Tag Archives: first

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Life of George Washington – Washington Irving

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I have been reading the five volume work of Washington Irving on the ‘Life of George Washington’ over the last little while. Currently I am in the middle of the second volume. Though I am only reading two to ten pages a day and don’t view this reading exercise as particularly pressing, I am enjoying my reading experience very much. It is an easy to read book, with chapters divided into very manageable portions. As a whole, the five volumes make up about 2000 pages.

This work by Washington Irving on the life of George Washington covers the life of the first president of the United States, shedding much light on the life and times of Washington. Thus far I have covered the period of Washington’s early life, through the war against the French and Indians (in which Washington played an important role) and into the American War Of Independence (in which Washington led the fledgling nation’s army against the British). This biographical work seems to be an excellent life of George Washington, but also provides an insight into the players and the history of the times.

In short, this five volume work on Washington is excellent and I would highly recommend reading the entire work on an important person in, and period of, American history. The work is available at the Internet Archive and I have links to the five volumes on my website at:

http://tracingourhistory.com/history.html

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Fresh Start

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I have neglected this Blog a bit – a fair bit – and for that I apologise. I am hoping to change that a bit from now on and post at least once a week, if not more. I have been really busy – which is the truth of the matter. I maintain a lot of sites and Blogs, with some of them getting major re-designs and so on. That is still an ongoing process, but I no longer want that to stand in the way of this Blog.

So a fresh start from today. I won’t post updates on what has been posted before, but begin with a fresh approach, etc. So on to the first post in my ‘reawakening’ here.

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‘The Pilgrim’s Progress,’ by John Bunyan – in the Wild

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I have now registered with BookCrossing.com and I am about to release my first book ‘into the wild.’ I got onto this idea by reading ‘365 Ways to Change the World,’ by Michael Norton.

Releasing the book ‘into the wild’ is simply leaving the book somewhere for another person to pick up.

To view information on the book and it’s release ‘into the wild,’ visit:

http://www.bookcrossing.com/journal/7707784

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Oxford University Press

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I am now reviewing for Oxford University Press. I received my first book to review today. The book is ‘Shameful Flight: The Last Years of the British Empire in India,’ by Stanley Wolpert. The author is Professor of History Emeritus at the University of California, Los Angeles. His previous books are ‘Gandhi’s Passion,’ ‘Nehru: A Tryst With Destiny,’ ‘Jinnah of Pakistan,’ and ‘A New History of India.’

The copy of ‘Shameful Flight: The Last Years of the British Empire in India’ that I was sent is a paperback, which was published on the 5th November 2009 with 238 pages.

When I have read the book, I will be posting the review here.

Visit Oxford University Press at:

www.oup.com

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The History of the English Baptists – Update

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from the Reformation to the Beginning of the Reign of King George I, by Thomas Crosby

Preface_Image001 As noted in a previous post, I have been reading ‘The History of the English Baptists from the Reformation to the Beginning of the Reign of King George I,’ by Thomas Crosby. I have also been adding this work to my website (a link to this book appears at the end of this post).

I have now completed reading and adding the preface, table of contents and part of the first chapter.

The preface covers the period from the early church through to the first Baptists in England, tracing the origins of the Baptists and disproving their rise to that of the Anabaptists at Munster and the disaster that occurred in that city as a result of the Anabaptist rebellion.

Though a lengthy preface, it briefly touches on such as the Albigenses, the Waldenses, Wickcliff, Donatists, etc. Crosby goes back through history, from the reformation to the first century finding evidence of Baptistic beliefs and practices. It is a very interesting study, even though it is brief. Another interesting aspect of this study is the evidence for early Baptistic existence, even in the writings of Paedobaptist authors and the evidence against the early practice of infant-baptism in the early church.

To read the preface and further, please follow the link below:

http://particularbaptist.com/library/Crossby-Thomas_Vol1_HistoryEnglishBaptists_contents.html

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The History of the English Baptists

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from the Reformation to the Beginning of the Reign of King George I, by Thomas Crosby.

I have just started to read the above titled book – well, at least the first volume anyway. This title is made up of four volumes, all of which are over 500 pages in length. I have also started to add the work to my web site at:

 http://particularbaptist.com 

The original work (Volume 1) was first published in 1738 and includes some old English, which in the version I am placing on my web site, I have tried to update without changing the overall sense and flow of the text.

It is generally understood that Crosby deals with a mix of both the Particular Baptists and General Baptists, or if you prefer, the Calvinistic Baptists and the Arminian Baptists.

To follow my progress and to read the book, visit:

http://particularbaptist.com/library/Crossby-Thomas_Vol1_HistoryEnglishBaptists_contents.html

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BOOK REVIEW: The Noticer, by Andy Andrews

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The first book I will be reviewing for Thomas Nelson is called ‘The Noticer,’ by New York Times bestselling author Andy Andrews. It is actually an ebook that I have.

The hardcopy book is available at Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0785229213/thomasnelsoni-20

There is an online web site associated with the book called ‘The Noticer Project’ at:

http://www.thenoticerproject.com/

I haven’t started to read the book yet, but will be doing so today. Certainly the web site looks interesting. The site encourages visitors to think of 1 to 5 people who have played an important role in their lives. You then post a message sharing your thoughts about these people on the site and an email is also sent to those people. The message is meant to be an inspiration and encouragement to others who visit the site.

A quote from the site will perhaps help:

"The Noticer Project is a worldwide movement to "notice" the five most influential people in your life! Noticing those five people can be as private (just a letter or email) or as public (posting to your Facebook page or joining The Noticer Project Facebook group) as you choose, but the movement is meant to encourage us to step outside our busy schedules and avoid waiting until a wedding, graduation or even a funeral to take notice of the special, influential people in our lives. By noticing those who have made a difference for you, you not only acknowledge their contribution, but you may gain a new perspective on your own journey. If you are noticed, you are encouraged to continue the movement by ‘noticing’ five people in your life!"

There is also a Facebook Group that can be joined and ‘The Noticer’ can be followed on Twitter.

The web site has a number of suggestions as to how you can ‘notice’ that important person in your life, be it from writing a private letter, making a donation to a charity in the name of that person, etc.

The site encourages you to notice a person before a birthday or funeral.

Overall, I quite like the concept of noticing others. It certainly has you thinking in a more ‘other-centred’ manner and encourages you to not be so ‘self-centred.’ I wouldn’t try and blend what is a secular concept into a Christian one, but the project does warrant comparisons with many Christian virtues.

Visit the web site by clicking on the banner below:

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