Local government sales taxes: Issues and options for revenue diversification

Book Description

Ashley's life is starting to go out of control. It begins with a strange e-mail from a friend, containing an attachment full of information she doesn't understand. This brings her into physical contact with Everett, a man who previously she has only been talking to online. He wants that file, and he's got all sorts of strange stories about conspiracies and secret organizations that he's using to scare her into giving the info up. But Ashley doesn't have time to mess around, since she's part of her own secret organization - a group of anarchist youth who want to start a new art riot. Can she get a handle on the wild stampede of her day-to-day existence before it runs away from her?

Average customer rating:

A practical guide and strongly recommended for anyone dreaming of moving to the country

Pert Near Perfect

Proof truth is funnier than fiction!

Bitch Unleashed: The Harsh Realities of Goin' Country

Bitch Unleashed: The Harsh Realities of Goin' Country
Nola, L. Kelsey
Manufacturer: AuthorHouse
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Humor | Entertainment | Subjects | Books
Look Inside Entertainment Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books
ASIN: 142087862X

Book Description

"If you took the lovechild of Barry, Bombeck and Barr (it was a threesome), dressed her up in taffeta and beat her with a milk goat - Nola Kelsey would result!" In Bitch Unleashed: The Harsh Realities of Goin' Country, satirist Nola Kelsey leaves no stone unburned as she recounts one women's experience with the 'joys' of settling into the so called, simple life. Includes:

The Perks of Global Warming
Milk Goats: Know Thy Enemy
Handy uses for honey-dipped Chihuahuas
Tips for removing bats from your showerhead
A pop quiz on The Myth of the Country Gentleman
Guerrilla Techniques for Alienating Your Country Neighbors

"Two hours and several flattened mailboxes later, county sheriffs blazed into Bison Flats. Apparently the mayhem had caught them off guard. Never mind that the after rodeos rampage is an event so predictable fetuses of pregnant Algerian nomads had seen it coming."

Customer Reviews:

A practical guide and strongly recommended for anyone dreaming of moving to the country .......2006-03-08

Bitch Unleashed: The Harsh Realities Of Goin' Country is an hilarious statement describing certain universal truths involved in a move from city to country. Author Nola Kelsey satirically presents the raw realities contradicting the misperceptions of so many anticipating an urban change of pace and mentality. Bitch Unleashed is a practical guide and strongly recommended for anyone dreaming of moving to the country -- and women thinking relief from the pressures of city life will easily and reasonably be found in the "ease" of the life in the farmland.

Pert Near Perfect.......2005-09-23

Nola L. Kelsey has some very interesting insights into country life. I admit that I wanted to read this book just because of the title - there are times I feel like a bitch unleashed myself and felt I could relate. Unbeknownst to me, this book made my day as I laughed through the pages.

Kelsey tells it like it is, or at least as it happened to her. No one is immune to her wicked wit or is safe from the telling of just how stupid the people of Bison Flat appear. From tales of everyday life, to stories of bat infestation, this is definitely a book that entertains. Ok, so maybe it shouldn't be entertaining to laugh at other people's idiotic remarks or escapades, but I must be blessed with the same warped sense of humor that Nola Kelsey embraces.

Bitch Unleashed focuses on the normal everyday events that take place in country settings that most city dwellers would find unusual. Events such as bats finding hiding places in your closet or stove; bulls charging as you use the outhouse; goat mischief; chicken coop mishaps, etc. The recounting of these tails is short and to the point, even if that point is with a very dry humor.

One of my favorites was the story of Old Floyd - what a riot! I only wished Kelsey had delved into that story more and given us more Old Floyd fodder. We were given a glimpse of his character as she tells of how he pulled the wool over her eyes when selling her his house. Yes, Old Floyd could have had an entire book dedicated to him!

Another favorite was the country linguistics. Oh my! Definitions of "pert near", and "a doin's" was absolutely priceless when used in context. I laughed until I cried!

But what Nola Kelsey does best is relate a story and toss in a bit of humor along the way. The part about prairie dogs being responsible for a finger in a fast-food chain's chili was priceless! And I could envision tourists feeding buffalo Oreo cookies!

On the downside, there are numerous editing errors, including spelling and grammar mistakes, along with word choice slips (such as "residence" instead of "residents"). If the editing had been done properly, this book would have been "pert near" perfect!

Bitch Unleashed is a fast read with short chapters and not much cerebral impact. What you get is a quick chuckle followed by a burst of gaffawing. And the ending... well the CRAP list is amazing (Currently Recognized As Pissed). Even though unnecessary (we guessed who'd make that list) it was a fun reminder as to the characters depicted in this book.

If you have a sense of humor and don't mind strong language at times, then this book will be very entertaining. For those straight-laced people who prefer a normal sense of humor, you may want to find a different book depicting country life.

Proof truth is funnier than fiction!.......2005-09-17

Harsh, but very funny! Don't move out of the city without reading Bitch Unleashed! At first I thought the author was being a bit to rough on her townsfolk. By the time I finished reading she had laughed at herself more than any of them. This book is honest. I tried moving my family to the country once. Unlike the writer I did not make very long. Kelsey nails the real reasons why.

Nola Kelsey's recounts of small town life, dealing with country animals (wild and pets) and trying to make it after life in the city are tragically accurate and extremely hysterical. It is nice to see a humor writer who does not think life and books all have to revolve around family and diapers. Her advice on removing bats in your home alone is worth the cost of the book, even if it only happens to you once. The laughter is just a bonus.

Bitch Unleashed: The Harsh Realities of Goin' Country.......2005-09-12

Like many urban dwellers, the author yearned for the simple life. She wanted to live in an environment where the air was clean, the days were slower, and everyone knew their neighbour. Upon moving to Bison Flats, however, the author received a startling education in rural life. Instead of friendliness she was greeted by distrust and male chauvinism. Instead of quiet relaxing days she found herself busy shooing cows from her front lawn.

Bitch Unleashed: The Harsh Realities of Goin' Country shares the author's humorous experiences while learning to live in Bison Flats. She also imparts her insightful and often sarcastic advice on how to survive rural life. Some of the most hilarious bits come from the authors lists including Signs of how screwed up you may be for those that need to move to the country, indicator that your are settling into the simple life, 10 things about lawn moving, and bat ejection techniques as well as rural definitions and translations to help city folk.

Average customer rating:

Introduces consideration of the speed in which we do things to most aspects of life

Great book club material

Well written, but elitist

Don't Believe the Hype

Great synthesis

In Praise of Slow: How a Worldwide Movement is Challenging the Cult of Speed
Carl Honore
Manufacturer: Knopf Canada
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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In Praise of Slowness : Challenging the Cult of Speed (Plus)

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God Was in This Place and I, I Did Not Know: Finding Self, Spirituality and Ultimate Meaning (The Kushner Series)

The Holy Longing: The Search for A Christian Spirituality

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ASIN: 0676975720

Book Description

In the tradition of such trailblazing books as No Logo and The Tipping Point, In Praise of Slow heralds a growing international movement of people dedicated to slowing down the pace of our contemporary times and enjoying a richer, fuller life as a result.

These days, almost everyone complains about the hectic pace of their lives. We live in a world where speed rules and everyone is under pressure to go faster. But when speed is king, anyone or anything that gets in our way, that slows us down, becomes an enemy. Thanks to speed, we are living in the age of rage.

Carl Honore has discovered a movement that is quickly working its way into the mainstream. Groups of people are developing a recipe for living better in a fast-paced, modern environment by striving for a new balance between fast and slow. In an entertaining and hands-on investigation of this new movement, Honore takes us from a Tantric sex workshop in a trendy neighbourhood in London, England to Bra, Italy, the home of the Slow Food, Slow Cities and Slow Sex movements. He examines how we can continue to live productive lives by embracing the tenets of the slow movement.

A challenging take on the cult of speed, as well as a corrective look at how we can approach our lives with new understanding, In Praise of Slow uncovers a movement whose time has come.

Customer Reviews:

Introduces consideration of the speed in which we do things to most aspects of life.......2006-06-08

Carl Honore's "In Praise of Slow: How a Worldwide Movement Is Challenging the Cult of Speed" does pretty much what it says on the tin, discussing how to introduce consideration of the speed in which we do things to most aspects of life. It's an enjoyable read, and while I don't feel I need most of its message -I'm fairly well up on taking things as slowly as they deserve- I got some new ideas. I've played with some of the suggestions, and it's certainly been interesting - my urge to multi-task, for example, which asserts itself constantly irrespective of how inadequate I may be at it, can be quelled enough for me to enjoy just doing one thing. This requires much concentration, but it's nice to find out that I -can- do it if necessary. One of my favourite quotes from the book is Einstein's not Honore's: "Computers are incredibly fast, accurate and stupid. Human beings are incredibly slow, inaccurate and brilliant."

Great book club material.......2005-09-12

We chose this book for our book club and it proved to be a great choice. It's very well written, researched and argued. The author sums up the dominant problem of the modern world, that there is too much speed in everything we do, and gives lots of cool examples from around the world of how "slow" is helping people live, work, whatever better. I recognized myself in some of the examples of pointless hurry and laughed out loud a few times. It's just an awesome read and everyone in this insane too-fast culture of ours should pick up a copy. All the members of our group enjoyed the book and we had our best debate in a long time. I already know what some of my faster friends are getting for Christmas.

Well written, but elitist.......2005-05-27

A good book thoroughly researched. And God knows how much we need to realize that today speed has become a cult. But this book appears to give as an alternative a cult of slow. Slow life becomes synonym of slow food vs. the despised fast-food, old European cities with cute baker shops vs. supermarkets, leisure time filled with yoga and knitting vs. television watching... Slowing down should be a personal and private choice, not a new trend to display!

Don't Believe the Hype.......2005-05-25

I bought this book because it was an internatinal bestseller and because reviewers claimed it was the next No Logo, a booked that I really enjoyd. In Praise of Slow, however, doesn't live up to the hype.

Honore tries to hype of a movement that really doesn't exist. He gives several examples of the "new movement" of Slow, but he gives many, many more of how the world is living too fast paced.

The author borrows so much from the writing style of Naomi Klein that one begins to realise he has no original style of his own.

Finally, and most importantly, I had hoped the book would talk about the emotional and spiritual effects of slowness. However, Honore flatly rejects "spiritualism" in the first chapter as touchy feely nonsense. So there is really no step-by-step instruction on how to live slowly.

Great synthesis.......2004-05-20

There were positive reviews of this book in the Globe & Mail and the Toronto Star, but I was still pleasantly surprised at how excellent it is. To sum it up: this is this year's No Logo.

Like Naomi Klein, Carl Honore pulls together a number of apparently disparate but ultimately related themes: Slow Food, Slow Cities, Slow Sex, Slow Leisure etc. and not surprisingly, it is a book which merits a slow read: Honore has important and even quite deep reflections on almost each page of the book! You could read a few pages a day, and add significantly to your quality of life by following his sage advice, which is both rationally presented and which intuitively rings true.

Book Description

This digital document is an article from Arena Magazine, published by Thomson Gale on April 1, 2005. The length of the article is 970 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: Clive Hamilton on radical slowness.(Book Review)
Author: C.S. Lewis
Publication: Arena Magazine (Magazine/Journal)
Date: April 1, 2005
Publisher: Thomson Gale
Issue: 76 Page: 54(1)

Article Type: Book Review

Distributed by Thomson Gale

Slow is beautiful: living as if life really mattered; A worldwide movement challenges the cult of speed.(Society)(In Praise of Slowness: How a Worldwide ... Review): An article from: The Futurist

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Slow is beautiful: living as if life really mattered; A worldwide movement challenges the cult of speed.(Society)(In Praise of Slowness: How a Worldwide ... Review): An article from: The Futurist
Lane Jennings
Manufacturer: World Future Society
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

Book Description

This digital document is an article from The Futurist, published by World Future Society on March 1, 2005. The length of the article is 832 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: Slow is beautiful: living as if life really mattered; A worldwide movement challenges the cult of speed.(Society)(In Praise of Slowness: How a Worldwide Movement Is Challenging the Cult of Speed)(Book Review)
Author: Lane Jennings
Publication: The Futurist (Magazine/Journal)
Date: March 1, 2005
Publisher: World Future Society
Volume: 39 Issue: 2 Page: 12(2)

Article Type: Book Review

Distributed by Thomson Gale

Book Description

PDF--to most of the world it stands for that rather tiresome format used for documents downloaded from the web. Slow to load and slower to print, hopelessly unsearchable, and all but impossible to cut and paste from, the Portable Document Format doesn't inspire much affection in the average user. But PDFs done right is another story. Those who know the ins and outs of this format know that it can be much more than electronic paper. Flexible, compact, interactive, and even searchable, PDF is the ideal way to present content across multiple platforms.

PDF Hacks unveils the true promise of Portable Document Format, going way beyond the usual PDF as paged output mechanism. PDF expert Sid Steward draws from his years of analyzing, extending, authoring, and embellishing PDF documents to present 100 clever hacks--tools, tips, quick-and-dirty or not-so-obvious solutions to common problems.

PDF Hacks will show you how to create PDF documents that are far more powerful than simple representations of paper pages. The hacks in the book cover the full range of PDF functionality, from the simple to the more complex, including generating, manipulating, annotating, and consuming PDF information. You'll learn how to manage content in PDF, navigate it, and reuse it as necessary. Far more than another guide to Adobe Acrobat, the book covers a variety of readily available tools for generating, deploying, and editing PDF.

The little-known tips and tricks in this book are ideal for anyone who works with PDF on a regular basis, including web developers, pre-press users, forms creators, and those who generate PDF for distribution. Whether you want to fine-tune and debug your existing PDF documents or explore the full potential the format offers, PDF Hacks will turn you into a PDF power user.

Customer Reviews:

Great Book!!!.......2007-06-08

This book is a god-send for those of us who have to struggle with the often frustrating world of PDF documents on our computers. I was completely confused until I dug into this manual, which is relatively easy for a novice to understand. It has been a great help to me in find answers to problems I had with using PDF on a daily basis. I would highly recommend it.

unique resource for the technically gifted.......2007-02-11

There are several categories of hack in this book; two of them are "saving money" (finding ways to work with PDF's outside of Acrobat) and PDF in web design--using CGI scripting to serve up individual pages that have search text for example. A third type of hack are some old-school tricks that help make your PDF's more widely compatible. Good stuff, not crucial unless you happen to need it.

Sucker born every day & 2 to take him.......2006-06-27

The title is completely misleading.
I purchased this book and software from Broderbund, after reading the reviews posted here at Amazon, believing the book and software would help me covert PDF files that I could not Save or print in its orginal format into ones I could.
I can say for sure,in my opinion, the other reviews of this book led me down the "fools primrose path."
Perhaps I should have read the reviews more carefully.
Of course the fault is entirely mine.

Contains very useful tips and tricks for PDF users.......2005-02-05

This is a very comprehensive solutions catalog on all kinds of PDF related issues. Each trick is described with step-by-step instructions and contains pointers to relevant resources. The chapter listing categorizes the hacks - Consuming PDF, Managing a Collection, Authoring and Self-Publishing, Creating PDF and Other Editions, Manipulating PDF files, Dynamic PDF, Scripting and Programming Acrobat.

I embrace the beauty of PDF as an end user and applications developer, but do not use Adobe Acrobat. Many of the tricks mentioned in the book is about this product. A problem is that the TOC does not tell whether or not a trick is Adobe Acrobat specific. Some of the hacks are like sections extracted from an advanced Adobe Acrobat user guide. As this is not obvious from the TOC, the content of the hack can be quite different from what I expected.

Despite this problem, the book is still a very useful one-stop resource about PDF. I will recommend this book to all who need to use or work with PDF.

I could have used this book on several occassions.......2004-12-28

With PDF files everywhere from web sites to help files, sooner or later you will run into a situation where you need to do something to a PDF file. For me the first time I realized I needed to do something I could not was when I needed to take one and convert it to a Word format so I could quickly outline the high points to study for a certification exam. After several hours I finally got it into a text file thanks to a web site that did the conversion. But even then I lost the tables, illustrations, etc. How to do that is one of the hacks included in this book. I wish it were printed a few years ago because it would have made my life easier.

After testing that hack I browsed through the book and kept finding myself asking "You can do that with a PDF file?" There are a lot of good tips in this book from making Acrobat startup faster, to converting PDF files, to automatic timed scrolling for easy reading, to creating a PDF using Word, WordPerfect, OpenOffice, Perl, HTML, PHP, and Java. With page after page of coding, this is a tremendously useful book for anyone who wants to create or edit PDF files or change the way Acrobat works with files. PDF Hacks: 100 Industrial-Strength Tips & Tools is very highly recommended and will be put on my shelf reserved for books I want to be able to access quickly.

Customer Reviews:

Fascinating Depiction of a Lifestyle We (anyone not from Africa) Don't Know About.......2006-10-25

This book is a must read for anyone who complains about their everyday "hard life" and for anyone who is intrigued by Nigerian, especially Ibo, philosophy. I have read this book many times over and I must say that I never grow tired of it. This book represents the struggle of a woman who others thought would fail, but in the end got everything she wanted. A life to be proud of. I have met the author and taken her class, the only reason I took her class was so I could bring up the subject of the book and have her tell me a few things that she didn't discuss in the book. I recently saw her at a wedding of a mutual friend of ours and the first thing I said to her was, "How's Mama?" Not only is this a brilliant book and outstanding view inside into Ibo culture and the way things were/are. Anyone who even thinks of reading this book should just immediately pick it up and give it a read. Believe, you, me. You won't be able to put this book down.

Who came of age in America?.......2004-11-29

I was hoping for insight on how to relate to my parents and extended family as a Nigerian-American, that is, a full-blooded Nigerian raised in America (as I define myself), but I didn't receive that from Mrs. Ugwu-Oju's book. What I learned was that there is no formula and one should respect family and tradition, yet live their own life and stand up for themselves. What I also read is that generations are different and parents have to allow their children to live realities they themselves will not experience. I'm still coming to terms with some of the archaic traditions that still survive in Nigeria, but I'm more aware of what I'm fighting against thanks to Mrs. Ugwu-Oju.

Great book!.......2003-09-14

This is one of the most fascinating autobiographies I have ever read. Dympna Ugwu-Oju gives a vivid depiction of a culture I doubt I will ever have the chance to experience myself. Even more: although describing a world that is far removed from my own, she made me feel she was talking about my own life in many ways. I admire how she expresses both her love and respect for Ibo tradition and her frustrations and longings to escape its confinements. This book speaks to all women who are negotiating love of family and tradition and a desire for the new opportunities created by feminism.

An Engaging Book.......2003-07-27

"What will my mother say" is a book about an indivdual,family and culture. The book describes how the author lived within the Igbo cultural system and how getting an education in America gives her a different perspective on that same culture.

It also tells of the clash of the individual with the culture she once knew and the pressure and challenges of not conforming to society's expectation.

It is an easily recognizable story for those who grew up in Nigeian families and is one that can easily cut across countries and cultures.

It is an engaging story and I have recommended the book to my wife and mother. What will my mother say, who knows?

A Revealing Picture of Igbo Life.......2001-08-22

As an American married to an Igbo woman I would recommend Ms. Ugwu-Oju's book to anyone interested in African culture or the lives of Igbo women in particular. There are a number of academic studies of Igbo life and traditions yet Ms. Ugwu-Oju's book is unique in its unaffected and straightforward manner. This makes the tale she tells all the more touching and effective.

Book Description

Since the Enlightenment, science and religion have had an adversarial relationship. Some scientists now see the two converging as they try to persuade people that the latest science discoveries prove the truth of their religion. Physicist Victor J. Stenger does not agree. Focusing on such diverse subjects as recent advances in cosmology, reports of psychic phenomena, and the purported benefits of prayer and alternative medicine, he reaches some startling conclusions.

Customer Reviews:

Has Science Found God?.......2007-07-08

Did you notice how the truth jumps out at you when reading? It is almost like the words are shouting at you in bold print. That is what I found in reading Victor J. Stenger "Has Science Found God?" a honest insight into reality. Chet Zaremba, Fort Lauderdale ,Fl

God= explanation of Gaps in Science.......2007-01-30

The most important point, in my opinion, is that the book established that is not the science responsibility to verify the existence of God but of the God believers. So far, according to Stenger, religions have tried to hold the existence of God in certain facts that science has not been able to explain. For example -as another reviewer mentioned- consciousness, but even that in the future should be probed as a natural phenomenon. As an example, among many others that the gap have been completed before, he mentioned how in the antiquity they explained by mean of the willing of god the movement of the planets and stars and now it is recognized as a well-known physical phenomenon.

In the matter of the Parapsychology investigation, besides the issues of the methods and techniques employed by this pseudoscience, he clearly established that nothing has been able to be probed in a systematic and repeatable way by independents researchers. And that is absolutely necessary to be considered valid science.

At last a point against the book or at least about its incompleteness, it would have been interesting to know in detail about the probability for life and evolution: How it was calculated, what factors were considered, etc. According to the book it can be explained as a natural phenomenon and in any case, again according to the book: we are here, so it is possible. Nevertheless I missed the explanation. For example when one considers the size of the DNA in a chromosome how many mutations are necessary to find one positive mutation? Taking into account that a series of positives mutation must be accumulative I suppose it is important to consider the time necessary to be in fertile state to try the next possible mutation; and additionally, the total number of individuals in a population as well as the total number of siblings per birth (naissance). As these there are many interesting issues that a reader like me very probably will not know and would have liked to learn. I recommend the books Endless Forms Most Beautiful: The New Science of Evo Devo and The Plausibility of Life: Resolving Darwin's Dilemma. These books seem to settle down many of the question mentioned above.

In the end, I liked the book and I think it deserves to be read.

No surprise, Victor Stenger did not find God .......2006-09-22

This is worth reading, but more slowly than regular nonfiction. Neither Dr. Stenger nor science found a deity of any sort, and this is not surprising. Unlike many current writers, this author argues "the case of god" from the area of his expertise. This is why the book reads so well, and why it is an excellent choice for serious reading.

Midway through the book is a passage that well summarizes Victor Stenger's rationale against attempts to shift science from its primary place. He says, "electromagnetism is as material as breath [p. 275]," an example which pretty much explains the impossibility of mixing science and mysticism of any sort.

A notable gem in this book, page 268, is the statement, "Reductionism is not about a universe of isolated objects." Amen, if that can be said.

keep your minds open.......2006-04-06

This guy did the best an atheist can but I suggest anyone reading keep their minds open and read alternative views eg: the wonder of the world by varghese. Although brave attempts are made to explain for eg why there is something rather than nothing you would find upon further study an eternal non intelligence is as unexplainable as an eternal intelligence as the ultimate source of anything. Even so there are many many things about reality you would find as you look deeper from alternative views that require that the ultimate source of everything be intelligent. By the way can Mr Stenger create anything that somehow just occured ultimately without cause which is what you must believe if you are an atheist?

The Breath of God vs The Breath of Stenger..........2005-08-19

book review:

Well, I just want to warn the possible readers of this book of some problems with some of the "information" that Stenger conveys...

One good thing in this book is the fact that it fights the notion (the wrong and dangerous notion) that science HAS ALREADY proved the existance of God. The bad thing is that Stenger decided to transcend the boundaries of rationality, and ended up concluding that science HAS ALREADY proved that God does not exist! This is pseudoscience from him. (The very last thing that he says, on page 349, is: "The universe is not populated by mysterious forces, beyond our comprehension, that control our lives and destinies for some unseen purpose. Rather, thanks to science, humanity is in control and defines its own purpose.").

Chapter ten is by far the worst. It is entitled "The Breath of God", and in it Stenger decided to give an "informed" criticism about parapsychological research... I was amazed to see that Stenger didn't even read the very abstract of an article that he cited, about micro-PK and human influence on random event generators (Correlations of Random Binary Sequences with Pre-Stated Operator Intention: A Review of a 12-Year Program - PEAR, 1997). He says: ..."they find no difference between their data taken with (presumably) true random numbers generated by quantum noise and pseudorandom numbers generated by computer algorithms.". Actually, the authors claim, at the very abstract, precisely the opposite!

Also amazing, and disrespectful, is the careless way in which he comments on the book by parapsychological researcher Dean Radin, "The Conscious Universe" (1997). Stenger says that Dean Radin performed the metanalysis wrong in this book (which implies statistical incompetence from Radin and severly undermines all the arguments advanced in Radin's book); but actually, even the source for this information (renowned statistitian I. J. Good, writing in the journal Nature) withdrew this charge as back as 1998!

Further, Stenger clearly only read the abstract (!) of the article by Sam Parnia et al (journal Resuscitation, 2001), about their prospective study on Near-Death experiences in cardiac arrest patients, and as a result he ended up stating precisely the opposite of what the researchers actually claimed (again...).

There are many passages where Stenger strays from the truth:
1- He says that parapsychological research is not made with high-tech equipment (untrue).
2- He says that "No cognitive data or theories currently require the introduction of either supernatural forces or immaterial substances such as 'spirit" (untrue or misleading: consciousness is still the major weak point of the materialistic framework of science, which has prompted many "weird" theories or viewpoints from highly respected thinkers, like Erwin Schroedinger, Roger Penrose, Stan Franklin, David Chalmers, Benjamin Libet, etc).
3- He says that "No scientific field except parapsychology has experienced over 150 years of exclusively negative results without being dismissed as a lost cause.". Untrue: parapsychology is actually less than 150 years old, and, yes, it may be described as having mostly INCONCLUSIVE results (despite its many positive results, even by skeptic researchers like Stanley Jeffers in 2003 - Journal of Scientific Exploration), but it cannot be described as having exclusively NEGATIVE results.
4- He propagandizes that Susan Blackmore "has managed to maintain her good name", but actually Rick Berger caught her in serious fraudulent conduct ("A Critical Examination of the Blackmore Psi Experiments", year 1989, available on the internet), and Stenger quotes her "trustworthy conclusions" that "Just a few years of careful experiments changed all that. I found no psychic phenomena only wishful thinking, self-deception, experimental error and, occasionally, fraud. I became a sceptic..." (Blackmore words in year 2001!). But actually, in her response to Rick Berger (Journal of the Society for Psychical Research, vol 83, April 1989), Blackmore admitted that no conclusion should be drawn from her "Just a few years of careful experiments". She said then: "Nevertheless, I am glad to be able to agree with his final conclusion-'that drawing ANY conclusions, positive or negative, about the reality of psi that are based on the Blackmore psi experiments must be considered unwarranted'". If her experiments had indeed been "careful", we could draw negative conclusions from them. ( I carefully contrasted her response of 1989 with Berger's exposé in the same journal. Blackmore frauded indeed...)

With so much sloppy reading and faulty reporting in Stenger's work, I end up not being able to tell the difference between Stenger and the New Age Crackpots or the Intelligent Design Wedge Movement folks. And it makes me highly wary about the rest of the book, the parts about which I do not have the expertise to spot problems in...

As a matter of fact, Stenger seems to be engaged in some sort of Jihad-Materialism War against spiritualism. To me, it is clear that he is driven not by reason, but by blind emotion. The worst in it all is that he calls it science, when actually it is not...

I presented this criticism to him, in his email discussion group avoid-L. His feedback was very meager, to say the least (his actual words were: "I will check out the one or two items that are matters of fact. The rest is simply your opinions with nothing to back them up.". That is how Stenger evaluates pieces of evidence that he does not like...). I will post a page about it in the near future, in my site "Criticizing Skepticism" (page entitled: Criticizing Victor Stenger).

Julio Siqueira - microbiologist
juliocbsiqueira at terra dot com dot br

The Reluctant Prophets: Has Science Found God

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Wide-ranging interdisciplinary scope
A Fascinating Study!

The Reluctant Prophets: Has Science Found God
Stephen Blaha
Manufacturer: Authorhouse
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books

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Customer Reviews:

Wide-ranging interdisciplinary scope.......2001-12-16

Stephen Blaha's book on the compatibility of science and religion covers a wide scope. Moving effortlessly from the deepest theories of the nature of the universe, through linguistics and computer science and on to religion, Blaha tries to show that all of modern physics, the so-called Theory of Everything, can be expressed as the reading of a sentence in a language with symbols and grammar, somewhat like computer programs in Java are parsed and read by compilers on computers.

The evolution of the universe, from the Big Bang to the present and into the future, is determined by the language determining the physics of this theory. In this way, Blaha argues, it is really literally true that "In the beginning was the Word."

The book does not just restrict itself to science and religion. Blaha also provides a stimulating and yet thoughtful account of all sorts of spiritual phenomena that are often regarded by scientists as unproven superstition. He tries to show how they can fit into the scientific framework.

Many scientists claim that science and religion are in conflict, or at best have nothing to do with each other. Blaha's book provides a self-aware account of how a deep belief in the practice of the scientific method can live in harmony with a religious or spiritual nature and with a pragmatic willingness to examine all phenomena in the world without prejudice. As a side benefit, it also provides a high-level and entertaining account of the way physicists think about the universe. I recommend it strongly to anyone with an open mind who "believes" in science and yet senses that there is something else behind the appearances too.

A Fascinating Study!.......2001-11-20

Are science and religion diametrically opposed to one another when it comes to God? It's a truism that science deals with matter and its causes, while religion deals with the spirit. In his insightful new book "The Reluctant Prophets: Has Science Found God?" Dr. Stephen Blaha challenges the concept that science and religion are opposites, and instead looks for a common ground that unites their efforts. He finds it in the notion of "the Word." Just as religion sees the universe as originating in "the Word of God," so science sees the universe in linguistic terms, indeed as one powerful word. His exploration of the Word in religion and in science is tantalizing; and his suggestion, in the second part of the book, that phenomena which we ordinarily think of as spiritual may be considered in a scientific way, is truly fascinating. Looking at these phenomena scientifially, he says, by no means debunks their religious validity, but rather enhances it by adding to it a new and exciting dimension to the search for Truth. Thus seen, religion and science become partners in the search for ultimate reality, rather than opponents.

Book Description

This digital document is an article from Journal of Church and State, published by J.M. Dawson Studies in Church and State on January 1, 2005. The length of the article is 645 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: Has Science Found God?(Book Review)
Author: William Lane Craig
Publication: Journal of Church and State (Refereed)
Date: January 1, 2005
Publisher: J.M. Dawson Studies in Church and State
Volume: 47 Issue: 1 Page: 156(2)

Article Type: Book Review

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Customer Reviews:

Stenger responds.......2005-10-14

I would have thought that a scholarly journal would publish thoughtful book reviews that make an honest attempt to explain an author's arguments and provide a rational critique. Instead, the review of my book Has Science Found God? by William Lane Craig (Vol. 47, No. 1 Winter 2005) is nothing more than a diatribe filled with distortions, ad hominems, and downright falsehoods.

He begins by characterizing me as "bitter" about my catholic upbringing. In fact, in the book I discuss that experience with humor and sympathy, describing the priests I encountered as compassionate and even "delightful."

Craig then misrepresents the clearly stated purpose of the book, which was to scientifically critique the wide range of recent claims that science has uncovered evidence for the existence of God. He seems to have read only the section where I criticize his particular formulation of the cosmological argument, for which his primary justification is simply that it is "intuitively obvious." He completely ignores my empirical material, treating the book as a philosophical treatise on cosmology alone, which I never claimed it to be and which it clearly is not.

Instead of arguing the merits of the issue, Craig indulges in further ad hominems, accusing me of "philosophical gaucherie" and "childish" ratiocinations. He falsely states that I have used "a logically incoherent model of the origin of the universe which no other scientist in the world accepts," when in fact the models I discuss have been published by highly respected scientists in reputable scientific journals.

In September, 2003, I debated Craig in Hawaii on the existence of God. Even Christians in the audience were disgusted by his unwillingness to argue the issues and instead carry on like a TV evangelist. He does this again in his review, making statements that sound on the surface like logical arguments but are little more than assertions that appeal to his audience's emotions and misguided intuitions.

Book Description

This digital document is an article from Powersports Business, published by Ehlert Publishing Group on June 6, 2005. The length of the article is 817 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: NPS battle heads to Capitol Hill.(National Park Service)
Author: Jeff Hemmel
Publication: Powersports Business (Magazine/Journal)
Date: June 6, 2005
Publisher: Ehlert Publishing Group
Volume: 8 Issue: 8 Page: 28(1)

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