Reforming Capital Income Taxation

Book Description

Jen Yu asks Jade Fox to inform Lo that he should devote himself to the government and fight the enemy. However, Jade Fox wants to maintain control over Jen Yu and does not relay the message, sabotaging Jen Yu's original plan. Lo receives no recognition from the government, despite his effort and superb skills in martial arts, which breaks Jen's heart. Jade Fox, jealous of Li Mu Bai's reputation, comes up with a venomous plan; she divulges secret information to the enemy regarding the national security, and sets a trap to kill Li Mu Bai...

Average customer rating:

record store slacker

Very Amusing Book

Sarah, I knew you when...

Tremendously funny.Lots of info & help(yes,help) on slacking

Official Slacker Handbook
Sarah Dunn
Manufacturer: Grand Central Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Humor | Entertainment | Subjects | Books
General | Foreign Languages | Reference | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

White Collar Slacker's Handbook

The Big Love: A Novel

ASIN: 0446670588

Book Description

The '90's answer to The Preppie Handbook is a satiric, humorous and comprehensive critique, written by the ultimate slacker, that reveals rules, guidelines and recommendations for being a state-of-the-art slacker. The book features a hip MTV-like format with fast-cut sidebars, cartoons, photos, lists, quizzes and charts.

Customer Reviews:

record store slacker.......2004-05-30

i came across this book in a dollar bin, at the time i was working in an independent record store, drinking coffee all the time, and smoking way too many cigarettes. i thought it was brilliant. this book really summed up a time and a place, a grungy apathetic precurser to the hipsters of now. and though it no longer applies, i still love this book!

Very Amusing Book.......1999-10-18

I'm so glad I can get this book over Amazon.Com. I never bought this book, but I have read it cover-to-cover many times in bookstores. I'm was too law-abiding to steal it, and I'd be embarrassed to admit I actually bought the thing.

Anyway, the book went out of print and I never saw it again and I rued the fact I never bought it. But joy! Here it is on Amazon.Com! I'm not letting it get away this time. I'll tell anyone who asks I shoplifted it.

This book totally had my number, it's very funny to see how she had pegged my lifestyle; or how I conformed to the book before reading it. I especially enjoyed "The Goatee through History"

Sarah, I knew you when..........1997-06-14

I remember when Sarah Dunn was hanging out in slacker coffee shops in Philly, like the Last Drop, writing this book. Now's she's moved on up to NYC and is writing for Michael J. Fox's Spin City TV show. Not a bad career move. But Sarah, be assured, the slackers are still slacking in your old haunts. This book, with its chaotic layout and graphics, its entertaining prose, and nail-on-the-head insights is a must for Generation X navel-gazers. My kid sister and I bookend this group (I'm 30, she's 20) and Sarah's book made for a great gift for the l'il shrimp. Every generation needs a field guide; Sarah's is ours.

Tremendously funny.Lots of info & help(yes,help) on slacking.......1996-09-27

I think the 'Official Slacker Handbook' is a great expression of today's generation by Sarah Dunn.Lots of humor in it & an idea of the lifestyle of today's generation;mostly in their twenties or even teens.I personally recommend that EVERY library stocks at least one copy of 'The Official Slacker Handbook'.It's one book you either love,hate or as the author,Sarah puts it,love to hate.

Average customer rating:

Official Slacker Handbook
Time Warner Electronic Publishing
Manufacturer: Twig
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Diskette
ASIN: 1573041904

Average customer rating:

The Official Slacker Handbook -
Sarah Dunn -
Manufacturer: Warner Publishing -
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000QS2WIY

THE OFFICIAL SLACKER HANDBOOK: THE BIBLE FOR THE ACTIVITY CHALLENGED.

Average customer rating:

THE OFFICIAL SLACKER HANDBOOK: THE BIBLE FOR THE ACTIVITY CHALLENGED.
Sarah. Dunn
Manufacturer: Abacus
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Humor | Entertainment | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 034910591X

Book Description

Offers a case study of the same-sex marriage debate in Hawaii to discuss wider questions of political import

Book Description

Derrick Niederman, one of Sterling's most popular puzzle authors, has come up with another collection of super-tricky math brainteasers that's great for home or the classroom. Hours of mind-bending, brain-stretching fun await solvers, who can warm up with easy problems like this, before moving on to harder and harder conundrums:

Hector can run from the train station to his parents' house in eight minutes. His younger brother Darius can run the same distance eight times in one hour. Who is faster?

Some of the puzzles present visual patterns to interpret, or play tricks with multiplication and division. Every one will give the brain a good workout, and improve math skills in the most enjoyable way.

(Answer (small and upside down): Darius. It would take Hector 64 minutes to run the same distance Darius can in an hour.)

Ready-to-Go Reproducibles: Amazing Math Puzzles & Mazes (Grades 6-8)

Average customer rating:

Ready-to-Go Reproducibles: Amazing Math Puzzles & Mazes (Grades 6-8)
Cindi Mitchell
Manufacturer: Scholastic Professional Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Education | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Lesson Planning | Education | Professional & Technical | Subjects | Books

Math Games | Puzzles & Games | Entertainment | Subjects | Books

Scholastic Teaching Resources | Scholastic | By Publisher | Books
Similar Items:

ASIN: 0439042372

Book Description

Covers Multiplication, Division, Fractions, Decimals, Integers, & More!
Students sharpen important math skills as they work their way through mazes, cross-number puzzles, riddle searches, and mini-mysteries on these one-of-a-kind practice pages. Includes key middle school math topics!

Math Puzzles & Games: A Workbook for Ages 6-8 (Gifted & Talented)

Average customer rating:

Excellant practice for "thinking" problems

Math Puzzles & Games: A Workbook for Ages 6-8 (Gifted & Talented)
Martha Cheney
Manufacturer: McGraw-Hill/Contemporary
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Ages 4-8 | Children's Books | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

ASIN: 1565658353

Customer Reviews:

Excellant practice for "thinking" problems.......1999-12-08

You can teach your child to add and subtract, multiply and divide without workbooks. But the schools now insist on what they call "thinking" problems. These types of problems ususally are just confusing to kids because they are hard to understand. But the problems in this book really do stimulate thinking and they also offer the "confusion" factor that comes in trying to figure out what they want. Hey, we are stuck with these types of problems in the schools, whether you like them or not. This book has excellant problems and they have the answers in the back of the book. My daughter is 8 years old and she has found this a challenge. You still need to drill your child in the basic math facts, and this book does not do that, but you don't need a book for that. You do need a workbook of "thinking" problems. I think the teachers' colleges have lost their minds. This whole approach is flawed, but this workbook will help you teach your child how to cope with this goofy stuff. I highly recommend this book. And, wow, it's cheap!

Average customer rating:

Math Puzzles Grade 6-8
Bill Linderman
Manufacturer: Instructional Fair
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Puzzles & Games | Entertainment | Subjects | Books

Solve It 2: Manipulative Math Puzzles (Grade 6-8)

Average customer rating:

Solve It 2: Manipulative Math Puzzles (Grade 6-8)
Alan Barson
Manufacturer: Good Apple
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Mathematics | Science | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 1564178927

The Puzzle of the Week Book (the whole math project, grades 6-8)

Average customer rating:

The Puzzle of the Week Book (the whole math project, grades 6-8)
christine losq , robin levy , and cathy howard
Manufacturer: csl
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: 1568920032

Amazon.com

The all-time best-selling TCP/IP book, this is still the reference for anyone who wants to learn about or work with the TCP/IP protocol suite. Justly renowned for its clarity and accessibility,this superb text covers wide area Internet backbones as well as local area network technologies like FDDI and Ethernet. This is volume 1 of a 3 part set including Internetworking With TCP/IP (Vol. 2): Design, Implementation, and Internals and Internetworking With TCP/IP (Vol. 3): Client-Server Programming and Applications/BSD Socket Version

Customer Reviews:

very good and technical, but not focused on minutia.......2007-07-10

Many networking books I read (or other books on similarly technical subjects) have a tendency to get bogged down in technical minutia that distracts from the big picture. Not so here. Cormer does an excellent job of getting all the important information out there and explains the common networking protocols, what goes into them, and what they do, without losing the reader. Do not think that this is a superficial view though - I've been in the field for several years now and still use it as a reference on occasion.

The fifth edition is out........2006-02-18

Look for the 5th edition of this same book.
4th edition is much older than the newer 5th edition.

Great Service.......2005-09-23

I purchased the book titled: Internetworking with TCP/IP Vol.1: Principles, Protocols, and Architecture (4th Edition)for a class. The book arrived ahead of schedule, marking the service amazon provided as second to none. Keep up the great work.

Superb!!!.......2005-07-12

Want to really, really, really know TCP-IP???

Read this book and you will know it cold.

Beginners look no further!.......2005-06-11

I knew nothing about TCP/IP. As a result, I bought a book "learn TCP/IP in 24 hours" and trashed it after I bought this book, no more 24 hour books. I had no idea what routing is and were to start looking for documents on the internet. This book is scientific and puts it all together. Each chapter lists the RFC that he relied on so you know were the stuff came from. The book is not boring; the author is excellent in explaining ideas. He covers ICMP, GGP, OSPF, EGP, DHCP, DNS, BOOTP, ARP and more. I feel I have accomplished something big by reeading this book. If you are not a beginner in routing, then look at the RFCs they are the source.

Book Description

On Tyranny is Leo Strauss's classic reading of Xenophon's dialogue, Hiero or Tyrannicus, in which the tyrant Hiero and the poet Simonides discuss the advantages and disadvantages of exercising tyranny. This edition includes a translation of the dialogue, a critique of the commentary by the French philosopher Alexandre Kojève, Strauss's restatement of his position in light of Kojève's comments, and finally, the complete Strauss-Kojève correspondence.

"Through [Strauss's] interpretation Xenophon appears to us as no longer the somewhat dull and flat author we know, but as a brilliant and subtle writer, an original and profound thinker. What is more, in interpreting this forgotten dialogue, Strauss lays bare great moral and political problems that are still ours." —Alexandre Kojève, Critique

"On Tyranny is a complex and stimulating book with its 'parallel dialogue' made all the more striking since both participants take such unusual, highly provocative positions, and so force readers to face substantial problems in what are often wholly unfamiliar, even shocking ways." —Robert Pippin, History and Theory

"Every political scientist who tries to disentangle himself from the contemporary confusion over the problems of tyranny will be much indebted to this study and inevitably use it as a starting point."—Eric Voegelin, The Review of Politics

Leo Strauss (1899-1973) was the Robert Maynard Hutchins Distinguished Service Professor of Political Science at the University of Chicago.

Customer Reviews:

Philosophy and the World it Rules.......2006-12-01

This book is composed of a translation of Xenophon's Hiero, a commentary by Leo Strauss ('On Tyranny') on it, two essays (one by Kojève, one by Strauss) outlining the controversy between them and finally, in the latest edition, the correspondence between them. After reading the essays Kojève and Strauss aimed at each other one comes to suspect that the major difference between the two is how, precisely, philosophy is to rule the world. Strauss prefers the ancient way of moderately (and occasionally) influencing the Nomos while Kojève insists that Nomos (i.e., Law) must be exactly equal to Philosophy - or, more precisely, equal to exactly what philosophy wants of it. Thus Strauss is for 'ruling' while Kojève wants to Rule.

Thus it really is very funny how Kojève 'accuses' Strauss of insanity! By this, Kojève only means that if a philosopher does not go forth and change the World he can never know that his understanding is not mere private fancy - that is, madness. Since Kojève believes that in order to be rational philosophy must rule all he accuses the practical moderation defended by Strauss of madness. Of course, one could moderately accuse Kojève's 'Enlightened' dream of One World of the same thing...

Thus the argument between them is not whether philosophy should rule - but exactly how it should rule. Kojève believes that without the arrival of the Final Philosophical Artifact -the Universal Homogenous State (UHS)- philosophy is only a private mania. But Strauss says that the UHS will make philosophy impossible. To Kojève, the UHS is a monument to Philosophical Reason while for Strauss it is its tomb. Kojève invites Strauss to join him in making the UHS -it is a great honor!- but Strauss declines because he cannot bring himself to preside over the End of Philosophy.

Thus it is very amusing that over the years, thanks primarily to Allan Bloom (who studied with both Kojève and Strauss) and students (of students) of Bloom there has arisen the 'Straussian' neoconservative position that it is the duty of US foreign policy to make the World into good democratic, liberal capitalists in the Euro-American vein. But this 'Straussian' neoconservative position really is at most a hybrid of Kojève and Strauss which leans decidedly in the Kojèvean direction.

No? Then have the courage to read the exchange between Kojève and Strauss (Essays and Correspondence) and decide for yourself.

For those that only have the old 1983 edition I want to point out, even insist, that the correspondence adds some nice touches to the argument between Kojève and Strauss that should not be missed. For instance, we see here quite clearly how important the Criterion of Knowledge is to Kojève's thought:

"As regards myself, I came to Hegel by way of the question of criteria. I see only three possibilities:

(a) Plato's-Husserl's "intuition of essences" (which I do not believe [for one has to believe it]); (b) relativism (in which one cannot live); (c) Hegel and "circularity." If, however, one assumes circularity as the only criterion of truth (including the moral), then everything else follows automatically." (Kojève, Letter of Sept 19, 1950, p 256.)

Thus when one sees that between the extremes of what Kojève is pleased to call 'intuition' (Religion, Phenomenology, 'esoteric' silence) and its failure ('chatter', relativism, postmodernism) there is only the 'Circularity of the Concept' then one begins to see why Kojève must proclaim the 'End of History' - it is to protect the 'Absolute Knowledge' such Circularity requires. (Absolute Knowledge, btw, means unchanging knowledge while circularity means that wherever we begin our research we end, if we proceed scientifically (i.e., in a Hegelian manner), always in the same place.)

Kojève, in the same letter, goes on to concede that there was for him once a fourth possibility:

"For a time I believed in a fourth possibility: nature is "identical," hence the classical criterion can be retained for nature. But now I believe that one can only be silent about nature (mathematics). Hence: either one remains "classically" silent (cp. Plato's Parmenides and Seventh Epistle), or one chatters "in the modern manner" (Pierre Bayle), or one is an Hegelian." (p. 256)

Thus we see that nature was at one time also a possible 'criterion' for Kojève. But he abandons it and with it the Hegelian 'Philosophy of Nature'. Strauss, however, is insistent that there is a 'human nature' and he continually throws it in the face of Kojève. Of this Kojève writes:

"Regarding the issue, I can only keep repeating the same thing. If there is something like "human nature," then you are surely right in everything. But to deduce from premises is not the same as to prove these premises. And to infer premises from (anyway questionable) consequences is always dangerous." (Kojève, Letter of October 29, 1953, p 261.)

Thus Kojève says to Strauss that he can't prove what he says and, of course, Kojève can. -But he can do so if, and only if, History Ends as Kojève says it will. But the proof of success is no proof of Reason but only of power...

In any case, we see Strauss still pressing the point on nature a few years later:

"You have never given me an answer to my questions: a) was Nietzsche not right in describing the Hegelian-Marxian end as "the last man"? and b) what would you put into the place of Hegel's philosophy of nature?" (Strauss, Letter of Sept 11, 1957, p 291.)

It is my belief that Strauss is convinced that this lack of what the ancients would have thought of as a cosmology (i.e., cosmogony) allows ordinary people in the secular, atheistic UHS to turn to religion. He argues that Wisdom in the UHS can only belong to a tiny few and that:

"...if wisdom does not become common property, the mass remains in the thrall of religion, that is to say of an essentially particular and particularizing power (Christianity, Islam, Judaism...), which means that the decline and fall of the universal-homogenous state is unavoidable." (Strauss, Letter August, 22, 1948, p 238.)

Without some sort of Cosmogony the atheistic UHS cannot hold onto its citizens. Of course, this is true only if the UHS must be entirely secular. However, if somehow a right-Hegelian (i.e., religious) interpretation were to prevail in the UHS this would no longer be necessary. And the UHS could survive indefinitely... But Kojève, of course, discounts this possibility, for him there are only two Hegelian possibilities:

"If the Westerners remain capitalist (that is to say, also nationalist), they will be defeated by Russia, and that is how the End-State will come about. If, however, they "integrate" their economies and policies (they are on their way to doing so), then they can defeat Russia. And that is how the End-State will be reached (the same universal and homogenous State). But in the first case it will be spoken about in "Russian" (with Lysenko, etc.), and in the second case - in "European"." (Kojève, Letter of Sept. 19, 1950, p 256.)

But historically this is false. The first interpretation of Hegel (during his lifetime) was religious. Thus one wonders if the UHS with a universal Hegelian religion could somehow be brought about... But that is another story.

So, for those of you familiar with an earlier edition I hope I have given some hint of how the letters amplify and expand the argument between Kojève and Strauss that we first saw in the essays included in earlier editions. This book is superb - I have only hinted at its intricate arguments - do not pass it up!

1.......2006-01-19

This is a good book insofar as it brings to light the relation of (philosophical) thought to society. The Socratic irony found and brought out by Strauss within this book is that society itself tyrannizes thought. Thus Strauss can be seen as turning to the ancients in order to get his bearings in and on modernity. That is, this book can be seen as a response to one of the most profound philosophers of the last century who brought thought and society together in such a way that thought itself seemed (seems?) to be on the verge of extinction; Heidegger. A good companion piece would be Allan Bloom's _The Closing of the American Mind_. Bloom is actually cited on the back of the book as saying it is "must reading." This can be understood insofar as his own book is itself a meditation on the relation between thought and society as well, and thus he seems to be saying that someone like Strauss is necessary for our understanding of ourselves because he (Strauss) in some way understands the ancients better than we do and thereby understands modernity (ourselves) in a way that we cannot.

Additional Comments.......2001-01-27

The writer of the above review has done a great job of conveying the basic arguments and value of Strauss's translation of the Hiero and his discussion with Kojeve. I think that there is yet more to be said. Strauss as a political philosopher argued the case that with Machiavelli modern political thought begins. One cannot help when reading the Hiero to begin to see further, it was already convincingly argued in Thoughts on Machiavelli, how Machiavelli's famous treatise The Prince is in many ways a response to this dialogue from Xenophon. The discussion of tyranny and the "joys" and "protections" that stem from such a life are questioned in the Hiero because of the ramifications of tyrannic rule. Strauss, in typical fashion, articulates and expands on the argument presented in the Hiero. The responses from Kojeve bring the classical into conflict with the most progressive of modern thought, the concept of the universal state. Particularly valuable in this edition is the collection of the correspondence of the two respondents which clarify, and present a more honest argument, the public discourse extant in the formal essays. Read this book as a companion to "The Prince" or studies of Hegel to see the dialogue between "Classical" and "Modern" or even "Post-modern" thought.

Philosophy at its intoxicating best!.......1997-04-22

This astounding book, On Tyranny, pits Leo Strauss against Alexander Kojeve in the never ending battle of the Ancients against the Moderns. The book begins with the text of Xenophon's Hiero, followed by Strauss's in depth discussion of the Hiero. Then the fireworks start!

Kojeve, in his discussion of Strauss's comments, will elucidate his peculiar mixture of Hegelian, Marxist, and Heideggerian philosophies in order to defend the unity of `Tyranny and Wisdom' at the end of history, with some amusing asides on Strauss's tendency to build a philosophical cult. Modern tyranny (Stalinism) is rational, or wise, because it leads to the universal, homogenous state. The state in which everyone -- people, politicians, and philosophers -- will be fulfilled. This state, where the people will be safe, politicians renowned, and philosophers enthralled by the rationality of it all, will happen as a result of historical action, or work. We will be living in a world that we made with our own hands. And, as the conflicts of history weed out ever more irrationalities, we come to feel more and more at home in this fabricated, technological world. This leads to less conflict and more fulfillment. Which means, as Kojeve said elsewhere, "History is the history of the working slave." This leaves some of us, Strauss included, wondering if the only thing more wretched than being a slave would be living as a contented one.

Strauss comments on all this in a reply that briefly starts out with a discussion of Eric Voegelin but then turns to the main event. Strauss wants to know how anyone will want to live in this world where everyone thinks the same, feels the same, wants the same. A world in which anyone who thinks/feels/wants differently, as Nietzsche said, goes voluntarily to the madhouse. A world that as Reason is woven into it, Humanity is pushed out of it. His prescription is a return to the ancients, who, as the Hiero shows us, knew that philosophy both could not and should not be realized in time. Otherwise, Humanity will end up engulfed by its own artifacts. Or, as Ernst Juenger remarked, "History is the replacement of men by things.

Average customer rating:

Poor Research

Eros Turannos: Leo Strauss & Alexandre Kojeve Debate on Tyranny
Aakash Singh
Manufacturer: University Press of America
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Philosophy | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
General | Politics | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
Reference | Politics | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
General | Political Science | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
Nonfiction | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
Similar Items:

Discourses on Strauss: Revelation And Reason in Leo Strauss And His Critical Study of Machiavelli

Reading Leo Strauss: Politics, Philosophy, Judaism

Leo Strauss: An Introduction to His Thought and Intellectual Legacy (The Johns Hopkins Series in Constitutional Thought)

The Truth about Leo Strauss: Political Philosophy and American Democracy

Leo Strauss and the Theologico-Political Problem (Modern European Philosophy)

ASIN: 0761832599

Book Description

Eros Turannos analyzes the debates between Leo Strauss and Alexandre Kojeve. Their debates are contextualized through the Platonic notion of a likeness between the psuche (soul) and the polis (city). This classical notion is updated through contemporary philosopher William Desmond's linked accounts of eros and tyranny.

Customer Reviews:

Poor Research.......2007-01-06

Unfortunately, I failed to research this product. Instead of the Strauss-Kojeve debates themselves, the book is Mr. Singh's response and analysis. Not what I was looking for.

On tyranny, an interpretation of Xenophon's Hiero (Political science classics)

Average customer rating:

On tyranny, an interpretation of Xenophon's Hiero (Political science classics)
Leo Strauss
Manufacturer: Political Science Classics
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

General | Classics | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
ASIN: B0006ARX9K

Average customer rating:

On Tyranny. Revised and Enlarged
Leo Strauss
Manufacturer: Cornell University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000JVCJQI

Average customer rating:

Philosophy and politics, I-II
Victor Gourevitch
Manufacturer: Review of Metaphysics
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

Average customer rating:
World History People and Nations 1993
Mazour
Manufacturer: Harcourt School
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | World | History | Subjects | Books
All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
Similar Items:

Adventures in American Literature: Curriculum and Writing (Ellis Horwood Series in Environmental Management, Science, a)

English Composition and Grammar 1988: 4th Course Grade 10

Glencoe World Geography, Student Edition

World History: People & Nations

Le Francais Vivant 1

ASIN: 0030751977

Amazon.com

If there's anyone not interested in the possibility of life on other planets, they must keep to themselves. Along with "Who am I?" and "Why am I here?" "Am I alone?" ranks as one of the classic Big Questions asked by all curious minds. Now comes the first detailed reference book covering the search for an answer: The Extraterrestrial Encyclopedia by astrobiologist David Darling. More than 2,000 entries define and explain conceptual, fictional, theoretical, and technical thinking about exobiology, copiously referenced and cross-indexed for easy searching and browsing. Start with SETI (why not?) and after poring over the eight-page entry, you'll find yourself trying to decide whether to check out SERENDIP, Iosef Shklovskii, or the Arecibo radio telescope next.

Darling's choice of entries is telling--far from just a dry assortment of biographies and dates, you'll find 2001: A Space Odyssey, the ancient Greek philosopher Xenophanes, and hydrothermal vents explored as they relate to the Big Question. Though the book has all the facts you'd need for a hundred term papers, it also acknowledges the strong cross-currents running between scientific and pop cultures, which makes for entertaining and sometimes surprising reading. (Who knew that so many serious astrophysicists wrote science fiction?) The truth may or may not be out there, but The Extraterrestrial Encyclopedia will keep us current on the search. --Rob Lightner

Book Description

The possibility of life on other worlds has stirred the human imagination and stimulated scientific curiosity for as long as people have been looking up at the sky. From Aristotle to Star Trek to the latest pictures from the Hubble Space Telescope, the examination of this age-old question continues to arouse profound excitement and has found expression in human culture from the first cosmologies to the latest theories about the origin of life -- in oral tradition, literature, and film, and in the rapidly developing disciplines of astrobiology, space exploration, and extrasolar planet detection.

David Darling draws together the many threads of the search for extraterrestrial life in his comprehensive and entertaining guide. His one-of-a-kind resource covers everything from the Arecibo Message; brown dwarfs; cell membranes; Dyson spheres; and extremophiles to biographical portraits of leading scientists, such as Carl Sagan and Jill Tarter; philosophers, such as René Descartes and William Whewell; and science fiction writers, such as Olaf Stapledon and Arthur C. Clarke.

The Extraterrestrial Encyclopedia offers a wealth of information, never before available in a single volume: almost 1,900 informative entries cover a wide range of topics -- from serious science to pop culture.biographical profiles identify over 300 leading contributors in the field94 illustrations
user-friendly cross-referencing makes navigating through the topics easyan extensive list of web sites guides further researcha detailed time line places the search for extraterrestrial life in historical perspectivea detailed table shows SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) programs from 1960 to the present

Customer Reviews:

Fine work of reference that's a pleasure to read.......2003-09-17

David Darling, prolific author of a wide range of popular works on astronomy and allied subjects, has favored us with this encyclopedic take on things beyond our planet. I say "favored us" because Darling is a writer who writes with the kind of clarity that we all wish we could achieve, and is therefore a pleasure to read.

By the way, my favorite David Darling book is Zen Physics: The Science of Death, the Logic of Reincarnation (1996), which is a very readable and profound look at human consciousness, a book I cannot recommend highly enough. (See my review!)

Included here are objects and energies in space, instruments and machines for exploring space, mythological references to the heavens, historical cosmic events, catastrophes from space, ideas about space, space programs (some still only on the drawing boards), space scientists and scientists tangentially involved in some aspect of the extraterrestrial, scientists who have mentioned something otherworldly, historical figures that have mentioned something otherworldly, science fiction writers, movie and book titles about space, aspects of other sciences that could be applied to things extraterrestrial, etc., etc.

But this is not a dry reference book. On the contrary it is exciting to read and fun to flip through. Opening it at random to page 164 I find "Galileo (spacecraft)" which I learn is the "first spacecraft to conduct long-term observations of Jupiter" with Jupiter in bold face so that I know I can cross-reference it if I like. There is a little table in the entry giving the launch date, the date of arrival at Jupiter and other information about the spacecraft. Darling also uses bold-faced arrows in the text to point to related entries. Here an arrow points to "Jupiter, moons of," which has further information about the Galileo spacecraft.

The next entry is "Galton, Francis (1822-1911)" making me wonder what the old social Darwinian had to do with the extraterrestrial. Turns out he proposed in a letter to the editor of the London Times in 1892 that sunlight be reflected toward Mars to catch the attention of any possible Martians.

Next are "gamma rays" and the "gamma-ray burster" (two full-page columns worth) carrying me to the next page where there is "Ganymede," the Galilean satellite that is the largest moon in the solar system.

There are long entries on topics that Darling considers "of central importance or popular interest" such as Frank Drake's famous equation (Darling evaluates each variable) and SETI which includes a list of programs from 1960 to 1999 with information about the investigator, the location, frequency used, etc.

One senses that one of Darling's main tasks in compiling and writing this book was to decide what to include and what to leave out. How pertinent does something have to be to be included? I wasn't surprised to see paleontologist Stephen Jay Gould with an entry since his idea of punctuated equilibrium (also included) depends in part on catastrophic environmental changes, some brought about by extraterrestrial events. Nor were the entries on the elements from the periodic table surprising. (There's a very nice entry on the biological abundance of elements both here and in space.) But I was surprised to find many entries on biology and microbiology, including entries on DNA and RNA. And yet, one can see how they are relevant in thinking about extraterrestrial life.

As a side note, remember Whitley Strieber who wrote the book Communion: A True Story (1987), purporting to be an actual experience with aliens?--a book, by the way, for which he reportedly got a million dollar advance. Well, according to the entry by his name here, he confessed in 1993 that he made it all up!

There's a chronology at the back of the book identifying events under the categories, "The Search for Life in Space," "Science Fiction," and "World/Scientific Events" beginning in 580 BCE. There are also several pages devoted to Web Sites with URLs. Darling has footnoted his text with 634 references giving book titles and journals for further reading.

One final thought: In the future there will be an encyclopedia devoted to every subject and to every creature and to every person under heaven. And those encyclopedias will be on the Web (as will future editions of this book, I predict). And it will be part of our life experience to update our encyclopedia, as Darling will surely have to do with this book in a few years.

Excellent reference work.......2000-12-06

Thorough, clear, and occasionally whimsical, this book is an invaluable reference to keep by your side as you read about the search for extraterrestrial life and, indeed, as you read about most space topics.

Information is presented in hundreds (even thousands?) of well-written entries explaining and describing topics as diverse as the role of extraterrestrials in science fiction to Cepheid Variable stars, from laundry lists of nearby star systems to biographies of prominent scientists. The length and breadth of the information presented is truly impressive.

All information is throughly cross-referenced, with more detailed references indicated by a dark arrow.

Entries are written with an interest in the search for extraterrestrial life, but the book is a fine general reference work for amateurs interested in all space sciences.

The only complaint I have is that I wish there were more detailed illustrations for some concepts; if half stars were available, I might rate this book 4-and-a-half for this, but it deserves better than a four, in my opinion.

All in all, an extremely valuable reference, as well as a fascinating read in and of itself if you are interested in space science.

Excellent!!!! Finally, a Reference Guide for ALL of Us!!!!.......2000-08-09

This encyclopedia covers much more than its title suggests. You'll find subjects involving everything from religion to history to science --- and it's all related somehow to the possibility of life on other planets. This is a comprehensive work, yet I find it somewhat entertaining, too. The latest facts available regarding SETI, Area 51, the Roswell Crash of 1947, the Hubble Telescope, and too many other subjects to mention here are all presented in condensed, yet concise form in this book. The author also covers science fiction topics and theories as well as science. And it's perfect for the beginner or the trained professional. Charts, photos, illustrations, and cross references make it even more reader friendly.

Book Description

This digital document is an article from The Canadian Geographer, published by Canadian Association of Geographers on September 22, 2004. The length of the article is 8617 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.

From the author: Assessing spatial equity with respect to urban public amenity provision involves examining the association between amenity distribution and population need for amenities. Geographic Information Systems in coordination with local spatial autocorrelation, were used to investigate the association between neighbourhood accessibility to playgrounds and demographic and social need for playgrounds in Edmonton, while considering differences in playground quality throughout the city. The primary objectives of this study were to assess whether playground provision, for location and quality, in Edmonton is equitable and, more generally, to investigate the role that amenity quality plays in assessing spatial equity. The results indicate that playgrounds are equitably distributed within Edmonton, with the highest-social-need neighbourhoods having the greatest accessibility to playgrounds. However, once differences in playground quality are considered, there is less of an association between high-social-need and high-accessibility areas. The findings suggest that greater attention be paid to differences in playground quality within Edmonton and that spatial equity researchers give greater consideration to amenity quality when evaluating spatial equity within cities.

Citation Details
Title: Spatial accessibility and equity of playgrounds in Edmonton, Canada.
Author: Karen E. Smoyer-Tomic
Publication: The Canadian Geographer (Refereed)
Date: September 22, 2004
Publisher: Canadian Association of Geographers
Volume: 48 Issue: 3 Page: 287(16)

Distributed by Thomson Gale

Books:

Books Index

Books Home

Recommended Books