Book Description
The Human Development Report 2004 debunks myths that regard diversity as a threat to nations and states, the source of inevitable clashes, and an obstacle to development. It asserts that struggles over economic resources and political power, not diversity, are most often at the root of conflict. The Report opens with an analysis of the vital links between human development and cultural liberty by Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen. It goes on to examine issues that the dynamics of globalization have brought to the forefront of policy agendas in rich and poor countries alike: migration, predatory extremism, and the expansion of cultural diversity. Drawing on data from national and local governments around the world, it proposes evidence-based constitutional, juridical, and socioeconomic policy options to promote cultural liberty and multicultural democracy in the context of universally accepted human rights.
Customer Reviews:
Forecasting future from a new perspective.......2006-03-01
When Egypt's president revealed a drive for improving democracy a year ago, the deputy head of the country's top appeals court felt hope, but today, are Egypt's democratic reforms complete? Recently Pakistan has banned anti-cartoon rallies in Lahore after several demonstrations turned deadly, but can the same protests be totally controlled in other parts of the Islamic world? When thousands of demonstrators marched through Paris to protest racism after the killing of a Paris Jew, do you really think it just an incident? These are just some headlines from today's AP news. Coping with cultural diversity is one of the central challenges of the 21st century. Nowadays, while most people are concerned about the future of technological new frontiers such as artificial intelligence, nanotechnology and gene technology, I am more curious about the status quo of our human societies, cultures and its implications for forecasting the future. This can be best explained why I chose to read the book, Human Development Report 2004.
This book is about discussing human development from a global perspective. As this book alerts us, "a global clash of cultures" is now happening. Like all UNDP's Human Development Reports, this book is actually an independent study intended to encourage discussion about human rights, cultural diversity, globalization, cultural liberty, etc. From my point of view, those are basic issues and at least continue to be "hot" and even getting hotter in the rest of this century. In other words, when people forecast new trends and changes of technologies, it is unfair to assume that the human society will simultaneously develop as technologies do. The fact is just the opposite: people always overlook or neglect those issues when they are preoccupied by fascinating technologies. In addition, technologies degenerate human development by making masses of people lazy and indulging people with convenience and effortless lives.
One of the book's strengths is that it takes you through cultural issues around the world by which the authors make a case for respecting diversity and building more inclusive societies by adopting policies that explicitly recognize cultural differences-multicultural policies. Another powerful section was on building of multicultural democracies.
Among many issues mentioned in this book, cultural liberty is the one that fascinated me. According to the authors, cultural liberty is a vital part of human development because being able to choose one's identity-who one is-without losing the respect of others or being excluded from other choices is important in leading a full life. Because minority identity was my former research area eight years ago when I pursued my first MA in cultural anthropology, I can well understand today's conflicts from a perspective of cultural identity. In the future, war will involved more identity disputes, especially when you realize that most countries of our world share the same cultural diversity. For example, Malaysia, consists of 62% of its people Malays and other indigenous groups, 30% ethnic Chinese and 8% Indian. China has 56 nationalities and, even in a metropolitan city such as Shanghai, there are 34 nationalities recorded, not to mention the other minority autonomies in the remote regions of the country.
In sum, this book opens a door for us to better understand the future of the human society, and especially for those who are willing to forecast the future but without any background of human development.-by Chunfeng
Book Description
California has one of the most complex procedural systems in the nation. This Nutshell provides an overview of the many significant differences that impact the choice between state and federal courts in California. The authors succinctly analyze California procedure and expose different solutions to the practice problems found in a state containing parallel systems of state and federal procedure.
Customer Reviews:
Handy and readable.......2007-08-08
I went to law school out of state, and have found this book helpful as far as providing a general overview of the subject.
Not Very Helpful.......2007-05-15
I was hesitant to purchase a supplement during my last few weeks of law school, but I assumed that a book on California Civil Procedure would help me later in my career. Unfortunately, I found the explanations in this nutshell to be superficial and unhelpful. The book was of little to no help to me in my exam preparations, and I will probably never look at it again.
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Times down home: 75 years with Progressive farmer
Manufacturer: Oxmoor House
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding
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ASIN: 0848704916 |
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Advances in Pectin and Pectinase Research
Manufacturer: Springer
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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All Titles
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ASIN: 140201144X
Release Date: 2003-02-01 |
Book Description
The second international symposium on Pectins and Pectinases was organised by Wageningen University and Research Centre and was held in Rotterdam, May 6-10, 2001. This fruitful meeting was attended by around 130 participants from more than 20 countries, representing almost all of the groups/industries working worldwide on pectins and pectinases. Following the first meeting on this subject held in December 1995, the symposium definitely forms a platform for researchers and industries working in the field, all within their own discipline and expertise. The symposium book contains most keynote lectures and other oral presentations and provides an update about the current research. It is clearly demonstrated that significant progress has been made during the past seven years. The progress in the elucidation of the chemical structure of pectin and mode of action and 3-D structure of the pectin-degrading enzymes allows us more and more to identify (and influence) the functionality of pectins and pectic enzymes, both
in vitro after isolation as well as in the plants themselves (
in planta). Other contributions deal with new applications of both pectin and pectin-degrading enzymes, while more and more attention is paid to health and nutritional aspects of pectins. The book provides a state-of-the-art account for both beginners and experienced researchers in almost all disciplines of pectin research.
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Semiconductor Silicides
Victor E. Borisenko
Manufacturer: Springer
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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Semiconductors
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ASIN: 3540661115 |
Book Description
The book gives a comprehensive presentation and analysis of properties and methods of formation of semiconducting silicides. Fundamental electronic, optical and transport properties of the silicides collected from recent publications will help the reader to make a choice for their application in new generations of solid-state devices. A comprehensive presentation of thermodynamic and kinetic data is given in combination with their technical application. Information on corresponding thin-film or bulk crystal formation techniques is provided.
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AD 414 895
M Neuberger
Manufacturer: Electronic Properties Information Center, Hughes Aircraft Co., [reproduced by the National Technical Information Service, Springfield, Va.]
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding
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ASIN: B0007DRTIG |
Book Description
This accessible introduction to medieval French literature concentrates on how to enjoy reading this lively and influential literary tradition. Rather than offering a conventional literary history, Simon Gaunt suggests strategies for reading medieval French texts, many of which retell traditional stories. He shows that although many early texts allude to oral sources for these stories, they belong to a sophisticated and witty written culture that revels in knowledge of competing interpretations of the same story and in the intellectual games that writing enables. Retelling the Tale gives those coming to medieval French literature for the first time a clear sense of how stimulating and enjoyable these texts can be.
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Forging the Collective Memory: Government and International Historians Through Two World Wars
Manufacturer: Berghahn Books
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Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 1571818626 |
Book Description
When Studying the origins of the First World War, scholars have relied heavily on the series of key diplomatic documents published by the governments of both the defeated and the victorious powers in the 1920s and 1930s. However, this volume shows that these publications, rather than dealing objectively with the past, were used by the different governments to project an interpretation of the origins of the Great War that was more palatable for them and their country than the truth might have been. In revealing the policies that influenced the publication of the documents, the relationship between the commissioning governments, their officials, and the historians involved, this collection serves as a warning that even seeming objective sources have to be used with caution in historical research.
Book Description
The resurgence of Islamic fundamentalism in the 1980s influenced many in the Islamic world to reject Western norms of liberal rationality and to return, instead, to their own tradition for political and cultural inspiration. This rejection of foreign thought threatens to end the centuries-long dialogue between Islam and the West, a dialogue that has produced a nascent Middle Eastern liberalism, along with many less desirable forms of discourse. With Islamic Liberalism, Leonard Binder hopes to reinvigorate that dialogue, asking whether political liberalism can take root in the Middle East without a vigorous Islamic liberalism. But, Binder asks, is an Islamic liberalism possible?
The Islamic political community presents special problems to the development of an indigenous liberalism. That community is conceived of as divinely ordained, and its notions of the good are to be derived from scriptural revelation, not arrived at through rational discourse. Liberal politics would seem to stand little chance of surviving in such an atmosphere, let alone thriving.
Binder responds to the challenge of Edward Said's critique of Orientalism, of a range of neo-Marxian development theorists, of Sayyid Qutb's fundamentalist vision, of Samir Amin's vision of Egypt's role in the Arab awakening, of Tariq al-Bishri's new populism, of Zaki Najib Mahmud's pragmatism, and the structuralism of Arkoun and Laroui. The deconstruction of these varied texts produces a number of persuasive hermeneutical conclusions that are sequentially woven together in a critical argument that refocuses our attention on the central question of political freedom and democracy. In the course of constructing this argument, Binder reopens the dialogue between Western modernity and Islamic authenticity and reveals the surprising extent to which there is a convergent interest in liberal, democratic, civil society. Finally, in a concluding chapter, he addresses the prospects for liberalism in the three major bourgeois states of Islam—Egypt, Turkey, and Iran.
Customer Reviews:
Excellent Study, Worthwhile Reading.......2007-09-21
I had read Barzini's well known works on the Europeans and thoroughly enjoyed this book on the English.
The approach is academic yet palatable, laden with insightful observations and well deserves consideration as a work of anthropological interest. The author maintains an objective distance and professional methodology which impart a delicious irony; we are conditioned to primitive cultures as the provenance of these studies, she turns the focus upon what some may argue as the bastion of civilization.
As a guidebook to a cultural understanding of the English this work is invaluable. The expose on class is penetrating and amuses as there are unexpected twists; such as decorating your home or garden with a modicum of lower class objects, the inside joke apparent only to the cognoscienti.
Hilarious and revealing observation of the English by a social anthropologist.......2007-06-28
Kate Fox, a social anthropologist and Co-Director of the Social Issues Research Centre in Oxford, who has lived in England, America, Ireland and France, takes a revealing look at the quirks and habits of the English people. Being very English herself, she holds a mirror up to the English national character and reveals the most famous traits as well as the most bizarre reflex reactions. She attempts to discover the curious, hidden rules of behaviour that all English people seem to follow, but few are aware even exist. In a separate section consisting of 14 pages she focuses on defining Englishness and attempts to define Englishness in contrast to being British.
Writing with gentle humour and astute perception she portrays the foibles in the English and in herself as well. Kate Fox is immensely perceptive about all kinds of English cultural values, behaviours and oddities. Watching the English falls into two main parts: part one - Conversation codes; part two - Behaviour codes. The first part covers everything from the obsession with the weather through English humour to how people use mobile phones. The second part deals with how the English behave inside their own homes or when visiting other people's homes, life in the workplace, food, drink, eating-habits, sex... and many more topics.
Though the smallish print might irritate some, it's an easy read with good flow and the reader will get much material to provoke lively discussion with anyone interested in the English.
Anthropologist Kate Fox, has forced herself to engage in many humiliating field tests-- like bumping into people on purpose and seeing how many people say `sorry'-- in order to test the common theories about English behaviour. Watching the English is the result of her research. Fox's book displays most of the traits that she points out as representing the English: being sensitive to the tiny signifiers of class status (e.g. the `M&S test', which identifies your class by your shopping choices at that particular department store), it purposely avoids taking itself too seriously and is continuously self-deprecating (of course, this is the `popular anthropology', not the real scientific one). Admitting to being neither, Watching the English is positioned between satire and science.
Warmly recommended for anyone from another culture, who tries to survive living in Britain, or live among the English abroad. People working in international teams with English members or bosses would have many aha-insights through this book.
useful in understdg ppl's behaviour.......2007-06-18
Written by an English anthropologist about her own nation's behaviour. There're some interesting explanation on why British ppl are so uneasy socializing, talking about money and may sometimes talking in the opp way (hypocrisy). While many of the explanations suggested by the author are convincing, I found those behaviour not unique to the British, they can be observed in our Chi society as well! So it's useful in understdg ppl's behaviour.
Prodigious - and prodigiously funny.......2007-06-03
As an American social scientist who has an English partner and has visited the UK multiple times, I found this book engrossing for many reasons. Kate Fox does the miraculous: she makes fascinating reading out of chapters on tea, queue-jumping, arrangements of knick-knacks, incessant talking about the weather, and myriad other English characteristics that so charm, frustrate, and baffle we non-English of the world. Moreover, her writing is hilarious - she has a droll, tongue-in-cheek, utterly English sense of humor that had me laughing through every chapter.
The book is incredibly useful, too. I read it after my English partner recommended it to me, saying he had never read anything that captured the English so well. The insights in the book clarified several things to me and greatly reduced the quantity of cultural faux pas on my part. It also gave my partner a great deal of insight into his own personality as well as his interactions with Americans. Plus, it led to many, many fascinating discussions between us about (among other things) the markers of class and attitudes about it, the nature (and point) of politeness, and how it is that societies can make us who we are.
The only shortcoming of the book is that I still don't understand Vegemite, but I think that may just be beyond comprehension.
Best book on the English ever.......2007-03-23
I have read a few books on the British lately filled with sweeping generalizations--many of their ideas are false or outdated or narrowed to one section of society. This is not one of them. It is written by an anthropologist who has taken great trouble and pains to find out the reasons behind the behavior of Brits. I would definitely recommend this book, but remember there are exceptions to the norm such as Richard Branson, Jamie Oliver, Michael Caine, any of the Beatles, J.K. Rowling. These are just some of the Great Brits who are creative, optimistic and entrepreneurial.
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I Am of This Land: Wetes Pe M'E Wes: A Nez Perce Nature Guide
Dan Landeen , and
Jeremy Crow
Manufacturer: Confluence Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 1891055003 |
Books:
- Illusions of Equality: Deaf Americans in School and Factory,1850-1950
- International Handbook of Labour Market Policy and Evaluation
- Job Patterns for Minorities and Women in Private Industry, 2001 (Job Patterns for Minorities and Women in Private Industry)
- Just Get Out of the Way: How Government Can Help Business in Poor Countries
- Key Indicators of the Labour Market 1999 (KILM)
- Labor-Management Cooperation: The American Experience
- Labor Markets Under Trade Unionism: Employment, Wages, and Hours
- Labour Market Polarization and Social Policy Reform (School of Policy Studies)
- Labour Relations in Transition: Wages, Employment and Industrial Conflict in Russia (Management and Industry in Russia Series)
- Locked in Place: State-Building and Late Industrialization in India
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