Bill Gates: The Path to the Future

Book Description

He is Thomas Edison and Henry Ford rolled into one -- except that William Henry Gates III maybe smarter and more successful than either.He is America's richest man, and on the corporate landscape, he may well be the most feared. In less than a generation, Bill Gates has done nothing less than change the way we live and work.

Here is Bill Gate's story, taking you inside the mind of this brilliant visionary and inside the rise of Microsoft, the world's most succesful corporation. What unique combination of historical factors and personal qualities made Gates the right man at the right time? How did he invent an industry from scratch, and what choices -- from people to products -- made Microsoft the resounding success it has become? How has the company faces Apple, Netscape, and its other competitors and partners? From Microsoft's Redmond, Washington, campus to Gates' relationships with women and with other business people, like fellow billionaire Warren Buffett, here is a compelling portrait of a unique American citizen at the dawn of the twenty-first century: a man whose career, and his effect on our world, has only begun.

Customer Reviews:

GOOD BOOK! you should read it........2002-03-22

This book is a great book. It is a condensed version of his life... Instead of reading too much into boring details you get the quick fast pace version in a great, easy to read novel. The author has obviously done great research of his subject. Do not listen to these other reviews which are obviously from people who hate Bill Gates. Below you will find my summary and analysis of this book:

Bill Gates is probably one of the smartest and most successful men of our time, maybe of all time. This book is the summary of Bill Gates' path to success and the history of how our society became dependant on computers and of course Microsoft. How did Bill Gates become the richest man ever know? What Challenges did he face? All is revealed about the man behind Microsoft, the company that changed how we live.

Bill Gates is a genius that is probably smarter than anyone you will ever know. Here is the story that will show you his inner workings. Interesting combinations of unique personality characteristics that this man has is what has made him the success he is and is explained to you in this story.

GOOD BOOK! you should read it........2002-03-22

Contrived, biased.......2000-09-04

This book is definitely not worth reading. The premise is misleading (it is hardly in-depth), writing is poor (I found numerous typographical errors), all views are strongly biased towards Gates, and none of the author's arguments are supported sufficiently.

Just plain stinks.......1999-07-13

If this book is called The Path to the Future, why does the author spend so much time talking about the past? The book contains boring histories that everyone already knows, plus a lot of filler and no actual insights. Don't waste your time.

Book Description

Jenny Hoad is the widow of tennis great Lew Hoad, who died from leukemia in 1994. Hoad was a mis-understood man, seldom free of back pain and yet still managing to win two Wimbledon singles titles, three Wimbledon doubles, a French, Italian and Australian singles title and 17 of his 19 Davis Cup matches.

My Life with Lew is the story of Jenny and Lew's life together. They lived an amazing life and counted among their friends Sean Connery, Richard Burton and Ava Gardner. This is a love story, a travelogue and a detailed look at one of the world's best tennis players by the one person in the world who knew him best.

Book Description

This book examines the treatment of space and narrative in a selection of classic films including My Darling Clementine, It's a Wonderful Life, and Vertigo. Deborah Thomas employs a variety of arguments in exploring the reading of space and its meaning in Hollywood cinema and film generally. Topics covered include the importance of space in defining genre (such as the necessity of an urban landscape for a gangster film to be a gangster film); the ambiguity of offscreen space and spectatorship (how an audience reads an unseen but inferred setting), and the use of spatially disruptive cinematic techniques such as flashback to construct meaning.

Average customer rating:

Good introduction; nice prose; worth reading

Well-written prose but flawed, not comprehensive

There is no zero-risk option

Lucid Discussion of a Complex, Misunderstood Topic

A worthwhile book which opens your eyes to risk

The Polar Bear Strategy: Reflections on Risk in Modern Life
John F. Ross
Manufacturer: Perseus Books Group
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Living Dangerously: Navigating the Risks of Everyday Life

Governance and Risk

True Odds : How Risk Affects Your Everyday Life

Putting the One Minute Manager to Work: How to Turn the 3 Secrets into Skills

Doing What Matters: How to Get Results That Make a Difference - The Revolutionary Old-School Approach

ASIN: 0738201170

Book Description

Why understanding the numbers behind our personal and collective decisions is essential to surviving in a complex world

From cholesterol to cancer, asteroids to AIDS, we face more risks than our grandparents ever dreamed of. But most of us are 200 years behind the curve when it comes to making intelligent risk-based decisions: We refuse to fly, but don't wear seat belts in our far more dangerous cars. We panic about toxic waste dumps, but collectively smoke a billion cigarettes a year. In this entertaining and enlightening look at risk in the modern age, John Ross argues that the burgeoning science of risk assessment has given us powerful new tools for coping in a complex world, if we could only learn how to speak the language. Ross examines the building blocks of this new language, and helps us identify and relinquish long-held, often pre-set, biological and psychological responses to risk. Through vivid stories and compelling science, Ross empowers us to take control of our lives and to exercise our most basic democratic freedom-the power to make our own decisions-both as individuals and as a society.

Customer Reviews:

Good introduction; nice prose; worth reading.......2006-10-13

I've not read this book but plan to. It seems the consensus is that it's a good easy read, no math, and well laid out with a few typos. Another book in this area that I've skimmed and recommend is: Risk and Reason: Safety, Law, and the Environment (Paperback) by Cass R. Sunstein, which is more towards the legal aspects of risk. Recommended.

Well-written prose but flawed, not comprehensive.......2004-01-26

The prose is well-crafted and I think this book would serve as an adequate introduction to the field for people who have no quantitative background. However, as a number-cruncher, I was frustrated by the total reliance on written descripton, the presence of some errors, and poor coverage of some topics.

There's not a single table of numbers, when there's several places where a list would make it much easier to make comparisons than trying to pick the numbers from inside sentences. There's not a single illustration, when a diagram would describe the normal distribution and standard deviation much more clearly than prose. And of course there's not a single equation.

There's at least one quantitative error, a botched calculation on page 45 of the probability of dying in a car accident over a lifetime (probability of an accident per year should be multiplied by the number of years per lifetime, not the number of car trips per lifetime). I was confused during the discussion of Galton's development of "regression to the mean" in the 1800s by the term "regression coefficient". I finally realized that this was Galton's own terminology and that the context had nothing to do with linear regression, a different but much more common topic with which "regression coefficient" is usually associated.

There are areas that are not covered adequately or at all, such as: the contrast between individual and population risk; risks undertaken through individual choice versus risks imposed by others; differences in perceived risk based on the framing of the situation (the work of Kahnemann and Tversky); how misleading risk ratios can be when the absolute risk is extremely low and sample sizes aren't large enough. Perhaps I'm being unfair since the book is probably not meant to be a comprehensive overview of the field.

I was impatient at the wordiness when discussing issues with which I was already familiar. However, I was immersed in the storyline of the anecdotes and when topics new to me were covered, so I'll give credit for good writing. I also agree completely with the take-home message of the book, that we should learn the language of risk and use it to manage the risks in our lives and society.

There is no zero-risk option.......2002-12-18

This book goes a long way towards explaining the nature of risk in the modern world. We know a great deal about the risks involved in almost any activity ý even lying in bed or sitting still and breathing has its own risks. As our ability to measure and compare risk grows ever more sophisticated, we can consider risk information simply unavailable to those of a generation ago. The result is that simply existing in the modern world means making relative risk choices. The old "identify and avoid" approach to risk simply wonýt work anymore because there is never a zero-risk option available. While we can never avoid risk entirely, the huge amount of risk information now available means that we can tailor our decisions to our own individual tolerances for risk like never before. For example, we can choose to reduce our risk of heart disease, but still choose the relatively risky sport of skiing, because we feel the enjoyment outweighs the risk of harm. The book also makes it clear that many gross distinctions in the modern world, such as "organic" and "inorganic" food, are essentially meaningless. Eating organic food wonýt necessarily reduce your risk of bad health ý many plants are naturally toxic and almost all naturally contain many of the same substances, such as carcinogens, that "going organic" is supposed to avoid. Choosing a low-risk diet is certainly possible, but the true risks involved are considerably more complex than dividing foods into "organic" and "inorganic", or indeed "GE-free" or "GE modified".

Lucid Discussion of a Complex, Misunderstood Topic.......2000-04-25

As a layperson in the subject of risk management, I found the explanation of risk and the very specific examples extremely helpful. I teach a college course in technology and ethics, part of which is a section on safety and risk, and I found myself referring frequently to the examples in the book. Appreciating just how different the perception of risk and the actual risk can be I think is one of the most valuable lessons the book provides. And aside from the classroom, I have also found the material useful in understanding risk in my own life. I think this book would be a good introduction to risk management for any reader, though I can appreciate how someone better educated about the subject might find it a bit lacking.

A worthwhile book which opens your eyes to risk.......1999-09-18

You've got to read this book! Ross has taken a scary subject and used vivid graphic examples, as well as humor, to bring it into the reader's everyday life. Chapter 8 on toxins is especially enlightening. And I am changing my mouthwash -it contains alcohol! I've recommended this book to my monthly book discussion group.

Average customer rating:

Yo yo revolution

Not for the new or faint of heart

Topological Yoistics

Every serious player should have this book.

I LOVE YONOMICON!!

The Yonomicon; An Enlightened Tome of Yo-yo Tricks
Mark McBride
Manufacturer: Magnolia Publishing (FL)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Advanced Yo-Yo Tricks

Yo-Yo Tricks & Tips

ASIN: 094146301X

Customer Reviews:

Yo yo revolution.......2003-12-19

I'm an beginner/intermediate yo yo player, and I found this book incredible. The Quantum Yo theory is truly revolutionary, and changed the way I think about yo yo tricks. Just like advertised, it's not a recipe book, but a guide to the underlying theory of how to approach yo yo tricks. I loved the tone of the writing and the inclusion of totem animals, as it just added enjoyment to what could have been a very dry analysis.

Advanced players will be able to see the limitations of a strictly "Quantum Yo" approach, but it may also help them think outside of old routines and expand their freestyle yocabulary. I doubt they've even thought of yo-ing in exactly this way before.

Top notch book, and I've never seen anything else even remotely like it for yo yos.

Not for the new or faint of heart.......2001-07-14

This is a great book of pretty darn advanced yo-yo tricks. It breaks each trick down into it's parts and expalins it in a physics type manner. It's not that easy to follow, and it reads kind of like a text book, but if you can get through the complex explainations it's got some stuff you've never seen in a yo-yo book before.

If you want to get deeper into some complicated yo-yo tricks, this book is for you.

Topological Yoistics.......2000-12-08

Do you get a kick out of operator spaces and wacky topology? If so, this is the yo-yo book for you. Coming just shy of an out-and-out mathematical analysis of the yo-yo, McBride lays down the laws of freestyle Yo, defining yo-yo play as a subset of the possible string/hand operations on the topology consisting of the yo, free hand and throw hand. This book will redefine the way you look at yo-yoing. If you have a refined mathematical background, this book could easily start you on the road towards a graduate thesis.

Every serious player should have this book........1999-06-01

Ultra-cool. There is no other trick book like the Yonomicon. A must read for every serious yo-yo player. Lucky Meisenheimer M.D. author of "Lucky's Collectors Guide to 20th Century Yo-Yos...History and Values"

I LOVE YONOMICON!!.......1999-04-04

The Yonomicon is a great book, its like a math book full of equations to mix and make tricks. It leaves nothing unexplained, it just takes a littl while to learn to understand how McBride is explaining the tricks. It different, in a better way.

Book Description

This best-selling and up-to-date survey of decision analysis concepts and techniques is accessible to students with limited mathematical backgrounds. It is designed for advanced undergraduate and MBA-level courses in decision analysis and also for business courses in introductory quantitative methods. (Prerequisites: college algebra; introductory statistics.)

Customer Reviews:

Reviewer.......2005-08-25

I am interested in succint yet exhaustive/substantive coverage of the topic for use in real-world corporate finance applications. I found the book to be verbose and not sufficiently to the point. The author peppers a few key insights in endless dialogue, which I find a bit tiresome. The text could be better organized to highlight key points and provide greater substance and less fluff. Definition of terms could be far better written even for an introductory text.

I suspect I am the wrong target audience.

A clear, accessible introduction to an important field........1999-07-23

This is a very accessible book. My classes routinely commend it. It begins by emphasizing the importance of clearly distinguishing between values, decisions and facts. It discusses the need to clarify one's values and then determine the decisions and facts that are relevant. It then discusses sensitivity analysis techniques for identifying which facts are crucial to your analysis. It discusses techniques for deciding when to gather further information. Finally it provides a very accessible discussion of how probability theory can be used to assess your payoff from different decisions. Dr. Robert F. Bordley, General Motors

Studying for an MBA - buy this book.......1999-06-02

A perfect balance for those with mathematical expertise and those without - this book provides a well written and comprehensive view of decision making. Lots of easy to understand and relevant case studies - complete with answers.

I needed to get on top of this subject for my MBA course and, although there is a lot to this subject, in one book there is everything one could possibly need to know.

For corporate decision makers needing to get on top of the subject, this book provides a detailed enough insight to the subject to get started straight away. Its strength is that it is not trying to sell a Microsoft Excel add-in - in fact, it shows how to do without Excel add-ins (although these do make the job a lot easier).

Five stars.

The best available intro to normative decision analysis.......1997-06-06

This is the best book available today for individuals interested in an introduction to normative (as opposed to descriptive) decision analysis. Although it's accessible to readers with minimal mathematical training, it is also very satisfactory for those with more mathematical sophistication, and I use it regularly as a reference in my own professional work. Clear explanations, excellent problems and exercises, and very well-organized. I highly recommend it. Michael S. Johnson, Arete Consulting, Portland, OR

Making Hard Decisions: Introduction to Decision Analysis (with CD-ROM)

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Making Hard Decisions: Introduction to Decision Analysis (with CD-ROM)
Robert T. Clemen , and Terence Reilly
Manufacturer: Duxbury Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0534394299

Book Description

This text teaches the fundamental ideas of decision analysis, without the burden of extensive mathematical skills. This new version incorporates and implements the powerful DecisionTools® by Palisade Corporation, the world's leading toolkit for risk and decision analysis. At the end of each chapter, topics are illustrated with step-by-step instructions for DecisionTools®. The Third Edition adds new material on valuing real options and organizational use of decision analysis and updates on behavioral decision theory. Twelve cases from the Darden School, University of Virginia, have been included.

Book Description

Acclaimed journalist Ted Conover sets a new standard for bold, in-depth reporting in this first-hand account of life inside the penal system.

When Conover’s request to shadow a recruit at the New York State Corrections Officer Academy was denied, he decided to apply for a job as a prison officer. So begins his odyssey at Sing Sing, once a model prison but now the state’s most troubled maximum-security facility. The result of his year there is this remarkable look at one of America’s most dangerous prisons, where drugs, gang wars, and sex are rampant, and where the line between violator and violated is often unclear. As sobering as it is suspenseful, Newjack is an indispensable contribution to the urgent debate about our country’s criminal justice system, and a consistently fascinating read.

Amazon.com

Most people know it's easier to get into prison than it is to get out. But for a journalist, just getting into Sing Sing, New York's notorious maximum-security prison, isn't easy. In fact, Ted Conover was so stymied by official channels that he took the only way in--other than crime--and became a New York State corrections officer: "I wanted to hear the voices one truly never hears, the voices of guards--those on the front lines of our prison policies, the society's proxies." Newjack is Conover's account of nearly a year at ground zero of the criminal justice system. What it reveals is a mix of the obvious and the absurd, with hypocrisies not unexpected considering that the land of the free shares with Russia the distinction of having the world's largest prison population. As of December 1999, it was projected that the number of people incarcerated in the United States would reach 2 million in 2000.

This is the world Conover enters when he, along with other new recruits, undergoes seven weeks of pseudomilitary preparation at the Albany Training Academy. Then it's off to Sing Sing for the daily grind of prison life. Conover correctly and vividly captures the essence of that life, its tedium interspersed with the adrenaline rush of an "incident" and the edge of fear that accompanies every action. He also details how the guards experience their own feelings of confinement, often at the hands of the inmates:

A consequence of putting men in cells and controlling their movements is that they can do almost nothing for themselves. For their various needs they are dependent on one person, their gallery officer. Instead of feeling like a big, tough guard, the gallery officer at the end of the day often feels like a waiter serving a hundred tables or like the mother of a nightmarishly large brood of sullen, dangerous, and demanding children. When grown men are infantilized, most don't take to it too nicely.

And not taking to it nicely often involves violence. Indeed, the constant potential for violence on any scale makes even humdrum assignments dangerous. It's astonishing that more doesn't happen, given that the majority of the 1,800 inmates have been convicted of violent felonies: murder, manslaughter, rape, robbery, assault, kidnapping, burglary, arson. But beneath the simmering rage rests an unexpected sensitivity that Conover captures brilliantly. After encountering a Hispanic inmate with a tattoo of a heartbreaking passage from The Diary of Anne Frank on his back, he writes: "It was easier to stay incurious as an officer. Under the inmates' surface bluster, their cruelty and selfishness, was almost always something ineffably sad." Ultimately, the emphasis of Conover's work is on the toll prison exacts--most immediately on the jailed and their jailers, but also on a society that puts both there in increasing numbers. --Gwen Bloomsburg

Customer Reviews:

Nothing New.......2007-07-12

While on the surface, the idea of Conover immersing himself into the NY maximum security prison system as a corrections officer (CO) seemed to be a recipe for an exciting book, Newjack did not live up to its hype. Somewhere in the book it was mentioned that to become a mature CO, 4-5 years of work experience is necessary. Consequently, the one year Conover spent in New York's Sing Sing maximum security prison was hardly enough time to learn and build the kind of relationships necessary for a thoughtful and entertaining book. Instead, the parts of the book I found to be the most interesting were the historical accounts of who had the most influence in how the U.S. and NY prison systems evolved.

Unfortunately, there wasn't a whole lot of new ground covered through Conover's personal experience during guard training or in Sing Sing. The old clichés of prison guards as mean SOBs and apathetic prisoners beyond rehabilitation were reinforced.

I commend Conover's dedication to compiling material from firsthand experience, but Newjack was mildly entertaining and even less educational in terms of observations of inmate behavior, or new ideas in improving the system. Like most journalist authors, Conover is not much of a story teller, and his book would have had richer content had he been allowed to shadow an experienced CO as he set out to do initally, but was denied.

Conover's Best.......2007-05-21

Chameleon journalist Ted Conover trains as a prison guard and works in Sing Sing, giving readers an intense look into prison life and the dynamics of the guards and guarded.

Intense, intensely personal, and full of insight into the prison system itself.

Best part is his history of the US penitentiary system, which most of us don't study in US History classes! Highly readable, well-researched section that should be of interest to all US citizens.

An incredible journey, a well-written account.

Much Respect.......2005-10-17

I have to give the author credit. When he was denied the right to shadow a C.O. (Corrections Officer), he became one. This is not as simple as it sounds. He literally swore an oath to protect the inmates and the lives of his fellow officers. He worked the job with dedication, and got some great material out of it. I was wary, because I thought he might have been playing C.O. But, working in Sing Sing, you don't "play" anything. Bravo.

A Great Adventure Behind Bars........2005-07-30

Some investigative reporters will do anything for a story. We see it all the time on T.V. news. This one tends to live dangerously; he wrote about American Illegal Aliens in 1987 -- I wish he would do a followup as so much has changed in that regard in the past twenty years or so.

In this book, Ted Conover worked for a yar at the Sing Sing prison (where they held the Rosenbergs back in the '50s) in upstate New York. Next to Alcatraz out in the ocean off California, this possibly is the most dangerous place to encounter hard criminals. Not that I am saying that the Rosenbergs were criminals; perhaps the husband was, but Ethel was not -- and it was a travesty of justice to take her away from her two sons. I've done some research in that case, and I know for a fact that she was not involved, but her brother was. They went to Los Alamos to gather information for the Russians; that made them considered 'spies.' Ethel never would have been capable of that, just as Alger Hiss was not!

We have a local investigative reporter who goes places for background of articles but he goes where he will be simply an unknown and have a good time while he is snooping out the info he needs for a good article. He is good and improving every year. He might some day catch up to Ted Conover.

He takes such risks in his endeavor to keep the public informed of the bad side of life. Those men and women incarcerated, for the most part, committed horendous crimes and will again -- even on the guards if possible. Not all are that way. Some are there because they were framed, like Ethel Rosenberg. He went through prison guard training, though from the prison movies I've seen they aren't particularly smart, just mean.

This book was a touch of Hell as they know it and experience it every day. That's why I am against the death penalty; keeping folks locked up away from the people they love (and hate) is a much worse fate than a quick death.

A great public service..........2005-07-04

Walter Cronkite once said that the citizens of a country have a right to know what's being done in their name. It's a simple enough premise: public institutions, spending public money, should be subject to public scrutiny. And yet, the nation's prisons and jails remain practically invisible to the public eye, thanks to both their media-shy temperament and a relatively incurious media. Newspapers and television may flock to chronicle shocking crimes and sensational trials, but when the sentences have been handed down and the headlines are fading, the public mentality seems to be "out of sight, out of mind."

Journalist Ted Conover sought to redress this problem, to understand the corrections system in New York State and, in particular, the corrections officers who, on behalf of the public, guard those deemed unfit for society. Towards that end, he wanted to follow a rookie C.O. through training and into an initial posting, but was repeatedly denied permission to do so. Rebuffed by the powers-that-be, stymied by the system, he settled on an even better and more original solution: to become that rookie C.O. himself.

Many journalists aspire to be (or pretend to be) completely objective--dispassionate chroniclers of the world, separate from the people and situations they write about. The brilliance of Conover's book is that he took a completely opposite tack, enmeshing himself in the system rather than trying to observe it at arm's length. And in doing so, he has created an excellent, compelling, and thoroughly informative book, one that dismantles many stereotypes about prisons and guards, stripping away the lumpy old layers of paint and showing the true shape and color of things.

Many of his most insightful observations deal with a very poorly understood subject--the effects of incarceration on the guards. At the outset of his experiences, Conover wonders whether guards truly are the brutal people depicted so often in prison movies and, if so, whether they are drawn to the work because they are insensitive, mean people or whether they become that way because of the work. By the end of his time guarding Sing Sing, he seems convinced that the latter is often the case, that warehousing people can end up dehumanizing both the people being warehoused and the people doing the warehousing. The stress and strain of prison, it seems, seeps into the lives of C.O.s, resulting in higher rates of alcoholism and divorce. (Those who pick this book up expecting an overly-sensitive, "Cool Hand Luke"-ish rant about cruel C.O.s and maltreated prisoners will find themselves pleasantly surprised by the author's fairness and empathy towards his fellow guards.)

Prison sex, too, appears far differently on the inside than it does in popular culture. While prison rape is a staple of movies and shows about incarceration ("The Shawshank Redemption", "Oz"), Conover concludes that most prison sex is, in fact, consensual. Such observations may seem like voyeurism, but they are not; given the lower availability of condoms, the higher rates of infection for sexually transmitted diseases (particularly HIV) and the fact that many of these men will eventually leave prison (possibly to rejoin thier families), prison sex is a factor that fundamentally alters the incarceration equation.

Despite its overall excellence and its willingness to take on such edgy topics, the book isn't a completely thorough or representative picture of New York State's corrections system. The author readily admits that Sing Sing is an atypical prison, with a larger percentage of minority guards and unseasoned officers than the upstate facilities; it would have been interesting if he'd been willing or able to spend longer in the system and get a better look at those institutions.

Still, this complaint is insignificant when compared with the book's overall virtues. "Newjack" is a great public service, a must-read for anyone seeking to understand the consequences of the nation's get-tough-on-crime mentality. While many people affect a cavalier don't-do-the-crime-if-you-can't-do-the-time air, Conover's book shows that this is a very myopic attitude--prisoners will do the time, and they will emerge, and the experiences they face on the inside will help determine whether they will do the crime again or instead find a place in society. Given that fact, society should try to better understand what life is like for them--and for the guards who do the public's thankless bidding.

Newjack: Guarding Sing Sing, Library Edition

Average customer rating:

Newjack: Guarding Sing Sing, Library Edition
Ted Conover
Manufacturer: Alfred a Knopf Inc
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000KXTK9O

Average customer rating:

Don't buy this book

Don't buy it

A GLIMPSE INTO NAUTICAL HISTORY

The Wreck of the Batavia

Too much for too little

The Wreck of the Batavia: A True Story
Simon Leys
Manufacturer: Thunder's Mouth Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Batavia's Graveyard: The True Story of the Mad Heretic Who Led History's Bloodiest Mutiny

Indian Wars: The Campaign for the American West

In the Wake of Madness: The Murderous Voyage of the Whaleship Sharon

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My Battle of Algiers: A Memoir

ASIN: 1560258217

Book Description

In 1629, the ship Batavia, pride of the Dutch East India Company, was wrecked on the edge of a coral archipelago, some fifty miles from the western coast of the Australian continent. Most of the nearly three hundred men, women and children on board escaped from drowning only to become victims of a psychopath who, with the help of a dozen followers, organized a methodical massacre of this hapless community.

Acclaimed sinologist and author Simon Leys traveled to the site of the disaster and learned that, paradoxically, the natural environment of these islands could have afforded the survivors fairly decent living conditions; the massacre therefore appears all the more aberrant. In fact, in its gratuitous absurdity, it seems to present a microcosm of the totalitarian atrocities that are perpetrated by various ideologies seeking to establish Paradise on earth.

Leys’ elegiac essay, Prosper, is also included in this volume. In this deeply personal piece, Leys recalls a summer when he joined the crew of a tuna-fishing boat from Brittany, one of the last boats still working under sail. This remarkable narrative preserves Leys’ memories of his sailing companions and pays tribute to their unique world—a world that no longer exists.

Customer Reviews:

Don't buy this book.......2007-04-11

I have never read a book (until this one!) where the author said there was a better book on the same subject. Leys recommended reading "Batavia's Graveyard" by Mike Dash after reading his. Take his cue - buy that one not this one. There is no substance to this one at all. How it got published I'll never know.

Don't buy it.......2007-01-05

This book is nothing, by the authors own account, more than some notes accumulated over the years. He goes as far as to tell you if you want the complete and in depth story to read BATAVIA'S GRAVEYARD by Mike Dash, published in 2002. Save your money

A GLIMPSE INTO NAUTICAL HISTORY.......2006-03-25

Mr. Leys has found a fascinating subject. I marvel at where he was able to find his information about a shipwreck and its aftermath that happened so long ago. I was particularly impressed by his characterization of the courage of sailors and passengers in that day and age who traveled across thousands of miles of empty sea without even an accurate fix on where they were! It's amazing that anyone ever found their destinations, but they did.

The behavior of the survivors of the wreck is reminiscient, in an adult form, of the "Lord of the Flies", or perhaps the Jonestown phenomena. I've always wondered how cults arise, led by psychotics. Mr. Leys' book only increases that curiosity. To try and picture oneself in the position of abject submissiveness to the outrageous demands of a petty despot is difficult, yet it happened then and it happens today. Perhaps I'd be one of those who mysteriously disappear.

I would rate the book higher, but the method of delivery of the material is a bit disjointed and out of sequence. It's a great story, which, I believe, could have been told better if the author had used some novel-writer's techniques, not to alter or distort the facts, mind you, but to dramatize what must have must have been a horrific scenario.

What a nightmare that must have been!

The Wreck of the Batavia.......2006-03-13

I was fascinated by this concise, easy-to-read, and easy-to-understand account of the Dutch merchant ship, Batavia, which was wrecked on a coral archipelago off the western coast of Ausstralia in 1629. In addition to it's cargo, the Batavia carried nearly 300 men, women, and children. The story of the Batavia covers 59 pages, which was enough for me. For anyone interested in a more detailed account of the tragedy of the Batavia, the author recommends the work of Mike Dash, the author of "Batavia's Graveyard" which was published in 2002.
Because I truly enjoy stories of the sea, I also enjoyed the second part of the book which is a personal essay about the author's 1958 summer experience as a crew member aboard Prosper, one of the last of the sail-driven tuna-fishing boats from Brittany. An experienced sailor myself, I can appreciate the thrill of a fishing boat actually working while being powered soley by the wind.

Too much for too little.......2006-03-06

With some good photos or art work this very short story could have been turned into a passable article for National Geographic. Although a bit longer than a Doctor Suess story, quite a bit too short for a $14 hardcover book. Pass on it and buy the Mike Dash book on the topic. I wish I had.

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The Demon-Haunted World

All you need to know about critical thinking

The case for a sensible worldview

Excellent book....

My highest recommendation

The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark
Carl Sagan , and Ann Druyan
Manufacturer: Ballantine Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0345409469
Release Date: 1997-02-25

Amazon.com

Carl Sagan muses on the current state of scientific thought, which offers him marvelous opportunities to entertain us with his own childhood experiences, the newspaper morgues, UFO stories, and the assorted flotsam and jetsam of pseudoscience. Along the way he debunks alien abduction, faith-healing, and channeling; refutes the arguments that science destroys spirituality, and provides a "baloney detection kit" for thinking through political, social, religious, and other issues.

Book Description

"A glorious book . . . A spirited defense of science . . . From the first page to the last, this book is a manifesto for clear thought."

*Los Angeles Times

"POWERFUL . . . A stirring defense of informed rationality. . . Rich in surprising information and beautiful writing."

*The Washington Post Book World

How can we make intelligent decisions about our increasingly technology-driven lives if we don't understand the difference between the myths of pseudoscience and the testable hypotheses of science? Pulitzer Prize-winning author and distinguished astronomer Carl Sagan argues that scientific thinking is critical not only to the pursuit of truth but to the very well-being of our democratic institutions.

Casting a wide net through history and culture, Sagan examines and authoritatively debunks such celebrated fallacies of the past as witchcraft, faith healing, demons, and UFOs. And yet, disturbingly, in today's so-called information age, pseudoscience is burgeoning with stories of alien abduction, channeling past lives, and communal hallucinations commanding growing attention and respect. As Sagan demonstrates with lucid eloquence, the siren song of unreason is not just a cultural wrong turn but a dangerous plunge into darkness that threatens our most basic freedoms.

"COMPELLING."

*USA Today

"A clear vision of what good science means and why it makes a difference. . . . A testimonial to the power of science and a warning of the dangers of unrestrained credulity."

*The Sciences

"PASSIONATE."

*San Francisco Examiner-Chronicle

Customer Reviews:

The Demon-Haunted World.......2007-09-29

Excellent book. Carl Sagan gives an analysis of how our lives are effected by many legends and superstitions in a respectful and considerate way.

All you need to know about critical thinking.......2007-09-20

Unfortunately, this book is often considered a science book or about the scientific method. The subtitle is "Science as a Candle in the Dark." That was an unfortunate choice because, with the exception of one chapter (I won't say which)it is much farther reaching than that.

It is about how we know what we know and how and why that frequently is incorrect. It considers why we are so un-critical in our acceptance of authoritarian statements from any source - scientific, social, business or political. The book is worth it just for the description and discussion of the "Baloney Detection Kit."

Though Sagan was by training a scientist, his knowledge of history and culture makes this (as well as most of his books) a compelling, enlightening and enjoyable read.

The case for a sensible worldview.......2007-09-18

As the 20th century's greatest voice for the popularization of science and rationality, Carl Sagan performed a noble public service. In this age of nearly instant communication and information overload, we each need to develop a quick and reliable method for sorting good information from interesting but bogus anecdotes. Sagan's "baloney detection kit" offers us that very tool for avoiding credulity.

As our society becomes ever more dependent on complex technology, it seems that an ever shrinking proportion of the population has a grasp on how that technology functions or what consequences its failure might give rise to. There seems to be a widespread desire by many individuals to divorce themselves from understanding in favor of immersing themselves in comfortable fantasy. Sagan argues that such a turning away from rationality and reason could usher in a new dark age.

For those who have an interest in seeing our society continue to progress, this book is somewhat of an eye-opener. The current increase in interest in the supernatural is precisely what Sagan was warning about. His writing style is personal and narrative, with many examples from his own life. The book is an easy and engaging read that holds your interest.

Highly recommended.

Excellent book...........2007-09-06

This is a fabulous book. Sagan does a wonderful job of promoting the field of science to non-scientists.
I wonder how many young - or open minded - people have been pulled into science fields after reading it?

My highest recommendation.......2007-09-05

This book can be the antidote to so much nonsense that fills the heads of well-meaning people everywhere. Sagan makes a convincing case for reason and skepticism.

If you remember just one thing, remember that extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.

Professor Gansa's Dream or Science as a Naked Lightbulb: A Parable in 75 "Stanzos" Comprising a Jewish Reply to Carl Sagan's the Demon-Haunted World, Science As a Candle in the Dark

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Professor Gansa's Dream or Science as a Naked Lightbulb: A Parable in 75 "Stanzos" Comprising a Jewish Reply to Carl Sagan's the Demon-Haunted World, Science As a Candle in the Dark
Peter Gimpel
Manufacturer: Red Heifer Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0963147838

The Demon-Haunted World - Science As A Candle In The Dark

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The Demon-Haunted World - Science As A Candle In The Dark
Carl Sagan -
Manufacturer: Random House Publishing -
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000NZZUAM

Demon-haunted world: science as a candle in the dark.: An article from: Queen's Quarterly

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Demon-haunted world: science as a candle in the dark.: An article from: Queen's Quarterly

Manufacturer: Queen's Quarterly
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

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Book Description

This digital document is an article from Queen's Quarterly, published by Queen's Quarterly on March 22, 1999. The length of the article is 3523 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: Demon-haunted world: science as a candle in the dark.
Publication: Queen's Quarterly (Refereed)
Date: March 22, 1999
Publisher: Queen's Quarterly
Volume: 106 Issue: 1 Page: 102-11

Article Type: Book Review

Distributed by Thomson Gale

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The Demon-Haunted World : Science as a candle in the dark.
Carl Sagan
Manufacturer: Random House
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000MVRLMM

DEMON-HAUNTED WORLD, THE: SCIENCE AS A CANDLE IN THE DARK

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DEMON-HAUNTED WORLD, THE: SCIENCE AS A CANDLE IN THE DARK
Carl Sagan
Manufacturer: Random House
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000NTN2SU

El Mundo Y Sus Demonios. La Ciencia Como Una Luz En La Oscuridad / The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark (Fuera De Coleccion / Out Off Collection)

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El Mundo Y Sus Demonios. La Ciencia Como Una Luz En La Oscuridad / The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark (Fuera De Coleccion / Out Off Collection)
Carl Sagan
Manufacturer: Planeta
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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