Personal Auto Coverage Guide: Interpretation and Analysis

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When "Red Ink" first appeared in 1985 it was hailed as a no-nonsense, down-to-earth guide to the complicated issue of the federal deficit. "Red Ink II," completely rewritten and updated by economic policy expert Alfred J. Watkins, lays out in plain English how the deficit grew to current levels and what choices exist to bring it under control. Co-published with the Roosevelt Center for American Policy Studies.

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This groundbreaking investigation into the consumption of homes and domesticity in the Middle East during the period between the mid-nineteenth and the early twenty-first centuries provides subtle accounts of how people in the region restructured their most immediate and intimate surroundings. Avoiding the notion of linearity and "progress" in the transition to modern lifestyles, this volume focuses on the market where producers and consumers meet, the state and the national movements with their respective ideologies and practices, and the role of advertisers, but also the agency of individual and group choice. In addition, it discusses, in different ways, the close interrelations between the representation of home and domestic life, for example in journals, books, and photography, and the political economy of house consumption. The contributors foreground the impact of economic, political, and socio-cultural transformations on the private life of individuals and the processes of restructuring self-identity and lifestyles via acts of consumption.

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Tall Tales of kayaking on San Francisco Bay.

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Frame traces the development and history of Eric Clapton, Led Zeppelin, The Rolling Stones, Genesis, The Police, and more. His hand-drawn rock trees have appeared in Melody Maker, NME, and Rolling Stone.

Customer Reviews:

Absolutely fantastic, a must for any music fanatic.......2007-06-17

Not only do you get insights and tidbits that you never could have imagined, but they also get linked together in an informative and fun way. Pete Frame does an excellent job of giving informative and anecdotal stories in a graphical manner that makes understanding the era of music much easier. A must read for any true classic rock fan. A personal favorite.

Perfect Marriage Of Form and Function.......2006-05-16

Pete Frame's obsessive large-format (they HAVE to be or you'd go blind reading them) rock family trees are a feast of rock minutia and an elegant formal statement. If you're of a certain age (harrumph), and remember pouring through the record bins in the 60s and 70s, you'll know lots of these names and albums, and your elderly brain will bask for awhile in the nostalgic glow of... rock and roll reminiscence.

As a reference work, as an aesthetic achievement, as a hell of a good way to waste some time, this can't be beat.

There`s always something new to learn ..........2005-07-23

Hi, I`ve been listening to Music for a long time now and went through a lot of different styles and moods.
Two months ago my girlfriend bought me this book and I am most pleased to research again and again through all the small and big events that marked the best era of Rockmusic.
Through Pete I`ve learned that the picture on the front cover of Airplanes Surrealistic Pillow was taken at the Matrix. Way to go!!
I just don`t know if, by mentioning that Zeppelin never released a single, Pete was refering only to the UK ..? Because in the States the monsterpiece Whole Lotta Love came out as a single in Nov. 69. But I`m just a reader!
Thank you Pete!!!

A treasure chest of facts and trivia.......2005-07-09

Back in the pre-Internet days many of us gleaned info from record albums, and searched out new music by musicians and producers on liner notes because we had little else to guide us.

In the early 80's Pete Frame was a beacon of light, fleshing out band histories, changes and spinoffs and adding context to the evolution of many great music scenes. At that time few decent books covered anything but specific band histories, and Frame's rtees made for hours of fun reading and paths to explore to expand musical boundaries. His work is as relevant and vital now as it ever was

The only thing that came close to being as valuable a resource was Terry Hounsome's Rock Record which indexed bands and musicians but offered little more that than and basic discography info.

Pete Frame invented a new art form and it shows when you look at how many others copy his style on the web today or just outright steal his work for band reference web sites. It's a shame his various books have been hard to find over the years and that there hasn't a fully comprehensive collection of Frame's work. This suggests it is but I think still misses some stuff that can be complemented by other books - and as far as I know Frame is still churning out new ones, though probably at a much slower pace. So this is as good as it gets as far as an overview of Frame's work, and it's very good.

This book is well worth the price and will offer hours of info and and fun trivia to any music fan interested in just about any realm of rock music in the last few decades.

A must reference for any serious rock music collector.......2004-01-27

When you start getting really serious about music, listening to it stops being enough: you need to learn about the band, the members, the changes, the bios, the history behind it all... Pete Frame, in the course of some 15 years compiled this magnificently complex printed documentary that includes the family trees and evolution of most every rock band you can think of dated before 1993 (too bad this was the last edition of this book, which now also happens to be out of print!)

The beauty about the book is that it ties together bands that had a relatively close evolution, such as the case of Roxy Music and King Crimson, for example, who "touched" each other's paths when former Crimson's bass/voice John Wetton landed on Roxy Music #5's album, alongside Phil Manzanera, Bryan Ferry and the crew (the # refers to the nomenclature Frame uses to list the different incarnations of a band). In short, if you can get your hands on a used copy of the book (which is the only way to go about it these days), by all means do so: you will be provided with hours and hours of discovery of musical facts!

Book Description

This text explores the relationship between technology and inequality through social and cultural theory and case studies of the application of ICTs, in particular in media, education and training.

Technology and In/Equality: Questioning the Information Society. (Book Reviews). (book review): An article from: Journal of Economic Issues

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Technology and In/Equality: Questioning the Information Society. (Book Reviews). (book review): An article from: Journal of Economic Issues
Michael Perelman
Manufacturer: Association for Evolutionary Economics
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

History of Technology | Technology | Science | Subjects | Books

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This digital document is an article from Journal of Economic Issues, published by Association for Evolutionary Economics on December 1, 2001. The length of the article is 566 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: Technology and In/Equality: Questioning the Information Society. (Book Reviews). (book review)
Author: Michael Perelman
Publication: Journal of Economic Issues (Refereed)
Date: December 1, 2001
Publisher: Association for Evolutionary Economics
Volume: 35 Issue: 4 Page: 1037(2)

Article Type: Book Review

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Technology and in/Equality: Questioning the Information Society

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Technology and in/Equality: Questioning the Information Society
Flis Henwood
Manufacturer: Taylor & Francis, Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000MUZC1U

Book Description

After a half-century of glacial creep, television technology has begun to change at the same dizzying pace as computer software. What this will mean--for television, for computers, and for the popular culture where these video media reign supreme--is the subject of this timely book. A noted communications economist, Bruce Owen supplies the essential background: a grasp of the economic history of the television industry and of the effects of technology and government regulation on its organization. He also explores recent developments associated with the growth of the Internet. With this history as a basis, his book allows readers to peer into the future--at the likely effects of television and the Internet on each other, for instance, and at the possibility of a convergence of the TV set, computer, and telephone.

The digital world that Owen shows us is one in which communication titans jockey to survive what Joseph Schumpeter called the "gales of creative destruction." While the rest of us simply struggle to follow the new moves, believing that technology will settle the outcome, Owen warns us that this is a game in which Washington regulators and media hyperbole figure as broadly as innovation and investment. His book explains the game as one involving interactions among all the players, including consumers and advertisers, each with a particular goal. And he discusses the economic principles that govern this game and that can serve as powerful predictive tools.

Customer Reviews:

a little extra comment.......2006-01-05

It's worth balancing the previous reviews a little. In the first chapter, Prof. Owen describes a model for thinking about bandwidth-storage-compression tradeoffs and their influence on industry devlopment. I have not often revisited the parts of the book that deal with history or no-longer-up-to-date technical descriptions, but it's been well worth owning for the number of times I've gone back to that analysis in Chapter 1.

Speaking from ignorance..........1999-07-17

Bruce M. Owen makes too many assumptions and doesn't do enough research in this book. Owen's focus is the future, but he speaks about the Internet as a group of technologies that will not change in the future, that are somehow stuck in time and will never improve.

He doesn't understand the technology (like Packet Switching, the very breakthrough that made TCP/IP and thus the Internet possible). Throughout the first part of the book, he claims that the Internet doesn't have the ability to transmit high quality video. We might not have the bandwidth now, but why is this _never_ going to be possible? The technology is there, just not there for everybody yet. He cites "Moore's Law," but does he think for some reason that the Internet is immune to this Law and that it won't continue to improve?

Owen also doesn't understand the history and development of the Internet, especially not the idea of open standards. As chaotic as the Internet is, it works because groups have already gotten together and handled many of the standards issues or came up with the technologies to deal with the incompatabilities. He even asserts that it might be to the Internet's advantage if "Silicon Valley" (as if they own the Internet) invites some regulators in to help with standards issues. Anyone who knows how the Net works knows that such ideas are not only improbably, they're impossible. The Internet is not a singular, private entitiy like a TV network.

Indeed, Owen seems to have a large bias against the Internet for some unknown reason. He believes that the Internet is an elite audience and makes every attempt to minimize the number of people participating. He even asserts, with no facts to back it up, that the number of households buying computers is "leveling off."

Book Description

This digital document is an article from Rural Telecommunications, published by National Telephone Cooperative Association on November 1, 2003. The length of the article is 599 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: Internet challenge in Montana could spill into other states.(Perspective)
Author: Mike Strand
Publication: Rural Telecommunications (Magazine/Journal)
Date: November 1, 2003
Publisher: National Telephone Cooperative Association
Volume: 22 Issue: 6 Page: 10(1)

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Web TV Helps Meet the Challenges of Educating Migrant Students.(Product Information): An article from: T H E Journal (Technological Horizons In Education)

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Web TV Helps Meet the Challenges of Educating Migrant Students.(Product Information): An article from: T H E Journal (Technological Horizons In Education)

Manufacturer: T.H.E. Journal, LLC
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

Book Description

This digital document is an article from T H E Journal (Technological Horizons In Education), published by T.H.E. Journal, LLC on December 1, 1998. The length of the article is 978 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: Web TV Helps Meet the Challenges of Educating Migrant Students.(Product Information)
Publication: T H E Journal (Technological Horizons In Education) (Refereed)
Date: December 1, 1998
Publisher: T.H.E. Journal, LLC
Volume: 26 Issue: 5 Page: 46(1)

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Book Description

Acrobat guru Ted Padova uses a step-by-step approach to show how to create interactive PDF forms for any kind of business or governmental use.

Customer Reviews:

Beware -.......2006-09-13

This book is horribly outdated! If you have Acrobat 5, - fine. Or maybe not so fine... use the money you would have spent on this book and upgrade to the current Adobe version: Acrobat 7 as of Sept 2006.
..and beware of Wiley Books that don't specifiy the application version - - Wiley is notorious for this -- remember, when purchasing a Wiley book -- think twice if the version of the application is not specified..

Not Acrobat 6.0!.......2004-01-30

I wish I had known that this was not going to cover Acrobat 6. The current version of acrobat does forms completely different than version 5. This is a dinosaur now.

Clearly explains a powerful Acrobat feature.......2002-07-28

This book reveals one of the best kept secrets of Acrobat 5.0 - easy to create forms handling and workflow. Actually the features aren't secret, but the Adobe documentation is so confusing that only the most technically inclined users made use of it. The author clearly explains how to create forms and employ them as business solutions.

What I like is the way you're introduced to all of the features of Acrobat, including products that are only available through direct purchase from Adobe, that places forms development into the context of the much larger picture of Acrobat's features and capabilities. The book then proceeds to systematically step you through creating basic forms (dynamic and static), and all of the associated details, such as field types and properties, calculating data and workflow considerations.

After you've mastered the basics the book shows how to use Javascript to create sophisticated forms and handling applications. In this section of the book the author does not assume any knowledge of Javascript on the part of the reader. The tutorial is clearly written and explains the basics of Javascript, but unless you have prior programming experience you may want to skip this section. On the other hand, if you understand the basics of programming or have used some of the user-oriented languages, such as SQL or Visual Basic, you should have no problem with this section of the book.

The most valuable part of the book is in Parts III and IV, which cover distributing and working with forms. The chapters in these two parts of the book show you how to apply forms to business solutions. In addition, the CD ROM contains example forms and a valuable collection of Javascript routines that you can either use as is, or modify to suit specific requirements. There are also trial versions of various Acrobat plug-ins, and the entire book reproduced in Acrobat format (plus two ebooks titled "101 Acrobat 5.0 eTips and Techniques" and "101 Acrobat 5.0 Forms eTips and Techniques").

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"A Band of Brothers for the Pacific, this is the gut-wrenching but ultimately triumphant story of the Marines' most ferocious -- yet largely forgotten -- battle of World War II. Between September 15 and October 15, 1944, the First Marine Division suffered more than 6,500 casualties fighting on a hellish little coral island in the Pacific. Peleliu was the scene of one of the most savage no-quarter struggles of modern times, one that has been all but forgotten -- until now. Drawing on extensive interviews with Marine veterans, Bill Sloan follows a small group of young Americans through this incredibly vicious campaign and rescues their heroism on Peleliu from obscurity. Misled by faulty intelligence, the 9,000 Marine infantrymen who landed on Peleliu's beaches under withering enemy fire found themselves facing 11,000 Japanese embedded in an intricate network of caves and underground fortifications unrivaled in the history of warfare. At the heart of the Japanese defensive system was a maze of sheer cliffs and deep ravines known collectively as the Umurbrogol plateau. Endless strings of ridges bristled with concealed artillery, mortars, machine guns, and riflemen, making every inch of contested ground a potential death trap for Marines. Making matters worse, Japanese soldiers had been told by their commanders that they were to hold Peleliu at any cost in a suicidal defense of the island. Sloan's gripping narrative seamlessly weaves together the experiences of the men who were there, producing a vivid and unflinching tableau of the twenty-four-hour-a-day nightmare of Peleliu -- a melee of nonstop infantry attacks, ferocious hand-to-hand fighting, night assaults, and exhausting forced marches in temperatures that topped 115 degrees. With casualties in some infantry units averaging more than sixty percent, Peleliu ranks with the bloodiest battles in the Corps' history. Exemplifying these staggering losses was K Company, Third Battalion, Fifth Marine Regiment (K/3/5), on whose gallant officers and enlisted men the narrative focuses from the initial assault on the beaches to the horrific struggle for the Umurbrogol's crags and crevices. Surprisingly, Peleliu received little public notice back in the States even as it was being fought and was virtually forgotten after the war, despite elements of controversy that are still debated by military strategists today. The invasion was ordered by Army General Douglas MacArthur to protect his flank as he launched his campaign to recapture the Philippines. But many experts believed then -- and still maintain today -- that the bloodshed at Peleliu was needless and that the island could have been safely bypassed. In Brotherhood of Heroes, readers witness the brutal spectacle of Peleliu close-up through the eyes of the Marines who fought there. Their story will stand with Ghost Soldiers and Flags of Our Fathers as a modern classic in military history and a riveting read. "

Customer Reviews:

Brotherhood of Heroes: The Marines at Peleliu, 1944--The Bloodiest Battle of the Pacific War.......2007-09-01

As a former Marine and Pacific theatre enthusiast, I highly recommend this book as an eye-opener to all. The details and background on the people involved as well as the events are presented in a way that tells a story for many to hear. It tugs at the heart and shows what a nasty business war is indeed. Motivated me as a Marine and made me feel for the men and the sacrifices they made. Proud to be among the ranks of the elite, hard charging, devil dogs! Semper Fi!

Marine Heroism World War Two.......2007-03-12

Truly an amazing book detailing this essentially useless battle that in the end accomplished nothing from the overall strategic background of the Pacific campaign during World War 2. For anyone interested in studying this campaign this is a esential book to add to your library. A definite keeper a 5 star rating, in fact I would suggest a 10 star. Anyone buying and reading this WILL not be disappointed.

Magnificent.......2007-02-07

This excellent book follows the 1st Marine Division through this unimaginably brutal battle, giving a superb overall picture while not loosing the men themselves. The author primarily tells the story through the eyes of a handful of individual Marines. These are representatives from each of the three infantry regiments that did the majority of the fighting.

I only have two complaints about the book. First, I felt that the author emphasized Company K, Third Battalion, 5th Marines (K/3/5) so much that the 1st and 7th Marines, the 7th in particular, were somewhat neglected. I would have preferred a longer book that would have treated at least one company each of the 1st and 7th as much as K/3/5 was covered.

The second issue is that the book only focuses on the Marine actions on Peleliu in any detail. To be fair, the title of the book clearly states that the Marines are the topic, but I feel the actions of the Army's 81st Infantry Division merit the same level of detail, especially given that they experienced about 3,800 casualties themselves during this battle.

Other than these two problems, this book is an magnificent account of the battle and will move the reader to tears to think of what our nation's brave Marines went through.

An island awash in blood........2007-01-03

An excellent view of the 30 continuous days of hell. I say 30 continuous days because for many there was almost no let up the entire time from the continual dangers of murderous crossfire, roving nighttime ambushes and concealed heavy artillery and an interlocked,network of snipers and machine gunners, who would make simply looking over a rock a death sentence, and often did. It would be for many their first experience with the cave like fortifications that would await Marines on Iwo and Okinawa. It was a 110 degree bloodbath that even had the added difficulty of no fresh water in the opening stages of the invasion as the potable water to the island was shipped there in improperly cleaned former gasoline drums. It also begins with the Marines miserable and crab infested existence and training on the island of Pavuvu, itself a roadless swamp. This experience helped forge them into cohesion that would see many not make it off their next stop. Casualties from many frontline regiments would see 150%.

The author draws on Eugene Sledge's excellent first hand account of this battle frequently, and uses interviews with Marines of K/3/5 mainly, Marines under the command of both Col. Chesty Puller and his stubborn, reckless, and unyieldingly inflexible commander General Rupertus, both of whom are described, especially Rupertus, of having a reckless disregard for the enormous casualties being suffered in this regiment and other frontline outfits. Rupertus was strongly suggested by fellow Marine commanders to take his Marines off the line with fresh Army Div's awaiting but he wouldnt budge. His superior, Gen. Geiger, waffled and was faced the task of relieving him or countermanding his decision to keep Army units offshore on ships, both which would have caused shock waves in Washington. Gen. Rupertus wanted this "quickie" (as he initially referred to it as a 3 or 4 day battle before it would be won) to be a completely Marine Corps affair. It would take the actions of the new overall commander of "Operation Stalemate" to relieve both Generals of the decision to remove the Marines from the line and make it himself, as Rear Admiral George H. Fort would do after a quick inspection of the 1st Div. CP. Geiger was quoted as saying "I'm glad that's over". Rupertus said very little, and was in ill health anyway, dying 6 months later from a heart attack.

What took 30 days for these Marines to kill 10,000 well concealed and armed Japanese it would take 6 weeks for relieving Army troops to mop up the remaining 1,000 Japanese. On an average it has been determined that it took 1,589 rounds of some type from U.S. guns to kill every Japanese who would die on the island.

Like many retelling's of stories such as this one, Sloan tells a riveting story of bravery, hardship, and death that forges the title of his work We learn about the many in these Marine Corps regiments, from simple enlisted to junior officers, and we see many of them die before the books conlusion, such was the nature of this bloody struggle. Many of these talented officers were deeply respected for their leadership and bravery by these enlisted men, and many would be killed. Spreading this info. of their loss had a noticable effect on the enlisted men, one of combined sadness and shock at such terrible news, men stretched to their breaking point already, and led many to fatalism they would survive it another day. (Some, like Sledge, were incredible rarities of this battle, he being one of a tiny few who escaped the continual combat with barely a combat wound to show for it)

With The Old Breed.......2006-11-04

Out of the many authors who write about WWII, Bill Sloan is one of my favorites. "Brotherhood of Heroes" is yet another book by Mr. Sloan that I just couldn't put down, thanks in part to another book I had read previously: "With the Old Breed at Peleliu and Okinawa" by Eugene Sledge. "With the Old Breed" is probably one of the best WWII memoirs ever written, from either theater, and it was that book that led me to seek out more material on the battle for Peleliu, a God-forsaken piece of rock in the middle of the Pacific ocean that was the site of what many of the Marines considered to be the worst battle of the entire war. Yet this battle has been largely ignored by history, in part because it was of dubious importance to the overall strategy in the Pacific (Gen. MacArthur insisted the attack on Peleliu was necessary to support his invasion of the Philippines, a claim that was proved to be untrue in hindsight). "Brotherhood of Heroes" brings this battle back to the forefront in the pantheon of battles from the Pacific theater of WWII. The sights, smells, sounds, and emotions experienced by the Marines on Peleliu are all brought vividly to life in this book; while people like myself who have never experienced warfare cannot pretend to truly understand what those brave men went through, this book does an excellent job of giving us an idea of what that hell on earth was like. This was the first time that the Marines experienced a "defense in depth" when fighting the Japanese; the Japanese made them fight for every inch of ground through overlapping defensive positions that would exact a ghastly toll on the men involved. If not for the lessons learned on Peleliu, the battles for Iwo Jima and Okinawa would have been much more costly to the Americans; while Peleliu took a terribly bloody toll on the Marines who fought there, it ultimately saved more lives down the road through the lessons learned. While we today look back and marvel at the sacrifices made by the young men of the Greatest Generation for their country, those Marines will tell you that they fought not only for their country, but, more importantly, they fought for their brothers in the Corps who were doing the same thing for them. Those men would rather have died than let their buddies down, men who they considered to be closer than blood relatives yet who were complete strangers just two or three years prior; these are the bonds forged by war, something that this book highlights in spectacular fashion.

Brotherhood of Heroes: The Marines at Peleliu, 1944 (Unabridged)

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Brotherhood of Heroes: The Marines at Peleliu, 1944 (Unabridged)
Bill Sloan
Manufacturer: audible.com
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Audio Download
ASIN: B000ANSOI2

Brotherhood of Heroes: The Marines at Peleliu, 1944--The Bloodiest Battle of the Pacific War.(Book review) : An article from: Parameters

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Brotherhood of Heroes: The Marines at Peleliu, 1944--The Bloodiest Battle of the Pacific War.(Book review) : An article from: Parameters
Vince Goulding
Manufacturer: Thomson Gale
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

General | Science | Subjects | Books

Science & Technology | Subjects | e-Docs | Formats | Books

Book Description

This digital document is an article from Parameters, published by Thomson Gale on March 22, 2006. The length of the article is 1031 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: Brotherhood of Heroes: The Marines at Peleliu, 1944--The Bloodiest Battle of the Pacific War.(Book review)
Author: Vince Goulding
Publication: Parameters (Magazine/Journal)
Date: March 22, 2006
Publisher: Thomson Gale
Volume: 36 Issue: 1 Page: 140(3)

Article Type: Book review

Distributed by Thomson Gale

Customer Reviews:

Compelling first half, disappointing second half.......2007-08-18

This book is what is says it is: the story of wood and civilization. That sounds a bit odd, but you will be amazed to see how many ways wood contributed to the growth of civilization, as fuel, material for houses, ships and wagons, as support for digging mines, molds for crafting other materials, and so on. Only when coal and oil become available as alternative fuels, and especially when coal can be used to smelt and forge iron, does wood recede somewhat in importance.

The basic structure of the story is simple. Some city or state develops because it has ready access to forests. It eventually destroys the forests, with no thought of the future. At that point, it goes abroad to purchase or conquer new lands with virgin forests. But someone in those new lands manages to build up their own civilization and defeat the old-timers. The new civilization then repeats the pattern.

The first half of the book tells this story in a lively but necessarily superficial way for ancient civilizations from Mesopotamia to Rome. Presumably something similar was happening in China, India, and the New World civilizations of the Maya, Aztecs, and Incas, but we hear very little about those. The stories are compelling, and they will make you see these civilizations in a new light.

The second half of the book focuses on England, some New World colonies such as Madeira and Brazil, and the United States. These chapters become much more detailed - - we meet individual foresters, iron forgers, and learn about particular pieces of legislation. Here Perlin has written a much more traditional history, with a less vigorous story.

Thus, the two halves of the book are unbalanced: the first half sweeping, the second half unnecessarily detailed. Perlin also gives no thought to case selection: why talk about England and not Sweden? Why not Russia? Without such considerations about the overall structure of his narrative, he tends to give us a collection of anecdotes more than a compelling argument.

Oddly, the book leaves off exactly where you wish it would continue. Perlin gives only passing attention to 20th-century forest policy in the United States. US forests have grown in size over this century, even as the Forest Service and private landowners have clearcut huge swaths of our forests. Is this an example of successful management, or not? Why or why not?

Perlin should provide a similar analysis of tropical deforestation today. Will Brazil, Indonesia, and others follow the US example and reforest their lands a few decades after clearing them? Or will the follow the example of civilizations such as Persia and end up trying to survive in denuded semi-deserts?

Those are the real questions for such a book, and it is a shame that Perlin did not address them.

Essential Book About the Role of Man and our Environment.......2006-07-11

This book is an amazing find. After reading it several years ago we have been giving it as a gift to everyone we know. You will not be able to put it down once you start reading it. So thoughly researched, it will change the entire way you think about the role or forests and trees in the history of man.

An important and monumental history of fuel and the tragedy of the commons.......2006-01-15

This is one of the most important books I have ever read.

The relevance for our times of this highly engaging history of how the earliest civilizations to late 19th-century America have exploited wood (primarily as fuel, then as building material) and cleared forests cannot be overstated. Again and again, Perlin shows that the tragedy of the commons repeats itself throughout the patterns of human history, and the cycle has continued to the present day when we have the choice to break it by developing renewable, clean energy.

Beginning with the Mesopotamians, and continuing unabated to the present day, civilizations have access to forests previously admired and considered sacred. Greed for economic gain and/or military power, not the necessities of life (for which the forests amply provide) motivates Man to cut down forests at an increasingly alarming pace, as everyone wants to get in on the profits. Enormous quantities of wood are often cut down to produce a small quantum of finished products, such as a few kilograms of iron or refined sugar. The exploitation of forests is almost completely unregulated until it is too late for governments to do much about it. Often governments themselves dismiss or respond insufficiently to concerns by educated citizens, who warn of economic and ecological devastation if the free-for-all logging continues. And often this is because government members are well-placed to make personal profits from the wood/fuel trade. The individual cutters don't think to replant what they have taken, or even to spare saplings and young trees - why, when there's so much of it for oneself? Within several hundred years, there is little or no wood left (the latter situation was more common). The civilization declines for environmental devastation (such as large-scale erosion) and lack of fuel (as they are no longer able to compete with other civilizations and their militaries who still have access to wood, and there is little or no wood left for basic necessities such as heating and cooking). We see that the only civilizations which have exploited wood on a large scale and yet escaped this cycle were the modern-day civilizations that began to rely on coal and other polluting fuels, such as Industrial Revolution-era Britain, and eventually the United States of America.

The book goes into far more detail than this, crammed with information on the key role wood has played in wars, alliances, the building of civilizations, the power of civilizations and, again, their decline.

I found this book fascinating and read it from cover to cover. Its relevance for today is in showing us that fuel shortage problems are nothing new, and that the survival of civilizations has always depended on fuel not running out, and likely always will, for as long as we aspire to live beyond the bare necessities of life. Our present-day civilizations are no exception, but as we all know, the human population and therefore the human need is much higher than it ever has been before, and many of us are not aware of the ecological implications of our lifestyles, as we are so far removed from the natural ecology in cities. But we can make a difference before it is too late. Not only is an awareness of history a wake-up call if we choose to educate ourselves, which would encourage us to live more wisely in taking care of the environment around us, but environmentally-friendly fuel technologies are emerging for us to live at an even higher level of comfort and health than ever before.

The author, along with his Nobel-prize winning collaborators at UCSB, Drs. Walter Kohn and Alan Heeger, are avid researchers and promoters of solar and other renewable energy sources: watch this space! The author is also affiliated with a great website promoting solar energy, explaining solar technology and delving into some of the history of solar energy use (which goes back to the time of the ancient Greeks!): www.californiasolarcenter.org.

I cannot recommend this book more highly. We all live in a world which continues to be so unwisely exploited on our behalf that it could mean the decline of us all - this book is therefore essential reading for every single person in our time.

Ambitious.......2002-05-17

Perlin's book is an ambitious overview of the use of wood in world civilization. Therein lies the both the book's strengths and weaknesses. Like any work that attempts to do a global history, inevitably some regions and some eras get very short shrift. Still, A Forest Journey is interesting, and well worth reading by anyone with an interest in environmental or forest history.

Rise and fall of civilizations.......2001-09-01

This book is a study on the rise and fall of civilizations, as caused by their management of wood resources, or in other words energy resources. Perlin tells a convincing tale on what makes a civilization tick. This is a very good book to read for anybody who cares about what the world is coming to, and perhaps even for those who don't. It is filled with fascinating historical material.

The limitations of the book are that Perlin is not as great a storyteller as DC Peattie (many of the stories here would make a sweeping tale in the hands of a truly gifted writer) and that the choice of civilizations treated is very much oriented towards the US.

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