I read a couple of books this past month that I recommend for your consideration. One concerns contemporary U.S. relations with the Islamic culture, the other our relations with the cosmos.

The Mighty and the Almighty by Madeleine Albright, Secretary of State during the Clinton administration. This is an important book for anyone seeking some clarification of the Islam-Jewish-Christian relationship, particularly the fundamentalist arms of those religions. She says, "People of diverse nations and faiths ought to be able to live in harmony." Does she believe we can? In her words, "I am an optimist who worries a lot."

The View from the Center of the Universe is written by Joel Primack, a professor of physics, and his wife Nancy Ellen Abrams, former Fulbright scholar with a special interest in history and philosophy. For a decade they have been co-teaching a course at the University of California, Santa Cruz, titled "Cosmology and Culture."' The central thesis of their book supports the theory the universe began with a Big Bang and will continue to expand endlessly. How humans use their intelligence will determine how long they will be participants in this phenomena. This book is a good balance of science and philosophy.

--Flo Wineriter