Gentle General: Rose Pesotta , Anarchist and Labor Organizer.

Customer Reviews:

Get Nancy's own book instead :-).......1998-06-19

Basically, this book won't tell you anything the media hasn't beaten to death over the past 4 years. It may have been informative when it was first published, but most people- and especially skating fans- will learn nothing new from this book.

I'd definitely recommend Nancy's own book over "Edge of Glory," which ends prior to the 1994 Olympics.

Fast-to-Press, expanded magazine story before '94 Games........1997-12-31

Recall one of the first, FASTEST paperbacks to hit shelves? It was of the never expected 1980 U.S. Olympic hockey victory over the Soviet team at Lake Placid. That book was on shelves a few DAYS after the victory. Anyway, the same here with the Coffey/Bondy book: it's after the Harding attack in Detroit, but hits the book shelves before they even get to Lillehammer. Taken for it's worth, it's a good, fast paperback of an abridged bio. of Ms. Kerrigan. Her early training, family relationships, and, yup, even covers the baton attack. If your flight is over 1-1/2 hours, you'll finish before you land.

Dreams of Gold: The Nancy Kerrigan Story

Average customer rating:

Dreams of Gold: The Nancy Kerrigan Story
Wayne; Bondy, Phillip Coffey
Manufacturer: St Martins Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000NY1Y9Y

Average customer rating:

Dreams of Gold, the Nancy Kerrigan Story.
Coffey Wayne & Filip Bondy.
Manufacturer: St Martins Mass Market Paper
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OTIFW2

Average customer rating:

Dreams of Gold: The Nancy Kerrigan Story
Wayne & bondy, Filip Coffey
Manufacturer: St. Martins
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
ASIN: B000LCAR3C

Book Description

Wireless Personal Communications: Advances in Coverage and Capacity present a broad range of topics in wireless communications. The majority of the chapters are relevant to creating higher capacity (spectrally efficient) systems with greater coverage. Topics include adaptive antenna array measurements and algorithm comparisons, Cellular Digital Packet Data deployment guidelines, speech coding techniques, wireless system design methodology, and propagation measurements in hostile or previously unexplored channels. Wireless Personal Communications: Advances in Coverage and Capacity is organized into three sections. Section I covers novel wireless systems and hardware and focuses on adaptive arrays, wireless hardware methodology, and deployment guidelines for CDPD among other topics. Section II focuses on Code Division Multiple Access (CMDA) and DSP techniques, both of which are used to facilitate more efficient utilization of the spectrum under adverse channel conditions. This section includes techniques for mitigating interference and multipath. Section III deals with propagation and system design issues. Propagation measurements are presented and include results for the channel characteristics at the New York Mercantile Exchange with closely packed people and hostile electromagnetic interference, to measurements of concrete slabs. Wireless Personal Communications: Advances in Coverage and Capacity serves as an excellent reference source and may be used as a text for advanced courses on the subject.

Book Description

Take the Cannoli is a moving and wickedly funny collection of personal stories stretching across the immense landscape of the American scene. Vowell tackles subjects such as identity, politics, religion, art, and history with a biting humor. She searches the streets of Hoboken for traces of the town's favorite son, Frank Sinatra. She goes under cover of heavy makeup in an investigation of goth culture, blasts cannonballs into a hillside on a father-daughter outing, and maps her family's haunted history on a road trip down the Trail of Tears. Vowell has an irresistible voice -- caustic and sympathetic, insightful and double-edged -- that has attracted a loyal following for her magazine writing and radio monologues on This American Life.

Customer Reviews:

Funny, well-written, but a bit short..........2007-08-24

I became a fan of Sarah Vowell after reading Assassination Vacation, and decided to go back and read her early works. Take the Cannoli: Stories from the New World is very good although a bit short. It's also a bit dated, although that's entirely my fault for taking so long to discover Vowell.

Take the Cannoli is a compilation of short stories that mostly deal with the author's life. She writes of being born in Oklahoma and raised in Montana, her twin sister and her parents, her education and her background (she's part Cherokee), her political beliefs and her interest in history, and especially her travels. Many of them are downright funny, and Vowell has a wicked, self-deprecating wit. The chapter on her trying to alter her appearance to become a "Goth" was a scream! I also enjoyed her escapes as a band geek. In high school, Vowell wasn't exactly your average high school student. "I have intimate knowledge of what it was like to be young and uneasy and outraged under Reagan. My high school was 1980s in miniature--you either belonged or you didn't. And if you didn't, you learned to seek relief where you could find it--and for me, that relief was with other black-clad malcontents who could quote defense-spending statistics even though we were barely passing algebra."

Vowell is at her best when she chronicles her travels and two that I enjoyed were her trip to Disney World and her tracing the Cherokee Trail of Tears. While her reflections on her Disney trip were funny, her take on The Trail of Tears poignant, sad and reflective. But even The Trail of Tears is good for a few chuckles, at Vowell's expense. When traveling on a road near her hometown, she relates that "only I know its topography with the intimacy that comes from leaning over every inch of it, carsick. I can't help but wonder if the grass grows so close to the shoulder because of my personal fertilizer crusade: I was a little Lady Bird Johnson of puke."

I wish that Vowell wrote books a little quicker, but in the meantime, I'll have to content myself with reading her earlier works.

Decent collection of author's early work.......2007-07-24

Writer Sarah Vowell established a following on NPR's "This American Life" in explorations of the byroads of American culture as well as her own life. Many of those pieces appear in TAKE THE CANNOLI in essay form alongside articles that originally appeared in print and online. The collection reveals the growth of the writer, from insightful young talent to a person shedding the edges of youth for a mature perspective on herself and, especially, her relationship as an American with this world. While her most recent work, ASSASSINATION VACATION, has her at the top of her powers, this collection, interesting in itself, shows her getting there.

Vowell begins by peeling back her youth as the liberal daughter of a Second Amendment gunsmith in Oklahoma and Montana; her life in high school band; and finally, growing up under the threat of doom held over her head by her family's Pentacostal religion and the Reagan administration's imagery of the evil empire and nuclear war. She moves onto tours of Frank Sinatra's hometown, Hoboken, New Jersey; Disney World and Celebration, Florida; New York's infamous Chelsea Hotel; Rock and Roll Fantasy Camp; and Goth culture. There a hilarious episode in which the creator of "This American Life," Ira Glass, tries to teach Vowell to drive. The second strongest piece in the collection is the essay from which she takes her title, an account of watching "The Godfather" religiously in college, hanging onto its simple imperatives in defense against the uncertain waves of diverse philosophy that swirl in academe. The strongest piece is the trip she takes with her twin sister Amy tracing the Trail of Tears their Cherokee ancestors were forced to march when President Andrew Jackson banished them from their own property. In that, you see Vowell learning to wrangle the kind of ambiguities that usually stop others in their tracks. I love how she loves America, clear-eyed but without apology.

This collection of essays is often topical and thus some of them are a little dated, or at least ironic given more recent events. I'd really like to sit down with Vowell, to see what she thinks now.

Read it, just not first........2006-11-17

Having read The Partly Cloudy Patriot first, I loved this book because it invited me to learn more about the author and her life. And in that respect, the book is very good--well-written and full of Vowell's characteristic wit. I would not, however, recommend it as a first taste of Sarah Vowell; I think it's funnier and more interesting once you're familiar with her style.

Take the Cannoli.......2006-08-27

She's a staple of This American Life on Public Radio International, and she's also appeared in GQ, Salon and Request. Her humor and wit are sharp and perceptive. But, let me work from the back cover blurbs.

Essays on American history, pop culture and her own family. Yep. But it's not easy to get me interested in American history or pop culture. A madonna of Americana. Yep, but I'm bored again.

Her writing about her family, early on, was great. Then we got some history that bored me, but I kept going because she is talented. Surface, but talented. Then an essay about the Trail of Tears that really hit home for me, then some amusing stuff. It's not bad, but I don't see myself going back for seconds. I'll keep an eye on whatever else she does.

More Sarah Vowell, Please.......2006-06-03

Take the Cannoli was a wonderful mixture of essays that was throughly enjoyable. As I have become used to with Sarah Vowell, her family, her relationship with her twin sister, her friends, her thoughts on the world in which she lives, her love for history, and the challenges of her everyday life flow through many of these essays, interconnecting them in ways that you do not expect. The essays in Take the Cannoli are consistently good, often made me laugh out loud, and in some cases changed my perspective on a particular subject. Although I didn't always agree with her, I certainly appreciated her passion.

Take the Cannoli: Stories from the New World

Average customer rating:

Take the Cannoli: Stories from the New World
SARAH VOWELL
Manufacturer: Penguin Books Ltd
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OJHGFE

Book Description

Stats for every vehicle
Every secret area revealed
Maps of each battle area
Cheat codes for high-octane fun
Strategies for enhanced combat driving
Tips to put you on the top of the twisted heap
All 3 Twisted Metal games covered!

Customer Reviews:

VERY HAPPY.......2004-11-19

THANK YOU FOR THE FAST DELIVERY. JUST AS PROMISED. WILL ORDER AGAIN. MANY THANKS

Don't know what you got, til' it's gone..........2001-11-22

Even though the majority of TM Strategy Guides are rather lackluster, this one's a keeper for the TM 1 tips! The TM 1 game is rare and tips are even rarer. If you own TM 1 then you may want to purchase this before it's unavailable. If you search the web for TM 1, you'll see what I mean...

Really good book.......1999-09-11

I think it is going to be a good seller for people who have these game

Average customer rating:

Upgrading, Fixing PCs for Dummies, 6th Edition

I'm paralyzed without my copy.

Upgrading and Troubleshooting for Dummies 6th Edition

Beautiful introduction- brilliant overview! 6th edition

Great book

Upgrading and Fixing PCs for Dummies, Sixth Edition
Andy Rathbone
Manufacturer: For Dummies
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Maintenance, Repair & Upgrading | Hardware | Computers & Internet | Subjects | Books
PCs | Hardware | Computers & Internet | Subjects | Books
For Dummies: General | Introductory Guides | Software | Computers & Internet | Subjects | Books
General | Computers & Internet | Subjects | Books
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PCs All-in-One Desk Reference For Dummies (For Dummies (Computer/Tech))

PCs For Dummies (Pcs for Dummies)

ASIN: 0764516655

Amazon.com

Loaded with solid advice in the fun style typical of this series, Upgrading & Fixing PCs for Dummies is an excellent introduction to what makes your computer go. If you're sure you can put your new modem or video card in by yourself (and you can), this book will provide you with the help you need.

Rathbone starts with an introduction to all the mysterious connections on the back of your computer's case, teaching you how to distinguish a game port from a serial port and an audio jack from a network connection. He then moves inside the case, using drawings and diagrams to illustrate processors, peripheral cards, memory modules, and other internal components. Troubleshooting occupies much of this book, and the author explains the basic "identify and isolate" strategy very well. He also points out what to look and listen for, describing, for example, the meaning of the beeps you hear when you turn your computer on.

Some of Rathbone's organizational decisions seem weird. He covers the procedure for replacing an internal modem in a chapter about all kinds of internal expansion cards, rather than in the modem chapter. But the information is there and it is well presented, so Upgrading & Fixing PCs for Dummies makes an excellent resource for hardware novices. --David Wall

Book Description

The average cost of desktop PCs has fallen steadily over the years while power and functionality have increased. Despite lower prices, however, you still may not feel like spending money on a new, faster PC. Instead, you can transform your balky PC into a glitch-free, turbocharged, multimedia machine with minimum cost.

If you want your PC to do more and crash less but don't know where to begin, then Upgrading and Fixing PCs For Dummies, 6th Edition, is your answer. Don't let the fear of opening your computer’s case prevent you from do-it-yourself upgrades. Plenty of computer parts stay completely on the outside of the computer! So get ready to discover the ins and outs of today's hardware and software.

This book is for anyone who wants to

Upgrade an older PC to run Windows XP
Add a larger hard drive
Upgrade a video card
Set up a firewall
Take advantage of low-priced memory chips from warehouse stores

This easy-to-understand guide shows you how to deal with the most common upgrading and repair problems and explains what to buy, where to plug it in, and how to make sure your computer knows what to do with it. This sixth edition of Upgrading and Fixing PCs For Dummies contains several new chapters and sections:

A visual appendix that explains how to use all the ports on your computer and install the ones you may be missing
A network installation guide to help you configure a network with both wired and wireless devices
The scoop on drivers: When you need them, where to find them, and how to install them successfully
Detailed coverage on virus attacks – how to avoid them and to repair the damage if one hits your PC
The facts on DVD burners – their odd format terminology and incompatibilities

Plus, this edition continues to include the information that hundreds of thousands of people have relied on for 10 years: information about upgrading and fixing video cards, hard drives, CD/DVD drives, memory chips, monitors, modems, printers, scanners, hard drives, and other popular computer parts.

Customer Reviews:

Upgrading, Fixing PCs for Dummies, 6th Edition.......2007-03-30

Gave lower rating because didn't have detailed info on replacing laptop harddrive. Other info OK. VMV

I'm paralyzed without my copy........2006-03-15

I just cannot find my copy of this book. With this book, I've been brave enough to pop open my computer and install things like a TV-tuner card, more powerful memory cards, cd-burners. People think I'm a computer whiz.

Without this book, my new hard drive sits on the shelf for six months. I open my cpu and say, "Looks like I need one of them ribbon thingees. What's that called?" I'm on Amazon today to buy another copy because I just cannot function otherwise.

Upgrading and Troubleshooting for Dummies 6th Edition.......2003-05-19

Really only for someone who knows nothing about computers. Very basic information.

Beautiful introduction- brilliant overview! 6th edition.......2003-03-03

Kind of a combination introduction/overview to the state of PC technology today, with an emphasis on helping readers new to the subject in maximizing any PCs performance. This is an excellent book! Covers all the latest in Windows XP configuration and upkeep, as well as buzzwords like DVD-RW, DVD+RW, CDRW/DVD, 802.11b, 802.11a, wireless access points, fast Ethernet, FireWire, USB 2.0, MP3s, WMAs, LCDs, DVI-I, DV camcorders, digital cameras, scanners, printers, modems, NTFS, ATX, AGP 3.0 8x, DDR SDRAM,... etc. EVERYTHING current to today's PCs is given a brief mention. I especially like the Appendix, "The Rathbone Reference of Fine Ports", which clearly explains the most common of today's PC connections, as well as the ones that are going out of style. Very helpful! This book strikes a great balance between being too simple and being too advanced. It's the perfect companion to the "Windows for Dummies" series, right along with another recent book, "Troubleshooting Your PC for Dummies", by Dan Gookin. Highly recommended!

Great book.......2002-09-01

The dummies books always tend to be good. This is a good book if you want some basic knowledge of computer support. I've used it as giveaways for my Tech Support Forums website. Everyone seemed to like it.

Amazon.com

In this series of autobiographical essays accompanied by paintings (or autobiographical paintings accompanied by essays), Natalie Goldberg examines the relationship between her writing, her art, and her life. Known for her books about writing (Writing Down the Bones in particular), Goldberg once used painting as others do a walk in the woods or a martini before dinner--as a way to unwind after a day of work. Fearing dilettantism, she quit painting altogether, only to find that when she stopped painting, "I gave up a deep source of my writing, that place in me where I can let my work flow." Once again she embraced visual expression, which she realized she had used "as a metaphor or mirror to break out of something I didn't understand in writing." The paintings have a colorful, folksy feel; the book is an interesting exploration of the influences that the various aspects of our lives have on our work and vice versa.

Book Description

Join the bestselling author of Wild Mind and Writing Down the Bones as she explores a new realm of creativity--the world of color--and offers us an intimate view of how everyday life is transformed into art.

In twelve high-spirited chapters, Natalie introduces us to her family, her artist friends, her New Mexico home, her painting trips to Europe--always focusing on the questions faced by any creative person, whatever their medium. Why, for example, does an artist choose some subjects and not others? ("I was crazy about the wrong-color sky and the heart-sinking beckoning of headlights on old cars," she acknowledges.) How does a painter draw nourishment from another painter's work? ("I didn't want fancy art theories. I wanted a direct connection with the painting before me.") When is it time to move into a new form? ("I had to go to an empty white canvas and find out what was within me.")

More than 60 four-color reproductions of Natalie's distinctive and joyous paintings appear throughout. The result is a feast for the eyes and a celebration of the creative spirit in action.

Customer Reviews:

natalie goldberg.......2005-11-15

I am reading and drawing. I am writing and here in southern New Mexico, Alamogordo all by myself. I am sooo glad she found art to be a good tool for seeing detail. I'm seeing differently.
I have seen color all my life but been afraid to express it. I grew up parttime in Maryland. The East Coast has its own flavor, but out West we command another kind of beauty. Natalies writings have been a good refresher for me. I'm excited to do a workshop up in Taos. Thanks.

POWERFUL!.......2005-01-23

I had never heard of Natalie Goldberg before this book was mentioned casually in an online journaling group. But the comment peaked my interest and I surely was not disappointed! I read the entire book in one sitting (during the first major snowstorm of '05!) There were many "ah ha" moments...and I especially enjoyed the chapter about her father...very emotionally moving and insightful. Highly recommended if you do visual art and are curious about what propels you.

playful and brilliant.......2002-01-01

Natalie's paintings are dazzling...she seems to have caught the emotional color of her subjects, the inner dance of things...it's essential magic. In the chapter titled "How I Paint", she says: " I noticed that the blue of my paints wasn't blue enough to get the intensity of that New Mexico sky. I painted the sky red instead. I painted Jazz yellow. He was a brown dog, but yellow expressed him better. Color became fluid".

There's a chapter on her father, with 7 paintings of him, the first from '78, the last, '98...wonderful portraits, with a sadness in them, despite the vivid colors.
Another chapter, "A Deep Source of my Writing", is about how her writing and painting are interrelated.

She writes of her European travels, her visits to the Musee Matisse, Cezanne's studio, the Kafka Museum, and so much more...with an easy flow that makes reading a pleasure, but it's the paintings that captivate me.

Her interiors are incredible..ordinary places like bathrooms and kitchens, turned into playgrounds of glorious color...her buildings and outdoor scenes are also amazing (her sense of perspective is fabulous !), but I love her cars best of all. If I could own one painting, it would be the green Chevy truck on page 22. It seems to have a face, with a side window that's winking at me.

This is a very special book, so full of life and love. It makes me laugh, inspires me, gives me hope and warms my heart.

One of the most important creative books ever written.......2000-02-15

I can only echo the other rave reviews: This book is a must-own (not just a must-read) if you're an artist, a writer, or both. Even if you can't draw a stick figure, but have always wanted to be an artist, this book will set you on the path to creative expression. Don't just wish to be an artist... get this book, and start painting!

If you're a writer, artist, or wannabe, buy this book!.......2000-01-29

Don't lend it to a friend, guard it with your life! Ms. Goldberg's drawings are wondrous. I want to say that they remind me of David Hockney's work - but that wouldn't quite do it. Because her style is hers alone and it's magical! The accompanying text throughout gives you an understanding of her drawings - and how she's able to unleash that part of her creativity - and have FUN! I never fail to read the latest Natalie Goldberg book - her insights, her truthfulness about her struggles help me realize that we're all artists. Some of us are just a little freer and further along than the rest. Thank goodness Natalie keeps writing to show us paths that she's hewn for herself.

Average customer rating:
The World Turned Upside Down: Indian Voices from Early America (The Bedford Series in History and Culture)
Colin G. Calloway
Manufacturer: Bedford/St. Martin's
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books
General | Specific Groups | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books
General | Native American | Americas | History | Subjects | Books
General | United States | Americas | History | Subjects | Books
General | Americas | History | Subjects | Books
General | World | History | Subjects | Books
General | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
Biographies & Memoirs | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
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ASIN: 0312083505

Average customer rating:
The America's History 5e Volume 1 and The World Turned Upside Down: Indian Voices from Early America
Lynn Dumenil , Colin G. Calloway , James A. Henretta , and David Brody
Manufacturer: Bedford/St. Martin's
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | World | History | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0312418302

Average customer rating:
The Who Built America Volume 1 and World Turned Upside Down: Indian Voices from Early America
Christopher Clark , Colin G. Calloway , American Social History Project , and Nancy Hewitt
Manufacturer: Bedford/St. Martin's
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | World | History | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0312390084

Average customer rating:
The American Promise 2e Volume 1 and The World Turned Upside Down: Indian Voices from Early America
Colin G. Calloway
Manufacturer: Bedford/St. Martin's
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | World | History | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0312418019

Average customer rating:
The World Turned upside down : Indian Voices from Early America (The Bedford Series in History and Culture)
Colin G. Calloway
Manufacturer: Bedford/St. Martin's
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OT91JI

Average customer rating:

Great except for one chapter

Esoteric Collection of Essays

Fact or Friction?

A disappointment

From gods to Gould

Science Friction: Where the Known Meets the Unknown
Michael Shermer
Manufacturer: Owl Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Science | Subjects | Books
General | History & Philosophy | Science | Subjects | Books
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Why Darwin Matters: The Case Against Intelligent Design

ASIN: 0805079149
Release Date: 2005-12-27

Book Description

A scientist pretends to be a psychic for a dayand fools everyone. An athlete discovers that good-luck rituals and getting into the zone may, or may not, improve his performance. A son explores the possiblities of alternative and experimental medicine for his cancer-ravaged mother. And a skeptic realizes that it is time to turn the skeptical lens onto science itself. In each of the fourteen essays in Science Friction, bestselling author Michael Shermer explores the very personal barriers and biases that plague and propel science, especially when scientists push against the unknown. What do we know and what do we not know? How does science respond to controversy, attack, and uncertainty? When does theory become accepted fact? As always, Shermer delivers a thought-provoking, fascinating, and entertaining view of life in the scientific age.

Customer Reviews:

Great except for one chapter.......2007-01-22

Shermer blows away many common myths and exposes the way our faulty thinking gets us in trouble, It is similar to Eric Hoffer's book, "The True Believer," as a psychological explanation of why we cling to certain beliefs. I would give it five stars except that one chapter on his personal family encounter with death seems out-of-context and sappy.

Esoteric Collection of Essays.......2006-07-28

There are two kinds of people in the world; those who question what they see and hear and those who prefer to leave the contemplation to others. Society is a delicate balance between these two forces. Too much faith in conventional wisdom can lead to stagnation while too much questioning can lead to paralysis by analysis and chaos. What Michael Shermer does is try to encourage healthy skepticism without such excessive skepticism that we can't draw conclusions. Mr. Shermer quotes Paul Kurtz saying, "If there are any lessons to be learned from history, it is that we should be skeptical of all points of view, including those of the skeptics"

As the founder of Skeptic magazine Michael Shermer knows a little something about skepticism. In fact Mr. Shermer along James (The Amazing) Randi and Martin Gardner have essentially created a new skeptic movement. The Skeptic philosophy is a non-partisan, scientific movement using the tools of logic and the scientific method to determine the truth or falsity of claims both large and small. Skeptic targets range from New Age mysticism to fundamentalist Creationism to Holocaust deniers.

Mr. Shermer goes beyond analysis and sees science as the next stage in the evolution of morality beyond organized religion stating that, "What we really need is a new set of morals and an ethical system designed for our time and place, not one scripted for a pastoral/agricultural people who live 4000 years ago". Later he states that, "Just as science has been our candle in the dark illuminating our path into the heart of human nature, science is our greatest hope for the future, showing us how best we can utilize our natures to ensure our survival." I'm not sure that science is quite up to the task of defining morality but I do agree that it holds a better chance than fundamentalist Christianity.

Science Friction is a collection of articles written by Mr. Shermer so don't expect any overarching theme. The articles range from an ill-advised attempt by a group of atheists, agnostics and progressives to label themselves as `Brights' to an analysis of the true cause of the mutiny on the bounty. As a long time reader of Skeptic magazine I have to warn other readers that you may find many of the chapters in Science Friction very familiar. The chapters range from breezy and readable to extremely dense as in the chapter `Exorcising Laplace's Demon'. I have to say that I prefer the books of Martin Gardner but Mr. Shermer is a fine heir apparent to the king of debunking.

Fact or Friction?.......2005-12-03

I like science writers because of their obvious intelligence and (usually) great writing skills. Shermer is more that a great writer. He is a skeptic, a rationalist and humanist; he is also what one might call a member of the NPR crowd - white, educated, well-to-do, secular and left of center. He has faults and prejudices as do we all but in the end he has penned a fascinating collection of "fireside chats".

While the style and tone remain static the subject matter is joyfully varied - ranging from reviews to biography to lists to revelation. It is hard to choose a "best" when so many are fine. The article on Stephen Jay Gould has aroused about as much controversy as Gould himself. His (Gould not Shermer) real crime was suggesting that Darwin's explanation was not the last word on the matter and there might even be an error or two in his findings. The deification of Darwin, replete with quotes biographical allusions and even the old "What did Darwin say?" is solidifying into a new quasi- religion.

What drives Shermer is not science per se but the history and philosophy of science. The article on "lists" of people and events was entertaining. Perhaps the best was the story of clashes in anthropology and how revisionism and ideology affect our judgement. The author is clearly in the "progressive" camp and makes the common mistake of overstating the danger in ID and fundamentalism (the vast majority of people on Earth reject evolution and we're doing just fine. After all, we have the right to be wrong in America.)

Several personal tales are here - from his days as a student and evangelical Christian to his growing interest in science and skepticism. They range from the sublime,the death of his mother by cancer, to the absurd, the hilarious episode when
certain intellectuals renamed themselves "Brights" with all the resulting bad publicity that anyone with an atom of sense could have predicted. The breakdown of the book makes it a perfect candidate for "bathroom reading". Get it

A disappointment.......2005-06-22

These are, for the most part, slight pieces, a somewhat haphazard collection mostly lacking thematic unity. By slight, I mean that Shermer did not provide me with much new information or many new insights into old information.

There's an account of his experience impersonating a variety of psychics; an attempt at a Darwinian interpretation of the mutiny on the "Bounty" which adds nothing, really, to what's been known for years; a thirteen-page essay called "Exorcising Laplace's Demon" in which Laplace appears only in the final paragraph; a series of top-whatever lists gathered from here and there for no very clear reason. And so on.

I would have saved myself a good deal of time if I had gone straight to page 173 ("The New New Creationism") and left it at that. This piece provides a ten-point rebuttal of the Intelligent Design argument that is useful for those of us who don't know much about this latest metamorphosis of creationism.

But by then Shermer's credibility was so damaged that even this piece I approach warily. Shermer the skeptic is so error-prone that his unintended effect is to make me skeptical of everything he says. His introduction indicates that many of these pieces have been previously published. This I find astonishing. The first chapter alone contains so many serious grammar errors that had Shermer submitted it when he was a high-school senior, at least where I grew up at about the same time period, he would have forfeited his diploma.

I'm not a scientist, and so when I find a science writer telling me that malaria is transmitted by "a virus-infested mosquito" (try "parasite" and "infected"); that helicobacter pylori is also a virus; that "flagella" is singular, I have to wonder what other nonsense is getting past me. Evidently fact checkers and proof readers have gone extinct.

In general, Shermer's essays lack structure, focus, and creative insight. To be an essayist is to be a type of poet. An accomplished essayist - Oliver Sacks, for example - takes an idea, a fact, an observation perhaps, and in elegant, graceful language explores it, expands it, teases it out until we are astonished and delighted by the insights, the connections, and by a new way of seeing our world. This is an art, and Michael Shermer, sadly, is only a fledging artist.

From gods to Gould.......2005-05-30

Being a sceptic takes courage. Scepticism means assaulting dogmas - read "entrenched stupidity" - and coping with the reaction. Shermer, who puts his scepticism on public view in his magazine, isn't lacking courage. With a flair for investigative journalism and a fine prose style to render results into words, he is always an informative and entertaining read. This collection of his articles is a delight, unmarred by the passage of time. Each one addresses a topic of enduring interest, guaranteeing a "read again" condition for these essays for some time to come.

Shermer displays his mettle up front by taking up roles in performing in the "paranormal". He "reads" Tarot cards, palms of hands and the stars. All of these experiments demonstrate the gullibility of those too inept or too lazy to learn how hollow these techniques really are. Why people believe such phenomena can answer the problems of everyday life remains one of our great mysteries. Shermer isn't addressing these topics from an "intellectual high ground" but from real experience. In his youth he was a Christian, buying into all the contrived legends and empty myths that superstition perpetuates. Discovering reality, he abandoned the trappings of deceptive teachings and struck out against them - all of them. This collection of essays isn't only a display of his experiences, it's ammunition we may all use in dealing with other misleading or manipulative teachings.

As a collection of writings on various topics, this book is naturally difficult to categorise. He discusses the difficulties the "secular humanists" endured with the creation of The Brights. The Brights are an attempt to coalesce the various non-theists in our society. While the name is logical, especially given its true meaning, American society has granted it the rank of a slur on those who refuse to accept easy dogmas. Essays on "heresies of science" and "spin-doctoring science" are a depressing indication of how the public lacks understanding of what science does and has done. If a particular column must be selected as noteworthy, it's Shermer's discussion of the Cancer in the Classroom, "intelligent design". Although much has been written on this insidious threat from Christians attempting to destroy scientific education, Shermer's essay "The New New Creationism" is an excellent overview. He summarises the history and tactics of the movement, recognising that only reality can counter it. Understanding of reality comes through education. It's a vicious circle.

Shermer concludes the collection with an adulatory essay on Stephen J. Gould. It's almost embarrassing to read. Shermer recounts John Maynard Smith's assessment that Gould's ideas were "so confused as to be hardly worth bothering with". Although intending to praise Gould, Shermer then goes on to prove Maynard Smith correct. Following the US academic theme of "publish or perish", Shermer does his sums - even to the level of word count. How much did Gould publish and on what? After gathering his numbers, Shermer goes on to shuffle them around by categories. We are given line, bar and pie charts as tokens of Gould's worth. That Gould had wide interests is a given. Baseball, a topic that puzzled Maynard Smith, loomed largest. Evolution, of course, was a major theme, with history of science close behind. What Shermer omits is Gould's approach to these topics. He enjoyed lifting people from obscurity and defending the indefenisble. Shermer notes Gould's resurrection of Jimmie Ussher's reputation [while misspelling his name], but ignores Gould's constant chipping away of Darwin's or Wallace's. Perhaps Shermer should have included a category for this approach in his counts. This flawed essay is the low point of the book, yet it is well presented and informative. Gould was a friend and Shermer's applause for him is understandable. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]

The virtues of skepticism.(Science Friction: Where the Known Meets the Unknown)(Book review) : An article from: Skeptical Inquirer

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The virtues of skepticism.(Science Friction: Where the Known Meets the Unknown)(Book review) : An article from: Skeptical Inquirer
David Ludden
Manufacturer: Thomson Gale
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

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ASIN: B000FTC5RW
Release Date: 2006-05-22

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This digital document is an article from Skeptical Inquirer, published by Thomson Gale on May 1, 2006. The length of the article is 1412 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: The virtues of skepticism.(Science Friction: Where the Known Meets the Unknown)(Book review)
Author: David Ludden
Publication: Skeptical Inquirer (Magazine/Journal)
Date: May 1, 2006
Publisher: Thomson Gale
Volume: 30 Issue: 3 Page: 60(2)

Article Type: Book review

Distributed by Thomson Gale

Book Description

Deep in the wildlands of northern Maine is a remote piece of land with a small point sheltering a shallow cove along the shore of an expansive lake. Used as a campsite by indigenous peoples for thousands of years, the land was cleared in the mid-1800s, developed into a lumber depot and named Chamberlain Farm. Following a period of neglect after a century of use by lumbermen, the area was turned into a rustic enclave for hunting and fishing enthusiasts. In recent years as civilization encroached, it became the focus of protection efforts by wilderness lovers who sought to ensure preservation and keep in it some semblance of its former wildness.

In The Wilderness from Chamberlain Farm, historian Dean B. Bennett traces those transformations, bringing to life the people involved, their motivations, and the interconnected effects of their actions. Beginning 10,000 years ago with the retreat of the glaciers, Bennett offers an overview of the forces that shaped the land, and the visitors to and inhabitants of this place once known as Apmoojenegamook - "lake that is crossed.

We meet one of the first American owners of the property, David Pingree, and his agent E. S. Coe, who kept a tight rein on operations from the 1840s until the turn of the century. An acquaintance of Coe and visitor during that time was Henry David Thoreau, who passed through the area on one of his excursions in the Maine woods. We also are introduced to the indomitable Patty and Al Nugent, who staked a claim on the land and built a sporting camp with their own hands that has served as a haven for outdoorsmen from the 1930s to the present day. And we learn of the efforts of Senator Edmund S. Muskie and others to protect this wild river area, culminating in the creation of the Allagash Wilderness Waterway and its federal designation as the nation's first state-administered riverway in the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System.

The dynamic history of the farm and its setting illuminate society's evolving perspective on the natural world around us. The Wilderness from Chamberlain Farm describes and explains the perspectives revealed by those attracted to the farm and its environment, and those who fought to protect the Allagash, offering a valuable lens through which to understand the changing relationship of people and the land.

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