Life at Southern Living: A Sort of Memoir

Customer Reviews:

Wild, wacky, and thoughtful as well.......2000-09-28

If you think "Southern Living" is just your mother's favorite magazine, read this book by the couple of crazy guys who started it. Logue and McCalla's hilarious back-and-forth is just one of the many attractions of this terrific story. Their irreverence about one of the New South's beloved institutions is refreshing, and their insights into the magazine business are like a short course in publishing smarts. A great read!

Life at Southern Living: A Sort of Memoir.: An article from: Journal of Southern History

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Life at Southern Living: A Sort of Memoir.: An article from: Journal of Southern History
John Shelton Reed
Manufacturer: Southern Historical Association
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital
ASIN: B0008FBNYY
Release Date: 2005-07-30

Book Description

This digital document is an article from Journal of Southern History, published by Southern Historical Association on May 1, 2002. The length of the article is 944 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: Life at Southern Living: A Sort of Memoir.
Author: John Shelton Reed
Publication: Journal of Southern History (Refereed)
Date: May 1, 2002
Publisher: Southern Historical Association
Volume: 68 Issue: 2 Page: 513(3)

Article Type: Book Review

Distributed by Thomson Gale

Product Description

Jeff Gordon Filled with striking images and presented in a unique foldout format, Jeff Gordon recounts #24s thrilling Chase for the Championship. Relive the exciting moments and victories of Jeffs season right down to the final race at Homesteadwhen the championship was still in sight. Jeff Gordon is a part of the inaugural Reedy Series. The series commemorates the elite drivers who competed in the dramatic Chase for the Championship. This limited edition, collectible series comprises 5 individual foldout books that depict the Chase drivers and their special years. Each book includes Full-Color Dramatic Foldouts. The 5 drivers in the 2004 Reedy Series include: Kurt Busch Jimmie Johnson Jeff Gordon Mark Martin Dale Earnhardt, Jr. This publication is not licensed or endorsed by NASCAR or Hendrick Motorsports.

Jeff Gordon: Rewriting the Record Book (Racing Superstar Series, 1)

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Anoterh winner for SPI!

Jeff Gordon: Rewriting the Record Book (Racing Superstar Series, 1)
Ken Garfield
Manufacturer: Sports Masters
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

General | Biographies | Sports | Subjects | Books

Motor Sports | Miscellaneous | Sports | Subjects | Books

General | Sports | Subjects | Books

Racing | Automotive | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 1583820558

Book Description

Takes a look at Gordon's days growing up in California where he dreamed of racing to his eventual realization of those dreams on the NASCAR circuit. His racing skills, deep religious faith, wife Brooke, and matinee-idol good looks have made him the most well-known driver in the sport.

Customer Reviews:

Anoterh winner for SPI!.......2000-04-07

He's young. He's won the Daytona 500. He's won the Winston Points Championship. He's a NASCAR legend. He drives number 24. He's mobbed wherever he races. He's Jeff Gordon and he's the subject of this book.

As a part of the Racing Superstar Series, this book take you down victory lane or pit row with one a the true giants in the world of auto racing. Follow along in Jeff Gordon's career to the beginnings and to the rise to superstar.

The book is less than hundred pages and makes quick reading. The author gives you a good look into the life of Jeff Gordon and his triumphs and failures. Overall this book is very good and makes a great gift for the auto-racing fan in your life.

Book Description

Film has become such an underpinning of art and pop culture that its potential for inspiring serious thought is often overlooked. Our intellectual involvement with film has been minimized as more in the audience want to be merely amazed and entertained.

Essays written by both established and cutting-edge philosophers of film concentrate in this work on the value of film in general and the value of certain films in particular for the study and teaching of ideas. The essays explore such topics as the significance of narrative unity for self knowledge in David Lynch's Lost Highway and in Paul Schrader's Affliction; ambiguity and responsibility in Akira Kurosawa's Rashomon; consciousness and cognition in Orson Welles's Citizen Kane; skepticism in Alfred Hitchcock's Suspicion and David Cronenberg's Naked Lunch; language and gender in Neil Jordan's The Crying Game; Platonic idealism in Chris Marker's La Jetée; race in Spike Lee's Summer of Sam; the concept of the imagination in cognitive film theory; and the role of ideology in feminist film theory.

Book Description

In this fascinating book, Brian J. Frost presents the first full-scale survey of werewolf literature covering both fiction and nonfiction works. He identifies principal elements in the werewolf myth, considers various theories of the phenomenon of shapeshifting, surveys nonfiction books, and traces the myth from its origins in ancient superstitions to its modern representations in fantasy and horror fiction.
Frost’s analysis encompasses fanciful medieval beliefs, popular works by Victorian authors, scholarly treatises and medical papers, and short stories from pulp magazines of the 1930s and 1940s. Revealing the complex nature of the werewolf phenomenon and its tremendous and continuing influence, The Essential Guide to Werewolf Literature is destined to become a standard reference on the subject.

Customer Reviews:

Covering both fiction and nonfiction works.......2004-04-14

The Essential Guide To Werewolf Literature by Brian J. Frost is a thoughtful and informative survey of werewolf literature, covering both fiction and nonfiction works ranging from popular Victorian tales; to scholarly treatises and medical papers; to the short stories that peppered pulp magazines in the 1930s and 40s. An inherently fascinating examination of the human response to the werewolf phenomenon and its powerful, continuing influence on aspects of popular culture, The Essential Guide To Werewolf Literature is an impressively thorough and scholarly contribution to Popular Culture supplemental reading lists and Literary Criticism reference collections.

Book Description

Essential deathmatch tips
Stats for all weapons and equipment
In-depth descriptions for all characters
Detailed maps with locations of weapons and secret areas
Expert advice for advanced combat tactics

Customer Reviews:

A very good overview and introduction to Quake III Arena.......2000-05-23

This 'Official Strategy Guide' from Prima was jointly produced with id Software, the creators of the Quake game series - and the appearance and layout of the book meets the high standards you'd expect from an id product; it's glossy, full of diagrams and screenshots, and is a pleasure to read. If you're already a Q3A player, you'll probably be tempted to sit down and spend an entire afternoon reading this guide!

The book contains a variety of material: a section on weapons (usefully describing their comparative benefits), a chapter on arena basics (including some useful tips on BFG/rocket jumping, air control and splash damage) and a guide to the built-in characters (interesting, but doesn't add much to your gameplay skills).

After these diversions comes the main section of the book: a level-by-level guide to all the arenas provided with the original release of the game. These sections vary in size and detail in accordance with the complexity of the level covered - so the later arena levels tend to get more coverage. Each contains a diagram of the entire map seen from above - these are useful, but the diagrams are literal birds-eye views, so they include ceilings and roof bars (difficult to see through). Also, it's a bit hard to visualize the multi-floor levels from these diagrams. After the map diagrams is a guide to getting around the level in question - this is generally the most useful part, containing many tips and secrets that you'd be very unlikely to stumble across by yourself when playing the game.

Without doubt, reading this book will make you a better Quake III player - though of course it's no substitute for indulging in hours of dedicated gameplay! The book isn't perfect - the screenshots are too small in most cases, the guide lacks an index, and the author makes no mention of the actual map file names (eg 'Q3DM17' for 'The Longest Yard') or the Q3A console syntax. Still, these are small complaints.

A last word: As id continue to bring out Q3A point releases, they add levels (eg the recent new Space CTF map) - obviously the book won't keep up with these. Also, when you enter the world of custom player-designed maps you'll probably miss the helpful advice that Prima's guide can provide! Anyway, with the 'mission pack' Team Arena due for release some time soon, I'm sure we'll be seeing a follow-up guide from the publishers.

Quake III Arena.......2000-04-29

so clear , ez to understand

Crystal Reports XI: The Complete Reference (Complete Reference Series)
Average customer rating:

Excellent Resource for the Seasoned Professional

Great reference book for any serious Crystal developer

crystal ix review

Standard Revision of Solid Reference

Exhaustive and Detailed

Crystal Reports XI: The Complete Reference (Complete Reference Series)
George Peck
Manufacturer: McGraw-Hill Osborne Media
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Accounting | Business | Software | Computers & Internet | Subjects | Books
General | Business | Software | Computers & Internet | Subjects | Books
Seagate Crystal Reports | Business | Software | Computers & Internet | Subjects | Books
General | Software | Computers & Internet | Subjects | Books
General | Computers & Internet | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 007226246X

Book Description

This best-seller has been fully updated for Crystal Reports XI (extreme insight) -- the first jointly developed release of this leading report writing and analysis software since the acquisition of Crystal Decisions by Business Objects. Readers will learn to create visually appealing reports that communicate content effectively using helpful features such as charts, complex formulas, custom functions, sorting and grouping, Business Views, and more. Publishing and viewing reports on the Web is also explained in detail. NEW coverage includes: All the new user interface elements; New Dynamic/Cascading Parameter Fields; and, Using Crystal Reports with Business Objects Enterprise XI.

Customer Reviews:

Excellent Resource for the Seasoned Professional.......2007-08-31

This book provides an excellent reference for Crystal Reports developers. If you utilized Business Intelligence's online training and did not receive any of the handouts or materials, this book covers not only what was taight in the courses but more detailed examples. This is a great resource even for the experienced developer.

Great reference book for any serious Crystal developer.......2007-04-28

I have worked with Crystal Reports since version 8.5 and for about 4 years now. I am currently a Crystal Reports developer and create reports all day for my job. This book is a great tool for learning and provides me access to all the Crystal Syntax functions and other hard to reference materials. This book is also very in-depth and will provide a total knowledge to someone just learning.

The hardest thing with Crystal is that buidling reports is more an art form then science considering the vast amount of options the developer has to solve any given business problem. The best way to learn is get this book and dive in to making reports.

crystal ix review.......2006-07-08

Great book, am learning on my own crystal reports and this book has met my needs and expectations.

Standard Revision of Solid Reference.......2006-06-15

The text is one of the first available for Crystal Reports XI, and is largely a revision of the same material which has been presented in previous editions (which covered earlier versions of Crystal Reports). As you would expect, it does a solid job of covering all the basics. It even goes into some intermediate details in a few sections.

If you are a beginner to Crystal Reports, then the book will be a valuable reference to you. If you're an experienced Crystal Reports developer or you have used previous versions of Crystal Reports, then this book will not get much use. The book does not have many "hints" or "secret tips" that make developing in Crystal Reports easier. However, the amount of material covered is good in that there is not much left out entirely, so even an advanced developer will find bits of useful information, particularly when using Crystal Reports in new ways or on new platforms, etc. For example, the new features presented in Crystal Reports XI are covered in considerable detail, particularly the various methods of implementing new report parameter features. And, thankfully, the sections detailing now-deprecated software components have been removed or minimized.

If you're familiar with the earlier renditions of this book (i.e., for Crystal Reports version 10, etc.), then you will find this rendition exactly as expected.

Exhaustive and Detailed.......2006-03-01

Good Book. Covers 99% of all the topics. Found it very useful. I'm a power user now.

Book Description

Harry Potter is loved throughout the world-so is his creator. Joanne Kathleen (J.K.) Rowling is a true wizard, a woman who has the ability to recall vividly her days as a child and capture those wild, wonderful, difficult times-an ability that helps make her creation, Harry Potter, seem so real. In this revealing look, fans of the Harry Potter series will get to see their favorite author as they never have before. From a child with a wonderful imagination who didn't quite fit in, to a single mother with almost overwhelming responsibilities, the J.K. Rowling story is a wonderful chance for adults and children to enjoy a heartwarming, magical story....together.Inside are the answers to some of the most frequently asked questions: * Where did the idea of Harry Potter come from? * What was J.K. Rowling like when she was younger? * What is it like to be J.K. Rowling's daughter? * Which of the characters does J.K. Rowling most identify with? * What was it the Hogwarts Express tour like? * Where does the name "Harry Potter" come from? * What is J.K. Rowling's simple rule about writing? * And much more!

Customer Reviews:

J. K. Rowling review.......2007-09-13

Very informative in regards to the author. I just wish it had been updated to include more recent events. But, I did enjoy getting to know the author a little bit better. I guess dreams do come true!!

Walk away!.......2007-05-17

How I wish I had read some online reviews before picking up this clunker at the Barnes and Noble this week! It would be patronizing and insulting to kids to say this was written for children. Kids who read and understand the Harry Potter books will be far too advanced to find this more than a paperweight. Grammatical errors abound, the author apparently has a very limited vocabulary (he repeats pets phrases two and three times per paragraph) and yes, it is obvious he has never picked up and read a Harry Potter book. How else can one explain the Shapiro statement that wizarding banks are run by owls?!

Give this one a pass.

No new information. .......2007-02-07

All that is in here is what you can find on JK Rowling's website. Only if you have no access to an internet connection, and you haven't read her previous interviews, then this book would be informative to you. Otherwise, save your money.

"Not the best guide but it gets the job done......".......2006-06-25

Overall this book was a pretty fair source for the basic facts on Miss Rowlings life and career. However, as the book progressed it became very obvious that the author knew very little about the books themselves. He suuggested that owls run gringotts bank, and called cho cang cho chan. As other reviewers have already mentioned he also made a flaw on Miss Rowlings birthday. I know every one is human, therefore prone to flaw, but the lack of editing was noticeable. There was some pretty good pics, and lots off fascinating tid bits, but perhaps could use a bit more editing.

Nothing new.......2006-01-22

The writing style leads me to believe that this book is written for older elementary school age to middle school age children, so thankfully it was a quick read. The entire book is just a piecing together of interviews. Marc Shapiro has never interviewed J.K. Rowling himself. So there wasn't anything new or all that interesting in the book if you've read the interviews JKR has given over the years.

Shapiro also does a very lazy job of updating the book by just tacking on new material every couple of years to the end.

Overall, it was a disappointment.

The Undutchables: An Observation of the Netherlands, Its Culture And Its Inhabitants
Average customer rating:

Indeed, there's better stuff out there

Funny book for expats living in Holland

Reason for laughter!

Great Book!

Tongue in cheek

The Undutchables: An Observation of the Netherlands, Its Culture And Its Inhabitants
Colin White , and Laurie Boucke
Manufacturer: White-Boucke Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | World | History | Subjects | Books
Customs & Traditions | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
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My 'Dam Life: Three Years in Holland (Lonely Planet Journeys (Travel Literature))

The Xenophobe's Guide to the Dutch

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Teach Yourself Dutch Complete Course Package (Book + 2CDs) (Teach Yourself Language Complete Courses)

ASIN: 1888580321

Customer Reviews:

Indeed, there's better stuff out there.......2007-10-03

As a dutch expat, this book was given to me by friends as a joke. I read it, and was severely disappointed. As has been stated before, the authors try so hard to be funny and give an accurate description of the Dutch, that they fail on both accounts. I did laugh on occasion, but all in all I found this book pretty pathetic. I don't mind at all looking at my own country with critical eyes, as long as the information is correct. Unfortunately, in this book, it isn't.
The Low Sky (Han van der Horst) is much better at describing the Dutch. So, if you're really interested in Dutch culture, by that book.If you are looking for a book to tell you something about where to go and what to see while in Amsterdam, buy the Lonely Planet.
For those among you who read Dutch books: Retourtjes Nederland by Simon Kuper. This is an interesting book about the changes that have taken place in the Netherlands over the last few years.

Funny book for expats living in Holland.......2007-09-17

I'm very happy with this book. I lived and worked in the Netherlands for 6 months and reading this book after being there is very funny! Everything that I criticized is written in this book but in a very funny way! I recommend this book to everyone that is going to live in the Netherlands for more than one month and to everyone that lived or still lives there. Hilarious!

Reason for laughter!.......2007-09-06

As a dutch woman, being married to an american man, this book came in very handy! For my husband it was a tool that gave him much needed information about the dutch culture and habits that made him think how we could function without losing our minds. To me, it was a reason for lots of hysterical laughter throughout the book. The descriptions and details are amazing and so very true, but the reason they made me laugh is because I never thought of them being typically dutch. If you get a view of yourself through the eyes of an american, it can be quite an eye opener. I highly recommend this book!

Great Book!.......2007-08-17

I read this book when I first met my now husband. I laughed threwout the whole book and was really curious about amny other things..like the toilet situation! Well 2 1/2 years later we are living in the netherlands! I have to say the book does hold true to many things it has said and although it takes some getting used to..dutch people are wonderful. You have to be open minded when you come here or you wont enjoy it. I jumped when I first saw the toliet with a shelf on it flush!LOL I was taken back when I had to pay to go to the bathroom and loved how you were left alone to talk and visit while in a resturant..no waitress shoving a check in your face and asking if you need anything else every 5 mins. Yep I do love it here..I miss my american mayonaise though and different flavored sodas..no rootbeer! Anyway,visit here..it's beautiful,so many things to see and do and wonderful foods to try!

Tongue in cheek.......2007-08-12

This book was a recommended to us by a citizen of the Netherlands as a means of gaining a better understanding of her country. At first, I was confused by the writer's style until I realized it was a very tongue-in-cheek description of the country. I found it most helpful in separating facts from legends of the country and its people. If read in conjunction with a more serious book "Culture Shock" by Hunt Janin & Ria van Eil, it should prepare you as much as you can to visit the a culture not your own.

The UnDutchables : An Observation of the Netherlands; Its Culture and Its Inhabitants

Average customer rating:

The UnDutchables : An Observation of the Netherlands; Its Culture and Its Inhabitants
Colin; Boucke, Laurie White
Manufacturer: White-Boucke Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000HMVSF2

Average customer rating:

The Undutchables: An Observation of the Netherlands, Its Culture and Its Inhabitants
Colin; Boucke, Laurie White
Manufacturer: C. White & L. Boucke
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000O2FLS0

Forbidden Archeology: The Full Unabridged Edition
Average customer rating:

a lot of information which make you think..

Very informaitve but way too much

Forbidden Archeology, ?

A very strongly recommended, 914-page volume that is specifically written and organized to be thoroughly accessible

An Enormous Amassing of Anomalous Evidence.

Forbidden Archeology: The Full Unabridged Edition
Michael A. Cremo , and Richard L. Thompson
Manufacturer: Torchlight Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Asia | History | Subjects | Books
General | Evolution | Science | Subjects | Books
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Evolution | Anthropology | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
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The Hidden History of the Human Race (The Condensed Edition of Forbidden Archeology)

ASIN: 0892132949

Book Description

Over the centuries, researchers have found bones and artifacts proving that humans like us have existed for millions of years. Mainstream science, however, has supppressed these facts. Prejudices based on current scientific theory act as a knowledge filter, giving us a picture of prehistory that is largely incorrect.

Customer Reviews:

a lot of information which make you think.........2007-09-10

Well, most of the previous reviewers are already told about what you expect to read in this book. I am not retelling it again, but I would like to say that there are lot of books in the world printed every year and it is not easy to scan all this information available.

It is ugly to say but I would devide the books in to two column- one for killing the time and other for getting new information.
Now, when you are interesting about history, ancient knowledge (the way it was before) then it is advisable to skip also most of "official science" materials as they mirror only the way "it should be to suit in best way the rules of the winners".

What you have left is not much but still very valuable amount of materials. I would put this book in this last part. Not easy reading but you should have it as long as it is available. This is kind of book you want to open again in later years.

I strongly advice to have it:)

Very informaitve but way too much.......2007-05-26

I started reading this book and decided it is not a cover to cover read.
This book is full of endless examples of archeaology finds and controversies about how long the current version of man has been on this earth. Lots of examples of suppressed finds of very old remains that are believed to be way older than the 100000 years man has suppposedly been around. But the academic community is not ready to re-write the evolution of man as it stands today.
You can find enough of this in Cremo's other book The Devolution of Man. Though I have not read far into this book yet either.

Forbidden Archeology, ?.......2007-05-14

Why is it that most, I say, most, of the archeologists lie to hide the truth of their finds. I think it is because of religious ideas about what should be. The whole religious community has been lieing to the general population since the '40 years in the desert' thing. They refuse to tell the truth about what they see and dig up, if it doesnt conform to the general belief. This, is in itself a form of terrisom, and must be stopped. I stopped being afraid of the alien called god many years ago, because of something I and another person saw. Its a good feeling to live without fear, of some being comming down from the sky to kill me, if I dont believe. What a crock of, you know what. This book will open the eyes of ever human being who is looking for the truth.

A very strongly recommended, 914-page volume that is specifically written and organized to be thoroughly accessible.......2007-03-06

The scientific discipline archeology (the study of antiquity through ancient writings and artifacts) is taught in every university in this country and abroad. Archeology seeks to illuminate human origins and the development of human civilization down through the millennia. A constantly evolving field of scientific inquiry, theory and findings, archeology has a number of anomalies that are either glossed over or ignored in traditional courses of archaeological instruction. In "Forbidden Archeology: The Hidden History Of The Human Race", Michael A. Cremo and Richard L. Thomson from the Bhaktivedanta Institute (a research center founded in 1975 and dedicated to the advanced study of the nature and origin of life and the universe in light of ancient India's Vedic literature) have collaborated to compile and present these anomalies that have been suppressed by established, traditional archaeological studies because they contradict or simply don't fit in with the accept theories about human origins and earlier cultures. Informed and informative, thoughtful and thought-provoking, "Forbidden Archeology" is a very strongly recommended, 914-page volume that is specifically written and organized to be thoroughly accessible for the non-specialist general reader with an interest in archeology and anthropology, and has a great deal of value for dedicated students, academicians, and working professionals in these sciences as well.

An Enormous Amassing of Anomalous Evidence........2007-02-17

_Forbidden Archeology: The Hidden History of the Human Race_, published by the Bhaktivedanta Institute, by historian and philosopher of science Michael A. Cremo and researcher Richard L. Thompson first appeared in 1993. This book called into question the most widely accepted account of the origin of mankind by bringing to light an enormous amount of anomalous evidence. Such evidence would seem to indicate that mankind (as Homo sapiens sapiens) existed on this planet long before the accepted date for man's origins (believed to be 100,000 years ago in Africa after evolving from an ape-like ancestor). However, were the evidence presented in this book to be accepted, then it would call into question the most widely held theory of man's origins, the Darwinian account of evolution by means of natural selection. The book relies on a certain understanding of the scientific enterprise itself, emphasizing the role that social forces play in the scientific endeavor. As such, the authors admit their debts to such philosophers of science as Thomas Kuhn, Steven Shapin, and Paul Feyerabend. The ideas of these philosophers are controversial (particularly among scientists) because they seem to show that sociological (and even political) factors play a greater role in the scientific endeavor than is usually admitted. (Long ago, others such as Charles Fort also amassed anomalous evidence that called into account many widely accepted theories of the time.) Throughout the book the authors will maintain that such anomalous evidence presents a challenge to the orthodox scientific account of mankind's origins. They also maintain that while much of the evidence appears in older journals and publications from the Nineteenth century that it was too casually dismissed by scientists of a later generation when the Darwinian account became the orthodox theory. The authors maintain that there is really no good reason to reject such older evidence, provided that one also accepts the modern evidence which lends support to the Darwinian account of mankind's more recent origins. Thus, one can choose to either accept both forms of evidence (for the older account of mankind's origins) or to reject both. Either way, the results do not look good for the standard Darwinian account. Since the beginning however, reactionary scientists have scoffed at such evidence, largely attributing it to fraud, improper data collection, memory distortions, etc. - basically any excuse to reject it. This can be seen in the reactions of many scientists to the ideas presented in this book. When this book did appear, with few exceptions, it was uniformly greeted with a negative reaction from the scientific community. Some maintained that the book amounted to a conspiracy theory, was thus unfalsifiable, and could not be taken seriously. However, this objection cannot be used against it, because science itself has been found to contain many unfalsifiable theories. However, even more importantly others have maintained that the motivations of the authors are religious in nature and that this discredits any evidence they may present. Thus, some have maintained that the authors have a confirmation bias and have leveled the charge of "creationism" against the authors. However, these scientists fail to take into account their own confirmation bias in their blind allegiance to the orthodox Darwinian viewpoint. The authors admit at the beginning of their account that they are members of the Bhaktivedanta Institute and were motivated by reading accounts of mankind on earth long before current history allows in the Vedas. Such accounts are certainly interesting and may reveal that there is more to the story of mankind's origins than is commonly allowed. The fundamental issue at stake here is how science deals with anomalous evidence. Some merely scoff at it, or attribute it to other causes a priori without even examining it. However, others may take a closer look at it and find that there is more to it. I am not quite sure that the authors have proven that man in fact inhabited this planet at such early dates as some of the evidence in this book may seem to indicate, but they have certainly provided me with much to think about. I can no longer look at the official accounts of human origins in the same light again. It seems as if many scientists have allowed personal, political, and ideological motivations to guide the scientific endeavor and thus have lost all sight of objectivity. Such things must be taken into account when formulating a theory of human origins.

The first section of this book deals with anomalous evidence. The authors begin by presenting some history of how Darwin's account as detailed in _The Origin of Species_ and for humans in _The Descent of Man_ came to be the most widely accepted account. The authors then note some epistemological issues that will occur regarding the facts of testimony and the possibility of fraud. They then propose their model of suppression for how the scientific community has systematically ignored certain types of evidence. Following this, the authors present anomalous evidence for human toolmakers in the following forms: incised and broken bones, eoliths (anomalously old stone tools), crude paleolithic stone tools, advanced paleoliths and neoliths, and anomalous human skeletal remains. Much of this evidence is extraordinarily old and it may cause one to doubt until one considers the fact that the case for such evidence is every bit as good as the case for any other piece of evidence used to establish the standard orthodox account. The authors next present the accepted evidence. First, they call into question certain aspects of the Java Man (Pithecanthropus Erectus) finds. Then, they devote a chapter to the Piltdown man fiasco and forgery. The important thing about the Piltdown man case is that it shows how wrong orthodox opinion can often be. Many have attributed the Piltdown man forgery to the scheming of a single scientist (usually conveniently blaming the "amateur" Dawson or the religious Jesuit Teilhard de Chardin, rather than a "real" scientist). However, one possibility is that the forgery resulted from an overzealous form of British nationalism. The authors have an interesting take on this. They consider the possibility that a group of scientists themselves created the forgery, only later to "expose" the very forgery that they had created. If such a thing occurred (and it is just as probable as blaming it on any given single scientist), it would certainly cast doubts on a large part of the scientific endeavor. Following the Piltdown case, the authors examine evidence for Peking man and other finds in China. Following this, the authors turn their attention to the possibility of living ape-men, who may live among us. This is a controversial topic; however, they note that evidence for such ape-men (be they called sasquatch, yeti, or what have you) is just as acceptable as any other form of evidence. Further, many new animals are discovered every year. Many mainstream anthropologists have remained silent on this issue and some have spoken out against modern ape-men; however, a brave few have spoken up in favor of modern ape-men, and their studies of the phenomena are presented here. The authors then discuss some of the findings from Africa. Darwin maintained that Africa was the birthplace of man and much of modern paleoanthropology seems to indicate he may have been right. However, there is reason to be suspicious again because of recurrent issues of nationalism. The authors call much of this evidence into question. (They also question the alleged time frame for man's first arrival in the New World.) The book concludes with three appendices: one on chemical and radiocarbon dating of anomalous human skeletal remains (calling into question many accepted methods), one on evidence for advanced culture in distant ages (this remains more questionable of course, but would indicate that many ancient writings are correct were it proven to be valid), and a summary of the evidence.

After reading this book, I remain largely baffled as to how to respond. Certainly most of the evidence here deserves a careful looking at. And, the fact that many mainstream scientists remain so skeptical and outright reactionary is not a good sign. It would appear that much of the scientific endeavor has become corrupted with politics as a result. (For example, the authors note the role of the Rockefeller Foundation in influencing the modern scientific endeavor and the decline in traditional religion.) Scientists have been fooled before by the Piltdown man hoax, and it remains a distinct possibility that a great many of them are fooled even today. However, until such time as more open-minded and cautious people are capable of looking objectively at the evidence, the scientific community is unlikely to alter its course in dogmatically affirming the Darwinian account. Such is the sad story of the modern scientific enterprise.

Book Description

The conservation of biodiversity has profound implications for managing natural resources with the need for scientific information as a foundation for management decisions increasing dramatically. The_ intent of this book is to look beyond the theory of biodiversity to_ the principles, practices, and policies needed for its conservation. Its objectives are to provide the scientific basis for understanding biodiversity, document case examples of theory and concepts applied at differing scales, and examine policies that affect its conservation.

BIODIVERSITY IN MANAGED LANDSCAPES Theory and Practice

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BIODIVERSITY IN MANAGED LANDSCAPES Theory and Practice
Robert C. & David W. Johnston, editors Szaro
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OKNHTC

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