Business Masterminds: Roads to Success -- Put Into Practice the Best Business Ideas of Eight Leading Gurus

Business Masterminds: Roads to Success -- Put Into Practice the Best Business Ideas of Eight Leading Gurus
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8 Great Successful Business Men Where Most Give 1 or 2.

Business Masterminds: Roads to Success -- Put Into Practice the Best Business Ideas of Eight Leading Gurus
Robert Heller
Manufacturer: DK ADULT
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing: Violate Them at Your Own Risk!

ASIN: 0789478455

Book Description

In this enlightening volume, best selling business expert Robert Heller presents the ideas and innovations of eight of the world's most successful business leaders. Charting each guru's rise to the top, Heller analyzes the factors that contributed to each one's phenomenal success. Combining these with a series of inspiring masterclasses, Heller shows you how to make their strategies world for your own success. Learn how Warren Buffet identifies strong brands, minimizes risk, recognizes ideal business acquisitions, and values hard work and honesty. Comprehend the strategies Bill Gates uses to focus on his goals, forge key collaborations, hire the best brains, make solid decisions, and dominate the market place. Discover the ideas of Peter Drucker on managing by objectives, achieving innovation, and focusing on customers. Realize why Tim Peters' management strategies enable businesses to exploit "perpetual revolution" and live with chaos in a commercially volatile world. Understand why Stephen Covey advocates widening circles of influence, developing "abundance mentalities," exercising self-leadership, and optimizing personal capabilities. Appreciate how Charles Handy sees businesses as communities, challenges dogmas, makes groups work, and lives by the "doughnut principle." Grasp the methods Andrew Grove uses to manage innovation, drive performance, and master revolutionary change.

Customer Reviews:

8 Great Successful Business Men Where Most Give 1 or 2........2001-11-09

Let me just give you a brief list off of the back cover of the book.
Quoted from Back Cover:
"Warren Buffett
* Globally acclaimed financial investor and pioineer of managing for shareholder value.
Steven Covey
* Author of Seven Habits of Highly Effective People and celebrated teacher of practical management skills.
Peter Drucker
*The first to define the art of effective management and a ground-breaking pioneer of management theories.
Bill Gates
* Mulibillionaire co-founder of Microsoft and master of seizing opportunities and staying ahead of the game.
Andrew Grove
* Silicon Valley innovator who piloted the rise of Intel and defined the model for hightech management.
Charles Handy
* Renowned social philosopher and prophet of emerging business trends, such as portfolio careers.
Tom Peters
* Author of In Search of Excellence and leading advocate of management by "perpetual revolution".
Jack Welch
* CEO of General Electric for 30 years and an advocate of motivating the workforce and discarding bureaucracy."

You do the math, all of these leaders are the top of their segments in business and innovation, and Robert Heller has captured what business students, managers and CEOs need. Each subject has developed model approaches to how business is done and will be done in the future. A great read and well worth your investment.

E.Bishop
Business Student - Bachelor of Arts in Business Administration.

Book Description

This book is based on a 40 year career in sports writing. Personal memories, thoughts and commentary.

Product Description

The first film featuring Charlie Chan, The House Without a Key, appeared in 1925. Forty-seven films and six Charlies later, the series still delights audiences. Charlie Chan connoisseurs cite a variety of reasons for the honorable detectives longevity and appeal, ranging from his wit and personality to the films fascinating casts that often included future celebrities. This encyclopedia contains over 1,900 entries for characters, actors, crew members, plot devices, and facts, as well as film summaries and Charlies famous aphorisms. Photographs accompany the text and the entries are arranged alphabetically for easy reference and access. Practically anything a fan of these films might want to know is thoroughly analyzed here.

Customer Reviews:

One of the best film reference books ever published.......2005-02-24

I have enjoyed Dr. Berlin's book since its publication and still refer to it constantly. It is not a narrative, but rather an excellent complilation (encyclopedia) of facts of all things Chan.

Dr. Berlin goes way beyond the surface and provides interesting information about the actors (lead and supporting), directors, writers, and others who were responsible for making the films as well as valuable information and trivia about the films themselves.

I wish all film reference books were this good. Most offer mere synopses of the plots and use the same old stills that have been published many times. So, if you're looking for a picture book that scratches the surface, look elsewhere. But if you're looking for a book that genuinely deepens your knowledge of the Chan films and remains fun to read, this does a great job.

This comes with my highest recommendation (and I'm not afraid to attach my user identity to the review).

Reads like a textbook, bland and unsatisfying.......2004-03-01

After reading the glowing recommendations by other reviewers, I decided to take the plunge and spend $55 for this book. If you see the price and are hesitant, heed this warning and pass this by. Hopefully a more appropriate and popular-priced Charlie Chan filmography will materialize eventually.
The author evidently did not have access to more than a handful of promotional pictures to accompany the individual Chan films, and that's a major problem with the book. Lobby cards for "The Trap" and "Charlie Chan in Shanghai" are disappointing examples of few photos shown for specific films.
Toler's picture under the listing for his name is at least in character as Chan, but not for Oland or Winters. Most of the actors' photos used are not from Chan films. For example, the only photo of Mantan Moreland is from a 1955 non-Chan film; there's no picture for the Victor Sen Young listing itself, who the author says appeared in 18 Chan films; two Benson Fong pictures for his listing, neither from a Chan film; two non-Chan Keye Luke pictures for his listing. Instead we get a half-page photo of the China Clipper aircraft, and a full-page listing on Glenn Seaborg including a large photo, one of the more questionable inclusions in the book as he had no connection to any Chan film and there was no direct reference to him in a Chan film. We also get a full-page listing with photo of Jesse Owens who appeared in newsreel footage only in "Charlie Chan at the Olympics". The space given is equal to the listing for Roland Winters, who STARRED as Chan in 6 films. Photos of Jay Silverheels as Tonto, George Reeves as Superman, Milburn Stone as Doc in Gunsmoke and a 1960's era photo of Leo G. Carroll seem inappropriate as they are all years-removed from the Chan films in which they appeared. There are several Mr. Moto film promotional pictures. WHERE ARE THE PICTURES FROM THE CHAN FILMS??
There are also scores of pointless listings in the book. The author identifies Number One, Two, Three sons and daughters which is helpful, but what's the purpose of having listings such as "8251," "8:20 pm", "8:30 pm", "11:30 pm", etc.? It's filler material. Scores of off-the-mark listings that are sub-trivial. The author has collected a bunch of facts to include listings, but fails to examine his facts for their significance.
The listings for the individual films are the most disappointing. There is technical production information, release dates and plot summaries, but how about some ANALYSIS or better yet, inclusion of some contemporary REVIEWS of the films from media sources? The most we get is a few notes following the summaries, stating it was the first/last appearance by an actor.
I can't recommend anyone spend $55 for a book of this sort. It is an encyclopedia, not a filmography, but it reads like a college textbook and is bland and unsatisfying. Hopefully someone will work on putting together a decent filmography for a reasonable price, similar to "The Films of Sherlock Holmes" book issued a few decades ago.

Decent book but not the last word.......2001-07-01

This is a very decent book but not the last word. It seems to miss out on he sense of fun of the series. It is too dry for my taste.

The last surviving Charlie Chan Son, RIchard Layne, Jr........2001-06-11

Aloha, I am Richard Layne, Jr., the last surviving child actor from the Charlie Chan series by 20th Century Fox. I played 3 different sons of Charlie Chan as I grew up acting in the series. It was one of the best experiences of my life. My family and I have all the old movies and love to watch them. I am anxious to get this book so that I can add it to my collection and memorabilia. My favorite line from the series was, "It was the lady in the white fox fur!!!" ....

A Chan Fan Must!.......2000-10-28

This book has been of utmost help to me in researching CC info. Also it is put together in a very easy format to find that obscure fact that us chan fans thrive on..

The Body and Society: Explorations in Social Theory, Second Edition (Theory, Culture and Society, Vol. 46) (Published in association with Theory, Culture & Society)
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The Body and Society: Explorations in Social Theory, Second Edition (Theory, Culture and Society, Vol. 46) (Published in association with Theory, Culture & Society)
Bryan S. Turner
Manufacturer: Sage Publications Ltd
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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The Body and Social Theory

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ASIN: 0803988095

Book Description

Few recent books can claim to be groundbreaking. The Body and Society is one of them. Originally published in 1984, it went against prevailing trends that asked sociologists to understand society in terms of abstractions such as structure, class, and function. Instead, Bryan S. Turner argued that the body should be the axis of sociological analysis. His panoramic discussion of social theory was explored and developed by a discussion of specific issues: the problems of defining the relationship between disease and health; the history of anorexia and agoraphobia; the critique of human sexuality in Christianity; the role of the human body in play and desire; and the management of sexuality in human societies. The result was a book that captured the sociological imagination worldwide and initiated a major research program on the body in contemporary culture. In this new edition, Turner updates his argument. The new preface looks back at developments since the original edition and peers forward to the questions and themes that will preoccupy sociologists of the body in years to come. This one-of-a-kind volume is essential reading for anyone working in the social sciences who is interested in the body.

Legend of the Five Rings: Secrets of the Scorpion (L5r)
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L5R SECRETS OF THE SCORPION

Legend of the Five Rings: Secrets of the Scorpion (L5r)

Manufacturer: Alderac Entertainment Group (AEG)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1887953795

Customer Reviews:

L5R SECRETS OF THE SCORPION.......2003-10-27

A REALLY GOOD WORKBOOK THAT CAN BE USED IN THE L5R SETTING OR ADAPTED TO ANY OTHER D20 SETTING. THE BOOK HAS A GREAT SELECTION OF FEATS AND ADVENTURE HOOKS FOR DM'S AND PLAYERS ALIKE. THEY DO GIVE SOME HINTS OF OTHER PRODUCTS IN THE L5R SETTING, BUT THEY AREN'T ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY TO PLAY WITH THIS BOOK ITSELF

Maximizing Your ERP System: A Practical Guide for Managers
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Broad coverage, but dry as a bone.

Good guide of manufacturing ops for the outsider

Good textbook for ERP practitioner

Maximizing Your ERP System: A Practical Guide for Managers
Scott Hamilton
Manufacturer: McGraw-Hill
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Class A ERP Implementation: Integrating Lean and Six Sigma

Managing Your Supply Chain Using Microsoft Dynamics AX

Enterprise Resource Planning Systems: Systems, Life Cycle, Electronic Commerce, and Risk

ASIN: 0071406115

Book Description

Bridging the theory and realities of current ERP systems, Maximizing Your ERP System provides practical guidance for managing manufacturing. Illustrated with case studies from the author's firsthand experience in consulting to more than 1,000 firms, it covers common problems and working solutions across all types of environments as it offers contingency-based approaches for how to effectively implement and use ERP systems. The book particularly addresses the issues facing smaller manufacturers and autonomous plants of larger firms.

Customer Reviews:

Broad coverage, but dry as a bone........2006-06-30

"Maximizing Your ERP System" is broad in its coverage, but skeletal. It is one dry read, like an outline with a lot of repeated boilerplate blown in where the meat was supposed to be. It lays out some details excrutiatingly (like the composition of the manufacturing database) but there's no sense of life or color to hold things together. More of a dictionary than a treatise, I recommend it for the vocabulary you might gain, but don't plan to enjoy it.

Good guide of manufacturing ops for the outsider.......2005-10-04

The title of the book and the table of contents seem to portray the book as a dry guide into the innards of an ERP system. But this is not the case. The author does a great job of keeping business considerations in plain view (primarily); and then showing how to use an ERP system to support those business considerations (secondarily). He calls this a "contingency-based" approach to the use of the ERP system.

This book is not for everyone, but it was excellent for my particular needs. I am a Product Manager. I had already taken an elementary course on manufacturing in business school. And yet, when I sat in meetings with my colleagues from manufacturing, I had only a hazy understanding of their vocabulary and methods. I was looking for a book to bridge that gap. And this book hit the spot.

Good textbook for ERP practitioner.......2003-01-30

The book covers most of common components in the implementation of Enterprise Resources Planning (ERP). It's well organized book, which you can learn in step-by-step manner. IT managers can also have a short-cut reference to some major concepts in the process of ERP implementation and the structure of book can provide easy access to relevant part of concerned area. The book has also provided pros-and-cons for different scenario. For example, it indicate the advantages of using specific costing methods used for specific industries or cases.

Beautiful Shadow: A Life of Patricia Highsmith
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Compelling, thoughtful and insightful portrait

Weird, Unkind, and Dissolute

Haunting Biographical Study

Fine for Fans

The wait is over

Beautiful Shadow: A Life of Patricia Highsmith
Andrew Wilson
Manufacturer: Bloomsbury USA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 1582341982

Book Description

The first and highly anticipated biography of the author of such classics of suspense as Strangers on a Train and The Talented Mr. Ripley.

The life of Patricia Highsmith was as secretive and unusual as that of many of the best-known characters who people her "peerlessly disturbing" writing. Yet even as her work - her thrillers, short stories, and the pseudonymous lesbian novel The Price of Salt - have found new popularity in the last few years, the life of this famously elusive writer has remained a mystery.
For Beautiful Shadow, the first biography of Highsmith, journalist Andrew Wilson mined the vast archive of diaries, notebooks, and letters that Patricia Highsmith left behind, astonishing in their candor and detail. He interviewed her closest friends and colleagues as well as some of her many lovers. But Wilson also traces Highsmith's literary roots in the work of Poe, noir, and existentialism, locating the influences that helped distinguish Highsmith's writing so startlingly from more ordinary thrillers.

The result is both a serious critical biography and one that reveals much about a brilliant and contradictory woman, one who despite her acclaim and affairs always maintained her solitude.

Customer Reviews:

Compelling, thoughtful and insightful portrait.......2007-07-06

This is a stunning biography -- well written, well researched (exhaustive) and well structured. Patricia Highsmith helped Andrew Wilson by generating a detailed journal of her life but this biography uses that as a foundation, not the complete story. This is a terrific overview of one of the most under-rated crime / mystery / fiction writers of the century. Sure, Highsmith didn't always hit the mark. But she took chances, she probed her inner pscyhe, which was dark and tortured, and used it as a springboard for the over-arching point of view for her writing and for plotlines and characters. Any writer out there who is stuck for ideas, read this. Highsmith, it seemed, trained herself to dig deep into her imagination and subconcious for ideas -- at the same time as she consumed small newspaper tidbits and larger themes from the news to generate material. I had read all her major novels and a few of her short stories, but had no idea the pace she kept at producing fiction, particularly short stories. This biography is also an unflinching look at somebody who followed nobody else's model and who found a way to live as herself in a very uncomfortable world. I've never met (on page) anybody who was so productive and so self-destructive, who studied relationships in fiction and couldn't maintain one in private. I think Wilson's work here is masterful and represents a significant contribution to 20th century writing and authors.

Weird, Unkind, and Dissolute.......2005-09-05

"She was a weird, unkind, dissolute person." This is how her goddaughter remembers Patricia Highsmith, and after reading Andrew Wilson's biography, you may think so, too.

In Beautiful Shadow (a reference to the name of the fictional Ripley's home in France, Belle Ombre), Wilson follows Highsmith's life by following her writing, so by the end of the book, you'll have a long list of novels and stories to look for. He examines her influences, her relationships (romantic and otherwise), and her many quirks.

Highsmith was never very popular in the U.S., at least until the movie The Talented Mister Ripley, came out after her death. She was more successful in Europe, where fans even recognized her in the street. Perhaps this explains why she lived most of her adult life in Europe. She was never very comfortable anywhere, even in her own body, according to those who knew her, but she seemed less uncomfortable in Europe.

What sort of a mind comes up with the sort of strange, compelling stories that Highsmith wrote, with their amoral, yet sympathetic characters? Wilson goes a long way toward answering that question in this biography, but some questions remain unanswered, and maybe it's better that way.

Haunting Biographical Study.......2003-12-01

Fans of Patricia Highsmith's dark and disturbing fiction will undoubtedly find Andrew Wilson's biography an absolutely fascinating if occasionally harrowing reading experience. Highsmith's life was far from a happy one, in fact in many ways it could be charitably described as a disaster. Wilson movingly details her sad, troubled childhood and adolescence during which Highsmith developed an obsession with gruesome death and decay that would haunt her short stories and novels. As an adult, her many sexual encounters always ended in unhappiness. With advancing age, Highsmith became ever more distrustful and ultimately hateful of humankind. Wilson portrays a supremely talented but cold-hearted, misanthropic woman who was eminently unlikeable, even downright detestable. (One of Highsmith's publishers describes her as "the most odious woman I've ever met.") All of this sadness and despair makes us understand and appreciate her disturbing creations all the more. In addition to providing us with a detailed glimpse into the strange life of one of the finest contemporary thriller writers, Wilson adds much to our appreciation of her art by providing concise and revealing analyses of her best works. So good is this exhaustive biography that once you've finished it you'll want to immediately pick up a copy of NOTHING THAT MEETS THE EYE (or any of the other currently available Highsmith collections) and renew your acquaintance with this excellent, morbidly captivating writer.

Fine for Fans.......2003-11-24

This is an impressive work of conjecture based on interviews, diary notes and the author's obvious adoration of his subject. Unfortunately, much of it seems only that: his opinion and theory. As interesting as the work of the prolific Highsmith continues to be, the writer herself comes off pretty thoroughly unlovable and not altogether fascinating. The good news, however, is that the biography succeeds in stimulating one's desire to explore Highsmith's works beyond the RIPLEY stories and STRANGERS ON A TRAIN. I've already ordered several and look forward to reading them.

The wait is over.......2003-07-15

This is probably the most insightful, compulsively readable, scholarly biography I've ever read. It delves deep into the heart of the elusive, mysterious Patricia Highsmith and provides answers to all the most important questions. Where did Highsmith get her ideas from? How did she transform her life into art? What made her the woman she was?

It's obvious that I'm not the only one who thinks so. Paul Bailey in the Sunday Times (1 June, 2003) called it `exemplary' and a `triumph'. Craig Brown - who met Highsmith on a number of occasions - writes in the Mail on Sunday, 8 June 2003, that this is a `masterly, utterly absorbing biography...One of the many virtues of Wilson's biography is the seriousness with which he takes the novels, showing them to be deeply attuned to the strange rhythms of guilt, jealousy and fantasy that affect all of us in different ways.'

He also says: 'Now that she is dead, Wilson has delved with extraordinary diligence, and everything he has unearthed is remarkable.....'

The distinguished novelist PD James, in the Sunday Telegraph, 8 June, says this:
`Andrew Wilson's fascinating, beautifully balanced and meticulously researched biography examines the dark obsessions which gave rise to Ripley, telling us as much as we are ever likely to know about Highsmith the woman and bringing us as close to understanding the writer as we are ever likely to get.'

I can't imagine any other biographer getting as close to his subject as this. Don't wait for anything else. Buy this book - now.

Beautiful Shadow : A Life of Patricia Highsmith
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Beautiful Shadow : A Life of Patricia Highsmith
Andrew Wilson
Manufacturer: Bloomsbury
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000VASZDI

Book Description

This important book explains how Arabs are closed in a circle defined by tribal, religious, and cultural traditions. David Pryce-Jones examines the tribal forces which, he believes, drive the Arabs in their dealings with each other and with the West. In the postwar world, he argues, the Arabs reverted to age-old tribal and kinship structures, a closed circle from which they have been unable to escape, and in which violence is systemic. A healthy corrective, a thought-provoking study. --David K. Shipler, New York Times Book Review

Customer Reviews:

A Close-minded Author.......2007-06-12

Mr.Pryce-Jones' supposed expertise and background in the Middle East did not help disguise his apparent lack of deep knowledge and visible racism. Biased, eurocentric and a waste of money. I recommend watching FOX news instead. Same bashing, same point of views.

Recycling the old views of the "orient".......2007-04-15

David Pryce-Jones is a British neocon. What Pryce-Jones offers up is recycled british political views on the "oriental mind" from the Victorian era. He offers nothing particuarly new in terms of analysis. There are shelves full of books from the past where exactly the same views can be found.

He starts with old chestnut that despotism is the central feature of the oriental (read arab) political system. Following a "western" tradition that dates back to greek views of the persians, we are to believe that anyone east of greece is incapable of democracy and therefore inferior to the euro-american civilization. These ideas used to apply to Indians, Chinese, Japanese/etc but in a nod to keeping modern, Pryce-Jones only applies his ideas to "arabs".

The "arabs", being stupid orientals, are below politics or political ideology. Pryce-Jones reduces them to being primative creatures of the desert driven to do things by their historically conditioned desert brains into actions that have nothing to do with political ideas. In saying these things, he sounds like an Imperial British Official from the 1920s explaining to London that movements for Indian Independence had no political component and were just a grab for power by ruthless leaders. Pryce-Jones' does not bother to understand the realities of the "arabs" he is speaking about. He knows nothing about the people and countries he writes about. On page after page his ignorance is front and center.

Then he goes on to all the other favorites of the Victorians. The oriental is driven by honor or "maintaining face". He will always grasp for power but in his heart he is driven by his own greed for money, power and wealth. Unlike an englishman, he is incapable of democratic government by this inherit nature. I would never have figured that I would be reading such antique nonsense in this age.

In order to support his victorian ideas, he presents his views on random historical events in the arab world. We are a given a one-sided Israeli version of Israeli/palestinian history where we discover that the root of the conflict is the oriential (or arab) brain of these foolish people. We are also treated to one of the stupidest accounts of the interactions between the arab world and the oil industry I've ever read.

The oil discovery in some ways adds something new to the victorian ideas. Pryce-Jones sees the oil falling into the hands of these orientals as creating the modern disaster that is the middle east. But for the oil, these simple people of the deserts would have continued on living their simple lives indefinately. His ignorance of the urban middle east is astounding. He somehow often seems to see all arabs as being tribal nomads and seems to be unaware that arab history like the history of almost every other region of the world has been in modern times the movement of people from rural areas into cities. He also doesn't seem to understand that the arab experience includes both the oil-rich and the oil-poor.

Pryce-Jones explains as his victorian forefathers would have that democracy in the middle east is absurd and impossible. The greedy mind of the arab is unsuited to it. Unlike his forefathers, he no longer says this about places like India, Malaya and Ireland but the spirit is still there.

To Pryce-Jones, there are no valid political issues in the arab world because the arab is beneith politics and political ideas. Islamic fundementalism is just a trick by a few arabs plotting to seize power.

As with all people with his political views, the answer to dealing with the arabs is force. They should never be listened to because all their complaints and political views are false. No pity should be shown because its all their own fault. Where he ends up is where the victorians did. What the Arabs need is a good set of dictators imposed by western countries and supported by force. Since they are incapable of democracy and incapable of managing their oil, there is no moral problem in doing this.

What is seen in the book rather than a closed circle is the closed mind of a man who has constructed an anti-arab philosophy to justify his other political views. The arab world has a tremendous number of internal problems and the only thing he is right about is that those problems can only be solved by those people themselves. But having the west adopt antique notions of about Arabs from the victorian era, as Pryce-Jones does, can only make things worse.

Not tight, but basically sound.......2007-03-05

David Pryce-Jones has tackled the question that has bewildered observers for centuries: how did Arab societies manage to lock themselves into a self-destructive pattern for which no solution appears to be forthcoming? His answers are found in The Closed Circle, a metaphorically accurate title that suggests the answer. Arab culture is defined by a self-perpetuating system of beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors that allow for no deviation and no improvement.

At its heart is a shame-honor reaction that Arabs have to setbacks and affronts, and Pryce-Jones alludes to this often. From that starting point, we progress through the Arab history of a variety of influences in history. He discusses advancement in Arab society, and the relations among Arabs with differing amounts of power, including the gender differences. Starting with the colonial era, he then discusses the major influences over Arab history (oil, Palestinians, Nazism, etc). Time and time again we see the same patterns of behavior emerging.

This, at least, is the theory. I suspect Pryce-Jones is basically on the right track in his conclusions, but the writing itself tends to meander and the author makes lengthy excursions into perhaps excessively generalizing statements. They are not necessarily wrong, but large sections were not very tightly argued. The result is informative without always being convincing.

On the other hand, the author has clearly familiarized himself with the culture in question, and can produce a wealth of relevant anecdotal information to illustrate his points. These sections make up the greater strength of the work.

There is no other book as good on arabs as this one........2007-01-22

Great book. I lived with arabs for several years and I got to know them a little bit more than I inteded to. There are many things I agree with in this book except for the shame-honor system. If you replace shame-honor with lose-win system you will be on the right track.Arabs don't have moral or philosophical concept of either honor or shame. To lose is to be shamed, to win is to be honored. Simple as that.That's why they are so impervious to guilt.
I haven't finished the book yet.But in my opinion, this is the only book that is very accurate on the subject.It's like studying quantum physics:disturbingly counter-intuitive and alien.
You should absolutely read this book! Don't delay!

Arab power politics - quicksand in the desert.......2006-10-18

This is a truly profound, engrossing study that leaves an indelible impression in the mind. That impression is best summed up by Pryce-Jones in the preface: "absolute power has always been the central feature of Arab political order, and violence is the determining factor of it." I note with bemusement that the review posted by the Library Journal states that the book's "negativity inspires a sense of futility as to the future, and leaves one wondering whether the conclusions drawn are correct." So, if the Arab future is bleak, it is because the wrong conclusions have been drawn? I didn't know that logic required a happy ending.

David Pryce-Jones downplays "ideology" as a determinate in the historic motives of the Arab world: not Islam, Marxism, Baathism, pan-Arabism or any other 'ism. The moving force behind Arab political and social life emerged from the prehistoric and primordial desert itself. From the bloody rivalry of clan against clan and tribe against tribe for the scarce resources of life emerged the absolutism of the powerful ruler and all the attendant features of Arab culture. These shame-honor, power-challenging, money-favoring features have been well described by other reviewers. The unchangeable features of Arab culture have transferred from family to clan to tribe and eventually to the state. The Arab "state" is just the "tribe" writ large.

There is a wealth of information in this book about the critical issues that exist between the Arab Middle East and the modern Western world. If at times the text reads like a novel it's no doubt because Pryce-Jones is also a writer of fiction, having published nine novels along with his eleven works of non-fiction.

With a creative writer's skill the author draws upon many colorful anecdotes to illustrate his points. Included are the best short accounts of the Armenian massacre and the Palestinian problem I've read. Halfway through the narrative the most important event in Arab history is vividly described: the discovery of oil in the Arabian peninsula, "the unheard-of and unprecedented wealth that suddenly spurted upon Arabia and the Gulf without its inhabitants having to lift a finger for it." "Shame-honor necessitates that every man lay hands on as much of the new wealth as possible, and then flaunt it conspicuously in order to impress others by his status, while doing nothing that might be seen as earning it."

Had it not been for this fateful discovery of the energy resource vital to the modern West, the ancestral tribal customs in their isolation might have continued indefinitely. But with the discovery of oil, the tribal Arabs have been wrenched out of their historic course and drawn into the international world. The relationship of the Arabs and the West has become the critical issue of modernity.

To Pryce-Jones the idea of a democratized Middle East is a daydream. "At present, an Arab democrat is not even an idealization, but a contradiction in terms." And the "Islamic revival" has nothing to do with man's relationship to God but is a catch-phrase on which anyone with the will for it may mount a bid for power. "It is as though the Arabs have trapped themselves inside a closed circle from which they sense that they must break out of for their own good, but within which identity and its supportive values paralyze endeavors of rescue."

I recommend this book for an unforgettable "interpretation of the Arabs."

The Closed Circle - An Interpretation of the Arabs

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The Closed Circle - An Interpretation of the Arabs
David Pryce-Jones
Manufacturer: New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 1991
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000NVNVKM

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The Closed Circle : An Interpretation of the Arabs

ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Constitutions | Government | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Islamic | World | History | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0586090150

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The Closed Circle an Interpretation of the Arabs

Manufacturer: Harper & Row
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000H3TTCU

Book Description

The national bestseller that reveals how we are descended from seven prehistoric women. One of the most dramatic stories of genetic discovery since James Watson's The Double Helix, The Seven Daughters of Eve reveals the remarkable story behind a groundbreaking scientific discovery. After being summoned in 1997 to an archaeological site to examine the remains of a five-thousand-year-old man, Bryan Sykes ultimately was able to prove not only that the man was a European but also that he has living relatives in England today. In this lucid, absorbing account, Sykes reveals how the identification of a particular strand of DNA that passes unbroken through the maternal line allows scientists to trace our genetic makeup all the way back to prehistoric times, to seven primeval women, the Seven Daughters of Eve.

Customer Reviews:

DNA and British Ancestors.......2007-07-14

The author writes with a wonderful style that explains scientific subjects fully. This book is the first of several on examining the groups found in Europe by DNA patterns. This book is of great interest to descendants of British ancestors. The author's categories of groups of "clan mothers" are both fascinating and informative, especially for those interested in genealogy. The reader can get a real thrill of the complexity of this science especially when you have had your DNA examined and you know which of the seven you belong to. Sykes has written stories based on archaeology showing the kinds of lives these "mothers" may have lived. To know that you have descended from a woman living in a cave and surviving the last Ice Age brings the meaning of survival right home. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in history and genealogy.

Musguided interpretation of a scientific fact extrapolated into junk.......2007-05-18

This is a book popularizing a scientific fact. In it, the author describes several characters representing branches of a genetic tree, and brings them to life based on theoretical timelines, which could place these individuals in particular times and places. Because the "trait" being followed is passed only through females, the individuals represented in each genetic branch of the tree are female, and called "Eves".

One of many problems is that the author assumes that genetic mutations are introduced at a constant rate. By examining many different current versions of the " trait " - the DNA of a cellular component called mitrochondria - one could theorize how long it would take to go back in time to when there was only one version, or this case seven versions. In fact, genetic variation typically takes place at very different rates over long periods of time. The concept of punctuated equilibrium, for example, shows that a population may be rapidly enriched for a certain variation of a genetic trait, if one should suddenly prove more advantageous. Similarly, isolated populations may lack diversification for exceptionally long periods of time on a geological, or evolutionary scale. This wreaks havoc on placing fictional characters in specific times and locations, and describing their lives, without supporting anthropological data, for example.

Several people that I spoke to who had read the book for a discussion group, all left with the impression that these "Eves" walked out of a forest fully formed, with no mention of the crushing onslaught of other evidence in human evolution, or the examination of the other 30,000 genes thus identified in the human genome. They were also drawn to the convenient coincidence that the author's lab, for a fee, will tell the reader which fictional character they are related to.

While mitochondrial DNA is actually passed only through female lines, the book took far too many liberties in extrapolating that fact into a bin of nonsense. Its lack of references, peer reviewed material, or mention of other relevant scientific, and evolutionary facts, was more than a little frightening to me, especially from the Department Head of a prestigious University, who should know better.

Very interesting!.......2007-04-20

This was one of those books I read in one day because I just couldn't put it down. It was so different from anything I'd read before (even given that I was an anthropology student back in the dark ages). Granted that his portraits of the seven clan mothers are fictitious, I found it interesting to speculate on their lives, given the time period and geographic areas in which they must have lived. I also found the whole scientific process interesting to follow - quite the drama in itself.

There are better books about the subject.......2007-03-02

I am interested about haplogroups and do not regret buying the book. However, I do not consider the book particularly good.
First half of the book was at least interesting reading (more about history of DNA science than those Seven Daughters).
Second half was quite different. I do not mind at all including the fictional stories about these "seven daughters" in the book - these stories were just not very interesting! And they appear to represent some "peaceful past" mythology where in distant past no human-to-humal violence exist, females had much more rights than their sisters in 21th century in most of world and only violent event could be attack of some carnivorous predator like leopard.
(I am surprised that Ursula was allowed to get pregnant at the age of 15, how come these nice and admirable law abinding citizens of 40000 BC were not heard that UK age of consent is 16)

Good, informative book.......2007-02-04

Bryan Sykes, a professor of genetics at Oxford, has written a very good, informative book, on how DNA has been used in an unlikely endeavor: to help trace the history of the human race, after they left Africa. You see, human DNA changes at a particular rate in time, so this allows us to identify when the different human groups split from one another. The book is a bit eurocentric (one can almost forgive that, given that Sykes is an European) as most of the book deals with the origins of the European people. He found that almost all (native, not recent immigrants) Europeans descend from a particular woman (the Eve of the title) who lived during the Ice Age (Sykes tentatively places her as having lived in what is today Syria). From "Eve" are descended seven different European subgroups that Sykes is able to identify in those who want it through a saliva sample (he has founded a company to do that, so he is a bit of an entrepeneur, something that fellow scientists probably will not like). More tentatively, and drawing on archaelogical records, Sykes imagines the lives of those seven daughters of Eve. Another thing to criticize in the book is Sykes egolatry: he always speaks about himself, and criticize those who in the scientific community had taken a different opinion on a particular issue.

Daughters of Eve: the Stories of seven Free, Glorious Women Who Joyously Experimented with Life

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Daughters of Eve: the Stories of seven Free, Glorious Women Who Joyously Experimented with Life

Manufacturer: the New Home Library
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000BFPCX4

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SEVEN DAUGHTERS OF EVE, THE
Bryan Sykes
Manufacturer: W.W. Norton & Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000NTM9KW

Seven Daughters of Eve, The: The Science That Reveals Our Genetic History

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Seven Daughters of Eve, The: The Science That Reveals Our Genetic History
Bryan Sykes
Manufacturer: Norton
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: 0965026264

Seven Susannahs, daughters of the Danube

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Seven Susannahs, daughters of the Danube
Eve Eckert Koehler
Manufacturer: Danube Swabian Societies of the United States and Canada
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

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