Product Description
Chapters: Sybil Jason, Sasha Pieterse, Alexander Michaeletos, List of Current Child Actors From South Africa. Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 20. Not illustrated. Free updates online. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: Sybil Jason (born 23 November 1927) is a former motion-picture child actress who, in the late 1930s, was presented as a rival to Shirley Temple. Born as Sybil Jacobson in 1927 in Cape Town, South Africa, she began playing the piano at age two and, a year later, began making public appearances doing impersonations of Maurice Chevalier. She was introduced to the theatre-going public of London by way of her uncle, Harry Jacobson, a then-popular London orchestra leader and also pianist to Gracie Fields. The apex of her career came with a concert performance with Frances Day at London's Palace Theatre. Jason's theatre work led to appearances on radio and phonograph records, and a supporting role in the film Barnacle Bill (1935). Irving Asher, the head of Warner Bros.' London studio, saw Jason's performance in Barnacle Bill and subsequently arranged for her to make a screen test for the studio. The test was a success, resulting in Warner Bros. signing her to a contract. Her American film debut came as the lead in Little Big Shot (1935), directed by Michael Curtiz and co-starring Glenda Farrell, Robert Armstrong, and Edward Everett Horton. Jason followed this with supporting roles opposite some of Warner Bros. most popular stars, including Kay Francis in I Found Stella Parish (1935), Al Jolson in The Singing Kid (1936), Pat O'Brien and Humphrey Bogart in The Great O'Malley (1937), and again with Kay Francis in Comet Over Broadway (1938). Warners also starred her in The Captain's Kid (1937), and four Vitaphone two-reelers filmed in Technicolor: Changing of the Guard, A Day at Santa Anita, Little Pioneer, and Th...More: http://booksllc.net/?id=20358603 ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

less than I expected, but okay as a non-game-specific source
I had high hopes for this book, but was a little disappointed.I bought conspiracy x, expecting great stuff, and it met with my expectations.Cryptozoolgy didn't.First, it's set up with information divided into two parts: the gamers information, and the GM's information.the result is that you have to look in two different areas for information on different "supernatural creatures".Most of the regular freaks of nature are covered--Loch Ness monster, Bigfoot, Sasquatch, etc.I was pleased to see a few others like the Mokole. The writing is a lot more pendantic than I'd like--but that may be a direct result from being written in character, where teh character is old, stuffy, and bombastically long-winded. If your game will run into a supernatural creature, it might be worth checking this beek out.If not, I wouldn't bother. ... Read more

Product Description
HarperCollins is proud to present its new range of best-loved, essential classics.'Looking at these stars suddenly dwarfed my own troubles and all the gravities of terrestrial life. I thought of their unfathomable distance, and the slow inevitable drift of their movements out of the unknown past into the unknown future.'The narrator of the story, the 'Time Traveller' is an English scientist who invents a machine that he claims can carry a person through time. Upon testing his machine, the Time Traveller is transported to AD 802,701, a future world where mankind is split between the childlike, gentle Eloi and the brutish Morlocks.When he attempts to return home, he discovers that the Morlocks have stolen his machine and he is stranded. The Time Machine follows the Time Traveller as he attempts to reclaim his machine from the barbaric Morlocks, transporting himself onward to a world that is 30 million years from his own time. Here he experiences some of the last living things on the planet as earth is slowly beginning to die.Wells' grim vision of a world in decline is recognised as one of the seminal texts of the science fiction genre, exploring the themes of inequality, class and the relationship between science and society. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (443)

Traveling Into a Dismal Future
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002RKTH14/ref=cm_cr_rev_prod_img

H. G. Wells was, among other things, a pessimist. He could not believe that anything could get better than it was, and life as it was then was savagery barely curbed. This book, which has been imitated, plagiarized, made into movies, made into TV shows, parodied, and so forth, is a paean not to human good but to human bad. Neither the Morlocks nor the Eloi were really happy; they existed for each other's benefit, because the Eloi would starve without the supply of food and clothing largely supplied by the Morlocks, and the Morlocks would starve without the Eloi to eat. Such was the prevailing thought among the Socialists of his day, and a Socialist he certainly was. The book should not be assigned for junior high or high school, because the young students lack the proportion that will allow them to see what the book is about. But for an adult, or an advanced teenager, it is a poignant future of what could happen and, in Wells's mind, probably would happen in some way, in some dim future.

This is an adult book, and should be read as such.

Excessively imaginative and thought provoking read!
My review title says it all.
This is a very beautiful piece of Science Fiction.

Glad I gave it a read.

A perfect world crumbles
"A Perfect World Crumbles"
By: Cameron Wright

H. G. Wells, in his novella, The Time Machine, weaves a tale that at first seems like a simple science fiction. However, it contains many symbolisms about the lifestyle choices of mankind today. The main character's name is never given in the story; he is referred to as "The Time Traveler". He invents a machine that can travel back and forth throughout the fourth dimension of time. He successfully travels forward approximately eight-hundred thousand years into a time when humanity has been split into two groups: the Eloi and the Morlocks.


In the author's depicted future, mankind has undergone extreme favoritism of all living things. Plants, animals, food, etc, have all been winnowed into what is considered best. We act this way even in the present day. For instance, we decide which breed of dog is superior amongst the others and preserve and flourish these select. We feel that we have the right to judge and decide what has the right to exist and what does not. After eight-hundred thousand years of this practice, The Time Traveler has stumbled onto the result of a world with only "the perfect fruit" and the "the perfect animals".The Eloi live on the surface of our planet among those that have passed our critique.


The Time Traveler notices wells along the ground spread out from each other. For a time, he does not understand what they are. It seems too primitive that a well should exist in the future. He discovers that the wells lead to the underground world where the Morlocks live. The Morlocks act like slaves for the Eloi underneath the planet. They are only allowed to come onto the surface during the night. Earlier, the Time Traveler had noticed that the Eloi sleep in clumps huddled together during the night. This is because they are afraid of the Morlocks.


After living a life of carefree perfection, the Eloi have become witless and weak. They are unable to fend for themselves and depend on the Morlocks for their sustenance. The Morlocks, on the other hand, have become intelligent and strong. They have worked their entire lives and must fight simply to survive. If they attacked, they would easily be capable of defeating the feeble and delicate Eloi. A rebellion begins, and it is clear that the Morlocks will overtake and kill the Eloi. The Time Traveler is nearly killed, but escapes in his machine before the Morlocks kill him. He goes ahead much further in time and cannot find any human life. We have destroyed ourselves.


I believe that the Eloi and the Morlocks resemble today's society. The Morlocks resemble the poor who must earn their right to live through hard work and determination. Like the Morlocks, those that have to diligently work become capable and strong. The Eloi resemble the rich who are handed everything to them. When a person does not need to put effort into anything it is like the dulling of a blade. A blade cannot penetrate anything if it is not sharpened. Work and effort is our sharpener.

Another aspect found in this book relating to our society is the devaluing of what we do not think is perfect. Ultimately, if a society is made up of only who we believe is "the best-looking" or "the richest" or "the most useful", etc., while all others are diminished, the society will crumble. When the Time Traveler travels into the future, human life does not exist. We have ceased to live because we have lessened the value of life and imperfections.


The Time Machine was and still is a thought provoking novel. It caused me to evaluate the state of modern society. I think that H. G. Wells was ahead of his time. We have begun to see some of his predictions come to pass. The most obvious example would be the cause of World War II, the holocaust. Hitler implemented selective elimination of what he considered to be the weak. Even today, we see our society place value on what we believe is the most beautiful.


Reading this book has caused me to assess how I place my values. I have certainly put more value on what is most beautiful or expensive in my life at times. I do not believe that is the way God wishes for us to live our lives or view each other. In the Bible, 1 Corinthians 1:27 states, "But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong." This shows to me that we should not cherish only what we believe is best, but instead support the weak and less beautiful as well as the greater.

Classic of victorian science fiction
This wasn't the first time travel story in fiction -- it wasn't even H.G. Wells' first time travel story, that honor going to his short story The Chronic Argonauts -- but it's the first one to popularize the concept, and the single story generally pointed to as the archetype and progenitor of time travel in fiction. It isn't quite as riveting or fast-paced asThe War of the Worlds, but there's still a decently entertaining story here if you don't mind your sci-fi having a more Victorian pace to it.

Despite popularizing the concept of time travel as a story vehicle, it isn't really "about" time travel in the way that, say, Back to the Future is; the Time Traveler never goes into his past, and the future remains unchanged at the end of the story. As with all of Wells' fiction, he was trying to make a sociopolitical point -- here, he's critiquing socioeconomic / class divisions, and pointing out how destructive they could be in the (very long) term. (He made a similar point, with a 200-odd-year-long jump forward, in his later novel The Sleeper Awakes).

Considering that socioeconomic divisions in America are at a higher point currently that at any time since before the Great Depression, modern readers might find this book unusually, well, timely.

Different from movies
I wanted to see how this compared to the two movies.Surprisingly it is quite different.The pace certainly is much slower.The interactions with other charcters and the cause of future events makes it almost a entirely different book.The time traveler's observations and philosphy also makes it a stand alone book.I have always enjoyed the movie and its comination of adventure and peek into a possible future.This is more of a stroll where you have the time to see everything and think about what you saw.I would not say the movies were better...just different.I would say it was less Indiana Jones and more Sherlock Holmes. ... Read more

Product Description
Opportunities are expanding for work in commercials, while the competition is tightening. Breaking into Commercials educates readers on how to find those opportunities, fine-tune their skills, and attain the competitive edge needed to succeed. With hundreds of tips, the book features interviews with prominent professionals who book, represent, and cast talent in every state in the U.S. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (19)

Nothing Better On Paper
There is TRUTH in advertising when it comes to this book. Just as the title states "breaking in.." one can expect to find a great compendium of information on ALL aspects of acting on and off camera in commercials.
Terry brings a special panache to the story --- her Madison Ave. experience. Few if any casting directors on either coast can compare to her resume. If you're starting out or looking to jump start your career again in the biz, buy this book. Oh, and don't expect just to read it cover to cover. Expect to have it readily available within arms reach for constant reference and you chase your dream in the world of spots.

PERFECT Book for Anybody Wanting to Break into the Biz!
What can i say about this book, that already hasn't been said by other readers. This book is a perfect resource for anybody wanting to get more information and pointers on how to approach commercials. This book has single handedly made me more aware of what i should expect, in turn making more informed and a better commercial actor...

If your serious about trying to break into commercials, you definately need this book!

Invaluable! Now I know how to do everything right!
This book was the first thing I bought when I moved to Los Angeles to become an actor. It taught me all the important tools, skills and training I needed not only to start out, but as I began to find success as anactor. I highly recommend this book to everyone who is interested in a career in television commercials. I also found the information helpful with my overall auditioning techniques for film and TV as well. Thank you, Terry and Deborah ,for providing such a wonderful tool for actors everywhere!

Required Reading
This is an easy to read, excellent reference book for anyone starting out in commercials.I read Terry's book, took a couple of workshops and booked several commercials.It has everything you need to know in order to be prepared to walk into an audition.

If you desire making money...
Okay... seriously...this woman knows how to break an industry down. This book is the ABC's of the television commercial industry. Terry Berland goes from headshots to the extreme selection process to how much you can make on residuals. If you plan on making it in commercials, (by the way-"If you fail to plan, then you plan to fail."- Quoted by Ms. Berland) buy this book NOW! ... Read more

Product Description
"Society no longer exists, at least in the sense of a differentiated whole. There is only a tangle of norms and mechanisms through which THEY hold together the scattered tatters of the global biopolitical fabric, through which THEY prevent its violent disintegration. Empire is the administrator of this desolation, the supreme manager of a process of listless implosion."
—from Introduction to Civil War

Society is not in crisis, society is at an end. The things we used to take for granted have all been vaporized. Politics was one of these things, a Greek invention that condenses around an equation: to hold a position means to take sides, and to take sides means to unleash civil war. Civil war, position, sides—these were all one word in the Greek: stasis. If the history of the modern state in all its forms—absolute, liberal, welfare—has been the continuous attempt to ward off this stasis, the great novelty of contemporary imperial power is its embrace of civil war as a technique of governance and disorder as a means of maintaining control. Where the modern state was founded on the institution of the law and its constellation of divisions, exclusions, and repressions, imperial power has replaced them with a network of norms and apparatuses that conspire in the production of the biopolitical citizens of Empire.

In their first book available in English, Tiqqun explores the possibility of a new practice of communism, finding a foundation for an ontology of the common in the politics of friendship and the free play of forms-of-life. They see the ruins of society as the ideal setting for the construction of the community to come. In other words: the situation is excellent. Now is not the time to lose courage.

Intervention series
Distributed for Semiotext(e) ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Alienated? Proposed "solution" sounds more Buddhist than Marxist
Radical Continental/French philosophy on, to put it more simply than the Tiqqun collective would, the alienation of the individual from work and community, and the role of government/Empire/imperialism in creating and perpetuating those conditions. Although towards the end Tiqqun finally calls their solution "communism," their "solution" is so devoid of providing a systematic description of a political and economic foundation that would replace what we currently have (and, in fact, Tiqqun quite strongly suggest an aversion to anything even resembling a political and economic foundation), that their etherized discussion sounds closer to Buddhism's rejection of attachment than what was enacted as "communism" for seven decades. ... Read more

Product Description
Cover by Jae Lee. Written by James Kuhoric. Art by Jason Shawn Alexander. The cursed siblings are drawn to the cult compound of Devin Irons and the reborn abomination wearing the skin of their mother. An army of 99 innocent souls under the demonic influence of their father stand in the way of this long coming family reunion. As the blood spills into the streets, the final dark ritual is enacted and an otherworldly force begins to seep into our reality. When Silas uncovers the carnage unleashed by his siblings he must walk in their steps to end the curse of the family line. But even his righteous anger pales in comparison to the power that has been unleashed in the wake of the slaughter. It's the final supernatural showdown as the Irons collide and nothing can stand between the raw hatred of a manipulative father and years of unimaginable horror endured by an abused son. Six guns and the supernatural collide in the explosive conclusion to the Dead Irons saga. ... Read more

Product Description
MIKE MIGNOLA (W/Cover), JASON SHAWN ALEXANDER (A), and DAVE STEWART (C) Supernatural forces converge on the island of Saint Sebastien as Abe finds himself alone against a century-old evil. Written by Hellboy creator Mike Mignola, and featuring the haunting art of Jason Shawn Alexander (Damn Nation, The Secret, The Escapists), Abe Sapien: The Drowning is the story of Hellboy mainstay Abe Sapien's first solo adventure. ? 'There is just one word for Alexander's art: amazing.' -Silver Bullet Comics FC, 32 pages. ... Read more

Product Description
by James Kuhoric & Jason Shawn AlexanderHell comes to North Point as the remorseless Irons siblings spread unbridled violence and their monstrous curse to the helpless town folk. When the moon ascends over the burning scar that was a border town, the innocent victims rise again as creatures of the night, laying in wait for the pursuing gunfighter determined to end the curse. This year's biggest supernatural western tale continues and no one is safe from the coming storm. Written by James Kuhoric (Freddy vs. Jason vs. Ash), illustrated by Jason Alexander (BPRD), and based on character designs and art direction by Jae Lee (The Dark Tower). ... Read more

Product Description
Hell comes to North Point as the remorseless Irons siblings spread unbridled violence and their monstrous curse to the helpless town folk. When the moon ascends over the burning scar that was a border town, the innocent victims rise again as creatures of the night, laying in wait for the pursuing gunfighter determined to end the curse. This year's biggest supernatural western tale continues and no one is safe from the coming storm. Written by James Kuhoric (Freddy vs. Jason vs. Ash), illustrated by Jason Alexander (BPRD), and based on character designs and art direction by Jae Lee (The Dark Tower). ... Read more

Product Description
by James Kuhoric & Jason Shawn AlexanderThree bounty hunter siblings blaze a path of death and destruction across the old west. Traveling by moonlight they rip criminals screaming for mercy from their hiding places, but none is ever given. Each bounty is torn, broken, and bled dry before they are delivered dead and payment collected in gold - no silver. The Irons are the most feared bounty hunting killers in the west, but that fear isn't based on them being the fastest with a pistol or rifle. It's because they're the walking dead. A lone tortured soul tracks them with vengeance and salvation driving him to end the curse upon his family. Those who he rescues call him savior but those who look upon his twisted and scarred face call him monster. Silas Irons is the only hope his brothers and sister have of salvation from the abominations they've become. But even the purity of his heart can't stop the unnatural rage and bloodlust building in his diseased soul. A black curse turned these siblings into monsters but deep rooted and twisted family history made them into the worst kind of horrors. This year's biggest supernatural western tale begins here! Written by James Kuhoric (Freddy vs Jason vs Ash), illustrated by Jason Alexander (BPRD), and based on character designs and covers by Jae Lee (The Dark Tower). Featuring cardstock covers by Lee and Alexander! Dead Irons - 99 innocent souls - 6 undead monsters - 1 shot to save the world. ... Read more

Product Description
Limited Edition Negative Variant Cover by Jae Lee. Writer: JAMES KUHORIC Penciller/Inker: JASON SHAWN ALEXANDER North Point is a dead town now. Silas Irons stands alone against an innocent population twisted into the living dead. But facing a horde of monsters isn't the worst thing he will encounter in this walking cemetery. The one soul he most yearns to save will spit in the face of redemption and shatter his tentative hold over the uncontrollable fury deep in his cursed soul. His one shot at salvation gone, Silas must find his way through a haze of merciless bloodshed and destruction. And still the supernatural draw of their resurrected mother pulls all of the Irons siblings closer to a final reckoning with the man that turned them into monsters...Devin Irons. Six guns and the supernatural collide in the explosive Dead Irons saga. Written by James Kuhoric, illustrated by Jason Shawn Alexander, and based on character designs and art direction by Jae Lee. ... Read more

Product Description
Hell comes to North Point as the remorseless Irons siblings spread unbridled violence and their monstrous curse to the helpless town folk. When the moon ascends over the burning scar that was a border town, the innocent victims rise again as creatures of the night, laying in wait for the pursuing gunfighter determined to end the curse. This year's biggest supernatural western tale continues and no one is safe from the coming storm. Written by James Kuhoric (Freddy vs. Jason vs. Ash), illustrated by Jason Alexander (BPRD), and based on character designs and art direction by Jae Lee (The Dark Tower). Negative Variant Cover ... Read more

Product Description
9 complete stories at a great price!

Featuring:

Green Eggs and Ham read by Jason Alexander
One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish read by David Hyde Pierce
Oh, the Thinks You Can Think! read by Michael McKean
I'm Not Going to Get Up Today read by Jason Alexander
Oh Say Can You Say? read by Michael McKean
Fox in Socks read by David Hyde Pierce
I Can Read with My Eyes Shut read by Michael McKean
Hop on Pop read by David Hyde Pierce
Dr. Seuss's ABC read by Jason Alexander ... Read more

Customer Reviews (9)

Green Eggs and Ham book review
Dr. Seuss breaks down the limitation of the norm with the book Green Eggs and Ham. He takes the unreal and applies learn strategies to it. I gave this book five stars because it gets the job done.This book introduces rhyming words and site word recognition.I would recommend this book for all students that seem to have a problem with identifying site words and rhyming sounds. The controversy of the green eggs and ham keeps it interesting which makes it fun to read.

Dr. Suess for when you're Seussed-out
I purchased this and "The Cat in The Hat" CD and they are the B-E-S-T thing I've picked up in a long time.My son loves reading and being read to, esp. Dr. Seuss, and these come in handy after I've read the 10th... 12th... 14th book with him that day.He plays these at least 3x every day.The voices (all well known actors) are very well suited to the stories they read and give a great alternative style to "mom's".Plus with 2 CDs in each collection my son never gets bored.

Green Eggs Review
These audio books are great. The kids love to go to sleep listening to them which saves my voice. a great buy

my to-be 1st graders love this CD
The best readings on this CD are the ones by David Hyde Pierce (he played Niles on the tv show Frazier). He has a wonderful way of conveying the sillyness of the words and gives feeling to the repetition of words and tongue twisters. My sons love One Fish Two Fish (I like to box my glox)and Fox on Sox the best. They also like Green Egg's and Ham by the guy from Seinfeld (Jason Alexander I believe) and laugh everytime during the part when he goes underwater. They seem less impressed with the other reader, he's ok though.

Love the cd, but I'm not thrilled with the performances.
My two-year-old son and I have a lot of fun listening to some of our favorite stories in the car, but the performances are a little lackluster.I think Jason Alexander puts the most into his performances, but David Hyde Pierce and Michael McKean are just okay.In fact, since they are the only three voices on the cd, I get a little tired of them.But overall, the cd is enjoyable. ... Read more

Product Description
The third edition of The Trial and Death of Socrates presents G. M. A. Grube's distinguished translations, as revised by John Cooper for Plato, Complete Works. A number of new or expanded footnotes are also included along with a Select Bibliography. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (15)

GARBAGE
This book was listed as "LIKE NEW."It is garbage.....there is writing all over it. The back cover is bent, pages are ripped and it there is so much writing you can barely read it with all the red.

Useful, got the Job done
This was the book necessary for my introduction to political philosophy @ Harvard. My professor said we needed it for the next week and thanks to the next day shipping guarante I received it the next day mid afternoon. This book was only useful to us for Plato's "The Apology" but I'm sure to keep this on my shelf and read the rest od Socrates's trial. Overall it's worth the 6 dollars it's just like buying a big Mac, but you get to enjoy this one longer.

One of the Greatest Books Ever
This magnificent compilation has four Plato writings:"Euthyphro," "Apology," "Crito," and "Phaedo." Though apparently early works and not as complex or philosophically influential as later ones, they are immensely important in portraying Socrates' trial and death. They are our clearest picture of the historical Socrates and would be invaluable for this alone. Indeed, I have read hundreds - perhaps thousands - of books, and this is one of my ten or so favorites, mostly because of how moving the depiction of the great man's last days is. The story of Socrates' Apology and last moments is part of world literature's very fabric, an immortal part of Western cultural heritage. Anyone who wants to learn about Socrates should start here. However, the works have great value even aside from this; a few have indeed questioned their historical veracity. This does not affect their philosophical, literary, and political worth, which is of the highest, making the book doubly essential.

"Euthyphro" is the least important work philosophically and probably not meant as historical, but it is still worthwhile. It examines the important "What is piety?" question and, like many Platonic dialogues, does not have anything like a definite conclusion. Some find this aspect frustrating, and it is certainly beguiling, but those who have experience with it come to love it. Like Socrates, Plato is after all too intelligent to give hard and fast answers; in all likelihood, he knows there are not any. What he does is far more important - lead us to think for ourselves and come to our own conclusions if we can. "Euthyphro" is a good, if relatively minor, example. It also introduces what philosophers call the Euthyphro Problem; here it is "Are good things good because they are loved by the gods, or are they loved by the gods because they are good?," but it has been restated in innumerable forms. This is in some ways an unrepresentative dialogue and thus an unfortunate one to begin the book, because it seems to prove the stereotype that philosophy obsesses over inane, probably unanswerable questions of no practical use. The Euthyphro Problem seems truly asinine as given - or, in our post-postmodern world, simply irrelevant. However, we can begin to see its importance when we replace "good" and "loved by the gods" with whatever seems most pressing. Such is after all the kind of thing Plato wanted; we are not supposed to read in narrow literal terms but use him as a starting point for our path to wisdom. This is an instructive example of how Plato has been immensely influential far beyond his apparent significance.

"Apology" is Plato's least philosophical and most unrepresentative work but arguably his most important and is among many readers' favorites, including mine. The book's title is misleading in that this is prose rather than dialogue; it purports to be Socrates' self-defense at his trial. It is historically priceless if so, as it gives his last public statements and some background about his life and the lead up to the trial. Even if not, it is of immense worth as a passionate, sound defense of individualism and free speech; its timeless evocation of these all-important concepts is forever associated with Socrates and the main reason he has been immortalized. The work also piercingly examines the often vast law/conscience gap and is thus an early higher law document. Finally, it is a sort of mini-dialogue in itself touching on and in several ways tying up classic Socrates/Plato themes like the nature of piety and goodness, responsibility toward the gods and the state, interpersonal relations, and life vs. death issues. It sums up Socrates and perhaps Plato better than any other work.

"Crito" is a possibly partly historical account of the title character visiting Socrates in jail to inform him that he is able to escape via bribe; Socrates famously says that he accepts his sentence and argues down contrary pleas. This gives incredible potential insight into Socrates, in many ways telling us more about his character and thought than a full biography ever could. Again, though, it transcends this philosophically and otherwise and is particularly relevant politically. It also examines the law/conscience gap and gives further background on Socrates but is notable above all as a very early example of the social contract theory of government. This is an astonishing example of how advanced Plato was, as the theory is generally considered to have been founded by Thomas Hobbes nearly a millennium later. Even more amazingly, it is put forth more clearly and persuasively here than perhaps anywhere else, making the dialogue essential for anyone interested in political theory.

"Phaedo" ostensibly details Socrates' last moments, including his last look at his wife and child, his last dialogue, his last words to friends, and his actual death. A large part of Socrates' image comes from this, and its potential historical value is inconceivable, though its historicity can easily be doubted since the work itself strongly suggests that Plato was not there. Even so, it is likely accurate in regard to the things that really matter and certainly a fine account of how it very well could have been. It is extremely moving; shot through with pathos, it is one of the most affecting things I have ever read. One can surely not read it without being overcome by emotion; I can hardly even think of it without misty eyes. Anyone who respects and admires this central Western civilization figure will be profoundly touched; his famous last words seem comic out of context but are very much otherwise here, telling us much about Socrates and moving us yet further. This would be one of the greatest works of all-time if it had no other aspect, but it is also a fine dialogue appropriately dealing mostly with death. Plato examines perennial questions like the soul's immortality and metempsychosis very thoroughly and thought-provokingly, and the conclusion - unsurprisingly, given the circumstances - has uncharacteristic certainty. It may not convince our cynical, empiricist, science-loving, twentieth century-surviving age, but the argument is certainly well-made and in many ways admirable. The dialogue touches on other important subjects also and is generally seen as the culmination of Plato's early, Socrates-centered thought.

It is important to realize that these four works were not originally published together, but the trial and death connection means they are often collected. There are many such editions, but this is the least expensive and probably the most widely available, making it ideal for most; it also has extra value in that many versions lack "Euthyphro."

The ever-important translation issue must also be kept in mind. It goes without saying that anyone who cares about intellectual issues, especially applied ones, must know Plato, as should anyone who wants to be even basically well-read. However, this is far easier said than done for most; he is so different from what now passes for literature, to say nothing of pop culture, that he is virtually inaccessible to general readers. Yet the importance of persevering cannot be overemphasized; the payoff is well worth the effort. As nearly always in such cases, reading him becomes far easier after the initial difficulty; no attentive reader will ever think Plato easy reading, but he is utterly absorbing once we get used to his style. He has a near-poetic beauty that all agree has never even been remotely approached in philosophy, and such mesmerizing prose is rare in any genre. His dialogues are an incredible form at once intellectually and aesthetically pleasing - an inspired combination that has perhaps never been bettered; many have appropriated it, but none have matched it. All this means that picking the right translation is probably more important with Plato than any other writer. For the average reader, the more recent, the better is generally true, though older translations like Jowett's and Rouse's are still very accessible. The important thing is to read Plato in some form, and those who happen on a translation that does not work for them should keep trying until their mind opens in a truly new way - and once done, it will never close again.

The Trial and Death of Socrates (3rd Edition) by Plato, John M. Cooper
This purchase saved me a lot of money compared to the price in the campus bookstore.

Expensive
Of the eight books I bought, it was the most expensive (cost per page) for all that I received. Although it was in great condition, so were some of the others. ... Read more