Supply-Side Revolution: An Insider's Account of Policymaking in Washington

Supply-Side Revolution: An Insider's Account of Policymaking in Washington
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A great course in the economic policy-making from a DC insider

Excellent account of early years of Supply-Side Revolution

Supply-Side Revolution: An Insider's Account of Policymaking in Washington
Paul Craig Roberts
Manufacturer: Harvard University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Customer Reviews:

A great course in the economic policy-making from a DC insider.......2006-04-23

Don't buy this book if you just want to know the history of supply-side economics -- it is so much more than that. If you want to know how economic policy making REALLY happens inside the beltway (including even the most boring parts, the ugliest warts, and more!), this book gives it to you straight.

What will you learn from this book? How both good and bad economic policies are distorted by the media and propagandized by politicians. The bottom line -- why DC politicians continue to produce economic failure after failure.

Excellent account of early years of Supply-Side Revolution.......2000-12-04

I read this book because I was studying the economic changes brought about by the Reagan victory in 1980. I've seen many favorable and unfavorable mentions of the "supply-side" theory, so I was looking for an account from a true supply-sider. This book fits that need. It desribes the immediate intellectual origins of the policy (but not the fundamental long-term origins). It then describes the political battles that went on in the legislative and executive branches from 1978 to about the end of 1981. I enjoyed reading how the free-market Republicans, Keynesian Republicans and liberals fought it out behind the scenes. These battles shaped the relatively vague "supply-side" theory into a specific government policy. This book is a good view into those years and provides perspective to the more recent government tax and spending issues.

Book Description

The Office Clutter Cure If you're surrounded by piles and stacks of paper, haven't seen the top of your desk in years, or you're afraid to even look into your file cabinets, this is the book for you! It takes a hard (but hilarious) look at the state of our offices and cubicles, and serves up at least two dozen convincing reasons to clear all that clutter out (vividly details all the obvious and hidden ways office clutter is hurting us.) Then it outlines the cure, including how to deal with those big bad backlogs of paper, how to reclaim your desk, how to make better use of briefcases, how to halt the flow of clutter into your office.

192 pages; 186 illustrations.

Customer Reviews:

Practical guide to decluttering your workspace.......2006-05-23

As owner of one of the U.S.'s largest cleaning firms, author Don Aslett has first hand experience with the way that mess and confusion can impede a good day's work. His book shines a light on the chaos, from overflowing wastebaskets to staggering stacks of paper, to (gasp!) the inside of the communal refrigerator. He reveals why out-of-control office clutter is not simply unsightly, but harmful to your productivity and your career. Then, he offers the cure, including ways to reduce paper accumulation, organize your workspace, weed through the junk and create your own filing system. He brings humor, enthusiasm and passion to tackling the daunting job you need to do before you can do your real job. If you want to be liberated from your office mess and experience the exhilaration of a clutter-free work life, we recommend this book - just put it on top of your stack.

Quite helpful.......2005-05-27

This book is a humorous pictural guide to reducing office clutter. It offers many reasons for "86-ing" piles of useless clutter and suggests alternate solutions such as using a briefcase.

very motivating.......2003-02-16

This is classic Aslett -- it will have you pitching half the papers on your desk in no time. Aslett has some good ideas on how to begin to conquer the clutter of accumulated paper, and ideas that can be used in discrete time increments. Of all the clutter / office organization books I've read, his are the only ones that actually make me eager to get to work.

Two reasons I gave this book four stars rather than five, are (1) because of Aslett's gratuitous name-dropping & boasting (when my coimpany was cleaning AT&T, when I was consulting with the top executives of IBM, when I was making one of my many TV appearances with Regis & Kahie Lee . . . ); and (2) because Aslett seems to consider himself an expert on all things rather than sticking to what he knows best. Of course, I've read most of his books, and there is some redundancy, as if they're just regurgitations of former material. If you haven't read his other books, you might not have this perception. Nonetheless, every time I read one of his books I can manage to throw out several boxes of stuff, and after reading this, my office at work no longer has any hidden stacks of papers waiting to be dealt with.

Offices and Classrooms.......2003-01-29

I don't work in an office. I work in a classroom. However, I found that much of what is said in this book applies to me.

I teach science, and have worked in 2 different schools where I inherited the previous teacher's mess. In the first one, I applied many of Aslett's principles without even realizing it. There was so much junk that I couldn't even work. I did almost no labs my first year because I couldn't find anything!

At my new school, started by organizing. Recently, I read this book and was inspired. I went through my storage area and threw out every broken piece of equipment. I also snuck out a few pieces of equipment that I knew I would never use.

It has been a wonderful feeling. I now have room to have a sort of "office" in my storage room. I can find equipment quickly, making me more likely to do labs, and I have created room for the equipment I plan to order that I will use.

I see no obvious connection, but I now get my work done a lot faster. I write a lot of my own material. Before I did my decluttering I was working until midnight or later. Now I'm going home for supper, and coming back and working only a few more hours.

His book is not so big on specifics. That is why I did not give it a fifth star. A few more specific ideas on organizing papers and the clutter I'm required to have would have helped. Overall, however, he covers the general principles of clutter removal and organization, he is inspiring, and, most important, this book is a help.

Honestly, this book made me a better teacher!

This book decluttered my mind.......2002-04-07

When I was the secretary and the executive assistant, I was the best and most organized person any boss could want. When I became the boss, I became buried in meetings, interruptions, customer service and problems, no one to delegate to, and fear of losing something important. In the past 7 years I have bought many "organizational" books - some I even bought twice because they never got through to me (didn't even impress me enough to remember I had bought them before!) to help me tackle the piles of paper. I pretty much shuffled stacks around until I bought Don's book. I started reading it yesterday, and after being out sick for one week, I went in today (Saturday) and in 4 hours, cleaned out 3 years of paper. I didn't just clean - I got rid of. I looked at everything with new eyes. Don has a way of putting all that paper into clear perspective - you can look at paper and see if it should go or stay. It was incredible. Now my mind is decluttered too - just like he said. I would recommend this to anyone who has a lot of paper (and facts) to deal with. His common-sense approach helps you make it your own - there's nothing to learn - he just puts it all in perspective so you can know how YOU want to deal with it. I've never written a review before - but couldn't wait to write this one. I hope this helps some other person tackle their paper. I accomplished more today than I can remember in one day - and know this will help me stay organized and cut back on the 70 hr weeks I normally put in. My employees respect me, but I always felt out of control with all that paper staring me (and everyone else) in the face. Now my office looks like I am in control! Thanks, Don!

Book Description

Organophosphorus and carbonate pesticides are used as insecticides, herbicides, nematicides, acaricides, fungicides, rodenticides, and bird repellents throughout the world. Today, organophosphorus and carbamate pesticides use is widespread on agricultural crops, rangelands, forests, and wetlands. Toxicology and Pesticide Use: Organophosphorus and Carbamate Compounds summarizes what is known about these pesticides from wildlife toxicology literature and discusses the potential hazards to wildlife by examining toxicity, environmental persistence, and use patterns of the pesticides. This information is critical to anyone involved in agriculture or agribusiness because of the impact of recent EPA rulings regarding the administration of these chemicals to crops. The book will interest toxicologists, environmental toxicologists, agrichemists, and all researchers involved in the study of the impact of these chemicals on the environment.

Pesticide Use and Toxicology in Relation to Wildlife: Organophosphorus and Carbamate Compounds

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Pesticide Use and Toxicology in Relation to Wildlife: Organophosphorus and Carbamate Compounds
Gregory J Smith
Manufacturer: US DEPT OF THE INTERIOR
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000TSPL8O

Book Description

Were you always curious about biology but were afraid to sit through long hours of dense reading? Did you like the subject when you were in high school but had other plans after you graduated? Now you can explore the human genome and analyze DNA without ever leaving your desktop!

Bioinformatics for Dummies is packed with valuable information that introduces you to this exciting new discipline. This easy-to-follow guide leads you step by step through every bioinformatics task that can be done over the Internet. Forget long equations, computer-geek gibberish, and installing bulky programs that slow down your computer. You’ll be amazed at all the things you can accomplish just by logging on and following these trusty directions. You get the tools you need to:

Analyze all types of sequences
Use all types of databases
Work with DNA and protein sequences
Conduct similarity searches
Build a multiple sequence alignment
Edit and publish alignments
Visualize protein 3-D structures
Construct phylogenetic trees

This up-to-date second edition includes newly created and popular databases and Internet programs as well as multiple new genomes. It provides tips for using servers and places to seek resources to find out about what’s going on in the bioinformatics world. Bioinformatics for Dummies will show you how to get the most out of your PC and the right Web tools so you’ll be searching databases and analyzing sequences like a pro!

Customer Reviews:

Using the free software on internet sites to help your research.......2007-03-14

The first chapter is a short review of DNA and RNA sequences, amino acids, and protein. The other chapters teach you to use the free software found on the Internet to work with your research. Information is also given which helps explain some biochemicals. My skills are in Software Development using C++ language, and I need more information on biochemicals to understand the problems and to develop algorithms to solve them.
My only criticism is that I would like the book to give more biochemical theory before taking up the subject of Internet software.
Overall, this is a good beginner's book on biochemistry.

Good.......2007-02-16

I am a couple years into a PhD in bioinformatics, but this is the book I started with. I knew some biology and some computer science, but I still found a lot of the databases, etc. confusing and the field has a decided lack of simplified documentation (though it is getting better).

Of course, bioinformatics is a pretty broad topic and no book could possibly cover everything.

If you do not know any biology at all you probably should also get a basic text on genetics/molecular biology (or read thema at the NCBI web site books section for free). You don't need anything in depth to read the dummies book, just at the level of an introductory biology book. Hint: DNA to RNA, RNA to Protein. And you want to know why proteins are similar because proteins with similar amino acid sequences often have similar chemical properties and therefore similar functions, so if you know what one protein does you can guess what a protein like it probably does.
:-)

And despite the name of the book the authors are REAL bioinformaticists (T-Coffee rocks!)

Yes, It's Really Written at the For Dummies Level........2007-01-18

This book kind of blew me away. Bioinformatics is such a big word.

Then in the second chapter they tell you 'How Most People Use Bioinformatics.' And all of a sudden they have you on line to the National Library of Medicine at the National Institute of Health. They have you looking at protein sequences, and you even understand what they are saying.

This is a 'For Dummies' book. It is written in their traditional style, assuming that you know very little -- well to be sure they say they are making the assumption that 'You likely have a background in molecular biology. If you don't - or if you need to brush up on your molecular biology - Chapter 1 gives you a brief overview of the basics.'

I found that the first few chapters went down pretty easily. By part IV it had gone further than I wanted to go, and I quit reading.

BUT if I were going to be taking a course in bioinformatics, or even thinking about taking such a course, or just looking at a degree in biology, I'd spend a week or two getting around this book. It's written a hell of a lot better than any text you're likely to get assigned, and at its price it's quite a deal.

Great introductory text.......2006-09-20

This is an excellent introduction to Bioinformatics. It does assume some very basic knowledge of biology- perhaps a couple of paragraphs could help the total newbies.

Have you noticed that reviews of bioinformatics books tend to follow certain patterns? The Computer Scientists and mathematicians complain that there is not enough detail about the algorithms, the biologists complain that they could not get through the math, and everyone complains that there is not enough detail about their favorite programs! Let us face the fact that this is a very broad field, and most people that want to learn about it will never design algorithms.

great beginner.......2005-12-16

In spite of the title (I don't know many dummies interested in multiple sequence alignments) this reference is written by experts in the field of bioinformatics and is very accessable for the beginner. I purchased this book as a beginning graduate student so that I could learn which programs to use to compare amino acid and nucleic acid sequences as well as prepare them for publication and this book was perfect for this end. This text doesn't delve into the algorithms or much theory (which is learned through practice and other sources), nevertheless, I recommend this for the researcher for a crash course or quick reference. This book really helped me get my feet wet in this area (and recently publish a nice alignment) and will certainly reduce my workload next semester for my bioinformatics course!

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Bioinformatics for Dummies

Manufacturer: FROMMERS (TWLD)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Bioinformatics | Biological Sciences | Science | Subjects | Books
ASIN: B000GUDCO0

Book Description

A manual to help recognize, observe, and interpret the flora and fauna of Yellowstone.

Book Description

In this beautifully written book, Guthrie tells her story from the beginning. Nearly two decades in the making, Lady and Gentlemen captures the poignant detail of the complexity of the racing business. On a deeper level, she conveys all that she encountered along the way as a woman in the most testosterone-charged of men's worlds.

Customer Reviews:

Excellent Book.......2007-05-29

I was in third grade when Janet Guthrie made the headlines. I remember reading a kid's book on her life and learning that she had a job as a physicist before going into racing. I had always admired Ms. Guthrie for what she did. A couple of years ago while reading an article on Danica Patrick, I came across the Janet Guthrie website and found the book Janet Guthrie: A Life at Full Throttle. I went ahead and purchased it. It has taken me almost two years to finish the book, but I have found it very enlightening and reading. It gives a great overview of her life and how hard she had to work to get into racing and the obstacles she had to overcome. It is a must read for anyone who wants to learn about an amazing female athlete from the mid 1970's. Thank you, Ms. Guthrie for sharing your life with us.

Against All Odds.......2006-12-12

Janet Guthrie was more qualified than many drivers who had quality rides in open-wheel and stock-car racing. She was a graduate of the University of Michigan (B. Sc. in physics), an aerospace engineer and flight instructor while race-car driving as early as 1963 in a Jaguar XK 140 that she prepared.

But being a female in a male-dominated business made for a career that had a very rough road. Guthrie persevered under very trying times to reach the pinnacle in the sport in 1977, qualifying for the Indianapolis 500 - becoming the first woman to qualify and compete in the event - and Daytona 500 - finishing the race as the top rookie driver.

And after nearly 20 years in search of a publisher and several hundred pages cut from her manuscript, Guthrie delivers an excellent read that covers her life on and off the track.

Guthrie wanted to be known as a race-car driver, but there were too many people who couldn't get past her gender. That was from the boardrooms of potential sponsors to initial tough comments from competitors like Richard Petty and Bobby Unser and workers at venues like the Indianapolis Motor Speedway who were determined to make Guthrie know in so many ways that she wasn't welcome & could never compete financially with the top teams.

Though Petty and Unser eventually gave Guthrie props - Petty saying in 1978 that she may win a NASCAR event with a better ride & Unser stating she has done a good job - there were drivers like Tom Sneva and Buddy Baker and others in the industry who assisted her in reaching for the stars. Even though Guthrie blazed a trail, it ultimately smacked into a brick wall when a lack of sponsorship dollars prevented her from competing in the top events.

In 2006, Guthrie was inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame. A Life at Full Throttle is a story about struggling against institutionalized gender discrimination and how the road to true equity remains under construction.

Too short by far........2006-08-27

I started sports car racing about the same time as Janet, also had no money, and enjoyed all the years of scratching and clawing for a ride. I could not have written this book, though, because not only did she do something special, she tells the stories so well. I learned more about her in the book than I did at the time, and as a result of the book, feel the shared history and experiences deeply.

As a mutual friend said, "...it's exposed more about her and what she did and how she did it than most (of her comtemporary racing friends) either knew or understood...it's established more of a camaraderie with other racers ..." than was thought to exist at the time.

I wish she would publish the other several hundred pages she had to cut out of this beek, as I am sure I would enjoy it also.

What a lady, what a life!.......2006-05-26

I was in junior high school when Ms. Guthrie ran in the Indy 500, and was wowed by the fact that a woman could make it auto racing. Those who of us who remember the era before Title 9 know how tough it was for female athletes in any sport, but especially auto racing which remains a male-dominated field to this day.

Cheers to you, Ms. Guthrie, for your excellent career, for opening the doors, for your marvelous record on the track, and for an exciting memoir that's as fast-paced as your race car! Five stars!

The Real First Lady of Auto Racing.......2006-01-12

I owned a car that raced against the Kelly Girl stock car. Her accounts of the races and the set backs are so true and fair that it brings back a LOT of memories from that time. Her gutsy personality comes through on every page. Cars from the North with part-time racers were treated almost as rough as green cars with female drivers. Janet was and is so much a lady. I am buying copies for all my former crew so we can remember a wonderful time in our lives. AJ was and is true gentleman. The Woods brothers were also. If you have raced, you need this book.

Amazon.com

The answer to the attention-grabbing question posed by classicists Victor Davis Hanson and John Heath in the title of this passionate defense of their field (which is also a damnation of their academic colleagues) is not a pretty one. "It was," they admit sadly, "an inside job."

Why, at the end of the 20th century, should we give a hoot in the first place about a brutal, misogynist society that rose to greatness on the back of slaves? Because, they argue, it was the first place; for all the faults of ancient Greece, the seeds of what Western civilization is today were planted there. "What we mean by Greek wisdom," they explain, "is that at the very beginning of Western culture the Greeks provided a blueprint for an ordered and humane society that could transcend time and space, one whose spirit and core values could evolve, sustain, and drive political reform and social change for ages hence."

But Hanson and Heath are not content to simply make a fiery, articulate case for what's right about understanding this particular ancient civilization in a contemporary world where more and more non-Western societies openly seek to embrace the democratic spirit. They go on to launch a deliciously vituperative jeremiad on what's wrong with the priorities of those entrusted with passing on this wisdom. Classics departments, as portrayed in Who Killed Homer?, appear to be filled with politically correct, insecure footnote fawners who, steeped in minutiae, miss the Big Picture. Hanson and Heath have a plan, sure to raise the hackles of tenured professors, for reviving classical studies that emphasizes the importance of teaching, communicating, and popularizing over publishing arcane monographs in journals not even the writer's family will ever read, insisting that the alternative--the extinction of a vivid intellectual pursuit--borders on cultural suicide. --Jeff Silverman

Customer Reviews:

Flipping burgers and driving taxis.......2007-04-18

Victor David Hanson's and John Heath's devastating expose of the Anglo classicist establishment, 'Who Killed Homer? - The Demise of Classical Education and the Recovery of Greek Wisdom' (San Francisco: Encounter Books, 2001. ISBN 1893554260) is a book which infuriated classicists because - and as an ex-academic myself I can vouch for this - what it tells us about them and about their utterly baleful influence on our culture happens to be true.

Classicists as a class are here accused of being idle, arrogant, greedy, irresponsible, amoral careerists. They are cads who care little if anything for Greek thought and who have nothing but the most extreme contempt, not only for the general public which pays their salaries, but even for their students since they would rather disburden themselves of the distasteful task of teaching by passing it to an underclass of slaves known as 'graduate teaching assistants' while (when not gadding about the world on an endless round of international 'conferences,' i.e. mutual back-slapping canape-munching cocktail-slurping gabfests) they themselves engage in what they fondly describe as 'research' (i.e. the scribbling of esoteric monographs on utterly trivial matters which no-one is ever going to read) since they would blanch at the thought of actually doing something useful.

The laziness, greed, and arrogance of these elitists have pretty well destroyed the classics as a subject of study and hence as a profession. Many of their former colleagues and most of their ex-students are now flipping burgers or driving taxis, and I think one may confidently predict that it won't be long before the remainder of this elite are looking for similar work since no society can be expected to indefinitely support such a useless class of parasites.

Since their collective efforts have helped to effectively undermine and destroy the foundations of Western Civilization, the demise of classical education being simply one facet of the larger ongoing demise of the West, one wonders if they will perhaps feel a twinge of remorse for what they have done when the tentacles of the New Dark Age they have helped to spawn reach out to coil about them ...?

Classics are Essential to Citizenship.......2006-09-05

Pick up any copy of the Federalist Papers, the articles addressed to the citizens of New York in 1787 on the subject of the Constitution, and you will find unmistakable references to Republican Rome. The authors of the Federalist Papers (and the framers of the Constitution), Alexander Hamilton and James Madison, each had a Classical education which shaped the core of their philosophy.

Why then, is Classical education gradually disappearing from high schools and colleges? Why do teachers and professors refer to Homer, Virgil, Ovid, Thucydides, Tacitus and others as "dead White males?" Authors Victor Davis Hanson and John Heath explore these questions in their book, Who Killed Homer.

Hanson and Heath do a good job of explaining the Greek and Roman origins of American political thought, and convincingly warn that our citizens are rapidly becoming illiterate about the ideas that gave birth to modern republican government and free market economics. The authors perform a public service, putting together reading lists of Classical authors, and discussing interpretations of key writings by Classical authors that demonstrate the undeniable Greek origins of Western civilization.

The authors also offer a explanation for the demise of Classical learning -- academic careerism, and to a lesser extent, ideology have polluted the pure teaching of the Classics. While plausible, this argument often degenerates into mud-slinging, as Hanson and Heath settle scores with scholars whom they accuse of destroying their field. Sometimes, the score-settling gets out of hand, as Hanson and Heath specifically name the scholars they are criticizing, and even accuse one scholar of literally hounding another to his grave. This gossipy material actually detracts from their argument and is not appropriate for the audience the authors are trying to reach.

This book would be more effective if the authors did not take so much time focusing on their opponents and critics and instead stuck to the principles of their argument. The Classics are an essential part of any high school and college curriculum. Our democracy cannot hope to survive on a steady diet of Oprah, the NFL and reality TV.

Problematic, sees the teaching of Greek as useful for just one thing and all else is anathema.......2006-05-05

WHO KILLED HOMER is a tract by Victor Davis Hanson and John Heath seeking to change the contemporary method of teaching and researching Classics--which is facing a decline in popularity among the average student--turning it towards the political and moral ideals the authors hold. For these two, the Greek world (Rome and Latin literature is present here only as an afterthought) is seen as a paragon of political, social, and ethical organization whose lessons undergraduate students must learn. Hanson feels that American is facing "balkanisation", so from the Greeks the youth of today should see that it is desirable for the life of the "polis" to speak a single language and shunning outside cultural traits (including, presumably, such innocent things as food, music, and clothing) just as the Greeks spoke Greek and despised the Persians. They also suggest that Greek literature contains moral insights that the writing of other eras cannot impart, and so is the only basis for a solid education.

The first objection I have against WHO KILLED HOMER is that this idea of classical Greece as worthy of emulating is simply a misinterpretation of the Western heritage. It is the confluence of the ancient world and the grace of Christianity that created the society we know today; only after Christianity entered the life of the Empire do we find a meaningful guide to thought and action. If we want to form the morals of our children, we'd do better teaching them the Church Fathers and the history of Byzantium than the incomplete thought of Athens. Hanson and Heath have raised up the Greek thinkers almost as idols, seeing them not as occasionally interesting intellectual figures, but as the solution to all our problems.

Hanson and Heath feel that research has ruined the university, and that there is little value in much of recent publications. The authors want all research to be on broad, generalized topics that even non-specialists can understand, but in the end it seems that they simply don't understand the value of criticism and haven't learned its terminology, therefore it scares them. While I have seen poor theses appear in print, I've discovered that even the most obscure and specialized studies are occasionally useful to me as a student. I don't care much for ancient literature, but I do read quite a bit of 20th-century poetry and prose, and the close criticism written about my favourite authors has only helped me appreciate even more what they wrote, not led me astray into meaninglessness. My own experience as a knowledge-hungry young person leads me to see that research is valuable and instructive.

Hanson and Heath would prefer to see an end to publication, and recommend heavy teaching loads for faculty. This would be disastrous, for the traditional system of lecturing only draws faculty away from research and demotivates students. I'd rather get everything by drawing together all the many resources in the library than by having to come in and listen to a single boring lecturer every day. Similarly, I'm sure my lecturers would be happy to concentrate on research instead of wasting their own and students' time with classes. Less lecturing is the key to happy, motivated, and successful students and productive faculty, one simply needs to see how much more educated undergraduates turn out in countries were class attendence is not mandatory, but where clear study goals are given and the final exams are rigorous. There's a reason why most of our most brilliant professionals are immigrants trained abroad before coming to the U.S. for graduate education, and our productivity would tank if Hanson's plans succeeded.

Another serious fault of the authors' thesis is that they assume the only reason to read Greek is to understand the thoughts of classical writers. That may be true for Classics majors, but there are many students who take Greek as part of their training in comparative Indo-European linguistics. I could really care less about ancient literature or Plato's philosophy, but I still need a grounding in Greek grammar, ideally in a diachronic context. Were the ideals of Hanson and Heath put into effect, the entire field of Indo-European studies would disappear. Is limiting the possibilities of what one can get out of the material really an improvement for scholarship? And if I have to "think like a Greek" when I study Greek, do the authors think I should also be sacrificing to Agni and Indra in Sanskrit classes?

The writing style here is quite annoying, at times being a screed and always being too passionate and unstable. As one Classics professor has said, Hanson's texts attempt to speak persuasively instead of authoritatively. Furthermore, the authors make digressions into other complaints they have about modern life that strays from the central thesis, as when they rage against free verse and claim it is "non-poetry" written by "non-poets". All in all, I see little value in the book, since the claims of the authors that Greek civilization is the only thing truly worth of study is simply false to most people. One can sympathize with their plea that general writing and representing Classics to the public is worthy of respect, but this is wiped out by their raging against specialized research. All in all, a problematic work.

think like a Greek?.......2005-10-22

This book is refreshing and fascinating. However, I do wish that classicists of all kinds would stop drawing battle lines about the origins of western culture and the "good" and "bad" within the Greeks themselves. We might take a lesson from Herodotus, who happily wandered around the entire Mediterranean recording observations about all the civilizations he encountered and the origins of various Greek customs (many of which he derives from much-maligned Egypt). Herodotus brought to his work a warm sense of humor, an open-mindedness, and a genuine, passionate interest. Nor did he seek to be an obscure specialist. In his day he performed his histories publicly to large audiences-he investigated, and spoke to, everyone.

We might also take a lesson from Thucydides, whose methods were different from Herodotus' but who recorded the events of the Peloponnesian war for much the same reason that Herodotus wrote about the Persian war: "in the belief that it was going to be a great war and more worth writing about than any of those which had taken place in the past." Thucydides was not a propagandist but a clear-eyed observer of the complex workings of power and war. The moral questions he confronted-about the uses of empire, the value of peace, the meaning of justice, the nobility or inhumanity of war, the abuse of power-are ones Greek culture had been addressing since the conflict of Achilles and Agamemnon in the Iliad and ones we should still be considering today. The moral dilemmas of the Roman empire-the exchange of direct political participation and freedom for peace and material prosperity, the accumulation of wealth, the value or danger of mass entertainment, the fantasy of the simple life, the place of a mercenary army (just to name a few)-are also timely. I have a problem with certain professors of today not because they criticize the Greeks and Romans (the ancients criticized themselves extensively already), but because they wrap themselves in jargon and excuse inaction by talking of subjectivity. They do not confront, as the Greeks and Romans did, what I still consider the most essential, troubling, frightening, important questions of human existence: the burden of power, the meaning of responsibility, how much power and responsibility the individual citizen should have, and what, truly, is the best kind of life.

Where is education going?.......2005-10-11

It has long been lamented that the Classics are declining. Where is education headed, if the university system is failing?--the pump has no water. Ask next, how this is connected to the failing public school system. It isn't just a matter of losing the classics, it's about losing the integrity of higher education itself. If the university is compromised, then so are the people who are educated there, who then in turn try to educate the lower levels in K-12--look where we are. We need to ask not just who killed Homer, but why we keep stabbing him over and over again.

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Who Killed Homer: Library Edition
Victor Davis Hanson , and John Heath
Manufacturer: Blackstone Audiobooks
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Audio Cassette

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Book Description

Bestselling novelist James Patterson, who has been entertaining millions of Americans for decades, now brings his considerable talent for storytelling to a young audience with a joyful, spunky tale that brings every child's Christmas fantasy to life.

Customer Reviews:

Santa Kid disappoints.......2007-09-16

Just tried to read this story to my 4 1/2 year old. Unfortunately it didn't hole either of our interests. Half way through I just couldn't go on and had to put the book down and pick something else!
Here are the main problems: the story was incredibly thin. An entire page of the story would likely only include 1 or 2 relevant sentences that actually moved the storyline - the rest was all filler, like "pretty cool huh?" and "don't giggle. This isn't funny. Well, sometimes it is", and "all those who want to live at the north pole , holler I WANT TO LIVE AT THE NORTH POLE"

Do you see a pattern? The main character breaks from the story on every page to give pointless comments to the reader, and none of it makes sense (or is even funny.)

the plot is so thin. The villain lands at the North Pole with absolutely no set-up, and each turn of events (and the villain himself) is very implausible. There's just no believability in the motives or events. Yes, I know this is a kid's book, but I've read plenty of great kid's books!

The dialogue is really stale too. like "Not nice." "Not nice at all". This repetitive, bland dialogue just drve me crazy.

Like I said, I only scanned the last half of the book it was so poor. I appreciate that the author was trying to teach the evils of Corporate America to children, but it just didn't come off well. It feels like Patterson wrote this book in 10 minutes.

Beautifully illustrated.......2007-06-19

The story is cute, I've heard this story before he just switched some of the characters. The drawing in this book are superb, totally worth purchasing. The story on the other hand didn't seem to hold my son's interest.

Great family reading.......2007-02-20

This book is a great story to read with your family. It has great values and lessons of life.

SantaKid.......2007-01-27

It was a very cute book. I ordered it becasue it was written by James Patterson. He is my favorite author and I have got all his books most of which I have purchased thru Amazon.

Santakid.......2007-01-22

I really enjoyed this story. If you have children this is a great story for bedtime on Christmas Eve!(Or anytime, any age!)

Average customer rating:

santaKid
James/ Garland, Michael (ILT) Patterson
Manufacturer: Little, Brown Young Readers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OUDGHA

Average customer rating:

Santakid X6 Counterpack
James Patterson
Manufacturer: Headline Hardbacks
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding
ASIN: 0755325397

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