Enhancing CAD Drawings with Photoshop

Book Description

"If you're an architect looking to get the most out of Photoshop, look no further! Enhancing CAD Drawings with Photoshop is a killer book."
—George Omura, Author, Mastering AutoCAD 2005 and AutoCAD LT 2005

Bring Your CAD Drawings to Life Using Artistic Photoshop Techniques

Most architects find that traditional CAD drawings are not the ideal medium for sharing their visions with clients. For an untrained eye, it's difficult to imagine a complex design by simply viewing a line drawing. Fortunately, you can use Adobe Photoshop to enliven CAD drawings and improve graphical communications.

Enhancing CAD Drawings with Photoshop is the first book to demonstrate how you can use Photoshop to transform CAD drawings into dynamic, attractive presentational pieces that speak to everyone. First, you'll master the basic Photoshop concepts and tools. Then you delve into sophisticated illustrating and compositing techniques. Practical tutorials lead you step-by-step through each process, and a full-color insert featuring before-and-after images is certain to inspire you with ideas and solutions. While appealing to the artist in you, this unique book will empower you to win bids and wow clients.

Inside, you'll learn how to:

Plan your work flow to ensure consistent color printing
Work in the digital darkroom and hone your retouching skills
Extract entourage objects from photographs and use them in architectural illustrations, renderings, plans, and elevations
Enhance your line drawings with color, pattern, gradient, transparency, and shadows
Dress up basic elevations using Photoshop's layer style effects, reflection and refraction, and entourage
Transfer 3D objects from Autodesk VIZ into image layers in Photoshop
Make objects look realistic using layers and clipping groups
Transform 3D models into pencil sketches, watercolors, and paintings
Share your digital work with your clients via prints, e-mail, the Web, and slideshows
Protect and catalog your intellectual property

Note: CD-ROM/DVD and other supplementary materials are not included as part of eBook file.

Customer Reviews:

Useful, but ..........2007-06-21

First of all, if your life involves CAD and Photoshop, you should probably buy this book: It's very useful. Part of the reason it's useful is because there are not a lot books on this subject.

One of the greatest features about this book is its greatest flaw: the enclosed LISP program that turns AutoCad layers into Photoshop layers. What promise that has! It works great with the tiny 8.5 x11 drawings on the enclosed disc. But when you try to use that with a real drawing, say in 36" by 24" format, the drawing crashes.

Great tips.......2007-05-09

I thought I knew Photoshop but I was wrong. I borrowed this book from the library but it was so good I decided to buy it.

Excellant book.......2005-06-23

I am very very pleased with this book. It is exactly what I have been looking for. I first purchased a DVD by the same author called *Photoshop for Architects* which I felt was so well done that I decided to buy the book. Having both is a real asset for they work in unison. Buying the book and the DVD, in my opinion, is a necessity. Each stands alone but they compliment each other. The DVD provides comprehensive coverage without going into every small detail. The book parallels the same information on the DVD but goes into greater detail. I am Architecturally educated but with limited computer experience and I have only recently purchased a first ADOBE product which is ADOBE CS. I imagine this book would be an excellent tool for anyone new to PS no matter what the intended use of PS will eventually be. The book starts with some general, but relevant, tech info without scientific overload. It step by step moves one through a real project from beginning to end so you learn most of the tools, how to set things up, various ways of accomplishing the same things and what to do in finishing out a project. I consider the presentation style to be superb for learning.

I am currently working my way through a real project and learning a lot which has not easily come together for me, in total, when reading other books which explain how to do this or that little thing but seem unrelated, in a comprehensive way, to a total project of substance. Working from and by referencing back to the CD that comes with the book and the separately available DVD, I feel that I have more quickly learned and also taken an interest in certain important basics. I have learned many tools very quickly, discovered alternate ways of doing things (plus reason why) which causes me to realize the value of investigating multiple PS capabilities, reasons for things needing to be done in specific ways and the limitations of doing things in cetain ways etc. I like the fact that I can use the book and DVD to step through a real project from beginning to completion.

This book and DVD is the best and most enjoyable learning tool I have found for learning PS and I have looked at many and purchased all from Adobe that relate to each part of Adobe CS. What this author offers is exactly what we have been looking for and I am hoping he will be creating similar documents for Adobe Illustrator and other Adobe products (for Architects) as our interest and abilities develop. If anything better exist I sure would like to know what it is.

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Enhancing Cad Drawings With Photoshop
Scott Onstott
Manufacturer: NY
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Adobe Photoshop | Digital Photography & Video | Computers & Internet | Subjects | Books
ASIN: B000N7I7JQ

Book Description

Today, illustration appears in design-related projects in a wide range of styles. One can find drawings done fleetingly by hand just as often as polished vector graphics created on computers. Motifs are not only being produced in pencil, chalk, airbrush and marker but also by mixing media, for example by combining illustration, photography and wallpaper. But when so many alluring possibilities currently exist in illustration, how can one stay up to date and how should one evaluate new developments?

Illusive is a collection of contemporary illustration from around the world that addresses the variety of existing techniques and puts them into context with explanatory text. It features personal designs alongside fashion illustration and commercial work produced for books or magazines - a diversity that reveals how the medium of illustration functions independently from trends. At the same time the book is also a survey of current tendencies and design approaches. Features introducing leading protagonists supplement the examples shown.

The fact that it presents manifold methods by such a broad spectrum of international designers side by side makes Illusive stimulating and educational reading for the professional illustrator.

Customer Reviews:

Absolutely Amazing.......2007-05-04

This book is better than I expected, way better. Illusive has become a bottomless well of inspiration to me. Some of the art is a little out there and impractical, but thats what's great about this book. The art is both cutting edge and simple at times. My favorite chapter is the one that covers handmade elements combined with digital elements. If you're into cutting edge art and want to expand your skill set buy this book ASAP!!!!

A must have!.......2007-05-01

For all illustrators and designers!
This book is a must have.
It contains the most amazing collection of art works.
I am graphic designer and illustrator.
This book gives me tons of inspirations.
I highly recommend to add this book to your collection.

GORGEOUS!.......2007-01-05

I bought this book along with the "Bologna Annual Illustrators of Children's Books" catalogue and leave both of them on my coffee table. The illustrations as well as graphic artwork for anything from books to band posters and advertisements are beautiful and very inspiring. I find myself sitting on the couch flipping through it regularly. Well worth the money!

Great Compendium of Illustration.......2006-11-10

Anything you need to stay up-to-date with the most recent works on the field of illustration.

SIMPLY THE BEST COMPILATION OF ILLUSTRATIONS EVER !.......2006-08-06

Amazing pics, great essays a lot of reference! one of the you must see of this year!

Illusive 2: Contemporary Illustration and Its Context

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Illusive 2: Contemporary Illustration and Its Context
R. Klanten , and H. Hellige
Manufacturer: Dgv
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Instructional & How-To | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

General | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 3899551915

Book Description

In Illusive we identified the main trends in contemporary illustration and introduced many young illustrators. Since then, the demand for illustration has continued to grow - and with it the range of application and the forms of expression in this medium. This positive development is confirmed by the exciting work of international illustrators that we have seen since publishing Illusive; it was thus a logical step to present the best of these new works in Illusive 2.

Illusive 2 is a survey of current illustration from around the world; unlike other titles on this subject, all of the work was selected for inclusion based solely on its artistic merit. The book reveals a trend toward Neo-Realism that is demonstrated by the willingness of today's magazines to use illustration in almost the same way as photography. In general, the illustrations featured in Illusive 2 have become more differentiated and complex - the spontaneous-looking scribbles of years past have given way to elaborate, multi-layered collages. The variety of styles and new design approaches is impressive.

Illusive 2 includes a broad range of illustrations including personal artistic work, fashion illustration and commercial projects, revealing a diversity that shows how this design discipline functions independently of fickle fashion trends. At the same time, the book outlines current developments and the many design approaches that coexist today. Because it is hard to keep an overview amid such a wealth of material, texts and interviews with leading design agencies provide context and give surprising insights into techniques, methods and motivations.

Book Description

"This book takes you to places you think you don't want to enter, to people you think you don't want to meet, to lives you think you don't want to live--and makes you rethink all your assumptions. It reveals the tremendous strength and humanity of those who are usually ignored. And as you pay attention, your own humanity expands."
---Susan Stamberg, special correspondent, National Public Radio

In its heyday, close to one hundred thousand men found shelter each night in flophouses along America's largest and most infamous skid row, the Bowery. Today, only a handful of flops are left, their tiny five- and ten-dollar-a-night rooms home to fewer than a thousand men, mostly long-time residents. In a handful of years, this world will be gone.

In Flophouse, documentarians David Isay and Stacy Abramson and photographer Harvey Wang chronicle this vanishing world through the voices and portraits of a number of those residents, interspersed with photographs of their surroundings. The men come from all manner of backgrounds, and the rich variety of the tales they tell is a testament to the number of ways the bottom can fall out of life in America, even in prosperous times. This book warrants comparison with Walker Evans and James Agee's Let Us Now Praise Famous Men, but the authors were inspired most directly by Joseph Mitchell, who wrote about some of these same flophouses with an honest warmth and an acceptance of life as it's found. Shimmering with humanity and utterly devoid of false sentiment, Flophouse is a powerful reminder that even on the margins, life defies all attempts at reduction.

Customer Reviews:

Very Interesting.......2005-12-09

The book portrays life at the bottom. It surely shows not all of the men are crazy, drug and alcohol abusers. Some of them through the ups and downs in life never choose to go up again, or maybe to try up again. This may have been decided in a purposeful way or possibly life just became to heavy a load to bear, only they know. I was impressed with how many of them were completly content with their life and were willing to live out their days as they were. We should never judge unless we have been there so lets wish them luck and leave them alone.

a GLIMPSE into the life of flophouses.......2004-06-05

Flophouse Life on the Bowery showcases 4 cheap hotels in the Bowery district of New York City. These places are rented out by men & they are a cubicle type room the size of a jail cell. About 100 to 200 men live side by side in these little rooms in 4 or 5 story buildings that are built over a restaurant or some other kind of business. There's a community bathroom. The book explores 4 hotels & a few residents of each. Most of these people stay inside all day & watch tv, sleep, eat, & get drunk or do heroin. The subject of flophouses is interesting, however, this book really lacked substance. There wasn't enough information about the history of the hotels or the residents. It didn't devote much space to the people who own these hotels or the people who work there. Each page has a picture of one of the residents, his name, room number, & his "story" or any statements he wanted to make. Some of them were only a couple of paragraphs long! It's just a glimpse into their lives & doesn't offer any solutions to the problems these people face either.

One paycheck away..........2002-06-17

The reason we are so drawn to (and, in the same breath, repulsed by) books such as this one is that they show us the truth that is locked up inside of us. They present a side of reality many do not see in pursuit of the paycheck running from the fears presented in this book. And, yes, the reasons why they are at the 'flophouse' is infinitely complicated.

The photos are stunning and the stories are minimalist which has a gripping effect. The photos and the stories open up a world that is almost mythical. Penetrating is the word that comes to mind.

Study them, feel them, connect with them, learn to love them. But do not judge them and do not run from them. Hold onto them and, in the midst of our bustle and struggle, keep them dear in our hearts. And, if one is so compelled reach out, not as veoyeurs, but with compassion, sharing with, realizing that our human wholeness is dependent upon such individuals as these whose lives may be unlike anything we could imagine.

For only when we are willing to get 'real' and walk in the valley of the shadow of death, and this with others, can we ever really become human. These characters are but a shadow of aspects of our own selves.

Eye-Opening.......2002-02-04

Turn away. Turn quickly away. My first instinct upon glancing at this title was consistent with Middle Class America's natural reaction to social despair. Cautiously intrigued, I reached to the top shelf in my suburban neighborhood's local library, and pulled down into my comfortable suburban world an enlightening pictorial in brief. With mixed horror and wonder, increasingly awed at these victims of circumstances, reading "Flophouse: Life on the Bowery" was a real look, a first look, into sunken faces and disheveled lives. Black and white photos say the thousand words their subjects never will. The human condition, bare, innate, is plainly presented without pretense or censoring. How very similar, how frighteningly normal, were the lives of these men before the loss of job, wife, or sanity deposited them here, teetering on the brink between life and death, heaven and hell, New York City's Bowery. Read this book, count your blessings and your spare dimes.

Flophouses.......2001-12-21

I live in a modern day "flophouse", but it is a palace by comparison to the Bowery beaus. Marginalized by themselves and society, many still find community and purpose in their shared
space. Some do not make it out alive. Most seem to have given up on big dreams but it's the little ones (like the shoeshiner) who states that if one of us can make it, we can all make it. I love reading about of these mens' lives, but I also admit to an uneasiness that they will never leave the relative safety of a flophouse. That this is the best there is for many of them, and watching them adjust to these facts in each vignette is tender.

Book Description

Not only does your dad know what every kid everywhere is doing, but he also expects you to adhere to stricter rules than anyone else! Jingle Belle doesn't let it faze her, however - she's far too intent on having a good time for that! Yet, when the holidays roll around, she's determined to prove she's her father's child and help spread Christmas cheer. Little does she know, though, that she's going to be responsible for unleashing the greatest threat to Christmas ever! The Blizzard Wizard has been lying in wait, biding his time to get his malicious power back - the snow globe Santa took from him years ago. He tricks Jing into bringing it to him, and when the Blizzard Wizard kidnaps her dad and all of his elfin employees, it's up to Jing to trick him back and make sure kids all over the world get presents under their trees! This edition features an exclusive new color story painted by Lawrence Marvit, the creator of Sparks.

Book Description

Blends vivid personal accounts and sophisticated theoretical analysis to make a compelling book about one teacher's experience teaching on an Athabascan Indian Reservation in Alaska.

Using the author's intensely personal, reflective, provocative account of his time teaching on an Athabascan Indian Reservation in Alaska, Words in the Wilderness uniquely draws together individual experience and difficult abstract theory to make an educational, inspiring, and thought-provoking work.

Book Description

Bobby Robson's road to success has been marked by his determination and love for soccer. Starting his working career as a Newcastle miner and amateur, he rose from the ranks to play for England. After his playing career was over, he made the natural progression towards management, building Ipswich up from a struggling side to championship contenders. He took England to the 1990 World Cup semis, only losing on penalties, a feat that earned him the respect of the nation.

Bobby Robson: My Autobiography, an Englishman Abroad

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Bobby Robson: My Autobiography, an Englishman Abroad
Bobby Robson
Manufacturer: Pan Books Ltd
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
ASIN: B000KZ3XOK

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My Autobiography: An Englishman Abroad
Bobby; Harris, Bob Robson
Manufacturer: Pan Books Limited
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OUGHK8

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Fascinating ...

A Disneyesque view of the world

lions, penguins and bears, oh my

Thought-provoking and bold

Speculations testable and untestable

The Emperor's Embrace: Reflections on Animal Families and Fatherhood
Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson
Manufacturer: Washington Square Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Fatherhood | Family Relationships | Parenting & Families | Subjects | Books
General | Parenting & Families | Subjects | Books
General | Animals | Biological Sciences | Science | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

Dogs Never Lie About Love : Reflections on the Emotional World of Dogs

The Pig Who Sang to the Moon: The Emotional World of Farm Animals

ASIN: 0671020846
Release Date: 2001-05-01

Book Description

With captivating writing and impeccable research, controversial psychoanalyst and New York Times bestselling author Jeffrey Masson offers a remarkable look at one of the most fulfilling roles in the animal world: fatherhood. In The Emperor's Embrace, he showcases the extraordinary behavior of outstanding fathers, heroes among animals, including:

the emperor penguin, who incubates the eggs of his young by holding them on his feet for two months
the wolf -- and why wolves make good fathers, whereas dogs don't
the marmoset, the South American monkey that carries his babies for the first two years of their lives wherever he goes.

Masson also examines nature's worst fathers: lions, langurs, bears -- and humans. He shows that when a father does care for his young, as does the beaver, we immediately look for a biological and not an emotional explanation. But Masson demonstrates that for these animals -- as with humans -- fatherhood is a profound, all-encompassing experience. Compelling and inspirational, The Emperor's Embrace is a book that will forever change our perceptions of parenthood and family love.

Download Description

With remarkable insight, impeccable research, and captivating writing, controversial psychoanalyst Jeffrey Masson, a new father himself, introduces us to the world's best dads. He takes us to such places as Antarctica, as he explores how Emperor penguin fathers incubate the eggs of their young by carrying them around on their feet for two months, nestled beneath a special brood pouch. He also showcases the extraordinary behavior of other outstanding fathers, heroes among animals, including the wolf, the beaver, the sea horse, and the marmoset. Masson points out that when a father does care for his young, we Immediately look for a biological and not an emotional explanation. But he demonstrates that for these animals, as with humans, fatherhood is a profound, all-encompassing experience.

Groundbreaking, compelling, and inspirational, Masson's unique look at one of nature's most venerable Institutions takes us to animal habitats around the world, yet always returns to the heart. For animal lovers, fathers, mothers, sons, and daughters everywhere, The Emperor's Embrace is a book that will forever change perceptions of parenthood and family love.

Customer Reviews:

Fascinating ..........2007-05-05

I've read the reviews after I picked this book up from a friend. With two sons who are very interested in animals (especially penguins) ~~ I thought, this would be an interesting read. It is very interesting and very fascinating ~~ but also very choppily written, especially towards the end of the book where I had to re-read paragraphs several times to make sure I didn't miss his point (he kept jumping back and forth with different animal fathers while talking about one "main" character and its flaws).

I have always wondered just what goes on in the animal kingdom. It is a mystery to me and the timing of my reading this book is just in time with the Discovery's "Planet Earth" series (which I highly recommend to watch, by the way!). I never knew that male fishes carried their eggs and children in their mouths to protect them from predators. I knew vaguely that wolves are awesome fathers and lions aren't. It is all very fascinating from that point of view ~~ but when he started to explain his psychological viewpoints, it got muddied and confusing. I do believe there is a lot more going on in this world that we can't explain ~~ and observing animals is just one of the many mysteries that are very fascinating for me, but I can't take every word this author has written as a literal grain of truth. He writes convincingly of animal behavior but then extends his research without really providing the facts that has been proven.

If he had stuck to what scientists and sociologists have studied and written over the years, as well as his personal observations about animal behavior, especially male/father behavior, it would make for a great book ~~ but instead he had to muddy it up with his own theories and that led to my confusion as they weren't really well-written nor thought-out arguments. It is very educational and very fascinating (I never knew half of these things that male animals do to protect their young!) ~~ and it would be something I'd recommend to my sons when they're older, as long as they know that it's not a complete scientific book. Who wouldn't want to read about male fathers in the animal kingdom?

5-5-07

A Disneyesque view of the world.......2007-02-03

This book is also published as 'The Evolution of Fatherhood'.

Near the end of this book, when faced yet again with infanticide, Masson says 'But it seems that the more we learn, the more our ideals, or in any event our fantasies, about the harmonious life of animals are toppled'. Yet he still holds fast to his ideals and fantasies.

With very few examples of fathering in mammals Masson has to rely largely on fish, frogs and birds. He wants us to believe that these animals experience life much as we do. I wondered what he would make of, for example, the little angler fish male that melts permanently into the body of the large female leaving little more than gonads to fertilize her eggs. What thoughts and feelings could this fish have?

When he says things such as parents feeding a cuckoo in their nest might be thinking 'This big chick may not be mine, but I like him, and I am going to feed him anyway', it will make evolutionary scientists laugh, cringe or despair.

Masson wants to encourage human fathers to be good fathers but he is looking at evolution without understanding natural selection so cannot be taken too seriously. He often talks of individuality and variation without seeming to realize that variation is precisely what natural selection acts upon - though perhaps it is a valid point that not enough attention is paid to the present-day individuality of animals on which selection will still be acting.

Masson does recognize the correlation between monogamy and the lack of sexual dimorphism and fathering. He is clearly greatly impressed by fathering when it does exist but seems to think it involves heroism or joyful experience - ie choice - rather than a selected adaptation.

I am far from convinced by his argument that human males are not concerned about paternity certainty. Also by his statement that there is no chapter on the missing ape father because it would not be interesting. On the contrary, it would be very interesting to read his views on why our closest relatives have 'chosen' not to experience the joys of fatherhood.

Masson ends with the view that Darwin himself held - the continuity with humans in the emotional and mental life of animals. Clearly humans have evolved and there can only be continuity. But Masson's Disneyesque view of life is over the top and can probably do little to change human fathering in the real world.

lions, penguins and bears, oh my.......2001-08-06

This book should be discussed from two views: (1) those steeped in evolutionary theory and animal behavior and (2) those not. Those from the first camp will find many faults in the author's evolutionary arguments, but might profit from taking some of the criticisms to heart. For instance, the author sees emotional explanations for paternal care (maybe the penguin dad feels love for the egg he keeps warm: how to test this?) as alternatives to evolutionary explanations when, if the capacity for such emotions exists, they can be seen as the products of evolution (promoting a bond between father and offspring). In other words, the author poorly integrates what biologists refer to as ultimate (evolutionary function) with proximate (emotions, thoughts, physiology) perspectives. On the other hand, Masson's criticisms of evolutionary perspectives--Why not a greater focus on individual differences vs. species-typical behaviors? Why not always a clean fit between the expectations of paternity certainty, kin recognition theory, kin selection theory, etc.?--merit reflection. To non-specialists, there's more to recommend this book. Masson's accounts of non-human animal fathers are passionate, humane and sometimes beautifully written. Under one cover, one can find an ode to the penguin father, discussion of caring canids, marvel at fish (e.g. mouthbrooding)and frog dads, consider "dangerour fathers" such as bears and lions, ponder monogamy, including that prevalent among birds, focus on paternity certainty, prairie dogs and watching one's offspring leave. That's a lot, and the result is more piecemeal than integrated. If anything, this book warmly conveys the study and thought of non-human fathers, but asks for another book to better integrate examples and adequately apply an evolutionary perspective.

Thought-provoking and bold.......2001-07-11

While it is true that Masson asserts some claims in this book that are not yet proven at this point, he also states right away that he IS NOT a scientist. He is however, an amazing author and researcher. Every claim he asserts, while perhaps not backed by biology (yet) is followed by several extremely convincing examples. he has wonderful insight and some delightful thoughts and theories on animal behavior that the scientific community would do well to explore. Because Masson is not limited to the rules of scientific hypotheses, he has the ability to ask, not only "Why?", but also "Why not?" He reminds us that just because something has not YET been proven, does not mean its impossible. We discover new truths everyday. Read this book. Read what he has to say. Allow yourself to consider the possibilities. Ask yourself "Why not?" Then form your own opinion. This book may lead you to think in new directions, even if it convinces you of nothing else.

Speculations testable and untestable.......2001-02-13

When I saw the paperback edition of this book in a Shanghai bookstore, I was attracted by its subtitle: Fatherhood in Evolution. It turned out that the author may have read some books about evolutionary psychology and talked to scientists in the field, but in his book he does not discuss their findings and theses. On the contrary, The Emperor's Embrace is part of the backlash against evolutionary psychology - and it is not a convincing example of that kind of writing.

Masson, who received a Ph.D in Sanskrit from Harvard University and later trained as a Freudian psychologist in Toronto, starts from a laudable premise that reminds me of a bumper-sticker slogan used in motivational seminars: if you can conceive it, you can achieve it. In Masson's words: "we cannot test what we fail to imagine". Very true. Scientists must come up with creative ideas before they can put them to the test. And testable they should be, as Niko Tinbergen, one of the founders of ethology (the study of animal behavior) stressed: "because subjective phenomena cannot be observed objectively in animals, it is idle either to claim or to deny their existence".

Masson's favorite ideas which he presents in "The Emperor's Embrace" are: (1) animals may feel the same emotions as humans, (2) animals may be able to exercise conscious choice, (3) emotions may determine animal behavior to a larger extent than genetic disposition, (4) it makes sense to define what is "natural" for an animal species. He is very careful to stress that these ideas are just possibilities which science should not rule out (note the word "may"). To give a couple of examples from the text: (1) "these are the emotions that humans would feel in such circumstances; I can see no good reason to deny them to penguins", (2) "not every male lion kills cubs. Individual behavior certainly suggests, to me at least, individual choice", (3) "tales of animals who form deep friendships across the species barrier ... remind us of the primacy of feelings, of the powerful forces mobilized by sorrow and love and compassion, a power that can even defy the very bedrock of evolutionary logic", (4) "by and large, I think attempting to determine what is truly natural is a worthy goal. We can then always choose to alter our behavior once we know what is natural, whereas if we don't know, we will make false claims resulting in behavior that is much more difficult to change."

I personally think no scientist should attribute human emotions to animals because not only do I agree with Tinbergen, but also because as long as we cannot define what an "emotion" is in a human being we should not try in an animal. A similar argument applies to the problem of free will. Free will is a purely subjective category, a human "user illusion", if you want. As long as an animal does not tell me that it thinks it has free will, I see no reason to assume it actually thinks it has free will. The primacy of emotions over genetic disposition is also an untestable thesis as long as we can not clearly separate the parts of the emotional structure of a human being which are determined either by genes or by learning (the "nature or nurture" debate). Finally, I think it is time to throw the word "natural" on the dump heap of scientific debate. There is no such thing as a "natural" behavior. Behavior results from the interaction of a body with its environment. The body is a very complex issue (ask biologists, chemists and psychologists) and the environment is, too (ask sociologists, anthropologists, economists, historians, etc.). It is simply not possible to determine what "natural" is and then base "good" behavior on that definition. By the way, the "noble savage" which results from that kind of thinking belongs to the 18th century - and there he should remain.

If you like to see animals as human (they may not look like us, but they feel like us...), and if you need to convince yourself that it is "natural" to be a good father - another argument of the book - go ahead, read it. If you think animals should be treated on their own terms, and if you have no doubts about your abilities as a father - don't read it.

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The Emperor's Embrace : Reflections on Animal Families and Fatherhood
Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson
Manufacturer: Pocket Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000GQFLT8

Average customer rating:
The Emperor's Embrace: Reflections on Animal Families and Fatherhood
Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson
Manufacturer: Pocket Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000GZUQTY

Book Description

Irene Gendzier's critically acclaimed, wide-reaching analysis of post-World War II U.S. policy in Lebanon posits that the politics of oil and pipelines figured far more significantly in U.S. relations with Lebanon than previously believed. In 1958 the United States sent thousands of troops to shore up the Lebanese regime in the face of domestic opposition and civil war. The justification was preventing a coup in Iraq, but recently declassified documents show that the true objective was to protect America's commercial, political, and strategic interests in Beirut and the Middle East. By reevaluating U.S.-Lebanese relations within the context of America's collaborative intervention with the Lebanese ruling elite, Gendzier aptly demonstrates how oil, power, and politics drove U.S. policy and influenced the development of the state and the region. Featuring a new introduction in which Gendzier discusses the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003 and the remarkable continuity of U.S. foreign policy from 1945 to the present, Notes from the Minefield continues to be the standard text on this topic.

Customer Reviews:

Hidden Histories.......2006-12-15

Irene Gendzier's work on U.S. intervention in Lebanon is a detailed historical analysis of an often neglected problem. Gendzier focuses on the motivations of the all the major players, and brings out the economic dimensions of U.S. policy in an era in which security was often viewed as the only or overriding concern. Her examination of U.S. oil policy in this period foreshadows her later work on the 2003 Iraq War. Though this book can be dry at times, I recommend it for anyone interested in the politics of oil and U.S.-Middle East relations. Not many other works on the Middle East give the Lebanon intervention the spotlight it deserves.

Notes from the Minefield: United States Intervention in Lebanon and the Middle East, 1945-1958.(Review) (book reviews): An article from: Canadian Journal of History

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Notes from the Minefield: United States Intervention in Lebanon and the Middle East, 1945-1958.(Review) (book reviews): An article from: Canadian Journal of History
Antonio Donno
Manufacturer: University of Saskatchewan
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

Lebanon | Middle East | History | Subjects | Books

Book Description

This digital document is an article from Canadian Journal of History, published by University of Saskatchewan on August 1, 1999. The length of the article is 870 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Notes from the Minefield: United States Intervention in Lebanon and the Middle East, 1945-1958.(Review) (book reviews)
Author: Antonio Donno
Publication: Canadian Journal of History (Refereed)
Date: August 1, 1999
Publisher: University of Saskatchewan
Volume: 34 Issue: 2 Page: 328

Article Type: Book Review

Distributed by Thomson Gale

Notes from the Minefield: United States Intervention in Lebanon and the Middle East, 1945-1958 / Irene L. Gendzier; With a New Preface

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Notes from the Minefield: United States Intervention in Lebanon and the Middle East, 1945-1958 / Irene L. Gendzier; With a New Preface

Manufacturer: Not Avail
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: 0231511604

Book Description

However swiftly it passes, youth is always with us, a perpetual passing phase, an apprenticeship to the myriad ways of the world, subject of panegyrics and diatribes, romances and cautionary tales from antiquity to our day. This two-volume history is the first to present a comprehensive account of what youth has been in the West and what it has meant through the ages. Brought together by Giovanni Levi and Jean-Claude Schmitt, a company of gifted historians and social scientists traces the changing character and status of young people from the gymnasia of ancient Greece to the lycées of modern France, from the sweatshops of the industrial revolution to the crucibles of Nazi youth.

Monumental in its scope, minute in its attention to detail, A History of Young People takes us into the sensational rituals surrounding youth in Roman antiquity (such as the Lupercalia, with its nudity and whipping) and into the chivalric trials awaiting the privileged young of the Middle Ages. Elisabeth Crouzet-Pavan and Michel Pastoureau explore the elusive question of what defines youth, a concept that over time has reached from infancy to the age of forty. Elliott Horowitz and Renata Ago consider the young in the context of the family--within the different worlds of European Judaism and Catholicism through the Renaissance. Sabina Loriga takes us through three centuries of military experience to temper and complicate our assumptions about the youthful face of war. Michelle Perrot focuses on working-class youth, and Jean-Claude Caron on the young at school. The obedient and the rebellious are here, the cherished and the sacrificed, the children catapulted into adult responsibility, the adults who have yet to forsake the protections of childhood. What emerges in this history as never before is a vast, richly textured picture of youth as a changing constant of culture, society, economics, politics, and art, and as a uniquely complex experience of acculturation in every life.

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