About the author, from the back of the dust jacket: "Dovid Landesman made aliyah in 1972. A graduate of Mesifta Torah Vodaath in Brooklyn and Yeshivas Beis ha-Talmud in Jerusalem, he holds a B. A. from Queens College and an M.S. from Long Island University. A translator and editor in both Hebrew and English, he recently published Rinah shel Torah--The Commentary of the Netziv to Shir ha-Shirim--and is currently at work on a new English translation and commentary to Ein Yaakov. He also teaches Talmud and Navi at Midreshet ha-Galil, a yeshivah high school for gifted Russian students in Migdal ha-Emek. He. . .currently [resides] in Kfar Chassidim, Israel. . .. About the book, from the dust jacket: [This book} is a basic reference work that answers the who, what, when, where, and why of Torah literature. . .. The first part. . .relates to the literature of the Talmud, [giving a general outline of that work] and proceeding to examine the various commentaries printed alongside the Talmud. Part two. . .deals with the literature of halachah, covering the era of the geonim through the contemporary period." Part three. . ."includes those works that are not included in the Talmud or in the halachic codes but that are an integral part of the development of both the Talmud and halachic literature. . .The fourth part deals with the structure of the Talmud itself and [gives] the reader a guide to understand the how and why of talmudic dialogue."