted. Mr Von Ward's call for a new metascience is long overdue. Want to see where your prejudices lie regarding who and what you are, and what mankind has been up to for the last 100,000 years or so? Read this book. A bit dry in parts, but very thought-provoking. The Hermetic principles of the ancient world still have much to teach!

A Book on Modern Paradoxes.......2006-04-13

This is a good book covering the paradoxes of newfangled scientific approaches such as Quantum physics and parapsychology - two "modern" approaches of the last century, which have transformed Humanity's potential perception of both its worldly reality and prior metaphysical concepts. Ordinarily, people tend nowadays to lump all such material as "new age" stuff, along with mumbo jumbo on things such as aliens, reincarnation, aromatherapy, spells and soothing music, etc. No doubt all these are part of the vast new "genre" spawned by such new awakenings, but this book is definitely an upmarket type as it deals in detail with the theoretical and scientific investigative aspects of this new direction. There are of course umpteen such books, and umpteen are fit to be called excellent. During the last 20-30 years of the previous century, the developed world produced a sea of "human potential" literature arising from this new awareness, aimed at self-help and improvement. Thousands of prophets and teachers also appeared, some fake charlatans, some average, some remarkable... Like all such enlightened thinkers, Paul Ward also sees a niche for himself as one such messenger, and suffers from the naivete and idealism of believing in the totality of his solutions to the crises from which modern humanity suffers. These however seem to be the drawbacks of most such enthused teachers. Sugesstions such as "if we just do this" or "if we behave like that" are simply not valid determinants of the course of human fate, and sadly won't cure its maladies with the wave of such a magic wand, even if they succeed in bettering them by 90%, which many modern innovations appear to have done individually as well as collectively, for those affected by them... If that were so, history would be a different tale altogether, and wouldn't suffer from the shortcomings we now lament and call the shackles of reality. Or Francis Fukuyama's "The End of History" concept would be valid... (or perhaps he really meant the end of a certain type of historical process, which is what I forsee eventually). It takes more to effectively better the collective human condition and change history than just adopt new ideas openly. That is the lesson of reality.

Our Solarain Legacy.......2004-08-27

Whether you are a beginner in your search for how we fit into this universe or well down the road, OUR SOLARIAN LEGACY is a "must read." Paul Von Ward has done an extraordinary amount of research for this excellent book. It is broad and comprehensive thus providing and overview of many areas of research for the beginner to further consider and to help the well-traveled pull together loose ends. With insight and clarity he emphasizes that this self-learning universe is a manifestation of conscious energy that has created us as way of experiencing itself, and that we are designed to actively participate in its expression. With that in mind, we never have to feel separate from anything else.

A very informative, encouraging look at ourselves.......2002-11-17

The author presents a very thoughtful, clearminded overview of humanity and and our unique place in the cosmos. This work is really an overview of the many areas of our thought, culture and tradition which require reassesment and change. It is with my most hardy recommendation that you read this book and benefit from Mr. Von Ward's seeming endless supply of wisdom and insight. Because of the liberal references provided it can also serve as a launch point for many areas of further study. The ethical and moral conclusions he draws from an honest and fearless consideration of the broader aspects of ourselves leaves us with a foundation as eloquent as any of the world's great religions, if not more so. Do yourself and perhaps the world a favor; read and learn what this book has to teach us.

Islamic Philosophy and Occidental Phenomenology on the Perennial Issue of Microcosm and Macrocosm (Islamic Philosophy and Occidental Phenomenology in Dialogue)

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Islamic Philosophy and Occidental Phenomenology on the Perennial Issue of Microcosm and Macrocosm (Islamic Philosophy and Occidental Phenomenology in Dialogue)

Manufacturer: Springer
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Consciousness & Thought | Philosophy | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 1402041144

Book Description

By proposing the Microcosm and Macrocosm analogy for dialogue between Islamic Philosophy and Occidental Phenomenology, the authors of this volume are reviving the perennial positioning of the human condition in the play of forces within and without the human being. This theme has run from Plato through the Middle Ages, Renaissance and Modernity, and has been ignored by contemporaries. It now acquires a new pertinence and striking significance due to the scientific discoveries into the "infinitely small" in life, on the one hand, and the prodigious technological discoveries of the "infinitely great" on the other. Both open up undreamt-of prospects for the continuing conquest of cosmic forces. The human person – thrown into turmoil by the new approaches to life and needing to acquire new habits of mind, having lost security of all beliefs – desperately seeks a new clarification of the Human Condition within the unity of everything-there-is, of cosmic forces, and of his destiny. The dialogue between Islamic Philosophy and phenomenology of life can show the way.

Papers by: Gholam-Reza A'awani, Mehdi Aminrazavi, Roza Davari Ardakani, Mohammad Azadpur, Gary Backhaus, Marina Banchetti-Robino, William Chittick, Seyed Mostafa Muhaghghegh Damad, Golamhossein Ebrahimi Dinani, Nader El-Bizri, Kathleen Haney, Salahaddin Khalilov, Sayyid Mohammad Khamenei, Mahmoud Khatami, Mieczyslaw Pawel Migon, Nikolay Milkov, Sachiko Murata, Anna-Teresa Tymieniecka, Daniela Verducci.

Ion Adventure in the Heartland: Exploring the Heart's Ionic-Molecular Microcosm

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Ion Adventure in the Heartland: Exploring the Heart's Ionic-Molecular Microcosm
Dale Dubin
Manufacturer: Cover Publishing Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General & Reference | Chemistry | Science | Subjects | Books

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Book Description

Textbook explores the ionic-molecular microcosm inside heart cells and movement of cat-ions that provide cardiac function. Introduces many new concepts about the microcosm and the function of ion-kinetic structures. Abundant three-dimensionally rendered color illustrations are used to reinforce learning and understanding. Landscape format.

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Fine Scholarship, yet flaws remain
Understanding Europe History
Microcosm

Microcosm
Norman Davies
Manufacturer: PIMLICO (RAND)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

White Eagle, Red Star: The Polish-Soviet War, 1919-20
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Book Description

Central Europe has always been richly endowed with a variety of migrants and settlers, and repeatedly been the scene of nomadic invasions, mixed settlements and military conquests. As a result, the area has witnessed a profusion of languages, cultures, religions and nationalities.

The history of Silesia’s main city can be seen as a fascinating tale in its own right, but it is more than that. It embodies all the experiences that have made Central Europe what it is -- the rich mixture of nationalities and cultures; the German settlement and the reflux of the Slavs; a Jewish presence of exceptional distinction; a turbulent succession of Imperial rules; and the shattering exposure to both Nazis and Stalinists. In short, it is a Central European microcosm.

The third largest German city of the mid-nineteenth century, Breslau’s population reached one million in 1945, before the bitter German defence of the city against the Soviets wrought almost total destruction. Transferred to Poland after the war, Breslau has risen from ruins and is again a thriving economic and cultural centre of the region.

Customer Reviews:

Fine Scholarship, yet flaws remain.......2004-03-04

The joint venture between Norman Davies and Roger Moorhouse has yielded some extremely fine scholarship that charts the history of one of Europe's more colourful cities, creuly exposed to the full weight of the twentieth century's barbarity. Indeed, as a piece of historical research, the book stands out as exemplary and can easily present itself as the standard text on an overall history of the "Island City" in either its English, German or Polish format. The authors should also be commended for providing an excellent synthesis, in an intelligible format, of Vratislavia between the Piast Dynasty to the Thirty Years War, not only in a regional, but also a European context. As the city, as the entire province of Silesia, has been subject to heated historical debates, the book succeeds, for the most part, in providing an even-handed account of the area's history.

In doing so, however, a major flaw of the book is exposed. In attempting to present the most multicultural side of the Island City to the world, the authors do not delve deep enough into the German roots of Vratislavia. This is exemplified in the rather paltry account of the Ostkolonisierung and the initial arrival of German settlement in Silesia. While mentioned in passing (and even accorded a map as an appendix), the city seems to just suddenly transform into a "German city". As this migration formed the basis of 600-700 years of the city's history, this pivotal migration could have been presented in much more detail. Second, German culture's unique Silesian expression is not delved into as carefully as one could hope for - especially in a book dedicated to its bastion. Very little is mentioned about local (German) traditions and culture. This is extremely unfortunate as the Silesian variant of German culture has been, through the 1945-47 expulsion, completely exterminated - a book about the history of Breslau should have chronicled its cultural idiosyncrasies given that they were so suddenly and inhumanely erased. Perhaps a more exact overview of Breslau as a city - for example, explaining the difference between each city district - could have given a true feeling of how life was like in the now extinct Breslau. In short, had Davies and Moorhouse, in their final version, paid as much attention to German Silesian culture as they did to its Polish and Jewish counterpart, a much more accurate picture of Breslau as a city, and Silesia as a region, could have been gleaned.

Finally, the authors also delve into some extremely dangerous "suffering comparisons" between Polish and German expulsions between 1945-47, with the book seeming to insinuate that Polish expellees had a "tougher time' - not only because of longer periods of transit during expulsion, but also because Polish expellees, in the ruins of Wroclaw, were deprived of organising expellee organisations. This questionable approach to a still painful chapter in European history, unfortunately, depreciates the book's otherwise fine record of portraying an even-handed history of the city. A fine historian such as Davies should have known better.

Despite such critique, however, "Microcosm" is an excellent historical survey that sheds some much needed light on one of Europe's more fascinating cities.

Understanding Europe History.......2003-03-19

Norman Davies writes incredible books. The detail is overwhelming. This could be an outstanding text for someone wanting to learn European history. It is a volume for tourists to read before visiting Poland and Wroclaw.

Microcosm.......2002-07-23

Norman Davies has a great knack for fantastic subjects. What can be better than a microhistory of Central Europe on an example of a city that was Czech, Polish, Czech, Austrian, German and now is Polish! Also Wroclaw/Breslau happens to be my home town and it was a great place to live in the 70's with just about everybody an immigrant, an America in miniature under communist rule.

Norman Davies also has a great knack for writing his books assuming that you already know a lot of history. Sometimes I do not and he leaves me there high and dry grasping for facts.

This book gives you a continuity in European history where everything changes and still stays the same.

Fort Mellon, 1837-42: A microcosm of the second Seminole war
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Fort Mellon, 1837-42: A microcosm of the second Seminole war
Arthur E Francke
Manufacturer: Banyan Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

General | United States | Americas | History | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0916224171

Macrocosm and Microcosm
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Macrocosm and Microcosm
Rudolf Steiner
Manufacturer: Rudolf Steiner Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Philosophy | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 085440502X

Hotevilla: Hopi Shrine of the Covenant : Microcosm of the World
Average customer rating:

Five Stars

Land and Life - Vida y Tierra

Fascinating insight into Hopi prophecy and BIA politics

Irritating book. I would not waste my money on it.

Hotevilla: Hopi Shrine of the Covenant : Microcosm of the World
Thomas E. Mails , and Dan Evehema
Manufacturer: Treasure Chest Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Native American | Americas | History | Subjects | Books
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The Fourth World of the Hopis: The Epic Story of the Hopi Indians as Preserved in Their Legends and Traditions

ASIN: 1569248109

Customer Reviews:

Five Stars.......2004-12-19

A must for any one seriously interested in the Hopi people, their history and future. Highly recommended.

Land and Life - Vida y Tierra.......2004-04-20

The text under discussion is a profound critique of not only the activities of the BIA and the neo-colonialist Hopi Tribal Council but, in its essence, stands as a moving and formidable critique of Western civilization - one that illuminates the processes of cultural genocide that has been carried out against indigenous populations in the wake of their military conquest and occupation by a foreign power - and the deep resistance of traditional indigenous peoples to the processes of cultural genocide.

The elders who speak through the auspices of this work embody a profound political, moral, cultural and spiritual sophistication
that upholds the values concentrated in the name of their publication - Techqua Ikachi - Land and Life - Tierra y Vida.
What is most striking is the awareness the text creates of the inseparability of morality, culture, spiritual practice and political depth, and their rootedness in the Land, in the Earth, and in the relationship of peoples to the Earth. The most fundamental premise that is expressed in the text is its call to "blend with the land," and the text as a whole illuminates the meaning of a culture devoted to this principle in practice.

In so doing it stands as a striking counterpoint to the disintegrative powers of the culture of the capitalist colonial settler state that now occupies the land, and offers a sharp and abiding critique of the alienation and atomization inherent in the world view and cultural practices of the now-dominant European conqueror. From this standpoint the text is a classic treatment of resistance to the imposition of colonial rule and of the impact of colonial rule on the cultures of occupied and oppressed peoples.

In effect, even if it is not explicitly stated, the criticism of the Traditional Elders aimed at the "Progressive" Tribal Council is similar to the critique of the Autonomous American Indian Movement and other similar groups - and a critique that presaged other, similar Indian critiques by twenty years.

The picture the traditionals paint of the Tribal Council is one of a neo-colonial puppet government which has acted at the behest of and in accommodation to the colonial power of the United States in stripping massive amounts of coal from sacred lands, destroying sacred sites, depleting the water table in a profoundly dangerous manner, and that has acted to disintegrate Hopi culture to accommodate the demands of the dominant culture. The Traditional Hopi have also resisted the forced relocation of thousands of Navajo / Dine people from Hopi land. The forced relocation constitutes the destruction of the single largest group of Native American living in a traditional manner in the US. It is, in effect, and act of genocide the Hopi Traditionals have resisted in concert with the Traditional Dine (Navajo) people, based on their own sacred agreements.

The Hopi Tribal Council was illegitimately constituted on the basis of a "majority vote" that represented, in practice, only a tiny fraction of the Hopi people from a minority of the autonomous villages. The Traditional Hopi never made a treaty of any kind with the US government, and maintain their right to the status of a sovereign nation.

The evolving, century long story of the struggle between the Traditionals and the "Progressives" (Or, Hostiles and Friendlies) is laid out in compelling detail from a Traditional perspective. The reader of this review should be aware, however, that the Traditional perspective does not reduce to the anti-colonial categories utilized thus far in this review.

The story is, rather, the story of the unfolding of Hopi prophecy, the tale of a People and their Mission to maintain the Earth in Balance together with all peoples, and of the prophetic charge laid on the Hopi by a central deity.

The tale of conflict that is told paints a picture of the unfolding of that life way as foretold in Hopi prophecy, and thus it paints a practical and illuminating picture of the kinds of practical and spiritual blending with the Earth that will be required of all of us if the planet and humanity are to survive.

The tale is told at all the levels outlined above - the spiritual, cultural, moral and political levels - each element interwoven into a seed - a gestalt of information that together constitute the Hopi prophecy and Mission as articulated by its most traditional elders. The subtitle of the text, which asserts that Hotevilla ( the village founded by the Tradtionals to maintain the Traditional Balance and prophetic charge of the Hopi People) is a "microcosm of the world" should serve the reader as a guide in understanding why the tale is told in the form it adopts.

The prophetic instructions insist that the Earth and its Peoples have entered a period known as the time of Purification, and urge each of us to abandon the two hearted path of modern "civilization" and return to the path of one-heartedness that the Hopi Traditionals have sought, so valiantly, to maintain.

I have deliberately avoided much emphasis on the content of the Hopi prophecy or their spiritual and cultural practices as rooted in the Land. It is up to the reader to determine for her or him self whether the sharing of this prophecy matters to them and to the world. I believe it is of central and unequivocal importance. Your choice is your own. Choose well.

Fascinating insight into Hopi prophecy and BIA politics.......2000-01-10

This book is not popular among those Hopi who are on the payroll of the US Government or helping the Peabody Coal Company or part of the BIA-created tribal council. But it does tell the story of those elders, particularly Dan (who died recently), who have an important message for the world. Highly recommended!

Irritating book. I would not waste my money on it........1999-06-01

This is a large book, yet only the last small section actually deals with the Hopi prophesies. Spends most of his time talking about Nostradamous, his own ideas, etc. Manages to insult both Hopi AND Christians with his advice to go out and make up your own ceremony- Hopi elders I spoke with consider this highly detrimental to the balance of the world. This book is controversial among the Hopi, too. Some like it, but most I have spoken with do not consider it a worthwhile book.

Microcosm and Mediator: The Theological Anthropology of Maximus the Confessor

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Maximus studies
Foundational Reading on Maximus
For academics only

Microcosm and Mediator: The Theological Anthropology of Maximus the Confessor
Lars Thunberg , and A. M. Allchin
Manufacturer: Open Court Publishing Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Christianity | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books

General | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books

All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
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ASIN: 081269211X

Book Description

One of the outstanding Christian thinkers of all time, Maximus the Confessor (ca. 580-662) exerted a powerful formative influence on the Church when it was still one and undivided. Maximus left his stamp on Christianity as it is now recognized by all three broad streams of Christian faith: Eastern Orthodox, Roman Catholic, and Protestant. Yet for centuries the detailed study of Maximus's writings was neglected. The first edition of Thunberg's Microcosm and Mediator (1965) helped to transform this situation of indifference into one of intense interest in Maximus and the subtleties of his thinking. This new edition has been revised and expanded, with updated references and bibliographies. The focus of Microcosm and Mediator is Maximus's anthropology, his highly developed general reflections on human nature. Maximus understands man as, not only a being - a microcosm - who reflects the constitution of the created universe, but also as a being - a mediator - created in the image of God, whose task it is, in Christ, to reconcile the spiritual and the sensible into one homogeneous unity.

Customer Reviews:

Maximus studies.......2004-03-27

It was the late Benedictine scholar Polycarp Sherwood, of St. Meinrad's abbey in rural southern Indiana, who broke wide open the historical and theological study of Maximus the Confessor's writings in the 1950s. But it was the Swedish scholar Lars Thunberg, in the first edition of Microcosm and Mediator (1965), who took Maximian research to a new level of critical analysis. This second edition of Thunberg's work, the major revisions of which appear mainly in the updated introduction, notes, and bibliography, has as its organizing principle the theological anthropology of Maximus; but this book is rich in insights into his christology, cosmology, soteriology, eschatology, asceticism, and ethics as well. In fact the only major dimension of Maximus's thought not substantially treated here is his trinitarian theology, although the book includes a brilliant short treatment of the function of apophatic theology in the Confessor's work.

Thunberg's basic judgments concerning the overall structure of Maximus's thought are still as valid now as when Microcosm and Mediator first appeared three decades ago. He asserts succinctly "that Maximus' anthropology holds the key to his theology as a whole, and that this anthropology, in its turn, is a fruit of the Confessor's personal reflection on the Christological convictions of the Council of Chalcedon, as they were further demonstrated and explained through the Council of Constantinople in 553" (19). Thunberg's achievement has been to demonstrate how the Neo-Chalcedonian perspective of a "theandric" communion of natures, negotiated hypostatically and perichoretically in Jesus Christ, frames Maximus's entire vision of the partnership between Creator and cosmos (on the macrocosmic level), and more specifically between God and the human microcosm. The properly polemical (viz., anti-Origenist) character of Maximus's thought--his thorough rehabilitation of cosmic unity-in-diversity; his profoundly incarnational christocentrism--is rightly highlighted. Where Thunberg's study excels, however, is in detailing how Maximus' anthropology is, in the truest sense, constructively theological anthropology and the fruit of his integrative synthesis.

Thunberg begins with Maximus's construal of the primary structures of human nature, that nature which is a microcosm of the purposeful unity-in-diversity in the created order. Maximus does envision a "natural" state of humanity, at least in terms of the antecedent principle (logos) which assures the basic integrity of human nature and volition over and beyond the disastrous consequences of the fall. But the "natural state" of humanity, as it were, is less a static or ideal condition than a created vocation set before collective humankind, as created in the image of God, freely and "rationally" to mediate for all of creation, to perform the "cosmic liturgy" through theandric communion with the Creator. Meanwhile, as a realist about human history and about the reality of the fall, Maximus spends little time on Adam's pristine or natural state, stipulating that he abused his freedom "at the instant of his creation" (Ambiguum 61), thereby implicating his human posterity and tragically frustrating the natural destiny of humankind.

As Thunberg reveals, human nature (ontologically) and human asceticism (existentially) together constitute the theater, or microcosm, in which the drama of redemption from the fall and, simultaneously, the vindication of humanity's cosmic vocation, leading to deification, unfolds. Within this scheme of things, the practice of virtue (including the cosmic virtue of love) in the imitation of Christ serves to reintegrate human nature and thus reestablish the microcosm. The disintegration brought about by manifold passions is reversed, such that the differentiated passible faculties (epithymia and thymia) are once more reoriented to their intended goal. Within the spiritual life properly speaking (bios praktikos and bios theôrêtikos), Maximus envisions humanity embracing and actively performing the various "mediations" to which it is called, and thus participating with Christ in bridging the chasm between male and female, between paradise and the inhabited world, between heaven and earth, between sensible and intelligible creation, and, finally, between God and his creation (Ambiguum 41). Human deification is, in the end, the capstone of this process--a process not of "recovery" but of genuine advance and renovation in the life of the creation. For Maximus, therefore, human deification and cosmic transfiguration are inseparable hopes, and are together grounded in the reality of the Incarnation.

Thunberg retells and interprets Maximus's version of this cosmic story with grace and elegance. An added virtue is that, along the way, his monograph provides a superb general treatment of the Confessor's critical interaction with the philosophical idioms of his time, and the best general survey of his constructive engagement with earlier patristic sources: Origen, Nemesius, the Cappadocians, Evagrius, Cyril of Alexandria, Pseudo-Dionysius, inter alios. Maximus's achievement is thus displayed in its broadest contexts, all of which are important to understanding his contribution to ecumenical theology.

In short, Microcosm and Mediator remains, over thirty years after its original publication, the most comprehensive and useful secondary study of Maximus the Confessor's thought.

Paul M. Blowers

Foundational Reading on Maximus.......2003-08-10

Unlike the other reviewer, I found this book worthy of the full five stars. While the author is a Lutheran, he has a deep appreciation of this most beloved Eastern Orthodox saint and theologian, presenting Maximus' ideas clearly, sympathetically, and in a VERY detailed manner.

It is silly for the other reviewer to discount the work because it has no large paortions of Maximus' work translated. It doesn't advertise itself as such and, to answer his other objection, those works are available in English and other modern languages by authors such as Andrew Louth.

One shouldn't be upset if it is scholarly. It is of no use to approach a figure as complicated as Maximus and expect simple reading. I should say that the other reviewer would be more confused by reading the translations of Maximus than by Thunberg's analysis!

THis is a really good book with lots of great info, making it the milemarker for studies on Maximus. I would also suggest reading "The Mystical Theology of the Eastern Church" by Vladimir Lossky to understand the theological context into which St. Maximus fits.

Enjoy!

For academics only.......2003-05-28

The book is about St. Maximous and his writings. However there is no translation of St. Maximous works to be found here, rather a interpretation of his works by Prof. Thunberg.

Its a long and tedious read at best and unless the reader knows the early church fathers and thinkers like Evagrius of Pontus, a lot of what is written will be 'greek' to the reader.

As such it should appeal to religous scholars interested in St. Maximous's theology. Others should steer clear of it.

Its sad that such a fine intellect like St. Maximous still lacks a decent translator. So far the only accessible translation of some of his works is the Philokalia Vol 2.

The reason I'm only giving it two stars is that Lungberg did not include a translation of St. Maximous and being a excessive tedious and dry read.

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