Book Description
From Nobel Laureate Robert M. Solow comes this second edition of his classic text, Growth Theory, to which he has added six new chapters. The book begins with the author's Nobel Prize Lecture "Growth Theory and After" (1987), followed by the six original chapters of the first edition. The author maintains that basic growth theory is still best summarized in these chapters. The publication of the first edition in 1970 coincided with a worldwide productivity slowdown; during that time very little work occurred on growth theory. It wasn't until the 1980s that a surge of new research appeared, including the work of Roemer, Lucas, Grossman/Helpman, Aghion, and Howitt. The second half of the book deals with this relatively recent surge, often referred to as "the new endogenous growth theory." As a bridge to the six new chapters, Solow includes an essay entitled "Intermezzo" in which he discusses this transition. The author recasts his model to help the reader compare the relationships among all models; he deals rather tersely, for reasons explained in the book, with "AK" theory, convergence, and international cross-section studies rather tersely. The author concludes by drawing some lessons from the new growth theory and suggests where gaps may be filled in future research. Although Solow disagrees strongly with much of the recent research, he is quick to acknowledge some of its outstanding contributions. This second edition is essential reading for graduate courses in macroeconomics as well as courses on growth theory at both undergraduate and graduate levels. No other book provides this broad overview of the whole field and its evolution.
Customer Reviews:
On the book.......2003-05-20
I am compelled to write a review after reading with utter disbelief the negative comments that some fool posted above.
He/she rambles how Solow's book does not account for human capital. Well, if that person had actually bothered reading the book (or even taking some basic growth theory classes, but after reading his/her syntax we can safely assume that it is too much to be wished for), he/she would realize that the book DOES INDEED cover various variations/enrichments of the standard Solow, including indeed the Lucas Human capital variation.
This book is a nice addition for any growth economist/student library. To the "reviewer" above: get an education before you start even THINKING about criticizing economists of professor Solow's stature.
It's a classical economic book........2001-05-16
This book is a classical book, it's very important to read because is one of the most important theory, if you are agree or disagree no matter. If you want criticizing the neoclassical theory you need to understand all the Solow argument. I'm not very convinced of this theory, but it's fundamental to read this book.
A Masterly Study.......2000-07-16
This is a masterly study. Solow speaks about the old neoclassical growth theory in the first half of the book and then goes on in the second half to review the developments of new growth theory that started in the mid eighties. He comments on the essence of Lucas' work (on human capital), Romer's work (on endogenous technical change), the work of Grossman and Helpman (on quality ladders) and that of Aghion and Howitt (on creative destruction). These references have now reached the status of classics in endogenous growth theory. Solow provides penetrating insights into the new developments. The book is a must for any student of the subject interested in traversing the bridge that connects the old to the new growth theory.
Solow is out of time.......2000-06-05
In his book Solow describes his growth-theory. But this theory already is out of time. It does not apply to many countries. Why not you might ask. Well first, Solow leaves a very important variable out, namely human capital. Second, Solow makes assumptions, which obviously will never hold, like an equal productionfunction for every country but also equal technological availability for each country. I do not have to explain why this will not hold for it speaks for itself. Many third-world countries have based their policies on Solow's growth-theory in the sixties, seventies and eigthies, but without any succes. It is time for these countries to change policies and to discover other growth and development strategies to catch-up with developed countries, specially with ecommerce comming up.
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Growth Theory: An Exposition
Robert M. Solow
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
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ASIN: 019501295X |
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Managing Change: A Strategic Approach to Organisational Dynamics
Bernard Burnes
Manufacturer: Pearson Education
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Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 0273641662 |
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- How plants work.
- Secrets of plant life
- The book is OK.
- Engrossing blend of science, history, and ecology
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Reaching for the Sun: How Plants Work
John King
Manufacturer: Cambridge University Press
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The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals
ASIN: 0521587387 |
Amazon.com
Who would have thought that plants behave like squirrels and bears? Yet many do, as we can tell by watching a tree's autumn colors arrive. The yellow and green pigments, carotenoids, are hidden by the green photosynthetic pigment chlorophyll; only when the deciduous plant retrieves this chlorophyll for winter storage do the lighter colors show through. You'll learn about this process, about why one bad apple can spoil a whole barrel, why the Amazon rainforest matters, and myriad other matters of plant life in John King's lively natural history, Reaching for the Sun. The text is technically dense but highly readable.
Book Description
Humans are totally dependent on plants for food; we cultivate them for pleasure; and we use them to our advantage in a vast number of ways. This book offers a wealth of information about plants, including how they satisfy their nutritional growth, development, and death, and how they react to the daily and seasonal variations and stresses in their environments.
Customer Reviews:
How plants work........2002-12-03
Where does a giant sequoia's 1500 cubic meters of volume come from if not soil? How is it that most grasses are not killed by flooding when even a brief period of waterlogged soil will kill many other plants? Why does snow melt near flowering crocuses? What is the 'carbon cycle'? The 'nitrogen cycle'? Is the incredibly complex system known as photosynthesis really fundamental to virtually all life on this planet? Professor King offers and then answers (to the best of our present knowledge) these rather obvious questions as well as others that we may not have thought to ask.
For this reader, the first six chapters were the most fascinating. Of photosynthesis, King says; "There are lots of carbon dioxide and water molecules in the air, oceans, lakes, the soil, and inside living organisms, but the chances of any of them simply coming together in the right way to produce even a single molecule of glucose are extremely remote.... is not likely to have happened in the billions of years carbon dioxide and water have existed ... Yet, green plants form glucose from carbon dioxide and water every daylight hour during their growing seasons. Having accomplished that impressive feat, plants then go on to produce a seemingly endless supply of sucrose, starch, and cellulose from the glucose." And of plant's partnerships with nitrogen fixing microbes: "It is, arguably, not to strong to call this process miraculous. The nitrogen fixation carried out by certain microbes at normal temperatures and pressures in and around plant roots we can match only through the use of enormous amounts of energy in the industrial Haber process; temperatures of 300-400°C and pressures greater than 350 atmospheres." Indeed, the botanical world is one of incredibly complex biochemical machinery! Machinery on which we all directly depend.
The chapters that follow examine the chemical strategies by which plants survive and reproduce. Where the text speculates about evolutionary pathways, we see, as is typical of such texts (and as Behe, Lovtrup, Yockey, Spetner and others have pointed out), that what is basically assumed to explain 'development' on large scales, "is not so clear" at the biochemical level, and as King concedes, "is not known," and "remains a mystery." What might be the origin of such complex biochemical machinery, if, as King says, "organisms do not put energy and materials into processes that have no function."? It's difficult to see how Darwinian gradualism could design such complexity (unless we are simply predisposed to believe that it did). While King occasionally visits Darwin and these biochemical problems, this volume generally pursues other considerations. The human histories of plants -- in terms of perfumes, the spice trade, agriculture, poisons, intoxicants, and medicines -- are extensively considered in the later chapters.
The books greater strength, however, is its revelation of "how plants work." If plants interest you (and they should), then you are the reader that Professor King wishes to educate with this volume. It's an interesting book, although I would have liked further consideration of photosynthesis and less of perfume.
Secrets of plant life.......2000-05-21
I am a professional botanist in Finland and have started to translate King's book into Finnish. I decided to do that because King finally teaches me so many things I should have learned & understood in the basic botany and ecology courses I took ca. 20 years ago.
All in all, this is a wonderful book and I would have credited it full five stars if it wasn't for this one weakness. There is not a single picture in the book. Some pictures would indeed have been most desirable, especially from laymens' point of view, for example in connection with the descriptions of anatomical details of leaves. Therefore the readers of the Finnish translation will be privileged in enjoying King's fine and clear text supported with pictures - provided the original publisher agrees to this.
The book is OK........1998-07-27
The book is OK, very typical book that is written by a professor. First 5 chapters are quite informative, read able, and give reader a feeling how plant work (he did a good job here). The next 12 chapters is putting the reader to sleep. I recommend the author need to rewrite the material so commom person can understand. The book failed to mention reproductive system of the plant. There are some part that I like is the little side story about how people did an experiment to prove a concept (good here.) All in all, I give it a 2 1/2 rating. This is the only author who attemp to explain how plant work. I am unable to find any other book on this subject.
Engrossing blend of science, history, and ecology.......1998-06-17
King offers a fascinating tutorial on plant workings in an uncommonly effective format. He describes chemical and biological facts that are common in text books but rare in more digestible books (carbon dioxide + water + sunlight = glucose + oxygen, leaf stomata and guard cells, etc.). He uses this scientific foundation to explain plant characteristics that everyone observes. For example, where does most of the huge mass of a large tree come from? (It isn't the soil!) And how do plants detect the changing of seasons so reliably? King also offers fascinating examples of interdependencies between plants and animals. Plants that have developed highly specialized flowers to attract specific insect pollinators. Seeds that do not end dormancy until their case is weakened by passing through the digestive tract of an animal that ate the fruit that contained the seed. Such concrete evidence of interdependency in nature is a more compelling argument for the importance of preservation and ecology than many of the published naturalist journals which paint picturesque images but lack the substance of King's contentions. Wonderful reading!
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Marty Stouffer's Wild America
Mary Stouffer
Manufacturer: Crown
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
Movie Tie-Ins
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ASIN: 0812916107
Release Date: 1988-08-12 |
Book Description
A richly illustrated celebration of North America's most fascinating wildlife.
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Wild America
Marty Stouffer
Manufacturer: Times Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000W70BUU |
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wild America
Stouffer Marty
Manufacturer: Times Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000NYGUH0 |
Product Description
Play is intermingled with schooling as the young animals merge their wild and crazy antics with eager attempts at learning the lessons of life.
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WILD AMERICA
STOUFFER MARTY
Manufacturer: COPYRIGHT [TIME] IST EDITION
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000MQFZ7K |
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wild America
Stouffer Marty
Manufacturer: Times Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000NVD134 |
Customer Reviews:
inside the pysche of the NFL..........2007-05-18
Mark Bowden(Killing Pablo, Blackhawk Down, Guests of the Ayatollaho)
writes a vivid portrayal of the 1992 season of the Philadelphia Eagles..
Bowden is always a reporter who digs and digs for the inside info...any football fan would love this book as it takes you inside the goings on of owner, coach and player....the 1992 season was an especially tumultous one for the Philadelphia Eagles..Buddy Ryan, Richie Kotite, owner Norman Braman, Randall Cunningham, Reggie White, Seth Joyner, Wes Hopkins..you find that the egos, relationships in the locker room and jealousies of the players sometimes override the will to win...
If loved Gang Green and Buddy's Boys, a must read........2007-01-04
I grew up in Philly during the days of Buddy Ball. I loved that team and still remember it fondly as my favorite. This book is a great for a fan of the Eagles who wants the story inside the story. Who were these men and where did they come from? What is it like in a pro locker room. What were the coaching styles of Kotite and Ryan. Well written by the author of Blackhawk down. I have already bought the book for a friend as a gift.
Black Hawk First Down.......2006-08-23
Well, if you're an Eagles fan, you're tortured enough already, the season being documented was blown back in the early nineties, so at least you can lay off the Peptobismol. But if you're a sports-writing fan of any description, then this is an essential book. The success of "Black Hawk Down" both as a book and a movie, had its precedent in Mark Bowden's earlier work. "Bringing the Heat" utilizes the same dramatic, combative writing style, and moves fluidly through every phase of football, from wives to girlfriends, the press, the fans, the fans booing Santa, offense, defense... every conceivable angle and personal quirk is analyzed. Mr. Bowden is a remarkable judge of character and manages to summate a lifetime in a few paragraphs, a trait of character in a line, and the entire conundrum that is the Philadelphia Eagles in a mere 500 pages.
Supremely detailed account of a failed Eagles season.......2006-04-27
If you've read the title of this review, you're probably wondering which of the Philadelphia Eagles' disappointing seasons I'm referring to, as there have been MANY since the teams' last championship in 1960. This book details the 1992 season, one of the most highly anticipated ever for this team. On offense, All-Pro QB Randall Cunningham was returning from injury, RB Herschel Walker had been signed to lead the rushing attack, and WR Fred Barnett was about to enter the finest season of his young career. On defense, the team was coping with the death of Jerome Brown, and the returning stars (Reggie White, Clyde Simmons, Seth Joyner, Eric Allen) were expected to repeat their tremendous performance from 1991. To the delight of ravenous Eagles fans, it started out beautifully, with a 4-0 record and a trashing of the Dallas Cowboys on Monday Night Football. The following week brought a loss at Kansas City, and from there on, the regular season did not play out as hoped. Still, the team made the playoffs and finally shook the monkey from its back, beating New Orleans on the road in the Wildcard game. After 3 playoff losses under Buddy Ryan in recent memory, this looked to be the turning point. The team had promised to win the Super Bowl in Jerome's memory, and was off to a good start. However, the following week brought a crushing loss to the hated Cowboys, where both the offense and defense were lifeless. The off-season brought many changes and spelled the end for Buddy's Boys, who clung to his attitudes even after his firing and replacement with Richie Kotite.
Author Mark Bowden followed the team for the Philadelphia Inquirer from 1990-92, and had a front-row seat for all the theatrics. He does an excellent job diving into the specifics on players and coaches, devoting the first half of the book to character profiles and a great illustration of Jerome's final days. The narrative on the 1992 regular season kicks in thereafter, with excellent views on how attitudes and expectations swung wildly throughout. Hardcore fans of the team will recall the anguish they experienced as hopes faded.
Absolutely a must-read for Buddy or Kotite-era Eagles fans, and highly recommended for fans in other cities where the NFL is king.
Awesome - A must for diehard fans and causal fans alike.......2003-06-06
Mark caputures a team I remember in my youth with remarkable detail. Awesome insights. Remarkable profiles of players and coaches. You grow up with them, go on the field with them, and go home with them. I highly recommend this book. Only critism is sometimes the in game detail is overbearing and detailed. This book made me realize one thing that is often overlooked: athletes are humans.
Customer Reviews:
A great value for the money.......2006-08-28
This is a great book to use to learn Kabuli Dari (the version of Persian spoken in Kabul). I have not been able to find a better book in English for learning Dari. Most of the books available are for learning Farsi (the version of Persian spoken in Iran).
I feel that some of the other reviewers have unfairly harsh in their reviews. This is a relatively inexpensive book (currently $12). It does not come with an audio CD. I don't think anyone should expect to be able to learn a language from a book and have perfect pronunciation. If you want to learn the language properly you will need an audio companion for this book or ideally a tutor. The book that the other reviewers offer as a better alternative (Thackston's Introduction to Persian) is for learning Farsi, not Dari.
This book is a great way to try out learning Dari with minimal financial investment.
It's not as bad as it's been rated before.......2006-05-26
If one does not approach this book or the language from a too scientific angle this book is not too bad.
Proper pronounciation is anyway only acquired by listening to native speakers, so deliberating on whether or not this or the other stransliteration should be used or whether the one in the book is very consistant hence become secondary.
If one has never heard the sound of the language it becomes very difficult in any case to learn the proper pronounciation from a book.
The negative points of this book first:
The introduction to the alphabet in my view lacks claritiy about the varying form of each letter according to its position in the word.
The size of the book does not allow the letters to be printed big enough for the absolute beginner to decipher details clearly. Big font writing should have been chosen instead.
The grammar section does not seem to pay attention to more colloquial uses of the spoken language. E.g. the sentence: Shumaa az kuja ast? Where are you from? is more realistically written as: Shumaa az kujaast? as in everyday pronounciation things are shortened to such forms.
The book tries to get the alphabet out of the way first before teaching how to speak. This requires some endurance on side of the student. If one would introduce simple sentences straight away in Roman transliteration, certain grammatical structures of Dari would become clear straight away and the book would give the immediate feeling of a little mastery of the language. The alphabet could be introduced a little later into the book
The positive sides:
The book gives a concise overview of basic grammer issues. But one must be slightly talented with languages and familiar with the terms in order to understand the explanations.
Overall I feel the book gives a reasonable introduction to Dari for the outsider and beginner. But one must go the country to speak, read and write properly - as with all "exotic" languages. But that is probably anyway the case if one takes it upon oneself to learn this language ...
Really not worth it.......2005-08-03
Let me start with the *brief* listing of this book's virtues. If you are already comfortable with written and spoken Persian, this book has some use. Some minor vocabulary differences between Farsi (Iranian Persian) and Dari (Afghan Persian) can be picked up from the thematic word lists (i.e. using the work "tashakkor" in place of "merci" to mean "thanks), and some of the more subtle differences in pronunciation can be garnered from the author's translatirations (i.e. pronouncing the present-stem indicator as "may" instead of "mi," as one would do in Iran). So much for the positives.
This book has some major flaws. Some have already been enumerated in another review on this site, so I won't repeat theam. I want to illustrate the difficulty presented by the author's non-standard transliteration; customary practice dictates that the Persian "aleph" be transcribed as either "â," or "aa." Instead, the author has chosen to transcribe it as "'a". Meanwhile she uses the standard transliteration for the letter "ayn," which is either "'" or "a'." Not only is this confusing, I've spotted two places in the book where she herself mixed the two up.
And that leads me to my next complaint about this book. It would seem that its first draft made the press. I don't see an editor listed, only a note thanking a certain person for "insightful suggestions on the manuscript." There are numerous mistakes, not just in transliteration, but also in her Persian spelling! For a true beginner (recall the title of the book, if you please) this could produce a lot of confusion.
I can't comment on the grammar sections, having skipped them. I agree with the reviewer here who suggested reading Thackston's introductory book-- it is very technical, but *very* precise, and there is really no issue about transliteration, spelling, or translation.
If, like me, you wanted to have a textual reference to familiarize your mind with Dari, this is not what you're looking for. My best suggestion is find a native Dari speaker: many Afghans have been to Iran and could guide you through the differences between the two dialects; otherwise just listen to them speak. But whatever you do, it's not worth your while to buy this book.
It should never have left the publisher.......2005-02-11
At the moment, there is a real shortage of Dari courses in English. This is the only Dari course on the market and it's a complete failure.
Dari has eight vowels. In the introduction, the author describes the six vowels she is going to use. When you start the book, you'll find that she uses no less than eleven vowels, in a very random way. To take but two examples. The long i-sound of English "been" or "leaf" is not mentioned at all in the introduction. In the course, this sounds is sometimes spelled as -`i- and sometimes as -ee-. There is no difference between these, in some lessons the author uses one, in another she uses another. The beginner who does not know Dari will probably assume that there is a difference between -`i- and -ee-, though in fact there is none. The same goes for another sounds, sometimes spelled -`u- and sometimes -oo-.
There exist a more or less agreed upon system of transcribing Persian words into the Latin alphabet (Dari is a form of Persian) which has been used both in older Dari courses and in courses on other forms of Perisan. For a beginner, it would have been easiest if the author had chosen this transcription model, since it is very simple, logic and completely accurate. The fact that another transcription was employed would not be much of a problem if it was only explained and if it was consistent throughout the course instead of changing from one lesson to the next.
The transcriptions are the main problem, if they were in order I would have given the book three stars. The lessons are easy to follow, although not very far-reaching. The course is far behind such courses excellent Persian courses as Thackston's Introduction to Persian and Baizoyev's A Beginner's Guide to Tajiki. It's also far from Colloquial Persian, but could be a good, short introduction if only the transcriptions would make sense.
Finally, there is one group of people who will find this course useful. Those who already speak another form of Persian, such as Farsi or Tajiki, and want to learn the basics of Dari will not have much of a problem. But for them better books already exist in Persian. Those of us who speak English will have to wait for a revised edition or another Dari course.
Customer Reviews:
Myfanwy.......2007-03-26
It's great to see a Dari-specific Persian learning guide, but the difference between Dari(Afghanistan) and Farsi(Iran) is largely in the pronunciation and Shaista Wahab's pronunciation guides are strongly American and not English - beware, English learners!
Having said that, the book is well set-out, with good thematic chapters. Good for an introductory grasp of the basics of modern Dari.
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The Drawings of Sahagun's Primeros Memoriales: Structure and Style
Ellen T. Baird
Manufacturer: University of Oklahoma Press
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Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 0806125330 |
Books:
- How Educational Ideologies Are Shaping Global Society: Intergovernmental Organizations, NGOs, and the Decline of the Nation-State (Volume in the Sociocultural, ... and Historical Studies in Education Series)
- India and Global Climate Change: Perspectives on Economics and Policy from a Developing Country (RFF Press)
- Industrial Machinery Repair: Best Maintenance Practices Pocket Guide
- It Takes A Prophet To Make A Profit: 15 Trends That Are Reshaping American Business
- Labour, Globalisation & The New Economy (Arbeit, Technik, Organisation, Soziales, Bd. 30.)
- Legalized Casino Gaming in the United States: The Economic and Social Impact
- Mad Money: When Markets Outgrow Governments
- Making Development Work: Development Learning in a World of Poverty and Wealth (World Bank Series on Evaluation and Development, 4)
- Manage IT as a Business: How to Achieve Alignment and Add Value to the Company
- Marginal Migrations: The Circulation of Cultures within the Caribbean
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