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Japan: A Cultural and Historical Dictionary (Durham East Asia Series)
Don Starr
Manufacturer: RoutledgeCurzon
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 0700704663 |
Book Description
Compiled by specialists from the University of Durham Department of East Asian Studies, this new reference work contains approximately 1500 entries covering Japanese civilization from early times to the present day. Subjects include history, politics, art, archaeology, literature, etc. The Dictionary is intended for students, teachers and researchers, and will also be of interest to the general reader. Entries provide factual information and contain suggestions for further reading. Japanese terms are in romanization and characters are given for the subject headings. A name index and comprehensive cross-reference system make this an easy to use, multi-purpose guide to the student of Japanese in the broadest sense.
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Encyclopedia of Muhammad's Women Companions
Muhammad Hisham Kabbani , and
Laleh Bakhtiar
Manufacturer: Defenders Publications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 1871031427 |
Book Description
This work is divided into two books: Book I contains all of the Traditions (ahadith) related by 150 women Companions of Prophet Muhammad (/) according to the six canonical books of Sahih al-Bukhari, Sahih Muslim, Sunan Abu Dawud, Sunan Ibn Majah, Sunan al-Nisai and Sunan al-Tirmidhi. The Traditions are organized according to the Divine Law (shariah), but this work begins with moral character development. A brief glance shows that women Companions related Traditions in many areas and not just in areas relating specifically to women. Where there is more than one Tradition on the same topic, one is presented and references to the other versions are indicated below that specific Tradition. Book II contains the biographies of over 600 women Companions of the Prophet including her name, her mother's name, the name of her children, the name of her husband (s) and where information is available from the earliest sources of Ibn Ishaq and Ibn Sad, her biography.
Customer Reviews:
Women who knew Muhammad.......2005-04-10
This book most likely gives a "Sufi" perspective in the selected quotations from the women who knew the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) of Islam fame. "Shaykh Muhammad Hisham Kabbani" is the author of "The Naqshbandi Sufi Way", "Encyclopedia of Islamic Doctrine," and has an Islamic law degree from Damascus. "Leleh Bahtiar" wrote "Encyclopedia of Islamic Law" and "Sufi Expressions of the Mystic Quest." Women who knew Mohammad provide quotations on the following topics: "Behavior:" the Prophet, household chores, laughing, sitting; "Companions": Zubayr, Qahafa, Rahman, Yasir, Malek, Bakr, Umays, Qaqqas, etcs., "Wrongdoing": don't abuse the dead, anger, boasting, cursing, jealousy, prohibitions, etc.; "Good": good deeds, blessing a new born child, animal sacrifice, hot baths, toothpick; "Supplication": Shaban, Allah's names, night, morning, sleeping, leaving the toilet, storms, etc.; "Monotheism": jinn, prophethood, Abraham, Resurrection, Gog, Last Hour, Paradise; "Economic Issues": charity, the dead, blessings, inheritance, war spoils, borrowing money, pawning, wages, income from a slave; "Ablution" (20 pages), childbirth, female circumscion ("do not cut severely" according to the Prophet -- but a weak tradition), menstruation, remainders of a cat, sexual defilement, experiencing organism without moisture, henna on hands, modesty, etc.; "Fasting": Ramadan, seclusion, moon; "Prayer": freeing of slaves at the time of an eclipse, "Suitable Dress": against wearing silk, Sunan prayers, supplication, times, animal sacrifice, "Pilgrimage" to Mecca (10 pages), "Government": women, lashes, oaths, military battles, witnesses, alcohol, dates, vinegar, divorce, dress and hair, slaves, food, funeral, hunting, "Marriage" (15 pages); "Medicine and spells", "Modesty", intercourse with a nursing mother; "Mosques", "Music and Singing"..and much, much, much more. That was Section One (260 pages). Section Two has 230 pages of biographies of women who knew Muhammad and had something to say about either him or his beliefs. [I confess, I don't know if this book favors a Sunni or a Shiite perspective.]
Average customer rating:
- Various aspects of Qur'an: Serious, Responsible, yet Innovative, & Accessible
- An Excellent Collection of Current Scholarship in Islamics
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Encyclopaedia of the Qur'an: E-I (Encyclopaedia of the Qur'an)
Manufacturer: Brill Academic Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 9004120351 |
Customer Reviews:
Various aspects of Qur'an: Serious, Responsible, yet Innovative, & Accessible.......2006-10-30
"The need for a large-scale reference text that covers the various aspects of their scripture in a serious and responsible yet innovative and broadly accessible way is an obvious one, and is superbly well served by this fine encyclopaedia." Lawrence Conrad.
"The Qur'an is a text, a literary text, and the only way to understand, explain, and analyze it is through a literary approach. This is an essential theological issue." Nasr H. Abu Zayd
The Holy Qur'an:
The Qur'an, also spelled Koran is the "holy book of Islam, regarded by believers as the true word of God as revealed to the Prophet Muhammad. In its written form it is accepted as the earthly reproduction of an uncreated and eternal heavenly original, according to the general view referred to in the Qur'an itself as 'the well-preserved tablet' (al-lawh al-mahfuz*; Sura 85:22)." Encyclopædia Britannica
The Qur'an (literally, 'Recitation') is believed to be the word, or speech, of God delivered to Muhammad by the angel Gabriel. The Qur'anic text revealed to Muhammad is considered to be an earthly manifestation of the eternal and uncreated original in heaven, a parallel to the Ten Commandments of Judaism. Divided into 114 chapters (surahs) of diverse subjects and varying length, is the fundamental source of Islamic teaching. The early Meccan surahs, are concerned mostly with moral, and spiritual teachings and warnings about the last Day (of Judgment.) The later surahs revealed at Medina are concerned mainly with social legislation and the politico-moral principles for constituting and ordering the community.
A Qur'an For Muslims:
Today, Muslims constitute about a sixth of the world's population, only second to Christians, numbering about one billion inhabitant. The great majority of Muslims do neither read nor understand Arabic, the language of the Qur'an, depriving them of a first hand evaluation of the source of their own faith. Encyclopaedia of the Holy Qur'an stresses that "Reading, reciting and learning of the Qur'ân by heart are not the ways of real approach to it. By approach we mean that we should understand what the Qur'ân says to us, what message it conveys to us, and what demand it makes from us."
Islamic Thought:
Islamic teachings, law, and thinking in general are based upon four sources, or fundamental principles : a. the Qur'an, b. the Prophet's Islamic and social traditions (sunnah), c. Islamic consensus (ijma' ), and d. individual scholarship (ijtihad). For Muslims, the Qur'an is the uncreated word of God, that contains the ultimate truth, and whatever is revealed in it has been the object of meditation and explanation through the centuries. Thus, since the nineth century, commentators on the Qur'an have been by far the most important witnesses for Islamic 'mythology.' They relied heavily on Jewish tradition, and wove into their explanations various strands of ancient oriental lore and Persian fables. Jewish converts, brought much of their Jewish literature (Isra'iliyat) into Islamic tradition. Later on, the mystics' commentaries expressed some Apophatic (Mystic), dualistic Gnostic views, and Hellenistic concepts (idea of the Perfect Man, personified in Muhammad) was to gain greatest prominence. Commentaries written in the border areas of Islamic countries now and then accepted a few popular traditions from their respective areas; however, the formative period was finished quite early.
Modern Islamic Scholarship:
The plight of Nasr Abu Zayd, an unassuming Egyptian professor of Arabic who sits on the encyclopedia's advisory board, illustrates the difficulties facing Muslim scholars trying to reinterpret their tradition. For more than a century there have been public figures in the Islamic world who have attempted the revisionist study of the Qur'an and Islamic history, the recently exiled Egyptian professor Nasr Abu Zayd is not unique. Perhaps Abu Zayd's most famous predecessor was the prominent Egyptian government minister, university professor, and writer Taha Hussein. A determined modernist, Hussein in the early 1920's devoted himself to the study of pre-Islamic Arabian poetry and ended up concluding that much of that body of work had been fabricated well after the establishment of Islam in order to lend outside support to Qur'anic mythology. A more recent example is the Iranian journalist and diplomat Ali Dashti, who in his Twenty-Three Years: A Study of the Prophetic Career of Mohammed, 1985, repeatedly took his fellow Muslims to task for not questioning the traditional accounts of Muhammad's life, much of which he called "myth-making and miracle-mongering."
Encyclopedia of the Qur'an:
Brill's Encyclopaedia of the Qur'an is the first comprehensive reference work on the Qur'an to appear in any Western language. It assembles an encyclopaedic dictionary of Qur'anic terms, concepts, personalities, place names, cultural history and exegesis with essays on the most important themes and subjects within Qur'anic studies, integrating alphabetically-arranged entries of articles about the contents of the Qur'an. With some thousand entries in five volumes. This Encyclopedia is a genuine collaborative enterprise, carried out by Muslims and non-Muslims alike; its articles present multiple approaches to the interpretation of the Qu'ran, some of which are likely to challenge traditional Islamic views. The time may be less ripe for a revisionist study of the Qur'an, but decidedly necessary in clearing moderate Islamic Fiqhe from allusion of violence. The articles, that widely range in length, discuss the themes found in the Qur'an. Both Muslim and non-Muslim approaches to the holy text are featured, and extensive reference is made to the classical, and contemporary Islamic exegetical tradition. The choice of English text, helps to make the Encyclopaedia accessible to non Arabic-reading specialists.
Contributing Writers:
Edited by Jane McAuliffe, of Georgetown University, the Encyclopaedia relies mostly on U.S. authors, together with other Westerners and Middle Eastern contributors. Over 200 scholars from around the world have contributed the approximately 1,000 articles in these five volumes. Their willingness to contribute their range of expertise has made the work both a summative enterprise and one which highlights potential future directions of Qur'anic studies. The contributing writers, Muslims and non-Muslims alike, including the progressive Egyptian Scholar Nasr Hamid Abu Zayd. Professor Abu Zayd studies modern Islamic thought by critically analyzing classical and contemporary Islamic discourse in the field of theology, philosophy, law, politics and humanism. The aim of his research is to suggest a theory of hermeneutics that might enable Muslims to build a bridge between their tradition and the modern world.
General Editor:
Georgetown University professor Jane McAuliffe, recently published the fifth, concluding volume of the Encyclopaedia of the Qur'an (Brill, 2001-2006). McAuliffe served as the general editor of the collection, multi-volume reference work on the Muslim scripture to appear in a Western language. The editor takes up a methodology of what she calls "two parallel conversations" about the Qur'an, between Muslim and non-Muslim scholarship on the holy book, which existed in separate sources, one pious, the other inquisitive; she also acknowledges that some authors found her concept of the project tainted and chose to stay away from it. Muslim critic S. Parvez Manzoor, in a cautionary preview, stated, that "The Orientalist enterprise of Qur'anic studies, whatever its other merits and services, was a project born of spite, bred in frustration and nourished by vengeance: ... the vengeance of the 'orthodox' against the 'nonconformist.' "
An Excellent Collection of Current Scholarship in Islamics.......2001-11-15
The Encyclopaedia of the Qur'an represents the most current knowledge available regarding Islam and Qur'anic Studies. Jane Dammen Mcauliffe has done an excellent job compiling contributions from an impressive list of scholars. Andrew Rippin, G.R. Hawting, Patricia Crone, Herbert Berg, Bowering, Beatrice Greundler, and a host of others all weigh in on issues ranging from the Chronology of the Qur'an to its Compilation; and from Exegetical issues to the controversial questions of the Origins of the Qur'an. Excellent Scholarship marks the first volume's entries on the topics of Arabic Scripts, Language, and Paleography. It draws on recent research and scholarship, including the "paper grave" of manuscripts discovered in Sana'a Yemen which are currently being analyzed by German Professor Gerhard Puin. This first available volume covers topics from "A" through "D", and makes many references to future entries in the volumes which are to follow. While the entries are based on thorough research and academic study, several of the conclusions and observations will be quite controversial in the Muslim community, particularly those which call into question the reliability of Muslim Literary Traditions, and those which are damaging to the traditional understandings of the nature of the Qur'an as a monolithic, unevolved (or even uncreated) source of Divine Revelation. This volume, and those which follow, are certain to establish themselves as instant classics in the libraries of scholars and academic students of Islam around the world.
Book Description
Have you ever wondered: What do the Imams and Scholars of mainstream Islam say about the permissibility of commemorating the Prophet's birghdy (mawlid)? What about the view of a handful of modern Salafi scholars like Albani, Bin Baz, al-Jazairi, Mashhur Salman, Uthaymin and their followers who forbid it on the grounds that it is an innovation? Read the evidence and then decide for yourself.
Customer Reviews:
A+.......2006-06-09
Evidence-based encyclopedia [all volumes] for the Ahl-us-Sunnat-wal-Jama`at a.k.a. Sunni Islam.
May Allah Reward him.
Average customer rating:
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Encyclopedia of Islam & the Muslim World
Manufacturer: MacMillan Reference Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 0028656032 |
Book Description
“Islam and the Muslim World†will help people understand the fastest growing religion in the United States and the dominant religion in a wide area of the rest of the world. This informative and interesting new encyclopedia explores an increasingly important force in the modern world, looking at Islam's role in the modern world, in the context of the religion's history and development over the last 13 centuries, and contains thematic articles, biographies of key figures, definitions, and more, filling a need in this key area of religious studies and serving as a resource for those eager to become better informed.
Book Description
“Islam and the Muslim World†will help people understand the fastest growing religion in the United States and the dominant religion in a wide area of the rest of the world. This informative and interesting new encyclopedia explores an increasingly important force in the modern world, looking at Islam's role in the modern world, in the context of the religion's history and development over the last 13 centuries, and contains thematic articles, biographies of key figures, definitions, and more, filling a need in this key area of religious studies and serving as a resource for those eager to become better informed.
Book Description
“Islam and the Muslim World†will help people understand the fastest growing religion in the United States and the dominant religion in a wide area of the rest of the world. This informative and interesting new encyclopedia explores an increasingly important force in the modern world, looking at Islam's role in the modern world, in the context of the religion's history and development over the last 13 centuries, and contains thematic articles, biographies of key figures, definitions, and more, filling a need in this key area of religious studies and serving as a resource for those eager to become better informed.
Book Description
“Islam and the Muslim World†will help people understand the fastest growing religion in the United States and the dominant religion in a wide area of the rest of the world. This informative and interesting new encyclopedia explores an increasingly important force in the modern world, looking at Islam's role in the modern world, in the context of the religion's history and development over the last 13 centuries, and contains thematic articles, biographies of key figures, definitions, and more, filling a need in this key area of religious studies and serving as a resource for those eager to become better informed.
Book Description
“Islam and the Muslim World†will help people understand the fastest growing religion in the United States and the dominant religion in a wide area of the rest of the world. This informative and interesting new encyclopedia explores an increasingly important force in the modern world, looking at Islam's role in the modern world, in the context of the religion's history and development over the last 13 centuries, and contains thematic articles, biographies of key figures, definitions, and more, filling a need in this key area of religious studies and serving as a resource for those eager to become better informed.
Average customer rating:
- an interesting and "Smart" read
- An asset to all
- A Must Read Book
- If you focus, plan, prioritize, organize, and manage your time, then you can make up for a weak working memory.
- Next to Collins & Buckingham
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Smarts: Are We Hardwired for Success?
Chuck Martin ,
Peg Dawson , and
Richard Guare
Manufacturer: AMACOM/American Management Association
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Binding: Hardcover
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Similar Items:
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Know-How: The 8 Skills That Separate People Who Perform from Those Who Don't
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What Got You Here Won't Get You There: How Successful People Become Even More Successful
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Go Put Your Strengths to Work: Six Powerful Steps to Achieve Outstanding Performance
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Tough Management: The 7 Winning Ways to Make Tough Decisions Easier, Deliver the Numbers, and Grow the Business in Good Times and Bad
ASIN: 0814409067 |
Book Description
Twelve specific and very important cognitive functions begin developing in the brain at birth. These "skills" are built in to every individual and are fully developed -- and unchangeable -- by adulthood. Everyone has these same capabilities, but to varying degrees. And it is this unique and unalterable combination of one's strengths and weaknesses that determines success or failure in any given role.
Smarts contains the groundbreaking Executive Skills Profile: a powerful self-assessment tool that will identify, once and for all, a person's innate strengths and weaknesses. The results offer tangible proof of why we gravitate to certain tasks and struggle with others. With this newfound clarity, readers will learn to play to their stronger skills, and avoid wasting time on lesser ones they can never improve upon. Most important, they will discover their own unique potential for excellence.
Supported by proprietary primary research and grounded in widely accepted principles of clinical and neuro-psychology, Smarts is a truly eye-opening book that will change how we think about ourselves -- and others.
Customer Reviews:
an interesting and "Smart" read.......2007-10-10
Ever wondered why your consistantly late to events? Or, why you are so easily distracted from tasks? This groundbreaking book helps the reader understand why they behave the way they do. The 12 executive skills profile can become an asset to anyone once they find out their strengths and weaknesses. This book teaches you how to play to your strengths while minimizing the impact of your weaknesses.
Smarts will give you the edge over all the competition and teach you how to standout in the business world or any other profession. You'll find yourself seeing these executive skills not only in yourself but your co-works and boss as well. In a competitive world Martin gives you another tool to make yourself standout from all the rest.
An asset to all.......2007-10-10
Smarts is a book that all can understand and will find beneficial in their everyday lives. Smarts is written so that it is easily interpreted and can be applied to many different situations. Whether it be delving into your own thoughts to find your strengths and weaknesses, or using the book to analyze the shopping habits of consumers, this quick read will help. It is easy to relate to and can be an asset for any person in the business world, no matter your job description. You will not be dissapointed in this purchase!
A Must Read Book.......2007-09-25
This is truly an amazing book. It delivers such simple answers for such complex problems. This book demonstrates how all people have executive strengths and weaknesses and they are the basis of who you are. Its amazing to learn that you simply cannot change. You are the way you are and this book does an extremely good job of demonstrating that.
If you ever wondered why some people are always late or why some people have a better memory then you might - this is your book. I now have a different appreciation for other people, now realizing that they cant help the way they are any more then i can. Every person has three weaknesses and three strenghts and after reading this book you can learn to strenthen your strenghts and control your weaknesses. This book is an easy read but a real eye opener to anyone out there.
I guarantee you will not look at the world the same.
If you focus, plan, prioritize, organize, and manage your time, then you can make up for a weak working memory........2007-09-13
This was a very well organized book. Its writing was clear, but at times a little repetitive. It identifies 12 traits a person can have or master in order to function in society. They are:
1. Self-Restraint
2. Working Memory
3. Emotion Control
4. Focus
5. Task Initiation
6. Planning and Prioritization
7. Organization
8. Time Management
9. Defining and Achieving Goals
10. Flexibility
11. Observation
12. Stress Tolerance
I thought all the traits were well defined and described. And the authors' description of the normal interrelationship between the different traits was consistent with what I would expect. And I very much liked the way the authors focused on how someone can evaluate himself or herself so they can better understand themselves and how they function in society. But the authors don't stop there. They then explain how a manager or leader can evaluate their subordinates' traits so they can use those subordinates in a more efficient manner and keep them happier. Good job!
If I could stop this review now, then I would give this book a 5 star rating. However, I did not like the way the authors called the 12 traits - 12 SKILLS. While I agree that #s 1 and 3-12 are skills, or at least they can be called skills. I don't agree that Working Memory is a skill. I believe it is an "ability" much like a memory chip is in a computer. Either you have the memory or you don't. Practice isn't going to make it better.
Since the authors call most of these traits skills, and I believe skills can be improved with practice, I had a problem with their assertion that adults cannot improve these skills when functioning as adults in society. The book preaches that we should figure out which of our 12 traits we are strong and weak at. Then accept that as unchangeable and play up the strong and try to prop up the weak. I think this is a bad message to send to the readers.
Throwing a baseball is a skill. If you want to throw well, then you practice throwing a baseball. Running is a skill. And if you want to run a sub-3-hour marathon, then you do a lot of running to improve that skill. Reading is a skill. And if you want to read fast, then you read a lot and you WILL get faster. In my humble opinion, the authors are plain wrong in saying that skills 1 and 3-12 cannot be improved with practice. But the book has its good points. 4 stars!
Next to Collins & Buckingham.......2007-05-24
This is the most scientific, practical and applicable management book I have read in the last 5 years. It complements the work of Jim Collins and Marcus Buckingham, and makes them more usable and implementable.
All reviewers, readers, and professionals agree that it is one of the most helpful book they read lately. I just wonder why it didn't stay for long on the top 10 and 100 bestsellers list. It is obvious that publishers, media, and marketing make the list, not: value or substance. I recommend Martin's book to all management practitioners. Even Neuroscience advocates can use it to prove their theory true.
Average customer rating:
- Great All-in-One Intro for intelligent non-specialists
- Covers the same ground plus hard to read
- very worthwhile - until a better book comes along.
- An Excellent Intro to the Role of Genetics in Human Behavior
- The Role of genes in our behavior
|
Are We Hardwired?: The Role of Genes in Human Behavior
William R. Clark , and
Michael Grunstein
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
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ASIN: 0195138260 |
Amazon.com
The notion that our chromosomes might dictate some of our behavior makes DNA a four-letter word to strict nurturists. Yet there is strong evidence that genes do exert an influence over some part of nearly of our personalities. Immunologist William R. Clark and biochemist Michael Grunstein tackle this sticky issue in Are We Hardwired? The Role of Genes in Human Behavior, an evenhanded explanation and critique of current thinking on the topic. Exploring twin and family studies, biochemical research into the nervous systems of humans and less complex animals, and specific qualities like aggression, eating, and sexual preference, the authors show that as with most other phenotypic expression, genes interact with each other and with environmental factors to produce tendencies toward behavior.
Their thinking is more complex than the journalistic attachment to "aggression genes" and other such simplifications. They would rather see and understand the intricate array of genes and the proteins they help to create than blame Johnny's brutality on a particular lonely stretch of his Y chromosome. This is exemplified by their refusal to use the word "intelligence" except when required for historical accuracy; this single concept has caused much more trouble than understanding since its inception. The prose is quiet and easygoing, the scientific explanations are clear but pull no punches, and the authors take great pains to expose the tremendous dangers of eugenics, making Are We Hardwired? one of the clearest, most useful books yet published on the nurture-nature debate. --Rob Lightner
Book Description
Books such as Richard Dawkins's The Selfish Gene have aroused fierce controversy by arguing for the powerful influence of genes on human behavior. But are we entirely at the mercy of our chromosomes? In Are We Hardwired?, scientists William R. Clark and Michael Grunstein say the answer is both yes--and no. The power and fascination of Are We Hardwired? lie in their explanation of that deceptively simple answer. Using eye-opening examples of genetically identical twins who, though raised in different families, have had remarkably parallel lives, the authors show that indeed roughly half of human behavior can be accounted for by DNA. But the picture is quite complicated. Clark and Grunstein take us on a tour of modern genetics and behavioral science, revealing that few elements of behavior depend upon a single gene; complexes of genes, often across chromosomes, drive most of our heredity-based actions. To illustrate this point, they examine the genetic basis, and quirks, of individual behavioral traits--including aggression, sexuality, mental function, eating disorders, alcoholism, and drug abuse. They show that genes and environment are not opposing forces; heredity shapes how we interpret our surroundings, which in turn changes the very structure of our brain. Clearly we are not simply puppets of either influence. Perhaps most interesting, the book suggests that the source of our ability to choose, to act unexpectedly, may lie in the chaos principle: the most minute differences during activation of a single neuron may lead to utterly unpredictable actions. This masterful account of the nature-nurture controversy--at once provocative and informative--answers some of our oldest questions in unexpected new ways
Customer Reviews:
Great All-in-One Intro for intelligent non-specialists.......2005-07-07
I have no problem with Math or Physics but I flunked HS biology 2 years n a row and I still glaze over and turn off when someone starts talking about biology. I am nevertheless interested in the many wonderful new uderstandings of life we are getting so I was delighted to find this book. It really helped me understand a lot of basics and from there to gain some insight into how humans work. The early chapters on paramecium, round worms, and mice were wonderful. I see a lot of human behavior differently now because of this.
I also appreciated their explanation of why they think human intelligence is not going to be dependent on a single gene - partly because we can't define what intellience is and partly because there are so many different kinds of intelligence, dependent on so many different parts of human physiology interactig in very complex ways.
In the last few pages they try to explain why this doesn't all negate the idea of free will. I.e., does NOT mean that our behavior is completely determined by our genes. Their theory basically boils down to 'butterfly effect' (non-linear dynamics) and complexity. All that really says is that we can't calculate it with any precision at all. Not very convincing for me but I don't care if free will exists or not while they seem to so if it convinces you then beleive away!
Covers the same ground plus hard to read.......2004-08-05
Clark and Grunstein write more of an academic book than one meant for the casual reader. It lacks the freshness of "Born That Way" by William Wright. It covers the same ground "Genome" and "Nature Via Nurture" by Matt Ridley, but without his sly wit and interesting anecdotes. However, if this was the only book you read on the subject it would be completely adequate as a primer on the subject. Writing about genetics requires uncommon skills due to the complex nature of the subject matter. The endless permutations of letter bases and the many ways in which the various componebts of the gene string continuously interact require a skilled storyteller, one who can get by without exceeding the possible symbolic logic skills of the lay reader. It reminds me of a book about sports with too many X's and O's. I guess it srikes me as a "me to" book, but as a stand-alone it's fine. It gives the reader an insight into the most interesting developments of interest to the broadest swath of society.
This is a fascinating subject which with which everyone should become acquainted, and different readers respond to different authors. If you are an in depth lay-researcher on the subject add this to your library.
very worthwhile - until a better book comes along........2002-11-11
I loved Clark’s “Sex and the Origin of Death” and “At War Within”. By comparison, I was disappointed in Hardwired. It is a serious , very informative book, and I believe you can trust Clark. The earlier chapters, about one celled animals, a worm, and a fly, were brilliant, and a lot about the basis of human behavior may be learned from them. The material in the first chapter about studies of twins separated at birth is provocative. The problem is that once Clark, or was it Grunstein, got to vertebrates, the material was just not well integrated. Too often the book read as a series of summaries of successive findings, some of which were inconsistent. Yes, Clark had some overarching themes, repeated a number of times, but that doesn’t replace a good synthesis. There is much that is partially understood at best, and a lot of research which casts light only on a small piece of the puzzle, making a good synthesis more difficult for conscientious authors, but that just makes their job harder, not impossible. Bottom line: if you are interested in the subject AND in science, including technical details, read this book, until a better one comes along.
An Excellent Intro to the Role of Genetics in Human Behavior.......2002-05-22
This book takes on the really big questions about human existence: Is our behavior controlled by our genes, our environment or both? Is our behavior genetically dictated? If so, what can (or should) we do about it? This book actually makes some headway in resolving these questions and others like them and has the added attraction of giving you a survey of the science in this area.
This book sat on my coffee table unread for six months because I harbored two opposing fears about reading it: On the one hand, I thought that the technical scientific details would be daunting, and on the other, I feared that this was an area that was not capable of intellectual resolution, that nothing of importance to understanding the human condition could be learned in this area. I was wrong on both counts. This book is a great introduction to what science has learned about the role of genes in human behavior and it is presented in a manner comprehensible to the lay reader.
The first half of the book is devoted to the study of the behavior of comparatively simple creatures, round worms, Drosophila, sea slugs, etc. By analyzing simplified nervous systems, the authors are able to explore some simple relationships between genes and behavior. Then, in the second half, these same relationships are explored in more advanced creatures and in humans. The authors make clear the limits of the extension of these principles to more complex settings, but they were able to convince me of the appropriateness of the application of these studies to more complex species.
The conclusions that the authors draw are not simplistic. The complex interplay of neurotransmitters is effectively developed and the possibility of multiple behavioral and neural antecedents to behavior is acknowledged. Still the same the reader will be awed, both by the genetic and neural science and by the implications for the human condition.
In short, this is exactly the kind of book that will rock you back in your chair, stunned by the complexity and wonder that is the human neurological system.
The Role of genes in our behavior.......2001-06-27
The authors are not your average community med tech or physician but University research professionals. Dr Clark with UC at Los Angeles' Dept of Molecular Cell and Developmental Biology and Dr Grunstein at UCLA's School of Medicine and Molecular Institute. The book is just over 300 pages and cover a variety of issues from the evolutionary origins of behavior, genes and behavior, the evolution of learning and memory, the role of neurotransmitters in human behavior, the genetics of aggression, eating disorders, substance abuse, mental health, sexual preference and the environment and free will.
Chapter 13 which deals with The Genetics Of Sexual Preference is interesting since they wisely note what many of us bisexual women have always known, which is that "Women show a much broader spectrum of preferences, with a much higher percentage of nonheterosexual women showing varying degrees of bisexuality." And I was enthralled with the information about Charles Darwin's cousin Francis Galton who coined the phrase "nature Vs nurture." Galton is someone I greatly admire. The notation of the value of eugenics is valuable.
Page 293 "What if we define the alleles of other genes that play a major role in aggressiveness, or criminality, or homosexuality? Almost certainly there will be at least a few individuals who will want to use this new information to manage their own reproductive affairs. Past history tells us that if such people gain political power, they may also try to impose their views on societies as a whole. How do we stop that from happening? ...."
Was bothered they included homosexuality mixed with issues like aggressiveness and criminal issues since sexual pleasure isn't a crime between consenting adults. Anymore that enjoying fine food, wine and music is.
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The Chaotic Brain.(beyond genes and the environment): An article from: The Futurist
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