For God, Mammon, and Country: A Nineteenth-Century Persian Merchant, Haj Muhammad Hassan Amin al-Zarb (1834-1898)

Book Description

Haj Muhammad Hassan Amin al-Zarb (1835-1898) rose from humble beginnings to become one of Iran's wealthiest and most prominent merchants, eventually achieving the post of Master of the Mint in the Shah's government. Shireen Mahdavi's For God, Mammon, and Country is the first major account of Amin al-Zarb's life and times. Mahdavi's portrait of Amin al-Zarb provides important insights into the economic, social, and political role played by merchants in Iran, and elsewhere in the Middle East, during the nineteenth century. Drawing on hitherto unpublished family archives, Mahdavi has written not only a biography of a fascinating individual, but also a social history of nineteenth century Iran, illuminating the customs and lifestyle of the period in a manner which brings the era to life. This book is the first major account of the life and times of a merchant in nineteenth-century Iran or in the Middle East. Haj Muhammad Amin al-Zarb (1834-1898) rose from humble beginnings to become one of Iran's wealthiest and most prominent merchants. He built up his wealth as a money changer, a trader in textiles, precious stones, opium, carpets, agricultural products, and staple foodstuffs amongst other goods, and judicious transactions in land. Adept at cultivating powerful connections, he became the principal supplier of luxury goods to the Shah, his court, and members of the ruling elite; served as private banker to the Shah, his prime minister, and influential bureaucrats; and became Master of the Mint. He had agents in all the main towns of Persia and Europe with correspondents in Asia and America. Amin al-Zarb was also an entrepreneur, industrialist, and innovator. Determined to bring to Iran the advances he had witnessed in Europe, he invested in mining, established factories with imported machinery (such as glass, china, and silk reeling), built a railway line, and urged the Shah to establish a national bank. He also became an advocate of reform and curbs on arbitrary rule. He befriended the famous Islamic reformer, Jamal al-Din Afghani. An innovator in business, Amin al-Zarb led a very traditional life at home. Gifted at making money, he was nevertheless a pious man who contributed generously to religious and charitable causes. Shireen Mahdavi draws on hitherto unpublished family archives to write not only a biography of a fascinating nineteenth-century merchant but also a social history of the period. Her portrait of Amin al-Zarb also provides important insights into the economic, social, and political role played by merchants in Iran and elsewhere in the Middle East in the nineteenth century.

"The importance of the role of the merchant in the Iranian constitutional revolution of 1906 has been frequently remarked but the merchants themselves have been little studied. Now at last we can welcome a scholarly biography of the leading merchant, Amin al-Zarb." -Malcolm Yapp, Emeritus Professor of the Modern History of Western Asia, University of London

"Shireen Mahdavi has written a fascinating book, based on original archives, about the most important Iranian merchant of the late nineteenth century, Amin al-Zarb. She effectively recounts both his rags-to riches life and his role in the changing economy and politics of late Qajar Iran." -Nikki Keddie, University of California, Los Angeles

"Shireen Mahdavi investigates the economic, financial, commercial and industrial activities of Haj Muhammad Hassan Amin al-Zarb, perhaps the greatest Persian entrepreneur of his time. Dr. Mahdavi's book fills in a major lacuna in late nineteenth century Persian history." -Michel Mazzaoui, Professor of Persian History, University of Utah

"Shireen Mahdavi has written a fine scholarly biography which makes an important contribution to the social and economic history of the Middle East and is an essential work for anyone interested in the area. The author has done painstaking first hand research of private and public archives. To my knowledge there is no comparable study for Iran or the Middle East." -Farhad Kazemi, New York University

"This is a richly-crafted portrait of Amin al-Zarb, Iran's leading merchant in the second half of the nineteenth century. The book considerably deepens our knowledge of the role of the merchant in politics and the economy in the Qajar period, the sources of their wealth, their complex relationship, both cooperative and adversial, with the Shah and the powerful men of the state, and their role as transmitters of new ideas and the new technology. Students of both Iran and the Arab Middle East will find it fascinating." -Shaul Bakhash, George Mason University

Trial by Basketball: The Life and Times of Tex Winter
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Winter IS A Winner! A very fine book about a Man's Basketball Man, who's life in the sport has helped all around him!

A Winner!

MY LATE NIGHT REVIEW, AFTER EXPERIENCING TRIANGLE FEVER!

Must Read for Triangle Offense and Tex Winter Fans

Trial by Basketball: The Life and Times of Tex Winter
Mark Bender
Manufacturer: Addax
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Coach Tex Winter: Triangle Basketball

More than a Game

ASIN: 1886110964

Book Description

Known as The Master and Inventor of the triangle offense that made the Chicago Bulls a dynasty and Michael Jordan a superstar, Tex Winter is a man with a story. This authorized biography tells the story of the coach with the longest tenure in the nation.

Customer Reviews:

Winter IS A Winner! A very fine book about a Man's Basketball Man, who's life in the sport has helped all around him!.......2007-04-27

A terrific read about Mr. Triangle Offence.
All basketball fans you like Offencive Str-
ategy should like this well written book.
Even if he only Ast. Coaches for L.A.'s
second best (now) team. If only Tex would
defect to Clipper Nation!

A Winner!.......2000-05-08

Bender's succinct, edgy style carries the reader through Winter's life while racing down the court with Michael Jordan, Dennis Rodman, and other NBA giants. Bender tells it like it was--no holds barred. Winter's coaching philosophy of discipline, hard work, fairness and individual intergrity comes alive as we watch him lead individual players to become not only the best players they can be, but also the best men that they can be. Bender brings basketball personalities to life as we watch them struggle to learn Winter's famous "triangle offence" and to balance their individual desires for achievement and glory with Winter's emphasis on the ultimate good of the whole team.

The pace is fast, and the anecdotes and behind-the-scenes tidbits entertain as we go with the teams through Winter's unprecedented 53 year professional career as a coach. From Kansas State, Washington, and the Houston Rockets to fourteen years with the Chicago Bulls, and the current LA Lakers, we travel the backroads of behind the scene basketball. Bender gives us the inside story on the conflicts, the joys, and the frustrations of coaching mega-stars with mega-egos while trying to teach them values of character and integrity.

This book would be a perfct gift for any high school athlete. Bender gives the reader deep insights into not only the sports psychology that Winter uses, but into the secrets of what it really takes to be able to uphold personal values in the rip-roaring jungle of professional sports.

I loved every minute of this great ride, and if you love basketball, you will too!

MY LATE NIGHT REVIEW, AFTER EXPERIENCING TRIANGLE FEVER!.......2000-05-08

Trial by Basketball is the Slaughterhouse Five sports book. It's a fascinating history into Laker coach Tex Winters rise from garage band gymnasium roots, college sucess, the amazing Bull Run to current Los Angeles Laker status. As a Long Beach State 49er booster and renewed Laker backer, I recommend TRIAL strongly to fans from N.Y. to L.A. The authors unique style is a keenly accurate flashback account of Tex Winters classic career with insights into the world of sports and life as it is! A humorously intriguing One of A Kind Biography. The book equally satisfies the golden age Wilt Chamberlain transition era as well as the Rodman, Kobe X'er generation. ONCE YOUR IN TO IT, YOU CAN'T GET OUT OF IT--- MARK BENDER CLEANLY RUNS THE TABLE!------------------------ Linda Fallico-Coto De Caza, Ca.

Must Read for Triangle Offense and Tex Winter Fans.......2000-04-30

I started the book on Friday and finished it on Saturday (a real page turner). Bender does an outstanding job covering Tex Winter's Life up to and including his joining the LA Lakers in 99. The book covers the life of a 78 year old basketball guru (the Master of the Triangle Offense) and spans his 50+ coaching years at the college and professional level.

Bender's writing style is well balanced...and is completely honest. Tex Winter's coaching philosophy is covered with frequent quotes from Tex Winter's 1962 Coaching Book, the Triple Post Offense.

Some readers may see this authorized biography as kind of a "Forest Gump of Basketball" due to it's basic story telling of Tex's as a folksy, nice guy with a willingness to tell the "unvarnished truth".

More importantly, the book serves as a useful reference tool on how a person should face conflict and live life in a stressful world. Bender writes a biography that illustrates the importance of good character, hard work, integrety, having a sense of humor, and not taking yourself too seriously.

Basketball coaches will find the book instructional with the many lessons learned from a coaching career spanning 7 decades...specifically it descibes how a coach deals in a competitive must win environment.

I especially liked how the book started off and closed.

Foreward is by Phi Jackson. MJ, Pippen and Rodman fans will enjoy the second half of the book which deals largely with the Chicago Bull years (some new stuff too). As Mickey would say, "Try it, your Like It" or better yet, just read it!

Customer Reviews:

Upgrade Your Knowledge of Good Films.......2003-10-12

Extremely enjoyable reading for cinephiles, especially new or young ones. Generally centers on films of the 70's and 80's.

Title implies that the films critiqued in the book are rare or little known, but actually I would say it is possible that half are available at any large video rental place, nearly all available through mail order. What this book does is introduce reader to about 100 films that are worth watching for various reasons, according to an interestingly varied assortment of film critics.

This is actually a product of the National Society of Film Critics. Contributors include Pauline Kael and Roger Ebert, Terence Rafferty and Judith Crist... Not shabby at all! Plus almost everything is written with more a sense of appreciation and enthusiasm than overwrought intellectual analysis.

Editor Sragow was definitely among the top two or three critics ever staffed by the San Francisco Chronicle. His contributions to the book are reviews of All Night Long, Southern Comfort, and the generally underrated Blow Out, the latter being a rare glimpse of Brian DePalma as a director concerned with issues of ethics and integrity, with an excellent performance by John Travolta. So that's the sort of thing the book offers, namely praise for unusual treatments and underappreciated performances.

Only shaky part is that the average reader may not already be familiar with the tastes of any of the critics, and may find an unexpected disagreement with one of the critics over a film or two. I can't say that this book has managed to isolate a hundred films that are absolutely incredible, and the whole world will agree. But there are way more gems than slag in this collection, and the writing is generally very good.

For the average DVD or video renter, this book could be the perfect consciousness-raiser. After reading a few of the reviews (which each average only 2 or 3 pages), the reader will probably find a title he or she MUST now view. Helps reader on the adventurous quest of expanding his or her viewing experience. It's a fine book in that sense!

Book Description

Brace yourself for 100 of the strangest, most persistent, and bizarre conspiracy theories you will ever read. These are eerie stories concerning tragedies such as Pearl Harbor and SARS, and dark machinations surrounding the deaths of cultural icons such as JFK, Marilyn Monroe, and Princess Diana. Discover compelling theories about Stonehenge and Roswell, and spine-tingling speculations about the Mafia and Pentagon. All the details of the conspiracies are based on solid facts—here, in full are the conspiracies you thought you knew about.
•Fully illustrated with over 184 color and black and white photographs
•Features up-to-date stories, many of which have never before appeared in print
•Thoroughly researched information with authoritative arguments and evidence
•Contains a complete guide to the most commonly suspected conspirators and a glossary of conspiracy-speak

Customer Reviews:

The ultimate conspiracy book.......2007-04-30

This book is awesome! Very fascinating, entertaining, and educational. It's also written and organized in an exciting and easy to read format with some nice illustrations.
About every conspiracy you've ever heard of is in this book. JFK, Elvis, The Holy Grail, Roswell, Waco, The Bermuda Triangle, 9/11...man, it's fun to read and contemplate.
Every topic has a brief explanation, some strange facts, suspects, most convincing evidence, and then ends with a skeptical take on why the particular theory might be nonsense.
The book never tries to take sides, except on the Elvis story it ends saying "The King is dead. Get over it." How funny!
You don't need to be a conspiracy theory nut to enjoy this book, but you might turn into one after reading it.

Bang up to date, bang on the money.......2005-07-19

If you enjoy conspiracy theories, this book is for you. It is one of the most entertaining, razorblade sharp and easy-to-read, general books on the subject that has ever been published. Whilst some of the photographic material is pretty standard, there are some incredible shots in this book that I'd never come across before - even in five years looking into some of my favourite theories on the net.

One of the great things about this is that it covers modern hot topics such as the murder of David Kelly (on that case it includes some amazing new material) and what the second war in Iraq/911 is really about.

Probably the best book to give to someone fairly new to the real stories behind the news, there is something for everyone in this book. If you are a sceptic about conspiracy theories, you will probably enjoy the acid, dark and often sarcastic humour the writers bring to the topics they cover, but if you are a conspiracy nut like me you'll enjoy a lot of the new twists that they have put into print.

One of the author's - David Southwell - is the subject of a lot of gossip in certain conspiracy circles after it emerged in a front-page Sunday Time's story that he worked with MI5 on terrorist issues. Amongst all the crazy stuff on aliens and Elvis, there are traces of a lot of inside knowledge about the world we aren't meant to know about.

My only gripes are that it could have done with some better editing in places and that the authors drop hints o things they were obviously afraid to publish (though they get away with exposing some amazing truths).

All in all, the most fun conspiracy book I've ever read.

The type of book Bill Hicks would have written.......2005-06-29

Wow. An easy five-star book. This is the conspiracy book that really stands out from all the rest of the bloated tomes clogging up the shelves. A fantastic, fun format is combined with real savvy write ups on not only the usual conspiracies, but some of the more unknown but lot more interesting ones.

Well written, there is lots of insight into the world - how the government really works, how the media really works and how all the secret agenda shape our lives. A lot of books that make you question authority are really po-faced, but there's some great humor in here and it's no surprise that this book is dedicated to Bill Hicks - it is exactly the type of conspiracy book he might have written.

Great looking with some amazing pictures, this is the book. One of the best I've read on this topic and certainly the funniest but genuinely scary book I've ever come across.

File it in the Only Buy if Cheap Basket.......2004-12-07

This picture book is a nice introduction to conspiracies for anyone who has lived on the moon and never heard any conspiracies before but honestly you'll already know at least most of the ones in here before reading. It is good though how each conspiracy has a paragraph written through the eyes of a sceptic on each conspiracy contained within. Don't get me wrong, you will also learn some interesting facts you may not previously know about some of the conspiracies that may convince you their true. I found that although they have the topics of some major conspiracies they do not have the actual more well known conspiracies about them. For example the 9/11 one in this book does not mention at all the conspiracy that a plane did not actually crash into the Pentagon which is making the rounds on the Internet at the moment. Nor does it mention the Philadelphia plane being shot down by the US air force to prevent it crashing into a Nuclear Powerplant/Capitol Hill which is believed by a substantial number of people.

The other thing I think could have been improved in this book is the font colour and background selection. The Kurt Cobain, Extra-Terrestrials intro pages and others are impossible to read at night or if you are a bit tired with their faint grey text and black backgrounds.

Perplexing Perceptions: Over 125 Challenging Exercises
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Perplexing Perceptions: Over 125 Challenging Exercises
David Popey
Manufacturer: Thunder Bay Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Puzzles & Games | Entertainment | Subjects | Books
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Perceptual Puzzlers: 100 Challenging Exercises Designed for Maximum Fun and Cognitive Conditioning

Devious Deductions: Over 125 Challenging Logic Puzzles (Brain Games)

Mind's Eye: Over 125 Challenging Visual Exercises

Confounding Logic: Over 125 Challenging Exercises

Number Enigmas: Over 125 Challenging Exercises Designed for Maximum Fun and Cognitive Conditioning

ASIN: 1592233538

Book Description

The follow-up volume to Number Enigmas and Perceptual Puzzlers, here is a fun and challenging collection of brainteasers featuring 3-D, geometrical, and shape challenges. Designed to exercise the right-hand side of the brain, these puzzles will sharpen insight, imagination, color and shape awareness, and even daydreaming skills! With more than 100 visual challenges that will keep puzzlers busily engaged for hours, Perplexing Perceptions is guaranteed to give your right hemisphere a workout that's satisfying and fun.

Book Description

Exchange Server 2003, the next version of Microsofts messaging and collaboration server, provides corporate environments with built-in e-mail, calendaring, contact and task management, discussion groups and document workflow. IDC recently reported that Exchange Server's user install base grew to 39.40f the total market, clearly surpassing IBM Notes as the leading integrated collaborative environment.

Mastering Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 is a comprehensive reference for those who need to install, configure and administer the multifacted operating system. Author Barry Gerber carefully walks readers through planning and design, installation, administration and management, maintenance and more. Hot topics include disaster and recovery, security, wireless access and building custom e-mail forms for Outlook.

Customer Reviews:

Good Explanations but not Practical.......2004-11-27

This book has generally good easily digestible explanations for Exchange 2003. I really appreciate the informal down-to-Earth style and discussion of a lot of pieces. I was especially happy to see some good coverage of LDAP, IMAP, and POP configuration, which is seldom adequately covered in other Exchange books.

Despite the excellent overview in many areas, I wish the book was more practical in real world situations. It is great to know about key technologies, which makes the book a worthy of perusal, but still we need to implement and deploy this stuff, which unfortunately involves bizarre tweaks and configurations combined with third party tools and maybe even scripting. I just don't get this practical real-world oriented sense from this book.

One area that irked me quite a bit was coverage of security. There is some coverage of securing open insecure technologies like POP and IMAP, but only on the client. In the security chapter, there's a few paragraphs stating that security is a client issue and should not be covered in the scope of the book. I think it is important both to setup the security on the client and the server, so that the clients can use it, and so that potential hackers don't get passwords for domain accounts. The author does attempt to give a short blurb on how to setup SSL, but I found that the instructions did not work. I was probably missing some other pieces, Certificate Authority?

In conclusion, overall decent coverage of Exchange 2003 with good explanations, but one needs more material, perhaps other books in order to put all the pieces together and get the job done.

Overall, not too bad.......2004-07-26

I would hardly consider this book "Mastering Exchange" but the author does take the time to step you through all the property pages and settings so you at least get a basic idea of what it all means. You will have a solid basic understanding when you are done but you certainly won't be a master by any stretch of the imagination. I found several errors throughout the book specifically related to Windows and networking. The author should stick to Exchange because when the topic shifts to something else, I had my doubts about what I was reading. For instance, I believe the author stated that in an NT 4.0 Domain, if a PDC goes down, the other DC's elect a new one. WHAT!!!! Maybe a browser, but not a PDC. Its been a while since I read the book but I am pretty sure I read that in a side bar. As I said, overall, not bad if you what a basic intro to Exchange 2003. The title should be changed to Exchange 2003 basics.

Poor writing style.......2004-06-27

Maybe the content of this book is ok, but the writer has constant urge to put useless text lines and useless personal opinions between the technical explenations. This shouldn't be a story book ...

Things get worse when on page 142 he still needs to explain the difference between FAT and NTFS.

quote: "Setup displays a little gauge showing formatting progress. Formatting takes quite a
bit of time."

in this case, burning a book is ok ;)

From The Author.......2004-05-29

First I support a web site with additions and corrections to the book. There's lots of information there, based mostly on comments and questions from readers. You can find the site at http://bgerber.com/Ex2003AddCorrect.htm. Page past the hot news section for a numbered list of very specific questions followed by answers.

The comments that have been expressed about my book "Mastering Microsoft Exchange Server 2003" are interesting. They seem to come from two basic types of readers: those that have a hands-on job to do and those focusing on the Exchange Server certification process.

The book is for those who have a hands-on job to do -- install and run Exchange Server. Comments I receive from readers with that task, especially those starting anew with Exchange Server are almost always complementary. They also ask questions to which I usually respond quickly.

Hands-on people looking for a more advanced book on Exchange Server 2003, should read Jim McBee's "Exchange Server 2003 24seven," also from Sybex. I was privileged to work with Jim on this edition of his book and am listed as a contributing author on the cover.

People who are collecting facts for certification tests should turn to the many books on Exchange certification. There isn't time or space in a book the size of mine to deal with every detail of the Exchange system. For example, contrary to a comment by an earlier Amazon reviewer, you can actually upgrade an Exchange 5.5 system to Exchange 2000 or 2003, operate it successfully and ultimately remove 5.5 components without knowing that SRS, the Site Replication Service, participates in Exchange 5.5-Exchange 2000 or 2003 data replication. Certification is valuable, but it can't replace hands-on experience when it comes time to do a real job.

I have successfully planned, installed and supported Exchange systems for a number of medium and large user-base clients for 10 years. I also do Exchange Server security breach forensics. As one with a set of hands-on jobs to do, I have written a book for that sort of person.

Good in some areas, lacking in others.......2004-05-01

I find that the book doesn't agree with the title. It was good for some basic how-to Exchange things, but what I really wanted, was some in-depth instruction on getting the EAS up and running. What I got was VERY VERY basic, and if you run into any problems, you're SOL. It doesn't say anything about working EAS through a firewall, and it kind of blows past it saying that the guy likes using IMAP better. Well I'm sorry, but if I'm supposed to be "mastering" Exchange Server 2003 then I certainly need a bit more than the most rudamentary thing on such a new implement to Ex'03 as EAS.

Mastering Microsoft Exchange Server 2003

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Mastering Microsoft Exchange Server 2003
Barry Gerber
Manufacturer: John Wiley and Sons
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Book Description

In this beautifully crafted study of one emblematic life, Harrison addresses large themes in Chinese history while conveying with great immediacy the textures and rhythms of everyday life in the countryside in the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries.

Liu Dapeng was a provincial degree-holder who never held government office. Through the story of his family, the author illustrates the decline of the countryside in relation to the cities as a result of modernization and the transformation of Confucian ideology as a result of these changes. Based on nearly 400 volumes of Liu's diary and other writings, the book illustrates what it was like to study in an academy and to be a schoolteacher, the pressures of changing family relationships, the daily grind of work in industry and agriculture, people's experience with government, and life under the Japanese occupation.

Nations Remembered: An Oral History of the Cherokees, Chickasaws, Choctaws, Creeks, and Seminoles in Oklahoma, 1865-1907
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Nations Remembered: An Oral History of the Cherokees, Chickasaws, Choctaws, Creeks, and Seminoles in Oklahoma, 1865-1907
Theda Perdue
Manufacturer: University of Oklahoma Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Native American | Americas | History | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0806125233

Nations Remembered: an Oral History of the Cherokees, Chickasaws, Choctaws, Creeks, and Seminoles in Oklahoma, 1865-1907
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Nations Remembered: an Oral History of the Cherokees, Chickasaws, Choctaws, Creeks, and Seminoles in Oklahoma, 1865-1907
Theda Perdue
Manufacturer: University of Oklahoma Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000N63KKS

Travels in Four Dimensions: The Enigmas of Space and Time
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Weighty matters in simple language

Travels in Four Dimensions: The Enigmas of Space and Time
Robin Le Poidevin
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Philosophy | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
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The Philosophy of Time (Oxford Readings in Philosophy)

Time's Arrow and Archimedes' Point: New Directions for the Physics of Time

The Philosophy of Space and Time

The Direction of Time (Dover Books on Physics)

The Ontology of Time (Studies in Analytic Philosophy)

ASIN: 0198752555

Book Description

Space and time are the most fundamental features of our experience of the world, and yet they are also the most perplexing. Does time really flow, or is that simply an illusion? Did time have a beginning? What does it mean to say that time has a direction? Does space have boundaries, or is it infinite? Is change really possible? Could space and time exist in the absence of any objects or events? Are our space and time unique, or could there be other, parallel worlds with their own space and time? What, in the end, are space and time? Do they really exist, or are they simply the constructions of our minds? Robin Le Poidevin provides a clear, witty, and stimulating introduction to these deep questions, and many other mind-boggling puzzles and paradoxes. He gives a vivid sense of the difficulties raised by our ordinary ideas about space and time, but he also gives us the basis to think about these problems independently, avoiding large amounts of jargon and technicality. His book is an invitation to think philosophically rather than a sustained argument for particular conclusions, but Le Poidevin does advance and defend a number of controversial views. He argues, for example, that time does not actually flow, that it is possible for space and time to be both finite and yet be without boundaries, and that causation is the key to an understanding of one of the deepest mysteries of time: its direction. Travels in Four Dimensions draws on a variety of vivid examples and stories from science, history, and literature to bring its questions to life. No prior knowledge of philosophy is required to enjoy this book. The universe might seem very different after reading it.

Customer Reviews:

Weighty matters in simple language.......2003-11-09

This book arose out of a series of lectures the author gave under the title of Space, Time and Infinity. It is a philosophical introduction to the questions of space and time, written to stimulate further thought on the paradoxes of these concepts, in other words, to look again at the conceptual questions and puzzles that our ordinary view of space and time presents.

The questions that the author considers include the following: Are space and mind just mental constructions? Is there a fourth spatial dimension? Do parallel worlds exist? Could time run backwards? Might time travel be possible? Could space exist with nothing in it? Could there be space beyond the universe? and, Did time have a beginning?

Le Poidevin guides the reader through these puzzles with lots of wit in an engaging writing style. Best of all, he makes clear the limitations of our ordinary ideas of space and time and provides us with the tools to think about these problems with a broader brush. He does this by using only a modest amount of physics, so no prior knowledge of science or philosophy is required to enjoy the book.

He also deals with the Fine Tuning of the universe. Even slight differences in the fundamental physical features of the universe (such as in the forces that bind atoms together, the masses of particles, electromagnetic equations and the rate of expansion in the early universe) would have made it impossible for life as we know it to evolve in the universe.

Similar thought-provoking books include Small World by Mark Buchanan, Hidden Connections by Fritjof Capra, The Universe Next Door by Marcus Chown, Before The Beginning by Martin Rees, Time And Space by Barry Dainton and God's Equation by Amir Aczel.

Travels in Four Dimensions: The Enigmas of Space and Time
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Travels in Four Dimensions: The Enigmas of Space and Time
Robin Le Poidevin
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OKSU0I

Book Description

This digital document is an article from Parks & Recreation, published by National Recreation and Park Association on March 1, 2003. The length of the article is 1234 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: Hands-on training: a horticultural program for park maintenance workers sprouts endless benefits.
Author: Edward Hersh
Publication: Parks & Recreation (Magazine/Journal)
Date: March 1, 2003
Publisher: National Recreation and Park Association
Volume: 38 Issue: 3 Page: 80(4)

Distributed by Thomson Gale

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