Available in paperback for the very first time, here'severything you need to make your own astrological readings of yourmost precious relationships Why do you feel you've known someone for years when you've justmet? Why are you attracted to someone who seems like your completeopposite? Why do you and your loved one argue the way you argue? How can you make your relationships last in spite of yourdifferences? The answers to these questions can be found within your birthchart and that of your loved one. Linda Goodman's RelationshipSigns is the first astrology book to provide a totallyindividual, detailed analysis of how compatible you and yourpartner really are. Whether you are familiar with astrology or acomplete novice, this comprehensive reference shows youstep-by-step how to find the keys to harmony and the areas ofpotential trouble--all you need is each person's birth date andtime. Individually tailored to you and your loved one, here is yourguide to the relationships

Here, Roshi Kapleau addresses how Westerners can adapt andpractice Zen.

Here is the unparalleled account of the most awesome and awfulchapter in the moral history of humanity. Lucid, chilling andcomprehensive, Lucy S. Dawidowicz’s classic tells the completestory of the Nazi Holocaust–from the insidious evolution of GermanAnti-Semitism to the ultimate tragedy of the Final Solution.

Like no other resource, The Holman Illustrated Bible takes you there. Using over 1,000 color graphics, maps, photographs, reconstructions, and charts to enliven the Bible world, this special Bible edition enlightens readers to the contextual details of every major character and moment. In addition, helpful introductions list the author, date, original audience, and purpose of each book; give a key text and term; show Christ in each book; and place each book in the overall story of Scripture.

David Mamet's interest in anti-Semitism is not limited to themodern face of an ancient hatred but encompasses as well the waysin which many Jews have internalized that hatred. Using themetaphor of the Wicked Son at the Passover seder (the child whoasks, "What does this story mean to you?") Mamet confronts what hesees as an insidious predilection among some Jews to excludethemselves from the equation and to seek truth and meaninganywhere--in other religions, political movements, mindlessentertainment--but in Judaism itself. He also explores the ways inwhich the Jewish tradition has long been and still remains theWicked Son in the eyes of the world. Written with the searinghonesty and verbal brilliance that is the hallmark of Mamet's work,The Wicked Son is a powerfully thought-provoking look at one of themost destructive and tenacious forces in contemporary life.

Scattered over much of the world throughout most of theirhistory, are the Jews one people or many? How do they resemble andhow do they differ from Jews in other places and times? What havetheir relationships been to the cultures of their neighbors? Toaddress these and similar questions, some of the finest scholars ofour day have contributed their insights to Cultures of the Jews, awinner of the National Jewish Book Award upon its hardcoverpublication in 2002. Constructing their essays around specific cultural artifacts thatwere created in the period and locale under study, the contributorsdescribe the cultural interactions among different Jews–from rabbisand scholars to non-elite groups, including women–as well asbetween Jews and the surrounding non-Jewish world. What theyconclude is that although Jews have always had their own autonomoustraditions, Jewish identity cannot be considered the fixed productof either ancient ethnic or religious origins. Rather, it hasshifted and assumed new forms

Neal Donald Walsch was experiencing a low periodin his life when he decided to write a letter to God, venting hisfrustrations. What he did not expect was a response. As he finishedhis letter, he was moved to continue writing - and out cameextraordinary answers to his questions. This work presents theanswers that Walsch received, helping him to change himself, hislife and the way he viewed other beings.

In this sweeping narrative that takes us from the Stone Age tothe Information Age, Robert Wright unveils an astonishingdiscovery: there is a hidden pattern that the great monotheisticfaiths have followed as they have evolved. Through the prisms ofarcheology, theology, and evolutionary psychology, Wright'sfindings overturn basic assumptions about Judaism, Christianity,and Islam, and are sure to cause controversy. He explains whyspirituality has a role today, and why science, contrary toconventional wisdom, affirms the validity of the religious quest.And this previously unrecognized evolutionary logic points nottoward continued religious extremism, but future harmony. Nearly a decade in the making, THE EVOLUTION OF GOD is abreathtaking re-examination of the past, and a visionary lookforward.

In this provocative must-read, the preeminent scientist—andworld’s most prominent atheist—Richard Dawkins asserts theirrationality of belief in God and the grievous harm religion hasinflicted on society, from the Crusades to 9/11. The God Delusionmakes a compelling case that belief in God is not just wrong, butpotentially deadly. It also offers exhilarating insight on theadvantages of atheism to the individual and society, not the leastof which is a clearer, truer appreciation of the universe’s wondersthan any faith could ever muster. With rigor and wit, Dawkinseviscerates the major arguments for religion and demonstrates thesupreme improbability of a supreme being. He shows how religionfuels war, foments bigotry, and abuses children, buttressing hispoints with historical and contemporary evidence. This is a bookthat challenges all of us to test our beliefs, no matter whatbeliefs we hold.

The author of the runaway bestseller How the Irish SavedCivilization has done it again. In The Gifts of the Jews ThomasCahill takes us on another enchanting journey into history, onceagain recreating a time when the actions of a small band of peoplehad repercussions that are still felt today. The Gifts of the Jews reveals the critical change that madewestern civilization possible. Within the matrix of ancientreligions and philosophies, life was seen as part of an endlesscycle of birth and death; time was like a wheel, spinningceaselessly. Yet somehow, the ancient Jews began to see timedifferently. For them, time had a beginning and an end; it was anarrative, whose triumphant conclusion would come in the future.From this insight came a new conception of men and women asindividuals with unique destinies--a conception that would informthe Declaration of Independence--and our hopeful belief in progressand the sense that tomorrow can be better than today. As ThomasCahill narrates this momentous shift,

The late author Arysio Santos was a highly regardedclimatologist, geologist, and nuclear physicist. He was also ascholar of history, folklore, languages, and the occult. In thisgroundbreaking study of Atlantis, he draws on all thesedisciplines, as well as ancient maps, Plato’s dialogues, andfolkloric narratives, to provide the most compelling case yet ofthe disappearance of an entire civilization. Professor Santos demonstrates that Plato’s dating of Atlantis’sdisappearance in 11,600 BP (before present) precisely correspondsto the catastrophic end of the Pleistocene Ice Age, as well as ahistoric flood event of cataclysmic proportions. The rising of thesea level by nearly 500 feet, he argues, submerged continent-sizedlands—including Atlantis, which he connects with the biblicalGarden of Eden. Provocative chapters cover such topics as thecontinent’s appearance in ancient maps, Indonesia as the true siteof Eden, American interpretations of Atlantis, the four rivers ofparadise, and more, giv

In this "rare book that combines searing passion . . . with asubject that has affected all of our lives" (Chicago Tribune), thenovelist and cultural critic James Carroll maps thetwo-thousand-year course of the Church's battle against Judaism andfaces the crisis of faith it has sparked in his own life as aCatholic. "Fascinating, brave and sometimes infuriating" (Time),this dark history is more than a chronicle of religion. It is thecentral tragedy of Western civilization, its fault lines reachingdeep into our culture. Drawing on his well-known talents as astoryteller and memoirist, Carroll has created "a deeply felt work,a book that measures the "sweep of history" against [his]experience as a man of the church" (San Francisco Chronicle). Acourageous and affecting reckoning with difficult truths that willtouch every reader, "CONSTANTINE'S SWORD is a history written tochange the way people live" (Talk).

Different styles of martial arts offer contradictoryinformation, philosophies, and techniques for the body in combat. Apractitioner of Judo might advocate grappling, reasoning that mostfights converge into close range after a short time, when anadvocate of Tae Kwon Do would argue that one should strive tomaintain one's distance in an encounter that would allow one to usethe legs, the most powerful weapon on the human body. As a lifelong student and teacher of multiple styles of martialarts, Steven Pearlman has sought to distill from these disciplinesnot a fusion of techniques, but rather a compilation of fundamentalprinciples that can guide the individual martial artist to theideal action. Through his exploration of a set of basic principlesthat range from the physical (spinal alignment, the triangularguard, breathing) to the spiritual (the void, the body-mind, thecharacter), Pearlman arrives at a system open to all martialartists without bastardizing the techniques of the originaldisciplines.