Keys to the Asylum : A Dean, a Medical School, and Academic Politics

Book Description

He wanted to innovate, they wanted him to toe the line

So why did they give him the KEYS TO THE ASYLUM?

Daniel K. Bloomfield, M.D., didnt know he was entering an academic bedlam when he accepted the job as founding dean of a new medical school. Dr. Bloomfield was a cardiologist working in private practice when the University of Illinois College of Medicine offered him a deanship. He was lured by the chance to work in an exciting initiative to establish regional medical schools in Illinois and by the implied promise that his one-year school would eventually become a full four-year medical program.

Dr. Bloomfield found instead an administration that wanted him to suffer quietly while it dragged its feet on its promises and turned a deaf ear to his requests for more funding. Suffer quietly? Boy, did they have the wrong man!

In Keys to the Asylum: A Dean, a Medical School, and Academic Politics, Dr. Bloomfield recounts his14-year battle to secure the future of the University of Illinois College of Medicine at Urbana-Champaign. Spawned by the fiscal largesse and idealism of the late 60s, the school was shaped by the diminished expectations of the recessionary 70s.

Determined to turn out doctors who saw patients as people rather than flesh-and-blood machines, the unrelentingly optimistic dean drove the effort to forge an innovative curriculum, fought to turn his one-year school into a full four-year program, and developed a highly acclaimed joint Ph.D.-M.D. program. The resourceful dean accomplished these goals despite chronic underfunding from the unsympathetic and often hostile bureaucrats in Chicago, enmity from his fellow deans, and the constant specter that, at any moment, the administration would shut down the school.

He says of his book, It is a story of clashing academic personalities: of leaders strong and weak, of intrigues that take place in the name of academic quality and fiscal responsibility, and of deception both deliberate and accidental.

This dramatic story gives readers an inside look into academic politics, the passions these internecine battles ignite, and the toll they take on educators and students alike. Dr. Bloomfield shows how passion and commitment beats bureaucracy and the status quo every time.

The story of a deans fight to save the medical school he founded.

Customer Reviews:

Review for medical administration.......2001-03-26

This interesting story, part autobiography and full of history, details the incipient days of founding a medical institution. Literally from the ground up, Dr. Bloomfield describes how an idea, great innovation, procuring the funding, and convincing the politicians resulted in the beginning construction. His Part II, "The Act of Creation" goes to the heart of finding the curriculum and the students to use it. Tension and relief bob up and down as the unchartered meets the new sailors. Then the bureaucracy gravitates and its inertia sometimes slows, other time really impedes the progress. Nevertheless, there is something to say for the distillation process, which in the end seems to come up with the right mixture of what should and what could be done.

What comes through the pages is the love for education, the purity of intent that Dr. Bloomfield had. Battling with detractors, some with power and others with jealousy seemed to invigorate his pugnacious side. When he found the good guys, nestled among the many people with whom he had to deal, he had genuine concern for their thoughts and suggestions.

Lessons take many forms and the path to this school showed many roads to take for projects we might consider. Reading about this effort and enjoying the success in the epilogue, I could find many useful suggestions and tactics. Such books bear the signature of the great medical administrators who steered the medical schools in the 60's to 80's in some very troubled times.

A Journey through Academia.......2000-09-14

Dr. Bloomfield, Founder and Dean of a new and innovative medical school at the University of Illinois, describes the challenges and frustrations of creativity within a bureaucratic state system. His description of the hurdles he had to leap, and especially the lack of support (primarily financial) offered to him, would make most people cave in. Balanced with these frustrations is the extraordinary success he was able to achieve. It is a credit to him and to his colleagues that so much was accomplished. And that is what makes the story bearable. I would encourage university administrators and those interested in innovative approaches to medical (and other professional) disciplines to read this book.

Book Description

Day by day, scandal by scandal, triumph by triumph, incurable film fan Harry Haun has squeezed the juice out of the past 100 years at the movies with a surprise on every page. This book is for everyone with an addiction to the movies even Betty Ford can't cure.

Customer Reviews:

Boring.......2007-02-16

Prior to reading the book, I've learned a lot about the history of the movies and the stars and whoever else associated, but when reading this book, it says nothing new or anything particularly fascinating. Feels like I am reading stories of incredibly forgotten stars. Fathom that word "fogotten," and I stress it. Actually, the book makes a great read when crapping in the toilet. I can't believe this book turned out to be trivial pusuit of Ronald Reagan and Marilyn Monroe (like 50% of the book).

Haun's Hollywood History is a Hit!.......1999-12-21

This most impressive volume of movie facts, anecdotes, trivia, and gossip will keep film lovers enthralled for hours. Mr. Haun knows movies inside out and he shares his vast knowledge of film history in the format of a year long day to day diary. Wonderful pictures of the stars illustrate the work. Did you know that Bette Davis kept Vivien Leigh From being cast in "Hush, Hush Sweet Charlotte" because she was still mad at her 26 years later for beating her out to be Scarlett O'Hara? You will know all sorts of fun facts when you read Haun's amazing book! A movie lover's dream come true!

Affair of the Heart.......1999-12-16

I love to go to the movies. Frankly who does't, and even though one thinks that there are many books out there that talk about the movies, but this book gives the reader a lot more. Each page is filled with tid bits and gossip, and dates with information that you normally would not find somewhere in a book. I recommend this book for the people who truely are movie buffs and love to see what happened on a day at the movies.

Book Description

With an introduction by Harland Miller, Rankin/Celebritation is a collection of photographs created over the past decade of pop and rock stars, actors, artists and models. Renowned for his insightful portraits, Rankin's photographs in Celebritation go further to reveal the unguarded moments during a shoot when even the most photographed individuals stop noticing the camera. Includes exlusive photos the public have never been allowed to see before, selected from Rankin's shoots for the front covers of magazines, record sleeves and advertising sites all over the world.

Customer Reviews:

fantastic book.......2001-10-05

fascinating project, celebrity photography without the slick surface, glimpses under the mask into what they're really like

A Campaign and Adventure Guidebook for Middle Earth: Including the Wild Lands-East, South, and North, Second Edition (MERP/Middle Earth Role Playing)
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A Campaign and Adventure Guidebook for Middle Earth: Including the Wild Lands-East, South, and North, Second Edition (MERP/Middle Earth Role Playing)
Peter C. Fenlon
Manufacturer: Iron Crown Enterprises
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Puzzles & Games | Entertainment | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0915795051

Book Description

"The book you are about to read will arm you with the knowledge you need to defend your network from attackers—both the obvious and the not so obvious....If you are new to network security, don't put this book back on the shelf! This is a great book for beginners and I wish I had access to it many years ago. If you've learned the basics of TCP/IP protocols and run an open source or commercial IDS, you may be asking 'What's next?' If so, this book is for you."

—Ron Gula, founder and CTO, Tenable Network Security, from the Foreword "Richard Bejtlich has a good perspective on Internet security—one that is orderly and practical at the same time. He keeps readers grounded and addresses the fundamentals in an accessible way."

—Marcus Ranum, TruSecure "This book is not about security or network monitoring: It's about both, and in reality these are two aspects of the same problem. You can easily find people who are security experts or network monitors, but this book explains how to master both topics."

—Luca Deri, ntop.org "This book will enable security professionals of all skill sets to improve their understanding of what it takes to set up, maintain, and utilize a successful network intrusion detection strategy."

—Kirby Kuehl, Cisco Systems Every network can be compromised. There are too many systems, offering too many services, running too many flawed applications. No amount of careful coding, patch management, or access control can keep out every attacker. If prevention eventually fails, how do you prepare for the intrusions that will eventually happen? Network security monitoring (NSM) equips security staff to deal with the inevitable consequences of too few resources and too many responsibilities. NSM collects the data needed to generate better assessment, detection, and response processes—resulting in decreased impact from unauthorized activities. In The Tao of Network Security Monitoring, Richard Bejtlich explores the products, people, and processes that implement the NSM model. By focusing on case studies and the application of open source tools, he helps you gain hands-on knowledge of how to better defend networks and how to mitigate damage from security incidents. Inside, you will find in-depth information on the following areas. The NSM operational framework and deployment considerations. How to use a variety of open-source tools—including Sguil, Argus, and Ethereal—to mine network traffic for full content, session, statistical, and alert data. Best practices for conducting emergency NSM in an incident response scenario, evaluating monitoring vendors, and deploying an NSM architecture. Developing and applying knowledge of weapons, tactics, telecommunications, system administration, scripting, and programming for NSM. The best tools for generating arbitrary packets, exploiting flaws, manipulating traffic, and conducting reconnaissance. Whether you are new to network intrusion detection and incident response, or a computer-security veteran, this book will enable you to quickly develop and apply the skills needed to detect, prevent, and respond to new and emerging threats.

Customer Reviews:

Jump into NSM.......2007-06-13

This book is a great introduction to the world of NSM (Network Security Monitoring). The basic idea is that security defenses will fail at some point and that to realistically improve the security posture of an organization NSM is needed.

The book starts with an introduction to risk analysis. It then describes how to build an NSM platform using open source tools, FreeBSD, and network taps / SPAN ports. It also includes some case studies and a lot of material on the operational aspects of running a NSM team.

I really like Richard's style such as his footnotes with related papers.

Be sure to check out the author's blog at http://taosecurity.blogspot.com/.

Great book.......2007-05-17

Cuts right to the chase. Worthy addition to any serious network security library.

Great book to learn the Art of Network Monitoring!.......2006-02-07

I am not sure how I was first introduced to the author, Mr. Bejtlich. I cannot remember if I first noticed his work via his excellent blog or this, his first book. Either way, after reading "The Tao of Network Security" by Richard Bejtlich, I feel he has prepared and educated me in a way unlike any other author. The first item you must recognize is the tone that this book dictates right from the outset. The book begins by citing many different authors, their books and their value. I knew immediately that I was in for a treat. And I was right!

I will not attempt to offer a full review as I feel one can gather from other reviews the value of this book. The book is basically broken up into 5 sections. The first 100 pages is an intro to Network Security Monitoring (NSM). The second part is dedicated to the different ways to monitor - I particularly like (and agree) with how the author broke up the different ways of cataloguing NSM - full content, session, and alert. The third section describers NSM processes and the fourth section describes NSM people.

The book, overall, is a superb resource. Not a page goes by without some screenshots of TCPDump, UNIX configs or diagrams. I have heard others' mention they have been given this book to read in their classroom study and I can see why.

I give this book 5 pings out of 5:
!!!!!

Shows a disciplined approach to network security monitoring .......2005-05-29

A problem with the approach many people take to network and security monitoring is that they expect it to be plug and play. Install the software and then stop attackers in their tracks. If only it was so easy. But one can't simply install monitoring software or an IDS, collect data and expect it all to correlate and correct itself.

The beauty of The Tao of Network Security Monitoring : Beyond Intrusion Detection is that it shows how network monitoring requires a strong discipline to truly have an effect on security.

The book is written for the person; primarily a system administrator or security engineer whom truly wants to use an IDS to manage and secure their network. This is not an introductory text, rather it is written for someone not scared of downloading and compiling code. If you are looking for an intro to IDS usage, this is not the book for you. This is a book about someone who has an IDS, and needs to find a way to use it and tune it for maximum usage.

The book has a near endless supply of network traffic capture and analysis tools, techniques and network topologies. Beyond simply providing a list of software tools, the book shows how to install and configure a variety of these tools. Rather than wasting pages and screen shots detailing how to download and install the software mentioned; the book shows how to use the tool in the context or Tao of security monitoring.

In addition, the author emphasizes the point that the people are a crucial aspect of effective network monitoring. The ultimate success of any IDS is directly tied to the analyst behind the console. They are the ones making the decision on how to respond to an incident, and if they are not appropriately trained, all of the hardware and software will only provide a fraction of it potential.

With that, The Tao of Network Security Monitoring should be considered required reading for anyone using an IDS or responsible for its use. If you have staff using an IDS, ensure that they have read The Tao of Network Security Monitoring as it will educate them in truly understanding how to monitor a network.

One of a kind.......2005-02-21

This book has everyting as it pertains to network security monitoring. If you read this book from cover-to-cover, then you can consider yourself prepared to deal with anything that comes at you. This book presents material that would normally take years to learn in an easy-to-follow format. This book is a must have for anyone who is serious about their job and wants to make the jump to becoming an expert.

Book Description

This encyclopedia gathers together the most recent scholarship on Medieval Italy, while offering a sweeping view of all aspects of life in Italy during the Middle Ages. An illustrated A-Z reference, this is a cross-disciplinary resource for information on literature, history, the arts, science, philosophy, and religion in Italy between A.D. 450 and 1375.

Gervaise of Tilbury: Otia Imperialia: Recreation for an Emperor (Oxford Medieval Texts)

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Gervaise of Tilbury: Otia Imperialia: Recreation for an Emperor (Oxford Medieval Texts)

Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Europe | History | Subjects | Books

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Book Description

This is the first English translation and the first modern critical edition of Gervase of Tilbury's Otia Imperialia. Gervase wrote the Otia Imperialia in the early thirteenth century for his patron, the Holy Roman Emperor Otto IV. It presents an encyclopedic melange of cosmographical, historical, and geographical information and a wealth of learned and original accounts of folklore and popular belief. It also contains advice to Otto and pertinent remarks on the relationship between Empire and Papacy, together with scientific and theological speculation. The edition also includes Gervase's recently discovered Commentary on the Lord's Prayer. Gervase was a voracious and eclectic reader; his many borrowings are identified in this fully annotated edition.

Christopher Kleinhenz, ed. Medieval Italy: An Encyclopedia.(Book review): An article from: Italica

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Christopher Kleinhenz, ed. Medieval Italy: An Encyclopedia.(Book review): An article from: Italica
Guy P. Raffa
Manufacturer: Thomson Gale
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital
ASIN: B000MQ5DC2
Release Date: 2007-01-17

Book Description

This digital document is an article from Italica, published by Thomson Gale on June 22, 2006. The length of the article is 1090 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: Christopher Kleinhenz, ed. Medieval Italy: An Encyclopedia.(Book review)
Author: Guy P. Raffa
Publication: Italica (Magazine/Journal)
Date: June 22, 2006
Publisher: Thomson Gale
Volume: 83 Issue: 2 Page: 309(2)

Article Type: Book review

Distributed by Thomson Gale

Medieval Italy: An Encyclopedia (Routledge Encyclopedias of the Middle Ages, 9; 2-Volume Set)

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Medieval Italy: An Encyclopedia (Routledge Encyclopedias of the Middle Ages, 9; 2-Volume Set)
Christopher Kleinhenz
Manufacturer: NY
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000MUFUP8

Customer Reviews:

Brain Food!.......2007-09-18

My interest was stoked when an article was printed in the Washington Post regarding this topic. What an eye-opener! Current-day Georgetown is bleach-white but this book tells the whole story. I gave one as a gift. Highly recomended!

Book Description

At the 1994 landmark conference "Toward a Scientific Basis for Consciousness," philosopher David Chalmers distinguished between the "easy" problems and the "hard" problem of consciousness research. According to Chalmers, the easy problems are to explain cognitive functions such as discrimination, integration, and the control of behavior; the hard problem is to explain why these functions should be associated with phenomenal experience. Why doesn't all this cognitive processing go on "in the dark," without any consciousness at all? In this book philosophers, physicists, psychologists, neurophysiologists, computer scientists, and others address this central topic in the growing discipline of consciousness studies. Some take issue with Chalmers's distinction, arguing that the hard problem is a nonproblem, or that the explanatory gap is too wide to be bridged. Others offer alternative suggestions as to how the problem might be solved, whether through cognitive science, fundamental physics, empirical phenomenology, or with theories that take consciousness as irreducible.

Customer Reviews:

A great introduction, a great collection, BUY IT!.......2007-04-21

This collection begins with an essay by David Chalmers defending the view that no reductive, materialistic account of consciousness can ever be successful.

The rest of the book is made up of over two dozen responses to Chalmers's essay--some supportive, some critical, and some derisive. These responses are written by some of the biggest names in the field, and are followed by a concluding essay, again by Chalmers, in which he tries to defend his own views against what has gone before.

Because of the variety of viewpoints (materialism, dualism, mysterianism) and approaches (neurophysiology, analytical philosophy, quantum mechanics), this collection provides a wonderful introduction to some of the most important aspects of recent work in consciounsess studies. Just check out the table of contents.

As a reductionist myself, I found Patricia Churchland's argument particularly hard to counter, and I think that anyone, regardless of their perspective, will find food for thought in Mark C. Price's wonderful piece.

All in all, the best introduction I have ever encountered to the philosophical study of consciousness.

Excellent Overview of the "Hard" Problem of Consciousness.......2005-09-08

Daniel Dennett's physicalist model of the mind (having its basis in Artificial Intelligence, Robotics and Neural Networks) claims to explain everything about the working of the mind. Can everything mental be explained by this model? i.e, can all mental properties be reduced to the four entities that constitute the physical: (1) Mass (2) Space (3) Time (4) Electric Charge ?

Not everything has been explained by this model, sayeth David Chalmers. In a famous paper published in the Journal of Consciousness Studies in 1995, Chalmers argued that the "Hard" problem of consciousness remains untouched by physicalist models of the mind --

"Why does the performance of [brain] functions result in experience?"

In other words, why do experiences such as the "sweetness of sugar", or "smell of mothballs", or "blueness of the sky" arise out of the firing of neurons? Why should "experience" arise out of a physical system at all?

Chalmers got 26 responses for his paper, and he even responded to all the responses in a subsequent paper. This book contains all these papers on the subject.

The "Hard" problem of consciousness has been around for a long time. Frank Jackson, Sydney Shoemaker, Joseph Levine have all pointed this out before, and Chalmers has merely highlighted the problem. But he has done a pretty good job of it, for even Daniel Dennett is having a "hard" problem being able to sleep nowadays!

I dropped a star because Chalmers' idea of including "experience" as a fundamental entity is not covered well or convincingly.

Head Wars.......2001-10-28

This book was just about my first taste of the consciousness wars. Or no. I’ve been reading about consciousness for about ten years. But it made too much sense to me. My retinas see you, my visual cortex sees my retinas, but who sees my visual cortex? Where does the buck stop? Because the buck does stop. Once it hit me that vision is vision, something you wouldn’t expect from a brain of mere structure and function, electrons moving around, drugs being administered, I embraced magic, and demanded that we are souls, things beyond law. A point-of-view can be such an amazing thing to have that I can even slip into the thought, ‘Only one POV can exist, they’re so unbelievable.’ But as Smith said, ‘There’s no such thing as a leaf, there are only leaves.’

This book is a delightful bunch of mental flowerings. David Chalmers is the nuclear furnace sun around which the rest of these characters orbit. Although it can seem like some are in different galaxies altogether. His explanation is ‘Information is phenomenal.’ He deftly eludes every attack the others come up with, although this book is not the final round. He admits that his theory is probably wrong, but says this type of speculation is just what we need. My problem is, ‘Info is phenomenal, but where does the subject come from, you need a subject for anything phenomenal to be noticed.’

(...)Chalmers is a true scholar and looks like he reads everything written about the subject. If you can’t afford the book, there are hundreds of online papers he’s collected. My final line to you is ‘The war is not just in your head.’

Product Description

Two-Volume Set of Half-Leatherbound Books..Complete within itself and part of a larger Set of Books....909 Pages

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Seventh Continent
Arthur Scholes
Manufacturer: George Allen and Unwin
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000LXERMS

The Seventh Continent Antarctica in a Resource Age

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The Seventh Continent Antarctica in a Resource Age
Deborah Shapley
Manufacturer: Resources for the Future
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000J0NJJA

The Seventh Continent: Antarctica in a Resource Age (RFF Press)

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The Seventh Continent: Antarctica in a Resource Age (RFF Press)
Deborah Shapley
Manufacturer: RFF Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Polar Regions | Australia & Oceania | History | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0915707179

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The seventh continent;
Daphne Machin Goodall
Manufacturer: Priory P. Ltd
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

The seventh continent;: A history of the discovery and explorations of Antarctica

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The seventh continent;: A history of the discovery and explorations of Antarctica
Helen S Wright
Manufacturer: R.G. Badger
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

Seventh continent;: Saga of Australasian exploration in Antarctica, 1895-1950

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Seventh continent;: Saga of Australasian exploration in Antarctica, 1895-1950
William Arthur Scholes
Manufacturer: The Travel Book Club
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding
ASIN: B0007J053Q

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