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There are books that you can really get into, and there are books that really get into you. Dr. Mardy Grothe's "Never Let a Fool Kiss You or a Kiss Fool You" is one of the latter. It is a book to be savored like a hearty soup. If you encounter the book or the wonderful web site chiasmus.com as I did, you will come in the door not knowing what a "chiasmus" is, and afterwards you will find examples everywhere. You will even start making them up. There are books one reads for information and others one reads for pleasure. This book is wonderfully informative. As for pleasure, that word is too bland to describe the delights in store for the reader. The knowledge of chiasmus will expand and stretch you, helping you see things you never saw before and challenging you to think in ways you've never thought before. God bless you, Mardy Grothe, for the gift of this book!

I am a scholar and avid fan of Ernest Hemingway. Only after devouring Dr. Mardy's Grothe groundbreaking collection of literary treasures did I realize that Hemingway too employs the chiastic trick in much of his writing. Dr. Grothe's book inspired me to reread many of the author's literary masterpieces as well as his letters and interviews. Sure enough, I found chiasmus popping up here and there in Hemingway's written and spoken statements. I was truly dumbfounded that the author used the technique so frequently. "Never Let a Fool Kiss You or a Kiss Fool You" is an enlightening, expertly selected goldmine of profound insights and immortal truths that is sure to have a significant impact on the way each of us views and uses language. It even prompted me to pen my own chiastic observation in regards to the recent Hemingway centennial: 'Only in the case of Hemingway could the century of the writer be more celebrated than the most celebrated writer of this century.

For the nutshell skip down to ---THE POINT---. If you like to get lost in circular reasoning, by all means read the whole thing. Just be patient if you do; it may seem as if I've gone off on a tangent, but I promise to come full circle. In order to deal with story problems we are taught that mathematical functions have lingual transitions. An example of this is would be: = means "as", and 2 = terms are said to be "like". As with translations between any two languages inevitably something is lost in the transition. In this instance we see that while = means "as" or "like", neither "as" nor "like" means =. In grammar we are taught that "as" and "like" are keywords for simile (which means comparison, from the Latin "similis" meaning similar). Which leads to the next issue; Do the laws of mathematics have a lingual transition? One of the most fundamental laws of math is: A x B = B x A; which would read: the product of A and B is like the product of B and A. While porcelain is the product of heat and clay, the product of heat and clay is not always like porcelain. The heat and the clay must have the same value in order for the comparison to work. I have never learned the English translation for the absolute value sign used in mathematical formulas, but I would imagine it would be "chiastic". Chiasmus seems to imply in its mathematical similarity that it is a capable vehicle for absolute truths. Certainly this book is an insight into truth, or this book is truth into insight, or maybe this truth is a book into insight, perhaps this insight is a book into truth, possibly this insight is truth into a book, or it could be that this truth is insight into a book. I seem to have gotten even myself confused. Lao-Tzu wrote that "He who talks does not know, he who knows does not talk", he also wrote that "The Way of which we are able to speak, is not the Way of which we speak". So why all the words if they are all in vain? The Buddhists have an insightful metaphor (defined by Aristotle as: The intuitive perception of the similarity in dissimilars) for the reason for words despite their futility "fingers pointing at the moon" (the moon symbolizing enlightenment in Buddhism). ------THE POINT?------ Simply that this is a much better book, than this is a review. Dr. Grothe's fingers apparently do a much better job at pointing to the moon than do mine. Where my words have led you deep into the murky waters of samsara, his become the Jewel in the lotus and the lotus in the Jewel. I hope I haven't driven you away from what truly is an inspired book. *** P.S. Sorry Mardy, I had to, Jer.1:7