John Calvin's Institutes is one of the great classics of Christian theology. Now, at the 500th anniversary of Calvin's birth, a leading Calvin expert offers an affordable guide to reading the Institutes (keyed to the McNeill/Battles translation). The book includes selected readings and annotations to offer a streamlined introduction to the heart of Calvin's theology. Dividing the Institutes into thirty-two portions, the author has chosen an average of eighteen pages to be read from each to cover the whole range of the Institutes. The notes guide readers through the text, concentrating on the sections chosen for reading and summarizing the material. An introduction and questions at the beginning of each portion direct the reader's attention to important points....

Anthony Lane on Con Air—

“Advance word on Con Air said that it was all about an airplane with an unusually dangerous and potentially lethal load. Big deal. You should try the lunches they serve out of Newark. Compared with the chicken napalm I ate on my last flight, the men in Con Air are about as dangerous as balloons.”

Anthony Lane on The Bridges of Madison County—

“I got my copy at the airport, behind a guy who was buying Playboy’s Book of Lingerie, and I think he had the better deal. He certainly looked happy with his purchase, whereas I had to ask for a paper bag.”

Anthony Lane on Martha Stewart—

“Super-skilled, free of fear, the last word in human efficiency, Martha Stewart is the woman who convinced a million Americans that they have the time, the means, the right, and—damn it—the duty to pipe a little squirt of soft cheese into the middle of a snow pea, and to continue piping until there are ‘fifty to sixty’ stuffed peas raring to go.”

For ten years, Anthony Lane has delighted New Yorker readers with his film reviews, book reviews, and profiles that range from Buster Keaton to Vladimir Nabokov to Ernest Shackleton. Nobody’s Perfect is an unforgettable collection of Lane’s trademark wit, satire, and insight that will satisfy both the long addicted and the not so familiar....