Book Description
During the economic boom of the 1990s, art museums expanded dramatically in size, scope, and ambition. They came to be seen as new civic centers: on the one hand as places of entertainment, leisure, and commerce, on the other as socially therapeutic institutions. But museums were also criticized for everything from elitism to looting or illegally exporting works from other countries, to exhibiting works offensive to the public taste.
Whose Muse? brings together five directors of leading American and British art museums who together offer a forward-looking alternative to such prevailing views. While their approaches differ, certain themes recur: As museums have become increasingly complex and costly to manage, and as government support has waned, the temptation is great to follow policies driven not by a mission but by the market. However, the directors concur that public trust can be upheld only if museums continue to see their core mission as building collections that reflect a nation's artistic legacy and providing informed and unfettered access to them.
The book, based on a lecture series of the same title held in 2000-2001 by the Harvard Program for Art Museum Directors, also includes an introduction by Cuno and a fascinating--and surprisingly frank--roundtable discussion among the participating directors. A rare collection of sustained reflections by prominent museum directors on the current state of affairs in their profession, this book is without equal. It will be read widely not only by museum professionals, trustees, critics, and scholars, but also by the art-loving public itself.
Customer Reviews:
Whose Museum Is It Anyway?.......2007-09-22
With everything from motorcycles, cars, boats, Jackie O's clothes, Star Wars artifacts, elephant dung and more finding their way into the museum, this is probably a good time to examine just what the museum is and who it is for. Art Institute of Chicago director James Cuno has assembled a veritable who's who of major museum directors to hold forth on this topic. Taken together, the essays provide rare insight into how museums are being shaped in the 20th century. With sometimes surprising candor the directors make their case for how and why the museum is beholden to the public trust. A roundtable discussion at the book's end further amplifies the issues set forth in the essays. This is an important book.
Not a boring subject!.......2006-12-13
This is a compilation of essays written by directors of major art museums: Cuno from the Art Institute of Chicago, De Montebello from the Met, Lowry from the MoMA, MacGregor from the British Museum, Walsh of the Getty in LA, and Wood, formerly of the AIC. Each addresses how museums can cultivate public trust in cultural institutions, the kinds of authority museums have, and how they should manage their responsibilities. MacGregor's essay was my personal favorite; it includes two amazing stories of how art proves to be valued for its emotional power during times of crisis (specifically on 9/11 and during WWII). Walsh offers suggestions as to how museums can offer its visitors a more genuine experience through curatorial choices and placement of lighting and seats. Lowry and De Montebello write about the relationship of the entertainment industry to museums. A very accessible, jargon-free text that is surprisingly interesting.
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Whose Master's Voice? The Development of Popular Music in Thirteen Cultures.(Review): An article from: Notes
Robert Burnett
Manufacturer: Music Library Association, Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital
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ASIN: B00099LU74
Release Date: 2005-07-28 |
Book Description
This digital document is an article from Notes, published by Music Library Association, Inc. on December 1, 1999. The length of the article is 495 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: Whose Master's Voice? The Development of Popular Music in Thirteen Cultures.(Review)
Author: Robert Burnett
Publication:
Notes (Refereed)
Date: December 1, 1999
Publisher: Music Library Association, Inc.
Volume: 56
Issue: 2
Page: 430
Article Type: Book Review
Distributed by Thomson Gale
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Frame of Mind: Viewpoints on Photography in Contemporary Canadian Art
Manufacturer: Walter Phillips Gallery
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 0920159540 |
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SIU: New York Police Story, Vol. 1
Manufacturer: ADV Manga
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 1413902413 |
Book Description
Veteran Homicide Detective Troy Moon's partner has been missing for days when headquarters assigns him a snot-nosed replacement. Detective Angel Myers is an ambitious, quick-witted, sharp-tongued cop, with just one minor flaw - a paralyzing fear of corpses! Together they'll experience the trials and tribulations of New York City detectives, covering kidnappings, murders, and criminal conspiracies.
Book Description
Backed by the resources of Independent Feature Project/West, co-authors Nicole Shay LaLoggia and Eden H. Wurmfeld have written the definitive low-budget production manual. Using examples from the Swingers and Kissing Jessica Stein, this comprehensive manual offers the independent filmmaker a single volume reference covering every aspect of making a film: script rights and rewrites, financing, breakdown, scheduling and budgeting, pre-production, production, postproduction, and distribution. A resource guide listing useful references and organizations, as well as a glossary, complete this guide. The companion CD-ROM features interviews with important figures in the independent film industry, including Billy Bob Thornton and Ang Lee. Forms that are illuminated in the text are also included on the CD for ease of use.
The new edition is updated with thorough coverage of digital and HDhow to decide which to shoot on, what the financial impact is, and the effect on preproduction. There is also a new chapter on distribution and expanded material on postproduction.
*Learn how to make and distribute your independent film from experienced producers
*Includes a CD-ROM with interviews with leading independent filmmakers such as Billy Bob Thornton and Ang Lee as well as frequently used production forms in reusable template format
*Extensive resource guide of references, organizations, and terms
Customer Reviews:
Covers every aspect of film production.......2004-06-06
Now in an updated and expanded second edition and nicely enhanced with an accompanying CD-ROM, the IFP/Los Angeles Independent Filmmaker's Manual is the collaborative work of independent film producer Eden Wurmfeld and Nicole Shay Laloggia (Professor of Production at the North Carolina School of the Arts). As "user friendly" as it is comprehensive, the Independent Filmmaker's Manual covers every aspect of film production including preparations, the script, financing, breaking down a script for shooting, scheduling, budgeting, pre-production, production, post-production, film festivals, and film distribution. With it's Resource Guide appendix, glossary, and index, the Independent Filmmaker's Manual is a complete and comprehensive "how to" instructional text and a highly recommended addition to film school reference collections and aspiring independent film producer reading lists.
Book Description
A simple system for students and teachers on the fundamentals of blues guitar. Includes sections on basic chords, blues rhythms, finger-picking, and more. Over 15 tunes in both standard notation and tablature.
Book Description
BradyGames' Tales of Symphonia Official Strategy Guide features a comprehensive walkthrough, covering every aspect of the game. Strategies to customize and equip each character. Expert boss tactics and an all-inclusive bestiary. Complete coverage of all mini-games and side quests. Area maps, weapon and item rosters, and much more!
This product is available for sale in the U.S. and Canada only.
Customer Reviews:
short comings.......2005-09-12
These guides are normally great, but this guy left some loose ends that forced me to go online for help to progress the story. Events and items he claimed were in a certain area were not. In short the guy was a little too brief for a game as long as this on is.
Another Mistake.......2005-07-26
Once again Dan leaves us hanging. There is a lot of information that could be here(need I say maps?). Also a lot of poor paragraphs and directions leave you studying the pictures to find out whats next, not the text.
It was so close to being good!.......2005-06-15
There are times when people want to buy a strategy guide to get a leg up. Afterall, unlike most online guides they have maps and screenshots for us visual learners who can't learn by text alone. Unfortunately, the problem with being a visual learner with strategy guides, is when those guides are missing a lot of stuff. If this were a guide for an action/adventure game, it would be perfect. But RPG guides are supposed to be better than this.
To begin, let us first understand what a strategy guide is. It is NOT meant to be a "How-to" book. It's meant to be just what it is: A guide. Some things the guide really shouldn't have to point out to you (does the guide really have to say which direction is North on the worldmap? It's on display in the game for cryin' out loud!). Unfortunately, while this guide is helpful, it seems far from being complete.
The walkthrough is basic. It's written to where you should only refer to it if you're stuck. It's a quick easy to use walkthrough. I didn't have any troube understanding puzzle solutions (if the writing is confusing, just look at the screenshot, easy as that). I also didn't have any trouble being guided in the next direction. It seems like it's done it's job right? Afterall, all the EX skills and Techs are in the guide, and they're covered pretty well in an easy to use table. Items list, weapons charts, all the neat misc. stuff is here.
But there are problems.
The writing, as the others have pointed out, is confusing sometimes. Some paragraphs really DO end abruptly. And there are instances of them being none finished, but here's the trick to that. When a paragraph isn't finished, it means the next few words are the title of the next section. A technique BradyGAMES must've picked up from Versus Books along the road. It doesn't work though, as you can clearly see by the other reviewers who didn't seem to spot this sooner.
The walkthrough has more problems. An RPG guide NEEDS MAPS! I'll shout it from the roof-tops until the day I die! Without maps, an RPG guide is damn near useless. Where are the treasures? I don't know because the guide doesn't have maps! You'll have to rely on directions, and they don't even lead you to all the items. The good news is there IS an items list for each area.
Also, what's with the bestiary? I understand that it goes by the monster list in the game, but if it were alphabetical, it would've been easier to use. If you encounter an enemy for the first time, you'll have to flip through endless pages to find the enemy you want. More importantly, why aren't monster stats called out in the walkthrough? They are for bosses, but not regular enemies.
And let's talk about boss strategies for a moment. I've never seen a guide with such horrendous strategies before. Here's a boss strategy from one of the late bosses in the game. I can put it right here!
"Use ice, water, or fire attacks to defeat the monster, in combination with physical attacks and techs."
Now, what did you learn? Weakness? Yeah. But what about what the boss attacks with? What about what YOUR characters need to defend against? Does the boss cast status effects? Nobody knows!
Finally, there's no affections list. One of the most crucial parts of the story and character development, and the guide doesn't help you with it. What choices do I make for my characters to like me? Hell, I don't know.
I liked the side-quest sectin. Very detailed, but I wish they'd call them out in the walkthrough. I had a case of page-flipping after damn near every completed area just to see if a side-quest was availible. I'd waste precious game time (and some life) just seeing if a quest was availible.
Seriously though, this isn't the worst guide in the world. If you need help with the main quest, it WILL help you. You just have to make really good use of those screenshots and tips. The tips DO work, and you will find all the titles, EX Skills and obtain all the techs using this guide. You won't master the game with the guide, but you'll come close in more ways than you think. The only MAJOR problem with the guide is the Character affection and lack of maps. Other than that, you should be just fine with this guide.
The writing is a puzzle in itself..........2005-06-12
The book does help by giving details on what needs to be done but I am left to figure out what the guide is telling me. There is a writing and content issue here. The paragraphs end abruptly or they don't make any sense at all. The step by step guide that concerns dungeon puzzles are often more confusing then they should be because of the wording.
Weapons list, armor lists, EX skills and titles list are a plus. I wish the subquest missions are integrated into the book instead of written as an appendix at the back of the book since I have missed a couple of things to do and I've had to hurriedly flip to the back to see what I can backtrack on.
The affection scale is not listed on this guide. That's an integral part of the story and for it not to be included in a plus or minus list format is disappointing.
Overall it's a decent guide for quick reference. Bad writing and and a sense of incompleteness hold it back from being a great guide.
Great guide, but could have been better.......2005-04-17
Pros:
- Detailed Walkthrough
- Info on all characters including titles, techs, Ex skills and more.
- Data on every single item, shop and enemy
- coverage on all the side quest
Cons:
- No maps
- some story spoilers
Customer Reviews:
...*Sigh*..........2006-03-17
A lesson in how to create an artbook using as little art as possible! There are only around ten pictures in the entire book (the majority of pages are either text or white space), all of which can be found online in some way or another, though this is hardly the book's fault (but still! Where's the art, people?) - these pictures, a coloured sketch for each character, are then re-used later on in the book to fill another 20 pages or so. Nto good.
To be fair to the book, the writing may be amazing. As I know practically no Japanese whatsoever, though, this doesn't help much (and besides - they call 'em ARTBOOKS for a reason!). So do yourself a favour, and trawl t'interweb for pics if you need 'em. Don't waste your money!
Art coinnosseurs will appreciate this!.......2005-07-13
I bought this book and was impressed. As its title indicates, it's a "character works" book. It shows details on outfits for characters, both in color and original b&w. The characters in the game appear somewhat different than they do in this book.
The first section of the book, which is bound and read right --> left, features Fujishima's finished sketches in color. The second section is filled with close-ups and details of characters in rough sketches, both in color and b&w. The last section is filled with the chibi sketches and finished color sketches.
This is a good art book to reference if you're looking for sketches of Lord Yggdrasill and Mithos who don't get much attention in the US-released promotional art book. The book features them and the main characters printed on thick high quality paper with a nice glossy cover and obi [or spine card].
It makes a nice collectors item!
A BIG DISAPPOINTMENT.......2005-02-17
When i first got this game back in the Summer of 2004 I was amazed at the gameplay. But not only the gameplay was cool, the music got the battles going and kept it alive. I thought that the character were cool and being an amateur artist I drew some pictures. When I found this book I immediately ordered it hoping for some cool drawings. Sadly this did not happen. Not one picture of the Summon Spirits were to be found. Only the playable characters and Mithos were in it. Kinda short and was a waste of money. DO NOT GET THIS BOOK!
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Twilight Zone Collection 4 Vol 13-16: Back There; Midnight Sun; Mirror Image; The Brain Center at Whipple's; Sounds & Silences; Last Night of a Jockey
Various Ddgepi 3334
Manufacturer: Genius Entertainment
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Audio CD
United States
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ASIN: 1594440565 |
Book Description
As the future of the private doctor/patient relationship comes into question, Do We Still Need Doctors? offers an intimate look at doctors' shifting roles and responsibilities in our rapidly changing health care system. Now in paperback, this poignant and compassionate personal account, which has received widespread media attention, including Oprah, offers an intimate look at how today's doctors are dealing with the ethical and political battles that are reshaping our nation's health care system.
Weaving affecting stories of his young patients with stirring dilemmas of truth telling, creative negotiation of HMO bureaucracy, and reflections on the identity crisis of medical education, pediatrician Dr. Lantos-a member of the Clinton Administration's Presidential Task Force on Health Care Reform-reveals how changes in our health care system and technological advances are fostering new ways of understanding and responding to illness. He taps into the public's dissatisfaction with the current role doctors and hospitals play in patient care and presents balanced views of both managed care and for-profit medicine. Most importantly, Dr. Lantos reveals how managed care continues a trend toward rationalizing disease and streamlining treatment that doctors themselves have initiated and sustained for decades. Illness and death will always resist rationalizing, and in order to respond to them, he claims doctors and patients alike need to re-imagine what healing is or ought to be.
Customer Reviews:
Medicine and philosophy.......2001-09-26
We do still need doctors, of course, and will probably need them far into the future. What John Lantos really explores is what role will they play? What role do they play now? What is their relation to the patient? How should they be trained? What decisions should they make? Is it right for us to spend so many resources on a few patients who want expensive operations when for the same cost, we could promote the public health of hundreds, perhaps thousands?
Through examples, Lantos shows the reader how difficult some choices in the medical world are. Often, there is no right answer, and sometimes all the answers seem wrong. Though he does speak his opinions, he rarely gives an answer to the problems he displays because there are no true answers. The examples he gives come from his own personal experiences, stories published in journals or discussed in forums, and some of the most interesting examples are fictional, from literary works. The ethical dilemmas he presents are interesting to think about in their own right, but they may also have a practical value in that you may have to face one of these situations at some point in time if not already.
If we really want to change the way health care is performed in America, we have to think about what we want from our doctors and how we want to be treated for diseases and conditions. We have to think about the dilemmas that doctors face, and those that patients face, as well as the decisions that family members may have to make. We have to understand that there are many parties that have different interests arguing different things. We may never know exactly what the right things to do are, but shouldnýt we at least wonder?
A true Classic.......2000-10-30
As I read the first reveiw of this book, I was shocked and appalled at the distinct lack of intelegence displayed by the reviewer. In fact, the only thing that is not worth reading is his review! In reality this is one of the most interesting and enlightening books on medical ethics ever written. Lantos's first person experiences truely bring medical ethics to a personal level and give readers a better understanding of the current medical ethics dilemas that currently face all people today. This is a must read book.
Actually..........1999-08-26
Actually, it was quite good. I read this one while on a Hawaiian vacation and still managed to knock it out in under ten days. Sure, Dr. Lantos draws generously on personal anecdotes, but medical ethics is a topic that lends itself perfectly to first-person discussion. I am a paramedic who works under the authority of a medical-control physician. I know first-hand that while we like to kid ourselves into thinking that medicine is scientific, the fact is that to a large degree it remains a highly subjective, opinionated, and often contentious application of scientific principles. What's the joke about "ask ten doctors and you'll get ten different opinions?" This certainly holds true for medical ethics as well. So, Dr. Lantos should speak from experience. Any other approach to the topic would be disingenuous. He discusses dilemmas not unlike those which prehospital practitioners encounter in the street. For example, what do you do when you arrive at the home of a hospice patient in cardiac arrest? The issue isn't quite so clear when the patient's family is at the scene demanding you leave the patient alone. What if they tell you there is a Do Not Resuscitate Order from the primary-care physician, only, they cannot produce the actual signed document for you right then and there? It can pretty awkward, and ugly. I found Dr. Lantos' book reminded me of some of those very same quandaries, and even pointed out new ones I'd never thought of before. I found the discussion fascinating.
Not worth your time.......1998-10-11
If ever there were a case for not judging a book by its cover, this is it. I purchased this book thinking that its title suggested an interesting dilemma in the modern evolution of health care, but all I got out of it is that John Lantos is someone who likes to see his stories in print. The more I read the book, the more I started to wonder why I was reading it. If you value your free time as much as I do, don't waste your time reading this book--you can get as much mental stimulation watching Springer
Average customer rating:
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Do We Still Need Doctors?
Manufacturer: Routledge
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000B7TIA0 |
Product Description
A Physician's personal account of practicing medicine today
Book Description
In an action-packed narrative Oliver Poole describes how he became "embedded" in a US tank and infantry company known as the Black Knights - the first unit in the Third Infantry Division to engage in combat. By the time the first statues of Saddam were toppled in Baghdad, the soldiers had been through a terrifying baptism of fire - and had inflicted terrible casualties on the Iraqis. How did they - many of them under the age of 20, some of whom had only recently acquired US citizenship - cope with fear and injury? How did they react to the killing? How were they changed by war? What was the impact on the people of Baghdad? Oliver Poole has written a fly-on-the-wall account of what frontline combat action meant in the first major war of the 21st century.
Customer Reviews:
Worth Every Penny.......2004-09-29
This is an excellent book by Oliver Poole. He was a reported assigned (accidentally) to an infantry battalion in the 3rd Infantry Division. The unit he spent most of the time with was an attached M1A1 Abrams Tank unit known as the "Black Knights". The first few pages deal with the author becoming an "embedded reporter" and his trials and tribulations to include getting a groin protector for his genital area (he finally got one). The focus then shifts to the author joining his unit in Kuwait. He does an excellent job telling the individual soldier's stories and showing their transformation from being "hardcore killers" to sensitive human beings who feel guilty from the killing they did. The story flows thoughout the book and the author does not overload you with military terminology and names. He focuses on a few soldiers and sticks with them throughout. Overall this is a well written book. There is some usage of the British language (lorry for trucks, kit for duffle bags), but it is not distracting. I was very pleased with this book and I am glad I purchased it.
Amazon.com
Hard Green, by conservative engineer-attorney Peter Huber, pulls off a neat trick: redefining the terms of discussion to win by default. Environmentalists will be surprised to learn that green rightfully refers only to conservation of wilderness lands--certainly a noble cause, and just about the only green issue likely to fire up traditional conservatives. Well worth reading by those of all political perspectives, Huber's writing is as clear and thorough as you'd expect from someone with his training. His assertions that shortages of fuel, food, and space for waste will be solved by ingenuity seem dazzlingly hopeful, but ultimately his arguments come down to faith. Much stronger are his discussions of privatizing pollution and wilderness protection, which should open eyes across the board. Moreover, his analysis of recycling programs and their ilk gives a much-needed kick in the pants to complacent types who think their garbage sorting is helping anything but their consciences. While it's unlikely to change the political Green movement, much less supplant it, Hard Green will certainly encourage thinking among the thoughtful--and that might be all we need. --Rob Lightner
Book Description
A strongly-argued critique of environmentalism from the right - the conservative's answer to Al Gore's Earth in the Balance.
Libertarian activist Peter Huber argues that liberal or "Soft Green" environmental policies do exactly the opposite of what they intend, and lays out the conservative or Hard Green approach to the problem. While both groups share the larger objectives, the Hard Greens disagree with and reject most of what the Softs diagnose as the source of despoliation and environmental decay, and accordingly reject most of the solutions that Softs prescribe. Chapter by chapter, Hard Green takes on the big issues of environmental discourse from scarcity and pollution to efficiency and waste disposal. Designed to radically change the terms of environmental debate, Hard Green will be a manifesto for every conservative who cares about the environment.
This book sets out the case for Hard Green, a conservative environmental agenda. Modern environmentalism, Peter Huber argues, destroys the environment. Captured as it has been by the Soft Green oligarchy of scientists, regulators, and lawyers, modern environmentalism does not conserve forests, oceans, lakes, and streams - it hastens their destruction. For all its scientific pretension, Soft Green is not green at all. Its effects are the opposites of green.
This book lays out the alternative: a return to Yellowstone and the National Forests, the original environmentalism of Theodore Roosevelt and the conservation movement. Chapter by chapter, Hard Green takes on the big issues of environmental discourse from scarcity and pollution to efficiency and waste disposal. This is the Hard Green manifesto: Rediscover T.R. Reaffirm the conservationist ethic. Expose the Soft Green fallacy. Reverse the Soft Green agenda. Save the environment from the environmentalists.
Customer Reviews:
Provocative but would not stand up to its own criticisms.......2007-06-12
This is an intentionally provocative book from a politically conservative environmentalist. His core claim is that environmentalists should focus on preserving land and whole ecosystems, not on regulating pollution or greenhouse gases. Land preservation is easier for people to understand politically, it doesn't require debatable scientific judgments that politicians and citizens can't really make, and in any case dangerous levels of pollution will ultimately show up as harming national parks, forests, and wildernesses. Thus, a focus on land preservation will also make sure that the other things in the environment are going right.
Along the way, Huber likes to prick holes in a lot of environmental orthodoxies. Petroleum and nuclear power have helped save the whales by eliminating the demand for whale oil for heating. Organic food requires more land than intensive farming. Landfilling is better than recycling because it can sequester enough carbon in the waste to stop global warming; composting and recycling keep the carbon at the surface and contribute to global warming.
All those are provocative but, unfortunately, very poorly sourced. Huber clearly cherry picks things that he reads that agree with his biases, and does not think critically about both sides of these claims. The book is also poorly sourced. To take only one example, he claims on page 68 that a full minivan is more energy efficient than a half-full passenger train. No source is given. Who knows whether that's true or not? I wouldn't trust it, but it might be true.
As this suggests, Huber has his own orthodoxies. Like other conservatives, he likes markets, and he believes that markets will solve all resource scarcity problems. Before we run out of oil, for example, Huber expects increasing oil prices to provide incentives for research into alternative energy sources. That assumes a pretty smooth process of change, but neither economics nor biology has a lot of confidence in smooth, continuous processes of change any more - - a lot of change involves discontinuities and qualitative changes.
There's a lot to like in the overall argument about preserving lands. The core problem lies in the interaction between regulating the large (land) and the small (pollutants). Great Smoky Mountain National Park has some of the most polluted air in the US, because of emissions from Tennessee Valley factories and power plants. How do you preserve the Smokies' ecosystem from these pollutants without regulating the pollutants? Huber doesn't have a good answer.
Still, a real strength of the book stems from Huber's insistence that environmental questions are not absolutes but comparisons. For example, *all* technologies harm the environment. The real question is: what are the costs and benefits of technology X versus technology Y? We should be comparing nuclear power with coal (and with other technologies), not complaining about each in a vacuum.
Another strength is Huber's rhetorical abilities. The book reads well, though parts of the chapters tend to repeat one another and the book is too long. It's provocative and should lead you to rethink things that you think you know. Unfortunately, Huber's weak sourcing, strident bias, and lack of critical thinking make the book less than it could be. It has the potential for four or five stars but only earns three.
Only the rich can afford to be green.......2006-11-27
In a relentless assault on the ideas that underlie the modern environmental movement, lawyer and engineer Peter Huber knocks the props from under some of the fundamental assumptions of what he calls the Soft Greens.
"Hard Green" is primarily a book about morality, analysis and policy, not a debate about data. In the most persuasive part of his book, Huber, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, shows that computer models of complex systems, like global climate, are worthless.
The problem is not that our computers are too feeble to give us answers if we ask the right questions. The problem is that we do not know enough to ask meaningful questions.
Huber shows that, if even one feedback loop is missed or mis-sized, the models all end in catastrophe. When you get the same output no matter what the input was, that is not science.
It is anti-science, or, as Huber calls it, trans-science.
"Hard Green" covers a great deal of territory. While Huber uses logical analysis to demolish computer modeling, he uses historical experience to demonstrate, again convincingly, that the concepts of "sustainability" and "carrying capacity" are meaningless.
Thomas Malthus, 200 years ago, made the classic statement of carrying capacity. Since then, every limit anyone has proposed has been shattered. "No law of geophysics, biology, engineering or economics decrees: So far, but no farther," Huber writes.
But logical arguments mean little to the sizable segment of the SG movement that is frankly anti-rational. Huber has a challenge for these mystics, too.
The predictions of catastrophe have not come true, nor is there any evidence doomsday is close. Huber singles out Charles Perrow, Al Gore, Paul Ehrlich and Amory Lovins as prophets whose prophecies never come true.
Perrow, a Yale sociologist, started predicting inevitable catastrophes in the mid-'80s, and though none has occurred yet, he is still doing it. He was predicting a Y2K computer disaster as late as Jan. 6, 2000.
Obviously, something other than evidence is fueling the SG theology.
In its place, Huber offers "A Conservative Manifesto," which states that wealth is greener than poverty, free markets are greener than minute regulation, genetically engineered crops are greener than organic foods and that "living in three dimensions" is greener than living in two, as the Soft Greens do.
"Living in three dimensions" means extracting our power from the sterile depths of the Earth (nuclear, gas, oil or coal, in descending order of preference) instead of plowing under wild green to raise "biomass" for boilers or smothering it with windmills.
"The peasant hunched over his cow-dung fire is not efficient, not green; he is just poor," writes Huber in the shortest summary statement of his approach.
He also rejects the idea that green wealth is a zero-sum game. When it comes to the rich nations and the poor nations, "The notion that our wealth derives from -- worse still, causes -- their poverty is arrant nonsense."
Human ingenuity, he says, will solve our problems, unless the regulators stifle it.
But expecting ingenious solutions is just as much a prediction as expecting a catastrophe through a computer model, though without the fraudulent mathematical flounces and furbelows that garb the Club of Rome.
Huber is not so dense as to miss this, and he rejects untrammeled market solutions; but he does not give any practical advice about how to pick the problems that can safely be left to the market and those that cannot.
Markets fail, notably in providing roads; and human ingenuity does not always come through, even if the problem is something as urgent as malaria.
But the world is complex and humans are complex. It is not reasonable to expect to predict very precisely the results of their interaction, though the Soft Greens are never shy to try.
"Hard Green" does not tell us exactly how to proceed, but it is a compelling argument against the environmental movement as it exists now. Who, for example, would disagree with him when he says we would be better off if, instead of using Superfund billions to dig up chemicals in one place and bury them in another, we had spent the money buying up beaches, forests, rivers and mountains and leaving them wild?
Mean Green.......2006-08-12
The happy message of Huber's book Hard Green is that "the only limits to how much food we can grow, energy we can extract, houses we can build, miles we can travel, pigs we can breed, diseases we can cure, are the limits of human ingenuity. And they keep receding." The unhappy message is that certain (stupid) people seem intent on messing up paradise. The main lesson to learn from reading Huber's book Hard Green is that if you disagree with him you are stupid and dangerous, if not down right evil.
The villains: Al Gore, organic gardeners (production of organic food requires far too much land), alternate energy boosters (creates inefficiencies and, again, uses far too much land), mass transit boosters, recyclers (wastes energy), global warming phobiacs, and anyone that interferes with free markets and private property rights. (The one role for government is to preserve some wild areas without interfering with property rights.) But the biggest villains of all are soft-headed, pseudo-scientist, environmentalists who use computer models to predict catastrophes. Their predictions are almost never right and they demand ever increasing wealth to be spent on ever diminishing (or non-existent) returns.
The solution to all our worries: Wealth (if not squandered by stupid people). Let the markets work and the planet will become increasingly green (rich people tend to promote wilderness set asides, poor people are limited by their struggle for survival). The solution to overcrowding: Live in three dimensions -- fly in the sky (less space needed for roads) and mine underground fuels (less space needed for solar dependent life supports) -- more space for wilderness. The solution to global warming: Sun screen and sun glasses. The solution to scarcity: Markets ("With markets in command, scarcity is always giving way to abundance"). The solution to pollution: Privatize it. The bottom line: Don't worry, "we can probably survive just fine in ecological rubble." 169. "Our interests in nature are aesthetic, not moral." 204.
While Huber savagely caricatures his enemies, presents their views in the worst possible light, and at times resorts to simple name calling, he is generally guilty of all the faults he sees in others. He constantly complains that others offer sweeping opinions that disregard a balanced view of the relevant evidence or go beyond all possible evidence. Huber does the same thing in spades. Huber seems to have the knack of making you want to disagree with him even when you think he is right (and there are plenty of times when I think he is right). He disserves the Hard Green cause. Ultimately, Huber's work is seriously compromised by his failure to see that our interest in nature does have a moral dimension - a moral dimension that does not pit human against slug, but recognizes that questions about how we care for our farms and cities, our homes and communities cannot be separated from how we care for each other, and cannot be reduced to mere aesthetics. Nature is not confined to wilderness set asides. Huber has an impoverished view of wealth. He has a restricted view of Green. And he seems to have mistaken his voice for the voice of God.
most everything you know is wrong.......2006-06-22
This book deserves five stars just for challenging the modern environmentalist orthodoxy that pervades much of popular culture.
Taking apart the pillars of the environmentalist movement from its earliest days, Hard Green does a masterful and entertaining job of deconstructing the popular wisdom by showing that we are not running out of energy; conservation is not the best way to solve our energy problems; environmental models are rarely if ever accurate or useful; technology is the best way to keep the earth green and humanity prosperous; that true conservation cares about the tangibles like trees, forests, animals, people and oceans, not microscopic trace amounts of chemicals in our drinking water; that "organic" food is worse for you and the environment than you know; that the spokespeople for the green movement are most often wrong; that most environmentalists do not understand or trust markets, technology, and human ingenuity enough; and that those who often speak the loudest on behalf of the environment are the most wrong.
This book should be required reading for anyone who cares about the environment or wants to engage in the environmental debate. Books about the environment can often be too boring or too hyperbolic, but this book is neither. It's entertaining, irreverent, loaded with facts, and written so well it's fun to read. Definitely recommend it to all. Five stars for Peter Huber!
A Screed Against Reason.......2004-08-31
Huber's argument does not take into account the interconnectedness of nature. To him, if humans cannot see a problem with thier own eyes, it does not exist. This line of thinking is curiously primitive. The perceptive powers of human beings were formed during the evolution of our species, in which survival did not entail managing the Earth's enviromental woes. Survival only entailed the management of enviromental problems in our immediate vacinity. Thus our evolved "astetic" sense of problems in our enviroment is limited to those problems which posed dangers to our species as we evolved. According to Huber only problems sensed by this primitive awareness can be considered real "hard" challenges to the enviroment. All other challenges to the enviroment, sensed by different means (for instance satilite data, computer models, scientific studies) must be classified as "soft" challenges, because they are imperceptable to our evolved senses. This is absolute hogwash!! Humans evolved to live primitive lives on the plains of Africa. Now that we have formed advanced civillizations there are bound to be concepts and problems that we can percieve only through the use of science, computers, or machines, and not with our eyes and ears. Just because mining is underground is imperceptable to humans dosen't mean it cannot have delterious effects upon the ecosystem we depend upon. Just because we cannot see, smell, taste, or hear carbon monoxide pollution dosen't mean its not deadly. This book, at its heart, is a screed against reason that no enviromentalist should take seriously. The author has no training in the enviromental sciences, and is financed by a right-wing think tank. His ideas are only provocative because they go against the grain, not because they make any sense. It's kinda like saying the holocaust never happened. You get attention, but no respect. This man and his screed against reason should recieve niether.
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Riddles of the stars: White dwarfs, red giants, and black holes
Robert Kraske
Manufacturer: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich
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