Peasants Against Globalization: Rural Social Movements in Costa Rica

Book Description

This book tells the story of how small farmers responded to a free-market onslaught that devastated one of the Western Hemisphere’s most advanced social-democratic welfare states. In the early 1980s, the Latin American debt crisis struck Costa Rica, leading to major cutbacks in the social programs that had permitted the rural poor to attain an acceptable standard of living and a modicum of dignity.

Peasants were in the forefront of movements against these cutbacks, marching, blocking highways, and occupying government buildings. In the struggle to preserve their livelihood, the rural poor also formed alliances with wealthy farmers, negotiated with politicians, and embraced and then repudiated charismatic outsiders who came to live among them and to speak in their name. These rural activists combined class-bound politics with concerns about threatened peasant identities, practical analysis with sentimentality, grassroots democracy with conspiratorial secrecy, and selfless sacrifice with opportunism.

The small farmers portrayed in this book are worldly, outspoken, exuberant, future-oriented, and fiercely proud. They could hardly be less like the unsophisticated and stoic rustics so prominent in the development literature or those contemporary peasants whose imminent disappearance is endlessly predicted by both right- and left-wing social scientists.

The author argues that the experience of rural activism in Costa Rica in the 1980s and 1990s calls into question much current theory about collective action, peasantries, development, and ethnographic research. The book invites the reader to rethink debates about old and new social movements and to grapple with the ethical and methodological dilemmas of engaged ethnography.

Peasants against Globalization.(Rural Social Movements in Costa Rica)(Review) : An article from: The Canadian Review of Sociology and Anthropology

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Peasants against Globalization.(Rural Social Movements in Costa Rica)(Review) : An article from: The Canadian Review of Sociology and Anthropology
Christiane Paponnet-Cantat
Manufacturer: Canadian Sociology and Anthropology Assn.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

Book Description

This digital document is an article from The Canadian Review of Sociology and Anthropology, published by Canadian Sociology and Anthropology Assn. on August 1, 2001. The length of the article is 486 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: Peasants against Globalization.(Rural Social Movements in Costa Rica)(Review)
Author: Christiane Paponnet-Cantat
Publication: The Canadian Review of Sociology and Anthropology (Refereed)
Date: August 1, 2001
Publisher: Canadian Sociology and Anthropology Assn.
Volume: 38 Issue: 3 Page: 362

Article Type: Book Review

Distributed by Thomson Gale

Book Description

Have you "survived" a company reorganization or downsizing? Do you know a friend nervous about the changes occurring at work that no one wants to talk about? Have you heard from a relative stressed about what the future holds for them and their family if they lose their job as a result of a recent merger? Are you a business executive struggling for a way to cut costs and positions while still valuing respect and individual dignity? If you answer yes to any of these questions the new entertaining and insightful business novel, Learning To Live With Downsizing by Deborah A. King, SPHR (EMI Publishing) is a "must read". This easy-to-follow presentation of seven powerful lessons for adapting to the changing business environment is a welcome change from the traditional academic approaches which are often difficult for busy employees to digest and integrate into practice. Learning To Live With Downsizing through an unexpected cyberspace journey, gives hope on how "survivor syndrome" affects the four Ps: Performance, Profitability, Productivity and Personal health. The reader is prepared for taking action to implement personal solutions for managing workplace change, as well as implementing organizational interventions that will enable employees to take greater control of their professional destiny.

Customer Reviews:

Great lessons for living in corporate America..........2006-07-23

This book provides good information regarding the reasons corporations downsize, the effects of downsizing and offers methods to cope with the changing scene. I bought it for my husband, who's national company has continually cut staff and expected more from those employees left behind. I also bought it for myself, so I can understand the pressure my husband is working under.

A nice case study, but outmoded for the new millenium.......2005-10-07

Ms. King's book basically attempts to explain the psychology behind the insecurities people experience during a layoff situation and what managers can do to help alleviate all of the negative feelings associated with it. The book seems to be concentrated on employees who have worked in the same job forever and don't know how to cope when faced with losing it. Its all about how to make people who won't quit feel better about staying!!!! Doesn't make much sense...and doesn't really apply today. During the past ten years since this was published, layoffs and job changes have become a fact of life in the corporate world, not a shocking "once in a lifetime" event as the book portrays it. Most now know that when you see the danger signs of downsizing, its time to send out resumes...plain and simple. The only ones who stay or get laid off are generally the low performers, and most managers are not eager to find "seven powerful lessons" on how to make them feel wanted again. Definitely geared for the over 45 crowd. I also didn't like the way the ideas were presented (in the form of a story) - it was easy to "get lost". What really blows me away is that this thing is still in print.

Wacky book, man.......2001-03-10

Hey daddio, this is one wackio book, dude. Be careful surfin' the net because the man may zap you into a farout world of fromer military black ops types. ouch!

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Interesting subject in boring science area still boring...

Well-written narrative on faulty science

An excellent if inadvertent history of evolutionary theory

It's the paradigm...Who needs evidence?

poor choice of references

Of Moths and Men: An Evolutionary Tale: The Untold Story of Science and the Peppered Moth
Judith Hooper
Manufacturer: W. W. Norton & Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Biology | Biological Sciences | Science | Subjects | Books
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History of Science | History & Philosophy | Science | Subjects | Books
General | Biology | Biological Sciences | Professional Science | Professional & Technical | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0393325253

Book Description

Mutant moths and feuding scientists—the real story behind the most famous experiment in twentieth-century evolutionary biology. H. B. D. Kettlewell was a British doctor who caught butterflies and moths as an all-consuming hobby. He went into the English woods with a mission—to catch "evolution in action" among the now-famous peppered moths. His work became "Darwin's missing evidence," a fixture in biology textbooks for half a century. Only recently has new research brought a different story to light. Compellingly told, Of Moths and Men reveals Kettlewell as a deluded scientist who distorted facts and suppressed evidence he didn't like. Tyrannized by his mentor, the powerful E. B. Ford—an imperious misogynist and eccentric Oxford don who was a Darwinian zealot determined to crush all enemies in his path—Kettlewell ended his life a suicide. A story of hubris and heartbreak, Of Moths and Men reveals as much about the internecine battles of science as it does about the mysteries of evolution. 16 pages of b/w photographs.

Customer Reviews:

Interesting subject in boring science area still boring..........2005-05-22

I really wanted to read this book. Even had my sister get it for me as a gift. It was a huge disappointment. It was not the subject matter. It was the way the book was written. Over the last 7 years I've read a lot of science books on different topics from a lot of authors. You can tell when someone has written science in such a way that people outside that science, not only can understand it, but get involved in it. Some people call that the 'watering down of science.' But science was never intended to be for the elite, though some promoted it that way...and for years it stayed that way through fostering 'old men's clubs' and excluding anyone different.

Evolutionary science is not easy, but other authors have made it very interesting. Entymology (study of bugs) tends to be the domain of rarified geeks...yet I've read books on forensic entymology that were absolutely spell-binding (if a bit on the gross side).

This book could have been either of the above, or both of the above types of books, but ended up being neither. It's decent but plodding writing. Okay reseach, but nothing brilliant and nothing that stands out. I realize this is a story that needed to be told, and probably needs to be retold in textbooks because so many mistakes were make; but you get the feeling it could have been done in an article in journals.

I've read about science gone awry for years. If the book is well-written the reader, especially the reader who is in science, comes away passionately bothered and wanting to change this continuing system that allows poor science to be passed as theory and more. This book elicited more of a sigh, and a trip to the local library...

Karen Sadler,
Science Education,
University of Pittsburgh

Well-written narrative on faulty science.......2004-09-06

Geoffrey Norman, whose book review in the Wall Street Journal entitled "A Flight from the Truth" enticed me to purchase this text, wrote that "for some, the fall of the peppered moth was better than Christmas morning. Creationists have had a field day with the news, especially on the Web, where a lot [of] bare-knuckles brawling occurs these days. Anyone who thought that the truth of Darwin's theory was settled in Dayton, Tenn., by Clarence Darrow--or in Beacon Wood by Bernard Kettlewell--is sure to be disabused by Ms. Hooper's fascinating book. But of course the theory of evolution will survive the collapse of Kettlewell--though some biologists cling to him with the avidity of the true believer[.] "Of Moths and Men" is a wonderful reminder that science is done by human beings, who are as flawed as the ideas they sometimes possess." Well said. Note that although this work is not a science book, per se, as other reviewers have correctly noted, the narrative includes extensive details on moths that some readers may find annoying. But if these same readers enjoy the good human character development that is interspersed throughout these details, they can definitely handle this annoyance. And because, in my opinion, Part III of this book (comprising two chapters of 12), is written so well, it is worth the time of the average reader to get through the first 10 chapters of the narrative in order to understand the implications of the faulty science of the peppered moth. Although for some reason Hooper has chosen within her discussion to ignore the modern intelligent design movement, she does note that she is "not a creationist, but to be uncritical about science is to make it into a dogma". Very well said.

An excellent if inadvertent history of evolutionary theory.......2004-06-22

I've been reading Nature for over 30 years, primarily for articles of medical or chemical interest. Each week the News and Views section attempts to explain papers appearing in the more technical sections of the journal to the general scientific public. Usually these artricles discuss the findings of a given paper, its implications for past work and suggestions for future work. From time to time, News and Views items about evolution (and natural selection) would appear. They were quite different. The whole area was extremely contentious, and the articles were written in a semi-theological fashion with various princes of the church holding forth on the correct interpretation of Darwinian doctrine.

No one with a biochemical background can doubt the unity of life, and its likely common descent, as we are all built of basically the same DNA, RNA, amino acids, sugars and metabolites. So I passed the articles by without getting too involved. On retirement, I did buy Gould's book on the structure of evolutionary theory -- it certainly needed a vigorous editor, but reading the book cold is like coming into the middle of a debate. I gave up after 80 or so florid pages.

The only reason I bought the present book, is that we had moved to the Amherst area, and the book was in the local authors section. Scientific training tends to be very ahistorical, and I knew very little about the controversies which have embroiled evolutionary theory since (except for great debate between Bishop Wilberforce and TH Huxley described in the book). When Steve Jones' book came out updating "The Origin of Species" chapter for chaper (Darwin's Ghost), I read both (chapter for chapter). Although Jones is very clever and much easier to read, Darwin wins each round hands down. He wrote for the educated layman (as almost nothing was known about chemistry or genetics at the time), and the power of his thought processes is stunning even today, and should be accessible to anyone with a high school education. It's definitely worth a read, although the prose style of 150 years ago takes some getting used to.

What Hooper's book does, is describe the subsequent history and the controversies which have embroiled the field (and continue to do so). I had no idea, that evolution was accepted but natural selection pretty much rejected in 1909, 50 years after the publication of the Origin of Species. At this point, there were naturalists who looked at the birds and bees (much like Darwin) and the geneticists (who bred fruitflies in milk bottles). Neither side talked to each other. This and the subsequent union of genetics and evolution in the 30's and 40's is very well described.

Darwin thought that no one would ever 'see' natural selection occurring in their lifetime as the process was far too slow. The appearance of darkly colored moths in the mid 1800s in industrial England appeared to be an example of it occurring (particularly after their numbers gradually increased over 100 years). The book describes the first flawed attempts to 'prove' that natural selection was occurring and that it was occuring by a particular mechanism (selective predation by birds).

The work was done in the 50's and was a product of its time. It was unfortunately all too typical of of the way medical research (not just evolutionary research) was done back then. At about that time 4 pillars of American & English Neurology wrote papers promoting the use of anticoagulants (blood thinners) in the treatment of warning attacks of strokes (transient ischemic attacks). None would be publishable today -- they lacked proper controls, how patients were selected, how long they were followed etc. etc. Lots of patients were treated, lots of complications ensued (of which I saw plenty as a practicing physician), until studies were done showing which patients (those with atrial fibrillation) would benefit, and which would not (just about everyone else).

Closer to the present, the first decent paper (prospective, randomized with controls) on the use of Estrogen in the treatment of Alzheimer's disease appeared in 2003 (no benefit was found). There had only been 3 proper papers prior to that all with too few patients to be significant. Noises had been made about estrogen 'protecting from' and even treating Alzheimer's disease for most of the 25+ years prior to that. Meanwhile patients, families and physicians were in the dark about what to do for a common and debilitating disease. All these studies could have been done in the 70s but weren't. So medicine's hands are no cleaner than the work described in this book (well Neurology's hands at least).

The book is extremely well written, and contains great turns of phrase, such as describing the hideous towers of the University of Massachusetts at Amherst as a 'cut rate Brasilia'. It inadvertently limns a rather depressing picture of academic life (both in the USA and at Oxford) -- anyone contemplating such a career should read it.

My only criticism of the book is that not much attention is given to subsequent experiments which demonstrate natural selection fairly well. Endler's work with guppies in Trinidad is discussed (but in a footnote in the back of the book) and the work of the Grants with Darwin's Finches in the Galapagos is not mentioned at all. Both (rigorously and convincingly < if they aren't out and out lying > ) demonstrate natural selection in action. To be fair, Hooper is telling one story (the peppered Moth) not all stories, and telling that one story very well.

Anyone reading this book should also read "The Beak of the Finch" -- also extremely well written. As for me, I'm going to hold my nose at Gould's undisciplined and rather Rabelaisian prose and tackle his book again.

It's the paradigm...Who needs evidence?.......2003-12-15

This is a very well done account of the peppered moth story, with a useful history of the emergence of the Synthesis in the background. Darwin's theory was always beset with the question of evidence, and this fact has distorted the thinking of all scientists in the field who act as if this situation is normal. The case of the peppered moth is especially telling. The one case of something like evidence turns out to be completely flawed, even as the entire science community seems almost paralyzed and incapable of dealing with the issue. The final unraveling of this claim for some sort of evidence should have led a major examination of the status of Darwinism, but no such luck. The whole system simply proceeds without it.
The author makes a revealing remark toward the end, that she was accused of giving aid to the enemy, creationists. But is that the point? In any case, we see that this regime of silence is in effect, even if one author is motivated to expose what's going on, up to a point. This dialectic of monotheism is getting pretty tiresome for the rest of the world, who don't buy into this duel of extremes. We need to know, and from reliable sources, the status of Darwin's theory, from _real_ scientists. We need to know, and can expect the truth, and not beating around the bush, as herein portrayed. Clearly such science does not exist in the field of evolution. Isn't this ridiculous. This is a reasonably simple case. If biologists can't get this straight, what of their ambitious claims (without a shred of evidence) to rewrite all the social sciences.
Frauds, not scientists.

poor choice of references.......2003-06-04

While the bulk of the book was interesting but had little actual bearing on the veracity of evolution, the scholarship aspect took a dive when I realized that Hoopper had relied on the rantings of a creationist electrical engineer as a source of information on "Haldane's Dilemma."

That alone told me that I should be very wary of any conclusions the author offers, and it should similarly make other readers wary.

Average customer rating:
Of Moths and Men: An Evolutionary Tale The Untold Story of Science and the Peppered Moth
Judith Hooper
Manufacturer: W W Norton & Co Inc
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000KY31N4

Customer Reviews:

a great resource for making the most of your time in Kruger.......2005-09-08

I'm surprised more people haven't reviewed this invaluable book. In Kruger National Park, you can drive quite a bit on your own; in fact, choosing where to go on the vast network of roads can be somewhat daunting.

Enter Nigel Dennis (the author), with practical advice on which areas are consistently productive, including what kind of game frequent the area and when that area is at its best. According to the bio, Nigel Dennis is a wildlife photographer who's worked in the park for years, so it's his job to know where to see the wildlife. In fact, when we got to Kruger we were surprised to see his photos being used in the National Park's game hides as aids to identifying different species. Clearly he's been successful in finding even the most obscure wildlife, and he's done a great job conveying his experience to those of us who don't get to live there.

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Beautiful Brazil Book

Football and Society

Samba Soccer At Its Best

entertaining and well-researched, but in need of editing

Beautiful...

Futebol: Soccer: The Brazilian Way
Alex Bellos
Manufacturer: Bloomsbury USA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Book Description

Through the lens of Brazil's trademark sport, Alex Bellos brings us a fascinating portrait of Brazilian identity.

The Brazilian soccer team is one of the modern wonders of the world. Its essence is a game in which prodigious individual skills outshine team tactics, where dribbles and flicks are preferred over physical challenges or long-distance passes, where technique has all the elements of dance and, indeed, is often described as such. At their best Brazilians are, we like to think, both athletes and artists. Soccer is how the world sees Brazil, but it is also how Brazilians see themselves. The game symbolizes racial harmony, flamboyance, youth, innovation, and skill, and yet it is also a microcosm of the country itself, containing all of its contradictions.

Travelling extensively from Uruguay to the northeastern backlands, and from the coastal cities of Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo to the Amazon jungle, Alex Bellos shows how Brazil changed soccer and how soccer shaped Brazil. He tells the stories behind the great players, like Pele and Garrincha, the great teams, and the great matches, as well as extraordinary stories from people and pitches all over this vast country. With an unerring eye for a good story and a marvelous ear for the voices of the people he meets, Alex Bellos uncovers what Ronaldo called the 'true truth' about Brazilian soccer.

Customer Reviews:

Beautiful Brazil Book.......2006-07-20

This book gets at the marriage between Brazilian life and Brazilian football like no other. Great research, great interviews, great stories--all written with great intellect, love and humour.

My favourite chapters are the one that focuses on the origins of players nicknames, the story of the Big Kickabout and the beautiful one about the great Socrates.

You cannot call yourself a fan of Brazilian futebol and not read this book.

Football and Society.......2005-11-21

As a self-confessed football fanatic (soccer for all you American and Australian readers), shamefully my knowledge of Brazilian football was rather lacking. Knowing that I would be spending eight months living in Rio, this past Christmas I went out and bought a copy of this book hoping to learn a little more about the game as it is played in Brazil. While the book did somewhat of a good job meeting my goals, this book is much more than just a guide to Brazilian football. Rather it is an in depth investigation into the strong role that football plays in Brazilian society.

The book of course has the pre-requisite chapters on the two Brazilian greats Pele and Garrincha, in addition to an investigation into Ronaldo and his fateful day during the 1998 World Cup Final in Paris. But the best chapters of the books are the ones that dig deeper into the sociological role that football plays in Brazilian life, from the rich and powerful, right down to the hardcore fans who live in the country's dangerous favelas (slums). Bellos obviously spent an enormous amount of time and money traveling this great country to get all kinds of different perspectives, and the novel is that much better for it. I suppose if I had something negative to say about this book it's that certain chapters (such as Frogs and Miracles) drag on a little too much for my liking. However, do not let this put you off for Futebol is truly worth reading.

Anyone with any interest in football needs to pick this book up to understand what it is that makes the Brazilian game so beautiful. Anyone who plans to live in Brazil, whether they like football or not, needs to read this book if only to understand why football plays such a strong role in the country's culture. While you don't have to adore football to enjoy your life in Brazil (I have met a fair few who wouldn't even give a football fan the time of day), you do need to understand its immense importance and Bellos does a great job of explaining it.

Samba Soccer At Its Best.......2005-08-10

Alex Bellos, a British journalist for the Observer and Guardian, does an excellent job with this tremendously researched book. He takes the reader across the sprawling expanse of continental Brazil, and we are left with a very candid view about "futebol," along with its history, traditions, innovations, humorous characters, corruption, but above all, that it is underlying glue uniting a very diverse nation. One can argue that soccer is the common religion of Brazil. Perhaps more apt would be to say that Brazil is the temple for those who worship world soccer. We have found our Holy Book in this work by Mr. Bellos.

Mr. Bellos paints an interesting portrait, and interviewed hundreds of people for this book. Famous players, priests, soothsayers, a superfan, presidents of local teams, coaches, and everyday Brazilians whose lives are defined by soccer. He even ventured to the obscure Faroe Islands of the frigid North Atlantic to meet with a few of the "Brazilian Foreign Legion" that plys their trade in far off lands. His recounting of the story of Mane' Garrincha, a tragic Brazilian legend, was captivating. As was his interview with Socrates, a famous player and social activist from the great 1982 Brazilian National Team. Of course, no book about Brazilian football could exempt a story about Pele'. His descriptions and historical context about the Amazon region were very intriguing, along with the "Big Zero" marker between the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. Mr. Bellos is a reporter who is not afraid to get his feet wet. Both figuratively and literally. :-)

This book contains more than the theme of soccer. Mr. Bellos describes the social inequalities of Brazil, its unique culture, governmental apparatus, and many local vignettes that make this a very educational read. If you have a passion for futebol brasileiro, you will enjoy this book. Even if you are not a soccer fan, this book will educate you about a country that is defined by its national sport, but has much more to offer to the world.

Thank you for the opportunity to review this excellent book.

entertaining and well-researched, but in need of editing.......2004-11-22

This is an entertaining and well-researched book, although at over 400 pages it could do with a bit of editing. It's not so much a book about Brazilian football, but one about the Brazilian obsession with football. As such, it's more about Brazilian history, culture, society, politics and national identity, and the relationship of football with Brazil's other obsession - sex. This is not a book about the technicalities of football itself. Pelé, Garrincha, Tostão, Ronaldo, Rivelino, Zico, Carlos Alberto, Roberto Carlos and Romário all feature (though surprisingly not Rivaldo), with interesting insights and information presented (not always of a footballing nature). However, the real stars of the book are those eccentric characters who have extended Brazil's love of football to autoball (football involving cars!), button ball (table football), beach soccer and ball juggling (especially by women, including Ronaldo's wife). The names of Brazilian footballers are deciphered, emphasising the Brazilian preference for nicknames and the names of famous film stars and singers. Bellos discusses at some length the deep trough that Brazilian football sunk into after the defeat in the 1998 World Cup final, in particular the controversy around Ronaldo. The extent of corruption in Brazilian football that was uncovered at the time is also exposed. In a fascinating interview, Socrates explains his reasons for Brazil's failings in the couple of years before the 2002 World Cup. It's only a pity that the book was published before Brazil's subsequent success. Such a dramatic turnaround in fortunes, both for Brazil and Ronaldo, cried out for further explanation. Bellos states more than once that Brazilians view football as "a game in which prodigious individual skills outshine team tactics, where dribbles and flicks are preferred over physical challenges and long distance passes". The Brazilian team of 2002 showed that a combination of these attributes can be both successful and highly entertaining.

Beautiful..........2003-05-31

'Futebol' by Alex Bellos, is an amazing book detailing the nature of brazilian fooball, and it's effect upon the entire nation, a world full of passion and corruption. Bellos shows the passion for football which Brazilians have, their love of 'jogo bonito'. Chronicling events such as Brazil's fateful 1950 world cup loss to Uruguay and the rise of players such as Garincha,who managed to win the hearts of all, more loved than Pele.
This is a must for anyone interested in the passion which football can produce, and anyone who has ever been enchanted by the beauty which the Brazilians used to produce (pre '82). Plus the cover artwork makes the book worth the purchase.

Average customer rating:

Futebol: Soccer, the Brazilian Way
Alex Bellos
Manufacturer: Diane Pub Co
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Soccer | Sports | Subjects | Books

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Average customer rating:

Good, but no "Eats, Shoots and Leaves"

Easy read, fun, but not rigorous

Fun, but disappointing

Useful, but could be easier to use

Another annoying book of half-truths and prejudices

Between You and I: A Little Book of Bad English
James Cochrane
Manufacturer: Sourcebooks
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 1402203314

Book Description

In the spirit of the bestselling Eats, Shoots & Leaves, this is an informative and highly amusing little book about bad English, full of examples of the incorrect grammar and usage that often pervades modern radio broadcasts, newspaper articles, classroom discussions and political speeches.

As the author explains, he does not take issue with the so-called "educated or uneducated" uses of the English language. Between You and I is more concerned with the particular form of English debasement we now have, which might be called the "half-educated" uses of language.

Readers may be surprised to find that much of what they thought was "bad" English is in fact perfectly good, and that what they have learned to think of as "good" English is sometimes ignorant, dishonest or just plain stupid.

Customer Reviews:

Good, but no "Eats, Shoots and Leaves".......2007-01-03

Maybe I'm burned out on the genre. Technically this book is just as helpful as any other of its ilk, but I didn't find it the joy that "Eats, Shoots and Leaves" was.

Easy read, fun, but not rigorous.......2006-11-03

This book was easy to read and quite fun. It has lots of sayings that make you say, "Ah-ha" when you realize something you hear all the time is wrong, or at least questionable. Some of the entries have some good research and background. I think everyone would like this book because there is enough variety that every person will find some phrases they also think are barbaric and others they'll disagree with the author about (oops, ended my sentence with a preposition, I think...). So lots of debate topics available and it will make you think.

However, the book is a bit shallow; some of the reasoning and "background" on some of the phrases seems suspect; it is certainly not a rigorously researched book and by no means complete or authoritative. It reads as if it was written by someone who knows English well, has some pet peeves, and is probably right about a lot of things, but didn't put a whole lot of effort into research for the book. I found _Eats, Shoots, and Leaves_ to be even better than this book. Wittier, if nothing else. Still, this book is fun and very quick read. Worth it if you don't pay full price and definitely worth it if you can get your friends to read it so you can argue with them! :-).

Fun, but disappointing.......2006-07-15

I am really disappointed (or appalled) by the fact that this guy does not appear to have any understanding of the cause of the problem he used as the title of his book! When kids would say "Jim and me went to the mall," around the 70s when it became popular to have children attend school without actually teaching them anything, teachers started correcting them, "'Jim and I', not 'Jim and me'!" without teaching them anything about why "Jim and me" was wrong. They had no choice but to "learn" that it is wrong to say "Jim and me," and that "Jim and I" must always be used instead. No one taught them that it is just as wrong to use "Jim and I" after a preposition, as it is to use "Jim and me" as the subject. There isn't the slightest question as to why people go around saying "between you and I" today, but the author of this book writes that he doesn't really know quite how this has happened. Incredible.

Useful, but could be easier to use.......2006-02-24

I found the book quite useful because I was guilty of quite a number of the mistakes that the author points out.

I would have found the book easier to "use" if the author had clear "right" and "wrong" examples for each case. I guess I'm used to "... for Dummies" books, but at times I had to re-read an example to make sure I understood which case was right, and which wrong.

Another annoying book of half-truths and prejudices.......2005-08-08

Just once, I wish the people who churn out these amusing little handbooks on 'bad English' would do some basic research. For an example, on page 14, Cochrane says, referring to the titular phrase: "This oddity, which seems to have emerged only in the last twenty or so years, presumably arises from a feeling of discomfort about using the word me, a sense that it is somehow impolite or 'uneducated.' "

Except that this usage goes back well over 400 years (Shakespeare uses both it and "between you and me"), and has nothing whatsoever to do with hypercorrection or politeness. If it did, we wouldn't also see "Me" standing alone, as we do, not to mention "Me and you" in subject phrases. ('Myself', now - that does seem to be some sort of avoidance mechanism...)

I recommend the Merriam-Webster Dictionary of English Usage's thorough treatment of this and other topics for those who want to know what's really happening with English.

Between You and I: A Little Book of Bad English

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between you and i

Between You and I: A Little Book of Bad English
James Cochrane
Manufacturer: Icon Books Ltd
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Dictionaries & Thesauruses | Reference | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 1840464836

Customer Reviews:

between you and i.......2005-08-25

the book was good that i would like to read it again because i told my teacher about it and she want me to do a research on it

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