Book Description
From burping to tooth cleaning, cutting nails to taking a baby's temperature, this fun, user-friendly book coaches novices through 30 of the most common tasks they'll have to face during the first year of a baby's life. Each procedure is described clearly and is illustrated with large, step-by-step color photographs that show everything parents need to know in detail. The book can stand up or be placed open alongside the baby so that parents can read it without having to take their hands off the child. This format ensures that all the information they need is available at a glance, and allows them to devote all their concentration to the job at hand. Ideal for new parents, grandparents, baby-sitters and mother's helpers -- and a perfect shower gift -- Babycare for Beginners provides the clear, reassuring guidance they need when caring for the newborn and infants.
Customer Reviews:
Dangerous, mistaken advice.......2006-05-18
While this book has many merits in several sections, the part about putting a baby down to sleep is dangerously wrong. The American Academy of Pediatrics has revised its recommendations to avoid Sudden Infant Death syndrome (SIDS) and now recommends putting babies down to sleep only on their backs, not their sides, as this book suggests. The AAP also strongly discourages the use of blankets or soft bedding to avoid smothering, particularly with newborns and infants, and this book tells readers to cover the baby with "a variable number of light blankets."
This author/publisher really should revise this book in future editions; it's negligent to market this as reliable medical advice.
Excellent Book.......2003-09-10
This book is extremely helpful, especially for first time parents. The illustrations are great and this book really answers a lot of questions about parenting a newborn. This is very worthwhile and I do recommend it.
Liked it.......1999-01-03
I really liked this little, spiral bound book. First of all, the cover is built so that it will prop the book up at an angle that allows you to see the pages while you "work" on the baby. While this book doesn't go into extreme depth on subjects, it gives step-by-step guides to normal baby care. The pictures are wonderful and there are lots of them, so you'll know what they're talking about in the instructions. I really liked it!
Amazon.com
In this eclectic anthology of war writings, military historian John Keegan (author of The Face of Battle and The Second World War) has collected some of the best that has been thought and said about armed conflict over the course of 25 centuries. Keegan is especially interested in how war has evolved over time; his introduction is a brief history of this development, from the heroic age of individual combat to the horrific "total war" of the 20th century. He begins with a pair of 5th-century-B.C. excerpts from Thucydides and concludes with a British soldier's brief description of combat against Iraqi soldiers in the 1991 Gulf War. In between are selections by Julius Caesar, Davy Crockett, Victor Hugo, George Orwell, and many others. If there is a theme to this book, it may be the clash of cultures: what happens when different military traditions collide, such as when the Romans invaded Britain, the Muslim Turks besieged Malta, or General Custer and the 7th Cavalry faced the Sioux in Montana. He understandably gives only cursory attention to several wars--the U.S. Civil War, Korea, and Vietnam--and lingers a bit on his coverage of the First World War (which Keegan views as a key to interpreting the whole 20th century) and the Second World War. The selections themselves are continually exciting, and rarely predictable. There are even a few poems thrown in for good effect. The Book of War may focus on an awful subject ("The history of all forms of warfare is ... essentially inhumane," writes Keegan), but it is also full of awfully good writing. --John J. Miller
Book Description
From Thucydides' classic account of ancient Greek phalanx warfare to a blow-by-blow description of ground--fighting against the Iraqi forces during the Gulf War, The Book of War presents the face of battle over the course of more than 2,000 years. Acclaimed historian John Keegan brings together an amazing array of war writings, largely drawn from the protagonists themselves or firsthand accounts of the battles they describe. Here are Caesar's Commentaires on the Roman Invasion of Britain; Wellington on the Battle of Waterloo; Hemingway after Copretto, Ernie Pyle at Normandy; and James Fenton at the Fall of Saigon. Weaving the various pieces together, with a brilliant introductory essay and substantial headnotes, John Keegan has created a rich tapestry that epitomizes the warrior spirit.
Customer Reviews:
I LOVE this book!.......2006-10-10
If you want to get a sense of war throughout the ages this is the book to get. What I really like is that it whet's your appetite to read the full works of the authors whose selections are printed in the book. The brief bios of the conflict are extremely helpful and I wish I had that skill of summarization so I could write better reviews here on Amazon.
The only negative point is that the book should have started with an excerpt from the Iliad instead of the Melian Dialogues. The Iliad is all about war.
Still I *highly* recommend the book to any history buff! (Just read the Iliad separately)
As they say in Texas "It's all hat and no cattle"!.......2006-07-25
I do not recommend this book.
Erudite.......2004-08-04
In The Book of War, eminent military historian John Keegan assembles a masterful anthology recording the progress of Western warfare as told through the authentic and often unique voices of its participants. No dry narrative history, Keegan's work is characterized by diversity and depth. Through eighty-two essays and poems he gathers in a single volume some of Western history's most spectacular military writing. His introductions to each entry are superb: concise yet definitive. Outlined in three segments, Part I illustrates the various forms war takes, particularly highlighting the fact that what motivated men to war today did not necessarily provide the impetus to combat in the past. Tribal or personal honor, as well duty owed to gods formed as much a part of the causa belli as economic or political dictates. For the European, warfare served to create stable states and winning empires. Yet out of diverse and often marginalized cultures would arise alternative forms of warfare, employing methods at odds with centuries of Western warfighting traditions. Considering such cultural and methodological divergence, Keegan's aim is to exemplify these contrasting military traditions. In Part II, Keegan examines warfare among established European states of common military cultures and employing similar technologies. The dictates of empire would bring these powers into conflict with dissimilar cultures, specifically Africa and India. Finally, in Part III, Keegan examines war in the twentieth century. One salient feature Keegan explores is how primitive or less technological cultures often overcome the advantages of advanced enemies through ingenuity, evasion, and the perpetuation of 'warrior spirit.'
Readers will find many familiar names such as Agincourt, Waterloo, Gallipoli, the Somme, Saigon, and the Gulf War. Yet many of the testimonies in Keegan's anthology will be unfamiliar to even professional readers. Hence, Keegan provides a valuable service for many by presenting a heuristic glimpse into the military lives of lesser-known or studied groups such as the Gurkhas, Boers, Cossacks, and the last Prussian cavalry unit. Indeed, it is likely that few have read accounts of warfare by the knight of an Islamic Caliphate, nor a French priest's testimony of an attack by Iroquois Indians. These are rare glimpses, further exemplified by the harrowing experiences of an 18th century militiaman captured by Indian warriors, and a German U-boat officer, whose service suffered a 70% death rate, the highest of any category of military unit during the Second World War. Throughout, Keegan refuses to whitewash the hypocrisies of his protagonists. For instance, he notes how Davy Crockett could impugn the military practices of the Creeks but overlook those of his Indian allies. Similarly, Wellington's English soldiers took their compensation in plunder, female virtue, and the lives of French civilians.
Particularly praiseworthy is Keegan's insertion of some of Western history's most haunting poetry. Included are Thomas Hardy's, 'In The Time of The Breaking of Nations,' Thomas Campbell's 'Hohenlinden,' John Scott of Amwell's magnificent 18th century anti-war poem, 'The Drum,' and Wilfred Owen's opus magnum, 'Anthem for Doomed Youth.' Moreover, Keegan's book is just as valuable for what it does not include. He refrains from including a warmed-over serving of Clausewitz or SunTzu, as well as sparing us a currently fashionable diatribe on the supposed leadership qualities of history's mass murderers. Likewise, we must not overlook the fact that Keegan includes the testimonies of both victors and vanquished, a fact making the work all the more alive and didactic.
There is little to criticize in this outstanding anthology. As only so much poetry could be included, I would have dropped one of Sassoon's two poems and added one from an era subsequent to World War I. The universal lessons of Goethe's 'Campaign in France' (1792), a poignant portrayal of war as seen through the innocent suffering of horses would have underscored much. But such considerations take nothing away from Keegan's present anthology, which remains a paragon of military anthological writing.
Excellent collection of writings.......2003-06-07
Keegan does an exceptional job in collecting works, mostly primary, which reflect the universality of the experience of war. In addition, this collection is well organized. I would recommend this book to the student of military studies. There is a plethora of information in this book and touches upon the most integral battles and wars of our time.
comprehensive summary of western warfare.......2002-05-01
The lazy person's guide to the history of western warfare, this book provides a complete history from The Peloponnesian to The Vietnam War. It includes passages from the original historians who chronicled those wars, and some commentary.
It is well written, easy to follow, and provides a great summary for those western-centric war people. My only request: make another book like this for Eastern Warfare. All in all a fantastic compendium. And hey, at least he admits to quoting from other authors.
Average customer rating:
- Calculations are only as good as your numbers
- Pants on fire?
- Accepted History & Chronology Must Be Changed.
- Very Interesting
- History as Science Fiction
|
History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
Anatoly Fomenko
Manufacturer: Mithec
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Similar Items:
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History: Fiction or Science? Chronology 2 (Chronology)
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History: Fiction or Science? Astronomical methods as applied to chronology. Ptolemy's Almagest. Chronology III
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They Cast No Shadows: A Collection of Essays on the Illuminati, Revisionist History, and Suppressed Technologies
ASIN: 2913621058 |
Book Description
Recorded history is a finely-woven magic fabric of intricate lies about events predating the sixteenth century. There is not a single piece of evidence that can be reliably and independently traced back earlier than the eleventh century. This book details events that are substantiated by hard facts and logic, and validated by new astronomical research and statistical analysis of ancient sources.
Customer Reviews:
Calculations are only as good as your numbers.......2007-08-03
Yes, we can all agree that mainstream history is nearly 100% BS due to politics, economics, ego, problems with dating techniques, and various conspiracies. Agreed. But, I've been researching the distinct possibility that human history (in terms of civilizations) are much more ancient than we've been told, so coming across this book was very interesting to me. I wondered how Fomenko could be wrong (if at all) because he is very persuasive in his presentations. Then it dawned on me. If at previous times in prehistory, due to the various catastrophies that are well documented (comets, asteroids, planetary disruptions, plasma discharge, pole reversals, etc) the Earth was in a different position in relation to the sun, different tilt on its axis, different orbit, different rotation (in terms of velocity and DIRECTION), and the continents were in different positions, then would this not cause the ancients to see the sky (constellations) differently? In other words, is Fomenko making erronious assumptions about the physics of the Earth in pre-history, which then corrupt his data with regards to dating the relevant astrology? The last event to seriously disrupt our planet occured roughly 3500 years ago, according to other good researchers, so is it possible Fomenko has been confused by this? The vastly different physics of our planet in the not so distant past may explain this confusion, which is not to say the "mainstream" version of history is correct; on the contrary. I am not an expert in these fields, but wanted to see if this idea could spark discussion.
Pants on fire?.......2007-07-19
Will people ever read before spamming? Yes, Jesuits could not rewrite world history alone, they had help. Anyway, Dr Prof Acad A.Fomenko does not point to jesuits as the driving force of world wide history manipulation in published volumes 1,2,3;, actually he barely mentions the poor devils. Check it with 'Search inside' feature, please. China is rarely mentioned either, in fact, Dr Fomenko is completely eurocentric. Right, his theory contradicts all mainstream schools of history, because in their actual state they are all built on blatantly erroneus chronology. You don't need a mysterious cabal (conspiracy) to falsify history, the falsification is its modus operandi. It is inherent to history(ians) to falsify (distort) events, as it is inherent to humans to boast as it is inherent to power (authority) to legimize itself by referrring to glorious past made to its own order. Dr Prof Fomenko and team have identified scores of instances of such manipulation in Russian, European, etc.. history, and delivered valid statistical proof thereof. His own 'reconstruction' is completely another story. Forget c14 as a valid method of dating. W.Libby has initially discovered a brilliant method of INDEPENDENT dating. Too bad, c14 method has become a joke after a forced marrige with dendrochronology with consensual chronological scale inbuilt. Radiocarbon method can't stand blind tests, but is so very productive as a rubberstamp.
Accepted History & Chronology Must Be Changed. .......2007-04-09
There is no doubt that history as most know it is a sham, & institution's version of History both University & Church is fradulent & inaccurate. Everything was established with an agenda, The real "Dark Ages" are now when we have access to incredible amounts of information past authorities & more important 'common folk' didn't have but our institutions & educators are slow to evolve because of what has ignorantly & arrogantly been taught for too long. This is on many subjects not just Chronology.
For anyone to question "Why would a Mathematician have anything credible to say of History?" The answer is from Dr. Fomenko's preface in the book: "It would be worthwhile to remind the reader that in the XVI-XVII century Chronology was considered to be a subdivision of Mathematics." These volumes could possibly be some of the most important works to date & should be read by everyone with an interest in History, especially professors & educators who have a duty to the public. I have read both books & must say that 'Chronology 1' has some very eye opening & revolutionary information. Even if these volumes are part true the implications are profound & opens the doors to further investigations & questions which must be done. I speak several different lanquages & must say the logic Dr. Fomenko uses with "inflection" of words & words being read from left to right in one region & right to left in another then written backwards, the removal of vowels & get down to basics of words, or different cities & locations having the same name etc. is correct. Vowel usage has always been optional & varied, actually complicating linquistics & study. The first thing one has to understand is that words never had a fixed spelling in history like we do now, the spelling of words was mutable & regional, as well as names & titles of people were vast, varied & changed, NOTHING WAS FIXED or understood linear. Matters of Life & Death as well as financial profiteering yesterday & today were & are made with ignorant, illogical & conspiratorial views of history & reality, it's time people get closer to the Truth & society collectively grow up.
Very Interesting.......2007-03-07
It is a good proposal and I believe it will mature into something even better in the future. I think it deserves to be read.
History as Science Fiction.......2007-01-10
Anatoly Fomenko has written a very intriguing book, full of pictures, charts, and computer 'proof' of his thesis: backwards of AD900 we don't really know what happened or when. Between AD900 and AD1600 there is more certainty, but there is still a lot of fuzzy ground, and things don't get reliable until we get past the 1600's where the printing press made it very difficult for the perpetrators of this timeline manipulation to change anything that had been committed to print. The Dark Ages did not happen. Books were burned for a reason. One organization has doubled the actual length of its existence by expanding the real chronology. Read why.
I had always wondered why Christ died about AD33 and yet men waited until the 11th century to form the Knights Templar, the Cathars, etc and go after the Holy Land by force. Why the 1000 year gap? Turns out there wasn't more than a 10-12 year gap and he proves it using astronomy. This also implies that the planet is not as old as we have been told, and current Christian and other creationist scientists are already championing that idea without being aware of Fomenko's book. The two groups, creationist scientists and the Russian mathematical analysts corroborate each other. Fascinating.
Of course, all this flies in the face of what we have been told traditionally is the 'proper' chronology of western civilization, and most readers will experience 'cognitive dissonance' in reading this book. It means that our history going backwards from AD1600 becomes progressively more incorrect and unreliable until it cannot be trusted at all... in the space of 700-800 years.
Naturally, the curious, open-minded reader will want to know WHO did this, WHY, and did any of the events we think of as really ancient ever happen?
Dr. Fomenko is a respected scientist/mathematician at Moscow State University who has already answered these questions to the satisfaction of his initially skeptical colleagues. Most of them are now believers, a few still refuse to believe (the usual diehards), and of course the western press has ignored Fomenko's work -- for obvious reasons when you read the book. The ones who perpetrated this chronology ruse have a lot to answer for. They are still with us. That's why this book is a well-kept secret.
I gave the book a 4-star rating because I was unable to check out some of his claims; those I checked were as he said. But if even 1/3 of his claims are true, this punches a big hole in what we think is our history, the meaning of western civilization, our educational process (for repeating the ruse as gospel), and the trustworthiness of the organization that perpetrated this ruse, well-intentioned or not.
This book relates to current research into a Young Earth paradigm, to John Keel's discoveries about our planet, and Fr Malachi Martin's insights (in his now out-of-print books). We are indeed sheep who are manipulated and kept ignorant -- for a reason. While knowing what these men have to say may be the "booby prize" (as in: 'what can you do with this knowledge?'), it will provide interesting reading. Didn't someone say: "...and the Truth will set you free."?? For you to judge if this book contains the truth.
Book Description
What has given the Jewish people their resilience, their power of survival, and their ability to adapt to radically new conditions without losing their identity? What combination of religious faith, social organization, intellectual toughness, and poetic imagination constitutes Jewishness? Eighteen eminent scholars address these questions in this richly illustrated survey of Jewish history from its earliest days to the foundation of Israel. Equal weight is given to Judaica and to the ways in which Judaism has coped with the challenges of modernity. This unparalleled work of scholarship is enhanced throughout by a plethora of superbly reproduced illustrations, from manuscript illuminations and liturgical objects to medieval prints and popular art. 436 illustrations, 135 in color.
Edited by
Elie Kedourie, a distinguished historian and political philosopher, the book includes essays by Haim Beinart, T. Carmi, Amnon Cohen, S. Ettinger, Shelomo Dov Goitein, A. Grossman, Oscar Handlin, Arthur Hertzberg, Arthur Hyman, Lionel Kochan, Hyam Maccoby, Jacob Neusner, H. W. F. Saggs, Amnon Shiloah, Ezra Spicehandler, David Vital, R. J. Zwi Werblowsky, and Zvi Yavetz.
Book Description
Humans are a striking anomaly in the natural world. While we are similar to other mammals in many ways, our behavior sets us apart. Our unparalleled ability to adapt has allowed us to occupy virtually every habitat on earth using an incredible variety of tools and subsistence techniques. Our societies are larger, more complex, and more cooperative than any other mammal's. In this stunning exploration of human adaptation, Peter J. Richerson and Robert Boyd argue that only a Darwinian theory of cultural evolution can explain these unique characteristics.
Not by Genes Alone offers a radical interpretation of human evolution, arguing that our ecological dominance and our singular social systems stem from a psychology uniquely adapted to create complex culture. Richerson and Boyd illustrate here that culture is neither superorganic nor the handmaiden of the genes. Rather, it is essential to human adaptation, as much a part of human biology as bipedal locomotion. Drawing on work in the fields of anthropology, political science, sociology, and economics—and building their case with such fascinating examples as kayaks, corporations, clever knots, and yams that require twelve men to carry them—Richerson and Boyd convincingly demonstrate that culture and biology are inextricably linked, and they show us how to think about their interaction in a way that yields a richer understanding of human nature.
In abandoning the nature-versus-nurture debate as fundamentally misconceived, Not by Genes Alone is a truly original and groundbreaking theory of the role of culture in evolution and a book to be reckoned with for generations to come.
“I continue to be surprised by the number of educated people (many of them biologists) who think that offering explanations for human behavior in terms of culture somehow disproves the suggestion that human behavior can be explained in Darwinian evolutionary terms. Fortunately, we now have a book to which they may be directed for enlightenment . . . . It is a book full of good sense and the kinds of intellectual rigor and clarity of writing that we have come to expect from the Boyd/Richerson stable.”—Robin Dunbar, Nature
“Not by Genes Alone is a valuable and very readable synthesis of a still embryonic but very important subject straddling the sciences and humanities.”—E. O. Wilson, Harvard University
Customer Reviews:
Culture? Or izzit still genetics in disguise?.......2007-05-24
I have to admit that with a title that makes as straighforward a declaration as this one does, I anticipated an imaginative, full frontal assault against the increasing dependence on genetics, DNA, & biology to explain our human nature. Instead, Richerson & Boyd divide the pie pretty equally among genetics, culture, and environment, noting that these three factors are mutually dependent and interactive. Fair enough, but I was disappointed how far they leaned into the genetics camp and how little they credit to human creativity. In fact, they state there really is no such thing as individual creativity but only individuals who are able to carry forth mass cultural trends that have been underway for some time. "Culture usually evolves by the accumulation of small variations" (p. 50). One should note here the early emphasis on the concept of evolution because their book turns out to take Darwin's foundational principles of biological evolution and directly apply them to cultural evolution. Culture, itself, they state, is an adaptation.
Other animals have exhibited certain local behaviour patterns that others have termed cultural, but "only humans show much evidence of *cumulative* cultural evolution. By cumulative cultural evolution, we mean behaviors or artifacts that are transmitted and modified over many generations, leading to complex artifacts and behaviors" (p. 107). In this way, complex artifacts are not "invented by individuals; they evolve gradually over many generations" (p. 107). So human cultural evolution, though not inspired by "great person breakthroughs" is still unique, depending as it does on external memory storage and teaching-learning. I liked this, as I am an educator.
I also liked the point that culture and genes co-evolve. Still it seems to me, they tend to see the human species in a more mechanical manner than is necessarily the case: Everything is ultimately done for survival. Cases where cultural choices like human sacrifice or mass witch-hunts have been undertaken are seen as mistaken attempts at survival. I wonder how this accounts for the suicide cults that have appeared and, not surprisingly, rapidly disappeared? They explain altruism or kindness in the same way, as leading to survival of the group. They even seem to disparage efforts to control population growth. Such efforts, mostly in the middle & upper classes of industrialized countries, are said to be the result of "selfish cultural variants" (p. 169). "Modern low fertility does not maximize fitness" (p. 173). Surely this puts them firmly in the evolutionary biology camp.
The writing is most often turgid & uninspired, with the many examples of cultural continuity or adaptation being local, mundane, & unimpresssive. They end by pleading for the wide acceptance of "a proper evolutionary theory of culture" since that "should make a major contribution to the unification of the social sciences" (p. 246). They call for the development of a mass of quantitative detail on cultural variation to equal the detail found in the study of genetic variation, simply equating the two.
I felt let down at the easy way cultural symbolism & artistic experession were simply dismissed by suggesting a little quatitative analysis would reveal them as simple functionalism. By now I was bored. By the time they snidely state that "So many older scientists try their hand at philosophy that it can practically be regarded as a normal sign of aging" (p. 254), I was glad to finish the book and close it.
Thoughtful and readable insights .......2007-01-16
If you are curious as to why human behavior is often described in terms of culture or nature, and felt something was missing, this is a must read book. The authors make a thoughtful and readable presentation of their compelling insights into the mechanism of evolution as it applies to humans.
Nothing About Culture Makes Sense Except in Light of Evolution.......2006-12-27
All social scientists and psychologists should read this book, or another introduction to Dual-Inheritance Theory.
Genes and Culture working together........2006-03-01
Not By Genes Alone by Peter J. Richerson and Robert Boyd explains something that should seem simple. Genes made us, we made culture, so genes shaped culture. Yet culture also helped shape us, so genes and culture interact together and work together to make us. But HOW do you do research on culture and link it to genes? Well, if culture also acts like genes, then what you want to do it treat it like genes.
And that is what the book does. It studies culture from an evolutionary point of view, breaking it down to traditions and values, making these the genes of culture. Cultures evolves, adapts and sometimes even cause problems, bringing about the extinction of the culture. One culture might work better than another and overwhelm the weaker, less fit culture.
By using the ideas and knowledge that Darwin has passed down to us the authors were able to understand how genes and culture worked together to shape US. LOTS and lots of detailed, data rich, chapters. Take your time and enjoy.
Great article in NY Times.......2005-05-27
The Science section for 5/10/05 had a great review and discussion of this book and its concepts. Made me order toot sweet.
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F30814FA39540C738DDDAC0894DD404482&incamp=archive:search
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- Su matrimonio vale la pena
- Do They Ever Grow Up
- Neurology of the Arts: Painting, Music, Literature
- An Introduction to Tree-Ring Dating
What to Expect the First Year, Second Ed
101 Essential Tips: Baby Care
The Baby Owner's Manual: Operating Instructions, Trouble-Shooting Tips, and Advice on First-Year Maintenance
The Happiest Baby on the Block - The New Way to Calm Crying and Help Your Baby Sleep Longer (DVD)
