Commerce, Complexity, and Evolution: Topics in Economics, Finance, Marketing, and Management: Proceedings of the Twelfth International Symposium in Economic ... in Economic Theory and Econometrics)

Book Description

Commerce, Complexity, and Evolution is a significant contribution to the new paradigm straddling economics, finance, marketing, and management, which acknowledges that commercial systems are evolutionary systems, and must therefore be analyzed using evolutionary tools. Evolutionary systems display complicated behaviors that are to a significant degree generated endogenously, rather than being solely the product of exogenous shocks, hence the conjunction of complexity with evolution. The papers in this volume consider a wide range of systems, from the entire economy at one extreme to the behavior of single markets at the other.

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Dr. D. James Kennedy's Endorsement

Without a doubt, this book is a winner!!!

I carry it around with me everyehere I go!

Little Book Packs a Big Punch

Peak Performance Principles for High Achievers
John Noes
Manufacturer: Frederick Fell
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Introduction to the Health Professions, Fourth Edition

The Dream Giver

Secrets of the Millionaire Mind: Mastering the Inner Game of Wealth

ASIN: 0811906485

Customer Reviews:

Dr. D. James Kennedy's Endorsement.......2006-12-31

So many Christians are going through life settling for mediocre, settling for second best, and choosing the path of least resistance. Not Dr. John R. Noe, author of this old (1984) and new (2006) book . . . . He reminds us that the first mountain we need to conquer is that of ourselves and that God wants us to accomplish great things for His glory.

Dr. D. James Kennedy, Ph.D.
Senior Minister
Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church

Without a doubt, this book is a winner!!!.......1998-12-05

If you are looking to make some positive changes in your life, changes that will touch others in a positive way, this is the book to read and re-read often. I can't say enough good things about it. I rate it as a life changing book!

I carry it around with me everyehere I go!.......1998-08-30

Dare to confront your fears. Learn from devastating failures and climb the road of high achievers. This book is a must for anyone who seriously wants to make an impact in this world. I cant emphasize this point enough. BUY THIS BOOK!

Little Book Packs a Big Punch.......1998-04-26

This little book, by a little known author, imparts more useful information in about 100 pages than most other big name success writers can convey in 500 pages. The book reads much easier than most success literature not only because of its crisp style, but also because of the setting the author uses to impart some genuinely useful wisdom. The author uses the story of his successful ascent of the Matterhorn as a jumping off point. Each stage of his quest provides a lesson of general applicability. Without being preachy, the author also talks about some of the spiritual components of achievement. If you're easily annoyed by spiritual references, you might be turned off and miss out on a real gem! For everyone else, this is one of the most useful and inspiring success manuals around.

Peak Performance Principles for High Achievers

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Peak Performance Principles for High Achievers
John R. Noe
Manufacturer: Berkley
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000TEWQOK

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"Warning: The ideas in this book are hazardous to your complacency!

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Annual casebook that examines constitutional developments in Criminal Procedure.

Judicial Challenges in the New Millennium: Proceedings of the Second Summit of the Ibero-American Supreme Courts (World Bank Technical Paper)

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Judicial Challenges in the New Millennium: Proceedings of the Second Summit of the Ibero-American Supreme Courts (World Bank Technical Paper)
Andres Rigo Sureda , and Venezuela) Ibero-American Summit of Supreme Courts and Tribunals of Justice (2nd : 1999 : Caracas
Manufacturer: World Bank Publications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Civil Procedure | Procedures & Litigation | Law | Subjects | Books

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Customer Reviews:

How about no stars?.......2006-02-27

I've seldom read a more disorganized book. If they had a point they went to great pains to hide it. The thesis that a black hole perturbed the orbit of Neptune is only one of a dozen conclusions that you could draw from the data. If they're correct no one will ever know because the "facts" are buried in reams of tedious and unnecessary biography - that has little to do with establishing the authors' credentials.

I saw one psotive review. Must have been from a relative or a creditor.

To bad Amazon doesn't give refunds

Cold Days Ahead........2004-03-31

Green house Earth? We may have it all wrong. Snow ball Earth seems more likely, if the scenario promised by "Dark Visitor" becomes reality. It is for certain that our planet has been chilled many times in the past. The question is why? This novel describes the next icy episode that will grind us all under. And, you probably don't have time to pay off your vehicle or do much else - the next ice age will begin in 2007. Still, forewarned is forearmed.

The Harvard educated authors present a convincing argument. They show that it was a passing black hole, not Pluto, that perturbed Neptune in the late 1920s. They note that when the universe was young, it was denser and most stars were bigger and left generations of paired black holes behind when they died. Thus, it is plausible that a "sister black hole" to the 1920s one is now approaching and is responsible for the small perturbations currently being observed in Pluto's orbit.

If their calculations are right, the earth will go 8% farther from the sun and parts of the earth will quickly go back into an ice age. Their scientific explanations are mixed into an entertaining novel that relates the history of the principle characters. In this story Billy T tells about his friend Jack the astronomer, his wife Karen, her brother George, and their father, and how they are using their exclusive knowledge of pending climate change to make their fortunes. Shouldn't you be looking after your own fortune?

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Your complete guide to a higher score on the *AP Chemistry exam

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Describes the exam's format
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5 Full-length AP Chemistry Practice Exams

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Structured like the actual exam so you know what to expect and learn to allot time appropriately
Each practice exam includes:

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An answer key plus detailed explanations
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*AP is a registered trademark of the College Board, which was not involved in the production of, and does not endorse, this product.

AP Test Prep Essentials from the Experts at CliffsNotes®

Book Description

Belgian scientist Jos Verhulst presents the most thorough research to date showing that dynamic principles inherent in the development of individual organisms are also at work in animal evolution as a whole. For example: A chimpanzee fetus is strikingly similar to its human counterpart: its cranium is rounded, its face flat, and its hair is restricted to its head. As it develops, however, the chimp diverges from its original, humanlike form, assuming specialized apelike features. In a detailed comparative study of numerous organs, Verhulst shows that, unlike the other primates, humans retain their original juvenile form. Standing Darwin on his head, he concludes that humans have not descended from apes, but rather that apes have evolved by diverging from a humanlike prototype.

Book Description

The goal of this major undertaking is to support and enhance the interactions between mathematics and physics by making full use of the modern information technologies. Indeed, the 20 ^th century was full of dramatic discoveries in each domain. And the important advances of that century in Mathematical Physics demonstrate clearly that physics is much closer to deep problems in mathematics than one could imagine by studying textbooks in our universities, and that physical ideas and concepts are often seminal in mathematics.

The Modern Encyclopedia of Mathematical Physics (MEMPhys) is a truly 21 ^st century scientific encyclopedia, emphasizing mathematical physics as opposed to mathematics on one side and physics on the other. The central idea is to create a modern version of Maimonides’ Guide for the Perplexed, albeit limited to this multidisciplinary field. Indeed nowadays, increasingly so, the problem (especially in science) is not so much the existence or availability of information, but the ability to find, when the need occurs, pertinent and reliable information. So MEMPhys seeks to be a model for locating authoritative overviews and an efficient starting point for researchers and students at any level.

Moreover, mathematical physics is not just an intersection of mathematics with physics, and certainly not a disjoint union of topics in both, but the discipline has an intrinsic value and existence that is articulated throughout this work. Accordingly, the contributions are written in precise mathematical language with clear indication of heuristic aspects, with physical interpretations or applications serving as examples. The ability to interrelate distinct items in MEMPhys (such as connecting an entry from the Encyclopedia with material from a handbook as well as with many texts existing in electronic form) enhance that characteristic of MEMPhys. Since this reference anticipates and seeks as wide a scientific audience as possible, students of mathematical physics, physics, and mathematics readily find concise summaries of recent profound ideas and to get an stimulating idea of their interrelations.

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Encyclopedia of Modern Physics
Robert A. (Editor) Meyers
Manufacturer: Academic Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OH2TDK

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Encyclopedia of Modern Physics.

Manufacturer: 0
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000IBG1BI

Book Description

Islands have always had a special place in our minds, hearts and souls. So too have cottages. Add the two together and what do you get? Eric Nicol's wryly funny, sharply observed new book on the joys and terrors of cottage life on Saturna Island, in BC's Strait of Georgia.

Part loopy guidebook, part madcap how-to manual, part fractured history, When Nature Calls tells you everything you've always wanted to know about cottaging, and then some. You'll meet a lively cast of eccentrics that includes a crusty one-eyed boat builder, crotchety neighbours and a renegade parson with a "church" in a boat; encounter the fickleness of Gulf Islands weather, ferries and outhouses; discover exotic local flora and fauna; and experience the indignities of boaters, tourists, guests, government officials and insects - all enriched by Nicol's frequent literary musings, inspired by the likes of Montaigne, Francis Bacon, Lord Chesterfield, Henry David Thoreau and everyone in between.

Whether he's chopping wood, soaking up the splendid solitude or shopping for vegetables in his own backyard Safeway, Nicol cracks wise and wonderful in a deliciously funny escape that may just cause you to look in the classifieds for your own piece of heaven on earth, if you haven't already bought it.

Book Description

The failures of armies, navies, and even entire nations have been well documented by historians. Air forces, however, have received little attention. Why Air Forces Fail examines several air forces that have suffered defeat and explains the complex, often deep-seated foundations for these catastrophes.

The contributors to Why Air Forces Fail consider cases of Russian, Polish, French, British, Italian, German, Argentine, and U.S. air force defeats, looking beyond purely military factors to explore the cultural, political, and technical causes of failure. The book includes both overviews and analytical narratives that examine more than the aerial battlefield, and each case concludes with reading lists and suggestions for further research. Why Air Forces Fail is a much-needed and long-overdue addition to military and aeronautical history.

Customer Reviews:

Debunking the Myth of Airpower in War.......2006-08-13

This is a well organized, well written and extremely relevant book, especially at a time when the Israeli Air Force is pounding Lebanon with high-precision munitions in an attempt to wipe out a terrorist organization on its northern borders.

In "Why Air Forces Fail" editors Robin Higham and Stephen J. Harris have compiled a series of historical case studies that look at the failures of various air forces in World War I, World War II (Europe, the Eastern Front and the Pacific), the Arab-Israeli Wars, and the Falklands War. It is a wide net that examines air power in Poland, France, German, Italy, the United States, Great Britain, Japan, the Soviet Union, Israel, Argentina, and the Arab nations. Each chapter is written by a specialist in the field and contains a wealth of information on the various air forces and their performance in war.

The editors divide the air forces into three groups: (1) those that never had a chance (the "dead ducks"), (2) those that had initial success, but eventually failed (the "hares" that ultimately lost the race), and (3) those that suffered initial disasters but were victorious in the end (the "phoenixes").

Higham and Harris show that by studying the defeat of air forces at war a number of patterns are discernable. The "dead ducks" were doomed because they lack the infrastructure and resources to withstand their attackers. The "phoenixes", on the other hand, had the necessities, including the resources, political environment, personalities, and strategic space, to rise again.

The editors conclude that, historically, the practitioners of airpower have only rarely achieved anything like the ideal of a quick and lasting decisiveness. Nonetheless the pernicious myth of independent air action capable of winning wars by itself persists. One has only to look at the promises made by the proponents of airpower in Bosnia, Kosovo, Afghanistan, Iraq and, more recently, Israel, and the aftermath of air strikes, even over the long-term, to see that even a small nation or military organization cannot be defeated by airpower alone.

"Service doctrine that is not in harmony with government policy is likely to produce circumstances in which air forces will fail," write Higham and Harris. "Government policy made in isolation of service capabilities tends to do the same. Avoiding such dissonance is not easy, even where think tanks abound."

Of course, the main lesson of the book is that the ends must match the mean in the short term and when national survival is at stake.

Excellent reading.......2006-07-16

An extremely readable and informative work, with essays ranging from the First World War to the Falklands conflict. The essays are quite reasonable in length, if anything sometimes too short, and include sections on areas which need more research and recommended reading. I ask you my fellow history lovers- is there anything more helpful to the student of history than a good annotated bibliography?

A sweeping set of insights essential to understanding air force approaches.......2006-06-22

WHY AIR FORCES FAIL: THE ANATOMY OF DEFEAT examines the reasons for catastrophic failures of the air forces not just of this country, but other nations. Air forces are divided into three categories here: forces what never had a chance, forces that began with victory but ultimately were defeated, and those which were defeated early on but rose to win. In making WHY AIR FORCES FAIL a global examination, focusing on major wars, contributors provide a range of analysis on the causes of defeat of all kinds of strategies and differing air force scenarios in a sweeping set of insights essential to understanding air force approaches.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

Dead Ducks, Hares and Phoenixes.......2006-05-03

Why Air Forces Fail consists of 11 scholarly essays by different authors that address the reasons for the defeat of air power in conflicts from 1914 up to the contemporary era. Unlike many essay anthologies, this book has real meat in it, not just opinions. The authors categorize three different types of defeated air forces: the `dead ducks' that never had a chance, the `hares' who won initially but lacked the ability to conduct protracted warfare and `the phoenixes' who suffered initial disasters but came back to win in the end. Why Air Forces Fail is geared for a military-academic audience, and each chapter includes notes on areas that still need more research and lengthy bibliographies. For the most part, the writing style and research that went into this volume is first-rate and Why Air Forces Fail represents an excellent series of case studies that deserve serious attention from all those who see air power as a panacea for international problems. The eleven essays are:

* "Poland's Military Aviation, 1939: It Never had a Chance," by Michael Peszke: A good essay in which the author looks at the dilemmas facing a small power air force that lacks the resources to successfully accomplish its missions. One point the author fails to mention: the Polish Air Force continued to fight and win after 1939 - it did not cease to exist.

* "L'Armee de l'Air, 1933-40: Drifting Toward Defeat," by Anthony Cain: This essay examines the doctrinal, organizational and technical reasons that led to French defeat in 1940. Disunity of command, vague doctrine and poor choice of aircraft were major factors in the debacle that followed.

* "The Arab Air Forces," by Robin Higham: This is the weakest essay in the volume, marred by misspellings, mistakes (e.g. Iranians are not Arabs), several dubious contentions and some glib assertions. The author contends that the Egyptian Air Force has reached parity with the Israelis by 2003, that the Royal Saudi Air Force is an elite, professional force (ha, ha - good joke) and that Arab air forces have consisted of "simple Koranized mechanics." Skip this essay.

* "Defeat of the German and Austro-Hungarian Air Forces in the Great War, 1909-1918" by John H Morrow Jr.: This author argues that the Germans wasted too many resources on Zeppelin construction (which he never proves in any statistical fashion) and had not developed a sufficiently robust aviation industry to sustain four years of attrition warfare. A bit contentious, but well written.

* "Downfall of the Regia Aeronautica, 1933-1943," by Brian Sullivan: An excellent essay that discusses how Italy's attempt to build a force in line with Douhet's theories of strategic bombing - but for which they lacked the resources - led to the development of a weak air force that was incapable of accomplishing virtually any mission. Poor technological and labor decisions also led to too few, too poor-quality aircraft. This is a great essay about how an air force can be totally disrupted by a few bad decisions.

* "The Imperial Japanese Air Forces," by Osamu Tagaya: Another great essay, that pins the blame for Japanese defeat on a divided force (army and navy aviation) that essentially fought their wars separately. After building a great fighter like the Zero, the Japanese failed to produce a successful replacement and their aircraft were undermined by lack of radios and radar. Failure to train enough replacement pilots also contributed greatly to defeat.

* "Defeat of the Luftwaffe, 1935-45," by James S Corum: A good essay that blames doctrine (failure to develop a naval air component to cripple England's economy), poor management of the aircraft industry and inadequate forward repair capabilities as the primary causes for German defeat.

* "The Argentine Air Force versus Britain in the Falkland Islands 1982," by Rene De la Pedraja: The author stresses that the Argentine Air Force did not prepare for this war but it had to carry the lion's share due to the pathetic performances of the army and navy. The author contends that the Argentine Air Force could have won with a more aggressive effort to repair the Port Stanley airfield.

* "From Disaster to Recovery: Russia's Air Forces in the Two World Wars," by David R Jones: This essay tries to cover too much ground and skims over WW1 a bit, through the Soviet build-up in the 1930s, then to disaster in June 1941. The Red Air Force was a `phoenix' because it harnessed the Soviet Union's industrial power to outbuild the Luftwaffe and come back to regain air superiority. This essay focuses a bit too much on the Soviet-superiority-through-numbers approach, which ignores other factors that helped the Red Air Force (like depth, that allowed them to pull back out of range of attacks, when necessary).

* "The United States in the Pacific," by Mark Parillo. A good essay that looks at the disasters at Pearl Harbor in the Philippines. The author makes good points that US leaders up to Roosevelt had false illusions about the military capability of small numbers of B-17s in the Pacific. There is also a point made here about military forces forward deployed for deterrent value, but which lack the logistic support to conduct actual military operations when the balloon goes up.

* "Defeats of the Royal Air Force: Norway, France, Greece and Malaya, 1940-42," by Robin Higham and Stephen J. Harris: The authors view the RAF's key weaknesses as a bomber-centric philosophy at the start of the war and poor operational intelligence about enemy capabilities. The succession of disasters in these early expeditions apparently didn't teach the RAF too much.

Book Description

Alfred Thayer Mahan's nineteenth-century classic, The Influence of Sea Power Upon History, has long occupied a central place in the canon of strategic thought. But as Chester G. Starr shows in this thought-provoking work, Mahan's theories have also led to serious misperceptions among historians about the significance of naval superiority in antiquity. This analytical study of the role of sea power from the second millennium B.C. to the end of the Roman Empire illustrates both the utility and the limitations of naval power. Focusing on Athens and Carthage, Starr demonstrates that control of the seas was not always a strategic necessity. Similarly, he examines the Roman imperial navy--the most advanced and widely-based naval structure in antiquity--noting that when Rome fell it tas due to invasions by land, not sea. Starr describes major naval battles in fascinating detail, and analyzes technological developments as they reveal the limitations of galleys in warfare. This innovative study provides an important corrective to Mahan's thesis, both as applied to ancient history and to modern strategic thought--making it provocative reading for those interested in ancient history and also for those who follow military history.

Customer Reviews:

Handy reference though the thesis is bogus.......2003-09-25

The late Chester Starr has written some well-regarded books on ancient empires and his study on the anatomy of the roman imperial navy is the standard reference. He, or Oxford U Press,
probably decided to issue this potboiler in order to exploit the 100th anniversary of the Mahan's "The Influence of Seapower on History."

The book could have stood on its own merits as a handy little summary of the naval side of ancient empire-building, defending and destroying. However it certainly does NOT prove that seapower is overrated as a factor. Nor did Mahan -- Starr's supposed target-- really make any such claims with respect to antiquity. Mahan's brief paragraphs on Athens (in his lecture notes) and the Second Punic War (in his Influence of Seapower book) were not only peripheral but were rather cautious compared to his claims for seapower's role in building the British Empire -- his main topic.

In fact, Starr's narrative and discussions are pretty supportive of the SIGNIFICANCE of naval and maritime dominance in ancient times. The most forceful, and practically only, argument he makes
to debunk naval power is with reference to the Minoans. What's the point? Mahan never mentioned Crete or Minos at all.

In the jacket blurb, Oxford U Press and Barnes & Noble mention that Mahan's disciples inflate the maritime factor with regard to antiquity. If so, Starr never mentions who these disciples are or their works, let alone refute them.

All in all, this is a concise and informative reference on the use of ships before the medieval period. Its shaky hypothesis offers nothing new and in fact, devalues the book's true worth.

Men with Oars.......2003-01-12

Regrettably this is a rather unenlightening essay (and essay it is, because it hardly stretches for more than 100 pages). The author, in what could be quite an interesting trip, seeks to discuss the economic, political and military forces that contribute to a great navy, and, in doing so, to find guiding principles in ancient naval combat. But instead, we really just get a retreatment, lifted from established (and readily accessible) sources, of the Peloponesian, Persian, Punic and Roman Civil wars - and precious, precious little for Imperial Rome. There are some occasionally lucid discussions of the difficulties of raising a fleet from a primarily agrarian economy (e.g. Sparta), as opposed to doing so via a mercantilist one (e.g. Atlanta). But there are plenty of writers in print (e.g. Donald Kagan, Peter Green, Michael Grant) who cover the same ground with considerably more aplomb.

A good book for mariner types.......2000-07-17

This is a nice, quick read that discusses the importance (and sometimes irrelevance) of thalassocracy in antiquity. In this book, the author detail the ages of Early Greece thru to the fall of the Roman Empire.

Starr details for us how Alexander of Macedon conquered the Persian Navy by taking over the Persian ports (and thus giving the Persian fleet nowhere to land). He also writes of the immense importance that Piraeus held for Athens; it was due to the revenues of her seapower that Athens was able to build such wonders as the Parthenon. Starr then demonstrates why this authority over the seas was so very important for Athens during the early stages of the Peloponnesian war.

We also learn how seapower was one of the primary ingrediants that made Rome a power to reckon with. It was the turning-of-the tables with Carthage as far as seapower was concerned which was the decisive factor of the First Punic War.

Starr continues with the use of seapower by Julius Caesar to both rid the Meditteranean of pirates as well as to further his empire.

While one may disagree with some of the opinions of Starr, this book is well worth reading for any maritime scholars or historians of antiquity.

Obviously Starr is a landlubber.......2000-02-22

Purports to show that sea power didn't have an impact on the power of ancient states, particularly the Roman Empire. The problem as I see it is summed up in the blurb on the dust jacket - "...the unmatched Roman imperial navy...succeeded in momentarily clearing the surrounding waters of pirates, but was useless when barbarians came from the interior and mutilated Roman defenses." By the time the barbarians did this, the Roman navy in effect had ceased to exist. This is such an oversight on the author's part that it's difficult to take the book seriously - and Starr is an historian with a large list of titles to his credit.

Works by Lionel Casson are listed in the bibliography but there are no references in the index. Starr's quotes and anecdotes from ancient times are informative and interesting, though mishandled and misinterpreted. Obviously Starr is a landlubber, or perhaps his mother got sick on a boat ride when she was pregnant with him.

The prolific (though sometimes cranky) Michael Grant has a title in print regarding the near-collapse of the Roman Empire in the 3rd c that may illuminate the problems of the barbarian invasions. Lionel Casson's "Travel in the Ancient World" has chapters about travel by sea and the effectiveness of the Roman navy at eradicating piracy. His "Ancient Mariners" is out in a new edition and that is also recommended.

Although Starr fails to make his case, this short book is worth a read.

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The Influence of Sea Power on Ancient History
Starr Chester G.
Manufacturer: Oxford UP
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000UIHW6W

Average customer rating:
The Influence of Sea Power on Ancient History
Starr Chester G.
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OKN4KE

Amazon.com

From the time it first emerged as a renegade liberating voice in the early 1950s, beat writing changed the American social literary scene. Poets like Allen Ginsberg and Lawrence Ferlinghetti altered the sound of U.S. poetry while Jack Kerouac's bebop chant--particularly in his classic On the Road--literally changed how Americans spoke. The beats' fame became so great so quickly that their critics accused them of hypocrisy. Not so Jack Spicer; while Ginsberg and Kerouac were busy publishing and promoting their work, Spicer--whose original lyric voice and gay content still resonate today--spent most of his time disdaining the publishing world and making enemies. In Poet Be Like God, journalist Lewis Ellingham and experimental novelist Kevin Killian have produced not only a fully realized portrait of Spicer, but a complexly woven historical and literary tapestry. Spicer emerges here as a brilliant, difficult, and largely unlikable man whose talent for writing matched his inability to function in the world. Ellingham and Killian are equally concerned with explicating the San Francisco renaissance and charting the emergence of North Beach as a gay neighborhood; Poet Be Like God thus rediscovers Jack Spicer for a new generation of readers and presents us with a unique and startling look at gay and literary history. --Michael Bronski

Book Description

Jack Spicer, unlike his contemporaries Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac, and Gary Snyder, was a poet who disdained publishing and relished his role as a social outcast. He died in 1965 virtually unrecognized, yet in the following years his work and thought have attracted and intrigued an international audience. Now this comprehensive biography gives a pivotal poet his due. Based on interviews with scores of Spicer's contemporaries, Poet Be Like God details the most intimate aspects of Spicer's life -- his family, his friends, his lovers -- illuminating not only the man but also many of his poems.

Such illumination extends also to the works of others whom Spicer came to know, including the writers Frank O'Hara, Robert Duncan, Denise Levertov, Helen Adam, Robin Blaser, Charles Olson, Philip K. Dick, Richard Brautigan, and Marianne Moore and the painters Jess, Fran Herndon, and Jay DeFeo. The resulting narrative, an engaging chronicle of the San Francisco Renaissance and the emergence of the North Beach gay scene during the 50s and 60s, will be indispensable reading for students of American literature and gay studies.

Customer Reviews:

Spicer's Gnosticism.......2002-09-05

Spicer and Ginsberg influenced one another, as is clearly shown in this book. Ginsberg stole a lot of his ideas from Spicer, but he was still the greater poet because he touched upon the conversation of his times, while Spicer went whacko and had no real impact on his culture. Academics have taken up Spicer, but this has again had no echo at all in the popular culture.

It's particularly interesting to study the automatic side of Spicer's poetics from surrealism forward -- the relinquishing of choice for a ouija board automaticism that resulted in odd nonsense that probably did not come from the dead, but resulted in an arcane verse that did indeed catalyze some of the lazier aspects of SF poetry but which was a dead end.

Magisterial biography that brings to life a tormented alcoholic who was not even trying to be nice, or even well-dressed, enough, to enter into the public forum.

His best work is the discussions he offered in The House that Jack Built -- astounding to see what he could do when he DID enter into the public conversation. Too often in his poetry he seems to be mumbling to himself. Poets need to reconnect to the real world -- because the world is real -- it has an ecology and texture, and the poets who got this will survive. Others form dead ends into their lost selves.

Gnosticism is a dead end.

Essential Reading (Not An Exaggeration).......2000-07-15

Poets in the 1950s and 1960s have been well served by some of their biographers, and in this thrilling critical treatment of Jack Spicer and the poets of the San Francisco Renaissance, Ellingham and Killian join the ranks of Peter Davison (The Fading Smile: Boston Poets from Lowell to Plath) and Bill Berkson and Joe LeSeur (Homage to Frank O'Hara) in magically capturing the soul of an important school in the poetic ferment of those years. The San Francisco circle around Spicer was intense, prolific and inspired, but they didn't get the publicity that the New York poets received or that the Beats had showered on them. Lack of media attention didn't stop them. They were dedicated to a pure vision of poetry as an almost religious vocation. On his hospital death bed in 1965 (he died at 40 from acute alcohlism), Spicer told friend Warren Tallman, "I was trapped inside my own vocabulary." His genius/mania to use that vocabulary in service of the Muse produced great work and reminded others of the seriousness of their purpose. Spicer, in all his contradictions and drives, leaps from these pages. The book as a whole bristles with the very energy it celebrates, both poetic and sexual (intrigue was in their blood), and is essential reading for all of us interested in the circles that nurture poetry in every creative center. As if that is not enough, the quotations from a vast number of interviews of the surviving participants make this a delicious oral history as well as a compendium of hair-raising gossip of the wild times in North Beach before tourists took it over fom artists.

Jack Spicer was not a Beat poet........1998-08-25

I have read Poet Be Like God, and I wish neither to rate it (but there's no option available that allows one to opt out of the rating game) nor review it, but to make a correction to the idiotic Kirkus review: Jack Spicer was NOT a "Beat" poet. There were a group of Beat poets in San Francisco in the late 1950s, early 1960s (e.g.,Bob Kaufman), but Spicer wasn't one of them. His intentions in poetry were different from theirs; naturally, so was his aesthetic. Spicer was part of a triumverate of poets that included Robert Duncan and Robin Blaser who met at the end of World War II in Berkeley, Ca., and were sometimes known as the Berkeley Renaissance group, or more simply, and more accurately, as part of the San Francisco poetry scene (which was part of the New American Poetry movement). That the Kirkus reviewer could make such an elementary and stupid mistake should be taken as a clear indicator of the idiocy of the rest of the Kirkus piece of schlock.

Important biography of crucial postmodern poet.......1998-06-04

I find that the Kirkus review available here does ill-service to this important biography of Jack Spicer. One would have no inkling, from reading this review, that Spicer's poetry is one of the most influential sources for postmodern poetry and poetics in the 1990s. It is not some recent academic fad to study Spicer; rather, Spicer has been a crucial poet for many younger writers for over three decades. This biography, published at the same time with his collected lectures, should provide the opportunity for even more serious study of his work.

Poet Be Like God: Jack Spicer and the San Francisco Renaissance.(Review) (book reviews) : An article from: The Review of Contemporary Fiction

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Poet Be Like God: Jack Spicer and the San Francisco Renaissance.(Review) (book reviews) : An article from: The Review of Contemporary Fiction
Thomas McGonigle
Manufacturer: Review of Contemporary Fiction
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

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This digital document is an article from The Review of Contemporary Fiction, published by Review of Contemporary Fiction on March 22, 1999. The length of the article is 414 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: Poet Be Like God: Jack Spicer and the San Francisco Renaissance.(Review) (book reviews)
Author: Thomas McGonigle
Publication: The Review of Contemporary Fiction (Refereed)
Date: March 22, 1999
Publisher: Review of Contemporary Fiction
Volume: 19 Issue: 1 Page: 191

Article Type: Book Review

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Poet Be Like God-Jack Spicer and the San Francisco Renaissance

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Poet Be Like God-Jack Spicer and the San Francisco Renaissance
Lewis And Kevin Killain Ellingham
Manufacturer: Wesleyan University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000RZMITY

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