This is Charleston;: A survey of the architectural heritage of a unique American city undertaken by the Charleston Civic Services Committee

Average customer rating:
This is Charleston;: A survey of the architectural heritage of a unique American city undertaken by the Charleston Civic Services Committee
Samuel Gaillard Stoney
Manufacturer: Published by the Carolina Art Association for the Charleston Civic Services Committee
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding
ASIN: B0006AQKOE

Average customer rating:
This is Charleston: A survey of the architectural heritage of a unique American city
Samuel Gaillard Stoney
Manufacturer: Carolina Art Association
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

General | Architecture | Professional & Technical | Subjects | Books
ASIN: B0006CV7OK

Average customer rating:
Portraits of Nature: Paintings by Robert Bateman
Stanwyn G. Shetler
Manufacturer: Viking Pr
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Painting | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
General | Exhibition Catalogs | Museums | Museums & Collections | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
Wildlife | Conservation | Outdoors & Nature | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

Birds Birds

An Artist In Nature

The World Of Robert Bateman

ASIN: 0874748399

Average customer rating:
Portraits Of Nature - Paintings By Robert Bateman
Robert; Shetler, Stanwyn G. Bateman
Manufacturer: Smithsonian Institution
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000TQ2QH0

Average customer rating:
Portraits of Nature: Paintings By Robert Bateman
Robert Bateman
Manufacturer: Smithsonian
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000VBALA2

Average customer rating:
Portraits of Nature: Paintings by Robert Bateman.
STANWYN G. SHETLER
Manufacturer: See notes
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000RQMMIK

Book Description

This third book in the Corporate Environmental Management series examines the sorts of strategies which companies can put into place to make their performance more consistent with the concept of sustainable development - taking into account the impacts of free trade and globalization. The book:
Tackles the nature of the international economic order - and the efficacy of free trade and globalization;
outlines strategies for managers, researchers, academics and students to achieve operations consistent with sustainable development;
Provides accounts of best practice and relevant practical guidance;
Offers substantial references to leading articles in the field.

Book Description

The world and humanity are changing at an unprecedented rate. This book explores the processes that underlie this changing but coherent canvas. What is fueling them? What is driving them? Can we control them? Mankind has always found ways to order life so as to reduce uncertainty and has sought to enhance the wellbeing of individuals, peoples and nations. In the modern and postmodern world, business and enterprise play a big role. Their tendency towards globalization needs to be understood and harnessed, not opposed out of hand or wished away, particularly because the tendency has not yet fully worked itself out. For sound understanding it is necessary to avoid seeing the issues through the eyes of one particular discipline. Hence this book also draws on material from history, anthropology, development economics, ICT, sociology and political science to help the reader gain insight into the processes that are occurring. It provides a signpost towards a new dynamic, in an increasingly integrated world, in which we observe an emergent form of globalization affecting the planet as a whole and the future of the people on it.

Book Description

In the last decades of the nineteenth century, the United States underwent an extremely rapid industrial expansion that moved the nation into the front ranks of the world economy. At the same time, the nation maintained democratic institutions as the primary means of allocating political offices and power. As the combination of robust democratic institutions and rapid industrialization is rarely found in world history, this book explains how economic development and democracy coexisted in the United States during industrialization.

The Political Economy of American Industrialization, 1877-1900.(Book Review): An article from: Journal of Southern History

Average customer rating:

The Political Economy of American Industrialization, 1877-1900.(Book Review): An article from: Journal of Southern History
Terry L. Seip
Manufacturer: Southern Historical Association
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital
ASIN: B0008G86G6
Release Date: 2005-07-30

Book Description

This digital document is an article from Journal of Southern History, published by Southern Historical Association on February 1, 2003. The length of the article is 829 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: The Political Economy of American Industrialization, 1877-1900.(Book Review)
Author: Terry L. Seip
Publication: Journal of Southern History (Refereed)
Date: February 1, 2003
Publisher: Southern Historical Association
Volume: 69 Issue: 1 Page: 203(3)

Article Type: Book Review

Distributed by Thomson Gale

The political economy of partisan regimes: lessons from two Republican eras.(Book Review): An article from: Polity

Average customer rating:

The political economy of partisan regimes: lessons from two Republican eras.(Book Review): An article from: Polity
Andrew J. Polsky
Manufacturer: Northeastern Political Science Association
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

General | Politics | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Book Description

This digital document is an article from Polity, published by Northeastern Political Science Association on July 1, 2003. The length of the article is 8805 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: The political economy of partisan regimes: lessons from two Republican eras.(Book Review)
Author: Andrew J. Polsky
Publication: Polity (Refereed)
Date: July 1, 2003
Publisher: Northeastern Political Science Association
Volume: 35 Issue: 4 Page: 595(18)

Article Type: Book Review

Distributed by Thomson Gale

Amazon.com

How did life begin? Did it start here, by blind chance or by necessity, or was Earth seeded by extraterrestrial visitors? (And, if so, how did they arise?) Physicist and science writer Paul Davies tackles these heavy questions and more in The Fifth Miracle: The Search for the Origin and Meaning of Life, a wide-ranging survey of the field of biogenesis. From the "Martian meteorite" ALH84001 to the hardy microorganisms living on--and under!--our sea beds, Davies looks for evidence pointing toward our first ancestor. His willingness to consider any possibility makes for a fun, fascinating journey through our solar system and beyond.

The Fifth Miracle provides convincing arguments that life flourishes, and may indeed have begun, deep within the earth's crust, and not in Darwin's "warm little pond." And if in our planet's crust, why not in others'? Indeed, he shows that it is not just possible but likely that living organisms have passed between Earth and Mars embedded within meteorites. Davies's command of the data and his facility with explaining it to nonprofessionals give the lie to his self-description as "a simple-minded physicist" intruding in another's domain. The best scientists hate to see questions finally answered and love to see new ones raised; by that standard (and by any other), The Fifth Miracle is a first-rate book of scientific speculation. --Rob Lightner

Book Description

Are We Alone in the Universe?

In this provocative and far-reaching book, internationally acclaimed physicist and writer Paul Davies confronts one of science's great outstanding mysteries -- the origin of life.

Three and a half billion years ago, Mars resembled earth. It was warm and wet and could have supported primitive organisms. If life once existed on Mars, might it have originated there and traveled to earth inside meteorites blasted into space by cosmic impacts?

Davies builds on recent scientific discoveries and theories to address larger questions of existence: What, exactly, is life? Is it the inevitable by-product of physical laws, as many scientists maintain, or an almost miraculous accident? Are we alone in the universe, or will life emerge on all earthlike planets? And if there is life elsewhere in the universe, is it preordained to evolve toward greater complexity and intelligence?

Through his search for answers to these questions, Davies explores the ultimate mystery of mankind's existence -- who we are and what our place might be in the unfolding drama of the cosmos.

Customer Reviews:

How did life on Earth originate?.......2007-03-06

How did life on Earth originate?

Wisely Davies begins his book by answering this question with the question of what is life? After discussing various theories that have been previously proposed, Davies concludes that it's an organicly autonomous creation sometimes capable of obtaining and metabolizing food and creating copies of itself.

Having dealt with this question, Davies examines the three so far discovered domains of life on Earth: prokaryotes (us and pretty much every organism we've actually ever seen), bacteria, and archea...an ancient form of life living in extreme planetary environments such as ocean volcanic vents and hot water pools. Unlike the other two domains, archea live in environments that have largely unchanged in the past four or so billion years of Earth's history. Therefore, Davies reasonably concludes that they have most retained their original forms basically living off sulfur and or methane.

In this last particular, archea display an unusual quality for life by actually making their living off of inorganic matter.

In this way, Davies advances a possible terrestrial origin of life.

Likewise, Davies also discusses the possible extra terrestrial origins that have been proposed for Earthly life: from space and from Mars. As to the spacely origins theory, Davies notes the abundance of comets with organic matter in them. As to the Martian origins theory, Davies notes the fact that for its first billion years or so, Mars had both liquid water and an atmosphere.

Significantly, during that same time on Earth, life not only arose or was transferred but had propogated into at least two different domains. It is for these reasons, Davies believes that life indeed once existed on Mars.

Tantalizingly, Davies also discusses the discovery of ALH80001, one twelve Martian metiorites discovered in the Antarctic. Unlike its peers, this meterite showed possible evidence of fossilized Martian life. Wisely agnostic about whether this meteriorite really was itself evidence of Martian life, Davies' discussion of it nonetheless is thorough and thought provoking.

Davies was also thought provoking in discussing the Urey Miller experiments of 1953 wherein amino acids were artificially synthesized under experimental conditions. At that time, the experiements thought maybe they were just days from synthesizing life itself.

However, as noted by Davies, the gap between the bricks of amino acids and the houses of DNA and RNA still elude the efforts of modern science. Still the same, like all great science, the question is a fascinating one to ponder and well worthy of our attentions.

Although life is but the fifth miracle listed by God in the Bible at the time creation according to Davies, it stands as a primary miracle for those who enjoy having it.

Searching for the Laws of Life.......2006-09-18

According to the book of Genesis, God's fifth act of creation was to create life on earth. Modern science has a different myth. In the beginning, there was a simple soup of inorganic chemicals: water, ammonia and methane. And into this soup came a bolt of lightning that brought into being the amino acids that gradually assembled themselves into peptides and proteins, and the nucleotides from which came RNA and DNA. And the DNA learned the art of becoming self-replicating and so began the ascent of life.

In this well-reasoned book, the distinguished physicist Paul Davies suggests that believing the scientific myth demands an act of faith and credulity as great as believing in the literal truth of the Biblical story. He is one of many scientists who have calculated the seemingly impossible odds of all this happening by chance. This is not some back door into intelligent design, but instead an exploration of some profoundly important ideas in biology that make us realize that there are some gaping holes in our current models.

Paul Davies starts with some questions: is life a random chemical accident, a meaningless fluke in an accidental universe? Or is the universe somehow "friendly" to biology? Are the laws of nature such that they demand the eventual appearance of life, not just on earth, but also throughout the universe? The book does not come up with a definitive answer, but it explores some very interesting ideas, including the well-known concepts of the late Fred Hoyle and Chandra Wickramasinghe that life may have arrived from space. It is a puzzle how life seems to have appeared so soon after the earth became a stable globe, and the remarkable adaptability of living organisms to the most astonishingly inhospitable environments.

Inorganic processes tend to run down and become disorganized over time: they show entropy. By contrast living processes become progressively more organized, a process that requires massive amounts of information. It is not difficult to calculate that the amount of information required for even the simplest organism far out strips the biochemical processes of an organism. Thus the implication that life requires a new fundamental law of nature that is yet to be discovered.

Paul Davies does not shy away from discussing the consequences of these ideas or an undiscovered law or laws that would make the appearance of life inevitable. And would also imply a progressive march toward greater and greater complexity, that would eventually lead to sentience.

This book does not provide any final answers, but is an excellent introduction to an exceedingly important topic.

Simply Astounding.......2004-12-12

This book is my Science recommendation for 2004. As usual Davies ploughes through a whole whack of cosmic data and implications to look at the question of life: How did it begin? What are the current theories of life? What are the necessary conditions for life forms.

It is interesting to note that all of these questions are pre-evolution questions, since we do not need a mechanism to add, refine or make life more complex -- natural selection does that wonderfully --- the central question of life is how did it arise in the most simplest of organisms.

In this wonderful read, Davies analyses first the physics of life, entropy, open systems and thermodynamic equilibrium. It is this approach that Davies uses that I find personally so fascinating since it is one that is often ignored by a lot of chemists and biologists, but is it germane -- what kind of physical properties are necessary in the universe for life to arise? This is a real good qustion and Davies gives us a good intro tour of the how complexity can arise in an environment which always seems to be striving towards thermodynamic equillibrium.

The second part of the book could be called the biochemical reasons necessary for life. Here Davies looks at elementary organisation and gives us a really good history of the experimentation in this area, from the elementary forces that may be required to bring about nucleotides, proteins and polypeptide strings.

One really interesting thing Davies does is trace back the evolutionary history of organisms and the current data that evolutionary forces were at work for almost 4 billion years. From this he describes ancestors from this time that may still be living on the earth (meso/thermophilic bacteria). A really great way of looking at evolution.

The last chapters sort of synthethise the physics and chemistry parts and look at the implications of the planetary forces, both gradual and catastrophic over the history of the earth and their potential to influence the rise of life and shape the evolutionary forces.

There is a lot of food for thought here and of course no one knows how life started, but it is clear that current theory and evidence are making science more interesting than even before. We may never know as Davies states, but in knowing more and more we are attaining the best goals of mankind.

A wonderful book with science as the only aim.

It should be stated that Davies has no political axe to grind with anyone and his writing is ideologically clean. But let there be no misunderstanding, when in doubt there is no evoking of blind forces in any or Davies books. His passion is science and reason and, like most people who think deeply, he regards the constant state of unknowing as a challenge as a never ending challenge.

For the person who says that Davies is not "open-minded" because he does not consider (notice I did not say believe) that a omnipresent God waved his hand and made us... that is simple. Personal belief has nothing to do with science since it yields nothing of benefit to Science. Even if Davies did personally believe that a God created life, that does not get anyone closer to understanding life... And this is the fundemental point that people who believe in Gods (or as with the current fashion, intelligent design) as ulimate cause fall into --- intelligent design, even if right is not science, it cannot be proved. It is a sterile end on the path of unknowing.

Thank God for people like Davies that can remind us that Science alone can yeild truth -- that it will never yield all of the truths is the central tenet of Science... and with that there is comfort, because it means that reason remains paramount, and man advances.

The best little book I have read in years........2004-07-07

The fifth miracle is an outstanding little book that discloses a miriad of possibilities about the origin of life on earth. The controversy arises when Davis exposes some unorthodox theories like Panspermia, the truth is that when he does that he is really persuasive. Paul Davies is an intelligent scientist and one that has kept updated and with experience on field, so his arguments are no less than powerful and convincing, once again, even the controversial ones. Though he doesn't take part in most of the different theories explained, his book might look a little biased, but great, besides he may even be right.

fails to answer the big question........2004-04-17

Davis titled his book the Search for the Origin and Meaning of Life, but he never really answers this fundamental question. Sure, science hasn't answered this, and unlike Davies' optimistic assertion that they will accomplish this feat someday, I don't believe science will. If approached from the viewpoint that life arose spontaneously from the haphazard collision of random molecules by the direction of chance then the mystery will never be solved. The process that produced life was so improbable that it can't be reproduced in the laboratory and was truly an event that took place against all odds. Understanding that anything with a value of 1 10^50 is an impossibility, and that the conditions for life to occur would need a much bigger number, attempting to solve this mystery is a waste of time.

Nevertheless, if life is the product of a set of laws written into the universe that favor the creation of life then the search is not futile. Nevertheless, this opens up the possibility for design arguments and the need for a programmer to write such a code; This is a development that I welcome as a Christian, but one that is scorned by other scientists. Some of this attitude comes through at times in Davies book when he states on pg. 31, "However, it is the job of science to solve mysteries without recourse to divine intervention." This assertion is patently false. It is the job of science to explain observable phenomena with a natural explantion if the results are verifiable and make more sense than a mystical argument. It could very well be that the deity who created the universe was a very competent programmer who designed the creation to operate under very specific natural laws, and one of those laws is for the universe to create life under the right conditions. This is just a possibility, but one that should not be eliminated simply because the establishment thinks it should.

In the end this book fails to answer the question that matters most: If life did arise by natural means, then how did it do so? Davies offers absolutely no new insight into this perplexing question. In fact, many of his arguments seem to point against random, senseless and purposless creation. Believing that all the right circumstances could fall into place is just as much grounded in faith as is the idea of a Divine creator. The only new arguments presented by this book were those that speculated that life began underground and not at the surface. Yet, this raises a whole host of questions. RNA or DNA could not develop inside the earth because the tremendous heat and pressure would destroy the volatile molecules. Therefore, one is forced to conclude the cell came first and this gave the RNA and DNA the sufficient shelter to form and replicate. But this just brings us back the chicken-egg paradox and doesn't answer anything since the cell cannot survive efficiently without the help of DNA, RNA, and catalytic enzymes. Stating that the first simple cell was a more crude device which operated on a more crude scale only begs the question and is meaningless conjecture without evidence.

Average customer rating:
THE FIFTH MIRACLE : THE SEARCH FOR THE ORIGIN AND MEANING OF LIFE
Paul Davies
Manufacturer: Simon & Schuster
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000NZM93S

Average customer rating:
THE FIFTH MIRACLE: THE SEARCH FOR THE ORIGIN AND MEANING OF LIFE.(Review): An article from: First Things: A Monthly Journal of Religion and Public Life
Michael Behe
Manufacturer: Institute on Religion and Public Life
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

General | Philosophy | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
Philosophy | Nonfiction | Subjects | e-Docs | Formats | Books
General | Nonfiction | HTML | Formats | e-Docs | Formats | Books
Philosophy | Nonfiction | HTML | Formats | e-Docs | Formats | Books
ASIN: B00098T3TW
Release Date: 2005-07-28

Book Description

This digital document is an article from First Things: A Monthly Journal of Religion and Public Life, published by Institute on Religion and Public Life on June 1, 1999. The length of the article is 1585 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: THE FIFTH MIRACLE: THE SEARCH FOR THE ORIGIN AND MEANING OF LIFE.(Review)
Author: Michael Behe
Publication: First Things: A Monthly Journal of Religion and Public Life (Refereed)
Date: June 1, 1999
Publisher: Institute on Religion and Public Life
Page: 42

Article Type: Book Review

Distributed by Thomson Gale

Fifth Miracle. The Search for the Origin and the Meaning of Life

Average customer rating:

Fifth Miracle. The Search for the Origin and the Meaning of Life
Paul Davies
Manufacturer: Simon & Schuster
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000O5ZII0

The Fifth Miracle: The Search for the Origin and Meaning of Life

Average customer rating:

The Fifth Miracle: The Search for the Origin and Meaning of Life

Manufacturer: Simon & Schuster
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000HJGKQW

Average customer rating:

Severly limited in scope, A supplementary reading rather than a key addition

Young Soldiers: Why They Choose To Fight
Rachel Brett , and Irma Specht
Manufacturer: International Labour Org
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Military | History | Subjects | Books
Military Science | History | Subjects | Books
Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
War | Genre Fiction | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
General | Social Issues | Teens | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

Children at War

Innocents Lost: When Child Soldiers Go To War

Armies of the Young: Child Soldiers in War and Terrorism (The Rutgers Series in Childhood Studies)

Children And Youth On The Front Line: Ethnography, Armed Conflict And Displacement (Studies in Forced Migration)

Child Soldiers: From Violence to Protection

ASIN: 922113718X

Customer Reviews:

Severly limited in scope, A supplementary reading rather than a key addition.......2006-08-15

This book focuses specifically on adolescent soldiers who define themsleves as having volunteered to fight, a specific aspect of the rising use of child soldiers and an aspect indeed worth studying in order to gain a holisitic view. However the authors have only interviewed 53 such people and rely heavily on a select few of these throughout the text (though occasionally borrowing other researchers interviews). While this gives a very personal feel to those interviewed by understanding their individual accounts it does make sweeping comments along the lines of "such sentiments are found strongly in East Timor and South Africa" sound incredably hollow.

There is also very little additional information to what other studies have provided, listing things such as the presence of war, family, education and poverty as the central influences in the decision to join armed conflict just as others have. The significant difference being that other studies seem to have a wider research pool and do not use the same statements from the same interviews to demonstate different points.

One thing that I particularly disliked about the book is its failure to deal identify the significant differences between conflicts and perceptions of conflicts of those that were volunterring for them. Personally I thought grouping 'Stephen's' (UK) account with 'Andres's' (Columbia) and 'Henri's' (Congo) wihout ever really discussing the rather large differences betweeen the conflict they would potentially be joining; the socities from which they originate and the perceptions of the military in each society a significant failure in achieving the merit which any academic book hopes to gain.

While this book provides some useful information it would not be a text that I would recommend as being critical in gaining an understanding this aspect of modern warfare. It is rather a supplementary reading that could be used for hearing individual accounts of adolescent soldiers.

While this book aims to focus on a speific aspect of child soldiering it fails to provide a more in depth study than other books that deal with volunteers in a more general overview do so. I would recommend Singer's 'Children At War' as being a better choice and then perhaps this if you wished to further reinforce your knowledge on this more specific aspect of the problem.

Average customer rating:

Young Soldier: Why They Choose to Fight
Rachel Brett , and Irma Specht
Manufacturer: Lynne Rienner Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Military | History | Subjects | Books

Military Science | History | Subjects | Books

General | Politics | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

General | Social Issues | Teens | Subjects | Books

General | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
ASIN: 1588262855

Young Soldiers: Why They Choose to Fight.(Book Review): An article from: International Journal on World Peace

Average customer rating:

Young Soldiers: Why They Choose to Fight.(Book Review): An article from: International Journal on World Peace
Shyrl Topp Matias
Manufacturer: Professors World Peace Academy
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

General | Politics | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Book Description

This digital document is an article from International Journal on World Peace, published by Professors World Peace Academy on December 1, 2004. The length of the article is 1023 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: Young Soldiers: Why They Choose to Fight.(Book Review)
Author: Shyrl Topp Matias
Publication: International Journal on World Peace (Refereed)
Date: December 1, 2004
Publisher: Professors World Peace Academy
Volume: 21 Issue: 4 Page: 90(3)

Article Type: Book Review

Distributed by Thomson Gale

Book Description

The First Sioux War was a vitally important conflict that helped define Lakota Sioux / white relations; created a closer national unity among the Sioux; and allowed the United States Army to develop new military tactics, which would eventually be used to defeat the Plains Indians. This book analyzes this conflict and its influence on future Sioux leaders like Crazy Horse, Spotted Tail, and Sitting Bull.

Customer Reviews:

beautiful - the map that is.......2007-08-07

The big paper wall map is the most beautiful star map I've yet seen; I bought this just for the map. The mid-sized plastic planisphere shows only the brightest stars. It should at least show the brighter Messier objects. Also includes a simple booklet about observing.

Books:

Books Index

Books Home

Recommended Books