"A Handbook of the Scottish Gaelic World" is be an extremely interesting read. Dr Newton has succeeded in combining his wealth of information with an accessible style of writing. The chapters are "Thinking about Culture", "A Gaelic History of Scotland", "Gaelic Oral Tradition", "The Organization of Society", "The Operation of Society", "Nature and Ecology", "Landscape and Culture", "Language", "Belief, Tradition, and Science" and "Past and Future Prospects". Not only are all the facts well-founded (the bibliography stretches over 11 pages!) and substantiated by numerous quotations and excerpts from original Gaelic poems, but the author also incorporates his personal thoughts about issues like the meaning of culture in general, changes in language, modern society and technology and its consequences for the individual and the community, to name but a few.
Dr Newton's book is at the same time informative, interesting and thought-provoking, and absolutely recommendable to anyone seriously interested in Scottish Gaelic culture.

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