The Book of Nurturing : Nine Natural Laws for Enriching Your Family Life

The Book of Nurturing : Nine Natural Laws for Enriching Your Family Life
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If "I" like it.... Just get this book-

Worth Reading Every Year

The Book of Nurturing : Nine Natural Laws for Enriching Your Family Life
Linda Eyre , and Richard Eyre
Manufacturer: McGraw-Hill
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
General | Parenting | Parenting & Families | Subjects | Books
General | Parenting & Families | Subjects | Books
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Teaching Your Children Values

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I Didn't Plan To Be A Witch : And Other Surprises of a Joyful Mother I Didn't Plan To Be A Witch : And Other Surprises of a Joyful Mother

Lifebalance

ASIN: 0071415068

Book Description

"Communicating with your children is at the very heart of parenting. Linda and Richard Eyre continue to reach out to parents with sage advice on nurturing the family's value system. Make a conscious decision to plug into your kid's world. You may not be the only influence in your child's life, but you have to be the biggest."--Dr. Phil McGraw, #1 New York Times best-selling author and host of the TV show Dr. Phil

"The Eyres have created a beautiful new language of natural, nurturing symbols that allow parents and children to communicate in a new and effective way. A truly remarkable book which 'strikes at the root.'"--Stephen R. Covey, Author of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People and The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Families

"Nurturing is not just for parents. Aunts, uncles, grandparents, or anyone who loves a child needs to read this book."--Jane Clayson, ABC News Correspondent

"Mothers have traditionally been the key nurturers in their children's lives. The Eyres' 'natural' approach to principle-centered parenting opens exciting new ways for all of us to nurture family relationships."--Marcia Ford, President, American Mothers Association

The #1 bestselling authors of Teaching Your Children Values show parents how to develop a nurturing environment for their children

All parents want to teach their children good values. But beneath that desire lies a greater need--for a bond of love and trust that keeps children safe, and lets parents participate more fully in their children's lives.

Linda and Richard Eyre, hosts of a monthly segment on the "CBS Early Show," help parents accomplish this in The Book of Nurturing, presenting tools for developing family relationships and turning a house into a home.

They have crafted nine powerful lessons based on stories and parables that can preserve family values and give children a sense of worth and self-esteem, based on:

Commitment
Praise, support, and positive affirmation
Responsibility
Awareness
Communication
Discipline (tough love)
Consistency
Security and identity
Freedom and empowerment

Parents will recognize the wisdom of the nine natural laws and will appreciate the workability of the ideas and application methods. Children will love the images of animals and nature and will feel included and responsive to their parents' initiatives. In a sense, this is a whole new genre of parenting book--written both for parents and for children, giving them a common language of symbols that they can share and use together to build their relationships and strengthen their family.

Customer Reviews:

If "I" like it.... Just get this book-.......2003-07-24

...you won't regret it. I don't usually bother with these kinds of things- my wife bought this one- but this book I can highly recommend. The stories, the lessons the drawings...they are all wonderful. It's a self-help/parenting book for people who don't like self-help/parenting books.
I like the whole nature and animal twist-it "speaks" much better to me than most of these kinds of books (and I'll be honest- I like books with pictures- and so do my two kids!) It's a good book.

Worth Reading Every Year.......2003-06-23

I found "The Book of Nurturing" to be perfectly written and full of wisdom and common sense. Each chapter was profound enough to transform a troubled family, yet simple enough to be adopted with ease. It was delightful to read, yet very clear and concise in its guidance. I plan to read it each year as it will remind me of what is most important in my family.

Social Support and Motherhood: The Natural History of a Research Project

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Social Support and Motherhood: The Natural History of a Research Project
Ann Oakley
Manufacturer: Blackwell Pub
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

General | Women's Studies | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

General | Parenting | Parenting & Families | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0631182748

The Alexander Technique Birth Book: A Guide to Better Pregnancy, Natural Childbirth and Parenthood

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The Alexander Technique Birth Book: A Guide to Better Pregnancy, Natural Childbirth and Parenthood
Ilana Machover , Angela Drake , and Jonathan Drake
Manufacturer: Sterling Pub Co Inc
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Alexander Technique | Exercise & Fitness | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books

Obstetrics & Gynecology | Specialties | Medicine | Subjects | Books

General | Parenting & Families | Subjects | Books
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Body Learning: An Introduction to the Alexander Technique
Birthing from Within: An Extra-Ordinary Guide to Childbirth Preparation
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The Birth Book: Everything You Need to Know to Have a Safe and Satisfying Birth (Sears Parenting Library)
The Baby Book: Everything You Need to Know About Your Baby from Birth to Age Two (Revised and Updated Edition)

Accessories:

Tanita BC533 Glass Innerscan Body Composition Monitor
Luna Bars, Nutz Over Chocolate, 1.69-Ounce Bars (Pack of 15)

ASIN: 0806905603

Average customer rating:

A fascinating book about a fascinating subject - though could use more "meat"
Great book!
Where's the Real Paradox?
Natural Mothering: Subject for Men too!
Really good book

The Paradox of Natural Mothering
Chris Bobel
Manufacturer: Temple University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

General | Women's Studies | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Motherhood | Family Relationships | Parenting & Families | Subjects | Books

General | Parenting | Parenting & Families | Subjects | Books

General | Parenting & Families | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 1566399076

Book Description

Single or married, working mothers are, if not the norm, no longer exceptional. These days, women who stay at home to raise their children seem to be making a radical lifestyle choice. Indeed, the women at the center of The Paradox of Natural Mothering have renounced consumerism and careerism in order to reclaim home and family. These natural mothers favor parenting practices that set them apart from the mainstream: home birth, extended breast feeding, home schooling and natural health care. Regarding themselves as part of a movement, natural mothers believe they are changing society one child, one family at a time.

Author Chris Bobel profiles some thirty natural mothers, probing into their choices and asking whether they are reforming or conforming to women's traditional role. Bobel's subjects say that they have chosen to follow their nature rather than social imperatives. Embracing such lifestyle alternatives as voluntary simplicity and attachment parenting, they place family above status and personal achievement. Bobel illuminates the paradoxes of natural mothering, the ways in which these women resist the trappings of upward mobility but acquiesce to a kind of biological determinism and conventional gender scripts.

Customer Reviews:

A fascinating book about a fascinating subject - though could use more "meat".......2006-07-27

As one of those "mainstream mothers" whom natural parents love to disdain, I've been following the phenomenon of natural parenting, online and in real life, in the 9 years since I myself became a parent. I've come to many of the same conclusions the author has: That "natural" mothers emphasize feeling rather than thinking (especially critical thinking) about their parenting choices, that the phenomenon has a decidedly religious/cult-like "feel" to it (while conflating their personal intuition with general human instinct), how this type of parenting is as much a social construct as any other parenting method, and that it involves nature-worship to a variable degree. I was especially impressed how, though the author herself partially identifies with "natural" parenting, she was still able to think critically about it.

All this makes for a very good dissertation, but I think, as a book, there's plenty that could have been added and expanded upon, examples being:

* The "science" that NM's use to bolster their credos with (such as Harlow's experiments with monkeys);

* The tension between the bare-bones definition of AP/NP ("Listen to your baby's cues") and the various practices NM's take pride in enumerating - extended breastfeeding, babywearing , etc.;

* Internet soundbites to illustrate what NM's really believe about themselves, the world and other parents and what they say when they think nobody's watching (there's plenty of interesting material to be found on websites like Motheringdotcommune and Alternamoms);

* The author couldn't have known this in 2001, but there is a reason in 2006 to discuss the pitfalls and dangers of NM - especially in the wake of the preventable death of Eliza Jane Scovill from AIDS (her mother, Christine Maggiore, was prominently and favorably featured on the cover of Mothering Magazine in 2001).

Overall, an important book that should be read - preferably before one becomes a parent.

Great book!.......2003-12-13

While away with my husband on our first no-child weekend, I devoured this book on the beach. While I found the title confusing, the topics, interviews and general propositions were fascinating and engaging. Also, as a new Mom who struggles with the perennial balance between work, motherhood, and precious and rare time for self and marriage, I found so much of this book to be supportive. Moms are always grappling with the 'right thing to do' and this book carried me a long way both emotionally and intellectually.

Where's the Real Paradox?.......2002-02-01

I was disappointed in this book. First, it reads like the dissertation it was (in a "first we covered blah blah, now we will explore blah blah" style) with some band-aid editing to make it more accessible to the non-academic reader. The interviews of courageous women (who buck mainstream parenting, schools, shopping malls and other sacred American institutions)are worth the price of the book, but once Bobel moves from the descriptive to the persuasive, I'm not impressed. She asserts that "natural mom" suffer from a delusion of self-determinism, that their lifestyle choices are made on a reliance on "feeling" and on Nature (which has replaced the Patriarchy as a controlling power in these women's lives), yet Bobel conveniently overlooks the very critical *thinking* decisions made by these women regarding their medical care, diet, and anti-consumerism. The book is loaded with annotations, references, and research, but makes no mention of neurobiology and its recent influence on feminist discussions. She studies her "informants" as if they were a quaint cult of retro-hippies and questions what they are doing for feminism by trying to rear children in such an alternative way. Also, Bobel observes that men seem to be on the periphery of natural parenting, but she doesn't interview any men, or compare them to mainstream male parents (who, she says, get to bottle-feed their infants--goody for them, say I, as my "alternative natural" spouse rocks our infant so I can write this review online!) A provacative book, nonetheless--it kept my spouse and I up at night discussing the multifarious issues it raises. But the real paradox of this book is while it claims to objectively reveal a subculture and raise some important women's issues, it mostly reveals the author's biases, literary, feminist, and political.

Natural Mothering: Subject for Men too!.......2002-01-29

I found this book exceptionally interesting even though I will never be a mother myself because I am a man. Bobel takes the reader into the lives of five women in particular and expresses clearly the benefits and differences in the way mothering has changed and how it is being preserved. I think there is a lot in this book for men and women alike.

Really good book.......2002-01-21

I am a new mother and have spent a lot of time searching the web for parenting books. I came by this book by chance and ordered it immediately. Although I don't agree with everything the author says, I think she does a really good job of presenting the mothers who she talked to in a really fair way, and the book kept me interested from start to finish. I learned a lot about mothering, and about how the choices I make as a mother affect the rest of the world. It was definitely one of the best books that I've found on parenting, and I've even passed it on to my husband to read!

Father Nature: Fathers as Guides to the Natural World (American Land & Life)

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varied voices of fathers, kids, and ties with nature

Father Nature: Fathers as Guides to the Natural World (American Land & Life)
Paul S. Piper
Manufacturer: University Of Iowa Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Fatherhood | Family Relationships | Parenting & Families | Subjects | Books

General | Parenting | Parenting & Families | Subjects | Books

Instructional | Hiking & Camping | Outdoors & Nature | Subjects | Books

Nature Writing | Outdoors & Nature | Subjects | Books

Reference | Outdoors & Nature | Subjects | Books

General | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books
Accessories:

Braun IRT 4020 ThermoScan Ear Thermometer

ASIN: 0877458375

Book Description

“How do you thank the person who gave you a vantage from which to see the world?”

This question is more than the opening statement of Father Nature: Fathers as Guides to the Natural World—it is the resounding theme that runs through each of the essays in this tribute to fathers and fathering and to nature, the connection that ties them both together.

The nineteen personal essays in Father Nature explore the fierce love between fathers and their children and the ultimate need to express this love through nature. There are stories of fathers who take their children fishing, hiking, ice skating, and berry picking, as well as stories about the significance of birds and animals, tidepools, rivers, and tree houses. Beneath each story lies an even greater lesson: Like nature, fatherhood can be difficult, terrifying, and challenging in ways that may never be fully understood.

Editors Paul Piper and Stan Tag divide Father Nature into three distinct sections. “Fathers” contains essays by sons and daughters recounting the ways their fathers shaped their lives and perceptions of nature. The essays in “Fathers and Fathering” describe the transition from being a son to becoming a father. Finally, “Fathering” explores the challenges, dilemmas, and rewards of fathering itself. A closing essay connects all three sections with a daughter's consideration of the impact of her father's death on her own life and love of nature.

Both poignant and entertaining, Father Nature is an inspiring tribute to fathers who shared one gift that can be passed down for generations—a profound love and respect for the natural world. Contributors: Lorraine Anderson, John Bower, Brian Doyle. John Elder, Mark Harfenist, Bernd Heinrich. Ted Kooser, Gretchen Legler, Charles W. Luckmann, Stephen J. Lyons, Jessica Maxwell, James McKean, Mark Menlove, Paul S. Piper, John Rember, Scott Russell Sanders, David Sobel, Frank Stewart, Stan Tag

Customer Reviews:

varied voices of fathers, kids, and ties with nature.......2003-06-17

A moving and varied collection of essays about the importance of fathering in our contemporary culture, with a unique perspective that ties fathering to learning about life through the natural world. There are fishermen, but also robin-watchers, beach-walking, daughters' viewpoints, and a whole range of parenting experiences. The voices are varied -- sad, funny, emotional -- and all sincere. A beautiful, finely edited collection.

Anthropology of Breast-Feeding: Natural Law or Social Construct (Cross-Cultural Perspectives on Women)

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Anthropology of Breast-Feeding: Natural Law or Social Construct (Cross-Cultural Perspectives on Women)

Manufacturer: Berg Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Customs & Traditions | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

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General | Parenting | Parenting & Families | Subjects | Books

History of the Breast
SOCIAL HISTORY OF WET NURSING IN AMERICA: FROM BREAST TO BOTTLE (WOMEN & HEALTH C&S PERSPECTIVE)
At the Breast: Ideologies of Breastfeeding and Motherhood in the Contemporary United States
Fresh Milk: The Secret Life of Breasts
Mother's Milk: Breastfeeding Controversies in American Culture

ASIN: 0854967214

Book Description

On the whole, the debates surrounding the issues of breast-feeding - often reflecting ethnographic and ill-informed medical and demographic approaches - have failed to treat the deeper issues. The significance of breast-feeding reaches far beyond its biological function; in fact, the authors of this volume argue, there is nothing `natural' about breast-feeding itself. On the contrary, attitudes and practices are socially determined, and breast-feeding has to be seen as an essential element in the cultural construction of sexuality.

This volume offers an `ethnography' of breast-feeding by examining cultural norms and practices in a number of European and non-European societies, thus presenting valuable and often astonishing empirical material that is not otherwise readily available. The highly original focus of this volume therefore throws new light on gender and on social relationships in general.

How to become a single parent: A guide for single people considering adoption or natural parenthood alone

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How to become a single parent: A guide for single people considering adoption or natural parenthood alone
Josephine J Curto
Manufacturer: Prentice-Hall
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

$Mother\'s Pearls: The Revival of Parenthood$
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Mother\'s Pearls: The Revival of Parenthood
Chava Dagan
Manufacturer: Trafford Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

All Amazon Upgrade | Amazon Upgrade | Stores | Books
ASIN: 1412039428
Release Date: 2006-07-06

Product Description

Mother\'s Pearls is a combination of what we know now and what they knew then, using the wisdom of our great grandmothers in today\'s world. It\'s returning to basics by trusting in ourselves as parents.

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Natural Parenthood
Eda LeShan
Manufacturer: Signet
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Parenting & Families | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0451111923

Natural Parenthood Raising Your Child Without a Script

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Natural Parenthood Raising Your Child Without a Script

Manufacturer: Signet
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
ASIN: B000GRSK04

Book Description

One of the most demanding physical and mental challenges there is, the SAS selection process is designed to weed out unsuitable candidates and to push the successful applicants to the very limits. This book takes a soldiers view of the process, describing the build-up to the test, the grueling endurance march, and continuation training, during which the candidates surviving selection are taught all the basics they need to become good SAS soldiers.

Customer Reviews:

fascinating!.......2002-04-20

This book gives a marvellous insight to the challenges, both physical and mental, that are presented to the soldiers undergoing the SAS selection process. The photographs and drawings accompanying the text illustrate every aspect of SAS training, giving the reader an excellent introduction to the whole training process. A good read.

Mistitled.......2002-04-17

This book has a number of faults, but the most glaring fault is the title. Some people will be lured into purchasing the book thinking that it's a "how-to" manual, which the title implies. The title should instead be "SAS: The Unofficial Cursory Overview". There are a few token "how-tos" thrown in like the diagrams for building snares in the wild that look like they were dreamed up as part of a Saturday afternoon Cub Scout project, or the ambush formation that would have allied troops shooting toward each other across a road. You can also learn about other highly strategic and clandestine maneuvers and survival techniques like how to do a push-up and how to build an igloo. Even the pictures are very generic and do little to support the text...

Endurance Techniques (SAS Training Manual)

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Endurance Techniques (SAS Training Manual)
Chris McNab
Manufacturer: Bounty Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Self-Help | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books

General | Psychology & Counseling | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0753704080

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Endurance Techniques: Sas Training Manual
Chris McNab
Manufacturer: Diane Pub Co
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

How to Pass the Sas Selection Course (SAS Training Manual)

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Good read, bad advice

How to Pass the Sas Selection Course (SAS Training Manual)
Chris McNab
Manufacturer: Sidgwick & Jackson
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Military | History | Subjects | Books

Military Science | History | Subjects | Books

Study Guides | Reference | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0283073438

Customer Reviews:

Good read, bad advice.......2003-11-14

I loved this book! I couldn't even put it down. Read it in one day. Anywho, I finished the book and followed its advice. I felt like I could take anything the SAS wanted to throw at me! I WAS PUMPED UP!!! Then I got to selection, failed and quit selection the 1st day. Good book though! -matt

Average customer rating:

SAS Training Manual

Manufacturer: Brown Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: 1897884842

Product Description

A lively and informative account of the SAS selection process, from arriving at Regiment headquarters to being awarded the famous SAS beret, with first-hand accounts from experienced soldiers.

THE SAS TRAINING MANUAL:Exhaustive and livley guide to the process of becoming one of the worlds best soldires

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THE SAS TRAINING MANUAL:Exhaustive and livley guide to the process of becoming one of the worlds best soldires

Manufacturer: Brown Book LTD
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000ICV6DA

Survival Techniques (SAS Training Manual)

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Survival Techniques (SAS Training Manual)
Alexander Sitwell
Manufacturer: Bounty Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Alexander Technique | Exercise & Fitness | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books
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Tanita BC533 Glass Innerscan Body Composition Monitor

ASIN: 0753703068

The SAS Training Manual 8 Recruitment * Weapons Skills * survival Skills * Combat Training * Fitness * Nutrition

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The SAS Training Manual 8 Recruitment * Weapons Skills * survival Skills * Combat Training * Fitness * Nutrition
Chris McNab
Manufacturer: Brown Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000LF7YAI

Book Description

Sharply focused on key issues affecting indigenous and ethnic groups worldwide, this book is part of a series of ethnographies, authored by leading figures in the field of anthropology and builds on introductoy material by going further in- depth and allowing readers to explore, virtually first hand, a particular issue and its impact on a culture. Concentrates on a well-researched, specific issue and its impact on a particular culture. Provides in-depth information on a particular culture, expanding the readerÕs grasp of the experiences and problems encountered by different cultures.

Customer Reviews:

A book that was relevant 25 years ago!.......1999-01-25

This book is on the political struggle of the Malaysian Aboriginal group, or 'Orang Asli', written by a group of scholars who have been conducting research on the group since 25 years ago. But the explanation on the struggle has been constructed as simply between the politically dominant Malays and the Orang Asli minority, without explaining the critical role of the Chinese in the economic life of the Orang Asli. For such a group of excellent and experienced scholars to ignore this phenomenon is rather surprising, to say the least. What is even more surprising is the fact that it took one of the more illustrious editors, ie. Robert Dentan, 25 years after his first book on an Orang Asli group "Semai, the non-violent people", to be able to say this. It is quite obvious that they have also failed to acknowledge the fact that many Malaysian scholars have said all this a decade or so ago. There is an obvious failure on the part of the editors to productively and creatively use local sources written in the vernacular for the present book. This becomes a great handicap to the authors in constructing a more in-depth analysis. Finally, where is the voice of the suffering Orang Asli themselves? In the present post-modern theorizing exercise, dominant in anthropology (the editor is are anthropologists, except one), the absence of the real social actors' voice is unacceptable!

Malaysia and the "Original People": A Case Study of the Impact of Development on Indigenous Peoples

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Malaysia and the "Original People": A Case Study of the Impact of Development on Indigenous Peoples
M.B.; Endicott, Kirk; Gomes, Alberto G.; Dentan, Robert Knox Hooker
Manufacturer: Allyn & Bacon
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OP5PJM

Remaking the World: Adventures in Engineering
Average customer rating:

logistic and supportability issues

A Literary Disaster

For Petroski Fans Only

Not just for engineers

A must for engineering fans

Remaking the World: Adventures in Engineering
Henry Petroski
Manufacturer: Knopf
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Civil | Engineering | Professional & Technical | Subjects | Books
General | Engineering | Professional & Technical | Subjects | Books
General | Science | Subjects | Books
General | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

To Engineer Is Human: The Role of Failure in Successful Design

Invention by Design; How Engineers Get from Thought to Thing

The Evolution of Useful Things: How Everyday Artifacts-From Forks and Pins to Paper Clips and Zippers-Came to be as They are

Pushing the Limits: New Adventures in Engineering

Design Paradigms: Case Histories of Error and Judgment in Engineering

ASIN: 0375400419
Release Date: 1997-12-29

Amazon.com

Engineers, Henry Petroski observes, are sometimes their own worst enemies, at least so far as communicating their work to the general public is concerned. Some engineers, of course, have been exceptions. One of the unlikely heroes of Petroski's Remaking the World, an entertaining foray into some of engineering's finest (and, on occasion, less exalted) moments, is Karl August Rudolf Steinmetz, who combined a great talent for design and engineering with a keenly practiced flair for self-promotion. Another is Washington Gale Ferris, the inventor of the Ferris wheel, who concocted several dangerous eyesores before arriving at the design familiar to amusement-park patrons.

Successful at explaining themselves or not, engineers are largely responsible for the world as we know it, and Petroski examines their work to discuss how good design and technology combine to produce the desired results. That combination involves much trial and error, and, as Petroski writes, "artifacts from paper clips to steamships evolve by removing some real or perceived failure of their ancestors to achieve unqualified success." Drawing on examples from past and present, Petroski offers an up-close view of how engineers do their work, and his history is full of surprises and pleasures. --Gregory McNamee

Book Description

This collection of informative and pleasurable essays by Henry Petroski elucidates the role of engineers in shaping our environment in countless ways, big and small.

In Remaking the World Petroski gravitates this time, perhaps, toward the big: the English Channel tunnel, the Panama Canal, Hoover Dam, the QE2, and the Petronas Twin Towers in Malaysia, now the tallest buildings in the world. He profiles Charles Steinmetz, the genius of the General Electric Company; Henry Martyn Robert, a military engineer who created Robert's Rules of Order; and James Nasmyth, the Scotsman whose machine tools helped shape nineteenth-century ocean and rail transportation. Petroski sifts through the fossils of technology for cautionary tales and remarkable twists of fortune, and reminds us that failure is often a necessary step on the path to new discoveries. He explains soil mechanics by way of a game of "rock, scissors, paper," and clarifies fundamental principles of engineering through the spokes of a Ferris wheel.

Most of all, Henry Petroski continues to celebrate the men and women whose scrawls on the backs of envelopes have immeasurably improved our world.

Customer Reviews:

logistic and supportability issues.......2007-01-04

In Remaking the World: Adventures in Engineering, Henry Petroski writes about many man-made wonders of the world. Most intersting to me was the discussion on the logistic and supportability issues surrounding the design and development of the Panama Canal. Great book!

A Literary Disaster.......2006-11-27

Henry petroski's Remaking the World is one of the most poorly-written books I have come across in years. The author purports to regale the reader with "adventures in engineering," yet the few actual case histories of engineering projects are presented almost as afterthoughts.

The first third of the book is devoted to the Engineer's thought process, supposedly a mysterious and arcane pursuit far beyond the comprehension of mere mortals. We are led to believe that it is almost superhuman to actually lose sleep over an engineering problem, and that only another engineer can even begin to comprehend the complexities of the engineer's magnificent mind. In fact engineering is largely the practical application of common sense, tempered by extensive training and strong understanding of underlying theory.

We are then led on a tour of some of the engineering marvels of the past century, including Ferris' great Wheel, the Panama Canal, and the Petronas towers. However, each short vignette falls short of the heroic level the book repeatedly attempts and fails to reach. The discussion of the Ferris Wheel concludes that the only unique factor raising the Wheel to greatness is its sheer size, but the author neglects to even mention its diameter. The chapter on the Hoover Dam discusses at length the cross-sectional structure of the dam, invisible from photographs, but fails to provide a single sketch.

The chapter on Soil Mechanics is interpolated between a discussion of the painting "Men of Progress" and a section entitled "Is Technology Wired." There is no purpose to its placement, or even to its existence. It remains, like much of the book, a story in search of a purpose. The final chapter of the book is a discussion of the construction of the Petronas Towers. While the chapter itself is on topic and addresses the sociopolitical context of the Towers' construction, it concludes the book abruptly, leaving the reader expecting some sort of final chapter tying the various stories together. In sum, this book is poorly organized, poorly written and totally lacking in overall theme. One feels a certain pity for the students of Civil Engineering unfortunate enough to have been subjected to Professor Petroski's lecture courses.

For Petroski Fans Only.......2001-07-16

This is a collection of articles written for Petrowski's monthly column in American Scientist magazine. Many are brief biographies of 19th-century engineers; a (very) few look (very) briefly at particular pieces of historical engineering (an article on the Ferris wheel is probably the best); others are ruminations on such hazards of the engineering practice as the stress that keeps them up at night and their failure to be awarded Nobel prizes. These seem quite satisfactory articles for a magazine column but they are slender stuff for a book. And Petroski's tendency to return to the same subjects, pardonable in a monthly column, becomes repetitive when the columns are collected. All but die-hard Petroski fans can skip this one

Not just for engineers.......1998-11-24

... but I'm getting a copy for my Dad the engineer. I enjoyed this despite my very soft background in the hard sciences: an English degree. Petroski sometimes leads you down a road with an abrupt ending, but most times it's a pleasant journey and he leads the reader around a few curves, too.

A must for engineering fans.......1998-09-18

Remaking the World should be sought out by any and all fans of engineering, laymen included. Anyone who has ever been mesmerized and enthralled by great feats of construction needs to take part in Petroski's stories behind these great feats. A thoroughly entertaining and enjoyable book.

Remaking the World Adventures in Engineering

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Remaking the World Adventures in Engineering

Manufacturer: Knopf
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: 0965617971

Product Description

Essays by the outstanding engineering writer, author of The Evolution of Useful Things.

Average customer rating:

REMAKING THE WORLD : ADVENTURES IN ENGINEERING
HENRY PETROSKI
Manufacturer: RANDOM HOUSE
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000KUMP1W

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