The Magatama Doodle: One Man's Affair With Japan, 1950-2004

Customer Reviews:

The Japan You Never Knew.......2006-06-26

I read this book twice. This in itself should be sufficient recommendation!

But I'll give you some of the reasons why I like it so much.
It is rich in historical detail and sociological examination, as well as the author's personal experiences. I was thoroughly entertained, informed and sometimes surprised. There were some unexpected revelations - such as the raucus behavior of passengers on the train to Osaka and the ubiquitous noise pollution with apparent little effect on the serenity of the Japanese people.

The author proved open to all aspects of life in Japan, and presents his story with vivid detail and an eye for beauty. He must have possessed an enormous amount of energy. He describes his business career (with admirable modesty) and Japan's economy, business philosophy and practices with an insider's knowledge. He found time to explore Japan's countryside, and immerse himself in the pursuit of understanding Japan's culture. This included the study of the Japanese language, art and religion. I was struck by the author's keen and objective observations about Japanese life. And he didn't limit occasional criticisms to the Japanese, but had some strong opinions about the Dutch and Americans as well.

But this is not the whole story. His and his wife's personal lives are lovingly described. The tale is well paced and contains many fascinating details of their experiences with friends and family, and many other people they encountered. I highly recommend this book - it provides insight far beyond the standard western ideas about Japan.

Nora Hines, Prescott, Arizona, USA

Unique View of Japan.......2006-01-20

Magatama Doodle is an intriguing memoir by a young Dutchman who settles into the banking business in Japan following its surrender after WW II. The reader enters an exotic yet emerging modern world, reflecting the author's growing love of the country tempered by the developing knowledge of cultural contradictions including the stifling of individuality. Brinckmann's vivid descriptions reflect his extensive knowledge of history and a remarkable memory for details conveyed with wry and whimsical humor. A sense of time and place is brilliantly presented through the author's creative and poetic skills no doubt enhanced through his intimate knowledge of the country after acquiring a beautiful and artistic Japanese wife. This reader was enchanted and enlightened and eagerly awaits another volume.

UNIQUE LOOK INSIDE JAPAN.......2005-03-30

There is hardly any book available by a Westerner looking back over more than half a century's contact with Japan - , culturally, economically and socially. Well, Hans Brinckmann's The Magatama Doodle fills the gap. The author starts with entering Japanese life in the service of a Dutch bank in 1950. By means of anecdotes and observations he tells us how his experiences became an 'affair' with Japanese culture. He explains the backgrounds of its sometimes strange customs and how he dealt with them. Not only by means of anecdotes and examples but also by going back into history he brings Japanese life into relief. At the same time we follow his career from bank employee to banking executive, and from bachelor to being married to a Japanese young lady of `good family'. As such he was able to meet Japanese leaders and gaining an insight into the manifold reasons for their decisions and actions.
The title refers to a habit he noticed early on among some Japanese men in authority: that of doodling imaginary comma-like figures on some handy surface, whenever they avoided expressing an opinion or making a decision. The doodles reminded him of magatama, ancient comma-shaped precious stones found in prehistoric tombs. They seemed to him an appropriate symbol for one of the book's underlying themes: that a deeply conservative ethos lies at the root of both Japan's distinctive and much-admired culture and the undeniable rigidity of its political, educational and managerial structures.
The author stresses he is not suggesting a simple key to understanding the `Japanese mind', let alone presuming to offer prescriptions for change. As he sees it, Western attempts to make Japan `more like us' are doomed to fail. Japan must build on its own considerable strengths and rely on the fresh energies of a new generation of leaders to meet the challenges of a globalized society.
I should consider this book essential reading for everyone interested in understanding the often-mystifying ethics, politics and economics of this country that has left its mark on world history in more than one way.
Michael Rogge.

Amazon.com

Perfect I'm Not is, indeed, not a perfect book, but as in baseball, literary imperfection can make for a thrilling ride. Part Horatio Alger, part libertine, Wells peppers the narrative of his rise from poverty in Ocean Beach, California to baseball fame and fortune with numerous prurient tales from behind the locker room door. He is frank about the use of steroids among his fellow players and he's not afraid to burn major bridges (one must assume they were already on fire) in his ferocious attacks on such baseball luminaries as veteran general manager Pat Gillick. And the story behind his woozy perfect game is legend. All this is entertaining stuff and worth the price of admission.

The book, however, falls too often into a pattern of explication and justification for Wells's "entertaining" run-ins with the law, baseball management, players, and even his own family. We learn that young Dave Wells once punched his sister and broke her jaw, but, he explains, this was because his sister had scraped his sunburned back with her fingernails. This childhood story is then repeated--in a grown up form--several times. In many cases, it does seem that he is justified in claiming innocence--or at least in claiming he got an eye for an eye. But repetition of these explications--which even include bad pitching performances caused, we learn, by nascent physical problems (elbow, shoulder, bone chips, gout, back)--take away his agency in his own story. The hero is always a victim. In the end, then, the book is as flawed as its author, offering entertaining insight--some perhaps unintentional--into the man and his game.

--Patrick O'Kelley

Book Description

Forget the perfect game. Forget the World Series rings. Forget the legendary carousing, the barroom brawling, the heavy-metal head-banging, and the endless supply of uncensored, often havoc-wreaking quotes. Forget the feuds with dumb-assed fans, wrong-headed managers and the entire city of Cleveland. Even if Perfect, I'm Not was to blindly (and insanely) ignore all those amazing aspects of David Wells' life as a major leaguer, his story would still bounce off these pages as a wildly entertaining and jaw-droppingly honest look at the game of baseball. Nothing less would be possible. Wells simply isn't wired for spin-doctoring. He has no "delete" button. He pulls no punches.In a sport that's now largely populated by a bland collection of well-dressed, personality-free, cliché -- spouting Stepford jocks, Wells clearly holds the title of "baseball's most beloved bad-ass".

From rookie ball amid the beer-soaked, frozen tundra of the Great White North, through Winter Ball amid the easy women and explosive diarrhea of Venezuela, Perfect I'm Not explores Boomer's long, strange, often insane climb through the minors. And from the Siberia of the Blue Jays' bullpen, through intensive training with a brilliant little Yoda known as Sparky Anderson, the book also examines how Boomer grew from a mediocre reliever, into a solid, reliable, hugely successful starter. From there, after tortured dealings with Marge Schott in Cincinatti, and Pat Gillick in Baltimore, the book follows Boomer deep inside the New York Yankees' dugout, right through the teams' fairy-tale seasons of '97 and '98. It stands with David on the mound through his legendary perfect game.

It documents his high-profile love affair with the night-life of New York City, and then explores just how devastating it felt to be unceremoniously dumped for Roger Clemens. Perfect I'm Not also follows Boomer through his chronic back pain of 2001, then surgery, rehab, uncertainty, and one pinstriped Christmas miracle, courtesy of Boss Steinbrenner. And though the 2002 season may have enjoyed a less than perfect climax, it nonetheless rounds out the book with a Yankees reunion that kept Boomer smiling from February, right into October.

Perfect I'm Not gives readers an unprecedented, all-access pass to every major league stadium in the country, providing a first-person perspective of life on the diamond, as well as an uncensored, warts-and-all, insider's guide to life inside locker-rooms, hotel rooms, planes, dugouts, buses, bedrooms, restaurants, titty-bars, and more. It's great fun. It's real. It's as close as you're ever gonna get to making the show.

Customer Reviews:

I LOVE DAVID WELLS.......2007-10-17

I had the pleasure of meeting David Wells at the dealership I worked. We stored his motorcycles and he always had a smile. There's a lot of things in his past that no one would expect and some that definitely surprised me.

Good, Bad, Ugly -- all that and a lot more Boomer.......2005-02-01

At times he comes off as a long, lost best friend and at others he is a self-inflated, self-absorbed ass. He is a colorful character providing illuminating stories from the earliest days of playing rookie ball and Venezualan winter ball with beer guzzling, tail chasing future MLB players including Pat Borders, Cecil Fielder, Rob Duecy, and Todd Stottlemyre to the later days as a member of the Yankees. Wells is a good pitcher with a booming personality who pitched for some great teams and of course will always be remembered for his May 17, 1998 perfect game. His career numbers do not support his own assessed value (4.04 ERA, 1 year with at least 20 wins) but his book will stay on the top shelf of my collection of baseball books.

I found myself laughing out loud over and over again. Steroid and cortisone stories aside, Wells adds candid insight into the managerial and GM activities from every team he played for (up to the end of the 2002 season). Inside observations are made on notable managers (Cito Gaston, Sparky Ansderson, Davy Johnson, Joe Torre, and Jim Fregosi) and GMs ("stand" Pat Gillick, Gord Ash, Jim Bowden, Ken Williams, and Brian Cashman). Wells also includes colorful stories of two of the most notoriously hated and loved baseball owners of the last 50 eyars -- Marge Schott and George Steinbrenner.

It was odd to read the momentum praise and glory of the '98 Yankees who won 114 games without any mention of the record-tying 116 wins by the '01 Seattle Mariners . By failing to mention this incredible milestone, he appeared to be protecting the legacy of the 114 win NY team. He should have mentioned the 116 win Seattle team and emphasized the fact that the NY team went on to finish like champions by winning the world series. Wells also slights some players by limiting praise to his favorite teamates. For example, the contribution of Alfonso Soriano and Roger Clemens in NY is clearly understated. Huge character, raging hair band air guitar junkie, and pure attitude live in the pages of this book, making it a worthy read for any baseball fan.

Great Read.......2005-01-14

Great baseball (auto)biography. Fun to read and not just about the game but about life around the game. There are moments when you cannot help but laugh out loud. Read this book. It explains why Boomer is Boomer.

Recommend: The Last Commissioner - Fay Vincent, Catcher in the Wry - Bob Uecker, Zim - Don Zimmer, anything by Yogi, Moneyball

A homerun (even though he's a pitcher)!.......2004-02-04

I was interested in David Wells' life. This book satisfied that. To my astonishment, it is incredibly well-written, funny and insightful. The stories and revellations are great. Best baseball player's book I've read in years. Superior on all accounts to the recent David Cone book.

BOOMER BELLOWS.......2003-11-09

I REALLY ENJOYED THIS BOOK BY DAVID WELLS. SOMETIMES CRUDE, FUNNY, SAD, HONEST, AND GROSS. HE TELLS IT LIKE IT IS DESCRIBING IN DETAIL HIS LIFE AND CAREER. HIS LANGUAGE LEAVES MUCH TO BE DESIRED AT TIMES, BUT OVERALL THIS IS A VERY ENTERTAINING BOOK. HIS INSIGHT AND OPINIONS ARE VERY CANDID AND CONTROVERSIAL. I THINK HE NEEDS TO BE IN REHAB FOR ALCOHOL AND FOOT IN MOUTH ADDICTION. BUT STILL VERY WORTH READING. HE IS NOT A BAD GUY BUT JUST HUMAN AND VERY OUT SPOKEN. TURN IT DOWN A BIT BOOMER.

Perfect I'm Not: Boomer on Beer, Brawls, Backaches, and Baseball

Average customer rating:

Perfect I'm Not: Boomer on Beer, Brawls, Backaches, and Baseball
David; Kreski, Chris Wells
Manufacturer: William Morrow
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OA987M

Average customer rating:

One note samba

This book deserves more attention

The Film Explainer
Gert Hofmann
Manufacturer: Minerva
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0749396407

Amazon.com

The Film Explainer was first released in Germany in 1990, hailed as a work of comic genius. In it, a boy tells of the life of his grandfather, Karl Hofmann, who worked in the Apollo theater in Limbach/Saxony as a film explainer and piano player. As the Nazis rise in power, Grandfather goes along until a bomb falls on the Apollo. Beneath the surface of this seemingly simple tale are complex undercurrents--the folly of Grandfather's life, the grandson's memoir, the glory of the cinema, the choices of the German war generation--all told in Hofmann's quick, comic dialogue that earned him critical praise for both his novels and radio plays.

Customer Reviews:

One note samba.......2003-12-17

Nothing in this book evolves, despite the advent of Hitler and then WW2 - or is that the point? An inflated novella, or a one-note samba!

This book deserves more attention.......2003-01-27

This book has so much to recommend it. The really outstanding thing is the child narrator's voice - it's always exactly appropriate to the child's purported age. Nothing precocious - only what the child could really know and say.

Book Description

A teeming metropolis of ten million, Jakarta remains one of the least understood cities in Asia. Here for the first time, the veil (and sometimes the sarong!) is lifted, exposing the city's idiosyncrasies with irreverent prose and striking photography. From love hotels to ladyboys, sweatshops to soap opera celebrities, pigeon racing to piracy, Jakarta Inside Out leads readers on an illuminating pop culture exploration of Indonesia's frenzied capital. This book is an essential tool for residents, visitors or anyone wishing to understand what makes Jakarta tick.

Customer Reviews:

Entertaining and Illuminating.......2004-04-25

It's rare to come across a book that truly is valuable for novice and expert alike, that informs about serious matters while entertaining the reader, and that can be read quickly and yet is a "keeper" for one's library. In Jakarta Inside Out, Daniel Ziv has written one of the best insider's guides to the dirty, messy, smelly, and yet fascinating Indonesian capital. In a series of one and two page essays on various categories peculiar to Jakarta, Ziv gives the reader new to things Indonesian a great introduction to the capital and country, and yet the long-time expert will also find much of value--not the least of which is Ziv's style. His text is a hoot, and the photographs he has chosen capture all the wackiness of Jakarta. Let's hope Ziv changes jobs frequently, allowing him similar sojourns in various Asian capitals and opportunities to produce more essential guides like Jakarta Inside Out.

Book Description

You don't have to have the biggest name or the most dazzling graphics to lure customers to your Web site. These days, all you really need is prominent search-engine placement. This book shows you how to get it! With searching one of the most popular Internet activities, a top spot on a major search engine virtually ensures a high volume of visitors--though converting them to buyers is another story. In these pages, top Internet marketer and strategist Catherine Seda tackles both parts of that equation. First, she outlines the strategy involved in buying the specific keyword positions that will lead users directly to the page you want. Then, she describes how you can turn poor-performing ad copy into targeted sales-getters, and how you can evaluate and correct low visitor-to-buyer conversions. Beginning marketers will find the info they need to implement a Web strategy quickly, while advanced marketers will find all kinds of tips for analyzing and improving current results.

Customer Reviews:

Direct and Authoritative.......2006-09-04

The SEO proces can seem daunting and Ms Seda recognizes that fact. She gives a methodical, if not also logical trail to follow and has obviously done laborious research; which pays off. It may appear technical and dry, but the details are necessary to convey the ins and outs of SEO. Bravo and it will remain a part of my business reference library.

It's a Good Read for the Money.......2006-07-06

It's not a bad overview of Search Engine Marketing, but I wouldn't recommend stopping with this read.

Some of the things Catherine covers are good and don't change. As an example, the chapters that provide Copyrighting Tips and that talk about how to improve conversions on Landing Pages. Even though they are only providing a glimpse as to what you need to know, many of those things do not change from year to year.

Other things however are going to require the reader further study. What one needs to focus on today to get good rankings is quite different from the day this book was written.

An example is paid inclusion; someone reading this should know that you don't need to pay to get indexed now. Sitemaps, getting backlinks from ranked sites that get regularly crawled, directories, blogs etc..

But it's good to absorb whatever one can. Even if someone comes away with a few ideas they didn't have before to improve their bottom line, it's worth the small price of this book.

Outdated, outdated, outdated.......2006-04-04

I'm sure this book was cutting edge when it was first published in February of 2004, but now it's for the most part outdated. For the absolute beginner to this area, there are some good general points, but references to long-since defunct or consolidated web companies (Urchin, Inktomi,etc) make it difficult to understand just what's still relevant. Google and Yahoo (and soon Microsoft) are defining the new landscape of this field as we speak...Try the new book from IBM press, "Search Engine Marketing"....chock full of the latest (as late as can be in this field) info.

Good writing, but too vague.......2005-12-14

This book is fairly well-written, but ultimately, it's frustrating because it doesn't tell the reader how to deal with specific search engine ad programs. Instead, Catherine Seda talks about categories of search engine advertising like "Fixed Placement," "Pay for Placement," "Submit URL," and "Trusted Feed." I keep reading these categories and wondering, "Is the model she's referring to here like Google? If so, how is Google different? How do all these programs rate for popularity, bang for the buck, etc.?" I guess Ms. Seda avoided these specifics so that her book didn't look outdated too quickly. I'd rather have a book that was extremely valuable at one point than one that tries to dance around the specific facts I'm craving.

Excellent information about search engine advertising.......2005-10-24

This is an excellent book on search and pay per click advertising. I have read plenty of books, courses and e-books on the subject and find myself consistently going back to this book for advice. Take plenty of notes and a highlighter when you go through this book because you will learn tested strategies that you hope your competition will not know.

Chapter 4 on "Copywriting tips to improve your click-through rate" is a good chapter to help you boost your ad campaigns. Catherine takes the fundamentals of direct marketing and applies it to search advertising. For example, "state a benefit", "offer an incentive", "create a sense of urgency" and "provide a call to action" are necessary to differentiate yourself from the rest.

Average customer rating:

The Contented Dog

Fascinating, thought--provoking, but out of date

To ignore the post-modern does not lead to history

Finally - Hegel can now be understood!

A brief summary to a modern philosophical gem:

End of History and the Last Man
Francis Fukuyama
Manufacturer: Free Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Historiography | Historical Study | History | Subjects | Books
Reference | Historical Study | History | Subjects | Books
Philosophy of History | Historical Study | History | Subjects | Books
General | World | History | Subjects | Books
Political | Philosophy | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0029109752

Book Description

Customer Reviews:

The Contented Dog.......2007-08-05

Fukuyama's style in discussing the history of man is captured by the following paragraph extracted from his book:

"An American politician could harbor ambitions to be a Caesar or a Napoleon, but the system would allow him or her to be no more than a Jimmy Carter or a Ronald Reagan - hemmed in by powerful institutional constraints and political forces on all sides, and forced to realize their ambitions by being the people's "servant" rather than their master."

He describes his concept of the "last man" with this paragraph:

"Nietzsche's last man was, in essence, the victorious slave. He agreed fully with Hegel that Christianity was a slave ideology, and that democracy represented a secular form of Christianity.

In the ultimate society, he uses the analogy of a dog to describe his last man's outlook,

"A dog is content to sleep in the sun all day provided he is fed, because he is not dissatisfied by what he is. He does not worry that other dogs are doing better than him, or that his career as a dog has stagnated, or that dogs are being oppressed in distant parts of the world. If man reaches a society in which he has succeeded in abolishing injustice, his life will come to resemble that of the dog."

As is clear from the above, the book is well written and full of thoughtful insights.

Fascinating, thought--provoking, but out of date.......2007-07-23

In this fascinating and highly thought-provoking book, American philosopher Francis Fukuyama argues that the war at the beginning of human history was a battle for prestige or recognition. And, history has unfolded as a search to find a balance between the drives for victory of one over another to gain that recognition. In the eighteenth century, history effectively began to end as people embraced the liberal democratic/capitalist system that granted mutual recognition.

Now, history is not over for those outside this system, and nations can return to history if they move away from the liberal democratic/capitalist system. Along the way, the author unfolds his argument for the drive for recognition as the engine of human history, explains how we got to where we are, and what the future may eventually bring for the human race. The author makes his argument in a clear, compelling manner that puts great force behind his argument.

I do, though, have several complains against this book. First of all, I have the 1992 edition, and some of what I have to say may not apply to later editions. But, as the West now stands in a crisis situation in world history, it is easy to see that some of what has happened in the last 15 years was not anticipated by Mr. Fukuyama.

Chapter 7 of this book is entitled, No Barbarians At The Gates. Well, in point of fact, the West faces two sets of Barbarians at the gates. The first set of barbarians are in fact within the gates, and is the newly militant Liberalism with its drive to extinguish freedom (think of Dr. Heidi Cullen's desire to remove American Meteorological Society accreditation to any meteorologist who expresses skepticism towards man-made global warming) in its drive for radical equality. This is in fact the "excess of isothymia" that the author mentioned was possible in chapter 29, but he did not expect it to be coupled with an external threat.

Second of all, on page 45, Dr. Fukuyama states that Islam poses "a grave threat to liberal practices," but then immediately moves away from the threat of Islam, as if wishing it out of existence. In point of fact, with the West's inability and even downright refusal to maintain its borders, the "post-historic" world has been invaded by people from the "historic" world, and militant Islam is now working with some success to undermine the liberal democratic system from within the very heart of the "post-historic" world.

Therefore, while I do think that this book is quite correct in its view of the drive for recognition and the victory of the liberal democratic/capitalistic system, I do think that it does not do a good job of anticipating what would (and did!) come next. The "post-historic" world has proved itself unable (at least so far) to protect itself against the "historic" world, and it is uncertain that it will be philosophically able to protect itself without a turn to towards the "megalothymia" that the good doctor so fears.

So, overall, I would highly recommend this book as a fascinating philosophical look at the modern world, but I would not say that it goes so far as to explain where we are now and where we are truly heading. I give this book a somewhat guarded recommendation.

To ignore the post-modern does not lead to history.......2007-06-25

A mythic history book that has fed reams upon reams of debate, but seventeen years later it sure has aged. First let's be clear. It is not a philosophy book since it essentially repeats and confronts what others have written and it stops with Kojeve who is at least kind of old. Not one of the post modern philosophers or historians are quoted or alluded to. This leads me to my second remark. How can we dare discuss modern history and ignore the post modern school which is, true, essentially European, what's more French? Of course, the disadvantage with these historians is that most of them are still alive and kicking and they do not like people making them say things what they do not think. In other words they can rebut. Which means the book is not a history book in any way entering the scientific and academic debates of the last fifty years. Then, this being said, we can examine the content of the book. The main idea is that history is following some trajectory that leads it to some kind of a destination, understood as an end, a final point. History contains a pattern and it is not pure whimsical caprice. Right. Easy to see. Now to believe democracy is spreading in the world. We can even agree with that. But it is not democracy that is the pattern or the trajectory. It is the march of humanity towards full freedom. It had to free itself from purely animal life and nature that made the human species quite fragile and weak at first. It had to develop its surviving strategies by using what biology had given to it: a brain, the possibility to speak vowels and consonants and articulate them, the possibility to stand up, the possibility to grasp objects in a more effective way due to its thumb opposed to the fingers, etc. And the first task was to take care of their young who were premature and had to be looked after for several years before they could be really autonomous, and yet too small to live autonomously for several more years (sexually autonomous at the age of eleven of twelve, maybe earlier in those distant millennia). This determined the first division of labor, those who could look after the young, and particularly feed them, and the others. And language was invented and along with it the power to conceptualize, etc. And that's exactly what Kant forgot, what Marx neglected, what Kojeve ignored and what Fukuyama overlooks. Then he lives on a mythic first man that never existed, he thinks along the line of the primeval battle without any specification: in what state was humanity before the battle? If this battle established the masters and the slaves, they must have been free before. And they would have accepted to be enslaved all over the world? Of course not. Slavery was marginal and even inexistent in many civilizations, or it had very elaborate justifications like the caste system in the Hinduistic tradition, and that is not primeval. It is not because slavery was the norm in ancient Egypt, in Persia, in Israel (except for Jews or Israelis), in Greece and in Rome that it was true all over the world. It was marginal in the Celtic and Germanic tribes. Then this myth of the first man borrowed from Hegel is redoubled with the other myth of the last man borrowed from Nietzsche. And there Fukuyama derails. The future of the liberal democratic world is peaceful, without any classes, without any conflicts, without any struggle, with full satisfaction of human needs, etc. In other words a life without work, without ambition, without any effort to do better today than yesterday. Just sit back and enjoy. In other words the Elois of H.G. Wells but without the Morlocks. In other words a liberal world that he constantly identifies to capitalism but with no competition any more. He just forgets that competition is the basic principle of the market economy. In other words he is irrelevant due to this contradiction. But there is still worse. He speaks a lot of the inequality of human beings, but in vague terms. Human equality is only "born - and not created - equal in rights", but that is the French Revolution, but he seems to believe it is the same thing as the Declaration of Independence that says "created equal", period. Then when he speaks of the liberal revolution that the spirit of 1776 represents for him, he seems to forget that this Declaration of Independence and then the Constitution, the Bill of Rights and the states statutes refused these rights to women, men under a certain age which was very advanced at the time, to Indians who do not pay taxes, to Blacks and other slaves who are not free, and to all the whites who do not earn property and/or do not pay taxes. And each extension of the beneficiaries of the Bill of Rights will be a battle, even a bloody battle at times, like the Civil Ward and its 600,000 casualties, and the Indian wars that will not lead to any extension. By neglecting all that he does not see that the motor of history, as he says, is the contradictions in our various human societies and that a contradiction is always solved to be replaced by another and contradictions will be eternal. And Fukuyama does not see the world is changing so fast that we cannot say what it will be in fifty years, and he ignores the fact that we are not in the post-industrial economy anymore but we have entered the knowledge economy phase: what are the contradictions of this world, the competitions of this economy? Fukuyama repeats Kojeve and Hegel and Nietzsche but does not answer these questions.

Dr Jacques COULARDEAU, University Paris Dauphine & University Paris 1 Pantheon Sorbonne

Finally - Hegel can now be understood!.......2007-06-12

I normally dont get down with political philosophy books, but this one really explores some serious ideas while putting them in the context of history. Fukuyama bases almost all of his ideology off of Hegel and Kojeve, a modern Hegel scholar from Czech Republic. I love history yet have found Hegel incomprehensible and too dense to even consider buying one of his tomes - for people who are interested in history or the idea of dialectics, read this book. Fukuyama explains Hegel while placing him in the context of liberal democratic government - Fukuyama follows Kojeve's assertion that this is the end of history because there are no serious competitors to liberal democracy. The fall of communism and the subsequent unveiling of information on the corruption and violence that those regimes inflicted on their own people has led to a more or less universal acceptance of democracy as the preferred form of government. Fukuyama and Kojeve believe that democracy best satisfies man's "desire for recognition" - which leads to man's stupid ideas - mainly war, envy, etc. These aggressive tendencies of man are what cause history and the end of history has been brought about by the acceptance of the governmental form (liberal democracy) which best allows all men the opportunity for recognition. Seriously, this is an insightful, true book full of great intellectual ideas.

A brief summary to a modern philosophical gem:.......2007-06-12

Fukuyama spends most of the book exploring the seminal underpinnings of Universal History as it relates to early Christianity and ultimately the great German Idealist, Hegel: Fukuyama expresses his assiduous thesis with mostly Hegel as his overarching linchpin and with Alexander Kojeve serving as an elegant, clear sighted interpreter.

As an evolutionary catalyst threading throughout human history, Fukuyama examines the details of the ever-insistent human trait of "Thymos," a driving human impulse for recognition: "the primary motor driving history." Fukuyama carefully threads the social implications and political impact of "Thymos" throughout history and its tenuous development through various less than savory political forms (Authoritarianism, Communism, Fascism) until it arrives at its most counter-balanced form under the current rising epoch of Liberal Democracy.

For Fukuyama, the natural culmination of human political and social society ends triumphantly with Liberal Democracy. It is with Liberal Democracy that mankind's needs and wants are most thoroughly satisfied: The balanced state of "Isothymia." It is with Liberal Democracy that the passionate drive for recognition of "Thymos" (and it's most severe condition: "megalothymia.") is most innocuous.

However, as the culmination of human history, modern Liberal Democracy is not without its incipient flaws (the constant tug of war between Liberty versus Equality) or its potential for crippling problems arising from an unchecked "megalothymia:" Equations that Fukuyama explores with iconoclastic precision with the ever powerful and frightening Friedrich Nietzsche as his intellectual blunt instrument.

With Nietzsche as his ruthless gadfly, Fukuyama arrives at the danger of the Last Man: "We risk becoming secure and self-absorbed last men, devoid of thymotic striving for higher goals...Men would face the constant danger of degenerating from citizens to mere bourgeois." The problem of the Last Man highlights and outlines current social disintegration in our very own society. (Some brief examples: The poor voter participation, the apathy of our citizens to engage in worthy causes, our lack of community spirit, etc.) If the sickness of the Last Man is left to fester, if it is not addressed, modern Liberal Democracies would "grow into a morass of selfish hedonism and community would ultimately dissolve."

This book is a fantastic piece of work. I had great fun reading this book and I am sure that I will re-read it again.

Francis Fukuyama and the End of History (University of Wales Press - Political Philosophy Now)

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Francis Fukuyama and the End of History (University of Wales Press - Political Philosophy Now)
Howard Williams , Gwynn Matthews , and David Sullivan
Manufacturer: University of Wales Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Historiography | Historical Study | History | Subjects | Books

General | Philosophy | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Modern | Philosophy | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Political | Philosophy | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

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The End of History and the Last Man
Fukuyama Francis
Manufacturer: The Free Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000UIMS8E

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The End of History and the Last Man
Francis Fukuyama
Manufacturer: Penguin
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
ASIN: B000K1V2D8

The End of History and the Last Man.: An article from: The Review of Metaphysics

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The End of History and the Last Man.: An article from: The Review of Metaphysics
Michael Baur
Manufacturer: Philosophy Education Society, Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

General | Philosophy | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Book Description

This digital document is an article from The Review of Metaphysics, published by Philosophy Education Society, Inc. on September 1, 1994. The length of the article is 817 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 End of History and the Last Man.
Author: Michael Baur
Publication: The Review of Metaphysics (Refereed)
Date: September 1, 1994
Publisher: Philosophy Education Society, Inc.
Volume: v48 Issue: n1 Page: p135(3)

Article Type: Book Review

Distributed by Thomson Gale

The two Fukuyamas.(America at the Crossroads: Democracy, Power and the Neoconservative Legacy)(The End of History and the Last Man)(Trust: The Social Virtues ... An article from: The National Interest

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The two Fukuyamas.(America at the Crossroads: Democracy, Power and the Neoconservative Legacy)(The End of History and the Last Man)(Trust: The Social Virtues ... An article from: The National Interest
Anatol Lieven
Manufacturer: Thomson Gale
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital
ASIN: B000I2K1NG
Release Date: 2006-08-29

Book Description

This digital document is an article from The National Interest, published by Thomson Gale on June 22, 2006. The length of the article is 4216 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 two Fukuyamas.(America at the Crossroads: Democracy, Power and the Neoconservative Legacy)(The End of History and the Last Man)(Trust: The Social Virtues and the Creation of Prosperity)(Book review)
Author: Anatol Lieven
Publication: The National Interest (Magazine/Journal)
Date: June 22, 2006
Publisher: Thomson Gale
Issue: 84 Page: 123(8)

Article Type: Book review

Distributed by Thomson Gale

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THE END OF HISTORY AND THE LAST MAN.
Francis: Fukuyama
Manufacturer: Pan
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000W33U3O

Book Description

World history has expanded dramatically in recent years, primarily as a teaching field, and increasingly as a research field. Growing numbers of teachers and Ph.Ds in history are required to teach the subject. They must be current on topics from human evolution to industrial development in Song-dynasty China to today's disease patterns - and then link these disparate topics into a coherent course. Numerous textbooks in print and in preparation summarize the field of world history at an introductory level. But good teaching also requires advanced training for teachers, and access to a stream of new research from scholars trained as world historians. In this book, Patrick Manning provides the first comprehensive overview of the academic field of world history. He reviews patterns of research and debate, and proposes guidelines for study by teachers and by researchers in world history.

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World Historiography.......2003-09-17

World History is a daunting field... perhaps no single discipline asks so much of its practitioners and yet provides them with so little training or such vague methodology. With _Navigating World History_ Pat Manning helps to amend this failing by providing a concise, engaging, and erudite history of the field and also an analysis of its various paradigms, pitfalls and potentials.

Researchers, teachers and students who are new to the field will find Manning's work an invaluable guide to help locate their own efforts within the often overwhelming context that is World History.

Truly and outstanding work. A doff of the cyber-cap to Prof. Manning!

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An excellent overview of discoveries in physics.

The Great Physicists from Galileo to Einstein (Biography of Physics)
George Gamow
Manufacturer: Dover Publications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books
General | Science | Subjects | Books
General | History & Philosophy | Science | Subjects | Books
General | Physics | Science | Subjects | Books
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Mr Tompkins in Paperback (Canto imprint) (containing Mr. Tompkins in Wonderland and Mr. Tompkins Explores the Atom)

ASIN: 0486257673

Book Description

Outstanding text by one of the 20th century's foremost physicists dramatically explains how the central laws of physical science evolved, from Pythagoras'’ discovery of frequency ratios in the 6th century BC to today's research on elementary particles. Includes fascinating biographical data about Galileo, Newton, Huygens, Einstein and others. 136 illustrations.

Customer Reviews:

An excellent overview of discoveries in physics........1998-02-10

I have read a fair amount of books on physics and found this one to be very enjoyable. Gamow keeps things pretty simple (until the end when he starts talking about his specialty) and very accessible. He is careful that the math is sequential; he always builds on previous examples to take you to the next step.

The book was published in the 60's, so there are many recent discoveries missing, but you need to know your history of physics to see how we got where we are. In fact, I found that this book showed just how new all of our current theories are and that there is promise for many new things on the horizon.

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The Great Physicists From Galileo to Einstein
George Gamow
Manufacturer: Dover
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000MXVDZ6

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