Book Description
Enjoy 40 picturesque trails and a wealth of wildlife within an hour of Boston.
Book Description
Compact and pocketable Algarve Directions is full of ideas for a holiday to one of EuropeÂ's most popular beach destinations, richly illustrated with hundreds of specially commissioned photos. The full-colour introduction features nineteen themed spreads Â- including the best beaches to inland attractions, museums, restaurants and cafés. The main section of the guide gives an area-by-area account of the sights, restaurants, hotels, transport, shops and nightlife Â- all supported by evocative photographs. There are detailed maps of each chapter area and all the main resorts, in which every listing and review is pinpointed.
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Macclesfield Museums (MAG)
Manufacturer: Longman Schools Division (a Pearson Education company)
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ASIN: 0582014115 |
Book Description
"Something about Gardner's prose—straight-ahead, factual, free of literary pretension—is deliciously addictive.—Michael Dirda, Washington Post Book World
Martin Gardner—"one of the most brilliant men and gracious writers I have ever known," wrote Stephen Jay Gould—is the wittiest, most devastating debunker of scientific fraud and chicanery of our time. In this new book Gardner explores startling scientific concepts, such as the possibility of multiple universes and the theory that time can go backwards. Armed with his expert, skeptical eye, he examines the bizarre tangents produced by Freudians and deconstructionists in their critiques of "Little Red Riding Hood," and reveals the fallacies of pseudoscientific cures, from Dr. Bruno Bettelheim's erroneous theory of autism to the cruel farces of Facilitated Communication and Primal Scream Therapy. Ever prolific, and still engaging at the spry age of eighty-eight, Gardner has become an American institution unto himself, a writer to be celebrated.
Customer Reviews:
A delightful probe of 'pseudoscience' evolves.......2005-02-09
At the age of 90 author Martin Gardner has already been much applauded for his books on math, science, philosophy in literature: Are Universes Thicker Than Blackberries? Shows he hasn't lost any of his touch, providing essays which gathers the best of his recent journalism writings, which have appeared in Scientific American and other notable publications. Essays are organized into five broad categories and survey many theories or 'miracles' which have fooled readers over the years. A delightful probe of 'pseudoscience' evolves.
Cut the guy some slack.......2004-07-30
Although this collection is not his best, Gardner is after all getting older and so I seems likely to me that after of lifetime of battling superstition and pseudoscience, the effects are wearing upon him. His mentioning and warnings about fundamentalism are indeed important as not only are we fighting Islamic fundamentalists, but Christian ones in our own country who want to degrade public education, oppress certain minorities and restrict freedom of the press and speech.
Martin Gardner is still a national treasure and will be sorely missed when he passes on. It must be a compliment when your least important collection of essays still have several ones that pack a whollop.
seems outdated, no novelty...........2004-07-15
When I wanted to mark the book with 3 stars, I was surpised indeed that other readers did the same.
Over the years I used to buy a book by M. Gardner the moment I saw it a bookstore, and by now I have a dozen of them or more, some read and re-read numerous times. I could honestly say these were his book that formed my love of mathemathics, cybernetics etc
But this last book caused me to feel pity. It seems pathetically outfashioned, talks about discoveries, scientists and philosophers of '50-'70. It's nostalgic, yes, but not breath-taking.
The narratives themselves and the factual presentations are neither deep nor intuitive, and, frankly, boring to an extent.
I wouldn't thought the 1st review I write about a book by M. Gardner would be of this kind, I do it because I really appreciate him, his books and firmly believe that this book is an exception.
Close, but no cigar.......2004-05-01
I love the Skeptical Enquirer and its no-nonsense way of getting to the truth of the matter. Martin Gardner, author of many science-for-the-people books is a contributor to that magazine and his articles are always delightful, sometimes controversial, always opinionated and extremely erudite. This book is really a collection of some of these articles, arranged by category.
He is at his best when on the attack against the New Agers, the superstitious, horoscopes, ESP, magic, channelers, charlatans, Pyramid power and the like. He demonstrates, step by step, the fallacy of their thinking and is just, even fair, in presenting the opposing viewpoint.
The first article from the title of the book sets the tone. In it he discusses how a theoretical flight of fancy (there are as many universes as we can imagine) became, for some, scientific fact despite not one scintilla of evidence. But more than a discussion of the Multiple Universe Theory, it is an examination of the trend of mixing Eastern religious thought with science and producing a mishmash of pseudo-scientific lingo that is as trendy as it is illogical. He takes on many icons - Karl Popper, Hemingway, Bettelheim and Gary Wills - and, like Paul Johnson in his great tome, INTELLECTUALS - finds monsters, egos and irrationality just around the bend.
He tackles various cultural movements, traces their history and their tragic results: Cult leaders, Primal Screaming, psychoanalysis, Facilitated Communication and weird and little known individuals who made a mark at the time. The quality of the essays are uneven and there is this infuriating obsession with fundamentalists of the Protestant persuasion. He takes after them as if they were the Great Evil yet, as far as I know, no fundamentalist has murdered millions in religious wars, conquered nations in the name of God, slaughtered people due to their size or tortured millions "for the Faith". For that, one must point to (respectively) European Christians, Islam, African tribes and Catholicism. THis does not include the tens of millions slaughtered by secular regimes in this century.
All in all, a good book, a quick read and another valuable lesson in the phrase "seeing is not believeing."
Watered down (spotty on science math and philosophy).......2004-01-16
I was really excited to get this book, but like other reviewers I find myself sorely disappointed. The book which is 271 pages of content has 31 subchapters. This means 9 pages are dedicated to each topic (including addendums). As a result, the coverage tends to be more anecdotal than informative. This might be interesting to you if you are very farmilliar with Gardner's work, but he seems to rely on his own reputation in support of his arguments. He often argues by reductio taking conclusions to be absurd without argument. A lot of the stuff in this book comes down to the argument "and that seems really silly now doesn't it."
Not only are his arguments uninteresting and poorly made, but he does a poor job presenting other arguments. He resorts a lot to paraphrases and in instances throughout the book he presents us with incomplete representations of the arguments that he intends to criticize. For example he essentially reduces Many World Interpretaion (MWI) of Quantum Mechanics (QM) to the following paraphrase: those people believe that there is more than one real universe and that means that there is more than one real you and that's totally crazzy.
I urge you to spend money on something else instead of this book. I actually have not read through the entire thing because after reading the first dozen chapters I decided that the rest of the book was probably as much of an utter waste as the first part. You will not see a good argument here and you will not learn anything about the subjects which Gardner argues.
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Too many universes.(Book Review): An article from: New Criterion
James Franklin
Manufacturer: Foundation for Cultural Review
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ASIN: B0008DVZ6W
Release Date: 2005-07-31 |
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This digital document is an article from New Criterion, published by Foundation for Cultural Review on September 1, 2003. The length of the article is 1587 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: Too many universes.(Book Review)
Author: James Franklin
Publication:
New Criterion (Magazine/Journal)
Date: September 1, 2003
Publisher: Foundation for Cultural Review
Volume: 22
Issue: 1
Page: 68(3)
Article Type: Book Review
Distributed by Thomson Gale
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Fields Medallists' Lectures (World Scientific Series in 20th Century Mathematics, 9)
Manufacturer: World Scientific Pub Co Inc
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ASIN: 9812382593 |
Book Description
World Scientific Series in 20th Century Mathematics - Vol. 9
FIELDS MEDALLISTS' LECTURES
2nd Edition
edited by Sir Michael Atiyah (University of Edinburgh, UK) & Daniel Iagolnitzer (CEA-Saclay, France)
Although the Fields Medal does not have the same public recognition as the Nobel Prizes, they share a similar intellectual standing. It is restricted to one field — that of mathematics — and an age limit of 40 has become an accepted tradition. Mathematics has in the main been interpreted as pure mathematics, and this is not so unreasonable since major contributions in some applied areas can be (and have been) recognized with Nobel Prizes.
A list of Fields Medallists and their contributions provides a bird's-eye view of mathematics over the past 60 years. It highlights the areas in which, at various times, greatest progress has been made. This volume does not pretend to be comprehensive, nor is it a historical document. On the other hand, it presents contributions from Fields Medallists and so provides a highly interesting and varied picture.
The second edition of Fields Medallists' Lectures features additional contributions from the following Medallists: Kunihiko Kodaira (1954), Richard E Borcherds (1998), William T Gowers (1998), Maxim Kontsevich (1998), Curtis T McMullen (1998) and Vladimir Voevodsky (2002).
Book Description
Sayers on Holmes collects the writings of Dorothy L. Sayers on the subject of Sherlock Holmes. In "Sherlock Holmes and His Influence," Sayers examines how the Sherlock Holmes stories affected the genre of detective fiction. In "The Dates in 'The Red-Headed League'" she discusses the contradictory dates in the Holmes story. In "Holmes' College Career" Sayers determines which university Holmes attended--Oxford or Cambridge--and speculates on a birth year for Holmes. "Dr. Watson's Christian Name" represents an effort by Sayers to solve the problem that Watson is called by different first names in different Holmesian stories. "Dr. Watson, Widower," is concerned with the speculation on Dr. Watson's possible multiple marriages. In addition, published here for the first time is the script she wrote for a radio production, "A Tribute to Sherlock Holmes on the Occasion of his 100th Birthday," in which the young Lord Peter Wimsey consults Sherlock Holmes.
Customer Reviews:
A scholarly look at Holmes by another great writer.......2002-03-15
A compilation of the writing of Dorothy Sayers on Sherlock Holmes, and who should know more about mystery writing than Sayers? For those who enjoy scholarly writing and speculation on the character and cases of Holmes, this is first-rate stuff. The Lord Peter Whimsey / Holmes radio play is an interesting pastiche. At 66 pages, though, this is one thin book. Eight dollars sure doesn't go as far as it used to....
An interesting collection of Holmesian speculation.......2002-03-01
A collection of Sayers' scholarly writings on Sherlock Holmes, Sayers on Holmes belongs in the libraries of fans of both Sayers and Holmes. Some of the essays may be familiar through other collections, but no other book collects all of her Holmesian writings together, and the discerning reader can sense a keen mind at play with the intricacies of the Holmesian canon. The highlight of this book is the final selection wherein Lord Peter Wimsey, Sayers' famous detective creation, relates an episode from his childhood where he hires Holmes to find his lost pet cat. A delightful story, it captures a feeling of true whimsey (pardon the pun). Recommended.
Customer Reviews:
Not Disappointed.......2006-04-30
I found Ms. Winters can write as well as she can act. I felt badly for her father. Her family was a great support to her.
RIP.......2006-01-18
A bigger than life talent, Ms. Winters was a mammoth personality. This biography successfully chronicles her many tastes and serves up a piping hot tribute to her gargantuan film legacy. Ms. Winters suffered no fools and hated juvenile attempts at humor. For that, I will always remember her fondly.
An outstanding show-biz memoir .......2006-01-15
Shelley Winters was one of the most outstanding character actresses of her generation. She was also a human - being of tremendous warmth, ambition, and moxie. In this chronicle of her early years she tells the story of her professional and personal life with a great deal of zest and flavor. She will not get an A for personal modesty or keeping the strictures of traditional morality, but she does get an A as being a person of great insight and caring for others. The story of her first marriage and those early years I found moving and sad.
A person who seemed to entertain in whatever she did-she provides here too a very entertaining piece of literature.
Who cares if it's true or not?.......2000-04-25
This book is one of the most entertaining autobiographies I have ever read. I have heard many reviews saying how this book is full of lies, etc, but I didn't care. One of the first things Ms. Winters writes in the book is that this was her life how SHE remembers it, and that it may not be all correct, but people remember things the way they want. Take this as truth or fiction; either way it is a great look at a young girl's rise to fame in 1940s and 50s Hollywood. It gave me insight into the post-war Hollywood machine, and what it was like to be an up-and-comer surrounded by these big-name stars. Ms. Winters' style is casual, as if she was writing it to each reader personally. If any of this interests you, definatly get your hands on a copy.
deliciously salacious!.......2000-03-10
My wife read me parts of this book while we were driving on a long trip. I found it very entertaining and well written, and am surprised that it is out of print already. One may not agree with her opinions and lifestyle, but she's had an interesting life doing it HER way, and is one helluva good writer.
Book Description
In On Seas of Glory the U.S. Navy meets a storyteller worthy of its epic. John Lehman was Ronald Reagan's Secretary of the Navy, and the man most responsible for rejuvenating the service during the 1980s. Lehman here gives a sweeping narrative of the Navy, from the Revolutionary War to the present day, filled with the ships that dominated, equally titanic personalities, and the battles that made history.
Lehman profiles naval greats -- from John Paul Jones and David Glasgow Farragut to Commodore George Dewey and FDR -- but also gives credit to the lesser-known sailors who have made the U.S. Navy the mightiest in the world. On Seas of Glory uses the diaries, memoirs, and letters of average sailors to reveal naval combat as though firsthand. A powder boy during the War of 1812 recalls running to fetch cartridges through torrents of blood; the letters of the author's own father show what it was like to survive kamikaze attacks off Okinawa at the close of World War II; and the bravery of naval pilot Tim Howard during Grenada proves the spirit of John Paul Jones is not dead.
The sweeping narrative also highlights the warships that have dominated the seas of their day, and the battles in which they fought: Constitution vs. Gurriere, Stephen Decatur's United States vs. Macedonian, New Orleans, Manila Bay, Pearl Harbor, Inchon, and many more. Detailed battle maps illustrate actions great and small; woodcuts, paintings, and never-before-published photographs make war on the water still more vivid.
Amid the smoke and fire, Lehman also makes an argument. He reminds us that the legends chronicled in these pages were real men and women, and that their heroism is no less needed today. With an insider's gusto and knowledge, he fights fiercely for the continuing importance of the Navy. Alfred Thayer Mahan, the intellectual godfather of the modern U.S. Navy, said that naval power exists not just to fend off the enemy but to smite him down. On Seas of GloryOn Seas of Glory is the story of that smiting.
Customer Reviews:
On Seas of Glory.......2007-09-23
"On Seas of Glory" is the most readible and interesting history of the U. S. Navy that I have encountered. The author is a well recongnized supporter and authority on the Navy. He provides brief but detailed accounts of specific battles, ships, and individuals which have characterized the U. S. Navy since its inception during the Revolution. Even privateers and civilian sailors are included. It is a book to be read one section at a time, and then given an opportunity to "sink in," in order to really appreciate the tradition of the service, and how it has contributed to the rich history of our country. I highly recommend it to anyone interested in military or U.S. history in general.
W. B. Pruitt, Captain, U.S. Navy Reserve, Ret.
Two Books in One.......2005-10-17
On Seas of Glory seems to have two distinct sections...the story of the Continental and US Navies from their beginnings through the end of World War II, followed by a section basically covering the Cold War (and other modern wars). And the big difference is...Proofreading!
Yes, folks, the first section of the book is poorly proofed, both for facts and for readability. It reminds me of someone who gathers the kids around his chair to tell them the story of the early U.S. Navy. It's full of anecdotes, family histories, and some rather sketchy recounting of the "facts." This is obviously a labor of love, as author Lehman recounts some of his favorite sea stories from the past.
Once into the Cold War section, the tone changes completely, and the proofing goes professional. It's as if a different author put it together, and it is very, very together. Instead of battles and warriors, we are treated to the spectacle of the Navy as an instrument of policy and diplomacy, weilded by civilian politicians with varing degrees of success.
For example, President Reagan's decision to vastly increase the size and capability of the U.S. Navy is presented as one of the key factors in the bankruptcy and eventual fall of the Soviet Union.
This second half of the book is full of glorious insight from someone who served in some key positions during several administrations, ultimately as the Secretary of the Navy. It is presented in a matter-of-fact, easy-to-read format that makes it valuable for those who are novice and experienced with this material alike.
So the first half of the book gets 2 1/2 stars from me. The second part, 5-stars for sure.
The Backbone of My Research.......2005-08-08
On Seas of Glory by John Lehman is an excellent, scholarly work written by, whom better then?, a former Secretary of the Navy. I found this book to be most useful while writing my Masters' Degree thesis on the Economic and Military impact of American Privateers during the American Revolution and the War of 1812. On Seas of Glory quickly became my primary resource among the twenty-three that I had used.
I highly recommend this book to any person that is interested in U.S. History; Naval History or just have the desire to read an excellent non-fiction title. It was clear that John Lehman not only approached this work as a labor of academic endeavor, but it must have also been a labor of love.
If you enjoy this book and you are interested in other pirate related books, movies and games, visit me at my website: (...)
Great lesson in American Naval history.......2005-06-17
I picked this book up in a bargin bin at a bookstore, and I am very glad I did. This book is a great overview of US naval history, and for an amateur like me, a very informatative and entertaining read.
Winner of the Samuel Eliot Morison Award.......2003-11-27
From the Publisher:
ON SEAS OF GLORY is the winner of the 2003 Samuel Eliot Morison Award for Naval Literature from the Naval Order of the United States.
Book Description
Like the enormously successful first edition, this newly revised and updated edition of The Child Welfare Challenge and strengthening families. The authors believe that the task of child welfare is best viewed as a product of the three major foci of the textbook: policy, practice, and research. Accordingly, each chapter includes examples of the interrelationships of these three elements. The thorough updating in this second edition includes key information about recent federal legislation such as TANF and AFSA as well as policy-related outcomes research in addresses a broad array of issues in supporting children child welfare.
Customer Reviews:
Review.......2002-05-16
This is a quite comprehensive book. The authors cover a wide variety of insightful information and research in the child welfare field. Very good for anybody who will be working in a public child welfare setting or conducting research in this area. As with most academic reading, it tends to be a little dry. And, because there is so much information, sometimes it doesn't flow very well.
Customer Reviews:
Raises some good points but rambles, not enough information .......2005-06-09
Originally written by the author in 1992, She spent a year following the Poppers and their efforts to get people to see how the Great Plains states are dying. They are actually running out of water and losing population.
There are a lot of pages about their travels, speaking engagements with often hostile crowds,hostile press (not all western) and some sections dealing with the science of what is happening to the land out there. You also get a fair amount of history, some people always saw the Plains as land that shouldn't be developed as eastern land had been (it wasn't suitable for such useage).
I'd have liked more science and more detail on the Buffalo commons concept, it's an interesting idea but I don't see it becoming a national policy. The new forward and afterword deal with changes in the situation since the original publication but don't convince me that it has much chance of really happening.
An interesting view of the West.......2003-12-09
This book is typical of a piece that evolves from a New York Times Magazine article: full of narrative, a bit rammbling at times and a bit on the lite side. Matthews gives some snippets of ecological and historical analysis, but ultimately this is not an analytical book. It is very readable, however, and raises awareness to the ecologic and economic crises of the Great Plains. The piece details two Rutgers academics, the Poppers, who are promoting the notion of a "Buffalo Commons," a plan that involves the federal government buying out the most marginal of Great Plains land to turn into a giant reserve for bison, shortgrass and Indians. The book details much of the angry Western reaction to the plan. It also shows large sections of the West in near ruin, in desperate need of a new, sustainable solution, as current attempts to exploit the arid West by argiculture is producing only dust storms, a depleted aquifier and busted-out farm communities.
The Dilemma on the Great Plains.......2000-06-25
This book held my constant attention from the first time I picked it up. Ms. Matthews gives a very even-handed account of what I call "The Dilemma on the Great Plains." She thoughtfully explains the Buffalo Commons plan for the restoration of the plains. She introduces Frank and Deborah Popper, New Jersey academics from Rutgers University, who came up with the Buffalo Commons plan. I was riveted because I once lived in South Dakota, near the Montana and Wyoming borders and could empathize with the issue. The Poppers came up with the Buffalo Commons idea in the late 1980s as a way to "save" the plains. It has been very controversial, to say the least. The plains way of life and the emotions of the issue are handled brilliantly by Ms. Matthews. I was able to see both sides throughout the book. This issue has an importance to our nation. Read this book to know the issues about the decline in our Great Plains.
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- Population and Evolutionary Genetics: A Primer (Benjamin/Cummings Series in the Life Sciences)
- Population Growth, Resource Consumption, and the Environment: Seeking a Common Vision for a Troubled World
- Potato City: Nature, History, and Community in the Age of Sprawl
- Profiles of Sport Industry Professionals: The People Who Make the Games Happen
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