Book Description
Green offers a remarkably lucid, erudite, and insightful description and analysis of the theoretical foundations of historical writing. He describes--and is the first to do so in an ordered approach--the systematic models by which leading historians have attempted to explain change and continuity. In the process, Green gives students and historians a cogent survey of current models essential to to an understanding of modern historiography. The three parts of the book introduce history as a theoretical discipline but one in which "truth" is elusive. "Periodization," or the manner in which time is divided to make the past manageable, is addressed. The second and third parts of the book are concerned with the dynamics of change. Each of the chapters considers a theoretical model including: Adam Smith's commercial model, Malthus' demographic model, Marx's model, and the approaches of Weber and Sombart which identify religious forces as driving historical change. Part Two focuses on European history and Part Three addresses in a universal context. The conclusion both summarizes the impacts and weighs the relevance of the theorists. It assesses, too, the value of the "periodization" system. Truly an essential volume for the student or reader of history.
Book Description
This second volume examines the religion and structure of Islamic society. Bernard Lewis draws on a broad range of Islamic literature, including books on religious sects, politics and economics, philosophy and science, travel, biography and literary works, and even bureaucratic records from such disparate sources as the postal service and the judiciary. Comprehensive and cogently translated, these documents bring into sharp focus aspects of a world long neglected by Western historians.
Customer Reviews:
What early Muslims said about themselves.......2007-07-16
This old reader -- published in 1974 as volume two of a set; volume one on history and battles, is out of print -- gains in interest with each passing explosion.
Muslim apologists detest Bernard Lewis (see the review of this volume by "A reader" for confirmation). Among the traditionalists, this is understandable. But the self-described moderates and modernizers dislike him just as much, not realizing what this says about the flimsiness of their modern mask.
What Muslims of so many opinions hate about Lewis is that he applies critical historical and linguistic methods to their myths. This threatens to be as corrosive of some of those myths as the same method was of Christianity, monarchism and any number of other myths where western scholars have used it.
Of all Lewis' books, "Islam" should be the most acceptable to them, since it consists almost entirely of translations, with very little -- insufficient, in my opinion -- commentary.
Most of these ancient documents were in Arabic, with a few in Turkish and Persian and a couple in Hebrew.
Lewis comments that the remains of written records from the early centuries of Islam are comparatively scanty, and what do exist have not been systematically collected and translated, unlike the huge compendiums of Greek and Latin.
It is impossible not to be impressed by the energy invested in spreading the doctrines of Mohammad so far and wide in the early years. Or not to marvel at how, within less than two centuries, the theologians managed to shut down further discussion. Christianity, by contrast, was just beginning to fight its doctrinal battles when it was 200 years old.
Plus, the Muslims had simultaneously to devise practical rules for government, whereas Christianity eventually just took over a functioning government and bureaucracy. Thus, the section on business is one of the longest in the book.
How this was done can be traced in the first two sections on religion and on "heresy and revolt." (In strict doctrine, as Lewis notes, Islam does not allow for heresy. In practice, it does.)
The remaining sections give a glimpse into how life was lived, whether in accordance with or in disregard for religion. There is travel literature; a very interesting section on Arab racism, which would appeal to any Nazi; something about relations between the sexes (almost entirely from the man's viewpoint); slavery.
Nothing about art and little about literature. There are only a few scraps of poetry, which is a bit of a surprise, since poetry is regarded by the Arabs as their supreme art, and it was also highly respected by Turks and Persians.
The last section is perhaps the most interesting. It includes selections from Arab and Persian joke books. These amount (sometimes) to a wry commentary on the doctrines exposed in the earlier sections. Reading them is rather like studying Russian jokes in the Communist era to learn what the masses really thought.
Among the insights I found in these extracts:
Female genital mutilation was, at this period, regarded by Arabs as an odd, alien custom of the Bujjas, an African people. (The Bujjas also excised young men's nipples, a practice not adopted by Muslims.)
Avicenna, the "great" Arab philosopher so admired by Christian Europe, was a self-proclaimed ignoramus.
Ibn Batutta, the much-admired traveler, was a raving Jew-hater and proud of it.
"The Arabs . . . never had a king who could . . . control their fools."
Well measured and critical response.......2003-06-07
This is not Bernard Lewis's best work, but it still retains the unbiased, scholarly yet readable style of his previous efforts. He is unflinching - which upsets many zealots - in his analysis and lacking in apologist platitudes, but without honesty, there can be no literature.
I hope he continues to document Middle Eastern history uneffected by political and religous fundamentalism. The literature of history needs him.
Bernard Lewis is a racist, anti-Muslim, Anti-Arab writer.......2003-02-09
Bernard Lewis is a racist, anti-Muslim, Anti-Arab writer. I do not recommend any of his work. I find his work to be not accurate, and offensive.
Customer Reviews:
The Nature of Science and Evolution .......2006-05-30
Anyone arguing about science and using the words "proven," "hoax," "proof," have NO idea what Science actually IS, let alone religious faith. THERE IS NO "PROOF" INVOLVED IN SCIENCE. The concept of proof is limited to the court and legal systems as well as to Geometry class proofs,a class which I doubt many of the naysayers actually took when they were in High School.
As far as faith goes, I do not need "proof" to believe what I believe about God, if I do, then I am a Doubting Thomas and I have no faith. Asking God to prove Him or Her self is a mockery of faith. In Science we use the available data from observations to understand our physical world bettter. Sometimes we are wrong, as I believe the people who do not believe an omnipotent God who is capable of making evolution are wrong. Its a world I believe God gave us as a gift to try to get to know better and to understand. It's not here for us to fight over and ask for "proof." If our faith requires proof for us to believe, we are not really believers.
As scientists, when we get new data, we can change our ideas to better ones. I sincerely hope that these people who hide in their imitation of faith asking for proof are one day able to free themselves to believing in God just because He or She is there and not because of some paltry "proof." We crawl up a slippery slope when we try to prove God's existence. Anyone who has taken a college-level logic class can tell you that it only takes three lines to negate the existence of God, but you can never prove God exists in a logical argument. So, arguing about God and evolution is pointless. There must be some other way one can spend one's time, maybe seeing to an elderly neighbor or perhaps teaching little urban children how to read.
I've taught from this book for two years and I find it to be a 4/5 because it does not follow our California Standards directly. I think with over 50 million people we Californians would warrant our own version. I am more worried about my Language Learners understanding the sometimes dense text and my Gifted Learners not getting enough enrichment out of it than I am about the references to "evolution" in it. There is one section of one chapter about biochemistry and that is it for Life Science in this book-hence the title "Physical Science."
Challenging... yet inviting.......2003-11-14
Of Physical Science books I have yet to find one superior to this. The text is thorough enough to be challenging yet inviting to the student. Regardless of your religious beliefs I would highly recommend this text. Our local Christian school uses this text and skips over the evolution part. Don't throw the baby out with the bath water. It's such a shame. Another plus for this series is the support materials offered to supplement the text. There are skill sheets, lab sheets, CDroms, test booklets, a plethora of choices. Great for home schoolers!
Darwin Fish.......2003-10-09
Even if you do not beleive the evolution theory, that does not
mean that there is no hard evidence for it. I think that this
textbook is a good teaching resource and would recommend the
"Holt Science & Technology" series to all non-religeous middle
school science teachers. THIS IS A PURELY SCIENTIFIC
REFERENCE. THIS BOOK IS NOT FOR RELIGEOUS
SCHOOLS.
--Anonymous Teacher
This book teaches evolution, which is a proven hoax........2003-05-09
Why does this book claim fossils determine the age of the dirt they were found in and then claims the age of the earth's crust can be determined by the index fossil found? This is circular reasoning! There is no proof of evolution but there is proof of the biblical flood! Read Bones of Contention or In the Beginning. Go to creationscience.org for real proof of the age of the earth. No bible necessary, though always encouraged.
Customer Reviews:
Holt Science Spectrum A Physical Approach.......2005-11-02
RUN, DO NOT WALK AWAY FROM THIS BOOK!
First of all, please note that I hold two Doctorates--a Ph. D in Physics AND a Ph. D. in Chemistry. My daughter's class is using this book for Freshman Science, and I was attempting to help her with an assignment she did not unerstand. After reading the material she was to have completed, even I WAS CONFUSED!
This book seems to go out of its way to hide the ball, and present information in a manner and format designed to confuse even the best and the brightest.
My daughter has not received a mark lower than an A- since she began receiving letter grades. She has been finding this class difficult, and now, I can easily understand why.
If you are a teacher considering this book for your classroom, PLEASE CONSIDER OTHER ALTERNATIVES! You will frustrate and confuse your A and B students; my guess is you will totally alienate and lose the remainder. Thank you.
Not worth it.......2005-04-01
I'm currently a student enrolled in a class that is using this book. I bought it over the summer to prepare for the course and found it very confusing. The book is very illogical and not well written at all. The writers seem to try to find the most complicated way to express even the simplest idea. For example Newton's first law of motion is stated as "An object at rest and an object in motion maintains its velocity unless it experiences an unbalanced force." How much wordier can it get?
The entire textbook is this way and jumps from one subject to another with almost no logical order. I would strongly suggest that anyone thinking of buying this book reconsider. There are many superior books out there than this one.
Excellent.......2003-06-10
This book is so useful and easy. If you are not getting it then your out of your mind. I'm 15 and I'm just finishing this book. It couldn't be any easier. IF you and your teacher dont get it then you should go back to the 1st grade and along with your teacher too. Please people try to read the book not just look at the pictures!
BAD.......2003-03-31
I am a student and i happen to have a Holt Science Spectrum textbook and I do not find this book helpful to me at all. All this book does is confuse me and with this I believe that I speak for the whole class including the teacher. This book changes from one subject to the other randomly and insufficiently explains the topic, It tries to cover the lack of info with the pictures. We have even found grammatical errors.
BAD.......2003-03-31
I am a student and I do not find this book helpful to me at all. All this book does is confuse me and with this I believe that I speak for the whole class including the teacher. This book changes from one subject to the other randomly and insufficiently explains the topic, It tries to cover the lack of info with the pictures. We have even found grammatical errors.
Customer Reviews:
Holt Science Spectrum:Physical Science.......2007-03-18
I find this product very useful and it was delivered in a timely manner
Not worth it.......2005-04-01
I'm currently a student enrolled in a class that is using this book. I bought it over the summer to prepare for the course and found it very confusing. The book is very illogical and not well written at all. The writers seem to try to find the most complicated way to express even the simplest idea. For example Newton's first law of motion is stated as "An object at rest and an object in motion maintains its velocity unless it experiences an unbalanced force." How much wordier can it get?
The entire textbook is this way and jumps from one subject to another with almost no logical order. I would strongly suggest that anyone thinking of buying this book reconsider. There are many superior books out there than this one.
Product Description
Integrating Chemistry, Physics, Earth Science, Space Science, adn Mathematics. Interactive Online Edition.
Customer Reviews:
Not worth it.......2005-04-01
I'm currently a student enrolled in a class that is using this book. I bought it over the summer to prepare for the course and found it very confusing. The book is very illogical and not well written at all. The writers seem to try to find the most complicated way to express even the simplest idea. For example Newton's first law of motion is stated as "An object at rest and an object in motion maintains its velocity unless it experiences an unbalanced force." How much wordier can it get?
The entire textbook is this way and jumps from one subject to another with almost no logical order. I would strongly suggest that anyone thinking of buying this book reconsider. There are many superior books that cover the same subjects better.
Average customer rating:
- Ancient (really ancient) atlas
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Historical Atlas of the Earth: A Visual Exploration of the Earth's Physical Past (Henry Holt Reference Book)
Stephen Jay Gould
Manufacturer: Henry Holt and Co.
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Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 080504552X |
Customer Reviews:
Ancient (really ancient) atlas.......2000-11-27
Intended for the general reader, this well illustrated book is an atlas of the Earth from the Archean to the present. Geological concepts are explained well, and are tied together with the paleontology of various periods.
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Ecophysiology of Short Rotation Forest Crops
Manufacturer: Springer
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Book Description
This book has been compiled as a result of collaboration within the International Energy Agency Bioenergy Agreement. The aim of the book is to review the state of the art with respect to research and practical implications in order to aid the development of the technology for short rotation forestry production.
Books:
- How Good an Historian Shall I Be? R.G. Collingwood, the Historical Imagination and Education (British Idealist Studies: Series 2: Collingwood)
- I Christen Thee, Nebraska: History of the USS Nebraska And Nebraska Related Naval Ships
- In Defiance: The Battle Against General Noriega Fought from Panama's Embassy in Washington
- In Search of Robinson Crusoe
- In War's Dark Shadow: The Russians Before the Great War
- Japan: A Global Studies Handbook
- Jewish Budapest : Monuments, Rites, History
- Just Curious About Animals and Nature, Jeeves (Ask Jeeves)
- Mary Queen of Scots: Romance and Nation
- Miniature Lamps Of The Victorian Era (Schiffer Book for Collectors)
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Writing Your Dissertation in Fifteen Minutes a Day: A Guide to Starting, Revising, and Finishing Your Doctoral Thesis
