Leaders: Conversations With Irish Chief Executives

Customer Reviews:

Interesting (but I don't agree with the order of the top 25).......2006-09-19

Nice topic for a basketball book, especially since the true pivot player is as rare as a dinosaur in today's game. Just a bunch of 3 pt shooting 7 footers running around (except for Dwight Howard & Yao Ming). But I definately disagree with placing Kareem only third. He was the greatest force on offense and defense the game has ever known. No disrespect to the late Wilt the stilt. The fact that he lead the league in assists one year is a bit miss leading, that particular year Wilt abstained from shooting very much. What impresses me more about Wilt is the 27 per game rebound avgs in 2 separate seasons and the fact he never fouled out of a game which was strangely omitted from his many accomplishments, listed in the book. However he shot only 51% from the line, a major flaw. To my surprise Russell only shot 56% lifetime, this is not good, if teams would play hack a Wilt or hack a Russell they would be in trouble, on the other hand Kareem shot 71% and even higher in the clutch. Many games between two evenly matched teams may come down to freethrows a very small margin for error. Karrem's my numeral uno with Wilt a close second and Russell third,without a doubt the greatest defensive center for all times.

I don't agree with shack in the 4th slot he can't shoot freethrows either, and know way he's better than the Dream Olajawon, Moses Malone, or the Cheif Robert Parrish in their primes, no disrespect to the diesel but the jury is still out on him,I still remember how the Dream had him for lunch in the 94-95 playoffs, its to early to put him that high up. I think the likes of Ralph Sampson and Bill Lambeer should be left out all together. And I don't believe power forwards like Tim Duncan and Dan Issel should be included, they should have there own category (power forwards).

P.S. the info is very good and the likes of Willis Reed, Jerry West and Pete Newells's commentary enriches the book even more. But the previous reviewer was right the pages just won't stay in the book, I don't think he had to leave 3 reviews to make his one star point. I get the picture loud and clear. I paid only 10 dollars for it from a street vendor, the 29.95 price might be a bit steep, for a book that pages won't stay in.

Book okay but binding stinks.......2003-12-11

My husband really wanted this book for christmas based on some TV show interview he watched but after reading the review about the binding, I went to a local bookstore to check it out for myself. All FOUR copies had binding problems. When I opened the book, the pages started to break off so the store is returning them all.

I am quite disappointed because it looks like a really good book content wise. Hope they get a new printing soon.

Publisher's Fault.......2003-12-05

BEWARE!! I bought this book at Borders, then got in a line for Willis Reed to sign it. While waiting, I turned the pages back & forth a few times - it's a photo book primarily - and the pages began to fall out. I exchanged it for another, and those pages began to fall out. I paged through five more books, and their pages began to fall out, so I got my money back & didn't buy it. The store management said they were aware of the problem. The binding is so horrible that if you use it as it's intended - to look through over & over again - the pages will fall out (at least in all the books shipped to that Borders). It would have been especially horrible to give as a gift - not worth the money! A book is supposed to stay as a book.

Publisher's Fault.......2003-12-05

Book Description

More than 20 years of Nat Hentoff's dazzling and provocative writings on jazz, politics, and American thought.

From the Bill of Rights, freedom of speech, and civil rights to jazz, blues, and country music, Nat Hentoff has written about American life for decades, in The Atlantic Monthly, The New Yorker, the Village Voice, the Wall Street Journal, and JazzTimes, among countless other publications. The New York Times has hailed Hentoff's work as "an invigorating and entertaining reminder of why freedom of expression matters." The Washington Post Book World has called Hentoff "an old-fashioned music lover who likes, as Charlie Parker once put it, 'to listen to the stories' that good music tells." Nat Hentoff is a legend.

And now, for the first time, here are his most important writings of the past twenty years-the quintessential Hentoff on everything from Cardinal John O'Connor to Merle Haggard, racism and political correctness in the classroom to Lester Young, Dizzy Gillespie to the censorship of Huckleberry Finn. Controversial? You bet. Whatever the topic, The Nat Hentoff Reader shows a man of passion and insight, of streetwise wit and polished eloquence-a true American original.

Customer Reviews:

Always interesting..........2002-06-27

This book is an incredible source for understanding opposing views about controversial issues. With great literacy, Nat introduces points that one would not normally consider valid or plausible, and he does so fluidly and magnificently. I reccommend this reader highly, hence the 5 stars.

First Amendment Rights Do Not Trump Everything.......2002-06-10

It does not come easy for me to take issue with the renowned Nat Hentoff on the subject of First Amendment. But I must after reading several essays in this book.

The First Amendment is not an absolutist rule for all occasions. It is a compact between our government and us as to how the State may not make laws to abridge the freedom of speech, the free exercise of religion, etc.

The First Amendment protects ideas, in the sense that a citizen cannot be prosecuted for advancing an idea, however unpopular. It clearly does not sanction all acts of expressing an idea. The government does not allow a person to express his hate of another by murdering him, for example. So, freedom of expression, important as it is, does not trump everything else. (The hating person can distribute pamphlets or make a speech to denigrate his enemy. And that would be allowed by law.)

Further, the First Amendment's operative domain is the society at large, at the level of legislation and law-enforcement. Within an organization in that society, public or private, is not the place to practice First Amendment rights, unless that organization has adopted similar guidelines for its code of communication. An organization can and must set rules of governance in pursuit of the mission of the organization. The armed forces, for example, are a government, or public, organization. I doubt that a soldier should have the First Amendment rights to openly express his sympathy for the enemy at the time of combat, say by passing out pamphlets to glorify the enemy or to urge fellow soldiers not to fight a battle. Clearly, such expressions are protected by law within the society at large. Similarly, a school, even a public school, exists for the purpose of educating the young, those who are in charge of schools should and must set rules to ensure that the school is safe, effective, and its charge has good discipline. What those rules should be is open to debate, and even subject to administrative challenge. But I don't think that any person who is a member of a school, be he a teacher, or student, or whatever, even a teacher of the Constitution, can exercise his First Amendment rights as if the school were just open society. Anyone who violates a rule within the jurisdiction of an organization to express himself must be prepared to accept the consequence. Sometimes it makes the person a hero, other times it makes him an idiot, or even a criminal.

Finally, any organization that is in a position to allow, or disallow, a particular speech or a speaker in connection with its business must have the right to do that, that right to approve or disapprove is the First Amendment itself! The First Amendment guarantees the right to express; it does not guarantee approval by others. Disapproval within the confines of an organization is not the same as repudiation of the First Amendment exercisable in the society at large. The reputation of an organization is inevitably tied to what ideas that organization approves or disapproves of. The organization must certainly have the right to shape that. Whether it did the right thing or is up to others to judge.

So the glorification of a student who insisted on disregarding the rules of the school on the previewing of a speech, or the teacher who broke rules because of her fervent First Amendment belief, is misplaced. A government can, as seduced by good intention, use law or administrative power to take away the authority of organizations regarding rule making and enforcement. This good is purchased at the high cost of more government coercive power on how people may freely associate (or not.) Looking at the schools, one can see that taking away authority also takes away accountability. We have done too much of that and this is one reason why public school authorities cannot foster a disciplined environment.

The First Amendment is one of the most precious things we have in this country. We owe it to ourselves to understand it clearly and teach it correctly.

You won't always agree with Nat Hentoff..........2002-05-10

...but he will always make you think. He is the finest writer on free speech issues we have today. There is no one else out there who understands the First Amendment as well as he does, and knows how to make it come alive for his readers. His portraits of musicians are insightful, and will make you want to hear their music if you have never heard it before. His work is always thoughtful and thought provoking, and he is never afraid to take a poke at various sacred cows.

Mr. Hentoff neither of the left nor the right. His long association with the Village Voice, which some would use to label him as a leftie, is counterbalanced by his pro-life writings, which some may use to tar him as a reactionary. I think he just calls them as he sees them.

Average customer rating:
The Nat Hentoff Reader
Nat (Author) Hentoff
Manufacturer: Da Capo
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OSRJS4

Average customer rating:

A good book

Power Chess: Great Grandmaster Battles from Russia (Chess)
Paul Keres
Manufacturer: Random House Puzzles & Games
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0812919491
Release Date: 1991-11-26

Book Description

Paul Keres -- "the greatest player never to have been world champion" -- was a legendary figure in chess. The depth of his conceptions and the elegance and beauty of his play rank him among such immortals as Alekhine, Tal, Bronstein, Botvinnik, and Bobby Fischer.

As a chess analyst, Keres had even fewer equals. The first Soviet grandmaster with a regular column in an American chess magazine, his articles for Chess Life between 1968 and 1975 set new standards in chess analysis.

Power Chess contains twenty-two of his best articles. Here are incredible rook sacrifices by Bronstein, ferocious attacks by Tal and Spassky, heroic defenses by Korchnoi, subtle endgames by Petrosian and Karpov, uncompromising struggles by Keres himself -- all profoundly analyzed by the greatest annotator who ever lived.

Customer Reviews:

A good book.......2001-04-23

Keres was considered to be a master of attack, and in this book he proves it. Most of the games are very entertaining miniatures in which Keres focuses more on themes and plans, rather than variations. There is also a section on endgames which are also interesting. Not very instructive, but very entertaining.

Power Chess: Great Grandmaster Battles from Russia

Average customer rating:

Power Chess: Great Grandmaster Battles from Russia
Paul; Hochberg, Burt Keres
Manufacturer: Times Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OAI5BW

Book Description

Explore the depth and flexibility of Macromedia Flash 8 with Sams Teach Yourself Macromedia Flash 8 in 24 Hours. Fundamental topics are presented one-by-one in a series of 24 one-hour lessons that will help you master the basics of Flash. Author Phillip Kerman, an internationally-known Macromedia trainer and multimedia expert, offers you a clearly-written, well-organized introduction to Macromedia Flash 8 without becoming too overwhelming. You will cover such subjects as:

Drawing and Painting Original Art
Using Motion Tween to Animate
Animatng Using Movie Clips
Using Actions to Create Non-Linear Movies
Optimizing a Flash Site
Publishing a Creation

Not only will you master the basics of Macromedia Flash 8 with Sams Teach Yourself Macromedia Flash 8 in 24 Hours, you will also be better prepared to learn more advanced topics in the future.

Customer Reviews:

Good Info but..........2007-05-12

It takes FOREVER to get to the point and many times there is repitition over the instruction. Sometimes in the same paragraph! A good book that gives information yes, but it could easily have been cut to a third the size.

Not worth it a nickel.......2007-04-18

I bought this book last month due to some good feedbacks. But when I read, it seems the book is too much unnecessary words just to make it look thick but the actual content is thin. I would recommend to learn from the help section of the flash program itself. It's much more clear and right to the point not like this book. From there then google up and you will find a lot of more better tutorials than this book and best of all, it's free!

Great book for beginner........2007-03-18

Hi all, first of all, I just want to thank all the people who had written the comments on this book. It had helped me a lot in making a decision in buying this book. Thanks.

As for the book, I just got it. I am in Hour 2 and so far, it has helped me soooo much. I am new to Flash and I think this will be a great book for all the people who are new like me. I gave it a 4 stars rather than 5 since I haven't finished the book yet and can't comment on the whole book. But base on the first 2 hrs, I think once I am done with the book, my rating would be a 5 star.

flash for dummy!.......2007-03-17

u cannot finish this on 24 hours. I have Flash background but I finished "chapter 5" in 13 hours, which was supposed to finish in 5 hours. Sooooooo many text and difficult for ESL students. Not step by step and not too many graphic. No CD or resource files to do tutorials.

I recommend flash 8 24 hours........2007-03-09

I recommend Flash 8 24hours...I believe it will take more than 24 hours to get through the book. But it is a good buy and I found it helpful in understanding flash.

Customer Reviews:

Remembering is a Form of Forgetting.......2004-02-29

In Censoring History: Citizenship and Memory in Japan, Germany, and the United States Laura Hein and Mark Selden provide a critical investigation of how Japan, Germany, and even the United States recognize, think about, and then articulate their role during times of war. Hein and Seldon place their work within a larger viewpoint and try to concentrate on two main issues: [1] the connection between citizens and the state, and [2] a nation's actions in wartime and its implications vis-à-vis other countries. Censoring History is "really" about what has been left out of the public space in the development or reification a national narrative. The focal point of Censoring History is the many manifestations of such censorship and how it seeps into particular national spaces of memory. Vis-à-vis the Japanese, Germany has made tremendous strides in terms of how it deals with its past. Reading Hein and Seldon one gets the impression that on a "self-reflexivity" scale of 1 to 10 Germany is perhaps an 8 while the Japanese gaze thorough a less critical lens situating themselves in about a 5 position and the United States perhaps at and about the 3 positions. Different angles of war and internal conflict not only create problems within a nation-state, but also increasingly affect the state of affairs between them.

Germany not only looks at issues such as textbooks but they also perceive themselves as part of a developing European Community, as per Hein and Seldon a key distinction from how Japan deals with is history, hence its "place" in the region. Compared with Japan, German textbooks contain large segments analyzing controversial issues and creatively augment those entries with projects and field trips. Perhaps unfairly judged and there is movement in this area but vis-à-vis their Japanese counterparts, German textbooks have more of a propensity to motivate students to investigate and explore historical and juxtapose those sites and sounds against present-day similarities and contrasts. Not only that, a student is made to poke and prod and reflect on people's prejudices and such.

Kathleen Woods Masalski, an American high school teacher, communicates exchanges between American and Japanese teachers. In a lot of ways, most master narratives can be pegged to a sense of nationalism. Nationalist master narratives are created to make people feel good about being part of that national community. However, historians introduce self-criticism by problematizing histories makes history 'messy' (258). Masalski writes in Teaching Democracy, Teaching War: American and Japanese Educators Teach the Pacific War (258): "National narrative, master narrative, textbook narrative, counternarrative, multiple narratives - the language, though not the ideas behind it, was new to me and to most if not all the high school and college teachers in the audience when our keynote speaker at a National Endowment for the Humanities summer institute in 1994 challenged us to "problematize the national, the master, the textbook narrative ... to make history messy!"" (258). Masalski further writes: "The speaker was Jonathan Lipman (a historian at Mount Holyoke College), one of many scholars in the Five College area in western Massachusetts who has collaborated with social studies teachers throughout New England (and across the country) to bring serious historical thought and controversy into precollege classrooms" (258).

Not known to many in the United Stated but to a few interested scholars and teacher is the epic struggle of Ienaga Saburo. In Censoring History such notables as Nozaki Yoshiko and Inokuchio Hiromitsu offer a more sympathetic description of the decade-long effort by historian and educator Ienaga Saburo who challenged the state authority in censoring and sanitizing textbook content in Japan. Understandably in problematizing the hegemony we can expose the limitations contained within the narratives, much to the chagrin of most comfortable unreflective folk. At this point I wish to bring in Edward Linenthal who penned Anatomy of a Controversy in History Wars: The Enola Gay and other Battles for the American Past - who also focuses on issues of pedagogy - when he quotes Michael Kammen, president of the Organization of American Historians and a member of the Smithsonian Council during the Enola Gay controversy, "Historians become controversial when they do not perpetuate myth, when they do not transmit the received and conventional wisdom, when they challenge the comforting presence of a stabilized past. Members of a society, and its politicians in particular, prefer that historians be quietly irenic rather than polemical, conservators rather than innovators" (Linenthal 60). Such is the struggle of Ienaga Saburo. For those interested in pedagogy, Gregory Wegner's article on the Buchenwald Concentration Camp in educating youth is very informative.

Turning to a topic of a very different sort, Hein and Seldon present the argument that unlike the two "defeated" countries, the US has somehow managed to escape outside scrutiny and accountability over is "narratives" of its discredited war - Vietnam. The one thing that Censoring History does is drag the U.S. into this circle of examination. Hein and Seldon's research shows how the resulting clashes, wars, etc. have been sanitized, at times even deliberately ignored, when textbooks circulate this part of American history to its young. Taken together, these essays reveal that Japan is far from the only country caught in an ongoing conflict over its past. Masalski's essay reveals some instances of differences among American teachers over an American historians interpretation of World War II. Potential teachers like myself wish to view the work do Laura Hein and Mark Selden (and including, but not limited to, the works of Edward Linenthal and Tom Engelhardt) as unfinished projects. Pedagogical development is something that should be constantly and vigorously attended to, lest we forget.

Miguel Llora

Japanvisitor.com Review.......2003-06-04

The premise of this book is that "schools and textbooks are important vehicles through which contemporary societies transmit ideas of citizenship and both the idealized past and the promised future". The 10 chapters look at how World War II and the Vietnam War are represented in school history textbooks in the 3 countries. Almost 50 years after the end of the war, controversy over Japanese text books continues to rage, and this book is useful to put that into some sort of perspective. Of the 10 chapters, 6 deal with Japan, including a chapter with all the details of Saburo Ienaga's famous textbook lawsuits against the Japanese government, and a couple of chapters on joint history projects between Japan and Korea, and Japan and the U.S. The common conception is that Japan has not yet faced up to its wartime past, and while I agree, after reading this book my view has been somewhat softened. Compared with the U.S.A., Japan has done more to teach its young about the negative side of its wars. If you enjoyed reading Ian Buruma's Wages of Guilt, then you will enjoy this book.

Should be required for High School/College Hist teachers.......2001-05-10

This is the best collection of essays on the "uses" of history and construction of national "memories" that I have read. This should be required reading in every high school social studies/history teacher certification program, and should be read by all who want to enter the debate on standardized testing and prescriptive curriculum content. I have used selections of it in my college level Japanese history course, my college level world history courses, and recommend it to my colleagues and also to the many high school teachers with whom I work. It shares valuable lessons on the manipulation of history for nationalistic and/or militaristic purposes. It should also be read by educational, defense, and foreign policy-makers as well as journalists who often seem too quick to pass on widely held myths as truths. Alas, I am afraid that many in these positions are more comfortable with the myths.

Fascinating, challenging, highly informative essays.......2001-01-11

Censoring History: Citizenship And Memory In Japan, Germany, And The United States is a fascinating, challenging, well written and highly informative anthology of essays about how history is almost inevitably distorted and revised by subsequent generations to meet their social, political and cultural needs and myths -- and how such unwarranted revisions must be countered with an coherent understanding of the politics of education, from the writing and publication of textbooks to curriculum development and classroom instruction practices. Censoring History is critically important reading for anyone seeking to understand how and why the needs of nationalism would and do distort the recording and transmission of history, and the peril future generations are put to as those who do not know their history are so often doomed to repeat it in an age where nuclear war could end civilization and even the human race.

Censoring History: Citizenship and Memory in Japan, Germany, and the United States. (Book Reviews).(Book Review): An article from: Pacific Affairs

Average customer rating:

Censoring History: Citizenship and Memory in Japan, Germany, and the United States. (Book Reviews).(Book Review): An article from: Pacific Affairs
Mark Wisniewski
Manufacturer: University of British Columbia
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

Japan | Asia | History | Subjects | Books

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Book Description

This digital document is an article from Pacific Affairs, published by University of British Columbia on March 22, 2003. The length of the article is 709 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: Censoring History: Citizenship and Memory in Japan, Germany, and the United States. (Book Reviews).(Book Review)
Author: Mark Wisniewski
Publication: Pacific Affairs (Refereed)
Date: March 22, 2003
Publisher: University of British Columbia
Volume: 76 Issue: 1 Page: 100(2)

Article Type: Book Review

Distributed by Thomson Gale

Book Description

Beautifully detailed full-page pen-and-ink drawings give dimensions, decorations, and construction details on more than a hundred historic bows, scores of arrows, and two dozen quivers.

Customer Reviews:

Eye Opener.......2007-03-09

This book really opened my eyes. I couldn't put it down for days. I'm still amazed by the high level of workmanship that the Native Americans achieved with these so-called "primitive" weapons. More amazing to me, however, is the realization that there are so many poor quality reproductions on the market...and thanks to this book, I am able to see them for what they are...."ugly" reproductions lacking the artistic, technological, and even spiritual aspects of the originals.

The second book is available (but not on Amazon...for some reason) and I have purchased that one also. It is even better than the first.

Overall, I think that books like this will lead to an appreciation of the art of Native American archery....and for those who think that pictures alone cannot give insights into the construction of these weapons, think again. Anyone who has advanced experience in both woodworking and archery will immediately appreciate this book.

My only question now is why books like this are so rare. Perhaps it is because we are caught up in the "engineering" of archery and not the "art" of archery. Perhaps these weapons are considered "inferior". Perhaps we don't care.....

Excellent reference.......2006-07-24

This is a very useful book for studying tribal or regional designs of bows. Most bows on the market have incorrect or nil provenance on the origin of the bow. This book gives the ethnologist some indication of common characteristics of bow design from the regions listed. If you are looking to build your own bow, Hamm (and others) have different works specifically written for would-be bowyers.

Where is Vol. II ??

From an arrow collector.......2002-05-18

This book, thanks to the very accurate drawings and precise indications (length, diameter, type of wood and fletching, colours indications) have enabled me to duplicate native American arrows with precision. I have often counterchecked the descriptions with some information I have found in museums and found the book very reliable. First pity, there aren't enough photos or colour drawings. Second and most catastrophic pity: why has the publisher apparently given up the idea of publishing the second volume about the Great plains, Columbia and Southwest?

One of a kind, at least for now.......2002-05-17

It is true that this book is not a how-to book, but I think that was the author's intention. What it is, is a much-needed reference work, indeed, it is the first and certainly most up-to-date record of American Indian archery equipment. It's been at least 50 years since a book of this sort has been published. My only objection is that the book does not (cannot?) provide enough context or provenance; this is a minor objection. Perhaps fans of Hamm would be more satisfied with Bows and Arrows of the Native Americans. I'd say the book is directed more towards the ethnographer or anthropologist; however, the book is clearly an invaluable reference for the traditional archer/bowyer (hey, this is a "living" hobby - be creative), as it provides dimensions, materials used, colors, and closeups of designs. Fans of American Indian art in gerneral will also appreciate it. Volume II, which should be available before the end of the year, should be at least as good.

A catalog of Native American Bows.......2001-12-31

I read the two previous reviews, so before buying I exactly knew what to expect.
I received my book a couple of days ago, I really liked it, at least for what it is, a kind of catalog of bows, perfectly drawn, with explanation of wood used, dimensions, and colours.
This on Tribe by Tribe basis.
I'll wait volume 2, about western and Plains Indians.
So, if you are really intrested in Native American bows, this is a book to buy, if you prefer something like a "how to", than the traditional Bowyer's bibles are more fit to what you want. Alberto

Book Description

The new edition of this popular book again gathers all of the elements necessary to help prospective teachers learn to inspire children to care about their world and how it works, enjoy investigating it, and remember with pride what their investigations uncover. These authors clearly demonstrate that to be effective, science teaching must engage children not just physically, intellectually, and socially; but, emotionally, as well. They show how providing achievable goals and appropriate guidance sparks children's natural interest in what things do, how things work, and why things happen the way they do. The book's multi-model approach works with a variety of learning styles. It connects science activities with the rest of the early childhood curriculum—math, literature, music, art, etc.—and places science in the context of today's children's lives within the family and the community. Increased coverage of neuroscience expands discussion of the complex interactions between emotions, memory, and thought processes.

Customer Reviews:

Science Experiences for Early Childhood Years.......2005-07-09

Terrific speedy delivery and book in excellent condition. Thanks so much.

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