Book Description
In Human Rights Horizons, one of the world's foremost authorities on human rights and international relations maps out the way to a more just and human global society. Borders are being erased; democracy and capitalism are spreading. The world is rapidly changing, and these changes are opening the door for the promotion of human rights to become and integral part of worldwide politics and law.
In his provocative new book, Falk discusses the borderline between the promotion of human rights and the promotion of interventionist and coercive diplomacy. Can the US and the UN find an acceptable balance between unnecessary, protracted violence (Somalia) and simply letting genocide spread (Rwanda)? While looking at specific cases, Falk also sheds important new light on non-Western attitudes toward human rights, the challenge of genocidal politics, the intersection of morality and global security, and the pursuit of international justice. Thoughtful and very accessibly written, Human Rights Horizons clearly presents a path to an original new humanitarian policy for the 21st century.
Book Description
Gareth Morgan's book is designed to develop the art of reading and understanding organizations. He works from the premise that our theories and explanations of organizational life are based on metaphors that lead us to see and understand organizations in distinctive, yet partial ways. He demonstrates how the use of different metaphors provides new ways of managing and designing organizations. His book also stands as a treatise on metaphorical thinking that contributes to both the theory and practice of organizational analysis.
Customer Reviews:
Morgan Images of Organization.......2007-01-04
great metaphors from author to help understand organizational thinking but read slowly if you are a concrete thinker. Easy reading really if you think metaphorically. Had to write a paper on psychic prisons, uncanny how true Morgan's analogy is to real workplace environment. This book was better than our required text. Hated the Organizational Behavior instructor I had but loved the book and the subject matter.
Most valuable read of my MBA.......2003-02-15
Gareth Morgan's book provides an antidote to the finance, marketing and HR texts that are required reading for an MBA student. The clever use of metaphor allows the reader to absorb the huge anount of information contained within the book (check out the bibliography!) - you don't even realise how much you are learning until you start relating concepts to others around you. My fellow students, colleagues and even my parents had to listen ...
I found it a very easy to read book, if you are willing to put aside your existing ideas (psychic prison) about the way the organisation works(?) If you prefer big words, read Morgan and Burrell's Sociological Paradigms and Organisational Analysis - essential reading, but even more brilliant as a companion to Images.
Learn the stuff you are expected to know from your finance, marketing, statistics, strategy and HR texts, but understand the stuff that will change your world from Images of Organisation.
This book can profoundly change your thinking about orgs.......2003-02-14
This is not a "three steps to understanding organizations" type book. The people posting negative reviews for this were looking for something simple and digestable - this book is not that. However, if you take the time, you will find it profoundly alters your thinking about understanding organizations.
This book provides solid theoretical models for understanding what is occuring in organizations. I read this book over 10 years ago and STILL find it the second best and most enlightening thing I have ever read on organizations. This has dramatically aided me in being a very successful business consultant.
The foundation of this book is the notion that you cannot understand complex organizations in any meaningful way through a single perspective. People in the organizations operate on many different perspectives. Each view of the world creates its own understanding of the organizational problems, solutions and daily pattern of interaction. This book provides you the tools for understanding organizations through a number of key perspectives or metaphors, and gives you indications on how to perform a multi-perspective systems analysis.
If you spend the time with this book, you will find yourself able to understand your surroundings FAR better than your peers.
Too esoteric...hard to follow........2003-01-08
I am a graduate student in organizational development. Although this book has some good underlying concepts, I found most of the book hard to follow and not very engaging. It was often difficult to see how many of the concepts actually apply to organizations. There may be good ideas, but they often get lost in the rambling chapters.
Terrific Find.......2001-07-28
I found this book to be insightful and very useful in administrative organization analysis. It was a useful tool in developing a change management program for a public organization.
Average customer rating:
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Agro-Ecological Farming Systems in China (Man and the Biosphere Series)
Manufacturer: Informa Healthcare
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 185070631X |
Book Description
This is the first English-language text written by China's leading scientists documenting the history, principles, models and assessment of ecological agriculture in China and its integrated farming system. In twenty detailed chapters, the book covers all aspects of China's integrated farming system, including rotation, relay-intercropping and intercropping, polyaquaculture, mixed stands afforestation, agro-silviculture, intercropping for tree-medicinal herbs as well as cash and multiuse forests, phyto-animal systems, mountain ecosystems, wetland ecosystems, arid and semi-arid ecosystems, agro-industry complex ecological engineering, and multi-component and multi-step use of energy resources. The book's final chapters set forth a systematic design for an integrated farming system, instructions on analyzing and assessing integrated farming systems, and a perspective on recent trends, obstacles, and the future.
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Agro-Ecological Farming Systems in China
Manufacturer: UNESCO
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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Regional Planning
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ASIN: 9231037846 |
Book Description
"An accessible, intriguing explanation of game theory . . . that can help explain much human behavior." -Seattle Post-Intelligencer Humans, like bacteria, woodchucks, chimpanzees, and other animals, compete or cooperate in order to get food, shelter, territory, and other resources to survive. But how do they decide whether to muscle out or team up with the competition?In The Survival Game, David P. Barash synthesizes the newest ideas from psychology, economics, and biology to explore and explain the roots of human strategy. Drawing on game theory-the study of how individuals make decisions-he explores the give-and-take of spouses in determining an evening's plans, the behavior of investors in a market bubble, and the maneuvers of generals on a battlefield alongside the mating and fighting strategies of "less rational" animals. Ultimately, Barash's lively and clear examples shed light on what makes our decisions human, and what we can glean from game theory and the natural world as we negotiate and compete every day.
Customer Reviews:
Great intro to the many applications of game theory.......2007-08-07
This book is excellent as an introduction both to the basic principles of game theory as well as its applications in various fields. Game theory is often known as a tool of economists (indeed, its early innovators won Nobel prizes in economics), but Barash does an excellent job of relating its themes to psychology, ecology, and evolution, as well as economics and politics, while giving the reader a good general understanding of how the theory works. With no more math than it takes to solve a sudoku puzzle, this is a great introduction to game theory. I would especially recommend this to students in the biological and/or behavioral sciences.
A level playing field?.......2004-10-29
The roots of game theory in biology go back several decades. Roger Fisher's studies in the 1930s are generally credited with initiating the concept. Later, Robert Axelrod and others expanded the idea with structured game applications. The most famous of these is the Prisoner's Dilemma, where two charged thieves are offered "deals" by authorities. Prisoner's Dilemma is easily played by any two people with a moderator. The point of the game is to reconcile the issues of "defection" and "cooperation" with various "payoffs". As Barash shows, the game is played often, usually unconsciously, by many people under varying conditions. It is an underlying theme in many international situations. Barash here introduces us to the basics of game theory, with many illustrative examples in human and other animal behaviour.
From simple game propositions, Barash goes on to explain the many variations and how to assess them. Instead of mathematical equations, which he eschews in the opening chapter, Barash provides matrix box sets with players, options and outcome results for each game set. He then explains the logic of strategy variations for a single game encounter. He points out that single encounters may neither validate the game nor the strategy applied. The most famous variation of Prisoner's Dilemma is called Tit-for-Tat. This game's bizarre history is recounted well - it was twice chosen the best option in a contest for "best strategy". In this game, a form of Prisoner's Dilemma is played repeatedly - with the caveat that whatever your opponent does, you must respond in kind. The game's simple rule shattered many myths about the foundations of human behaviour. Genes may be selfish, but humans are not. Cooperation has its own payoffs.
Once applied only to humanity, game theory has found many examples throughout Nature, and not just animals. Since part of game theory deals with resource use, even forest trees can be shown to apply it to growth patterns. Jungle frogs, in their competitive mating strategies make decisions explainable by Barash's matrix diagrams. How far, then, can its usefulness extend. As game theory has been demonstrated to have nearly universal meaning, critics have raised objections. Americans, as Barash carefully notes, find it objectionable on the grounds it shatters their myth of "rugged individualism" - the notion that success comes to whoever goes out and grabs it by the scruff of the neck, ignoring objections of others. Others have decried attempts to apply it to every human circumstance. Barash dismisses this critique as overstated. Game theory isn't a universal "theory of everything" - a quest physicists have vainly sought for years. On the other hand, America, as with every society, must play the Social Dilemma Game - Personal Gain versus the Public Good.
Barash's examples are mixed biology, diplomacy, domestic politics and personal encounters. Although he regrets the little attention paid to game theory by the general public, he ably demonstrates why this book should redress that situation. Game theory is not a game - it's real life. This author's perceptive observations and excellent presentation make this work a compelling read. It's a fine item to have at hand when watching debates, hearing of a new cockpit of potential international conflict or even negotiations between businesses or employment contracts. A valuable resource. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]
More Bush-bashing than Biology.......2004-02-28
Barash's book provides a highly readable, basic, non-mathematical overview of the primary games, focusing on prisoner's dilemma and chicken although others are covered. I bought the book because of its advertised emphasis on applying game theory to biology and the animal kingdom. Unfortunately, too often the book simply serves to showcase Barash's left wing political views. His bashing of President Bush on issues such as the Iraq war and the Kyoto Treaty was particularly irritating. Some readers may love his opinions, but I found them distracting at best. After about the tenth instance of his gratuitous political agenda, I finally reached the point where I wished I had not enriched Mr. Barash by buying the book.
A deceptively titled introduction to game theory.......2004-01-27
Game Theory is a subfield of mathematics and economics that simulates conflicts as games, with a payoff or loss for each decision. The major innovation is that Game Theory takes into account the importance of the other entity's decision; as in real life, conflicts aren't simply against a static opponent. This book briefly details some of the major theoretical exercises derived from game theory, such as Prisoner's Dilemma, Chicken, and others. Although this book was fairly interesting in its own right, it strangely never goes into any sort of discussion about the application of Game Theory to Biology, Ecology, or Animal Behavior, with the exception of a chapter that appears to be a last minute throw-in. It consists of a few examples where game theory has been validated in biological studies, but few are especially interesting or provoking. Those looking for any sort of mathematics (even algebra) will also be sorely disappointed, as the author decided to milk the pop-science appeal as much as possible. Although some of the discussions on the different games were interesting, the lack of even an elementary discussion of Evolutionarily Stable Strategies makes this book unlikely to appeal to those looking for what the title promises: the BIOLOGY of cooperation and competition. However, if you are disdainful of mathematics and want a fairly interesting and brief introduction to game theory, this book is probably a good place to start. The surprisingly thoughtful final chapter, on the philosophical and moral implications of game theory, carries this title slightly above mediocrity. To summarize: although this book didn't provide what I expected in terms of connecting game theory to biology, it was still an entertaining read, if not an especially enlightening one.
Book Description
Mammal Tracks and Sign of the Northeast is a field guide for identifying the tracks of mammal species native to the region which extends from New England, New York, and Pennsylvania to eastern Canada. Simple to use and light and easy to carry in the field, the book contains the most important information that a tracker will need--including life-size illustrations of tracks and scat, gait patterns, trail width, species habitat, food sources, scat and urine information, breeding seasons, range maps, and special tracking tips for all thirty-seven species. A unique dichotomous key devised by the author allows trackers to identify even the most confusing track through a process of elimination. The charming, highly detailed, and to-scale pencil illustrations are indispensable aids to accurate identification. Mammal Tracks and Sign of the Northeast is an artistic and accurately rendered guide suitable for professional trackers, naturalists and wildlife professionals, outdoor educators, hunters, and amateurs alike.
Customer Reviews:
What Kind of Critter Was Here?.......2004-07-26
Do you find yourself scratching your head when you examine tracks in the snow in your back yard? Have you wondered what beast left that distinctive scat on a wooden footbridge? Diane Gibbons' book is going to illuminate your world. Where the book is most useful is in differentiating among the signs of closely-related animals, such as wolf, coyote, and fox. And then there are the seldom-seen, difficult to identify signs, such as martin tracks and lynx scat. The book is wonderfully illustrated, and makes a great reference for the swift and accurate identificatioin of the tracks and signs of all mammals in the nine northeastern states. The diagrams illustrating the range of each animal are a welcome bonus.
original.......2003-10-03
There are numerous original concepts in this book: a key to identifying tracks, key identification features with arrows, species comparison pages (i.e. otter vs. fisher), and mating seasons compared across species. A wonderful addition to the diversity of tracking books on the market! And a generous book filled with wondrous illustrations created with real heart. Buy it.
Finally, a key to tracking!.......2003-07-14
Diane Gibbons does an amazing job helping amateur trackers to decipher what we see in the field. I have yet to see a book that has a key, similar to botanical field guides, allowing us to piece together the tracks we see. The key is key! The illustrations are wonderful, as well, and equally helpful. Finally, the book is small enough to fit in a daypack. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in learning more about the wildlife around us.
Book Description
This completely revised second edition of the most widely read professional text on the topic is a state-of-the-art guide to developing individualized training programs for both athletes and fitness enthusiasts. This book is also an excellent undergraduate textbook for courses in resistance training prescription.
Written by two of the world's leading experts on strength training, Designing Resistance Training Programs presents information in a clear, readable manner. The book discusses basic training systems and program prescriptions designed to enhance strength, power, and endurance.
The emphasis in Designing Resistance Training Programs is on using scientific knowledge to develop effective, personalized training programs.
Customer Reviews:
Why does your training work?.......2006-11-12
This book can answer it. An incredible overview of the science of resistance training is presented, with a summary of all of the scientific research done for years and years on the subject. If you are looking for the deeper meaning of resistance training concepts and want to know how and why they work, then this is the book for you. If you are a weekend trainer with no education outside of short little seminars and conferences, then you will not enjoy this book. A backround in exercise physiology as well as a thorough understanding of anatomical terminology is definately reccomended. But for those who know their exercise physiology, then this book is a great expansion into the science of resistance training.
If you enjoyed this book, other reccomendations would be "Science and Practice of Strength Training" by Vladimir M. Zatsiorsky and "Supertraining" by Mel C. Siff. "Serious Strength Training" by Tudor Bompa may also be of interest. All of these books are great for those who wish to dive into the deeper level of training. But if you're looking for superficial information, exercise ideas, home gym type stuff, then these books are not for you. These are designed for health professionals, not weekend warriors. Be prepared for science and technical terminology.
Can anyone understand the contents?????.......2006-10-24
I purchased the updated, 3rd edition recently and anyone who can actually understand the contents and retain the information, my hat is off to you. I have been a personal trainer for over 7 years and thought this book would supply me with some extra knowledge. Was I wrong. Way too technical. Way too many references and studies with many times contradicting themselves. Very non user friendly. I have read paragraphs to co-workers who are more advanced than me and even they shook their heads. DO NOT BUY if you are looking to advance your personal training skills and knowledge. I have passed several certifications and consider myself fairly knowledgable, but this book left me scratching my head and saying WHAT?????
Scientists only.......2005-04-06
I agree with the other reviewers that this book is highly advanced, and not for beginners. It contains absolutely everything that has ever been studied on the subject. However, even for the seasoned trainer, it is hard to find what you are looking for, and even harder to understand. There are so many references and technical terms that the essence of what it is saying is almost lost. If it was written in English, and organised into a logical manner, it would be far more useful. The tables are very difficult to read. A gap still exists for a book containing all this information in plain English. It would be half the size and much more readable.
This is the real thing.......1999-10-30
Not for everybody. The average gym member will be lost by all the advanced knowledge. Be warned that it is very technical and the reader should have a background in exercise physiology to fully comprehend it.
A definite must for trainers working in a gym setting........1999-02-18
This is one of the most comprehensive books on the shelves when it comes to exercise prescription and design.
Average customer rating:
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Jerry Baker's It Pays to Be Cheap!: 1,973 of the Niftiest, Swiftiest, and Thriftiest Secrets on Earth for Spendin' Less and Savin' More on . . . Food, ... Everything! (Jerry Baker's Good Home series)
Jerry Baker
Manufacturer: American Master Products, Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 0922433453 |
Book Description
Fun and innovative ways to save money on items such as groceries, electronics, pet care, travel, and clothing are revealed in this indispensable savings handbook. Features such as "Online Steals & Deals," "Bargain Alerts," and "Fantastic Formulas" uncover easy ways for anyone to become a thrift expert without sacrificing personal pleasures or undergoing excessive belt-tightening. Money-saving ideas for cutting pet food bills by 25 percent, flying major airlines for free, and creating an automatic plant-watering system are included, as well as tips on how to unclutter cabinets; make simple health and beauty tonics; create eco-friendly, multipurpose cleaning supplies; save a bundle on home repairs; and snag free tickets to concerts, museums, and sporting events.
Customer Reviews:
Lots of good info.......2007-07-05
This book is filled with information. There are many things that may not have occurred to you that are in this book.
Average customer rating:
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Practical Batik: A Contemporary Approach to a Traditional Craft
Susie Stokoe
Manufacturer: Lorenz Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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Dye
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ASIN: 0754806294 |
Books:
- In The Money: A Book About Banking (Money Matters)
- Industrial Policy in an Era of Globalization: Lessons from Asia (Policy Analyses in International Economics)
- Insurrection: Citizen Challenges to Corporate Power
- International Funds: A practical guide (Securities Institute Global Capital Markets)
- Introduction to the Theory and Application of Data Envelopment Analysis - A Foundation Text with Integrated Software
- Location Theory: A Unified Approach
- Management Bytes: Ten Essential Skills for Technical Managers
- Managing Intellectual Capital in Practice
- Manual of Travel Agency Practice, Third Edition
- Microeconomics with Electronic Study Guide CD-ROM (6th Edition)
Books Index
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