Gilles Deleuze and the Ruin of Representation

Book Description

Dorothea Olkowski's exploration of the philosophy of Gilles Deleuze clarifies the gifted French thinker's writings for specialists and nonspecialists alike. Deleuze, she says, accomplished the "ruin of representation," the complete overthrow of hierarchic, organic thought in philosophy, politics, aesthetics, and ethics, as well as in society at large. In Deleuze's philosophy of difference, she discovers the source of a new ontology of change, which in turn opens up the creation of new modes of life and thought, not only in philosophy and feminism but wherever creation is at stake.
The work of contemporary artist Mary Kelly has been central to Olkowski's thinking. In Kelly she finds an artist at work whose creative acts are in themselves the ruin of representation as a whole, and the text is illustrated with Kelly's art. This original and provocative account of Deleuze contributes significantly to a critical feminist politics and philosophy, as well as to an understanding of feminist art.

Gilles Deleuze and the Ruin of Representation.

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Gilles Deleuze and the Ruin of Representation.
Gillles]. Olkowski, Dorothea. [DELEUZE
Manufacturer: Berkeley: University of California
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000UFZV3G

Book Description

Peerless archive of historical fashions features 217 handsome plates depicting nearly 1,000 individual figures and accessories. Detailed illustrations reveal a remarkable panorama of priestesses and warriors of ancient Britain, nobles and burghers of 16th-century Germany, elaborately coiffed ladies from the court of Versailles, knights in full regalia from many eras and countries, and much more.

Pardon My Planet: Omigawd! I've Become My Mother!
Average customer rating:

superb drawings and absolutely weird ideas

Humor that cuts deep

Pardon My Planet: Omigawd! I've Become My Mother!
Vic Lee
Manufacturer: Andrews McMeel Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Comic Strips | Comics & Graphic Novels | Subjects | Books
General | Comics & Graphic Novels | Subjects | Books
General | Graphic Novels | Comics & Graphic Novels | Subjects | Books
General | Humor | Entertainment | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0740751298

Book Description

Coast-to-coast readers of more than 150 newspapers such as the Los Angeles Times, San Francisco Chronicle, Atlanta Constitution, Chicago Sun-Times, and Toronto Star share Fagan's view of this laugh-out-loud strip that deftly balances the tightrope of political correctness. Pardon My Planet: Omigawd! I've Become My Mother! represents the first collection of this uproarious cartoon that finds humor in all that makes us a little uncomfortable.

Lee's razor wit is delivered through an array of seven recurring characters, each with their own off-kilter look at the world. In one panel, middle-aged suburbanites Dennis and Chloe learn from their Realtor that they may have found a home in their price range, but "unfortunately, there's a Scottish terrier named Rusty living in it." In another panel, while twentysomething roommates Jesse-Jane and Norris are dining out, Jesse-Jane asks the server how the chicken is prepared. The waiter dryly replies, "With no sugar-coating. We tell them right up front they're going to die."

At times, the humor of Pardon My Planet is subtle but speaks to a deeper truth. Other times it is flat-out bizarre. This heady and hilarious collection captures it all, laying bare the annoyances and eccentricities of the inhabitants of our planet in this strip's unique and fresh way.

Customer Reviews:

superb drawings and absolutely weird ideas.......2007-01-14

The comics with the best (which often means the weirdest) ideas are sometimes diminished by having somewhat inferior graphics, but Mr Lee manages to give us both absolutely top-notch drawings AND ideas that are so weird and offbeat that -- I can assure you -- you'll find none of them "boring"... each of them will either make you laugh out VERY loud, get you enraged, make you think deep, make you say "oh boy how TRUE!", make you feel insulted and personally targeted, or more than one of the above. A MUST!!!

Humor that cuts deep.......2006-01-13

This cartoonist has a keen eye and sly wit. In Pardon My Planet, Vic Lee is able to cut to some of the most complex foibles of a relationship in a deft and seemingly simple panel. Some of these "gags" may take a few seconds til the joke hits you, others are laugh out loud, blow milk through the nose funny. I've become a fan. This book is a perfect reference map into our complex and neurotic psyches.

Every Angler's Guide to Amazing Lures and Flies: Rare and Forgotten Masterpieces of Fishing
Average customer rating:

This is about fishing?

Every Angler's Guide to Amazing Lures and Flies: Rare and Forgotten Masterpieces of Fishing
Dickson Schneider
Manufacturer: Viking Penguin
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: 0670875120

Customer Reviews:

This is about fishing?.......1997-07-24

This book is about fishing? I thought it was about seduction - you know, lures and lies... Well, I guess it IS about seduction, only it is subtle. Truthfully, I read this book from cover to cover and had to keep myself from cutting out the pictures to frame and hang in my dining room. I laughed all the way through it and I don't fish! Carol Fairweather (carfair@pipeline.com

Book Description

Between 1929 and 1970, Dmitri Shostakovich wrote almost 40 film scores of Soviet films, from Stalinist cult epics to classical literary adaptations. His long and distinguished cinema career has hitherto been overlooked. Combining analysis and anecdote, John Riley provides this first account to examine the scores and their contexts in the films for which they were written, the ways in which contemporary events shaped both films and scores, and how he thought about, developed and applied his film music.

Philosophies of Music History;: A Study of General Histories of Music, 1600-1960 (Dover Books on Music)
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Philosophies of Music History;: A Study of General Histories of Music, 1600-1960 (Dover Books on Music)
Warren Dwight Allen
Manufacturer: Dover Publications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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Philosophies of Music History A Study of General Histories of Music 1600-1960
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Philosophies of Music History A Study of General Histories of Music 1600-1960
Warren Dwight Allen
Manufacturer: Dover
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000K1YW4O

Book Description

Twenty-seven amusing and enlightening tales of those who beat the odds, and those who failed trying.

Customer Reviews:

Not at all a bad intro.......2003-08-03

I can recommend this book (in addition to others, esp. Play Your Best Pool and Byrne's Standard Book of Pool) for incoming players (or experienced bar players who are not well read on some of the nonobvious intricacies of the game). Essential Pool isn't as in-depth as either of the above two, but does have useful information in it. I found it best to obtain many such books and read them all, because no one instructional pool authors covers everything you need to know.

Money, banking, and financial markets, third edition: Instructors's resource guide, including a reprint of An analisis of prime rate lending practices at the ten largest United States banks
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Money, banking, and financial markets, third edition: Instructors's resource guide, including a reprint of An analisis of prime rate lending practices at the ten largest United States banks
Robert D Auerbach
Manufacturer: Collier Macmillan
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

Money & Monetary Policy | Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
Banks & Banking | Industries & Professions | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0023050500

Guide to Financial Markets, Third Edition (The Economist Series)
Average customer rating:

Good primer

Basic, but detailed

great book!

Excellent Overview

Guide to Financial Markets, Third Edition (The Economist Series)
Marc Levinson
Manufacturer: Bloomberg Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

International | Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 1576601420

Book Description

This is the definitive guide explaining why different financial markets exist and how they operate. The world's markets play a hugely important role in the modern economy and globalization of these markets continues apace. Electronic trading has led to exponential year by year growth in trading on the money and foreign exchange markets. And billions of dollars' worth of derivatives in all kinds of new and fancy--and often almost incomprehensible--forms are created and sold daily. Stock markets have bubbled and burst, proving that their performance can never be taken for granted and giving the bond market a fillip. This book provides a brilliantly clear guide to this complex world that even those who work in it often find hard to understand. With chapters on the markets that deal in money, foreign exchange, equities, bonds, commodities, financial futures, options, and other derivatives, it looks at why these markets exist, how they work and who trades in them, and it gives a rundown of the factors that affect prices and rates.

Customer Reviews:

Good primer.......2007-09-26

This is a great place to start for someone without an economics or finance background. The author does a good job of giving the big picture of the financial markets. I found the chapters on equities, options, and derivatives to be especially interesting. The last chapter could have been broken into 2 chapters IMO, since there is so much material there. The book is not biased to the US or any particular market. The only negatives are the lack of any mathematics, and the sometimes excessive use of facts and figures.

Basic, but detailed.......2007-02-04

An introduction to the financial markets. The book covers most financial instruments and goes into some detail about each type. It isn't US nor European centric. Well worth the price as most of The Economist series are.

great book!.......2007-01-10

This is a good book for starters like me. It gives you insight about the market, how it behaves and it also discusses the important history in the financial market.

Excellent Overview.......2005-11-07

This is an excellent way to gain familiarity with financial markets -- the terms, financial structures, how certain structures might be used. This is not a heavy-duty book aimed at quants; it's aimed at intelligent investors looking for concise reference material. It is also remarkable non-judgemental in that is doesn't adopt any particular investing bias (e.g., efficient market vs value investing approaches, etc). I recommend it for those looking for a good starting point in understanding how markets work.

Amazon.com

Bestselling author Richard Bach explores the meaning of fate and soul mates in this modern-day fairytale based on his real-life relationship with actor Leslie Parrish. "This is a story about a knight who was dying, and the princess who saved his life," Bach writes in his opening greeting. "It's a story about beauty and beasts and spells and fortresses, about death-powers that seem and life-powers that are." Yes, it is all that, and more. On the earthly plane this is about the riveting love affair between two fully human people who are willing to explore time travel and other dimensions together even as they grapple with the earthly struggles of intimacy, commitment, smothering, and whose turn it is to cook. Their love affair and happy ending inspired many enthusiastic fans. Years later, some of these fans were devastated to discover that this match made in heaven didn't manage to stick (the couple are no longer together). But in an Amazon interview, Bach explains that lovers don't have to stay married forever to be lifetime soul mates. Read this as a lesson about love's enchantments and possibilities, but don't count on this book to keep you and your mate on the bridge across forever. --Gail Hudson

Book Description

If you've ever felt alone in a world of strangers, missing someone you've never met, you'll find a message from your love in The Bridge Across Forever.

Customer Reviews:

beautiful.......2007-10-07

I have read this book some 9 years ago. Lost my first copy, so ordered it again. Still love it.

The Bridge Across Forever.......2007-08-13

Most of us know the saying that we teach best what we most need to learn. With regard to many of the reviews I've read regarding this book,and others of his with the soulmate theme, many people would say this is true of Richard. But is that so? Didn't Richard advocate being true to one's self and one's feelings most? Even if the feelings weren't convenient or mainstream. And feelings change. Richard is self centered and I really don't think he ever tried to present himself as anything other than that - quite the opposite. He wrote what he felt and thought then- period. He didn't stay with the person he depicted as his soulmate because apparently his feelings and thoughts about the person and the relationship changed and I'll wager Leslie's did too. And in keeping with his philosophy he followed those feelings and thoughts and moved on. And Leslie, being the beautiful person that she is definitely deserves someone being with her who can deeply appreciate and love her and WANT TO BE THERE. Is Richard immature? I think so. But he is sure following his phiosophy of being true to one's self regardless of what I think or you think. I do admire that. And Leslie loved this brillant fickle man knowing he was a brillant fickle man changeable as the wind's direction. After all she must have been aware that he left a wife and 6 children. This being honest and "true" to one's own self can have a sharp edge to it even among soulmates. This outcome is not so foreign to the book's content. It's an interesting book,and the reaction to it is even more interesting. As for me, I believe there are soulmates but no life long guarantees.

A Love Story Unlike Any Other.......2007-08-12

It's not that mushy stuff!

It'a all about a man who actually finds his soulmate and how his soul recognizes her soul... It has a light philosophical content on the subject of souls reconnecting in the next life.

It's beautifully written. And it's a story that most of us dream about in our lifetime.

for the dreamer in you.........2007-05-10

be wary of the dreamer, for the dreamer will never change, never happy with what they have only wanting what they can't have..I used to be a big Richard Bach fan and read many of his books..when I first read this book it opened my eyes and heart to a 'soulmate' and the concept of one day finding the person who was meant for you..nothing lasts forever and I'm sad to read what happened to Leslie and Richard but it's hard to judge another until you've walked in their shoes..so for the shining ray of light that this book once gave me..I still recommend it..I know because I've found my soulmate..but true perfect love does exist..it just takes alot of work, compromise and forgiveness..and keep striving..

Richard Bach will teach you how to fly...his way........2007-04-04

"The Bridge Across Forever" is a reality show brought to you in the form of a book and a writer's determined effort to provide hope to the hopeless and to teach you never to stop believing in magic. The premise of the book is wonderful, unfortunately it picks up on a very high note and quickly spirals into self-absorbed prose that almost comes across as a self-help book as opposed to a novel. For that reason and for the smug all-knowing elusive character that is Richard Bach at different stages of his life, I give this book four stars.

This is a story about a man named Richard Bach. He is a passionate pilot and a brilliant writer and a lost soul searching for his ever-elusive soul mate. He is stubborn and uncompromising and abandoned in his ways. He moves like a nomad allowing his desires to act as his compass and his airplanes to follow quick suit. His quest to find a soul mate that fits his unyielding mold and is the perfect combination of a handful of women is almost his unconscious means of running away from commitment. He possesses all the tell-tale traits and almost throws away the best thing that ever happened to him as his phobia attempts to wreak havoc and play the role of disruption.

The story is essentially very real - creating a place in the real world for fantasy and magic. I was drawn from the very first page --- "We think, sometimes, there's not a dragon left. Not one brave knight, not a single princess gliding through secret forests, enchanting deer and butterflies with her smile." Such is life today. Only these mystical characters appear in our lives in disguised forms. Reading about Richard's life and his quest to find his soul mate was actually more enjoyable before he actually did find her...but only because the book suddenly dove into a somewhat excruciating philosophy lesson given by Richard's many alter ego's and Leslie's know-it-all attitude and unending series of metaphors and life lessons on love.

The story could have had far more impact without dragging on as it did. If I had to sum up the book into one major learning it would be as follows: perfection is not a constant. It is a moving target and a relative term that takes on a different shape and form for every person. In simple terms, the moral of the story is: don't compromise and don't lose faith. Stay true to who you are, let fate take its course and abandon all thoughts of perfection...it is an unachievable superlative, always trumped by the moving cogs of life. Destiny will find you where you least expect it to. Just be. And your heart and mind will soar.

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I wish you love

The Bridge Across Forever, A Lovestory
Richard Bach
Manufacturer: New York: William Morrow & Co. 1984
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

One
Messiah's Handbook: Reminders for the Advanced Soul
Illusions
The Bridge Across Forever: A True Love Story

ASIN: B000LVBDPY

Customer Reviews:

I wish you love.......2007-08-29

I truly believe that this is one of the the best works I have ever read and I do read a great number of books. I can not say if this book should be called fiction or non fiction, I can say that it was real to me.
I came to this site today to find this book as a gift for a friend who is just starting out on a (hopefully) long term investment of love and commitment, her wedding.
If you have ever felt a little lost,a little lonely and wondering if your soulmate was out there also a little lost, a little lonely and trying to find you. This is a book you should read.
She'll be here today......

Average customer rating:

The Bridge Across Forever a Lovestory

Manufacturer: Dell Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Average customer rating:

The Bridge Across Forever a Lovestory

Manufacturer: Dell Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Book Description

What was life really like on a wooden warship? Vale vividly examines recruitment, desertions, food, drink, disease, and death. He details the operations in Brazil, Chile, and Peru from a military and a political angle, as well as from the perspective of ordinary seamen.

A Frigate of King George: Life and Duty on a British Man-of-War 1807-1829. (Reviews of Books).(Book Review): An article from: Albion

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A Frigate of King George: Life and Duty on a British Man-of-War 1807-1829. (Reviews of Books).(Book Review): An article from: Albion
Paul Webb
Manufacturer: North American Conference on British Studies
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital
ASIN: B0008DQGZW
Release Date: 2005-07-31

Book Description

This digital document is an article from Albion, published by North American Conference on British Studies on March 22, 2003. The length of the article is 1203 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: A Frigate of King George: Life and Duty on a British Man-of-War 1807-1829. (Reviews of Books).(Book Review)
Author: Paul Webb
Publication: Albion (Refereed)
Date: March 22, 2003
Publisher: North American Conference on British Studies
Volume: 35 Issue: 1 Page: 142(3)

Article Type: Book Review

Distributed by Thomson Gale

A FRIGATE OF KING GEORGE. Life and Duty on a British Man-of-War 1807-1829.

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A FRIGATE OF KING GEORGE. Life and Duty on a British Man-of-War 1807-1829.
Brian: Vale
Manufacturer: Pan
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000T5L0KU

Amazon.com

For the past two decades, an academic cottage industry has developed to analyze--and some would say overemphasize--the social and educational problems of African Americans. Such writers as Dinesh D'Souza, Shelby Steele, Armstrong Williams, and Ken Hamblin have all contributed in this area; now add to that list John McWhorter, a Berkeley linguistics professor and the author of Word on the Street, an examination of Ebonics and Black English. The basic idea he presents in this occasionally insightful if flawed book is that African Americans are not advancing socially as a result of victimology, separatism, and anti-intellectualism.

According to the author, victimology "has become a keystone of cultural blackness to treat victimhood not as a problem to be solved but as an identity to be nurtured," while "separatism encourages black Americans to conceive of black people as an unofficial sovereign entity, within which the rules other Americans are expected to follow are suspended out of a belief that our victimhood renders us morally exempt from them." Anti-intellectualism is a belief that "school is a 'white' endeavor." McWhorter suggests that only blacks embrace such opinions, placing most of the blame on them while underemphasizing the institutional racism that facilitates such views. Needless to say, McWhorter has no love for the likes of Al Sharpton, Hazel Carby, June Jordan, or Patricia Williams and their ilk. His chapter on Ebonics, his specialty, is the most nuanced, though certainly not the final word on the matter. And though some readers will be turned off by his use of tired anti-affirmative-action, right-wing clichés, anyone interested in the education of African Americans in the post civil rights era will find Losing the Race a worthy read. --Eugene Holley Jr.

Book Description

Berkeley linguistics professor John McWhorter, born at the dawn of the post-Civil Rights era, spent years trying to make sense of this question. Now he dares to say the unsayable: racism's ugliest legacy is the disease of defeatism that has infected black America. Losing the Race explores the three main components of this cultural virus: the cults of victimology, separatism, and antiintellectualism that are making blacks their own worst enemies in the struggle for success.

More angry than Stephen Carter, more pragmatic and compassionate than Shelby Steele, more forward-looking than Stanley Crouch, McWhorter represents an original and provocative point of view. With Losing the Race, a bold new voice rises among black intellectuals.

Customer Reviews:

Poor Thinking.......2007-09-27

Too often McWhorter does what many blacks accuse whites of doing--he draws a conclusion from any negative encounter he has experienced with another black person and assumes it is the norm. Bad thinking.

Eye opener for white and black americans.......2007-09-15

I think this book is great!!!
McWhorter "exposes" the problem part of black americans have. As a white teacher, I do not want to give my black children the opportunity to give me excuses. They should be accountable for the work as much as any other student.
I too have suffered discrimination for other reasons. However, it is far better to have great expectations from my students, either white, black hispanic, asian. The important thing is that I need to believe in my students.
I think McWhorter gives all teachers hope to expect more from their students. The change will not probably happen in this generation but we need to work on it.

Good message, but too difficult to read.......2007-08-24

While I agree with the author's message, the style in which he delivers is too complex and convoluted. You will need a dictionary at hand to read this book. Sentence structure was far too comlplex and ambiguous. I think it could have been written in half the length, resulting in a much more enjoyable read.

Don't blame the whites.....for black's problems...........2007-07-26

Millionaire in 365 Days: The Daily Plan to Get There

Wow....what a revelation.....this is quite in indictment of the black establishment and their wining...the blacks just do not want to become "white" by getting smart...they are mired in a culture of not wanting to be "white" thus they do not value getting good grades, and in all economic circumstances under-perform in education, testing..etc....being smart is tantamount to being ostracized by other blacks....the culture of entitlement no matter what is so ingrained....that it is destroying the ability of blacks to get to a higher academics and social standing....very well researched by a Black professor who sees this firsthand daily....

McWhorter Mis-Diagnoses Part of the Problem and Mistakes it as the Whole.......2007-04-23

I personally know where Mr. McWhorter comes from. I've felt the pain and suffering that he's felt on the school yard where other kids horrendously tease you and call you an "Oreo" for wanting to do your best to get an education. Having spent a part of my childhood in predominantly white neighborhood, I know what it feels like to be made fun of for speaking properly or having a "white"-sounding voice. I truly know the frustration that comes with having to put up with crap from your own ethnic group when you try to succeed.

Knowing this, I also know that Mr. McWhorter has taken his statements a bit too far. He has made the mistake of confusing self-hate with victimhood. Yes, sadly there is still self-sabotage within the black community, but the black community cannot be left entirely to blame for its problems. No, slavery cannot always be brought up as a card out of the deck of excuses, but Mr. McWhorter refuses to recognize the full impact of slavery so to the point that he comes across as if he has not a clue what it means to be your average black American. He speaks as if it never happened and all things were just honkey-dorey after the 1960's Civil Rights Movement.

Yes, there is desperation within the black community. Black men are more likely to commit suicide, more likely to die early or end up in prison. But this is not because we suffer from some mental defect due to our blackness. And this is not because of some kind of cultural error on our part. Rather, it's because we've been stripped of our culture and have had to start one entirely from scratch. The psychological effects of an entire loss of one's identity are profound. Such is why black people tend to identify with our shared history of slavery so much, because as far as tracing our ancestry it's the most we have.

Mr. McWhorter speaks as if his childhood was typical of the black experience when it wasn't even typical of the American one. He was a natural child prodigy who went to Simon's Rock College, a school where high school-aged kids go to college. Not everyone has a kid with his kind of talent, and not everyone is expected to. He can speak of his success, but he can't speak of it as if it were something that all parents can aspire to or expect from their youth. Children are, after all, born different and each given to their own individual strengths.

And Mr. McWhorter overexaggerates the level of anti-intellectualism within the black community and fails to give it a fair examination as to its precise causes. For example, I'm currently a senior graduating Magna Cum Laude this year from Morehouse College in Atlanta, GA. I'm coming out of a school where black men are turned into leading businessmen, politicians, activists and scholars. Dr. Martin Luther King was our most famous graduate. W.E.B. Dubois once taught here. Historically black colleges are literally flooded with the sight of thousands of knowledge-hungry, college-loving black youth. Schools like mine, and our neighboring Spelman College would disprove his point that our culture is inherently anti-intellectual. What's really the case is that America's racist culture discourages us from getting to where we want to go and labels us of being incapable of such achievement. The socio-economic disparities are in some places so great that often poor blacks adopt an attitude of apathy and simply believe what is said about them.

McWhorter does not entirely understand the ideology behind black separatism. Though I do not entirely agree with the separatist viewpoint, I think that he does not acknowledge the variety of separatist views. No, not all black people are separatists, and not all of those who are take the view that it is feasible that blacks and whites should live institutionally segregated lives. Rather, there is a strain of separatism within this category of thought that deems it necessary that black Americans have a means of living apart from majority whites for survival. This is not always understood in terms of physical separation as it is often meant by many as form of cognitive separation. When this separation is given by force and not will, W.E.B. DuBois termed it "double-consciousness". When it is done in our minds voluntarily, Marcus Garvey deemed it a form of liberation of the mind. It is the latter and not the former that is desired by the majority of those within the black separatist movement, as they see it as necessary for the formulation of a healthy, self-esteemed black identity and flourishing black culture. I would agree to some extent that this is necessary for a black person to have survival in America, but I think that it is but an immature aspect of one's stages in development. The find stage would be the kind of consciousness that Dr. Martin Luther King sought which worked to cut across all barriers and conceive of the whole humanity not in terms of arbitrary lines and distinctions but shared similarities.

Mr. McWhorter laudably recognizes the dangers of an anti-achievement attitude, but I think his take is a bit disregarding and callous. Instead of seeing self-sabotage as simply being a small part of a larger problem, he mistakes it as the whole of the problem within the black community. This is why many black people hate him, because he won't acknowledge the very real reality of racism. And just because he hasn't personally experienced it in his own life doesn't mean that it doesn't exist.

Yes, Bill Cosby was right to some degree but at least he wasn't a hypocrite. After all, McWhorter is the kind of guy who finds race-based preferences in admissions to be unjust but has no problem with race-based preferences when it comes to getting put in the back of a cop car or searched. The guy should take sometime off from his multicultural environment of white liberalism in sunny Southern California and get to know how life really is down here in the Deep South. I should know. I used to live in California, and living out there ain't nowhere near what living down here in Georgia is like.

I'm not going to slam his book by giving it one-star because I think Mr. McWhorter does have a legitimate frame of reference and I'm sure he truly feels what he says. But, I'd hardly call this a five-star book. If anything, it serves as an artificial salve for the racism of some and is just another excuse for rich white political pundits on evening shows on Fox News to point the finger and say "we told you so" instead of confronting the harsh reality of the underlying problems.

I'm sure Mr. McWhorter would have never predicted the slowed reaction by the government to Hurricane Katrina in 2005. The fact that even middle class blacks and whites saw the response to the situation differently is reflective of the disparity in how we see racial issues being addressed in this country and whether or not one has had to live under racism. And I'm sure he would have never counted on a guy like me graduating college and going on to a school like Harvard. You see, in Mr. McWhorter's world race and racism do not exist and all blacks are suffering from some kind of mental disease of anti-intellectualism and self-pity. This view lends ease to the minds of people discomforted by their subtle feelings of racism toward us blacks and is to be more expected of iconoclast racist ideologues in the media like Sean Hannity than it is to be of people who truly seek resolution and reconciliation. For Mr. McWhorter, people like me are not supposed to exist. We simply exist to destroy ourselves and should somehow even be "grateful" of the fact that we were brought here by means of a ship and chains and weren't left to our own devices in some impoverished parts of the Third World. I, however, have too much respect in myself as a black man who is an intellectual to ever surrender to that kind of viewpoint.

Losing the Race: Self-Sabotage in Black America

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Losing the Race: Self-Sabotage in Black America
John McWhorter
Manufacturer: Harper Perennial
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OEQQO6

Book Description

This work concludes noted ornithologist Tom Roberts' magnificent survey of the birds of Pakistan. Together with Volume 1, the work covers 660 species, offering detailed descriptions of each, supported by 47 full-page plates and over 100 black and white illustrations drawn by the author.
Distribution maps of over 570 species detail wintering or breeding status, and voice descriptions are drawn from the author's own extensive collection of bird recordings made in Pakistan during his 34 years of residence in that country. Each volume contains a bibliography and index. Amateur and
professional ornithologists alike will appreciate this unique work of art and scholarship.

Customer Reviews:

An Ornithological Masterpiece.......2000-09-21

The two volumes, "The Birds of Pakistan" written by T.J Roberts is the only complete book covering the avifauna of the region and is a landmark in the field of ornithology. Pakistan's incredibly diverse environment from the highest mountains on earth to burning deserts, rich plains, endless rivers and 1050 km coastline supports 668 species of resident and migrant birds. This monumental book covers all the 668 species believed to occur in Pakistan. Every specie information is presented in detail with illustrations and distribution maps all drawn by the author himself. This second volume ( Pittas to Buntings ) contains detailed descriptions of 313 passeriformes accompanied by 284 distribution maps,16 illustrations, and 31 plates. This volume also contains a bibliography and an index. A must for every birdwatcher who is interested in the avifauna of Pakistan and the neighbouring countries.

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