Average customer rating:
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Dr. Spock's Baby & Child Care, Eighth Edition
Benjamin Spock
Manufacturer: Audioworks
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Audio Cassette
 General
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Parenting
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Accessories:
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Health o Meter HDC100-01 "Grow with Me" Teddy Bear Scale for Babies and Toddlers
ASIN: 0671045237 |
Book Description
Ralph D. Sawyer, noted scholar of Chinese warfare, provides a comprehensive introduction to the essential views, concepts, and tactical principles of military strategy through this translation of classic texts from ancient China.
From antiquity, the history of China has been marked by invading tribes, warring states, and popular uprisings. This heritage of conflict produced a body of martial literature exploring the fundamental principles of warfare and their methods of employment. Fully aware of the tragic consequences of battle, the authors of these texts emphasized that bloodshed and war should be avoided whenever possible. But, they argued, this is possible only when the principles of leadership and strategy have been mastered and the dynamics of conflict thoroughly analyzed. Over the centuries, these texts have been studied throughout Asia, not only by generals on the battlefield but by leaders of all kinds concerned with the management of human conflict in all its forms. The Essence of War presents eight of these classics (written from 500 B.C.E. to 700 C.E.), including Sun-tzu's Art of War and Sun Pin's Military Methods. The book introduces the core principles of Chinese military science, grouping selected passages and key quotations into five thematic sections encompassing forty-one topical chapters: Fundamentals, Tao of Warfare, Tao of Command, Tactical Essentials, and Tactical Specifics. Translator Ralph D. Sawyer provides here a concise introduction to Chinese military thought and influential materials not only of traditional import, but also for contemporary study and enduring value in both business and military circles throughout the world.
Customer Reviews:
A book of quotations.......2006-12-01
This is a quoation book. Sawyer divides the book into chapters devoted to specific aspects of warfare. Each chapter seems to attempt to distill esential wisdom regarding the nature of the aspects of war by compiling relevant quotations from the original Chinese texts. This makes the book a good source of quotations on the nature of warfare, but it is not coherent thesis on warfare.
Good book but lacks originality..........2004-10-30
This book is an excellent compilation on Chinese military classics. The material is comprehensive and well organized. The only minor flaw is that it often uses passages from Sun Tzu's "Art of War" and Sun Pin's "Military Methods", which readers may already have in their library. Nevertheless, this is a good book if you don't already have any other Chinese warfare books.
Average customer rating:
- Not reliable
- A bad, bad exploration of evil
- biased
- Very poorly done
- The banality of writing a cheap book about evil
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The Evil 100
Martin Gilman Wolcott
Manufacturer: Citadel
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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| Biographies & Memoirs
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Criminals
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ASIN: 080652555X |
Customer Reviews:
Not reliable.......2006-08-13
This book is not reliable for sources or anything else, for that matter. I have not read it, but I know. I was doing a Google Book search on Benito Mussolini and I came to the first page of this book, and it states Mussolini was born in 1893. This is incorrect. He was born in 1883. I don't know if this was just bad editing or horrible fact-checking on the author's part, but having seen this I cannot say I would trust any other parts of this publication.
A bad, bad exploration of evil.......2004-12-28
I can't figure out who this extremely weak book is aimed at. As a serious discussion of evil -- something I held out hope for until a couple of minutes after I cracked open the cover -- it is far too superficial and haphazard. A light and fun treatment of the subject? Um, doesn't writing something about evil preclude that tact?
Instead, we're left with an an almost random list of people who, at the highest levels, are responsible for some truly atrocious events (Adolph Hitler is first; Ossama bin Laden eighth), then eroding into a list of rapists, assassins, and serial killers at the middle levels, before concluding with the world's most famous sexual fetishist (the Marquis De Sade) and a couple of computer virus writers. Almost half of the evildoers are from the U.S.; almost all are men.
None of this is to belittle the horrible to nasty things these people did, though it could be argued that the format of this book does that. The whole concept is similar to learning about food by writing about the hundred most tasty meals ever prepared, or discussing parenting by ranking the hundred best-behaved children ever to be potty trained. It's absurd. Much more interesting would have been an investigation into what kind of psychology makes people evil, or of historical trends regarding the subject.
But there are other problems:
--How do you rank kinds of evil? The whole process requires some kind of formula based on how much persecution is worth how many murders, that the murder of anonymous masses is worth more or less than a high degree of sexual perversion, a lack of sanity, or a low IQ, and puts a ratio on how much property damage is worth a human life.
--Also, how good is the history this information in based on? Comparing the well-documented evils of Nazi leaders with the myth of someone like Vlad The Impaler, the historical character that Count Dracula is based on who is ranked in the top ten and who may or may not have existed ... well, you see the point, which is made over and over again.
--There are many factual errors. The number of dead listed for the battle of Antietam is actually the number of men killed, injured, or missing. Chilean dictator Salvador Allende was not a Communist. And no serious commentator has blamed Iraq's Sadam Hussein for the anthrax attacks in the U.S. in 2001. There are many more examples.
--Then, as with any top 100 compilation, what about those left off the list? Africa and Latin America are woefully underrepresented. What about the perpetrators of apartheid in South Africa or of the African slave trade? Or Fransisco Pizarro, who destroyed the great Inca capital of Cusco and killed tens of thousands of natives so he could send their gold and silver home, to the smelters of Sevilla? What about Abamael Guzman, the founder of Latin Americas bloodiest rebel group, or Alfredo Stroessener, who ran Paraguay as a haven for ex-Nazis and who left his country a generation behind most of the rest of the continent?
In the end, the book's limited value is as a collection of mini biographies of despicable characters aimed at the small niche of people interested in rubber necking at an almost random collection of people who left a negative mark on history. For anything beyond that, this book is not up to the task.
biased.......2004-09-29
After reading the first half-dozen entries and skimming the rest, the summaries are not as concise as they could be and some entries are questionable. The most obvious one:
John Wilkes Booth makes the list of most evil (number 94), but Linconln should be there instead. Lincoln is primarily responsible for the deaths of 620,000 people because he could have simply allowed the Confederate states to have their independence. Instead, he launched a military invasion, allowed the demolition of cities which caused starvation and disease. He imprisoned thousands of people simply because they were sympathetic to the Confederacy, leaving them jailed indefinitely, without access to attorneys or a listing of charges against them. He shut down many newspapers and confisticated telegraph companies. He refused to meet with Confederate delegations during the war, which could have resulted in a compromise. The South was justified in seeking relief from the unfair tax burden and their decreasing representation in the senate and house. The constitution and other laws effectively permitted secession. Lincoln was not really anti-slavery and slavery was dying out throughout the Americas anyway (it ended in Brazil, in 1888).
Also, referring to the Civil War battle of Antietam, 22,000 was not the number killed. It was the number of casualties (dead, wounded and missing).
Very poorly done.......2004-06-28
So the assassin of Garfield warrants a place among the most evil human beings to walk this planet, but the murderer of Gandhi does not? To be fair I'm not sure either individual should be included in this terribly flawed book, but one was a rather insignificant politician, the other freed his nation from imperialist bondage. Then again, Gandhi wasn't an American so perhaps his death is less significant in the eyes of this particular author.
Many of the choices of evil individuals the author makes in this book are arbitrary at best, and many individuals are included simply because of the lurid and sensasionalistic details of their crimes. For example, Ed Gein was clearly insane and should not be included with people who understood the implications of their crimes, yet choose to commit them anyways, yet he's included among the great "evils" of the world because of the... well... exotic nature of his crimes related to already dead women; while not intending to minimize his actual murders, he is known to have killed only one woman - perhaps three - hardly worthy of inclusion in a book of "pure evil." I'm still shocked that this author would seriously include the creators of computer viruses as being in the 100th most "evil" person(s) in history.
In addition to sometimes very poor choices, the quality of the writing is very poor. (...) There are times he simply repeats the exact thing he wrote a paragraph or two before. (...) There are also times when one isn't sure who the author is refering to in a story. What "he" are you taliking about? The subject of the story? A victim?
Far be it for me to tell potntial purchasers of this book how they should spend their money. Suffice it to say, though, that I received my copy as a gift, and I still think I spent too much on it.
The banality of writing a cheap book about evil.......2004-06-24
There are many things wrong with this book as a list, and as a discussion of the problem of evil. But consider just one thing. This is a collection of malefactors that Islamic fanatics would approve of. Of course Osama Bin Laden makes number 8, and so do the Taliban and Saddam Hussein. But that's to be expected from Americans. But how could they not admire a book in which 46 of the world's most evil people come from the United States? When you add people from Britain, Australia and Canada you get a solid majority from the Anglo-American world. And so many of their crimes involve sexual perversity and anonymous murder, which clearly trumps religious bigotry and systematic injustice in the author's scale of evils. Basically this is a book that starts off with the most infamous tyrants (Hitler is number one), and after the first twenty and thirty places, goes on to discuss mass murderers and serial killers. The four Presidential assassins are included, and the book rounds out with the Marquis De Sade and virus writers. Aside from inadvertently giving aid to comfort to America's enemies by suggesting it has, if not a monopoly of evil, controlling interest in it, the book is superficial and unpleasant to read. The book combines a shallow moralism with a lurid interest in their subject's atrocities, a sort of pornography for Republicans. The moral questions are not really addressed. For a start many of the book's subjects are patently insane, even by the strict and pro-Prosecutor guidelines of Anglo-American law. Is it useful to describe as evil someone who does not have the capacity for moral choice, or which is constrained by severe psychological problems? Sure, says the author. It doesn't matter that Martin Bryant, the Tasmanian mass murderer had an IQ of 66 or that Caligula may have been suffering from schizophrenia or epilepsy.
Reading the earlier entries one wondered how many of the charges against Genghis Khan, Attila the Hun, Ivan IV (the Terrible) or Vlad III (the Impaler, who makes the top 10) are actually true or are just propaganda. Good question, since Vlad III's status rests more on the idea that he was the inspiration for Dracula. The suspicion increases when the entry on Hussein starts by blaming him for the anthrax mailings in the fall of 2001, something which he clearly was not responsible for. The historical analysis is not very deep. Salvador Allende was not a Communist. There is no good reason for having Eichmann appear before Himmler, his superior, nor did he have to face 15 charges at Nuremberg. The book overstates the severity and intensity of the persecution of Christians as a result of Nero, while at the time ignoring his destruction of Jerusalem. Likewise Tojo's treatment of American POWs gets more condemnation than the way the treated the rest of Asia. Mussolini's worst acts, his African atrocities, get little space. And there is much that is missing. Neither Khomenei or the Shah appear; the African slave trade is completely ignored, and so is apartheid. Idi Amin Dada appears, but the perpetrators of the Rwandan genocide are missed. The Belgian Rulers who may have caused the deaths of 15 million Congolese in their occupation of the country are forgotten. The whole bloody subjugation of the Western hemisphere goes unmentioned, so there is nothing on how Pizarro managed to destroy and enslave an entire civilization out of sheer greed. The Thirty Years War, the Crusades, the conquest of Ireland, the suppression of the Dutch Revolt are all ignored. If Stalin's and Mao's famines are to be condemned what about the Irish potato famine or the (several) Bengal famines? Mobuto, Suharto, D'Aubisson, Stroessener and the rulers of Guatemala get no mention. Nor, needless to say, do Hiroshima and Nagasaki. If Garfield's assasin deserves an entry, shouldn't Gandhi's? (Or for that matter the assassins of Indira or Rajiv Gandhi?) Charles Guiteau was just a disgruntled office seeker and Garfield a mediocre politician. The assassins of Gandhi, Luxembourg, Jaures, Rabin, King, Barthou, Bloch, Milk and Moscone were fascists or something close to it. And what about the judicial murder of Thomas More or Margaret Pole? McKinley's conquest of the Philippines involved many atrocities and the death of one in seven Filipinos. Shouldn't he rank higher than his killer?
Book Description
"There's evil in the world."—George W. Bush
And lots of it. The question is, just what does it look like? A politician? An ex-girlfriend? Your landlord? Your boss? Hanna Arendt said it was banal. The Red Sox think of the Yankees. And in this hilarious, disturbing, quirky, and brilliant little book, noted illustrators Nicholas Blechman and Christoph Niemann present a catalog of their own misanthropic imaginings.
The two met in 1997, when Blechman was art director for the New York Times Op-ed Page and Niemann, now a frequent contributor to the New Yorker, had just started working in New York City. As their personal and professional friendship began, they found themselves spending countless nights together in Brooklyn bars, drawing up images—wry, comic, arch, painful—to represent the sex affairs and political scandals, acts of terror and acts of war that were the news.
This professional work led to a personal passion, and so the illustrators chose to draw a small series on rosier subjects like maps and love. But as the world around them grew darker, they decided to explore the other end of the emotional spectrum and devote themselves to evil. 100% Evil is the result: a thoughtful, comical, and—at times—joyful book that just goes to show that sometimes it's good to be bad.
Book Description
Will Margo win the final battle?
Margo's monstrous plan is complete.
She came to Sweet Valley to find a new life, and discovered identical twins Jessica and Elizabeth Wakefield and their "perfect" family. If only Margo can get rid of one of them, she can take her rightful place in the Wakefield home.
Now the moment Margo has been waiting for has arrived. The twins aren't speaking to each other. Sweet Valley is in chaos. Mr. and Mrs. Wakefield are out of town. Margo has just enough time to do what she needs to do.
Jessica and Elizabeth Wakefield are in mortal danger.
The final episode in the explosive six-part miniseries.
Will Sweet Valley ever be the same?
Customer Reviews:
so cheezy but...........2006-03-26
so good! i was obsessed from age 10-15 i read ALL OF THEM. It was a nice little fantasy escape world i will never forget--a lovely childhood series i cherish
Elizabeth and Jessica are in Danger from Margo!.......2004-12-28
Elizabeth and Jessica are still mad at each other because Jessica blames Elizabeth for killing Sam Woodruff[Jessica's Boyfriend] Jess never confessed that She was the one that put the rum in the punch.Elizabeth lives the Jungle Prom over and Over and discover it was Jessica.She did it out of greed.Georgie's brother,Josh comes to Sweet Valley to get revenge on the babysitter who killed his little brother. Both Elizabeth and Margo wear the same dress on New Year's Eve,but Jessica,Steven and Billie saves Elizabeth from Margo at Fowler Crest.
The Evil Twin!.......2004-08-10
There is a girl who tries to take over Elizabeth's life after seeing her picture. She looks like her. I just want to say that this could happen in real life- well, something like it could happen. There are lots of people who have look-alikes they don't evern know about, who aren't related to them. Have you ever seen those celebrity look-alike contests? Some of those people could pass for twins........or triplets, in this case. Anyway, this book ties up the prom mini-series. I read the first book a few months ago (A NIGHT TO REMEMBER) and I was reading it in the dark and in the car, because it was soooo good. I loved it so much that I bought the whole mini-series at the same time so I could read them all. Ok, GO READ THE PROM MINI-SERIES!!!!!!
Pretty good.......2002-09-02
I thought this book was pretty good. The Margo thing was good but jess and liz were to depressed. The end was the best part and i also recomend return of the evil twin.
Great Christmas Read!.......2001-12-21
If you're looking to get a teen or preteen girl to actually sit down and read a book, try this one!
Filled with a murder plot, revenge, love, and, of course, a happy ending for the picture perfect twin stars of the series, it should keep even the most jaded teen girl interested.
Customer Reviews:
Very Informational.......2007-09-14
I found this book very interesting and very informative. I recognized a few of the people mentioned in the book, but I also read about some I have never heard of. I am glad I purchased this book and I recommend this book to anyone who is a fan of history.
Product Description
Leatherbound Easton Press in the 100 greatest books ever written series
Average customer rating:
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Sweet Valley High 100 The Evil Twin
Francine Pascal
Manufacturer: Bantam
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
Sweet Valley High
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ASIN: B000GR7DG6 |
Average customer rating:
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Global Surgery Formula for the Casson-Walker Invariant. (AM-140)
Christine Lescop
Manufacturer: Princeton University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
General
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Calculus
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General
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Geometry & Topology
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ASIN: 0691021325 |
Book Description
This book presents a new result in 3-dimensional topology. It is well known that any closed oriented 3-manifold can be obtained by surgery on a framed link in S
3. In Global Surgery Formula for the Casson-Walker Invariant, a function F of framed links in S
3 is described, and it is proven that F consistently defines an invariant, lamda (l), of closed oriented 3-manifolds. l is then expressed in terms of previously known invariants of 3-manifolds. For integral homology spheres, l is the invariant introduced by Casson in 1985, which allowed him to solve old and famous questions in 3-dimensional topology. l becomes simpler as the first Betti number increases.
As an explicit function of Alexander polynomials and surgery coefficients of framed links, the function F extends in a natural way to framed links in rational homology spheres. It is proven that F describes the variation of l under any surgery starting from a rational homology sphere. Thus F yields a global surgery formula for the Casson invariant.
Book Description
In this elegant and thought-provoking memoir, Dawn Prince-Hughes traces her personal growth from undiagnosed autism to the moment, as a young woman, when she entered the Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle and became immediately fascinated with the gorillas. By observing them and, later, working with them, Prince-Hughes was finally able to emerge from her solitude and connect to living beings in a way she had never previously experienced.
More than a story of autism, Songs of the Gorilla Nation is a poignant, beautifully written exploration of the rich landscape of human emotion and the ways we learn to love.
Customer Reviews:
Gorrila my dreams.........2007-04-08
I just finished reading "Songs of the Gorilla Nation", by Dawn Prince-Huges. I found it very interesting, (especially the parts about the gorillas), but also very disturbing.
Dawn is about my age, so we share having grown up with Asperger's Syndrome in a time when autism, and especially AS, weren't really recognized---especially in women---and it's subsequent late diagnosis. I guess I found it disturbing because of the many parallels in our lives, and the bad memories they brought up for me.
She mentions feeling guilty about being envious of her relative who was just diagnosed with AS, because of all the slack people cut him, and all the help he is getting. I also have a newly diagnosed nephew, and I can totally sympathize with her jealousy. If I had gotten 1/10th the understanding and help that he gets, well...who knows how much pain I might have been spared?
I also liked her point about how hard she works to act "normal", and how frustrating it is for her because people don't believe her when she says she's autistic. They think she's making excuses for being abrupt or uncaring or the million other things "normal" people accuse us of. Sort of a damned if you do, damned if you don't situation.
I REALLY sympathized when she spoke of how she has been criticized for her
perseveration, as I have run into that a lot.
I liked the book and I recommend it with some provisos: If you are on the spectrum, it may bring up bad stuff for some of you---especially if you're a woman. It's a little patchy -she skips around a bit and leaves out some background info that I would have found interesting/helpful. The insights into the gorilla mind are absolutely fascinating, and very sad.
A good read if you can handle it---I'm still having fallout.
Overcoming multiple hurdles to lead a fulfilling life.......2006-03-29
This is the autobiography of a woman who not only overcame the challenges posed by autism but also came to terms with her lesbianism and embraced both things as part of her life.
Growing up different - autistic AND gay - in a small town was dreadful, and she left at 16. Her description of the extra difficulties faced by a homeless autistic was frightening, but she managed to climb out of that hole anyway.
I would have liked to have read more details about her college life and how she managed to earn a Ph.D., largely by correspondence, from a Swiss university.
She now lives in the Pacific Northwest with her life partner and their son, borne by the partner from an anonymous sperm donor who was likely as colorful as they are.
Recommended.......2006-02-11
This is not just another autistic auto-biography. In talking about her life the author is also talking about her work with and her experiences of Gorillas, and what she has learned from them, creating as a result a thoughtful and intelligent book not just about one person but about what it is to be autistic and what it is to be human.
Fascinating look at autism AND gorillas.......2006-01-03
I thought the title was a metaphor, but it was actually quite literal. This book provides a fascinating view of the life and coping strategies of a "high-achieving autistic." It also provides insight into the lives and societies of gorillas. This book could be enjoyed for either reason. One of the best patient autobiographies I have read.
Spellbinding.......2005-12-18
I was spellbound by Songs of the Gorilla Nation, a beautifully written memoir of a young woman who has Asperger's Syndrome, a mild form of autism. Although she has difficulty communicating and interacting in person, she is a remarkably eloquent writer, and is able to describe and provide profound insight into the thought processes and experiences of people who have the syndrome.
She describes her syndrome as a sensory filter malfunction (interestingly enough, many people with Autism and Asperger's have asthma and terrible allergies, which can be seen as other types of 'filter' disorders). For her, to experience the world is to drown in synesthetic sensory overload. Overwhelmed, unable to process the tidal wave of stimuli, she escapes the painful barrage through obsessive compulsive behavior, repetitive actions, and solipsism. As a child she was unable to connect normally with other people and was incapable of picking up on normal social cues. Although not cognitively or verbally delayed, she was socially helpless. Blunt, inadvertantly rude, and always "different,' she was a vulnerable target for vicious schoolmates and even teachers. She suffered greatly as a tormented, confused social outcast.
Completely alienated, she dropped out of school at 16 and was moved to Seattle and became homeless, eating out of garbage cans to survive. She eventually became an exotic dancer, and with her first paycheck visted the Seattle zoo because she had always found solace in animals. There she discovers an almost mystical connection with the gorillas, and for the first time experiences empathy and connection with another primate. Adept at shutting her senses off, she is able to focus her brain like a laser, and with a formidable singlemindedness observed and learned everything she could about them. Through studying their social interactions, and from the relationships she develops with the gorillas, she learns how to interact with humans. She credits the gorillas with "civilizing" her, and forms deep, communicative relationships with some of them. She becomes involved with the zoo and eventually is able to earn her PhD in Interdisciplinary Anthropology, form a relationship with a significant other, have a child, and become an activist for gorillas. Now she works to bridge the worlds between ape and human as well as autistic and normal people.
Although she can "pass" now as a normal person, there are still some things about human society that counfound her, although I can certainly see why.
"It is hard to express the horror I feel when I am out at a parade or carnival (already a sensory nightmare) and I see a clown coming. The garish colors of an exaggerated smile, the electric daggers that are rainbow wigs, the oversized hands and feet: all of these make me want to run at top speed for the nearest exit. If I can't get away, I sometimes feel like I want to attack the clown."
Amen, sister. Amen.
Book Description
The past 86 years have seen the tank develop from a primitive experimental weapon designed to break the deadlock of trench warfare on the Western Front into a fearsomely sophisticated machine designed to dominate the battlefield. Over the same period, tank crews have ceased to be a band of intrepid pioneers and have become an elite arm whose units now boast battle honors ranging from Alamein to Kursk and from Korea to the Sinai.This lavishly illustrated book by Philip Kaplan tells the story of the tank's development and of the men who rode into battle on board their tanks, from the Somme in 1916 to the Gulf War of 1992.Chariots of Fire brings to life the experiences of tank crews both past and present, and features many unusual and dramatic photographs of men and machines, conveying a vivid impression of armored warfare in the twentieth century.
Customer Reviews:
More than meets the eye.......2005-09-21
This book is not what it appears. It's much more than a review of the history of the tank (although that is here, and very well done). In addition there are many first person accounts, discussions of the tank's impact on political and societal issues, and very personal stories told by tankers from the Great War to the Gulf War, in action and in training. Sure there are terrific photos, but this is not just history - but the emotion, reaction, and pathos that are what history really is formed of. It's a book that makes you think about much more than hardware. Remarkably well done and worthwhile. Buy it.
Book Description
Princeton Readings in Political Thought is one of the most engaging and up-to-date samplers of the standard works of Western political thinking from antiquity through modern times. Organized chronologically, from Thucydides to Foucault, the book brings together forty-four selections of enduring intellectual value--key articles, book excerpts, essays, and speeches--that have shaped our understanding of Western society and politics. Readers will find this work to be an invaluable reference, and they will enjoy not only the varied selections but also the lucid introductions to each historical era and the brief sketches of each thinker.
The book includes the writings of many of the most distinguished observers of the Western experience from classical times (Thucydides, Plato, Aristotle, and Cicero), the Middle Ages (St. Augustine, St. Thomas Aquinas, and Christine de Pizan), modern times (Machiavelli, Luther, Calvin, Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau, Adam Smith, The Federalist Papers, "Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen," Burke, Marie-Olympes de Gouges, Mary Wollstonecraft, Bentham, Mill, de Tocqueville, Hegel, Marx, and Nietzsche), or the ideas of twentieth-century political philosophers and ideologists (Weber, Mosca, Michels, Lenin, Freud, Emma Goldman, Mussolini, Arendt, Orwell, de Beauvoir, Fanon, Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, Leo Strauss, Walzer, Rawls, Nozick, Habermas, and Foucault).
Customer Reviews:
Where the Great Political Philosophers Dwell.......2000-02-07
A very enjoyable book. I especially like the selections on Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau and Machiavelli. Such selections reflect a theoretical unity, rather than a distance, between the theorists' works. Thus, rather than select excerpts unconnected to other excerpts, the editors attempt to develop chronological theme(s) around the works--when possible--that allow students to see progressions, pauses, and reliances, upon previous political writings. Because of this organized unity--which I think works--I could examine Hobbes' 'state of nature' in light of Locke's, and explore how Locke's theory of man is at least an acknowledgment--if not an extension-of Hobbes' work. Similarly, I could look to the authors of the Federalist papers and explore how such concepts of government were influenced, if only indirectly, by the writings of Hobbes and/or Locke.
In addition to offering a wide representation of the Modern era, the book nicely represents the Classical and Medieval periods, with useful selections from Plato, Aristotle, Aquinas, and Augustine. Useful, too, are the selections from _The Prince_ and _Discourses_. Unlike some books which offer selections only from _Prince_, Princeton incorporates _Discourses_, which I think furthers and grounds a deeper understanding of _Prince_.
Thorough and extensive introductions, as well as bold headings within the excerpts, serve as introductions, of course, but also ways to direct the reader to interesting transitions
I would recommend this book for any Poly Theory course, especially one with a focus on classical and modern political thought.
Stoking the Flames of a Poli Sci Interest.......2000-01-24
This book was a harmonious accompaniment to my first college Political Science course; its contents are an artfully selected collection of thought-provoking essays. I can truly say that this book and the course in which it was used were instrumental in my ultimate decision to pursue Political Science! I offer the highest reccomendations for students studying politics to read this text.
Book Description
The wildfires that spread across Southern California in the fall of 2003 were devastating in their scale-twenty-two deaths, thousands of homes destroyed and many more threatened, hundreds of thousands of acres burned. What had gone wrong? And why, after years of discussion of fire policy, are some of America's most spectacular conflagrations arising now, and often not in a remote wilderness but close to large settlements?
That is the opening to a brilliant discussion of the politics of fire by one of the country's most knowledgeable writers on the subject, Stephen J. Pyne. Once a fire fighter himself (for fifteen seasons, on the North Rim of the Grand Canyon) and now a professor at Arizona State University, Pyne gives us for the first time a book-length discussion of fire policy, of how we have come to this pass, and where we might go from here.
Tending Fire provides a remarkably broad, sometimes startling context for understanding fire. Pyne traces the "ancient alliance" between fire and humanity, delves into the role of European expansion and the creation of fire-prone public lands, and then explores the effects wrought by changing policies of "letting burn" and suppression. How, the author asks, can we better protect ourselves against the fires we don't want, and better promote those we do?
Pyne calls for important reforms in wildfire management and makes a convincing plea for a more imaginative conception of fire, though always grounded in a vivid sense of fire's reality. "Amid the shouting and roar, a central fact remains," he writes. "Fire isn't listening. It doesn't feel our pain. It doesn't care-really, really doesn't care. It understands a language of wind, drought, woods, grass, brush, and terrain, and it will ignore anything stated otherwise."
Rich in insight, wide-ranging in its subject, and clear-eyed in its proposals, Tending Fire is for anyone fascinated by fire, fire policy, or human culture.
Customer Reviews:
Review of Tending Fire.......2005-12-07
"Tending Fire" by Steve Pyne is a landmark work. Modern society has lost its connection to the natural world, a connection that our ancestors depended upon and nurtured with fire. Pyne reveals the price of our foolish Faustian bargain to ignore our fire roots, and how our self-proclaimed "sophisticated" culture is continually staggered by natural forces we have forgotten how to deal with. Pyne's point is that man is a fire creature, unique among animals in our ability to create fire and to manipulate our world with fire. Our disconnect from our fire roots has had unfortunate consequences, including the catastrophic destruction of our forests and the wholesale alteration of other ecosystems. If we do not relearn how to tend fire, to produce it where and when we need to, then we will not be able to prevent or control the most destructive fires, the firestorm holocausts that threaten rural and urban America alike.
Plus, Pyne is a poet, a master wordsmith, and tons of fun to read.
The history of fires and human habitats around the world.......2005-03-11
Each summer wildfires destroy American communities and wreck havoc - yet there are 'good' fires, too: those which restore habitats and strike habitats which rely on them for ecological balance. How to cope? Stephen Pyne is an expert on fire, having spent fifteen seasons fighting fires in the Grand Canyon: he outlines in Tending Fire: Coping With America's Wildland Fires, a new paradigm for viewing American wildland fires, discussing the history of fires and human habitats around the world, and contrasting the pros and cons of current fire politics in the last decade.
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