Average customer rating:
- Workplace Clues for the Clueless
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Workplace Clues for the Clueless: God's Word in Your World (Clues for the Clueless)
Manufacturer: Barbour Publishing, Incorporated
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 1577487400 |
Customer Reviews:
Workplace Clues for the Clueless.......2000-11-25
I highly recommend this book. It is written in plain, easy to understand English and offers tips and insight on how to deal with the workplace. Just about every work situation you can imagine is covered. If you are unhappy in your current work situation or just want to improve a good situation, this is the book for you. It is a quick read and packed with good information.
Book Description
The retirement of the baby boom generation poses a challenge to the world's financial markets. This book examines the prospect that, after 2020, pension funds will have to pay out more in benefits than employers will be contributing, and it considers the extent to which individuals will liquidate equity holdings, or switch to bond holdings, or do both to sustain their living standards. The book examines the possibility that these changes will drive down equity values.
Customer Reviews:
Fad of the moment/ Hype/ Tempest in Teapot.......2005-12-21
I fully adopt as my own the review by A. Agarwal (Houston, TX USA), who is right on the money.
The problem with these neo-Malthusian arguments is that they are essentially trying to linearize a non-linear problem (economics). This does not work due to exogenous shocks, the same reason Malthus's theory doesn't work (technological innovation, which is unpredictable, increases food faster than population growth). Jeremy Siegel explains in The Future for Investors how Global Aging will not result in economic collapse (India will buy America's assets). And contrary to what the Gaetan Lion reviewer says, here is a 'thought experiment' (not unlike what is done in this book) why a large population is essential (an argument made by Singapore Prime Minister Lee several years ago): genius is a function of population: the more people, the greater likelihood a genius will be found. So grow a lot of people and some Einstein will invent a solution to every one of our problems, including aging (reversing the biological clock). Still not convinced? Then consider the titles of these two books below, from a noted think tank (Inst. for Intl Econ), and note the dates. Point being, these problems of yesteryear have not materialized.
"The US - Japan Economic Problem" by Bergsten and Cline 1985
"Deficits and the Dollar: The World Economy at Risk" Marris (1987).
Doomsday books sell--but check out the Hoover Institute's "10000 Years of Economic Crisis" to see why they rarely come to fruition.
Global Aging - Rush to judgment.......2004-08-03
Those truely interested in the impact of global aging on the price of financial assets, should heed to the insightful views of Jeremey Siegel, Wharton Finance.
I think a topic that is inadequately emphasised by most authors, are the demographic trends in the "rest" of the world, most notably, China and India, with their young and growing working age populations. We know the fate of many mega-trend predictions, including Malthusian population theory.
The focus of the debate on demographic challenges in the case of financial assets, unfortunately, is often heavily weighted towards inter-generational transfer of ownership within a country, or within the "developed" world. The emerging purchasing power of the developing countries either doesn't find a mention, or is written off as too insignificant.
Proliferation of communication and free trade is changing the world in profound ways. Many countries, people, and poulations are increasingly bridging the productivity and the knowledge gap, a fundamental cause of low incomes, for the upper quartile of their populations. These 300 to 500 million people are likely to move up the value chain and reach the "best practice" levels of productivity, in the next 20 to 25 years. The lower quartiles will follow, longer-term (50 to 90 years).
This trend will be a great shock absorber. The ownership of developed country assets will likely have a distinct inter-generational, and global characteristic.
Summary: The challenge exists. A crisis isn't imminent.
Good review of the impact of global aging on the financial m.......2003-08-09
The author reviews numerous economic forecasts measuring the impact of global aging on the financial markets. Global aging is a looming major macroeconomic event. The huge baby boom generation will start retiring in 2011. By 2025, the entire baby boom generation will have retired. During this period, the baby boomers will be drawing down on their pension and retirement funds. The baby boomers draw downs will put huge downward pressure on bonds and stocks prices.
Pension funds will experience rising negative cash flows as their benefit claims will surpass their contributions. In the U.S. for defined benefit pension plans, Schieber and Shoven forecast that the gap between benefit claims and contributions will deepen from - 1.5% of payroll in 2040 to - 4% in 2065.
Regarding precise equity return outlook there is little consensus. The study from Schieber and Shoven forecasts that real equity returns will decline from an historical 8% down to 5%. Another study by Jan Mantel from Merrill Lynch claims that equities will not decrease in price throughout the retirement of the baby boomers. But, he did not express by how much equity returns would decline if equity prices grow at a slower than historical rate. Other economists forecast worse scenarios including bear markets lasting decades.
There are three factors that will negatively affect equities. The first one, as mentioned, is the baby boomers selling their stock holdings throughout their retirement years. The second one is the pension funds changing their investment mix away from equities towards bonds and cash to meet upcoming liabilities associated with retirees. Mantel forecasts that between 2000 and 2050 pension funds will reduce their equity allocation from 72% to 60% of investments in the U.K, from 63% to 54% in the U.S., from 45% to 30% in the Netherlands, and from 40% to 28% in Japan. Because these four countries account for 80% of the World's private defined benefit pension assets, this shift in investment mix will represent a huge downward pressure on equity prices. The third factor is an anticipated increase in worldwide interest rates associated with a rapid increase in government borrowing through the industrialized World to support government retirement systems and elders healthcare benefits. Governments worldwide are ill prepared for the funding of these liabilities. Roseveare, an OECD economist, predicts government debt will reach staggering levels by 2030, and represent 339% of GDP in Japan, over 200% throughout the EU, and 115% in the U.S. These debt levels are a multiple of current levels.
Reviewing the investment outlook for the second quarter of this century (2025 to 2050), we derive the following:
1) Equity prices and returns will be affected by a decrease in demand;
2) International equities should fare worse than U.S. ones because both the EU and Japan have more rapidly aging population and have weaker fiscal position associated with higher government debt level;
3) Bond prices and returns will be affected by a staggering increase in supply due to rising government debt. International bonds will be more vulnerable for the same reason as for equities;
4) Real estate will be affected by a declining demand associated with lower demographic growth and lower rate of household formation;
5) All medium to long term investments will be affected by a rise in real interest rates associated with a huge increase in government borrowing throughout the industrialized World to support government programs aimed at retirees.
There are several moderating factors that may reduce the impact of global aging. However, these arguments are not convincing. The first one is that all the above predictions regarding pension plans are associated with defined benefit plans where a pension fund pays a predetermined annuity to retirees. Apparently, the more modern defined contribution plans (401K) would have a different and more robust cash flow than defined benefit plans. Retirees would not draw down on their 401K holdings as quickly. This makes sense, but the dollar amounts in defined contribution plans worldwide is small compared to defined benefit plans.
The most intriguing economic argument that would counteract the negative impact of global aging relates to equities demand and supply equilibrium. If equities prices decline because of global aging, the cost of equity capital will go up for corporations. As a result, corporations will issue less equity and instead finance growth with bonds. Thus, the supply of equity will decrease and match the reduced demand for equity. And equity returns and prices ultimately will not be affected by global aging.
Unfortunately the demand and supply equilibrium argument is flawed. The reduction in equity supply, as depicted, will be minimal compared to the reduction in equity demand associated with pension funds selling equities both to meet retirees benefits and to shift their portfolio mix towards bonds. Also, for corporations to steadily finance their growth through bond financing will further jack up real interest rates. This is due to increasing bond supply and increasing the credit risk premium on corporate bonds. This increase in real interest rates will hurt both bonds and equities.
Book Description
In recent years, there has been a great deal of public attention and criticism of multilateral institutions such as the World Bank, The International Monetary Fund and the World Trade Organization. Their annual meetings are now events that hit the headlines of major newspapers all over the world. Yet there is still intense disagreement over what purpose they fulfill.
While politicians and the established business community argue that multilateral institutions are essential tools for eliminating poverty, activists and many NGOs regard them as a means of perpetuating and strengthening the global market at the expense of developing countries. However, neither of these viewpoints are necessarily based on a detailed understanding of the multilateral institutions themselves.
This book offers students, practitioners and activists a critical introduction to the major institutions that make up the multilateral development system. The mandate of these institutions defines them as technical and functional organizations. Bøås and McNeil, however, convincingly demonstrate that they are political organizations and show how their programs have a significant impact on the domestic policies of the many countries in which they are involved.
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Soils of Papua New Guinea
P Bleeker
Manufacturer: Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization, Australia, in association with Australian National University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding
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ASIN: 0708111041 |
Product Description
Translation into Tok Pisin of "Care of Soil".
Average customer rating:
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A Secret World: Natural Products of Marine Life
Francesco Pietra
Manufacturer: Birkhauser
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
Herbal Remedies
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General
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General
| Marine Biology
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ASIN: 0817623469 |
Book Description
Lovelock presents the theory that the earth is a living organism and draws expertly from chemistry, biology, geology, paleontology, physics, and meteorology that life has evolved not just by adapting to its surroundings but by taking control of them and remaking them into an immense life-sustaining organism.
Customer Reviews:
A Delightful Little Book.......2007-10-09
The Ages of Gaia is not just the story of Gaia and how she was discovered, but also the adventures of an individual scientist vs. the scientific establishment and the adventures of a British land-lover vs. the political establishment. It also is a gentle warning to the passengers on spaceship Earth, a.k.a. Gaia, that the spaceship is not in danger, the passengers are!
Gaia is not a living creature. Gaia is a self regulating habitat that favors denizens that manage to get along harmoniously and hinders those that don't. There are no reasons or theologies given for this behavior. As Ayn Rand might have said: it is the nature of Gaia to be like she is. Gaia is what our senses perceive and what our reason understands. Gaia does not play favorites.
The only chapter that put me to sleep was the one about god and Gaia. Maybe you'll find it interesting. I tried twice to read it but to no avail.
Lovelock is a bit wordy but a good read.......2003-09-11
Lovelock's adventure into the theory of Gaia is an interesting experience that is worth the read. I found his ideas to be well constructed and factually backed up. It definently helps in providing a new way of looking at not only the earth, but also science in general. The only drawback was that sometimes he seemed to be more concerned with trying to denounce his critics than actually providing interesting and constructive opinions.
Living Earth.......2002-07-18
A fabulous look at why the planet Earth is alive and how she helps sustain life. Without Life existing on Earth Gaia would not exist, and if Gaia did not present the proper conditions, nothing on planet earth would be alive. Mr Lovelock does a great job of presenting the information to us and gives us a great deal about which to comtemplate!
This Look Into The Past Can Insure Our Future.......2000-06-03
Imagine living in Europe during the Dark Ages, when everyone thought the world was flat, and having someone demonstrate to you that the world is a sphere. In our modern version of the Dark Ages of the environment we are under the delusion that our Earth is lump of rock inhabited by life. Lovelock shows that the Earth is a living, self-regulating system comprised of all of life tightly coupled with its environment. He traces the 3.5 billion year life of the Earth as a living entity in an easy and enjoyable to read fashion. If we as a species are fortunate enough to survive the next 1000 years it will be because this book was recognized as the most important ever written in the 20th century. For you Gaia theory buffs out there: The Gaia theory dawned on Lovelock when he was having a conversation with Carl Sagan and some other colleagues.
Reviewing Lovelock's second book on the Gaia Hypothesis.......1996-12-05
"The Ages of Gaia" by James Lovelock
What is the Gaia Hypothesis? Stated simply,
the idea is that we may have discovered a living being bigger, more
ancient, and more complex than anything from our wildest dreams. That
being, called Gaia, is the Earth.
More precisely: that about one billion years after it's formation, our
planet was occupied by a meta-life form which began an ongoing process of
transforming this planet into its own substance. All the life forms of
the planet are part of Gaia. In a way analogous to the myriad different
cell colonies which make up our organs and bodies, the life forms of
earth in their diversity coevolve and contribute interactively to produce
and sustain the optimal conditions for the growth and prosperity not of
themselves, but of the larger whole, Gaia. That the very makeup of the atmosphere, seas,
and terrestrial crust is the result of radical interventions carried out
by Gaia through the evolving diversity of living creatures.
Encountering the Earth from space, a witness would know immediately that the planet was alive. The atmosphere would give it away. The atmospheric compositions of our sister planets, venus and mars, are: 95-96% carbon dioxide, 3-4% nitrogen, with traces of oxygen, argon and methane. The earth's atmosphere at present is 79% nitrogen, 21% oxygen with traces of carbon dioxide, methane and argon. The difference is Gaia, which transforms the outer layer of the planet into environments suitable to its further growth. For example, bacteria and photosynthetic algae began some 2.8 billions of years ago extracting the carbon dioxide and releasing oxygen into the atmosphere, setting the stage for larger and more energetic creatures powered by combustion, including, ultimately, ourselves.
That is how James Lovelock discovered Gaia; from outer space.In the
1960's, during the space race which followed the launching of Sputnik,
he was asked by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Nasa to help design
experiments to detect life on Mars.The Viking lander gathered and tested
some Martian soil for life with no results. Lovelock had predicted as
much, by analyzing the atmosphere of Mars: it is in a dead equilibrium.
By contrast, the atmosphere of Earth is in a "far from equilib
rium" state- meaning that there was some other complex process going on which maintained such an unlikely balance. It occurred to him that if
the Viking lander had landed on the frozen waste of antarctica, it might
not have found any trace of life on Earth either. But a sure giveaway
would be a complete atmospheric analysis... which the Viking lander was
not equipped to do. Lovelock's approach was not popular at Nasa because
Nasa needed a good reason to land on Mars, and the best was to look for life. Viking found nothing on Mars, but Lovelock had seen the Earth from the perspective of an ET looking for evidence of life. And he began thinking that what he was seeing was not so much a planet adorned with diverse life forms, but a planet transfigured and transformed by a self-evolving and self-regulating living system.By the nature of its activity it seemed to qualify as a living being. He named that being Gaia, after the Greek goddess which drew the living world forth from Chaos.
"The name of the living planet, Gaia, is not a synonym for the
biosphere-that part of the Earth where living things are seen normally to
exist. Still less is Gaia the same as the biota, which is simply the
collection of all individual living organisms. The biota and the
biosphere taken together form a part but not all of Gaia. Just as the
shell is part of the snail, so the rocks, the air, and the oceans are
part of Gaia. Gaia, as we shall see, has continuity with the past back to
the origins of life, and in the future as long as life persists. Gaia, as
a total planetary being, has properties that are not necesarily
discernable by just knowing individual species or populations of
organisms living together...Specifically, the Gaia hypothesis says that
the temperature,oxidation, state, acidity, and certain aspects of the
rocks and waters are kept constant, and that this homeostasis is
maintained by active feedback processes operated automatically and unconsciously by the biota."
Even the shifting of the tectonic plates, resulting in the changing
shapes of the continents, may result from the massive limestone deposits left in the earth by bioforms eons ago.
"You may find it hard to swallow the notion that anything as large
and apparently inanimate as the Earth is alive. Surely, you may say, the
Earth is almost wholly rock, and nearly all incandescent with heat. The
difficulty can be lessened if you let the image of a giant redwood tree
enter your mind.The tree undoubtedly is alive, yet 99% of it is dead.The
great tree is an ancient spire of dead wood,made of lignin and cellulose
by the ancestors of the thin layer of living cells which constitute its
bark. How like the Earth, and more so when we realize that many of the
atoms of the rocks far down into the magma were once part of the
ancestral life of which we all have come."
The root question of Gaia's critics, and a central point in his theory concerns the difference between a planetary environment which might only be the aggregate result of myriad independent life forms coevolving and sharing the same host, and one which is ultimately created by life forms deployed, so to speak, to accomplish the purpose of the larger being. Is the idea of Gaia only a romantic and dramatized description of the terrestrial biosphere and its effects, or is there a planetary being,
whose life cycle must be counted in the billions of years, which spawns
these evolving life forms to suit the purpose of its being. Do our kidney
cells ask each other these sorts of questions? While your white blood cells thrive and reproduce, going about their business,they are indisputably serving the life of the larger body which you use, though whatever consciousness they experience in their realm is certainly far from that which you, the larger being, the whole, experience.
Recent scientific work, such as in the field of complex systems, have begun to give us the impression that this opposition of terms, the larger caused by its constituents, or the costituents created by the larger, may be one of those oppositions which are the constructs of our own minds, and must be dropped if we are to understand the truth,
which is neither the one nor the other, but more difficult to comprehend
and more fascinating to behold. Perhaps there is awareness appropriate at every level.Perhaps that is a property of life.
And what might be the nature of its evolution, this planetary
being called Gaia? Anthropocentrists to the last, we might assume that
the production of the human species is a great step upward for Gaia, a
sort of rapidly evolving brain tissue. Or that she prepares the earth as a
cradle and crucible of consciousness evolving. Other analogies come to
mind: are we part of her arsenal of interplanetary spores?
And what might constitute a life cycle for such a being- might it be as
strange as that of the slime mold? What stage would Gaia be in now? Is
our species part of her maturity or an incubation period? Is Gaia
herself somehow part of a larger living being, perhaps on a galactic
scale? If so how do the cells of this larger being remain in communication? Will we eventually be able to experience something of the awareness which Gaia has?
Lovelock points out that Gaia, being ancient and resourceful
enough to have carried out these successive changes of the planet in
spite of asteroid collisions and other setbacks, is herself probably not
endangered by the relatively momentary depradations of the human species, as it befouls and cripples the bio-dynamics of its environment. Rather,the danger is to the human rac
Book Description
In the mid to late 1890s, J. J. Thomson and colleagues at Cambridge's Cavendish Laboratory conducted experiments on "cathode rays" (a form of radiation produced within evacuated glass vessels subjected to electric fields) -- the results of which some historians later viewed as the "discovery" of the electron. This book is both a biography of the electron and a history of the microphysical world that it opened up.
The book is organized in four parts. The first part, Corpuscles and Electrons, considers the varying accounts of Thomson's role in the experimental production of the electron. The second part, What Was the Newborn Electron Good For?, examines how scientists used the new entity in physical and chemical investigations. The third part, Electrons Applied and Appropriated, explores the accommodation, or lack thereof, of the electron in nuclear physics, chemistry, and electrical science. It follows the electron's gradual progress from cathode ray to ubiquitous subatomic particle and eponymous entity in one of the world's most successful industries -- electronics. The fourth part, Philosophical Electrons, considers the role of the electron in issues of instrumentalism, epistemology, and realism. The electron, it turns out, can tell us a great deal about how science works.
Average customer rating:
- Das Book
- The Stuff of Dreams
- Dede Korkut: Oral Traditions in Turkic Epics
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The Book of Dede Korkut (Penguin Classics)
Anonymous
Manufacturer: Penguin Classics
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
Classics
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Contemporary
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Folklore & Mythology
| Social Sciences
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ASIN: 0140442987 |
Customer Reviews:
Das Book.......2005-09-28
For being a book that is well out of print it got to me in a decent condition, average shipping time, alright stuff
The Stuff of Dreams.......2001-10-04
Heroic tales of steppe conquest and more. Love, hate, jealousy, campaigns, descriptions...The sort of tales one might imagine in dreams, but with a closer to reality focus than many epics. However, the music and internal rhythms of the Turkish original are lost in the translations.
Dede Korkut: Oral Traditions in Turkic Epics.......2001-02-20
The Book Dede Korkut is a compilation of tales about the Turkic peoples of Central Asia, who later went on to conquer Asia Minor, and much of Europe. Although these stories are purportedly about an group of Muslim raiders, and defenders of the faith, it is clear that these references are grafted onto an earlier tradition. The stories themselves are juicy, and often funny, and give a good sense of life on the steppe. The translation is excellent, with good endnotes.
Average customer rating:
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The Book of Dede Korkut: A Turkish Epic
Faruk Sumer , and
Ahmet E. Uysal
Manufacturer: Univ of Texas Pr
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
Literary Theory
| History & Criticism
| United States
| World Literature
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
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General
| Mythology
| World Literature
| Literature & Fiction
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Turkey
| Middle Eastern
| World Literature
| Literature & Fiction
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Contemporary
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General
| Criticism & Theory
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ASIN: 0292707878 |
Customer Reviews:
A Turkish Epic!.......2006-03-23
The Turkish equivalent of "The Song of Roland"! The narrator throughout the book is Dede Orkut, a Turkmen bard, chronicling the struggles and tribulations of the Oghuz Turks against other Central Asian tribes: the Pechenegs and the Kypchaks, particularly.
Of special interest to me is that it contains many reference to the pre-Islamic aspect of the Turkmens, although it was written after their conversion to Islam. A sort of Islamic Gnostic aspect, to simplify in my terms.
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